| Friday, September 5, 2014 |
| Mississippi State alum's app seeks to build 'communities' of sports fans | |
 | As a boy growing up in Starkville, Hossein Kash Razzaghi built a lifetime of sports memories and kept them in a shoebox -- tickets, game programs and clipped news articles about Mississippi State football and other sporting events. Now graduated from MSU and living in Boston, Razzaghi says he's essentially turning that shoebox digital through Fancred, a sports-centered app he launched a year ago and is ready to take national thanks to $3 million in new capital from a group of investors. "This $3 million is to help us extend our product to new platforms and new markets" outside the Southeastern Conference, where much of Fancred's user base to this point is located. But he isn't forgetting his roots, either -- Fancred will have an official tailgating booth set up for the Oct. 11 MSU-Auburn football tilt. |
| MSU's Keenum elected vice chairman of Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research | |
 | Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum has been elected by his fellow directors as vice chairman of the 15-member board of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research. Keenum was appointed to a three-year term on the FFAR board of directors by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack. Keenum is a graduate of MSU with degrees in agricultural economics, and he began his career at MSU as a faculty member with the Extension Service and the Department of Agricultural Economics, where his primary research and extension work focused on the marketing and economics of aquaculture, specialty crops and forestry. |
| Managing by the book: Land management guide was nearly 10 years in making | |
| Wildlife biologist Adam Rohnke had just relocated from New York to Mississippi to work for the Mississippi State University Extension Service when he was handed a project: Put together a first-of-its-kind definitive guide for creating wildlife habitat in Mississippi. "I was a rookie, had only been here about a month, and I said sure," remembered Rohnke, a senior extension associate with the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Raymond. "I had no idea that it would take so long to complete." This summer after nearly a decade of planning and work, University Press of Mississippi released "Fish and Wildlife Management: A Handbook for Mississippi Landowners." |
| Bioenergy research continues march toward energy independence | |
 | Many scientists say the next step in the march toward U.S. energy independence is utilizing fast growing, short rotation woody crops as a biomass source for energy and fuel. In September, October and November the Southeastern Partnership for Integrated Biomass Supply Systems will take to the road to show off research progress of the regional partnership, which is focused on biofuels production centered in the Southeast. On Sept. 30, the tour will stop in Columbus for an IBSS/Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Field Day. Mississippi State has been an integral partner throughout the process, assisting in research and helping with field day activities. At this stop, visitors will get a close-up view of the SRWC system and learn about new research on genetics, stand establishment, disease problems, wildlife impacts and biomass harvesting logistics. |
| Starkville aldermen Perkins, Wynn tangle over conference travel | |
 | Starkville aldermen approved a November conference trip for Mayor Parker Wiseman and Ward 2 Alderman Lisa Wynn on Tuesday, but the matter pit Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins and the first-term representative at odds over the value of continuing education and ever-tightening city finances. With the 4-3 vote -- Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker, Ward 5 Alderman Scott Maynard and Perkins opposed -- both Wiseman and Wynn will head to Austin, Texas, for the 2014 National League of Cities annual Congress of Cities conference, an event Wiseman hailed as a premier source of educational materials and topics for municipal managers. |
| Oktibbeha County awaiting potential storm shelter grant | |
| Oktibbeha County supervisors should know in three or four months if the county will receive a significant federal grant for construction of a domed-roof storm shelter on Industrial Park Road. Conceptual plans for the structure, a 20,000 square-foot facility near Rackley Oil Company's location, are working through a FEMA grant application process. Project manager Broaddus and Associates and JBHM Architects told supervisors Tuesday they are now awaiting approval after receiving a tentative "OK" in a prior pre-application submission. Supervisors said they supported the project but wanted the facility to be accessible to the community for other uses besides weather-related events. |
| Navistar defense contract to employ 200 in West Point | |
