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Watching the Watchdogs

Former TV sportscaster Rick Whitlow seems like an incredibly nice person. He did not, however, impress me as a criminology expert when we met April 24 to talk about his new job. He is executive director of the new Metro Jackson SafeCity Watch, a group formed to bring "accountability, enhanced communications, community involvement, and entrepreneurial energy to the broken Metro Jackson Criminal Justice system," as a press release put it on April 28.

Real Life

As I start this column, I'm in a hotel room in Baltimore, Md., just outside of BWI airport, having had my flight back to Jackson canceled repeatedly for the past two days because the airport had no power and water. I'm watching the Weather Channel and CNN and checking in to post things on the JFP Web site, because I'm the only member of the staff with Internet access. Or power. The devastation on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans is heartbreaking and, seemingly, getting worse by the hour.

The Cost of Not Shopping Local

Jacksonians were bummed to discover last week that the city plans to raise water fees by 13 percent and sewer fees by 6 percent to shore up the city's budget after a drop in sales-tax revenue.

[Balko] Chicago's Thick Blue Wall

The Windy City's notoriously aggressive police department fights for less accountability.

The Best We Can Be

Last week, I attended one of those uniquely Jackson events that national media never seem to know about when they paint us with a broad brush. It was a performance of "Defamation," a play by a Chicago playwright that allows the audience to act as jury and decide whether a black woman or a Jewish man should win a defamation suit she brought against him because he assumed she stole a watch from him and then caused her to lose business as a result.

We Can Do It!

I sure do love it when a plan comes together.

Truth to Power

I spent last weekend in New Orleans at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia convention. It was held in the posh Ritz Carlton in the heart of the city's business district, and I was challenged trying to reconcile our "alternative" moniker with the neat little pyramids of individually rolled cloth hand towels by each sink in the ladies' rooms.

Council Confirms Three Melton Appointments

Jackson City Council voted to confirm three mayoral picks for top city positions this morning. Council members Frank Bluntson, Charles Tillman, Kennneth Stokes, Margaret Barrett-Simon and Marshand Crisler voted to confirm Assistant Chief Vernon Hughes as fire chief with a 4-to-0 vote with Crisler abstaining.

Qi Channel-Surfing

As Dennis Holmes leads me through the dimly lit hall of the Spa at St. Dominic to his treatment room, I am vaguely aware that I am transitioning from a state of muddled exhaustion, a consequence of working all night, to a state of heightened curiosity at what I'm about to experience.

Ring a Bell

At the end of September, I took my vacation in Batesville. Unbeknownst to many--including the majority of Mississippians, I imagine--Batesville is the home to the Magnolia Grove Buddhist Monastery and mindfulness meditation practice center. For five days, 850 participants shared living quarters, meals and the teachings--dharma talks--of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh. The subject was cultivating the mind of love.

Washing Our Souls

On a balmy night last month, I was walking along Frenchmen Street in New Orleans with heavy thoughts. Life suddenly seemed like a game show with so many different paths and choices that come with inevitable disappointments and victories. I pondered the best investment of my time and the sacrifices I would need to make in order to meet my goals. Would it all be worth it in the end?

Fair Funds for Kids?

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., increasingly seems like a holdover from another, kinder era of national politics. Cochran has largely removed himself from the hyper-partisanship of recent years.

Council Concerned over JPS Superintendent

Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes made a rare visit to the Monday work session yesterday to throw his support behind Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Lonnie Edwards, who is up for an evaluation from the school board tomorrow.

Get Smart

Yes, Mississippi is the most obese state. We're too sedate, and our diets suck. No news there.

JRA Rejects Two Bids for Convention Hotel

An Austin, Texas, developer publicly threw its hat into the convention-center hotel ring this morning with a presentation to the Jackson Development Authority. TCI, a Dallas-based company that currently owns the land across the street from the Convention Center, also gave a presentation as expected.

Our Poverty and Thanksgiving

My parents filed bankruptcy when I was in the fifth grade. My father filed a second time with his second wife years later.

Council Re-Elects Bluntson; Holds off on Finances

Jackson City Council President Frank Bluntson considered putting off the council's required election for president at this morning's meeting but reluctantly went ahead with the vote after the city's legal team said the council would be violating state law if they did not act today.

[Balko] Ruining Kids in Order to Save Them

That the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would even need to hear oral arguments in the case of Miller, et al. v. Skumanick last week is a pretty good indication that law enforcement officials in Wyoming County, Pa. have lost their collective minds.

[Kamikaze] Grammy Rehab

Amy Winehouse is a train wreck. She is rumored to use a variety of illegal substances. However, I've found that the music industry's tolerance level of addicts is directly proportionate to how hot their last single or album is. In fact, the music industry's tolerance of anything depends on how many records you've sold in the months prior. (Insert R. Kelly reference here).

You Get What You Pay For

The confluence of two events brought home hard truths about the values that some Mississippians seem to hold dear: The first was Gov. Haley Barbour's budget recommendations for fiscal year 2012. The second was our cover story this week about children being tried as adults and, subsequently, incarcerated in sub-standard facilities, or thrown in with hardened criminals in adult prisons.

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