| Monday, October 16, 2017 |
| Mississippi State collection uses clothing to trace the past | |
 | Mississippi State University's Moore Hall houses a roomful of colorful history. "We have approximately 2,000 objects," said Lori Neuenfeldt, instructor and gallery director. Specifically, the MSU Historic Costume and Textiles Collection preserves clothes, shoes and accessories. The oldest item dates back to the 1840s. Some were for everyday wear, others strictly reserved for special occasions. "We don't repair. We preserve them and protect them," Neuenfeldt said. "We don't try to bring them back to life. We're more interested in the stories they have to tell." Some might not think of fashion as a serious topic, but it touches every aspect of human life. The differences between a store-bought silk dress and a handmade wool dress can speak to class, economic development, regional trends and down-to-earth realities of human existence. |
| Mississippi State Ranked Among Top 10 Entrepreneurship Research Centers | |
 | The Journal of Small Business Management recently ranked Mississippi State University as No. 6 among the top 10 global institutions for entrepreneurship research in an article titled "Contributing Forces in Entrepreneurship Research: A Global Citation Analysis." The same article names James J. Chrisman, head of MSU's Department of Management and Information Systems, as the sixth biggest individual contributor to entrepreneurship research in the world. The journal based its rankings on a study that examined more than 2,100 entrepreneurship articles that leading journals published from 2002 through 2013, measuring citations per article and other citation analyses. "We look at things that influence how family businesses behave in terms of (things like) strategy, human resources and investment policy, growth and profitability," Chrisman told the Jackson Free Press. |
| The Ghost That Haunts Grant's Memoirs | |
 | "Memoir in America is an atrocity arms race," Calvin Trillin writes. He describes it as a contest to reveal the most appalling family secret. That overstates things a bit, but he has a point. The genre flung open one of the first windows in our culture of self-exposure, well before social media arrived and took down the last curtains. Oddly, the author of perhaps the most widely acclaimed of all American memoirs endured dark personal struggles but wrote nothing about them. Stranger still, he barely acknowledged in his book that he had served two terms as president of the United States. Its title is THE PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF ULYSSES S. GRANT ($39.95), now available in a richly annotated new edition from Harvard University Press, edited by the historian John F. Marszalek, with David S. Nolen and Louie P. Gallo. |
| Ron Chernow Talks Grant, Hamilton and American Legacies | |
| Above the entrance to Grant's Tomb in New York City, figures representing Peace and Victory frame an inscription. The slogan's brevity belies the difficulty of the idea: Let us have peace. On a recent afternoon, the biographer Ron Chernow perched on a nearby bench to discuss his latest offering, Grant, a sweeping study of the Civil War general and U.S. President whose body lies within that monument. Gazing up at North America's largest mausoleum, Chernow recalls that Walt Whitman dubbed Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln the two "towering majestic figures" of the Civil War. The details of Grant's life are subject to the confusion that engulfs the period too. It's no coincidence that Chernow's book clocks in at more than 1,000 pages. "In order to build up Robert E. Lee, you've got to knock down Ulysses S. Grant," says John F. Marszalek, executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association and editor of a new annotated edition of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, which will also be released in October. |
| MSU's Carl Small Town Center gains new director, community planner | |
 | Leah F. Kemp was recently promoted to director at Mississippi State's Carl Small Town Center, and Thomas R. Gregory III has begun his new role as the center's community planner. Kemp previously served for six years as assistant director and one year as interim director. At MSU, she also has served as an adjunct professor, visiting assistant professor and instructor in the College of Architecture, Art and Design. A Mississippi Registered Architect, Kemp also has practiced in Washington, D.C., and Nashville, Tenn. She holds a bachelor's degree in interior design from Virginia Tech, and a master of architecture from Tulane University. Gregory is a 2005 MSU business administration, construction management and land development bachelor's graduate who also minored in economics and political science. He returned to his alma mater after eight years as chief administrative officer for the City of Greenwood. |
| Giant deer: What it takes to get there | |
