Jackson Free Press

Jackson State University is apparently getting serious about building a domed stadium.

The university has launched http://www.jsums.edu/dome/, a site that includes a rendering and includes details on planning that were previously undisclosed. The cost of the 50,000-seat domed stadium is still listed at $200 million, and the site says the JSU administration has identified over $300 million in funding possibilities.

"The stadium is designed for football, basketball, concerts and special events," the site says. "Seating is 50,000 for football, 17,000 for basketball and 21,000 for concerts. It will include 75 sky boxes for rental. JSU's Sports Hall of Fame will be housed on the first floor. The design includes 4,500 parking spaces. Another 2,000 are located in garages downtown where shuttle buses can help on big game days."

The site says JSU currently owns 30 percent of the land on the preferred site.

Brent's Drugs in Fondren is set to host CROSSHATCH, a fundraiser for Fund the Hatch, a mixed-use creative business incubator the old warehouse building at 143 Keener Ave. in Midtown.

The JFP first wrote about the incubator on April 3, 2013, and project's lead promoter/developer/fund-raiser Whitney Grant of Midtown Partners has been working since then to find a workable, self-sustaining system for the building to operate under and the funding to bring it to a reality.

The event at Brent's is set for 8 p.m., Friday, January 10. It will feature music, an arts raffle and drinks and is scheduled to roll 'til midnight.

The Indiegogo campaign for the Hatch has 13 days left, and it's currently raised approximately $4,800 out of the $25,000 goal.

Check it out.

On Tuesday, Oxford and Greenwood joined several other Mississippi counties and cities that have removed the state flag from city property. Mississippi is the only (and the last) state with the Confederate symbol on its state flag. An ad that ran this week in the Clarion-Ledger listed over 60 prominent Mississippians including Morgan Freeman, John Grisham, Archie Manning and Kathryn Stockett calling for the state to bring the flag down according to a Washington Post story.

Here is the list of Mississippi cities and local governments that have stopped flying the state flag on city property (so far):

• Oxford
• Greenwood
• Jackson
• Clarksdale
• Columbus
• Hattiesburg
• Grenada
• Leflore County
• Starkville
• Magnolia

The Mississippi Association of Educators has endorsed Synarus Green in the District 72 House of Representatives special election.

"For generations, the Mississippi Association of Educators has worked to build opportunities for the people and communities they serve," Green said in a press statement. "I'm honored to have the support of MAE's members and leaders, and proud to stand with them as a champion for all our students."

Green is one of four candidates running for the District 72 seat that was vacated when former-Rep. Kimberly Campbell announced she would be leaving the House after the 2016 legislative session to take a position as the state director of AARP.

Read interviews with all the candidates in the District 72 special election race here.

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Spirit Halloween, owned by ACON Investments, is running ads for costumes the company labels for teens and tweens with sexual references and innuendo.

The Mississippi State Chapter of the National Organization for Women, a liberal feminist group, and Concerned Women for America, a conservative group, are two organizations that rarely see eye-to-eye. Spirit Halloween's advertisements, which blatantly market sex to underage girls, have given the groups a common enemy to fight.

One advertisement for a "Rag Doll Teen Costume" finished with the lines: "you are all grown up now, so why not find out if big boys like to play with dolls!"

Spirit Halloween responded to a campaign on Twitter and Change.org by removing most of the sexual references in their teen and preteen costume descriptions. Many parents are still boycotting the company, though, because they still sell many costumes for minors which feature short skirts, low-cut tops and long stockings, which the women at NOW think are too sexual for young girls.

“Although Spirit changed the shocking sexual content in many of their kids’ costume ads in response to a Twitter campaign by outraged parents and consumers, the issue still remains that Spirit Halloween and its owner, ACON Investments have refused to pull their totally inappropriate sexualized children’s costumes off the market. They are marketing extremely revealing, short, tight-fitting dresses and skirts to our children – many of their kids costumes look like adult fantasy sex costumes. This is not about adult women's choices to wear sexy costumes, this is about Spirit Halloween and ACON marketing sexualized costumes to girls as young as 9 and 13 years old – they are offering sickening and horrible costume choices for children that parents don’t want,” Miss. Now president Laurie Roberts stated in a press release.

You can see the advertisements with the sexual innuendo here: Spirit Halloween

You can also sign the petition to boycott Spirit Halloween here: Change.org

Here is a verbatim statement just issued by the University of Mississippi:

At the request of Chancellor Dan Jones, the university’s Alumni Association has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of two individuals involved in an early morning incident on The University of Mississippi campus.

