| Thursday, August 30, 2018 |
| John Grisham to new Bulldogs: 'I found my home here at State' | |
 | From weeknight games at Dudy Noble Field to classes in McCool Hall, Mississippi State accounting alumnus John Grisham remembers his college years in the 70s like they were yesterday. "I loved the big lecture halls, and I came to enjoy the professors. For the first time, after being at several schools, I was on a real campus with a diverse student body, different professors from around the world, big time sports, all of the activities that a big college can bring, and I really fell in love with State," said Grisham, a world-renowned, best-selling author who shared advice with first-year freshmen and transfer students at MSU's fifth Fall Convocation. Grisham's "Calico Joe" is this year's selection for Maroon Edition, MSU's 10th common reading program. |
| John Grisham welcomes students to Mississippi State at convocation | |
 | John Grisham doesn't have any regrets about his time at Mississippi State University, but he does have many wishes. Grisham, a bestselling author and 1977 accounting alumnus of MSU, spoke at the university's fall convocation to welcome the 2019 class of incoming freshmen and transfer students. Grisham said he found his home at MSU, and with that, guidance for what he wanted to do. That was a major change, he said, from the student he was upon arrival, drifting aimlessly from college to college with the hope of playing baseball. That particular hope was one he had to give up while at MSU, Grisham said, when his friends staged a "baseball intervention" and informed him his skills weren't quite up to snuff. "I came here as a kid who was drifting and looking and confused, and I left a few years later with a dream and a plan to make it happen," he said. |
| Farmers to get aid on Chinese tariff impact | |
 | Willard Jacks, Mississippi representative on the American Soybean Association board, said in June regarding the looming Chinese tariff that "we've got a couple of months to get this resolved." While the two countries have not resolved the issue, the United States has come up with a stopgap measure. That was announced Monday, about two months later. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the Commodity Credit Corp. will make available $3.6 billion for soybeans plus $1.1 billion for other row crops and for dairies and pigs. If the 25 percent Chinese tariff is not lifted between Sept. 4 and December, there is the possibility of the second round of payments for the other half, said Jacks, who is chairman of the board of Silent Shade Planting in Belzoni. Jacks said. "I really hope they don't have to make the second payment [in December]. They're hoping to get the tariff war done." Dr. Josh Maples, assistant professor of agricultural economics at Mississippi State University, said the row crop cap will come into play with producers who farm about 3,000 acres. |
| Area online sales tax revenues: $4.4M annually | |
| Cities and counties throughout the state will receive 15 percent of the use fee revenue collected in the state as a part of road/bridge legislation passed by the Mississippi Legislature Tuesday during its special session. In the Golden Triangle, nine cities and the four counties are expected to receive a combined $4,486,313 they can use only for infrastructure projects. Revenue from use tax, a form of sales tax that applies to mail order businesses, will increase exponentially after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that online retailers were not exempt from collecting state taxes on sales. As a result, the state of Mississippi expects to collect $338 million in use tax on 2018 sales. Tuesday, the Legislature voted to return $50.7 million to both the cities and counties, 15 percent each. Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill said the city's portion could increase beyond its $770,370 through its proposed annexation, which would add 6,000 residents to the city. Population is one of the factors used to calculate the payments. |
| Oktibbeha County nets $750K in BP settlement funds for Longview Road | |
 | Oktibbeha County received some welcome news on Wednesday when state lawmakers came to an agreement on how to dole out $700 million in BP settlement money to close out the special legislative session. Of the 128 earmarked projects, Oktibbeha County will receive $750,000 for improvements to Longview Road, according to State Rep. Rob Roberson, a Republican from Starkville who represents parts of Oktibbeha and Winston counties. However, just how that money will be applied to the county's infrastructure woes is still a matter of debate. "There are other projects that hopefully we can get taken care of in the future if I can get some road ready, but that's the only road as far as the county is concerned where we're ready to move forward with it," Roberson said on Wednesday. |
| Special session ends with passage of $750M BP oil disaster settlement distribution | |
