Author: Rickey Summers

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said he will issue a request for proposals for garbage collection in the city. The garbage collection contract has been a hot-button issue for the mayor and city council and has led to court battles and Jackson residents going without pickup for several days. Last week, the Jackson City Council voted in a special meeting to issue an RFP for trash pickup for next year. “The council can’t issue an RFP. Every court has told them that,” Lumumba said during a news conference Thursday. “That’s irrelevant because we’re choosing to do it. It’s the best…

Janet Jackson has won the Southfield clerk’s race to replace Sherikia Hawkins, who resigned last year after pleading no contest to election-related criminal charges. Jackson defeated Gabi Grossbard 75%-25% in unofficial results for a partial term that will end on Nov. 17, 2025. Jackson has served as an Oakland County commissioner for 14 years, while Grossbard works as a Medicare agent. Jackson campaigned on her experience in public office and argued the clerk’s office has always been efficiently run. Her priorities include maintaining “exemplary service” and running the 2024 presidential election smoothly. Jackson plans to make sure the Southfield city…

Navigating Mississippi’s strict abortion laws remains confusing for many residents more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal abortion rights in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, but the Mississippi Abortion Access Coalition is hoping its new Abortion Patient Bill of Rights will help clear the air. Mississippi State Director at Planned Parenthood Southeast Tyler Harden, a MAAC member, said she had seen many misconceptions about abortion for Mississippians, including from people who thought they could not leave the state to seek an abortion. It remains legal for Mississippians to get out-of-state abortions, she noted, adding that she…

Berlin (3/11 – 40) Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit China in the upcoming week as the crisis-hit country makes progress on debt restructuring talks with its biggest lender. Wickremesinghe took office in July last year, after a popular uprising, brought on by an economic meltdown, had forced his predecessor out of power. His Oct. 15-19 visit to Beijing will be his first to China since then. Wickremesinghe, who is also finance minister, has been leading Sri Lanka’s push to manage its heavy debt and keep funds flowing from a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. He will…

As the war in Israel rages, an ongoing struggle to control the narrative of the conflict is unfolding between Hamas and the Jewish state. This propaganda battle is not novel, as it has long been observed to coexist with the kinetic action between Israel and the Palestinian armed groups, dating back to at least 2014. Drawing from its prior clashes with Israel, Hamas has gained vital insights on how to effectively counter Israel. Despite being at a military disadvantage in nearly every area, Hamas has developed unconventional methods to attack Israel, including a powerful propaganda system to garner global backing…

Like a poorly scripted soap opera, the Easter Sunday Conspiracy introduces a new antagonist each episode – leaving the audience to wonder who is next in line to take the blame. MP Rauff Hakeem now claims that the Easter Sunday attack was done by Israel and its intelligence agencies – the latest villain in the grand political theatre of the Easter Attack conspiracy. After having failed to successfully implicate the Sri Lankan security forces as masterminds of the Easter Attack, certain Muslim politicians in Sri Lanka pointed to the Indian intelligence as the perpetrators. After that narrative failed, politicians like…

London, Delhi, Mumbai (28/10 – 10) England’s title defense in the 2023 Cricket World Cup is practically over, after their fourth defeat in five group-stage matches. Jos Buttler and Co. are coming to the tournament in India as the defending champions, having won their first title in history with the 2019 edition. The 2023 Cricket World Cup turns out to be a disaster for Matthew Mott’s team. From day one onwards, England’s show in the tournament has been painfully dismal, losing by 9 wickets at the hand of New Zealand in the 5 October opening match. They seemed to have…

Frankfurt, Brussels (6/10 – 27) While Tajik authorities have not been able to lay their hands on their activist opponents living in Europe, they are able to turn the screws on their families and relatives, back in the old country. The recent case of arrest of family members took place shortly after President Emomali Rahmon’s visit to Germany, to attend a summit of Central Asian leaders, at the end of last month. Throughout Rahmon’s visit, he was trailed by demonstrators holding up placards bearing pictures of political prisoners and calling him a dictator. When Rahmon headed to the Bundestag on…

Davis is among 1,000 poll managers in the county who haven’t been compensated after working 14-hour days for the primary and runoff elections, WAPT-TV reported. The city of Jackson, Mississippi, the state capital, is located in the county. Election commissioners said they had trouble coordinating with Democratic and Republican party officials, which has resulted in delays. Looking ahead to the general election, the commissioners wanted to rent space at a local church to train poll managers. The church asked to be paid upfront because it said it was concerned Hinds County wouldn’t hold up its end of the bargain, the news station…

Brussels, Toronto (4/10 – 60) The general air of frustration and resentment wafting up from Washington is a reflection of the mood of the nation – in tune with the eternal and accurate appraisal of the federal government as “out of touch” with the mood and concerns of the people. The electorate expresses its disgust with Congress by giving it an approval rating that any executive in the business world or show biz egomaniac “celebrity” would get them ousted. All through the past year the answer to “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job?”…