| Wednesday, October 23, 2019 |
| Former Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck set to retire as Mississippi State University vice president | |
 | Former Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck is retiring Dec. 31 as vice president for campus services at Mississippi State University. The university said in a news release Tuesday that Tuck announced her plans this month, and President Mark Keenum will restructure some administrative jobs on the Starkville campus. The release said George Davis, the assistant vice president for campus services, is also retiring this fall. The university is returning to a previous structure that combines the finance and campus services divisions into a Division of Finance and Administration that will be led by the current university vice president for finance and chief financial officer, Don A. Zant. |
| BancorpSouth, MSU Extension hold small business seminar | |
 | Prospective small business owners from the Starkville area had the opportunity to learn some skills Tuesday through a small business seminar held by BancorpSouth in conjunction with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. The event drew several prospective business owners and featured accountant Christy Dickerson from T.E. Lott and Company discussing the Quickbooks bookkeeping software. MSU Small Business development Center Director Charles "Chip" Templeton discussed basic knowledge and advice for prospective business owners in a presentation titled "How to Start a Business." Templeton discussed the importance of having a proper business plan to start with, along with making sure to know how to use various advisers and outside entities including accountants, insurance brokers, lawyers and bankers. |
| Rural broadband discussed in USDA workshop | |
 | The USDA Rural Development hosted a rural broadband workshop at the Mississippi State University Extension Complex in Verona. Attendees learned about technologies and providers available to increase high-speed internet access in rural communities. The workshop also featured information on federal funding resources available to assist in the implementation of broadband projects. Alongside representatives of internet service providers, rural telephone companies and electric power cooperatives, the workshop also included presentations from officials representing USDA Rural Development, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Delta Regional Authority, Mississippi Development Authority and many more. |
| Land, Interest Rates Give Structural Support to Farmers' Finances ... For Now | |
 | Tight profit margins are likely here to stay, and that could create challenges for producers, especially if land values stumble or interest rates rise above their current historically low levels, according to bankers and economists at two separate events on Tuesday. Mississippi State University ag economics professor Keith Coble said the lenders he talks to are getting nervous, especially about their customers that have eaten into their working capital in recent years. "You're going to see farmers retire. A farmer that's on the margin of being able to survive, they're going to lose the land, and it's going to go to another producer that's probably larger and more efficient." The fed cattle industry has seen three years of returns below breakeven, he said, but is expected to see profits improve in 2020. Cow-calf operations, Enix said, have remained "generally profitable," although upstream pressure in fed cattle is depressing prices a bit. |
| Airbnb discussion becomes contentious at public input session Tuesday | |
 | Voices rose and exchanges became heated Tuesday at the second public input session for Starkville's proposed restrictions on short-term rental properties in single-family residential neighborhoods. About 50 people attended the forum at City Hall where supporters claimed short-term rentals like Airbnbs threaten the integrity and character of residential neighborhoods meant for families, while opponents argued the restrictions are government overreach and potentially harmful to the local economy. Mayor Lynn Spruill, Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk and Ward 5 Alderman Hamp Beatty oversaw the forum. Multiple instances of raised voices and crosstalk led local pastor Johnny Buckner and furniture store owner Rick Underwood to call for a more civilized discussion. "Instead of each individual thinking (about) how many times they can rent and how much money are they going to make, what's Starkville going to look like in five years and 10 years?" Underwood said. "I think we should all be working together, (and) I think we're all here to have a better town." |
| Poll: Governor race remains close. Majority of Mississippi voters oppose impeachment | |
 | A new poll shows the Mississippi gubernatorial race remains tight with less than two weeks to Election Day. It also found a majority of voters oppose impeaching and removing President Donald Trump from office. The Mason-Dixon telephone poll of 625 voters found: Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves leading Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood 46% to 43%. 2% support third-party candidates Bob Hickingbottom or Dave Singletary. Remaining 9% undecided. Other recent polls have shown a similarly competitive race, closer than any state governor contest since 2003. Republicans have controlled the governor's mansion since 2004. Mason-Dixon pollsters indicated Trump's scheduled Nov. 1 rally in Tupelo "could be a deciding factor" and offer a "significant boost" for Reeves with GOP turnout. They noted Trump's last-minute campaigning in Louisiana recently helped force incumbent Democrat John Bel Edwards into a runoff. |
