| Monday, June 11, 2018 |
| Mississippi State, DHS continue to improve outcomes for those with disabilities | |
 | Mississippi State students and Northeast Mississippi children who need assistance because of an autism spectrum disorder or another type of disability now have more support than ever from the university. MSU has expanded its services through several programs in recent years, helping those with a wide range of disabilities gain life, academic and social skills that will help them thrive and increase independence. After receiving a $1 million grant from the Mississippi Department of Human Services last year, the university was able to significantly increase the number of people served by MSU's ACCESS program, Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic, autism liaisons program, Disability Support Services and Student Support Services. As these programs have grown, so has their quality, turning them into models across the state and country, said Julie Capella, MSU Director of Student Support Services. |
| Hay production behind schedule due to spring rain | |
| A long, cool spring put Mississippi hay production about two weeks behind schedule, but a long, hot summer can give producers the chance to catch up. Rocky Lemus, Mississippi State University Extension Service forage specialist, said he expects a good year for forages. "We had really good rainfall early in the season, and we're forecasting good hay production in Mississippi this year," Lemus said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated 53 percent of the state's pastures to be in good or excellent condition, and the remaining mostly fair with some in poor shape as of June 3. Brett Rushing, Extension agronomist at the MSU Coastal Plain Branch Experiment Station in Newton, said cool weather slows the growth of traditional hay crops while letting weeds thrive. |
| Infrastructure planning highlights Starkville water meeting | |
 | The city of Starkville has turned an eye toward major improvements to aging water and sewage lines in certain areas of the city. City officials are still working to come up with a plan to tackle what would be a significant undertaking in replacing infrastructure for whole neighborhoods. Starkville Utilities Director Terry Kemp told a handful of people from the Green Oaks neighborhood who attended a Thursday evening water quality meeting at the Sportsplex that the city's infrastructure, which in some areas is more than 50 years old, has served the area well. However, he said, it's past time to consider replacing it. That would include replacing aging metal pipes, which have contributed to brown water issues across the city, with PVC pipes. |
| State revenue rebounds in May after lackluster April | |
 | Tax collections generated from personal income and from corporations helped make May a strong month for Mississippi revenue collections, based on a report compiled this week by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee. But those numbers are partially offset by less than stellar collections for April. April is normally a strong month for income tax collections (on both personal and on business income) because of the April 15 tax filing deadline. But, in some years, those filing are not counted toward state revenue until May. This past year, taxpayers had until April 17 to file, possibly further delaying reporting of the revenue by the Department of Revenue. "It's difficult to estimate every year how much we'll get done in April and what will spill over to May, so always good to look at those months together," said Kathy Waterbury, a spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue, in an e-mail. |
| Michael Guest, Whit Hughes prepare for MS03 runoff on June 26 | |
 | With approximately two weeks until they face off in a June 26 primary, Republican candidates for Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District race say they plan on pushing until the very end. In the June 6 GOP primary, Michael Guest secured 28,701 votes -- or 44.86 percent -- to Whit Hughes' 14,229 votes, netting him 22.24 percent of the total vote. The results have not been certified and are not considered official. Hughes has challenged Guest to two debates in an effort to jump start conversation around the runoff. The Guest campaign did not accept the invitation, noting Guest has participated in 12 debates and forums already during the course of the campaign. Hughes said he was "disappointed" and "shocked" by Guest's response. The Hughes campaign is organizing a series of town halls around the district, but the schedule has not been finalized. The first will be held in Liberty on Monday night. Hughes said he intends to invite Guest to each town hall. |
| Rep. Omeria Scott endorses Howard Sherman over David Baria in Senate runoff | |
| Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, who earned 20,000 votes in Tuesday's Democratic Senate primary but did not make the runoff, endorsed candidate Howard Sherman on Friday. Scott, a longtime state representative who came in third place behind Sherman and state House minority leader David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, made the announcement in her hometown Friday afternoon. She called for her supporters to cast votes for Sherman in the June 26 runoff. "This is a time for unity," Scott said in a release from the Sherman campaign. "I urge every one of my supporters and every Democrat in our state to come together and get behind Howard Sherman. His ideas for our state are bold and powerful, and I know he's the right leader to defeat Roger Wicker and join with Mike Espy to bring change to Washington." |
