| Tuesday, February 3, 2015 |
| MSU Honors Dean Selected for University of Oxford Research Fellowship | |
 | The dean of Mississippi State University's Shackouls Honors College is traveling to England to examine possible connections between MSU's first Rhodes Scholar and the title character of "The Great Gatsby." During May and June, Christopher A. Snyder will participate in "Globalising and Localising the Great War Programme" at Oxford University. Snyder, also an MSU professor of European history, said he plans to provide fresh perspective on the Americans' war experiences and return to civilian life. Snyder said an added bonus to his upcoming Oxford visit is MSU's continuing relationship with the English university, which may enable more MSU students to attend there. |
| Annual rodeo to feature top bucking stock | |
 | The MSU Horse Park and the Starkville Rotary Club will put on their annual Rotary Classic Rodeo on Feb. 13 and 14 in the Horse Park arena. "The Starkville Rotary Club has hosted the rodeo for eight years," said Trey Breckenridge, a member of the Rotary Club board of directors. "We use the proceeds to support numerous community, educational and humanitarian activities. One of the many ways we give back to the community." Professional cowboys from the all around will travel to MSU Horse Park to compete for points crucial to qualifying for later rodeos as well as for money. |
| Oktibbeha County School $13.2 Million Bond Rescinded | |
| The fight over the Oktibbeha County School District plan to issue more than $13.2 million in bonds and citizens group efforts to force a vote is over. At least for now. Margie Pulley dismissed the $13.2 million bond when it became apparent enough signatures had been gathered to force a vote on the issue. Despite the setback, Starkville School Superintendent Lewis Holloway says this is not the end. "We are going to start all over and re-look at the amount that we'd asked for and consider what's the best option as we go forward," says Holloway. |
| Community market seeks new home at fire station greenspace in Starkville | |
 | Greater Starkville Development Partnership officials hope to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the city to take over management of Fire Station No. 1's greenspace and move Starkville Community Market to the Russell Street corridor's terminus. Officials say such a move would give SCM an assured home as its current location at the corner of Lampkin and Jackson streets is privately owned. Moving the ever-expanding market to the fire station park will also increase its capacity and allow the Partnership to further invest in its operation with grant funding. The proposed MOU should find little resistance at the board table Tuesday. Ward 5 Alderman Scott Maynard called the proposal a win-win for the city, market and Partnership Sunday. |
| Three-way race emerges for District 5 supervisor seat in Oktibbeha County | |
| A new challenger, 27-year-old political newcomer Ernest Rogers Jr., qualified this week as the third Democrat vying for Oktibbeha County's District 5 supervisor's seat. Rogers was the 32nd candidate to qualify for the county election this year and will face incumbent Joe Williams and Sylvester "Dewayne" Davis, an 18-year veteran of Starkville Fire Department, in the Aug. 4 primary. Williams earned his seat by defeating Democrat John Young in 2011's primary. |
| Coal Plant Technology Putting Mississippi on the Map | |
 | The race is on for developing countries to lower their carbon footprint emissions, and the technology to do that is located right here in East Mississippi. The Kemper County coal plant continues to garner international attention thanks to it's carbon capture technology and the more the 50 delegates from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation who arrived in Meridian, have a keen interest in the technology that is being used at the coal plant. "It's amazing, it's an engineering beauty," Global CCS Institute Policy and Regulatory Adviser Pamela Tomski stated. " Everyone is looking at the Kemper Plant, it's the first power plant in the world that's a new build, that has carbon capture and storage technology integrated with it." |
| Industry groups join Google attack against Hood inquiry | |
 | Computer industry groups are joining Google's effort to block an investigation by Mississippi's attorney general. Industry groups filed court papers Friday saying federal law should block Attorney General Jim Hood from even trying to investigate Google. They say a subpoena that Hood sent Google in October is mainly aimed at actions by others, not Google. They also say the 1996 Communications Decency Act blocks Google from being held accountable for what third parties say. Hood has been pushing Google since 2013 to prevent use of the company's search engine to find illegal drugs and pirated music, video games and movies. |
| Bryant visits Ingalls workforce to discuss development, training initiatives | |
 | Gov. Phil Bryant met with Ingalls Shipbuilding leaders Monday to discuss workforce development and training initiatives and tour the yard's Maritime Training Academy. "Mississippi is home to the greatest shipbuilders in the world and builds the most technologically advanced warships on the planet," Bryant said. "Workforce development is critical to ensuring Mississippians are prepared for skilled manufacturing jobs like those at Ingalls." |
