| Friday, July 17, 2026 |
| Moody, Watts awarded Huddleston scholarship | |
 | According to an MSU press release, Sarah Grace Moody and William Watts of the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine have been named recipients of the Dr. Elton "Mac" Huddleston Rural Veterinary Scholarship. Moody, a native of New Albany, received her MSU undergraduate degree in animal and dairy sciences in May. Her career interests include large animal practice, mixed animal practice, equine practice, large animal surgery, large animal medicine, equine surgery, equine medicine, theriogenology, and academia. Watts, who joins the college from Wesson, attended South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, and later MSU. He is primarily interested in mixed animal practice, equine practice, bovine practice, large animal surgery, small animal surgery, large animal medicine, equine surgery, and equine medicine. The Dr. Elton "Mac" Huddleston Rural Veterinary Scholarship Program was created in 2024 by Mississippi's Legislature to address the state's need for rural veterinary practitioners. Its namesake worked as a large animal practitioner in the state and served as executive secretary of the Mississippi Veterinary Medical Association and the Mississippi Board of Veterinary Medicine. He was also among the first faculty members at the College of Veterinary Medicine and an inaugural member of the CVM Dean's Council. |
| MSU alumni selected for prestigious international JET program | |
| Three Mississippi State alumni are headed to Japan as part of a highly competitive, international work exchange program. The Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, or JET, selects young professionals to experience Japanese culture while working in local schools, boards of education and government offices. The program typically receives 4,000-5,000 applications each year from American students, with 1,000-1,100 selected for participation. This year's MSU JET scholars include: Virginia Alexander of Dacula, Georgia, a spring 2026 business economics and foreign language graduate with concentrations in international business and Asian studies. Lily Grado of Starkville, a two-time MSU graduate with bachelor's and master's degrees in English. Kennedy Posey of Starkville, a 2021 music graduate. |
| City of Meridian opens Highland Park Police Precinct during National Parks and Recreation Month | |
 | As Meridian, Mississippi celebrates National Parks and Recreation Month and prepares for this weekend's Picnic in the Park, the City of Meridian has opened its new Highland Park Police Precinct, strengthening the partnership between Meridian Parks & Recreation and the Meridian Police Department while enhancing one of the city's most treasured public spaces. The new precinct places officers in the heart of Highland Park, allowing them to be more visible, accessible, and engaged with the families, children, and visitors who enjoy the park throughout the year. "This precinct allows our officers to be where people are," said Meridian Police Chief Malachi Sanders. "It's about building relationships, being accessible, and supporting the everyday activities that make Highland Park such an important part of our community." "Highland Park continues to be one of Meridian's signature gathering places," said Mayor Percy Bland. "As we continue investing in our parks, we're also investing in the people who enjoy them. This new precinct reflects our commitment to maintaining beautiful public spaces that families can enjoy with confidence for generations to come." |
| Legislative AI Task Force hears complaints, positive impacts of data centers | |
 | A two-day hearing by the Legislature's AI Task Force was held this week as Mississippi lawmakers gathered information about the state's growing number of data centers. Day one of the hearings focused on the concerns some have with data centers, such as excessive noise levels caused by generators, the particulates that are released by the diesel generators, and fears of excessive water usage. Another complaint shared dealt with how negotiations between local leaders and data center companies include little to no public input. The second day of testimony provided rebuttals to the first day's complaints. Representatives of local governments and data centers appeared before the task force. Chris Wells, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, said the agency has no authority in noise levels but does regulate other aspects of data center construction, such as habitat protections, air pollution and water consumption. There is one concern to keep in mind for the future, he said. "Down the road, e-waste and decommissioning of these types of facilities can and will be an issue," Wells told the task force. |
| Legislature passes youth court overhaul after special session gets snagged in PBM politics | |
| Mississippi legislators wrapped up a two-day special session Thursday night after agreeing on a plan to overhaul and fund the state's youth court system and arguing over whether to tackle another contentious issue -- changing laws that deal with pharmacy benefit managers. They ultimately left without touching PBM reform. House passed a youth court plan Thursday, hours after the Senate passed it late Wednesday. The session was unusual, with the House meeting at the Old Capitol Museum because the House chamber in the Capitol is undergoing restoration. The buildings are blocks away from each other. Behind-the-scenes haggling over PBMs kept the session going hours longer than expected. The discussion left the funding for youth court reform in limbo for a while. |
