| Wednesday, June 10, 2026 |
| Art Doing Its Part to address litter | |
 | Pollution and the litter problem in Mississippi is being addressed by a lot of people in a lot of important ways, and some think art has a part to play in the effort. Art Doing Its Part is a statewide art and slogan competition aimed at personalizing the issue for communities by showcasing litter challenges specific to their regions, illustrating how local actions impact local and distant environments. The program is supported by the Mississippi State University Extension Service. "Mississippi and connecting water bodies face significant litter problems, much of which originate from inland areas," said Erin Wallace, MSU Extension associate at the Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi. "Items like bottles, cigarette butts, straws, and fragmented plastics travel through rivers, streams, and stormwater systems to eventually reach coastal waters, affecting human health, local economies, and aquatic life. "Addressing this issue requires a statewide, collaborative approach, involving both inland and coastal communities," she said. The Art Doing Its Part effort is being championed by First Lady of Mississippi Elee Reeves. |
| Photographer Miah Hall captures the people and places of Nettleton with her photo project | |
 | Miah Hall picked up a camera for the first time in junior high. A few years later, she joined the annual staff at Nettleton High School, and her career path was chosen. Now 23, Hall recently graduated from Mississippi State University with a major in photography and a minor in communications and media studies. Her senior project, titled "Nettleton," is a photo essay of her hometown and its residents. The work was displayed at the Old Main Galleries last month on campus. "'Nettleton' is the exploration of the structure of small town life through photography," Hall said. "My images focus on the people who carry invisible and visible responsibilities within their communities, along with the spaces they occupy and move through each day." "Small communities are often reduced to simple notions or overlooked entirely," Hall said. "The people within my town are seen for their roles, but not always for their presence. It's a small town and nothing to turn your head at. But the main point is that there is more to it." And while Hall has already earned her bachelor’s of arts degree, she is not done being a Bulldog. Her next immediate task, graduate school and a master’s degree in communications. |
| MSU's Collins amplifies disabled writers' voices in new anthology | |
 | According to a press release, Mississippi State faculty member Christie Collins' new co-edited anthology features essays by 17 authors and educators living with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and neurodivergence, helping address a longstanding gap in creative writing scholarship. Collins, an English department lecturer, and co-editor Saul Lemerond, an assistant professor of English at Hanover College in Indiana, have compiled "Divergent Writers: Disability, Illness, Neurodivergence, and Ableism in Creative Writing." In the book's foreword, Stephanie Vanderslice, a creative writing professor at the University of Central Arkansas, calls the anthology "a groundbreaking and necessary work, both capacious and critical." Collins earned a bachelor's degree from Mississippi University for Women, master's degree from MSU and doctorate from Cardiff University in Wales. |
| Screwworm detected in the U.S. for the first time in decades as beef prices remain high | |
 | The New World Screwworm, a parasite that feeds on livestock, has been found in the U.S. for the first time since a minor outbreak in 2016 and since widespread cases were eliminated in the 1960's. The U.S. Department of Agriculture intially reported two new domestic cases of screwworm infections in Texas earlier this month, with another Texas case and one infection of a dog in New Mexico identified on Sunday. ...the pests aren't a food safety risk, either, per the USDA and Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson. "The New World screwworm is an invasive pest, not an infectious disease," Gipson said in a press release from MDAC. "This is an animal health issue, not a food safety issue. Our meat supply is safe to eat." But, Mississippi State University agricultural economist Josh Maples says it could impact the already-high costs of beef by further exacerbating supply issues and making it harder to keep livestock. "It's another thing that's going to drive a production cost it's gonna In particular, drive up management time, because you've got to be looking at these cattle all the time," Maples said. "On the demand-side, I really don't expect a huge shock," from screwworm detections said Maples, with demand for beef still high. Instead, it's more likely to make it harder to expand and support already-dwindling herds. |
| Woman charged in second Starkville auto burglary case in just over a month | |
