| Wednesday, August 6, 2014 |
| MSU Freshman Convocation Set Aug. 19 | |
 | Mississippi State's Class of 2018 will learn about making a difference in the world from 2014 Maroon Edition author Sarah Thebarge at the university's first-ever Freshman Convocation. Thebarge wrote "The Invisible Girls: A Memoir" (Jericho Books, 2013), this year's shared reading selection for campus. She will be the keynote speaker for the Aug. 19 program that will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Humphrey Coliseum. Also speaking will be MSU President Mark E. Keenum and Provost and Executive Vice President Jerry Gilbert. Emphasizing Maroon Edition's themes fits the same philosophy underlying the convocation, said Peter L. Ryan, associate provost of academic affairs and one of the event's coordinators. |
| Kiwanis hears presentation on Mississippi State's Steinway Initiative | |
 | Rosangela Sebba and Trish Cunetto discussed the current needs of Mississippi State's music department at the Starkville Kiwanis Club meeting on Tuesday. Sebba and Cunetto outlined the department's plans for new facilities, as well as its Steinway Initiative which aims to buy 30 new Steinway pianos, making MSU the first and only all-Steinway school in the state and one of only 160 in the world. (Subscriber-only content.) |
| MSU Research: New Ag Uses for UAVs Being Studied | |
| It is hard to compare an unmanned aerial vehicle to a magnetic resonance imaging -- MRI -- machine, but that is how the director of Mississippi State's Geosystems Research Institute sees it. "The plant is the patient, the agronomists are the doctors and I am the guy that works on the MRI machine," Robert Moorhead said. UAVs are the newest instrument being used in the prescription of precision agriculture, said Moorhead, who also is the Billie J. Ball Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the university's Bagley College of Engineering. Wes Burger, associate MAFES director, said precision agriculture "currently encompasses a vast wealth of data-driven applications. These applications are built on sound research that characterizes relationships between observable phenomenon and plant performance." |
| Cooler summer temperatures negatively impacting catfish ponds | |
 | There is a reason catfish do well in Mississippi: hot summers. "An unusually cool summer like we have had can create nice days for people, but the temperatures have caused some problems for our catfish," said Jimmy Avery, Extension aquaculture specialist at the Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center. Avery said cooler water reduces fish weight gain and increases bacterial disease development. Mark Peterman, Extension aquaculture associate based in east Mississippi, said only a small percentage of ponds have had disease outbreaks, but all producers are watching closely. |
| PeanutFARM a new decision-making tool | |
 | New technology may soon allow Mid-South peanut growers to make decisions on irrigation scheduling and digging with greater accuracy and ease. PeanutFARM (Field Agronomic Resource Manager), a group of tools to allow growers to manage peanut development and maturity, has been in development for several years by University of Florida researchers, says Jason Sarver, Mississippi State University Extension/research professor, who spoke at the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation's summer peanut commodity meeting. |
| Oktibbeha County moves closer to new industrial park | |
 | Oktibbeha County took a step toward funding a new industrial park when supervisors approved a resolution supporting a Golden Triangle Development LINK-backed project that economic developers conservatively hope will create more than 1,000 new jobs. If the county wishes to attract significant manufacturing jobs, it must have sites with the needed infrastructure capacity or Oktibbeha will never see industrial enticement successes like the ones secured in Lowndes and Clay counties, LINK officials have repeatedly said since unveiling the park's plans. |
| Born Amid Tumult, Head Start Deeply Rooted in Mississippi | |
 | A visit to the Mississippi Delta offers clear evidence of how Head Start has earned nearly 50 years of staying power. This flat, fertile region between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers is rich in history and culture. It is also home to some of the poorest counties in the poorest state. About 22 percent of Mississippians live below the poverty line, according to U.S. Census data, compared with 15 percent of the nation's population as a whole. Head Start has woven itself into communities throughout the country, but in Mississippi, it comes with a history also linked to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. The first Head Start provider in the state, the Child Development Group of Mississippi, was one of the largest programs operating anywhere in the country when the Head Start program was launched in 1965. The program quickly ran afoul of the white power structure. |
| Water groups fight deposit delay for abuse victims | |
