Wednesday, April 24, 2019   
 
Mississippi State opens Marvin B. Dow Stitched Composites Development Center
Mississippi State University recently celebrated the opening of a new research center intended to help the university advance the fields of composite materials and aerospace. MSU hosted a grand opening ceremony for the Marvin B. Dow Stitched Composites Development Center at the MSU Advanced Composites Institute on Friday, April 12. During the event, MSU President Mark E. Keenum noted that the university's research and development activities, often carried out with government and industry partners, have a substantial impact on Mississippi's economy, leading to the development of new companies and new jobs. "This center matches so well for the vision that we have for the university in terms of strategic partnerships," says David Shaw, MSU vice president for research and economic development.
 
Mississippi State student conducts surprising weather readiness survey
New numbers show that Millennials and Generation Z are getting their severe weather information from non-traditional sources. Alex Forbes is a sophomore meteorology major at Mississippi State University. After a recent storm blew through the Golden Triangle area, including Oktibbeha County, Forbes took to social media to find out how students were getting their weather information. "There is a new generation in college now. It's Generation Z. Millennials have kind of moved on, so there's new responses to the same types of issues that get issued by the national weather service," said Forbes. He said the results to his survey were surprising. "The alerts that required action were the tornado sirens going off. The sirens, I guess, scared people, and that's what got them to go to their safe place rather than a tornado warning popping up on their phone," said Forbes.
 
Mississippi State hosts vigil to honor Sri Lanka bombing victims
Students, friends and families gathered together at Mississippi State University to honor the hundreds of lives that were lost in the Sri Lanka bombings. "I came to light a candle for peace," Suman Adhikari said. The community lit hundreds of candles that spelled out "Pray For Sri Lanka." "It's hard to hold back tears, especially since I've known some of them for so many years. They are like a part of my family," Grant Nash said. Nash has friends in South Asia. During the ceremony, a local pastor prayed for all the affected families. They also wrote messages on posters to send to their families overseas.
 
Agriculture Commissioner Announces Mississippi Hemp Cultivation Task Force
Tuesday, Mississippi's Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson announced the planned framework and first meeting of the Mississippi Hemp Cultivation Task Force. House Bill 1547 was enacted during the 2019 Regular Legislative Session. Cultivation of industrial hemp was legalized under federal law in December of 2018. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not yet implemented new Farm Bill regulations for the 2019 growing season. Cultivation of industrial hemp is still prohibited under state law in Mississippi. By definition, hemp is a strain of the Cannabis sativa plant species that is grown specifically for industrial uses. Under the legislation, the members of the Mississippi Hemp Cultivation Task Force include: The President of Mississippi State University or a designee...The President of Alcorn State University or a designee... A director of the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy National Center for Natural Products Research or a designee.
 
With technology and transparency, Indigo Ag seeks to disrupt the agriculture industry
On Barry Knight's iPhone there is a snapshot of a single plant, green and standing tall, among a sea of others, lying dead. Understanding why some plants survive conditions that kill most others is a part of what keeps him excited to go to work every day. Knight is the head of research partners for Indigo Ag, a Boston-based agriculture technology company that in December announced plans to open its North American commercial operations headquarters in Downtown Memphis, creating 700 new jobs, while keeping its Boston office as the company's global headquarters. The company studies plants -- soybeans, corn, rice, cotton and others. Indigo Ag's mission, according to Rachel Raymond, chief operating officer for North America, is to get so good at keeping plants alive that they are able to help farmers grow enough food to feed the planet. When the government shut down in December and remained that way into January, Indigo released crop projection data that the U.S. Department of Agriculture could not.
 
Mississippi jobless rate ticks up in March, payrolls flat
Mississippi's job market softened in March, as unemployment rose for the second straight month and employer payrolls remained flat. The state's jobless rate ticked up to 4.9% in March from 4.8% in February. The labor force and number of people reporting jobs both fell, trends that have strengthened in recent months. The number of unemployed people rose slightly to about 62,000. Mississippi's March 2018 jobless rate was 4.9 percent. The number of Mississippians on payrolls -- economists' top labor market indicator -- was basically level from February to March at 1.16 million. Payrolls remained more than 7,000 above March 2018's level of 1.15 million.
 
VT Halter Marine to build new Coast Guard icebreaker
VT Halter Marine has been awarded a $745 million detailed design and construction contract for the Coast Guard's next-generation heavy icebreaker, according to USNI News. Halter's bid won over two other finalists. Halter Senior Vice President Robert Socha said the award means the shipyard will hire up to 450 more employees, on top of the 400 it's already adding to build four barracks barges for the U.S. Navy. The hiring would push Halter's total employment above 1,300. Socha said VT Halter CEO Ronald Baczkowski was among those celebrating late Tuesday when the contract was announced. "Ron started screaming and hollering, 'We won! We won!'" Socha said. The ship will be built in the Pascagoula shipyard. Construction is excepted to begin in 2021 and finish in 2024. However, the contract includes incentives for early deliver, according to the report.
 
