| Tuesday, July 10, 2018 |
| Rock 'n' roll is noise pollution -- with ecological implications that can spread through a food web | |
 | Brandon Barton, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Mississippi State, writes for The Conversation: Despite being one of the best-selling albums of all time, ideology from AC/DC's "Back in Black" album has gone unchallenged for nearly 40 years. The album's closing track posited a testable hypothesis, asserting with rock-star confidence that "Rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution." Opinions may vary from person to person, but little scientific evidence has been evaluated to determine if rock music is noise pollution ... until now. My research group recently tested the "AC/DC hypothesis." Sadly, we report that, at least in some situations, rock 'n' roll in fact is noise pollution. Our work demonstrates that the effects of noise pollution are not restricted just to the animals directly affected by the sounds, but can alter their behaviors and interactions with other animals and plants, spreading the effects throughout an ecosystem. |
| Southern blight poses threat to tomatoes | |
 | The Mississippi State University Extension Service says conditions this summer have been ripe for a significant disease outbreak that would hurt the growth of tomatoes in the state. That disease is referred to as Southern blight. It's a fungal disease that has white, thread-like growth along with brown or tan, round structures at the base of the stem. The Extension Service says there are no home garden fungicides to fight the disease, but tomatoes can be protected from infected soil by wrapping in foil the part of the tomato stem that touches the soil. |
| OCH Regional, UMMC celebrate new affiliation | |
 | OCH Regional Medical Center officially welcomed University of Mississippi Medical Center to Starkville Monday. The hospital held an affiliation celebration to mark its new partnership with the Jackson-based academic medical center. "We are living in difficult times for all hospitals, especially rural hospitals," said Linda Breazeale, chairman for the OCH Regional Board of Trustees. She said, while questions remain to be answered, "We are stronger together." OCH Regional and UMMC leaders said they will spend the next four months developing an implementation plan and timeline for the services. "We're still working on understanding the needs," said Dr. Charles O'Mara, UMMC vice chancellor for clinical affairs. "That's part of this next phase." |
| Phase two of Highway 12 project underway | |
 | The second phase of the Highway 12 renovation project is underway. Mississippi Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Tagert said the current phase of the project on the east end of Highway 12 is similar to the first part of the project that was done last year. "It is a complete rehabilitation of the route, meaning we've installed new signals that are connected with fiber optic cables so that they can communicate together collectively," Tagert said. "From a transportation standpoint, that's the biggest improvement for those traveling through." Tagert said a raised median is also being installed to reduce the crash rates that have been seen on the route. "The big items are the signal upgrades where we're moving from lights on a wire to fixed arm signals, which are much easier to maintain and more accurate, and the raised median," Tagert said. |
| Starkville completes first phase of road paving | |
 | The city of Starkville has completed the first phase of road work for a $7.5 million capital improvement project. City Engineer Edward Kemp updated aldermen on the project's progress at Tuesday's board of aldermen meeting. Aldermen approved a contract for the first phase of work, which included about 5.3 miles of paving, on May 5. Kemp said the contractor, Falcon Contracting Company, Inc., was already set up in town for another project and was able to begin work paving within three weeks. Kemp said the work is done, as of the first week of June, well ahead of the contract's Aug. 4 end date. Kemp, speaking to the Dispatch, said while road work can vary from year to year, this year's project is one of the largest the city has undertaken in some time. "We did almost a million dollars' worth of work this year," he said. "We've not had that much work in several years. It was a pretty substantial project for us." |
| Mississippi Tire Plant Fires 29 for Fake Work Certificates | |
 | A Mississippi tire factory says it has fired 29 employees for using fake worker certifications to get jobs. The unit Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. tells WCBI-TV that the workers didn't meet requirements to get a job at the West Point plant. The Japanese company says it's investigating and has created safeguards to prevent it from happening again. It's unclear how the workers got the certificates, or if any other employers were tricked. |
| Treasure Bay Casino plans a big expansion in Biloxi | |
