| Friday, July 13, 2018 |
| Summer Scholars presents 'Multiverse Mayhem' at Mississippi State | |
 | The campers of Mississippi State University's Summer Scholars Production Camp will present "Multiverse Mayhem" at 7 p.m. July 13 and 1 p.m. July 14, both at McComas Hall. Both performances are free, and a reception will follow the July 13 performance. Director Joe Ray Underwood said 66 campers took part in the two-week camp. "Activities during the first week consisted of tryouts for the parts in the production, blocking and initial rehearsals," Underwood said. "Week two is vigorous with full rehearsals, dress rehearsals and the final production." Underwood said students in the camp learned about every aspect of production, including set and costume design. |
| MSU road to be closed Friday for stadium work | |
 | A portion of a road on the campus of Mississippi State University will be closed this Friday, July 13. According to the university, a portion of Barr Avenue will be closed from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. This is due to work on the north end zone scoreboard at Davis Wade Stadium. The road will affect the portion of Barr Avenue between B.S. Hood Drive and the entrance to the Memorial Hall parking lot. Once work is complete, the road will be re-opened. |
| Domino effect of tariffs could still hit your wallet | |
 | As the Trump administration prepares to add $200-billion-dollars worth of products to the tariff list, even more products you use on a daily basis could see a jump in price. "The benefits of trade are usually benefits that go to consumers," explained Dr. Keith Coble, Mississippi State University Agricultural Economics department head. "So you go to the grocery store and you go to the department store, things are cheaper and it's not really obvious to us why things are cheaper. And that's the difficulty for people to understand these trade issues." Dr. Coble gets it, we're not all farmers, but says America's agricultural interests are very much tied to other items that are now facing tariffs. He says each country tries to hit the other where it hurts, in hopes of pressuring them into a better deal. |
| Mississippi State's Dr. Jerome Goddard to keynote NCPMA event | |
 | On Jan. 29, 2019, Pest Management Professional Magazine Hall of Famer Dr. Jerome Goddard will serve as the keynote speaker of the 2019 Pest Control Technician's School for the North Carolina Pest Management Association. The presentation by Dr. Goddard, who also created and writes monthly "The Adventures of Crawley McPherson" for PMP, is titled "What does the Future of Pest Control Look Like?" Dr. Goddard is an extension professor of entomology at Mississippi State University, where he studies public health entomology, medical entomology, vector-borne diseases and the management and control of insects that can harm humans and animals. "We are thrilled to welcome Jerome Goddard to our 2019 PCT School as the keynote speaker. Jerome's research and knowledge of entomology will kick off an exciting conference," says Bruce Roberts, incoming NCPMA president. |
| 'Face-to-face': Ward 5's Patrick Miller hosts Plantation Homes town hall | |
| From tall grass to the conditions of roads, Ward 5 Alderman Patrick Miller fielded a range of topics at a town hall meeting Monday night for his constituents in the Plantation Homes subdivision. Topics included roads in need of paving, speeding, development along Highway 389 and more from concern citizens. Miller hosted his first community town hall in December for the Oktibbeha Gardens neighborhood, and saw roughly a dozen residents of Plantation Homes come to Monday's meeting in the upstairs board room in City Hall. "It's a great neighborhood with truly a lot of active residents, who have been in Plantation Homes and Starkville a long time," Miller said following the town hall. "It's just a good opportunity to be here with Buddy Sanders and the Mayor (Lynn Spruill) and hear what (the resident's) issues are." |
| Study: Columbus losing $1B in retail revenue to other areas | |
 | According to his calculations, there is $1.1 billion in retail trade Columbus is losing to other areas, Anthony Michelic told the Columbus-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce during its annual luncheon Wednesday at Lion Hills Center. Michelic is CEO of Brick + Mortar, a national market research company. That $1.1 billion in lost retail was part of a study of the Columbus retail market commissioned by the Chamber. "What that says is there are a lot of potential sales out there to be captured that are going to other retail trade areas," Michelic said. Michelic said the maps show the trade area includes approximately 187,000 households and extends to Amory in the north, Macon in the south, into Alabama as far as Tuscaloosa in the east and Starkville and Louisville in the west. "I was surprised to see how many people from Starkville shop in Columbus," Michelic said. "You're really strong there." |
| Cindy Hyde-Smith makes bank; Chris McDaniel signs contract in Senate race | |
 | Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith's campaign on Thursday announced she's raised more than $1.6 million from April through June and has $1.4 million in campaign cash on hand. Meanwhile, Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel, another vying to replace longtime Sen. Thad Cochran, held a news conference to announce he's signing a lengthy, multi-point "Contract with Mississippi" platform. The campaign for Democratic candidate Mike Espy, a former U.S. congressman and U.S. agriculture secretary, has been relatively quiet, likely keeping powder dry as the two Republicans spar. A Hyde-Smith spokeswoman said the appointed senator's fundraising performance shows "outpouring of support from so many Mississippians and conservatives across America." The total was released in advance of the July 15 deadline to file full campaign finance reports. |
| U. of Alabama researchers play role in neutrino breakthrough | |
 | An international team of scientists including three University of Alabama researchers have discovered the first evidence of a source of cosmic particles known as high-energy neutrinos, a breakthrough that they say will enhance our understanding of how the universe is built and behaves. The announcement on Wednesday coincided with the publication this week of two papers in the journal Science based on observations of high-energy neutrinos emitted from a galaxy billions of light-years away made by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica last fall and confirmed by telescopes around the globe and in Earth's orbit. The IceCube team includes 300 scientists from 12 countries. Marcos Santander, a UA assistant professor of physics and astronomy; Dawn Williams, a UA associate professor of physics and astronomy; and William C. Keel, a UA professor of physics and astronomy, were co-authors on the project. |
| U. of South Carolina says it's not paying Bill Clinton to speak on campus | |
 | The University of South Carolina said Thursday it is not paying former President Bill Clinton to speak at a closed-door event on campus. The Aug. 6 event, where former S.C. Gov. Richard "Dick" Riley will donate his personal artifacts to the university's library system, will be held at the Alumni Center. It is by invitation only and not open to the public. "Bill Clinton is speaking at no cost to the university, and his attendance and participation are at the invitation of Richard Riley," USC spokeswoman Peggy Binette said in an email. Asked whether USC's charitable foundations -- which can spend money with less oversight than the university itself -- or any other USC entity paid Clinton, Binette said they did not. |
| LSU planning changes to its admissions process for fall 2019 | |
 | Louisiana State University is planning to make "needed changes" in its admissions process as the university continues to evaluate prospective students from this past year's historic application turnout, according to school officials. LSU will require applicants to submit at least one letter of recommendation from a counselor, teacher, advisor, or administrator starting in the summer of 2019. College admissions counselors at high schools statewide received a June 22 email from LSU admissions director Daniel Barrow, who stated LSU is enacting the letter policy as LSU transitions to a "fully holistic evaluation process." The university is also adjusting its freshman application deadlines for the 2019 summer and fall semesters. |
| U. of Florida to keep St. Augustine Confederate monument | |
 | St. Augustine city commissioners voted this week to add informational plaques to a Confederate monument on city property. A University of Florida organization might decide to follow suit this fall. UF manages land that is home to a 1920 Confederate monument in St. Augustine that honors Gen. William Loring, whose remains are buried nearby. The monument, an obelisk, was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Many Confederate monuments across America have been removed in the past year, including the "Old Joe" statue that once stood in downtown Gainesville. Last August, a white nationalist protest about the removal of a Confederate monument in Charlottesville, Virignia, led to a riot in which a woman died and 19 people were injured. Last month, UF Historic St. Augustine Inc.'s board of trustees met and listened to 13 ways to deal with the monument, ranging from leaving it as is to adding educational signs to removing it entirely, said Ed Poppell, economic development director for UF Innovation Square and the pitcher of said ideas. |
| UGA program entices students toward health careers | |
 | A small group of top high school students from throughout the state got a kind of crash course in college this week at the University of Georgia. The lucky students are attending the university's first "Pre-Collegiate Summer Institute," sponsored by the UGA College of Public Health and the UGA Office of Multicultural Services and Programs with a "New Approaches to Diversity and Inclusion Grant" from the university. The hope is that the program can lead to increased diversity in the college, including students from rural areas as well as ethnic or racial groups. The UGA program for students interested in medicine and public health is modeled after one Clemson University has sponsored for many years, said Brittani Harmon, a clinical professor in the College of Public Health and the head of the program. |
