| Thursday, May 30, 2019 |
| First responders get 'rare' training opportunity on Mississippi State campus | |
 | Some area first responders got to participate in some specialized training at Mississippi State University Tuesday. University of Mississippi Medical Center AirCare personnel, OCH Regional Medical Center EMS personnel and MSU Sports Medicine staff gathered on campus Tuesday to discuss on-field care for injured MSU athletes. Training focused on heat illness, cervical spine injuries and cardiac arrest. Approximately 25 personnel attended the training. AirCare Medical Director Dr. Damon Darsey said the training would greatly benefit athletes injured at MSU sporting events. He described the OCH and MSU medics as being proactive and well-trained. OCH Director of Emergency Services Michael Hunt said trainings like the one held at MSU were rare. He said the hospital was working on more partnerships outside of the university. He added that he didn't know of any other schools who did similar training. |
| Lemonade Day registration nears 300 participants | |
 | Brooke Washington, 11, really wanted to set up a lemonade stand last year. Although Lemonade Day, a national event designed to teach kids the basic skills for owning and running a business, was only held in Starkville, Washington opened up shop in her front yard in Columbus. Brooke's mother, Yolanda Washington, said Brooke's first business was booming last summer, selling lemonade to passersby for $1 per cup. Brooke will set up her new station as a part of the Golden Triangle's Lemonade Day -- this year in Columbus and West Point as well as Starkville -- on Saturday from 8 a.m.-noon in front of Columbus City Hall. Brooke is one of more than 220 children participating in the Golden Triangle Lemonade Day. Organizer Jeffery Rupp, the director for outreach with Mississippi State University's Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach, said 300 children may be involved by the time sign up ends Saturday. |
| Lil' Bill, smallest bull calf born alive, died Tuesday | |
| Lil' Bill, the tiny bull with a big following, has died. The calf, believed to be the smallest bull ever to survive birth, died Tuesday, Mississippi State's College of Veterinary Medicine announced through its Twitter account. Lil' Bill lived 213 days after being born at 7 pounds, 14 ounces, about the birth weight of an average human baby. MSU tweeted the news of the calf's death Tuesday afternoon along with a photo of Lil Bill and his primary veterinarian, Dr. Gretchen Grissett. "It is with heavy hearts that we announced the passing of Lil' Bill, who succumbed to organ failure as a result of a significant infection," the tweet reads. Since his arrival at MSU at four days old, Lil' Bill quickly attained celebrity status, with each social media post on his progress attracting thousand of views and comments. From the outset, the calf had serious medical issues associated with his abnormal birth weight -- roughly one-eighth the weight of a typical beef calf. "To be honest, it's a wonder he survived at all," Grissett said in a December interview not long after Lil' Bill's arrival. |
| Local high school seniors earn scholarships for Rural Medical and Science program at MSU | |
| Breanna Wells, 17, can't remember a moment she didn't want to become a nurse. The rising Caledonia High School senior will continue pursuing her dream career this summer with the Mississippi State University Extension Service Rural Medical and Science Scholar program. The RMS program lasts June 2-28, offering rising seniors two college credits throughout the intensive hands-on curriculum. Like-minded students from all over Mississippi will study and work together, tour the medical facility at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and shadow physicians, dentists and other health care professionals. RMS Director Ann Sansing said the program started in 1998 and added a science element for this summer. With 401 total scholars who have participated, more than 70 percent of those students pursue health-related careers and 46 scholars have attended medical school. Adding science to the curriculum, convinced Columbus rising home-school senior Evan Sanders, 17, to apply. "My goal as an aspiring neuroscientist is to try and understand the nature of consciousness," Sanders said. |
| Can beauty pageants prepare you for a NASA career? League City engineer says yes | |
 | Want to succeed as an engineer? A good first step might be to enter a beauty pageant, suggests Paromita Mitra, a former Miss Mississippi-USA who helps design NASA's next-generation space suits at Johnson Space Center. "I don't think anything could have prepared me better," said the 27-year-old, who lives in League City but was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Mitra reigned as Miss Teen Mississippi-USA 2019 and Miss Mississippi-USA 2013 and competed in interview, swimsuit and evening gown events at the national finals for Miss Teen USA and Miss USA. Pageants helped Mitra develop as an effective communicator, including the ideas she expressed in a 19-minute TEDx talk, "What Beauty Pageants Taught Me About Engineering." As a student majoring in aerospace engineering at Mississippi State University, where she earned a master's degree, she returned to pageantry in 2012 and placed in the Top 12 at Miss Mississippi-USA. The next year, she won the state pageant. |
| Preparation underway for Starkville referendum and special election | |
 | Preparations started Wednesday for Thursday's referendum and special election in Starkville. Voting machines were taken to voting precincts and set up late Wednesday afternoon. Starkville residents will vote on a one percent restaurant and hotel tax for a new sportsplex and improvements at other parks. Some will also cast a ballot in the Ward 5 special election. There are a few things voters need to know before going to the polls. "They need to come with a voter ID, a photo ID. They need to know where they're going to vote and that depends on where they live. They vote in the precinct where they live. If they do not know, they can call the city clerk's office," said P.C. McLaurin, of the Election Commission. |
| Spruill, Castleberry lead donors in parks initiative support campaign | |
