| Wednesday, May 30, 2018 |
| US farming cannot afford to continue to fall behind | |
 | Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum, the chairman of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research board of directors, writes for The Hill: "With the possibility of new trade tariffs striking a sensitive chord in rural America, farmers are increasingly concerned about global competitiveness and the threat of a possible trade war affecting their bottom line. Hopefully, Congress will be able to pass a farm bill this year that can offer innovative research programs to help our farmers, lessen government dependence and tackle coming environmental challenges to maintain a competitive advantage in a global market. ...The farm bill presents a key opportunity for Congress to support the resources and innovation needed to meet the challenges ahead and further support the tremendous contribution American farmers make to our economy, our national security and our global competitiveness." |
| U.S. News & World Report Announces the Top Universities for International Students | |
 | U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in education rankings, today released an inaugural list of the Top Universities for International Students. These 181 National Universities, listed in alphabetical order, offer resources to help international students adapt to and graduate from U.S.-based schools. "As international students consider their U.S. university options, it is vital that they understand whether schools will offer them financial aid, English labs, housing and dining services during holidays, and other services," said Anita Narayan, managing editor of Education at U.S. News. The Top Universities for International Students range from private institutions, such as Columbia University in New York, American University in Washington, D.C. and California Institute of Technology, to public schools, including the University of Virginia, Mississippi State University and East Carolina University. |
| Starkville hosts annual Memorial Day ceremony | |
 | Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill fought through tears as she gave her Memorial Day address in front of the Oktibbeha County Courthouse on Monday and read "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. Spruill, a Navy veteran and former pilot, was the first female pilot to land her plane on an aircraft carrier. She said Memorial Day typically marks many things, such as the beginning of summer or the end of the school year, but it is important to not lose sight of the true meaning. The mayor was just one of several speakers at the Memorial Day ceremony hosted outside of the Oktibbeha County Courthouse on Monday by the Military Affairs Committee at the Greater Starkville Development Partnership. Other speakers included Oktibbeha County District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery, Mississippi State Vice President of Student Affairs Regina Hyatt, and keynote speaker, retired Army Col. Chuck Ware. |
| City unemployment steady while county rises in April | |
| Oktibbeha County's unemployment rate rose from 3.9 percent in March to 4 percent in April, while Starkville's unemployment rate remained the same at 3.3 percent, according to preliminary data from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. In April, Oktibbeha County's labor force, which includes everyone who is employed or seeking employment, was reported to be 23,420 people, with 22,490 people employed and 930 unemployed. Starkville's unemployment remained the same in March as in April at 3.3 percent. In April, Starkville's labor force was reported to be 12,760 people, with 12,330 people employed and 430 people unemployed. In April, Rankin County reported the lowest unemployment rate at 3.1 percent, while Jefferson County reported the highest unemployment rate at 10.5 percent. |
| County looks to lower fire rating after training exercise | |
| The Oktibbeha County Volunteer Fire Department participated in an on-site exercise to potentially lower the fire rating in the Sturgis area. The exercise was for the department to transfer 40,000 gallons of water to a particular dump site in under one hour. The goal was to expel 600 gallons per minute. The departments involved were Sturgis, Central Oktibbeha, Ackerman, Adaton and District Five. The current fire rating in the district is a nine, and through this exercise, VFD Training Officer Austin Check hopes to bring the rating down to a seven. "I promise you, what you do here affects somebody's life everyday," Check said before the exercise. He said lowering the rating could be the difference in homeowners being able to pay their insurance, or have more money to spend out in the community or on their families. |
| Area schools aim to feed 40,000 meals to children over summer | |
 | Columbus Municipal and Starkville-Oktibbeha school districts aim to serve more than 40,000 meals this summer, at no cost, to children 18 and younger. The United States Department of Agriculture funds the federal Summer Food Service Program, which provides free breakfast and lunch for children during the summer months. The program is implemented at school districts where the majority of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch during the school, thus offering free meals to children in need. Last summer, SOCSD served 23,100 meals. Ginny Hill, SOCSD child nutrition director, anticipates similar participation this year. "We like to have this as an outreach for the community, so that we can reach some students through the summer that might not have breakfast and lunch (and) to be able to provide that service to them," Hill said. |
| SoS Delbert Hosemann: Mississippi businesses want well-educated workers | |
 | Mississippi businesses say in an unscientific survey that the top item on their wish list is a well-educated workforce. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann's office sent questionnaires to almost 100,000 businesses that are registered in Mississippi. He says Tuesday that more than 5,300 of them responded, and most of the answers came from businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Many of those answering the survey say that a strong work ethic, honesty and strong communications skills are the top traits they want in their workers. |
