| Tuesday, July 31, 2018 |
| Meridian school board accepts $385K Hardin Foundation grant, to work with MSU-Meridian | |
 | The Meridian Public School District accepted a $385,000 grant over two years from the Phil Hardin Foundation Monday during a School Board of Trustees meeting. The grant will cover teacher recruitment, recognition and the Teach Meridian grant. The grant will allow the district to recognize teachers and staff, including achievements such as perfect attendance and mentorship for teachers in the district. Earlier this month, the district announced the Phil Hardin Association grant would allow expansion of the Teach Meridian campaign, a partnership with Mississippi State University-Meridian to gives financial assistance to prospective teachers. "We are excited about the opportunity to expand our Teach Meridian campaign in partnership with MSU-Meridian," MPSD Superintendent Amy Carter said. |
| Beckman replaces Green as commander of Engineer Research and Development Center | |
 | Army Col. Ivan P. Beckman replaced Col. Bryan Green as commander of the U.S. Army's Engineer Research and Development Center during a change of command ceremony Friday at ERDC headquarters. Beckman has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the United States Military Academy, a master's in engineering from University of Missouri, Rolla, and a master's of strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. He is a licensed professional engineer in Missouri since 1995, and is presently pursuing a doctorate in engineering from Mississippi State University. |
| Golden Triangle Development LINK discusses industrial park's potential | |
 | In Monday morning's joint meeting, representatives from the city and county discussed the economic future of the industrial park project, along with the obstacles holding them back. The Starkville Board of Aldermen and Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors met with members of the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Association on Monday morning for a special joint-meeting. Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins and District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams were absent from the meeting. Members from the Golden Triangle Development LINK came to the meeting to give a presentation on the ongoing construction of the industrial park project and its potential for recruiting industry along with the overall economic development opportunities involved with the project. |
| SoS Delbert Hosemann highlights election security | |
 | Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is touting continuing efforts to strengthen the electronic security of the state's voting system even as he fears that voter mistrust in ballot security may foster apathetic turnout. Hosemann said he's been focused on cybersecurity efforts for years now. The 2016 presidential election strengthened his resolve to continue such measures. "I think 2016 just brought to light some of the fears I had," Hosemann told the Daily Journal during a visit to Tupelo on Tuesday. The secretary of state described ongoing but unsuccessful attempts to hack into the state's electronic voting systems, including digital voter registration records, prior to the most recent presidential election. |
| Legislators still searching for roads solution as likely special session nears | |
| Despite ongoing meetings to hammer out an agreement, there still does not seem to be consensus on what proposals could pass during an anticipated mid-August special session. The session, which Gov. Phil Bryant has hinted at, would include funding state and local transportation improvements and divvying up funds from the 2010 BP drilling rig explosion and ensuing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. "Gov. Bryant, Speaker (Philip) Gunn and I have been talking since the session ended about how we can invest more in roads and bridges and use the BP settlement in a way that creates more jobs and opportunities for Mississippians," Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who presides over the Senate, said recently. "If Gov. Bryant calls a special session and sets the agenda, the Senate will consider those options, and if he doesn't, we will address those issues in January." |
| Espy: Trump Tariffs Hurt Mississippi Farmers; Opponents Dodge Issue | |
| President Donald Trump's tariffs on China are hurting Mississippi farmers, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Espy said in a press conference at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum on Friday. "I've talked to farmers in the Mississippi Delta who grow soybeans, and they are hurting," said Espy, who was the U.S. secretary of agriculture under President Clinton. In March, Trump announced he would impose the taxes on steel and aluminum made in China, tweeting that "trade wars are good and easy to win." The next month, China announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. soybeans. If elected, Espy said he will be willing to travel to China to work to improve trade relations, and that he would "work with any president, as long as the benefit will be for Mississippians and for Mississippi farmers." Espy pointed to his experience negotiating trade deals that he says are good for Mississippians, including the North American Free Trade Agreement. |
| Trump Is Putting Indelible Conservative Stamp on Judiciary | |
 | With another judge expected to be confirmed Tuesday by the Senate, President Trump and Senate Republicans are leaving an ever-expanding imprint on the judiciary, nudging powerful appeals courts rightward through a determined effort to nominate and confirm a steady procession of young conservative jurists. The confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court would tilt the balance of the nation's highest court, but, already, the president and the Senate have proved strikingly efficient at installing judges to lifetime appointments on appeals courts that handle far more cases. The expected appeals court confirmation on Tuesday of Britt C. Grant, 40, a Georgia Supreme Court justice who was once a clerk for Judge Kavanaugh, would be Mr. Trump's 24th circuit court appointment -- more than any other president had secured at this point in his presidency since the creation of the regional circuit court system in 1891, according to an analysis of judicial records by The New York Times. |
