Thursday, October 5, 2017   
 
Local leaders included in list of top 50 most influential in state
Several local people have been included in a list naming Mississippi's most influential people. The Mississippi Top 50 Award was created "to recognize those that help, by virtue of their position and talent, move the conversation in Mississippi forward." This includes Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton, Rep. Trent Kelly, Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill, Rep. Bennie Thompson, Sen. Roger Wicker, MSU Chief Communications Officer Sid Salter and the Tennessee Valley Authority's Amy Tate. Also, former Governor Haley Barbour and Rep. Steve Holland of Lee County were named to the Hall of Fame designees for their long careers of public service and business success in Mississippi.
 
Dispatch files public records complaint against Oktibbeha supes
The Commercial Dispatch filed a complaint today with the Mississippi Ethics Commission questioning whether Oktibbeha County supervisors violated the public records act by not releasing requested information regarding the potential purchase or lease OCH Regional Medical Center. County voters will decide on Nov. 7 whether supervisors can sell or lease the county-owned hospital facility. Hospital trustees and its medical staff have already publicly come out against such a transaction. Supervisors met in executive session on Sept. 26 to review proposals submitted from firms seeking to either purchase or lease OCH. After the more than two-hour meeting, supervisors issued a press release indicating they had viewed the proposals. The Dispatch questions whether supervisors have the authority to enter confidentiality agreements to protect otherwise public information -- specifically the number of proposals submitted and the identities of groups submitting them.
 
Starkville to proceed with annexation study
Starkville will move forward with an annexation study, after the measure gained approval from the board of aldermen Tuesday. Oxford-based planning firm Slaughter and Associates will carry out the study. Consultant Mike Slaughter, with the firm, presented to most of the board at a Friday afternoon work session. Mayor Lynn Spruill brought the matter before the board. She said she hopes to see the city grow east, to take in high-growth areas that already receive city services such as water and sewage. "I make no bones about it; one of the things I'd like to see us do is go east and capture the Ford place (Starkville Ford) -- they're very close to our city limits and that's one of the things that was (a reason to annex), because they're receiving city services," she said. "They're receiving the benefits of being in an urban area without paying the taxes of being in an urban area."
 
Tropical Storm Nate gathers strength as it churns toward landfall along Gulf Coast
Tropical Storm Nate, which strengthened early Thursday from a tropical depression in the Caribbean, continues to drench Central America with heavy rain. The storm is on track for a likely U.S. landfall between southeast Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle on Sunday, potentially as a hurricane. While it is too early to determine if Nate will strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches the U.S. mainland, the National Hurricane Center said a hurricane watch was in effect for a northeast portion of the Yucatan Peninsula. The hurricane center's map shows a cone of the storm's probable path extending from southeast Louisiana to a western portion of the Florida Panhandle. That would spare areas hardest-hit by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.
 
Mississippi now collecting lodging tax from online services
Mississippi's tax collector is now collecting sales and lodging taxes from people renting rooms or vacation properties online. Revenue Department Associate Commissioner Kathy Waterbury says the department updated its regulations effective Sept. 28. She says one prominent online service, Airbnb, started collecting Sunday. Waterbury says the properties meet the definition of a hotel under Mississippi law. Airbnb says 1,200 active hosts in Mississippi reaped $3.5 million in revenue in 2016. That would mean nearly $250,000 for the state. Websites, not individuals, will collect the taxes.
 
State's drug epidemic leading to increased workload for child welfare agency
The state's growing drug problem is one of the factors in the increasing caseload for Mississippi's Department of Child Protection Services, its new executive director told legislative leaders recently. To deal with that growing caseload, during the 2018 legislative session, the new agency is requesting $113.2 million in state funding, an increase of $15 million from what it received in the 2017 session, said Executive Director Jess Dickinson. The agency was split from the Department of Human Services during the 2016 legislative session in an effort to deal with problems in the state's foster care system that resulted in a federal lawsuit. The additional money, Dickinson said, would be used to hire 108 new staff, including 60 new positions to staff around the clock a "child abuse/neglect/exploitation reporting and investigating hotline."
 
