10 Local Stories of the Week - Jackson Free Press

Back in May, Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson and several other black legislators stood alongside HRC President Chad Griffin at the Mississippi Capitol, where Johnson addressed SB 2681. Photo by Trip Burns.

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them:

1. A legislative change to Jackson's 1-percent sales-tax law would prevent a retail price increase on beer and light wine, the trade association that lobbied for the legal change said.


2. While everyone was consumed with the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Ward 6 voters are deciding who will represent them on the Jackson City Council on Tuesday, July 1.


3. A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.


4. The fight for freedom of both African Americans and LGBT people, and those who are both, is the focus of the Human Rights Campaign's Freedom Summer Conference this week.


5. Junaid Hafeez, a former Jackson resident, may be executed for violating Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. Now local friends and loved ones are helping to save his life.


6. Not even a year after opening Italian restaurant La Finestra in the Plaza Building downtown, local chef Tom Ramsey is already preparing to bring another new restaurant to Jackson, this time a traditional pizzeria.


7. Holder Properties broke ground Wednesday on what will be One Eastover Center, a five-story, 120,000-square-feet office building located in the District at Eastover along Eastover Drive and I-55 Frontage Road.


8. On Tuesday, Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, a mainstream conservative with more than 40 years congressional experience, narrowly defeated Tea Party candidate state Sen. Chris McDaniel in Mississippi's Republican primary runoff.


9. Although challenges do exist, the perception that Jackson is not business-friendly is not true, according to many successful small-business owners.


10. Capitol Street is on its way to becoming a two-way street, but Downtown Jackson Partners is seeking additional funding—and access to the mayor—to finish rebuilding portions of the street as planned.

Remember: Check the JFP Events planner for everything to do in the Jackson metro area. You can also add your own events (or send them to events@jacksonfreepress.com)! See JFPEvents.com

Read staff and reader blog posts at jfp.ms/weblogs (yes, you can register on the site and start your own blog!)

Miss. Universities Seek $76.3M Budget Increase - Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The College Board voted Friday to seek an additional $76.3 million in state funding for Mississippi's eight public universities when the Legislature gathers next year to write the 2016 budget.

That's a 10.2 percent increase over the funding they will receive in the 2015 budget year.

In the last two budgeting cycles, universities have asked for smaller increases, but have persuaded lawmakers to give them almost all of what they sought. For example, earlier this year, the Legislature approved a $29 million increase in state spending on universities, most of the $32 million the College Board sought. Some other agencies made requests for much larger amounts and walked away with less than the universities received.

This year, though, universities decided to ask lawmakers for much more money, highlighting the desire to boost faculty salaries, shore up research units that suffered during the recession, cover increases in financial aid and expand the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The board couldn't decide last week whether to ask lawmakers for an increase of $61.4 million or $84.8 million, the members finally decided to split the difference.

"It's an expression of our needs," said Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds. "We would be happy to get that number. The truth of the matter is it's not a full reflection of our needs."

A requested $34 million would go into a formula that allocates money to universities based in part on how many credit hours students complete. The board also wants $8 million for a special projects fund it would control, including changes to the formula that would allocate more money to universities that have larger shares of poor or underprepared students.

The board sought 8 percent increases for the agricultural research units of Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University, which had proposed 12 percent hikes. Because those units don't have students on whom to impose tuition increases, they have been hard-pressed by lagging state funding.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center sought a $17 million increase, which would boost its state funding by 9 percent to $205 million. Bounds said that the medical center would use the money to cover shortfalls in federal reimbursements for training medical residents, expand enrollment at its medical school and create a department of preventive medicine.

The board stripped out $7 million in requests from Delta State University, Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Even though the 2015 budget begins Tuesday, agencies are already preparing 2016 requests in advance of budget hearings later this summer.

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Mayfield, McDaniel Supporter and Attorney, Dies - Jackson Free Press

A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.

The body of attorney Mark Mayfield was found Friday morning in the garage of his two-story, brick home in a gated community outside Jackson. A gun was found nearby, Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston said.

Houston says Mayfield had been shot, and a suicide note was found at the scene.

"Everything we see so far, this appears to be a suicide," Houston said.

In a statement, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant expressed sympathy to the Mayfield family.

"Deborah and I are saddened to hear of the loss of Mark Mayfield. He was a long-time friend, and he will be missed. Our prayers go out to his family in this tragic moment," wrote Bryant, a Republican.

Mayfield and three other men were arrested last month and face various charges of conspiring to photograph Rose Cochran in the nursing home where she has lived since 2001 with dementia. The Cochran family said she has lost the ability to speak and is receiving hospice care.

During a 2012 interview with the Jackson Free Press, Mayfield had some tough words for Cochran and questioned about whether Congress's core function is to bring federal dollars to their home districts.

"They sure think it is," Mayfield said. "We've got a senator up there right now—Thad Cochran—who's just as guilty as anybody. He's probably the worst one up there in terms of pork-barrel legislation."

Mayfield said he was apolitical for much of his life "until I saw the direction we started taking with the bailouts, the stimulus, TARP, Obamacare—you name it—this endless, mindless overspending and over-borrowing."

He added that he believed certain Tea Party principles could attract more African Americans.

"Jobs and economic development. Things like giving voters a choice on where to send their kids to school. They don't have to keep sending them to a failing public school. We want to give them the option of sending them to a successful charter school or perhaps look at vouchers where they can send them to a successful private school."

Police said conservative blogger Clayton Thomas Kelly of Pearl photographed 72-year-old Rose Cochran without permission on Easter Sunday. The photos were later used in an anti-Cochran political video posted briefly online during the Republican primary.

All four of the men charged were supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who lost Tuesday's Republican runoff. Mayfield was a board member of the Central Mississippi Tea Party and had raised money for McDaniel's campaign.

Other suspects are elementary schoolteacher Richard Sager of Laurel and John Mary of Hattiesburg, who took over hosting a conservative talk radio show formerly hosted by McDaniel. McDaniel left the radio job before his election to the Mississippi Senate in 2007.

McDaniel denied any connection to the scheme.

Janis Lane, president of the board of the Central Mississippi Tea Party, said she had not seen Mayfield since he was charged in the nursing home photo plot, but had been in contact with him by phone and through text messages. She said Mayfield's integrity was important to him, and he sounded like he was feeling pressured by the investigation.

"It was truly a challenging time for him," Lane said, wiping away tears.