| Aquaculture likely to play big role in oyster rebirth | |
 | Last fall the Commission on Marine Resources saw an underwater video from one of the oyster reefs managed by the agency. It looked more like a rural gravel road. Not an oyster in site. This could be one of the worst oyster seasons in years with a harvest about one-tenth the size of the good years before Katrina. "Over the decade since Katrina, we've just had a series of manmade and natural disasters," said Department of Marine Resources Director Jamie Miller. Miller and Gov. Phil Bryant both said Mississippi should support oysters the way it does other crops, Bryant went so far as to call them the "soybean of the sea." Bryant on Monday created the Governor's Oyster Restoration and Resiliency Council to come up with a plan to reverse the downward trend. Its work is supposed to be done by May 1. |
| Mississippi's prison population dropping | |
 | Mississippi's prison population, which has consistently ranked second in the nation per capita, has seen a decrease of almost 3,000 inmates in the last year. On Jan. 25, 2014, the state's prison population was 21,743 inmates. On Jan. 25, of this year, the state's prison population was 18,845, a decrease of 2,898 inmates since the same time period last year. New Mississippi Department of Corrections Commission Marshall Fisher said the decrease is due to the State Parole Board releasing more nonviolent inmates or placing some offenders on house arrest. |
| Reeves joins those seeking school spending bump | |
| As the 2015 elections approach, Republican leaders in the Mississippi Legislature appear to be reaching a consensus to spend more on K-12 education in next year's budget -- but how much money would go to the main funding formula for public schools remains unclear. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday that he wants to spend $110 million more on public education in 2016, including roughly $40 million needed for the second year of a teacher pay raise. While House Appropriations Chairman Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, favors putting most money into the Mississippi Adequate Education Funding formula, Reeves was less committal. |
| Reeves proposes $110M more for schools | |
 | Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday proposed increasing K-12 education funding $110 million for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, but stopped short of offering a plan to achieve full funding under the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. Various education groups have been advocating for a phase-in of full funding. Reeves, speaking at an afternoon news conference outside his state Capitol office, said his proposal would result in more than 80 percent of state revenue growth being spent on kindergarten through 12th grade education. Reeves said he also hopes to provide additional funds for community colleges and universities, but did not provide a specific amount during Monday's news conference. |
| Reeves unveils $110M education increase | |
| Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday unveiled his plan to boost K-12 education spending by $110 million this year over last year, using nearly all of the projected growth in state revenues, but still falling short of fully funding public schools. At a press conference on the third floor of the Capitol, Reeves said the plan demonstrates his commitment to helping school children achieve academic success. If approved, the increase will bring Mississippi's total K-12 public education spending to $2.6 billion for Fiscal Year 2016. But it still leaves more than $256 million unfunded; the Mississippi Department of Education had requested more than $2.8 billion in its budget proposal to the state. |
| State Might Sell Hal & Mal's Property | |
| Changes could be coming to a downtown Jackson landmark. A legislative proposal would allow for the sale or lease of state-owned property that now houses Hal & Mal's, a restaurant and music venue. State Rep. Tom Weathersby, R-Florence, sponsored House Bill 412 to authorize the Department of Finance and Administration to sell the property once known as "Old Capitol Green." Malcolm White, who started the restaurant with his late brother, Hal, said he was unfamiliar with Weathersby's bill until a reporter called him for this story this morning. However, White said the business has been seeking a lease-purchase option for three decades and would be interested in acquiring property should the state put it up for sale. |
| Education, roads, Medicaid expansion discussed at legislative forum | |
 | From Common Core standards in the classroom to rural roadway repairs and Medicaid expansion, area legislators addressed a wide range of issues to an attentive audience of 69 residents at the Natchez Grand Hotel Monday morning. Sponsored by the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce, the breakfast served as an open forum for representatives to shed light on what's in store for the legislative session and for residents to submit questions. |
| Bryant addresses teen pregnancy in the state | |
