| Tuesday, September 26, 2017 |
| Mississippi State, nonprofit partner to help low-income students | |
 | Mississippi State University recently announced a partnership with health care nonprofit Delta Health Alliance geared to provide funding and financial education to 400 low-income students. The partnership will provide up to $1.15 million to assist low-income students through the DREAMS Saving Grant. MSU will contribute $575,000 to match the same amount provided through Delta Health Alliance grant funds. Students -- selected by using FAFSA data -- will receive the assistance over three years and will be guided through the process of opening a savings account for educational expenses. Once the savings account is set up, both entities will provide $4 in grant funds for every dollar deposited into the account. Students will receive up to $2,500 in grant funds to help with educational expenses. The financial education efforts will be led by MSU Financial Literacy Coordinator John Daniels, who initiated the partnership. |
| Inaugural HackState concludes with awards | |
| Over 200 students from different universities returned to the ballroom at the Colvard Student Union on Sunday to present projects created during the inaugural HackState hackathon. The second day of the innovation and coding competition served as the presentation and judging portion for each team's project, which they only had 24 hours to complete. Judges went around to each team to determine which project would receive the top five slots. Once the judges narrowed down the top five, those teams presented the projects to the entire conference to be judged. Of the top five, the top three projects received prizes. The first place winner won with a Gesture-controlled-MYO-Crane. The logic behind their product is to bring safety to the workplace. In their demonstration the team said someone can operate machinery by wearing an armband to move the machine without physically being on it. Christian Bush, a junior computer engineering student at Mississippi State University, said they came up with the winning idea after looking at the different hardware provided for them and the strengths each member of the team could contribute. |
| Man arrested for assault, chase from MSU's campus | |
 | A morning assault at Mississippi State University's campus and attempted escape from law enforcement officers has landed an Oktibbeha County man in jail. MSU Police Chief Vance Rice said his officers were called to an assault near Giles Hall sometime after 9 a.m. Monday. Upon arriving, Rice said, officers saw Jeremy Young, 20, attempting to pull a female victim from a car. After getting her out, Young tried to flee, hitting a MSUPD patrol car in the process. Rice said the incident beginning on MSU's campus should not be cause for greater alarm about safety at the university. "Neither one was affiliated in any way with MSU," he said. "We believe they are brother and sister, or at least relatives. Why they came here and stopped here, we don't know." |
| Starkville weighing e-cigarette ban | |
| As Starkville aldermen consider an amendment to the city's non-smoking ordinance to include electronic cigarettes and similar products, at least one business owner is worried the change might force him to shut his doors. If approved, the amendment would prohibit "vaping" in the same areas where smoking is banned -- including at most restaurants and businesses. Vaping is inhaling vapor produced by heating a liquid "juice," in e-cigarettes and personal vaporizers. The juices can contain nicotine in varying amounts. Aldermen will vote on the amended ordinance after a public hearing at the board's Oct. 3 meeting. Starkville passed the state's first smoking ban in 2008. At the time, electronic cigarettes had yet to reach the popularity they enjoy today, and the amendment, introduced in early September by Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins, aims to adjust the smoking ban to include them. |
| Man arrested for fight at Starkville grocery store | |
| A Starkville man is in jail for a Sunday morning fight at Vowell's according to Starkville Police Department. Police responded at about 9:30 a.m. Sunday to a fight in the Vowell's Marketplace parking lot. Stanley L. Brownlee, 44, was attacking a victim and causing blunt force trauma, according to police. The victim has been hospitalized and is in serious condition, though SPD did not identify the hospital the victim was taken to. |
| C Spire launches major Mississippi expansion | |
 | C Spire officials announced major expansion efforts to extend broadband and wireless internet services into northeast Mississippi, the Delta and beyond Monday. Officials said the expansion promises to reach more than 250,000 residents and businesses in eight markets in underserved areas. The service area will center primarily in the Mississippi Delta and northeast Mississippi, but will also include cities and towns such as Greenville, Vicksburg, Greenwood, Indianola, West Point and Columbus. More markets will be added by the end of the year in areas where choices are limited or service from existing providers is slow or inadequate, officials said. |
