| Tuesday, December 10, 2019 |
| Mississippi State bolsters mental health care offerings | |
 | When Kim Kavalsky became the coordinator for mental health outreach at Mississippi State University in 2012, she was shocked to learn how many students experienced suicidal thoughts. "For some students it might just be a fleeting thought when they're overwhelmed, and for other students it's (happening), if not daily, several times a week," Kavalsky said. "It's something we're concerned about, and we're doing our best to get them the help that they need." Mental health care services at MSU, especially for students with the most serious struggles like suicidal ideation, received an upgrade in November when the John C. Longest Student Health Center partnered with Right Track Medical Group, an outpatient mental health care organization that opened its Starkville location in October. The MSU campus now has psychiatric care experts available in person five days a week, with nurse practitioner Ella Williamson at the student health center from Monday to Thursday and psychiatrist Stephen Pannel there on Fridays. |
| Monday Profile: Mississippi State visiting professor chronicles 125 years of work on Latin thesaurus | |
| Christian Flow's third year at Harvard proved pivotal. The classics major lacked direction and as the challenges of the real world loomed close on the horizon, he still hadn't found his passion. When Flow learned about the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae and everything changed. The thesaurus, known in short as the T.L.L., now occupies a few floors in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences -- a former castle -- in Munich, Germany. But from its beginnings in a bunker in the 1890s, it has survived two world wars and a divided German state through the work of several generations of lexicographers over the last 125 years. So far, the dictionary/thesaurus meant to catalog every meaning for every use of every known Latin word has been completed to the letter R. It's full completion isn't expected until at least 2050. In the meantime, Flow, a visiting assistant professor in Mississippi State University's Shackouls Honors College, has become the de facto historian for the T.L.L., spending much of the last decade immersed in the task. |
| Exchange student shares experiences in America at Rotary | |
 | The Starkville Rotary Club got to hear a foreigner's take on the U.S. and Starkville Monday, with a talk from Carlotta Tenore, this year's Rotary Youth Exchange Student. Tenore is 17 years old and a native of Milan, Italy. She came to the U.S. in August, and is currently attending classes as a senior at Starkville High School. She will graduate from SHS in May, before returning to Italy to complete her last year of high school there. Italian students attend five years of high school, as opposed to the four required of American Students. The Starkville Rotary Club has participated in Rotary Youth Exchange for nearly three decades. She discussed her experiences in Starkville and other parts of the U.S., along with details of her life back home in Milan. |
| Keesler AFB official: 'No changes to the classroom environment' following Pensacola shooting | |
 | While there may be some 60 to 80 students from Saudi Arabia in any given year taking classes at Keesler Air Force Base, officials there have not changed any classroom policies after a Saudi national launched an attack Friday at Pensacola Naval Air Station that left four people dead, including the gunman. The FBI Jacksonville Division identified the gunman in the Pensacola attack as 21-year-old Mohammed Alshamrani, a 21-year-old second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force. Between 300 and 400 international students attend classes and training sessions each year at the base located in Biloxi, Public Affairs Officer Sarah Loicano said Monday. About 20% of the students are from Saudi Arabia. "(The international students) attend all types of classes," she said. "There are 15 courses with everything from finance to air traffic control." The international students attend classes with U.S. students, Loicano said. "As of right now, they are still in mixed classrooms," she said when asked if there were any restrictions placed on Saudi students. "There has been no changes to the classroom environment." |
| Some Mississippi inaugural events reserved for sponsors | |
 | Mississippi's new governor was elected to serve everyone, but not just anyone will be allowed into some of the events celebrating his inauguration. The inaugural committee for Republican Tate Reeves on Monday sent out a list of events that are open to the public. The committee's website also shows that it is seeking sponsorships of $5,000 to $250,000, and that those donors will have access to private events before or on inauguration day, which is Jan. 14. The committee released a schedule of public events, and its website has information about sponsorship levels and events that are open only to those donors. Free events begin with a worship service Jan. 12 at the church Reeves' family attends, Galloway United Methodist in downtown Jackson. |
| Trump, Pelosi ready to pass new NAFTA amid impeachment process | |
