| Wednesday, April 29, 2015 |
| Mississippi State professor continues fight against avian flu | |
 | Influenza remains among the deadliest diseases known to living organisms on earth. Every year, the flu kills thousands of people. But in recent years, the type that scares the public the most has been avian flu strains. Now, a new strain of avian flu, H5N2, is moving through poultry farms across the upper plains and Midwest regions of the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Henry Wan, a systems biology professor at Mississippi State University, is among the world's preeminent authorities on avian flu. He said it is important we not overreact with fear. Wan was the first researcher to recognize and document the avian flu. He was a 23-year-old master's student in his native China when he identified influenza in geese in 1996. It was the original discovery of the H5N1 virus. |
| Mississippi State Names Commencement Speaker | |
 | Mississippi State alumnus and university benefactor Thomas B. "Tommy" Nusz will deliver the university's spring commencement addresses May 8 and 9 at Humphrey Coliseum. Co-founder and head of Texas-based Oasis Petroleum, Nusz is featured speaker both for the 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday ceremonies. Approximately 2,600 students are candidates for May degrees. Also at the respective ceremonies, Charles W. "Tex" Ritter of Kosciusko -- MSU's 2002 National Alumnus of the Year -- and leading Meridian businessman Tommy E. Dulaney will receive honorary doctorates in public service for lifetime achievements and longtime major support of university programs. |
| Nusz to speak at Mississippi State commencement | |
 | Mississippi State alumnus and university benefactor Thomas B. "Tommy" Nusz will deliver the university's spring commencement addresses May 8 and 9 at Humphrey Coliseum. Co-founder and head of Texas-based Oasis Petroleum, Nusz is featured speaker both for the 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday ceremonies. A 1982 MSU petroleum engineering graduate, Nusz is president, CEO and chairman of the board of the independent Houston exploration and production company he helped launch in 2007. Over more than three decades in the industry, he worked as an engineer for Superior Oil, Mobil Oil and Meridian Oil before being named vice president for several divisions of Burlington Resources prior to its acquisition by Conoco Phillips. Nusz and wife Terri met while students at MSU and have remained ardent supporters of university programs. |
| Mississippi State to take part in sexual assault awareness month 'Denim Day' | |
| Mississippi State University students and faculty, as well as local community members, elected officials and businesses are asked to wear and donate denim Wednesday as part of Denim Day, an annual event recognizing Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Denim Day, sponsored by MSU's Department of Health Education and Wellness, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Drill Field, with rain moving the event to the first floor of the Colvard Student Union. Denim donations will be collected to benefit Safe Haven, Inc., a local shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The first 130 people to donate a pair of jeans will receive a free t-shirt. |
| Mississippi State Students Exhibit Graphic Design Projects | |
| Nearly two dozen fine art students presented a wide array of artwork Tuesday at Mississippi State. Hosted at MSU's Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery, the show featured images reflective of the students' research, writing, advanced studio practice and coursework during their senior year. The portfolios included posters, typography, web design and video work. Portfolio books from the students were also on display. |
| Mississippi State Adds New Equestrian Team | |
| Working with horses is not uncommon for Mississippi State University students, but competing with them is. The Eventing Team, or "Equestrian Triathlon," is MSU's newest equestrian club sport, founded in the fall of 2014. The introduction of the Eventing Team to MSU follows that of the introduction of the Equestrian Team in 2001. MSU is the first university in Mississippi to compete in both collegiate Equestrian Team competitions and Eventing Team competitions. The MSU Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences sponsors both teams, which are advised by Molly Nicodemus, associate professor of equine sciences. |
| Starkville playing infrastructure project catch up with $2.7M bond issuance | |
| Starkville aldermen approved a $2.7 million-maximum bond package last week that will help workers tend to a growing list of road, drainage and access projects in the next three years. The board previously greenlit an intent notice moving forward with the bond issuance in February as aldermen supporting the matter championed the financing's ability to knock out a large chunk of Starkville's growing to-do list without necessitating a tax increase. Included in the project list are all planned street improvements for this and next year -- a combined $820,000 exercise -- and allocations for numerous other efforts. |
| Community Market opens this weekend in new location | |
 | The Starkville Community Market will open for the third year at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday in its new location at Fire Station Park, at the intersection of Spring Street and Lampkin Street. Starkville Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough will ring the opening bell on Saturday to signify the official start of the market season. Yarbrough was appointed to the position of fire chief by the Starkville Board of Aldermen on March 30. (Subscriber-only content.) |
