| Friday, August 2, 2019 |
| Construction projects underway at Mississippi State's Starkville campus | |
 | Several capital improvement projects are underway at Mississippi State University. Hundreds of students will move into the new College View student housing development in August. The university says the $67 million facility includes 656 residential beds, 46,000 square feet of retail space, recreational amenities, an outdoor entertainment zone and a 7,000-square-foot addition to the MSU Child Development and Family Studies Center. Two connected projects are nearing completion at the corner of Blackjack Road and Stone Boulevard. Work is being done on a 44,300-square-foot facility that will house classrooms, research labs and administrative space for MSU's Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. Connected to this is a 31,300-square-foot building for the Department of Poultry Science. Work is expected to be complete on the building by the end of the year. Construction started this month on a 500-space parking garage next to Howell Hall, near Humphrey Coliseum and Davis Wade Stadium. The $16 million garage is expected to be complete in the summer of 2020. |
| Hollie's tarpon: Fish caught by Alabama woman going far | |
 | A tarpon tagged in late July -- after being reeled in by the first woman to win the tarpon category at the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo -- has covered more than 200 miles since then, researchers report. For that tarpon enthusiast, who says she's still trying to process her win, it's an amazing thing to see the story of her fish continue. "I cry every single time I get one to the boat," said Hollie Tew, who caught the fish on July 19, the first day of the rodeo. "I just can't help it. They're just so beautiful, so prehistoric." A tracking map for the fish was revealed this week by scientists with the Mississippi State University Marine Fisheries Ecology program, who worked closely at the rodeo with researchers from the University of South Alabama and Dauphin Island Sea Lab and from Louisiana State University. "If we really want to learn something about that fish," said Marcus Drymon, an assistant extension professor at Mississippi State University and a marine fisheries specialist with the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, "we have to cooperate." |
| Educators at the Neshoba County Fair | |
 | Photo: Meridian Day at the Neshoba County Fair on Wednesday included Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum, right, MSU-Meridian Associate Vice President Terry Dale Cruse and Meridian Community College President Tom Huebner. |
| GOP gubernatorial candidates take Neshoba stage with differing ideas | |
 | In these vital closing days of a hotly contested Republican primary race to win the gubernatorial nomination, candidates offered energetic versions of their major campaign themes delivered with a combative edge sharpened for the Founders Square stage of the Neshoba County Fair. Republicans Robert Foster, William "Bill" Waller Jr. and Tate Reeves spoke -- in that order -- and Waller in particular was notable for an energized and lively presence that departed from his typically staid, measured delivery. Healthcare policy continues to drive the strongest distinctions between the GOP gubernatorial hopefuls. Foster and Waller support a limited version of Medicaid expansion that would require recipients to pay some kind of premium. Reeves adamantly opposes any proposal that makes more people in the state eligible for Medicaid assistance. Foster and Waller pitched their position from the Neshoba stage. Waller calls it a remedy for rural hospital closures. "We either step up and be pragmatic or we're going to lose some hospitals," Waller said. |
| Neshoba County Fair: Reeves takes heat from fellow Republicans Waller, Foster | |
 | Republican gubernatorial candidates Bill Waller Jr. and Robert Foster on Thursday sharpened their attacks on Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, seeking to poke holes in his positions on Medicaid expansion and road funding. But in a series of Neshoba County Fair political speeches ahead of the Tuesday primary, Reeves and the presumptive Democratic front-runner, Attorney General Jim Hood, only took swipes at each other. Both candidates clearly expect they will advance without issue to the Nov. 5 general election. Foster, a state representative, and Waller, a former state Supreme Court chief justice, both support a version of expanding Medicaid coverage to the state's working poor that would also assist that state's cash-strapped rural hospitals. They both back raising the state's gas tax to pay for road and bridge repairs, and propose cutting the state's income tax. Reeves opposes both Medicaid expansion and raising the gas tax. |
| 'This race is kind of heating up': Hood sits back and watches as Republicans battle each other | |
