| Friday, May 15, 2026 |
| Delta Council holds 91st meeting at Mississippi State extension center in Stoneville | |
 | For the first time in 90 years, the Delta Council held its annual meeting on the grounds of the Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville May 8. The Delta Council is a regional economic development organization formed by forward-looking citizens in 1935. Members of the group include agricultural, business and professional leaders committed to solving common problems and promoting economic development. "The Delta Council has been a very important part of this station since the council's organization," said Jeff Gore, head of the Delta Research and Extension Center, or DREC. MSU President Mark Keenum welcomed the crowd gathered for the meeting that celebrates the year's accomplishments, as well as the future of the Mississippi Delta. "How fitting that the 91st Delta Council Day be held here at the station. They have been such a wonderful partner for our Delta farmers and our entire state, and we are thankful for the work they do to support our region and the state," Keenum said. "Our model for research and Extension activities is used by other land-grant institutions in the country. We are deeply proud of all we do to serve our citizens and grow our economy. We take that responsibility very seriously," he continued. |
| Hyde-Smith Encourages HUD To Use More Mass Timber To Accelerate Affordable Housing Construction | |
| U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) encouraged the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to tackle the nation's housing affordability crisis by helping make mass timber a more mainstream building material. Mass timber usage was one issue discussed at a Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee hearing chaired by Hyde-Smith to review the FY2027 HUD budget request. Hyde-Smith sought HUD Secretary Scott Turner's commitment to engage with the U.S. Forest Service, state forest commissions, research universities, and builders to incorporate mass timber in home construction as one means to tackle housing affordability. As an appropriator, Hyde-Smith has supported funding for the Mississippi State University (MSU) Forest Products Laboratory to optimize biomass commercialization, including lumber standards, mass timber construction, and durability. MSU, with the Mississippi Forestry Association, have partnered to advance sustainable mass timber design and advanced timber construction. |
| The emerging weather threat facing the South | |
 | Thomas Barrett has already seen more wildfires across Georgia this spring than he cares to recall. Two massive blazes in the southern part of the state were finally under control several weeks after they began, but not until they had devoured more than 50,000 acres and destroyed more than 100 homes. Then there were the thousands of other conflagrations the state's firefighters have had to confront this season -- 4,813 as of Thursday, not that Barrett was counting. "That's almost 2,000 wildfires above our annual average," said Barrett, forest protection chief for the Georgia Forestry Commission. "And still a month and a half to go in fire season." Georgia is hardly alone. South Carolina already has eclipsed its recent annual average number of fires. Multiple states have put in place statewide burn bans during parts of this spring. The near-constant recent wildfires have underscored that while massive and destructive blazes in the West tend to capture attention, the Southeast is among the nation's most active wildfire hot spots. Much of the South remains covered by deep drought, which despite recent rains is far from abating. Precipitation has been more than a foot below average in some areas over the past six months. The unfolding of another busy fire season in the South is a reminder of the growing risks wildfires pose around the region. It regularly sees more wildfires than any other part of the country. The Southeast also has a high percentage of people living in fire-prone areas, and a growing population that means ever more people, homes and other structures in the path of potential fires. |
| Americans fear death, but not as much as this retirement setback | |
 | If there's one thing Americans fear more than death, it might be outliving their savings. That's one finding from an annual survey by the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement. It found that 67% of Americans worry more about running out of money than death. The survey reflects a sense that Americans may be growing less concerned about dying, and more perturbed by the financial implications of remaining alive. "It's running out of money," said Kelly LaVigne, vice president of consumer insights at Allianz. "It's not being able to afford healthcare. It's not being able to afford long-term care." There are several reasons, both economic and socioeconomic, why Americans may be worrying more these days about outliving their money. People are living longer. Inflation is running high. The costs of health care and long-term care are rising. Fewer workers are retiring with pensions that provide a guaranteed income stream. Collectively, those factors drive up expectations for how much money an ordinary American might need to fund even a modest retirement. |
| Lt. Gov. Hosemann announces committee to address congressional redistricting | |