| Although the number of teen pregnancies in Mississippi has dropped nearly 15 percent, the state still leads in the nation in number of teen pregnancies, according to Gov. Phil Bryant. Bryant spoke Monday at a town hall forum at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Jackson Campus in Gautier. MGCCC along with the Mississippi Girls Health Initiative and Healthy Teens for a Better Mississippi sponsored the forum. The state Legislature passed a bill last year directing community colleges and universities to develop a plan of action in prevention of teen pregnancies. Mary Graham, MGCCC president, said 15 percent of all community college students are single parents, and about 70 percent of all single parents are between the ages of 17 and 19, the age where students are in college. |
| Obama budget could aid poor, GOP-led states like Mississippi | |
 | Amber Clay ticked off all the things she could buy with an additional $2,000 that President Barack Obama wants to give her each year: clothes, diapers, wipes, gas to drive to work and, most of all, day-care expenses for her 19-month-old daughter. "It would help make ends meet," Clay said Monday while picking up her child at the Parent's Choice Learning Center in Biloxi, which charges $122 a week for toddlers. The president's budget proposal, which was declared dead on arrival by Republican congressional leaders even before it was laid out Monday, seemed a determined attempt to restore the dream of upward mobility to America's lower- and middle-income classes. It would offer a belated Christmas tree of funding for education programs, work incentives and social services that might appear tailor-made for Mississippi, which had the nation's lowest median household income over the last three years. |
| Vaccination debate flares in GOP presidential race, alarming medical experts | |
 | Medical experts reacted with alarm Monday as two top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination appeared to question whether child vaccinations should be mandatory -- injecting politics into an emotional issue that has taken on new resonance with a recent outbreak of measles in the United States. The vigorous outcry in response to the remarks underscored the sensitivity surrounding the vaccination debate. The comments also illustrated persistent strains of skepticism within both parties over vaccination requirements, fueled in part by discredited claims of a connection between childhood shots and autism. Scientists have blamed a small but influential anti-vaccine movement for helping spark a new epidemic of measles, which was once virtually eliminated. |
| FCC to Propose Strong 'Net Neutrality' Rules | |
 | The Federal Communications Commission is about to fundamentally change the way it oversees high-speed Internet service, proposing to regulate it as a public utility. Chairman Tom Wheeler is reaching for a significant expansion of the agency's authority to regulate broadband providers, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The move would fully embrace the principle known as net neutrality, and if enacted, would bring a new definition to the economics of the Internet industry. The proposal, expected to be unveiled by the FCC on Thursday, is a victory for a host of Silicon Valley firms and liberal activists who have championed it. |
| Monument Policy announces hires | |
 | Monument Policy Group recently made a pair of high-level hires, including Kate Christensen Mills, a former congressional liaison for the Obama administration's immigration agency. The firm also hired T.A. Hawks, who most recently served as the staff director for the Senate Agriculture Committee. He begins as a principal at Monument Policy next week. Hawks has also served as chief of staff to powerful Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran and has spent more than 14 years on Capitol Hill. "T.A. Hawks has consistently demonstrated outstanding commitment, hard-work, effectiveness and good counsel in various capacities on my staff. These traits, which he has used to serve the people of Mississippi and the nation, will benefit him greatly in his career," said Cochran in a statement. |
| Comcast merger under fire on K St. | |
| Opponents of a planned merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable are flexing their K Street muscle in an attempt to quash the blockbuster deal. The $45 billion proposal has drawn the ire of consumer rights groups, unions and companies in the cable and broadband industries since it was announced last February. Now, as a decision from federal regulators draws closer, groups are ratcheting up their attacks with new hired guns. On Monday, the trade group Comptel announced a separate alliance of companies and groups against the merger, dubbed Networks for Competition and Choice, to expand its advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and within the administration. Comptel CEO Chip Pickering, a former Republican congressman from Mississippi, leads the coalition that includes The Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance (ITTA) and NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association. |
| How one bacterium could help ease reliance on food crops for biofuel | |