| Neshoba County Fair cabins get electrical upgrade extension | |
 | An extension has been granted to owners of about 40 Neshoba County Fair cabins which remain non-compliant with a new rule passed by the Fair Association in 2013 which required electrical upgrades by April 15. Meanwhile, power will be turned on at the Fairgrounds on May 4. Fair President Gilbert Donald said the board has granted the 40 cabins owners a leave, noting that 250 of the nearly 600 cabins came into compliance in recent weeks. The others came into compliance much earlier. "We have granted a leave for the 40 cabins," Donald said. "They have until July 10th at which time all construction must be done. "They have basically had two years to do these upgrades." The Fair Board passed the new code in 2013, but Donald said the Board gave cabin owners two years to make the necessary improvements to their cabins. |
| Deer Island access could come by end of year | |
 | A state pier on Deer Island should be finished late this year and a ferry to the island in place a short time later, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said Tuesday. That access, he said, would give visitors yet another reason to stay one more day. The $360,000 price tag for the pier and amenities will be paid out of the Tidelands Fund. "This is the state of Mississippi's island, the people's island," said state Department of Marine Resources Executive Director Jamie Miller at a press conference at the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum to reveal details of the island-access project. "Probably no other place in the Gulf of Mexico could you leave a gaming table and be in a wilderness is less than 15 minutes." |
| Mississippi governor, Israeli ambassador push trade | |
 | Leaders of Israel and Mississippi say they want to increase what is now a tiny trade between the Magnolia State and Middle Eastern nation, building an economic relationship on top of political ties. Gov. Phil Bryant and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer hosted a trade meeting Tuesday in Jackson. Dermer says Mississippi businesses can benefit from access to Israel's technological innovation. "You're in a century of knowledge, and Israel holds the keys because we can innovate," he told a luncheon at the Jackson Convention Complex. Israel does have some business ties to Mississippi. Among the speakers was Robert Fogelsong, the CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries North America. Fogelsong, a former Air Force general and former president of Mississippi State University, leads a business that includes Stark Aerospace, a Columbus-based maker of unmanned aerial vehicles. |
| Mississippi wants business ties with Israel | |
 | Ron Dermer will be at the Egg Bowl in November. That's notable, because "I may be the first Israeli ambassador to attend the Egg Bowl," Dermer said during a news conference Tuesday in Jackson. "That's a safe bet," Gov. Phil Bryant said. Dermer's next trip to Mississippi may be to watch Ole Miss try to win for the first time in Starkville since 2003, but the one he wrapped Tuesday centered on helping Israel build a business and trade relationship with the state. Building blocks are in place, Dermer said. "No one does innovation as cheaply as Israel," he said. "That doesn't mean poor quality, but we can do it cheaply because we've had to." Dermer listed agriculture, defense and cyber security as Israeli sectors likely to find a home and/or a partner in Mississippi. From what we both bring to the table, I think we can form an incredible friendship. I would see that as a great investment." |
| Supreme Court hears arguments in historic gay-marriage case | |
 | The Supreme Court's historic consideration Tuesday of whether the Constitution protects the right of same-sex couples nationwide to marry seemed to come down to a familiar arbiter: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. That's normally a safe haven for gay rights activists -- Kennedy has written each of the court's major victories advancing their movement. But the question after the hearing seemed to be whether forcing reluctant states to allow same-sex unions was a logical extension of the court's rulings or too much, too fast. Kennedy seemed to be working it out. |
| Drone trade group embraces regulation for safety | |
| The U.S. drone industry wants government regulations for private and commercial use of the remote-controlled devices as a way to ensure airspace safety, the head of a trade group says. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is taking good steps toward "responsible" regulation of small drones, or flying unmanned vehicle systems (UASes), Brian Wynne, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, said Tuesday. Wynne praised the FAA, in the midst of a rule-making proceeding for small drones, for focusing on risks associated with irresponsible use, instead of attempting to ban specific technologies. |
| Economy barely grows in first quarter, could cause Fed to delay rate hike | |
 | The economy barely grew in the first quarter as bad winter weather took a heavy toll for the second straight year, and the weaker-than-expected report could lead Federal Reserve officials to delay a long-awaited interest rate hike. The economy expanded at a 0.2% annual rate from January through March, down sharply from a 2.2% pace in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Economists had expected growth to slow, but not as much. They had forecast a 1% annual rate. But a steep falloff in consumer spending growth, combined with a downturn in exports because of the rising value of the dollar and declines in business investment and government expenditures, produced the weakest three-month period since the first quarter of last year. |
