Jackson Free Press

Join the JFP, the Center for Violence Prevention and the Chick Ball Committee for a free JFP Chick Ball happy hour Thursday, May 31, at Hal & Mal's downtown (200 S. Commerce St.).

At a noon press conference at Mississippi Republican headquarters, the state party took the sheet off its newest additions: Seven county-level officials who were elected as Democrats officially joined the Republican Party. According to the Mississippi GOP, those officials include:

Paul and Barbara Love of Ridgeland each pleaded guilty to federal charges related to hiring undocumented immigrants, said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Gregory K. Davis. Sentencing will take place in August.

Good news! The Southern Poverty Law Center just emailed this statement, pasted in its entirety:

Yesterday was a very good day for the JFP staff, and especially our writers and designers.

Today marks my last day of online classes at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where I've spend the last three years studying graphic design.

The City Council in Columbus passed an ordinance this week banning sagging pants, the Clarion-Ledger reported.

Who ARE you, and why would you do such a thing, Rep. Nunnelee, considering you come from state where domestic abuse is such an epidemic?

The 8th Annual JFP Chick Ball is raising money to help the Center for Violence Prevention start a rape crisis center.

Let's say a meteorite crashed to Earth and landed on the Jackson Free Press' offices, resulting in a broken pinky toe on my left foot. According to a new state law, it would be up to me to prove to my bosses that I wasn't high as a kite when said celestial projectile descended on Fondren.

State Rep. Earle Banks, D-Jackson, just sent out a press release announcing his intention to run for Mississippi Supreme Court Justice in District 1, which Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. now represents.

Rickey Cole just sent out this call for help. Please do what you can.

Some Mississippians are incensed at North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue for comparing her state's recent successful ballot initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman to Mississippi -- whose Constitution also defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

There's a new sheriff in town. Well, technically there's a new Honorary Deputy Sheriff Chaplain in town -- and his name is the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. The Hinds County Sheriff's Department posted 30 photos on its Facebook page of the longtime civil rights leader's swearing in as an honorary county cop yesterday.

Ward 2 City Councilman, attorney and community activist Chokwe Lumumba announced today that he will run for mayor of Jackson in 2013.

The official Great American Grump Out is today, May 2, and participants must vow not to be grumpy for the next 24 hours. Can you handle it?

The Mississippi House again debated a bill aimed at rolling back the powers of the state attorney general. And again, it passed.