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Food
Smoky Ballistic Blonde Salmon
Whereas some fancy recipes might suggest poaching your fish in wine with vegetables, I suggest letting it swim in a nice, cold citrus bath with beer, and then cook over …
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Dance
A Christmas Tradition
"'The Nutcracker' is a good first ballet for anyone to come see if anyone has never seen a ballet but is interested in the artform to see what it's all …
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City & County
Hood, Jackson at Odds Over Gun Laws
While the Jackson City Council Rules Committee is still mulling its revised concealed-carry gun ordinance, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood issued an opinion outlining places where Mississippi statutes authorize enhanced …
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Miss. Wants Suit Against Entergy in State Court
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood is asking a federal judge to return the state's lawsuit against Entergy Mississippi to Hinds County Chancery Court.
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Cover
Gifts for Long-Distance Relationships
he worst part about being away from each other is missing special days such as Valentine's Day and anniversaries. You just have to keep going, though.
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Jacksonian
Leslie Puckett
When Leslie Puckett began her business, BearCreek Herbals, in 2000, she was at a crossroads in her life.
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SNAP Work Requirements Could Cut Off Aid to Thousands
Thousands of people in South Mississippi on the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could lose their monthly food benefit of up to $190 before summer.
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Person of the Day
Merrill McKewen
Merrill McKewen, the newly appointed executive director of Habitat for Humanity Mississippi Capital Area, finds a special joy in being able to help people build and enhance their lives.
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Person of the Day
Jim Hood
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has asked the state Supreme Court to allow a lesbian couple to seek a divorce.
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Person of the Day
Doris Whitaker
The word pastoral has several meanings. In one sense, the word means to give spiritual or religious guidance. In another way, it evokes the shepherding of grazing animals. Doris Whitaker, …
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Ton of Ivory Crushed in Times Square to Highlight Poaching
Over a ton of confiscated ivory tumbled off a conveyor belt into a rock crusher in Times Square on Friday in a symbolic display highlighting an illegal trade that activists …
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State
Groups Erase Some Probation Debt in Mississippi, Florida
A nonprofit group and a debtors' union have bought and erased private probation debt for about 20,500 people in Mississippi and Florida, sending letters that told them the news and …
Entry
Rare News Out of the NFL Combine
By bryanflynnSomething so rare happened today that ESPN reporter Adam Schefter couldn’t remember how long it had been since it last happened. For the first time in a long time, none of the players invited to the NFL Combine failed the drug test.
This was good news for the players who teams considered to have “red flags,” but this was also good news for teams who liked players who made questionable decisions in their past.
Players can have a red flag for something as simple as not being voted as team captain, such as Michigan State University quarterback Connor Cook, or as serious as sexual assault charges, such as Bowling Green University Roger Lewis.
A player can also get a red flag for falling out a hotel window, as former University of Mississippi defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche did. After this incident, Nkemdiche went from top 10 pick to questions of, “How far will he fall in this week’s draft?”
Each NFL team will decide if a red flag matters before drafting a player. The talent of said player will also have an impact on whether a team will draft him.
That is to say, in most cases, the more talent a player has, the more room he has to mess up.
So, why is it important that no players failed the drug test at the NFL Combine? That’s because it is more than just a drug test.
The test gives teams a chance to look at the decision-making of future draft picks. When a player goes to the combine, he knows that he is going to be tested for drug usage, so failing that drug test means more than failing a random drug test in college.
Teams want to know why a player would fail a test that he knew he would have to take when he showed up. When you are talking about giving certain players millions of dollars, this becomes an important factor for teams.
No players failing the drug test is good for the athletes, as well. According to ESPN, no player with a failed drug test has been selected in the first round since 2010.
Failing out of the first round is a loss of money for each spot a player drops. That still doesn’t mean a player won’t fall out of the first round of this year’s draft because of a red flag, but it does mean that he won’t fall because of this particularly avoidable trap.
Last year, University of Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory failed a drug test at the NFL Combine and went from a first-round pick to a second-round pick. Failing a drug test could even force a player to drop out of the draft and become an undrafted rookie free agent.
While not failing a drug test won’t be the reason Nkemdiche falls in the draft, his statements in a pre-draft interview, in which he said …
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[Purvis] The Case for Shopping Locally
I hate going to superstores. I rarely see the same staff, and the employees never seem too interested in being there. Maybe that's a symptom of supersizing. How can an …
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The Convention Hotel Race
City leaders are racing the clock to make a decision by the end of this month on whether to finance a convention center hotel.
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Watkins Pushes for JPS Diversity
Former Jackson Public School Superintendent Earl Watkins said today that Jackson Public Schools' success begins with destroying misconceptions about races and ethic cultures.
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Health Reform: What's In It?
President Barack Obama enjoyed rising approval ratings Tuesday as he signed a historic health-care bill the U.S. House of Representatives passed late Sunday without a single Republican vote--the same health-care …
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The World of Queendom: A Primer
So you wannabe a wannabe. Congratulations. By inviting the spirit of the Sweet Potato Queens into your heart, you have committed yourself to a lifetime of fun and laughter and …
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[Ask JoAnne] A Girl and Her Hat
Q. I need a hat. Where can a girl get a hat? Is it appropriate to wear a hat to a wedding? Thanks.
A. I need one, too! And I'm sad to learn that the amazing Christabelle, who designed and made fabulous hats in Jackson*, has passed away. (But don't you know the …
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Christmas on the Coast
I have just finished wrapping the last present and laying it on the ever growing pile in the corner. There is only a "pile" because I have no tree. I …
