| Monday, July 20, 2015 |
| The Mill at MSU can host occupants, but work remains | |
 | The Mill at MSU reached a major milestone earlier this month -- it was certified for occupancy -- but there was no ceremony. Instead, work continues. Last Monday, landscapers were busy planting dozens of plants and flowers around the exterior of the massive old Cooley Building, a 1902 structure that will be a unique blend of old and new. On the second floor, IT specialists were busy installing more than 60 terminals for Mississippi State's National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center, the facility's largest tenant, which will occupy the entire second floor. On the first floor, Steve Langston, owner of Sullivan's Office Supply, was supervising the delivery and set up of office furniture for nSPARC, which plans to be in operation at its new home on Aug. 7. Everywhere, it seems, there is a flurry of activity, most of it along the lines of finishing touches. |
| Alumni parties send off new Mississippi State students in July, August | |
| Mississippi State alumni chapters around the country will continue a decade-long tradition of late-summer send-off parties for local students attending the university for the first time. Co-sponsored by the MSU Alumni Association, its chapters and other groups, this year's events take place through Aug. 6. In addition to students' parents and friends, parties involve active participation of students and alumni chapter members. "These parties are designed to encourage excitement and enthusiasm for incoming freshmen and transfer students for our 137-year-old land grant institution," said Jeff Davis, the alumni association's executive director. |
| Mississippi State University Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Holmes' Enrollment | |
 | Hundreds of students and community members gathered Sunday to honor the 50th anniversary of Dr. Richard Holmes enrollment at Mississippi State University. Holmes says the university is a much different place today than it was when he first began attending classes. "Mississippi State has been committed to diversity and continuing education and excellence," explains Holmes. Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum says they would not be the university they are today if it were not for Holmes. Holmes says he is proud of the part he played in changing history. |
| Mississippi State Celebrates 50 Years of Diversity | |
 | Sunday marked the 50th anniversary in which Dr. Richard E. Holmes integrated Mississippi State University by becoming the first African American student to enroll on campus. Dr. Holmes first enrolled at MSU in 1965. Unlike the violent events that unfolded in Oxford when James Meredith integrated Ole Miss just three years earlier, Holmes' admission into Mississippi State was peaceful. He says he never had anyone try to attack or cause physical harm to him while being there. Dr. Holmes says he's proud of that. He's also proud of the progress the university has made as a whole. |
| IHL grant to MSU-Meridian helping more local teachers | |
 | Two dozen middle and high school teachers are learning new ways to encourage students in grades 6-12 to develop better critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The training by faculty members in the Division of Education at Mississippi State University-Meridian is made possible by a $90,000 Title II grant awarded by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning. Only 12 such IHL grants were awarded this year. This is MSU-Meridian's second Improving Teacher Quality grant. Awarded in 2013, the first targeted middle school teachers in grades 6-8. |
| Mississippi State floral instructor DelPrince moves to specialist spot | |
| A long-time Mississippi State University floral professor is now teaching the Mississippi public about floral design. Jim DelPrince, who taught students on the Starkville campus for 23 years, joined the MSU Extension Service as a floral design specialist July 1. He is stationed in the MSU Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi. "We have a great horticulture group based out of the Coastal Research and Extension Center, and Jim is going to be a great fit," said Patricia Knight, center head. "He adds Extension programming in a completely new arena than what you traditionally see. He is a talented designer, and I think our region, with its appreciation for art, is going to be very receptive to what he has to offer." |
| Plant Upgrades Cause Short-Term Mississippi State Cheese Shortage | |
| It's a Mississippi State tradition that has been carried on for generations. MSU is not only known for the cowbell but also making their very own cheese. The dairy plant on campus has recently seen a number of upgrades but that has slowed down cheese production this year. For more than 75 years, the signature red cannonball cheese has been a Mississippi State symbol. With tailgate season and the holidays quickly approaching, MSU's dairy plant supervisor, Julie Wilson, is encouraging everyone to place their cheese orders early. "Do it immediately. Normally our business is first come, first serve and its always been that way and it's still going to be that way but the fact that we are behind in production, we're not going to have the same volume of cheese that we normally have, if it's really important to you to get MSU cheese, I would say get your order in now," said Wilson. |
