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. Jackson developer David Watkins is fighting his political foes on two fronts these days.
2. Joyce Helmick has taught school for more than 37 years. In July, she took the leadership reins at the Mississippi Association of Educators, an organization that provides professional development for teachers, and represents their interests in the state Legislature and throughout the public-school system.
3. Operation Shoestring hosts its annual luncheon at the Jackson Convention Complex Nov. 14.
4. The Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center will likely not be in full compliance with a 2012 court order to improve conditions at the facility by the time the order expires in the spring.
5. Lee Vance, an assistant police chief with the Jackson Police Department, participated in a roundtable discussion at the Mississippi Black Leadership Summit, under way at the Jackson Convention Center.
6. During this spring and summer, when the Jackson mayoral campaign season hit its peak, a fierce debate took place about regionalism.
7. The 33rd annual Mistletoe Marketplace opens at the Mississippi Trade Mart Thursday, Nov. 7, and runs through Saturday, Nov. 9.
8. Preacher Flip Benham and his band of anti-abortion protesters from Operation Rescue America descended on Jackson Monday, two days after a pro-abortion rights rally at Jackson Women's Health Organization, or JWHO, the state's sole remaining abortion clinic.
9. Walk into Trim Salon off Mitchell Avenue in Fondren on a random afternoon, and you're just as likely to see an old-school southern Junior Leaguer from northeast Jackson as you are a creative covered in tattoos from the neck down.
10. Fondrenites may have noticed a new addition to the neighborhood: a small spinning pole with red and blue stripes. Is it a bird, a plane? No, it's the barber pole for Eddie Outlaw and Justin McPherson's new business venture Fondren Barbershop.

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