| Nissan: Production levels could change, but no layoffs expected | |
 | The Nissan Motor Co.'s reported cutbacks at its North American plants to vehicle production are not expected to result -- at least in the short-term -- in layoffs at the company's Mississippi plant in Canton, a spokeswoman for the automaker said Monday. The statement follows a report from the Japan-based publication Nikkei on Monday that the automaker was reducing its production in North America by up to 20 percent in the wake of falling operating profits. Lloryn Love-Carter, a communications official for Nissan, said the Nikkei report was not based on an official report from Nissan but acknowledged that production levels could change depending on consumer demand. In March, officials celebrated the plant's 15th anniversary with the rollout of the assembly line's 4 millionth vehicle -- a Nissan cargo van. |
| Mississippi sees low number of requests for absentee ballots | |
| Mississippi's top elections official said Tuesday that a "disappointing" number of absentee ballots have been requested for the June 5 party primaries for U.S. House and Senate. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said in a state with 1.8 million registered voters, only about 6,000 people have requested absentee ballots. Hosemann said he hopes the absentee numbers don't reflect how many people will vote in person, but added: "I'm not expecting a large turnout, unfortunately." |
| 3rd District: GOP candidates a mixture of newcomers, experienced politicians | |
 | With six Republican candidates vying for the chance to succeed Rep. Gregg Harper, each offers a different background and set of priorities for voters. Harper, a Republican who has represented the Third Congressional District since 2009, is not seeking re-election this year. The Republican primary is June 5 and the general election is Nov. 6. Sally Doty, Morgan Dunn, Michael Guest, Whit Hughes, Perry Parker and Katherine "Bitzi" Tate have participated in at least two forums, one in the Jackson area and one in Meridian, where they publicly discussed their viewpoints. The candidates also responded to a short questionnaire about their backgrounds and reasons for running. Voters will have a chance to cast their ballot for their preferred candidate on June 5 at their local voting precinct. In the event of a runoff between two candidates, polls will again be open on June 26. |
| Who are these 8 candidates running for this U.S. House seat from Mississippi? | |
| Where do they stand? Candidates in the heated race for Mississippi's U.S. House 3rd District to replace Rep. Gregg Harper supplied brief answers to a series of questions from the Clarion Ledger. The candidates face off Tuesday in Democratic and Republican primaries, with winners from there facing Reform Party candidate Mathew Holland in the Nov. 6 general election. Holland could not be reached for answers to the candidate questions. Where do they stand? Read their Q&A's with the Clarion Ledger. |
| They challenged 'the establishment' in Mississippi but hit a roadblock: Facebook | |
 | For the underfunded candidates facing an uphill climb against "the establishment" in Tuesday's primary, that climb has become a little steeper. E. Brian Rose and Richard Boyanton, who are challenging Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-4, and GOP U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker respectively, found out late last week they probably aren't going to be able to use Facebook ads, one of the cheapest and most influential means of reaching voters, USA Today reported Tuesday. "The irony of the situation is that Facebook created this feature to mitigate meddling in elections, but that's exactly what this has turned into," Rose told senior tech writer Jessica Guynn. Not that the candidates don't have larger problems. Both face entrenched incumbents and a less-than-enthusiastic electorate. |
| Trump Says He Wishes He Had Picked Someone Other Than Sessions for AG | |
 | President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, tweeting that he wished he had selected a different person for the job. The president used several tweets to quote House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy's comments about the Justice Department's Russia election meddling probe. In those remarks, the South Carolina Republican explains his conclusion that the president is frustrated with Sessions because the attorney general did not tell him he would recuse himself from the Russia probe before he took the job. Gowdy said he believes Trump would have picked someone else had he known Sessions would step back from that investigation. |
| Blackburn, Bredesen lead candidates vying for Tennessee Senate seat | |
 | As President Trump travels to Tennessee, his presence is expected to give a boost to Senate hopeful Marsha Blackburn. The Republican congressman is vying for her party's nomination to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican. Blackburn and former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen have emerged as their parties' leaders and are expected to face off in a general election that is considered a toss-up by Fox News. Trump has already endorsed Blackburn. Blackburn served on Trump's transition team and has not shied away from embracing the president. Prior to her tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, Blackburn served as a state senator and chair of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission, according to Memphis Magazine. She is a graduate of Mississippi State University. |
| President Trump calls Bredesen 'total tool' for Democrats during Marsha Blackburn rally | |