| Special session ends with sweeping youth court reform being sent to governor | |
| After fierce debate among lawmakers in the Mississippi legislature, a proposal to reform the state's youth court system has been sent to Gov. Tate Reeves, capping a special session. The Senate, in a late Wednesday night vote, sent a sweeping youth court overhaul bill to the House of Representatives. The House Judiciary B Committee first vetted the legislation Thursday morning, where it was given the green light to be assessed by the entire chamber. On the floor, lawmakers ultimately voted 67-32 to pass the measure, but not without heated discussions. The House's vote occurred in the Old Capitol Building, marking the first time action was taken on a bill in that facility since 1903. House members had to meet in the Old Capitol as the chamber's quarters in the current state capitol are being renovated. Thursday's proceedings began with a quick passing of a general bill to fundamentally change Mississippi's youth court system, followed by a game of hardball before passing two related spending bills. |
| Mississippi hasn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982. Scott Colom believes he will change that in November | |
| To hear Scott Colom tell it, his decision to run for U.S. Senate against Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican, did not come about from being recruited by Chuck Schumer or the Democratic Party. "It wasn't anything to do with D.C. Let me just say that straight off the bat," Colom told Magnolia Tribune. Colom sat for a wide-ranging interview this week to discuss his campaign. The Lowndes County District Attorney addressed the policy positions he has made a central part of his messaging as he travels the state, issues Colom believes Mississippi voters care about most. Colom's entrance in the race came last September after years of speculation that he was indeed the Mississippi Democratic Party's chosen candidate to run against Hyde-Smith this cycle. Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since John Stennis was re-elected in 1982. Colom welcomes that challenge in this 2026 midterm election. "I'm just a commonsense Democrat with Mississippi values. I'm a 7th generation Mississippian," he said. "As I said, I learned my values from my parents, not a political party. And I have a lot, you know, as a DA, I'm strong on the Second Amendment. I own guns. I understand the importance of protecting myself and my family, and I'll protect every Mississippi's right to do that." |
| Colom raises another $765K, outpacing Hyde-Smith | |
 | Democratic challenger Scott Colom outraised Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in the second quarter of 2026, but he has brought in less than half of the incumbent's fundraising total throughout the campaign season. Colom, the 16th Circuit district attorney from Columbus, raised about $765,553 since April 1, with 75% of those contributions coming from individuals. About $85,500 came from political action committees. Among individual donations are Dennis Erby, of Columbus, who donated $250 this quarter and $1,750 to Colom's campaign in total and District 16 Sen. Angela Turner-Ford (D-West Point), who donated $100 this quarter and $1,100 to date. Overall, Colom has raised more than $2.3 million since announcing his candidacy in September. He has spent about $1.5 million and had about $847,045 on hand at the end of the reporting period. Hyde-Smith pulled in about $431,280 since April 1, nearly 33% of that coming from transfers from her victory fund -- a joint fundraising committee that distributes money to multiple recipients. |
| Budget resolution faces dicey House vote after committee approval | |
 | The House Budget Committee approved a fiscal 2027 budget resolution Thursday as the first step toward passing a filibuster-proof reconciliation bill to provide tens of billions of dollars for defense, farm aid and voting restrictions. The panel advanced the GOP-backed budget resolution on a strictly party-line vote of 20-14 after rejecting 14 amendments, all offered by Democrats. But in one sign of potential trouble as the resolution heads to the House floor, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a Budget member who also serves on the powerful Rules Committee, did not vote at Thursday's markup. Roy and other conservative critics have expressed concerns that the resolution requires no offsetting spending cuts to keep the deficit in check, and that voter ID restrictions sought by President Donald Trump would have to get watered down to comply with the rules of the reconciliation process. The concurrent resolution includes instructions to four House committees -- Armed Services, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Agriculture and House Administration -- directing them to draft legislation providing up to $73 billion in defense and intelligence funds to underwrite the war in Iran, $12 billion in aid to farmers, and $10 billion for legislation aimed at preventing voting fraud. |
| Trump rails against election systems --- and familiar enemies | |
