Thursday, March 22, 2018   
 
Mississippi State music student receives Docher Award
Mississippi State University senior Catherine Patriquin was chosen to receive the Keyone Docher Award by the MSU Department of Music and will be honored Friday night during the Charles H. Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival. "Keyone was a former MSU student who has exemplary talent and love of music," Associate Dean of MSU Libraries Stephen Cunneto said. "He died of cancer the same year we featured him in the festival. He was a great guy and wonderful spirit so we wanted to honor him each year with this award we give to an MSU Music student and allow them to perform as a part of the festival." Patriquin is a music education major and tenor saxophonist at MSU. The festival will kick off with the Gatsby Gala fashion show Thursday night, followed by all-day events Friday at Saturday at Mitchell Memorial Library. Concerts will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at McComas Hall Theatre.
 
MSU-Meridian criminology students aim to serve others
Three Mississippi State-Meridian students with a common heritage as members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians also share a bond in their desire to serve others. Rodgrick Anderson and Danita C. Willis, who each earned a criminology degree at Mississippi State's Meridian campus in 2012 and 2015 respectively, want to help their fellow Native Americans touched by alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Breanna "Bree" Vaughn, who is currently a criminology major at the university, is interested in learning "why people do what they do." All three are passionate about encouraging younger tribal members to use education as a way to better themselves and to make better life choices.
 
Study offers rising SHS juniors, seniors free ACT
Some students at Starkville High School will have a chance to take the ACT for free this summer thanks to a research study. Rising juniors and rising seniors at SHS will be able to register to take the ACT for free on June 9 as part of a study. The study is based on the differences between taking the test on paper versus taking the test online. The usual cost to take the ACT is $46. All scores will be college reportable. Once students report for testing, they will be split in to two groups. Half will take the test on paper, and the other half will take the test on computers. SHS Principal Sean McDonnall said 600 vouchers for the free ACT were available. A registration event is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at SHS Thursday evening.
 
Nichols: Unticketed traffic stop of CPD officer 'bad judgment call'
Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols on Wednesday called his department's decision to let off a Columbus police officer pulled over for drunk driving without a ticket "a bad judgment call." In a candid press conference at police headquarters, Nichols also acknowledged an "unwritten rule" in which law enforcement officers are less likely to ticket or arrest other law enforcement than civilians for similar offenses. "A lot of times it's a professional courtesy," Nichols said. "That's something that's not just unique to Starkville. ...I think it's practiced within the law enforcement profession. But, you know, I think you've got to get more responsible with that. In today's time, if an officer is going to put himself and the public at risk of danger by driving under the influence, that officer don't need to wear this badge." "I'm not going to say it happens often," he later added. "I'd say it happens ... every now and then. ... But from this point on, that courtesy won't be extended at Starkville Police Department."
 
Cindy Hyde-Smith is Mississippi's first female U.S. senator
Brookhaven's Cindy Hyde-Smith will make history as Mississippi's first female U.S. senator after accepting the governor's appointment to that high chamber Wednesday during a rally downtown. The Lincoln County cattle farmer and 18-year politician arrived in a motorcade of black SUVs to make the official announcement to a crowd of more than 200 supporters in the north parking lot of the old train depot at noon, where a small stage had been set up for the occasion. She addressed the crowd to cheering applause after being introduced by Gov. Phil Bryant. Wednesday's rally was more campaign kickoff than solemn ceremony, and Hyde-Smith used the half-hour address to transform herself from state politician to national contender. She switched between reading carefully prepared notes and bursting into lively anecdotes about her life and service, sweetened with the folksy, southern-girl expressions for which she is known.
 
US Senate appointee in Mississippi pledges to support Trump
Mississippi's Republican agriculture commissioner, who served on a farm advisory committee for President Donald Trump, was appointed Wednesday to succeed a veteran U.S. senator who is resigning because of poor health. Cindy Hyde-Smith immediately pledged to support Trump's agenda, saying she will push for border security, support gun rights, oppose abortion, and work to rebuild the military and repeal health care changes enacted under former President Barack Obama. Hyde-Smith, 58, is expected to be sworn in about April 9, when Congress returns from a break. She will be the first woman to represent Mississippi in either the U.S. House or Senate. She promised to work closely with Mississippi's other Republican senator, Roger Wicker.
 
