| Thursday, March 7, 2019 |
| Mississippi State alum Phillip Vines receives prestigious grant for excellence in doctoral studies | |
 | Phillip L. Vines, a doctoral student at Rutgers University who grew up in Neshoba County, has received a prestigious grant in connection with his studies. Vines received his Bachelor of Science degree in agronomy at Mississippi State University. He then earned his Master's from Mississippi State in plant pathology, along with a Master's from Rutgers University in statistics. Vines is on track to receive his Ph.D. from Rutgers in plant breeding and genomics. He wrote his dissertation on "Molecular Breeding Tools for Improving Morphological Traits and Biotic and Abiotic Stress Responses in Perennial Ryegrass." In December, Vines sent his application to be considered for the Musser International Turfgrass Foundation's 2019 Award of Excellence. "Between my sophomore and junior year, I was working at the Dancing Rabbit during the summer and I really liked what I was doing," Vines said. "My boss saw that I liked what I was doing and he said, 'you know you can get a degree in this at Mississippi State.' I got involved and found my true passion. I got my bachelor's degree in Agronomy with an emphasis on golf and sports turf management. I graduated in 2011." |
| Farmers could face some setbacks | |
 | Planting season is just around the corner for area farmers. That means getting all their equipment up and running and getting fields ready. But the recent rains could be putting everything on hold. It's been a wet winter. And those heavy rains and flooding have left behind soggy fields. But farmers started feeling the effects early on. "We were put out in the fall early. We didn't get done what we wanted to do. We have some fields that will end up being no-till. We didn't quite finish a lot of ditch work that we do in the fall after crop comes off we didn't do maybe a little land leveling such as that we didn't get any of that kind of stuff done," said farmer Jack Huerkamp. "It's been a tough year for livestock farmers because it's so wet and they go in and out of pastures, and they're really destroying some of their pastures because they have to feed and it makes it tougher on them to go in. There's a lot of things roads were having issues with, roads washing, culverts washing out. The livestock guys just like the everybody else they're having issues with wet feet," said Regional Extension Specialist at MSU Extension, Dennis Reginelli. |
| Traffic signal upgrade aims to ease traffic in Starkville | |
 | A new project in Starkville is expected to help ease traffic. The traffic signal upgrade project is at the intersection of Academy Road and South Montgomery Street. Mayor Lynn Spruill said the improvement's price tag is $97,000. The work, which is expected to take approximately one month, is expected to be completed in the summer. Spruill said the intersection has been a very tight bottleneck and sees a lot of Mississippi State University traffic. She said the city is trying to make upgrades throughout the city. |
| Region's jobless rate at 4.8 percent in January | |
 | The January unemployment rate for Northeast Mississippi remained near historic lows, averaging 4.8 percent. Union County's jobless rate of 3.9 percent was tied for second-lowest statewide with Lamar and Madison counties. Rankin County had the state's lowest unemployment rate at 3.7 percent. Northeast Mississippi had an impressive showing in January with five of the region's 16 counties among the top 10 lowest jobless rates across the state. Clay County's 6.1 percent unemployment rate was the highest in Northeast Mississippi, but ranked 50th of the state's 82 counties. The state unemployment rate was 5.2 percent in January, while the national jobless rate was 4.4 percent, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. |
| Starkville BOA offers Sungman 'Simon' Kim community development job | |
 | Starkville's Board of Aldermen extended an offer to Sungman "Simon" Kim to become the city's next Community Development Director on Tuesday after a lengthy discussion about his pay. After the meeting, Kim told The Dispatch he will decide on accepting the position within a week. Should he accept the offer, he said he should begin working for the city within a month's time. Kim, who currently operates the Landform and Planning consulting firm in Brownsville, Texas, interviewed a second time for the position during Tuesday's board meeting. Aldermen interviewed him and Richard Grana, of Destin, Florida, via Skype at the end of January. Aldermen voted 5-2, with Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins and Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn opposed, to offer Kim the position with an $88,500 annual salary. Former Community Development Director Buddy Sanders made $75,020 annually. Perkins sparked a lengthy discussion later in the meeting when he questioned whether the board was offering Kim too much money for a new department head. |
| Nearly 70 turn out for Airbus job fair | |
| Danika Meeks has been a stay-at-home mother for 13 years. Tuesday, she sat in the lobby at the Columbus Airbus facility awaiting a job interview with company supervisors. The Caledonia resident was in the United States Air Force before she had the first of her three children. Now with a 13-year-old, a 5-year-old and a 4-month-old, and her husband in a lower-paying job than the family's used to, she decided to apply with Airbus. She said she's banking on her avionics background -- she fixed glitches in air planes' instrumentals and computer systems when she was in the Air Force -- to help her land a position. "I've been wanting to come back to work," she said. Meeks was one of 69 hopefuls, most of them from the Golden Triangle area, who attended Airbus' job fair Tuesday afternoon. Applicants could register online and fill out pre-applications before coming to Airbus and interviewing with one or more supervisors about the open positions. |