| UAW reports 55 percent membership at VW plant in Tennessee | |
| The United Auto Workers union has 816 members at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, or about 55 percent of the total blue collar work force, according the union's latest disclosure with the U.S. Department of Labor. The filing comes as the UAW works toward gaining collective bargaining rights at its first foreign-owned plant in the South. And the union's case for recognition could be bolstered by leadership shakeup at the German automaker that has left a former union chief, Berthold Huber, as the interim chairman of the world's No. 2 automaker. The UAW last year narrowly lost a union vote at the Chattanooga plant that featured heavy campaigning by anti-union Republicans like U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. Huber wrote workers at the plant before the vote urging them to support the UAW. |
| MUW organizes vigil, relief efforts following earthquake in Nepal | |
 | Students at the Mississippi University for Women are organizing an effort to help earthquake victims in Nepal. A candlelight vigil will be held Thursday at 9 p.m. at the Bryan Green Gazebo. Also, boxes have been placed around campus where students can donate pain reliever, non-perishable food, toiletries, batteries towels, blankets and clothing. |
| Sinkhole forms on Highway 6 in Oxford | |
| Drivers on Highway 6 in Oxford are being advised to avoid the east bound lanes of the roadway near Chucky Mullins Drive. Police and the Mississippi Highway Patrol report the right lane has collapsed into a sinkhole between Chucky Mullins Drive and Jackson Ave. The sinkhole appears to only affect the right lane, but drivers are asked to avoid the area if possible. The Mississippi Department of Transportation has been notified and says they are assessing the situation. |
| Nepali Students at Mississippi College Seek Earthquake Relief | |
| Thousands of miles away from the earthquake that's left more than 4,600 dead in Nepal, Nepali students are reaching out to the Mississippi College family to provide disaster relief. Students, faculty and staff are asked to make donations of cash and supplies starting Wednesday in the campus cafeteria. It's part of a worldwide initiative to bring disaster relief to Nepal after the 7.8 earthquake and aftershocks hit Sunday. "The Nepali people are together globally," said Rosy Shrestha, a 25-year-old MBA student from Bhaktapur, Nepal. Rosy is among a half-dozen students from Nepal at the 5,000-student university in Clinton. They are joining hands with the Office of Christian Development to work on relief support for the remainder of the semester. The work will likely continue throughout the year. |
| U. of Alabama students gear up for graduation this weekend | |
 | The University of Alabama will have its graduation ceremonies Friday and Saturday, while Shelton State Community College and Stillman College will have their commencements next week. More than 4,700 degrees are scheduled to be awarded during spring graduation ceremonies at UA on Friday and Saturday in Coleman Coliseum. The commencement marshals will be Michael George, university registrar, and John Schmitt, associate graduate dean and assistant to the executive vice president and provost. |
| Auburn University hosts screening of 'The Hunting Ground' | |
 | In the United States, 807 sexual assaults occur every day, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network's website, and those in the college age group are four times more likely than others to become victims. In Auburn, Alpha Sigma Phi in partnership with Auburn University's Resource Center and Omega Phi Alpha presented a screening of "The Hunting Ground" Monday evening in Langdon Hall as part of the university's observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The university holds events and presentations throughout the year and during Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, coordinated by a number of organizations, fraternities and sororities. |
| U. of Florida's Zeta Beta Tau chapter closes amid veterans' accusations | |
 | A University of Florida fraternity accused of hurling bottles and insults at a group of wounded combat veterans in Panama City Beach was closed Tuesday, just days after the launch of a misconduct investigation by the university. "Vice President of Student Affairs Dave Kratzer said on Friday we would deal swiftly with this and we have," said Janine Sikes, UF assistant vice president for media relations. Kratzer, a retired U.S. Army general, said he was disgusted by the reports of the way the students treated military vets at the Laketown Wharf resort. "I continue to be saddened and disappointed by the reported mistreatment and disrespect of our military veterans," UF President Kent Fuchs said in a prepared statement. |
| Louisiana higher ed leaders anticipating federal approval for WISE Fund spending | |
 | Louisiana colleges and universities have been given the green light to move forward with spending WISE Fund dollars tied to federal grants, as leaders say they have gotten word of federal approval. "We're going to be as prepared as possible to move when that (approval) comes in," said Barbara Goodson, deputy state higher education commissioner for finance and administration, just hours before the federal award letter went out. "We want to be ready to go when it's signed." The $40 million Workforce Investment for a Stronger Economy Fund has been trumpeted as one of the higher education hallmarks of last year's session. The fund allowed schools to tap into additional money to boost high-demand fields and encouraged partnerships with local businesses. The WISE Council, which oversees that fund, held a status update meeting on Tuesday. |