 | A $38 million contract to upgrade Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected armored vehicles will put about 200 people to work at the Navistar Defense facility in West Point. On Thursday, Navistar announced it had been awarded a U.S. Department of Defense contract to "reset and standardize" International MaxxPro MRAPS for the U.S. Army. Navistar will install MaxxPro "survivability" upgrades, independent suspensions and other upgrades on vehicles returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. |
| Mississippi returns to top of adult obesity rankings | |
| Despite Mississippi's efforts to improve the health of its residents, the state once again had the nation's highest rate of adult obesity last year, according to a report released Thursday. The state, with an adult obesity rate of 35.1 percent, tied for No. 1 with West Virginia, according to the annual report released by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Jeffrey Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health, said Mississippi has begun taking steps to combat its obesity problem. "This is a huge problem, and it takes time to see the results of those changes," he said. |
| Judge: BP's reckless conduct caused Gulf oil spill | |
 | BP acted "recklessly" and bears most of the responsibility for the nation's worst offshore oil spill, a federal judge concluded Thursday, exposing the energy giant to roughly $18 billion in additional penalties. BP's market value plummeted by $7 billion after the ruling. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier's ruling that BP acted with "gross negligence" deals with the company's civil responsibilities, and could nearly quadruple what the London-based company has to pay in fines for polluting the Gulf of Mexico. In his 153-page ruling, Barbier said BP made "profit-driven decisions" during the drilling that led to the deadly blowout. "These instances of negligence, taken together, evince an extreme deviation from the standard of care and a conscious disregard of known risks," he wrote. |
| Mississippi officials aren't surprised BP will appeal | |
 | Thursday's ruling that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was caused by BP's gross negligence wasn't unexpected, Mississippi officials said, and neither was BP's vow to appeal the decision of U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier. The ruling that BP acted recklessly puts the damages per barrel of oil that poured into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 at the highest amount, said State Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula. The maximum fine is $4,300 per barrel of oil. "I think BP should accept the ruling and settle on the damages and let us move forward on restoring the Gulf Coast," he said. |
| Costs rise by another $30 million at Kemper County power plant | |
| Southern Co. says it will cost at least another $30 million to finish the power plant it's building in eastern Mississippi's Kemper County, pushing the total cost to nearly $5.6 billion. The Atlanta-based parent of Mississippi Power Co. said the additional money will pay for material and labor during the plant's startup phase, including contract workers to help test equipment and systems. Mississippi Power said it, and not its 186,000 customers from Meridian to the Gulf Coast, will pay the additional money. |
| Charter school board votes to hire Schutte | |
| Marian Schutte, an official with Louisiana's Recovery School District, is likely to be the first executive director of Mississippi's Charter School Authorizer Board. The board voted 5-0 Thursday to hire Schutte, pending approval by the state Personnel Board. Schutte has handled charter school authorization and monitoring for the Louisiana agency, which has taken over a number of schools, mostly in New Orleans. The board voted to offer Schutte a $95,000 salary, plus a $10,000 relocation allowance. |
| Sen. Terry Brown dies at 64 | |
| State leaders are mourning the death Thursday evening of Senate President Pro tem Terry Brown of Columbus, a lawmaker known for a boisterous sense of humor that could ease tense political situations or leave a room in guffaws. Brown, 64, of Columbus died at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle after a nearly yearlong battle with lung cancer. Brown, a hulking former college football player at East Mississippi Junior College, was a strong advocate for economic development in the Golden Triangle and statewide. His off-putting -- and sometimes off-color -- humor, colleagues said, helped him move legislation and policy at the Capitol. |
| State Sen. Terry Brown dies | |
| Mississippi Senate President Pro Tempore Terry Brown, a longtime lawmaker known for his booming voice and skepticism about government programs, died Thursday after undergoing treatment for lung cancer. He was 64. "Terry was larger than life," Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement. "With his quick wit and gift for storytelling, Terry could leave a room in stitches. I was proud to call him a friend." As a student at East Mississippi Junior College, Brown played football under Hall of Fame coach Bob "Bull" Sullivan, according to a state Senate news release. Brown served six years in the U.S. Army before attending Delta State University and Mississippi State University. |
