| Monday, July 23, 2018 |
| Alumni chapters to host send-off parties for new Mississippi State students | |
 | With the start of the fall semester weeks away at Mississippi State University, about 60 alumni chapters and clubs are set to host send-off parties for new freshmen and transfer students joining the Bulldog nation. Incoming students and their parents are invited to the nearest party, where alumni and friends will welcome them to the maroon and white family. New students attending will receive an official send-off T-shirt. The parties are a valued way to grow the university community, said Janet Downey, MSU Alumni Association coordinator of chapter and volunteer programs. "This is a way for new students to meet each other before they come to MSU," she said of the celebrations. "They're especially helpful for out-of-state students. And it's a way for parents to become part of the Bulldog family and create that network." |
| Meridian student joins new cohort in Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program at MSU | |
 | Mississippi State University-Meridian student Alyssa "Ali" Cochran of Waynesboro is among 30 new scholarship recipients in one of the state's most prestigious teacher education programs. The Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program scholarship includes full tuition, room and board, books, a $1,000 technology stipend, and a fully funded study-abroad experience. The award is available to students majoring in elementary education, special education secondary education with a focus on mathematics, science or English. Funded by the Jackson-based Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation, the METP scholarship is valued at approximately $100,000 over four years. METP is housed in MSU's College of Education. Cochran, a first-grade teacher assistant at Clara Elementary School, is studying elementary education through MSU-Meridian's Professional Advancement Network for Teacher Assistants initiative, designed to help teacher assistants complete educational requirements to become licensed teachers. |
| How old is my pet in dog years or cat years? A veterinarian explains | |
 | Jesse Grady, a clinical instructor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State, writes for The Conversation: "Just how old do you think my dog is in dog years?" is a question I hear on a regular basis. People love to anthropomorphize pets, attributing human characteristics to them. And most of us want to extend our animal friends' healthy lives for as long as possible. It may seem like sort of a silly thing to ponder, born out of owners' love for their pets and the human-animal bond between them. But determining a pet's "real" age is actually important because it helps veterinarians like me recommend life-stage specific healthcare for our animal patients. |
| Mississippi's first accounting camp continues to thrive at Mississippi State | |
| This past week, 20 rising high school seniors from across Mississippi and neighboring states got an inside look at the world of accounting and university life at Mississippi State. Now in its fourth year, MSU's Accelerating Students into the Accounting Profession summer camp is the first of its kind in Mississippi. The camp was created by Krystle Dixon, academic coordinator for MSU's Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy. In addition to gaining a new perspective on the accounting field, students heard from professionals and took a tour of a local firm to obtain a first-hand look at audit, tax, corporate accounting and advisory services. "I did some research and saw other accounting camps around the nation," Dixon said. "I knew it could be done here. The faculty were very receptive and supportive. The first year we had 10 students, and then it went to 20. I feel like it will continue to grow." |
| New Scholarship at Mississippi State University | |
| Mississippi State University recently announced that alumnus Charles E. Menifield has established a new annual scholarship with the university's College of Arts and Sciences. The Dr. Charles E. Menifield Public Service and Leadership Annual Scholarship is available to full-time African American students in MSU's Department of Political Science and Public Administration who have shown leadership skills and a commitment to public service. Political science and economics major Walter Goss is the first recipient. |
| Mississippi State alumnus nominated by Trump for USDA position | |
 | A Mississippi State University alumnus has been tapped to serve in a high-level government position. On Monday, President Donald J. Trump announced his intention to appoint Scott Hutchins as under secretary of agriculture for research, education and economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hutchins received a master's degree in entomology from MSU in 1983. President Trump's nomination now awaits confirmation by the Senate Agriculture Committee and U.S. Senate. "We would like to congratulate Dr. Hutchins on his nomination, and we look forward to continuing our strong partnerships with the U.S. Department of Agriculture," said MSU Vice President for Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine Greg Bohach. |
| 2018 Farm Bill: Outcomes and Consequences | |
