| Monday, November 9, 2026 |
| MSU to honor America's veterans at annual recognition ceremony |
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| Mississippi State University will honor U.S. veterans during its annual Veterans Day ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 11. MSU President Mark E. Keenum will be the featured speaker for the ceremony, which begins at 11 a.m. on the Drill Field and is free and open to all. The university's G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Center for America's Veterans helps coordinate the annual event, which is part of a week-long recognition honoring all who have served. MSU's Army and Air Force ROTC cadets also will participate with a mixed color guard representing both programs. "Veterans Day is an opportunity for the Mississippi State community to come together and express our gratitude to the men and women who have served our country," Justin Brown, interim director of the Center for America's Veterans, said. "With our university's proud military heritage, it is especially meaningful to recognize their service and sacrifices while celebrating the contributions our student veterans and military-connected families continue to make to the Bulldog community." | |
| Community theater spaces receive funds for renovations |
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| The Golden Triangle Theatre and the Starkville Community Theatre will receive a combined $110,000 from the Mississippi Arts Commission to fund separate renovation projects, but that alone won't be enough. MAC announced the grants in a Wednesday press release as part of $3.8 million in funding from MAC's Building Fund for the Arts program. MAC received 46 requests for funding, only accepting 18 proposals. SCT received a $25,000 grant toward a $52,000 revitalization of the facade at Playhouse on Main, treasurer and board member Stephen Cunetto told The Dispatch. "It's very competitive in terms of the number of entities around the state requesting money," Cunetto said. "So we're honored to be able to be one of those that receive that funding." SCT hopes to bring its crumbling facade more in line with the general look of Main Street by replacing its windows and the current four-door setup with two, which should also provide increased lobby space, Cunetto said. | |
| Mississippi author Joe Lee to sign new novel in Starkville |
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| Mississippi author Joe Lee will sign copies of his new suspense novel, "Never Let Go," at noon Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Starkville Public Library. A reception will begin at 11:30 a.m. Admission is free, and refreshments will be served. Signed first editions will be available for $24.95, plus tax. Lee, a Brandon resident who grew up in Starkville and graduated from Mississippi State University, returns to the fictional North Mississippi town of Oakdale for the sequel to his novel "Resting Place." Set in late 1999, "Never Let Go" follows protagonist Mark Myrick III as he learns that the man who tried to kill him 15 years earlier is being released from prison and returning to Oakdale. The story also revisits characters from the earlier novel, including county Sheriff Billy Joe Stone, whose character Lee developed through interviews with retired Oktibbeha County Sheriff Dolph Bryan. The book's final act unfolds on New Year's Eve amid generational grudges, law enforcement chaos and a record-breaking snowstorm. | |
| Local candidate, everyday prices drive high voter turnout |
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| More than half of registered voters in Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay counties cast a ballot in Tuesday's general election, beating the climbing statewide rate in a midterm where Mississippians voted at levels closer to those of a presidential year. Clay County led the region with an Election Day turnout rate of 64.82%, not including affidavit ballots. In Lowndes County, 57.6% of registered voters cast a ballot, and Oktibbeha County saw a turnout rate of 56.17%. The figures rival turnout rates for presidential elections in the Golden Triangle. In 2024, the three counties logged turnout ranging from 53.6 to 68%. As for why, Lowndes County Circuit Clerk Teresa Barksdale pointed to the Senate race and the region having a local candidate on the ballot in Democratic challenger Scott Colom, of Columbus, who serves as the district attorney for the 16th Circuit Court District, which encapsulates the Golden Triangle. Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk Tony Rook agreed, telling The Dispatch Colom "worked hard" and was "active on social media," energizing a high Democratic turnout in the county. "People thought it was an interesting election," Rook said. | |
| Scott Colom and Black Mississippians stand on the cusp of Senate history as vote count stretches on |
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| Democrat Scott Colom hasn't won Mississippi's U.S. Senate race, but the local prosecutor was welcomed as a historic figure Friday as he strolled through the Farish Street business district where civil rights leaders once organized. "It's so wonderful! It's so wonderful to have Scott Colom as our representative," said Maati Jone Primm, who owns Marshall's Music & Bookstore in Jackson. The state is still tallying ballots that could make Colom the first Black senator from this Deep South state since post-Civil War Reconstruction. The possibility of Colom defeating Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith puts many Black voters somewhere between cautious optimism and outright celebration in a state where nearly 40% of the population is Black but the top representation for generations has been white. "I'm so glad we are at the point where we are," said Sorie Tarawally, a 76-year-old attorney who has long known Colom's father. He called the 43-year-old candidate "the man, our messiah, our savior." The contest remains too early for The Associated Press to call, and Colom's historic bid will hinge on a tedious process playing out in elections offices across Mississippi's 82 counties. | |
| How a Mississippi election came down to the clerk's office |
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| The ripples of the blue tsunami started in the Delta. Down a tiny road covered in brown leaves from the large oak trees was a house with wood-paneled walls covered with quotes from Maya Angelou and photos of Harriet Tubman. There, Kameisha Smith, 31, sat at a folding table and pressed her long lavender nails on her laptop keyboard, staring at a spreadsheet of people who might solidify a historic change to this country's political trajectory. It was 36 hours after a jaw-dropping midterm election, and pundits across the country wondered how this deeply conservative state, with its history of disenfranchisement and disenchantment, ended up with an African American prosecutor named Scott Colom within striking distance of winning election to the U.S. Senate. Yes, Colom had zeitgeist-catching commercials and captured the resentment toward Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who had shrugged off worries about the high cost of beef. But there was a more desperate, more granular engine powering record-high turnout and engagement among the state's Black youth. Across the Mississippi Delta -- poor, Black, rural -- there were houses like the one where Smith was busy at work, where organizers spent months figuring out how to get a community of nonvoters excited about reengaging in democracy. | |
