| Thursday, December 5, 2019 |
| Jones College, Mississippi State University sign agreement | |
 | Mississippi State University President, Dr. Mark Keenum and Jones College President, Dr. Jesse Smith signed a memorandum of understanding agreement allowing Jones students to earn a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in several majors beginning in January 2020. Jones College students enrolled in one of more than 20-career and technical programs, like welding, electro-mechanical technology among many others, will now be able to further their education by earning a Bachelor of Applied Science through Mississippi State University. Students with an A.A.S. degree who earn this new bachelor's degree will have more opportunities for management positions and increased wages. Mississippi State University President, Dr. Mark Keenum, says it's an opportunity to help students achieve their educational dreams. "I think promoting these opportunities with young people while they're still in high school and know they can go pursue an associate's degree in the field like robotics or any of these numerous outstanding technical areas, and if they choose, be able to continue their education through the institutes of higher learning systems to get a bachelor's degree," said Keenum. |
| Buck in MSU Deer Lab study makes 13-mile trek to winter home | |
 | Buck No. 27 stunned researchers last year when he traveled over 13 miles from his capture site and set up shop in another location for winter. This year, the highly mobile deer did it again and another buck in the study group may have traveled even farther. "He was originally darted in August of 2018," said Colby Henderson, Mississippi State University graduate student. "After he woke up he just high-tailed it out of there. "He moved 13 miles. He stayed there until February and then came back to the same property we darted him on." The buck was part of a study conducted by MSU and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. It began in 2016 when researchers selected 55 mature bucks in Madison and Yazoo counties near the Big Black River. Each buck was captured and then fitted with a GPS tracking collar and ear tags. The goal of the study was to monitor the bucks' movements during the 2017 and 2018 deer seasons to see how they react to hunting pressure. |
| MAFES to open seafood lab on Mississippi Gulf Coast | |
 | Mississippi State University is gearing up to continue its approximately 15 years of seafood research in the Gulf of Mexico. Last week the university announced plans to build a $3 million laboratory on the Mississippi Gulf Coast to provide seafood testing and quality assurance. The facility will be called the Northern Gulf Aquatic Food Research Center, and will be funded through the Mississippi RESTORE Act. It will be operated by the Mississippi Agriculture and Forest Experiment Station. It is one of 15 restoration projects announced by Gov. Phil Bryant at the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality's Mississippi Restoration Summit. MAFES Associate Director Wes Burger said construction on the lab would be underway in about a year, and the lab would be an upgrade from MAFES's current seafood operations on the Coast. |
| HEALTH BITES: Mississippi State partners with Right Track | |
 | Mississippi State University and the Right Track Medical Group have partnered to expand student access to mental health care. The six physicians and three family nurse practitioners at MSU Longest Student Health Center already provide general care for common mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression or attention deficit disorder. Right Track chief medical officer and psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Pannel and board-certified advanced psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner Ella Williamson will be available on site to see students referred for more specialized care. Williamson will see students Monday through Thursday. Pannel will be available on Fridays. Both can provide assessment and treatment services to students for a small fee at the health center. The Right Track Medical, which has community mental health clinics in Tupelo, Oxford, Corinth and Olive Branch, recently opened a Starkville location on Starr Avenue. |
| Mississippi State University President Visits Local High School Seniors | |
 | Wednesday the seniors at Northeast Lauderdale Highschool got a lesson on planning for their future. Mississippi State University President, Dr. Mark Keenum visited the seniors at Northeast Lauderdale High School and gave tips on how they can plan for life after high school. "My favorite part was hearing how you can go to MCC and get an associates degree in a technical program and then that can transfer over to a bachelors at the university," said Jayla Smith, high school senior. The speech from Dr. Keenum, motivated students to think deeply about planning for their careers, especially with technology reducing the need for manual labor. |
| Sharing leadership skills with MSU-Meridian students | |
 | Photo: Capt. Brian "Headless" Horstman, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Meridian, shared his leadership philosophy with Professional MBA students in the Leadership Skills class at MSU-Meridian recently. Horstman was one of three guest speakers who recently shared leadership tips with the graduate students. |
| Ashley Furniture invests $25 million, will add 100 more jobs at Ecru | |
