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Roots of Utopia
When asked how a dietitian from Biloxi met and married an electrician from Brandon, Brittany Hammons Simmons, 26, and Geoffrey Simmons, 24, answer, "Club Fire." The reactions they receive from …
Jackson to MDOT: Take Back Roads
The city of Jackson has not been able to afford the maintenance on its roads for years. With government budgets facing cuts across the board, Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., the …
Factchecking McCain on Small Biz
In all of Sen. John McCain's hand-wringing recently over Sen. Barack Obama's tax plan, there's something I have never seen said plainly enough that I'd like to state for the …
[Rainey] Jackson is Yours
I moved to Jackson in summer 2007 from St. Louis, Mo., for my first job out of college, a two-year fellowship at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life. I was …
[Carter] Standing in Solidarity
The morning of Feb. 12, 2008, was sobering for the students of E. O. Green School, in Oxnard, Calif. At 8:15 a.m., 8th-grade student Brandon McInerney walked into a computer …
Pity Would Be No More
In a few hours, I would be leaving Africa. After two weeks traveling through Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and the Central African Republic with New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nick …
Pay Now, or Pay Later
Jackson Public School Superintendent Earl Watkins and JPS School Board President H. Ann Jones held an editorial board meeting with the Jackson Free Press last week, arguing for a $150 …
Judge Sets Rules For 'Inflammatory' Melton Trial Evidence
A federal judge heard arguments Friday on admitting evidence in the civil rights trial of Mayor Frank Melton and his former police bodyguard, Michael Recio. Most of the five-hour hearing …
Several Independents Running for Jackson Mayor
Next Tuesday, June 2, Jacksonians will go to the polls once again, this time for the general elections and all the marbles in the races for mayor and council seats. …
Melton Protégé History Complicated
Mayor Frank Melton says he will be waiting for Michael Taylor to get out of prison, probably before he is 21. "He is too good of a kid to give …
‘Evil Intent': Why Frank Melton Was Acquitted the First Time
After Mayor Frank Melton and his two bodyguards were acquitted in a Hinds County court last year for the Ridgeway duplex demolition, the JFP's Brian Johnson wrote this analysis of …
Democrats Need Not Apply?
Political leaders in Terry are booting Democratic candidate Cedric Abston from the Terry mayoral ballot for the second time. Terry election commissioners Lessie Hayes, Shauna White and Kelsie Bloomberg opted …
Movin' On Up: Barbour Approval Increases
Gov. Haley Barbour has pulled himself up with constituents in the last two months, from a low of 37% approval in May to 41% approval in July, making him the …
Respect for the City
Campaign adviser and lobbyist Quentin Whitwell is looking to get his own campaign moving this year. Whitwell, 38, announced to supporters last month that he plans to run for the …
Council Approves Budget, With Cuts
The Jackson City Council approved a balanced $387.7 million city budget last Friday, after almost two weeks of grueling daily budget meetings.
Woodward Execution Date Set
Attorney General Jim Hood is asking the state of Mississippi to execute two death-row inmates, the first since 2008. Hood's office submitted requests to the Mississippi Supreme Court last month …
Feds: Peters ‘Corruptly Influenced' DeLaughter
Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter, famous for prosecuting infamous civil-rights murderer Byron de la Beckwith, was arraigned last week in federal court for his role in a bribery …
Jackson Has Cheapest Gas in the U.S.
Gas stations in the city of Jackson are selling fuel at the lowest average rate in the nation: $2.62 per gallon, according to the Lundberg Survey. Over the past two …
Burns Met Death Unafraid
Moments before the executioner filled Joseph Daniel Burns' veins with the lethal drug cocktail that would end his life, Burns, his voice soft but steady, apologized to his victim's family.
[Gregory] Queen of the Fleas
The past three weeks of my life have been one long personal jihad against the fleas currently residing in my house. I call it a "jihad" because the fleas have …