| According to the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry, Congress passes legislations every five years, called the "Farm Bill", that sets the national agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and forestry policy. The negotiations over the 2018 Farm Bill cover commodity support and risk management programs, which are the second largest USDA budgetary expenditure after nutrition programs. Congressional budget disciplines, declining net farm income and prices for several major crops all play into the negotiations over program changes. Keith Coble, from Mississippi State University and the incoming AAEA President-Elect says that "These programs are complicated, but highly visible. This session should give the audience insights into the economic challenges that remain with the farm bill debate." |
| What's behind the progress in Mississippi cotton yields? | |
 | Outstanding cotton yields the past six years, thanks in large part to genetic improvements in new varieties, are a major factor leading Mississippi producers to plant more acres, says Dr. Darrin Dodds, Extension cotton specialist at Mississippi State University. While there is some variation in estimates for this year's crop, Dodds and others with boots on the ground think the recent USDA estimate of 560,000 acres missed the mark by 50,000 to 100,000 acres or more. "If I had to guess at Mississippi cotton acres today," he told the joint meeting of the Mississippi Boll Weevil Management Corporation and Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Cotton Policy Committee, "I'd say we've got 650,000 to 700,000, based on what I'm seeing, and talking to seed people and other sources. I think we're significantly above the USDA's 560,000 estimate." |
| Always check for ticks after outdoor summer activities | |
| Ticks are on the long list of things in Mississippi that make a person itch in the summertime, and they are very unpleasant for a variety of reasons. Blake Layton, entomologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said there are 19 kinds of ticks that call Mississippi home. Due to its long mouthparts, the bite of the Gulf Coast tick may be the most irritating. "The bites of this tick can cause permanent deformities in the ears of grazing animals such as cattle and goats, causing a condition known as 'gotched ear,'" Layton said. The best way to avoid any type of tick is to stay out of the woods and weeds and on beaten paths. Avoid areas where tick hosts such as cattle and deer spend most of their time. |
| Lynn Spruill looks forward to focusing on city work without distraction of election challenge | |
| Mayor Lynn Spruill wanted to treat the days leading up to Friday no differently than any of the others since she took office more than a year ago. She kept herself busy and focused on running the city, rather than fretting about how Judge Barry Ford might rule in a challenge to her narrow May 2017 runoff election victory over Johnny Moore -- a challenge that centered on whether absentee and affidavit ballots were handled properly. "Every day is a day to go to work," she said. "I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing things, so I was not focused on this. I let my lawyers focus on this and I've been focusing on city business." On Friday, Ford ruled in Spruill's favor, opting to leave her in office rather than replace her with Moore or call for a new election. |
| Johnny Moore's attorney 'disappointed and shocked' by judge's ruling | |
| Johnny Moore quickly left the Oktibbeha County circuit courtroom Friday following a judge's ruling he would not be made mayor of Starkville. Judge Barry Ford, who was specially appointed to hear Moore's challenge to his six-vote loss to Lynn Spruill in the May 2017 Democratic runoff, decided in Spruill's favor. Ford did knock Spruill's margin of victory down to five votes, but he rejected the Moore camp's argument that several other absentee and affidavit ballots were either invalidly tabulated or improperly rejected. While Moore didn't stick around for media interviews after the hearing, his attorney William Starks, of Columbus, said Friday's result was not what his client had anticipated. Moore will have 30 days after Ford's ruling is entered in the circuit court to file an appeal with the Mississippi Supreme Court. |
| Caledonia grad fights deportation, connects years later with South Korean siblings | |
| In 1999, Richi James Lesley was enrolled in his final year at Mississippi State University when he learned something about himself that changed his life. Days after securing a job offer, Lesley -- a Caledonia High graduate and marketing major at MSU -- found a letter in his mailbox from U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Turns out, the Seoul, South Korea, native was an illegal immigrant, and up until receiving that letter, he had no idea. More problematic, the letter said he was being deported. Some of his college buddies had connections in politics and leveraged those connections to try to keep Lesley stateside. "There were multiple folks intervening on my behalf," Lesley said, "reaching out to U.S. senators and congressmen. They were able to get the deportation halted." Lesley, now 41 and living in Jackson, has been married for 14 years. He has two sons, ages 8 and 10. He's the marketing director for a global dialysis company. |