| Friends, family and colleagues gather to remember UGA loved ones lost this school year | |
 | Faculty, students and staff gathered at the University of Georgia Chapel Tuesday evening to remember the 26 members of the UGA community who died this year. UGA President Jere W. Morehead conducted the service, called "Georgia Remembers: A Candlelight Memorial," while Adam Daniels, campus minister for the Georgia Christian Student Center, delivered an opening prayer. Paula Frances Price, campus minister with Greek InterVarsity, closed the ceremony with another prayer. "Despite our size and the complexity of this place, we are clearly a community," Morehead said in his opening remarks. |
| Transportation, Retail Companies Hoping to Keep Up With Supply Chain | |
 | Supply chain dynamics don't often get big laughs, but it wasn't a tough crowd last week at the Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. Business leaders across the spectrum of transportation and retail companies participated in the 14th annual conference of the Supply Chain Management Research Center at the university's Sam Walton College of Business. The truth of supply-chain dynamics is that best-laid plans are often upset by various -- and unpredictable -- turns of events, such as government actions, weather and customers themselves. Retailers like Wal-Mart or transportation companies like J.B. Hunt Transport Services have to be able to adapt. |
| Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to decide whether to alter school seals | |
 | A proposed update to the Texas A&M University System and flagship school seals could place the school's most recognizable logo front and center. The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents will decide during today's regular meeting whether to alter each seal for the first time since 1963 by swapping the "T Star" logo for the beveled "Block T" logo as the centerpiece. A&M Associate Athletics Director Jason Cook helped lead a "one brand" approach in 2008 as vice president of marketing and communications to streamline the block logo identity across the university and said the update to the seal will unify all areas of the school. The beveled "Block T" logo was originally designed by Nike in 1999 and mandated for university-wide use by former A&M President R. Bowen Loftin in 2011 to "unify the Texas A&M University brand." |
| State Aid Should Change to Meet Needs of Students, Report Says | |
 | The "who" and "how" of going to college are changing rapidly, but state financial-aid programs are stuck in the past, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Education Commission of the States. The report calls on state officials to change their aid programs to focus more on the needs of students rather than institutions and to allow state aid to be used for a greater variety of postsecondary programs. The commission, which is governed by a bipartisan group of state governors, legislators, and education officials, tracks and analyzes education policy from pre-kindergarten through college. |
| New ranking system links colleges', students' characteristics to graduate economic outcomes | |
 | The world may or may not need another college rankings system; on that question, commentators and pundits are divided. The creators of a new entry acknowledge the limitations of the genre, but argue that their version -- imperfect as it may be -- improves on the competition by analyzing thousands of colleges of all types (instead of hundreds of mostly selective ones) and assessing them based on how much the institutions themselves contribute to the economic success of their graduates. In a report published today, called "Beyond College Rankings: A Value-Added Approach to Assessing Two- and Four-Year Schools," two Brookings Institution researchers offer a complicated tool designed to help consumers and policy makers gauge how thousands of two- and four-year institutions prepare students for the workforce. |
| Baltimore's Colleges Ponder How They Can Help Fix a Broken City | |
| The rioting, looting, arson, and vandalism that happened here this week might have horrified people across the country, watching it unfold on 24-hour news channels and Facebook feeds. But no one in this city should have been surprised. Much of Baltimore has long been a tinderbox of crushing poverty, pervasive violence, racism, and stark socioeconomic divides. It was only a matter of time. For the dozen or so colleges that occupy Baltimore, the city has been a laboratory, a challenge, a stigma. The unrest of the past few days -- spurred by the death of a black man who was severely injured while in police custody -- is leading some of the city's colleges and scholars to ask new questions about their role here. |
| CHARLIE MITCHELL (OPINION): 'Last (white) Democrat in Dixie' is still chugging along | |
| Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "Former Gov. Haley Barbour, whose pristine pedigree in Republican America is unmatched, inspired a headline a few of weeks ago with a speech on Mike Espy Scholars Day at Jackson's historically black Tougaloo College. Mississippi, Barbour said, would benefit from two 'salt and pepper' political parties. Former U.S. Rep. Mike Espy, a Democrat who is African-American, was in the audience. Espy endorsed Barbour for a second term in 2007 and endorsed the speech at Tougaloo. It's just not healthy to have, as Mississippi does, a Democratic Party with which 95 percent of blacks and a smattering of whites identify and a Republican Party with which 95 percent of whites and a smattering of blacks identify. Politics should be idea-driven, not identity-driven, both said. Ideas, at least in the abstract, are race-neutral. There's no better illustration of being idea-driven than Jim Hood." Read more: http://www.cdispatch.com/opinions/article.asp?aid=41624#ixzz3YcdH3yOu |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State men's tennis to face Denver in NCAA first round at North Carolina | |
