| Monday, November 11, 2019 |
| Mike Tagert takes on dual role with Partnership and Mississippi State | |
 | Jerry Toney had promised Robert Clark that the Greater Starkville Development Partnership would have a new CEO by the time Clark took over for Toney as board chairman earlier this year. It didn't happen, but Clark said at Friday's announcement of the Partnership's new CEO, Mike Tagert, that he was willing to let it slide. Starting Jan. 7, Tagert will fill a position that has been open for almost 18 months at Starkville's chief economic development and tourism group. He will also be associate director for corporate engagement and economic development in the Research and Economic Development office at Mississippi State University, a new dual role for the Partnership CEO. MSU and the Partnership already both work to create jobs and improve the quality of life in the Starkville area, so it makes sense to fuse their efforts, Tagert told The Dispatch. |
| Mike Tagert to join Mississippi State | |
 | Mike Tagert has been named as associate director for Corporate and Economic Partnerships within Mississippi State University's Office of Research and Economic Development. In that role, Tagert also will serve as chief executive officer of the Greater Starkville Development Partnership. He assumes his new duties Jan. 7, 2020, pending formal approval by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning. MSU President Mark E. Keenum said, "Mike Tagert's unique skill set in the multimodal transportation arena and in economic development makes him an excellent fit for our work as we continue to position our academic research as a key component of Mississippi's jobs creation engine." MSU Provost and Executive Vice President David Shaw said Tagert will report directly to ORED Associate Vice President for Corporate Engagement and Economic Development James F. "Jim" Martin. |
| Mike Tagert to lead GSDP, take on new role at Mississippi State | |
 | A familiar face in state and local politics will be the next head of the Greater Starkville Development Partnership in addition to taking on a new economic development role at Mississippi State University. Outgoing Northern District Transportation Commissioner Mike Tagert was named as the Partnership's next president and CEO during a press conference at the Partnership office on Main Street Friday. Tagert was also named as associate director for Corporate Partnerships within Mississippi State University's Office of Research and Economic Development. The announcement represents the culmination of a nationwide search that started when former President and CEO Scott Maynard left the Partnership in June 2018 to take a job at Florida State University in Tallahassee. |
| MSU Libraries, veterans to honor soldiers with historical letter presentation | |
| Mississippi State University Libraries will commemorate Veterans Day with a reading of soldiers' correspondence from World War I and II. Free and open to all, "Through the Lines: Letters from Home and the Front, 1917-1945," takes place Monday, Nov. 11 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the John Grisham Room on the third floor of Mitchell Memorial Library. Read by current veterans and volunteers from MSU's G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Center for America's Veterans, selected correspondence includes material from the Earl Southworth Williford Collection and the Lt. Col. Rollins Armstrong Collection, among others. Carrie Mastley, assistant professor of manuscripts at MSU, said the event is an opportunity for the public to glimpse soldiers' daily lives and that many of the letters shared a common theme -- missing family and home-cooked meals. |
| GI Bill opened doors to college for many vets, but politicians created a separate one for blacks | |
| Joseph Thompson, an assistant professor in the Department of History at Mississippi State University, writes for The Conversation: When President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI Bill into law on June 22, 1944, it laid the foundation for benefits that would help generations of veterans achieve social mobility. Formally known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, the bill made unprecedented commitments to the nation's veterans. For instance, it provided federal assistance to veterans in the form of housing and unemployment benefits. But of all the benefits offered through the GI Bill, funding for higher education and job training emerged as the most popular. More than 2 million veterans flocked to college campuses throughout the country. But even as former service members entered college, not all of them accessed the bill's benefits in the same way. |
| Bolivar supervisors updated on MSU Extension programs | |
