Latest news with #Mississippi
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Illinois football's Luke Altmyer reveals why he spurned return to SEC
The post Illinois football's Luke Altmyer reveals why he spurned return to SEC appeared first on ClutchPoints. This offseason, a bomb went off in the college football world when quarterback Nico Iamaleava left the Tennessee Volunteers over an NIL dispute. It was significant because it was the first dispute surrounding NIL. When it happened, rumors started swirling about who the Volunteers would potentially grab out of the Transfer Portal. One of the biggest names on the radar was Illinois football quarterback Luke Altmyer. Advertisement Altmyer started his career in the SEC at Ole Miss but transferred to Illinois and has resurrected his career in his two seasons with the Fighting Illini. Brett Bielema gave him the keys to the offense and led Illinois to its first 10-win season since 2001. Due to their success, Bielema also signed a recent contract extension. On3 interviewed him, and the spring transfer topic came up. You can infer that he never outright said that it was Tennessee. He said, 'There were opportunities for me to venture onward to the next level, but also to be able to play in another program. That's just the reality, the NCAA and the college football world we live in. 'Being from Mississippi and in SEC country, it's desirable to play in that conference, in front of people I know, and in stadiums I've been in before and grew up watching and loving. It was certainly an attraction and a real thing. Advertisement 'It was a difficult decision, but I know what's important. I know what is being created here, and the trust, unity, and connection I have amongst my teammates, this community, and my coaches. The success is waiting for me here. It'd be foolish to pick up and start over and take a risk when I have a lot of trust that's been earned and built.' Illinois football has a chance for a historic season Illinois has a chance to make history this season. Altmyer is sticking with the Fighting Illini to try to make it to the College Football Playoff and have an opportunity to compete for a Big Ten title. Still, Altmyer did not miss the opportunity to have some fun, and 10 days after Iamaleava left Tennessee, Altmyer posted a GIF of him making a 'championship belt' celebration with the message: 'Keep the Champaign Flowing.' This made it very clear that he was staying with the Fighting Illini. Illinois went 5-7 in Altmyer's first season in 2023, but in 2024, they underwent a massive turnaround and finished 10-3, one of the biggest turnarounds in college football last season. They have an opportunity to make history this year, and it became very clear Altmeyer did not want to miss out on that.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Mississippi's crops struggle with rainfall challenges
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WJTV) – Rainfall at well above normal accumulations is impacting the state's row crops, according to officials. Mike Brown, state climatologist with the Mississippi State University (MSU) Department of Geosciences, said many areas of the state have had one and a half times the typical amount of rain for this time of year. 'Annually, we generally see around 58 inches of rain in our coastal counties, 52 in our northern counties, and around 55 inches through the central portion of the state,' Brown said. 'Mid-August through mid-October tends to be our driest period. Many portions of the Delta began the year well above normal for precipitation, but those areas have seen a drier end of May and have remained at or just below average for June.' As of late June, officials said Starkville, Greenville, Tupelo and Southaven have about 50% more rain than usual since the planting and growing season began. Meridian and Greenwood are just above normal levels, while Jackson, Biloxi and McComb have seen about one-third more rain than normal. What is the impact of the blueberry industry in Mississippi? Dave Spencer, an Extension pivot irrigation specialist with the MSU Extension Service, said frequent rains limit farmers' ability to manage their crops. 'In many areas, fieldwork has been delayed, especially on clay-textured soils,' he said. Rice, cotton, soybeans and sweet potatoes all suffered from frequent rains that kept fields too wet to plant in the ideal planting windows. About half the rice crop was planted rapidly from mid- to late-April, but officials said crop progress was delayed as weeds began to crop up, levee construction was delayed and nitrogen applications were pushed back. Brian Pieralisi, Extension cotton specialist, said he will be surprised if Mississippi growers were able to plant more than half of the 360,000 acres they intended to plant in 2025. Soybeans have the advantage of a planting window that extends to early July, so as growers are forced to give up planting the intended crop such as cotton or rice, many have switched to late-planted soybeans. Sweet potatoes are mostly grown in a small area of north Mississippi around Calhoun County, and officials said this crop is about 30% behind schedule after challenges increased in early May. Mississippi growers planted 490,000 acres of corn in 2024, but experts anticipate that acreage is up significantly this year. Officials said the rains did not hamper corn planting as much as other crops. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Fossil hunters discover American mastodon jaw in Yazoo County
YAZOO COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – Officials with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) said a portion of a lower jaw of an American mastodon found earlier this month in Yazoo County. According to MDEQ, the fossil was discovered by three amateur fossil hunters J.P. Ketchum, Brayden McCoy, and Leland McCoy from the loess bluffs region of Yazoo County. Scientists identify dinosaur tooth found in Mississippi Officials said the state was home to three Proboscideans during the last ice age which began around 110,000 years ago and ended roughly 11,700 years ago. These colossal giants include the American mastodon, gomphothere (Cuvieronius), and the Columbian mammoth. The fossil was donated earlier this month to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. MDEQ officials said state Survey scientists will be leading a team in the field this week to study the geologic setting of the site where mastodon fossil was found and also try to locate more of the skeleton that might still be preserved. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA Plows Forward, Testing A Moon Rocket That The White House Is Trying To Cancel