| Golding Barge Line president Austin Golding: US needs to invest in waterways | |
| America needs to make a larger investment in its inland waterways to ensure its carriers can continue meeting the nation's needs now and in the future, Golding Barge Line president Austin Golding said Wednesday. Golding testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee at the invitation of its chairman, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi. "An investment in our inland waterways system not only benefits economic interests but also environmental interests as well," Golding said. "Flood control, municipal water supply and recreation are all positively impacted by investments in our inland waterway system." Besides upgrading and maintaining the nation's inland waterways, Golding also asked the Senate to continue support for the Jones Act, which he said ensures the U.S. has a robust maritime and shipbuilding talent base. He also discussed the deckhand school at Hinds Community College. |
| Faculty senate at UM to vote on Confederate statue relocation Thursday night | |
 | The Senate of the Faculty will vote on a resolution to relocate Ole Miss's Confederate monument from the Circle to the Confederate cemetery at special meeting Thursday night, making it the third campus government organization to vote on the issue this week. "That the statue and its placement provide an unwelcome reminder to many in our community of a difficult past based upon inequality, a past that permeates the present in ways that are inconsistent with the values espoused in the Creed, is undeniable," faculty senate chair Brice Noonan said. The Graduate Student Council Senate became the first group to pass a resolution calling for the statue's relocation on Monday, and the Associated Student Body Senate unanimously passed a similar resolution the following day. John Chappell, one of the ASB Senate resolution's authors and president of College Democrats, said it is his understanding that the groups who share governance of the university are the ASB, the GSC, the Senate of the Faculty and the Staff Council. |
| Ole Miss student government groups: Move Confederate statue | |
 | University of Mississippi student government groups are calling for a Confederate soldier monument to be moved from a prominent spot on the Oxford campus to a Confederate cemetery. Members of the Associated Student Body Senate voted 47-0 Tuesday night for a resolution asking administrators to move the statue, which has stood since 1906 in a park-like setting near the white-columned Lyceum, the university's main administrative building. The Graduate Student Council Senate adopted a similar resolution Monday. The groups say the statue undermines the university's mission to be inclusive. It was not immediately clear whether Ole Miss administrators have the power to move the statue without asking permission from the state board that oversees all eight of Mississippi's public universities. |
| Decades of dealing with Confederate symbols at U. of Mississippi | |
| The University of Mississippi now stands at a crossroads after two campus government organizations have passed resolutions to relocate the Confederate monument: move the statue to the Confederate cemetery, or allow it to remain in the Circle Though the position the university is in is contentious, it isn't new -- Ole Miss has found itself here, in the controversy of Confederate symbolism, time after time during the last 20 years. "At each juncture, it takes either a horrible incident or some real bold leadership to make these things happen," former assistant provost and long-time professor Donald Cole said about the university's history with confronting Confederate symbols. In 1997, then-Chancellor Robert Khayat banned all sticks from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium during football games, which largely ended the tradition of waving Confederate flags at football games. Six years later, in 2003, the administration removed Colonel Reb, a white plantation owner, as the official sideline mascot for the university. |
| State law: No name change for McCain Library at U. of Southern Mississippi | |
 | As renaming of university buildings takes place around the United States and students at Ole Miss start a process to remove a Confederate statue from campus, efforts by some University of Southern Mississippi students to rename McCain Library and Archives have been thwarted by a state law that prohibits changing the name of a building that has been dedicated to a veteran. Some members of the Student Government Association Senate had proposed McCain Library be renamed because William McCain opposed desegregation of the university. Mississippi Code ยง55-25-81 states no structures may be removed which have been dedicated in memory of, or named for, any historical military figure. The Faculty Senate and the SGA Senate are looking into the possibility of having websites or plaques that explain the history of the person for which a building is named. "I think the key issue is no human is perfect, so we have to carefully weigh their contribution to society and the university," Faculty Senate President Mac Alford said. "That honoring creates part of the climate we have on campus. All people have their failures. We owe it to the campus community to look at both what the positive and negative qualities are." |
| At Delta State, Steve Forbes explains need for stable dollar in America | |
