Jackson Free Press

This year will be over in a few hours. Here's a look back on some of the big news events of 2010 in Jackson and Mississippi.

January

• "The Lakes Plan that Won't Recede"-- Adam Lynch uncovers the personal and business interests that keep the Two Lakes development proposal afloat.

• After days of freezing temperatures, water-main breaks crop up across the city, forcing state government offices and schools to close, and disrupting business for nearly a week.

• Jackson State University President Ronald Mason defends his proposal to merge Mississippi's three public historically-black universities into "Jacobs State University."

February

• "Police Woman" - Adam Lynch talks with Rebecca Coleman, Jackson's second female police chief.

• Anti-abortion group Personhood Mississippi submits petition signatures to Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann to place a measure on the 2011 ballot that would define personhood to include fetuses.

March

• March 8 - Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann accepts petition signatures to place a voter ID measure on the 2011 ballot.

• "Trust In Me" - Ward Schaefer looks at the city's homeless and the various groups that serve them.

• March 21 - Boss Queen Jill Conner Browne announces that her Sweet Potato Queens will part ways with Mal's St. Paddy's Parade in 2011.

• March 23 - A federal judge rules that the Itawamba County School Board violated student Constance McMillen's civil rights when it canceled her high school's prom after she asked to bring a same-sex date.

April

• "Renaissance Man" - Ward Schaefer catches up with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Luckett amid his Clarksdale business ventures.

•An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig starts a leak that will ultimately spill 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

• "The Cost of 'Tough on Crime' " - Adam Lynch delves into the practices--harsh sentencing, confidential informants and more--that give Mississippi the second highest incarceration rate in the country.

• April 30 - Jackson State University President Ronald Mason announces his resignation to become president of Louisiana's Southern University System.

May

• "Too Little, Too Late?" - Lacey McLaughlin and Adam Lynch tally the human and economic costs of the oil spill on the Gulf Coast.

• A group of 16 death-row inmates sues the state of Mississippi for allegedly violating the state's legal system.

• The Rankin-Hinds Levee Board approves "Lake 255," a one-lake flood control plan for the Pearl River.

• "Behind The Mask" - Ronni Mott meets former domestic abusers and looks deeper at an extraordinary program to rehabilitate them.

June

• "Can Nunnelee Beat Childers" - Four months before his victory, future-Congressman Alan Nunnelee talks frankly to Adam Lynch about his conservative platform for the Mississippi and the country.

• City Council approves financial backing for a convention center hotel.

July

• "Give Me Shelter" - Ward Schaefer traces Mississippi's animal neglect and animal cruelty problem and profiles the people trying to solve it.

• Mississippi Public Broadcasting draws national ridicule after it drops syndicated program "Fresh Air" from its schedule following a listener complaint about sexual content.

• The Mississippi Bond Commission declines to consider Jackson's request for $6 million to upgrade water infrastructure, sparking a months-long standoff between city and state officials.

• "Starting Again" - Ronni Mott probes Mississippi's "no-fault" divorce law and its effects victims of domestic abuse.

August

• Aug. 19 - The Jackson Redevelopment Authority agrees to cooperate with developer, Full Spectrum on construction of an 806-car parking garage to support the Old Capitol Green development.

• Aug. 24 - The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance files an ethics proceeding against Hinds County Court Judge Houston Patton for wrongfully jailing parties in civil cases.

• Aug. 27 - In a special session, the Mississippi Legislature authorize a $75 million incentives package for KiOR, a Texas biofuels startup, to locate in the state.

September

• "State of the Coast" - Lacey McLaughlin assesses the Gulf Coast's recovery, five years after Katrina and months after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

• Sept. 15 - Hundreds rally at the state Capitol, calling for the release of sisters Jamie and Glady Scott.

• BP permanently seals the Deepwater Horizon oil well.

• "On the Anchor Baby Trail" - Adam Lynch debunks anti-immigrant rhetoric and offers a clear-eyed and humane view of undocumented immigrants.

October

• "Domestic Terrorism" - Ronni Mott shows the tragic consequences of Mississippi's weak anti-stalking laws.

• Oct. 13 - The newly renovated Standard Life Building celebrates its reopening.

•"Sticks & Stones"--JFP Freelancer Valerie Wells puts several faces on the alarming increase in teen bullying and cyberbullying.

November

• "Let My Daughters Go" - Ward Schaefer chronicles the history of the Scott Sisters case and the movement for their freedom.

• Nov. 2 - Mississippi Congressmen Gene Taylor and Travis Childers, both Democrats, lose their seats to Republican challengers Steven Palazzo and Alan Nunnelee.

• "Kids Having Kids" - Lacey McLaughlin takes a closer look at teen pregnancy and efforts to reduce it.

•Nov. 18 - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reaches a $132.8 million settlement with the NAACP in a lawsuit over the diversion of federal funds from low-income homeowners after Hurricane Katrina.

December

•"Rush to Judgment" - JFP Freelancer Valerie Wells and Editor-in-Chief Donna Ladd expose the dangers of routinely trying kids as adults.

•"21st Century Woman" - Incoming Jackson State University President Carolyn Meyers dishes to Ward Schaefer about herself and her plans for JSU.

• Gov. Haley Barbour indefinitely suspends the life sentences of sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott.