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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Mississippi United Against Charter Schools

Feb. 1

JFP has done a great job of covering this “education reform” push this and in past Legislative Sessions. Please continue to do so and please consider a piece on the posted Washington Post article exposing the corporate connections to all this “education reform” across the country. Much of the debate can be understood and answered according to the descriptions and revelations in that article. There are not many more important issues than our children’s future and thus the future of our state and society at large. Thank you.

Charles Walter Jett

Feb. 13

Excellent article by Kathleen Mitchell in the Jackson Free Press this week about the Mississippi Pulp Con on page 26. Every aspect was touched upon that makes the event so diverse in scope, yet threaded together culturally. A lot of names got left out that I wish could have appeared, but it is a newspaper article, not a pulp novel; some condensing had to be utilized. I did attempt to stress that the event would not be possible without the assistance of many wonderful friends, but there was not enough space on the page. It is a concise, yet enticing article that does indeed explain the nature and purpose of this Mississippi “home-grown” event. Thank you Kathleen and the JFP for keeping your eyes and ears open to the “pop,” “pulp,” “underground,” “low-brow” & “kounter-kulture” events that help define our culture and times.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.