| Wednesday, September 24, 2014 |
| State's universities save $70M over eight years through energy efficiencies | |
 | The state's public universities have saved $70 million over the past eight years through efforts to reduce energy consumption and increase energy efficiency, according to a report made recently to the Board of Trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning. "The take-away from this report is that energy efficiency efforts pay for themselves," said J.D. Hardy, associate director, engineering services, Mississippi State University and chair of the Energy Council. "It requires a focused effort and commitment from the universities, system and campus leadership and the Board of Trustees, but the end result makes these efforts worthwhile. These changes create campuses that are safer, more comfortable and less expensive to operate." |
| Mississippi manufacturing focus of summit at MSU | |
 | Anticipating the return of manufacturing to the U.S., Mississippi State University's Franklin Furniture Institute is hosting the Mississippi Reshoring Summit Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Higher labor costs in China and technological advances that aid in U.S. production are partly responsible for increasing domestic manufacturing. The summit will help attendees answer the question for their industries, "Is it time to reshore?" |
| 'Journey in Photographs' Lecture to be Held at Mississippi State | |
 | The College of Arts & Sciences' Institute for the Humanities Distinguished Lecture Series is announcing Mississippi native Birney Imes will speak at Mississippi State University. Imes will present "Juke Joints, Rabbit Hunters and Gunshots at Midnight: Birney Imes' Mississippi Journey in Photographs" on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in McCool Hall's Rogers Auditorium. William Anthony Hay, director for MSU's Institute for the Humanities and associate professor of history, said he's pleased to have someone like Imes speak. The thought-provoking lecture should allow attendees an opportunity to broaden their perspectives and ideas, Hay said. |
| Career Days at Humphrey Coliseum pairs employers with job seekers | |
 | Mississippi State University's Career Days made a difference for Murphy Brantley once, and he hopes for the program to do it again. Brantley is a graduate student in business information systems at MSU set to graduate in May, but thanks to Career Days, he said he had an internship last summer managing data and metrics with CenturyLink. He said the search that ultimately led to this internship began with applications for jobs with 10 businesses whose representatives he met at Career Days and six or seven he applied with online. (Subscriber-only content.) |
| MSU Lincoln County Golf Tournament tees off Friday | |
 | The Lincoln County Chapter of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association has selected Friday as the date for the 15th Annual George C. Brown Memorial Bulldog Golf Tournament. Brown was a 1931 graduate of Mississippi State and a 100 percent Bulldog supporter and golfer. He passed away in 2000. Supporters are encouraged to assist by playing and/or sponsoring this year's tournament that will award scholarships to MSU students from Lincoln County. |
| Starkville Mayor's Veto Stands After Vote | |
| Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman's veto stands. Health insurance will be offered to all city employees and their significant others. The four votes to overturn Wiseman's decision weren't enough to change the outcome. Last week, the Board of Alderman voted to amend the policy, to only extend the plus one coverage legally married couples. Mayor Wiseman, as promised, vetoed that move. "It was an ugly win but it was a win so that people have equality in terms of their access to health care for those they love and that's the most important thing," says Seth Oppenheimer. |
| Farmers wait for regulations while eyeing drones | |
 | Canton soybean farmer Danny Murphy has embraced technology. That includes GPS guidance for his tractors and instant readings when he's harvesting. Now, he's hearing about the benefits of an extra set of eyes, in the form of a drone. "A quick look at it and maybe be able to check your whole farm in an afternoon instead of spending days walking around and looking at it," explained Murphy. Like Murphy, most Mississippi farmers are playing the waiting game for more research. They're also waiting on commercial use FAA regulations. |
| Mississippi's first case of respiratory virus found in Hancock County child | |
 | A virus known to cause severe respiratory illness has made its way to Mississippi. The Mississippi State Department of Health announced the first case of Enterovirus D68 after a Hancock County child was hospitalized. The child has since recovered and been released. EV-D68 is a type of enterovirus that has recently been identified as causing respiratory illness in children, requiring hospitalization. Enteroviruses cause up to 15 million infections every year in the United States. |
| Report shows Hispanics starting more businesses in region | |