| Bucking a trend, cities and counties are raising taxes | |
 | Local government leaders are turning to everyday Mississippians to foot their bills -- at least 15 of the state's largest cities and counties have recently raised property taxes. City and county leaders supporting the tax increases -- many of whom are Republicans straying from a traditional party value of less taxation -- are strapped for cash, facing expensive infrastructure upgrades, lacking technology to meet the needs of residents, needing newer, safer emergency vehicles, and having gone several years without giving raises to employees. To meet the local budget needs, Mississippians in Jackson, Hattiesburg, Greenville, Horn Lake, Natchez, Columbus, Gautier, Hernando, Brandon, Ocean Springs, Hinds County, Lowndes County, Oktibbeha County and Clay County will pay more in property taxes next fiscal year. |
| State health department earns national accreditation | |
 | The Mississippi Department of Health announced from its headquarters during a Monday morning news conference it has completed an intensive national public health accreditation process. State Health Officer Mary Currier, speaking in front of the media and a room full of Department of Health staff, said the accreditation was the culmination of three years of research, data gathering and planning by the agency. She said the effort will have a positive impact on the health of all Mississippians. Mississippi earned the accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board and is the 28th state public health department to complete the accreditation process. The ultimate goal is that the information gathered through the accreditation process can be used to improve the overall health of Mississippians, who are routinely found to be the least healthy in the nation based on multiple standards. |
| State Auditor to probe Education Department contracts, spending | |
| The state auditor's office is scrutinizing potential improper bidding and spending practices by the Mississippi Department of Education following a report issued by the legislative oversight committee. In a report released Monday, the Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER Committee) concluded that the Education Department entered into multiple contracts throughout fiscal years 2014-2016 "having apparent similarities in scope of work and for amounts that collectively exceeded bid thresholds, rather than competitively bidding contracts for such services." PEER had been asked to review changes in state procurement laws following the 2014 bribery scandal in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. PEER also studied several contracts entered into by the state Education Department in particular after legislators raised concerns. As a result, the committee recommended the state auditor investigate the legality of the department's practices. |
| Beauvoir's new institute hopes to resolve Civil War tension through education | |
 | Beauvoir is looking to be a place where people seeking truth and knowledge can feel welcome, and a new institute may be just the way to reach that goal. In light of recent debate and protests sparked by the presence of Confederate statues and their place in society, the museum wants to bring everyone to the table. Beauvoir's Executive Director, Tom Payne, hopes the new Beauvoir Institute can turn down the heat on a hot-button issue. The program will be geared toward shedding light on all parts of the South's involvement in the Civil War. "Everybody wants information, they want the truth. I think that's the most important thing," Payne said. "I don't care what side you're on, on the issue, You, just as a rational, reasonable person you just want the truth." Members of the Harrison County Republican Women's Club were the first to hear about the new initiative. Payne made the announcement during their monthly meeting at the Great Southern Golf Club. |
| Mississippi gets more time in lawsuit over Confederate-themed flag | |
 | The U.S. Supreme Court is giving Mississippi more time to respond to a lawsuit that challenges the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag. The court said Monday that attorneys for Republican Gov. Phil Bryant have until Oct. 18 to respond. The original deadline was this Thursday. Carlos Moore, an African-American attorney in Mississippi, filed suit in 2016 seeking to have the flag declared an unconstitutional relic of slavery. |
| Bannon to Alabama: 'They think you're a pack of morons' | |
