| Thursday, January 28, 2021 |
| Supporting MSU: Hosemann Family Autism Foundation extends support for future educators | |
 | The Hosemann Family Autism Foundation has created an annual scholarship award for graduate students studying and pursuing careers in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) through the Mississippi State University (MSU) College of Education. The nonprofit foundation was established in 2017 by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and his wife Lynn, along with their children, to improve access to and the quality of educational, therapeutic, medical and behavioral health-related services for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families in Mississippi. The Hosemanns have publicly and privately supported autism-related efforts within the state for many years. At MSU, they have previously worked with Dan Gadke, director of MSU's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic, and Kasee Stratton-Gadke, director of the university's T. K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability, to provide support for these two campus-based programs. "Our foundation's goal is to grow the practice of ABA and increase the number of therapists in Mississippi so that individuals with autism and other disabilities may be better served in the state," said Lynn Hosemann, president of the foundation's board. "Mississippi State University's dedication to this effort and vision for this program is very encouraging. We are thrilled to establish this scholarship." |
| Amanda Tullos to serve in MSU education and Partnership School liaison role | |
 | A veteran educator is returning to Mississippi State to further develop and grow collaborations between the university and Starkville Oktibbeha School District. Amanda Tullos began a new role this month at MSU serving as the director of the Partnership Middle School and educational liaison. The school, located on the MSU campus, opened last August and serves all SOSD sixth and seventh grade students. In the new position, which is part of MSU's Office of Research and Economic Development, Tullos will coordinate activities between MSU and the school, including field trips and academic activities such as field work and internships for MSU faculty and students. "Throughout her career, Amanda has worked with students, teachers, parents and community partners to strengthen educational opportunities in Mississippi," said MSU Vice President for Research and Economic Development Julie Jordan. "She is well-positioned to maximize the collaborations between MSU and SOSD that will benefit school district students, the future educators being trained at MSU, and educators throughout the state. Partnership Middle School represents the best of what we can accomplish when we work together toward a common goal, and I look forward to seeing even more ways MSU and SOSD can partner to advance our shared missions." |
| Master of Physician Assistant program at MSU-Meridian | |
| Taylor Rawls of Ellisville is one of 20 students comprising the inaugural cohort of Mississippi State University's new Master of Physician Assistant Studies program. They reported this month for orientation at MSU-Meridian's Riley Campus. These students are among over 250 applicants and 50 finalists who vied for limited slots in the state's only publicly funded PA program. The program achieved Accreditation-Provisional status, the initial phase of accreditation for all new programs granted by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, or ARC-PA, in October. PAs are nationally certified and state-licensed medical professionals who practice medicine on health-care teams with physicians and other providers. They perform a broad range of diagnostic, therapeutic, preventive and health maintenance services. The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the occupational outlook for PAs will increase by 31 percent through 2029. |
| Starkville Police Chief calls on community leaders to help him find solution to juvenile crime 'crisis' | |
 | On Tuesday, Starkville Police arrested 16-year-old Jaylan Sullivan after responding to a gas station shooting. This latest crime involving a young person prompted Police Chief Mark Ballard to call for a better infrastructure for addressing juvenile crimes, which he calls a crisis that the area has dealt with for years. "We're seeing the surge of violence among our juveniles again," Chief Ballard said. "Seven juveniles since November of [2019] (to January 31) have been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and murder. And that is a wake up call for any community leader." Starkville Police say that in the past 35 days juveniles have been charged with four violent crimes in the area. From January to November of 2020, Starkville Police made 32 felony arrests involving juveniles. Twelve of those arrests involved either stolen guns or attempted murder. "The day they turn 18, most of these children are walking straight into the correctional facility," Chief Ballard said. "And that is extremely frustrating because this can be corrected now when they're teenagers." Oktibbeha County NAACP President Yulanda Haddix says a major part of the solution is investing resources into the communities that need them most. "The African-American communities are under-served already," she said. |
| Starkville police search for carjacker | |
 | Starkville police are searching for the Black male believed responsible for a Tuesday night carjacking/kidnapping. Officers responded to a report of a suspicious event on University Drive just after 11 p.m. Jan. 24. According to law enforcement officials, an armed suspect approached an occupied vehicle and made contact with the driver. The suspect then reportedly forced the victim to drive to a bank in an attempt to obtain money from the victim's bank account. When law enforcement responded, the suspect fled from the College View area and remains at large. The suspect was described as a black male wearing dark clothing. Investigators continue to canvass the area and residents can expect to see a higher presence of police officers in the area. |
| Signify to close Tupelo manufacturing plant, cutting 135 jobs | |
| Signify -- still known by many locally as Day-Brite -- will shutter its lighting manufacturing facility on Green Street by December, eliminating approximately 135 local jobs. In a letter sent to Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton and other officials last week, the company said all manufacturing positions in Tupelo will be eliminated. Job cuts are expected to begin in April and be completed by December. Local leaders promised efforts to aid impacted workers. According to Community Development Foundation President and CEO David Rumbarger, some employees at the facility "are eligible for rehiring at other positions across the community, and we have a number of companies in a hiring mode." Three Rivers Planning & Development District will also play a key role in efforts to assist workers, according to Gary Golden. Three Rivers will coordinate efforts among Itawamba Community College and the Mississippi Department of Employment Security to assist workers with the unemployment process, search for new jobs, or to seek training or education for new work as desired. |
| Mississippi Business Leader Leland Speed Passes Away | |
| Leland Speed of Jackson, a Jackson leader who served his state and country, died on Wednesday, Jan. 27 after battling ALS. A graduate of Georgia Tech and Harvard Business School, Speed served in intelligence with the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command. He began his career working alongside his father in the bond business and started developing real estate on the side. In 1978, he went into the real estate investment trust business. Speed acquired 11 real estate investment trusts with real estate holdings in 36 states, brought their management functions to Mississippi and the operation became known Eastgroup Properties. A member of the Mississippi Business Hall of Fame, Speed founded both Parkway Properties, Inc. and EastGroup Properties. In 2004, Speed accepted a temporary appointment as executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority from Gov. Haley Barbour. He took the position on a volunteer basis, agreeing to serve for two years at an annual salary of $1 per year. He stayed for three years, including service after Hurricane Katrina, and returned to serve once more as interim director from 2011 until 2012. |