White House has unease over Cindy Hyde-Smith Senate appointment
State Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith in April will become the first woman to represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate, Gov. Phil Bryant announced at an event in her hometown of Brookhaven on Wednesday. Numerous state GOP leaders voiced support, but her appointment is already drawing concern from other in-state Republicans and the White House over whether the former Democratic lawmaker has conservative bona fides. "We will always owe Sen. (Thad) Cochran our gratitude and our appreciation ... well done, my true and faithful servant," Bryant said in announcing his choice to replace the retiring senator. "Now we turn to the future ... (Hyde-Smith) has the intestinal fortitude to make things happen, (she) can stand and make difficult decisions."
 
Cindy Hyde-Smith to be first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress
Eight years ago, Cindy Hyde-Smith was a Democratic state senator who struggled to get bills passed by Republican leadership, including then-Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant. On Wednesday, Gov. Phil Bryant appointed Hyde-Smith, now a Republican, to be the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress, replacing retiring U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. The announcement came here in her hometown. "She will serve the U.S. Senate with honor," Bryant said. "We need all Mississippians to stand with us if we are to succeed." Hyde-Smith said she was "proud to stand here today. I did not know this day would come. It is amazing that it is here." Hyde-Smith, the 58-year-old cattle farmer who has served as state Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce since her election in 2011, will serve temporarily in the seat vacated by Cochran until a Nov. 6 special election, which already features arch-conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel.
 
Vermont Will Be Last State to Have Never Sent a Woman to Congress
The Mississippi governor's appointment of Cindy Hyde-Smith to the Senate next month marks a milestone: She will be the state's first woman in Congress. And that would leave Vermont as the lone state in the union to have never sent a female lawmaker to Washington. Hyde-Smith, a Republican who is currently the state's agriculture and commerce commissioner, will replace longtime GOP Sen. Thad Cochran, who is stepping down April 1 for health reasons. It also means that the Senate -- once Hyde-Smith is sworn in -- would have 23 female members, an all-time high. That group includes Minnesota Democrat Tina Smith who was appointed earlier this year to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Al Franken.
 
Trump could sway the Mississippi Senate race, but who is his candidate?
Democrats have their best chance to take a Senate seat in years. Not that long ago, the chance of the party having a Doug Jones-Roy Moore moment in Mississippi seemed remote at best. But today, they're poised to benefit from the civil war for the heart of the GOP. Gov. Phil Bryant couldn't have given Chris McDaniel a much better foil than Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith. She was a Democrat most of the time she served in the Legislature. Expect McDaniel to remind you of that fact a time or two between now and November when voters will decide who will serve the final two years of retiring Sen. Thad Cochran's term. The other elephant in the room is President Donald Trump. So far, candidates in both Senate races have been racing to prove they're the Trumpiest person on the ballot.
 
White House opposed Republican picked to replace Cochran
White House officials this week told Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant that President Donald Trump did not plan to campaign for or endorse Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith if she was appointed to the state's open Senate seat, saying they were worried that the former Democrat would lose. Bryant responded that he intended to pick Hyde-Smith for the post, anyway. He went ahead and formally announced Hyde-Smith, who had previously been serving as the state agricultural commissioner, as his selection Wednesday, praising her "intellect, compassion, toughness and determination to get things done." During a phone call Tuesday, administration officials told Bryant that Hyde-Smith's past history as a Democrat would hobble her in the special election contest for the seat being vacated by longtime GOP Sen. Thad Cochran. The conversation was described by two White House aides with direct knowledge of the call.
 
McDaniel campaign calls on Trump to oppose Hyde-Smith in open letter
Not all the Republicans in Mississippi are excited about the appointment to the U.S. Senate. While Brookhaven city workers are out sprucing up flowerbeds and sweeping the lots in preparation for the noon ceremony that will see state agriculture commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith elevated to Washington, D.C., supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel are calling on President Donald Trump to oppose her. "Our concern is that you are not being well served by the political advice you may be getting from leadership in Congress," McDaniel's bunch said in an open letter sent out early Wednesday morning. "We don't want what happened in Alabama or Pennsylvania-18 to happen here in Mississippi. Both of those races were disastrous for the Republican Party." The McDaniel group's request is a tall order for the President -- Hyde-Smith helped advise Trump on agriculture issues during his presidential campaign.
 