| Reeves has slight lead over Hood and Trump 'could be the deciding factor,' Mason-Dixon poll says | |
| Mason-Dixon pollsters say President Donald Trump could be the deciding factor in a gubernatorial election where Republican Tate Reeves has "a slight" 46-43 lead. With the poll having a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent, the contest between Reeves, the state's lieutenant governor, and Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood remains within the margin of error, but with an ace in the hole for Reeves, according to the Mason-Dixon analysis. "In this close race, President Donald Trump could be the deciding factor," said a narrative that accompanied the poll results that were released to the Mississippi media on Tuesday afternoon. "Trump remains popular in Mississippi and efforts by congressional Democrats to impeach him are opposed by a significant majority of state voters." Trump is set to visit Tupelo in Northeast Mississippi on Nov. 1 to campaign for Reeves before the Nov. 5 general election. |
| Red-state governor races put both parties on edge | |
 | Three nail-biting gubernatorial contests in deeply red states have both Democrats and Republicans on edge in the two weeks before Election Day, in races that will test President Trump's ability to move votes a year before his reelection bid. Two incumbents, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D), are on the ballot next month. In the third state, Mississippi, Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves is facing off against Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood. And in all three contests, polls show a tied race. An internal survey conducted for Hood's campaign shows him leading Reeves 45 percent to 42 percent, well within the statistical margin of error. And a Mason-Dixon poll released Wednesday morning shows Reeves leading Hood by a similarly slim 46 percent to 43 percent margin, also within the margin of error. |
| Donald Trump Jr. to make appearance at 'Good Ole Boys and Gals' in Oxford | |
| Donald Trump Jr. will be at the Good Ole Boys and Gals barbecue in Oxford Thursday night, according to a source with knowledge of the event. The president's son will be attending the barbecue with Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, the Republican nominee for governor. The event, which showcases speeches from politicians, is open to the public. Trump Jr. will come to the event straight from a fundraiser for Reeves at a hunting lodge near Hattiesburg. According to invitations for that event, attending costs $500. Trump Jr.'s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News personality, will also be at the hunting lodge fundraiser. President Donald Trump will be visiting Mississippi on Nov. 1 to rally for Reeves at a Tupelo arena four days before statewide elections. |
| AG candidate Jennifer Riley Collins advocates for efforts to protect state's 'most vulnerable citizens' | |
 | With the state's general election less than two weeks away, Democratic candidate for attorney general Jennifer Riley Collins is campaigning to operate the state's law top law enforcement agency in a way that protects and represents "all Mississippians." Riley Collins is the former executive director of the state's ACLU and a former intelligence officer for the U.S. Army. She met with the Daily Journal's editorial board, and said she is advocating to protect children and elderly citizens. A Meridian native, Riley Collins said she thinks there are more civil rights areas that need to be improved in the state, especially concerning the state's voting laws. "You can file your taxes with the IRS on your smart device," Riley Collins said. "Why are we not allowed to register to vote online? To me, the right to vote is access to democracy. So, to me that is a civil rights matter." |
| Medicaid Hearing Explores Budget Savings and Alternative Coverage | |
 | Jesse Cross-Call with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C. is at the Mississippi capitol to talk about states saving money by expanding Medicaid. "When people gain healthcare states don't have to spend as much money on like behavioral health programs that serve people with low-incomes who are uninsured. It means states don't have to send as much money to hospitals to cover their uncompensated care costs because there are fewer uninsured people, said Cross-Call. The state's Democratic Legislative Caucus is holding hearings on Medicaid expansion to encourage voter support for their candidates. Jameson Taylor with the non-profit Mississippi Center for Public Policy is opposed to expanding Medicaid. "I think to begin with the solution is going to be a community-based solution and so we can foster that by making investments in for instance charity care clinics. There are numerous clinics around the state," said Taylor. |
| Company that put wrong election date on billboards to make amends with additional GOTV ads | |
