| Friday, August 8, 2014 |
| Farmers, Researchers Engage in Hands-On Tour | |
 | Dozens of farmers and researchers came together in Lee County to share tips among themselves, as well as get research updates. Participants got a close up look at the results of months of research in the field during a tour and seminars at Mississippi State University's North Mississippi Research and Extension Center. The hands-on tours helped farmers get a closer look at how research can help them. "Corn this year, it's been an excellent year," plant pathologist Steve Martin said. "Because it's rained a lot and the crop yield and production looks really good, same for soybeans. Soybean crops, a little later than the corn crop obviously and then cotton, we're just getting into that fruiting level of it." |
| Cowbell Cab to hit the streets of Starkville | |
 | A new service hopes to keep Mississippi State students safe. The student government association says Cowbell Cabs will begin running on weekends starting August 14 from 9 p.m. til 2 a.m. Association leaders say they have reached an agreement with Bulldog Shuttle and Cab to provide three cabs for the service. A student and up to two guests can ride for free. You must show a student ID to use the service, and the cab will only stop at the student's residence. The SA will use $23,000 from its share of the city's tourism tax to pay for the service. |
| MSU Cowbell Cabs Expanding Ride Options | |
| A night out on the town may get a little easier and safer for Mississippi State students this fall. Beginning Aug. 14, Cowbell Cabs will provide free rides weekend nights between campus and Starkville's nightspots. The cab service replaces transit buses that had been providing a similar service. The student government Association is reallocating $23,000 from its share of the city tourism tax to pay for the service. Student leaders believe the service will better meet students needs. |
| Brookhaven resident, MSU alum put in charge of state bridges | |
 | New management has been put in charge of Mississippi's 4,227 bridges. Brookhaven resident Justin Walker was recently named director of structures and state bridge engineer by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. He will help ensure state structures are well designed and maintained with a focus on providing safe solutions for the traveling public. Walker received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Mississippi State University. |
| Starkville to see two new eateries | |
 | Starkville recently lost two restaurants: Bojangles and Three Little Pigs. The buildings that housed them won't stay empty long, though. Michael Penn confirmed to The Dispatch on Wednesday that in coming months a Penns Restaurant will open at 106 Avenue of Patriots St., the former location of Three Little Pigs. The old Bojangles, meanwhile, which was located at 500 Hwy. 12 and closed several weeks ago, will likely be home to a Denny's. Starkville officials have received a permit application for the diner chain to move into the spot. Messages left with Denny's corporate offices were not returned this week. However, the Denny's website currently has a job listing for a manager position at a Starkville location. |
| Starkville's Hotel Chester on 'Hotel Hell' Monday | |
 | Starkville's historic Hotel Chester gets a helping hand from renowned chef/hospitality expert Gordon Ramsay on Monday night's "Hotel Hell," the TV show in which Ramsay rehabs struggling properties. The episode airs at 8 p.m. Monday on Fox. Owner David Mollendor just wonders if that kiss Gordon Ramsay gave him will wind up onscreen. The downtown Starkville boutique hotel, originally built as a full-service hotel in 1925, was later known as the Stark Hotel in the 1940s and fell on tough times through multiple owners later last century. It was closed and in "really pathetic condition" when owner David Mollendor bought it, he said, in late 1999 and sank 2 1/2 years into its restoration, "to put this old bag back together." |
| Aldermen override Perkins on Cadence acquisition | |
| An effort led by Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins to execute a purchase contract for Cadence Bank's Main Street branch was delayed by his fellow board members Tuesday after other aldermen said proper due diligence studies, including cost projections for renovations and a proper site inspection, were needed before the city formally acquires the property. Perkins and Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn were on the losing side of a hat trick of motions that positioned the city for those studies, including a determination of the facility's operational costs, from staffing issues to utility expenses, as requested by Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker. |
| Golden Triangle Regional Airport's growth good omen for local economy | |