| Alabama's Longtime Hostility to Gambling Shows Signs of Fading | |
 | Even more than its Bible Belt neighbors, Alabama has steadfastly resisted legalizing gambling for generations. The clout of evangelical Christians helped make sure of it: Joe Godfrey, the top lobbyist for the state's most powerful churches, once received an Inauguration Day promise from an influential politician that no proposal for gambling would make it through the State House while he was in office. But the resistance is now openly fraying, suggesting that gambling is no longer a potent moral issue that animates voters and politicians the way it once did. As the landscape shifts in Montgomery, the state capital, the consequences may reverberate across the South, where nearby states gladly rake in billions of dollars that Alabamians are not allowed to wager at home. |
| U. of Alabama System Chancellor Ray Hayes announces plans to step down | |
 | University of Alabama System Chancellor Ray Hayes announced Friday that he will retire from the post he has held since 2016 to focus on developing behavioral health resources for students on the three campuses. Hayes, 64, made the announcement during the University of Alabama System board of trustees' regular June meeting. Hayes cited the sound positions of the system and its three campuses and a personal passion for behavioral health work as factors in his decision. "Is it just the right time to do that, and, again, the board has been very supportive and good at that and given me the opportunity to work on that for several years," Hayes said. Hayes said he made the decision after consulting with his wife over the past year. Hayes' career spans more than 40 years with posts at UA, Mississippi State University and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. |
| New U. of Alabama dean to assume role in July | |
| The University of Alabama has named a new dean at the College of Human Environmental Sciences. Stuart Usdan, who now serves as senior associate dean at the college, will assume his new role on July 1. Usdan replaces Milla Boschung, who will retire after serving as dean since 2003. "Stuart is a strong academic leader with a respected research record and a firm commitment to teaching and service," said Kevin Whitaker, UA executive vice president and provost. "I'm confident he can build on the college's many strengths while charting a bold and innovative course for the future." As dean, Usdan will be the chief academic officer for the College of Human Environmental Sciences with oversight over all its academic programs and activities. |
| Auburn University team studying impact of art lessons on human brain | |
 | If you have ever taken a drawing or art class, there's a chance you may feel different after practicing the art form for a period of time. "If you draw and you teach drawing, you can feel that there is something unique about that experience. And if you ask any artist, and I have, they'll agree there is something special about this process [of] visual searching," said Barb Bondy, Auburn University art professor and co-researcher. "It's really about learning to see in a new way." Bondy and Auburn psychology professor Jeffrey Katz partnered together in previous years to explore the possibilities of drawing and its physical, behavioral and neural effects in brain plasticity. In late May, Auburn University announced that the two professors were awarded a Research: Art Works Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to further their research. |
| TOPS dilemma may force Louisiana students to look out of state | |
 | Back when she was a stellar high school senior looking at colleges, Rachel Campbell's parents in Mandeville urged her to go to Alabama. The deal offered by the University of Alabama was sweet: a full ride including room and board, plus opportunities to study abroad. Campbell, though, was a fan of LSU's political communications program, and she prevailed because TOPS made that preference financially feasible. The Taylor Opportunity Program for Students pays most tuition and costs for about 52,000 students who have achieved modest academic goals. Louisiana is spending about $292 million for TOPS this year, which includes tuition coverage and, in some cases, stipends for high-achieving students. That decision to stay in Louisiana didn't look as good in 2017 when that year's state fiscal crisis led legislators to consider taking money from the politically popular program to help balance the budget. Now for the second time in three years, the funding for TOPS has been cut. |
| New U. of Florida arts dean inspired by diversity | |
 | The new dean at the University of Florida College of the Arts dances and choreographs, but she's no stranger to connecting different art forms. Onye Ozuzu is coming to UF from Columbia College Chicago, where she's been dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts since 2015. "I wasn't necessarily on the hunt for a move right now," Ozuzu said. "It was really, purely the opportunity and the story of what's happening at UF and Gainesville." Before working at Columbia, Ozuzu was the associate chair and director of dance at the University of Colorado-Boulder's theater and dance department. While there, she helped change the curriculum to put less of a focus on ballet and more of a focus and other classical dance traditions across social and economic landscapes. That, she said, "lit a fire" in her for having discussions about how to broaden the arts in academics and in society. |