The University Police Department (UPD) is looking for two men who were seen early Sunday morning near the James Meredith statue, which commemorates the 1962 integration of the university. One of the men was reported to have been wearing camouflage pants. The statue had been draped with a noose and an old Georgia state flag, and the men were heard shouting racial slurs.

Jones condemned the action as contrary to the beliefs and values of the university community. “These individuals chose our university’s most visible symbol of unity and educational accessibility to express their disagreement with our values. Their ideas have no place here, and our response will be an even greater commitment to promoting the values that are engraved on the statue – Courage, Knowledge, Opportunity, and Perseverance.”

Assistant to the Chancellor for Multicultural Affairs Don Cole reiterated the creed that the university stands by. “This is particularly painful because the James Meredith statue has become a gathering place for students to discuss many things, including the tenets of our creed, which calls for dignity and respect for all people.”

UPD has initiated a rigorous investigation and alerted Oxford Police. Anyone with information concerning the investigation is urged to contact UPD at 662-915-7234.

Contact: PR Director Danny Blanton, 662-915-1678, [email protected]

For more information about the University of Mississippi, visit http://news.olemiss.edu or sign up for our RSS feed at http://rebs.ms/umnewsrss. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter at http://rebs.ms/UMsocial.

Jonathan Compretta and Michael Rejebian, co-campaign managers for 42 For Better Schools, filed an 11-page lawsuit today asking a judge to order that the Initiative 42 ballot measure's full text be printed on the Nov. 3 ballot. Currently the ballot states the initiative title, the section of the Constitution being amended and the Legislative Budget Office Fiscal Analysis.

After a denied records request and the Legislative Budget Office analysis changing (since the March version) on the sample ballot released last week, 42 For Better Schools is hoping to bring clarity to the November election ballot by putting the full text of their proposed change to Mississippi's Constitution in writing.

The plaintiffs cite Section 273 of the Mississippi Constitution as the basis for their legal action. In this section, the Constitution states that:

"The sponsor of an initiative shall identify in the text of the initiative the amount and source of revenue required to implement the initiative. If the initiative requires a reduction in any source of government revenue, or a reallocation of funding from currently funded programs, the sponsor shall identify in the text of the initiative the program or programs whose funding must be reduced or eliminated to implement the initiative. Compliance with this requirement shall not be a violation of the subject matter requirements of this section of the Constitution. "

42 For Better Schools argue that the approved ballot does not contain the original initiative language proposing a multi-year phase-in to fully fund K-12 schools, which have been fully funded only twice since the 1997 passage of the MAEP, the funding formula. Initiative 42 proponents have previously stated that their intention is not that the Legislature fully fund public education immediately, and they understand that if excess funds are used, it might take almost seven years to fully fund MAEP. The House Appropriations Committee still met to discuss budget cuts, however, and have maintained that if the initiative passes, they will have to cut almost every state agency's budget.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is spending a lot of time in the media over the last week. Neither the Saints nor Brees have been able to stay out of the media this off-season.

Brees found himself in a firestorm last week (Tuesday, June 19) after comparing the Saints bounty scandal to weapons of mass destruction.

Brees tweeted: “If NFL fans were told there were "weapons of mass destruction" enough times, they'd believe it. But what happens when you don't find any????”

It didn’t take long for the media to jump on Brees comment and it went viral. Brees quickly apologized for his comments later the same day on Twitter.

Again from Brees’ twitter account: “My WMD comment has nothing to do with politics or our brave military. Merely an analogy to show how media influences public perception” “I apologize if the WMD comment offended anyone. Especially our military. There is no one I respect more than our service men and women”

This week (Monday, June 25) Brees partnered Dick’s Sporting Goods supporting PACE (Protecting Athletes though Concussion Education). PACE is the nation’s largest baseline testing program with the goal to test 1 million kids.

Brees made the rounds this morning (Tuesday, June 26) on Mike & Mike in the morning on ESPN Radio and the Dan Patrick Show a syndicated radio show. On both programs, Brees touched on several topics from the PACE program, his sons playing football, his contract and bounties.

Brees stated he felt like further punishment was being held over coaches heads if they didn’t cooperate with the investigation. “I’ve been informed a lot of those coaches feel there are further sanctions being held over their head if they don’t cooperate with the investigation,” Brees said on the Dan Patrick Show. “If they were to speak out on behalf of the players, maybe that’s the fear they have.”

The quarterback also says the NFL has confused, “Pay-for-performance has been lumped in with pay-for-injure.” Brees also said he hasn’t seen evidence of a pay-for-injure program.