 | The special session of the Mississippi Legislature ended Wednesday with the House passing a measure on the distribution of the state's $750 million BP oil disaster settlement. The Senate on Tuesday night voted 42-8 to pass a plan that includes earmarking 75 percent of future payments for projects in the state's six Gulf counties. The money is to be paid in installments through 2033. The House passed the bill 99-10. Some members of the House wanted the money to be distributed among all 82 counties, arguing the entire state suffered and that coastal counties had already received more than $1 billion in BP settlement funds, but their amendments were tabled or voted down. The special session lasted five days with lawmakers also passing a state lottery and infrastructure spending package. Gov. Phil Bryant signed the bills into law Wednesday after the session ended, calling the legislation "monumental and a bipartisan effort." |
| Special session ends with infrastructure, lottery, BP bills passed | |
 | Less than an hour after the BP bill passed the House, Gov. Phil Bryant signed the $200 million a year infrastructure bill and celebrated the end of what he called a historic special session. "It's a great day for Mississippi," he said after the Legislature over five days passed a lottery bill, the BP bill, which when all is said and done will send just over 70 percent of the economic damages settlement to the lower six counties, and the infrastructure bill that will spend millions primarily on the state's neglected roads and bridges. "Any one of those pieces of legislation would have been monumental." Behind Bryant stood Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, House Speaker Philip Gunn and with them stood a couple dozen lawmakers -- Republican and Democrat, male and female, black and white. Bryant said the three bills were passed in a remarkable display of bipartisanship despite hours of sometimes contentious debate. |
| Most BP settlement cash going to Coast, ending special session | |
 | The Gulf Coast will get 75 percent of BP settlement funds coming to the state over the next 15 years, ending a years-long debate over how to split up funds to make up for economic damages the state suffered after a 2010 oil spill. The House passed a bill on Wednesday in a special legislative session that determines how the roughly $700 million will be divided. Since the Senate passed the same bill late Tuesday night, the bill will now move to the governor's desk for signature. Coast lawmakers had long argued the majority of the funds should go to the three coastal counties, while lawmakers in other parts of the state wanted the pot to be dispersed elsewhere. "The 75-25 split was the only solution that seemed to be viable enough to pass," said Rep. Jeff Smith, R-Columbus. |
| Vicksburg will get share from oil spill settlement | |
| Vicksburg will benefit in a big way from the proceeds of the state's settlement with British Petroleum, thanks to legislation passed by Mississippi lawmakers on Wednesday. The legislation, which passed the Mississippi House by a vote of 99 to 10, is on its way to Gov. Phil Bryant's desk. Bryant is expected to sign the bill, which divvies up nearly $700 million from the oil spill settlement and includes $111 million in earmarked projects --- $61 million from oil spill damages and $50 million that lawmakers agreed to borrow earlier in the special session that ended Wednesday. From those funds, Vicksburg should receive $2.5 million to be used for the high-tech innovation and tech transfer center proposed for location in the Mississippi Hardware Building, said Mayor George Flaggs Jr. Particularly, Flaggs said, state Rep. Kevin Ford put in "a lot of work into securing for Vicksburg the money for the port study. He was the leader in that effort. The entire delegation -- Briggs Hopson, Oscar Denton and Kevin -- did a great job for Vicksburg and Warren County." |
| Lottery helps fund education in Louisiana, but that won't be a main priority in Mississippi | |
| Gov. Phil Bryant is expected to sign a bill that would allow a lottery in Mississippi, but earnings earmarked for the state will be spent differently than in Louisiana. Louisiana law requires 35 percent of the earnings from lottery winners go into a state treasury program that funds K-12 education across the state. The lottery has provided more than $150 million to Louisiana's schools for each of the past five years, rising as high as $187 million in 2016. And the first $500,000 in annual lottery proceeds is earmarked for programs for people with gambling problems. The Mississippi bill, though, will make roads and bridges a priority for Mississippi lottery proceeds. |
| What does a lottery mean for education? | |
| A state-sponsored lottery in Mississippi became a sure thing when the House reversed course and approved the game of a chance in a narrow 58-54 bipartisan vote this week, a day after the chamber killed the same legislation. It's estimated the lottery wiil generate $40 million in its first year and up to $80 million a year soon after. If those forecasts hold, three years might pass before any revenue is allocated toward public education. Any revenue above $80 million will go toward the state's education enhancement fund. "There's no guarantee in that," said Rep. Debra Gibbs, D-Jackson, of the bill's setup directing funds toward education only after the $80 million threshold is reached. "I wanted the bill to have a percentage off the top that would go to education." |
| In a surprise move, Health Department chief announces retirement | |
