| Tuesday, May 26, 2015 |
| Mississippi State Hosts Annual Boys State Program This Week | |
 | Hundreds of young men are learning how to be leaders at Mississippi State University this week. Boys State is a national program that teaches kids how city, county and state government works. They learn through hands-on activities and training. Speakers this week include politicians, lawyers and businessmen. The week long session started last night and wraps up Saturday. This is the third year Mississippi State has hosted Boys State. |
| State of the Region meeting Wednesday; Mississippi State's Shaw to speak | |
 | The CREATE Foundation's Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi will host its 19th annual State of the Region meeting from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday at the BancorpSouth Conference Center in Tupelo. Dr. David Shaw, vice president for research and economic development at Mississippi State University, will present the benefits of using Mississippi's educational resources in the economic development of the region. The Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi has been CREATE's major program component for the past 20 years. The purpose of the commission is to build regional cooperation and unity. |
| New biography tells the story of Mississippi State alumnus, U.S. Senator John C. Stennis | |
 | On Wednesday, the author of "Stennis: Plowing a Straight Furrow," Don H. Thompson, will be on the Mississippi State University campus to discuss the new book. A book signing will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at MSU's Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development. Stennis' daughter, Margaret Womble, will also be on hand for the event. (Subscriber-only content.) |
| The Price of a Boss's Bad Behavior: $226 Million | |
 | Companies have a lot to lose when the boss behaves badly. When a top corporate leader is accused of personal misdeeds ranging from drunk driving to domestic disputes, that company's market cap takes an average $110 million hit, or 1.6 % loss of shareholder value, according to a new working paper from Mississippi State University, Drexel University and Northern Illinois University. The stakes are even higher when the CEO is in hot water: those episodes result in an immediate loss in shareholder value of 4.1% or $226 million. |
| Beach Boys Perform at MSU Riley Center in Front of Sold-Out Crowd | |
 | The most anticipated act of this season's series of the MSU Riley Center took the stage Friday night. The Beach Boys concert has been a sellout for weeks, and they did not disappoint the crowd. They played several of their hits Friday night including "Fun, Fun, Fun" and Surfin' USA. It was a great night for the entire city and county to have the Riley Center at full capacity. "It builds excitement across the entire series when we have a sellout or we have the number of people in the downtown, walking around. It makes the fulfillment of the dream of the Riley Center come true," said Dennis Sankovich, the executive director of the MSU Riley Center. |
| PHOTO: New Phi Delta Kappa members at MSU-Meridian | |
 | Sixteen new members were inducted into Phi Delta Kappa, the premier professional association for educators at MSU-Meridian's annual Excellence in Education banquet. Pictured are: front row, from left, Donna Landrum, Amber Wood, Emily Kerstiens, Toni Dikes, Janiqua Merrell, Jerilynn Crosby, Ashley O. Garrett, Katie Pittman and Raquel Brown. Back row, from left, Jessica Jarman, Jennifer Wentz Meador, Rachel Courvelle, Audrey O' Neil, Ashton Stewart, Suzanne Porter Stokes and Duanika Emerson. |
| An uncertain future for high school grads | |
 | For approximately 1,500 students graduating from Golden Triangle high schools this month, the decision of where to go next and how to get there comes down to numbers. What's the price? What are the academic requirements? How many steps will it take to reach the goal? The average bachelor's degree holder in the U.S. earned $1,101 a week last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median weekly income for someone with an associates degree was $792; those with some college but no degree had a median of $741 per week; and those with high school diplomas earned a median of $688 per week. |
| Starkville again commits to LINK-backed park search | |
| Golden Triangle Development LINK chief operating officer Joey Deason predicted bond intent notices that could help fund a future industrial park will come before city and county leaders as early as July now that both boards have formally recommitted to the organization's search for land. Starkville aldermen approved resolutions reauthorizing the LINK to move forward with a new site selection process after abandoning the 326-acre Innovation District in west Starkville due to possible cultural artifacts on the property and the growing costs associated with vetting and clearing the area. |
| Funding to build new Army Reserve center in Starkville | |
 | A U. S. Senate committee has given its approval to build a new U. S. Army Reserve Center in Starkville. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., says the Committee on Appropriations has approved $9.3 million for the project. Cochran says the funding will be used to replace the aging Guy II and Will Jones U. S. Army Reserve Center. The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration. |
| Governor, Lowndes leaders welcome steel plant expansion | |