 | Ashley Furniture is expanding operations at its stationary upholstery manufacturing and regional distribution center in Ecru. The project is a $25 million corporate investment and will create 100 jobs. "Northeast Mississippi's furniture industry is a strong economic driver throughout the region, employing thousands of Mississippians -- many of whom are employed at Ashley Furniture," Gov. Phil Bryant said. Furniture manufacturing added $4.29 billion to the Mississippi economy in 2014. In that year, employment stood at 26,193, according to Dr. Rubin Shumulsky, head of the sustainable bioproducts department at Mississippi State University. Peak employment in the industry reached 31,600 in 2000, before falling to 17,600 by 2009, largely due to a drop in demand from China because of that country's production of furniture cheaper than could be bought in the United States. Shumulsky describes the industry as stable and moderately diversified. Upholstered furniture remains the strength, with some case goods. "We've got a trained work force, we've got raw materials," he said. "If we wanted to open a plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it would be much harder because they don't have the allied support network." |
| Aldermen postpone vote on short-term rental regulations | |
 | Aldermen will not vote to place restrictions on short-term rental properties such as Airbnbs in residential neighborhoods at their Dec. 17 meeting as originally planned, and the city will look into possible regulations for long-term rental properties before bringing the issue back up for debate. The board voted 5-2 on Tuesday to table the short-term rental discussion, which began two months ago and has at times become contentious, after aldermen and members of the public claimed the proposed ordinance unfairly singled out short-term rentals and would only be reasonable if it addressed long-term rentals as well. If passed at the next meeting, the ordinance would have become part of the city's updated unified development code, which will still receive a vote on Dec. 17. Mayor Lynn Spruill said she does not believe the short-term rental debate is over, although it is difficult to predict when the board will revive it. |
| First week of Mississippi lottery: $8.9M in sales. A $15,000 winning ticket | |
 | Lottery ticket sales in Mississippi exceeded $8.9 million in the first six days, according to the Mississippi Lottery Corp. Lottery spokeswoman Meg Annison said ticket sales grossed $8,932,200 million, netting the state $1.9 million for roads and bridges. "Overall, retailers and players were very positive and excited that the lottery is finally here," MLC President Tom Shaheen said in a statement. "The top-five selling counties for the week were Hinds, Harrison, Rankin, Lee and Forrest." Players cashed in more than $3.8 million in prizes with a number of large winners. Top prizes claimed ranged from $2,000 to $15,000. All but one winner chose to remain anonymous. Four more scratch-off games will be available on Tuesday, December 10. "People love variety," said Shaheen. "Our plan is to introduce four new scratch-off games once a month. In addition, Powerball and MegaMillions will go on sale January 30, 2020." |
| MBN Director John Dowdy has to repay $30K, state auditor rules | |
| The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics director has to repay $30,122 worth of comp time that he took without permission, according to a report released by the state auditor Thursday. The commissioner of public safety is supposed to sign off on comp time buybacks, the audit said, but Dowdy repeatedly directed his staff to pay him that money -- without knowledge of the commissioner and over the objections of his staff. The audit does not allege criminal wrongdoing. According to the audit, Dowdy claimed, in part, that as a sworn law enforcement officer, he was allowed to receive those comp time buybacks. That was a problem, the audit said, because Dowdy is not a sworn law enforcement officer. This disagreement could cost DPS more than $300,000. |
| Speaker Nancy Pelosi orders chairmen to draw up articles of impeachment | |
 | Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she has asked House committee chairmen to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. "With confidence and humility, with allegiance to our founders and a heart full of love for America, today I'm asking our chairmen to proceed with articles of impeachment," Pelosi said. Pelosi said that Trump's wrongdoing "strikes at the very heart of our Constitution," and that she saw no choice but to act. Pelosi mentioned bribery and abuse of power in her remarks, but did not identify specific articles for Judiciary to draft and pursue, leaving the number of and basis for the articles up to Judiciary members. She later tweeted the same sentiments. |
| Hinds CC President Dr. Clyde Muse announces retirement plans | |
| Hinds Community College President Dr. Clyde Muse today announced to the Board of Trustees at their regular monthly meeting his intention to retire on June 30, 2020, after 42 years as chief of the college and 68 years as an educator. Muse became president of then-Hinds Junior College on July 1, 1978. He is the longest-serving community college president in Mississippi history and among the longest-serving college presidents in the nation. He is often called the "godfather" of Mississippi community colleges for his committed vision in moving all the colleges forward and his ability to assemble diverse groups of stakeholders to bring a project to fruition for the benefit of all. A native of Benton County and a preacher's son, Muse is a graduate of East Central Community College, Delta State University and Mississippi State University. |
| 'I thank God we didn't get hit': JSU students detail moments after active shooter alert | |