| One day after Gov. Tate Reeves announced that Mississippi would not be joining Republican-led southern peers in altering congressional lines right away, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann formed a select committee to assess the prospect of redistricting. Reeves, who called off the special session originally slated to get underway next week after a federal appeals court threw out a judge's ruling that the state's Supreme Court voting map diluted Black voting power, made it clear that while Mississippi won't tackle redistricting right now, he expects lawmakers to get to work on the topic soon. "I expect lawmakers to redraw congressional lines between now and 2027 elections! I also expect them to redraw legislative and Supreme Court lines between now and 2027 elections," the governor stated after originally breaking the news during an appearance on Mornings with Richard Cross. With that in mind, Hosemann, a Republican, has created a select committee to look at redistricting and reapportionment. Sen. Dean Kirby (R-Pearl) is chairing the redistricting committee and will be accompanied by Sens. Briggs Hopson (R-Vicksburg), Josh Harkins (R-Flowood), Brice Wiggins (R-Pascagoula), Jeremy England (R-Vancleave), Lane Taylor (R-Philadelphia), Mike Thompson (R-Gulfport), Daniel Sparks (R-Belmont), Derrick Simmons (D-Greenville), and Angela Turner Ford (D-West Point). |
| 'Gentleman Judge' Tom Lee to retire after over 40 years on the federal bench | |
| Senior U. S. District Judge Tom S. Lee, 85, will assume inactive status and no longer hear cases in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi as of June 26. Chief U. S. District Judge Halil S. "Sul" Ozerden made the announcement on Lee's status earlier this week. "The judges of our Court join me in congratulating Judge Lee on his lengthy record of dedicated service to the federal judiciary," Judge Ozerden said in a statement. "He has been a friend and mentor, and he will be deeply missed. We wish him all the best." Lee earned his B.A. from Mississippi College in 1963 before graduating from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1965. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a captain in JAG Corps, from 1965-1973 while working in private practice. Lee became a Prosecutor in Scott County in 1968, serving in the role until 1971. He went on to serve as a Youth Court Judge in Scott County from 1979-1982 and a Forest Municipal Court Judge in 1982. Judge Ozerden noted that Judge Lee is highly regarded for his intellect, has a well-deserved reputation for fairness and integrity, and is appreciated by all for efficient management of his cases. "Equally important, he exemplifies the qualities of humility, courtesy, compassion, and civility, all valuable characteristics in a judicial officer. He is a true 'gentleman judge' and a credit to the Court," the court said of Lee. |
| Is Musk Running an Illegal Power Plant? The D.O.J. Says It Might Weigh In. | |
 | The United States government is preparing for a possible intervention to help defend Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company from a lawsuit that accuses the company of illegally operating gas turbines to power a large data center in Mississippi, court filings showed. The NAACP sued Mr. Musk's company, xAI, which powers the Grok chatbot, last month, claiming that the company was operating 27 gas turbines without an air permit in Southaven, Miss. It effectively built a power plant for its Colossus 2 data center, sending pollution into nearby neighborhoods, the NAACP claimed. The A.I. company, now owned by Mr. Musk's space venture SpaceX, has consistently said that its turbines are mobile and temporary, and thus exempt from more stringent air permitting. It has also pointed out that gas turbines are a cleaner alternative to other forms of power, like coal or diesel generators. Now, the Justice Department is preparing for a possible intervention in support of Mr. Musk. The federal government was seeking "an opportunity to intervene where a ruling or decree would be inconsistent" with the government's policies, he wrote. He asked that the court, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, provide the government with more time for it to evaluate the lawsuit. |
| Southern Poverty Law Center Got Rich Opposing Trump. Now He's Trying to Crush It. | |
 | President Trump in his first term proved a windfall for the Southern Poverty Law Center, the antiracism nonprofit famed for its courtroom wins against the Ku Klux Klan decades ago. In 2017, the same year Trump took office and a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., turned violent, annual contributions and grants to SPLC surged from $50 million to more than $130 million and have remained above $100 million nearly every year since. "The chilling sight of hundreds of young neo-Nazis marching with torches in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August epitomized a year that saw the radical right emboldened and energized by the presidency of Donald Trump," SPLC wrote in its 2017 annual report. The stepped-up contributions have swelled the group's net assets to $787 million, according to SPLC's most recent financial filing, a sum so robust it could have maintained its spending level for more than six years without raising another penny. Now, the Trump administration and the Charlottesville rally are at the center of an indictment that threatens SPLC's reputation and finances. The fraud allegations, if proven in court, could sink the 55-year-old organization. |
| Landry wants to be kingmaker in Louisiana. He's annoying other Republicans. | |
 | Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry wants to be a kingmaker. But his efforts to elevate Rep. Julia Letlow's Senate campaign is irritating other Republicans in the state. The first-term GOP governor has become a central figure in President Donald Trump's revenge tour, working to boost Letlow to take down Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is viewed by MAGA supporters as insufficiently loyal to the president. Landry has publicly endorsed her and dispatched his chief of staff to advise her campaign. Behind the scenes, he's been urging major donors to financially support Letlow, according to six people familiar with his pressure campaign. But his aggressive efforts are annoying Louisiana Republicans, who see him as overstepping to prop up a candidate who is struggling to dominate as the front-runner, given her relatively low name ID and the rise of another MAGA candidate: State Treasurer John Fleming. "All this is him thinking that he can rig certain outcomes as a toady for the President," said another GOP operative, who is unaffiliated with any of the Senate campaigns. The problem for Landry, the Republican said, is "people in Louisiana are fiercely independent. They don't want to be told what to do." |
| Judge weighs challenges to Trump order on mail voting limits | |
 | A federal judge in Washington acknowledged Thursday the tight timeline he faces in deciding whether to pause President Donald Trump's executive order to create a national voter list and limit mail voting nationwide. Congressional Democratic leaders, the Democratic National Committee and party campaign committees, as well as civil rights groups and advocacy organizations, urged Judge Carl Nichols for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to pause aspects of the executive order Trump issued at the end of March. The executive order sought to have the Department of Homeland Security create a nationwide "state citizenship list" and then have the government coordinate with states to use that list as they manage their voter rolls. Separately the order would have the U.S. Postal Service create a rule to restrict election mail to only people on state voter lists. Additionally, the order directed the attorney general and other agencies to seek to investigate and punish states or local governments that did not comply, including by rescinding federal funds. At one point during Thursday's two-hour hearing, Nichols said that if he waited until July, when the order stated the postal service would finalize the rule, "now we're on the cusp of election season." "Why shouldn't I take it up now?" Nichols asked the government. |
| Trump and Xi Want to Stabilize U.S.-China Ties. Now Comes the Hard Part. | |
| At the end of President Trump's state visit to China on Friday, with Air Force One lifting off through the haze at Beijing's airport, both sides hailed a reset in relations---though each has a starkly different idea of what that means. For Trump, it is about opening China's market to American business and reciprocal trade, reviving a U.S. policy he scrapped in his first presidency, when he had adopted a more hawkish attitude toward Beijing. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, meanwhile, wants "strategic stability" -- a predictable relationship in which Washington doesn't impede Beijing's economic and geopolitical rise. The shared desire for stable relations is a change after years of mutual antagonism. Under the surface, however, there remains an intense rivalry that holds the potential to disrupt the world stage, despite the bonhomie of the two-day visit. Trump left Beijing without offering concrete details of any trade agreements. Later, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that American farmers would be happy with China's purchases of American soybeans. Trump added that he and Xi discussed lifting sanctions on Chinese companies that buy Iranian oil. The broad takeaway in Beijing was that Trump and Xi both sought an end to a 10-year era in which the U.S. sought to blunt economic and security threats from China. |
| CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Raul Castro's grandson in Havana, US and Cuban officials say | |
 | CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials including Raúl Castro's grandson during a high-level visit to the island Thursday, Cuban and U.S. officials said. Ratcliffe met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services, and discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues. A CIA official confirmed the meetings to the AP. Ratcliffe was there "to personally deliver President Donald Trump's message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes,'' the CIA official said. An official statement from Cuba's government noted that Thursday's meeting "took place ... against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations." While the U.S. stressed that Cuba cannot continue to be a "safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere," the Cuban delegation insisted that the island presents no threat to U.S. security. Cuban officials also took issue with the nation's continued inclusion on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. |
| Lawsuit filed by Florida residents to stop Trump presidential library | |
 | A group of Florida residents filed a lawsuit attempting to stop construction of a presidential library honoring President Donald Trump on prime waterfront Miami real estate. The lawsuit, filed March 13, accuses Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis and others of violating a clause in the constitution that prohibits states from giving a financial benefit to a sitting president. DeSantis and other Florida officials voted to donate 2.63 acres in downtown Miami so the foundation can build a presidential library there in Trump's name. Terms of the donation only require the land to contain "components of a Presidential library, museum, and/or center," according to the lawsuit, and Trump has said "it's most likely going to be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath." The U.S. Constitution says that, outside of the president's salary, the president can't receive during his presidential term "any other Emolument" from Congress or state governments. An "emolument" is a benefit that arises from employment or from being in office, according to Merriam-Webster. |