| Neshoba County Fair poster artist Justin Donald draws from deep roots | |
| Tequila, soot from a chimney, gunpowder, red Mississippi dirt, paint, sweat, tears -- those are the components of Justin Donald's latest creation, the 2018 Neshoba County Fair poster. The Neshoba County native's painting reflects his deep connection to the fair. The iconic red racetrack is the centerpiece, claiming the only spot of color in the painting. The surrounding cabins are black and white, as is the swirling sky, and a single sun can be seen on the Winstead cabin. The artwork is titled "Angry Son, Happy Sun," and rightfully so. "That's how I got the title. The sun looks angry," Donald said. "And two, I'm mad at my dad." Donald has deep ties to the fair and the harness races held there. "Since I was a baby, the fair revolved around harness horses and the racetrack," his note in the fair program reads. "My dad (David) and my granddad (Jerome) raced horses alongside Buddy Dees, Raymond James, the Therrell family and Larry Ward." |
| Locals prepare for Neshoba County Fair | |
 | Despite the 90-plus degree heat, fair residents have been out working all summer to make sure everything is prepped and ready to go for this year's Neshoba County Fair. There are more than 600 cabins and 200 campers where people stay during the fair. Families have been working all summer getting their cabins and campers ready. From hanging lights, to setting up porches and cleaning, they are doing it all. "We've done a few improvements to our cabin. We put new floor in and a new front on our cabin this year. All of this here is new. We just tried to dress it up and try to keep it updated," says cabin owner Jeff Cannon. Newscenter 11 talked with families who say preparing is a lot of hard work, but it's all worth it once the fair finally arrives and everyone comes together. The fair will officially begin this Friday with the traditional rodeo at the grandstands. |
| Senator Roger Wicker to skip Neshoba County Fair political speeches | |
| U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, facing re-election this November, will be visiting the Neshoba County Fair later this month in Philadelphia, but he is not scheduled to speak. Wicker, a Tupelo Republican, is slated to be at the fair the weekend before the political speeches, when he will be shaking hands and likely going door-to-door to meet with the fairgoers who reside in the cabins that dot the fairgrounds. Rick VanMeter, Wicker's communications director, said "between votes (in Washington, D.C.,) and his committee obligations, it did not work for his schedule to speak this year." The annual political speakings, scheduled for July 31 to August 2, attract most statewide officeholders and people campaigning for those offices attracts statewide media coverage and attention from political observers throughout the state. |
| Mississippi Casinos Not Ready for Sports Betting as Laws Take Effect | |
 | Mississippi casinos won't be ready to roll out sports betting over the weekend, when the state's month-long waiting period on the newly legal form of gambling expires, Mississippi's gaming commissioner told Reuters in a recent interview. The Magnolia State's casinos that have applied to offer athletics wagering as early as Sunday are still carving out space in their businesses to build sports bars and working to meet other state requirements before they can be approved, Commissioner Allen Godfrey said. "Right now, the ones wanting to get started are still in the renovation phase," he said, noting it will likely be another two weeks before a casino is approved to take sports bets. |
| Lottery, sports betting no sure bet for Mississippi budget | |
 | Will Mississippi take a chance on a lottery? It's a big question lawmakers could answer if Republican Gov. Phil Bryant calls them into special session in the next few weeks. Officials are looking for ways to generate about $200 million a year to pay for improvements to highways and bridges. Bryant says he will call a session sometime in August if House and Senate leaders can agree on the broad outlines of a funding plan. Bryant suggests using money from tax collections on internet sales, newly legalized sports betting and creation of a lottery. A new study from a nonprofit group, The Pew Charitable Trusts, examines "sin taxes" on alcohol, tobacco and gambling, including lotteries and sports betting. It says the taxes are a "tempting but unreliable source of revenue" for states. |
| In there another agency that can investigate $2 million road? | |
| Attorney General Jim Hood has begun an investigation into a $2 million state road -- now halted by transportation officials -- to the gated subdivision where Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves lives. But with Democrat Hood expected to run against Republican Reeves next year for governor, some, including Reeves, are saying such a probe is politically motivated. Hood says this isn't the case and promised an independent investigation, saying he might hand it off to others or involve other agencies. He wouldn't say who these might be, other than he might ask the state auditor's office to get involved. Hood noted that he, by law, is tasked with overseeing the state's highway agency and litigating any losses to it from improper actions. So, is there anyone besides Hood who could investigate? The Clarion-Ledger talked to legal scholars and others to try gain some clarity. |
