| Friday, May 10, 2013 |
| State tries for drone testing site | |
 | Mississippi is working toward a global presence, and Mississippi State University could play a key role in that development. On Monday, the state submitted its proposal to the Federal Aviation Administration for consideration in bringing one of six sites in the nation to test unmanned aerial vehicles to Mississippi. (Subscriber-only content.) |
| Architecture at forefront of Mississippi State graduation | |
| Mississippi State University will host commencement ceremonies at 7 p.m. Friday and at 10 a.m. Saturday, with alumna and architectural innovator Janet Marie Smith as keynote speaker. (Subscriber-only content.) |
| MSU Library Receives Donation | |
 | The Mississippi State University Libraries and Department of Landscape Architecture has received a special donation. The wife of former MSU professor Edward L. Blake Jr. donated his papers to the university. Blake was a professor at MSU from 1977 until 1984. He left the school and became the first director of the Crosby Arboretum, a university center designed to educate the public about the environment. |
| MSU Prof Named to FDA Panel | |
| The director of the Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory is newly appointed to a key federal advisory committee. State Chemist Kevin L. Armbrust is beginning a three-year term on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Advisory Committee. He was nominated by the Association of Public Health Laboratories. “We provide advice to the FDA commissioner on emerging food safety, food science, nutrition, and other food-related health issues that the agency considers for its food and cosmetics programs,” Armbrust said. A University of California, Davis doctoral graduate, he said he was “excited about serving, as well as representing MSU.” |
| MSU-Meridian hosts spring commencement | |
 | Marilyn James, Student Services manager at MSU-Meridian, tries on her cap and gown with a little help from her employees in Student Services. James will be graduating today along with 123 other students at Mississippi State University-Meridian's spring commencement at 11 a.m. at the MSU Riley Center. James will receive an Ed.S. degree in Counselor Education. |
| Former MSU Pom Squad captain vying for spot on Dallas Cowboys' cheerleader squad | |
 | A Waynesboro native and Mississippi State University graduate, Lauren Stanley Reed has been a cheerleader for Mississippi most of her life. But now the former MSU Pom Squad captain has set her sights on another cause -- the Dallas Cowboys and their elite cheerleading team. She’s prepping for a chance to make it to the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders’ training camp this summer to compete for a permanent spot on the team. “I’m the only girl from Mississippi, so I’m representing the entire state,” she said. “And I’ve been overwhelmed with all the support.” The praise for Reed and her dedication also comes from Melissa Nichols, MSU’s Spirit Coordinator who worked with Reed during her time on the Pom Squad. |
| Votes needed for Dallas audition | |
 | Mississippi is teeming with outstanding athletes in all genres of sport from football to basketball, from baseball to golf, from tennis to swimming. Many of these men and women go on to compete on a professional level. Well one more Mississippian is attempting to reach that status. However the football field is not the arena of choice, instead it’s on the sidelines with the world famous Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Lauren Stanley Reed has made it to the final 50 candidates for the 2013 squad and she now needs the public’s help in guarantying her a spot. Lauren is the wife of Clevelander Caleb Reed, who was an all-state performer as a pitcher and infielder at Bayou Academy and shining star of the Mississippi State University baseball team. |
| Starkville: No winner yet in Ward 2 race | |
 | Officials still have not finalized the election results in the Alderman Ward two race in Starkville. Leaders have requested a mediator from the Secretary of States Office to review the process. While none of the affidavits have been opened, during Friday's count, leaders want a state witness present in case the results are challenged. The affidavits will be opened at 11 a.m. Friday. |
| Walker wins in Ward 4; Ward 2 results still undecided | |
 | Starkville's process of determining valid affidavit ballots concluded one tight race Wednesday, but another election result remains unsolved. Incoming Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker defeated his challenger, John Gaskin, Wednesday 194-190 after collecting eight affidavit votes, but the Ward 2 race between Democrats Sandra Sistrunk and Lisa Wynn began its third day today when the candidates, party officials and election commission met at 10:30 a.m. to validate ballots. The process is expected to take much of the day. Sistrunk could challenge the entire Ward 2 election, but that attempt has not yet been made. |
| Secretary of State's office called in over Starkville affidavit issues | |
| Numerous issues surrounding Ward 2 affidavits prompted Starkville City Clerk Taylor Adams to request election oversight today from the Mississippi Secretary of State's office. No affidavits have been confirmed or rejected today, and a state representative is expected to be in City Hall 11 a.m. Friday. The city has five days from the Tuesday election to certify results, but Adams said Starkville will seek an extension in order to perform due diligence with challenged affidavits. |
