| Tuesday, October 3, 2017 |
| MSU Police upgrade dispatch equipment | |
 | The Mississippi State University Police Department opened its new communication center Sept. 27, with service beginning the following day. The new center offers marked improvements over conditions dispatchers worked in prior to the renovation, with two all new six-monitor workstations. The equipment is also adjustable for the comfort of the dispatchers, allowing them to electronically raise and lower the screens' height and have the choice between standing or sitting at their stations. "Our old communication center required the dispatcher to get up from their position and go to the other side of the room just to do their job," said MSU Chief of Police Vance Rice. The new setup will also allow the two dispatchers on duty to better collaborate during emergencies. "They are on the front line of officer safety," Rice said, explaining the importance of communication in law enforcement. |
| Rural Voices Radio: Having their voices heard | |
 | Reagan Poston said reading her prose pieces aloud for Mississippi Public Broadcasting was like being published in a "verbal publication." The freshman New York University student from Mantee -- "Population 204," she said -- attended the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science her last two years of high school where she and 21 other students from English teacher Emma Richardson's creative writing classes read their own works aloud for MPB. It's part of the Rural Voices Radio Project, MPB's partnership project with the Mississippi Writing/Thinking Institute at Mississippi State University. Students and teachers from around the state read their own 90-second prose or poetry, which airs daily at 3:28 p.m. |
| Police searching for Starkville robbers | |
 | The Starkville Police Department is requesting the community's assistance to identify two armed robbery suspects. According to a surveillance camera, two masked suspects entered a convenience store at 1111 North Montgomery Street just after 8 p.m. Sunday. They appear to hold down the female clerk, steal cash and tobacco products, then run out the front door. This incident is under active investigation. |
| District 38 candidate forum to be held Thursday evening | |
| Voters will have a chance to hear from three candidates vying for the Mississippi House of Representatives District 38 seat at a Thursday evening forum at the Greensboro Center in Starkville. The Starkville Daily News is hosting forum, starting at 6 p.m., for the candidates, who are running in a special election to replace former, long-tenured representative Tyrone Ellis (D-Starkville). Ellis, 71 and also a church pastor, announced his retirement at the end of June, saying he looked forward to spending more time with his family, six grandchildren and his Noxubee County congregation. The State Board of Election Commissioners has certified three candidates -- Narrissa Dawn Bradford, Cheikh A. Taylor and Lisa Wynn -- for the Nov. 7 special election. Every candidate is a Starkville resident. District 38 includes portions of Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties. |
| State law allowing clerks to not issue marriage license set to go into effect | |
| The state's 82 circuit clerks, starting Friday, can refuse to issue marriage licenses based of their religious objection after the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block a controversial Mississippi law. Opponents say the law will discriminate against same-sex couples and say they will continue to fight it. Under the specifications of the law, the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act, the state would be responsible for ensuing the license is issued if the clerk or no other employee in the circuit clerk's office is willing to issue the license. The law also could prevent businesses from being forced to provide services for same-sex weddings and for other events. |
| State flag poll: Less than half of voters support Confederate design | |
 | Public opinion of the Mississippi state flag -- the last in the nation containing the Confederate battle emblem -- is shifting, according to a poll conducted last month. A September survey of Mississippi voters by Jackson-based, Democratic-leaning polling firm Chism Strategies shows that just 49 percent of Mississippians favor the current state flag while 41 percent want to retire it and 10 percent are undecided about the issue. The percentage of Mississippians who told pollsters they support the flag is down from the 2001 flag referendum vote total, when 64 percent of voters affirmed the current state flag design. That same year, 36 percent of voters favored a new, specific flag design -- one that critics at the time said was a political stunt to sway voters from voting against the current design. |
| Mississippi jurist should fill appellate seat, senators say | |
 | Mississippi's two Republican U.S. senators say they are working with President Donald Trump's administration to fill a seat on a federal appeals court with someone from the state. Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker said in a joint statement Monday it's their priority to have "a well-qualified, constitutional conservative jurist" from Mississippi to succeed Judge Grady Jolly on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court handles cases from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Jolly, from Mississippi, is retiring Tuesday. |
| Bush's aides fear Trump will fail to meet this moment | |
