| Tuesday, June 19, 2018 |
| Mississippi State nets $80k grant for coding education | |
 | Mississippi State University's Department of Computer Science and Engineering was recently on the receiving end of an $80,000 grant that will be used to support the teaching of computer coding skills to recent high school graduates in the Golden Triangle area. The university said in a release that the grant, which comes from the Robert M. Hearin Foundation, will help fund the Columbus-based campus of the Mississippi Coding Academies. The 11-month program is tuition-free, and helps selected participants develop into coders and web developers. Participants also learn business skills such as giving presentations, understanding entrepreneurship and communicating effectively. Associate clinical professor in computer science Sara Lee in the Bagley College of Engineering says there are more than 1,000 unfilled coding jobs in Mississippi and the number of computer and technology jobs is expected to grow by 13 percent across the state over the next eight to 10 years. |
| MSU Career Center Reports Strong Employment Numbers for Graduates | |
 | For college graduates looking for work, opportunity may be closer than you think. Workers at the Mississippi State Career Center are reporting strong numbers of first destination employment. "We feel like that's very strong right now is that there are a lot of opportunities for our graduates in the state for the ones who are wanting to stay that they have the opportunity to stay, as well as being able to provide information and resources for our students who are wanting to either stay or leave the state is providing the best opportunities for each of the students," said Career Center Assistant Director Kelly Atwood. |
| 'Father' time: Mississippi State fans take fathers, sons on first pilgrimages to CWS in Omaha | |
 | The heart-warming storyline of Mississippi State's trip to the College World Series has been that of Matt Lea, who surprised his father Bill, who is battling Alzheimer's disease, with tickets and a trip to Omaha. Their story has since been documented through his Twitter account and the game broadcasts on ESPN, with the side benefit of raising some money for Alzheimer's disease foundations. They are far from alone. Several MSU fans celebrated Father's Day in Omaha, as Sunday was the day between MSU's first two games. In any event, those who experienced the College World Series with their fathers or children had to jump at the opportunity when MSU punched its ticket last weekend. "It's been a bucket list kind of thing forever," said Jon Turner, a Starkville native who made the trip with his father James. |
| Mississippi teachers come together for education conference in Starkville | |
| In Starkville, 300 teachers from across the state are meeting for the Innovative Institute Conference. It's a conference designed to help teachers, learn new ways to take learning in the classroom, to the next level. "This year our conference is show to teach, lead and prepare students and really looking at those practices that are successful and vetting those practices with other school districts here in Starkville," said Betsey Smith, director of Mississippi State University's Research and Curriculum Unit. Teachers also are collaborating on how to engage students and incorporate technology better into classrooms. The conference is put on by Mississippi State and the Mississippi Department of Education. |
| Amtrak passenger trains inch closer to the Coast; here's what research says it will bring | |
 | For years, Coast, state and federal officials have talked about the boost passenger rail service would bring to the Coast economy. Now they have some evidence to back their optimism up. Research led by University of Southern Mississippi Professor Yuanyuan Zhang suggests the $14 million the state would need to invest in the proposal, a fraction of the total cost, would bring a return on investment of $64 million to $525 million annually. "They're going to bring them right to your front door," said Knox Ross, Southern Rail Commission vice chairman, of the twice-daily passenger service proposed between New Orleans and Mobile. Ross was at the Gulfport depot Monday to reveal the USM study and urge the people, businesses and county governments along the Coast to write Gov. Phil Bryant, urging him to provide the final piece of financing -- $14 million. |
| Rep. Thompson Returns Sherman Donation; Will Endorse Baria | |
 | Howard Sherman, the slight frontrunner coming out of a crowded Democratic primary election, has a short but unique history of donations in federal elections---from a 2003 donation to then-U.S. Sen Jeff Sessions, a conservative Republican, to a 2018 donation to U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the only Mississippi Democrat elected to federal office. In May 2018, records show that Sherman donated $481 to U.S. Rep. Thompson, the state's only black and Democratic congressman who is running unopposed. But after an earlier version of this story reported Sherman's contribution, Congressman Thompson called the Jackson Free Press to say he returned the contribution from Howard Sherman last week. He said the donation came in electronically, but if it had been a physical check, he would not have deposited it. "I'm not supporting him," Thompson told the Jackson Free Press. When asked to elaborate on why he did not want to take Sherman's contribution, Thompson said it would be misleading. |