| Trump Goes to War With Koch Brothers | |
 | President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted influential conservative donors Charles and David Koch, dubbing them a "total joke" who are "against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade." The president's harsh words for the powerful brothers came a day after they signaled an intention to shift away from their practice of pushing for Republican-only bills and policy solutions, saying they would seek and push bipartisan proposals, which is seen as a repudiation of Trump. It also came a day after the Koch organization announced it will not support Rep. Kevin Cramer in the North Dakota Republican's Senate bid. The tweets made public a long-running feud within Republican politics between so-called "establishment" camps and Trump. |
| Trump administration considers new tax cut for the wealthy | |
 | The Treasury Department is considering a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans through a change that would not need approval from Congress, officials said, a move that would follow a package of tax cuts last year that also benefited the super-rich. The agency is studying whether to allow investment income, known as capital gains, to be adjusted for inflation in a way that shields more of it from taxation. Most capital gains are paid by wealthier Americans, who disproportionately hold large portfolios of investments. But the use of executive power on such a significant change to the tax law would be highly unusual and could be vulnerable to a legal challenge. Senior administration officials have discussed whether to proceed but have not concluded they have legal authority to do so. The move was rejected during the George H.W. Bush administration because it was seen as outside the scope of the Treasury Department's authority and only attainable via an act of Congress. |
| White workers in the minority at this Pennsylvania chicken plant struggle to adapt | |
 | In a country where whites will lose majority status in about a quarter-century, and where research suggests that demographic anxiety is contributing to many of the social fissures polarizing the United States, from immigration policy to welfare reform to the election of President Trump, the story of the coming decades will be, to some degree, the story of how white people adapt to a changing country. It will be the story of people like Heaven Engle and Venson Heim, both of whom were beginning careers on the bottom rung of an industry -- the Bell & Evans Plant 2 chicken-processing facility in rural Fredericksburg, Pa. -- remade by Latinos, whose population growth is fueling that of America, and were now, in unusually intense circumstances, coming to understand what it means to be outnumbered. |
| Governor proposed the merger of Ole Miss, Mississippi State into one 'greater' university in 1928 | |
 | For two weeks in 1928, a Mississippi governor proposed the consolidation of the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University into a "greater" university located in Jackson, according to a recently released book. "Hidden History of Jackson," co-authored by Josh Foreman and Ryan Starrett and published by Arcadia Publishing and The History Press, gives a chronological look at some of Jackson's lesser known history from the 1700s to the 1950s. One particular story concerns a move to merge the state's two largest universities into one. In his inaugural 1928 address, then-Gov. Theodore Bilbo said he "was obligated by his desire to serve the state" to move Ole Miss and Mississippi State universities to 100 acres once occupied by the state insane asylum in Jackson. |
| Ole Miss graduates receive Rural Physician Scholarships | |
 | A Booneville native is receiving a prestigious scholarship to help pay for medical training at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson. Kaleb Barnes is the son of Rodney and Melissa Barnes of Booneville. He has been awarded the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship, which is valued at $30,000 per year. Two other Ole Miss graduates also received the scholarship: Cal Wilkerson of Woodville and Alison Redding of Laurel. The scholarship program is designed to provide more primary care physicians in rural areas of Mississippi. Upon completion of medical training, the students must enter a residency program in one of five primary care specialties: family medicine, general internal medicine, medicine-pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology or pediatrics. |
| Southern Miss program that helped 38,000 ends due to Trump administration cuts | |
 | A University of Southern Mississippi program that helped more than 38,000 south Mississippi residents navigate the complexities of the federal health insurance marketplace is ending because of cuts by the Trump administration. The Mississippi Health Access Collaborative was funded with a $1.4 million, three-year grant that expires Sept. 12. Continuing funding was cut to $100,000, which can no longer sustain the project, said director Kathryn Rehner. "It might be more feasible for a smaller entity or a nonprofit, but it's not something we can do through the University of Southern Mississippi," she said. The collaborative, known as an Affordable Care Act navigator program, helped enroll 2,000 eligible south Mississippians in the Affordable Care Act and assisted tens of thousands more with health insurance consumer issues, including insurance eligibility questions. |
| Delta State professor, students present at UN conference | |