Mississippi's open Senate race features an awfully familiar story
Ever since GOP candidate Roy Moore lost a Senate election in Alabama, of all places, Republicans have been skittish. They are skittish about nominating a controversial, far-right candidate who turns off mainstream Republican voters, or, worse, who has skeletons in his closet that throw a winnable election. They are skittish about an energized Democratic base. They are skittish about what President Trump's unpopularity means for them. And that skittishness has translated to another Deep South Senate race, this one in Mississippi, where all the things they fear could come to fruition.
 
Who will replace the Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner?
So what happens now in terms of leadership at the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce? Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith's appointment to fill the vacancy of retiring Senator Thad Cochran will open a new vacancy at the top. According to state law, any vacancy will be filled by appointment of the Governor. It states the appointment is for the remainder of the term. Governor Bryant was mum on who would be the next Agriculture Commissioner. "We've had some discussions about that, working on that today," said Governor Bryant. "They would serve as Agriculture Commissioner for the remainder of the unexpired term.
 
Stion owes Mississippi $93 million, state auditor says
Mississippi's state auditor is formally demanding that a failed solar panel maker pay nearly $93 million that he says is owed to state and local governments, a prelude to a possible lawsuit. Auditor Stacey Pickering demanded repayment in a letter he delivered Tuesday to Stion Corp., which closed its Hattiesburg plant last year. The Republican said it's the largest amount he's ever demanded to be repaid. Stion is the latest in a series of failed green energy companies that received loans and incentives from the state. Mississippi taxpayers have lost more than $185 million from those ventures, all entered into by former Gov. Haley Barbour's administration. Pickering also criticized the Mississippi Development Authority, saying documents showed the economic development agency is at fault because at one point it was doing business with a Stion predecessor that never legally registered to do business in Mississippi.
 
$4.6M saved in first year of Mississippi Medicaid pharmacy program
By identifying unnecessary, expensive prescriptions covered by the state's Medicaid program, Mississippi officials say they've saved nearly $5 million. Two patients alone contributed to $254,713 in unnecessary spending, according to a Wednesday news release from Medicaid. Though the agency is touting big savings, Dorothy Young, Medicaid's deputy director of health services, said the program's purpose is "not to avoid costs, but to make sure we're supporting the providers caring for our beneficiaries." The program focuses on prescriptions for patients with cancer, hepatitis C, cystic fibrosis, iron overload, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and some others.
 
Research Misconduct Allegations Shadow New CDC Director
The Trump administration named HIV expert Dr. Robert Redfield to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ignoring complaints that he botched high-profile vaccine research more than 20 years ago. The Army in 1994 acknowledged accuracy issues with HIV vaccine clinical trials led by Redfield, but concluded at the time that the data errors did not constitute misconduct. In an announcement Wednesday afternoon, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar emphasized Redfield's care of HIV/AIDS patients and his work as a researcher, which included the controversial research. Yet one of the whistleblowers who first raised the matter to the Army told Kaiser Health News this week that he remains so troubled about Redfield's handling of the vaccine research that he has decided to speak out publicly.
 
Changes on U. of Mississippi Medical Center's Campus
A new medical education building at UMMC has been named in honor of Governor Phil Bryant. Gov. Bryant and First Lady, Debra Bryant were there for the unveiling. "I can tell you my feelings as I walked through the crowd in astonishment. It now becomes a heart of the medical city that was built by man but ordained by the creator of the universe as our own place of learning," said Gov. Bryant. College and UMMC officials say Gov. Bryant played a key role in getting the millions needed to get this state-of-the-art facility up and running. "Mississippi is the most medically underserved state in the nation," said University of Mississippi Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter. "In other words, we have the fewest doctors per capita among all 50 states. That is now going to change."
 
