| Thursday, February 26, 2015 |
| Winter weather closes Mississippi State's Starkville campus Thursday | |
 | Mississippi State University in Starkville will remain closed Thursday due to winter weather. Severe winter weather conditions in Central and North Mississippi have made driving conditions extremely dangerous. MSU-Meridian will open Thursday on a delayed start at 9:30 a.m. The MSU Riley Center will be open on a regular schedule. It is expected that both campuses will be open for normal operations on Friday. Monitor www.emergency.msstate.edu and www.twitter.com/maroonalert for updates. |
| Weather-related closings, cancellations for Thursday | |
 | Both Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women are closed today due to winter conditions. All East Mississippi Community College locations are closed during regular business hours today, as well. The college said a decision about night classes will be made about 2 p.m. All public schools in the Golden Triangle have cancelled classes for today. Numerous private schools in the Golden Triangle are closed, including Starkville Academy and Starkville Christian School. |
| With 'CSI Cyber' Coming to CBS In March, Mississippi State Expert Weighs In | |
 | WCBI-TV is set to begin airing the fourth series in the CBS CSI spinoff. Cyber crime is one of the fastest-growing criminal activity affecting us locally and abroad. Mississippi State University has gotten national awards in the field of cyber crime research. "I can delete the email on my computer, you can delete the email on your computer, but it's gone through a couple of servers. Those servers may have been backed up. So just because we both deleted the email on either end doesn't mean its really gone," said Mississippi State cyber security expert Dr. Drew Hamilton. Hamilton, who has for years been monitoring all aspects of cyber security, admits not being an avid fan of television versions of cyber warfare, which he says looks easier to solve than the real life realities of catching a criminal. |
| Mississippi must have strong universities | |
 | The Natchez Democrat publishes a column by Mississippi's public university presidents: "When it comes to education and money, two questions permeate conversations from the halls of the Capitol to the booths of the local coffee shop: How much is enough? How can we get the best return on the state's investment in education? ...Mississippi Public Universities are doing their part -- enrolling 94,000 students in an academic year and awarding more than 16,000 degrees, which represents a 10.9 percent increase over the past five years. ...As our economy rebounds, let's invest now in our public universities because our future depends on it. We urge legislators to take this moment in history to invest strategically in Mississippi's universities, which will allow our state to reap the benefits of that investment for years to come." |
| Tupelo's Collins to run for open congressional seat | |
 | State Sen. Nancy Collins, R-Tupelo, announced Wednesday she is running for the vacant 1st District congressional seat. "After much prayerful consideration, I have decided to declare my candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, so that I might bring a strong conservative agenda to Washington, D.C. on behalf of the 1st District," Collins said in a prepared statement. Collins becomes the second candidate to announce for the position vacated by the death of third-term Congressman Alan Nunnelee on Feb. 6. Rep. Chris Brown, R-Aberdeen, said Tuesday he would run. |
| House votes to phase out income tax | |
| The state House voted 83-32 Wednesday to phase out the state income tax, which provides about 30 percent of the Mississippi general fund revenue. "I am so proud of the House members who stepped up to support such a transformative income tax cut proposal," House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, said in prepared remarks after the vote. Rep. Bobby Moak of Bogue Chitto, the House Democratic leader, said, the income tax phase-out proposal would be "little more than a tax shift" if it becomes law, forcing local governments and people paying college tuition to make up for the loss of state revenue. But he went on the say in reality the proposal was election year politics by the Republican majority and the proposal would be killed later in the legislative process. |
| House passes largest tax cut in state history | |
 | The state House on Wednesday passed what would be the largest tax cut in state history: phasing out the individual income tax – projected to bring in $1.7 billion this year – over 15 years. "Government generates no money. Government generates no money. Government generates no money," said Rep. Mark Formby, R-Picayune, during a two-hour, partisan and philosophical debate. "Every dime we spend comes right out of someone's pocket." House Democratic Leader Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, decried the measure as partisan election year pandering and "a tax shift." But then he voted for it, and urged fellow Democrats to do likewise for political cover in elections. |
| Mississippi House passes bill to phase out state income tax | |
 | The Mississippi House argued two hours Wednesday before passing an election-year proposal that could become one of the biggest tax cuts in state history if it becomes law -- a plan to phase out the state's personal income tax over the next 15 years if the economy grows. The bill passed the Republican-led House 82-32, with several Democrats voting for the bill after they criticized it and tried to change it. However, it's unclear whether the bill, with a price tag of $1.7 billion, will survive the Senate. |
| Chris McDaniel is running... | |
| State Sen. Chris McDaniel is running for a third term in state Senate District 42, he announced today, ending speculation that he might run for lieutenant governor, governor, attorney general, president ... you name it. "I have spent a great deal of time with my family and closest friends coming to this decision," McDaniel said in a statement. "I am honored by the hundreds of personal calls and thousands of messages I have received asking me to seek higher office. However, I believe the best possible decision I can make for my family and for the conservative movement in Mississippi is to seek re-election to the Mississippi State Senate and continue to build a solid foundation for conservatives to come together across the state." |
