| Wednesday, August 14, 2019 |
| Work begins on 11th Maroon Edition home | |
 | Once again, a member of the Starkville community will be getting a new home thanks to the efforts of Mississippi State University and Starkville Habitat for Humanity. On Tuesday morning, ground was broken for the 11th Maroon Edition Habitat for Humanity house. The home will be built by MSU students, faculty, staff and retirees over the next few months. The house will be located on Azalea Lane off of Louisville Street in Starkville, and will go to Keyana Triplett. Triplett is a 41-year-old Aramark employee and mother of four children ages 21, 19, 17 and 14. "I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to be a homeowner," Triplett said. "I'm thankful that Habitat for Humanity and MSU have given me the opportunity to have a home for my children, so they can finish their growing up and have something to take down the line with us." MSU President Mark Keenum spoke to the importance of the university's involvement with Habitat for Humanity. "We feel like for our holistic education we provide for our students, projects like this and many others that we're involved in help us instill important values of selflessness and helping others," Keenum said. |
| Minor in film studies offered this fall at Mississippi State | |
 | Mississippi State students now can earn a minor in film studies through a new and flexible university curriculum. A collaborative, interdisciplinary effort of two academic colleges and the Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College, the undergraduate minor is available through the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Architecture, Art and Design. Housed in the English department, the defined program of study requires students to enroll in Introduction to Film and fulfill an additional 15 credit hours from electives such as Film Theory, Art and Film, Race and the Media, and Literature and Film. Production courses include Acting for the Camera, Directing, Video Art, and Screenwriting. "We began conversations about the minor as we were finalizing film selections for the Gender Studies annual Feminist Film Festival in 2014," said Andrea Spain, associate professor of English and adviser and chair of the interdisciplinary film studies committee. |
| SOCSD, MSU partner for school-to-prison pipeline research | |
| The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District will collaborate with Mississippi State University to examine the local impact of the school-to-prison pipeline by interviewing middle and high school students and creating a variety of focus groups. The SOCSD Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the proposed research project by David May, a sociology professor at MSU and recipient of a grant to gather and publish data on the school-to-prison pipeline. May's efforts aim to identify common reasons why young people end up in prison, what schools are doing that could be expediting that process and ways schools can instead stem the problem. The board approved the district's participation in the project last year, pending May's receiving the grant. At the time, May requested Brandi Burton, the district's grants and innovative strategies specialist, as the liaison between MSU and SOCSD. |
| ASSURE Announces Results of Phase II Ground Collision Study | |
 | What could happen if a drone hit a person on the ground? What are the risks of serious injury from flying small unmanned aircraft over people, and are we doing everything we can to reduce those risks? Through its continued research, the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence, has developed a standard methodology by which potential injury may be evaluated. The ASSURE research team, led by The University of Alabama in Huntsville and including Mississippi State University, The National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University, and The Ohio State University, will release the findings of its 18-month, Air to Ground Collision study of small unmanned aircraft systemsat a press conference this afternoon at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. "The research results give the FAA a better picture of potential injuries and their severity, based on established science," said Stephen P. Luxion, Col (Ret.), Executive Director, ASSURE. |
| Local Salvation Army manager highlights services in Starkville area | |
| One of the best things about the Salvation Army, in Katie Walker's opinion, is that 80 percent of goods and donations to the Starkville branch stay in the Starkville area. "If you live in Oktibbeha County and you want to give money, we want you to know that that money is supporting your neighbors, supporting those people that you see at the grocery store and who your kid goes to school or plays sports with," said Walker, the service center manager for the Salvation Army Starkville, at the Starkville Rotary Club meeting Monday. The local branch provides food, clothing, household items and monetary assistance to families in need in Oktibbeha, Winston, Webster, Choctaw, Attala and Lee counties. Walker's job includes assisting clients with social services, coordinating fundraisers, overseeing the Salvation Army Starkville Family Store on Industrial Park Road, and managing and recruiting volunteers and advisory board members. |
| Foster backs Waller in runoff race | |
