Friday, February 19, 2021   
 
Mississippi State building multi-million research facility in Jackson County
Mississippi State University has received approval to build a state-of-the-art aquatic food research facility in Jackson County. The Northern Gulf Aquatic Food Research Center will be located on four acres inside the Sunplex Light Industrial Park off Mississippi 57 near Ocean Springs and will be the first of its kind on the Mississippi coast. The announcement was made by MSU, the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, and Jackson County officials. "Mississippi State's Northern Gulf Aquatic Food Research Center will accelerate technology innovation and contribute to the diversification of Jackson County and the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast economy," said Melton Harris, President of the Jackson County Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Randy Bosarge noted the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation's role in bringing the center to Sunplex. "The Sunplex Technology Park was developed with the specific intention of recruiting high-growth, technology-oriented investments such as this, which is another example of multi-level partnerships that the foundation has been successful in achieving over the years," Bosarge said.
 
JSU Black History Month Segments and MSU Public Online Resource Training
Mississippi State University Libraries recently received a grant from the Governor's Emergency Education Response Fund to offer free online training programs and resources for educators and students participating in remote learning during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The GEER grant will allow MSU Libraries to provide public training sessions on how to use free online resources available through the Mississippi Alliance for Gaining New Opportunities through the Library Information Access project. MAGNOLIA provides online research databases for publicly funded K-12 schools and public, community college and university libraries in Mississippi, including peer-reviewed journals and curated age-appropriate content not available through public searches. MSU's public training sessions will all begin at 1 p.m. and will consist of 45 minutes of instruction from MSU faculty librarians and 15-minute question-and-answer segments. The first scheduled public session will begin on Friday, Feb. 19, and the last will take place on Friday, April 30.
 
Downtown developer plans office space, apartments in building next to old Fred's
As the owner of both a home and office space downtown, Tom Velek has spent several years eyeing the brick building beside the old Fred's and wishing someone would redevelop it. As of late last month, that someone is him. Velek and his wife Cynthia Buob, who own Columbus-based TGV Properties, purchased the building at 322 Fifth St. S. on Jan. 27 as the company's latest redevelopment project. Since the building is part of downtown's historic district, Velek is looking into getting tax credits from Mississippi Department of Archives and History to renovate the building to historical standards. He reached out to Mississippi State University architecture professor John Poros to find a student who could do the historic and architectural research necessary to apply for those tax credits. Poros gave the project to third-year undergraduate student Jacquelin Lee, who is spending her semester in and out of the archives at Columbus-Lowndes Public Library learning as much as she can about the history of the building. Poros said this sort of project is important not just because it's helping a student learn the process of historic preservation, but because it helps preserve the history of a community.
 
'Unframed Images' at Mobile Public Library
The Mobile Public Library (MPL) is excited to invite the community to visit its West Regional Library location to view the "Unframed Images" exhibit featuring 14 reproductions from the works of renowned African American photographer Prentice Herman "P. H." Polk. "Unframed Images" is currently on display through March 1. Polk, a native Alabamian, was born in Bessemer. He served for several years as head of the Tuskegee Institute's department of photography. His photographs depict early 20th-century African Americans from all walks of life, including Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver and farmworkers in rural Alabama. This free exhibition is offered through a partnership of Tuskegee University, Mississippi State University Libraries and the Southern Literary Trail.
 
Thousands of Mississippians are still without electricity, could take days to repair
More than 170,000 homes and businesses in Mississippi have gone without power this week, with the majority of outages occurring in central areas of the state. On Tuesday, some residents faced scheduled outages by energy providers to keep the power grid from failing. Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley says if residents take proactive steps to limit power consumption, it will help providers keep up with high energy demands. "Obviously stay warm, keep your heat on, but if you could adjust that thermostat down to 68 [degrees Fahrenheit] or a little bit below and stay warm, that's helpful," says Presley. "Also avoiding tasks like running your dishwasher, running your clothes dryer, those sort of things make a difference." Entergy Mississippi currently has around 13,000 linemen working across the state to repair downed power lines and restore electricity. Spokesperson Mara Hartmann says the linemen are working 16 hours a day in record-low temperatures and difficult terrain. She says it could take several days before power is restored to many homes.
 
4-County Electric Power Association works to bring power back to customers after ice storm
Many folks in northeast Mississippi woke up on Thursday morning without power, giving an early rise to power linemen across the area. Nearly 8,000 4-County members found themselves without power. Starkville resident Cassie Lippillo said this may be the biggest storm she's experienced in Mississippi. "We've been through a couple big snow storms but we've never lost power," she explained. Lippillo has lived in Starkville for the last 10 years, but Thursday morning was the first time her and her family work up without power. Besides her fingers and toes being cold, Lippillo said the outage hasn't been too bad. Her fears stemmed from how long she'd be without power. "We honestly didn't know since we're kind of out in the country a little bit," said Lippillo. "We figured we might be one of the last to get power back on." But to her surprise, at around 3 P.M., 4-County lineman Robert Poole showed up. "We want to get them back on just as bad as they want to be back on," he said. Poole started work at 6:00 that morning, fixing power lines, trying to turn on folks power.
 
Gov. Tate Reeves talks federal aid, his chat with President Biden, and how Mississippi handles storms
This week, a relentless storm swept across Mississippi, causing deadly wrecks and massive power outages, disrupting water systems and leaving people without basic necessities. And it's still not over. Mississippi is now entering the chaos after the storm and Governor Tate Reeves talked about the state's response and how to repair infrastructure before another storm. "We don't have water here either which is a terrible, unfortunate situation and we've got to work to improve the infrastructure in the city of Jackson, particularly in the downtown area, that's where the major challenges exist. This is not a new phenomenon, this has been something ongoing for many, many years and we've got to continue to do it for those individuals that are without power and those individuals that need help with that," Reeves said.
 
