| Thursday, October 24, 2019 |
| Mississippi State finance head Don Zant to succeed Amy Tuck amid restructuring | |
 | With current Mississippi State University Vice President for Campus Services Amy Tuck retiring, MSU has announced that Vice President for Finance and CFO Don Zant will fill her shoes. Tuck announced her retirement earlier this month after serving in her position at MSU since 2009. Prior to her Service at MSU, Tuck served two terms as lieutenant governor from 2000 to 2008. “I appreciate the political successes that the people of Mississippi have honored me with, and I especially feel honored to have had the opportunity to come home to my alma mater, and serve as vice president of this great university that I love,” Tuck said. Assistant Vice President for Campus Services George Davis will retire along with Tuck. Current Division of Finance fiscal operations analyst Les Potts will serve as associate vice president for administration, and the university will hire a new executive director of campus services. |
| Video: New MSU Provost visits Meridian | |
 | Video: WTOK-TV talks to Mississippi State University Provost and Executive Vice President David Shaw, who spoke to members of the Meridian Rotary Club on Wednesday. |
| Records: Hood's office spent nearly 300 hours investigating Reeves and the frontage road | |
 | Lawyers and an investigator working for Attorney General Jim Hood logged nearly 300 hours looking into his opponent for governor, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, and whether Reeves influenced plans for a now-halted state road from his Flowood neighborhood to a nearby shopping center. According to attorney general records newly obtained by the Clarion Ledger, at least three attorneys and one investigator -- not including Hood -- spent time on the probe since summer 2018. The investigation likely cost taxpayers at least $15,000, based on average AG attorney salaries and other factors. Hood's office did not provide its own cost estimate. The records show no work was logged on the investigation for about six months, until late May. The election was gearing up at this time, with both Hood and Reeves preparing for their respective primaries and already expecting to face each other Nov. 5. |
| Quid pro quo charges dominate governor's race | |
 | Allegations of instances of quid pro quos not only dominate national politics, but also have permeated Mississippi's election for governor. Both major party candidates, Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood and Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, are accusing each other of accepting campaign donations for political favors or of instances of quid pro quos. At a recent press event, Hood stood in front of a blown up mailer from a small loan lender offering a pre-qualified loan of $1,206 at an interest rate of 37 percent to provide "the extra cash you need for back to school." The recipient of the mailer was concealed, but Hood said it was a school teacher. Hood said the mailer sent the message to teachers to "go borrow money at my high interest rates to go buy supplies for your school when the state should be paying, not teachers out of their own personal pockets." Not to be outdone, Reeves has run television commercials claiming Hood's campaigns have been propped up by trial attorneys who have received millions in payments for work they have done on behalf of the Attorney General's office. |
| AG candidate Lynn Fitch campaigns on building coalitions with statewide groups | |
 | Republican candidate for Attorney General Lynn Fitch is campaigning on the idea of building coalitions with law enforcement officials and other statewide groups to tackle issues like the opioid crisis and protecting Mississippians from human trafficking. Fitch has been the state treasurer for the past eight years and is a native of Holly Springs. She sat down with the Daily Journal's editorial board, where she said if elected, she planned to treat the role of attorney general like being the managing partner of the state's largest law firm. Fitch, the only woman currently elected to statewide office, said she feels qualified to run for the position through her previous experience as a private bond attorney, the director of the Mississippi State Personnel Board and having served as the special assistant attorney general within the Attorney General's Office. |
| Mississippi secretary of state race: Where DuPree, Watson stand | |
| A Republican state senator faces a former Hattiesburg mayor in the race to become Mississippi's next secretary of state. Current Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is running for lieutenant governor. The secretary's office oversees elections, regulates nonprofits and business filings and deals with public lands issues. Democrat Johnny DuPree, 65, served as Hattiesburg mayor from 2001 to 2017 and ran for governor in 2011. He beat Cruger resident Maryra Hodges Hunt in the primary this year. Dupree said voting reform is a central theme of his candidacy. Republican Michael Watson, an attorney from Pascagoula, has served as a state senator since 2008. The 41-year-old defeated Public Service Commissioner Sam Britton in the primary. Watson advocates moving driver license services under the purview of the secretary of state to help fix the beleaguered program currently managed by the Department of Public Safety. |
| Hemp industry growth hints at potential field of dreams | |
