Friday, March 15, 2019   
 
MSU-Meridian initiative helps fill teacher shortages at area schools
Recent graduates from Mississippi State University-Meridian's inaugural Professional Advancement Network for Teacher Assistants initiative are filling a void this semester as classroom teachers in local schools. With many school administrators having difficulty finding qualified teachers in the middle of the school year, Quitman Upper Elementary School Principal Leah Ivey said the opportunity to hire PANTA graduates Dre'Anna Davis and Tera Yelverton was a huge blessing. Implemented in 2017, PANTA helps teacher assistants complete the educational requirements to become licensed teachers. December graduates Davis and Yelverton are fifth- and third-grade teachers respectively at Quitman Upper Elementary. Both part of the PANTA initiative's first cohort, they are former kindergarten assistants at Quitman Lower Elementary in the Quitman School District. "I'm grateful that we didn't have to settle for a short-term fix," Ivey said. "The fact that these ladies had already proven themselves in the classroom and they knew procedures and policies of the district ensured as smooth a transition as we could have possibly expected. I couldn't have asked for a better solution."
 
SFD, Meridian Community College partner for fire education program
Lt. Roosevelt Harris is closer now than he's ever been to getting his first degree. Harris, 48, is a 24-year veteran of the Starkville Fire Department. He's one of 20 of the department's firefighters participating in a program at Meridian Community College to receive associate's degrees in fire protection technology. The program allows firefighters who have already received training from other emergency service training institutions, such as the Mississippi Fire Academy, to take truncated versions of classes for a steep discount -- only $40, compared to $300 to $400 for similar education at the state fire academy -- through the Recognition of Prior Education and Service (R.O.P.E.S.) process. MCC is the only public school in the state to offer an associate of applied science in fire protection technology. Though the college's program is not new, SFD's partnership with it is more recent.
 
Capitol leaders showed active interest in AG ruling on retirees serving in Legislature, documents reveal
House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, predicted that the next attorney general will reverse or at least alter the official opinion issued by the office of Attorney General Jim Hood saying that retired public school teachers and state employees can serve in the Legislature while drawing their pension. Gunn said recently the ruling, issued late last year, was flawed. "We all know there will be a new attorney general next year," Gunn said, referring to the fact Hood is running for governor in this year's election. "...I suspect the next attorney general will reverse the ruling or issue a clarification." Hood's ruling late last year created a buzz. Some education supporters, in particular, envisioned that the ruling would result in more pro-education retired teachers running and winning legislative seats. The AG opinion apparently also created a buzz among the Republican legislative leadership based on the correspondence they had with the administrators of the retirement system.
 
Local lawmakers voice support for $4,000 teacher pay raise
A potential $4,000 pay raise for Mississippi teachers is under consideration by the Mississippi State House Appropriations Committee, following approval of an amendment on the House floor Monday. The $4,000 raise would be given over two years, with teachers receiving a $2,000 raise each year. Columbus Republican Rep. Gary Chism said he supported the raise, but also emphasized the need for a balanced state budget. He called the senate bill, which retained the original $1,000 raise "almost insulting." Starkville Republican and House Education Committee Vice Chair Rep. Rob Roberson also spoke in support of the raise. However, he also emphasized the need for a balanced budget and possible pay raises for other state employees.
 
Some local legislators still cold on 1-percent tax
Some local legislators in Jackson still say they are reticent to support a 1-percent restaurant sales tax for Columbus, leaving city officials wondering how to fund maintenance and operations at the Sen. Terry Brown Amphitheater on The Island. The tax bill passed through the state Senate Local and Private Committee Wednesday, meaning it will be presented for a vote on the Senate floor soon. Sen. Chuck Younger (R-Lowndes County) said negative feedback he's received from citizens about the tax makes him unsure whether he plans to support it. Since he represents the area affected, his support level for the tax could hold significant weight as to whether it passes the full Senate. "I've had a lot of negative calls about it from restaurant owners and members of the public," Younger said. If the tax passes the Senate, it will move to the House Local and Private Committee, on which Rep. Gary Chism (R-Columbus) sits. While Chism has changed his tune since Tuesday -- when he said the bill would not get out of the House committee but is now saying he will vote to get it to the House floor -- he still opposes the tax.
 
