| Wednesday, November 5, 2014 |
| FARMtastic Will Yield Agricultural Lessons | |
 | Third-graders attending an agricultural event at Mississippi State University Nov. 10-15 will be able to tell their parents about the sources of food, clothing and other common products. Oktibbeha County Extension agent Julie White will conduct the third annual FARMtastic, sponsored by the MSU Extension Service. Weekday activities begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at 1 p.m. at the Mississippi Horse Park on Poorhouse Road. The educational program is primarily designed to help children learn the sources of their food, clothing and other necessities, but it also will teach them about wildlife and health issues. Nelda Starks, program coordinator, said FARMtastic offers a great way to promote agriculture and lifelong knowledge. |
| FARMtastic coming to Oktibbeha County for third year | |
 | FARMtastic is coming to Oktibbeha County for the third year in a row to teach local third graders about the sources of common products they use. The MSU Extension Service expects 2,000 children to show up the event held from November 10th to the 15th at Mississippi State University. Guests will go through seven stations, all with hands-on activities. The stations will feature farm animals, agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, forestry and wildlife and more. The general public is invited to attend from 9 a.m. until noon the final day, which is a Saturday. |
| U.S. Army Field Band Jazz Ambassadors to Perform at MSU Nov. 12 | |
| The internationally-acclaimed official touring big band of the United States Army, known for its long tradition of free public performances, will present a Wednesday [Nov. 12] evening concert at Mississippi State University. Free and open to all, the 7:30 p.m. performance by the U.S. Army Field Band Jazz Ambassadors of Washington, D.C., takes place in historic Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium. Although admission is free, tickets are required and may be obtained from event co-sponsors at the MSU Band Hall on Hardy Road, G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Center for America's Veterans on Magruder Street, or at the Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau main office in downtown Starkville. |
| Oktibbeha supervisors scrap over incoming state aid road money | |
 | Oktibbeha County supervisors voted Monday to split an estimated $387,200 of additional state aid road repair money to fund infrastructure projects within Districts 1 and 3 but not before verbally sparring with each other over the extra cash. Funding for road improvements, or the lack thereof, remained a sticking point between supervisors this year, as each representative has argued about what to do with the small amount of monies generated locally and received from the state. While District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery and District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams have repeatedly butted heads on the issue in the past few months, District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer made calls to expand the pot through the issuances of improvement bonds. |
| Oktibbeha authorities investigating Blackjack Road shootings | |
| Oktibbeha County deputies are investigating two recent shooting incidents that occurred near the Pointe at MSU apartments on Blackjack Road and ask residents to remain vigilant when traveling in the area. Investigator Brett Watson confirmed no injuries were reported from either incident. Law enforcement agents are working to determine if either shootings are connected. Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Department first received a report of a shot fired into a second story apartment during the daylight hours of Oct. 25. Another shot was fired into the rear window of a car traveling near the apartment complex's entrance Friday morning. |
| Jackson mayor wants to exclude felony disclosure on job applications | |
 | Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber announced an initiative Tuesday that would eliminate disclosure of felony convictions on city job applications. Citing his administration's desire to take the lead on social issues, Yarber said that this move would mirror initiatives already implemented in cities like Memphis, Boston and San Francisco. Dallas Breen, associate director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government & Community Development at Mississippi State University, confirmed that Yarber's plan would be the first of its kind in the state of Mississippi. Breen also said that similar "ban the box" initiatives are hot-button issues across the country. Marty Wiseman, retired executive director of the John C. Stennis Institute, analyzed municipal trends in Mississippi for nearly 30 years. He believes Yarber's proposal will likely receive a lot of public criticism but has merit in Jackson. |
| Cochran cruises: He could become state's longest-serving senator | |
 | Thad Cochran, Mississippi's first statewide elected Republican since the 1800s, was re-elected Tuesday to a state-record seventh full term in the United States Senate. Cochran, 76, a Pontotoc County native who later moved to the Jackson area as a teenager, handily defeated Democrat Travis Childers of Booneville with 59 percent of the vote. "I am honored by the trust you all have placed in me," Cochran said at a victory rally at the Mississippi Children's Museum in Jackson, where most of the statewide elected Republican officials, including Gov. Phil Bryant, were on hand. Cochran, then a member of the United States House, was first elected to the Senate in 1978. The longest-serving senator from Mississippi is Democrat John Stennis who was elected to six, six-year terms and a portion of another term. Stennis served from November 1947 until January 1989. |