 | President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are on the verge of announcing a deal on the new North American trade pact, handing the president a major political victory amid impeachment proceedings and giving moderate Democrats a legislative accomplishment they can sell back home. The deal remains unofficial until Tuesday, when the top trade officials from the U.S., Mexico and Canada are expected to meet in Mexico City for an afternoon ceremony. Pelosi is also holding off on making a public announcement until she has briefed her caucus on the policy details of the pact, which replaces the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. Although the deal is widely seen as a crucial pre-election year win for Trump, Pelosi has been emphasizing that passing a new NAFTA goes beyond partisan politics, particularly given Democrats' long history of criticizing the old pact's harm on American workers. |
| Democrats introduce two articles of impeachment against Trump: Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress | |
 | House Democrats on Tuesday announced they are introducing two articles of impeachment charging President Donald Trump with abuse of office and obstruction of Congress. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Trump's inviting foreign interference in U.S. elections with his efforts to invite foreign governments to investigate political rivals and his efforts to interfere in the investigation of those allegations warrant impeachment. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff summarized the evidence his committee gathered in the impeachment investigation. "President Trump abused the power of his office by conditioning two official acts to get Ukraine to help his reelection," Schiff said. Schiff said that waiting for the courts to act isn't an option. Schiff said that Congress is acting with urgency, but not in haste. |
| Trump lashes out at FBI director in wake of Justice Department inspector general's report | |
 | President Trump lashed out Tuesday morning at FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, suggesting that "he will never be able to fix the FBI" based on his reaction to a Justice Department inspector general's report examining the bureau's investigation of Trump's 2016 campaign. "I don't know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn't the one given to me," Trump tweeted. "With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!" The 434-page report rebutted conservatives' accusations that top FBI officials were driven by political bias to illegally spy on Trump advisers as part of the probe into Russian election interference, but it also found broad and "serious performance failures" requiring major changes. In a statement Monday, Wray, a Trump appointee, said he had ordered more than 40 corrective steps to address the report's recommendations," adding that he would not hesitate to take "appropriate disciplinary action if warranted." |
| National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien: China Wants Your Personal Information | |
 | President Trump's new national security adviser is warning of an information security doomsday scenario for U.S. allies that allow Chinese telecommunications company Huawei to build their next generation 5G networks. Robert O'Brien said countries that allow Huawei in could give China's communist government backdoor access to their citizens' most sensitive data. "So every medical record, every social media post, every email, every financial transaction, and every citizen of the country with cloud computing and artificial intelligence can be sucked up out of Huawei into massive servers in China," O'Brien told NPR in an interview. "This isn't a theoretical threat," O'Brien said before speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum, an annual gathering of defense industry and military officials. O'Brien's concerns underscore the complexity of current relations between the United States and China. |
| Justice Department files Statement of Interest on JCJC free speech lawsuit | |
 | The Justice Department has filed a Statement of Interest in a federal lawsuit based in Mississippi. The suit was brought by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) on behalf of J. Michael Brown, a former student, against Jones County Junior College, a public institution of higher learning. J. Michael Brown, who is now a student at Southern Miss, according to the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. According to the college's policies campus administrators are required to pre-approve all "meetings or gatherings." Mr. Brown alleged in the suit that college officials called the campus police on him when he sought to engage on campus with fellow students about topics such as free speech and another time from polling students regarding marijuana legislation. In both instances, Mr. Brown said that he was brought to the campus police chief's office, and was intimidated by the police chief and other campus officials. "Unconstitutional restrictions on our first freedoms to speak and assemble directly threaten our liberty as Americans," said United States Attorney Mike Hurst for the Southern District of Mississippi. "While some may disagree with the content of one's speech, we should all be fighting for everyone's Constitutional right to speak. I pray JCJC will do the right thing, change its policies to comply with the U.S. Constitution, and encourage its students to speak and assemble throughout our free state." |