| Sprinkler malfunction floods Rent Auditorium | |
 | A Thursday morning sprinkler system malfunction on Mississippi University for Women's campus prompted a last-minute venue change for Heritage Academy's graduation ceremony, scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight. The graduating class of 45 seniors will now hold commencement at Fairview Baptist Church at 127 Airline Road. Heritage Head of School Sean Harrison, said the venue change will not affect any other aspects of the ceremony. The fire suppression system in Rent Auditorium, located in Whitfield Hall, malfunctioned at about 10:30 a.m., flooding about half the wooden stage with one to two inches of water, according to Tyler Wheat, director of communications at The W. By about 1 p.m., employees with Robinson Janitorial Specialist were lining up fans to dry the stage and rolling up water-stained carpets as cleanup continued, though all standing water was gone by that time. Although damage was not immediately visible, Wheat said it was too early to determine the extent of impact to the flooring and walls in the nearly century old building. |
| Pick up confetti and other debris when celebrating graduation | |
 | Champagne has become a popular part of taking graduation pictures and celebrating the big milestone. However, some universities are left cleaning up the mess when the cameras stop rolling. Some graduates often leave behind champagne corks, confetti and other decorations. It's an issue that Ole Miss officials hope graduates take seriously. Ole Miss hosted its spring graduation last week, but it's good advice for future graduates. Landscape crews said clean-up begins almost immediately after commencement events. Landscapers use a specialized vacuum known as the "billy goat" to remove confetti and other debris. Even with the new equipment, clean-up takes a long time. |
| 'Just soar with RISE, you'll get there': USM RISE program introduces first graduates | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi Class of 2026 is ready to turn its tassels and add another achievement to its academic career. One program at the university revolves around reaching, including, supporting, and educating students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, and on Friday, that program will have its first two graduates walk across the stage. Robert Carley is one of two RISE students who will be graduating from USM. Carley says his excitement is through the roof, and he's been waiting for this moment ever since he was a freshman. "RISE To The Top helped me soar to reach this moment," Carley said. "It's hard to believe that four years ago, as I started, I always imagined this day, what would happen, walking across that stage, and I just can't believe it's here." |
| Toyota's 4T Academy graduates inaugural class of 11 | |
 | Matthew McWhirter and Hayden Woolfolk plan to retire at an early age, as both students hope to build on the careers they're about to begin at Toyota Mississippi. The two were among 11 graduates of the 4T Academy, a two-year, advanced manufacturing career pathway offered through Toyota and Union County Schools. "This program is geared toward providing opportunities for the students in the area and to go directly to the workforce," said Kanesha Jackson, the 4T instructor at Toyota Mississippi. She's been with the automaker for 15 years and works in manufacturing development. This inaugural class partnered with Union County schools, and there are hopes that it will be expanded to other schools, with interest coming from Pontotoc, Lee and Itawamba counties, said 4T creator Alisa Deck. She is the program director of Purdue University's IN-MAC, or Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center. |
| The MAHA movement is coming to school cafeterias. Here's what that means for kids | |
 | In a social media era rife with mouthwatering food content, kids will no longer settle for a drab school meal. "I don't have a TikTok account, but they're telling me, 'Hey, I saw this on TikTok. Can you make this? Can we do this?'" said Nichole Taylor, supervisor of food and nutrition services at the Great Valley School District in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Taylor has been working to refresh the suburban Philadelphia district's meal program since she took over a year and a half ago, trying to balance a desire to cook more fresh food from scratch with budget constraints and a lack of skilled labor. But now, districts like Taylor's and others across the U.S. are waiting to see whether it will become even more expensive to prepare a meal. That's because in January, the Trump administration overhauled the national dietary guidelines. Announced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., they follow the Make America Healthy Again blueprint, urging Americans to avoid highly processed foods and prioritize "high-quality, nutrient-dense" protein at every meal. Those guidelines form the basis of federal nutrition standards that schools participating in federal meal programs must follow. At the same time, the Trump administration has cut funding programs that allowed schools to buy local food from farmers. |
| Louisiana university focuses on wellness and nutrition, starting with its medical students | |