Winter storm system leaves Mississippians in the cold -- and in the dark
Matt Williamson's job is to alert the public to hurricanes, tornadoes and severe storm systems in the southwest portion of the state. As the managing editor of the Enterprise-Journal newspaper in McComb, he is usually prepared when the lights go out for extended periods of time. But the late winter storm system that descended on the state late Sunday was something uniquely dangerous, the Summit resident said. "It's a totally different weather event," Williamson said. "When you lose your power in a hurricane it's miserable because there's no (air conditioning). When you lose it during an ice storm, you really wonder is it safe? You could freeze to death, ya know, in an ice storm so the situation is a lot more perilous." The storm dumped sleet, snow and freezing rain on much of the South, causing widespread power outages and dangerous driving conditions. Jack Hunt of Madison County had his power restored Thursday morning after a transformer blew the night before. He said he used a gas heater and the fireplace to stay warm throughout the night. Hunt made plans before power returned to send his 80-year-old mother and 20-year-old daughter with his brother, who had power in north Madison County. "All things considered, we're really fortunate to have a source of heat and clean water," he said. "It could have been a lot worse."
 
Weather knocks out water in parts of Mississippi, Louisiana
Icy winter weather has left most of the 161,000 residents of Mississippi's capital with little or no running water for days, and the mayor says it's unclear when water service will be restored as freezing temperatures have knocked out power and water to parts of the Deep South. The icy conditions are part of a viciously cold spell that has also devastated Texas, leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity there as temperatures plummeted and cutting water supplies in many areas. In Mississippi's capital of Jackson, many people had been without running water to flush toilets, take showers or cook since Monday. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said officials didn't know when water service would be restored. "This is one of the unfortunate facts that I have to deliver," he said. "But I owe you honesty and I owe you truth so we can manage how we prepare." Lumumba said public works crews were working to pump as much water as they can to refill the city's tanks. The city is approaching a critical shortage in chemicals used to treat the water, as road closures are making it difficult for distributors to make needed deliveries, he said. But at the same time, more people were staying at home during the extreme weather so water usage was skyrocketing. "We are dealing with an extreme challenge with getting more water through our distribution system," he said.
 
Diverse group receives Mississippi Governor's Arts Awards
An acclaimed author, a prolific songwriter and a group of small-town quilters are among this year's recipients of the Mississippi Governor's Arts Awards. This is the 33rd year for the awards, and a ceremony is usually held in Jackson. Gov. Tate Reeves has limited the size of gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic, so the ceremony was recorded. It is set to be televised at 8 p.m. Friday on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The Mississippi Arts Commission said in a news release that the awards include: Excellence in Literature: Jesmyn Ward is an author and professor of creative writing at Tulane University. Ward, who grew up in DeLisle, received the National Book Award for her novels "Salvage the Bones" and "Sing, Unburied, Sing." Lifetime Achievement: Benjamin Wright is a songwriter, arranger, composer, musical director and performer from Greenville. Wright has worked with artists including Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Outkast, The Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Mary J. Blige and Janet Jackson.
 
State's public retirement system holding up compared to others
The Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi operates well in some areas when compared to pensions in other states, according to a report released Thursday by State Auditor Shad White. But, PERS could be improved in other areas, the report said. "In late 2018, I requested this study to determine how Mississippi's pension plan is doing compared to other states," White said in a release. "My hope is that this overview will provide policymakers and PERS leadership with information that can help them make decisions in the future. I also hope that it provides state employees, pensioners and taxpayers with transparency into how PERS is performing." As of 2018, Mississippi ranked 39th among all the states when it comes to the "funded ratio" of a pension. The funded ratio is a pension's assets divided by its liabilities. PERS' investments have underperformed the S&P 500 since 2010. However, the performance of PERS' investments during that time has been in the top quartile of the 50 states.
 
MSDH reports 360 new COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths
The Mississippi State Department of Health on Friday reported 360 additional cases of COVID-19 and three deaths. No counties in Northeast Mississippi reported new deaths. The statewide total number of cases since March 11, 2020 is now 289,892 with a death toll of 6,534. As of this week, around 264,456 people are presumed recovered from the virus. The seven-day moving average for new COVID-19 cases in Mississippi is 27 per 100,000 people, as of Feb. 17. In Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, the seven-day moving average is 25 per 100,000 people. MSDH also reported 105 ongoing outbreaks in long-term care facilities. Several counties in the Daily Journal's coverage area reported new cases: Chickasaw (1), Itawamba (1), Lafayette (4), Lee (6), Marshall (1), Oktibbeha (3), Pontotoc (3), Prentiss (1) and Union (5).
 
Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Is Highly Effective After One Dose and Can Be Stored in Normal Freezers, Data Shows
The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE generates robust immunity after one dose and can be stored in ordinary freezers instead of at ultracold temperatures, according to new research and data released by the companies. The findings provide strong arguments in favor of delaying the second dose of the two-shot vaccine, as the U.K. has done. They could also have substantial implications on vaccine policy and distribution around the world, simplifying the logistics of distributing the vaccine. A single shot of the vaccine is 85% effective in preventing symptomatic disease 15 to 28 days after being administered, according to a peer-reviewed study conducted by the Israeli government-owned Sheba Medical Center and published in the Lancet medical journal. Separately, the vaccine, which has been authorized in the U.S., the U.K., the EU and elsewhere, can be stored and transported at between minus 25 and minus 15 degrees Celsius, or minus 13 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit -- similar to a consumer freezer -- Pfizer and BioNTech said. Currently, the vaccine's labels say it must be stored at between minus 80 and minus 60 degrees Celsius, requiring sophisticated equipment.
 
