| Wednesday, September 9, 2026 |
| MSU Extension dietitian joins diabetes prevention network | |
 | A Mississippi State University Extension Service instructor has joined a statewide network dedicated to helping prevent diabetes and improving the health of Mississippians. Qula Madkin, MSU Extension registered dietitian nutritionist, recently accepted an invitation to join the Diabetes Prevention and Management Network, which focuses on educating people about strategies that can help prevent type 2 diabetes. "I am excited about this opportunity because the network aligns closely with the diabetes prevention, nutrition education and chronic disease work we are doing in Extension," said Madkin, who is also a certified diabetes care and education specialist. "Participating in the network will provide valuable opportunities to connect with other professionals, learn about emerging strategies and resources and identify potential collaborations that could strengthen our programming," she said. |
| IHL conference aims to overcome challenges, foster growth in Mississippi | |
 | Research conducted across the state on the long-term challenges impacting Mississippi will be presented as part of the 11th annual Advancing Mississippi Conference presented by the University Research Center (URC), a division of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. Planners said the goal of the conference is to uncover productive ways to overcome challenges and foster growth in Mississippi, while creating better economic conditions for all Mississippians. The conference is set for September 25 at 9 a.m. It is being held at the Mississippi Children's Museum. Dr. William M. Rodgers II, vice president of community development research at Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, will be this year's keynote speaker during the conference luncheon. During the luncheon, Rodgers is expected to speak about Mississippi's young adult population, particularly those not enrolled in a higher education program and without employment. The conference is geared toward higher education faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and any researcher who does not have university affiliation. |
| Oktibbeha expects $4.7 million more from property taxes next year | |
| The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors plan to generate almost an additional $4.7 million from property tax next fiscal year. The board has not yet publicly discussed or shared the county's proposed budget for FY 2027, which begins Oct. 1. Neither board president Marvell Howard, who represents District 3, nor County Administrator Wayne Carpenter would disclose budget details to The Dispatch on Tuesday, but the county has publicly advertised its proposed tax rate and revenue projections. Carpenter said the proposed budget will be released prior to the board's tax and budget public hearing at 8 a.m. Friday in the chancery courthouse. "Each year, when we're doing the preparing of the budget, we have budget requests that we need to get funded," Howard told The Dispatch. "... I don't think the board has actually (sat) down and decided (yet). We sort of leave that up to our comptroller and our county administrator to give us some direction on what has been requested." Howard said the board plans to conduct a full evaluation of the recommended budget during the public hearing. |
| Starkville man killed in crash over holiday weekend | |
 | A Starkville man was one of two people killed on state highways during the Labor Day weekend, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol. During the four-day enforcement period, the Mississippi Highway Patrol investigated 136 crashes resulting in 44 injuries, with two fatal crashes, one in Winston County and one in Hancock County resulting in one death in each crash, according to Lt. Kervin K. Stewart. On Saturday, Sept. 5, around 5 p.m., troopers responded to a single-vehicle fatal crash on Highway 15 in Winston County. A 2007 Toyota Camry, driven by Brandon Taylor, 29, of Starkville, was traveling south when the vehicle left the roadway and collided with a tree. Taylor received fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. |
| Camp Shelby designated 'permissive test range' for military tech | |
 | Tuesday, state and Camp Shelby leaders gathered at the base to reveal exciting news. Camp Shelby was designated a permissive test range. Camp Shelby has served as a training ground for American soldiers for more than a century. The base is now also positioned to help develop battlefield tools. Maj. Gen. Bobby Ginn, the adjutant general for the Mississippi National Guard, pointed to the base's history. "No doubt, Camp Shelby was chosen for this role because of what it's done in its history since 1917," Ginn said. Gov. Tate Reeves said the designation benefits private companies working with the base. "It allows for private sector entities to partner with Camp Shelby to come in and use the test range so that we can get their products to market faster," Reeves said. Sen. Roger Wicker said the base's land and the state's leadership made it a natural choice for the designation. The goal is speed. As technology changes, the Army wants new systems tested in realistic conditions before they are needed on the battlefield. |
| Oyster season to open Oct. 1 after strong reef survey results | |
 | Fishermen filled the Pass Christian Police Department for a meeting with the Department of Marine Resources ahead of the opening of oyster season. It was the third oyster season since the Bonnet Carré Spillway opened in 2019. MDMR Shellfish Bureau Director Jason Rider presented the latest survey information. "Overall health of the reefs is encouraging. We're seeing growth and recruitment across all reefs -- most of the reefs -- and we are seeing some areas that had limited harvest last season that we hope to have more harvest from this season, but overall it is encouraging. Last year was our highest harvest since 2013, and this year we hope to continue with that success," Rider said. DMR Director Joe Spraggins suggested keeping harvest limits the same as last year and opening the season on Oct. 1. Both suggestions received overwhelming support from fishermen. James Miller said the timing benefits the market. "It's great we're going to beat the rainfall a little bit. We'll get oysters into the market before other seasons open in Texas and South Carolina. It'll do good for oysters on the market, and we need some good three and four-inch harvestable oysters, and they out there. We just need to go get them," Miller said. |
| Madison County gives green light for conference center, hotel project to move forward | |
