| Thursday, April 16, 2026 |
| Delta Council annual meeting moves to Stoneville in May | |
 | Delta Council will hold its 91st annual meeting at a new venue about a month earlier than normal on May 8. The meeting will feature keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson Jr. (R-Penn.), chair of the House of Representatives' Committee on Agriculture. The new site will be "The Lawn" at Mississippi State University's Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, Miss. For 90 years, Delta State University has been the site of the meeting, but due to the earlier date, the location has changed. Delta Council President Clint Dunn of Itta Bena, Miss., expressed his enthusiasm for the event and its keynote speaker. "We are honored to welcome Chairman GT Thompson to the Mississippi Delta for our 91st annual meeting," Dunn said. "His leadership on agricultural policy and commitment to rural America make him uniquely qualified to address the challenges and opportunities facing our region. Having Chairman Thompson speak to our members at our new venue in Stoneville reflects our ongoing commitment to innovation and progress, which continues with the values of our distinguished guest." |
| Grisham Master Teacher Kelly Moser unpacks 'magic' of teaching at upcoming lecture | |
 | Mississippi State's Grisham Lecture Series continues this month with a talk by 2025-26 Grisham Master Teacher Kelly Moser on purposeful practices in teaching. Scheduled for April 23 at 3 p.m. in Mitchell Memorial Library's John Grisham Room, the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literature associate professor's lecture "Explaining the Trick: What Looks Like Magic in Teaching and Why It Isn't" will explore the strategies, preparation and pedagogical insight behind transformative classroom experiences, offering a closer look at the work that drives effective teaching and student learning. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, Moser serves as director of teaching initiatives in the College of Arts and Sciences and mentors students and aspiring educators. |
| SDI Biocarbon Solutions opens $300 million facility in Lowndes County | |
| The ceremonial ribbon has been cut, signaling that a $300 million facility where steel will be made in a more eco-friendly manner is now open in Mississippi's Golden Triangle. Gov. Tate Reeves announced Wednesday that SDI Biocarbon Solutions, a joint venture between Steel Dynamics and Aymium, is up and running in Lowndes County. At the facility, steel will be manufactured without using any coal, which puts a strain on the environment. Instead, wood pellets will be utilized as an alternative source and are expected to release far less carbon into the atmosphere than burning coal would have. SDI Biocarbon Solutions is believed to be one of the largest renewable biocarbon production facilities globally with an expected annual production capacity of 228,000 metric tons. The facility, which employs over 80 people, is located near one of Steel Dynamics' largest mills. |
| Mary Means Business: American Deli prepares a return to the mall | |
 | A Columbus favorite is reopening soon. When American Deli closed in Columbus Place back in May, the reaction was everywhere. People weren't just disappointed; they wanted to know not if, but when American Deli would reopen. It was all over social media, and I got several texts and emails. Now, we finally have some good news. Contractor Tony Vu says the long-awaited reopening date is just about here. ... Moving on, Columbus-based Prestige Event Rentals is expanding its footprint, officially opening a Starkville location at 100 Russell St. From large-scale tents to popcorn machines, Prestige Event Rentals has almost anything you need to host a wedding or other large event. Check out their website and social media for more information. Speaking of events, the annual Cotton District Arts Festival is Saturday. What started in 1986 has grown into one of Starkville's signature events, bringing artists, makers and plenty of foot traffic into the Cotton District. |
| Governor's vetoes stand as lawmakers sine die | |
| The recent vetoes issued by Governor Tate Reeves (R) will stand after lawmakers could not reach consensus on attempts to override the governor's vetoes. Efforts to override a governor's veto typically begin in the chamber in which the legislation originated, as was seen on Wednesday. House lawmakers sent their vetoed bills back to committee to consider overrides. When they returned to the floor, the Republican-majority chamber voted to override two vetoes, one for the establishment of the Gulf Coast Restoration Revolving Loan Program under HB 1648 and the other for portions of HB 1924 related to certain opioid settlement spending. The House also voted to suspend the rules to consider extending repealers on several youth court statutes under HB 938 that died prior to lawmakers heading home on April 3. All three measures were then sent to the Senate. Yet, when the measures made their way across the Capitol, the Senate could not muster the votes necessary to act on the House overrides or on their own bills Reeves had vetoed. |
| Back at the Capitol with nothing to show for it: Legislature fails to override Gov. Reeves' vetoes | |
| Lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Wednesday with the single purpose of overriding several of Gov. Tate Reeves' vetoes. After some debate and lots of sitting around and waiting for something to happen, they left without accomplishing that goal. It was a stunning defeat for Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann that surprised lawmakers in both chambers, with some proclaiming they'd never witnessed such a blunder while serving in the Legislature. "I've been here since 1975, and I've never seen anything like this," said Sen. Hillman Frazier, a Democrat from Jackson. The Republican-dominated Legislature chose to return after adjourning for just under two weeks to try to override some of the vetoes handed down by the Republican governor. House Speaker Jason White, a Republican, said he was "puzzled" by what transpired in the Senate and "disappointed by their actions, but not surprised." He pointed to political pressure that Reeves likely applied to senators wary of crossing him. |
| Gov. Reeves vetoes funding match for Jackson Municipal Airport Authority | |
| If you've flown out of the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport recently, you've probably noticed construction near the ticket counters. The airport is looking at a federal funding match to help in its revitalization project. The Jackson Municipal Airport Authority was seeking a $500,000 funding match that would have brought their federal grant total to $2.5 million. The funding will help the airport pay for priority improvements that include repairing one of the airport's escalators, elevators, baggage system enhancements and more. Rep. Fabian Nelson said he disagrees with the veto and that these improvements are necessary for the airport's future. "We can't afford to just leave federal dollars on the table. That's a no-brainer. $500,000, you get a $2.5 million match," said Nelson. "And these are for infrastructure upgrades, elevators, escalators. And we have to stop looking at the airport as being Jackson's airport. It services the entire Central Mississippi area." While the airport's efforts to accomplish these improvements continue, JMAA has also been fighting the recent state-takeover of the airport's ownership. The airport authority was granted a trial that is set to begin later this June. |
| DNC Chair, Vice Chair coming to support Mississippi Democrats | |
| The Mississippi Democratic Party announced Wednesday that Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin and DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta will serve as special guest speakers at the 2026 Hamer Winter Dinner, scheduled for Friday, May 22, at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. The party said the addition of the two top national Democratic leaders marks a significant moment for the event and signals the national party's commitment to Mississippi Democrats. "Having DNC Chair Ken Martin and Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta join us at the Hamer Winter Dinner is a powerful statement, a statement that the national Democratic Party stands with Mississippi, and that the work we are doing here matters. This is exactly the kind of moment that energizes our base, strengthens our organization, and reminds every Democrat in this state that they are not alone in this fight. We are building something real, and national leadership sees it," said State Rep. Cheikh Taylor, Chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party. |
| 'We can't wait forever': Ethics Committee under scrutiny | |
 | The resignation of two lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct has drawn renewed scrutiny of the House Ethics Committee. The 10-member committee, which is composed of five Republicans and five Democrats, had announced investigations of Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, when they resigned. The committee, which is considered the House's place for recourse for allegations of wrongdoing against members, announced the investigation involving Swalwell Monday and announced the Gonzales investigation March 4. The lawmakers' resignations would effectively negate the need for the committee to investigate. Now, with both men formally resigning Tuesday, lawmakers say they are frustrated with the length of time it takes to move investigations through the panel. They're calling for expedited reviews and changes to how the committee conducts itself. Speaking to reporters after House votes Tuesday evening, Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest, R-Miss., defended the committee's lengthy and closed-door processes. "Each investigation has to stand on its own. So some investigations can be accomplished much quicker than others," Guest said. |
| Republicans battle over 'last chance' to enact Trump agenda | |
 | Senate Republicans are battling among themselves over the size and scope of a budget reconciliation bill that some GOP lawmakers argue is the "last chance" to enact President Trump's legislative agenda before Democrats win back the House and possibly the Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has told colleagues that he wants to keep the budget reconciliation package, which can pass the Senate without facing a Democratic filibuster, narrowly focused on funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. But Thune's vision for the bill is being challenged by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other Senate conservatives who want to swing for the fences and pass an ambitiously large reconciliation bill that could include increases in defense funding, a proposal to modify capital gains taxes to reflect inflation, and funding to cover ICE and Border Patrol for the next decade. |
| Tillis holds the cards in Trump Fed clash -- and won't fold | |
