Jackson Jambalaya

 State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement. 

The 2024 race for the presidency was shaping up to be a replay of the 2020 campaign. Then, Biden changed everything. Or, maybe not. Maybe everyone finally saw through the lies that had hidden the truth for years.

Glow in the dark condoms, hallucinogenic toads, the homeless, and an Amazon battalion.  What do they all have in common? Let's go back to 1990 and find out. 

The Veterans Affairs executed a lease with Tim Bennett's Kusche Sports Group, LLC for the lease of 234 parking spaces in July 2021. The contract is scheduled to pay Kusche $5.5 million over 15 years although the company must provide shuttle service and maintain the parking lot. 

America faces an axis of aggression. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are not only actively undermining US interests. They increasingly seem to be working together.

Until the fourth of July comes again, well maybe it's only 51 weeks now but there is no real reason to panic over what we will eat for the next Independence Day celebration meal. As for me, here is the one I fixed for 7/4/2024. Worked pretty well so I might just do a redo for 7/4/2025.

 The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation issued the following statement and pictures. 

Students will have to lock up their cellphones when they return to school in Marshall County in a few weeks.  WREG reported: 

 The Madison Police Department issued the following statement. 

Hopefully Daniel Wayne Callihan is moving one step closer to his execution.   The Hinds County grand jury indicted Callihan for capital murder, kidnapping, three counts of sexual battery, and possession of a stolen vehicle.  

Credit: KPAL

 JXN Water issued the following statement. 

 Annie Oeth authored the following press release for the University of Mississippi Medical Center. 

 Sometimes breaking up is hard to do......

Slick sketches and resumes were submitted to the city of Jackson by Facilities Solution Team in response to Jackson's request for a statement of qualifications for a Convention Center hotel.  Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and Sherik Smith are partners in the company.  Two other companies submitted SOQ's as well.    

Facilities Solution Team's Convention Center Hotel Rendering

The older I become the more I appreciate crossroads in life. All of us reach different crossroads at various times during our lives. I can look back over the course of my 62 years and clearly see where I made wise and healthy decisions that impacted my future, and other times when I made the wrong choice and headed down an unwise and unhealthy path. It’s life. We make mistakes. I don’t beat myself up about them. I learn and move on. The best we can hope for is that— as we grow older and reach life’s challenging crossroads— we make wiser decisions more often than we make stupid ones.

 Madison-Rankin District Attorney Bubba Bramlett issued the following statement. 

The most recent federal court ruling ordering Mississippi to make changes in state legislative districts based on federal Voting Rights Act violations isn’t your grandfather’s federal court order on legislative redistricting or even your father’s. The new voting rights ruling in the case Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP, et al, v. State Board of Election Commissioners, et al, differs.

 It is a sad day up in Greenwood.  The Crystal Grill posted the following message on Facebook: 

The bridges might be falling apart but such means little to those who run Hinds County.  The Office of State Aid Road Construction informed Hinds County it will revoke $1.4 million in state aid for bridge repair after the county failed to spend the money.   

JJ discovered more weaseling concerning the lease of Smith-Wills Stadium.   Although the 2019 lease required Kusche Sports Group to obtain a $5 million performance bond and submit a copy with the city of Jackson, the city has no such copy.   

Waffle House made some drastic changes in Vicksburg: 

 The Mississippi Highway Patrol issued the following press release. 

 Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba is holding his weekly briefing.  The presser is live-streamed below. 

 The Goon Squad may be gone but 135 Conerly Road in Braxton is not forgotten nor has it been quiet amid allegations of domestic violence and crack use.   

State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement. 

 It's been 28 years....

"The most popular religion in the world is the worship of success, the worship of lust, the worship of power, the worship of the world instead of loving the Lord God with all heart and soul and mind and strength and it's showdown time, I think," preached the late Dr. Frank Pollard in the 1996 sermon posted below.  

The late Democratic Cong. G. V. “Sonny” Montgomery was a mainstay of the Congressional Prayer Breakfast. At Sonny’s memorial service in 2006, former Republican Congressman and Secretary of the Army Pete Geren called the breakfast “an island of fellowship.” Another former Republican congressman, Ed Pease, called it “an oasis for the spirit.”

Nine women bond through the ups and downs of life as they train to become Women's Airforce Service Pilots during World War 2. 

This past Sunday our church sang “America the Beautiful.” I love to sing the old patriotic hymns around July 4th. We sang several together and most in our congregation could sing the old hymns by heart.

 Meanwhile over by St. Dominic Hospital.....

 It's not quite time for college football season but it's always time for a good college football game.  Posted below is a little gem that recently popped up on Youtube: Archie Manning's last game against LSU.  The Fightin' Tigers had Bert Jones and some other all-time greats on their side, including a mouthy wimp named Art Cantrell while the Rebels had Archie.  Manning hadn't played in a month due to a broken arm but he suited up and gave it all that he had.  Enjoy the game. 

 You can tell a lot about someone’s politics given what they might have to say about the conviction of Donald Trump.

 Rest of City Council remains silent.

 As Timothy Bennett weasels out of his Smith-Wills rent, Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote charged up the hill in an attempt to hold the Lumumba Administration and Bennett accountable at Tuesday's meeting of the Jackson City Council. 

Huh? No catchy title? What's got into you Mr. PolyBear?  

 Correction: We screwed up. JJ initially reported Simpson County in the first sentence. 

The Smith County Sheriff's Office issued the following statement. 

Looking for a good deal on an iPad Pro? 

 The wheels of justice are moving swiftly indeed for Wayne Callihan and his girlfriend, Victoria Cox.  Callihan stands accused of murdering a mother in Louisiana, kidnapping her two young daughters, and killing one of them in Jackson.   

Credit: KPAL

Leftenent Governor Dilbert Hosemann issued the following statement. 

In a poll of national food critics I believe New Orleans would be listed among the top three food cities in America. To my taste— and I’ve eaten extensively in most of America’s top restaurant cities— New Orleans is number one. Period. No question. End of discussion.

Last year and likely next year as well, the Mississippi Legislature was focused on the question of Medicaid expansion. The tenor of that debate focused on the perceived impact on the bottom line of beleaguered Mississippi hospitals under an expanded Medicaid program, particularly those in rural areas of Mississippi.

 The Byram Police Department issued the following statements. 

 The Jackson City Council elected Ward 7 Councilwoman Virgi Lindsey to President of the City Council and Ward 4 Councilman Bryan Grizzell to the Vice-President position.  

Madison-Rankin District Attorney issued the following statement. 

 A high-school junior will be going to the Olympics.  USA Today reported: 

What could possibly go wrong with this kid? 

 El Presidente loves him some watermelon, especially if it's from Smith County.  

 Mississippi Speaker of the House of Representatives Jason White issued the following statement. 

 Debt? What debt? The Jackson City Council approved a measure earlier this year that granted relief to Kusche Sports Sports Group lease of Smith-Wills Stadium.

What happens when some new kids show up at school?