| Forum makes case for Medicaid expansion | |
 | Opting out of Medicaid expansion will cost Mississippians and destabilize hospitals, according to a coalition of advocates. “There is confusion about what the Affordable Care Act is for and what its provisions are,” said Jo Bradley of Smithville, who attended a forum in Tupelo on Thursday. The forum hosted by the Mississippi Health Care Access Coalition drew 40 people to the Link Centre. Gov. Phil Bryant and the Legislature are in a stalemate over allowing debate on possible expansion and the reauthorization of Medicaid. Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, said Gov. Phil Bryant cannot run Medicaid by executive order because it requires $130 million in tax levies that by the state constitution must be approved by legislators. |
| 10 more tenants join Outlets of Mississippi development in Pearl | |
| Construction on the Outlets of Mississippi was hard to miss Thursday, between the hulking construction crane that towered over the 325,000-square-foot development across from Trustmark Park and the scores of trucks that drove up and down the project site as state leaders celebrated the progress of what will be the state’s largest outlet mall. “All you married men out there, you may not recognize the names of these stores, but your wives will,” developer Jason Voyles of Spectrum Capital joked to a crowd that included Gov. Phil Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and other top state officials. Voyles said the development could be 95 to 100 percent leased by the time it opens near the start of holiday shopping season. |
| Ag Department offering farmers help with safe produce certification | |
 | Mississippi vegetable and fruit growers who want to reap the benefits of the nation’s growing appetite for fresh produce need to show they use safe and sanitary harvesting and crop handling practices. Getting certified can be a financial burden that growers would rather not take on. That’s where the Mississippi Ag Department can help. Through a USDA grant, the department is offering to cover 75 percent of the costs of the food safety audit, up to $500, said Paige Manning, marketing director. |
| Biotech group sends letter to Cochran urging mandatory funding | |
| A group of Mississippi biotechnology companies and state associations have written Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), urging him to support mandatory funding for renewable energy programs in a new Farm Bill. Elevance Renewable Sciences of Natchez and DuPont Corporation, which has operations in Pass Christian and Pascagoula, sent the letter along with supporters at AgBioworks Foundation and the Memphis Bioworks Foundation. |
| Stabenow releases Senate farm bill draft | |
 | Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) on Thursday released her draft 2013 farm bill. The bill saves $23 billion, by the committee's unofficial estimate, over the next 10 years by replacing the existing farm safety net with new crop insurance and price-based supports and by restricting some eligibility for food stamps. Next Tuesday, the committee will mark up the measure, which governs farm subsidies and food stamps as well as rural energy, trade, conservation and development programs for five years. The full Senate is expected to take up the bill this month. |
| Draft farm bill aids pork, beef lobbies | |
 | A new drafted farm bill, released by the Senate Agriculture Committee late Thursday, reflects concessions to powerful pork and beef lobbies as well as an effort to secure Southern Republican votes with target prices for rice and peanut producers. The Midwest Corn Belt would retain its costly new Agricultural Risk Coverage program, which was the mainstay of the commodity title approved last summer by the Senate in the last Congress. But the ARC payments have been trimmed back modestly and more importantly, the standard index changed from a five-month average market price to the 12-month average. Last year, Stabenow was able to prevail in the Senate without the help of Southern senators. The arrival of Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran as her new ranking Republican changed that dynamic and the draft is certainly more Southern-friendly than last year’s version. |
| Big Ag Agrees to Conserve Cropland, But At What Cost? | |
 | Taxpayers help subsidize crop insurance premiums for farmers to the tune of about $9 billion, a figure that's growing each year. These policies protect farmers from major losses, and help support their income even if there's no loss of crops. And in return? Well, environmentalists argue that farmers who receive this financial support should be required to be good stewards of the land. In fact, for years, conservation groups have fought to attach some strings to these subsidies to require farmers to take steps aimed at protecting soil and wetlands. But farmers have resisted, until now. As lawmakers on Capitol Hill begin drafting a new $500 billion farm bill next week, the American Farm Bureau Federation has signaled that farmers are ready to compromise on the issue of conservation compliance. |
| Bomgar recognized as top privately-held job creator in Mississippi | |