| Monday evening financial guru Steve Forbes spoke at Delta State University about the need for America to return to the gold standard as a basis for our currency. Forbes, who was in Cleveland as part of the Colloquia Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series, is chairman of the board and editor-in-chief for Forbes media, a company his grandfather Bertie Charles Forbes started. "He is the only writer to have won the Crystal Owl Award, which is given to the financial journalist with the most accurate economic forecast, four times," said DSU President Bill LaForge in his opening remarks. "He was a Republican candidate for president in 1996 and in 2000. His platform supported a flat tax, medical savings accounts, social security reform, school choice for students, term limits and a strong national defense," LaForge continued. Forbes has written several books on topics related to economics, taxation, free markets and government. The subject of one of his recent books, "Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy -- and What We Can Do About It" was the focus of his lecture Monday. |
| UT Knoxville blackface incident calls into question administrator commitment to diversity | |
 | When the National Anthem played at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville men's basketball game on Tuesday, at first it seemed like everyone in the stands, most dressed in the bright orange of the institution, rose. But there was contingent, dressed in all black, that did not. Those students, roughly 40 to 50, according to local media reports, remained seated in protest. This was a display against administrators' response to a social media posting of students in blackface that has circulated campus and inflamed race relations. Citing constitutional considerations, university officials have said that they are unlikely to expel anyone over blackface. The incident raises a slew of issues for Knoxville, as it also comes amid accusations by President Trump that public universities do not protect free speech, particularly speech with a conservative bent. Administrators' responses at Knoxville seem counter to Trump's theory that public universities do not respect free speech. Despite the mounting pressure for them to act and kick the students out, they have not yet buckled to the demands, despite the expulsion of all the students seemingly being the option the public favors the most. |
| UT: One student from 'blackface' Snapchat image no longer enrolled; brother speaks out | |
 | A day after saying it would be "hard-pressed to expel" students who appeared to wear blackface in a Snapchat image with a racist caption, University of Tennessee on Wednesday said that one of the students no longer attends UT. "While federal law prohibits us from commenting on specific students beyond their enrollment status, we can tell you that Ethan Feick is no longer a student at the University of Tennessee," said Interim Chancellor Wayne Davis in an email sent to students, faculty and staff and then posted on the chancellor's webpage. Feick's brother, Wylan Feick, sent the News Sentinel an email saying Ethan Feick left UT "on his own accord." "The university took no punitive action," Feick said. It did also include an update on "starting point" actions the university is taking, Davis said, "not just in response to specific incidents, but in an effort to address the underlying issues that allow them to happen." |
| Ousted U. of Kentucky dental dean files whistleblower lawsuit | |
 | A University of Kentucky dean who was removed after UK settled a contentious lawsuit filed by one of his underlings has now sued the school himself, accusing officials of retaliating against him for reporting problems at the College of Dentistry, such as the theft of gold dental crowns. Late last year, UK settled a lawsuit with Raynor Mullins, a long-time dental professor who accused Kyrkanides of firing him after he criticized Gov. Matt Bevin's proposed changes to Medicaid. UK paid Mullins more than $620,000 and gave him a new position. A few weeks later, UK announced that Kyrkanides was out as dean, but would return as a tenured faculty member after a one-year sabbatical. UK did not give a reason for the demotion at the time. Kyrkanides' lawsuit, filed in federal court, doesn't mention the Mullins case. Instead, the lawsuit cites numerous other problems that the dean allegedly uncovered. In a statement, UK spokesman Jay Blanton said the allegations are without merit. |
| U. of South Carolina students raise over $1 million for local children's hospital, breaking record | |
 | University of South Carolina students raised a record amount of money for a local children's hospital during a 14-hour event last weekend, event officials told The State. USC's Dance Marathon, which describes itself as the "largest student-run philanthropy on campus," raised $1,038,156 to benefit Prisma Health Children's Hospital (formerly known as Palmetto Health Children's Hospital). "USC Dance Marathon is absolutely incredible," said Ashley Dusenbury, a spokeswoman for the Prisma Health Midlands Foundation. USC's Dance Marathon gets its name from the 14-hour-long, noncompetitive annual event that drew over 1,000 people to Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center. However, members of the Dance Marathon raise money throughout the year. Last year, Dance Marathon first broke the million-dollar mark, raising a then-record amount of $1,025,171, according to the Dance Marathon's website. |
| Pulitzer Prize finalist speaks at U. of Missouri about racism in the U.S. | |
