| Monday, October 5, 2026 |
| MSU's Department of Kinesiology seeks participants for cardiovascular and fitness health research study | |
 | Mississippi State's Department of Kinesiology is seeking individuals with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities to participate in a cardiovascular and fitness health research study. Researchers in the department's Clinical Exercise and Cardiovascular Lab are examining how levels of physical activity impact the function and structure of the cardiorespiratory and vascular systems in individuals with and without disabilities. Participant criteria include Mississippi residents ages 18 to 65 with mild to severe intellectual disabilities or without disabilities who have the ability to walk on a treadmill and walk independently. Participants are required to complete a two-hour assessment at MSU's Jim and Thomas Duff Center, 695 Bully Blvd. The research team will assess glucose levels, cholesterol, blood pressure, cardiovascular health, physical strength, flexibility and cardiorespiratory fitness. Participants will be given a monitor to wear for seven days to check their physical activity levels. They will receive a free, complete report on their cardiovascular health, as well as a fitness score and levels of muscle and fat mass. The report has an approximate value of $700. |
| Magnolia Moves back this fall | | |
 | Mississippians will soon be moving once again as the Magnolia Moves Activity Challenge returns this fall. The Mississippi State University Extension Service-led fitness challenge that encourages youth and adults to be more physically active and adopt healthier nutritional lifestyles kicks off Oct. 12 and ends Nov. 22. The program uses the MoveSpring app to track exercise; whether it is in the form of walking, running, playing sports or a range of other fitness activities, the app converts each activity to miles and steps. Online registration is open at https://extension.msstate.edu/magnolia-moves. MSU Extension Director Angus Catchot encourages Mississippians of all ages to join the challenge, whether they want to walk individually or form teams with their families, friends or co-workers. For more information, email magnoliamoves@ext.msstate.edu. |
| Gulf South farmers, loggers call on Mississippi to issue fuel relief measures amid increasing prices | |
 | Farmers and loggers throughout the Gulf South are calling on Mississippi to issue fuel relief measures, saying delays in doing so are impacting industry across the region. "Compared to the same time last year, we're up over two dollars more expensive in terms of diesel fuel," said Will Maples, a professor agricultural economics at Mississippi State University. The high costs are hitting everyone, but farmers and loggers face additional challenges. "It's a major impact on producers, especially our row crop producers," said Maples. "[It] takes diesel to run all the big machinery, especially this time of year with harvest coming up." The diesel prices hit transportation for producers as well in getting crops to market and in moving timber. David Livingston, executive director of the Mississippi Loggers Association, says crews are seeing an extra $11,000 to $16,000 every week in expenses. Neighboring states like Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana have called states of emergency to issue relief. Those measures include allowing farmers and loggers to use tax-exempt dyed diesel. That's diesel normally reserved for off-road vehicles and equipment; exemptions allow them to use it for on-road vehicles. But, Mississippi has yet to issue relief measures. |
| Starkville skate park planned to open in spring 2027 | |
| During the COVID-19 pandemic, Laura and George Dunn noticed their gardening tools routinely going missing only to discover that their young two sons had been taking them to build bike ramps in a nearby abandoned property. So the Dunn family began collecting money to help fund construction of a skate park that would serve bikers, skateboarders and scooter riders, eventually raising about $2,000 they donated to the city. Even though their sons are in high school now and neither Laura nor George skate, Laura said the family is excited to see their dreams finally come to fruition as the city looks to nail down design plans for a new skate park at the Sportsplex. "You want your community to have different benefits to be able to be attractive to all different kinds of people," Laura told The Dispatch. Plans for the skate park have been underway since February, when the city received a federal grant that will cover 30% of the $400,000 project, which City Engineer Chris Williams expects to be complete by spring 2027. |
| Toyota Corolla celebrates 60 years as a global brand | |