| The Bolivar County Extension Service held its annual review luncheon with the Bolivar County Board of Supervisors this week. Laura Giaccaglia, extension agent coordinator, thanked the board for helping arrange the renovations of the Bolivar County Expo Center around the upcoming Delta Ag Expo in January. "I'm excited, just like everyone, about those renovations to the expo center. It's such a joy and excitement to see," said Giaccaglia. "I'm hoping, fingers are crossed and toes are crossed like everyone else, that it is finished in August so that we can move our annual Rice Tasting Luncheon to the expo center and have a new home site for that event. We need a home. We need a home for the rice luncheon. That event brings about 1,000 people to our county, to our community, brings people from different states." The Master Gardener program reported 2,368 volunteer hours and Giaccaglia mentioned this number wasn't close to what the total will end up being as volunteers have until December to log their hours into the system. |
| New bill aims to grow South Mississippi's space industry | |
 | Stennis Space Center's key role in our nation's exploration of space may be expanding. Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith introduced the LIFT Act last week. The act's full name is the Licensing Innovations and Future Technologies in Space Act. The bill would modernize training for the federal commercial space licensing workforce and promote collaboration with academia and industry by creating a centralized training facility for safety and licensing personnel. The new facility would be located at the NASA Stennis Space Center in Hancock County. Stennis already certifies rockets and other technologies. This bill, if passed, will increase the workforce of future space explorers and help us explore worlds beyond our own. The LIFTS Act would establish a facility to train federal employees to license commercial space activities. The training program would be coordinated between the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, the commercial space industry, and academic partners. |
| Alabama and Mississippi have economies moving in opposite directions. Here's why. | |
 | The chart looks important. Starting in 2015, unemployment rates in Alabama and Mississippi declined in perfect unison until mid-2017, when something appeared to change. Alabama's improvement accelerated. Mississippi stagnated. And this year, unemployment rose in Mississippi even as Alabama laid claim to the nation's fastest-falling unemployment rate. It's hard to miss. When we mapped unemployment rates for a report about rising joblessness in key swing states, many readers instead wanted to know what the heck was going on in Mississippi and Alabama. The two states look so similar but appear to be on different trajectories. We asked why. Data released by the Commerce Department on Thursday confirmed that not only is Alabama's economy twice the size of Mississippi's, but it also has grown almost three times as fast over the past year, adjusted for inflation. |
| Mississippi among worst states for dams rated in bad shape | |
 | Maybe it's in a subdivision in Olive Branch, on a hill above Interstate 20 in Meridian, or in rural Carroll County. But across Mississippi, there are dams waiting for one inch too much of rain, or one year too many of neglect. The state has one of the highest numbers of dams that pose dangers and are in poor or unsatisfactory condition, according to a two-year investigation by The Associated Press. Many are owned by nearly broke rural drainage districts or were built as amenities in subdivisions and may now be owned by homeowners unable to oversee or pay for maintenance. Sometimes, it's not even clear who owns the structure. While the word "dam" may bring to mind a hulking concrete structure, Mississippi dams are usually made of earth. When they're in bad shape, they may be so tree-covered that it's hard to see the structure holding back a lake. |
| In two Trump-loving states, one picks a Republican and the other a Democrat | |
 | In many ways the Kentucky governor race was a mirror image of Mississippi: A Democratic attorney general takes on a Donald Trump-loving Republican in a state that overwhelmingly backed the president in 2016. In both states, polls showed a tight race in the closing days. In both states, Trump arrived to rally Republican support. But in Kentucky, Democrat Andy Beshear beat Republican incumbent Matt Bevin by about 5,000 votes, while in Mississippi, Democrat Jim Hood lost to Republican Lt. Gov. Reeves by about 48,000. So what was the difference? How were Democrats able to wrest control of the Kentucky governor's mansion, while Republicans maintained their dominance in Mississippi -- even against an historically strong challenger in Hood? Here are several key factors. |
| Democratic Women Win House Seats, Oust GOP Incumbents in Mississippi | |
| Shanda Yates, a millennial Democrat, could still oust Bill Denny, a top Republican in the Mississippi House, if her current lead in the House District 64 vote count holds once election officials add provisional ballots. With just the Election Day totals counted, the Associated Press reported that Yates led Denny, a 32-year incumbent, by about 51% to 49%, or 136 votes, in House District 64, which includes parts of Madison and Hinds counties. Yates, an attorney who earned her law degree at Mississippi College School of Law, is a partner with her husband, Yancy Burns, at their law firm, Burns & Associates PLLC. "I am a working mother. I am a small business owner. I am an attorney. I am a proud public school graduate. Being 'in politics' was never on my radar. But change was," she wrote in a questionnaire for the Jackson Free Press earlier this year. "My husband and I plan to raise our 4-year-old son in Jackson. We have a vested interest in the future of our neighborhoods, communities, district and state as a whole. I am running to be the change that I want to see." If Yates does emerge victorious once counting is finished next week, she said she recognizes that she must work to address issues that disproportionately hurt African Americans. |
| Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue: More trade aid for farmers on the way | |
 | Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday said the Trump administration will move forward with a second tranche of trade relief payments to farmers and ranchers burned by retaliatory tariffs, even though the U.S. and China are closing in on a partial trade deal. "We just have gotten authorization on the second tranche," Perdue told reporters on a conference call. "We'll be getting it ready hopefully at the end of this month or early December." USDA has so far paid farmers $6.7 billion for their 2019 production, on top of $8.6 billion that was provided for last year's production. The department has promised up to $14.5 billion in payments for 2019, divided in three batches. More than 564,000 producers have applied for aid this year, a USDA spokesperson told POLITICO this week. It was previously unclear if the department planned to move forward with another tranche of payments, tentatively scheduled for November, because of the recent thaw in the trade war with China. |
| Sonny Perdue has emerged as President Trump's key evangelist in bruising trade wars | |
| Struggling dairy farmers who flocked to an expo in Wisconsin last month hoped to hear some encouragement from one of their own -- Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, a Georgia agri-businessman whose dad had run a small farm. But some came away angry after Perdue -- speaking in a state that lost nearly two dairy farms a day last year -- remarked that small farms would not likely survive as the "big get bigger and small go out." The remark reverberated across the country, prompting calls for his resignation from farm groups, angry editorials and even criticism from his own party. Critics said Perdue's "go big or get out" line played into existing fears that the Trump administration is more interested in helping large corporations than the little guys. Perdue later said he was only acknowledging the current market reality. Over the last year, Perdue has emerged as President Trump's key evangelist in bruising trade wars, traveling the country to give folksy pep talks to frustrated farmers who have seen their incomes drop and exports hit hard by tariff disputes. |
| The Trouble With 'Ole Miss' | |
 | Jemar Tisby has an unusual problem for a graduate student: He is so troubled by his university's widely used nickname that he refuses to use it. A black doctoral student in history at the flagship public university of a state that is 38 percent black, Tisby speaks all 11 syllables of the official name, the University of Mississippi, to avoid saying Ole Miss. He can't take full pride in this campus because it embraces the nickname. He won't buy Ole Miss swag. His reason: "Ole Miss" is what enslaved people called the wife of their owner. The term, to Tisby, evokes the degrading hierarchy of plantation life. It "harkens back to a day when black people were considered property, and is a constant reminder that the university, the state, and the nation at large has yet to reckon with its racist history," he says. That reckoning may be coming. |
| Ole Miss reschedules conservative lecture at Overby Center after cancellation | |
| Hours after it was discovered a lecture by Daily Wire contributor Elisha Krauss scheduled to take place on the University of Mississippi campus next week was suddenly canceled, the school announced it was back on. The lecture, which is hosted by the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at Ole Miss, was set to take place at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics on Nov. 13. Krauss, a conservative speaker, claimed she was informed via an email from a UM School of Journalism professor that her lecture could not take place in the venue. The reason given was an unwritten policy stating that no ideological groups can host speakers in the Overby Center. "This decision was made unilaterally by two individuals on our campus without consulting with members of the University administration," the University's reply to Krauss read. "As soon as University leaders learned about this decision, they moved promptly to re-invite you. ...The University of Mississippi is committed to promoting freedom of speech, assembly and respectful discourse, which are pillars of a healthy and inclusive learning environment." |
| USM cadets remember the fallen at the Veterans Memorial Wall | |
