| Friday, May 24, 2019 |
| Steak 'N Shake coming to Starkville | |
 | Steak 'N Shake is slated to open in August on Mississippi State University's campus. The fast food restaurant will replace the Burger King on campus. Burger King, which is typically closed for summer hours, has officially closed down and renovations are underway for Steak 'N Shake. Steak 'N Shake was founded in 1934 in Illinois and now has more than 550 locations nation-wide. Scheduled to open when students return in August, this is Mississippi's fifth location. The restaurant offers hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries and a variety of milkshakes. Regina Hyatt, vice president for student affairs at MSU, said the campus polled students on new eateries and Steak 'N Shake led the vote. "We're very excited about the new concept," Hyatt said. "This offers students a top choice and another retail location on campus." |
| College Bound: Mississippi State, Ole Miss top choices for Northside graduates | |
 | The numbers are in, and Mississippi State University is the top choice this year for Northside graduates. Overall, 269 students chose State for their higher education, while the University of Mississippi came in a close second, with 266 students deciding to go there in the fall. Seventy-two students from Madison Central, the Northside's largest graduating class, are expected to attend MSU this fall. Mississippi State was also the top choice for the graduating classes of Madison-Ridgeland Academy and St. Joseph Catholic School. From MRA, 28 students have chosen to be a Bulldog. Sixteen St. Joe students are headed to Starkville. Prep will be sending 47 students to Mississippi State. |
| MSU Extension Service holds workshop on killing, preventing fire ants | |
 | The Mississippi State University Extension Service helped homeowners and gardeners learn how to better control unwelcomed guests in lawns throughout our region. MSU Extension Professor Blake Layton presented a free program on fire ants, from his office in Starkville. His presentation was transmitted to area extension offices, like this one in Tupelo. The cool, wet spring weather has created an abundance of fire ants and Layton was able to share tips about controlling fire ants in the home landscape and the yard. He was also able to tell people how to avoid common mistakes when it comes to controlling the pests. "Our largest problem we see people over applicate, main reason you don't want to do that is you waste money, make sure you follow guidelines for safety for family and any pets, children that will be exposed to those areas," said Brandon Alberton, agriculture agent with the Lee County MSU Extension Office. |
| Mississippi State Receives Tree Campus USA Designation | |
| The Arbor Day Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to tree planting, recently granted Mississippi State University its Tree Campus USA designation for a sixth consecutive year. ADF launched the program in 2008 to honor colleges and universities that promote tree planting and conservation. MSU has consistently received the designation for having an effective campus forest management plan, establishing a tree advisory committee, planning and carrying out a campus tree-care plan, holding an annual Arbor Day observance and sponsoring student service-learning projects on campus, a press release from the university says. Bart Prather, MSU's associate director of campus landscape, said in a release that the university has planted approximately 85-100 new trees on its 1,500-acre campus in Starkville. |
| Historic rainfall prompts Starkville to examine runoff | |
| It's been a historic year for rainfall in Starkville. The city has been bombarded by heavy rains through the winter and spring, including a series of significant rain events in April that led to flooding throughout town. Now the city, prompted in part by flooding issues in the Country Club Estates neighborhood on South Montgomery that's seen stormwater get into houses, is looking at ways to deal with excess runoff from heavy rains. John Moore, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Jackson, told The Dispatch an observer station at Mississippi State University has recorded 42.49 inches of rainfall in through May 21 -- well above the 23.94 inches that would be expected for this time of year. The city may take a multi-pronged approach in addressing its stormwater issues. Earlier this month, aldermen approved a contract of up to $2,400 with River Science, LLC, to conduct a runoff and detention analysis of the Country Club Estates Phase III development. Mayor Lynn Spruill said she hopes to use that study as a launching point to look at other areas of the city. |
| Starkville nabs $25K grant to repave J.L. King walking track | |
| Starkville will soon repave a roughly half-mile walking track at J.L. King Park after getting a $25,000 grant from the Christopher Reeve Foundation. Starkville Parks and Recreation Director Gerry Logan said the city applied for the grant about two months ago and learned it won it on Wednesday. The grant will allow the city to repave the track, which wraps around a football field in the northern portion of the park. "What we proposed to do is repave that walking track and also do some sidewalk improvements," Logan said. "If there's money available after that, we'll add some ADA-accessible picnic tables and some more benches." Logan said it's the first time the city has applied for a grant through the Christopher Reeve Foundation. He said it's not yet certain exactly when work will begin, but Parks and Recreation will move as quickly as possible to get started. The grant comes on the heels of aldermen approving more than $43,000 on Tuesday for projects to resurface both basketball courts at J.L. King Park, a basketball court and three tennis courts at McKee Park and converting one tennis court at McKee Park to four pickleball courts. |
