| Thursday, June 18, 2026 |
| Local MSU, Summer Scholars alum gives back to June camp | |
 | According to an MSU press release, Kenzie Claire Burchfield was always going to attend Mississippi State University. The daughter of current and retired MSU employees, Burchfield did not need much convincing to become a Bulldog. However, when she heard her friends at Starkville High School discuss a three-week summer theater camp "that sounded amazing" on the university's campus, she knew she had to be there. "They were always raving about the Summer Scholars program and how it was the most fun," Burchfield said. "So, I begged my parents on my knees to let me come to camp, and they finally did. It was the best summer ever." Burchfield was in her element as part of MSU's long-standing Summer Scholars On Stage tradition. Started in 1983 by Joe Ray Underwood who directed the camp for years, the multidisciplinary program has helped artistic middle and high school students develop story concepts, create characters, write dialogue, shape scripts and perform an original production in a condensed, intensive three weeks. This year has more than 50 students in grades 7-12 from the Southeast and even Michigan working to incorporate their dancing, singing, acting and technical skills into a final musical production. |
| Rural areas lag behind in cancer treatment and prevention -- even as rich, urban areas increasingly leave dying from cancer in the rearview | |
 | Mississippi State University's Arthur Cosby writes for The Conversation: Cancer in the United States experienced a dramatic turnaround in 1991. Prior to that year, cancer deaths had been increasing for decades, peaking at 215 deaths per 100,000 people, meaning about 1 in 4 deaths were attributed to cancer. Then it began to consistently decline, decreasing by 34% between 1991 and 2022. This amounted to an estimated 4.5 million fewer cancer deaths during that period. When the second-most frequent cause of death in the nation begins to decline, the effects are considerable. Improvements in cancer screening, treatment and prevention have led to increases in longevity and well-being. In a diverse country, however, not everyone or every place benefits equally from improvements in health and medicine. In coordination with my colleague Viswadeep Lebakula, research from my team of social scientists and I found that where people live can profoundly influence their chances of dying from cancer. |
| Know types, uses of electrolyte products for wise consumption | |
 | Staying hydrated is an important part of avoiding heat stress during the hot summer months, and many people may be wondering if incorporating electrolyte products into their daily routines can help. Mississippi State University Extension Service health and nutrition specialists say plain water and a balanced diet are sufficient for most people. "Electrolyte products can be helpful to athletes participating in prolonged exercise, individuals working outdoors in hot weather or people recovering from illnesses that cause vomiting or diarrhea," said Mary Nelson Robertson, MSU Extension health specialist. "In those situations, replacing both fluids and electrolytes may be beneficial, but for most healthy people going about their normal daily activities, water and a balanced diet are usually enough," she said. Qula Madkin, Extension registered dietitian nutritionist, encourages people to treat electrolyte products like supplements. "Many sports drinks and electrolyte supplements contain high levels of sodium, added sugar and sometimes potassium. Too much sodium can increase the risk of high blood pressure," said Madkin, who is also an instructor in the MSU Department of Biochemistry, Nutrition and Health Promotion. |
| Aldermen green light two new housing projects | |
| Aldermen on Tuesday cleared the way for two housing projects, including a five-story mixed-use development downtown and the city's first cottage court community. The first project, planned for the former site of the Starkville Community Market at 128 S. Jackson St., will see 24 residential units added to the downtown portfolio. Along with residential units, the building will include a ground-floor commercial space and a top floor featuring floor-to-ceiling windows and taller ceilings to create "a penthouse" feel to the floor, Developer Mark Castleberry told the board during the meeting. Castleberry said he expects the development to be a "really neat one-two-punch" when combined with the plans for Barter Row, a project that which would develop property encompassing the existing Regions Bank building as well as four other nearby lots surrounding Reeds of Starkville into a mixed-use development with residential and commercial space. Aldermen on Tuesday also approved a request from Developer Christopher McQueen to combine three existing lots near 509 S. Montgomery St. and remove three existing structures to build 14 cottage units organized around two shared courtyards. |
| Fair kicks off Friday for first June start | |
| The Neshoba County Fair will return this week with a historic change, as Mississippi's Giant House Party moves to June for the first time. Fair officials said the change was made to better accommodate early school starts and late-summer scheduling conflicts, allowing more families and friends to enjoy the Fair without interference. The Fair opens Friday, June 19, and runs through Friday, June 26. A full slate of events is scheduled throughout the week, including the 47th running of the Heart O' Dixie Triathlon on Saturday morning, June 20. The event will be operated this year by The Refuge of MS, which takes over from the Philadelphia Sertoma Club after 46 years. Harness and running races begin Sunday, June 21, and continue throughout the week. Political speaking begins Wednesday, June 24, at about 9:30 a.m. and continues through Thursday. The annual fireworks show will close out the Fair following Friday night's entertainment at the Grandstand. |
| Who's running for Agriculture Commissioner in 2027? | |