| The Golden Triangle Regional Airport created $272.5 million in economic activity in 2012. Regional airports through the state produce $2.5 billion in economic activity, according to a report made by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. GTRA plays a critical role in maintaining and attracting the presence of industry within the Golden Triangle, said Mike Hainsey, the executive director of the Golden Triangle Regional Airport Authority. Without the airport, the area would not have attracted many of the businesses that now call the Golden Triangle home. The airport's high number of business travelers and international travelers come from local firms and Mississippi State University. |
| Mississippi consumer spending grows slowest in nation | |
 | Overall consumer spending grew more slowly in Mississippi than in any other state in 2012, reflecting the state's slow recovery from the recession. A report released Thursday by the U.S. Commerce Department finds overall personal consumption spending grew 2.5 percent in Mississippi in 2012, compared to 4.1 percent nationwide. With other figures showing Mississippi's economy grew by a brisk 3.5 percent that year, it suggests gains didn't make it to the pockets of residents, or if so, they didn't spend the money. Mississippi has suffered from high unemployment during the period, and employer payrolls remain well below pre-recession levels. |
| Incentives fuel Mississippi film boom | |
 | Mississippi is becoming a go-to state when it comes to movie making. Thursday scenes for the movie The Hollars were shot in downtown Jackson. The movie starring John Kranzinski and Anna Kendrick has been shooting at several Mississippi locations over the last few weeks. Officials with the Mississippi Film Office say incentives are drawing more filmmakers to our state. A cash rebate of 25 to 30 percent is being given on productions that use local businesses, and put locals on their payroll. "We are incredibly busy right now," said Nina Parihk, deputy director of the Mississippi Film Office. |
| Sen. Wicker's top priority: Protecting 155th | |
 | U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker delivered a strong dose of skepticism and opposition to President Barack Obama's policies during a visit Thursday to the Tupelo Luncheon Civitan Club. In an interview with the Daily Journal afterward, he shared his most immediate concern: fighting the administration's recommendation to eliminate the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, headquartered in Tupelo. The Department of Defense's proposal to dissolve the National Guard unit also would remove Apache attack helicopters from the combat team's aviation facility in Tupelo. "It's my number one priority in September," Wicker said during an interview with the Daily Journal. "We need to get it done before the end of the fiscal year." |
| Hearing again delayed on Mississippi Power Kemper costs | |
| The Mississippi Public Service Commission has delayed hearings on whether Mississippi Power Co. has spent prudently in building the $5.5 billion Kemper County power plant. Prudency hearings are a key step in the company collecting from its 186,000 ratepayers to pay for the plant, even though rates have already risen 18 percent. The unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. is already absorbing $1.5 billion in overruns from the plant but could be forced to absorb more if the commission finds spending was imprudent. Northern District Commissioner Brandon Presley, a Democrat, has long wanted to wait until completion to review spending. The other two commissioners joined him Tuesday. |
| Charges against state Rep. Aldridge dropped | |
| Criminal embezzlement charges against state Rep. Brian Aldridge, R-Tupelo, are being dropped because the key witness in the case died earlier this year, Attorney General Jim Hood said Thursday. Hood said the testimony of Florence Aldridge, Aldridge's aunt, would have been needed in the trial. She died in April. Brian Aldridge and his parents, Janice and Louis Aldridge, were indicted in June 2013 on charges of embezzling funds from her while Louis Aldridge had power of attorney over her estate when she was ill. The charges stemmed from an earlier civil lawsuit. |
| Ex-DMR exec Ziegler pleads guilty to helping conceal mail fraud | |
 | Former Department of Marine Resources chief of staff Joe Ziegler pleaded guilty Thursday to misprision, or helping conceal, a felony, a representative of the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The crime Ziegler admitted helping conceal was mail fraud in a scheme by former DMR Executive Director Bill Walker to divert money intended for the state of Mississippi into a private bank account, the representative said. He faces a maximum of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine at his Nov. 10 sentencing. Bill Walker is serving a five-year sentence at a federal prison in Louisiana. Walker's son Scott was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in schemes at the DMR and the city of D'Iberville. |
| To the courts: What's next in the McDaniel challenge | |
| The state Republican Party has punted. Chris McDaniel is now expected to take his challenge of the runoff he lost to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran to court by next week, where it likely would have ended up anyway. Election challenges are rare. Statewide election are challenges rarer -- one's never been overturned in Mississippi. Challenge laws and rules are at once stringent -- elections, not the courts, are supposed to decide politics -- and vague because challenges are so infrequent. So what's next? |
