| Friday, April 6, 2018 |
| Mississippi State band director named to American Bandmasters Association | |
 | The director of the Mississippi State University Famous Maroon Band has been named to a prestigious professional organization. Elva Kaye Lance, who has led the band since 2002 and served on its faculty since 1992, has been elected to the American Bandmasters Association. The organization represents 300 conductors and composers, and 80 music business and industry professionals who have contributed the most to marching bands. Famed bandmaster and "The Stars and Stripes Forever" composer John Phillip Sousa founded the organization in 1929. Lance said she was "humbled" to receive the honor, but emphasized it not just being her honor. "The success that one has in their career is not just an individual thing, but a lot of people make up the success that we've had, or that I've had," Lance said. She also acknowledged the support she received from MSU administration. |
| Mississippi State honors students take a look into play production | |
| Mississippi State University students in the Honors Seminar in Fine Arts are learning what it takes to produce a play for public performance. Professor Donna Clevinger said each student in the class had to write their own play, direct a play and perform in two plays by their classmates. Junior political science major Zachery Abunemeh, sophomore civil and environmental engineering major Payton Billingsley, junior information technology services major and business minor Melvin Cook, junior sociology major Emory Endicott, sophomore political science major and pre-law and international studies minor Olivia Fahrmann, senior industrial engineering major Siobhan Grogan, junior biomedical engineering major Brian Ko, freshman computer science and English minor Brady Kruse, junior communication major Jared Shields and Spanish and marketing major Rebecca Wright all make up the class. |
| Forestry keeps bringing opportunities, challenges for Gina Thomas | |
 | Florida native Gina Thomas grew up in a paper mill-dominated town, where timber and a thriving paper mill were critical to economic life. Because she was surrounded by so many paper mill employees, Thomas said she never gave much thought to the idea that forestry is a male-dominated industry. When it was time for her to decide what career she wanted to pursue, forestry just felt like a natural fit. Thomas built her forestry foundation at Mississippi State University, where she earned a degree in forest management and became a registered forester. Now, she works for Forest Resource Consultants, a company based in Macon, Georgia, and with a satellite office located just outside of Quitman. In her current job, she helps both private landowners and timber investment companies with the marketing and managing of their timber. |
| A Potentially Active 2018 Season Looms; Meet The New National Hurricane Center Director | |
 | Recently, early season predictions by experts warned that the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season could be quite active. In late March of 2018, NOAA announced Kenneth Graham as the next director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. Graham has been the Meteorologist-in-Charge at the New Orleans/Baton Rouge National Weather Service (NWS) office for about 10 years. He held similar positions at the NWS Corpus Christi, Texas and Birmingham, Alabama local forecast offices, respectively. Graham worked as a broadcast meteorologist at WCBI-TV in Mississippi before starting his career within NOAA 24 years ago. He has a bachelor's bachelor's degree in atmospheric science from the University of Arizona. He also has master's degree in geoscience from Mississippi State University. |
| Oktibbeha County GOP to host congressional forum | |
| The Oktibbeha County Republican Party will host an event on April 16 featuring all six Republican candidates running to represent Mississippi's Third Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The winner will replace Republican Congressman Greg Harper, who announced in January he would not seek a sixth term on Capitol Hill. Oktibbeha County Republican Party Chairwoman Marnita Henderson told the Starkville Daily News that the forum will be question-and-answer style, and not a debate. "There will be questions given and if people have questions, we want them submitted in advance, with six candidates, we don't have much time," Henderson said. Keith Heard, president of the lobbying firm Key Impact Strategies, will serve as the moderator. |
| Study: Economic development incentives paying off for state | |
 | Despite failures that have the potential to cost the state $185 million, Mississippi has received positive results from its incentive programs designed to entice companies to locate in the state, according to a study conducted by the office of Auditor Stacey Pickering. Pickering's office found the state has had a return of $12 for each $1 invested in five incentive programs operated by the Mississippi Development Authority even when taking those failures into account. The 243 projects studied date back to 2010 and were awarded incentives through five programs. The audit cited 11 failed projects. Efforts still are underway to recoup lost state funds -- totaling $185.6 million -- in some of those projects. |
