| Wednesday, May 20, 2015 |
| Students will earn Mississippi State engineering degrees on the Coast | |
 | Leaders at Mississippi State University and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College now have a timetable and other solid plans for their joint engineering degree and business leaders are looking to see how they can parlay the degree into increased economic opportunities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. "This provides a lot of opportunities for students to stay here, get degrees and take jobs on the Coast," said Jason Keith, the interim dean of the Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State. Keith presented details about the program Tuesday morning to the Mississippi Gulf Coast Business Council's Higher Learning Study Committee. |
| Joint engineering program could benefit Gulf Coast | |
 | Leaders at Mississippi State University and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College now have a timetable and other solid plans for their joint engineering degree. Now, business leaders are looking to see how they can parlay the degree into increased economic opportunities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The two schools announced the joint degree in August. Students would be enrolled at MGCCC for their first two years and Mississippi State for the remainder of their studies but would remain on the Coast for the duration of their education. |
| Workshop on rural tourism planned | |
 | A rural tourism workshop June 1-2 in West Point will focus on technology and offer ideas for attracting visitors to the state's hidden treasures. Rachael Carter, a community development specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said MSU is partnering with ConnectMS to promote the workshop, "Leveling the Playing Field." Highlights include a tour conducted by a professional storyteller, which features a blues experience and visits to Prairie Wildlife and Waverly Mansion. Sessions will focus on tourism marketing trends and budget-friendly advertising strategies. The tour will begin at 1:30 p.m. June 1 at the West Point Chamber of Commerce, |
| Deputies arrest naked man charging traffic on Blackjack Road | |
 | A 24-year-old Lexington man was charged with disorderly conduct Friday after he allegedly stripped naked and charged at oncoming traffic on Blackjack Road. Deputies arrested Calvin Smith about 9:01 p.m. after Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Department received a call about the nude disturbance, Chief Deputy Chadd Garnett said. When three law enforcement agents arrived at the scene, they observed the suspect lying on the ground near the roundabout. Smith was cooperative but "talking out of his head" at the time of his arrest, Garnett said. |
| Traction building for county subdivision regulations in Oktibbeha | |
| Supervisors agreed Monday to invite Mike Slaughter, of the Oxford-based urban planning firm Slaughter and Associates, back to the Oktibbeha County board table for discussions on developing and implementing subdivision rules aimed at forcing developers to pay for damaged infrastructure. The board again heard complaints about traffic congestion and infrastructure quality along Blackjack Road, a heavily used thoroughfare that links county residents with Mississippi State University and Starkville, which prompted District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams to call for further discussions on a new ordinance. |
| Phelps named county emergency management director | |
| Shank Phelps, who serves as an elected constable and sheriff's deputy, can add another job to his ever-growing resume: emergency management director. Supervisors named Phelps as the heir to exiting Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency Director Jim Britt's position in a 4-1 vote Monday. Only District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer opposed the appointment. The board picked Phelps ahead of OCEMA Deputy Director Kristen Campanella and Todd Salmon, an Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Department deputy, after interviewing the trio in open session and discussing the personnel move in executive session. Britt will conclude an almost 15-year tenure as Oktibbeha County's chief emergency management agent near the end of June. |
| Kemper coal plant asking for new rates | |
| Mississippi Power Co. isn't waiting on the Mississippi Supreme Court to rule on a motion for rehearing in the Kemper County coal plant litigation before asking regulators to consider new rate proposals. The utility filed Friday three rate plan requests with the Mississippi Public Service Commission, two of which operate on the assumption the company will have to make refunds the court ordered in February. The court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that the rate increases the Mississippi Public Service Commission approved via split vote for 2013 and 2014 be refunded. |
| Mississippi's rural roads crumbling, dangerous | |
