| Thursday, February 12, 2015 |
| Mississippi State named Top 100 research school | |
 | Mississippi State once again ranks among the Top 100 research schools in America. The National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development Survey for 2013 ranked MSU 96th overall. The school spent nearly $206 million in research and development, an amount equal to the total spending of the remaining Mississippi schools. The report from the NSF affirms Mississippi State as the Magnolia State's flagship research university. |
| Demonstration school funding important as Mississippi State's land pledge isn't permanent | |
 | Time is of the essence for Oktibbeha County school administrators to come up with local funding to build a demonstration school as Mississippi State University officials say the university's 43-acre pledge is not an indefinite promise. Starkville School District Superintendent Lewis Holloway said he and Oktibbeha County School District Conservator Margie Pulley are still discussing a financing package that could help fund the school and purchase technology items -- laptops and SMART boards -- for the county system in lieu of July's state-mandated consolidation. MSU previously pledged $5 million and the 43 acres of land toward the proposed 102,000-square-foot school to be located across from the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park, but officials say the school cannot hold the land indefinitely for the construction. |
| College Board could discuss new higher education leader | |
 | Mississippi could get a new leader of its higher education system soon. The College Board is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon to discuss personnel issues. Board President Aubrey Patterson of Tupelo wouldn't say Wednesday whether the board will discuss a successor Thursday to Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds. Under a 2013 board policy, members can choose a new commissioner or university president without using an extensive search process. |
| LINK: 'Moderate' response from retail effort | |
| The Golden Triangle Development LINK is reporting "moderate" response from communities in the region to its reinvigorated retail development strategy. The LINK, which contracts with Lowndes, Clay and Oktibbeha counties -- as well as the cities of Columbus, Starkville and West Point -- for industrial and retail development, has asked area chambers of commerce to help identify available retail sites, according to LINK Vice President of Internal and External Affairs Macaulay Whitaker. Whitaker said each city in the Golden Triangle showed strong potential for retail growth, with each of the three bringing different personalities and strengths to the marketplace. |
| Viking founder building prefab luxury homes | |
 | Fred Carl is getting the band back together. Carl has enlisted the help of two former Viking Range Corp. employees to help launch C3 Design, his new company making a jump into the luxury prefabricated home market. "Fred has been thinking about this for a long time, for years and years. He's always been looking for a better way to build a home," said Brian Waldrop, an ex-Viking executive who is C3's co-founder and CEO. The idea is to manufacture the homes in Greenwood, "as much as possible," Waldrop said. From there, the pieces will ship to the site. The site's owners, Waldrop said, likely will be the same customers Viking targeted. "Upper-middle class to affluent," he said. |
| WTVA sale complete; new general manager named | |
 | WTVA's sale to Atlanta-based Heartland Media was completed today, and a new general manager also was named. The sale -- announced last fall -- of WTVA officially ends more than 57 years of ownership by the Spain family, but Heartland Media president and CEO Bob Prather said viewers would likely not notice. Phil Sullivan, who's been general manager of WTVA since January 2005, announced his retirement. He'll leave March 6, but not before helping in the transition of new GM Dan Modisett, a 40-year television industry veteran. He spent his last 30 years as GM at Jackson's WLBT, where he retired in December. |
| Tagert considering bid for Nunnelee's vacant House seat | |
| Northern District Transportation Commissioner Mike Tagert confirmed Wednesday he is considering a bid for former U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee's vacant House seat. Nunnelee, 56, died Friday of an inoperable brain tumor and complications from a stroke. Tagert, a Republican who lives in Starkville, can run for the seat even though he resides just a few miles shy of Mississippi's 1st Congressional District. Oktibbeha County is split between congressional districts. A majority of the county falls within the 3rd Congressional District, which is represented by Rep. Gregg Harper. Tagert was elected northern district transportation commissioner in 2011, defeating Democrat Ray Minor by almost 62,000 votes. Tagert, who holds a master's degree in public policy from Mississippi State University, won Oktibbeha County with 60.92 percent of the vote. |
| Governor has wide leeway in setting special election | |