| $185M cost to taxpayers from failed economic projects, auditor says | |
 | State Auditor Stacey Pickering says failed economic development projects over the past decade have cost Mississippi taxpayers more than $185 million. Despite that, Mississippi Development Authority has generated more than $12 for each $1 spent on economic development, according to his office. "Economic development projects have been good for Mississippi," Pickering said in a statement. "Overall, we have all benefitted from industry being recruited to our state by economic incentives. However, we must remain vigilant in ensuring public dollars are only spent on industry with a track record of success instead of risky startup technology." Jeff Rent, public relations manager for MDA, said Thursday that MDA "continues to work closely with the attorney general's office on these projects." |
| Roger Wicker makes the local rounds: Senator has busy day in Brookhaven | |
 | U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker made the rounds of Brookhaven Thursday, visiting civic clubs, taking questions from city and county elected officials and visiting industries and the police department. He spent the evening rubbing-elbows with check-writers at a private fundraiser for the Lincoln County Republican Committee. It was a busy day, he told the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors at his fourth stop of the day. Earlier in the day, after speaking to civic clubs at the Brookhaven Country Club, Wicker talked about U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, of Brookhaven, who recently stepped down as state commissioner of agriculture to accept Gov. Phil Bryant's appointment to replace retired U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. Wicker said Hyde-Smith should "go with her instincts" and listen to her constituents. |
| #MSSEN cyber war begins: Chris McDaniel: 'I'm your huckleberry' | |
| The #MSSEN cyber war has begun: Candidates for Mississippi's open U.S. Senate seat and their supporters have taken to social media with a barrage of attacks and counter maneuvers. This follows in the grand tradition of the nasty 2014 Senate race, although that would be hard to top -- people were convicted of felonies and one went to prison from that online battle. Chris McDaniel on Wednesday night went all Wyatt Earp on potential Republican candidate Andy Taggart, who on Thursday announced he would not run. McDaniel opened cyber battles on multiple fronts Wednesday. In a mass emailed fundraising letter, he accused Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith of being "a life-long Democrat" and accused the lifetime National Rifle Association member with an A rating of having pushed for gun control. The McDaniel online war machine may be a little rusty from 2014: He inadvertently accused Hyde-Smith of pushing for gun control in Alabama. |
| Mississippi's Rebel Rides Again | |
| Once ideological allies, Chris McDaniel is now on a collision course with Gov. Phil Bryant in a Senate race shaping up to be a sequel to 2014's divisive showdown. The 45-year-old McDaniel is back, embarking on another gate-crashing campaign that again pits him against Republican establishment forces from the Beltway to Jackson. It's an insurgent bid that was never really in doubt and hadn't ever stopped since his audacious 2014 foray -- "He kinda never stopped running," says Rick Tyler, a top McDaniel adviser. But this time, both McDaniel and the Bryant political machine aligned firmly against him are even more dug in, and -- given the history -- neither side is taking anything for granted. |
| Republican Andy Taggart not running in US Senate race | |
 | A Mississippi Republican who advocates removing the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag said Thursday that he's not running for U.S. Senate. Andy Taggart of Madison said weeks ago that he might enter the special election to finish the term started by longtime Republican Thad Cochran. Taggart was chief of staff in the 1990s for Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice and was later a Madison County supervisor. He said Thursday that although he's not running for Senate, he is grateful for encouragement from friends and family. "The positive reaction I received all over the state from people who join with me in support of a new state flag gives me great hope that we will see that change become a reality sooner rather than later," Taggart said. |
| Special election field holding at four with Andy Taggart not running | |