 | Donald Trump has a growing Thom Tillis problem. The administration's actions this week are doing nothing to solve it. As the president flirts with trying to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and dismisses Tillis as "no longer a senator," the retiring North Carolina Republican shot back with his own message to the administration Wednesday: "I'm not dead yet." "I'm not very tauntable," he told reporters. "That's part of growing up in a trailer park -- you kind of get used to this stuff." Tillis is blocking Trump's Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, until the Justice Department drops an investigation into Powell. And the stalemate is leaving him in limbo with no clear off-ramp in sight. The Senate Banking Committee, where Tillis holds a deciding vote, is holding Warsh's nomination hearing next Tuesday. And Tillis is leaving the door open to using even more of his leverage, including his Senate Judiciary vote in the event the panel considers a successor to former Attorney General Pam Bondi. Some of Tillis' fellow Republicans privately acknowledged Wednesday they don't understand the White House's current strategy, which they believe risks antagonizing Tillis and empowering Powell. |
| The Decades-Old Legal Question at the Heart of the Fed Chair Showdown | |
 | At the heart of President Trump's threat to fire Jerome Powell lies an unsettled legal question: When the Fed chair's term expires without a confirmed successor, who gets to decide what happens next? This week, the administration signaled that if no successor is confirmed by May 15, Powell shouldn't continue as chair. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that several people -- not just Powell -- could serve as the Federal Reserve's interim leader, naming Vice Chair Philip Jefferson and governor Christopher Waller as alternatives. On Wednesday, Trump went further, saying "I'll have to fire him" if Powell didn't step aside. But last month, Powell pre-emptively staked out his position, announcing he would continue leading the central bank as "chair pro tempore" if no successor is confirmed on time. "That is what the law calls for," Powell said. "That's what we've done on several occasions, including involving me. And it's what we're going to do in this situation." Powell's forceful public claim to the job is itself a message to the White House: contesting it would mean yet another courtroom fight over the Fed's independence. His apparent confidence rests on legal arguments the Fed has honed over many decades even though the law is open to interpretation. |
| White House sidesteps vaccine skeptics in potential CDC leadership reset | |
 | Trump administration officials believe they have found a prescription to fix the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: a four-person team to lead an agency charged with advising Americans on navigating health challenges that has seen a precipitous decline in public trust. The move comes amid questions about whether the CDC will continue to implement Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine agenda or back away ahead of the midterm elections, with many voters opposed to Kennedy's efforts to roll back vaccine policies. Kennedy and his deputies have recommended that President Donald Trump nominate Erica Schwartz, a former deputy U.S. surgeon general, to lead the Atlanta-based CDC. The decision remained in front of Trump as of Wednesday afternoon. Officials have also assembled three other senior officials, including a former Walmart health executive, Texas's current health commissioner and the No. 2 leader of the Food and Drug Administration to round out Schwartz's planned leadership team. |
| Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor Issues Public Apology to Kavanaugh | |
| Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor publicly apologized to Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday after suggesting last week that he didn't know any blue-collar workers because he had a privileged upbringing. "At a recent appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law, I referred to a disagreement with one of my colleagues in a prior case, but I made remarks that were inappropriate," Sotomayor said in a statement released by the court. "I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague." On April 7, while discussing a Supreme Court ruling that eased restrictions on investigatory stops by federal immigration agents, Sotomayor criticized Kavanaugh, who wrote an opinion in support of the ruling. "I had a colleague in that case who wrote, you know, these are only temporary stops," Sotomayor said at the event, according to Bloomberg Law. "This is from a man whose parents were professionals. And probably doesn't really know any person who works by the hour." It is common for justices to spar in their written opinions, and they sometimes expound on their legal disagreements in speeches or interviews. But Sotomayor's comment, with its reference to Kavanaugh's family, was unusually personal. |
| More Young Men Say Religion Is 'Very Important' to Them, Poll Finds | |
 | For several years, many pastors across the country have noticed young adults, especially men, filling their pews. Leaders have welcomed these new worshipers, even if their arrival has remained something of a mystery. A new Gallup survey adds muscle to those anecdotal reports. The poll finds a sharp rise in the share of men under 30 who say that religion is "very important" to them: 42 percent in 2025, from 28 percent in 2023. Scholars, activists and faith leaders have hotly debated whether the phenomenon is real and lasting. Some have brushed it away as a blip, and others have celebrated it as a revival. Gallup's survey, which combined polling data across multiple years, seems to confirm that young men are indeed becoming more religious. But it has found that religion is dropping in importance among young women, widening a surprising gender gap for young adults. For decades, surveys have found that women are consistently more religious than their male peers. |
| Reeves approves $100M for new UMMC cancer center | |
| Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday signed legislation appropriating $100 million to build a new cancer center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, fulfilling the hospital's sizable funding request to lawmakers this session. The medical center plans to break ground on the new center later this year. "This effort is more than constructing a building," Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs, said in a statement to Mississippi Today. "It is about improving cancer outcomes in a state with the highest cancer mortality in the nation, expanding access to lifesaving therapies and accelerating discoveries that will benefit patients across our state for generations to come." The center's estimated cost is $250 million. On March 30, officials announced the medical center's fundraising campaign had raised $100 million of its $125 million goal and was entering the "public phase" of its campaign, inviting individuals, families, employees and communities to donate. |
| Experience transition frustrates students as class registration continues | |
 | Students began encountering difficulties with Experience, the website that houses the University of Mississippi's new registration system, as priority registration opened on Monday, April 13. Problems included difficulty logging onto the Experience platform, submitting registration requests and being prohibited from enrolling in classes because the system did not recognize earned pre-requisites for certain courses. Some students have been forced to file manual override requests. The registration application shift from myOleMiss to Experience came as a part of the years-long initiative, Project Encompass, with the purpose to modernize the university's information systems. JT Cunningham, a junior political science major from Nazareth, Pa., said course registration on Monday was chaotic. While some students faced problems while registering, UM Director of News and Media Relations Jacob Batte emphasized that the amount of successful student registrations was in line with years prior. However, on top of the class registration issues, some students believe that the university did not communicate effectively about how to address the issues they were facing. |
| MC students present original discoveries during Research Week 2026 | |
| Undergraduate and graduate students from a wide range of academic disciplines at Mississippi College will share their original research during Research Week 2026, scheduled from April 21 to 24 on the Clinton campus. Christian Pinnen, MC professor of history and political science, said about 130 MC students will present posters and papers describing projects originating from the MC Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Electrical Engineering, English and Philosophy, History and Political Science, Psychology and Social Work, Public Health, and the Schools of Nursing and Science and Mathematics. He said the event highlights notable student projects and fosters collaboration between academic disciplines across campus. |
| Longtime Hinds Community College president dies | |
| The longtime president of Hinds Community College (HCC) has passed away at age 96. The college announced that President Emeritus Clyde Muse died on Wednesday. "His impact as a true leader in education was felt not only at Hinds, but across the state and nation," the college said in a statement. "Our sincere condolences go out to the Muse family, as well as the Hinds family and the larger community." Muse was the president emeritus of the college, a position he had held since retiring as president on June 30, 2020, according to HCC's social media page. Prior to taking on that role, Muse served as president of HCC for 42 years, becoming the longest-serving community college president in state history and one of the longest-serving college presidents in the nation. Before Hinds, Muse was a teacher and coach in Canton and Starkville, and went on to become a school superintendent in Hinds County and later Meridian. |
| Legislative watchdog report says most private school tax credits are not being spent on education | |
| The money private schools receive through a statewide tax-credit program is mostly being spent outside of the classroom, according to a report. The Children's Promise Act, championed by House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, has been incentivizing Mississippians to donate to private schools since 2020. The program gives donors a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for up to 50% of the donor's state tax bill. Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, originally billed the program as a way to give money to nonprofit organizations that care for foster children, but a provision to give tax credits to private school donors was included in the bill. This past year, the Legislature increased the total amount of tax credits available to Mississippians by $6 million. An analysis requested by Rep. Daryl Porter, a Democrat from Summit, and shared with Mississippi Today shows that schools using the money "to directly support educational services tended to be the exception rather than the norm." |
| U. of Arkansas audit suggests ousted professor misspent research funds | |
