| Wednesday, February 4, 2015 |
| Mississippi State baseball coach talks community involvement | |
 | John Cohen is used to addressing a younger crowd. As the Mississippi State baseball team's head coach spoke to the Starkville Rotary Club on Monday, he was enthusiastic about his community and his program's future. Cohen has come to know the Starkville community well. In his sixth year as the baseball team's leading man, Cohen, a MSU grad, has built a program that reaches out to its community and is among the most popular college teams in the country. "When you look at our population base, and you look at the involvement of this community and surrounding communities, it's astounding," Cohen said. "I marvel at the passion of our fans and the family atmosphere." |
| MSU Community Service Efforts Repeat with National Honors | |
 | Recognized once again for continuing commitments to community engagement and service-learning, Mississippi State is listed on the latest President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. In addition to placing in the economic opportunity and education community service categories, the university now has earned a General Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction designation. All of the national recognitions resulted from activities performed during the 2013-14 academic year, and mark MSU's fifth consecutive honor roll inclusion since 2009. |
| Petition effort kills OCSD bond attempt for now | |
| Calls for a major school construction referendum are now moot after Oktibbeha County School District Conservator Margie Pulley rescinded a $13.2 million bond intent notice Monday in lieu of petitioners demanding the matter go to the polls later this year. Pulley pulled the notice after acknowledging and accepting documents signed by more than 20 percent of Oktibbeha County School District residents seeking an election on the matter. Historically, OCSD's voter base has not supported school improvement bonds. After opposition to the Pulley-initiated bond emerged, local public education stakeholders launched their own campaign to inform voters of the impact a demonstration school could afford Oktibbeha County. Those same groups vowed Monday to continue their efforts despite Pulley's actions nixing the bond referendum. |
| KiOR fails to pay taxes by deadline | |
| Monday was the day property taxes came due. Those who failed to meet that deadline face a 1 percent per month penalty. For KiOR, though, the penalty will be far greater. Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders said this morning he called the tax collectors office and was told that as of 6:15 p.m. Monday, KiOR had not paid its taxes, a total of $1,104,038, according to Lowndes County Tax Assessor Greg Andrews. Sanders said failing to meet the tax deadline automatically canceled the company's fee-in-lieu agreement. |
| Nissan refuses mediation of union complaints on Mississippi plant | |
 | Nissan Motor Co. has declined U.S. State Department mediation of its dispute with the United Autoworkers over the union's attempts to organize Nissan's Mississippi plant. The UAW and the IndustriALL Global Union federation asked the State Department for mediation in April. That mediation could only happen if Nissan agreed, and the State Department announced Jan. 30 that Nissan had refused. Nissan says it prefers to rely on U.S. laws covering unionization. |
| Furniture market's recruiting pays off | |
 | For college football fans, today is an important one -- National Signing Day, when prized recruits sign with the teams of their choice. Coaches and fans brag about landing four- and five-star recruits, hoping they'll guide their schools to success. At the Tupelo Furniture Market, today is also an important day. While there are no "Signing Day" parties lined up, officials there also have done their fair share of recruiting, hoping their work pays dividends. The Buyer Recruitment department at the market is tasked with bringing buyers from across the country -- and internationally, too -- to the biannual market. The Spring Market officially begins Thursday, but there's typically a surge of early buyers attending the unofficial opening day, which is today. |
| FBI director: ISIS real threat to Mississippi, nation | |
 | As Americans stood horrified at the news of a Jordanian pilot burned alive by the terrorist group known as the Islamic State, one of the top law enforcement officers in the country talked about how Mississippians can fight those kind of extremist ideals within our own borders. FBI Director James Comey, who was in the state for the second visit of his 10-year term, said there are open cases looking into individuals who may be related to ISIS/ISIL in every state in the Union except Alaska. Law enforcement leaders from around the state attended the conference as a show of a solidarity the FBI and local agencies haven't always had. |
| Legislature passes first 'killing deadline' | |
| Lawmakers scrambled to meet a Tuesday night deadline for general bills to pass committees -- the first "killing deadline" of the 2015 legislative session. Of the 2,238 general bills filed in the early weeks of the session, only 618, or 28 percent, survived Tuesday's deadline, according to Mississippi StateWatch legislative tracking service. Appropriations and revenue bills face a later deadline. The next legislative deadline is Feb. 12, the deadline for floor action on general bills in their originating chamber. |
| Special-needs bill providing funds to parents stays alive | |
| Companion bills providing funds to parents to pay for special-needs children to pursue private education options have passed out of committee in both chambers of the Mississippi Legislature. The House proposal, which would pay $6,500 per student, passed the Education Committee late Tuesday, which was the deadline for bills to pass out of committee in their chamber of origination. But on the crucial deadline day, two other proposals dealing with special-needs children were killed when House Education Chair John Moore, R-Brandon, opted not to bring them up for consideration. "I just picked the one I wanted to use," Moore said, saying there were several bills filed dealing with special-needs children. |
| Bill: Let home school students play public school sports | |