| Longtime Mississippi Republican Andy Taggart, who had said he was contemplating running in the November U.S. Senate special election, announced Thursday he would not enter the race. On social media, Taggart, an attorney and former chief of staff in the 1990s to Gov. Kirk Fordice, said "I have decided not to enter the race for the United States Senate." Taggart, a former Madison County supervisor and co-author of political commentary with Democratic consultant Jere Nash, has been an outspoken advocate of changing the state flag, which includes the controversial Confederate battle emblem as a part of its design. It is believed that the anti-flag stance would not be popular with a large segment of Republican voters. |
| Andy Taggart not running for U.S. Senate | |
| Republican Andy Taggart said Thursday morning that he has decided not to run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Thad Cochran. In a brief written statement, Taggart thanked his family, "for bearing with me," voiced appreciation for encouragement and advice from many friends and "for the kind offers of support from people I didn't even know before considering this race." Taggart had faced some criticism from Republican establishment leaders who feared he would simply serve as a spoiler to Gov. Phil Bryant's pick Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Nov. 6 special election. Taggart began openly testing the water on a run after Bryant chose Hyde-Smith to temporarily replace Cochran and then endorsed her for the election. |
| Lee County Democratic leader says no senate candidacy | |
| Lee County Democratic Party Chairman Jamie Franks has decided not to pursue a candidacy for the U.S. Senate. This decision follows a Tuesday morning announcement by Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton that he will enter a special election race to finish the term of Thad Cochran. "I'm not going to be a candidate against Jason Shelton," Franks said. "I've contributed to his campaigns, he's contributed to mine. We're friends." A local attorney, former state representative and one-time candidate for lieutenant governor, Franks began to recently float the possibility of a senate candidacy to colleagues locally active within Democrat Party circles. From 2008 to 2012, Franks served as chairman of the state Democratic Party but has not held elected office in about a decade and has never won a race outside the Lee County area. |
| Mississippi court: Woman has parent rights in same-sex split | |
| Mississippi's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a woman has parental rights to a 6-year-old boy born to her ex-wife when the two were married, in a case watched by gay rights activists and groups aiding in vitro fertilization. Christina "Chris" Strickland brought the appeal, challenging a lower court decision that an anonymous sperm donor still had parental rights and that Strickland did not. Strickland ultimately hopes to win 50-50 custody of Zayden Strickland, who bears her last name and was born by Kimberly Day through artificial means when Day and Strickland were married. All nine justices, in a series of separate opinions, found flaws in the original ruling by a Rankin County chancery judge. |
| Notorious campaigner for former Jackson mayor, senator indicted in Atlanta bribe scheme | |
| An Atlanta woman known in Mississippi for campaigning during the 2014 U.S. Senate and Jackson mayoral races has been indicted in a bribery scheme that has rocked Atlanta in recent years. Mitzi Bickers -- a pastor who hosted parties for former Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber where "strippers wearing only body paint greeted them at the door," according to a federal lawsuit -- is accused of pocketing more than $2 million in bribes from Atlanta businessmen between 2010 and 2015. Bickers, who worked for the city from 2010 to 2013, allegedly received the bribes in exchange for steering nearly $17 million in Atlanta city contracts. Bickers pleaded not guilty Thursday to an 11-count indictment, which comes at least two-and-a-half years into an FBI investigation over Atlanta city contracting. |
| China threatens to hit back as Trump seeks additional tariffs on $100B of Chinese goods | |
 | President Trump ordered his chief trade negotiator to consider imposing tariffs on an additional $100 billion of Chinese products Thursday, in a dramatic escalation of his trade war with China. In the latest barb, China's commerce ministry said that "China has very detailed countermeasures" and will "fight at any cost" to defend its economic interests, drawing the world's two largest economies into a deeper confrontation. Trump's announcement would impose tariffs on a significant share of imported Chinese goods that enter the United States -- $505.6 billion last year. The president's latest salvo, moving the world's two largest economies closer to an open brawl, is certain to spook U.S. allies in Europe and Japan as well as American business leaders, who are desperate for a negotiated resolution of the dispute. |
| Space war is coming -- and the U.S. is not ready | |