| 'Where is Cindy Hyde-Smith?': In a nail-biter Senate race, the incumbent stays out of view in Mississippi |
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| As the Mississippi Senate race still remains too close to call, Democrat Scott Colom and GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith have taken completely different approaches towards the public. Since Election Day, Colom has held at least eight events and capitalized on the national attention of the race to flood the airwaves and make his case for why Democrats should no longer count out a state historically considered a Republican stronghold. Meanwhile, Hyde-Smith has not been seen publicly since she left her election night watch party just outside of Jackson after declaring that she would remain her state's junior senator. While Colom has appeared at local universities, a Black-owned bookshop, a vinyl record store, a diner, and a senior citizens center and sat for multiple interviews with the media, Hyde-Smith has made her statements solely on X, including posting a Bible verse about hope on Sunday. Hyde-Smith is expected to appear in Washington on Monday as the Senate returns to session after a six-week recess. The divergent strategies speak to a dynamic that played out across the country this election cycle where Republicans in GOP strongholds like Hyde-Smith, who did not work to get ahead of the worsening national political landscape, were caught flatfooted and now find themselves in a once-unthinkable position. | |
| How a Viral Ad Took Democrats in Mississippi From Long Shot to Contenders |
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| A viral campaign ad helped Democrat Scott Colom turn what was expected to be a comfortable Republican victory into an unexpectedly competitive Senate race in Mississippi. Regardless of the eventual result, Colom's performance represents a remarkable achievement for a Democrat in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982. If elected, he would become the first Black U.S. Senator elected in the state since Reconstruction. At least in part, Colom's unexpectedly strong performance can be attributed to a 28-second ad that brought national attention to his campaign in the weeks leading up to the election, homing in on an issue that has hurt Republicans across the country: affordability. Experts told Newsweek that while it's difficult to assess the impact any particular ad may have had on a race, Colom's video picked up on the concerns of voters across the political spectrum in a clever and humorous way. In a contest this close, even a relatively small shift in voter sentiment could prove consequential. Brian Shoup, a professor of political science at Mississippi State University, told Newsweek that Colom's ad highlighted the affordability issue in a way "that transcended strong party affiliations." | |
| Democrats Want Their Party to Rethink Its Southern Strategy |
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| Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia wants the Democratic Party to take the midterm results as "proof of concept" that it needs to upend its approach to the South. "In the past, the party would invest in places like Mississippi just enough to force the Republicans to spend money," Warnock told The Washington Sun on Friday. "Same thing in Texas, same thing in South Carolina, same thing in Georgia. Until we began to win." There was one meeting where donors laughed at Warnock as he urged them to pay attention to Democrat Scott Colom's Senate campaign in Mississippi. By Friday afternoon, Colom was leading Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by about 2,000 votes. "I think Mississippi got the last laugh Tuesday night," Warnock said. He added that the results show that Democrats actually need to "play to win" in races. Across the Deep South, Democrats either came close to upset wins or actually pulled them off. That includes races like Colom's, or Angie Nixon's Senate race in Florida, in which she came within three percentage points of Republican Sen. Ashley Moody. In South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, Democrats flipped Senate seats or made gains in statewide offices. Those performances provide fuel to the argument many Southern Democrats, including Warnock, have made for years -- that national Democrats need to invest more in the South. | |
| State Auditor Shad White enters 2027 race for Mississippi governor |
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| The GOP field for Mississippi's next governor continues to widen with State Auditor Shad White being the latest to enter the race. After teasing for months that he was considering a run for governor, White officially launched his candidacy on Monday. The first millennial to serve in a statewide office in not only Mississippi but also the Deep South, White was appointed auditor by former Gov. Phil Bryant after the 2018 resignation of former State Auditor Stacey Pickering. Along with his elected role, White is a captain in the Mississippi National Guard and served in the Middle East earlier this year. Since being appointed to the auditor's office, White has won two statewide elections. He ran unopposed in 2019 and defeated Democratic challenger Larry Bradford convincingly in 2023. In his role, White has notoriously boasted that he is willing to ruffle feathers and shake up Mississippi's political establishment to ensure taxpayer money was not being abused. As for who will replace White as auditor, three individuals have entered the GOP race for the position. Former state Rep. Nick Bain, state Sen. Daniel Sparks, and Madison County finance lawyer Phil Buffington Jr. are running for the state office. | |
| EXCLUSIVE: Shad White running for Governor 'to finish the job' of taking on fraud, sending savings back to taxpayers |
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| After months of speculation and build up, Shad White announced his bid to be Mississippi's next Governor on Monday morning in Laurel. The two-term State Auditor said he has spent the last eight years "catching politicians and corrupt insiders with their hands in the taxpayers' pockets." White said his run for Governor will be to finish the job. "There might be two parties in Jackson, but there's only one good-old-boys club," said White. "They tried to ban my office from even looking for government waste. As governor, I'm shutting the whole rotten system down." In his opening salvo in what is a crowded gubernatorial field, White told Magnolia Tribune in an exclusive interview ahead of his official announcement that he is running for Governor "because the Mississippi political establishment doesn't have the courage or energy to meet the most pressing challenges in our state." "I've watched them, and they will not cut the waste and abuse in government benefiting their buddies," he said. "They've even tried to sue me to stop me from recovering taxpayer funds and written bills to strip the Auditor's office of power." | |
