| Monday, March 25, 2019 |
| Waterlogged: Farmers hoping to get to work soon in soaked fields | |
 | Alex Mayfield was able to burn off some of his fields last weekend, giving him a head start of sorts to soon begin planting corn and cotton. But the head start really wasn't one -- like virtually every other farmer, Mayfield has had to wait for his fields to dry before he can work the soil, fertilize and plant. With more than 50 inches of rain since October soaking and flooding their fields, farmers have had to put things off until the weather has cleared, giving their land a chance to dry a little. According to Mississippi State University's Extension Service, the rainfall in north Mississippi flooded many areas and also made much of the Delta farmland unworkable as the time nears for planting and other traditional tasks. "The greatest amount of rain fell on the northern one-third of the state," said Mike Brown, the state climatologist and a Mississippi State University professor. "From Jan. 1 to March 12, Tupelo had 22.84 inches of rain, the wettest on record; Starkville had 20.03 inches, the fifth wettest on record; and Greenwood had 17.53 inches, the sixth wettest on record." Charlie Stokes, an area agronomist with the MSU Extension, said all the rain has been a problem for the farmers in the seven counties he oversees. |
| Old Main Music Festival lineup announced by MSU's Music Maker | |
 | Music Maker Productions is presenting the Old Main Music Festival April 5 at the Mississippi State Amphitheater on the university's Starkville campus. Old Main Music Festival begins at 3 p.m. and includes both local and national musicians, outdoor games and activities, an art market and food vendors. Local music acts, the Art Market and food trucks open at 3 p.m., and the Main Stage kicks off at 7 p.m. with Dirty Streets and Duncan Fellows. Headliner Lewis Del Mar concludes the festival. Music Maker Productions is an MSU student organization with a primary goal to provide quality, contemporary entertainment for the university community. For more information about this event, visit msuconcerts.com or call the Center for Student Activities at 662-325-2930. |
| Old Main Music Festival returns April 5 | |
 | The Old Main Music Festival is returning to the Mississippi State University Amphitheater Friday, April 5. Music Maker Productions at MSU will host the all-day event which begins at 3 p.m. The Old Main Music Festival is a free festival for the public to enjoy sounds from local and national musicians, and engage in different games and activities. "It's family-friendly, students love it and it's just a way to bring the community and Mississippi State University together through like an all-day free event that's for everyone," Music Makers Production Publicity Chair Bailey Berry said. Berry said there's something for everyone of all ages to enjoy at the Old Main Music Festival. Music Makers a student organization on the campus of MSU with a purpose of providing quality, contemporary live music for the university and Starkville community. |
| MSU Opera Production presents evening performances of 'Suor Angelica' | |
| The Opera Production program in Mississippi State's Department of Music is presenting 7:30 p.m. performances of Giacomo Puccini's "Suor Angelica" March 29 and 30 at First United Methodist Church's Connection Center. The center is located at 101 E. Lampkin St. in Starkville. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students. Tickets can be reserved in advance by contacting Cathy Evans at 662-325-3490 or cevans@colled.msstate.edu. Purchases also can be made at the door on the day of each show. Both performances will reflect the creative direction of MSU Assistant Professor of Voice Roza Tulyaganova and musical direction of fellow MSU Assistant Professor of Voice Jeanette Fontaine. "This all-female cast emulates both beauty and darkness throughout the opera by singing to new heights with intricate melodies and choral depth," Tulyaganova said. |
| Locals plant sea oats for school, beach erosion defense | |
 | The battle against beach erosion took another step forward Friday as an army of students and volunteers dug in and planted more than 3,000 sea oats on the beach in Biloxi as part of the EPA's Gulf of Mexico program. "We have these beautiful Mississippi beaches, and when the wind turns to the south, these sea oats will trap the sand as it comes toward the shore and Highway 90," said Troy Pierce, chief scientist for the EPA'S Gulf of Mexico Program. Pierce is leading this project and getting lots of help from the Harrison County Sand Beach Authority, the Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center, and 11th and 12th-grade botany students from Gulfport High School. Some sea oats were planted four months ago, and lots of sand has built up around them. The hope is the same thing will happen in the next four months with these newly-planted oats, just in time for the height of storm season. |