Mississippi governor: First TV ad released
Bad news: The onslaught of what is likely to be relentless TV advertisements for Mississippi gubernatorial candidates has begun. Good news: The first ad is relatively positive. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves has an ad that will be airing on TV starting Wednesday morning. "Mississippi is moving in the right direction," Reeves says. Reeves, who has at least $7 million in campaign money, doesn't mention his Republican primary opponents in the ad. Instead, he said he's a better choice than Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood.
 
Gerrymandering lawsuit over Senate District 22 headed back to court
Oral arguments have been scheduled for the week of June 10 by a three judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the lawsuit over whether the 102-mile Mississippi Senate District 22 should be redrawn to strengthen black voting power before elections later this year. The oral arguments were scheduled after Gov. Phil Bryant and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann appealed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves of the Southern District of Mississippi and affirmed by a three judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals saying District 22 should be redrawn. Hosemann and Bryant argue that the District 22 lawsuit, which was brought in 2018, was filed too late.
 
Gov. Bryant Declares April 'Unity Month,' Not 'Confederate Heritage Month'
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared that April is the "Month of Unity" in Mississippi, departing from past years when he declared April "Confederate Heritage Month." He made the declaration at the behest of Unite Mississippi, a Flowood-based nonprofit that focuses on racial and social reconciliation among Mississippi's Christians. On Monday, the group announced Bryant's declaration, as well as their "A Night of Unity Event," which they described as a worship concert and "crusade" that will take place at the Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium on April 27. Within an hour of Unite Mississippi's announcement, though, Bryant launched a Twitter salvo, accusing Columbus-based Commercial Dispatch columnist Slim Smith of "a cowardly act of hate" and "a new low in racial politics." Last week, Smith compared Mississippi State Auditor Shad White, whom Bryant appointed, to the segregationist Citizens' Council after White released a study that some education advocates saw as an attack on public schools.
 
Trump tax cuts help state revenues rebound
State governments are collecting more in tax revenues than their pre-recession peak, thanks to both a booming economy and the 2017 Republican tax cuts, according to a new report. Forty-one states are now bringing in more revenue than their pre-recession highs, according to data from the Pew Charitable Trust's Fiscal 50 project. All told, the states collectively brought in 13 percent more revenue in the third quarter of 2018 than they did during the pre-recession peak. Most of the nine states that have yet to rebound are energy-producing states that have seen revenues drop as global commodity prices fall. The stretch of revenue growth is one of the strongest in recent memory, said Justin Theal, a researcher at the Pew Charitable Trusts who co-authored the report. But, Theal added, at least 19 states still fell short of revenue forecasts in the last year, a sign that the good times will not last forever. New Jersey, Mississippi, Ohio, Florida and three more drilling-dependent states -- Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico -- have yet to rebound to pre-recession levels.
 
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey meets Donald Trump in closed door meeting at White House
President Trump on Tuesday met privately with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, a huddle at the White House between one of the site's most prolific users and an executive who's faced criticism for the way Twitter has handled the president's tweets. The meeting came as Trump continues to attack the tech industry, threatening to regulate Facebook, Google and Twitter out of concern that they censor conservatives online -- an allegation those companies fiercely deny. The president's latest salvo arrived just hours before he met with Dorsey: Trump accused Twitter of playing "political games" and tampering with his nearly 60 million followers. A significant portion of the meeting focused on Trump's concerns that Twitter quietly, and deliberately, has limited or removed some of his followers, according to a person with direct knowledge of the conversation who requested anonymity because it was private. Trump said he had heard from fellow conservatives who had lost followers for unclear reasons as well.
 
Justices ask in Census case: 'Congress is silent. Should the court then step in?'
The House came to the Supreme Court to argue against the Trump administration's plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census --- and ended up getting quizzed about why lawmakers didn't take their own action if they wanted to stop it. In about 90 minutes of lively questioning Tuesday, the conservative majority of the court appeared ready to defer to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' decision to add the question even though it could reduce census responses among noncitizen households. The case is one of the most significant for members of Congress during the current Supreme Court term because the results determine how many House seats each state gets, how states redraw congressional districts and the distribution of billions of dollars from federal programs to states and local governments.
 
