| Monday, August 31, 2026 |
| MSU honors faculty members | |
 | Four Mississippi State faculty members received two of the university's most prestigious teaching accolades on Thursday. Lesley Strawderman is MSU's latest William L. Giles Distinguished Professor, and Iva Ballard, Peter Summerlin and Benjamin Tkach have received Grisham Master Teacher honors. "Teaching excellence and excellent teachers are at the very heart of what we do at Mississippi State," said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. "It's the people who make our university such a special place to be, and that's certainly true for all four of the outstanding members of our faculty we are recognizing today." Strawderman is a professor of industrial and systems engineering, MSU'S International Paper Company Endowed Chair and associate director of the university's Athlete Engineering Institute. |
| MSU's Department of Music announces fall concert season | |
 | Mississippi State's Department of Music offers an array of concerts this fall, featuring Mississippi blues legend Jesse Robinson, university choirs and the Wind Ensemble. Select events are ticketed to support programming, specific honorariums, and technical and academic services. For box office information for each event, visit www.music.msstate.edu. Additionally, football fans can enjoy halftime performances by MSU's Famous Maroon Band, made up of more than 400 members from every college on campus. A complete listing of the Department of Music's fall events is available at www.music.msstate.edu. Designated as an All-Steinway School, MSU's Department of Music is housed in a $21 million, state-of-the-art facility equipped with soundproof practice rooms, a high-tech recording studio, an acoustically advanced lecture-recital hall, more than $3.5 million in Steinway pianos and more. |
| MSU dedicates plaza for first black alumni | |
 | To recognize the contributions and life of Mississippi State University's first black student, the ribbon was cut on a monument erected in the plaza on the Starkville campus that now bears his name. Dr. Richard E. Holmes became the first black student to attend MSU back in the 1960s. He went on to provide healthcare in two states. In recognition of those milestones, the former YMCA Plaza on the university campus was officially renamed the Holmes Plaza on August 21. A monument also now stands on the site in his honor. "Holmes Plaza and the monument we are dedicating today ensures that Dr. Holmes' story is always remembered on our campus. And what an incredible story it is," MSU President Mark Keenum said. "He was a true pioneer and courageous trailblazer when he became Mississippi State's first African American student on July 19, 1965." Holmes was a member of MSU's Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. After graduating from the university, he went on to become a physician who provided health care in Mississippi and Alabama. He also worked in the MSU Longest Health Center for 30 years, according to the school. |
| Starkville plans to reup ambulance contract with Pafford | |
| The city is planning to renew its contract with Pafford EMS for ambulance service, which will leave Starkville and Oktibbeha County served by two different providers. The city does not pay Pafford in exchange for its services, and Pafford is requesting no changes to its most recent contract with the city, which expired last month. Pafford provides two ambulances with around the clock service in the city limits in exchange for the use of Fire Station 3 and 4. Pafford is currently paying the utility bill for Fire Station 3 since the fire department moved service out of the station. "We appreciate your partnership," Spruill told Pafford representatives during the board of aldermen work session Friday at City Hall. "... I think we are well served." The board is set to approve the contract renewal at its Tuesday meeting. It cannot pass on the consent agenda without discussion because Ward 4 Alderman Mike Brooks must recuse himself from the vote since he flies aircraft for Pafford. Baptist announced Aug. 21 it would use Priority Ambulance to service Baptist Memorial Hospital-Oktibbeha County (formerly OCH Regional Medical Center). Priority will respond to calls in the county that are outside Starkville city limits. |
| Nigerian man extradited to Mississippi in sextortion death of Starkville teen | |
| More than three years after Starkville Academy student Walker Montgomery took his own life following an online sextortion scheme, the Nigerian man accused of targeting him has been extradited to Mississippi. Adebola Festus Adekumle, 26, of Lagos, Nigeria, is charged with sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, the production of child sex abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor and interstate threats with intent to extort. Adekumle faces up to life in prison for the charges, if convicted. In a Friday press conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Mississippi, Brian Montgomery, Walker's father, joined representatives from investigative agencies in the case, including Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard, Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins, Robert Eikhoff, FBI special agent in charge, Attorney General Lynn Fitch and U.S. Attorney Scott Leary for the announcement of the arrest. Adekumle's arrest was made as part of Operation Artemis, an FBI initiative intended specifically to apprehend sexual extortionists in Nigeria targeting minors in the United States. |
| Ocean Aero creating 45 jobs with $4 million expansion in Gulfport | |