| Childers encourages Senate debates | |
| Travis Childers of Booneville, Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, reiterated Thursday his belief that Mississippians need to hear him and six-term incumbent Thad Cochran debate the issues. Speaking outside the Mississippi College School of Law, which has offered to host a debate, Childers said the people of the state deserve a chance to hear the differences between the two candidates in a one-on-one debate before the Nov. 4 general election. Childers said the University of Mississippi Overby Center School of Journalism and Politics and the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast campus also have "expressed interest" in hosting debates. |
| Cochran: Schedule will dictate decision on debate | |
| U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, the Mississippi Republican seeking a seventh term, said during a campaign stop late Thursday afternoon the details of scheduling would in large measure determine whether he will meet Democratic challenger Travis Childers in one or more fall debates. "We intend to fully discuss all the important issues," Cochran said during an impromptu interview with the Daily Journal before the ceremonial opening of his Lee County headquarters in Tupelo. Cochran, who had visited Amory earlier Thursday afternoon, arrived by campaign bus and was greeted by a small group of supporters and campaign volunteers. |
| Childers wants Cochran to debate | |
| Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Travis Childers on Thursday challenged incumbent Republican Thad Cochran to a series of debates. That's not likely to happen. Cochran deflected or ignored such challenges to debate during his long, bitter Republican primary battle with state Sen. Chris McDaniel. Conventional campaign wisdom is for an incumbent frontrunner to shy away from debates that could give an insurgent a toe hold. |
| Childers wants debates; Cochran noncommittal | |
| Mississippi voters deserve to hear U.S. Senate candidates debate issues such as the minimum wage and the availability of health care, the Democratic nominee said Thursday. Former U.S. Rep. Travis Childers said he's challenging six-term Republican Sen. Thad Cochran to debate him four times before the Nov. 4 election -- once in each of Mississippi's congressional districts. Cochran campaign spokesman Jordan Russell responded that the campaign will consider all scheduling requests. Meanwhile, it remained unclear when state Sen. Chris McDaniel would announce whether he will try to revive his lawsuit that sought to overturn Cochran's Republican primary victory. |
| McDaniel decision coming Tuesday, Wednesday, today, next week | |
| After a judge last week dismissed Chris McDaniel's lawsuit challenging his GOP primary loss to Thad Cochran, Chris McDaniel's lead attorney said McDaniel would announce a decision Tuesday, after pondering it over the long holiday weekend. Then, McDaniel's campaign spokesman sent out notice that the announcement would come Wednesday. Now McDaniel, who is reportedly out of state, says his decision could come today (Friday) or Monday. |
| NATO allies unite against Islamic State | |
 | The Obama administration accelerated efforts Friday to build an international coalition to combat the Islamic State, winning pledges of support from nine allies but leaving questions about the extent of possible expanded military force. The United States has launched a series of airstrikes seeking to slow the advance of the Islamic State in northern Iraq and bolster the defenses of Western-allied fighters in Iraq's Kurdish region. But Washington is now eager to broaden the military and diplomatic pressures on the group, which has drawn international condemnation for attacking non-Muslim minorities, sending them fleeing in fear, and spreading bloodshed such as mass killings and the beheadings of two American journalists. |
| Hacker Breached HealthCare.gov Insurance Site | |
 | A hacker broke into part of the HealthCare.gov insurance enrollment website in July and uploaded malicious software, according to federal officials. Investigators found no evidence that consumers' personal data were taken or viewed during the breach, federal officials said. The hacker appears only to have gained access to a server used to test code for HealthCare.gov, the officials said. The server was connected to more sensitive parts of the website that had better security protections, the officials said. That means it would have been possible, if difficult, for the intruder to move through the network and try to view more protected information, an official at the Department of Health and Human Services said. |
