| Tuesday, March 20, 2018 |
| Mississippi State getting nearly $2 million for new research facility | |
 | The federal government is providing $1.8 million to Mississippi State University to build a new building. The grant from the Economic Development Administration will pay for a building for MSU's Institute for Imaging and Analytical Technologies. That facility will be located in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park. It will be used to solve technically challenging problems facing industry today. |
| Partnership, Entrepreneurship Center to host Innovation Challenge | |
 | The Partnership and the Mississippi State University Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach are teaming up to give local middle- and high-school students a taste of what it's like to start a business. The two entities, with sponsorship from International Paper, have partnered to host an Oktibbeha County Innovation Challenge for students from local schools. An interest meeting for the challenge is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Glo office at 419 E. Lampkin St. MSU College of Business Director of Outreach Jeffrey Rupp said the university's E-Center has created a strong environment for innovation that has resulted in dozens of successful startups for MSU students. He said it naturally follows to start sharing those concepts with local secondary students. "Part of the mission of a land grant university like Mississippi State is to reach out and leverage our resources to boost communities," Rupp said. "We are fortunate to have a fantastic relationship with the schools and the Partnership in Starkville." |
| Waynesboro starts work on community improvement projects after MSU study | |
 | Wayne County, as a whole, is looking to change a few things on the positive side. These changes come after a study was conducted through Mississippi State University to see how the community fares compared to similar size communities. We looked at what was revealed during the First Impressions study. "Anything we can do to make our town beautiful I think is great," said Dianne Harris, a local business owner. Harris is excited to see action in the community take shape following strengths and weaknesses outlined in the study. "What we found was that we are a community that they were very surprised for all that we had for a community our size. But, they did cite us for things, such as litter and some unsightliness. What we want to try and do is address those issues that deal with aesthetics," said Wayne County Executive Director of Economic Development Joseph Dunlap. |
| Update: Bond set for suspect in fatal wreck | |
 | A Starkville man is facing two felony charges in connection to a fatal four-vehicle wreck downtown that left a Clay County woman dead and multiple people injured. The Starkville Police Department charged 61-year-old Jimmy Andrew Sims on Monday with manslaughter-culpable negligence and aggravated assault. Sims had his initial appearance in Starkville Municipal Court Monday night, where Municipal Court Judge Rodney Faver set his total bond at $35,000. Bond was set at $25,000 for the manslaughter charge and $10,000 for aggravated assault. Sims' attorney Marty Haug informed Faver that Sims would be able to bond out. The next court appearance for Sims is scheduled for April 11 at 2 p.m. |
| Nissan to add second shift making vans at Mississippi plant | |
 | Nissan Motor Co. says it will increase van production at its Mississippi plant, adding a second shift in April. The company made the announcement Monday as it marked the 4 millionth vehicle produced at the plant since it opened in 2003. Spokeswoman Lloryn Love-Carter says about 250 workers will be redeployed from other areas to staff the second shift assembling NV vans. The Canton plant is the only plant worldwide that makes the large vans for Nissan. The Japanese automaker sold about 18,000 NV vans in the United States last year, according to company figures. |
| Key decisions to be made this week before legislators finalize budget | |
 | How much money the Legislature will have to fund education, health care, law enforcement and other vital services for the upcoming fiscal year, beginning July 1, will be dependent on some key actions during the coming week. As of right now, the Legislature's official revenue estimate is that the state will have slightly less revenue -- $1.5 million or .03 percent -- than it did during the 2017 session when multiple agencies absorbed significant budget cuts. But in recent months, revenue collections have exceeded projections. Based on those collections, there is a possibility that legislative leaders will meet this week to raise the estimate for the coming budget year. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who rotates with House Speaker Philip Gunn as the chairman of the Legislative Budget Committee, will have the final say this year on whether to meet in order to adjust the estimate. |
| Mississippi imposes toughest abortion ban in US; clinic sues, hearing set | |
