| Tuesday, June 5, 2018 |
| New Hub Connects Mississippi Agencies Around Workforce, Data | |
 | Recent reforms to the federal public workforce assistance program have prompted officials in one Southern state to turn to partners from higher education to redesign how they offer and control online services, and improve how they help business thrive and residents find and keep their jobs. The 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), considered the first legislative reform of the nation's federal workforce system in more than 15 years, galvanized officials in Mississippi. The state is believed to be the first to submit its own WIOA plan and have it approved. A key participant in enabling that plan is the Mississippi State University National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center (NSPARC), founded in 1998, which has more than 100 staffers ranging from data scientists to software architects to security experts. |
| MSU police charge man with assault on officer | |
 | A man has been charged with assaulting a police officer on the campus of Mississippi State University. Gavan Beckum faces a variety of charges. He's accused of spitting into the face of a campus police officer. This was the result of a traffic stop on Hail State Boulevard for speeding and failure to dim headlights. MSU Police Chief Vance Rice says Beckum appeared to be intoxicated. "The subject was very disorderly and after the officer put him in the backseat of the car, the suspect spit in the officer's face, which resulted in an assault on the officer charge," the chief said. |
| Delta Council meets for 83rd session | |
| Delta Council is an organization formed in 1935 by local citizens to, "provide a medium through which the agricultural, business, and professional leadership of the area could work together. Delta Council now pioneers the effort to solve common problems and promote the development of the economy in the Mississippi Delta." Chip Morgan, Delta Council executive vice president, recognized former Sen. Thad Cochran for his long-time commitment to Mississippi and the Delta Council. "My heart is a bit heavy as I look at the empty chair. It's empty because one of the Delta's greatest friends is not here with us today. He is at home in Oxford and for the first time in a half a century, he is taking care of himself instead of the people in this room. We spoke last Friday and he assured me he is with us and wishes he could be here as he has been so many times since 1972," said Morgan. |
| At Delta Council, Scott Pruitt speaks on EPA changes and its future | |
| In an agricultural community, there is a fine line to walk with regards to the land that provides recreation, employment, food and income for so many people. At the 83rd annual Delta Council meeting Friday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt explained his ideas on how to walk that line and what he sees as the future of the agency. "As I lead the EPA today, we are trying to get back to a point of being focused on partnership as opposed to adversity with folks all over the country and really focusing on getting back to the basics of our mission and not trying to create things that aren't there." |
| Mississippi primaries trim field for GOP-held Senate seat | |
 | Mississippi is holding party primaries Tuesday for a U.S. Senate seat held since 2007 by Republican Roger Wicker, who was endorsed months ago by President Donald Trump. It is a heavily Republican state that last had a Democrat in the Senate in January 1989, when John C. Stennis retired. Wicker served nearly 13 years in the U.S. House before then-Gov. Haley Barbour appointed him to the Senate when fellow Republican Trent Lott resigned. Wicker, of Tupelo, faces one primary challenger who is running a low-budget campaign, business owner Richard Boyanton of Diamondhead. |
| Win or Lose, Tuesday's Primaries Are a Big Deal for Women | |
 | In a year that has broken records for the number of women running for office, the primaries in eight states this week might be considered Super Tuesday for female candidates. More of them will appear on ballots for congressional and statewide executive offices than on any other single primary day in 2018 -- a total of 122 women. It's been a hard year for Republican women. President Trump was elected with the widest gender gap in polling history, and the surge among female candidates has been much higher among Democrats, many of whom are campaigning against what they see as the president's misogyny. Some strategists have advised Republican women to sit this year out. Mississippi's Third Congressional District may be an exception. |
| Report: 110 Confederate Monuments Removed in US Since 2015 | |
| It took generations to erect all the nation's Confederate monuments, and a new report shows they're being removed at a pace of about three each month. The study -- released Monday by the Southern Poverty Law Center -- shows that 110 Confederate monuments have been removed nationwide since 2015, when a shooting at a black church in South Carolina energized a movement against such memorials. The number -- which includes schools and roads that have been renamed in California, a repurposed Confederate holiday in Georgia, plus rebel flags and monuments that have been taken down in Alabama, Louisiana and elsewhere -- represents a relative handful compared with the more than 1,700 memorials that remain to hail the Southern "lost cause." |