 | Water utilities are fighting the Public Service Commission's proposal to allow victims of domestic abuse to hook up utilities without immediately paying deposits. A number of water utility representatives testified against the measure at a Tuesday hearing, saying the commission doesn't have authority to require them to grant such relief. Their testimony is drawing a rebuke from Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley. A Democrat who represents the Northern District on the three-member PSC, Presley backs the measure as a way to help people get out of dangerous situations. |
| BIPEC releases legislative report card | |
 | The annual Legislator Business and Jobs Report Card the Business and Industry Political Education Committee released Tuesday is what it usually is. Republicans do well; Democrats do not. Every GOP member of the House and Senate but three received an "A." Every Democratic member but five received a "B" or worse. The report card covers the legislative session that ended in April. Grades are issued based on how lawmakers voted on 13 bills. They range from legislation granting tax breaks to corporations that relocate headquarters to Mississippi, to bills designed to curb union activity. Lawmakers who voted for BIPEC's chosen bills were more likely to receive a favorable grade. |
| McDaniel staffer drawn into Fielder controversy | |
| Stephen Fielder, the self-proclaimed pastor from Meridian, says a member of Chris McDaniel's campaign paid him $2,000 to give an interview in which he accused a Thad Cochran campaign staffer of asking him to pay people to vote for the GOP incumbent. Attorney General Jim Hood said last Wednesday at the Neshoba County Fair that Fielder had told state investigators he was paid to lie about the vote-buying scheme. Fielder told Hood that he was never asked by a Cochran staffer to pay people for their vote. Hood said last week he did not know who actually paid Fielder for the interview. However, Hood spokeswoman Jan Schaefer confirmed Monday evening that Fielder told investigators that it was Noel Fritsch who paid him for the interview. |
| Palazzo honors request to spread God's word | |
 | Rep. Steven Palazzo has created some buzz on Capitol Hill for distributing Bibles to his colleagues. "Our staffs provide us with policy memos, statistics and recommendations that help us make informed decisions," Palazzo wrote in a note accompanying the Bibles. "However, I find that the best advice comes through meditating on God's word. Please find a copy of the Holy Bible to help guide you in your decision-making." The Mississippi Republican undertook the mission after a constituent, J.B. Atchison, asked if he would deliver the Bibles to all 535 congressional offices. Jill Duckworth, a spokeswoman for Palazzo, said the office first checked with the House Committee on Ethics to make sure it was OK to distribute the Bibles. |
| Divide between red and blue states over healthcare deepens | |
 | States that have aggressively put the Affordable Care Act into practice have cut the number of uninsured residents sharply -- in some cases in half or better -- while those that balked have improved little if at all, according to new data released Tuesday. The state-by-state numbers, from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, reinforce one of the major impacts of Obamacare so far: Political debate has widened the healthcare gap between red and blue states. Gallup's results have been carefully followed in the healthcare debate because they are based on a huge number of survey interviews -- 88,678 for this year's data. |
| TVA eliminates 2,000 jobs as part of $500 million cost-cutting campaign | |
 | In its biggest staff cuts in more than two decades, TVA is eliminating more than 2,000 jobs this year to pare expenses and make electric rates in the Tennessee Valley more competitive with neighboring utilities. Most of the staff reductions are being made by not filling vacant jobs and through retirements and resignations by the end of next month. TVA President Bill Johnson said Tuesday the voluntary reduction offers "were well received" and avoided the need for massive firings, although some employees are being laid off. The planned cuts are likely to leave the federal utility with its leanest staff in more than a half-century. |
| U.S. launches safety inspections of Southern auto suppliers | |
| Alarmed by what it calls higher than normal incidents of injuries and safety lapses, the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration has launched an inspection of auto parts plants across Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, a top agency official said. The federal safety agency plans to send field agents to inspect some 2,900 factories -- literally every auto parts plant in those three states -- over the coming year. But as suppliers gather here in Northern Michigan for an annual industry outlook conference, they may be surprised to discover that safety troubles in the South are not out of line with Detroit. |
| U.S. policymakers gird for rash of corporate expatriations | |