| In a week full of surprises, add another. On Wednesday morning, the head of the Department of Health suddenly announced her retirement, sending ripples through the Capitol. Dr. Mary Currier, who has served as state health officer since 2010, will retire, effective Nov. 1. She has spent 34 years with the agency, and prior to running the department served as the state epidemiologist. Currier said she planned to spend more time with her family. Despite the sanguine tone of Currier's announcement, several legislators admitted they were shocked to hear of her retirement. "What? What's this all about?" said Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory. "It's a disaster. She's a very, very good administrator." |
| Steve Bannon's open revolt against GOP establishment sputters | |
| Steve Bannon entered the 2018 election cycle vowing to run primary challengers against nearly every Republican incumbent, looking to shake the party establishment to its core. The establishment, however, appears to have won. Mr. Bannon took his latest blow Tuesday in Arizona, where former state Sen. Kelli Ward, one of his earliest recruits, fell to Rep. Martha McSally, a more establishment-minded candidate, in the battle for the Republican nomination to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake. Her loss followed similar failures by Bannon-backed candidates. Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who caught Mr. Bannon's attention during his insurgent bid against Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014, said the rebellion that rose up before Mr. Trump arrived is thriving in his state, where he is running against Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Last week, Mr. Trump endorsed Mrs. Hyde-Smith. |
| Trump personally lobbying GOP senators to flip on Sessions | |
 | The willingness of Republican senators to turn on Attorney General Jeff Sessions is the result of a furious lobbying campaign from President Donald Trump, who for the past 10 days has been venting his anger at Sessions to "any senator who will listen," as one GOP Senate aide put it. The president, who has spent a year and a half fulminating against his attorney general in public, finally got traction on Capitol Hill thanks to the growing frustration of a handful of GOP senators with their former colleague -- most importantly, Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, who have been irritated by Sessions' opposition to a criminal justice reform bill they support, according to interviews with more than a half-dozen congressional GOP aides, Trump advisers, and Republicans close to the White House. |
| John McCain's Death Marks The Near-Extinction Of Bipartisanship | |
 | The death of John McCain represents something more than the death of a U.S. senator and an American military hero. In this hotly partisan era, it also symbolizes the near-extinction of lawmakers who believe in seeking bipartisanship to tackle big problems. "[O]ur arcane rules and customs are deliberately intended to require broad cooperation to function well at all," McCain said last July, with a cut over his eye from treatment for brain cancer, speaking of Senate rules. "The most revered members of this institution accepted the necessity of compromise in order to make incremental progress on solving America's problems and defend her from her adversaries." McCain was a conservative. But he earned his "maverick" reputation, because when it came to seemingly intractable problems, he believed it was necessary to work with the other side. |
| Stennis Space Center prepares to propel NASA back into space | |
 | The future of NASA and space exploration begins in Mississippi, officials say, and with NASA's goal to return to the moon in 2019, Stennis Space Center is at the heart of the program. "Man may go to the moon (again) one day, but they're going to have to pass through Hancock County to get there," Gov. Phil Bryant said. Bryant was one of about 100 people who attended a RS-25 engine test Aug. 14 at Stennis, the first of 10 test fires for the first SLS project. The center has been a NASA test site for more than 50 years, beginning with the Apollo missions that first put man on the moon. "For several years we saw a decline in NASA, we saw the cancellation of the Constellation program," said Rep. Steven Palazzo, who chaired the NASA subcommittee for 5-1/2 years. "There wasn't a lot of direction or stability for the program. Over the last several years, we've been trying to provide more funding to NASA." |
| Michael Guest wins the endorsement of Bully Bloc | |
 | Bully Bloc, a group for friends and alumni of Mississippi State University, has endorsed Michael Guest for Congress for the Third District of Mississippi. "I'm honored and appreciative to have the endorsement of Bully Bloc," said Guest in a statement. "If elected, I will serve to represent the entire Third Congressional District and to ensure that our colleges and universities are well-equipped to train the next generation of leaders and innovators." "We are blessed in Mississippi to enjoy a wonderful quality of life and a hope for a brighter future -- which is due in large part to the work of institutions like Mississippi State University, our community, and junior colleges, and all other institutions of higher learning," Guest added. |
| Listening sessions scheduled to help pick new MUW president | |
 | The state's higher education leaders will hear from the Mississippi University for Women community to help find the school's next president. The listening sessions will be held on Friday, September 14. The sessions will begin at 1 p.m. and end at 4:45 p.m. These sessions will center on the qualities and qualifications stakeholders believe the next president should possess. The sessions are open to the public, but each session will focus on the needs of a specific constituency group. |