| Hispanics are starting and growing more businesses than all other ethnic groups, according to a study released by Geoscape, a leading provider of business intelligence technology, data and analytics, and published in partnership with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The fastest-growing areas for Hispanic business activity are the East-South-Central and South Atlantic regions, comprised of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee and the Carolinas. This year, the combined annual revenue of Hispanic-owned businesses is projected to exceed $486 billion -- an increase of $18 billion in the past year. |
| Lawsuit settled involving state's cap on non-economic damages | |
 | The parties in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a legislatively imposed cap on how much juries can award in non-economic damages say they have settled the case. Oral arguments had been set in Jackson before the Mississippi Supreme Court. The Supreme Court canceled the hearing and allowed the parties 90 days to finalize the settlement. The joint motion was filed Sept. 17. Terms of the settlement were not discussed in the motion. |
| Does Mississippi's icy reception signal a battle over carbon emissions cuts? | |
 | If the response from top Mississippi politicians to President Barack Obama's central plan to combat global warming is emblematic, Republican-run states could wage a fierce fight against the administration's proposed rule to slash carbon emissions from existing power plants by 2030. The state's Republican senators have lambasted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal, which would require states to plan and enforce a 30 percent reduction in emissions from 2005 levels, most of which come from coal-fired power plants. Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker contend that the rule would saddle Mississippi, one of the nation's poorest states, with a crippling economic hit and that the EPA overstepped its authority under the Clean Air Act. Both senators are among the 31 Republican co-sponsors of a Senate resolution calling on the EPA to withdraw the proposal. |
| Pontotoc liquor OK'd by two votes | |
 | After waiting seven days for a mandatory deadline to pass, the sale of liquor inside the city limits of Pontotoc was approved by two votes late Tuesday when four photo affidavit ballots were counted by the Pontotoc City Election Commission. The four photo affidavit ballots tallied Tuesday only changed the unofficial totals on the already approved legalization of beer/light wine sales inside the city limits. When poll votes, absentee ballots and nonphoto affidavit ballots were tallied last week, the vote on beer/light wine sales stood at 848 votes for beer sales and 795 against. Including counting the four photo affidavit ballots opened Tuesday, the final beer vote total stands at 851 for and 796 against. |
| Rankin Reservoir voters approve liquor at restaurants | |
| Eighty-five percent of Reservoir residents voted in a special election on Tuesday to allow the sale of liquor by the glass at restaurants on the Rankin County side of the Reservoir. Out of 1,506 residents who voted at the Reservoir Community Center on Tuesday, 1,283 voted yes, 223 voted no. "It's a pretty clear statement that the Rankin County side of the Reservoir is ready for this," Reservoir Foundation board member Bobby Cleveland, whose organization spearheaded the effort, said Tuesday night. "They are ready for the economic development and ready to step into this century basically." |
| Jackson school system joins MAEP funding lawsuit | |
| Jackson Public Schools are joining a lawsuit seeking to recover a shortfall in state education funding and bar future underfunding. The board voted 2-1 Tuesday to join, with two abstentions, said spokesman Sherwin Johnson. Jackson alone has been shorted $85 million because of underfunding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program since 2010. The amount at stake among the 20 districts now suing jumped to about $225 million with Jackson's addition. The lawsuit seeks to make up shortfalls in the funding formula since 2010. Current law says the Legislature "shall" fully fund the formula and former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove -- spearheading the lawsuit -- argues that leaves no room for interpretation. |
| Mississippi man spent three years in jail, still no trial | |
| Since 2009, Octavious Burks has spent more than three years in the Scott County Jail. He has yet to be tried or convicted of anything. He is far from alone. In jails across the state, some are held behind bars more than a year without ever being indicted. "This is another poor man's curse in Mississippi," said J. Cliff Johnson, director of the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law. "It sounds like something that happens in a Third World country." On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi and the MacArthur Justice Center filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Burks and another man against Scott County officials, saying the men have been "indefinitely denied counsel." |
| Conservative lawmakers secretly plot to oust John Boehner | |