| Future of Oktibbeha County school campuses unclear | |
| Nearly a week after supervisors voted to have Board Attorney Rob Roberson draft a contract for the potential acquisition of three former Oktibbeha County School District campuses, it remains unclear what such an arrangement might look like. Supervisors voted 3-2, with District 1's John Montgomery and District 4's Bricklee Miller opposed, to have Roberson draft the contract. Board President Orlando Trainer offered the motion and picked up support from District 3's Marvell Howard and District 5's Joe Williams. The county is eyeing the acquisition of East Oktibbeha Elementary School, East Oktibbeha High School and West Oktibbeha High School. The high schools are vacant, though the Education Association of East Oktibbeha County Schools sometimes hosts events at East High School. East Elementary currently houses the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District's Alternative Education Programs. |
| Flooding in Mississippi: It's 'a disaster in slow motion' and worst is yet to come | |
 | A man and woman in a motorboat move quietly along the waters of the Yazoo River, straight down Chickasaw Street in Vicksburg. The only indication of a road is a line of telephone poles to the left. Under siege by the river before, many residents of the Vicksburg subdivision have abandoned the neighborhood. Farther north, it's not the river, but backwater flooding that has consumed the southern Delta. During a March 21 news conference at Mississippi Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Pearl, Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency, noting that 500,000 acres are currently under water in the Mississippi Delta. "(It is) not only destruction of property that is ongoing there because of the flooding but an agricultural disaster that is in the making," Bryant said. "We have not yet seen the worst of the flooding and the rising of the rivers." |
| Mark Baker says state 'not there yet' on full-time public defenders | |
| A key legislator on criminal justice issues who hopes to be Mississippi's next attorney general is not convinced a need exists for full-time public defenders across the entire state. For years, reports and research have piled up documenting high caseloads, insufficient oversight and other inadequacies in Mississippi's public defense system. A bill intended to remedy some defects died this legislative session after it failed to advance out of a committee chaired by Rep. Mark Baker, a Republican from Rankin County. Speaking with the Daily Journal last week, Baker said he's unconvinced that there is a pressing need for a comprehensive overhaul of how Mississippi provides legal defense services to accused offenders who can't afford an attorney. Baker is one of three Republicans seeking to become attorney general. The other GOP candidates are state Treasurer Lynn Fitch and attorney Andy Taggart. |
| Secretary of State hopeful has eye on voting laws | |
| If he's elected secretary of state, Mississippi legislator Michael Watson promised Lee County Republicans this week he'll prioritize efforts to make sure that immigrants residing in the state without legal authorization don't register to vote. A state senator from Jackson County on the Gulf Coast, Watson is one of two Republicans looking to succeed Delbert Hosemann as secretary of state. Public Service Commissioner Sam Britton, representing the state's southern district, is also in the race Watson praised Hosemann's efforts to enforce a voter identification law, but said there's more to be done. "It's important that only United States citizens vote in our elections," Watson said. "That's going to be issue number one, secure the vote. Very important, and you are going to hear me talk about it quite a bit." Fears about non-citizens registering to vote have driven a number of Republican-led initiatives in states like Kansas and Tennessee. The Kansas law, however, was struck down in 2018 by a federal court which found the state could not put forward significant evidence of fraudulent voter registration. |
| Mueller finds no Trump-Russia conspiracy in 2016 election | |
 | Special counsel Robert Mueller did not uncover evidence to conclude that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election, according to a letter sent to Congress on Sunday from Attorney General William Barr. "The Special Counsel's investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election," states Barr's letter to the House and Senate Judiciary committees, which was made public shortly after it was submitted Sunday. The letter says that Mueller made no conclusion as to whether Trump obstructed justice in the investigation of Russia's election interference. But it also states that Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, after reviewing Mueller's findings, determined that they would not pursue an obstruction of justice charge -- a decision likely to be fought along partisan lines in Congress. |