| Vote Yes for Starkville Parks has raised more than $8,000 in its campaign to raise support for a 1-percent increase to Starkville's tourism taxes, with nearly half of that coming from the city's mayor and a prominent developer. According a campaign finance report filed Tuesday with the city clerk's office, Vote Yes for Starkville Parks has raised $8,600 and spent $7,060. The group has $1,040 cash on-hand. Mayor Lynn Spruill and developer Mark Castleberry's Castle Properties development company donated $2,000 each. Vote Yes for Starkville Parks was formed to support the city initiative to add 1 percent to Starkville's 2-percent restaurant and hotel/motel sales taxes. The city is looking to use the additional money to build a new, $20-million-plus tournament-ready baseball and softball recreation facility at Cornerstone Park on Highway 25 in west Starkville. The city also plans to use additional revenue from the tax increase, should it pass, to fund maintenance and capital improvement projects at its existing parks. Starkville will hold a citywide referendum on the 1-percent tax increase on Thursday. |
| Thad Cochran, former Senate Appropriations chairman, has died at age 81 | |
 | Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the mannerly former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee where he was a dependable provider for his home state during more than four decades in Congress, has died at the age of 81. Cochran, who retired from the Senate on April 1, 2018, after dealing with health issues, died Thursday morning in Oxford, Miss., according to a statement circulated by Chris Gallegos, his longtime communications director. Cochran was one of the longest-serving senators, with nearly 39 years in office. Before that, he had spent six years in the House. Unlike some of his colleagues from the Deep South, Cochran was always a member of the GOP, and was the first Republican elected statewide in Mississippi in a century, dating back to Reconstruction in the 1870s. During his long Senate tenure, Cochran also led Republicans on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, where he was a fierce defender of the interests of his home state's farmers. |
| Longtime GOP Sen. Thad Cochran dies at 81 | |
 | Former Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who served in Congress for more than 45 years, passed away on Thursday morning at the age of 81. Cochran, who served most recently as the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, resigned from the Senate in April 2018 because of health concerns, which he described at the time as an "ongoing challenge." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) praised him last year as a person who "knows there's a big difference between making a fuss and making a difference." "And the people of Mississippi -- and our whole nation -- have benefited from his steady determination to do the latter," McConnell said. In addition to the Appropriations Committee, during his time in the Senate, Cochran also served as the chairman of the Agriculture Committee, a plum spot for wielding power back to his home state. |
| Thad Cochran, Mississippi Republican and former Senate Appropriations chairman, dies at 81 | |
 | Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican who brought Southern gentility to Washington and Washington largesse to the South over nearly four decades in the U.S. Senate, where he was a past chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, died May 30 at a nursing home in Oxford, Miss. He was 81. His death was announced by the office of U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), who succeeded Mr. Cochran in the Senate after he resigned in April 2018 amid failing health. The cause was renal failure, said his daughter, Kate Cochran. Mr. Cochran spent nearly half a century on Capitol Hill, first as a House member representing a district that included Jackson, Miss., from 1972 to 1978 and later in the Senate. He narrowly defeated an insurgent tea party challenger -- in a primary race that drew national headlines for its nastiness -- and went on to win his seventh term in 2014. There were those politicians inclined to "throw bombs, Newt Gingrich-style," John M. Bruce, chairman of the political science department at the University of Mississippi, said in an interview. "What Cochran has done is be decent to people, even when he disagrees with them, and that's worth something." |
| Former US Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi Dies at 81 | |
 | Former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, who served seven terms and used seniority to steer billions of dollars to his home state of Mississippi, has died. He was 81. Cochran's final chief of staff, Brad White, said Cochran died Thursday at a veterans' nursing home in Oxford. Cochran was elected to the U.S. House in 1972. When he won a Senate seat in 1978, he became the first Republican since Reconstruction to win statewide office in Mississippi. During his second stint as Appropriations Committee chairman starting in 2015, Cochran continued working to send money to Mississippi. He and the state's other Republican senator, Roger Wicker, successfully pushed to get a national historic landmark designation for the home of Medgar Evers, the Mississippi NAACP leader who was assassinated in 1963 outside the house in Jackson. The ranch style home operates as a museum. When it gained landmark designation in January 2017, it became eligible for grants and tax credits. |
| 'Gentleman' Thad Cochran, Mississippi's 'Quiet Persuader' in the U.S. Senate, dead at 81 | |
 | Former longtime U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran died early Thursday morning in Oxford, according to his former congressional office. He was 81. Cochran was first elected to the Senate in 1978, becoming the first Republican in more than 100 years to win a statewide election in Mississippi. He was the 10th-longest-serving senator in U.S. history. Cochran previously served three terms in the House of Representatives, from 1973-1978, before winning an election to replace longtime Sen. James Eastland, who retired. In Mississippi and other Gulf states, part of Cochran's legacy is Hurricane Katrina. He held the powerful position of chairman of Appropriations when the storm hit in 2005, and he used his years of consensus building and working across the aisle to convince a reluctant Congress to provide $29 billion in immediate Katrina relief, including an unprecedented $5 billion in discretionary HUD Community Development Block Grant money for Mississippi. This allowed the state to provide homeowner grants for rebuilding. The federal relief he helped secure is credited with preventing financial and social ruin in Mississippi and Louisiana after the hurricane's destruction. |
