| Thursday, August 8, 2019 |
| From Meridian to Mississippi State | |
 | Photo: Thirty-five incoming Mississippi State freshmen and transfer students were recognized at the Lauderdale County Alumni Association's 2019 Send-Off party held recently at the Bulldog Shop in downtown Meridian. Each student attending received a MSU t-shirt and ice cream. In addition, five students won an autographed cowbell signed by MSU President Mark Keenum. MSU Send-off Parties are held statewide, in an effort to provide incoming freshmen and transfer students an opportunity to gather with future classmates from their area while alumni, friends and family members send them off to college. |
| Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill breaks tie in favor of annexation | |
 | Mayor Lynn Spruill cast the deciding vote Tuesday night to move forward with annexing a portion of Oktibbeha County into the city limits. The board of aldermen split 3-3 on the issue of taking in approximately 27.9 square miles from areas of Oktibbeha County east of the city, along the Highway 82 and Highway 182 corridors out to Clayton Village and in the University Hills area. That forced Spruill to break the tie. The original annexation plan aimed to build the city's population to at least 30,000, which would have needed an increase of more than 5,000 residents to achieve. However, Mississippi State University declined to be part of the annexation plan and the city progressively winnowed down the targeted area over several iterations. Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk, Ward 4's Jason Walker and Ward 5's Hamp Beatty favored the annexation plan, while Ben Carver of Ward 1, Roy A. Perkins of Ward 6 and Henry Vaughn of Ward 7 opposed. Ward 3 Alderman David Little did not attend Tuesday's meeting. |
| Oktibbeha supes vote to finish road projects throughout county | |
| The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to complete several road projects regardless of their end cost at its regular meeting Monday. If needed, the board will pull money from its general fund to finish the work on five roads in Districts 1, 3 and 5, supervisors decided. One of the projects, to completely rebuild Thompson Road, falls within District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery's district. Montgomery estimated that total funding could be between $190,000 and $200,000 for the in-the-works project. Going toward the project is the remaining $72,000 distributed between Montgomery and the other supervisors for county wide projects in 2016. Of the total $10 million issuance, districts received money based on their percentage of roads. The other projects the board voted to complete are paving Prather Drive and Fox and Theodis roads, all currently gravel, in District 5, supervised by Joe Williams; and resurfacing 2.7 miles of County Lake Road in District 3, supervised by Marvell Howard. |
| Incumbent Steve Gladney wins in tight Oktibbeha sheriff's race | |
| Incumbent Sheriff Steve Gladney has emerged the victor in a tight race between him and former deputy John Rice in the Oktibbeha County sheriff's race. After the last affidavit ballot was counted in Oktibbeha Circuit Clerk's Office Wednesday, Gladney led with 2,720 votes (50.35 percent) to Rice's 2,498 (46.24 percent) in the Democratic primary. A third Democrat, Brandon Gann, earned 184 votes (3.41 percent). Since no Republican is running in the race, Gladney will remain sheriff. In contested supervisors' races, Democratic incumbents Orlando Trainer, of District 2, and Joe Williams, of District 5, cruised to primary victories. Former supervisor Daniel Jackson earned a spot in the District 4 general election, defeating Leonard "Knot Knot" Thompson 790-421 in the Democratic primary. He will face a rematch with Republican incumbent Bricklee Miller in November, who unseated Jackson in 2015. In the Republican primary for District 3 supervisor, Dennis Daniels defeated Rudy Johnson 360-196. Daniels will face Democratic incumbent Marvell Howard in November. |
| Dana McLean beats incumbent Jeff Smith in District 39 race | |
| Dana McLean will represent House District 39 in 2020 after she beat 28-year incumbent Rep. Jeff Smith in Tuesday's Republican primary. Between both Lowndes and Monroe counties, McLean collected 2,171 votes to Smith's 2,009 votes, giving her 51.93 percent of the vote after machine and absentee ballots were tallied. Affidavits remain to be processed today in both counties, but the total of those in the District 39 race is fewer than the margin of McLean's lead. There is no Democratic candidate in the race. "I'm humbled. I really am," McLean, 59, said this morning. "I'm still in shock." The Dispatch could not reach Smith, 68, for a comment by press time. However, he posted his feelings to his Facebook page today. "The elections are over for now and I did not prevail for the first time in a long time," he posted. "I wish my opponent and the winner God speed, and all the success in the world. (...) It has been a privilege to serve the people of District 39 for 28 years, and I know you will continue to be served well. God bless you all." |
