| Wednesday, May 1, 2019 |
| Registration open for Mississippi State freshman, transfer student orientation sessions | |
 | Mississippi State students who will be new freshmen or transfers in the fall are encouraged to register now for a summer orientation session. While several June sessions are full, freshman sessions still are available on June 24-25, June 27-28 and July 8. Transfer sessions are offered May 20, June 12 and June 26. A combined freshman and transfer session will be offered August 16. "Orientation is an exciting event for incoming students and their guests to explore our beautiful campus, discover their new college town and learn even more about academic programs, housing, account services and student life," said Kylie Forrester, director of MSU's Office of Orientation and Events. "We can't wait to welcome new students into the Bulldog family." To register, visit www.orientation.msstate.edu. |
| Lunch with MSU President | |
 | Photo: MSU-Meridian education major Alyssa "Ali" Cochran of Waynesboro, one of 17 participants in the Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program, joined MSU President Mark E. Keenum at his home for a luncheon to celebrate the achievements of students graduating in upcoming May commencement ceremonies. The teacher preparation program, with funding from the Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation, is designed to attract the best and brightest students from around the nation. The program is open to students majoring in elementary or special education as well as secondary education mathematics, science and English. |
| Industry expects little sales impact from study linking eggs to cardiovascular disease | |
 | Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., the largest producer of shell eggs in the U.S., sold approximately 1,037.7 million dozen shell eggs in fiscal 2018, representing about 20 percent of the domestic egg production. But how will sales of eggs from Cal-Maine Foods and other suppliers be affected by a report March 19 in the Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) that higher consumption of dietary cholesterol or eggs was "significantly associated with higher risk of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality in a dose-response manner?" Mark Leggett, president, Mississippi Poultry Association, said eggs are a healthy and safe food. "The U.S. Dietary guidelines say that eggs are good for you, and a reasonably priced form of protein," Leggett said. "Most studies show egg intake does not negatively affect cardiovascular health. Observational studies like this that require people to remember what they eat are suspect because people won't always recall that accurately." |
| Mississippi state flag: Another AG candidate makes it an election issue | |
 | Mississippi's next attorney general won't have the power to change the state flag. But that hasn't stopped it from becoming a campaign issue in recent weeks. One Republican candidate, Andy Taggart, came out strongly earlier this month in favor of redesigning the flag, which includes the Confederate battle emblem. He said it provides a negative "snapshot" of Mississippi, associating it with Civil War and slavery. Now, another Republican in the race, state Rep. Mark Baker, R-Brandon, is making the flag an issue in his campaign, too, disagreeing with Taggart. He talked about the flag at campaign stops in Simpson, Newton and Clarke counties over the weekend, according to a campaign announcement and a video of the Newton County event. His comments also followed New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's order last week to remove the flag from a prominent state park, saying the Confederate image on the flag was "reprehensible." |
| In governor's race, Waller replicates father's 1971 strategy that landed him in the Governor's Mansion | |
 | A few days after his father was elected governor in November 1971, Bill Waller Jr. sat down with a reporter from The Clarion-Ledger. Waller, who studied political science at Mississippi State University at the time, played an integral role in his father's upset victory that fall, spending nights and weekends on the campaign trail, giving as many as four stump speeches a day and interviewing with the state's largest newspapers. But a few hours after the victory parties and frenzied campaign schedules died down, the reporter's attention turned to the younger Waller's future. "I do have political ambitions," Waller said with a grin, earning the sub-headline in the statewide newspaper: "BILL JR. IS AMBITIOUS." Now 48 years later, the extent of those political ambitions have been realized. Waller's insider role in his father's 1971 campaign -- including the direct exposure to the strategy behind his father's upset of the political establishment of the day -- steers his own bid for governor. |
| SNAP benefits: Ban lifted on Mississippians with drug convictions | |
| As many as 67,000 Mississippians with felony drug convictions could become eligible for federal food assistance after the state Legislature opted out of a federal rule preventing them from receiving the benefits. The change is part of criminal justice reforms lawmakers passed this year to try to reduce recidivism and prison population. In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. It disqualified people convicted of a state or federal drug felony from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families for life -- unless their state legislatures opt out. When the Mississippi Legislature passed House Bill 1352, the Criminal Justice Reform Act, this year, it opted out the federal ban on SNAP. The change becomes effective July 1. Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven, successfully pushed to add the change to the reform bill. |