| Longtime Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran dead at 81 | |
 | Former Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, who served in Congress for more than 45 years and chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, died Thursday. He was 81. Cochran resigned from the Senate in April 2018, citing health reasons. According to a statement from the office of his successor, Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Cochran "passed away peacefully early Thursday morning in Oxford." Services for Cochran are pending, the office said. Tributes poured in for Cochran on Thursday. "When I became a member of the Senate, Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran was who I watched," tweeted Georgia GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson. "He taught me and so many others a great deal about effective service in the U.S. Senate." Preparing to leave office, Cochran also said, "It has been a great honor to serve the people of Mississippi and our country. I've done my best to make decision in the best interests of our nation, and my beloved state. My top concern has always been my constituents in Mississippi." |
| A Life of Service: Former U.S. Senator Thad Cochran dies at the age of 81 | |
 | Former U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, who represented Mississippi for more than 45 years, passed away Thursday morning at his home in Oxford, Miss. Cochran was born Dec. 7, 1937, in Pontotoc, Miss., the son of a teacher and a school principal. His family eventually settled in Hinds County, where he graduated as valedictorian from Byram High School in Jackson. Senator Cochran first became involved in a political campaign for a Republican candidate during the presidential campaign of 1968, when he served as Executive Director of Mississippi Citizens for Nixon-Agnew. In 1972, Cochran was elected United States Congressman for the Fourth District, which included 12 counties in Southwest Mississippi. In 1978, Cochran was elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first Republican in more than 100 years to win a statewide election in Mississippi. Cochran's family extends its gratitude for the support shown to the Senator by Mississippians over the years. Services have not yet been announced. |
| Governor signs four bills into law | |
| Governor Phil Bryant has signed four conservative reform bills into law. During a series of events at the Capitol on Wednesday, Bryant ceremonially signed the bills into law with various Senators, Representatives, and supporters present. The bills include The Criminal Justice Reform Act, The School Safety Act, The Landowner Protection Act, and The Tourism Protection Act. All of the bills will go into effect on July 1st, 2019. The Tourism Promotion Act will provide a permanent funding source for tourism by building up to and ultimately dedicating 3% of the total revenue collected from restaurant and hotel sales tax revenues statewide for tourism marketing. More than 24 million visitors made their way to Mississippi last year, spending $6.51 billion in communities across the state. "I am particularly excited about tourism," said Bryant. |
| Republican candidates for governor to debate in July | |
 | Mississippi Republican voters will soon get the opportunity to see all three candidates for the state's highest office debate on the same stage. Whether DeSoto County voters will be able to see it on their television screens or on their computer or smartphone screens remains to be determined. In Southaven for the county Republican Club gathering Tuesday evening, candidate Bill Waller Jr. confirmed that he, state Rep. Robert Foster and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves will meet in front of the cameras of Jackson television station WJTV the evening of Tuesday, July 23. It is expected to be the only time the three candidates will appear together before the Aug. 6 primary election. WJTV and Hattiesburg affiliate WHLT will broadcast the debate live and it will be live streamed through their internet platforms. When asked about local availability, a Waller campaign representative said it was not immediately known if any Memphis affiliate would pick up and carry the debate although it is their belief the debate would be broadcast in North Mississippi and the television station was working toward making that take place. |
| Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith's bill aims to assist forest owners after disasters | |
| A bill introduced by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith aims to help private forest owners recover from natural disasters. According to the Senator, one-third of forest land in the United States is held by family landowners who currently have "little recourse for relief following floods, wildfires, and other disasters." Hyde-Smith's bill, 'The Forest Recovery Act', would amend the U.S. tax code to establish a special rule for losses of uncut timber following natural disasters. While announcing the bill, Hyde-Smith stated that providing a tax deduction for casualty losses would not only help landowners recover, but also encourage investment in reforesting damaged acres. "Not allowing these timber interests, many of whom are family-owned small business operations, to recover their losses doesn't help anyone---not them, the local economy, or the environment," Hyde-Smith said. "My bill would create an opportunity to make this right." Senator Roger Wicker, one of three co-sponsors on the bill, explained that this bill could help many Mississippians. |
| Mueller says charging Trump never an option in Russia investigation, resigns office | |
 | Robert Mueller said Tuesday that his office never intended to charge President Donald Trump with a crime regardless of its findings in the Russia investigation, citing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. He also resigned as special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, saying his work is complete. "I'm speaking out today because our investigation is complete," Mueller said. "We are formally closing the special counsel's office." Mueller also said he will leave the government to return to private life. He said he would not provide any information beyond the report if he testifies before Congress, and does not plan to speak further or otherwise comment on the findings. "The work speaks for itself," Mueller said. Mueller's two-year investigation probed possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and examined whether Trump had tried to obstruct the investigation. |