| The Mississippi Development Authority announced Friday that Ocean Aero is expanding its operations in Gulfport. Ocean Aero has developed the TRITON, an environmentally powered autonomous underwater and surface vehicle that collects data above and below the ocean's surface and relays information from virtually anywhere. The company said system supports defense, research and energy missions through autonomous capabilities that enable efficient deployment, operation and recovery. The company's latest investment of $4 million will be seen in building improvements and new manufacturing equipment at its existing facility at the Port of Gulfport. The project includes rehabilitating 25,000 square feet currently used for storage and converting it into production-ready manufacturing space. The improvements, which will help the company create 45 jobs, will provide the capacity needed to increase production of the TRITON platform. Governor Tate Reeves commended the expansion announcement, saying advanced technologies are changing the future of manufacturing, "and Mississippi is making sure we're part of it." |
| USDA cyclospora research projects shelved amid funding cuts and relocations | |
 | The Trump administration is shuttering research projects key to the federal government's fight against cyclospora, the foodborne parasite sickening thousands of Americans this summer. Two of the three projects that represent nearly all of the Agriculture Department's study of the parasite were defunded by Congress earlier this year, according to the agency. The third is slated to move from Maryland to Iowa this fall as part of a sweeping USDA reorganization. Even though that project still has money, every scientist working on the parasite has declined to relocate, according to three people familiar with the plans and documents shared with POLITICO, granted anonymity to discuss personnel issues. The hollowing-out of all three projects, which has not been previously reported, is expected to hinder vital food safety research at a time when Americans are increasingly worried that they can't trust the food supply. USDA is directing blame to Congress for zeroing out funds for two of the projects once housed at the agency's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center just outside Washington. But the department's broader relocation effort is also raising questions about the Trump administration's work to overhaul vital research amid public health threats like cyclospora, salmonella and E. coli. |
| Republicans Are Worried About the Midterms. Trump Is Focused on His Legacy. | |
 | President Trump this week offered his 13 million Truth Social followers a blunt assessment of how he hopes history will remember him. On Thursday, he posted an AI-generated image that ranked the U.S. presidents. Trump's name was at the top of the list, above George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, with the words "The Greatest" emblazoned above his portrait. As his approval ratings sag, Trump is on a mission to burnish his legacy, according to his advisers. But Republicans privately worry that Trump's focus on himself is backfiring with voters, complicating their efforts to keep control of Congress and giving Democrats plenty of ammunition for attack ads. Trump's senior advisers have for months tried to shift the president's focus to the economy, according to people familiar with the matter, in a bid to show voters that the president is focused on the issue they care about the most. While the president has touted his economic record in speeches and Oval Office events, his attention frequently shifts to other issues, from his construction projects to attacks on his perceived enemies. |
| Trump says he will report NBC host to FCC for 'rebuke or punishment' | |
 | President Donald Trump, angered by a comment that NBC anchor Kristen Welker made about his endorsements in the midterm elections, said Sunday he would report her to the Federal Communications Commission for a "rebuke or punishment" in his latest call for the agency to take action against broadcasters. Welker, ahead of the airing of her show "Meet the Press," told NBC D.C. affiliate WRC-TV that Trump is "going to loom large" over the November midterm elections. She noted that he endorsed several candidates in the primaries and said he had "some mixed results." Trump took issue with Welker's characterization, insisting in a Truth Social post that his record of endorsements is, "without question, the strongest Endorsement in the History of Politics." Trump's calls for FCC action are the latest move by his administration to seek investigations and sanctions against journalists and media companies. The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, NBC News said "Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her." In the Sunday comments, Welker pointed out that Trump's most recent pick of Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina's GOP Senate primary was successful. |
| In a rare moment of unity, Americans are fighting Big Tech together | |
 | Technology is increasingly bringing Americans together. Just not the way we once envisioned. About a quarter century ago, 8 in 10 Americans said they anticipated that the new millennium would usher in "the triumph of science and technology." At the time, most adults said they had a positive view of computers and the internet. Now Americans are increasingly united against rapidly advancing technologies and the companies behind them. Neighbors have rallied against data centers. Crowds at commencements booed artificial intelligence. And a lawsuit brought by 48 states against Meta over claims that its Facebook and Instagram platforms endangered children led to a landmark $18 billion settlement. Public opinion of the nation's largest technology companies and their sophisticated products dropped to multiyear lows in 2026, polls show. And Americans say they are more concerned than excited about a future dominated by AI. "Americans are coming together to agree on something, but for totally different reasons," said Thomas Kahn, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. "The motivations are different, but the concern is the same – and nationally we're seeing politicians respond to it." The backlash has been strikingly bipartisan. |