| The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's ousted African American Studies Director Najja Baptist appears to have charged tens of thousands of dollars of personal expenses to the university, according to documents obtained by the Arkansas Times. Baptist, who filed a federal lawsuit against the university on Monday, was dismissed in March. The university's audit and findings from an internal investigation by the university's Office of Equal Opportunity, Compliance and Title IX into Baptist's discrimination complaint shed more light on the contentious firing. Auditors reported that Baptist charged $48,344 to the university for personal travel and expenses related to his wedding, which was in June 2025, and that he didn't have prior approval from the university's Internal Review Board. That approval is required for any research involving human subjects. The audit also said documents Baptist provided during the auditing process did not support claims that the charges being questioned were research- or business-related. |
| Chancellor of University System of Georgia Sonny Perdue to retire | |
| University System of Georgia (USG) Chancellor Sonny Perdue announced his retirement Wednesday, concluding more than four decades of public service, including roles in the Georgia State Senate, two terms as governor and as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. The Board of Regents will search for the next chancellor, with Perdue continuing to serve until a successor is named. USG's enrollment in fiscal year 2025 surged to its third consecutive year of record-high enrollment under his leadership. Perdue installed 14 presidents across the system's 25 institutions over the course of his tenure. He supported the expansion of college access through Georgia's new DREAMS Scholarship, a needs-based aid program. Perdue also supported the growth of medical education, including UGA's new School of Medicine and its upcoming School of Nursing. |
| CECS is U. of Tennessee's 'wackiest' college experiment yet | |
 | A pair of drones lifted off the ground on the University of Tennessee at Knoxville campus, hoisting an orange ribbon in the air for Ozlem Kilic to slice with her oversized scissors. The high-tech ribbon-cutting April 14 was more than three years in the making for Kilic, the College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies' dean, who stood alongside Donde Plowman and listened as the UT chancellor described the new college as "the wackiest thing we've done yet." "But it's only wacky inside higher ed," Plowman said. "This is a startup that brings demanded disciplines and products together. But in higher ed, crossing those boundaries between colleges is just darn near impossible." CECS, as the college is known on campus, offers students a unique learning model with multiple undergraduate degrees and graduate certificates (graduate degrees coming soon) that are focused on pathways like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity -- areas in which UT aims to be a leader. |
| Study reveals new way to strengthen immunity against the flu | |
| Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine are one step closer to making this happen. When the immune system sees a new strain of a familiar virus, it typically focuses on the parts it 'remembers' most, even if those regions have changed. "In our vaccine model, we targeted specific but distinct regions of the protein on the surface of the influenza virus. These regions are called epitopes," said study author Henry Wan. "The model included different versions of epitopes in hopes of redirecting how the immune system responds. We found that the vaccine approach helped the immune system target more variants of the virus, leading to broader protection." This research was a collaborative effort involving Rice University (Hanqiao Chen and Jane Tao); Mississippi State University (Alicia Olivier and David Smith); the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (Jun Hang and Tao Li); the University of Rochester (Andrea Sant); the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Hang Xie); and Georgia State University (Lei Li). |
| U. of Michigan's Incoming President Has Brain Cancer and Won't Take Office | |
 | Incoming University of Michigan president Kent Syverud has a form of brain cancer and will not take up the presidency, he and the university announced Wednesday morning. The university will launch a new presidential search. Domenico Grasso, who has been the interim leader, will serve as president until a replacement is named, Board of Regents chairman Mark Bernstein announced in a message to the campus community. Syverud, 69, was hired earlier this spring to come to Michigan from his role as chancellor at Syracuse University. He was supposed to start on May 11. But he said in his letter that he began feeling unwell last week and sought treatment in Syracuse. He then traveled to Ann Arbor for further tests. Syverud, a Michigan alumnus, will still be employed by the university, the board announced, serving as a professor in the law school and as a special adviser to the board, Bernstein said, "because we want him to have every opportunity to serve our university, even under these difficult circumstances." |
| A Football School Striving to Be More Keeps Dropping the Ball | |
| It's been a chaotic few months at Ohio State. The university's president resigned after he disclosed an inappropriate relationship with a woman seeking public funding for her business. The school's biggest benefactor is under renewed scrutiny over his close ties to Jeffrey Epstein. And a professor teaching a course on leadership tackled a journalist who had showed up to interview the class's guest speaker. So, when the hastily installed new president, Ravi Bellamkonda, who had been on campus barely a year, addressed the University Senate for the first time after his promotion, it seemed to leave him dizzied. "I've been here a little over 400 years -- um, 400 days," he said last month, to laughter from the audience of faculty, students and administrators. It is a tumultuous time in higher education, with President Trump slashing federal funding, conservative lawmakers trying to codify sweeping curriculum changes, and existential questions confronting schools about the value of an increasingly expensive college degree. For many school leaders, the days indeed feel like years. |