| 'I support impeachment,' US Rep. Bennie Thompson says | |
| U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson believes President Donald Trump should face impeachment. Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, released a statement Wednesday, in response to special counsel Robert Mueller's first public statement on the Russian investigation. "I support impeachment. The president has egregiously obstructed justice. The special counsel did not give any indication that the president is innocent. Therefore, it is time for Congress to perform its oversight duties," Thompson said. Thompson has joined fellow congressional Democrats who are issuing fresh calls to begin impeachment proceedings, a step that Democratic leaders have so far resisted. |
| Thompson, Hyde-Smith release statements following Mueller's Wednesday morning press-briefing | |
| U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson and Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith have both released statements after Robert Mueller, who headed an almost 2-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, said today that charging President Trump with a crime was "not an option." In a statement, Senator Hyde-Smith responded to Mueller's comments, writing: "I believe that after more than two years and more than $30 million spent on this investigation, Mississippians are more interested in Congress focusing on the issues that truly affect them---border security, fair trade, job creation, and infrastructure. I'm pleased with Robert Mueller's declaration that the investigation is completed." Congressman Michael Guest also released a statement, saying that Mueller's report found no evidence of collusion or obstruction. U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, who is also Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, differed from the views of Guest and Hyde-Smith, writing in a tweet that he is in support of impeaching the president. |
| Trump's aircraft carrier wish could affect area employer General Atomics | |
 | For at least the fourth time since taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump railed against the U.S. Navy's next-generation catapult system being installed in new aircraft carriers. On Monday, Trump told sailors and Marines aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, "So I think I'm going to put an order: When we build a new aircraft carrier, we're going to use steam. We're spending all that money on electric, and nobody knows what it's going to be like in bad conditions." The president was referring to the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, that has been developed by San Diego-based General Atomics. While experts say Trump's wish is unlikely to happen in the near future, since one carrier has been built and two more are under construction, changes to the carrier program down the road could affect some of the 300 workers at General Atomics' facility in the Tupelo-Lee Industrial Park South. |
| Exclusive: Disney CEO says it will be 'difficult' to film in Georgia if abortion law takes effect | |
| Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger told Reuters on Wednesday it would be "very difficult" for the media company to keep filming in Georgia if a new abortion law takes effect because many people will not want to work in the U.S. state. Disney has filmed blockbuster movies in Georgia such as "Black Panther" and "Avengers: Endgame," and it would be a blow to the state's efforts to create production jobs if the entertainment giant stopped filming there. Asked if Disney would keep filming in Georgia, Iger said it would be "very difficult to do so" if the abortion law is implemented. "I rather doubt we will," Iger said in an interview ahead of the dedication for a new "Star Wars" section at Disneyland. Georgia is one of eight states to pass anti-abortion legislation this year for the purpose of inducing the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that established a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy. |
| 'Fetal heartbeat' abortion bill sent to Louisiana governor, who will sign it; court must uphold it | |
 | Louisiana lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy if upheld by the courts, sending it to the governor's desk without exceptions for victims of rape and incest. Gov. John Bel Edwards, the only Democratic governor in the Deep South, said he will sign the bill into law. Supporters of the so-called "fetal heartbeat" legislation defeated proposed changes that would have exempted victims of rape and incest from the abortion ban in a lengthy and at times fiery debate in the state House Wednesday. Critics called the ban "unconscionable" without such exceptions. Louisiana now joins several other states across the South and Midwest in passing a ban on abortions after a "fetal heartbeat" is detected, around six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. The laws, including Louisiana's newest abortion ban, will not go into effect immediately, and could be struck down entirely. Legislators tied the bill to a similar Mississippi law, which is currently making its way through the courts. |
| Roy Moore hits back at Trump in defiant interview | |
 | A defiant Roy Moore brushed aside Donald Trump's warning not to run for Senate again, telling POLITICO on Wednesday that Alabama voters are capable of deciding for themselves whether he's fit for office. "The president doesn't control who votes for the United States Senate in Alabama," Moore said in a phone interview. "People in Alabama are smarter than that. They elect the senator from Alabama, not from Washington, D.C." The scandal-plagued former judge said he is "seriously considering" running for Senate again and plans to decide in a "few weeks." Moore's recalcitrance comes as Republicans, including Trump, are warning him to stay out of the race against Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. With or without Moore, the GOP contest appears wide open. Several Republicans are already running: Rep. Bradley Byrne, state Rep. Arnold Mooney, and Tommy Tuberville, the former head football coach at Auburn University. Each of the candidates face hurdles to emerging from the field. |