| Auditor Shad White announces run for Mississippi governor |
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| Mississippi state Auditor Shad White on Monday announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2027, calling himself a pro-Trump candidate who will "shut down Jackson's Good-Old-Boys Club." The announcement comes after White said repeatedly over the past year that he was considering a run for the state's top job. White was set to kick off his campaign at an in-person announcement in Laurel, and published a video in which he vowed to bring down a network of government insiders. "There might be two parties in Jackson, but there's only one good-old-boys club," said White. "They tried to ban my office from even looking for government waste. As governor, I'm shutting the whole rotten system down." White joins a growing Republican primary field to replace term-limited incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves. That field now includes Attorney General Lynn Fitch, Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson and former House Speaker Philip Gunn. In an interview with Mississippi Today ahead of his announcement, White said his campaign would focus on addressing household costs by cutting fraud, waste and abuse in state government. And he didn't back away from his support of President Donald Trump, whose popularity has soured nationally, costing down-ticket Republicans in the midterm elections. | |
| Rep. Mike Ezell says he will seek common ground as Republicans move to House minority |
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| U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell, a Republican representing Mississippi's 4th Congressional District, said he will work to seek common ground when he returns to Washington in January as a member of the minority party. Ezell was re-elected to a third term on Tuesday, but the balance of power in Congress shifted from Republicans to Democrats. "I'm very thankful and humbled by the support that everybody in Mississippi has shown me, and I'll continue to do the work," Ezell said. He said his Democratic opponent, State Rep. Jeffrey Hulum, ran "a very good campaign." "We just have a difference of opinion on policies and the way that we work," Ezell said. When asked what Republicans learned from the election, Ezell said, "The American people spoke. We will adhere to their will, and we will go serve the people." | |
| 'Old ideas are for old people': A new MAGA group looks to push GOP further right |
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| A new Republican group thinks their party is too old, too moderate and too weak. So they're launching an effort to replace the outgoing generation of politicians with a younger crop of America First-aligned lawmakers. American Ascent launches Monday with an eye toward building a bench of young conservatives that could flip some of the dozens of congressional seats that will be held by aging lawmakers in 2028. The 501(c)(4) will be run by Ryan Neuhaus, the former Heritage Foundation chief of staff. Its partners include an array of new-right allies of Vice President JD Vance, including Turning Point Action, which has already endorsed Vance for president in 2028, as well as the conservative think tank Claremont Institute and the watchdog group Oversight Project. A PAC that has backed challenges to other GOP incumbents led by Andy Surabian, a longtime aide to both Vance and Donald Trump Jr., will also partner closely with the effort. The effort was in the works before last week's GOP washout. Still, its leaders say those results show Republicans must double down rather than shrink back from an aggressive populist agenda on issues from immigration to the economy. "For too long, the Republican Party has relied on rerunning candidates over and over again," Neuhaus said. "The American people told us pretty clearly that they want to see younger, more energetic politicians leading in America, representing them." | |
| Senate's post-election drama escalates quickly |
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| Congress' lame-duck session starts with a bang on Monday, as Senate Republicans debate their future after last week's shellacking and Democrats face their first vote on a permitting reform bill that is cleaving them. On the first front, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is expected to deliver Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a letter on Monday with the requisite five signatures needed to force a special conference meeting. That won't delay Majority Leader John Thune's leadership election, nor will it block Thune's bid to helm the conference in the minority, but it will force a debate about party leadership -- and there may eventually be a vote on whether to delay the leadership election. Meanwhile, the Senate will take a procedural vote on the permitting reform bill this evening, and it's looking likely to advance despite opposition from some environmental groups. Democrats are seeking more changes to the bill, but many in the party think it's the right time to move permitting legislation that has now stalled for multiple Congresses. Two climate hawks, Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., are both publicly pushing to pass the bill in the lame duck, and Democrats often trust their ranking members to cut a good deal. The bill will take probably a couple weeks to pass in the Senate if it advances. | |
| Senate Republicans return to Capitol furious with Trump after big losses |
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| Senate Republicans returning to the Capitol on Monday are furious with President Trump, whom they blame for last week's big losses in Senate and House races. The anger is raising the chances that the party could pivot away from the lame-duck president in the lead-up to the 2028 presidential election, according to GOP aides and strategists. Tensions are also rising with Trump's Friday announcement that immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller will be his new chief of staff, replacing the outgoing Susie Wiles. The Miller appointment suggests a doubling down on the president's policies, particularly on immigration enforcement, after an election in which Hispanic voters swung decisively toward Democrats, especially in Texas. Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) on Sunday said Miller should be fired, not promoted. Whit Ayres, a prominent Republican pollster, said Senate Republicans will be less deferential to Trump after suffering a huge loss of seats in last week's election. | |
| Trump says his deportation policy 'might have been too tough' for voters in the election |