Bill on the way to governor to allow UMMC to move buried bodies
A bill is now on the way to the governor to allow the University of Mississippi Medical Center to move up to 7,000 bodies buried on the campus. The Senate concurred Tuesday with changes made in the bill to give UMMC the authority to relocate the bodies to a site near the old Farmers Market off West Street. Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, said Senate Bill 2895 would allow the bodies to be moved to a mausoleum-type, 9,000-square-foot building owned by the state, which can accommodate about 4,000 bodies. Blount said the goal is to allow UMMC to expand its campus. The bodies are those of former patients of the state's first mental institution, called the Insane Asylum, built in 1855 and operated to 1935, and underground radar shows their coffins stretch across 20 acres of the UMMC campus, where officials have wanted to build.
 
Memorial Hospital, UMMC combine forces to help Coast kids
Memorial Hospital at Gulfport is hoping to improve health care for children across the Mississippi Gulf Coast with a collaborative effort with Children's of Mississippi, a branch of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The Coast-based hospital announced earlier this week that the two entities are combining forces across South Mississippi. The move includes the acquisition of four of six Memorial pediatric clinics, a management arrangement for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Memorial, Children's of Mississippi branding and "specialized care and expertise" of the UMMC. "Together, through our partnership with Children's of Mississippi, we will preserve the long-term viability of pediatric services currently available and provide for more convenient access to specialty care for our youngest residents," Memorial President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Marchand said.
 
Meridian Community College active shooter drill serves as learning tool
Not all learning happens inside a classroom. Sometimes it comes in a different environment as it did on Wednesday when Meridian Community College's Campus Police conducted and led its fifth annual drill. The practice drill, which this year was a pretend active shooter, helps to prepare campus police for potential emergencies. "Every other year we do an active shooter drill," MCC Campus Police Chief Shane Williams said. More than 100 students, instructors and staff members joined to participate in this event that was held at the MCC-Riley Workforce Development Center. Since the facility is located about a half a mile from Ivy Hall on the college's main campus, an added response time was put into play. MCC Associate Degree Nursing, Emergency Services division, criminal justice and Media Production students also got the chance to learn as they attended to the "victims" and recorded the action.
 
U. of Alabama: Student using racial slur in video no longer enrolled
The University of Alabama said Wednesday that a student shown in a video using racial slurs is no longer enrolled at the university. The video, shared multiple times on Twitter, shows a young woman in a car using the N-word. Some who retweeted the video identified the young woman as a UA student. UA President Stuart Bell sent an email to students, faculty and staff saying the university was aware of the video and that the student is no longer associated with UA.
 
Auburn sends personnel to help with recovery efforts at Jacksonville State
Auburn University has deployed two Campus Safety and Security staff members to assist with recovery efforts at Jacksonville State University, interim director Chance Corbett said. "Initially, the morning after the tornado, we sent an emergency management planner, Robert Mann, up there to assist them with recovery efforts," Corbett explained Wednesday. "Today, this morning, we sent an emergency management technician, Lyn Littleton." Both Mann and Littleton will remain in Jacksonville until their services are no longer needed, or until they are replaced. "It may be just a few days, but it's not determined how long they'll be out there yet," Corbett said. "If it were to happen here at the university, we would likely need help, too. I feel like it's important, having that mutual aid system in place for the state."
 
LSU bans Phi Delta Theta chapter from campus until 2033 after Max Gruver hazing death
The LSU chapter of Phi Delta Theta will be banned from campus through 2032 after the hazing death of 18-year-old Max Gruver last year, the university announced Wednesday. LSU rescinded the fraternity's registration through Dec. 31, 2032, and no request for reinstatement will be considered prior to Jan. 1, 2033, LSU said in a statement. Gruver died in September after a hazing incident at the fraternity house where he was forced to chug 190-proof liquor. He was pronounced dead the following morning at a hospital. His blood alcohol level was 0.495. In February, LSU President F. King Alexander announced that LSU students caught hazing will be expelled and the involved fraternities or student organizations will be kicked off campus.
 
