| Tuesday, July 9, 2019 |
| How the threat of deadly nerve agents can be neutralised | |
 | This is just a rehearsal -- preparation for an exercise the following day that will simulate a chemical attack. The scenario -- a terrorist cell has released a toxic nerve agent into a market square amid the lunchtime bustle -- is designed to test pioneering new technology that could transform how emergency services respond to chemical releases. But what do we know about the reality of events during a chemical attack? How do people respond, and can anything really be done to prevent a serious loss of life? Researchers like Janice Chambers and her team at Mississippi State University are also trying to develop better antidotes to nerve agents that can help to reduce the effects they can have on the brain. "Our objective is not just survival, but survival with minimal or no damage to brain function," says Chambers. But she warns it could still take many years before their new drugs -- known as oximes -- get approval from regulatory authorities. |
| 'She was an inspiration to all of us.' Young pilot killed in crash remembered | |
 | "She loved this community. It would not have surprised me at all to see Lake, years from now, being the mayor of Starkville." In talking about Elizabeth Lake Little, Jeremy Nicholas, her former head of school at Starkville Academy, had countless positive things to say about the standout 18-year-old, who died Saturday after the plane she was piloting crashed on an Oxford golf course. But the thing Nicholas kept coming back to was Little's ambition and devotion to her community, a sentiment echoed time and time again by those who knew her. Little, the daughter of Starkville Alderman David Little and wife Pattie, seemingly could do it all. In a word, she was a "go-getter," said her high school principal, Carol Berryhill. Little graduated from Starkville Academy in May and was one of four students inducted into the school's Hall of Fame, an award given by teachers based on academics and community involvement. She planned on attending the University of Southern Mississippi in the fall and eventually becoming a pilot with FedEx, Berryhill said. |
| 'People should not take this lightly:' Tropical depression could impact the Coast this week | |
 | Heavy rain and severe heat are possible in the forecast for the Mississippi Gulf Coast this week. The National Weather Service's five-day forecast shows an 80% chance of a tropical depression developing in the northern Gulf of Mexico between Wednesday and Friday. The tropical depression is expected to send heavy rain from Texas to the Florida Panhandle, according to weather service meteorologist Freddie Zeigler. "People should not take this lightly," said Zeigler. "They need to stay updated on the forecast and prepare for the possible development of this system. Even if it doesn't develop, these areas will see heavy rain at the end of this week." Anywhere from 3 to 8 inches could fall between Friday night through next Monday morning, the weather service said Monday afternoon. |
| Algae bloom hurts tourism businesses on Mississippi Gulf Coast | |
 | Coastal tourism officials say they are using all of their resources and assets to communicate exactly what is happening regarding the impacts on tourism due to the algae bloom. "The beaches are not closed. The water is, but you can go to the beautiful beaches and have activities on the beach," said Milton Segarra, CEO of Coastal Mississippi. Hotels made out fine over the Fourth of July weekend. The algae's presence not causing any cancellations for some of them. But, according to the tourism office, some businesses were not so lucky. "The small end businesses are in a difficult situation because they depend specifically on the activities on the water," Segarra said. Some of those businesses include souvenir shops and beach equipment rentals. J.J Pierotich, the owner of Sharkheads in Biloxi says the summer was fine before the beach water was closed. Now, people have been avoiding the beach altogether. |
| Steele Bayou closed once again as flooding persists | |
| The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sunday closed the Steele Bayou Control Structure gates to prevent backflow from the Mississippi River into the backwater area. Marty Pope, hydrologist with the National Weather Service Office, said the riverside is expected to remain at a higher level than the backwater, or landside area, for at least several days. The high river level, Pope said, is caused by water draining from other backwater areas along the Mississippi north of Vicksburg and from the Arkansas River Basin, and slowing the river's fall here. "With everything draining down out of the (backwater) system, it's taking so long for this water to finally get out," he said. "You've got all the backwater areas on the Yazoo itself that are draining, so it's not allowing the river to fall, and it's not getting a whole lot of support from above (the Arkansas River Basin). The Mississippi River has been above flood stage since February. |
| Mississippi farmers want to know: When can we grow hemp? | |
