| Thursday, August 6, 2015 |
| MSU-Meridian grant team hosts Lauderdale County School District | |
 | Mississippi State University-Meridian's Division of Education and grant team hosted more than 600 teachers and administrators for Lauderdale County School District's 2015-16 back-to-school convocation in Kahlmus Auditorium this week. During the morning session division of education faculty disseminated information about professional and continuing education opportunities available to area educators including an array of advanced degree programs offered through MSU-Meridian, MSU-Starkville and MSU Distance Education. |
| 2 States Step Up Colleges' Efforts to Reduce Unplanned Pregnancies | |
 | When state lawmakers in Mississippi wanted to reduce the state's teen-pregnancy rate, one of the highest in the nation, they looked to college campuses as key places to intervene. In 2014 the state's Legislature passed a law -- the first of its kind in the United States -- directing each community college and public university to become a "critical venue" to prevent unplanned pregnancies. Just a few months ago, Arkansas passed a similar law. The two states are now leading an effort to educate college students about the consequences an unplanned pregnancy could have for their chances of success. |
| Oktibbeha election results unchanged after affidavits | |
 | The end results of Tuesday's Oktibbeha County Democratic and Republican primaries went unchanged after election officials added about 100 additional affidavit votes to the totals Wednesday. Officials will certify the results once 12 ballots from voters lacking proper identification are processed, but those votes will not change any of the outcomes. County election commissioners, along with local party leaders, combed through paper ballots one by one yesterday, slowly determining voters' addresses and examining each document for errors and omissions. The updated numbers show about 30 percent of registered county voters turned out for Tuesday's elections. Officials previously said they hoped turnout would eclipse the 25 percent threshold. |
| Starkville Police Department searching for armed robbery suspect | |
| The Starkville Police Department is searching for an unidentified man who held up a gas station at gunpoint. Officers responded to the 1101 North Jackson St. B-Quick at 11 p.m. Friday after a man allegedly walked in the store, brandished a revolver and demanded cash. He fled the scene to the south with an undetermined amount of money, a SPD release states. No one was injured in the incident. The suspect is described as a 6-foot-tall African-American male with a slender build. |
| Second arrest made stemming from Central Ave. incident in Starkville | |
| Starkville police officers charged a second suspect with aggravated assault in connection with a July Central Avenue incident. Officers arrested Joseph Harry Bobel, 26, of Starkville Tuesday. He was also served with a misdemeanor warrant for a probation violation unrelated to the July incident. Bobel was scheduled to appear in Starkville Municipal Court Wednesday. Demetry Elliot, 38, also faces an aggravated assault charge stemming from the same incident. He was arrested July 28, one day after the reported incident. |
| 8 Cities, including Jackson, Cited in Data Program From Ex-NYC Mayor Bloomberg | |
 | Jackson, Mississippi, and Mesa, Arizona, aim to make troves of data about city operations available online for the first time. Tulsa, Oklahoma, plans to make its data releases more useful for the public. Seattle wants to use contract data to help ensure vendors deliver on their promises. They're among the first eight winners, announced Wednesday, in a $42 million, 100-city data-use program sponsored by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's foundation. Winners so far also include Chattanooga, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; and New Orleans. Winners of the "What Works Cities" competition get expert help to make data publicly accessible, incorporate it better into decision-making and evaluate programs. |
| Officials: Reports of shots fired at Camp Shelby were backfiring truck | |
 | A man officials had thought might be firing shots at Camp Shelby on Tuesday and Wednesday said he was backfiring his 1989 pickup truck, producing a sound similar to a gunshot, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said. Authorities identified the man as Alfred Baria, 61, of Brooklyn, Miss. At a press conference led by Perry County sheriff's officials Wednesday afternoon, it was revealed Baria is charged with four misdemeanor charges of disturbance of the peace and two felony counts of possession of a weapon by a felon. "Why in the world would you pull a stunt like that?" said Warren Strain, MBI spokesman. The incident, which is still under investigation, triggered a huge response from state and federal law enforcement authorities. |
| Dem nominee Gray: 'Silent Knight' of Mississippi politics | |
