THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1884
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2021
137TH YEAR | ISSUE 12
Shooting occurs near campus Thursday night HEATHER HARRISON AND HANNAH BLANKENSHIP NEWS EDITOR, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Around 6:30 p.m. Thursday night, four gun shots rang out near Chadwick Place Apartments on East Lee Boulevard. Thomas McBride, a senior accounting major at Mississippi State University and resident of Chadwick Place Apartments, heard the shots and saw the aftermath. "I was sitting in my room talking with my roommate, Taylor, and we hear essentially four pistol shots, and we both kind of stare at each other for a second, and we both kind of go 'That
was gunshots,' and it sounded like it was right down the street, like very close, so we rushed and locked the doors, turned out all the lights," McBride said. McBride said they heard yelling and shouting and looked out the window. "We look down and there was a figure hunched over, on our block on our parking area three cars down from mine or so, relatively close. There's a guy hunched over on the ground. It was fairly dark outside, so we couldn’t really see but he was obviously hurt," McBride said. A car, what looked to be a 1980s or 1990s
brown Lincoln, then came down the street and pulled up at the scene. "They open up the (car) door and we hear some yelling and the only thing we could really hear was 'No, you can't leave them. We've got to pick 'em up,' as another guy rushes out of the car, picks him up, takes him to the car and they drive off," McBride said. MSU police believe a suspect then ran toward MSU’s campus on foot after the shooting. At 7:08 p.m. all MSU students received a Maroon Alert phone call notifying them of the incident and urging them to avoid the area. SHOOTING, 2
Haley Storey | The Reflector
MSU Police Department and the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office used K-9 units to assist with the search for last Thursday’s shooting suspect.
Starkville is keeping its options open for ARPA spending HEATHER HARRISON NEWS EDITOR
At a recent Starkville Board of Aldermen work session, the board decided to reconsider how Starkville is spending its funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The original ARPA Mary Georgia Hamilton | The Reflector plan gave parks $5.5 million of Starkville's Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill at her desk. allocated $6.2 million. Now, two other projects this allows us to add could either split the that complement to the ARPA funds with parks options that are availor solely receive the able to us to present to funds. him," Starkville Mayor Lt. Gov. Delbert Lynn Spruill said. Hosemann recently anFunds could potennounced that he plans tially go toward Main to fund-match Missis- Street renovations and sippi cities' ARPA the Highway 182 funds. Due to this, BUILD grant project. Starkville is reconfigurMain Street renovaing its ARPA spending tions include repaving to maximize its chances the street, removing of receiving the ad- turning lanes and reditional money. structuring sidewalks "We added to our op- for a more walkable tions, and that was be- downtown. cause my understanding The Highway 182 is Lt. Gov. Hosemann's BUILD plan also iminterest is stronger in proves pedestrian having water and sewer friendliness and makes infrastructure,and so the highway wheel-
chair-accessible. Additionally, broadband accessibility will improve, and other infrastructure and drainage issues are getting fixed. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development Transportation Discretionary Grant program granted $12.66 million to Starkville for Highway 182 renovations. However, Spruill said the city has already exceeded its budget due to time, labor and manufacturing costs. Receiving ARPA funds for the highway means that the city might not have to borrow more money from the state or federal government. Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk clarified that ARPA funds could be used on any number of projects the city may wish to use the money on. However, the funds are limited, so the city and the Board of Aldermen must decide how much money to allocate to
Ivy Rose Ball| The Reflector
Highway 182 is set to see renovations completed in the next few years, including sidewalk, sewer, drainage and broadband improvements.
each project and how to pay for them. Spruill said she wanted to keep Starkville's options as flexible as possible to receive the maximum amount of matching funds available. "You have to take ad-
vantage of everything you can, and with the state having a good amount of money that they want to put toward municipalities, I wanted to make sure that the options that were available to us were as broad as possible based on
(Lt. Gov. Hosemann's) level of interest in some particular projects," Spruill said. Depending on the state's match, Starkville leaders will then decide which project will receive ARPA funds. ARPA, 2
MS House, Senate unanimously pass largest MSU Dining Services rolls out new potential teacher pay raise in state history features for the spring semester JOSHUA STEWART
LIFE & ENTERTAINmENT EDITOR
Two separate bills focused on the issue of teacher pay have passed both chambers of the Mississippi Legislature. House Bill 530, also referred to as the START Act (Strategically Accelerating the Recruitment and Retention of Teachers) of 2022, was introduced by Republican representatives and proposes $4,000 to $6,000 increases in teacher salary. The bill passed the House 114-6 in a bipartisan vote. The Senate unanimously passed their own version of a bill concerning teacher pay raises,
with a vote of 35-0. Senate Bill 2444 plans to increase salaries by $4,700, increasing yearly and every five years. Representative Lynn Wright, a Republican representing District 37, which encompasses parts of Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties, voted yes on HB530. Wright cites the current shortage of teachers in the state as one of the reasons why teacher pay has become a focal point in state government. "We have such a teacher shortage, not just in our state, but across the nation. Our teachers have a very, very tough job. A lot of people
TAYLOR STIGALL
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Courtesy Photo | MS House of Representatives
Mississippi Representative Lynn Wright.
think they want to go into education, and it really is a calling. Most teachers aren't in it for the money, but they should be justly compensated. It is still a very underpaid profession," Wright said. RAISE, 2
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
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HI: 45 LO: 25 SKY: Sunny POP: 0
HI: 54 LO: 34 SKY: Mostly sunny POP: 1
HI: 46 LO: 21 SKY: Mostly sunny POP: 2
As Mississippi State University began the spring semester of 2022, MSU Dining Services unveiled some fresh features that allow students to easily view Block Meals and Flex Dollars. Additionally, Dining Services added mobile purchases at campus fast food locations and the Dawg Bites Trial Meal Plan. Students can now view their remaining Block Meals and Flex Dollars by visiting dining.msstate.edu and creating an account using their nine-digit MSU ID. DINING, 2
FORECAST: It is looking to be another sunny and cold week in Starkville for the first full week of classes. Jack Frost is still controlling our weather, so make sure to wear your jackets and cozy pants. Highs range from the low 50s to the low 40s, while the lows are looking to be in the chilly 20 degree range. It is perfect weather for a bonfire or sitting by the fireplace indoors.
Courtesy of The Weather Channel
Ashok Manick | The Reflector
The Starbucks Mobile Order feature is now available to use at the Colvard Student Union.
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