| Wednesday, January 31, 2018 |
| Mississippi State adds big data to accounting curriculum | |
 | Mississippi State University's Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy is significantly updating its undergraduate and graduate programs to give students a more future-forward curriculum. Among the updates is an emphasis on technology and its relationship to data analytics and big data, a growing area of focus in the profession. Students will now see more data analytics content added to their current courses, as well as a mandatory data analytics graduate course. A minor in business analytics, within the Masters of Professional Accountancy and Masters of Tax programs, will also be available. "The main objective of these changes is to ensure that the next generation of accounting professionals from Mississippi State University have the advanced technology skill set necessary to be successful in a highly complex and data-centric environment," stated Adkerson School of Accountancy director Shawn Mauldin. |
| Mississippi State's New Supercar Showcases Future of Autonomous Vehicles | |
| A newly designed "supercar" is pushing the limits of autonomous vehicles. A team from Mississippi State University's Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems has developed a self-driving, all-electric sport utility vehicle that could lead to the creation of safer roadways and accessibility to independent automotive transportation for people with disabilities. The new supercar, known as Halo, utilizes an on-board NVIDIA supercomputer that enables the vehicle to navigate on-and-off-road terrain without human intervention. "When a car company produces a high-end vehicle that showcases all of its greatest technology, built to celebrate a brand's engineering prowess, that vehicle is called a halo car," Matthew Doude, CAVS associate director and Halo Project lead, said. "This new project is MSU's halo car. The halo car highlights MSU's advanced engineering capabilities and demonstrates how research partnerships are helping us drive new technologies to the forefront." |
| Powerful performance at MSU Riley Center kicks off arts initiative in Meridian | |
 | Hundreds of public education supporters crowded into downtown Meridian's historic MSU Riley Center Tuesday evening to witness an arts presentation intended to transform a school system and community. Hundreds of public education supporters crowded into downtown Meridian's historic MSU Riley Center Tuesday evening to witness an arts presentation intended to transform a school system and community. The crowd was there for one reason: to celebrate children and the arts. They honored the community and Meridian Public School District's partnership with the Washington D.C.-based John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through an initiative called Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child. After the program ended, Charlotte Tabereaux, educational director at the MSU Riley Center, stood among the sea of students, parents, and community members and seemed overwhelmed by the moment. "This was a grand opening night," she said. |
| Starkville limiting late night parties at Sportsplex | |
 | The city of Starkville is changing how late-parties and other events can be held at the Starkville Sportsplex after an early morning shooting on Sunday injured two people. Police are still investigating the shooting, which occurred shortly after 12:30 a.m. while a private event was being held at the facility on Lynn Lane. According to Starkville Police Department, shots were fired outside the Sportsplex and injured two people in their lower bodies. The victims' conditions have not been made public, but police reported the injuries were non life-threatening. Mayor Lynn Spruill said a fraternity was holding a party at the time of the shooting, though she said she didn't know any other details. She said the shooting happened as people were leaving the event. On Monday, Spruill said the city is working to address the safety issue. She has already instructed Interim Director of Parks and Recreation Gerry Logan the Sportsplex will no longer host late-night parties. |
| Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District announces weather make-up dates | |
 | In the wake of the winter weather earlier this month, the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District has announced make-up dates. Monday, Feb. 19, previously scheduled as a parent-teacher conference day will serve as a regular school day. Any parent needing to schedule a conference is asked to contact their child's teacher directly. April 2, which is, Easter Monday remains a holiday, but in the event of winter weather costing the district an instructional day, it would likely be used as a make-up day. |
| Man gets 25 years for sexually assaulting minor in OCH bathroom | |
| A Starkville man who sexually assaulted a child in a bathroom at OCH Regional Medical Center pleaded guilty to a sexual battery charge in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court on Tuesday. Mississippi 16th Circuit Judge James T. Kitchens sentenced 34-year-old James D. Sudduth to 25 years in prison, without parole, for sexual battery of a child under the age of 14 years old after taking his guilty plea. Sudduth must also register as a sex offender upon release from prison. Sudduth was also charged with knowingly exposing the victim to HIV in January 2017. He was indicted on the charges in June. |