| GOP Rep: Mississippi Needs Hate Crimes Law for LGBT, Disabled People | |
| A Mississippi Republican is calling on her colleagues to support an update to the state's hate-crime laws in the wake of two recent attacks that may have been motivated by anti-gay prejudice. On Saturday, State Rep. Missy McGee of Hattiesburg shared a Facebook post from a gay constituent that showed him with a black eye and swollen face. "This is what hate looks like," the victim wrote in the post, on which at least one friend who commented claimed to be present at a Hattiesburg bar Friday night when a man allegedly hurled an anti-gay slur before physically attacking the victim. "This happened in Hattiesburg last night. This happened in my district," McGee wrote. "For me, it is incomprehensible how someone could be attacked simply on the basis of sexual orientation. Mississippi needs its existing hate-crimes statute to include sexual orientation, gender identity and disability (as the federal law already does)." |
| Trump to Meet With Republican Senators on U.S. Shipping Rules | |
 | President Donald Trump is set to meet with Republican senators on Wednesday over a proposal to waive rules that only U.S.-flagged ships can move natural gas from American ports to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Northeast. The nearly 100-year-old Jones Act mandates the use of U.S.-flagged vessels to transport merchandise between U.S. coasts. Bloomberg News reported last week the administration was seriously considering waiving the requirements for some energy shipments and that Trump was leaning in favor of some kind of waiver. Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who chairs the Commerce Committee, and a number of other Republicans are set to attend the meeting that had not previously been made public, he said. "There is massive support in the Congress for keeping the Jones Act as it is. We don't need to tinker with it," Wicker said on Tuesday, saying it had strong "across-the-board" bipartisan support. |
| Barr faces brutal hearing after Mueller revelation | |
 | Attorney General William Barr's two-day tightrope walk through congressional hearings just got a lot more perilous. Hours before he was set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee -- the first of two days of hearings on his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's report -- news of Mueller's own dissatisfaction with Barr leaked out. Now, the attorney general will face senators armed with evidence that Mueller believed Barr's efforts to publicly characterize the findings of his 22-month probe misrepresented the substance of the report and undermined public confidence in the investigation. In a March 27 letter -- just three days after Barr made public a four-page summary of his "principal conclusions" from Mueller's report -- the special counsel expressed concern that Barr's memo sowed "public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation." |
| EPA says weed-killing chemical does not cause cancer, contradicting juries | |
 | The Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that a chemical commonly found in weed killers does not cause cancer, contradicting several juries in the U.S. "EPA has found no risks to public health from the current registered uses of glyphosate," EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement. "Today's proposed action includes new management measures that will help farmers use glyphosate in the most effective and efficient way possible, including pollinator protections," he added. "We look forward to input from farmers and other stakeholders to ensure that the draft management measures are workable, realistic, and effective." Glysophate is the most commonly used herbicide among farmers and is the key ingredient in Bayer's Roundup weed killer. |
| UM professors look to improve STEM education | |
| Two University of Mississippi professors plan to use portions of their recent National Science Foundation (NSF) awards to further STEM education in Mississippi. Erik Hom, assistant professor of biology, and Jonah Jurss, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, each garnered a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER, Program Award this semester from the NSF. Parts of their projects will focus on giving Mississippi students better access to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, fields, both Hom and Jurss said. The NSF states that activities pursued by early-career faculty should build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. “CAREER Awards are some of the most competitive grants in the country, and we are so proud of Drs. Hom and Jurss,” said Josh Gladden, the university’s vice chancellor for research and sponsored programs. |
| Mississippi to develop in-state teacher residency program | |