| Mississippi's rural roads and bridges are among the worst and most dangerous in the nation, according to a new national transportation study, with one of the highest rural traffic fatality rates in the nation. "Tell me something that's a surprise," said Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall, referring to numerous studies over several years that have warned of Mississippi's crumbling infrastructure. "It's not just us -- state roads -- it's counties, cities, streets and bridges. The governor, lieutenant governor, Legislature, local governments -- all of them are going to have to face up to this situation and do something about it." A new report by the nonprofit Transportation Research and Information Program says 22 percent of Mississippi's major rural roads are rated in poor condition, the 13th worst in the nation. |
| Mississippi strongly supports healthy school meals | |
| Mississippi's support of strict national school-lunch nutrition standards ranks higher than the national average despite persistent claims they leave kids hungry or dissatisfied, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Kids' Safe and Healthful Foods Project. Eight out of 10 Mississippi voters favor the National School Lunch Program's enhanced nutritional guidelines, which went into effect three years ago, the poll found. Among parents of Mississippi public school children, 76 percent support the guidelines. Nationally, the rate is 72 percent. Complaints emerged almost immediately that students refused to eat the fruits and vegetables, that the lower calorie content left them hungry, and that it cost schools too much to implement. |
| Palazzo pushes for dyslexia awareness | |
| Rep. Steven Palazzo and his wife, Lisa, recognized about three years ago that their youngest son, Bennett, was struggling with reading so they hired tutors, but nothing seemed to work. They had the fourth-grader tested recently and learned he had dyslexia, a learning disability that involves difficulty learning to read. "When he realized he wasn't slow or dumb, his attitude changed. He knows he's smart and knows there's a way out," said Palazzo, a Republican representing Mississippi's 4th District. "I just wish we could have caught this when he was in first or second grade.'' Palazzo and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana are on a mission to raise awareness about dyslexia. Cassidy's daughter, Kate, also is dyslexic. |
| Zinn Touts Jackson Ties in Home Stretch of 1st District Runoff | |
 | Going into the final two weeks before a runoff election for Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, Walter Zinn is emphasizing his time spent working for the City of Jackson. A Millsaps College alumnus, Zinn called Jackson a valuable training ground for the congressional race in which he beat the odds on May 12 and finished with the most votes cast. That win set up a faceoff with Trent Kelly, a north Mississippi district attorney, on June 2. Zinn, an aide to late Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba and former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., said that after the Lumumba's death last year, he went to work on campaigns in Iowa and Central Michigan, where divisive race politics takes a back seat to kitchen-table economic issues. "We don't have to let (racial tension) be the definition or the shackles that hold our politics back," Zinn said at a fundraiser at Underground 119 Tuesday night. Zinn refutes claims opponents lobbed at him that he spent too much time in Jackson away from north Mississippi. |
| Hinds County considers legal action against MDOC | |
| Hinds County owes $9.4 million on its Joint State-County Work Center, leaving county officials to discuss legal action against the Mississippi Department of Corrections over the agency's plans to move state inmates from Joint State-County Work Programs. MDOC Commissioner Marshall Fisher has announced plans to remove state inmates from the Joint State-County Work Programs to state-owned community work centers. The transfer is scheduled for Aug. 1. In 2009, Hinds County opened its new inmate work center in an agreement with MDOC to house up to 195 non-violent state inmates. The new center was built specifically to be able to house the state inmates, according to then-Sheriff Malcolm McMillin. |
| Catfish swimming into trade debate | |
 | The humble catfish is back on the Senate's plate this week, and the stakes have never been higher -- with a Pacific trade deal on the menu, too. At issue is a new food safety inspection program tailored for catfish alone and first slipped into the 2008 farm bill on behalf of U.S. producers struggling to compete with a wave of imports from Vietnam and China. After years of foot-dragging, the Obama administration insists it is in the final stages of its rule-making on the issue. But the timing could not be more awkward since the White House is desperate to complete its Trans-Pacific Partnership pact first -- without roiling the Asian pond. "It's troubling that some special interests are whitewashing these risks and prioritizing their bottom line over consumer safety," said Chris Gallegos, a spokesman for Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). |
| House Approves Short-Term Financing for Highways | |