Lane spoke Friday at the Hinds County Courthouse, where she and other McDaniel supporters were examining poll books to look for examples of crossover voting—people who had voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and in Tuesday's Republican runoff between McDaniel and Cochran.

"He was the finest man," Lane said. "He was an attorney of impeccable character."

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

10 Local Stories of the Week - Jackson Free Press

Back in May, Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson and several other black legislators stood alongside HRC President Chad Griffin at the Mississippi Capitol, where Johnson addressed SB 2681. Photo by Trip Burns.

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them:

1. A legislative change to Jackson's 1-percent sales-tax law would prevent a retail price increase on beer and light wine, the trade association that lobbied for the legal change said.


2. While everyone was consumed with the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Ward 6 voters are deciding who will represent them on the Jackson City Council on Tuesday, July 1.


3. A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.


4. The fight for freedom of both African Americans and LGBT people, and those who are both, is the focus of the Human Rights Campaign's Freedom Summer Conference this week.


5. Junaid Hafeez, a former Jackson resident, may be executed for violating Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. Now local friends and loved ones are helping to save his life.


6. Not even a year after opening Italian restaurant La Finestra in the Plaza Building downtown, local chef Tom Ramsey is already preparing to bring another new restaurant to Jackson, this time a traditional pizzeria.


7. Holder Properties broke ground Wednesday on what will be One Eastover Center, a five-story, 120,000-square-feet office building located in the District at Eastover along Eastover Drive and I-55 Frontage Road.


8. On Tuesday, Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, a mainstream conservative with more than 40 years congressional experience, narrowly defeated Tea Party candidate state Sen. Chris McDaniel in Mississippi's Republican primary runoff.


9. Although challenges do exist, the perception that Jackson is not business-friendly is not true, according to many successful small-business owners.


10. Capitol Street is on its way to becoming a two-way street, but Downtown Jackson Partners is seeking additional funding—and access to the mayor—to finish rebuilding portions of the street as planned.

Remember: Check the JFP Events planner for everything to do in the Jackson metro area. You can also add your own events (or send them to events@jacksonfreepress.com)! See JFPEvents.com

Read staff and reader blog posts at jfp.ms/weblogs (yes, you can register on the site and start your own blog!)

Miss. Universities Seek $76.3M Budget Increase - Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The College Board voted Friday to seek an additional $76.3 million in state funding for Mississippi's eight public universities when the Legislature gathers next year to write the 2016 budget.

That's a 10.2 percent increase over the funding they will receive in the 2015 budget year.

In the last two budgeting cycles, universities have asked for smaller increases, but have persuaded lawmakers to give them almost all of what they sought. For example, earlier this year, the Legislature approved a $29 million increase in state spending on universities, most of the $32 million the College Board sought. Some other agencies made requests for much larger amounts and walked away with less than the universities received.

This year, though, universities decided to ask lawmakers for much more money, highlighting the desire to boost faculty salaries, shore up research units that suffered during the recession, cover increases in financial aid and expand the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The board couldn't decide last week whether to ask lawmakers for an increase of $61.4 million or $84.8 million, the members finally decided to split the difference.

"It's an expression of our needs," said Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds. "We would be happy to get that number. The truth of the matter is it's not a full reflection of our needs."

A requested $34 million would go into a formula that allocates money to universities based in part on how many credit hours students complete. The board also wants $8 million for a special projects fund it would control, including changes to the formula that would allocate more money to universities that have larger shares of poor or underprepared students.

The board sought 8 percent increases for the agricultural research units of Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University, which had proposed 12 percent hikes. Because those units don't have students on whom to impose tuition increases, they have been hard-pressed by lagging state funding.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center sought a $17 million increase, which would boost its state funding by 9 percent to $205 million. Bounds said that the medical center would use the money to cover shortfalls in federal reimbursements for training medical residents, expand enrollment at its medical school and create a department of preventive medicine.

The board stripped out $7 million in requests from Delta State University, Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Even though the 2015 budget begins Tuesday, agencies are already preparing 2016 requests in advance of budget hearings later this summer.

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Mayfield, McDaniel Supporter and Attorney, Dies - Jackson Free Press

A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.

The body of attorney Mark Mayfield was found Friday morning in the garage of his two-story, brick home in a gated community outside Jackson. A gun was found nearby, Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston said.

Houston says Mayfield had been shot, and a suicide note was found at the scene.

"Everything we see so far, this appears to be a suicide," Houston said.

In a statement, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant expressed sympathy to the Mayfield family.

"Deborah and I are saddened to hear of the loss of Mark Mayfield. He was a long-time friend, and he will be missed. Our prayers go out to his family in this tragic moment," wrote Bryant, a Republican.

Mayfield and three other men were arrested last month and face various charges of conspiring to photograph Rose Cochran in the nursing home where she has lived since 2001 with dementia. The Cochran family said she has lost the ability to speak and is receiving hospice care.

During a 2012 interview with the Jackson Free Press, Mayfield had some tough words for Cochran and questioned about whether Congress's core function is to bring federal dollars to their home districts.

"They sure think it is," Mayfield said. "We've got a senator up there right now—Thad Cochran—who's just as guilty as anybody. He's probably the worst one up there in terms of pork-barrel legislation."

Mayfield said he was apolitical for much of his life "until I saw the direction we started taking with the bailouts, the stimulus, TARP, Obamacare—you name it—this endless, mindless overspending and over-borrowing."

He added that he believed certain Tea Party principles could attract more African Americans.

"Jobs and economic development. Things like giving voters a choice on where to send their kids to school. They don't have to keep sending them to a failing public school. We want to give them the option of sending them to a successful charter school or perhaps look at vouchers where they can send them to a successful private school."

Police said conservative blogger Clayton Thomas Kelly of Pearl photographed 72-year-old Rose Cochran without permission on Easter Sunday. The photos were later used in an anti-Cochran political video posted briefly online during the Republican primary.

All four of the men charged were supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who lost Tuesday's Republican runoff. Mayfield was a board member of the Central Mississippi Tea Party and had raised money for McDaniel's campaign.

Other suspects are elementary schoolteacher Richard Sager of Laurel and John Mary of Hattiesburg, who took over hosting a conservative talk radio show formerly hosted by McDaniel. McDaniel left the radio job before his election to the Mississippi Senate in 2007.

McDaniel denied any connection to the scheme.

