| Monday, October 8, 2018 |
| Gregg Harper donates congressional papers to Mississippi State | |
 | A Friday afternoon ceremony at Mississippi State University was a chance to honor two things, according to U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy, a Republican representing California's 23rd Congressional District, said the event that saw U.S. Representative Gregg Harper present his congressional papers to the university, was a chance to honor both MSU and Harper. "Mississippi State will be honored by the papers and the gift of those for many years to come," McCarthy said. "... Congressman Harper is being honored for his 10 years of service. You think of a decade and how fast it goes by. That decade in which he served will determine the next century of this country." MSU President Mark Keenum said the papers will provide invaluable insight into the decade that he served in the House of Representatives. "Congressman Harper's papers will give us a unique perspective and view of a critical time in our nation's history," Keenum said. |
| Mississippi State architecture juniors take first in national masonry competition | |
 | A custom-brick project designed by a team of three Mississippi State architecture students recently won first place in a national masonry competition. Junior Baron O. Necaise of Gulfport presented his team's "The Pulse" brick design at the National Concrete Masonry Association 2018 Midyear Meeting in Chicago in early August. Teammates included juniors Madison C. Holbrook of Steens and McKenzie R. Johnson of Fayetteville, Ga., who were finishing a study abroad course in Rome. NCMA Vice President of Engineering Jason Thompson said the competition is designed to expose the next generation of architects and engineers to concrete masonry and hardscape products as a material and a building system. "The MSU entry was highly innovative both in its design and application," Thompson said. "The students considered an array of aspects starting with manufacturing feasibility to serviceability and performance issues in the field. The jury was blown away with the quality of the submission." |
| Laugh it up: Lab Rats 'think less, talk more' in a place where there are no dumb ideas | |
| It's a Wednesday night, something after 9 p.m., and the Lab Rats have reported for practice in Mississippi State's Allen Hall. It's a twice-weekly appointment they keep, one that hones their improv comedy chops for the monthly shows they put on for the public. Making an audience laugh isn't a matter of luck or chance -- it takes some skills. Practice starts with a few warm-ups, a series of improv games or exercises to jump-start the session. Sometimes it's Zip, Zap, Zop. That's all about focus and energy as the improvisers, or actors, form a circle and "pass" the energy from person to person in the form of a zip, a zap or a zop -- making eye contact, keeping the rhythm going, exploring pace and sequence. "Or we might do a word association game -- say a word and the next person has to say an associated word, and we're doing it to a snapping beat. It's just a little thing to get everybody on edge and ready," said MSU senior Brock St. Clair, Lab Rats' head director this year. |
| Mississippi awarded $20 million to establish new center | |
| A $20 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation will spur creative discovery and economic opportunities through Mississippi's research universities. With the grant funding, the state of Mississippi will establish the Center for Emergent Molecular Optoelectronics, an inter-disciplinary, multi-institution materials research program. Mississippi State University will serve as the project's administrative lead, and the University of Southern Mississippi will serve as the science lead. Along with MSU and USM, Jackson State University and the University of Mississippi will be a part of the new center, which will facilitate the development of research capabilities and educational opportunities in the growing optoelectronic, energy and biotechnology research fields. "This initiative will be a tremendous benefit to the people of Mississippi and to our research universities," MSU President Mark E. Keenum said. |
| Arrest made in 1990 Labor Day murder case | |
| Starkville police have arrested a man believed to be connected to the infamous Labor Day murders of 1990. Police arrested Michael Devaughn, 51, of Reinzi, on Saturday for a possible connection to the 28-year-old case. According to the Oktibbeha County Jail log, Devaughn is being held on charges of capital murder and sexual battery. The Dispatch is working to get verification from Starkville Police Department about the arrest's connection to the cold case. Public Information Officer Brandon Lovelady declined to confirm the connection, saying only the department has scheduled a press conference at 11:30 a.m. at Starkville police headquarters. |
| Hurricane Michael forms, heads for landfall on U.S. Gulf Coast | |
 | Hurricane Michael formed Monday morning in the Caribbean Sea and is heading for a landfall as a major hurricane with 120-mph winds along the Gulf Coast by midweek. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 75 mph with higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center said. Steady to rapid strengthening is forecast during the next day or so, and Michael is forecast to become a major hurricane by Tuesday or Tuesday night. "Heavy rainfall, wind and storm surge impacts will be possible across portions of the northern Gulf Coast by midweek," according to the hurricane center. A hurricane watch has been posted for the Florida Gulf Coast, from the Alabama-Florida border to Suwannee River, Florida. As the storm approached, Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared an emergency in 26 counties Sunday night including Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. |
