| Wednesday, July 24, 2013 |
| Mississippi State named among '2013 Great Colleges to Work For' | |
 | Mississippi State University has been named one of the "2013 Great Colleges to Work For," according to an assessment released by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Only 97 postsecondary institutions were named to the "Great Colleges to Work For" list, and MSU was one of just 27 four-year universities with more than 10,000 students to receive the honor. "We take great pride in our faculty, staff and administrators, and this recognition underscores the wonderful contributions of each and every one of them to the success of this university," said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. |
| Mississippi State makes top college workplaces list | |
 | The Chronicle of Higher Education released a study Monday listing Mississippi State University as one of its "2013 Great Colleges to Work For," praising the university for excellence in job satisfaction, professional development and relationships between supervisors and their employees. |
| Survey: 4 Mississippi colleges best places to work | |
 | Four Mississippi schools were among the top ranked in a survey of the best colleges and universities for employees. The annual "Great Colleges to Work For" list by the Chronicle of Higher Education placed Belhaven University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women and the University of Mississippi among the top 97 schools in the nation. MSU, the largest university in the state, was noted for its high employee satisfaction totals and professional development opportunities, among other points. "We take great pride in our faculty, staff and administrators, and this recognition underscores the wonderful contributions of each and every one of them to the success of this university," said MSU President Mark Keenum. |
| MSU signs agreement with Army on unmanned aircraft research | |
 | Mississippi State University is opening a new chapter in its research of unmanned aerial systems. Officials from the land-grant institution were at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., yesterday for a memorandum of understanding signing with the U.S. Army's Project Manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems. "This MOU will allow Mississippi State to boost its research capabilities and retool curricula, allowing students and faculty to research and study UAS use in the national airspace," said Lt. Col. Robb Walker, director of external programs for PM UAS. "There are an endless number of things you could use UAS for. It is amazing to see what these students think of and how they conquer problems." |
| Mississippi State signs UAS agreement | |
| Mississippi State University is opening a new chapter in its research of unmanned aerial systems. Officials from the land-grant institution were at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala. Tuesday for a memorandum of understanding signing with the U.S. Army's Project Manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The agreement will foster collaboration between PM UAS and MSU that complements one of the university's key research focus areas, according to a senior administrator. "Our state is well positioned to continue to play a significant role in unmanned aerial systems research and development, as well as manufacturing, and it is one of the priorities for research that we have established at MSU," said David Shaw, vice president for research and economic development. |
| MSU Gets $2 Million Juvenile Justice Grant | |
 | Mississippi State is among six national universities and a health systems provider receiving a more than $2 million research grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "The people working on this project are well-known social scientists and criminologists," said research professor Angela Robertson, principal investigator for the MSU's TRIALS Research Center and associate director of the university's nationally recognized Social Science Research Center. "We are proud Mississippi State is a part of this group and excited about the project going forward," she added. |
| Neshoba County Fair opens Friday, with it a 'cool' spell | |
 | Top musical entertainment, harness and running horse races, an exciting midway, political speaking and many other attractions await visitors to the Neshoba County Fair which starts Friday for eight exciting days. The Fair continues through Aug. 2. The weather forecast shows highs hovering in the 90s during the daytime with lows dipping into the upper 60s and 70s for three nights beginning Saturday. Three college and university presidents are scheduled to speak at the Fair this year under the pavilion. Dr. Dan Jones, chancellor of the University of Mississippi, will be a special guest speaker on Wednesday, July 31 at 10 a.m. Dr. Billy Stewart, president of East Central Community College, will be a special guest speaker on Thursday, Aug. 1 at 10 a.m. followed by Dr. Mark Keenum, president of Mississippi State University, at 10:10 a.m. |
| Hosemann not on Fair schedule yet | |
| Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann will not speak at the Neshoba County Fair this year, officials said Monday, citing a prior commitment. Fair Association board member Scott Bounds, one of three committee members setting up the political speaking, said Hosemann would be out of town because of a family event. Hosemann's absence is not the only news to come out of the Fair speaking schedule. A "controversy" arose over speaking times set for college presidents during the Fair but officials were quick to call it a misunderstanding. |
| Mississippi State offers first 4-H Robotics Academy | |
