| Wednesday, July 8, 2015 |
| In-between time is the right time to cultivate one state's growing UAS industry cluster | |
 | It's a bird! It's a plane! It's too small to be Superman, there's no red cape, so it must be a drone! Today, drones probably already outnumber birds and planes in areas where the technology is being applied to industries like agriculture and energy -- sectors that benefit enormously from real-time information on assets spread over large tracts of land that require monitoring for maintenance, security and other reasons. That's good news for areas luring manufacturers of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). It's also good news for areas that support -- and can help staff -- the cottage industries springing up as drones become more ubiquitous in public- and private-sector contexts. |
| Oktibbeha County supervisors studying draft of subdivision rules | |
 | Oktibbeha County supervisors are hashing through a 65-page proposal that, if enacted, will establish development processes and minimum standards for subdivisions outside of incorporated cities. Supervisors acknowledged receiving the Slaughter and Associates-produced document Monday but did not discuss or take action on the matter. Public hearings are expected before the board attempts to approve new regulations, but supervisors have not yet scheduled those sessions. The plan itself could change as officials debate the county's regulatory options. Development is a double-edged sword for the county. Supervisors need major projects to add revenue -- additional funds for road repairs, specifically -- to the county's coffers, but officials have said many roads were not constructed to handle the heavy traffic load created by high-density housing projects. |
| Starkville parks report not expected until early August | |
| The Starkville Parks Advisory Board is unlikely to deliver its report of recommendations for the citywide system, members confirmed Thursday, after numerous issues prevented the group from meeting in June. When aldermen approved a summer takeover of the park system in February, the board also established a seven-person, ad hoc committee and tasked it with assessing the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. City minutes show the report was due by the end of June, but advisory board member Sumner Davis said the group is now aiming to deliver recommendations in early August. Advisory board members identified fiscal responsibility, along with communication and accountability, as the department's primary shortcomings and said it also suffers from a lack of planning, vision, leadership and networking. |
| Delays in 5th Street Project Raise Concerns in Downtown Meridian | |
 | Driving through downtown Meridian is a series of twists and turns thanks to the 5th Street revitalization project. It's a project that has negatively impacted businesses since construction began. Delays in the project thanks to rain have pushed construction behind schedule by about a month, and for one business, finding ways to cope with the project is the concern at the moment. "The street construction is really affecting us because we have to figure out how to get our patrons out of this area, with all of the streets being closed and different areas being hurt," executive director of the MSU Riley Center Dennis Sankovich said. "It really affects everybody, all businesses really." The city says it's working to catch up with the project and looking at possibly going to six days a week of working instead of five, but that still has many concerned. |
| Tackling Obesity Amid Poverty In A Mississippi County | |
 | The average life expectancy for men in Holmes County, Miss., is 65 years. That's a full decade shorter than the U.S. average. So what's killing people there? Researchers say it's no coincidence that Holmes County is also one of Mississippi's poorest, and most obese. Forty-two percent of the county's residents are considered obese. Calvin Head, the county's former transportation director, doesn't have to see the statistics on paper. He saw the problem first hand: The school buses were overcrowded, but there were not more students. "It was because the kids had gotten so obese," Head says. "There was no more three to a seat. You could only have, in most cases, two to a seat." |
| Weekend rain adds to problems for area farmers | |
 | After receiving up to 10 inches of rain in some places over the weekend, Northeast Mississippi farmers must deal with water-logged crops for the second time this summer. Their planting season had already gotten off to a late start, several farmers said in late May, and now it may be too late in the season to replant any damaged major crops. Ross Loftin, County Director at Lee County USDA Farm Agency, said the weekend's heavy rain likely caused damage in low-lying areas, but there should not be any major losses. "We did sustain some damage from the heavy rain this weekend," he said. "Some farmers needed the rain, but not that much." Loftin also said while some crops, such as soybeans, may be replanted, their planting period has passed and farmers would have difficulties planting them at this point. |
| State agencies ordered to plan for massive cuts | |
 | Lawmakers on Tuesday ordered state agency leaders to draft plans for major cuts to their budgets, in the advent that a ballot initiative to force full funding of the state's education formula passes in November. The House Appropriations Committee summoned agency heads to the Capitol for a brief meeting Tuesday, and told them to put pencil to how they would cut their budgets by 7.8 percent or raise fees to cover cuts in the coming year. House Appropriations Chairman Herb Frierson said that if ballot Initiative 42 passes in November, forcing lawmakers to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, he wants to have a plan to cut other agencies to come up with the $250 million or more it would require. Patsy Brumfield, with the group pushing for passage of Initiative 42 to force lawmakers to follow their own education funding law, called the meeting and directive to agency heads a political "scare" tactic. |