| Andy Gipson is running for governor in 2027, leaving an open seat race for Mississippi's next Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce. The state agriculture commissioner oversees the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce. State law provides that the commissioner is to have "a competent knowledge of agriculture; mining, manufacturing, statistics and general industries and he or she must be an experienced and practical agriculturist." The law also charges the commissioner with numerous duties in the areas of development and marketing of agriculture and commerce, regulation of related industries and investigation of agricultural crimes. Who will replace Gipson at the helm of the department tasked with regulating and promoting one of the biggest industries in the state is currently anyone's guess. No clear favorite has emerged as of yet. However, some names are starting to bubble up as possible contenders to be the next Commissioner of Agriculture. Here is a look at who is said to be considering a run. |
| Democrats speak out against Mississippi secretary of state's plan to reinstate 2022 legislative maps | |
 | Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson has instructed his office to prepare the state's electronic voting system for a rollback to the 2022 legislative district maps, a move that drew swift criticism from the state's Democratic Party. In a June 9 letter to Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Jason White, Watson announced he has directed his own staff to begin preparing the state's election system to revert to the 2022 legislative maps by 2027. The internal directive follows a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision which could override federal court-mandated maps adopted last year that briefly cost Republicans their supermajority in the state Senate. Democrats responded to the announcement on June 11th after the letter was made public. House Minority Leader, Robert Johnson III of Natchez, questioned the legal basis of Watson's directive, noting that the authority to draw lines rests with lawmakers. "I don't know any authority under which the Secretary of State has the authority to redraw district lines. That's done by the legislature, so there's no administrative authority. That may be the way he feels, but that's not the way things are done," said Johnson. |
| Secretary of State Michael Watson informs legislative leaders of 'redistricting preparations' | |
| Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson has informed legislative leaders that his office is taking steps to prepare for redistricting in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision opening the door for states to eliminate majority-Black electoral districts. Watson, a Republican who is running for lieutenant governor, referenced the June 9 letter in a news release on Tuesday. "Recently, in light of the ruling by the United States Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais et al., its direct impact on the existing legislative district maps, and my statutory duty as Mississippi's Chief Elections Officer, I notified Speaker Jason White and Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann of our team's intent at the Secretary of State's Office to begin preparing the Statewide Elections Management System (SEMS) for a reversion to the original 2022 legislative redistricting map adopted by the Mississippi Legislature," Watson said. Watson said he had to send a letter to inform lawmakers what timeline they face if they intend to redraw districts before the 2027 legislative elections. This is because no redistricting changes may be made to the statewide election system while an election is in progress, Watson said. |
| Bill Cassidy blasts Trump's Iran peace deal: 'Reagan is rolling over in his grave' | |
 | U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy condemned President Donald Trump's 14-point deal pausing hostilities with Iran, which is slated to be signed Friday in Switzerland. "Reagan is rolling over in his grave," Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, wrote on X Wednesday afternoon, referring to President Ronald Reagan. "Iran's nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal. Cassidy continued: "Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades." |
| Cruz: 'Giving billions of dollars to lunatics' in Iran 'is not a good idea' | |
 | Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday raised concerns about major concessions to Iran made in President Trump's memorandum of understanding to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, warning that Trump is not getting good advice from his advisers. "History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal," Cruz told The Hill. He made his comments after the Trump administration released the full text of the peace deal with Iran, which would lift sanctions on Iranian oil exports and give Iran access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund. The memorandum calls on the United States to "terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the United Nations Security Council resolutions, I.A.E.A. Board of Governors resolutions, and all unilateral U.S. sanctions, primary and secondary, in an agreed-upon schedule as part of the final deal." |
| U. of Arkansas for Medical Sciences receives $2.6 million grant to expand dual degree program | |
| The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will receive $2.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to expand its M.D./Ph.D. dual-degree program, university officials announced Tuesday. According to a news release, the grant will allow UAMS to add 10 students to its seven- to eight-year joint program, which currently has a capacity of 22 students. "This training grant is going to enable us to strengthen and expand our existing M.D./Ph.D. program," said Dr. Sara Shalin, the program's director. "This is going to be a huge draw," Shalin said. "We have lost some really tremendous Arkansas applicants who chose to go to a different program that offers an MSTP program." "This landmark achievement establishes the only MSTP in a four-state region, including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi, positioning UAMS as a premier hub for biomedical research and elite clinical training in the South," said Dr. William Steinbach, chair of the UAMS Department of Pediatrics. |