| Cochran respects GOP decision, confident of victory in November | |
 | U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran said Thursday in Natchez that he respects the decision of the Mississippi Republican Party to hear a challenge to his primary election victory. The state party's executive committee declined Wednesday to hear the challenge from candidate Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, on the basis the party's bylaws require a seven-day notice before the committee can meet. "Hopefully, this can all be worked out with lawyers without the involvement of the courts," Cochran said. "This needs to be done so there will be some clarity in November." He said he looks forward to aggressively campaigning throughout the fall. "I am confident we are going to win," he said. |
| Tea party loses again; blame game begins | |
 | On Thursday night, the tea party lost its last chance of 2014 to oust an incumbent senator. But the recriminations have only begun. In a dozen interviews with Politico this week, tea party leaders, failed candidates and small government activists dissected a primary season that saw their best candidates vanquished by establishment Republicans who were once considered vulnerable. The story repeated itself six times: in Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi, Kansas and Tennessee, where Sen. Lamar Alexander dispatched state lawmaker Joe Carr on Thursday. Alexander's win virtually ensures that for the first election cycle since 2008, not a single Republican senator will lose his seat in a primary. |
| Sojourner's waiver won't be granted until campaign reports are received | |
| Sen. Melanie Sojourner has filed a request to forgive penalties for not disclosing campaign finance reports, but the Secretary of State's Office says that's only one piece of the puzzle. The senator's request won't be granted until the actual reports are filed. Sojourner represents District 37, which includes parts of Adams, Amite, Franklin and Pike counties, and is chairwoman of the Senate Forestry Committee. |
| U.S. airstrikes target Islamic State militants in northern Iraq | |
 | U.S. military jets carried out two airstrikes Friday on Islamist militants outside the Kurdish capital of Irbil, hours after President Obama authorized attacks against the Sunni extremists advancing on the northern Iraq city. The F-18 combat aircraft targeted artillery being used by militants of the Islamic State extremist group against Kurdish forces defending Irbil, the Kurdish regional capital, the Pentagon said. It said the artillery was fired at Kurdish forces "near U.S. personnel." Obama authorized the strikes following the launch of a powerful offensive by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq. He also sent U.S. military aircraft to drop food and water to besieged Iraqi civilians in the region. |
| Bentley seeking ways to beef up funds for recruiting industries to Alabama | |
 | Gov. Robert Bentley said Thursday that his administration is still studying ways to beef up the state's funds for recruiting new industries. Bentley said a few weeks ago that he was considering calling the Legislature into a special session this year to consider borrowing money from the state's Education Trust Fund to provide incentives to new industries. The state recently has made a major effort to recruit more aerospace industries and it continues to recruit automotive and other manufacturers, too. Alabama and other states offer new and expanding manufacturers incentives like new infrastructure (roads, sewers and site preparation) and tax breaks in return for the new manufacturing jobs that will be created. |
| What ails Appalachia ails the nation | |
 | Diabetes is slowly ravaging Alisha Blankenbeckler's body -- stealing her eyesight, impairing her kidneys and damaging her nerves so severely she can barely walk across a parking lot without help. And she's only 48. "I try to stay upbeat no matter how bad I feel," she says, mostly so she can keep caring for a husband with dangerously high blood pressure. The couple's travails are common in this corner of Appalachia, one of the nation's unhealthiest regions, a place plagued by poor health habits and sky-high levels of chronic disease that some experts say may be a harbinger of where the country is headed if we don't rein in epidemics like obesity. This week, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden made a "house call" to find out more about the underlying causes of the region's ills and how to treat them -- and in the process gain traction against the rising burden of chronic disease that ails the nation. |