| Governor candidates reset for Mississippi GOP primary runoff | |
 | Mississippi second-term Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves fell short of the majority needed to win the Republican nomination for governor. Now facing a party primary runoff, Reeves says he will tell voters that he's the only conservative in the race. His rival in the Aug. 27 runoff is Bill Waller Jr., a retired chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. "This is about conservatives versus liberals," Reeves, 45, told reporters Wednesday at his campaign headquarters. "I respect Justice Waller. He is a good man, but he is not a conservative." In a separate news conference at his own campaign office, Waller said Wednesday that Reeves glosses over problems. Waller, 67, said Mississippi has a "dysfunctional" system with one of the highest-paid state superintendents of education in the U.S. and some of the lowest-paid teachers. Waller also described the state's standardized testing for high school students as a "bridge to nowhere." |
| Important dates and information ahead of runoff elections | |
 | In addition to the Republican Gubernatorial primary, several other races are headed to runoffs after last night's elections. These races include Attorney General (R), Northern District Transportation Commissioner (R) and Central District Public Service Commissioner (D). In addition to the big-ticket statewide races, 5 Democratic and 5 Republican state Senate seats are headed for a runoff. The Secretary of State's office wants to remind you that even if you didn't vote in Tuesday's primary elections, you are still eligible to vote in the runoffs as long as you're registered to vote. The voter registration deadline for the runoff was on July 29th. If you did vote on Tuesday and intend to cast a ballot in the runoff, you must vote in the same political party's runoff as you did for the primary. Around 635,000 people voted in Tuesday's elections. While Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann expects a slight decline in those numbers on the 27th, he hopes to see a good turnout when the runoffs arrive. |
| Lost thumb drive changes Coast Senate race, but 3 votes hang in the balance | |
 | The District 50 Senate race was one of the closest on the Mississippi Coast, but it's taken another turn with the Wednesday recovery of a thumb drive full of votes. With all precincts in Tuesday night, incumbent Rep. Scott DeLano held a 33-vote lead over Biloxi City Councilwoman Dixie Newman. That lead was without the affidavit votes, but DeLano declared the victory late Tuesday evening. "We look at these elections and see how many affidavits that are out there. It's very unusual to make a really big difference in the outcome," told the Sun Herald Tuesday night. "Even though it's razor-thin, we expect it to fall in line with what the vote came out of those individual precincts." It wasn't the affidavits, but a thumb drive that changed the race Wednesday afternoon. "There was a drive that was left out from the D'Iberville Civic Center," Newman's campaign manager Holly Gibbes said. "The thumb drive and all the affidavits, absentees and what could be counted is what put Dixie up by one vote." Gibbes said there are still three affidavit votes that have yet to be certified. |
| 'Stand up and be counted,' a new effort to boost the state's headcount | |
 | Governor Phil Bryant is signing an executive order to establish a new effort aimed at increasing the number of Mississippians counted in the 2020 census. As mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the nation gets one chance every ten years to count it's population. Bryant says this new effort is important because participation in the census could determine what portion of the federal government's 675 billion dollar budget could come to Mississippi. "This is how we go about determining what federal funds will go to a state. How many congressmen or women you will have. How much funding for infrastructure, for education in the state, for public healthcare needs so it is critically important that we get everyone counted," said Bryant. The "Complete Count Committee" is comprised of local and state officials. Giles Ward of Louisville is chairman of the committee. He says there will be subcommittees with representatives based in communities all over the state. He says despite how some may feel, there is no downside to participating in the census. |
| With Iowa State Fair ahead, 2020 Democrats pitch to rural America | |