 | Sen. Mitch McConnell saw a potential replacement for tobacco in 2014, as the federal program to buy out tobacco farmers was ending. McConnell got provisions into a farm bill allowing states to license and monitor hemp production. The Kentucky Republican, now as majority leader, followed through in 2018, using another farm bill to take hemp off the controlled substances list. Kentucky in 2019 is one of the leading hemp producers. Vote Hemp, an industry advocacy organization, says the state has licensed an estimated 60,000 acres for production. That's still a fraction of the 58 million acres of tobacco the Agriculture Department forecast Kentucky would harvest in 2019, but it's almost 12 percent of the Vote Hemp's estimate of the U.S. acreage licensed to hemp. Although the hemp industry may be lucrative, farmers and entrepreneurs still face reluctance from financial institutions to open business accounts or handle transactions tied to hemp. Hemp's past as an illegal crop and the fact it is part of the cannabis family makes bankers cautious. |
| Trump Officials Battle Over Plan to Keep Technology Out of Chinese Hands | |
 | The Trump administration is divided over how aggressively to restrict China's access to United States technology as it looks for ways to protect national security without undercutting American industry. President Trump and many of his top advisers have identified China's technological ambitions as a national security threat and want to limit the type of American technology that can be sold overseas. But a plan to do just that has encountered stiff resistance from some in the administration, who argue that imposing too many constraints could backfire and undermine American industry. Opponents of broad controls say trade and the technological development it fosters actually give the United States' security advantages -- including information and income that can be plowed back into further research. "You can't do science with walls around it," said Toby Smith, the vice president for policy at the Association of American Universities. "If security dominates the conversation, our scientific leadership may lose out." |
| Republicans breeze past security protocols, occupy secure impeachment area | |
| Defying established security protocols, a cadre of House Republicans led by Minority Whip Steve Scalise and Rep. Matt Gaetz stormed the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in the Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday, where the top Pentagon official overseeing U.S. policy in Ukraine was giving her deposition for the House's impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Hours into a standoff between frustrated Republicans and Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry, a handful of GOP members remained sitting in the SCIF, refusing to leave. As the Republicans stormed the secure area, several brought their cell phones with them into the secure area, according to Democratic Reps. Ted Lieu and Harley Rouda of California. Cell phones, which the Director of National Intelligence considers "high-vulnerability" devices, must undergo a rigorous risk-mitigation protocol to be allowed into a SCIF. |
| GOP senators frustrated with Mitt Romney's jabs at President Trump | |
 | Sen. Mitt Romney's (R-Utah) public battles with President Trump are taking a toll on his relationship with fellow GOP senators, with many resenting the implication that they're afraid of standing up to the president. Romney has replaced retired Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) as the go-to senator for voicing dissension within the Senate GOP ranks when Trump finds himself in hot water. That distinction has made Romney one of the most high-profile freshman Republican senators in recent years, but it has also fueled grumbling among his colleagues. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of Trump's biggest defenders, told The Hill he's frustrated with Romney's regular critiques of Trump and suggested his colleague might have unresolved feelings about failing to defeat former President Obama in the 2012 presidential campaign. Romney's allies, however, have argued he is more concerned about the future of the country and the Republican Party than how he is viewed by GOP colleagues on Capitol Hill. |
| Wisconsin could decide the 2020 presidential race; both sides are in full battle mode | |
 | It's more than a year before the presidential election, but across the state of Wisconsin it could be fall 2020. Dozens of Democratic volunteers were combing neighborhoods to knock on doors in La Crosse and Whitewater on a recent cloudy fall weekend, while volunteers worked phone banks in Milwaukee. Republican county chairs were being trained in grass-roots campaigning in Green Bay and Haywood. And in Jackson County -- a rural area that Donald Trump won in 2016 after decades of Democratic dominance -- GOP leaders were already working to ready the troops. Most voters across the country are not yet giving much thought to the 2020 presidential election. Those who are paying attention are mostly focused on the big field of Democrats running for their party's nomination. But in Wisconsin, a state that strategists on both sides think could decide the 2020 race, the parties are arming to the teeth earlier than ever. |
| House panel investigating Rep. Katie Hill amid allegations of improper relationship with staffer | |