| A spokesperson said Wednesday Gov. Phil Bryant has not made a decision on when to set a special election to fill the 1st District U.S. House seat left vacant by the death of incumbent Republican Alan Nunnelee of Tupelo. Nunnelee, who was elected to a third term in the U.S. House last year, died last week after battling brain cancer. The governor apparently has wide leeway in deciding on a date for the special election. He has 60 days from the date of the vacancy to set a special election, and he must schedule the special election no sooner than 60 days from when he announces it. But the law does not state how long he can wait to set it. |
| Johnson, Parker mull bid; both considering congressional post | |
 | Two high-profile DeSoto County Republicans are mulling a bid to succeed the late U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee, who was laid to rest in Tupelo Monday after succumbing to a battle with brain cancer last week. Longtime Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson, a Republican, who was first elected to serve as mayor of the DeSoto County seat in 2005 and fellow Republican state Senator David Parker, R-Olive Branch are both said to be considering a run for the U.S. House of Representatives District 1 post. Parker is an Olive Branch optometrist with clinics in Olive Branch and Horn Lake and was elected to serve state Senate District 19 in 2012. He is currently a candidate for the newly created state Senate District 2. |
| State contract revamping advances | |
| Legislation spurred at least in part by the federal indictment of then-state Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps on the charge of accepting bribes has passed both chambers of the Mississippi Legislature. The legislation, authored by Rep. Jerry Turner, R-Baldwyn, passed the House on Wednesday by a 109-7 margin. Similar but less far-reaching legislation authored by Sen. Nancy Collins, R-Tupelo, also has passed the Senate with no dissenting votes. At some point in the process the differences in the legislation will have to be reconciled. Both bills would replace the current Personal Service Contract Review Board, which consists of state agency heads, with private sector members appointed by the governor and lieutenant governor. |
| House passes reform, transparency act | |
| The House on Wednesday passed an omnibus reform and transparency act, aimed at cracking down on "no-bid" contracts such as those at the heart of an alleged state bribery and corruption scandal. The measure would make it harder for state agencies to award contracts without competitive bidding for the best price and service, eliminate generous exemptions to bidding, and open the process and paperwork to the public and media. It also would require lawmakers and other state public officials to annually report gifts they are given by those trying to curry their favor. |
| Senate rejects amendment to kill Common Core | |
| Mississippi could create a 27-member commission to recommend new academic standards for its schools, under a bill passed by the state Senate on Wednesday. But after more than an hour of debate, senators rejected an effort to change the bill to make the state unequivocally dump Common Core State Standards. The effort to reject Common Core came from Republican Sen. Angela Hill of Picayune and others allied with tea party groups. Hill said Common Core creates mediocre expectations and hurts academic achievement. Senate Education Committee Chairman Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, said if a new commission recommends standards that include some Common Core elements, the state Board of Education should be able to adopt those standards. "Let's let educators work on this instead of politicians," Tollison said. |
| Senate rejects full Common Core break | |
| The Mississippi Senate rejected a proposal Wednesday that would have prevented the state Board of Education from using any of the Common Core academic standards. The Senate by a 37-13 margin defeated a Tea Party-supported amendment offered by Sen. Angela Hill, R-Picayune, that would require the state Board of Education to adopt the academic standards developed by a 27-member board created by the Legislature. But those new standards could not be the Common Core academic standards the state board now refers to as the Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards. Hill said her amendment would "prevent the rebranding of Common Core." |
| Full repeal of Common Core fails in Senate | |
| Tea Party conservatives pushing for a full repeal of Common Core protested by voting "present" on a bill they claim fails to require Mississippi adopt new educational standards. The measure, Senate Bill 2161, passed the floor anyway Wednesday by a vote of 31-16. If it becomes law, it will create the Mississippi Commission on College and Career Readiness, whose members will recommend new educational standards to replace the Common Core State Standards adopted nearly five years ago. But the bill doesn't require the Board of Education to implement the commission's recommendations -- just to listen to them -- prompting concern it will do nothing to change its standards. |
| Mississippi Senate passes bill to nix car safety inspection | |
| Some Mississippi senators haven't gotten an up-to-date vehicle safety inspection. Now they want other Mississippians to be able to forget about it, too. Senators on Wednesday passed a bill to repeal the requirement that vehicle owners get a $5 safety inspection each year. It got a push from Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who endorsed the measure for the first time this year. The bill goes to the House for more debate. Proponents, including Republican Sen. John Polk of Hattiesburg, say too often no inspection is conducted. They also say cars are better-built now, and safety inspections are less needed. |