| Students ran for safety Wednesday morning when shots are fired on the Jackson State University campus. The campus was placed on lockdown while students and faculty looked for a safe place to wait. Students and faculty began getting alerts from the university of an active shooter around 11 a.m. Gunfire echoed across the campus and police began ushering people to safety. The lockdown was lifted more than an hour after the alert was issued. "The shooting happened right over there by Sweet Spot," said Alexis Green pointing down Dalton Street. The Jackson State University student was walking on campus near Dalton and Pascagoula Streets when she heard three quick gunshots. Those shots injured a man who was found lying on the ground and appeared to have been shot in the right leg. JSU officials said he was not a student. |
| UM Engineering Professor Lance Yarbrough assists in Delaware Aqueduct Bypass Project | |
| For five weeks straight, Lance Yarbrough spent most of his days at the end of a tunnel 600 feet below the Hudson River. The assistant professor of geology and geological engineering at the University of Mississippi was watching "Nora" -- a 470-foot-long, 2.7-million-pound tunnel boring machine -- mine through rock 900 feet beneath the Earth's surface as part of the Delaware Aqueduct Bypass project. The machine operated for 20 months, six days a week, 24 hours a day. For Yarbrough, being involved in the project was an experience of a lifetime. "I observed the daily operations of this $1 billion tunnel project, the largest fix ever done to the largest water supply system in the nation," he said. Yarbrough was a faculty scholar with Kiewit Underground, the construction company working on the Delaware Aqueduct Bypass. "Most of my time underground, I was at the end of the tunnel with more than 300 pounds per square inch of pressure acting on the shield of the machine," he said. |
| Auburn to halt student housing developments | |
 | Auburn Mayor Ron Anders has proposed an ordinance to put any new student housing developments on hold. Anders pitched the plan Tuesday at the City Council's Committee of the Whole meeting. The current City Council took office a little over a year ago and soon after established a student housing task force, responding to complaints from residents and businesses over a rising number of student developments that seem to cater too much to the needs of students. "We looked at a lot of different things, including having some learning sessions with different groups of students on campus that was put together through the student affairs over at Auburn, which we were grateful for," Anders said. The mayor said that process has shown that the number of beds in the city of Auburn designed specifically for students is too high and he proposed that something needs to be done. What makes this information more pertinent is Auburn University's decision to put enrollment guidelines in place. |
| Auburn professors speak on the pros and cons of tenure | |
| Job security is important no matter where one works, and for those working in higher education, that job security manifests itself as tenure. When a professor is granted tenure, they are granted certain administrative rights that give them the ability to pursue any form of academic research without repercussion. While tenure may sound like a job for life, that definition is not quite correct. A professor with tenure can still be asked to leave, but the circumstances surrounding a removal must be egregious -- and that egregious behavior or act must be easily provable. This does not mean that a professor can be asked to leave for researching a topic that is unpopular; in fact, tenure is meant to protect and allow professors to research these unpopular and difficult topics. "For instance, studying voting rights for felons is not necessarily something that a lot of people feel comfortable about," said Cynthia Bowling, associate dean for research and faculty development in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University. "Without academic freedom, people would be a lot more reluctant to talk about really important issues." |
| Arkansas governor: Time to raise state ag funds | |
| Gov. Asa Hutchinson will ask the Legislature, when it convenes in April, to boost the University of Arkansas' Division of Agriculture general revenue budget by $1.8 million next fiscal year, Hutchinson said Wednesday at the Arkansas Farm Bureau's annual convention. The increase would apply to the budget for fiscal 2021, which starts July 1, 2020. The Republican governor announced his plan to several hundred people attending the farm bureau's 85th annual meeting in Little Rock. Afterward, Farm Bureau President Randy Veach said in a written statement that "we were pleased to hear the governor commit to expanding the permanent funding for the UA Division of Agriculture" because adequate funding has long been a priority issue for the Arkansas Farm Bureau. "This commitment will provide needed support for our state's largest industry, agriculture," Veach said. |
| Conservative group says Louisiana universities' sexual harassment rules chill free speech on campus | |
 | Five of Louisiana's universities were ranked Wednesday as among the nation's worst at protecting "free speech," according to a conservative group that argues a liberal bias dominates higher education. This ranking by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, called FIRE, puts LSU, Tulane, UNO, Southeastern and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the same league as Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Georgetown. FIRE evaluated the written policies of 471 four-year colleges to see how well they complied with the group's vision of First Amendment "free speech" standards. The six Louisiana schools were among the 114, or 24.2%, with a "red light" rating, meaning that the policies "both clearly and substantially restricts protected speech." University officials didn't return calls or refused comment. |