 | The House Ethics Committee said Wednesday it is investigating Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.) amid allegations that she had an intimate relationship with a congressional staffer in her office. "The committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Katie Hill may have engaged in a sexual relationship with an individual on her congressional staff, in violation of" House rules, the panel said in a statement. "The committee ... has begun an investigation and will gather additional information regarding the allegations." The allegations first surfaced in an article on the conservative website RedState.org. Hill is among the new class of freshmen who beat Republicans in 2018 to help the Democrats win back the majority. She is one of the first openly bisexual members of Congress. |
| Town hall meeting at USM brings awareness to underage drinking | |
 | Several University of Southern Mississippi students attended the town hall meeting addressing underage drinking. "Statistically, you're going to have people that are going to drink underage," said graduate assistant Jack Howard. "That's something that universities have to combat and be equipped to reduce the harm related to those incidents." This meeting was put on through a $750 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Organizers say they wanted to do this event to help prevent underage drinking. "It's to increase awareness and also understanding treatment of underage drinking on USM's campus specifically," said Howard. |
| Copiah-Lincoln Community College to talk workforce education with employers | |
 | Good jobs require education, training and a foot in the door. Copiah-Lincoln Community College works to provide all three. On Friday, Co-Lin will meet with Lincoln County employers to educate them about the career technical and workforce services provided by the college. Co-Lin Workforce Center Director Stephanie Sullivan said the college works hard to advocate for their students to local businesses. The lunch is part of their Career, Technical, and Workforce Education Road Show, where the school travels to each of the counties in the school's district. Sullivan said the lunch will take the form of a question and answer session with local employers about the benefits of getting involved with the Workforce Investment Network, and how workforce and career technical education can benefit them. |
| Suspect wrecked stolen ATV before shooting at police officer on Holmes Community College campus | |
| Holmes County deputies are assisting Goodman police in a search for a suspect. According to Holmes County Sheriff Willie March, the suspect shot at officers on the Holmes Community College campus. Holmes' District Director of Communications Steve Diffey said the suspect stole an ATV in the Goodman area around 11:15 p.m. and wrecked it near the entrance to Holmes. A Holmes officer engaged the suspect and was shot at, prompting the officer to return fire. The officer was not hit in the exchange. The Goodman campus was placed on lockdown at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night. The lockdown was lifted around 1 a.m. Thursday. Police are still searching for the suspect, who ran from the campus after the incident. Thursday is homecoming for the Goodman campus, and all events will go as planned. |
| Auburn to be second SEC school with NPHC Legacy Plaza | |
| Auburn's National Pan-Hellenic Council President Madison Riggins believes the recently approved NPHC Legacy Plaza will affect recruitment, representation and retention of black students at Auburn. With approval from the Board of Trustees, the plaza will be the first architectural indication of NPHC's presence on campus. Planned to be located adjacent to the campus greenspace, the legacy plaza will be a place for programming and commemoration of the nine historically black Greek-letter sororities and fraternities, commonly referred to as the "Divine Nine." Riggins said the plaza should help with the recruitment of more minority students, which has recently become a goal of administrators. Auburn's black enrollment has gradually declined over the past decade, and fewer than 200 black students were a part of Auburn's most recent freshmen class, which exceeded 5,000. |
| Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to teach U. of Florida law class | |
| Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has had a three decade long stay in the court, will teach a short course at UF for law students this Spring. Thomas and Kathryn Mizelle, a 2012 UF law alumna and his 2018-2019 clerk, will co-teach a class on the First Amendment's religion clauses next semester, Laura Rosenbury, dean of the UF Levin College of Law, wrote in an email to law students on Oct. 3. Mizelle made history as the first UF law alumnus to be a Supreme Court clerk in 2018. "We are very excited to welcome both Justice Thomas and Ms. Mizelle back to campus," Rosenbury said. Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court by President George Bush in 1990. During his 1991 confirmation hearings chaired by former Vice President Joe Biden, Anita Hill, who formerly worked for Thomas at two government agencies testified that she was sexually harassed by Thomas. He denied the accusations, calling the hearings a "high-tech lynching." |
| Nearly 1 in 3 female U. of Florida undergrads in survey report unwanted sexual contact | |