 | Steve Bannon barreled onstage at a raucous rally inside a barn here to deliver a warning to the national Republican establishment ahead of Tuesday's special Senate election: I'm just getting started. In a thundering 20-minute speech Monday night that was partly a rally for insurgent Senate candidate Roy Moore but equally a declaration of war on the Republican Party hierarchy, Bannon made clear that this next act of his political career could make the Republican civil war of recent years look tame. A Moore win, Bannon has argued, would open the floodgates for anti-incumbent primary challengers across the map. He has also zeroed in on looming Senate primaries in states where GOP incumbents are up for reelection, including Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee and Mississippi. Among those present at the Monday night rally was Chris McDaniel, a tea party figure who is weighing a primary challenge to Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker. |
| Alabama Senate race could influence Mississippi elections next year | |
| All the electoral action may be in Alabama during today's special election primary runoff for a U.S. Senate seat, but there is plenty to keep Mississippi politicos rapt. The runoff race pits establishment-backed Luther Strange, just barely an incumbent, against Roy Moore, a former state supreme court justice who has branded himself a fierce and fiery foe of the Republican congressional leadership in Washington. Most polls give Moore an edge in the race, and if he pulls off a victory the reverberations could change the game for Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker's re-election next year. "I certainly think Chris McDaniel is going to be eye-balling this race," said Marty Wiseman, former director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University and a longtime observer of the state's political scene. |
| U. of Mississippi students vote Tuesday on whether Landshark should replace Black Bear | |
| University of Mississippi students will vote Tuesday in a nonbinding referendum on whether to make the Landshark the official Ole Miss mascot, replacing Rebel the Black Bear selected in 2010. All of this -- both the Black Bear and the Landshark -- is the result of efforts dating to the 1990's to distance the university from its controversial ties to the Old South. Former Chancellor Robert Khayat banned waving Confederate flags at the on-campus stadium in 1997, and the iconic Colonel Reb mascot was later dropped from official use. Khayat's successor, former Chancellor Dan Jones, continued the reforms that were, and remain, unpopular with many. Current Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter also has supported reforms. |
| Ole Miss ASB announces four-day-long mascot vote | |
 | The student vote on the potential mascot change will now take place over a four-day period. Instead of closing at 7 p.m. Tuesday night alongside the campus personality elections, the vote between the Landshark and Rebel the Black Bear will wrap up at 7 p.m. Friday night. ASB President Dion Kevin III announced the new voting schedule in a letter to the Ole Miss community Monday night. The vote on supporting a mascot change to the Landshark will open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close four days later at 7 p.m. Friday. Kevin said ASB will announce the vote's results Friday night. "We just decided it was best for students, and also, we didn't want to influence the personality (elections) too much," Kevin said. |
| U. of Mississippi endowment gains 14.9% in latest fiscal year | |
| University of Mississippi's endowment returned a net 14.9% for the fiscal year ended June 30, exceeding its index benchmark return of 10.9%, said Wendell Weakley, president and CEO of the Oxford-based University of Mississippi Foundation. The $591 million pooled endowment is composed of foundation, university endowment and medical center endowment assets, and is managed by a joint committee of representatives from all three groups. By asset class, global equities returned 19.1% in the fiscal year, followed by diversifying strategies, 8.8%; global fixed income, 8.6%; and real assets, 6.5%. |
| USM puts on Phantom of the Opera production | |
 | The University of Southern Miss is putting on the musical production "Phantom of the Opera." The play will also feature the Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra as well as an ensemble of 40 students. According to Director Mike Lopinto, over 120 students auditioned for the 40 roles, and he said he was surprised by the outcome. "Forty-ish people in the cast," Lopinto said. "Over 120 people auditioned for those 40 roles. So, people were coming out of the woodwork to be in Phantom because it really is a once in a lifetime experience." Planning for the play started over a year ago with a conversation between Symphony Orchestra Music Director Jay Dean and Dr. Lopinto to do a musical together. Lopinto said that whether you love the play or not, there's something in it for everyone which is why he says that it's the longest running show on Broadway. |