 | In the quest for affordable, non-food sources of biofuel, biologists are recruiting an unlikely ally: a bacterium that has historically been the bane of brewers. The bacterium, Zymomonas mobilis, causes beer to spoil. But it also converts biomass such as switch grass and crop residues into ethanol faster and in larger quantities, cell for cell, than does yeast, the most widely used fermenting agent. Now a team of biologists from the University of Indiana says it has provided unambiguous evidence that Z. mobilis actually can use simple nitrogen gas as a fertilizer -- a matter of some dispute in recent years, even though researchers have known for decades that the bacterium had the biochemical tools to do so. And it does so without sacrificing the amount of ethanol it makes. |
| Exclusive-The FAA: Regulating Business on the Moon | |
 | The United States government has taken a new, though preliminary, step to encourage commercial development of the moon. According to documents obtained by Reuters, U.S. companies can stake claims to lunar territory through an existing licensing process for space launches. The Federal Aviation Administration, in a previously undisclosed late-December letter to Bigelow Aerospace, said the agency intends to "leverage the FAA's existing launch licensing authority to encourage private sector investments in space systems by ensuring that commercial activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis." "It is important to remember that many space-faring nations have national companies that engage in commercial space activities. They will definitely want to be part of the rule making process," said Joanne Gabrynowicz, a professor of space law at University of Mississippi. |
| UM reopens after water break | |
| The University of Mississippi canceled Monday morning's classes and told most employees to stay home after a nearly system-wide loss of water pressure made bathrooms inoperable and required a boil-water alert. Ole Miss officials said the failure was due to a major break of a water main near the intramural fields on the southwest part of the campus. The Ford Center and the Jackson Avenue Center, which are both just off the central campus and on City of Oxford water service, remained open so people could use their restroom facilities. "There's a lot of different ways (the break) could have happened," said university spokesman Danny Blanton. The water flow was restored by mid-morning. Offices reopened at noon, and classes resumed at 1 p.m. |
| UM students react to boil water notice | |
 | Monday morning students and faculty at Ole Miss found that there was very low water pressure on campus. "It was a little inconvenient," student Lindsay Langston said. The source was due to a water main break. "When you don't have sufficient water pressure then that's going to affect the restrooms," director of Ole Miss Public Relations Danny Blanton said. "It's going to affect a lot of quality of life things that keep us from bringing people into work and bring students into class." Ole Miss is providing students and faculty with bottled water in the residence and dining halls. |
| USM Librarians Elected to Statewide Office with MLA-ACRL | |
 | University Librarians Michele Frasier-Robinson and Elena Azadbakht of the University of Southern Mississippi have been elected to statewide office with the Association of College and Research Libraries, Mississippi Chapter of the Mississippi Library Association. Frasier-Robinson, an assistant professor who is the reference librarian for the College of Education and Psychology, was elected to a two-year term as vice chair/chair-elect. In 2016, she will take over the position of chair and also serve on the board for the Mississippi Library Association. Azadbakht, an assistant professor and reference librarian for health sciences, was elected to a one-year term as secretary/treasurer for 2015. |
| Delta State's Wingard observes Cuban education | |
 | Delta State University's chair of the Department of Mathematics, Dr. Clifton Wingard, recently took part in a unique international professional development opportunity. Wingard, now in his 19th year at Delta State, and about two-dozen American educators visited Cuba in November through the People to People Citizen Ambassador program. Thanks to a special license issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the program offers exclusive trips to Cuba. The program features a mix of professional development, cultural exchanges and hands-on international experiences. |
| Vicksburg district to offer engineering and health classes | |
| The Vicksburg Warren School District will offer courses this fall to prepare students for college or careers in the fields of engineering and health. Superintendent Chad Shealy tells The Vicksburg Post that an Academy of Engineering and an Academy of Health Careers will be offered at both Vicksburg High School and Warren Central High School. "I don't know of any that are going to be like what we have," he said. "It's going to be tailored specifically for us, because we have a resource like no one else --- there's not an ERDC (U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center) sitting around in everybody's backyard." Shealy said there are also talks with Alcorn State, Mississippi State, University of Mississippi, Delta State and Hinds Community College about adding more opportunities for students to get college credits. |
| Part of former Bryce Hospital being demolished at U. of Alabama | |