| Trump begins post-Mueller 'reset' by attacking Democrats, media | |
 | The anticlimactic end of Robert Mueller's Russia probe allows President Donald Trump to relaunch his beleaguered presidency with new swagger ahead of the 2020 election. Trump's supporters called it a turning point, saying that with lurid questions about election-rigging out of the way, he will have a fresh chance to connect with Americans. "There's a rare moment here for Donald Trump to get a bit of a reset," said Matt Schlapp, a Trump ally and chairman of the American Conservative Union. "He's got a chance to reconnect with more Americans than he even did previously." But after the nearly two-year investigation found no collusion or clear obstruction of justice, Trump and his aides showed little interest in healing or national unity. They quickly launched a fierce counterattack against both Democrats and the media, claiming that Trump had survived what amounted to an extralegal coup -- and implying that other charges of wrongdoing against him should also be discounted. |
| Barr: Mueller 'did not establish' Trump-Russia collusion, but obstruction questions remain | |
 | Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III "did not establish" that members of Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to affect the outcome of the 2016 election, but left it up to Attorney General William Barr to determine whether the president obstructed justice to stymie the investigation, the AG wrote in a letter to Congress on Sunday. Barr has declined to pursue the obstruction thread, he wrote to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees in a four-page letter summarizing the key findings from Mueller's report. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw the day-to-day operation of the special counsel, "concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense," the AG wrote in his letter. The White House immediately proclaimed victory after the letter indicating that Mueller's team could not prove collusion became public on Sunday, though that proclamation could be premature. |
| MUW's Homecoming celebration set for March 28-31 | |
| Mississippi University for Women invites alumni, friends and guests to a weekend filled with entertainment and activities for Homecoming festivities March 28-31. "Homecoming is not only a time to reconnect with old friends, but it is also an opportunity to visit your alma mater and learn about all the exciting news happening now. So, please come join us because there is an event for everyone," said Lyndsay Cumberland, director of alumni relations. Homecoming will start Thursday, March 28. From 6 to 7:30 p.m., the Nell Peel Wolfe Lecture Series, presented by the Ina E. Gordy Honors College, will host Tracy Crow, former Marine Corps officer, editor of "It's My Country Too: Women's Military Stories from the American Revolution to Afghanistan," author of "Eyes Right: Confessions from a Woman Marine" and three other books,and president/CEO of the community arts foundation Milspeak, which supports the creative endeavors of military service members, veterans and their families. The event, located in Nissan Auditorium, is free and open to the public. |
| Longtime UM Director of Admissions Whitman Smith announces retirement | |
 | Whitman Smith, director of admissions at Ole Miss, is retiring from the university. Smith, whose position has already been placed on the university's career website, has been with the university for nearly three decades. Smith started in the admissions office in 1990, beginning as a regional admissions counselor and serving as director of admissions since July 2013. "I think it's probably time for some new leadership," Smith said. "There were other factors too, but I just felt like it was time to retire." Smith's retirement comes after the university has experienced an overall decrease in enrollment for two consecutive years, which followed a national trend in decreased college enrollment. Smith said the decline in enrollment wasn't a factor in his resignation, and the enrollment would more than likely pick back up in a few years. Smith is a fourth generation university employee, whose great-grandfather was the first librarian at the university to hold a degree in the 1920s. He said following that legacy has been "a huge honor." |
| Jeff Vitter not selected as president of the U. of South Florida | |