 | University of Southern Miss Air Force ROTC cadets read 173 names off of the Veterans Memorial Wall in downtown Hattiesburg Sunday night. This is something that is done the day before Veterans Day once a year. After each and every name is called by a cadet, a silver bell is rung right after it. The somber event is to remember those who have fallen before the parade celebration on Monday. Hattiesburg Veterans Committee Chair Ted Tibbett talks about the importance of doing the name reading and its significance to the youth of the community. "Well, this is important, because these young people are learning a lot. They're learning the significance of those names," said Tibbett. "They are future leaders in our military, and they're learning the sacrifices that so many had so they can pursue the career they'd like to." |
| JSU selling surplus properties to nearby homeowners | |
| Jackson State University is selling surplus properties that it owns to nearby homeowners. The university says in a news release that 49 of the 134 properties had been sold by last week, generally for $100 to $1,000. One went for $1. Mississippi enacted a law this year allowing JSU to sell the properties. The state College Board also authorized JSU to work with a community development corporation, Midtown Partners Inc., to sell the properties. Heather Wilcox, director of community engagement, said JSU sold most of the properties at about 10% of their market value. Potential buyers must be homeowners who live within one-quarter mile of the property they want to buy. |
| U. of Alabama chief academic officer retiring after nearly 30 years | |
 | The University of Alabama trustees on Friday recognized the service of the system's outgoing chief academic officer, but board member John England Jr. observed that the statement, while well deserved, was too short to truly capture what Charles Nash has meant to the community during his nearly 30 years of service. "We have had a treasure. This is a good, long resolution but it doesn't say all that he means to so many people," England said. The board approved the resolution recognizing Nash for his service on Friday. Over the years, England said he has turned to Nash for advice on a wide range of topics. "I have relied on him not only for matters that relate to the system but matters that relate to both the Tuscaloosa community, the state of Alabama, educational institutions across the state," England said. Nash joined the UA System in 1992 and will continue to serve in his current role until the end of the year. He will officially retire in July 2020. He will be replaced by Tonjanita Johnson, the executive vice president and chief operating officer for the University of Tennessee System. |
| Work to begin soon at U. of Alabama on new Tutwiler dorm | |
| Construction of the main building of the new Tutwiler residence hall at the University of Alabama is scheduled to begin in the next couple of weeks. The UA System board of trustees on Friday approved awarding a construction contract of $115 million for the new dorm to B.L. Harbert International LLC of Birmingham. The foundation of the new dorm, which will have 1,284 beds in double-occupancy rooms, are already under construction. The new dorm will be just to the west of the existing Tutwiler. It will also feature social gathering spaces and multipurpose rooms, a 16,600-square-foot storm shelter and a central courtyard. The existing dorm, which was built in 1968, will be demolished in 2022 once its replacement is completed. The package to construct the building was bid in October and came in below the cost estimated in the budget. The project's budget was revised from $150 million to $145 million. |
| Possible enrollment cap, more housing expected: Is Auburn at capacity? | |
| Auburn is traditionally presented as a small, quaint college town, but its streets are becoming increasingly crowded as more and more people move to the City each year. While the City's non-student population has grown significantly over the years, at the heart of the growth is the University that bears its name. The City said so in its 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report: "From the founding of Auburn University in 1856, the City's economy has been dominated by the University's presence." The University currently enrolls an all-time high 30,460 students, marking a 21.88% increase in student population since the 2009-10 school year. At the Sept. 12 Board of Trustees workshop meeting, The Plainsman reported that Bill Hardgrave, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, introduced a revision to University policy that would cap undergraduate enrollment at 25,000 and total student enrollment at 32,000. Several other Trustees expressed approval of the enrollment cap, and the revision is likely to be approved, but a formal vote was suspended until the Trustees' upcoming meeting on Nov. 22. |
| UGA students and veterans collect stories of transition | |