| Mississippi moved quickly toward a legal confrontation over the nation's most restrictive abortion law Monday. Within six hours, the governor signed a bill banning most abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, the state's lone abortion clinic sued, and a federal judge set a Tuesday morning hearing to consider blocking the restrictions. Abortion opponents sought the confrontation, hoping federal courts will ultimately prohibit abortions before a fetus is viable. Current federal law blocks such restrictions by states. Some legal experts have said a change in the law is unlikely unless the makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court changes in a way that favors abortion opponents. |
| Mississippi's only abortion clinic sues state over new 15-week ban | |
 | Less than an hour after Mississippi's governor signed the nation's strictest abortion ban into law, the state's only abortion clinic asked the courts to block it, arguing that the new law is unconstitutional. The law bans abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy and took effect immediately after Gov. Phil Bryant signed it on Monday. No exceptions are provided for incidents of rape or incest. The Jackson Women's Health Clinic filed its lawsuit within minutes, setting the stage for a constitutional challenge to the long-held rule that abortion cannot be outlawed before a fetus is viable outside the womb. "All women deserve access to safe and legal abortion care, no matter their zip code. Yet Mississippi politicians have shown once again that they will stop at nothing to deny women this fundamental right, targeting the state's last remaining clinic in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court and decades of settled precedent," said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents the Women's Health Clinic. |
| Realtors unhappy with governor over broker bill veto | |
| On Feb. 28, Realtors in the state were in a mood to celebrate. The Mississippi Senate had passed House Bill 1471, which changed the licensing process for real estate brokers in the state. The bill was sponsored by Mississippi Realtors, which represents more than 6,000 real estate professionals in 21 districts in the state. "The Mississippi House and Senate demonstrated overwhelming bipartisan support of the proposed change," said Kris Davis, who with her husband, Mike, own RE/MAX Partners in Columbus and Starkville. The bill, which sailed through the House by an 81-34 vote and the Senate by a 49-2 margin, needed only the formality of Gov. Phil Bryant's signature to be enacted. But on March 9, Gov. Bryant vetoed the bill, sending shockwaves through the real estate community statewide. "To say we were surprised is such an understatement," said Karen Glass, Mississippi Realtors president. "We were totally shocked. (The governor's office) was the last place I thought we would find resistance." |
| Indigent defendants denied effective legal counsel, report says | |
| Several shortcomings in how Mississippi provides counsel to indigent defendants in felony cases are identified in a report released today. The Mississippi Public Defender Task Force's 132-page study says the state has no system for ensuring local governments provide effective counsel to indigent defendants accused of felonies in trial courts. And the task force recommends legislation to address what it considers deficiencies in the state's legal system. Under the Fourteenth Amendment, states are responsible for overseeing defendants' Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel. In Mississippi, the state only directly assesses the qualification of an indigent defendant's counsel in death eligible cases. "I feel very strongly that Mississippi would benefit in multiple ways from a well organized and adequately funded state defender system so we wouldn't have great disparity in the quality of legal representation in different parts of the state," said state Supreme Court Presiding Justice and chairman of the Public Defender Task Force James W. Kitchens. |
| Hyde-Smith on governor's short list to replace Sen. Cochran | |
 | The list is short -- and about to get much shorter. Gov. Phil Bryant is expected to announce his choice to replace U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran soon. And Bryant is reportedly considering Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith, of Brookhaven, and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. Of course, no one is spilling the beans on the record, either because they don't know or they don't want to get in front of Bryant's announcement. Hyde-Smith has yet to say, replying with a "no comment" when a Daily Leader reporter asked her recently. Others in the Republican party are just as quiet. Hyde-Smith was elected in 2011 after serving three terms as a state senator. She had little trouble winning over her home county, taking 70 percent of the vote here. Across the state, she won about 58 percent of the vote. She was easily re-elected in 2015. |
| Gov. Bryant expected to pick Cindy Hyde-Smith for Cochran seat | |