 | Mississippi's state record bucks are true giants. In 2010, James Saunders harvested a typical 10-point that scored 184 3/4 inches. The mass and tines made it a deer hunter's dream. In 1994, Tony Fulton harvested a non-typical buck that at the time seemed beyond anyone's imagination. The deer had 33 points and scored an amazing 295 3/4 inches. It is currently the fifth largest hunter-harvested non-typical on record with the Boone and Crockett Club. So how do these deer grow such massive antlers? Two experts in the field explain that it's a mix of habitat, genetics, management and luck. First, they need the right genetics, and that in itself is uncommon. "I would say something in the 180s would be like one in 500 or one in a thousand, and that may be an overestimate," said Bronson Strickland of the Mississippi State University Deer Lab. But even with the right genetics, it's an uphill battle that starts early. "If that buck is going to be a superstar, it starts in the womb," Strickland said. |
| Mississippi considers poisons for wild hogs | |
| As wild hog populations continue to rise, Mississippi is looking for more effective ways to control them. Trapping has long been considered the most effective means available. Newer corral-type enclosures fitted with cameras and gates that can be dropped with a cellular connection are currently the most efficient because the trapper can see how many hogs are in the trap and close the gates at will. But even with the hunting and trapping efforts being made in Mississippi, the number of hogs continues to rise. Now the state is looking at two poisons in an effort to eradicate the invasive species: warfarin and sodium nitrite. According to the Mississippi State University Extension Service, wild hogs cause roughly $1.5 billion in damage in the United States annually. |
| MSU alumnus Tony Tooke named Forest Service chief | |
| Tony Tooke, a 1983 alumnus of Mississippi State University, is the new chief of the U.S. Forest Service, the national agency responsible for the management and protection of 154 national forests throughout the nation. A Detroit, Ala., native, Tooke's career with the U.S. Forest Service began at age 18 and continued through his collegiate days. He most recently served as regional forester for the Southern Region of the USDA Forest Service. Prior positions included associate deputy chief for the National Forest System, director of ecosystem management coordination, deputy director of economic recovery, and assistant director of forest management. |
| Veggie-growing program Thursday at North Mississippi Research and Extension Center | |
| Mississippi State University horticulture experts will present a program on "Growing Great Fall Vegetables" on Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona. Participants will hear presentations on growing vegetables in the fall and then take a guided tour through the demonstration plots. Pre-registration not required. The program is free. |
| Bill Minor documentary to be screened Tuesday at Mississippi State | |
 | A public screening of the documentary "Eyes on Mississippi" begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17 in the Old Main Academic Center, Room 3320, on the Mississippi State University campus. The documentary examines the career of longtime journalist and political columnist Bill Minor, the "conscience of Mississippi," as he was called. Minor witnessed and covered state and national politics for some seven decades. The free screening of Ellen Ann Fentress' film will be followed by a panel discussion of the intersection of gender, politics and journalism. Panelists will be Fentress, Donna Ladd, editor-in-chief and co-owner of the Jackson Free Press, and Marty Wiseman, professor emeritus of Political Science and Public Administration at MSU. |
| Pumpkinpalooza transforms Main Street | |
 | Main Street was bustling Friday night with hundreds of people in colorful costumes ready to trick or treat during Starkville's city-wide fall festival, Pumpkinpalooza. The Greater Starkville Development Partnership's eighth annual event brought one of the largest crowds yet to Main Street. Community Market vendors were set up for the last time until next summer and stores stayed open late for the event, handing out candy and allowing people to browse their shops. A pumpkin patch, a haunted trolly and bounce houses were set up in the middle of Main Street for attendees. The festival kicked off with a pep rally led by Mississippi State University head men's basketball coach Ben Howland, MSU head women's basketball coach Vic Schaefer, and homecoming queen Victoria Vivians. The MSU women's basketball team signed autographs and talked to participants. |
| Vienna Boys Choir at MSU's Lee Hall, a 'wow' event in the Golden Triangle | |