| Late Mississippi cotton crop starts catching up | |
 | As much of Mississippi's cotton crop is beginning to grow out of its rocky start due to a wet, cold spring, Darrin Dodds says new technologies on the horizon will offer additional management tools for growers, beginning in 2016. But some come with stringent use requirements, he said at the annual joint meeting of the Mississippi Boll Weevil Management Corporation and the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Cotton Policy Committee. Dodds, who is Mississippi State University Extension/Research professor of plant and soil science, says this year's cotton is about 10 days behind 'normal' development. |
| $200,000 state grant bringing robotics program to Moss Point | |
 | The Mississippi Department of Education is providing $200,000 to start a robotics program at the Moss Point Career and Technical Education Center. Durand Payton is the career and technical education director for Moss Point schools. Payton says the system's higher education partnerships mean students cab become familiar with engineering while at Moss Point High, continue at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and get an engineering degree from Mississippi State University. |
| Meteorology student has close call, with tree | |
| Did you hear the one about the storm-chaser whose car was hit by a tree in a Starkville storm on the way home from Walmart? Crystal Worley is a rising senior at Mississippi State University. She is a meteorology major, and in May she spent 10 days chasing down storms on the Great Plains for a class about storm-chasing. "The Great Plains are the only place it's considered safe to do it," Worley said this morning. "In Mississippi it's not a good idea. There are too many trees." Trees are dangerous for storm-chasers primarily because they make it difficult to see where the storm is coming from. However, as Worley found out Wednesday night, they also are dangerous when they fall. |
| Partnership picks up award for New South Weekends series | |
| Mississippi State University's football team wasn't the only group that found success this fall. The Greater Starkville Development Partnership's New South Weekends, a fall event series that coincides with the college football season, won the Mississippi Main Street Association's Best Image or Branding Promotion award. "We're so appreciative to be recognized for what we believe is a one-of-a-kind campaign that brands Starkville as 'Mississippi's college town,' while shining a light on our amazing retailers and restaurants, and creating significant economic impact for our community," said GSDP CEO Jennifer Gregory. "Special thanks are deserved to our exceptional graphics firm, Small Pond Graphics, and our team at the Partnership that works weekends, nights and whenever else it takes to pull off these events." |
| Williams: Economic Development Administration committed to helping cities | |
| During a visit to Meridian on Thursday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Jay Williams said the city reminds him of Youngstown, Ohio where he once served as mayor. Williams, who heads the federal government's Economic Development Administration, toured a new workforce development center in Jasper County earlier on Thursday before coming to downtown Meridian to look at the MSU Riley Center. Both projects received funding from the EDA. Williams told a gathering of economic development, city and county government officials that the federal government's role is to help facilitate stronger communities and shared economic growth. Williams pointed to a federal investment of $3 million towards the $41-million MSU Riley Center as a prime example of the federal government's effort to assist the nation's cities. |
| Special prosecutor appointed in Starkville alderman's DUI case | |
| The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors unanimously appointed Eupora-based lawyer George Mitchell Jr. as the special prosecutor for Starkville Alderman Henry Vaughn's upcoming driving under the influence trial. Vaughn's court date was moved to Aug. 11 by Oktibbeha County Justice Court Judge William "Tony" Boykin last month after county prosecutor Haley Brown recused from the proceedings. Oktibbeha County has used Mitchell, Maben's city court prosecutor, in previous recusal situations, administrators confirmed this week. Brown issued her recusal in court June 30 after Vaughn's defense attorney, Roy A. Perkins, pressed for a trial to be held immediately. Perkins is also a Starkville board member. |
| Thacker Mountain Radio Hour at Neshoba County Fair on Saturday | |
 | The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour will perform live at the Neshoba County Fair at 8 pm on Saturday, July 25 at the Founder's Square Pavilion. Guests for the show will be veteran Mississippi show band, the Krackerjacks, songwriter Charlie Mars, Delta author Jamie Kornegay and Memphis rockabilly duo, Motel Mirrors. The show will be hosted by Jim Dees and Thacker house band, the Yalobushwhackers. Following the one hour radio show, the Krackerjacks will perform a full concert. The Neshoba performance of the Thacker Mountain Radio Hour will be recorded for future air on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. This will mark the seventh consecutive year the Oxford-based music and literature program has performed at the Fair. |