Janis Lane, president of the board of the Central Mississippi Tea Party, said she had not seen Mayfield since he was charged in the nursing home photo plot, but had been in contact with him by phone and through text messages. She said Mayfield's integrity was important to him, and he sounded like he was feeling pressured by the investigation.

"It was truly a challenging time for him," Lane said, wiping away tears.

Lane spoke Friday at the Hinds County Courthouse, where she and other McDaniel supporters were examining poll books to look for examples of crossover voting—people who had voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and in Tuesday's Republican runoff between McDaniel and Cochran.

"He was the finest man," Lane said. "He was an attorney of impeccable character."

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Hobby Lobby Ruling a 'Minefield'? - Jackson Free Press

Justices Samuel Alito (left) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Despite being fairly narrow in scope, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down this morning in favor of a nationwide retailer that wants to make it more difficult for employees to obtain birth control sets a precedent for future cases involving the religious liberty of corporations.

These companies, according to a court divided 5-4, are allowed under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to deny its employees comprehensive contraceptive coverage. Employees will have to obtain certain kinds of birth control that are not covered by their employer without using their insurance to pay for it.

Congress passed and then-President Bill Clinton signed RFRA in 1993 in order to protect against laws—even those of general applicability or that do not deal with religion—that burden a person's religious expression.

Matt Steffey, a constitutional expert at Mississippi College School of Law, said he is not surprised with the Supreme Court's decision, and that any application of RFRA to companies in the future depends less on the Hobby Lobby decision and more on the ideology of new justice appointments.

"The ruling was intentionally narrow," Steffey said.

Hobby Lobby owners believe that four birth-control pills, including Plan B and Ella morning-after pills, covered under the Affordable Care Act induce abortion, and to offer them to their employees would contradict their religious beliefs. Because of this, Hobby Lobby is protected under RFRA to refuse those medications, the court ruled.

The majority opinion, which Justice Samuel Alito wrote, says that the ruling only applies to birth control, and that religious liberty claims regarding other services may not be ruled similarly.

Today's ruling also only applies to , which are those owned by a small group of people, specifically businesses in which five or fewer individuals own 50 percent of the stock value. Steffey said the distinction of closely held corporations is a significant aspect of the case. The law would not, Steffey points out, apply to large investor-held companies such as Apple or ExxonMobil.

Steffey said the idea that companies, specifically those that are small and act as an "extension" of an individual, are protected under RFRA is not groundbreaking. "RFRA already applied to corporations," Steffey said. "The only thing that's new here is that these were for-profit corporations, and I think that part of the decision—I know feelings run high—is the hardest to argue about."

Steffey used the example of a kosher butcher, who most would say should not be mandated to cook meat in a way that contradicts his religion, to show that corporations should obviously be protected under RFRA.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the minority, offered some examples of her own for why the decision represents a walk through a "minefield":

"Would the exemption ... extend to employers with religiously grounded objections to blood transfusions (Jehovah's Witnesses); antidepressants (Scientologists); medications derived from pigs, including anesthesia, intravenous fluids, and pills coated with gelatin (certain Muslims, Jews and Hindus); and vaccinations. ... Not much help there for the lower courts bound by today's decision," Ginsburg wrote.

Steffey said the real argument in the Hobby Lobby case is whether or not providing birth control through employee insurance is a religious burden, since the employee can use their paycheck to purchase the pills.

"What's the difference between cash and non-cash employee benefits?" Steffey asked, suggesting that the payment for birth-control pills through employee insurance may be too indirect to be burdensome to an employer's religion.

Monday's Supreme Court decision for Hobby Lobby reflects the conservative ideology of the current justices, but Steffey said that its consequences are hard to determine.

"This may be the first step towards a big change in the law, or it may be the high water mark. That is, this may be the farthest the court goes under RFRA to protect the religious beliefs of closely-held corporations," Steffey said. "That doesn't depend on this decision, that depends on who's on the Supreme Court in five or 10 years."

Miss. Universities Seek $76.3M Budget Increase - Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The College Board voted Friday to seek an additional $76.3 million in state funding for Mississippi's eight public universities when the Legislature gathers next year to write the 2016 budget.

That's a 10.2 percent increase over the funding they will receive in the 2015 budget year.

In the last two budgeting cycles, universities have asked for smaller increases, but have persuaded lawmakers to give them almost all of what they sought. For example, earlier this year, the Legislature approved a $29 million increase in state spending on universities, most of the $32 million the College Board sought. Some other agencies made requests for much larger amounts and walked away with less than the universities received.

This year, though, universities decided to ask lawmakers for much more money, highlighting the desire to boost faculty salaries, shore up research units that suffered during the recession, cover increases in financial aid and expand the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The board couldn't decide last week whether to ask lawmakers for an increase of $61.4 million or $84.8 million, the members finally decided to split the difference.

"It's an expression of our needs," said Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds. "We would be happy to get that number. The truth of the matter is it's not a full reflection of our needs."

A requested $34 million would go into a formula that allocates money to universities based in part on how many credit hours students complete. The board also wants $8 million for a special projects fund it would control, including changes to the formula that would allocate more money to universities that have larger shares of poor or underprepared students.

The board sought 8 percent increases for the agricultural research units of Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University, which had proposed 12 percent hikes. Because those units don't have students on whom to impose tuition increases, they have been hard-pressed by lagging state funding.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center sought a $17 million increase, which would boost its state funding by 9 percent to $205 million. Bounds said that the medical center would use the money to cover shortfalls in federal reimbursements for training medical residents, expand enrollment at its medical school and create a department of preventive medicine.

The board stripped out $7 million in requests from Delta State University, Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Even though the 2015 budget begins Tuesday, agencies are already preparing 2016 requests in advance of budget hearings later this summer.

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Mayfield, McDaniel Supporter and Attorney, Dies - Jackson Free Press

A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.

The body of attorney Mark Mayfield was found Friday morning in the garage of his two-story, brick home in a gated community outside Jackson. A gun was found nearby, Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston said.

Houston says Mayfield had been shot, and a suicide note was found at the scene.

"Everything we see so far, this appears to be a suicide," Houston said.

In a statement, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant expressed sympathy to the Mayfield family.

"Deborah and I are saddened to hear of the loss of Mark Mayfield. He was a long-time friend, and he will be missed. Our prayers go out to his family in this tragic moment," wrote Bryant, a Republican.

Mayfield and three other men were arrested last month and face various charges of conspiring to photograph Rose Cochran in the nursing home where she has lived since 2001 with dementia. The Cochran family said she has lost the ability to speak and is receiving hospice care.