| A Maben woman has been arrested for a second time in just over a month on auto burglary charges in Starkville, according to the Starkville Police Department. Police said 33-year-old Jakashea Cousins was arrested Sunday following an incident at the Starkville Sportsplex at 405 Lynn Lane. Investigators noted this is the second auto burglary arrest for Cousins in Starkville in a little more than a month. She was previously arrested on May 5 in connection with a May 4 auto burglary at Cornerstone Park on Batters Boulevard. According to police, in both Starkville incidents, Cousins allegedly brought a young child to the parks to provide a reason for being in the area before breaking into vehicles. Authorities also said Cousins faces multiple auto burglary charges in Webster County tied to incidents reported in February 2026. The Starkville Police Department thanked a citizen who reported suspicious activity in the most recent case, saying the tip helped lead to the arrest. |
| Cause of Neshoba County Fair cabin fire determined | |
| An unattended stove is believed to be the cause of a fire that tore through a cabin on Sunset Strip over the weekend at the Neshoba County Fairgrounds, the authorities said. Though the incident remains under investigation, officials believe the cabin fire reported on Sunday evening started in the kitchen of Cabin 268, according to Neshoba County Sheriff Eric Clark. "Right now it looks like somebody left something on the stove," Clark said, about the fire just 11 days before Mississippi's Giant Houseparty gets underway. The cabin belongs to Leigh Lucas Gilliland, according to the Official Fair Map. The initial report came in at about 6:45 p.m., Clark said. Firefighters had to return later that night after the rubble rekindled. After an initial assessment of the cabin, Clark said Cabin 268 probably won't be open this Fair. The cabin is "structurally sound," but will need a serious remodel, he said. |
| 'When Amazon comes to town.' Clinton and company host ribbon cutting for new data center | |
| Local leaders from Hinds County and Clinton on Tuesday celebrated Amazon's planned $1-billion data center in the former Delphi plant. Clinton Mayor Will Purdie called it "a truly historic moment in the life of our city." The project is expected to create 100 new jobs in Hinds County, in addition to 1,500 construction workers at its peak. In addition Clinton leaders have said the project is expected to bring in $5 million for the city and school district in its first year. The former auto parts plant once employed almost 300 people but has sat mostly empty since 2009, except for a short stint as a Milwaukee Tool plant. Multiple officials and representatives from Entergy and Amazon in a Tuesday ceremony highlighted the economic value of transforming a long vacant building. There are at least seven data center projects confirmed in Mississippi, including four by Amazon, and at least three more being considered. Amazon's total investment in the state is expected to be around $25 billion. In 2024, the Legislature passed an incentive package and waived many regulations to bring the company to the state. |
| Inflation tops 4% for the first time in 3 years on spike in gasoline prices | |
 | Soaring gasoline prices, triggered by the U.S. war with Iran, have pushed inflation to its highest level in more than three years. A report from the Labor Department on Wednesday showed consumer prices in May were up 4.2% from a year ago. That's the biggest annual increase since April of 2023. By contrast, the Labor Department says average wages have risen only 3.4% over the last year, so workers' real spending power has declined. Prices rose 0.5% between April and May, with higher energy costs accounting for more than 60% of that monthly increase. Gas prices have jumped by well over a dollar a gallon since the war began, strangling shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz -- a critical pathway for much of the world's oil supply. Higher fuel costs also pushed up airfares in May. Airline tickets cost about 27% more than they did a year ago. Stubborn inflation makes it less likely the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates anytime soon, especially since the U.S. job market appears to be stabilizing. Employers added 172,000 jobs last month. |
| Judge Punishes 4 Lawyers After Catching Both Sides Using A.I. in Lawsuit | |
 | A federal judge in Mississippi has punished all four lawyers on opposing sides in a civil trial and canceled the proceedings after some of them, relying on artificial intelligence, cited fake legal cases in court filings. Two of the lawyers have been barred for two years from appearing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi for their conduct, while all four were removed from the case and fined. The case stemmed from a 2023 breach of contract lawsuit over legal fees that Tom Withers III, a Louisiana lawyer, claimed he was never paid by the city of Aberdeen, Miss., connected to a solar power development project. Mr. Withers was not one of the lawyers who was disciplined, but both attorneys who were representing him in the case, Kathleen M. Wilson and Shauncey Hunter Ridgeway, were punished, as well as two lawyers for the city, Kathryn Y. Williams and Mark McClinton. In an order filed on Monday, Sharion Aycock, a senior U.S. District Court judge, wrote that the four lawyers had violated Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure when they certified that the information in their filings was factual. "This case presents the court with an unusual scenario --- attorneys for both litigants engaged in similar sanctionable conduct," Judge Aycock wrote. The case is emblematic of the conundrum that many institutions are facing over the use of artificial intelligence for both research and written materials, including in the judicial system, the business world and academia. |