| Monday, Tuesday are Mississippi voter registration deadlines | |
 | Monday is the deadline for people to register to vote in person in Mississippi for November's general election. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann says mailed applications must be postmarked by Tuesday. People can register in person at a county circuit clerk's office, a city clerk's office or a Department of Public Safety driver's license office by 5 p.m. Monday. |
| Analysis: Debates might aid voters, but candidates pass | |
| If a debate in Mississippi's U.S. Senate race to fill out the unexpired term of the retired Thad Cochran had gone off as planned last Thursday at Millsaps College in Jackson, you might be reading more about the event in this space. But the debate fell apart after appointed Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said she wouldn't be there. Then top Democratic challenger and former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy said he wasn't coming if Hyde-Smith wasn't there. Pretty soon, Mississippi Public Broadcasting dropped plans to broadcast the event if only Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel and Democratic candidate Tobey Bernard Bartee were coming. Meanwhile, in the state's other U.S. Senate race, Democratic challenger and state Rep. David Baria is holding town halls across the state, challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker to come face him. Wicker is resolutely ignoring Baria. So, unless the candidates bump into each other at the Piggly Wiggly in Carthage, it doesn't look there are going to be any debates in either of Mississippi's two U.S. Senate races. Does it matter? |
| Voters who registered at driver's license bureaus may need to affirm registration | |
 | People who registered to vote when obtaining or renewing their driver's license should check with their local circuit clerk on Monday, if they have not received a voter registration card. According to some circuit clerks in the state, in some instances the voter registration information from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety is not being made available to their offices so the new voters can be placed on the voter rolls. If a person is not on the voter rolls by Oct. 8, they most likely will not be eligible to vote in the Nov. 6 general election. "We have had some people say they have registered" when renewing or obtaining a driver's license "and we don't receive it," said Becca Bunch, a deputy circuit clerk in Forrest County. She said she does not believe it is a large number of registrations being lost, but "it has happened." |
| Mississippi's lifetime felony voting ban gets a Capitol hearing | |
| Dennis Hopkins is, by his own admission, a towing business owner, a registered foster parent, a children's football coach, a former fire chief -- and a branded man. That's what he told state legislators at a hearing Friday morning concerning the history and impact of Mississippi's lifetime voting ban for people convicted of felonies. Hopkins, who was convicted of grand larceny in 1998 and completed a prison term in 2001, still cannot vote due to that conviction. "I am concerned that my children are growing up without a strong sense of civic duty because their father has to sit out every single election," Hopkins, who was accompanied by his wife and six of his nine children, said. The hearing spotlighted two lawsuits currently pending in federal court filed by the Mississippi Center for Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Both suits challenge how the state disqualifies people from voting following a felony conviction; Hopkins is a lead plaintiff in the SPLC class action suit. |
| McDaniel campaigns in Vicksburg | |
| U.S. Senate candidate Chris McDaniel was in downtown Vicksburg Friday afternoon shaking hands and asking for votes. He said his inspiration to run for the U.S. Senate position comes from his perspective on how government should operate. "I feel like our country is struggling. I feel like our government is corrupt and the cause of that is because the government is no longer listening to the people," McDaniel said. "I have a fear that Mississippians aren't being heard, whether that be Jackson or Washington. So we want to change this mechanism, to push back the establishment of the machine and to give regular people a voice again in their government," he said. McDaniel faces challengers Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant to fill the remainder of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's term after he left office, and Democrat Mike Espy, a former U.S. congressman from Mississippi and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under the Clinton Administration, in the Nov. 6 election. |
| Cotton growers vs. urban farmers: Bitter partisan fight threatens farm bill | |
 | Mounting tensions between two of the lead negotiators on the farm bill are jeopardizing Congress' chances of passing a measure allocating hundreds of billions of dollars for agriculture and nutrition programs before a new session begins next year. Texas Republican Mike Conaway, the House Agriculture chairman, wants more money for Southern cotton growers. Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow, Senate Agriculture's ranking member, is pushing funds for urban farming and renewable energy. Their bitter fights over farm subsidies have deadlocked talks in a conference committee. The 2014 farm bill expired on Oct. 1 without a single face-to-face negotiating session between top negotiators in the three days before the deadline -- a sign of just how far lawmakers are from any kind of deal. |