 | The demolition of the outermost wings on the former Bryce Hospital is part of preparations to convert the historic building for use on the University of Alabama campus. The demolition is part of a campus master plan for the historic hospital grounds, which includes new academic and residential buildings and recreational facilities. The plan includes a $60-million, 109,017-square-foot performing arts center that will connect to the historic main Bryce Hospital building via a new lobby. The center is planned as a state-of-the-art venue for the Department of Theatre and Dance. UA purchased the Bryce property from the state in 2010, paying nearly $77 million for the 168 acres on the northeast side of campus and agreeing to pay an additional $10 million for environmental cleanup and historic preservation. |
| Community invited to witness planting of new Toomer's Corner oak trees on Valentine's Day | |
 | Nearly four years to the day that Auburn University announced the lethal poisoning of the historic Auburn Oaks, two new live oaks will begin taking root in Samford Park at Toomer's Corner. Landscapers are scheduled to begin planting the 35-foot-tall trees at 8 a.m. Feb. 14. The university is inviting the public to attend the event, which should finish early in the afternoon. A viewing area will be set up, and streets will be closed for safety reasons. "We are partnering with the City of Auburn to make this a special day," said Mike Clardy, director of university communications. |
| Judge Hatchett, Soledad O'Brien are headliners in UGA's Black History Month | |
 | Dramatic performances, art, community service and former judge Glenda Hatchett are among the highlights of the University of Georgia's month-long observance of Black History Month. Journalist Soledad O'Brien and young rapper Raury will also make appearances on the campus, according to the slate of events released by UGA. Black history events actually began Saturday with the Faceoff Step Show, the National Pan-Hellenic Council's annual dance competition featuring performances by UGA's African-American fraternities and sororities. |
| EXCLUSIVE: U. of South Carolina loses $106 million lease deal | |
 | The U.S. Department of Justice is in talks to end its planned 20-year lease of the University of South Carolina's former business school building, a deal that was supposed to generate $106 million in revenue for the school, The State has learned. In a money-saving move, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, which provides administrative support to the Justice Department, was supposed to move from Washington, D.C., to USC's Close-Hipp Building by 2017. The lease was not scheduled to start until USC finished $25 million in upgrades. But, before the university started renovations, the Justice Department changed its plans and began negotiating with school officials to sever the deal, USC chief operating officer Ed Walton said Monday. |
| Texas A&M System regents may name finalists for president today | |
 | The yearlong search for a full-time president of Texas A&M University could come to an end at a special Board of Regents meeting tonight. While some Texas A&M System regents will be present, others will weigh in by telephone at 5:30 p.m. in the regents annex of the Memorial Student Center. The lone item on the agenda reads: "Possible action to name the finalist(s) for the position of President of Texas A&M University-Texas A&M System." The announcement comes two days after regents held a closed-door meeting to discuss the search and amid rumors of a potential candidate making a weekend visit in January. |
| A&M's Kyle Field project might be sapping construction workers, driving up prices | |
| Local cities, school districts and the county have been steadily adding construction projects to their agendas, but they have experienced a shortage of workers and competition for materials, a snag many believe has been exacerbated by the $485 million Kyle Field renovation at Texas A&M University. While the stadium construction plays a large factor locally, that shortage of workers and supplies doesn't stop at the county line, said Jim Gaines, a research economist with the Real Estate Center with the university. |
| Four named finalists for dean of Missouri School of Journalism | |
 | Four finalists have been named in the search for a new dean of the Missouri School of Journalism, according to the Journalism School's website. The finalists are Sonya Forte Duhe, director and professor of the School of Mass Communication at Loyola University, New Orleans; David Kurpius, professor at the Manship School of Mass Communication and associate vice chancellor for enrollment management at Louisiana State University; Esther Thorson, professor and associate dean for graduate study at the Missouri School of Journalism and research director for the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute; and Thor Wasbotten, director and professor of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University. |
| What Obama's 2016 Budget Means for Higher Ed | |
 | In the weeks leading up to the release of his 2016 budget, on Monday, President Obama had already previewed many of its key elements---including proposals to make community college free and streamline higher-education tax credits. But a few surprising details still emerged on Monday. It's worth being very explicit about that uphill battle in Congress, by the way. Below, you'll read about proposals that may never gain traction and funding requests that may be only partly fulfilled. With that said, here's a quick look at other ways the budget would affect academe. |