| Universities Hiring Student Expression Specialists | |
 | Two public universities -- the University of Texas at Austin and the University of California, Santa Cruz -- are each hiring a student affairs professional whose job will focus entirely on student speech and free expression. The job postings follow a surge of protest activity on American college campuses -- including clashes between student protesters and police at both UT Austin and UC Santa Cruz -- and the ensuing avalanche of lawsuits from students, alumni and others who were arrested or disciplined after participating in campus protests. Based on the job descriptions, the new positions will consolidate into one role a variety of free expression–related responsibilities -- such as crafting speech policies, training faculty in de-escalation tactics, monitoring protests and coordinating with law enforcement. Whether the new staff members will safeguard students' rights to free expression or work to censor them will depend entirely on how the role is deployed, experts said. UT Austin is seeking an "assistant dean for expressive activity support and engagement" who will be responsible for "safeguarding" the First Amendment rights of students, faculty and staff while "ensuring compliance with institutional policy and applicable law," according to a job ad posted over a month ago. |
| Does Your College Need a Librarian for AI? | |
 | Academic libraries have long struggled with shrinking budgets, yet some are now making room for a new position: the artificial-intelligence librarian. That's because at a time when many colleges are grappling with the impacts of generative AI, some are hoping librarians can lead them through the thicket of challenges raised by the new technology. Information literacy -- which has taken on a new urgency and resonance -- is, of course, an area of expertise for librarians. Faculty members and students often turn to them with questions about using AI in research; many librarians have been asked to help find fake citations hallucinated by generative AI, for example. But some colleges are also asking librarians to weigh in on a range of other issues, such as policies on the appropriate use of AI and AI detection tools. A growing number of college libraries are creating new job titles to reflect those new responsibilities. |
| Colleges know public trust has plummeted, and leaders are seeking a fix | |
 | Amid intense pressure from the Trump administration and deepening public skepticism of higher education, a number of colleges have embarked on an unusually public bout of self-scrutiny in an effort to regain public trust. A group of elite research universities released a statement this spring detailing their principles, including the importance of affordability, the freedom to debate and dissent, and their commitment to self-evaluation and correction. The recent public statements and investigations are intended to underscore not just the public service that universities provide, and the necessity of independence from political pressure, but also their desire to regain public confidence, according to some university leaders. There seem to be two strategies at play with recent efforts, said Robert Kelchen, a professor of education policy at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "One is trying to head off additional scrutiny and investigations from the federal government," he said. "And the second is using the administration's preferred language, really, against the administration." |
| State Supreme Court holds firm in seeking justice for Quitman County family in 1990 | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: nce again, Mississippi's highest court was asked to hold out for justice for a family murdered in 1990 in a hellish scene in their Walnut community home in rural Quitman County. On June 12, the Mississippi Supreme Court denied the most recent attempt by one of the two men convicted of the Parker family murders. The appellant was Anthony Carr, now 60 and on Death Row at Parchman. His co-defendant, Robert Simons Jr., is also under a death sentence for the same murders. Still, in 2011 a federal appeals court granted a stay of execution based on claims that Simons fell out of his prison bunk and suffered a head injury that caused memory loss. Both Carr and Simons have been up and down the elevator of state and federal death-penalty appeals. Simons is in legal limbo -- still under the death sentence, but the stay of execution has not been lifted; consequently, the state has not sought a new execution date. Carr's trajectory still leads to execution for the quadruple murders, unless new and legally noteworthy evidence emerges. |
SPORTS
| St. Andrew's hires former Mississippi State standout Jordan Danberry as girls basketball coach | |
 | St. Andrew's has hired Jordan Danberry as its next girls basketball head coach, the school announced. Danberry, a former Mississippi State basketball standout, most recently served as the head coach at Murrah and will now lead the girls basketball program at St. Andrew's. Danberry's resume as a player includes back-to-back Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year awards as a high school player, before going on to play at Mississippi State in college. At Mississippi State, Danberry was an All-SEC second team selection and was an integral part in leading the Lady Bulldogs to back-to-back national runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2018. Following her collegiate career, Danberry played professionally in Iceland, which is also where she began her coaching career. Danberry then moved back to Mississippi and was most recently the head coach for the Murrah girls basketball program in Jackson. |
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.
