Dr. James Bowley"I love my job!" proclaims Dr. James E. Bowley on his Web site. Bowley, an associate professor in the Millsaps College department of religious studies, teaches courses on the Bible and related religious traditions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. "What's not …
Supreme Court: Fairview Illegally ZonedThe Mississippi Supreme Court refused to revisit its August decision regarding a four-star bed and breakfast in Jackson. The court had earlier decided that the city of Jackson had illegally spot-zoned the property for the Fairview Inn, on Fairview Street …
Johnson: Test Scores Reflect Education FundingMississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson blames legislators for the state's low rank in a national summary of elementary school math grades. "The Nation's Report Card: Mathematics 2009," released yesterday, outlines achievements of fourth- and eighth-graders on the National Assessment of …
Jackson Police Putting Focus on Property CrimeAssistant Police Chief Lee Vance called on Jackson police to concentrate on property crimes in the city, noting at a meeting today that the Jackson Police Department has a "realistic chance" of finishing the year with an overall crime reduction …
Jackson's ComebackYou can feel it in the air. Jacksonians are starting to believe in the power of Mississippi's capital city to be great, to rise from the ashes that fiery politics and racism of old turned us into.
BREAKING: Jackson 11th Best City For Small BusinessThe Jackson Free Press has just learned that Fortune Small Business has named Jackson a "best place to launch" a small business. Jackson ranks 11th on the magazine's list of mid-size American cities, which it released online today. JFP reporter …
You Tell Us!In honor of this week's special ode to the onerous '80s, today's Person of the Day is a JFP staffer pictured here when he was a strapping young Jacksonian, complete with gold chain and muscle shirt. Can you tell who …
[Balko] Scenes From a CrackdownPolice overkill, such as that displayed at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, is becoming more common every day.
GO Zone Deadlines Coming and GoingLocal governments in southern and central Mississippi must begin using federal funds for disaster recovery by the end of the year, according to Gov. Haley Barbour. Barbour recently sent a letter to the 39 cities and counties that received a …
Kristen ThigpenBefore accepting her new job with the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Kristen Thigpen didn't personally know anyone who had been a victim of intimate partner abuse. Since she took the job Oct. 1, she's been researching the issue, which …
Navy Names Ship After Medgar EversThe U.S. Navy is naming a ship in honor of Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who was assassinated outside his Jackson home in 1963. Navy Secretary and former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus is expected to announce the honor when …
Connie McCaaDr. Connie McCaa has set her professional bar high. This week she was again ranked by Best Doctors, an international, independent medical resource, as one of the leading doctors in Mississippi. This is McCaa's 12th consecutive time on the list.
Wicker and Cochran Vote to Protect Contractors, Not WomenBoth U.S. senators from MississippiThad Cochran and Roger Wickervoted against an amendment by Minnesota Sen. Al Franken halting government funding for defense contractors who deny assault victims their day in court. The amendment, successfully introduced to the fiscal year 2010 …
Farish Street Nightclub to Increase SecurityAttorneys for the Birdland Restaurant and Lounge reached an agreement with Jackson city attorneys yesterday to close the Farish Street nightclub for 30 days while addressing security concerns stemming from a recent fatal shooting.
KBR to Engineer Kemper Plant?U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth was electrocuted in his shower stall in Iraq in January 2008. Army documents showed that KBR Engineering and Construction had inspected the building and found serious electrical problems 11 months before Maseth's death.
No Flood Plan = Higher RatesJackson insurance agent Hank Aiken warns that some home-owner insurance policies could triple in price if the Federal Emergency Management Agency changes local flood maps without the benefit of a final flood-control plan for the Pearl River.
Teens Expect JSU HazingA Former Forest Hill High School band director and a local Jackson attorney say that high-school students know what they're getting into when they try out for the Jackson State University marching band, the Sonic Boom of the Southand that …
PSC: Keep Rates LowThe Mississippi Public Service Commission has a hard decision before it.
Lessons of Spencer's DeathAwareness has a huge role in making Mississippiand the U.S.a safer place for women. Created in 2006, the Attorney General's Office Domestic Violence Division, works with the entire judicial system to raise awareness of the issues surrounding domestic abuse.
Honoring HeatherIt is truly a small world that we live in. I attended high school with Mary Heather Spencer, and even though we ran in different circles, I remember hearing of her as a truly nice person with similar adolescent aspirations …
Did She Have To Die?By 10 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2007, the temperatures were well on their way to 93 degrees when JPD Sgt. Eric Wall pulled his cruiser into the turn lane on Northside Drive east of I-55, ready to make a left …
Public Option: A Necessity?Blane McClellan, co-owner of Security Services Inc. of Jackson, says he wants a public option in the national health-care plan to compete with insurance companies that routinely refuse to cover his daughter due to her history of medical ailments.
Jackson Major Crimes Down AgainMajor crimes decreased again last week in Jackson, according to statistics released today at a Jackson Police Department meeting. The city's overall major crime rate was down 13 percent from the previous week, and 0.9 percent year over year.
Accused Can't See Evidence Against ThemOn July 4, 2009, Basil DeJuan Sullivan was arrested for disorderly conduct at Freelon's Bar and Groove. Sullivan alleges that a group of Hinds County deputies threw him out of the Mill Street club, beat him and arrested him without …
Unions Oppose Kemper County PlantUnions have sided with the Mississippi Sierra Club and the Mississippi Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities against Mississippi Power's push to build a $2.4 billion lignite-burning plant in Kemper County.
Jackson Nightclubs Central in LawsuitsControversies surrounding two Jackson nightclubs have put the clubs in the center of separate lawsuits, one as a defendant, the other as the plaintiff.
Barbour Targeting Dem GovernorsIt's political deja vu all over again. In his new role as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Gov. Haley Barbour is playing a key role nationally againstrategizing about how to beat Democrats in races around the country, as well …
Straitjacket of Straight Thinking?The Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees may be holding back its superintendent, but depending on whom you ask, that may not be a bad thing.
Immigrants, Reform, and YouRepublicans throughout the country, especially in the South, have raked "ObamaCare" over the coals, swearing that the president is paving the way for free health care to illegal immigrants.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth was electrocuted in his shower stall in Iraq in January 2008. Army documents showed that KBR Engineering and Construction had inspected the building and found serious electrical problems 11 months before Maseth's death.
It is truly a small world that we live in. I attended high school with Mary Heather Spencer, and even though we ran in different circles, I remember hearing of her as a truly nice person with similar adolescent aspirations …
By 10 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2007, the temperatures were well on their way to 93 degrees when JPD Sgt. Eric Wall pulled his cruiser into the turn lane on Northside Drive east of I-55, ready to make a left …