| House appropriations chair warns of impact of education funding initiative | |
| House Appropriations Chair Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, is asking state agency heads to provide him "the impact" of a 7.8 percent cut in their budget as a contingency if the citizen-sponsored education funding initiative is approved by voters this November. Agency heads crowded into the House Appropriations room Tuesday morning to receive their instructions from Frierson. He said all of the general fund state agencies participated in the meeting with the exception of Medicaid, which has one of the larger state budgets at about $1 billion. But Frierson said because state funds are needed to draw down matching federal funds for Medicaid, it would be more difficult to cut. |
| Mississippi flag sales increase | |
| Although many believe the Confederate emblem on the Mississippi flag will hurt the state's economy, the state flag itself is actually selling quite well. Recently, the Mississippi state flag became a best seller on Amazon's list of most popular flags. On eBay, one particular Mississippi state flag is auctioning for over $200, a price which has shocked the owner. Former Biloxi resident Kirk Clyatt posted a Mississippi flag for $0.99 on eBay last week, and now the flag is bidding for over $200. Trying to liquidate some of his possessions, Clyatt posted several state flags for sale, including a Mississippi state flag. He sold an Alabama flag for $15 and an old Georgia state flag for $1.99, the same model flag which was draped around the James Meredith statue at the University of Mississippi earlier last year. |
| Regulators order end to Kemper rate increase, plan refunds | |
 | Regulators on Tuesday ordered Mississippi Power Co. to lower rates later this month and plan for customer refunds by November. In issuing the order, the Mississippi Public Service Commission voted 3-0 to comply with a state Supreme Court order that found illegal a 2013 rate increase for the $6.2 billion Kemper County plant. The unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. must roll back the 18 percent increase starting with the August billing cycle, which begins July 20. A residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month in electricity would see monthly bills fall to $121 from $144 currently. The average residential customer uses more power than that, and thus pays more. With interest, about $350 million is due to the company's 186,000 customers from Meridian to the Gulf Coast. |
| Mississippi attorney general joins lawsuit against EPA, Army Corps of Engineers | |
| Mississippi has joined in a lawsuit challenging a rule that gives federal agencies authority to protect some streams, tributaries and wetlands under the Clean Water Act. Attorney General Jim Hood announced the action in a news release Tuesday. "The new rule has the potential of shifting primary regulatory responsibility over traditional state lands and waters from the states to the federal government. It gives unlawful federal power over the states, their citizens and property owners," Hood said in a statement. Hood said the lawsuit asks a federal judge to rule that the EPA has exceeded its authority under the Clean Water Act |
| Choctaw Chief Anderson reveals plan for first 100 days of her second term | |
| Pay raises for all Tribal school employees, a cost of living increase for Tribal government employees and a $10 million budget plan for the Reservation are among the highlights of Chief Phyliss J. Anderson's plan for the first 100 days of her second term after she won re-election with 52 percent of the vote last week. Anderson received 1,907 votes while former chief Beasley Denson polled 1,746 votes, or 48 percent, in certified returns. In wake of the election, however, 11 grievances have been filed with the Tribal Election Committee, including one by Denson. Anderson said she would work to improve the quality of life for the Choctaw Indian Reservation by "creating new job opportunities, expanding housing options, strengthening our schools and preserving our culture and tradition." |
| House votes to ban Confederate flags at federal cemeteries | |
 | After just two minutes of floor debate late Tuesday evening, the House passed a measure to prohibit the display of Confederate flags on graves in federal cemeteries. Despite the lack of fanfare, the vote marked the House's first entry into the debate over removing the Confederate flag from federal property that went beyond codifying already established policies. Rep. Jared Huffman's (D-Calif.) amendment to the 2016 Interior Department spending bill seeks to end a policy that allows a temporary display of the flag in cemeteries under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. It sailed through on a voice vote after minimal discussion on the House floor that encountered no opposition. |
| Obama administration to unveil major new rules targeting segregation across U.S. | |