| Jeffrey Vitter, the former chancellor of the University of Mississippi was not hired as the President of the University of South Florida. The college announced their decision Friday after selecting Vitter as a finalist for the job from a pool of 33 applicants. The University of South Florida Board of Trustees instead voted to name Steve Currall as the university's president-elect. Currall is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Southern Methodist University will become USF's seventh president. pending confirmation by the Florida Board of Governors next week. During the interview process, Vitter addressed reasons for his sudden departure from Ole Miss. Vitter said he didn't have enough time to assemble a strong leadership team before taking the job at the university, according to an article published by the Tampa Bay Times. "I was brought in to be a change agent," he said. "But, I made the mistake of underestimating, really, the level of enrichment and lack of common agreement at Ole Miss." |
| Ole Miss to spend $1 million studying new pharmacy building | |
 | The University of Mississippi is exploring plans to construct a new pharmacy research building. College Board trustees on Thursday approved plans for Ole Miss to spend up to $1 million on architects to design a new three-story research building on the Oxford campus. The plan is for labs for biomedical research as well as administrative space. The university says it doesn't yet know how much a building might cost or exactly where it might be built. The university says it might replace the existing Coy Waller Research Center, part of the National Center for Natural Products Research. That center has a license to grow marijuana legally for research. |
| Are Jackson State University finances in order? School faces deadline to show problems fixed | |
| Jackson State University has until Thursday to show it's remedied problems that led the state College Board to intervene in the university's finances three years ago. The warning from Higher Education Commissioner Alfred Rankins comes as the university prepares for an April 16 visit from a regional accrediting body. A letter from Rankins to JSU President William Bynum obtained by the Clarion Ledger raises red flags about the university's progress in clearing problems cited by an accounting firm more than a year ago. The January 2018 report from Matthew, Cutrer and Lindsay found 28 significant deficiencies related to JSU's ability to manage its financial operations and report information reliably. Rankins wrote that JSU had corrected less than half of the findings. He also shared concerns that the state College Board's internal auditor lacked enough information "to verify that those corrections are satisfactory." In a statement, Rankins declined to comment saying the correspondence occurred under a board policy concerning job performance and was therefore a personnel matter. JSU spokeswoman Maxine Greenleaf said the university will close out the firm's findings and meet the March 29 deadline issued by Rankins. |
| Auburn's new student government president settles into role | |
 | Transitioning from her SGA presidential installation earlier this month, Mary Maragaret Turton has a list of objectives reflecting the ideals of Auburn University president Steven Leath. "The campaign was an experience like no other," Turton said. "Its preparation and implementation united individuals throughout the campus in a common mission to make Auburn the best it can be. I am so thankful for my team, which was thoughtful in its outreach and purposeful in its vision." The business analytics major said the success of her "Turton on Target" campaign derived from the promoted emphasis on the current and potentially improvable student experience, and she expressed an excitement to serve her university constituents. |
| 4 LSU officials making 6 figures resign after they didn't get La. driver's license, registration | |
 | Four highly-paid administrators at LSU have resigned their posts after they failed to comply with a state law that requires them to register their vehicles here and get a Louisiana driver's license, officials said Friday. All four claimed Illinois as their primary residence, according to a a report by the LSU Office of Internal Audit. Three of the four also spent part of their time working for LSU from Illinois, sparking controversy on whether those privileges won proper approval. They are Andrea Ballinger, chief technology officer, $268,000 per year; Matthew Helm, assistant vice-president in information technology services, $202,085 per year; Susan Flanagin, director in information technology services, $149,000 annually; and Thomas Glenn, director of information technology services, $144,200 annually. |
| UGA opens entrepreneur-focused Studio 225 | |
 | Student entrepreneurship at the University of Georgia has a new home, thanks to a just-opened building at the interface of North Campus and downtown Athens. Studio 225, named for its West Broad Street address, will be UGA's Student Center for Entrepreneurship. It is also the first physical manifestation of the university's deepening focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, said Henry Munneke, associate dean for undergraduate programs at the Terry College of Business, which houses the program. UGA's Entrepreneurship Program has grown rapidly since its inception three years ago. What began with one instructor and 33 undergraduates has become a campus-wide initiative that reaches more than 1,000 students each year and includes a wide variety of academic and experiential opportunities. |
