| Wednesday, August 13, 2014 |
| MSU Center Hires Experts to Address Wild Hogs | |
 | Mississippi State University's Center for Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts recently announced the addition of two new staff members to address the growing challenge of controlling the state's wild hog population. Mississippi State alumni Cliff Covington and Steven Tucker will coordinate and conduct educational workshops, field days and seminars with a primary focus on wild hog damage mitigation. "Cliff and Steven bring a wealth of hands-on experience to the center," said Bronson Strickland, MSU Extension Service wildlife specialist and associate director of Extension and outreach for the center. |
| Maroon Band preps for season; week of camp sets tone for new year | |
 | More than 330 Mississippi State University students will become well acquainted with the Mississippi summer heat as the Famous Maroon Band spends the week preparing for the fall football season. The band, 338 members strong, will spend the week implementing the sets for its pregame and first halftime shows, in addition to reviewing marching fundamentals, stands tunes and music for shows it will perform later in the semester. (Subscriber-only content.) |
| MSU Holds its Annual Service Dawgs Day | |
| It was a day of service for more than 500 hundred Mississippi State University students on Tuesday. The Maroon Volunteer Center organized the event, with students serving all over the Golden Triangle. The annual Service Dawgs Day kicked off with a welcome from MSU President Mark Keenum. Several organizations, including the Starkville Public Library, Noxubee Refuge and the Palmer Home Stores, got help from the volunteers. Students at the Palmer Home in Starkville helped to clear old clothing from the racks and tag clothing for sale. MSU students volunteered at 30 work sites throughout the Golden Triangle. |
| Starkville sees limited rollout of MetroCast fiber Internet | |
 | Eight single-family Cottages at Creekside units are the first homes in Starkville to receive access to MetroCast's residential fiber-optic Internet service, the company announced Friday. Like rival C Spire, MetroCast is also unveiling its own Fiber to the Home initiative, a service that promises high-speed Internet connections to subscribers' homes in Starkville. Comparatively, MetroCast previously promised speeds up to 50 megabytes per second throughout Starkville, while C Spire's 1 gigabyte-per-second service is in the engineering and construction phase in three neighborhoods. A fourth, the Hiwassee/Reed Road/Hospital "fiberhood," is nearing pre-registration marks needed before construction efforts begin. |
| Biofuel company KiOR warns of bankruptcy | |
 | Struggling biofuel firm KiOR said in a financial filing that it will run out of money by September and that bankruptcy could follow. The company, which built a refinery in Columbus to turn wood chips into synthetic oil, owes Mississippi $69.4 million. The Mississippi Development Authority has agreed to delay payments until the end of October to give KiOR time to raise new money or sell the company. Investment bank Guggenheim Partners was hired by KiOR, based in Pasadena, Texas, to seek a buyer or new investors. KiOR told the Mississippi Department of Employment Security last month that it plans to lay off another 15 employees in Columbus by the end of this week. |
| Mississippi gets money for advanced high school exams | |
| The U.S. Department of Education will give Mississippi nearly $55,000 to help pay the costs of low-income high school students taking Advanced Placement and other exams that could help them earn college credit after accelerated high school classes. The money comes at a time when the number of Mississippi students taking advanced placement tests has fallen for two years in a row. College Board figures show that 6,069 students, from public, private and home schools, took AP exams in 2013. That's down more than 4 percent from a peak of 6,350 in 2011. State Superintendent Carey Wright has pushed for more students to take advanced courses and get college credit as part of her overall goals for the state. |
| Millions of dollars may be lost in South Mississippi after tax-credit ruling | |
 | Harrison County canceled budget hearings for the rest of the week until it can get a handle on what last week's Supreme Court ruling could do to county finances. "It's going to be a pretty good lick," Board of Supervisors President Marlin Ladner told the Sun Herald. Jackson County finance and legal departments are meeting today to sort out the impact, as well. The cost to the Coast will be millions -- Harrison County, its cities and their schools are looking at refunding $6 million; Jackson County, its cities and schools, $1.5 million; and Hancock County up to $500,000. And there's revenue loss each year to come. It has to do with the value county tax assessors had been placing on Section 42 housing for low-income residents after Hurricane Katrina, where millions in federal credits were issued to subsidize construction. |
| New Jersey Gov. Christie will campaign in Biloxi for Bryant, governors' group | |
