Tuesday, May 5, 2015   
 
Mississippi State Fishing Club Earns National Recognition
Mississippi State's 35-member Bass Fishing Club is receiving major recognition from the nation's leading competitive collegiate bass fishing organization. The Association of Collegiate Anglers recently honored the university's 2014-15 Sport Club of the Year winner with a Cabela's Collegiate Bass Team of the Week designation. The Mississippi State club is among numerous activities offered through the university's recreational sports department. "Our team has been working extremely hard to achieve our goal of being one of the top teams in the nation," said Joseph R. "Joe" Marty, 2014-15 team president. A doctoral student in forest resources/wildlife and fisheries, he said gaining team-of-the-week status "tells us that we are getting close to achieving that goal."
 
Veteran Extension specialist makes the switch to Mississippi peanuts
Malcolm Broome is an evangelist for the peanut -- understandable since he's the executive director of the Mississippi Peanut Growers Association. He's also proud to let you know that he's one of the last Extension folks that went all the way from being a 4-H youth agent to assistant county agent to county agent. "I then went to Mississippi State University to get a PhD and was a state Extension specialist." Broome retired as the state forage specialist and moved back to where he grew up around Hattiesburg, Miss. The timing of his return was fortuitous.
 
$3M Starkville Police Department financing package up for discussion
Shortly after approving a $2.7 million-maximum bond package last month for street, drainage and other infrastructure projects, Starkville aldermen could begin a process Tuesday of authorizing up to $3 million for improvements to Starkville Police Department's headquarters. If approved, the financing plan would allow SPD to maintain a permanent home at Starkville's current administrative home once the new city hall, located at the end of Main Street, is constructed. Aldermen discussed renovating SPD's current facility in March after ending months of speculation surrounding a potential purchase of Cadence Bank's Main Street property for a similar use.
 
Director reports progress at Lee County Agri-Center
The success of the Lee County Agri-Center is still a priority for county leaders, who received an update Monday on the taxpayer-funded, multipurpose center from the facility's director. Torrey Mitchell shared with the Lee County Board of Supervisors a summary of the last six months of activities at the center, as well as a forecast for the next six months. The center will be packed next week, Mitchell said, as students from Lee, Pontotoc and Union counties will travel to Verona for a day of science at the agri-center. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi and the Mississippi State University Extension Service will sponsor a camp at the center Tuesday and Friday to expose students to agriculture, science and engineering.
 
Superintendent to launch own review of Common Core
Mississippi education officials will conduct their own voluntary review of the Common Core academic standards, even after Gov. Phil Bryant vetoed a bill that would have created an outside panel to examine the standards. State Superintendent Carey Wright said Monday at a luncheon sponsored by Mississippi State University's Stennis Institute of Government and the Capitol press corps that the Mississippi Department of Education will solicit public comments for 90 days on English and math standards. "At the end of the process, we will have a set of standards that are Mississippi-centric, that have had input from across the state," Wright said.
 
Ed officials seek public input on Common Core
State Superintendent Carey Wright says the state Department of Education will conduct its own study of the embattled Common Core education standards and take public input, but she still supports them for Mississippi schools. Carey on Tuesday was the guest at the Stennis Institute of Government's Capitol press corps luncheon. Her announcement comes after Gov. Phil Bryant recently vetoed a bill passed by the Legislature to create a commission to make recommendations on state education standards. Bryant and other opponents of Common Core said the bill did not go far enough in removing the standards, which they say are a stalking horse for the federal government to take over states' public education.
 
1st District candidates take out big campaign loans
Eight of the 13 candidates vying in the special election for the 1st District U.S. House seat have placed at least $75,000 of their own money either through loans or direct funding into their campaigns. The leader in self-funding is emergency room physician Starner Jones, who has put $475,000 into his effort. Jones, a Pontotoc resident who practices medicine primarily in Memphis, lists $460,000 in candidate loans and an additional $15,000 in a direct contribution into his campaign, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. On the flip side, Mike Tagert of Oktibbeha County, the Northern District transportation commissioner, has contributions totaling $371,965. Tagert has not placed any of his own funds into his effort.
 
On Jindal's watch, Louisiana's tattered finances the consequence of two key factors
Gov. Bobby Jindal, a potential Republican presidential candidate, is trying to close a $1.6 billion budget hole without touching as much as $415,000 per episode in tax breaks that may be due to "Duck Dynasty." The A&E television reality show takes part in the nation's most generous entertainment-tax credit program. Jindal is proposing no changes, arguing that reducing such breaks is tantamount to raising taxes. The state approves enough incentives each year to make up at least $200 million in proposed cuts that led Louisiana State University to say that it may plan for insolvency. Jindal, who is expected to announce his presidential decision after the Legislature adjourns in June, has positioned himself as an anti-tax, limited-government stalwart. Louisiana's tattered finances are a consequence of years of short-term patches to a structural gap between expenses and revenue and the recent sag in oil prices in the energy-producing state.
 
