| Tuesday, April 7, 2015 |
| Mississippi State Students Making 2016 Camaro More Efficient | |
 | Mississippi State students are taking on a new challenge, hoping to drive away the winner in a car rebuild competition. EcoCar 3 is a 4 year competition sponsored by GM and the Department of Energy, where 15 teams of college students across the country try to make a car more fuel efficient, while keeping up its performance standards. They may look like mechanics but they are all college students, working to improve the future of the car industry by coming up with creative ways to improve them. The student team has a reputation of success, winning the competition 4 times so far. The team will compete in the first round of competition next month, they will get their Camaro to work on in December. |
| Work beginning on $40M student housing investment on Blackjack Road | |
 | Workers have begun constructing a new 15-acre, $40 million student housing project along Blackjack Road that will eventually house about 800 residents. Michael Augustine, president of Innovative Real Estate Companies, confirmed his organization is developing an area near the Blackjack-Hardy roads that will consist of a two-story clubhouse and six additional four-story apartment buildings. Construction should end in the summer of 2016, in time for Mississippi State University's 2016-2017 academic year. |
| Nitrogen fertilization efficiency is a must | |
 | Improving fertilizer efficiency has become a necessity rather than an option, says Joe Varco, professor of plant and soil sciences at Mississippi State University. "It costs money to fertilize, and not only does it cost money, but the EPA is watching what we do," says Varco. "They're looking at growers and looking at nitrogen and where it's going. So we've got to improve the efficiency when we put it out." Nitrogen represents 35 to 40 percent of the input costs of growing corn in Mississippi, he adds. |
| Ramey Agency adds 5 to staff, including Mississippi State alums | |
 | The Ramey Agency, a brand strategy and marketing communications firm, has added Crystal Coleman, Don Hawkins, Swayze Pentecost, Sam Potesky and Sherry Spille. After growing up in Batesville, Coleman attended Mississippi State University and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with an emphasis in Graphic Design. She is now a Senior Art Director at Ramey where she will provide art direction and graphic design. Pentecost was raised in Jackson and received her Bachelor's Degree in Interior Design at Mississippi State University and Master's Degree in Preservation Studies from Tulane University. At Ramey, Swayze will serve as an Associate Account Executive assisting various accounts of the agency. |
| Registration deadline Wednesday for GRE workshop at MSU-Meridian | |
 | A daylong workshop on the GRE will take place Saturday at Mississippi State University-Meridian. The workshop will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in room 008 on the College Park campus and is sponsored by the campus Psychology Club. Rod Wilson said the workshop is designed to familiarize students with the exam's three major domains and share test-taking strategies. Wilson, an assistant professor of psychology at MSU-Meridian, is the workshop's coordinator. "As with any standardized test of this magnitude, stress management plays an important role," he said. |
| GRE Workshop Offered April 11 at MSU-Meridian | |
 | MSU-Meridian is offering GRE (Graduate Record Exam) workshop Saturday. The GRE is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for most graduate schools in the United States. The deadline to register is Wednesday. t will help get students ready for the exam's three major domains along with test-taking strategies to help you pass it. "It continues to help students get out of the way of themselves," said Rod Wilson, assistant professor of psychology. "You're familiar with something, which we know drops anxiety, which helps you perform to the best of your ability." |
| Historic building tax credit program almost broke | |
 | A tax credit program that has been used to revitalize historic buildings across Mississippi is almost out of money. House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, dropped legislation that would have raised the program's cap. It cleared the House before dying in a conference committee. Without a special session, available money will likely run out this year, Gunn said. If the cap isn't raised, it definitely will affect The Mill at MSU. The mixed-use development that will be anchored by a conference center in Mississippi State's Cooley Building will be ready for its first tenant May 15, developer Mark Castleberry said. The project has qualified for $3.8 million in state historic tax credits because the Cooley building dates to the early 1900s, when it was a cotton mill before it housed MSU's physical plant. It's possible there won't be that much left once Castleberry applies to actually receive the credit. |
| MBN working to establish source of spice overdoses | |