| Trustees: Social Security, Medicare outlook slightly worse | |
 | The financial health of Social Security and Medicare has worsened over the past year, with the programs' trust funds expected to run dry three months sooner than anticipated, according to reports issued Tuesday by the programs' trustees. Without any changes, the main Social Security trust fund would be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032, one quarter earlier than projected last year, the Social Security trustees said in their report. Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund would be depleted in the second quarter of 2033, which is likewise three months earlier than projected last year, the Medicare report said. Under the latest projections from the Social Security trustees, Social Security retirement benefits will face a 22 percent cut six years from now, while Medicare hospital insurance benefits, which cover inpatient hospital care, will be cut by 11 percent in seven years. By law, those cuts will take place unless Congress restructures the programs through higher taxes, benefit cuts, a combination of both, or borrows more money to sustain the programs. In their annual report issued Tuesday, the trustees attributed the worsening financial picture to a variety of factors including fewer projected births and lower immigration, tax cuts and higher health care costs. |
| Trump Warns of Ramping Up Attacks on Iran After Exchange of Strikes | |
 | President Trump said he was willing to escalate attacks against Iran after a Shahed drone fired by Tehran slammed into the canopy of a U.S. Apache helicopter, prompting several waves of American strikes in retaliation for the downing of the aircraft. In remarks on social media and to Fox News on Wednesday, Trump said Iran still has the chance to negotiate a lasting peace deal, but that the regime has been dragging its feet. He told Fox News he was getting close to ordering new strikes on Iranian power plants and bridges, targets that have so far been avoided during skirmishes that have threatened a fragile ceasefire agreed upon on April 8. "Iran is all talk and no action," Trump wrote on social media Wednesday. "They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!" The remarks came after days of heightened hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, with both sides carrying out limited attacks while trying to keep their military actions measured. Diplomatic talks to end the war have dragged on for weeks despite repeated comments by Trump that a deal is close. With energy prices rising and inflation hitting a three-year high, the president is under pressure to strike a deal that winds down the war and reopens the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world's oil typically flows. |
| Bernie Sanders' candidates just keep winning | |
 | Bernie Sanders and his progressive allies are on a hot streak. The Vermont senator's endorsed candidates cleaned house on Tuesday, a coast-to-coast show of force headlined by a resounding win for his embattled Senate pick in Maine, Graham Platner, in spite of days of turmoil that had thrown his candidacy into question. It wasn't just Platner. Hours before his victory was called, Sanders-backed Randy Villegas advanced to a runoff ahead of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's endorsed candidate, as he fights to face Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) in a swingy Central Valley seat. Other Sanders-backed victors for House seats in recent weeks include Adam Hamawy and Analilia Mejia in New Jersey, Sam Forstag in Montana, Brian Poindexter in Ohio and Bob Brooks in a key Pennsylvania swing district. Platner heads into the general election against GOP Sen. Susan Collins following a wide margin of victory over Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who shelved her struggling campaign before Election Day, and an also-ran opponent. That may be enough to quiet at least some of the Democrats who had been angling for him to step aside. Sanders' picks aren't the only progressives riding the wave. Tuesday's results built on momentum that had been growing this cycle, as progressive candidates have notched wins across several states. |
| Nancy Mace's thrashing in South Carolina governor's race caps a rough downfall | |
 | Rep. Nancy Mace's trouncing in Tuesday's South Carolina gubernatorial primary dealt a blunt defeat to a once rising GOP star, a politician who had basked in national attention during her dramatic political transformation. Mace had real political talent and promise, but her downfall and isolation followed years of brazen political opportunism, a hunger for media attention at any cost, rejecting advisers' counsel and turning on many allies, more than a dozen former aides, colleagues and supporters in both South Carolina and Washington said in interviews. She finished fifth in the contest, according to unofficial returns, solidly losing even her own home county and district. Mace arrived in Congress after flipping a Charleston-area district in 2020 and built a reputation as a moderate who appealed to swing voters. She voted to codify same-sex marriage rights, called herself "pro transgender rights" and urged her party to "meet in the middle" with Democrats on abortion. By last year, Mace had begun repeatedly mocking transgender people as "trannies" and disparaged gay relationships on social media. In recent days, Mace suggested a Republican opponent in the governor's race came from "a slum in India." Her relationship with President Donald Trump was similarly mercurial. |