| 'Night Owls' program aims to keep MUW safe | |
| A new transport program at the Mississippi University for Women aims to keep its campus safe. The program is called "Night Owls." It launched this fall. The university says this program provides "prompt, courteous and safe escorts to students, faculty and staff of The W seven nights a week during the academic year between the hours of 7 p.m. and 2 a.m." The university says this is an added measure for people who may feel uncomfortable or apprehensive about walking alone between points on campus. MUW Police Chief Randy Vibrock added that personal safety is a concern for everyone and that individuals should trust their instincts and report activity that doesn't feel right or look right. |
| UM parking department sells fewer permits at increased cost | |
 | West Residential parking permits sold out in five hours this year, and Central Residential permits were gone within a day. Commuter permits followed, selling out in under a month. In the two weeks since classes began at the University of Mississippi, the Department of Parking and Transportation has received complaints about overselling and lack of available parking spots across campus. Director of the Department of Parking and Transportation Mike Harris said many of these complaints stem from the fact that the parking department sold 2.4 Commuter parking permits per parking space this year. Harris said many parkers become frustrated when they can't park where they normally would during peak times. He said students should take advantage of less-typical lots like the one at the Manning Center during peak times. Harris said that though some students see permit revenue being put toward bus transportation as a waste, he feels it is necessary. He said without buses, there would need to be more parking spaces and a dramatic increase to permit prices. |
| University tenants move into former Baptist Hospital location | |
| The University of Mississippi's South Oxford Center, housed in the former location of Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi, welcomed its first tenant on Tuesday. The Counselor Education Clinic for Outreach and Personal Enrichment, or COPE, is the first of nine tenants who will move from the University's main campus to the SOC during the 2018-2019 academic year. Ole Miss purchased the 15-acre site in June 2017, and officially took over on March 1 of this year. The space provides nearly 485,000 square feet of crucial space for growing programs, according to Larry Sparks, UM vice chancellor for administration and finance. "The quality and quantity of space available at the South Oxford Center contributes to the University's ability to efficiently address the allocation of space on our campus," Sparks said. |
| Technology Summit attracts politicians, executives to Oxford | |
| High-level executives, politicians and strategists convened at a university technology summit to look at strengthening the Mississippi workforce using innovations in technology. At the third annual University of Mississippi tech summit, Sen. Roger Wicker considered the state's workforce from a national policy standpoint. FedEx Chief Information Officer Rob Carter encouraged executives to promote a work culture where employees feel empowered to do interesting things for their companies, such as -- in the case of FedEx -- sharing critical information. He said the FedEx system was not originally designed as a customer interaction system. "We began to say this thing won't scale, we won't be able to operate in the millions of packages kind of numbers unless we provide critical information for the operators to know what's going on in the business," Carter said. |
| Students meet classmates, carry umbrellas on first day of class at USM | |
 | Fall classes began Wednesday at the University of Southern Mississippi. Thousands of students spent their time finding places to park, getting oriented with their class locations, meeting new classmates and dodging a steady afternoon rain. "I was nervous about making my schedule, but once I got into my classes, I really settled in," said Hannah Powell-Yost, a student who commuted from the Gulf Coast. "It's going pretty well, besides the weather," said Aliyah Gardner, a junior from Greenville, Miss. "It tried to rain for a little bit, but it's been real smooth," said Brandon Rue, a junior from Meridian. "I just finished my last class, was really excited to get back and to see all the students back on campus." |
| 43 online sellers of fake U. of Arkansas merchandise ordered to pay | |
| A federal district judge on Wednesday awarded $200,000 in damages each from 43 online merchants in a lawsuit filed by the University of Arkansas System board of trustees alleging the sale of counterfeit Razorback merchandise. But what portion of the $8.6 million in damages will actually recovered depends on whatever assets are held in PayPal and other e-commerce accounts tied to the sellers, who are described in court documents as based outside the United States. The lawsuit, as filed in June, named 53 merchants identified not by personal names but by their online presence, many selling items through large online marketplace websites like Wish.com. The lawsuit described the defendants as residing in China or "other foreign jurisdictions." UA System spokesman Nate Hinkel in a statement said the judgment "was a major victory for the University's licensing program and sends a strong message to other online piracy sites that put the University's brand and reputation at risk." |