| U.S. economy adds a weak 142,000 jobs in August | |
| U.S. employers added just 142,000 jobs in August, snapping a six-month streak of hiring above 200,000 and posting the smallest gain in eight months. The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. But the rate dropped because more people without jobs stopped looking for one and were no longer counted as unemployed. The weaker-than-expected figures make it unlikely that the Federal Reserve will speed up its timetable for raising interest rates. Most analysts expect the first rate hike around mid-2015. |
| Taxpayers, workers hurt by cost-cutting labor violations | |
 | The largest government infusion of cash into the U.S. economy in generations -- the 2009 stimulus -- was riddled with a massive labor scheme that harmed workers and cheated unsuspecting American taxpayers. At the time, government regulators watched as money slipped out the door and into the hands of companies that rob state and federal treasuries of billions of dollars each year on stimulus projects and other construction jobs across the country, a yearlong McClatchy investigation found. A review of public records in 28 states uncovered widespread cheating by construction companies that listed workers as contractors instead of employees in order to beat competitors and cut costs. The federal government, while cracking down on the practice in private industry, let it happen in stimulus projects in the rush to pump money into the economy at a time of crisis. |
| U.S. awash in new oil... so why are gas prices still so high? | |
 | With oil and natural gas production soaring in the US, consumers might expect lower prices at the pump and on their electric bills. But that's not happening. The summer driving season was the fourth most expensive on record, and residential electricity costs ballooned in the first half of 2014. Meanwhile, U.S. oil and natural gas production surges, fueled by innovative drilling in states like Texas, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. Today, the U.S. is the world's largest producer of natural gas, and oil production rivals energy giants like Russia and Saudi Arabia. So why are American consumers paying more, even as the supply of American fuel expands? |
| UMMC marks opening of $15 million heart clinic | |
| The University of Mississippi Medical Center is celebrating the opening of a new $15 million facility to diagnose and treat heart patients. University of Mississippi Chancellor Dan Jones and others marked the facility's opening Thursday, saying it consolidates services that had been scattered across the sprawling medical center campus in Jackson and provides modern facilities and equipment that will be more welcoming to patients. |
| Pearl River Community College's Forrest County enrollment steady | |
 | Shamiraca Williams initially did not plan to attend Pearl River Community College's Forrest County Center. But today, the college sophomore readily admits, "It's was one of the best decisions" she has ever made. As president of the center's Student Government Association and a mentor/tutor in the Student Success Center, Williams has found a second home at the Hattiesburg campus. She is one of 1,430 students enrolled for the 2014-15 fall semester at the center, a number that is nearly one-third of PRCC's total 4,775 enrollment. With the main campus in Poplarville and another satellite campus in Waveland, PRCC has experienced about a 3 percent increase in enrollment over last fall. |
| Visiting author to discuss 'Why Football Matters' on U. of Alabama campus | |
 | A University of Virginia professor will discuss his book, "Why Football Matters: My Education in the Game," at 3 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Ferguson Center on the University of Alabama campus. Mark Edmundson's book focuses on his experience as a former football player and the game's larger and influential role in American culture. Edmundson will also present another lecture, "In Defense of Ideals," Thursday, at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 in room 205 of Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library on the UA campus. |
| UA Fayetteville's Enrollment More Than 26K, Preliminary Figures Show | |
 | Enrollment at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is above 26,000 for the first time, according to preliminary figures released by the UA on Wednesday. The flagship campus had an enrollment of 26,301 students as of Tuesday. It's a 3.8 percent from last fall's enrollment. The numbers will remain preliminary until after the 11th day of classes, a requirement of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. The Fayetteville campus also claims record enrollment of freshman and undergraduate students. "There is no question that we have grown quickly over the last several years," Chancellor G. David Gearhart said. Since 2008, the campus has added more than 7,000 students. |
