Wednesday, September 27, 2017   
 
Mississippi State project brings clean water to 7,000 Zambians
For the past five years, Dennis Truax has been taking students to a small province in the southern African county of Zambia each summer to drill and assemble water wells. The project was adopted by the Mississippi State University chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Truax, who is the head of the MSU Bagley College of Engineering civil and environmental engineering department, serves as the faculty adviser for the MSU EWB chapter. On Monday, he spoke to the Starkville Rotary Club, which helped fund the project that cost about $100,000 and resulted in the creation of nine wells. Truax and his students made their last trip to the province of Simwatachela, Zambia, this summer to do a final assessment of the program. "Since (Rotary) helped sponsor this project, I wanted to come and share what we learned from our assessment," Truax said. "We achieved a level of success far beyond what we imagined when we started. It was a life-changing experience in a lot of ways."
 
MSU-Meridian's Josh Thompson named to Lauderdale County school board
The Lauderdale County School Board named Josh Thompson as an interim board member after interviewing him and one other candidate Thursday afternoon. Thompson is the director of development for MSU-Meridian. "I'm essentially trying to help this community grow and provide opportunities for students," Thompson said in an interview during a special public meeting on Thursday, referring to his work at MSU-Meridian. The position opened up when Pam Frazier, then board president, resigned in July. Barbara Jones currently serves as board president. School board members interviewed Thompson and Randy Scarbrough, pastor of Northeast Baptist Church, in the school district's boardroom at 301 46th Court. Thompson's children attend schools in the district, and he praised the teachers in the system.
 
Supervisors discuss OCH bid proposals | Starkville Daily News
The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors discussed the OCH Regional Medical Center bid proposals during its special call meeting on Tuesday. The board was advised by consultant Ted Woodrell to hold its discussion on the proposals in closed executive session, which lasted about two hours. Once the room was open to the public, a press release was provided on the matter of the proposal discussions. In the press release, it states the board reviewed and discussed proposals from "nationally recognized non-profit health systems." Based on the county referendum on Nov. 7, the proposals establish a basis for continuing discussions with the respondents to achieve a binding agreement.
 
Starkville man dies in hit-and-run
A Starkville man is dead after two vehicles hit him Monday while he was riding a bicycle on Old Highway 25. Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Office Lt. Brett Watson said the incident occurred just north of Poorhouse Road near Starkville. He said the driver of one vehicle remained at the scene. The other, which he described as driving a yellow-green Toyota Scion or Matrix, fled. OCSO is searching for that vehicle, which Watson said was last seen traveling north on Old 25 toward Starkville and has damage on the wheel well and undercarriage, and its driver. Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt confirmed that 23-year-old D'Shante Nix was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. at OCH Regional Medical Center due to his injuries.
 
Oktibbeha County sheriff's deputies arrest man for assault, kidnapping
A Starkville man is in jail after Oktibbeha County sheriff's deputies arrested him Sunday for domestic assault and kidnapping. Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Office responded to an incident in the 1100 block of East Lee Boulevard, according to a press release. The call led to the arrest of 26-year-old Enrico Larell Kendle. The release said the two victims in incident suffered injuries that were "not life threatening." Kendle's relationship to the two victims is currently unclear.
 
Community colleges say they deserve more bond funds
Mississippi's 15 two-year colleges are seeking a significant increase in the amount of bond revenue they receive from the state Legislature. The community colleges are requesting $150 million in bonds over a two-year period, they recently told the legislative leaders who serve on the Legislative Budget Committee. The Legislature generally authorizes the issuance of bonds to finance long-term construction projects, such as on higher education and community college buildings, for state-owned buildings and for economic development and tourism projects. The largest bond issue provided to the community colleges during the past 10 years was $35 million in 2015. And it is unlikely they have ever received bonds nearing the amount the Mississippi Community College Board and the 15 college presidents are requesting from the 2018 Legislature.
 