| Texas A&M scientists doing research on cotton, weeds | |
 | Scientists at Texas A&M University are hopeful they've developed the kryptonite for what's been a losing battle against herbicide-resistant weeds now choking cotton fields across the southern U.S. The San Antonio Express-News reports if it works as well in the San Angelo test field as it has in a campus greenhouse, the technology could prove revolutionary to a crop that in some regions has become vulnerable to weeds that have developed resistance to three generations of pesticides. Through a painstaking process, the A&M scientists successfully introduced a genetic trait that allows cotton to thrive in soil that has been enriched with phosphite, which has one less oxygen atom than the phosphate used in traditional fertilizers. Because the weeds don't have the same trait, they are essentially starved of nutrients. |
| High school students from across U.S. tackle journalism basics at U. of Missouri workshop | |
 | Elias Hoff's eyes scanned two computer screens at the Missouri School of Journalism. On the laptop to his left was a color-coded Excel sheet with all the names of Columbia's public schools. The computer to his right displayed the district's report cards on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's website. He was putting together a story about the effects of poverty on school performance in Columbia. Hoff, 17, is a high school student himself, except he lives nearly 500 miles north of Columbia in a suburb northwest of Minneapolis. He is one of 27 high school students participating in the Missouri Urban Journalism Workshop, which brings students from across the country for six days of journalism training. |
| Feuding Letters at Yale Law Expose Divisions Over Supreme Court Nomination | |
 | In the days since President Trump's nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Yale Law School -- the judge's alma mater -- has become a hotbed of debate over the choice. The argument isn't just about Kavanaugh's positions and the impact of his nomination, but also about what the school should be saying about him. Colleges, of course, routinely brag about the accomplishments of prominent alumni, and several Yale Law professors told The Chronicle they saw nothing unusual about the news release. But competing letters have drawn considerable attention to Yale Law, among whose alumni are three current Supreme Court justices: Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel A. Alito. |
| Alabama-Birmingham faces federal investigation after unusual Title IX complaint | |
 | An unusual and complex sexual assault case has resulted in a federal investigation into the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is raising legal questions about attacks that occur off campus. Blake Kitterman, a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said he was sexually assaulted in his dormitory in November 2016. He had invited the alleged perpetrator, an Alabama Birmingham student, to stay the night while the student traveled because they both worked on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Kitterman said he eventually reported the alleged assault to his institution, which in turn contacted Alabama. Officials at UAB began investigating under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal gender anti-discrimination law that requires colleges to prevent and investigate sexual violence on campus. |
| Public safety or political sensibilities: U. of Kansas removes art after governor finds it disrespectful | |
| An art piece at the University of Kansas featuring a U.S. flag with illustrations on it is stirring up a decades-old debate: Should the flag get special protection under the First Amendment? The Supreme Court says no and has affirmed the right to burn the flag, but the Kansas dispute is one of many in which colleges have been questioned for uses of the flag to make art and/or political points. "Untitled (Flag 2)" by German artist Josephine Meckseper was intended to serve as commentary on the deep divisions in the United States, according to a statement by the artist. Meckseper drip painted a rough illustration of the U.S. on the flag and a striped sock in the left-hand corner to symbolize children imprisoned on the border. Some are viewing the work as an affront to active military and veterans. Among them is Kansas governor Jeff Colyer, who called for the flag's removal in a statement Wednesday. After speaking with Colyer, the university's chancellor, Doug Girod, ordered the removal of the flag. |
SPORTS
| Concession prices adjusted at all Mississippi State sports events | |