| What is widely considered the most famous boys' choir in the world will be in the Golden Triangle Friday, Oct. 27. The Columbus Arts Council presents the Vienna Boys Choir in concert at 7:30 p.m. in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium on the Mississippi State University campus. The event originally scheduled to be held at Mississippi University for Women was relocated to Starkville due to maintenance at The W's Rent Auditorium. The choir of boy sopranos and altos ranging in age from 9 to 14 is based in Vienna, Austria. Approximately 100 choristers are divided into four touring choirs of about 25 singers each. They annually perform approximately 300 concerts worldwide for almost half a million people. |
| Lowndes County, Starkville look to renew restaurant taxes | |
| Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins asked Lowndes County Board of Supervisors for a resolution backing the renewal of the county's 2-percent restaurant sales tax Friday. The current 10-year term of the tax is set to end July 18, 2018. Higgins and Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Nancy Carpenter addressed the supervisors Friday. They plan to attend Tuesday's Columbus City Council meeting to ask the city to pass a similar resolution. Although Higgins and Carpenter did not ask for a vote on the resolution Friday, District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said he was not prepared to support the legislation. The Starkville Board of Aldermen also has not passed a resolution backing the restaurant tax's renewal, although the city's 2-percent tax also is set to expire July 18, 2018. The board splits the revenue between five different groups: the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Starkville Parks and Recreation Department, Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority, the city of Starkville (operating revenue) and Mississippi State University's Student Government Association. |
| Retail Strategies updates aldermen on recruitment efforts | |
| Executives from Retail Strategies updated aldermen on the progress of retail recruitment efforts for Starkville during a Friday afternoon work session. The Birmingham, Alabama-based firm has overseen Starkville's retail recruitment since February 2016, when aldermen initiated a contract with it rather than continue to use the Golden Triangle Development LINK for retail recruitment. Scott VonCannon, portfolio director for Retail Strategies, said officials could not provide specific names for some of the projects Retail Strategies is pursuing because it's still early in those processes. One goal for Retail Strategies, he said, is diversifying where new businesses come to town when possible. |
| Supervisor Bricklee Miller responds to public criticism by taking polygraph | |
| An Oktibbeha County supervisor who openly supports selling OCH Regional Medical Center has gone to extraordinary lengths in an effort to prove she's not deliberately misleading voters for personal gain. Bricklee Miller, a first-term supervisor who represents District 4, has hired an attorney and last week took a polygraph exam. Miller emailed The Dispatch an eight-page document late Friday night containing what appears to be results of a polygraph she completed on Wednesday at the office of her attorney, A. Michael Espy, in Jackson. Miller has leveled criticism of OCH since being elected, most recently telling The Dispatch the county hospital "is failing." She claims the hospital has operated at a more than $5 million deficit this fiscal year -- a claim OCH leadership refutes. |
| Officials: Vote should cover costs to solve transportation woes | |
| Republican Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall said during a speech last week that each 1 cent tax increase on a gallon of motor fuel generates about $20 million annually. Based on that calculation, the state's current 18.4 cent per gallon motor fuel tax would have to be more than doubled to generate the $400 million annually Department of Transportation officials and others say is needed to address the state's road and bridge needs. Talk of efforts to find a way to provide additional funds for the road and bridge needs came to the forefront again last week with the revelation that Dean Kirby, an influential Rankin County Republican senator, was planning to file legislation in the 2018 session to hold a statewide vote on whether to increase fees and taxes for specific transportation projects. |
| Democratic congressional candidate to host 1st District campaign kick-off | |
| A Democratic candidate for Mississippi's 1st Congressional District seat will host a campaign kick-off event Sunday. Carlton E. Smith, a Unitarian Universalist minister residing in Holly Springs, will address supporters and seek to excite enthusiasm ahead of a June primary contest next year. In the Democratic primary ballot, Smith will face Randy Wadkins, a University of Mississippi chemistry professor. Both men are making a first run at elected office. The winner of the Democratic contest will face Republican incumbent Rep. Trent Kelly, who has been in office since June 2015. |