Can a task force improve Mississippi's approach to mental health?
After years of asking the Legislature to increase funds for the Department of Mental Health, Mississippi's attorney general is saying it's time to change the conversation on mental health in the state. On Tuesday, Attorney General Jim Hood convened the state's first task force on mental health. The meeting brought together 50 leaders in state law enforcement, healthcare and policy. Their goal he said was to generate new approaches to mental health in the state -- and not, he insists, to ask for more money. "I told them, I don't want this to be about funding because I've fussed enough about that," Hood said. "But it's gotten to where we've got to make this a more efficient system to try to help people that have a mental health issue. They deserve a better system that they can more easily use."
 
HB 1523 goes into effect soon, but has it become irrelevant on the Coast?
It all started with a check from her aunt. Photographer and Bay St. Louis business owner Ann Madden said she cashed in her birthday present in the name of equality and inclusion last year as the status of House Bill 1523 loomed over Mississippi. Madden, who co-owns Smith and Lens gallery, had signs that said ALL are welcome printed, and she handed them out to just about every business in Old Town Bay St. Louis. To this day, businesses big and small still hang the carnival-themed sign in storefront windows. The signs represent a peaceful protest of HB 1523, a bill that gives businesses the right to refuse service to LGBT people due to religious views or preferences. After lengthy court battles, HB 1523 goes into effect next Tuesday. Madden's "ALL are welcome" sign campaign is joined by the "If you're buying, we're selling" campaign.
 
Pollster: New Flag Vote 'Unwise' for Change Advocates
Brad Chism of Chism Strategies says his new poll shows less than half of people support keeping the current Mississippi flag, which prominently features a Confederate emblem. But the sample wanting to change the flag is even smaller. He compares the new data to 2001 when voters cast ballots to keep the flag. "The poll was a non-binding referendum in 2001 and it failed with a 64 percent 'no' margin. And now we're looking at the no's going from 64 [percent] to 49 [percent]. There's still not a majority of people who want to retire the state flag, but it is important to note that for the first time, there is not a majority affirming continuing to fly this flag," says Chism. Chism says those pushing for a change in the state flag would not likely succeed in a statewide vote.
 
Roy Moore's disruption of Washington has already begun, and more on the way
Roy Moore didn't travel to Washington on Wednesday to kiss and make up with the Republican leaders who opposed his nomination to fill the Senate seat formerly held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He came to continue the revolt. Moore didn't meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) or stop by the White House to make nice with the forcesĀ­ that tried to defeat him. Instead, he huddled with Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump's former chief strategist and one of Moore's most outspoken advocates, and spent time in the office of a House Republican from Alabama. The latest skirmish in the escalating war for the soul of the GOP was more than awkward: It was a window into what might be coming for Republicans next year.
 
Tillerson vows to stay on amid tensions with Trump: 'I have never considered leaving this post'
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insisted Wednesday that he is not planning to quit, rebutting persistent reports of policy disputes and personal clashes with the White House. "I have never considered leaving this post," Tillerson said at an extraordinary and hastily called news conference at the State Department. Tillerson did not directly respond to an NBC News report earlier Wednesday that he had referred to President Trump as a "moron." "I'm not going to deal with petty stuff like that," Tillerson said, adding that he does not understand what he called a Washington impulse to "sow dissension" and undermine the administration's work.
 
Reps. Stivers, Harper and Carter Come Out on Top in House GOP Digital Challenge
Three House Republicans -- Steve Stivers of Ohio, Gregg Harper of Mississippi and Earl L. "Buddy" Carter of Georgia -- proudly accepted first, second and third prizes, respectively, for participating in the party's Digital Challenge. Every member of the conference had until Oct. 2 to drive traffic to a website promoting the GOP's vision for a tax overhaul, fairandsimple.gop. Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who has led eight of these challenges, decided to make the landing page the home of the GOP's framework for fixing the tax code. "Tax reform is our top priority because it will help create jobs, grow our economy, and put more money in the pockets of hard-working taxpayers," said Stivers, the first-place winner. "I saw this as a great opportunity to communicate with my constituents about how tax reform can help all Americans -- individuals, families, and businesses."
 
DNC, RNC step up cyber protections
The Democratic and Republican national committees are both making significant investments in cybersecurity to prevent hacking in the run-up to future elections. Campaign cybersecurity has gained greater visibility among staffers up and down the ranks of both national political committees following Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election, which included cyberattacks against the DNC and former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. RNC staff say that a big reason hackers were unsuccessful is the party's longstanding data security operations, which date back to the creation of the party's massive voter data file in 2000. RNC tech personnel have been testing staffers with phishing attacks, providing them with initial cybersecurity training and checkups and broadly implementing security protocols like two-factor authentication.
 
