Friday, December 8, 2017 |
Minnie Powe among C2C graduates at MSU-Meridian | |
More than 70 students received their degrees at MSU-Meridian's Fall Commencement. Among those receiving their diplomas Thursday was 56-year-old Minnie Powe. She finished her education through the Complete 2 Compete program, along with 23 other graduates. It allows adults who have been out of college at least two years to finish their post-secondary degree at any college in the state. Several years ago, Powe's pursuit of her degree was interrupted by breast cancer. "In 2012, I did not come back because I felt like it would probably be too stressful on me and for my family to come back into the classroom," said Powe. "So I did wait until I got through with all of my treatments, and then continue." | |
Alumni initiative brings advanced physics and more to Mississippi students | |
Last summer, while visiting the Rainwater Observatory & Planetarium in central Mississippi for the first time with a group of high school students, astrophysicist Meg Urry observed something she's seen countless times with her Yale students: the excitement of people when they are learning something new. "I told the students that the orbits of Jupiter's moons around the planet can all be explained by physics," says Urry, the Israel Munson Professor of Physics. "They were very excited. When given an opportunity to learn something, kids -- and all of us -- really enjoy it." Urry's field trip with the high school students was part of two-week residential summer program, held at Mississippi State University, to ready the high school students for a year-long Advanced Placement Physics course they are now taking at their respective high schools. They strengthened their foundation in math and physics through instruction by Urry and other university-level faculty, as well as tutors from Yale, Stanford, and Mississippi State. | |
November Jobs Report: Economy Adds 228,000 Jobs; Unemployment Steady | |
The U.S. economy added 228,000 jobs in November, according to the monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1 percent, unchanged from October. "Employment growth has averaged 174,000 per month thus far this year, compared with an average monthly gain of 187,000 in 2016," the agency's acting Commissioner William J. Wiatrowski said of the report. The number of unemployed people was "essentially unchanged at 6.6 million," the bureau said. Of that number, 1.6 million are considered to be long-term unemployed -- workers who have not had jobs for 27 weeks or more. "Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for teenagers increased to 15.9 percent in November," the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Other groups saw little change from the previous month. | |
Ingalls shipyard christens five ships in one year | |
Ingalls is christening its fifth military ship this year. "In recent history, having five christenings in one year is very unusual," said spokesman Bill Glenn. "As unusual as that is," he said. "We have the capacity to build more, if the Navy chooses to do so." No. 5 will be Saturday, a National Security Cutter -- Midgett -- for the Coast Guard. In this case, it's the way the milestones have fallen, he said, the way the ships go through the stages of completion at the yard. Ingalls is a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries. You christen a ship after it's launched. There's still work to be done, but it's in the water. There are nine ships under construction at Ingalls, in four different classes of ship. It has 11,500 employees building them. | |
Mississippi made a lot of history in 200 years | |
Mississippi's 200 years of statehood have had its well-publicized highs -- Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and journalists and Hall of Fame athletes -- and lows -- the Civil War, Jim Crow laws and lynchings. Scan the timeline on the state Department of Archives and Histories website and you'll see many such perhaps lesser-known chapters in the story that began Dec. 10, 1817, when Mississippi's then 14 counties became the nation's 20th state. For instance, for a state perpetually ranked at the bottom of just about any list, Mississippi has marked an amazing number of firsts. The first milk condensing plant opened in 1925 in Mississippi -- in where else but Starkville. | |
Ceremony culminates state's 200th birthday celebration | |
On a chilly and cloudy Thursday, the finishing touches were being made to the grounds outside of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum for what has been a much-anticipated opening ceremony. The opening represents the culmination of the state's 200th birthday celebration and a long-time collaborative effort to construct two distinct museums that tell the story of Mississippi. The museums, costing the state $90 million, are located in one imposing 200,000 square foot building on the east side of downtown Jackson. The history museum tells the story of Mississippi from prehistoric times to the current era and highlights every area of the state. Northeast Mississippi is highlighted in various parts of the museum, such as recognizing Tupelo as the first city to receive its electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority. The civil rights museum tells the story of the state's effort to overcome racial oppression and bigotry and also includes important Northeast Mississippi occurrences and individuals. | |
Civil Rights Museum no stranger to presidential politics, partisan criticism | |