 | Attorney General Jim Hood said he toned down his speech Thursday at the Neshoba County Fair as the three Republican candidates for governor fought among themselves. "This race is kind of heating up," said Hood, viewed as the front-runner among the eight Democrats running for governor. "...I know y'all came to hear me throw a few rocks and the others as well. "But when the others are fighting I have always been told you just let them fight. I am trying to bite my lip on a few of the things -- to save a few of these rocks." Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, hoping to garner a majority vote in Tuesday's Republican primary and avoid a runoff, continued to focus on Hood and "the Washington liberals." But he did reference his Republican opponents when he stressed that he is the only candidate in the race opposed to expanding Medicaid to cover primarily the working poor and opposed to increasing the gasoline tax to pay for road and bridge repairs. |
| Governor candidates trade jabs during final day of speeches at Neshoba | |
| The last day of political speeches at the Neshoba County fair saw a crowded field of candidates running for Governor. There are a number of Democrat gubernatorial candidates running and a many of those speaking at the fair took jabs at Democrat frontrunner Jim Hood for hiring outside counsel trial lawyers instead of using the Attorney General's office lawyers. Others criticized the Republican leadership's hold on the state saying things need to change for the better. |
| Republican candidates for attorney general openly spar on the stump | |
| Republican candidates for attorney general offered biting criticism of each other Thursday, providing some of the most fierce oratorical fireworks amid this year's political speeches at the Neshoba County Fair. Andy Taggart, an attorney and longtime behind-the-scenes figure in state GOP politics, spoke first with a thunderous speech that lauded his commitment to fight drugs and counted his legal experience as far exceeding that of his opponents. State Rep. Mark Baker was up next. He took a swipe at Taggart's legal skills but focused more directly on Treasurer Lynn Fitch, calling her the "hand picked successor" of Democrat Jim Hood. For her part, Fitch steered clear of the fray and touted her experience, including her tenure as state treasurer for two terms and a legal career that began in the attorney general's office. "I'm always going to run a positive campaign," Fitch said. Hood has been the only Democrat to hold statewide office in Mississippi for several terms now, and the state has not had a Republican attorney general since the Reconstruction era. With Hood running for governor, the seat is open. There is one Democrat in the race, but the primary for the GOP nomination has become quite intense, especially in recent weeks. |
| Republicans, poised to take AG seat for first time in modern history, fight over who's most conservative | |
| The three Republicans running for attorney general used their Neshoba County Fair speeches on Thursday to convince voters of their conservative values. Treasurer Lynn Fitch, state Rep. Mark Baker and Madison attorney Andy Taggart all spoke Thursday about how they would implement conservative leadership in a seat that has been held by Democrats since the 19th century. Fitch, who has served the past eight years as state treasurer, joined several other statewide Republican candidates in focusing on her support of President Donald Trump. Baker, a Rankin County attorney who has served in the Legislature since 2003, says he's the only true conservative in the race. Taggart, a longtime Republican political operative who served as chief of staff to former Gov. Kirk Fordice, criticized Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood and said the state should have an attorney general with similar political views as the governor. |
| Treasurer candidates present plans to manage state's resources at Neshoba County Fair | |
| David McRae and state Sen. Eugene "Buck" Clarke, both vying for the Republican nomination for state treasurer, avoided attacking one another in their Thursday afternoon Neshoba County Fair speeches and instead focused on why they think they're the best candidate. For McRae, it's his alignment with the president, and for Watson it's experience. McRae, a Madison attorney and businessman, touted his endorsements from 30 county campaign chairmen and Gov. Phil Bryant, all vocal allies of President Donald Trump. Near the end of his speech McRae thanked his opponent, Clarke, for running a clean race and called it refreshing. Clarke, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, focused his speech on his 16 years in the state Senate. "We got a saying in the Delta, 'I was warm when I got here but I'm hot now,'" Clarke said. Clarke went on to tout his accomplishments from his eight years as chair of the Appropriations Committee. |
| AG and Treasurer races heat up at Neshoba | |
| Candidates in the race for Attorney General and Treasurer heated up at the Neshoba County fair with the Republican AG hopefuls targeting Hood's Democrat leadership and offering a chance for the office to be held by a Republican for the first time since 1878. The lone Democrat in the race brought her experience to the table and said she was not running for any one person but was running for the people. |