 | Nearly a third of University of Florida undergraduate women experienced nonconsensual sexual contact by force or inability to consent, according to the results of a recent campus climate survey. The rate increased nearly 10% since the last time the survey was conducted four years ago. UF released the results of its 2019 sexual assault and misconduct survey, which was conducted in partnership with the Association of American Universities, online Tuesday. A total of 33 universities participated in a 2015 survey and the 2019 follow up. UF sent the survey to undergraduate, graduate and professional students 18 and older in spring 2019 and received about 6,500 responses. During the 2015 survey, UF received nearly 2,000 responses. Since the 2015 survey, UF has implemented a mandatory online training course for all new students about sexual assault prevention and alcohol education, with the goal of helping students make healthy decisions and to promote a safe campus culture. |
| Louisiana Board of Regents seeking 14.5 percent hike in aid for colleges | |
 | The Louisiana Board of Regents is asking the Legislature for a $155.6 million increase in state aid for colleges and universities, or 14.5%. Officials said the request is aimed at supporting its goal of doubling the number of college credentials produced in the state by 2030. "We can lift families out of poverty and increase Louisiana's prosperity through strategic investment in education," Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed said in a statement. Earlier this year colleges won their first basic hike in state aid in the past decade amid recurring budget problems. The request includes $109.3 million in what officials called reinvestment in innovation, including a $36.3 million to raise salaries of professors and others to the regional average. The state last met that target in 2008. |
| One-time barn repurposed as UGA ocean lab | |
 | A 71-year-old cattle barn was repurposed as a modern classroom and laboratory building in a dedication ceremony on Tuesday at the University of Georgia's Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. UGA President Jere W. Morehead presided over the ceremony, which capped the yearlong renovation of the reinforced concrete and steel beam structure near the Georgia coast that is now known as the Ocean Sciences Instructional Center. "Today marks the beginning of a new era at the Skidaway Institute as this renovated facility will greatly enhance the educational and outreach capacity of this unique part of the University of Georgia," said Morehead. "We are especially grateful to our state and local leaders for their support of the project. The Ocean Sciences Instructional Center will support every program at the institute, helping our faculty, staff and students carry out UGA's vital sea-grant mission." |
| UGA's first black sorority to mark 50 years on campus this weekend | |
| When Helen Butler arrived on the campus of the University of Georgia in the winter of 1967, she had to go searching to find other black students. It was six years after Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault integrated the campus, but still fewer than 100 black students attended the school. The few black women on campus weren't being invited to rush any of the long-standing sororities at UGA. So, in 1969, Butler and seven other women formed their own, chartering UGA's first black sorority, the Zeta Psi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. This weekend in Athens, the Zeta Psi chapter, which has initiated more than 600 black women into the sorority, will celebrate its 50th anniversary. "We did a lot of things to work together as black people on campus," said Butler, who graduated in 1971. "And having a chapter of Delta Sigma Theta brought the women together for collective action." |
| U. of Missouri: No major changes planned for graduate assistantships | |
 | The University of Missouri is not planning to eliminate or dramatically reduce graduate student assistantships next year, a spokesperson said Wednesday. "We're absolutely continuing assistantships," Liz McCune of the MU News Bureau said. While colleges and departments evaluate their budgets and establish priorities each year, McCune said she doesn't expect dramatic cuts to the number of assistantships offered across the university. More than 2,000 MU graduate students hold assistantships or fellowships, McCune said. Rumors that MU is planning to cut assistantships "have been circulating," Michael Vierling, co-chair of the Coalition of Graduate Workers, said in an email. Vierling said he asked Jeni Hart, dean of the graduate school, "if they contained any truth." "She said no, but it worries me that the rumors are persisting," Vierling said. "If such a decision is made, we would of course fight it in all forms available." |
| First round of appointees to White House science panel heavy on industry | |
 | Nearly three years into his term, President Trump made his first appointments to the White House science advisory committee this week. The seven individuals named to the panel come mostly from business backgrounds. Just one is a current academic, Birgitta Whaley, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A press release from the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which houses the advisory committee, promised that other pending nominees to the 16-member panel will include several scholars. Another appointee named this week, Sharon Hrynkow, brings government experience to the panel. Hrynkow, a neurobiologist and chief science officer at a biotech start-up, previously served at the Department of State and the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center. |
| The Student Vote Is Surging. So Are Efforts to Suppress It. | |