| David Koch is leaving Koch Industries, stepping down from Americans for Prosperity | |
 | David Koch, one of the two billionaire brothers at the helm of the powerful conservative political network, is retiring from his family's conglomerate, Koch Industries, and stepping down as chairman of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. His brother, Charles Koch, announced in a letter to employees of Koch Industries on Tuesday that David Koch's health has been in decline since he was hospitalized last October. He was not specific about the illness. David Koch's departure will change the makeup of one of the most active and well-funded political forces in the country that has been a bulwark in supporting the Republican agenda -- although not necessarily President Trump's. |
| Mexico Hits U.S. Steel And Farm Products With Tariffs, Retaliating For Trump Move | |
 | Mexico is putting tariffs on imports of U.S. steel and farm products -- including pork, cheese, apples and potatoes -- as it hits back at the U.S. for the Trump administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum products from Mexico, Canada and the European Union. Signed by Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, the decree also suspends the country's preferential tariff treatment of the U.S. It was published in Mexico's official gazette on Tuesday. The list of U.S. agricultural products, nearly all of which will be subject to taxes of 15 percent to 25 percent, also includes Tennessee or bourbon whiskey and cranberries. |
| Paul Manafort attempted to tamper with potential witnesses: U.S. special counsel | |
| President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who has been indicted by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, attempted to tamper with potential witnesses, Mueller said in a court filing on Monday. Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, asked the judge overseeing the case in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to revoke or revise an order releasing Manafort ahead of his trial. FBI Special Agent Brock Domin, in a declaration filed with Mueller's motion, said Manafort had attempted to call, text and send encrypted messages in February to two people from "The Hapsburg Group," a firm he worked with to promote the interests of Ukraine. |
| Alcorn ranked No. 7 on College Consensus' list for 2018 | |
 | The College Consensus has ranked Alcorn State University No. 7 on its 2018 Best Historically Black Colleges and Universities list. Alcorn is the list's top public HBCU in the nation, top-ranked Southwestern Athletic Conference school, and top-ranked Mississippi HBCU. The College Consensus ranking of the Best Historically Black Colleges and Universities is a tool for students looking for a college or university to fit their needs. |
| Seven groups advance in charter application process | |
| Seven groups are moving forward with applications to open a new charter school in the 2019-20 school year. At a Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board meeting Monday, a handful of schools were granted permission to continue the stringent process of getting a charter school approved. Earlier this year, 16 groups from around the state submitted letters of intent to open a charter school, although only nine ultimately applied, said board member Karen Elam. Now the approved groups enter the second phase of the application process. An independent evaluator, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, will review the proposals later this month and the board will review the findings at a July 9 meeting. The third phase involves interviews and public hearings. The final approvals and rejected schools will be announced Sept. 10. |
| U. of Alabama must balance donors' desire for anonymity with the perks of publicity | |
 | The University of Alabama celebrated a record-setting year of fundraising last fall that saw more than $120.5 million in gifts and pledges. With the announcement came a familiar refrain: the university's reliance on private support and other revenue streams as state funding has declined since 2008. Donors in fiscal year 2017 provided nearly $25 million for scholarships, $20 million to support programs, $18 million for construction projects and $4 million to support faculty. "As we continue to grow, we remain committed to providing a premier education to our students, and our supporters are critical to our success," UA President Stuart Bell said in October. UA has received more than $1 billion in gifts and pledges during the past decade. |
| Alabama shuts down Delta Sigma Phi fraternity after multiple violations | |