 | Washington policymakers are bracing for a wave of corporations to renounce their U.S. citizenship over the next few months, depriving the federal government of billions of dollars in tax revenue and stoking public outrage ahead of the Nov. 4 congressional elections. So far this year, about a dozen U.S. companies -- including such well-known brands as Medtronic medical devices and Chiquita bananas -- have merged with foreign firms and shifted their headquarters offshore to avoid U.S. taxes, analysts say. Dozens of additional deals are in the works, according to administration and congressional officials, and other companies are quietly contemplating the move. |
| Russian Hackers Amass Over a Billion Internet Passwords | |
 | A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials, including 1.2 billion user name and password combinations and more than 500 million email addresses, security researchers say. The records, discovered by Hold Security, a firm in Milwaukee, include confidential material gathered from 420,000 websites, including household names, and small Internet sites. Hold Security has a history of uncovering significant hacks, including the theft last year of tens of millions of records from Adobe Systems. Hold Security would not name the victims, citing nondisclosure agreements and a reluctance to name companies whose sites remained vulnerable. At the request of The New York Times, a security expert not affiliated with Hold Security analyzed the database of stolen credentials and confirmed it was authentic. |
| MUW Expands Life Enrichment Classes | |
| Those interested in forensics, sign language or even playing the dulcimer will find Mississippi University for Women is the place to learn this fall. A variety of classes will be available through the Life Enrichment Program, with the first term starting Aug. 25 going through Oct. 6 and the second term being held Oct. 13-Nov. 21. "These courses are taught by volunteers who are experts in their field and have a passion for teaching others," said Janie Shields, LEP coordinator. The LEP started in fall 2009 with six courses and 24 participants. Last fall there were 39 courses with 263 participants. |
| Alcorn State senior flies around the globe to study in Taiwan | |
 | De'Michael Queen made his first flight in an airplane count. The Natchez native and Alcorn State University senior flew 18 hours halfway across the world to enroll in a study abroad program in Taiwan from February to June. "That was the first time I had left the country, been on an airplane and everything," Queen said. "It was so amazing, though." Queen's desire to leave the Lorman campus for a semester came after hearing stories from a fellow Alcorn student who had traveled to Morocco. Queen will graduate in May, and said he is considering continuing his education in graduate school at the University of Mississippi or Mississippi State University. |
| Lawsuit: LSU Alumni Association president alleged to have paid off employee after relationship ended her job | |
 | A civil lawsuit filed Friday (Aug. 1) claims the president and CEO of LSU's alumni association offered a former association employee with whom he was having an affair lifetime monthly payoff checks if she agreed to resign. LSU Alumni Association President and CEO Dr. Charlie Roberts and the association are named as defendants in the suit, which Kay Heath filed in 19th Judicial District Court. It claims a number of members of the LSU Alumni Association Board of Directors knew about Roberts' and Heath's sexual relationship, which was prohibited by the association's rules, and at least one board member was aware of the monthly payoff arrangement. Jason Droddy, LSU's interim communications director, had not seen the lawsuit but said the university's policy is not to comment on pending litigation. |
| U. of Florida to say no to pot, even if marijuana amendment passes | |
 | The University of Florida is a massive research institution, but it has steered clear of work involving marijuana over legal concerns that it could cause the school's federal funding to go up in smoke. As the Florida Legislature moved toward the eventual approval of the Charlotte's Web strain low medical marijuana during the spring, UF asked a Washington, D.C., lawyer versed in U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Drug Enforcement Agency regulations for an opinion on whether the university could grow marijuana for research on how to cultivate the plant or its effectiveness as a medication. The answer was no. The University of Mississippi has the only federally approved growing operation for marijuana research. |
| UGA continues to drop in 'party school' ranking | |
 | The University of Georgia continues to drop in The Princeton Review's annual ranking of the nation's top party schools, falling to 15th place this year from its 11th-place ranking last year. Just four years ago, UGA finished in the top spot in The Princeton Review ranking, which this year includes 379 colleges and universities. UGA posted a second-place "party school" ranking in 2011 and finished in fifth place in 2012 before dropping out of the top 10 last year. While UGA didn't make the top 10 in the "party schools" category, a check of this year's lists found UGA ranked fifth in the "lots of hard liquor" category and 17th in the "lots of beer" category. |