| U. of Florida unveils Joel Buchanan Archive | |
 | The late Joseph "Joel" Marcus Buchanan was known to be a man of many words, especially when it came to the history of blacks in Gainesville and Alachua County, and on Friday at the University of Florida George A. Smathers Library he was honored with the unveiling of the Joel Buchanan Archive of African American Oral History. "The Joel Buchanan Archive of African American Oral History will be one of the largest digital public access collections of oral histories in the United States," said Stephanie Birch, the African American Studies librarian at UF. "It will be large in size and broad in scope." Approximately 175 people attended the event Friday that was part of the "From Segregation to Black Lives Matter" symposium that is sponsored by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at UF. Buchanan, who died at the age of 65 in late May 2014, was credited at the event Friday morning with being a pioneer and trailblazer in preserving and documenting black history locally and throughout the state and nation. |
| Anniversary gala supports Texas A&M student newspaper 'The Battalion' | |
 | Past and present staff members of the Texas A&M student newspaper The Battalion and members of the school's Former Journalism Students Association, or FJSA, gathered Saturday night at an anniversary gala event, hoping to raise funds in support of the paper's continuation. More than 200 people raised their glasses at the Memorial Student Center to memories of newsprint-stained fingers, late nights and caffeinated rushes to make deadline at the event. Guests of the 125th anniversary gala and fundraiser ranged from Battalion alumni from the class of 1956, to the paper's youngest staff members from the class of 2021. Texas A&M graduates Paul Barton, class of 1980, who died in 2016, and class of 1989's Kelly Brown, former editor of The Eagle, were inducted into FJSA's Hall of Honor, and a silent auction helped raise funds for the newspaper. Like newspapers across the country in recent years, The Battalion has been hit with financial loss. |
| U. of Missouri System adjusts enrollment surge projection for two years later | |
 | The University of Missouri System has adjusted its projections for an intentional enrollment surge by two years. In November, the UM System Board of Curators discussed a 25,000-student enrollment surge that was estimated to take place over the next five years because of enhancements in the system's e-learning program. The UM System projected total enrollment to hit 100,000 students in 2023. It is now anticipating total enrollment to hit 100,000 in 2025. When the curators first looked at these numbers, 2023 was a rough estimate, UM spokesman Christian Basi said. He said the change resulted from taking a closer look at projected enrollment numbers and better estimating when the system could hit 100,000 with its current resources. |
| Democratic lawmakers join chorus of critics on higher education as engine of inequality | |
 | Americans remain obsessed with highly selective colleges and their manicured campuses and 10-figure endowments. But an accumulating body of evidence, including both a five-alarm admissions scandal and cutting-edge data on social mobility, have convinced many of what they long suspected: that the deck is stacked against lower-income students in higher education. At the same time, a growing number of Democratic and independent voters are following the lead of Republicans with rapidly souring attitudes about higher education, although mostly for different reasons. As a result, a wide range of policy observers say traditional higher education will face more scrutiny from Democratic politicians. Observers said political pressure from Democrats and Republicans could spur interest in policies most higher education advocates oppose on college admissions, endowment spending, charitable giving, risk sharing on student loans and even affirmative action. |
| Jerry Falwell, a key Trump ally, falls short of big talk on free speech, critics say | |
| When President Trump issued an executive order last week dealing with campus free speech, he was joined by conservative students who complained their rights had been trampled by liberal censorship. One of the earliest backers of the Trump executive order was Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., who has frequently called out the alleged "silencing" of conservative college students. "The president is right to stop our government from handing out taxpayer dollars to subsidize institutions that practice censorship -- regardless of whether that censorship is used against those on the left or the right," he wrote in a Fox News opinion column earlier this month. No college president is more closely identified with the president than Falwell, who invited Trump to give a 2017 commencement address at Liberty and has frequently attacked the president's critics in the media and on Twitter. But the university has been repeatedly taken to task by civil libertarians in recent years for censorship of student journalists and speakers on its campus. |
