| Thursday, September 24, 2026 |
| UN taps MSU again as a world center for antimicrobial resistance, fish health | |
 | The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is redesignating Mississippi State University as an FAO Reference Centre on Antimicrobial Resistance and Aquaculture Biosecurity. The renewal follows FAO's positive review of MSU's progress since it was first named an FAO Reference Centre in 2022, and it extends the agreement for a five-year period through October 2031. The university has a long history of leading expertise in the areas of fisheries and aquaculture, working with the FAO in the areas of antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, as well as aquaculture biosecurity and aquatic animal health. The center is housed within the university's Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security, or GCAHFS. AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses or other microorganisms evolve to resist treatments such as antibiotics. MSU's Stephen Reichley, FAO Reference Centre head and GCAHFS associate director, said the redesignation recognizes the university's continuing contributions at the intersection of aquatic animal health, antimicrobial stewardship, aquaculture biosecurity, food security and One Health. The work also reinforces MSU's role in supporting both the U.S. aquaculture sector and international efforts to build sustainable, biosecure aquatic food systems. |
| Mississippians urged to watch for spotted lanternflies | |
 | While not yet detected in Mississippi, the spotted lanternfly is spreading across the country. Scientists with the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service are asking the public to help watch for signs that the pest is present in the state. In infested states, it has become a key pest in fruit crops, including grapes, apples and peaches, requiring ongoing monitoring and management. "Mississippi has several small-scale fruit production areas that would suffer from this insect if it made its way into the state," said Jermaine Perier, an Extension entomologist. "However, because these farms and gardens are small, the impact from this pest can potentially be missed if the public is unaware that they should watch for it." |
| Extension scientists ask public to watch for new insect | |
| What might appear to some to be a beautifully exotic butterfly is actually an invasive pest that can devastate fruit crops and be a nuisance in home landscapes. While not yet detected in Mississippi, the spotted lanternfly is spreading across the country. Scientists with the Mississippi State University Extension Service are asking the public to help watch for signs that the pest is present in the state. In infested states, it has become a key pest in fruit crops, including grapes, apples and peaches, requiring ongoing monitoring and management. Spotted lanternfly adults are about 1 inch long and half an inch wide with visually striking wings. They have brown forewings with black spots at the front and a speckled band at the rear. Their hind wings are scarlet with black spots at the front and white and black bars at the rear. Their abdomen is yellow with black bars. Mississippi's expanding grape industry would be most at risk economically from the pest. |
| Trump officials weigh rolling back beef import plan as GOP midterm panic spreads | |
 | A small group of White House officials is exploring whether to cut back President Donald Trump's decision to increase foreign beef imports, as GOP panic rises ahead of the midterms. The proposal to reduce the amount of imports is being discussed within the Domestic Policy Council headed by Vince Haley, a longtime Trump speechwriter and former campaign official, and a few other officials at the White House, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversations, who were granted anonymity to share private details. Trump officials are unsure if anything will come of the talks. The two people said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative disagrees with cutting back the imports, since it aims to lower high consumer beef prices in the short term and since USTR helped implement the move. But their conversations about partly rolling back the beef policy -- which Trump instituted in August -- is a clear sign the White House is trying to stem the alarm from battleground and farm-state Republicans as high prices and Trump's tariffs roil their election campaigns. |
| Mississippi using $8.5 million grant to strengthen workforce through community colleges | |
| The state of Mississippi will use a federal grant to mobilize its community colleges to help strengthen the workforce. Gov. Tate Reeves announced Wednesday that $8.5 million from the U.S. Department of Labor's Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants program will go toward immediate training initiatives and building the state's Workforce Pell program. Reeves added that the state will utilize its community colleges to help Mississippians gain skills needed to be part of the workforce. "Mississippi is at its best -- and moves fastest -- when we work together toward a common goal," Reeves said. "By bringing all 15 of our community colleges together, this investment will help create new training programs and funding opportunities for Mississippians to gain the skills they need to get good jobs while expanding how we meet the needs of our employers. This is how we connect more people to good-paying careers, support economic growth and keep Mississippi competitive." Northwest Mississippi Community College will serve as the lead for this project, with AccelerateMS partnering to assist in coordinating implementation statewide. |
