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BREAKING: McMillin Says That Lee Vance Is JPD No. 2
More details to come.
Sheriff Malcolm McMillin, now doubling as chief of the Jackson Police Department, has just confirmed to Adam Lynch of the Jackson Free Press that he has named Lee Vance as his assistant chief and second in line to the chief.
Monday Alert: Help Save Education Funding
[verbatim from Coalition for Children and Public Education]: Please try one more time to effect some positive outcome for education funding through phone calls. I know you've called already, but please call again today. WE DO NOT WANT TO GO TO SPECIAL SESSION. The outcome of a special session will almost surely be worse than that of a regular session. Please call 5 to 10 people and ask that they each call 4 or 5 people to spread the word that calls need to go out today. Be sure you, all those you call, and all those they call phone your Senator, the LT. Governor and Sen. Little. If your senator is among the 30 who voted against the Bryan Amendment, please make sure to call him or her. Those 30 senators and their phone numbers are listed below.
[Alert] Support Public Education Today
Here's what you can do right now to demand full funding of Adequate Education. An alert just in from Parents for Public Schools; the Jackson Free Press stands with PPS on this issue. Please pick up the telephone now. Keep reading to see who to call.
Edward St. Pé, by Todd Stauffer
OFFSTAGE: Crooning Again
Edward St. Pé, local weatherman-turned-CEO of WeatherVision, has another passion—singing American standards. St. Pé stopped singing nearly eight years ago, but he says he's always missed it. "If you sing, there's a certain channel in you that opens up," St. Pé said. "I'm happier when I sing."
Stokes Wants Gun Discharges in City to Bring Increased Jail Time, Larger Fines
Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes will introduce an ordinance to make discharging a weapon within the city limits punishable by jail time and mandatory fines tomorrow during the regular meeting of the Jackson City Council.
New Katrina Reports Rips Bush ... Again
Don't we know it. AP is reporting:
BREAKING: JPS Agrees to Overhaul Discipline Policies, Settles Lawsuit
Good news! The Southern Poverty Law Center just emailed this statement, pasted in its entirety:
JACKSON, Miss. – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced today that a federal judge has approved a settlement agreement with Jackson Public Schools (JPS) to reform discipline policies across the district and to end the brutal practice of handcuffing students to railings and poles for hours at a time as punishment for minor rule violations.
Singing the Gospel, by Stacia V. Hunter
I've been on the gospel scene in Jackson for almost 10 years as a gospel announcer, writer and an event planner; as a result, I've seen the ebb and flow of the rich gospel scene here. I've witnessed the birth of crossover contemporary gospel as well as the passing of some of gospel's legends. I've also observed the multi-talented local gospel artists that we have here in the Jackson and surrounding areas.
Cotton Is King, by Steve Cheseborough
Eddie Cotton Jr. doesn't see any reason to leave Jackson. "Man, this town has been good to me," says the 32-year-old blues singer-guitarist. "They show appreciation. If you get to a place that's bigger, there's just more of nothing to do. Unless you have a big booking agent, the club scene doesn't get any better than this."
School Movies
OK, some are better than others, but all the following movies set in one way or another in a school are worth renting, if for no other reason than to remember that you're not the only one having to deal with crap at school. And if you have any time left after watching all of these, revisit the school-themed slacker classics "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Dazed and Confused" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
Mississippi Voter Forum, Debates On Way
From the Mississippi League of Women Voters: A Political Forum on Saturday will
Election Day. Secretary of State Eric Clark will lead the introductory Political Forum, then U.S. Representative Benny Thompson and Mississippi Supreme Court justices will be featured in four televised debates sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Mississippi and WLBT-TV (Channel 3) this month. A panel of journalists and League members will question the candidates in each debate.
Where the Elections Parties Are
These are the ones we've heard about. Feel free to add others:
we are just staying at the headquarters at 1755 Leila drive and preparing for a run-off which will be on august 28th and then the general election. we are low key and it will be really a working night for us. we are inviting everyone to stop by. probably between 9 and 10:30 as we will know where we are then.
Making of a Landslide: Chokwe A. Lumumba and a Changing Jackson
Primary night wasn't supposed to end that way. Chokwe Antar Lumumba could not possibly beat nine Democratic opponents outright and avoid a run-off. Here's why he did.
JFP Wins Awards for Feature Writing, Public Service, Commentary
The JFP got more great news Friday night when we learned that we are winning two first-place and one second-place award from the Society of Professional Journalists' southeastern division. Valerie Wells takes first place for feature writing, the Personhood team (this time, including R.L. Nave and Adam Lynch) takes second place for public service, and I won first place for serious commentary. Here is the full press release. Cheers to the team, congratulations to all the winners. We're honored to be in your company:
A Mayor's Story: Tony Yarber on His Past Mistakes and Evolving Vision
Mayor Tony Yarber is different this time around. During his first run for the job vacated when Mayor Chokwe Lumumba died in 2014, a bunch of urgent business suits surrounded and handled him amid a certain amount of arrogant campaign chaos.
Get Excited About Downtown - TODAY
Ben Allen and other Jackson mover-shakers are hosting a shindig today at 5:15 p.m. to expose what is going on downtown. In Allen's words, he hopes to see the "JFP Nation" there in droves. The JFP's Todd Stauffer will unveil plans for Boom Jackson, a new glossy magazine about the city's progress. The Downtown Jackson Partners Economic Development Briefing is tonight, Jan. 24, at the MS TelCom Center from 5:15-7:30 pm. Cash bar; free hors d'eourves. Click here for more information.
Murder in the City: Deep Causes, Harmful Biases, Unexpected Solutions to Gun Violence
On the night of Thursday, Feb. 9, a group of twenty-something Jacksonians were hanging out in Westwood Apartments at 3150 Robinson Road playing dominoes. Suddenly, several men walked in pointing guns and demanding their belongings.
Obama Lead Swells Since Election Night
He's now winning by 7 percent rather than the 5 percent on Election night:
Obama: 67,065,042 (52.7%, 365 EVs)McCain: 58,420,587 (45.9%, 162 EVs)
Mississippians Standing Up for Justice
Welcome to the JFP's new Justice Blog. This blog is dedicated to the quest for justice in old Mississippi civil rights cases. It is also a place we can collect our own work toward that goal to date — the work of a group of native Mississippians who are investigating and publicizing both well-known and little-known civil rights cases of the past. This effort began in earnest when the JFP led an online petition drive, called "Real Mississippians Aren't Racist," calling for the prosecution of the murderers of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, and then picked up steam when the JFP team reported and blogged about the Killen trial in a personal and immediate way that no other media outlet did. Our efforts really paid off when we joined with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and published an in-depth story that kicked off a national media frenzy about the long-forgotten Henry Dee-Charles Moore killings, and revealed that one of the primary suspects is still alive, contrary to reporting by The Clarion-Ledger and The Los Angeles Times.