| In Neshoba, Lieutenant Gov Candidates Duel, Detail (Some) Issue Stances | |
| Just over a decade ago, Mississippi House Rep. Jay Hughes' mother died in the back of an ambulance while en route to a hospital that was just a little too far away. "I don't need to ask the (Mississippi) Hospital Association the value of rural having hospitals in every single community," Hughes told the crowd after sharing that story at the Neshoba County Fair on Wednesday. He was pitching his candidacy as the lone Democrat in this year's race for lieutenant governor. "I've got a lifetime of one thing---and that's being real," he said. Hughes' likely Republican opponent in November, current Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, spoke immediately after him. He told the crowd that he, too, wants to "reform Medicaid." He said he was studying models in different states, and promised a plan that would save rural hospitals. "No Mississippian should be further than 30 minutes from an emergency room, and they won't be starting next year," Hosemann pledged, though he did not offer specifics. |
| Neshoba County Fair: Phil Bryant farewell speech as Mississippi governor | |
| Gov. Phil Bryant on Thursday gave his final Neshoba County Fair political stump speech as governor, as he's term limited and in his eighth and final year. It was something of a greatest hits speech, a rapid-fire recounting of his administration's accomplishments. For Bryant, it was his 22nd Neshoba speech, dating back to when he was state auditor in 1997. He said after it was bittersweet, but maybe not his last time at the podium here. Former governors have spoken here numerous times. "You never know when they might run out of talent one year," Bryant joked. He also told the crowd, "I'm not running for office now, or ever again." Bryant said he is proud of accomplishments in education -- including great gains in high school graduation rates and student literacy -- economic development and cutting taxes "52 times." |
| Retiring Dick Hall and Cecil Brown call for guts, vision from future leaders in farewell speeches | |
| With 68 years of government experience between them, Republican Dick Hall and Democrat Cecil Brown used their final speeches at the Neshoba County Fair to urge the next crop of Mississippi leaders to adopt stronger visions for the state. Hall -- with 44 years of political experience, serving in both the House and Senate and currently serving as one of the state's three transportation commissioners -- has for years publicly lobbied lawmakers for an increase in the state's fuel tax, which hasn't been adjusted since 1987. "We cannot afford to fall any further behind in the race for economic development," Hall said. "And our race cannot be run without a modern, multimodal system for transportation. It's imperative that we choose someone who has the vision to see the road ahead and the political guts to lead the way." |
| Jobs report: Employers added solid 164,000 positions in July | |
 | U.S. job growth was solid for a second straight month in July as employers added 164,000 jobs, further allaying recession worries and doing little to bolster the Federal Reserve's case for another interest rate cut next month. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%, just above a 50-year low, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists expected 165,000 job gains, according to a Bloomberg survey. Mildly disappointing: Payroll gains for May and June combined were revised down by a total 41,000. May's additions were revised from 72,000 to 62,000, and June's, from 224,000 to 193,000. Hiring has slowed this year to an average monthly pace of 165,000 from 223,000 in 2018, but that's still a solid performance and more than enough to keep lowering the jobless rate. Economists largely blame the downshift on fading effects of federal tax cuts and spending increases, the sluggish global economy and President Trump's trade war with China. |
| Making $10 million disappear: Athletic spending, declining enrollment tank EMCC fund balance | |
 | Leadership at East Mississippi Community College is scrambling to reverse nearly a decade's worth of deficit spending that has tanked the school's general operating fund balance. Documents provided to The Dispatch on Wednesday show EMCC's general operating fund balance has fallen more than $10 million since Fiscal Year 2010 -- from roughly $11 million to only $710,844 by the end of June 2018. EMCC President Scott Alsobrooks and two of the school's board members confirmed those figures are accurate. It's still unclear whether the fund balance will decrease further for Fiscal Year 2019, which ended June 30, because Alsobrooks said EMCC is still receiving invoices that will be billed to that fiscal year. However, he hopes cost-cutting measures the school put in place after his arrival as president in January will assure at least a break-even year. Athletics proved the primary drain to EMCC's general operating fund balance, at least in FY 2018, the most recent year for which The Dispatch obtained detailed documents. |