 | War is coming to outer space, and the Pentagon warns it is not yet ready, following years of underinvesting while the military focused on a host of threats on Earth. Russia and China are years ahead of the United States in developing the means to destroy or disable satellites that the U.S. military depends on for everything from gathering intelligence to guiding precision bombs, missiles and drones. Now the Pentagon is trying to catch up. War in space "is going to happen," said Rep. Mike Rogers, the Alabama Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, in an interview. "It's just a matter of whether it happens in the next couple of years or the next five or six years." |
| Bernie Sanders Struggles With New Path to Black Voters | |
| Bernie Sanders took the stage in Mississippi's capital city alongside a popular, young African-American mayor whose election he'd endorsed last year. Sanders, the one-time and potentially future presidential candidate, praised Jackson's Chokwe Antar Lumumba as an heir to the legacy of Martin Luther King, not just on civil rights for black Americans but economic justice for poor and working-class Americans. Yet on the same night Lumumba and Sanders gathered to honor the slain civil rights leader, the Vermont senator seemed to downplay another iconic black American. |
| Economy added disappointing 103,000 jobs in March | |
 | Employers added a disappointing 103,000 jobs in March as colder weather appeared to crimp hiring after solid employment gains the first two months of the year. The unemployment rate, which is calculated from a different survey, was unchanged at 4.1%, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists expected 185,000 new jobs, according to a Bloomberg survey. In February, unseasonably warm weather pulled forward hiring in industries such as construction and retail, leading to blockbuster job gains that topped 300,000. Some economists forecast a sharp offsetting slowdown to 150,000 or less in March. As a result, the weak showing is being viewed as a blip rather than a sign of a weakening labor market. |
| Delta says cyber security breach may have exposed several hundred thousand customers | |
| Delta Air Lines said a cyber security breach involving an online chat service "potentially exposed several hundred thousand customers." Atlanta-based Delta disclosed the estimate on a web page at delta.com/response it rolled out Thursday on the cyber incident for customers. Delta said it will offer free credit monitoring for customers who were affected. The airline said it is contacting those customers, including by mail. It said it will also launch a phone line for affected customers. The cyber security breach involving online chat service [24]7.ai exposed the name, address, payment card number, CVV number and expiration date if the information was entered by a customer making a purchase, according to Delta. The airline said no other customer information like passport, government ID, security or SkyMiles information was affected. The breach lasted from Sept. 26 to Oct. 12, 2017 for clients of the online chat service, including Delta. |
| Former Ole Miss student files suit claiming gender-based discrimination after sex assault accusation | |
| A University of Mississippi student suspended for sexual misconduct is suing the school, the State Institutions of Higher Learning and several others for denying him the ability to finish his degree because of a false claim of sexual abuse made against him by someone other than the alleged victim. The suit, filed in March in federal court by Jackson Attorney J. Lawson Hester on behalf of the male student under the pseudonym "Andrew Doe," is seeking declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief on the grounds of gender-based discrimination, violations of equal protection and due process and breach of contract. In the complaint, Doe claims he was disciplined for having sex with a female student while she was under the influence of alcohol; however, she was not disciplined for having sex with him while he was also under the influence. |
| $4.6M student housing project in progress near USM Gulf Park | |
 | A developer is converting the old Triton building in Long Beach into a student housing complex. Encompass, a Kentucky-based company, is working with Gulf Coast Student Housing LLC. to turn the structure into Friendship Oak Village. This is a $4.6 million conversion on a tight timeline. The proximity to the campus will invite students to walk to class. "The students will be here on September 15, so we want to be available then. Right now, we're going through our demo phase. We'll be done with demolition in a few weeks and then we'll start doing construction on the inside," Parrish said. Work is currently underway to demolish interior walls in the structure on Railroad St., across the tracks from the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park Campus. While the university has talked about building dorms on the Gulf Park campus, this private project will offer student housing and bring opportunities for USM to attract more out of state students to the coast. |
| ASU-Vicksburg hosts HBCUs in state | |