| Hyde-Smith, Espy and McDaniel still racking up out-of-state cash for Senate race | |
| Mississippi voters could decide which party enjoys a majority in the U.S. Senate in the anticipated special election runoff in late November. A Mississippi Today analysis of the first campaign finance reports from the race show that big donors around the country understand that fact. At least $3 million from out of state has already been spent on the special election that will determine who will permanently fill retired U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's seat. More than half of the 1,800 contributions to candidates' committees between April 1 and June 30 came from out of state. U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Republican incumbent, raised $650,500 from out-of-state political action committees between April 1 and June 30. That figure does not include contributions from individuals who live outside Mississippi. |
| Cory Booker: U.S. Senate Hopeful Mike Espy Is South's Rising Star | |
| No U.S. Senate race in the country could be more of a game changer in 2018 than the one Democrat Mike Espy is running for the seat vacated by former Sen. Thad Cochran, U.S. Sen Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in Jackson late Friday afternoon. The high-profile senator, the former mayor of Newark, N.J., made the declaration during a press event with Espy at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson. "That is the star that I see rising in the South," Booker said, gesturing toward former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Espy. "That is the hope that this nation must have in Washington, D.C. And God willing, the people of Mississippi willing, we will have Mike Espy as the next United States senator." Espy pledged to bridge the partisan divide in his home state. "We're going to forge consensus all across Mississippi because I've done that all my life," Espy said. |
| Espy running in nation's most 'game changing' Senate race, Booker says | |
| When Mississippians head to the polls in November to elect their next United States senator their decision will have a profound effect on the rest of Washington, D.C., according New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. Booker, a Democrat, was in Jackson to help raise money for Senate candidate Mike Espy on Friday evening. Espy, a former congressman and agriculture secretary under the Clinton Administration, is competing in a November special election to finish the term of Sen. Thad Cochran. During a brief press conference at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Booker, whom many Democrats believe could mount a presidential run for 2020, stressed the importance of the state's upcoming Senate elections. "I could be in a lot of places," he said. "But I'm here because I think that of all the races that are going on right now, none will be more of a game changer than this Senate race right here." |
| New Jersey senator says Mike Espy will put people before party | |
 | Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey campaigned Friday for fellow Democrat Mike Espy in a U.S. Senate race in Mississippi, saying Espy might go against him and many other Democrats in Washington. Booker -- who introduced himself as a descendant of slaves and a Confederate soldier -- said it's not unusual for Southern Democrats, including Alabama's Doug Jones and Florida's Bill Nelson, to disagree with other Democrats in the Senate. "They put people first, before party," Booker said. "And so I know that that's what Mike Espy is going to do." Espy is one of three candidates challenging Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a November special election, and the winner will serve the final two years of a six-year term started by longtime Republican Sen. Thad Cochran. |
| Their Father Was a Refugee in India. Now They've Teamed Up With the Trumps. | |
| Dinesh Chawla has long run his family's hotel business in Cleveland from a high-top table at a Hampton Inn on the edge of this out-of-the-way Mississippi Delta town. It used to be the kind of work that usually involved friends and neighbors. But in the year since Mr. Chawla and his brother signed a hotel deal with President Trump's family business, he has been courted by strangers. Goldman Sachs dispatched a wealth manager in hopes of signing him as a client. And on a recent afternoon, a businessman from Florida came to discuss hotel developments, including a potential location in the shadow of Universal Studios. Mr. Chawla is an immigrant from India and the son of a refugee. He and his family own the Hampton Inn and 16 other hotels in the Mississippi Delta, a Democratic and heavily African-American pocket of deeply Republican Mississippi. Yet it is the Trumps who have turned his padded stool into one of the hottest business hubs in the Mississippi Delta, catapulting Mr. Chawla to relative fame. |
| Trump ramps up scrutiny of legal immigrants | |