| Some of the nation's leaders in the field of robotics will be at Mississippi State University August 11-15 for the first 4-H Robotics Academy. The workshop is open to 4-H agents, volunteers, teachers and senior 4-H'ers, and will train them in the ROBOTC and NXT-G programming languages. The academy is a collaborative project between the Carnegie Mellon National Robotics Academy, the MSU Extension Service, MSU's Bagley College of Engineering, the NASA Stennis Space Center, and the University of Mississippi's Center for Mathematics and Science Education. |
| Debra Brown nomination up before committee | |
 | The nomination of Jackson attorney Debra M. Brown to a federal judgeship in north Mississippi is scheduled to be considered by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. If confirmed, Brown would become the state's first black female district judge. Brown graduated with a bachelor's degree from Mississippi State University. |
| Spruill out: Starkville board of aldermen override Wiseman's veto | |
 | The Starkville Board of Aldermen voted 5-2 Tuesday night to override mayor Parker Wiseman's veto of the board's previous decision to fire the city's chief administrative officer, Lynn Spruill. A crowd of approximately 150 people crowded into city hall, most in support of Spruill. An overflow crowd waited in the hall, outside of the meeting room. During the open comment portion of the meeting, 21 of the 23 people who spoke urged members of the board to allow Wiseman's veto to stand. |
| Starkville City Administrator Lynn Spruill Fired | |
| Despite overwhelming support from Starkville residents, Lynn Spruill is officially out. It was a packed house at City Hall Tuesday night. More than 100 people turned up. That led to a spirited back and forth debate between Lynn Spruill supporters and the board. "It was really disappointing to me, really disappointing not because I disagreed with the decision that was made but I had some real issues with the process. Certainly terminating an employee in a public context is a matter of public concern and I feel to do so with no explanation to either the employee or the public is somewhat indecent," said Mayor Parker Wiseman. |
| Board overrides veto on Spruill | |
| Starkville Board of Aldermen on Tuesday elected to uphold its original vote to terminate Chief Administrative Officer Lynn Spruill's employment with the city, overriding a veto issued by Mayor Parker Wiseman. The 5-2 vote, with only Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker and Ward 5 Alderman Scott Maynard opposed, followed on the heels of a heavy public turnout by residents wishing to address the board on the matter and a rally held prior to the meeting on the steps of City Hall in support of Spruill. |
| Trainer plans to resume talks with Capella on OCH lease | |
| Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors President Orlando Trainer asked fellow supervisors Monday to come to the 9 a.m. Aug. 5 county meeting prepared to discuss a 50-year lease proposal for OCH Regional Medical Center previously offered by Capella Healthcare. The Dispatch first reported the Franklin, Tenn.-based company was exploring a long-term lease for the hospital in May. The company originally inquired about the status of OCH in an April 23 letter to board members. |
| Golden Triangle Regional Airport lands grant for runway upgrade | |
| Golden Triangle Regional Airport will be among several in Mississippi to benefit from a grant approved by U.S. legislators Monday. The airport will receive $388,549 to seal coat the 1,500-foot extended portion of its runway and taxiway, GTRA Executive Director Mike Hainsey said. The project consists of seal coating 25,000 square yards of runway pavement and 10,000 square yards of taxiway pavement to maintain structural integrity. U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss, said communities in the state rely on this and similar grant programs designed to benefit rural areas and spur economic development. |
| Political Speeches a Tradition at Neshoba County Fair | |
 | Along with chair races, the midway, and cabins, political speeches at the Neshoba County Fair are a huge tradition. A staple since 1896, speeches are given mostly by local and state representatives, but Fair Manager Doug Johnson says the Neshoba County Fair has even garnered national attention in the past. The political speeches have always been held under the pavilion in Founder's Square, and Johnson says come Wednesday and Thursday, it will be packed for the speeches. Speeches are even important during election off years like this one because the elected officials believe it's important to keep in touch with those they serve, and Johnson says their appearance at the Fair is much more than just their speech. |
| Mississippi senators question Common Core standards | |
| A group of state senators is questioning Mississippi's implementation of the Common Core education standards even as the state's schools move to put those standards into place this fall. Sen. Angela Hill, R-Picayune, said Mississippi's decision to set different testing goals for different racial subgroups undermines the state's adoption of the standards, along with 44 other states. Hill wants to freeze Mississippi's work on Common Core, if not reverse it. State officials say Hill and others have incorrectly mashed together Mississippi's waiver from the No Child Left Behind federal education law and the decision to adopt the standards. They also deny different testing goals equal lower standards for some children, saying the goals are meant to set realistic targets to cut underperformance in half over a few years. |
| Conservative group questions Common Core costs | |