| Delta Sigma Phi at the University of Alabama will close for two years after multiple violations of policies during the past academic year, according to a Friday announcement by the fraternity's national headquarters and UA. The violations related to alcohol, risk management and new member education, according to a joint statement by the fraternity's national office and UA. "Delta Sigma Phi headquarters, alumni volunteers and the University of Alabama worked to remedy these concerns; however, it was determined that maintaining the chapter in its current status would not be advisable, and that it is in the best interest of the Beta Kappa Chapter to temporarily halt operations," the joint statement said. The university declined to comment further after issuing the statement. |
| U. of Arkansas sees online enrollment increase | |
| University of Arkansas, Fayetteville students have been taking more courses offered online, with the total rising to 11.42 percent of all student semester credit hours in the 2016-17 academic year, according to UA data. Out of 682,984 total student semester credit hours, 77,982 were taken online through UA-offered coursework in 2016-17, the most recent year with data available. The increase -- up from 40,285 online student semester credit hours taken in 2012-13, when online coursework made up about 6 percent of total credits at UA -- comes as both on-campus and exclusively online students seek out online courses. "There's a lot of demand on campus for online courses," said Donald Judges, UA's vice provost for distance education. |
| New U. of Florida bee lab is the buzz | |
 | After years of lobbying and construction, the University of Florida is about to open a state-of-the-art honey bee research lab. Its realization was a combined effort by UF, the state of Florida and the state's beekeepers. "Beekeepers have come out of everywhere to support this," said Jamie Ellis, assistant professor of entomology at UF. Tony Hogg, former president of the Florida State Beekeepers Association, said the association had realized the state's climate and the UF entomology department brought bee researchers and beekeepers from around the country and around the world. "We really need to have a world-class honey bee research facility in the state of Florida," Hogg said. |
| Why do campus abuse cases keep falling through the cracks? | |
 | When horrific, large-scale cases of sexual abuse emerged at Pennsylvania State University in 2011 and more recently at Michigan State University, higher education leaders expressed shock and vowed that such abuses would never happen again. Then last month, it happened again. The Los Angeles Times reported on a University of Southern California gynecologist accused of decades of "serial misconduct" at a student health clinic, accusations now being investigated by police. In each of the abuse cases, critics say key leaders failed to act on abuse reports until it was too late and dozens or even hundreds of victims came forward. How could the complaints fall through the cracks? In several recent cases, presidents who mishandled abuse cases made one key error, said Susan Resneck Pierce, president emerita of the University of Puget Sound, who now serves as a consultant to presidents and trustees. She said they hadn't created a campus culture in which it was expected that they'd be informed of allegations of inappropriate behavior. |
| 'Inappropriate' stretches from ill-advised to criminal | |
 | Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "Will Morgan Freeman be the person who brings perspective to the conversation? If so, that would be a good thing. This is a dangerous topic for any writer to address, especially a male. At long last, women who have been treated as less-than-equal -- usually by men in positions of power -- have found a collective voice. Enough is enough is their message. The drumbeat is loud. Suggesting a pause to ponder is, well, perilous. Regardless, let's start here: There are two contexts that don't lack for clarity." |
SPORTS
| Resilient Bulldogs claim Tallahassee Regional title | |
| Mississippi State's season was down to its final strike on Saturday. Now, not only are the Bulldogs still alive but they're advancing ahead to a Super Regional after avoiding elimination four times and winning the Tallahassee Regional with an 8-1 victory over Oklahoma on Monday afternoon. "I couldn't be more proud of our team and our pitching staff," said MSU interim head coach Gary Henderson. "The reality of it is we had a bad day Friday and there was a lot of second guessing and disappointment. That comes with the territory and I get that. But we responded how I thought we would and I'm really proud of them." |
| How Mississippi State advanced to its third-straight super regional | |
 | When it was all over and all that was left to do was celebrate, Mississippi State's players stood in a line with locked arms. They were near third base and were facing the stands. They sang and chanted with the group of Bulldog fans that traveled here. Gary Henderson stood behind them. The 57-year-old didn't sing. But he did wear a large smile as he faced the crowd with both hands on his hips. Who knew a few months ago, then a few weeks ago and even on Friday night that this would be the scene on Monday afternoon? The same Bulldogs who started 2-7 in the SEC, got embarrassed Friday in the opener of the Tallahassee regional and are led by an interim coach, Henderson, are now headed to a super regional after beating Oklahoma, 8-1. |