 | With the backdrop of a farm implement dealership, two Republican rivals for governor came together Tuesday morning hoping to grow a stiffer challenge in the race for party nomination come runoff Election Day on Aug. 27. State Rep. Robert Foster (R-Hernando) stepped forward during a news conference held at Hernando's Wade Implement to announce his support and endorsement of former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. in Waller's runoff run against Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. Foster was the odd man out of the three-way race for the Republican nomination, polling 17.8 percent of the Aug. 6 vote. However, front-runner Reeves did not get the 50 percent majority on Aug. 6, forcing the runoff with Waller when Waller attracted 33.3 percent of the vote. Foster's decision to support Waller came after several days of conversations and prayer, he said Tuesday. Foster said he had a number of supporters who actually urged him not to back another candidate. |
| Foster endorsement could boost Waller in pivotal DeSoto County in runoff with Reeves | |
| State Rep. Robert Foster's endorsement today of Bill Waller Jr. in the Republican runoff for governor could give Waller a boost in one of his weakest counties and one of the most important in Republican primaries -- DeSoto. Foster finished third statewide, but won his home county of DeSoto in the Aug. 6 primary with nearly 49 percent of the vote while Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves placed second with almost 40 percent. Waller, former chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, was a distant third in DeSoto where almost 22,000 people voted last Tuesday. Only Rankin County saw more people go to the polls in the Republican primary. Waller faced two obstacles in DeSoto -- a lack of name recognition and a lack of funds to do extensive advertising in the Memphis market, which is the most expensive in the state. The Foster endorsement could help Waller assuage those obstacles for the runoff with Reeves on Aug. 27. |
| Tate Reeves, Bill Waller attack ads in Mississippi governor race | |
 | Mississippi's Republican gubernatorial candidates are on the attack. After last week's primary, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves swiftly launched a new campaign offensive against his GOP runoff opponent Bill Waller Jr., labeling the former state Supreme Court justice as something less than a real conservative. "While I respect Justice Waller, he is a good man, he is not a conservative. He says we need a progressive approach, much like what the Democrats say," Reeves said at a news conference the day after the primary. The Reeves campaign followed up with a television ad over the weekend, characterizing Waller as akin to the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Jim Hood. On Tuesday, two weeks before the runoff, Waller released his rebuttal. The TV ad portrays Reeves as an out-of-control child at a birthday party, and Waller as the adult who can lead the state into the future. It's titled, "Conservative Solutions or Politics as Usual?" |
| Bill Waller Jr., Tate Reeves to debate on WJTV | |
 | WJTV 12 News is proud to present the only televised GOP gubernatorial debate ahead of the runoff August 27. Tune in, August 21 at 7 pm, on 12 News for a 30-minute debate between Bill Waller, Jr. and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. 12 News Anchor Byron Brown will serve as host and moderator. A 30-minute post-debate show will air immediately afterwards. |
| Racism fueling some terrorism: US homeland security chief in Mississippi after ICE raid | |
 | White supremacist ideology is helping fuel domestic terrorism in the United States, the head of Homeland Security said Tuesday. Acting Secretary Kevin K. McAleenan appeared in Jackson, Mississippi, for a forum about preventing violence against religious groups. The conversation included references to mass shootings, including the recent one that killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso. Authorities in Texas say the white man charged in the shooting told police he was targeting Mexicans. "The attack in El Paso and the violent white supremacist ideology that inspired it offends us all," McAleenan said Tuesday. "We must address it with moral clarity, this hate that is domestic terrorism, and it must be resisted together by Americans of all races, ethnicities and faiths." Others at the forum described the threat in similar terms. |
| Chicken plant workers reportedly fired after ICE raid | |
| There are unconfirmed reports that as many as 100 employees have been fired at PH Food chicken processing plant in Morton after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided the plant and six others in Mississippi last week. PH Food wouldn't comment on the report of the layoffs. Dianne Bell, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, said Wednesday the agency was trying to confirm the layoffs. She said the state doesn't require notification, but she said that in most cases it is notified of mass layoffs. Morton Mayor Gerald Keeton Jr. said he has no firsthand knowledge of layoffs at the plant, but said he has heard the reports. Keeton said that he had heard through media reports and others that some workers were terminated if they couldn't prove they were legally in the country. |
| Mississippi could drop high school history exam | |
| One of the four tests that Mississippi public school students take in high school may be going away. A testing task force voted by email last week to recommend that the state Board of Education scrap a now-required U.S. history test. Students formerly had to pass that test, plus exams in English, algebra and biology to graduate. Now, there are alternate routes to graduate, but some Mississippi students still don't earn a diploma because they don't qualify for any of the routes. Teacher groups and others who say Mississippi students take too many tests are pushing for change. The history test is the only one not required by the federal government or state law, meaning only a vote by the board is required to scrap it. "Teachers have said repeatedly we have too much testing," said Kelly Riley, executive director of Mississippi Professional Educators and a member of the task force who voted to abolish the test. |