| Madison County has cleared the way for a conference center and adjoining hotel. County officials gave the conference center the final nod of approval on Tuesday. The venue will be built near Topgolf in Ridgeland and within the Prado Vista development district. Officials said the facility will be 50,000 square feet and designed to accommodate up to 1,800 attendees. It is anticipated to host major conferences, corporate meetings, school banquets, trade shows, and regional events. The conference center will be paired with a 250-room Dolce by Wyndham hotel, the first of its kind in Mississippi. "This conference center changes the landscape of Madison County," Madison County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Joseph Deason said. "It's not just a building; it's a recruitment tool that helps us compete for corporate relocations, conventions, and investment we simply couldn't pursue before. This is exactly the kind of infrastructure that sets Madison County apart." No timeline has been presented for when the conference center and hotel are expected to come to fruition. |
| States That Gave Data Centers Billions in Tax Breaks Are Now Ripping Up the Deals | |
 | Over a decade ago, Ohio lawmakers exempted tech companies from sales taxes on computer servers and other equipment needed for data centers, betting that changes worth millions of dollars would lure much-needed investment to the state. It worked, turning Ohio into one of the leading destinations for data centers. But then the artificial-intelligence boom supersized the tax exemption, pushing it to more than $1.5 billion last year, more than 10 times the original state estimate. Voter outrage after news outlet Signal Ohio reported the scale of the provision prompted Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to pause new applications for the sales-tax exemption in May. Now, some state lawmakers, including Democratic Rep. Tristan Rader, want to repeal the sales-tax exemption and renegotiate past deals with companies such as Amazon.com, Meta Platforms and Alphabet's Google that secured exemptions for decades by signing contracts with the state. In several states, the exemptions for tech giants have exceeded $1 billion annually. "They seem to have more money than God and they're able to build without the need for these types of incentives," said Rader. A similar dynamic is playing out across the country, as legislators or governors in more than 10 states, including Illinois, New Jersey and Washington, have slammed the brakes on the tax breaks. Dozens of other states including Texas have proposed similar bills or steps, potentially costing the industry billions in tax benefits. |
| Sen. Daniel Sparks Promises to Investigate Contracts if Elected Mississippi State Auditor | |
| Mississippi Sen. Daniel Sparks, D-Belmont, recalls his first memories of politics as an 8-year-old watching then-President Ronald Reagan speak about missiles and "good versus evil" using charts and graphs on television in the 1980s. "It was, you know, very plain even for an 8- to 10-year-old that watched that in awe," the senator said at a Mississippi State University Stennis Institute press forum at Hal and Mal's in Jackson, Mississippi, on Aug. 31. "But it was also the communication capabilities that he had. Whether you agree with him on policy or not, you knew where he stood, and you enjoyed the fact that he would engage and he would communicate. And a lot of that may have come out of his background. So, he came out of acting, I came out of preaching, but yet we still stand up here and talk quite a bit." Sparks is running for state auditor in the 2027 election, a role he says he is suited for due to his extensive expertise in tax law, economics and accounting. He joins Republican Nick Bain in the auditor's race. The incumbent state auditor, Shad White, is not term-limited but has yet to announce his future plans. |
| AG Lynn Fitch could have 'virtually unlimited latitude' to set how Mississippi's $189 million Meta settlement can be spent | |
| As Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch prepares a plan for how Mississippi can spend $189 million of national Meta lawsuit funds, legal experts told Mississippi Today that the settlement raises questions about whether the money will be used to directly address children's mental health. Fitch is drafting the plan as Meta, the corporation that runs Facebook and Instagram, prepares to pay billions of dollars to states after attorneys general accused the company of endangering children across the country with their social media platforms. The settlement agreement the lawyers came to doesn't require Mississippi to use the money for any specific purpose, instead instructing the attorney general to set the parameters in a final consent decree filing. Fitch's office said lawyers for the state would file that plan in Hinds Chancery Court this month. Legal experts, mental health advocates and state lawmakers told Mississippi Today that Fitch's plan could impact the health of children in the state for years to come. Fitch, a Republican, is running for governor and has touted her efforts to protect children from large technology companies. MaryAsa Lee, a spokesperson for Fitch, said the consent decree will follow the directions laid out in the global settlement. |
| 'Unsustainable' fiscal path, debt limit fight awaits Congress | |
 | A grim new milestone for U.S. debt and surging interest rates haven't sparked much urgency for a new round of deficit cutting on Capitol Hill. Yet. But with federal debt topping $40 trillion for the first time last month, lawmakers will likely have to lift the $41.1 trillion statutory debt ceiling within the next year or so. That task usually involves a debate over curbing deficits, even if the default in recent years has been to do little to nothing. Some Republicans have floated raising the debt limit as soon as the post-election lame-duck session through budget reconciliation, a hard-enough lift even at a simple-majority vote threshold. A flip in party control of either chamber in November effectively removes reconciliation as a tool lawmakers can use next year for a debt-limit bill that wouldn't require 60 Senate votes. That would leave a bipartisan agreement as the only path forward short of eliminating the legislative filibuster, which so far neither party has shown an appetite for. But with few exceptions, both parties have generally retreated to familiar talking points only palatable to their own sides when it comes to cutting deficits. For Republicans, it's spending cuts without touching Medicare and Social Security benefits; for Democrats, it's raising taxes and increasing spending -- except for defense, which many in that party believe should be cut. |
| Republicans descend on Dallas in search of jolt at midterm convention | |
 | Republicans begin a two-day convention Wednesday, Sept. 9 in Dallas facing the daunting task of shaking up a midterm election favoring Democrats, who are becoming increasingly bullish about their chances of winning both the House and Senate. Less than two months before the Nov. 3 election, Republicans are descending on the Lone Star State for the party's first-ever midterm convention in need of a jolt to fend off a potential blue wave. They're banking on President Donald Trump to ignite the MAGA base and help turn around their outlook. The Polymarket betting market as of Sept. 8 is giving Democrats an 87% chance to gain control of the House and a 53% chance to take the Senate, up from 28% this time a year ago, as several Senate Democratic candidates in competitive races have surged to polling leads. Republican officials are calling the midterm convention "Trumpapalooza," with the president and other speakers planning to tout Trump's agenda, paint Democrats as dangerous "communists" and urge Trump's most loyal supporters to start paying attention to the midterms. Trump is set to deliver primetime speeches on both nights of the convention and will have to fight for television viewership with the first games of the NFL regular season. |