| Justice Dept. defends campus free speech following Jones College lawsuit | |
 | The U.S. Justice Department filed a Statement of Interest Monday supporting free speech on college campuses following a federal lawsuit in Mississippi. The lawsuit was filed by a former Jones College student, J. Michael Brown, and the campus group Young Americans for Liberty regarding the college's policies requiring campus administrators to approve all "meetings or gatherings." The Justice Department said in the statement that public colleges cannot trample on students' First Amendment rights to free speech. "The United States of America is not a police state," said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division. "Repressive speech codes are the indecent hallmark of despotic, totalitarian regimes. They have absolutely no place in our country, and the First Amendment outlaws all tyrannical policies, practices, and acts that abridge the freedom of speech." The Justice Department said that Jones College's free speech policies do not meet the standards of the First Amendment because the policies operate as prior restraint on all student speech and they grant school officials the power to determine which students may speak and about what they may speak. |
| Hypertension Rates in African Americans High | |
 | In young black adults, more than half of all heart diseases are linked with hypertension, according to research at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Donald "Trey" Clark, author of the study, says that when the data is focused on strokes, that number goes up to sixty-nine percent. Clark explained that there are genetic and environmental factors leading to high rates in African Americans. He calls these environmental issues "Social Determinants of Health." "In which there's less access to healthy foods in some underserved areas, low levels of activity. Things like that that can contribute to the development of hypertension disproportionately in this population." Clark says this was one of the first studies to measure hypertension using new guidelines. He explained that a lower threshold for hypertension helped identify patients more accurately, which increased diagnosis rates. He says it's important to educate people about a heart-healthy lifestyle. |
| East Mississippi students thrive at Mississippi School for Math and Science | |
 | For Aabha Mantri, attending the Mississippi School for Math and Science is not only helping her prepare for the future, but giving her a once in a lifetime opportunity. Even though her classwork is challenging, she still feels like the school in Columbus is preparing her for college. "I wanted to have a jump start on my courses," she said. Mantri, who attended Northeast Lauderdale High, is one of five Lauderdale County students accepted to the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science for the 2019-2020 school year. Others include Ayden Garcia and Colby Brown from West Lauderdale, Anh Huynh Minh Nguyen from Southeast Lauderdale and Kaia Grace Wiliams from Northeast. The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science is the state's only public residential high school focused on STEM education. It's specifically designed to meet the needs of the state's most academically gifted and talented students. |
| U. of Arkansas: Barnes & Noble to manage bookstore | |
 | A notice published by the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville states it will begin negotiations with Barnes & Noble to manage its campus bookstore with the "ultimate goal" of reaching a deal. Some 16 UA employees would likely lose their current benefits -- which include tuition waivers for employees and their families -- if the transition is made to employment under private management. In its request for proposals, the university asked interested companies to commit to keeping full-time employees for six months, listing 15 full-time employees at its main campus bookstore and a supervisor at its Razorback Shop location in Rogers. The Arkansas Public Employees Union Local 965, which represents about 45 faculty members and staff at UA, issued a statement in October opposing the privatization of services, including the bookstore, by the university. Cale Fessler, UA associate vice chancellor for budget and financial planning, in a statement said the intent-to-award decision was made after on-campus presentations made by finalists. |
| How many books should a professor be able to check out? | |
 | English professor Richard Burt is a big fan of books. Like, a really big fan of books. So much so he owns over 2,000 and has checked out 728 books from the University of Florida library, doubling the faculty checkout limit of 350. As a tenured professor of English at Florida -- where he's been since 2003 -- he is constantly creating new classes and is in the process of writing multiple books. Because of this, Burt makes frequent trips to the campus library, where he knows every librarian by name. And this got Burt into a bit of trouble. First the library came collecting. Then he was made to sign a letter of reprimand for his interactions with the library staff. Burt -- who is 65 -- said that due to the different training he received on how to conduct research and the fact that many of the texts he uses are so old they've never been digitized, he must rely on old-fashioned methods to conduct his academic work. |