| After an advertising company printed billboards showing the wrong election date, a spokesman says it will invest in additional billboards around the Jackson area that show the correct date and amplify a get-out-the-vote message. Six billboards went up in the city of Jackson on Oct. 18 that said: "Vote: Election Day November 16, 2019." But in Mississippi, statewide elections will be held on Nov. 5. Vote.org, a California-based nonprofit, paid for the billboards for the third straight statewide election cycle in Mississippi. A spokeswoman for Vote.org said the mixup occurred because a vendor printed billboards with dates meant for advertisement in Louisiana, where a runoff election will occur on Nov. 16. The error was printed on six billboards in Jackson, and they were removed within 24 hours after they went up. Jackson residents pointed out that several of the six billboards were located in predominantly African American neighborhoods, causing some to speculate about nefarious intentions with the date mixup given Mississippi's long history of suppressing the black vote. |
| District 9: Frye, Boyd find similarities and differences during state senate candidate forum | |
| Kevin Frye and Nicole Akins Boyd took one last opportunity Monday night to convince potential voters they were the right person to send to Jackson. The two District 9 candidates for the Mississippi Senate participated in the first of three candidate forums sponsored by the League of Women Voters Oxford-North Mississippi group this week and next. Approximately 60 people filled a courtroom in the Lafayette County Chancery Building on Monday to have their questions answered and to listen. During the two-hour forum, which was a mesh of a town hall and debate format, 15 topics of discussion were presented. Boyd, who once worked at the state Attorney General's office, and Frye, the current District 1 County supervisor, agreed on most of the topics, but did have differing opinions on some key subjects. When asked about the Public Employee's Retirement System and ways to better fund it, Boyd mentioned the idea of taking out "five to six agencies" in the state and cutting funds from them to provide a pay increase to state employees. |
| President signs U.S. Rep. Michael Guest's terrorist defense bill into law | |
| U.S. Rep. Michael Guest became the second freshman Republican in Congress to have a bill become law after President Donald J. Trump signed the Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel Exercise Act last week. Guest, who was back in Mississippi's Third Congressional District last week, gave a lot of credit to his staff for the success of the bill. "When I was sworn into office, we sat down and tried to look at what we could do to work with law enforcement and try to make a difference," Guest said. The bill was the first legislation authored by a freshman Republican to pass the U.S. House of Representatives and the second to be signed into law after being delayed in the Senate for a couple of weeks. Guest also credited U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson for his support in getting the bill out of the House Committee on Homeland Security, which he chairs. |
| USDA inspector general launches climate change investigation | |
 | An internal government watchdog is starting an investigation into the USDA's handling of climate science and communication after a series of POLITICO reports found that the department has been routinely burying its work on climate change, even as farmers and ranchers are increasingly dealing with its harmful effects. The USDA's Office of the Inspector General told lawmakers on Monday that it has already begun a formal inquiry into these concerns. Lawmakers had asked the IG to look into "potential instances of suppression and alteration of scientific reports, documents, or communications" produced by USDA. POLITICO revealed one case in which USDA officials had tried to dissuade research partners at a university from disseminating their findings about how rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere led to a drop in key nutrients in rice, the world's most important crop. A leading USDA crop scientist ultimately resigned from the department over the incident. |
| The diplomat took notes. Then he told a story. | |
| A secret cable. A disembodied voice. A coded threat. William Taylor, a career diplomat, went behind closed doors in the basement of the Capitol on Tuesday and told a tale that added up to the ultimate oxymoron -- a 10-hour bureaucratic thriller. His plot devices were not cloak and dagger, but memos, text messages --- and detailed notes. His testimony was laden with precision -- names, dates, places, policy statements and diplomatic nuance, not typically the stuff of intrigue. But from the moment Taylor revealed that his wife and his mentor had given him conflicting advice on whether he should even get involved, the drama began to unfold. |
| Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell are on an impeachment collision course | |
| Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell are attacking each other in increasingly pointed terms as House Democrats burrow deeper into their impeachment inquiry. But if the top two congressional leaders can't find a way to come together soon, the government could plunge into a shutdown and any last hopes for legislating before the presidential election will vanish. The speaker and Senate majority leader have been trading grievances increasingly over the past several months. Pelosi is lashing McConnell for sitting on House-passed legislation addressing gun violence and ethics reforms; McConnell says Pelosi has done nothing to follow through on her claims that the House won't come to a "standstill" during impeachment. |