 | For months, several clusters of conservative lawmakers have been secretly huddling inside and outside the Capitol, plotting to oust John Boehner from the Speaker's office when House Republicans regroup after the November elections. The strategy -- for now -- seems disorganized and fluid: Find a way to push the Speaker's race to a second ballot, create turmoil in the conference, portray Boehner as highly vulnerable and offer up an alternative. The behind-the-scenes effort is taking place as Team Boehner is projecting confidence he will coast to a third term as Speaker. A number of conservative lawmakers, both in interviews on the record and on background, described enormous frustration with Boehner and his top lieutenants for taking too safe a political route ahead of the 2014 elections. |
| U.S. and China announce plans to curb greenhouse gases | |
 | At a summit Tuesday to kick off the drafting of an international climate change accord, President Obama spoke bluntly of American responsibility for global warming and pledged that ambitious steps would be unveiled over the next year to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Obama was followed by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, who said that China would put forth a plan in early 2015 to reach a peak in its greenhouse gases "as soon as possible" and scale back emissions thereafter. The announcements by leaders of the two top emitters of greenhouse gases fed a cautious optimism among many observers that after decades of limited action, the international community is moving to take meaningful steps to address climate change. |
| Deer are pests for airports, threats to pilots | |
| Long the bane of gardeners and unwary motorists, soaring deer populations are also nuisances for airports and threats to pilots, especially at this time of year, according to aviation and wildlife experts. Whether driven by hunger or just crazy for love, deer will do seemingly anything to get onto airport grounds and runways, including leaping over tall fences or squeezing under them. Once there, they like to warm themselves by sauntering on runways, which hold heat longer than cold ground. But put a deer and a plane together on a runway and both can have a very bad day. The vast majority of collisions involved white-tailed deer, the smallest member of the North American deer family, but big enough to wreck a plane. |
| Ole Miss looks to change a controversial image | |
 | A street name is changing as a part of the University of Mississippi's racial reconciliation week. The awareness week aims to promote racial equality. Ole Miss has been in the spotlight for some racially charged occurrences over the past few years. "I've been here long enough to see a couple of bad incidences," said student Jay Boone. Boone remembered students protesting President Obama's re-election in 2012. People were photographed lighting campaign signs on fire, and many were unruly while gathering on campus streets. Earlier this year, three students hung a noose around the statue of the college's first black student, James Meredith. Some believe the school still has lots of work to do, but they think events like racial reconciliation week help the campus learn from its past. |
| New residence halls at UM to replace Guess Hall by fall 2016 | |
 | In response to the demand for on-campus housing, the University of Mississippi is in the process of tearing down Guess Hall and building two new residence halls in its place. The preparatory work for demolition has already begun; full demolition of the building will follow and is expected to be completed by January 2015. According to Jennifer McClure, assistant director for marketing, this $40 million project will provide the university with two five-story buildings with a total of 624 new dorms. The classification of students housed in the buildings will be based on enrollment-based needs. Brandi Hephner LaBanc, vice chancellor for student affairs, is very excited about the new residence halls and believes they will make the university a stronger campus community. |
| Grant to UM funds study of cancer gene kRAS | |
 | The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy will help with a U. S. Department of Defense study of a cancer gene called kRAS. The school is receiving a grant for $333,878 to study the DNA make up the gene. Researchers say kRAS is an important gene in the progression of pancreatic, lung and other cancers. The study will focus on the region of DNA controls how much of the gene gets produced. |
| USM Professor: U.S. attacks in Syria part of 'generational war' | |
 | A professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi said Tuesday that U.S. air strikes against Sunni militants in Syria is part of a "generational war" that has been going on for decades and probably won't end anytime soon. "Historically speaking, this war is going to be, in my estimation, more generational in nature than anything else," said Dr. Andrew Wiest. Wiest said the beginnings of the current Middle East conflict date back at least as far as the end of World War I, when the modern states of Syria and Iraq were created. And he's concerned the conflict will be long-lasting. |
| Meridian Community College Hosts 10th Annual Pre-Professional Day | |