| House approves school attendance change | |
| The House on Wednesday passed a bill to -- again -- change the way attendance is counted for purposes of the state's public school funding formula. Some school superintendents are pushing lawmakers to change from average daily attendance -- which they say is hard to track -- to "average daily membership," or enrollment. House Bill 471, passed Wednesday by a vote of 79-39, would base Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding on enrollment, not average daily attendance, but with a caveat. If a school's average daily attendance drops below 95 percent, it would have to use ADA instead of enrollment. Rep. Charles Busby, R-Pascagoula, said this is an "attendance trigger." |
| Mississippi Senate backs convention to mandate federal balanced budget | |
| State senators want to sign Mississippi onto a plan for a nationwide constitutional convention that would force the federal government to balance its budget and require states' permission to increase the national debt. The Senate voted 30-18 Wednesday to pass Senate Bill 2389, part of a nationwide effort by conservative groups including the Goldwater Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council, to get three-fourths of states to call such a convention. Opponents noted Mississippi may be the state most dependent on federal funding. Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, zeroed in on part of the plan that would allow a special exemption from state approval if Congress wanted to replace income taxes with a national sales tax, saying that would shift the tax burden from the rich to the poor. |
| Gulfport state Rep. Williams-Barnes just three votes from mandatory kindergarten | |
 | State Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes says she needs just three more votes to advance an amendment that would make kindergarten mandatory for all the state's 5-year-olds. Two bills introduced by the Gulfport Democrat that would do that died in committee earlier in the session, so Wednesday she attempted to amend a bill dealing with the way students are counted for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. After her amendment failed, she held the bill on a motion to reconsider. It could come up for another vote as early as today. Right now, children aren't required to go to school until they are 6 years old, but the overwhelming majority go to kindergarten anyway. |
| Mississippi House OKs $2,500 raise for assistant teachers | |
| The Mississippi House has voted to give assistant teachers a substantial pay raise. The base pay for the job is currently $12,500 a year. A bill that was debated Wednesday originally would have set the base pay at $13,500. The House accepted a proposal by Democratic Rep. Cecil Brown of Jackson to set the base pay at $15,000. |
| Mississippi House OKs bill to show insurance losses by ZIP code | |
| Backers hope a unanimous vote in the House on Wednesday will give an insurance-clarity bill some momentum going to the Senate. Rep. Scott DeLano, R-Biloxi, one of the sponsors of the Property Insurance Clarity Act (HB 739), said he and Insurance Committee Vice Chairman Charles Busby worked with the state Insurance Department and the insurance industry to allay some concerns that had killed the bill last year in the House. The bill would require insurers to report, by ZIP code, the amount of policy premiums collected and the amount of claims paid. |
| Mississippi Proves Surprise Leader in Telehealth Payments | |
 | Even a noted Mississippi expert on telehealth describes it as a surprise that her state emerged as a leader in securing payment for medical care delivered by phone and computers in place of face-to-face visits. "As the very state that has the lowest number of physicians per capita, we have got to do things differently," said Kristi Henderson, the University of Mississippi's chief telehealth and innovation officer, at a briefing held in the Rayburn office building on Capitol Hill last week. "While we are an unlikely state to be standing here telling you how to do it, we didn't have any other options." Mississippi's congressional delegation has been at the forefront of efforts to increase use of telehealth. |
| Employed white southerners most likely to lose coverage in Supreme Court case | |
 | If the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down tax credits for people buying health insurance on the federal exchange, about 8.2 million Americans in 34 states could lose their coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Most of the people likely to be affected are white, employed, and low- to middle-class. They also are concentrated in a single region of the country: the South. Health insurance rates in those states are expected to rise by as much as 35 percent, which may make coverage unaffordable even for those who don't qualify for tax credits. Some believe that if the tax credits are disallowed by the Supreme Court, the underpinnings of President Barack Obama's signature health care law would collapse. |
| The Pentagon's new whiz kids | |