| GOP Sen. Thad Cochran Grappling With Illness | |
 | Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran is continuing to grapple with a urinary tract infection that has delayed a planned return to Washington, his office announced on Monday. The GOP veteran, 79, has been absent from Washington for a month. The announcement by Cochran's chief of staff Brad White came as Republicans controlling the Senate had hoped to pass a budget measure that's a key step toward the party's goal of rewriting the tax code. It's unclear whether Cochran's absence will delay the budget debate. Republicans control the Senate with a narrow 52-48 margin. White said Cochran's wife told him late Saturday that the infection had returned. His office had said last week that Cochran would return to work on Monday. |
| Analysis: Wicker praises Trump as '18 Senate race approaches | |
| Facing a potential Republican primary battle in 2018, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi is stepping up his praise of President Donald Trump, who won the state with 58 percent of the vote last November. When Trump spoke to the United Nations in September, Wicker said the president "was unapologetically clear and firm about America's priorities, namely our resolve to counter a nuclear-armed North Korea." Last week, Wicker praised Trump for issuing an executive order designed to change some health care regulations. State Sen. Chris McDaniel was backed by tea party groups when he came close to unseating Mississippi's senior U.S. senator, Thad Cochran, in a bitter Republican primary in 2014. McDaniel is now considering a 2018 run against Wicker, and McDaniel is being supported by Steve Bannon. |
| McCaskill wants to nix law that curbed DEA's power to stop flood of opioids | |
 | Sen. Claire McCaskill will push to repeal a 2016 law that critics say paved the way for drugmakers and drug suppliers to flood American communities with opioid painkillers and fueled the current opioid epidemic. The move by McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, comes in the wake of an investigation by The Washington Post and 60 Minutes, which detailed a successful effort by the drug industry to undermine the ability of law enforcement officials to stop suspicious shipments of opioids to what they feared were pill-mills and illicit pharmacies. The 2016 law, which sailed through Congress, made it harder for the Drug Enforcement Agency to halt drug shipments that posed an "imminent danger" to the community. |
| A commercial airplane collided with a drone in Canada, a first in North America | |
 | The Canadian transport minister announced Sunday that a drone recently collided with a commercial aircraft, marking a first in North America. The collision took place Thursday, when a Skyjet aircraft was on its final descent into the Jean Lesage International Airport in Quebec City. Six passengers and two crew members were aboard the twin-propeller airplane, a Beech 100 King Air. It crashed into the drone about three miles out from the airport at about 1,500 feet in the air, Canadian transport minister Marc Garneau told the CBC. No one was injured, and the airplane landed safely after sustaining only minor damage. The increasing number of drones filling the skies has complicated air safety. In the United States, for example, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning that "operating drones around airplanes and helicopters is dangerous and illegal" after stating that pilot reports of drone sightings have increased dramatically since 2014. |
| Once Mocked, North Korean Cyberpower Is a Global Threat | |
| When North Korean hackers tried to steal $1 billion from the New York Federal Reserve last year, only a spelling error stopped them. They were digitally looting an account of the Bangladesh Central Bank, when bankers grew suspicious about a withdrawal request that had misspelled "foundation" as "fandation." Even so, Kim Jong-un's minions still got away with $81 million in that heist. Then only sheer luck enabled a 22-year-old British hacker to defuse the biggest North Korean cyberattack to date, a ransomware attack last May that failed to generate much cash but brought down hundreds of thousands of computers across dozens of countries --- and briefly crippled Britain's National Health Service. Their track record is mixed, but North Korea's army of more than 6,000 hackers is undeniably persistent, and undeniably improving, according to American and British security officials who have traced these attacks and others back to the North. |
| MUW's Welty Gala to feature best-selling author Jeffrey Toobin | |