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| President Donald Trump in his first major interview since his party lost control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections said he thinks his administration was too aggressive on deportations and that he thinks he can work with Democrats in the new Congress on some kind of immigration deal. Trump said his deportation policy was part of the reason Republicans lost, telling CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired on Sunday: "I think it might be too tough, yeah." He added that he thinks he could reach an agreement with the new Democratic majority. "The deal would be we would work something out. And I think it's something -- I think that's something that's actually doable," he said in the interview. Trump did not give specifics about what that deal would look like -- and shortly after taping the interview on Friday, Trump named the key architect of his hard-line immigration agenda, Stephen Miller, as his new chief of staff. | |
| Five Takeaways From Trump's '60 Minutes' Interview |
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| In his first sit-down interview since Republicans' devastating election losses, President Trump floated a deal with Democrats on immigration, suggested he might not endorse a Republican successor ahead of the 2028 election and said he had no intention of forgiving his political enemies. Trump suggested that the 2028 Republican field is wide open, and he was noncommittal about the endorsement of a successor to his MAGA movement. When Douthat told the president that he assumed he would endorse a presidential candidate in two years, Trump said, "Probably. Not necessarily." He said Republicans will have a "tremendous bench" of candidates, adding that there were many people with whom he had great relationships. Douthat asked Trump a philosophical question at the end of the interview: What happens when you die? Trump said that he hoped to go to heaven. Then Douthat pressed further, asking whether Trump would be willing to forgive his political enemies -- including former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- to go to heaven. "I want to be honest, no," Trump said. "I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies, and I always will." | |
| Purse strings and oversight: How Democrats can influence Trump's foreign policy |
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| President Donald Trump has been looking for months for a way to end the unpopular and costly Iran war. Now, Democrats, who have gained the power of the purse by winning control of both houses of Congress in midterm elections this week, are likely to be more than willing to play a part in bringing the war to an end. Exercising their newfound power to force an end to the Iran war -- by cutting appropriations, for example, or by trading action on the war for something the Trump administration wants -- is just one way Democrats are expected to influence foreign policy in the final two years of the Trump presidency. Once in control of the powerful House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees, as well as the appropriations processes in each chamber, Democrats will have a key hand in budgets for the military, foreign aid, and foreign operations. Beyond that, they have indicated they will take up a list of issues that played some role in their electoral triumph, experts on Congress and foreign policy say. Some Iran experts caution that it's not just U.S. politicians who are gauging what this week's elections say about the war's future course. "With the midterms, the Islamic Republic believes it has more leverage rather than less," says Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow in Iranian security and political issues at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. | |
| After Decades of a Religious Right, Democrats Find a Religious Left |
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| When James Talarico took the stage Tuesday night to celebrate his victory in the U.S. Senate race in Texas, he concluded his long-shot campaign the way he began it: talking about Jesus. "That barefoot rabbi didn't stay in his room and pray. He walked into the seat of power and he flipped over the tables of injustice," Talarico said from behind a lectern emblazoned with "Love Thy Neighbor." "Texas," he told the crowd, "it's time to start flipping tables." Talarico wasn't the only Democrat to campaign around Christian faith and court a segment of voters who had drifted toward Republicans. Across a number of closely watched races, Democratic clergy and a seminarian won Republican-held seats in the House and Senate and helped propel the party to its most sweeping victory in decades. Adam Hamilton, a United Methodist megachurch pastor who flashed his Bible at campaign events, won the Senate race in Kansas. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran minister, beat a Republican House incumbent in Iowa while continuing to preach at churches across the state. And Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian who regularly quotes Scripture, helped Democrats storm the Republican stronghold of Texas. Preliminary exit polls indicate Democrats gained ground among Christian voters relative to 2024, including a shift of 3 percentage points in Protestant support toward the party's candidates and an 11-point shift among Roman Catholics. White evangelicals still overwhelmingly back Republicans. | |
| Nvidia board to investigate CEO over relationship with suspected Chinese spy |
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| Artificial intelligence computer chip giant Nvidia said Sunday it was launching an investigation into chief executive Jensen Huang after he admitted to having an intimate relationship with a suspected Chinese spy. The company's board announced the investigation the same day Huang sent a note to company employees saying he had been unfaithful to his wife. "To my wife and family: I love you," he wrote. "I know an apology cannot undo what I have done. I hope our family will heal and that, over time, I can earn back your trust." The announcement comes after the New York Times reported in October that Alice Huang, an executive at an Nvidia customer whom Jensen Huang had developed a relationship with, was suspected by U.S. intelligence services of being a Chinese spy. President Donald Trump was briefed on the information a year ago but chose not to do anything, the Times reported. | |
| MUW partnering with Columbus Community Outreach and others to host health fair in Columbus |
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| Columbus residents will have an opportunity to take charge of their health during an upcoming community health fair offering free screenings and educational resources. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pohl Gymnasium on the Mississippi University for Women campus. Mississippi University for Women, the city of Columbus, Columbus Community Outreach and the Mississippi State Department of Health are partnering to host the event. Attendees can take advantage of free health screenings, exercise demonstrations and educational resources aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles. The health fair will also feature food trucks, music and vendors. | |