| Ridgeland-based Bomgar Corporation is recognized as a leading job creator within the state of Mississippi in the inaugural ranking of Inc. Magazine’s “Hire Power” Awards, recognizing the privately-held companies that have generated the most jobs in the past three years. “It is an honor to be recognized for creating American jobs, particularly technology jobs in my home state of Mississippi,” said Joel Bomgar, founder and CEO of Bomgar. |
| Wicker joins boycott of EPA nominee | |
 | Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi joined a Republican boycott Thursday of a committee vote on Gina McCarthy’s nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, a move that left the committee’s chairwoman “stunned.” Republicans said McCarthy, currently the assistant EPA administrator for air and radiation, hasn’t adequately answered questions posed by GOP lawmakers on the Environment and Public Works Committee. |
| Barnes tapped to lead Miss. homeland security | |
 | The Mississippi Department of Public Safety has named a new director for its Office of Homeland Security. Officials announced Thursday that Highway Patrol Maj. Rusty Barnes has moved into the new job. The 48-year-old Barnes has been with the Highway Patrol for more than 25 years. He’s a Corinth native and now lives in Rankin County. Barnes’ most recent assignments have been as central region commander of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the statewide coordinator of emergency operations. |
| KiOR continues Natchez investment | |
 | KiOR had $4.8 million in capital investments in the first quarter of 2013, most of which company officials said was related to engineering and design of the company's Adams County project. Company officials spoke about progress at their Columbus facility and their future plans for a similar but larger facility in Natchez during KiOR's quarterly investors' call Thursday. |
| ATM thieves conducted massive cyberattack | |
 | A global posse of cyberthieves, armed with laptops in place of guns, hacked into financial institutions and stole $45 million from automated teller machines in a first-of-its-kind heist made for the 21st century, authorities in New York said Thursday. Over a seven-month period ending last month, the authorities said, hackers broke into computer networks of financial companies in the United States and India and eliminated the withdrawal limits on prepaid debit cards. |
| UMMC, Center for Justice form partnership to benefit those with HIV/AIDS | |
| The University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Mississippi Center for Justice, both in Jackson, are forming a partnership aimed at providing free civil legal services for people living with HIV and AIDS. The collaboration includes the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Crossroads Clinics Central and the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation. It’s the state’s first medical-legal partnership. The city of Jackson has the fourth highest HIV infection rate of all U.S. metropolitan areas that report HIV infection information, according to the Centers for Disease Control. |
| Gulfport mother and daughter will graduate together at USM | |
 | Mother and daughter Beth and Cally Biagini will both graduate from the University of Southern Mississippi today, walking the stage at the 10 a.m. commencement and thus setting the stage for Mother's Day weekend. Beth Biagini, 54, of Gulfport is a teacher's assistant at Three Rivers Elementary School. She has been working toward her bachelor's degree for about 35 years, most recently at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park campus. She said her education was put on hold when she had children, and she has taken classes when she could to catch up. Cally Biagini, 21, has been a full-time student in Hattiesburg for four years. |
| MGCCC grads from 8 campuses graduate in Biloxi | |
| Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College conferred 1,939 degrees on more than 900 graduates who attended the college's commencement ceremony Thursday evening at the Coast Coliseum. Students from all eight of the system campuses and centers walked across the stage after having been congratulated by college President Mary S. Graham. She told the students, "We hope you will look back at your time with us as the best two years of your life." |
| Farmers market at AU’s Ag Heritage Park opens for 2013 season | |
 | Local farmers and residents gathered Thursday at Ag Heritage Park at Auburn University to sell locally grown produce and artisan items, from strawberries to goat-milk body lotion. “We are about to get to the busiest time of the summer,” said Allie Corcoran of Backyard Orchards farms in Eufaula. “In June everything starts coming in. … The tomatoes and watermelons start coming in June or the first week of July.” Corcoran said the Auburn University-sponsored market is a good place for local farmers to do business. |
| Auburn grad-led team among winners of state start-up competition | |
| An entrepreneurial team led by a recent Auburn University graduate was one of three winners in the Alabama Launchpad Start-Up Competition, according to the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama Foundation. The competition was in a $100,000 final round in which teams had to show their product’s proof of commercial relevance. Carbon NanoTube Engineered Surfaces, the invention of Auburn and University of Alabama fellows, was awarded $8,000 to further develop its business plan for entry into the marketplace. “I want to congratulate team leader Adam Ficken and his team for a great job against tough competition in the 2013 Alabama Launchpad program,” said John Weete, AU assistant vice president for technology transfer and commercialization. |