| As the U.S. and Canada slap new tariffs on goods, American farmers are stuck in the middle | |
| American farmers are bracing for the impact of new tariffs exchanged between the U.S. and Canada on both their supply costs and their sales. President Donald Trump's administration placed new 50% tariffs on around $20 billion worth of Canadian goods after trade talks between the two countries fell apart in late August. Canada came back with their own list of equivalent import taxes on American goods that go into effect on Tuesday. Amid a barrage of social media posts criticizing the United States' northern neighbor, Trump claimed Americans "don't need Canada." But Jayash Paudel, associate professor of economics at the University of Oklahoma, said trade data tells a different story -- especially for farmers and agriculture-related manufacturers. He pointed out that Canada bought $28 billion in U.S. agricultural goods last year, making it the second largest export market behind Mexico. "It's not really about winning or losing here," Paudel said of the latest tariff exchange. "I think ultimately the heat is going to be felt by Americans." Paudel said keeping trade with the country's northern neighbor open is also critical to maintaining crop farmers' access to a common fertilizer called potash. |
| Iran Signals Readiness to Escalate Fight in Face of Rising U.S. Pressure | |
 | Iran has signaled that it is willing to escalate its fight with the United States, with senior leaders issuing increasingly sharp warnings in recent days after attacking American warships for the first time. The country's leaders are taking a more aggressive approach as Iran faces mounting economic pressure and they worry that their grip on the Strait of Hormuz is slipping. The American blockade is making it nearly impossible for Iran to ship oil, its main money source. And in effect, Iran sees escalation as the primary leverage it has against the United States, analysts said, warning that the recent clashes could reignite a full-blown war. The U.S. military said Tuesday that it had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for attempted strikes on a U.S. Navy warship, while Iran said it launched strikes at a base used by American forces in Jordan in response. The attacks occurred three days after Iran made its first known attempt at striking an American military vessel. Iran has largely withstood the heavy military campaign launched by the United States and Israel in February. But the war of attrition in recent months has created an economic threat that is now pushing the government to intensify its rhetoric and attacks. For Iran's leaders, what they have called a U.S. "economic war" has become a domestic security risk that has prompted them to take a more aggressive stance. |
| Anthropic Researcher Quits Over 'Out-of-Control' AI Fears | |
| An Anthropic researcher is quitting the artificial-intelligence industry over fears that the lab and its competitors are racing to build systems they won't be able to control, a sign of mounting safety concerns within top AI companies. Jacob Coxon, a researcher who specializes in training new AI models by having them consume vast amounts of data, said Tuesday that he is leaving the company because he doesn't want to participate in an industrywide rush to build AI systems that can improve themselves, worried such systems could spiral out of control and destroy humanity. The 27-year old Brit, who previously studied mathematics, said many of his industry colleagues now use phrases like "crunchtime" and "endgame" to describe the trajectory toward self-improving models. "We're on track for a lot of the most aggressive of these scenarios where by the end of next year things could be out of control already," Coxon said, adding that safety trade-offs are inevitable when companies are competing against one another and Chinese upstarts. Industry leaders have been warning that recent cyberattacks are a harbinger. OpenAI told reporters last week that its latest model represented artificial general intelligence and a big step up in capabilities. |
| Mistrust of US government information is rising across major issues, new poll shows | |
 | Americans are more skeptical of government information than they were a few years ago, with majorities now saying they have little or no trust in federal government information about elections and politics, foreign affairs or the environment, a new poll finds. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USA Facts shows that while mistrust of government information has grown since 2024, it's also higher than it was at the end of President Donald Trump's first term, underscoring how his recent attempts to dismantle parts of the federal bureaucracy may have affected public confidence in the executive branch, particularly among Democrats. Those suspicions extend to the results of the coming midterm elections. Only 34% of U.S. adults trust government certifications of election results "a great deal" or "quite a bit," which is down slightly from 40% in 2024. Certification is a typically routine process in which local and state officials confirm the vote count, but it's become politicized since Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. Trust in government information has also become more partisan since Trump's first term, the survey found. |
| Federal grant awarded for UMMC to renovate Cancer Center and Research Institute | |
 | The University of Mississippi Medical Center will renovate and upgrade its Cancer Center and Research Institute using a newly awarded $2.4 million federal grant, a key boost for a facility that has gone nearly 30 years without significant updates. The project is part of broader efforts to modernize cancer research and treatment at UMMC and strengthen its bid for national recognition. The grant funding will support repairs and the purchase of new equipment for the center. It was secured by U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde‑Smith and U.S. Representative Michael Guest. Hyde‑Smith said that her hope is to see UMMC formally recognized as a National Cancer Institute, a designation she believes would keep Mississippians from having to travel out of state for cancer treatment. The Cancer Center currently sees nearly 3,000 new patients annually. Dr. Rodney Rocconi, Ergon Chair for Cancer Research and the director of the UMMC Cancer Center and Research Institute explained that the grant will provide funding for renovations for the 14,000 square feet of the research center as well as new equipment for research and treatment. Rocconi said that with these renovations completed, it could increase UMMC's facilities to being within the top 20 of cancer centers nationwide. "Here in Deep South, we all love our college football. You know, we want our colleges to be in the top 20 in college football. If that's the case, we certainly would want our cancer center to be in the top 20 in the country as well," Rocconi said. |