 | Gov. Phil Bryant is expected to pick Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith to replace Sen. Thad Cochran, many GOP sources say, a move likely to gain approval from President Donald Trump in lead-up to one of the most important midterm elections in the country. Bryant has not made an announcement but had by Monday narrowed his short list down to Hyde-Smith and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, sources close to the governor said. On Monday evening, at a reception for the Business and Industry Political Education Committee, Bryant and Hyde-Smith entered the reception together after meeting privately, sources said. Republican Hyde-Smith, 58, a beef cattle farmer from Brookhaven and former longtime state senator, would become the first female U.S. Senator in Mississippi history. |
| McConnell's clout grows as Senate candidates become friendlier | |
 | Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will headline a fundraiser for Missouri's Josh Hawley, a Senate candidate who hasn't backed the Kentucky Republican for leader. Still, the fundraiser for Hawley, the Missouri attorney general, is the latest evidence of an improved political scenario for McConnell's efforts to keep GOP control of the Senate in November. Hawley had courted the support of former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who threatened to wage war on McConnell and establishment Republicans. But Bannon's ouster from the Trump White House has dimmed his appeal and last week two Bannon-backed candidates switched races to avoid GOP Senate primaries -- and what could have been contentious contests for Republicans. In Mississippi, state Sen. Chris McDaniel switched Senate races to run for an open seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. |
| The biggest Republican megadonor you've never heard of | |
 | Democrats and many Republicans in Illinois were horrified by the ad: a 60-second spot released by Gov. Bruce Rauner's GOP primary challenger, Jeanne Ives, featuring a parade of politically incorrect takes on thorny cultural issues. A deep-voiced man portraying a transgender woman tells Rauner, "Thank you for signing legislation that lets me use the girls bathroom." Then a young woman thanks Rauner for "making all Illinois families pay for my abortions." But equally shocking to the content was the person who had made the ad possible: Richard Uihlein, a little-known Republican donor who had until recently been one of Rauner's biggest supporters. It's the latest example of Uihlein's burgeoning role as one of the most influential, but still little-known, political donors in the country. His giving has not followed a definitive ideological pattern. While Uihlein has given to establishment-backed Senate candidate Josh Hawley in Missouri, his stable of candidates during the past year consisted mostly of conservative bomb-throwers like Ives, anti-establishment state Sen. Chris McDaniel in Mississippi and Roy Moore in Alabama. |
| As Cochran Moves On, His Famous Senate Desk Will Stay With Mississippi | |
 | Video: The antique mahogany desk once used by Jefferson Davis, who resigned from the Senate to become president of the Confederate States of America, has been used by other big-name lawmakers over the decades. But thanks to a resolution Sen. Thad Cochran sponsored in 1995, the senior senator from Mississippi gets first dibs -- next up, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker. |
| GOP leaders see finish line on omnibus deal | |
 | House GOP leaders said they're putting the finishing touches on an enormous 2018 spending bill, predicting the few remaining snags will be ironed out as early as Monday night. Finalizing a bipartisan omnibus agreement would set the stage for both chambers to vote on the $1.2 trillion package before Friday, when government funding is scheduled to expire. "We're in good shape. ...We're really at the very highest levels now [and] I think most of these issues are settled," Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a senior appropriator, said Monday evening as he left a GOP conference meeting in the basement of the Capitol. The Republican push for more immigration enforcement funding -- including some money for Trump's promised border wall -- is another outstanding issue still in need of working out. "I think they're still talking about all that -- how to do it, how to pay for it," said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who's expected to take the Appropriations Committee gavel from the retiring Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.). |
| Package Explodes at FedEx Facility in Texas, Following Austin Bombs | |
 | An explosion early Tuesday inside a FedEx Corp. facility outside San Antonio may be linked to the recent spate of bombings in Austin, a Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman said. The bomb went off before 1 a.m. local time at a FedEx facility in Schertz, Texas. It follows an explosion in Austin on Sunday night, the fourth there since early March in a series of incidents that police have blamed on a "serial bomber." The events may be linked, said Michelle Lee, the FBI's spokeswoman in San Antonio. Schertz is about an hour south of Austin. "That is definitely something we suspect," she said. "We won't know until we've had a chance to evaluate the evidence." One person was treated and released at the scene, the Schertz Police Department said in a Facebook post. The Austin blasts have killed two people and injured several more. The disparate mix of neighborhoods and socioeconomic classes being affected by the explosions added to the confusion gripping Austin. |
