| Friday, July 6, 2018 |
| Agriculture a vital cog in the economy of Mississippi | |
 | Mississippi is a very rural state with some of the best farmland in the world. "We live in a country where only about two percent of our population is involved in farming, and it is so often forgotten that these farms, most of which are family operated, touch the lives of every person by providing safe, affordable food and fiber to the world," said Mississippi Ag Commissioner Andy Gipson. Agriculture is the number one industry in Mississippi and employs approximately 29 percent of the state's work force either directly or indirectly, said Dr. Josh Maples, assistant professor and extension economist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University. "Overall, agriculture and forestry added $16.41 billion to the Mississippi economy," Maples said. |
| Emergency management directors becoming common positions for universities | |
 | Emergency management directors are becoming more common for universities across the country, especially in the South. Both SEC schools in the state, recently created the position for their campuses. Mississippi State's director started in 2017 and Ole Miss hired their coordinator back in February of this year. "Emergency management is a pretty broad area that can involve law enforcement, but it also involves a lot of other areas on campus, and then it also involves working with other agencies throughout the region, throughout the state, and even beyond," says MSU Emergency Management Director Brent Crocker. Being prepared for any type of emergency situation or threat is what they're trained for and train others on, but that's just one of many duties that comes with the job. |
| Four Very Different Museums in One Place on the Mississippi State University Campus | |
 | It isn't unusual to find museum or two on a university campus. However, it is uncommon to find an eclectic group of museums housed in one place on campus. The Mitchell Memorial Library at Mississippi State University in Starkville is home to four such galleries. On the third floor is the John Grisham Room, honoring one of MSU's famous alumnus. The Charles H. Templeton, Sr. Music Museum, on the fourth floor, provides an in-depth look at ragtime music and its influence on a changing American society. MSU joins five other universities in the country that houses a presidential library with Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library. Found on the fourth floor of Mitchell Memorial Library, you can earn more about the 18th U.S. president through static and interactive exhibits. The collection allows you to explore Grant not only as a president but also as a cadet, a general, and elder statesman. Adjacent to the library is The Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana. Recognized as the nation's largest and most comprehensive privately owned Lincoln materials and Civil War library, the collections features rare memorabilia and artifacts, signed documents and other items. |
| Beach cleanup celebration a passion for those who want to leave footprints, not trash | |
 | A group of residents took to the beaches to reduce trash and boost the Gulf's ecosystem. Jonathan Streetman has been doing this kind of volunteerism since he was in fourth grade. "I just felt like helping out in the community and cleaning up the beach and making it a better place for everyone to enjoy," he said. It's become a family project, but as he stated, "It would feel nice if I didn't have to." The Day After cleanup was a collaboration between the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Harrison County Beautification Commission. |
| Starkville increasing water, sewer rates | |
 | Starkville is raising water and sewer rates and adjusting its rate structure to help fund planned infrastructure upgrades. Aldermen voted 6-1, with Ward 6's Roy A. Perkins opposed, to raise rates at Tuesday's meeting. The board also restructured how Starkville Utilities charges its base rate and for additional use to shelter low-use customers from increased water and sewages costs. The city is looking to take on several big infrastructure improvement projects. Officials are looking to replace aging water and sewage infrastructure beginning in three neighborhoods -- Pleasant Acres, Green Oaks and Rolling Hills. That work will likely continue in other areas once those, which Starkville Utilities Director Terry Kemp said are the three neighborhoods that see the highest volume of calls for repair work, are complete. |
| Yokohama off and running for Clay County | |
| Nearly three years ago, Yokohama Tire Corp. president Hikomitsu Noji compared his company's relationship with Mississippi to "a marriage...and we are proud parents of our first child." That "child", officially known as Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi, is now a toddler. The $300 million commercial tire manufacturing facility, built on a 570-acre site carved out of pasture land to the northeast of downtown West Point, has brought hope to the city and Clay County residents. "It's been all positive and we couldn't be more pleased with having Yokohama here," said West Point mayor Robbie Robinson. "There's always hiccups with any new venture and there have been some. When they chose to build the facility here, it was like we hit the lottery. West Point and Clay County are very happy." The tipping point for Yokohama officials to choose West Point, according to Joe Max Higgins, involved a rented helicopter ride over the razed Bryan Foods plant during a critical stage in the selection process. |
| As mosquito-borne diseases flourish, state experts sound alarm | |
 | This time of year, people hardly notice the number of bird baths, pet bowls and flower pots in yards across the South. But Dr. Art Leis and Sharon Sims see the containers as incubators for the enemy. Many of the vessels contain squiggly colonies of mosquito larvae. And after the baby bloodsuckers hatch, they tend to bite the hand that grew them. "If you are raising mosquitoes in your backyard, that's where they are going to live," said Sims, president of the Mississippi-based Mosquito Illness Alliance. "They don't fly very far." A neurologist and senior scientist at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson, Leis got his first glimpse of the virus's impact in 2002. That year, he and fellow researcher Dr. Dobrivoje Stokic were the first in the world to report that West Nile virus can target the motor neurons of the spinal cord, causing muscle weakness, fatigue and a polio-like paralysis. |