 | Sports betting is on the way to Treasure Bay Casino in Biloxi, along with additional improvements that will be added in three phases. The construction project gets a first look by Biloxi's Development Review Committee on Wednesday, after the resort management submitted a new master plan for the resort last week. "The first phase is constructing new surface parking to the west of Treasure Bay," said general manager Susan Varnes. The purchase of 4 additional acres will be finalized this week to kick off the project. "Until the new surface parking is complete, we cannot begin construction on anything new on the existing property," Varnes said. Phase 2 will see a new parking garage going up east of the hotel. "The third phase is an expansion of the second floor gaming space to include additional slots and tables as well as additional restaurants," she said. |
| State revenue rebounds for fiscal year, could bode well for 2019 session | |
| State revenue collections, which have been sluggish for the past two years resulting in significant budget cuts for multiple state agencies, rebounded during the 2018 fiscal year, which ended on June 30. According to the revenue report compiled recently by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee, state revenue collections for the past fiscal year were up $39.1 million or 0.69 percent above the amount collected during the previous fiscal year. The stronger revenue collections for the recently completed fiscal year could bode well for the 2019 Legislative session when legislators will be compiling a budget for education, health care, law enforcement and other vital state services during an election year. It also comes after three sessions where legislators were forced to make significant cuts. |
| MDOT: Political pressure behind road from Tate Reeves' neighborhood | |
 | While the state grapples with how to pay to fix crumbling roads and bridges, the Mississippi Department of Transportation is being politically forced to build a $2-million drive from Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves' gated neighborhood to a nearby shopping hub. The project is ostensibly for safety of neighborhood motorists, but MDOT records obtained by the Clarion Ledger indicate safety is not the issue and that Reeves' office kept tabs on it while his neighborhood's homeowners association was deeply involved in the project's planning. "Yes. Political pressure. From the Legislature," said MDOT Director Melinda McGrath when asked why the new road is being built. "We would not have done this otherwise." Reeves through a spokeswoman declined an interview about the new road but issued a statement saying, "Reeves has not spoken to anyone at the agency regarding the Frontage Road and believes (the project) was negotiated between the city of Flowood and MDOT." |
| Lawsuit: Mississippi legislative district dilutes black vote | |
| A state Senate district in Mississippi dilutes black voting power and should be redrawn, three African-American plaintiffs say in a federal lawsuit filed Monday. The suit asks a judge to order legislators to reconfigure the district before the 2019 state elections. District 22 has a 51 percent black voting-age population, and the suit says it lacks "real electoral opportunity" for African-Americans. The district has been represented since January 2004 by Republican Sen. Eugene "Buck" Clarke of Hollandale, who is white and is chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. "Here's the problem: The Delta's losing population," Clarke told The Associated Press on Monday. He said changing one legislative district would affect others around it. |
| Farmers worry about the impact of tariffs on Mississippi's economy | |
 | China is imposing a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans. Mississippi Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson says that could drastically affect the state's economy. The soybean export to China is over $12 billion dollars, a lot of that is produced right here in the state of Mississippi," said Thompson. It was more than $100 million in soybeans last year to be exact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Thompson says farmers in his district are concerned. "It could potentially put some people out of business. If the tariffs continue, I'm not sure those who are able to survive whether or not they will be able to generate the loan proceeds necessary to do another crop the next year," said Thompson. Congressman Thompson says after a meeting this week with farmers in the 2nd Congressional District, he is writing a letter to ask President Trump to reconsider his economy policy with China. |
| Chris McDaniel splits with aide over Trump criticism on MSNBC | |
 | Mississippi Senate candidate Chris McDaniel has split with top adviser Rick Tyler, his campaign announced on Monday. McDaniel's campaign attributed Tyler's departure to his on-air criticisms of President Donald Trump, which it said led to a "mutual" parting of ways. The Mississippi Republican, who is trying to unseat GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, has sought to cast himself as a staunch ally of the president. Tyler has worked for a variety of candidates, including the presidential campaigns of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Tyler has long been critical of the president. In November, he described Trump as a "classless jerk." |