| U. of Southern Mississippi announces $1M grant for veterans | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi has announced a more than $1 million grant that will support veterans who are pursuing bachelor of science degrees in nursing at the Gulf Park campus. With the three-year grant, the university can offer an accelerated program to former U.S. Army, Air Force or Navy medics who want to earn their BSN. Southern Miss President Rodney Bennett made the announcement Thursday at the Long Beach campus. Andy Wiest, founding director of Dale Center for the Study of War and Society at Southern Miss, said the accelerated BSN program makes perfect sense for former medics. |
| USM Gulf Park will offer accelerated nursing degree to veterans | |
| Military medics looking to transition into the private sector will soon be able to speed up that process at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Park campus. President Rodney Bennett on Thursday announced a program that will allow Army, Air Force and Navy medics to earn a nursing degree in as few as four semesters. It will be funded by a more than $1 million grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The College of Nursing was one of nine across the country chosen for the grant. Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond said the program is a good fit because veterans typically look to live in an area with a low cost of living near a military base. |
| Mississippi native assists with research team on experimental Ebola treatment | |
 | A Mississippi native has assisted a research team with the experimental Ebola Virus treatment administered to two infected U.S. citizens. Daniel Murin, a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and Hattiesburg native, is currently working with The Scripps Research Institute which has administered the drug to the Ebola patients at Emory Hospital. "Basically, this is something that has been worked on for several years in different labs, and we at Scripps are a part of a bigger picture," said Murin. "What we are interested in doing at Scripps is learning about the basic biology of the virus and possibly work to create a therapeutic." |
| Louisiana, Mississippi hospitals form cancer drug test network | |
| Cancer patients in Louisiana and south Mississippi will find it easier to join tests of treatments and promising new drugs under a network organized by the LSU cancer centers in New Orleans and Shreveport. Officials say including local hospitals and clinics will reduce the need for patients to travel, likely increasing the number who can participate, especially among underserved communities. The five-year, $5.6 million National Cancer Institute grant is part of a national program intended to increase the number of minority, poor, rural and otherwise "underserved" patients who can participate in the tests. LSU's network is among 12 receiving grants under a program to bring more underserved patients into clinical trials. |
| LSU Alumni head denies sex scandal claims in lawsuit, won't step down | |
 | LSU Alumni Association President Charlie Roberts has no intention of resigning in the wake of what he calls "scurrilous" allegations that he gave a woman a job so she would continue a sexual relationship with him and then paid her some $3,000 a month in hush money after she resigned, Roberts' attorney said Thursday. The woman, Kay Heath, countered in a written statement released Thurdsay that she has proof of the monthly checks -- "payments made to save his job at the expense of mine" -- from December 2012 until this month. LSU Chancellor F. King Alexander said Wednesday that the university takes Heath's accusations seriously and pledged that the school will investigate the matter and "do the right thing by our alumni and our university." |
| UGA first-year students set academic criteria records | |
 | The University of Georgia will open its doors this fall to a first-year class that has broken the ceiling on academic criteria set by previous classes. The 2014 class begins UGA with the highest average GPA to date, 3.9 on a 4.0 scale, in the most challenging courses. They also have earned the highest test scores for entering freshmen. The entering freshman class has set records for academic criteria, attaining an average GPA of 3.9. The mid-50 percentile GPA range is 3.79-4.06. This year's mean score for students who took the ACT was 29, with a mid-50 percentile range of 27-31. UGA received a record number of 21,300 applications for fall 2014 admission, with an admittance rate of 54 percent of all applicants. |
| In graduating Saturday, U. of Florida student completes an arduous journey | |
 | Todd Blake plans to walk across the O'Connell Center stage to pick up his bachelor's degree on Saturday, five years after he was diagnosed with advanced Hodgkin's Lymphoma and had to withdraw from his first semester at the University of Florida. He could stay home in Jacksonville Beach, where he lives with his wife, Maja, but he's determined to be here in Gainesville and receive that degree in person. It's part of a journey that began with a diagnosis in 2009 that changed his life, and gave it purpose. Graduating from the Warrington College of Business Administration's online program summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA was personally fulfilling, but also a challenge to himself -- to prove he could do it, Blake said. |