| Mississippi State in Super Regional for third straight year | |
| JP France held Oklahoma to two hits over seven innings, and Mississippi State advanced to a NCAA Tournament Super Regional for the third straight year as it defeated the Sooners 8-1 on Monday in the deciding game of the Tallahassee Regional. It is the second straight season the Bulldogs (35-26) have dropped their first game in a regional and then won the next four games to advance. They will face Vanderbilt, which won the Clemson Regional, in a best-of-three Super Regional. "This team just showed a lot of heart the entire season," MSU assistant coach Jake Gautreau said. |
| Bulldogs visiting Vandy for Super Regional | |
| Any ideas of Mississippi State hosting a Super Regional at new Dudy Noble Field were dashed by the NCAA early Tuesday morning. Instead, the Bulldogs are bound for Nashville this weekend to battle fellow SEC foe Vanderbilt for a shot at the College World Series. The series gets underway Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 and continues Saturday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN. A third game will be played Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN2 if necessary. MSU (35-26) is making its third straight and eighth overall Super Regional appearance. The Bulldogs are 5-10 all-time in Super Regionals and have advanced ahead to Omaha twice since the NCAA switched to that format in 1999. |
| Where Mississippi State and Vanderbilt will be for the super regional | |
| Mississippi State is going to its third-straight super regional. Now we know who it'll play and where. The super regional at Vanderbilt will start on Friday. The NCAA announced the sites and game times Tuesday morning. Because both Mississippi State and Vanderbilt were lower seeds in the regional round the super regional could have gone to either location. But playing in Vanderbilt's favor is that the teams have similar RPIs and Vanderbilt swept Mississippi State during the regular season. That probably outweighed Mississippi State's advantage in stadium size and expected crowd. |
| NCAA baseball tournament: Vanderbilt will host Mississippi State in Super Regional | |
 | Vanderbilt baseball will host Mississippi State at Hawkins Field in an NCAA Super Regional. The games will begin on Friday. Vanderbilt has played in seven previous Super Regionals, winning three and losing four. A year ago, the Commodores lost both games at No. 1 national seed Oregon State. Vanderbilt advanced to this year's Super Regional by sweeping the Clemson Regional, including a record-breaking 19-6 win over Clemson in clinching game Sunday night. The Commodores hit nine home runs, tying the NCAA tournament single-game record. And Connor Kaiser had a school record-tying three homers and tied an NCAA tournament record with 10 RBIs. |
| Baseball: Such joy, such heartbreak in one day | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: "...And, yet, when Monday was done, one Magnolia State team was left standing -- the Mississippi State Bulldogs, playing under an interim coach, Gary Henderson, who could be the first interim coach to ever win Coach of the Year. That's how well he's handled what seemed a most miserable situation not that long ago. Baseball: It can be such a cruel and crazy game. As the late Bart Giamatti, who served as president of Yale and as commissioner of baseball, wrote: 'Baseball breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart.' It broke the hearts of Ole Miss Rebels, who finished 48-17, Monday. At the same time, it provided such joy -- not only for Mississippi State, but also for Tennessee Tech." |
| For one of Ole Miss' most accomplished teams, season's abrupt end 'really hard pill to swallow' | |
| Most of the fans clad in red and blue inside Oxford-University rose to their feet, wondering if this could actually be the end. Some stood with their hands in their pockets or with their arms folded, intently hoping for the best. Others held their hands together near their face or cupped them around their mouth almost as if seeking the help of a higher power. But even before Tennessee Tech's John Ham made the catch, some of them started heading for the exits knowing their prayers weren't going to be answered. Grae Kessinger's infield popup sealed the Golden Eagles' second win over Ole Miss on Monday and an upset run to the Oxford Regional championship. And just like that, it was all over for an Ole Miss team that LSU coach Paul Mainieri lauded as "an Omaha team and one that can win a national championship." |
| Sources: Jackson State to hire next athletics director | |
| Jackson State will soon announce Jackson native Ashley Robinson as its next athletic director, according to two sources with knowledge of the hire. The university has called a press conference for 11 a.m. Tuesday, where it is expected to introduce Robinson, who recently completed his fifth year as director of athletics for Prairie View A&M. JSU spokesperson Maxine Greenleaf said university president William Bynum has no comment at this time. Prior to his stint at Prairie View, Robinson also worked for one year as the SWAC's assistant commissioner for compliance and served as the league office's administrator for men's and women's basketball, track and field and volleyball. He has been athletic director at Prairie View A&M since 2013. |