| U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly holds small business hearing | |
 | Mississippi 1st District U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly and his congressional counterpart, U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), held a field hearing on small business concerns in Southaven Monday, specifically on the subject of over-regulation and taxes. Kelly and Chabot both noted the last comprehensive form of tax code reform that benefited small businesses and farmers was approved in 2017. Unemployment is at an 18-year low with 3.8 percent unemployment nationally. "We have 6.7 million jobs available and 6.2 people seeking jobs," Kelly said. "In other words, business is booming. The Trump Administration is looking for ways to improve circumstances for farmers and businesses in small rural areas." Kelly said the lending environment still poses a problem for small businesses and farmers in rural areas, in addition to a lack of high-speed broadband internet in rural areas, which is hindering progress. |
| Ag's trade troubles poised to grow | |
 | One important aspect of President Donald Trump's Friday announcement that $50 billion in Chinese goods will soon face 25 percent tariffs was the timing of China's response -- immediate, and in the form of a statement that went live in the wee hours of Saturday morning in Beijing. China didn't waste any time saying that its retaliation would be equal in impact to the U.S. duties and imposed on the same schedule as Trump's actions. The reality for U.S. agriculture is that greater pain from retaliatory moves by China -- Beijing has already hit back at Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs -- almost looks like a given. Over the weekend, many a soybean farmer tried to make sense of their potential future losses, if a trade war with China unfolds and China retaliates against soybeans and other U.S. agricultural exports. |
| Fight Over Food Stamps Among Big Hurdles Facing Farm Bill | |
 | If everything goes according to plan this month, House leaders will round up the necessary Republican votes to pass the chamber's 2018 farm bill after an unexpected defeat on the floor put the legislation on hold. The failed May 18 vote marked the second time in five years that a farm bill ran into obstacles in the House. In the Senate, meanwhile, leaders have indicated they want to pass the bipartisan legislation by the July Fourth recess. It is too early to tell if the road ahead will be smooth or rocky for the House and Senate Agriculture chairmen and ranking members in negotiating a final compromise bill. But recent history shows the difficulty for both parties in navigating the political and regional differences to hash out a new bill. |
| Trump escalates China trade war, threatens tariffs on $200 billion in products | |
 | President Trump threatened Monday to levy tariffs on nearly all of China's products shipped to the United States unless Beijing agrees to a host of sweeping trade concessions, a dramatic escalation that would enlist American consumers in the brewing U.S.-China commercial conflict. The president warned that he was prepared to hit China with an additional $200 billion in import taxes unless Beijing capitulates. Such a step would be virtually unprecedented in U.S. history and would put nearly all of the $505 billion in products that the United States imports from China under tariffs. Trump's latest threat -- if implemented -- would dramatically expand the goods facing trade measures to a range of consumer items, forcing Americans to pay more for smartphones, computers, toys, televisions and just about every other middle-class staple. |
| Governor names MEMA director as hurricane season ramps up | |
| Col. Gregory S. Michel will take over the head of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency as the state enters the heart of hurricane season. Gov. Phil Bryant announced Monday that he had appointed Michel, the former commander of the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Hattiesburg, as director the state's primary emergency response agency. In a news release, the governor said Michel would assume his new duties immediately. "Col. Michel brings a wealth of experience to MEMA as we enter the heart of hurricane season," Bryant said. MEMA has a budget of $3.7 million for the current fiscal year – an increase of $587,967 or 18.9 percent over what the Legislature budgeted for the past year. |
| Protesters Burn Mississippi Flag, Say it Symbolizes Racism | |