| At five new U. of Kentucky dorms, students will get a text when laundry is done | |
 | When University of Kentucky students get to campus later this month, many of them will move into new digs: five new residence halls with the latest in required student luxuries, including double Tempur-pedic mattresses in private bedrooms, original paintings by Kentucky artists, and laundry equipment that will send them a text when their clothes are dry. The dorms -- Woodland Glen I and II, Haggin Hall, and Champions Court I and II -- are an $84 million piece of the ambitious housing plan to put 9,000 modern beds on campus. The deal is part of a public-private partnership with the Memphis-based Education Realty Trust, which puts up all the equity for construction and operates the dorms on a long-term lease. |
| U. of Kentucky pharmacy professor develops nasal spray to stop heroin, other opioid overdoses | |
| A University of Kentucky pharmacy professor has developed a nasal spray to stop heroin and other opioid overdoses, and his invention has now been fast-tracked by the Food and Drug Administration. Daniel Wermeling, who also is a UK alumnus, has worked on ways to better administer naloxone, a drug that can reverse potentially fatal overdoses. The drug is used with a needle by emergency workers and others, but nasal spray is a quicker and easier method. The project is in its final round of clinical trials and could be available as early as next year. |
| U. of Missouri journalism school brings in filmmaker as faculty member | |
 | University of Missouri School of Journalism administrators announced yesterday that documentary filmmaker Robert Greene is the newest hire for the school's new documentary journalism program. The Jonathan B. Murray Center for Documentary Journalism inaugural semester is slated for fall 2015. The center was made possible with a $6.7 million grant from Jon Murray, chairman of Bunim/Murray Productions and a 1977 MU journalism alumnus. Greene's position is filmmaker-in-chief, according to a news release. He will teach courses and work with students on their films while he continues his own filmmaking work. |
| Missouri researcher heading to Russia for Fulbright Scholar Program | |
| A University of Missouri professor and researcher is headed to southwestern Russia to research and teach as part of the Fulbright Scholar Program. Tony Lupo, outgoing chairman of the MU Soil, Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences Department, leaves later this month for a 10-month stay at Belgorod State University, which is less than an hour away from the Russia-Ukraine border. Lupo's Fulbright scholarship allows him to have a dual enrollment in teaching and research at the university. Lupo will join a faculty group to study how atmospheric circulation affects chemical makeups and nutrients in soil and the amount and location of surface water. |
| Study: Attending a more selective college doesn't improve graduation prospects | |
 | Attending a more selective college won't boost an individual's chances of graduating. That's the finding of a new study -- one that calls into question some of the ideas the Obama administration has been touting in its efforts to boost college graduation rates. The study looked at a nationally representative sample of students at 420 four-year public and private nonprofit institutions. After accounting for differences in students' backgrounds, it found that attending a more selective college, as measured by the college's average SAT score, had negligible effects on whether a student would graduate within six years. |
SPORTS
| Stricklin hopes new autonomy benefits student-athletes | |
| The SEC Network recorded footage for an all-access look at Mississippi State football on Thursday. The network will be available to about 90 million homes when it launches on Aug. 14. It's estimated to bring upwards of $25 million to every school in Southeastern Conference. It's also one of the reasons the power five conferences, which includes the SEC, received governing autonomy on Thursday. "Those of us in the five conferences get an opportunity to pass legislation that we think will benefit student-athletes," MSU athletic director Scott Stricklin said. In the past legislation needed to be handled through all 30 conferences. Now the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC can develop their own legislation. |
| NCAA adopts structure giving autonomy to richest Division I leagues, votes to college athletes | |
 | The Board of Directors that governs the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I member universities voted Thursday to restructure how the institutions govern themselves, granting a greater level of autonomy to the five wealthiest conferences. The Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific 12, and Southeastern Conferences can now make their own rules concerning issues such as allowing full-cost-of-attendance stipends, offering four-year scholarships, and providing better health care for athletes. Though the new structure was easily passed with a 16-2 vote, some officials from less-wealthy Division I conferences have expressed concern about the new structure, saying they are worried about the growing gap between high-resource institutions and the rest. |