| Moody's upgrades U. of Missouri financial outlook | |
 | Improved leadership continuity, stable enrollment and continued strong revenues from health care gives the University of Missouri System a stable financial outlook, Moody's Investor Services stated in a news release issued Tuesday. University officials highlighted the news, which is an upgrade from the negative outlook issued by Moody's in June 2017, when enrollment was declining sharply on the Columbia campus and state budget cuts were forcing hundreds of job cuts. "This is fantastic news and demonstrates the quality of leadership that we have guiding the state of Missouri's largest public university," said Jon Sundvold, chair of the Board of Curators and owner of a financial services firm. In the release, Moody's left the university's overall credit rating unchanged at Aa1, the second-highest possible on Moody's charts, recognizing the low risk associated with debt issued by the university. |
| The Senate has a bipartisan proposal. What comes next? | |
 | Higher education advocates are largely supportive of a new bipartisan amendment on federal funding for historically black colleges and universities, but some point to challenges in the road ahead. The bipartisan proposal, announced Tuesday by the U.S. Senate education committee, would amend legislation passed in September and make permanent $255 million in annual funding for historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions. The FUTURE Act, as the legislation is formally called, would also simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and eliminate paperwork for the 7.7 million federal student loan borrowers current The amendment is the latest attempt at compromise after Senator Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the education committee, proposed a package of bills that was seen as a piecemeal approach to reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. ly on income-driven repayment plans by automating income recertification. |
| Rand Paul to offer bill allowing families to use 401(k), IRA savings on student loans | |
 | U.S. Sen. Rand Paul wants to combat the rising debt load engulfing college students by allowing families to use their retirement savings to pay off their loans. The Kentucky Republican introduced federal legislation late Monday that would allow students to dip into retirement accounts to help pay for college or make monthly debt payments. Under his bill, individuals could to take up to $5,250 -- tax and penalty free -- from their 401(k) or IRA each year, and their parents could divert thousands more. "It's just hard for people to pay back," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "Even people with graduate-degree educations are struggling to pay it back over a long period of time. We want to do something to try to help these kids pay off their loans." Paul's bill is called the Higher Education Loan Repayment and Enhanced Retirement Act, or HELPER. He plans to pitch it in visits to college campuses in Kentucky in coming weeks. |
| When College Becomes a Benefit of Employment | |
| These days working in a fast-food restaurant or other service-industry job often comes with a new benefit: a college education. More employers at least are offering tuition assistance to workers or even letting them take courses for free. Big-name companies are doing this -- think Starbucks, Walmart, Chipotle and McDonald's to name a few. Companies are hoping the move will attract workers and keep them from leaving so quickly; for colleges, these efforts can be a source of new students, especially for new online programs. For a sense of how big this trend is, consider Guild Education, a startup that helps set up and run these education benefit programs by connecting big companies and colleges. It's now a unicorn, meaning it's valued at more than a billion dollars -- that makes it one of the highest valued education companies out there. But how well do these education-as-a-benefit programs work, and who do they work for? |
| After racist, anti-Semitic incidents, Syracuse adds security patrols and cameras on campus | |
 | Authorities have added security patrols and cameras at Syracuse University as students returned from the holiday break amid an active investigation into a series of racist and anti-Semitic incidents on campus. The security crackdown came as another "suspicious communication directed to a Syracuse University student organization" got reported on Nov. 26, but police deemed it did not pose a physical threat. University officials last week noted they expect to refer more suspicious incidents to law enforcement in the future, suggesting authorities are concerned about copycats stoking the tension on campus. The security crackdown comes after at least a dozen incidents of graffiti, racist heckling and other issues have been reported to campus police since Nov. 7 at the private, 22,000-student university. |
| KU changes course on international student enrollment after partnership falls short | |
| After years of falling international student enrollment, the University of Kansas has been forced to rethink its goals when it comes to recruiting students around the world. In 2014, the University signed a contract that could have been worth millions -- it didn't work out. The University agreed in 2014 to become one of two college partners in the United States with Shorelight Education, a Boston-based recruitment agency that connects international students with American universities. The University hoped to double its international enrollment. In 2014, there were 2,283 international students at the University. Now, 2,031 international students are enrolled -- an 11% decrease in the last five years. The Kansan previously reported the University hoped to use the extra money that international students bring to the university to fund ambitious building plans. It went ahead and used the money to pay for buildings such as the Integrated Science Building, but then international enrollment actually fell. |
