Content about Social Issues

In November 2008, by a slim majority, California voters instituted “Prop 8,” a constitutional amendment that says “only marriage between a man and a woman will be recognized in California.”
Voter turnout was large at nearly 80 percent. Many expected California, typically a leader in liberal, social movements, to shut down the proposition. When that did not happen, reactions varied greatly.

In the background, the sound of children playing drowns out director Alan Arriveé’s voice. 

“My daughter’s friends are over, and we just got a new puppy,” he said. “I guess now is as good of time as any to talk.”

Arriveé is a straight shooter. His words come out crisp and clear. He speaks with no accent and fills a conversation on film with all the technical jargon that comes with being in the filmmaking industry for years. One gets the feeling that he was worked for those words. 

Newly elected Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant spent a day in Oxford’s Industrial Park Tuesday, touring what he called two “American icons.”

Bryant visited the city’s Caterpillar and Winchester plants.

“How fortunate we are to have both of these manufacturing plants,” Bryant said. “I’m here to see and encourage the facilities. We want to thank them and see if there is anything we can do to help their process.”

As Mitt Romney claimed his third win of the primary season in Nevada Saturday night, the fight for the nomination continues — Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have all pledged to stay in the race. But while Romney is pulling ahead of the rest of the pack, Republican voters need to question the relevance of the remaining candidates. 

In response to Trenton Winford’s “Pre-existing conditions unfortunate, but should not be covered.”

The Affordable Care Act is a controversial piece of legislation that seeks to address one of America’s most complex issues. This short, one-sided article ignores aspects of the ACA that act to protect not just patients, but insurance companies as well.  

By the late 1990s, the University of Mississippi had already enrolled its first black student, cheered on its first black student-athlete, elected its first black Miss Ole Miss and crowned its first black Miss University. However, at the turn of the millennium the students had yet to be led by a black Associated Student Body president.

The re-trial of David Jackson Williams, which was originally scheduled for February, has been changed to July 31.

Williams was convicted in 2007 for the murder of Ole Miss student Demetria Bracey.

In November 2010, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the guilty verdict and Williams was released on a $100,000 bond. The Supreme Court overturned the verdict because the defense was barred from using evidence and jury instruction that supported an assisted suicide cause of death.

Voters take their issues pretty seriously. There are family values, the economy, the Constitution, taxes and personal freedom, just to name a few. This is largely why the Republican Party has surged in the past few years, and 2012 was supposed to shake things up even more.

Despite all the force behind the GOP, it somehow chose incredibly unimpressive candidates. The party once known for the Reagan Revolution just doesn’t have much going for it. Sure, there’s the Tea Party, but we’re still paying for a decade and a half of bad decisions.

The infamous term “bad economy” became all too real for the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.  

Earlier this month, 112 UMMC employees were laid off from work due to a downturn in the economy. James Keeton, vice chancellor of affairs, predicts the loss of UMMC’s employees will save the medical center $12 million annually, according to The Clarion-Ledger. UMMC’s finances were reported to have been in the red last year, which prompted the sudden reduction in jobs. 

Mississippi has been recognized as one of the leading states in infant mortality rates, having had no change in mortality rates in the last 10 years, and experts say that consistency is the problem.

With his landslide victory in the South Carolina primary last week, Newt Gingrich rebounded from what seemed like a slowly dying campaign after hard losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. As former Speaker Gingrich is once again the national frontrunner, Republican voters should investigate his record and ask themselves if he is truly representative of the Republican Party.