| Citizen comment on East Mississippi Community College sparks heated exchange | |
| District 4 Supervisor Leroy Brooks had choice words for a citizen demanding the board remove the Lowndes County appointees on the East Mississippi Community College board of trustees. Private citizen Boomer Brown addressed the board of supervisors during its regular meeting Wednesday after he said he attended two EMCC board meetings. He claimed the Lowndes County-appointed members, who were present at the supervisors meeting, acted "childish" and Lowndes County deserved better. After Brown read his speech, Brooks quickly introduced himself to Brown and proceeded to tell Brown how he was "out of order." "Your request is out of order," Brooks said. "I'm insulted by the fact that you would walk in here. I don't deal with these gentlemen that much, but to come in here and tarnish their character, I think you're completely out of order. ... If (EMCC President Scott) Alsobrooks wanted to say something, he should have come. I'm pissed off. I think you're completely out of order. We should have stopped you from the beginning." EMCC's next board meeting will be at the Scooba campus Monday at 7 p.m. |
| U. of Florida pays $66K to end conservative student group dispute | |
 | The University of Florida has agreed to pay $66,000 and make policy changes to settle a lawsuit brought by the conservative student organization Young Americans for Freedom, which claimed the school violated its members' free speech rights. The federal lawsuit, filed in December, argued that the school denied the group equal access to student activity funds to pay for guest speakers. YAF spokesman Spencer Brown said members of the UF chapter took issue with their non-budgeted status and claimed that it was the only group whose requests for funding were denied by student government. The suit alleges that YAF tried to apply to become budgeted but was met with discrimination through a system of "unbridled discretion, while granting other student organizations substantial budgets." As part of the agreement, the university agreed to change its student activity funding policy, with all groups now having equal access to the money, regardless of views or beliefs. Student government will then approve the funding requests. |
| Robert Caslen meeting with students, faculty on first day as U. of South Carolina president | |
 | Robert Caslen started off with a story. Before he was chosen to be the president of the University of South Carolina, he used to oversee high-stress training for the Army. In all of the groups that succeeded, Caslen noticed some patterns: the low-ranking soldiers felt comfortable talking with the officers, the leaders didn't humiliate their subordinates for taking an unsuccessful risk, and the soldiers trusted their leaders to do the right thing. "You can be No. 1 in your class... but if you fail in character you fail in leadership," Caslen said. Caslen told that story Thursday to a room of more than 100 women at USC's law school who assembled to hear their new president speak on his first day in office. That meeting, organized by Professional Women on Campus, was his first of several meetings with students, faculty and more. |
| Texas A&M University System partners with Houston group for veteran outreach | |
 | A new agreement between a Houston-based organization and the Texas A&M University System will help provide veterans throughout the state with needed resources. Though Combined Arms is specifically located and focused in the Houston area, the addition of the Texas A&M University System will expand the organization's reach of connecting veterans and military-affiliated individuals and families to services. "A&M's student veterans will be able to access the 400-plus resources available on the [Combined Arms] system, and A&M researchers will be able to recruit participants for studies involving veterans," Combined Arms Marketing Manager Alan Nguyen said. Monteigne Long, program coordinator for Texas A&M's Office of Veteran Services, said the university system will add a higher education component. |
| Privy to the details: Texas A&M pofessor documents outbuildings for landmark survey | |
 | As tourists lined up Thursday to take pictures of the octagonal mansion Longwood, one particular visitor focused his attention on the small square privy out back. A Texas A&M professor of architecture, Brent Fortenberry, spent most of the morning taking precise measurements of the five-seater outhouse, using a digital 3-D scanner, a drone and an old-fashioned tape measure. Fortenberry's documentation is part of a landmark study of existing antebellum outbuildings in Adams County, Historic Natchez Foundation Executive Director Carter Burns said. The project is a joint effort of HNF, Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Natchez National Historical Park, Burns said. "We probably have the country's richest resource of these buildings, both in the number of them and the variety of types of outbuildings," Burns said. "Outbuildings just haven't really been studied in-depth." |