| Enrollment: More U. of Florida students, but fewer in grad school | |
 | University of Florida enrollment for the fall 2018 semester is up slightly compared to a year ago, but there are fewer students on campus. Graduate enrollment, however, decreased by 4.3 percent. Overall enrollment at UF is at 54,906, up 240 students from fall 2017. And while there are 350 more online students at UF, there are 65 fewer students on the main campus. The top three college increases were: Liberal Arts & Sciences (13,615, up 339); Agricultural and Life Sciences (6,095, up 261); and Public Health and Health Professions (2,514, up 255). The top three college decreases were: Engineering (9,595, down 270); Business (6,552, down 221); and high school/dual enrollment (427, down 116). n his address to the Faculty Senate last week, UF President Kent Fuchs mentioned concern about the decline in international graduate students due to federal policies. |
| See where LSU stands among other Louisiana, SEC schools in new national rankings | |
 | LSU is ranked 5th in the Southeastern Conference and 90th among peer schools, according to the Washington Monthly 2018 College Guide and Rankings. The school is also 40th in affordability, 68th in research success, 59th in the number of science engineering Ph.Ds awarded and 86th in salaries for graduates. "We are always pleased when national rankings place weight on important criteria such as outcomes, which are what truly matter to students and their families," LSU President F. King Alexander said in a statement. "I'm proud to see that LSU remains highly ranked among its peers academically but also in terms of affordability and alumni success," he said. |
| U. of Missouri suspends email deliveries after phishing attempt | |
 | An unfortunate series of events that included a solicitation for Democratic Party internships and an email phishing expedition forced the University of Missouri to halt email deliveries for 90 minutes Tuesday evening. The system was back to normal Wednesday morning, MU spokesman Christian Basi said. "The #FallInternshipSpam apocalypse has ended," stated a message posted on MU's official Twitter feed just before 7 p.m. Tuesday. "#Mizzou's IT took down the email system for the time being. This is NOT a security breach." To control the traffic, the MU Information Technology Department set its servers to accept messages but not deliver them to inboxes, Basi said. "We did that so we could sort through and purge the suspected email that was causing the problems," he said. "It took them roughly 90 minutes that they spent working on that last night." |
| U. of Missouri's collaboration and community drew new provost to campus | |
 | Though MU's new Provost Latha Ramchand has been in the position for only a couple weeks, she said she feels as if she's known the MU community for years. Ramchand addressed an audience of over 100 people at her welcome reception in the Reynolds Alumni Center on Wednesday and discussed why she was so excited to start work at MU. The prime reason she decided to take the job was the sense of caring MU provides to its community. "You're not getting rid of me soon," she said. Ramchand worked for the University of Houston for 25 years before coming to MU, and she said the decision to leave Houston was one she had to think about seriously. She most recently was the dean of Houston's C.T. Bauer College of Business. Ramchand was named provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs in June after a search following former Provost Garnett Stokes' departure. |
| New U.S. Sexual Misconduct Rules Bolster Rights of Accused and Protect Colleges | |
 | Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is preparing new policies on campus sexual misconduct that would bolster the rights of students accused of assault, harassment or rape, reduce liability for institutions of higher education and encourage schools to provide more support for victims. The proposed rules, obtained by The New York Times, narrow the definition of sexual harassment, holding schools accountable only for formal complaints filed through proper authorities and for conduct said to have occurred on their campuses. They would also establish a higher legal standard to determine whether schools improperly addressed complaints. The new rules would come at a particularly sensitive time, as major institutions such as Ohio State University, the University of Southern California and Michigan State University deal with explosive charges that members of their faculty and staff have perpetrated serious sexual misconduct. |
| Justice Department criticizes Harvard in affirmative action case | |