| Grant to enhance EMCC Wellness Center and install outdoor fitness equipment | |
 | The Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation has awarded a grant totaling nearly $265,000 to East Mississippi Community College to enhance the Wellness Center at the Scooba campus and provide an outdoor fitness facility that will be open to the public, according to a news release from EMCC. "There will be no charge to use the outdoor equipment," EMCC Director of Wellness and Intramurals Kate McCarty said in a statement. "Members of the community can drive up and use the facility, which will also be open to EMCC employees and students." One possible location for the outdoor fitness facility is adjacent to the sand volleyball courts. Tentative plans include 20 pieces of outdoor exercise equipment, including four stair climbers for cardio workouts and 16 pieces of additional exercise equipment, including a bench press, sit-up bench and butterfly press to name a few. |
| Northeast Mississippi Community College to host Business & Industry Expo | |
| Northeast Mississippi Community College's Division of Business and Engineering Technology will host a Business and Industry Expo on Thursday, Oct. 12, from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m., in the career/technical area behind Dean Hall on the Booneville campus. The expo also coincides with homecoming at NEMCC. Students will have the opportunity to meet with Northeast instructors, students currently enrolled in a Northeast career/tech program and industry partners participating in the event. "High school students will have an opportunity to interact with industry experts and see firsthand the career choices that are available," said associate vice president of career and technical education Jason Mattox. |
| City of Auburn, Auburn University considering e-bike investment | |
 | Devoted legwork was required to ascend the hill on North Donahue Drive near the Auburn recycling center, but Brandy Ezelle ascended effortlessly thanks to the city of Auburn's electric bicycle, or e-bike. Possessing the features of a standard seven-gear bicycle, the e-bike is equipped with a battery-powered motor that can travel a distance of 30 to 40 miles on a single charge, said Ezelle, traffic engineer and bicycle coordinator for the city of Auburn. "This one we bought as a pilot to see how people liked it," she said. "And so, based on that, we will look at adding some of those." Besides potentially acquiring more e-bikes for the city, Ezelle said city officials have begun talking with representatives of Auburn University about possibly adding e-bikes to the War Eagle Bike Share Program through its provider, Gotcha Bikes, as a result of a recently formed partnership between the city and the university. |
| In fired prof's case, federal judge weighing legality of LSU's sexual harassment policies | |
 | LSU's sexual harassment policies are unconstitutionally broad and were used in 2015 to fire a tenured education professor who used vulgar language in the classroom, an attorney for the ex-professor told a federal judge Monday. Teresa Buchanan, who worked for LSU for nearly two decades, sued LSU President F. King Alexander and other university officials in 2016. She is seeking monetary damages and reinstatement to her former job, claiming her civil rights were trampled. This case is an important example "of how things can go wrong," Robert Corn-Revere, who represents Buchanan, told U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick in arguing that LSU violated Buchanan's First Amendment free speech rights. Special Assistant Attorney General Sheri Morris, who represents Alexander and several other university administrators, defended LSU's sexual harassment policies and the firing of Buchanan, saying the policies do recognize academic freedom. |
| Hawk-killing U. of South Carolina trustee Charles Williams fined $30,000 | |
 | University of South Carolina trustee Charles Williams was sentenced in federal court Monday to pay a $30,000 fine for killing federally protected red-tailed hawks. The sentence, by U.S. Judge Michelle Childs, was lighter than a sentence passed down in June 2016 by federal magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges, who gave Williams a $75,000 fine and 50 hours of community service at a bird wildlife center. Hodges also banned him from hunting for one year. On Monday, Childs did not reinstate the hunting ban and she dropped the requirement for community service because, she said, Williams is an outstanding citizen who does many good works in his community. "I had no idea this was a federal offense," Williams, 67, an Orangeburg attorney, told the judge before sentencing. He nonetheless said he accepts responsibility for the killings. The crime is a misdemeanor. |
| Harvey impact inspires urban planning faculty, students at Texas A&M | |