 | From near death experiences to the best and worst days of their lives, the University of Georgia is keeping an archive of student veterans' stories. The goal is to preserve history, and to date almost 90 histories have been recorded. The stories might include why the student joined the military, what a typical day was like, where they were on Sept. 11, 2001, if they saw active duty, how they would describe service, stories that best exemplify their service, any false perceptions about the military they want to discuss, why they left the military and what their transition back to civilian life looked like. The UGA Student Veterans Oral History Project is the brainchild of veteran Kate Dahlstrand, a Ph.D. student in history who is particularly interested in how veterans transition back to civilian life. The project officially got off the ground in fall 2017. |
| Forums let public help shape Texas A&M's next five-year plan | |
 | Texas A&M University officials are in the midst of creating the university's 2020-2025 Strategic Plan. A&M leaders held the third of four open forum discussions on Friday afternoon at the Memorial Student Center as part of an effort to obtain feedback from a variety of sources on Texas A&M's direction for the next five years. More than 100 A&M stakeholders and Brazos Valley community members attended the two-hour visioning session, which organizers said was designed to facilitate small group discussion. The current draft of the five-year plan describes the 2020–2025 strategic plan as "laying the foundation of the next 150 years" at Texas A&M as the Vision 2020: Creating a Culture of Excellence strategic plan for the university comes to a close. Organizers centered Friday's forum on two topics: "Engage Texas and Beyond to Enhance our Impact" and "Be a Best Place to Live, Work and Learn." |
| Judge: U. of Missouri violated Sunshine Law with high estimate | |
 | The University of Missouri lost a major Sunshine Law case Friday involving records sought by an animal rights group. Circuit Judge Jeff Harris ruled the university violated the law by estimating it would cost more than $82,000 to fulfill the records request. In his ruling, Harris ordered the university to pay a $1,000 fine for a "knowing" violation of the law and the attorneys' fees for the case filed by the Beagle Freedom Project in May 2016 and tried by Harris in July. The biggest share of the estimate -- the largest ever delivered by the university to anyone seeking its public records -- was for five hours searching records for each of 179 dogs and cats by the principal investigators for research using the animals. The case began in 2015 when Beagle Freedom Project began sending records requests for individual animals to MU and other research universities that use dogs and cats. |
| Study Quantifies Benefits of U.S.-China Scientific Collaboration | |
 | The number of scholarly articles published by American academics in science and engineering fields would have declined by 2.03 percent between 2014 and 2018 without collaboration from co-authors from China, according to a new article published in the journal Higher Education. The article, published against a backdrop of increasing scrutiny of Chinese scientific collaborations and concerns from U.S. national security officials and lawmakers about the threat of academic espionage, finds that recent growth in U.S. science and engineering research depended on collaboration with Chinese scholars, while China's total science and engineering research output would have increased from 2014 to 2018 even without collaboration with Americans. |
| Belmont University President Bob Fisher explains what the 2020 debate means to the school | |
 | Belmont University President Bob Fisher remembers taking Curb Records founder and former California Lt. Gov. Mike Curb on a tour of the campus where he explained the vision for the school's event center. Fisher told Curb during the fundraising tour how the 5,000 seat event center would someday host basketball or musical performances. Curb didn't seem too interested until Fisher said he explained he also wanted to someday hold a presidential debate on the campus. "He looked toward the sky," Fisher said during a Thursday interview with The Tennessean, "and he said 'How much will that cost me?'" On Oct. 22, 2020, Belmont University will host its second presidential debate at the Curb Event Center, which was opened in 2003 -- a feat Fisher said he never expected until sometime after the first presidential debate in 2008. This time, Belmont will host the third and final debate. And Fisher said during the interview that the school and its students will have plenty to gain from the experience. |
| Colleges are helping students start careers in esports | |
 | Colleges have long helped students get jobs in finance, education and other industries. But now a handful of US-based universities are playing a role in launching careers in the competitive video gaming world. Schools such as University of California Berkeley, University of California Irvine and the University of Utah are connecting students with positions in esports -- not just to encourage competitive playing but for sales, business and admin roles. The message companies want to send to kids is that you don't have to be a gamer to work in gaming. Although professional players can rise through the ranks over time, often raking in six figure salaries, the career path into an office job in esports is less clear. A lot of these jobs didn't exist before, as esports organizations transition from startup culture to become larger enterprises. More established companies are offering health benefits and 401Ks alongside those desk jobs. |