| Nixon tapes newly 'released,' but been available at UGA for years | |
| The Nixon Presidential Library & Museum and the Richard Nixon Foundation announced this week they would publish excerpts from a series of interviews of the former president, who resigned in disgrace 40 years ago on Aug. 9, 1974. But those tapes, all 33 hours of them, have been available to the public at the University of Georgia libraries for nearly 15 years; the segments being released this week are copies of the originals stored in the climate-controlled vault of UGA's Russell Research Libraries building. "You can see what Nixon said to his friend as opposed to what he said to a more adversarial interviewer," said Mary Miller, a media archivist with UGA's Walter J. Brown Media Archive & Peabody Awards Collection. |
| Texas A&M VP for finance, administration B.J. Crain resigning at month's end | |
 | B.J. Crain, Texas A&M's vice president for finance and administration, will resign from her post Aug. 31, according an email the university sent to all employees Tuesday. Crain did not give a reason for her resignation, which comes less than a month before the fall semester begins at A&M. "This change was not an easy decision for me," she said in an email sent to finance and administration employees, "But after careful consideration. I believe this opportunity will allow me to transition to another phase of what has already been a rewarding 31-year career in a variety of roles within the A&M System and Texas A&M University." Crain will continue to work within the A&M System, but her office could not say in what capacity. |
| U. of Missouri among schools to receive $20 million National Science Foundation climate grant | |
 | The University of Missouri is one of several higher education institutions in the state that will participate in a $20 million, five-year, grant-funded program to study climate variability and the potential agricultural, ecological and social impacts those changes have on Missouri. According to a news release, the "Missouri Transect: Climate, Plants and Community" project received the $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation. John Walker, director of the division of biological sciences at MU and principal investigator for the project, said MU is the primary operator of the project. About $12 million of the project budget is associated with MU, though part of that money will go toward faculty that will work at other colleges and equipment that all partner institutions will use. |
| College rankings: Who's on the Top 20 sober schools list? | |
 | Do you equate college with learning -- instead of partying? Then, apply to Brigham Young University, which was crowned the nation's "most sober school" for 17 years running. Amid the college rankings craze which pits universities against one other in a vaguely-defined methodology, Princeton Review announced on Monday its list of the Top 20 Sober Schools in the United States, based on a nationwide survey of 130,000 students. "We have a little fun with the rankings," says Brigham Young spokesperson Todd Hollingshead, commenting on a BYU tweet of chocolate milk -- a pun on the Prince Review sober title of "Got Milk?" -- which went viral. "Our students come for the culture that they see here, where there's no drinking or partying," Mr. Hollingshead adds. |
| BRIAN PERRY (OPINION): GOP reconciliation addressed at the Fair | |
| Consultant and columnist Brian Perry writes: "The only fireworks at the Neshoba County Fair were the ones over the racetrack signaling the end of the Fair on Friday night. Except for a local judicial race, civility reigned during political speeches. Thursday was supposed to be the day of uproar. The South Mississippi Tea Party called for protesters to disrupt any 'wonderful love fest' Senator Thad Cochran and Governor Phil Bryant and other Republicans might project. About a dozen folks showed up with signs reading 'Betrayed' or 'RINO.' Following Cochran's welcoming standing ovation, as others in the Pavilion returned to their pews, a few protesters continued to stand, holding signs with tape over their mouths. An elderly lady behind them yelled for them to sit down. They did. Cochran met or exceeded expectations." |
| BOBBY HARRISON (OPINION): Winter, with the same wise message, rouses the crowd | |
 | The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Bobby Harrison writes: "When asked last week what he was going to talk about at the annual Neshoba County Fair political speakings, a self-deprecating William Winter joked that 'it's nothing you haven't heard before. You know, the same old stuff.' ...Winter was right when he said he was going to give a speech that he had given many previous times. But it also is a speech Mississippians need to hear, and it is a talk that he is uniquely qualified to deliver. He delivers it with a grace, vision and precision that is truly remarkable and leaves the recipient of his speech feeling truly lucky to have heard it one more time." |
