| Thursday, December 4, 2014 |
| Mississippi State Offers Game Day Info, Parking Rules for 2014 MHSAA Championships | |
 | Mississippi State University will host the Mississippi High School Activities Association's Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Gridiron Classic on Dec. 5-6 at Davis Wade Stadium on the MSU campus in Starkville. MSU personnel are advised that Friday parking and campus traffic patterns may be slightly impacted and are urged to accommodate university guests during the two-day event. University officials announced that some temporary road closures will be necessary in hosting the event, along with changes in standing campus parking. |
| Traffic changes in place for 2014 MHSAA Championships at Mississippi State | |
 | Mississippi State University's traffic and parking could be impacted this weekend as the university hosts the Mississippi High School Activities Association's Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Gridiron Classic. The two-day event, held on Friday and Saturday, will be at the Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville. |
| Starkville preps for one more football weekend | |
 | Most years, The Little Dooey general manager Bart Wood sees business slow down this time of year. But this weekend, he said, he has tailgaters coming into town from all over the state planning to buy from his selection of barbecue. The volume, he said, is not quite as high as the weekend of a Mississippi State University football game, but the cause is something close to it: The Mississippi High School Activities Association State Football Championships, which will bring 12 top high school football teams and their fans to Davis Wade Stadium Friday and Saturday. (Subscriber-only content.) |
| Shawn Mauldin of Nicholls State to Lead Mississippi State's Accounting School | |
| A well-known Louisiana educator is the newly named head of Mississippi State's Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy. Shawn Mauldin will begin serving April 1 in the major academic unit of the university's College of Business. At present, Mauldin is dean of Nicholls State University's College of Business Administration, where he also holds the Cenac Chair in Accounting. "We are very excited to have someone as reputable as Shawn Mauldin to join the college," said Dean Sharon Oswald. "He brings a wealth of knowledge to this position and we are confident that his previous leadership experience will play an important role in further advancing the Adkerson School of Accountancy." |
| Mississippi State renames Newberry Building for Deen | |
 | Mississippi State University will rename a building on its Meridian campus for philanthropist Robert B. Deen Jr., president and chairman of The Riley Foundation. MSU officials say a formal ceremony is planned for January. The Newberry Building on the Meridian campus will be renamed for Deen. Deen, an attorney, was one of the four founding members of The Riley Foundation in 1998, and has served as a director, officer and general counsel of the foundation since its creation. |
| Mississippi State Wind Ensemble Invited to Perform at State Band Clinic | |
| Mississippi State's Wind Ensemble will be in Natchez next week as featured university band for the 2014 Mississippi Bandmasters Association State Band Clinic. Led by Elva Kaye Lance, the ensemble is making its fifth clinic appearance. This year, the 74-member group will headline a Dec. 12 concert at the Natchez Convention Center attended by more than 300 middle and high school band directors and members from throughout the Magnolia State. With Lance will be guest conductors Barry E. Kopetz, head of the MSU music department, and Cliff Taylor and Craig Aarhus, associate directors of bands. |
| Starkville Business Leaders Work to Improve Customer Service Skills | |
| Black Friday has come and gone but shoppers still have about three weeks to find those Christmas gifts. Local business leaders say now is the time to raise their standards for customer service and employee training if they want their share of the holiday spending dollars. Mike Goree is a marketing instructor at Mississippi State University's College of Business. Goree spoke to business leaders in Starkville about improving customer service especially during the holiday season. "It's also very important because there are many new employees, there are seasonal employees and they don't always come in knowing exactly what to do or knowing what the expectations even of the businesses are," says Goree. Goree explained that employees are the face of every business and he emphasized how properly training employees can grow a customer base and lead to more profits. |
| Starkville aldermen approve industrial park rezoning with conditions | |
 | Aldermen rezoned 326 acres of northwest Starkville properties for industrial use within the upcoming Innovation District Tuesday but not before establishing buffers to help screen parcels from nearby residential areas. The board unanimously voted to convert numerous residential and commercial parcels within the proposed industrial park near the Highway 182 and Highway 25 corridor to M-1 usage, which includes light manufacturing, wholesaling and distribution. Although city rules require M-1 parcels to maintain minimum landscape screening sizes and setbacks, numerous homeowners asked for greater buffers to help preserve their property values and their neighborhoods' quality of life. |
| Lack of wealth makes Mississippians biggest spenders | |