| MUW alumna elected Ohio secretary of state |
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| During her time at Mississippi University for Women in the 1990s, Allison Russo never dreamed of holding public office. In fact, after a failed campaign during her senior year for Student Government Association president, she believed she had all but put politics in the rearview mirror. That was until an opportunity came knocking nearly 20 years later to make a difference as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. "I would call myself the accidental politician that never planned to run for elected office," Russo told The Dispatch on Friday. "I was not into political science in college. (I was) very much a 'science, hanging out in the lab' person. Thought that I would maybe go to medical school. That was originally the plan. Then I ended up going to graduate school and went the public health and policy route." Russo, who is finishing up her fourth term as District 7 representative, was elected Tuesday to serve as Ohio's next secretary of state. She is also the first Democrat to hold the office since 2011. | |
| UM condemns racist incident captured on doorbell camera, confirms investigation |
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| Over 11.5 million people have viewed a viral video posted by a University of Mississippi student, which features doorbell camera footage of three female students walking past her apartment on Friday, Nov. 6. The footage showed two students making monkey noises and gestures at the door. The incident took place at 8:37 p.m. on Friday, according to the timestamped footage. The student who resided at the apartment where the incident occurred posted the footage to her personal TikTok account on Saturday, Nov. 7, gaining widespread media attention. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Shawnboda Mead issued a statement to the campus community on Sunday evening, Nov. 8, confirming the university is investigating the incident. The Office of Conflict Resolution and Student Conduct and the Office of Equal Opportunity and Regulatory Compliance are reviewing the incident. "While student privacy laws limit what we can share about individual students, including any potential disciplinary action, please know that this matter is being taken seriously," Mead's statement said. The statement highlighted that one of the three students, whose names have circulated on social media, was incorrectly identified. | |
| Gift provides Ole Miss med students place to connect, recharge and thrive |
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| For Dr. Bob Bennett, giving back to the University of Mississippi Medical Center is both an expression of gratitude and an investment in future generations of health care professionals. Bennett, a retired anesthesiologist with homes in Houston, Texas, and Oxford, spent more than three decades caring for patients and mentoring young people. He recently gave $250,000 to help update the Norman C. Nelson Student Union at the Medical Center. The gift reflects his deep appreciation for the institution that helped launch his career and his belief that students need opportunities to build community, maintain balance and support one another during the demanding years of professional training. On a recent tour as a member of the School of Medicine Alumni Association board of directors, Bennett was impressed by the dramatic transformation of the school's facilities and educational environment. While visiting the Student Union, however, he saw an opportunity to enhance a space that serves students from across the academic health sciences campus. | |
| Mississippi GEAR UP programs help students navigate paths to college |
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| Like some middle schoolers, La'David Hall never thought about going to college. Back then, anything beyond high school wasn't part of his plan. That changed when Hall, a seventh grader at the time, heard a career coach speak at an assembly about careers in nursing, engineering, teaching, law and medicine. "We never really had people talk to us about our futures or careers," said Hall, now a junior at O'Bannon High School in Greenville. "I remember leaving school that day curious and thinking like, "'Yeah, I can see myself doing any of those things.'" The 2021 event marked the start of Delta State's participation in Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP (opens in a new tab), a federal, grant-funded program that aims to help students attending high-poverty schools prepare for education and careers after high school. The program is one example of efforts across Mississippi to help disadvantaged students in rural areas navigate higher education and careers after high school. | |
| Melania Trump visits LSU, announces $7.2 million Fostering the Future scholarship endowment |
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| While the nation's focus was on the LSU Tigers as they faced off against the Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU administration, Louisiana officials, donors and first lady Melania Trump gathered to celebrate a partnership between the university and the White House. Melania Trump visited Baton Rouge on Saturday ahead of the Tigers' much-anticipated matchup to formally announce a $7.2 million permanent endowment for her Fostering the Future scholarship program. The private event saw faces like Gov. Jeff Landry, Rep. Steve Scalise, LSU President Wade Rousse, LSU football's Ed Orgeron, Mike the Tiger and, of course, the scholarship recipients themselves. The first lady gave a speech during a private ceremony at Patrick F. Taylor hall on campus. The ceremony was held to thank both Trump and the donors, as well as recognize LSU's Fostering the Future recipients. "While most eyes will be on the athletes, I encourage you to recognize LSU's Fostering the Future scholars who are just as remarkable," Trump said. Above her hung a two-story American flag bordered by LSU banners on either side. | |
| Mizzou becomes trailblazer in the integration of AI into the classroom |
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| With increasing controversy over the use of artificial intelligence, especially in the classroom, researchers at the University of Missouri are finding ways to integrate the technologies in ways that benefit both students and teachers alike. The newly relaunched AI Education, Research and Infrastructure program at Mizzou began its most recent project working on AI integration in classrooms this fall, bridging the gap between education and technology. Researchers have been bridging this gap at the university for years through teaching and certification programs related to artificial intelligence technologies. The scope of the relaunched program is being expanded to include K-12 classrooms throughout the state. Understanding that this technology is not going away anytime soon, AI researchers at the university have decided to embrace it, learning about ways it can be used in the classroom and instructing students and teachers about best practices for these technologies. Prasad Calyam, executive director of the new AI program at Mizzou, said the opportunities of AI use in education include faster learning, easier access to information and a built-in tutoring device. | |