| Midterm Elections Hold Ultimate Verdict on Kavanaugh | |
 | Even before Saturday's Senate vote made Brett Kavanaugh a Supreme Court justice, senators from both parties said voters soon would deliver the final verdict on President Donald Trump's divisive appointment. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in an interview with Roll Call a month ahead of Election Day, said the contentious debate about the confirmation process was driving up base enthusiasm for the 2018 midterm elections. "I think there's no question that the tactics have energized our base like we were unable to do before this," the Kentucky Republican said. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, speaking on the floor right before the 50-48 vote, said the country needs to have a reckoning on Kavanaugh and the Senate process. Both parties say the confirmation fight will energize their voters. |
| Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040 | |
 | A landmark report from the United Nations' scientific panel on climate change paints a far more dire picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding the damage requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale that has "no documented historic precedent." The report, issued on Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists convened by the United Nations to guide world leaders, describes a world of worsening food shortages and wildfires, and a mass die-off of coral reefs as soon as 2040 -- a period well within the lifetime of much of the global population. The report was written and edited by 91 scientists from 40 countries who analyzed more than 6,000 scientific studies. |
| Best Brain Game To Stave Off Alzheimer's Could Be Your Job | |
 | As a specialist in Alzheimer's prevention, Jessica Langbaum knows that exercising her mental muscles can help keep her brain sharp. But Langbaum, who holds a doctorate in psychiatric epidemiology, has no formal mental fitness program. She doesn't do crossword puzzles or play computer brain games. "Just sitting down and doing Sudoku isn't probably going to be the one key thing that's going to prevent you from developing Alzheimer's disease," she says. Instead of using a formal brain training program, she simply goes to work. "My job is my daily cognitive training," says Langbaum, the associate director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix. And that's true of most working people. |
| MUW's Welty Symposium to celebrate 30th year Oct. 18-20 in Columbus | |
| Novelist Steve Yarbrough returns to Columbus as the keynote author for the 30th annual Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium Oct. 18-20, at Mississippi University for Women. Among his many awards are the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Fiction, the Richard Wright Award and the Robert Penn Warren Award. A frequent participant in the symposium's early years, Yarbrough will read from his seventh novel, "The Unmade World." Beginning with a fateful accident in Krakow, Poland, Yarbrough's novel is a fitting opening for this year's symposium theme, "'As If the Ear of the World Listened': Celebrating Thirty Years of Southern Stories," inspired by Eudora Welty's novel "Delta Wedding." Yarbrough deftly weaves international politics, intrigue and an intimate portrayal of "two ordinary men," in what Publisher's Weekly has dubbed an "intricate and satisfying novel." |
| Letter: Name Ole Miss journalism school for black reporter | |
| After a Facebook post by a prominent University of Mississippi donor was denounced as racist, some professors say the university should rename its journalism school for an African-American journalist who crusaded against lynching. Ida B. Wells-Barnett was born a slave in Mississippi in 1862. She went on to become an investigative reporter in nearby Memphis, Tennessee, and denounced racial violence. She helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and pushed for women's right to vote. Wells-Barnett died in 1931 in Chicago. A letter from 62 Ole Miss professors and several instructors and graduate students was published Friday in the student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian , suggesting the journalism school be named for Wells-Barnett. They also suggest that the university start journalism scholarships for black women and that it start a Reparative Justice Committee that would work toward removing a Confederate soldier statue that has stood for generations in a prominent place on campus. |
| Officers use a smile and a donut to try to bridge a gap in the Ole Miss community | |
| As University Police Department Chief Ray Hawkins passed out donuts, coffee, tea and juice on Friday, 'get your day started right' was one of many chants. The Student Activities Association sponsors the event known as Coffee with a Cop, which was held for homecoming week but also happens several times throughout the school year to bridge a gap often dividing the University community. Dugan Walker, the SAA co-director for homecoming and a junior public policy leadership and economics major, said bridging that gap is a goal of homecoming. He said the event provides an opportunity for students to interact with UPD and Oxford Police Department. OPD usually is present at the event but were not Friday. Hawkins said there is a generalized stereotype that police aren't approachable, but he considers the opportunity a way to reach out to students and let them know UPD is always accessible, not only when there is trouble. |
| 'Ambulance drone' created in South Mississippi could save lives during a mass shooting | |