| UT Knoxville proposal would keep tuition flat for first time in 34 years | |
 | A proposal aims to hold tuition flat at the University of Tennessee Knoxville for the 2018-19 fiscal year, marking it the first time the university has not increased tuition since 1984, according to materials for a meeting on tuition and fees at the university on Monday. UT's Subcommittee on Tuition, Fees and Financial Aid will assemble at 2 p.m. Monday at the Andy Holt Tower to discuss tuition and student fee proposals for the next fiscal year. The proposals are, in large part, driven by an emphasis on making higher education affordable for students, especially those living in the state, said David Miller, chief financial officer for the UT System. The announcement of the university system's efforts to halt and curb tuition increases is more than a piece of good news in the wake of a controversial leadership change at the Knoxville campus, according to Miller. |
| U. of California and Texas A&M Win Bid to Run Birthplace of Atom Bomb | |
 | The University of California and Texas A&M University systems are the leaders of a team that was awarded the contract on Friday to run Los Alamos National Laboratory. The two systems will be joined by the research and development organization Battelle in a limited-liability corporation, Triad National Security, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Safety Administration announced in a news release. Established in 1943, Los Alamos lab, northwest of Santa Fe, N.M., was used as a hub for the top-secret Manhattan Project to develop nuclear technology. It is known as the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Texas A&M is also the alma mater of the secretary of energy, Rick Perry, who has not hesitated to weigh in on university affairs since joining the cabinet. Notably, in 2017, Perry publicly condemned the university's latest student-government election, saying it had "made a mockery of due process and transparency." |
| Texas A&M System partnership wins bid to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory | |
 | A limited liability company that includes the Texas A&M University System will manage Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Department of Energy announced Friday. Triad National Security, LLC -- principals are the Texas A&M system, Batelle Memorial Institute and the University of California -- was awarded the contract to manage and operate the laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The five-year contract has an estimated value of $2.5 billion annually and can be extended up to five more years. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott congratulated the Texas A&M University System and Sharp on securing the contract in a statement Friday, saying it will provide "significant opportunities" for skilled workers in Texas to make contributions to the country's national security. |
| U. of Missouri argues that graduate assistants don't qualify as employees | |
 | The University of Missouri's latest argument that graduate assistants do not qualify for status as employees with the right to unionize is that federal and state law doesn't require paying them minimum wage or overtime. In court filings that will be among the last before Circuit Judge Jeff Harris issues a ruling, the university's attorney, Michael Kaemmerer, and representatives of the Coalition of Graduate Workers disagreed sharply on whether those laws have any meaning for the effort to unionize. "The Graduate Workers quite simply are not employees for the purposes of the federal" Fair Labor Standards Act "standard nor are they employees under Missouri's definition of employees for minimum wage and overtime wages," Kaemmerer wrote. The university's final response in the case, which began in 2016, is due Tuesday. |
| After student outrage, Missouri makes parking changes to simplify registration process | |
 | Last August, many University of Missouri students expressed outrage when campus officials cut the number of available parking garage permits. In addition, students had trouble accessing the parking portal and parking citations increased in cost. The MU Parking and Transportation Services office hopes to avoid those issues this year by implementing several changes that will simplify the process. The goal for the coming year is to make sales a lot smoother, said Director of MU Parking and Transportation Services Mike Sokoff. "We have a great system; it really does work well," Sokoff said. "But it's a system and it's subject to overload just like everything else." Part of the issue last year was that so many people were trying to log in to the system at one time. |
| How New Humanities Ph.D.s Fare | |