 | Mississippians are the biggest spenders in the U.S., but it's not on luxuries. Data included in a WalletHub study released last week says the amount of money we spend on food and health care, adjusted for cost of living and income, is higher here than anywhere else. You don't need that level of sophistication to know the poorest people in the country spend the largest amount of what little money we have on necessities. There are solutions, though some are more likely than others. |
| FCC commissioner: Telehealth has great potential | |
| Mississippi, while facing a range of challenges such as healthcare affordability and access, is making strides in electronically connecting patients with doctors and resources, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn said Wednesday. Clyburn said following a roundtable discussion at Jackson Medical Mall on "telehealth," the electronic linking of doctors with patients, that large hospitals and small clinics alike throughout the state are tapping into the online world's'potential to improve healthcare in a region often worst or among the worst in the country for a slew of serious illnesses. The FCC is promoting Connect2Health, a public awareness campaign stressing the role the Internet can play in healthcare. |
| Lawmakers set education policy, Bryant says | |
| Gov. Phil Bryant said Wednesday the role of state Superintendent of Education Carey Wright is to serve as the chief executive of the state's education regulatory body. "The role is for her is to be superintendent of the Board of Education, and not believe that she is in charge of education in Mississippi, or that the governor's in charge. The public's in charge of education in Mississippi, and you have to be aware of and be sensitive to their concerns," Bryant said. Bryant's comments come in the middle of a tug-of-war between Wright and Republican political leadership over Common Core State Standards. |
| Bryant joins lawsuit against Obama immigration orders | |
| Gov. Phil Bryant has signed on to a federal lawsuit being brought by the state of Texas aimed at blocking President Barack Obama's executive orders on immigration. Bryant is joining the lawsuit as governor, but the state of Mississippi is not a party to the lawsuit. Thirteen other states joined Texas. Bryant was one of four governors who joined without their states also being a party to the lawsuit. |
| Auditor: Alcorn County corruption 'elaborate' | |
 | An Alcorn County grand jury has filed 259 indictments against two county officials and three vendors after a months-long investigation by the state auditor's office, and the investigation has not concluded yet. State Auditor Stacey Pickering said in a Wednesday press conference in Corinth that the charges filed against Alcorn County District 2 Supervisor Jimmy Dallan "Dal" Nelms, Purchase Clerk William "Paul" Rhodes, and county vendors Jimmy Ray Mitchell, Joseph Lin McNair Jr. and Danny Roy Peters are part of a much larger scheme of public corruption uncovered in the county. "It's the most elaborate scheme I've seen since taking office," said Pickering, who is in his second term. |
| MAEP funding detailed at Rotary Club meeting | |
 | Nancy Loome, founder and executive director of The Parents' Campaign, spoke Wednesday at the Rotary of Club of Natchez regarding a proposed amendment that will be on the November 2015 general election ballot. Loome spoke on behalf of members of another group, Better Schools, Better Jobs, which spearheaded an initiative to collect the 107,216 signatures of registered voters required to place the amendment on the ballot. The group managed to collect 121,691 signatures -- including more than 2,500 in Adams County -- 15,000 more than needed. Loome said an adequate education for Mississippi children should be something that future generations can expect. |
| Outside groups on the outs | |
 | Conservative outside groups drove the government shutdown a year ago, but now many Republicans are brushing them off on key tax and spending bills -- an incredible fall for groups that once ruled by fear. The outside groups are suddenly findings themselves on the outs, a situation that's part of a broader shift underway in Washington, where Republican leaders are reasserting control of the party from the tea party wing as they prepare to take over both chambers of Congress and prove they can govern. Big wins in the midterm by establishment-backed candidates against tea party favorites like Chris McDaniel in Mississippi have also emboldened lawmakers who were fearful of groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund and Club for Growth. |
| Mary Landrieu, Deep South's last Senate Democrat, must fend for herself | |
 | There remains the formality of a runoff election on Saturday --- but as far as the national Democratic Party is concerned, three-term Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is presumed dead. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee canceled its plans to buy ads and is not lifting a finger -- or writing a check -- to save her. Nor are any of the heavy-hitting Democratic outside groups. "I am extremely disappointed," she said Tuesday of the DSCC's decision. "You know, they just walked away from this race." So with the odds stacked heavily against her, Landrieu soldiers on virtually alone --- this year's political equivalent of those holdout Japanese infantrymen who were discovered waging war on remote Pacific islands decades after World War II had ended. "The political true bloods have moved on to 2016," said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. |