 | Robert Gray's CB handle is "Silent Knight." His new title is Democratic nominee for governor. Gray, a 46-year-old truck driver from Terry, created a political maelstrom Tuesday when he won the nomination. He won without political experience or name recognition. He won despite his campaign finance reports showing zero money raised or spent. He won in spite of too many things to list. How? "I went to a couple rallies. I'm not a people person. I don't like invading people's privacy. They knew I was running for governor. I talked to a few people. I got to speak in Meridian. We got like five minutes." With perhaps the most unlikely political victory in modern Mississippi history in his back pocket, Gray moves to November's general election against incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Bryant. |
| Being first on ballot spurs surprise Dem nominee for governor | |
 | On Tuesday afternoon, Robert Gray got a phone call from his mother, asking if he was running for governor. Gray, a 46-year-old Terry truck driver, told his mother he was. She simply told him she voted for him. By midday Wednesday, Gray had not spoken to his mother again. But Gray, the surprise Democratic nominee for governor, told members of the media that he would be speaking to her soon. He surmised that he had gotten a lot of phone calls Wednesday since garnering about 51 percent of the vote to earn the right to take on incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in November. Gray said he decided to run for governor because "people were not seeing the opportunities that are out there." |
| Dems wonder what happened in governor primary | |
| State Democratic Party leaders and politicos on Wednesday were still trying to figure out what the !@#$ happened Tuesday night, when an unknown candidate with no financial or political backing won the party's nomination for governor, handily dousing the assumed frontrunner. They're also wondering what it means for the party -- already flagging as the state turns more red -- in the long term and for down-ticket candidates this year in the short term. Political science professor and longtime observer of state politics Marty Wiseman said, "It's the freakiest thing I've ever seen. ...It's a low point for the Democratic Party, which doesn't need any more low points. You'd like to think it's a perfectly pulled off conspiracy by the Republicans, but that's too far a stretch." |
| Ted Cruz to campaign with establishment foe McDaniel in Mississippi | |
 | Ted Cruz will campaign next week with Chris McDaniel, the insurgent conservative who mounted a high profile but ultimately unsuccessful primary challenge to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran last year. Cruz, the Texas senator and GOP presidential candidate, is planning a weeklong swing through the South. While in Mississippi on Tuesday, he's set to stop in the northern cities of Tupelo and Olive Branch, and McDaniel is expected to accompany him during the trip and ride on Cruz's campaign bus, Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier confirmed. Cochran's victory -- aided by a coalition of Magnolia State and D.C. heavy hitters -- was seen as a major victory for the establishment -- and a warning to tea party challengers eyeing challenges to incumbents. |
| Texas ID Law Called Breach of Voting Rights Act | |
 | A federal appeals panel ruled Wednesday that a strict voter identification law in Texas discriminated against blacks and Hispanics and violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 --- a decision that election experts called an important step toward defining the reach of the landmark law. The case is one of a few across the country that are being closely watched in legal circles after a 2013 Supreme Court decision that blocked the voting act's most potent enforcement tool, federal oversight of election laws in numerous states, including Texas, with histories of racial discrimination. While the federal act still bans laws that suppress minority voting, it has been uncertain exactly what kinds of measures cross the legal line since that Supreme Court ruling. The Texas ID law is one of the strictest of its kind in the country. |
| Race to 2016: GOP holds first presidential debate | |
 | Donald Trump will finally share a stage with the Republican candidates whose primaries he's hijacked, as the GOP holds its first debate of the 2016 election cycle Thursday evening. The party will actually be holding two debates on Thursday, because the full field of 17 candidates was judged too large for all of them share the same stage and the same time slot. For the first time in the history of primary debates, there will be an undercard. At 5 p.m. Eastern time, Fox News Channel will broadcast an early debate (called the "happy-hour debate," by some participants, hoping to rebrand it into something festive). It will feature the seven lowest-polling major candidates. Then, at 9 p.m. Eastern time, the 10 better-performing candidates will appear on the same stage. |
| Blue Bell can resume production, sale of ice cream | |