'Hazing is not an accident': Lawmakers support bill written after LSU student's death
A Louisiana House of Representatives committee approved a bill Wednesday that would intensify the penalties against people and organizations who are deemed guilty of committing hazing that causes bodily harm. The Administration of Criminal Justice Committee decided to support HB78, which would prohibit people from hazing another person regardless of whether the person voluntarily allowed himself to be hazed. Violators would be charged a $1,000 fine and spend six months behind bars. If the hazing results in serious injury or death, the violator would get a $10,000 fine and five years in prison. The measure now heads to the House floor, and still has to pass through the Senate. If it is ultimately approved and signed by the governor, lawmakers have agreed to call it "The Max Gruver Act," which is named after the 18-year-old LSU freshman who died in a hazing accident last September at Phi Delta Theta fraternity. "His death should be a catalyst for change," LSU student Brooke McCulley said.
 
U. of Tennessee-Knoxville reports of sexual misconduct nearly double
Reports of sexual misconduct nearly doubled from 2016 to 2017 at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, according to a report released this week. In 2017 there were 115 reports of sexual misconduct, compared to 64 in 2016, according to the annual Sexual Misconduct, Relationship Violence, Stalking and Retaliation Annual Report from the Office of Title IX. That includes non-consensual sex, sexual harassment and sexual exploitation. In addition, there were 33 reports of relationship violence, up from 23 in 2016; 42 reports of stalking, up from 16; and three reports of retaliation. There were no reports of retaliation in 2016. The increase in reports is due to improvements in the reporting process and education and prevention efforts that have raised awareness around sexual misconduct, according to a message to the campus from Title IX Coordinator Ashley Blamey.
 
Faculty group presses UGA on its slavery history
When faculty and administrators drive in to their jobs at the University of Georgia's Baldwin Hall, they're driving over the graves of slaves or former slaves. But that's just one part of a bigger issue a UGA faculty group is wrestling with as it considers how the university should confront and acknowledge slavery in its history, and whether UGA has followed through on promises made earlier, when remains from 105 graves were removed from the Baldwin site and reburied off campus. Other graves remain beneath the pavement beside the building, UGA anthropologists have found. The group, the Faculty Senate of UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, hasn't taken any official steps on such concerns, but UGA's response -- or lack of it -- was the main item on the agenda as the group met Tuesday.
 
UGA student charged with leaving loaded gun unattended on campus
A 21-year-old University of Georgia student was arrested for reckless conduct Tuesday because she allegedly left a loaded semiautomatic handgun unattended at a UGA bus stop earlier this month. University police said a misdemeanor warrant for the arrest of Jasmine Aris Starnes was issued by an Athens-Clarke County judge on Tuesday, and the student was booked into the Clarke County Jail that afternoon, according to the jail's website. She was released about an hour later after posting a $1,500 bond, according to the website. The gun, a Glock 9mm pistol, was found early the morning of March 3 by a graduate student who had just left his lab in the Boyd Graduate Research Center, according to police. The student's arrest came about a week after a visitor to the campus was arrested for leaving a semiautomatic pistol loaded with a 13-round magazine unattended in UGA's Ramsey Center.
 
U. of Florida shifts to e-textbooks, saving students money and lightening their load
Victoria Williamson enjoys flipping through the pages of books, dog-earring them and putting sticky notes in between them. The sophomore psychology major at the University of Florida bought hard copies of her textbooks last year, when her classes were fairly small. But she's in larger classes this year, and all of her required textbooks this semester are available online through UF All Access. "I can access my textbooks from anywhere as long as I have my laptop or internet connection," Williamson said. UF All Access, the university's electronic textbook program, was piloted in summer 2014 and has grown from serving two classes to 177 this spring. There are 155 books available online. The program expects to expand to about 200 classes this fall.
 
Poem will be 'a beacon to the university' on wall of new U. of Kentucky student center
It's every writer's dream to have their words immortalized. Some get published in magazines or online; the luckiest might author a book. Very, very few get to see what poet Frank X Walker did on Tuesday: an excerpt of his poem "Seedtime in the Commonwealth" literally built into the walls of the new University of Kentucky Student Center. "To have this come up again is really unexpected and exciting," Walker said Wednesday. He wrote the poem in 2015 at the request of President Eli Capilouto to commemorate UK's 150th anniversary; the video of Walker's live reading has become standard fare at graduation ceremonies, as it both celebrates UK's history and exhorts it to do better in the future. Student Center Director John Herbst said the idea started several years ago with the steering committee of the $200 million student center renovation project.
 