| Gatton makes record $20 million donation to U. of Kentucky for student center | |
 | The University of Kentucky's biggest donor made history again: UK announced Thursday that businessman Carol Martin "Bill" Gatton would top his $14 million donation in 1995 with $20 million for the university's expansion of its Student Center. "Bill Gatton's unwavering support for the University of Kentucky has had a profound impact on the students, faculty and staff on campus, and on higher education in the commonwealth," President Eli Capilouto said at a news conference announcing the gift. The $175 million renovation and expansion of the Student Center is part of an ambitious $1 billion building program that Capilouto started after he got to UK in 2011, trying to attract students with better dorms and other amenities. |
| Committee recommends salary increase, $150,000 bonus for U. of Kentucky president | |
| University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto could receive a 2 percent salary increase and a $150,000 performance bonus, a Board of Trustees committee recommended Friday morning. The recommendation was based on an outstanding job evaluation for the past year, said Britt Brockman, chairman of both the executive committee and the full board. Brockman said board members routinely rated Capilouto as doing an outstanding job with new building programs, a new dining contract. His handling of a proposed Rupp Arena renovation also was praised. The evaluations called for improvements in Capilouto's communications and more emphasis on graduate education and shared governance. |
| Alexander gives mostly positive overview for LSU faculty group | |
 | LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander gave a mostly rosy update to faculty during the first Faculty Senate meeting of the academic year. LSU will be filling at least 100 new faculty positions this school year. The university, after giving small raises to faculty the past two years, is gaining back some competitive ground it lost during several years without raises, he said. On the budget front, LSU is coming off its "best fundraising year in a long time" at $73 million in outside contributions, King said, and enrollment will be up when official numbers are released later this month. "This helps our budget. It helps our bottom line," Alexander told the room of about three dozen faculty members on campus Thursday. But the outlook wasn't entirely positive. |
| Rodrigue's Blue Dog 'Takes Five' for LSU's music school | |
| What started with a Steinway piano covered with Blue Dogs culminated in a posthumous silkscreen print when the estate of George Rodrigue unveiled "Take Five" on Thursday at LSU's Lod Cook Hotel and Conference Center. The 31-by-26-inch print features George Rodrigue's iconic Blue Dog in black tie sitting at the keyboard of what appears to be a Steinway piano, the same baby-grand style of Steinway that the late Louisiana artist turned into art in 2012 to benefit the LSU School of Music. The prints will sell for $500 apiece, and proceeds will benefit both the LSU School of Music and the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts. |
| Woman attacked near Library West on U. of Florida campus | |
 | A third woman was attacked early this morning while walking in the vicinity of the University of Florida campus, police officials announced. About 12:30 a.m. a white man in his 20s, about six feet tall and wearing an orange shirt with cargo pants, attacked a woman who was walking near Library West. The man had a large build with short brown hair and a brown beard, according to text alerts sent to students by the university. It was unclear if detectives believe the same man is suspected of attacking two women about a block from campus over the weekend. |
| Gainesville couple donates 657-acre estate to U. of Florida | |
| University of Florida officials say the university is one step closer to pre-eminence, thanks to the gift of an expansive estate by a prominent Gainesville couple. Stephen and Carol Shey, who together have been among UF's most generous benefactors over the years, will transfer their house and 657 acres of conservation land to the university, to be used as a retreat and conference center that eventually will belong solely to UF. In addition to transferring the land and the 12,000-square-foot house, the Sheys plan to donate art from the family's private foundation to UF's Harn Museum of Art. |
| U. of South Carolina trims time to earn degree | |
 | The University of South Carolina is offering students majoring in some subjects the chance to shave a year off the typical four-year schedule that it takes to earn a degree, president Harris Pastides said Thursday. Students can take home a bachelor's degrees in 45 majors in three years, instead of four, and get both bachelor's and master's degrees in 22 majors in five years, rather than six. Some qualified students also can trim a year off the time it takes to earn a medical degree. The moves are part of USC's ongoing initiative to allow students to graduate on their own schedules. |