| Economy grew 4% in the fourth quarter as COVID-19 raged, consumers curtailed spending, and shrank 3.5% in 2020 | |
 | U.S. economic growth slowed from its record pace in the fourth quarter as consumers reined in spending amid COVID-19 surges and a fresh round of business lockdowns. For all of 2020, the economy shrank for the first time since 2009, during the final year of the Great Recession, and at the fastest pace since just after World War II. The pullback by households late last year offset strong business investment and stockpiling, as well as a roaring housing market. The nation's gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4% in the October-December period, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a 4.2% rise in GDP. For the full year, the economy contracted by 3.5%, the sharpest annual drop since 1946. The 4% fourth-quarter gain was solid by historical standards but it masks weakness late in the period as coronavirus cases hit records and states reinstated business restrictions, including banning indoor dining and limiting capacities. |
| Plan would expand computer science courses in Mississippi | |
 | Mississippi schools that don't already offer computer science courses would be required to start phasing them in, under a bill advancing at the Capitol. Senate Bill 2678 is called the Mississippi Computer Science and Cyber Education Equality Act. It passed the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday and will go to the full Senate for more discussion. The bill says school districts would start phasing in computer science elective courses from 2022 to 2025, if money is available. The goal is to create courses for elementary, middle and high schools. Republican Sen. Scott DeLano of Biloxi said the cost would be about $2 million a year. C Spire Foundation, a charity connected to the Mississippi-based telecommunications and technology company C Spire, said in early January that it was pledging $1 million toward the effort. |
| Protesting in the road? Tupelo senator says you should pay the price | |
| Legislation authored by a Northeast Mississippi lawmaker that would punish protesters blocking roadways without a permit with jail time and a hefty fine initially drew bipartisan opposition Wednesday and appeared dead, but came back to life hours later as a revised version of an existing law that garnered unanimous support from a Senate committee. Sen. Chad McMahan, R-Guntown, said he introduced the "Freedom of Roadway Act" at the request of Tupelo Police Chief Bart Aguirre. The original version of the bill was aimed at protesters who take to the streets without prior approval and block traffic. It stipulated they could face fines up to $1,500 and a year in jail for a first offense. "It is important that Mississippians have confidence that they can travel on our roadways without being obstructed," McMahan told the Daily Journal. The legislation was hotly debated Wednesday morning but failed to pass out of the Senate Judiciary B Committee after garnering concerns from several of McMahan's fellow Republicans. The committee met again in the evening, however, and took up the legislation again. That's when Sen. Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville, and other lawmakers pointed out a similar law was already on the books -- just with smaller criminal penalties. Simmons wondered aloud: Shouldn't lawmakers just update the existing law, but with the higher fines and longer potential jail sentences that McMahan had included in his legislation? |
| Bills pending at State Capitol seek to expand alcohol access in Mississippi | |
| If you want a bottle of wine or liquor and live in the state of Mississippi, it requires a trip to your local package store. Multiple bills have been filed at the State Capitol that would change that. You may already be enjoying the convenience of grocery delivery, but what if those same services could pick up your favorite wine or liquor and drop it off at the door, too? "With the pandemic that's going on, people don't have to leave their houses," said shopper Angel Thomas. "They can just make their orders for their alcohol online. I think it will be really great." Senate Bill 2804 that passed out of the Senate Finance Committee would allow permits to make that happen. "It's inside Mississippi," explained Sen. Josh Harkins. "It's to your area. There are a lot of the rules and regulations that have to be adhered to. Such as... you can't be in a dry county and purchase it. You have to be in a county that already recognizes the sale of alcohol." The delivery service Shipt is one of the companies supporting the change. Both the companies and delivery drivers would be required to hold permits to participate in alcohol delivery in the state if the bill passes. |
| Senate committee approves Mississippi's first welfare check increase since 1999 | |
| The monthly benefit for a family receiving welfare benefits through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program would be increased from $170 per month to $260 for a family of three if legislation approved Wednesday by the Mississippi Senate Public Health Committee becomes law. "We are in the midst of this pandemic," Department of Human Services Executive Director Bob Anderson told the Public Health Committee Wednesday afternoon. "We think this is an opportune time to provide this assistance for our TANF families... for the poorest of the poor in our state." The bill that passed the Senate committee on Wednesday will next be considered by the full Senate. If it passes there, it will be to the House for consideration. Anderson also pointed out the monthly benefits for Mississippi's TANF recipients have not been increased since 1999 and are significantly lower than the benefits recipients are receiving in contiguous states. The increase will not cost the state any money. TANF, a program designed to provide benefits for needy children under the age of 18, is paid for with federal funds, though the state Legislature sets the amount of the benefits. |
| Bill to create facility for frail parolees in state prisons passes Senate committee | |
 | Senate Bill 2252 would create a special care facility for parolees from the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The measure would set-up a 60 to 100 bed facility where frail parolees would receive rehabilitation, mental health and medical care. Only non-violent parolees would be eligible and Medicaid would cover the costs. Republican Senator Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula authored the bill. "The facility that this is modeled after in Connecticut, there's been millions of millions of dollars of savings to the corrections system and also providing this treatment to the the individuals who are being paroled," said Wiggins. Wiggins says MDOC spends about $80 million per year on healthcare. He told the Senate Medicaid Committee there's a list of eligible conditions to be in the program such as Alzheimer's or a physical disability. "You know we've had a lot of discussions on geriatric parole. This is a way that we can get these folks, these inmates who need this care into a facility that specializes in that," said Wiggins. The bill would require the state health department to license the facility which could be operated by the state or privately. The Senate Medicaid Committee passed the bill. It now goes before the full Senate for consideration. |
| Stylists raise concerns over proposed bill that could allow services without a license | |