| Wednesday was all about collaboration for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Mississippi. Five of the six HBCUs from throughout the state attended a meeting at the Alcorn State University-Vicksburg campus Wednesday aimed at showing the strengths of each of the schools and fostering continued partnerships between them. The meeting was hosted through a partnership between Alcorn-Vicksburg, the Southwest Mississippi Center for Culture and Learning, the Regional Educational Lab Southeast (REL) at Florida State University and the National Institutes for Historically-Underserved Students. The meeting was attended by representatives from Alcorn, Mississippi Valley, Jackson State, Tougaloo and Hinds Community College's Utica Campus. The only school not in attendance was Rust College. |
| East Mississippi Community College students inducted into National Technical Honor Society | |
| At East Mississippi Community College, 25 students were inducted into the National Technical Honor Society Thursday. To be considered for membership in the society, students in career and technical fields of study must maintain at least a 3.0 GPA for their overall coursework, or have transferred from a high school NTHS program. The society is committed providing business and industry with a stream of skilled future employees, as well as supplying excellent services to member schools and creating relationships between business and industry. Honorary memberships were also presented to EMCC President Thomas Huebner, EMCC Vice President for Administration Paul Miller and Mississippi State University Vice President for Campus Services and former Lieutenant Governor Amy Tuck. |
| U. of Alabama System moves to raise tuition | |
 | The University of Alabama System board of trustees will consider tuition increases of 1-3 percent for students of its medical, optometry and dentistry schools when it meets Friday. The increases, similar to hikes enacted last year, were approved by the finance committee on Thursday. The board's physical properties and investment committees also met on Thursday. The increases will help pay new faculty members, boost technology and cope with increased overhead costs in the schools, said University of Alabama at Birmingham Vice President of Financial Affairs Allen Bolton. In other business, the physical properties committee approved increasing the scope of the latest phase of the University Boulevard improvements, preliminary plans for a bronze sculpture at the Park at Manderson Landing commemorating the city of Tuscaloosa's bicentennial and plans to preserve the Bryce Hospital lawn from future development. |
| UGA won't change Dean's List standards | |
 | A University of Georgia committee has turned back a proposal that would have made it both easier and harder -- mostly easier -- for UGA students to make the Dean's list. A proposal from the University Council's Educational Affairs Committee would have upped the required semester grade point average from its current 3.50 to 3.70. But at the same time, the minimum number of credit hours to be eligible for the honor would be reduced from 14 to 12. The hour reduction would also apply to students designated as Presidential Scholars, for achieving a 4.0 GPA. If the proposed rule had been in effect in the 2017 fall semester, the number of students making Dean's List would have increased by about 1,400 to around 8,600, said Mark Farmer, the cellular biology professor who chairs the Educational Affairs Committee. That would be about 30 percent of UGA's undergraduate enrollment -- 28,711 out of UGA's total fall 2017 enrollment of 37,606, according to University System of Georgia statistics. |
| Couples give UGA $5 million for need-based scholarships | |
| A prominent Atlanta couple, Alston D. "Pete" Correll Jr. and wife Ada Lee Correll, will donate $5 million to endow a need-based scholarship program at the University of Georgia. The gift will start the "Correll Scholars Program," providing recipients an annual scholarship of $7,000, renewable for up to four years, and other benefits, the university announced Thursday. The students will also get slots in UGA's four-week "Freshman College Summer Experience," meant to help first-year students adjust to college life; financial help for "experiential learning" activities such as study abroad and internships; and mentoring and support from a UGA professional. Students will begin receiving scholarships from the program this fall. Six first-year, six second-year, six third-year and six fourth-year students will get the first awards. Recipients will be chosen by the UGA Office of Student Financial Aid, giving preference to "students with significant need" who plan to enroll in UGA's Terry College of Business or the UGA College of Education. |
| U. of Florida kept former employees' credit cards active, audit finds | |