 | In its 10th anniversary, the Meridian Community College Pre-Professional Student Day is still as strong as ever. Area high school students as well as students in the MCC Science Department gathered in the Dulaney Multi-Purpose Center to hear from many speakers. Included for the first time this year, was a representative for the new kinesiology program at MSU-Meridian. "We are very excited, very elated," kinesiology program coordinator Benjamin Wax said. "You know we look forward to a great partnership with Meridian Community College. Certainly we've been in touch with the instructors and advisors and it's certainly great as we look forward to having a strong partnership, as we help strengthen the healthcare professional avenues here in this particular region." |
| Meridian Community College hosts Pre-Professional Day, UMMC honors MCC | |
 | More than 250 students from area high schools and Meridian Community College got the chance to learn more about careers in science, engineering and medicine when the College hosted its 10th annual Pre-Professional Student Day. Speakers from Mississippi State University, the University of Mississippi and the University of Mississippi Medical Center delved into the topics of majoring in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary medicine and engineering. However, it wasn't just students who recognize the importance of Pre-Professional Day. |
| Jones County Junior College student arrested on weapons charge | |
 | A Jones County Junior College student was arrested today on a charge of possession of a weapon on the Ellisville campus. Anferne K. Jones, 18, was arrested early this morning. He was booked into the Jones County Adult Detention Center about 9:20 a.m. In a statement, JCJC administrators said the campus police department worked in conjunction with the Ellisville Police Department to make the arrest. Jones was taken to the Jones County Sheriff's Office for processing and lock-up. |
| Students to U. of Alabama officials: 'We don't feel safe on campus' after threats | |
 | University of Alabama officials Tuesday morning met with students at Tutwiler Dormitory to try and ease their concerns after recent online threats. Officials still say they've received no "credible" threats and no one is in personal danger, but they did call the threat posted to YouTube "serious" and are currently investigating. A UAPD officer said search warrants have been served to the site and they're awaiting information. While police investigate the threat, the university has taken to email and social media updates to keep the campus community informed, but an overwhelming majority of students at the Q&A session were not satisfied with the timing and content of the messages. "I don't feel like the police or university understand that we are scared. It's like, y'all think we're silly for being scared," another student said. |
| Alabama student arrested for sending 'alarming' messages, not 'directly connected' to original threat | |
| A 20-year-old University of Alabama student Dakota Timm was arrested Tuesday after allegedly sending alarming messages to other students. The UA community is currently on edge as authorities investigate a YouTube commenter named Arthur Pendragon who warned of "retribution" and campus violence in retaliation for mistreatment of minorities on Sunday, Sept. 21. He commented again Monday, Sept. 21, communicating a threat against a specific area of campus. UA authorities said Timm, of Virginia Beach, was charged with obstructing governmental operations, but the Tuscaloosa County Jail website said he was booked under charges of harassing communications. |
| U. of Alabama student charged with making social media threat | |
 | The University of Alabama announced Tuesday that a 20-year-old student was arrested on a charge of obstructing governmental operations for allegedly sending an alarming social media message Monday night. Dakota John Timm was arrested Tuesday by the University of Alabama Police, according to Cathy Andreen, director of UA Media Relations. |
| Five Alabama universities stock up on surplus military equipment | |
| For Troy University, it's a pair of all-terrain vehicles that can be used to travel through campus even in inclement weather. For the University of Montevallo, it's miles of fiber optic cable. For the University of Alabama in Huntsville, it's hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment ranging from an ax and microscopes to a pair of Humvees and five M-16 A-1 rifles. Five Alabama college and universities -- Troy, Montevallo, UAH, Alabama A&M University and University of North Alabama -- have received surplus military equipment through the Department of Defense's Law Enforcement Support Office's 1033 program. |
| School of Industrial + Graphic Design at Auburn to host Design Interaction Friday | |
 | Auburn University's School of Industrial + Graphic Design will host the 36th annual Design Interaction Symposium from 9 a.m. to noon Friday. Each year, the School of Industrial + Graphic Design brings design professionals and students together to present and discuss each other's work. This year's speakers are Courtney Garvin, senior designer at global brand design firm Son&Sons, and Tim Lindsey, design director at video game studio Xaviant. Garvin's work has spanned all aspects of design, and her projects have included corporate communications, publications, branding, environmental, exhibit, packaging, multimedia and web and interface design. |