 | A new bill proposed by Sen. Jeremy England may allow those who do not have a cosmetology license to still be employed at a salon. Those without a license could be allowed to dry, straighten, curl and hair as well as apply eyelash extensions. The state of Mississippi currently requires 1,500 hours of cosmetology school in order to earn a license. Areas of cosmetology school include hair, skin, and nails. England said he proposed the bill with an aim toward those who may not be able to afford schooling. However, the owner of Salon Alexander's Alexander Deeks said that the health risks aren't worth it and that education should be prioritized. "There are grants and programs that are opened up. There are colleges here. MGCCC has a program that offers for hairdressers that give an opportunity to come to a school that's an accredited school, gets credit for their courses, and grants that support it," Deeks said. Deeks said that Sen. England isn't realizing all of the potential health and legal risks that could come into play. "It's opening doors to a bad environment. It's opening doors for lawsuits between businesses and people who are not licensed. In order to own a business, you have to have liability insurance. Will they?" he said. |
| Food stamp spending jumped nearly 50 percent in 2020 | |
 | Federal spending on the country's largest nutrition assistance program increased by nearly 50 percent in 2020 amid the economic shock of the pandemic, according to newly released data from the Agriculture Department. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, still known to many as food stamps, cost nearly $90 billion in fiscal year 2020, USDA said Wednesday. That's a major jump from just over $60 billion in 2019. The massive increase in cost is a result of two major factors: Some 8 million more Americans are getting aid, and benefit levels were increased by Congress on an emergency basis last spring to help blunt the effects of widespread business and school shutdowns. There are now nearly 44 million individuals on the program, up more than 20 percent from about 36 million in 2019, according to the latest data. The average monthly benefit per person has jumped to $161, from about $130. Roughly 5 million more households got help from the program in 2020 compared with 2019. |
| How America's Food System Could Change Under Joe Biden | |
 | The transition memos from the left flank of American agriculture began piling up almost as soon as Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s presidential win was clear. There were pleas small and large. Fix the rules for raising organic livestock, and reverse the department's track record with Black farmers. Restore school food standards and strengthen G.M.O. labels. Prioritize the climate crisis. There was even a suggestion to change the name of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the Department of Food and Well-Being. The chef Michel Nischan is among those who have spoken with the Biden transition team about nutrition and farming policy. His food-advocacy resume goes back to the first Bush administration. He helped hatch the idea of doubling the value of food stamps for fruits and vegetables, a notion that has grown into a national program. He has a message for his fellow food warriors, many of whom say their issues were shoved back several squares on the game board under former President Donald J. Trump: The Department of Agriculture is an understaffed agency facing staggering hunger and safety challenges brought on by the pandemic. Repair needs to happen before reform. “It’s like, we know you want us to jump from serving meat to going vegan,” Mr. Nischan said. “But man, we got to get the stove fixed first.” |
| AP Exclusive: GOP to stay neutral should Donald Trump run again | |
| The head of the Republican National Committee on Wednesday declined to encourage former President Donald Trump to run for the White House in 2024, saying the GOP would stay "neutral" in its next presidential primary. In an interview, RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel also described the pro-Trump conspiracy theory group known as QAnon as "dangerous." The national GOP, under McDaniel's leadership, spent the past four years almost singularly focused on Trump's 2020 reelection. But should he run again in 2024 -- and he has publicly and privately suggested he wants to -- the national party infrastructure would not support his ambitions over other prospective candidates in accordance with party rules, she said. "The party has to stay neutral. I'm not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024," McDaniel told The Associated Press when asked whether she wanted to see Trump run again in the next presidential election. "That's going to be up to those candidates going forward. What I really do want to see him do, though, is help us win back majorities in 2022." In the interview, McDaniel called for Republican unity and discouraged elected officials from attacking other Republicans -- even those who voted to impeach Trump. |
| Capitol riots: End of Trump era or start of dangerous new phase in US? | |
 | Hours after President Joe Biden's heavily defended inauguration and call for national unity and civility, about 100 anti-fascist protesters, many hooded and clad in black, vandalized federal and corporate buildings in downtown Seattle, burning a large U.S. flag, smashing windows, and spraying graffiti with messages such as "kill ICE" and "abolish everything." They also hurled abuse at the new president. Meanwhile, 60 miles to the south, hundreds of right-wing, pro-Trump demonstrators -- some of them armed -- have staged protests this month outside the Washington State Capitol in Olympia. Angry about pandemic restrictions and an election they believe was stolen, they broke into the compound of the governor's mansion on Jan. 6, and then returned five days later to the adjacent state capitol where they confronted hundreds of National Guard soldiers deployed there. From Oregon to Texas and Michigan to Washington, D.C., stark scenes like this have proliferated nationwide over the past year, underscoring the growing radicalization of extremist groups on both ends of the American political spectrum. "The putsch attempt on January 6 was both the end of an era and the beginning of another one," says Vasabjit Banerjee, a political scientist who studies contentious politics at Mississippi State University in Starkville and author of "Undoing the Revolution." But precisely what kind of end or beginning will this be? |
| Homeland Security worries extremists 'emboldened' by Capitol riots may cause more violence | |
| The Department of Homeland Security Wednesday warned of a continuing threat posed by domestic extremists, cautioning that a "heightened threat environment" across the country would likely persist into the spring. The bulletin, issued by acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske, said there was no current evidence of a specific plot, yet authorities "remain concerned that individuals frustrated with the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition ... could continue to mobilize a broad range of ideologically motivated actors to incite or commit violence." Three weeks after the Capitol attack, Pekoske's national advisory stated that extremists harboring a volatile mix of grievances "may be emboldened" by the Jan. 6 attack to target elected officials and government property. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., said the DHS bulletin was a necessary step to highlight a long-standing threat. "The domestic terrorism attack on our Capitol earlier this month shined a light on a threat that has been right in front of our faces for years," Thompson said. "I am glad to see that DHS fully recognizes the threat posed by violent, right-wing extremists, and is taking efforts to communicate that threat to the American people." |
| Insurrection aftermath: Staffers struggle with trauma, guilt and fear | |