| Blue Bell can resume production and sale of ice cream manufactured at its Alabama plant, the Alabama Department of Public Health announced Wednesday. A state inspection found that Blue Bell's creamery in Sylacauga, Alabama, meets all state public health standards, said Ron Dawsey, director of the department's Division of Food, Milk and Lodging. The finding leaves no state objection to resumed production at the plant, Dawsey said. No date has been given for when Blue Bell products could be back in stores as its flagship Brenham creamery and the Broken Arrow plant remain closed, Blue Bell spokeswoman Jenny Van Dorf said Wednesday. |
| Ole Miss patents tech aimed at preventing injury | |
| The University of Mississippi has patented sonar technology the school hopes will revolutionize care of the elderly. The Collie Home Health Walk Signature System is a wireless smart sensor that measures walking speed, leg and torso motion and other movements related to balance and gait. The sensor, which is in the pre-prototype phase, attaches to the wall of any building and uses the data it gathers to measure "fall risk" in elderly patients. "A fall-risk score is a standardized measurement, like blood pressure," James Sabatier, a UM research scientist who is Collie Home Health's founder and CEO, said in a school news release. |
| Southern Miss grad student embarks on North Pole research cruise | |
 | University of Southern Mississippi graduate student Laura Whitmore hopes to discover a bit of magic at the North Pole this summer, whether she detects any signs of Santa's workshop or not. Whitmore, a second-year master's student in the Department of Marine Science (chemistry emphasis), will participate in a unique 65-day research cruise to the top of the world aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter "Healy." Her Arctic Ocean adventure begins Aug. 9 with departure from Dutch Harbor, Alaska. A native of Palmer, Alaska, Whitmore is no stranger to icy climates. But spending more than two months aboard a massive, state-of-the-art research vessel in frigid ocean waters offers a different set of challenges. |
| On the move: University of Southern Mississippi | |
| Davin Wallace, an assistant professor in the Department of Marine Science at the University of Southern Mississippi, has been awarded an Early-Career Research Fellowship by the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program, which recognizes professionals at the pre-tenure phase of their careers for exceptional leadership, past performance and potential for future contributions to improving oil system safety, human health or the environment in the Gulf region. |
| On the move: Delta State University | |
| Joannah Taylor has been hired as the new arts education coordinator for the Bologna Performing Arts Center at Delta State University in Cleveland. She will be responsible for the Janice Wyatt Mississippi Summer Arts Institute, the School-Time Matinee Series, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts "Partners in Education" program and other education-related programming. Taylor has a bachelor's degree in arts education from Delta State University and gifted and talented education certification from the University of Mississippi. |
| Website ranks Auburn University's interdisciplinary studies program among nation's best | |
 | A college ranking website has included Auburn University's interdisciplinary studies degree program on its 2015 list of the best integrative studies programs in the country. Unlike traditional fields of study, interdisciplinary or integrative studies programs allow students to tailor their education toward a degree based on their interests and goals. In comparing such programs, the website, BestColleges.com, considered diversity of learning options, graduation rate, option to continue to a post-baccalaureate degree and average admissions rate. Auburn's Office of Undergraduate Studies has been offering an interdisciplinary studies degree since 2010, graduating 181 students as of this spring. |
| U. of Tennessee demolishes Apartment Residence Hall | |
 | After decades of housing University of Tennessee students, Apartment Residence Hall is being demolished as the university aims to offer more flexibility in the spaces where students live. The project is part of a multiyear plan to replace dorms. It would be more expensive to renovate the decades-old residence hall on Andy Holt Avenue than to tear it down and build a replacement, said Frank Cuevas, UT assistant vice chancellor for student life and executive director of university housing. Dave Irvin, associate vice chancellor for facilities services, said the older dorms like the Apartment Residence Hall have worn mechanical and electrical systems. He said the concrete walls, floors and ceilings make the buildings almost impossible to renovate and limit wi-fi. |
| Texas A&M engineering receives $5M from Halliburton to promote international learning | |