| IBM boosts U. of Florida's Big Data capabilities | |
 | The University of Florida received a donation from IBM on Tuesday that will help push it toward its pre-eminence goal of becoming a leading institution in Big Data research. IBM donated a PureData for Analytics system to help speed up processing capabilities. The system -- valued at $500,000 -- was installed in the East Campus Data Center on Waldo Road over the summer and is currently ready for use by the UF community. "This is a great day for the University of Florida," Elias Eldayrie, vice president and chief information officer for UF, told a group gathered for the annual Research Computing Day at the George Smathers Library. |
| Sketch, new video released in U. of Florida attacks investigation | |
| Gainesville and University of Florida police have released a composite sketch of a man they want to question in connection with three recent attacks on women on or near campus. Police have also released a new video of a man walking behind the Stadium PolicClub Parking Garage throwing an orange traffic cone into the street, near where the first attack occurred Aug. 30. That same night, residents of the Williamsburg Village and Country Gardens apartments, off Southwest 16th Avenue and 16th Street south of UF Health Shands Hospital, reported a man acting strangely and asking for directions to the America's Best Value Motel, GPD spokesman Ben Tobias said. |
| Judge bans UGA student from Athens while social media threat case is pending | |
 | A judge Tuesday banned a University of Georgia student from Athens-Clarke County while he faces charges that he made a social media posting suggesting violence on campus last week. Ariel Omar Arias had been held without bail at the Clarke County Jail since his arrest Friday in connection with the post that prompted police to evacuate and search the Zell B. Miller Learning Center. Arias is facing two felony counts of terroristic threats for using the Yik Yak smartphone app Friday afternoon to anonymously post the comment, "If you want to live don't be at the MLC at 12:15," according to UGA police. |
| UGA, Iron Horse Plant Sciences Farm finally find common ground | |
| University of Georgia officials showed off plans Tuesday for the university's new research farm in Greene County. Now renamed the Iron Horse Plant Sciences Farm, it honors the iconic 60-year-old sculpture surveying the 660-acre farm from atop on a knoll beside Georgia Highway 15 near the Oconee River. But talk at a Tuesday open house was more about UGA's plans for the farm than the statue. "This will be a showplace of agricultural research. This farm really is perfect for research," said Scott Angle, dean of UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "Our objective is to make this a world-class facility," said Bob Shulstad, the agriculture college's associate dean for research. |
| LSU partners with West Feliciana High for unique teacher program | |
 | When Amy Geiger began her career as a math teacher at a New York high school, training her students how to add, subtract, multiply and divide was relatively easy. The real education for Geiger was learning the complexities that confront inexperienced teachers. Those types of experiences, Geiger said, often drive many teachers from the profession within their first five years. Geiger was among the speakers Tuesday at a presentation at West Feliciana High School to introduce LaTeach, a $125,000 grant awarded through the Louisiana Department of Education. This year, LaTeach partners West Feliciana and six other high schools statewide with universities as part of a program designed to prepare teachers to become more effective in the classroom and to prepare students for the rigors of college. |
| U. of Kentucky harvests first legal hemp crop | |
 | The first legal hemp harvest in Kentucky in 70 years has begun. University of Kentucky researchers on Tuesday cut their test plot, which will rest in the field for a couple of weeks. The 10-foot stalks will stay on the ground at Spindletop Farm while they break apart -- a process called "retting," said David Williams, UK College of Agriculture agronomist. "Microbes break down the tissues of the stem... The outside tissues form the bast fibers and the inside form the hurd fibers." Kentucky was once a national leader in hemp production before the crop was outlawed along with marijuana because it is botanically similar, although industrial hemp has negligible amounts of high-inducing chemicals. |
| Two women accosted by robber near U. of South Carolina in separate incidents | |