Gov. Phil Bryant gets second stint chairing energy board
Gov. Phil Bryant has been named to a second term as chairman of the Southern States Energy Board. "Mississippi is an energy state, and it is good to help lead one of the nation's most influential and effective organizations for energy promotion," Bryant said in a written statement. "America cannot only be energy independent but energy dominant." The board is a nonpartisan group that includes governors and state lawmakers from 16 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands that helps guide regional and national energy policy. Bryant will serve as 2017-2018 chairman, taking over from Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Bryant also held the chairmanship in 2013. Bryant early in his first term said he wanted to be the "energy governor" and Mississippi to become known as "the energy state."
 
Lawsuit: Waitress Fired Over Religious Objection to Pants
A restaurant chain discriminated against the religious beliefs of a Pentecostal woman by refusing to let her wear a denim skirt instead of blue jeans while she worked as a waitress, a federal agency says in a lawsuit. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Tuesday that it has sued Georgia Blue LLC, which has restaurants selling southern and Creole food in four Mississippi cities. The federal lawsuit, filed Monday, said the Mississippi-based company failed to "reasonably accommodate" the religious beliefs of Kaetoya Watkins, who told a Georgia Blue manager that her religion prohibits her from wearing pants.
 
In Alabama, a Trump Miscalculation in Senate Primary
A firebrand Alabama jurist wrested a U.S. Senate nomination from an appointed incumbent backed by millions of dollars from national Republicans, adding a new chapter Tuesday to an era of outsider politics that ushered Donald Trump into the White House yet leaves his presidency and his party in disarray. Roy Moore's 9-point victory over Sen. Luther Strange, backed by the White House and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, ranks as a miscalculation and temporary embarrassment for the president; it's a more consequential rebuke for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who Moore said should step aside as GOP floor chief. In Mississippi, state lawmaker Chris McDaniel, who nearly defeated Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014, called Moore's win an "incredibly inspiring" blueprint that leaves him on the cusp of challenging Sen. Roger Wicker in 2018.
 
After Alabama, GOP anti-establishment wing declares all-out war in 2018
The stunning defeat of President Trump's chosen Senate candidate in Alabama on Tuesday amounted to a political lightning strike --- setting the stage for a worsening Republican civil war that could have profound effects on next year's midterm elections and undermine Trump's clout with his core voters. The GOP primary victory by conservative firebrand Roy Moore over Sen. Luther Strange could also produce a stampede of Republican retirements in the coming months and an energized swarm of challengers. "I was with Bannon last night, talking it through, and what's happened in Alabama increases the likelihood that I jump in," said Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R), who is considering challenging Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), speaking Tuesday before polls closed. "It's a race that has repercussions across the country."
 
Roy Moore wins first battle of anti-Mitch McConnell war
All the Republican establishment's money and muscle couldn't stop culture warrior Roy Moore from ousting Sen. Luther Strange here Tuesday night. The central theme of Alabama's Senate race has been anti-establishment backlash. Strange was Alabama's attorney general when he was tapped by then-Gov. Robert Bentley to temporarily fill the seat of Sen. Jeff Sessions, after he was picked to be attorney general, until the state could hold a special election. But Bentley was awash in a sex scandal that would soon force him out of office. And Strange's potential role in prosecuting Bentley opened the door to questions about whether the two had struck some sort of deal to spare the governor from criminal charges. "The cement had been poured on Luther Strange because of the former governor," said Mississippi-based veteran Republican operative Austin Barbour.
 
Roy Moore versus Democrat Doug Jones: Alabama Senate race will be 'ugly, exciting'
Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore's victory in Tuesday's GOP runoff all but solidifies the inevitable: He's the next U.S. Senator from Alabama. That's the conventional thinking in Alabama, where a Democrat hasn't won a statewide election since 2008, and hasn't won a U.S. Senate race since 1992. But typical political beliefs, observers note, could be out the window for the next 2-1/2 months as the national attention shifts toward a Dec. 12 general election pitting two opponents with striking differences in personality and biography. "I expect a real donnybrook in the general election," said Quin Hillyer, a conservative writer based in Mobile. "It could get ugly, and it could get exciting." Most political observers believe that Jones remains a longshot candidate even with a compelling background of prosecuting two Klansmen responsible for the Sixteenth Street Church bombing during the height of the Civil Rights Era.
 