 | A group of about 30 demonstrators on Monday burned a Mississippi state flag, saying it symbolizes the racism at the heart of the state's problems with poverty, education and health care. Demonstrators with the Poor People's Campaign burned a Confederate battle flag and then a separate Mississippi state flag Monday in front of the governor's mansion. Mississippi's flag has contained the Confederate battle emblem since 1894, and residents who voted in a 2001 statewide election chose to keep the emblem on it. The campaign includes activists in 40 states who are demonstrating, seeking to force communities to address poverty. "This is an unfortunate instance of a group exercising their rights in a completely disrespectful and unproductive manner," Gov. Phil Bryant said in an emailed statement. "There are better ways to bring attention to one's opinions than burning the state of Mississippi flag on a public street corner." |
| How Anti-Immigration Passion Was Inflamed From the Fringe | |
 | Jeff Sessions and Stephen Miller spent years on the political fringe in the nation's capital as high-decibel immigration hard-liners, always warning about the dangers of open borders but rarely in a position to affect law or policy. Now, Mr. Sessions, the attorney general and former senator from Alabama, and Mr. Miller, the president's top policy adviser and former Senate aide to Mr. Sessions, have moved from the edges of the immigration debate to its red-hot center. Powerful like never before, the two are the driving force behind President Trump's policy that has led thousands of children to be separated from their parents at the nation's southern border. The partnership between Mr. Sessions and Mr. Miller began in 2009, when Mr. Miller, a conservative rabble rouser and contrarian who emerged from the left-leaning Santa Monica, became a spokesman for the senator. |
| Corpse flower blooms at Ole Miss, causes a stink | |
| On Saturday morning, Ole Miss' third corpse flower bloomed in the Thad Cochran Research Center. The six-foot-tall plant, Amorphophallus titanum (titan arum), is known as the corpse flower because of its unique smell. It is said to smell like rotting flesh. It smells that way in order to attract flies that help pollinate the flower. The corpse flower is one of the largest unbranched flowering plants in the world and blooms once every 7-10 years. The bloom is over, which means the smell that gives its name is completely gone. But for the researchers at Ole Miss, now the work begins. It's that odor as well as the pollen of the corpse plant that researchers at the Ole Miss School of Pharmacy are studying to see if this plant known for a smell of death, can help medically save or improve lives. |
| New Hub City Transit route to run on Southern Miss campus | |
 | Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker said work is underway to build the city's transportation system -- Hub City Transit -- into a modern transportation entity. Barker revealed one step in that direction Monday with the announcement of a new Hub City Transit route. "This new route, appropriately called the Gold route, will pick up and drop off around the University of Southern Mississippi campus," he said. "Not only will it move students to and from surrounding apartment complexes to their classes, and not only will it afford students the opportunity to park their cars in new parking lots on the outskirts of campus and then have a ride onto campus, it will also connect to other routes in the city." The route will begin July 2 with two buses running 7:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., making 14 stops across campus. |
| Two businesses being cleared for U. of Alabama road project | |
 | A planned road project by the University of Alabama will uproot two Tuscaloosa businesses off 15th Street. Monkey Joe's, a children's entertainment center filled with indoor jumps, slides and obstacle courses, will close July 1. And the industrial kitchen equipment store Hotel & Restaurant Supply, located next to Monkey Joe's, also is closing, though a definitive date was not available. The closures are related to an overall $22.61 million road project that's expected to improve and realign Second Avenue between Paul W. Bryant Drive and 15th Street. Earlier this month, a $6.025 million grant was awarded to the University of Alabama for the construction of a vehicle and pedestrian bridge over the railroad crossing of Second Avenue as part of the project. Work to build the bridge and improve the roadway could begin by the end of the year, said Monica G. Watts, an associate vice president for communications in UA's Division of Strategic Communications. |
| Auburn University names new College of Business dean | |