 | As Democratic presidential hopefuls get ready to visit the soapbox at the Iowa State Fair, they're announcing big plans for investments in rural America. Three senators seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination for president are the latest candidates with plans they hope will appeal to rural Iowa caucusgoers. Those include proposals from two members of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Among Gillibrand's proposals is expanded crop insurance for farmers who are attempting to innovate, particularly when it comes to conservation, and thus may face increased risks. Likewise, Klobuchar wants to expand the value of crop insurance and other supports. Former Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a rural America proposal last month that included $20 billion for rural broadband infrastructure and a pledge to undo the tariff policies of President Donald Trump. |
| How Elizabeth Warren plans to reboot the farm economy | |
 | Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping overhaul of farm policy, building on her goal of leveling the playing field between farmers and large agribusinesses. Warren's plan, one of the most liberal rolled out by 2020 Democrats so far, is aimed at breaking up big corporations, paying farmers fair prices, reducing overproduction and encouraging more environmental conservation. The senator released her plan during another swing through Iowa, a visit that will end at the state fair in Des Moines on Saturday. Warren's call to break up major companies in the pesticide, seed and meatpacking sectors and strengthen antitrust enforcement has been the cornerstone of her strategy to boost the farm economy. The senator also wants to shift away from farm subsidies that pay farmers when commodity prices are low. In order to create more opportunities for small, beginning and minority farmers, Warren proposed expanding access to credit, as well as creating a $1 billion "Farm to People" program. The senator did not detail how she would pay for these initiatives, however. |
| Presidential Candidates Beware the Iowa State Fair | |
 | For most visitors, the Iowa State Fair is a bucolic stroll through Middle America, packed with fried food, fairground rides and agricultural feats. For presidential candidates, the 400-plus acre fairground can be more treacherous, as the 2020 Democratic hopefuls heading there in the coming days may discover. Starting Thursday, most members of the 2020 Democratic presidential field will make pilgrimages to the 11-day event in Des Moines to do some old-fashioned retail politicking. It is a throwback to a bygone era before social media and microtargeting of voters. Still, the fair is a megaphone for candidates just six months before the Iowa caucuses start the nomination balloting and is heavily covered by state and national media. But the presidential hopefuls face an unscreened and bipartisan audience -- sometimes well fortified with beer -- in an arena unlike most they have come across in the campaign so far this year. |
| Farm Discontent Spills Over as Ag Secretary Is Confronted in Minnesota | |
| Farmers' discontent over President Donald Trump's escalating trade war with China erupted into the open Wednesday as his agriculture secretary was confronted at a fair in rural Minnesota. Gary Wertish, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, drew applause as he leveled criticism of the administration's trade policy at a forum with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in front of thousands of farmers gathered in a metal barn for a panel discussion. American farmers took a fresh financial hit from Trump's trade war over the weekend as China announced a halt to all U.S. agricultural imports after the president threatened Beijing with another tariff increase. Wertish criticized Trump's "go-it-alone approach" and the trade dispute's "devastating damage not only to rural communities." He expressed fears Trump's $28 billion in trade aid will undermine public support for federal farm subsidies, saying the assistance is already being pilloried "as a welfare program, as bailouts." oel Schreurs of the American Soybean Association warned American producers are in danger of long-term losses in market share in China, the world's largest importer of soybeans. Perdue sought to soothe the crowd as he defended the president's policies. |
| Mississippi ICE raids hit food processing plants; 680 workers arrested | |
| U.S. immigration officials raided numerous Mississippi food processing plants Wednesday, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in what marked the largest workplace sting in at least a decade. The raids, planned months ago, happened just hours before President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit El Paso, Texas, the majority-Latino city where a man linked to an online screed about a "Hispanic invasion" was charged in a shooting that left 22 people dead in the border city. Workers filled three buses -- two for men and one for women -- at a Koch Foods Inc. plant in tiny Morton, 40 miles east of Jackson. They were taken to a military hangar to be processed for immigration violations. About 70 family, friends and residents waved goodbye and shouted, "Let them go! Let them go!" Later, two more buses arrived. Such large shows of force were common under President George W. Bush, most notably at a kosher meatpacking plant in tiny Postville, Iowa, in 2008. President Barack Obama avoided them, limiting his workplace immigration efforts to low-profile audits that were done outside of public view. |