| Mississippi State backup QB Williams takes role seriously | |
| Subtract Damian Williams from last year, and Mississippi State's fate is entirely different. There's no comeback in Arkansas. MSU may not hang around against Ole Miss. Likely, there's no bowl game and little momentum heading into 2014. He's a bit forgotten as the backup quarterback in the shadow cast by Dak Prescott. But he shouldn't be. "In what we do in developing quarterbacks, he's going to play no matter what," MSU coach Dan Mullen said. "So he better get himself ready for when he gets his opportunity on the field." |
| Mississippi State's Lewis will lead talented group of receivers | |
| Mississippi State wide receiver Jameon Lewis says he has waited for his moment. Now he will get to enjoy it. "When I came in four years ago, I was able to look up to some wide receivers who showed me the way and helped me out," said Lewis, the Southeastern Conference's leading returning receiver entering this season. "Now I'm the old guy on the block, trying to teach the young guys. We have so many receivers, it's going to be a fun job." Such is life when trying to use what he has learned to teach the team's most experienced group. |
| Love what I do: LB coach Collins has plenty to be happy about at Mississippi State | |
| Often times, coaches want their teams to be an extension of their own personality. However at Mississippi State, it's sometimes hard for the linebackers to keep pace with their energetic position coach Geoff Collins. A defensive coordinator in his fourth season with the Bulldogs, Collins can usually be found at practice sprinting through drills like a maniac overdosed on Red Bull spouting off about juice points to players he has all awarded nicknames to. "I just love what I do, I really do," Collins said. And Collins has plenty to love this season. MSU returns seven linebackers, headlined by All-SEC junior Benardrick McKinney. |
| Mississippi State sophomore linebackers make leap in film room | |
| Work off the field might be more important than what's done on the field during fall camp for Richie Brown and Beniquez Brown. The linebackers enter their redshirt sophomore season. Last year the duo enjoyed its first taste of play in the SEC and the film that came with it. But the two aspects were totally separate. This season they hope to mesh both together. |
| Fitness will be key for Gordon, Mississippi State soccer | |
| Aaron Gordon doesn't want any of his Mississippi State women's soccer players to underestimate the importance of fitness. That's why Gordon was especially proud of the number of players who passed the team's initial fitness test Wednesday on the squad's first day of practice. That test served as a warmup for the Bulldogs' first "real" practice of the season that night, one Gordon hopes will help set the tone for an improved 2014 season. Gordon needed his players to come to training camp in great shape because Division I soccer teams don't have the luxury of a long buildup to the season. MSU will play Memphis in an exhibition match at 10 a.m. Wednesday. |
| Mississippi State women get balanced scoring in first victory in Europe | |
| Travel difficulties didn't hinder the Mississippi State women's basketball team on the court Wednesday, as it opened its European tour with a 122-56 win against Sparta Laarne. The Bulldogs used solid pressure defense to open a 22-point first-quarter lead and never looked back. "It was pretty encouraging. We shot the ball well from range in a gym we've never been in. We had an hour to get ready, and I was proud of our energy and effort," MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. "We were really active defensively and made open shots. I thought we created opportunities for each other and played well together." Freshman Blair Schaefer had 15 points in the first half, while sophomore Breanna Richardson had 15 fourth-quarter points to finish with a game-high 19. |
| Vanderbilt football walls get 'deep water' theme | |
 | Most people enjoy doing a little redecorating when they move into a new place, and Vanderbilt football coach Derek Mason and his staff are no different. The Commodores football facilities in the McGugin Center have undergone a facelift in recent weeks, creating an atmosphere that better reflects the attitude of the new staff. With bold, in-your-face graphics, the new artwork on the upper floor, which houses the football offices and meeting rooms, has a nautical design that plays off the "Commodores" name. The deep waters are just a portion of the makeover headed by Vanderbilt director of operations Jason Grooms that began in March. Utilizing funds from the National Commodore Club's Gridiron Club, the football program brought in a company called Forty Nine Degrees, which has done similar work for Alabama, Florida, LSU, Notre Dame and Stanford. |
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