| Tuesday, June 27, 2017 |
| Engagement in political process critical, Farm Bureau leader says | |
 | The leader of the nation's largest farm organization says "we were extremely disappointed" at the severe cuts for farm programs in President Trump's proposed federal budget, but he tempers that with the observation that the new secretary of agriculture had no input into the budget process. And says Zippy Duvall, the Georgia cattle/poultry farmer who heads the American Farm Bureau Federation and led a town hall session at the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation's annual commodity conference at Mississippi State University, while "we don't agree" with the proposed budget, there's many a hurdle and a lot of potential alterations as it makes its way through Congress. "We're also really pushing for federal support of agricultural research and development, reinvesting in our Land Grant colleges that have been neglected for years and years. States have maintained these programs as best they can, but the federal government hasn't kept up its part," he said. |
| Mississippi State encourages students' passion for fashion | |
 | As a child, Mikayla James fell in love with clothes. She made her first dress at age 7, and fashion remained both pastime and passion over the years. Luckily for James, her sister was looking out for her. "She was at community college and heard about the program at Mississippi State," she said. "She told me about it." Michael Newman, director of MSU's School of Human Sciences, said the university usually is associated with agriculture and engineering, so it's understandable that people can be surprised when they hear about the fashion design and merchandising program. "But the history of our program goes back to agriculture and home economics," Newman said. "Our program embraces the idea that we are part of the agricultural system with its history of cooking and sewing." |
| Entrepreneurs get a boost at Mississippi State | |
 | Mississippi State University's Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach continues to grow after moving to a larger space in McCool Hall last year. After moving from a second floor suite to a 2,000-square-foot facility, the center's entrepreneurship teams have tripled in number since 2014. Along with the new area, the center also provides a small startup space in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park for technology companies. MSU's E-center Director Eric Hill told the SDN in the past three years, the center has gone from 30 to around a hundred entrepreneurship teams that predominantly consist of students from all academic colleges in the university. Hill said the new facility has been one of the largest drivers in the growth of the center because most students will have a class in McCool Hall so they will be able to physically see it. Also, incoming freshmen will now be able to see the center during orientation and learn about it. |
| Thousands of Civil War Items Donated to Mississippi State | |
 | The new extension to the Mitchell Memorial Library at Mississippi State is about to be filled very quickly. A single donation of thousands of books and Civil War memorabilia from will arrive Tuesday at the new Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library. Library staff members have taken many steps to make sure these items arrive safely. "We've actually been working on this for several months, now, trying to be prepared for taking this into our collection. A lot of work does go into preparing for receiving the collection, but a lot of work will go into processing the collection once it's actually here," said MSU Libraries Associate Dean Stephen Cunetto. |
| MSU-Meridian to partner with Jones County Junior College | |
 | MSU-Meridian and Jones County Junior College will sign an agreement for a Pathways Partnership program at a ceremony Wednesday in Ellisville. Its goal is to help students successfully enter and complete baccalaureate programs by easing the transition from a 2-year to a 4-year institution. JCJC says MSU will place academic advisers at the junior college, and students in the selected programs will receive a registration guide showing the steps that need to be taken at both schools to complete a course of study. |
| Camp Jigsaw kicks off this week at Mississippi State | |
| Mississippi State University's College of Education's Camp Jigsaw will be held from Tuesday to Thursday. The camp is geared toward youth who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and aims to help improve their social skills while enjoying a traditional camp experience. Camp Jigsaw is in its eighth year and is named after the puzzle-piece symbol associated with autism awareness. More than 50 students will participate this week from ages 12 to 21. Participants will learn skills such as making eye contact and maintaining a positive tone of voice during conversation. The camp also includes youth who not have autism spectrum disorders to encourage and promote peer interaction. |
| UNC Asheville hosts international conference on family businesses | |
 | A weekend of family business experiences and research filled the Renaissance Asheville Hotel in early June, bringing together attendees from 27 countries. The 13th annual Family Enterprise Research Conference was hosted by the Family Business Forum at UNC Asheville. "UNC Asheville, Cindy Clarke and a team that represented UNC Greensboro and UNC Charlotte put together a proposal," explained Allison Pearson, co-president of FERC and Mississippi State University business management professor. "It was a winning proposal because they could connect the idea of the conference to the family businesses in the area --- whether it was from the craft brew industry, to the Biltmore, to the farm we will be going to -- they could really connect why we talk research about family businesses better here because it is a family business community. It was a compelling proposal they put together, and they have delivered it wonderfully." |