| Trump taps Brett Kavanaugh to succeed Kennedy on Supreme Court | |
 | President Trump on Monday selected Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, setting up a fierce confirmation battle as he seeks to cement conservative control of the nation's highest court. Trump announced the selection of Kavanaugh, a politically connected judge on the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, after a suspenseful day that resembled the lead-up to his first Supreme Court pick, Justice Neil Gorsuch. The president sought to build drama up until the end, refusing to announce his pick until five minutes after he started speaking. That is when Kavanaugh, his wife and two daughters walked down a long corridor and onto the podium. Kavanaugh, 53, earned the nod despite his work as a White House aide under former President George W. Bush, a frequent target of Trump's criticism. |
| How a private meeting with Kennedy helped Trump get to 'yes' on Kavanaugh | |
| After Justice Anthony Kennedy told President Donald Trump he would relinquish his seat on the Supreme Court, the president emerged from his private meeting with the retiring jurist focused on one candidate to name as his successor: Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Kennedy's former law clerk. Trump, according to confidants and aides close to the White House, has become increasingly convinced that "the judges," as he puts it, or his administration's remaking of the federal judiciary in its conservative image, is central to his legacy as president. And he credits Kennedy, who spent more than a decade at the center of power on the court, for helping give him the opportunity. So even as Trump dispatched his top lawyers to comb though Kavanaugh's rulings and quizzed allies about whether he was too close to the Bush family, potentially a fatal flaw, the president was always leaning toward accepting Kennedy's partiality for Kavanaugh while preserving the secret until his formal announcement, sources with knowledge of his thinking told POLITICO. |
| Democrats Have Few Tactical Options to Fight Supreme Court Pick | |
 | Democrats can make as much noise as they want about President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, but they have few procedural weapons at their disposal to stop Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation on their own -- although they can make life difficult along the way. One strategy for the Senate Democrats may be to create as much time as possible between Monday night's announcement and the Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings. Critics can seek to spread out the timeline so they can dig into the prospective justice's background, writings and paperwork. One quirk of the Senate's rules that might come into play is that it requires permission of all senators in order for committees to meet for longer than two hours after the Senate convenes. Hearings for Supreme Court nominees run much longer than that, so any one Democrat could object for committees to meet beyond the customary two-hour start. |
| Mississippi politicians react to nomination of Brett Kavanaugh | |
 | President Donald Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh to be the next justice to join the Supreme Court of the United States. 53-year-old Kavanaugh is a former clerk of the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and has served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for the last 10 years. A George W. Bush appointee to his current position, Kavanaugh had worked as counsel and staff secretary in the White House before his nomination. Many politicians around Mississippi have reacted to Kavanaugh's nomination. |
| Ban on Chinese cellular gear would hurt U.S. rural providers | |
 | A proposed U.S. national security ban on equipment from two Chinese telecommunications companies would leave dozens of small, rural cellular companies that rely on their cheap equipment without working cell towers and greatly reduced coverage. That could leave thousands of rural residents with less access -- if any at all -- to 911 emergency services, allowing fires to rage and accident victims to agonize. In short, a proposed ban may address national security concerns, rural operators say, but at a cost of American lives and a retreat in service. Small wireless providers, some of which are cooperatives or family-run businesses, say they would have to stop operating some cell towers and reduce coverage under the ban. Huawei, one of the top three smartphone makers in the world, was founded by a former engineer in the People's Liberation Army and now employs more than 80,000 people. For its part, ZTE has grown into a giant in network services and telecommunications. |
| South Carolina sends 48 'problematic' inmates to private-prison in Mississippi | |