| The W, MSMS partner to present 'The Crucible' for first-ever collaborative production | |
| Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science (MSMS) are partnering to present Arthur Miller's Tony Award-winning play "The Crucible" Nov. 13-15 in Cromwell Theater. Auditions will be held Tuesday and Wednesday. "'The Crucible' was selected for its important place in early American history and its exploration of the Salem witch trials," said Kathy Newman, director of The W's Department of Theatre. "It remains a gripping and timely story about fear, power and society. And what better time to stage it than just after Halloween?" Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" is a 1953 tragedy set in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. The play dramatizes the Salem witch trials, beginning when the town minister discovers his daughter, niece and other girls dancing in the forest with his enslaved woman, Tituba. Rumors of witchcraft spread through the town, and the community becomes consumed by mass hysteria, false accusations and fear, largely driven by a vengeful teenager named Abigail Williams. "I hope the plays we select help students see the connections between classroom education and the wider world," said Laura Stewart, English faculty member at MSMS. "The Crucible connects to both American history and American literature classes and can prompt great discussions." |
| U. of Arkansas, Fayetteville researcher will use $2.16 million for heart failure study | |
| A $2.16 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will fund a University of Arkansas professor's research into the causes of systolic heart failure, the university announced Thursday. Systolic heart failure typically occurs in the heart's left ventricle, one of the heart's bottom chambers, according to John Hopkins Medicine. The left ventricle isn't able to pump normally meaning less blood circulates throughout the body, causing complications. Will Richardson, a UA associate professor in the Ralph E. Martin of Chemical Engineering Department, will use the $2.16 million grant to study the issue, develop personalized treatments and identify medications that could treat the condition, a news release from the university states. Richardson will partner with Dr. Michael Zile, a practicing cardiologist and distinguished university professor of cardiology at the Medical University of South Carolina, and Dr. Amy Bradshaw, a matrix biologist and professor of cardiology at the same university, according to the release. |
| Why Syracuse Can't Attract the Students It Needs to Pay the Bills | |
| When he was the director of international student services at Syracuse University, Juan Tavares received a regular Saturday email from the dean of admissions reporting the tally of student applications, acceptances and enrollment deposits. During the pandemic the numbers began to slide, so Tavares offered the admissions team seven suggestions to improve recruiting, he said. The recommendations centered on the idea that Syracuse was failing to recruit aggressively enough. "The problem with Syracuse is that the school thinks of itself as like an Ivy, but it's not," Tavares said. Tavares, who no longer works at the school, said his recommendations went nowhere. In 2025, the weaknesses he had pointed out collided with President Trump's high profile crackdown on student visas. Syracuse's international enrollment numbers declined by half for undergraduate and graduate students. Syracuse also failed to draw enough students overall -- prompting it to offer emergency financial-aid packages to lure freshmen. The problems that have long buffeted the nation's smaller schools are now spreading to the nation's bigger, richer universities -- with midsize private schools such as Syracuse especially feeling the pinch. |
| The Purple-State President: Neeli Bendapudi is shrinking Penn State. Will she save it? | |
 | While it's difficult to lead a major public university in a red state, it doesn't seem much easier in a purple one. Just ask Neeli Bendapudi. During her four years as president of Pennsylvania State University, Bendapudi hasn't been able to cash in on the enrollment bonanza experienced by many of its peers. In fact, she's had to preside over the retrenchment of its multiple campuses. Enrollment at the main University Park campus remained effectively flat for the fall of 2025 at 48,823. The lack of growth is by design. "It's really a capacity issue for us here, candidly," Bendapudi says in an interview. "We are trying to build more housing, more labs, better infrastructure for students to accommodate how they make their way through here." Leading a major public university sometimes means leading more than one campus. Last year the university scheduled seven of its 20 struggling branch Commonwealth Campus locations throughout Pennsylvania to close in 2027. The campuses all continued to lose students, and Penn State's enrollment across all campuses fell by 1.6 percent last fall from the year before. Penn State's already formidable research enterprise has reached new levels under Bendapudi's leadership, with the state-related institution's research spending rising to $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2025, placing it in the top tier of its peers, both private and public. |
| A West Point for Space? Trump Calls for New Academy to Train Space Personnel | |