 | University of Florida officials failed to retrieve and cancel purchasing cards from former employees, but no improper purchases were found, according to an audit from the State of Florida Auditor General's office. The audit, which examines the 2016 calendar year, found that out of 368 employees who had purchasing cards and separated from the UF that year, 19 didn't have their cards canceled until between eight and 337 days later. The average length of time to cancel the 19 employees' purchasing cards, or P-cards, was 103 days. The auditors did not find inappropriate charges on the cards, but, they wrote, "our procedures cannot substitute for the University's responsibility to implement adequate internal controls over P-card cancellations." The Auditor General's office found similar issues in 2015. |
| Congress puts more focus on student parents with new funding | |
 | Among federal policy makers, it's almost banal to acknowledge that traditional first-time, full-time college students no longer make up the bulk of today's undergraduates: older students, transfers, veterans and student parents make up a growing proportion of the college-going population. That latter group now comprises one in four college students. But support from the federal government for low-income student parents has lagged, even as their numbers have grown. Before this year, funding for the sole federal program dedicated to assisting them had remained basically flat for a decade and a half. The omnibus spending package passed last month reversed that, marking the first new federal investment in student parents since Congress authorized the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program (CCAMPIS) in 1998. The spending increase -- from $15 million to $50 million -- was among a slate of new funding for college access and student aid programs. But advocates for the program, who have pushed for boosting CCAMPIS for years, hope the new funding is a signal that Congress is taking seriously the challenges faced by students who care for children while they pursue a degree. |
| How the Howard University Protests Hint at the Future of Campus Politics | |
| Students at Howard University occupied the campus's Johnson Administration Building in protest in 1968. They did so again in 1989. Those occupations lasted four and five days, respectively, and ended with varying degrees of success. Now, current Howard students are in day seven of an occupation of their own. It is the longest takeover of the building in the institution's history. The dynamics currently driving campus activism are coming to a head at the illustrious historically black university in the nation's capital. And Howard's experience, and in particular the unprecedented length of the students' protest---even though the university may never meet their demands---may be a harbinger for the sort of tenacious pushback on long-simmering issues that other college leaders might soon encounter. |
| Let's quit talking about infrastructure | |
| Mississippi newspaper editor and publisher Ray Mosby writes: "I've decided that infrastructure is the new weather: everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. Sometimes I think it is the word itself -- infrastructure. It's long and awkward-sounding, and perhaps even a mite intimidating to some. Maybe we just ought to say roads and bridges and stuff. Because all of that -- roads and bridges and stuff -- is deteriorating, wearing out, sloughing off, falling in. And almost everybody, almost every elected official at every level of government knows that. They all recognize the dangers that represents. They all talk about it all the time. Thing is, none of them ever seem to quite get around to doing anything to fix any of it." |
SPORTS
| Ole Miss-Mississippi State series postponed, Saturday twinbill scheduled | |
| The Ole Miss-Mississippi State series opener has been canceled today due to inclement weather. The two in-state rivals will instead play a Saturday doubleheader beginning at noon at Dudy Noble Field. There will be a 45-minute break in between games. Chair back tickets for Saturday will be honored for both games while chair back tickets from Friday can be used as general admission and standing room only. Sunday's finale is still on schedule for 1 p.m. |
| Small turns big: Lefty bounces back to be key pitcher for Bulldogs | |
| Ethan Small will take the mound for Mississippi State at Dudy Noble Field on Saturday in what, for most people, will be just the middle game of MSU's three-game weekend series against instate rival Ole Miss. For Small though, his Saturday start -- and every start for that matter -- means so much more. As the Bulldogs (15-15, 2-7) get ready to face off with the No. 3 Rebels (26-4, 6-3) this weekend, Small has been perhaps MSU's biggest bright spot of 2018. The sophomore left-hander, who missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery to his pitching elbow, has not only returned to the mound, but has become perhaps State's best pitcher to this point of the year. He leads the team in strikeouts, punching out 55 total batters over only 41 innings. He also has the best earned run average (2.41) of any of MSU's three weekend starters, including ace Konnor Pilkington. |