Trump appears to delete tweets backing Strange after Alabama primary loss
President Trump on Tuesday apparently began deleting his tweets supporting Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) in Alabama's Senate primary after Strange lost the race to former state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore. Trump had tweeted about Strange several times in the days leading up to the primary, including the day of, but those tweets had disappeared as of Tuesday night. The deleted tweets included those he sent the night before the election and the day of the race. A project from ProPublica documents the deleted tweets. Strange's loss was also Trump's first electoral defeat since taking office.
 
Trump Tweets He's Still Optimistic on Health Overhaul
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he's still optimistic about the prospects for health care legislation, even after Senate Republicans conceded defeat on a last-ditch effort to repeal the Obama health law. On Twitter, Trump cited "very positive signs" from GOP Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and "two others." He added: "we have the HCare Vote, but not for Friday!" Trump also said a "yes vote" was "in hospital." He didn't say who he was referring to. Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi has been recovering in Mississippi from what his office described Wednesday as "a urological issue." A Cochran aide said Cochran was not in the hospital.
 
Marsha Blackburn considers run for Bob Corker's Senate seat
U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a 1973 graduate of Mississippi State University, plans on taking the next week to think about whether she should enter the race to replace U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. "Rep. Blackburn appreciates the outpouring of encouragement and support she has received about a possible Senate run," said campaign spokeswoman Darcy Anderson in a statement Tuesday night. "She ran for Congress to advance her conservative values and fight for the people of Tennessee. Over the next week she will take a look at the Senate race and decide how, and where, she believes she can best serve her state and her nation." The statement issued on behalf of the longtime Brentwood Republican only stokes speculation that she might enter the race in the aftermath of Corker announcing Tuesday he would not seek a third term.
 
Steve Scalise set for '60 Minutes' appearance, his first interview since he was shot
U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, is scheduled to appear on "60 Minutes" on Sunday (Oct. 1) in his first news media interview since he was shot and critically wounded three months ago. CBS television said Wednesday that Scalise, the House majority whip, spoke with correspondent Norah O'Donnell and, along with his wife, Jennifer, recounts the June 14 attack and how he survived. Scalise was practicing with Republican colleagues at a suburban Washington ballpark for the annual congressional baseball game when a gunman upset with President Donald Trump's policies opened fire, wounding four people. Police shot and killed the gunman.
 
MUW Holds Campus Safety Day
It wasn't your typical school fire drill at Mississippi University for Women's campus Tuesday, but it was campus safety day. The Columbus Fire Department, MBI and Mississippi Highway Patrol and several others spent Tuesday afternoon giving safety information to students. The fire department put on a mock residence hall room burn, showing students just how quickly a fire can spread. Students say events like this keep them prepared for the worst. Students even got to try on gear from area law enforcement to get a glimpse of what it's like to suit up in uniform.
 
Ole Miss sexual assaults: four in 17 days
Four sexual crimes in less than three weeks at Ole Miss -- all cases that are still under investigation -- have authorities at the university concerned. It's a series of sexual crimes that have police and academic authorities scrambling since news of the crimes was posted on the university's web-based crime log. Ray Hawkins, the university's assistant police chief, says all four cases are still being investigated, and that the campus, despite these four sexual assaults, is still safe. "Well, it's a community," says Hawkins. We all work together toward making this community safe. We have partners here on campus, that we work with -- and we have partners outside of campus."
 
4 sexual assaults reported at Ole Miss in the last month
A sexual assault is under investigation at the University of Mississippi campus that reportedly occurred Monday night. The investigation marks the fourth report of a sexual assault on campus this semester. University Assistant Police Chief Ray Hawkins said the assault was reported at Brown Hall at 11:53 p.m. Monday. Hawkins declined to release any details surrounding the incident, saying it was under investigation. Brown Hall is a female residence hall. The assault is the fourth reported since school started last month, Hawkins said. All four cases are currently under investigation. No one has been arrested in any of the incidents. Hawkins noted that "perpetrators and victims are not gender specific" and said the department works closely with victims.
 