 | Donald Trump called on Americans to rally together following the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. But those who helped George W. Bush unite the country after the Sept. 11 attacks say this president is not up to the task of healing a grieving nation. "He's incapable of uniting the country," said Nicholas Rostow, who served as a national security aide to Bush. "Trump has no notable capacity for empathy. He's a man without charm. And charm goes a long way." While Trump used the right words on Monday when he spoke of faith, family and shared values that bond the nation, Rostow and other senior Bush administration advisors said that no matter how this president says it, he has failed to show any evidence that he has the ability to comfort the way Bush did when he wrapped his arms around America after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington 16 years ago. |
| Pew Study: News Coverage Of Trump More Negative Than For Other Presidents | |
 | Compared to other recent presidents, news reports about President Trump have been more focused on his personality than his policy, and are more likely to carry negative assessments of his actions, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center's Journalism Project. Researchers studied news stories from the early months of Trump's presidency, determining whether each story evaluated Trump overall in a positive or negative light. If a story had at least twice as many positive as negative statements, Pew said it had an overall positive assessment of the president. The reverse was also true for stories with a negative assessment. While some may be tempted to read this as evidence of media bias, the leader of Pew's Journalism Project said that isn't a conclusion one can draw from the study. |
| Senate Confirms Trump Choice to Head FCC | |
| The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission despite Democratic complaints that Ajit Pai will undermine net neutrality. The vote was 52-41 on Monday for Pai, who has served as a commissioner at the FCC since 2012. The nomination turned into a proxy fight over Obama-era net neutrality rules established in 2015. In defense of Pai, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said he is "working to establish the light-touch regulatory framework that allowed the internet to become the marvel of the modern age, keeping it free and open for consumers, innovators and providers. Internet technology will continue to thrive if we keep the heavy hand of government away from the controls." |
| Controlled Chaos at Las Vegas Hospital Trauma Center After Attack | |
 | On Sunday night, Toni Mullan drove 110 miles an hour on side streets from home to get back to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, where she had just worked a 12-hour shift as a clinical supervisor in the trauma resuscitation department. Her car was smoking as she pulled into a three-hour parking spot close to the trauma center. Ms. Mullan, 54, left her hazard lights blinking as she shut the car door and raced inside. Around a dozen patients had already arrived from the shooting scene at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. Two were dead and two had been "black tagged" -- fully assessed and found to have injuries that were not survivable. University Medical Center is the only level-one trauma center in Nevada and one of only a few free-standing trauma units in the nation. But even with 11 trauma bays, three operating rooms, a CT scanner, a trauma intensive care unit and a pediatric intensive care unit all under one roof, the trauma center had never faced a torrent like this. |
| MAPE to Honor Robert Khayat at Winter-Reed Partnership Award Tribute Luncheon | |
 | The 2017 Winter-Reed Partnership Award will be presented to Dr. Robert C. Khayat during a tribute luncheon Oct. 17 at the Hilton of Jackson. Khayat was chancellor of the University of Mississippi from 1995 until his retirement in 2009 and has established a legacy of leadership in numerous fields throughout his career, including academics, law, sports and higher education. MAPE launched the Winter-Reed Partnership Award in 2007 to honor former Gov. William Winter and the late Tupelo businessman Jack Reed Sr. for their lifelong contributions to public education and to provide ongoing recognition for Mississippi's outstanding education leaders. |
| International conference sings the blues at Delta State | |
| Scholars from across the country will soon travel to the Mississippi Delta and Delta State University to attend the International Delta Blues Conference. According to Don Allan Mitchell, conference co-chair, "About three and a half years ago, President (Bill) LaForge asked a small group of staff and faculty members to help develop a first-class academic conference on the Blues. With the help of the Robert M. Hearin Foundation, and an ace dream team based at the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, we feel like we have done that." Topics of interest to scholars and enthusiasts will include the African American musical tradition and its influence on American music and culture, the Blues musical genre, folklore, history, ethnicity, and the Mississippi Delta. Universities involved in the conference are widespread and include, Yale University, Columbia University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Virginia, Ohio State University, University of Washington, Vanderbilt University, Stanford University, Duke University, Texas Christian University, City University of New York and many more. |
| Snoop Dogg to be paid $130,000 for UF Gator Growl performance | |