 | President Donald Trump on Thursday announced his administration is declassifying documents that he says outline vulnerabilities in U.S. election systems. In his 25-minute speech from the White House, Trump described efforts by China to access U.S. voter rolls and offered details about long-studied risks with electronic voting machines. But none of the information Trump described appears to support his long-running claims that the 2020 election was stolen or that ballots and vote totals were manipulated. Instead, Trump issued a range of vague directives on election oversight to the FBI, the director of national intelligence and other agencies headed by controversial loyalists, calling on them to investigate "how and why such crucial information was hidden" from him and prosecute the people responsible for the alleged cover up. Trump's speech was in many ways an indictment of his own intelligence community, which he accused of shielding Chinese influence efforts from him throughout his first term . But the documents released Thursday night also reflect a genuine split among intelligence analysts who debated and ultimately concluded that China opted against a large-scale influence effort during the 2020 election cycle. The president didn't reiterate his long held claims that the 2020 election, which President Joe Biden won, was stolen. While those claims have been widely debunked, his DOJ in recent months subpoenaed 2020 election records in Georgia, Arizona and Michigan. |
| Trump revives 2020 election claims as experts challenge his evidence | |
 | President Donald Trump touched on a wide array of issues in his July 16 address to the nation, from accusing China of meddling in U.S. elections to defeat him to significant domestic election vulnerabilities. In his comments and in the previously top-secret documents he ordered declassified to bolster his case, Trump made sweeping claims about the vulnerability of U.S. elections to both foreign interference and cyber and technical vulnerabilities, Some experts who have reviewed Trump's claims and the newly released documents say the president is mischaracterizing them. That includes the top Democrat of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). The documents describe genuine cyber threats and vulnerabilities. But they say there's little to indicate that U.S. elections are as vulnerable as the president claims they are -- or that China interfered in U.S. elections to undermine Trump in any meaningful way that would've changed the outcome of his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. In an extraordinary move, Trump called for the Federal Communications Commission to revoke broadcast licenses for ABC and NBC for choosing not to broadcast his primetime address. While they might not have preempted their main broadcast channels, ABC and NBC did cover Trump's address. Both streamed the speech live on their websites, and NBC aired a special report afterward. |
| Boomers Were Supposed to Downsize. They Are Buying Bigger Homes Instead. | |
 | Angela and Victor Martino raised their two daughters decades ago in a ranch house measuring less than 2,000 square feet. The empty-nesters recently bought the 5,000-square-foot house next door. After a year-long renovation, the Denair, Calif., home has a huge kitchen with space for the commercial meat slicer that Victor uses to cut a leg of prosciutto at family events. There is a playroom with polished concrete floors meant to withstand damage from their seven grandchildren. The primary bathroom tub has features to help them get in and out more easily as they get older. "We'll downsize when they plant me 6 feet into the ground," said Victor, 64. Well-off boomers are increasingly upsizing their homes as they age, either buying bigger ones or financing additions to their existing properties. They are building guesthouses for family members and gourmet kitchens for entertaining, alongside such features as high-end grab bars and first-floor primary bedrooms for aging in place. In the process, they are rewriting the rules of retirement and aging, when people are expected to move into smaller homes to save money. |
| A Southern road trip through one of the world's best literary landscapes | |
| Literary tourism has never been more popular. Readers cross oceans to walk Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon, follow James Joyce through Dublin, sip coffee in Hemingway's Paris, and wander the dreaming spires of Oxford, England. Increasingly, travelers are seeking not just books, but the places that inspired them. Yet, one of North America's most influential literary landscapes remains largely overlooked. Mississippi has produced an extraordinary concentration of writers whose work has shaped American literature for generations, from William Faulkner and Eudora Welty to Richard Wright, Tennessee Williams, Jesmyn Ward, Natasha Trethewey, and Kathryn Stockett. And unlike many destinations where history feels preserved behind museum glass, Mississippi's literary culture remains very much alive. Most literary destinations revolve around a single figure, but Mississippi offers an entire literary ecosystem. The Mississippi Writers Trail connects homes, museums, bookstores, archives, and communities associated with some of America's most influential writers. |
| Mississippi Humanities Council launches Mississippi Stories Grant | |