| Mississippi higher education leaders talk enrollment cliff, consolidation | |
| There has been much conversation in higher education in recent years focused on the predicted "enrollment cliff," an anticipated decline in college enrollment beginning in 2025. Over the last decade, Mississippi has seen 63,000 fewer students enroll in public schools, according to data from the Mississippi Department of Education. That is often attributed, at least in part, to a decline in birth rates. Education leaders say fewer births leads to less public school enrollment and subsequently less high school graduates who will consider a higher education. However, Mississippi's community colleges and universities are not currently experiencing the effects of the predicted enrollment cliff. Mississippi Community College Board Executive Director Kell Smith reports overall enrollment has been up over the past two years at the community college level despite the predicted enrollment cliff. Just like the two-year colleges, enrollment is gaining ground within a majority of Mississippi's eight public universities. Only Alcorn State University saw an enrollment decline (3.2%) during the fall 2025 semester compared to the previous year, with Mississippi's institutions of higher learning seeing an overall 2.7% increase in enrollment. IHL Director of Communications John Sewell said the agency is attempting to negate the predicted enrollment cliff through strengthened marketing and recruitment of out-of-state students. In addition, there is a focus on developing additional online courses. |
| USM partners in national effort to grow, strengthen America's seafood supply | |
| The University of Southern Mississippi announced Tuesday that it is partnering in a new national effort to grow and strengthen America's seafood supply through aquaculture research as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Cooperative Institute Fostering Aquaculture Research and Markets (CIFARM), led by the University of New Hampshire (UNH). With approximately $13.5 million in initial funding, CIFARM will support research and partnerships that will make it safer, more environmentally friendly and cost-effective to produce seafood domestically. "USM is honored to be part of this extraordinary group of people and institutions, and we thank NOAA for its trust in us to bring return on its investment," said Reginald B. Blaylock, Ph.D., research professor and director of the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center at Southern Miss. "We are committed to harnessing the research in government, colleges and universities, innovation in industry, and the culture and resilience of coastal communities to ensure a safe, sustainable and abundant supply of seafood for American families." |
| Greenwood Cemetery Film Series Encourages Belhaven Students to Produce Poetic Cinema | |
| Alex Johnson grabbed the neck of his bass guitar, placed the strap over his head and walked toward his microphone. His fingers hugged the strings as he played a few riffs to warm up while his father Craig set up the Pro Tools program on the computer. Since February, Alex had been working on a short documentary about beekeeping as part of a filmmaking course at Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi, centered on the nearby Greenwood Cemetery. With the filming wrapped, the junior film major decided to add music to his project, with his dad's help. Craig nodded to Alex to silently signal that he had begun recording, and Alex's fingers danced as played the baseline that had been stirring inside his head. After a few minutes, however, he paused until an idea struck him. What if we add a piano?" Alex asked his father, who knew how to play. ... The finished product culminated into "David Buck and His Bees," a six-minute short film part of Greenwood Cemetery's campaign to revamp its website and overall online presence. The cemetery approached Belhaven's film program with an opportunity to create digital, short-form content around the space using funds the Mississippi Humanities Council gave them. |
| Teens' reading and math scores have stagnated, US test results show | |
 | Younger students have regained ground academically after the pandemic's disruptions while older students' test scores continue to stagnate, according to the latest testing data released Wednesday by the federal government. Nine-year-olds rebounded to pre-pandemic reading scores and saw some recovery in math, according to data from a test taken regularly in the United States since the 1970s. The same recovery has not emerged for 13-year-olds, whose average scores in math and reading remain below pre-pandemic averages. In fact, the latest reading scores, from teenagers who took the test in 2024, are essentially the same level as they were when the test started in 1971. Since the pandemic, schools and state policymakers have focused on overhauling instruction for elementary students, especially in implementing the "science of reading," which teaches kids to read by understanding how letters form sounds. But recent test scores show educators should also focus more intensely on adolescent learners and turning around academic outcomes in middle school, said Lesley Muldoon, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board. Indeed, the 13-year-olds who took the national test experienced the pandemic's disruption during formative elementary years of schooling. In a few years, they will have graduated -- and they may still be behind. |