 | One Louisiana hospital system is examining nutrition training in a bid to increase state wellness, battling an entrenched culture of fried and fatty foods and deeply-rooted food insecurities. LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine has joined more than 50 schools in a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a U.S. Department of Education-driven initiative to incorporate 40 hours of nutrition education into curriculums. The HHS has faced intense criticism in recent months from health organizations worried over the administration's approach to vaccines, among other misleading claims made in areas such as raw milk and autism. Robin English, LSU Health New Orleans associate dean for undergraduate medical education, described the initiative as a way to focus on public health. "I think it's pretty inarguable that physicians need to understand nutrition," English said. "So to me, this is not a political issue. This is an issue of making sure our doctors are well equipped." |
| Vols Online grads prove it's never too late to finish college in Tennessee | |
 | It's been more than 10 years since Victoria Collins dropped out of college and took a job as a lunch lady in Knox County Schools, then worked her way up to becoming a special education teaching assistant at a preschool in Cedar Bluff. "I will probably cry" on May 15, she told Knox News, anticipating the moment she'll walk across the stage to earn her bachelor's degree through a University of Tennessee at Knoxville program designed to give adults from all walks of life a way to continue their education on their terms. "I haven't really been too emotional about it yet," Collins said, though her graduation photo shoot was enough to brings tears to the eyes of the 36-year-old's wife and mother. Collins earned her degree through Vols Online, which launched in 2022 as a way to meet the university's lofty enrollment goals and to help close the loop for more than a million Tennesseans who, according to UT, have some college experience but no degree. Any number of reasons can prevent students from earning their degree on time, including the financial challenges cited by Collins and others in the Vols Online Class of 2026. |
| U. of Missouri students will be charged sales tax with new campus dining plans | |
 | Beginning in August, University of Missouri students will see an increase in dining dollars being added to their plans. Additionally, three on-campus dining plans and one off-campus plan will be offered. Also, state sales tax will be applied to all purchases. The new campus dining plans were consolidated from five to three options, with only one being offered for students living off-campus. Mizzou, similar to other institutions, has pegged the increase as a response to inflation. "In response to higher food costs due to inflation, the University of Missouri Board of Curators approved a plan in February to increase dining rates to ensure the financial sustainability of campus dining at all four UM System universities," a university spokesperson said. "The new dining rates at Mizzou will still put us below the national average for public universities and keep our institution's dining program cost competitive with other SEC schools and similar universities." |
| U. of Oregon to Cut $65 Million | |
 | Facing financial and political headwinds, colleges of all types are making cuts that affect their operations. The University of Oregon announced Thursday that a "significantly lower" number of first-year out-of-state students have enrolled for next academic year, resulting in $65 million in necessary cuts. The university will also freeze hiring and pay, and limit non-essential travel. President Karl Scholz had warned last month that cuts may be on the way, noting that the competition for out-of-state students was "fiercer than it has ever been." At the time he also cited international-enrollment challenges and "rising costs due to geopolitical tensions." Scholz said Thursday that Oregon would aim to differentiate itself going forward by focusing on distinct research specialties and investing in the student experience. |
| MIT president blames federal policy shifts for big drop in research on campus | |
| MIT is doing less research and enrolling fewer graduate students as a result of federal actions, the university president warned Thursday. Federally funded research on campus is down more than 20 percent compared to this time last year, MIT's president, Sally Kornbluth, told the campus community in a video message, and the number of new federal research awards is also down more than 20 percent. "That is a striking loss for one of the most influential and productive research communities in the world," Kornbluth said. Graduate student enrollment will also decline significantly in the coming academic year, she said; outside of two programs that are still in the midst of admissions, the number of grad students will be 20 percent less than it was in 2024 -- about 500 fewer students. MIT's loss is emblematic of the shrinking of American science caused by Trump administration actions that are affecting labs across the country. Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, said he expects to hear similar assessments coming from other leading research universities. "This is the first of many of these kinds of alarms that will be ringing," he said. But at MIT, the reduction in research funding is exacerbated by the impact of a sharply increased tax on its endowment returns. |
| A New 'AI-First' College Aims to Offer Cheaper, Employer-Friendly Degrees | |