| At Austin Community College, civics is an unwritten part of the curriculum -- so much so that for years the school has tapped its own funds to set up temporary early-voting sites on nine of its 11 campuses. No more, however. This spring, the Texas Legislature outlawed polling places that did not stay open for the entire 12-day early-voting period. When the state's elections take place in three weeks, those nine sites -- which logged many of the nearly 14,000 ballots that full-time students cast last year -- will be shuttered. So will six campus polling places at colleges in Fort Worth, two in Brownsville, on the Mexico border, and other polling places at schools statewide. The story at Austin Community College is but one example of a political drama playing out nationwide: After decades of treating elections as an afterthought, college students have begun voting in force. Energized by issues like climate change and the Trump presidency, students have suddenly emerged as a potentially crucial voting bloc in the 2020 general election. And almost as suddenly, Republican politicians around the country are throwing up roadblocks between students and voting booths. |
| Trump's visit to 2020 forum at South Carolina HBCU 'blindsided' Democrats | |
 | When students at the historically black Benedict College first heard President Donald Trump was coming to speak on campus, many believed it was a prank. "I thought it was a joke," said freshman Enija Ashburn of Charleston. "I'm taking it as a joke." Ashburn's reaction to the visit by a president who's often criticized for racially charged comments was repeated in separate interviews with more than 25 other Benedict students this week. Trump is coming to the 149-year-old Columbia college Friday in what's become a historic weekend for presidential politics in South Carolina. The top 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, will follow Trump at Benedict for a weekend-long forum on criminal justice. Trump's visit "blindsided" Democratic candidates who agreed to come, though none are dropping out, S.C. Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson said. |
| Are states disinvesting in higher education? It depends on the time frame | |
| Two days. Two reports citing the same data. Two different conclusions. On Wednesday, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, published a report arguing that state disinvestment in higher education is a myth. Then this morning, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank, published its own report saying deep cuts to state funding for higher education have shifted the burden of the cost of college onto students. Both reports pointed to data on national averages from the State Higher Education Executive Officers association's annual State Higher Education Finance report. But how can two different reports cite the same data to reach different conclusions? The answer lies in large part in the time frames examined. |
| Sen. Marsha Blackburn pushes to relocate U.S. education department to Tennessee | |
 | In a proposal filed Wednesday, Tennessee U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn is calling for the government to relocate the U.S. Department of Education to the Volunteer State. Blackburn, along with fellow Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the Helping Infrastructure Restore the Economy (HIRE) Act, which says it would move most federal agencies out of Washington, D.C. and into economically-distressed regions across the country. "Moving agencies outside of Washington, D.C. both boosts local economies and lowers costs -- that's a winning combination," said Blackburn in a news release. The bill follows a recent announcement of a plan by the Bureau of Land Management to move to Colorado, the release says. As well, two Department of Agriculture agencies moving to Kansas City. |
| Trump Education Official to Resign and Call for Mass Student-Loan Forgiveness | |
 | A senior student-loan official in the Trump administration said he would resign Thursday and endorse canceling most of the nation's outstanding student debt, calling the student-loan system "fundamentally broken." A. Wayne Johnson was appointed in 2017 by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid, overseeing the $1.5 trillion student-loan portfolio. After seven months, he moved into a different role as chief strategy and transformation officer, leading a revamp of how the agency deals with borrowers and the companies that service the debt. Mr. Johnson said repayment trends suggest much of the debt will likely never be repaid, and he is calling for moving toward a system that gets the government out of student lending. |
| U. of Denver pushes collaborative career services | |
| It's no secret that some colleges are falling short on promises to ready students for the working world. Institutions are coming under fire for underpreparing and underserving their students when it comes to career readiness. On top of this, they have to compete with alternatives to higher education models that can fast-track students directly into professions. Assistance in the form of career services offices is often underused, but with only 50 percent of students getting help from their college's career services office there's a problem, says Brandon Buzbee of the University of Denver, citing a statistic from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Students who use career services are more likely to say their education was worth the cost, Buzbee said; they are also more likely to be philanthropic to their institutions and to start their careers with higher salaries. A 2016 Gallup survey backs this up. |