 | The Trump administration is stepping up efforts to curb legal immigration, taking a series of actions in recent weeks that could lead to deportation for people already granted citizenship. The director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services -- an office established in 2003 to process immigrant applications for visas, work permits, green cards and citizenship -- told The Associated Press recently that the agency is hiring dozens of lawyers and immigration officers to review cases of immigrants who are suspected of having lied to officials during the naturalization process. Experts say that policy change, coupled with what came next, could vastly expand the number of individuals being referred for removal. The administrative changes highlight how Trump officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House adviser Stephen Miller, aren't just seeking to curtail illegal immigration -- they're also taking steps against naturalized citizens in an effort to reduce the number of foreign-born residents in the U.S. |
| Trump isolated in his push for tariffs on foreign cars | |
 | President Donald Trump's threat to slap massive tariffs on imported cars and auto parts will rocket back into the spotlight this week with a high-stakes visit to the White House from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who is expected to bring with him some kind of concessions from the European Union designed make it easier on Trump to declare victory and back off. White House officials opposed to the auto tariffs have high hopes that Juncker's visit could head off a bruising automotive trade war, which even some of Trump's top advisers think could be potentially disastrous, raising car prices and destabilizing a thriving industry on the eve of the midterm elections. The auto industry, Republicans in Congress, U.S. trading partners and even some of Trump's top advisers all argue that the tariffs could be major political and economic negatives. |
| In a small Alabama town, an evangelical congregation reckons with God, President Trump and the meaning of morality | |
 | Clay Crum opened his Bible to Exodus Chapter 20 and read verse 14 one more time. "Thou shalt not commit adultery," it said. He prayed about what he was going to do. He was the pastor of First Baptist Church in the town of Luverne, Ala., which meant he was the moral leader of a congregation that overwhelmingly supported a president who was an alleged adulterer. For the past six weeks, Crum had been preaching a series of sermons on the Ten Commandments, and now it was time for number seven. It was summer, and all over the Bible Belt, support for President Trump was rising among voters who had traditionally proclaimed the importance of Christian character in leaders and warned of the slippery slope of moral compromise. In Crenshaw County, where Luverne is located, Trump had won 72 percent of the vote. The presidency of Donald Trump has created unavoidable moral dilemmas not just for the members of First Baptist in Luverne but for a distinct subset of Christians who are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly evangelical and more uniformly pro-Trump than any other part of the American electorate. |
| Democrats See Openings at State Level, Thanks to Trump Resistance | |
| A polarizing president electrifies the opposition party going into his first midterm election, raising the party's hopes that it can reclaim governorships, ram through major policy change at the state level and redraw legislative lines in its favor for a decade to come. It's a scenario both political parties have seen before, most recently in 2010, when out-of-power Republicans rode the Tea Party-led wave against the Obama administration to smashing victories across the country. This year, governors in both parties acknowledged at the National Governors Association conference, it is Democrats who appear poised to make major gains as Republicans brace for a backlash against President Trump that could lead to grievous statehouse losses. "It does feel very much like 2010 reversed to me right now," said Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee, the head of the Republican Governors Association. "There's a lot more conviction about voting on the Democrat side than our side, which is a concern to us." |
| From obscurity to political stardom: How viral videos are reshaping elections | |
 | A lot of things that had never been seen in political ads have made their way into campaign accounts on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook as the midterm elections approach. Some of them are helping rocket candidates who were barely on the radar in their districts into national prominence. Online video has featured in campaigns for years. What makes this election cycle stand out is the frequency with which candidates, especially Democratic women, have used videos to grab the attention of influential activists and donors. On the Democratic side, biographical videos have had enormous appeal to activist audiences desperate to discover candidates with a path to victory in places where the party has long struggled. That hunger to discover new candidates has coincided with a political moment in which congressional races have been shaken by a surge of unconventional candidates. |
| Mississippi's Pearl River Tea Co. has 'consumers really excited' | |
