Mississippi
Building a More Competitive Mississippi – Ole Miss News
![Building a More Competitive Mississippi – Ole Miss News Building a More Competitive Mississippi – Ole Miss News](https://news.olemiss.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/UCIMG-2448-1.jpg)
Panelists focus on financial alternatives and challenges for the state throughout the second annual Mississippi Competes Imaginative and prescient Session on the college. The session examined expertise traits, enterprise improvements and the state’s potential to reap the benefits of a high-tech economic system. Photograph by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Providers
OXFORD, Miss. – Mississippi has the components it must thrive in a high-tech economic system, however the state’s leaders should embrace expertise to make sure success, enterprise and coverage leaders agreed Tuesday (Nov. 8) on the College of Mississippi.
Greater than 60 leaders gathered at Ole Miss for the second annual Mississippi Competes Imaginative and prescient Session, a convention that goals to bolster the state’s financial competitiveness.
“The economic system of yesterday will not be the economic system of tomorrow,” mentioned Invoice Prepare dinner, enterprise accomplice at Columbia Capital and president of Prepare dinner Consulting LLC. “This session is a discussion board that target embracing new and rising applied sciences and studying how one can create a vibrant ecosystem that may advance the state’s economic system. ”
Prepare dinner pioneered the convention in 2021 as a approach to showcase alternatives for development and to deliver the heads of presidency, schooling and business into one area.
Among the many 10 panelists Tuesday had been digital infrastructure business executives, profitable entrepreneurs, protection contractors and leaders in autonomous transportation. Company additionally included U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, state Rep. Clay Deweese and state Sen. Nicole Boyd.
The panels targeted on how one can create an ecosystem of accessibility and success for startup corporations and entrepreneurs and the significance of autonomous transportation, each by land and by sea. Creating this ecosystem begins with coverage surrounding the problems and continues with native and regional buy-in, panelists mentioned.
The purpose of the session was not simply to speak about alternatives, however to expose members to new expertise traits and progressive ideas based mostly on panelists’ experiences, and provides attendees particular assignments to create alternatives for Mississippi, Prepare dinner mentioned.
“We, Mississippi, can do higher,” he mentioned. “One financial improvement win doesn’t resolve our drawback. We should compete as if we’re going to win all of them.”
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U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker talks to members on the Mississippi Competes Imaginative and prescient Session about how the state can profit from the push to compete globally in semiconductor chip manufacturing and analysis. Photograph by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Providers
“How can we compete? We create new concepts, superior coverage; we spend money on folks, infrastructure and tech. What occurs if we compete? We study, we develop, we prosper and we win.”
The college is working to assist develop the workforce and expertise wanted to capitalize, UM Chancellor Glenn Boyce mentioned.
“That is what a flagship college ought to do, and it’s what we’re doing right now,” he mentioned.
Panelists mentioned the state is uniquely poised for alternative, being between two main web and autonomous car hubs – Dallas and Atlanta – and having important fiber optic communications infrastructure all through the state. Panelist Sean Baillie, digital infrastructure government, mentioned that success on this planet of information infrastructure requires 4 issues: “land, energy, water and fiber.”
Mississippi has these belongings, panelists agreed. It simply wants somebody to behave.
All through the panel, Prepare dinner typically redirected focus to how the college can put together college students for getting into the “economic system of tomorrow” by offering hands-on coaching in robotics and by partnering with information heart industries and cloud corporations, each of which, audio system mentioned, are experiencing exponential development.
Boyce highlighted the college’s latest development, together with a 5.1% total enrollment enhance over 2021 and the college reaching an all-time excessive retention fee of 89.3%. Boyce lauded pupil achievements, such because the latest naming of two Truman Students, six Fulbright Students and three Goldwater Students.
“Why do I inform you all this?” he mentioned. “As a result of we’re constructing a labor pressure and I would like you to grasp the standard of the labor pressure popping out of this college.”
Wicker, visiting on election day, touted the bipartisan passing of the CHIPS and Science Act in July, a invoice that devotes $200 billion towards the manufacturing of semiconductor chips in america. America is lagging behind Asian international locations within the manufacture of the chips, that are important within the creation of automobiles, cellphones, medical tools and lots of different computerized capabilities, he mentioned.