| The 2017 Welty Gala will feature best-selling author Jeffrey Toobin, CNN's chief legal analyst and a staff writer for The New Yorker, Friday Oct. 20. His latest book, "American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst," was released to considerable acclaim in August 2016. The book examines the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst, granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Next year, CNN will present "American Heiress: The Patty Hearst Story" in a six-part series based on Toobin's book. He is the author of other critically acclaimed best sellers, including two devoted to the inner workings of the United States Supreme Court and its justices, "The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court" and "The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court." "The Welty Gala raises scholarships for deserving students," MUW President Jim Borsig said. "Also, it is an opportunity for the region to hear authors of current best sellers discuss their work." |
| Eagle's Nest Food Pantry celebrates first anniversary | |
 | A University of Southern Mississippi campus facility that supplies nutritious food free of charge for students or staff in need is celebrating its first anniversary. The Eagle's Nest Food Pantry opened on Oct. 12, 2016. In the last year, its had over 4,500 visitors. It offers non-perishable food, hygiene and baby supplies and some school supplies and all that's needed is a current student ID. Items are supplied by various donors. "We're working with students that may have a roommate that's left them in a sudden need for financial help, we've got student families who might have a child who's ill, somebody might have lost a job, so this is a temporary safety net for a lot of our students," said Tamara Hurst, faculty liaison for the Eagle's Nest Food Pantry. |
| Delta State colloquia speaker Rod Paige looks at future of education | |
| Dr. Rod Paige, former U.S. Secretary of Education and creator of the No Child Left Behind Act, spoke on higher education in America at Delta State University's first Colloquia Distinguished Speakers Lecture of the year. Paige asked, "What will higher education look like in five, 10 or even 15 years from now?" "The United State's system is regarded as being the best in the world. Many believe that the United States preeminence is primary driven by the excellent higher education that we have in," said Paige. Paige attributed this success to the Servicemen Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly know as the G.I. Bill, which he said provided scholarship money and support for World War II veterans. "I was one of those people, so I can attest to how I feel because it helped pay for my tuition at Indiana University," said Page. "Many feel that the massive number of veterans who attended college on the G.I. Bill created America's Middle Class, evaluated America's productivity, and launched our education system to the top of the charts." |
| 'Skip the search!' Valley supporters want Briggs as new president | |
| "Save some money and just move forward and select Dr. Jerryl Briggs," said Mary Crump, 1967 graduate of Mississippi Valley State University. The audience behind her agreed. Thursday, members of the Institutions of Higher Learning Board Search Committee heard from students, alumni, administrators and faculty members in a series of campus listening sessions at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena. The discussion about qualifications for the next president quickly turned into a rally to select the current acting president, Dr. Jerryl Briggs. Briggs has not confirmed his candidacy. "We have two tracks to decide from. Either we can start a national search or we can consider an expedited search. An expedited search is only if we feel like we have someone with all the traits needed to further enhance the university," said Shane Hooper, a College Board trustee and chair of the MVSU Board Search Committee. |
| East Mississippi Community College students visit local aerospace industry | |
| East Mississippi Community College students in the business and marketing management program at the Golden Triangle campus got some hands-on learning Thursday. The group of 39 students went on a field trip to Golden Triangle Regional Airport and some of the surrounding businesses. The students visited Airbus Helicopters, the airport's terminal and Nicholas Air, a private jet firm. At the airport, Deputy Director Matt Dowell talked with the students about the airport's marketing and about alternate ways of making money the airport turned to in the early 2000s economic crisis and its aftermath. "You have the advantage of prices being basically the same as compared to going to Birmingham or Jackson, and you have the convenience of flying from your home or close to it and then flying back into our home by using our airport. Dowell said. "That is the market advantage." |
| Batiste named MGCCC's associate vice president of Institutional Advancement | |
