Friday, July 27, 2018   
 
Bollworm control a challenge in Mississippi cotton
In July, many Mississippi cotton growers were contending with high bollworm egg lays from flights of moths coming out of corn into cotton fields, says Dr. Angus Catchot, Mississippi State University Extension professor of entomology and plant pathology. "We've been in a bollworm flight, depending on where you are in the state, since July 3, and it shows no sign of letting up," he said at the recent joint meeting of the Mississippi Boll Weevil Management Corporation and the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Cotton Policy Committee. "I've had a lot of calls this morning [July 19] from producers in the south Delta area, reporting 40 percent to 50 percent egg lays. This is the second round for those folks. It's rolling north and east, and it's been heavy and it's been consistent for a while."
 
City: New bollards to make Starkville event staffing more efficient
The city of Starkville is installing sleeves for bollards at selected locations throughout downtown and midtown. Work installing the bollard sleeves is expected to be finished by the end of the week, according to City Engineer Edward Kemp. In all, 104 bollard sleeves are being installed this week. Kemp said 70 of those are being installed downtown, while 34 are being installed in the midtown area between South Montgomery Street and Jarnigan Street. City officials looked to installing the bollards as a way to help block off certain areas for events, such as the Cotton District Arts Festival or Bulldog Bash. Mayor Lynn Spruill said the bollards can help reduce the number of police officers needed to close streets during events.
 
New butcher shop aims to offer local cuts in Starkville
In Starkville Eric King plans to open King's Craft Butcher and Cafe at 211 S. Jackson St., Suite B, by the end of next month. A few years ago, King spent time in New York working for a whole butcher shop. Originally from Noxubee County, King decided to move to Starkville and open a similar butcher shop but with his own flair. King intends to provide as much meat as he can from local farmers for the public. His goal is to educate the public on varying cuts of meat that are not normally offered in grocery stores, such as the cut of beef known as a Denver steak. The cafe portion will offer an 80-person seating area with a full bar. The menu will be "all inclusive," even providing vegetarian and vegan dishes.
 
Second indictment issued in parks embezzlement case
A second former Starkville Parks and Recreation employee has been indicted for an embezzlement scheme that saw five arrested through December and January. A grand jury indicted Marion Watson, 46, of Eupora for conspiracy to defraud the state. Watson was served her indictment on Tuesday, according to files available Wednesday in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court. Former parks director Herman Peters was also served an indictment for conspiracy to defraud the state on Monday. Watson, according to her indictment, conspired with Peters to defraud the city of Starkville by "obtaining payment or allowance from public funds of the city of Starkville for employment wages based on a false or fraudulent claim."
 
Senate fireworks, Reeves v. Hood: what to watch for at Neshoba County Fair
Many Mississippi politicians on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will participate in a time-honored tradition: stump speaking at the Neshoba County Fair, which politicians have done since 1896. With pending U.S. House and Senate races in November, and statewide elections next year, this year's political speaking should draw crowds and spark political debate for months to come. Here are a few things to watch for: November's special U.S. Senate election for the seat vacated by longtime Sen. Thad Cochran should be the main event for the fair politicking. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant to fill the seat until after the election; former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Espy and Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel will appear at the same forum for the first time. Each will give speeches on Thursday.
 
New auditor first millennial to hold statewide office in Deep South
Mississippi's first millennial to hold a statewide office is likely the first from his generation to assume such a post in the Deep South. The milestone reached by Shad White, who was sworn in on July 17 as Mississippi's new state auditor, might be seen as a paradox in a state where policymakers and the business community have been fretting over the exodus of the state's college graduates. "You can start your own business, you can run for office," he said. "There's so much that can be done. The impact you can have is so much bigger here than it can be in other places, in big cities where you can easily be lost among the crowd." White, who will finish Pickering's unexpired term through January 2020, said he will run for election to a four-year term next year. Previous statewide races show Mississippi voters have not shied away from electing young candidates. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves was 29 when he was elected as state treasurer.
 
Reeves claims vindication in road controversy; MDOT head McGrath maintains politics at play
Mississippi Department of Transportation Executive Director Melinda McGrath, in a letter to Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, did not take back her claim that Senate pressure played a role in the decision to construct a $2 million frontage road from a neighborhood where Reeves lives to a nearby traffic light. McGrath wrote the letter in response to a request from Reeves for her to document instances of undue pressure from the Legislature. In a 20 minute news conference Thursday at the state Capitol where Reeves took limited questions, he presented the McGrath letter as vindication that no undue pressure was applied from the Senate on the project. He referenced a paragraph in the letter where McGrath wrote, "I have never indicated any inappropriate, unacceptable or unlawful communication with a member of the Legislature."
 