| With the regular season well in the rearview mirror, the 18th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team (19-7) will head to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the First and Second Rounds of the 2015 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship after earning its fifth-straight NCAA Championship selection on Tuesday. Play will begin May 8, at North Carolina's Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center with the first match pitting 18th-ranked MSU against the No. 51 Denver Pioneers (18-8). "We're looking forward to this challenge and fighting our way to the next stage of the NCAA Championship," first-year MSU coach Matt Roberts said. |
| Mississippi State women's tennis earns NCAA bid | |
| After one of the most successful seasons in program history, Mississippi State's women's tennis team learned Tuesday afternoon that it has earned a bid to the 2015 NCAA Women's Tennis Championship. The Bulldogs are headed to Berkeley, Calif., and will face Houston in the first round on May 8, at Cal's Hellman Tennis Complex. The first match will pit 34th-ranked MSU (15-11) against 29th-ranked Houston (22-5). "One of our goals was to make the tournament this year," said MSU coach Daryl Greenan. "The girls worked and competed hard all year and they have earned this honor. We are ranked 50 spots higher than this time last year, so it is very exciting to see the progress that we have made." |
| Stricklin refutes that Mississippi State, Baylor will meet in football | |
| Mississippi State isn't playing Baylor anytime soon or in 2020 for that matter. The school's athletic director Scott Stricklin took to Twitter on Tuesday to refute a report by 247Sports that stated Mississippi State and Baylor had inked a deal on the gridiron. Once the story was seen on social media, Stricklin responded, "I seriously have no idea where that came from...News to me." Mississippi State already has a home-and-home series against North Carolina State scheduled in 2020 and 2021. The Bulldogs travel to Raleigh for the first matchup, followed by a meeting in Starkville in 2021. |
| Mississippi State's McKinney isn't worrying about where he will be drafted | |
| Benardrick McKinney hasn't played in a football game in more than three months. That hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the most polarizing prospects in the upcoming NFL draft. McKinney, a three-year stalwart in the middle of Mississippi State's defense, ended his college career following a 49-34 loss to Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. With two days remaining until the draft kicks off, even the most embedded experts are having trouble predicting where the 6-foot-4, 246-pound linebacker is headed. |
| Freeze, Mullen earn more than $50,000 for charity | |
| Mississippi State's Dan Mullen and Ole Miss' Hugh Freeze put down the football playbooks this week and picked up the golf clubs. The duo completed the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Challenge charity golf tournament at Reynolds Plantation outside of Atlanta on Tuesday. Each teamed with alumni from their respective schools. Mullen and former Bulldog Fred McCrary finished ninth at -5. The duo earned $20,000 for charity. Together Freeze and Mullen contributed $55,000 from the state schools in Mississippi. |
| RICK CLEVELAND (OPINION): Newman staying in state is good for Mississippi | |
| Mississippi syndicated sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "Lancaster, Othella, Ronnie, Jesse, Hollywood, Mo... Long-time Mississippi basketball fans already know where this is headed. The former Chris Jackson, Literrial, Antonio...most recently, Devin... The list goes on and on. Mississippi has produced many basketball prodigies. Most we recognize by first name only. Most have left the state to play college ball. And then there were those who skipped college ball all together. ...Now comes Malik, and if you don't know Malik Newman by his first name only, you really don't keep up. His signing with Mississippi State last week ends a parade of exits by Mississippi's most coveted basketball talents to out-of-state schools. And whether you pull for Ole Miss, State, USM or any of our basketball-playing schools, part of you should be happy to see the exodus end." |
| Questions still linger in SEC West after spring practices | |
| The reputation of the Southeastern Conference's Western Division took a hit last season after its top five teams all lost their bowl games. Now the division's seven teams -- which account for five of the last eight national championships -- are faced with a strange feeling following spring practice: Uncertainty about their place in college football's pecking order. |
| Steve Spurrier to release autobiography | |
 | Steve Spurrier's autobiography will be released in 2016, the book's co-author said Tuesday on the Paul Finebaum Show. "I'm really enjoying doing it," longtime Florida sportswriter Buddy Martin said. "It's going to be the whole story, the whole package. There will be some football teaching in it. There will be some things he wants to change about college football. People. Family." Spurrier spent time with Martin last week in Florida talking about the book, and the two will spend more time together this summer, Martin told the show. |
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