| Isaacson to deliver the U. of Mississippi's 165th Commencement address on May 12 | |
| Walter Isaacson, acclaimed biographer and historian who also was head of both CNN and Time magazine, will deliver the University of Mississippi's 165th Commencement address May 12 in the Grove. Isaacson is a professor of history at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he grew up. He's also a graduate of Harvard College and also Pembroke College of Oxford University, in Oxford, England, where he was a Rhodes scholar. Isaacson played a major role in the success of the university's inaugural Tech Summit in 2016, and UM officials are honored to welcome him back to campus as this year's speaker, Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter said. |
| Twenty-fifth annual Conference for the Book this week | |
| The Center for the Study of Southern Culture and Square Books is presenting their 25th Oxford Conference for the Book March 21 through March 23. The conference is a free event intended to allow the public to meet and ask questions to prolific authors, editors and publishers or hear them read from their own works and discuss what their role entails in bookmaking. James G. Thomas, Jr., Director of the Conference for the Book and Associate Director for the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, said he is excited for the return of a few familiar faces, along with the chance to meet a new panel of authors and publishers from all over the country. |
| UMMC partners with Coast's largest hospital | |
| Weeks after announcing an affiliation with Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center is joining forces with another hospital, this time in its own state. On Monday, UMMC announced a collaboration between Children's of Mississippi and Gulfport Memorial Hospital. As part of the agreement, Children's is acquiring four of Memorial's six pediatric clinics and taking over the management of the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. "Our goal is to touch the lives of Mississippi's children," said Guy Giesecke, CEO of Children's of Mississippi. "By providing care closer to home for coastal families, we seek to ...(give) children in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region the healthiest start in life." |
| New Albany, U. of Mississippi partner in community engagement program | |
| The City of New Albany and the University of Mississippi announced a partnership that will focus on combining university resources with local ones to identify needs and ways to address them. New Albany Mayor Tim Kent and Ole Miss Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter signed a partnership agreement at a news conference held Monday at the Magnolia Room in downtown New Albany. The partnership -- a two-year commitment -- is part of the university's new M Partner program. New Albany, along with Lexington and Charleston, was chosen as a pilot community. The first step, Vitter said, is to conduct a self-study to identify New Albany's needs in relation to areas like health care and education, economic development and policy, marketing and tourism, and more. |
| Storms Strike Alabama College, Leave Trail of Damage Across South | |
| Daybreak Tuesday revealed widespread damage after a night of violent weather in the Deep South, with a college campus shattered by an apparent tornado and thousands of buildings and vehicles battered by hail as large as baseballs. The area around Jacksonville State University was among the hardest hit as storms swept across the South, part of a large system that prompted tornado warnings Monday in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Using couch cushions for protection, Richard Brasher hid in the bathtub with his wife, daughter and two grandchildren as the storm passed near the college. The roar was terrifying, said Brasher, 60. "I thought we were gone," he said. "It happened so fast." Several shelters opened, schools were closed, trees and power lines were down, and Jacksonville State advised people to avoid traveling near campus Tuesday morning. Most students were away for spring break. |
| U. of Tennessee faculty, staff will protest UT FOCUS Act, tenure proposal | |
 | Faculty and staff at the University of Tennessee are planning to protest during a rally on Tuesday proposed changes to the tenure process and a plan to restructure the UT board of trustees. The protest will be hosted by United Campus Workers, the state's higher education union, and will take place at noon at the Torchbearer statue. The event is planned to call attention to an administrative proposal that would put in place additional reviews of faculty after they go through the tenure process. t will also speak to the UT FOCUS Act, a plan put forth by Gov. Bill Haslam to reduce the number of seats on the UT board of trustees. Both items are expected to be discussed by the UT board at its spring meeting in Memphis Thursday and Friday. A news release from the union Monday said the tenure proposal would create an "overly broad and vague" system of evaluation and that it would trigger "de-tenuring." The proposal calls for peer reviews of tenured faculty at least every six years and reviews of all faculty in under-performing departments. |