During a 2012 interview with the Jackson Free Press, Mayfield had some tough words for Cochran and questioned about whether Congress's core function is to bring federal dollars to their home districts.

"They sure think it is," Mayfield said. "We've got a senator up there right now—Thad Cochran—who's just as guilty as anybody. He's probably the worst one up there in terms of pork-barrel legislation."

Mayfield said he was apolitical for much of his life "until I saw the direction we started taking with the bailouts, the stimulus, TARP, Obamacare—you name it—this endless, mindless overspending and over-borrowing."

He added that he believed certain Tea Party principles could attract more African Americans.

"Jobs and economic development. Things like giving voters a choice on where to send their kids to school. They don't have to keep sending them to a failing public school. We want to give them the option of sending them to a successful charter school or perhaps look at vouchers where they can send them to a successful private school."

Police said conservative blogger Clayton Thomas Kelly of Pearl photographed 72-year-old Rose Cochran without permission on Easter Sunday. The photos were later used in an anti-Cochran political video posted briefly online during the Republican primary.

All four of the men charged were supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who lost Tuesday's Republican runoff. Mayfield was a board member of the Central Mississippi Tea Party and had raised money for McDaniel's campaign.

Other suspects are elementary schoolteacher Richard Sager of Laurel and John Mary of Hattiesburg, who took over hosting a conservative talk radio show formerly hosted by McDaniel. McDaniel left the radio job before his election to the Mississippi Senate in 2007.

McDaniel denied any connection to the scheme.

Janis Lane, president of the board of the Central Mississippi Tea Party, said she had not seen Mayfield since he was charged in the nursing home photo plot, but had been in contact with him by phone and through text messages. She said Mayfield's integrity was important to him, and he sounded like he was feeling pressured by the investigation.

"It was truly a challenging time for him," Lane said, wiping away tears.

Lane spoke Friday at the Hinds County Courthouse, where she and other McDaniel supporters were examining poll books to look for examples of crossover voting—people who had voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and in Tuesday's Republican runoff between McDaniel and Cochran.

"He was the finest man," Lane said. "He was an attorney of impeccable character."

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Hobby Lobby Ruling a 'Minefield'? - Jackson Free Press

Justices Samuel Alito (left) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Despite being fairly narrow in scope, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down this morning in favor of a nationwide retailer that wants to make it more difficult for employees to obtain birth control sets a precedent for future cases involving the religious liberty of corporations.

These companies, according to a court divided 5-4, are allowed under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to deny its employees comprehensive contraceptive coverage. Employees will have to obtain certain kinds of birth control that are not covered by their employer without using their insurance to pay for it.

Congress passed and then-President Bill Clinton signed RFRA in 1993 in order to protect against laws—even those of general applicability or that do not deal with religion—that burden a person's religious expression.

Matt Steffey, a constitutional expert at Mississippi College School of Law, said he is not surprised with the Supreme Court's decision, and that any application of RFRA to companies in the future depends less on the Hobby Lobby decision and more on the ideology of new justice appointments.

"The ruling was intentionally narrow," Steffey said.

Hobby Lobby owners believe that four birth-control pills, including Plan B and Ella morning-after pills, covered under the Affordable Care Act induce abortion, and to offer them to their employees would contradict their religious beliefs. Because of this, Hobby Lobby is protected under RFRA to refuse those medications, the court ruled.

The majority opinion, which Justice Samuel Alito wrote, says that the ruling only applies to birth control, and that religious liberty claims regarding other services may not be ruled similarly.

Today's ruling also only applies to , which are those owned by a small group of people, specifically businesses in which five or fewer individuals own 50 percent of the stock value. Steffey said the distinction of closely held corporations is a significant aspect of the case. The law would not, Steffey points out, apply to large investor-held companies such as Apple or ExxonMobil.

Steffey said the idea that companies, specifically those that are small and act as an "extension" of an individual, are protected under RFRA is not groundbreaking. "RFRA already applied to corporations," Steffey said. "The only thing that's new here is that these were for-profit corporations, and I think that part of the decision—I know feelings run high—is the hardest to argue about."

Steffey used the example of a kosher butcher, who most would say should not be mandated to cook meat in a way that contradicts his religion, to show that corporations should obviously be protected under RFRA.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the minority, offered some examples of her own for why the decision represents a walk through a "minefield":

"Would the exemption ... extend to employers with religiously grounded objections to blood transfusions (Jehovah's Witnesses); antidepressants (Scientologists); medications derived from pigs, including anesthesia, intravenous fluids, and pills coated with gelatin (certain Muslims, Jews and Hindus); and vaccinations. ... Not much help there for the lower courts bound by today's decision," Ginsburg wrote.

Steffey said the real argument in the Hobby Lobby case is whether or not providing birth control through employee insurance is a religious burden, since the employee can use their paycheck to purchase the pills.

"What's the difference between cash and non-cash employee benefits?" Steffey asked, suggesting that the payment for birth-control pills through employee insurance may be too indirect to be burdensome to an employer's religion.

Monday's Supreme Court decision for Hobby Lobby reflects the conservative ideology of the current justices, but Steffey said that its consequences are hard to determine.

"This may be the first step towards a big change in the law, or it may be the high water mark. That is, this may be the farthest the court goes under RFRA to protect the religious beliefs of closely-held corporations," Steffey said. "That doesn't depend on this decision, that depends on who's on the Supreme Court in five or 10 years."

10 Local Stories of the Week - Jackson Free Press

Back in May, Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson and several other black legislators stood alongside HRC President Chad Griffin at the Mississippi Capitol, where Johnson addressed SB 2681. Photo by Trip Burns.

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them:

1. A legislative change to Jackson's 1-percent sales-tax law would prevent a retail price increase on beer and light wine, the trade association that lobbied for the legal change said.


2. While everyone was consumed with the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Ward 6 voters are deciding who will represent them on the Jackson City Council on Tuesday, July 1.


3. A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.


4. The fight for freedom of both African Americans and LGBT people, and those who are both, is the focus of the Human Rights Campaign's Freedom Summer Conference this week.


5. Junaid Hafeez, a former Jackson resident, may be executed for violating Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. Now local friends and loved ones are helping to save his life.


6. Not even a year after opening Italian restaurant La Finestra in the Plaza Building downtown, local chef Tom Ramsey is already preparing to bring another new restaurant to Jackson, this time a traditional pizzeria.


