Whitney Place to Rebuild FondrenWatkins Partners Developer David Watkins says he plans to move ahead with his plans to tear down a 1938 business strip in Fondren, recently used as a movie set in "The Help," to create space for his proposed multi-use development, …
Levee Board Talking Tax HikesThe Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District Levee Board may be gearing up for a district expansion to pay for a proposed flood-control plan for the Pearl River.
Managing ConflictJeff Weill is accustomed to disagreement. On the Jackson City Council, where he has represented Ward 1 since 2007, he is usually the first and sometimes only member to criticize city spending plans or support budget cuts. The council's lone …
GOP: Avoid Tea Party Kool-AidThat Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and many Mississippi Republicans are aligning themselves with the tea party comes as little surprise. Bryant told The Clarion-Ledger last week that tea-party beliefs "are much like mine."
[Stiggers] Cutback and PrivatizeMr. Announcement: "On this episode of ‘All God's Churn Got Shoes', the Cootie Creek County School Board spends long hours contemplating cutbacks on various education programs within the school system. Let's eavesdrop in on this board meeting to see what …
Facts MatterI have come to expect this from politicians. It disappoints me, but I no longer expect most politicians to be straightforward. They simplify. They pontificate. They talk in code and refuse to stray from carefully crafted, poll-tested talking points.
Sticks & StonesKelsey Ann Jackson threw up. The thought of going to school that morning made her sick. She cried about the mean girls she would have to face in her sixth-grade class. After her mom dropped her off at her grade …
‘I Wanted to Die'I remember the first time I was ever bullied. I was in kindergarten, and this little girl made fun of my curly hair and thick glasses. I retaliated by putting chips in her grape juice.
‘They Accepted Me'After leading a pretty comfortable existence in Gayhead Elementary School, where I'd attended on and off from first grade, fifth grade ended.
NAACP Report Condemns Tea Party RacismA new report issued by the NAACP finds that the national tea-party movement has resentment about racial and social issues running throughout its many factions. The study, titled "Tea Party Nationalism," finds the conservative movement that often purports to focus …
Entergy DOJ Investigation Kept SecretMississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley said he is frustrated that Entergy Mississippi was slow to reveal a weeks-old U.S. Department of Justice civil investigation into Entergy Corporations' energy-purchasing practices.
Downtown Bodega Opening; King Edward Wins AwardThe recently opened Standard Life building will soon have a New York-style grocery store and deli. Gwin Wyatt and her husband, Frank, decided to open the store after her daughter, Brooke Wyatt-Kuhne, moved into the King Edward Hotel while serving …
State to Address Minority Business ParticipationThe state Legislative Joint Study Committee on Minority Business Participation in Public Contracts, Professional Services and Public Works will meet at 2 p.m. at the Capitol today.
Council to Finalize $2.8M in BondsThe Jackson City Council will vote during tomorrow's council meeting on whether to allow a $2.8 million tax increment financing agreement help finance the redevelopment of the King Edward Hotel and Standard Life building.
Hinds Seeks $400K for Hwy 80Hinds County has applied for $400,000 to help redevelop brownfield sites along Highways 18 and 80 in Jackson. The county Board of Supervisors approved an application today to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the grant funds. The grant would …
Whitney Place In the WorksWatkins Partners Developer David Watkins said today that his plans for a multi-use development on eight acres of land in Fondren will replace the deteriorating 1930s business strip used as a set for "The Help" with vibrant residential and retail …
Health-Care Lawsuit Moves ForwardUnited States District Judge Roger Vinson ruled yesterday that a multi-state lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health-care reform law passed by the U.S. Congress earlier this year can move forward, The Christian Science Monitor reports.
Bill Clinton Visits Ole MissFormer President Bill Clinton visits Ole Miss this morning during the "Get Out the Vote" rally with U.S. Rep. Travis Childers.
‘Fair and Even-Handed'Jackson Municipal Judge Ali ShamsidDeen is not trying to be a politically divisive figure, but his background as a editor of the Jackson Advocate in the 1990s and an associate of the law firm Lumumba and Freelon, suggests a controversial …
Property Issues Stall Critical Water LineJackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said the city could have avoided two massive city-wide water failures this year had owners of a historic fishing club not stalled construction of a 54-inch water line between the city's two water-supply plants.
Q&A: Curtis Wilkie on the Wrong CrowdAuthor and University of Mississippi professor Curtis Wilkie speaks with a degree of sadness when he references the life of disgraced Mississippi attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs.
Eminent Domain: A Lawsuit Waiting to Happen?The Mississippi Constitution is a tough thing to change. While state law allows voters to amend the Constitution by approving a ballot initiative, it also prohibits ballot initiatives from changing the section that lists the state Bill of Rights.
Fortification Renewal Set for 2011Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said he expects construction to begin on the renewal of Fortification Street project by early next year.
Big Fair Numbers, Medical Mall Groundbreaking, Creative Class ConferenceThe Mississippi State Fair is attracting much larger crowds than it did last year, when rain kept attendance low. An estimated 307,052 people attended the fair through Monday, according to the state Fair Commission. Attendance through the weekend was almost …
McGowan Confronts Board Over Levee ConfusionJackson oilman and "Two Lakes" developer John McGowan went before the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District Levee Board this morning, demanding clarity over whether the board's one-lake plan would include expanded levees.
Barbour Frequently Out of StateMississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was out of state all or part of 48 days in July, August and September, The Associated Press reported Saturday.
Laid-Off Teachers Hurting EducationMississippi's public education system faces a difficult future, given persistent funding troubles, state Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, said today. Speaking at the Jackson Chamber of Commerce's Friday Forum at Koinonia Coffee House, Blount touched on a number of topics, focusing …
Kelsey Ann Jackson threw up. The thought of going to school that morning made her sick. She cried about the mean girls she would have to face in her sixth-grade class. After her mom dropped her off at her grade …