 | The Texas A&M University College of Engineering has received a $5 million donation from Halliburton to promote international learning. The oil corporation's gift will establish the Halliburton Engineering Global Program and include faculty-led study abroad programs, overseas internships and international research opportunities. Engineering College Dean Kathy Banks said the program will give aspiring Aggie engineers a leg up in the international job market. "Programs such as these are very important in developing the engineer of the future," Banks said. |
| U. of Missouri professor, researcher charged with illegally taking artifacts | |
 | University of Missouri professor and a research specialist, along with a researcher from a Dallas university, recently were charged in rural southeastern Washington with taking artifacts from a national forest in 2013 without the proper permits. While on a research trip to the Umatilla National Forest and Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness, the trio removed more than 93 items from seven sites in 2013 in violation of the federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act, according to court documents filed in Columbia County, Wash. MU spokesman Christian Basi said the university did not have much to say about the charges. "We are aware of it," Basi said, "but beyond that we can't really discuss anything, especially related to any type of personnel action." |
| Ninth mumps case confirmed among U. of Missouri students | |
| A ninth mumps case was confirmed among University of Missouri students, health officials said. Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services spokeswoman Andrea Waner said there also were four probable cases among MU students, meaning lab results came back negative but the individuals exhibit mumpslike symptoms. Of the nine confirmed cases, Waner said eight had received the CDC recommended two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Waner said she was waiting for confirmation that the ninth individual also received two doses, which MU requires all students to have before starting classes. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is experiencing a more severe mumps outbreak, with 68 students diagnosed with the disease since Jan. 1. |
| Ellis Library at U. of Missouri to be open 24 hours during the week | |
 | Finals week will no longer be the only time Ellis Library is open to students late into the night during the fall and spring semesters. Starting on Sept. 8, Ellis will be open 24 hours a day from Sunday through Thursday. Hours will also be extended on the weekend. On Friday, the library will close at midnight. The Saturday hours will be from 8 a.m. to midnight. Previously, the library was open from 7:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday, with more limited hours on the weekend during the fall and spring semesters. There were special extended hours during finals week. Ann Riley, acting director of MU Libraries since July 1, said the idea to make Ellis 24/5 came from student demand for longer hours over the past 10 years. |
| Kansas State answers critique of bioscience research safety | |
 | Kansas State University officials responded Wednesday to federal inspections calling into question safety of bioscience research performed on campus while the university proceeds with construction of a $1.25 billion laboratory to study the world's most lethal animal viruses. An article printed by USA Today revealed Tuesday the university secretly faced federal sanctions after repeatedly violating safety regulations from January 2012 to December 2013 at the Biosecurity Research Institute in Manhattan. In a rebuttal statement, Kansas State said it "stands behind its record of safety and transparency. The Biosecurity Research Institute, or BRI, has a clean bill of health." A remedial program addressed concerns of regulators in April 2015, the statement said. |
| A College System Measures How Low-Paying Degrees Serve the Public Good | |
| Everyone, it seems, is trying to measure the value of a college degree. For many elected officials in the states, that amount boils down to a fairly simple number: The earnings of the person who received that credential. But while higher-education officials often tout the salary bonus conferred by a bachelor's degree, for instance, many of those same officials worry about overrelying on wages as the only way to demonstrate the value of a college education. Christina E. Whitfield, vice chancellor for research and analysis at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, is taking a new approach. She has designed a "social-utility index" to calculate the social good of degree programs that lead to low-paying jobs that may nevertheless be important to communities. |
| Texas wants 60 percent of young adults to hold college degrees by 2030 | |
 | In order to stay competitive regionally and globally, states have been pushing for more residents to earn a college degree or certificate. It's an initiative that has been picking up steam across the country, as free-two-year college programs grow and colleges work on closing achievement gaps -- all in an effort to get more college credentials into the hands of America's workers. Texas has become the latest state to join the college completion agenda. Last month the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board adopted a new goal for 60 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds in the state to hold a postsecondary degree or certificate by 2030. |