| Laura Lee Lewis crowns sorority 'sister' Miss Mississippi | |
 | Since she was a toddler, the newly crowned Miss Mississippi Anne Elizabeth Buys had dreamed of one day winning the title. At the age of 3, the Brookhaven native attended her first Miss Mississippi Pageant, and by four, she said she was hooked. Last year, Buys finally made it to the Miss Mississippi Pageant stage as a contestant and walked away as the first runner-up to Miss Mississippi, Brookhaven native Laura Lee Lewis. Buys is Lewis' grand little sister in Chi Omega at Mississippi State University. Christina Bostick, Miss Mississippi Outstanding Teen 2010, is between them. For more than 10 years, Buys' life has in some form or fashion revolved around the Miss Mississippi Pageant organization. |
| Gov. Phil Bryant speaks at Forest Products Society Convention at The Mill | |
| Attendees of the 2017 Forest Products Society Convention at The Mill Conference Center got a thorough rundown of the forest industry in Mississippi from Republican Gov. Phil Bryant Monday. Bryant's address centered on the importance of the industry to Mississippi's economy, as well as new developments and products. "The innovation of the world has brought us into an entirely different place, but our forest products industry is as strong as ever, and even more so, because now we bring our forest products to the world." Forest Products Society Executive Director Scott Springmier said 160 people from across the U.S. and beyond were attending the convention and that most of the attendees were forest products scientists and researchers, as well as people working in the industry. "That partnership between the university and the local industry makes this a really great environment to have a conference on this topic," Springmier said. |
| Gas prices falling | |
| Gas prices in Mississippi are six cents cheaper than the national average and they're continuing to drop. Lower gas prices make it easier for many families to take summer vacations. Vacationers can now spend their money at other places instead of all of it going to fuel costs. "Hopefully with gas prices being lower they would travel more and even travel further and maybe even when they take trips stay longer," says Twyla Lovern, Community Development Partnership in Philadelphia. "We're always working with our parks to bring in events during the summertime," says Lovern. "Of course our fairs, the Choctaw Indian Fair and the Neshoba County Fair always bring a good bit of tourism and that helps." Affordable gas prices could attract even "more" visitors who want to enjoy what Philadelphia and the surrounding area has to offer. |
| Watchdog: State could save money using empty office space | |
 | A legislative watchdog committee says the state could save money by having various agencies use empty state-owned office space in Jackson instead of leasing private office space hither and yon. The Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review, or PEER, report says the state likely also could save money by having similar boards and commissions --- such as those that license health providers -- under one roof sharing things such as accounting, receptionists, parking and office equipment. Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves have suggested consolidation of state boards and commissions and/or sharing of services could save the state money. The PEER report comes after lawmakers on special budget committees last summer raised such questions again. |
| As lawmakers cut budgets, state must spend more on opioid crisis, AG Jim Hood says | |
| Attorney General Jim Hood used an address to the Rotary Club here Monday to continue his criticism of the Mississippi Legislature. Lawmakers cut the budget irresponsibly during the previous session, he said, and failed to pass several options that would boost the state's revenue. But he also looked beyond budget issues to discuss the state's struggles with opioid addiction. Appropriations for the attorney general's office were cut 14.2 percent cut during the special legislative session this month. Hood said his office would try to offset the loss of funds by keeping vacant positions open. Before the Rotary luncheon, Hood told reporters that opioid addiction affects multiple demographics in counties across the state. "It's hitting every community," he said. |
| Struggling schools fail to apply for millions in federal grants | |
| Only about 1 in 5 school districts with the neediest and lowest-performing schools in the state applied for a federal grant that could have given these schools a financial boost. The grants, called School Improvement Grants, are awarded to individual schools that qualify and show the strongest commitment to using the funds to improve instruction and help struggling students academically. To be eligible, schools must be in the lowest achieving 5 percent of schools receiving Title I funds. Title I funds are federal dollars that go toward school districts with high numbers of children from low-income families. State officials expressed disappointment. Despite the fact 113 school districts met the qualifications to apply, only 21 submitted applications, Mississippi Department of Education Chief Academic Officer Kim Benton told the State Board of Education this month. |
| Coast legislator proposes solutions for angry Jackson County patients | |