| Obama's 2016 Budget: a Focus on College Cost, and an Uphill Climb in Congress | |
| The key theme for higher education in President Obama's 2016 budget plan, unveiled on Monday, is affordability. Through a combination of tax breaks and subsidies, the president aims to make the cost of college less of a barrier to attending. The budget fleshes out proposals that the president previewed in the weeks leading up to Monday's release: It would simplify and expand the nation's higher-education tax credits and ensure that the maximum Pell Grant award keeps pace with inflation. But in Congress, the budget will face an uphill climb, to say the least. |
| Obama seeks to boost higher ed spending, proposes some loan reforms that have bipartisan appeal | |
 | President Obama sent Congress a budget request Monday that would increase federal spending on many higher education programs and also aims to reap savings for the government by changing some student loan and repayment options. The administration's budget features several big-ticket policy proposals that have been announced in recent weeks or previously proposed. Among them: free community college for some students, streamlining higher education tax breaks and a bonus grant program to reward colleges that graduate large numbers of low-income students. |
| Budget proposal includes increase in research funding | |
| Science and research advocates welcomed President Obama's 2016 budget proposal Monday, which would give the National Science Foundation a "vigorous, healthy budget," according to its director. Overall, the president's budget would increase federal spending on research and development by 5.5 percent across a series of agencies. In announcing the proposed budget, staff of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy highlighted how money for research would support biomedical science, advanced manufacturing and data collection for climate change. The proposal -- and the president's decision to ignore sequestration budget caps for discretionary spending -- drew largely positive reaction from higher education and research associations. |
| Obama Budget Seeks Boosts for Early Education, High Schools, Technology | |
 | President Barack Obama may not have many allies left in the newly GOP-dominated Congress -- but he's still planning to ask lawmakers for a sizable increase for the U.S. Department of Education in his fiscal year 2016 budget request. The request, being formally unveiled Monday, includes big hikes for teacher quality, preschool development grants, civil rights enforcement, education technology, plus a new competitive-grant program aimed at helping districts make better use of their federal and local K-12 dollars. The administration also is seeking big spending bumps for programs that have proven unpopular with Republicans in Congress, such as the School Improvement Grant program. |
| Foreign Students Aren't Edging Out Locals (Usually) | |
| International enrollments in American colleges may have soared in recent years, but despite public concern, there's little to indicate that students from Beijing and Shanghai are displacing those from Buffalo or Santa Fe. A Chronicle analysis of enrollment data reported to the U.S. Department of Education by 69 state flagship universities and top public research institutions found no evidence of widespread crowding out of in-state undergraduates by students from abroad. |
| Gap between rich and poor students who graduate college growing | |
| The gap in bachelor-degree attainment between the nation's richest and poorest students by age 24 has doubled during the last four decades, according to a report released Tuesday. The percent of students from the lowest-income families -- those making $34,160 a year or less -- earning a bachelor's degree has inched up just 3 points since 1970, rising from 6 to 9 percent by 2013. Meanwhile, college completion for students from the wealthiest families has risen dramatically, climbing from 44 to 77 percent. |
| Tulane law school students, faculty struggle to understand murder-suicide | |
| The Tulane University Law School community grasped for answers Monday as members mourned the loss of two second-year law students who died over the weekend in an apparent murder-suicide near campus -- an incident as baffling as it was devastating for those who knew the gifted couple. The alleged gunman, Wajih Mazloum, a 28-year-old Rhode Island native, had been doggedly pursuing a legal career and showed few, if any, signs of derailment, according to associates. Mazloum fatally shot his girlfriend, Sara LaMont, a talented 25-year-old member of the Tulane Law Review, in his Willow Street apartment before turning the handgun on himself, New Orleans police said. The murder-suicide came on the heels of at least three student suicides at Tulane last semester, a spate of deaths that has prompted university officials to try to raise awareness about mental health issues. |
| CHARLIE MITCHELL (OPINION): 'Better Schools' coalition shows no sign of retreat | |
| Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "It's not clear what members of the Mississippi Legislature thought would happen after they voted to foil a citizen initiative to improve public school funding. It is clear that the Better Schools Better Jobs organization has decided not to wrinkle its collective brow, tear up and run away. 'On Jan. 13 &14, these lawmakers put their political careers ahead of our local school system. When the power brokers in Jackson told them to reject the citizen petition for a statewide vote on school funding, they fell right in line.' In large print, the names of lawmakers who joined the subterfuge were listed on a mock report card and given F's. Stern words. The shoe does fit. Lawmakers who supported the ploy are playing every voter in the state for a sucker." |
SPORTS
| Improving Mississippi State visits Knoxville | |
| Mississippi State's Rick Ray admits that his team is playing its best basketball of late. But other coaches around the Southeastern Conference are starting to take notice as well. Kentucky's John Calipari and Ole Miss' Andy Kennedy complimented the Bulldogs improvement on the SEC coaches' teleconference on Monday. So did Donnie Tyndall, who coaches MSU's opponent at 6 p.m. tonight, Tennessee. "Mississippi State is probably the most improved team in our league from the first week in conference play until here at the midseason point," Tyndall said. |
| Mississippi State's work away from home paying off | |
| Mississippi State's can credit its academics for its increased level of play away from Humphrey Coliseum this season. MSU players have an unusual class schedule in the spring semester. Classes begin early in the morning and end at around 3 p.m. It forced the Bulldogs to practice at Texas A&M before the Jan. 13 contest. Mississippi State practiced at home the day before a road game and then conducted a shootaround at the opponents' facility on game day during the first two years under Rick Ray. MSU featured one of its best performances at Texas A&M, which began a new routine. Mississippi State (10-11, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) departed for Tennessee (13-7, 5-3) Monday afternoon and was slated to practice in Knoxville that night. The Bulldogs meet the Volunteers tonight at 6 p.m. |
| Vols look for season sweep of Mississippi State | |
 | If you ask Donnie Tyndall, the Mississippi State team that Tennessee saw last month is completely different from the one the Vols will face Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena (6 p.m., SEC Network). Since shortly after Tennessee (13-7, 5-3 SEC) began conference play by beating the Bulldogs in Starkville, Miss., the team that the league's media projected to finish dead last has been resurgent. Mississippi State (10-11, 3-5) has won three of its past five games to climb out of the conference's cellar, prompting Tyndall, Tennessee's coach, to refer to the Bulldogs as "probably one of the most improved teams in our league." |
| SEC coaches: Mississippi State league's most improved team | |
| Through the first two seasons of Rick Ray's tenure, Mississippi State didn't give the Southeastern Conference much to discuss. Year one and two contained 13-game losing streaks. During the conference's weekly teleconference, MSU was almost in the conversation among the league's coaches. A six-game span capped by a win at LSU changed that for Monday's teleconference. "Mississippi State is probably the most improved team in our league from the first week of conference play until here at the midseason point," Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall said. "Rick has done a great job." |
| National Signing Day: Cue the madness | |
| The madness culminates Wednesday. It's when the fax machine matters again. For the coaches and recruiting coordinators who spent years recruiting select players, the hope is that all will go according to plan. It's the ability to be "air traffic control," as Lee Davis puts it. Mississippi State's coordinator of football recruiting plans and organizes the schedules for head coach Dan Mullen and his nine assistant coaches for which prospects to visit, who's calling who in the days leading up to signing day and making sure everything -- even the smallest details -- are accounted for. She organizes the chaos. |
| Mississippi State women's track & field team ranked No. 19 | |
| Following a win at the New Balance Invitational in New York City this past weekend, the Mississippi State women's track and field team moved up to No. 19 in the U.S. Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association rankings. "I'm so proud of this team," MSU coach Steve Dudley said. "They continue to improve. They had an outstanding performance this weekend in New York and I'm glad to see their progress is paying off." Previously in the rankings, the women's team ranked No. 20. This past weekend, the women collected four first-place finishes to secure the team victory, edging out Duke. |
| Pair of former Bulldogs earn Super Bowl rings | |
| The New England Patriots became the third Super Bowl champion to have multiple Mississippi State players on its roster. Linebackers Chris White and Deontae Skinner will both receive championship rings after the Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 on Sunday. White played on special teams for New England. Skinner is on the Patriots' practice squad. Both were in Arizona for the big game. |
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