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves: MDOT director McGrath refutes road claims
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in a Thursday press conference said a letter from state transportation director Melinda McGrath "refutes" her statements in a Clarion Ledger report about a $2 million road -- now halted -- being built from his gated subdivision to nearby shopping and dining. But a reading of the letter does not appear to do so, and to date no officials with the Mississippi Department of Transportation -- including McGrath -- have refuted her comments to the Clarion Ledger weeks ago that there was political pressure to build the frontage road along Lakeland Drive. In his press conference at the Capitol on Thursday, Reeves had a partial quote from McGrath's letter on a posterboard. It read: "I have never indicated any inappropriate, unacceptable, or unlawful communication with a member of the Legislature." But in the letter, that sentence continued by saying, " -- and cannot find any media reports stating the same."
 
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves to AG Jim Hood: No records related to controversial road project
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves says his office does not have any records related to a now halted state road that would have connected his gated subdivision with a nearby shopping and dining hub, according to a letter Reeves sent to Attorney General Jim Hood. Reeves was responding to a letter Hood sent to him, select senators, state transportation officials and others last week in which he announced an investigation in to the road project and cautioned recipients to preserve any related records. Reeves released his response to Hood at a Thursday press conference. Reeves said attorneys advised him that Hood's requests for documents created "no legal obligation on the Senate, my office or any individual senators to produce such documents." However, Reeves wrote to Hood, "I, like you, want to resolve any outstanding questions about the project for the public's interest, and therefore, I am voluntarily responding to your request."
 
Cindy Hyde-Smith among legislators in WH press conference where Trump announced EU tariff concessions
President Trump invited seven Senators from heavy agricultural states to a press conference between himself and European Union Leader Jean-Claude Juncker in which they discussed tariffs, then the lawmakers went on to have a private meeting on trade as scheduled. The press conference with the EU leader seemed to come as a surprise to most of the lawmakers, as they were only expecting to discuss trade with the President. At the beginning of the press conference, Trump recognized each of the invited senators including Senator Hyde-Smith by name. During the announcement Trump said he and Juncker were working together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods.
 
Mueller Examining Trump's Tweets in Wide-Ranging Obstruction Inquiry
For years, President Trump has used Twitter as his go-to public relations weapon, mounting a barrage of attacks on celebrities and then political rivals even after advisers warned he could be creating legal problems for himself. Those concerns now turn out to be well founded. The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, is scrutinizing tweets and negative statements from the president about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, according to three people briefed on the matter. Several of the remarks came as Mr. Trump was also privately pressuring the men -- both key witnesses in the inquiry -- about the investigation, and Mr. Mueller is examining whether the actions add up to attempts to obstruct the investigation by both intimidating witnesses and pressuring senior law enforcement officials to tamp down the inquiry.
 
Former Navy secretary Ray Mabus: Trump's transgender ban 'dumbest government policy'
Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus bashed President Trump's move to prevent transgender individuals from serving in the military, as the president's effort hits the one-year mark. "That strikes me as the dumbest government policy you could possibly pursue and it weakens us and hurts our military," Mabus said Thursday evening at the Veterans in Global Leadership event in Washington, D.C. Trump in July 2017 abruptly announced on Twitter that he would ban transgender individuals from serving "in any capacity" in the U.S. military. The Obama administration had ordered the military to begin allowing transgender troops to serve openly in the U.S. armed forces, with a year of review beforehand -- during which Trump made his announcement. "It worries me that we have a president who makes decisions by whim and by tweet about how we're going to use our military," he said.
 
U.S. Economy Surges To A 4.1-Percent Growth Pace In Second Quarter
The U.S. economy had a blockbuster second quarter, with growth surging to a 4.1 percent pace, the Commerce Department said Friday. That was nearly double the first quarter rate of 2.2 percent and the strongest pace in nearly four years. President Trump has been steadfastly claiming that his policies will catapult the U.S. economy into a much higher rate of growth --- 4 percent over the next few years. That would be about double the growth rate in recent years. And it would almost certainly mean a big boost in the standard of living for many Americans, with higher wages and better public services as the government raked in more tax dollars from a booming economy.
 
Climate change is supercharging a hot and dangerous summer
In the town of Sodankyla, Finland, the thermometer on July 17 registered a record-breaking 90 degrees, a remarkable figure given that Sodankyla is 59 miles north of the Arctic Circle, in a region known for winter snowmobiling and an abundance of reindeer. This is a hot, strange and dangerous summer across the planet. Greece is in mourning after scorching heat and high winds fueled wildfires that have killed more than 80 people. Japan recorded its highest temperature in history, 106 degrees, in a heat wave that killed 65 people in a week and hospitalized 22,000, shortly after catastrophic flooding killed 200. In the United States, 35 weather stations in the past month have set new marks for warm overnight temperatures. The brutal weather has been supercharged by human-induced climate change, scientists say. Climate models for three decades have predicted exactly what the world is seeing this summer.
 