This invoice shall be a place to begin for america to excel in chip expertise, and Mississippi gained’t be left behind in that effort, Wicker mentioned.
“We’re about to dwell the dream,” he mentioned. “That is the second, my fellow Mississippians, for us to be the chief in expertise. You’re going to provide us some concepts right now. We imply to show them into motion.”
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Mississippi
Ex-official in Mississippi is treated for gambling addiction amid embezzlement charge, lawyer says
![2 Phoenix officers shot with 1 listed in critical condition, police say 2 Phoenix officers shot with 1 listed in critical condition, police say](https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/dcac1a4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/700x394+0+28/resize/1440x810!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F90%2F29%2F4e3c1cc7446089a9101a7bdff4c8%2Fdefaultshareimage-copy.png)
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former tax assessor and collector in north Mississippi checked into a residential treatment center for a gambling addiction after he called the state auditor’s office and confessed to misusing more than $300,000 in public money, his attorney said Tuesday.
Shannon Wilburn, 49, resigned in April from the elected office he had held in Benton County since 2016, and he began the 12-week addiction treatment in late July, his attorney Tony Farese told The Associated Press.
“I’ve known Shannon all of his life,” Farese said. “We are shocked that he finds himself in this situation.”
Mississippi Auditor Shad White announced Tuesday that Wilburn has been charged with one count of embezzlement. The announcement came days after Wilburn was indicted. Farese said Wilburn turned himself in to the sheriff’s office Friday, then posted bond and returned to the treatment program.
Wilburn is accused of taking $327,055 paid to the Benton County Tax Collector’s office and using the money for personal expenses, Farese said. He said Wilburn confessed to the auditor’s office before hiring legal representation and has continued to cooperate with investigators.
“He apologizes for disappointing the citizens of Benton County and the state of Mississippi,” Farese said.
If convicted, Wilburn would face up to $5,000 in fines and 20 years in prison.
White said Wilburn’s employment as a Benton County elected official was covered by $200,000 in surety bonds to protect taxpayers from losses from corruption. The county also has an insurance policy that covers theft.
“The dedicated team at the State Auditor’s Office will continue to work closely with prosecutors to get record results, one case at a time,” White said in a statement.
Mississippi
Vicksburg’s Raymond Elledge set to enter Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame – The Vicksburg Post
![Vicksburg’s Raymond Elledge set to enter Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame – The Vicksburg Post Vicksburg’s Raymond Elledge set to enter Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame – The Vicksburg Post](https://www.vicksburgpost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2024/09/090424-Disc-Golf-Elledge-14-WEB.jpg)
Vicksburg’s Raymond Elledge set to enter Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame
Published 4:30 pm Tuesday, September 3, 2024
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During two decades of playing disc golf, Raymond Elledge has only won one big tournament.
“I don’t even remember what year it was,” he said.
Nonetheless, Elledge is a legend in the sport in Mississippi. He’s worked tirelessly to maintain courses, been a member of several local and state players associations, and taught people young and old the joys of it. That level of dedication led to Elledge’s recent election to the Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame. He’ll officially be inducted Oct. 12 in Starkville.
“When he first told me last year I was nominated, I told him, ‘Man, you’re making my heart hurt.’ You don’t realize the emotions you can get. Stuff can just tear you up, and it did because I was just so excited,” the 62-year-old Vicksburg resident said. “You go years and years, and you’re out here busting your butt trying to maintain the course and showing everybody what you can.”
Disc golf is played the same as traditional golf, except with plastic discs that resemble frisbees. Players take aim at a steel basket several hundred yards away, with the goal of getting it in there in as few throws as possible.
Elledge first played disc golf in 2002, on a private course built in the backyard of Vicksburg resident Herman Cochran. One of the people playing with Elledge made a hole-in-one, and the excitement over the feat hooked him instantly.
“I seen this little old fella, he was 21 or 22 but he looked like he was 12, and he made an ace. I was hooked. I’ve got to do it,” Elledge said. “I don’t go anywhere on vacation without taking my disc golf bag. I just love the game.”
Elledge added that the simplicity of the sport is something he enjoys. A starter kit of three discs — a driver, mid-range disc and putter, all of which have different densities and flight characteristics — can be purchased for about $25.