| Federal funds boost UMMC telehealth for rural residents | |
 | U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), alongside U.S. Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), announced a $4.25 million federal award to the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) for a five-year redesignation as a Center of Excellence in Telehealth. Congress appropriated this funding, which flows through the Telehealth Centers of Excellence program. This program is designed for a five-year window, meaning UMMC will be eligible to receive subsequent awards over the next few years. Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC's vice chancellor for health affairs, said the investment directly extends care to medically underserved areas. The funds will allow UMMC to monitor rural hospital patients, manage chronic conditions and deliver mental health services to students statewide. |
| AU Common Book Committee to host first AUmazing Race | |
| Auburn students will have three hours on Sept. 13 to navigate the university's first-ever AUmazing Race, an event where teams of up to four students face 25 challenges scattered across campus. Applications are open through Sept. 6. The AUmazing Race, hosted by Auburn's Common Book Committee, draws its inspiration from this year's common book, "Ben & Me," by Eric Weiner, a travelogue-like biography following Franklin's life by journeying to the places where he lived and examining his legacy-shaping accomplishments. "The idea of moving from place to place, and how Ben Franklin touched so many different pieces of our world today, really fit this concept," said Common Book Committee chair Jeffrey LaMondia. "This idea of showcasing everything he did by traveling around campus to see them is very reminiscent of 'The Amazing Race.' That's where the idea came from." Some challenges may require careful thinking, while others demand physical effort. All of the challenges are meant to encourage students to work together, but not necessarily in ways they expect. |
| Louisiana's marine research collaboration becomes a political battleground | |
| On paper, a select group of Louisiana university leaders has been tasked with finding ways to maximize one of the state's premier scientific research institutes. Unofficially, they are in the middle of a political tug-of-war over who will control an entity with $500 million in assets and a multi-million-dollar annual budget. The state legislature created the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, better known as LUMCON, in 1979 to specialize in marine and coastal research that prioritizes the state's interests. It currently consists of 10 professors, facilities in Houma and Cocodrie, and a small fleet of research vessels. Every two- and four-year college, public and private, in the state is part of the consortium. An independent board oversaw LUMCON until 1995 when the legislature allowed the schools taking part to handle its governance. That changed in 2016 when the consortium was moved under the Board of Regents, the body that oversees all higher education matters in Louisiana. Sen. Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles, introduced legislation this year to shift many of the Regents' responsibilities to university system boards and other state agencies. The move was scuttled when it ran into resistance from lawmakers who represent areas without an LSU campus. The battle for LUMCON control resumed at last week's commission meeting, which LSU System President Wade Rousse attended. Unlike other university presidents who appointed designees, Rousse is serving on the panel himself. |
| U. of Tennessee campus feels impact of record enrollment numbers | |
| The University of Tennessee continues to see record enrollment, and students on campus are feeling the impact. UT received more than 74,000 total applications in 2026, bringing Rocky Top's population to over 41,000 Vols -- a record high for the university. As enrollment numbers reach new heights, students on campus are noticing changes in parking, traffic and class registration. For sophomore Bree Price, the impact of student growth falls on her daily commute to campus. Price, who takes the Neyland Express bus route to and from campus, said that she must leave Sorority Village at least 30 minutes early to account for delays and stops. Students living closer to campus say they still face transportation issues even if they do not take the bus. Junior Ella Hendrixson lives in the Fort Sanders area and said while driving should be faster, she has found walking to be quicker most days. "I've noticed that it's honestly been easier and quicker to walk places this year than it has been to drive," Hendrixson said. Course availability has become a large challenge, Hendrixson said, as upper-level students across campus are unable to get into required classes needed to graduate. She said UT waitlisted her for two required courses she was planning to take this fall because of high demand for class seats. |
| Kentucky higher education officials push for all university students to use AI | |
 | The state-funded group that oversees public universities in Kentucky said it wants all students, regardless of their major, to be proficient in using artificial intelligence. The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education Task Force on AI, Higher Education and the Workforce is developing priorities surrounding AI, including dedicated funds and laws, to eventually recommend to the General Assembly and implement over the next three to five years. The task force includes representatives from the state's higher education, hospital, business and engineering sectors. Jordan Harris is a member of the task force who previously served as a senior policy advisor to Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and works as a client relationship executive for Deloitte Consulting, which provides large-scale support to the University of Kentucky's operations, technology and strategic projects. Harris said universities should be thinking about how AI can drive business. UK is one of the largest employers and is the largest postsecondary institution in the state. "The most important, from a marketplace standpoint, from an employer standpoint ... is AI proficiency across the board, regardless of major," he said at a task force meeting Wednesday. "The biggest mistake that any institution in Kentucky can make ... is to say this is a computer science issue and that this belongs in the colleges of computer science." |
| A look into UGA's new scientific diving minor | |