The new Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is no stranger to presidential politics or politicians who occasionally suffer from foot-in-mouth on racial issues. In fact, by many accounts, the only state-funded civil rights museum in the country owes its existence in part to the past presidential aspirations of former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and his prior gaffes on racial issues and civil rights history. | |
Rep. John Lewis: Trump is an 'insult' to civil rights event | |
U.S. Rep John Lewis announced Thursday that he won't speak at the opening of Mississippi civil rights and history museums, saying it's an "insult" that President Donald Trump will attend. The long-planned Saturday ceremony will mark Mississippi's bicentennial of admission into the union. But what was intended as a moment of racial unity and atonement in the state with the largest share of African-Americans is descending into racial and partisan strife after Republican Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant invited fellow Republican Trump to attend. Some said Trump's record on racial issues makes his presence offensive, and plan to protest. Bryant, who has made frequent trips to Washington to work with Trump, is urging Mississippians to embrace the president's visit, saying it will help bring worldwide attention to the state and the museums. | |
On eve of Trump visit, African Americans in Mississippi say he's brought back troubles of the past | |
The president is coming to America's poorest, blackest state to open a civil rights museum on Saturday, and people in the neighborhoods surrounding that gleaming tribute to the past would rather have Donald Trump visit their present. "It's hostile now, more hostile than in a long, long time," said Pete McElroy, who employs three men at the auto repair shop that has been his family's business for three generations. "People almost boast about it: 'We got our man in the White House, and this is the way the ball's going to roll now.' " Three miles from the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, over rutted roads, past littered lots, abandoned houses, and shuttered plants and warehouses, McElroy, 69, and other black residents of this struggling capital city say that after nearly a year of the Trump presidency, they have a definitive answer to the question candidate Trump posed when he spoke at a rally in Jackson in August last year. | |
White House strikes back at John Lewis over civil rights museum | |
The White House on Thursday hit back at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and a House colleague for their decisions to skip the opening of a Mississippi civil rights museum because of President Trump's attendance. "We think it's unfortunate that these members of Congress wouldn't join the president in honoring the incredible sacrifice civil rights leaders made to right the injustices in our history," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. Lewis and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) announced in a joint statement on Thursday that they would not attend the opening, saying Trump's presence is an "insult" to the civil rights movement. | |
Trump will not speak publicly at opening of museums | |
President Donald Trump' will not speak publicly at the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Saturday. He will tour of the museum in the morning, then speak in the Two Museums Auditorium to civil rights veterans, museum patrons and elected officials, according to Gov. Phil Bryant's office. Late Thursday, the governor's office has released the order of events for the ceremonial opening of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Saturday. | |
Former Mississippi governor Ray Mabus won't attend civil rights museum opening | |
A former Mississippi governor will not be attending the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum opening this weekend because of who will be there. Former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus, who also served as Secretary of the Navy under President Barack Obama, today issued the following statement on Donald Trump attending Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Opening on Saturday: "It is with a great deal of sadness that I will not attend the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Saturday," he said in a statement emailed out Thursday morning. "This institution and event should be a celebration of the hard-won progress in civil rights, but the main speaker, Donald Trump, is actively attacking that progress and turning us back to the dark days of hatred and division." | |
Mayor George Flaggs supports Trump's visit to civil rights museum | |
Local officials and residents have mixed opinions about President Donald Trump's visit to Jackson Saturday for the dedication of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History. Trump, who was invited to attend the ceremonies by Gov. Phil Bryant, is scheduled to speak during the ceremonies along with former governors Haley Barbour and William Winter, former NAACP chairman Myrlie Evers and other state and national civil rights leaders. Mayor George Flaggs Jr. and South Ward Alderman Alex Monsour will represent the city at the ceremonies. Flaggs, a Democrat, said he sees nothing wrong with the president's visit. "I've always been a person who through my entire political career, that even though I can differ with a person philosophically or politically, I still respect the office of the position," he said. "To this day, I'm always going to respect the office of the president." | |
Jackson Mayor Lumumba tells CNN he won't share stage with Trump for museum opening | |