Transgender UGA employee sues over 'discriminatory' health care benefits policy
A University of Georgia employee who appeared on a recent episode of a Netflix reality show is suing his employer, the University System of Georgia, the university's healthcare providers and administrators over health care guidelines he believes are discriminatory to him and other transgender workers. The employee, who goes by the name Skyler Jay, said he was denied reimbursement for a May 2017 surgery to treat gender dysphoria, described by medical organizations as a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender and the gender with which the person identifies. Jay appealed the denial, but said his health insurance provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield, refused his appeal because the plan is self-insured and had "no flexibility" to override the plan exclusion. Jay said University System of Georgia leaders denied his request to discuss the dispute.
 
College-going rate for Arkansas declines again
By one measure, the percentage of students from Arkansas public high schools going on to college dipped for the second-straight year. Higher-education leaders on Thursday questioned the meaning of data that doesn't include some student populations, such as private-school graduates and Arkansans attending college outside the state. But such a decline in Arkansas, paired with earlier reports of overall lower college enrollment, may work against efforts championed by elected officials to boost the number of college graduates in a state whose educational attainment ranks below national levels. A report by the state Department of Higher Education at a meeting Thursday showed 31,315 public high school graduates in the 2016-17 school year. Out of that group, 15,094 students, or 48.2 percent went on to attend public or private colleges or universities in Arkansas last fall.
 
U. of Tennessee explores uses for Eugenia Williams mansion, left untouched 20 years
Time has stood still for the Eugenia Williams home at 4848 Lyons View Pike in Knoxville. That is not only because the pre-World War II home has been vacant and little visited or touched in recent decades, but also due to the fact that its future has been hanging in the balance for a while. Because of strict stipulations that it could not be sold when willed by Williams to the University of Tennessee system, and because UT presidents no longer live in university-owned homes, as intended in the bequest, it is in limbo. However, UT has at least recently pulled out a can of restoration polish of the proverbial kind, as it has announced that a committee chaired by former UT President Dr. Joe Johnson has been created to look at uses for it. While there is no formal timeline for a decision, UT system associate vice president for communications and marketing Tiffany Carpenter hopes some progress can at last be made.
 
Republicans and Democrats Both Think Higher Ed's on the Wrong Track -- for Very Different Reasons
Most Americans aren't fond of where higher education in the United States is headed, a new Pew Research Center survey has found. To learn why, the results say, find out a person's political party. The findings, announced on Thursday, said about 61 percent of Americans think higher education is moving in the wrong direction. About three-fourths of Republicans and those who lean Republican believe so. The figure was lower, but still a slim majority at 52 percent, for Democrats and those who lean Democratic. That partisan divide is consistent with 2017 Pew surveys, the center said on its website. Last year the organization reported that in general, Republicans feel "colder" toward college professors than Democrats do, and are more likely to think that colleges and universities affect the country negatively.
 
Survey: Most Americans think higher ed is headed in wrong direction
A new survey of the U.S. public suggests continued problems regarding the image of higher education -- and negative perceptions are not limited to Republicans. A solid majority of all adults (61 percent) believe that higher education is headed in the wrong direction, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. But that view is much more likely to be held by Republicans or those who lean Republican than by Democrats or those who lean Democrat. While both Republicans and Democrats express skepticism about higher education, they do so for different reasons -- Democrats are more concerned about tuition rates, and Republicans are more concerned about their perceptions of campus politics. The survey is among a series in the last two years in which the public has been asked about impressions of higher education. The questions haven't all been identical, so comparisons may be difficult, but many of the findings suggest doubts about higher education.
 
New HudsonAlpha building is 'next step' for Alabama biotech industry
More sweeping views across a high, open lobby. More glass and natural light. More tall columns of Alabama pine. More of everything that helped make Huntsville's first HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology building a magnet for national biotech talent and virtual tourist attraction. It's all here again in a new 100,000-square-foot building opening on the HudsonAlpha campus in Cummings Research Park. Located behind the Jackson Center meeting facility an easy walk from the original building, the new Paul Propst Center will house the institute's growing education and research programs and its growing biotech companies. The huge building also features "clean rooms" for handling biological samples, private rooms for counseling patients from the center's genomic medicine clinic, and classrooms and labs for the students and teachers who come each year from across north Alabama.
 