| The U.S. will develop an academy to train personnel for government space jobs, along the lines of long-established institutions that do the same for the Air Force and Coast Guard. President Trump signed an executive order Friday to establish the U.S. Space Academy, during an event at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The new institution will aim to prepare people to take on a range of positions at NASA, in military space agencies and the private sector, according to the White House. "It's clear we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled servicemembers and engineers and civil operators and everything else," Trump said of the space academy, comparing it to West Point, the military educational institution in New York. He didn't say where the institution would be located. The academy will be led by NASA and offer both technical education and leadership training. Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, will serve as chairman of a presidential commission set up to advise the president on creating the institution. |
| The U.S. relied on these science advisers. Then the Trump administration cut them | |
 | Netia McCray recalls how excited she was to join the federal advisory committee on long COVID in 2025. She had been diagnosed in the early days of the pandemic -- and symptoms such as fatigue, heart palpitations and shortness of breath had become a frustrating but inescapable part of life. By joining this group of doctors, researchers and other experts advising on the disease, McCray, 36, had hoped to channel her years of experience as a long-COVID patient into "something that could benefit so many individuals like myself and my community," she says. The work, she felt, could make her part of the solution for a debilitating condition that impacts millions of Americans. But McCray had only been on the committee for a few months when she received an email notice that the group was terminated, "effective immediately." McCray's advisory group is one of more than 100 science-focused federal committees that have been terminated under the second Trump administration, according to a news analysis in the journal Nature. As of March of this year, more than a quarter of the country's healthcare-related committees have been shut down, according to the advocacy group Public Citizen. As a result, McCray is one of hundreds of experts who are no longer meeting to work on some of the most intractable and urgent problems around health and science in the United States. |
| Garrard's vision helping shape Jackson's future | |
 | Columnist Bill Crawford writes: A unique urban park in Jackson seeks to become of one of the state's premier cultural destinations. Encompassing four distinct museums and featuring playgrounds, sports venues, walking and biking trails, family-friendly gathering spaces, and improved access to the Pearl River, the Lefleur Museum District is the mission of the Lefleur's Bluff Conservancy chaired by Mississippi Children's Museum founder and Jackson visionary Susan Garrard. "This master plan really was born of the desire from the Children's Museum to replace the Lefleur's Bluff playground," Garrard modestly told the Rotary Club of North Jackson. Already having created one of the nation's top children's museums, she had a much bigger dream. |
| Scott Colom has a 'puncher's chance' against Cindy Hyde-Smith in Senate election | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: Mathematically speaking, Democrat Scott Colom's chances of defeating Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy-Hyde-Smith this November might be underestimated. Many prediction markets give Democrats a near even money chance of capturing the Senate in the November midterm election, based on surprising polling numbers in usual red states including Texas, Alaska, Iowa and Ohio. But neither those prediction markets nor the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee are counting on Mississippi being a state that helps put the Democrats over the top. Granted, the odds are far from favorable for Colom, a district attorney from Lowndes County, to upset Hyde-Smith, who was appointed in 2018 to the Senate by then-Gov. Phil Bryant after Thad Cochran stepped down. This is her third election campaign since the appointment. The reasons Colom is considered a long-shot are many. |
SPORTS
| Football: Evans Eyeing Record-Breaking Year As Season Draws Near | |
| Last season, Brenen Thompson raised the Bulldog bar when he set Mississippi State's single-season receiving yardage record. If Anthony Evans III has it his way, his good friend's accolade will stand for just one year. Only a few days remain before MSU kicks off its new campaign against ULM. The First Saturday in StarkVegas won't just be the start of State's 2026 journey. It'll be the beginning of Evans' quest to top Thompson. Evans' talent and determination combined with head coach Jeff Lebby's playcalling prowess certainly gives Evans every reason to think he can quickly rewrite at least that one section of the State record book. Last year, Thompson became only the fourth Bulldog to ever notch a 1,000-yard season on the way to finishing with 1,054 receiving yards. Not too far behind him was Evans. Evans ended 2025 third in the Southeastern Conference in receptions with 67, and 10th in the league in yardage with 831. It was a tremendous year by any measure – and it came, as Evans describes it, as being the Luigi to Thompson's Mario. "Now I'm the guy, so I'm going to go chase what [Thompson] did," Evans said. |
| LSU poised to sign former NFL players after SEC says it will comply with court order | |