The Oxford, Confederate Statues: Monuments to the dead or to white supremacy?
To some in Lafayette County, the war memorials on the University of Mississippi's campus and on the Square are just that: monuments to those who died during the Civil War. To others, they symbolize white supremacy given the era in which they were constructed and the cause they memorialize. Local historian Starke Miller has been studying the Civil War for 27 years, particularly its effect on Oxford and the Lafayette community. During his studies, Miller says he has never heard nor read about the statues being a testament to white supremacy. He says the Confederate Daughters, who funded the statues, did not do so with racist intent. Associate Professor of History John Neff, who is also the Director for the Center of Civil War Research, says that white supremacy might not have been on the minds of those who erected the monuments, it was "almost an unquestioned certainty that this (the monuments were) about celebrating a particular interpretation of the Southern past which appealed to Southern whites."
 
U. of Southern Mississippi, others fight rising cost of textbooks
Southern Miss student Zaria Azor does everything she can to save money when she buys textbooks for her college classes. This semester, she only spent $200 -- a lot less than the $500 she spent last semester. "I try to play it as cheap as I can," she said. "I make sure I look around online and I don't go for convenience to the stores first. Convenience is always going to cost you." The University of Southern Mississippi's Costs of Attendance estimates students will spend about $600 a semester on books and supplies. "The costs of textbooks have been rising nationally and on our campus," said Amy Miller, vice provost for academic affairs. "It is a challenge. Students want to be able to afford college and get by." The college textbook market, unlike that for recreational books, is insulated from competition and market forces due to student need for specific products. The prices may also be fueled by cheap, easy credit in the form of student debt. But in recent years, officials at universities and community colleges in the Pine Belt have fought back against high textbook prices.
 
USM researchers among those receiving grants from the Gulf Research Initiative to study oil effects
Among the 31 research projects that will share $50 million in Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative are three from the University of Southern Mississippi. BP gave the initiative $500 million to study the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, and this latest round includes $35 million for eight research consortia and $15 million for 23 small research teams such as those at USM. "The findings from these studies benefit society by informing new strategies to prevent and mitigate any negative effects of an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, or elsewhere," said Dr. Rita Colwell, Chairman of the GoMRI Research Board. The USM teams will track Gulf floor sediment, will study fish RNA, and will attempt to close gaps in what is known about Gulf fish and their diets.
 
Retired Gen. David Petraeus visits USM, speaks in Hattiesburg
Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus said ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa is generational and will take a long time to solve, meaning the techniques used in past efforts are not the same ones that will work today. "You have to have a sustained commitment, which means it has to be sustainable," he said. "The paradox of this particular fight is you cannot counter terrorists like Islamic State or al Qaida with just counterterrorist-force operations. "It requires a comprehensive, simple military campaign. The breakthrough in recent years is we have been able to advise, enable and assist others to do this on the front lines." Petraeus was in Hattiesburg on Tuesday to deliver the Lt. Col. John H. Dale Distinguished Lecture in International Security and Global Policy. He addressed the media at the University of Southern Mississippi before the lecture, which was open to the public, at the Saenger Theater downtown.
 
U. of Alabama receives $5 million donation for cyber lab, research
A $5 million donation will help build a high-tech cyber security lab and fund research in business-data intelligence at the University of Alabama's Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration. The donation, made by Marillyn A. Hewson, a UA alumna and chairwoman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, was announced Monday at Bidgood Hall, where the lab will be located. "My education and experiences at Culverhouse have been an important part of my professional successes and my approach to business leadership," said Hewson, who earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration and a master of arts degree in economics at UA. "I am grateful." Hewson's donation will also help fund two named faculty endowments, an endowed undergraduate scholarship and a graduate assistantship.
 
Political consultant James Carville leaving Tulane to teach at LSU
Political consultant James Carville will join the faculty of LSU's Manship School of Mass Communication in January. Carville, who has taught at Tulane University in New Orleans for nine years, will teach in Manship's political communication concentration, according to an LSU news release. His courses will include a seminar in contemporary political issues and a class for seniors that deeply examines one significant issue, such as the erosion of the Louisiana coastline. "The mother ship has called my pirogue home," Carville said in the release. Carville, who was born in Carville, La., is an LSU and LSU Law Center graduate. He has a long association with the Manship School and frequently speaks on campus. He was the Manship School commencement speaker in 2015, when he made a strong plea for more state support for LSU.
 