| Heat wave: Dangerous record-breaking death ridge to scorch Southeast | |
 | A blistering, dangerous heat wave, which one expert calls a "death ridge," is poised to scorch the southeastern U.S. over the Memorial Day weekend. While the central U.S. deals with floods and storms, some all-time record high temperatures for May could be shattered as highs rocket into the upper 90s to low 100s all the way from Alabama to Virginia. "In what has been a warmer-than-normal May to date across the Southeast, temperatures will take a notable turn upwards through the end of the week and into Memorial Day weekend," AccuWeather meteorologist Max Vido said. Weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue referred to the heat as a "death ridge" that will bring calm winds and bone-dry conditions, in addition to the extreme heat. (A "ridge" is an area of high atmospheric pressure, one that prevents clouds and rain from forming.) Unfortunately, the unusual heat is predicted to continue baking the Southeast well into early June, according to the latest forecast from the Climate Prediction Center. |
| McLeod donations from global agro-chemical corporation suspended pending investigation | |
| State Rep. Doug McLeod, R-Lucedale, who was arrested this past weekend on charges of domestic violence against his wife, was part of the 2012 freshman class that helped Republicans gain control of the Mississippi House for the first time since the 1800s. Earlier this week, McLeod was arrested for allegedly punching his wife in the face. While not a prolific fundraiser, recent campaign finance reports show that McLeod has received campaign contributions from lobbyists and several major multinational corporations, including tobacco manufacturer Reynolds American Inc. ($250), communications giant AT&T ($200) and international agrichemical company Monsanto ($250). In a statement, a spokesperson for Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, said: "All political contributions are based, in part, on Bayer's interests in legislative or policy related activity. While Rep. McLeod, a member of Mississippi's House Agriculture Committee, received a $250 corporate contribution last year, we obviously do not condone his alleged actions and we will suspend any further political support while authorities investigate the allegations." |
| Former CPA Carl Nicholson sentenced for tax crimes | |
 | Former Hattiesburg CPA Carl Nicholson was sentenced to five years in prison for various crimes Thursday at William M. Colmer Federal Courthouse with U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett presiding. Starrett said he had read the numerous letters submitted to the court in support of Nicholson and his contributions to the community, calling them impressive. But he also had some hard words for the longtime accountant. "Somewhere along the way you forgot your moral compass," Starrett told Nicholson. "This is one of the most egregious (tax crimes). You knew what you were doing. You were cheating the government and stealing from your partners. It is sad that it has all come to this." Nicholson was found guilty in February on all 11 federal tax-related charges after a weeklong trial. |
| Trump Gives Farmers $16 Billion in Aid Amid Prolonged China Trade War | |
 | President Trump on Thursday unveiled a $16 billion bailout for farmers hurt by his trade war with Beijing, signaling a protracted fight ahead that is already prompting some American companies to shift business away from China. Mr. Trump, flanked by farmers and ranchers in cowboy hats during remarks at the White House, said China had "taken advantage" of the United States for far too long and vowed to protect an industry that has been "used as a vehicle" by Beijing to hurt America's economy. "Farmers have been attacked by China," Mr. Trump said, adding that if the United States is in a trade war, "we're winning it big." Global markets tumbled on Thursday as investors began coming to terms with the idea that Mr. Trump's trade war is here to stay. "Farmers are becoming increasingly anxious over their future financial performance," said James Mintert, the director of Purdue University's Center for Commercial Agriculture and the principal investigator in a survey of 400 American farmers. |
| Why Trump's new farmer bailout could hurt agriculture | |
 | President Donald Trump's snap decision to send billions of dollars in new aid to farmers could be bad for the farm economy and the federal budget. Many farmers are still deciding what to plant this spring and could be swayed toward crops that receive higher payouts from the aid package, such as soybeans. That would add to already record supplies and further depress prices that have been falling for five years. "The timing couldn't have been worse," said Jonathan Coppess, an agricultural policy professor at the University of Illinois, and a former head of the USDA Farm Service Agency during the Obama administration. Rainfall in the Midwest has delayed planting, so many farmers can still switch up their crops. Even the prospect of another round of trade assistance could encourage them to plant more soybeans, Coppess said. |