 | Mississippi farmers packed a state Capitol room Monday to learn about a potentially lucrative new crop for their fields: hemp. Earlier this year, legislators declined to legalize hemp cultivation, despite recent federal approval. Instead they created a group of experts to study it and return recommendations. The 13-member Hemp Cultivation Task Force met for the first time Monday. "There is a difference between hemp and marijuana," Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson told the crowd, addressing a common misconception about the plant. On Monday the task force -- made up of officials from state agencies and universities -- learned about regulations the state would need to allow hemp growing, and challenges farmers could face growing it. The task force will break into four subcommittees in the coming months to develop recommendations on hemp law enforcement issues, agronomy, economics and marketing, and regulations and monitoring. |
| Candidates for governor share vision for education, infrastructure at Jacinto | |
 | Candidates for governor shared differing visions of job growth and public education at the state's second largest political rally tucked away in a small corner of Alcorn County on Thursday. Beth Whitehurst, the director of the Jacinto Foundation, said she was pleased and thankful for the large crowd at the event. She said she doesn't quite know how the tradition of the political rally even began --- but she's extremely glad it started. "If you want to win statewide office in Mississippi you have to go to the Neshoba County Fair and Jacinto," she said. |
| Who said what on the 4th of July at Jacinto? | |
 | A Fourth of July tradition for Mississippi political candidates, the Jacinto Political Rally was hosted on historical courthouse steps in Alcorn County. Second only to the Neshoba County Fair in terms of political stump exposure, candidates from many different 2019 races, and maybe even a 2020 race, were in attendance. Candidates spoke on the issues their campaign platforms revolve around. Those included infrastructure, abortion laws, the flag, teacher pay, and creating more jobs and economic development. One unexpected wrinkle was a speech by Gerard Gibert, who currently serves on the recently created State Lottery Board. Gibert is not yet a candidate for 2020 elective office but was announced at Jacinto as a "potential candidate" for the U.S. Senate in 2020. "I'm not yet a candidate for office but I could be," declared Gibert. |
| Analysis: State candidates split on school vouchers | |
 | Several candidates for Mississippi governor have answered a questionnaire from a public education advocacy group called The Parents' Campaign, but Republican Tate Reeves has not. Reeves, the second-term lieutenant governor and former two-term state treasurer, also did not appear last month at a Mississippi Professional Educators board meeting in Biloxi. His campaign spokesman, Parker Briden, said Reeves had an event in Tupelo that day. Gubernatorial candidates who did speak to the teachers' group were Democrat Jim Hood, who is the fourth-term attorney general; first-term Republican state Rep. Robert Foster and Republican Bill Waller Jr., who retired early this year as chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. Democratic and Republican primaries are Aug. 6, and the general election is Nov. 5. |
| Brookhaven man to retire as DHS head | |
 | After nearly 30 years serving Mississippi's children and families, a Brookhaven man is ready to step away from state government. John Davis will retire at the end of the month from his position as executive director of the state Department of Human Services. Davis has served in his current role since Gov. Phil Bryant appointed him to the position in January 2016. Before his appointment, Davis served as deputy administrator for programs, office director for the division of economic assistance and worked on the local, regional and state level including Lincoln County. Gov. Kirk Fordice appointed Davis in 1998 to serve as director of the Lincoln County Department of Human Services. He stayed in that job until his appointment in 2005 to the position of director of state operations for the department of economic assistance. |
| Elizabeth Warren shuns conventional wisdom for a new kind of campaign | |
 | When Elizabeth Warren said earlier this year she was swearing off fundraisers, many Democratic strategists saw it as a sign of desperation from a flailing candidate. But that gamble against conventional wisdom -- which is paying off handsomely, given the $19.1 million she raised in the second quarter -- is far from the only way Warren is defying the traditional playbook for running a modern presidential campaign. The campaign has gone without an outside polling firm, and says it has no plans to hire one, even though it is standard operating procedure for most serious candidates. Instead of initially stockpiling resources for a home-stretch TV ad blitz, she's amassed a payroll of 300-plus staffers in the early months of the campaign -- overhead that could deplete her coffers if her fundraising ever falters. And now, the campaign told POLITICO that it is shunning the typical model for producing campaign ads, in which outside firms are hired and paid often hefty commissions for their work. Instead, Warren's campaign is producing TV, digital and other media content itself, as well as placing its digital ad buys internally. |