Hattiesburg 2nd in nation in job growth during COVID-19 pandemic
The Hattiesburg metro area, in a special report by 24/7 Wall Street, has been identified as one of 28 metro areas out 400 surveyed to experience job growth during the coronavirus pandemic, and it ranked second among those 28. The Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula metro area came in at No. 18. The only area to rank higher than Hattiesburg was Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The report noted that Hattiesburg experienced a 2.9% increase in employment from February 2020 to November 2020. "Any time that you go through a pandemic and still see your economy expand, that's a positive sign," said Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker. "That isn't to say that some businesses and individuals aren't hurting, but on the whole, it is an affirmation of the dynamic economy we have and the work of so many small businesses." Though unemployment did increase over the reviewed period, Barker said the city wants to provide residents with every opportunity to get back into the job market. "As a city, we believe that during this pandemic, it was incredibly important that we give our residents the opportunity to invest in themselves," Barker said. "That's why you saw a couple of weeks ago the city council voted to use some of its CARES Act money to help people go back to PRCC (Pearl River Community College) and get new skills, new certifications, so that when we come out of this pandemic, they're poised to find their place in this expanding job market."
 
Mississippi Senate works to revise business incentives
The Mississippi Senate is pushing to revise tax credits and other incentives for business that move to the state or expand their existing operations. Senators voted unanimously Thursday to pass Senate Bill 2822, the Mississippi Flexible Tax Incentive Act, also called MFLEX. Republican Sen. David Parker of Olive Branch said the goal is to simplify state incentives, based on how many jobs a business creates and the types of wages and benefits they provide. The MFLEX proposal would require companies that receive incentives to provide health insurance for their employees. Those offering higher salaries would get more favorable treatment from the state. Parker also said any business receiving tax credits would be required to file an annual report to the state, providing accountability to the public. He said incentives would be awarded based on the number of jobs created, not the number of jobs promised. For example, he said if a company says it has a goal of creating 50 jobs but creates 45, the incentives would be adjusted. Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann is pushing for the changes.
 
Bill that would streamline economic development incentives passes unanimously in the Senate
The Mississippi Senate passed two bills Thursday that would overhaul the state's labyrinthine code of financial incentives for companies seeking to relocate to the state or expand their existing facilities. There are two bills that were authored by state Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch. Senate Bill 2822, known as the Mississippi Flexible Tax Incentive Act or MFlex Act, would simplify the economic development incentive process. SB 2967 is a companion bill that would repeal some incentives that include a payroll tax credit for businesses relocating to poor counties, tax credits for clean energy generation and aerospace industry enterprises and a tax credit for airport cargo facilities. There are 39 incentives offered by the state to try to lure new businesses to the state and either retain existing ones or help them expand. Parker said these are very complex and many of them are never used. The changes come after the state has bet poorly on some projects with taxpayer funds. Some of those projects, such as biofuels manufacturer KiOR, solar panel builders Stion and Twin Creeks and electric automaker Greentech, have already shuttered their facilities and have been the subject of negotiated settlements or pending litigation.
 
County lends support to bill allowing limited radar use on roadways by sheriff department
DeSoto County Board of Supervisors is lending its support to a bill in the Mississippi legislature that would allow the sheriff to use radar to record speeding on county roads in a limited capacity. The board voted unanimously this week to support SB 2387 sponsored by Sen. Michael McLendon (R-1st District). The bill would only apply to the sheriff and deputies in counties with a population of 140,000 or more and can only be used on roads and highways within the county and those lying outside the limits of any incorporated municipality and not on the interstate. "The bill that we have done is not about revenue," McLendon told the board. "It's strictly about safety. It's about saving lives. A lot of people aren't aware that the sheriff doesn't have all of the tools at his disposal to perform his duties -- one of those being radar." Radar has been a controversial topic for years in the legislature. Currently, the only state law enforcement agency allowed to use radar on public roads is the Mississippi Highway Patrol and cities with populations of more than 15,000, who can use radar to enforce speed limits on federal highways within their boundaries. McLendon said past efforts to allow sheriffs to be able to use radar on roads and highways inside the county and outside the city limits have failed, mostly out of concerns that they could be used to set up speed traps.
 
Formerly Incarcerated Would Get Mental Health Care Under Jackson Rep's Bill
Former Mississippi Department of Corrections inmates with mental-health challenges will be able to get more help from community health centers if the Mississippi Legislature passes House Bill 1341. The legislation will expand outpatient services to the formerly incarcerated as a way to fight recidivism, Mississippi Rep. Bo Brown, D-Jackson, who sponsored the bill, told the Jackson Free Press Monday. Brown, previously a Jackson City Council member, said it is a long-overdue move that will benefit many former inmates who fall into the category. He is seeking $647,461 for one year of funding between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022. The legislator said that the stories of people who left the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and then became violent because of what he described as a lack of mental-health attention spurred him into action. "I've known some personal cases that former inmates have been released from the custody of the corrections department, and they act normal for few weeks, a few months, or even a year, then they have a psychological relapse. They go and destroy things, they threatened people and sometimes hurt people because once they're in the community, they're limited ... in terms of the follow-up psychological care," Brown said.
 