 | Humanities Indicators, a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, on Sunday released new data on the career outcomes of graduate degree recipients. The information, which comes from the National Science Foundation-sponsored National Survey of College Graduates and the Survey of Earned Doctorates, sheds new light on job satisfaction, earnings and first jobs for Ph.D. and terminal master's degree holders. Perhaps most strikingly, humanities Ph.D. recipients in 2015 had relatively high job satisfaction over all: 88 percent said they were "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with their employment. But there was an 11-percentage-point satisfaction gap between humanities Ph.D.s working in academic positions and those working outside academe (91 percent versus 80 percent). |
| Will negative issues make election run-offs interesting? | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: "Low turnout Democratic and Republican primaries last week yielded two surprises. Political novice Howard Sherman was the surprise leader in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Described by the Clarion-Ledger as the 'Los Angeles-native venture capitalist and husband of Emmy Award-winning actress Sela Ward of Meridian,' Sherman will face Mississippi native Baria of Bay St. Louis in the June 26th run-off. The other surprise was two white guys leading this ticket in a state where black voters dominate statewide Democratic elections. Black state Rep. Omeria Scott of Laurel finished third. The Third District Republican primary for Congress will also feature a run-off. No surprises here. District Attorney Michael Guest of Brandon led the ticket and will face-off against Madison businessman Whit Hughes." |
| We used to be better than this | |
| Mississippi newspaper publisher and columnist Ray Mosby writes: "If we are going to consider ourselves and call ourselves "the civilized world," then we are going to have to act like it. My mother was a lot of things, some of them psychologically interesting, but she was also an English teacher. A good one. One that knew not only that words mattered, but that sometimes words mattered more than anything else. And both she and my father shared a common belief that parents were obliged to instill in their children and reinforce through their own actions a simple and non-negotiable rule of behavior: females were both required and obliged to act like ladies and males were required and obliged to act like gentlemen. And in that, they were far from alone. There was a time -- because I lived in it -- when that was, if certainly not hard and fast, at least more the rule than the exception in this country, and a time in which those who did not adhere to that standard were looked upon as well, tacky." |
SPORTS
| Tanner Allen, Mississippi State beat Vanderbilt, advance to CWS | |
 | After the season the Mississippi State Bulldogs have had, what's a little two-hour weather delay, a five-hour-plus, 11-inning game to punch a ticket to the College World Series? The Bulldogs survived all those things, plus a three-run ninth-inning rally by Vanderbilt, to take a 10-6 victory on Sunday night and secure a date in Omaha in what has become a season of survival. Interim coach Gary Henderson replaced the fired Andy Canizzaro in February, and now has the Bulldogs (37-27) buying into his philosophies and reaping the rewards from it. Tanner Allen's double in the 11th inning drove in the go-ahead run and sparked a four-run rally as Mississippi State finally outlasted Vanderbilt to claim the World Series bid. |
| Late heroics send Bulldogs back to Omaha | |
| Mississippi State was counted out multiple times throughout the season for a multitude of reasons. Now the Bulldogs can be counted among the eight teams at the College World Series. Despite blowing a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth in Game 3 of the Nashville Super Regional late Sunday night, MSU scored four in the top of the 11th for a 10-6 victory and punched its 10th ticket to Omaha and first since 2013. "A lot of people gave up on us in February and early March," said MSU center fielder Jake Mangum. "(Our coaches) didn't. They stuck with us and never gave up on us. They gave us an identity to follow and we did. Everyone bought in top to bottom. We like when a plan comes to fruition." The Diamond Dogs will open up the College World Series against Washington on Saturday. |
| Mississippi State going back to Omaha | |
| The Mississippi State baseball team is going back to Omaha. Tanner Allen had an RBI double and Luke Alexander added a two-run bloop single to right field in a four-run 11th inning early Monday morning to lead MSU to a 10-6 victory against Vanderbilt in Game 3 of the NCAA tournament Nashville Super Regional at Hawkins Field. MSU (37-27) will face Washington, which defeated Cal State Fullerton 6-5 in walk-off fashion in the 10th inning, in its first game of the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. The Bulldogs secured the first of three berths in the College World Series for the Southeastern Conference. Auburn will take on Florida and South Carolina will face Arkansas on Monday in Game 3 of those best-of-three Super Regionals. |
| Mississippi State outlasts Vanderbilt, advances to College World Series | |