| Louisiana officials: Public colleges hurting | |
 | Louisiana college and university leaders on Thursday told a state legislative panel that repeated cuts to higher education are compromising their ability to be competitive nationwide. Speaking in front of the state Senate Committee on Finance, state Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell used the moment to highlight LSU and Baton Rouge Community College. The state has cut LSU by 53 percent -- $125 million -- since 2008. A major research institution like LSU can’t fulfill its mission with that type of year-after-year budget uncertainty, Purcell said. And BRCC can’t adequately fill the area’s workforce needs with that dramatic a decline in state funding, he added. |
| Virginia Tech's Leo named U. of Georgia engineering dean | |
 | A Virginia Tech administrator will be the first permanent dean of the University of Georgia’s new College of Engineering, the university announced Thursday. The new dean, Donald Leo, will leave his current post as a professor of mechanical engineering and vice president and executive director of Virginia Tech’s National Capital Region operations. Leo was formerly an associate dean for research and graduate studies at the Virginia Tech College of Engineering. Leo will replace Dale Threadgill, the founding dean of the College of Engineering, established officially on July 1 last year. |
| Founded by U. of Florida student, Student Maid expands classy cleaning model | |
 | When Kristen Hadeed asked her parents four years ago for a $100 pair of Lucky brand jeans, they told her to get a job. Hadeed, then a 20-year-old UF junior, took their advice. She posted ads on Craigslist offering to clean houses and started an enterprise that now employs more than 300 college students during peak season. Hadeed’s company, Student Maid, has signed numerous commercial and residential contracts in Gainesville since 2009. She took another major step on May 1 when she expanded into Pensacola. Hadeed’s business model is to hire only students, and only those who have GPAs of at least 3.5. |
| 39 trees being removed to make way for UF's Heavener Hall | |
| Thirty-nine trees have been cut down at one of the busiest corners of the University of Florida campus to make way for a $22 million building for the 2,800 undergraduates of the Warrington College of Business Administration. Land clearing began last week as the first step in prepping the site for the 57,000-square-foot Heavener Hall, with construction expected to be completed by summer 2014, in time for the fall 2014 semester, officials said. Having the undergraduate program under one roof will give students a sense of community, said Brian Ray, director of the Heavener School of Business. |
| Firm with UF ties wins Cade Prize | |
| NanoPhotonica is already working with four of the five largest manufacturers of display screens for electronic devices in the world. On Thursday night, the company with offices in Orlando and in the University of Florida Innovation Hub in Gainesville won the fourth annual Cade Museum Prize and the $50,000 cash prize courtesy of the Community Foundation of North Central Florida. With technology licensed from materials science research at the University of Florida, the company makes very thin displays from nanomaterials that convert electricity to light and can produce an image 10 times brighter than current screen technology. |
| Enthusiastic all-Vol grad gives 367th campus tour at U. of Tennessee | |
 | When he graduates from the University of Tennessee today, Taylor Thomas perhaps should receive a certificate in Volunteer trivia and puns. Thomas, 23, knows dozens of factoids about the university. After all, he’s given 367 campus tours in the last four years. That’s a record for UT Ambassadors, which is what the school calls its guides. |
| U. of Tennessee, city talk future of Clarence Brown Theatre | |
| Overhauling the existing Clarence Brown Theatre or building a new venue near World’s Fair Park are among the proposals discussed in “very early conversations” between University of Tennessee and city of Knoxville officials about the future home of the school’s theater department. “All we are hoping for is a decision that allows us to plan for the future, and to allow us to have an academic wing in and around the theater and not all around the campus in found spaces and houses that are in danger of falling down or former racquet ball courts,” said Calvin MacLean, artistic director for Clarence Brown Theatre and a professor in the department. |
| U. of South Carolina lands $30M in historic artwork | |
 | The email that arrived on a Saturday morning stunned and excited Tom McNally. “I’m interested in donating $30 million of materials to the University of South Carolina,” said the message from W. Graham Arader III, a leading collector of historic maps and natural history art work and an acquaintance of McNally. “When would you have time to talk with me?” McNally, dean of libraries at USC, says he typed as fast as he could a message that read simply “Now!” Arader laughed Thursday when told of McNally’s version of that Saturday. “That’s not what he did,” Arader said. “He got right on a plane and flew up here and we made a deal.” After a couple of meetings, the process of turning over thousands of documents to USC had begun. |
| Fitzgerald memorabilia at U. of South Carolina resonates to an American beat | |