| Cochran sails to 7th Senate term | |
| Thad Cochran easily won a seventh term to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, after the most arduous battle of his 42-year political career, in this year's GOP primary. "As we all know, it's been a long and interesting campaign," Cochran joked with supporters at his victory party. "I'm glad it's over, and I know you are, too." Republican Cochran congratulated Democratic challenger Travis Childers "on a good campaign and for his service to our state." Cochran's campaign said the two had spoken, and Childers conceded the race. Marty Wiseman, political science professor emeritus at Mississippi State University, said he believes Childers "rolled the dice," getting into the Senate race this year, probably hoping he would face McDaniel instead of Cochran. |
| Cochran poised to take powerful Appropriations gavel | |
 | Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is expected to reclaim the gavel on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee next year now that the GOP has won control of the upper chamber. Cochran has made it clear in recent days that he wants to become chairman of the committee, which is responsible for determining government spending. Cochran cruised to victory on Tuesday to a seventh term, defeating his Democratic challenger 59 to 39 percent. Cochran previously served as the Appropriations chairman from 2005 to 2007. He is now the ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee. |
| Battle for the Senate: How the GOP did it | |
 | This account of the battle for the Senate is based on four dozen extensive interviews with candidates, campaign operatives, party leaders and super PAC strategists on both sides, as well as current and former White House advisers. From the outset of the campaign, Republicans had a simple plan: Don't make mistakes, and make it all about Obama, Obama, Obama. Every new White House crisis would bring a new Republican ad. And every Democratic incumbent would be attacked relentlessly for voting with the president 97 or 98 or 99 percent of the time. But none of that would work if Republicans did not get the right candidates, a basic tenet that had eluded them in recent elections. This time, party officials pushed bad candidates out, recruited and coached contenders with broad appeal and resuscitated two flailing incumbents, Roberts and Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi. |
| Republicans' First Step Was to Handle Extremists in Party | |
 | It was late spring, and Republican leaders knew that if they wanted to win the Senate, they needed to crush the enemy: not Democrats, but the rebels within their own party. And Chris McDaniel, a Senate candidate from Mississippi who had a history of making sexist and racially insensitive remarks, was a problem. Candidates like Scott Brown, running for the Senate in New Hampshire, called the National Republican Senatorial Committee to complain that if Mr. McDaniel was not stopped, he could drag the whole party down. Strategists inside the committee's headquarters on Capitol Hill were envisioning nightmares of Democrats caricaturing all their candidates as "mini-McDaniels." The committee's executive director, Rob Collins, dragged complacent donors into the effort, playing recordings for them of some of Mr. McDaniel's most incendiary remarks and persuading them to underwrite a massive get-out-the-vote effort to defeat him. |
| How the Democrats lost the Senate | |
 | At a late October lunch, President Barack Obama looked across the table at Sen. Chuck Schumer. Wasn't there anywhere else he could go to campaign? Obama and his aides had felt for months that he wasn't being used enough in the closely contested Senate races that would determine control of the Senate and the shape of his last two year's in office. Schumer didn't jump at the president's offer. According to a source familiar with the matter, the New York senator told Obama to ask the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The DSCC suggested Obama do a barrage of robocalls and radio interviews to help turn out black voters. But no visits to battleground states. Now, the Senate majority Obama leaned on the last six years is gone. State-by-state, the Democrats couldn't get it together. |
| Businesses See Hope for Stalled Agenda After Midterm Elections | |
 | American businesses are hoping the dust will settle from Tuesday's GOP takeover of Congress with new attention on corporate taxes, immigration, trade and energy, top priorities that have eluded breakthroughs in recent years. A post-election landscape that includes a more sharply divided government is likely to lead to continued frustration over some items on businesses' wish list. At the same time, a reshaped political landscape could lead Congress and the White House to seek legislative breakthroughs on some economic issues before the 2016 election season heats up. Business groups are counting on the end of four years of divisive politics, through expanded GOP ranks in both chambers, to help move some popular bills that they say have the potential to boost economic growth. |
| McDaniel spars with Haley on election day | |