| Students Are Using AI to Guide College Decisions. What Is It Telling Them? | |
| Colleen Reed, an educational consultant, has heard high schoolers make "odd" -- and misguided -- declarations about institutions. "This school doesn't have what I want." "It's not in a safe neighborhood." "There's not much diversity on campus." "There's no hockey team." (There was.) These statements aren't one-offs, but the result of one of the latest ways students are using artificial intelligence: to research and vet prospective colleges. Whether it's an AI summary that pops up in response to a search-engine query, or a conversation with a chatbot, AI-supported tools are influencing more students' college searches. And the insights those tools provide -- accurate or not -- can be consequential. In a survey of more than 5,000 high schoolers, roughly one-third of those who'd used AI in college searches said these tools had introduced an institution they hadn't considered, according to a recent report from EAB, an enrollment-consulting company. About one-fifth had removed a college from their list because of an AI-generated response. Educational consultants who provide private counseling services to families exploring colleges told The Chronicle that they're observing these same trends. |
| In Accreditation Talks, Colleges and Accreditors Have Fewer Votes | |
 | As the Trump administration works to codify what it describes as a "revolutionary" overhaul to the nation's college oversight system, it must first consider feedback from the groups that could be affected by such sweeping regulatory changes. And while certain groups, like taxpayers and new accreditors, are represented on the committee that's reviewing the administration's proposal this week, others -- including college administrators, civil rights groups and existing accreditors -- have fewer seats at the table when compared to previous rounds of talks. Multiple higher education policy experts and lobbyists warn that the negotiating committee's makeup gives the Trump administration too much power in the talks. But one conservative think tank says it is simply a reflection of how priorities and circumstances have changed over time. If approved, the sweeping 151-page proposal would dramatically change who evaluates the quality of higher education institutions and what standards they use when conducting the evaluation. |
| Lawmakers Question Publish-or-Perish Culture of Scientific Research | |
| As research fraud grows, federal lawmakers are looking for solutions to bolster the integrity of scientific research. To help with that work, the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology's investigations and oversight subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday on the state of scientific publishing, calling on a representative from the publishing industry and two academic integrity researchers to testify about a range of issues, including paper mills, reproducibility and open-access policies. While lawmakers expressed conflicting views about how best to improve public trust in research -- and how the Trump administration's policies may or may not help -- they agreed that the problem is deeply rooted in the academic incentive structures fueling the $11 billion scientific publishing industry. Representative Rich McCormick, a Republican from Georgia and chair of the subcommittee, set the tone during his opening remarks, casting academic publishing as a nefarious system. |
| Why Everyone Hates the Ivy League | |
| Last spring, Yale University President Maurie McInnis asked a group of faculty to examine why Americans were losing confidence in higher education---and to propose remedies to restore it. Their much-anticipated findings, released Wednesday, call for changes to address everything from perceived political bias among faculty, to opaque admission standards and crushing student debt. "In its report, the committee calls on Yale to reflect on and take responsibility for our role in the erosion of public trust," McInnis wrote. "I accept this judgment fully." The report comes as colleges and universities seek to placate a presidential administration that has filed lawsuits, frozen federal research funds and generally made life uncomfortable for institutions accustomed to more autonomy. Yale and Dartmouth, are the Ivy League schools least affected by President Trump's scrutiny. Price, value and political polarization -- and a broader anger at American institutions---have all fed the downdraft. Confidence has fallen especially hard among conservatives, many of whom believe universities give priority to social justice over the pursuit of knowledge. The 10-member Yale faculty committee found actions Yale took that reinforced this idea. |
SPORTS
| Men's Basketball: State's Hubbard Captures Historic Third Straight Howell Trophy | |
| Mississippi State's Josh Hubbard continued to make history and became the first three-time male winner of the Howell Trophy awarded Wednesday by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Named after Mississippi State legend and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Bailey Howell, the honor is given to the state of Mississippi's top collegiate player. Hubbard extended State's run of dominance to eight of the last nine seasons with the Howell Trophy winner which is presented by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Pearl River Resort. Since 2017-18, Hubbard has been joined by two-time recipient Quinndary Weatherspoon in addition to Iverson Molinar, Reggie Perry and Tolu Smith III. Hubbard was recently honored for his outstanding contributions inside the capitol building and presented with Senate Resolution 93 led by Mississippi Senator Josh Harkins on March 25. The Madison native also was selected to the 2025-26 All State NACDA Good Works Winter Team and notched SEC Community Service Team honors for the second straight season. |