MUW's 29th annual Welty Symposium to feature diverse lineup
From bestselling author of "Big Fish" Daniel Wallace to high school writers from Mississippi to CNN analyst Jeffery Toobin -- attendees of Mississippi University for Women's 29th annual Welty Symposium and Gala can expect a diverse lineup, event organizer Kendall Dunkelberg told Rotarians at their weekly lunch Tuesday. The Welty Symposium is a three-day celebration of Southern writers, where students, faculty and the public can hear published authors read and speak about their work. Dunkelberg, English professor and Creative Writing graduate program director, has organized the symposium for the last 10 years. "It (is) a celebration of Southern literature," he said. "This is a wonderful, cultural opportunity in Columbus and it's open to everyone," MUW president Jim Borsig said. "It's a chance to see up-and-coming Southern writers as well as established Southern writers."
 
4 Ole Miss Greek organizations under investigation for possible hazing
Four Greek letter organizations are under investigation following reports of hazing, according to Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Brandi Hephner LaBanc. "I can't speak any further on that right now because of the investigations, but I can confirm that is the case," she told The Daily Mississippian on Tuesday evening. Hephner LaBanc said she is happy the issues are being reported. "We're taking (the reports) seriously, and, frankly, we are happy that people are reporting," she said. "We want people to elevate that this risk is occurring so we can intervene quickly and eliminate or drastically reduce those risks, with the goal being elimination." She said the administration wants these issues to be reported both to take care of the university community and to be used as an educational opportunity to let people know hazing is not tolerated on campus.
 
Why are so many pediatricians leaving UMMC?
Dr. Omar Abdul-Rahman, former vice chairman of faculty development for University of Mississippi Medical Center's pediatric department, planned to spend his entire career in Jackson. He was born at UMMC and went there for medical school. He had just finished building a house. Two months ago, he left the hospital, where he worked in genetics, and moved out of state. Abdul-Rahman said his departure is part of a mass exodus of pediatricians and other physicians leaving UMMC in recent months -- the result, he says, of poor leadership and budget cuts. He's one of 22 pediatric doctors and another four specialists from other departments who work with children who have left since July 2016. Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, said the department has hired replacements to fill the vacant positions and even created new positions.
 
Ole Miss physicists had role in groundbreaking work
University of Mississippi physicists worked with the 2017 winners of the Nobel Prize in physics on the groundbreaking discovery of gravitational waves in 2015. Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Rainer Weiss, and California Institute of Technology professors Kip Thorne and Barry Barish were awarded Tuesday the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery of ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves, predicted by Albert Einstein, but never directly seen. Several University of Mississippi physicists worked on the research that began in 1983. "Kip and Rai (Thorne and Weiss) are two of the most clever and kind people I ever had the honor of working with," said Marco Cavaglia, Ole Miss professor of physics and astronomy and head of the university's Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory team.
 
Son honors mother, a 1920 USM graduate, with donation of extensive cookbook collection
A large, remarkable donation to a culinary research project at the University of Southern Mississippi has been made in honor of a 1920 alumna of the school. Anderson Orr, a resident of Norfolk, Virginia, and native of Carthage, recently gave more than 2,500 cookbooks he has collected to the McCain Library and Archives at USM. The donation is a tribute to his mother, the late Lessie Katherine Amsler of Leakesville, who graduated from Southern Miss when it was known as Mississippi Normal College. Orr is retired from Virginia Wesleyan University, where he was a member of the faculty for 32 years after earning his Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Virginia. Although cooking was always a passion for Orr, it was while pursuing his doctorate that he started entertaining for friends and began collecting cookbooks.
 
Delta State receives prestigious National Park Service award
The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area recently received 2016 National Park Service Centennial Awards for creating the Delta Jewels Oral History Partnership. The cultural heritage interpretation project has honored the lives of unsung Mississippi Delta church mothers featured in Alysia Burton Steele's book, "Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother's Wisdom." Delta State was the only higher education institution and MDNHA was the only National Heritage Area to receive a NPS Centennial Award this year. For 18 months in 2015 and 2016, the Delta Jewels Oral History Partnership's community gatherings engaged over 1,000 Mississippi Delta residents, visitors and supporters. The gatherings took place in diverse, welcoming venues throughout the state including universities, churches and tourism and cultural centers.
 