Bill: Ban Disclosure Requirement for Some Political Spending
Mississippi senators have passed a bill that says the government could not require disclosure of donors' names to certain types of tax-exempt groups involved in politics. Republican Sen. Jenifer Branning of Philadelphia says people should be able to donate to 501 (c) (4) social welfare organizations without facing repercussions from those who disagree with their views. But, Democratic Sen. David Blount of Jackson says keeping donors' names secret "would be the biggest step backward" since Mississippi enacted a campaign finance disclosure law. Blount says the public should know who is spending money to influence politics.
 
Lawmakers' ability to govern in private thrust into 2019 governor's race
Attorney General Jim Hood stepped up on the stage at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Feb. 19 and did something no major statewide candidate has done in three-and-a-half decades: He called for an end to the Legislature's exemption from state public records law. "We need to open up state government," Hood said to the crowd of about 200 gathered for his campaign's official kickoff announcement. "We need to take a broom and clean it out. For too long the legislative leaders have run the state like a casino for special interests, collecting chips and handing out favors." The Legislature passed the Open Records Act in 1983, exempting itself from having to disclose correspondence with special interests and other power brokers and effectively shielding itself from public scrutiny. Both the Senate and House developed rules that all legislative records except those related to "expense records" are not accessible to the public.
 
Attorney general launches app to address teen suicide
A new smartphone application was launched this week by Attorney General Jim Hood's office to provide resources and information for students struggling with depression, bullying, drug use and other issues at home or in school. "It is our middle school students right now who are most at risk because they are at an age where they are very impressionable, and a majority of them are not communicating, not only with their friends but also their families," said Tameka Tobias, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Mississippi. Suicides in Mississippi have increased in recent years after a drop in 2015. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 445 people committed suicide in 2017 in Mississippi, which was up from 383 the year prior. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which helped develop the Students Against Violence app, suicide has increased among youths who lack sufficient support.
 
Mississippi politicos feud over civil rights monument status
Mississippi's white Republican governor and the state's only black Democratic congressman are feuding over who should get credit for the home of a slain civil rights leader becoming a national monument. President Donald Trump signed a bill Wednesday creating five new national monuments, including the Medgar and Myrlie Evers home in Jackson. Medgar Evers was the Mississippi NAACP field secretary when he was assassinated outside the home in June 1963 while his wife, Myrlie, and their three children were inside. On Twitter, Gov. Phil Bryant praised Trump and Mississippi's two Republican U.S. senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, for the monument designation. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, tweeted back: "Give adequate credit. I've worked on this for 16 years." Democrats scolded the governor for not acknowledging Thompson's work on the Evers home designation.
 
Phil Bryant Praises White Officials for Evers Honor, Bashes Bennie Thompson
In the wake of a new federal law declaring civil-rights hero Medgar Evers' home a national monument, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant credited President Donald Trump and Mississippi's two white Republican U.S. senators---but not the African American Mississippi congressman who spent 16 years pushing for its passage. For years, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson has introduced legislation to bring federal recognition and protections to the slain voting-rights activist's historic Jackson home, where white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith shot and killed him in his driveway in June 1963. Thompson introduced bills to make Evers' home a national monument in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018. On Wednesday, though, after the U.S. House and Senate finally passed the legislation and Trump signed it into law, Bryant praised only the Republican president and senators.
 
Wicker votes against Trump emergency declaration
Mississippi's U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker was one of 12 Republicans to vote Thursday against President Donald Trump's declaration of an emergency at the border between the United States and Mexico. Both chambers of Congress have now expressed disapproval of Trump's emergency declaration, which the president issued in an effort to speed construction of a border wall. The final vote tally in the Senate stood at 59-41, which won't be sufficient to override the veto Trump has promised to issue. Wicker joined other Republicans such as Susan Collins of Maine, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mitt Romney of Utah and Marco Rubio of Florida. Critics of the emergency declaration say it is only a pretext to access funds that Congress won't give the president.
 
Wicker breaks with Trump, Hyde-Smith and GOP majority in vote against emergency declaration for border wall funding
In a rare break with the president, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker voted to overturn President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency along the country's southwestern border. Wicker, one of 12 Republican senators who joined Democrats on the bipartisan vote, said he supports the president's plan to build a wall along the southern border. But he said he is "concerned about the precedent an emergency declaration sets." "I had very cordial conversations with the president yesterday and this morning. I shared with him that I strongly support his plan to build walls on our southern border, but that an emergency declaration was the wrong approach. The president already has almost $6 billion available that can be used to build border walls," Wicker said in a statement on Thursday. Forty one other senators, all Republicans, including Mississippi's junior Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, voted in favor of the president's declaration.
 