| Commission charges 16 telemarketers for no-call violations | |
 | Mississippi's Public Service Commission has charged 16 telemarketing companies for violating the state's no-call law, officials announced Tuesday. An investigation conducted by the PSC found that these companies made hundreds of calls to Mississippians who signed up for the no-call list, Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley said in a press release. The Telephone Solicitation Act prohibits those attempting to sell consumer goods and services by telephone from calling numbers that appear on the no call list. In 2016, the Mississippi PSC pushed through an amendment that allowed residents to start registering their cellphones -- not just home phones -- to the list to avoid calls from telemarketers. |
| Mississippi Superintendent of Education Testifies Before Congress | |
 | State Superintendent Dr. Carey Wright told members of the U.S. House of Representative evidenced based research is the key to success in the classroom and in the jobs market. Wright touted advances made in the state's early childhood education program noting data was the key to progress. The Superintendent says statistics gleaned from the study took the state's early childhood program to the highest national standards possible in less than four years. The longitudinal study, conducted by Mississippi State University, is called Life Tracks. The numbers from the study are then used to make more informed policy decisions. "In fact, we are changing the trajectory in education for every child in our state. every indicator we measure is on the rise, including for those students who have been traditionally underserved. we know this because we've been monitoring the progress of every single student in every single subgroup," said Wright. |
| Lottery bills die, could be revived | |
| Legislation to enact a state lottery died Tuesday when none of the proposals were taken up in committee. Senate Finance Chairman Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, said he opted not to bring up the proposal in his committee because of the opposition in the House of Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton. He questioned the need "to put members of the Senate through that torturous vote" believing it was not going to pass the House "given the speaker's opposition." Gunn said of the Senate's decision, "They handle legislation as they see fit. I can't speak for them." Gunn has been a vocal opponent of the lottery, but before the session began, he left open the possibility of the House taking up a lottery proposal if it passed the Senate first. |
| Top issues still up for debate after deadline day | |
| Bills that survived Tuesday's first major legislative deadlines will set the tone and highlight the major themes for the rest of this year's session. Speaker Philip Gunn made his mark during the session's first two weeks, shepherding through the House an ambitious rewrite of the public school funding formula and several new ways to pay for infrastructure maintenance. Other key topics have emerged that Capitol observers are sure to watch closely as they spark debate on the House and Senate floors. Here is a look at some of the key issues yet to be resolved. |
| Mississippi lawmakers advance private school choice bill | |
 | Mississippi lawmakers will debate spending more public money to send children to private schools, as a bill to allow such a plan advanced out of committee to the full Senate on Tuesday. Senate Education Committee Chairman Gray Tollison, an Oxford Republican, acknowledged that the bill would be a "drastic, disruptive change" to Mississippi's educational system, but said that's what's needed. "Children need options," Tollison said before his committee sent Senate Bill 2623 ahead on a split voice vote. "This world is changing quickly. This is an opportunity to try something different." The move comes even as Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, a supporter of the proposal, acknowledged that support for such a plan may be lacking in the House. Proposals there died Tuesday at the deadline for bills to advance out of committees in their originating chamber. |
| Voucher bill passes Senate Education Committee | |
| Legislation that would provide vouchers/scholarships for more than 21,500 Mississippi students to attend private schools passed the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday. The bill, authored by Senate Education Chair Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, was one of the last to pass out of committee late Tuesday – the deadline day for such action. It is now pending before the full Senate. The bill is an expansion of the existing program that provides vouchers of about $6,500 annually for a limited number of special needs children to attend private schools. Currently, there are 435 students receiving the vouchers. Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, questioned bringing up the bill late on a deadline day with no prior hearings or discussions of the legislation. He also said it is unconstitutional because the Mississippi Constitution says no public funds could go to a school that "is not conducted as a free public school." |
| School choice voucher expansion moves forward in Senate | |