| More College Students Selling Stock -- in Themselves | |
 | Earning a college degree has become crucial to attaining a decent salary and middle-class lifestyle, many economists agree. But skyrocketing tuition costs and Americans' growing reliance on student debt have also increased the risks in a labor market where some college degrees have little worth and studies show that nearly half of all recent college graduates have jobs that don't fit with their degree. The desire of some students to transfer at least part of that risk has given rise to a variety of government, university and market-based experiments with such income-share agreements, in which investors essentially buy stock in the students. At stake: a fundamental shift in the way Americans finance higher education. |
| BRIAN PERRY (OPINION): Flags, straw poll, pretty cows and more at the Neshoba County Fair | |
 | Jackson-based consultant and columnist Brian Perry writes: "Thursday night at the Neshoba County Fair at the Pavilion on Founders Square the 80's cover band U.S jammed to AC/DC's iconic 'Highway to Hell.' Fewer than 24 hours earlier, folks of all ages stood on the same stage around a piano singing 'Amazing Grace' at the Late Night Sing. The crowd gathered for the late night U.S show celebrating the songs and excess of the 80's dwarfed the crowds gathered for political speeches on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. The fans cheered for Bon Jovi and Guns N Roses songs, just as others cheered for lower taxes, traditional marriage and other conservative issues during the speeches. You might call the Neshoba County Fair a demonstration of contrasts, or simply a micro-chasm of Southern American culture." |
| SLIM SMITH (OPINION): A foray behind enemy lines | |
| The Disptach's Slim Smith writes: "Ole Miss Athletics Director Ross Bjork visited town Tuesday to talk to the Columbus Rotary Club. While his trip might be viewed as an excursion into 'enemy territory' where the Rebels fall behind Mississippi State and, quite possibly, Alabama as far as allegiances go, Bjork didn't pull any punches. ... There was a time when Bjork's talk might have been viewed as 'fightin' words,' among MSU faithful. But Bulldog fans, while not giddy over the way things turned out in the head-to-head battles last year, are in pretty good humor these days. In truth, both on and off the playing fields, the times have never been better for the two schools. ...But to simply suggest MSU and Ole Miss have been in the right spot at the right time is to seriously underestimate the impact of both Bjork and his counterpart at MSU, Scott Stricklin. Bjork and Stricklin, 45, are young, dynamic, innovative leaders, who are not content to 'know their place.'" |
SPORTS
| Days of Selling Popular College Players' Jerseys Seem Numbered | |
| As a federal court deliberates on whether it is fair for universities to make money off the commercial use of athletes' names, images and likenesses, a growing number of colleges have quietly decided to stop selling team jerseys with popular players' numbers. Instead, they are using ostensibly anodyne digits. The change is partly a result of the Ed O'Bannon case, which explicitly challenged colleges' right to make money off players' images without compensation. Mississippi State confirmed that it would offer jerseys with Nos. 1, 15 and 78. (The university was founded in 1878.) Scott Wetherbee, the senior associate athletic director for external affairs at Mississippi State, said his department's decision to move away from jerseys closely linked to popular players -- a policy that began with last season's basketball jerseys -- was not just a pre-emptive reaction to the potential fallout from the O'Bannon case. |
| Mississippi State's Prescott spent summer working to reach his potential | |
| The afternoon sun tried to break Dak Prescott atop Davis Wade Stadium's upper deck. Temperatures rose to the mid 80s as Mississippi State's quarterback ran up the empty stadium's steps the Monday after he returned to campus from the Fourth of July break. "That sun was hitting me every time you get to the top of that stadium," Prescott said. "It was one of the times you fight adversity during a workout." Prescott's final summer with Mississippi State didn't contain many breaks. Between impromptu workouts with teammates or the Manning Passing Academy, Prescott spent most of the summer training for the fall. |
| Mississippi State's Dak Prescott on Sports Illustrated's regional cover | |
| Mississippi State's Dak Prescott has been a popular dude when it comes to Sports Illustrated -- and deservedly so. The senior quarterback is one of six college athletes to appear on the cover of SI's college football preview issue, the publication announced Wednesday. The honor marks Prescott's third time to grace the cover of the magazine. Joining Prescott this time is MSU's mascot, Bully XXI "Jak." Prescott is up for six national awards in 2015, including most recently being named to the watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award on Wednesday. |