| Easy as ABC | |
| Angela Farmer, an assistant clinical professor in Mississippi State University's Shackouls Honors College, writes: Learning for young children has definitely evolved. In addition to the age old tools of hard-backed books, classroom board instruction, and lecture, there are now so many technological tools that can truly help make learning fun. One website that is worth the visit is www.abcya.com. This magical site provides a variety of options for teaching young children a number of topics. One of the links, for example, offers "USA Geography." This is a computer-based puzzle where the students learn the names, shapes and locations of the different states in the United States by playing a placing game to name and locate the state. There are tools like "Molly Adds and Subtracts from 20," which, just like the name implies, helps children learn to add and subtract in a manner in which learning is disguised as a game of wits. |
| Legislators consider expanding questionable sales tax holiday; both sides say it's 'the least' they could do | |
 | Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: Sen. Walter Michel, R-Ridgeland, argued on the Senate floor recently "the least" the Mississippi Legislature could do for public school teachers is to enact a sales tax holiday on school supplies. That would save the teachers -- many of whom are having to purchase their own supplies because of a lack of state funding -- from having to pay the 7 percent sales tax that is levied on most retail if they shopped on the designated day. Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, shot back that it was the least, the very least that could be done for Mississippi teachers. He reasoned more state funding for education, perhaps a significant pay raise, would be of more service to school teachers. And Bryan went on to add if the state had not given multiple tax cuts in recent years there would be more money to reward teachers. |
| Gov. Bryant should veto dark money bill | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: "Transparency is critical to fair government," Gov. Phil Bryant, a longtime champion of transparency and accountability in government, once said. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann also promoted transparency when he proposed revamping Mississippi election laws in 2016. As WTOK-TV in Meridian reported: "Who's dealing out money to candidates? And which ones are taking it? The Mississippi Secretary of State intends for that information to be available electronically." Transparency shines a light on activities of government that otherwise would remain dark. One key transparency requirement is for politicians to disclose who gives them campaign contributions. Mississippi Code Section 23-15-807 requires candidates from the local to state level to identify anyone or any organization who gives them in excess of $200. When so identified, contributors' names and addresses become public records. |
SPORTS
| On to the Sweet 16: Vic Schaefer believes his team can win it all | |
| Mississippi State's women's basketball team has a traditional way to say goodbye to its fans after their final game at Humphrey Coliseum. After playing in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game, the Bulldogs whip their first two NCAA Tournament opponents, games usually played at the Hump, to reach the Sweet 16. Then, the senior class -- which has won more games than any of its predecessors -- gathers at half-court after the game to be serenaded by the cheering thousands of their devoted fans. This happens every year, it seems. Sunday night, it happened once again. Mississippi State (32-2) rolled past Clemson, 85-61, as the Bulldogs earned their fourth consecutive trip to the Sweet 16. The Bulldogs, seeded first in the West Regional, will travel to Portland, Oregon, later this week for a meeting with Arizona State on Friday. For the 9,994 fans who came late for the 8 p.m. game, and stayed later, Sunday played out in predictable fashion, something MSU coach Vic Schaefer understood. |
| Teaira McCowan leads Mississippi State over Clemson 85-61 in NCAAs | |