| New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will make two stops, one of them public, in Biloxi today. He's primarily here to raise money for the Republican Governors Association, which he leads. He'll be at Mary Mahoney's Old French House from 3:30 to 4 p.m. for a meet and greet that's open to the public and press. The next stop, at 4:30 p.m. at the Biloxi Visitors Center, will be for RGA donors. That event is closed to the press. The day will end with a fundraiser for Gov. Phil Bryant. It is also closed. The RGA wouldn't disclose its location. Christie will start the day in Birmingham at the Southern Research Institute. |
| McDaniel: Conservatives 'enraged,' will be engaged | |
 | Chris McDaniel says conservatives in Mississippi are "enraged" over the U.S. Senate primary and likely to take it out on incumbent Republican state officeholders in next year's elections. "Conservatives in this state are angry, and rightly so," McDaniel said Tuesday, in his first one-on-one interview with The Clarion-Ledger since before his June 24 runoff loss to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. McDaniel touched on numerous topics in the phone interview as he traveled to meet with his attorneys about a legal challenge to his runoff loss, which McDaniel said he will likely file Wednesday. |
| 'God Gave Us Charles Johnson': Blogger Speaks at Tea Party Meeting | |
 | Charles "Controversy" Johnson, as Tea Party member Tricia Raymond calls him, buddied up to radical conservatives Monday night at Life Church Jackson in Flowood at one of three of his speaking events here in Mississippi this week. Preaching to their cause and throwing in a little God talk, Johnson spoke to Tea Party members about his role in the recent U.S. Senate election in Mississippi. At the beginning of the meeting, just after asking God in the opening prayer to "be violent against" the GOP establishment, Mississippi Tea Party Chairman Roy Nicholson thanked Johnson for getting "down in that dirty, muddy trench and exposing a lot of truth" in Mississippi politics. |
| Gunn Speaks in Meridian | |
 | The speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives was the featured guest for Business Before Hours Tuesday in Meridian. Rep. Philip Gunn of Clinton has spoken out about his party needing to unify in the wake of a divisive U.S. Senate primary. Gunn has previously said the GOP should unite and focus on the real enemies of out-of-control spending, government dependency, poor education, and attacks on religious freedom, rather than each other. |
| Admitting-privileges laws have created high hurdle for abortion providers to clear | |
 | Among the raft of abortion restrictions passed by states in the past few years, one did not initially gain much notice -- a requirement that doctors performing abortions obtain admitting privileges at a local hospital. But the measure, which 11 states have passed in some form, has proved an especially high hurdle for abortion providers to clear and a potent tool for antiabortion activists seeking to shut down abortion clinics. The state laws, on the surface, seem like a paperwork matter. In practice, many clinics have found getting these privileges very difficult. A doctor at the sole clinic in Mississippi, for instance, said his staff reached out to 13 hospitals to try to comply with the law. Six did not respond to their inquiries, and the rest informed them he would not qualify, he said. |
| Oil companies fracking into drinking water sources, new research shows | |
 | Energy companies are fracking for oil and gas at far shallower depths than widely believed, sometimes through underground sources of drinking water, according to research released Tuesday by Stanford University scientists. Though researchers cautioned their study of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, employed at two Wyoming geological formations showed no direct evidence of water-supply contamination, their work is certain to roil the public health debate over the risks of the controversial oil and gas production process. |
| William Carey graduates first Ph.D. nursing class | |
 | Two years ago, William Carey University began a doctoral program in nursing education and administration. On Friday, 21 of the first 23 students to enroll in the program graduated. Amy Daily of Picayune was among those newly-hooded to earn her Ph.D. "Thirty-eight years ago, I graduated from William Carey College with my B.S. in nursing. I feel as if I have come full circle," said Daily, 59, who has worked as a direct care nurse and educator. With her Ph.D., Daily can fill a critical need in Mississippi and the nation --- instruct up-and-coming registered nurses who want to earn bachelor's and master's degrees as well as work in administration. |
| White joins East Central Community College financial aid department | |
| Leslie K. White of Philadelphia was recently selected financial aid administrative assistant at East Central Community College in Decatur. White, who began her duties July 14, was previously employed at Newton County Bank in Newton. The 2008 graduate of ECCC said she was excited to return to her alma mater. "It feels like home to me," White said. The Scott Central High School graduate is pursuing her bachelor's degree, which she plans to complete in December of this year, at Mississippi State University-Meridian. |
| Should students with permits be allowed to carry concealed weapons at the U. of Alabama? | |