| USDA to shift some inspector tasks to pork plant workers -- in everything but name | |
 | At a Smithfield hog plant in central Illinois, federal meat inspectors examine pig carcasses on the slaughter line, remove diseased and contaminated meat, and mark it "condemned." They have the exclusive responsibility for performing this work. At another hog plant about 75 miles away, JBS USA Food Co. employees are part of a long-running test program in which they perform tasks similar to those done by federal inspectors. When plant employees do this food safety work, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says they are "sorting" and "removing" or "disposing" of the meat, not inspecting or condemning it. The shift in language is central to the USDA's efforts to make the most dramatic changes to federal meat-inspection policy since Congress passed a 1906 landmark law that seized control of food safety from plant owners and made it the province of federal inspectors. The proposed new inspection system transfers some responsibilities that traditionally have been handled by USDA inspectors to employees of pork plants. |
| China Raises Threat of Rare-Earths Cutoff to U.S. | |
| With a simple visit to an obscure factory on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised the specter that China could potentially cut off supplies of critical materials needed by huge swaths of the U.S. economy, underscoring growing concerns that large-scale economic integration is boomeranging and becoming a geopolitical weapon. With the U.S.-China trade war intensifying, Chinese state media last week began floating the idea of banning exports of rare-earth elements to the United States, one of several possible Chinese responses to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to jack up tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of Chinese goods and blacklist telecoms maker Huawei. China supplies about 80 percent of the rare-earth elements imported by the United States, which are used in oil refining, batteries, consumer electronics, defense, and more. |
| Oxford University Transit to offer free fares this summer | |
| In a continued effort to boost ridership in the Oxford community, the Oxford University Transit system will offer rides at no cost to citizens during the summer. The OUT buses will be "Free to Ride" in June and July. The initiative was approved by the Oxford University Transit Commissioners on May 15 when OUT general manager Donna Zampella proposed offering free rides for a period of the summer. The "Free to Ride" period will begin on June 1 and run through July 31. "I was trying to get maybe school-aged kids to ride for free, but they agreed to (allow) everyone (to ride) for free," Zampella said. The normal rates for Oxford residents to ride the buses range from $1 for adults and .50 for seniors 65 and up to .75 for students in grades K to 12th grade with proper identification. Ole Miss staff and faculty ride for free and students have it included in their tuition costs. |
| Ocean Springs mother and son to graduate together from U. of Mississippi Medical Center | |
 | A mother-son duo from Ocean Springs will walk across the same Mississippi graduation stage Friday after studying medicine together, and even living as college roommates. Now they hope to use their knowledge to help people across the state and the Coast. Carolann Risley, a nurse practitioner, does research on HPV. She says the cancer-causing virus kills many women in the state each year, and she hopes her research will help lower that number. Andrew Risley has a love for dentistry, and hopes to one day serve the Coast once he wraps up his time in school. Giving back to the community is one of many things he's learned from his mom. Another is how to push through adversity. That drive is the reason they are graduating together. "For me, not getting into dental school right away made me have to go another route. So I decided to keep pushing, get my master's and join my mom during her final year," said Andrew. Both will graduate from University of Mississippi's Medical Center; Carolann with a doctorate of philosophy in nursing science and research and Andrew with a master's degree in biomedical sciences. |
| Community group and UMMC surgeons provide trauma training for crime scenes | |
| Several groups are working together to promote reconciliation, violence interruption and provide training to deal with traumatic injuries at crime scenes. The People's Advocacy Institute, City of Jackson and doctors from the University of Mississippi Medical Center are providing training that could save lives. With an increase in violence, more every day citizens could find themselves in the middle of a crime scene. Dr. Felicitas Koller, a Transplant Surgeon at UMMC said, "I think the first thing that people should be aware of is scene security. Not to intervene if the scene is unsafe. Right, so learning how to assess a scene and to make an assessment about whether they should intervene." Dr. Koller says also always remember to dial 911 for help. The Association of Women Surgeons and Trauma Surgeons from UMMC were part of Thursday night's training session on trauma. |