 | Faculty and students from Texas A&M University's Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning are using their expertise to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey. Interim department head and professor Shannon Van Zandt said although the work itself isn't new to those affiliated with the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M -- a group specializing in disaster recovery and mitigation -- it has been galvanized by the impacts of the recent storm. Van Zandt said the group of nearly 10 faculty members and more than 30 students involved with the center have recommitted to the importance of their chosen field and the effects it can have on the lives of everyday people. |
| New travel restrictions raise questions, concerns for higher ed | |
 | Higher education groups on Monday began to grapple with what new restrictions on travel to the U.S. from eight countries imposed Sunday night by the Trump administration will mean for international students and scholarly exchange. The new restrictions, which replace a 90-day ban on travel for nationals of six Muslim-majority countries that expired Sunday, vary by country, ranging from a ban of all travel from North Korea and Syria to a targeted ban on tourist and business travel limited to certain government officials and their family members from Venezuela. Though all Iranian immigrants and most nonimmigrant visitors will be barred, nationals from Iran traveling on student (F and M) and exchange visitor (J) visas will still be able to enter the U.S., "subject to enhanced screening and vetting requirements." |
| UC Irvine under scrutiny for taking $200 million for school of health from couple some say back junk science | |
| A $200 million gift is turning into a $200 million headache for the University of California, Irvine, as critics argue it is indulging the wishes of wealthy donors who advocate for junk science. The university announced the gift last week, tagging it as the largest in its history and the seventh largest ever made to a single public university. Longtime UCI donors Susan and Henry Samueli are giving the money to name a "first of its kind" College of Health Sciences focusing on "interdisciplinary integrative health," the announcement read. Many medical researchers have pounced on the donation, which they saw as rich donors influencing academic and scientific decisions that should be reserved for academics. They called integrative medicine a rebranding of alternative medicine -- a collection of practices not supported by science, like homeopathy, and of ideas stolen from mainstream medicine, like nutrition. |
| Virginia Tech professor accused of scamming National Science Foundation | |
 | The scramble for government funding on the university level is a bare-knuckle competitive business. Careers -- and fortunes -- are often tied directly to getting the right grant at the right time. One decorated researcher and professor from Virginia Tech is accused of taking the government's financial backing to an extreme. Yiheng Percival Zhang, a professor at the school's department of biological systems engineering, was arrested last week, accused by federal authorities of conspiracy to commit or defraud the United States. The fraud, according to an arrest affidavit sworn out by an FBI investigator, involved funding from the National Science Foundation. Born in China and naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2011, Zhang was educated at Dartmouth and employed by Virginia Tech since 2005. |
| 'Ignore' is a muscle that could use some exercise | |
| Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "A friend well-schooled in all things biblical said not long ago, 'Social media may not be able to make the blind see, but it certainly allows the dumb to speak.' His modification of Matthew 11:5 (also Isaiah 35:5) was irreverent, insensitive and politically incorrect. It's also fairly accurate, but today's message is for those who find it offensive: You can ignore it. We don't flex that muscle nearly as often as we should. Almost every day the media, social and otherwise, blow up over one incident or another. ...In the old days, perhaps, we were better at changing the channel or turning the page. Social media draws people in, especially people at the extremes. Not every provocation requires or even deserves a response." |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs working to get vertical | |
| One of Dan Mullen's talking points after Mississippi State's 31-3 loss to Georgia over the weekend was making more plays down field in the vertical passing game. The Bulldogs completed 15 passes for 103 yards in the loss, averaging only 6.9 yards a reception. Deddrick Thomas hauled in the longest passing plays of the night with a pair of catches for 20 and 21 yards. "When you call the shots down the field, you've got to be able to hit them," Mullen said. "You've got to win some 50-50 balls down the field every once in a while." Mississippi State threw for 274 yards in its season opening win over Charleston Southern. Despite their 3-1 start, the Bulldogs have not thrown for more than 180 yards in a game since. |