One bit of good news, Brees stated he thought the Saints and him would get a long-term contract done before the July 16 deadline. "I've always said, you would think this process should be a lot simpler than it is," Brees said. "It just always seems to be complicated. But I'm still very confident that we'll get a long-term deal done, and hopefully that will happen sooner than later."

"When it comes down to certain provisions of the contract, there are little things here and there that take time to resolve," Brees said. "But in the end, the organization typically starts off at one place, the player starts off at another and you find a way to a compromise and meet in the middle and do what's fair and just."

The New Orleans Saints are trying to fix a defense that was terrible last season. It was one of the worst in the history of the NFL, but this preseason was a chance to improve the unit.

The defense wasn’t completely horrible in the first preseason game against the New England Patriots, but four turnovers by the offense put it in bad spots. In all, the defense gave up 18 of the Patriots’ 34 points, but New England’s two touchdown drives needed just seven plays total.

Big plays hurt the defense, including a 44-yard run and a 56-yard pass in the loss. New Orleans failed to force a turnover and only had two sacks that night.

As New Orleans tries to rebuild the defense, some bad luck hit the unit on Monday, Aug. 15. During goal-line drills, first-round pick and 12th pick overall Sheldon Rankins went down with a broken fibula.

The injury will cause the potential star defensive tackle to miss six to eight weeks. Rankins had surgery to repair the injury on Tuesday, Aug. 16, and could return before the midpoint of the regular season.

Drafted out of the University of Louisville, Rankins had already shown the athleticism that made him a top-15 pick. He even intercepted Tom Brady during joint practices with the Patriots.

He was working with the first-team defense and had shown the normal growth of a rookie with good days and plays and bad days and plays during the early portion of training camp. Rankins was expected to play a big part in the rebirth of the Saints defense this season.

Now, New Orleans will need to get even better play from free agent pickup Nick Fairley. So far in camp, Fairley has been a bright spot and was expected to rotate behind Rankins.

The defensive tackle isn’t the only injury to the Saints defense this preseason. Second-year pass rusher Hau’oli Kikaha suffered a knee injury earlier this summer that could keep him off the field all season.

Linebacker Stephone Anthony injured his leg last week but is expected to return for week one of the regular season. The secondary has banged up players such as Keenan Lewis, who has a hip injury.

The worst part of Rankins’ injury is that he will miss valuable practice time to develop as a rookie. He can watch film and practice, but there is nothing like learning during practice, drills and preseason games.

New Orleans isn’t the only club to have its first-round pick lose time this preseason. So far, 10 of the 32 first-round picks have missed time dealing with some sort of injury.

Four of the top five picks have been hit with the injury bug at some point, and so has former University of Mississippi defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche.

Injuries are a part of football, and everyone else on the Saints defense will have to step up …

Former Mississippi State Athletic Director Scott Stricklin recently left the program to take the same position at the University of Florida. But MSU didn’t have to look to far to find its new athletic director: The university gave current head baseball coach John Cohen for the job.

Cohen is the 17th athletic director in Mississippi State history. He is a two-time SEC Coach of the Year, once at the University of Kentucky and once at MSU, for his work as the baseball coach.

MSU hired Cohen as head baseball coach in 2009, and since then, the team has won 284 games. He has seen 135 Bulldogs get selected in the MLB Draft. Two of his assistants, Nick Mingione and Butch Thompson, have become head coaches at the University of Kentucky and Auburn University.

In his eight years leading the MSU program, Cohen built a 284-203-1 record. Last season, he led the Bulldogs to a 44-18-1 record, and MSU went from worst to first after the program posted a 24-30 season the previous year.

The Tuscaloosa, Ala., native played at MSU and was a part of the Bulldogs’ 1989 SEC Championship team and 1990 College World Series team. He graduated from the University with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1990.

Cohen received a master’s degree in sports management from the University of Missouri in 1994. He spent six seasons as a graduate assistant and coach with the Tigers before taking the head coaching job at Northwestern State University from 1998 to 2001.

While at Northwestern State, Cohen built a 146-84 record before becoming an assistant coach at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2003. He left Florida to take over at the University of Kentucky.

Cohen finished his time with the Wildcats with a 175-112-1 record from 2004 to 2008.

During his time and MSU and Kentucky, he led seven teams to NCAA Regionals.

In 2013 Cohen led the Bulldogs to one of the best seasons in MSU history with a 51-20 record, and the Bulldogs reached the College World Series finals before falling to the University of California at Los Angeles.