 | It's no surprise that Dr. Italo Subbarao leads a team developing a high-tech, cost-effective, "ambulance drone" capable of flying into disasters, delivering customized medical kits and enabling doctors to direct emergency treatment through a live communication interface. He's been working up to it for most of his professional life. Before he came to work at William Carey University, Dr. Subbarao was a guy with a go-bag waiting by the door -- first as an emergency room physician and disaster fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and later as director of Public Health Readiness for the American Medical Association. "I got the idea for the HiRO drone in 2013, the year after I got here. That's when an EF4 tornado came right down Hardy Street and did a lot of damage at the University of Southern Mississippi," Subbarao said. |
| DeVos explores potential of virtual learning in Delta amid harsh conditions public schools face | |
| The students at Holmes County Central High School had questions about Betsy DeVos' visit. "Do you know why Ms. Devos is coming? I researched her and saw she wasn't an advocate for public schools, so I was wondering what's her interest in coming to a public school?" "Would she ever find herself funding public schools?" "Did she want to come down here? "If she ever could find herself funding a public school, could we know about it? Or be helped? Because we really don't know what we're in this for." But the U.S. Secretary of Education wasn't in Lexington on Thursday to answer any of those questions. She was there as part of her "Re-Think School" tour, observing the Global Teaching Project -- a program designed to bring advanced placement (AP) classes to schools in highly rural areas. The program, also available in other rural schools in Mississippi, has the potential to expose students to rigorous academic curriculums in districts where obstacles to such opportunities are all too familiar. |
| Alabama president Stuart Bell highlights accomplishments in fall address | |
 | University of Alabama President Stuart Bell praised the achievements of students and employees and the generosity of its donors during an annual fall address to faculty and staff. "While we have had great accomplishments, there is still also much to do. But we all work as one team and we have got a national championship team in this room," Bell said. He made the comments during the annual fall campus assembly Wednesday. Bell highlighted $26.5 million in gifts by Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. and his wife, Eliza, and a $15 million gift by alumni Marillyn and James Hewson. Bell also noted students have raised more than $1 million for Children's of Alabama hospital in Birmingham as part of the UA Dance Marathon. The UA president praised the incoming freshmen class, which included 187 new National Merit Scholars and had an average high school GPA of the incoming freshman class was 3.71. Fall enrollment was 38,392, slipping about half a percent from a historic high last year. |
| U. of Alabama professor gets grant to better predict and prepare for droughts | |
| A University of Alabama professor has received a $473,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help improve drought monitoring and predictions. Hamid Moradkhani, the Alton N. Scott professor of engineering at UA and executive director of the UA Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research, received the $473,000 grant from NOAA's Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections program. The grant will be used to help improve reliability and reduce uncertainty in drought prediction models. Moradkhani and partners at the NOAA will use a combination of available satellite soil moisture, evaporation, and reflectivity observations coupled with computer models in a process called data assimilation to reduce uncertainties and ultimately improve drought monitoring and prediction. |
| Two trees come down on Auburn University campus | |
 | Crews worked throughout Saturday morning to remove two trees from the Auburn University campus that a study deemed to be structurally unsound. A white oak in Samford Park, directly in front of Samford Hall, and a Heritage loblolly outside Smith Hall posed a risk to the campus community, the university said in a release Friday afternoon. The Samford oak had been leaning slightly ever since Hurricane Opal made landfall on the Gulf Coast in 1995, according to Landscape Services superintendent Justin Sutton. "It's been monitored every two or three years since that time, to try to determine if there's any additional lean," Sutton told the Opelika-Auburn News. The oak was recommended for removal after two tree risk assessments conducted by a third party that showed the level of internal decay, according to the release from Auburn. The university's Tree Preservation committee approved the removal of both the oak and the Heritage loblolly. |
| Max Gruver 'very alive' in LSU students' minds amid heavy dose of anti-hazing messaging | |
 | In the wake of Max Gruver's death, Louisiana college students are getting a barrage of messages with one common theme: never again. They heard it from Lianne Kowiak, whose son Harrison died in a fraternity hazing incident. They heard it from East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III, who spelled out for LSU fraternity and sorority leaders exactly how anti-hazing laws have gotten tougher. In one case they heard and saw too much. At the University of Louisiana at Monroe, some students complained that the anti-hazing message was too graphic, that being forced to watch the movie "Haze" was so upsetting that some students fled. It all stems from one of three get-tough-on-hazing laws enacted earlier this year after the 2017 death of LSU student Max Gruver, who died after he was forced to chug alcohol during a Phi Delta Theta fraternity initiation game. |