| Revenue estimates for #msleg up $88.5 million | |
 | Revenue estimates at the end of FY 2018 in June are $45,204,410 or 6.62% above the sine die revenue estimate. Fiscal YTD revenue collections through June are $88,098,958 or 1.57% above the sine die estimate. That includes $32,190,378 in Attorney General Settlement funds. Fiscal YTD total revenue collections through June 2018 are $39,097,163 or 0.69% above the prior year's collections. During the FY 2018 close-out period of July and August, additional revenues may be recorded and subsequent adjustments could be necessary. |
| Governor says special session likely for August | |
| Governor Phil Bryant says he expects a special session to happen next month and said an infrastructure bill will be on the docket. "Working with the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker I think you are going to see an infrastructure bill before the end of August, probably middle of August, that will create a lot of jobs and make a lot of bridges safe for the motoring public," Bryant said. However, the question on everyone's mind has been where the money will come from for the much-needed infrastructure upgrades. Bryant said the Supreme Court has something to do with where they will get the money as some of it may be coming from sports betting revenue and online sales taxes. |
| Mississippi Governor Appointing New State Auditor | |
 | Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is appointing a new state auditor. Current Auditor Stacey Pickering is leaving the statewide elected position July 16 to become director of the state Veterans Affairs Board. Bryant is announcing Friday who he is choosing to serve the rest of the four-year auditor's term, which ends in January 2020. The salary is $90,000. |
| Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith: Tighten security at border | |
| A Republican U.S. senator from Mississippi says she wants to strengthen the nation's border with Mexico. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith told WCBI-TV that she has visited with farmers living along the border, and they face threats from Mexican drug cartels. Hyde-Smith was among 18 politicians speaking on the Fourth of July at an old courthouse in Jacinto in northeastern Mississippi. Democrat Mike Espy and Republican Chris McDaniel, who are challenging Hyde-Smith in a November special election, also spoke at Jacinto, WTVA-TV reported. Espy, a former U.S. agriculture secretary, said he will work across party lines, including with Republican President Donald Trump. |
| Why Soybeans Are at the Heart of the U.S.-China Trade War | |
| China's newly imposed tariffs against U.S. soybeans herald a major trade shift for a crop that's soared to prominence in recent decades. While the Asian nation is targeting a slew of American farm goods in this round of taxes, soybeans are the top agricultural commodity the country imports from the U.S. by far. The oilseed, used to make cooking oil and animal feed, accounts for about 60 percent of the U.S.'s $20 billion of agricultural exports to China. If China retaliates with 25 percent tariffs, American shipments may drop by at least $4.5 billion, according to a study by the University of Tennessee. Brazil, already the world's biggest soybean shipper, is set to be the biggest winner, filling the gap left by the U.S. |
| SNAP work requirements could increase deep poverty for some | |
 | Designed to boost the earnings and job prospects of low-income Americans, proposed work requirements for food stamp recipients could have another unexpected effect: causing deep poverty rates to spike among those who lose their benefits and can't find work, researchers say. That's what happened to nearly 1 million single mothers in the years after the 1996 welfare reform legislation imposed work requirements and time limits on cash benefits provided through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, at a time when the U.S. economy was similarly thriving. While many welfare recipients found work and earned their way out of poverty after the work requirements were enacted, others lost their TANF benefits when they couldn't meet the new law's required work activities. Economist James Ziliak, founding director of the Center for Poverty Research at the University of Kentucky, said "there's just no evidence to suggest that just because it's a good economy, now's the time to do it. Because we don't really have the compelling evidence to say that these work requirements (actually) work," to get people out of poverty. |
| U.S. Added 213,000 Jobs In June | |
 | The Labor Department reported Friday another big month for job growth, with a larger than expected addition of 213,000 jobs for the month of June. The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.0 percent as some people who had been on the sidelines moved back into the labor force. The report underscores a familiar refrain: That are lots of jobs being created, but not enough people to fill them. That continues as employers consistently hire at robust rates and the unemployment rate keeps falling. The economy has now been adding jobs for nearly 8 years -- its longest streak on record. The U.S. is considered at near full employment, and the biggest challenge in the job market is the lack of available workers -- a record 6.7 million jobs remain unfilled. |
| Who is Andrew Wheeler, EPA's new acting chief? | |
 | Andrew Wheeler, the deputy administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a former energy lobbyist, will become the agency's acting head on Monday after Thursday's resignation of EPA head Scott Pruitt. After a series of mounting ethics scandals, President Trump tweeted Thursday that he had accepted Pruitt's resignation and that Wheeler will serve as acting head of the EPA. "I am both humbled and honored to take on this new responsibility at the same agency where I started my career over 25 years ago," Wheeler said in an email to EPA staff later in the afternoon. The news follows Wheeler telling The Hill last week that he wasn't interested in becoming EPA administrator. |
