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State Street Repairs; New Farish Hotel Announced

Two development projects announced today will add to Jackson's renaissance. Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. announced a $586,000 street paving project on State Street between Woodrow Wilson and Seneca avenues, and Watkins Development Vice President Jason Goree announced the national Hotel Indigo chain is planning to open a boutique hotel in the Farish Street Entertainment District.

Barbour Gives Details on Bio-Fuels Plant

A Houston-based company manufacturing a crude-oil substitute from timber has picked Mississippi to locate its first three production facilities, Gov. Haley Barbour announced at a press conference this afternoon. Barbour has called a special legislative session tomorrow to authorize an economic incentive package for the start-up company, KiOR.

NAACP President: Segregation Still a Problem

One example of how state and local government continues to attack public education in Mississippi is a bill that would allow charter schools, said NAACP President Derrick Johnson during a community meeting at Koinonia Coffee House today.

‘Black Power', According To Dr. King

In January, many of us make efforts to remember a visionary and his dream. If only briefly, we try to imagine the utopian society Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described instead of facing the lives we actually lead. King spent his life trying to unify a race of people in order to improve the lot of a nation, even as different philosophies increasingly segmented the black community until divergent ideologies split the movement.

[Balko] Ignorance of the Law is No Excuse

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse." That's the standard line motorists hear when they say they weren't aware of the speed limit, or gun owners hear when they say didn't know about the gun laws in the jurisdiction they happened to get arrested in. Yet that ignorance is pretty understandable in an America where just about everything is criminalized. At the federal level alone, there are now more than 4,500 separate crimes, and that's not counting the massive regulatory code, violations of which also can sometimes be punished with criminal charges.

Hello, Neighbor

On a recent visit to Oktoc, Miss., my aunt showed me a relic from my family's past. If this archaic machine could talk, it would tell stories about a community that had to rely on its neighbors before modern-day conveniences.

The Death of Grass Roots?

The Web site http://www.grassroots.com isn't exactly what one would expect. There aren't any passionate people promising to stand up for issues, no local communities to join, no petitions to sign. The site, instead, is designed for political moguls looking for someone to send out a few e-mails to interested constituents, build a trendy Web site—and then more than likely charge them a fortune. This, it would seem, is a contradiction of what "grass roots"—rough-around-the-edges ground-up activism—is supposed to mean.

‘Thurgood's Coming:' Tale of a Hero Lawyer

When Thurgood Marshall hung out his shingle in 1933 as an attorney in his hometown of Baltimore, he immediately became a very popular attorney among fellow African Americans. One problem, though: His clients couldn't afford to pay the young man who received his law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Men We Love

by David McCarty, Emily Braden Knight, Robert Williamson, Casey Parks, Thabi Mooyo, Swetha Regunathan, Todd Stauffer

30 Under 30

Mynelle Gardens, on Clinton Boulevard, is a botanical wonderland. There are seven acres of nooks and crannies—a perfect setting for romantic walks.

[Gregory] Thank God I'm White

The other day I was reading the letters to the editor of The Clarion-Ledger. This isn't a new activity. I will admit, I usually boot up the computer in the morning and pull up the C-L opinion page just to read a few lines and remember where it is that I actually live.

Barbour Pardons Helped Many More White People Than Black Ones

I'm sure this will come as a surprise to no one, but it's official: Haley Barbour's last-minute pardons overwhelmingly benefitted whites. A Reuters team, including stringer and JFP political freelancer Robbie Ward, analyzed the race of the criminals on the list and found that although black peoplerepresent more than two-thirds of MIssissippi's prison population, fewer than a third of Barbour's pardonees were black:

A Walk In The Sunshine

In Mississippi, two laws govern public records and meetings—the Public Records Act and the Public Meetings Act. These acts make clear the obligation of all levels of government, whether state, county or city, to release public documents and make public meetings accessible to citizens.

[City Buzz] Kenny Said He's Gonna Slap Me

MAMA, KENNY SAID HE'S GONNA SLAP ME: About time you think that Kenneth Stokes has calmed the hell down, someone goes and sets him off again. Even though we can see why anybody would want to slap the maddening Ben Allen now and then, shame on Stokes. That said, we don't think Stokes gets a fair rap in the city, or at least in Northeast Jackson and the suburbs and the daily paper, but threatening to pop anyone in front of cameras seems so, well, caveman. Also amazing, Allen suddenly announced for the cameras that a man sitting in the front row—Leon Horne, apparently a Council gadfly and Brown supporter—had allegedly threatened his life if didn't support Brown's promotion. Huh?

Let the Madness Begin

Every year, millions of American's fill out NCAA Tournament brackets for money, prizes or for fun, then they hope not to get their brackets busted.

The Best In Sports In 7 Days

'Tis the season to be jolly, but football is nearing the end. Bah! Humbug!

[Saldaña] La Nueva Estrategia del Sur

In Mississippi's first elections since the explosive national immigration bill debate, candidates across the political spectrum are lining up to take their best shot at undocumented immigrants. It's a no-holds-barred match. Public sentiment against "illegal aliens" is strong, and the targets are politically weak. Illegal immigrants—many of whom arrived to help rebuild the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina—cannot vote, and few dare to speak up for fear of deportation. Unscrupulous employers have long exploited this weakness. Now politicians are taking their crack at the state's new straw men: undocumented Latinos.

Drinking Wine with a Vulcan

Photos by Caroline Lacy

"You don't seem like the Trekkie type," people say. I suppose they are referring to my lack of computer skills or that I would much rather shop instead of argue over which "Star Trek" series had the best captain. I guess it's obvious to a life-long Trekkie that I have only been a fan for a relatively short time. It was only seven years ago since I saw an entire episode. I remember it well: I was 24, single and knocked up. I had moved back in with my mother and alcoholic stepfather on a horse farm in Athens, Ala. The only places to shop were Wal-Mart and Goodie's. I was in hell. I spent most of my time alone, hiding in my room, doing everything I could to avoid interaction with my stepfather in case the rum and Coke flipped on his meanie switch.

Back from Philly, Whew

Todd and I got back yesterday from the AAN national convention in Philly (Pa., not my Mississippi hometown). It's good to be homewhere it's actually cooler than it was in the Northeast, believe it or not. As usual, we worked hard (Todd gave a presentation; I coordinated one; and I did board meetings and the like), and met lots of folks. One thing that is cool is how accepted and welcomed Mississippi is in the alternative-newspaper world after only five years of membership. People really admire what we're doing with diversity and online (blogging way back in 2002, oh my), and are impressed with the native talent that we are blessed to have working for the paper. The best moment for the JFP were the awards we wonincluding two first places. The big one was the community service award we won for our team's investigative work (and blogging) over the last three years that helped put James Ford Seale in jail. That meant a lotand felt a whole lot like Mississippi standing up to publicly face and confront our past. It's very different from having "outsiders" assume we haven't changed; it's great to give them award-winning evidence that we are actively evolving.

Innocent Man Freed; Shabby Prosecutor Now a Judge

Bernard Baran served 22 years on dubious child molestation charges, yet the prosecutor who convicted him isn't even inconvenienced.

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