 | The South Carolina Department of Corrections has transferred 48 inmates to a privately operated maximum security prison in Mississippi. The transfer, confirmed by the prisons system Monday, involved inmates considered "problematic," meaning they posed potential dangers to other inmates. The move was made "to help improve the safety and security of our institutions," spokesman Jeffrey Taillon said. The transfer comes two months after a deadly April riot at Lee Correctional Institution where seven inmates were killed -- the highest death toll at an U.S. prison in 25 years. The inmates were transferred to Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Miss., a for-profit prison operated by CoreCivic, a private corporation. The Tallahatchie facility is a high-security prison that houses about 2,500 inmates. South Carolina will pay $70 a day to house each inmate at Tallahatchie County Correctional Institution. |
| A robot that lays bricks? Auburn puts one to work in construction of performing arts center | |
 | Auburn University is incorporating a robot into the construction of the Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center. Construction Robotics' SAM100, short for Semi-Automated Mason, a bricklaying robot capable of placing more than 3,000 bricks per day, was showcased at the construction site Monday morning. The robot is the first commercially available bricklaying robot for onsite masonry construction. Utilizing a conveyor belt and a robotic arm, SAM removes the repetitive task of laying bricks, while masons work around it to reload bricks and mortar into the machine and clean around the bricks placed by SAM. C&C Masonry worked with the university and Rabren General Contractors to bring SAM to Auburn. This is the first time the robot has been utilized in Alabama. |
| Entomologist returns to Arkansas to battle pests; Ben Thrash starts Aug. 1 | |
| After receiving a doctorate degree in entomology from Mississippi State University, Arkansan Ben Thrash is coming home to serve as the new extension field crop entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. In Mississippi, Thrash worked on refining defoliation thresholds in soybeans. He's taking his lessons from his three and a half years there, along with master's degree in entomology from University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he studied stinkbugs in edamame, to his new position where he'll work to convey university research to Arkansas producers. "The job is 100 percent extension," Thrash said in a news release. "Along with answering pest control questions for growers, I'll be conducting applied research to develop and refine thresholds, evaluate efficacy of insecticides and transgenic crops and overall find ways to make growers more profitable." |
| As Roe v. Wade films, vastly different stories from Nick Loeb and LSU, Tulane about on-campus filming | |
 | An independent film re-examining the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide is facing rejection and approval in equal measure in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas, says a co-producer of the controversial production. In a July 3 story in The Hollywood Reporter, Nick Loeb opened up about the at-times difficult shoot, which began June 15 in and around New Orleans. He said several cast and crew members have walked away after learning of the anti-abortion bent of the film, which purports to tell the "true story" of the 1973 Roe v. Wade court decision. In addition, he said, LSU and Tulane University both denied requests to film on their campuses after learning what the movie was about. Spokesmen for both universities acknowledged denying requests by the filmmakers to shoot on their respective campuses, but they said those denials had nothing to do with the film's subject matter. |
| U. of Florida offers high-schoolers lab time | |
 | Of all the things 17-year-old Kelly Tran could do this summer, she came from California to work in a University of Florida research lab. The Irvine High School student is one of 90 students participating in the 60th Student Science Training Program, originally funded by the National Science Foundation and now funded by donors and organizations. It's a seven-week program that brings rising high school seniors to UF to get hands-on research experience in different fields, including biology, chemistry, veterinary medicine and biomedical engineering. Tran is working in assistant professor Blanka Sharma's biomedical engineering lab to examine the mechanical properties of hydrogel in order to develop three-dimensional tumor models. Saagar Patel, 17, from Seminole High School in Sanford, is also working in the lab through SSTP, studying manganese dioxide particles. |
| Rate My Professors drops 'hotness' ranking after backlash | |
| A popular website for students to post reviews of their professors has removed a criteria for "hotness" after professors criticized the website on social media and threatened to boycott it. Those who criticized RateMyProfessors.com's use of "hotness" in evaluating the quality of a professor -- with the "hot" professors earning a chili pepper logo near their names -- said the "hotness" criteria could drag down their ratings for otherwise good teaching. BethAnn McLaughlin, a neurology professor at Vanderbilt University, whose tweet started the social media firestorm, told Buzzfeed she believed the rating system was "blatantly sexist." The website responded on Twitter, saying "hotness" wasn't a reference to attractiveness, but rather a "dynamic/exciting teaching style," but agreed to remove the criteria anyway. |