 | Auburn University has selected Annette Ranft as the eighth dean of the Harbert College of Business, effective Aug. 1. A noted scholar of strategic management, Ranft joins the Harbert College from North Carolina State University's Poole College of Management, where she had served as dean and Steven P. Zelnak Jr. chair since July 2016. She succeeds Bill Hardgrave, who became Auburn University's provost and senior vice president for academic affairs in January after more than seven years as dean. "We enthusiastically welcome Dr. Ranft to the Auburn Family," said Auburn University President Steven Leath. At Auburn, Ranft will lead a fast-growing college that recently celebrated its 50th anniversary as a business school. Harbert College's enrollment, which stood at 5,257 during the spring semester, has grown by 47 percent since 2010. |
| Summer construction heating up at Auburn University | |
| Many of the students who normally occupy the Auburn University campus may be away for the summer, but the sounds of construction are echoing across campus. The university's Facilities Management released its latest construction update this month, informing the community of the growth and changes currently underway on campus. The $18 million project for the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering is 92 percent complete and may be done this month, according to the report. "This is a comprehensive renovation of the former Textile Building," the report states. "It will include an additive manufacturing facility, which will allow students to gain experience with emerging fabrication technologies." The building also will house research facilities, a new wind tunnel system, student project areas, as well as space for the Nuclear Power Generations Systems Program and the Center for Advanced Polymers and Composites. |
| Lumina Foundation moves beyond college completion with grants to improve campus racial climates | |
 | Since its creation in 2000, the Lumina Foundation has focused almost entirely on college completion. But the foundation has now added racial justice and equity as a priority. Indianapolis-based Lumina announced June 12 that it will provide $625,000 in grants to 19 colleges and universities with the goal of improving race relations on campus. The grants, part of Lumina's recently created Fund for Racial Justice and Equity, are unlike much of Lumina's past work. But Danette Howard, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Lumina, believes they fall directly in line with Lumina's goals of increasing degree attainment and closing achievement gaps for minority students. She said Lumina wanted to do more than "simply issue another statement" after the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., last August. |
| How Virtual Advisers Help Low-Income Students Apply To College | |
 | Some high school students think of applying to colleges as a full-time job. There are essays and tests, loads of financial documents to assemble and calculations to make. After all that, of course, comes a big decision -- one of the biggest of their young lives. For top students who come from low-income families, the challenge is particularly difficult. Research shows that 1 in 4 juggle all of that -- the writing, the studying, the researching and applying -- completely on their own. One approach to make this whole process easier? Pair students up with someone who can help, a mentor or adviser, virtually. That's the idea behind CollegePoint, an initiative funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. It doesn't matter where you live: High school students have access to an adviser whenever they need -- via text, Facebook messenger, email, Skype, Google Docs or the tried-and-true telephone call. |
| U. of Washington Settles Campus Republicans' Free-Speech Lawsuit for $127,000 | |
 | The University of Washington will pay $127,000 in legal fees to lawyers for the university's College Republicans to settle a free-speech lawsuit filed by the group, The Seattle Times reports. The College Republicans chapter sued after the university tried to charge a $17,000 security fee for the group to hold a campus rally in February with the right-wing group Patriot Prayer. A federal district-court judge blocked the fee. The rally took place as scheduled, protesters and counterprotesters clashed several times, and a number of people were arrested. In the lawsuit, the student club argued that it was being discriminated against and that the university's actions violated "fundamental principles of free speech, equal protection, and due process," according to a letter to the university's president from William J. Becker, president and general counsel of the law and advocacy firm Freedom X. |
| Much more than a cake at stake in court ruling | |
 | Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "Some protesting the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop vs. Colorado Civil Rights Commission contend the 7-2 decision proved the justices hate gays. That's because the court ruled bakery owner Jack Phillips didn't have to make a cake for the marriage of Charlie Craig and David Mullins. A better and more precise view is that the justices were hesitant to give government more power to force business transactions between private parties. Remember, too, that only one court seat (Neil Gorsuch replaced Antonin Scalia) has changed since 2015 when the Supreme Court decided that no state could deny a marriage license based on the genders of the applicants. It is a fundamental truth that when any government at any level enacts any law or regulation there is almost always corresponding loss of individual freedom." |
SPORTS
| Let's play three! Long Tuesday looms with College World Series tripleheader | |
| Game 6 of the College World Series between North Carolina and Mississippi State will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday after more than four hours of rain and lightning delayed the originally scheduled 6 p.m. first pitch Monday. In the first -- and only -- game Monday between Oregon State and Washington, lightning caused a 4-four, 31-minute delay from 3:16 p.m. to 7:47 p.m. At 8:40 p.m., the NCAA announced the second game of the day would be postponed. Mississippi State and North Carolina will join a jam-packed day at TD Ameritrade Park, where two other matchups were already scheduled. Game 7, between Texas and Florida, will be played 65 minutes after the conclusion of North Carolina and Mississippi State. Game 8 between Arkansas and Texas Tech is scheduled for 6 p.m. The games could be delayed further Tuesday. Soppy weather is forecast in the area for the rest of the week and possibly into next week, according to the National Weather Service. |
| You've heard of rally caps, but rally bananas? Mississippi State fans find them appealing | |
| Mississippi State fans don't necessarily have a hankering for potassium, but they sure love bananas. The Bulldogs and their fans brought their passion for the produce to the College World Series. You could spot bananas all over TD Ameritrade Park during MSU's Saturday game. Bulldog fans hoisted bananas -- real and inflated. Some fans wore banana costumes. Andrew Piper, a member of the MSU baseball staff, said the banana trend started June 3 during a doubleheader in the regional round of the NCAA tournament. "Our fans really ran with it,'' Piper said. So did players. In games leading up to the CWS, players wore bananas in their belts like pistols, used them as mustaches and have cared for the fruit by applying sunscreen and bug spray as needed. |
| Additional rain is forecast throughout most of the week in the Omaha area | |
| An upper-level system stalled over eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, coupled with humid conditions, will provide the potential for more rain through most of the week, forecasters said. And areas of more locally heavy rain could occur starting Tuesday morning in the Omaha area, the National Weather Service office in Valley said. Some locations could see excessive rainfall amounts of greater than 3 to 6 inches over the week, forecasters said. Ryan McPike, a KMTV meteorologist, said the Omaha area could receive up to 1.89 inches of rainfall through Thursday. Tuesday morning's rain in the Omaha area prompted weather officials to issue an urban and small stream flood advisory until 10:15 a.m. for east-central Douglas and Sarpy Counties. According to the weather service, there is a marginal risk for severe weather Tuesday for a swath of eastern Nebraska, including Omaha. |
| Mississippi State tennis All-American Nuno Borges named to 2018 ITA All-Star Team | |
 | Less than a week after being named an Academic All-American for his work in the classroom, Mississippi State men's tennis junior Nuno Borges once again was recognized for his on-court performance on Monday. The two-time ITA Singles and 2018 Doubles All-American added another honor to his already illustrious junior campaign, being named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Collegiate All-Star Team. The ITA Collegiate All-Star Team honors the top student-athletes of the 2017-18 season from all five divisions of college tennis. The team features the nation's top-ranked men's and women's players from the year-end Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, in addition to winners of the 2017 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships and 2018 NCAA Division I and III Championships. Borges became just the third player in SEC history to earn multiple SEC Player of the Year honors as well as the first to ever be named both Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. |
| Mississippi State's Charles Brockman wins bronze at USATF Junior Championships | |
| Mississippi State's Charles Brockman III ended his freshman season with a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the USATF Junior Championships in Bloomington, Ind., over the weekend. Brockman, MSU's freshman record holder in the event qualified in fourth place on Friday with a 51.69 second run to win his heat. After a lengthy rain delay on Saturday, the MSU freshman record holder in the event, clocked his third sub- 51 second run of the year. Crossing the line in 50.54, Brockman took third behind Florida's Cory Poole and Houston's Quivell Jordan. "I ran close to a personal best, so I'm proud about that," Brockman said. "I wanted more than anything to make the Top Two, so I could be on the world juniors team. Now that my season is over, I'm going home to recover, relax and motivate myself even more for next year." |