Cohen has been a coach in the SEC for 13 seasons and has coached in the conference for 15 years overall. In July, he was named associate athletic director, along with his duties as head baseball coach.

While head coach at MSU, Cohen has helped the athletic program raise funds to upgrade Dudy Noble Field. The upgrades make the baseball stadium one of the best in the country.

Lake Charles, La.’s American Press newspaper has reported that current LSU assistant coach Andy Cannizaro is the new head baseball coach at MSU. Cannizaro joined the LSU coaching staff in 2014, when he began his coaching career.

Cohen is the third former coach to become athletic director at a SEC school. He joins Skip Berkman, the athletic director at LSU, and Ray …

While no athletes from universities in our state won at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, there were strong performances. The University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi all saw athletes qualify for the meet.

USM junior Cra’vorkian Carson finished 18th overall in the 100 meters, reaching the semifinals to earn Honorable Mention All-American. His teammate, senior Emron Gibbs, placed 20th in javelin to ensure Honorable Mention All-American honors, as well.

The MSU women placed two athletes on First Team All-American and one on Second Team All-American. Junior Logan Boss placed fourth in the high jump, and junior Tiffany Flynn finished eighth in the long jump for First Team honors. Junior Rhianwedd Price landed on the Second Team with a ninth-place finish in the 1,500-meters.

Two Bulldogs men earned First Team honors in the same event. Junior Nicolas Quijera finished second in the javelin, as teammate and defending national champion Curtis Thompson, who is a junior, finished seventh.

The MSU 4x400-meter relay team of Stephan James, Rasheed Tatham, Charles Taylor and Juston Waters finished 15th for Second Team All-American honors. Senior Leah Lott finished 18th in the women’s long jump, sophomore men’s long-jumper Willie Reed finished 19th overall, and the men’s 4x100-meter team of Charles Taylor, Philip Smith, Stephan James and Lawrence Crawford placed 19th overall to earn Honorable Mention All-American.

UM junior Janeah Stewart racked up the honors. She placed fifth in the women’s shot put for First Team All-American honors, and ninth in discus and 10th in hammer throw for Second Team All-American honors.

Teammate Raven Saunders, who is also a junior, finished ahead of Stewart in shot put in fourth place to earn First Team All-American for the Rebels. Shelby Brown finished 23rd in the steeplechase, and the women’s 4x100-meter relay team of Deanna Tate, Breanna Tate, Shannon Ray and Nicole Henderson finished 19th to earn Honorable Mention All-American.

Three UM men earned First Team All-American honors. Senior Craig Engels finished third in the 1,500-meters, senior MJ Erb finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and junior Brian Williams finished fourth in the discus.

Junior Dempsey McGuigan finished in 10th place in the men’s hammer throw to become the only men’s athlete to earn Second Team All-American honors for the Rebels.

MSU men finished in 26th place overall, and the university’s women’s team finished 38th overall. The Rebels’ men finished in 19th place overall, and the UM women took 29th in the final standings. USM’s two participants didn’t earn points to place overall.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson doesn't think too highly of Hinds County Supervisor Kenny Stokes' proposal to fine kids 10 bucks for wearing their pants a certain way.

Rev. Jackson spoke at this morning's convocation for returning Jackson Public Schools Employees, who reported today for their first day of work in the new school year. School starts on Friday.

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If local leaders don't focus on what's important in children's lives,"People will be arguing about sagging pants and not sagging (access to) computers. Sagging pants not sagging salaries."

The line drew applause from the crowd of 4,000 JPS workers. A Hinds County supervisors' meeting yesterday drew public comments from both sides of the sagging pants controversial issue.

For the longest time, even though the alcohol content of New Belgium Brewing Co.'s flagship beer, Fat Tire Amber Ale, was low enough to be sold under Mississippi's draconian limits for beer, the company chose not to offer Fat Tire in the Magnolia State.

If they couldn't sell all their beers, they wouldn't sell any of them, the thinking went.

Two years ago, though, the Mississippi Legislature raised the limit on beer, resulting in a flood of flavorful new varieties to taps and supermarket aisles. Now, Fort Collins, Colo.-based New Belgium is expanding into central Mississippi, Capital City Beverages Inc. recently announced.

True to the brewers' wish, Cap City posted on Facebook, that they are bringing New Belgium's entire portfolio of beers, which includes Fat Tire, Ranger IPA, Abbey and Trippel, starting in early March.

11,466 Mississippi residents signed up for health insurance through healthcare.gov during the special enrollment period from February 23 to June 30. According to a new report released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 46 percent of Mississippi residents enrolled because they had lost coverage. Other reasons for enrollment include: denial of Medicaid, tax season or missing other special enrollment periods.