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba is among a growing list of lawmakers that are protesting President Donald Trump's scheduled stop in Jackson. Lumumba appeared on CNN Friday morning to announce he won't be attending the grand opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Saturday. Lumumba could not be reached immediately for comment. Several Democratic lawmakers said late Thursday that they do not plan to attend the opening because of Mr. Trump's attendance, citing his reluctance to denounce neo-Nazi groups that demonstrated in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this year and his support from white nationalist groups. Lumumba is the youngest mayor to be elected to office in Jackson. His father, Chokwe Lumumba, was deeply involved in the civil rights movement and served as mayor until his passing in 2014. | |
Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the murder of Medgar Evers and Byron De La Beckwith | |
It was just after midnight on June 12, 1963, when Medgar Evers pulled his Oldsmobile into his driveway in Jackson, Miss. Evers, who was the state field secretary for the NAACP, was arriving home late from a meeting. He had been receiving constant death threats prompted by his civil rights work in the Deep South. As he emerged from his car, a white supremacist hiding in a honeysuckle bush raised his rifle and fired. The shot hit Evers from behind with such force that it blasted a gaping hole in his back, passed through his chest and pierced the exterior wall of the house. The bullet shot through a kitchen wall, bounced off a refrigerator and landed in a cabinet. The shot that killed Evers was fired only hours after President John F. Kennedy delivered a major, televised speech on civil rights. On Saturday, a new civil rights museum is opening in Jackson that will display that rifle and tell the story of Evers and Mississippi's other civil rights martyrs. But much of the attention has shifted from those being memorialized to President Trump. | |
Federal project seeks to eject violent criminals from Jackson | |
A new partnership between the city of Jackson Police Department and federal authorities will seek to eject violent criminals terrorizing neighborhoods in Jackson. Southern District U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, flanked by Jackson Police Chief Lee Vance and other city, county and federal officials, announced PROJECT EJECT on Thursday in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Jackson. "The message to violent criminals in Jackson is simple: if you violate our laws and terrorize our neighborhoods, you will be ejected from our community," Hurst said. "In the federal system, we will immediately lock you up, move to detain you without bond, you will serve a significant prison sentence without parole, and we will seek to have you serve you sentence far away from Mississippi." | |
Trump's 'fake news' mantra a hit with despots | |
Authoritarian rulers across the globe are adopting President Donald Trump's favorite phrase to limit free speech, with prominent leaders or state media in at least 15 countries using his "fake news" line to denounce their critics, according to a POLITICO review. By aligning themselves with Trump's words, despots have been able to use the U.S. president as a shield for their attacks on press freedom and human rights, said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "I'm seeing it more and more," he said. Trump, he added, "is providing a context and framework for all sorts of authoritarian leaders -- or democratic leaders and others who are dissatisfied or upset by critical media coverage -- to undermine and discredit reporting." Trump's go-to insult has become such a touchstone that members of far-right groups or political parties in countries like the Netherlands or Germany often write "fake news" in English in their tweets, said Cas Muddle, an international affairs professor at the University of Georgia. | |
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) resigns in defiant floor speech | |
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) resigned from the Senate on Thursday in a defiant speech in which he said some accusations of sexual misconduct against him were not true, while others he remembered differently. Franken, who faced enormous pressure from his own colleagues to step down, insisted he had done nothing to bring "dishonor" to the Senate since joining the body in 2009. He also expressed confidence that an ethics panel would have cleared him. "I know in my heart that nothing I have done as a senator, nothing, has brought dishonor on this institution, and I am confident that the Ethics Committee would agree," he said from the Senate floor. "Nevertheless, today I am announcing that in the coming weeks I will be resigning as a member of the United States Senate." He also criticized a political system that would get rid of him while allowing President Trump to remain in office and Republican Roy Moore to continue campaigning as a candidate for the Senate. | |
JSU, USM, Alcorn graduation ceremonies delayed due to winter weather | |
Three graduation ceremonies are delayed Friday due to winter weather hitting central Mississippi. Jackson State University will open at noon and graduation ceremonies will begin at 2:00 p.m. University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg will open at 9 a.m. and commencement ceremonies will begin at 10:30 a.m. Alcorn State University's commencement ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. | |
U. of Alabama receives NOAA grant | |