| Brandi Hephner LaBanc leaving Ole Miss for same post at U. of Massachusetts-Amherst | |
| The University of Mississippi is in need of a new Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, as Dr. Brandi Hephner LaBanc has officially accepted a position at another university. LaBanc was announced as the University of Massachusetts-Amherst's Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs this week. UMass-Amherst made the announcement on their website on Monday. LaBanc will begin her new duties in January. LaBanc has served in the same post at Ole Miss since 2012. As Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, she oversaw all student affairs on campus, including the dean of students and offices such as the fraternal leadership and learning and the Ole Miss student union. The past year has seen other departments endure shakeups. Whitman Smith, director of admissions, announced his retirement in March amid two consecutive years of decreased enrollment numbers. Last year, both Dean of Students Melinda Sutton-Noss and Leslie Banahan, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, left their posts. |
| Ole Miss chancellor applicants question Boyce's actions, agenda as search consultant | |
| Several candidates who applied for the University of Mississippi chancellor job believe they were misled by Glenn Boyce, who ultimately received the appointment, about his own interest in the job in one-on-one meetings with him earlier this year. Five of the seven applicants who spoke to Mississippi Today said they applied at Boyce's urging at a time when he was a consultant paid to, according to the contract obtained by Mississippi Today, "solicit input from University of Mississippi constituencies on qualifications and characteristics desired for the next chancellor." Given that task, each of the people who spoke to Mississippi Today now question whether Boyce had his own agenda the whole time. Each of them asked not to be named out of fear it would harm their professional and business relationships with the university or their chances of being considered for other university leadership posts in the future. |
| 2019 symposium focuses on food and labor | |
| Day passes are still available for the 2019 Southern Foodways Symposium on Friday and Saturday in Oxford. "This year's theme is Food and Labor, or as we like to say, food is work," said Melissa Hall, an associate director at the Southern Foodways Alliance which hosts the annual symposium. "Through talks, an art installation, performances and the meals themselves, we'll explore that theme. We'll look at how people across the region prepare food, what we eat and how we eat it through their labor." A day pass for Friday includes breakfast, lunch and a full day of talks. The cost is $250. A day pass for Saturday includes a breakfast on the grounds of the Barnard Observatory, which houses the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, morning talks, a commissioned performance and lunch. The cost is $150. Tickets for the full three-day symposium, which includes all the talks plus seven meals and three cocktail parties, are sold out. |
| Rowan to the rescue: Ole Miss welcomes first-ever therapy dog at counseling center | |
| His name is Rowan, and he's getting schooled for a new role at the University of Mississippi. The springer spaniel-standard poodle hybrid, also known as a "springerdoodle" or "spoodle," will complete training in about a year as the university's first-ever therapy dog. He will then be certified to work with students who seek services at the University Counseling Center. Rowan, named after William Faulkner's Rowan Oak home, will sit in on counseling sessions with students who have anxiety, depression or some other mental health issue. The goal is for Rowan to help students open up and provide them comfort if they happen to be dealing with a traumatic event, are anxious, or even homesick. He will also help the counseling center's efforts to "de-stigmatize" mental health treatment, Ole Miss counselor Katie Harrison said in a university news release. |
| Mississippi HBCUs Among Worst Targets of Discriminatory Lending | |
| Historically black colleges and universities in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana pay three times more in underwriting fees than do their non-HBCU counterparts, a new economics study found. The Journal of Financial Economics reported that HBCUs are targets of such discriminatory lending practices, with the institutions paying 14% more when borrowing money than did non-HBCU institutions across the country. The study's authors analyzed 4,145 tax-exempt bonds issued by 965 colleges and universities, 102 of which are HBCUs, between 1988 and 2010. Colleges and universities use tax-exempt loans to finance expansion projects and various improvements. Rather than dealing directly with the investors who finance these multi-million-dollar loans, educational institutions work with the underwriters, the people who purchase the whole loans but then reach out to other investors to buy parts of them. |
| Alliance, NEMCC, Skills Foundation partner to grow job skills | |