 | They replay the day in their minds, hear threats when they pick up the phone, and try to keep doing their jobs. Congressional staffers are still struggling in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, whether they hid from the violent mob in their workplace or watched in terror from home. More than a dozen congressional aides and workers within the legislative branch spoke to CQ Roll Call about the anguish of the past few weeks, most requesting that their names not be used so they could candidly describe their own mental health and the resources provided by their employers. As rioters overtook Capitol Police and stormed the building, some staffers took cover in offices, hiding under desks, donning gas masks and barricading doors. Many more watched anxiously from home, not knowing if their colleagues, friends or bosses would survive. They followed on live TV and tracked tweets and frantic texts sent from inside. Images of Black and Latino custodial workers cleaning up broken furniture, broken glass and floors coated in pepper spray residue went viral in the days after the insurrection and ransacking of the Capitol, highlighting essential workers who can't work from home during the pandemic. Multiple legislative staffers raised concerns in interviews about the accessibility of mental health resources for those Capitol complex workers who toil in obscurity. |
| Lawmakers say they are 'targets,' ask to boost security | |
 | More than 30 House lawmakers are calling for increased security, saying they are "targets" in the aftermath of the deadly rioting on the Capitol earlier this month. Lawmakers in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Thursday asked if they can expand their congressional allowances to go toward protection in their home districts, "where security is often sparse." The letter, which was first obtained by CBS News, was also addressed to Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the House Administration Committee. Thirty-one Democrats and one Republican, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), want greater flexibility for the Members' Representational Allowances (MRAs) -- the money provided to lawmaker officers to pay for staff, mail and other operational expenses. Threats against lawmakers have increased in recent years, with former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testifying that there were 4,894 threats against members in fiscal year 2018, compared to 902 investigated threats in 2016, lawmakers wrote. Their letter comes a day after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cautioned that the U.S. could face increased threats from "ideologically-motivated violent extremists" after President Biden's inauguration. |
| Self-styled militia members in three states began planning in November for recruits, weapons ahead of Capitol breach, U.S. alleges | |
 | Three self-styled militia members charged in the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol began soliciting recruits for potential violence within days of the 2020 presidential election, later training in Ohio and North Carolina and organizing travel to Washington with a busload of comrades and a truck of weapons, U.S. authorities alleged Wednesday. A four-count indictment returned in D.C. laid out fresh details and allegations against Jessica Marie Watkins, 38, and Donovan Ray Crowl, 50 -- both of Woodstock, Ohio -- and Thomas E. Caldwell, 66, of Berryville, Va. The three, all U.S. military veterans, are accused of conspiring to obstruct Congress and other counts, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors have said Caldwell appears to have ties to the anti-government Oath Keepers extremist group --- although his attorney said he is not a member. They also have alleged that the retired Navy lieutenant commander helped organize dozens of others who coordinated their movements as they "stormed the castle" to disrupt the confirmation of President Biden's electoral college victory. In a 15-page indictment unsealed Wednesday, prosecutors revealed new allegations, accusing Watkins of contacting recruits on Nov. 9, six days after the election, for a "Basic Training" camp outside Columbus, Ohio, in early January so they would be "fighting fit by innaugeration." |
| Mississippi is getting $1 billion in stimulus funds for education. Here's how it can be spent. | |
| Schools in Mississippi are about to see a large influx of federal dollars from a second federal coronavirus relief bill passed in December. The second wave of funding allocated for Mississippi is nearly three times the amount the state received last year from the education portion of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In December, Congress passed the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA), another stimulus package totaling almost $900 billion. Of that, nearly $82 billion is set aside for the Education Stabilization Fund, the bucket of money designated for K-12 schools and colleges and universities. A total of $54 billion is for K-12 schools across the nation, and $23 billion goes to postsecondary institutions. Governors will receive $4.1 billion and the remainder will go to the Bureau of Indian Education. Mississippi will receive a total of $1 billion. Approximately $246 million was awarded to Mississippi colleges, universities and occupational schools, compared to about $149 million awarded under CARES. The second stimulus includes two key changes that will allow more students to qualify for money. |
| MUW offers allergen-free, health-focused dining options | |
 | Audrey Robinson and Elena Eaton don't have trouble avoiding their food allergies in the dining hall, they said. Both are juniors at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science on the Mississippi University for Women campus, and both schools share the Hogarth Dining Center, which introduced a completely allergen-free food station called Simple Servings on Tuesday. Robinson and Eaton -- who are mildly allergic to shellfish and peanuts, respectively -- said they are curious about Simple Servings' offerings. "I definitely tend to eat the same unhealthy burger or pizza every day, so it'll be nice to have a little more protein and better options," Robinson said. Sodexo, MUW's food service provider, already offered some Simple Servings dishes but instituted a larger station with more variety after a student survey expressed demand for it, said Kelsey Rosenbaum, Sodexo's district campus dietitian. "The Simple Servings station will always have a protein, a carbohydrate and a vegetable, and additionally we'll have some sort of salad and some sort of plant-based option," she said. The expansion came after the Student Government Association conducted the survey of the student body last year in response to some suggestions and complaints about the selection of food at Hogarth, SGA vice president Emerald Bowen told The Dispatch. |
| UM commits to five-year diversity plan | |
 | The university debuted its five-year plan to advance diversity and equity at the university on Friday, and it asserts several lofty goals, including reconciling UM's racial history, creating programs to support underrepresented students and increasing scholarships for women and women of color. "Our leadership role in Mississippi underscores the importance of our efforts and our commitment to diversity and inclusion in pursuit of an equitable living, learning and working environment for all," Chancellor Glenn Boyce said in an opening statement included in the plan. "I call on all members of our university community to continue to make positive and lasting change toward being a welcoming place where all members of a diverse community can succeed." The plan, entitled "Pathways to Equity," serves as the start of Phase II of the university's diversity planning. Phase I included the "Diversity Matters" plan that then Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter helped launch in 2016 and the action plan launched by then Chancellor Dan Jones in 2014. |
| U. of Mississippi announces commencement plans for Classes of 2021 and 2020 | |