| Some deals take months, even years, to put together. The $100 million expansion announced Thursday by Steel Dynamics took considerably less time. "Normally, when these types of projects are being planned, it takes six or eight months to put together," Gov. Phil Bryant said during a brief ceremony at the Steel Dynamics plant at the Golden Triangle Industrial Park. "Two weeks ago, I got the call and the word was, 'Let's make this happen.' And here we are today, announcing a major expansion. That's pretty impressive." The Mississippi Development Authority, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Lowndes County Board of Supervisors provided assistance in support of the project for infrastructure improvements, rail construction and workforce training. |
| Greg Word named senior vice president of Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership | |
 | Greg Word has been named senior vice president of the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership. Word will lead the organization's economic development activities, as well as facilitate the Greater Jackson Alliance, the four-county economic development arm of the parent organization. Word has been with the Mississippi Development Authority the past two years. Prior to his work with MDA, Word held positions with the North Mississippi Industrial Development Association and Mississippi State University. |
| Coal-Fired Power Plant Loses Steam in Mississippi | |
| The future of the most expensive fossil-fuel power plant built in the U.S. is facing new pressures after a Mississippi utility backed out of its commitment to the clean-coal project. South Mississippi Electric Power Association, which furnishes power to smaller utilities in the state, dropped its plan to buy a $600 million, 15% stake in the project spearheaded by Atlanta-based Southern Co., citing construction delays. Southern, in turn, notified state regulators that it may have to raise electricity rates for Mississippi power customers by 41%, or $37 a month for the typical household, to pay for the project. South Mississippi Electric Power's move deals a significant blow to the project in Kemper County, Miss. |
| Cuba Could Bring Opportunities for Mississippi Businesses | |
 | Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy says there will be opportunities for Mississippi and other U.S. businesses when trade is normalized with Cuba, which he now sees as inevitable. Espy was in Cuba just this past March, leading a delegation of agriculture experts to assess opportunities for U.S.-based commodities. The former congressman from Mississippi sees plenty of opportunities for Magnolia State businesses as well. Espy says Mississippi businesses can prepare for trade with Cuba by becoming familiar with the business environment there, including the challenges and risks. |
| Once vilified, BP now getting credit for gulf tourism boom | |
 | With the summer travel season here, fallout from the oil spill that left Gulf Coast beaches smeared with gooey tar balls and scared away visitors in 2010 is being credited, oddly, with something no one imagined back then: An increase in tourism in the region. Five years after the BP disaster, the petroleum giant that was vilified during heated town hall meetings for killing a way of life is now being praised by some along the coast for spending more than $230 million to help lure visitors back to an area that some feared would die because of the spill. |
| Wet or dry? Drinking rates coincide with accessibility | |
 | People who want to see alcohol sales in Mississippi's dry counties may reason that if folks really want a drink, they'll go to any lengths necessary to get it. While that may be true in some cases, data reveal people in dry (for liquor) counties generally drink less than those living in wet counties. The statement also rings true for different levels of drinking, from moderate to heavy. According to data from a study of drinking patterns in counties nationwide in the American Journal of Public Health, the highest levels of drinking occur mostly in Mississippi counties with the easiest access to alcohol. |
| Analysis: Legislative candidates prep for August primaries | |
| Mississippi politicians are gearing up for a busy summer campaign season. One legislative race worth watching is a Democratic primary that pits two incumbent state senators against each other up north. Another is a Gulf Coast Republican primary in which a senator with statewide ambitions is challenged by a former emergency director who handled local operations during Hurricane Katrina. Primaries are Aug. 4 and the general election is Nov. 3. |
| U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran marries longtime aide Kay Webber | |
 | U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and his executive assistant, the former Kay Webber, were married in a private family ceremony Saturday evening at the home of close friends. The couple's children and grandchildren attended the wedding in the home of Cochran's Southern District director, Myrtis Franke, and her husband, Gulfport attorney Paul Franke. The Rev. Jane Stanley, a founder of the nonprofit The Nourishing Place, officiated, a spokesman said. Cochran's Chief of Staff Keith Heard and wife Chrissy also attended. |
| U.S. military and civilians are increasingly divided | |
 | Multi-generational military families form the heart of the all-volunteer Army, which increasingly is drawing its ranks from the relatively small pool of Americans with historic family, cultural or geographic connections to military service. While the U.S. waged a war in Vietnam 50 years ago with 2.7 million men conscripted from every segment of society, less than one-half of 1% of the U.S. population is in the armed services today -- the lowest rate since World War II. America's recent wars are authorized by a U.S. Congress whose members have the lowest rate of military service in history, led by three successive commanders in chief who never served on active duty. The U.S. military today is gradually becoming a separate warrior class, many analysts say, that is becoming increasingly distinct from the public it is charged with protecting. |