Chalking tires for parking tickets is unconstitutional, court rules
That bit of chalk left on your car's tire by a parking officer is unconstitutional, a federal court ruled Monday. A three-judge panel took up the case of Alison Taylor, a Michigan woman who received 15 parking tickets during a three-year feud with a single parking officer, Tabitha Hoskins of the City of Saginaw. Taylor's lawyer argued that the city's physical marking with chalk, done to note how long a vehicle is parked, amounted to searching without a warrant -- a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously agreed. The city "commences its search on vehicles that are parked legally, without probable cause or even so much as 'individualized suspicion of wrongdoing' -- the touchstone of the reasonableness standard," the court's opinion states. The Fourth Amendment protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures." And the city's chalking of cars "to raise revenue" does not qualify as a public safety concern that could allow a search without a warrant, the court said.
 
FAA Certifies Google's Wing Drone Delivery Company To Operate As An Airline
The Federal Aviation Administration has certified Alphabet's Wing Aviation to operate as an airline, in a first for U.S. drone delivery companies. Wing, which began as a Google X project, has been testing its autonomous drones in southwest Virginia and elsewhere. "Air Carrier Certification means that we can begin a commercial service delivering goods from local businesses to homes in the United States," Wing said in a statement posted to the Medium website. The company has touted many advantages of using unmanned drones to deliver packages, from reducing carbon emissions and road congestion to increasing connections between communities and local businesses. The use of unmanned aircraft in the U.S. has been growing by leaps and bounds. At the end of 2018, The Associated Press reported that "110,000 commercial drones are operating in U.S. airspace," citing government figures that also projected the number would more than quadruple in 2022.
 
Hattiesburg voters pass new 1% sales tax on hotels, restaurants
A resounding 81% of Hattiesburg voters said they would support a new 1% sales tax to fund the renovation of Reed Green Coliseum at the University of Southern Mississippi and 17 of the city's parks and recreation projects. A 60% majority was needed to pass the measure. "It's another step of faith we took together," Mayor Toby Barker said after the votes were tallied, thanking those who came out to support the tax. "Every precinct voted in favor of this and we are very grateful for that." Barker said the added tax is expected to bring in about $2.4 million annually. Any additional funds raised through the tax once the projects are completed would go toward sidewalks, bike trails and multi use paths.
 
Students speak out on USM tuition increase
Last Thursday, the Mississippi College Board approved a tuition increase for all eight public universities, including the University of Southern Mississippi. USM Chief Communications Officer Jim Coll confirms that the university will increase its tuition by 3.2% next fall. Increases statewide range from 8.4% at Mississippi University for Women to 1.9% at the University of Mississippi. Coll said in a statement that USM "does not increase tuition beyond what is necessary for the institution to operate in a way that meets their expectations." Sophomore Kate Mattox said she's not too concerned about the increase. "Well, I'm glad it's not as high as the rest of the state," said Mattox. "For the reasons they're increasing it, it could be a positive thing, but I know tuition is already expensive."
 
Four Mississippi HBCUs win $50,000 in Home Depot's 'Retool Your School' grant program
Four Mississippi Historically Black Colleges and Universities were recipients of Home Depot's 2019 "Retool Your School" grant program. Jackson State University, Alcorn State University, Mississippi Valley State University and Coahoma Community College were among the ten winners, each receiving a $50,000 campus improvement grant. In order to win, HBCU supporters had to vote for their favorite HBCU through Twitter and Instagram using the school's designated hashtag. To date, 87% of the nation's HBCUs have participated in the "Retool Your School" competition with 499 grants awarded totaling $2.1 million.
 
Northeast Mississippi Community College hosts large-scale student and community job fair
Job Fair coordinator Carrie Cobb said Tuesday's event at Northeast Mississippi Community College was the largest yet, and it grows every year. According to a press release from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security last week, from March 2018 to March 2019, the number of jobs in Mississippi increased by 7,500, and it is showing in northeast Mississippi. NEMCC's free fair was open to students, alumni and area residents. The college brought in approximately 70 employers in health care, manufacturing, construction, retail and more. The United States Census Bureau was also recruiting workers ahead of the upcoming 2020 census. Cobb said the college added several new businesses to the roster this year. NEMCC opened the event to the public three years ago to bolster the local job market.
 
After 4 LSU officials making 6 figures resign, a battle over details of what really happened
LSU reneged on promises -- made to avoid negative publicity -- that changed the terms under which four highly paid IT advisers worked, rather than fire them for not following a law the university officials had failed to mention to them, according to a Baton Rouge lawyer. But LSU officials changed their minds after the issue became public. All four lost their jobs and now the university wants two of the four to repay moving expenses of about $7,500 each. Lawyer Larry Bankston blames LSU for not putting any system in place to ensure compliance with a 2013 state law requiring unclassified state employees earning more than $100,000 per year to register their vehicles in the state and get a Louisiana driver's license. The existence of the law seems to have come as much of a surprise to LSU officials as it did to the employees who were informed of their noncompliance in February by internal audit.
 