| ICE agents arrest 680 undocumented workers in Mississippi | |
 | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Wednesday arrested roughly 680 undocumented immigrants at seven Mississippi poultry processing facilities. An ICE spokesman confirmed the raids to The Hill, saying it was part of a coordinated operation with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi. "In what is believed to be the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in our nation's history, today at seven sites ... ICE HSI (Homeland Security Investigation) special agents executed administrative and criminal search warrants resulting in the detention of approximately 680 illegal aliens," Mike Hurst, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, said Wednesday afternoon. "The arrests today were part of a year-long investigation," ICE Acting Director Matt Albence added. |
| Trump's openness to extensive background checks for gun buys draws warning from NRA | |
 | President Trump has repeatedly told lawmakers and aides in private conversations that he is open to endorsing extensive background checks in the wake of two mass shootings, prompting a warning from the National Rifle Association and concerns among White House aides, according to lawmakers and administration officials. Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday before visiting Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, where weekend shootings left 31 dead, said there "was great appetite for background checks" amid an outcry over government inaction in the face of repeated mass shootings. Trump's previous declarations of support for tougher gun controls, including after the deadly Parkland, Fla., shooting in February 2018, have foundered without a sustained push from the president and support from the NRA or Republican lawmakers. Even Trump's advisers question how far he will go on any effort. Trump has focused on guns extensively since the shootings, calling lawmakers and surveying aides about what he should do -- outreach that began Sunday evening. |
| Nike plans North Mississippi distribution center in Marshall County | |
 | Sports apparel maker Nike plans to open a new distribution center less than 10 miles south of Collierville in Marshall County, Mississippi. The new facility is expected to open in spring 2020 and create 250 new logistics and supply chain jobs, Nike spokesperson Greg Rossiter said Wednesday. "We're growing," Rossiter said. "We're adding jobs." The announcement of the North Mississippi facility comes after Nike closed its distribution center at 8400 Winchester Road in February. But Rossiter said this is not a sign of job loss in Memphis but rather one of Nike's growth. "All of the employees were offered and accepted other opportunities within Nike at North American Logistics Center or at other facilities in the area," he said. "Given our growth in the region, the new facilities we opened are more modern, flexible and capable. There wasn't a need for the (Winchester Road) facility any longer." |
| UGA to fund research on 'role of slavery' at the university | |
 | University of Georgia President Jere Morehead has authorized spending up to $100,000 for faculty research on slavery in the school's pre-Civil War history. UGA Vice President for Research David Lee issued a call for research proposals on Wednesday. "Successful proposals should be focused specifically on documenting the role of slavery and enslaved people in the institution's development from its founding in 1785 through the end of the Civil War in 1865, to culminate in one or more definitive, publishable histories on the subject." UGA was chartered in 1785, although the first classes began 16 years later in 1801. UGA's slavery history became a controversial public topic following the discovery of burials in 2015, once work started on an addition to Baldwin Hall on the edge of UGA's North Campus. DNA evidence showed that most were of African descent and presumably had been slaves because general use of the cemetery where they had been buried ended before the Civil War. |
| Ruling in UMass Amherst Title IX lawsuit may lead to Supreme Court case, experts say | |