 | For decades, Defense Department policy wonks have sought to run the Pentagon more efficiently, especially in the acquisition of budget-busting hardware. But their efforts haven't always been supported by colleagues from the political or military brass. Now, Ash Carter's return to the Pentagon would crown a cadre of leaders seen as technocrats, not politicians, even as President Barack Obama moves to put the nation on a new war footing. For those who want serious reforms in the Defense Department -- even as the president begins to push a new war authorization resolution through Congress to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant -- the experience and outlook of this leadership team frame a rare moment for optimism amid all the war, congressional gridlock and continuing budget woes. |
| USAF Budget: Hardest Choices Yet to Come | |
 | The US Air Force requested $122.2 billion for fiscal 2016, a budget that emphasizes designing the Air Force of the future while addressing current needs. The budget was crafted to balance the future force with what Maj. Gen. Jim Martin, Air Force deputy assistant secretary for budget, called the "most urgent combat and commander requirements." James Poss, a retired major general and deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) with the US Air Force, supported the focus on ISR, although he cautioned against reading the budget as an unmitigated success for ISR proponents. "The budget isn't plussing-up ISR. It's more just not cutting it as heavily" as other sectors," Poss said. He, too, praised the decision to keep the U-2, even if just for a few more years. |
| Top tech CEOs to snub Obama cyber summit | |
 | The CEOs of Google, Yahoo and Facebook have declined invitations to attend President Obama's tech summit Friday at Stanford University. Though Apple CEO Tim Cook will be present along with the top executives from firms like Mastercard and Bank of America, the absence of leaders like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Marissa Mayer of Yahoo is notable. Experts see the snub as evidence of ongoing tensions between the Obama administration and Silicon Valley over privacy matters, particularly in the wake of news about National Security Agency spying. The first-of-its-kind event is designed to highlight rising cybersecurity threats and give government officials another chance to plead for more data-sharing from tech companies. |
| Alabama same-sex marriage resistance, federal law to collide in court | |
 | Alabama resistance and federal law will collide Thursday in Mobile, when U.S. District Judge Callie Granade holds a hearing on whether to force state probate judges to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. "It has been frustrating because we've done everything right, but the door is still closed," said attorney Christine Herandez, who will represent a group of same-sex couples at the afternoon hearing. She told the Los Angeles Times she visited the Mobile County probate office and "the door is literally closed." |
| In Chapel Hill Shooting of 3 Muslims, a Question of Motive | |
 | It was a little after 5 p.m., a quiet time in a quiet neighborhood, before many people had returned home from work on Tuesday, when two women called 911 to report multiple gunshots and screams echoing through a condominium complex here near the University of North Carolina. By the time the police arrived, three people were dead -- a newlywed couple and the woman's sister. They were young university students, Muslims of Arab descent, and high achievers who regularly volunteered in the area. A neighbor, a middle-aged white man, was missing -- then under arrest and charged with three counts of murder. The killings immediately set off a debate throughout the world over whether the students had been targeted because of their religion. |
| Bond set at $3M for Pearl River Community College rape suspect | |
 | Bond was set at $3 million today for a Pearl River Community College student charged with forcible rape and residential burglary. Laderrick J. Scott, 20, of Forest remains in the Pearl River County Jail after being charged in connection with the sexual assault of another PRCC student over the weekend, according to Pearl River County Sheriff and community college officials. A $10,000 cash bond was set on the burglary charge. Scott, who is listed on the PRCC Wildcats basketball team roster, was arrested early Sunday afternoon on the Poplarville campus. |
| Bill would give Tennessee's undocumented immigrants in-state tuition | |
 | Many undocumented immigrants going to college this year will continue to pay substantially more than their peers to stay in Tennessee, unless legislation introduced this week becomes law. Tennessee lawmakers filed a bill this week that would offer some undocumented immigrants in-state tuition at public colleges. The move was greeted with support from immigration advocates, business leaders and educators. But the withdrawal of a similar bill in 2014 casts some doubts over this year's prospects. |
| UGA scientists to study wild hogs and damage they cause | |
 | A University of Georgia wildlife scientist is trying to get an idea of just how much damage wild pigs do in the state -- and what farmers and other landowners would like to do about it. In 1982, feral swine were in 17 mostly southern states, including Georgia. But as of 2010, they'd expanded their range to at least 41 states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Their reproductive capacity is enormous," said Michael Mengak, a professor in UGA's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. And they're causing quite a bit of damage, said Mengak. The damage isn't limited to crops, either. |