 | The Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC) announced the launch of the Mississippi Stories Grant, a funding opportunity to help communities across the state broadcast their lived experiences and voices. Officials said the Mississippi Stories Grant is rooted in the idea that Mississippi's history is founded in the stories of everyday people, and the grant will support projects that show firsthand stories of Mississippi life. "The grant's title, 'Mississippi Stories,' highlights the importance of personal narratives grounded in firsthand testimony and individual perspective, rather than interpretations or retellings of someone else's experiences. The goal of the program is to preserve authentic voices and make them accessible to the public in engaging and meaningful ways," said Carol Andersen, MHC assistant director. Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded three times each year with deadlines of: September 15, January 15, and May 1. To celebrate the launch of the grant, no cost-share will be required for grants during 2026 and 2027. Officials said grants are available to Mississippi-based nonprofit organizations, schools and local organizations. MHC staff will host a free Zoom webinar at 10:00 a.m. on August 5, 2026, to cover the grant guidelines, the application process and strategies to develop a successful proposal. |
| Ole Miss literacy center, School of Education, statewide partners make early reading success the new normal | |
| The dramatic improvement in Mississippi's early literacy rates has grabbed national attention, spotlighting the work of statewide partnerships to bring about the "Mississippi Miracle." Following sweeping policy changes, the University of Mississippi's Center for Excellence in Literacy Instruction and School of Education joined forces with entities across the state. Angela Rutherford, the center's director, partnered with the Mississippi Department of Education to help implement rigorous standards, educator preparation and community involvement. In 2013, the Legislature passed the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, which requires third grade students to pass a year-end reading assessment to be promoted to fourth grade. Amendments require K-3 students to have individualized reading plans if testing identifies them as struggling readers. "The legislation is focused on prevention because we don't want kids to be retained," Rutherford said. "But we also don't want to promote them to fourth grade when they're not able to read, because we know they transition from learning to read and write to using reading and writing as tools for learning, and if they don't have those basics skills, then they're going to struggle. Also, the legislation is a way to hold adults accountable (to the students)." |
| William Carey partners with 2 Mississippi community colleges to streamline transfer process | |
| William Carey University is partnering with two Mississippi community colleges to streamline transfer opportunities. The private university in Hattiesburg has reached an agreement with Itawamba and Northeast Mississippi community colleges, aiming to make it easier for graduates of the two-year schools to transition smoothly to William Carey. Under the agreement, the university will offer transfer advising and degree-planning assistance, in addition to scholarships and financial aid. "We at William Carey have tremendous respect for the community college system in Mississippi," William Carey President Dr. Ben Burnett said. "I've served on the board of trustees of a community college, and my son graduated from a community college, so I've seen firsthand the quality, affordability, and commitment shown by our partners in higher education." Itawamba and Northeast Mississippi community colleges will work alongside William Carey to provide flexible course options -- such as online, hybrid, and face-to-face classes -- and will send teams to recruiting and advising events for community college students. |
| Texas GOP leaders order state agencies to cut spending by 3% | |
| Texas' top elected officials on Wednesday instructed state agencies, appellate courts and universities to cut spending by 3% in their budget requests for the next two years "as a starting point for budget deliberations." Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, issued the guidance, framing the move as a way to keep Texas fiscally conservative and create wiggle room to fund priorities such as property tax cuts. K-12 public education funding and the state's new private school voucher program are exempted from the 3% cut. Wednesday's directive comes as some Texas public colleges are already cutting costs amid rising expenses, enrollment declines and uncertainty over federal research grants. State schools have kept undergraduate tuition and fees flat since the 2023-24 school year, limiting one way they have historically offset state funding cuts. A 3% reduction is not unusual in higher education budgeting, but it would force university leaders to decide what to protect, said Ruth Johnson, vice president of consulting at the National Association of College and University Business Officers. |
| These Courses Ran Afoul of Texas A&M's New Race and Gender Restrictions | |
 | In December, the Texas A&M University system adopted a policy restricting teaching on race and gender. Under the new rules, professors cannot advocate "race ideology," "gender ideology," or "topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity" in core courses, restrictions professors have seen as an effective ban on teaching about those topics. Carveouts are available for some upper-level and graduate courses whose instructors can demonstrate a "necessary educational purpose" for teaching those topics. Records obtained by The Chronicle shed light on how the university policed course content under the new policy. Two courses for the fall of 2026 were canceled outright, while several more had to alter their syllabi to comply. Professors teaching those courses told The Chronicle they weren't provided with any rationale for why their "exception requests" were partially or fully denied. They said the widespread confusion that surrounded the process in its first iteration, when courses for the spring semester were reviewed, has persisted. The opaque nature of the reviews -- and their results -- carry especially troubling implications given similar processes underway across the state, they said, pointing to a lawsuit filed last week that accuses the Texas Tech University system of perpetuating an "extraordinary system of censorship." |