| UGA recognizes 11 new CURO Honors Scholars | |
 | The University of Georgia awarded 11 undergraduates from the incoming class of 2018-19 with its CURO Honors Scholarship, the university's top undergraduate research scholarship. UGA's Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities promotes faculty-mentored research opportunities for UGA's undergraduates. Working closely with UGA faculty members, CURO Honors Scholars are able to conduct research in any field of study at the university. CURO Honors Scholars receive $3,000 in annual funding renewable for up to four years; mentoring and community support; and special seminars, workshops, events and activities. In addition to the CURO Honors Scholarship, the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities offers a variety of research opportunities to all UGA undergraduate students without regard to major, discipline, GPA or Honors status. |
| U. of Tennessee releases relocation, refund options for students displaced by mold | |
 | The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is offering full and partial refunds, as well as off-campus housing options, to students who will have to move out of Laurel Hall due to elevated levels of mold. On Wednesday afternoon, the 586 students living in Laurel Hall were told they would have to move out in coming weeks. Laurel Hall will remain closed for the rest of the academic year to clean and repair the dorm. UT officials have said they "do not foresee any health and safety concerns" related to the mold. Mold was also found on campus in South Carrick Hall, where 530 female students live, earlier in the semester. Students did not have to move out of South Carrick Hall during cleanup and repairs, which began Monday. Brian McCarroll, a junior who lives in Laurel Hall, said he's spent the last two days contacting apartment buildings around UT. He said multiple apartment complexes have told him that UT has bought up or is planning to buy up their available units, and it felt like the university "is trying to profit off of us." |
| Texas A&M receives $4 million for Center for Optimizing Rural Health | |
 | Texas A&M University has been chosen as the sole recipient of a five-year, $4 million grant to help rural hospitals and health care networks throughout the country through the creation of the Center for Optimizing Rural Health, a technical advisory center based out of the A&M Rural and Community Health Institute. The grant, which will send A&M $800,000 a year for five years from the Vulnerable Rural Hospitals Assistance Program, is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The center will actively help rural communities maintain their hospital or create other means of access to care after hospitals close. Nancy Dickey, A&M Rural and Community Health Institute executive director, said rural communities in Texas and across the country face myriad challenges, including distance from major hospitals, costs of care and more. |
| Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke stresses common ground during appearance at Texas A&M | |
| About 1,750 area residents, many of them Texas A&M University students, filled much of the Rudder Auditorium on the Texas A&M campus on Friday to listen to U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Beto O'Rourke on his sixth campaign visit to the Bryan-College Station area. O'Rourke, a three-term Democratic congressman from El Paso, spoke about his desire for Texans to find common ground on a number of political and social issues. "This is a community that gets that before we see each other as Republicans and Democrats, we are Texans, we are Americans and we are human beings first and foremost," said O'Rourke, 46. O'Rourke is running to unseat first-term Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Both candidates were scheduled to appear in College Station on Friday; Cruz, who had been scheduled to hold a local town hall on agriculture policy, canceled his visit. He was in Washington, D.C., on Friday to cast a procedural vote in support of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. |
| Changes to College Scorecard anger veterans' groups | |
 | As they push forward with a plans to drop the accountability rule known as gainful employment, Education Department officials have talked up plans to expand consumer information as an alternative to the hotly debated regulations. Even groups that backed the department's proposal to drop gainful employment, however, are angry over a decision to drop national comparison measures from the College Scorecard, the tool that's supposed to help students navigate their higher ed options. "This is a step in the wrong direction. It's absolutely ridiculous," said Daniel Elkins, legislative director of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States. Because veterans earn education benefits, they've often been targeted by unscrupulous education providers. So veterans' organizations have been strong advocates for consumer protections and information. The Obama administration issued the gainful-employment rule in 2014 to hold career education programs and for-profit colleges accountable for graduating students with debt they couldn't repay. But Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in August said she would look to repeal the rule, saying her department would empower students "instead of targeting schools simply by their tax status." |
| Colleges can improve their efforts to connect to rural students; it might start with showing up more | |