Joe Biden's farm problem: Booming sales raise questions about bailout money
President Joe Biden and Congress are facing an unfamiliar sight as they craft another round of pandemic relief programs: a farm economy that's rapidly heating up after years of decline. Fueled by surprisingly strong exports to China, shrinking supplies of crops and some of the highest commodity prices in seven years, many farmers are anticipating a highly profitable 2021 harvest. The upbeat forecast is raising questions about whether Washington should start peeling back the extensive subsidies that have kept producers afloat for years long before the coronavirus pandemic devastated the U.S. economy. Watchdog groups argue that farmers keep getting a disproportionate amount of help while struggling sectors, like restaurants and biofuel producers, beg lawmakers for a lifeline. But the powerful industry and its allies on Capitol Hill say it's too early to declare agriculture in the clear and pare back federal support, especially while the Covid-19 crisis rages on. There's little doubt things are looking up for the farm economy overall. Corn and soybean prices are soaring, and some growers are locking in profits by signing contracts to sell their crop before the peak of the fall harvest. Others are holding out, anticipating even higher prices later this year.
 
Trump's gift to President Biden: Record ag exports to China
U.S. farm exports to China are expected to hit a record $31.5 billion during President Joe Biden's first year in office, the U.S. Agriculture Department said in its latest quarterly forecast. That's $4.5 billion higher than the department forecast in November. U.S. farm sales and shipments to China have surged since late last year, most notably for corn, USDA said. The strong demand from China, which recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic faster than most other countries, helped bolster USDA's forecast. For the October-December period, exports to China "reached a historic high of $14.4 billion, largely a result of strong shipments of soybeans, corn, sorghum, wheat, cotton and chicken paws," USDA said. "Outstanding sales of many of these products remain high, with corn sales at unprecedented levels." The 2021 fiscal year began Oct. 1 and therefore includes former President Donald Trump's last three months and 20 days in office. It's likely that U.S. farm exports to China will set a new record for the 2021 calendar year as well, barring an unexpected downturn. The numbers are a partial vindication for Trump, who signed a phase one trade deal with China in January 2020 aimed in large part at boosting U.S. farm exports. But Beijing's purchases under that agreement still have been below expectations.
 
Supreme Court gets back to work as it sidesteps hot-button issues
A blockbuster abortion case is apparently on hold. A series of gun rights challenges never made it to the lineup. High-profile questions posed by Donald Trump's presidency are beginning to fade into irrelevance. As the Supreme Court returns to work Friday after a three-week recess and crosses the midpoint of its term, the cases on deck are far from the type that would give the new 6-3 conservative majority a chance to assert itself in the nation's most divisive controversies. By design or by luck, the court's nine justices are so far steering clear of hostile political debates at a time when the rest of Washington is still reeling from the fallout from the November election, including a second Trump impeachment trial that brought to the fore images of Americans storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Chief Justice John Roberts, nominated by President George W. Bush in 2005, has long sought to maneuver the court around similar partisan tensions. That above-politics approach sometimes drew the ire of Trump, who castigated the high court as "incompetent and weak" for failing to buy into his baseless claims of election fraud.
 
One night in Cancun: Ted Cruz's disastrous decision to go on vacation during Texas storm crisis
Usually, it takes at least one full day in Cancun to do something embarrassing you'll never live down. But for Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), it took just 10 hours -- from when his United plane touched down at Cancun International Airport at 7:52 p.m. Wednesday to when he booked a return flight back to Houston around 6 a.m. Thursday -- for the state's junior senator to apparently realize he had made a horrible mistake. Cruz landed back home in Texas almost exactly 24 hours after he departed, saying he was ready to take on the devastating winter storms that have left millions of Texans without power or safe drinking water and at least 30 dead in the state. But his brief tropical sojourn yielded at least two unflattering nicknames on social media -- Cancun Cruz and Flyin' Ted -- and prompted a Twitter-fueled news cycle that seemed to unite a broken nation. On Cruz's trip, at least, almost everyone could agree: "Nope. This is politics 101. Incredibly stupid move," tweeted Charlie Spiering, White House correspondent for the conservative Breitbart News. The international kerfuffle began organically enough, when photos surfaced online Wednesday night of a masked Cruz and his wife, Heidi Cruz, at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, waiting at a gate to board a flight to Cancun.
 
NASA Lands the Perseverance Rover on Mars
In the Mission Support Area at Lockheed Martin's campus in Littleton, Colorado, masked people sat close to computers, flying three spacecraft in orbit around Mars. These three -- the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Maven, and Odyssey -- were all tasked, in one way or another, with downloading data from another spacecraft: the Mars Perseverance rover, which was attempting to land on the Red Planet. Information from these orbiters would help engineers learn about Perseverance's status as it made its way through the atmosphere, and determine whether it survived. "Space is not a place to go," read the words painted on one wall. "Space is a place to do." Scattered among the usual notes about unauthorized visitors and classified meetings, signs about social distancing, masks, and symptoms were plastered around the building. "No masks with exhaust valves" warned one, aerospacily. One was posted behind the head of Lockheed's David Scholz, who about an hour before landing had been standing in a conference room 6 feet from everything, sporting a blue surgical mask above his double-pocketed tan shirt. NASA's video feed played in the background. Scholz had just described himself as a "confident nervous wreck." That's because he is the principal engineer for a device called an "aeroshell," which cocoons the rover against the most extreme conditions of its downward trip toward the surface of Mars.
 
A big truck and a new tow strap: UMMC nurse rescues stranded motorists
When UMMC Medical ICU nurse Matt Harris came up on a throng of motorists stranded on ice coating the Lakeland Drive exit ramp off I-55 South, the cold dug through his blue scrubs as he got out of his truck and assessed the mess. He pulled a tow strap out of his diesel Ford F250. "I'd had it for a year and had never gotten to use it," said Harris, a graduate of Quitman High School. "I thought, 'Today's the day!'" It was about 6:45 Wednesday morning. Harris soon spotted Tony Sistrunk, his former MICU coworker who recently returned to school to become a nurse anesthetist. Together, the two spent the next hour-plus hooking up cars scattered from the bottom of the exit to its intersection with Lakeland, pulling them to the center of the road and then to the top of the hill. "On the top of the hill to the right, where you would turn to go to the Medical Center, it was caked up pretty good," he said. He and Sistrunk had to lie on their backs to hook the tow straps to car after car. John Jones, the MICU night shift charge nurse, agreed to stay on so that Harris could rescue driver after driver, many of them nurses. Harris estimates that by the time he left, shortly after 8 a.m., he and Sistrunk had pulled about 100 cars. "They just kept coming," he said.
 