| Here's How 2 Schools Have Made Free College Work -- For Decades | |
 | Two colleges in Kentucky offer something that most university administrators can only dream of. Berea College and Alice Lloyd College charge students nothing for tuition. While each developed unique business models that don't transfer easily to other schools, they do have some tips to help reduce the price of college tuition. More precisely -- two tips and one caution. Alice Lloyd and Berea do something that, at first glance, may seem like a good way for a college to save money. Both are work colleges --- requiring students to work at least 10 hours a week. The act of working is considered more important than learning any specific skill. Many students come from tiny towns where jobs are scarce. So these college labor programs may be a student's introduction to the culture of work. Administrators at both Berea and Alice Lloyd praise the work program for building character, instilling values and helping young adults develop a professional mindset. On the downside, students often work just two- or three-hour shifts. And every year, when seniors graduate, a quarter of the workforce must be replaced and trained all over again. |
| Emory recruits students with military backgrounds | |
| Chris Weakley disarmed bombs during his 12-year U.S. Army career, but he had doubts about his ability to excel as a student at Emory University. Weakley, 33, took a chance and enrolled at the university earlier this year. To date, his biggest challenge has been battling with bouts of perfectionism. It's hard for Weakley to accept getting any grade less than an A. Emory leaders began an effort about two years ago to enroll more military veterans. This fall, there are about 90 of them, mostly in graduate programs, said Giles Eady, the university's associate dean of admissions. Emory has about 15,000 students, the largest enrollment of any private university in Georgia. Here and elsewhere, veterans have difficulty adjusting to life on college campuses. On Monday, Emory University, like many places across America, will have a ceremony to commemorate Veterans Day. The ceremony is meant to celebrate the heroics of the vets, but it's also part of an effort to make students who've served feel more comfortable on campus. |
| Chants of 'USA!' turn to hostile shouts of 'Q and A!' after Donald Trump Jr. refuses to take questions on book tour stop at UCLA campus | |
| Donald Trump Jr.'s appearance Sunday at a university to talk about his new book on liberals and free speech was marked by an argument between him and the audience over why he would not take questions, the Guardian newspaper reported. Members of the audience of about 450 people at the University of California, Los Angeles, were vocally angry that Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle, declined to take questions because of time constraints, the Guardian reported. Trump was at UCLA to promote his new book "Triggered: How The Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us." After initially being greeted with shouts of shouts of "USA! USA!" when he first appeared on the stage of a lecture hall, members of the audience eventually turned to louder, openly hostile chants of "Q and A! Q and A!" after they were told he would not take questions, the newspaper reported. |
| Campaign season yields some interesting results | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: As Thanksgiving looms one thing we can all be thankful for is that Mississippi political campaigns are over and done. No more negative ads. No more recorded telephone calls. No more yard signs decorating every open space on major thruways. The just ended campaign season did have some interesting results, though. Republicans in January will take over all statewide offices. Attorney General Jim Hood, who lost to Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in the race for governor, was the last Democrat. Unofficial results show Reeves beat Hood in the hotly contested governor's race by 449,252 to 400,336. Given the hoopla, you might have expected this to be a record turnout. Nope. |
| For first time, Hood faces same headwinds as other Mississippi Democrats | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: The still unofficial results from Tuesday's gubernatorial election look strikingly similar to last years' United States Senate special election runoff between Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy. In that election, 907,588 votes were cast with Hyde-Smith winning 53.6 percent and Espy capturing 46.4 percent. On Tuesday, 862,609 votes were cast with Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves receiving 52.1 percent and Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood winning 46.6 percent. Two third-party candidates received the rest. It is likely in the coming days that Tuesday's vote total will increase slightly as contested ballots are counted and added to the tally. ... Democrats are left wondering if Jim Hood cannot win the state's top office, then who can. There does not seem to be anyone on the horizon. Nowadays Mississippi is Republican on both the state and national level and moving quickly in that direction on the local level. |