7. Holder Properties broke ground Wednesday on what will be One Eastover Center, a five-story, 120,000-square-feet office building located in the District at Eastover along Eastover Drive and I-55 Frontage Road.


8. On Tuesday, Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, a mainstream conservative with more than 40 years congressional experience, narrowly defeated Tea Party candidate state Sen. Chris McDaniel in Mississippi's Republican primary runoff.


9. Although challenges do exist, the perception that Jackson is not business-friendly is not true, according to many successful small-business owners.


10. Capitol Street is on its way to becoming a two-way street, but Downtown Jackson Partners is seeking additional funding—and access to the mayor—to finish rebuilding portions of the street as planned.

Remember: Check the JFP Events planner for everything to do in the Jackson metro area. You can also add your own events (or send them to events@jacksonfreepress.com)! See JFPEvents.com

Read staff and reader blog posts at jfp.ms/weblogs (yes, you can register on the site and start your own blog!)

Miss. Universities Seek $76.3M Budget Increase - Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The College Board voted Friday to seek an additional $76.3 million in state funding for Mississippi's eight public universities when the Legislature gathers next year to write the 2016 budget.

That's a 10.2 percent increase over the funding they will receive in the 2015 budget year.

In the last two budgeting cycles, universities have asked for smaller increases, but have persuaded lawmakers to give them almost all of what they sought. For example, earlier this year, the Legislature approved a $29 million increase in state spending on universities, most of the $32 million the College Board sought. Some other agencies made requests for much larger amounts and walked away with less than the universities received.

This year, though, universities decided to ask lawmakers for much more money, highlighting the desire to boost faculty salaries, shore up research units that suffered during the recession, cover increases in financial aid and expand the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The board couldn't decide last week whether to ask lawmakers for an increase of $61.4 million or $84.8 million, the members finally decided to split the difference.

"It's an expression of our needs," said Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds. "We would be happy to get that number. The truth of the matter is it's not a full reflection of our needs."

A requested $34 million would go into a formula that allocates money to universities based in part on how many credit hours students complete. The board also wants $8 million for a special projects fund it would control, including changes to the formula that would allocate more money to universities that have larger shares of poor or underprepared students.

The board sought 8 percent increases for the agricultural research units of Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University, which had proposed 12 percent hikes. Because those units don't have students on whom to impose tuition increases, they have been hard-pressed by lagging state funding.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center sought a $17 million increase, which would boost its state funding by 9 percent to $205 million. Bounds said that the medical center would use the money to cover shortfalls in federal reimbursements for training medical residents, expand enrollment at its medical school and create a department of preventive medicine.

The board stripped out $7 million in requests from Delta State University, Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Even though the 2015 budget begins Tuesday, agencies are already preparing 2016 requests in advance of budget hearings later this summer.

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Mayfield, McDaniel Supporter and Attorney, Dies - Jackson Free Press

A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.

The body of attorney Mark Mayfield was found Friday morning in the garage of his two-story, brick home in a gated community outside Jackson. A gun was found nearby, Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston said.

Houston says Mayfield had been shot, and a suicide note was found at the scene.

"Everything we see so far, this appears to be a suicide," Houston said.

In a statement, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant expressed sympathy to the Mayfield family.

"Deborah and I are saddened to hear of the loss of Mark Mayfield. He was a long-time friend, and he will be missed. Our prayers go out to his family in this tragic moment," wrote Bryant, a Republican.

Mayfield and three other men were arrested last month and face various charges of conspiring to photograph Rose Cochran in the nursing home where she has lived since 2001 with dementia. The Cochran family said she has lost the ability to speak and is receiving hospice care.

During a 2012 interview with the Jackson Free Press, Mayfield had some tough words for Cochran and questioned about whether Congress's core function is to bring federal dollars to their home districts.

"They sure think it is," Mayfield said. "We've got a senator up there right now—Thad Cochran—who's just as guilty as anybody. He's probably the worst one up there in terms of pork-barrel legislation."

Mayfield said he was apolitical for much of his life "until I saw the direction we started taking with the bailouts, the stimulus, TARP, Obamacare—you name it—this endless, mindless overspending and over-borrowing."

He added that he believed certain Tea Party principles could attract more African Americans.

"Jobs and economic development. Things like giving voters a choice on where to send their kids to school. They don't have to keep sending them to a failing public school. We want to give them the option of sending them to a successful charter school or perhaps look at vouchers where they can send them to a successful private school."

Police said conservative blogger Clayton Thomas Kelly of Pearl photographed 72-year-old Rose Cochran without permission on Easter Sunday. The photos were later used in an anti-Cochran political video posted briefly online during the Republican primary.

All four of the men charged were supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who lost Tuesday's Republican runoff. Mayfield was a board member of the Central Mississippi Tea Party and had raised money for McDaniel's campaign.

Other suspects are elementary schoolteacher Richard Sager of Laurel and John Mary of Hattiesburg, who took over hosting a conservative talk radio show formerly hosted by McDaniel. McDaniel left the radio job before his election to the Mississippi Senate in 2007.

McDaniel denied any connection to the scheme.

Janis Lane, president of the board of the Central Mississippi Tea Party, said she had not seen Mayfield since he was charged in the nursing home photo plot, but had been in contact with him by phone and through text messages. She said Mayfield's integrity was important to him, and he sounded like he was feeling pressured by the investigation.

"It was truly a challenging time for him," Lane said, wiping away tears.

Lane spoke Friday at the Hinds County Courthouse, where she and other McDaniel supporters were examining poll books to look for examples of crossover voting—people who had voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and in Tuesday's Republican runoff between McDaniel and Cochran.

"He was the finest man," Lane said. "He was an attorney of impeccable character."

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Hobby Lobby Ruling a 'Minefield'? - Jackson Free Press

Justices Samuel Alito (left) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Despite being fairly narrow in scope, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down this morning in favor of a nationwide retailer that wants to make it more difficult for employees to obtain birth control sets a precedent for future cases involving the religious liberty of corporations.

These companies, according to a court divided 5-4, are allowed under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to deny its employees comprehensive contraceptive coverage. Employees will have to obtain certain kinds of birth control that are not covered by their employer without using their insurance to pay for it.

Congress passed and then-President Bill Clinton signed RFRA in 1993 in order to protect against laws—even those of general applicability or that do not deal with religion—that burden a person's religious expression.

