Today's Opinions

     Just when Americans find themselves drawn to news reports from a contentious presidential election and deflating economic challenges, new research from the National Newspaper Association (NNA) again demonstrates that Main Street America relies upon community newspapers to inform and empower citizens from coast to coast. In a follow-up to its landmark 2005 research and 2007 update, NNA finds that 86 percent of adults read a local community newspaper each week, which compares with 83 percent in 2007 and 81 percent in 2005.

   Many people like to express their support for a political candidate with a yard sign. Sometimes this form of freedom of expression conflicts with a city law banning or limiting the time in which political signs may be displayed. The question becomes whether such city laws infringe upon citizens’ and perhaps the candidates’ First Amendment rights.

      The success of the Mississippi House of Representatives to override Governor Haley Barbour’s veto of the bill  providing much needed public protection from the now unrestricted eminent domain powers and the failure of the Mississippi State Senate to have the backbone to finish the job for the people of this state, most certainly points out where the changes in state elected officials need to be made first.