MSU president resigns

Mississippi State University President Doc Foglesong unexpectedly resigned Friday after less than two academic years as leader of the university. His final day of work will be June 30.

In a prepared press statement, Foglesong, a retired four-star U.S. Air Force general, said: "With the express purpose of helping the university move forward, I have asked the commissioner of higher education that I be relieved as president not later than June 30, 2008."

Foglesong had recently received negative attention from some students, faculty and alumni for removing daffodils from the campus, not allowing architecture students to show their work in a window and for his lack of attendance at faculty senate meetings, among other things.

MSU will soon begin searching for a new president, the university's third in the last 10 years.

Scruggs Update: Jury to be anonymous

As students get ready for the beginning of Spring break Richard Dickie Scruggs will be here fighting bribery charges filed by the federal court.

In the latest round of motions and orders Scruggs, his son Zach and Sidney Backstrom have lost their appeal to stop an anonymous jury trial, a court order said.

“The court is of the opinion that the decision to not disclose the names and addresses of the jurors and their employers will not violate the defendants’ constitutional right to a fair trial before an impartial jury,” the order said.

The judges last paragraph explained what information will be available.

"...as the only information that will be withheld from the defendants and the governement will be jurors' names, addresses, and the places of employment - not types of employment. Otherwise, the court will provide the defendants and the government with a wealth of information about the jurors, including occupations, employers, children, length of residence in the counties in which they reside, their main sources of news, and an abundance of other information that will be brought on voir dire and the jury questionnaires."

U.S. District attorney also responded to claims by Zach Scruggs defense team alleging the prosecutors allowed “patently false” statement made by witnesses to be used by the grand jury to obtain an indictment.

“It is clear that the thrust of Balducci’s testimony concerned the fact that they paid Judge Lackey for the Order and needed to deliver additional ‘sweet potatoes,’” the response said.

"While Balducci described this additional payment and 'sweet potatoes,' nobody seriously contends they believed Balducci was taking potatoes to calhoun City."

District Attorney Tom Dawson feels there are other reasons behing Zach Scruggs motion to dismiss because of prosecutorial misconduct.

“The Court should not countenance gratuitously inflammatory motions that would only appear to be designed to influence the potential jury pool,” the response said.

The three defendants were charged in November for bribing Circuit Judge Henery Lackey in order to be granted a favorable ruling in a fee dispute case concerning a Hurricane Katrina settlement.

The trail is set for March 31.