| Sal Khan is starting a new college -- one designed to "reimagine higher education for the AI age." And the first degree it plans to offer will be in applied artificial intelligence. The effort could become an early test of how artificial intelligence is reshaping the higher-education landscape -- not just inside existing institutions, but outside them. Khan promises a "world-class education" at a $10,000-degree price point. The upstart -- called Khan TED Institute, or KTI for short -- brings together a supergroup of three nonprofits: Khan Academy, TED, and the Educational Testing Service. The new institute has also signed on "thought partners": employers who get a say in what's taught. So far that includes Google, Microsoft, and Accenture. This new effort is unusual for Khan, in that it directly competes with colleges rather than being designed to support students and educators. Details are slim, but Khan outlined his vision in, you guessed it, a TED talk -- at TED's big annual talks-fest in Vancouver, Canada. Khan said that, as AI disrupts jobs, there's a need for "durable skills" that his institute will be able to provide: "communication, collaboration, and creativity." |
| Debating How to Create Higher Ed Accountability at AEI | |
 | In many higher ed circles, the longtime focus on college access, completion and affordability has given way to a new priority: value-based accountability. But what remains undecided are the best ways to measure that value and who is responsible for doing so. Those questions took center stage Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, where higher ed scholars, accreditors, government officials and economic researchers convened for a series of panels on the future of academic accountability. "We're in a value-based era of thinking about what it is that higher education needs to deliver," said Beth Akers, a senior fellow at AEI, in her opening remarks. "Given that, we are still hamstrung by the availability of data that value-based accountability requires in order to know what's happening to students after they finish their degree." The growing focus on value-based accountability stems in part from a new federal metric -- known as the Do No Harm test -- that is slated to take effect July 1. It will compare the earnings of college graduates to high school diploma holders in the same state; degree programs that don't lead to higher earnings on average will lose access to federal loans. |
| McMahon Tussles With House Democrats at Latest Hearing | |
| Education Secretary Linda McMahon fielded barbed questions from Democratic lawmakers at a House Committee on Education and Workforce hearing Thursday. Democrats sparred with her over the department's plans to dissolve itself, impending loan caps for graduate and professional degrees, and backed-up Office for Civil Rights complaints, among other policies. In contrast, many Republicans defended the department, praising its efforts to downsize, detect financial aid fraud, direct Pell dollars to short-term programs and bar trans athletes from women's sports -- though some also raised concerns about loan limits and threats to college access programs. Tim Walberg, chairman of the committee, applauded McMahon's record, including interagency agreements that shifted some of ED's responsibilities to other agencies. Ranking Member Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Virginia, struck a different tone. "Let me be clear: The Trump administration has not 'returned education to the states,'" Scott told McMahon in his opening remarks. "Rather, he has empowered you to effectively dismantle one of our country's strongest civil rights institutions." |
| How the Commencement Speech Became One of Colleges' Biggest PR Problems | |
| Gloria Caulfield was six minutes into her commencement address at the University of Central Florida last week when she broached a subject considered taboo to many of the graduating students sitting in front of her. "Change is exciting, and -- let's face it -- change can be daunting," Caulfield, vice president for strategic alliances at a Florida development company, told the College of Arts and Humanities and Nicholson School of Communication and Media graduates. "The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution." She paused. There was a second of silence. Then, graduates erupted into boos. It's been an especially thorny season for commencement speeches. This year, at least half a dozen speakers were criticized for comments they made during the events, or disinvited or forced to back out over their political stances or social-media posts. "All of a sudden, you find yourself having to make a decision of, Do we let this person speak and deal with potential protests and reputational damage in what is supposed to be the most exciting time of your own campus, or do we rescind the invitation and go with somebody maybe a little more vanilla?" said Philip T. Hauserman, senior vice president for crisis communications at the Castle Group, a public-relations firm that works with colleges. |
| From JFK to Trump, a Veteran Republican Reflects on the Party He Once Knew | |
| Few figures in American politics have had as long, varied and distinguished a career in public life as Lamar Alexander. The Tennessee Republican was a White House and Senate aide, served two terms as governor, was president at the University of Tennessee, education secretary for President George H.W. Bush and then capped it all off by serving three terms in the Senate. Those were the high points. There were also two presidential bids --- those didn't go as well. He ran better in 1996, losing to eventual GOP nominee Bob Dole. The next campaign was shorter: His 2000 campaign didn't make it out of 1999. It's the successes and failures alike -- and at so many levels of government over nearly 60 years -- that make his upcoming memoir so engrossing. The Education of a Senator: From JFK to Trump puts his final public role in the title. Yet it's the sweep of his career, the second part of the title, that makes the book so fascinating. |