 | Praising U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn's bid to become Tennessee's next U.S. senator, President Donald Trump veered through a series of controversial topics during a campaign-style rally in Nashville Tuesday as he cajoled voters to send Republicans to Congress. Trump's latest visit to Music City comes more than five months before Blackburn is expected to square off against former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. n classic Trump fashion, the president poked fun at Bredesen, at times saying he'd never heard of the former governor and Nashville mayor. At one point, Trump said the "very liberal" Bredesen -- who he called "Philbert" -- was recruited by Schumer and Pelosi. Blackburn made a brief speech, in which she cited Trump's work on issues ranging from North Korea to defeating ISIS. |
| UM Music Department adding graduate degrees | |
 | The University of Mississippi Department of Music is expanding its graduate program offerings beginning this fall, adding a Master of Music with emphases in musicology, ethnomusicology and music theory. "The department is adding these new programs because we want to better serve the students of Mississippi and the region," said Alan Spurgeon, professor of music and the department's director of graduate studies. The addition of these degrees "will significantly expand and enrich our graduate program," said Robert Riggs, chair of the music department. |
| USM honors military students for academic achievement | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi Center for Military Veterans, Service Members and Families awarded Honors Corps" status to 620 military students who demonstrated exceptional academic achievements for the spring semester. The Honor Corps was established by the Veterans Center as a way to recognize military students who, while enrolled at the university, demonstrate exceptional academic accomplishment. All undergraduate and graduate military students are eligible for Honor Corps recognition based on full-time enrollment combined with exceptional academic performance. "We are proud of our military students' academic achievement and drive to succeed in preparing for a professional future," said Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond. |
| New findings cast net more broadly on 'nontraditional' college presidents | |
 | New research on pathways to the presidency is tweaking the traditional meaning of the term "traditional," asking whether the country's public colleges and universities are being led by more nonacademics than we think. The research, from three scholars at Virginia Commonwealth University, looks at career histories for 215 leaders, most of them at public land-grant universities. The researchers suggest that the proportion of university presidents coming to the job from something other than the typical tenure-track faculty position is more common than previous research has indicated. The new findings also stand in contrast to the most widely cited study of the college presidency, published every three years by the American Council on Education. |
| Undeterred by Criticism, Koch Foundation Increases Spending in Higher Education | |
 | Scrutiny of the Charles Koch Foundation's spending on higher education has increased recently. So has the spending. A report by the Associated Press on Monday showed that the conservative foundation gave a total of $49 million to more than 250 colleges in 2016, or 47 percent more than it gave in 2015. The report was based on a review of the foundation's tax records. John Hardin, the foundation's director of university relations, told the AP that as the fund's work became better known, more professors were submitting grant proposals and its relationship with certain colleges was deepening. That has led to more spending. The Koch Foundation has been invoked as a kind of boogeyman by student activists on many campuses under the banner "UnKoch My Campus." Some college leaders have pushed back, saying that blanket condemnation of grants from the foundation actually work against academic freedom. |
| Clemson hires a precision ag specialist | |
| The Clemson Extension Service has hired a new Extension associate to help South Carolina farmers learn how to use technologies to increase efficiency. Michael Plumblee started working at Clemson's Edisto Research and Education Center as a precision agriculture Extension associate on May 7. He will work with growers of all major crops including corn, cotton, peanuts and soybeans. "I want to work with growers and Extension agents to build a program where everyone can learn how to use precision ag technologies," Plumblee said. After earning his master's degree, Plumblee went a little farther west to Mississippi State University where he graduated with his doctorate in agronomy this May. |
| Third District Congressional race has been issue-based, collegial and free of rancor | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "With Mississippi's two 2018 U.S. Senate races predicated on brawling attacks, counter-attacks and philosophical contrasts in party primaries and in the special election, one might expect a similar Pier 6 political donnybrook in Mississippi's Third Congressional District race to succeed the retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper of Pearl. But while moderating a two-hour televised candidate forum among the six Republican contenders for the seat, I was struck with the civility of the exchanges as well as the zeal with which the candidates stuck generally to substantive issues while avoiding personal attacks. The candidates talked mostly about themselves, not about their opponents." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi's baseball prowess makes the Magnolia State shine | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "Still another splendid Division I college baseball season in Mississippi seems headed for an extra special post-season. ...All things considered, none of Mississippi's so-called Big Three had anything to complain about after the NCAA Tournament pairings were announced Monday. ...If there's a Cinderella team in the field, it has to be State, which started slow, lost its head coach in the first week of the season and battled back against all odds. 'They have very good players and Gary Henderson did an outstanding job,' [USM coach Scott] Berry said. 'They had a lot of adversity, but it made them tougher and toward the end it showed. It would not surprise me to see them advance.' In summation, Mississippi often gets called a football state. It might be time to reconsider." |