 | The Senate Education Committee moved forward Tuesday legislation expanding access to the state's voucher program, setting the stage for a state-supported exodus of thousands of children from public schools. Hours after House Education Chairman Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, declined to put a similar measure up for a vote, effectively killing it on deadline day, the Senate panel agreed on a party-line vote to spare the school choice measure. "Parents deserve to choose the best classroom environment to meet their children's needs," Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement praising the legislation's passage. "Increasing access to Educational Savings Accounts increases the possibilities for Mississippi children," he said. Some public schools advocates have argued that sending state aid to private schools will further shrink resources needed in underfunded schools. |
| Mississippi Bill Would Ban Most Abortions After 15 Weeks | |
| Mississippi could become the first U.S. state to try to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, setting up a possible court challenge. A committee on Tuesday approved House Bill 1510 , sending it to the full Republican-controlled House for more debate. Mississippi already bans most abortions after 20 weeks, which is tied for the nation's earliest ban. The bill would allow exceptions if a woman's life is endangered or a fetus has a severe abnormality. |
| Bill would make Mississippi the first state to ban abortions after 15 weeks | |
| A House committee moved Mississippi toward having one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation. On Tuesday afternoon, the Judiciary B Committee passed HB 1510 -- the Gestational Age Act -- which would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. Mississippi would be the first state to enact such a law, although other states are considering similar legislation. The bill defines gestation as "the time that has elapsed since the first day of the woman's last menstrual period," although there is significant debate over establishing legal definitions related to abortion. Felicia Brown-Williams, the Mississippi state director at Planned Parenthood Southeast, called the 15-week ban "unconstitutional." "At the end of the day, it's bad policy," Brown-Williams told Mississippi Today. |
| Local representatives, senator talk state bills | |
 | Bills authored by local legislators that benefit farmers and would designate the Brookhaven Country Club as a resort area took a step closer to becoming law Tuesday, while other bills died on the Capitol floor. Rep. Vince Mangold, R-Brookhaven, who represents Franklin, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence, Lincoln and Pike counties, is the principle author of House Bill 1359 -- a measure that protects farmers affected by natural disasters from paying excessive income tax. The bill was referred to the Ways and Means Committee Tuesday. "It's one of those bills you hope you never have to use," he said. "But if something does come up, it would help out farmers." Mangold is a farmer by trade, and Southwest Mississippi's agricultural economy concerns him a great deal. |
| Group backing Chris McDaniel banks $1 million for Mississippi fight | |
| An outside group aligned with Chris McDaniel, the Mississippi state senator likely to take on veteran Sen. Roger Wicker, has amassed more than $1 million in cash reserves for a Republican primary battle. The so-called Remember Mississippi super PAC raised $1 million last year, fueled by big donations from hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and Richard Uihlein, an Illinois-based packaging magnate who has backed upstart Republican candidates around the country. Uihlein donated another $250,000 this month to the pro-McDaniel group, and the super PAC is "confident of further support" from other conservative donors if McDaniel enters the Senate race, the group's treasurer Tommy Barnett, said in a statement provided first to USA TODAY. |
| What We Learned From Trump's State of the Union | |
 | President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday was a victory lap on his economic program, but not the unifying speech that his aides had promised ahead of time, political analysts said. Some saw it as Trump trying to reassure his base and said his style in delivering it was more optimistic, though it was short on any real specific policy points. Democrats said points like conflating the Dreamers with violent MS-13 gangs doesn't give them much hope about working with Trump to solve the immigrants' dilemma. Trump's address also comes ahead of midterm elections when multiple incumbent Republicans in tight House districts are retiring and puts Republicans' control of both chambers of Congress in jeopardy. Here's how they thought Trump's speech played and how it might affect the political landscape in the coming months |
| Clinton Says She Regrets Keeping Staffer Accused Of Harassment In 2008 | |