| The Alliance of Corinth/Alcorn County and Northeast Mississippi Community College have announced a new partnership with the Skills Foundation of Mississippi Inc. to increase skills growth for high demand jobs in Alcorn County. The goal of the partnership is to increase the enrollment and number of individuals completing the Industrial Maintenance Workforce Certificate program at NEMCC. The training is a six- to eight-month program and boasts a 100% job placement rate for successful individuals. "Northeast Mississippi Community College does a wonderful job preparing individuals in Alcorn County for companies that are hiring in our area," said Clayton Stanley, president of The Alliance, which is the economic development group for Corinth and Alcorn County. "We are excited to work with the Skills Foundation to push more people towards these opportunities." |
| Auburn University students help town identify deceased in old cemetery | |
 | Nestled behind Cubahatchie Baptist Church and its cemetery in Shorter is another cemetery, long neglected by residents and closed off from the community. During preparations for a new housing development in the area, residents began voicing concern about construction tampering with the overgrown cemetery, which has more than 100 headstones. Joe Turnham, director of the Macon County Economic Development Authority, mentioned how he and Willie Mae Powell, the mayor of Shorter, were going to start identifying the deceased in the overgrown cemetery, and that's when Auburn University's Mark Wilson got his students involved. Wilson, in his Practicum of Liberal Arts course at Auburn, and his students spent the semester working on a project with Macon County. The course itself is offered as part of the Appalachian Teaching Project of the Appalachian Regional Commission. |
| U. of South Carolina forcing 255 students out of their apartments midyear to save costs on campus project | |
 | Students and parents are upset that the University of South Carolina is forcing 255 freshmen to move midyear as the school begins a massive overhaul of its southern campus. USC needed to move students after the fall semester to avoid higher costs on the $210 million project so it meet a planned fall 2022 opening, university spokesman Jeff Stensland said. The project received final state approval last week. The school will find on-campus housing for the displaced students living in the 45-year-old Cliff Apartments, he said. Forcing students to move after the fall semester is disruptive and unfair, parents and students say. "This is the first time I have been upset or sick since coming to campus," said Kayla Shannon, a freshman Cliff resident from New York who started an online petition to keep the dorm open until the end of the school year. "I feel I don't matter to a university that I started to love." This year, USC has been touting its new U.S. News & World Report national top ranking for first-year student experience. "It's kind of ironic," said Shannon, who wonders if her younger sister still wants to come to USC after the forced move. |
| U. of Florida joins alliance to develop inclusive, diverse STEM faculty | |
| The University of Florida announced Tuesday that joined a three-year institutional change effort aimed at diversifying its faculty recruitment, hiring, and retention practices in STEM fields. The effort, Aspire: The National Alliance for Inclusive & Diverse STEM Faculty, was spearheaded by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The National Science Foundation funds the effort as part of its INCLUDES initiative. UF and 20 other universities joined the effort following an inaugural set of 15 institutions that began working together to advance the mission earlier in 2019. "We believe inclusion, diversity, equity and access in our STEM faculty enable us to deliver the best possible educational experience and are critical to our research excellence," said Antonio Farias, UF's Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Advisor to the President. |
| Democrat says Trump administration improperly released aid to Dream Center colleges | |
 | Representative Bobby Scott, the House education committee chairman, suggested Tuesday in a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that her department had illegally awarded federal aid to two ineligible for-profit college programs operated by the defunct Dream Center. Scott, a Virginia Democrat, also threatened to issue subpoenas if the Trump administration doesn't cooperate with his committee's ongoing investigation into the Education Department's handling of Dream Center Education Holdings, which went under earlier this year. The education committee has for months pursued a slow-moving investigation into the collapse of Dream Center, which operated the Art Institute and Argosy University chains since 2017. In his letter Tuesday, Scott attributed the slow pace of the inquiry to stonewalling by the Education Department, which he said had released documents that are either unresponsive or heavily redacted. |
| Penn State Fraternity Suspended After Teen's Death | |
 | Pennsylvania State University has suspended a fraternity after a teenager died at an off-campus house over the weekend where members of the fraternity were believed to be present, university officials said Tuesday. The university said in a statement that it had temporarily suspended the Alpha Delta Chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity while the State College Police Department and the university investigated the 17-year-old's death. The death occurred on Saturday night at a house on 522 West College Avenue in State College, Pa., that was not the fraternity's official house. Few details were available Tuesday evening about the episode. The teenager's name was not released, but the university said in the statement that he was not a Penn State student and was only visiting the area. |
