Story
Money Games
Mississippi leaders experienced a rare moment of agreement last month on the frequently rancorous topic of education funding.
Story
Unemployment Rate Jumps Again
The unemployment rate in Mississippi increased a full percentage point from April to May, inching toward 10 percent once again, according to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. That one …
Story
Boxers, Cows, Horses and Hogs
Advocacy groups this week denounced Senate Finance Committee Chair Tommy Robertson for killing an embattled tax swap bill that would have cut the state's grocery tax by half and raised …
Story
Legislators Scrambling to Fill Budget Holes
Mississippi Legislators are searching for new sources of revenue to ensure services are not cut to the state's citizens; they want to maintain government operations without raising taxes. Lawmakers say …
Story
Hood: BP Lags on Claims
BP has not paid 63 percent of claims Mississippians filed for damages from the April 20 Deepwater Horizon disaster, said Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood in a statement yesterday.
Entry
Kemper Not the Power Plant of Future
By R.L. NaveCompanies building a new 582-megawatt power plant near DeKalb are not holding it up as a model for plants around the nation. The Kemper County IGCC plant, now about nine months away from completion, will burn low-grade lignite coal and capture carbon emissions. Kemper is the first plant to use TRIG technology, which Atlanta-based Southern Co. developed in the 1990s.
Southern has said it hopes to sell the technology around the world as a solution to global change, but recently told Reuters that Kemper could not be replicated nationally.
"Because the unique characteristics that make the project the right choice for Mississippi cannot be consistently replicated on a national level, the Kemper County Energy Facility should not serve as a primary basis for new emissions standards impacting all new coal-fired power plants," Southern said in a statement to the wire service.
Louie Miller, who heads the anti-Kemper Mississippi Sierra Club, took aim at the report. Miller said, through a statement of his own, that the company's "confession" that Kemper is not a panacea for the nation's energy woes "should come as a shock" to its customers.
“Since day one, Mississippi Power, its parent Southern Company, and its high-profile backers like Governor Haley Barbour and United States Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu have promised that the Kemper Plant would be a shining model for new coal-fired power plants across the United States, as well as overseas," Miller said.
The Obama Administration recently announced new carbon-limiting rules on utility companies. Southern characterizes its corporate stance as climate-friendly, but told Reuters the new rules "essentially eliminate coal as a future generation option."
Story
As the Capitol Turns
This year, the lawmakers at Mississippi's Capitol have had time to do great things such as reforming the juvenile-justice system and settling some Medicaid issues. They have also spent many …
Story
Freedom Riders Recognized
Freedom Rider Jesse James Davis said his historic ride on a Greyhound bus to protest Jackson's segregated bus station was not a planned event.
Story
Council to Vote on Sales-Tax Request
At tomorrow's meeting, the Jackson City Council will decide whether to ask the state Legislature to remove a controversial state commission that must now approve how the city spends sales-tax …
Story
[Ladd] Catching a Creative Wave
I've been thinking a lot about who's in charge lately. This first entered my brain because of Haley Barbour's half-hearted attempts at appointing a Cabinet that looks like Mississippi (for …
Story
Barbour's Medicaid Letter a Half-Truth?
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour pinched a nerve in September that's still causing pain for some health-insurance reform advocates. Barbour sent a Sept. 8 letter to Mississippi Republican Sens. Thad Cochran …
Story
[Kamikaze] Same Place, Different Memories
As the years pass, I find it hard to accurately remember each and every detail of my life. It's easy for stories to be skewed, embellished or just plain forgotten. …
Story
AG Hood Passes on ‘Mud Fight' with Simpson
Republican Attorney General candidate Steve Simpson's attempts to spar with his opponent, Democratic incumbent Jim Hood, went mostly uncontested during a debate at a John C. Stennis Institute of Government …
Story
Voter Fraud ... Wink, Wink
The JFP's Ayana Taylor is the only journalist who has really gotten inside the Voter ID issue--and challenged its supporters to explain just why this regulation is needed. The issue …
Story
Politics
Barbour Gives Relief to 4 ‘Domestic' Killers, of 5 Total
Bobby Hays Clark murdered on-again, off-again girlfriend Veronica Conner in 1996 by shooting her in the neck with a 25-caliber automatic, hitting her carotid artery. Now, his record is clear, …
Story
Editor's Note
Of Charles Barbour, TEDx Jackson and Decent Role Models
Simple facts about what built today's inequality are not discussed by people like Charles Barbour. They still use the same old-school scare tactics that should offend white voters because they …
Story
Talk
The CofCC's 'One-Drop Rule'
This question elicited what was probably the most frightening comment of the meeting: "When a white woman has a black baby, baby's still black. Don't forget that," an elderly gentleman …
Story
Cover
Phil Bryant: Tea Party Governor
The running joke in Jackson political circles is that Phil Bryant is just three handshakes away from being a Hinds County sheriff's deputy.
Story
University Mergers Loom?
Rumors of university consolidation gave way to outright threats Monday when Gov. Haley Barbour released his executive budget recommendations for the 2011 fiscal year. Painting a dismal picture of the …
Story
Make Consolidation Study Transparent
Since a flare-up of attention last winter, the issue of school district consolidation has received only limited public attention. This is unfortunate, as a governor-appointed panel is set to issue …