| U. of Missouri Faculty Council discusses Title IX, Thursday football games | |
 | Additional faculty and staff training is among changes that will increase awareness of Title IX and prevent future violations of the federal mandate, said Linda Bennett, interim campus Title IX coordinator, at a University of Missouri Faculty Council meeting Thursday. Bennett gave a presentation to council members alongside Marsha Fischer, who joined the University of Missouri System General Counsel's office in May and is the systemwide point of contact for Title IX-related issues. Also discussed at the meeting was a tentative plan for Missouri to play in Thursday football games at Memorial Stadium starting next season. MU Faculty Athletics Representative Lori Franz said the proposed Thursday date is Nov. 5, 2015. "Why would we ask academia to make any adjustments when we have plenty of Fridays and Saturdays?" council member Rebecca Johnson asked. |
| Is a Degree Still Worth It? Yes, Researchers Say, and the Payoff Is Getting Better | |
 | One could be excused for thinking the value of a college degree is in a downward spiral. With overall student-loan debt topping $1-trillion and tuition racing upward, to college graduates facing high levels of underemployment and stagnating wages, it might appear college simply isn't worth it. However, a study released on Tuesday by two researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concludes the opposite is true: The value of a bachelor's degree is near an all-time high. While tuition and fees keep going up, the researchers say that once other considerations are factored in, the cost of college is actually dropping. That's because the opportunity cost of college makes up about 80 percent of the total cost. |
| Troy official supports Johnson Center professors... but adds they don't speak for school | |
 | Troy University supports the professors who work for its free market Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy but does not necessarily endorse their conclusions, a school official said Thursday. Earl Ingram, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, issued the statement amid criticism over a pro-school choice study released this week. The Johnson Center has been a lightning rod for criticism almost since its inception, both because of the source of its funding and the fact that it is not afraid to take on other academic institutions. The Charles G. Koch Foundation made a $1.2 million donation to help start the center. That has been a frequent source of criticism, since Koch and his brother, David, have been closely tied to conservative political activism. |
| Rise of Online Booksellers Brings Complaints From Campus Bookstores | |
| When the orange Chegg bus rolls onto a campus, one person is unlikely to be excited about its free swag and energy drinks: the college-bookstore manager. The rise of online textbook retailers such as Chegg, Amazon, and Half.com, has put official college and university bookstores on the defensive. Once the default source of course materials, campus bookstores run by Barnes & Noble and Follett are responding to the pressure by cracking down on competitors' on-campus advertising, which bookstores contend violates their exclusivity contracts with colleges. Chegg has received dozens of cease-and-desist letters, according to its president, Dan Rosensweig, but it has no plans to scale back its efforts. |
SPORTS
| Dak Prescott sustains injury in practice, still slated to play vs. UAB | |
| Dan Mullen listed health as a top priority for Mississippi State to reach its goals this season. Through the first week of the season that's already in question. A person close to Dak Prescott told The Clarion-Ledger the quarterback sustained a foot injury in practice this week. When reached for comment Mullen said Prescott is healthy and he intends to play the quarterback against UAB. Mullen also said on his weekly radio show that Prescott practiced. "A lot of that stuff gets blown out of proportion," Mullen said. |
| Mississippi State was already working on protecting Prescott | |
| Dak Prescott averaged 12.2 carries a game last year. In Mississippi State's season-opener against Southern Miss, the quarterback rushed the ball eight times. There were only three games last year in which Prescott carried the ball less than nine times. The lighter workload should only help Prescott remain healthy. But Thursday a source close to Prescott told the Clarion-Ledger the quarterback suffered a foot injury during practice this week. MSU coach Dan Mullen wouldn't confirm the injury but said Prescott is healthy and will play Saturday against UAB. Even before Thursday's news, MSU began to protect Prescott from unnecessary hits. It starts with the hurry-up offense. |
| UAB's Wright back in Starkville | |