Sen. Roger Wicker Defies Trump With Vote Against National Emergency Order
At the Neshoba County Fair in August 2018, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker sought to assure a suspicious, conservative crowd of his allegiance to President Donald Trump's agenda. Some in the crowd booed and waved Mississippi state flags at the white-haired Republican who, three years earlier, had drawn ire after he called for changing that flag to rid it of Confederate imagery. Instead of retreating from that view, Wicker spent his 2018 re-election campaign touting his pro-Trump voting record. On Thursday, though, Mississippi's senior senator defied Trump on the president's most central campaign promise when he voted against Trump's national emergency declaration to build a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He joined 11 other Republicans and every Democratic senator to pass a resolution blocking the move. Moments after the resolution passed, Trump sent out a one word tweet: "VETO!" he wrote.
 
Elizabeth Warren's Mississippi 'town hall' closed to public, media
A televised forum at Jackson State University featuring Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren is invite-only, Warren's campaign and CNN confirmed Thursday. Access inside the town hall is also closed to other media. Warren's campaign initially said the "town hall" would be open to the public, but limited details were available about how supporters could attend. An email blast from the state Democratic Party on Wednesday gave instructions to fill out a form indicating interest in the event. The email then directed people to look out for further correspondence that would confirm whether seating is available for them. A CNN source told the Clarion Ledger that JSU students, faculty and staff were able to reserve audience tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. The network is also expected to invite likely Democratic Mississippi primary voters. Community organizations were also asked if they were interested in attending Monday's event.
 
Centrists fear socialist tag will cost Democrats the House in 2020
The moderate Democrats who delivered the House majority want you to know they're not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib or Ilhan Omar. They haven't all blindly signed on to the "Green New Deal." They haven't been widely accused of anti-Semitism. They aren't hungry to impeach President Donald Trump. They are the ones on the front lines of the battlefield, defending Democrats' House majority. And many of the endangered Democrats already see their outspoken colleagues as a potential obstacle standing between them and reelection in 2020. "As we run up to this presidential [election], we need to show that Democrats, as a whole, are not socialists," said Rep. Katie Hill, who last November flipped a Southern California district that Republicans held for the previous quarter-century. "We're not pushing for impeachment without serious cause and serious evidence." To survive, vulnerable Democrats are shrugging off their more progressive colleagues.
 
Post-Katrina Promise of Oil Money Leaves States Shortchanged
In 2006, a year after hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the U.S. government struck a deal to give states in the region a growing share of offshore drilling revenues to finance projects protecting them from future monster storms. But revenues have fallen short of forecasts by half, leaving Louisiana with a gap in financing for a $50 billion plan for projects to raise levees, build flood gates, widen evacuation routes and protect its eroding coastline. The shortfall, which federal officials blame on low oil prices, has forced the state to put off critical projects as Louisiana's congressional delegation pushes for another increase in its share of federal oil revenues. The predicament shows how states hosting offshore drilling can get burned by the industry's boom-and-bust cycles, providing a cautionary tale for other states as the Trump administration proposes to expand offshore drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.
 
Southern Poverty Law Center fires founder Morris Dees
The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, a nationally known nonprofit that monitors hate organizations, said Thursday it had fired co-founder Morris Dees, who once won a lawsuit that bankrupted a leading Ku Klux Klan group. A statement by Richard Cohen, the president of the law center, said Dees' employment had been terminated, but it did not give a specific reason. "As a civil rights organization, the SPLC is committed to ensuring that the conduct of our staff reflects the mission of the organization and the values we hope to instill in the world. When one of our own fails to meet those standards, no matter his or her role in the organization, we take it seriously and must take appropriate action," it said. The law center is best known for tracking groups it considers hate organizations and is a frequent target of conservative and far-right critics.
 
Arkansas Competing for 2 USDA Offices, 700 Jobs
Arkansas is one of 35 states still being considered as a potential new home for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service office and National Institute of Food & Agriculture office. Both are moving from Washington, D.C. The project would create up to 700 jobs. The agency is looking for available buildings; it needs one to be about 90,000 SF and the other to be about 70,000 SF, according to Mike Preston, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Preston declined to disclose the specific sites that have been pitched to the USDA, calling it an active economic development project. But Preston said the package the AEDC submitted included sites in Little Rock, North Little Rock, Conway, Jonesboro and Fort Smith. AEDC is one of 67 applicants still in the running for the federal offices.
 