| North Carolina Republican runoff tests the future of the House GOP | |
 | Voters in eastern North Carolina are heading to the polls Tuesday for a low-profile special election with a lot at stake. Regardless of who wins the Republican primary runoff, the 3rd District seat formerly held by the late Rep. Walter B. Jones will almost certainly remain in GOP hands after the special general election on Sept. 10. But the outcome of Tuesday's internecine contest could say a lot about how the GOP approaches identity politics heading into 2020. On the national stage, this primary between two Republican doctors has become a proxy war between two competing -- and sometimes, overlapping -- interests in Washington, D.C. State Rep. Greg Murphy, a urological surgeon, has the backing of the political arm of the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus. But all 13 Republican women in the House, including the sole female member of the Freedom Caucus, have sided with pediatrician Joan Perry, who represents the House GOP's best chance of adding another woman to its conference. |
| Amy McGrath says she will take on Mitch McConnell in 2020 US Senate race | |
 | Kentucky Democrat Amy McGrath is suiting up to enter the 2020 U.S. Senate race against Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The former Marine fighter pilot ended months of speculation over whether she would make a run for one of the Bluegrass State's top seats in Washington, making the announcement with a video posted to YouTube early Tuesday morning ahead of an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe. In the video, McGrath says she wrote to McConnell when she was 13 telling him she wanted to fly combat jets and fight for the U.S. when she was an adult. "He never wrote back," she says in the video. "I'm Amy McGrath, and I've often wondered, how many other people did Mitch McConnell never take the time to write back or even think about?" McGrath's name has been bounced around as a possible contender for the Democratic nomination since her failed 2018 attempt to knock off Rep. Andy Barr in Kentucky's 6th Congressional District. |
| As thousands of third-graders prep for retest, districts and literacy coaches work to remove barriers | |
| Shameka Woods' classroom was buzzing on a recent Monday morning, where eleven students sat at their desks and sounded out a reading passage about bees, ants and termites. The students were working through a handout to answer reading comprehension questions. When the students got tripped up over a question that required them to use the text to determine what makes the insects similar, Woods walked them through it. Woods is one of dozens of literacy coaches working in classrooms across the state as thousands of third-grade students prepare for their final chance at passing a critical reading exam. Should they fail, the possibility looms heavy that they'll have to repeat the grade. The final retest window is June 24-July 12, and districts are working hard to remediate their students in time. But they are working against several barriers, including teacher shortages, low parental engagement, language gaps and even vision problems. |
| Auburn offering dual-degree program in engineering, German | |
| Auburn University has a new dual-degree program for students interested in both engineering and the German language. A statement from the school says the new program has students taking four years of classes in Auburn and one year in Germany, where they'll study at a partner school and work in an internship. The degree could help students wanting to work in fields including automotive manufacturing since the German automaker Mercedes-Benz has a plant that employs thousands in Tuscaloosa County. In all, almost 90 German companies have operations in Alabama. |
| Jurors chosen in Max Guver hazing case after questioning about views on frat life, drinking | |
 | Potential jurors called for the high-profile trial of a former LSU student accused in the 2017 alcohol-related hazing death of fraternity pledge Max Gruver were questioned Monday about their views on fraternity life, peer pressure, bullying, drinking, positions of authority and criminal negligence. At the end of a grueling day, a six-person jury was chosen to decide whether Matthew Naquin is guilty of negligent homicide. Two alternate jurors were selected in the event one or more of the jurors cannot fulfill their obligations. Opening statements from the prosecution and defense will be given Tuesday morning, and then the state will begin calling witnesses. |
| Attorney General William Barr talks crime with state's top cops at U. of South Carolina law school | |