Pentagon: Texas has nothing to fear from upcoming military exercise
The Pentagon has a message for Texas: chill. Defense officials Monday dismissed as "wild speculation" an Internet-fueled claim that a massive summertime exercise called Jade Helm 15 for special operations commandos is a covert operation by President Barack Obama to take over Texas. That claim was given legitimacy by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott's order last week for the Texas State Guard to monitor the exercises. "Operation Jade Helm poses no threat to any American's civil liberties," Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday. "Operation Jade Helm is being conducted by Americans -- by, specifically, American special forces personnel." Abbott's order infuriated some fellow Republicans.
 
Islamic State claims responsibility for Texas attack outside Muhammad cartoon show
The Islamic State claimed responsibility Tuesday for the thwarted attack outside a prophet Muhammad cartoon contest near Dallas, threatening to carry out "worse and more bitter" violence on American soil. The authenticity of the claim -- announced on a Syria-based radio station operated by the militant group -- could not be immediately verified. It represents the first time the Islamic State has announced links to a high-profile attack in the United States. The claim, however, offered no hints about how the Islamic State purportedly made contact or directed the two attackers from Phoenix in Sunday's failed assault. Both were killed after wounding a security guard at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas.
 
Ole Miss officials, students urge assault victims to come forward
Many Ole Miss students are uneasy after a reported sexual assault at the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity house over the weekend. "Scary to think about because it could have been anybody," said Ole Miss senior Nicolette Brooks. Campus police says a female student told them she was assaulted at the fraternity at about 3 a.m. Saturday by a man she knows. The chapter president told WMC Action News 5 the fraternity does not condone these actions, and the student responsible was suspended indefinitely from the fraternity. Another woman was allegedly assaulted in a campus parking lot a week before this attack on April 25. Police and university officials are asking victims to speak up. "We really do encourage our students to come forward so we can ensure that our students are safe and everyone on the campus is safe," said Ole Miss Violence Prevention Coordinator Lindsay Bartlett.
 
USM provost Wiesenburg returns to Marine Science faculty
University of Southern Mississippi Provost Denis Wiesenburg has resigned from his position as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. He will return to the faculty in the Department of Marine Science, effective July 1. Southern Miss President Rodney Bennett said he had accepted Wiesenburg's resignation. Bennett said the university will hire an executive search firm to initiate a national search. He will assemble a screening committee to review candidates for the job with the goal of having the position filled by early January. Taking over as interim provost in the meantime is Steven Moser, professor of music and dean of the College of Arts and Letters.
 
USM doctoral candidate featured in Gulf U-boat story
When Martin Morgan would visit Mobile, Alabama, as a child, his grandmother would tell him tales of Germans prowling the bay in their unterseeboots during the summer of 1942. t wasn't technically true, thanks to the bay's average depth of about 14 feet, Morgan said, but the stories stoked his imagination, which later led to his interest in all things World War II. When he became older, Morgan discovered later that German U-boats indeed had been nearby, just outside Mobile Bay and operating in the Gulf of Mexico during the summer of 1942. Proof of the prowlers will air at 8 p.m. Wednesday on PBS, when NOVA premieres "Nazi Attack on America," which will visit the remains of one of them, U-166, which sits at the bottom of the gulf, just a few miles off New Orleans. Morgan, a history doctoral candidate at the University of Southern Mississippi who will be featured in the documentary, said the story of enemy vessels just off the coastline is a slice-of-war tale seldom told.
 
NFL executive McKenna-Doyle will speak at Auburn University graduation
Auburn University will award 3,840 academic degrees May 9-10 in Auburn Arena during four spring commencement ceremonies featuring addresses by Auburn alumna Michelle McKenna-Doyle, NFL senior vice president and chief information officer. McKenna-Doyle, a certified public accountant, earned a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1987 from Auburn and later a master's degree in business administration from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. She is a native of Enterprise, Alabama. She is responsible for the NFL's technology strategy, shared service delivery and management of the league's corporate technology activities.
 
LSU doesn't cut back on class offerings... for now
LSU says it hasn't cut back on class offerings for next fall yet, but may need to resort to scrapping several courses if the Louisiana Legislature doesn't find enough money for higher education next year. There could be as many as 2,200 courses pulled off the schedule at the flagship university's main campus if LSU and other public universities are asked to sustain an over 80 percent cut to state public funding. In its current posture, the Louisiana state budget would likely result in a loss of over $600 million to Louisiana's higher education system, if no revenue resources are found. The fact that no substantive plan for higher education has emerged is making higher education leaders nervous.
 
U. of Tennessee's DiPietro confident moving forward with plan to fix 'broken' funding model
The next academic year "might be one of the lowest tuition increases we've had in a long time," according to University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro. That's because a 3 percent cap for tuition increase is one of the boundaries of a universitywide plan to fix the "broken" university funding model. The UT board of trustees endorsed the plan, unveiled by DiPietro, in February, and it starts in fiscal year 2016 for the next two budget cycles. UT administrators will use the plan and its boundaries to create budgets for the board of trustees meeting in June, DiPietro said. The plan focuses on minimizing costs to avoid tuition increases and closing a projected $377 million funding gap projected over the next decade.
 