| “The Great Gatsby” returns to the big screen Friday with all its American flamboyance and contradictions. But a University of South Carolina professor says there is as much intrigue and revelation inside author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s newly digitized ledger book and other literary artifacts in the USC Libraries’ $4 million Fitzgerald collection. “That generation born in the 1890s really believed that the 20th century was their century,” said Park Bucker, an English professor and Fitzgerald scholar at USC-Sumter. He said the book, written almost 90 years ago in the midst of the roaring ’20s, endures because its themes of lost love, ambition and dashed dreams are woven into the American story of every generation. |
| U. of Alabama senior’s program gets teens involved in community | |
 | University of Alabama graduating senior David Wilson has created a new program that has students at Northridge High School putting their heads together to come up with community service projects. Wilson, 21, a 2009 graduate of Northridge, said “Think Community” was something he came up with as a freshman at UA, but it wasn’t until this semester that he was able to launch it at Northridge. He said he created the program because he believes that young people have the capacity to achieve great things and make major changes in their communities. Their creativity, resourcefulness and drive is often overlooked, he said. |
| Pair of Texas A&M students named to state boards | |
 | Two Texas A&M students were named Thursday by Gov. Rick Perry to serve one-year terms in advisory positions on state academic governing boards. Biology major Nicholas Madere will be the next student regent for the Texas A&M System, which has 11 universities and a health science center. Alice Schneider, an economics major at the College Station campus, will represent college students across the state when she assumes her position on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on June 1. |
| Not Safe for Funding: The N.S.F. and the Economics of Science | |
 | Last month, Representative Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, introduced a divisive new bill, the High Quality Research Act, that would change the criteria by which the National Science Foundation evaluates research projects and awards funding. (The N.S.F., with a budget of seven billion dollars, funds roughly twenty per cent of federally supported basic research in American universities.) Currently, proposals are evaluated through a traditional peer-review process, in which scientists and experts with knowledge of the relevant fields evaluate the projects’ “intellectual merits” and “broader impacts.” Peer review is a central tenet of modern academic science, and, according to critics, the new bill threatens to supersede it with politics. |
| USC gains Bruin brains as neuroscientists switch universities | |
 | In a major case of academic poaching involving crosstown rivals, USC has lured away two prominent neuroscientists from UCLA with a promise to expand their internationally renowned lab that uses brain imaging techniques to study Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, autism and other disorders. Arthur Toga and Paul Thompson will move to the USC Keck School of Medicine campus next fall, along with scores of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staffers who now work at UCLA's Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, known as LONI. The new hires mark another chapter in a long Los Angeles rivalry in sports and, increasingly, in academic prestige. It also raises concerns about the ability of financially strapped public universities to fend off raids from deep-pocketed private colleges. |
| State's late embrace of DNA helps Willie Jerome Manning's case | |
 | Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "The decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court to grant convicted quadruple murderer Willie Jerome Manning a stay of execution on Tuesday is one likely decided on the side of both political and legal caution in light of recent developments." |
| Today's weather: Rain, high near 77 | |
| Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1 p.m. High near 77 forecast for Starkville and Mississippi State today. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. |
SPORTS
| MSU’s Pollorena feels confident | |
| Luis Pollorena is trying to regain his pitching form. If he can pitch against Ole Miss the way he has in the past, he’ll have found something. The senior left-hander will be on the mound tonight when No. 21 Mississippi State opens a three-game series at Swayze Field. Pollorena (6-2, 3.92 ERA) will be matched up against Ole Miss ace Bobby Wahl (9-0, 1.21 ERA), who MSU coach John Cohen said might be the best Friday starter in the league. On paper, the matchup favors Wahl. But Pollorena has had nothing but success against the Rebels in his career, posting a 2.60 ERA with 14 strikeouts and two walks 171⁄3 innings. This will be his fourth appearance, with three starts, against Ole Miss (33-16, 12-12 SEC). |
| Mississippi State closer Holder in top form | |
| The routine doesn’t change. He stretches his arm the same way. He throws the same warm-up pitches. He scribbles the word “tempo,” then “23:4,” -- in reference to a popular biblical verse -- with his finger in the dirt of the mound. And the last 13 times out, the routine has ended with Mississippi State’s Jonathan Holder walking off the mound without allowing a run. “I really don’t think about it when I’m on the mound,” Holder said. “Once I go to the bullpen and start warming up, it’s like I get into a different little zone.” |