 | About every 71 seconds, a new Toyota Corolla rolls off the assembly line at the Toyota Mississippi plant. There, some 2,400 team members work to add to the total of more than 54 million that have been sold since the compact car's debut in 1966. And this month, Toyota is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the world's best-selling car. Toyota Mississippi is marking the occasion with several events. "Throughout the month of October, we'll be hosting special night tours from 6:30 to 7:30 every Thursday," said Tiffannie Hedin, TMS corporate communications manager. "We invite the public to come and see how the Corolla is made and also the evolution of the Corolla and our exclusive 'Lifetime of Legacy' exhibit." Visitors on the evening tours also will receive exclusive 60th anniversary merchandise. The exhibit includes a representation of 10 of the 13 generations of the Corolla. Included in that are two special anniversary editions, the 50th anniversary Corolla painted in Black Cherry Pearl and the 60th edition painted Supersonic Red. |
| Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell's big college sports win won't make an AI breakthrough easier | |
 | Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell typically find themselves at odds, but in the past week each expressed optimism that their major bipartisan breakthrough on college sports could set them up to tackle other big things -- like artificial intelligence. Evidence suggests that confidence ought to be tempered. Cruz, a Texas Republican, and Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, have served together atop the Senate Commerce Committee for nearly four years -- with Cantwell first serving as chair before turning the gavel over to Cruz in 2025. They have occasionally found common ground, such as trying to eliminate hidden ticket fees for concerts and sporting events, and enacting safety measures after the deadly plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Their bill to overhaul the multibillion-dollar college sports industry, which overwhelmingly passed the Senate last week, has been their highest-profile achievement to date, requiring months of brass-tacks negotiations, painful compromises and uncomfortable divisions with colleagues and key constituencies. Asked if her partnership with Cruz on college sports could translate into an agreement on AI, Cantwell did not exactly embrace the idea. |
| GOP senators, blindsided by Hegseth, demand notice, transparency | |
 | Key Republican senators say they were blindsided by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's announced 20 percent reduction of the U.S. military's general and admirals, and they're voicing concerns about the lack of consultation with Congress and the possibility that qualified senior officers were sacked for political or ideological reasons. Senior Republicans on Capitol Hill are questioning whether too many experienced and highly qualified generals and admirals are being pushed out because of politics and what impact it might have on military readiness in the future. "I wouldn't have made that a priority if I had been asked," said Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who said he was only informed of the 20 percent reduction shortly before it was announced. "I didn't get a long lead," he said when asked if he got a heads up before Hegseth's announcement Wednesday. Wicker didn't have many details about the significant reduction in senior ranks. "I think he's probably interested in cutting out bureaucracy at the top level," he speculated. |
| Colleges Want More Rural Students. This University Leader Traveled to Them. | |
 | Few students at Polk County High School, one of two high schools in the rural county near Tennessee's border with Georgia, imagine themselves going to a four-year college. The school's leadership has led a multiyear campaign to help them understand their postsecondary options, according to Principal Rachel Lowe -- including educating students about Tennessee Promise, the state's free community college program. Most see four-year college as unaffordable, Lowe said -- especially at the state's flagship institution, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Even she used to believe that the university was not the most "financially responsible choice," she said. That changed this week, when the UT system's president, Randy Boyd, visited the 400-student high school. Boyd has toured high schools in the state at the start of every academic year since he came to UT eight years ago, he said in an interview with Inside Higher Ed. But this year's tour, which took place over the final two weeks of September, was the first to comprise just rural schools. |
| Student-made digital organizer grows at U. of Tennessee, other schools | |
| When the subject of school comes up, planning often comes to mind. Of the hundreds of digital assistants out there, one with origins at the University of Tennessee is gaining ground. Freshman electrical engineering major Noah Raduns spent the last year or two creating CourseLink to track life and campus events as well as class. Raduns said signups from UT alone have passed 100 since the start of the fall semester. In total, Raduns said more than 4,000 people in several states have downloaded the app since August. "I'm a person that likes solving problems, and the problem that I started to solve turned into a startup," Raduns said. As a member of a computer club at his South Carolina high school, Raduns made a program to replace time spent using a paper planner. He believed there was room to improve school learning management systems like Blackboard or Canvas. "I felt that there should be something that's built for students," Raduns said. "So I decided to build it." |