 | Snoop Dogg and Daya, the performers for Gator Growl 2017, the University of Florida homecoming pep rally, will be paid a combined $180,000. Alex DesRosiers, chairman of UF Student Government Productions, confirmed Monday Snoop Dogg, one of rap's biggest sellers, will be paid $130,000 and Daya, a pop singer, will be paid $50,000. UF Student Government Production pays the performers using funds provided by UF student activity fees, DesRosiers said via email. DesRosiers said careful consideration goes into how much is spent on Gator Growl each year, but SGP does not set a budget in advance. Performers Passion Pit, Timeflies, Waka Flocka Flame, and Maddie & Tae were paid a combined $230,000 in 2016. |
| Hundreds of teams expected to compete in Texas A&M video game design contest | |
 | Texas A&M University's Department of Visualization is set to host the fourth annual student game jam later this month, once again challenging participants to create a video game from scratch in 48 hours. University officials said the event -- called Chillenium and sponsored by EA Games, Triseum, Red Bull energy drinks and more -- currently has more than 340 expected participants from 23 U.S. and Canadian universities. The purpose of the Texas A&M student-run event is to give young artists, designers and programmers the chance to compete and interact in a collaborative environment. Participants can compete alone or in a team of up to four people. At the end of the allotted 48 hours, a panel of industry experts will play, judge and award the games. |
| U. of Missouri Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter closed | |
 | The national Sigma Phi Epsilon organization has closed its chapter at the University of Missouri after several violations of alcohol and other policies. In the spring 2017 semester, the fraternity at 405 Kentucky Blvd. was found to have violated earlier probationary limits on events with alcohol and its probation, scheduled to end in May, was extended until May 2018, MU spokesman Christian Basi wrote in an email. The extended probation banned all events with alcohol until chapter leaders went through a training program and met with Greek Life administrators to discuss a program on responsible decision-making called the Balanced Man program, Basi wrote. |
| Scholars Renew Calls for U.S. to Fund Research on Gun Violence | |
 | In 2013, dozens of scholars organized by the Crime Lab of the University of Chicago released a letter calling for Congress to lift restrictions that have led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies to avoid funding research on gun violence. The letter noted that in a 40-year period, the United States had experienced 400 cases of cholera and that the National Institutes of Health had funded 212 grants on cholera. The 1,337 cases of diphtheria had led to 56 NIH grants. But more than four million firearms injuries? The NIH funded only three grants on that topic. This week's horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas is prompting scholars -- particularly in social science groups -- to once again to call for shifts in federal policy to resume support for research on gun violence. |
SPORTS
| Dan Mullen, Mississippi State will try to find answers during bye week | |
| Given the task of describing a 39-point loss, Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen didn't relinquish his grip of the box score. "I'm not super sensitive. I'm kind of a factual person," Mullen said Saturday after then-No. 24 MSU's 49-10 loss to then-No. 13 Auburn in a Southeastern Conference game at Jordan-Hare Stadium. "I have to work on that, my psychology skills. I'm pretty blunt." Mullen chose to recap the events by using the numbers -- 10 penalties, for instance -- but that won't help MSU (3-2, 1-2 SEC) now. Moving forward, Mullen will try to rally a team from consecutive losses of 28 and 39 points in a bye week. By point differential, it is the worst two-game losing streak in the Mullen era. |
| BYU-Mississippi State set for 11 a.m. start | |
| Mississippi State will have its first early start of the 2017 season when the Bulldogs host BYU at 11 a.m. on Oct. 14. The game will be televised on SEC Network, the second time MSU has appeared on the channel this year. BYU leads the series against the Bulldogs 2-1. The Cougars defeated State 28-21 in double overtime in Provo last season and also won the only meeting in Starkville 41-38 in 2001. The Bulldogs' lone win in the series came in 2000. |
| Jazzmun Holmes looks comfortable in Mississippi State's first practice | |
| Jazzmun Holmes didn't intend to make a statement Sunday afternoon. Surrounded by a sea of maroon, white, and black sneakers, the Mississippi State junior stood out in her pair of pink kicks. Holmes and former MSU standout Ketara Chapel, who was wearing a black practice jersey with "The Guys" on it, was the only other player on the court decked out in the sneakers that were a touch hotter than the regular shade of pink. Turns out Holmes' play in MSU's first practice of the 2017-18 season helped her stand out a little more than she expected. "It felt pretty good to get back," said Holmes, a 5-foot-8 point guard from Gulfport. "We have a lot of newbies that came in and we're trying to help them out and figure out things and how we do things at Mississippi State." |
| Much more to Mississippi State than one marquee win | |
| Last year, Mississippi State was able to snap Connecticut's 111-game winning streak with a buzzer-beater in overtime to advance to the national championship game. As big as that win was for the Bulldogs' program, coach Vic Schaefer wants everyone to know that it wasn't a fluke and MSU's emergence onto the national stage in women's basketball is something he has been building since he arrived six years ago. "We've changed that perception yearly, it's not just something that happened in one game last year," Schaefer said. "I think what that game did was validate what people have been noticing and seeing and what we've been selling as a staff in the recruiting process. Now, quite frankly, Mississippi State women's basketball is a household name." |
