Thursday, June 6, 2019   
 
Mississippi State names David Shaw as provost, executive vice president
Mississippi State University on Wednesday announced longtime faculty member and administrator David R. Shaw has been named the university's next provost and executive vice president. MSU President Mark E. Keenum confirmed Shaw as Mississippi State's chief academic officer, with his appointment pending formal approval by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning. MSU said in a press release Wednesday that Shaw is expected to begin his new role at MSU on July 1. Shaw was selected after a national search that saw the university interview three candidates. Keenum said he was impressed not only with Shaw's exemplary record of leadership and accomplishment during his time at MSU, but also with "his passionate vision and enthusiasm for academic excellence, student success, and expanding opportunity and access."
 
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves briefed on Gulf crisis during Gulfport visit
Mississippi is looking for solutions to deal with a crisis. Fisheries, marine mammals and the economy are all being affected by the intrusion of fresh water from the Mississippi River. Local and state leaders are working with scientists to measure the damage and make sure Mississippi has a say in determining its future. Alarm bells are going off along Coastal Mississippi after two openings of the Bonnet Carre Spillway in Louisiana to alleviate flooding. Trillions of gallons of freshwater from the Mississippi River are pouring into the Mississippi Sound. Oyster reefs have been all but destroyed, salinity levels are near zero, meaning the seafood industry and commercial fishing are being impacted, and, of course, 125 dolphins and more than 145 sea turtles have died. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, on the campaign trail for governor, arrived at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies Wednesday for a briefing from Coast officials and scientists.
 
Farmers struggle with trade wars, floods and low prices
And then came the rain. American farmers already plagued by a near biblical parade of misfortune that includes years of low prices and a trade war with China are now grappling with record Midwest rain that will likely prevent a large portion of this year's crop from even getting planted. The troubles have created the worst farm crisis since the 1980s, when oversupplies and a U.S. grain embargo against the Soviet Union forced thousands of farmers into bankruptcy, experts say. "It's not the 1980s, but it's as close as we've been," says John Newton, chief economist of the American Farm Bureau. While some farmers have been shutting down or selling to larger competitors for years amid thinner profits, analysts say 2019 will bring a more dramatic shakeout. "This is more than a cyclical thing," says Gary Schnitkey, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois. "It's a series of events that we've never seen come together. ... It's going to be a blow to everyone's financial position."
 
U.S. senators eulogize Thad Cochran and the political style he left behind
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy stood behind Sen. Thad Cochran's casket and held back tears as he eulogized his old friend and a bygone era of civility across party lines in American politics. "I can't help but feel the Senate is more empty without him, because he was a man of his word. I wish there were more like him," Leahy said. "His legacy will live long in programs that got strong support from Democrats and Republicans in the Senate... He's a model for what the Senate should be, and he proved it can be." It's unlikely, in today's hyper-partisan Congress, that a liberal Democrat from Vermont and a conservative Republican from Mississippi could be close friends. But longtime Sens. Leahy and Cochran, who passed away on Thursday morning at age 81, defied those standards. Their friendship dates back to 1978, the year Cochran was elected to the Senate after serving three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
 
Brian Perry tapped as Chief of Staff for Ag Commissioner
Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson announced Brian Perry as chief of staff for the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce this week. In this position, Perry will be responsible for developing and directing the strategic policy plan of the department. Perry is a former columnist for the Madison County Journal. "We are excited to welcome Brian to the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce," Gipson said. Perry resides in the Jackson area and most recently served as field director for U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. In that role, he managed a team of field representatives who represented Senator Hyde-Smith at functions across the state and who met with local officials and community leaders on the Senator's behalf. Prior to that position, he served as director of special projects for the late U.S. Senator Thad Cochran. He also served as the communication director for Congressman Chip Pickering for five years.
 
D-Day: Trump, world leaders celebrate Normandy invasion that saved Europe from Nazism
President Trump paid tribute Thursday to old men who were once the young Americans who stormed an occupied and fortified shore 75 years ago, and he called the storied D-Day invasion "an epic battle and the ferocious eternal struggle between good and evil." Trump honored the sacrifice and patriotism of veterans in their 90s, who sat hunched behind him in a chill wind at the last major milestone anniversary most are likely to see. "They came from the farms of a vast heartland, the streets of glowing cities and the forges of mighty industrial towns," Trump said of the teenagers and young men who approached the Normandy shores. "Before the war, many had never ventured beyond their own community. Now, they had come to offer their lives halfway across the world." Trump's address was his first as president that encompassed such a sweeping mix of history, patriotism and pathos.
 