| Bullfrogs have a gift that could help protect human brains, Mizzou researchers find | |
 | New research has found that bullfrogs have a generator in their brain that may protect humans from certain neurological disorders. A University of Missouri research team discovered that bullfrogs have the ability to recharge their brain through unconventional methods, which could be applied to treating Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, ALS and schizophrenia. Because bullfrogs hibernate for five to six months every year, their brains must overcome low oxygen and glucose supplies during the long period of stagnation. The study found that when these supplies start to decline, bullfrogs use a ketone body that acts like an energy generator in the brain. "The brain needs glucose, and so we found that the frogs, after they get out of hibernation, don't need oxygen or glucose to the brain anymore to keep working, which was shocking," said Joseph Santin, MU associate professor of biological sciences and lead researcher on the study. |
| At Cornell, a Rape Case Defines an Era | |
 | For generations of college students, explosive charges of campus rape have been galvanizing events, uniting disparate groups of young people against a stubborn menace that can shatter individuals and erode faith in institutions. These watersheds are at once eerily familiar and singularly of their moments -- both timelessly toxic and tragically new. Cornell University is having such a moment. An anonymous former student has alleged in a lawsuit that, in October 2024, she was pressured to take drugs, then raped for hours by multiple men at the Chi Phi fraternity house. Cornell, she says, did not do enough to prevent the incident from happening, or to protect her in its aftermath. The Cornell Daily Sun tracked the story with nearly two years of investigative reporting and a front-page editorial naming the alleged perpetrators, propelling the case to national prominence. As reporters, lawmakers, and lawyers on both sides try to unravel the narrative, activists have questioned whether Cornell was complicit -- and whether its senior leaders appropriately disciplined the accused men. Meanwhile, commentators have traced a dizzying array of policy changes across the Obama, Trump, and Biden White Houses to ask: Why does this keep happening? Over the past two decades, higher education and the nation at large have been confronted with a series of vivid images illustrating sexual violence on its campuses. |
| Budget gurus fear U.S. is entering a 'debt spiral' | |
| Columnist Bill Crawford writes: The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget conducts research and provides information to the public on major fiscal issues facing the United States. These include the rising national debt, the budget reconciliation process, health care policy, and the future of trust funds like Social Security, Medicare, Federal Highway, and others. Its latest missive entitled "Deficit Reduction Is Key to Improving Affordability" lists a number of interesting tidbits. With long-term interest rates now exceeding projected nomination economic growth, "the U.S. is entering a debt spiral." The Committee suggests this could cause a fiscal crisis with "exploding unemployment rates, crashing asset values, surging inflation, falling incomes, sharp and unexpected increases in taxes and cuts in government support, or some combination." |
| My Mississippi Lab Is Changing Cancer Surgery. This Law Made It Possible. | The Oxford Eagle | |
| Mississippi State University's Dr. Colleen Scott writes: More than 18,000 Mississippians will be diagnosed with cancer this year. Roughly eight in 10 will likely undergo surgery as part of their treatment. Yet while surgery is one of the most powerful interventions in cancer treatment, it has limits. Often, surgeons cannot tell exactly where cancer ends and healthy tissue begins. At Mississippi State University, my research team is working to solve that problem. We've developed a new type of surgical dye to help surgeons see cancerous tissue more clearly in real time. If successful, it could help doctors remove tumors more accurately, improve treatment, and save lives for patients in Mississippi and across the country. But our success is not guaranteed. It depends on a policy framework that combines public investment with private-sector incentives to move scientific breakthroughs from the lab to the marketplace. ... Fortunately, America's technology transfer system provided a path forward -- thanks in large part to a little-known law called the Bayh-Dole Act. |
SPORTS
| Women's Golf Set To Host The Ally | |