| New Role: Taking an Unblinking Look at a University's Past | |
 | As colleges in several states struggle to reconcile their current values with their historic ties to slavery, one in Virginia took the unusual step of hiring a historian to explore that past. Washington and Lee University, named for two famous Virginia generals who owned slaves, appointed Lynn Rainville, a public historian and anthropologist, as its director of institutional history this year. Rainville, who reports directly to President William C. Dudley, is assigned to create a museum dedicated to the university's history, including its connections with slavery; guide educational programming and research; and serve as university historian. Even though people may disagree about the university's controversial past, Rainville says, "I would rather deal with passion than apathy." More challenging to her as a historian, she says, is "when people feel like they shouldn't care at all, they absolutely do not care what happened in the past. That to me is a far more alarming moment." |
| Are Liberal Arts Colleges Doomed? | |
 | Two days before classes started at Hampshire College in September, the school's incoming first-year students -- all 13 of them -- attended a welcome reception in the campus's new R.W. Kern Center. A motley mix of plaids, khakis and combat boots, the group lined up to shake hands with the college president and receive small bells -- symbols of the large brass bell they'll ring upon completing their "Division III," the epic independent project required to graduate. If, that is, Hampshire survives long enough for them to graduate. Nine months earlier, the Massachusetts college -- mired in financial trouble -- had launched a search for a partner to merge with and announced that it might not admit a new freshman class in the fall. Coming after a series of mergers and closures of New England schools, the announcement provoked alarm in the world of higher ed. Eventually, Hampshire offered a place to 70-odd students it had accepted early or who had taken a gap year before enrolling -- but warned that there was no guarantee it would stay open. |
| Community colleges open the door to selective universities | |
| When it comes to getting into a selective university, high school GPA and test scores typically play the most important role. But in a recent study, we show another way to attend a selective university: transfer from a community college. This alternative option is important for students who are minority, low-income, and underprepared academically for higher education. Students from these particular groups are less likely to gain admission and enroll at a selective university. As researchers who specialize in the study of higher education, we know that going to a selective university often gives students a competitive advantage on the job market. The students in our study who transferred from a community college to a four-year university were more likely to be minority, low-income, and academically underprepared students with low high school GPAs. Based on the academic characteristics of these students, starting at a selective university out of high school was likely not an option. But community colleges can open the door to selective universities. |
| HBCU leaders reluctant to antagonize Trump after 'lynching' comment | |
| South Carolina Democrats are incensed over President Donald Trump's use of the word "lynching" to describe the impeachment inquiry against him. But that doesn't mean they're yanking an invite for him to speak at a historically black college on Friday. An organizer for the upcoming presidential justice forum hosted at Benedict College in Columbia told POLITICO on Tuesday that the three-day event would continue as planned. Even so, some Democrats are hoping Trump will embarrass himself on a national stage, talking about a subject he rarely touches on in front of a portion of the electorate that he's least popular with. "I think the president needs to have an opportunity to continue to expose his racist values and his bigotry and let students in the area see that this is the wrong leadership we need in South Carolina and America," said Brandon Brown, a South Carolina native and a former vice president of Jackson State University in Mississippi. |
| Harvard Crimson defends ICE reporting as immigration advocates boycott | |
| Soon after the Harvard Crimson covered an "Abolish ICE" protest on campus last month, fierce blowback came from student activists, who slammed the paper for "cultural insensitivity" and accused it of "blatantly endangering undocumented students on campus." The Crimson's alleged misstep? Reporters asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment after the protest had ended. That complaint has grown into the latest clash over campus speech, with hundreds signing a petition demanding that the newspaper stop talking to ICE altogether -- a movement that has left professional journalists and media ethics experts around the country aghast. In a letter published by Crimson editors Angela N. Fu and Kristine E. Guillaume on Tuesday, the paper defended its work, noting that asking for comment is a standard journalism practice. Doug Fisher, a former Associated Press correspondent who teaches journalism at the University of South Carolina, called the activists' criticism "a fundamental, basic misunderstanding or a deliberate refusal to understand what journalists do and how they do it." |