 | One thing many Southerners enjoy is a glass of ice cold sweet tea in the summertime. Well, just about any time. It made sense then to grow tea in the South, said Pearl River Tea Co. owners Jeff Brown and Donald van de Werken. The USDA Southern Horticulture Research Center in Poplarville works to develop successful plant varieties to help farmers in food production. The research can be anything from pest and disease management, weather resistance or bigger and more productive plants. Brown and van de Werken bought a few hundred bushes from Camellia Forest and Camellia Gardens of North Carolina. They also spent time in India and other places to learn more about growing and producing tea. |
| William Faulkner conference in Oxford focuses on slavery as theme | |
| A conference at the University of Mississippi is focusing on what slavery meant in the life, imagination and writing of William Faulkner. The 45th annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference runs Sunday through Thursday. Most activities are in Oxford, and there are tours of the Delta and other parts of north Mississippi. "Obviously, the South that Faulkner writes about, even in his novels and stories of the 20th century, is to a significant degree a product of African slavery," conference director Jay Watson, the Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies at Ole Miss, said. One session will focus on the history of slavery at the University of Mississippi, and another will provide background about slavery in Oxford, Lafayette County and north Mississippi. |
| Auburn University, Delta take to the skies together | |
 | A partnership with Delta Air Lines announced last week will put some Auburn University aviation students on the fast track to careers with the Atlanta-based airline. The Delta Propel Pilot Career Path Program will identify and help develop prospective pilots from the eight schools the company is launching the program with. Participants will be paired with a Delta pilot who will serve as a mentor to guide them through their college journey and into the aviation field. "It is an exciting time to be an aspiring pilot," said Brent Knoblauch, 717 First Officer and pilot outreach manager for campus programs at Delta. "The next generation is at the cusp of one of the largest pilot hiring booms in recent history." Delta intends to hire 8,000 new pilots over the next 10 years as its current pilots approach mandatory retirement age, according to Delta spokesperson Catherine Simmons. |
| College business officers question tax law's impact seven months later | |
 | If you park at no charge in the university lot in front of your campus office, you might be sticking your employer with a tax bill without even knowing it. Or maybe you ride public transportation to work at an urban college. You purchase your metro pass using money from your paycheck that's routed to a pretax account instead of your taxed paycheck. You also might be unknowingly leaving your employer holding a new tax bill. Colleges and universities are facing possible new tax bills like these, plus a dizzying number of questions about how and when they should be calculated, in the wake of the Republican tax-reform package signed into law at the end of last year. Even seven months after President Trump etched his signature onto the bill, institutions have little guidance on what, specifically, they will be paying. The uncertainty was clear Sunday at the National Association of College and University Business Officers annual meeting. |
| Blackboard's Debt Grows While Canvas Gains Contracts | |
| On July 10th, Bloomberg reported that Blackboard's revenue and earnings are sliding and the company now carries a staggering $1.3 billion in debt. According to Bloomberg, in 2016, Blackboard's market share fell to 28 percent from 31 percent, while Canvas captured 21 percent of the market share, gaining 4 percent over the year. When one just looks at the postsecondary market, however, Canvas now appears to be ahead of the game with 1218 LMS installations, which is two more than Blackboard. Josh Coates, CEO at Instructure reported that the company had had "a strong start to the year, delivering 39% year-over-year revenue growth and continued substantial improvements to their operating margin. He noted that Canvas had a lot to do with Instructure's growth. New clients not only included several U.S. institutions, including Mississippi State University, but also Oxford University with its 44 university colleges and permanent private halls, and their 24,000 students. |
| Early to bed, early to rise | |
 | Angela Farmer, an assistant professor of educational leadership at Mississippi State, writes: With less than a month until most schools resume, the time to slowly begin to return to a somewhat more traditional student sleep schedule is ideal. One of the most cherished luxuries for many students during their summer break is the opportunity to stay up later and sleep in much later than their school calendar allows. While this is both normal and acceptable in many situations, it is important that parents not expect students to adjust to the rigid school schedule overnight. By incrementally adjusting students' sleep patterns a few weeks in advance of the first days of school, parents help their children softly adapt to the rigors of early to rise schedules which, in many cases, may require students to rise around the 6 a.m. hour in order to meet the school bus route. |