| MSU, Ole Miss tangle in Oxford | |
| Mississippi State heads into Oxford today in third place with the Southeastern Conference Western Division, with Ole Miss one game behind the rival Bulldogs. MSU is 13-11 in the SEC, and 36-13 overall. Ole Miss counters with a 12-12 league mark, and 33-16 overall. The Bulldogs come into Swayze Field with a three-game win streak after sweeping Alabama. Ole Miss dropped its last two games at Auburn, and dropped that series as well. Tonight's opener is at 6:30. Saturday's game is set for 4 p.m. with the Sunday finale televised by CSS at 1 p.m. |
| Wherever they’re from, Rebels love rivalry weekend | |
| As Mississippi’s SEC schools meet this weekend in a baseball series with major implications in the conference standings, it doesn’t matter if the primary participants come from deep in the heart of the Magnolia State or from sea to shining sea, Ole Miss players and coaches say. MSU lists 12 Mississippi players on its roster, and Ole Miss has nine. The Bulldogs are more likely to have natives show up among the position players, while the Rebels will likely have Mississippians pitch in relief. “Just being here for one year I’ve heard about how much people don’t like State. They want to win, and they want to win bad,” said Ole Miss catcher Stuart Turner, a junior college transfer from Eunice, La., who leads the Rebels with a .397 batting average. |
| Mullen on QB Russell ‘We expect him to have a huge year’ | |
| As Mississippi State’s Road Dawgs Tour winds its way around the region and the state this week, Dan Mullen keeps hyping Tyler Russell hard. That continued Thursday, when the tour made a stop in Tupelo at the BancorpSouth Conference Center. Mullen, who’s 29-22 in four years as head football coach, reiterated that he’s expecting big things from his quarterback. “That’s what it’s going to be when you’re a fifth-year senior,” Mullen said. “I think he’s ready. … He knows he has the whole coaching staff behind him, the team’s behind him, and we expect him to have a huge year this year.” |
| MSU’s men 10th seeded, hosting again | |
| The 10th seeded Mississippi State men’s tennis team opens NCAA play today against Austin Peay at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. Harvard and Samford play at 10 a.m. today. The winners play at 1 p.m. Saturday. MSU is led by Romain Bogaerts, ranked 6th in the nation, the SEC Freshman of the Year and an All-SEC First Teamer. |
| Bulldog Bound: Newton County’s Graham sold on Mississippi State | |
| From the moment Newton County athlete Jamoral Graham met Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen, he knew he wanted to be a part of the Bulldog family. Tuesday, Graham announced on Twitter that he plans on signing with MSU following his senior year of high school, tweeting “Who’s a Bulldawg , I’m a Bulldawg , If you wanna let the dog out then join and be a Bulldawg!!! #HailState #Maroon #Black #White.” “I feel like Mississippi State is a college that wants to pick up Mississippi players and build them up into a championship team,” Graham said. |
| Old Waverly has had significant economic impact | |
| The golf course at Old Waverly in West Point has consistently been recognized as one of the best in the nation. What started as a dream 30 years ago has become one of Mississippi's unique treasures. Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point marks its 25th anniversary this year. There is a long list of things to celebrate. Since 2003, $4.6 billion worth of economic development projects have landed in the Golden Triangle, led by advanced manufacturing companies like steelmaker Severstal and Aurora Flight Sciences. Recruiting those industries took a lot of people pulling on the same end of the rope, said Joe Max Higgins, executive director of the Golden Triangle Development LINK. "Old Waverly has given us a world class facility to recruit and support world class companies," he said. |
| Houndstooth elephants subject of Alabama company's trademark infringement lawsuit | |
 | Houndstooth elephants are the subject of a federal lawsuit filed this week in Alabama. GameDawg, an Enterprise collegiate clothing company, on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against Original Houndstooth, a Tuscaloosa clothing store, claiming trademark infringement over the use of a symbol -- the outline of an elephant filled with a houndstooth pattern. GameDawg sells and promotes its products with the trademark throughout Alabama, including outside Bryant Denny Stadium at the University of Alabama, according to the lawsuit. |
| Nixed rule for athletic eligibility could have hurt athletes, presidents say | |
 | The sudden decision by the National Collegiate Athletic Association last week not to raise the minimum standardized test score for athletic eligibility could keep up to one in four men’s basketball players from being benched, based on current players’ scores. NCAA leaders worried that the rule -- one of several approved in fall 2011 but suspended or overturned since -- would disproportionately affect minority and low-income students, who historically do not perform as well on such tests. But some faculty members worry that the move could be a step backward, and question why the board is acting now. |
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