| Rats who lift weights do better on tests, U. of Missouri study shows | |
 | Weight-lifting rats did better than their peers on tests of brain function, according to a study from the University of Missouri published in the May issue of Applied Physiology. Researchers studied two groups of rats, injecting the brains of both groups with fatty sugars to impair their function. These gym rats weren't taught to bench-press. The training regimen for each group was to climb small ladders. One group climbed with weights attached to their tails; the other climbed without weights. When placed in a maze, the weight-lifting rats outperformed the rats in the control group. When their brains were studied after they were euthanized, the cognitive function of the weightlifting rats had been restored to that of a normal rat at the end of the experiment. It didn't reverse the inflammation itself, though. Taylor Kelty, doctoral candidate, and Frank Booth, professor, both in the MU Department of Biomedical Science, were among the study's authors. "It's quite remarkable," Kelty said. The findings could have implications for people who lift weights or use other forms of resistance training, though researchers were careful about going too far with extrapolation of experiments conducted on rats. |
| Federal accreditation panel will look into political interference with state universities | |
 | One needn't look very hard these days to find evidence of significant intervention by state politicians in public university matters -- or of accrediting agencies questioning those politicians' decisions. Just in the last two weeks, regional accreditors in the Southeast and the Northwest, respectively, issued warnings that decisions by the governors of South Carolina and of Alaska could threaten the continued good standing of their states' universities. The accreditors' recent actions drew the attention this week of the federal panel that advises the U.S. education secretary on accreditation, prompting it to appoint a special subcommittee to explore the issue. And the federal panel's members appear to have divergent views about what they hope the subcommittee will say and do -- with some wanting the accreditors to zealously block politicians' excessive interference in the governance of public universities, and others believing the agencies have no role in doing so. |
| FBI Questions American Grads Of China's Prestigious Yenching Academy | |
 | A sudden knock at one's door. An unexpected call to meet off campus. Surreptitious visits to family members. American graduates of the prestigious Yenching Academy, a one- to two-year master's degree program housed at Beijing's elite Peking University, are being approached and questioned by the FBI about the time they spent in China. In the last two years, at least five Yenching graduates have been approached by agents to gather intelligence on the program and to ascertain whether they have been co-opted by Chinese espionage efforts. The mistrust of Yenching Academy, dubbed the "Rhodes Scholarship of China," illustrates just how far fears of Chinese espionage have permeated among the U.S. defense and intelligence establishment. Once cast as a way for America's best and brightest to build relationships with and improve understanding of China, academic programs and collaborations are now falling under scrutiny. |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs begin fall camp tonight | |
| Joe Moorhead will open his second fall camp at Mississippi State today as the Bulldogs look to build off an 8-4 season and an Outback Bowl appearance in 2018. MSU takes to the practice fields behind the Seal Football Complex at 6:25 p.m. for the first practice and will don full pads on Wednesday. The Bulldogs will also conduct three scrimmages on Aug. 10, 17 and 24 leading into their season opener against Louisiana-Lafayette on Aug. 31 in New Orleans. "I'm excited for the season," Moorhead said. "I am very cautiously optimistic because of the holes we have to fill and fired up about the talent we have. We are going to have to take it a one-at-a-time mentality once fall camp starts. One rep, one drill, one period, one day, one practice and keep stacking those on top of each other." State returns 13 starters and 49 letterwinners from last year but must replace seven starters on defense, including three NFL first rounders and the entire defensive front. |
| A Mississippi man: Former MLB All-Star Roy Oswalt retired to his 'special place' | |