| Behind the sharp increase of NRA funding to U. of Missouri Extension and Missouri schools | |
 | The sun is setting as four teenagers line up, tensing as they wait for the signal. "Pull!" A gunshot rings out. "Pull!" More gunshots thunder. Poplar Bluff High School's trapshooting team is practicing on a Saturday evening in November at a gun club, part of a bonding event for members and their parents. The team has grown in recent years from eight to around 30 members, competing in more competitions and winning accolades and awards. All this growth, coach Sandy Pike said, wouldn't be possible without the National Rifle Association Foundation. "We couldn't have done it without them," she said. The team is one of nearly 80 school-supported organizations in Missouri that received grants from the NRA Foundation from 2010 to 2017. That includes high school shooting sports and other clubs, as well as 4-H organizations associated with the University of Missouri. NRA and other grants help provide more than 8,000 youth in Missouri with education focused on the safe and responsible use of firearms, air arms and archery equipment," MU spokesperson Christian Basi said. |
| Advice matters: Faculty advisers and college student success | |
| Academics and policymakers are actively looking at creative ways to help college students succeed. While increasing college access and enrollment is an important first stage, too many students matriculate but fail to thrive. Bluntly, too many never graduate. Like most faculty, I have many informal "advising conversations" with undergraduates. I like to think these conversations do some good. I'd never thought much about whether formal advising systems do much and whether they can contribute to overall student success. But there is now some solid evidence that good advising makes a real difference. Authors Serena Canaan, Antoine Deeb, and Pierre Mouganie offer a very nice piece of work in "Advisor Value-Added and Student Outcomes: Evidence from Randomly Assigned College Advisors." |
| Completion rates still rising, new data show, but at slower pace | |
| The upward trajectory of college completion rates is slowing down, according to the latest national college completion report. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found in its latest annual data report on college completion that, while completion rates have been on the rise for each cohort year beginning with the group who entered college in 2009, the growth is slowing. While that's troubling, higher education advocates say the general message is positive. "To me, the important part of this is the direction that we're moving," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of government and public affairs for the American Council on Education. It's possible institutions made significant progress in the first few years by choosing "the lowest-hanging fruits," he said, and further progress will be more difficult to achieve. |
| Who went to the fake U. of Farmington and why? | |
| Read the court documents in the cases of the individuals who pleaded guilty to recruiting students to the University of Farmington -- a fake university set up by a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a sting operation to catch visa fraudsters -- and you'll notice a pattern. A number of the "recruiters" turned to Farmington after the colleges they attended lost accreditation, or, to put it more precisely, when the U.S. Department of Education revoked recognition for the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools in December 2016, leaving them and about 16,000 other international students enrolled at institutions without federally recognized accreditation (ACICS's recognition has since been reinstated). The government's decision to create a fake university to capture individuals who would seek to abuse the student visa system has been highly controversial. The Farmington operation began in 2015, under the Obama administration, and was prosecuted under the Trump administration. |
| Both sides claim victory in Kennesaw State cheerleader lawsuit settlement | |
| The representatives of a Kennesaw State University cheerleader who knelt during a football game two years ago to protest police misconduct and one of her chief critics are both claiming victory now that the state has negotiated a $145,000 settlement in her civil rights lawsuit. The student, Tommia Dean, argued university athletics officials -- under pressure from some local elected officials -- violated her speech rights by telling her and four other African American cheerleaders they could no longer be on the field during the national anthem after their first kneeling protest. KSU later reversed course, and a University System of Georgia report that November concluded KSU did not follow the system's guidance that such protests were protected by the U.S. Constitution and should not be interfered with, unless they cause a disruption. |