| Southern Miss researchers helped find last known U.S. slave ship in Mobile Bay | |
| Over the years, the hunt for the remains of the last ship known to have brought enslaved people into the United States has been fraught with a mix of tumult and hope. There was a discovery last year of wreckage that, after much excitement, was determined to be a false alarm. Hopes were raised, then dashed, then raised again --- not only among marine archaeologists but also among the descendants of the ship's human cargo, many of whom make their homes in a tiny South Alabama community called Africatown. Then, on Wednesday, came an announcement from the Alabama Historical Commission: Another shipwreck, one of many marooned under a muddy stretch of the Mobile River, was almost certainly the Clotilda, a wooden vessel of horrors that had carried 110 Africans to the United States in 1860, more than a half-century after the importation of slaves was declared illegal. |
| Millsaps and Ole Miss partner on students acceptance to pharmacy school | |
| The path for future pharmacists through Millsaps College is clearer, thanks to a new agreement signed by Millsaps with the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. The agreement offers preferred admission to the School of Pharmacy for Millsaps pre-pharmacy students with high academic performance. "This agreement demonstrates the increasingly strong relationship between Millsaps and the University of Mississippi," said Dr. Robert W. Pearigen, president of Millsaps. "The partnership offers Millsaps students a more direct route to a successful career in pharmacy." Millsaps students can gain entry into the pharmacy program through Ole Miss following the first semester of their first year, contingent on meeting specific course requirements, maintaining a minimum GPA of 3.25, and demonstrating individual volunteer and service experience. |
| Not just Millsaps: Private colleges struggle in Mississippi, nation | |
 | Millsaps College recently announced program cuts due to lower student enrollment in recent years. But it's hardly the only higher education institution facing economic headwinds. Small private schools in Mississippi and around the country are dealing with similar recruiting and financial hurdles as they try to compete with cheaper public universities, and grapple with a lower college-age population overall. Nationwide, college enrollment is down more than 2 million students since the last peak in 2011. Though not as drastic a decline as other states, Mississippi's higher education enrollment also dropped by several thousand students from 2016 to 2018. So how are some of Mississippi's small colleges doing? Nonprofit filings indicate somewhat better than in many other parts of the country. |
| Beekeepers group to meet at Co-Lin Saturday | |
 | Local beekeepers are buzzing about their meeting Saturday at the Tom Reed Academic Building at Copiah Lincoln Community College. The Natchez Bee Keeper's Club is a group of approximately 25 beekeepers and enthusiasts that band together once a month when the weather is warm to discuss the best ways to help their hives thrive, said Modie Mascagni, one of the club's founding members. The meeting, which is normally hosted at the Adams County Agricultural Extension Center, will be at Co-Lin starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Mascagni said, where knowledgeable guests and members will lead an informative discussion to educate both veteran beekeepers and novices about the art of beekeeping. One of the guests, Mascagni said, is Jeffery Harris, Ph.D., a Mississippi State University entomologist. |
| New 4-story parking deck to open in August at U. of Alabama | |
 | A new four-story parking deck is on schedule to open in August on the University of Alabama campus across from the Moody Music Building. The Capstone parking deck will have about 1,010 spaces. It replaces a surface lot that was previously on the site at the corner of Second Avenue and Paul W. Bryant Drive adjacent to the Bryant Conference Center and the music building. Construction began last spring. The deck also has additional storage space for Million Dollar Band, whose practice field is to the east of the structure. The deck is also designed serve as shelter for larger vehicles during severe weather. The deck will also eventually house a $3.5 million event management center for the Department of Public Safety, which will monitor campus events from the site. The center is scheduled to bid soon and is set to open in 2020, said Senior Associate Vice President for Campus Development Tim Leopard. |
| 'American Taliban': CIA Auburn alum played key role | |
 | Auburn University graduate Mike Spann joined the Marines while in college and after a distinguished eight years of military service, joined the CIA. A little more than a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Spann was killed overseas in a Taliban prisoner uprising. "Mike was the first American to die in the line of duty in Afghanistan," CIA Director Gina Haspel said. One of the men Spann interviewed the day he died, Nov. 25, 2001, was the man media began calling the "American Taliban," John Walker Lindh. Lindh later was captured by American forces, tried, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Thursday, 17 years later, a federal judge agreed to his early release, and Lindh became a free man. The release was preceded and then followed by calls of protest from a wide range of critics opposed to the move, ranging from Spann's family in Alabama to the highest levels of American government. |