Delta conference brings academics, musicians to the home of the Blues
Perhaps Alan Lomax's greatest contribution to storytelling was letting the South speak for itself, John Szwed said to a room full of Blues academics this week. "I think everyone knows there are terrific complexities of culture and mysteries in the South. Lomax certainly did," Szwed said during his keynote presentation Delta State University's annual International Conference on the Blues. Lomax's goal was to capture that heritage. While Lomax and Johnny Lee Hooker were the dual focus of the conference, dozens of scholars and musicians traveled across the country to present on topics from how Blues influenced the music that came out of Parchman Penitentiary to how rap finds its roots in the Blues.
 
Truck driving program comes back to East Mississippi Community College
The path to a steady, lucrative career has been made easier with the return of the truck driving program at East Mississippi Community College. The program has gone from under the heading of the college's career/technical programs to workforce services as a noncredit course. The timeframe of the course has been cut in half from eight to four weeks. "We're going to cover pre-trip inspections, all the different parking maneuvers and obviously do some road driving," said instructor Mark Dodson. "We've basically shortened the program to get people employed quicker. They can get in, get their license and go to work after." Students in the program will also learn safety rules and regulations, air brakes and hazardous materials safety rules. "We can hit the ground running and be able to jump right in the truck," Dodson said. The cost of the course is $1,800, with tuition assistance available for qualified students.
 
Death of U. of Tennessee student who jumped from campus parking garage ruled suicide
Authorities have determined a 19-year-old University of Tennessee student took his own life when he jumped from the top of a campus parking garage over the weekend. The body of Michael Feehan of Memphis was discovered about 2:30 a.m. Sunday in the area of the six-level parking garage at 1818 Lake Ave., according to the Knoxville Police Department. An initial search for the student began after campus police were alerted by his parents, who requested a welfare check on their son, according to KPD. The Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network encourages anyone who is in suicidal crisis or emotional distress to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The free, 24-hour hotline can connect callers with the nearest crisis center.
 
U. of Tennessee looks to revise bonus payments for top administrators
A University of Tennessee board of trustees committee will look Thursday at eliminating the idea of "partial credit" for some goals used to evaluate whether administrators receive performance-based bonuses. The proposed change would make it harder for university leaders to get paid extra for some, but not all, goals that are only partially met. It will be considered by the Executive and Compensation Committee during a 1 p.m. meeting on the UT Knoxville campus. The proposal comes as the board is considering overall revisions to its incentive compensation plan, which is used to award performance-based bonuses to top leaders, but for now would only affect bonuses for the 2016-2017 year, typically considered for approval in March. In March, the board approved more than $360,000 in bonuses for seven top administrators, including a $101,816 bonus for UT President Joe DiPietro, who earns a base salary of $539,011.
 
Texas A&M hits record-high enrollment with fall 2017 semester: 68,625
Texas A&M has reached record-high enrollment with the fall 2017 semester, according to university officials who said Wednesday 68,625 students are currently enrolled -- a 3.3 percent increase over the previous year. Of the total, 62,527 of the students attend the campus in College Station and 2,473 attend the campus in Galveston. The remaining students are split between the Qatar campus, the Texas A&M School of Law, the McAllen campus, the Texas A&M Health Science Center training sites and the numerous institutions -- such as Blinn College -- where students can achieve a co-enrolled status. Texas A&M Director of Recruitment Lynn Barnes said although the university's growth has outpaced the original enrollment goals it had previously set, he and his colleagues are pleased to see that student interest in the school continues to grow.
 