| A student's decision about where to apply to college can depend on what is in front of her, Jazmin Regalado said during a session at the National Association for College Admission Counseling's recent annual meeting. Regalado, a freshman biology and premed student at New Mexico State University, recounted her application process in high school. She is from Fort Sumner, N.M., which has about 1,000 residents and is best known as the burial site of the outlaw Billy the Kid. Growing up, her elementary, middle and high schools were all together. One counselor is supposed to help seniors, but she didn't have time to do it all, Regalado said. An English teacher also tried to recruit colleges and universities to come talk to students. Regalado spoke alongside several professionals involved in college admissions in a session about outreach to rural students. It's a topic of interest at many colleges and universities as leaders continue to grapple with polling showing deep skepticism of higher ed from Republicans, and as a rural-urban divide contributes to the country's political schisms. |
| For Some Scholars, a Full Professorship Calls for 'a Lot of Paperwork' That 'Doesn't Mean Anything' | |
 | For tenure-track faculty members, the first promotion, to associate professor, can make or break an academic career. Without it, they have to search for another job, since a tenure denial eventually results in termination. But promotion from associate to full professor is something different. While full professor is typically the highest rank possible, the title isn't required to maintain employment. Some faculty members simply decide not to pursue it -- most notably, one of the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics, Donna Strickland. Strickland, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, told the Waterloo Region Record that climbing the career ladder didn't seem worth the effort when her job wasn't at stake and a pay raise wasn't a given. |
| Understanding today's teens key to supporting them | |
 | Angela Farmer, an assistant professor of educational leadership at Mississippi State, writes: Many adults address teen challenges by beginning with "When I was your age..." However, in today's environment, sage advice on many things relating to school and the culture faced by future adults, is, at best, antiquated. In more severe situations, it fails to begin to address the current situation. In a 2017 education article authored by Manny Scott entitled, "The 5 Most Difficult Issues Facing Students Today and How You Can Help," he offers five reality-based challenges. |
| Slimantics: State-wide poll gives insight into coming elections | |
| The Dispatch's Slim Smith writes: Millsaps College, in cooperation with Chism Strategies, released the finds from its latest quarterly poll of Mississippi voters this week and the results show some intriguing views as Mississippians go to vote next month and next year. While the poll did not ask voters for their preferences for the two US Senator seats that will be decided on Nov. 6, the attitudes reflected in the poll do shed some possible insight into those races, especially in the three-way competition to fill the unexpired term of Sen. Than Cochran. Neither Cindy-Hyde Smith, appointed this spring to hold Cochran's seat until the Nov. 6 election; nor Tea Party Republican Chris McDaniel, who narrowly failed to unseat Cochran in a bitter campaign in 2014; nor Democrat Mike Espy, the former Secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton Administration, were on any poll questions. Even so, there were a couple of poll questions that might give a hint as to what voters may do. |
| Anomaly vs. tsunami in Hood vs. Reeves for Governor | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: And so it begins, the anomaly versus the tsunami, the hope versus the expectation, the last Democrat versus the next-in-line Republican. Mississippi's only Democrat holding statewide office, Attorney General Jim Hood, has officially announced his candidacy for Governor. His all-but-announced governor-in-waiting opponent will be Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. The night before Hood announced, Reeves was on stage in Southaven pumping up the crowd in advance of President Donald Trump's highly partisan bashing of national Democrats. "They think they have a chance here," said Reeves, as reported by the Associated Press. "They got 'em a Democrat governor in Louisiana, they got 'em a Democrat senator in Alabama and they don't believe that there's a difference between Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.... Let us send this message to the liberals all over the country: Not in our state." "It's time for Mississippi to pull together," Hood said the next morning as reported by Mississippi Today. "It's time for this partisan, petty politics to stop." These two episodes well describe how this epic battle will be fought. |
| Kavanaugh affair: We've seen this show before | |
| Mississippi newspaper publisher and columnist Wyatt Emmerich writes: Readers of this column know that I believe there is nothing new under the sun. Times change. Faces change. Technology advances. But all the basic themes of humanity were established long ago. As King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9. "What has been will be again. What has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun." Regarding the Kavanaugh affair, we don't have to look far. Twenty-seven years ago, Anita Hill stunned the country with accusations of sexual harassment leveled at conservative U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. The Hill-Thomas timeline is almost an exact replica of the current situation. |
| Just a little tolerance, please | |