SPORTS
| Baseball: No. 13 MSU Uses 13-Run Inning To Top 10th-Ranked Aggies | |
| No. 13 Mississippi State turned one inning into a statement Thursday night. The Diamond Dawgs erupted for 13 runs on 12 hits in the third inning and held off No. 10 Texas A&M for an 18-11 win at Blue Bell Park, giving MSU a powerful opening punch in a ranked SEC road series. State improved to 39-14 overall and 16-12 in SEC play, while Texas A&M dropped to 37-13 and 16-11. Tomas Valincius earned the win for the Bulldogs, moving to 9-2 after allowing six earned runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts over five innings. The Diamond Dawgs will go for the series victory on Friday at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+. MSU will send sophomore Duke Stone (6-1, 4.65 ERA) to the mound and the Aggies have not announced their pitching plans. |
| MSU wins opener on strength of 13-run inning | |
| One huge inning carried No. 13 Mississippi State to a series-opening win over No. 10 Texas A&M on Thursday night. The Bulldogs (39-14, 16-12 SEC) racked up 13 runs in the third inning and went on to an 18-11 victory in College Station. This is the final conference series of the season, and it's one MSU needs to win to solidify ifs résumé as an NCAA regional host. The Aggies (37-13, 16-11) led 2-0 after one inning, and then the Bulldogs exploded two frames later. Gehrig Frei tied the game with a two-run single, and then Ace Reese put MSU ahead with his own RBI hit. Noah Sullivan's RBI single was followed by Jacob Parker's three-run home run, and it was 7-2 before Texas A&M recorded an out. Vytas Valincius singled home a run, and Kevin Milewski smashed a two-run homer, his ninth dinger of the season. Sullivan later had another RBI single, and Parker doubled in two runs to cap the inning. State had 12 of its 16 hits in the third. Texas A&M used eight pitchers in all, with starter Ethan Darden taking the loss. |
| Football: What To Wear In StarkVegas For State's 2026 Football Season | |
| There is nothing like a fall Saturday in Starkville, and it's the fans that set the tone for it all. State supporters' passion through the years has made Davis Wade Stadium one of the toughest places to play in all of college football. In 2026, that trend is set to continue and fans can once again help create the raucous environment opponents dread by participating in the upcoming season's themes and wardrobe color schemes. It all starts on the First Saturday in StarkVegas when MSU hosts ULM in the season opener on Sept. 5. Fans are asked to wear either Maroon or White for the game as the Dawgs look to start the new campaign in style. If you're already thinking about tickets for the opener, First Saturday in StarkVegas ticket four-packs will go on sale Monday, May 18. State's second home contest of the year begins a string of five consecutive contests where fans are encouraged to don specific colors |
| Softball: Bulldogs Open NCAA Tournament Friday At Eugene Regional | |
| The No. 20 Mississippi State softball team will open the NCAA Tournament on Friday, May 15 at the Eugene Regional, facing Saint Mary's at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+. The Bulldogs (38-18, 9-15 SEC) will play the Gaels (40-14, 15-3 WCC) for the first time ever in the NCAA Tournament and first time since 1997. Both teams were in the 2024 Palo Alto Regional hosted by Stanford, but they did not meet that year. State traveled to Eugene in 2012 for a regional but did not play host Oregon. The Bulldogs last played Idaho State in 1982 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in their only meeting on record. Five Bulldogs were named to NFCA All-Region teams on Thursday. State is led by First Team selection Peja Goold and Second Team selection Alyssa Faircloth in the circle. The duo each took home SEC Newcomer of the Year honors from different outlets. Offensively, State's top three hitters in Kiarra Sells (Second Team), Nadia Barbary (Third Team) and Morgan Stiles (Third Team) each picked up regional recognition. |
| Bulldogs open NCAA postseason today in Eugene Regional | |
| Already more than 2,000 miles away from home, Mississippi State's softball team begins its trek to the Women's College World Series today against St. Mary's (Ca.) in Oregon as a part of the Eugene Regional. The occasion marks the 20th NCAA Tournament appearance for the Bulldogs, who are looking to advance to the Super Regionals for the first time since 2022 and curate some offensive momentum along the way. The Bulldogs (38-18) and Gaels (40-14) get the postseason started at 6:30 p.m and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+. After State and St. Mary's play, host Oregon and Idaho State follow up at 9 p.m. with another contest. Oregon (40-12) is hosting a regional for the second straight season after tying for second in the Big Ten Conference at 20-4. The Ducks are tied for 51st in the country with 460 hits, and rank 28th with a batting average of .332. Idaho State (37-18) is the reigning Big Sky Champion and is making its regional debut. The Bengals come into the tournament on a five-game win streak and feature one of the nation's best power-hitting units. |
| Men's Tennis: Historic Campaign Ends in Athens for No. 6 Mississippi State | |