| Texas A&M officials laud new bike-share program's early success | |
 | Texas A&M's bike-share program logged nearly 20,000 miles and 25,000 trips in its first two weeks on campus, officials with the university's Transportation Services said. The bikes were free to ride through March 13 as part of a special promotion. The success has not been without its challenges, as some users have failed to leave bikes in bike racks as requested, with some bikes even placed in trees. Alternative Transportation Manager Ron Steedly said while "mischievous activity" has long been a staple of college culture, Transportation Services does not "condone this type of activity that could jeopardize keeping the program in place." The Beijing-based company's bike-share program launched at A&M late last month with 500 of the yellow bikes on campus. |
| U. of Missouri frats oppose opening rooms for inspections | |
 | Fraternities on the University of Missouri campus are pushing back against a consultant's recommendation that they open member rooms for inspection during parties, an idea intended to curb both binge drinking and sexual assault. MU has five task forces at work studying the Dyad Strategies report received in October, Dean of Students Jeff Zeilenga said in an interview Friday. One of the groups is working to develop rules governing social events, including how they are policed and how alcohol is controlled. The task forces, subgroups of a fraternity and sorority advisory board made up of faculty, students, staff and parents, will make recommendations about which policies to adopt by the end of the semester, Zeilenga said. Implementation of any changes, such as barring freshmen living in chapter houses, expanded inspections or moving recruitment from the summer to after the start of school, will take longer, he said. |
| U. of Memphis students protest reported use of racial slur at event | |
| Despite the rain, about 100 students held a silent protest at the University of Memphis on Monday morning in response to a fraternity member reportedly using a racial slur during a charity event on campus Friday. At 10 a.m., students -- many dressed in all black -- lined the perimeter of the University Center's first floor holding signs with slogans such as, "You can never say the N-word," and "Panhellenic Against the use of the N-word." According to students and online posts, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon used the slur when he performed a skit during the annual Pi Phi Karaoke at the Michael D. Rose Theater on campus Friday night. The karaoke night is an annual event hosted by Pi Beta Phi sorority to raise money for children's literacy. According to a tweet from a student who witnessed the Friday night incident unfold, the fraternity was told not to use the word, but did so anyway. |
| Analysis shows Georgia Tech's online master's in computer science expanded access | |
 | Five years ago the Georgia Institute of Technology began a bold experiment -- to take a high-profile graduate program, put it online and offer it to students at a fraction of the cost of the in-person degree. Working with the massive open online course provider Udacity, and armed with a $2 million corporate investment from AT&T, Georgia Tech launched its online master of science in computer science in spring 2014. The tuition was $6,630 -- about a sixth of the cost of an on-campus degree. It was a huge gamble. Could an online degree really match the quality of a degree taught on campus? Would the institution cannibalize its in-person degree applicants? Would the program make any money? An analysis of Georgia Tech's pioneering online master's in computer science -- written by two researchers at Harvard and one from Georgia Tech and published in Education Next, a journal focused on school reform -- suggests that the gamble paid off. |
| Twitter for Scientists: an Idea Whose Time Has Finally Come? | |
 | Tweeting has long posed a dilemma for scientists. There's abundant evidence that widely sharing a research finding in just one or two simple sentences greatly increases its use and effectiveness. But, ugh, that usually means Twitter -- in the eyes of many, a low-attention-span cesspool of trolls, political partisans, and amateur comedians known more for braggadocio and snark than reason and facts. Now, with federal backing, there's another option. Known as Polyplexus, meaning "a network of many," it's a compilation of 300-character summaries of research findings, created with the idea of driving crossfield discoveries and spawning public and private funding for follow-up studies. Unlike Twitter, it's meant to be "a professional environment for research-and-development professionals," said a Polyplexus developer, John A. Main, a program manager at the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa. |
| How Can Michigan State University Regain Anyone's Trust? | |