| Mississippi home school students would be able to participate in sports and extracurricular activities at their local public schools under a bill moving forward in the state Senate. The Senate Education Committee approved it on a split voice vote Tuesday, sending it to the full Senate for further debate. Opponents say home school parents have chosen a different path for their children and shouldn't expect access to public school resources. "You're saying 'I want to home school my child but I want the benefit of public-school athletics,'" said Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula. "It's kind of wanting to have your cake and eat it too." |
| Animal advocates protest against the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation | |
 | Animal advocates from around the state protested in Jackson Tuesday. They targeted the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation for allegedly lobbying against stronger animal protection laws. Animal lovers who were hoping to get tougher penalties passed for the protection of animals came armed with signs saying cats and dogs are not farm animals, and one voice. Three bills introduced in the Legislature this session protecting animals and changing animal cruelty and neglect from a misdemeanor to a felony didn't get out of committee. They are all dead. The group points a finger at the Farm Bureau Federation for a what they called a "flawed philosophy" regarding common sense laws. "We have no response," said a Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation operator when we called for comment. "That's what I was told to tell anyone who called." |
| Army Corps of Engineers to pump $27.6 million into Mississippi dredging, construction, maintenance | |
 | The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will allocate an additional $27.6 million to Mississippi this year to supplement its dredging, construction and maintenance work, U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran said Tuesday. The additional funding for Mississippi stems from fiscal year 2015 appropriations provided by Congress for the Army Corps to use at its discretion to advance ongoing civil works projects involving navigation maintenance, flood control and environmental infrastructure improvements. "These Army Corps of Engineer projects not only provide flood safety for Mississippians, but are crucial to our state's economy and recreational appeal," Cochran said. |
| Overlooked item in Obama's budget will cost Gulf Coast states millions | |
 | Already, as $50-a-barrel oil blows holes into their revenue forecasts, states like Texas and Louisiana have been bracing for cuts, Obama's 2016 budget, released Monday, might only make the situation sourer. One overlooked provision would do away with a scheme, worth hundreds of millions, to share money from oil rigs in federal waters. The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, or GOMESA, requires the federal government to parcel out 37.5 percent of the money it collects from offshore oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The cash is supposed to be divided between Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, but so far the program hasn't handed out much. That's because only a tiny portion of federal waters was made available at first. But beginning in fiscal year 2017, many more rigs will start pumping money into state coffers. |
| Federal appeals court denies Alabama's bid to extend delay on same-sex marriages | |
 | A federal appeals court in Atlanta on Tuesday denied a request to extend a delay on a ruling striking down Alabama's same-sex marriage ban, meaning gay couples will be able to start getting married on Feb. 9. The Alabama Attorney General's Office immediately said it would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, although the justices have rebuffed similar requests from other states. With the appellate court's ruling, Alabama will become the 37th state, plus, the District of Columbia, where gays can get married. |
| Ole Miss chancellor reports cancer-free tests | |
| After being diagnosed with lymphoma in November, University of Mississippi Chancellor Dan Jones' condition is steadily improving as he completes weeks of chemotherapy. Jones, who has been the university's top official since 2009, is being treated at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, and recent scans do not show any cancer. He will complete the month left of his scheduled chemotherapy treatment. "We have been very happy to get good reports," Jones said Tuesday. "We continue living a hope and belief that we're on our way to a full recovery." |
| Mississippi, California research may lead to autism treatment | |
| Researchers in Mississippi and California say they have proven that the brain can be rewired which could translate into a treatment for autism. The study was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The report's co-author is Dr. Rick Lin, professor of neurobiology and anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The findings, for now, are limited to the study's test subjects -- rats. But the results have proven that these animals' brains can be rewired via intense auditory behavioral training, said Lin. |
| Meridian Community College to honor its first African-American students | |
 | A half-century ago, seven courageous students walked into Ivy Hall at Meridian Junior College. They were the first African-Americans to enroll at MJC. On Friday, the college will honor those individuals in a commemorative program in the McCain Theater. The program, honoring those "Inspired Seven," will be followed by a reception and the opening of a related exhibit. "We are really excited about this event," said Dr. Scott Elliott, MCC president. |
| Auburn professor lauded for book on golf course designer Robert Trent Jones | |
 | Auburn University's James Hansen, professor in the Department of History in the College of Liberal Arts, has received the United States Golf Association's Herbert Warren Wind Book Award for 2014 for his most recent biography, "A Difficult Par: Robert Trent Jones Sr. and the Making of Modern Golf." The award, established in 1987, recognizes and honors outstanding contributions to golf literature while attempting to broaden the public's interest in, and knowledge of, the game of golf. "To have the USGA and Herbert Warren Wind associated with a book that I wrote is a huge honor," said Hansen. |
| U. of Florida's Infinity Hall now available for signups as construction advances | |