 | Hillary Clinton responded Tuesday night to revelations that she kept a senior adviser on her campaign staff in 2008, even after the adviser was accused of repeatedly sexually harassing a subordinate colleague. "The short answer is this: If I had it to do again, I wouldn't," Clinton wrote online, in a seeming nod to the #MeToo movement of the last year. Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee for president, published a long statement explaining her decision on Facebook, less than 20 minutes before President Trump entered the House gallery to deliver his first State of the Union address. The response came four days after The New York Times first reported that Clinton opted to keep the adviser, Burns Strider, on her staff, even though Clinton's campaign manager at the time recommended that Clinton fire him. Strider was Clinton's faith adviser during the 2008 campaign and is the founder of the American Values Network, a Christian lobbying organization. |
| Will 1,500 Street Cameras Be a Wet Blanket in New Orleans? | |
 | Can the allure of this famously rakish and freewheeling city survive if its streets are covered by a 1,500-camera video monitoring system? Will inhibitions start to creep in and diminish the improvisatory nature of street life here, putting a hitch in the strut of Mardi Gras revelers and second-line paraders? Will tourists intent on indulging in a little sin stay away if they think they are being watched? New Orleans officials, burdened with a seemingly intractable violent crime problem, are considering a plan that would create one of the most extensive video-monitoring systems for any midsize American city. The plan would require every business with an alcohol license to install street-facing security cameras, and connect them to a real-time monitoring center overseen by the city. But along with typically vexing civil liberties issues, the proposal has sparked concerns that surveillance will somehow suck the soul out of the place, quashing the promise of the Mardi Gras anthem "Do Whatcha Wanna," which serves as a siren song for tourists and a kind of mission statement for many residents. |
| Who gets state dollars to help pay for college in Mississippi? | |
| Mississippi awarded $38 million in state-funded financial aid during fiscal year 2017, but more than half of it went to students from financially secure homes, a report by the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid shows. Those coming from the lowest income households often are blocked from receiving one of the state's primary grants -- the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant -- because state law prohibits students who are eligible to receive a full Pell grant from also getting MTAG. "So the state's neediest students by law are excluded from MTAG," said Jennifer Rogers, director of Student Financial Aid. The Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid is working with nSPARC, a data research center at Mississippi State University, to conduct a comprehensive data report on state-funded student financial aid. |
| Ole Miss to launch new program for international students | |
 | A new partnership will help broaden global access and recruit international students to Ole Miss. The university and Shorelight Education have agreed to the new joint program. The two entities will work together to create a program to enhance the educational experience of students who come to Ole Miss from around the world, as well as those students who come from every county in Mississippi. "With an English language accelerator program and intensive advising and acculturation experiences, the program will help the university become a model for international access and student success for both undergraduate and graduate students," the university stated. The first students are expected to arrive in 2019. |
| Local religious group faces false accusations due to viral media posts | |
 | Unverified accusations against a religious organization in the Oxford area sparked viral social media rumors around the Ole Miss campus. A religious group that originated in South Korea and consists of 20 members in Oxford has had numerous false accusations of recruiting students on campus into human trafficking. The rumors aimed at the World Mission Society Church of God were fueled by social media posts going viral on Twitter and Facebook. The group's pamphlets read, "Do all things testify about God the Mother?" and "Is God Male or Female?" Students said they have been approached by members of the church in the library and the Student Union. |
| Suspect charged in 2016 rape of U. of Alabama student | |
 | Investigators have arrested a Demopolis man they believe raped and robbed a University of Alabama student after the 2016 Iron Bowl. Police said they believe Colby De'Wayne Daniels Lewis, 19, followed the victim from the Strip to her apartment on Convent Street where he assaulted her and stole items before leaving. "From the time the attack was reported investigators have followed several leads, tips, and other information to identify the suspect," Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide assistant commander Capt. Kip Hart said Tuesday night. "Over the past two days investigators have followed new information which led to warrants being obtained." Alabama and Auburn had played a 2:30 p.m. Iron Bowl game at Bryant-Denny Stadium that Saturday. The woman had been on the Strip, crowded with football fans, before walking home. |
| UGA program helps farmers, veterans return to farming after illness, disability | |