| Ohio State suspends fraternity after 'extremely concerning incident' |
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| An Ohio State University fraternity has been placed on temporary suspension while the college investigates an incident in which two individuals were apparently set on fire. In a statement to The Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network, Ohio State spokesperson Ben Johnson said the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity had been placed on interim suspension after a video circulated on social media showing people on fire. "The university is aware of this extremely concerning incident, and the individuals in question are receiving needed medical care," Johnson said in a statement. "Ohio State has placed the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on interim suspension pending a full investigation, and the university has made referrals to law enforcement." Ohio's Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter is the latest fraternity to face scrutiny amid high-profile accusations of sexual assault, hazing, and misconduct by other Greek life organizations nationwide, including at Cornell, the University of Arizona, and Louisiana State University. Another frat at the Big Ten school, Pi Kappa Phi, made headlines earlier this year for sending a student to the hospital in an unnamed incident. | |
| Cornell Faculty Lose Confidence in Top Leaders After Sexual Assault Case |
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| The Cornell faculty senate passed a resolution of no confidence in Cornell's central administration on Friday, urging change in how the university should handle the persistent and troubling issue of sexual assault on its campus. While largely symbolic, faculty members said that they believed the vote would serve as a rallying cry for those who wanted a new approach and new leadership to resolve a crisis that was sparked seven weeks ago, when a former student filed a lawsuit alleging she was gang raped at a fraternity house in 2024. "This vote is only the beginning," said Iris Packman, a faculty co-sponsor of the resolution, at a news conference on Friday afternoon. "It says to the Cornell community that the faculty do not stand behind this administration's response to this crisis. And importantly, it says to all of the Jane Does out there, we have your back." It passed by a vote of 75-50, with five abstentions and five members not voting. Cornell's powerful board of trustees, which appointed Michael I. Kotlikoff as the permanent president after years of his service as provost, has ultimate control over the university's leadership. It released a statement on Friday indicating it continued to support him. | |
| The Big Business of HBCU Homecomings |
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| When Leelannee Malin was growing up in New Orleans, attending homecoming celebrations was a regular fall weekend activity for her family. Both her parents earned bachelor's degrees from Southern University, a historically Black institution in Baton Rouge, and her father went on to earn advanced degrees from two other HBCUs. They remained devoted alumni, and Malin spent autumn weekends cooking out on the yard -- Southern's central quad -- and watching football alongside nonbiological aunties, uncles and cousins. "As a kid, you don't really know what camaraderie is or what that means, but you know what it looks like," Malin said. "I just remember the spirit." After she graduated from high school, Malin enrolled at Clark Atlanta University, where she was eventually crowned a member of the royal homecoming court in 1997. She went to graduate school at Bowie State University and earned a doctorate from Howard University, which her son also attended. In the Malin family, the HBCU legacy runs deep. Now 49, Malin works as a professor of communications at Xavier University in Louisiana. But each fall she tries to get back to at least one of her alma maters for homecoming, because returning to campus really feels like going home. HBCU homecomings have become big business and, for many alumni, a highlight of the year. | |
| What the Democrats can (and cannot) do to reverse Trump's education upheaval |
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| The Trump administration's unprecedented push to reshape American education has affected schools and campuses nationwide, driving sweeping changes to education rules, culture and funding. Using investigations, executive orders, new regulations and threats to cut off federal funding, Republicans have forced schools to abandon many diversity efforts and protections for transgender children, begun dismantling the Education Department and made other key changes to long-standing policies as Democrats seethed in the background. Now, Democrats have a chance to take meaningful action with control of both the House and Senate. Across the board, they are expected to use investigative hearings and oversight levers to try to reverse President Donald Trump's course. But will it be enough to undo -- or even slow -- his agenda? Even with large majorities in both chambers, Democrats face formidable challenges. | |
| John Sailer Waged War Against DEI. He Thinks It Will Roar Back. |
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| For the last three years, John D. Sailer, director of higher-education policy at the Manhattan Institute, has focused his work on moving colleges away from racial and social-justice activism and toward a race-blind vision of higher education. The think tank has carried out its vision through anti-DEI model legislation, investigations into university hiring practices, and intense social-media campaigns against campus leaders seen as sympathetic to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. But on Tuesday, after Democrats this week took control of both chambers of Congress and the majority of the country's governorships, the conservative activist forecasted on X that much of the institute's work might go up in smoke. "DEI is likely on its way back," Sailer wrote. The reality for colleges may be far more complicated. Since 2023, state lawmakers have passed 34 anti-DEI laws banning diversity programs, training, and statements and restricting how faculty can teach about race, gender, and identity in the classroom. Under the Trump administration, colleges also face the threat of federal investigation and the revocation of funding over their DEI programs. Whether new leadership in Congress and state legislatures will embolden college presidents and their general counsels into giving the greenlight to practices they have abolished remains to be seen. | |
| Can Democrats deliver the changes voters want? |