 | At the University of Alabama, school policy prohibits students, visitors, faculty and staff from carrying firearms on campus. Now some students, both locally and nationwide, are trying to see that changed. Cathy Andreen, the director of media relations at the university, said the policy serves to keep campus safe. "Our policies are designed to help make sure our campus is a safe place for our students, employees and visitors to live, learn, work and visit," Andreen said. "UA believes that its policies and procedures comply with the state law." "As a result, UA will not allow the possession of guns or dangerous weapons on our campus, except under the limited circumstances set out in its policy." |
| U. of Alabama collection has Abraham Lincoln letters 'rich' in history | |
 | The enthusiasm is clear in Daniel Stowell's voice as he discusses two letters linked to President Abraham Lincoln in the A.S. Williams III Americana Collection at the University of Alabama. Stowell is director and editor of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, a project administered through the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., that seeks to identify, image, transcribe, annotate and publish all documents written by or to the 16th president during his lifetime. The correspondence, previously unknown to the project, comes from the middle years of the Civil War. |
| Auburn University honors freshmen participate in poverty seminar | |
 | New students in the Honors College at Auburn University are spending the week getting to "K(no)w Poverty" through a variety of service projects. The inaugural K(no)w Poverty week kicked off with more than 50 incoming freshmen participating in seminars, exercises and projects to learn about poverty in the area. Monday, students worked with Alabama Possible, a statewide nonprofit that works to reduce poverty and its misconceptions. "We are doing a poverty simulation this afternoon with honors students," Kristina Scott, executive director of Alabama Possible, said Monday. "They're going through a week of education and service, about poverty in Alabama and specifically in Lee County." |
| More than 1,400 women hope to garner a bid during Auburn's sorority recruitment week | |
| It's recruitment week at Auburn University, and more than 1,400 women have registered in hopes of receiving a place in the college's Greek system during Bid Day on Saturday. Recruitment week kicked off on Aug. 9 after rushees, known as potential new members in the Greek system, moved in on Friday. Throughout this week, women looking to snag a spot in one of the university's 17 National Panhellenic Conference sororities will have a full slate of mandatory gatherings, meetings and events to attend. In 2013, more than 1,200 women registered to participate, and 1,058 bids were given out during a spirited Bid Day at Auburn Arena. Instead of sorority housing, the college's Greek chapters use on-campus housing. |
| Thousands of students moving into UGA dorms, first day of classes is Monday | |
 | Baxter Street between Milledge and Lumpkin was no place to be on Tuesday, not if you were in a hurry to get anywhere. Thousands of University of Georgia students began moving into residence halls Tuesday, and SUVs, trucks and trailer-hauling cars full of possessions and parents were bumper to bumper, heading for UGA's high-rise freshman dormitories on Baxter. UGA housing administrators deployed an army of about 200 student faculty and staff volunteers around those high-rise dorms, Brumby, Russell and Creswell, as well as the residence halls on East Campus and other housing areas on campus, enforcing parking limits, giving directions and helping students get themselves and their belongings stowed away. |
| UGA professor wins international arboriculture award | |
| University of Georgia professor Kim Coder recently was honored with an international arboriculture award for his service and commitment to community forestry. Coder was presented with the International Society of Arboriculture's Award of Merit on Aug. 3. The Award of Merit is the highest global award the organization confers to arborists and urban foresters. An internationally renowned tree health expert, Coder has been with the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources since 1985. |
| U. of Missouri names chairwoman of health psychology department | |
 | Administrators from the University of Missouri School of Health Professions announced Monday that Christina McCrae, director of the Insomnia and Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic at the University of Florida, will join MU as professor and chairwoman of the Department of Health Psychology. McCrae starts Jan. 1, according to a news release. Her accolades include three active National Institutes of Health-funded research projects, and she has authored or co-authored about 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, with 20 more currently in submission or preparation. |
| Sigma Alpha Epsilon house at U. of Missouri up for spot on national historic registry | |
 | The white exterior of MU's Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter house looks just as it did in 1929 when the fraternity purchased it. Through decades of busy football falls and calm, muggy summers, the house on the hill has remained unchanged, while hundreds upon hundreds of fraternity brothers have come and gone. The SAE house, 24 E. Stewart Road, has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. The mansion, identified for the nomination by its former name, Welch Hall, will be considered alongside eight other historical buildings throughout Missouri. It is the only site in this batch of nominations from Boone County. Scott Barger, SAE's chapter adviser, said being added to the national register comes with financial benefits, including tax breaks for donors and qualifying for federal grant money for renovation projects. Barger said the money would be nice, but the prestige of being added to the register was a big incentive. |