Invasion of Europe had a helping hand from Vicksburg
When Allied forces hit the beaches in Normandy, France, 75 years ago today, the assault's success and the Allies' future success in defeating Nazi Germany were aided by work in Vicksburg. Researchers and engineers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, then known as the Waterways Experiment Station, were involved in several programs that helped select landing sites, deceiving the Germans about the invasion and ensuring troops received sufficient supplies after landing. They worked with British and French intelligence on soils, erosion and tide information to investigate the French Coast for possible landing sites. Workers also developed models for the coasts of Calais and Cherbourg. But one of the more important roles played by WES was its assistance with the Mulberries, two artificial harbors designed and constructed by the British to unload supply ships off the Normandy Coast immediately following the invasion.
 
Trump administration announces major expansion of hunting, fishing access on federal land
The Interior Department on Wednesday announced a plan to expand hunting and fishing opportunities in several federal wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries. The plan would increase hunting and fishing access across 1.4 million acres of public land in 74 national wildlife refuges and 15 national fish hatcheries. The Fish and Wildlife Service will seek comments from the public for 45 days regarding the plan. The Interior Department touted the economic impacts of sporting, noting that hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities contributed more than $156 billion in economic activity in communities across the United States in 2016. The Interior Department under President Trump has put a premium on weakening restrictions on hunting on national park land, reversing a slew of Obama-era regulations.
 
U. of Tennessee's Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin campuses face proposed tuition hike
The University of Tennessee has announced proposed tuition increases for 2019-20, which are some of the lowest tuition increases in the university's history. A 2% tuition increase has been proposed for the Knoxville campus, and 2.5% tuition increases have been proposed for the Chattanooga and Martin campuses. The increases would amount to a $258 increase for the Knoxville campus, a $216 increase for the Chattanooga campus and a $236 increase for the Martin campus, according to a news release from UT. Tuition increases at the Knoxville campus have ranged between zero and 12% in the last 10 years. This will be the fifth year in a row that UT has raised tuition by less than 3%. At the Knoxville campus, the 2% increase puts tuition and fees at $13,264 for in-state students for the 2019-20 academic year.
 
U. of Kentucky's tuition is going up -- and down -- next fall
For the first time in 15 years, University of Kentucky students will pay the same tuition rates, no matter what year they are in school. Up to now, freshman and sophomores have paid slightly less than juniors and seniors. The change means that for in-state underclassmen, tuition will jump 2.4 percent, while juniors and seniors will see a slight drop., about a .5 percent decrease. The total price for both semesters for in-state students will be $12,360. Out of state students will see a bigger increase, 6.2 percent for year's tuition of $30,680. At a budget briefing on Tuesday, UK officials told several Board of Trustees members that the new system would be simpler and more transparent. The Board of Trustees is expected to approve UK's $4.2 billion budget at its meeting on June 21.
 
Trump administration restricts fetal tissue research in win for anti-abortion groups
The Trump administration on Wednesday said it would bar scientists at federal agencies from pursuing research using fetal tissue and add new hurdles for researchers on college campuses to renew funding for research using the materials. It also said it would drop a contract with the University of California, San Francisco, to research HIV infection using the tissue. Funding of other nongovernmental research labs is unaffected by the decision. But the announcement is a clear win for anti-abortion groups that had pushed the Trump administration for months to restrict scientific work conducted with fetal tissue from elective abortions. It also puts researchers at universities on notice that they could face more hurdles down the road getting federal support for such work. UCSF chancellor Sam Hawgood told The Washington Post that the university considered the decision "to be politically motivated, shortsighted and not based on sound science."
 
Online degrees made USC the world's biggest social work school. Then things went very wrong
A decade ago, USC was looking for a way into online education, which promised a gush of new tuition dollars without the expense of additional dorms and classrooms. Under then-Provost C.L. Max Nikias, USC signed on with an East Coast digital learning start-up, and the university's well-regarded social work school soon rolled out an online master's program. Enrollment exploded. The student body grew from about 900 in 2010 to 3,500 in 2016, and the social work school became the largest in the world. That rapid growth, designed to assure a stable future, has instead left the school reeling. As The Times reported in May, USC's Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work is facing a budget crisis so severe that nearly half of the staff may lose their jobs. The emerging problems at USC have reverberated all the way to Wall Street, where the start-up the university partnered with years ago has grown into a publicly traded company valued at more than $2 billion. Maryland-based corporation 2U Inc. now services universities around the country and abroad, but it relies on USC for about a fifth of its revenue.
 