| Former tea party U.S. Senate candidate Chris McDaniel is sparring with former Gov. Haley Barbour this bright, sunny election day. Barbour, in comments on MSNBC yesterday, said McDaniel's past comments -- about race, mamacitas and boobies, etc. -- would have created a "Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock on steroids" for GOP candidates. McDaniel on Facebook, in between posts thanking supporters and quoting William Wallace about meeting the enemy "beard to beard" and avenging wrongs, took a shot at Barbour. |
| 3rd District's Gregg Harper Wins Another Term in Congress | |
 | Republican Gregg Harper of Pearl has won another term in central Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District. Unofficial results show 58-year-old Harper defeated three candidates Tuesday. Harper, of Pearl, was an attorney in private practice before he was elected to Congress in 2008. He serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is a critic of federal spending and regulation. The 3rd District makes a diagonal across the state from Wilkinson and Adams counties on the Louisiana state line, through suburban Jackson and northward to Noxubee County and Starkville. |
| 1st District's Nunnelee easily wins third term | |
| Republican U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee of Tupelo coasted to an easy victory over three opponents Tuesday to win a third term in Congress. Nunnelee, 56, has spent the last several months recovering from a stroke he suffered while having surgery to remove a brain tumor in June, but says he's pleased with the progress he's made and is physically able to continue representing north Mississippi's 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House. Unlike his previous two elections for Congress, Nunnelee had no opponent in the Republican primary this year and Dickey, the Democratic nominee, became embroiled in controversy surrounding exaggerated claims he made about his military service. State Democratic Party chairman Rickey Cole called on Dickey to withdraw from the race. |
| 4th District's Palazzo wins third term in Congress | |
 | Republican Steven Palazzo won a third two-year term to Mississippi's 4th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday. Five candidates -- Democrat Matt Moore; independents Cindy Burleson and Ed Reich; Reform Party opponent Eli "Sarge" Jackson; and the Libertarian Party's Joey Robinson -- challenged Palazzo. In the 2010 general election, Palazzo unseated 11-term Rep. Gene Taylor to claim the seat. On June 3, he defeated Taylor again to snag the Republican nomination. "My goals are South Mississippi goals, and I want my constituents to know I am going to fight for them and their families," he said. The 4th District stretches from the Gulf Coast northward through Hattiesburg and Jones County. |
| 2nd District Rep. Bennie Thompson Cruises to Re-Election | |
| Democrat Bennie Thompson of Bolton has won another term in Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District. Unofficial results show 66-year-old Thompson defeated two candidates Tuesday. Thompson is the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee. He served as mayor of Bolton and a Hinds County supervisor before winning a special election to Congress in 1993. The 2nd District includes most of Mississippi's capital city of Jackson. It stretches more than 200 miles along the Mississippi River, through the soybean fields of the Delta. It is one of the poorest parts of the United States. |
| Mississippi voters approve adding hunting rights to state constitution | |
| Mississippi voters Tuesday approved a proposal to enshrine hunting and fishing as rights in the state's constitution. The issue was placed on the ballot at the urging of hunting groups and lawmakers concerned about animal rights groups' campaigns in other parts of the country against hunting game. Animal rights groups reject those claims. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the constitutions of 17 states guarantee the right to hunt and fish. Vermont's language dates to 1777, while the rest have been adopted since 1996. |
| Haley Barbour: GOP attacks on Ebola, ISIS are 'fair game' | |
| Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) is shrugging off claims that the GOP has turned Ebola and Middle East terror threats into political weapons in the midterm elections, calling both issues "fair game" on the campaign trail. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Barbour denied that the GOP has played up the politics of fear. He said both Ebola and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are "issues that the administration didn't take seriously at all," leaving an opening for GOP criticism. Barbour, a two-term governor who is now an influential voice within the Republican Party, told CNN's Carol Costello that the government's failure to promptly act has fueled widespread fear about terror acts and a wider outbreak of the disease in the United States. |
| Moscow-born pianist to be featured in Gordy Forum at MUW | |
| On Thursday, as part of Mississippi University for Women's Gordy Honors College Forum Series, Dr. Julia Mortyakova will discuss "The Hidden Gems of Classical Music: Women Composers." Free and open to the public, the presentation will begin at 6 p.m. in Poindexter Hall on the MUW campus in Columbus. Mortyakova will focus on women composers Clara Schumann and Cecile Chaminade, who were, as she says, "successful and prominent throughout their lives, but historically were erased from the classical performance canon." Currently chair of the Department of Music at MUW, she is completing a book on the Russian-American composer Olga Harris. |