| Colleges increasingly collaborating with students who have large social media followings | |
| When teenagers are looking for information about what it's really like to go to a college, they rarely consult college brochures or university websites. Instead, they just turn to social media. Liz Gross, founder and CEO of Campus Sonar, a company that develops social media strategies for higher ed institutions, said the number of colleges working with student influencers is growing. Students with large followings can help colleges reach new audiences -- particularly teenagers who may be persuaded to later enroll at the institution, she said. While working with students can help institutions create content that young people actually want to watch, there are still a lot of "gray areas" for institutions to navigate when working with influencers. |
| What's in a title? When it comes to 'Doctor,' more than you might think | |
| If you work in medicine, does it matter if you are called by your title? Is it all right if patients, colleagues, and others call you by your first name? The answer of course depends on whom you ask. However, for many doctors who are women, that is not necessarily the central concern. It is more worrying that they and their male counterparts receive different forms of address. Women are more often referred to by first name, even when the situation of communication is formal. The same does not happen to doctors who are men. Women in medicine may wonder whether or not those variations in how they are addressed might have far-reaching consequences for their careers. Do they reflect a systematic difference in attitude? As a linguist, writer, and professor who teaches mostly sociolinguistics content, I have always been fascinated by the ways in which we use language. Linguistic categories and beliefs can affect different areas of our lives. |
| Standardized testing anxiety | |
| Angela Farmer, an assistant clinical professor in Mississippi State University's Shackouls Honors College, writes: Validation, verification, and comparison are a few of the major reasons that students across the nation now see dramatically increased rates of standardized testing compared to decades past. While legislators and educators can often agree to disagree on the justification and efficacy of such tools, the reality is that the persistent nature of these tests has created stress and test anxiety in some of even the youngest students. According to a recent publication by Beth Ann Fulton entitled "The Relationship Between Test Anxiety and Standardized Test Scores," her research indicated a significant surge in student anxiety levels when faced with a standardized examination among a large group of fourth grade public school students in New York. As the students age, the test anxiety does not diminish, especially in states where standardized examinations are used to determine a student's eligibility for graduation. |
| Our View: More school districts should embrace C Spire coding program | |
| The Dispatch editorializes: As so often seems to be the case, there is good news and bad news about how our state prepares its young people for the future. The good news is that, for the past few years, there has been more talk about the need for preparing our children for the jobs of the future. The bad news is we should have been talking about this about a decade sooner. ... On Tuesday evening, a group of 12 Starkville High School students showed off their computer technology prowess as part of a pilot program sponsored by C Spire. The classes are a dual-enrollment program with East Mississippi Community College, with Mississippi State University providing the curriculum. ... We applaud the Starkville School District for providing the resources needed to accommodate this program, and C Spire for taking a leadership role. We encourage all our school districts to follow suit. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State men return to action after extended hiatus | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball has been on a bit of a hiatus but returns to action tonight hosting Louisiana Tech at 7. It will be the first game for MSU (6-1) since it finished third at the Myrtle Beach Invitational on Nov. 24. State has won 26 straight non-conference games at home -- which leads the SEC -- and has five players scoring in double figures. Senior guard Tyson Carter of Starkville leads the team averaging 17.6 points. Louisiana Tech enters play at 5-2 with its only losses coming at Indiana and Creighton. The visiting Bulldogs are coming off a 78-57 victory over Samford Last Saturday. Mississippi State is 10-4 all-time in the series and 7-1 in Starkville. MSU won the previous meeting 75-45 to open the 2007-08 season. |
| Why Mississippi State men's basketball had long break between games | |