 | State Sen. Brice Wiggins said he'll try to convince the Mississippi Hospital Association to provide training for new members of community hospital boards and will consider trying to get the Legislature to make it easier to remove bad trustees from those boards. "I grew up here," said Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, whose father is a doctor in Pascagoula. "As a community hospital, we're all invested in this. It's about the people and who we are. We have to work together. Working together is how we're going to preserve Singing River for the patients and physicians." Wiggins had a meeting at the Pascagoula Public Library on Monday to talk to patients of Dr. Terry Millette, the neurologist whose office was abruptly closed and contract was canceled earlier this year by the Singing River Health System. |
| Mississippi Republican Heath Hall tapped as federal rail agency deputy | |
 | A Mississippi man long active in Republican politics has started working in a top job at the Federal Railroad Administration. Heath Hall was chosen as the agency's deputy administrator by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. He was sworn in Friday. Hall graduated from American University in Washington in 1992 and started his career as an intern at the Federal Railroad Administration. In the mid-1990s, he worked as public affairs director for Gov. Kirk Fordice, the first Republican governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction. |
| House members want federal funds now to hire personal security | |
 | House of Representatives lawmakers want $25,000 each to hire private security right away to protect them in their home districts, an unusually quick, bipartisan response to the shooting of a Republican House leader and others at a baseball practice. A House panel has approved providing an immediate $10 million for the rest of fiscal 2017, which runs through Sept. 30, for that purpose. Representatives could use the money to pay for an off-duty police officer or private security guard at town halls, fish fries, meet-and-greets or other public events in their districts. The Federal Election Commission is considering allowing lawmakers to use campaign funds to secure their residences, as well. The measure needs House and Senate approval, but signs for increased funding are positive. |
| State, local health leaders concerned about Senate bill | |
| Mississippi health care leaders are long on concerns about what proposed Senate health care bill will mean for the state. The Mississippi Hospital Association said the legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare doesn't address the key concerns for the state's hospitals. "Nothing that I'm seeing alleviates the harmful elements," said Richard Roberson, vice president for state advocacy with the Mississippi Hospital Association. The Affordable Care Act included cuts to Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share funding that helped hospitals that took care of a high number of uninsured patients and increased audits, which raised administrative costs, Roberson said. The Senate bill largely leaves those elements untouched and doesn't address Medicare sequestration cuts at all. |
| Northeast Mississippi business owners closely watching health care debate | |
| B.J. Canup is paying close attention to the debate over the health care bill that the GOP-led Senate is trying to pass, and as a business owner himself, he has concerns. "The real question for a business on social issues is, 'do we as a company have a social responsibility to others besides our employees?'" he said. "Because in the end, this health care issue will be the Medicare/Medicaid part that is the deciding issue. What and who is covered and what and who is not covered. And above all, who pays for it?" Canup is president of Tremont Floral, one of the nation's largest suppliers of artificial flowers, servicing retailers in more than 20 states. Along with the company's sister operation, Canup LLC, the 52-year-old business employs some 125 employees. He hopes Congress and the President can some up with plan, one that will be acceptable to all. |
| From Birth To Death, Medicaid Affects The Lives Of Millions | |
 | Medicaid is the government health care program for the poor. That's the shorthand explanation. But Medicaid is so much more than that -- which is why it's become the focal point of the battle in Washington to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. President Obama expanded Medicaid under his signature health care law to cover 11 million more people, bringing the total number of people covered up to 69 million. Now Republicans want to reverse that expansion, and they want to go much further in cutting back on the number of people covered and federal dollars spent. The legislation they're contemplating in both the House and Senate shrinks and fundamentally restructures the program. The report issued by the Congressional Budget Office on Monday estimates that 15 million people would lose coverage through Medicaid by 2026 under the proposed Senate bill. |
| Vandals obliterate info on Emmett Till marker in Mississippi | |
| A civil rights historical marker in Mississippi has been vandalized, obliterating information about black teenager Emmett Till, who was kidnapped and lynched in 1955. The slaying galvanized the civil rights movement when Till's mother, Mamie Till Mobley, had an open-casket funeral in Chicago to show how her 14-year-old son had been brutalized while he was visiting the Mississippi Delta. Allan Hammons, whose public relations firm made the marker, said Monday that someone scratched the marker with a blunt tool in May. During the past week, a tour group discovered vinyl panels had been peeled off the back of the metal marker in Money, Mississippi. The panels contained photos and words about Till. |
| Title IX investigation into sexual assault allegedly committed at USM frat party concludes | |