Louisiana college leaders hopeful, encouraged by mostly stable enrollment numbers
Back in August when he was helping freshmen move into their dorms, LSU President F. King Alexander predicted fall enrollment at the state's flagship university would be down by about 2 percent. He was right. Now that the numbers are coming in, LSU counted 751 fewer students signing up for this year's fall semester when compared to last year at this time. LSU Baton Rouge has 30,099 students, according to its headcount. Results of the censuses came in mixed, but they indicate a change in what for years had been a downward trajectory. Statewide, enrollments have slid each year of the past seven for a total of 6.6 percent reduction, according to the numbers compiled by the Board of Regents. LSU officials wouldn't comment Tuesday on the decline on the Baton Rouge campus. But Alexander in August blamed the lack of stability caused by the state, year after year, reducing its contribution towards paying for the daily operations of the state's 14 public universities and 15 community colleges.
 
U. of Arkansas To Hold Blockchain Hackathon Oct. 27-28
The University of Arkansas' Sam M. Walton College of Business announced Monday that it will host its first blockchain hackathon from Oct. 27-28 at the new Brewer Family Entrepreneurship Hub off the Fayetteville square. UA students will have the opportunity to form problem-solving teams to learn the latest in blockchain technology and take on business-posed challenges provided by IBM, ArcBest Corp., J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. No experience is required, and they will compete for $2,000 in gifts and prizes. "Blockchain technology offers a secure, verifiable way to maintain an encrypted accounting ledger of business transactions," assistant professor Zach Steelman said in a news release. "Blockchains are encrypted data -- typically transactions -- in which an accounting ledger of verified events are distributed across multiple networked computer systems producing a block of data."
 
Texas A&M Conference on Energy allows Aggies to interact with industry leaders
Engineering students at Texas A&M University are hard at work preparing to pursue jobs and research in the energy industry in a time when experts say innovation and outside-the-box problem-solving will be needed more than ever. The three-day Texas A&M Conference on Energy, which began Monday and is hosted by the Texas A&M Energy Research Society, was designed as a platform for students to not only hear from and interact with academic and industry leaders, but also to get the opportunity to gain experience presenting their work in a comfortable environment. Burcu Beykal, Ph.D. candidate in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering and president of the Texas A&M Energy Society, said this was the second year for the conference and she has been pleased with how it evolved from its inaugural year.
 
Strengthening ties: Faculty program opens doors for academic collaboration throughout SEC
Throughout this year, six A&M faculty members will visit various Southeastern Conference universities for research, lecture presentations, grant proposals and more. The opportunity is a yearly Faculty Travel Program presented by the SECU, the SEC's academic initiative. The program, now in its sixth year, provides over 100 select members of the 14 SEC universities across all disciplines with the funding to travel to each other's campuses for collaboration. Trip lengths and subject matter are determined amongst universities themselves and will continue throughout the academic year. Included in Texas A&M's group of program participants are biomedical engineering assistant professor Corey Bishop, marketing instructional assistant professor Senarath Dharmasena and assistant professor of kinesiology Deanna Kennedy. Holly Foster, professor in the department of sociology, is traveling in the spring semester and said she is appreciative of the SECU's efforts to increase collaborations throughout the SEC with the funding of this program.
 
Last year's U. of Missouri survey shows hundreds of employees feel undervalued
Hundreds of University of Missouri faculty and staff surveyed a year ago did not feel valued by the school and thought there were discriminatory or unfair hiring and promotion practices. "People are viewed as cheap labor," working at MU "feels like a dead end job," staff are "a dime a dozen and can be easily replaced," and "I have never felt so small and worthless than during my time at Mizzou," were among responses in the fall 2016 campus climate survey. A total of 3,667 MU employees responded to the survey; that's roughly a third of eligible participants or about a quarter if the low response rate of emeritus faculty is included. The report from Rankin & Associates Consulting emphasized that the attitude around the country and at MU at the time the survey was taken likely affected the results. When the nearly 10,000 respondents took the MU survey, memories of campus protests from the previous fall were still fresh in the minds of many, and it was in the midst of the divisive 2016 presidential race.
 