LSU mass comm students change policy helping student-parents on campus
There are 4.8 million student-parents enrolled in universities across the U.S. They make up 26% of the undergraduate population, but only 28% complete their degree, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research. LSU mass communication seniors Elise Armand, Sarah Grobety, Hannah Kleinpeter, Dena Winegeart and Delaney Wismans and junior Lynne Bunch founded Supporting Parents on Campus in their political communication capstone class with Manship Chair and professor Robert Mann. "I realized how big of a group this is on campus, not just at LSU but nationwide," Armand said. "I think it is very important that LSU equips all students to succeed academically no matter what challenges they are facing." When the group began researching what unique obstacles student-parents and pregnant students face on campus, they found the University-wide attendance policy, outlined in Policy Statement 22, had a glaring deficiency.
 
U. of South Carolina criticized for presidential finalists who are all male
When the University of South Carolina last week revealed the names of the four finalists vying to be its next president, students and faculty immediately saw that something was off: all four are men. That concern grew even louder on Monday, when student activists met with university officials and learned that the finalists had been chosen from a larger list of 11 semifinalists -- all of whom are men as well, according to students. The university did not respond to a request to confirm the statement. In a statement, university spokesman Wes Hickman said the search committee "made a commitment to pursuing a diverse pool of candidates and took proactive steps to make that happen." Though just two of the 11 members of the search committee are women, according to South Carolina's presidential search website, Hickman said the firm Parker Executive Search "deployed an all-female and diverse recruitment team to assist the effort." The firm did not respond to a request for comment.
 
U. of South Carolina presidential finalist hits on college accessibility at public forum
The University of South Carolina held the second of four public forums for members of the public to meet with the school's presidential finalists. Tuesday's finalist was William F. Tate, the dean of the graduate school and vice provost for graduate education at Washington University in St. Louis. A student asked Tate whether his experience at Washington University, a school of roughly 15,000 students, would prepare him for USC, where the system-wide enrollment exceeds 51,000. Tate brushed that off, saying the qualities needed to be an effective leader do not change because the institution is larger. "There are a set of principles that guide leadership," Tate said. "What does it matter if it's Washington University or USC?" Finalist Robert L. Caslen Jr. will be on campus Wednesday, and John S. Applegate will arrive Thursday. The public session will all be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Program Room of the Ernest F. Hollings Library.
 
Arrest made in shooting of UGA student
Authorities arrested early Tuesday a suspect in the Monday shooting of a University of Georgia student and the armed robbery of another student. Zarren Rasool Hamilton Garner, 20, of Grayson was booked into the Clarke County Jail at about 3:45 a.m. on two counts of aggravated assault and one count each of armed robbery and criminal attempt to commit a felony. Tate Prezzano, a 22-year-old UGA student from Milton, Georgia, was waiting at a bus stop in the 2100 block of South Milledge Avenue at about 7:15 a.m. when Garner allegedly shot him multiple times in an attempted armed robbery, according to police. Just moments before, Garner allegedly robbed another student of a cellphone in the parking lot of an apartment building nearby on Milledge Circle. Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Cleveland Spruill said at a Tuesday press conference that Garner was quickly identified from a sketch of the suspect the Georgia Bureau of Investigation provided. The sketch was widely distributed to law enforcement and the public.
 
College retention rate on rise in Arkansas, report shows
More students are staying in school and graduating across Arkansas higher-education institutions, according to a new report from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. Last school year, state colleges and universities awarded their highest number of credentials ever -- 44,571 -- buoyed by four-year universities. The data do not break down how many students may have earned more than one degree. Credentials include certificates up through doctorate degrees. Schools include four-year universities, community colleges, private and independent colleges, and nursing schools. Community colleges, which have been experiencing declining enrollments, have been awarding fewer credentials. Community colleges awarded 15,320 credentials during the 2017-2018 school year, down from more than 16,000 in recent years. Credentials also have declined slightly at private and independent colleges.
 
Ceremony at Texas A&M dedicates plaza and sculptures explaining traditions
Scores of members of the Texas A&M class of 1969 gathered just south of Texas A&M's Academic Building on Tuesday morning to dedicate the new Spirit Plaza, the class' gift to the university campus and the student body. They were joined by hundreds of current and former students for a ceremony that included the Ross Volunteers and other members of the A&M Corps of Cadets. The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band performed a rendition of The Spirit of Aggieland, led by a multigenerational cast of current and former yell leaders. The plaza, designed by longtime architecture professor Rodney Hill and a host of others, features art, sculptures and plaques symbolizing or explaining the Texas A&M traditions of Muster and Silver Taps, which honor students and former students who have died. It also includes a large compass sans the letter 'E,' representing the reality that those who died will not see another sunrise.
 