 | The Justice Department sharply criticized Harvard University's admissions practices Thursday, asserting that evidence in a federal lawsuit suggests the Ivy League school engages in "racial balancing" when it selects a class, a potential violation of boundaries the Supreme Court has set on affirmative action in college admissions. With a legal brief filed in federal court in Boston, the department weighed in on a closely watched lawsuit challenging Harvard's use of race and ethnicity in admissions. The suit alleges that Harvard is biased against Asian Americans. The Justice Department's brief showed that the Trump administration is sympathetic to that argument and believes that Harvard has failed to show it does not unlawfully discriminate against Asian Americans. The case, likely to be tried in October, could become the next test of whether the Supreme Court is willing to overturn decades of precedent on affirmative action and ban the consideration of race in college admissions. |
| MLA study: English, other modern language Ph.D.s 1996-2010 mostly working in academe | |
 | Most English and modern language Ph.D.s are working in academe, and 52 percent hold tenured faculty positions, according to a new, limited study of their career outcomes from the Modern Language Association. Even so, the variety of job paths these Ph.D.s pursue outside higher education is notable and should inspire further efforts to track graduates' career trajectories, the association says. Last summer, MLA researchers contacted 1,949 Ph.D.s who were included in a related 2015 study of doctoral recipients from 1996 to 2010, asking them to complete a jobs survey. The response rate was low, which MLA's new report acknowledges -- just 310 graduates, or 15 percent of the original sample. One additional, more recent graduate was included this time, for a total of 311 Ph.D.s. |
| For-Profit Colleges Leave Students Swimming in Debt | |
| For many students, the path toward enrolling in a for-profit college starts with an advertisement -- maybe while browsing online or watching a favorite television show. Either way, the message is usually the same: Get off the couch and do something with your life. And then they are inundated with messages to enroll: Calls, emails, and maybe even texts. "It's just a full court press," Robin Howarth, a researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending, told me. "Even if they were being very clear that they were just in the early stages of thinking about college." On Wednesday, the center released an extensive report on how for-profit colleges recruit students to enroll and then often leave them swimming in debt. In nine focus groups, the center had students who took on debt to attend a for-profit college describe their experiences, from enrollment to paying off their loans. |
| Emory University investigating professor's use of n-word in class | |
| Emory University is investigating a white law school professor's use of a derogatory word used to disparage African-Americans in a classroom discussion about a racial discrimination case. More than 200 students, the university's president and faculty including the professor at the center of the controversy, gathered Wednesday afternoon in front of the law school for a "unity rally" to begin discussions about how Emory can be more inclusive and tolerant. Zwier has since apologized to his class and sent a letter to faculty explaining himself. Emory wrote in a statement that the n-word was not part of the case law cited and called its use "unacceptable." The university has ordered mandatory training for faculty and staff. Zwier declined Wednesday to discuss details of his classroom remarks. |
| Silent Sam Was Toppled. Yet He Still Looms Over Campus | |
 | The gash in the earth here has turned into sacred ground. It's the spot where Silent Sam, the University of North Carolina's Confederate monument, came crashing down last week in a stunning protest, leaving a 4-inch-deep, 2-foot-wide crater in the mound of dirt. The hole in the ground has become a crowd favorite: Small children pose for photos standing in it. Friends recount the story of how it got here. Some students tiptoe around it, a sign of reverence. Now, the only other physical reminder that Silent Sam once loomed over McCorkle Place, the lush campus thoroughfare, is the empty nine-foot-high slab that the armed unknown soldier stood on for 105 years. But days after the toppled bronze monument was put on a dump truck and driven into the rainy darkness to an undisclosed location, the hold it has over campus remains as powerful, if not stronger, than ever. The Silent Sam chapter of the university is far from over. It could well be entering its most fraught stage. |
| Lottery vote shows Republican priorities in Jackson | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Caleb Bedillion writes: It's tough, apparently, to find yourself caught between a distaste for gambling and an aversion to anything that resembles a tax increase. On Tuesday, the Mississippi Legislature created a state lottery in a special session. That decision saw the state's Republican leadership largely reverse course on the issue. Opposition had long endured. Mississippi was, until now, one of only six states in the country without a lottery. Historically, much resistance has been religiously motivated. Many people of faith, especially in the Bible Belt, have viewed gambling as a moral vice. But there are other reasons to oppose a state lottery. These reasons are perhaps no less concerned with moral considerations but find their articulation in the language of the common good. |
SPORTS
| Joe Moorhead's Bulldogs move into new home | |