| The Geospatial Information Technology department at Delta State University is visiting unique places and making international contributions. Recently several students accompanied Dr. Talbot J. Brooks to Vienna to present and participate in a United Nations conference. "The GIT center here at Delta State has a long history of partnering with the UN; we have been involved with them for about 12 years now. We have worked with developing nations through the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response or UN-SPIDER program. We have also traveled to China, Laos, Nepal and Mozambique where we worked in an advisory capacity with local teams," said Brooks. |
| Hands-On School Garden Teaches Delta Kids About Nutrition | |
 | The back doors to Leland Elementary School open and a group of fourth and fifth graders file into their school's garden. Colorful signs and flowers line the path. On this humid Delta day, young gardeners make pasta salad with the fresh vegetables they grew themselves. Ryan Betz, co-founder and program manager of Delta EATS, a school gardening program, is going over cooking techniques. "The schools really provide a really great institution in the community in which we can have the gardens take root," he explains. "People really underestimate how much food is part of our education." He said Delta EATS provides instruction throughout the school year. "During that time, we're doing garden lessons that touch on math, science, English, language arts, social studies. The education, it's really important to bring that here to the Delta because historically it's been underserved." |
| Mississippi sees drop in number of children getting free summer lunches | |
| The number of children participating in Mississippi's federally-funded summer lunch program decreased between 2016 and 2017, meaning thousands of children in the state may have missed out on lunch last summer, according to a new report by the Food Research & Action Center. This drop in participation is one more roadblock in Mississippi's ongoing struggle to reach children during the summer who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch during the school year. In July 2017, the state served lunch to 7.7 children for every 100 who participated in the school-year lunch program. This year's participation data has not yet been released. Nationwide, participation in the summer lunch program has decreased since summer 2016, due in part to a lack of public and private funding for summer enrichment and educational programs for low-income kids; summer meals are often served through these programs. |
| College Students Facing Hunger Need More School Support, Researchers Say | |
 | As students enter college this fall, many will hunger for more than knowledge. Up to half of college students in recent published studies say they either are not getting enough to eat or are worried about it. This food insecurity is most prevalent at community colleges, but it's common at public and private four-year schools as well. Student activists and advocates in the education community have drawn attention to the problem in recent years, and the food pantries that have sprung up at hundreds of schools are perhaps the most visible sign. Some schools nationally also have instituted the Swipe Out Hunger program, which allows students to donate their unused meal plan vouchers, or "swipes," to other students to use at campus dining halls or food pantries. That's a start, say analysts studying the problem of campus hunger, but more systemwide solutions are needed. |
| U. of Alabama to receive $15 million gift | |
 | A $15 million gift to the University of Alabama by Lockheed Martin Corp. President Marillyn A. Hewson and her husband, James, is the largest one-time financial contribution in the Capstone's history. "I am deeply thankful for the strong business education I received at the University of Alabama," said Marillyn Hewson in a statement released by UA on Monday. "That education helped prepare me for many of the challenges and opportunities I've encountered throughout my career -- from the day I joined the company as an industrial engineer to my current role as CEO." Hewson, chairwoman, president and CEO of the aerospace company, and her husband made the $15 million gift in Lockheed Martin stock to the Culverhouse College of Business, Vice President of Advancement Bob Pierce said. Previous gifts by the alumni couple have supported the Marillyn Hewson Faculty Fellows Program in Data Analytics and Cyber Security, a high-tech Data Analytics and Cyber Security lab, and an endowed undergraduate scholarship and graduate assistantship. |
| Auburn University researchers work to make buying local food safer for consumers | |
 | The local foods movement is continuing to grow in the U.S., and consumers want to know more about where their food is coming from. Auburn University researchers are beginning to address how to educate and train local and regional meat farmers on ways to ensure a more secure food chain. Working with a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture for more than $4 million, the researchers are looking to bridge gaps between knowledge and practices in production and distribution of local foods. Led by Christy Bratcher, an Auburn University College of Agriculture professor and director of the Foods Systems Institute, the research team is looking at ways to ensure meat is safe to eat, especially when it is produced by small production facilities. |
| Vanderbilt condemns racist email promoting white supremacy sent to students, staff | |
 | Vanderbilt University is condemning a "disturbing" email containing a racist message sent to some students, faculty and staff Monday night. The email contained racist language and promoted white supremacy, a message on the school's Twitter account said early Tuesday morning. The message "...violates our fundamental commitment to fostering an inclusive community and is absolutely unacceptable," the statement said. The university is investigating the source of the email. "Late last night, we became aware that a deeply disturbing email containing racist language and promoting white supremacy was sent to members of the Vanderbilt community," university Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan R. Wente said mid Tuesday morning. |