The courses are easily found at many parks in Mississippi. There is an 18-hole course at Halls Ferry Park. Players of all ages and shapes can play it as long as they can walk the course. Elledge had quadruple bypass heart surgery eight years ago and playing disc golf helps him stay in shape.
“It’s something anybody can do,” he said. “I’ve trained kids from 5 to 50, and the oldest one I’ve helped train to play this game is 71 years old now. He still comes out and plays. This is a sport that any age can play.“
With his passion for disc golf comes a sense of responsibility. He’s helped clear brush around parts of the Halls Ferry Park course to keep it playable, and done the same while working with associations like the Vicksburg Disc Golf Association and Jackson Union of Disc Golf Enthusiasts.
He’s also eager to teach the game to newcomers.
“I’ve never quit teaching how to play the game,” he said. “They used to have something called the World’s Biggest Disc Golf Weekend and I won it three years in a row. What it is, is whoever takes the most players out to a certain disc golf course gets the T-shirt and a disc.”
His service to the sport led to a nomination for the Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame in 2023, but he didn’t make the final cut. This year he did, and he said it was better than winning any tournament.
“You play a lot of tournaments. You do a whole lot for the sport itself, such as numerous work days working on the course to maintain it. Teaching the kids and when we have tournaments helping move baskets around to new spots,” Elledge said. “Then somebody will nominate you and there’s a lot of votes from the clubs. If you get enough votes from everybody you’re in. You find out how much you’re appreciated by everybody for all that you’ve done.”
Mississippi
Arizona State vs Mississippi State picks, odds: Who wins Week 2 college football game?
Arizona State forces 3 turnovers in win over Wyoming to start 2024
All offseason, coach Kenny Dillingham preached getting turnovers. Forty seconds into the season’s first game, the defense produced its first one.
The Arizona State Sun Devils host the Mississippi State Bulldogs in a Week 2 non-conference college football game on Saturday, Sept. 7 at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.
Which team will win the game?
Check out these picks and predictions for the game, which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. MST and can be seen on ESPN (stream with this free trial from FUBO).
Arizona State is coming off a 48-7 win against Wyoming. Mississippi State beat Eastern Kentucky in its season opener, 56-7.
ASU football is a 6.5-point favorite over Mississippi State in the game, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
The Sun Devils are -250 on the moneyline. The Bulldogs are +200.
The over/under for the game is set at 56.5 points.
This is the first meeting between the two college football programs.
Dimers.com: Arizona State 30, Mississippi State 24
It writes: “According to our analysis, Arizona State is more likely to beat Mississippi State in CFB action at Mountain America Stadium on Saturday.”
Sports Chat Place: Bet ASU football to cover vs Mississippi State
It writes: “I’m going with Arizona State. This should be a fun matchup though, and you could make a case either way. The Sun Devils posted 499 total yards (241 rushing), 7.0 yards per play, 27 first downs and no turnovers in their blowout win Saturday. Defensively they were great as well with 118 yards allowed (78 passing), eight first downs, three turnovers and a 3-of-13 rate on third downs.”
Arizona State football predictions: Game-by-game picks for Sun Devils in 2024 season
Picks and Parlays: Arizona State 35, Mississippi State 21
Cameron Ross writes: “Both teams come in a week two undefeated as each will look to continue to roll. Arizona State will have the edge however as they are on their home field and have a top tier defense. Look for the Sun Devils to keep it rolling as they pick up a win and cover at home against the SEC opponent.”
Clarion Ledger: Arizona State 27, Mississippi State 26
Sam Sklar writes: “This game kicks off at 9:30 p.m. CT against an Arizona State team that should be improved under second-year coach Kenny Dillingham. The Sun Devils offense averaged just 17.7 points per game in part due to injuries at quarterback and offensive line. Redshirt freshman transfer Sam Leavitt is ASU’s new quarterback.”
ASU football schedule: Dates, times, TV channels for Sun Devils’ 2024 season
ESPN: Sun Devils have a 56.5% chance to defeat Bulldogs in Week 2
The site’s matchup predictor gives Mississippi State a 43.5% chance to beat Arizona State at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe on Saturday.
STREAM THE GAME: Watch ASU football vs Mississippi State live with FUBO (free trial)
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Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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