In-class cellphone and laptop use lowers exam scores, a new study shows
Yes, cellphones and laptops do affect students' grades, and no, students can't multitask as well as they say they can. Arnold Glass, a psychology professor at Rutgers University at New Brunswick, and Mengxue Kang, a graduate student, recently published a study in Educational Psychology that they say reveals a causal link between cellphone and laptop use during class and poorer exam scores. Glass has been teaching for over 40 years and has been proactive about bringing new technology into the classroom. He's noticed changes in his students' behavior as they've become more used to the technology, and some of those changes are for the worse. "For about five or six years, [student] performance was getting better and better," he said. "But because I was attuned to this, and because I was collecting an enormous amount of data, I was immediately aware when things started changing. Students started ignoring me -- they used to not ignore me."


SPORTS
 
Former rivals, Scott Foxhall joins Chris Lemonis at Mississippi State
Rivalries usually don't produce friendships. Those familiar with the Egg Bowl know that all too well. But one rivalry in the state of South Carolina is responsible for the nucleus of Mississippi State's coaching staff. Head coach Chris Lemonis and newly appointed pitching coach Scott Foxhall played and coached against each other for well more than a decade at The Citadel and the College of Charleston, respectively. "I've known him a long time, and I trust him. We've always had a great relationship, and that's not common when you have rival schools," Lemonis said. "Being able to keep that relationship over many years has been huge."
 
Chris Lemonis welcomes former rival Scott Foxhall to Mississippi State baseball staff
Chris Lemonis and Scott Foxhall were crosstown rivals for 11 years. When Lemonis was an assistant coach at The Citadel, Foxhall was an assistant coach less than a mile away at the College of Charleston. Their recruiting territories overlapped and so did their paths, which made it easier to build a friendship. The men formed a mutual respect, one that lasted for more than 10 years working in the same town. After all that time, they finally are aligned on the same staff. One of Lemonis' first acts as Mississippi State's baseball coach was hiring Foxhall as his pitching coach. Foxhall, like Lemonis, isn't one to leave jobs in a hurry. He has coached at three schools since 1996, but he decided to leave his last position as pitching coach at North Carolina State to work with Lemonis.
 
Tom Anagnost will have young Mississippi State soccer squad in 2018
Tom Anagnost is ready to change gears. Last season in his first year as Mississippi State women's soccer coach, Anagnost had one of the nation's most experienced teams. Having older players like Mallory Eubanks and Catalina Perez to rely on allowed the Bulldogs to have one of their most successful seasons in recent memory. But roster turnover is a reality all coaches have to deal with at some point. This season, Anagnost will lead a team that features five seniors, 15 freshmen, and three transfers on its 29-player roster. "This will be the youngest team I have had by far and the most inexperienced team I have had," said Anagnost, who also has been a head coach at Miami and Central Michigan.
 
Marucci to become exclusive baseball equipment supplier for LSU
The hometown baseball team will soon be swinging the hometown-made bat. LSU and Marucci Sports announced a deal Thursday for the bat and equipment manufacturer to provide gear for the LSU baseball team. Marucci will be LSU's exclusive source for bats, fielding and batting gloves, catcher's gear, bags and other "protective products." The Tigers will still wear Nike uniforms, according to LSU coach Paul Mainieri. He said LSU players will also use Marucci wooden bats in their summer league activities. "It's kind of the American dream," Mainieri said of Marucci. "They've worked hard. They are universally respected. It only makes sense for the flagship university of Louisiana to be partnered with a make-good local company. The timing was right."
 
Dan Mullen issues statement on report involving police, 10 Florida football players
Multiple football players continue to face possible disciplinary action from the University of Florida following an on-campus confrontation involving airsoft rifles. After contents of a University Police Department report, first obtained by First Coast News in Jacksonville, were revealed Wednesday night, Florida coach Dan Mullen issued a statement Thursday on the 10 players named in the report. "We were made aware of the incident when it occurred and immediately began following campus protocol," the statement read. "This has been an opportunity for us to educate our players about the dangers and negative perceptions that can occur when conflict arises, and how important honesty and good decision making is." It has been a rough week in the headlines for the UF football program. Freshman defensive back Justin Watkins is facing four charges, including two felonies, following his second arrest in the past 11 weeks. Mullen suspended Watkins on Tuesday.
 
Subpoenas Received by Kansas Underscore Level of Scrutiny on Adidas in Probe
It's been 303 days since Joon Kim, then the acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William Sweeney Jr., assistant director-in-charge of the New York office of the FBI, announced 10 high-profile arrests of college basketball coaches, sneaker executives and other prominent figures. Adidas executive Jim Gatto, former Auburn associate head coach Chuck Person and eight other men with deep ties to college hoops were charged with wire fraud, money laundering and other felonies in connection with an alleged conspiracy to "bribe" (less pejoratively, "persuade") elite college basketball recruits. Players were paid tens of thousands of dollars to matriculate to certain universities sponsored by Adidas and, once those players turned pro, sign endorsement deals with Adidas.



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