 | With grant funding from a state education foundation, Mississippi will develop the first state-run teacher residency program in the United States. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation granted $649,366 to the National Center for Teacher Residencies to develop a program which will be aimed at recruiting and retaining African American male teachers and helping teachers pursue national board certification. According to a press release from the Mississippi Department of Education, this will be the first teacher residency program that is run by a U.S. state. MDE will oversee and operate the residency program when it is up and running. The state department of education is currently interviewing prospective residents and decisions will be announced today. According to the department, more than 300 people have applied. |
| New building at Hinds Community College to be dedicated May 10 | |
| A ceremony to name the new Academic and Career-Technical building at Hinds Community College Vicksburg-Warren Campus, plus several existing buildings and venues on campus is set for May 10 at 2 p.m. Those to be honored at the ceremony include 10 individuals who have been closely associated with the origins and continued development of the campus. The dedication is open to the public and a reception will follow. The two-story, 40,000-square-foot signature building is being named for Richard George, president of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, and Donald Oakes, former Vicksburg Warren School District superintendent and current member of the Hinds Community College Board of Trustees. Warren County committed property tax dollars to help pay for the $13 million project. The building is also being funded by federal and state New Market Tax Credits through the Hinds Community College Foundation. |
| U. of Kentucky to give iPads to all incoming freshmen this fall | |
 | All incoming University of Kentucky freshmen will be given an iPad as part of a partnership with the Apple corporation, officials announced Tuesday. "This is all about student success," said Provost Dave Blackwell, and "it aligns with Apple's mission to affect people's lives with technology. UK will pay $1.5 million for up to 5,900 iPads for the fall freshman class. Each year, freshmen will be given the devices until the entire student body is connected with Apple technology. The UK Board of Trustees approved the expense on Tuesday. The iPads will be preloaded with technology to help students better make the transition between high school and college, UK officials said. The rollout will start this summer with students in the transition programs. The iPads will help close the digital divide on campus, said Eric Monday, UK's executive vice president for finance and administration, who visited Apple headquarters last year. |
| LSU engineering students create beach-accessible wheelchair for Plaquemine woman | |
 | With unsteady hands weakened by a debilitating disease, Cheslyn Simpson navigated the joystick that's brought the 23-year-old Plaquemine woman a sense of freedom she's rarely experienced over the past decade. The beach-accessible wheelchair on which she spun and glided Tuesday afternoon -- designed and built by an enterprising group of LSU students -- means she'll be able for the first time to traverse the sand of Perdido Key, Florida, on the family's annual vacation. She can play music, honk her horn, and go back and forth on different surfaces without needing to be carried in the beach cart the family currently uses on such vacations. A group of nine LSU mechanical and electrical engineering students presented the wheelchair to the Simpson family on Tuesday, a culmination of eight months work for the seniors. |
| U. of South Carolina student protesters may have made history last week. Is more activism to come? | |
 | Just a few days ago, it seemed all but certain the University of South Carolina would name a president on Friday. But after a week of students, faculty and even political leaders calling for more diversity in the presidential finalists, roughly 100 students descended on the USC Alumni Center and successfully pressured the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees to reopen the search for presidential finalists. "That's the kind of stuff that goes down in history books," said David Snyder, a USC faculty member who co-edited a book about student activism in the South. "This is the kind of stuff we'll be reading about in 20 years." While it might be tempting to lump all of last week's activism into one, homogenous group, those who participated in last week's demonstrations vary by ideology and identity. |
| Aggies share business ideas at Texas Farm Credit symposium | |
 | Years before Crystal Barron became a Texas A&M student, she knew she wanted to run her own business one day. As a child in Houston, she wanted to run an ice cream and/or doughnut shop as an adult. "Today, that dream is to run a Mexican sweets and treats storefront," she said. "That dream is to share culturally infused snacks and treats with those who wish to broaden their taste buds and horizons." On Tuesday, Barron presented and defended details of her as-of-now hypothetical Bryan-College Station area shop, Flamingo Chill, to A&M former students who serve as mentors for the Agribusiness Entrepreneurship 425 course, which is part of the department of agricultural economics. Barron and a dozen of her classmates presented their multipronged capstone projects as part of the annual Texas Farm Credit Entrepreneurial Dreams Symposium. Students who enrolled in the two-part AGEC 424/425 course participated in a February event at which area mentors gave suggestions of ways to strengthen their proposals. |
| Report: Average debt up but number who owe down at U. of Missouri | |