Winter storms cause flooding, collapsed ceilings in students' apartments
What started as an exciting snow day on Monday for many University of Mississippi students has evolved into a nightmare for others after winter storms slam the state and leave many dealing with severe property damages. Some of the most common damage reported has been due to frozen and burst pipes as result of the freezing temperatures that rolled in with the storm. Varad Mahajan, a public policy leadership major and resident at the Retreat in Oxford, said he and his roommates were lucky to escape unscathed after their ceiling collapsed due to water damage. "We were in there 60 seconds before the roof came down," he said. "It was pretty crazy. If the roof had fallen on anyone, they would have been in the hospital." According to Mahajan, the damage was caused by a frozen shower pipe. While Mahajan's severe structural damage is rare, his experience with water damage and burst pipes is not. Across Oxford, students and community members have faced serious ramifications of the cold snap.
 
Millsaps and William Carey announce new partnership
Millsaps College and William Carey University (WCU) have announced a third educational partnership. Beginning in late February, "William Carey at Millsaps" will offer select WCU graduate programs at the Millsaps campus in Jackson. The first of these will be WCU's Alternate Route program, which provides in-person classes to help students who have bachelor's degrees in non-education areas earn teaching certificates. The Alternate Route program is part of a larger WCU initiative to help solve Mississippi's K-12 teacher shortage. WCU is also in the process of developing a dyslexia therapy program. Students will have the option of working toward master's degrees or specialist degrees in dyslexia therapy at Millsaps in fall 2021. The two earlier Millsaps-WCU partnerships involved cooperation between Millsaps and WCU's College of Osteopathic Medicine and School of Education.
 
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College ranked #1 Military Friendly Schools
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is ranked number one in the U.S. on the 2021-2022 Military Schools List for the nation's largest community colleges. Dustin Furby is an Army veteran and now a student at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. During his time in the U.S. military, he worked as a military policeman in Virginia and did missions with the secret service under a former president's administration. Furby has since shifted gears. "Because I did not want to do law enforcement as a career, I prefer to use trades because trades you can take anywhere you go for the rest of your life." Furby says MGCCC has greatly helped him on his new career path. So, it came as no surprise when he learned MGCCC had been ranked number one on the 2021-2022 Military Friendly Schools list for the nation's largest community colleges. "So far, I've done welding and electrical. I've been able to do three trades so far with my G.I. Bill here at this campus, and they've helped me out with everything so far. I plan on doing automotive afterwards. There's an internship that I ought to be able to do with the Automotive Program."
 
Auburn University planning more normal 2021-22 for students, faculty
Auburn University officials are planning the 2021-22 year with the assumption that things could inch back closer to life before the coronavirus. Faculty members have started booking classroom spaces for this fall, with guidance to use pre-COVID-19 conditions as their guide. "We anticipate fall 2021 being a 'typical' semester," Registrar Karen Battye told The Plainsman student newspaper this week. The newspaper reported Thursday that "classrooms will be allowed to be filled to 100% capacity in fall 2021 based on current data available" -- citing an email from Battye to faculty members. Plans for housing students on campus for 2021-22 will follow along the same lines as 2020-21. "We are going to open up like we did for fall of 2020 -- we will still have three buildings offline (on the Hill) for quarantine housing," Bobby Woodard, Auburn's senior vice president for Student Life, told the Opelika-Auburn News. "If an outbreak happens closer, we will go to contingency plans if we need to if the numbers rise."
 
Alabama professor: Rush Limbaugh's 'profound' effect on Southerners 'not always a good thing'
Rush Limbaugh's death inspired a litany of eulogies spanning a broad spectrum, one end full of condolences hailing the broadcaster as a conservative hero and the other reckoning with the negative and hurtful cultural implications his rhetoric and legacy leave behind. The influential and controversial conservative talk radio host, died on Wednesday after a battle with lung cancer. He was 70. The host announced he had stage 4 lung cancer in February 2020. While polarizing, Limbaugh's impact on the talk radio industry is indisputable. CNN's Brian Stelter called him "the most prominent political radio host in modern American history." "Limbaugh came along at the perfect time -- as the end of the FCC's 'Fairness Doctrine' allowed broadcast media to be more opinionated, and as the end of other regulations allowed radio companies to replace local broadcasters with syndicated programs,' said Chris Roberts, associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media at The University of Alabama. "As companies focused more on FM and put music there, he filled the AM with talk. He didn't work well on television -- but he was at the forefront of the phenomenon of talk radio that will continue, for better and worse, to outlast him."
 
Sarah Parcak Rush Limbaugh controversy: Alabama GOP chief calls out UAB professor's 'antics'
The head of Alabama's Republican party is calling on UAB to act on a professor's controversial statements following the death of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. In a Thursday morning tweet, GOP chief Terry Lathan asked how many times UAB would be "disgusted" over the "antics" of archaeology professor Sarah Parcak without acting. "So @UABNews how many times will you be "disgusted" over her antics? Blazers deserve better. You should be making national news for your good things. Other than another "we are appalled" statement what are you going to do?" Lathan tweeted. "A woman who works at a worldwide premiere cancer fighting facility glad someone with cancer died and wanted suffering is messed up," Lathan added in a separate tweet. UAB is "continuing to review the matter," according to spokesperson Alicia Rohan. "Personnel matters are handled between the institution and the employee," she added. Parcak drew widespread criticism yesterday over a now-deleted tweet following Limbaugh's death from cancer at age 70.
 