| Ethan Small gives Mississippi State baseball hope now and in future | |
| Ethan Small didn't go home to Lexington, Kentucky, last summer. Instead, he spent his June days hurling 100-pitch bullpen sessions in 100-degree heat at Starkville Academy. Shirtless, sweaty and spent, Small said there were times when his confidence wavered. "That part was horrible," Small said. "There was nobody here." He was about nine months removed from Tommy John surgery at that point. Small would throw to athletic trainer Jason Wire every three days. "At times, I would throw a pitch and be dying," Small said. "And I had to go through 100 of them." So what motivated him? "It's just being driven," Small said. |
| Bulldog bats slumping entering weekend | |
| Mississippi State has lost its first three series in Southeastern Conference play but the Diamond Dogs do have a chance to get back on track before it is too late. MSU faces a gauntlet of top teams over the final two months with six of their final seven SEC series coming against teams in the D1Baseball.com RPI top 20. The Rebels (26-4, 6-3 SEC) are currently seventh in the RPI standings and are enjoying a bounce back year after missing out on the postseason entirely in 2017. "Their kids are older," said MSU interim head coach Gary Henderson. "They played a bunch of freshmen last year. Their kids were talented but those are the results sometimes when you play freshmen a lot. They're certainly getting good starting pitching and have a good bullpen. They're hitting much better than they did last year and have some power numbers." |
| Mississippi State's Victoria Vivians invited to attend WNBA Draft | |
| Victoria Vivians has been invited to attend the WNBA Draft next Thursday in New York City. Vivians, an All-American who led Mississippi State in scoring in each of her four seasons in Starkville, is seeking to be just the sixth Bulldog to be selected in the WNBA and first since Chanel Mokango, Armelie Lumanu and Alexis Rack were all drafted in 2010. The first round of the WNBA Draft begins at 6 p.m. on ESPN2 and the final two rounds continue on ESPNU starting at 7 p.m. |
| Nick Weatherspoon enters NBA Draft, will not hire agent | |
| Mississippi State has another underclassmen that will try his hand at the NBA Draft. Freshman guard Nick Weatherspoon announced Thursday night that he would join teammate Lamar Peters in entering his name into the NBA Draft but will also not hire an agent. "Talked it over and decided to enter my name in the 2018 NBA Draft," Weatherspoon tweeted. "No agent excited for the opportunity." By not hiring an agent, Weatherspoon has the option to return to the Bulldogs provided he withdraws from the draft by 4 p.m. on June 11. |
| Mississippi State's Nick Weatherspoon to test 2018 NBA draft waters, but not hire an agent | |
| Nick Weatherspoon announced his intentions to enter the 2018 NBA Draft. The Mississippi State freshman starting shooting guard said he won't be hiring an agent, which leaves open the possibility that he could return to college if he changes his mind. Weatherspoon is not a top 100 prospect on Jonathan Givony's latest rankings on ESPN. So, Weatherspoon is likely set to just receive feedback on his game, and a free evaluation from the pros can help him boost his stock in the future. By not hiring an agent, Peters has the option to return to MSU provided he withdraws his name by 4 p.m. on June 11. |
| U. of South Carolina icons Marcus Lattimore, Harris Pastides riding in a car, singing? Believe it | |
 | Want to know what would happen if you put University of South Carolina President Harris Pastides and Gamecock football legend Marcus Lattimore together in a car? Someone at USC did. And two of the most notable figures at the university happily obliged. Pastides and Lattimore, now a member of the Gamecocks' coaching staff, were recorded riding around the Columbia campus. The segment called "MINI Conversations with the President: Marcus Lattimore" was shared on USC's official Twitter account. Pastides was behind the wheel of his Mini Cooper when he picked up Lattimore on campus. The Garnet and Black icons proceeded to talk cars, music, and reminisce. |
| If Saints have a bias against LSU, so does the rest of NFL against their in-state colleges | |
 | Greg Gilmore was a little confused when the Saints invited him to sit down for an interview at the Senior Bowl. He knows the history. He wasn't even driving the last time New Orleans selected an LSU player. So, the Tigers defensive tackle only had one thought when he sat down at the table. "First I asked them if they are going to draft LSU," Gilmore joked. Many Louisiana football fans would have asked the same question. They long to cheer for the same names on Sundays that they often first learn about on Friday nights and watch blossom on Saturdays. It doesn't often happen that way. Since Mickey Loomis took over as Saints general manager in 2002, the Saints have selected two LSU players. |
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