 | A federal appeals court on Tuesday found that a former University of Massachusetts at Amherst student accused of assaulting and harassing his girlfriend was deprived of due process rights when university administrators suspended him without first holding an official hearing. The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit also represents a split from a significant opinion last year by the Sixth Circuit's appeals court on the due process rights of students accused of sexual misconduct. It ruled in that decision that students or their representatives must be allowed to directly question their accusers in sexual violence cases. The discrepancies in the two courts' opinions could create an opening for a challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court, though some legal analysts doubt that outcome. Federal Title IX rules remain in flux. |
| As U.S. college admission process opens, scandal weighs on low-income students | |
| Christine Bascombe, a New York City high school student who dreams of attending Cornell University, says she was devastated last spring to hear that dozens of rich parents had committed fraud to get their children into elite colleges. The 16-year-old, who will enter her final year at Brooklyn's Williamsburg Charter High School in the fall, says nearly every waking hour is dedicated to earning a spot in the Ivy League school. "Sometimes you can work your hardest and still not get what you want," said Bascombe. "And you feel even more powerless when you realize that these people are committing fraud to get into the schools you want to get into." Bascombe is one of thousands of high school students who last week began submitting applications for admission to U.S. universities for the 2020-21 school year, an annual rite for seniors that begins each August 1. This year's "Common Application" cycle is the first since the cheating scandal was exposed in March. |
| Big Chill With China Takes Its Toll On Flow Of Money, People And Ideas | |
 | In 1978, President Jimmy Carter received a late-night call from Beijing. It was from his science adviser saying Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping wanted to send 5,000 students to the United States. "Tell him to send 100,000," Carter recalls parrying back. In the next three decades, the United States and China built up the largest trade relationship in the world, along with an acceleration of immigration, investment and academic collaborations between the two. Now, U.S.-China exchanges through trade, travel and technology are quickly fraying. Higher tariffs are discouraging investment on both sides, while stricter export controls and commercial sanctions are driving Chinese buyers away from American technology products. That decoupling is also affecting the flow of people as well -- the hundreds of thousands of American and Chinese students, researchers and entrepreneurs who routinely traverse the ocean between both countries. |
| New UN warming report sees hungry future that can be avoided | |
| On the ground, climate change is hitting us where it counts: the stomach --- not to mention the forests, plants and animals. A new United Nations scientific report examines how global warming and land interact in a vicious cycle. Human-caused climate change is dramatically degrading the land, while the way people use the land is making global warming worse. Thursday's science-laden report says the combination is already making food more expensive, scarcer and even less nutritious. "The cycle is accelerating," said NASA climate scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig, a report co-author. "The threat of climate change affecting people's food on their dinner table is increasing." But if people change the way they eat, grow food and manage forests, it could help save the planet from a far warmer future, scientists said. "We don't want a message of despair," said science panel official Jim Skea, a professor at Imperial College London. "We want to get across the message that every action makes a difference" |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State football: Observations from first practice in full pads | |
| Mississippi State took another step toward being prepared for the 2019 college football season Wednesday evening. For the first time since strapping them on for the annual Maroon and White Spring Game in April, the Bulldogs suited up in full pads. Wednesday marked the fifth practice of Mississippi State's training camp schedule. The media was allowed to watch 15 minutes of practice, but the final five minutes were action packed. Wide receivers lined up against cornerbacks and safeties on one field, and tight ends and running backs lined up with linebackers on another. The session got physical between wide outs and defensive backs. The latter won more matchups than it lost. Even some of the younger defensive backs made plays. In one instance, freshman corner Martin Emerson stayed with speedy senior Stephen Guidry and batted the ball away before Guidry could reel it in. Still, the receivers had their fair share of shining moments. Before Emerson bested Guidry, sophomore wide receiver Devonta Jason beat out Emerson. He did so on the same route Guidry ran. |