Sessions' Justice Dept. Will Weigh In on Free-Speech Cases: What Should Campuses Expect?
More than a hundred people gathered on the steps in front of the Georgetown Law Center here on Tuesday in anticipation of an appearance by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Inside, Mr. Sessions would be discussing one of today's most pressing topics on college campuses: free speech. But outside, a group that included students and members of the law school faculty pointed to the irony that they had been denied access to the hall where the attorney general would speak -- placing him in precisely the kind of safe space that he was there to criticize. The protesters held signs that read "Defend Free Speech: Denounce Sessions"; "Will you silence dissent but applaud hate speech?"; and "I served to protect free speech and you should too." Inside the auditorium of Bernard P. McDonough Hall, Mr. Sessions gave a wide-ranging address in which he criticized college campuses for becoming "an echo chamber of political correctness and homogenous thought, a shelter for fragile egos."
 
Attorney General Sessions blasts colleges on issues of free speech
Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared Tuesday at Georgetown University Law Center that freedom of thought and speech are "under attack" on American campuses. He said the Department of Justice would file a "statement of interest" in a lawsuit involving a Georgia public college's use of "free speech zones" and that the department would make more such filings in weeks to come. Sessions's new apparent focus on free speech in higher ed reflects an ongoing concern of many Republican officials, who have held multiple congressional hearings to take college leaders to task over high-profile campus incidents. It also comes after a week in which the president drew national attention for his coarse condemnation of National Football League athletes' public protests against police brutality, which have remained lawful, nonviolent and nondisruptive.
 
The Rural Higher-Education Crisis
When Dustin Gordon's high school invited juniors and seniors to meet with recruiters from colleges and universities, a handful of students showed up. A few were serious about the prospect of continuing their educations, he said. "But I think some of them went just to get out of class." In his sparsely settled community in the agricultural countryside of southern Iowa, "There's just no motivation for people to go" to college, Gordon said. Variations of this mindset, among many other reasons, have given rise to a reality that's gotten lost in the impassioned debate over who gets to go to college, which often focuses on low-income people of color: The high-school graduates who head off to campus in the lowest proportions in America are the ones from rural places. Fewer than one in five rural adults aged 25 and older have college degrees, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.
 
A love letter home
Mississippi chef and columnist Robert St. John writes: "Mississippi watercolorist, Wyatt Waters and I have just wrapped up the first season of our new television show... We traveled deep into the Mississippi Delta and hung out for a few days in Greenwood with our friend, Martha Foose. We spent a morning in the home kitchen of Oxford chef, John Currence, while he used an old-fashioned pressure cooker to cook -- what turned out to be -- the best pork roast I have ever eaten. Waters and I milked cows in the Mississippi State University dairy, and the Biscuit Lady in downtown Starkville taught the bachelor artist how to make homemade biscuits. We hung out with the Sonic Boom marching band at Jackson State University, spent time on a shrimp boat in Biloxi, and had a progressive dinner with Brett Favre at four of our restaurants in Hattiesburg. ...Mississippians are the best."


SPORTS
 
Mississippi State's defense needs to bounce back to upset Auburn
For an indication on how much Mississippi State defensive coordinator Todd Grantham had already moved on by Monday from the Bulldogs' 31-3 loss to Georgia, consider his answers to two questions about that game. What do you attribute Georgia's success with its passes over the middle to? "Not being in the middle of the field," Grantham said. Did Georgia do anything differently to control Jeffery Simmons? "No," Grantham said. "Nothing." Well, then. To be clear, there probably wasn't anything snarky behind those replies; they were both just blunt and telling. With those brief answers on Monday, Grantham stressed two points: 1.) MSU's defensive problems last Saturday were self-created and 2.) It's time to focus on Auburn.
 