| Conservative lawmakers this week blasted the Common Core standards that will be introduced to every publicly educated Mississippi student when school resumes in August as poorly conceived, highly expensive and racially biased. But state Department of Education officials dismissed those concerns as misinformed at best and political posturing at worst. They say Common Core sets rigorous standards, is comparatively less expensive than the assessment now in use when other costs are factored in, and is a means to close the achievement gap between white and minority students. |
| Sunday sales, cold beer possible in Oxford | |
 | Beer drinkers may soon buy cold beer in Oxford -- and possibly on Sunday. Attorney Dee Hobbs, representing two convenience store companies, asked the Board of Aldermen on Tuesday to rescind a longtime ordinance that forbids the sale of refrigerated beer for off-premises consumption. Concerns about the proposal were few. Currently, Oxford legalizes sales of beer, wine and liquor by the drink in restaurants on a handful of holidays and the Sundays after University of Mississippi home football games. Sunday retail liquor sales are forbidden by state law, and Oxford currently prohibits Sunday store sales of all beer. |
| Homebrewing: Hops and change | |
| Most Americans may not realise it, but their country is a little freer, and perhaps slightly tipsier than it was last month. On July 1st it became legal to make beer at home in Mississippi. Alabama lifted the threat of prosecution for homebrewers in May. It is now legal to craft your own suds in all 50 states. Benjamin Franklin is said (probably apocryphally) to have called beer "proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy". Jimmy Carter signed a law exempting home-made beer from excise tax in 1978, in effect legalising homebrewing at the federal level. But it has taken 35 years for the most puritanical states to swallow the bitter pils of legalisation. Craig Hendry, the head of a pressure group called "Raise Your Pints", has been homebrewing illegally in Mississippi for the past 12 years. He agrees that the hobby attracts "a different group of people from the regular Miller Bud Coors drinkers". |
| Jury seated for trial; Ware, DuPree fighting over Hattiesburg mayoral election results | |
 | It took close to seven hours Tuesday, but the 12 jurors who will decide Ware v. DuPree in Forrest County Circuit Court are sworn in and ready to go. Now it's on to opening arguments, with the legal team of Hattiesburg mayoral candidate Dave Ware scheduled to give its at 9 a.m. today at the courthouse. Ware is contesting the results of the June 4 mayoral race. Incumbent Johnny DuPree was certified the winner with a 37-vote lead. The issue of race reared its head late in the day Tuesday, when DuPree attorney Precious Martin called the plaintiffs's decision to strike out 10 potential jurors -- nine of which were black -- racially motivated. |
| Lott says he'd allow a House immigration vote | |
| If former U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) had House Speaker John Boehner's job, he'd bring the Senate immigration bill up for a floor vote in the House, even though a majority of fellow Republicans oppose the idea Lott said in an interview in Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon. In town for a panel on bipartisanship and public service at the National Constitution Center, Lott said he understood the logic behind Boehner's decision to keep the bill in his back pocket -- putting it up for a vote and angering his caucus could cost him his job. So Boehner has invoked the Hastert rule, an informal precedent set by former Speaker Denny Hastert that blocks a bill unless it has support of the majority of the majority party. Still, Lott said he would allow a vote on the controversial measure. |
| McAuliffe's bid for governor challenged by involvement in GreenTech | |
| New developments in a federal investigation of a program that offers U.S. visas to foreign investors have Virginia Republicans attacking Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe and the electric-car firm he headed with a plant in Mississippi and ties to China. When asked last fall about GreenTech's decision to build in Mississippi, McAuliffe told reporters that Virginia economic development officials didn't want to bid on the plant to manufacture tiny, all-electric, low-speed two-seat cars. Emails obtained by the AP, however, show repeated efforts by Virginia Economic Development Partnership officials under Democratic and Republican governors to interest the company in rural Virginia locations, even as the officials expressed misgivings about the company's financing plans, including its proposed use of the EB-5 program to attract Chinese investment. |
| Obama speech setting invokes history | |
 | As the White House tried to pique interest in President Obama's plan to speak Wednesday about the economy, aides promised a "big speech" that would be a sequel to the president's 2011 remarks in Osawatomie, Kan., where Teddy Roosevelt delivered an economic speech with similar themes a century earlier. If that weren't pedigree enough, the White House also noted Obama would be returning to Knox College in Galesburg, Ill.. The school, the site of a Lincoln-Douglas debate, is where he delivered his first major address -- also on the economy -- after he was elected to the U.S. Senate. The billing for the speech reflects this White House's fondness for burnishing Obama's remarks with historical and self-referential flourishes. Whether to add gravitas, context or hype, the White House has ensured that much of Obama's oratory comes with a prologue from the past. |
| Defense firms weathering budget cuts more easily than expected | |