| The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics is following leads to determine the source of a synthetic drug called spice, or synthetic marijuana, that put more than 30 people in the emergency room over the weekend. MBN Director Sam Owens said that it's a safe bet the cases in the Jackson metro area are all connected. Officials from the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Mississippi Department of Health said this is the highest number of overdoses they've seen in recent memory. There's even a report of a person who was not transported to the hospital who may have died of a spice overdose. Other case have been reported on the coast and in Meridian, Philadelphia and Monticello, officials said. |
| Two 1st District candidate debates set | |
 | Candidates running for Mississippi's 1st Congressional District seat will have an opportunity to speak directly to voters during two debates this month. The Pontotoc Republican Executive Committee will kick off the first of the area debates at 6 p.m. tonight for all 13 candidates who qualified for the position vacant since the death of Congressman Alan Nunnelee. The event will be at the Pontotoc Community House and is free and open to the public. The Lee County Republican Club will host a debate at 6 p.m. April 20 at the Link Centre. Candidates in the special election will run together in a nonpartisan election, and the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff if no one obtains a majority vote. The runoff is slated for June 2. |
| Update on Mississippi House race | |
| The election to fill the congressional seat left vacant by the death earlier this year of Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R) in Mississippi's 1st District is developing quickly now that the March 27 filing deadline has passed. Thirteen candidates filed for the seat. The election will be held on May 12 and an all-but-certain runoff will be on June 2. In a special election, party affiliation is not designated on the ballot, but 12 of the candidates are self-described Republicans to only one Democrat. Of interest, none of the politicos identified with state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R), who narrowly lost a primary challenge to US Sen. Thad Cochran (R) last year, entered the race. Moreover, so far, McDaniel's United Conservatives Fund has not endorsed a candidate. |
| Conservative group ALEC tired of being accused of climate denial -- and is fighting back | |
 | Facing a loss of high-profile corporate sponsors, a conservative state-level policy group -- the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) -- threatened action in recent weeks against activist groups that accuse it of denying climate change. The legal demands from ALEC follow an exodus of some of its best known corporate members, including Google, British Petroleum, Facebook, Yahoo and Northrop Grumman. Activist groups had pressured these corporate sponsors in recent years to abandon their support for organizations that they believe oppose action to stem climate change. The legal spat is an escalation of the conflict and suggests ALEC is feeling the heat of the activist groups' efforts. |
| Kansas wants to ban welfare recipients from seeing movies, going swimming on government's dime | |
| There's nothing fun about being on welfare, and a new Kansas bill aims to keep it that way. If House Bill 2258 is signed into law by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) this week, Kansas families receiving government assistance will no longer be able to use those funds to visit swimming pools, see movies, go gambling or get tattoos on the state's dime. Those are just a few of the restrictions contained within the measure that promises to tighten regulations on how poor families spend their government aid. State Sen. Michael O'Donnell, a Wichita Republican who has advocated for the bill, said the legislation is designed to pressure those receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to spend "more responsibly." |
| Oxford student housing zoning decision headed to court | |
 | The developer of a student-geared housing townhouse project and the owners of the 30 acres of property where it would sit have appealed the denial of their rezoning request to Lafayette County Circuit Court. Published reports say city aldermen denied the rezoning petition in March. The request was denied, not by vote, but by a lack of a motion to approve the rezoning. City planning officials recommended denying the rezoning, saying the developer failed to prove a need for more such property in Oxford. |
| Farmer's market returns to USM | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi hosted their annual farmer's market in Shoemaker Square on campus. Vendors lined the street with local fresh produce for the fourth year in a row. Blueberry lemonade, homemade bar soap, and potted plants were also among the favorites. "We have gotten very positive response from our faculty, staff, and students," said USM Sustainability Coordinator Christina Foreman. "Everyone we talk to is super excited about having fresh produce available to them right here on campus." |
| SAEs at Delta State sponsor event to help children | |