| LSU may soon fire the loudest shot yet in a battle with its own conference. The SEC has communicated to plaintiff attorneys that the league will comply with a Louisiana state court order permitting their clients -- former professional football players -- from a return to college. Yahoo Sports obtained a message from the conference legal counsel to attorneys signaling the news. The message paves the way for a host of players to join SEC programs, most notably at LSU, where two players who signed pro contracts this summer are poised to now be on coach Lane Kiffin's roster. However, it does not end litigation or necessarily mean the league won't in the future impose penalties through other legal mechanisms, such as a suit in federal court, or if the SEC wins in trial. The impending signings continues to put at odds the SEC and LSU in an unprecedented legal collision over athlete eligibility that's been brewing for days. |
| Lane Kiffin and LSU have a green light to add ex-pros as SEC sends message to athletes' attorneys | |
 | Less than a week from kickoff against Clemson, there is nothing stopping LSU football from adding former professional athletes to its roster. As much was clear Friday when a Baton Rouge court amended its temporary restraining order to include the NCAA, Southeastern Conference and commissioner Greg Sankey as defendants, prohibiting the league from penalizing member institutions for adding ex-pros. It became doubly clear Saturday when one of the attorneys for the athletes, Darren Heitner, posted to social media that it is his "understanding" that the SEC and Sankey "will comply with all applicable court orders, including those in Louisiana." This doesn't mean the SEC has rolled over completely, because the Baton Rouge eligibility case -- which seeks a fifth season of competition for a growing list of 40-plus athletes -- is scheduled for a Thursday hearing on a preliminary injunction. Even if the plaintiffs are granted an injunction by Judge William Jorden, the SEC could seek to overturn the decision in a Louisiana appellate court. The league also could attempt to countersue in another jurisdiction, possibly at the federal level. |
| Ruling: SEC can't sanction teams using players with NFL ties | |
| The SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey are not allowed, at least for now, to punish schools if they play a college football player who returns to campus after signing a contract with an NFL team this summer, according to an order signed Friday by a Louisiana state judge. The temporary restraining order prohibits the SEC from enforcing a new rule adopted by the conference earlier this week that threatens stiff penalties for any team that uses a player who previously signed a contract to play in the NFL, NBA or WNBA. The league voted to enact the rule after tight end Dae'Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris announced plans to join their former coach, Lane Kiffin, at LSU after leaving NFL training camps. Their case is one of more than a dozen ongoing lawsuits that challenge the way the NCAA is applying rules that dictate how long athletes can play in college. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry spoke out about Friday's decision to ESPN's Pete Thamel, noting that "I've been saying for a year that college sports need to be fixed." "President [Donald] Trump and [Nick] Saban were right. The rules keep changing, and at this point, no one even knows what the actual rules are," Landry said. "The U.S. Senate needs to step up and fix this. The U.S. Senate needs to quit politicking and start working!" |
| NCAA Eligibility Litigation Is a Crisis That Courts Can't Fix | |
| As the FBS season starts on Saturday, judges across the country are making decisions that alter college football team rosters and playing time opportunities for both newcomers and former college stars who, despite some joining NFL teams, want back in. It's a strange world. And it's not one that the NCAA, a power conference or even court -- save for the U.S. Supreme Court -- can resolve in time for the 2026 season. ... There's no case for the U.S. Supreme Court to review, but Wisne v. NCAA could conceivably play out in a way that gives SCOTUS a chance to weigh in. Namely, when the 10th Circuit sides for the NCAA or the players, the loser could then petition for an en banc review before other 10th Circuit judges and, if that fails, then try the U.S. Supreme Court. With Congress unlikely to solve the debate, maybe a group of nine justices can help out. But it won't be anytime soon. Until then, game on. |
| College sports kicks off its season under the long shadow of court fights over eligibility | |
 | Imagine the Dallas Cowboys threatening to sue the NFC East, then teams in the division saying they won't play them unless they remove a player from their roster. No well-run pro sports league would dream of it. College sports? Threats, lawsuits and instability are now as common as play-action passes and handoffs. The week leading to the start of the 2026 season featured LSU and the Southeastern Conference squaring off amid a destabilizing frenzy of lawsuits over eligibility and the mind-bending reality that players who signed on with a pro team, albeit briefly, might soon be suiting up in college again. Two months ago, it was the Big 12 going to court against one of its own teams, Texas Tech. In between: threats about leagues breaking away, talk of "conference-led governance" and a bill meandering through Congress that proposes to fix it all. "We can enjoy the fact that the players can benefit financially from playing in college now," Duke football coach Manny Diaz said, diagnosing the original reason for the problem. "At the same time, recognize the ultimate truth that we're not a professional sports franchise. We are a collegiate, scholastic school activity, and we've got to rein that in." Or, as Barbara Osborne, a professor at the North Carolina law school who is an expert on NCAA governance put it: "The difference between a professional sports league and collegiate athletics is literally night and day." |
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