Texas A&M's 'T3' program selects its first 100 projects to fund
Texas A&M University's newly created President's Excellence Fund has selected the first 100 interdisciplinary faculty projects it will support, boasting 300 participants from across the university. Also referred to as T3 -- Texas A&M Triads for Transformation -- the program is expected to invest roughly $3 million each year in the projects. The program is open to all tenured or tenure-track faculty members and requires groups of three faculty members from at least two colleges -- with a preference to teams including a junior faculty member -- working on a shared project, according to A&M President Michael K. Young's announcement of the program last fall. Project topics include the influence of early life stress on memory, the development of new genome engineering tools, assessing honey bee queen fertility and a video game designed to test the effectiveness of anti-piracy laws.
 
Beta Theta Pi escapes fate of other frats at U. of Missouri
Beta Theta Pi, a fraternity placed on disciplinary probation for hazing by the University of Missouri, will not face additional sanctions from its national governing body. The organizational discipline process at MU concluded that Beta Theta Pi, which has a chapter house at 520 S. College Ave., had engaged in hazing during the fall semester. The fraternity is on probation until Feb. 1, 2019, and must take other steps including monthly meetings with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life through Dec. 1. The university's decision to place Beta Theta Pi on probation satisfies the national organization, Justin Warren, director of media relations for the national fraternity, wrote in an email to the Tribune. Undergraduate leaders of the chapter brought the hazing allegations to the national fraternity in December, Warren wrote. "As a result, the General Fraternity collaborated with university officials to conduct a thorough in-person investigation that revealed an isolated incident involving a small number of members who deviated from the chapter's no hazing policy," he wrote.
 
Brenda Selman: Painting gives U. of Missouri registrar a creative break | Boomtown | columbiamissourian.com
The smell of paint may attract bears in the Sierra Nevada, and Brenda Selman learned that the hard way. Selman had set up her easel on a porch in northern California three summers ago rather than hike into the mountains because she was aware of the threat of mountain lions and other animals. Her porch, she learned, was not as safe as she thought. She saw movement from the corner of her eye, dismissed it first as a ground squirrel, then discovered it was much bigger. "I looked down," she said, "and it was the nose of a bear." Painting is usually a relaxing pursuit for Selman, 56, the University of Missouri's assistant vice provost for enrollment management and university registrar. The walls of her office are filled with her own paintings, largely landscapes in oil from her trips to the mountains in California or the Flint Hills in Kansas.
 
Omnibus spending package boosts student aid while restricting DeVos priorities
A massive spending bill agreed to by congressional negotiators Wednesday raises the maximum Pell Grant by $175, includes an additional $3 billion for the National Institutes of Health as well as increased funds for the National Science Foundation, and provides $152.8 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, which President Trump had sought to eliminate. It also includes about $350 million in funding to address eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, a top priority for Senator Elizabeth Warren throughout negotiations to fund the government through the rest of the 2018 fiscal year. That amount is a fraction of what the Massachusetts Democrat had hoped to see in a final spending package. But it's part of a slate of new funding for college affordability and education programs in the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill, which lawmakers from the House and Senate must pass quickly to avoid another government shutdown Friday night.
 
Interns Get a Boost From College to Congress
This summer, 12 students will have their cost of living covered as they intern on Capitol Hill, so they can focus on their work. College to Congress, a program that strives to level the playing field for congressional interns, selects students to invest in and places them in Hill offices. "My whole argument is that these people belong here, they just can't afford to be here," founder and CEO Audrey Henson said. Henson launched College to Congress after the 2016 elections, when conversation swirled about voices from lower socioeconomic classes not being heard. "Of course, they're not heard, they're not there. They're not in Congress," Henson said. "I was one of those students. I was a Pell Grant student and I worked throughout college and I worked throughout my internships."
 