| He might be wearing a weathered pair of jeans with a raggedy, sweat-stained T-shirt. Atop his head, there could be a worn-out ball cap. He's probably wearing a pair of boots with a few holes in them to complete the outfit. That look isn't uncommon in Mississippi. There are plenty of hard-working people in the Magnolia State who have no shame walking through the local grocery store in the same clothes they toiled in throughout the day. Major League Baseball legend Roy Oswalt is one of them. Oswalt, who is to be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in Jackson on Saturday, is often seen wandering around Starkville -- the town he now calls home -- in the aforementioned attire. "I knew I always wanted to come back to Mississippi," Oswalt told The Clarion Ledger in an interview this week. "This is home. It's a special place to me. I love getting away from the big city life and getting back to what I was taught growing up." When he's not coaching at Starkville Academy or working at his ranch in Crawford, Oswalt can be found at Davis Wade Stadium or Dudy Noble Field. He said he loves rooting for the Bulldogs even though he never officially became one. |
| High cost of winning: EMCC athletics, football upkeep has outpaced revenue for most of last decade | |
| East Mississippi Community College's football team is in the midst of a dynasty. In 11 years at the helm, coach Buddy Stephens guided the Lions to five NJCAA national championships -- including four in the past six seasons -- seven Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College state titles and a 110-13 record. While the winning tradition has brought the small school in Scooba acclaim and notoriety, the EMCC football program's bottom line reflects a university and athletic department bordering on financial ruin. "I'm not worried about it right now," Stephens said of looming financial questions. "I'm worried about winning ball games right now and I'm worried about what I can control." In documents obtained by The Dispatch Wednesday, financial records show EMCC has developed a history of outspending its athletic budget -- particularly in regards to football. During the 2018 fiscal year, the most recent year for which The Dispatch has detailed records, the football program received $1.07 million in university funding against total athletic department revenue of just $895,405.12. |
| Coast casinos celebrate one year anniversary of legalized sports gaming | |
 | Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the first legal sports bet in Mississippi. The Beau Rivage hosted a celebration at the site of that first bet a year ago in the casino's newly expanded and renovated multimillion dollar sports book area. Executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission Allen Godfrey calls sports gaming a success for the state and said it has even exceeded his expectations. "Gross gaming revenue is up for the year over year. That hasn't happened in a long time," Godfrey said. "People are renovating sports books that aren't even a year old, and that requires money and publicly traded companies. It means more jobs on the Coast. Overall I think the gross gaming revenue is up, which has created more tax revenue and that's all positive." The anniversary celebration event brought out local officials and even celebrities like sports handicapping guru Danny Sheridan. "This is like Vegas, and I never thought I would see this in my life," Sheridan said. Along with Sheridan, former Saints players Deuce McAllister and Bobby Hebert were also in attendance. |
| U. of Kentucky will not expand alcohol sales; AD wants 'family-friendly' games | |
 | The University of Kentucky will not expand alcohol sales at its sporting events this upcoming school year, and perhaps won't for the foreseeable future. UK Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart announced during a news conference Thursday that the university will not sell alcohol to the general public at its events in the 2019-20 school year. Alcohol sales will continue to be allowed in specially designated area such as suites at some events. The decision was made in consultation with UK President Eli Capilouto and the school's other campus partners, including UK safety officials. "It is our goal as well as our responsibility to create a safe, secure, positive, engaging environment for fans of all ages, and from all walks of life," Barnhart said. "We believe we have an outstanding college fan experience at our games." |
| Student section out of bounds, but alcohol OK in other areas of football stadium, Arkansas says | |
| Fans in nearly all areas of Donald W. Razorback Stadium will be able to buy beer and wine at football games this fall if all goes as planned. It's a plan that comes five years after alcoholic beverages were first sold in the stadium's indoor "club" areas. Expanded beer sales in college football stadiums have become more common since 2014, and in May the Southeastern Conference revised its policies to allow individual member schools to decide whether to allow such sales to fans in "public" areas at their campus athletic venues. Fans at Razorback Stadium will buy their drinks, in plastic cups, at about 12 locations in the east, west and south concourse areas, then be allowed to take them to most seating areas, according to an announcement Thursday from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. No alcohol will be allowed in the student seating section, and sales will halt at the end of the third quarter. |
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