 | The House on Tuesday approved a two-month extension of funding for transportation projects, setting up what could be a defining fight over money for highways and other infrastructure this summer after years of stopgap measures. The extension, which passed in a 387-to-35 vote with one member voting present, would maintain funding for the Highway Trust Fund through July 31. The bill now goes to the Senate, which has just two legislative days left before a scheduled weeklong Memorial Day recess. The transportation program's spending authority is set to expire during that break, on May 31. Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, supported the Republican-sponsored legislation for short-term financing, but cautioned that Democrats would spend those 60 days finding permanent funding of the program, which for years relied on fuel taxes that are no longer keeping pace with the nation's transportation needs. |
| GOP division puts Congress on brink of ending NSA surveillance program | |
 | Congressional Republicans remain sharply divided over the fate of the federal government's bulk collection of private telephone records. As a result, national security officials are preparing for the possibility that the legal authority underpinning those collection programs could expire in less than two weeks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who favors a long-term continuation of the existing phone-data surveillance program, said Tuesday that he plans to allow a vote on a House-passed bill aimed at reforming the program. That bill passed by a wide margin in the House, with nearly 200 Republican votes, but McConnell opposes it and suggested Tuesday that it would not gain the necessary 60 votes to proceed in the Senate. He instead raised the possibility of a short-term extension of the current authority under the Patriot Act's Section 215, which is set to expire June 1. |
| Fundraising to boost Ole Miss faculty will honor Jones | |
| A $1.5 million fundraising drive for faculty support at Ole Miss started this week. The campaign has a familiar name. The Daniel W. Jones M.D. Faculty Chair is a joint effort among students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the outgoing chancellor. "We have every confidence that our goal of $1.5 million for the Jones Chair Endowment will be reached," said Wendell Weakley, president and CEO of the UM Foundation. "We have had an overwhelming response thus far, which is not surprising given the respect that our faculty, staff, alumni and friends have for Dr. Jones." |
| Auburn's alumni network ranked more powerful than Alabama's: Let the debate begin | |
 | There are tons of tassels being moved this week, as college seniors ready for the next step in the lives. In one day, they move from students to alumni and, according to a new ranking, there are some graduate networks that are just more powerful than others. Best College Values.org recently compiled a list of the top 50 most powerful college alumni networks. The rankings were based on several factors: financial contributions to the institution; percentage of employment through career services; student ratings of alumni network helpfulness; and reputation of the school. The University of Alabama came in at number 47. Auburn University came in at number 42. |
| TOPS restrictions, college tuition bills hit a roadblock in the Louisiana Legislature | |
 | Proposals that would likely increase the cost of attending the state's public colleges and universities could stall out in the Louisiana Legislature this year after all. The state House of Representatives killed a measure that would have limited Louisiana's popular TOPS college scholarship program and made it easier to raise public university tuition. The legislation (HB 66) went down on a 45-57 vote Tuesday (May 19.) If it had passed, it still would have required the voters approval at the ballot box next fall. "The university's job is to figure out what the cost is to deliver an education," said Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shreveport, the sponsor of the legislation. The Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) -- which covers the college tuition bill for thousands of Louisiana residents each year -- would also have been restricted if the legislation had become law. |
| Arkansas Lottery Says Cuts Will Boost Money for College Scholarships | |
| The Arkansas lottery will have more money available for college scholarships next year because of cutbacks to the organization, but its revenues are running behind expectations so far this year, the games' director told lawmakers last week. Lottery Director Bishop Woosley said that the games are projected to generate $79.5 million in net proceeds for scholarships in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. That marks a $1.4 million increase over the amount budgeted for this year. The cutbacks include several positions that were eliminated when the lottery was moved under the governor's control and the closing of three prize claim centers around the state. |
| Audit finds problems in U. of Kentucky's body bequeathal program | |
 | The University of Kentucky has begun a sweeping overhaul of its body bequeathal program after finding numerous problems with its administration and oversight, including a three- to five-year delay in burying the remains of people who had given their bodies for scientific research. The overhaul includes eliminating the position of program director Gary Ginn, who also is the Fayette County coroner. "I want to apologize on behalf of the entire UK community for the failings we have uncovered in this important program," UK President Eli Capilouto said. |