| Tenesha Batiste has been named the associate vice president for Institutional Advancement at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. The Institutional Advancement office oversees the MGCCC Foundation and Alumni. Batiste was previously dean of Business Services at the college's Jackson County Campus and director of Human Resources at the District Office in Perkinston. She previously was director of Human Resources for the City of Moss Point and worked in Human Resources at Singing River Health System. Graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English/journalism with a concentration in public relations from historic Tougaloo College, Batiste also holds a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in human resources management from American Intercontinental University. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in human capital development from the University of Southern Mississippi. |
| Miles Lackey to serve as Auburn president Steven Leath's chief of staff | |
 | Auburn University can expect to see a new face on campus in January, but it's one president Steven Leath knows well. The university announced this month that Miles Lackey will serve as Leath's chief of staff starting next semester. Lackey is chief of staff at Iowa State University, an office he has held since joining Leath there in 2012. "When he was named president at Iowa State, he was looking for a chief of staff with government and business experience," said Lackey, who previously worked on Capitol Hill and owns a pizza parlor with his brother. "He asked if I would be interested in visiting, and the rest is history." A committee chaired by Bobby Woodard, vice president of student affairs, began the search for a chief of staff at Auburn this summer. The committee reviewed more than 30 applicants before offering the role to Lackey, Leath said. |
| Outsourcing would save the U. of Tennessee $6.8 million, proposal says | |
 | The University of Tennessee system could save $6.8 million in the first year under a new contract for facilities and maintenance with Jones Lang LaSalle, the Chicago-based company with which the state has proposed expanding its contract to include public colleges and universities. The savings are detailed in new proposals for each UT campus made public this week. Officials with the university say that after recently receiving the proposals from JLL, they now have all the information needed to make decisions about outsourcing facilities and maintenance work, though that could still be weeks away. About 1,100 employees in the UT system stand to be affected by the proposal, which is strongly opposed by United Campus Workers, the union representing state university employees. |
| Students tackle real-world problems at U. of Missouri's TigerHacks | |
 | Since Friday evening, MU student Justin Hofer and his team have been building an artificial brain designed to detect when a news headline is true or false. So far, the "brain" has a 92 percent accuracy rate. "It's an artificial brain that I've trained to read text," Hofer said. "We've basically got 20,000 headlines with a 50-50 split of real and fake news and fed them through it in order to train it." Hofer is one of 262 participants in TigerHacks, a 36-hour hackathon lasting all weekend on MU's campus. Students came from Lindenwood University, University of Missouri–St. Louis, University of Kansas, University of Arkansas, Purdue University and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to participate. Although "hacking" is generally a term with a negative association, TigerHacks is not about intrusion, director and MU student Holt Skinner said. The event's title can be misleading, but hacking means something different in the computer science industry, he said. |
| Texas A&M Student Services Building to replace Bizzell Hall | |
 | A new building designed to centralize student services at Texas A&M University is scheduled to be built at the spot of Bizzell Hall on Military Walk. According to the university, the $42.6 million, 95,000-square foot Student Services Building is expected to be open to students in 2020. Departments currently located in Bizzell Hall will be moved to the White Creek Complex location on West Campus this summer. Interior demolition of the building, which was built in 1918 as a dormitory, began last week, and officials expect exterior demolition to be complete within the next two weeks. "After Cain Hall was removed, student leaders were adamant that the new Student Services Building should be located in a central campus location, and we are excited that we honored these requests by constructing adjacent to Military Walk," said Daniel J. Pugh Sr., vice president for student affairs at Texas A&M, in a press release. |
| College presidents and provosts gather to consider issues of free speech | |