 | When the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, it barred the outright racial discrimination that was then routine. It also required the government to go one step further -- to actively dismantle segregation and foster integration in its place -- a mandate that for decades has been largely forgotten, neglected and unenforced. Now, on Wednesday, the Obama administration will announce long-awaited rules designed to repair the law's unfulfilled promise and promote the kind of racially integrated neighborhoods that have long eluded deeply segregated cities like Chicago and Baltimore. Conservatives have sounded alarm. Republicans in the House of Representatives, worried by what they see as government intrusion into local planning, have already tried to defund implementation of the rule. Conservative commentators say it represents an experiment in "social engineering" in which the federal government will force white suburbs to change their racial makeup. |
| Biggest and most disruptive layoffs in America are coming from the military | |
| The nation's 30 largest military installations are steeling themselves for an economic punch in the gut, as the Defense Department works through its biggest drawdown since the aftermath of the Cold War. So far, the Army has almost gotten down to 490,000, largely through reducing its presence overseas, and shrinking the number of free-floating soldiers who aren't assigned a base. The next 40,000, however, will largely come from people stationed at installations. When cuts do happen, the Army offers some assistance to communities through the Office of Economic Adjustment, which had $46 million available this year to help them pivot toward other industries. Still, those funds aren't enough to save places where little exists to take up the slack. |
| No layoffs, class reductions expected at USM's Gulf Park campus | |
 | Officials with the University of Southern Mississippi expect the budget cuts slated for the next school year to have little impact on the school's Gulf Park campus in Long Beach. The University of Southern Mississippi is facing about $5.9 million in cuts for the fall of 2015, including about $2.1 million in administrative cuts and cuts of $3.8 million to academics. Gulf Park campus administration will see a decrease of $30,357. But there will be no layoffs at the Long Beach campus and there will be no cuts to classes offered. "We expect the impact to the Gulf Park campus to be minimal," said spokesperson Jenny Tate. "No employees based on the Gulf Park campus were laid off. Additionally, the cuts were made so that there would be minimal negative financial impact on academic programs and services." |
| Southern Miss College of Nursing Receives $1.6M Grant for Education, Training | |
 | The College of Nursing at the University of Southern Mississippi has received a $1.6 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to support advanced nursing education and practice. Funded through the HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce Advanced Nursing Education program, the three-year award will provide support to educate and train nurse practitioners -- at the doctorate level -- through academic-practice partnerships. Dr. Katherine Nugent, dean of the College of Nursing at Southern Miss, considers the HRSA grant a win-win for the university, the College of Nursing and the South Mississippi region. |
| Itawamba Community College offering new National Guard program | |
| Students at Itawamba Community College will have the option of participating in a new Mississippi Army National Guard-affiliated program or taking a military science course. The Magnolia Gold Program will be open to any full-time college student who is a U.S. citizen and maintains a 2.0 GPA. Students who wish to participate must also enlist in the Mississippi Army National Guard. Students can take a military science course as an elective without enlisting, but they will not be eligible for benefits such as tuition assistance and monthly pay. Three hours of credit will be awarded for each program course, which should then transfer to ROTC programs at universities. The first course will be offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at the ICC Fulton campus. |
| Auburn finance professor to testify before congressional subcommittee | |
 | A congressional subcommittee will draw on the expertise of an Auburn University Raymond J. Harbert College of Business faculty member in developing a better understanding of "systemically important financial institutions." James Barth, Lowder Eminent Scholar in Finance and a Milken Institute Senior Fellow, will testify at a Wednesday hearing of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. The hearing will help members of the congressional subcommittee better understand why the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act designates bank holding companies as "systemically important financial institutions." |
| UGA sets new fundraising record at $144 million | |
 | University of Georgia fundraisers announced Tuesday they broke their year-old record for gifts and pledges to the university and by a lot. Gifts and new pledges added up to $144.2 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, said Kelly Kerner, vice president of UGA's Division of Development and Alumni Relations. UGA President Jere Morehead predicted months ago that the university would set a new fundraising record in his second year in office. The $144.2 million is nearly $18 million more than last year's $126.4 million, an increase of about 14 percent. Until this year, that $126.4 million was the most money UGA had ever raised in a single year. |
| UGA professor's lawsuit can go forward, appeals court rules | |