| Texas A&M partnership to begin management transition for Los Alamos National Lab | |
 | Triad National Security LLC has been given the go-ahead to transition toward managing the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Texas A&M University System announced Monday. The U.S. Department of Energy announced in June that Triad -- which includes the A&M System, the University of California and Battelle Memorial Institute -- was awarded the multibillion dollar contract to manage and operate the laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. On Monday the National Nuclear Security Administration gave Triad its official notice to proceed. According to an announcement from the A&M System, there will be a four-month transition period that ends Nov. 1, when Triad will officially take over management and operational responsibility for the lab. Triad also announced that Thomas Mason will serve as its president and director of the lab. Most recently, Mason was senior vice president for global laboratory operations at the Battelle Memorial Institute. |
| Law will allow Missouri higher education to recover cuts through tuition | |
 | State colleges and universities in Missouri will be able to recover cuts in state funding from students in the form of tuition increases under a bill signed by Gov. Mike Parson. The change to the state tuition cap, which since 2007 has tied tuition for resident students to the general inflation rate, allows institutions to add up to 5 percent to the inflation rate to cover a state cut. The provision was included in a higher education bill that also protects the University of Missouri's status as the state research institution and MU and Lincoln University's status as land-grant universities. The willingness of governing boards to use the new power will be tested in the spring when rates are set for the 2019 academic year. In a joint statement, UM System President Mun Choi and the chancellors of the four UM campuses said the bill represents a strong commitment to higher education. |
| Canvas catches, and maybe passes, Blackboard as top learning management system for U.S. colleges | |
 | Canvas has unseated Blackboard Learn as the leading LMS at U.S. colleges and universities, according to new data from MindWires Consulting. In a blog post on Monday, Michael Feldstein, partner at MindWires Consulting and co-publisher of the e-Literate blog, wrote that Canvas now has 1,218 installations at U.S. institutions, compared with Blackboard's 1,216. Although the two-figure difference may seem insignificant -- and Blackboard and some of its allies say the data don't accurately reflect the two companies' relative reach -- most analysts agree that Canvas's ascent, largely at Blackboard's expense, is noteworthy. "This is a stunning development for a company that seemed to have established an unbreakable market dominance a decade ago," wrote Feldstein. |
| After College, International Students Have To Leap Hurdles To Stay In U.S. | |
 | Huang Yimeng was disoriented when she learned that her U.S. visa was denied last November. It meant the recent University of Virginia graduate wouldn't be returning to the U.S. to start the job she was offered at McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm. She was in Shanghai when she got the news, having bought a return ticket and leaving most of her belongings in her apartment in the U.S. When international students like Huang graduate from U.S. colleges and stay in the country to work, they have a few visa options. If they want to stay short-term -- one to three years -- there's Optional Practical Training, an authorization granted by U.S. immigration authorities that allows students to work in their field of study, as an extension of their student visa. The number of students approved for OPT has surged in recent years, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. But it's always been hard to stay in the U.S. after graduation as an international student. |
| Office for Civil Rights investigating UAB for possible Title IX violation | |
 | The Office for Civil Rights division of the Department of Education is investigating the University of Alabama at Birmingham for a possible Title IX violation involving an alleged sexual assaulted. Blake Kitterman, a student at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, said he was sexually assaulted in November 2016 by a University of Alabama at Birmingham student while the student was visiting Chattanooga. Following the alleged assault, Kitterman worked with his university's Title IX office to file a complaint with UAB. UAB's Title IX office initially found that the accused student violated the school's sexual violence and sexual misconduct policy, but later dropped the Title IX case after months of investigation, citing limited jurisdiction under its current policy. |
| Ohio State closes sexual assault unit after complaints of mismanagement, poor reporting | |