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| Columnist Bill Crawford writes: The initial battle may be won but the war for control has just begun for Democrats. Voter wrath that toppled Republican control in Congress will turn again in 2028 if Democrats don't address the causes of that wrath. Combative conservative blogger Eric Erickson wrote that while high prices and the Iran war were key across-the-board issues, there was much more kindling voter wrath. He listed actions by President Donald Trump that infuriated distinct groups of voters: tariffs; treating affordability as a hoax; corruption, incompetence, and cruelty; playing nicer with Russia than with our allies; overly aggressive deportations and accidental arrests of Hispanic American citizens; and never-ending threats and lies. "Voters are tired of the weirdos in Trump Land who trade on social media memes, latent racist memes, a fixation on winning Twitter, and nonsense over seriousness," wrote Erickson. Ordinary Americans want trade and war policies fixed "more than a culture war." | |
| DeSoto County, a Republican stronghold, key to Scott Colom's midterm election performance |
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| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: If Democrat Scott Colom ultimately wins Mississippi's closely contested U.S. Senate race, upsetting Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, he needs to send a special thank you to the Memphis suburb of DeSoto County. Surprisingly, it appears Colom will win DeSoto County, long viewed as one of the state's Republican strongholds. But more important than the DeSoto victory for Colom is the vote totals in the county. In the 2024 presidential election, Republican Donald Trump garnered 48,064 votes in DeSoto County to 29,023 for Democrat Kamala Harris. When all the votes from Tuesday's election are finally counted in the coming days, Colom will ultimately match Harris' vote total in DeSoto County or fall just short of it. By the same token, Hyde-Smith garnered fewer than 25,000 votes in DeSoto County, significantly underperforming Trump. The last time she was on the ballot, in the presidential election year of 2020, Hyde-Smith performed as well as Trump in DeSoto County, winning more than 40,000 votes. Put simply, if she had performed as well this year as she did in 2020 in that one county -- DeSoto -- she would not be staring at a potential history-making upset. | |
| Turns out, Mississippi voters were paying attention in the Colom, Hyde-Smith Senate race |
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| Mississippi Today's Geoff Pender writes: For closing in on a decade, all a Mississippi Republican candidate needed was an endorsement from Donald Trump and to run 'round parroting the red-meat social phobias he peddled. No need to propose any real policy. No need to push back against anything Trump did or didn't do -- even if it hurt Mississippi -- or anything he said, no matter how awful. Heck, no need to really campaign very hard. A blessing from Trump and pledge to blindly follow him was a Willy Wonka golden ticket for a Mississippi Republican politician. Until it wasn't. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, the law of political gravity reasserted itself in Mississippi, for Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. ... Win or lose, Mississippi voters sent Hyde-Smith and state Republican leaders some messages: Turns out you can't just go along without a peep with tariffs, trade wars, shooting wars and big beautiful bills that hammer Mississippians in their pocketbooks and take away access to health care. | |
SPORTS
| Men's Hoops Finishes Homestand With Jackson State On Monday |
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| Mississippi State men's basketball completes its opening week homestand with a Monday night matchup versus Jackson State at Humphrey Coliseum. Last time out, the Bulldogs (2-0) posted a dominating 82-44 win over Northwestern State where 12 of 14 players who saw action scored and 13 of 14 players who saw action grabbed a rebound. State has started the season 2-0 in four of five campaigns under Coach Jans. Josh Hubbard is the lone SEC player to rank among the SEC's top 5 in scoring and assists on the young season averaging 20.0 points and 6.0 assists per contest. The senior guard enters Monday's action 13 points shy of becoming the 34th player in SEC history to compile 2,000 for his career. | |
| Diamond Dawg Classic Shows Again Legends Live Forever |
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| Where else but Starkville? That's a rhetorical question. There are few places -- maybe no other places -- but Starkville, Mississippi, that can turn a college baseball alumni game into a must-see event. For the second year in a row, that's now been proven. Dudy Noble Field opened its arms and embraced its past on Friday night with the Farm Bureau Diamond Dawg Classic. Bulldog greats spanning generations once again put on the M-over-S in front of thousands of State fans who simultaneously got to witness a ballgame and a reunion. For record-keeping purposes, let it be known Team Lightning defended its crown won a year ago as they downed Team Thunder 12-3. And while Lightning manager Jonathan Papelbon with his newly won championship belt would surely tell you and opposing manager Mitch Moreland differently, the score was secondary to what this was and what this meant. This was a celebration. It was another night of appreciation. "This alumni game is better than it's ever been," Papelbon said. "Just the fandom around it is insane. I don't think many schools do it this way." | |
| State's SEC Tournament Run Ends In Penalty Shootout Against Texas |
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| Mississippi State did what has become expected this season, playing to a 0-0 draw against Texas in the first round of the SEC Tournament. However, two State shooters missed their penalty kicks, eliminating the Bulldogs from the bracket. Goalkeeper Jenny Harrison made the first save of the shootout in the third round, but State went over the bar on the next attempt and hit the post in the sixth round. Harrison made six saves over 110 shutout minutes. She is now tied for third in MSU single-season history with nine clean sheets on the year and tied for second in State's career record book with 12. "Going out on penalties is tough," head coach Kevin O'Brien said. "I'm proud of what the girls have done all season and tonight. It was a great experience for lots of us who have never been to Pensacola, never been to the SEC Tournament. Even the experience of going to penalties is invaluable for this program moving forward. I think it gets us ready for the next time we face it. You don't get experience without stepping into that environment, so we got to step into it. Even though the chips didn't fall our way, I'm totally happy with the way we took them, and the way we went about it." Mississippi State will now await its NCAA Tournament fate. The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m. CT. I | |
| Attendance rises as SEC women's soccer returns for fifth straight year in Pensacola |