 | A report released Tuesday says the average undergraduate student debt at the University of Missouri increased by 31.5 percent to $27,364 from 2007 to 2017. MU disputes the report's figures, said spokesman Christian Basi. The report was released by LendEDU, a website designed to help consumers compare financial products, including student loans. The report used data from Peterson's College Data, a financial aid database. The report lists MU as having the sixth lowest percentage increase during the period, among 25 Missouri institutions listed in the report. During the same period, inflation increased 17.5 percent. Basi said MU's own data shows that average undergraduate student loan debt among undergraduates who had debt in 2017 was a little over $22,000 "It's $5,000 more than what our own data shows us," Basi said the LendEDU number. Mike Brown, lead author of the report, said it relied on the Peterson's information. |
| Bill making sure university presidents know about alleged sexual abuse introduced | |
 | There's a new push for legislation to effectively mandate that university presidents cannot claim ignorance when allegations of sexual assault are made against their employees. A bill being introduced in both the House and the Senate would require colleges and universities annually certify that top officials, including at least one trustee, have reviewed all of the sexual assault allegations if they want to keep getting federal funding. Most of the sponsors and co-sponsors at a news conference Tuesday were from the state of Michigan, which found itself at the center of the sexual abuse scandal involving Larry Nassar who was convicted of sexually assaulting hundreds of women and girls during his tenure as U.S. gymnastics team doctor at Michigan State University. Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton said the co-sponsors intended to work to quickly build more bipartisan support and make way for passage leading to a signature from President Donald Trump. |
| With Last-Minute Ruling, Graham Spanier Evades Jumpsuit and 'Hard Cell' | |
 | The warden was ready to receive Graham B. Spanier at Centre County Correctional Facility on Wednesday morning. But the former Penn State president, whose career was undone by his handling of a child sex-abuse case, won't be there. Hours before Spanier was slated to report to jail, a federal judge threw out the embattled leader's 2017 criminal conviction for child endangerment. State prosecutors have three months to retry Spanier under Pennsylvania's 1995 child-endangerment law, which was in place at the time of his alleged crime, the Associated Press reported. The judge's decision renders moot a precedent-setting verdict that held a college president accountable for another employee's sex crimes. A Dauphin County jury found that Spanier, who did not report to authorities that Jerry Sandusky, an assistant football coach, had been seen in a shower with a young boy in a Penn State locker room, endangered the coach's future sexual-assault victims. |
| Study examines what colleges say they want students to learn, how they are measuring that learning | |
 | As Americans express growing doubts about the value of a postsecondary degree, colleges and universities have been under increasing pressure to show that students emerge with the knowledge and/or skills the institutions say they're trying to develop. Not everyone applauds the push to measure student learning, but the pressure to be more intentional about the outcomes a college or program aims to develop isn't likely to abate soon. A new report, "Degree of Difference: What Do Learning Outcomes Say About Higher Education?" digs into data about "learning outcome statements" at dozens of colleges and universities to see what institutions say they want their students to be learning and how they measure whether that learning occurred. Its conclusions: many colleges don't align what they're trying to do at the program and department level with an overall institutional approach. |
| 22-year-old UNC Charlotte shooting suspect charged with two counts of murder | |
| The 22-year-old Charlotte man accused of shooting six people Tuesday at UNC Charlotte is facing two counts of murder, according to Mecklenburg County records. Trystan Andrew Terrell was arrested on the campus by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Tuesday after six people were shot on the north Charlotte campus, creating widespread panic among students and faculty. He is scheduled to have a first appearance in Mecklenburg County Court Thursday afternoon, according to jail records. Two of the victims died, and the others remain hospitalized. Three of the four are in critical condition, UNCC police said in a Tuesday press conference. Investigators have not released a possible motive in the shootings. |
| Mississippi conferences and conventions | |
| Consultant and columnist Phil Hardwick writes for the Mississippi Business Journal: The Mississippi Municipal League Annual Conference is the largest in the state. Held in the summer of each year at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center, it is attended by some 3,000 local elected officials, presenters, vendors, and a variety of other parties. It is only one of hundreds of conferences and conventions each year in the Magnolia State. Some are one-day events such as the Mississippi Economic Council Annual Meeting that draws hundreds of attendees. Others, such as the Mississippi Nurses Association, run for several days and offer a variety of educational courses to affiliated subgroups. If you're like most businesspeople you will attend a conference or convention this year. Probably even more than one. By planning ahead you can get the most out of your attendance. |
