Jackson, Miss. Mayor Frank Melton, 60, died early this morning with his wife , Ellen Melton, by his side, according to City Hall spokeswoman Goldia Revies.

After coming in third in his city’s mayoral primary election Tuesday, Melton was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. According to sources close to City Hall, Melton has had a series of health problems but officials have declined to give details.

Next week, Melton was due in court for trial following an incident that led to a federal indictment and did severe damage to his career. In 2006, fed up with drugs in his city, Melton attacked a local crackhouse in Jacksons Virden Addition neighborhood with a sledgehammer. A jury failed to reach a verdict in the case in February when he was tried. Critics slammed him for behaving erratically, without authority and breaking the law.

Meanwhile, Jackson’s City Council has tapped its president, Leslie Burl McLemore to be acting mayor.

“I am going to respect the mayor’s privacy even in death,” Revies told reporters.

Melton was born in Houston, Texas in 1949 and relocated to Jackson from Tyler, Texas before running for mayor.

Video: City Councilmember Remembers Mayor Melton

Leave comments or condolences  below.

Former First Family of R&B takes stage in 2009. A long-rumored reunion tour between singer Michael Jackson and his Jackson 5 siblings has been formally announced. Jermaine Jackson, an original J5 member, says the former First Family of R&B has confirmed that they will perform together in the United States come 2009. Janet Jackson will reportedly open the show. The announcement follows rumors that many Jackson siblings have fallen upon hard financial times, ranging from working at grocery stores, in one case, to performing at local nightclubs in another. Michael Jackson has battled foreclosure to save his famed California ranch. In their 1970s heyday, the Jacksons were the world’s top singing group, inspiring fashion and even earning their own Saturday morning cartoon.

Spike Lee says actor would “kill” as James Brown

If he can resolve his legal issues in an appeal of this spring’s verdict convicting him of tax violations, Wesley Snipes has a big role waiting for him. Director Spike Lee wants to produce a film based on the life of music legend James Brown, and says Snipes is the man to lead it. “He’s a phenomenal actor, and I truly feel that he’ll regain that power he once had,” Lee tells King magazine. “If my James Brown picture ever gets made, he’ll be playing James, and he’d kill in that, without a doubt. He still has chops.”

Michael Jackson’s underwear up for sale

Now you can know Michael Jackson like few fans have ever known him before: On-line shoppers who visit e-Bay may come across his Calvin Klein underwear. Though reportedly unwashed, the briefs come in a freshly sealed bag: They were taken as evidence by the Santa Barbara district attorney in 2003 when the singer faced child molestation charges. New Jersey businessman Henry Vacarro bought the unmentionables in a bankruptcy-related sale. No word on whether Vacarro called Mike to be sure he owns another pair.

“Lady T” honored along with Chaka Khan, Bill Withers.

Singer Teena Marie (above), long-time collaborator with the late Rick James, has been recognized by Philadelphia’s Rhythm & Blues Foundation for her 30-year career as an artist. Marie was one of nine artists who received a Pioneer Award Tuesday, along with singers Chaka Khan and Bill Withers, plus others. Grammy-winner Marie, whose first album cover featured no photo to keep secret the fact that she is White, still credits James with much of her success. Duets between the pair include the R&B classics “Fire and Desire” and “Love Them and Leave Them.”

The civil rights leader had suffered from a stomach ailment

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been released from a Chicago hospital, two days after being admitted for severe stomach pains. The 66-year-old civil rights leader checked into Northwestern Memorial Hospital last Wednesday and was treated for viral gastroenteritis, inflammation of the stomach and intestines, and dehydration, according to the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the organization Jackson founded. He fell ill after returning from voter registration events in Ohio and Georgia, a news release said. “I have high regard for these doctors,” Jackson told the Chicago Tribune from his hospital bed Thursday. Jackson is now back on his regular schedule, a Rainbow/PUSH spokeswoman said.

He’s walking in the steps of LBJ and MLK, both champions of the poor

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, taking a cue from such anti-poverty crusaders as President Lyndon B. Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., says it’s time to launch a full-frontal assault on poverty. “We need to re-invest in America,” the 66-year-old civil rights leader told a crowd of nearly 300 people in Chicago during a fund-raiser for Covenant United Methodist Church. The speech attracted Democrats and Republicans, and it did not address either political party. That’s because it’s not all about politics or presidential campaigns, said Jackson, who is pushing voter registration and education. “Change has to come from the bottom up, not just the top down,” Jackson said at a news conference prior to his speech.

“Beverly Hills Cop,” “Boyz N the Hood” make cut.

The Los Angeles Times top-10 list of movies that best reflect L.A. city life and culture is filled with Black star power. Among the contributions are: Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier and Samuel L. Jackson; Boyz N the Hood, starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne and Ice Cube; Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy; and Collateral, starring Jamie Foxx. The movies included were all released within the past 25 years and feature the L.A. landscape as a “main character” in the script.

“Lakeview Terrace” minimizes its Madea factor

Apparently, Hollywood can only accommodate one crazy Black woman character at a time. Samuel L. Jackson’s new film Lakeview Terrace, co-starring Ray’s Kerry Washington, cut a scene in which Washington appears to “lose it” on camera. Washington, who plays the wife in a couple terrorized by their neighbor, pretends to seduce the next-door character, Jackson, but then pulls a knife on him. “It got removed,” she says. “The producers felt like, at that point in the film, my character was the only sane one and they needed her to stay sane in the mix. She was losing it.” Madea would surely be disappointed with the decision.