| MUW Saves $2 Million Through Efficiency Measures | |
| Mississippi University for Women has reduced its energy use by 28 percent with an estimated cost avoidance of $1,957,900 over the past eight years. Adding controls to six buildings on campus, replacing halogen lights with LED track lighting in the Art and Design Building and installing energy efficient pulse boilers to take the place of steam manufacturing plants to eight buildings on campus are some of the ways The W has ensured greater efficiency of resources. "The W has managed to avoid close to $2 million in energy costs thanks to investments from the state in individual meters and building controls," said Nora Miller, senior vice president for administration. The end of the fall semester has historically allowed The W to cut additional energy expenses. |
| U.S. Supreme Court justice visit to UM moved | |
| Due to demand, the University of Mississippi School of Law has moved the visit of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Elena Kagan to a new location. The session now will take place on Dec. 15 at 10 a.m. in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts on the university's Oxford campus. It is open to the public. |
| Loyd, McCarty honored with scholarship endowments at USM | |
 | Endowments named for two retired University of Southern Mississippi faculty members honor their legacy of passion for their fields of study and helping their students succeed. Named in honor of Dolly Loyd, an instructor in the Department of Marketing and Management from 1979 to 2004, the Dolly Loyd Marketing Scholarship Endowment will support a junior or senior majoring in marketing who holds a grade point average of 2.75 or better and demonstrates financial need. The Dr. Kenneth G. McCarty Endowed Scholarship in History, which is named in honor of Dr. Kenneth McCarty, a professor in the Department of History from 1960 to 1999, will support a student pursuing secondary teaching licensure in history/social studies. |
| Southern Miss Hosts Minority Women Entrepreneurs Forum | |
 | The College of Business at the University of Southern Mississippi and the Magnolia Business Alliance teamed up to provide an opportunity for budding businesswomen to learn more about how to grow their unique enterprises during a special forum held Dec. 2 on the Hattiesburg campus. The "Empowering Women: Minority Women Entrepreneurs Forum" -- offered everything from social media strategies to small business resources. The forum also featured networking opportunities and allowed time for attendees to speak one-on-one with various small business service providers. |
| U. of Alabama students protest Ferguson decision | |
 | Amid the midday rush of students grabbing lunch Wednesday at the University of Alabama's Ferguson Student Center, a few hundred, most dressed in black, sat silently in protest of a decision by a Missouri grand jury not to indict a white police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager. "We just wanted to take a stand and let people know black lives matter ...in Ferguson and Tuscaloosa," junior Alex Lane said. Lane, junior Fallan Frank and sophomore Chyna Jones organized the "Black Lives Matter: T-town for Mike Brown" demonstration Wednesday. |
| Auburn University students pave the way for students at Cary Woods Elementary | |
 | A group of Auburn University students has paved the way for kids at Cary Woods Elementary School. As a grade for their soils and concrete class, six students in the university's building science program worked for the past few weeks to build a sidewalk from the front of the elementary school through the playground to the multi-purpose room on campus. According to Chip Johnson, maintenance supervisor for Auburn City Schools, each semester the Board of Education partners with the McWhorter School of Building Science at Auburn University to complete similar projects throughout the community and, in turn, to give university students a chance for hands-on experience. |
| UGA continuing probe into hacking of school's main website | |
 | University of Georgia information technology personnel have plugged what a school spokesman described as "a vulnerability in our software" that briefly allowed unauthorized access to UGA's main website last week. That access was used to taunt Georgia Bulldog fans. An investigation is ongoing, though, and there are indications that the hackers may have gotten into other UGA websites, said Tom Jackson, UGA's vice president for public affairs. There is, however, no evidence that any personal information on UGA websites has been compromised, Jackson said. |
| Kentucky may create enhanced high school diploma aimed at scholarships, early college admissions | |
 | By the 2016-17 school year, the state could have a new program called "Kentucky Rising" that will create an enhanced high school diploma that would allow graduates to get scholarships and early college admissions, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday said Wednesday. Holliday said he thought Kentucky Rising, which would establish criteria showing students were ready for the global workforce, would have more impact on Kentucky than when the General Assembly passed legislation in 2009 calling for more stringent academic standards. Businesses will have to help state education officials determine the criteria, Holliday said. The University of Kentucky has been a strong, early partner in the initiative, he said. |
| Arkansas Research Alliance Launches ARA Fellows Program | |