Why Would Iowa Want to Kill Tenure?
Not long after the Supreme Court struck down school segregation with the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Mary Sue Coleman's family moved from Georgia to Iowa. Lawmakers in Georgia were considering eliminating public schools to avoid racial integration. That prompted Coleman's father, who taught chemistry at Georgia Teachers College, which is now Georgia Southern University, to take a job at the Iowa State Teachers College, in Cedar Falls, which is now the University of Northern Iowa. At the time, Iowa's public schools and colleges had a great reputation, said Coleman, who pursued a long career as a scientist and higher-education administrator. She served as president at the University of Iowa from 1995 to 2002. Nearly 70 years later, Coleman and others are concerned that the three public universities in Iowa are under threat of losing the very good name that has attracted students and scholars for decades. Iowa's Republican-controlled legislature is considering a bill to eliminate tenure at the state's three public universities -- Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa. The bill is nothing new; similar versions have been introduced for several years running, never to advance further than that. But this year, the bill passed a full committee vote for the first time.
 
Colleges promise return to in-person classes for fall
Experts predict that despite falling case rates and the introduction of vaccines, the COVID-19 pandemic will be with us for months. While estimates vary, some scientists do not predict a return to the pre-2020 way of life within the next two years. What at first seemed like a matter of weeks has turned into a long haul. While "normal" (if it ever returns) may still be far off, college administrations are now saying that in fall of 2021, they'll get as close as they can. More in-person instruction and more students on campus are the dominant themes of announcements about the upcoming term. Colleges and universities across the country have been under tremendous financial, political and student pressure to reopen their campuses this academic year. Institutions holding classes fully online -- the standard for spring of 2020 -- are now a small minority. The University of Tennessee also announced its fall goal last week: "Students who attend a University of Tennessee campus can expect to have a traditional college experience in the fall as UT campuses across the state expand their in-person course offerings," the university system said.
 
College Endowment Spending Rose and Returns Fell as the Pandemic Set In
Colleges spent more from their endowments in the 2020 fiscal year as they grappled with revenue losses and increased expenses linked to the pandemic. According to the annual Nacubo-TIAA Study of Endowments, released on Friday, institutional spending from endowments increased in the last fiscal year, by 4 percent to $23.3 billion in total -- despite lower average returns. "Even in this challenging year, higher-education institutions reinforced their commitment to students and used their endowments exactly as designed: to provide ongoing, predictable -- and even increased -- support for their missions," said Susan Whealler Johnston, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, in a conference call for reporters. The study, which reflects responses from 705 institutions with endowment assets of $637.7 billion, found that endowments had an average one-year return of 1.8 percent for the 2020 fiscal year. That was down from 5.3 percent the year before. The 2020 fiscal year, which ended on June 30 for most institutions, overlapped with only the first few months of the pandemic, which means the survey doesn't capture how endowments might have fared during the rebound in the markets that occurred later in 2020.
 
College and university endowments post worst returns in five years
Colleges and universities spent more from their endowments during a fiscal year that ended amid the pandemic despite recording lower-than-average returns, according to the latest annual study of endowments from the National Association of College and University Business Officers. The study, released today, provides a detailed look at college and university endowments' investment and spending during fiscal year 2020, which began July 1, 2019 and ended June 30, 2020. The association surveyed 705 institutions for this year's study. Together they represent a combined $637.7 billion in endowment assets. Surveyed institutions reported an average endowment size of $905 million, up 1.6 percent from fiscal year 2019. The median endowment size was only $164.6 million in fiscal year 2020, indicating that a small number of very large endowments skewed the overall average upward. Nearly half of surveyed college and university endowments are under $140 million. The largest chunk of endowment spending -- 48 percent -- paid for financial aid to students. Another 17 percent funded academics, which includes teaching, tutoring and related support, according to the study. Nearly half of surveyed institutions upped their endowment spending during the pandemic to support their operating budgets.
 
Blind students learning remotely encounter accessibility barriers
The shift to remote learning has been extremely challenging for blind students, with some still facing unresolved accessibility issues. The National Federation of the Blind and other organizations have warned for months that colleges are failing to provide blind students with the timely accommodations and support to which they are legally entitled. In some instances, blind students have had such a poor experience with remote learning that they decided to take time away from their studies rather than continue online, said Chris Danielsen, director of public relations at the NFB. This is a concerning trend, as research suggests students who take a pause from their education sometimes decide it's not worth coming back. Many students have reported that the digital class materials colleges provided for remote learning are incompatible with screen readers, Danielsen said. Physical materials, including Braille and embossed diagrams, graphs and equations, sometimes arrive too late for the corresponding class.
 
Debate Over Student Loan Forgiveness Hinges On 2 Numbers: $10,000 Vs. $50,000
For months, Democrats in Washington have been debating what to do about student loan debt. About 43 million borrowers owe $1.6 trillion in federal student loans. While some lawmakers have pushed for President Biden to forgive up to $50,000 per borrower via executive order, Biden has so far only expressed support for more limited forgiveness, of $10,000, through pandemic relief legislation. This week, the president and the White House clarified his stance. At a CNN town hall on Tuesday night, Biden was asked if he would forgive up to $50,000 in debt. The president's reply: "I will not make that happen." He went on to say, "I understand the impact of debt, and it can be debilitating. I am prepared to write off the $10,000 debt but not $50 [thousand], because I don't think I have the authority to do it." On Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki expanded on Biden's comments, saying the president "does not favor $50,000 in student loan relief without limitation." The sticking points between the $10,000 and $50,000 proposals revolve around which borrowers would benefit most, and the legality of forgiving student debt through legislation versus through executive action.
 