| "Just diving and breathing under the water in general feels like you're flying," senior biology major Turner MacInnis said when describing his experience in Scientific Diving I Lab at the pool in the Marine Sciences Building. University of Georgia students were first able to enroll in this scientific diving course in fall 2014. Now, more than 10 years later, students can officially declare a minor in scientific diving. The scientific diving minor was announced in March and introduced to students this fall. The minor allows undergraduates to earn open water certifications, gain hands-on research experience and learn safety skills for underwater work and exploration. The program teaches skills necessary to collect data on marine habitats and survey underwater archeological sites. Students that have completed scientific diving classes at UGA have gone on to do research in the Florida Keys, study abroad in New Zealand and Australia and do summer dives in the Mediterranean. According to the Department of Marine Sciences, the scientific diving minor can prepare students for careers in government, environmental consulting, marine technology and ecotourism. |
| Oklahoma State announces sites for new veterinary hospital, agronomy center | |
| Locations for two major taxpayer-supported construction projects at Oklahoma State University were revealed Tuesday. A $330 million veterinary teaching hospital and a $50 million Agronomy Discovery Center will be built west of OSU's Stillwater campus in a farmland area, the university announced. The Oklahoma Legislature agreed to fund most of the cost of both projects, but the university is still raising millions of dollars in private donations to cover remaining expenses. An OSU spokesperson did not immediately answer whether either project has an expected completion date. State lawmakers dedicated $250 million in 2025 to build the veterinary teaching hospital. The 275,000-square-foot facility, to be built north of State Highway 51 west of South Western Road, will accommodate larger student enrollment than OSU's current animal hospital, enhance educational opportunities and improve animal owners' access to advanced veterinary care, the university announced. OSU College of Veterinary Medicine dean Dr. Richard Prather said the facility will help the university's competitiveness in attracting top students, faculty and researchers. The state Legislature appropriated $40 million this year for the agronomy center, which OSU said will be a "cutting-edge research and education hub that supports wheat breeding, crop science, soil fertility, forage and turfgrass research." It also will expand OSU's current agricultural research programs. |
| Regents Block Iowa Civics Center Director From Conferences | |
 | The Iowa Board of Regents is refusing to pay for Luciano de Castro, interim director of the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa, to attend three upcoming conferences in Indiana, Ohio and Virginia that feature conservative scholars, pundits and politicians. According to The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, it's the latest scuffle in an ongoing power struggle between the university and the center, which opened in 2025 after the State Legislature voted for its creation to "expand the intellectual diversity of the university's academic community," to balance out what some Republican lawmakers have alleged is rampant liberal bias on college campuses. Although the center -- which is among many similar establishments that Republican legislators have created across the country in recent years -- only taught 19 students across two courses last semester and canceled course offerings for this academic year, the state passed a law this year requiring every undergraduate at Iowa's three public universities to take one history and one government course selected by the center beginning in 2028. The center, whose only faculty member right now is de Castro, will have to hire a permanent director and more faculty members to accommodate that plan; the state has so far appropriated $2 million for the center's operations, according to The Gazette. But in April, de Castro published a report complaining that university administrators and the Board of Regents were not cooperating with his efforts to launch the center by blocking hiring, scrutinizing expenditures, altering bylaws and excluding de Castro from communication. |
| After Kirk's Death, a Third of Students Say Posting 'MAGA' Is a Fireable Offense | |
| Thirty percent of college students say that using violence to stop campus speech is acceptable at least in rare cases, according to a new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. It's a slight decrease from a year ago, when a record-high 34 percent of students said the same, but it remains 12 points higher than in 2020, when 18 percent of students said violence was an acceptable response, at least in rare cases, to campus speech. FIRE surveyed nearly 63,000 students at 262 colleges for its latest campus free speech report, which was released today -- almost one year after the conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University. The report reflects slightly less polarized, but still concerning, student attitudes about campus free speech, the authors write. Fifty percent of students reported that blocking other students from attending a speech event is OK at least in rare cases, down from 54 percent last year, and 69 percent said the same about shouting down a speaker, compared to 72 percent a year prior. "After seven years of surveying almost 350,000 college undergraduates nationwide, a sobering picture has emerged: students are reluctant to speak their minds, especially on controversial political issues," the report states. "Many report that they self-censor regularly, avoid certain topics entirely, and doubt administrators would defend free expression if controversy struck." |
| Should Professors Teach More? Some Colleges Are Trying to Make Them. | |
| Le'Ann Solmonson accepted a job as a professor because the university allowed her to teach remotely. Then the school, Texas A&M University-Victoria, changed the rules. Professors are now required to be on campus five days a week. So Dr. Solmonson resigned. Leaders at the Texas A&M system's Victoria campus said the new guidance complies with a state law enacted last year that barred remote work for full-time faculty members at the state's public colleges, though with some exceptions, including for medical reasons. The officials also say a more vibrant in-person culture could help turn around the struggling campus. Return-to-office policies have been a flashpoint between employees and managers ever since the Covid pandemic ushered a wave of office closures in white-collar jobs. In education settings, some professors in online programs became accustomed to the flexibility of working from home, but critics of remote instruction point to the benefits of in-person learning on student success. While Texas is alone in creating legislation restricting remote work for faculty, other states have recently increased faculty teaching loads, noting that professors generally spend only a few hours a week in front of students. |
| Humanities degrees hit their lowest numbers in decades | |