| The state Court of Appeals has revived a University of Georgia professor's lawsuit against the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, former UGA President Michael Adams and others after it was dismissed by a Fulton County Superior Court judge. Dezso Benedek alleges that UGA officials conspired with the state attorney general's office to kill his academic career through a 2010 tenure revocation hearing. In the tenure revocation proceeding, UGA officials charged the comparative literature professor with breaches of academic integrity rules in travel-abroad programs that he coordinated or in which he taught. A lawyer with the attorney general's office conducted the UGA case in the tenure revocation proceeding. |
| U. of Arkansas Gets $1.2M Donation for Libraries | |
 | University of Arkansas alumnae and sisters Agnes Lytton, Mary Sue and Betty Lynn Reagan have designated an estate gift to the university Libraries valued at more than $1.2 million. The sisters were born and raised in northwest Arkansas. The UA said it will use the money to buy library materials. The University Libraries' Special Collections Department began archiving the Reagan family's papers in 1988. The collection includes essays, photographs, correspondence, clippings, a scrapbook and the Mary Sue Reagan Political Collection. |
| Ants go marching on to U. of Florida campus | |
 | Bruce Blackwell was picking up tickets at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday when he saw two 7-foot bronze ants. "Oh, look, it's the ants" he said to his husband, Brandon Wight, a 100-year-old World War II veteran. Blackwell pulled his van to the side of the road to get a closer look. The giant ants named "X" and "O" were sculpted by Palm Beach artist Susan P. Cochran and were placed in front of the Florida Museum of Natural History. They will remain there for a year as part of a University of Florida summer program called Creative B. The program, which was launched in 2010, aims to educate students through art, dance, film and other activities. |
| Texas A&M expert: Financial crisis in Greece may lead to historical deja vu | |
 | The economic crisis brewing in Greece has striking similarities to the perfect storm that gave rise to Nazi Germany following World War I, according to a Texas A&M University international development expert. Andrew Natsios, a professor at A&M's Bush School of Government, said Greece's polarized political climate and hyperinflation that will unfold if Greece backs out of its eurozone affiliation could complicate an already tense environment in the region. "If the worst case scenario happens this could have repercussions around the globe," said Natsios, a former manager of reconstruction programs in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan, as well as special envoy to Sudan under President George W. Bush. |
| Moody's reports portray stabilizing higher ed finance picture | |
 | Financial sustainability is a marathon, not a sprint; a college that wants to endure has to worry about much more than getting through the next year. So it would be a mistake to read too much into reports like the ones Moody's Investors Service issued on Tuesday, which show a "stabilizing" financial picture for most colleges and universities in the 2014 fiscal year. But given the tumultuous turn of recent events involving closures of some small private institutions and major proposed cutbacks for some public university systems, the news from the ratings agency is probably modestly heartening for most campus leaders and, perhaps, modestly caution-inducing for those predicting that widespread catastrophe is about to befall traditional higher education. Moody's offers a decidedly mixed assessment of the state of public four-year colleges and universities. |
| Education Department to Propose Expanded Student-Loan Repayment Program | |
 | The Obama administration is cementing a plan to allow millions of Americans to further slash their monthly student-debt bills, a move to stem defaults that risks raising taxpayer costs for the government's burgeoning student-loan portfolio. The Education Department will formally propose rules Wednesday to expand eligibility for a program called Pay As You Earn, which sets borrowers' monthly payments as a small share of their income. President Barack Obama directed the agency last year to expand the program. Under the plan, some six million more Americans would become eligible this autumn for PAYE, Education Department officials said. |
| What should educators make of spray-painting campus statues, symbols of the old South? | |
| When someone spray painted "KKK," "Black Lives Matter" and "Murderer" on the base of a statue of a Confederate soldier at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, people took to social media to discuss the incident. Many -- including those who want the statue removed -- criticized the tactic, calling it vandalism. Some comments were quite critical of whoever wrote those things, with many comments assuming they were students. Others, however, refused to call the incident vandalism. The defacing of these sites has drawn attention to the reality that -- just like the Confederate flag flying at South Carolina's State House -- images that are hurtful to many black students, faculty members and others have been an accepted and in some cases celebrated part of many campuses for decades. |
SPORTS
| Deets making impression on strength and conditioning at Mississippi State | |
| David Deets has spent several years training college athletes, but he is no stranger to high school athletes. The new Mississippi State Director of Basketball Performance -- strength and conditioning coach -- spent the last year in Oklahoma as the director of rehab and strength and conditioning for the Tuttle Public School district. His experience with high school athletes and college athletes gives him a good balance to help the Bulldogs right away. Three freshmen -- Malik Newman, Quinndary Weatherspoon, and Aric Holman -- are already on campus and going through practices and workouts with the Bulldogs. All three said the weight room was the biggest obstacle of their first day back in June. All three said the weight room was a second thought while playing high school basketball. |