| The Delta Sigma Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon on the campus of Delta State University will host its second Children's Miracle Network Walkathon from noon-2 p.m. Saturday at the DSU fitness trail. "Raffle tickets will also be available for $5. The raffle tickets enters you in a chance for a $50 gas card and it includes lunch if you get one," said TJ Hendrix, committee chair. "This is our second year to do this event and it is being planned by new members of the fraternity. CMN has a network of over 170 hospitals; the nearest CMN hospital to our reading area is La Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis. |
| C Spire to provide high-speed Internet service for Belhaven campus | |
| Belhaven University has signed with C Spire to provide high speed Internet service to its students. The agreement was announced Monday in news release. The offerings will include high definition television service, wireless phones, voice over IP phone service and dedicated high-speed fiber optic Internet access to the 400 full-time faculty and administration. Brian Caraway, senior vice president of enterprise markets for C Spire says Belhaven is the first college in Mississippi to sign up for the service. |
| Itawamba Community College employee takes position on workforce investment board | |
 | An Itawamba Community College employee will take a new position as the executive director of Mississippi's State Workforce Investment Board. Corinth's James Williams, the vice president of economic and community services at ICC, will begin the new position in May. Williams has more than 30 years' work experience in the community college system. He has also operated four WIN Job Centers, three of which were implemented under his leadership. While at ICC, he has helped with the Manufacturing Solutions Center at ICC-Belden, the Mississippi Corridor Consortium, the Counseling to Career program, Toyota's Advanced Manufacturing Technician program, the National Career Readiness Center and more. |
| Student media restructuring at Auburn causes uproar, Student Affairs cites convergence | |
 | Auburn University's Division of Student Affairs has cited sound financial footing and an evolving digital media landscape for its recent restructuring of student media, but some students and alumni are unhappy with the way the transition has been handled. Associate Provost and Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Bobby Woodard and Manager of Communications and Marketing for the Division of Student Affairs Elizabeth Stone met with student media leaders last month to announce the restructuring, which will lead to the elimination of nine university positions and the creation of five. The new organization is the result of research over the past four years, Woodard said, along with two independent consultant reports: one on student newspaper The Auburn Plainsman and one on student media outlets The Glomerata, The Auburn Circle, WEGL and Eagle Eye TV. |
| Ag Week kicks off at Auburn -- Alabama's 'Cow College' | |
| Auburn University students crowded around two pens on the university green space early Monday afternoon, posing for selfies with a menagerie of unfamiliar campus residents. AU Block and Bridle President Michelle Bufkin helped passersby feed hay to goats at the kickoff of the College of Agriculture's annual Ag Week. "This is the first time we've done a petting zoo ... to kind of kick it off," the senior in agriculture communications said. "We thought that we could bring farm animals to the main campus. We're reminding people that Auburn is the state's cow college." |
| U. of South Carolina to focus on 'problems of incivility' after racist photo | |
 | The University of South Carolina is holding events this week for students to discuss their reactions to a photo showing a student writing on a white board with a racial slur. After the photo surfaced on the Internet, the school suspended a student who also faces code of conduct investigations, USC President Harris Pastides said in a statement Friday. So far this year, 26 students have been suspended from the university, which has nearly 32,000 undergraduate and graduate students, according to USC spokesman Wes Hickman. The number of USC students suspended each school year has ranged from a low of 20 in 2010-11 to a high of 72 in 2012-13. Last school year, 41 students were suspended. "Offenses that jeopardize the safety of others are the most common that result in suspension," Hickman said. |
| Doctor's orders: Researchers at UGA analyze how physician advice influences weight loss | |
 | New research out of the University of Georgia shows just how much doctor's orders matter in weight loss, with the revelation that patients who received personalized advice from their physician to lose weight proved more successful than those who weren't advised to do so. Joshua Berning, an assistant professor of agricultural and applied economics in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, analyzed national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and found that female patients told to lose weight dropped 10 pounds over a one-year period. Male patients lost 12 pounds during the same time frame. Berning said he hopes his research can help further the understanding of how consumers' shopping and eating habits are affec |
| Report: Underage Louisiana college students busted for towing 1,800-plus cans of beer, liquor to Gulf Shores | |