| Q&A: Corrections Commissioner Marshall Fisher | |
| Marshall Fisher is a longtime public servant, working his way up through the ranks of law enforcement until 2005 when then-Gov. Haley Barbour appointed him as head of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. In January, the retired MBN chief was asked to lead again, this time by Gov. Phil Bryant as commissioner of the embattled Mississippi Department of Corrections. The Navy veteran has been on the job for just over six months and in that time has made sweeping changes and more than a few waves. The Clarion-Ledger invited Fisher to discuss his efforts to clean up MDOC and make the organization more fiscally responsible. |
| Mississippi Department of Education headquarters closed for cleanup | |
| The Mississippi Department of Education headquarters is temporarily closed for cleanup after a nearby fire started the building's sprinkler system. Department spokeswoman Patrice Guilfoyle says water accumulated Sunday on the second floor of the former Central High School in downtown Jackson. She says department employees who usually work in the building are asked to work from home at least Monday through Wednesday. |
| Hinds County chancellor doesn't rubber stamp ed funding | |
 | For months, legislative leaders have warned that "one Hinds County chancery judge" would decide the level of education funding for the state should voters in November approve the citizen-sponsored Initiative 42, which attempts to enhance the state's commitment to public education. But in a separate case decided last week, a Hinds County chancery judge refused to get involved in setting the level of education funding for the local school districts. Hinds Chancellor William Singletary dismissed former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's lawsuit that claimed a 2006 state law mandated that the Legislature fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which is the funding formula that provides the bulk of the state's share of the basics to operate local school districts. MAEP has been underfunded $1.7 billion since 2008. While Singletary wrote he was sympathetic to Musgrove's claim, he said the existing law does not mandate full funding. |
| Reeves, Bryant report big donations | |
| Both Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves are heavy favorites to win second terms in their respective offices, but the two Republicans are not taking anything for granted based on their fund-raising efforts. Through the end of June, both incumbents are far outdistancing their opponents in terms of campaign fund-raising. Bryant said he has a message he wants to get to voters and needs money to do so. "This campaign is a chance to talk to voters about the progress Mississippi has made over the past three years," the governor said in an e-mailed response. "Sharing that message requires resources, and we plan on using those resources to talk about Mississippi's falling unemployment rate, the ways we've strengthened our schools, and the importance of defending conservative Mississippi values." |
| Empower PAC targets races around state | |
 | A central Mississippi-based political action committee is targeting local state lawmakers primarily for their support of public education and opposition to charter schools. These incumbent lawmakers said that Empower PAC is duping voters and raking in cash. Their view is disputed by the PAC's founder and CEO Grant Callen, who argues that his organization is only trying to give parents options in educating their children. In a phone interview Thursday, Callen said his organization supports public education, as evidenced by endorsement of DeSoto County public school teacher Ashley Henley, who is running for office in the House District 40 race. Nonetheless, some DeSoto County incumbent lawmakers aren't pulling any punches. They say that they want to pull the mask off the Empower PAC and expose their ties to charter school lobbyists. |
| State Rep. Steve Holland hospitalized with stomach ailment | |
| State Rep. Steve Holland is in a Tupelo hospital for treatment of another abdominal infection. The 59-year-old Holland, a Democrat from Plantersville, tells local media outlets that he entered the North Mississippi Medical Center last Tuesday and expects to remain for another week. Holland has struggled in recent years with infections and stomach issues. Holland missed much of the 2014 session when he suffered spikes in his blood pressure before undergoing major gallbladder surgery. |
| Mississippi flag folded at some public buildings | |
| Mississippi voters chose to keep a Confederate battle emblem on the state flag in 2001, but that election did not equate to a universal embrace of the banner. The flag has disappeared in recent years from some public buildings, particularly in majority-black areas, as local officials expressed concern that it represents division rather than unity. The Mississippi flag has been folded in more places since last month, when the massacre of nine black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, prompted widespread discussion about displaying Old South symbols on public property. The man charged in the shootings had posed with the Confederate battle flag in photos posted online before what police say was a racially motivated attack. One section of Mississippi law makes flying the state flag optional, not mandatory. |