| Students graduating with humanities bachelor's degrees have hit their lowest numbers in decades -- with further declines potentially on the horizon, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. U.S. colleges awarded 164,847 undergraduate humanities degrees in 2025. That's the smallest number since 1991 and nearly a third below 2012 levels, the most recent peak, according to the academy. The academy analyzed U.S. Department of Education data on humanities degrees that dates back to 1987. However, for a subset of humanities fields -- including history, English and philosophy -- data goes back to 1949. For that smaller pool, humanities degrees hit their lowest levels on record, representing just 3.4% of all degrees conferred in 2025. That's compared to 17.2% in 1967. And since 2012, degree generation has declined in nearly every humanities field. Religious studies degrees fell the most, plummeting 56.3% in 13 years. Degrees in world languages and literature fell 50.8%, English degrees by 43.8% and history degrees by 40.6%. Meanwhile, post-pandemic majors in business, engineering, natural sciences, and health and medical sciences increased to their highest levels from 2015 to 2025, rebounding from losses during the COVID era. |
| How Trump administration threats could affect medical school admissions | |
 | The Trump administration's mounting investigations and attacks on diversity initiatives have left medical schools facing a tough choice as they consider how to select incoming classes: stick with policies they see as core to their mission or risk critical federal funding. The legal landscape is unresolved, leaving some schools to weigh potential consequences in a high-profile, high-stakes fight. The Justice and Education departments have already launched an onslaught of investigations into medical schools' admissions practices, accusing several of discriminating against White and Asian applicants in favor of Black and Hispanic candidates. Then, last week, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service proposed stripping tax-exempt status from private schools if they consider race in admissions and other policies. For medical schools, the question can be complicated. Many in the field argue that a diverse health care workforce is critical to serving a diverse patient population. And while outright consideration of race is illegal, they have looked for race-neutral ways to build a diverse cohort of future doctors. "This administration, unlike prior administrations, has put federal funding for an entire institution at risk for an issue in one area, and that's new," said Frank Trinity, chief legal officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). "It does raise the stakes for schools." |
| Trump is Betting Big on AI-driven Research. Can Human Beings Stay in Control? | |
 | Since the start of President Trump's second term, university-housed research has been defined by funding cuts. The administration has canceled or disrupted more than $3 billion in National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation grants since Trump took office in January 2025, and in July, it released a report indicating a further shift away from university labs. But in that same report, a narrow band of academic scientists saw the promise of a windfall. The administration expressed an enthusiastic focus on research driven by autonomous artificial intelligence -- which completes tasks of varying scale with little to no human intervention -- as a leading force in what the title of the report predicts will be a "New Golden Age" of American science. The report pointed to recent AI-driven advances in mathematics as a particularly striking example of the technology's promise. Researchers have bold plans for AI in science. What if AI could accelerate the effort to cure diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's? What if it could help end food shortages and come up with creative solutions to climate change? What if it could empower researchers who have historically lacked resources? The research community has also become increasingly wary, however, of the risks that AI autonomy could pose in the lab. |
| Adam Telle's appointment makes Mississippi's robust defense influence even stronger | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: President Donald Trump's appointment of Mississippi State University alumnus and former Thad Cochran adviser Adam Telle as Acting Secretary of the Army carries significance well beyond his personal achievements. For the first time in years, Mississippi finds itself positioned near the center of America's national defense establishment, with influence extending across military policy, defense spending and executive leadership. ... Sen. Roger Wicker serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, arguably Congress's most important defense panel. The committee writes the National Defense Authorization Act and helps shape military policy, planning and procurement. At the same time, following the death of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and a subsequent committee reorganization, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith moved into the leadership role on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. That assignment places a Mississippi senator in the congressional process responsible for funding military operations, weapons systems and defense infrastructure. In practical terms, Wicker helps determine what defense programs are authorized, while Hyde-Smith helps determine which programs receive funding. One oversees policy. The other helps oversee spending. Add Telle's position inside the executive branch, and Mississippi's presence in national security circles becomes difficult to overstate. |
SPORTS
| MSU offensive line shows improvement while maintaining focus | |
| Those trips for food appear to have paid off, at least for now. Mississippi State's offensive line was strong in its 62-13 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, allowing no sacks and helping to facilitate 345 team rushing yards. Standing out among those linemen was D.J. Chester. According to Pro Football Focus, Chester led MSU's O-linemen with a pass block grade of 83.2 and a run block grade of 70.5. The left guard's overall offensive grade of 71.8 was sixth on the entire team and one spot behind Canon Boone. Boone primarily played center, with Miles McVay taking the majority of snaps at left tackle. Together the three were able to communicate smoothly. "All of us are somewhat older guys, So if Miles didn't see something, I said it. If I didn't see something. Miles and Canon would say it," Chester said in the team's weekly press conference on Monday. "Communication was wonderful right there." |
| Conference Schedule Announced For MSU Baseball | |