Matt Steffey, a constitutional expert at Mississippi College School of Law, said he is not surprised with the Supreme Court's decision, and that any application of RFRA to companies in the future depends less on the Hobby Lobby decision and more on the ideology of new justice appointments.

"The ruling was intentionally narrow," Steffey said.

Hobby Lobby owners believe that four birth-control pills, including Plan B and Ella morning-after pills, covered under the Affordable Care Act induce abortion, and to offer them to their employees would contradict their religious beliefs. Because of this, Hobby Lobby is protected under RFRA to refuse those medications, the court ruled.

The majority opinion, which Justice Samuel Alito wrote, says that the ruling only applies to birth control, and that religious liberty claims regarding other services may not be ruled similarly.

Today's ruling also only applies to , which are those owned by a small group of people, specifically businesses in which five or fewer individuals own 50 percent of the stock value. Steffey said the distinction of closely held corporations is a significant aspect of the case. The law would not, Steffey points out, apply to large investor-held companies such as Apple or ExxonMobil.

Steffey said the idea that companies, specifically those that are small and act as an "extension" of an individual, are protected under RFRA is not groundbreaking. "RFRA already applied to corporations," Steffey said. "The only thing that's new here is that these were for-profit corporations, and I think that part of the decision—I know feelings run high—is the hardest to argue about."

Steffey used the example of a kosher butcher, who most would say should not be mandated to cook meat in a way that contradicts his religion, to show that corporations should obviously be protected under RFRA.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the minority, offered some examples of her own for why the decision represents a walk through a "minefield":

"Would the exemption ... extend to employers with religiously grounded objections to blood transfusions (Jehovah's Witnesses); antidepressants (Scientologists); medications derived from pigs, including anesthesia, intravenous fluids, and pills coated with gelatin (certain Muslims, Jews and Hindus); and vaccinations. ... Not much help there for the lower courts bound by today's decision," Ginsburg wrote.

Steffey said the real argument in the Hobby Lobby case is whether or not providing birth control through employee insurance is a religious burden, since the employee can use their paycheck to purchase the pills.

"What's the difference between cash and non-cash employee benefits?" Steffey asked, suggesting that the payment for birth-control pills through employee insurance may be too indirect to be burdensome to an employer's religion.

Monday's Supreme Court decision for Hobby Lobby reflects the conservative ideology of the current justices, but Steffey said that its consequences are hard to determine.

"This may be the first step towards a big change in the law, or it may be the high water mark. That is, this may be the farthest the court goes under RFRA to protect the religious beliefs of closely-held corporations," Steffey said. "That doesn't depend on this decision, that depends on who's on the Supreme Court in five or 10 years."

10 Local Stories of the Week - Jackson Free Press

Back in May, Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson and several other black legislators stood alongside HRC President Chad Griffin at the Mississippi Capitol, where Johnson addressed SB 2681. Photo by Trip Burns.

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them:

1. A legislative change to Jackson's 1-percent sales-tax law would prevent a retail price increase on beer and light wine, the trade association that lobbied for the legal change said.


2. While everyone was consumed with the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Ward 6 voters are deciding who will represent them on the Jackson City Council on Tuesday, July 1.


3. A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.


4. The fight for freedom of both African Americans and LGBT people, and those who are both, is the focus of the Human Rights Campaign's Freedom Summer Conference this week.


5. Junaid Hafeez, a former Jackson resident, may be executed for violating Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. Now local friends and loved ones are helping to save his life.


6. Not even a year after opening Italian restaurant La Finestra in the Plaza Building downtown, local chef Tom Ramsey is already preparing to bring another new restaurant to Jackson, this time a traditional pizzeria.


7. Holder Properties broke ground Wednesday on what will be One Eastover Center, a five-story, 120,000-square-feet office building located in the District at Eastover along Eastover Drive and I-55 Frontage Road.


8. On Tuesday, Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, a mainstream conservative with more than 40 years congressional experience, narrowly defeated Tea Party candidate state Sen. Chris McDaniel in Mississippi's Republican primary runoff.


9. Although challenges do exist, the perception that Jackson is not business-friendly is not true, according to many successful small-business owners.


10. Capitol Street is on its way to becoming a two-way street, but Downtown Jackson Partners is seeking additional funding—and access to the mayor—to finish rebuilding portions of the street as planned.

Remember: Check the JFP Events planner for everything to do in the Jackson metro area. You can also add your own events (or send them to events@jacksonfreepress.com)! See JFPEvents.com

Read staff and reader blog posts at jfp.ms/weblogs (yes, you can register on the site and start your own blog!)

Miss. Universities Seek $76.3M Budget Increase - Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The College Board voted Friday to seek an additional $76.3 million in state funding for Mississippi's eight public universities when the Legislature gathers next year to write the 2016 budget.

That's a 10.2 percent increase over the funding they will receive in the 2015 budget year.

In the last two budgeting cycles, universities have asked for smaller increases, but have persuaded lawmakers to give them almost all of what they sought. For example, earlier this year, the Legislature approved a $29 million increase in state spending on universities, most of the $32 million the College Board sought. Some other agencies made requests for much larger amounts and walked away with less than the universities received.

This year, though, universities decided to ask lawmakers for much more money, highlighting the desire to boost faculty salaries, shore up research units that suffered during the recession, cover increases in financial aid and expand the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The board couldn't decide last week whether to ask lawmakers for an increase of $61.4 million or $84.8 million, the members finally decided to split the difference.

"It's an expression of our needs," said Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds. "We would be happy to get that number. The truth of the matter is it's not a full reflection of our needs."

A requested $34 million would go into a formula that allocates money to universities based in part on how many credit hours students complete. The board also wants $8 million for a special projects fund it would control, including changes to the formula that would allocate more money to universities that have larger shares of poor or underprepared students.

The board sought 8 percent increases for the agricultural research units of Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University, which had proposed 12 percent hikes. Because those units don't have students on whom to impose tuition increases, they have been hard-pressed by lagging state funding.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center sought a $17 million increase, which would boost its state funding by 9 percent to $205 million. Bounds said that the medical center would use the money to cover shortfalls in federal reimbursements for training medical residents, expand enrollment at its medical school and create a department of preventive medicine.

The board stripped out $7 million in requests from Delta State University, Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Even though the 2015 budget begins Tuesday, agencies are already preparing 2016 requests in advance of budget hearings later this summer.

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Mayfield, McDaniel Supporter and Attorney, Dies - Jackson Free Press

A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.