| Texas Senate approves bonds for campus construction | |
 | Long-delayed construction projects on university campuses moved a step closer to breaking ground Tuesday after the Texas Senate approved a bill that would authorize $3 billion in bonds to pay for the new buildings. That action was good news for universities, which have made the bonds one of their top legislative priorities for 2015. But the schools aren't celebrating yet. A similar bill reached this point in 2013, but failed to reach the governor's desk before the end of the session. University officials have said that the failure to pass the bonds in 2013 was costly. Construction costs have increased since then. And many schools had to slow enrollment growth in particular programs due to a lack of facility space. New buildings funded in the bill include a biocontainment research facility at Texas A&M University. |
| Campus carry on campuses faces last hurdle in Texas Legislature | |
| With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, the Texas House is all that is keeping a stalled measure requiring public universities and colleges to allow concealed handguns on their campuses from reaching the governor's desk. So-called campus carry could travel one of two routes to clear that chamber, passing as stand-alone legislation or as an amendment to another gun-related bill. A House panel has already approved Senate Bill 11, now awaiting consideration by the Calendars Committee, which sets the chamber's schedule. The House's own version of the campus carry bill died after failing to be set for consideration before a key deadline. The controversial proposal has been criticized by high-ranking university officials. |
| Student Evaluations: Feared, Loathed, and Not Going Anywhere | |
| Janet Wilson has a number burned into her mind: 4.7. That's the average student-evaluation score, on a five-point scale, that she has to reach to feel safe. Her score helps to determine her fate as a full-time, non-tenure-track professor at her West Coast research university. "Everybody in my department is obsessed," says Ms. Wilson, a teacher in the humanities for more than a decade. (This is not her real name: Fearing career repercussions, she asked that a pseudonym be used.) "We talk about how we get into that 4.7-and-above range. We talk about that more than about how to teach." Often, rather than discuss challenges in the classroom, Ms. Wilson and her colleagues pass around advice on what it takes to reach the magic number. One popular strategy is to bake cookies or brownies for students. (Chocolate-chip cookies are seen as the golden ticket.) |
| Obama administration may soon announce experimental access to Pell Grants for incarcerated students | |
 | The U.S. Department of Education is poised to announce a limited exemption to the federal ban on prisoners receiving Pell Grants to attend college while they are incarcerated. Correctional education experts and other sources said they expect the department to issue a waiver under the experimental sites program, which allows the feds to lift certain rules that govern aid programs in the spirit of experimentation. If the project is successful, it would add to momentum for the U.S. Congress to consider overturning the ban it passed on the use of Pell for prisoners in 1994. "The idea is under consideration," a department spokesperson said. Sources said the Obama administration backs the experiment, and that it would be unveiled this summer. |
| BOBBY HARRISON (OPINION): Election debate: Spend more on schools, save, or cut taxes? | |
 | The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Bobby Harrison writes: "As the election season grinds into full gear this summer, state leaders (primarily Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn) will talk about the strong fiscal condition of the state. And granted, the state budget is in better shape fiscally than it has been in several years thanks in large part to increased revenue collection in recent years as the national recession has ended. ...regardless of what some would call an uneven playing field, the debate for the upcoming election could be framed as whether to spend more on education while putting less money in reserves or vice versa. That has been the debate for roughly the last 12 legislative sessions. Interestingly, Republicans have added another element to the debate." |
SPORTS
| Eighteen Bulldogs will play summer league baseball | |
| The process of improving Mississippi State's finish in 2015 begins in a few weeks summer leagues across the country. The Bulldogs will have 18 players competing in those leagues. Eight players will play in the Cape Cod Baseball League. The quantity of players is the most under coach John Cohen. The Cape Cod League is considered the premier amateur baseball summer league in the country. It had 276 former alumni in Major League Baseball alone last season. |
| Deflation no issue for state SEC quarterbacks | |