| Did college boost your income? A federal test puts pressure on schools | |
 | Bailey Pennington worked as an assistant during her first six months out of cosmetology school, learning the business before opening her own shop styling hair outside Detroit. She spent much of her first two years trying to build up her client list. While Ms. Pennington now has a successful business, she knows earnings in her profession can fluctuate, especially early on. So she worries that the federal measure implemented this year requiring colleges and professional schools to show that their graduates earn more than people without degrees, or risk losing the federal student loan support that allowed her to graduate, will make it more difficult for others. According to Department of Education data, more than 800,000 students are in danger of failing the earnings test, and more than half of them are in for-profit programs like the one Ms. Pennington graduated from. The earnings test applies to thousands of programs at schools ranging from professional certificates to arts programs at elite universities and seminaries. The requirement, which was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in 2025, says that undergraduate programs whose graduates and certificate-holders don't earn more money than median earnings of a high school graduate in the state four years past graduation, will be penalized. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State aims to reclaim cowbell world record at home football game | |
| Mississippi State fans will have a chance to make history on Saturday. Bulldog fans attending Mississippi State's SEC home opener against Missouri and former Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons are encouraged to bring one or multiple cowbells to help the school reclaim the cowbell world record. In 2015, Mississippi State claimed the official Guinness World Record for most people ringing cowbells simultaneously with 5,748 people. While the Bulldogs still currently possess the record, it was recently unofficially broken in Wisconsin. On Sept. 26, the Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 SEC) will host the Missouri Tigers (3-0) at Davis Wade Stadium for a 6:45 p.m. kickoff. The night game will also be the Bulldogs' annual "white-out" game. While it will be the first SEC matchup of the year held in Starkville, it won't be the only big event happening that day. "We still actually hold the Guinness World Record, but recently, a hockey team in Milwaukee set the unofficial world record, so we decided we couldn't have that; so we were going to beat the elite world record," Mississippi State University Association President Keegan Figueroa said on Good Things with Rebecca Turner. "So if this goes how we hope it does, then we'll hold every cowbell world record." |
| Mississippi State wants to set a cowbell world record. How is Mizzou preparing for all the noise? | |
| There are two big events going on in Starkville, Miss. this Saturday night. The First: a hugely-important SEC football game, between No. 19 Missouri (3-0 overall, 0-0 SEC) and No. 24 Mississippi State (3-0, 1-0). Kickoff is set for 6:45 p.m. CT at Davis Wade Stadium, and the game will air on SEC Network. The Second: Mississippi State is attempting to set a world record ... for the most people ringing cowbells simultaneously -- and this will take place during the game. "They have a tremendous fanbase," Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said this week. "It's going to be a tough place to play. I anticipate it being sold-out." Davis Wade Stadium's official capacity is 61,337. That's, potentially, a lot of cowbells. The official counting process will run from when the gates open up until kickoff, with a licensed CPA on hand to audit the results and certify the count. The official attempt at the world record will take place at the two-minute timeout before halftime. Nick Rodriguez, the Tigers' starting weakside linebacker and team captain, revealed that basically everybody on Mizzou's football staff has been walking around practice all week ringing cowbells to get the team prepared as best they can for Saturday. |
| Soccer: Bulldogs Begin Road Trip With Top-10 Tennessee | |
| A pair of the SEC's highest-scoring offenses will go head-to-head on Thursday night when Mississippi State travels to No. 9/6 Tennessee. The match will be televised nationally on ESPNU beginning at 7 p.m. CT, and the 8 p.m. local time start will be State's latest kickoff of the season. The teams are tied for fifth in the SEC standings on four points each, but the Lady Vols have yet to play a home conference match. Defensively, Tennessee is allowing the second-fewest goals per match in the conference. Once again, Tennessee will meet the Bulldogs as a top-10 team, but MSU has won four of its last five top-10 meetings over the past two seasons. In fact, MSU has downed a top-10 Lady Vols team twice in program history and the Bulldogs have won or tied in all but one meeting since 2019. The Bulldogs will not return home on Thursday night. Instead on Friday morning, the team drives across the state line to Kentucky to prepare for a noon kickoff on Sunday on SEC Network+. |
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