Restaurants need relief in COVID package
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, writes for The Hill: With Congress closing the books on impeachment, lawmakers are pivoting back to coronavirus relief, by far the nation's most immediate priority. Competing proposals have emerged from both parties, and it remains unclear exactly what will be passed into law. But odds are improving that Congress will provide long-needed relief to our restaurant industry, which has been depleted like no other sector over the course of the pandemic. Restaurants were among the first to suffer when new public health rules went into effect almost one year ago. To this day, restaurants continue to bear the brunt of limits on public gatherings, even as other parts of the economy are beginning to reopen and recover. ... The ripple effects of restaurant closures have caused the entire food supply chain to take a hit. Farmers have struggled with lower demand for crops. Meat producers have had to euthanize millions of animals. In my home state of Mississippi, fishermen have had trouble selling their catch to seafood establishments, which have seen a drop in tourism. Until restaurants can return to full capacity, the entire food supply chain will remain vulnerable.


SPORTS
 
How Mississippi State baseball has prepared for season opener amid snow storm
Mississippi State baseball coach Chris Lemonis said during a press conference Thursday what everyone in the south has been thinking the same thing. "Been a long week." He's not wrong. Multiple winter storms swept through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and surrounding states this week. It has left millions of homes without power in Texas and roughly 200,000 more in Mississippi. That hasn't been a good omen for the State Farm College Baseball Showdown, which was originally scheduled to start Friday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Opening day was pushed back to Saturday with hope the situation brought on by the storms would improve by then. Improvement is a relative term. Power has been restored in many places, but many others still do not have it. Travel conditions remain treacherous as of Thursday too. Mississippi State was supposed to catch a flight out of Memphis on Thursday, but that plan was derailed because of more wintry precipitation throughout the day and into the night Wednesday. "It's just been a really tough week," Lemonis said. Mississippi State is scheduled to take a flight to Texas out of Birmingham on Friday afternoon. So as of Thursday afternoon, the College Baseball Showdown is still on. The No. 7 Bulldogs start the season against No. 10 Texas at 11 a.m.
 
'This game will bring you to your knees so fast': How a dismal summer in Maryland shaped Mississippi State's Tanner Allen
Tanner Allen sits behind a webcam in the underbelly of Dudy Noble Field far different than how he began his Mississippi State career. Patches of an incoming beard riddle his cheekbones and coat his chin. His hair is matted a touch, though that's more a product of his continuous ball cap-wearing ways than age. There's a level of maturity in his voice when he speaks on expectations for the 2021 campaign and the lack of closure MSU felt after sweeping No. 4 Texas Tech in Biloxi before the COVID-19 pandemic brought the entire world to a halt last spring. Now returning for a season he was never supposed to be in Starkville for, he's a part of a trio of talented fourth-year juniors, alongside Rowdey Jordan and Josh Hatcher, tasked with guiding MSU to a third straight trip to the College World Series. But this isn't a story about present success or prognostications on the season to come. Rather, it's about past failure. Incessant failure. The kind of failure that melts most and strengthens few. "This game will bring you to your knees so fast," Allen said during MSU media day on Feb. 3. "It's a very humbling game. Once you think you've got it figured out, you realize you don't have it figured out."
 
The Fountain of Youth: How freshman Derek Fountain cracked Mississippi State's gameday rotation
Former Holly Springs high school basketball coach Sylvester Kilgore can't help but chuckle when he looks at an old photo from five years ago. Front and center are two of his former pupils: Kendrick Fountain and his little brother, Derek. Kendrick is in the midst of signing his National Letter of Intent to play at Itawamba Community College, while the 6-foot, eighth-grade version of Derek is shown alongside his sibling in support. Those were the days Derek was called "little D." He was primarily a point guard and had been all his life. Then he became, well, not so little. By the time he was a junior, Fountain had sprouted nine inches. Maybe it was a miracle growth spurt, but Kilgore could've seen it coming a mile away. "Most of the time if he's not on the court, he's unconscious," said Kilgore, who now coaches basketball at South Panola. "He does a lot of sleeping. That's why he grew so much. We would go on recruiting trips or go on away games, man, that guy would be sleeping before we got out of the dadgum parking lot. I'm not exaggerating." Fountain's change in stature had a few Division I schools foaming at the mouth. He stayed at the point as an upperclassman, but it was obvious to anyone Derek would be a power forward or small forward at the next level. Mississippi State's Ben Howland started expressing interest in Fountain his junior year, initially drawn to a skill package embodied by a player of that size. Deciding to stay close to home, he signed with the Bulldogs in June 2020.
 
Mississippi State softball adjusts schedule for Snowman tournament
The Mississippi State softball team will have to wait two more days to get back on the field. This weekend's Snowman (Alex Wilcox Memorial) tournament at Nusz Park has been condensed to two days from three because of travel complications, the Bulldogs announced Thursday afternoon. Mississippi State will play one game apiece against Stephen F. Austin, Southern Illinois, Missouri State and Mississippi Valley State on Sunday and Monday. The Bulldogs were originally slated for two games against Missouri State, two games against Southern Illinois and one game against Stephen F. Austin from Friday to Sunday. Mississippi State will open against the Ladyjacks of SFA at 2 p.m. Sunday followed by a 4:30 p.m. matchup with the Salukis of SIU. The Bulldogs will take on the Bears of Missouri State at 2 p.m. Sunday and face the Devilettes of MVSU at 4:30 p.m Sunday.
 