| Auburn is winning the battle for Alabama students | |
 | Auburn University is winning the war for Alabama's students. More undergraduates from Alabama went to the Plains in the fall of 2018 than went to any other four-year college or university in the state, according to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. Nearly 15,000 in-state students were enrolled at Auburn that semester, more than 1,500 more than enrolled at the University of Alabama. Alabama was second with just over 13,000 students, followed by the University of Alabama at Birmingham with 11,000. Auburn, Alabama and UAB were the only four-year schools in Alabama with more than 10,000 in-state residents. Alabama had an undergraduate enrollment of around 33,000 last fall. More than 60 percent came from out-of-state. Just 40 percent of Auburn's 24,000 undergraduate students came from somewhere other than Alabama. |
| Sex-case outcome defended; U. of Arkansas filing denies due-process claim | |
| A student accused of sexual misconduct "received every bit of due process required by the Constitution" when taking part in University of Arkansas, Fayetteville campus administrative proceedings, university attorneys argued Tuesday in a court filing. The 56-page document describes procedural steps in the case while also defending UA policies and practices, several of which had been challenged in a lawsuit filed under the pseudonym "John Doe." The filing Tuesday cites court rulings as recent as last week. Attorneys for Doe, in seeking reinstatement of a previously dismissed lawsuit, had argued in part that UA was "out of step" with guidance to schools issued in 2017 under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. In April 2018, Doe was found responsible for sexual assault in violation of UA policy. Attorneys for Doe have stated in court documents that he is innocent and is trying to clear his name and reputation. |
| Summer Texas A&M grads look to future fields, including military service | |
 | Thirty-five Aggies were commissioned into the military Friday afternoon as part of Texas A&M's commencement ceremony at Reed Arena. The commission preceded the graduation of several hundred students from the colleges of architecture, dentistry, education and human development, geosciences, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, science and veterinary medicine. As the 35 were commissioned, a proud and enthusiastic crowd cheered on the young men and women in uniform as they stood with their right hands raised before Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Commandant Brig. Gen. Joe Ramirez. Nearly 2,200 degrees were awarded during summer commencement ceremonies by Texas A&M University at campuses in College Station, Galveston, Qatar and sites across Texas, a press release stated. Marcia McNutt -- a world-renowned geophysicist, the president of the National Academy of Sciences, a scientific journal editor, former director of the U.S. Geological Survey and team leader in response to the infamous BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 -- was presented an honorary doctorate by A&M President Michael K. Young during the ceremony. |
| U. of Missouri expands student housing to off-campus apartments | |
 | The University of Missouri has expanded its student housing to private apartment complexes to meet the demand created by a high number of students returning to Residential Life housing and a jump in new enrollment. MU is renting apartment buildings and rooms at the Rise on 9th on Ninth Street, U Centre on Turner Avenue and Campus Lodge on Old 63. The apartments will range from two to four bedrooms with a bathroom, kitchen and other amenities. The MU News Bureau reported a record 1,229 students are returning to Residential Life for the 2019-20 school year. That is a 63% increase from last year, when MU had a Residential Life retention of 776 students. That retention rate dovetails with an over 15% increase in student enrollment just four years after enrollment declined by 35% after the 2015 student protests. Both incoming freshmen and returning students will be allowed to apply for housing in these complexes. |
| Moody's Maintains Negative Outlook for Higher Ed | |
 | The higher education sector will be stabilized for the next 12 months by state funding and investment returns, even as hypercompetition and an intense focus on affordability limit revenue growth, according to a midyear evaluation published Monday by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's kept in place a negative outlook for the sector. In December, the ratings agency assigned higher education a negative outlook for the second straight year. As many as a fifth of colleges and universities grew their reserves faster than the rate of inflation during the just-closed 2019 fiscal year, Moody's estimated. But more experienced declines. "For fiscal 2019, we preliminarily project that 15-20 percent of universities will have grown reserves above our 3 percent estimate for higher education inflation while over 30 percent will have had greater than 3 percent declines in cash and investment levels," the report said. Nonetheless, Moody's described balance sheets as "relatively stable." Meanwhile, a strong economy is likely drawing many prospective students into the labor force instead of classrooms, and the number of new high school graduates is stagnant nationwide. |
| Past-due student loans, credit card debt could weigh on U.S. growth | |