Nationally, the primary reason for enrollment was a loss of coverage. Almost 65 percent of Americans who enrolled in the four-month period were between the ages of 18 and 54. The report's authors said that this enrollment cycle drew higher numbers of young consumers than previous enrollment periods. 31 percent of the 943,934 U.S. residents enrolled were between the ages of 18 and 34.

Mississippi is one step closer to election reform after the House passed the 283-page election code bill this morning. The bill is the product of a committee formed by the secretary of state last year, which included lawmakers, circuit clerks and election commissioners from around the state. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann told the Stennis Capitol Press Forum in February that the reform is "well worth our efforts, and all of these changes are big parts of an interwoven election code that should be passed."

A similar election reform bill is still on the Senate calendar, but it would have to pass today to stay alive. The deadline for original action on either chamber floor for general bills is today. For bills that have been held on a motion to reconsider, the deadline is tomorrow.

Developing story ...

Mayor Tony Yarber posted an announcement on Instagram (@tonyyarber) tonight of a "Straight Outta Patience: Take Down the Flag" rally for Tuesday, March 8, at noon at the state capitol in downtown Jackson. Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, a well-known pastor from Baltimore, will help lead the rally, which he is also promoting on social media (@jamalhbryant on Instagram and Twitter). He wrote on Instagram tonight: "Mississippi!!! ... is last state to wave the Confederate flag! Tuesday we suing the governor to bring it down! Meet me."

Bryant founded the Empowerment Temple in Baltimore in 2000, which his website calls "the fastest-growing church in the A.M.E. denomination."

Mayor Yarber just wrote simply, "Straight Outta Patience!! See y'all Tuesday!"

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This year, Crossroads Film Festival, which is is March 31-April 3, kicks off with a screening of 'The Hollars.'

John Krasinski, who most recently starred in '13 Hours,' directed and starred in the film, which shot in locations in the Jackson metro area such as Fondren, Methodist Rehabilitation Center and St. Dominic Hospital in 2014.

“I am delighted that Mississippians will have this opportunity to get a sneak peek of this great movie filmed across the area,” said Robbie Fischer, Mississippi Crossroads Film Society president, in a blog post on the festival's website. “This screening celebrates the culmination of many Mississippians’ talents and Tom Rice’s commitment to make movies in his hometown.”

Crossroads will screen the film at the Malco Grandview Cinema in Madison beginning at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20. For more information, go to the Crossroads Film Festival blog post.

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The Jackson City Council is set to consider "removing Constituent Services and associated funding from the Mayor's Office," during a special meeting for Thursday, Sept. 29.

The proposal comes after a week of questions about how the council might maneuver to replenish funds to the Greater Jackson Arts Council, GJAC, after the administration cut about $125,000 from the organization’s allocation, almost a third of their total budget. The GJAC cuts and the closure of Grove Park Golf Course came as a response to the council’s decision on Sept. 13 to take $100,000 from the Mayor’s Office among other amendments to the proposed 2017 budget.

The meeting is set for 9:00 a.m. tomorrow in Council Chambers in City Hall.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees gained leverage in his contract battle with the team by way of today's ruling by arbitrator Stephen Burbank. The ruling clarified vague language of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on the franchise tag. At the heart of the matter is the wording:

Article 10, Section 2(b) — “Any Club that designates a player as a Franchise Player for the third time”

The NFL Players Association and Brees argued that the wording means a player can't be franchised three times in his career regardless of team. The NFL argued that the franchise tag was club related and the same team could franchise a player three times in his career.

Brees was franchised by the San Diego Chargers in 2005 counts as the first time he was franchised. This means the Saints franchising Brees this year counts as the second time and if the two sides don't reach a deal, next year would be the third time Brees was franchised in his career.

This gives leverage to Brees for salary cap reasons because his salary would would be 144 percent of this year’s number. That number would put the Saints over the cap next season causing the team to have to cut salary just to keep Brees.

By no means am I a salary cap expert but there are ways for the Saints to pay Brees and make the cap hit lower. I have heard on ESPN and NFL Network people more familiar (without going into great details) say the lower cap hit is possible (it's not great TV to bore the audience with accounting).

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, wrote a detailed article on the franchise argument that might be more helpful than my limited understanding of the CBA and salary cap issues. Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports also writes a detailed article on the subject as well.

Still, a potential mess can be avoided if the Saints and Brees can come up with a long term deal before July 16.

"Once again the needle barely budged for women aspiring to top business leadership."