| AI and Smart Campuses Are Among Higher Ed Tech to Watch in 2020 | |
| It's safe to say that technology leaders in higher education won't be bored in 2020. Many of the most pressing trends in IT are playing out in the university space. Colleges are leveraging artificial intelligence to drive student outcomes and adopting smart technologies to enhance campus efficiencies. They're adapting their data centers while becoming more proactive with student lifecycle management. On the defensive side, IT is battling a rising tide of phishing and ransomware. Here are five trends to watch in higher education IT in the coming year. |
SPORTS
| Analysis: What fans can expect from Mississippi State's Music City Bowl matchup with Louisville | |
| Mississippi State is taking its show on the road this bowl season. Sunday it was announced MSU (6-6, 3-5 SEC) will head to Nashville, Tennessee Dec. 30 for the Music City Bowl against Louisville (7-5, 5-3 ACC). And while the game remains three weeks away, it's worth taking an early look at what the Cardinals will offer when they square off against the Bulldogs at Nissan Stadium. With that, here are a few storylines to watch over the next 21 days as MSU gears up for its second postseason meeting with Louisville since facing Heisman winner Lamar Jackson in the 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl. |
| Mississippi State football: 3 things to know about Louisville before Music City Bowl | |
 | What a turnaround. Just over a year ago, Louisville fired former head coach Bobby Petrino after a 2-8 start to the 2018 season. Louisville finished the season 2-10, marking the program's worst year since it went 1-10 in 1997. Now the Cardinals are headed to the Music City Bowl with a 7-5 record in head coach Scott Satterfield's first season. Satterfield coached at Appalachian State from 2013-18. Here are five things to know about Louisville before its game against Mississippi State (6-6) on Dec. 30 at Nissan Stadium. |
| Music City Bowl 2019: Meet Mississippi State, Louisville's opponent | |
| It's official, Louisville and Mississippi State will meet in a bowl game for the second time in the last three years. The two will play in the 2019 Music City Bowl on Dec. 30. Mississippi State beat Louisville in the 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl 34-27, but these are different teams now. Louisville will need to fix the tackling woes that struck in its 45-13 loss to Kentucky. Mississippi State has a dynamic runner in the SEC's leading rusher, Kylin Hill. The 5-foot-11 junior has run for 1,347 yards this season and has 10 touchdowns to go with that tally. He has eclipsed the 100-yard mark eight times this season and ran for more than 150 yards four times. He had a season-high 234 against Arkansas on Nov. 2. Hill isn't the only offensive weapon the Bulldogs have. Even though Mississippi State doesn't throw the ball well, averaging just 176 yards per game, 12th in the SEC, quarterback Garrett Shrader does enough in the passing game to make teams account for his arm and legs, though. |
| Mississippi State RB Kylin Hill named to Associated Press All-SEC first team | |
| Kylin Hill is being rewarded for his stellar season. Last week, the junior running back from Columbus won the Conerly Trophy as the state of Mississippi's best college player. This week, it's national recognition. Hill was named to the Associated Press All-SEC first team on Monday. Hill ran for 1,347 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. He needs 45 yards in the Music City Bowl to break Mississippi State's all-time record for most rushing yards in a single season. MSU senior defensive end Chauncey Rivers was named to the AP All-SEC Second Team. He was the only other Bulldog to land on either of the teams. Rivers tied for first on MSU's roster with 7.5 tackles for loss. He led the team in tackles with 5.0. |
| Mississippi State's Kylin Hill, Chauncey Rivers named to Associated Press All-SEC teams | |
| Awards season is upon us. Monday morning, Mississippi State junior running back Kylin Hill and senior defensive end Chauncey Rivers were named to the Associated Press' All-SEC first and second teams, respectively. Hill, a Columbus native, finished the regular season as the SEC's leading rusher after accumulating 1,347 yards and 10 touchdowns in 12 games of action. He also finished second in the conference in rush yards per game with an average of 112.25 yards per contest. At present, Hill sits just 44 yards shy of Anthony Dixon's single-season MSU rushing record of 1,391 yards -- a number the former Columbus High School standout should reach in the Bulldogs' meeting with Louisville Dec. 30 in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee. Rivers, a former East Mississippi Community College standout, was also honored Monday. After beginning his collegiate career at Georgia, he finished the regular season at MSU with 40 tackles -- 7.5 for a loss -- and five sacks. |
| Mississippi State's Kylin Hill, Chauncey Rivers garner AP All-SEC honors | |