| BRIAN PERRY (OPINION): State auditor details public misspending in report | |
| Consultant and columnist Brian Perry writes: "State Auditor Stacey Pickering released last month the annual 'Audit Exceptions Report' detailing violations 'of the law or an accounting error [that] has resulted in a misappropriations or an incorrect expenditure of public funds.' Pickering's office recovered more than $1.5 million in fiscal year 2014. Incidents occurred in 50 of Mississippi's 82 counties. Not all the exceptions were purposeful -- some were honest mistakes and those cited repay the amount of their error and the case is closed. This annual account helps keep the honest people mindful of their responsibility to taxpayers, while shining the light of prosecution on those who would purposefully rob the public treasury." |
| CURTIS WILKIE (OPINION): The South's Lesson for the Tea Party | |
 | Curtis Wilkie, a fellow at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the University of Mississippi, writes in The New York Times: "Last week's Republican primary in Tennessee resulted in a comfortable win for Senator Lamar Alexander over his Tea Party-backed challenger, State Assembly Representative Joe Carr. But make no mistake: The Tea Party is on a roll across the South, having mounted major primary challenges in Texas, Mississippi and South Carolina, and knocked out Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia. The movement's success, with its dangerous froth of anti-Washington posturing and barely concealed racial animus, raises an important question for Southern voters: Will they remember their history well enough to reject the siren song of nativism and populism that has won over the region so often before?" |
| SID SALTER (OPINION): Congress should fight internet access taxes | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "As longtime readers remember, I've been a longtime advocate of leveling the playing field between traditional Main Street merchants and online sellers on the issue of sales tax collections. ...The debate over 'taxing the internet' has gotten hopelessly intertwined with the distinct issue of the collection of state sales taxes on internet sales. The Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) was enacted in 1998 to address the issue of taxing access to the internet." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State plans $40M Dudy Noble Field upgrade | |
 | Dudy Noble Field will be getting a facelift. One of the most recognizable venues in college baseball, Mississippi State's home stadium will receive a $40 million upgrade which will include a double-tiered grandstand, berm seating, approximately 50 skyboxes and a welcome plaza honoring past players. "It's hard to imagine we've been in that facility for nearly 30 years," said MSU director of athletics Scott Stricklin. "But it's time to reset the bar a little bit and take another step." The Left Field Lounge will remain as well just beyond the outfield fence. However, the 86 spaces in the Left Field Lounge will become permanent structures, with current pass holders given the option to customize their spots. |
| Mississippi State unveils Dudy Noble Field Master Plan | |
| Mississippi State unveiled the Dudy Noble Field Master Plan on Tuesday, a $40 million facility project. The timetable for the project is based on the Bulldog Club reaching its $20 million private fundraising goal. After the $20 million of private donations is reached the university will pay for the rest of the redesign through the sale of premium seats. The plan is to complete construction during the offseason once they break ground on the project. "This is a monumental day for our baseball program, and something every Bulldog player and fan deserves," MSU head baseball coach John Cohen said. |
| Mississippi State unveils plans for renovation of Dudy Noble Field | |
| Since its first major renovation in 1987, Mississippi State's Dudy Noble Field set the standard in college baseball. On Tuesday, that standard was shattered. In an ambitious plan that would place its facility in rarified air among college baseball facilities, MSU announced a $40 million overhaul of Polk-Dement Stadium at Dudy Noble Field on Tuesday afternoon that features a two-tiered grandstand, additional seats, a completely revamped Left Field Lounge and the introduction of the Left Field Lofts, 25 suites complete with bedrooms and live-in capability. "Mississippi State deserves the best baseball facility in the country," said MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin. "In 1987, MSU had the vision to build a premier on-campus baseball facility before anyone else. Now, 30 years later, it was time. This will provide our fans, players and staff the best ballpark in the nation." |
| Mississippi State to invest $40M in Dudy Noble Field renovation | |