| Ohio State University has dissolved its sexual assault unit amid complaints that employees there told survivors they were lying about reports of sexual misconduct and that they suffered from mental illness or were "delusional." The institution indicated, too, that the center failed to document and report sexual assaults in a timely way, despite university policy that dictates all employees do so. These centers consolidate resources for survivors of sexual assault, and some have existed for decades, though others are new and continue to crop up at institutions around the country. But experts question their effectiveness, saying they are often are staffed with people who haven't been trained to properly and sensitively help victims of assault through their trauma. Ohio State has brought in a Philadelphia-based law firm, Cozen O'Connor, to help develop a "redesigned, best-in-class model" for helping sexual assault survivors and to review its Title IX program. |
| Oxford American magazine pays off U. of Central Arkansas debt | |
| After more than a decade, the Oxford American, a nonprofit literary magazine that explores Southern culture, has finally paid off the entire $700,000 debt it owed the University of Central Arkansas. Since the debt began accumulating in 2004 and peaked in 2008, UCA has seen four presidents, and the nonprofit magazine has parted ways with its founding editor and has a new top editor and executive director. The magazine and UCA have maintained a cooperative agreement despite the debt. "The Oxford American magazine is lauded as one of the best literary publications in the nation," UCA's current president, Houston Davis, said in an email Monday. "It is a great partnership and a wonderful asset to UCA. We are currently working on an agreement that will extend our relationship into the future." Former editor Marc Smirnoff founded the magazine in Oxford, Miss., in 1992. In July 2012, the publication's board of directors fired Smirnoff and the managing editor, Carol Ann Fitzgerald, over allegations of wrongdoing, including sexual harassment. |
| Chris McDaniel campaign splits with Rick Tyler -- over Trump or money? | |
 | Alan Lange of Y'all Politics writes: "[On Monday] the Chris McDaniel campaign for Senate announced it was parting company with former Ted Cruz communications guy and McDaniel campaign strategist Rick Tyler. ...That's the news, now here's the opinion. McDaniel is ostensibly trying to make this about Trump and saying that Rick Tyler was a political liability to McDaniel because of his anti-Trump stances. But firing Rick Tyler for being anti-Trump is like firing Fat Albert for being fat. Everyone knew what the deal was at the start of the relationship. We noted the long history of Tyler's anti-MAGA past four months ago. Tyler has a documented history of being history that LONG predates his involvement with McDaniel. ...Coincidentally, or maybe not coincidentally, FEC reports through July 1 will be released by July 15. This will be the first report due since the end of March and will really show where financially the campaign is." |
| State can increase taxes without a tax increase | |
| Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "Close your eyes. Imagine being a politician in a cash-strapped state. Imagine your people -- those who voted for you based on your firm stance against tax increases -- are going to be hit up for another $100 million every year. Imagine you get the money to spend as you wish, but your purity is intact. They can't blame you in the slightest. Open your eyes. It isn't a dream. It's real. And, for lawmakers, it's better than an ice cold slice of Smith County watermelon plus a bowl of homemade peach ice cream on a July afternoon. Here's the story: Since state sales taxes were conceived, the rule has been that states could tax retail transactions within their borders. Say a Batesville resident buys a sofa in Memphis. The sofa sales tax is paid to Tennessee, not Mississippi. In theory, it balances out to tax sales based on where sales take place as opposed to the residence of the payor. There have been a couple of exceptions." |
SPORTS
| No place like home: Vic Schaefer signs extension with Mississippi State | |
| Mississippi State and its women's basketball program have reaped unprecedented rewards under the leadership of Vic Schaefer. On Monday, MSU rewarded Schaefer for his work with a new four-year contract that will pay him a total base compensation of $6,384,000. "It confirms to us we're in a great place," Schaefer said Monday night while on the road recruiting. "We had a vision six years ago when we decided to come here, but we also knew to make that a reality we couldn't do it by ourselves. We had to have the support of an administration that wanted women's basketball to be relevant. Women's basketball has become very important and very relevant at Mississippi State, more so than at most universities across the country, so for us, it confirms we are in the right place." |
| Vic Schaefer gets new four-year deal at Mississippi State | |
