Robbie, I assume you didn't do any homework before snarking about Todd, Sam's Club, etc. Study after study is showing that warehouse stores end up costing people more and have a worse selection than most regular grocery stores. And people tend to buy huge unhealthy bags of snacks and such, thus making it easier to eat poorly. Which, of course, in turn increases their risk of health problems. And if they're the poor ones you pretend to be concerned about here, much of those health care costs will end up being paid by taxpayers.

Obviously, you're not listening to a word that Todd, I or various others are saying. You're just listening to refute. But the problem is that you're wrong on this one.

Let me guess: You're also in favor of payday lending because poor folks need money to pay their rent, right? I'm guessing you'd apply the same logic to that issue.

Or, technically, "became."

Darryl, "becomes" should be "become" in that sentence, being that you're keeping score.

Gotta love how The Clarion-Ledger did a story yesterday about Regina Quinn's bankruptcy filings two weeks after she talked about it in the above interview. Right on schedule for them.

... and we're not worried that it's going to give all those withering southern belles the vapors, either. SMH.

Snark aside, this does speak to a larger issue. Despite some admirable work that helped put Klansmen in prison for race murders over the years, The Clarion-Ledger has never helped educate Mississippians about institutional racism and how we got here. They seldom, if ever, include context in stories, and many people (including myself) believe they intentionally don't care to connect the dots that might offend white readers, even as they give token and surface nods to diversity. There is very little "why" there. I call their approach the "Krazy Klucker in the Korner" syndrome: let's go find that guy, and make everyone else (white) feel like our history of racism is all about a handful of crazy guys, not a long conspiracy to keep wealth and the vote out of non-white hands, promulgated by state government, law enforcement, the citizens council, the Klan terrorist arm and, sadly, many in the business community, including bank and loan redlining and so much more, as Byron talks about briefly in his column.

It is wonderful and right to salute our black heroes during Black History Month, THIS kind of complicated history is what explains today's wealth and education divisions, as well as crime and poverty issues, that too many uninformed white Mississippians still attribute to "laziness" or "the family" -- without bothering to figure out what happened to the family structure in the first place and who did it.

This kind of connect-the-dot education is vital if we are to solve the problems of our state -- from youth crime to abject poverty. But The Clarion-Ledger is too worried about offending white women in their 40s (and presumably the people who advertise to them) to publish this kind informed column that can lead to needed dialogue.

It's an insult to every one of us.

The Clarion-Ledger, and the Gannett corporation, really do assume that white people in Mississippi are stupid and racist, don't they? Yuck. They spiked a wonderful column as a result. But we're thrilled to run it.

And swurveus, I agree with you about the focus not being enough on the small businesses on Farish and the rest of downtown. Many of our leaders downtown want big stuff that costs a lot of money—and falls through easily. I will respect them much more when I hear just as much emphasis put on filling the storefronts with something creative. I'm like a broken record on that point by now, but we've seen it work in so many cities, including some of the ones some folks get on buses to go see. But it's as if they can only see arenas, lakefront development and convention centers. Those things won't change a thing in Jackson without a serious focus on density of locally owned businesses. It's time to see some serious leadership on that front, and we just haven't yet.

Ashlee, no doubt, one of the hardest parts of shopping local affordably are clothes. I shop at a LOT of consignment stores, personally, and I shop for sales. Like most people, I have to go to chains for certain items, but I try to limit it and choose viable local options first. "Shop local first" is a good way to think of it.

It is a wire story and not the first time I've disagreed with AP's choices. I've posted under their stories on our site before about ways I disagreed; I encourage others to do the same. It's a chance for education and dialogue.

Darryl, put the snark back in your pocket. Anyone has the right to question or criticize a public servant, and that is all a governor is.

The way to spare yourself from it is not to read it. No one else here has to "spare" you anything.