| Businessman, Mississippi's ex-prison chief plead guilty | |
| A businessman says a former Mississippi prison official solicited the first in a series of bribes that eventually mounted to $1.5 million. Former Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps and businessman Cecil McCrory pleaded guilty Wednesday – Epps to two felony counts and McCrory to one. McCrory says Epps initially pushed him to pay $200,000 on his mortgage on a home in a gated subdivision. That kicked off years of bribes that helped Epps acquire a beachfront condo, and a pair of top-of-the-line Mercedes Benz cars. |
| Chris Epps, Cecil McCrory plead guilty to corruption | |
| Former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps pleaded guilty to two federal charges Wednesday --- and officials talked of more indictments in the continuing investigation. "I'm sorry for what I've done," Epps told U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate. "I've repented before God. I apologize to my family and the state of Mississippi." He first met Cecil McCrory in 1997 when he was serving in the Mississippi Legislature. "He gave me gratuities," said Epps, who was working for the state Department of Corrections but was not yet commissioner. McCrory, who also pleaded guilty Wednesday, said Epps was the one who approached him about paying off the Flowood home. |
| MUW presidential search committee named | |
 | The State College Board has named a three person search committee to help with the selection of the new president of the Mississippi University for Women. IHL President Aubrey Patterson says C. D. Smith, Shane Hooper and Christy Pickering will conduct the search. Dr. Jim Borsig, the current MUW president, was recently named the new Commissioner of Higher Education. |
| Mississippi emerges as leader in telemedicine | |
 | Mississippi has a sickly reputation. The Magnolia State ranks at or near the bottom in most health rankings: worst infant mortality and most kids born with low birth weight; second-to-highest rate of obesity and cancer deaths; second from the last in diabetes outcomes. But the state is a leader in one aspect of health care: telemedicine. The state's only academic hospital has remote connections with 165 sites, providing specialized services to some of the state's most far-flung, medically deprived cities and towns. Mississippi's congressional delegation is at the center of a small group of lawmakers championing telemedicine. Trent Lott of Mississippi and former Senate majority leader, is lobbying big for the technology. |
| Ole Miss student killed in sledding accident | |
| A University of Mississippi student was killed in a sledding accident Wednesday. The accident happened at the Highland Square Apartments around 5:30 p.m, WREG reported. Oxford Police said the student, a male in his early twenties, struck a street sign and was transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. |
| LSU report: Daily Reveille commits entire paper front to topic of higher education budget cuts | |
 | With scheduled budget cuts imminent, LSU's Daily Reveille devoted an entire paper front to the topic for Thursday. Higher education in Louisiana faces a $383 million reduction, according to LSU Budget Hub, with the possibility of the proposed budget cut reducing the roughly 13.5 percent of the University's revenue coming from the state to 6 percent. The Reveille also covers how LSU will lean on fundraising as a hopeful source of funding amid these cuts. |
| UGA to formally open Washington building | |
| The University of Georgia is holding a ribbon cutting for a building that will provide living, classroom and study space for students and faculty in the nation's capital. The university will hold a ribbon cutting for Delta Hall on Thursday. Since being purchased by the university it has undergone renovations that make it capable of housing 32 students who are interning and studying in Washington as well as faculty and staff. |
| U. of Tennessee releases four years' worth of data on sex assaults | |
 | Reports of sexual assault involving University of Tennessee students jumped by 80 percent in the space of a year from 2013 to 2014, statistics released by UT show. The revelation came Wednesday as the university released four years of data about sexual assaults between students --- on campus and off campus. The release marks the first time such data about students, regardless of the location, has been released, said Karen Simsen, UT spokeswoman. The statistics cover reports of student-on-student sexual assault from 2011-2014. |
| U. of Florida's O'Dome renovations postponed for a year | |
 | The renovation of the O'Dome is a no-go for this year. University of Florida officials announced late Wednesday they were putting off the ambitious renovation of the O'Connell Center by a year. Construction was scheduled to begin on the 35-year-old athletic center in March after the end of the regular basketball season. The quick turnaround, rising costs, and replacing the construction management team led UF officials to announce the delay, UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said. "It just seemed like an opportunity to step back and look at it again, and that's what we're doing," Sikes said. |
| Texas A&M yell leader election appeal reveals votes have been miscounted since 2012 | |
 | A Wednesday night appeal contesting the results of Texas A&M University's 2015 senior yell leader election revealed that the races for the three spots have been tabulated against school election commission regulations since the 2012-2013 academic year, leaving two-thirds of votes unaccounted for in prior yell leader elections. The Texas A&M Student Government Association's Judicial Court heard arguments from students in a case against the election commission that will decide if a recount of the senior yell leader election will take place or if it will accept the results that selected Steven Lanz, Kyle Cook and Zachary Lawrence as 2015 senior yell leaders. |
| U. of Missouri's new provost says she is ready to tackle tough issues on campus | |