Study: Federal loans don't drive up medical and business school tuition
The "Bennett hypothesis" -- the subject of much debate among think tank analysts and higher ed researchers and in these pages -- holds that increases in federal financial aid give colleges and universities subsidies that "blithely" allow them to raise their tuitions. (The eponym for the hypothesis, then education secretary William J. Bennett, had a way with words.) The belief that this is so continues to influence federal policy makers with a small-government point of view -- including members of the Trump administration who have cited it as justification for proposals to constrain certain student loan programs. Most of the research examining the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of the Bennett hypothesis has focused on loans for undergraduates. But Robert Kelchen, an assistant professor of higher education at Seton Hall University, this week followed up a 2017 study on law schools with one exploring the impact of federal Grad PLUS loans on tuition rates and debt levels in two expensive forms of professional education: medical schools and business schools.
 
Measles' next target in Los Angeles: Unvaccinated college students
Los Angeles health officials warned this week that students and staff at UCLA and Cal State L.A. may be at risk of catching measles, an announcement that has raised questions about universities' susceptibility to disease outbreaks. Not only can cramped dorm rooms and crowded classrooms be breeding grounds for contagion, but young adults in California are less likely to be vaccinated than other age groups, experts say. One of the people infected in L.A.'s measles outbreak is a UCLA student, university officials confirmed Tuesday. California implemented one of country's strictest immunization laws in 2016 to try to push up vaccination rates, but high school students and young adults who had already finished their schooling when the law took effect were not required to comply. That has left a large pool of young people especially vulnerable to infections, experts say.
 
Paying for public health care remains federal, state governments' most vexing challenge
Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: I often wrote over the course of 35 years about public health care finance with a level of personal engagement that reminds me today much of a walk through a really fine zoo. The exhibits were intriguing, yes, but I could certainly lose interest quickly and move on to another topic. I'm not proud of that, but it's the way it was. For a man with health insurance -- good health insurance -- public health care finance was a societal question, not a personal one. Having good insurance was only part of my ignorance on the topic. There was also the burden of relatively good health. Until 2017, most of my health issues were self-inflicted. Smoked too much. Ate too much. Played golf with my friends and called it "exercise" -- rather than what it was, which was driving the cart and drinking a few beers. Lots of coffee. Not much sleep. Workaholic. But in 2017, a grenade was thrown into the middle of my life in the form of a rare and aggressive blood and lymph node cancer.


SPORTS
 
Bulldogs romp in rivalry game
For Mississippi State, all it took was one big inning on Tuesday night – then another for good measure. The ninth-ranked Bulldogs scored three runs in each of the sixth and seventh to get past No. 19 Ole Miss 8-1 in a Top 25 showdown to claim the 40th annual Governor's Cup trophy for the fourth straight year. It all played out at Trustmark Park, in front of a record crowd of 8,638. MSU now leads the all-time series 22-18. Outfielder Jake Mangum went 4-0 against the Rebels in the Governor's Cup and 11-2 so far in his career. Both teams return home this weekend as Ole Miss will host No. 6 Texas A&M starting Thursday and Mississippi State entertains No. 4 Georgia starting Friday.
 
Bulldogs break free in rivalry win
For a team that ranks first in the Southeastern Conference in batting average last week, Mississippi State has been in a funk. The No. 9 Diamond Dawgs mustered 10 runs in three games against Arkansas this past weekend as they were swept in Fayetteville. The slump persisted through the early stages of Tuesday's Governor's Cup win over No. 19 Ole Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl. With Rebels starter Zack Phillips carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning, senior center fielder Jake Mangum sent a message to his squad. "Jake brought us together as a team and just said, 'Guys, we can't wait for somebody to be the dude. Be the dude yourself,'" sophomore Justin Foscue recounted. Sophomore Rowdey Jordan responded, belting his fourth home run of the season into the Ole Miss bullpen to tie the score at one. he teams will meet again during a three-game weekend set May 10-12 in Oxford.
 
Mississippi State baseball takes down Ole Miss in Governor's Cup
The Governor's Cup will stay in Starkville for 2019. Mississippi State defeated Ole Miss in its annual non-conference Governor's Cup contest, with the Bulldogs defeating the Rebels 8-1. The win was Mississippi State's fourth straight in the series and the Bulldogs have won eight of the 12 games in the series since it officially became the Governor's Cup. With the win, Mississippi State improves to 33-9 on the season while Ole Miss drops to 27-15. "I thought it was awesome," MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said on the win. "First time for me to play in this park. Big crowd, nice park. The people here have been great. Our kids, they were ready to play. I give them a lot of credit. They know this is a big game for everybody, so it was exciting and fun."
 