| Mississippi State Notebook: Dak on cover of Sports Illustrated | |
| Mississippi State will make its third appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the last year as quarterback Dak Prescott will be featured on its college football preview issue this week. The Bulldogs are one of four regional covers of the magazine along with Notre Dame, Ohio State and TCU. Prescott is show on the cover holding the Bulldogs' new mascot "Jak". The issue will be available in Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Sports Illustrated picked MSU 25th in its preseason poll and includes a feature story on Prescott by Pete Thamel. |
| Mississippi State Practice Notes: Punt returning and special guests | |
| One question heading into 2015 revolved around Mississippi State's punt returners. Jameon Lewis started 2014 at punt returner, Jamoral Graham took over until he lost it after mishandling a number of punts. Fred Ross closed the season as the team's punt returner. Wednesday's practice opened with Ross leading the punt returning unit again. He was joined by Graham, Will Redmond and newcomers freshman Keith Mixon and junior college transfer Donald Gray. |
| Mississippi State opens Puerto Rico Tip Off with Miami in November | |
| Mississippi State's non-conference schedule is nearly complete with the release of the bracket for the Puerto Rico Tip Off on Thursday. MSU will open the tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico against Miami on Nov. 19. The Bulldogs are paired with the Utah vs. Texas Tech matchup. Mississippi State's Nov. 20 opponent will come from that game. Times for the entire bracket are not yet available. MSU's first game in the tournament doesn't have a tipoff time yet. If Mississippi State wins, it'll play the next day at 6 p.m. The games will be broadcast on the family of ESPN networks. |
| EMCC softball hires former Mississippi State standout | |
| Alison Owen, a two-year professional player with the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch and a former Southeastern Conference standout pitcher, has been named assistant softball coach at East Mississippi Community College. The announcement was made this week by EMCC head softball coach Kyndall White. With 63 career collegiate wins to her credit while having equally divided four years of SEC competition between the University of Georgia and Mississippi State University, Owen will work primarily with EMCC's pitching staff. Owen is currently finishing up her second season of professional softball after serving as a graduate assistant on Vann Stuedeman's MSU coaching staff this past season. |
| Seating changes coming to U. of Alabama's Coleman Coliseum | |
 | The University of Alabama, which has committed itself to improving student participation and homecourt advantage for its men's basketball program, announced significant changes in the seating configuration at Coleman Coliseum for the upcoming season. The changes are primarily designed to bring Alabama students closer to the playing arena floor. "The goal of this effort is to enhance the in-game atmosphere at our men's basketball games with our students being instrumental in developing a home-court advantage that will make Coleman Coliseum one of the nation's best environments," said Bill Battle, University of Alabama director of athletics. |
| Verizon signs $4.3M contract with Texas A&M System to improve game-day service | |
| When Kyle Field opens this season, it's fiber network will allow more than 100,000 people to make phone calls, text and access in-game apps at the same time, an effort boosted after Verizon signed a $4.3 million contract with the Texas A&M System. Chancellor John Sharp described it as "groundbreaking" when he announced Wednesday that Verizon is the second wireless carrier to partner with the system to improve gameday service for customers and fans. The first was AT&T Mobility, which signed on last year. The contract calls for Verizon to make payments over five years. "Kyle Field's new communications network is designed to make Aggie fans the most connected anywhere during games and to give them the best game-day experience possible," Sharp said. |
| Toomer's Corner project on track for Aug. 17 completion | |
| A construction project that has kept a key Auburn intersection closed throughout the summer is on schedule to be complete by the time Auburn University students return to campus for their first day of fall classes. "Toomer's Corner, it's the iconic center of Auburn," said Kevin Cowper, assistant city manager for the City of Auburn. "It means something to everybody that's associated with Auburn University. So our aim was to make that space into a great community space where we could host gatherings and events." |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