| Ole Miss to name dorm after Jackson couple | |
| The University of Mississippi will name a dormitory after a Jackson lawyer and his wife. Ole Miss will name what is now called the Ridge North residence hall for Scarlotte and Crymes Pittman, who have previously given $5.6 million to the school. The couple recently agreed to give $1 million that will be split between academics and athletics. The College Board approved the naming last month. |
| Internet connection quadruples in speed at Delta State | |
 | Delta State University's Office of Information Technology recently announced major upgrades to the institution's Internet bandwith. The new connection, now more than four times faster than the previous speed, is providing campus with a much-improved high speed connection. According to Edwin Craft, OIT chief information officer, all users on campus should experience faster Internet browsing. He has already heard praise for the upgrade, as the changes provide Delta State with some of the best connectivity available. Students have also praised the speed increase. Senior Robert Ivy compared new upload and download speeds and said the difference is extremely impressive. |
| Magic Johnson shares business expertise during stop at Jackson State | |
 | Basketball great Magic Johnson talked to Jackson State University students on Tuesday, but not about hoops. He was there to share his knowledge of business. Johnson started his day taking selfies with students. The five-time NBA champion played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers before retiring in 1991 after announcing he had HIV. Johnson went on to become a very successful businessman. The former Michigan State star shared some of his business expertise with JSU students. |
| Magic Johnson promises again to do business in Jackson | |
| NBA legend and California-based entrepreneur Earvin "Magic" Johnson told students and faculty at Jackson State University Tuesday that he will "do business" in the capital city. Johnson was in Jackson to speak about his personal success and to offer advice about education and entering the workforce. "I'm definitely going to do some business through (Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber and JSU President Carolyn Myers) here in Jackson, so you'll see me back in Jackson and I look forward to that," he said. Johnson did not announce any specific plan or time frame in which he might claim a stake in Jackson, and it was not the first time Johnson has made similar remarks. Nothing sprang from Johnson's 2002 promise. |
| William Carey breaks ground for new men's dormitory | |
 | William Carey University has broken ground for a new men's residence hall. The three-story building will alleviate a severe housing crunch at the university. It will house approximately 100 male residents in 50 rooms, each with a private bathroom. The residence hall is expected to be ready for occupancy in August 2015. During the groundbreaking, Dr. Tommy King, WCU president, recognized guests, including members of the WCU Board of Trustees and representatives from the architect, Landry and Lewis, and the general contractor, Larry J. Sumrall Contractors. |
| Meridian Community College Foundation Recognizes Donors | |
 | All the donors who help local students attend school at Meridian Community College were honored Tuesday night. The MCC Foundation recognized the people who contribute to the organization's tuition guarantee program to students of Lauderdale County. The foundation generated more than $1.7 million for students this past year. |
| U. of Alabama to enforce campus smoking ban, including in Bryant-Denny Stadium | |
 | The University of Alabama will soon be a smoke-free campus, school official announced Tuesday, banning all lighted tobacco products and electronic cigarettes. The ban, to be enforced in 2015, encompasses all of campus, including outdoor recreation areas, UA-owned vehicles and Bryant-Denny Stadium (even on the third Saturday in October). "The policy protects the UA community from the dangers of second-hand smoke, promotes a healthier environment and reduces the problem of littering and the risk of accidental fires due to discarded cigarettes," a UA spokesperson said Tuesday in a release of the policy. The new policy also includes fraternity and sorority houses. |
| New online degrees at market-rate tuition for U. of Florida | |
 | The University of Florida Board of Trustees approved five new online graduate degree programs for market-rate tuition on Monday, subject to the approval of the Florida Board of Governors. The program allows state universities to charge out-of-state students more for online courses than the residential rate, based on what the market will bear, Provost Joe Glover explained to trustees via teleconference. But it could work out the opposite way, if the market rate is less than the rate for attending the same program at UF, he said. The Board of Governors launched the market-rate tuition program four years ago as a pilot project to see if universities could charge enough money for online graduate programs to make them self-sustaining. |
| Loan for rare U. of Missouri-Italy art project covers shipping, insurance costs | |