| SID SALTER (OPINION): McDaniel's challenge brings an end to inertia, uncertainty | |
 | Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "People on both sides of the Mississippi Republican U.S. Senate primary are angry and for the 40-plus days since the June 24 second primary, the debate has raged between supporters of incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and challenger state Sen. Chris McDaniel. ...the political standoff seemed to grow stronger and more heated as weeks passed. That's why I think that Sen. McDaniel's challenge is a good thing in that it signals the beginning of the end of inertia and uncertainty surrounding the Republican primary. McDaniel and his supporters have asked the Mississippi Republican Party Executive Committee to review the evidence submitted by the McDaniel camp and declare him the winner." |
SPORTS
| Dan Mullen wants Dak Prescott to drive MSU like a sports car | |
| Dan Mullen wants to give Dak Prescott a sports car. No, not that kind of sports car that draws NCAA investigations and self-imposed penalties. Mississippi State's sixth-year coach envisions his offense to run like a sports car. He wants Prescott to drive it. "How fast he can drive it is going to depend on his decision-making, is he going to let it go?" Mullen said. "Or he is still a little conservative back there? The more confidence he has, the more reps he takes, the better decisions he makes, the faster he's going to want to take us." |
| Hot, stinks, smells like cows: Bulldogs on 'the farm' | |
| It has become a training camp tradition at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs trade in the comforting confines of their traditional practice fields for the solitude, smells and sweltering heat of a place simply known to the players and coaches alike as "the farm." MSU has worked the past two days at the site located on the south side of campus near the veterinary hospital and intramural fields. "It's hot, it stinks and it smells like cows -- it's a farm," said quarterback Dak Prescott. "When it rains the mud comes and when it gets muddy it's even worse. It's an experience and is part of camp. You just have to keep going." The setting on the farm is exactly the way that Mullen wants it. "You won't find shade on that field at any point during the day," Mullen said. |
| Sobiesk confident in Mississippi State kicker competition | |
| Kickers need a selective memory and a sense of humor. Mississippi State's Evan Sobiesk displayed both Monday. He walked to the assembled media members and chuckled at the thought of what MSU's faithful thought of him. As a freshman, Sobiesk made 3 of 6 field goal attempts but missed three of his final four attempts -- including a 39-yard attempt in the Egg Bowl that would have given MSU the win as time expired. "I mean, you can't really let it get to you," Sobiesk said. "But you've got supporters everywhere. That's something that you've always got to remember." |
| Mississippi State's McDonald advances to match play at U.S. Women's Am | |
 | After two rounds of the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, Mississippi State's Ally McDonald has achieved her first goal, which was to advance to the match-play rounds. The senior-to-be from Fulton, Miss., fired a two-day total of 74-71---145 in stroke play at Nassau Country Club in Glen Cove, N.Y., to finish tied for 33rd. The Top 64 advance to match play, which begins Wednesday and consists of six rounds. |
| Southern Miss athletics facility feasibility study expected any day | |
| Southern Miss athletic director Bill McGillis told the Hattiesburg American Tuesday he expects to have a facility feasibility report in hand any day. The university recently asked Populous, an architectural engineering firm, to study several of its athletic facilities including Reed Green Coliseum. McGillis said the original plan was to have the report by the end of July. "But we gave them the flexibility to take some time to make sure that they've got it right," he said. |
| N.C.A.A. May Let Its Top Conferences Play by Their Own Rules | |
| The universities with the country's most prominent athletics programs are expected to gain preliminary approval Thursday to break away from some of the strictures of the N.C.A.A., a significant change that would give them more freedom to govern themselves and could allow athletes to share in the wealth of college sports. The so-called Big 5 conferences, with their glittering facilities and huge stadiums, have long existed in their own tier on the college sports landscape. But the vote Thursday would make their first-class status official, granting them greater autonomy from the N.C.A.A. rules that are currently applied evenly across 32 conferences and nearly 350 institutions in the N.C.A.A.'s top division. |
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