| The girls in the room: women plot a Silicon Valley revolution | |
 | In Silicon Valley-speak, the entire point of the Bay Area's unique ecosystem of technology companies and capital is to "disrupt" -- to use technology to fundamentally change the way society functions. Silicon Valley is perhaps the world's leading crucible of innovation. But it is a man's world -- with women making up only 25 percent of the tech workforce. Meet the people working to change that. |
| Texas A&M System offers free medical advice to employees and retirees | |
 | Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp announced a new medical benefit for eligible system employees, retirees and their dependents Thursday morning. The system partnered with Houston-based 2nd.MD to bring free medical advice to an estimated 53,000 individuals effective immediately. Those covered by the A&M Care Plan, J Plan or 65+ Plan will receive the option to use the new benefit, which gives users access to obtain a second medical opinion from top-tier doctors from around the country over the phone, instant messaging or video chat. Sharp said the system is proud to be the first Texas public institution to offer the service to its employees. |
| More college grads are getting better jobs | |
| Employers are recruiting freshly minted college graduates more intensively this spring and not just to be food servers, cashiers and call center representatives. Melissa Remmey, 22, who graduated from Wake Forest University in North Carolina last week with a political science degree, recently weighed four job offers, including positions as a business liaison, an analyst and a sales and marketing associate. "I was surprised at the number I got," she says. "I heard a lot of 'no's' from companies" last fall. The Doylestown, Pa., resident accepted a Boston-based job from Oracle in sales and business development. Even when U.S. unemployment hit 10% in 2009, the jobless rate for college graduates was about half the size. |
| Fewer Students Study Botany, More Plant Collections Closing | |
| The teeming plant world could become a virtual mystery in the coming decades as college students increasingly shy away from studying botany and universities across the U.S. shutter their long-standing herbaria. Since 1988, the number of research universities offering botany degrees has dropped by half, according to National Science Foundation research funding statistics. And the National Center for Education Statistics reports that fewer than 400 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral botany degrees were awarded in 2012. Educators say that's because students are being pushed into more modern, technology-related majors. Current botanists fear that will lead to a dearth of people able to teach about, identify and use plants, which could harm conservation efforts and even the ability to develop alternate fuels and important medicines. |
| Seasoned educators weigh in on not losing control of a class | |
 | It might be every professor's worst nightmare: losing control of a class with no hope of getting it back on track. That appears to be what happened this semester at Texas A&M University at Galveston, where a management instructor threatened to fail the entire class for poor behavior before the university intervened. The specific case certainly appears to be an outlier, and questions remain about how and why the situation got so extreme. It nevertheless captured the attention of fellow faculty members, probably because many have struggled at one point or another with classroom management. So how can instructors get a class back on course when it's veered left or right or, better yet, prevent it from straying altogether? |
| BILL CRAWFORD (OPINION): Legislature not at fault for bad reading scores | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: "In schools districts that fared poorly on the 3rd grade reading tests, many school officials and parents blame lack of funding by the Legislature. ...Gov. Phil Bryant's 'third grade gate,' intended to stop social promotion, simply says that no 3rd grader can move to the 4th grade unless he or she passes a test showing ability to read at grade level. It is modeled after a successful Florida program. ...The final percentage held back should be less than Florida's, a positive result, no doubt from extraordinary efforts made by many schools. Indeed, results suggest school leadership, teacher preparation, and instructional methodology had more to do with pass rates than funding." |
| SID SALTER (OPINION): Democrat's rewrite of MAEP history short on fact | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "After a long period of seeming political inaction, Democrats in the Mississippi House of Representatives are beginning to push back against the Republican majority. In great measure, that effort has been led by Democratic State Rep. Bobby Moak and former state representative Brandon Jones, now of the Mississippi Democratic Trust. But Moak's most recent broadside against the House GOP leadership ignores some basic history that shouldn't be ignored. ...Shortcomings in education funding are bipartisan shortcomings. The Republicans haven't had control of the state's purse strings long enough to take the rap for the failures of an education funding formula designed -- political traps doors and all -- by prior Democratic leadership." |
SPORTS
| SEC gets down to business | |
| The SEC spring business meetings in Destin, the last with Mike Slive as commissioner, begin today. As Power Five conference schools prepare for more freedom to assist student-athletes, "cost of attendance" figures to be one of the most prominent topics. Numbers vary from school to school. For Mississippi State, that number is an additional $5,154 for each athlete currently on a full scholarship. At Ole Miss the number is $4,900. The rubber meets the road at the general business session on Friday. That's when presidents and chancellors will vote, and new policy will be enacted. |