Cochran: The leader our founders envisioned
John Surratt writes for The Vicksburg Post: Back in 1995, I was working for the Meridian Star and keeping up with Naval Station Meridian's potential fate during that year's round of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission's hearings. It was about 9 p.m. and I was wrapping up my latest article on BRAC when my phone rang. When I picked it up, the voice on the other end said, "Somebody's working late." It was Thad Cochran returning a phone call I made to his office earlier in the day. Since that day, I've always had special respect for Sen. Cochran. He could have done like a lot of other senators and Navy Department heads I contacted during my coverage of BRAC and turned my call over to an aide, but he took it upon himself to call me personally and give me his comments on whatever was going on with the Commission. ... Like Sonny Montgomery, whom I got to know very well, Sen. Cochran was one of the last of what I've called "gentlemen politicians." He was willing to listen to others, willing to cross the aisle to meet and talk with other senators.


SPORTS
 
What Mississippi State baseball must carry over into NCAA Tournament Super Regional
Looking back at the Starkville Regional, it was never as tight of a race as it might have felt in the moment. If your jersey didn't say 'State' across the front, you were playing for second place. Mississippi State swept Southern, Central Michigan and Miami to win the Regional. While it might have not been as dominant of a performance as the team who wears red and blue had in the Oxford Regional, it was still never in doubt. Exactly half of the 14 All-Regional players wore Mississippi State uniforms. These are the things that allowed the Bulldogs to get through the first round unscathed, and they're also the things that must continue if Mississippi State is to beat Stanford (45-12) at Dudy Noble Field this weekend in a best-of-three Super Regional series.
 
Five things to know about NCAA Tournament Starkville Super Regional: Stanford
No. 6 national seed Mississippi State (49-13) is two wins away from going to the College World Series in back-to-back seasons for the first time in more than 20 years. The Stanford Cardinal (45-12) stand in the Bulldogs' way. Here's everything to know about the No. 11 seed Cardinal ahead of this weekend's Starkville Super Regional, which starts at 2 p.m. Saturday at Dudy Noble Field.
 
Mississippi State's JT Ginn honored as Co-National Freshman Pitcher of the Year
After a standout first season on the mound for the Mississippi State baseball program, freshman JT Ginn was named Co-National Freshman Pitcher of the Year and a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball Magazine. Ginn is the first Diamond Dawg to be honored with a national freshman of the year honor and the 36th Freshman All-American in Mississippi State history. Rafael Palmeiro was the first to earn the honor in 1983. The rookie right hander joins teammates Tanner Allen (2018), Rowdey Jordan (2018), Jake Mangum (2016) and Riley Self (2017) as Freshman All-American. With a Freshman All-American in each of the last four seasons, it marks the third time in program history that MSU enjoyed a stretch of four-straight years with one of the nation's top rookies. The program also had an honoree from 1986-89 and 2000-2003.
 
Eight Bulldogs selected on final day of MLB Draft
On the final day of the 2019 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft, the Mississippi State baseball program heard the names of eight current student-athletes called by professional organizations, bringing the total number of draft picks to a program-record-tying 11 over the three days of the 2019 event. The eight Diamond Dawgs drafted on the final day of the draft were Trysten Barlow (16th round; Colorado), Dustin Skelton (18th round; Miami), Jared Liebelt (20th; Arizona), Keegan James (25th; Colorado), Marshall Gilbert (29th; Pittsburgh), Peyton Plumlee (31st; Houston), Cole Gordon (32nd; New York Mets) and Tanner Allen (34; Colorado). Four of the eight Bulldogs drafted on the final day of the MLB Draft already own their degrees: Barlow, Gordon, James and Liebelt. The 11 draft picks in 2019 are tied for the program-record with the 2016 team. All time, there have been 159 different Diamond Dawgs selected in the MLB Draft (since 1965) for a total of 208 picks.
 