| When Mississippi State fans attend athletic events in Starkville this fall, they will notice dramatically reduced prices at concessions. Prices on food and beverage at all home venues will be significantly decreased beginning this 2018-19 athletic year, MSU Athletics announced as part of its #MoorValue campaign on Thursday. "We value the feedback of our Bulldog family," said MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen. "Reducing the price of concessions has been something I have been very excited about since becoming Director of Athletics. Providing our fans and families with more affordable food and beverage options is extremely important. We will continue to explore innovative ways to enhance the game day experience for our Bulldog family. We would like to thank Aramark for their collaboration in this process." |
| Mississippi State slashes concession stand prices | |
| Mississippi State sports fans will soon pay a lot less at the concession stand. Prices on food and beverages at all home venues will be significantly decreased beginning this 2018-19 athletic year, the school's athletics department announced Thursday. In all, a dozen menu items including pizza, barbecue sandwiches and chicken tenders were all reduced. The drop in concession prices is one of several fan game day enhancements in progress on campus as part of Mississippi State's "#MoorValue campaign," which takes its name from new football head coach Joe Moorhead. "As we work with Athletics and our MSU dining partner Aramark to create a more fan and family-friendly game day experience for our Bulldog family, I believe this new comprehensive plan for concessions is a key element to increasing value for our fans," Mississippi State President Mark E. Keenum said in a statement. |
| Mississippi State Athletics reduces concession prices at all venues | |
| When Mississippi State fans attend Bulldog athletic events in Starkville this fall, they will notice dramatically reduced prices at concessions. Prices on food and beverage at all home venues will be significantly decreased beginning this 2018-19 athletic year, MSU Athletics announced as part of its #MoorValue campaign on Thursday. "As we work with Athletics and our MSU dining partner Aramark to create a more fan and family-friendly game day experience for our Bulldog family, I believe this new comprehensive plan for concessions is a key element to increasing value for our fans," said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. "High quality refreshments, more sensible pricing, faster service and new policies that address items of input from our fan base are a winning combination for a better game day experience. I congratulate Athletics and Aramark on their innovation and collaboration on this plan." |
| AD John Cohen has Mississippi State football set through 2029 | |
| The job of a Southeastern Conference athletic director got more difficult in April of 2014, when then SEC commissioner Mike Slive put a new football scheduling rule in place. He required each member school to play one non-conference game per season against a Power 5 conference opponent. John Cohen has Mississippi State set in that regard through 2029. This season begins a home-and-home series with Kansas State; home-and-home series against N.C. State, Arizona, Arizona State, Minnesota and Texas Tech, in that order, will take MSU through 2029. In an exclusive interview with The Dispatch, Cohen shed light on how those deals came together. In finding the teams MSU ultimately scheduled, Cohen said the date was the first priority, more than the ultimate opponent. Cohen cited the difference in conference schedules both within the SEC and in the other power conferences as making it tough to match dates, but credited the SEC for being involved in scheduling process for its help. |
| Mississippi State football: Joe Moorhead, Nick Fitzgerald head to SEC Media Day | |
| SEC Football Media Days are upon us. And for the first time since 2008, Dan Mullen won't be representing Mississippi State as its head coach at the event. To see the sneakers Mullen sports this year you'll have to watch Florida's press conference, not MSU's. The novelty of Joe Moorhead taking Mullen's place as Mississippi State's head coach coincides with a new venue for the occasion. After 17 years at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, media days shifts to Atlanta -- home of the College Football Hall of Fame. Here's what to expect when the Bulldogs take the podium there. |
| Mississippi State's Nick Fitzgerald will be one of six QBs at SEC Media Days | |
| Mississippi State's Nick Fitzgerald and Ole Miss' Jordan Ta'amu will be two of six quarterbacks to represent their schools next week at SEC Media Days at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. Quarterbacks Kyle Shurmur (Vanderbilt), Jake Bentley (South Carolina), Drew Lock (Missouri), and Jarrett Stidham (Auburn) will join Fitzgerald and Ta'amu at the annual event for the league's 14 teams, according to an announcement Wednesday by the SEC. Defensive end Gerri Green and safety Mark McLaurin will join Fitzgerald and MSU coach Joe Moorhead at the event. On Wednesday, Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, will start the day. MSU (9 a.m.), Tennessee, Alabama (1:30 p.m.), and Missouri will complete the activity. |
