[Balko] Getting Forensics Rightby Radley Balko March 14, 2011 After countless scandals in recent years, the problems with America's forensics system are finally getting some national attention. In December, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced a bill to reform the country's crime labs. In …
Freedom Rider to Speak at MillsapsCivil Rights activist and original Freedom Rider Hank Thomas will speak about Rabbi Perry Nussbaum and the Freedom Riders March 25 at Millsaps College.
Redistricting: Get MovingThe Mississippi House of Representatives did the right thing this week by stapling its Senate-rejected redistricting plan onto the Senate's own redistricting map. Both chambers must approve each other's redistricting map to complete the new districts by the June 1 …
Redistricting Fight Comes HomeHinds County's redistricting woes are not over, yet. One week after the county Board of Supervisors voted to approve new district maps, the board faces a possible lawsuit over its decision to hire Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson to oversee …
[Balko] You Can Have Sex With Them; Just Don't Photograph ThemIn the spring and summer of 2006, Eric Rinehart, at the time a 34-year-old police officer in the small town of Middletown, Ind., began consensual sexual relationships with two young women, ages 16 and 17. Rinehart was going through a …
A Museum Split?The total cost of a proposed Mississippi civil-rights museum could depend on its location. While Gov. Haley Barbour and a majority of the state House of Representatives have backed a site in downtown Jackson, a competing bill passed last week …
Barbour's Cross to BearIn 1968 in Yazoo City, Police Chief Ardis Russell Sr. arrested a black mother, LeBertha Owens, for trying to take her young daughter, Gloria, to the public library for materials to complete her school assignments. Her daughter was left behind, …
‘They're Taking Daddies Away'Colonial Terrace Apartments resident Angella Rector speaks with a slow southern drawl that drips of mobile home and Larry the Cable Guy. The redhead married her husband, Juan Espanoza, two years ago. They lived on a tight family budget with …
Judging CarefullyFor Judge Leslie King, serving on the Mississippi Supreme Court is a natural career move, if not necessarily one he expected. Last week, Gov. Haley Barbour appointed King to the Supreme Court, replacing Justice James Graves, whom President Barack Obama …
Improve Jackson for JacksoniansJackson shares a perception problem with the rest of the nation, and media are manipulating that perception with the recent Census data. Why is it taking so long for the perception to match reality?
[Gregory] Ready, Boots? Start Marching!History proves that no matter the legality of abortion, someone will perform them. Let me say that one more time for the men sitting in the cheap seats: "No matter the legality of abortion, they will be done." It truly …
Integrating Yazoo: Race and Change in Haley Barbour's HometownGloria Owens froze with fear as a German shepherd barreled toward her at the entrance of Yazoo City Junior High School on a fall morning in 1968. "Get that n*gger," she heard her classmate command his dog. As the dog …
Barbour Signs AG's Domestic Violence BillA domestic violence related bill sponsored by Attorney General Jim Hood has been signed into law. Gov. Haley Barbour signed SB 2426, which makes it a misdemeanor for someone to prevent a victim from seeking emergency medical or law enforcement …
To Stop Flight, Be ConsistentThere is a serious disconnect right now in Jackson. Since hysterical media reports of recent weeks about continuing "white flight" out of Jackson caused, well, a degree of hysteria among some city residents, it's been interesting, and encouraging, to watch …
Gloria Owens froze with fear as a German shepherd barreled toward her at the entrance of Yazoo City Junior High School on a fall morning in 1968. "Get that n*gger," she heard her classmate command his dog. As the dog …