 | If college leaders had any hope that speaker disruptions and free speech disputes would be last semester's news, they have seen otherwise in the early weeks of this academic year. Just last week, students shouted down talks at Columbia University and the University of Michigan. Those doing the shouting down were generally students aligned with the political left, but supporters of President Trump also shut down a talk at Whittier College by California's attorney general, Xavier Becerra, shouting "America First" and "build that wall" to prevent him from answering questions. And those events followed the interruption of speakers (sometimes preventing events from taking place at all) at the College of William & Mary, Texas Southern University, the University of Oregon and Virginia Tech. With these events becoming increasingly common, the University of Chicago invited presidents and provosts from a range of institutions to come to campus this weekend for a closed-door discussion of how higher education should respond. The University of Chicago has stated in a series of statements from its leaders and monographs on its history that free expression must be respected on campuses, no matter how controversial the idea being expressed. |
| Textbooks vs electronic tools | |
| Angela Farmer, an assistant professor of educational leadership at Mississippi State, writes: "Textbook publishing for the K-12 population is a booming $8 billion industry, allowing three primary companies, McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to capture nearly 85 percent of market, according to procon.org, a nonprofit source dedicated to revealing both sides of controversial issues. On the other hand, tablets are a $75 billion dollar industry.The frequently debated topic focuses on whether to stick with traditional, textbook delivery of the plethora of heavy, hardback books which, in certain STEM fields, are antiquated almost as soon as they are received or to migrate toward digital book delivery to keep pace with the 21st century of online information access." |
| Is Amazon becoming the new local job killer? | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: "Rural communities just thought Wal-Mart was the great job killer. Now comes Amazon. 'If Amazon continues to grow its business by $20 billion a year, the annual toll of lost jobs for merchants, buyers and cashiers will be in the tens of thousands by my calculations,' is the spin on Amazon by Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business, in a recent Wall Street Journal article. 'Disruption in the U.S. labor force is nothing new -- we have just never dealt with a company that is so ruthless and single-minded about it.' At least Wal-Mart hires local folks and pays local and state taxes." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State rips apart BYU | |
| After a bye week and two straight blowout losses on the road to ranked opponents, Mississippi State retook control of the narrative of its season with 35-10 victory over BYU on Saturday. "We did some silly things, made some silly mistakes, but overall I liked our performance," coach Dan Mullen said. "I liked our mindset coming off of the bye week." The Bulldogs (4-2) executed a balanced plan of attack and got a combined four-touchdown performance from Nick Fitzgerald --- with two TDs on the ground and two through the air. Mississippi State had 306 rushing yards and Fitzgerald threw for 241 to cross the 500-yard mark in total offense for the third time this season. |
| Bulldogs run to victory over BYU | |
| Last year it took two overtimes to decide a winner between BYU and Mississippi State. On Saturday, it was evident after the Bulldogs scored a touchdown on their opening drive which team would come out on top this time around. MSU ended its two-game skid with a 35-10 victory over the Cougars and avenged last year's double-overtime loss in Provo. Aeris Williams (114) and Nick Fitzgerald (103) each eclipsed the 100-yard rushing plateau and combined for three touchdowns on the ground. Fitzgerald also threw for 241 yards and two more scores. MSU celebrates homecoming Saturday against Kentucky. |
| A-Train rolls again as Bulldogs pound Cougars | |
| With 7 minutes, 20 seconds left in the game Saturday afternoon, Aeris Williams took a handoff from Nick Fitzgerald, ran right, and disappeared without fear or hesitation into a ton of writhing mass before plunging into the end zone for a 6-yard score, the final touchdown in the Mississippi State football team's 35-10 victory against BYU. With that, the junior tailback from West Point tied the team's nose tackle with two touchdowns on the season. "I can't believe it took six games to get up in there (the end zone)," Williams said, ignoring the reference to former Noxubee County High School standout Jeffrey Simmons, who has scored touchdowns on a fumble recovery and a blocked punt. "It felt great." On a day MSU didn't need help scoring touchdowns, Williams did all the things Bulldog fans have become accustomed to this season, his first at the uncontested starter at tailback. The A-Train, as he has become known, delivered as usual. In the 19th Century, people said you could set your watch by train. And so it is with the Bulldogs' A-train. He is reliable and keeps chugging, churning along. |
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