 | Four underaged Louisiana college students were busted Monday on I-10 after the Mobile County Sheriff's Office pulled them over and found them hauling a sizable amount of alcohol to the beach. According to WKRG, the teens were driving a pickup truck and hauling a trailer with expired tags. When pulled over, deputies asked to search the trailer and found more than 100 18-packs of beer and several bottles of liquor. The group said they were headed to Gulf Shores for spring break. |
| After Bush order, Florida universities cope with shrinking black enrollment | |
| As he courts Republicans across the country, Jeb Bush boasts that an executive order he signed that ended race-based college admissions in Florida upheld conservative principles while helping minorities. "We ended up having a system where there were more African American and Hispanic kids attending our university system than prior to the system that was discriminatory," the former governor and likely presidential contender said recently at a conference of conservative activists. But at Florida's two premier universities, black enrollment is shrinking. At the University of Florida in Gainesville and at Florida State University in Tallahassee, administrators say they worry that the trend risks diminishing their standing as world-class universities and hurts the college experience. |
| Colleges Launch Food Pantries to Help Low-Income Students | |
 | Food pantries, where students in need can stock up on groceries and basic supplies, started cropping up on campuses in large numbers after the recession began in 2007. More than 200 U.S. colleges, mostly public institutions, now operate pantries, and more are on the way, even as the economy rebounds. The stigma attached to receiving free food has diminished among students as food security -- a term used by the U.S. government to describe reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food -- is regarded on campuses increasingly as a right. |
| Rutgers suspends fraternity, sorority parties for rest of semester | |
 | Rutgers University is banning all fraternity and sorority house parties for the remainder of the semester after several alcohol-related incidents, officials announced Monday. The ban applies to all 86 fraternities and sororities at the school and will be reevaluated in the fall, E.J. Mirada, a Rutgers spokesman, told the Los Angeles Times. "In light of a number of alcohol-related incidents this year involving greek organizations, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs (OFSA) has placed a moratorium through the end of the semester on parties in fraternity and sorority houses," the school said in a prepared statement. "Organizations are still allowed to host formals and other events where a licensed third-party vendor is used to serve alcohol, but they will not be allowed to host parties in their houses." |
| Frat suspends Clemson students over racially charged party | |
| The national leadership of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity says it suspended about two dozen members at Clemson University and removed chapter leaders after the group held a Christmas theme party that raised social tensions at the school. The "Cripmas" party had students dressed like gang members, wearing red and blue bandanas and T-shirts with images of the late rapper Tupac Shakur. The national fraternity released a statement Monday saying the party was inexcusable and inappropriate, and it apologized to the campus. |
| Anna Deavere Smith delivers NEH's Jefferson Lecture | |
 | From dramatic funding cuts to dismissive political rhetoric, the U.S. hasn't been particularly hospitable to the humanities in recent years. Yet the humanities remain fundamentally American and full of promise to Anna Deavere Smith. The noted actress and playwright delivered the National Endowment for the Humanities's annual Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities here Monday evening, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. "The humanities represent meaning -- we can all go make a craft and learn how to do something, but that is the future of work, as in tasks, not a career," Smith said before her lecture. "What's a career? It's an assemblage of experiences with the expectation that you will develop gravitas. You need the humanities to give you a larger worldview." |
| CHARLIE MITCHELL (OPINION): Information sellers still in search of a way to get paid | |
| Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "By now, we all know the financial arrangement that sustained print and broadcast media companies for many decades has been diluted. The major source of money for media operations came from advertisers who found it beneficial to piggyback their messages with news and entertainment. As more and more people shop online for jobs, homes, cars, clothing and other consumer needs, advertisers' dollars are being spent more broadly. ...So, for at least 15 years, media companies have been casting about for other revenue streams. ...Where is all of this going? The only thing that can be said for sure is that the demand for news and information and entertainment is increasing exponentially." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State visits Memphis tonight | |