| Samford University graduate elected Southern Baptist president | |
 | The Rev. Willy Rice, a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, was elected Tuesday as the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Rice has been senior pastor of the 10,000-member multi-site Calvary Church in Clearwater, Fla., since 2004. Rice received 5,217 votes, or 57.56 percent, compared with 3,821 votes, or 42.16 percent, for the Rev. Josh Powell, lead pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C. Rice graduated with a bachelor's degree from Samford in 1985, and also earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1990 and Doctor of Ministry degree in 1995 from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Rice served as pastor of two churches in Alabama before he became a megachurch pastor in Florida. Also on Tuesday, as expected, another Samford University graduate, the Rev. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, proposed a constitutional amendment to the SBC Convention to toughen rules against women pastors. Mohler's proposal would clarify that no participating Southern Baptist church can allow women to serve as senior pastors or even have the word "pastor" in their staff title, or they will be disfellowshipped. |
| LSU's plan to demolish library could restore original campus layout | |
| Standing at the north end of the Quad, the LSU Library is impossible to miss. In fact, it was designed to be that way when built nearly 30 years after the completion of the original campus. Now big changes are coming -- changes that will lead to the demolition of the library building and restoration of the Quad to its original cruciform shape. "The building that I'm sitting in right now, it cannot be preserved long term," Stanley Wilder, dean of libraries, said, "because it's crumbling in ways that can't be fixed." In the book "Under Stately Oaks: A Pictorial History of LSU," Thomas F. Ruffin wrote that the land where LSU's Baton Rouge campus sits was bought in 1918 from the Gartness Plantation. The university couldn't purchase the land on its own, so a group of Baton Rouge businessmen fronted the cost, Ruffin wrote. The university originally contracted the Olmsted Brothers to draw up the plan for the campus. The group was known for designing Audubon Park in New Orleans and the campuses of Stanford and Cornell universities. Rick Olmsted Jr. designed a plan modeled after the University of Virginia campus. It included two large quadrangles designed around the land's natural features, John Michael Desmond wrote in "The Architecture of LSU." Olmsted's design never came to fruition, as officials decided to move on due to cost, Desmond wrote. |
| U. of Florida Plays Punching Bag -- Again | |
 | The University of Florida's Board of Trustees is expected on Wednesday to appoint Stuart R. Bell as UF's next president, moving the former University of Alabama leader toward a state-level confirmation process that has become consumed of late by political fights over diversity, equity, and inclusion. Bell's nomination for the UF presidency amounts to a do-over for the board. About a year ago, the university's trustees selected Santa J. Ono to lead the institution, only to see the former University of Michigan president pilloried over his past embrace of DEI. He was voted down last June by the state Board of Governors after a grueling and rancorous public interview. A university known for swagger has been walking with a limp ever since. Given recent history, the stakes for Bell's confirmation feel enormously high. In a telling sign of the times, the global reputation of a top-ranked public research university appears to hinge on whether a longtime administrator of limited national notoriety can convince the state's political establishment that he is sufficiently hostile toward DEI and satisfactorily contrite about his past support of diversity programs. If Bell ends up with this big job, it will be as much about what he says he is not as what he says he is. |
| U. of Florida's PATHS program expands pipeline for neurodivergent talent | |
 | In a collaboration linking academia, tech firms, autism advocates and a significantly underemployed population, the University of Florida is establishing a new pipeline of semiconductor workers perfect for the job. Preparing for its second class, the program educates and prepares autistic students -- people considered neurodivergent -- using virtual reality and other custom tools for careers in semiconductor manufacturing. In doing so, the collaboration is working to change workplace culture and break down barriers to help people on the spectrum thrive in the talent-hungry tech sector. The UF certificate program is dubbed PATHS, which stands for Preparing the Autistic Population Toward Hardware Security. It is led by UF's Digital Worlds Institute, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, or ECE, UF's Center for Autism and Related Disabilities and UF's College of Education, Educational Technology program. Up to 85% of neurodivergent adults are unemployed or underemployed, according to the Autism Society of America. However, neurodivergent people often make exceptional workers. |