| Black Mississippi Flag Supporter Dies in Traffic Accident | |
| A black Mississippi man who often dressed in Confederate regalia to support the state flag has died in a one-car accident. The Highway Patrol says 49-year-old Anthony Hervey was killed Sunday when his 2005 Ford Explorer left the roadway and overturned on Mississippi Highway 6 in Lafayette County. Hervey, of Oxford, has drawn attention over the years for opposing efforts to change the flag. He said he dressed in Rebel soldier garb to honor blacks who served with the Confederacy during the Civil War. |
| A call to action in Mississippi horse trainer's death | |
| Hundreds of people gathered Sunday night at a baseball park in a small Mississippi town to remember a black man who died after a physical encounter with a white police officer and to call for action. The crowd repeatedly shouted "No justice, no peace!" Lawrence Kirskey, president of the Clarke County NAACP, suggested they boycott local businesses because of lack of action in the death of 39-year-old Jonathan Sanders. Sanders died after crossing paths with part-time Stonewall police officer Kevin Herrington, 25, late July 8. Sanders had been riding in a two-wheeled buggy pulled by a horse. |
| What Donald Trump was up to while John McCain was a prisoner of war | |
 | It was the spring of 1968, and Donald Trump had it good. He was 21 years old and handsome with a full head of hair. He avoided the Vietnam War draft on his way to earning an Ivy League degree. He was fond of fancy dinners, beautiful women and outrageous clubs. Most important, he had a job in his father's real estate company and a brain bursting with money-making ideas that would make him a billionaire. More than 8,000 miles away, John McCain sat in a tiny, squalid North Vietnamese prison cell. The Navy pilot's body was broken from a plane crash, starvation, botched operations and months of torture. As Trump was preparing to take Manhattan, McCain was trying to relearn how to walk. The stark contrast in their fortunes was thrown into sharp relief Saturday when Trump belittled McCain during a campaign speech in Iowa. |
| Tyson Among Poultry Giants Curtailing Antibiotic Use | |
 | Christine Daugherty is almost irrepressibly energetic. It's a trait that serves her well in her role as vice president of sustainable food production at Tyson Foods of Springdale. Tyson announced in April its goal of eliminating the use of human-use antibiotics in its broiler chicken flocks by 2017. "We know that antibiotic resistance is a global concern," Daugherty said. "What Tyson Foods is doing is essentially trying to be part of the solution to reduce antibiotic resistance. There is some confusion. It's not reducing antibiotics. It's a component." Ed Fryar, the CEO of Ozark Mountain Poultry, said the current trend toward eliminating human-use antibiotics is historic. |
| Lockheed Martin to buy Sikorsky Aircraft for $9 billion | |
 | Lockheed Martin is buying Black Hawk helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft for $9 billion. United Technologies Corp. said in June that it planned to shed Sikorsky, either through a sale or spinoff. The aerospace and building systems conglomerate wants to focus on high-technology systems and services for the aerospace and building industries. Aside from Black Hawk helicopters, Sikorsky makes presidential helicopters. Sikorsky helicopters have also returned astronauts home after they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at the end of their space travels. |
| USM's School of Kinesiology Opens Cadaver Lab | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi's School of Kinesiology is re-opening its cadaver lab for kinesiology doctoral students. Students pursuing their Ph.D. in kinesiology are using the space to study the inner workings of the human body. The teaching space is located in the school's building and currently stores one cadaveric specimen. The lab was closed in spring 2003 due to inadequate facilities. Now, an existing 500 square feet space in the building has been retrofitted to accommodate cadaveric dissection. Students in the summer 2015 semester section of HPR 831/L Gross Anatomy are the first to use the lab. |
| Delta State's Delta Music Institute camp offers students hands-on experience | |
| The ninth Delta Music Institute at Delta State University has attracted students from as far away as California, Pennsylvania and Michigan, as well as from Mississippi. DMI faculty, DMI students, and DMI alumni staff the camp. DMI Director, Tricia Walker, said, "This camp, for students ages 15-18 interested in songwriting, recording, and live performance, is one of the highlights of the year at the DMI. It's so much fun watching these talented students from all across the state coming together with a common interest and passion for music." The camp was started to invite high school students interested in entertainment industry careers to Delta State University for a college campus experience and expose them to the DMI program. |