| No. 6 Mississippi State's season came to a close Thursday evening as the Bulldogs fell to No. 5 Virginia in the NCAA Quarterfinals at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. Mississippi State reached the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season, but Virginia once again proved to be a difficult matchup after defeating the Bulldogs earlier this year at ITA Indoors. Virginia grabbed early momentum by securing the doubles point with wins on courts one and two before carrying that energy into singles play. The Cavaliers picked up straight-set victories from Dylan Dietrich over Benito Sanchez Martinez, Keegan Rice over Petar Jovanovic, and Andres Santamarta over Mario Martinez Serrano to clinch the match. Mississippi State's lone completed singles victory came from Raphael Vaksmann, who earned a point for the Bulldogs with a win over Stiles Brockett. The Bulldogs capped another historic campaign under head coach Matt Roberts. Mississippi State advanced through the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament with consecutive sweeps before defeating Georgia in the Super Regional to return to the national quarterfinals. |
| Track & Field: Rougetet Strikes Gold At SEC Championships | |
| Mississippi State track and field concluded the first day of the SEC Championships, hosted by Auburn, with an individual title and two scoring performances. The throws squad had a big showing on the first day of the conference championships. Marie Rougetet won the hammer title with a 69.25m throw, holding the lead for the entirety of the competition. She is the first female SEC outdoor champion for State since 2018, and the first for hammer in program history. The Narhi brothers both put up scoring performances in the throws. Juha Narhi finished seventh in the hammer with a 66.48m throw, extending his program record and earning two points for the Bulldogs. Tuomas Narhi finished sixth in the javelin with a 74.30m throw, adding three points for State. Competition will continue Friday morning in the men's decathlon 110m hurdles. The meet is available to stream on SECN+. |
| These guys don't just drive the team bus. They go the extra mile for the players who love them | |
| Team bus drivers might conjure up images of buttoned-up men and women who stay at arm's length from players and coaches and kill time on the bus or in their hotel rooms during games. That's not Jackie McCloud, Courtney Ellis or Larry Thurman. Ellis gives pep talks and leads cheers in the Delta State dugout. He is even on the greeting committee when players cross the plate after hitting a home run for the Statesmen from Cleveland, Mississippi. Ellis, 42, has been driving for Knight Coach for 20 years and full-time with Delta State teams for eight. He spoke by phone this week from Pensacola, Florida, where the Statesmen were playing in the NCAA Division II tournament. "I'm in the dugout with the baseball team, I'm on the sideline with the head coach on the football team and I'm on the last seat on the bench with the men's basketball team. That's how I roll," Ellis said. Ellis said coaches embrace his big personality, and he relates well with players because he has children about the same age. He gives pregame motivational speeches, tells players to keep their head up after a bad play and generally lifts spirits. |
| Arkansas tennis programs reinstated weeks after they were eliminated | |
| The University of Arkansas announced Thursday it will reinstate its men's and women's tennis programs effective immediately. The announcement came 20 days after the Razorbacks announced they would cut both programs. There has been a groundswell of support to keep the tennis programs since that April 24 announcement. Supporters have raised roughly $2.5 million in funds to pay for the program in 2026-27 and received pledges for another $2.5 million for a total of $5 million in new donations. "Following extensive analysis and in alignment with our strategic priorities, we made the difficult decision earlier this spring to discontinue our men's and women's tennis programs," Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement. "Since that announcement, we have engaged in meaningful dialogue with stakeholders, including alumni and donors, to explain our rationale and listen to their concerns. We are thankful for our generous donors that have stepped forward in recent days with commitments to provide short-term funding for both programs." Yurachek said "significant endowment remains the only feasible long-term solution to ensure the sustainability of our tennis programs." An athletics department spokesman said the department is seeking a $50 million endowment, of which 5% would be used to cover the annual operating expenses for both programs. |
| In a 24-team CFP world, who'd play the bowls? P4 leaders discuss pooling teams for top matchups | |
| College football's power conferences are considering a plan that would pool their best teams left out of the proposed 24-team College Football Playoff and place them in a tiered bowl system, Bowl Season executive director Nick Carparelli confirmed to The Athletic. One idea, which was discussed this week at the ACC spring meetings, is for each of the four leagues to supply five bowl-eligible teams -- 20 total -- to the 10 top non-CFP bowls. There are plenty of questions remaining about the selection process and which bowls would participate, but it's a proposal that's gathering interest among the leagues. "We think it's a great idea," Carparelli said. "When you're talking about the numbers of teams who have played in the postseason -- even at the biggest number that the CFP is contemplating -- that still only accounts for less than half of the bowl-eligible institutions from the Power 4 conferences. If you take the next group of teams that just missed the Playoff, and you provided a system that allowed for flexibility, promoting the best matchups, taking geography into the situation, we could have some really exciting games that complement the College Football Playoff and fill those time slots in between each round." |
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