| Ben Howland thought Nick Weatherspoon would be back by now. If you're wondering why you haven't seen the Mississippi State men's basketball team play since Nov. 24, 11 days ago, it had everything to do with the junior point guard who has not played at all this season because of his suspension for a violation of team rules. Eleven days after routing Coastal Carolina 81-56, the Bulldogs are back at Humphrey Coliseum for their first home game since Nov. 17. They'll try to put another tally in the win column to improve their own record to 7-1. Howland said it won't be easy. It's early December, but ESPN's Bracketology never rests. College basketball analyst Joe Lunardi has Louisiana Tech as an NCAA Tournament team in his latest Bracketology unveiling. Lunardi thinks those Bulldogs are going to win Conference USA to earn an automatic bid to the big dance. "They're a team that's one of the older teams in the country," Howland said. |
| Mississippi State men's basketball notebook: Long layoff, Nick Weatherspoon, prepping for La Tech | |
| When Mississippi State tips off against Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m. Thursday at Humphrey Coliseum, it will have been 11 days since the Bulldogs last took the court. MSU coach Ben Howland said having that long of a layoff wasn't necessarily supposed to be the plan, but he was told earlier in the summer junior point guard Nick Weatherspoon might only serve a five-game suspension to start the year. Hoping to have Weatherspoon make his season debut against powerhouse Villanova in the second game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational, when the Bulldogs needed him most, Howland scheduled four nonconference games prior to the team's trip to South Carolina. Normally, he said, they'd play three games and move the fourth to a later date after the Myrtle Beach Invitational. Nevertheless, Howland found out in mid-August that Weatherspoon's suspension was going to be 10 games, not five. The schedule had mostly already been finalized by then. While it's unclear if the Bulldogs will show any signs off rust against Louisiana Tech, MSU's long layoff might have benefited some players that have been forced to play excessive minutes in the wake of Weatherspoon's absence. |
| Mississippi State's Tyre Phillips headed to NFLPA Collegiate Bowl | |
| Mississippi State offensive tackle Tyre Phillips has accepted an invitation to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl on Jan. 18, 2020 at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. Phillips becomes the fourth Bulldog to earn an all-star nod joining Brian Cole II (Senior Bowl) and Darryl Williams and Tommy Stevens (East-West Shrine Bowl). The 6-foot-5, 345-pounder from Grenada has played in 25 games at MSU after transferring in from East Mississippi Community College and started all 12 games at left tackle this fall. Phillips will be the sixth Bulldog to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and first since Deion Calhoun last year. |
| Why SEC GIF guru 'LSUFreek' disappeared | |
 | Terrance Donnels just didn't have it in him anymore. The man best known as "LSUFreek" on the internet no longer had the energy or desire to spend hours creating the wackiest and funniest SEC football GIFs. No one seemed to delight SEC fanbases the way Donnels did with inspired Lane Kiffin, Les Miles and Steve Spurrier GIFs that went viral the moment he hit publish. Only "LSUFreek" could create the now iconic GIF of a neck brace-wearing Bobby Petrino falling off his motorcycle, Bill Clinton giving him a thumbs up and a delighted Miles celebrating in the back of the car in a scene out of Seinfeld. But for as much joy as Donnels gave others, he no longer felt it himself. Five years ago, Donnels made the switch to hospice care at St Joseph Hospice in New Orleans, and it wore him down. He loved the work, but he felt his unique sense of humor slipping away as he lost patients day after day. He'd look back at his old GIFs and photoshops and couldn't seem to understand what had made it funny in the first place. So one day, Donnels stopped. |
| Tiger Stadium grass finds new home at governor's mansion; 'this is going to be ... hallowed ground' | |
| Governor John Bel Edwards may have a green thumb, but now it's clear that he has a purple and gold thumb, too. Edwards is one of many new owners of a patch of Tiger Stadium grass. When LSU offered up chunks of Tiger Stadium sod this week, fans flocked to campus to claim their 'piece of history,' as the university called it. The patches were then planted in the lawn of the Louisiana governor's mansion under a plaque that reads "Official LSU Tiger Field Sod, Historic 12-0 2019." Edwards watered the new additions Wednesday as he talked about the football team's hoped-for successes to come. "When we win the SEC championship and go on to the national playoffs, I'm excited about having this here," Edwards said. "It's going to be a great addition to the mansion grounds." As the grass grows and fills into the lawn, the governor plans to outline the patch in bricks so it will be "forever memorialized as having come from Tiger Stadium." |
| Missouri lawmakers float plan to let college athletes get paid | |
| Following the lead of California, Missouri lawmakers have introduced a proposal to allow college athletes to profit from their name and image. Rep. Nick Schroer, an O'Fallon Republican, filed legislation Tuesday to let athletes make money off their fame. Rep. Wes Rogers, D-Kansas City, plans to introduce a similar plan later this month, with an eye on debating the issue when lawmakers return to action in January. "I think that it's just time to make sure these kids are able to -- I hate to use the word 'profit' -- but able to just get what's fair after they put their hearts and souls into these programs," Rogers said. The concept has the support of University of Missouri men's basketball coach Cuonzo Martin, who earlier said he would have liked extra money when he was in college. But, Martin said there will be a need for the NCAA to address the logistics of how any change in law will be enforced. |
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