The University of Alabama has been awarded $251,850 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Dr. Jason Senkbeil and Darrin Griffin will use the NOAA grant to study how tornado warnings could be improved in their accessibility and comprehension by members of the deaf, blind and deaf-blind communities. "The tornado warning scenarios and technology we plan to test and implement will hopefully help us understand how to improve risk communication for the deaf and deaf-blind," Senkbeil said. "In the process, what we learn will most likely improve tornado warning communication for everyone." The project is a collaboration between UA's department of geography and communication studies, Mississippi State University's department of geosciences and the National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision. | |
National group wants LSU fined for death of two research dogs | |
Two research dogs were recently killed after being accidentally exposed to a toxic chemical in what appears to be LSU's fourth incident involving lab animals. The National Institutes of Health concurred with the "actions taken" by LSU to bring the facility into compliance after what the university called an accident. But a national group that advocates humane care for lab animals demands federal regulators fine LSU $20,000. "It's a big deal when animals are killed through negligence and they experience horrific deaths as was the case here. LSU should be made an example of," said Michael A. Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now, known as SAEN and pronounced "sane." LSU administrative and Vet School officials did not respond Thursday to repeated communications seeking comment and additional information. | |
Man luring U. of South Carolina students as rideshare driver arrested | |
Law enforcement has arrested the man who allegedly posed as an rideshare driver to pick up young women, including University of South Carolina students, and held them against their will. Farris Kaloti, 28, was arrested in a suburb of Miami Thursday, according to a report verified by Jeff Stensland, USC's Director of Public Relations. Kaloti was arrested by the Pinecrest Police Department on two outstanding arrest warrants, one for assault and the other for domestic violence, both unrelated to any incident involving USC students, according to USC. A Carolina Alert crime bulletin was issued Tuesday related to Kaloti, who allegedly offered rides to females/students taking them to places other than their desired destinations and refusing to let them out of the vehicle. | |
U. of Florida wins $12 million for study of prostate treatment | |
A University of Florida research team has been approved for a five-year, $11.9 million award to directly compare the potential benefits and harms of proton therapy to standard radiation therapy when treating prostate cancer. Nancy Mendenhall, M.D., medical director of the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute, leads the team that received funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, or PCORI, for a large-scale pragmatic clinical study on prostate cancer -- the most common non-skin cancer afflicting men in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. PCORI is a non-governmental but federally funded institute. About 160,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States, and approximately one-third of all men with the disease receive radiation therapy as part of their treatment. However, this can cause short- and long-term bowel and bladder damage that leads to organ dysfunction and significantly impacts the patient's quality of life. | |
Christmas critters: Texas A&M entomologist recommends shaking trees before bringing them indoors | |
For many who choose to bring a live Christmas tree into their homes this holiday season, Texas A&M University Entomologist David Ragsdale said it is important to "use common sense" before bringing it -- and the insects it may carry -- inside. Ragsdale, who serves as head of the university's Department of Entomology, said the best thing to do before cutting the base or taking the tree inside is to shake off any loose needles or insects which may be clinging to the tree. "Anything you can do to dislodge things is probably the best thing you can do," he said. "... You just kind of pick [the tree] up by the stem and bang it on the ground, knock off all the dead foliage and any critter that might be in it." In his own experience, Ragsdale said he once had an abandoned bird's nest fall out of a live tree he brought home after giving it a shake. He emphasized, however, never to use an insecticide on a live tree as the chemicals could be hazardous when brought into the home. | |
U. of Missouri pension plan needs more money | |
The University of Missouri pension plan will need an extra $17.9 million annually to maintain its financial health, even with a prediction that employee pay hikes will be smaller in the future, according to a report presented Thursday to the Board of Curators. The report is based on an analysis done a year earlier than scheduled because of ongoing UM System financial difficulties. The board voted to lower the expected rate of return on investments in September and on Thursday accepted a recommendation that it lower expectations for future wage inflation. As a result of those and other changes, the unfunded liability -- the amount needed to pay all current and promised future benefits -- increased by $244.3 million, to $703.6 million. The changes were approved a day before the board is scheduled to discuss a consultant's recommendations for up to $70 million in administrative savings over the next three years, including a reduction of up to $30.4 million in the cost of employee benefits. | |
House Republicans May Be Backing Away From Taxing Grad-Student Tuition Waivers | |