 | Ray Mosby, editor and publisher of the Deer Creek Pilot in Rolling Fork, writes: A little tolerance, spiced with just a hint of common sense, goes a long way in this world. ...Might we not give it a try when it comes to our politics? We have ourselves and we have allowed others to divide us into what are now seemingly constantly warring tribes -- Democrats against Republicans, liberals against conservatives -- and with each and every issue that arises, we no longer even pause to consider the possibility of compromise, and instead move immediately to confrontation. Everything, and I do mean everything, is now perceived solely through the respective prisms of our politics, objective truths themselves distorted by our prejudiced perceptions of them. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State football coach Joe Moorhead will speak at Monday's Jackson TD Club | |
| Mississippi State first-year head football Joe Moorhead makes his initial appearance at Monday's special lunchtime meeting of the Jackson Touchdown Club at River Hills Club. The meeting starts at 11:30 a.m. Admission fee for non-members and guests is $35 and space is limited. The Bulldogs are 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the SEC West after their 23-9 win over No. 9 Auburn on Saturday. Moorhead came to State after serving as Penn State's offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017. That's when the Nittany Lions were 21-5 overall, 17-3 in the Big Ten including winning the 2016 league championship and went to two New Year's Six bowls with consecutive AP and Coaches poll Top 10 finishes. |
| Mississippi State turns to QB Nick Fitzgerald in the ground game for rebound vs. Auburn | |
| Mississippi State first-year coach Joe Moorhead once had a goal to turn Nick Fitzgerald into more of a passer than a runner during his senior season. Six games later, there's been a shift in philosophy: Time to let the big man loose. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Fitzgerald ran for 195 yards and two touchdowns and Mississippi State's defense had another dominant performance in a 23-9 victory over No. 8 Auburn on Saturday night. The victory snapped a two-game losing skid and re-established the Bulldogs as a force in the Southeastern Conference Western Division. Moorhead said after spending the past week identifying what the team does well, it was time for Fitzgerald to shoulder the load. |
| Motion worked wonders for Mississippi State ground game | |
| Earlier in the week, Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead stated that he and his staff had learned a lot about the team's personnel and were tailoring a game plan to fit what they do best. Moorhead and the Bulldogs spent Saturday night putting that plan into action and resurrecting an offense that had been dead in the water for the past two weeks. Fifty-seven of MSU's 74 plays against eighth-ranked Auburn were runs that chewed up 349 yards on the ground. Both Nick Fitzgerald and Kylin Hill eclipsed the century mark on the ground as the backfield duo combined for 51 carries for 321 yards and two touchdowns in the 23-9 upset. It was the third time MSU has had two players rush for over 100 yards in the same game this season. |
| Running games propel Mississippi State past No. 8 Auburn | |
| Nick Fitzgerald knew what kind of game this would be, and he wanted to ensure the men he thought would decide it were ready to take it over. He went to the offensive line and told them simply: "If you win tonight, we win. "Not present for this conversation was Joe Moorhead, the coach who had already crafted the plan to make it happen. The same offense that failed to muster 205 yards of offense in consecutive Southeastern Conference games ran for 349 Saturday against what was statistically one of the conference's best defenses. Previously unused presnap motion was the reason it happened -- and the reason MSU toppled No. 8 Auburn 23-9. "You look at Auburn's defensive front, led by No. 5 (Derrick brown) and all the other guys in the front four, No. 57 (Deshaun Davis), they're one of the most stout, incredibly talented teams that I've seen on film," Moorhead said. |
| Fitzgerald, Mississippi State run all over No. 9 Auburn in 23-9 victory | |
| Senior running back Aeris Williams caught a short pass and took Mississippi State down to the one-yard line. The Bulldogs were three feet away from scoring their first touchdown in more than 120 minutes of action. Then senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald plunged forward and tried to get in with his legs. Denied, twice. Sensing how momentous a touchdown would be right before halftime, State fans clanged their cowbells and begged head coach Joe Moorhead to give it another go on fourth down with four seconds remaining. He did -- without hesitation. Fitzgerald ran right up the middle a third time, and the ball barely eclipsed the goal line. The touchdown and ensuing extra point put Mississippi State up by 10 going into the half, and the Dogs never looked back in a 23-9 win over No. 9 Auburn at Davis Wade Stadium. |
| Nick Fitzgerald breaks SEC rushing record as Mississippi State tramples Auburn | |
| Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald needed 144 yards to set the SEC's record for rushing yards by a quarterback when the Bulldogs began their 23-9 win over Auburn on Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium. Fitzgerald had rushed for a combined 52 yards the past two weeks in losses to Kentucky and Florida. Mississippi State's offense had looked dormant and dysfunctional, its running game shut down in both games. "We was fed up," right guard Deion Calhoun said, "because we knew what we were capable of doing." No. 9 Auburn seemed the least likely team for Fitzgerald to break Tim Tebow's record against, or for Mississippi State (4-2, 1-2 SEC West) to revitalize a run-focused offense. |
| Auburn defense 'bummed out' after Nick Fitzgerald, Mississippi State rush for 349 yards | |
