This year will be over in a few hours. Here’s a look back on some of the big news events of 2010 in Jackson and Mississippi.
January
• “The Lakes Plan that Won’t Recede”— Adam Lynch uncovers the personal and business interests that keep the Two Lakes development proposal afloat.
• After days of freezing temperatures, water-main breaks crop up across the city, forcing state government offices and schools to close, and disrupting business for nearly a week.
• Jackson State University President Ronald Mason defends his proposal to merge Mississippi’s three public historically-black universities into “Jacobs State University.”
February
• “Police Woman” – Adam Lynch talks with Rebecca Coleman, Jackson’s second female police chief.
• Anti-abortion group Personhood Mississippi submits petition signatures to Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann to place a measure on the 2011 ballot that would define personhood to include fetuses.
March
• March 8 – Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann accepts petition signatures to place a voter ID measure on the 2011 ballot.
• “Trust In Me” – Ward Schaefer looks at the city’s homeless and the various groups that serve them.
• March 21 – Boss Queen Jill Conner Browne announces that her Sweet Potato Queens will part ways with Mal’s St. Paddy’s Parade in 2011.
• March 23 – A federal judge rules that the Itawamba County School Board violated student Constance McMillen’s civil rights when it canceled her high school’s prom after she asked to bring a same-sex date.
April
• “Renaissance Man” – Ward Schaefer catches up with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Luckett amid his Clarksdale business ventures.
•An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig starts a leak that will ultimately spill 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
• “The Cost of ‘Tough on Crime’ “ – Adam Lynch delves into the practices–harsh sentencing, confidential informants and more–that give Mississippi the second highest incarceration rate in the country.
• April 30 – Jackson State University President Ronald Mason announces his resignation to become president of Louisiana’s Southern University System.
May
• “Too Little, Too Late?” – Lacey McLaughlin and Adam Lynch tally the human and economic costs of the oil spill on the Gulf Coast.
• A group of 16 death-row inmates sues the state of Mississippi for allegedly violating the state’s legal system.
• The Rankin-Hinds Levee Board approves “Lake 255,” a one-lake flood control plan for the Pearl River.
• “Behind The Mask” – Ronni Mott meets former domestic abusers and looks deeper at an extraordinary program to rehabilitate them.
June
• “Can Nunnelee Beat Childers” – Four months before his victory, future-Congressman Alan Nunnelee talks frankly to Adam Lynch about his conservative platform for the Mississippi and the country.
• City Council approves financial backing for a convention center hotel.
July
• “Give Me Shelter” – Ward Schaefer traces Mississippi’s animal neglect and animal cruelty problem and profiles the people trying to solve it.
• Mississippi Public Broadcasting draws national ridicule after it drops syndicated program “Fresh Air” from its schedule following a listener complaint about sexual content.
• The Mississippi Bond Commission declines to consider Jackson’s request for $6 million to upgrade water infrastructure, sparking a months-long standoff between city and state officials.
• “Starting Again” – Ronni Mott probes Mississippi’s “no-fault” divorce law and its effects victims of domestic abuse.
August
• Aug. 19 – The Jackson Redevelopment Authority agrees to cooperate with developer, Full Spectrum on construction of an 806-car parking garage to support the Old Capitol Green development.
• Aug. 24 – The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance files an ethics proceeding against Hinds County Court Judge Houston Patton for wrongfully jailing parties in civil cases.
• Aug. 27 – In a special session, the Mississippi Legislature authorize a $75 million incentives package for KiOR, a Texas biofuels startup, to locate in the state.
September
• “State of the Coast” – Lacey McLaughlin assesses the Gulf Coast’s recovery, five years after Katrina and months after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
• Sept. 15 – Hundreds rally at the state Capitol, calling for the release of sisters Jamie and Glady Scott.
• BP permanently seals the Deepwater Horizon oil well.
• “On the Anchor Baby Trail” – Adam Lynch debunks anti-immigrant rhetoric and offers a clear-eyed and humane view of undocumented immigrants.
October
• “Domestic Terrorism” – Ronni Mott shows the tragic consequences of Mississippi’s weak anti-stalking laws.
• Oct. 13 – The newly renovated Standard Life Building celebrates its reopening.
•“Sticks & Stones”–JFP Freelancer Valerie Wells puts several faces on the alarming increase in teen bullying and cyberbullying.
November
• “Let My Daughters Go” – Ward Schaefer chronicles the history of the Scott Sisters case and the movement for their freedom.
• Nov. 2 – Mississippi Congressmen Gene Taylor and Travis Childers, both Democrats, lose their seats to Republican challengers Steven Palazzo and Alan Nunnelee.
• “Kids Having Kids” – Lacey McLaughlin takes a closer look at teen pregnancy and efforts to reduce it.
•Nov. 18 – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reaches a $132.8 million settlement with the NAACP in a lawsuit over the diversion of federal funds from low-income homeowners after Hurricane Katrina.
December
•“Rush to Judgment” – JFP Freelancer Valerie Wells and Editor-in-Chief Donna Ladd expose the dangers of routinely trying kids as adults.
•“21st Century Woman” – Incoming Jackson State University President Carolyn Meyers dishes to Ward Schaefer about herself and her plans for JSU.
• Gov. Haley Barbour indefinitely suspends the life sentences of sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott.