| The chairman of Michigan State University's Board of Trustees said he had to get something off his chest. It was the board's first regularly scheduled meeting following the criminal-sentencing hearings of the former sports-medicine doctor Larry Nassar. And Brian Breslin, facing an overwhelming vote of no confidence from the university's faculty, had already indicated he would not step down. But then he struck a different tone. Breslin's "conscience would bother [him]," he said, if he didn't speak his mind. The crowd of hundreds gathered there -- already quivering with anger over the Nassar debacle -- seemed to perk up in anticipation of some further statement on the scandal. Instead, Breslin touted the $550 million rare-isotope accelerator that the Department of Energy placed at MSU in 2008. The moment was emblematic of a key dilemma currently facing MSU leaders: How can they show the public that university administrators accept responsibility for their handling of the Nassar situation, improve the school's systems for handling sexual-abuse cases, and heal the university's battered reputation in the eyes of students, faculty, and the public? |
| The magnificent John Grisham couldn't beat this | |
| Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "Roger Wicker is a pinko. Yes, he claims to be conservative, but every other Tuesday at 5 a.m. he goes to Nancy Pelosi's house to give her a pedicure. Mississippi's junior U.S. senator stands in the way of our great leader, Donald Trump. And the flag. Don't forget, Wicker hates Mississippi's flag. Until last week, that was the entire narrative of state Sen. Chris McDaniel. Given the perception that an easier path to the U.S. Senate has opened up, his new narrative is those two words made famous by Gilda Radner: 'Never mind.' John Grisham, a truly magnificent Mississippian who masterfully creates novels of political intrigue, couldn't invent this stuff. In a flash, Wicker went from facing the electoral battle of his life to becoming a shoo-in for re-election to a new six-year term. McDaniel, who has been fund-raising and flag-waving for years, fell haplessly into the trap laid by his party with the intent and effect of exposing him as a shallow opportunist. The sequence of events to date has been anything but happenstance." |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs headed back to the Sweet 16 | |
| A strong surge in the second half is sending top-seeded Mississippi State to the Sweet 16 for a third consecutive season. The Bulldogs held a one-point lead at halftime but outscored No. 9 seed Oklahoma State by 14 in the second half for a 71-56 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 9,881 at Humphrey Coliseum on Monday night. MSU got 23 points from Victoria Vivians and a double-double of 21 points and 18 rebounds by Teaira McCowan. Morgan William added 17 points as the Bulldogs improved to 34-1. Mississippi State shot 41.8 percent from the field and only 3 of 10 from 3-point range. The Bulldogs limited their turnovers to six while outscoring Oklahoma State 44-26 in the paint and winning the battle on the glass by 10 rebounds. MSU moves on to play No. 4 seed N.C. State (26-8) on Friday night in Kansas City. |
| Mississippi State earns hard-fought 71-56 win over Oklahoma State | |
| The Morgan William of March has arrived. That makes Mississippi State a pretty tough basketball team during the season's most important stretch. William scored 17 points -- hitting several clutch shots and playing lockdown perimeter defense -- to help lead top-seed Mississippi State over Oklahoma State 71-56 in the second-round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday night. "I thought Morgan dictated the whole game," Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer said. "She controlled the pace. She ran when we wanted to run and she kept them from running." "I was just trying to be another threat on the court," William said. "I was playing hard on the defensive end and I felt like I could reward myself a little by shooting." |
| Seniors lead Mississippi State back to Sweet 16 | |
| Leadership and maturity were two of the qualities that coach Vic Schaefer said would be vital for his Mississippi State team to do special things in 2018. Monday night's second-round match up with a resilient Oklahoma State team made those qualities all the more important. With a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line on four seniors' final home game at Humphrey Coliseum. His players delivered. MSU had just two turnovers in the final three quarters and had 20-plus point games from Teaira McCowan and Victoria Vivians and another memorable March game from Morgan William. When the dust settled, the Bulldogs were heading back to their third-straight round of 16 with a 71-56 victory over the Cowgirls. |
| Teaira McCowan helps Mississippi State advance to Sweet 16 | |
| Teaira McCowan was a burgeoning star last year during Mississippi State's NCAA Tournament run. This time around? She is expected to do what she did Monday night, and that's to carry the Bulldogs when they need to be carried. One major reason why the Bulldogs have a strong chance of appearing in the national championship again is that they have McCowan and no other team does. Take Mississippi State's 71-56 second-round NCAA Tournament win against Oklahoma State, for example. It was the final game inside Humphrey Coliseum for MSU's four seniors, but the journey this season won't end here in large part because of their junior center. The No. 1 seeded Bulldogs (34-1) will play fourth-seeded NC State (26-8) at 6 p.m. Friday in a Sweet 16 matchup in Kansas City. |