| Self-checkout line at grocery and big box stores puts traditional cashiers' jobs in jeopardy | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: There were some justifiable fears in the late 1950s and early 1960s – threats like polio, global thermonuclear war, or the President appearing on TV to talk about anything. If he did, you could forget about TV for the night on either of the channels that were available to us (if the weather was right). But there were also some more enjoyable and interesting things about being a child of the Eisenhower administration. During my childhood, I experienced some wonderful things that have since mostly gone the way of the dodo bird – things like full-service gas stations, traditional all-male barber shops, and rural fish camps restaurants that served, well, fish. In a big box store this week, those thoughts rolled quietly into my head while checking out. There were two cashiers each with lines a half-dozen shoppers deep. There were more than a dozen self-checkout scanners available. I loathe this technology and even more so if I happen to be trying buy produce or something else that these infernal things can't readily process. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State schedules midweek game with Louisiana Tech | |
| Mississippi State added another midweek game to its schedule to make-up for a rainout against Nebraska in the final game of the Frisco Classic. The Diamond Dogs will welcome Louisiana Tech to Dudy Noble Field on May 14 at 6:30 p.m. prior to their final regular-season series against South Carolina. Admission to the Louisiana Tech game will be free, but the Salvation Army will be on hand accepting monetary donations to aid in recovery efforts from severe weather that recently hit Ruston, Louisiana. MSU is undefeated in midweek games this season but is not playing one this week due to final exams. |
| Mississippi State baseball to add Louisiana Tech to 2019 schedule | |
 | The Mississippi State baseball program and head coach Chris Lemonis have announced the addition of Louisiana Tech to the 2019 schedule. The Diamond Dawgs and Bulldogs will play on Tuesday, May 14 at Dudy Noble Field. The two teams will throw the first pitch at 6:30 p.m. and the game pushes State's schedule back to 56 games in the regular season. Admission to the game will be free and all seating will be general admission. The Salvation Army will be on site accepting monetary donations to support Ruston, Louisiana and Louisiana Tech University's campus to aid in recovery from the recent tornadoes that touched down in the area. Checks can be made payable to the Salvation Army. The Omaha Club, The Rooftop and Triple Crown Club spaces will all be open to those season ticket holders that have access to those spaces, while suites will be available to those who rent those spaces on a season basis. For more information, please contact the Bulldog Club at 662-325-3074. |
| Mississippi State women playing in 3-on-3 tournament | |
| Mississippi State is sending four of its top young stars to Las Vegas this weekend to play in the USA Basketball Women's 3x3 National Championship. Sophomores Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Bre'Amber Scott along with freshmen Jessika Carter and Myah Taylor will represent the Bulldogs at the event on Friday and Saturday. MSU is one of 13 NCAA programs participating in the event and the only SEC school. Seven of those teams played in the NCAA Tournament including the defending USA Basketball 3x3 champion Oregon, who eliminated the Bulldogs in the Elite Eight. |
| Four Bulldogs selected to NCAA Singles/Doubles Championships | |
| Just a day after being named a host site for the NCAA Team Championship, the Mississippi State men's tennis team got more good news Tuesday, with four Bulldogs being selected to the 2019 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, to be held May 20-25 in Orlando, Florida, at the USTA National Campus. Senior All-American Nuno Borges qualified for the singles championship as the No. 1 overall seed, while a pair of doubles tandems grace the qualifier list that was announced by the NCAA on Tuesday. This year marks the first time since 1968 that more than one State duo qualified for the doubles championship. For the second year in a row, MSU's Borges has automatically qualified for both the singles and doubles championships, earning top-5 national seeds in both draws. The three-time SEC Player of the Year Borges, ranked second nationally, will compete as the No. 1 singles seed, while he and Strahinja Rakic will team up as the No. 3 overall doubles seed. |
| First Taste of NFL: Mr. Sweat goes to Washington | |
 | The southern night air was filled with the sounds of sweeping swings and the crack of golf balls as former Mississippi State defensive lineman Montez Sweat awaited word on his future employment plans. Sweat joined family and friends at an NFL Draft watch for the first round of last Thursday's NFL Draft at Topgolf in Atlanta. For a man that just five days prior decided not to attend the event in Nashville, a driving range was a rather fitting place to spend the night. It was unassuming and calming -- a staunch difference from the glitz and glam of the draft's green room on Broadway. "That was kind of the whole point, to try to take everyone's mind off the draft and golf," Sweat said in a text message. "It didn't work out too well, but we definitely tried." Toward the back end of the draft's opening night, his phone rang. On the other end of the line was Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden. Sweat's time had come. |