| The Class of 2020 will still get to walk across the stage to receive their diplomas, just a year later than expected. The University of Mississippi announced some of its plans on Wednesday for in-person commencement ceremonies for both the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2020. Commencement exercises for the Class of 2021 will be held April 29 through May 2, with the morning convocation taking place on May 1 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at 8 a.m. Commencement exercises for the Class of 2020 will be held May 6 through 8 with convocation taking place on May 7 at 8 a.m. inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. "It is a great privilege to celebrate our graduates and their accomplishments during Commencement each year," Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. "We are particularly pleased to uphold our commitment to the Class of 2020 by welcoming them back to campus and celebrating them in person." To keep graduates and families safe and in compliance with government orders and public health guidance, both morning Convocations, as well as school or college ceremonies, will be ticketed events. The university will announce specific ticket allotments per graduate later. The number of tickets allotted will vary by school/college, based on the number of graduates and the capacity of venues. |
| Hattiesburg council set to review workforce training agreement with Pearl River Community College | |
 | The Hattiesburg City Council will review an updated memorandum of understanding with Pearl River Community College on Feb. 2 that would provide workforce training opportunities to Hub City residents. It is an extension from the 2018 City Tuition Program, which provided tuition assistance to graduates who choose to attend PRCC. According to the city, workforce training and skill certification initiatives will be available to Hattiesburg residents under the new memorandum. Officials say it will create more opportunities for those who do not follow the traditional four-year college path. "We will always need people who can weld," Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker said. "We will need people who can do HVAC and construction and electronics and precision machine manufacturing. We need those skillsets too, particularly as we have a growing manufacturing sector in our city. And we want to recruit more of those companies here." Barker says this initiative is a great way to get more jobs to the Hub City. "Well, they come where there's an available workforce," Barker said. "And if we can pair the needs of industry with the needs of people, it's a way for the city to invest and help make that connection." |
| Officials: Texas A&M to keep Sul Ross statue on campus | |
 | Texas A&M is planning to keep the statue of Confederate general and former university president Lawrence Sullivan Ross at the center of its flagship campus, according to university officials. Monday, the Texas A&M Board of Regents approved a nearly $25 million action plan to address diversity, with $1 million designated to a task force that will work to more fully portray A&M's history through displays and iconography. A&M Interim President John L. Junkins said in a Wednesday interview that while the task force is expected to address issues related to the Sul Ross statue, the understanding is that monuments will be added to the campus. "The Board [of Regents] specifically approved a task force to study the problem, but generally, I think the expectation is there will be additional statues, in addition to Sul Ross," he said. The Board of Regents on Monday released an explanation of the eight-point action plan they approved. In describing the "action-oriented" task force, the statement said that spaces will be designed to "recognize historical figures in addition to that of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, perhaps reimagining Academic Plaza and/or other additional spaces for future recognition." |
| Andrew Young: 2015 U. of Missouri hunger striker displayed same spirit as Martin Luther King Jr. | |
 | University of Missouri graduate student Jonathan Butler in 2015 had the same spirit as Martin Luther King Jr. when he launched his hunger strike for racial justice on campus, Civil Rights leader Andrew Young said Tuesday. "He brought that school to its knees without ever raising a fuss," Young said. "You all have had a demonstration of a single human spirit." Butler's hunger strike gained the support of the football team, leading to the resignations of University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin. "The most powerful demonstrations are the quietest," Young said, not referring to Butler by name, but as "the brother sitting on the steps." "That's the same kind of power that dwelled in Martin Luther King," Young said. Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who worked with King on his Civil Rights campaigns, gave the keynote speech for MU's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. The speech was online, on YouTube Live. |
| COVID on Campus: Some schools more transparent than others | |
 | Providing public access to case data has been an unwritten rule throughout the pandemic, with cities and states posting extensive case statistics and interactive charts online. Most universities followed suit, releasing their own COVID-19 dashboards to share information with the public on the status of cases in campus communities. Having public access to information about the status of cases on campus allows students, faculty, staff and the larger community to better understand the influence of these institutions on COVID-19 in their counties. Yet not all dashboards are created equal. Some provide in-depth detail about COVID-19 on campus throughout the semester, while others only give a snippet of the information they collect. Indiana University launched a public dashboard Aug. 28 that was updated every Wednesday with information from the week's testing, including the number of tests administered and weekly positivity rates. In late September, the dashboard was given a C+ rating, later adjusted to a B-, by We Rate Covid Dashboards, a website run by a team of public health and data analytics researchers. "That's a horrible dashboard," said Howard Forman, one of the site's founders and a professor with Yale's School of Public Health, speaking to Indiana's campus newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student (IDS). "I mean, come on, they're a big state university, why would they have such limited information? That's disappointing." |
| Iowa lawmakers advance bill to eliminate tenure | |
| A bill to end tenure at Iowa's public universities advanced out of an education subcommittee Tuesday, despite pushback from Board of Regents lobbyists and opposition from economic and industry associations -- like those representing Iowa's soybean, cattle, and pork producers. "I worry that we're going to lose the best and the brightest," Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, told her colleagues in a House education subcommittee Tuesday, stressing potential losses from Iowa's research enterprise and from its medical, veterinary, pharmaceutical and dental practitioner pool. "We have some of the best in the nation," Mascher said, noting recent work on COVID-19 vaccines within UI Health Care. "For us to lose that quality worries me a great deal." But Reps. John H. Wills, R-Spirit Lake, and Skyler Wheeler, R-Orange City, advanced the tenure-elimination bill, arguing Iowa's publicly funded universities should be able to terminate faculty for reasons beyond what they define as "just cause, program discontinuance and financial exigency" -- per the regents' current tenure policy. "In the real world, if you mess up, and you mess up that bad, you're fired," Wheeler said. |
| Tensions between Lin Wood and Mercer University boil over | |