 | The Arkansas Research Alliance on Wednesday announced its inaugural class of ARA Fellows. The ARA Fellows program was created to recognize and reward distinguished research talent at the state's five research universities, and is a complement to the ARA Scholars program, which recruits new research talent to the state. ARA is a nonprofit governed by a board of trustees made of the chancellors from Arkansas' five research universities and CEOs from across the state. ARA Fellows were nominated by the chancellors of the five research universities and each will receive a $75,000 state grant paid out over three years to develop their research. |
| U. of Florida alerts staff, students to online threat | |
 | A low-level threat was made on a social media site that someone wanted to inflict violence on the campus of the University of Florida, and the perpetrators are being sought with the help of the FBI. About 1 a.m., UF broadcasted a warning to students and staff alerting them of a threat spotted by the University Athletic Association on several Twitter accounts that someone was going to "shoot up the college tomorrow." UF police had already heard that at least one other university received a similar threat and ultimately determined it as a hoax. |
| U. of Missouri administrators monitor social media after racist comments | |
 | While several hundred students attended a demonstration on racial inequality in the University of Missouri Student Center on Tuesday afternoon, others took to a smartphone app and chose to meet the protest with racist, anonymous comments. MU administrators addressed the comments posted on Yik Yak and Erodr, two smartphone apps that allow users to post anonymously. The MU Police Department also was monitoring those applications, MUPD Capt. Brian Weimer said. Weimer said MUPD is trying to find out who was behind the anonymous comments. MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin called the comments "racist, threatening and disturbing" in a statement Tuesday afternoon. |
| U. of Missouri panel addresses problems in American criminal justice, law enforcement | |
 | Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and Oscar Grant were among the many names of young, unarmed black men killed by police that came up in an open discussion at the University of Missouri. Hosted by Phi Rho Eta Fraternity Inc., at least 100 students, legal experts and academics gathered Wednesday in Allen Auditorium to discuss what many describe as the flaws in the American legal system that allow disproportionate incarceration rates and police violence to continue. "We want to have an open congress and hear people's concerns," said Earl Dunn, vice president of Phi Eta Rho's MU chapter. "We want to see: How can we as one school try to solve these issues that affect people of any race?" |
| Why It's Dangerous to Discuss Campus Rape Only at Its Most Extreme | |
 | The gang-rape story that rocked the University of Virginia last month is more shocking and gruesome than any case even longtime observers of campus sexual assault have ever encountered. But what makes the story so urgent also makes it problematic. Experts disagree on whether public attention for such a violent attack -- in this case, through a prominent article in Rolling Stone -- helps or harms other assault victims. Does it draw valuable attention to assault on campuses, or does it derail colleges from responding to and helping to prevent more-typical cases of sexual misconduct? One danger of emphasizing campus rape cases that are so far out of the normal realm, experts say, is that future assault victims might wonder whether what had happened to them really qualifies as rape, particularly if there was no violence and no gang. |
| Panel of anthropologists discuss student debt, other concerns about higher ed at annual meeting | |
 | "This is depressing." That's how Jane McEldowney Jensen, associate professor of education and Ph.D. cohort director at the University of Kentucky, summed up the tone of the papers presented Wednesday during a session called "Higher Education's Walk of Shame: Dirty Money, Dirty Morals and Loss of Intimacy" at the American Anthropological Association's annual conference. Indeed, the picture painted was grim. Papers had such preliminary titles as "Selling an Unknown Future: Risk, Debt and Failure" and "The University as a 'House of Cards,' " and speakers used words such as "unsustainable" and "precarity." They criticized administrators and policy-makers as out-of-touch conspirators in the problem of mounting student debt load, which now tops $1 trillion, and expressed conflicted opinions about the value of higher education as it is perceived by many today. |
| Clemson vice president stepping down as student death investigation nears completion | |
 | A Clemson University official who handled the university's response to a high-profile student death and consequential fraternity discipline is stepping down and being replaced, according to a university-wide email sent Tuesday. University president Jim Clements said Gail DiSabatino, the university's vice president of student affairs, is no longer with the university. Almeda Jacks, a former vice president, was appointed to serve as interim vice president beginning Wednesday. DiSabatino handled much of the university's response to the September death of 19-year-old Tucker Hipps after his body was found below the twin bridges that span Lake Hartwell between Oconee and Pickens counties. |