| Teaira McCowan could feel the Clemson defense wearing down and the 6-foot-7 senior sensed the weakness immediately, carving out perfect position under the hoop. There was no need for Mississippi State to get fancy. Everyone knew where the ball was going. "I didn't have to empty the playbook," Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer said. "I had one play." McCowan responded with 30 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks to help No. 1 seed Mississippi State roll to an 85-61 win over ninth-seeded Clemson on Sunday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Clemson coach Amanda Butler said it's hard to do develop a defense that can stop McCowan when she's able to catch the ball in such good spots. "It didn't really feel like a chess match," Butler said. "You get a pretty easy checkmate when you have a queen like her on the back line." |
| Bulldogs breezing back to the Sweet 16 | |
| Jazzmun Holmes and Teaira McCowan will never know life without the Sweet 16 during their college careers. Top-seeded Mississippi State punched its ticket to Portland and the Sweet 16 for the fourth- straight season following its 85-61 win over No. 9 seed Clemson in the second round on Sunday. A raucous crowd of 9,944 filed into Humphrey Coliseum to watch the final home game for Holmes, McCowan, Jordan Danberry and Anriel Howard and that quartet did not disappoint, combining for 75 points, 34 rebounds, 14 assists, 11 blocks and 10 steals. All four seniors received a standing ovation as they individually exited the floor one last time in the final minute. "In church this morning, my prayer was that these seniors would have the chance to stand out there at half court when the game was over and acknowledge our fans, and they got to do that," said MSU coach Vic Schaefer. "The good Lord answered my prayer and it was just my wish. I know how special that is." State advances ahead to battle No. 5 seed Arizona State on Friday in Portland, Oregon. The Sun Devils (22-10) pulled an upset against fourth-seeded Miami 57-55 on Sunday. |
| Mississippi State tops Clemson 85-61 for fourth straight trip to Sweet 16 | |
| For the fourth year in a row, Mississippi State is headed to the Sweet 16. Behind a 30-point double-double from Teiara McCowan and plenty of stare-down blocks from Big T, the Bulldogs (32-2) defeated Clemson 85-61 at Humphrey Coliseum on Sunday. They'll face Arizona State (21-10) in Portland on Friday. After Mississippi State's first-round win over Southern, head coach Vic Schaefer said the Bulldogs would need their guards to step up their defensive intensity against what he felt were talented Clemson counterparts. Seniors Jazzmun Holmes and Jordan Danberry answered that call to action almost immediately, establishing themselves for Mississippi State on the defensive end while also scoring timely points. Danberry took the lead, opening the game with smooth finishes inside that included a ball fake that led to a layup to give MSU a 14-6 lead in the first quarter. |
| McCowan, Howard lead Dawgs in tourney opener | |
| Teaira McCowan and Anriel Howard put on a show in Friday night's first round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Humphrey Coliseum. They both delivered double-doubles, McCowan doing so before the game was half over. Howard, a post-grad forward, scored a game-high 23 points and had 12 rebounds. McCowan, a senior center, scored 22 points and had a game-high 16 rebounds in MSU's dominating 103-46 win over Southern University. The Bulldogs (31-2) face Clemson (20-12) at 8 p.m. Sunday (ESPN) at Humphrey Coliseum with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line. The Bulldogs displayed signs of brilliance Friday night. After falling behind 3-2 in the game's second minute on a 3-pointer by Southern's Rishonti Cowart, the Bulldogs charged ahead quickly. A nine-point run, including a three-point play by McCowan, put them up by eight. They pushed the lead to 20 before the first quarter was over. |
| Bulldogs win 20-15 slugfest | |
| Mississippi State wins 20-15? Yes, it was a baseball game – an important one, as the No. 2 Bulldogs slugged their way past No. 12 Auburn on Sunday afternoon to win the first SEC home series of the season. And for Auburn native Rowdey Jordan, who grew up in the neighborhood of current Auburn head coach Butch Thompson, it was a weekend of resurgence. Jordan entered the game batting .186, but MSU coach Chris Lemonis stuck with the sophomore left fielder and it paid off as Jordan went a combined 6 for 10 at the plate between Saturday and Sunday's games. "When kids struggle and then they come out of it, sometimes they come out of it with a bang," Lemonis said. "Then you get a couple hits and it is fun to play the game and your talent it there. This is one of the best hitters in the country, and we feel that way about Rowdey." The Bulldogs face a quick turnaround as they play Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday and then start a three-game home series against No. 10 LSU on Thursday night. |
| Mississippi State baseball takes Sunday slugfest over Auburn | |