| Nationwide college enrollment declines for the seventh year in a row | |
| Nationwide enrollment at colleges and universities dropped for the seventh consecutive year this spring, according to a report released Thursday. Enrollment dropped 1.7 percent, or nearly 300,000 students, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a nonprofit higher-education research organization. The group estimates that there are 17.5 million undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S. Four-year, for-profit colleges took the biggest hit, declining to 743,536 students in spring 2019 from 925,532 students in spring 2018, a 19.7 percent decrease. Most states saw drops in enrollment, led by Florida and Alaska which both experienced 5.2 percent declines. |
| Some Students Preparing for College Over the Summer | |
 | High school students in Mississippi have another resource to help them prepare for higher education. The program Get 2 College is hosting free Camp College summer camps for students on the Gulf Coast, in North Mississippi, and in the Jackson area beginning mid-June. In order to be eligible, participants have to quality for a free or reduced lunch, be a first generation college student, or a minority student. In order to be eligible, participants have to quality for a free or reduced lunch, be a first generation college student, or a minority student. Twenty year old Meghan Nguyen of Ocean Springs says participating in Camp College when she was in high school prepared her for success. Nguyen will be studying chemical engineering in the fall at Mississippi State University. "It definitely made a huge impact on me," said Nguyen. |
| USM research team helps find last slave ship 'Clotilda' | |
| Historians can thank a research team from the University of Southern Mississippi for helping find the wreck of America's last slave ship, known as "The Clotilda." The Alabama Historical Commission announced last week that the ship had been found in the Mobile River. It was intentionally sunk there in 1860 after illegally transporting more than 100 slaves from West Africa. The archaeology firm, Search Inc., discovered the ship with support from the National Geographic Society. But its location had actually been mapped months earlier by a team of faculty and students from USM's School of Ocean Science and Engineering. "This was all done mostly by graduate students," said Monty Graham, director of the School of Ocean Science and Engineering. "So, the work that they did, we gladly handed over the data over and then, they used it plus our analysis in pointing to that one spot and that's where they started their effort." |
| FedEx Logistics: Jobs open for Mississippi Valley State students as part of HBCU program | |
 | FedEx Logistics is offering part-time jobs for Mississippi Valley State University students to support its customs brokerage operations, the FedEx subsidiary announced Wednesday. FedEx Logistics said in a news release the historically black colleges and universities employment program will provide professional opportunities for students while building a diverse talent pipeline for the Memphis company. FedEx Logistics aims to open a satellite office at MVSU's Itta Bena, Mississippi, campus in August. The office will be staffed with students who will have a chance at working with FedEx full time after graduation, the release said. There are 48 open positions at the MVSU office, according to FedEx. "We are thrilled FedEx Logistics has chosen MVSU as the first institution for its HBCU campus satellite office program," said Dr. Jerryl Briggs Sr., president of MVSU, in a statement. |
| U. of Alabama to return donor's $21.5 million gift | |
 | The University of Alabama System chancellor is recommending trustees return the largest financial gift in UA's history and strip the Hugh Culverhouse Jr. name from its law school over what he says were attempts at micromanagement by the donor. "As part of an ongoing dispute, last week Hugh Culverhouse, Jr. asked for the return of $10 million, repeating numerous demands about the operations of the University of Alabama School of Law," the system said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. "Consequently, yesterday Chancellor (Finis) St. John recommended to the board of trustees that it return all of Mr. Culverhouse's $21.5 million donation to the Law School ... which will be acted on at the Board's meeting next week." The University Alabama System's announcement Wednesday afternoon came hours after Culverhouse called for a boycott of state institutions including UA over the state's new abortion law. In statements reported Wednesday by Florida Politics, Culverhouse encouraged the boycott because of the Alabama law that outlaws almost all abortions. |
| Hugh Culverhouse calls for boycott of U. of Alabama | |
| The largest individual donor to the University of Alabama wants prospective students boycotting the school. Florida businessman Hugh Culverhouse Jr. wants businesses and individuals boycotting state institutions over a new law banning nearly all abortions. The move comes less than a year after Culverhouse donated $26.5 million to UA's law school. The university welcomed the gift by renaming the school the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law. But that came before the Alabama Legislature passed a statute Culverhouse considers blatantly illegal. "I cannot stand by silently and allow my name to be associated with a state educational system that teaches students law that clearly conflicts with the United States Constitution and Federal law, and which promotes blatant discrimination," Culverhouse said. "The discrimination against women embodied by the law could easily be extended to other Federal statutes and the U.S. Constitution decisions, which is a dangerous situation not only in Alabama but in other states contemplating similar unconstitutional laws." |
| Women in Science at UGA supporting the next generation | |
