Jackson Free Press

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them:

1. After several credit downgrades and gloomy financial forecasts, the balance sheets of utility companies constructing a 580-megawatt coal power plant in eastern Mississippi are improving as their ratepayers are saddled with steep price increases.
2. A proposed tire plant in West Point, which was the focus of a special session of the Mississippi Legislature Friday, drew light criticism from lawmakers around the state.
3. Everett Dutschke, whose home was searched in the investigation of poisoned letters sent to the president and others, went into hiding, but his attorney said he is cooperating and the FBI knows how to get in touch with him.
4. President Barack Obama's recent recommendation to delay some Medicaid cuts has not deterred the hospitals that rely on the payments or health-care advocates from pushing to expand Medicaid in the state.
5. A mayoral candidate running for office on his business experience told the Jackson Free Press this morning that the distribution of documents—showing that his family company, Mississippi Products Inc., is currently facing multiple default judgments in at least two states for more than $100,000 owed to vendors—is an attempt to "impede our momentum."
6. When it comes to the big development projects in Jackson, political candidates like to express their disapproval with how the mayor's office and city council handles business.
7. All charges were dropped Tuesday against Paul Kevin Curtis, who had been accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and others.
8. The race for Jackson's Ward 5 city council seat heated up Monday night on the second floor of the Margaret Walker Alexander building on Jackson State University's campus. The forum, hosted by Student Government Association President Brian Wilks, gave the candidates a chance to meet a handful of JSU students and listen to their concerns.
9. Jackson's Thalia Mara Hall will begin a $5.5 million renovation in January, thanks in part to the state Legislature's $1 million appropriation.
10. The U.S. Supreme Court could determine the impact of a federal law that gives jurisdiction over adoptions of American Indian children to tribal courts instead of state courts.

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