| LSU ends Elsevier bundled journal subscription | |
 | Louisiana State University will terminate its "big deal" with publisher Elsevier at the end of this year, joining the growing list of U.S. institutions that have recently decided not to renew their bundled journal subscription deals with the publisher. LSU is just the latest of several institutions, including the University of California system, Temple University and Florida State University, to announce its intentions to end its business relationship with Elsevier in the last two years. "For decades, LSU has subscribed to a package of some 1,800 electronic journal titles from Elsevier," Stacia Haynie, LSU's provost, said in a statement Monday. But "dramatic increases" in subscription costs have made the deal unsustainable, she said. Renewing LSU's current five-year contract, which is due to end in six months' time, would cost the institution at least $2 million annually, said Haynie. Instead, the institution will allocate $1 million to subscribe individually to a smaller number of Elsevier journals on a one-year contract basis. |
| More of Louisiana's public high school graduates are entering college | |
 | More Louisiana students are entering college after high school, according to results released Wednesday by the state's Department of Education. A record 25,083 public high school graduates from the class of 2018 enrolled into college in the fall immediately following graduation. The newest data shows an increase of 1,566 first-time freshmen over the class of 2017 and an increase of 4,626 over the class of 2012, the department stated. The number of graduates in higher education after graduating from high school has increased by 23% since 2012. Louisiana Education Superintendent John White in a statement said Louisiana is one of four states nationwide that has matched requirements to receive a high school diploma with admissions eligibility for the state public university system. Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed in a statement praised the news, saying a high school diploma is no longer enough in today's "rapidly changing economy." |
| White nationalist Rick Tyler to speak at U. of Tennessee-Knoxville | |
 | A white nationalist who unsuccessfully ran for Chuck Fleischmann's Congressional seat in 2016 under the slogan "Make America White Again" is holding an event on the University of Tennessee-Knoxville's campus next week. Rick Tyler, a member of the American Freedom Party now running to be president of the United States, according to Tyler's Facebook page, will speak at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Alumni Memorial Building, which is next to Neyland Stadium, on the topic of "White Nationalism: Fact or Fiction." he event is not sponsored by the university or hosted by an organization affiliated with UT-Knoxville, according to a statement from interim Chancellor Wayne Davis. "I want to be clear: white nationalism is contrary to our values as a university -- racism, anti-Semitism and bigotry should have no place on Rocky Top," Davis wrote. "We care about our staff, faculty and students. We aspire to create an environment free of hate, prejudice, and bigotry. No one renting space on our campus will stop us from pursuing that aspiration." |
| Tuition increases approved for most of U. of Arkansas System | |
| Tuition or fees will officially rise next year at nearly every University of Arkansas System campus after a board of trustees vote Thursday. Trustees approved tuition and fee increases of less than 3% at four of the five four-year universities at its final meeting of the academic year, held at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The vote comes after three other Arkansas public universities raised tuition and fees for the upcoming academic year, one year after all public colleges and universities froze tuition prices at the request of Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Tuition and fees will go up a combined 2.8% at the system's largest school, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. It will cost undergraduates taking 30 credit hours during the fall and spring semesters a total of $9,385 to take those courses next year. |
| Texas A&M won't renew President Michael Young's contract -- but says there's no plan for him to leave | |
 | When Texas A&M University President Michael Young's employment contract expires next April, he will not receive a renewal. Instead, he will join the system's remaining campus heads in relying on annual appointment letters and system policy to govern the terms of his employment at the College Station-based campus. Young, who was appointed A&M president in 2015, currently has a five-year agreement with the system that guarantees him $1 million in annual pay. The terms were expected to be renewed for an additional five years unless Young or System officials indicated otherwise before April 30, 2019. In an April 16 letter, A&M System Chancellor John Sharp explained that Young's contract would not be renewed, and stressed it was "in no way a reflection" of his performance as president. "While your employment agreement allows for a 5-year renewal term, the System desires to bring your employment status into line with our other university presidents, none of whom has an employment agreement," Sharp wrote, in a letter addressed to Young and obtained by The Texas Tribune under open record laws. "We look forward to your continued service as our president," Sharp added. |