 | A Title IX investigation into an allegation of sexual assault committed at a homecoming party at the University of Southern Mississippi's Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house has concluded, but university officials cannot say what the outcome was. The information is an educational record and is protected from disclosure under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, according to Jim Coll, chief communication officer at Southern Miss. Paul Walters, university associate general counsel, said, in a previous interview, University Police report sexual battery cases to the school's Title IX office and Title IX coordinator who assess the complaint and can call a hearing. Three trained employees serve as investigators for each hearing. |
| Alabama's 60,000-year-old underwater forest spills its secrets in new documentary | |
 | The ancient cypress forest found 60 feet underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, due south of Gulf Shores, Ala., is about 60,000 years old, says a team of scientists who have studied the site. The forest appears to be a wholly unique relic of our planet's past, the only known site where a coastal ice age forest this old has been preserved in place, with thousands of trees still rooted in the dirt they were growing millennia ago. The scientists believe the forest was buried beneath the Gulf sediments for eons, until giant waves driven by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 uncovered it. AL.com collected the first samples from the site, and has participated in every scientific mission to the site, beginning in 2012. Our crews subsequently visited the laboratories at Louisiana State University and the University of Southern Mississippi where samples from the forest have been analyzed. |
| Hinds Community College announce big changes after accreditation warning issued | |
 | Hinds Community College is now looking at ways to tighten its budget after being put on notice by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In order to keep its accreditation, the school will have to make some big changes, including cutting some programs. With the state budget continuing to dwindle, Hinds Community College has been dipping into its savings in order to make up the difference -- a move, President of the college, Dr. Clyde Muse says school leaders chose to do instead of raising tuition. "We had given our employees a raise for the last two years because we hadn't given them a raise in a long time," Dr. Muse explained. "With the anticipation that our enrollment numbers would increase and our economy would increase." That, however, never happened. |
| LSU researchers get nearly $1 million to study honeybees | |
| Two Louisiana State University researchers are getting nearly $1 million for a two-year study of how mite treatment and stress affect honeybee health. Kristen Healy and Daniel Swale are working with U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers in Baton Rouge and the nation's largest beekeeper, the LSU AgCenter said in a news release Thursday. They'll be studying 400 hives of honeybees owned by Adee Honey Farms of Bruce, South Dakota, including some that are moved to California for the fall almond harvest and then to Mississippi for the winter. LSU is getting $935,000. It's among seven universities getting a total of $6.8 million from the USDA to study pollinators. |
| U. of Arkansas Adds Pryor Center to Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences | |
 | The University of Arkansas on Monday announced that its David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History is now officially a part of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, again. The center was started in 1999 as part of the college's Department of History. The initial concept came from former U.S. Sen. David Pryor and his wife, Barbara, who provided seed money in the form of a $220,000 gift. They didn't plan to have their name on the center, but a $2 million gift from the Tyson Family Foundation in 2005 created an endowment for the re-named facility. The financial support enabled the center to buy new equipment and become a part of the University Libraries Special Collections. The Pryor Center had been supervised by the chancellor's office since 2009. Now it will be supervised by the college's dean, Todd Shields. |
| Five U. of Missouri administrators receive new roles | |
 | The University of Missouri on Monday took the word interim off the titles of four top administrators and changed the duties of School of Medicine Dean Patrick Delafontaine in an administrative streamlining that will create several joint appointments at the system and campus levels. Delafontaine will now report to UM System President Mun Choi on some matters, to the Columbia campus chancellor for clinical matters and to the MU provost for academic affairs. Also in the health system, Jonathan Curtright, the chief operating officer of MU Health Care who has also been interim chief executive officer since the departure of Mitch Wadsden in January, will have a combined title of CEO/COO. |
| International Students Dodge Trump's Partly Reinstated Travel Ban, but Concerns Persist | |
 | The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to allow a limited version of President Trump's travel ban to take effect but said that visitors with ties to the United States -- a group that the court specified includes foreign college students -- will be allowed to enter the country. Despite that exemption, some legal experts and educators warned that the court's action may affect prospective international students who are in the process of applying for a visa. The move to reinstate, in part, Mr. Trump's executive order barring travelers from a half-dozen predominantly Muslim countries came as the nation's highest court agreed to hear arguments this fall about whether the measure is legal and constitutional. |
| Supreme Court partially reinstates Trump's travel ban | |