| On a January day in 2020, famed attorney L. Lin Wood returned to Mercer University's law school in Macon to launch its "legal legends" lecture series in the college's L. Lin Wood Courtroom. Mercer President William D. Underwood has called him "a loyal alum who never forgot the role Mercer played in helping him" in his future success. Wood also was a major donor, whose pledged $1 million contribution put his name on the courtroom where he spoke. Now, in a stunning turn, the two sides are embroiled in an escalating dispute that feels like the opening salvo in a messy divorce. Wood told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Mercer spread lies about him, damaging his reputation, and a simple apology at this point won't be enough. The breakup came as students and alumni have pressured the school to sever ties with Wood and remove his name from the school's courtroom because of Wood's full-throated advocacy that the November election was stolen from President Trump through widespread fraud. Wood has accused state officials of taking bribes to prevent Trump from winning Georgia, said Biden is an illegal president and suggested the country is being run by the military. The pressure-campaign on Mercer has intensified in recent weeks following the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol building and Wood's social media posts calling on patriots to take action and to "get the firing squads ready. Pence goes first," referring to then-Vice President Mike Pence, who Wood has suggested committed treason. |
| Decades of disinvestment left public research universities overexposed to Covid-19 | |
 | Nearly a year has passed since Covid-19 tore up higher education's playbook, and the ghosts of past decisions are haunting its leaders. Just as the pandemic laid bare longstanding health and economic disparities in the United States, it has exposed the ramifications of choices made by flagship universities like South Carolina as they responded to years of state disinvestment. They had built up the student body and changed its composition. They had made big commitments to new construction. They had supercharged athletics. Covid-19 threatened each of those levers, long coveted by regional public colleges and many private universities. It is this very change in circumstances in recent years --- the shift, as the saying goes, from state supported to state located --- that has hemmed in public research universities as they respond to the pandemic. Now, their reliance on enrollment is on full display. The consequences of the long-fretted-about privatization of public education have caught up with them. "Think of the university budget like a balloon," said Jason Owen-Smith, a sociology professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the author of Research Universities and the Public Good. "In good times, if you squeeze one part of the balloon, it can bulge somewhere else. Right now, there's no elasticity in the balloon at all." |
| Land-Grant Universities Tell Congress They Lost $17 Billion During Pandemic | |
 | The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' 199 public research universities have lost $17.7 billion in revenues during the pandemic and had to spend another $3.1 billion to take safety measures last fall. However, they have only received $5.7 billion in help from the CARES Act and the COVID relief package approved in December, the association wrote members of Congress on Tuesday, asking for more aid. In addition, the association said its institutions are facing cuts in state funding. For example, the Colorado Legislature slashed support for public institutions by 58 percent. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has seen a 20 percent cut in state funding. The University of Missouri, Kansas City, has taken a 12 percent hit, the group said. The public universities are also facing more losses, APLU wrote, supporting a request by a number of associations representing the range of colleges and universities for another $97 billion in coronavirus relief aid for higher education. In comparison, President Biden is proposing only $35 billion in additional aid for all of higher education. "While the roll out of COVID-19 vaccines is welcome news and public universities are active participants in advancing vaccinations efforts, higher education will continue weathering the impacts of the pandemic well into the summer and possibly into the fall as expenses for safety measures are still necessary and losses mount as campuses are not fully open," APLU said. |
| President Biden Wants Colleges to Be 'Partners' in Vaccine Delivery. Here's What They're Doing Already. | |
| The Biden administration has promised to ramp up the effort to vaccinate Americans and has asked universities to help. Colleges essentially have two roles: vaccinate members of their communities and spread the word about the importance and safety of getting the injection. Last week, the new president called on colleges to "increase vaccine awareness, reduce hesitancy, and ensure that students, faculty, and staff know when they are eligible to get the vaccine, and where to get it." College students, the document said, could serve as "trusted messengers" who will spread the vaccine gospel to their families. In Arizona, educators are now being vaccinated, including people who work at universities. Arizona State University is vaccinating people in the general population who qualify, but the university is also allowed, under state guidelines, to set aside a portion of that allocation for its employees. Within that group, the university is making prioritizations. "We want to do the right thing by our community," said Nichol Luoma, ASU's vice president for university business services. "It's hard when demand is greater than supply." |
| Higher ed groups seek flexibility for applicants of foreign worker program | |
| More than three dozen higher education groups are requesting federal officials give flexibility to applicants of a popular work and training program for foreign nationals following delays in processing their materials. Measures should include offering some applicants conditional approval to participate in the Optional Practical Training program, as well as extending filing deadlines, they wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday. The Trump administration took aim at OPT, launching an investigation last year that preliminarily led to the arrest of 15 program participants who claimed they worked at companies that don't exist. OPT offers temporary employment for foreign students and is considered to be a major driver of international enrollment in the U.S. However, as a part of former President Donald Trump's immigration policy crackdown, his administration accused it of stealing jobs from American citizens and began scrutinizing it more heavily. This resulted in the arrests and at least 1,100 OPT work permits being rescinded or not renewed. |
| President Biden orders sweeping review of government science integrity policies | |
| President Joe Biden today created a task force that will conduct a 120-day review of scientific integrity policies across the U.S. government, including documenting instances in which "improper political interference" interfered with research or led to the suppression or distortion of data. The review is part of a lengthy memorandum from Biden on his plans for "restoring trust" in government by emphasizing scientific integrity and the use of evidence in policymaking. The memo also calls on federal research agencies to name chief scientific officers, and for all agencies to spend 90 days reviewing the role of dozens of panels that provide scientific advice to government. Agencies will also determine whether they want to re-create technical advisory panels dismantled under former President Donald Trump. "Scientific and technological information, data, and evidence are central to the development and iterative improvement of sound policies," states the memo. "Improper political interference in the work of Federal scientists or other scientists who support the work of the Federal Government and in the communication of scientific facts undermines the welfare of the Nation." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi proposes allowing some student-athlete contracts | |