 | Five years ago, Cecilia Sanchez and Anya Brown, ecology doctoral candidates at the time, founded the Women in Science organization at the University of Georgia in service of creating a community where they could connect with peers and mentors. Open to anyone (including men) interested in pursuing equality and diversity in science, WiSci has grown to incorporate undergraduate students and an outreach program as well as all STEM disciplines. On campus, the group is beginning a tradition of support in the form of the Females First Grant. While there are some travel grants on campus, the funds are usually designated for transportation, lodging or food, not for child care. Raising funds since 2016, the Females First Grant program has reached a point of self-sustainability. Their goal is to award two to three small grants per year to be used for child care while participants attend a local or regional conference. WiSci also pushes beyond the boundaries of campus and into the community. |
| U. of Tennessee dorm vandals plead guilty, avoid jail | |
 | Three University of Tennessee men initially charged with vandalism for causing an estimated $2 million in damage to Clement Hall have reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. The university is still calculating damages, but it appears they will be closer to $200,000, according to Tyra Haag, director of media relations for UT. The three were ordered by the court to pay restitution of $25,000 (total) to the university, she said. John Robert Reed, 18, Aaron Edward Griesmer, 19, and Thomas Harvey Bellet, 19, all students at UT-Knoxville at the time, each pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of vandalism in connection with the Dec. 2 prank, which flooded the seventh floor of the dorm when a fire sprinkler pipe was burst, according to court records. Each of the three men initially was charged with felony vandalism. The trio admitted to punching ceiling tiles in the hallway outside their suite, which inadvertently bent a piece of metal that ruptured the pipe, according to arrest warrants. |
| Visa Woes, Politics, and Fears of Violence Are Keeping International Students Away, Report Warns | |
 | ]An international-education group is warning that "harmful policies and anti-immigrant rhetoric" are keeping international students from enrolling at American colleges, hurting the economy. "Prospective international students and their families are concerned about U.S. federal policies and rhetoric on immigration, along with apprehensions of personal safety and tense race relations," says the report, released on Wednesday by Nafsa: Association of International Educators. The top reason colleges have cited for declining international-student enrollment is the visa-application process, including delays and denials, according to survey data cited by Nafsa and originally released in November by the Institute of International Education. Eighty-three percent of institutions reported it was a deterrent, a 49-percentage-point increase from 2016, when 34 percent of colleges reported such problems. |
| Study: continued use of stereotypical imagery has negative effect on charitable donations, inclusion | |
 | Colleges reluctant to end the use of Native American and other mascots deemed offensive often cite fears that getting rid of the icons could hurt fund-raising. But a new study shows that failing to phase out prejudicial mascots can have a negative impact on donations and students' feelings of belonging. The study by researchers at Yale University focuses on an unnamed Midwestern university -- clearly referring to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign -- which officially ended the use of a stereotypical Native American mascot known as "the Chief" but had not replaced the mascot. The study showed that images of the mascot persisted in 50 percent of spaces on campus and more than 10 percent of clothing worn by students. In 2006 the NCAA aggressively pursued changes to these mascots and images at universities across the country, instituting prohibitions on displaying "hostile or abusive" imagery. Since then, many universities have found new mascots. Those who pushed back against this shift often said the mascot played a role in the tradition of the university and changing could alienate donors. |
SPORTS
| The Dudy Noble difference: How hosting might move Mississippi State through NCAA Tournament | |
| This is why Mississippi State spent $68 million to renovate its ballpark. This is why some folks spent $45,000 for an entire season of enjoying a luxury condominium overlooking the park from a left-field perspective. This is why a stadium that sits in a somewhat sleepy, small Southeastern Conference college town is often called the Carnegie Hall of College Baseball. This is the Dudy Noble difference. The teams coming to northeast Mississippi this weekend for the Starkville Regional are about to learn what that entails. They can get a decent idea through a quick Google search. Mississippi State is home to nine of the 10 largest on-campus crowds in NCAA Baseball history. This weekend, maroon and white fans have the chance to break their own records by attending NCAA Tournament games right in their own backyard. The Bulldogs (46-13) are the No. 6 national seed in the field of 64, and they're welcoming the Miami Hurricanes (39-12), the Central Michigan Chippewas (46-12) and the Southern University Jaguars (32-22) to Dudy Noble this week. |
| What to know: the Starkville regional | |
| Mississippi State will be hosting its 14th baseball regional in program history this weekend. Though it'll hardly be like any prior to this season. The new Dude is ready to shine in a new way on the big stage. Chris Lemonis marks the fourth coach to take the program to the postseason over the previous four seasons. The Starkville regional is paired with the Stanford regional once winners move on to the super regional round. Mississippi State is the No. 6 national seed, thus would host regardless of which team advances in Palo Alto, should they win the Starkville regional. |
| Jack Eagan reunites with Chris Lemonis at Mississippi State | |
| Jack Eagan's relationship with Chris Lemonis predates that of any other player on Mississippi State's roster. Eagan was recruited by Lemonis out of high school and spent the fall of 2016 playing for him at the University of Indiana. The left-handed pitcher then transferred to Madison Community College in Wisconsin before being signed by former MSU pitching coach Gary Henderson. It was only happenstance that Eagan and Lemonis were reunited on the diamond once again. "It's pretty interesting and kind of cool how it all worked out," Eagan said. "It was comforting in a way. We'd had a pretty good relationship when I was in high school. I was really happy for him to get the job here with all the history and all they've done. It was really cool journey." |