Ole Miss law school fighting 3 children over land inheritance
A dispute over an estate passed down through generations is pitting the University of Mississippi and three other organizations in a bitter legal battle against three young children. Ole Miss law school, Nashville Christian School, Harpeth Presbyterian Church and a dog rescue organization say they are the rightful beneficiaries to hundreds of acres of farmland and properties across Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, some of which has been in the Blackburn family since the War of 1812. Barry Christopher Blackburn Sr., 48, died March 21, 2014. Before he died, he executed a Revocable Living Trust to provide income and principal during his lifetime and then to his only son, Christopher, who died in July 2015, according to court papers. Blackburn's trust agreement said that if his son died with no surviving beneficiaries, any remaining trust should be distributed one-fourth each to the four nonprofits. But the executors say a mistake was made on Blackburn's trust document and he wanted the land to remain family-owned. They say the land should go his sister's three children, ages 3, 8 and 13, who would be the sixth generation to inherit the family lands.
 
Southern Miss dean finalist would be returning to Mississippi from UL Lafayette
The business dean of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette could be moving back to Mississippi soon. J. Bret Becton, dean of UL Lafayette's B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration since 2017, is a finalist for the comparable position at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Becton is one of two finalists for the dean of the school's College of Business and Economic Development. He interviewed on the Southern Miss campus Thursday and participated in a public forum Friday, according to the school. The school is his alma mater and his previous employer. Becton came to Lafayette from Southern Miss two years ago. He was associate dean for operations and accreditation for the University of Southern Mississippi's College of Business. He managed that college's budgeting, assessment, academic affairs and accreditation. His competitor for the job is Christopher Shook, a dean at the University of Montana, who is to be interviewed later this month.
 
Auburn's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security to host DHS secretary
Auburn University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security will host Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen on March 18 in Washington, D.C., as she delivers her 2019 State of Homeland Security Address. Nielsen will discuss a range of topics, including her priorities for 2019 and her vision for a safer, more secure homeland. The Monday event will begin at 9 a.m. CST in the Jack Morton Auditorium at George Washington University. Frank J. Cilluffo, director of Auburn's McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security and the CCHS, will moderate a question-and-answer session following the secretary's address. Cilluffo is a globally renowned cyber and counter-terrorism expert whose expertise is often cited in national media, including CBS Evening News and The Washington Post. Retired Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess, Auburn's chief operating officer, will welcome guests and introduce Nielsen. Burgess is a 38-year Army veteran who served three years as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
 
Four LSU employees face termination for spurning state law
LSU acknowledged Wednesday, Mar. 13 that four highly-compensated university employees continue to refuse to follow a state law tied to their employment. If LSU President F. King Alexander himself follows state law, he will have no choice but to terminate the four if they continue to defy the state statute that is at issue. The statute was passed in 2013 after being authored by then-State Representative John Bel Edwards. "They have not complied, and the university is formulating an action plan related to those individuals," LSU Media Relations Director Ernie Ballard said of the four employees Wednesday afternoon. Louisiana law requires any state employee earning over $100,000 per year must obtain a Louisiana driver's license and register any vehicles in their name in Louisiana. The four LSU employees have refused to do either.
 
U. of Tennessee to launch free college program that mirrors successful Promise, Reconnect programs
Thousands of Tennessee students soon will be able to attend a University of Tennessee school free of tuition and fees through a new initiative modeled after the state's popular Promise program. University of Tennessee system interim President Randy Boyd announced the UT Promise program on Thursday at the annual State of UT address in Nashville. The program will cover tuition and fees for students with a household income of less than $50,000 a year. Boyd said the UT Promise program will begin in fall 2020 and will ensure the university continues to fulfill its founding mission to provide a gateway to success for Tennessee's low-income and middle-class residents. The program mirrors the already popular Tennessee Promise and Reconnect programs, which provide scholarships for high school seniors and adults to attend technical or community college free of tuition and fees.
 