 | Opioids, prisoners using illegal cell phones in prisons, violence and other crime-related issues were on the agenda Monday morning when U.S. Attorney General William Barr slipped into Columbia and met with several dozen of South Carolina's state, federal and local top cops at the USC School of Law. The purpose of the private, unannounced breakfast meeting, which lasted more than an hour, was as much to foster good communications about major crime-related issues as it was to boost morale among chiefs from various law enforcement agencies, which ranged in size from rural Clinton and Greer departments to the Columbia Police Department and the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. Sherri Lydon, U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, whose office prosecutes federal crimes in the state, said one purpose of Barr's visit was "to show local law enforcement that he's got their back." |
| UGA libraries exhibit features rocks, more ahead of moon landing anniversary | |
 | Fifty years ago, people around the world stopped what they were doing to watch Apollo 11 land on the moon. Today, most of the world's population wasn't even born when the moon landing took place. But the significance of this historic milestone still resonates. "It is fascinating that people feel such a connection to the moon landing and it still inspires curiosity," said Sarah Anderson, a University of Georgia graduate student in history. "Everyone has a story about their viewing experience." Anderson curated "Moon Rocks!," an exhibition hosted by UGA's Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. Anderson previously worked for two years at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. |
| Trevor Noah to speak at UK as university marks 70 years of integration | |
 | Comedy Central host and comedian Trevor Noah will be speaking at the University of Kentucky on Aug. 30 as part of the university's celebration of 70 years of integration. Noah will speak as part of an assembly at 9 a.m. that day, covering such topics as his childhood in South Africa, diversity and social justice. The assembly, which will take place in Memorial Coliseum, is presented by UK's Office of Institutional Diversity and is the first of several events that will take place this academic year, the rest of which will be announced later. Noah is best known for hosting Comedy Central's Daily Show, on which he lampoons political figures and offers commentary on the news of the day. He also wrote the book "Born a Crime," in which he describes his childhood growing up in South Africa under apartheid. The 2019-20 academic year marks 70 years since Lyman T. Johnson became the first black student at UK, when he came to campus as a 43-year old graduate student after winning a court battle to integrate the university. |
| Texas A&M scientists create model suite to track oil spills | |
 | The Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 20, 2010, was the largest marine oil spill in United States history, pumping about 700,000 tons of crude oil -- plus about 250,000 tons of methane -- into the Gulf of Mexico before it was capped. The incident killed 11 people and injured 16 others who were on the rig. During the spill, available computer models operated at different scales but did not interact, and they did not include many of the shallow bays along the northern Gulf that are vital to local fisheries. This spill created a need for an integrated, multiscale, comprehensive computer model suite that showed the behavior of the petroleum fluids on a 3-D scale rather than a 2-D and operated from the molecular level to the scale of the Gulf. Texas A&M University scientists have now created such a model suite. |
| Trial going ahead over U. of Missouri Sunshine Law costs | |
 | A lawsuit over the $82,000 cost the University of Missouri estimated to research and copy public records is ready for trial, attorneys told Circuit Judge Jeff Harris during a brief pretrial hearing on Monday in Boone County Circuit Court. The lawsuit was filed in 2016 by the Beagle Freedom Project, known previously as Animal Rescue Media Education. The organization had filed a request for records for all 179 dogs and cats being used for research during the previous year. UM System Custodian of Records Paula Barrett provided an estimate that it would cost $82,000 to produce the records. The organization argues in the lawsuit that the cost is prohibitively high and violates the Missouri Sunshine Law. MU attorneys argue that its estimate represented the cost of researching and copying the records, including photographs and videos maintained by principal investigators in the animal research projects. They also say the $82,000 was an estimate and money would be refunded if the actual cost of the records was less than that. |
| Colleges call for more clarity on rules requiring disclosure of foreign gifts and contracts | |