| College athletes in Mississippi would be able to earn money from their own name, image or likeness, under a bill that cleared a state House committee Wednesday. Senate Universities and Colleges Committee Chairman Scott Bounds said all eight of Mississippi's public universities support the proposal, as does the governing board for the schools. As Mississippi universities recruit athletes, "we need to be able to stay ahead of the curve on our out-of-state universities," Bounds said. A Florida law that takes effect July 1 will let student-athletes make money through contracts. A similar California law takes effect in January 2023. A small number of other states have also enacted such laws. Bounds said the bill under consideration in Mississippi would not let student-athletes sign contracts that conflict with those held by the university they attend. For example, if a university has an Adidas contract, an athlete could not have a separate contract with other sportswear makers such as Nike or Russell. |
| Mississippi State announces 2021 football schedule | |
| Mississippi State announced its 2021 football schedule Wednesday. Less than a month after the Bulldogs put a cap on their first season under head coach Mike Leach with a win over No. 24 Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl, MSU is now looking toward a full 12-game slate next fall. The Bulldogs will open the season on Sept. 4 against Louisiana Tech, followed by nonconference games at home against North Carolina State and at Memphis. MSU begins Southeastern Conference play on Sept. 25 in Starkville against LSU and will play at Vanderbilt on Oct. 23 in its rotating SEC East crossover game. Leach's squad will have a bye week on Oct. 9 and play its final nonconference game on Nov. 20 against Tennessee State at Davis Wade Stadium. MSU closes its campaign against in-state rival Ole Miss on Nov. 27, marking the second season in a row the Egg Bowl has been played on a Saturday rather than Thanksgiving Day. |
| Mississippi State football schedule 2021: Here's every matchup for Bulldogs | |
| The SEC announced Mississippi State football's 2021 schedule on Wednesday on SEC Network. Here's a full look at the Bulldogs' full slate. Mississippi State's four nonconference opponents have been set for a while. The hope is for commissioners across the country to be confident enough to allow teams to travel for nonconference games and play a traditional 12-game schedule. If the COVID-19 pandemic does not wipe nonconference games from the schedule like it did last year, then MSU coach Mike Leach will start his second season in Starkville against Louisiana Tech at Davis Wade Stadium on Sept. 4 in one of four nonconference games on MSU's schedule. Mississippi State went 3-7 in 2020's 10-game, SEC-only regular season and capped off the year with a win over No. 25 Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl. It marked the 11th straight season the program played in a bowl game and improved MSU's record to 7-4 in that span. |
| Mississippi State schedule analysis | |
| Flashbacks to 3rd-and-93 popped into the heads of Mississippi State fans on Wednesday afternoon. The Bulldogs open the 2021 college football season against Louisiana Tech on Sept. 4 at Davis Wade Stadium. The last time the two teams faced each other in 2018, MSU won 45-3. The year before, however, MSU beat La. Tech 57-21. In that game, Louisiana Tech faced a 3rd and 93 at one point in the game after an 87-yard meme-worthy loss on a bad snap. MSU's only non-conference road trip has the Bulldogs traveling to Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium to face Memphis on Sept. 18. MSU and Memphis have not played since 2011 and Memphis currently boasts a 15-game home-winning streak. The Tigers have not lost at home since 2018. Mississippi State opens SEC play at home against LSU. MSU also opened last season, the 10-game SEC-only schedule, against LSU. In head coach Mike Leach's debut, MSU beat LSU, 44-34, while KJ Costello passed for an SEC-record 623 yards. |
| When is the Egg Bowl? Date for when Ole Miss, Mississippi State football play in 2021 | |
 | Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach's second tilt as Ole Miss and Mississippi State football coaches has its official date and time. The 2021 Egg Bowl will be played in Starkville on Saturday, Nov. 27. This represents the second straight year that Ole Miss and Mississippi State will play on a Saturday after playing three-straight years on Thanksgiving day. Ole Miss won the 2020 Egg Bowl 31-24. The Rebels haven't won back-to-back matchups against Mississippi State since 2014-15. The last Ole Miss coach to beat Mississippi State in both of his first two seasons was Billy Brewer in 1983-84. The last Mississippi State coach to start 0-2 in the Egg Bowl rivalry was College Football Hall of Fame coach Darrell Royal in 1954-55. Mississippi State will return key players from the 2020 roster including quarterback Will Rogers, leading rusher Jo'Quavious Marks and leading receiver Jaden Walley. Ole Miss returns quarterback Matt Corral and running backs Jerrion Ealy and Snoop Conner but will have to replace All-America wide receiver Elijah Moore. |
| Mississippi State, South Carolina women's basketball rivalry starts new chapter | |
| Former South Carolina women's basketball standout A'ja Wilson has been thinking about Thursday night since last April. So have many other people connected to the Mississippi State and South Carolina programs. Bulldogs. Gamecocks. It's been the SEC's premier rivalry for the last half decade. It got even juicier when Nikki McCray-Penson, a former South Carolina assistant to coach Dawn Staley, replaced Vic Schaefer at Mississippi State nine months ago. McCray-Penson and Staley go head to head at Humphrey Coliseum for the first time ever Thursday at 6 p.m. (ESPN). Wilson will be watching two of her mentors battle for bragging rights with a smile on her face. That shows she's come a long way. "I cried when she left South Carolina," Wilson, now with the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA, said of McCray-Penson. "It's going to be so much fun because her and coach Staley have so much history together, and they're just two really close friends and close buddies." |
| Reunion and a rivalry: Dawn Staley prepares to face 'family' at Mississippi State | |
 | For a decade, Dawn Staley and Nikki McCray-Penson were "in the trenches" together, building up the South Carolina women's basketball program. The head coach and her ace recruiter and assistant spent years turning the program from SEC cellar dweller to powerhouse, culminating in a national championship in 2017. So come Thursday night, when Staley and the No. 4 Gamecocks visit McCray-Penson and her new team, No. 21 Mississippi State, there will most likely be smiles, hugs and hellos. But then the whistle will blow, and one of the SEC's most important rivalries will begin. "I love Nikki like a sister," Staley said Wednesday. "So I want her to do well in every game besides the one that we match up against each other." "It's like family, you know?" McCray-Penson said. "That's what it is, very much. I'm a relationship person, and these are lasting relationships. They're family to me, I'm going to be really excited to see them, and we'll talk after the game. But we're all competitors and we want to win, and we want to win the right way." Thursday will mark USC's first meeting with MSU since McCray-Penson took over as head coach in April. She's stepping into a rivalry that has come to define SEC women's basketball. The two programs have combined to win every regular season and tournament title in the last six years and consistently finished 1-2 atop the league's standings. |
| Scared no more: Inside Mississippi State guard Xaria Wiggins' four-month injury battle | |
| The pain pierced Xaria Wiggins' abdomen like a scorching-hot knife. It was sharp. It was grueling. It wouldn't stop. Wiggins writhed in pain. She'd been through shoulder issues. She'd had injections in her knees. This was different. She called her mother, Sheron Weeks-Wiggins for advice. Weeks-Wiggins, who's spent more than 20 years in nursing, suggested it might be an appendix issue. Mississippi State women's basketball trainer Olivia Vita-Farnsworth concurred. So too did another on-campus doctor. Wiggins was rushed to OCH Regional Medical Center, just in case. A CAT scan showed her lungs were inflamed. Doctors thought it was pneumonia, though she hadn't shown any symptoms. Another scan of her entire torso was ordered for the next day. A blood clot had formed in Wiggins' right lung. Would she be able to play this year? What did it mean for her future? Was it fatal? On that early October day, Xaria Wiggins was scared. Slowly and deliberately, Wiggins trudged her way toward recovery. Gone was the agonizing pain of Oct. 2. Instead, it was replaced with taxing conditioning and renewed emphasis on finding a semblance of game shape. Pegged for an early January return by her doctors, Wiggins' return to the lineup crept nearer and nearer. |