| Quinndary Weatherspoon invited to NBA Draft Combine | |
| Mississippi State guard Quinndary Weatherspoon received an invitation to the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago from May 15-19. Weatherspoon has already participated in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in mid-April along with teammate Aric Holman. Sports Illustrated wrote that Weatherspoon was "perhaps the top all-around talent at the tournament" and "should be viewed as a draftable player". "Q did exceptionally well," said MSU coach Ben Howland. "I got a number of calls from some NBA scouts that were very impressed." The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder from Canton was the Bulldogs' leading scorer the last three years and averaged 15.4 points per game during his college career. |
| Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher helping with search for new athletic director | |
| Scott Woodward was the man who brought Texas A&M head football coach Jimbo Fisher to College Station. Fisher now will have a hand in hiring the man who will keep him there. While speaking to the media before his annual Houston Touchdown Club luncheon, Fisher said A&M administration is considering his opinions while conducting a search for a new athletic director. "Very much so," Fisher said. "There's been an open line of communication both ways." Woodward lured Jimbo Fisher from Florida State in December 2017 with a 10-year, $75 million contract, then hired Virginia Tech men's basketball coach Buzz Williams with a six-year deal that begins at $3.8 million annually with raises of $100,000 per year. But shortly after hiring Williams, Woodward bolted to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to serve in the same role at his alma mater, LSU. Initial inquiries into a department heir have begun at A&M, which have included the head football coach's input, Fisher said. |
| L.A. Times report reveals specifics of John Calipari's negotiations with UCLA | |
| John Calipari reportedly made a series of specific requests during negotiations with UCLA, all of which the Bruins were willing to meet, before the University of Kentucky men's basketball coach ultimately decided to agree to a "lifetime contract" with the Wildcats. In telling "The back story on UCLA's long, strange search for a basketball coach," Los Angeles Times sports writer Ben Bolch reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources, that Calipari and UCLA met multiple times during the Bruins' search for a replacement for Steve Alford. Alford was fired on New Year's Eve in the middle of his sixth season. The L.A. Times article said UCLA agreed to pay Calipari $45 million over six seasons. Calipari's demands, all of which the story said UCLA officials agreed to meet, included "a $1.7 million pool for assistant coaches, eight new staff positions, private planes for the use of the team and its coaches, and a monthly catered meal for Calipari's staff and players." The Times reported that talks advanced far enough that UCLA officials began to reach out to donors to help fund Calipari's requests. |
| Tennessee governor to allow sports betting to become law without signature | |
 | Despite being opposed to the legalization of gambling, Gov. Bill Lee says he will allow a Tennessee sports betting bill to become law without his signature. After a vote of approval last week in the House of Representatives, the Senate on Tuesday passed legislation that would permit online sports gambling beginning July 1, while continuing to prohibit the practice at brick-and-mortar locations. Senate Bill 16 narrowly passed on a vote of 19 to 12, as it did in the House 58 to 37. Afterward, the House even more narrowly adopted some minor Senate amendments with 51 votes. "The governor has said he does not believe that the expansion of gambling is best, but he recognizes that many in the legislature found this to be an issue they want to explore further," said Laine Arnold, Lee's press secretary. "He plans to let this become law without his signature." |
| At MC, Drew Brees remembers Jackson and the grueling, 'defining' summer of 2006 | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Drew Brees, who turned 40 in January, visited Clinton on a warm spring Tuesday to make a speech at Mississippi College's spring scholarship dinner. One of his first observations was this: "It's not supposed to be this hot in April is it?" Brees said, smiling. Well, no, it's not. But, Brees was reminded, Tuesday was an arctic blast compared to what it was like in Jackson in July and August of 2006. Remember that, Drew? Brees, it should be noted, grimaced at the memory. "I passed by Fast Freddie (Mississippi College great Fred McAfee) the other day in the locker room, and he was talking to some of our young defensive backs," Brees said. "Freddie said 'Hey, Drew, come here and tell these guys how hot it was in Jackson at training camp. They don't believe me.'" It was hot as Hades, as anybody who was there will attest. No matter how hot and humid it was one day, the next day seemed hotter and more humid. And the next, and the next, and so on. |
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