| U. of Alabama archaeology office curating items collected during TVA project | |
 | Researchers with the University of Alabama's Office of Archeological Research are in the middle of a project to rehabilitate a collection of tens of thousands of artifacts collected in Alabama during the 1930s and 1940s. The work, which began in February, is a collaborative effort between the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the collection, and the university, which is curating it for the government-owned power company. The work is likely to last several years. The artifacts, items from Native American life to European trade goods, were collected by archaeologists and researchers with TVA and UA with labor provided by the Works Projects Administration in the Guntersville, Wheeler and Pickwick reservoir basins in the 1930s and 1940s before the sites were inundated. |
| UGA Trial Garden growing in popularity | |
 | When the University of Georgia's Horticultural Trail Gardens opened in 1982, Karen Radde was enrolled nearby at the university's College of Pharmacy. At that time, Radde said she never dreamed she might one day become a volunteer at the garden. The garden, which trials annuals and perennials from nearly every breeder in the world, hosted its annual summer open house on Saturday, offering tours and tips, but it seemed pretty clear that most of the folks dropping by were there primarily to enjoy the sights of the 2,000 or so taxa, including about 170 rose bushes. John Ruter, UGA's Allan Armitage Professor of Horticulture and garden director, said the trial garden serves three functions: teaching, research and outreach extension. |
| U. of Kentucky lab specialist is suspended during theft investigation | |
 | A University of Kentucky lab specialist was suspended amid a UK Police Department investigation into whether he stole lab equipment from the chemistry-physics building on campus. Steve Ellis, a UK staffer in the physics department, is suspected of stealing nearly $64,000 worth of equipment from April 2012 to February 2015, according to police reports. UK spokesman Jay Blanton said Ellis was suspended several weeks ago, but that no charges have been filed. Ellis is suspected of stealing 154 Fluke multimeters and 30 oscilloscopes, according to the police report. Both are used for measuring electricity. |
| Aggie floats ideas for lake on Texas A&M campus | |
 | While major details of Texas A&M University's Spence Park lake project will remain murky for at least another month, Jake Nolan has some ideas of his own. Nolan, a 2012 graduate from the master of real estate program at A&M's Mays Business School, launched a grassroots campaign in May dubbed "A New Spence Park" that piqued the interest of Aggies in online communities at the same time school officials were working on their own project behind the scenes. His vision for the park that would take it out of the shadow of Kyle Field includes a retention pond with a fountain behind The Association of Former Students building, an amphitheater, a cafe and restrooms. Nolan said he is not associated with the university's lake project, nor have school officials talked to him about their campaign, so it was a pleasant surprise when Phillip Ray, vice chancellor for business affairs for the A&M System, confirmed last week that a small lake or pond will be in the park by 2016. Until more is known about the university's project and its features, Nolan's mock-ups will have to tide Aggies over. |
| U. of Missouri chancellor decries old photo of Confederate flag on campus | |
 | A 3-year-old photo of individuals posing with a Confederate flag outside a University of Missouri fraternity house elicited the ire of Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, though officials have determined that none of the individuals were MU students. Chancellor Loftin made two statements about the photo, which actually was taken in 2012. The Twitter account @FratScenery, which shares contributed photos of fraternity and sorority houses, posted the 2012 photo on July 12, and it was shared about 40 times. Loftin received several messages of concern on social media early last week, which university spokesman Christian Basi said sparked the chancellor's response. "He wanted to get a statement out there quickly," Basi said. |
| Organization withdraws U. of Missouri's library science program accreditation | |
| The American Library Association has withdrawn its accreditation of the University of Missouri's library science master's program. MU informed the association of its intent to appeal the decision Tuesday. Although MU's program has never lost its accredited status, Karen O'Brien, director of the American Library Association's Office for Accreditation, said MU has been on conditional accreditation status since June 2012. Conditional accreditation indicates "the program's need for significant and immediate improvement to maintain conformity with the standards," according to the association's glossary. MU and association officials said that, because of the pending appeal, they were unable to comment on what led to the program's loss of accreditation. |