| U. of Texas leads 10-state effort to fill 29,000 semiconductor jobs | |
| The University of Texas is leading a semiconductor project across 10 states that will prepare students to fill 29,000 new jobs by 2030, rising to meet the significant expansion of a high-demand industry. The project -- the National Network for Microelectronics Education South -- seeks to "build a stronger, more connected semiconductor workforce" by fixing a common disconnect between students, employers and colleges. Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Commerce, UT's Texas Institute for Electronics, or TIE, is charged with leading a coordinated strategy among southern states to ensure new jobs don't go unfilled -- and that the country can produce the chips it needs. "We're not worrying about whether or not those jobs will exist, they're here, but the real question is, are we going to be able to fill them," said Alyssa Reinhart, director of workforce development with TIE. The first phase of the UT-led project will launch semiconductor training programs, enroll more students, establish partnerships in the K-12 landscape and place trainees into jobs. |
| Reaching Young Black Men By Creating a Sense of Belonging | |
 | When Cameron Collins was in high school, "college wasn't exactly my first plan," he said. Collins was raised by a single mom and his grandmother in Prince George's County, Maryland. His father didn't graduate college and the other men in his life worked in the trades. "That was what I wanted to do," he said. "I didn't really have a male role model in my life -- outside of like my coach from sports -- who graduated college." Collins encountered a challenge many Black men face as they consider their lives after high school: whether or not to pursue a college degree. A majority of Black men forgo postsecondary education, for a variety of reasons -- including the lack of role models or peers in higher education. "Representation matters," said Derrick Brooms, inaugural executive director of the Black Men's Research Institute at Morehouse College, where he studies Black men's experiences in college. "Those representations are living manifestations of possibilities." Despite the political backlash, some colleges are investing in new and proven interventions for Black men that build pipelines to college, establish a sense of belonging and provide students with mentorship and peer support. |
| 'All or Nothing' Approach to AI 'Risks Shutting Down Innovation' | |
| Banning the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education risks shutting down conversations about how to innovate in pedagogy, according to a learning expert at Google Deepmind. Miriam Schneider, director of learning initiatives in the technology firm's main AI research division, said that AI does not have to "change pedagogy" but instead can "reinforce it." As many universities grapple with how best to approach the use of AI in assessments and learning, the "confrontation" between "what should remain uniquely human" and what can be done by AI "can have a meaningful role to play," she told Times Higher Education. "It basically gives us this opportunity for reflective pause and to be able to grapple with some of those bigger questions that we mostly just sort of assumed," she said. "I think it will accelerate conversations around what the design of school systems will look like to best embrace more holistic learning for students, opposed to just knowledge transfer," said Schneider, who has worked across Google for over 20 years. She moved to Deepmind, the company's main AI research laboratory that funds various scholarships and funding for university research, last September. "I think those are important conversations to have," she said. "I think the risk is we don't end up having them if we make it all or nothing." |
| Legislature should heed Rep. Price Wallace's effort to revive the ballot initiative process - Magnolia Tribune | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: Price was right. When Rep. Price Wallace, the Republican state legislator representing the citizens of House District 77 in Rankin and Simpson counties, died last week, one of the primary plaudits in his obituary was his leadership in attempting to restore ballot initiative rights to Mississippi voters. Over the last five years, Wallace was dogged in his determination to restore those rights. He believed that Mississippi voters should have the right to bypass the Legislature and put their own stamp on changing state laws when and if the Legislature fails to be responsive. The fight for lawmaking power has ebbed and flowed through the Legislature and the state courts for over a century. |
SPORTS
| Baseball: Parker Named Perfect Game's Freshman Of The Year | |