| How Colleges Can Best Support First-Gen Students | |
| There's a group that is growing in higher education, and it didn't even used to think of itself as a group. Even just a few years ago, most first-generation student -- the first in their family to enter higher education -- didn't think of themselves that way, and colleges didn't treat them any differently. But there's a growing awareness that this is a set of students that can benefit greatly from some additional supports. Many don't have the network of family members they can turn to help them navigate college, which has its own language and culture that isn't always clear to outsiders. |
| Hundreds of Colleges May Be Out of Compliance With Title IX. Here's Why. | |
 | Lisa Niblock had no intention of suing the University of Kentucky when she transferred there two years ago. She just wanted to be closer to home and surrounded by classmates at a bigger school with a bigger atmosphere. Then Suzie Stammer approached her. Stammer had coached varsity field hockey for the university in the mid-1970s after the federal law known as Title IX compelled Kentucky and other colleges to provide women with the same intercollegiate sports opportunities as men. But by 1979, the university had demoted the team back to club status, and it has shown no willingness to reverse that decision since. When members of the club team, advised by Stammer, asked Kentucky officials to elevate their sport to varsity status, they were told that a survey the university conducted last year showed there wasn't enough interest among students. For field hockey to be reinstated as a varsity sport, a student would have to sue, but no one was stepping forward. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State deer study: Why you may not be seeing many bucks | |
 | Data from a study on how buck movement is affected by hunting pressure is being analyzed and what is coming to light may surprise you. The study began in 2016 when 55 mature bucks were outfitted with ear tags and tracking collars in Madison and Yazoo counties by Mississippi State University and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. Roughly 750,000 waypoints were collected from 2017 through March, and the movement they show could help hunters be more successful. "I think the most interesting thing to me is the buck personality," said Steve Demarais of the MSU Deer Lab. Demarais explained that northern deer are known to migrate from one home range in warmer months to dense coniferous habitat in the winter that protects them from snow and wind in colder months. Similar behavior was exhibited in the study as some of the bucks had two home ranges, but why that happens in Mississippi's mild climate is unknown. |
| SEC Network personalities praise Mississippi State QB Garrett Shrader | |
| It's imperative for young collegiate quarterbacks to have one moment when people begin to buy in and trust him. For Mississippi State true freshman Garrett Shrader, it occurred in the second game of his career against Kansas State. Teammates, coaches and fans walked away with a profound opinion of the 19-year-old from Charlotte when he spun through the air like a helicopter after getting crunched by two Wildcat defenders. "Any time you see a quarterback do that, your teammates say, 'I want to go to battle with this guy,'" SEC Network analyst Jordan Rodgers said. Rodgers, a former Vanderbilt quarterback, had Shrader on his show as a guest 10 days after the play and just three days after the first start and victory of his career. Rodgers and his co-host, former Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley, strapped fake beards onto their faces to try to amuse Shrader, who probably has one of the thickest beards in college football. All they could get from Shrader, though, was a bit of a snide smirk and one sarcastic remark. "Looking good," Shrader said. "Y'all could use a little more product, though." |
| Mississippi State's Brian Cole II making up for lost time | |
| This time a year ago, Brian Cole II was on the shelf with a torn right pectoral muscle. Cole suffered the injury in Mississippi State's fifth game against Florida and it halted what was a promising start to the 2018 season for the safety. Now a fifth-year senior and a team captain, Cole is trying to makeup for all the time he as lost from last year's injury and the academic redshirt he was forced to take after transferring in from junior college in 2017. Through the' first seven games, Cole has stacked up 37 tackles, seven tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery to go along with three kickoff returns for 44 yards. "I just thank God that I'm back and get another opportunity to get better and play the sport that I love," Cole said. "I'm grateful to be in the position that I'm in to blitz, cover and do different things to make plays. I thank the coaching staff for putting their trust in me." |
| Mississippi State Q and A: Texas A&M beat writer makes game prediction | |
| This weekend's game between Texas A&M (4-3, 2-2 SEC) and Mississippi State (3-4, 1-3 SEC) is monumental for both teams. The Aggies have not won back-to-back games this season. This is their opportunity to do so. The Bulldogs are riding a three-game losing streak. This is their chance to get back to winning ways. The Clarion Ledger spoke to The Eagle's Texas A&M beat writer to learn more about the Aggies ahead of Saturday. |
