All results / Stories / Ward Schaefer
Birdland Reopening, Economy Still Lagging
Farish Street nightclub Birdland is open again after spending eight months closed under a court order. The club renewed its privilege license and dancehall permit Friday and was open last …
Cover
No Small Feat
The students in John Bennetts' second-grade class are being perfect sponges. Bennetts, a teacher at KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy, a charter school in Helena, Ark., is drilling the class …
Parchman's Past, Prison's Future
It's a strange month when the Parchman Farm comes out looking better than a county jail. On March 10, a federal judge finally dismissed the bulk of Gates v. Collier. …
Un-gifting JPS
State budget cuts are forcing Jackson Public Schools to scale back its gifted-education classes to the bare minimum required by state law. With their emphasis on hands-on learning and critical …
State's African Americans See Higher Unemployment
Like many things in Mississippi, the hardship of unemployment during the Great Recession has fallen unequally on the state's population. African American workers in Mississippi experienced an 18 percent unemployment …
A System that Works
Judge Houston Patton isn't used to competition. Since first winning election as Hinds County Court judge in 1989, Patton has had no opponents for the District 2 seat. But this …
City Election Overview: Wards 3 and 4
Ward 3 stretches across West Jackson, from north of Chastain Middle School to the Poindexter Park neighborhood in the south. With a longtime incumbent, the Ward 3 race is small; …
‘Fresh Air' Returning to MPB
Mississippi Public Broadcasting is reinstating the nationally-syndicated radio program "Fresh Air," two weeks after its decision to cancel the show for "inappropriate content" drew widespread criticism. In a statement released …
Undisclosed Funders Pay for Consolidation Study
Gov. Haley Barbour's Commission on Education Structure will use funds from an undisclosed private source to pay for a study of school consolidation. At its first meeting yesterday, the Commission …
Behind Barbour's Prison Rhetoric
To hear Gov. Haley Barbour tell it, if he doesn't get his way, the state's fiscal crisis could force thousands of felons out of jail and into communities. Since his …
Trouble at Hinds Youth Detention Center
A Hinds County supervisors suggests a "cover-up" at the Hinds County Youth Detention Center.
Politics
Melton's ‘State': ‘A Bit Of Hyperbole'?
Mayor Frank Melton praised Jackson's economic progress and outlined some of the city's persistent problems in his State of the City address this morning at the TelCom Center.
McLemore Not Seeking Reelection
City Council President Leslie McLemore announced today that he is not running for a third term. McLemore said that he plans to support his administrative assistant, Vance Stiggers, for the …
Attorneys Meet over Melton Trial Rules
JFP Coverage of Defense Witness Christopher Walker
Cover
A Boom of Our Own
When a tree grows, it marks the passing of each year in distinct rings—thick rings represent the fat years when it grew quickly; thin rings for the leaner years when …
GOP Official Threatens Hinds With Lawsuit
The Hinds County Board of Supervisors may face a lawsuit over its decision to hire Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson to oversee its redistricting process. Hinds County Republican Party Chairman …
Barbour Gives Details on Bio-Fuels Plant
A Houston-based company manufacturing a crude-oil substitute from timber has picked Mississippi to locate its first three production facilities, Gov. Haley Barbour announced at a press conference this afternoon. Barbour …
Developers Push a Lake for Downtown
UPDATED: December 15, 2009
Jackson developer David Watkins, whose ventures include the King Edward Hotel and the Farish Street entertainment district, unveiled plans for a downtown lake and riverwalk at a media event yesterday. …
Wright: Recio Falsified Documents, Melton ‘Clearly Under the Influence'
'On the Road Again' with Melton and his Bodyguards
Cover
Shades of Gray
On the evening of Oct. 27, the mayor of McComb, Miss., was in the city's board room, arguing with his city attorney about fractions. The mayor wanted to block a …