| Military saluted on 100th Veterans Day | |
 | U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, writes: On November 11, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson declared Armistice Day -- now Veterans Day -- to mark the anniversary of the Allied victory in World War I. For precisely a century now, Americans have commemorated this occasion with ceremonies and parades. It also gives former service members the chance to share their experiences with younger generations. ... Veterans Day is also a reminder of the need to support those currently in uniform. In President Wilson's day, many Americans hoped disarmament would give us lasting peace. A century later, we have learned that peace comes through strength. ... Our military is confronting new threats, including from countries like Russia, China, and Iran, making this task more pressing every day. As Congress debates funding, I hope we can again fulfill our most basic constitutional responsibilities to tomorrow's veterans. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State hosts Skyhawks tonight | |
| No. 10 Mississippi State takes the floor for the second time in three days as it hosts UT Martin tonight at 7. The Bulldogs enjoyed a successful season opener on Saturday with a 91-58 victory over Southern Miss led by 16 points from junior forward Chloe Bibby. UT Martin lost its season opener at Saint Louis last week, 56-50. Junior guard Tamiah Stanford scored 19 points for the Skyhawks. MSU is a perfect 5-0 against UT Martin and won the last meeting 94-61 in Tupelo on Dec. 16, 2003. |
| Aliyah Matharu, Chloe Bibby shine as Mississippi State women down Southern Miss | |
| Jordan Danberry could only watch. Seated seven chairs from the scorers' table having been dinged with two early fouls, Danberry looked on helplessly as the Bulldogs grinded through the early stages of Saturday's 91-58 win over Southern Miss. "When I get in foul trouble, I try my best to be that energy person on the bench, since I can't be on the court," she said postgame. "I'm always standing up for whoever does something good, clapping and encouraging my other teammates." With Danberry sitting, coach Vic Schaefer ditched his gray suit jacket and angrily patrolled the MSU sidelines. Irritated with his squad's flippant defense and 12 first-half turnovers, Schaefer's voice filled the air of Humphrey Coliseum despite the 7,591 fans in attendance. As Scahefer's complaints grew louder, junior forward Chloe Bibby took charge in the second quarter. Coming off a screen along the baseline, Bibby received a pass, planted and fired. Splashing home her second 3-pointer of the afternoon -- part of her team-high 16 points -- the Bulldogs cruised from then on, outscoring the Golden Eagles 27-13 in the second quarter and 69-39 over the game's final 30 minutes. |
| How Vic Schaefer, Mississippi State women's basketball built a brand | |
 | The atmosphere at Humphrey Coliseum is drastically different today than it was in the early 1980s. Southern Miss women's basketball coach Joye Lee-McNelis played for the Golden Eagles back then. She returned to the Hump this past Saturday for her team's game against No. 8 Mississippi State. She couldn't help but notice how much things have changed. Final Four banners hanging from the rafters. Plenty of people in the seats -- or, very often, out of their seats, cheering vociferously and clapping with clamor for the Mississippi State women's basketball team. "I can remember years ago when there was nobody here," Lee-McNelis said. "When I was a player at Southern Miss and Polly Branch played here, and she was a great player, you could stand during the national anthem and count on your hands and toes how many people were here." |
| 'It's a pretty neat deal': Schaefer, Lee-McNelis sound off on the growth of Mississippi basketball | |
| How times have changed. Just eight games into his tenure at Mississippi State, coach Vic Schaefer took the 2012 version of his squad down to Hattiesburg for an early season contest against Joye Lee-McNelis' Southern Miss team. For Schaefer, an adopted Mississippian whose drawl is a reminder of his deep Texas roots, the battle to rebuild an MSU program that had only briefly brushed with success in its 38-year history began in-state. On Dec. 1, 2012, it was Lee-McNelis' Southern Miss squad that took down the Bulldogs 61-59 courtesy of an Ance Celmina two-point jumper with six seconds left. On that day, 1,100 fans sat in Reed Green Coliseum to watch the action. Seven years on from that result, 7,591 maroon and white faithful packed the rungs of Humphrey Coliseum to watch Schaefer and Lee-McNelis' teams do battle once more during Saturday's 91-58 MSU victory. And though the result was lopsided, the game offered a glimpse into the ever-growing psyche of basketball -- particularly women's basketball -- in the state of Mississippi. "I just want to say thank you to (Mississippi State) fans, the administration and your people for supporting women's basketball," Lee-McNelis said. "You have transformed the culture of basketball in the state of Mississippi." |