 | Big defense contractors are weathering the federal budget sequester far more easily than they projected, in part because they have gradually eliminated jobs over the past few years in anticipation of spending cuts. Contractors seem pleasantly surprised that the automatic spending cuts are not hurting nearly as much as the industry's lobbying arm warned they would in the months leading up to the sequester that took effect in March. |
| Have you tried Pimento's? Nothing cheesy about it | |
| If you're in the Clinton area and looking to grab a cup of coffee or a sandwich in a unique location, check out Pimento's Cafe and Market. While the eatery has been open for almost a year, it is kind of tucked away on the Mississippi College campus in the quaint Olde Towne neighborhood of Clinton at the corner of Jefferson and Madison streets. Pimento's is part of MC's dining services for its students (it shares the facility with the private college's bookstore), but is also open to the public. |
| Moselle native visits with 34 Nobel Prize winners | |
| How many Nobel Prize winners have you met? Moselle native Michele Stover just spent a week in Germany hobnobbing with no less than 34 Nobel laureates. "It was crazy," Stover said. "You would turn around, and it would be like, 'There's one,' and 'Oh, there's another.'" Impressive stuff, particularly for a budding young research scientist. Stover, 24, is a third-year doctoral student studying computational chemistry at the University of Alabama. Stover graduated from South Jones High School, where, oddly enough, chemistry proved to be the only subject she didn’t enjoy. She eventually completed her undergraduate work at William Carey University in Hattiesburg in 2010. |
| LSU president supports faculty pay raises | |
 | LSU will have to find a way to raise faculty salaries if the university is ever going to become a nationally competitive research institution, newly installed LSU System President King Alexander said Tuesday. More than 200 faculty have left the university since 2008 taking with them tens of millions of dollars in research grants. Meanwhile, class sizes have grown larger and LSU's national rankings have suffered. Without a pay raise, Alexander said LSU will be even more susceptible to losing faculty as the economy recovers and other states start looking to poach talent. He estimated it would cost at least $40 million to replace the 220 faculty members who have left in the past five years. |
| Bama Bound preps incoming freshmen for the University of Alabama | |
 | Thousands of freshmen will start classes at the University of Alabama on Aug. 21, bringing thousands of questions about college life. That's why there's Bama Bound. From May through most of August, the two-day orientation sessions pair incoming students with a team of upperclassmen who aim to ease the transition to college life. Bama Bound introduces students to the academic culture, campus climate and the student community at the University of Alabama, said Landon Waid, associate director for orientation and special programs at UA. |
| U. of Florida residence halls to receive inaugural smoke-free certification | |
 | The University of Florida's residence halls will be the first living spaces to be recognized under Tobacco Free Florida's new Smoke Free Certification Program. The nine-county pilot program kicks off at 10 a.m. today at the Murphree Commons with a presentation of a smoke-free certificate to the university, said Andrew Romero, tobacco prevention specialist for the Alachua County Health Department. On hand to help launch the program will be Florida Surgeon General John Armstrong, Alachua County Health Department Administrator Paul Myers, UF Director of Housing Norb Dunkel, and Dave Kratzer, UF vice president for student affairs. |
| U. of Florida Dream Defenders chapter key in sustaining Capitol protest | |
| Nailah Summers was with her friends Lauren Byers, Herbert Polite and Trenton Brooks in the gym of a friend's apartment complex watching the TV as the verdict came down on the George Zimmerman trial. "We were just sitting there on workout equipment watching it in complete silence," Summers said. "We realized it was time to mobilize." Mobilize they did. Since Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin two Saturdays ago, Summers and her friends, all members of the University of Florida Chapter of Dream Defenders, have been busy holding community meetings, marching and organizing rallies calling for justice and unity. "We are here until he calls a special session," said Summers, a rising UF senior and philosophy major who had to drop her summer classes to spend more time in Tallahassee. |
| U. of Tennessee student in Palin email case released from supervision | |
 | Go forth and commit political sin no more. Five years after University of Tennessee student David Kernell made national headlines when he was charged with perusing through the personal email account of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, then a 2008 vice presidential nominee on the Republican ticket, in search of politically damage material he never found, Kernell is a free man -- truly free. Although Kernell wrapped up a year in federal prison in November 2011, he remained under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office through November 2014. But earlier this month, in one of his last acts before retiring in August, U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips freed Kernell from that final requirement. Although the case has been dubbed the "Palin hacker case" in the media, this was no sophisticated computer hack, testimony showed. |
| Scientists gather for global nuclear fusion conference at U. of Missouri | |