| Two Emory researchers did not disclose Chinese funding, ties | |
| Amid soaring U.S. concern about China's infiltration in Western scientific research, Emory University has found that two of its researchers did not disclose money they were taking from Chinese sources, and that the two did more work for research institutions and universities in China than they had let on. The two are no longer working at Emory. The move comes one month after The Houston Chronicle reported that the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center forced out three senior researchers in connection with concerns about Chinese attempts to steal research. The moves are part of a wide-ranging effort in which federal authorities including the National Institutes of Health and the FBI have come to research administrators with concerns about theft and specific researchers. The NIH said in August that it was investigating about a half-dozen research institutions, and Emory says the federal agency brought concerns about the two researchers to the school's attention. Neither GSU, Tech nor the University of Georgia responded to questions about whether they were conducting disclosure investigations of their own. |
| Could drones be solution to Atlanta gridlock? Georgia Tech looking at electric flying vehicles | |
| Could passenger-carrying drones someday be the answer to metro Atlanta's traffic delays? It seems like an outlandish, space-age fantasy -- but some in the burgeoning urban air mobility industry believe short-haul flights in unpiloted electric flying vehicles will be a key answer to gridlock in major metropolitan areas. A number of startups, including Uber Elevate, are working on developing such a system that could transport people and goods. Some have attracted millions of dollars in venture capital funding. Yet there are staggering hurdles, ranging from cost to safety, noise, public acceptance, regulations, space for vertiports, and questions about who would pay for and who would control the infrastructure for such transportation. In metro Atlanta, discussion about the technology's future has already begun. Georgia Tech this year created a Center for Urban and Regional Air Mobility to explore the development of aircraft for transportation in densely populated urban areas. |
| So you want to be economic developer? | |
 | Consultant and columnist Phil Hardwick writes: So you want to be economic developer. Can't say as I blame you. It's a rewarding profession that provides self-satisfaction and can have a positive impact on a community. It's also a stable occupation. In my many years as an economic developer, I've noticed very little turnover. In this letter, I'll offer some observations and comments that you may find useful. ... Today's economic development world is not without its controversies. Check out the May 19, 2019 article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Meet the Fixers Pitting States Against Each Other to Win Tax Breaks for New Factories." Although its primary focus is about economic development incentives, it offers a glimpse at the process and procedures found in large economic development projects. ... If you're interested in continuing your education at the graduate level, you can't do better than the Masters of Economic Development program at the University of Southern Mississippi. If the above information sounds like something that appeals to you, then best wishes and good luck. |
SPORTS
| Tough-luck loss for Ethan Small, Mississippi State | |
 | Ethan Small certainly lived up to his billing as the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year on Thursday night. The Mississippi State junior struck out 11 and only walked two over seven innings but ended up a tough-luck loser. SEC regular season champion Vanderbilt collected two of its three hits -- all singles -- in the second inning and plated the only run it needed in a 1-0 win. "Unfortunately that's part of baseball," said Small, who dropped to 8-2 on the year. "I've pitched way worse games and got the win for them and pitched better or the same and got the loss. It's just the beauty of what baseball is, anything can happen. There's so many different angles a baseball can come off the bat and it just doesn't go your way sometimes." The victory gives the top-seeded Commodores (47-10) a bye on Friday and secures them a spot in Saturday's SEC Tournament semifinal. The No. 4 seed Bulldogs (46-12) meanwhile get a rematch with fifth-seeded LSU in an elimination game on Friday night, televised on SEC Network. |
| Bulldogs blow Ethan Small's sharp start in SEC Tournament loss to Vanderbilt | |