| SEC powers visit state on Saturday | |
| Mathematically, Ole Miss still has a chance for a break-even regular season. Getting there with two games remaining will require the Rebels to knock off LSU -- No. 1 in the AP Top 25 and No. 2 in last week's College Football Playoff rankings -- a week after the Tigers' biggest win in perhaps the last 10 years. As college football embarks on Week 11, Ole Miss (4-6, 2-4 SEC) and Mississippi State (4-5, 2-4) must face participants from Saturday's Game of the Century 2.0. The Rebels are at home this Saturday against LSU -- led by former Ole Miss head coach Ed Oregon -- with a 6 p.m. kickoff to air on ESPN. MSU, coming off an open date, has an 11 a.m. kick at home against Alabama, also on ESPN. MSU last played Nov. 2 at Arkansas where the Bulldogs throttled the Razorbacks 54-24. |
| Trump met with cheers at Alabama-LSU game | |
| Top-tier college football mixed with politics when President Trump attended the game in Tuscaloosa between the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University. During the first timeout of the game, when audiences at home were sent to commercial break, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump rose in their luxury box to cheers, applause and chants of "USA, USA." t was Trump's third visit to a sporting event in two weeks and the first at which he was not booed. Leading up to the event, there was much discussion about what his reception would be at the football game. However, not all were pleased with the president's much-anticipated appearance. Toward the end of halftime, seven students wearing shirts that spelled out "impeach" stood up and waved red and white pom-poms. |
| A first for Alabama, Donald Trump in loss to LSU: Tide had been perfect for presidents | |
 | Alabama came into Saturday's game with a 2-0 record with U.S. presidents in attendance. That perfect presidential record is no more after LSU's 46-41 victory at Bryant-Denny stadium as President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump looked on. The first such game was in the 1963 Orange Bowl, when President John F. Kennedy was watching a 17-0 victory over Oklahoma. The second was in the 2018 CFP championship when Donald Trump was in attendance for the Tide's 26-23 overtime victory over Georgia in Atlanta. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were introduced during the second quarter, waving from a suite on the east sideline to loud applause from fans of both teams. "Thank you to LSU and Alabama for the great game," the president tweeted after the game. |
| Chad Morris out as coach at U. of Arkansas | |
| The Chad Morris era at the University of Arkansas is over less than two years after it began. Morris was fired as head football coach by UA Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek on Sunday morning. The move came less than 24 hours after Arkansas lost 45-19 to Western Kentucky in the season's on-campus finale in front of an announced crowd of 42,985, the worst attendance at Reynolds Razorback Stadium since its expansion to 72,000 seats before the 2001 season. Arkansas fell to 2-8 on the season and 4-18 under Morris, the worst 22-game stretch in the program's history. Morris was 0-14 in SEC games as part of the Razorbacks' current 17-game losing streak in conference play. Yurachek, contacted by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as he left his office at the Broyles Center on Sunday morning, said he could not comment as he was running late for his flight to watch the Arkansas women's soccer team in the SEC championship game in Orange Beach, Ala. |
| Quick Hooks for Chad Morris and Willie Taggart Underscore College Football's Evolution into Win-Now Mode | |
| The two words are still burned in Rich Brooks' mind, just like they're seared forever in the annals of SEC media days. Brooks, then having completed his fourth season as Kentucky's head coach in 2007, stepped to the pulpit in the main room of the annual preseason event, hundreds of reporters before him, many of them having predicted his firing the year before, and he bellowed before anything else, "I'm baaaaaack!" Laughter ensued. Brooks, now long retired and living in Oregon, relived that event with a reporter this Saturday from Bryant-Denny Stadium ahead of Alabama's showdown with LSU. He was a guest of athletic director Greg Byrne, a longtime family friend, and as the Tide football team made its celebrated pregame march into the stadium, Brooks held a conversation with a reporter during which he rehearsed that 2007 SEC media days opening line -- "I'm baaaaaack!" -- and shook his head at how much the coaching industry has changed since it. Few coaches today would get a fourth year had they won a combined nine games in their first three seasons as Brooks did in 2003-05. "It's changed," he says. |
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