“Rampage” Jackson could get prison for car chase

Former mixed martial arts UFC champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson could get three years in prison following his recent California road race with cops. The Orange County DA has charged Jackson with evading while driving recklessly, evading a peace officer, hit-and-run and reckless driving after Jackson allegedly fled police in a monster truck bearing his painted image. Jackson was also recently given a mental evaluation after he was found at home despondent. He reportedly has been depressed since losing his title belt in a bout this summer. Jackson allegedly hit two cars on a freeway, hit another car on a surface street and sent pedestrians running for safety during the police episode.
Nine-year-old’s talent threatens teams. Jericho Scott’s 40 miles-per-hour pitches have a Connecticut baseball league pitching fits. Scott, who’s 9, recently caused a team opposing his Power Fitness-sponsored squad to forfeit when they learned that he would take the mound. Discussions have ranged from having the three-year-old Youth Baseball League of New Haven’s teams re-configured to refunding sign-up fees to anyone requesting it. “I feel sad,” the young pitcher says. “I feel like it’s my fault nobody could play.” Jericho’s coach and parents defend him, arguing that he’s never hurt anyone and that he shouldn’t be outcast for being “too good.” A lawyer has planned to meet with Jericho’s parents to consider action that could secure his right to compete in the league after he was banned shortly before playoffs.

The LPGA Takes An English-only position. The LPGA’s is going to require that players speak English. Read more in Playa Hater.

Janet Jackson will unveil lingerie line

Singer Janet Jackson has already exposed at least one part of her body to the world. Now she wants to dress down fans and other ladies who may get some sexy inspiration from her new line of lingerie. The Pleasure Principle line, named after one of Jackson’s earlier hit songs, will go retail in the United States later this year. Stores in Australia and elsewhere will also sell the intimate apparel. Pleasure Principle clothing will reportedly be sold for under $40. Wardrobe malfunction components not included.

Bobby Brown hit with over $90,000 in fees.

One of the most high-profile divorces in R&B music’s history carried a high price tag. The end of singer Bobby Brown’s marriage to pop diva Whitney Houston reportedly left him with a debt of $90,217 in unpaid legal fees. Lawyers who represented Brown have filed suit to collect on the tab. Earlier this year, word of Brown’s plans for a tell-all book that included dirty details of his marriage to Houston went public. The book is said to be on hold.

DMX pushes “This Life of Mine.”

Could there be a method to rapper DMX’s legal madness? Seems that some of the currently jailed performer’s recent antics, including over a half-dozen arrests since the spring, have provided material for a new reality show. Previously broadcast on BET, “DMX: Soul of a Man” followed the star in his day-to-day trek from his home in Phoenix to road appearances and beyond. Now the rapper, who faces charges ranging from drug possession to identity fraud, says he has a second reality series in the works. “In many ways, my life has been an open book,” X tells AllHipHop.com. “I haven’t always been the one writing the story. With this show, however, people will get to see and hear with their own eyes and ears what really goes on in my life, and I think they’ll come to understand me a little bit better with each episode.” The new show’s working title is “DMX: This Life of Mine.” Multiple networks have reportedly expressed their interest.

A Motown vocalist dies of cancer

Motown singer Pervis Jackson, of the popular 1970s group The Spinners, has died. Jackson, whose voice can be heard on hits including “Rubber Band Man,” was hospitalized, suffering from cancer in Detroit . He was 70 years old when he passed on Monday.

Rapper is on Arizona ’s “no bail” hold

The good news is that DMX will go at least a month and a half without being arrested again. The bad news is that he’s locked up in Arizona until his next court date in October after he was collared in Miami last week. X had missed a hearing on Arizona drug charges days earlier, later telling his lawyer that he’d checked himself into a Florida hospital for unspecified reasons. Cops later found the rapper at a Wal-Mart store where he was promptly picked up and then sent back to Arizona , where he’s listed on “no bail” hold. DMX has been arrested more than a half-dozen times on various charges this year.

For somebody with his civil rights track record, he’s allowed a mistake, he says.

Granted, the Rev. Jesse Jackson slipped up when he was recorded whispering some crass comments to a fellow guest on a TV news show, but it’s wrong to treat the civil rights leader as if he’s no longer deserving of respect, the Rev. Al Sharpton said this week. “We have all made mistakes,” Sharpton . We have all erred, and we ought not try to sugar coat when we err,” Sharpton told a gathering of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Kenner, La. “But we should not throw away everything when we err, and to say that Rev. Jackson made a mistake is correct, but to act like Rev. Jesse Jackson is not pivotal to our movement, our history … is wrong … Jesse Jackson is somebody.” Earlier this month, while Jackson was waiting to go on air with the “Fox & Friends” show in Chicago, he was taped leaning over to another African-American guest and saying, “Obama talks down to Black people… I want to cut his nuts off.” It was later disclosed that Jackson had also used the “N”-word; he was not referring to Obama. Jackson has apologized for his comments, even acknowledging they were “regretfully rude.” Sharpton, who runs the Harlem-based National Action Network, also blasted those who see Obama as an alternative to old-school civil rights leaders. “The bias in the media is they try to act like we can’t have multiple strategists,” Sharpton said. “We have never had a one-man movement.” Does Rev. Sharpton have a point about Rev. Jackson?