| Prescott leads trio of Bulldogs with spots on watchlists | |
| Less than two months remain until Mississippi State opens 2015 at Southern Miss on Sept. 6. Before the focus turns strictly to the field, preseason watchlists take center stage for the rest of July. Three Bulldogs appeared on watchlists Tuesday. Dak Prescott headlined the names with his spot on the Maxwell Award watchlist. Defensively, cornerback Will Redmond and defensive lineman Chris Jones were both named to the Chuck Bednarik Award watchlist. The Maxwell Award is given to the top college football player in the country. The Bednarik Award is presented to the nation's top defensive player. Prescott became the first player in school history to be named a finalist for the Maxwell Award last year. |
| Mississippi State's Jacob Robson posting big numbers in Cape Cod | |
| Jacob Robson led Mississippi State with a .324 average last season. He's showing that kind of hitting prowess in the Cape Cod League this summer. Robson earned the league's player of the week award after producing three hits last week for the Bourne Braves. It pushed Robson's average to .362, which would have led the league if the Mississippi State junior had enough at-bats to qualify. Robson has played in 13 games this summer for the Braves. He's batting .333 with 15 hits. If he had enough at-bats to qualify, his average would be fifth best in the Cape Cod League. |
| Mississippi State's Howland adds Louisiana Tech transfer Stapleton | |
| During his days at Madison Central High School, Xavian Stapleton didn't care where he played basketball at the next level. He just wanted to play. Coming from a team he helped lead to a runner-up finish in Class 6A in 2012-13, the 6-foot-6 guard didn't have many offers from programs within power conferences -- including Mississippi State -- so he selected Louisiana Tech. "I always wanted to go there (MSU), but even if it didn't happen, I just wanted to play basketball," said Stapleton, who also had offers from Middle Tennessee State, Southern Mississippi, Florida Gulf Coast, and Tulane. Stapleton now finds himself playing for the school in his home state. After one season at Louisiana Tech, Stapleton has transferred to MSU. |
| Spears set to go for Bulldogs | |
| Maroon and white. Maroon and gray. Maroon and black. There are so many color combinations that Jazmine Spears can wear a different piece of Mississippi State women's basketball apparel almost every day. After waiting two years to get to Starkville, Spears plans to make the most of her next two years and mix and match tops and bottoms to create a lasting impression. "It means everything to me," Spears said of realizing her dream to play basketball at MSU. "It took me forever to get here, so just to be here is a great feeling." Spears made her comments last month as part of her first news conference with MSU women's basketball newcomers Zion Campbell, Jazzmun "Jazz" Holmes, Roshunda Johnson and Teaira McCowan. |
| Kentucky AD Barnhart touts program's success on, off field | |
| Contending for two championships made Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart proud and gave him confidence that his programs will continue to have a presence on the national stage. This year was enjoyable for Barnhart on many fronts. Barnhart also collected some hardware, being named one of four Athletics Director of the Year Award recipients by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Though Kentucky dropped 11 spots from last year's best-ever finish to 22nd in the Directors' Cup standings, it was the school's second-highest showing and third consecutive top-25. Fifteen sports earned points by qualifying for the NCAA postseason. |
| Vanderbilt rape case: New trial date to be set | |
 | More information is expected to be shared Wednesday on how and when the second trial of two former Vanderbilt University football players charged with rape will take place. Prosecutors and attorneys for Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey are scheduled to gather in front of Nashville Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The hearing to discuss a new trial date was set after Watkins declared a mistrial in the case on June 23. Both men have also been re-indicted by a Davidson County grand jury. They will be arraigned on the charges on Wednesday. |
| RICK CLEVELAND (OPINION): Golf a family affair for Gallaghers | |
 | Mississippi syndicated sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "Last week, Cissye (Meeks) Gallagher won her record 12th State Am championship at The Oaks in Pass Christian. Twelve! An even dozen. She won her first in 1987, 28 years ago. That's a prolonged period of excellence. Keep in mind, because of injuries, pregnancies and two years as a pro, she didn't play many of those years or she surely would have won more. A couple of times, she won the match play tournament without ever needing to play the last six holes. That doesn't happen any more, at least partly because of the children she and husband, Jim Gallagher, Jr., have produced. Daughter Kathleen, who will enter LSU this fall, won the State Am two years ago. Daughter Mary Langdon, who played four years at Mississippi State, won last year. Talk about keeping it all in the family..." |
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