 | Columbia police are looking for a man that may have been involved in the robbery or attempted robbery of two women Tuesday afternoon near housing complexes used by University of South Carolina students. The first incident occurred around 1:30 pm on the 700 block of Catawba Street, south of campus. A woman sitting alone in her car was approached by a man who threatened bodily harm if she didn't give him money. About 15 minutes later, a man of the same description threatened a woman at the Stadium Suites Apartments near Williams-Brice Stadium before running away with her purse. USC police and Columbia police searched the area but the robber (or robbers) was not found. USC police said they did not know if these events were connected, a message on the USC Law Enforcement Crime Alerts web page said. |
| Another sexual assault reported at Vanderbilt | |
 | A Vanderbilt University student told campus police she was sexually assaulted in a residence hall last week, according to a notice sent to the school's students. On Monday, university officials received a report from a female student who said she was assaulted by another male student while they were in his campus dorm room after 11 p.m. Friday, according to a security notice sent by the university. A school spokeswoman confirmed the report and said Metro police was notified about the incident. She said no additional information could be provided about the incident. |
| Child sex trafficking survivor delivers life lessons to Texas A&M students | |
 | As a survivor of child sex trafficking, Holly Austin Smith refers to her life in two acts: before and after Atlantic City. The New Jersey town, a town well-known for its casinos and nightlife, was where Smith was taken in 1992 as a 14-year-old by a man she'd met at a mall. Smith -- who was in town with copies of her recently published book, Walking Prey: How America's Youth Are Vulnerable to Sex Slavery, presented "Human Trafficking 101" to a room full of Texas A&M students Tuesday night. In many ways, recovering from the experience was harder than what she'd gone through, Smith said during an interview prior to the presentation. |
| U. of Missouri curators to vote on Title IX rule changes | |
 | The University of Missouri Board of Curators is expected to vote at its upcoming meeting on a series of changes to the Collected Rules and Regulations, the governing document for the UM System, specifically addressing Title IX and sexual discrimination-related issues. UM System leaders announced the pending changes -- which were created by an executive order from UM System President Tim Wolfe -- Monday afternoon. The proposed changes clarify definitions of sexual discrimination and the long list of actions that fall under the scope of federal Title IX protection, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. |
| 'Black at Mizzou' participants discuss student experience at U. of Missouri | |
 | More than 100 MU students and faculty squeezed into the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center Tuesday night to discuss the black student experience at the university. The center hosted the second Black at Mizzou discussion Tuesday evening. The event was targeted toward incoming freshmen and transfer students and focused on issues relevant to all students new to MU, as well as issues faced specifically by black students on campus, according to center director Jonathan McElderry. A panel of students as well as audience members offered insights about common issues faced by freshmen, such as off-campus housing concerns, meal plans and religious services. MU student Summer Becquette reminded freshmen to let go of expectations of what the college experience will be like. |
| Education Department tweaks default rate calculation to help colleges avoid penalties | |
 | Colleges with large populations of low-income students have for months worried that their former students' high rates of default on student loans would eliminate their access to student aid under stricter federal standards that fully take effect this year. But the Obama administration, which is to officially announce the default rates for all colleges on Wednesday, is now giving some institutions a break. The U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday that it would simply leave out some defaulted loans when calculating the default rate of the colleges facing a loss of federal student aid. |
| Florida State U. Board Picks Politician as President Despite Widespread Protest | |
 | Florida State University's Board of Trustees voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to name John E. Thrasher, a powerful longtime state lawmaker, as their institution's next president, defying faculty members and students who had favored other candidates with more-traditional academic backgrounds and who denounced the selection process as tainted by political favoritism. Some board members, in voicing support at their meeting for Mr. Thrasher, a Republican state senator who was the board's chairman 10 years ago, expressed hope that he would be able to use his political skills to mend the campus's divisions over his selection. Eric Walker, a professor of English and a faculty representative on the presidential-search committee, predicted after the meeting that "there is still going to be turbulence" on the campus as a result of students' opposition to the new president. |
| BRIAN PERRY (OPINION): School budgets and judges | |