 | Sun streamed Monday through the glass walls of the University of Missouri's Bond Life Sciences Center, illuminating academic posters on the third floor as added light was shed on a science that was kicked back into the dark two decades ago because it was not understood. The science deals with low-energy nuclear reactions, previously referred to as cold fusion, and the Bond Life Sciences Center is playing host this week to the 18th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Fusion. A low-energy nuclear reaction -- or LENR -- is a tabletop nuclear reaction that was first discovered in 1989 by university researchers in Utah. However, as researchers were unable to duplicate those results, the science was written off, and researchers, such as MU's Mark Prelas, were told to stop their experiments. |
| UAH scientist Roy Spencer testifies before Senate, downplays human impact on global warming | |
 | Roy Spencer, a climate expert from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, testified before a Senate committee last week and stated his beliefs that the warming of the earth is simply a part of natural climate change. Appearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Spencer acknowledged that the earth is "unusually warm now." But he pointed out that it's not unprecedented. "Climate varies naturally," Spencer told the committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California. "It's always changed. The question is, so what? How much of that change is due to humans?" |
| Increasing number of universities are creating international health, safety and security-related positions | |
 | As universities increase the numbers of students they send abroad and the diversity of program locales, a growing number of institutions are creating full-time international health, safety and security-related positions. |
| Democrats Grudgingly Accept Student Loan Deal, for Now | |
 | As the student loan endgame neared, Democrats grumbled about the budget rules that make the bipartisan package work. With an extra push from the White House, however, the bill seemed on track for passage. "We're going to enjoy it now and pay later," Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed said, citing the Congressional Budget Office determination that the deal announced last week would backload higher interest rates in later years. "The cost of fixing it goes up with each year." |
| OUR OPINION: Common Core rests on a solid foundation | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal editorializes: "he declaration of the newly formed Conservative Coalition in the Mississippi Senate that it will oppose implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Mississippi's schools flies in the face of overwhelming bipartisan political support and adoption in 45 states. Common Core is not without critics and organized opponents, but some of the kick-back seems to be based on bad information or even intentional distortion. The Common Core standards, regardless of claims to the contrary, are not a federal program." |
| Will Cochran run again? | |
| Political consultant and columnist Brian Perry writes: "The Neshoba County Fair always generates political speculation on the ambitions, posturing and even policies of elected officials, candidates and would-be could-be candidates. For most of my professional career, pundits swap gossip on the future of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran. As Governor Kirk Fordice closed out his second term, folks speculated Cochran might run for Governor; he announced at the Fair he would not. Since then, it seems, every few months I would hear a new theory on whether he would run again, or retire and allow for an appointment. He never retires. He always runs again. So as his time to seek reelection or not approaches in the 2014 cycle, the speculation accelerates. I believe Cochran will run again and win a sixth Senate term." |
| Taxation atmosphere isn't like 1987 | Bobby Harrison (Opinion) | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Bobby Harrison writes: "House and Senate transportation leaders are working diligently in good faith to build support for additional revenue (some type of tax increase) for highway and road improvements throughout the state. But there is a huge disconnect in their efforts because, thus far, their respective legislative bosses, Speaker Philip Gunn in the House and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in the Senate, have yet to embrace the tax increase proposition. As a matter of fact, it is safe to assume that at this point, both Reeves and Gunn would say they are against raising anybody's taxes, which is an oft-repeated mantra many politicians give when asked about increasing revenue." |
| BP settlement prospects may be dicey for local governments | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "In April, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood appointed his predecessor Mike Moore and Ridgeland attorney Billy Quin as outside counsels to handle the state's litigation against BP over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. ...Progressing to a final settlement in the case remains difficult for plaintiffs and defendants alike. What may prove most interesting as Mississippi and the states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida press their litigation against BP is that a significant number of local (municipal and county) governments are also pressing their own litigation against the oil company. U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier last week denied BP's request for an injunction to temporarily suspend settlement payments until an investigation into alleged fraud in the claims payment program can be undertaken." |
SPORTS
| Former Bulldogs found in the pros | |