| U. of Florida commuters face fines for overnight parking | |
 | University of Florida students using a "Park and Ride" decal to commute to class in their cars will no longer be able to park overnight in on-campus lots. Beginning Aug. 16, UF's Transportation and Parking Services will enforce new rules, which include no overnight parking between 3 and 5 a.m. in "Any Decal" lots. The rules are a result of increasingly limited parking spaces on campus, said UF marketing specialist AnnaLee Rodriguez. "We have events that start up at night and we always anticipate that the Park and Ride lots will be empty by this time," she said. More space also will be needed for football game parking in the fall, Rodriguez said. Cars parked in the area overnight will be subjected to fines or impoundment. The university also will begin construction at the student parking lot on Gale Lemerand Drive in the fall to accommodate more cars. |
| Looking for an easy A? These U. of South Carolina professors are rated the easiest | |
 | Annie Hildrup is no slacker. But even Hildrup, a University of South Carolina master's student seeking a degree in mass communication, understands it's not a good idea to load up a class schedule with all difficult classes. "At the beginning, I was looking for easiness and trying to make sure I didn't overload myself," said Hildrup, who also attended USC for her undergraduate degree. She said her primary source of stress at college was "overcommitting" to classes and extracurricular activities. She, like many other students, uses RateMyProfessors.com to share information with other students about which professors are better than others, and yes, which professors have the easiest classes. Students say they use it to help decide which classes to take. It's essentially Yelp (or Google Reviews, if that's your fancy) for higher education. |
| Online providers, consumer advocates at odds over Education Department regulatory proposal | |
 | An enduring tension in federal higher education policy making is the balancing act between protecting students and taxpayers on the one hand and allowing for innovative instruction and business models on the other. New administrations typically emphasize one over the other, swinging the policy pendulum between those two goals. The regulatory overhaul proposed this week by the Trump administration has predictably swung the emphasis back toward innovation, leaving consumer advocates frustrated over the implications for student protections. The department wants to re-examine not only the role of accreditors in overseeing colleges and universities but a number of related rules as well, like the standard definition of an academic credit hour, faculty interaction requirements for online programs and state authorization rules. |
| Issues of Accreditation Predominate in New Rulemaking Announced by Education Dept. | |
 | In its latest move to unmake policies and regulations, many of them put in place under President Obama, the U.S. Department of Education announced on Monday a new round of rulemaking on more than a dozen topics, most notably accreditation. The department will consider issues such as the measures accreditors use to evaluate their member institutions, and how the government oversees approval of accrediting agencies. The process of accreditation, which is largely opaque to the public, has become a central issue in higher-education policy. It is the path to more than $100 billion in federal student aid distributed every year. Colleges must be accredited in order to access this money, and accreditors must also go through a process to serve as gatekeepers for federal aid. |
| Two senior faculty members at UVA resign in protest of senior fellowship for key Trump ally | |
| Two professors resigned from the University of Virginia's Miller Center for the study of the U.S. presidency Monday, just days after their director doubled down on his controversial decision to hire a senior Trump administration official as senior fellow. The faculty members, William I. Hitchcock, William W. Corcoran Professor of History, and Melvyn P. Leffler, Edward Stettinius Professor of History, remain chaired professors at Virginia. But they officially severed their years-long ties to the center in an open letter to William Antholis, center director. The letter cites Antholis's decision to appoint Marc Short, who was until this month President Trump's legislative affairs director, to a yearlong fellowship at Miller, starting next month. |
| U. of North Carolina won't act on statue of Confederate soldier at flagship | |
 | The University of North Carolina Board of Governors will do nothing, for now, about an embattled Confederate monument on the public university system's flagship campus. The News & Observer reports board chairman Harry Smith said in a Friday statement neither UNC-Chapel Hill nor the UNC system has legal authority to relocate the Confederate soldier statue known as "Silent Sam." He cited a 2015 state law that bars moving historical monuments except in a few cases. Relocation proponents say repeated vandalism is grounds for moving it under the law. Smith had initially said after the meeting that he expected to have conversations about the statue following pressure from the university community. But hours later, his statement said the board will do nothing while it awaits the North Carolina Historical Commission's guidance. |
SPORTS
| Defensive line depth could be the difference for Mississippi State | |