 | In September, the University of Missouri and the Italian government announced an agreement for a loan of 249 vessels of previously unstudied black-gloss pottery from the Capitoline Museums in Rome to be examined by MU students and scholars. It was the launch of an extremely rare project, as Italy had done only temporary international art loans in the past. Funding the project is Enel Green Power, a renewable energy firm that is headquartered in Rome but also has operations across Europe and in North and South America. EGP is a subsidiary of Enel, which is Italy's largest power company, according to its website. An EGP spokeswoman said the firm is involved with the "Hidden Treasure of Rome" project because it is committed to promoting culture in various forms and expressions. |
| What the Midterm Elections Mean for Academe | |
 | The broad story of this year's elections was the Republican wave that tipped control of the Senate. What does it all mean for academe? Here's what you need to know about the results. With Republicans taking over the Senate, leadership of the all-important education committee will transfer to the lawmaker who already has terms as U.S. secretary of education and as the University of Tennessee's president on his CV. His main higher-education goal: "to deregulate it." |
| What a Republican-led Congress means for higher education policy | |
 | With victories in several key Senate races last night, Republicans will take control of both chambers of Congress heading into the final two years of the Obama presidency -- a balance of power that sets up a much-changed dynamic for federal higher education policy making in the coming months. The change will likely be something of a double-edged sword for colleges and universities, higher education advocates said. On the one hand, colleges will find more help from Republicans in their longstanding efforts to roll back federal requirements they view as burdensome. At the same time, higher education may be in store for tougher battles on federal funding for academic research and student aid programs, as GOP majorities embrace more austere budget caps. |
| SID SALTER (OPINION): Grisham's latest novels take on weighty issues | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "Author John Grisham's progression from master fiction writer -- a veritable writing machine cranking out summer read blockbusters that often get made into A-list movies -- to a far more serious writer is a tale made of the stuff that moved the affable author from small town lawyer and back-bench Mississippi legislator to a literary brand. ...Dismissing Grisham's last two books as 'legal thrillers' is like calling 'The Grapes of Wrath' Steinbeck's book about Dust Bowl migrant workers. ...In 'Sycamore Row', the return trip to 'A Time to Kill' territory in fictional Clanton in Ford County, Mississippi, Grisham returns to familiar themes about small town racism and intransigence. ...Grisham's most recent book has precious little to do with race. It's about class and economic strife. ...at the core, 'Gray Mountain' is about the choices we make as a society and as individuals in the conflicts that develop where those broad groups coexist." |
SPORTS
| Unbeaten Mississippi State prepares for opponents' best | |
| Mississippi State's last two games have also been its closest. The end result hasn't changed. The Bulldogs are now 8-0 with the No. 1 ranking in the College Football Playoff, AP and coaches polls. But the Bulldogs' trip to Kentucky resulted in their first contest where they didn't have at least a 20-point lead. MSU didn't capture its first lead until early in the fourth quarter against Arkansas. "We were trailing almost an entire game, and we still found a way to win," MSU coach Dan Mullen said. "That is something that we improved on." Mississippi State begins the final month of its season with Tennessee-Martin on Saturday. |
| Mississippi State's Dak Prescott feeling 'great' for Tennessee-Martin | |
| Dak Prescott walked into the media room Tuesday wearing two tennis shoes. The Mississippi State quarterback dropped his fashion statement and wasn't wearing walking boot he was wearing last week. "I'm feeling great ready to go this week," Prescott said. Prescott wore a walking boot last week after bruising his foot against Kentucky. MSU coach Dan Mullen and Prescott laughed off the injury as nothing serious last week. Both referred to the walking boot as a fashion statement. |
| Favre makes return trip to Mississippi State with UTM | |
 | Former St. Stanislaus star quarterback Dylan Favre will trot onto the same field where his college career began this Saturday. Favre, who has been at Tennessee-Martin the last two years, will be a heavy underdog as his team takes on a Mississippi State squad that is 8-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville. Back in July, Favre was already looking forward to the return trip to Starkville. "If I said I wasn't looking forward to it, I'd be lying," he said. "I have a lot of things to take care of before then, but it will be fun going back. It will be fun playing in that environment." |
| VIDEO: Real Money With Darren Rovell Looks at No. 1 Mississippi State's Finances | |
| ESPN sports business analyst Darren Rovell breaks down how Mississippi State's success on the field has translated to success off it. |
| Mississippi State still No. 1 in the CFB Playoff rankings | |
| Mississippi State remains No. 1 in the second week of the College Football Playoff rankings. The second and third spots didn't change with Florida State and Auburn respectively. Oregon overtook Ole Miss for the No. 4 spot after the Rebels fell to Auburn last week. Mississippi State debuted at No. 1 last week in the first-ever CFB Rankings. The final ranking, which is the only one that matters, comes out Dec. 7. |
| Oregon Moves Up in College Football Playoff Rankings, With Top 3 Unchanged | |