| Leaders say studying abroad improved their skills, survey finds | |
| International education shapes leadership in the workplace and supports career development, according to a new report from the American Institute For Foreign Study and the Institute of International Education. Of the 44 leaders surveyed across more than 20 industries, 98% said their experiences studying abroad affected their professional growth, career trajectory and skill development. Meanwhile, 96% said their international studies "widened their mindset and supported the development of cross-cultural communication skills." Respondents also said their time abroad increased their self-awareness, confidence and adaptability as well as their ability to manage across multiple cultural and organizational contexts. It also helped improve their strategic thinking skills, with 78% saying their international studies led them to develop "a global, systems-level perspective." "As technology reshapes the modern workplace, the skills that are hardest to automate -- leadership, communication, cultural intelligence, and adaptability -- are becoming increasingly important," Melanie French, executive director of the AIFS Foundation, said. |
| Homeland Security Limits How Long International Students Can Stay in U.S. | |
 | The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday scrapped a long-standing policy that allowed international students to stay in the U.S. until they finish their program of study. The new rule will limit their stay in the country to just four years unless they receive an extension, as well as restrict students' ability to change majors and institutions once they've arrived. International education leaders and experts have argued that four years is not enough time for a significant number of students to complete their degrees; almost all Ph.D. programs are longer than four years, while the average undergraduate takes more than four years to complete their bachelor's degree. Additionally, students pursuing optional practical training, the work authorization for F-1 students following their graduation, typically stay in the U.S. more than four years. But the government has argued that the old policy known as duration of status allowed students to stay in the U.S. indefinitely without having to interact with immigration officials, leading to overstays and national security concerns. |
| Brand America Is Losing Its Hold on International Students | |
| From Ireland and Germany to Japan, more than half a dozen nations are benefiting from Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Spooked by tighter border controls, a surging number of international students are altering their destinations. There were 1.18 million overseas student arrivals in the US in the year through March 31, about 24% below the pre-pandemic average, according to visa arrivals data for the past decade. While overseas student arrivals since 2021 never fully recovered to the pre-Covid era levels, the latest number has touched a new low. It's about 17% lower than in the two preceding years -- a clear sign that Trump's hardline approach toward higher education has made students wary. In its latest proposal, the Trump administration said it would impose a four-year limit on student visas. By contrast, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Singapore and Hong Kong have been successfully wooing students with lower tuition, flexible tenure of the academic programs and clearer pathways to employment. Hong Kong and Japan are also emerging as academic hot spots for Chinese scholars while France is a major alternative destination for African students. A review of available immigration data also reveals starkly different approaches taken by Chinese and Indian students, who together drove nearly half of pre-pandemic US international enrollments. |
| Universities receive millions in funding from foreign entities on U.S. government watch lists, records show | |
 | Major U.S. universities have received millions of dollars in funding from foreign entities that are on U.S. government watch lists, according to a CBS News review of university funding records submitted to the Department of Education. State Department and Education Department officials say the disclosure forms, which have not been previously reported, show a combined $27.6 million received in roughly the second half of last year by dozens of top American research institutions that originated from entities appearing on at least one federal government watch list. There are 10 cautionary and restricted watch lists overseen by the departments of Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security, Defense and State, which flag companies and organizations that should be subject to extra scrutiny due to their ties to foreign government interests. The two agencies are working together to crack down on academic partnerships with foreign companies and organizations that the Trump administration says could threaten national security. |