| Joe Moorhead couldn't go anywhere at SEC Media Days without someone asking him about his defensive line. How scary can that unit be? How excited is he to watch those guys in action this fall? Does he think he has the most dominant front four in college football? Moorhead heard it all, and his best response came with some sarcasm. "I'm actually thinking of turning in my offensive play calling card and moving over to defense," Moorhead joked. The head coach has plenty to worry about when it comes to meeting expectations on the offensive side of the ball. He'll let new defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and third-year defensive line coach Brian Baker worry about the defensive line. |
| Inside one of the first Biloxi sportsbooks as Mississippi sports betting launch nears | |
 | They knew the day would come. Eventually, though. They didn't expect it that Monday in the middle of May. They might not have expected it this year, even, but they knew legalized sports gambling was coming. So in the meantime, the Golden Nugget executives often walked the hotel and casino floors and wondered where they would start that chapter when the day came. Where would they put the first Biloxi Golden Nugget sportsbook? As they walked and went through Michael Patrick's sports bar on the second floor, they could look through the windows and see the Mississippi Sound along the Gulf Coast. They could see a restaurant and bar that was already the place to watch sports. This would be where they built the future of the casino. Then that Monday in the middle of May came, and sports betting in Mississippi was about to become legal. That's when the question people like Scott King and Sydney Hatcher had to ask became more difficult. "Who do we get to run this place?" |
| Mississippi sports betting begins Aug. 1 in Biloxi and Tunica | |
 | The first sports bet in Mississippi will come on Aug. 1, which is 26 years to the day after the first casino in the state opened in Biloxi in 1992. The initial wagers are expected to be placed simultaneously at about noon at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi and at Gold Strike Casino in Tunica. Sports books at the two MGM Resorts International casinos will then open to the public. Placing the first bets at the Beau Rivage will be: Willis McGahee, former Miami Hurricanes running back and 2-time NFL Pro Bowler; Robert Royal, former Louisiana State Tigers tight end and NFL star; legendary oddsmaker Danny Sheridan; and Mississippi Hotel and Hospitality Association Executive Director Larry Gregory, who also is former director of the Mississippi gaming Commission. |
| Nick Saban Has Six New Assistants -- and Will Probably Still Win | |
| The start of the college football season is mere weeks away, and fans begging for Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide to backslide do not have a lot to pin their hopes on. The Crimson Tide have won five national championships since 2009 and they are expected to have their usual array of talent on both sides of the ball and special teams in 2018. There is this though: Saban has six new assistant coaches. In this era of the college football coach as chief executive --- fund-raiser, spokesman, visionary -- staff turnover like this would be an impediment for some coaches, but not for Saban. He has managed similar situations before, cycling through 39 assistants since arriving at Alabama in 2007 while winning at an absurd pace (132-20). Perhaps it is because Saban has figured out how to be a different kind of leader -- a very hands-on C.E.O. |
| Recruits, current players like what they see at first look of new UGA locker room at 'Reveal' | |
 | University of Georgia football recruits recently lined up to cut a red ribbon outside of Georgia's new spacious locker room on the west end zone side of Sanford Stadium. They then headed inside a tunnel with family members into a swanky showcase for the Bulldogs football program. It all went down on Saturday at an event dubbed "The Reveal," moments of which were shared on social media by those who took part. The Bulldogs picked up three 2019 commitments a day later. "If you build it, they will come," coach Kirby Smart tweeted Sunday night. "Thanks members of the Magill Society for a beautiful new home !! #TheReveal." Georgia players said the week before they couldn't wait to get a look-see themselves at the 5,400-square foot locker room. It is part of the $63 million west end zone project, $53 million of which is to come from donors in the Magill Society. |
| UF police release video showing Gators with fake guns | |
| The University of Florida Police Department has released cellphone video following the alleged confrontation involving University of Florida football players and 21-year old Devante Zachery. The video shows a group of players walking across the street from the dorms at Keys Residential Complex toward Flavet Field. Two of them pull out and point simulated weapons while arguing. According to a University of Florida police report, both simulated weapons were airsoft rifles. The UPD report says seven UF players were involved in an altercation on the evening of May 28. The video was obtained by The Gainesville Sun through an open records request. |
| Former minor league baseball player Cord Sandberg joins Auburn as quarterback | |
| Five years ago, Cord Sandberg had a choice to make -- play football at Mississippi State, or begin a professional baseball career in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He chose the latter, but never gave up on the former. Five years later, Sandberg's baseball career is over. His time on the football field is about to begin anew: On Monday, the former four-star quarterback announced his decision to come to Auburn. The 23-year-old Sandberg will enroll in the Class of 2018, join the Tigers for fall camp next month and have four seasons of eligibility remaining. He chose Auburn over NC State and LSU. He played his final game on July 2, got engaged to fiance Haley Gray on July 3 and announced his decision to retire on July 4. "I want to thank the Phillies for allowing me to chase a dream of mine for the last 6 seasons, but it's time to chase another one," Sandberg wrote on Twitter. |
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