 | The Supreme Court on Monday partially lifted the injunction on President Trump's ban on entry for nationals of six Muslim-majority countries, allowing it to take effect except for in the cases of "foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States." The ruling indicates that students admitted to U.S. universities, workers with job offers from U.S. companies and lecturers with invitations to address American audiences all would qualify as having such a "bona fide relationship," and therefore would not be subject to the reinstated travel ban. "It looks like our students and scholars and faculty would meet that definition of a bona fide connection or relationship, but when the first executive order was signed, it was just chaos," said Adam Julian, the director of international student and scholar services and outreach at Appalachian State University and chair of a NAFSA: Association of International Educators subcommittee on travel. |
| College Lawyers Say Title IX Process Must Be Fair to Both Parties | |
| Colleges are facing a lot of pressure to investigate and punish incidents of sexual assault under extensive guidance from the federal Education Department. But their responses have also made them a target of lawsuits by students challenging whether the colleges have responded adequately. To survive those lawsuits, the colleges must treat both the survivor and the accused fairly, said a panel of lawyers in Chicago at the annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Adding to the complexity of complying with the federal investigations are the dozens of lawsuits that have been filed by students -- sometimes the alleged victims but more often the accused perpetrators -- who charge that the college has mishandled the situation. |
| OUR OPINION: Partnership gives students profound opportunities | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal editorializes: "A new partnership is making high-level, college preparatory coursework available to Mississippi high school students. Beginning in the upcoming school year, the Mississippi Public School Consortium for Educational Access is launching a pilot program that will teach Advanced Placement courses in select rural and low-income school districts that currently do not offer the courses. Northeast Mississippi is well represented in the pilot group, with Aberdeen, Booneville and Pontotoc County among the initial seven participating districts, as reported by Daily Journal education reporter Emma Crawford Kent. In preparation, more than 20 students from those districts are participating in a two-week summer academy held at Mississippi State University to get them ready to take AP physics this fall." |
| Effort to improve state's roads sucker punched by Koch brothers | |
 | Mississippi newspaper publisher and columnist Wyatt Emmerich writes: "Mississippi voters need to get up to speed on the debate about highway funding. There's a lot of money on the line. How much money? TRIP, a national transportation research group, just completed a study claiming deficient roads are costing Mississippians $2.9 billion a year in vehicle repairs, traffic delays and crashes. That's about $1,500 per vehicle. Meanwhile, the Legislature won't raise the gas tax 15 cents a gallon to increase road funding, an increase that would cost drivers about $100 per vehicle. The tax has never been adjusted for inflation in 25 years. The Mississippi Economic Council is mounting a huge public relations effort to raise the gas tax but it has so far fallen on deaf ears at the Legislature. So what gives?" |
| Neighbors 'up north' take a different approach | |
| Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "The Mississippi Legislature reduced funding for community colleges, causing an upsurge in the cost of attendance. Lawmakers in Tennessee made community colleges tuition-free, likely to cause an upsurge in attendance. Now that state 'up North' isn't the model for all things bright and wonderful, just as Mississippi isn't to be pitied for being lost in the wilderness. There are commonalities and there are differences. ...Tennessee has faced the same challenges as Mississippi -- rising unemployment and declining demand for traditional jobs. The difference is that while Mississippi has cut back and cut back, Tennessee has 'repurposed' funds with an eye to the future." |
SPORTS
| Sixty-six Bulldogs named to SEC Spring Honor Roll | |
| A total of 66 Mississippi State student-athletes were named to the 2017 Spring Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll, the league office announced Monday. The 66 Bulldogs span eight sports (baseball, men's golf, women's golf, softball, men's tennis, women's tennis, men's track and field and women's track and field) and are part of a total 1,245 student-athletes across the 14 SEC schools that were named to the honor roll. Women's track and field led all MSU programs with 13 student-athletes named to the list, while softball followed close behind with 11. Men's track and field and baseball had 10 named to the honor roll, while men's golf tallied seven. Women's tennis placed six on the list, while men's tennis earned five selections and women's golf rounded out the list with four. |
| Ben Howland, Andy Kennedy pleased with summer preparation | |
| Both Ben Howland at Mississippi State and Andy Kennedy at Ole Miss have been busy this summer getting acquainted with their new-look rosters. Howland and Kennedy are both entering their fourth week of workouts and are close to completing the first summer term. Coaches are permitted to spend two hours per day and up to eight hours a week practicing during the summer months. In Starkville, Howland said he has also been impressed by a couple of players that will see the court for the first time in 2017-18. He lauded the play of forward Abdul Ado, who was ruled ineligible by the NCAA last season, as well as three-star freshman forward KeyShawn Feazell. |