| U. of Arkansas proposes $27.1M bonds to finance campus projects | |
| Bonds with a value of about $27.1 million will help finance University of Arkansas, Fayetteville projects including the initial planning phase for a new academic support building and renovations to the main campus library, according to a preliminary statement dated Thursday. The statement, available to investors online through bond document publisher MuniOS, notes that the value of the bonds may change. The preliminary statement lists debt service requirements as totaling about $50 million, including approximately $22.8 million in interest payments, to be paid over 30 years from 2019 through 2049. Listed in the preliminary statement are 10 campus projects the bonds will help pay for, including the new Student Success Center project approved in March by the University of Arkansas board of trustees at an estimated cost of $40 million to $45 million. |
| Texas A&M-led alliance granted $10M to establish center for nuclear research, training with academic partners | |
 | A consortium led by Texas A&M University has been awarded a multi-million dollar grant to establish and manage the Center for Excellence in Nuclear Training and University-based Research, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced Thursday. Texas A&M will receive $10 million over five years to implement the center referred to as CENTAUR, which will focus on low-energy nuclear science that supports the workforce and research needs of the NNSA's mission to maintain the United States' nuclear stockpile. "These grants are instrumental in developing the next generation of scientists in areas of relevance to the stockpile stewardship mission," Kathleen Alexander, assistant deputy administrator for research, development, test and evaluation in the NNSA's Office of Defense Programs, said in the administration's announcement. |
| UVA's latest fund-raiser marks a new trend of early public announcements | |
 | The University of Virginia recently announced a $5 billion fund-raising campaign with an interesting twist: instead of lying low until the public phase begins, UVA is building excitement for a public campaign start date that is still over a year away. UVA's campaign is part of a trend of college mega-campaigns that span years and aim to raise billions. The typical fund-raising formula begins with a silent phase, during which fund-raisers court promising donors. But as campaigns get longer and more ambitious, the silent phase is increasingly less silent. "The average silent phase of a mega-campaign is approaching four years. Given that length, they are only sort of silent," said Brian Gawor, vice president for fund-raising research at Ruffalo Noel Levitz, a consulting firm. "We're going to see numerous updates from the institutions during both the silent and public phases as they work to keep attention and excitement up." Jeff Martin, practice manager at EAB Strategic Research, said that such long silent phases can sometimes take the wind out of public campaigns. Issuing public announcements earlier can help maintain the power of the brand for longer. |
SPORTS
| Jeff Long hired as AD at Kansas, tasked with turning around floundering football program | |
| Nearly eight months after he was fired for convenience at Arkansas, Jeff Long was hired as athletics director at Kansas on Thursday. Long will be formally introduced at a news conference next Wednesday in Lawrence, Kan., and will start his new job on Aug. 1, according to a University of Kansas news release. Long signed a five-page term sheet agreement with KU on Wednesday. Long will be paid $1.5 million annually as part of a five-year guaranteed agreement with Kansas -- $200,000 from university funds and $1.3 million from private funds. His annual salary at KU should offset the remaining funds owed to him through the buyout provisions in his terminated contract with Arkansas, which stipulated he was owed monthly payments to total $1.1 million annually through June 2022. Long, who was hired away from Pittsburgh to replace Frank Broyles in 2008, implemented a number of changes to modernize the Razorbacks program. |
| Phil Savage steps down as Alabama radio analyst | |
 | Phil Savage, who served nine years as the color analyst for the University of Alabama football radio broadcasts on the Crimson Tide Sports Network, will not return for the 2018 season. Savage said via social media that he is stepping down from the post to devote more time to his new job with the Phoenix franchise in the Alliance of American Football. "Coach Mal Moore and the Crimson Tide Sports Network gave me an opportunity to audition during the 2009 A-Day game," said via his Twitter account. "Little did we know that one game would turn into nine incredible years as the color analyst alongside Eli Gold." Savage, 53, replaced the late Kenny Stabler in the broadcast booth alongside play-by-play announcer Eli Gold, bringing a more analytical, but still popular, style to the broadcast. |
| Critics of the NCAA say its new transfer rule will help players but is still quite flawed | |
| The National Collegiate Athletic Association has approved a new transfer rule, one that appears to give athletes more control over their fates at a time when the NCAA is facing questions about its commitment to athletes' rights. But the policy was written such that in some circumstances, players could risk losing their scholarships at the whim of an institution. "This was forced because of public, media and legal pressure ... It's easy for the NCAA to take a victory lap even though this should have happened years ago," said Dave Ridpath, president of the Drake Group, which promotes academic integrity in college sports. "It's a win for the athlete even though it does not go far enough." Earlier this month, in what the NCAA called an "expected next step," it allowed all athletes in Division I to transfer out of their programs without permission -- all they would need to do is inform their college or university they intended to do so. The players would then be added to a national database and any coach could contact them. Some athletes in the more high-profile sports still need to sit out a year upon transferring, per NCAA rules. |
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