| More people in the United States appear to be struggling to keep up with their credit card and student loan debt, which could put pressure on one of the strongest drivers of economic growth. U.S. credit card balances grew to $868 billion in the second quarter, from $848 billion in the previous three months, and the proportion of those balances seriously past due is on the rise, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York data released on Tuesday. While total student loan balances decreased slightly, from $1.49 trillion to $1.48 trillion in the quarter, the share of those loans being left unpaid for several months increased. A comparable measure shows credit card users, too, are falling behind. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of activity in the world's largest economy, and a growing job market and higher wages have helped the longest U.S. economic expansion on record continue this year. |
| Alaska's governor and university reach compromise to nearly halve budget cut | |
| Alaska's governor and officials of the University of Alaska system announced an agreement Tuesday that will blunt -- but not avert -- a budget crisis that had in recent weeks become a national symbol of the defunding of public higher education. Under the agreement, the university system will see its state allocation for the 2020 fiscal year that began July 1 cut by $25 million, with another $45 million total sliced from the state allocation over the two years that follow. While $70 million over three years is a large excision from operating budget support totaling $327 million, it looked like a net positive to Jim Johnsen, the university system's president, given the $135 million cut that Governor Michael J. Dunleavy had imposed with a swipe of his veto pen in late June. In a written message to the university late Tuesday, Johnsen said administrators planned to proceed with the move to consolidate into one accredited institution. |
| Adapting to changes in the nest | |
 | Angela Farmer, an assistant clinical professor for the Shackouls Honors College at Mississippi State University, writes in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal: As parents, it's easy to become acclimated to chaos. Rather it's the endless tenor of voices in the house, the limitless laundry and meals to prepare, or the cycle of places to take children for activities, the first dozen years keep parents so busy that they rarely recognize how fast the time is passing. The pace of the first years, however, is nothing compared to the speed of the next set. From baby bottles to backpacks, almost suddenly, the next steps parents face are perhaps even more monumental. From high school parents, to empty nesters, the change is rather paramount. While parents of toddlers dream of the successive milestone like the first tooth, the first word, and so many other wonderful milestones, they can barely comprehend how quickly those years will pass. |
| ICE raids demonstrate disconnect on immigration policies | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: The Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Scott County and other Mississippi locales where there are large-scale poultry processing operations are more than headlines to me. Two of my grandchildren attend the public schools in Scott County. I lived there for 27 years. I remember when the first large group of Hispanic laborers came to Forest to work in the five poultry plants there in that day. As a newspaper publisher, I chronicled the plight of immigrants on many fronts -- housing, education, the language barrier, early prejudices, and one particularly tragic case in which an immigrant was robbed and murdered in the street on his first day in town by a native Mississippian. My 10-year-old granddaughter has a classmate named Guadalupe that she loves and speaks of often. Their relationship is untouched by politics or mistrust or fear. They are just friends without labels. My experiences in watching immigration unfold in small town Mississippi over the course of almost 30 years have colored my views on the subject. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State safeties embracing opportunities to start | |
| Both of Mississippi State's starting safeties -- Johnathan Abram and Mark McLaurin -- have moved on to the NFL, creating big holes at the back end of the Bulldogs' defense. Although that is a lot of talent and experience lost, MSU defensive coordinator Bob Shoop has been encouraging his returning safeties to embrace that challenge. "Opportunity is the key to life and someone's missed opportunity is another person's opportunity," Shoop said. Graduation didn't wipe MSU completely out at the position either. |
| The father, the son and the Big Ten Commissioner: To MSU's Powers Warren, future commish is just 'Dad' | |
| Kevin Warren's phone buzzed uncontrollably. The steady vibrations were nothing new. His current post as the Chief Operating Officer of the Minnesota Vikings merits ample phone calls, emails and texts. June 4 was different. After a process that included five finalists, interviews and deliberation, Warren was publicly named the sixth commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. He will begin the transition in September and take office in January 2020. "I just want to make sure that I make everyone, from presidents to athletic directors, coaches, administrators, alumni and student-athletes proud for me to serve as their commissioner," he told The Dispatch. In Starkville, Mississippi State tight end Powers Warren felt noticeably different. Folks flooded the redshirt sophomore with well wishes in light of his father's recent appointment. "I didn't really know how big a deal it was until everybody came up and started saying congratulations," he said. Attention aside, Powers felt an undying sense of pride at the numerous congratulatory messages he received both in person and over the internet. Besides, his dad had earned it. |