| Mississippi State's Ethan Small named National Pitcher of the Year finalist | |
 | Enjoying one of the most dominant seasons on the mound in Mississippi State baseball history, redshirt-junior Ethan Small continues to add to his laundry list of accolades, as he was named one of five College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year finalists. The award has been handed out since 2009 and the College Baseball Foundation has honored such college pitching standouts as Stephen Strasburg (2009), Trevor Bauer (2011), Aaron Nola (2014) and Carson Fulmer (2015) with the award during its first 10 years. Small becomes Mississippi State's first finalist, with Chris Stratton the only other Diamond Dawg to earn semifinalist honors, doing so during his SEC Pitcher of the Year campaign in 2012. Small has been up to the challenge each week as the No. 1 starter for the Bulldogs, posting an 8-2 record -- including a 7-1 mark in SEC play -- and a 1.80 ERA. The southpaw has now allowed more than three runs in a start all season long. Overall, he has limited the opposition to two-or-fewer runs in 14 of 15 starts. |
| Mississippi State's Fa Leilua, Mia Davidson selected to NFCA All-America Teams | |
| For just the third time in program history, Mississippi State softball will boast not one, but two National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Americans as Fa Leilua and Mia Davidson both earned spots on the coveted list, the organization announced on Thursday. Junior utility/designated player Fa Leilua was tabbed to the NFCA's All-America Second Team, while sophomore catcher Mia Davidson earned a spot on the NFCA's All-America Third Team. It is just the third time in program history that multiple Bulldogs have earned All-America honors in the same season and the first duo to be honored since Chelsea Bramlett and Courtney Bures both earned first-team honors in 2008. Leilua and Davidson are just the eighth and ninth student-athletes in Mississippi State history to earn All-America accolades, bringing the program total to 21 NFCA and Easton All-America honors among the group of nine Bulldogs. The duo are the first Bulldogs to bring All-America accolades back to Starkville since Chelsea Bramlett in 2010. They are head coach Vann Stuedeman's first NFCA All-Americans in her Mississippi State tenure. |
| Mississippi State SEC schedule analysis | |
| Mississippi State's ascent towards a Southeastern Conference continues to get more challenging as more elite men's basketball coaches join the league each season. Ben Howland faces another daunting 18-game SEC slate for his fifth year at the helm of the Bulldogs. MSU has home-and-home dates scheduled with Ole Miss, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri and South Carolina. The Bulldogs went 5-3 against those opponents last season. Two of the toughest opponents based on last season's success -- Auburn (Final Four) and Tennessee (Sweet 16) -- will visit Humphrey Coliseum along with Georgia and Vanderbilt. State went 3-2 against those teams last year. Mississippi State will travel to Florida, Kentucky, LSU and Texas A&M during the 2019-20 season. The Bulldogs were just 5-5 on the road last year, including a 4-5 mark within the SEC. |
| After dreaming of playing at LSU, USM junior aims to help steal Baton Rouge Regional | |
 | The new Alex Box Stadium hasn't played host to the Southern Miss baseball program since it first opened 10 years ago, but at least one Golden Eagle has toed the rubber at Skip Bertman Field. USM junior right-hander Hunter Stanley is a Hammond, Louisiana, native who played a summer ball game at the home of LSU baseball during his high school days. "There will be a ton more fans this time around," Stanley said Wednesday prior to practice at Pete Taylor Park. "It's definitely a cool park." Southern Miss (38-19) will take on Arizona State (37-17) at noon on Friday in Baton Rouge for a shot to take on the winner of Friday night's LSU-Stony Brook contest on Saturday. Stanley often dreamed as a kid of taking the field as a college player at Alex Box Stadium, but he envisioned it in purple and gold. "I was definitely an LSU fan growing up," he said. "Honestly, I'm still an LSU football fan when it comes down to it. A lot of my friends go to LSU and they told me they'll be rooting for me this weekend. Just going down there is going to be really special. That atmosphere will be awesome." |
| UGA to sell beer and wine to select donors in Sanford Stadium | |
| SEC presidents and chancellors could strike down the ban on alcohol sales stadium-wide later this week at the league's spring meetings. That would clear the way for schools to set their own policies, but Georgia already has decided to sell beer and wine to select donors, something it can do without a change. Buying alcohol stadium-wide may not happen if the league gives the go-ahead. "I want to hear the arguments tomorrow," president Jere Morehead said. "I have particular concerns about our students and how we would manage that in Sanford Stadium so that would be an issue that we would have to address if the policy changes." Morehead said Georgia would have to evaluate its course of action if the policy changes. He said Georgia already has long lines at concessions stands. Georgia will sell alcohol above gate six on the 200 level, athletic director Greg McGarity said. Georgia will cordon off a large space where fans will enter a fenced off area to sell beer and wine in what may be considered a beer garden. It's similar to what LSU, Florida and Missouri have done. |
| Amid new calls to pay athletes, Alabama AD has a few thoughts | |
 | The debate about college athletes' compensation isn't going away as the NCAA begins a new study. The governing body announced this month it would have a working group to explore the idea of allowing athletes to make money on their name, image or likeness. The NCAA has always banned them from making money on their image while the organization and member schools make millions on them. A 2009 lawsuit from former UCLA basketball star Charles O'Bannon kickstarted the discussion that remains in the court system. Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne on Wednesday was asked about the idea of allowing players to make money on their image. He paused for a moment after the question from a reporter outside the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Florida before giving a lengthy and pointed answer. |