| Ethan Small woke up to the sound of Spencer Price entering the two's hotel room around 4 a.m. Thursday morning. "What happened?" Small, Mississippi State's red-shirt junior ace pitcher, asked. "We won!" Price, a red-shirt junior reliever, jubilantly responded. "Good deal," Small said in a somewhat subdued manner. "Good night." Small and Price woke up for good with their Bulldog teammates a few hours later -- and also a few hours removed from a 17-inning victory over LSU -- to prepare for Mississippi State's next SEC Tournament game against top-seeded Vanderbilt. The Commodores came into Thursday night's game well-rested. The Bulldogs, not so much. Thus, hits were hard to come by for those wearing maroon and white. Small, who left the LSU game early to get some sleep, had a surplus of strikeouts, but fanning batters without run support doesn't do any good. Mississippi State found out the hard way. Vanderbilt beat the Bulldogs, 1-0, in spite of another prodigious performance from the SEC's Pitcher of the Year. |
| 'Baseball happens': Why Mississippi State's batters are struggling in SEC Tournament | |
| Baseball happens. That's what Mississippi State red-shirt junior pitcher Ethan Small said minutes after the Bulldogs suffered a 1-0 loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament on Thursday. He wasn't talking about his 11 strikeouts or the way he made one of the best batting orders in baseball look incompetent at times. Yes, that happens. Vanderbilt could hardly muster anything positive against Small on Thursday. Such has been the case for most teams against Small this season. He was referring to how his offense, that of the No. 3 Mississippi State Bulldogs, looked incapable of generating any offense against the Commodores. Small, who took only the second loss of his SEC Pitcher of the Year season, said he doesn't blame the Dogs' lack of offense one bit for leaving Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in defeat Thursday. "I've pitched way worse games and got the win for them, and I've pitched better or the same and got the loss for them," Small said. "It's the beauty of what baseball is. Anything can happen." |
| Ole Miss' Ross Bjork named next athletic director at Texas A&M | |
| One month ago, Texas A&M lost its athletic director to a fellow SEC West rival. Now the Aggies are doing the same thing to fill the vacancy. Mississippi athletic director Ross Bjork has been named to the same position at A&M, the university confirmed after The News reported it Thursday evening. In a statement released Thursday night, Bjork said admired A&M's Kyle Field, history and traditions from afar before accepting the job. "I will always aspire to live up to the core values that the university holds dear, and to compete for and win championships," Bjork said. Under Bjork, the Rebels' athletic department experienced various high and low points. In 2014 and 2015, the football team was ranked as high as No. 3 in the Associated Press poll. But several victories during that span were vacated as part of the NCAA sanctions stemming from major violations regarding a lack of institutional control and an "unconstrained culture of booster involvement in football recruiting." |
| Texas A&M hires Ole Miss' AD Ross Bjork | |
| Texas A&M has hired Ole Miss' Ross Bjork as athletic director. Bjork, who has been at Ole Miss since 2012, replaces Scott Woodward, who left for LSU last month after serving as AD at A&M since January 2016. Bjork will formally be introduced at A&M on June 3 after the Southeastern Conference spring meetings, which are next week in Destin, Florida. Bjork will begin work at A&M on July 8. R.C. Slocum will remain acting AD until then, when he'll go back to serving as special assistant to the president. "[Bjork's] outstanding reputation as a leader will be vital to the continued trajectory of our athletics program," A&M president Michael K. Young said in a press release. "His appreciation for higher education is evident in achieving the highest GPA and graduation rates on record during his tenure at Ole Miss." On Bjork's last day in charge at Ole Miss, the Rebel baseball team eliminated the Aggies at the SEC tournament in Hoover, Alabama, winning 2-0. Bjork will return to Oxford, Mississippi, on Oct. 19 when the A&M football team plays Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. |
| With Its Alcohol Policy Back Up For Discussion, the SEC Considers Joining the Party | |
| Chris Maitre is a Tulane football lifer. He attended Green Wave football games with his father in the 1970s at the Superdome. Chris was just 5 then, but he can vividly remember his dad clasping an adult beverage in his right hand as the Wave played on the field below. The stadiumwide sale of alcohol at Tulane football games can be traced back to 1967, a year after the Green Wave left the Southeastern Conference to become independent. More than five decades later, whether or not Tulane's former leaguemates will finally join it in the booze business will be the hot topic at next week's SEC meetings in Destin, Fla. On the agenda for league decision-makers is a decades-old bylaw prohibiting member schools from selling alcohol in general seating areas at athletic venues. Many of the conference's high-ranking administrators are optimistic that league presidents will not only seriously discuss the alcohol ban but will overturn an archaic policy that exists in no other major conference. The bylaw will be "front and center," says one athletic director; another AD says it's "the main thing." |
| Bizarre 19 hours for LSU baseball end with walk-off wild pitch thriller | |