| Women's Basketball Adds Reese Beaty | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball announced the addition of rising sophomore Reese Beaty for the 2026-27 season. Beaty, a 5-8 guard originally from Jamestown, Tennessee, spent her freshman campaign with Iowa State. In 27 games, Beaty made a pair of starts and averaged 4.6 points, 3.3 assists, 2.6 rebounds and nearly one steal across 20.6 minutes per game during the 2025-26 campaign. Beaty is the third transfer portal addition for the Bulldogs, as she joins rising senior Cali Smallwood and 2026 CUSA All-Freshman and Honorable Mention selection Macie Phifer as those who have entered the portal to Starkville. In addition to those three, the Bulldogs return their two top scorers from last season in the form of SEC All-Defensive and All-Freshman team member Madison Francis and Favour Nwaedozi, who finished as one of the four players in the SEC to average a double-double last season. |
| NCAA urges further study of change that would start eligibility at HS graduation or age 19 | |
 | The NCAA confirmed Wednesday it is exploring a move to an age-based eligibility model that would give athletes a window of five years to compete in Division I starting immediately after their high school graduation or 19th birthday, whichever comes first. The Division I Cabinet discussed the possibility at meetings that concluded Wednesday but did not take a formal position. The Cabinet supports having NCAA staff continue to discuss the idea with other stakeholders to gather feedback. The Cabinet said the new model would include possible exceptions for circumstances such as pregnancy, military service and religious missions. The age-based model is similar to an idea included in an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on April 3. During its meetings, the Cabinet approved changes to preenrollment eligibility rules, including one that would bar athletes who have entered and remained in a professional sports draft from competing in college. |
| Gatorade, inventor of the sports drink, is getting a rebrand targeting non-athletes | |
| Sixty years after it invented sports drinks, Gatorade is making a surprising pivot: It's no longer focusing primarily on athletes. PepsiCo, Gatorade's parent company, said Thursday that the brand wants to broaden its reach to non-athletes who are looking for ways to hydrate, whether they're on a long flight, going for a walk or nursing a hangover. New packaging highlights the specific ways Gatorade's various drinks and powders work and the research behind them. The change reflects U.S. consumers' booming interest in beverages with perceived health benefits. Jack Doggett, a food and drink analyst with the consulting firm Mintel, said his research indicates 60% of consumers who buy sports drinks aren't athletes but want the functional ingredients those drinks provide, like electrolytes for hydration and carbohydrates for energy. Gatorade was born in 1965, when the football coach at the University of Florida asked Dr. Robert Cade, a physician and professor at the school, why his players were losing so much weight during games but not urinating. Cade realized the players were sweating out electrolytes -- another word for minerals like sodium, potassium and magnesium -- and upsetting the body's chemical balance. |
| LIV Golf's future in question as Saudi Arabian backers consider pulling funding: Sources | |
| The future of LIV Golf is in question as leadership tries to find a path forward amid the prospect of the Saudi-backed Public Investment Fund pulling funding for the four-year-old rebel league. This development, according to multiple golf industry sources, has created an environment in which high-level LIV Golf executives are in meetings about the league's next steps while also beginning their own job searches. Those sources, speaking to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said that members of the leadership team were first told on Sunday, following the Masters Tournament, that they would soon lose their positions. Industry sources have told The Athletic that the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund that financed the upstart league, is preparing to pull its multibillion-dollar investment in LIV Golf. Billions in losses have created massive deficits, and with little evidence of impending profitability, the tour is in poor financial health. |
| LIV Golf's uncertain future leaves Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and others in limbo | |
 | Less than four years after LIV officially teed off, its experiment appears to be on the verge of ending. That leaves a lot of golfers in limbo moving forward, from big stars such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm to recent additions such as reigning NCAA champion Michael La Sasso. There were 57 golfers in the field for the LIV Golf Mexico City tournament this week. Will every LIV golfer wind up back on the PGA Tour? The process won't be straightforward, and not simply because PGA Tour officials and existing PGA Tour golfers don't necessarily want them to return. Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed are already taking two different pathways after leaving LIV Golf in favor of a PGA Tour comeback before the 2026 season, and they're not the only ones to switch back to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf this year. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