| Mississippi State men's hoops eyes charity exhibition with South Alabama | |
 | Mississippi State men's basketball head coach Ben Howland along with Abdul Ado, Tyson Carter, KeyShawn Feazell, Reggie Perry and Robert Woodard II met the media before Wednesday's practice at Humphrey Coliseum. The first opportunity to watch the 2019-20 Bulldogs inside Humphrey Coliseum will be Sunday, October 27 when Mississippi State plays host to South Alabama in a charity exhibition game to benefit the United Way of West Central Mississippi and those affected by the flood waters in the South Delta. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. CT with free admission. Doors to Humphrey Coliseum will open at 2 p.m. CT with standard gameday security procedures in-place which include walk-through metal detectors and the clear bag policy. Mississippi State will carry a SEC-best, 22-game non-conference home winning streak into its regular season opener versus Florida International on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Tipoff is on-tap for 7 p.m. CT at The Hump. |
| Kyle Field introduces metal detectors | |
| Texas A&M will implement walk-through and hand-held metal detectors in Kyle Field this weekend in preparation for a new SEC mandate. The new rule, which is set to take effect in the fall of 2020, is part of the SEC's new enhanced security measures and requires the conference's football stadiums to have metal detectors at all entrances. A&M will also implement the safety measures at men's basketball games. "Our obligation is to provide the safest environment possible, and we are always looking for new ways to enhance game day safety features," A&M Director of Athletics Ross Bjork said in a statement. "Testing this system of metal-detecting devices will allow us to gather important details as we look to continue enhancing the game day experience while preparing for additional safety features for the 2020 season." This weekend's implementation of the metal detectors will give guests and staff the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the new game day process before full implementation next fall. |
| Hall of Famers from UGA back legislator's state 'Fair Pay to Play' bill | |
| Georgia became the latest state on Wednesday to be pulled into the debate on whether college athletes should be able to be compensated for their name, image and likeness. State Rep. Billy Mitchell said he plans to introduce legislation in the Georgia General Assembly in January modeled after California's "Fair Pay to Play" bill that was signed into law last month. Mitchell told the Athens Banner-Herald in an interview that the bill has the support of two pro hall of fame players -- one football and basketball -- that played for Georgia. Mitchell did not want to name them yet, but Dominique Wilkins is the lone former UGA player in the basketball hall. Other states including Florida, South Carolina and New York are due to consider similar bills that would put them squarely at odds with NCAA amateurism rules. Mitchell said without a Georgia law state schools would be at a disadvantage in recruiting. |
| SEC commissioner Greg Sankey defends officials after controversy | |
 | Four days after there were questionable calls in football games involving Tennessee and South Carolina by the officiating crews, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey responded with a lengthy statement on the conference's website. South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said he was displeased with several calls in the game with Florida and spoke with Sankey. Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt was most perturbed about a personal foul call on linebacker Darrell Taylor in the game against Alabama. He also questioned what the accountability is for officials. "From an accountability standpoint, it's tough," Pruitt said Monday. "What's the repercussions here? While Sankey didn't reference Tennessee's 35-13 loss to Alabama or South Carolina's 38-27 setback to Florida in his statement, the commissioner said: "The Southeastern Conference is entrusted with supporting an officiating program that is responsible for calling the games of our member schools. We take this duty most seriously." On Twitter, fans of the Gamecocks and Vols weren't very happy with Sankey's response. |
| AD Scott Stricklin explains why he wants to add more Power Five teams to Florida's schedule | |
| Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin is ready to break away from the traditional college football scheduling process. Typically, teams don't play too many difficult non-conference games. They'll add one or two to boost their strength of schedule, but there are also games against much lesser, non-Power Five opponents, which they're almost assured to win. But Stricklin is appearing to show a willingness to add more Power Five teams to the Gators' future schedules, hence why he tweeted a message to his fellow ADs on Tuesday looking to add more home-and-home series against quality opponents in the years to come. During an appearance on "The Paul Finebaum Show" on Wednesday, Stricklin addressed that tweet and the reasoning behind it. "By scheduling more of these high-caliber opponents, obviously I think it's what's best for the players and I think it's something the fans want," Stricklin said during a call on the show. |
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