| Mississippi State's Anderson Peters earns SEC Freshman Field Athlete of the Year honors | |
 | Anderson Peters, Mississippi State's standout javelin thrower, has been named the SEC Men's Freshman Field Athlete of the Year in a vote of the league's head coaches. The conference's Freshman of the Year award was divided into an award for both runners and field athletes in 2004. MSU last claimed a men's freshman award-winner in 2000 when Pierre Browne shared the honor with Tennessee's Stephen Harris. Peters won the conference championship and is headed to Oregon to compete for the NCAA crown next week. Peters will be joined by senior and SEC Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year Nicolas Quijera in the javelin competition in Eugene. The Bulldogs are the only school with multiple athletes in the competition. |
| MUW enjoys return to college athletics, wanting to build on success | |
| Jason Trufant continues to see endless possibilities for intercollegiate athletics at Mississippi University for Women. Coming off a recently completed first year in which the baseball and softball teams finished fifth at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Small College World Series, Trufant is looking ahead to an even bigger and more successful second season at The W. "We achieved academically, athletically, and in the community," Trufant said. "We will continue to build on that support. We have a lot of growing to do, and that growth will determine the next steps we take." As much as Trufant would love to take a break, he knows The W doesn't have time to relax because men's and women's basketball, women's soccer, men's and women's tennis, men's cross country, and men's golf will play their first seasons in 2018-19. |
| C-USA shaking things up in men's hoops with new scheduling formula | |
| Conference USA will launch a new schedule format for the 2018-19 men's basketball conference season. The athletic directors and Board of Directors originally passed the concept in January following discussions with former head coach and ESPN analyst Mark Adams. Men's basketball coaches and athletic directors finalized the details during the league's annual spring meetings in Destin. "With the goals to improve seeding and increase the number of teams that advance to the postseason, we viewed this as a great opportunity to enhance our top teams' resumes by providing them additional quality games within their conference schedule," C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said. "Nonconference scheduling will continue to be a priority, but this will provide a real-time analysis to create competitive matchups for teams and their fans." |
| SEC notebook: Meetings address touchy subjects of sports betting, stadium-wide alcohol sales | |
 | Gambling and drinking. Two vices or two opportunities for sports teams and conferences to potentially enhance their revenue streams? Both were among the topics getting a lot of attention Tuesday as the annual Southeastern Conference Spring Meeting kicked off at the Sandestin Hilton. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said "there has been ongoing dialog" as to repealing the SEC rule prohibiting stadium-wide alcohol sales. However, Sankey said, "nothing has produced change at this point. "It is a game management policy of conference membership," Sankey said. "Conference membership would have to vote on changing it." LSU is among the schools that has long lobbied for changing the rule to allow schools to make their individual decisions on expanding alcohol sales from club seats and suites to general seating. |
| SEC meetings: Nick Saban discusses graduate transfers, Brandon Kennedy | |
| The four-day SEC spring meetings began Tuesday, with athletic directors, coaches and university brass gathering at Hilton Sandestin Beach. Nick Saban remains against allowing graduate transfers to maneuver within the SEC without having to sit out a season. But if SEC coaches want to change the league bylaws to allow grad transfers to move to another league school and play immediately, he figures Alabama will benefit more than most. In other words, it's a win-win for Saban. He either gets what he wants, or the policy will change in a way he thinks will benefit the Crimson Tide. Saban believes changing the rule will create "free agency" within the league. |
| Dallas firm to offer paid football tailgates as LSU's official partner | |
| LSU is dedicating a new green space starting with this fall's football games to its "exclusive tailgate partner" -- a Dallas-based company that plans to sell roughly 200 tailgate packages per game. LSU Sports Properties inked the deal with Blockparty, a firm founded in 2015 to provide tailgate services at sporting events, after a request for proposals earlier this year drew "five or six" companies, according to Robert Munson, senior associate athletic director at LSU. The deal was announced May 3 without fanfare. Blockparty tailgates will run between $600 and $1,800 per game, depending on the game and tailgate package, Ward said. For a season-long package, the tailgates will cost between $3,900 and $8,175. |
| Inside look at UK's proposed Memorial Coliseum upgrades and their possible price tag | |
 | If the University of Kentucky gets key items on its Memorial Coliseum renovation wish list it will cost the school about $15 million, according to documents released to the Herald-Leader. A feasibility study commissioned by the UK Athletics Department says that renovating the 68-year-old building at the center of campus could have a big price tag. Updating the aging facility probably will be an important part of the university's upcoming capital campaign, which has not kicked off yet. "I don't think there's a time line," UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said of the Memorial Coliseum project. "My hope is sooner rather than later. Many entities are housed in the building, which takes up a full city block and has as much space as a seven-story office building. It also is situated at a place on campus where there is a considerable amount of traffic to work around. |
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