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Honor the 2010 Chicks We Love at Chick-A-BOOM!
Every year, the Jackson Free Press chooses a delightful slate of Chicks We Love to spotlight, and each year we host the JFP Chick Ball to raise money to fight domestic abuse in our community. This year, we decided to put them together in a new and fun way to help seed the new legal fund at the Center for Violence Prevention. We chose 15 fabulous and strong women to name as "honorary chicks" for the July 24 Chick Ball; 11 of those women are featured in this issue as the Chicks We Love. (The other four " Julie Skipper, Nicole and Susan Marquez and Beth Poff•"were recently featured in the JFP and are already lifetime "Chicks We Love.") We will honor all 15 of these women at a special Chick-a-Boom reception in Hal & Mal(tm)s brew pub at 7 p.m. Saturday during the Chick Ball. Tickets to the reception are $50, and include food and cocktails, as well as Chick Ball admission. Call 601-932-4198 for info.
Ceasefire in the City? How Police Can (and Cannot) Deter Gunfire
In 2015, Precinct 2 Commander Jarratt Taylor helped execute a massive enforcement effort called Metro Area Crime Elimination, or MACE for short, promised to be a local version of the national Operation Ceasefire model.
Trump, Bryant Stooping for Nervous White Vote
You can't make it up. The governor who is fighting to enact an anti-LGBT law in Mississippi is working diligently to get the Ku Klux Klan's choice for president elected to the White House. And that isn't even the amazing part.
The Right, and Wrong, Way to Change the Mississippi Flag
It's hard to know whether it cost him votes, but there was a moment during Mississippi Rep. David Baria's unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate that caused a surprised buzz around a state where the conventional wisdom is that criticizing odes to the Confederacy is a political death knell.
Mississippi Churches to Register Voters Sunday, Sept. 28
[Verbatim] (JACKSON, Miss.) – On the cusp of what will be historic election, the Jackson (MS) Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated announces its "Voter Registration Countdown" through Oct. 3. As a statewide effort targeted to register some of the 400,000 Mississippians who are not registered to vote in the upcoming November election, the local chapter has harnessed its energies on three fundamental components including high schools, churches and communities.
New answers up from Max Phillips
I have to say, two of the agriculture commissioner candidates, both Republicans, are leading the pack on substantive questionnaires as far as I can see. You've got to go read the very thoughtful answers of Max Phillips and Roger Crowder and about very important issues for Mississippians (pesticides, organics, grocery-store safety and so on). Go on to the Ag page. These are the kind of thoughtful answers we're looking for; I applaud them. On a lesser note, I don't think that anyone's running for lieutenant governor, and I thought the treasurer field was crowded and competitive, but only two have been in touch about their answers. Oh well. To Haley Barbour's credit, his campaign staff has called repeatedly to apologize for not getting answers in, yet. Until they get them done, we're going to post issues information from his Web site. But the campaign has promised a full and substantive line-up of answers in the next couple weeks at least. (You get the feeling they're not worried about primary challenger Mitch Tyner.) We do look forward to the answers, and we appreciate them communicating with us about them. A point added to the Barbour column.
Eric Stringfellow: Why back candidate who does not vote?
Eric Stringfellow writes in the Clarion Ledger:
7 Innings to Extraordinary Kids
Rafe Esquith, who has taught at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles since 1984, inspires young students—all from a poor, immigrant community—to become extraordinary students and citizens.
Green Party of MS Says Stop Buying Public Offices
(Aug. 16, 2003, press release) The Green Party of Mississippi announces its support for a new project called "White House for Sale" which tracks the special-interest contributions to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and analyzes the record of favoritism, conflicts-of-interest and influence peddling related to those contributions. The project is sponsored by Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit public interest organization with 140,000 members, which focuses on returning the power of government to the voters and taxpayers.
From Terrorists to Politicians, the Council of Conservative Citizens Has a Wide Reach
When I clicked on Dylann Roof's alleged racist "manifesto" yesterday, I wasn't surprised at all to see the name of the Council of Conservative Citizens name-checked. In some ways, I was happy to see it.
BREAKING: Lee Vance New Police Chief; Anderson Out?
More details as they emerge.
WAPT is about to report that Mayor Frank Melton today promoted Commander Lee Vance to the position of police chief, meaning that current Chief Shirlene Anderson is out.
A ‘Gang,’ By Any Other Name
The word "gang" means different things to different people—and the realities of organized gangs in U.S. cities have shifted over the years. One result is that many of them are not the hierarchical organized-crime syndicates of past years.
Trolling for Alternatives
"We must find an alternative to war and bloodshed." Those words by the late, great Martin Luther King Jr. are helping drive thousands of America to organize against a preemptive war against Iraq. And after 30,000-plus protesters gathered in Washington and around the country two days before the holiday honoring Dr. King's birth, even the mainstream media are starting to pay attention. Here in Mississippi, The Clarion-Ledger ran two front-page articles, including one by James V. Walker, who accompanied 15 protesters from Jackson in two vans on their 2,000-mile round-trip journey to Washingon to protest the war.
HOOD: 156 of Barbour's Pardons Did Not Meet Legal Rules
Attorney General Jim Hood this evening released his latest findings about Gov. Haley Barbour's barrage of last-minute pardons. This is verbatim statement from Hood:
Torture of Children in Florida
This is not unlike what officials were doing to the children of Mississippi in our training schools for decades. It is simply unbelievable that this crap is allowed to go on in 2006 to poor kids, and especially poor children of color—the people with the least rights or respect in our country. Then, of course, the mother-f*cks try to cover it up. As far as I'm concerned, every one of these guards should go to prison for the rest of their lives, along with any officials who authorize such torture of children. AP is reporting:
Urgent: Last Call for Education Funding
[verbatim from Nancy Loome] According to a report in today's Clarion Ledger, Senate Appropriations Chair Jack Gordon implied to the full Senate that other state agencies, specifically colleges and universities, must be shortchanged in order to fully fund the MAEP. THIS IS NOT THE POSITION OF THE COALITION, nor is it the position of other education supporters. Here's what you can do right now....
They Call Him Mr. Bass, by Katherine R. Dougan
Everybody knows him, either by name or reputation.
When I first met Raphael Semmes, I didn't realize he was a legend on bass guitar. My first impression: Semmes was a super-nice guy who played bass. Moments later, I learned better.
Behind the Badge: Two JPD Officers Who Shot Multiple People in Jackson
After about a year of asking, the Jackson Free Press learned the names, current status and in eight out of nine cases, the details of officer-involved shootings since Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba took office in July 2017, promising transparency and police reform.
End Near for Racist Politics in Mississippi?
Wearing a long coat, she stood in front of a statue of Elvis Presley when she told the crowd that if her friend Colin Hutchinson "invited me to a public hanging, I would be on the front row."