| Renderings released for 1st phase of Baton Rouge's unique Water Campus | |
 | It's all bare earth now, but a big future is envisioned for the property along River Road at Oklahoma Street in Baton Rouge. The Water Campus is expected to be a national and international hub for river, coastal and delta research, and on Wednesday, government and nonprofit officials gathered to mark the beginning of construction for the project. The first of three buildings to start construction this year will be the LSU Center for River Studies, which will house a large-scale model of the lower Mississippi River. The model will allow researchers and students to test the river's workings and study the impact of modifications, like coastal restoration diversions. "This is not just about what we're doing at LSU," said F. King Alexander, LSU president. The intent is for the Water Campus to be a center for researchers from all over the world to work." |
| U. of Florida researchers see progress on new lupus treatment | |
| University of Florida Health researchers say a two-year study has shown promising progress on a potential new treatment for the autoimmune disease lupus. The UF study is part of a recent trend to repurpose drugs approved for other diseases and conditions to treat systemic lupus erythematosus, the most common form of a disease where the immune system malfunctions and attacks healthy cells and tissue. Lupus can cause widespread inflammation and tissue damage and lead to heart attacks, strokes, seizures, organ failure and, in dire cases, death, according to the Alliance for Lupus Research. |
| Texas A&M to save $8.2 million annually by not filling vacant positions | |
 | Texas A&M University Interim President Mark Hussey announced plans to eliminate all vacant non-faculty administrative staff positions effective Thursday, a move he said will save the school $8.2 million annually. According to a university press release, the budgeted funds from the eliminated positions will be reallocated to advance the university's academic mission. The funds will be directed to the president's office, which will soon likely be occupied by lone A&M presidential finalist Michael Young, where decisions for fund reallocation will me made in consultation with the provost's office, according to the press release. |
| Texas A&M University System hires another Texas journalist | |
| The Texas A&M University System hired another Texas journalist to join its communications department Wednesday. According to the Texas Tribune, higher education beat reporter Reeve Hamilton will leave the online news organization after five years to become an executive director of media relations for the system next week. |
| U. of Missouri president asks lawmakers to back 5 percent funding hike for higher education | |
 | The state must use money to fulfill political promises that higher education is a priority, University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday as he asked for a 5 percent increase in funding for colleges and universities. Backed by a letter signed by 13 community college presidents and 14 leaders of state four-year institutions, Wolfe said the state spends less on higher education per student than 10 states with lower taxes and 10 states rated as more conservative than Missouri. Higher education funding has declined nationally but in Missouri, it has fallen faster, Wolfe said. And tuition, used to replace diminishing state dollars, has risen slower in Missouri than in other states, Wolfe said. |
| U. of Missouri police investigate reported sexual assault | |
| University of Missouri police are investigating after a female student reported a sexual assault that occurred Sunday morning. Capt. Brian Weimer said officers contacted the victim, 18, at 8:39 p.m. Tuesday at her residence on campus. She told them a male student raped her at College Avenue Hall at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Weimer said. Weimer said the woman does not live in the building. Weimer did not know the age of her alleged assailant, whom MU police haven't arrested, but have identified the man. "We know the other party involved," Weimer said of the suspect, who also is a student. Police are still working to determine what happened. |
| Report seeks to add specificity to debate over states' performance-based funding models | |
 | Performance-based funding in higher education is spreading, with 35 states either developing or using formulas that link support for public colleges to student completion rates, degree production numbers or other metrics. The resulting debate over whether performance funding works is heating up, too. But a new report from HCM Strategists makes the case that there is great variation among the policies in those 35 states. It seeks to classify four types of formulas to help inform policy makers, researchers and higher education officials. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which supports performance-based funding, paid for the report from HCM, which is a public policy and advocacy firm. |
| Several students commit suicide at Tulane, Appalachian State | |