| Perfect Game picked Mississippi State's Jacob Parker as its National Freshman of the Year on Tuesday. Parker clubbed a freshman record 18 home runs this year to go along with a .339 batting average and 62 RBIs. He is the fourth Diamond Dawg to be named National Freshman of the Year and first since Christian MacLeod in 2020. The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder from Purvis is the first rookie to receive the Freshman of the Year honor from Perfect Game since J.T. Ginn in 2019. Parker appeared in 53 games and made 44 starts this spring. Parker finished second on the Diamond Dawgs in homers and RBIs as well as third in batting average and stolen bases (seven). He also added 10 doubles and one triple to his totals. In addition to his Perfect Game honor, Parker was also tabbed as a first team Freshman All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), first team All-Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), Freshman All-SEC, the Most Outstanding Player of the Starkville Regional and also selected as the SEC Freshman of the Week on March 23. |
| Six Bulldogs Selected American Baseball Coaches Association All-Region | |
| Six members of Mississippi State's were selected to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) South All-Region teams on Tuesday. Third baseman Ace Reese, outfielder Jacob Parker, designated hitter Noah Sullivan and pitcher Tomas Valincius were each tabbed to the first team while first baseman Reed Stallman and second baseman Gehrig Frei were named to the second team. It is the second consecutive season that Reese and Sullivan were picked ABCA All-South Region. Since 1949, a total of 79 Bulldogs have been selected ABCA All-Region a total of 99 times. Reese became the third player in program history to hit 20-plus home runs in back-to-back seasons, joining Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro. The junior from Canton, Texas was the only player on the team to start all 62 games this spring batting .336 with 23 doubles, 24 homers and 74 RBIs. He currently leads the Southeastern Conference in doubles with that total also tied for the eighth-most in a single season in MSU history. |
| Mississippi State's Jacob Parker wins National Freshman of the Year award from Perfect Game | |
| While year one of the Brian O'Connor era in Starkville ended short of advancing to the College World Series, one of the Mississippi State skipper's best young players has been named National Freshman of the Year by Perfect Game. Jacob Parker, a Purvis native who turned down an early start in MLB to play for O'Connor, became the fourth Bulldog and first since Christian MacLeod in 2020 to earn a National Freshman of the Year award. Before that, J.T. Ginn won the Perfect Game honor in 2019. Parker wrapped up his freshman campaign with three hits -- two of which were home runs -- and four RBI in Mississippi State's two-game super regional against Georgia last weekend. He finished the season with a .339 clip from the plate with 18 home runs and 62 RBI. Parker could pull in another honor this week when Baseball America announces its Freshman of the Year recipient on Thursday. He is one of five finalists, alongside Texas pitcher Sam Cozart, North Carolina pitcher Caden Glauber, Texas outfielder Anthony Pack Jr., and Stanford outfielder Teddy Tokheim. The only other Bulldog to ever win the award is Rafael Palmeiro, who did it in 1983 before later going on to play 20 seasons in the MLB. |
| Track & Field: Bulldogs Set For NCAA Outdoor Championships | |
| Mississippi State track and field will conclude the 2026 season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, hosted by Oregon, beginning on Wednesday. There will be 13 men and three women donning maroon and white in TrackTown USA later this week. Competition will begin for the men on Wednesday, with finalists advancing to Friday. The women will compete on alternating days, Thursday and Saturday. Four Bulldogs are making their second consecutive trip to the show in Sam Navarro, Tuomas Narhi, Nelly Jemeli and Marie Rougetet. Navarro earned First Team All-American honors in the 800m last year, with the latter three earning an honorable mention. Representing the women's team, Manie Mevo, alongside Jemeli and Rougetet, is competing. Mevo will make her NCAA Championships debut in the triple jump, with Jemeli and Rougetet competing in the 3000m steeplechase and hammer throw, respectively. The men will have two athletes in the 800m, five throwers, one athlete in two jumping events and two relays competing in Eugene. The meet will be available to stream on ESPN2, with individual field events available on ESPN+. |
| College sports is suddenly facing a major question that hinges on gambling, the 'unpardonable sin' | |
| Those anxious to tease out worst-case scenarios that could come from gambling's growing stranglehold on sports couldn't have found a better place for one of those scenarios to land -- in the middle of college football, a sport that for decades has proven uniquely unable to deal with its most-pressing problems. One bit of good news from Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby's initial victory in court this week is it produced something everyone in college sports seems to agree on: College players gambling on college sports, especially when they involve their own teams is, as Florida athletic director Scott Strickin called it, "the unpardonable sin." How to rectify this is the puzzle that will have to be put together over weeks, months or years. If the process is anything like the rest of what this industry touches, it won't be easy. The most straightforward solution would involve a Texas appeals court (all four judges are Texas Tech alums if you're wondering) overturning a surprise injunction issued by a judge (who got the case after another judge, a Texas Tech alum, recused himself) that allows Sorsby to play the upcoming season for the Red Raiders while the case plays out. If and until that day comes, there will be fingerpointing, lecturing and posturing, all of which has flowed freely in the wake of the Sorsby decision. |