Five U.S. presidents coming to Aggieland for benefit concert
Plans were well underway for a celebratory dinner later this month to honor the 20th anniversary of the opening of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the Texas A&M campus. But then Hurricane Harvey dumped 50-plus inches of rain on Texas' coastal cities, took more than 75 lives and swallowed thousands of homes, businesses and cars in late August, so having a big party in his honor didn't seem right to the 41st President of the United States. In its place, Bush suggested pulling together a fundraiser for the victims of the devastating storm. Then the benefactor list expanded after deadly hurricanes struck Florida and Puerto Rico in September. Those with the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation in College Station responded to his request by putting together an Oct. 21 concert -- dubbed "Deep from the Heart" -- that will bring not just top music performers to Reed Arena, but all five living former presidents: Both Bushes, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
 
U. of Missouri chancellor touts working groups as way forward after climate survey
The University of Missouri is addressing the chief frustrations raised by faculty, staff and students in a fall 2016 campus climate survey -- including low salaries and lack of institutional support -- by forming working groups. The groups -- one for MU faculty, one for staff, and another of students -- will begin meeting this month. Each group is tasked with finding three to five actions they can commit to accomplishing in the next year in response to some of the concerns raised in the survey. Provost Garnett Stokes will lead the faculty work group. MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright made the announcement Wednesday to a room of about 90 at a fall general faculty meeting.
 
New federal data on student borrowing, repayment and default
New federal data show that college students are taking out more student loan debt and also taking longer to pay it off. The report from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, released today, examines patterns of student loan repayment for two separate groups of borrowers -- those who started college in the 1995-96 academic year and those who started eight years later, in 2003-04. Twelve years after beginning their postsecondary educations, the second group had paid off a smaller proportion of their student loans and had defaulted at a higher rate on at least one loan. In addition to the rising price of college, multiple factors may have contributed to changing profile of student loan repayment.
 
Study: For-profits blamed for many student debt defaults
Students who attended for-profit colleges were twice as likely or more to default on their loans than students who attended public educational institutions, according to a federal study published Wednesday. The report by the National Center of Education Statistics looks at students who began their undergraduate education in 2003 and defaulted on at least one loan over the next 12 years. Fifty-two percent of the students who attended for-profit schools defaulted on their loan. That's compared to 17 percent for those who attended a four-year public institution and 26 percent at community college. The report also finds that the for-profit students defaulted on their federal student loans in greater numbers than their predecessors eight years before.
 
U. of Memphis will offer six weeks of paid parental leave
The University of Memphis will implement a paid parental leave policy after the Board of Trustees approved funding for the plan Wednesday morning. University President David Rudd said Memphis will be the first public higher education institution in Tennessee to offer paid leave for new parents, per a review done by a working group of the university's faculty senate. The board endorsed moving forward with such a policy in June, contingent on a funding plan. Wednesday's vote, done in a committee meeting, completes the board's involvement in developing the policy. The administration will now work with faculty and staff to write it. Rudd said the policy will offer six weeks paternal or maternal leave for adopting or having a biological child. He said it will also "absolutely" extend to same-sex couples. The total expected cost is $715,000 a year.
 
Penn State Fraternity Is Suspended After Student Is Found Unconscious
Pennsylvania State University on Wednesday suspended the Delta Tau Delta fraternity after a student suspected of drinking there was found unconscious and was hospitalized, according to the Associated Press. The 18-year-old male student was found unconscious in a State College street by the local police in late September. He is now recovering, said Lisa Powers, a university spokeswoman. The suspension of Delta Tau Delta followed the death of a freshman, Timothy Piazza, at another fraternity's initiation event in February. His death resulted in criminal charges against several members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity who were present at the event.
 
Years later numerous myths, falsehoods about 2001 flag vote
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Bobby Harrison writes: "It seems like it was only yesterday, but it has now been more than 16 years since Mississippians went to the polls to decide whether they wanted to keep their state flag, replete with the Confederate battle emblem as a prominent part of its design. In the years since that referendum, there has been a significant amount of revisionist history and downright misinformation distributed about that historic vote. It is important to know the real facts about that vote because Mississippi's political leaders and their constituents continue to debate whether the controversial state flag should be replaced."


SPORTS
 
Long snapping saved Hunter Bradley's football career
There are plenty of excuses Hunter Bradley could have used to walk away from the game of football. Bradley has suffered through four knee injuries and endured a position change midway through his college career. Yet, Bradley is in his sixth season at Mississippi State firing perfect bullets as the Bulldogs' long snapper. "I definitely prayed about it and my family was a huge drive behind me to keep pushing," Bradley said. "It's one of those things where deep down I knew I had the ability, I just couldn't catch a lucky break and be healthy enough to go out and prove it." In a day when most players crave the spotlight, Bradley relishes the anonymity his role brings. "Unless I'm making a tackle or downing a punt, I enjoy not having the commentators or anybody even saying my name," Bradley said. "I just fly under the radar and get my job done. If they're not making comments then that's probably a good thing."
 