| Mississippi State's Joe Moorhead seeks to improve passing deficiencies | |
 | Joe Moorhead doesn't shy away from his disappointment in Mississippi State's inability to consistently throw the football in his first season. The Bulldogs only completed 51.1 percent of their pass attempts in 2018 and no receiver eclipsed 440 yards. "I've been able to pass the ball well essentially everywhere that I've been," Moorhead said. "I was pretty optimistic in the strides we were going to take in Year 1 in the transition of offenses. I thought we could go from A to Z and we went from A to M." MSU ranked 13th in the Southeastern Conference last season averaging only 173.8 yards per game through the air. Both of the Bulldogs' top receivers -- Osirus Mitchell and Stephen Guidry -- are back. Mitchell led the team with 26 catches for 427 yards and four touchdowns while Guidry grabbed 19 balls for 440 yards and three scores. "I think with the skill that we have returning and those guys having another year in the system -- in addition to the guys that we brought in -- one of our goals going into fall camp is to improve the efficiency and explosiveness of the pass game," Moorhead said. |
| Bulldogs have big plans for 'Dollar Bill' | |
| Kwatrivous Johnson has basically been money since the day he was born. When Johnson came into this world on Dec. 1, 1999, his grandmother Mary -- who was not a fan of the name that was picked out for her new grandson -- decided to come up with a nickname to call him. The movie "The Players Club" just so happened to be playing on the television in the waiting room while Johnson was being delivered. Mary chose the name "Dollar Bill" after Bernie Mac's character in the film. "It's just stuck with me ever since then," Johnson said. Little did Mary know that her newborn grandchild would one day grow into a mountain of a man that is expected to anchor Mississippi State's offensive line. But the 6-foot-7 Johnson isn't quite as large as he was last year. He arrived at MSU weighing 380 pounds but has shed down to 323 as he goes through his second fall camp in Starkville. |
| Mississippi State 2020 football schedule analysis | |
| Mississippi State will play away from home only once until the middle of October to open the 2020 football season. The Bulldogs begin the year playing four of their first five games inside Davis Wade Stadium against New Mexico, Arkansas, Tulane and Texas A&M. MSU's lone road contest during that stretch comes in Week 2 at N.C. State, the first time the Bulldogs have trekked to Raleigh since 1940. The rest of October however is an SEC gauntlet that includes back-to-back road games at Alabama and LSU and closes out the month at home against Auburn. The Bulldogs will receive a bye before playing the Crimson Tide. Missouri makes its first ever trip to Starkville to start off November, marking just the second gridiron meeting since the Tigers joined the SEC. State's final two conference games come on the road at Kentucky and Ole Miss with FCS foe Alabama A&M sandwiched in the middle. The Egg Bowl will fall on Thanksgiving yet again in 2020. |
| Women's Am: Mississippi State's Ashley Gilliam falls in 21-hole duel | |
| Three of Wednesday's Round of 64 matches at the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship needed more than 18 holes to settle, and one of those brought Ashley Gilliam's week to an end. An incoming freshman at Mississippi State, the 28th-seeded Gilliam fell in 21 holes to Katie Chipman of Division II Grand Valley State. Gilliam sent the tight match to extra holes with a birdie on No. 18. Neither golfer was ever more than 1 up and 11 holes ended with them tied. Stanford's Albane Valenzuela, runner-up in the 2017 U.S. Women's Am, defeated Florida's Sierra Brooks 2 and 1 in a highlight match. Brooks was the NCAA runner-up in May and the 2015 Women's Am runner-up. "She's a good friend, so you never want to play against a friend, and she's an unbelievable player, so I knew it was going to be a very tough match right off the bat," said Valenzuela. "But that's what can happen with match play." |
| SEC's 2020 football schedule has some big changes | |
| An old Southeastern Conference rivalry is moving to a new time slot next season. Mississippi State and Alabama, who have traditionally played each other in late October or November since World War II, will play on Oct. 17 next season according to the 2020 SEC football schedule released Wednesday. The matchup in Tuscaloosa will mark the earliest in the season the teams have played since 1942. While Mississippi State's meeting with Alabama is moving up on the calendar, Ole Miss' is sliding back. The Rebels will host Alabama on Oct. 3, the first time since 2011 that the game will be played in October. LSU and Arkansas will play on Oct. 17, marking the first time the game has been played in October since Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992. The game has traditionally had a November date, and was often played as a rivalry matchup on Thanksgiving weekend. Week 12, on Nov. 21, will once again be the SEC's unofficial late-season bye week. All 14 teams are in action, but only three head-to-head conference matchups are scheduled. |