| All that's left to do is the graphics on the wall. Workers were installing the final finishing touches such as those wall graphics when Mississippi State showed media the new recruiting suite and locker room in Davis Wade Stadium. It is the completion of a $3.6 million project for an 11,100 square-foot locker room and over 3,000 square feet in the recruiting lounge. "Certainly the project had been in the works prior to our arrival, but Mr. (Director of Athletics John) Cohen, (chief financial officer) Jared Benko and everybody else in our athletic department did a great job in the planning, the organization and the execution of it," MSU coach Joe Moorhead said on the Southeastern Conference teleconference. "Andrew Warsaw, our director of football operations, had a hand in the project, as well." |
| Mississippi State offense 'business as usual' with Keytaon Thompson | |
| The "next man up" mentality is incredibly cliche across all team sports, and it has infiltrated the Mississippi State locker room. Head coach Joe Moorhead reminds reporters of his team's "next man in" mindset in almost every press conference. But as overused as the saying is, it became very real this week. Once again, the Bulldogs will call upon the next man up at quarterback. Once again, his name is Keytaon Thompson. The sophomore will take the first snap of MSU's season in the wake of senior Nick Fitzgerald's suspension. Thompson relieved Fitzgerald under different circumstances last year. He entered the Egg Bowl after Fitzgerald's infamous injury and started the TaxSlayer Bowl against Louisville a month later. More than any other Bulldog on the roster, Thompson truly is the next man up. "I always have that mentality of being one play away," Thompson said. |
| Keytaon Thompson prepared to make second start for Bulldogs | |
| Keytaon Thompson was last seen leading Mississippi State to a victory in the TaxSlayer Bowl last season in his first career start. Thompson started in place of an injured Nick Fitzgerald in that contest and finished the day with 274 yards and three touchdowns against Louisville. The now-sophomore quarterback will carry over the confidence he gained in the bowl win as he prepares to fill in for Fitzgerald yet again. "I got some of the nerves out of the way after getting that first start in," Thompson said. "It gives me a lot of confidence heading into Week 1 of this year." Since last season, the New Orleans native has been working to improve several aspects of his game. "I've improved mostly on defensive recognition, fundamentals, throwing the ball and throwing mechanics," Thompson said. |
| College Football's Growing Problem: Empty Seats | |
 | College football has an attendance problem. Average announced attendance in football's top division dropped for the fourth consecutive year last year, declining 7.6% in four years. But schools' internal records show that the sport's attendance woes go far beyond that. The average count of tickets scanned at home games -- the number of fans who actually show up -- is about 71% of the attendance you see in a box score, according to data from the 2017 season collected by The Wall Street Journal. Sagging student attendance remains a problem, even at perennial power Alabama. As part of a recently announced renovation of Bryant-Denny Stadium, the school plans to add a student terrace to create "a more interactive and social environment," athletic director Greg Byrne said. |
| LSU to create 25-member 'Tiger Fan Council' this fall | |
| Have some thoughts on how the LSU athletic department could improve? Well, the department announced Wednesday afternoon that it will select around 25 "passionate fans" this fall to make up a "Tiger Fan Council," a news release said, with the purpose to "provide feedback and insight directly to the athletic department in order to continually improve the fan experience in all sports for LSU fans." The application can be found on the LSU athletic department website. "Our fans are the best and most passionate in America," Athletic Director Joe Alleva said in a statement. "They've made LSU the best experience in college sports and we believe this group will help us get even better." |
| Auburn reports 22 NCAA secondary violations in 2017-18 | |
 | Auburn self-reported Florida fans throwing money at its men's basketball players last season, but it was not considered an NCAA secondary violation, according to the school. The bizarre February incident was among 22 NCAA secondary violations Auburn self-reported in 2017-18, up from 17 in each of the previous two academic years, according to records provided to AL.com on Wednesday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Football once again led the department with six violations, up from five in 2016-17 and four in 2015-16, though three violations were for mistaken phone calls to recruits before permissible dates to do so. Two of the other three football violations were recruiting related, one for the institution providing "additional decorations in a restaurant during official visits" and the other for a "person of athletics interest" transporting a recruit to campus. The last football violation was for a scholarship player giving a walk-on teammate an electronic code to an online textbook, which is in impermissible benefit. |
| Auburn football holds open house for new $28 million recruiting facility | |