| The Southeastern Conference released its portion of the 2027 baseball schedule on Tuesday and has Mississippi State opening up its SEC slate inside the friendly confines on Dudy Noble Field. The Diamond Dawgs begin their conference schedule by hosting Missouri on March 19-21. MSU also has home matchups against instate rival Ole Miss (April 2-4), Texas A&M (April 16-18), defending national champion Oklahoma (April 30-May 2) and wraps up the regular season at "The Dude" against Arkansas (May 20-22). The Bulldogs face their first SEC road test at Georgia on March 25-27 in a rematch of the 2026 Athens Super Regional. State also pays visits to Florida (April 2-4), Vanderbilt (April 23-25), Tennessee (May 7-9) and LSU (May 14-16). Mississippi State's series with Georgia and Arkansas will be Thursday through Saturday. The league could shift other series to start on Thursdays depending on the television schedule, which will be announced at a later date. The SEC Tournament is slated for May 25-30 in Hoover, Alabama. |
| Volleyball: Bulldogs Earn Third Consecutive Win After Defeating Demon Deacons | |
| Mississippi State volleyball extended their winning streak to three straight games on Tuesday, as they took down Wake Forest in the annual "Showdown at the Net" ACC/SEC Challenge, 3-1. "I'm super proud of another gritty team win. We are making things happen on our side and executing well right now," head coach Julie Darty Dennis said. "I thought there were some long rallies tonight and that both teams were able to go the distance. In the end, we were able to outlast a really good Wake Forest team, and I'm so proud of our effort and execution." The Bulldogs gained control in the opening set's media timeout, gaining a 15-14 lead off an attacking error. State used a 6-1 to extend their lead to 20-15 and took the first set, 25-18. The momentum for the Maroon and White carried over to set two, as the Dawgs would hit .412 as a team with no errors to run away with a 25-14 victory. The Bulldogs will travel to Tennessee for a pair of matchups with Alcorn State and Memphis. State will take on Alcorn on Friday at 3 p.m., while the Tigers and Dawgs will face off at 3 p.m. on Saturday on ESPN+. |
| Buddy Stephens hires attorney to fight firing from EMCC | |
| Buddy Stephens, the former head football coach for East Mississippi Community College, has lawyered up to fight his termination from the school. Stephens coached 18 seasons at EMCC, leading the Lions to five junior college national championships. He was also a prominent figure in the first two seasons of the Netflix documentary "Last Chance U," which chronicled the team's 2015 and 2016 campaigns. In response to a public records request, EMCC's human resources department provided The Dispatch a document Tuesday that shows Aug. 31 as Stephens' "end of employment." That is the same day the college announced he had been replaced as head coach. His dismissal came on the heels of comments he made to a Dispatch reporter during a media day in August, where he criticized EMCC and Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference officials for MACCC's new playoff format. Specifically, he called the system "junkified" and the leadership responsible for coming up with it "idiots." "I was very surprised at how it came out because there were actual people who have doctorates that came up with this," Stephens said at the time. Conference leadership is composed of presidents from member institutions, including EMCC President Scott Alsobrooks. Stephens has not commented on the record about his firing, instead referring all questions to his attorney, Jim Waide of Tupelo. |
| Southeastern Conference leaders to discuss expelling LSU, which backs off rostering pro players | |
| Leaders of the Southeastern Conference will meet Thursday to discuss whether to take the extraordinary step of kicking LSU out of the league in the wake of an ugly feud over first-year coach Lane Kiffin's now-abandoned effort to field players who signed contracts with NFL teams as undrafted rookies earlier this year. Hours after word of the meeting became public, an LSU official familiar with the decision said the Tigers had finished filling out the final 105-man roster for this season and that no players who spent time with NFL teams will be on it. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because public comment had not been authorized. There was no immediate response from the SEC, which amended the federal lawsuit it filed against LSU last week and asked the judge to bar the school from taking action to block or interfere with the meeting of SEC member university presidents and chancellors. A hearing was possible as early as Wednesday. A declaration that Commissioner Greg Sankey included with the league's legal filing made the planned meeting sound like more than posturing; Sankey noted that school presidents met to discuss LSU last Friday, a day after a marathon court hearing in which he took the stand to insist the league has the right to enforce its own rules. |
| 'A sanity test': Attorney for ex-NFL players once bound for LSU plans legal action against SEC, Greg Sankey | |
 | Tony Clayton thinks Greg Sankey needs "a sanity test." Those were the words Clayton -- the West Baton Rouge district attorney representing former NFL players who tried to return to college and join LSU -- used to describe the Southeastern Conference commissioner just hours after LSU declined to roster Clayton's clients and added two already injured players to its official roster instead, ballooning its roster to the 105-player NCAA limit. The SEC threatened to expel LSU from the conference in an amended federal lawsuit on Tuesday if the school continued to defy the conference's bylaws, which ban players from the NFL, NBA and WNBA from returning to college. Clayton told The Advocate on Tuesday night that he and the players' legal team plan to pursue legal action against Sankey, the SEC and the NCAA -- and not LSU -- after they essentially forced the school to forgo rostering his clients, Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavaian Harris. Clayton believes strongly that the conference has devalued his clients' worth in NIL money. "And what I mean by devalue (is)... they completely destroyed the character of these players, the credibility of these players," Clayton said, "and the SEC has been a colossal failure to college sports by singling out these young athletes, and putting a scarlet letter around the neck of each and every one of them." |
| Yes, the SEC really could 'terminate' LSU. Here's an inside look at the fight that could reshape college football | |
| Imagine for a second that the most anticipated SEC football game in many years is not actually an SEC football game at all. If SEC presidents and chancellors vote to expel LSU from the conference on Thursday -- there is a scheduled vote -- and if that decision would take effect immediately, the LSU-Ole Miss football game in Oxford next Saturday would transform into a non-conference game, one person within the league suggested. "The game may not be played at all," another stakeholder quipped. The ramifications don't stop there, of course. The SEC evicting from the league a longstanding member would serve as an unprecedented move that will invariably cause ripple effects across the country. The school stands to lose millions in conference distribution, have its schedule of games stripped and path to championships blocked -- all over their intentions to potentially add professional football and basketball players to their rosters. Those in Baton Rouge are somewhat mystified, but LSU added two other players to its football roster late on Tuesday night, so the team roster is locked and aforementioned professional players will not be able to join this season. Would the conference still consider booting the school from the league? |
