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Education

Today is D-Day for Controversial Bills

The Mississippi Legislature has one of its busiest days today as committees scramble to pass most general bills. State lawmakers have until midnight tonight to get committee approval for any …

Biz Roundup

Obesity, Restaurant News

Leading lawmakers, medical researchers and health-care professionals will convene on Jackson Nov. 9 through Nov. 11 for the Global Obesity Summit 2010. Sponsored by the the University of the Mississippi …

Feds Support Mississippi's Obesity Fight

When it comes to addressing and preventing obesity, federal action can help set the tone for efforts, but true progress will come from local action, U.S. Secretary of Health and …

Justice

JSU Dreaming of Civil Rights Corridor

John R. Lynch Street, the history-rich thoroughfare running through Jackson State University, could see new life as a civil-rights corridor. JSU leaders floated a vision of the street as a …

Cover

New Challenges

Carolyn Meyers doesn't look much like her predecessor at Jackson State University, Ronald Mason, on paper or in person. The tall, arguably aloof Mason was not a researcher by training, …

Good

Midtown Makeover

Sandwiched between Millsaps College and Mill Street, North Midtown has tremendous resources, but the neighborhood has struggled with blight, losing nearly 26 percent of its population since 2000.

Justice

Private Youth Prison Under Fire

By corporate standards, the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility has been a success. Since opening in 2001, the private prison has generated roughly $100 million for the companies that have …

JPS Hearing Reveals Edwards' Failure to Communicate

Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Lonnie Edwards has consistently failed to communicate about major issues facing the district, JPS Board President Kisiah Nolan testified today. Nolan was the board's first witness …

Talk

County Audit Reveals Swap Risk

Hinds County may have earned almost $4.5 million from a complex financial deal, but few in the county appear able to explain where the money went.

Education

JPS Weighs Bullying Policy

The bullying got so bad that LaShron Cooley's daughter began to feel physically sick before school. As a sixth-grader in the International Baccalaureate Program at Northwest Middle School, the girl …

Business

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 …

Frank Melton

Bodyguard Gives Damaging Evidence Against Melton, Recio

On Feb. 10, jurors in the federal civil rights trial of Mayor Frank Melton heard from the government's star witness, former mayoral bodyguard Marcus Wright. Wright, who pled guilty to …

Politics

A More Collegial Council

At 33, Marcus Ward is already a veteran of Jackson city politics. From 2005 to 2009, he served as chief of staff and director of intergovernmental relations under former Mayor …

Crime

Out of Time

Once the drugs started to flow, it took only a minute for Benny Joe Stevens' lips to stop moving. He slipped out of consciousness, and soon his heart stopped.

Crime

Hinds DA: Castle Doctrine Has Gray Areas

Mississippi's "castle doctrine" law, which allows for the use of deadly force in certain self-defense situations, has some gray areas, Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith acknowledged in a …

Development

Hinds Unloading Title Building

For three years, the Mississippi Valley Title Building has weighed on Hinds County's budget without contributing much of anything in the way of revenue. Purchased in 2007 for a planned …

Crime

Council Steps Sideways on Civilian Review

The Jackson City Council approved a resolution today that represents an intermediate step toward establishing some form of civilian oversight of the Jackson Police Department. After months of deliberation in …

Community Remembers the Homeless

Candles burned in Galloway United Methodist Church today to commemorate the lives of six homeless men who died in Jackson this year.

Education

Commission Readies School Consolidation Report

A governor-appointed panel is set to issue its final recommendations on school district consolidation in the next month. The Commission on Education Structure met at the state Capitol today to …

Business

Business Round Up: Two Markets and A New Film Festival

A former grocery store near the Jackson Medical Mall reopened Saturday as a farmer's market. Part of the Roadmap to Health Equity Project, the market is located in the former …