| The public got their first glance at the Tigers' new Harbert Family Recruiting Center, including the Tiger Walk Club and home team locker room. As fans walked through the doors Wednesday night, they were welcomed into the foyer. To the left is a large seating area with display cases for each of the Heisman trophies. The area will be primarily used as a lounge for recruits and their families. Through the hallway on the first floor are historical Auburn quotes and images. The artwork ranges from the Auburn Creed to Heisman trophy winner Cam Newton. Athletes from multiple sports are featured on the hallway wall on the way to the locker room. The Heisman room is a special feature directly outside the locker room where coach Gus Malzahn will sit and talk with recruits individually. |
| Soda bottle part of UGA's 'overarching deal' will make more appearances with Kirby Smart | |
 | The soda bottle that may have upstaged Kirby Smart at his first game week press conference of the season will be back. Well, not that same exact Coke bottle necessarily. The product placement seen Monday is part of an "overarching deal" that Coca-Cola has with Georgia Bulldogs Sports Marketing. Alan Thomas, Georgia's associate athletic director for external operations, called it "an additional opportunity that they wished to pursue." He didn't disclose how much financially that additional opportunity is worth. The first appearance of the bottle began with Smart's first weekly press conference. There also will be one in front of him at home postgame press conferences in Sanford Stadium. Many Alabama fans -- and some media as well -- viewed the Coke bottle appearing before Smart as just another aspect that is associated with Nick Saban that now is part of Georgia's program. |
| How much can Tennessee make from season opener in Charlotte against West Virginia? | |
 | The University of Tennessee has already had a nice payday for its season opener before the Vols even take the field in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday. UT has received two contractual payments for a total of $2.25 million before the 3:30 p.m. kickoff between the Vols and West Virginia at Bank of America Stadium. That number is set to grow to $2.5 million and could reach as high as $3.2 million, based on the contract details between UT, West Virginia and Charlotte Sports Events. The contract provided each university with a guaranteed payment of $2.5 million, while total ticket sales afford extra bonus opportunities. If 66,000 tickets are sold, each school will receive an additional $400,000 to bring the total payment to $2.9 million. The next tier -- 70,000 tickets sold -- bumps the total payment to $3 million. A sellout -- defined as 72,500 tickets solid -- would net each university $3.2 million total. |
| U. of Tennessee cheer squad coach still on leave, temporary coaches take over | |
| Longtime University of Tennessee, Knoxville cheerleading coach Joy Postell-Gee has remained on paid administrative leave since the end of June, but her absence hasn't stopped cheerleaders, dancers and mascots from gearing up for sports games and appearances, according to Tom Satkowiak, assistant athletic director for communications. Postell-Gee's supervisor, senior associate athletics director Janeen Lalik, is now overseeing the university's spirit squad, Satkowiak wrote in an email to the USA TODAY Network-Tennessee. Postell-Gee, 53, was placed on paid administrative leave on June 29 in light of multiple complaints of inappropriate conduct issued against her, including "instances of racially and ethnically insensitive remarks" she made to spirit squad members, according to a Jan. 29 final written warning to Postell-Gee from associate athletics director Tyler Johnson. |
| Head Ball Coach or Head Beer Coach? Steve Spurrier is keeping things 'interesante' | |
 | Did you know Steve Spurrier used to have a bottle opener on his famous visor? Or that his original nickname was the Head Beer Coach? OK, so neither of those things are actually true, but Spurrier sure commits to the bit for a series of recently unveiled ads for Dos Equis beer as part of the brand's "Keep It Interesante" campaign. The former South Carolina football coach stars in four 15-second ads, all mining the Head Ball Coach's legendary coaching career and famous fun-loving attitude for comedy. The ads will air on TV during the college football season. Spurrier wasn't the only famous coach to be featured in Dos Equis' ads -- former LSU coach Les Miles also has a series. |
| Sen. Chuck Schumer Seeks Federal Framework for Sports Betting | |
| As more states turn to sports gambling in the wake of a May Supreme Court decision that overturned a federal ban on state-sponsored sports betting, some politicians have sought to introduce a framework to guide the industry at the federal level. On Wednesday, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) joined the conversation by releasing a memo outlining several suggestions for the burgeoning industry, according to ESPN, which first received the memo. Among Schumer's suggestions is that leagues provide all official data to sports books and also have a hand in deciding what bets are acceptable. He also advocated for an age minimum of 21 for bettors and for anyone taking sports bets to avoid advertising aimed at under age people and to disclose the dangers of gambling addiction. Three states -- Delaware, New Jersey and Mississippi -- have begun taking bets since the Murphy v. NCAA decision. |
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