Meet the Calipari who holds court at Vanderbilt lab
Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari loves his older daughter, her homemade spaghetti and her pursuit of life-changing science. And he was really looking forward to seeing her when she traveled to the University of Kentucky campus last month to give a presentation about her addiction research. But, Calipari tweeted afterward, he chose to skip her talk. "I was going to go, but I can only understand the verbs when she talks," he joked. Erin Calipari smiles at the thought. Her career path is so much different than her dad's -- and because of it, she has become accustomed to explaining her work. "My whole life is talking to people about science who aren't scientists," she says. As a principal investigator at the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, she has dedicated herself to making groundbreaking discoveries about women's vulnerability to drug cravings and the immune system's role in the fight against the opioid crisis.
 
Marchers push to remove Wendy's from U. of Florida
A group of more than 300 protesters marched down Museum Road Thursday afternoon chanting and waving giant puppets that resembled the Wendy's logo and University of Florida President Kent Fuchs. The march, organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Farm Workers, aimed to have Wendy's restaurants removed from UF's campus. The coalition is a South Florida-based organization dedicated to protecting agricultural workers' rights that created the Fair Foods Program, which targets big fast food and supermarket chains to ensure their tomatoes are supplied from farms that pay workers the minimum wage and that provide humane working conditions. A number of big chains, including Taco Bell, McDonald's, Burger King and Walmart, have joined the program and agreed to pay one cent more per pound for their produce, with the money going directly to workers on one of the seven farms around the country that produce the vegetables. Wendy's is the only big holdout; the chain has refused to join the Fair Foods Program for years.
 
Mizzou Giving Day raises more than $13 million
The University of Missouri raised $13.29 million from 4,095 donations over the course of Mizzou Giving Day on March 13 and 14. Nobel Laureate George Smith started the giving when he donated his $243,000 prize for the award to the new Missouri Nobel Scholarship Fund. The fund will support undergraduate students, MU said in a news release. MU began its Our Time to Lead fundraising campaign in 2015 with the goal of raising $1.3 billion to spend on endowments, research centers, new facilities and new learning opportunities for students.
 
L.A. parent's tip uncovered massive college admissions scandal
A key tip that led to what authorities describe as the largest college admissions cheating scandal ever came from a Los Angeles parent who was under investigation in an unrelated securities case, according to a law enforcement source. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, could not identify the parent but said the subject provided vital information that launched the investigation. The sweeping scandal has led to criminal charges against numerous wealthy and powerful Southern California residents, including two Hollywood actresses, a famous fashion designer, a best-selling self-help author and the former CEO of a global investment firms. It's unclear whether the parent who aided authorities was listed in the criminal indictment filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors in Boston.
 
Popular career platform for Ph.D.s owned by foundation behind uncovered undergrad admissions fraud case
So far, there's no public evidence that the stupefying undergraduate admissions scandal has touched graduate admissions. Still, the case has touched graduate education: Versatile Ph.D., which was a leader in the alternative-academic career-coaching space, and which still rakes in annual fees from subscriber institutions, was purchased last year by the Key Worldwide Foundation. That's the foundation William (Rick) Singer -- the alleged leader of the fraudulent admissions ring -- started in 2012. His separate admissions business was dubbed "the Key." Both the foundation and the admissions business have been implicated in the federal case against Singer and dozens of his alleged co-conspirators, from sports coaches to Hollywood types trying to get their kids into college. And Singer, who is cooperating with federal authorities, already agreed in a plea deal to forfeit the foundation's interests, including those in Versatile Ph.D.


SPORTS
 
Bulldogs beat down Texas A&M to advance
Mississippi State closed out the regular season by beating Texas A&M by 11 points last Saturday. The sixth-seeded Bulldogs whipped the No. 11 seed Aggies by far worse in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday. MSU led from start to finish to close out an 80-54 victory inside Bridgestone Arena. "When we play like that, it's great," said MSU coach Ben Howland. "I thought we shot the ball well again from three. The last two games we've had 16, then again 11. I'm really happy for our guys, excited about the win." The Bulldogs (23-9) advance ahead to the semifinals to take on eighth-ranked Tennessee, the No. 3 seed, tonight at approximately 8:30 p.m. on the SEC Network. The Volunteers (27-4) took down State 71-54 in Knoxville on March 5 and have yet to play in the SEC Tournament after receiving a double bye.
 