| Trump officials pitch new solution to student debt problem | |
| The Trump administration is exploring how to launch a new student loan program -- without the Education Department, an agency the president has promised to dismantle. Administration officials, who have been discussing the idea in small industry groups, are trying to attract the private sector, according to two people who participated in one of the meetings. The plan, they said, involves having the Small Business Administration spearhead the program, even though the agency was passed over as the new home of the nation's student loan portfolio. Experts and former agency officials see two compounding problems: A similar program failed spectacularly not that long ago, and SBA, a small agency that typically works with businesses rather than individuals, has a history of failing to combat fraud and conduct oversight. Many of the details remain unsettled, but the debate underscores how President Donald Trump's effort to shut down the Education Department is pushing issues it traditionally handles to other agencies. It also suggests that the administration sees a need to create new ways for people to borrow for their education after last year's Republican domestic policy law set new limits on how much the federal government can loan, a move that may price out low-income students. |
| Trump Administration Cuts Off Health Care Research Grants Without Warning | |
| Since last fall, researchers studying how health care is delivered to Americans have anxiously awaited their next installment of grant funding. On Wednesday, after months of silence from the government, they learned the funding -- and the rest of their grant dollars -- won't be coming at all. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a small agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that funds research into how patients receive care, sent boilerplate letters to dozens of grant recipients saying their awards would no longer be funded. The letter, which NOTUS reviewed, gave no specific reasons individual grants were being ended. "People were caught totally off guard and are absolutely in a panic," said Aaron Carroll, president of AcademyHealth, a nonpartisan organization that advances evidence-based health policy. The agency terminated at least 44 grants, canceling $63 million in remaining research dollars that recipients were due over the next few years, according to a tally by AcademyHealth. The only explanation given was that the AHRQ is adjusting grant awards "to better prioritize agency resources" toward areas that "best serve the interests of the federal government." Unlike the National Institutes of Health, which bankrolls biomedical research in search of cures, the AHRQ manages a far smaller budget focused on researching the nuts and bolts of how health care in the U.S. actually works. |
SPORTS
| Dillons Gift $1 Million To State Excellence Fund | |
| Longtime supporters Ray and Deborah Dillon have given $1 million to Mississippi State Athletics. The Dillons' generosity serves as the most recent key contribution to help elevate MSU in the current landscape of college athletics. "We're so grateful for Ray and Deborah," Director of Athletics Zac Selmon said. "Their love for Mississippi State is evident, and we can't say, 'Thank you' enough for this selfless gift that will help us keep pushing forward and reaching new heights at State. Ray and Deborah are not only generous supporters of our community, institution and state, they are great friends to me and my family and trusted partners who care deeply for Mississippi State and have been running shoulder to shoulder with us in advancing Mississippi State Athletics forward from day one." Ray is a 1977 MSU graduate with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. Deborah is a 1978 State graduate. She earned her bachelor's degree in medical technology. Mississippi State's fundraising efforts continue as it seeks to support its bold vision for the future. To learn more or support State's initiatives, visit StateExcellenceFund.com and HailState.com/HowardIPF. |
| Valincius, McPherson represent USA at World Collegiate Baseball Championship | |
| Two Mississippi State pitchers spent their week in Taiwan at the World Collegiate Baseball Championship. Rising juniors Ryan McPherson and Tomas Valincius competed with the USA Collegiate National Team in Taiwan July 12-15. The team fell to Japan in extra innings, 6-3, in the gold medal game on Wednesday. McPherson and Valincius started one game a piece. McPherson got the start in the USA's second game of the tournament against Japan. McPherson went 3.1 innings with four hits and one earned run in the 3-2 win. Valincius started the championship game against Japan. Even in the loss, Valincius was elite, pitching four innings with six strikeouts, one hit and no runs allowed. The U.S. team took silver in the inaugural four-team tournament. The teams played three days of round-robin pool play before advancing to the medal rounds. The host, Chinese Taipei, took the bronze in a win over Korea. |
| Swinney says help from Congress is only way to discourage 'blatant' tampering in college football | |