| Consultant and columnist Brian Perry writes: "Next month, the organization Better Schools Better Jobs (BSBJ) will present the signatures collected for Initiative 42, a proposed amendment to the Mississippi Constitution dealing with education. The initiative process requires 21,444 certified signatures from each of Mississippi's old five congressional districts to make it on the ballot. BSBJ's rhetoric in support of the initiative talks about legislative funding of education and fiscal benchmarks which must be met to see increased funding. However, the actual language of the constitutional amendment does not mention the word funding. The amendment changes Section 201 of the Mississippi Constitution." |
| BOBBY HARRISON (OPINION): Speaker Gunn faces slim margin in House | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Bobby Harrison writes: "House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, is hosting meetings across the state to hear suggestions and concerns from average Mississippians. ...If nothing else, the recent U.S. Senate primary where incumbent Thad Cochran garnered a narrow victory over little-known Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party favorite, proved that a significant portion of the base of the Republican Party consists of people who are philosophical soulmates with the majority of the people who turned up in Pearl recently to talk with the speaker. That, no doubt, will be in the back of the mind of the speaker and other Republicans during the upcoming 2015 legislative session, which is scheduled to be concluded only months before the November 2015 general elections." |
SPORTS
| SEC Nation comes to Starkville on Oct. 4 | |
| The SEC Network is coming to Starkville. SEC Nation will broadcast live from The Junction on the campus of Mississippi State on Oct. 4, prior to the Bulldogs' matchup against Texas A&M. SEC Nation will begin broadcasting on the SEC Network at 9 a.m. and continue until kickoff at 11 a.m. |
| Mississippi State feeling confident after LSU win | |
| Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen was a man in a good mood earlier this week, bouncing up the stairs on his way to a speaking engagement in the state's capital city. He didn't hesitate to shake hands with well-wishers when he came through the door, laughing as he walked into a large room packed with football fans from several different schools. "I'm sure the State fans are going to be sitting up a little taller with their heads a little higher," Mullen said. These are good days for the Bulldogs, who are still celebrating arguably the biggest victory of Mullen's six-year tenure. Mississippi State knocked off No. 8 LSU 34-29 on Saturday, dominating for most of the evening. |
| Bulldogs lose services of Day for Texas A&M game | |
 | Mississippi State center Dillon Day will sit out the Bulldogs' Oct. 4 game against No. 6 Texas A&M as a result of a one-game suspension announced by the Southeastern Conference on Tuesday. The suspension stems from a pair of incidents during MSU's 34-29 win over then-No. 8 LSU, incidents that saw Day land awkwardly on a pair of LSU defenders. In his Tuesday night meeting with assembled media, MSU head coach Dan Mullen was swift to react. Asked his opinion of Day's conduct, Mullen said "I didn't see anything wrong with it." And when the subject changed to Day's eventual suspension, Mullen added, "We completely disagree with the ruling that was given to us by the league, but we are going to follow the commissioner's decision." |
| Coast products make impact on state's big 3 football programs | |
| At Mississippi State, a handful of Coast products are playing a significant role off the bench. Junior receiver Joe Morrow of Ocean Springs, sophomore linebacker Richie Brown of Long Beach and sophomore defensive tackle Nick James of Long Beach are all listed second string on the MSU depth chart. Former D'Iberville and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College offensive lineman Nick Proby saw his first playing time at MSU in the 35-3 win over South Alabama. Brown had by far his biggest game of the season with a total of six tackles in Saturday's huge victory over LSU, the Bulldogs' first in Baton Rouge since 1991. The Long Beach native teamed with Benardrick McKinney to stuff LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings at the 2 for a big goal-line stand in the first quarter. MSU responded with 98-yard touchdown drive to quiet the crowd. |
| RICK CLEVELAND (OPINION): Bulldogs' win adds to state's tradition | |
| Syndicated sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "In history, we call them red-letter days. In college football, we call them program makers. They are the most special of special days and games. They are the most meaningful of victories. They require daunting circumstances, remarkable efforts. They happen all too rarely. Such as this one last Saturday night: Mississippi State 34, No. 8 LSU 29, at Tiger Stadium. How was it meaningful? Let us count the ways: First victory for State at LSU since 1991. First victory over LSU since 2001. First victory by Dan Mullen over a Top 10 team. First State victory over a Top 10 opponent on the road since 1986. That's a program maker. That's a red letter day." |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