| In its highest scoring SEC contest since 2000, the No. 2 Mississippi State baseball program secured a 20-15 victory over No. 16 Auburn to claim the series on Sunday (March 24) at Dudy Noble Field. Mississippi State (22-3, 4-2 SEC) scored in each of the eight innings it went to the plate on its way to 20 runs on 21 hits against seven Auburn (20-4, 4-2 SEC) pitchers. The 20 runs are the most scored in an SEC game since May 5, 2000, when the Bulldogs scored 20 runs against Florida. The 35 combined runs were the most in a game since MSU and Kentucky scored 39 runs on April 19, 2009. All nine starters collected hits in the game, led by a career-high four-hit day from Dustin Skelton, including his fifth home run of the season. The junior drove in a career-best five RBIs and scored a career-high four times in the game. Freshman Brad Cumbest collected three hits in the contest for his first career multi-hit game, while Rowdey Jordan belted out three hits, including two doubles on the afternoon. |
| Anderson Peters leads Mississippi State sweep in javelin | |
| It was a prolific weekend for the Mississippi State track and field teams in the Al Schmidt Bulldog Relays in Starkville. On Friday, the Bulldogs combined for 20 top-five finishes on the day -- winning four of the events along with seven personal-marks being set. Most notably, the team of freshman Shayla Felder, sophomores Riley White and Charlotte Cayton-Smith, and senior Alon Lewis took home first place in the women's sprint medley. Their time of 3:53.73 is the fourth fastest in MSU outdoor track history. Saturday, MSU continued its success, most notably in the javelin. Sophomore Anderson Peters' distance of 82.64 meters is the best mark in the NCAA this season entering the weekend as the men's team swept the event. In the women's javelin, junior Sarah Blake and freshman Caroline Standley finished second and third, respectively. Blake's distance of 45.07 meters set a school record and Standley's throw of 43.98 meters set a freshman record in the event. |
| Flooding in the Delta stressing wildlife, including bears, turkey, pigs | |
| Unusually high amounts of rainfall combined with Mississippi River flooding have created a situation that has flooded hundreds of thousands of acres in the south Delta. In addition to inundating roads and structures, the flood waters have displaced and pressured wildlife. "It's hard to quantify, but obviously you're going to have stress on wildlife," said Russ Walsh, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Wildlife Bureau executive director. "Fortunately, it's warm and you're getting some green-up. So, from a food standpoint it's not stressful." Walsh said part of the stress for animals is being closely congregated on higher ground. To avoid undue stress, MDWFP recommends giving animals space. Another issue arises when animals congregate near roads. This puts them at greater risk for collisions with vehicles. "It does have the potential for human-wildlife conflicts just because of the displacement of animals," Walsh said. |
| U. of Florida quietly raises pay for coaches | |
| When Todd Grantham turned down the Cincinnati Bengals last month, it wasn't surprising to learn that Florida had quietly given the UF defensive coordinator a hefty raise a month earlier. The University Athletic Association -- first under Jeremy Foley and now under Scott Stricklin -- has been bold in rewarding its most successful coaches through the last two decades. It's why there are four UF coaches with 10-year contracts. And it's a big reason why only two head coaches have left Florida in the last three decades for other college coaching jobs. (Women's track coach Bev Kearney left for Texas in 1993 and basketball coach Lon Kruger for Illinois in 1996. Three other coaches left for professional jobs). "You have to have great coaching," said Foley, the athletic director emeritus who put together the four 10-year deals. It's a policy Stricklin has continued as the Florida AD, taking care of coaches who have proven themselves over the years. |
| Will legalized sports betting curtail corruption or encourage it? | |
 | Yes, our March Madness brackets are already a mess, too. But here's one safe prediction for the 2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament that tipped off this week: it will feature more wagering than ever before. That's because last year the Supreme Court overturned a federal law and ruled that it is up to the states to decide whether they want to legalize sports gambling. New Jersey led the way, many more followed and more are planning to soon. This shift will bring a windfall to bookmakers, sports leagues, and states' tax revenues. But at what cost? This is the first year of widely legalized sports gambling, but 2019 also marks another milestone: the 100-year anniversary of the Chicago Black Sox scandal, when a team in the clutches of gambling mobsters threw the World Series. It's a reminder that, you might say, there's no such thing as a free hunch. But for all the familiar trappings, this year brought a new wrinkle. |
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