| Mississippi State has had many great players over the years. Some of those players have moved on and found themselves playing professional baseball. There are 19 former Bulldogs either playing or managing in professional baseball. "We keep up with those guys and just let them know we're here for them," MSU head coach John Cohen said, who played in the Minnesota Twins organization. "It's just so neat to see them kind of take their game off on their own, become really independent and kind of create their own way of doing things." |
| A college conference breakup poses big questions | |
| The five power conferences are trying to redefine what it takes to operate a Division I college athletic program, with their commissioners calling out the NCAA at media days around the country. The schools in the most powerful and wealthy leagues want more freedom to run their programs the way they want, without the less powerful schools standing in the way. NCAA expert John Infante, who writes the ByLaw Blog at athleticscholarship.com, says the best solution for the schools in those conferences is not leaving Division I, but reshaping it in a way where some smaller schools choose to leave. Infante added the big five creating a new division of college athletics might not be so well-received by the lower-revenue members of their own leagues, schools such as Iowa State and Mississippi State that would become the new have-nots of major college football. "You're going to have governors and attorneys general in states that are going to be ticked off," Infante said. |
| Not much difference in rivals | John L. Pitts (Opinion) | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's John L. Pitts writes: "I have $50 worth of college football magazines sitting on my kitchen table and the truth is that none of them is likely to tell me what's going to happen this fall. But flipping through one of them, my beloved Phil Steele preview, underscores a thought that has been nagging at me lately. Fans of both schools may take offense, but viewed from a distance it seems like Ole Miss and Mississippi State are essentially the same program. ...if you look at the last decade for the Rebels and Bulldogs, the schools have had rather similar performances. That's notable when you consider that 10 years is about the period of time that young men who have grown into a potential football recruits have been paying attention." |
| Sanderson CEO steps up, preserves state's PGA event | |
| Syndicated columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "When it became clear Mississippi was about to lose its only tournament on the PGA Tour, Gov. Phil Bryant sought a savior. 'I needed a successful businessman who was passionate about golf and passionate about Mississippi,' Bryant said. Turns out, he needed Joe Sanderson. He got him. And we now have the Sanderson Farms Championship, won Sunday by veteran pro Woody Austin. Meet Joe Frank Sanderson, Jr. -- he goes by simply Joe -- the energetic, 66-year-old CEO of Sanderson Farms, the third largest poultry producer in the United States." |
| Ole Miss QB Barry Brunetti charged in May incident, not expected to miss game time | |
| Ole Miss quarterback Barry Brunetti is not expected to miss any game time after a May incident. Brunetti was charged with a misdemeanor crime of drug paraphernalia on May 10, stemming from an auto accident that ended up involving five current or former Ole Miss football players. "We addressed this incident internally," coach Hugh Freeze said in a statement. Former Ole Miss player Randall Mackey was also charged with a crime, misdemeanor simple assault. He was booked into the Lafayette County Detention Center in the early morning hours but bonded out six hours later. |
| Aggies suing 12th Man Foundation over re-seating air issues in press conference | |
 | A Texas A&M family feud was on display in a downtown law office Tuesday -- Aggies suing Aggies over planned seating changes at Kyle Field. Three longtime donors, along with their lawyers, called a press conference to discuss a lawsuit filed against the Texas A&M 12th Man Foundation, asking for a temporary injunction to stop a re-seating process scheduled to begin July 31. The suit accuses the nonprofit organization of violating their rights as "endowed scholarship donors" by changing up seats promised to them years ago in a contract, along with "best available" parking spot commitments. |
| U. of Arkansas Officials Announce Site Work For Shared Baseball, Track Facility | |
 | Site work on a 52,000-SF baseball and indoor track training facility will begin at the University of Arkansas on Monday. Fundraising continues for the project, which is estimated to cost between $7.75 million and $9.6 million. Site work will include demolition of an existing parking lot. The proposed location for the baseball and track facility is on the north side of the Randall Tyson Track Center. "As we continue to seek support from donors through the 'Never Yield' campaign, we are preparing the site for the baseball and track indoor training facility," athletic director Jeff Long said. "This will allow us to complete necessary preliminary site work which will put us in position to move forward quickly once funds are identified." |
| Contracts signed, time line set for Commonwealth Stadium renovation at U. of Kentucky | |
 | Words like "preliminary" and "early" are used throughout, but new documents show that the Commonwealth Stadium project is starting to take shape. The University of Kentucky has signed formal deals with an architectural firm and a construction manager and has rough drawings in place for a $110 million renovation of the stadium and other football facilities. The project is scheduled in several phases, outlined in the construction manager's proposal, with completion planned before the start of the 2015 football season. |
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