 | Deshaun Davis was taken aback when he was informed. The Auburn senior linebacker and leader of the defense knew the Tigers got gashed on the ground in a 23-9 loss to Mississippi State. He just didn't realize how bad the carnage was when the final whistle sounded Saturday night in Davis Wade Stadium. "We're kind of bummed out as a defense because that's not our standard," Davis said. "No one's supposed to rush for that many yards on us." No one had since 2015, when LSU and Leonard Fournette racked up 411 rushing yards and five touchdowns against Auburn in Death Valley. That was before Kevin Steele took over as Auburn's defensive coordinator, and well before Auburn's defense was among the best in the nation. The Tigers entered Saturday's game against the Bulldogs with the nation's No. 8 rush defense and second-best unit against the run in the SEC, allowing just 92.8 yards on the ground per game. That didn't seem to matter to Mississippi State and dual-threat quarterback Nick Fitzgerald. |
| Upside down again: Auburn starts anew shaking feelings from second loss | |
| The loss washed over the Tigers as their heads hung on their way off the field Saturday night, and as fireworks erupted above Davis Wade Stadium. It stuck in their stomachs, through a long ride back from Starkville. It probably stayed with them all the way back to Auburn, and likely through the night. But Sunday, Auburn coaches and players were tasked to shake that feeling, regrouping back together for practice and film study -- charged with making corrections and considering evaluations, and leaving those emotions out of it as they analyzed. "The video evidence doesn't lie," Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said Sunday night. That tape showed the Tigers tumbling to their second loss of the season, and struggles for Auburn on offense and on defense in their 23-9 defeat at Mississippi State last Saturday. |
| Last season's finish serves as starting point for new bunch of Bulldogs | |
| Ben Howland saw what he needed to see in February and March of last season. For Mississippi State's men's basketball coach, it was more than the wins, the ones that took MSU to the brink of the NCAA tournament bubble before a deep run in the National Invitation Tournament. It was more than production from specific players or lineups. It was his vision of what this program would look like away from games manifesting itself in the public realm. Howland has seen more of it in between then and now, and he anticipates it playing a big role in MSU's ability to satisfy preseason expectations this year. MSU is likely to be picked to finish in the top six of the league when it goes to Southeastern Conference Media Day Oct. 17 and could be a preseason top 25 team. "You can see having guys back from last year's team, we have a lot of experience on the roster that we're looking forward to," Howland said. |
| Mississippi State's Hailey Zerbel sets record as Bulldogs win | |
| Mississippi State soccer put together its highest-scoring game in conference play in school history on Sunday in a dominant 5-2 win over visiting Alabama. Along the way, junior Hailey Zerbel became the first Bulldog ever to record three assists in an SEC match. Four different MSU players scored in the match, and Zakirah McGillivary's tally stood as the game-winner, giving her sole possession of the MSU freshman record for game-winners. It also tied junior MaKayla Waldner's single-season record (5) set last year. "It felt so good to score goals," MSU coach Tom Anagnost said. "The kids did really good job. I'm very pleased with the performance by everybody. It was a great response from last game." |
| LSU back to allowing fraternity tailgating on campus -- with a few rules to follow | |
| After banning fraternities and other student organizations from tailgating in houses and on the Parade Grounds, LSU administrators announced late Friday that the pre-game partying would be allowed elsewhere on campus. Frat houses and the Parade Grounds are still off limits, but the Greek organizations can set up tailgates elsewhere on the campus -- provided they register the locations with the university and those party spots are approved by the Student Affairs and Accountability office, according to correspondence the LSU administration sent to the student groups. The organizations will still have to abide by the rules, such as no beer kegs or bowls of jungle juice or hard liquor and alcoholic beverages can only be consumed by people over the age of 21. LSU police and university officials will patrol the tailgate areas to ensure the rules are being followed. |
| Alcohol sales at NCAA tourney games: Enhanced fan experience or 'catastrophe'? | |
 | Beginning with the 2019 NCAA Tournament, Kentucky fans will not have to leave the arena and go to a bar to toast a victory or ease the sorrow of defeat. Beer and wine will be on sale to the general public at concession stands for the first time. A headline in The New York Times last week suggested the reason: "To Pull Fans Away From TVs, College Stadiums Open the Taps." The story said that colleges saw alcohol sales as a way to increase attendance at games. Increasingly, schools including West Virginia, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma State, Wake Forest and Louisville are selling beer in their football stadiums. But Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's senior vice president of basketball, said that increasing attendance was a "secondary" consideration. More than 90 percent of tickets were sold for all sites in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, he said, so how much of an attendance boost is needed? |
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