| Mississippi State's Vic Schaefer is now praising the Lord and coaching the Bulldogs as one of the nation's highest-paid head coaches. MSU announced on Monday that it has signed Schaefer to a new, four-year contract. As part of the deal, Schaefer is slated to make $1.584 million this year, $1.55 million in 2019, $1.6 million in 2020 and $1.65 million in 2021. He'll also get a $375,000 retention bonus if he's still employed as State's head coach on June 1, 2021. Schaefer's new contract gives him the highest per-year deal in the Southeastern Conference, eclipsing South Carolina's Dawn Staley. It's quite the prize for Schaefer, who has led the Bulldogs to the national championship game in each of the past two seasons. |
| Vic Schaefer signs four-year contract extension at Mississippi State | |
| Losing in the national championship game two years in a row is agonizing, heartbreaking and deflating. Ask Mississippi State head coach Vic Schaefer, who took the brunt of the blame for the Bulldogs' 61-58 loss to Notre Dame in the NCAA title game in April. "...I didn't get them home today," Schaefer said after his team blew a 15-point third quarter lead. "I'll wear that for maybe the rest of my career." Monday brought Schaefer some consolation and plenty more chances to bring the Bulldogs home. He inked a four-year contract extension with MSU that makes him one of the highest paid women's basketball coaches in the country. Schaefer's new deal earns him a total compensation of $6,384,000, or an average of $1,596,000 per year. Schaefer's salary eclipses that of South Carolina's Dawn Staley ($1.45 million per year) for the highest number in the SEC. |
| Mississippi State's Vic Schaefer signs new four-year contract | |
| Vic Schaefer, who guided Mississippi State to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA women's basketball championship game, will be sticking around. Schaefer has agreed to a new four-year contract at Mississippi State. The deal was announced on Monday. "We are excited about continuing our quest of winning SEC and national championships and extending the success of recent years," said Schaefer, 57, who is entering his seventh season leading the Bulldogs. "Coach Schaefer has elevated our women's basketball program to an elite level," MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen said. "We look forward to seeing our national coach of the year on the sidelines for a long time to come." |
| Countdown on for MUW women's soccer season | |
| Gray Massey has the ability to multi-task. It's a good thing, too, because Massey wouldn't recommend taking on as much as he has in the last eight months. In addition to selling his house and moving his family, Massey has spent a majority of that time building the foundation for the women's soccer program at the Mississippi University for Women. "I have a wonderful wife (Lauren)," Massey said when asked how he was able to juggle all of the tasks he faced. Hired as the program's first coach in November 2017, Gray Massey is beginning to see the fruits of his labor. Last week, The W released its schedule for the upcoming 2018 season. As the countdown begins to the arrival of student-athletes at The W (Aug. 17) and to the women's soccer team's first training session (Aug. 18), Massey will continue his work to make sure the program's debut season is a success. |
| Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk addresses deficit, other issues | |
| Missouri athletics revenues failed to match expenses for the 2017 fiscal year. It was the first time the program ran a deficit since 2012 -- that year, the Big 12 withheld $12.4 million in allocation from Missouri because of its decision to move to the Southeastern Conference. The situation was more complicated in 2017: sagging ticket sales, combined with increased spending on coaches' salaries and overhead at the new Mizzou Softball Stadium, resulted in a deficit of $4.5 million. "It's probably a couple years," athletic director Jim Sterk said, referring to the department's return to solvency in a wide-ranging interview with reporters Monday morning. "I'm hopeful that we can balance it this coming year. That's making sure that we stay within our means and invest wisely, but then grow our revenues at the same time." |
| Kentucky football season ticket sales down 10 percent | |
 | Less than two months before the start of the season, Kentucky's football ticket sales are slumping. Around 28,800 season tickets have been sold for the 2018 season at Kroger Field, down from about 32,000 at this time a year ago, a UK spokesman confirmed to the Herald-Leader. That's a 10 percent drop from a year ago for a team that returns 17 starters and advanced to two straight bowl games. There were about 2,000 season tickets purchased between this time last year and the start of the season when UK sold a total of 34,060 in 2017. The Cats, who finished third in the Southeastern Conference East Division and are coming off two straight 7-6 seasons under Coach Mark Stoops, have home games in 2018 against Central Michigan, Murray State, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Georgia and Middle Tennessee. |
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