Some Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing to discard a provision in their recently passed tax-reform bill that would effectively tax as income the tuition waivers received by graduate students. Thirty-one lawmakers, led by Rep. Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas, sent a letter on Thursday to leaders of the House and the Senate urging them to prevent the provision from making it into final tax legislation. Both chambers passed bills in recent weeks to overhaul the nation's tax code, but the measure to tax tuition waivers appears only in the House version. A conference committee will be convened to reconcile differences between the two versions and craft a compromise bill that could be sent to President Trump for his signature. | |
Guidelines put in place for U. of Memphis Greeks, other student organizations | |
University of Memphis Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Darrell Ray said the university has developed an action plan to provide more structure for on-campus Greek organizations. "We've had some unfortunate incidents this year that have resulted in a couple of organization chapters to be suspended," Ray said during committee meetings prior to the Board of Trustees meeting at the Memphis-Lambuth campus in Jackson on Thursday. "Some of those will return in the spring semester. "But we're working toward providing higher standards and expectations to how our organizations will be run on campus." Each chapter of student organizations were required to have 100 percent attendance rate of training sessions in fraternity and sorority risk management guidelines, hazing prevention, Title IX and sexual assault prevention and bystander intervention. | |
Florida State president asks faculty parties to be alcohol-free | |
After a student was found dead the morning after attending a party at Florida State's Pi Kappa Phi fraternity chapter, the university suspended Greek life indefinitely. The student, Andrew Coffey, 20, was pledging the fraternity, which was ordered by its national chapter to shut down last month. His death was associated with excessive alcohol consumption, and Florida State has also banned the consumption of alcohol at all events hosted by student organizations affiliated with the university. Florida State's new alcohol and Greek life regulations came into effect just over a month ago, but the institution hasn't stopped its examination of the drinking culture on campus. Earlier this month, John Thrasher, university president, urged faculty and staff to refrain from serving alcohol at any holiday functions held on campus. "I am now asking that as you plan departmental or office holiday functions and parties, if they are held on campus, you refrain from serving alcohol," he said in a memo sent to university employees. "I have instituted this policy for functions I am hosting, and while it has not been popular, my guests have understood." | |
California Wildfires Upend Exams at Region's Colleges and Heighten Tensions at UCLA | |
As wildfires ravaged the Los Angeles area, at least 10 colleges canceled classes on Thursday, only days before final examinations were due to start. Thomas Aquinas College is closed indefinitely, until the Thomas Fire, named for the college because it broke out nearby, subsides. John J. Goyette, dean of Thomas Aquinas, wrote in a message that he was asking students and their parents to "be patient" as they wait to hear when students can return to their dormitories. He said he hoped the college could reopen next week for final exams. The fires spurred a separate controversy at the University of California at Los Angeles. Students there complained on Wednesday after they said the emergency-alert system had been delayed in notifying them that classes were canceled due to the wildfires. The delay in notification and the decision to hold classes on Thursday led students to draft a petition expressing "frustration and disappointment with emergency management." |
SPORTS
How did the road lead Joe Moorhead to Mississippi State? | |
Bob Benson was ready to offer Joe Moorhead the job within 30 minutes of the interview. "Maybe less," Benson said. "I mean, you knew he was special." This was 2000. Moorhead had been a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh the prior two seasons. Ready to make a move, Moorhead called Georgetown about an opening on Benson's staff. Benson, Georgetown's head coach, needed a running backs coach. The Hoyas were coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons but were set to enter the Patriot League with the lowest budget among member schools. Benson and Moorhead had never met. The position was part-time. It paid $3,000 -- annually. Moorhead came prepared for the in-person interview, carrying what Benson referred to as a "running back manual." It was a binder filled with pages of notes about drills, alignments and stances. Seventeen years later and while introducing Moorhead as the Bulldogs' new head football coach, Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen shared a similar story about how he was impressed with Moorhead during an initial conversation. | |
Bulldogs begin bowl preparations today | |
No. 24 Mississippi State returns to the practice fields today to begin its preparations to play Louisville in the TaxSlayer Bowl. The Bulldogs will practice for an hour today beginning at 3 p.m. MSU will conduct nine practices in Starkville, holding its final workout at the Seal Football Complex on Dec. 20. The Bulldogs will then break before traveling to Jacksonville, Florida on Christmas afternoon. Greg Knox is serving as interim head coach during State's bowl season with new head coach Joe Moorhead and newly hired assistants Charles Huff and Andrew Breiner in observation roles. | |