| Sources: CFP to open ESPN negotiation window, 24 teams possible | |
| Leaders of the College Football Playoff on Tuesday agreed to open a 30-day negotiating window with ESPN, signaling their greatest interest yet in a 24-team CFP field that could begin as soon as 2027, sources told ESPN. While those within the room insist this is not a commitment to a 24-team field at this time, the move does indicate that the Big Ten and SEC now agree it's worth a discussion with the event's sole rights holder to see what the value of it would be. It's possible the negotiating window could start as soon as Wednesday, according to a source. Opening the window will help determine whether a 24-team field will generate enough revenue to compensate for the loss of conference championship games and bring in additional revenue. The Power 4 conference championship games have media value of at least $200 million, according to sources, and that doesn't include the tens of millions the games generate in tickets, sponsorships and other game-day revenue. The season would begin on what is now dubbed Week 0 and end on Thanksgiving weekend. Those involved in the Army-Navy game are considering moving what's been dubbed "America's Game" into the following Saturday instead of the league title games. |
| College Football Playoff leaders trigger 30-day negotiating window with ESPN, furthering consideration for expansion | |
| The road to an expanded playoff is on the cusp of reaching its next milestone. College Football Playoff leaders have decided to trigger a mandatory 30-day negotiating window with ESPN as they pursue the value of expansion options, sources tell Yahoo Sports. The move, if it happens, is not necessarily a commitment to expand. However, the decision signals a strong interest in exploring the worth of a 24-team playoff field, the most-discussed option that has garnered support within the room of playoff officials. The decision would follow what seems to be growing momentum from the SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey in a larger playoff format. Sankey distributed a memo to CFP Management Committee members about a week ago outlining considerations if he were to agree to a 24-team field. One of the considerations is requiring teams to play 10 "qualifying events" to be eligible for the CFP. Qualifying events consist of (1) conference games; (2) games against Notre Dame; and (3) games against power conference teams -- a concept that would require teams to play 10 power league games, at minimum. |
| Iowa band member taken off life support, dies after collapsing in heat at Kinnick Stadium | |
| A third-year University of Iowa band member died Tuesday morning, three days after suffering a heart attack in the stifling heat at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, according to a news release from the university's band and music departments. Derek Phillips, who led the Hawkeye Marching Band's mellophone section, was taken off life support Monday. In a statement on Instagram, Phillips' family wrote, "Despite the extraordinary efforts of the ICU team at the University of Iowa Hospital, the damage to his brain was too severe, and we have made the heartbreaking decision to remove life support." Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz said he was "heartbroken" to learn about Phillips' death. Heat-related issues were prevalent at stadiums around the country Saturday, and particularly in Iowa City, where the temperature reached 92 degrees and the heat index soared to at least 105 degrees with limited cloud cover. For the first time, the Hawkeye Marching Band did not perform at halftime because of excessive heat. |
| Capitol agenda: Will Schumer go long for college sports? | |
 | Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is about to step into a political minefield as the Senate takes up a college sports bill as soon as next week -- with perhaps as many reasons for his caucus to oppose it as support it. Senators return to Washington on Monday to a three-week window for legislating before they depart until November -- and internal splits on both sides of the aisle are threatening passage of legislation to impose new federal rules on an industry worth tens of billions of dollars. Schumer must decide if he wants to steer his members toward helping Republicans reach the 60-vote threshold on what could be the sweepiest bill the chamber passes before the midterms. Backing it would mean supporting top Commerce Democrat Maria Cantwell's efforts in crafting the bipartisan legislation that has taken months of painstaking negotiations with her counterpart, Chair Ted Cruz. But there are also plenty of downsides to promoting the bill -- which has President Donald Trump's endorsement. One Democratic Senate aide with knowledge of the negotiations believes there's enough opposition within the party to tank the measure on the floor as a coalition of labor rights groups and the Congressional Black Caucus warn the bill is exploitative. Meanwhile, Republicans are still working through their own divide on the bill: concerns over whether the legislation would preempt states' authority to block trans athletes from competing on women's sports teams. |
| LIV Golf Files for Bankruptcy -- and Owes Top Golfers Millions | |
| LIV Golf, the sports upstart originally backed by Saudi Arabia, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday, all but closing the most tumultuous period in the history of the game, four years after the group briefly tore it apart with an unprecedented influx of money. The league said it has between $500 million and $1 billion of liabilities, between $100 million and $500 million in assets and is seeking to restructure financially after filing for chapter 11 protection in New Jersey. The league has been on life support since earlier this year, when Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, LIV's longtime backer, abruptly pulled its funding. Despite its deep-pocketed investors, who helped lure star players from the PGA Tour with eye-popping guaranteed contracts and enormous prize funds, LIV hemorrhaged cash from the outset. After plowing over $5 billion into LIV since it teed off in 2022, the Saudis decided that the golf league was no longer a priority. And now, the golfers who bolted to LIV for its seemingly bottomless coffers have a new role. They are now LIV's biggest creditors. Two-time major champion Jon Rahm heads the list, according to the league's bankruptcy filings. The top seven creditors are all players, including Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson. The filing caps a stunning downfall for a league that sowed chaos in professional golf from its inception. |
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