| Darryl Wilson to be inducted in MSU Sports Hall of Fame | |
| Itawamba AHS boys basketball head coach Darryl Wilson is one of five athletes to be inducted to Mississippi State University Sports Hall of Fame in September. The Kennedy, Alabama, native was an All-SEC guard during each of his three seasons with the Bulldogs, including a first team selection in 1996. He twice made the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District team. The recognition was well-earned. Wilson was a member of one of the most heralded teams in MSU history. During his senior year in 1996, the Bulldogs made it all the way to the NCAA Final Four. The year before, they reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and made the postseason every year he played. Wilson scored 20 or more points for the maroon and white 32 times, and in all but 10 of his career games -- 83 of 93 -- scored double digits. One of those 20-plus-points games came in the championship game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, where he dropped in 22 points to help give MSU their first conference tournament championship. |
| Vanderbilt will sell alcohol at football games, which will help fund facility projects | |
 | Vanderbilt will sell alcohol at home football games this season, and the revenue will help fund facility upgrades, the university announced Wednesday. Domestic and imported beers will be available for purchase through the stadium's licensed vendor, Spectra, in public areas of Vanderbilt Stadium, beginning with the Aug. 31 season opener against No. 3 Georgia. Expanded alcohol sales at other Vanderbilt athletic events will be determined at a later date, according to a university news release. Vanderbilt's announcement comes after the SEC lifted its ban on alcohol sales in public areas, allowing each member school to decide whether it will sell alcohol at games. At least four other SEC schools -- Arkansas, LSU, Missouri and Texas A&M -- will sell alcohol at football games this season. Tennessee is developing a policy to possibly sell alcohol this season. In the Vanderbilt release, athletics director Malcolm Turner said alcohol sales will "enhance our fan experience" and provide resources for student-athletes like "facility enhancements and in other areas." |
| Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek sizes up scheduling, ticket sales and new amenities | |
| There is no truth to the rumor that the Razorbacks will release their 2040 football schedule later this week, but Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek does admit he is working ahead quite a bit these days. He addressed the issue Tuesday evening at a gathering on the #OneRazorback Road Show. "We have got a requirement in the SEC to schedule a Power 5 game every season and many schools are scheduling those games out 10-15 years," Yurachek said. "There is a limited number of those games because many of the Power 5 conferences play nine conference games, so you really have to do that much further in advance than I am even comfortable with to make sure I am taking care of the University of Arkansas. "So the opportunity to play a Utah, an Oklahoma State, Notre Dame and Texas in the future, those are great games for our program." Arkansas announced Tuesday it had extended a two-game series with Oklahoma State to four games with dates now scheduled in 2024 (Stillwater), 2027 (Fayetteville), 2032 (Stillwater) and 2033 (Fayetteville). |
| U. of Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium has new look | |
 | Alabama unveiled new LED lighting at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Monday night, including a Crimson-hued light show that places full disco power in the hands of UA director of Athletics Greg Byrne, although he is likely to be more conservative than a full Saturday Night Fever attack. "The current lights were at the end of their effective life and we wanted to go to LEDs because they are so much more efficient," Byrne said. "As an added bonus, that gave us some color capability and we are excited about exploring some different ways to use that." In June the university board of trustees increased the budget for renovations of the Bryant-Denny Stadium project by $17 million to $92.5 million due to changes to the planning for the stadium including new, larger video scoreboards in the corners of the stadium, more elevators, and student spaces on the southeast ground level. The revised plans call for four larger scoreboards in the corners of the end zones instead of a previously proposed larger video board in the upper deck of the south end zone. The scoreboards would be 60 percent larger than the existing ones and have better technology. |
| Georgia fills slots on football schedules with several guarantee games | |
 | Georgia is not only loading up with power five conference opponents on future football schedules but filling slots with guarantee games in Sanford Stadium as well. The school will pay UMass and UAB $1.9 million for future games in Athens, according to contracts obtained Tuesday by the Athens Banner-Herald in an open records request. UMass will visit on Nov. 23, 2024, according to a contract signed in April. UAB visits on Sept. 23, 2023 in a contract signed in July. UAB is already scheduled to visit for a 2021 game in Athens. In addition, Georgia has added FCS games with Samford on Sept. 10, 2022 (for a $500,000 guarantee) and Tennessee Tech on Sept. 7, 2024 for a ($550,000 guarantee). Those contracts were signed earlier this year. The Bulldogs also have a Nov. 20, 2021 game against FCS Charleston Southern ($500,000). The $1.9 million guarantee for the UMass and UAB games match the amount Georgia will pay Kent State in 2022, UNC-Charlotte in 2025 and Western Kentucky in 2026. |
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