| How Presidents and Enrollment Leaders Can Get on the Same Page | |
 | Whenever enrollment leaders frown, there's a good chance the campus president is to blame. Ask around: Happy enrollment chiefs tend to say they enjoy good relations with the big boss. Unhappy ones often describe their president as living on another planet. But getting on the same page is easier said than done, as several college officials in Chicago said on Friday at the ACT's annual Enrollment Planners Conference. During a session on improving relationships with campus leaders, Candace S. Vancko said enrollment officials often must educate their presidents and boards because "some think they know a lot more than they do." Ms. Vancko has seen the relationship from both sides. |
| Purdue moves to make mentoring undergraduates a criterion for tenure | |
 | Purdue University, like most colleges and universities, evaluates faculty members up for tenure on their accomplishments in research, teaching and service. And as is the case at most research universities, research has tended to be prominent. But university administrators told the Purdue board last week of plans to make significant changes in those criteria. On top of them all in the policy -- coming first in the policy to signal overarching importance -- will be an expectation that faculty members are active mentors to undergraduates, especially to at-risk students. And teaching evaluations will feature two new measures: commitment to involving undergraduates in research and to pedagogical innovation. Taken together, the new criteria represent a move to shift priorities in tenure reviews, said Deba Dutta, provost at Purdue, in an interview Saturday. |
| University Experts Renew Denials of Links Between Tobacco and Disease | |
| After decades of legal victories by smokers over tobacco companies, some recent lawsuits are being undermined by a new round of medical experts -- some with university ties -- who have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars to dispute plaintiffs' claims, according to a study published on Friday. The tobacco industry, after long denying connections between smoking and disease, has been ordered to pay hundreds of billions of dollars in various settlements since 1998. But Florida courts in 2006 rejected a major class-action settlement, leaving smokers and companies to fight out thousands of individual cases. A Stanford University professor of otolaryngology, Robert K. Jackler, combed through court records of those cases. His goal: to find who was giving the tobacco companies the expert credibility they needed to continue the fight. His conclusions, published on Friday in the journal The Laryngoscope, identified six fellow otolaryngologists who have repeatedly given sworn testimony in Florida courts that offered reasons other than smoking for the cancers suffered by plaintiffs or their deceased relatives. |
| SCOTT ELLIOTT (OPINION): Economic dev: A better path to stronger funding of public services | |
| Scott Elliott, president of Meridian Community College, writes in The Meridian Star: "'Robbing Peter to Pay Paul' should never be confused with optimum problem solving. Yet, Mississippi may be perilously posed to do just that where public education is concerned. I am, of course, referencing Initiative 42, which will be voted upon by Mississippians on Nov. 3. It is a referendum calling for the full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) under any circumstances, meaning whether the State (based on tax revenues) can afford it or not. ...Probably the worst thing about this whole quagmire is that it has the potential to foster a dog-eat-dog, every-man-for-himself culture that unwittingly pits the K-12 system against the community colleges and universities. And while that is counterproductive, it looms as a foreseeable outcome." |
| BILL CRAWFORD (OPINION): Blanton, courts make higher rates likely for Mississippi Power Company | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: "For years, communities, businesses, and consumers in southeast Mississippi have counted on Mississippi Power Company for far more than electricity. The company has been a valued partner in economic development projects, disaster recovery (especially after Katrina), fights to save military bases, and more. Further, company leaders frequently provide effective leadership for statewide initiatives. For Hattiesburg oilman Thomas Blanton and others to gloat because they got an activist supreme court to strike down a rate mitigation plan for the company's new Kemper power plant, and portray of this longtime, good corporate citizen as criminal, is over the top. Indeed, communities, businesses and consumers may want to take a sober look at what happened." |
| GEOFF PENDER (OPINION): The Case of the Mystery Flag Robocalls | |
