MSU agriculture and energy research bill heads to full senate

Mississippi State University could soon receive federal funds for agriculture and energy research.

U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran on Tuesday announced the Senate Appropriations Committee has passed the FY2010 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Bill. It still must be approved by the full Senate.

A thirst for change: Some in Starkville want Sunday alcohol sales, but leaders, community remain divided

STARKVILLE — When Robbie Ward came back here six years ago, he thought the inability to buy alcohol on Sundays made the city look backward.

Rob Hardy: The power of puzzles

If you are old enough, you remember the sensation that the Rubik’s Cube caused all the world over in 1980. No one is still alive that remembers the 1880 fad for the analogous two-dimensional “Fifteen Puzzle,” which had 15 numbered blocks within a four by four container and you were supposed to arrange them numerically. Mechanical puzzles can make storms like these, maybe because you can solve them over and over again, but it isn’t often that word puzzles produce such fads.

Rob Hardy: Ensuring interest by condemnation

Nowadays you can get just about any sort of pornography you want with a few clicks of the mouse, and much of it is free. Before that, New York City, especially Times Square, was known as the headquarters for porn movies, and when porn was available only in print media, New York’s Nassau Street in lower Manhattan (close to City Hall) was its hub.

Rob Hardy: Human wonders and specimens

On the cover of the new book by historian Merry Wiesner-Hanks is the portrait of a young girl dressed in Renaissance finery, an elaborate and lacy dress. She smiles slightly and looks directly at the viewer with big brown eyes. She has flowers in her hair. But she has hair not only at the top of her head, but all over her forehead, cheeks and chin.

Navistar misses out on new contract

The Pentagon granted a $1.06 billion contract to build blast-resistant vehicles last week to Oshkosh Corp., not Navistar, which has a plant in West Point.

‘Critical’ time for state’s crops

JACKSON — Mississippi farmers who saw vital planting time washed away by persistent spring showers are now in desperate need of rain as heat and abnormally dry conditions threaten to reduce grain crop yields significantly.

MSU professor a self-described overthinker

Catherine Pierce is one of those people who overthinks for a living.

Growing up in Wilmington, Del., she listened as her parents read books to her all the time. She began to write poetry. Her parents encouraged her to continue to write poems even when they were “goofy” at some points or “angst-ridden” at others, she said.

Now, at 31, she has published two books of poetry, “Animals of Habit” (2004) and “Famous Last Words” (2008), and she teaches poetry at Mississippi State University.

Roses and thorns 7/5/09

A full bouquet of roses to the men and women of the armed services serving at home and abroad on this Independence Day weekend.

Fireworks sparkle above waterway

Dan King camped out on a blanket to see the Fireworks on the Water for the first time Saturday, and he knew he was in the right place.

“I don’t make enough effort to do enough like this,” said King, 56, an hour before the fireworks were set to go off. He was looking forward to the show, but being around people he didn’t know was a higher priority.

Starkville celebrates Fourth

STARKVILLE — There was a smell of hot dogs wafting about the Sportsplex Saturday, and Glen Jackson was proud to be producing it.

A member of Calvary Baptist Church in Starkville, Jackson, 45, said he was eager to volunteer his time to grill hot dogs for distribution to the public to celebrate Independence Day. He was also looking forward to seeing the new fireworks he’d heard about, which were to be choreographed to patriotic music.

State Supreme Court reverses Lowndes decision

JACKSON — The state Supreme Court has reversed two lower courts’ rulings in a life insurance dispute from Lowndes County. The high court said Daniel Ray Weathers can pursue his claims of fraud against Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

Analysis: Despite haggling, budget contains record spending

The state budget approved by Gov. Haley Barbour this week includes record-high funding increases for education and health care, but he warned those are generous windfalls that will dry up in 2011. The $20 billion budget contains so much federal stimulus money that “we must learn to wean ourselves from it soon, as it ends after next year,” Barbour said.

A captive audience

What choice do we have? All residents of Columbus have to budget in these trying times. Do we need to drive to West Point, Starkville, Tupelo, or Tuscaloosa to purchase cheaper gas? Let’s do the math, gas is $2.56 a gallon. Depending on the type car we drive, our mileage could be anywhere from 15- to 30-plus miles per gallon. And our cars fuel capacity is 12 to 20 or more gallons per vehicle.

A good feeling

Who said we do not have good race relations in this section of the country?

Let me tell everyone we do.

Peas and carrots, religion and politics

My hero, Forrest Gump, liked to say that some things go together like “peas and carrots.” Now of course some persons like peas mixed with carrots and some do not. Politics and religion go together like peas and carrots. Some claim that they are separate and some do not. In our country we like to mix our peas and carrots, our religion and politics, when it is convenient and keep them separate when it best serves the interest of the organization.

Diversified dining: Unique dishes, tableside cooking and mariachi bands

Eating out in Columbus and Starkville is less and less about wolfing down Southern staples.

Three recently established restaurants in the cities offer food or experiences that may be new to people.

Arrest Report 7/2/09

The following people were arrested on felony charges, according to reports released from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office:

Organizers prepped for Saturday festivities

“The purpose of why we’re gathering is command control,” Sonic Johnson, director of public affairs for the Columbus Air Force Base, told representatives of city, county and federal organizations at a Wednesday afternoon meeting at the main pavilion of the East Bank Lock and Dam.

City officials warn against personal fireworks

It’s better to be a spectator than to break the law, according to officials at the Columbus Police Department.

CPD officials are encouraging local residents considering staging their own fireworks shows to instead attend the free Fireworks on the Water show Saturday at the Stennis Lock and Dam.