 | The University of Missouri's new provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, Garnett Stokes, said Wednesday she has spent her first weeks at MU becoming familiar with campus. Stokes started the job on Feb. 2, settling into temporary quarters in the General Services Building while offices in Jesse Hall are under renovation. Stokes came to MU from Florida State University where she was provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. She served as interim president for seven months in 2014. She holds degrees in industrial/organizational psychology and has been on the faculty at the University of Georgia and Franklin College. In a wide-ranging discussion with a number of news media representatives on Wednesday, Stokes fielded questions. |
| For Better or Worse, Universities Make Greater Use of Smaller Lab Animals | |
 | First they helped save some chimpanzees and cats. Now they're coming for the mice and the rats. Researchers with the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, in an article published on Wednesday in the Journal of Medical Ethics, said moves by lab scientists away from using large animals is obscuring the growing use of rodents and other small animals. The federal government's Animal Welfare Act, in effect since 1966, protects warm-blooded species, with the exception of most birds, rats, and mice used in research. |
SPORTS
| No. 11 Mississippi State visits No. 2 Gamecocks | |
| No. 11 Mississippi State wraps up its regular season road slate with its toughest test at No. 2 South Carolina tonight at 6 p.m. CT on FSN. It will be the sixth ranked opponent the Bulldogs (25-4, 10-4) have met this year, going 3-2 in those clashes. MSU is coming off a close 57-55 win at Alabama on Sunday to give Vic Schaefer's squad the most wins in a season in school history. Back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week Victoria Vivians continues to lead the Bulldogs and the rest of the league's rookies with 14.9 points per game. |
| Mississippi State trying to boost postseason resume at South Carolina | |
| Mississippi State's women's basketball team understood the challenge February presented. The shortest month of the year opened with a trip to No. 6 Tennessee. It ends with a matchup at No. 2 South Carolina today at 6 p.m. The Bulldogs played two more top 15 opponents within the book-ended road trips. "The biggest thing you better draw from it is just the competitive and physical nature of the game. Because it's going to be that at South Carolina," MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. "If you're not competitive, if you're not ready to step into that arena and fight and get after it, it doesn't matter what the gameplan is." |
| Mississippi State baseball announces schedule changes for this weekend | |
| Mississippi State baseball has moved up the first pitch times for this Friday and Saturday's games scheduled at Dudy Noble Field. Game one of Friday's doubleheader between Samford and Arizona will now begin at 12 p.m., followed by MSU's first game of the weekend at 4 p.m. against Arizona. Saturday's doubleheader featuring the Maroon and White will now begin at 11 a.m. MSU will play Arizona on the SEC Network first, before playing Samford 35 minutes following the conclusion of game one. Sunday's schedule could change later in the week. |
| Still purrrfect: Wildcats' stretch run puts away pesky Bulldogs | |
| Any ideas of Mississippi State ending top-ranked Kentucky's 27-game winning streak the way it did in 1996 were short-lived on Wednesday night. The Wildcats turned a slim four-point lead early in the second half into a 74-56 blowout inside a snow covered Humphrey Coliseum. "Everybody will look at the score and think Kentucky had another easy game against Mississippi State," said MSU coach Rick Ray. "For people that actually watched the game, they saw it was a difficult ballgame until that stretch run. I would've liked to play the way we did in that first 29 minutes during the last 11 minutes but it kind of got away from us in that last stretch." |
| Kentucky's Devin Booker of Moss Point overcomes slow start | |
 | On a cold and snowy night at Humphrey Coliseum, Kentucky guard Devin Booker returned to the state of Mississippi for the first time since graduating from Moss Point High School last year. Booker came off the bench to score 14 points in the Wildcats' 74-56 victory. He shot 6-for-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 beyond three-point range. Booker surpassed his season average of 11 per game. The 6-foot-5 Booker wasn't made available to the media after the game, but posted on his Twitter page, "Back in the Sip. Far from the coast though." Kentucky Coach John Calipari was critical of Booker's first-half effort. |
| Former Meridian High coach now at Mississippi State | |
 | Kevin Roberts is gaining experience in the college coaching profession, all while remaining not too far from home. The former Meridian High School defensive backs coach and 2009 graduate took a position last July as a player personnel/recruiting intern at Southern Mississippi. His duties also included helping coach the Golden Eagles defensive backs under coach Pete Golding. This past Friday, Roberts took a similar position with the Mississippi State football team as a recruiting and defensive assistant. The position will allow him to learn from the likes of defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, safeties coach and recruiting coordinator Tony Hughes and cornerbacks coach DeShea Townsend -- and, of course, head coach Dan Mullen. "It's a blessing, just being able to be in the room with those great minds," Roberts said. |
| RICK CLEVELAND (OPINION): Ferriss, Polk pointed the way to Mississippi's baseball rise | |
| Mississippi syndicated sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "These eyes have seen some seismic changes in nearly a half century of covering Mississippi sports. The most dramatic, of course, has been the integration of all sports, even at the academies that sprang up as a result of integration. Sports have shown us, in living color, that blacks and whites could work and bond together and be better for it. No. 2 would have to be the meteoric rise in participation of females in sports. Hard to believe that fewer than 50 years ago, women were thought to be too dainty to play full-court basketball, much less run a mile. High on the list of change, perhaps as high as third, would have to be the advancement of high school baseball as a sport of emphasis in the Magnolia State." |
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