Logan Cooke finds niche with Mississippi State kicking game
Logan Cooke is one of the nation's best kickoff specialists, yet he wouldn't advise anyone to take on his method. Mississippi State's kickoff man and punter is off to a strong start in his senior season: his touchback percentage of 69.23 ranks 18th nationally and his average punt of 45.47 yards ranks 15th. Success in each department has come with a drastically different method; Cooke will continue to carry that balance as No. 24 MSU (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) takes on No. 13 Auburn (4-0, 1-0 SEC) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The kickoff method he's taken on is, to put it nicely, simplistic. "Honestly, if you watch me kickoff, I wouldn't advise young kids to watch me because I just try to kill it. Just get back there and crush it," Cooke said, adding the self-deprecating jab, "I guess that's why I can't kick field goals very well."
 
Perseverance pays off for Mississippi State's Dez Harris
Dez Harris has been through a lot over the last six years. Harris tore his right anterior cruciate ligament during a preseason jamboree prior to his senior season in high school and has torn ligaments in both of his knees during his time at Mississippi State. The 6-foot-4, 243-pounder never gave up, kept pushing and is now reaping the rewards of his perseverance. Harris, now a redshirt senior for the Bulldogs, is a first-year starter at inside linebacker and leads the team with 29 tackles. "I've stayed humble and true to the process throughout the whole injury thing," Harris said. "I've kept my head down and to see it paying off with playing time and being able to play well has been a blessing." Harris' hard work and determination did not go unnoticed by his teammates. Prior to the season, the Bessemer, Alabama native was named as one of MSU's captains for the season. He also represented the Bulldogs at SEC Media Days during the summer.
 
Auburn's defense ranks as one of the nation's best through 4 games
Expectations for Auburn's defense were high going into coordinator Kevin Steele's second season on the Plains, even after the team lost four starters -- Carl Lawson, Montravius Adams, Josh Holsey and Rudy Ford -- to the NFL. Through four games, it's possible those expectations have been exceeded. None of Georgia Southern, Clemson, Mercer or Missouri topped 14 points against Auburn, which ranks seventh nationally in scoring defense (11.3 points per game) and fourth in total defense (263.6 yards per game). Asked Tuesday if the group had, in fact, exceeded its own expectations, senior safety Tray Matthews said "I don't think so." Communication, Matthews said, is one of those things Auburn can improve on. Another is red zone defense -- the Tigers rank fourth nationally having allowed only five drives to cross inside their 20-yard line, but they're letting teams score at an 80-percent clip (53rd nationally) when they do. Still, it's a short list for what has been one of the nation's best defenses entering a Saturday showdown with Mississippi State.
 
Hogs ask for clarity from SEC
Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema said he sent in 10 or 11 plays for the SEC office to review after his team's 50-43 loss in overtime against Texas A&M last week. Bielema said he typically sends in between four and 15 plays each week "sometimes just for clarification," and he went out of his way to praise the work of referee John McDaid and his crew. "I think there's just a couple of things that we just want clarity ... on so we can move forward," Bielema said. "Unfortunately, there was a lot of flags or nonflags that came on critical drives or scoring plays. Those are always difficult to deal with."
 
Corruption charges are 'huge moment' for college basketball
Ten people, including four coaches who work for some of college basketball's most prominent programs, face federal fraud and corruption charges for an alleged scheme to direct athletes to certain institutions and agents in exchange for thousands of dollars' worth of bribes. College sports experts and ethicists say the Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry marks a historic moment in the landscape of men's basketball and is the latest in a series of outside pressures -- a push for athlete unionization and pay, antitrust lawsuits -- that could threaten the reputation of big-time college sports and further undermine support for its amateur status. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which according to prosecutors was unaware of the inquiry, lacks the manpower and the will to radically alter the current system, which is lucrative for colleges, television networks and many other parties, experts say.
 
Auburn 'angry,' suspends Chuck Person without pay effective immediately
Auburn University has suspended men's basketball associate head coach Chuck Person without pay effective immediately following an announcement this morning that he had been charged with six counts of federal corruption. The university released the following statement: "This morning's news is shocking. We are saddened, angry and disappointed. We have suspended Coach Person without pay effective immediately. We are committed to playing by the rules, and that's what we expect from our coaches. In the meantime, Auburn is working closely with law enforcement, and we will help them in their investigation in any way we can." Person joined head coach Bruce Pearl's Auburn staff as an assistant in 2014 and was promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2015 season. That promotion came with a new three-year contract.
 