| Whew! It's on to Kansas City for 34-1 Mississippi State | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "With just 24.6 seconds left, and his team leading 71-56, Vic Schaefer signaled officials for a timeout. Schaefer didn't need to talk to his players. No, he wanted to applaud them. An announced crowd of 9,881, mostly maroon-clad Mississippi State fans, were most happy to oblige. One by one, beginning with Victoria Vivians, State's starters walked off the court to thunderous applause and then a bear hug from their coach, who was himself in tears. All five -- seniors Vivians, Morgan William, Roshunda Johnson and Blair Schaefer and junior Teaira McCowan -- had earned basketball's version of a curtain call and the applause. Collectively, they took Oklahoma State's best shot and fired back for a hard-earned 71-56 victory and a berth in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. So the Bulldogs, 34-1, now head to Kansas City and a third straight Sweet 16. State will face North Carolina State on Friday at 6 p.m. on ESPN." |
| Quick turnaround for Mississippi State in NIT quarterfinals | |
| Mississippi State kept its season alive with a little March magic on Sunday. Quinndary Weatherspoon's buzzer-beating 3-pointer bricked against the rim but bounced up and dropped through the net to eliminate top-seeded Baylor on the road and advanced the Bulldogs on to the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals. "It was a great win and obviously a very jubilant locker room, as you could imagine," said MSU coach Ben Howland. "I'm just really excited for our team and our players. I'm really happy about advancing and having another great opportunity." That opportunity will come quickly for MSU, which travels to Louisville to take on the second- seeded Cardinals tonight at 8 on ESPN. The winner will advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City. |
| Bulldogs plays Cardinals in third round of NIT | |
| The Bulldogs are getting closer to the Big Apple. Only one team now stands in the way. Mississippi State (24-11) squares off with Louisville (22-13) on the road at 8 p.m. Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. The winner of tonight's tilt will punch their ticket to New York and Madison Square Garden for the NIT's final rounds. "The goal for every team in this tournament is to try to get to Madison Square Garden," Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland said last week. "I've coached in the Garden before and been blessed to do that and that's a great experience. Every great player in the history of the game has played in Madison Square Garden." |
| Mississippi State attempts to get back on track against Alcorn State | |
| Mississippi State will attempt to snap its four-game losing skid from last week as the Diamond Dogs host Alcorn State tonight at 6:30. MSU fell to 10-10 after being swept by now No. 8 Vanderbilt and dropped out of the D1Baseball.com Top 25. It will be the first of two midweek games at home for the Bulldogs. Mississippi State will also welcome Texas Southern to town on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. before traveling to Missouri for a three-game weekend series. Left-handed graduate transfer Zach Neff (1-2, 2.63 ERA) will get the start for the Diamond Dogs tonight while the Braves counter with senior righty Regynold Johnson (0-0, 10.50). |
| Young Mississippi State baseball players could see more opportunities | |
| Mississippi State interim baseball coach Gary Henderson can call upon one of his players at any moment to take the field during competition. As the Bulldogs (10-10) fight through some early season struggles, Henderson is looking for combinations that can lead to success for the squad. That is what he did with freshmen Jordan Westburg and Rowdey Jordan. Both were used as pinch hitters late in MSU's Sunday 4-3 loss to Vanderbilt and Henderson said expect that to continue. "You talk about people who have worked for a long time for the opportunity to play college baseball," Henderson said. "It's good to see a young man have success whether it's on the mound, or turning a double play or get a hit. Those are big moments." Westburg took advantage of his chance with a pinch-hit single in the sixth to drive in the third run of the game for the Bulldogs. Henderson likes the potential of Westburg. |
| Five questions facing Mississippi State football this spring | |
| The Joe Moorhead era at Mississippi State gets underway at 4:45 this afternoon as the Bulldogs' first-year head coach conducts his first spring practice. MSU will hold a dozen practices and two scrimmages leading up to the Maroon-White spring game on April 21. All of the Bulldogs' practices and scrimmages will be closed to the public, except for this Saturday starting at 11:15 a.m. Here are five pressing questions facing State as it starts spring practice. |