| The Clarion-Ledger's Geoff Pender writes: "Strange, upside-down partisan politics are afoot around the state flag debate and House legislative races. I present: The Case of the Mystery Flag Robocalls. ...while it appears a majority of Democratic leaders would support removing the rebel emblem, some Democratic strate-gerists appear to be trying to cash in on Gunn's stance as a wedge issue among House Republicans, or at least testing the waters. An illegally anonymous automated telephone push poll and mailer went out in a few House districts with incumbent Republicans within only a day or so of Gunn's comments. The Gunn camp believes Democrats are behind it -- someone with a 'machine' to turn out the pieces so quickly -- and it's trying to pin the tail on some donkey. But as yet no one has fessed up. Several Democratic leaders and strategists have denied any hand in the electioneering pieces." |
SPORTS
| SEC Media Days reveals new side of Mississippi State's Dak Prescott | |
| There's not a lot the nation doesn't know about Dak Prescott. It's well documented that his path to Mississippi State ran through Haughton, Louisiana in a three-bedroom trailer. His two older brothers, Tad and Jace, along with his late mother, Peggy, raised him. He burst onto the national scene by igniting a fourth-quarter comeback in the 2013 Egg Bowl. But the nation saw a new side of Dak Prescott at SEC Media Days this year. When MSU's quarterback sat down in the back corner of the main media room in the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, he spoke almost as if he was the president of the SEC players' union -- if such a thing existed. In a time where packaged predetermined responses are the norm, the elder statesman of the SEC's quarterbacks shared genuine opinions on real-life topics such as league legislation banning teams to accept transfers with a history of domestic violence. |
| Media's disrespect for Mississippi State unprecedented since 2000 | |
| The Southeastern Conference media has a love/hate relationship with Mississippi State. They love Dak Prescott. They aren't impressed with the other 100-or-so players. "It doesn't fit," Prescott said. "So I'm not really sure why it's like it is." A day after the SEC media selected Mississippi State to finish last in the West and 13th overall, it tabbed Prescott as the league's best quarterback. The signal caller was named first-team All-SEC on Friday. Wide receiver De'Runnya Wilson, cornerback Will Redmond and defensive lineman Chris Jones received second team honors. The lack of respect is unprecedented this millennium according to the SEC Media Days predictions. Fortunately for Mississippi State, the media's predicted finishes aren't accurate. |
| Analysis: What We Learned at SEC Media Days | |
| Southeastern Conference Media Days officially marks the beginning of football season. Although it's in July and a month and a half ahead of the first college football game, it's the turning point for most fans and media. This year's event was filled with all sorts of excitement and gave us a preview of what's to come this fall. Hoover, Alabama, was packed with media and fans alike all four days. All 14 SEC teams took their turns and were all asked about the upcoming season. It seems that all 14 teams are ready for this season and they are excited to see what happens. At the end of the year, only one team will win the SEC Championship. For now, here are some things we learned at Media Days. |
| Q&A: Mississippi State junior basketball player I.J. Ready | |
| Mississippi State junior I.J. Ready has grown and matured a lot in his two seasons with the Bulldogs. With new head coach Ben Howland and one of the nation's top incoming freshman Malik Newman on board, the Bulldogs are ready to return to the upper echelon of the Southeastern Conference. The MSU two-year letter winner at point guard gave us a look ahead to the upcoming season. |
| MaxxSouth airing local high school athletic events | |
| MaxxSouth Broadband is trying to get the community involved with sporting events taking place in Mississippi. They've gone as far as developing the MaxxSouth Sports channel, which is dedicated to 24 hours of non-stop coverage of local sporting events in the 60 communities that make up the company's footprint. The channel will be full of high school football, softball, volleyball, soccer, and basketball this fall. With both Starkville Academy and Starkville High School having football teams who made the playoffs last year, a lot of eyes will be on the Volunteers and Yellow Jackets as they put pads on this fall. Although games cannot be seen live, they can be seen on a tape delay, and many fans will be tuned in for those replays. |
| Extra dough for grub: Football players gobble up cost of attendance boost | |
 | Texas A&M senior Julien Obioha was asked to move from defensive end to defensive tackle this spring. The New Orleans native, a former Brother Martin standout, gained 20 pounds for the switch and is trying to add more. So he has a pretty good idea of how he'll spend the new cost of attendance check approved by the "Power Five" conferences this offseason. "Food," he said this week at Southeastern Conference Media Days. "I've got to gain weight." College football players, and other athletes, have an additional $2,000 to $6,000 coming their way this fall, and most of them -- according to a poll of players at Media Days -- will spend the extra dough on grub. "They can use it for whatever they need," said Miriam Segar, senior associate athletic director at LSU. "They're excited about the opportunity. It's like your boss saying, 'Hey, you're getting a pay raise.'" |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