The body of attorney Mark Mayfield was found Friday morning in the garage of his two-story, brick home in a gated community outside Jackson. A gun was found nearby, Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston said.

Houston says Mayfield had been shot, and a suicide note was found at the scene.

"Everything we see so far, this appears to be a suicide," Houston said.

In a statement, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant expressed sympathy to the Mayfield family.

"Deborah and I are saddened to hear of the loss of Mark Mayfield. He was a long-time friend, and he will be missed. Our prayers go out to his family in this tragic moment," wrote Bryant, a Republican.

Mayfield and three other men were arrested last month and face various charges of conspiring to photograph Rose Cochran in the nursing home where she has lived since 2001 with dementia. The Cochran family said she has lost the ability to speak and is receiving hospice care.

During a 2012 interview with the Jackson Free Press, Mayfield had some tough words for Cochran and questioned about whether Congress's core function is to bring federal dollars to their home districts.

"They sure think it is," Mayfield said. "We've got a senator up there right now—Thad Cochran—who's just as guilty as anybody. He's probably the worst one up there in terms of pork-barrel legislation."

Mayfield said he was apolitical for much of his life "until I saw the direction we started taking with the bailouts, the stimulus, TARP, Obamacare—you name it—this endless, mindless overspending and over-borrowing."

He added that he believed certain Tea Party principles could attract more African Americans.

"Jobs and economic development. Things like giving voters a choice on where to send their kids to school. They don't have to keep sending them to a failing public school. We want to give them the option of sending them to a successful charter school or perhaps look at vouchers where they can send them to a successful private school."

Police said conservative blogger Clayton Thomas Kelly of Pearl photographed 72-year-old Rose Cochran without permission on Easter Sunday. The photos were later used in an anti-Cochran political video posted briefly online during the Republican primary.

All four of the men charged were supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who lost Tuesday's Republican runoff. Mayfield was a board member of the Central Mississippi Tea Party and had raised money for McDaniel's campaign.

Other suspects are elementary schoolteacher Richard Sager of Laurel and John Mary of Hattiesburg, who took over hosting a conservative talk radio show formerly hosted by McDaniel. McDaniel left the radio job before his election to the Mississippi Senate in 2007.

McDaniel denied any connection to the scheme.

Janis Lane, president of the board of the Central Mississippi Tea Party, said she had not seen Mayfield since he was charged in the nursing home photo plot, but had been in contact with him by phone and through text messages. She said Mayfield's integrity was important to him, and he sounded like he was feeling pressured by the investigation.

"It was truly a challenging time for him," Lane said, wiping away tears.

Lane spoke Friday at the Hinds County Courthouse, where she and other McDaniel supporters were examining poll books to look for examples of crossover voting—people who had voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and in Tuesday's Republican runoff between McDaniel and Cochran.

"He was the finest man," Lane said. "He was an attorney of impeccable character."

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Hobby Lobby Ruling a 'Minefield'? - Jackson Free Press

Justices Samuel Alito (left) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Despite being fairly narrow in scope, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down this morning in favor of a nationwide retailer that wants to make it more difficult for employees to obtain birth control sets a precedent for future cases involving the religious liberty of corporations.

These companies, according to a court divided 5-4, are allowed under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to deny its employees comprehensive contraceptive coverage. Employees will have to obtain certain kinds of birth control that are not covered by their employer without using their insurance to pay for it.

Congress passed and then-President Bill Clinton signed RFRA in 1993 in order to protect against laws—even those of general applicability or that do not deal with religion—that burden a person's religious expression.

Matt Steffey, a constitutional expert at Mississippi College School of Law, said he is not surprised with the Supreme Court's decision, and that any application of RFRA to companies in the future depends less on the Hobby Lobby decision and more on the ideology of new justice appointments.

"The ruling was intentionally narrow," Steffey said.

Hobby Lobby owners believe that four birth-control pills, including Plan B and Ella morning-after pills, covered under the Affordable Care Act induce abortion, and to offer them to their employees would contradict their religious beliefs. Because of this, Hobby Lobby is protected under RFRA to refuse those medications, the court ruled.

The majority opinion, which Justice Samuel Alito wrote, says that the ruling only applies to birth control, and that religious liberty claims regarding other services may not be ruled similarly.

Today's ruling also only applies to , which are those owned by a small group of people, specifically businesses in which five or fewer individuals own 50 percent of the stock value. Steffey said the distinction of closely held corporations is a significant aspect of the case. The law would not, Steffey points out, apply to large investor-held companies such as Apple or ExxonMobil.

Steffey said the idea that companies, specifically those that are small and act as an "extension" of an individual, are protected under RFRA is not groundbreaking. "RFRA already applied to corporations," Steffey said. "The only thing that's new here is that these were for-profit corporations, and I think that part of the decision—I know feelings run high—is the hardest to argue about."

Steffey used the example of a kosher butcher, who most would say should not be mandated to cook meat in a way that contradicts his religion, to show that corporations should obviously be protected under RFRA.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the minority, offered some examples of her own for why the decision represents a walk through a "minefield":

"Would the exemption ... extend to employers with religiously grounded objections to blood transfusions (Jehovah's Witnesses); antidepressants (Scientologists); medications derived from pigs, including anesthesia, intravenous fluids, and pills coated with gelatin (certain Muslims, Jews and Hindus); and vaccinations. ... Not much help there for the lower courts bound by today's decision," Ginsburg wrote.

Steffey said the real argument in the Hobby Lobby case is whether or not providing birth control through employee insurance is a religious burden, since the employee can use their paycheck to purchase the pills.

"What's the difference between cash and non-cash employee benefits?" Steffey asked, suggesting that the payment for birth-control pills through employee insurance may be too indirect to be burdensome to an employer's religion.

Monday's Supreme Court decision for Hobby Lobby reflects the conservative ideology of the current justices, but Steffey said that its consequences are hard to determine.

"This may be the first step towards a big change in the law, or it may be the high water mark. That is, this may be the farthest the court goes under RFRA to protect the religious beliefs of closely-held corporations," Steffey said. "That doesn't depend on this decision, that depends on who's on the Supreme Court in five or 10 years."

10 Local Stories of the Week - Jackson Free Press

Back in May, Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson and several other black legislators stood alongside HRC President Chad Griffin at the Mississippi Capitol, where Johnson addressed SB 2681. Photo by Trip Burns.

