Melton's Honeymoon, Part III: Crime and Punishment, Melton StyleFrank Melton carried the May 2 mayoral primary in part because of a surly, take-no-prisoners attitude on crime. Melton used his 14-month tenure as head of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics to forge a local image as a hard-nosed delivery …
The Honeymoon, Part II: Melton's SecretsOne month after taking over the mayor's seat, Frank Melton said that the news business hadn't quite worked its way out of his soul.
Wal-Mart's Welfare: How The Taxpayers Subsidize GoliathWal-Mart, the Alpha Dog of discount stores, has also become the Alpha Hog at the public trough. In many states, taxpayers are supporting the phenomenal growth of the world's largest corporation through economic development subsidies. A Wal-Mart official once stated …
John Dicker: Taking On The Other Uncle SamJournalist JohnDicker, 32, has worked on films and in labor unions since studying film at Ithaca College in New York. The Bedford, N.Y.-native's non-fiction work has appeared in The Nation, Salon and the Colorado Springs Independent, among other publications. His …
Book Review: Another Brick At The Wal"It's hard to know exactly when it happened … but for now it's clear: We're all Wal-Mart's bitches." When a quote like that launches you into "The United States of Wal-Mart," (Tarcher/Penguin Putnam, 2005, $12.95) you know that it's not …
Melton's Honeymoon, Part I: ‘Hurry Up And Wait'Mayor Frank Melton rode into the mayor's office with an 88 percent margin of victory according to a July 27 press release from the city. Though the margin was lower during the Democratic primary against incumbent Harvey Johnson Jr., and …
Dear Meadville: Thomas Moore Tries To Wake Up His HometownOn his July pilgrimage back to his native Mississippi, Thomas Moore got his hopes up. With the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and the Jackson Free Press documenting his effort, Moore went back to his native Franklin County, and over to Natchez, …
Haley's Unholy AllianceWhen Haley Barbour was head of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997, he loathed Medicare, the federal health-care program, and tried to gun it down in the GOP "Contract with America," which he helped write with Rep. Newt …
With A Little Help From My Friends: Waveland's Getting ByIn Waveland, Miss., the little town that arguably received the worst punishment Katrina could mete out, those credited with the swiftest response are not disaster-relief groups or government agencies, but a bunch of hippies and a rock band.
Paradise Lost: Latinos Caught In Katrina SqueezeStrangely, it wasn't the hurricane itself that tore down the life and family of Daniel Dotta. It was the clean-up crew that came along behind it.
Driving While Young: Why The City's Curfew Isn't All ThatWhen she got up the morning of July 10, 2003, Leslie Berryhill did not know she was going to face the "scariest thing" of her short life. Leslie, who was seven months from her 18th birthday, spent the evening of …
Pass/Fail: Student Drug Testing For JPS?Only three weeks after his election, Mayor Frank Melton announced that he would like to see all students in Jackson Public Schools tested for drug use. The announcement came at the mayor's second City Council meeting, and he asked the …
No Apologies: Inside Mississippi's Pro-Life MovementBruce Stuckey and Roy McMillan are doing what many people would consider radical—standing outside the Jackson Women's Health Clinic in mid-September, protesting in the rain. They are flanked by a visiting group from Kansas City, young protesters with the word …