J.T. Gray thriving in new defensive role for Bulldogs
J.T. Gray was thrust into action midway through his true freshman season in and was rewarded with a spot on the 2014 SEC All-Freshman team. The past three seasons, Mississippi State has utilized Gray's speed as an undersized outside linebacker. He racked up 145 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks over that span while earning 10 starts. When new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham arrived in January, he approached the 6-foot, 202-pounder about moving back to safety for his senior campaign. "Coach Grantham just came and told me that I was going to be playing DB," Gray said. "I was fine with it because that's really what I played before I started playing linebacker."
 
NCAA seeking to limit football staff sizes, move practice start back to August beginning in 2018
The NCAA on Wednesday announced a pair of new proposals for 2018, one that that would limit football staff sizes to 30 and another that would move the start of football practice back to early August. According to the proposal, FBS schools would be "required to designate 30 individuals who will participate in on-campus football recruiting activities." There is currently no limit on the number of staffers who can be involved in recruiting, and many schools have football staffs numbering several dozen. The proposal, introduced by the Division I Council, must first pass the Division I Football Oversight Committee at its January meeting before it can take effect next Aug. 1. However, that is typically regarded as a rubber-stamp process.
 
LSU coach Ed Orgeron defends himself, Joe Alleva in critic-heavy radio show
Ed Orgeron defended his position as LSU's football coach and praised his boss, athletic director Joe Alleva, amid heavy criticism during the coach's weekly radio show on Wednesday from TJ Ribs restaurant in Baton Rouge. "I earned the job, (was) given the interim job and I earned it, whether you like it or not," Orgeron fired back at a critical caller to a round of applause from those present at the live airing of the show. Orgeron's Tigers dropped to 3-2 after losing 24-21 last weekend to Troy, the first nonconference home loss in 17 years. The defeat -- along with a 30-point loss at Mississippi State Sept. 16 -- has sent a surge of criticism at Orgeron and Alleva. The coach defended Alleva during one segment, calling him the "best athletic director" he's worked for and a man who's supplied him with anything he's asked.
 
Did Nick Saban Break L.S.U.?
In other parts of the country, Bayou Lafourche might be called a creek. It creeps away from the Mississippi River and passes through this speed trap town on the way to the Gulf of Mexico, a liquid median between the parallel roads that take unceasing punishment from the eighteen-wheelers that service the offshore oil rigs. As you drive closer to the coast here, land gives way to marshes and water: Because of erosion and other factors, the land is disappearing, a can't-miss metaphor for precarious survival. Ed Orgeron, who is in his first full season as Louisiana State's head football coach, hails from here, making him the first native leader of the state's sole top-tier college football team in nearly a quarter-century. The last two months have been a baleful beginning for Orgeron's full-time tenure.
 
Georgia's payout for 2021 football game disclosed
The 2021 Georgia football nonconference game announced last week falls into the same financial ballpark of other guarantee games the school has lined up recently. UAB will get $1.8 million for the game in Athens on Sept. 11, 2021, according to a contract signed by officials at both schools in August and obtained Tuesday by the Athens Banner-Herald from UAB under an open records request. UAB announced last week the schools had agreed to play the game. Georgia is paying $1.9 million for a game with Kent State in in 2022, $1.8 million for a home game with Arkansas State in 2019 and $1.7 million to face Middle Tennessee State in 2018.
 
Congress begins whispering about ways to punish the NCAA
Seizing on Republican criticism of the NCAA boycott of North Carolina over the state law that became known nationally as the "bathroom bill," some congressional staffers are looking for a legislative path to payback -- and it might come by allowing players more rights to their name, image and likeness. Such open political engagement for a nonprofit -- the NCAA operates as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3), which imposes restrictions on political actions and lobbying -- annoyed Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina and federal ones in Washington. It is not the only way Congress is putting college athletics under the microscope. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has requested a briefing on the latest scandal, which involves accusations of shoe companies paying high-level basketball players to steer them to schools that the shoe companies have contracts with.



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