 | The University of Florida's unique partnership with Signet Development to build an off-campus "living-learning" dorm for student innovators has reached the next stage in its construction. Returning students already have the chance to sign up for a room at Infinity Hall, and incoming freshmen will get an opportunity to apply once they receive their acceptance letters Feb. 15. On Friday, Brasfield & Gorrie topped out the structure for Infinity Hall, reaching the structure's full height. The five-story, 97,000-square-foot dorm's $23 million cost is being footed entirely by Signet, which also put together the design and construction team. It's also an economic development project for the city of Gainesville that will go back on the tax rolls. |
| Pest control specialist to take over UF's entomology, nematology department | |
| The University of Florida has hired a renowned pest-control researcher from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to replace John Capinera, who is stepping down at the end of this month after 28 years as chair of UF's entomology and nematology department. Blair Siegfried, who specializes in pest control, will come on board Sept. 1. Heather McAuslane will serve as interim chair in the meantime, UF officials said in a news release. Siegfried will oversee 30 faculty and 30 staff at the Gainesville campus, and 40 people at Institute of Food and Agricultural Science centers throughout the state. |
| U. of Washington President Michael Young named as sole finalist for president of Texas A&M | |
 | The Texas A&M University System named Michael K. Young as sole finalist for the position of president at the flagship school Tuesday and could make him one of the highest-paid university presidents in the country when he begins his new role this semester. Young, the president of the University of Washington, is considered in some academic circles to be one of the best university presidents in the country and will be paid accordingly, System Chancellor John Sharp said. "His salary will not compare to the last president's salary because this president does not compare to the last president," Sharp said. |
| Free speech and its limitations discussed at Charlie Hebdo symposium at U. of Missouri | |
 | Aidan White stood at the front of the University of Missouri's Fisher Auditorium Tuesday evening next to a large projection of Jeanine Pirro, television pundit on Fox News and a former attorney. The audience watched her react to the shootings at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine and the resulting manhunt last month, and they were silent. Only their scoffs were audible. "Thank God for that," White said, expressing relief as the video ended. White, the director of the Ethical Journalism Network, was sharing what he considered to be hate speech. He said blunt phrases that rouse violence, such as "we need to kill them," and are directed at a large cable news audience are problematic at the least. White was part of a larger discussion sponsored by the MU School of Journalism and Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute billed as "Nous Sommes Tous Charlie," or "We are all Charlie." |
| Wisconsin GOP Gov. Walker Takes Aim at College Outlays, Professors | |
 | Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's 2011 fight with public-sector unions sparked huge protests -- and elevated him into a national figure in conservative politics. Now, as he eyes a run for president, he is targeting another group on the public payroll: university professors. Mr. Walker, a Republican, has proposed a two-year tuition freeze and a $300 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System's budget. He has also said that he thinks faculty needs to work harder. The new proposal could give a boost to Mr. Walker's expected bid for the Republican presidential nomination. While he hasn't announced his candidacy, he is hiring staff and attending events in neighboring Iowa, home to the nation's first presidential caucuses. |
| JIM PRINCE (OPINION): Gov. Winter honored by state press | |
 | Mississippi newspaper publisher Jim Prince writes: "Former Gov. William F. Winter was honored by the Mississippi Press Association Education Foundation last Thursday night, and as chairman of the Foundation and past president of the Mississippi Press Association, it fell to me to present the esteemed award. I went off script a bit and spoke personally of Gov. Winter's influence on me my last semester of graduate school when he challenged our Southern Politics class to stay in Mississippi and make a difference." |
| BRIAN PERRY (OPINION): Hollywood Hood | |
| Consultant and columnist Brian Perry writes: "Attorney General Jim Hood's most recent campaign finance report filed last week reveals only $16,652 cash-on-hand after spending nearly $100,000 last year, mostly on credit cards disclosed as miscellaneous campaign expenses. The report covers fundraising and campaign spending for 2014. As of this writing, Hood -- the only statewide elected Democrat in Mississippi -- has yet to announce his intentions for 2015, whether he'll seek re-election, pursue a higher office, or neither. The report indicates neither." |
SPORTS
| Sword, Mississippi State knock off Tennessee, 71-66 | |
| Mississippi State's Craig Sword says he's feeling fine as long as his team keeps playing the way it did Tuesday. Sword scored 26 points to continue his successful comeback from preseason back surgery as Mississippi State relied on sizzling 3-point shooting to beat Tennessee 71-66. "Anytime we get a win, I'm (feeling) 100 percent," Sword quipped. "We let them get hot early," said Tennessee guard Josh Richardson, who scored a career-high 30 points. "Mississippi State's a team where if you let them do that, it's going to be rough." |
| Mississippi State softball primed for another run at postseason | |
| Mississippi State fourth-year softball coach Vann Stuedeman had little trouble praising the left side of her infield a season ago. Stuedeman felt like third baseman Caroline Seitz and shortstop Kayla Winkfield combined to form "the best left side of the infield" in the Southeastern Conference. That duo will try again this season to back up Stuedeman's praise. Their leadership on and off the field will be key at 5:30 p.m. Thursday when MSU plays host to Mississippi Valley State in the season-opening Bulldog Kickoff Classic at the MSU Softball Field. The game will be the first of five MSU will play in four days in the event. |
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