tences, including the sentence of Thomas mother, Katina Smith, who

STARKVILLE, Miss.-Mississippi State University again is receiving major recognition from the Halbrook Awards for Academic Achievement Among Athletes program.During this weeks Mississippi Association of Colleges and Universities Annual Conference, MSU was named winner in the Public University Division for the highest percentage of both female and male athletes graduating - with 87 percent of females graduating and 72 percent of males graduating. The universitys overall graduation rate for student athletes is 77 percent.Administered cooperatively by the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, Mississippi Community College Board, and Mississippi Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Halbrook Awards program recognizes college and universities that maintain and achieve high academic standards for student athletes, thus encouraging high graduation rates.While serving in the Mississippi Legislature, Representative David M. Halbrook Sr., along with his brothers John, James and J.A. Halbrook, endowed the Halbrook Awards.Along with MSU receiving the overall female and male awards for two consecutive years, the universitys female student athletes have been recognized by the Halbrook Awards program for the last four years.Winning these prestigious awards is a significant accomplishment for our talented student athletes and overall athletics program here at Mississippi State, said MSU President Mark E. Keenum.Additionally, two MSU student athletes received David M. Halbrook certificates for academic achievement. They include Brandon B. McBride, a member of the mens track and field team and a public policy and administration masters student from Canada, and Cornelia Griesche, a womens track and field team member from Germany who graduated summa cum laude with a bachelors in economics this past spring.In May, McBride also graduated cum laude with a bachelors degree in business administration.Having the highest male and female student-athlete graduation rate in back-to-back years is a great honor, said Christine Jackson, MSU assistant athletic director and director of athletic academic support services. The collaborative work done by the student-athletes, Office of Athletic Academics, athletic administrators, coaches and university is a great source of pride for all Bulldogs.We are very appreciative of the IHL for bestowing such an honor upon us and for its continuous support of academic excellence throughout the state, Jackson added. 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Shoes NZ Outlet . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas was informed Wednesday that President Barack Obama has commuted the life sentence of Thomas grandmother.Thomas was notified as he left the teams weight room following practice. Minnie Pearl Thomas had been serving a life sentence for a drug conviction in Georgia. Her prison sentence will now expire Dec. 1.I just found out right when I came in from weights, Demaryius Thomas said. I was surprised, and I was excited.Its a blessing, and Im super excited. ... Looking forward to Dec. 1.Minnie Pearl Thomas sentence was one of 214 for federal inmates, including 67 with life sentences, that President Obama commuted Wednesday.Last July, he also commuted 46 sentences, including the sentence of Thomas mother, Katina Smith, who had been scheduled to be released in 2017.In June, Demaryius Thomas wrote a letter to President Obama, thanking him for commuting his mothers sentence, and he gave the letter to the president when the Super Bowl champion Broncos visited the White House. During his exchange, hee said Obama briefly discussed Thomas grandmother as well.ddddddddddddI still remember him talking to me, Thomas said. I was talking about my mom and said, Thank you, and he talked about my grandma. I knew something was going to happen.Thomas was only 11 when Smith and his maternal grandmother were each arrested for narcotics trafficking in 1999.When Smiths sentence was commuted and she was released from prison, she went to a halfway house for a required stay in Georgia, Thomas home state, before she was then fully released to live on her own. Thomas said Wednesday his grandmother is likely to follow the same path after her release.Minnie Pearl Thomas is currently serving her sentence -- for distribution of cocaine, as well as conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine -- in a federal prison in Florida. Demaryius Thomas said that at one point at the prison, in Tallahassee, Florida, his mother and grandmother shared a cell. ' ' '