 | The University of Georgia connects military veterans to farming through Farm Again, a program that assists farmers who have chronic health conditions and disabilities. Farm Again provides a wide variety of services, including one-on-one technical assistance and resources for adapting farming tasks to make them easier. "We've really seen an influx of veterans into our programs over the last four years, most in the last year," said Rebecca Brightwell, associate director of the university's Institute on Human Development and Disability and a public service faculty member in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. More than 22 percent of Georgia veterans have some type of disability, she said. That number may be greater as some veterans may have undiagnosed disabilities. |
| Georgia senator pitches tuition freeze for public college students | |
| George State Sen. Michael Williams, R-Cumming, discussed two bills with the senate's higher education committee Tuesday that would freeze tuition for incoming freshman at the same level throughout their academic career. Williams actually introduced the legislation last year, but it never came for a vote before the senate. Williams raised concerns about rising college costs for students in recent years at the state's public institutions. He believes greater oversight of spending is needed by administrators of Georgia's public colleges and universities, citing a few auditor reports that have found some questionable allocations. "There's a disconnect in the amount of money and the results we're getting," Williams said. |
| Officials hopeful South Carolina lottery can pay for added college scholarships | |
 | South Carolina officials are hopeful enough lottery profits will be available to cover the cost of college scholarships for qualifying high school seniors even though more students now are eligible for the state aid. "We are working as hard as we can to raise as much revenue as we can in a responsible manner," Hogan Brown, interim executive director of the S.C. Education Lottery, told an S.C. House budget committee Tuesday. Hogan likely will say the same Thursday to the joint House-Senate Education Lottery Oversight Committee. Part of the problem is that, in 2016, the S.C. Department of Education changed the state's K-12 grading scale to a 10-point scale. That made thousands more high school seniors eligible for the lottery's Life and Palmetto Fellows scholarships. |
| Texas A&M AgriLife program puts drones to work | |
 | Researchers at Texas A&M AgriLife are helping to lead the way in developing new, more efficient and accurate uses for drones in the agriculture industry, pointing toward a future where producers can more efficiently manage their crops to produce the best yields. The internally funded AgriLife Research unmanned aerial systems program -- which concluded its three-year period in December -- saw researchers using both fixed-wing and rotary-wing drones to conduct a broad range of projects. Among the researchers to participate in the program was College Station-based biological and agricultural research engineer Alex Thomasson, who said his work over the past three years has largely focused on replicating reliable, consistent data using fixed-wing drones to survey a plot of land. With better, more reliable data, Thomasson said producers would be capable of making more accurate, informed decisions. |
| At heartfelt reception, U. of Missouri Provost Garnett Stokes bids farewell | |
 | It was standing room only Tuesday afternoon for most of the nearly 200 faculty, staff and students that packed into Stotler Lounge at Memorial Student Union to say goodbye to the University of Missouri's provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, Garnett Stokes. Stokes, who served as provost for three years, and briefly as interim chancellor over the summer, is leaving MU at the end of this week for the University of New Mexico, where she will become the school's first female president. "You can actually see how popular Garnett is," said MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright. "We have way more people than we have chairs." Soon after taking her post as provost in early 2015, Stokes led Missouri's flagship university through nationally-watched protests over racial discrimination and graduate student rights, created the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX and hired nine new deans during a period of high administrative turnover. |
| New rules at Florida State for sororities, fraternities hard to enforce, experts say | |
 | After a hazing death at Florida State University, President John E. Thrasher shut down fraternities and sororities in November and promised major reforms. Those new rules have now been announced, but experts in Greek life aren't convinced they can be enforced, however well intentioned they may be. The death of Pi Kappa Phi pledge Andrew Coffey, 20, prompted Thrasher to ban alcohol among the Greek chapters and student-run organizations. He halted the activities of all fraternities and sororities, proclaiming the entire network of 50-some Greek chapters needed to be reworked with the help of students. Notable among the stringent new measures announced this week were restrictions on the ways and how often Greek organizations can serve alcohol at parties. Academics and experts have often cited alcohol and the pledging period as the two factors that lead to hazing and deaths among Greek organization members. |
| Virginia Tech student arrested Monday and charged with illegally possessing a gun | |