| It's Mardi Gras week in New Orleans, and students at Tulane University are busy prepping for the weekend's celebrations. But for some students, getting into the party spirit this year is proving difficult. "Students are trying to stay positive, and of course many of them are excited for Mardi Gras weekend," Dusty Porter, Tulane's vice president of student affairs, said. "But it's balanced by students struggling through some really unexpected losses." The cluster of students committing suicide, in particular, has rattled the Tulane campus and has left a university with a seemingly robust approach to mental health clambering to do more. Tulane is not alone in having such a cluster this year. Since September, nine students have died at Appalachian State University, as has a student who recently dropped out. Three of the deaths were ruled suicides. Like Tulane, Appalachian State has also seen a sharp increase in students using its counseling and psychological services. |
| Fulbright Program Seeks to Get More Community Colleges Involved in Exchanges | |
 | When someone mentions the Fulbright Program, it often evokes images of venerable researchers from elite institutions traveling to far-flung corners of the world. But the U.S. State Department is doing more to make sure that faculty members and others from community colleges also benefit from the exchange program, with the goal of getting more international perspectives into community-college campuses and classrooms. Like those enrolled at four-year colleges, community-college students will be entering an increasingly globalized work force. But they often have fewer opportunities to study abroad because many of them work, have families, or face financial hardships. |
| SAM R. HALL (OPINION): Presley won't be among Congressional candidates | |
| The Clarion-Ledger's Sam R. Hall writes: "Speculation about who will run for the first congressional district seat left open by the tragic passing of U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee started too early for my taste, but it's inevitable that names will now start being bandied around at an ever-increasing pace. One name that is getting a lot of attention is Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, whose district overlaps much of the open congressional district. Presley could very well be the most popular elected official in north Mississippi, which makes his odds at winning pretty good despite his being a Democrat in what is a heavily Republican district. But Presley won't be among the candidates running." |
| SID SALTER (OPINION): Mississippi Medicaid spending exceeds national growth | |
| Mississippi syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "When former state senator Tim Johnson announced his decision to switch from the GOP to the Democratic Party in declaring his intent to take on incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, it was a virtual certainty the subject of public health care spending would arise. Johnson sounded the theme early in his speech... Johnson is correct that Mississippi's Republican leadership has resisted Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. But the assertion that Mississippi has 'refused to accept the return of our federal tax dollars' is simply not true." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State baseball newcomers will fight for playing time | |
| The hard part might be over for Michael Smith. Smith, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound speedster who transferred from Walters State (Tenn.) Community College, admits his first few months as a member of the Mississippi State baseball team was a struggle. But Smith has figured it out. "It has definitely been different," said Smith, who had a .331 batting average and 29 stolen bases as a sophomore. "I kind of got off to a slow start in the fall. I was still getting used to the environment, the expectations. But then I realized it's just baseball, something I've been doing my whole life. That's when it became easier for me, and I've been much better this spring." MSU coach John Cohen and his coaching staff will be able to gauge Smith's progression at 4 p.m. Friday, when MSU opens its 125th season against Cincinnati at Dudy Noble Field. |
| Deep, talented SEC looks for another run at CWS | |
| The Southeastern Conference's depth and dominance in college baseball shows no sign of ending any time soon. Vanderbilt is coming off its first national championship after beating Virginia in the College World Series in June. LSU won a national title in 2009 while South Carolina took home back-to-back championships in 2010 and 2011. Florida, Georgia and Mississippi State have all played for the national championship in the past decade. "There's just so little difference in this league from the top to the bottom," Mississippi State coach John Cohen said. "That's why our teams do so well in the postseason. By the time you get through 30 games in our league, there's nothing you haven't seen." |
| Wheeler's Woodruff, a former Bulldog, living his dream | |
| Brandon Woodruff was drafted in the fifth round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers out of Wheeler High School. Woodruff chose instead to attend Mississippi State, where he helped lead the Bulldogs to three consecutive postseason appearances including a runner-up finish at the College World Series. When the Milwaukee Brewers selected Woodruff in the 11th round last June, the right-handed pitcher decided it was the right time to turn pro. "People think coming from a small 1A school like Wheeler you won't have the opportunity to do much," Woodruff said. "But I can tell you that if you set your mind to it and work hard you can do anything you want to do." |