| Back in January, before the arduous road ever featured a coaching change, a miserably slow start and multiple nights when Mississippi State's season was on life support, Konnor Pilkington's eyes grew large as he answered a question. What is this year's team capable of? "Oh, it can be the best," Pilkington said on Jan. 24 inside Mississippi State's baseball office. "I mean, you can take anybody on the team and ask them the same question. Our one goal is to do what this program has never done, and that's win the whole thing, you know? Win a national championship. And everybody has their mind set on that, and that's what everybody is looking toward. This team is going to be amazing. I can tell you right now. This team is going to be absolutely phenomenal in everything we do." Pilkington spoke with the sound of conviction that day, but he had no idea things would go down this way, that Mississippi State's goal would still be in reach after a series of ups and downs never packed so neatly inside one season. How could he? But that's just what happened |
| In 133 years of Mississippi State baseball, we've never seen anything quite like this | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "They've played baseball at Mississippi State for 133 years now. It's a rich, storied history, so much richer now that the 2018 Diamond Dogs have accomplished what seemed so unthinkable just two months ago. State outlasted Vanderbilt 10-6 in 11 innings Sunday night -- and early Monday morning -- to win a Super Regional for the ages. State won a walk-off victory Friday night. Vandy won in a walk-off Saturday night and then State won the extra inning classic that ended at 12:20 a.m. Monday. It ended with a celebration for the ages. State players went, well, bananas. They began throwing their caps and gloves into the air. ...Later this week, the Bulldogs will head to Omaha and the College World Series, State's 10th CWS trip in history. The stage will be bigger, but nothing in Omaha could be more competitive, more compelling than this was." |
| Vanderbilt baseball showed talent, grit, room for growth in Super Regional loss | |
 | Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said one day he might laugh about the crazy turns in this weekend's Super Regional. But Sunday night -- make that very early Monday morning -- was not that time. "It's tough," Corbin said. "...But I am really proud of the boys." The Commodores lost to Mississippi State 10-6 in 11 innings of the Super Regional final, falling one win shy of the College World Series. Games one and two were decided in similarly dramatic fashion with walk-off home runs. Vanderbilt almost pulled off more game-winning heroics, hitting two homers in the ninth inning of the final game to force extra innings and push it past midnight. But it wasn't meant to be. |
| Mississippi State men finish 10th at NCAA outdoor track | |
| Mississippi State's men finished 10th at the NCAA outdoors track championships in Eugene, Oregon. Freshman Marco Arop finished second in Saturday's 800 meters in a personal-best 1:45.25 to give the Bulldogs their final points of the meet. On Wednesday, MSU's Anderson Peters won the javelin with teammate Nicolas Quijera finishing second. Six of the top 10 teams were from the SEC, led by champion Georgia and runner-up Florida. Southern Cal won the women's title, with Georgia second. |
| Auburn AD Allen Greene hopes to negotiate new deal for baseball coach Butch Thompson | |
 | Auburn hopes to keep baseball coach Butch Thompson on the Plains for the foreseeable future. Thompson is in the third year of a five-year deal worth $350,000 annually and has enjoyed great success in a short time, guiding the Tigers to back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time in 15 years and a Super Regional for the first time since 1999. It's a situation that has Thompson, in some regards, feeling like the Tigers are "ahead of the game" during his tenure. Now Auburn hopes to stay ahead of the game and negotiate a new deal for Thompson sooner rather than later. "No question," Auburn athletic director Allen Greene told AL.com on Friday of working out a new contract for Thompson. |
| Auburn trustees approve initiation of Jordan-Hare Stadium suite renovations | |
| Suite-holders of the third- and fourth-level East suites at Jordan-Hare Stadium can expect an upgraded fan experience in the near future. The Auburn University board of trustees voted Friday morning to approve project initiation for the Jordan-Hare Stadium Renovation Project. The project, proposed by the Athletics Department, will renovate the suites in two phases. The first phase will "provide new operable windows and fans to allow better access to the sounds and general atmosphere of the game," according to the proposal document. The second phase will consist of routine renovations, such as upgrades to the finishes and standard HVAC system improvements. The board also approved architect selection at its Friday meeting, awarding the suite renovations to the Auburn-based Stacy Norman Architects. |
| Mizzou discussing possible cross country course in Columbia | |
| University of Missouri Athletic Director Jim Sterk said he is working with the city to come up with a plan for cross country course in Columbia. In an exclusive interview with ABC 17, Sterk said, "A course that will hold the high school championships, the SEC and maybe a national in the future....It is something that I think would put Mizzou on the map." Sterk added the recognition the Mizzou Track and Field program received after Karissa Schweizer won six national championships is another reason he wants to get a cross-country course in Columbia. "It would be neat to recognize her out there in some fashion," Sterk said. Sterk added the effort to create more infrastructure and put more resources into Mizzou's track facilities is something he and his coaches want to pursue. |
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