'Thorough' six days leave Phillip Fulmer with Jeremy Pruitt as next UT Vols head coach | |
The challenge issued to Phillip Fulmer on his first day as athletic director was direct and succinct: Find the best person to coach the Tennessee football team. Over the past six days, Fulmer and UT Chancellor Beverly Davenport -- who issued the challenge to Fulmer on Friday -- quickly worked to achieve that objective. Their work culminated Thursday night, when they introduced Jeremy Pruitt as the next Tennessee football coach. "I like my chances with this coach," Fulmer said. Pruitt comes to Tennessee on the heels of two years at Alabama as the defensive coordinator that followed two years at Georgia and a year at Florida State in the same role. He's been part of four national championship teams and never coached a defense ranked lower than No. 16 nationally in scoring defense. Now, Pruitt is a head coach for the first time and he brought an end to a 26-day coaching search. | |
Jordan Brand welcomes U. of Florida football, basketball programs | |
The Florida Gators are shedding their Nikes and putting on Jordans in a big-time apparel switch at UF. Jordan Brand announced a new partnership with Florida on Wednesday. Starting with the 2018-19 season, the Gator football team and the men's and women's basketball teams will wear uniforms featuring the Jumpman logo. "The Florida Gators and Jordan Brand are two of the more iconic brands in athletics and we are looking forward to our partnership that will be enjoyed by the student-athletes of our football and basketball programs and our fans," athletic director Scott Stricklin said. Florida becomes the first SEC school to partner with Jordan Brand and the fourth collegiate football program (Michigan, North Carolina and Oklahoma) nationally to represent Jumpman. | |
U. of Missouri curators view designs for south end zone renovation | |
The University of Missouri Board of Curators on Thursday got a look at the latest designs for renovating the south end zone seating at Memorial Stadium and they seem to be well pleased. There wasn't much discussion of the $98 million project, approved by the board in August. UM System chief financial officer Ryan Rapp told the board that demolition of the existing seating will begin in March and the project will be completed in time for the 2019 football season. "I just hope it turns out as good as it looks on paper," said curator Phil Snowden, quarterback of the Tiger's 1960 Orange Bowl team. The first step of the project will be demolition of the 10,800 general admission seats at the south end zone, constructed in 1977. Those seats will be replaced by 16 suites providing approximately 1,500 premium seats and 1,300 outdoor general admission seats. | |
Kentucky women's basketball coach Matthew Mitchell signs new deal | |
For the past few years, Kentucky's contract with Matthew Mitchell has included added incentives for conference titles, national coaching accolades and trips to the NCAA Tournament. In the newly signed deal between Mitchell and UK, which was released to the Herald-Leader on Thursday after an open records request, all of those incentives are gone. They have been merged and now are almost solely based on how Kentucky performs in the NCAA Tournament. "There's an expectation of a certain level of consistent performance," Mitchell said of the new contract during a Thursday news conference ahead of the team's two game road-swing beginning Friday night at Florida Gulf Coast. It keeps him at Kentucky through 2022 and will pay him a total compensation package worth about $1.26 million next season (before those tournament bonuses). | |
Mum on details, Hugh Freeze moving past transgressions, hopes to land another job 'very soon' | |
Hugh Freeze isn't willing to talk about exactly what led to him being out of coaching, but he's vocal about his desire to get back in it. And soon. The former Ole Miss coach is looking for his next job after his fall from grace in Oxford, one that ended abruptly this summer amid scandal after a five-year stint that included two wins over Alabama, back-to-back New Year's Six bowl games and the program's first Sugar Bowl win since 1960. A call placed to a female escort service popped on an open-records request of Freeze's university-issued cell phone made by Houston Nutt's attorney, Thomas Mars, leading to what Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork called the discovery of a "concerning pattern" of personal misconduct and Freeze's resignation in July. | |
After Questioning Security at South Korean Olympics, Officials Say U.S. Looks Forward to Participating | |
United States officials have expressed concern about security at the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February, initially raising the possibility of withdrawing from the games but later insisting that American athletes will compete. The American envoy to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, said on Wednesday that it was an "open question" whether American athletes would be able to attend the Winter Games, given the tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, echoed Ms. Haley's remarks during a briefing for reporters on Thursday, saying that "no official decision has been made" about participating in the Olympics. Asked about whether the reason is security concerns, she said "absolutely." But moments later, Ms. Sanders took to Twitter to clarify. |
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