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them:

1. A legislative change to Jackson's 1-percent sales-tax law would prevent a retail price increase on beer and light wine, the trade association that lobbied for the legal change said.


2. While everyone was consumed with the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Ward 6 voters are deciding who will represent them on the Jackson City Council on Tuesday, July 1.


3. A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.


4. The fight for freedom of both African Americans and LGBT people, and those who are both, is the focus of the Human Rights Campaign's Freedom Summer Conference this week.


5. Junaid Hafeez, a former Jackson resident, may be executed for violating Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. Now local friends and loved ones are helping to save his life.


6. Not even a year after opening Italian restaurant La Finestra in the Plaza Building downtown, local chef Tom Ramsey is already preparing to bring another new restaurant to Jackson, this time a traditional pizzeria.


7. Holder Properties broke ground Wednesday on what will be One Eastover Center, a five-story, 120,000-square-feet office building located in the District at Eastover along Eastover Drive and I-55 Frontage Road.


8. On Tuesday, Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, a mainstream conservative with more than 40 years congressional experience, narrowly defeated Tea Party candidate state Sen. Chris McDaniel in Mississippi's Republican primary runoff.


9. Although challenges do exist, the perception that Jackson is not business-friendly is not true, according to many successful small-business owners.


10. Capitol Street is on its way to becoming a two-way street, but Downtown Jackson Partners is seeking additional funding—and access to the mayor—to finish rebuilding portions of the street as planned.

Remember: Check the JFP Events planner for everything to do in the Jackson metro area. You can also add your own events (or send them to events@jacksonfreepress.com)! See JFPEvents.com

Read staff and reader blog posts at jfp.ms/weblogs (yes, you can register on the site and start your own blog!)

Miss. Universities Seek $76.3M Budget Increase - Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The College Board voted Friday to seek an additional $76.3 million in state funding for Mississippi's eight public universities when the Legislature gathers next year to write the 2016 budget.

That's a 10.2 percent increase over the funding they will receive in the 2015 budget year.

In the last two budgeting cycles, universities have asked for smaller increases, but have persuaded lawmakers to give them almost all of what they sought. For example, earlier this year, the Legislature approved a $29 million increase in state spending on universities, most of the $32 million the College Board sought. Some other agencies made requests for much larger amounts and walked away with less than the universities received.

This year, though, universities decided to ask lawmakers for much more money, highlighting the desire to boost faculty salaries, shore up research units that suffered during the recession, cover increases in financial aid and expand the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The board couldn't decide last week whether to ask lawmakers for an increase of $61.4 million or $84.8 million, the members finally decided to split the difference.

"It's an expression of our needs," said Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds. "We would be happy to get that number. The truth of the matter is it's not a full reflection of our needs."

A requested $34 million would go into a formula that allocates money to universities based in part on how many credit hours students complete. The board also wants $8 million for a special projects fund it would control, including changes to the formula that would allocate more money to universities that have larger shares of poor or underprepared students.

The board sought 8 percent increases for the agricultural research units of Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University, which had proposed 12 percent hikes. Because those units don't have students on whom to impose tuition increases, they have been hard-pressed by lagging state funding.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center sought a $17 million increase, which would boost its state funding by 9 percent to $205 million. Bounds said that the medical center would use the money to cover shortfalls in federal reimbursements for training medical residents, expand enrollment at its medical school and create a department of preventive medicine.

The board stripped out $7 million in requests from Delta State University, Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Even though the 2015 budget begins Tuesday, agencies are already preparing 2016 requests in advance of budget hearings later this summer.

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Mayfield, McDaniel Supporter and Attorney, Dies - Jackson Free Press

A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.

The body of attorney Mark Mayfield was found Friday morning in the garage of his two-story, brick home in a gated community outside Jackson. A gun was found nearby, Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston said.

Houston says Mayfield had been shot, and a suicide note was found at the scene.

"Everything we see so far, this appears to be a suicide," Houston said.

In a statement, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant expressed sympathy to the Mayfield family.

"Deborah and I are saddened to hear of the loss of Mark Mayfield. He was a long-time friend, and he will be missed. Our prayers go out to his family in this tragic moment," wrote Bryant, a Republican.

Mayfield and three other men were arrested last month and face various charges of conspiring to photograph Rose Cochran in the nursing home where she has lived since 2001 with dementia. The Cochran family said she has lost the ability to speak and is receiving hospice care.

During a 2012 interview with the Jackson Free Press, Mayfield had some tough words for Cochran and questioned about whether Congress's core function is to bring federal dollars to their home districts.

"They sure think it is," Mayfield said. "We've got a senator up there right now—Thad Cochran—who's just as guilty as anybody. He's probably the worst one up there in terms of pork-barrel legislation."

Mayfield said he was apolitical for much of his life "until I saw the direction we started taking with the bailouts, the stimulus, TARP, Obamacare—you name it—this endless, mindless overspending and over-borrowing."

He added that he believed certain Tea Party principles could attract more African Americans.

"Jobs and economic development. Things like giving voters a choice on where to send their kids to school. They don't have to keep sending them to a failing public school. We want to give them the option of sending them to a successful charter school or perhaps look at vouchers where they can send them to a successful private school."

Police said conservative blogger Clayton Thomas Kelly of Pearl photographed 72-year-old Rose Cochran without permission on Easter Sunday. The photos were later used in an anti-Cochran political video posted briefly online during the Republican primary.

All four of the men charged were supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who lost Tuesday's Republican runoff. Mayfield was a board member of the Central Mississippi Tea Party and had raised money for McDaniel's campaign.

Other suspects are elementary schoolteacher Richard Sager of Laurel and John Mary of Hattiesburg, who took over hosting a conservative talk radio show formerly hosted by McDaniel. McDaniel left the radio job before his election to the Mississippi Senate in 2007.

McDaniel denied any connection to the scheme.

Janis Lane, president of the board of the Central Mississippi Tea Party, said she had not seen Mayfield since he was charged in the nursing home photo plot, but had been in contact with him by phone and through text messages. She said Mayfield's integrity was important to him, and he sounded like he was feeling pressured by the investigation.

"It was truly a challenging time for him," Lane said, wiping away tears.

Lane spoke Friday at the Hinds County Courthouse, where she and other McDaniel supporters were examining poll books to look for examples of crossover voting—people who had voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and in Tuesday's Republican runoff between McDaniel and Cochran.

"He was the finest man," Lane said. "He was an attorney of impeccable character."

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.