| Virginia Tech officials emphasized Tuesday they saw no danger from the student whose arrest touched off an online storm that echoed both the 2007 mass shooting on the university's campus and more recent national debates about immigration. During weeks of investigation of freshman Yunsong Zhao, "at no time... did police believe there was any threat to our community, nor is there one now," said a university statement posted online Tuesday night. Zhao's arrest Monday prompted a flurry of news reports and online comments. Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski on Tuesday confirmed some of the basic elements of the arrest -- that Zhao is accused of possessing a rifle, a weapon that as a foreign national he is not allowed to have under Virginia law; and that he allegedly tried to order 5,000 rounds of ammunition. |
| Economic numbers effectively pad Trump's first 'State of the Union' address | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "Even the harshest and most ardent critics of America's first reality show star to be elected to the U.S. presidency have to take an honest look at the nation's economy after his first year in office and marvel at President Donald Trump's performance. At least, that's the case if one listens to President Trump's first 'State of The Union' address. Democrats, and no small number of economic analysts, give former President Barack Obama at least equal credit for the current improving economy. 'I don't see any noticeable break over the past year,' Michael Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told The Denver Post last week. 'We tend to overstate the degree to which the president has the ability to control the economy.' ...Trump's best argument is economic growth. On his watch, economic growth has been around three percent. Toward the end of the Obama presidency, growth had slowed to 1.6 percent." |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs seek first road win at South Carolina | |
| Mississippi State travels to South Carolina tonight still in search of its first road win of the season. The Bulldogs have lost a dozen straight road games dating back to Jan. 10, 2017 including a 0-5 mark away this season. MSU attempts to remedy its road woes when it tips at 7:30 on the SEC Network. "The bottom line is we've been right there," said MSU coach Ben Howland. "We've had our opportunities. We weren't close at Cincinnati or Florida but we've had a chance in the others so we've just got to close one out. I'm confident we will." The Bulldogs (15-6, 3-5 SEC) fell short in during away games at Ole Miss (64-58), Alabama (68-62) and Kentucky (78-65) losing ties and leads in the second half. |
| Mississippi State men continue search for first road win | |
| From what Ben Howland has seen in recent weeks, his Mississippi State men's basketball team has everything it needs to produce a road win in the Southeastern Conference. When he looks back on the handful of recent road games his Mississippi State men's basketball team has played, he sees the capability of finally winning one such game. He looks at the three ties in the second half at Alabama, all of them with fewer than seven minutes left in the game and one with 97 seconds left; he points to the double-digit lead in the second half at Ole Miss that, even as it evaporated quickly, still left MSU tied with just over two minutes to go. All that's left is to put it all together for one span of 40 minutes, but opportunities for MSU (15-6, 3-5 SEC) to do so are running low. |
| Mississippi State's Victoria Vivians up for nation's top shooting guard honor | |
| Mississippi State senior Victoria Vivians has been selected as one of 10 finalists for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top shooting guard. Vivians sits fourth in the Southeastern Conference in scoring averaging 19.6 points per game. She is also shooting 52.5 percent from the field, 39.8 percent from 3-point range and 81.8 percent from the charity stripe. The Carthage native is also averaging a career-best 5.8 rebounds this season. The watch for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award will be narrowed to five next month and a winner selected in March. |
| Andrew Warsaw went from working on the Super Bowl to Mississippi State | |
| Andrew Warsaw landed an attractive gig in December 2016. He had anticipated that he may soon be in need of one, because Purdue was undergoing a staff turnover. But before he formally accepted the job as one of only two directors of game operations for the NFL, Warsaw made a phone call. That was to Joe Moorhead. At the time, Moorhead was in his first season as Penn State's offensive coordinator and was a popular name on the hot boards of some media outlets covering searches for new head football coaches. Warsaw asked Moorhead during the call if Moorhead was going to take a job. "Because if you are, I'm not going (to take the NFL job)," Warsaw said. "If you're not this year, then I'm going." As Warsaw recalled the exchange, Moorhead responded by telling Warsaw he wasn't leaving State College and that they'd possibly revisit this conversation the following year. |
| Missouri AD blames Dawn Staley for 'unhealthy' atmosphere at South Carolina | |
 | Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk attended the Tigers' 64-54 loss Sunday in Columbia, S.C., and he wasn't impressed with what was going on inside Colonial Life Arena. Sterk appeared on KTGR's "The Big Show" on Tuesday for an interview that ranged from women's basketball to NCAA transfer rules to the south end zone project. Host Matt Michaels started the interview lightly, asking Sterk if he was relieved to get out of Columbia, S.C., alive after sitting courtside for Sunday's raucous contest against South Carolina. "Yeah, it wasn't a great atmosphere," Sterk said. "It was really kind of unhealthy, if you will. We had players spit on and called the n-word and things like that." Then Sterk called out Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley for fanning the flames. "It was not a good environment, and, unfortunately, I think Coach Staley promoted that atmosphere," Sterk said. "It's unfortunate that she felt she had to do that. It wasn't good." |
| Mizzou AD says South Carolina fans used racial slurs | |
| Missouri women's basketball coach Robin Pingeton responded to allegations of fan misconduct at South Carolina this past Sunday by saying both fanbases needed to do better and not explicitly accusing Gamecock fans. Her boss wasn't so diplomatic. Mizzou athletic director Jim Sterk came after USC and head women's basketball coach Dawn Staley in a radio interview Tuesday evening, accusing Gamecock fans of using racial slurs and spitting on Tiger players and Staley of encouraging the environment in which it took place during the two programs' game on Sunday at Colonial Life Arena. Sterk's comments came at roughly the same time that USC AD Ray Tanner issued a statement Tuesday night saying that his department had investigated the claims and received no confirmed reports of such behavior, which was first described on social media. |
| Buoyed by football, LSU athletics brought in $147 million in 2016-17 | |
 | A seven-win regular season and a midseason head coach firing in 2016 did not hurt LSU football's massive profit margin. In fact, the program pulled in even more cash than it did in 2015. The Tigers football team made a profit of about $56.1 million in the 2016-17 academic year, an increase of nearly $1 million from 2015-16. LSU football raked in $86.1 million in revenue, most of it through ticket sales ($36.2M) and contributions ($24M). It spent about $30.1 million, much of that on coaching salaries ($11.8M). The figures are available in the school's NCAA financial report, a yearly summary each school sends to the governing body of college athletics. It is available through public records law. The figures are for fiscal year 2017, starting July 2016 and running through June 2017. The school's overall athletic revenue climbed to $147.7 million, a near $6 million increase from the previous year. |
| UGA football ticket prices going up, starting in 2018 season | |
| Georgia is raising ticket prices for home football games, effective this upcoming season, from $50 last season to an average of $66.42 per game, on a two-tiered system. Games against Tier 1 opponents will per $75 per game. Games against Tier 2 opponents will be $55 per game. Athletics director Greg McGarity cited increased salaries for the football staff, among other reasons, for raising prices. "We plan to make substantial adjustments to the compensation of our coaching staff," McGarity told the UGA Athletic Board on Tuesday. UGA president Jere Morehead told the board it was a "good problem to have." "Because it means our football program is strong," Morehead said. "But they are going to need our ongoing support." |
| Final deal with Razorback Foundation gives Bret Bielema $11.9M over three years | |
| The nonprofit Razorback Foundation has agreed to pay former head football coach Bret Bielema up to $11.9 million over three years, or roughly twice what the terms of his public employment contract prescribed, the foundation announced Tuesday. Bielema's buyout agreement, finalized two months after he was fired, settles a disparity between the coach's contract with the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and a separate agreement with the foundation. Based on when he was fired, the two agreements set his severance pay at $5.9 million and $15.4 million, respectively. The booster-funded Razorback Foundation, which supports university athletics, is responsible for up to $18.6 million in buyouts related to recent athletic department turnover. |
| Concussions in football: Participation drops as youth football addresses safety | |
 | Like many fathers, U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson carried professional sports dreams for his son. "Before he was born, my wife said he was never playing football. I said he's definitely playing football. When he's in the NFL, he's going to buy me a house," said Hudson, a third-term Republican from Concord, N.C. Lane Hudson is now 2. His dad is already reconsidering the sport. Armed with research about the potential damage football and repeated hits can do to young developing brains, Hudson is looking at America's most popular sport in different ways. "I've changed my opinion about contact. I still want my son to play football, but I've changed my opinion about contact (before 14)," Hudson said. Participation numbers indicate Hudson is not alone in questioning the health effects of football, which attracts the national spotlight this week in the lead-up to the Super Bowl. |
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