 | It's been six months since Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney publicly called out Ole Miss for engaging in what he called "blatant" tampering to lure away transfer linebacker Luke Ferrelli. He has heard nothing back despite providing an alleged timeline, evidence and receipts to the NCAA. Swinney said Thursday he doesn't regret pointing the finger at Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding and general manager Austin Thomas. And he again pushed for change and accountability on Thursday for what he called "rampant" tampering in college football. "We're probably gonna need some congressional help for that," Swinney said during the Atlantic Coast Conference's preseason football media days. "There has to be some type of order put in place. The tampering is a problem. So there needs to be consequences or you just say to heck with it, don't worry about it, and let's just call it like it is -- the wild, wild West." Swinney suggested fines, suspensions and even firings should be considered to discourage tampering, which has been a frequent topic of concern in multiple sports. |
| NBA commissioner Adam Silver laments that Caitlin Clark has become a 'political football' | |
| NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark has been turned into "a political football in this country," which he called "incredibly unfair" to her. During an appearance at CNBC and Boardroom's Game Plan Summit on Thursday, July 16, Silver sidestepped questions on whether or not he had a hand in the suspension of Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas following an on-court incident with Clark last month. "I'm not going to comment on that, because I don't think it's fair to Caitlin (Clark) and to Cathy Engelbert either," Silver said. "That's not the real issue here. ... It's become political ping-pong with her." According to a report by the Sports Business Journal on Wednesday, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert didn't intend to suspend Thomas for making contact with Clark's throat with her fist, but Silver implored her to assess a Flagrant 2 Foul and suspension. A WNBA spokesperson told USA TODAY that the SBJ report is "absolutely false." Silver was asked about the report the following day. He declined to address the report, but kept the focus on Clark, who he's "come to know ... really well," he said. |
| Youth sports have turned into a five-figure-a-year commitment for many parents | |
| When the FIFA Men's and Women's World Cups come around, they remind viewers that becoming a professional athlete requires years of practice. But unlike in parts of Europe and Latin America, putting a child through a youth sports program in the U.S. is an expensive proposition --- even for parents whose kids harbor no illusions about going pro. And it's getting worse: According to the Aspen Institute's Project Play, the cost of getting kids involved in organized sports rose by almost 50% between 2019 and 2024. Peg Eynon was a multisport athlete when she was younger, playing softball, basketball, rugby, and soccer. Today, she's a single mother raising three high-school-aged sons who play at a nonprofit soccer academy in New York State. She said it's important for her kids to play sports not because of professional dreams or Name, Image, and Likeness deals, but because of the values it imparts to each of them. "One thing I wanted for my kids was consistency, and then I wanted to make sure that they were going to have excellent role models," she explained. "I've seen my kids turn into great students, great friends, [and] leaders on their team." Linda Flanagan wrote a book on the privatization of youth sports called "Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids' Sports --- and Why It Matters." She explained that as public funding declined for athletic programs, a number of other entities, including private equity firms, stepped in to turn a profit. "There's money to be made in youth sports because, in large measure, parents will not skimp on their kids' development, especially athletics," she said. |
| Mississippi ranks No. 1 in producing male pro athletes, study says | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Most Mississippians who read this column regularly know no other state produces more -- or more high-quality -- professional football players per capita than the Magnolia State. Seems like every year a new study comes out that ranks Mississippi either No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation in the number of football players who make NFL rosters. Over the course of the entire history of the NFL, Mississippi ranks No. 1. A new study – this one published by The Sports Geek, covering the last two decades – finds that Mississippi, per capita, has produced the highest number of male professional athletes of any state. Mississippi was No. 1, followed by Ohio and Pennsylvania. Said Ryan Metevier, who conducted much of the research: "At first glance, Mississippi's being a top producer of professional athletes came as a surprise to me, considering it's not home to any professional teams in major leagues, and isn't one of the richer states in the country." Metevier went on: "However, Mississippi ranks about the middle of the pack in number of Division I college football and basketball teams. A passionate culture of high school sports and favorable training weather make up for other shortcomings." Surely, Mississippi's high participation level in football, basketball and baseball also factors in. For instance, Mississippi annually ranks highest among all states in the percentage of high school students who play those three sports. |
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