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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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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.
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 …
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 …
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.
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 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 …