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| Day one of the SEC's women's soccer championship tournament wrapped up Sunday in Pensacola. 12 teams battled it out at Ashton Brosnaham Athletic Park. This marks the fifth straight year the county has hosted the tournament. Organizers say day one shows attendance is already up. For five years, tournament play has brought thousands of visitors to the area. "I love the warm weather, the people here, the environment, and the SEC. So I love it," parent of a Mississippi State University soccer player, Jelineta Pelleka, said. "Pensacola, I mean, it's just where the beach is, right? Where the fun is, and it's an excellent place to play the tournament. The weather is insane. It's really good," parent of a Mississippi State University soccer player, Ruben Vega, said. Millions of dollars in economic impact pour into the area throughout tournament play. | |
| CFP, ESPN ink 5-year, $1.7B deal to expand field, sources say |
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| The College Football Playoff and ESPN have signed a five-year deal that will expand the field to 24 teams in 2027 with ESPN as its continued broadcast partner, a seismic move that also eliminates the lucrative Power 4 conference championship games. The contract is worth nearly $1.7 billion, sources told ESPN. "ESPN and the College Football Playoff have worked collaboratively for more than a decade to make the CFP one of the marquee events in all of sports, and we remain firmly committed to elevating it in its new, expanded 24-team format," ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. "We value the trust that the CFP has placed in us as its exclusive media partner, and our continued presentation of this premier championship further solidifies ESPN as the home of college football and the destination for college sports for years to come." | |
| ESPN, College Football Playoff announce details of expansion to 24 teams: Here's how it works |
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| The College Football Playoff will double the Playoff field from 12 to 24 teams next season, with ESPN remaining the exclusive rightsholder through 2031-32. The CFP and ESPN officially announced the news Monday morning. To make room on the calendar for a new round of Playoff games, the 10 FBS conferences are expected to end their league championship games that are always played on the first weekend of December. The release said "decisions on the future of conference championship games rest with each conference." Minutes after the CFP and ESPN announcement, the SEC was the first conference to say that it was discontinuing its championship game after 35 years. According to a source briefed on the deal but not authorized to speak publicly about the details, ESPN will pay $345 million per year over the next five years on top of the current CFP contract that was valued at $1.3 billion when it was finalized in 2024. However, ESPN will also be repaid around $140 million for the canceled ACC, SEC and Big 12 championship games. | |
| College Football Playoff expands to 24 teams after new ESPN media rights deal |
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| After months of speculation and discussion, College Football Playoff expansion is officially happening. The CFP has agreed to a five-year, nearly $1.7 billion media rights deal that paves the way for the bracket to grow to 24 teams in 2027, and Power Four conference championships are being eliminated, On3's Pete Nakos reported. Talks have been ongoing between the College Football Playoff and ESPN since an exclusive negotiating window opened in September. The CFP released a statement Oct. 9 confirming the window had closed, but confirmed discussions were still happening with ESPN about potential expansion. Nov. 6, the CFP released a statement confirming it was in the "final stages" of making a decision on expansion to 24 teams. Monday morning, it became official, with expansion to take place in time for the 2027-28 academic year. "We are thrilled to continue our broadcast relationship with ESPN, which has been a terrific partner of the CFP since its inception," CFP executive director Rich Clark said Monday in a statement. "Like the CFP, ESPN celebrates everything that makes the sport of college football so great." | |
| Federal Appeals Court Sides With NCAA in Key Eligibility Case |
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| A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on Friday reversed a nationwide injunction allowing Division I athletes who began college play in 2022–23 and completed four years of eligibility to play another season against the NCAA's wishes. This ruling could become valuable precedent for the NCAA in repelling eligibility lawsuits. Central to the ruling in Wisne v. NCAA is the court's conclusion the relevant labor market can't simply be all of D-I athletics. Instead, the market must account for which athletic programs actually compete for an athlete's services. Writing on behalf of herself and Circuit Judges Paul J. Kelly and Nancy L. Moritz, Circuit Judge Carolyn B. McHugh held the players' position that the relevant labor market is Division I athletics "is simply not plausible." The relevant market identifies the arena in which competition allegedly has been restrained. In the context of college sports, a court has to figure out who competes to "hire" the services of college athletes before it can determine whether NCAA rules unlawfully restrict that competition. The word "hire" is in quotes since college athletes -- who are also full-time, degree-seeking students -- aren't actually "hired" by schools. | |
| Why a midterm blue wave could doom the college sports bill |
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| A dominant performance by Democrats in last week's midterm elections is expected to severely slow the progress of -- if not entirely kill off -- congressional efforts to regulate the big business of college sports. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who is expected to become the first Black Speaker in January, has backed the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and NAACP in opposing the bill and other NCAA-backed proposals like it in recent months. Jeffries will replace outgoing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who this past week said he would not stay on as House minority leader. Johnson is a key member of the president's "Saving College Sports" White House task force. Johnson faces a slew of other priorities in the lame-duck Congress, including government spending and an authorization of defense funds. He's also likely to be dealing with a shortage of votes, as it can be difficult to ensure attendance in lame-duck sessions when many members, defeated at the ballot box, are not motivated to be in Washington. That could be a factor with a GOP conference that is losing dozens of members and that had a narrow majority in the first place. The college sports bill, most Capitol Hill observers agree, is likely to fall to the back burner during the final House session of the calendar year given those changes. | |
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