Mississippi State blasts Texas A&M, advances to SEC Tournament quarterfinals
The halftime scores were nearly identical, but the final results were completely different. Mississippi State and Ole Miss played back-to-back SEC Tournament games at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night. Both teams built double-digit leads in the first halves of their respective games. Only one advanced to Friday's quarterfinals; Mississippi State beat Texas A&M 80-54 in the nightcap. "We knew we couldn't let up on defense," sophomore guard Tyson Carter, who had 14 points in the win, said. "We knew that we kind of had to step on their neck a little bit and just keep getting stops." It's March. If you don't "step" on an opponent's metaphorical neck, like Carter said, crazy comebacks can happen. Ole Miss now knows that first-hand. Tenth-seeded Alabama erased a 16-point deficit and eventually beat the seventh-seeded Rebels by five.
 
What Lamar Peters' resurgence means for Mississippi State's SEC Tournament run
Lamar Peters got right to it Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. Seventeen seconds into Mississippi State's SEC Tournament win over Texas A&M, he drilled a three. The Bulldogs' starting point guard brought his hot hand with him to the Music City. And it could be the deciding factor as MSU bids for an upset of No. 3-seed Tennessee in the quarterfinals tonight at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET. SEC Network analyst and former Ole Miss head coach said he likes Mississippi State's chances to make a "serious run" in this conference tournament on one condition: Peters has to be playing like the confident scorer he proved to be during non-conference play. With five 3-point makes in each of the last two games, Peters might be back to net-torching form, which would bode well for Kennedy's claim that Mississippi State is a dark horse this weekend in Nashville. "Coach has been telling me at the practice, 'Get up there and take your shots,'" Peters said. "It's just been paying off. I want to keep going into the game with the same routine and keep getting shots up."
 
Aggie men's basketball team loses to Bulldogs in second round of SEC tournament
Lamar Peters' wrist is feeling much better, and now he's doing his best to help the Mississippi State men's basketball team burnish their resume before the NCAA tournament. Peters scored 15 points, and Mississippi State routed Texas A&M 80-54 on Thursday night in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament. Mississippi State coach Ben Howland said Peters has only been able to practice shooting the past 10 days after a sprained wrist in a loss Jan. 29 at Alabama affected the junior guard in a number of games and kept Peters from shooting even at practice for nearly three weeks. That limited Peters to only three double-digit games until the regular season finale. "Shooting a lot of it's about confidence," Howland said of his guard. Peters credited his improved shooting to simply staying in the gym and practice shooting after practice. "It's been paying off," Peters said.
 
Texas A&M routed in likely final game of coach Billy Kennedy's tenure
Lamar Peters scored 15 points, and Mississippi State routed Texas A&M 80-54 on Thursday night in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament. The Bulldogs (23-9) now have won seven of their last nine with their second win over Texas A&M in six days. Mississippi State beat the Aggies by 92-81 in Starkville to wrap up the regular season, and their first game ever in this tournament was never that close as the Bulldogs never trailed. Sixth-seeded Mississippi State now will play No. 8 Tennessee for a second straight year in the quarterfinals Friday night in another rematch from the Bulldogs' final week of the regular season. Tennessee won that game 71-54 in Knoxville and also knocked Mississippi State out of the tournament last year. No. 11 seed Texas A&M (14-18) finished up a painful season that only got worse when sophomore guard TJ Starks dislocated a shoulder Feb. 26 in a loss at LSU. His injury left coach Billy Kennedy with seven scholarship players, and this loss likely was the last of his eight-year tenure after reports he will be fired once the season ends.
 
The real March Madness: Forbes ranks college basketball's most valuable teams
Schools will compete inside Bridgestone Arena for the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament championship this week, but the battle for the title of college basketball's most valuable team has already been decided. Forbes released its list of the most valuable basketball teams in the country this week, and four SEC schools made the top 20, including the University of Tennessee. The universities of Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky also made the list. The Volunteers averaged $17.7 million of annual revenue the past three years, according to Forbes, bringing in an average of $9.5 million per year in profit. The SEC tournament continues today with the No. 3 seeded Volunteers taking on the winner of last night's matchup, Mississippi State University.
 
No. 6 Mississippi State opens at fifth-ranked Florida
Mississippi State is in a good place as it heads to Florida to begin Southeastern Conference play. The Diamond Dogs are 16-1, ranked sixth in the country and have won 13-consecutive games. The lineup is collectively batting .311 and averaging 8.7 runs per game while the pitching staff sports a 1.69 ERA, are third in the NCAA averaging 12 strikeouts per game and holding opposing hitters to just a .183 average. "I like where we're at," said MSU coach Chris Lemonis. "I don't think our last couple of games have been our best. I think our focus is probably moving towards Gainesville and they're ready to play. But I like where we're at. I think we've been able to learn a lot about our team and they've played pretty well." MSU was able to overcome a slow start to SEC play last season to reach the semifinals of the College World Series. The Bulldogs were just 2-7 three weekend into the 2018 conference slate but managed to break even at 15-15 by the end of the spring.
 