| Florida AD Scott Stricklin recalls travels with Rod Bramblett | |
| When Rod Bramblett first started calling Auburn baseball games in 1993, the sports information director for the baseball program was current Florida AD Scott Stricklin. The two travelled together on the road with fellow broadcaster Andy Burcham, and made a ton of memories. Up until Bramblett's tragic death in a car accident on Saturday, the two communicated regularly. After a GoFundMe page was set up to benefit Bramblett's children, Stricklin made a $1,000 donation. "For five years, he and I traveled around the SEC together, Stricklin said. "Spent a lot of time in cars together. Road trips. Rooming together. We were young guys -- I was a baseball SID and he was a baseball broadcaster. We both got to pursue a career that we both loved. He was always so even-keeled, such a gentle, polite, nice guy. You always knew what you were going to get. When he walked into the room, you always looked forward to being with him. It's just an unspeakable tragedy." |
| CBS makes major shift in college football TV schedule, doesn't slot LSU-Alabama for primetime | |
| CBS took a look at the LSU-Alabama game this year and decided to punt. The network released a limited schedule of games Wednesday for the 2019 season, including the date of its annual day-night doubleheader. This year, that will be Sept. 21. LSU plays at Alabama on Nov. 9. Though CBS could technically select the Tigers-Crimson Tide clash for prime time later, as is it did in 2011, it is the first time since 2012 the network has not set its day-night doubleheader for the date of the LSU-Alabama game. LSU plays at Vanderbilt on Sept. 21. Prominent games on that date are Tennessee at Florida, Notre Dame at Georgia and Auburn at Texas A&M. Asked about CBS's decision, LSU coach Ed Orgeron said: "I have enough things to worry about other than what time it's schedule. We've just got to play them." CBS's SEC schedule begins Sept. 14 with Alabama at South Carolina at 2:30 p.m. CDT. |
| Kirby Smart: Florida-Georgia game not bound to Jacksonville | |
| University of Georgia football coach Kirby Smart made cryptic remarks on Tuesday about the future of the Bulldogs' annual game in Jacksonville against the University of Florida. Smart said "nothing is off the table" in regards to keeping the game at TIAA Bank Field or moving it to another neutral site or rotating it as a home-and-home series. However, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry knows what's on his table: keeping the game in town, where it has been on a continuous basis since 1933. Curry said the city is in communication with the two schools on a contract extension to go beyond the current deal, which expires after the 2021 game. Smart was asked about the future of the game at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, specifically about the dynamic of keeping a mid-season neutral-site game with both schools scheduling home-and-home intersectional games for the future. Smart has pointed out in the past that a neutral-site game takes away one recruiting weekend, when high school prospects visit the campus. |
| Arkansas-Missouri game moved to Black Friday in Little Rock | |
| Black Friday football is returning to War Memorial Stadium. Arkansas' regular-season football finale against Missouri has been moved to Friday, Nov. 29, and will be televised by CBS beginning at 1:30 p.m. The game was tentatively scheduled for Nov. 30. This will be the sixth consecutive season the Razorbacks and Tigers will play on the day after Thanksgiving. The afternoon CBS slot that day has essentially become reserved for the Razorbacks, who played LSU on Black Friday for several years before the SEC designated Missouri as Arkansas' permanent end-of-season opponent. The Razorbacks have played the regular-season finale on Friday each year since 2011, and 22 of the past 24 seasons. But a day-after-Thanksgiving-game hasn't been played in Little Rock since 2008, when Arkansas scored a last-minute touchdown to upset LSU 31-30. The Razorbacks modified their agreement with War Memorial Stadium last year to include games against Missouri in 2019, 2021 and 2023. |
| John Bel Edwards texted LSU officials about Javonte Smart, Will Wade: records | |
 | Gov. John Bel Edwards kept in close contact with LSU officials about basketball standout Javonte Smart's playing status in the days after coach Will Wade was suspended due to media reports that suggested Wade compensated Smart for committing to play at LSU. In six text message exchanges the week after Wade's suspension, the governor focused most of his questions to LSU Board of Supervisors chair James Williams and LSU President F. King Alexander on whether the university planned to play Smart, a Baton Rouge native and one of the school's star basketball players. The messages were released to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune through a public records request last week. The governor also had text conversations with an LSU attorney, but his office declined to release the content of those messages, citing attorney-client privilege. |
| 37 More Former Ohio State Athletes Sue the University in Sexual Abuse Case | |
 | Thirty-seven former Ohio State athletes --- a majority of them football players and all but one anonymous --- filed a civil rights lawsuit on Wednesday, saying that university officials had "aided, abetted and actively concealed" sexual assaults by Richard H. Strauss during his nearly 20 years as a team doctor for the school's athletic department. The lawsuit, the fourth of its kind against the university, is the first since Ohio State's acknowledgment this month of the scope of Strauss's abuse. The university released a 182-page report detailing -- sometimes in graphic terms -- how he had assaulted male athletes who were often sent to him for treatment of injuries or for preseason physical examinations. What sets this suit apart from the others is the inclusion of 26 former players from the school's powerhouse football program. |
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