| SID SALTER (OPINION): Falling gas prices make stronger point for state's stagnant fuel tax | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "As of Dec. 2, the average price of regular unleaded gas in Mississippi was $2.519 per gallon. A year ago, that price was $3.133 per gallon. A month ago, the price was $2.756 per gallon. The one constant in that price fluctuation is this: Mississippi's gasoline tax remains the same 18.4 cents per gallon that it's been since 1987. ...According to a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Mississippi's gas tax isn't keeping pace with the inflation of rising highway construction and maintenance costs and with the modern fuel economy improvements in today's vehicles. In other words, price isn't the only influencer of consumption on what is a consumption-based tax." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State's Dak Prescott a finalist for Manning Award | |
| Dak Prescott is a finalist for the 2014 Manning Award. The award is given to the top quarterback in college football. Prescott is among 11 finalists. Prescott is also a finalist for the Maxwell -- the most outstanding player -- and the O'Brien Award, the nation's top quarterback. The junior set 10 school records this season, including passing yards, touchdowns responsible, and total offense. Prescott won the Conerly Trophy, given to the top four-year college football player in Mississippi, on Tuesday. |
| Mississippi State's Hughes to represent SEC during NCAA meetings | |
| Mississippi State's Jay Hughes will join two other Southeastern Conference student-athletes to voice their opinions and vote on proposed rule changes within the NCAA. The SEC, along with the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac 12, will all have three student-athletes represented at the meetings. "In development of the new autonomy structure, we emphasized the importance of student-athletes from the Five Conferences having both a voice and vote on NCAA matters," said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. "These three student-athletes will represent the SEC well and will help make some very important decisions in the weeks and months ahead." |
| Egg Bowl, Part 2: Could Ole Miss and Mississippi State play again? | |
| Mississippi State and Ole Miss received good news on Tuesday when the College Football Playoff rankings were released. Both will likely be in an "Access Bowl" or what in past years would have been called a BCS Bowl. Is it possible that the Bulldogs and Rebels could land in the same spot? The answer is yes, but it's not likely. Here's why. |
| LOGAN LOWERY (OPINION): Bulldogs' season still special | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Logan Lowery writes: "Mississippi State's magical football season may have fizzled a little at the end, but still should be regarded as one of the Bulldogs' best. MSU finished the regular season at 10-2 with road losses at Alabama and Ole Miss. It was the Bulldogs' best regular season record ever and its best mark inside SEC play at 6-2 since 1999. Mississippi State also was a perfect 7-0 inside Davis Wade Stadium. ...Mississippi State also earned a place in sports trivia along the way becoming the first ever No. 1 ranked team in the College Football Playoff Poll. The Bulldogs maintained a position in the CFP top four until the latest rankings were released on Tuesday." |
| No. 23 Mississippi State women showcase depth in latest win | |
| Breanna Richardson couldn't help break into a broad smile Tuesday night following the No. 23 Mississippi State women's basketball team's 109-58 victory against North Dakota State. Richardson had every reason to be pleased with a 17-point, 13-rebound performance that was a part of five players in double figures and a season-high 12 Bulldogs in the scoring column. The trick now for the 6-foot-1 sophomore forward is to find a way to deliver similar efforts every night to make the Bulldogs an even deeper and more dangerous team. "I don't know, just going out and playing," Richardson said when asked what she will have to do to duplicate her outing. "I finally got in. Once you get the feel of the game it is easy and you just play, so I just went out there and played." |
| Playing of Dixieland Delight under review by U. of Alabama | |
| The playing of the song "Dixieland Delight" over the public address system at University of Alabama football games and other athletic events is "under review" according to a statement released Wednesday by UA Director of Athletics Bill Battle. The song by the band Alabama is popular with the UA student section, which interjects loud chants between lyrics, including profanities. Students normally add their own chants to answer the song's refrain when it plays, usually during a break in home games during the second half. |
| Auburn turf team finishes season, but not work | |
| On a warm Thursday morning, after the frost has thawed on Auburn University's Pat Dye Field, turf manager Eric Kleypas paints a thick white sideline. Saturday's game against the Samford Bulldogs will be the Tigers' last in Jordan-Hare for the season, but Kleypas' team will continue to work to keep the field in pristine condition. The week prior to each home game, the turf team spends days painting the iconic blue and orange interlocking AU on the field. Keeping the field draining property is imperative, as a rain-out could cost millions of dollars in revenues. To combat the chance of a rain-out during the season, along with the damage 22 football players can do, the turf team is careful to keep the drainage system flowing. |
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