| College World Series: Hogs take strength in coach's methods | |
| More than one guy named Blaine has helped the Arkansas Razorbacks surge into the winner's bracket at the College World Series. Ace right-hander Blaine Knight has done his share from the mound with a school-record tying 13 victories, and strength and conditioning coach Blaine Kinsley has helped the Hogs hold on to their power throughout a long season. The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (45-19) will put Kinsley's season-long work to another test tonight at 6 against Texas Tech (45-18) at TD Ameritrade Park. Kinsley, speaking behind his ever-present sunglasses Saturday during a Hogs practice at Creighton University, was confident in the other Blaine and the Razorbacks' hitters on the eve of their College World Series opener. |
| Staying power? Gators facing elimination at College World Series | |
| Getting to Omaha wasn't easy for the 2018 Florida baseball team. Staying there will be even harder. Defending national champion Florida put itself in a bind following its 6-3 loss to Texas Tech late Sunday night in its College World Series opener. The Gators (47-20) will resume play on Tuesday afternoon against Texas (42-22) needing four straight wins to return to the CWS championship series for the second straight year. Florida has gone 5-0 in NCAA Tournament elimination games since the beginning of the 2017 season, but will have no margin for error the rest of the week. The last team to lose its opening College World Series game and win a national title was South Carolina in 2010. Junior righty Jackson Kowar (9-5, 3.24 ERA) will start for the Gators against the Longhorns. |
| UT Vols say $660,000 renovation to weight room was worth cost | |
 | The renovations for the LaPorte Strength & Conditioning Facility at the Anderson Training Center cost nearly $660,000, according to records obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee via an open-records request. The Tennessee weight room's face lift involved installation of new flooring and equipment. It's clear from the renovation that director of strength and conditioning Craig Fitzgerald, hired in January, favors free weights over machines. The renovation began in April and finished in May. The flooring portion of the renovation cost $140,540. The weight room equipment and installation cost $518,769.91. The total price tag for the project was $659,309.91. "If you're going to lift weights, you want to have the most up-to-date stuff that's out there, so we wanted to make sure that we had that," coach Jeremy Pruitt said last month at a Big Orange Caravan stop in Kingsport. |
| Texas A&M swimmer files Title IX lawsuit against university | |
 | Texas A&M junior swimmer Austin Van Overdam has filed a Title IX lawsuit in Houston against the university, saying A&M showed gender bias in siding with Hannah Shaw during a sexual abuse student disciplinary hearing in 2016, according to a statement from his attorney, Gaines West. In the statement, West said A&M, "feeling the pressure from the Department of Education, and fearing the loss of federal funding, caved in and sided with Shaw." It is the policy of The Eagle not to name victims in sexual assault cases, but Shaw granted permission to use her name. West also said in the press release that Shaw is, "not the innocent victim she portrays" and that she has "repeatedly lied." "I have never lied throughout this whole process," Shaw told The Eagle Monday. |
| Memphis athletics signs 5-year extension with Nike through 2022-23 | |
| On Nov. 12, 2008, University of Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson held a press conference to announce a new five-year, $11.3 million exclusive contract with Nike to provide shoes, apparel and equipment for all Tigers athletic teams. Memphis was coming off an appearance in the men's basketball national championship game under former coach John Calipari, and Johnson declared the agreement symbolized a "historic" and "very prestigious day for Memphis athletics." Until then, there was no apparel deal for the entire athletic department. Almost 10 years later to the day, and months before Memphis made a splash by hiring Penny Hardaway as its new men's basketball coach, university President M. David Rudd quietly signed a five-year extension uniting Memphis athletics with Nike through June 30, 2023, according to documents obtained by The Commercial Appeal through an open records request. The university's athletic department will receive $11.25 million in products from Nike over five years. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