 | Writer and educator Jelani Cobb focused on how historical racism has had an impact on how race is viewed in our current society during a lecture Wednesday evening on the University of Missouri's campus. Throughout his lecture, "The Half-Life of Freedom," Cobb related historical events to racism that exits in the U.S. today, such as the 2015 shooting of nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, by white supremacist Dylann Roof, who was sentenced to death in 2017. The shooting is the subject of Cobb's next book, "Nine." "There's never been progress in this country, what we could conceive of as progress, without there being a huge degree of retrenchment and backlash," said Cobb, a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist. The Diversity and Inclusion committee, along with other schools and departments across campus, sponsored the event held in Fisher Auditorium. |
| Looming White House executive actions on higher education may cover more than free speech | |
| The White House is gearing up to introduce a promised executive order on free speech, perhaps timed to coincide with its proposed budget release next week. And the administration may tackle other higher education issues with its planned executive actions. Several well-placed observers said the White House has for months been working to jointly release executive orders on risk sharing (requiring a financial stake for colleges based on students' ability to repay loans) as well as on its plan for releasing program-level student outcomes data on a publicly available web tool like the College Scorecard. It's unclear if the Trump administration will be able to pull this off in a single budget-related public announcement. And sources couldn't say what exactly might be included in the executive orders or if they would all be released together. But despite the uncertainty, the White House apparently has been trying to bring the executive actions together for a joint announcement around the budget release. |
| Student robbed and assaulted at UAB dorm; arrest made | |
 | A UAB student was robbed and assaulted Wednesday at a campus dorm. The incident happened shortly after 11:30 a.m. at Rast Hall on 11th Avenue South. UAB police and Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service responded to the scene. The male student was not seriously injured and was not transported by BFRS to the hospital. A campus alert first announced the robbery and told students and staff to shelter in place. The all-clear was given a short time later. UAB spokeswoman Holly Gainer said the student was a victim of an armed robbery. The attack happened outside the dorm, and Gainer said the student's personal belongings were taken. UAB released this update late Wednesday afternoon: "An arrest has been made in today's robbery, which was not a random act as first thought and reported. Due to the continued ongoing status of the investigation and student privacy laws, UAB cannot discuss this incident further. Based on available information, UAB Police is confident there is no threat to campus." |
| Tulane student killed in Mississippi rest stop accident was 'definitely a bright star' | |
 | A freak accident on Interstate 10 along the Mississippi Gulf Coast left a Tulane University senior dead Tuesday after an 18-wheeler lost a pair of wheels that crossed the highway and struck her in the parking lot of a rest area. School officials identified the student as Margaret Maurer, 21, a senior studying ecology and evolutionary biology. Maurer, who went by the nickname "Meg," was from Forest Lake, Minnesota, about 30 miles northeast of Minneapolis. At Tulane, she became a Newcomb Scholar, participating in a leadership program for women students, according to the university. She also was a teaching fellow. Gautier Police Capt. Casey Baxter said the 18-wheeler was driving westbound on I-10 when its rear tire assembly became dislodged. The two wheels, bolted together, bounded across the eastbound lanes and into the rest stop. Maurer and her two friends were about to get back in their car when the wheel assembly struck her. |
| Why a Plagiarism-Detection Company Is Now a Billion-Dollar Business | |
 | Stamping out student plagiarism is big business. How big? $1.735 billion, to be exact. That's the price that Advance, a privately held media, communications, and technology company, will pay to purchase Turnitin, the 800-pound gorilla of plagiarism-detection services. Although not the largest ed-tech deal ever made, it is, in the words of one analyst, "massive." So what does the deal, announced on Wednesday, mean for higher education and for education technology? We talked with a few ed-tech observers, as well as senior officers at Turnitin and Advance, to sort it all out. |
SPORTS
| Bulldog bats bloom late vs. UAPB | |
| It was better late than never for Mississippi State's offense on Wednesday. The seventh-ranked Diamond Dogs scored 12 runs in their final two at-bats to blow past Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 14-1. "Our outs tonight were a lot of infield pop ups, just being out there a little early," said MSU coach Chris Lemonis. "I thought we were able to slow it down, stay on some balls and were able to have more success late." MSU (12-1) sent 13 men to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning and slapped out five hits and scored eight runs. Brad Cumbest, Justin Foscue and Marshall Gilbert all delivered doubles during the frame with Foscue and Gilbert each driving in a pair. The Bulldogs added four more runs in their final at-bat with three more doubles by Foscue, Luke Hancock and Hayden Jones. Hancock's two-bagger drove in one run and Jones plated two with his. |
| Big inning fuels Mississippi State baseball's win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff | |
 | Head coach Chris Lemonis turned to pitching coach Scott Foxhall on Wednesday at Dudy Noble field. He muttered a sentence he didn't think would ever cross his mind with two-win Arkansas-Pine Bluff in town. "This one may be a little closer than we want it to be," Lemonis said. For a while, it was. No. 8 Mississippi State seemed like it just didn't have it Wednesday night against the Golden Lions. For much of the game, the Bulldogs nursed a two-run lead they acquired in the second inning. Strikeouts, fly outs, pop ups, ground-outs. The Bulldog batters mixed in all of those against a Pine Bluff starting pitcher who was struggling to hit 80 miles per hour with his fastball and tossed multiple sub-60 mph change-ups and breaking balls. Yet somehow, the scoreboard read "MSST 14, UAPB 1" at game's end. Mississippi State made a lot out of nothing to notch its eighth-straight win and improve its record to 12-1 this season. |
| U. of Arkansas to take look at renaming court after former coach Nolan Richardson | |
| University of Arkansas basketball fans will find out if time has healed a long-standing wound regarding Nolan Richardson later this month. The university announced Wednesday that Chancellor Joe Steinmetz has submitted a resolution for consideration by the UA System board of trustees to name the court at Walton Arena after Richardson, the long-time head coach who led the Razorbacks to three Final Fours and the 1994 NCAA Championship. Steinmetz and second-year Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek have thrown their support around the idea, which has been percolating among Razorbacks fans for many years. The board will consider the resolution at its next meetings March 27-28 in Hot Springs. Arkansas won five regular-season conference titles and four conference tournaments under Richardson, including three in a row from 1988-90 in the Southwest Conference. However, Richardson and then-UA Athletic Director Frank Broyles got crossways late during a 14-15 season in 2002. Richardson was fired before the final game of the season after he made provocative comments following a 71-58 loss at Kentucky. |
| Memphis AD Tom Bowen open to scheduling two-for-one football games with Power Five schools | |
| Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen said Wednesday during a presentation to the university's Board of Trustees that he is open to exploring two-for-one scheduling options with Power Five schools for Tiger football games. The earliest it could happen would be the 2026 season, but Bowen said it's something he is considering as he is looking to for non-conference opponents between 2026-2029. A two-for-one deal would consist of Memphis playing two road games in exchange for one game at the Liberty Bowl. "I would (be open to it) because I would get a home game here," Bowen said. Memphis has home-and-home series with Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Missouri. The Tigers open the 2019 season by hosting Ole Miss and have home games against Mississippi State and Missouri in 2021 and 2023, respectively. |
| Vanderbilt AD Malcolm Turner addresses basketball programs, football stadium | |
 | New Vanderbilt athletics director Malcolm Turner referenced football stadium improvements and a "brighter future" for the basketball programs amid unprecedented struggles in a letter to fans Wednesday. "It was a thrill to celebrate women's basketball's defeat of Tennessee for the first time on its home floor in Knoxville, and I am hopeful this achievement can be a springboard for a brighter future for the program," Turner wrote. "While it has been a challenging year for our men's and women's basketball programs, I am firmly committed to supporting the return of 'Memorial Magic.'" Turner took the job knowing that a football stadium plan was a high priority. Vanderbilt Stadium has not been renovated since 1981 while every other SEC stadium has undergone multiple upgrades during that time. In his letter, Turner said athletics facilities will be a major part of the university's capital campaign. He did not specify if that means a new stadium or renovations to the current stadium. An athletics capital campaign was first referenced by Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos in an Oct. 31 blog post on the Vanderbilt official website. |
| NCAA must allow players to profit from name and image, NC Republican's new bill says | |
 | The NCAA must allow student-athletes to use their name, image and likeness, opening the door for players to profit while in school, under new federal legislation proposed by a member of Republican House leadership. The bill, to be introduced by Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina next week, would amend the definition of a qualified amateur sports organization in the tax code to remove the restriction on student-athletes using or being compensated for use of their name, image and likeness. "Signing on with a university, if you're a student-athlete, should not be (a) moratorium on your rights as an individual. This is the time and the moment to be able to push back and defend the rights of these young adults," said Walker. Walker called on the NCAA to change its rules in May, saying at that time that legislation could follow. Now he plans to bring forward the Student-Athlete Equity Act. Walker's bill introduction will happen just days before the start of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. CBS and Turner Sports are in the middle of a 22-year, $19.6 billion television contract, which includes an eight-year, $8.8 billion extension signed in 2016, to broadcast the event through 2032. |
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