| 6 Auburn athletics administrators fired | |
 | Extending Bruce Pearl's contract was just one of a series of major personnel decisions Auburn athletic director Allen Greene made on Monday. Greene shook up Auburn's athletic department, firing six senior administrative staffers, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Among those let go were chief communications officer Ward Swift, senior associate athletic directors Bernard Hill and David Mines, senior women's administrator Meredith Jenkins and chief revenue officer Michael McBride, the source said. The longest tenured of those five was Jenkins, who started working at Auburn in July 1994. Jenkins was involved in the Auburn softball scandal last year, including instructing players to delete text messages obtained from a teammate's phone that proved an inappropriate relationships between a player and then-assistant coach Corey Myers, who resigned that same day, March 30, 2017. Clint Myers resigned in August amid a Title IX investigation. |
| Auburn coach Bruce Pearl receives contract extension through 2022-23 | |
 | Bruce Pearl isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Auburn announced Monday that the head men's basketball coach had received a contract extension through the 2022-23 season, which adds three seasons onto the original six-year contract he signed in 2014. Pearl's first contract paid him a salary of $2.5 million during the 2017-18 season, which ranked 27th nationally and sixth in the SEC, according to USA Today. He was set to make $2.6 million in 2018-19 and $2.7 million in the final year of that deal. Terms of the extension were not disclosed. "It was a historic season for Auburn basketball and one that was matched by excellence in the classroom as well," said Auburn athletics director Allen Greene, who, like university president Steven Leath, has made multiple public comments supporting Pearl since the season ended. |
| Hall of Fame Coach and Administrator C.M. Newton Dies at 88 | |
| Officials at Alabama and Kentucky say that Hall of Fame former administrator and basketball coach C.M. Newton has died. He was 88. The schools announced his death Monday night. Newton was a member of Kentucky's 1951 NCAA championship squad during a basketball career spanning more than 50 years as a player, coach and administrator. He also influenced selection of the original U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" in 1992. "Coach Newton was a true leader in intercollegiate athletics," Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said. "He took risks and was willing to do the right thing even when it was not the most popular thing. Thousands of student-athletes have been positively impacted because of his approach as an athletics director, a coach and an exemplary human being." |
| Jamie Erdahl replaces Allie LaForce as 'SEC on CBS' sideline reporter | |
| Allie LaForce is out and Jamie Erdahl is in as the lead sideline reporter for "SEC on CBS" football coverage this fall. CBS Sports announced Erdahl's hiring on Monday. She will join returning crew members Brad Nessler on play-by-play and Gary Danielson on color commentary for the network's SEC game of the week this season. LaForce had been on the "SEC on CBS" crew since 2014, when she replaced Tracy Wolfson after Wolfson moved to covering the NFL. No reason for LaForce's departure was given, though veteran media critic/reporter Richard Deitsch of The Athletics tweeted that the two sides had stalled in contract negotiations. Erdahl, 29, joined CBS Sports in 2014 and has worked as a reporter on NFL and college basketball telecasts. Prior to join CBS, she worked for New England Sports Network covering the Boston Red Sox and Bruins. |
| Texas athletics lays off at least 13 staff members in departmental restructuring | |
| At least 13 Texas athletic department staffers were notified Monday morning they were being laid off, a source told the American-Statesman Monday. Athletic director Chris Del Conte confirmed to the Statesman that some staffers were notified on Monday. But Del Conte has compared the UT athletic department to a "battleship." Part of that is the sheer size of the staff. Another source familiar with the layoffs described those summoned to a morning meeting with Del Conte as "rank-and-file" employees. "These are good people," Del Conte said an interview with the Statesman. "It's hard for me to look at a piece of paper and say, 'That's just a name.' I understand the expectations placed on coaches. But we're talking about staff. They're good people. They have families. These types of decisions are always difficult. But my job is to create the most efficient department I can for the betterment of our student-athletes and coaches." |
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