| USM's Jon Gilbert calls new C-USA media deal 'a great step forward' | |
 | Conference USA's announcement of a new multimedia rights package was met with a healthy amount of skepticism among many fans of institutions around the league. C-USA did not disclose financial terms of the new agreements with CBS Sports Network and Stadium, nor the exact length of it, instead calling it a "multi-year" pact. But, according to a Virginian-Pilot report, the new deal is expected to represent an approximate 100 percent increase in revenue for each of the league's 14 members -- bumping the total dollar figure from $200,000 to $400,000 annually. Southern Miss athletic director Jon Gilbert declined to go into specifics but did acknowledge the new contract is more beneficial for each member school. "It's a good, forward step for all the institutions on the whole," he told the Hattiesburg American. |
| Ole Miss confident in Kermit Davis' compliance decades after NCAA sanctions | |
| After three decades of coaching, Kermit Davis finally has his first Power Five job. Ole Miss' new basketball coach is most known for his work the last 16 seasons in turning Middle Tennessee State into one of the top mid-major programs in the country, but Davis likely would've landed at the college game's highest level much earlier if not for an NCAA investigation that nearly derailed his career. Davis was a rising star in the profession 28 years ago, becoming the youngest Division I coach when he took over at Texas A&M, then a member of the old Southwest Conference, in 1990 at the age of 30. The Aggies went 7-21 in their only season under Davis, but his departure had little to do with A&M's performance on the court. Davis was forced to resign after an investigation found Davis broke NCAA rules in his recruitment of Syracuse transfer Tony Scott. Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork said the school read the NCAA's infractions report from that case and "checked into it through other sources." Bjork said he and Davis also had a "very direct conversation" during the interview process in which Davis owned his transgression of nearly 30 years ago. |
| Alabama's Greg Byrne trolls Central Florida; Knights' AD responds | |
 | Well, it wasn't a football game, but the Alabama athletic director couldn't resist. The Crimson Tide took it to Central Florida 80-61 in the WNIT on Sunday. Greg Byrne took the chance to troll the Knights a bit, via Twitter. "Great win today over UCF for @AlabamaWBB! We're not ready to make it more than it was and schedule a Disney Parade...but we'll definitely take it," he tweeted. The tweet was, of course, in reference to Central Florida declaring itself national champions in football after finishing as the only undefeated season. Byrne's tweet was re-tweeted more than 2,000 times and liked more than 5,000 times more. Of course, Central Florida AD Danny White didn't let Byrne's comment go unnoticed. |
| New lawsuit challenges NCAA rules on athlete likeness | |
| Donald De La Haye started making YouTube videos long before he joined the University of Central Florida's football team. His online antics, like poking fun at Colin Kaepernick and chucking a football on a makeshift Slip-n-Slide, eventually earned him more than a half a million followers -- but they also cost him a full athletic scholarship. The university told De La Haye he had violated the National Collegiate Athletic Association's rules on players not making money from their likeness and reputation and deemed him ineligible. Now, he's suing Central Florida, accusing the administration of violating his constitutional rights, and continuing a national debate on athlete compensation and the NCAA's policy. "The reality is that any other college student except an athlete can make outside money off his or her reputation in a particular field," said Jon Solomon, editorial director of the Aspen Institute's Sports and Society Program. "For instance, a UCF musician could create YouTube videos of his or her music and be permitted by UCF to make money off those videos. No one would think twice. The musician would be congratulated for finding value in his or her work as a student." |
| Decline In Hunters Threatens How U.S. Pays For Conservation | |
 | A new survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows that today, only about 5 percent of Americans, 16 years old and older, actually hunt. That's half of what it was 50 years ago and the decline is expected to accelerate over the next decade. Meanwhile other wildlife-centered activities, like birdwatching, hiking and photography, are rapidly growing, as American society and attitudes towards wildlife change. The shift is being welcomed by some who morally oppose the sport, but it's also leading to a crisis. State wildlife agencies and the country's wildlife conservation system are heavily dependent on sportsmen for funding. Money generated from license fees and excise taxes on guns, ammunition and angling equipment provide about 60 percent of the funding for state wildlife agencies, which manage most of the wildlife in the U.S. |
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