| Mississippi State is seeking to end a two-game skid in midweek play, traveling to Memphis to take on the Tigers at AutoZone Park at 6:30 p.m. today. The Bulldogs (21-13) will also be looking for payback after Memphis scored three runs in the top of the 9th inning to rally for a 6-4 victory in Starkville last year. The Diamond Dogs will send sophomore right-hander Austin Sexton (3-2, 3.20 ERA) to the mound while Memphis counters with senior southpaw Alex Gunn (2-0, 1.96 ERA), a Clinton native. |
| Mississippi State still unranked but gained momentum in South Carolina series win | |
| Mississippi State remained unranked for the second straight week but the nation's coaches took note of the Bulldogs' series-win against South Carolina. MSU received 18 votes this week in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Another strong week will undoubtedly thrust MSU back into the top 25. The Bulldogs travel to Memphis on Tuesday before heading to College Station, Texas for a matchup with No. 1 Texas A&M. The Aggies boast a 30-2 record. The lone losses came in the SEC at Alabama and home against Missouri. |
| A host of former Bulldogs set to impact 2015 MLB season | |
| As major league ballparks across the nation open their gates for Opening Day, Mississippi State played a hand in supplying the talent on the fields. Four former Mississippi State baseball players are on major league rosters to start the season. Three more former MSU players are currently serving in managerial or coaching roles. Pitchers Jonathan Papelbon for Philadelphia and Kendal Graveman for Oakland toe the rubber this week as former Bulldogs. Mitch Mooreland is listed as Texas' starting designated hitter and Tyler Moore is the Nationals' starting left fielder. |
| Mississippi State softball sweeps Arkansas | |
| In front of a national television audience, Mississippi State (29-10, 8-7 SEC) used a total team effort on both sides of the ball, including late-inning dominance to collect a 16-4 win over Arkansas (14-24, 0-12 SEC) in six innings on Monday night at Bogle Park. The Bulldogs clinched their second Southeastern Conference series victory of the season and their first conference sweep of 2015. State will return home for a mid-week game that will be recorded as non-conference vs. No. 2 LSU on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The game will air on SEC Network+. |
| Mississippi State's Silkwood repeats as SEC Pitcher of the Week | |
| Continuing her stellar stretch that began 12 days ago, sophomore Alexis Silkwood was named Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Week for the second time in as many weeks, the league office announced Monday. Silkwood went 2-0 on the week with an ERA of 0.00 in 16 innings over appearances. Her two wins were complete-game shutouts and her third appearance was a save to set her stretch of scoreless innings pitched at 16. The East Alton, Ill. product allowed just six hits on the week and struck out 12. This marks the sixth SEC weekly honor Silkwood has earned in her career and the second this season after having been named SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week on March 30. |
| Mississippi State plans to make most of spring's final two weeks | |
| Dan Mullen gave Mississippi State the Easter weekend off. With a few days free of football, players went home to spend the weekend with family. They return to the practice fields Tuesday to begin the final two weeks of spring practice. Only six sessions remain with four practices, a scrimmage and it all concludes April 18 with the Maroon and White game. "I think our guys have a great attitude," MSU coach Dan Mullen said. "I think they competed, I think they played hard, they give good effort. But I think they've got to really learn how to maximize themselves out here on the field." |
| Lawsuit filed in former Alabama athletic director Mal Moore's death | |
 | Mal Moore's daughter has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against two pharmaceutical companies that manufactured and marketed the heart medication attorneys say contributed to his death two years ago. The retired athletic director for the University of Alabama died while awaiting a lung transplant at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. on March 30, 2013. The federal lawsuit filed on March 30 claims that Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Par Pharmaceuticals Companies Inc. marketed the drug amiodarone as medication suitable for patients with non-life-threatening irregular heartbeats. According to the suit, the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a "last-resort" option with serious side-effects. |
| Mitt Romney's Remarkable NCAA Bracket | |
| Mitt Romney isn't running for president in 2016, but right now he looks like a winner---at least in NCAA tournament bracket pools. Romney's bracket in ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge is better than 99.8% of the more than 11 million entries on the website, according to the Huffington Post. Romney not only picked the entire Final Four correctly with Duke, Michigan State, Kentucky and Wisconsin, but also correctly predicted that the Badgers would end Kentucky's undefeated season and face the Blue Devils for the title. Notably, President Obama, who defeated Romney in 2012, has annually filled out a bracket on ESPN. President Obama's bracket ranks in the 40.2 percentile of all entries. |
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