| On Tuesday morning, the former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote on Twitter, "Today, we have the opportunity to exercise one of our most precious rights ... the right to vote. Go to your local polls and cast your ballot!" Rice was casting another important ballot Tuesday, at the Gaylord Texan hotel near Dallas, for the second College Football Playoff rankings. The selection committee, on which Rice is one of 12 active members, left Mississippi State, Florida State and Auburn in the top three spots and moved Oregon up one spot to round out the top four. Unbeaten Mississippi State remained No. 1. |
| BBB/Mississippi warns of potential Egg Bowl ticket scams | |
| Better Business Bureau of Mississippi is warning fans to beware of potential scams by fake ticket sellers for the upcoming Egg Bowl between Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi. "With our state getting national attention from the success of our state's two schools, scammers will be looking to take advantage of the excitement," says John O'Hara, president/CEO of BBB/Mississippi. "We want to make sure consumers don't become victims and take away from what is a truly memorable season." Sports fans most often get scammed buying tickets from individuals outside the stadium, on the street or through online auctions, classified ads and bulletin boards. |
| RICK CLEVELAND (OPINION): Watching from home has its perks | |
| Syndicated sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "This is written on Sunday morning. I feel fine; my TV remote control batteries are dead. Valiantly, they lasted until the ends of Mississippi State's arduous victory over Arkansas and Ole Miss' traumatic defeat to Auburn. At our house, we flipped the channels back and forth so often it sometimes became confusing. We were watching two compelling dramas at once. ...This stunning Mississippi football season has brought this writer much joy and entertainment and at least one realization. That is, sometimes, it is better to be at home than in a stadium. ...So the State and Ole Miss seasons have suddenly headed in different directions, Ole Miss with back-to-back excruciating SEC losses; State with an 11-game winning streak and its No. 1 ranking. ...We are steadily building toward the Egg Bowl at Oxford on Nov. 29. Anybody who says Ole Miss has nothing left to play for doesn't comprehend the significance of that game." |
| LOGAN LOWERY (OPINION): Close game helped more than hurt Bulldogs | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Logan Lowery writes: "No. 1 Mississippi State must be regressing, right? After all, the Bulldogs had to rally just to beat Arkansas 17-10 over the weekend. Yes, the same Razorbacks that have lost 17 straight Southeastern Conference games. But that comeback win might be beneficial to MSU down the stretch. ...Instead of throwing in the towel, Mississippi State answered the bell and scored 17 unanswered points to extend its winning streak to 11-games and kept its standing atop the college football polls. It was the first time State had been struck with adversity this season but was able to overcome it." |
| LSU holding off on using overflow, standing-room-only section for Alabama game | |
 | LSU is not selling standing-room-only tickets for Saturday's game against No. 4 Alabama, but that might come in future years. The game between the No. 14 Tigers (7-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) and the Crimson Tide (7-1, 4-1) has been sold out since the summer, and officials have turned down callers for tickets for months. The new south end zone expansion was expected to have an overflow and standing-room-only section, but the school isn't yet ready to sell tickets there, said Brian Broussard, LSU's associate athletic director for ticket sales. Officials are studying the specifics of the overflow section for use in future years. They're also discussing the prospect of reducing the number of visitor tickets the school distributes, Broussard said. |
| UGA AD McGarity provides details for handling of Gurley case | |
 | Greg McGarity expected a rare chance to head home early after meeting with UGA president Jere Morehead on an afternoon in early October. The Georgia athletic director left Morehead's company a little after 5 p.m. and called the office to check in. Something wasn't right, though. He had to come back to work. A little more than three hours later, McGarity got his first look at the video incriminating star football player Todd Gurley in a rules-violating autograph signing session. "It was bothersome," McGarity said of the video. What followed was the biggest UGA sports scandal since then athletic director Damon Evans was forced out after a DUI arrest in 2010. McGarity offered clarification on Tuesday. |
| Vanderbilt rape case delayed until January | |
 | Worrick Robinson, one of the attorneys in the Vanderbilt University rape case, was in his yard trimming a tree limb when he heard a "pop" in his left shoulder. "My wife said, 'Oh, you're going to need the chainsaw for that,'" he recalled later. "And, of course, I thought, 'I don't need that. I can do that myself.' " But the "pop" injury worsened, and the required surgery scheduled for next week will delay the start of the trial until January. Robinson represents Cory Batey, who is standing trial with Brandon Vandenburg. The two former Vanderbilt football players are accused of raping a 21-year-old woman in June 2013. Prosecutors lamented the postponement -- they've taken jabs at prior defense requests for delays -- but said they will be ready to go. |
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