Mississippi State offense heats up in Governor's Cup win over Ole Miss
For over an hour at Trustmark Park on Tuesday night, it felt like the same old story for Mississippi State baseball. The Bulldogs couldn't buy a hit, let alone a run. Sophomore left fielder Rowdey Jordan changed that by smashing a solo home run into the Ole Miss bullpen in the fifth inning, but that song has been sung recently as well. Jordan hit a homer against Arkansas last week, and it proved to be one of just three MSU runs scored in that series opening loss. Jordan's homer Tuesday night in the Governor's Cup was the Bulldogs first hit of the game. It tied the score at one apiece. At the time, it appeared to be a monumental swing of the bat. Who knew how many more runs the struggling Mississippi State offense had in it? The answer: A lot. The No. 8 Bulldogs beat the No. 19 Rebels, 8-1, in a game the team badly needed to win to rid the taste of three losses to Arkansas last week, the latter two of which were blowouts.
 
Rebels drop 2019 Governor's Cup behind big late-innings from Mississippi State
A sentence no Ole Miss fan wants to read on this Tuesday night: Mississippi State has won the Governor's Cup four years in a row. Amid beautiful temperatures and record attendance at Trustmark Park in Pearl, no. 19 Ole Miss wasn't able to hang on to their early lead, falling to rival No. 9 Mississippi State 8-1. "We just have to be better. There's so much more potential on this team and we all know it," said Grae Kessinger. "We just have to get it in gear, dig deep inside us and find out what's going to work for us. I feel confident, I think we all feel confident it's going to come. We just have to do it." With the win, Mississippi State has now won the Governor's Cup four straight years. Since the game relocated from Jackson to Pearl in 2007, and underwent a name change, State leads the series 9-4.
 
Jake Mangum needs five hits to break SEC record, but just try getting him to talk about it
Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Mississippi State had just won a fourth straight Governor's Cup, dumping Ole Miss 8-1 before a record crowd of more than 8,600 at Trustmark Park. And that was really all Jake Mangum, a senior playing five minutes from the house where he grew up, wanted to talk about. "Four in a row, that's so special," Mangum said. "Winning tonight was big because of that and because we were coming off a bad series at Arkansas." When this reporter mentioned that Mangum had pulled to within four base hits of the all-time Southeastern Conference career hits record, he immediately changed the subject. "We got great pitching tonight," he said. "Defensively, we made the plays when we needed to make them. We got some big hits."
 
College golf: Mississippi State freshman Ford Clegg charges into SEC Championship
A large heron flew through a congested cluster of trees at Old Waverly Golf Club. The bird disappeared for a moment in the branches before landing on the bank of a pond that guards the left side of the 18th fairway. Just as it touched down, a golfer barreled down the cart path on the other side of the hole. He left his foot on the accelerator until he reached the collection of trees the heron had just navigated through. The player, Mississippi State freshman Ford Clegg, stepped out of the cart and hiked down the hill to the base of the trees. His golf ball sat on some pine straw in a position that left him enough room to go for the green, but hitting his ball through the foliage would not be nearly as easy as the heron made it look. Clegg took a swipe at the ball and caught it cleanly. It soared through the air without even so much as clipping a leaf. "Go in!" said Clegg's father, Trey, who had been following all morning with his wife, Collins. It didn't go in, but it didn't need to. Clegg put the ball in a spot just beyond the green that he could surely get up-and-down from to save par.
 
Mississippi State QB Nick Fitzgerald ready for NFL's big night
Back and forth, to and fro. Roughly 60 miles off the coast of Naples, Florida, a boat carrying Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, Washington State's Gardner Minshew and Ole Miss' Jordan Ta'amu bobbed in the Gulf of Mexico. Organized by quarterback guru Ken Mastrole, Fitzgerald and the others spent the day soaking in sunshine, letting off casts and making small talk as part of a deep sea fishing trip designed to get their minds off football. In the months since the 27-22 Outback Bowl loss to Iowa, it's here in the Florida sunshine that the former MSU signal caller has found himself -- on the water and on the field -- under Mastrole's watchful eye. "He's someone that I can talk to about anything whenever I want to," Fitzgerald said. "If I ever need anything, he's going to be there for me. It's just a lot more personal than a quarterback and a quarterback coach." Beginning Thursday night, when the NFL Draft starts in Nashville, Fitzgerald will wait for his name to be called. Fitzgerald's NFL.com profile lists him as a priority free agent.
 
Let's get real with college athletes about their chances of going pro
Angela Farmer, an assistant clinical professor at Mississippi State University, writes for The Conversation: When the NFL draft takes place, it will represent a professional dream come true for the 224 college football players who get picked. For most players, however, going pro will never be more than a fantasy. Fewer than 2% of college student-athletes ever play professional sports at any level for any amount of time. But that statistic often fails to register with many of the thousands of young people across the nation who enter a university, singularly focused on the rare chance that they will join the ranks of professional athletes. I know this because I worked as a volunteer with Division I football players for the summers of 2015 to 2017 to help develop their leadership skills and build unity among team members. In that capacity, I learned directly from the football players that most of them were focused on going pro and that going to college was just a means to that end.
 