| Saturday will be a homecoming of sorts for UAB assistant head coach Jody Wright. Wright spent five years at Mississippi State serving on the staffs of both Sylvester Croom and Dan Mullen from 2005-10. "It's going to be great because I worked with a lot of those guys on the staff and in the athletic department," Wright said. "I think the world of them. I really enjoyed my time there and have so many fond memories from State." Wright began working with the Bulldogs as a volunteer assistant in 2005 and was a graduate assistant from 2006-08 under Croom. He was retained when Mullen was hired in 2009 and spent one season as the assistant athletic director for football operations. |
| Aggies to enjoy newly renovated Kyle Field on A&M gameday | |
 | For many Aggies headed Saturday to seats on the northeast side of Kyle Field, the walk -- trek in some cases -- will be shorter than ever: The spiral ramp is gone. In its place are escalators and stairs. Beyond the new air-conditioned "cool zones" stacked where G. Rollie White Coliseum once stood, are fancy concession stands with an expanded menu and gleaming restrooms. The west side -- where most of the former students sit -- awaits its facelift, set to start after the final game of this season. When Texas A&M kicks off against Lamar this weekend, fans finally will witness the modernized gameday experience at a stadium that's defined by tradition and has been home to the Aggies since 1927. |
| Auburn University releases 'Tailgate Times' app | |
 | Auburn University's Food Systems Institute has created a multimedia app called AU Tailgate Times for iPhones and iPads. The app, which can be downloaded at the iTunes store or on the Food Systems Institute website, brings together a wide range of information about the tradition of tailgating, with the focus on food and fun. AU Tailgate Times includes sections on the history of tailgating, the Auburn Alumni Association alumni tent, Auburn University's new beer brewing program and the regional personalities of barbecue. Recipes for popular tailgating foods are included, as well as information on fire, weather and alcohol safety. |
| Ticket counterfeiters profit from Georgia-Clemson game | |
 | People selling counterfeit tickets profited from last weekend's Georgia-Clemson football game. According to University of Georgia police, at least six people fell victim to the counterfeiters, spending more than $1,550 on the useless tickets. No arrests were made. By the time police were notified by victims that they'd been ripped off, the suspects were long gone. UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said the quality of the counterfeit tickets were so good that they were not detected by ticket takers at the gates of Sanford Stadium. People only learned that they'd been cheated when they arrived at the seats they thought they paid for and found they were occupied by legitimate ticketholders, Williamson said. |
| Q&A with Mizzou Athletic Director Mike Alden | |
 | In a sit-down with local media Wednesday, Missouri Athletic Director Mike Alden touched on a number of topics, including future football scheduling, past Title IX issues, the shifting landscape of the NCAA and Missouri's role in former wideout Dorial Green-Beckham's appeal for immediate eligibility at his new school, Oklahoma. |
| University-themed Jell-O molds send a mixed message, critics say | |
 | Last month -- just in time for a new season of college football -- Kraft Foods released a new line of Jell-O molds in the shapes of various university logos. Four of the "jiggler mold kits" were unveiled last year, but products for 16 more teams have now been added, including the University of Alabama, Ohio State University, and the University of California at Los Angeles. In a press release, Kraft said the kits are meant to be used in creating Jell-O treats for tailgate parties for alumni and fans. But some are concerned that the themed molds could be seen as university-endorsed invitations to create alcohol-laced "Jell-O shots" -- a mixed message for universities fighting to curb binge drinking among students. |
| Seeking a Pipeline, U.S.T.A. Turns to the College Game | |
 | On Thursday, some of the nation's best college tennis players made a rare appearance at the U.S.T.A. Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The occasion was the start of a four-day tournament, sponsored by the United States Tennis Association and held with the blessing of the N.C.A.A., that is part of a high-profile initiative to reinvigorate and promote intercollegiate tennis. The invitation-only tournament, the first of its kind, is being held as the U.S.T.A. plots a new course after the announced departure Wednesday of Patrick McEnroe as head of player development. The new partnership holds promise as a way to halt the decline in top American players, but first it has history to overcome. The U.S.T.A. has long had an odd, sometimes predatory relationship with college tennis. |
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