| Mississippi morality yielding to anger and hatred? | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: In February, WalletHub.com ranked Mississippi as the 5th angriest and most hateful state behind Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Alaska. And the Clarion-Ledger reported "Mississippi has the third most hate groups in the country" per capita behind Idaho and Tennessee. This comes amidst reports of increases in hate and hate crimes across America. ...Ironically, a 2017 Gallup survey ranked Mississippi as the most religious state in America, followed by Alabama, Utah, Arkansas, and Louisiana. How is it that a state that reveres the Bible can have so many hearts infested with the bitter roots of hatred and anger? A growing number of distinguished Mississippians say we've allowed the politics of hate and anger spewing forth from media, tweets, and politicians to blind us to Scripture and deafen us to moral teachings. |
| Auto tariffs will harm, not help, Mississippi | |
| Sean Suggs, president of Toyota Mississippi, writes: The auto industry has long been an engine of growth for the Magnolia State but that could change if the federal government imposes new taxes in the form of tariffs on imported vehicles and parts. Since 2011, Toyota's Blue Springs plant and its 1,500 team members, have become part of the cultural and economic fabric of the state, investing more than $1.2 billion in the local economy. It's where we build the best-selling vehicle on the planet, the Toyota Corolla. We build 170,000 Corollas a year at our plant. Across Mississippi, our plant generates nearly 6,700 jobs though our 40 parts and materials supplier network and dealers. With the recent investment of $170 million to build the 12th generation Corolla, Toyota is working hard to do its part to keep our state's economy thriving. These accomplishments are being overshadowed by the government's threat to impose a 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles and component parts because they potentially pose a "threat to national security." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State's Joe Moorhead in favor of new redshirt rule | |
| Starting this fall, a new rule goes into effect allowing college football players to appear in up to four games during the season and still maintain their redshirt status. The change is one that coaches have been petitioning for to replace a rule that many felt was antiquated. In the past, if a player stepped onto the field for one snap it counted as an entire year of eligibility unless a medical redshirt waiver was obtained by the NCAA. Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead is in favor of the new redshirt rule and plans to identify which players will benefit the most from it to further their development for the future. Of course the redshirt rule doesn't only apply to true freshmen. Although the new rule is not retroactive, a player who has not utilized his redshirt year during his college career can take advantage of the change and play in four games without losing a season of eligibility. |
| Mississippi State picked third in SEC West | |
| For the first time in three years, the Mississippi State football team wasn't picked to finish in the bottom two of the Southeastern Conference Western Division. On Friday, the media picked MSU to finish third in the SEC West behind Alabama, which is predicted to win the conference, and Auburn. MSU received two votes to win the SEC West and one vote to the win the SEC Championship Game. MSU placed five players on the media's preseason All-SEC team, two of them on the first team: defensive linemen Jeffery Simmons and Montez Sweat, a repeat of when both were on last year's postseason All-SEC team. Safety Mark McLaurin was a third-team selection. Also Friday, MSU senior center Elgton Jenkins earned a spot on the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, which is given to the nation's top center. |
| Mississippi State's Joe Moorhead confident but not cocky | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Logan Lowery writes: There's an extremely fine line between being confident and coming across as cocky. Mississippi State football coach Joe Moorhead seems to have the unique ability to be self-assured in his own abilities yet still not turn people away by being too prideful. At least that's the impression I've had in my interactions with him since he was hired at the end of November. Based on all the accounts I've read and the conversations I had with several media members that heard Moorhead speak at SEC Media Days for the first time, they came away with the same with the same sort of opinion I share of a blue-collar, down-to-earth man yet confident coach. ...The overall theme of Moorhead's message on Wednesday seemed to be his plan to turn MSU from a good team into a great team. |
| Ben Howland's Bulldogs find culture, continuity | |