| Jackson State University roots run deep for athletic director Ashley Robinson | |
| Ashley Robinson was born in Jackson and practically lived on the campus of Jackson State University. He graduated from Murrah High School and attended basketball summer camps at Jackson State. His brother played linebacker for the fooball team, and a multitude of other family members have ties to the university. The 39-year-old Jackson native is more than accustomed to the rituals surrounding the university. His Jackson State roots run deep. "I tell people this is more than just a job to me, because I grew up here," Robinson said. He has been on the job for a little over a year. Robinson graduated from Mississippi Valley State University then became academic coordinator at Delaware State University. Not long after, Jackson State University hired him as assistant compliance director. "I always said in the later part of my career, you know, as I get experience, that would be my dream to be the A.D. at Jackson State University," Robinson said. A few stints at other universities gave Robinson the experience needed to take on athletic director for the Tigers. |
| UGA gears up for next football project as SEC facility arms race rolls on | |
| South Carolina is a football program that's reached the SEC championship game just once and is picked to finish in the middle of the pack this year in the Eastern Division. It's also one that coach Will Muschamp says has a "championship atmosphere" that recruits now see after the opening of a $50 million, 110,000 square foot Long Family Operations Center in January. "It's made a huge difference in our program," Muschamp said. In the ultracompetitive SEC, schools continue to build new facilities to impress top prospects and keep pace or surpass those they are trying to beat on the field and on the recruiting trail. Georgia is gearing up for its next big project, a new football building as part of a Butts-Mehre expansion. Athletic director Greg McGarity expects the facility will be the best of its kind. "Just like we have the best indoor facility," he said. The price tag for the latest project is estimated to be in the $80 million range. |
| Auburn basketball had severe self-imposed sanctions from 2017 it never made public | |
 | In the aftermath of the September 2017 arrest of former Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person, Auburn imposed a long list of previously unreported self-imposed sanctions. Those sanctions included restrictions that limited unofficial visits, official visits, contacts, evaluations and phone calls. In fact, Auburn did not conduct recruiting of any kind from September 2017-April 2018, Auburn Athletics told AL.com. There were no official visits, no unofficial visits, and no contacts or phone calls made to any recruits during that time. Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl made a somewhat ominous comment on a July 29 podcast, when he said, "We took some real strong penalties, a lot of which have never been made public -- at some point will be." Now we know that Auburn, during its incredible and unexpected run to its first NCAA Tournament in 15 years, wasn't conducting any recruiting at the time. Interview requests for Pearl, compliance director Rich McGlynn and athletic director Allen Greene were not granted. The Office of the General Counsel did not respond to a request for official documents pertaining to these sanctions. |
| Report: NFL fights back, asks Louisiana Supreme Court to toss out Saints fans' 'no call' lawsuit | |
 | In an attempt to block New Orleans Saints fans' lawsuit against the NFL after the NFC Championship game "no call," NFL attorneys filed an appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court this week. According to a WWL-TV report, NFL attorney Glad Jones argues in the filing that this suit would open up the NFL and other leagues to these kinds of time-intensive legal proceedings and could mire the legal system "in disputes that it lacks the time or expertise to resolve." A Louisiana judge ordered that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and three officials from January's NFC title game be questioned under oath in September after the infamous "no-call" that helped the Los Angeles Rams beat the Saints in January's NFC title game, a lawyer said last Monday. Attorney Antonio LeMon, who filed a lawsuit over the game that advanced the Rams to the Super Bowl, said he and league attorneys will pick a mutually agreeable date for depositions in New Orleans -- barring any league appeals that might delay or cancel the questioning. |
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