| Where Mario Kegler's transfer leaves Mississippi State's scholarship situation | |
| A late transfer left a scholarship open for Mississippi State and it is still unclear if that spot will be used for this upcoming season, Ben Howland said. At this point, there aren't many options left and that may suggest the scholarship will carry over into the following season. The opening was created when Mario Kegler bolted for Baylor. Kegler leaving Mississippi State for Baylor despite having played the second-most minutes and attempted the third-most shots on the Bulldogs was not something Howland expected. "For him to want to leave that situation was a little bit surprising," Howland said Monday during the SEC's summer teleconference. "But we wish him well." |
| Mississippi State's Riley Self adds another Freshman All-American award | |
| Mississippi State reliever Riley Self was selected as a second-team Freshman All-American by Baseball America on Monday. It was the second such honor the Bulldog right-hander, who was also named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball earlier this month. Self tied for a team-high 31 appearances, going 5-2 with a 3.72 ERA, eight saves, 60 strikeouts and 20 walks over 48 1/3 innings of work. |
| SEC expansion: Why the Big 12 is the key to SEC adding more schools | |
| When Texas A&M and Missouri joined the Southeastern Conference five years ago this weekend, it felt like a death blow to the Big 12. The instability would surely doom the conference after four schools left the conference in a two-year span and Texas and Oklahoma continued to flirt with conference affiliation elsewhere. Larry Scott, then the Pac-10's commissioner, envisioned a world of four, 16-team major conferences, with the Big 12 the obvious conference primed to be picked apart. Until it wasn't. Five years since the SEC's big move, most conferences have some semblance of stability. But if the big conference realignment period taught us anything, it's that stability can be fleeting. In the current landscape, there is no need -- or desire -- for the SEC to expand beyond 14 members. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey doesn't even want to publicly address the idea. |
| Gators a win away from national title after beating LSU 4-3 | |
| Florida is one win away from the first baseball national title in school history, thanks to record-setting performance from sophomore righty Brady Singer, some timely hits and a big throw from a defensive replacement. All factored into UF's 4-3 win over LSU on Monday night in Game 1 of the College World Series finals before 25,679 at TD Ameritrade Park. The Gators (51-19) won their 19th one-run game of the season, jumping to an early 3-0 lead and holding on before a partisan LSU crowd. Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan will start freshman Tyler Dyson in tonight's Game 2 of the series against LSU and will look for at least five innings from the righty. Lefty Jared Poche (12-3, 3.33 ERA) will start Tuesday night for LSU. |
| Father of Jared Poche, father of LSU strength coach save Florida fan's life at CWS | |
 | Dr. Jerry Poche and Jimmy Roy, whose sons are part of the LSU baseball program, revived an elderly Florida fan in the sixth inning of Monday's game in the College World Series finals. Poche received confirmation from the lead paramedic at TD Ameritrade Park that the man to whom he and Roy provided CPR is in stable condition. "The man died," Poche said. "He didn't have a pulse; he didn't have nothing. It looks like, luckily, we got him back." Poche is the father of Jared Poche, who will start Game 2 of the best-of-three series Tuesday night against Florida. Jerry Poche said Cole Freeman's mother, Kellie, called out for him after they saw an elderly man slumping and losing consciousness in the stands. By the time Jerry Poche arrived, the man was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Jerry Poche said he has been a family doctor in Lutcher for the past 25 years. He immediately provided chest compressions for what he estimated to be five to seven minutes until paramedics arrived. |
| Nova, 'War Eagle VII,' will not fly before games during 2017 Auburn football season | |
 | Auburn's beloved icon, Nova, also known as 'War Eagle VII,' will not fly during pre-game events during Auburn's 2017 football season after Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine faculty diagnosed the 18-year-old golden eagle with cardiomyopathy, a chronic disease of the heart. Spirit, a bald eagle, will assume pregame flight duties during the season, said Southeastern Raptor Center Director Dr. Jamie Bellah. Following a routine checkup, it was determined Nova had an abnormal heart rhythm, and veterinary faculty, in consultation with the Cardiology Service in the Wilford and Kate Bailey Small Animal Teaching Hospital, performed a CT angiography on Nova. Nova was started on a combination of medications to prevent his condition from worsening. |
| Baylor says NCAA investigation is 'ongoing, pending' | |
| The NCAA is conducting an "ongoing, pending investigation" into Baylor University in the wake of a sexual assault scandal that led to the firing of football coach Art Briles and the departure of the school president, the school's lawyers confirmed in a federal court filing. Baylor officials acknowledged the investigation while asking a judge to protect the school's communications with the NCAA from attorneys for several women who have sued the nation's largest Baptist university. Baylor contends the school must maintain the confidentiality of the NCAA's investigation process, though the school could turn over some information to plaintiffs' attorneys who make specific requests. |
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