Mississippi State completes second ever sweep of NCAA javelin podium
Mississippi State made history on Wednesday night at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Sophomore Anderson Peters defended his national title in the javelin while leading his teammates to the first sweep of the podium since 1964. State's trio is just the 11th sweep of any event podium in NCAA history. The most recent came in 2015 when Oregon claimed the podium in the men's 1500m. The Ducks' 1964 squad is the only other trio to do so in the men's javelin, and that was before the implement was changed in 1986. MSU has now won the national title in the event in three of the last four years. "That puts Mississippi State on the board, most importantly," throws coach April Thomas said. "It couldn't have happened to a better group of guys, honestly. These guys work hard every day. They feed off each other, so it makes my job a lot easier. They're so good sometimes they don't need my help."
 
The SEC Grapples With Officiating in the Age of Outrage
Nick Saban often finds himself watching an NFL game, seeing a flag thrown and wondering why, like the rest of us. Seconds later, when a retired official appears on the TV broadcast, he gets his answer. He wants the same for the SEC. "Half the people don't even know the rule. With the difference between college and the NFL, I'm not certain of what the rule is," says Saban, entering his 13th season as Alabama head coach. "If we could find the right person to do that, an expert who nobody thought had bias, who could explain these things while they happen, I think it would go a long way in at least starting the chain of communication. That's something I recommended." The league is listening. The SEC is studying more and better ways to communicate with the public and media on officials' fouls. The conference is making changes to a longstanding principle not just in the SEC but industry wide: We don't comment on officiating.
 
U. of South Carolina's pro-athletics president is leaving. What he thinks is next for Gamecocks
The tenure of perhaps the most athletics-friendly university president in the Southeastern Conference ends July 31, and that man hopes his successor loves the Gamecocks as much as he does. "I don't think at our university you can be anything but that," USC president Harris Pastides told The State following his final appearance at the conference's spring meetings last week in Destin, Florida. "If people see you as brooding, and 'Oh my gosh, who do they think they are?' I just don't think that's a recipe for success really at any of these SEC schools." The school has named Brendan Kelly as it interim president, and Pastides doesn't know when a permanent successor might be named, he said, but he will advise that person to embrace athletics just as he did, he said. "That doesn't mean athletics without control or athletics without values or athletics without budgetary constraint -- we do have that -- but I think it would be wrong for the university to select someone who says athletics is out to lunch and we have to fix that thing," Pastides said. "I don't see that happening, by the way."
 
NCAA moving men's 3-point line
The 3-point line is moving back in men's college basketball. The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel announced Wednesday that the arc will be moved to 22 feet, 1 ¾ inches for the 2019-20 season, matching the international distance. The change will not go into effect in Division II and III until 2020-21 due to the potential financial impact on schools. The committee said the line was moved to make the lane more available for drives from the perimeter, to slow the trend of making 3-pointers so prevalent and to create more offensive spacing by requiring the defense to cover more of the court. The panel also approved resetting the shot clock to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound and gave coaches the ability to call live-ball timeouts in the last two minutes of the second half and any overtime period. Players also will be assessed technical fouls for derogatory language about an opponent's race, religion, sexual orientation or disability.
 
Bryant-Denny Stadium work to cost $17M more, U. of Alabama says
The University of Alabama is proposing increasing the budget of the renovation of Bryant-Denny Stadium by $17 million as part of revisions to the project including scrapping plans for a student terrace and large video board in the upper deck of the southern end zone. UA is proposing increasing the budget from $75.5 million to $92.5 million as a result of changes to the planning for the stadium renovation including new, larger video score boards in the corners of the stadium, more elevators, and student spaces on the southeast ground level. The Physical Properties Committee of the University of Alabama System board of trustees will vote on whether to approve the revised architectural designs and new budget when it meets Thursday. Last fall, Alabama unveiled a 10-year, $600 million initiative called the Crimson Standard to upgrade the stadium, Coleman Coliseum, the Mal Moore Athletic Facility and other athletic facilities.
 
Vanderbilt football: Malcolm Turner talks plan for stadium, facilities
Malcolm Turner doesn't want Vanderbilt Stadium to stand still while the university continues to explore a grander fix to its stadium shortcomings. So Vanderbilt's first-year athletics director sees the stadium improvements announced last week not as a grand solution but as a step toward improvement. "I think it's what we can feasibly do right now," Turner said last week at the SEC meetings. "We're still taking a look at all options that we have available to us, but I didn't want to take a position of, let's wait and see for an eventual, longer-term solution, when there are things that we can do right now. And obviously we're limited in terms of what we can do right now, but where we can enhance the experience, let's take a look at that. And if we can quickly implement some things by next season, by all means we should do that." Turner said in Destin that Vanderbilt is preparing to launch a master facilities planning process that "will help inform a longer-term solution."



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