| Confidence greets Sankey's ascension at SEC | |
| As Mike Slive relinquishes the big chair at the Southeastern Conference, Mississippi's two entries are confident in the new leadership moving in. Distribution of wealth and resources have been a staple of SEC policy, and with enrollments, budgets and football stadiums among the smaller in the league, and lacking a major in-state media market as well, that's not something Ole Miss and Mississippi State want to see change. Slive was a "commissioner to all." Ole Miss athletics director Ross Bjork and MSU AD Scott Stricklin are confident that Greg Sankey will be the same. "Greg has been in the conference for 13 years. He's worked with all of us. He understands our needs," Stricklin said. "Our league is very fortunate to have someone like Greg internally who is able to step into that role, and it's a credit to Commissioner Slive for giving him the responsibilities to prepare him to take over." |
| Cohen, Bulldogs look for answers after 2015 season | |
| For Mississippi State's baseball team, the questions about next season's team started before MSU's disappointing 2014 season ended. On the heels of a 24-30 campaign that saw the Bulldogs finish last in the Southeastern Conference, coach John Cohen and his staff now embark on one of the most important offseasons of his seven-year tenure, an offseason where Cohen will try to figure out what went wrong and, more importantly, attempt to fix it. "A lot of decisions will have to be made and this draft is something we will have to pay attention to," said Cohen on the field after an 11-4 loss to LSU on May 1. Whatever Cohen's solution, the possibility exists that next year's Bulldogs may look completely different from this year's edition. |
| Former Bulldog Lindgren pitches two scoreless innings in MLB debut | |
| This time a year ago former St. Stanislaus pitcher Jacob Lindgren was pitching for Mississippi State in the Lafayette (La.) Regional. After being selected in the second round of the 2014 MLB draft, the left-hander ascended rapidly through the New York Yankees' farm system and made history Monday with his MLB debut. When Lindgren toed the rubber at Yankee Stadium in the eighth inning of a 14-1 blowout against the Kansas City Royals, he joined Hall of Fame football player Deion Sanders as the only two Yankees to make their debuts within a year of being drafted. The southpaw did well in relief of starter Nathan Eovaldi. He inherited a runner on first base but quickly induced a double play. |
| LOGAN LOWERY (OPINION): Mullen's recruiting greatly underrated | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Logan Lowery writes: "Mississippi State's 2010 recruiting class didn't receive many rave reviews nor did it make national headlines. It left many wondering if Dan Mullen had what it takes to recruit in a ruthless Southeastern Conference. That year, Mullen signed 26 players in his first full class which was ranked only 38th in the country by Rivals.com and 11th in the Southeastern Conference. Fast forward five years and eight players from that signing class have gone on to the NFL, only one of which (Kaleb Eulls) was considered a four-star prospect. 'It doesn't matter if they're a four-star, five-star or in our program or a two or three-star,' Mullen said. 'Those guys are still going to get the opportunities to go on to the NFL. That's such a huge deal for us for young people around Mississippi to get to see that.'" |
| JASON MUNZ (OPINION): Southern Miss-Mississippi State buildup steadily increasing | |
 | The Hattiesburg American's Jason Munz writes: "It's never too early for football talk, right? Right. Especially when the first game of Southern Miss' 2015 season is a mere 104 days away. And it's against Mississippi State. And it's going to be played right here in Hattiesburg at M.M. Roberts Stadium. Every week, we get peppered with questions during the online Southern Miss live chat related to the Golden Eagles' upcoming tilt with the Bulldogs. So we spoke with athletic director Bill McGillis recently about the game." |
| HUGH KELLENBERGER (OPINION): Video production plays big role for Mississippi State, Ole Miss | |
| The Clarion-Ledger's Hugh Kellenberger writes: "Just how, exactly, do you get to the point where you're using mid-1990s R&B jam 'Return of the Mack' to celebrate Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott's return to school? There's word association of course (return, Mack/Dak), but Drew Walker, MSU's assistant athletics director for video operations, almost immediately dismissed it... But then some more time passed, and the idea grew on him; suddenly the question was how to make it work. It did. There was no way not to smile when the song started, even if it played for a relatively short time in a 90-second clip. The video itself was a success... and is part of something notable happening locally in college athletics. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are not only producing videos to the public, they're doing so with top-notch quality and are able to use the medium to tell the stories of their respective universities." |
| Cost of repairing Ole Miss track rises to $7.3 million | |
| The cost to renovate the University of Mississippi's track facility is going up by $3.3 million after the university decided it had to replace a 5-foot diameter drain pipe running underneath. The College Board approved the additional spending last week, boosting the cost of the project from the $4 million originally budgeted to $7.3 million. Ground around the track, built in 2002, began developing holes in late 2013, and a sonar survey showed large cavities underground. |
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