| Mississippi State women's golf returns to Mississippi to host their annual home tournament, The Ally, named after former Mississippi State golfer Ally Ewing. The tournament, which is hosted at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, will kick off on Monday. State will replicate the lineup that won the team title in their last event at the Mason Rudolph Championship. All five Bulldogs in the lineup finished inside the top 20 individually, marking the first time State had done such since 2024. Avery Weed will sit at the top of the Bulldog lineup. Weed was the individual champion in the 2024 edition of The Ally, where she tied an NCAA record with an 11-under 61 in the opening round of the event before winning it at 9-under. |
| MDWFP, Mississippi State to host wildlife management Q&A in Cleveland | |
| The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks will join Mississippi State University Extension and the MSU Deer Lab for an upcoming question-and-answer event focused on wildlife management. The "Ask a Biologist" event is scheduled for Oct. 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the MSU Extension Office in Cleveland. Check-in begins at 5:30 p.m. Participants will have the opportunity to ask biologists questions about deer, waterfowl, turkey, quail and small game, along with habitat management, pollinators, nuisance species and other wildlife topics. Registration is $10 and includes a catered meal. Organizers are asking participants to register by Oct. 12 to secure a meal ticket. Registration is available through Mississippi State University Extension. |
| What challenges lie ahead for the Protect College Sports Act? | |
| The list of concerns that could potentially derail the Protect College Sports Act is growing longer this week as House members begin to evaluate the bill aimed at reshaping the college sports industry. The bill passed the U.S. Senate with an overwhelming 77-22 vote last Monday, but as written would not have the support needed to get to a full House vote, according to multiple sources on Capitol Hill. The members of Congress who are currently opposed come from both sides of the political aisle and have a varied list of issues, including the future employee status of college athletes, conference realignment rules and general concerns about a sprawling, overly prescriptive approach to fixing the NCAA's problems. The most daunting challenge the bill faces might be the short window remaining to reach a finish line. |
| Florida State, other ACC realignment targets push to expand conference cap in college sports bill | |
 | The Protect College Sports Act passed the Senate on Monday and now awaits the House of Representatives, but the schools most likely to leave the ACC for the Big Ten or SEC don't like the bill as written. And there's one item in particular they'd like to see changed: They want to make such moves easier and more likely. Florida State, Miami, Clemson and North Carolina sent a letter, dated Tuesday and obtained by The Athletic, requesting changes to Section 205, which caps conference size at 20 teams and forces schools changing leagues to spend three years as an independent. Tomahawk Nation first reported the story. "The three-year independence requirement would impose a significant additional consequence on an institution seeking to change conferences, particularly when conferences and their members have already negotiated the financial terms surrounding an exit," stated a portion of the letter, which was addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson, majority whip Tom Emmer and majority leader Steve Scalise. "Similarly, a conference membership cap of 20 could unnecessarily constrain future conference configurations and limit important market considerations in potential national media level negotiations." |
| Ticket prices are making sports fans surly this midterm season | |
| The sports world is getting hit by the affordability crisis, as fans find it increasingly costly to attend games or to even watch them on television. A confluence of factors is pricing many Americans out of the market, economists and sports business experts say. Inflation has made it harder to afford nonessential items and services, even as ticket prices across the sports landscape have risen. That's to say nothing of the costs for concessions or getting to a game. The at-home sports viewing experience is becoming more expensive, too, with subscriptions to paywalled streaming services increasingly becoming the only way to see every game a favorite team plays. And none of this has stopped billionaire sports ownership groups from asking the public at large to foot the bill for their stadiums with the threat of leaving town. The trend line threatens to erode sports fandom's place in American culture, a growing number of observers say. It's also another reason why voters in general are in a surly mood this midterm season. "There were already tensions around big time sports and affordability before we got to this point in the country, but now everything that's going on with Congress and geopolitical tensions just sort of amplifies it," said Loretta Lepore, a Republican communications strategist. "And lawmakers in both parties see this. There's a recognition that we have a growing disparity of wealth in our nation, and it's creeping into every segment of our society, including sports." |
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