Bulldogs will have new look next season
Mississippi State men's basketball will certainly have a new look next season with the addition of five players that did not step onto the court for the Bulldogs in 2018-19. MSU signed three high school prospects and will have D.J. Stewart and Prince Oduro available after a redshirt year this past season. Oduro was forced to sit out after transferring in from Siena while Stewart's redshirt was a decision made by coach Ben Howland. In hindsight, however, Howland may have elected to play the four-star shooting guard had he known Nick Weatherspoon would be indefinitely suspended and miss the final 10 games. "I'm really excited for D.J., he's going to be a huge talent for us moving forward," Howland said. Mississippi State will also be without center Abdul Ado for most of the offseason. The rising junior will undergo surgery for a torn labrum in his right shoulder and likely be out until October.
 
Mississippi State men's hoops celebrates season at team banquet
Mississippi State men's basketball handed out its team awards during the program's annual team awards banquet on Tuesday at Mize Pavilion. Quinndary Weatherspoon captured most valuable player honors for the third consecutive season, while Aric Holman came away with the coach's award. Abdul Ado and Nick Weatherspoon were recognized for the second straight season as the program's best defensive players whereas Tyson Carter notched most improved player. Reggie Perry and Robert Woodard II came away with freshman of the year and most inspirational player accolades, respectively. Mississippi State posted a 23-11 record last season and secured the program's 11th NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
On Will Wade, LSU fundraising ... and Civil War generals? New AD Scott Woodward covers it all
Scott Woodward scanned the room at his first LSU news conference, seeing longtime family friends and professional colleagues. Woodward's parents, Sylvia and Warren, sat to the right of the stage inside the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication, looking on as their son spoke about his return home. "Thomas Wolfe once said that you can't go home again," said Woodward, who was formally introduced as LSU's new athletic director Tuesday. "Clearly, they've never been to Baton Rouge." Yes, the Louisiana native was back. The graduate of Catholic High and LSU, who spent more than a decade in state politics before venturing into a career in college athletics. The former LSU liaison to the Capitol, whom the university hired away from Texas A&M last week, hours after it had removed Joe Alleva as athletic director.
 
A Louisiana homecoming for new LSU AD Scott Woodward
There's a party at James Carville's home in Uptown New Orleans on Tuesday night. It'll be an event, a who's who of the Louisiana A-list. Some of the most prominent people in the state will be there. Carville and his wife, fellow political strategist Mary Matalin, are bringing these people together for the man who's now in charge LSU athletics: Carville's old buddy Scott Woodward. Because for all the things Tuesday was about at Woodward's introduction, it's about Louisiana. It's about the Baton Rouge-born LSU alumnus with an apartment in the French Quarter and a camp in Port Fourchon. It's about the man running LSU sports being somebody who grew up running around Tiger Stadium hawking peanuts for 25 cents a bag. A new LSU athletic director was going to be a big deal no matter who it was, but maybe no hire other than Woodward would have sparked such festivities. Woodward's schedule Tuesday ran from the early parts of the morning and late into the evening.
 
UT-Knoxville changes fall break dates to accommodate football schedule
If you weren't certain football was important to the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, well, think again. The University of Tennessee-Knoxville has made several changes to the 2019-2020 calendar, including moving fall break to accommodate the football schedule. Students will now have three days off for Thanksgiving and two days off spring recess. Additionally, fall break has been moved back one week because of the fall 2019 SEC football schedule, according to an email from UT-Knoxville Provost David Manderscheid to faculty and staff. Two days of class have been canceled, giving students an extra day off before Thanksgiving and spring recess. There will be no class on Wednesday, Nov. 27, the day before Thanksgiving, and Thursday, April 9, the day before Good Friday. "As we develop academic calendars for the coming years, the scheduled fall breaks will be tentative until the conference releases its schedule to ensure that breaks do not conflict with home football games," Manderscheid said.
 
Brittany Boehm: Breaking barriers as Missouri director of football operations
Brittany Boehm acknowledged every smiling face she saw and every "Good morning, Brittany" she heard as she strolled through the Mizzou Athletics Training Complex on Friday. She made pit stops in the weight room, the indoor football practice field and the dining hall. In her office, athletes, faculty and staff members popped their heads through the door to ask a question or to simply check in. It was just a normal day at work as Missouri's director of football operations. Boehm came to Columbia in 2015 and served as the director of soccer operations at MU for two years while working toward her master's degree. She received her bachelor's degree from San Jose State University in California. Although she played college and semi-pro soccer after graduating, Boehm says there are few opportunities in sports for women to build a career. This led her to pursue a career in sports administration, and ultimately, brought her to the University of Missouri to continue her education in that field.
 