| Mississippi State softball releases nonconference schedule; 2021 season begins Feb. 13 | |
| The Mississippi State softball team will be taking the field again in just more than two weeks. On Thursday morning, the Bulldogs released their nonconference schedule for the 2021 season, featuring two home tournaments, a road event in Texas and an intriguing midweek matchup against another Southeastern Conference program. The Bulldogs' season begins Feb. 13 with a doubleheader against Miami (Ohio). Mississippi State will host the Snowman (Alex Wilcox Memorial) tournament from Feb. 19-21 against Missouri State, Southern Illinois and Stephen F. Austin. The following week, the Bulldogs will play in the Lone Star Invite with doubleheaders against Texas and Texas State and a contest against Baylor. From March 5-7, Mississippi State hosts the Bulldog Invitational against Ball State, Alcorn State and Western Kentucky. The conference also announced that Mississippi State's opening SEC series against Ole Miss has been designated to be played Saturday through Monday rather than Friday through Sunday. That series will take place March 13-15. |
| College Football Playoff announces new committee members; one SEC AD replaces another | |
| College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock announced Tuesday the newest members of the CFP committee. Members serve a three-year term. The CFP committee has appointed Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart, NC State AD Boo Corrigan, Texas AD Chris Del Conte, former Nebraska lineman Will Shields and Virginia Union University AD Joe Taylor. They replace Joe Castiglione, Ken Hatfield, Ronnie Lott, Todd Stansbury and Florida AD Scott Stricklin, whose terms have expired. "Mitch, Boo, Chris, Will and Joe will continue the integrity that has been the committee's hallmark through our seven seasons," Hancock said in a statement. "Their knowledge, experience and character, along with their love of the sport of college football, will make the transition seamless." University of Iowa AD Gary Barta will continue as the selection committee chair. "We are pleased that Gary will return as chair," Hancock said. "He was a valuable leader as the committee navigated a unique and challenging year. We look forward to him working with the other 12 members in what we hope will be a more traditional season in 2021." |
| Auburn University football center up for vote next week | |
 | Auburn University may have its own football operations center very soon. The university's Board of Trustees will vote on the $91.9 million plan when it gathers via Zoom next Friday for its quarterly meeting. The 233,000-square-foot center will include a 138,100-square-foot operations building, a 95,300-square-foot indoor practice facility and two full-sized, natural turf football practice fields at the corner of Samford Avenue and Biggio Drive. The center was designed jointly by the HOK Architects of Kansas City and Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood of Montgomery. The firms previously teamed up for Clemson University's football operations center. HOK has also worked on similar projects at Florida, Northwestern, Georgia and Ohio State. The project will be financed by university bonds, and the debt will be serviced by Athletics Department revenues. The department has suffered over $60 million in losses since the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020. There is also a $21 million payout to Gus Malzahn to settle his contract after he was fired last month as the head football coach; however, university President Jay Gogue told the Opelika-Auburn News in December that Malzahn's settlement would be funded, at least in part, by the athletic department's AU Family fundraising arm. |
| Albert Haynesworth calls for boycott of Tennessee Vols football for 'systematic racism' | |
 | Albert Haynesworth is calling for a boycott of the Tennessee football program. In a post reacting to the hiring of Josh Heupel, who was named the Vols' 27th coach on Wednesday, Haynesworth called for Black alumni from the university to join him in boycotting the Vols, citing "systematic racism" as the primary reason. Haynesworth criticized Tennessee for failing to interview Tee Martin, the Vols' wide receivers coach and former quarterback, for the opening. Haynesworth signed with the Vols in 1999, just a few months after Martin led Tennessee to its only modern national championship. Haynesworth wrote that he "will not be attending any games or supporting until I see change in the university that I love so much." He said Tennessee has never paid Black coaches their due diligence, specifically mentioning former Tennessee assistant Kippy Brown, who was a candidate in 2009. In June, former Lady Vols basketball player Kara Lawson called on the university to examine the lack of diversity in its athletics department leadership. Lawson, who is now coach of the Duke women's basketball team, has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2018. |
| States challenge President Biden on rights for transgender students | |
| Lawmakers in at least six states plus Congress this month introduced bills aimed at limiting opportunities for transgender athletes, hoping to curb rights for the same group of people for whom President Joe Biden just restored military service access. The raft of legislation is intended to keep transgender female athletes from competing on sports teams -- in elementary school through college -- that don't match their sex assigned at birth. The effect of most of the measures would be to keep people assigned male at birth from competing in girls' sports. Supporters of such limitations had a champion in the White House with President Donald Trump, who rolled back protections for transgender people that President Barack Obama had created. One of Biden's first actions after being inaugurated was to issue an executive order saying that a court case about transgender rights applies to Title IX, a federal education law that prevents discrimination based on sex. Transgender rights supporters say that even if legislation has little chance of success, it has a chilling effect and can invite attacks on individuals. The American Civil Liberties Union has vowed to challenge any anti-transgender student athlete law that is passed. |
| An Olympic Sport, a Christian College and a Unifying Cause: Gun Rights | |
 | Like other sports groups, USA Shooting has struggled during the coronavirus pandemic. When surging cases in the Colorado Springs, Colo., area prompted the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center to close for several weeks, its shooters practiced by firing off air guns inside a defunct Macy's. USA Shooting has made one gain, however, that few sports governing bodies can match during the pandemic's cutbacks: It landed a decade-long partnership worth millions. Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school of about 1,500 in southern Michigan, will invest more than $15 million in shooting-facilities construction, upgrades and endowment in a sponsorship deal with USA Shooting, along with cash support and in-kind contributions. Starting this year, USA Shooting will relocate three major competitions and some team training camps to the college, and has agreed that Hillsdale can call itself the home of the U.S. national shooting team. Together, the two groups form a powerful voice in a cause they both hold dear: backing the rights of gun owners. The partnership is an unusually overt statement of purpose in the Olympic world, which portrays itself as standing apart from politics. |
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