Louisville head coach Rich Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich are out
Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino is out, a source tells ESPN's Michael Eaves. Athletic director Tom Jurich is also out at Louisville, a source tells ESPN's Jeff Goodman, after the program was linked to a federal investigation into fraud and corruption in recruiting. Jurich and Pitino met Wednesday morning with Louisville interim president Greg Postel. After the meetings, Postel informed reporters that the school would hold a news conference at 1 p.m. and noted Pitino and Jurich would not attend. Federal prosecutors said at least three top high school recruits were promised payments of as much as $150,000, using money supplied by Adidas, to attend two universities sponsored by the athletic shoe company. Louisville's president later confirmed the school is part of the investigation. It marked the latest case of Pitino and his Louisville program being in the news for impropriety.
 
U. of Louisville Tom Jurich's daughter is an Adidas employee
The apparel company targeted in the federal college basketball recruiting scandal has deeper ties to the University of Louisville than a $160 million contract extension sealed this summer. Adidas also employs athletic director Tom Jurich's daughter Haley Marie Jurich, according to her LinkedIn profile and a Facebook post from earlier this year. The 26-year-old Jurich joined the apparel company as a NCAA brand communications manager in March, she posted. Haley Jurich's Facebook page carried an announcement about the Adidas position on March 31: "I am thrilled to announce that having been an Adidas advocate at such an early age and being an Adidas student-athlete, I have just accepted a position with Adidas-brand communication manager at the University of Louisville. #Adidas #CreateYours #L1C4 #The Ville"
 
North Carolina Looking to Slip Through Hole in N.C.A.A. Rules
In the 1840s, the most bitter rivalry in American sports might have been between the crew teams from Harvard and Yale, and it boiled over when, for one race, Harvard enlisted a nonstudent to be its coxswain. The unsporting ringer led the universities to put rowing under faculty control, and eventually, according to Rodney K. Smith, a law professor who directs Utah Valley University's Center for Constitutional Studies, helped lead to a national regulatory body for intercollegiate athletics. For reasons of both high principle and competitive parity, then, the purpose of that governing body, the N.C.A.A., has been to ensure that all players are not only students but, as a favorite phrase of the association's puts it, "students first" -- that is, full-timers earnestly and successfully making their way toward degrees. Such background only heightens the bizarre quality of the N.C.A.A.'s case against the University of North Carolina, in which the association's Committee on Infractions is expected to announce a ruling in the next few weeks.
 
Inspired by Kaepernick and NFL, professors and students protest off the field
It's unclear if college football players this Saturday will follow the lead of players across the National Football League who protested by kneeling or locking arms during the national anthem before games Sunday and Monday. But this week has already seen multiple instances of students, faculty and staff taking a knee in an effort to replicate former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's original protest, which started last year and is aimed at protesting racism and police brutality. While those involved in college athletics might face obstacles -- logistical or otherwise -- if they're seeking to protest, students, faculty and staff members have taken the protest off the field since Kaepernick's original protest caught on among NFL players and other professional athletes. Though students and faculty have taken a knee on campuses across the country over the past few days, the reason college sports teams haven't taken up the protest widely often comes down to logistics.
 
Vanderbilt's Derek Mason on anthem protests: We need to be 'loving on one another'
Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason's opinion on protests during the national anthem can be heard clearly -- at his home. At his weekly press conference Tuesday, Mason said his stance on the protests is "shared between me and my wife and that's where I will keep them." The protests during the national anthem began with Colin Kaepernick last year and hit a fever pitch at every NFL game over the weekend. NFL coaches, like Mason's friend Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, had to face questions about his team's unity over the protests. Vanderbilt, like most college football teams, does not exit the locker room until after the national anthem under normal circumstances. So Mason and most college coaches have not had to deal with the issue of players protesting during the anthem. On Tuesday, Mason emphasized that he is trying to focus on his next game, a Saturday showdown with No. 20 Florida (11 a.m. CT, ESPN). But on the protests, Mason added a few general comments about the need for understanding between opposing views.



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