| Georgia unveils renovated Stegeman Coliseum | |
 | Before Lady Bulldogs basketball coach Joni Taylor left for a month of recruiting in July, she'd stop by the University of Georgia's Stegeman Coliseum to sneak peeks at the progress of the facility's renovations. When she returned in August, it looked completely different. The second phase of the $8 million renovations were finished in September, and Taylor and assistant athletic director for facility operations Melvin Robinson unveiled the facility to media members Monday. The women's volleyball team will be the first to use the updated facility against Tennessee on Oct. 11. The men's basketball team will host its home opener against Valdosta State on Nov. 2, and the Lady Bulldogs will play Wofford on Nov. 12. The Gym Dogs will compete in the venue against Oklahoma on Jan. 12. The updates include black seats, an improved LED lighting system and sound system, and updated graphics of past teams and retired jerseys. The focal point is the new center-hung scoreboard. |
| Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists Taking Care of Razorbacks | |
 | Drs. Christopher Arnold and Terry Sites rarely miss an Arkansas Razorbacks football game. Arnold and Sites, along with Dr. Mark Powell, are founding members of Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists of Fayetteville, the official orthopedic and sports medicine provider for the Hogs. AOS has at least two orthopedic surgeons -- Arnold and Sites -- and a primary care sports medicine doctor roaming the sidelines of every Razorback football game. AOS also provides medical care to all 500 or so student-athletes at the University of Arkansas. "Like many citizens ... we all have a sweet spot in our heart for the Razorbacks," said Sites, who spent his childhood in Little Rock. Each member of the practice's seven physicians is assigned a sport to cover, from baseball to the swimming and diving team. "It's like going to the same doctor every single visit," Arnold said. |
| Houston Nutt: No denying Vols coach Butch Jones on hot seat | |
 | Butch Jones is on the hot seat. There's no point denying it, former Arkansas and Mississippi coach Houston Nutt said Monday. "He is. It's just a fact. He is," Nutt said. "Tennessee expects to win. You're in a great place, great facilities." Nutt, now an analyst for CBS Sports Network, was the featured speaker at the Knoxville Quarterback Club. "Overall, I think he's done a good job," Nutt said of Jones. "I just think there's some things where it's hard to defend, because 41-0, that's not Tennessee." Georgia thumped the Vols by that margin on Saturday at Neyland Stadium. The best way for a coach to approach the hot seat, Nutt said, is to just always assume you're on it. Nutt's advice to a coach in Jones' position? Ignore the outside noise, which Nutt said "is going to get loud." |
| Former Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt's intention 'was not to bring Hugh Freeze down' with lawsuit | |
| Former Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said his intention in filing a lawsuit against Ole Miss wasn't to lead to the end of Hugh Freeze's five-year tenure as his successor but rather to clear his name concerning the NCAA's investigation into the Rebels' football program. "I didn't have one notice of allegations, but there was a lot of blame, so my intention was not to bring Ole Miss down. My intention was not to bring Hugh Freeze down," Nutt said while speaking Monday at the Knoxville Quarterback Club, according to The Clarion Ledger. "That wasn't my intention. My lawyer found things, but my intention was that I wanted my name clear. Because that's all I have. I'm sitting on the sideline working for CBS. I get to watch football, the greatest game there is." |
| FBI charges in college basketball -- beyond a few 'bad apples'? | |
| Scandals in big-time sports are like a Rorschach test separating believers and skeptics. Whenever a major crisis hits -- a prominent football or basketball program gets whacked for breaking major National Collegiate Athletic Association rules, a university is ensnared in a cheating scandal involving athletes, athletes commit a rash of crimes -- a barrage of "I told you so" denunciations rain down from those for whom the scandal affirms their view that big-time college sports are corrupt and irredeemable. Many of the constituents of intercollegiate athletics, meanwhile -- coaches, NCAA officials and not a few college leaders -- patiently explain why the guilty party is an outlier or seek to differentiate it from their own program or institution. And so the world keeps spinning. |
| A Good Day for ESPN After Disney Reaches Altice Agreement | |
| Score one, finally, for ESPN. After a long run of negative headlines, ESPN drew cheers from Wall Street on Monday with a tentative contract agreement between ESPN's corporate owner, the Walt Disney Company, and Altice USA, which provides cable service to roughly three million homes in the New York City suburbs. Once the multiyear contract is made final, Altice will pay more to carry ESPN and other Disney-owned networks, including ABC, despite declines in their ratings. ESPN is already the most expensive basic cable channel, costing distributors about $7.54 a month per subscriber home, according to SNL Kagan, a consulting firm. While disputes of this nature are not uncommon, this particular clash was widely watched in the media industry because it was the first in a wave of pay-television contract renewals for Disney. |
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