| Analyst: Trump 'more popular than he should be' in state | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: Will the scheduled appearances of President Donald Trump in Tupelo and the president's son Don in Purvis help galvanize Trump's not inconsequential base in Mississippi to support Republican gubernatorial nominee Tate Reeves against Democrat Jim Hood? That, despite national approval ratings for Trump that are in the low 40s range and have remained so for many months? ... The close bond between outgoing two-term Republican Gov. Phil Bryant and Trump has been a factor as Bryant's role as the titular head of the Mississippi GOP helped to clear the tracks for the "Trump Train" in Mississippi. Throw in strong Republican majorities in both the Mississippi House and Senate along with the GOP holding seven of eight statewide offices and it's hard to imagine why Mississippi is experiencing what many believe is the state's most competitive governor's race since Republican Haley Barbour successfully challenged Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's bid for a second term in 2003. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State players sound off on Joe Moorhead's rumored connection to Rutgers | |
| While the rumors regarding Mississippi State football coach Joe Moorhead and the vacant head coaching job at Rutgers have begun to heat up of late, those within the walls of the Bulldog program are not concerned. Speaking with the media Tuesday, a number of players were asked about Moorhead's status with MSU and what he has said regarding the rumors. "It's funny to him if anything," freshman quarterback Garrett Shrader said. "He's not leaving an SEC West program, and he's told me that multiple times. 'We're going to win an SEC championship here' -- that's his message to me." "There's always going to be outside noise -- that's just the world we live in these days," junior running back Kylin Hill added. "I'm not too focused on that; nobody is too focused on that. He's coaching while he's still here. Everybody loves the man; nobody is worried about it at all." |
| What Mississippi State players said about Joe Moorhead, Rutgers rumors | |
| Last week, Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead said plenty about the rumors of him being a candidate to fill the head coaching vacancy at Rutgers. This week, his players took their turns. True freshman quarterback Garrett Shrader and junior running back Kylin Hill opened up about the situation. They both seemed adamant that Moorhead is serious about what he said on the set of The Paul Finebaum Show last week. "My focus is here at Mississippi State," Moorhead told Finebaum on a live telecast from The Junction in the middle of Mississippi State's campus in Starkville. Shrader and Hill had similar statements. "It's funnier to him than anything," Shrader said. "He's not leaving an SEC West program. He's told me that multiple times." "There's always going to be outside noise," Hill added. "That's the world we live in today. I'm not too focused on it. Nobody's focused on it. Everybody loves the man." |
| Can Mississippi State keep its bowl streak alive? | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Logan Lowery writes: Mississippi State just passed the midway point of its season, but is still only halfway to bowl eligibility. Upset losses to Kansas State and Tennessee have the 3-4 Bulldogs scrambling to find three wins down the stretch to keep their bowl streak alive. MSU's path to a bowl is not impossible but the Bulldogs cannot afford to have anymore slip-ups in games that they'll be favored. According to ESPN, State's win probability at Arkansas is 75 percent. The Bulldogs are also expected to beat Abilene Christian (98.2 percent) and Ole Miss (65.8 percent). If Mississippi State can come out on top in those contests it'll be on its way to a bowl game for the 10th-consecutive season. |
| Texas A&M showed weak spots in ground-game armor at Ole Miss | |
 | The Texas A&M football team's run defense had a few uncharacteristic leaks in last week's 24-17 Southeastern Conference victory at Ole Miss. The Aggies had not allowed more than two runs of at least 20 yards in each of the previous 19 games under Jimbo Fisher, but the Rebels reeled off runs of 27, 36, 38 and 69 yards. Dual-threat quarterback John Rhys Plumlee and a trio of tailbacks helped Ole Miss rush for 250 yards. A&M (4-3, 2-2) will be facing another true freshman dual-threat quarterback Saturday in Mississippi State's 6-foot-4, 220-pound Garrett Shrader, who has rushed for 342 yards and two touchdowns on 59 carries over the last four games. "[Shrader] is an athletic, big, strong guy," Fisher said. "He can make plays, and the offensive line is a big, physical group." |
| Major Football Coaches' Salaries Rise 9 Percent, to $2.67 Million | |
| The average head coach in the top tier of college football programs is earning $2.67 million this year, up 9 percent from the year before, USA Today's annual database of Football Bowl Subdivision coaches shows. The national newspaper's analysis finds that 10 of the 122 coaches for which it has data this year are earning at least $6 million in total compensation, and that for the first time, every coach in one league -- the Southeastern Conference -- is taking home at least $3 million. |
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