| Ben Howland thinks his Mississippi State men's basketball program found what it's been missing in the final month of his third season. It is an abstract element: the 11-6 run to end the season and the surge to the National Invitation Tournament semifinals was impressive, but not heights the program had not seen before. Howland thinks his program found continuity, found culture. The sustainable part comes in how they established it: there was no intense meeting to set the scene for what was to come, no turning point to turn to. It was nothing more than players willing to accept a coach's message. "I think everybody just bought into what Coach Howland was saying and what he wanted us to do," junior guard Quinndary Weaherspoon said. "They took themselves out and did everything as a team." |
| Former players praise Mississippi State's hiring of Scott Foxhall | |
| Ty Kelley was selling medical equipment for Stryker after his baseball career finally ended in the independent leagues in 2015, and one day his job took him to Raleigh, North Carolina. He had forgotten his pitching coach at Auburn, Scott Foxhall, then held the same position at North Carolina State, and Kelley just so happened to run into Foxhall in town. They immediately picked up a conversation, "like we never missed a beat." Kindness is one trait of Foxhall's that is brought up by his former players, even ones nearly a decade removed from playing for him. Now that Foxhall is Mississippi State's pitching coach, those former players are happy to see him in such a prominent role. "They're getting a knowledgeable coach that really cares about his players," Travis Orwig told The Dispatch. |
| Ole Miss rolls out new flex football season ticket package | |
| In an attempt to boost season ticket sales, Ole Miss has introduced a new football season ticket package for the upcoming season. The school's ticket office this week announced the Rebel Flex Pass, which buys one ticket to all seven home games for $199. Not unlike most Power Five programs competing with lucrative television contracts that make it convenient for fans to save money by watching games from their home, Ole Miss has had more trouble selling season tickets than in years past. Exacerbating the issue again is the fallout from the NCAA's investigation into the program, including a multi-year postseason ban that will keep the Rebels out of a bowl for the second straight season unless the penalty is reserved on appeal. Ole Miss had sold 42,359 season tickets as of Friday afternoon, associate athletics director for ticket operations Wesley Owen said -- an 18 percent decrease from the 51,806 sold at the same time last year. |
| Evin Beck named Associate Athletic Director for External Relations at Auburn | |
| Evin Beck, who has spent the previous eight years in development and fundraising at Georgia and Ole Miss, has been named an Associate Athletics Director for External Relations at Auburn, Director of Athletics Allen Greene announced Saturday. Beck will direct Auburn's external units including communications, marketing, ticketing and the program's creative content unit. Beck most recently served as an Assistant Athletics Director for Development at the University of Georgia where since August 2015 he worked with the Georgia Bulldog Club assisting with all facets of fundraising. Beck played an integral role in the planning and launch of the Magill Society, the new philanthropic giving arm of Georgia Athletics. Prior to joining the University of Georgia, Beck spent over five years at the University of Mississippi with the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation. |
| More Than 100 Ohio State Alumni Allege Abuse by Former University Sports Doctor | |
 | More than 100 former Ohio State University students have alleged that Richard Strauss, a former OSU sports doctor, sexually abused them, the university announced on Friday. The allegations span the years 1979 to 1997, when Strauss worked at the institution. The announcement is the latest news in Ohio State's investigation into Strauss, who died by suicide in 2005. Ohio State opened the investigation in early April, after a former wrestler reported Strauss's alleged abuse of him to the university. Investigators at Perkins Coie, the law firm conducting the inquiry, have interviewed more than 200 former students and staff members, and plan to speak with at least 100 more, according to the university. Strauss served as a team physician in the Ohio State Athletic Department from 1981 to 1995. |
| Baylor 'Set the Football Program on Fire' as Scapegoat in Sex-Assault Scandal, Says Ex-Athletic Director | |
| Baylor University's former athletics director has a clear interpretation of how its high-profile sexual-assault scandal unfolded two years ago: A handful of board members and university officials concocted a plan to ensure that the football team would take the fall. In the transcript of a deposition filed in federal district court on Friday, Ian McCaw -- who was athletic director from 2003 to 2016, when he resigned after being disciplined -- outlined in detail his perspective on the crisis. It led to the firing of Art Briles, the university's football coach, and the demotion of Kenneth Starr, the president, who later resigned. McCaw was deposed last month by lawyers for 10 women who are suing Baylor, claiming that the institution violated Title IX, the gender-equity law. Parts of the deposition were quoted in earlier court documents, but it wasn't released in full until Friday. |
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