Historic campaign for Kentucky football pays off as season-ticket sales spike
It turns out winning 10 games and playing in a New Year's Day bowl game has its perks. The University of Kentucky announced Tuesday that its season-ticket renewals as of April 12 -- the priority renewal deadline -- were at 90 percent, up from a 79-percent rate in 2018. UK has sold about 3,000 new season-ticket packages this year, helping to already bring the current season tickets sales total to 98 percent of last year's final total. Season-ticket packages are still available at UKFootballTix.com. The Kentucky Football Pocket Pass -- a mobile-only season ticket option with variable seating, but for a reduced price -- is also available, as are four-game flex options. Single-game tickets for UK's eight home games will be available in the summer.
 
UGA takes action against football recruiting staffers
Two Georgia football recruiting support staffers have been removed from the program, one permanently, according to a report from DawgNation, citing sources. Dacia King, listed as recruiting relations coordinator, was fired and Lukman Abdulai, director of on-campus recruiting, is suspended for 30 days without pay. Reached by the Banner-Herald Tuesday night, athletic director Greg McGarity said he "can't comment on any personnel matters." He didn't say whether NCAA recruiting violations occurred. The news comes after an important recruiting weekend at G-Day that included a handful of five-star recruits being hosted on campus. King received a promotion and a raise on March 1. She previously held the title recruiting program coordinator. Abdulai's salary was increased $23,000 to $95,000 annually on Feb. 12, soon after Georgia landed the nation's No. 2 ranked recruiting class.
 
U. of Florida football staffer on leave after stalking arrest
University of Florida football assistant director of player personnel Otis Yelverton has been placed on leave by the school following his arrest Monday on aggravated stalking. Yelverton, 51, is facing a charge of aggravated cyberstalking, which is a third-degree felony, according to court records. He was arrested at UF by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office because he was deemed a credible threat to a person, according to court records. Yelverton is in the Alachua County jail, and no bond has been set. According to an arrest report, Yelverton harassed his former girlfriend after she ended their yearlong relationship on April 14. Yelverton is accused of calling, text messaging and Facebook messaging the woman 40 times.
 
NCAA tweaks football rules including overtime
A rule change by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on Monday will prevent an exact repeat of the Texas A&M football team's 74-72 seven-overtime victory over LSU. The panel tweaked the rules that once a game reached the fifth overtime it will run alternating two-point plays instead of starting the drives at the opponent's 25-yard line. The rule, with safety in mind, will cut down on the number of players from scrimmage and bring the game to an end quicker. A&M and LSU combined for 207 plays in the 4-hour, 53-minute game. There were 19 plays in the last three overtime periods. The biggest move the group made was changing the targeting rule, allowing video review officials to overturn calls if any element of the penalty cannot be confirmed. That means there will not be an option for letting the call on the field stand during a targeting review. It must either be confirmed or overturned. Also, players who commit three targeting fouls in the same season are subject to a one-game suspension. Last year, A&M safety Donovan Wilson had three targeting penalties.
 
Auburn equestrian team celebrates national championship at Toomer's Corner
Auburn's equestrian team has set a precedent for years to come. On Saturday, the Tigers finished off a dream season in which they not only claimed their sixth national championship, but earned the first undefeated season for any equestrian program. "The people of Auburn make this a perfect fit for this sport," Auburn head coach Greg Williams said. "Our families, our players, absolutely love the culture that the city and the university have together. You guys make our life in recruiting way easy... Thank you for being who you are." After going 18-0 and finishing off their season with an 8-7 win against Georgia in the national title matchup, the Tigers' equestrian program was celebrated by the Auburn Family at Toomer's Corner on Tuesday. The Tigers' 2018-19 NCEA national championship marked the sixth overall and the third in the last four years for the program.
 
Louisiana sports betting clears first hurdle
Legal sports betting has cleared its first hurdle in Louisiana. The state Senate Judiciary B Committee voted 3-1 Tuesday to approve legislation to permit sports betting in the state. Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, was the lone vote against the proposal, Senate Bill 153. Peterson revealed earlier this year that she struggles with a gambling addiction. If the bill is approved, Louisiana voters would determine the fate of sports betting this fall on a parish-by-parish basis. The earliest sports betting could be in place is January 2020, said Ronnie Jones, head of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Kenner, would allow sports wagering on professional and collegiate sports at Louisiana's four horse racetracks with slot machines, 15 riverboat casinos and at Harrah's Casino in New Orleans. Martiny said sports betting could generate anywhere from $40 million to $60 million annually, though there are questions about whether those targets are feasible. Mississippi is closing out its first year with sports betting, which has produced less than half the tax revenue projected.



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