 | Mississippi State placed two players on the Associated Press All-SEC team, which was released on Monday. Junior running back Kylin Hill was a first team selection after leading the conference with 1,347 rushing yards. Senior defensive end Chauncey Rivers was added to the second team after topping the Bulldogs with five sacks during the regular season. LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase were unanimous first team choices. Burrow was also the unanimous SEC Offensive Player of the Year. Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year while LSU cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. was honored as SEC Newcomer of the Year while his coach, Ed Orgeron, received SEC Coach of the Year. Ole Miss and Vanderbilt were the only schools that did not have a player picked to the first or second team. |
| Golden Egg coming to Meridian | |
 | The Golden Egg trophy will be at New South Ford, 1200 N. Frontage Road, in Meridian Wednesday, Dec. 11, from 3:45 p.m. to 5 p.m. It's a celebration of Mississippi State's 21-20 win over Ole Miss. Bulldog fans will have the opportunity to see the trophy in person, courtesy of Mississippi Ford Dealers. State (6-6) claimed the Golden Egg trophy for the second straight year and the third time in four years Thanksgiving night. |
| Bruce Feldman: Cowboys could have interest in current SEC coach | |
| A new name might be emerging when it comes to who will be coaching the Dallas Cowboys in 2020. Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley and former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer have been the most talked about options, but the latest person to be discussed for the potential opening is another name from college football. On the Rich Eisen Show on Monday, national college football analyst Bruce Feldman floated the idea of Florida coach Dan Mullen being the man to replace longtime Cowboys coach Jason Garrett this offseason. "Our friend Daniel Jeremiah made a prediction a week or two ago saying that he thinks it will be Dan Mullen, who's an Urban Meyer protege, who by the way coached and developed Dak Prescott," Feldman said. Mullen was on Meyer's staff as an offensive assistant at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida from 2001-08. He then left for the head coaching job at Mississippi State, where he coached Prescott among others from 2009-17. |
| Charlie Hussey named SEC Deputy Commissioner | |
| Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey announced today the promotion of Charlie Hussey, SEC Associate Commissioner for Network Relations and Chief Operating Officer, to his new role as Deputy Commissioner of the SEC. "Charlie is an outstanding leader who has led numerous key initiatives for the SEC while making many important contributions during his tenure with the Conference office," said Sankey. Hussey assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer in February 2017, which includes directing and managing the day-to-day operations of the SEC Conference Headquarters and will continue those duties in his role as Deputy Commissioner. Previously, Hussey served as Associate Commissioner for Network Relations since 2013 and will continue to serve as the Conference's primary liaison with ESPN and the SEC Network for all television and sponsorship matters. Hussey has served in various capacities with the SEC since joining the Conference office in 2000. He is a 1999 graduate of Ole Miss and earned an MBA from UAB in 2003. |
| Lane Kiffin makes his personality and approach known at Ole Miss | |
| Lane Kiffin shrugged. Most of the time when a football coach is trying to make a point, he'll --- well --- point. With a stern look on his face and a serious look in his eyes, the coach will wag his finger into the camera to highlight his gravitas and seriousness. Kiffin didn't point. He shrugged. The new Ole Miss football coach was gearing up for his big applause-break moment near the end of his public introduction to the Rebel faithful on Monday. When Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter made the decision to part ways with former Ole Miss football coach Matt Luke, he cited fan apathy as his main reason why. Apathy doesn't seem like a problem any longer in the Kiffin era. Ole Miss introduced Kiffin Monday in front of a crowd of approximately 4,000 fans at The Pavilion. But the event felt more like a coronation than an introduction. Carter (who also received a lengthy standing ovation) referenced Kiffin's "swagger" as one of the strongest qualities about the coach. |
| LSU playoff tickets scooped up by Louisiana lawmakers thanks to this 'perk of the job' | |
 | On the morning of January 13th at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge, Louisiana lawmakers will be sworn into office for the start of their four-year terms. Many of them will then zip down Interstate 10 to New Orleans to see the Tigers play in the national championship game later on inauguration day, if the LSU football team beats the University of Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl semifinal. They'll be taking advantage of a longstanding, but little-known legislative perk that has become fruitful this year amid LSU's undefeated run. The longstanding tradition awards politicians the ability to buy coveted postseason tickets before they hit the pricey secondary markets. LSU has for years offered lawmakers the option to buy face-value tickets to LSU bowl games, similar to how it handles postseason tickets for season ticket-holders. LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard said lawmakers are given access to a portal that asks which games they want tickets for, if LSU makes it. |