| He stopped and started and stopped once more, trying to find the ball Auburn catcher Matt Scheffler couldn't find himself. Chris Reid was waving him home from the plate. Third base coach Nolan Cain was shouting for him to take off. Drew Bianco was already barreling toward him at third base before realizing his fellow freshman had stopped before him with LSU trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth. Giovanni DiGiacomo paused a few feet from third base for a moment in time, and then he decided. He bolted for home as Scheffler tried to find the slider in the dirt he blocked well but accidentally kicked away. DiGiacomo scored, tying the SEC Tournament elimination game, before the finally discovered ball was thrown past Scheffler. Bianco took off to score, and LSU beat Auburn 4-3 on Thursday (May 23) with a walk-off wild pitch and error to advance in the SEC Tournament. And of course this was how it ended. Of course, just 13 hours after LSU lost a 17-inning game at 3:03 a.m., the next game would be decided by another finish nobody could predict. |
| Drake Fellows pitches Vanderbilt into SEC Baseball Tournament semifinals | |
 | Three days after being snubbed from the All-SEC team, Vanderbilt's Drake Fellows matched the SEC Pitcher of the Year en route to a 1-0 win over Mississippi State in the SEC Baseball Tournament Thursday. Fellows improved his record to an SEC-best 11-0 and carried the Commodores to the SEC semifinal. He worked six innings, struck out eight and allowed no runs on five hits in 103 pitches. The All-SEC team was announced Monday. But Fellows, the lead weekend starter of the SEC regular-season champion Commodores, was not one of the six pitchers to make the list. Fellows, a right-hander, was just as effective as Mississippi State left-hander Ethan Small (8-2), the SEC Pitcher of the Year, who also had a superb performance. Small, a native of Lexington, Tennessee, allowed one run on three hits and struck out 11 in seven innings. No. 1 seed Vanderbilt (47-10) will take Friday off and then play at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in a single-elimination semifinal against the winner of Friday's LSU-Mississippi State game. |
| Behind the scenes work continues on next big UGA football project | |
 | Georgia athletic board meetings typically include a request for funding in one form of another for facility projects. It was so quiet on that front this spring that the UGA facility committee scrapped its meeting earlier this month. That doesn't mean that slow progress isn't being made on the next big facility on the horizon: a football building to give coach Kirby Smart's program more space to operate out of as it chases championship. "I know Coach Smart is anxious for these areas to take place but we are going through the process and doing our due diligence," athletic director Greg McGarity told members of the athletic board at its spring meeting Thursday morning at The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort. Josh Brooks, Georgia's facilities point person, provided a brief update on the project still in its schematic phase at the Athletic Association's spring meeting. |
| Revenue jumps from Georgia football tickets | |
| Revenue generated from Georgia football tickets zoomed up $11.6 million from a year ago. The Athletic Association reported $33.02 million as of April, a jump from $21.4 million a year earlier, according to figures provided to its board of directors during the spring meeting Thursday at The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort. Georgia attributed that to an increase in ticket prices that went into effect for the 2018 season and an additional home game -- seven total -- last year. "I think we knew that tickets would sell out," athletic director Greg McGarity said. "Our track record there with the way our donors have supported us, we've always sold out season tickets. They're gone again. There's a waiting list. Our fans have just been phenomenal in their response." Season ticket holders saw a hike of $25 for power five conference opponents to $75 per ticket and $5 more for other games to $55. Figures for the fiscal year 2020 budget will be revealed on Friday, the second day of the end-of-academic-year meeting. Georgia is expected to top the $143.3 million budget approved a year ago. |
| Romando Dixson joins Clarion Ledger, Hattiesburg American as sports editor | |
| Romando Dixson, a long-time journalist in the USA TODAY Network, will be the new sports editor for the Clarion Ledger and Hattiesburg American. Dixson has spent nearly 16 years as a journalist, beginning his career as a sports writer in Newark, Ohio. He comes to Mississippi after nearly four years at the Greenville News in South Carolina where he is an editor overseeing a team of seven reporters. A Michigan native, the move nevertheless means he is moving closer to family, with his mother living in Laurel. Dixson will work closely with USA TODAY Network South Regional Sports Director Brad Zimanek to guide sports departments in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and North Carolina. Dixson is a Michigan State graduate who counts traveling, trying new restaurants and watching sports -- "the only reason I have cable," he said -- as ways he spends his free time. He will begin his new role on June 17. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