Sewanee, in reversal, revokes Charlie Rose's honorary degree
In February, the board of the University of the South rejected a request by students to revoke an honorary degree awarded to Charlie Rose in 2016, before reports became public that he sexually harassed many women over a period of years. Other colleges and universities have revoked honors for Rose, just as many revoked honors for Bill Cosby and others found to have committed sexual harassment or assault. But not Sewanee, as the university is known. The board and administration upset many students not only by declining to revoke the honor but by the language of a statement explaining the decision. This week, the board of Sewanee announced that it had revoked Rose's degree. The board acted after creating a process for such revocations, and after numerous people connected to Sewanee and the Episcopal Church questioned the original response to the call for revoking Rose's degree.
 
Mississippi Republicans tied to Trump
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Bobby Harrison writes: "As Mississippi Republicans begin the effort to defend two United States Senate seats this November, one thing is abundantly clear -- they have tied their political fortunes to President Donald Trump. United States Sen. Roger Wicker, a Tupelo Republican, who is vying for re-election this year, goes out of his way to praise Trump and the fact that the president has endorsed him in his re-election effort. Turnabout is fair play. Wicker was one of Trump's most vocal supporters during his presidential campaign. And in the by far more interesting Senate race -- the November special election to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Thad Cochran -- the president is expected to be a major factor."


SPORTS
 
Toughness leads Mississippi State women back to Sweet 16
The Bulldog in the 2017-18 Mississippi State women's basketball team reared its head Monday night. MSU coach Vic Schaefer said it best following his squad's 71-56 victory against Oklahoma State that he felt like the Bulldogs "bowed their neck" and showed the toughness and grit he loves to see in his players. That's a great sign given No. 1 seed MSU (34-1) has to win four more games to claim the ultimate prize that eluded it last season. The next step on the journey will come at 6 p.m. Friday (ESPN) when MSU takes on No. 4 seed North Carolina State (26-8) at the Sprint Center in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament's Kansas City Regional. Perhaps its fitting that MSU has to eliminate a team that in many ways is a mirror image of itself to reach the Elite Eight for the second-straight year. The Wolfpack, who are coached by veteran Wes Moore, is an athletic, aggressive group that likes to rebound.
 
Inside strength matters in women's tourney
Reaching the women's Final Four and winning a national championship may come down to play in the post. Even as basketball has gone away from traditional position players, trending toward more versatile talents, there are plenty of dominant post players left in the NCAA Tournament. Teaira McCowan, Azura Stevens, A'ja Wilson or Kalani Brown could be a big reason why one of their teams cuts down the nets in Columbus, Ohio. All four are finalists for the Lisa Leslie Award and have helped their teams reach the Sweet 16, which begins Friday. The quartet spent some time together this summer at the USA Basketball Under-23 camp, doing drills, competing in scrimmages and bonding. "It was fun just going talent against talent -- comparing their style of play with my style," said the 6-foot-7 McCowan, who has been instrumental in Mississippi State's success over the past few years.
 
Mississippi State baseball team accomplishes goal in victory against Texas Southern
The Mississippi State baseball team accomplished its mission Wednesday night. Coming off three losses in its first Southeastern Conference series and with a set of league games against Missouri scheduled for this weekend, MSU interim coach Gary Henderson hoped to win two home mid-week games and save his pitching staff. MSU realized that goal in an 11-6 victory against Texas Southern at Dudy Noble. The Bulldogs (12-10) and kept all seven of its pitchers under 32 pitches to preserve them for the weekend. The victory came a day after MSU used three relief pitchers after a four-inning start to beat Alcorn State.
 
Diamond Dogs trounce Texas Southern
Junior second baseman Hunter Stovall continued his hot week with three more hits as the Mississippi State baseball team beat Texas Southern, 11-6, Wednesday night at Dudy Noble Field. The Bulldogs (12-10) completed a five-game homestand with another strong offensive night. After collecting 17 runs and 18 hits in a Tuesday night win over Alcorn State, MSU followed that up with 11 runs on 14 hits to defeat Texas Southern. "It was good to have another good night of swinging the bats," MSU head coach Gary Henderson said. "We had some quality at-bats up and down the lineup. We needed to finish this homestand up on a positive note and we were able to do that." State will return to SEC play this weekend with a trip to Columbia, Missouri for a three-game series with the Missouri Tigers (15-5, 1-2 SEC) that will commence Friday with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.
 