U. of Florida to open food pantry for hungry students
The University of Florida is opening a food pantry for students and staff who find themselves uncertain where their next meal is coming from. The Field and Fork Food Pantry will be located in an old chiller plant being converted for that purpose behind McCarty Hall and the Nutrition Department. The groundbreaking ceremony for the pantry is today and will open when Summer B classes begin June 29. The pantry will be run by the Dean of Students office, and is a university-wide collaboration between Student Affairs, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, the senior vice president and chief operating officer, Student Government and many other groups, Dean of Students Jen Day Shaw said.
 
Supercomputer Transferred to U. of Arkansas
A new supercomputer is set to more than double the computational capacity of a University of Arkansas computing center. The university announced Monday that the National Science Foundation and the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego, have gifted the machine. The computer cluster known as "Trestles" will be housed at the Arkansas High Performance Computing Center.
 
UGA student found dead outside convenience store
Athens-Clarke County police are investigating the weekend death of a University of Georgia student. John Eden, 22, was found dead of a gunshot wound at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday in his pickup truck parked at the gas pumps of a Lexington Road convenience store, according to a police report. Police do not suspect foul play. The report notes a handgun was recovered from the truck. The death is one of several tragedies suffered this semester by the UGA student body. In the first three months of 2015 alone, there were five known student deaths due to a variety of reasons, including alcohol abuse, preexisting medical conditions and homicide.
 
Texas A&M bat expert fears loss of campus colony
The natatorium at Texas A&M University is typically a hub of activity in the spring. Students swim laps there, health classes use it for instruction and the swimming and diving team practices on its high-dives. But this month, all that activity stopped because of a new user. For about a week, hundreds of Mexican free-tailed bats made the pool their temporary home. The infestation was an extreme case, but it wasn't altogether unique. Renovations and eradication efforts at the bats' normal home -- the football stadium Kyle Field -- have forced the flying mammals out across the rest of campus in search of new shelter. "They are finding bats in the gym, in the swimming pool -- all kinds of places," said Thomas Lacher, a wildlife and fisheries sciences professor and bat expert on campus.
 
Report says administrative bloat, construction booms not largely responsible for tuition increases
Public university students today pay $3,000 more in annual tuition than their counterparts a decade ago. Why that is depends on whom you ask. Some pundits like to blame administrative bloat or the construction boom. Within higher education, many cite the decline in state support. "Although academics and media alike have tried to put the question to rest, public confusion on this issue is one reason why effective solutions remain illusory in almost every state," asserts a report released today by Demos, a left-leaning New York public policy think tank. The report attempts to pinpoint the factors driving up the price for students seeking a four-year degree at a public college. It asserts that while rising administrative and construction costs are a factor, they're not as gargantuan as widely believed. A decline in state funding is the real culprit.


SPORTS
 
SEC penalizes Mississippi State baseball for organizing charitable event
The Southeastern Conference docked Mississippi State baseball two fall practices for organizing a charitable event in October 2014. It was one of 16 secondary violations the school reported to the league and the NCAA during the 2014-2015 academic year the Clarion-Ledger learned through an open records request on Monday. The most bizarre penalty was handed to the baseball team for publicizing an intrasquad scrimmage in advance. On Oct. 18, 2014, Mississippi State traveled to Jackson for a promotional activity to visit Blair Batson Children's Hospital. While in Jackson, MSU practiced and conducted a free intrasquad scrimmage to allow the hospital's staff to collect donations for their fundraising efforts. The event was approved and publicized in an effort to generate interest in the local community for Blair Batson Children's Hospital.
 
Former Tupelo, Mississippi State standout Jones signs with Dolphins
The Orange Bowl may not have been P.J. Jones' final appearance at Sun Life Stadium. The former Tupelo and Mississippi State standout signed a free agent contract with the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. Jones appeared in 45 games during his four-year career for the Bulldogs, including 27 starts. The 6-foot-3, 296-pound defensive tackle finished with 81 career tackles, four tackles-for-loss and two sacks. Jones was seventh MSU player to sign a free agent contract after five Bulldogs were selected in the NFL Draft.
 
Mississippi State's Howland, Diaz visit Meridian
Kahlmus Auditorium on The MSU-Meridian campus was wrapped in Maroon and White Monday night as the Road Dawgs Tour 2015 landed in town bringing defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and new men's basketball coach Ben Howland along to speak to local fans and alumni. Howland comes to Starkville sporting a 399-208 (.657) record and three straight Final-Four appearances, 2006-2008, with former employer UCLA. The veteran coach opened up on the importance of events like Monday. "I think it's a great opportunity to meet people," Howland said. "I'm a people person, and I look forward to getting more comfortable with the fans."



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