Another Top-10 challenge for Gators
Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan decided to get creative this week when motivating his players for their top-10 home games this weekend against Mississippi State. After the No. 5 Gators (14-5) blasted sixth-ranked Florida State 20-7 on Tuesday, O'Sullivan wanted to make sure the No. 6 Bulldogs had the full attention of his team. So he told a joke. "I didn't know how it was going to go," O'Sullivan said. As the players stretched, he asked about MSU freshman pitcher J.T. Ginn -- a first-round pick in the 2018 MLB draft -- and if any of them had faced him in travel ball. Florida's Jud Fabian, who has a team-high five home runs, crossed paths with Ginn (4-0, 1.80 ERA) once. "So I asked how he did," O'Sullivan said. "Jud goes, 'I struck out on three pitches.'" Fellow freshman Kendrick Calilao then raised his hand, so O'Sullivan checked with him. "I struck out on three pitches," said Calilao, who is second on the team with three homers. It was no laughing matter. "That's not good," O'Sullivan replied. "Hopefully we'll have some better at-bats Saturday night."
 
Vic Schaefer set to coach in Pan American Games
Mississippi State's Vic Schaefer will be representing both the Bulldogs and the United States this summer at the Pan American Games in Peru. Schaefer was selected as an assistant coach on Suzy Merchant's staff. Merchant is the head coach at Michigan State and her other assistant will be Felisha Legette-Jack of Buffalo. Trials for the 12-member team will be held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Spring, Colorado from May 16-20 and training camp from July 15-30. The Pan American Games will take place July 31-Aug. 4 in Lima. It will be a busy summer for Schaefer, who is also set to take the Bulldogs to play in the World University Games in Naples, Italy from July 3-12.
 
Teaira McCowan seeks second national defensive award
Mississippi State's Teaira McCowan won the inaugural Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award in 2018 and seeks to win it a second time this season. McCowan was named one of four finalists for the honor along with California's Kristine Anigwe, Baylor's Lauren Cox and Purdue's Ae'rianna Harris. McCowan led the SEC and was third nationally at 13.5 rebounds per game and also blocked 2.4 shots on average, which was second in the conference. The 6-foot-7 native of Brenham, Texas also collected 26 steals on the season.
 
Will Wade Seeks Reinstatement as Both Sides of LSU Investigation Dig in for Battle
A day after LSU administrators publicly issued an ultimatum to their suspended basketball coach, Will Wade released a statement requesting he be reinstated and calling the school's decision "inappropriate." Wade says he advised LSU athletic director Joe Alleva, president F. King Alexander and the school's board of supervisors on Thursday morning that he'd like to return to work despite declining to cooperate in an internal investigation into taped conversations with recruiting middleman Christian Dawkins published last week in a Yahoo! Sports story. Wade made clear in the statement that he will not speak to school officials about the investigation under advice of counsel and chided the school for suspending him for "exercising my constitutional rights." While LSU and Wade remain in a stalemate, their attorneys are in communication, mostly by phone but sometimes through email.
 
Hiring of LSU athlete's parent part of Our Lady of the Lake, John Paul Funes embezzlement probe
LSU was notified about "two questionable issues" that were revealed during the investigation into alleged embezzlement by the former president of the Our Lady of the Lake Foundation. John Paul Funes is accused of diverting $810,000 from the foundation, according to an audit released Thursday. "The forensic investigation also revealed two questionable issues that warranted we notify legal counsel for LSU," OLOL said in a Thursday statement. "Since we are not involved and the outcome does not impact our operations, we will not have any further details or comments on this issue." While one situation is not believed to have been an NCAA or compliance issue, the other involves "the hiring of a parent of a former LSU student-athlete from 2012-2015," according to the LSU statement. Investigators asked LSU not to comment further.



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Mississippi State University  •  Mississippi State, MS 39762  •  Main Telephone: (662) 325-2323  •   Contact: The Editor  |  The Webmaster  •   Updated: March 15, 2019Facebook Twitter