| Mississippi State athletics receives high rating in poll | |
| With postseason success across the board this past season, Mississippi State was ranked as the country's 14th best athletic program in a poll released by CBS Sports earlier this week. The Bulldogs were fourth in the Southeastern Conference on the list, trailing only No. 2 Alabama, No. 10 Georgia and No. 12 Auburn on the list. Ohio State was picked as the nation's premier program. To figure the rankings, CBS Sports used a weighted formula that gave more importance to sports with broad fan bases and media interest. Every school was rated in football, men's basketball and women's basketball with the poll slanted to give more weight to football and men's hoops. The rankings also included a pair of "wild card" sports from each school's most successful spectator sports, which using the CBS guidelines, were likely baseball and softball in the case of Mississippi State. t was a successful year across the board by almost any measure for MSU in the 2017-2018 athletic season. |
| Cole Marsh makes history in first season at Mississippi State | |
 | Who threw the first pitch at the new Dudy Noble Field? Cole Marsh will forever be the answer to that trivia question. On March 6, Marsh took the mound in front of 7,179 fans and fired five innings against New Mexico and earned the win. He surrendered one run on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk. Not only was it MSU's home opener, it was also Marsh's debut at the Division I level. Interim head coach Gary Henderson let Marsh know the day before that he would have the honor of starting the first game in the new ballpark. "I'd been waiting and waiting, just trying to stay focused," Marsh said. "I went to coach Henderson's office and he told me I'd be starting the next day and I had so many people calling me and giving me advice. They were trying to help but only making it worse." |
| Southern Miss football unveils new Adidas uniforms | |
 | The Southern Miss athletic department's new apparel deal with Adidas began on July 1 and Golden Eagle fans finally got a glimpse of the new football uniforms on Thursday in Hattiesburg. Season ticket holders and Eagle Club members were invited to a uniform unveiling party Thursday night on the school's campus. USM players showed off three different jerseys Thursday, but only the gold one will be worn in games. The black and white jerseys put on display Thursday night are for practice only. The product allotment from Adidas will bring north of $4 million for USM. The contract also provides a six-figure allotment to be used for marketing tools. USM's previous five-year deal with Russell Athletic brought the athletic department $2.75 million. |
| 'It's outta hand:' Louisville football players want Papa John erased from Cardinal Stadium | |
 | Current University of Louisville football players went on social media Thursday calling for Papa John's signage to be removed from the team's stadium after a racist comment by the company's founder was publicized this week. Seth Dawkins, a junior wide receiver who started 10 games last season, called for the named to be taken down in a Twitter post Thursday afternoon. When a responder replied that Dawkins could probably expect a phone call from a coach or administrator, Dawkins replied, "Yea I'm expecting one here soon but it's outta hand at this point." Papa John's founder John Schnatter resigned from the U of L Board of Trustees and the board of his company Wednesday after Forbes published a report that he had used the n-word during a conference call. The call was scheduled to help Schnatter with media relations after negative fallout from his comments about NFL protests during the national anthem. |
| States Weigh Bets on Mobile Sports Gambling | |
 | Now that states are free to craft laws legalizing sports gambling, the latest question is whether to enter the potential $9 billion mobile-betting market. Americans legally gambling on this weekend's World Cup final and other athletic competitions primarily are doing so in person at a limited number of casinos. Increasingly, though, gamblers in other countries are placing wagers from their smartphones. But as sports betting legalization moves forward in other states following a May U.S. Supreme Court ruling, there has so far been wide variation in the adoption of mobile. In states such as Mississippi, sports betting will be confined to casinos and racetracks across the state, though customers will be able to bet on a phone while there. Other options could include a system such as Nevada's, where customers have to first register in-person at a casino or another betting storefront before being able to use mobile. So far, fewer than 20 states have yet to approve or consider any regulations for sports betting. |
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