| LSU sold more than $2M worth of drinks in its first year of Tiger Stadium beer sales | |
| LSU's first season selling alcohol at home football games was a lucrative one for the university's Athletics department. In the 2019 season, the department made $2.259 million in net revenue off beer and wine sales in public areas in Tiger Stadium. The more than 280,000 drinks, which don't include sales in premium areas, were sold across seven home games in the regular season. The top alcoholic drink was Michelob Ultra with 128,627 units sold. The Tigers' home-opener in August was the university's first game with stadium-wide alcohol sales after the SEC relaxed its drinking policies earlier this year. The booziest home game of the year came against Florida, during which fans bought more than 54,000 drinks. |
| Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek touts buyout terms from Sam Pittman's new contract | |
| New University of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman has signed a five-year deal that will pay him $3 million per year with various incentive clauses and an interesting buyout structure. Pittman, 58, signed the offer letter Sunday, the day he agreed to become the 34th head coach at Arkansas and the fifth in 10 years. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette obtained a copy of the offer letter Monday through a public-records request. UA Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek, who has been vocal about reining in exorbitant buyout packages, got language in Pittman's contract that makes progress in that regard. If the Razorbacks fire him for convenience during the five-year term, the UA would owe him 75% of his remaining annual pay as long as the team wins 50% or more of its games. If the Razorbacks win less than 50% of their games and Pittman is fired, the UA would owe him 50% of his remaining annual pay. |
| Eliah Drinkwitz to be paid $4 million to coach Mizzou | |
 | The University of Missouri Board of Curators will hold a closed meeting at 8 a.m. Tuesday to ratify a $4 million contract with new head football coach Eliah Drinkwitz. The contract details for Drinkwitz, in his first year as head coach at Appalachian State University, were still being finalized Monday, a source close to the negotiations said. The compensation package, however, has been set, the source said. MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright, Athletic Director Jim Sterk and three members of the Board of Curators were in North Carolina over the weekend to negotiate the deal. The university plans to present Drinkwitz to the university community during a news conference at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday at the Show-Me Club in the South End Zone complex at Memorial Stadium. Drinkwitz's contract was described by the source as a pro-coach deal that would require Missouri to buy out future years if he is fired but not require a payment from Drinkwitz if he quits. |
| West Point Strips Racist Motto From Its Football Team Flag | |
 | The United States Military Academy has stripped a motto from its football team spirit flag because of its connection to hate groups, the academy said on Sunday. Since the mid-1990s, the Army Black Knights football team at West Point has been using a flag with a skull and crossbones and "G.F.B.D.", which stands for "God Forgives, Brothers Don't," the academy said. The letters were on the upper lip of the skull. "The motto was originally used to emphasize teamwork, loyalty and toughness," the academy's public affairs office said in a statement on Sunday. The team used the motto until academy officials learned that the phrase was associated with extremist groups. "Ideology, actions, and associations of hate groups directly conflict with our values and have no place at this institution," Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, the superintendent at the academy, said in the statement. |
| Michigan nears deal to legalize sports, online gambling | |
| The Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are closing in on an agreement to legalize sports betting and internet gambling in Michigan, with final votes possible this week. The development would be a landmark in a state with many gambling options already. Those include three commercial casinos in Detroit, 24 tribal casinos across western and northern Michigan, and the Lottery, which also has an online component. The abundance of competition is a complicating factor, primarily due to concerns that letting casinos offer online gambling would hurt rapidly growing revenues from the state's iLottery. The Lottery sent nearly $1 billion to the state's school fund in the last fiscal year for which figures are available, 7% of which came from online games. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 paved the way for all 50 states to allow sports gambling. It is underway in 13 states and has been authorized in six more, according to the American Gaming Association. |
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