| Jevan Snead was different in his ball selection. He wanted them almost brand new. Some Ole Miss quarterbacks Ken Crain has seen come through liked a little mileage on their footballs. "Some of them really like them broken in," said Crain, who has worked with football equipment at Ole Miss as either a student or employee since 1993. Now he's the head equipment manager. It is a similar situation at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs check in a dozen game balls to officials each Saturday, each of which were personally selected by quarterback Dak Prescott. Prescott and the rest of MSU's signal callers prefer a ball that has been slightly used according to assistant athletic trainer Jason Hubbard. "During the week we have about 20 balls that the quarterbacks use during practice," Hubbard said. "Throughout the year as balls become worn, we take the worn balls out and replace them with new balls. On Thursday of each week, Dak will select 10 to 15 balls he likes." |
| SEC Baseball Tournament 2015: Day 2 matchups, schedule, pitchers | |
| Matchups are set for Day 2 of the 2015 SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. No. 11 seed Alabama, No. 7 seed Missouri, No. 9 seed Auburn and No. 5 seed Arkansas advanced past the single-elimination portion of the tournament on Tuesday. The SEC's top four seeds -- LSU, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Florida -- had first-round byes and automatically moved to the double-elimination rounds, which begin on Wednesday. Here is a look at the times, matchups and projected starting pitchers for Day 2 action at Hoover Met. |
| Vanderbilt women's tennis wins national championship | |
 | Astra Sharma was mobbed by her teammates in the doubles alley of Court 2 at Baylor's Hurd Tennis Center, having just wrapped up the third NCAA title in Vanderbilt history. The fourth-seeded Commodores dethroned defending national champion UCLA with a 4-2 win Tuesday night in Waco, Texas. "You feel fully alive in the moment when you're in these matches," said Vanderbilt coach Geoff Macdonald, who won the program's first national title in his 21st season. "It was an extraordinary team effort over the course of several months. It's been just an incredible group." |
| Nike paying big bucks to outfit UGA athletes | |
 | The University of Georgia softball team gives the school national exposure Thursday night when it plays in an NCAA Super Regional at Michigan airing on ESPN2. It will also once again put on display Nike's swoosh as the official apparel and footwear provider for Bulldog teams. Georgia is completing the first year of a new 10-year deal with Nike worth at least $40.8 million over its length, according to a copy of a contract obtained by the Athens Banner-Herald under an open records request. There was no announcement last summer when the school extended its deal for seven years through June 30, 2024 with the Beaverton, Ore., company. Georgia has been under an all-sport contract with Nike since 1999. |
| Inside Auburn's complicated ticket-selling strategy, and how to get the best seats in the house | |
| Even in the SEC, where football reigns, the top programs struggle to sell out their stadiums. In many recent seasons, some of the conferences' most successful teams have noticed a decline in ticket sales, including Auburn, which has resorted to numerous incentives -- such as multi-game packages, non-renewable season tickets and public season-ticket sales -- to fill 87,451-seat Jordan-Hare Stadium. At Auburn, the process of selling tickets is convoluted, and, as AL.com learned during an exhaustive look inside the university's ticket-selling process, designed to offer priority donors places at the head of the line. Moreover, many ticket-buying fans, including donors, either don't understand it, or are unaware of all of its intricacies, often leading to frustration and even anger. |
| U. of South Carolina athletics keeping up in facilities race | |
 | Bulldozers and shovels have been as common on the University of South Carolina campus the past five years as palmetto trees and "Beat Clemson" stickers. USC is on schedule to have some of its new facilities completed by the first home football game and is hoping to have another wave of upgrades completed within two years. "We're never going to stop trying to get better," athletics director Ray Tanner said last week while updating Gamecocks' facilities. "We owe that to our student-athletes." |
| College sports leaders worry about NLRB ruling and Jenkins lawsuit | |
| The former president of Northwestern University said Tuesday that if the university was forced to consider college athletes as employees, he hopes Northwestern would leave big-time colleges sports behind. "What does paid athletics have to do with the university mission?" said Henry Bienen, who retired as Northwestern's president in 2009. "If at some point you go down that slope and you're all the way down that slope, I think you'll see a bailing of lots of private and even some public universities. At least I hope so." The comments came Tuesday during a panel discussion organized by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, of which Bienen is a member. They also came as Northwestern awaits a National Labor Relations Board decision that would decide if its football players -- and college athletes at private colleges, more generally -- could unionize as employees of the university. |
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