| What should we make of Mississippi State after two very different outcomes? | |
| Mississippi State's leaders saw it during practices. The execution wasn't there on some plays in the days leading up to the Bulldogs' game against Georgia on Saturday. Complacency had set in after a 37-7 win over LSU. "Maybe we thought we were a little bit better than we were and maybe we were a little lackadaisical at times," quarterback Nick Fitzgerald said on Monday. "I felt we weren't as mentally locked in at some times in practice. "That's going to change. We're going to get back to being locked in and focused like we were during the LSU week." It has to; things don't get much easier for the Bulldogs (3-1), who visit No. 15 Auburn (3-1) on Saturday (5 p.m., ESPN). |
| Mississippi State's Dan Mullen wants toughness from his team | |
 | Saturday night in Athens, Ga., wasn't quite like the previous Saturday for the No. 24 Mississippi State Bulldogs. After routing the LSU Tigers a week prior at home, MSU (3-1, 1-1 SEC) fell on the opposite end of that spectrum against No. 11 Georgia with a 31-3 stomping. It was a game that head coach Dan Mullen wasn't too surprised by after the preparation that MSU had during the week. "I didn't think we had as good a practice as we did the week before," Mullen said. "You're talking 18 to 22 year-old guys that have all sorts of things going on and then people are patting them on the back telling them how great they are. This week, everyone is telling them how bad they are. The key is to have a great mental toughness to deal with the noise." |
| Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen previews matchup with Auburn | |
| Here's what Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen had to say Monday about the No. 24-ranked Bulldogs' matchup with No. 13 Auburn on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. |
| Dan Mullen updates injuries before Mississippi State's game against Auburn | |
| Things don't get much easier for No. 24 Mississippi State as the Bulldogs visit No. 15 Auburn (3-1) Saturday (5 p.m., ESPN). Mississippi State (3-1) is coming off a 31-3 loss against Georgia in Athens. The game against the Tigers is MSU's third straight against a top-25 SEC team. |
| MSU Notebook: Bulldogs in midst of grueling stretch | |
| No. 24 Mississippi State is in the midst of the most grueling stretch in college football thus far. The Bulldogs will travel to 13th-ranked Auburn on Saturday, marking the third straight weekend they have played an opponent ranked in the top 15. MSU is the only team in the country to play three consecutive teams ranked in the top 15 this season. "It's another huge challenge for our team," said MSU coach Dan Mullen. "It's our third straight week playing a top 15 team. I don't know how the SEC came up with this where we're playing three top 15 teams in consecutive weeks and two of them on the road." |
| U. of Florida files criminal complaints against nine football players | |
 | Nine suspended University of Florida football players likely face third-degree felony charges after sworn complaints were filed against them Monday by the University of Florida Police Department, stemming from its investigation into credit card fraud. True freshman offensive tackle Kadeem Telfort is facing 30 possible felony charges, while defensive end Jordan Smith is facing five. The seven other players --- wide receiver Antonio Callaway, running back Jordan Scarlett, defensive end Keivonnis Davis, linebacker James Houston, wide receiver Rick Wells, linebacker Ventrell Miller and defensive tackle Richerd Desir-Jones --- are all facing two possible third-degree felony charges. The criminal complaints allege that all nine players committed fraud under $20,000 and used another person's credit card without consent. All the players are accused of using a stolen credit card number to transfer funds to their UF Bookstore debit accounts, then using the funds to buy various items, mostly electronics. |
| Trump Hits Cowboys, Keeping Alive Feud With NFL Players | |
 | On a busy day for Donald Trump that includes meetings with congressional tax writers and the president of Spain before a Republican Party fundraiser at a glitzy New York restaurant while a key GOP Senate primary race is settled, the president started his day again attacking professional football players. Trump went after the Dallas Cowboys -- the NFL's most popular franchise -- in tweets posted before 7 a.m. Tuesday, ensuring his brouhaha with some of the league's players would enter its fourth day in the news cycle. The self-created feud with America's top sports league gives Trump a way to cast players who kneel during the national anthem to protest perceived social ills as unpatriotic citizens who should lose their high-paying jobs. |
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