| Mississippi State's early football enrollees impressing | |
| Malik Dear used to be referred to as a four-star prospect, a Dandy Dozen selection or a U.S. Army All-American. Now, he's just a "freshman." The former Murrah athlete is one of Mississippi State's six early enrollees who were plucked from high schools and junior colleges in January and thrown into life as Division-I football players. For players like Dear, the first few months can be a reality check. MSU is currently in middle of its eight-week spring conditioning program, and coach Dan Mullen said he's been "impressed" by the newcomers' ability to adjust in the limited time he's spent with them. |
| Ray confident Mississippi State isn't slumping | |
| Two weeks ago, Rick Ray said he would pay someone a lot of money to figure out "the enigma of Fred Thomas." The comment drew laughter after Mississippi State's best win of the season against LSU. The shooting guard's up-and-down season isn't that different from the Bulldogs as a whole. Tuesday's four-point loss to Alabama was one of the season's major low points. Overall, MSU has split its last eight games. The current trend is pointing downward with four losses in the last six games. "I don't think we're regressing at all," Ray said. "The end result isn't a win, but I don't think it's a situation where we're taking steps backwards." |
| NCAA implications on line for Mississippi State women tonight | |
| Mississippi State beat Texas A&M for the first time in program history last week. It climbed the polls to its highest rankings since 2003. If the season ended today, the Bulldogs would have a favorable chance at hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. "I don't talk a lot about it but obliviously I do, I pay attention to those things," MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. No. 13 MSU can boost its postseason resume today with a win at No. 10 Kentucky. |
| ADAM MINICHINO (OPINION): Don't stop believin' Mississippi State women will play host to NCAA tournament games | |
| The Dispatch's Adam Minichino writes: "South Detroit is a long way from Starkville. But the cell phones that lit up Humphrey Coliseum on Sunday afternoon showed that all it takes is one classic song to bridge more than 800 miles. By now, nearly everyone who follows Mississippi State sports has come to know the song 'Don't Stop Believin'' by the band Journey as the school's song. The football team made it famous on its run to No. 1 in the nation and its first 10-win regular season in school history. These days, the MSU women's basketball team is taking a piece from coach Dan Mullen's team and making that song its own. Instead of a bowl game, MSU hopes to use the sentiment of that song to help it earn a chance to play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament." |
| Former athletes support Lady Vols name at capitol | |
| A group of former University of Tennessee women athletes talked to lawmakers and other stakeholders at the capitol on Wednesday about the university's decision to largely drop the Lady Vols nickname. The former athletes were at the legislature as part of Lady Vols Day on the Hill, which was hosted by Knoxville state Rep. Roger Kane. The athletes and Kane want the university to keep the Lady Vols name and logo. Citing branding consistency, the university has decided to drop the Lady Vols name effective July 1 and refer to all of its women's athletics teams as the Volunteers. The women's basketball team will continue to go by the Lady Vols, however. |
| LSU's 'Voice of the Tigers' Jim Hawthorne to retire next year | |
| The first game Jim Hawthorne broadcasted, he was a teenager calling the Leesville Wampus Cats. He listened to the tape the next morning and recoiled. "I sounded like a cross between Gomer Pyle and Daffy Duck," Hawthorne said. "I was embarrassed to tears." He may have quit right there had his mother not urged him to continue. "Jimmy," she told him, "keep doing that." For more than a half a century, Jimmy did. That ends next year. Hawthorne, LSU's longtime sports play-by-play broadcaster, is retiring after next basketball season, he announced on Wednesday. The 71-year-old has spent 35 years calling LSU games. He'll call his final season of baseball this year, and he expects it to be a good one. |
| Rape charge against ex-U. of Kentucky football player Lloyd Tubman is dismissed | |
 | A Fayette County grand jury decided Wednesday not to indict former University of Kentucky football player Lloyd Tubman on a charge of first-degree rape. "It's over," Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson said. According to court documents, Tubman, 20, was charged in October after a woman with whom he had a previous relationship accused him of raping her in her dorm room. Larson said attorneys from his office presented evidence to the grand jury over a three-day period, "and they heard everything we could present, and they chose not to indict." UK officials said last week that Tubman was not enrolled at the university and was not taking classes. |
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