| The Mississippi State athletic department unveiled a master plan for Dudy Noble Field Tuesday, an estimated $40 million project that will offer innovative experiences while maintaining the tradition of the historic park. The Jackson-based design team of Wier Boerner Allin Architecture developed the concept which will be constructed on the current site of the field. The master plan includes a new double-tiered grandstand with chairback seating, an elevated concourse which encircles the playing field, premium suite seating and berm seating while keeping the tradition and location of the Left Field Lounge. |
| Mississippi State athletics unveils Dudy Noble Field master plan | |
 | Mississippi State Athletics unveiled the Dudy Noble Field Master Plan on Tuesday, an ambitious $40 million facility project that aims to remake the Bulldogs' home ballpark into the finest in college baseball. The Jackson, Miss., design team of Wier Boerner Allin Architecture and national baseball stadium experts Populous, in consultation with MSU alum Janet Marie Smith, has produced the proposed Dudy Noble Field Master Plan concept. The Dudy Noble Field Master Plan will still showcase the unique and timeless features of the previous ballpark, including the Left Field Lounge. Capacity is planned to allow MSU to continue to host the largest crowds in college baseball. |
| Bulldogs staying busy | |
| Training camp has reached a pivotal point for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs are in their final week of camp before school starts back on Monday. Dan Mullen has a pair of two-a-day practices scheduled this week, two single day practices and the second scrimmage of the fall slated for Friday. "This is the most important week for us," Mullen said. MSU went through its first two-a-day session of the week on Tuesday. With the heat index reaching the mid-90s, Mullen seemed happy with how his team handled the heat and humidity. |
| Mullen not letting Mississippi State settle for 'good' | |
| It's a subtle but important difference. Mississippi State's players were satisfied with their performance during last Saturday's scrimmage at Davis Wade Stadium. It's an effort that in the past would have drawn rave reviews from coaches. Twenty days from MSU's first game, sixth year head coach Dan Mullen adjusted the standard. "They were wondering why I was disappointed," Mullen said. "I said, 'I agree it was a good scrimmage, but we're not looking to be good.' We're looking to be great." |
| Mullen looks to take advantage of final week of Mississippi State fall camp | |
| Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen is ready to enter the final week of fall camp in preparation for the 2014 season. The Bulldogs will endure a two-a-day practice Thursday before scrimmaging Friday and holding practice Saturday. Classes start Monday for the Bulldogs, and Mullen said the squad is taking advantage of full days of practice before school begins. "This is the most important week for us. There is no school going on so it's just football. When you have those double days, you can really get after it with extended walk-throughs and full days of football," Mullen said. |
| Schools invest millions preparing for SEC network | |
| The Southeastern Conference's new network debuts Thursday, promising more than 1,000 live events this year and a reach that includes most major television providers in the South. The network will be welcomed by millions of fans of who can't get enough coverage of the most powerful conference in college sports, and SEC officials think it will increase revenue. Getting the network off the ground -- with operations at 14 different campuses -- wasn't easy or inexpensive. "Each school is in a little different spot coming into this," SEC associate commissioner for network relations Charlie Hussey said. "A lot of our schools had done a good amount of work already in the infrastructure for this, while others had a little further along to go. But we'll be ready for launch day." |
| Progress, Texas A&M game-day congestion discussed at Kyle Field update briefing | |
 | Phase 1 of the $450 million renovation of Kyle Field is on time and on budget, according to A&M Chancellor John Sharp, who appeared Tuesday at the Bernard C. Richardson Zone for a briefing on the reconstruction work. With the stadium news positive, one of the subjects addressed at the briefing was getting to and from Kyle Field on game day, when there is expected to be upwards of 106,000 fans -- an increase of approximately 20,000 over last season -- in the stadium. One major way A&M plans on reducing congestion around the stadium and on campus is with a free smartphone app called Destination Aggieland, which was introduced at the update of the Kyle Field expansion. |
| RICK CLEVELAND (OPINION): Mississippi's lone Ivy League player serious about football | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "Poet Robert Frost could have been writing about William Chism, a Ridgeland 21-year-old, when he penned these words in The Road Not Taken 94 years ago: 'I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.' Chism, a St. Andrews Episcopal School product, took the road not traveled much at all, at least not by Mississippians. This fall, Chism will play his fourth season of varsity football at Yale. And, for the fourth straight season, he will be the lone Mississippian playing Ivy League football." |
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