Going to the Moon was always viewed as a near-impossible feat, to the point that a large contingent of skeptics continues to believe that one of humanity's greatest feats simply didn't happen despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary. NASA's return to the lunar surface is being made even more difficult by the Trump administration. Despite the White House's desire to cancel the Space Launch System, the Artemis program's primary launch vehicle, NASA continues to test the rocket as recently as Thursday. NASA tested new SLS hardware twice over the last week for Moon missions that might never happen, Ars Technica reports. Last Friday, test-fired a hydrogen-fueled RS-25 rocket in Mississippi that would be used in the SLS core stage for Artemis V in 2030, the program's third lunar landing. Thursday's test in Utah featured a new solid rocket booster that would debut as a part of the SLS Block 2 rocket for Artemis IX in 2034. The additional 8,900 pounds of payload capacity provided by Block 2 would be used to supply the fledgling moonbase and support a permanent human presence on the Moon. Read more: These Movies And TV Shows Have The Best Car Casting The booster test at Northrop Grumman's site at Promontory, Utah went awry during the uncontrolled burn. Live-stream footage appears to show the exhaust burning away part of the rocket until it disintegrated just above the nozzle. The rocket's failure wasn't contained to just the test stand, as the flames spread to the surrounding hills. The most significant selling point of the SLS will likely be its downfall. The cost-effective appeal of recycling components from the Space Shuttle to reach the Moon was a dream that created more headaches than the dollars saved. This became even more problematic after Elon Musk bankrolled Trump's campaign for a second term while claiming that a SpaceX lunar program could be faster and cheaper with zero evidence to back up that posturing. While Musk believes the idea of returning to the Moon is dumb, the cancellation of SLS would be Artemis' demise, as contracts would likely be doled out for a commercial launch provider. This is occurring while NASA is facing a massive $6 billion budget cut, which will force the agency to reduce its staff by 32%. Employees are already being encouraged to take early buyouts or retire early, like their colleagues at other government agencies. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Associated Press
16 hours ago
- Associated Press
Defendant in Mississippi auditor's ‘second largest' embezzlement case in history goes free
Four years ago, agents from the state auditor's office arrested Tunica nonprofit operator Mardis Jones in what the office trumpeted as the second-largest embezzlement case in its history and demanded Jones return over $1 million to the state. The charges accused Jones of stealing $750,000 from a home rehabilitation program he was supposed to be administering while turning away needy rural residents living in crumbling houses. But his defense attorney attacked holes in the case, and last month, a local jury found Jones not guilty of the criminal charges. Now, the state has made no indication it will bring a civil case to try to claw back the money from him. Jones' nonprofit Tunica County Housing Inc. secured a subcontract with the county through the North Delta Regional Housing Authority in 2014 to run the county's home rehabilitation program funded with casino revenue. For his work, vetting applications and managing expenses, Jones earned $12,000 a month. At the core of the criminal case were 'strange money transfers' and a finding that several of the people whose applications for home rehab were approved allegedly never received any repairs to their homes. According to the auditor's office, investigators found less than 20% of the nearly $2 million Jones' nonprofit received went to the contractors working to rehab homes. 'Once again, an arm of government trusted a private organization to run a government program, and a large percentage of the program's spending was flat out stolen,' State Auditor Shad White said in a press release after the arrest. Attorney General Lynn Fitch echoed White, saying, 'These funds – hundreds of thousands of dollars – were meant to help the elderly, handicapped, and poverty stricken. But the funds never got to the vulnerable citizens who needed it most.' Jones' lawyer Carlos Tanner explained to Mississippi Today that the program operated with an extreme backlog, and that 'some of the people they were claiming didn't get their houses done actually did' by the time the trial was held this year. The program was poorly administered, Tanner said, meaning that even if a person's application was approved and a rehab contract prepared, county officials could direct Jones to put someone else's repair job ahead of his or hers. 'But just because it was run like a first weekend lemonade stand does not mean Mardis Jones stole money,' Tanner said. Tanner said the investigators gathered paltry evidence, only looking at details that fit their narrative. While Jones did earn a large salary through his contract, Tanner said prosecutors never presented evidence that Jones converted money that was supposed to be used on home rehabilitation to his personal use. Investigators got a warrant to seize Jones' electronics, Tanner said, but 'they never bothered to search it.' 'The two OSA (Office of the State Auditor) officials who were running the investigation, I questioned them about it during trial, and neither of them could tell me where the computer was, where the phone was, or what the contents were,' Tanner said. Jacob Walters, a spokesperson for the auditor's office, defended the way the investigators handled the case, saying, 'The state auditor's office is never going to turn a case we investigated over to a prosecutor unless we're fully confident in the work that we did.' At the time the auditor's office announced the Jones arrest, it also said it delivered a demand letter ordering Jones to repay over $1 million, the money it alleged he stole plus interest and investigative expenses. It's up to the attorney general or local district attorney to decide how to prosecute auditor investigations, or in Jones' case, what happens to the civil demand now that a jury found him not guilty in the criminal case. When a person receives a demand alongside his or her arrest, regardless of what happens with criminal charges, the claw back can be enforced through civil litigation — much like the case against several defendants in a stunning Mississippi Department of Human Services fraud case, which began in 2020 and has yet to be resolved. Walters said the demand against Jones is still the office's next-largest in history, second only to the welfare scandal. The government might choose to pursue civil litigation, even if criminal prosecution is unsuccessful, because there is a lower burden of proof to win civil cases. But the attorney general's office told Mississippi Today last month that it had not received the Jones demand letter from the auditor, meaning it has nothing left to enforce. Walters said the auditor's office sent the letter along with the case file four years ago, but that with a turnover in attorneys prosecuting the case, the auditor had to resend the file last year. If the attorney general's office no longer possesses the demand document, Walters said, 'it's an incredibly easy problem to resolve.' 'Just reach out to us with a single phone call or email and we can get it to you,' Walters said. After the interview, the auditor's office sent the demand letter by email, and the attorney general's office confirmed it was received. ___ This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