 | The Department of Education is stepping up its scrutiny of whether colleges comply with federal reporting requirements regarding disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts. The department opened investigations last month into whether Georgetown and Texas A&M Universities have fully met all reporting requirements, including in regards to foreign funding associated with their respective campuses in Qatar. Higher education groups say that the law requiring reporting of foreign-sourced gifts and contracts is unclear and requires further clarification from the Education Department. The scrutiny of foreign gift reporting comes amid broader scrutiny from Washington of American universities' connections with China, including scrutiny of the Confucius Institutes, centers for language education and cultural programming funded by the Chinese government, and of research partnerships with the Chinese telecom company Huawei, which was indicted by the Department of Justice for allegedly stealing trade secrets and violating American sanctions on Iran. |
| Trump has referred to his Wharton degree as 'super genius stuff.' An admissions officer recalls it differently. | |
 | James Nolan was working in the University of Pennsylvania's admissions office in 1966 when he got a phone call from one of his closest friends, Fred Trump Jr. It was a plea to help Fred's younger brother Donald Trump get into Penn's Wharton School. "He called me and said, 'You remember my brother Donald?' Which I didn't," Nolan, 81, said in an interview with The Washington Post. "He said: 'He's at Fordham and he would like to transfer to Wharton. Will you interview him?' I was happy to do that." Soon, Donald Trump arrived at Penn for the interview, accompanied by his father, Fred Trump Sr., who sought to "ingratiate" himself, Nolan said. Nolan, who said he was the only admissions official to talk to Donald Trump, was required to give Trump a rating, and he recalled, "It must have been decent enough to support his candidacy." For decades, Trump has cited his attendance at what was then called the Wharton School of Finance as evidence of his intellect. But Trump has never released records showing how he got into the school -- or how he performed once he was there. And, until now, Nolan's detailed account of Trump's admission process has not been publicly disclosed. |
| Financier Charged With Sex Trafficking Has Given Millions to Harvard | |
 | Harvard University declined to comment on Monday about whether it would return donations from Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire who was arrested this past weekend on sex-trafficking charges. According to a grand-jury indictment that was unsealed on Monday, Epstein lured young girls to his properties and paid them hundreds of dollars for sexual acts. Prosecutors said more than 100 girls had been victimized by Epstein, who, according to the indictment, "created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit." When a case was first brought against Epstein, in 2007, he was able to avoid federal sex-trafficking charges through an extraordinary plea deal that earned him only 13 months in jail, the Miami Herald reported. He was facing a life sentence under federal charges. The new indictment has cast an unfavorable spotlight on Harvard, which has accepted large donations from the millionaire in the past and has been called out at times for doing so. |
| U. of Memphis custodians say they are waiting to see $15 minimum wage plan | |
| It would take nine more years to see $15 become the minimum wage at the University of Memphis at the current rate of raises, custodians said in an open letter Monday. "If there is a plan to implement $15/hour, as President Rudd suggested, we have not seen it," they wrote. "He has never responded directly to our attempts over the last 7 ½ years to ask him for a living wage." The letter was signed by six current custodians and one retired custodian. One of the custodians signing the letter wrote that she had worked for the university for 21 years. The custodians issued the letter after a clash between University President M. David Rudd and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris. After Harris vetoed $1 million in funding from the county to a university project, Rudd responded by saying the university does have a plan to raise employee pay. Harris said in his veto letter to Shelby County Commissioners that he believes the university needs to come up with a plan to raise all employees to a $15 an hour minimum. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State women play for gold Wednesday | |
| Another World University Games challenge, another big deficit -- and another comeback for the Mississippi State women's team. Competing in Italy as USA Team, the MSU basketball players – who faced a double-digit deficit late in the third quarter -- rallied on Monday to beat Japan 89-84 in a semifinal game. The USA squad plays defending champion Australia for the gold medal on Wednesday at 1 p.m. CDT in Naples. The Aussies advanced with a 56-49 victory over Portugal. The red, white and blue Bulldogs trailed 56-48 at halftime and 73-63 with 2:19 left in the third. "I don't know I have ever seen a more resilient team that can bow their necks and show the toughness they have shown," said head coach Vic Schaefer. "On top of that, they continue to do it in the hardest quarter -- the fourth quarter." |
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