Bulldogs use home runs to win in softball
It was a good adjustment from the first at-bat of the game to the second for Mississippi State shortstop Reggie Harrison on Wednesday night. After striking out swinging in the first inning, Harrison came back strong in the third by hitting a two-run home run to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead. Harrison's shot was the first of a pair of homers for MSU in the game as it defeated the Central Arkansas Bears 7-0 at Nusz Park. Coach Vann Stuedeman's Bulldogs now look to another set of Bulldogs this weekend as Georgia comes to Starkville for a three-game Southeastern Conference series Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
 
Mississippi State women's tennis flying high after ranked wins
Anastasia Rentouli didn't know what happened. In one moment, Rentouli, the No. 4 singles player in the Mississippi State women's tennis team's lineup, was leading Vanderbilt's 98th-ranked Amanda Meyer. The next moment, Rentouli wasn't. "I was really confident. Then out of nowhere she came back and was beating me, so I got kind of spaced out," Rentouli said Wednesday, when asked to recall the match. "But I looked at my teammates. None of them were shaking their heads but just kept telling me 'You can do this.' I just started repeating to myself what coach told me, 'I am ready for this, and I can do this.'" The advice from MSU coach Daryl Greenan provided the perfect effect for Rentouli, who rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (5) match-clinching victory against then-No. 2 Vanderbilt on Friday. Two days later, Rentouli posted her third-straight, match-clinching, come-from-behind triumph -- 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 -- against Kentucky's Diana Tkachenko in a 4-0 victory. Those victories propelled MSU (12-5, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) from unranked to No. 24 in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings.
 
AP Was There: Loyola-Chicago's 'Game of Change' in '63 NCAAs
Loyola-Chicago's run to the Sweet 16 is resurfacing memories of 1963, when it won the NCAA Tournament on an overtime tip-in. But even more culturally significant was the Ramblers' 1963 regional semifinal against Mississippi State --- a game that was in danger of not being played because of Mississippi's informal law barring its schools from playing against racially integrated teams. Mississippi State came up with a sneaky plan to fly up to Michigan for the game that would later become known as the "Game of Change," three years before the Texas Western Miners became the first team with an all-black starting lineup to win the NCAA title. Here are two stories from The Associated Press coverage of that meeting.
 
Ole Miss' Kermit Davis: 'Our guys will have a platform for freedom of speech and freedom to voice their opinion and choices'
Hitting on everything from his Mississippi roots to his ultimate vision for the program, Kermit Davis had a lot to say when he was formally introduced as Ole Miss' men's basketball coach Monday at The Pavilion. One of his comments didn't come without some controversy. Describing what the program will look like under his guidance, Davis said Ole Miss will be "relentless, athletic and explosive. A team that you're going to have to play on and on and on to beat. It's going to be a team that's going to be unselfish. We're going to play fast and smart in transition. We're going to try to get easy baskets. We're going to try to play with great body language." Davis then added, "We're going to be a team that respects the flag and the national anthem." That line has gone viral given the recent political climate.
 
Dawn Staley reacts to news of Virginia head coach opening
Virginia might come calling, but Dawn Staley says she has no interest in the newly vacant head coaching position at her alma mater. Seven-year UVA coach Joanne Boyle unexpectedly retired Tuesday, just two days after Staley's Gamecocks knocked the Cavaliers out of the NCAA Tournament. Sources with knowledge of the situation told The State on Wednesday that Virginia intends to pursue Staley to take Boyle's spot, which is hardly surprising, given Staley's stature as two-time national player of the year while playing for the Cavs. But Staley, who signed a contract extension with South Carolina worth $14.05 million over eight seasons last spring, flatly denied any interest in the job. "I'm sure people are going to link me to the job because it's my alma mater. But a few years ago kind of left a sour taste in my mouth," Staley said.



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