| NCAA's Charlie Baker on Brendan Sorsby's court ruling: A 'new low' | |
| NCAA president Charlie Baker called a judge's decision to allow Brendan Sorsby to play this season for Texas Tech a "new low," after the quarterback had previously been ruled permanently ineligible for betting on his own team's games while at Indiana. Baker appeared Tuesday at an athletic administrators convention. He met privately with FBS athletic directors before doing a Q&A in a large ballroom, where he was asked about a Texas judge granting Sorsby's request for a preliminary injunction on Monday. The judge said Sorsby, who committed dozens of violations of NCAA gambling rules during his time at Indiana and Cincinnati, should miss only the first two games of the season while his lawsuit against the NCAA proceeds. "I spent eight years as governor of Massachusetts, and three years and change in this job. This was pretty much a new low, and I'll leave it at that," Baker said. "We're appealing already, and we'll pursue every legal avenue that's available to us. I mean, this is a pretty fundamental issue, and I think the facts can speak for themselves." Baker also noted that the Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan Senate bill that would provide the NCAA and conferences antitrust protections to allow them to enforce rules, would have prevented the Sorsby ruling in Texas. |
| Big 12 ADs hold call to air out grievances over Sorsby ruling | |
| The reverberations from a judge's decision to allow Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby to play in the wake of his sports gambling admissions continued to ripple through college sports Tuesday. The Big 12 athletic directors held a spirited call around midday with commissioner Brett Yormark. The call underscored that the league's athletic directors -- except Tech's Kirby Hocutt -- are united around the notion that Sorsby should not be eligible for next season. The conversation came in the wake of a hailstorm of reaction from league executives, who utilized unusual on-the-record candor criticizing Judge Ken Curry's decision to grant Sorsby a temporary injunction that is expected to protect his eligibility for the 2026 season. The timeline of legal proceedings makes it unlikely the NCAA's appeal will matter, as Sorsby exhausts his eligibility after the season. The tenor of Tuesday's call being strongly against Texas Tech and Hocutt was an expected result, considering athletic directors in the league have said they are "disgusted," "disheartened" and "sad" over the judge's decision. But the question remains whether the rhetoric will yield any results. |
| Don't Bet on Congress to Solve College Sports' Labor Problem | |
| The newest legal crisis in college sports is also the latest sign of the complex relationship between college athletes and their schools, conferences and the NCAA in the increasingly commercialized world of college sports. Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who reportedly received a $5 million deal to join the Red Raiders as a transfer from Cincinnati in January, won a temporary injunction in a Texas court on Monday to play despite admitting to betting on his own team and despite the NCAA ruling him ineligible. The ruling has sparked outrage. It's possible Sorsby's case is an anomaly. After all, it involves an athlete who admits to betting on his team, a highly unusual admission and one that hasn't been at issue in previous eligibility lawsuits against the NCAA. Still, one theme being raised amid the Sorsby chaos is that this type of situation would never occur in professional sports. |
| The World Cup Comes to Campus | |
| When Bobby Muuss, head coach of the Wake Forest men's soccer team, drove to work Monday morning, he passed by Campus Gas, a historic gas-station-turned-bar-and-grill just off campus. Business was booming and a line wrapped around the building, but it wasn't a new menu item or the award-winning cider that drew crowds: It was merchandise for the German men's soccer team. Over the course of the next month, the German team will practice at the university's soccer stadium, train in its adjacent training facilities; and stay overnight at the nearby Graylyn Estate -- a university-owned luxury hotel -- as they prepare to compete in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to a Wake Forest news release. Meanwhile, more than 100 correspondents from German media outlets will work from the university's business school and a nearby dining hall. Wake Forest's Demon Deacons and residents of the surrounding Winston Salem community in North Carolina aren't the only ones serving as hosts this summer. From now until July 19, at least 11 other colleges across the country are also hosting World Cup teams. Games begin Thursday. |
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