Why Mississippi State men's, women's basketball need wins this weekend
Mississippi State has not done a whole lot of winning on the basketball court lately. The men's team has lost two games in a row and six of their last seven SEC games. The women's team has lost four games in a row. If the men lose to Ole Miss at 5 p.m. Saturday in Oxford, it will be the second time this season it has lost to the bitter rival. It would also give Mississippi State (11-11, 5-8 SEC) a losing record overall and would assure the Bulldogs cannot finish with a winning SEC record. If the women lose to Alabama at 2 p.m. Sunday in Tuscaloosa, it would drop Mississippi State (8-7, 3-6) further down the standings -- a stark difference from the outlook at the start of the season. It would also be a third consecutive loss to the Crimson Tide, including two this season. There is no sugarcoating it for either team. This weekend's games are as close to must wins as you can get without definitively calling them that. Men's coach Ben Howland and women's coach Nikki McCray-Penson have preached unity through their respective strings of losses.
 
While Texas recovers from winter storm, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn says baseball event 'good to go'
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said Thursday he thinks the College Baseball Showdown will still be played this weekend while Texas recovers from a week of energy and water shortages. "We haven't been told anything different," Van Horn said. "We talked to some of the administrators of the tournament a couple of times yesterday. They said they're still ready to go." The No. 8 Razorbacks are scheduled to play No. 4 Texas Tech on Saturday, No. 10 Texas and No. 11 TCU during the three-day, six-team event at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Mississippi State and Ole Miss are also scheduled to play games there. All six teams and the host city have been affected by the winter storm that swept across the South earlier this week. In Texas, millions lost power as the state's energy providers struggled to keep up with demand. Boil orders have also been issued for several of the state's water systems, including by the city of Arlington. Weather conditions are forecast to improve in Arlington by the weekend. The high temperature in the city will be near 60 degrees Sunday and Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Globe Life Field has a retractable roof that allows for the games to be played in a controlled climate.
 
Alabama men's basketball coach Nate Oats gets contract extension, raise, increased buyout
University of Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne announced Thursday that men's basketball coach Nate Oats and the school have agreed to a raise and contract extension. The new agreement will extend his current contract by three seasons to six years and keep him in charge of the Crimson Tide program through March 14, 2027. The base salary and talent fee will increase to $3.225 million annually. Oats' buyout based on his previous contract would now be above $10 million over the next two years. "We have put buyout measures in place that show the long-term commitment between both parties," Byrne said in the release. Now in his second season at the helm of the Crimson Tide program, Oats has guided Alabama (17-5, 12-1 SEC) to the top of the Southeastern Conference standings. The Tide is ranked No. 9 in the latest Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll. Projected as a No. 2 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament, which would match the highest seed in program history, the Crimson Tide are two wins from clinching the program's first regular season SEC title in 19 years. Oats has a record of 33-20 (.623) across his two years and a 20-11 (.645) mark against SEC competition.
 
Last Month, the High School Gym. This Month, the College Arena.
In September, Carter Whitt, a 6-foot-4 guard from Raleigh, N.C., was preparing to spend his senior season at Brewster Academy, the prep basketball powerhouse in New Hampshire. But with the season delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, he made a strategic decision to return to his high school in North Carolina. He took online classes in history and English and graduated "a little bit early." By New Year's Eve, Whitt, whose long, dirty-blond hair makes him hard to miss on the court, was playing guard for Wake Forest, registering 11 points, 4 assists and 1 rebound in 25 minutes against Catawba College. Whitt is part of a wave of elite high school players taking advantage of an N.C.A.A. ruling that effectively gives them a free season of college eligibility. A decision by the Division I Council in October gives winter athletes who compete during 2020-21 the opportunity to play five seasons within a six-year window rather than the typical four seasons in five years. More than 20 women have joined college teams early, with Poffenbarger, U.C.L.A.'s Dominique Darius, Notre Dame's Olivia Miles and Mississippi State's KN'isha Godfrey, among others, already seeing action. Oregon State's Talia von Oelhoffen is averaging 10.2 points in her first five games, providing a vital boost for her team.
 
Ivy League Cancels Spring Sports Season Over Covid-19
The Ivy League Council of Presidents announced Thursday that it would not attempt to stage spring sports in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, making it the only conference in the NCAA's Division I that remains completely on the sidelines for the fourth consecutive season. "These decisions are grounded in public health best practices and informed by the pandemic related policies currently in place at member institutions," a council statement said, adding that the presidents had decided that having sports jeopardized the rest of their universities' activities. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the Ivy League has been quick to act and slow to change its stance on athletics. The conference was the first to cancel its men's and women's basketball tournaments in March 2020, about three days before the rest of the sports world ground to a halt. It has maintained its stance despite pressure from wealthy alumni. The league already rejected a proposal from billionaire Yale lacrosse alumnus Joe Tsai to fund a "bubble" environment for the men's and women's lacrosse teams to hold their season.
 
Where endorsements are concerned for college athletes, devil is in details
Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Yes, says former Mississippi State baseball great Jake Mangum, he wishes he had been allowed to earn money from endorsements when he was hitting line drives, stealing bases and was the face of the popular Bulldogs baseball program from 2016-2019. "There's no doubt I could have made some money," Mangum said. "Would have been nice." Mangum famously put off earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in professional baseball to play his junior and senior seasons at State. (Mangum was age-eligible for the Major League draft after his sophomore season.) "It would have helped me make up for some of the money I lost," he said. Mangum made it clear he thinks college baseball players, most of whom pay at least part of their way through school, should have an opportunity to earn money through endorsements. Under separate bills passed this week by both the state Senate and House, college athletes would be allowed to contract with an agent for their names, images or likenesses to be used, for instance, to endorse a product and receive compensation for that endorsement. Mangum was one of the first athletes I thought of when the legislation was passed. He was the square-jawed, handsome darling of State fans. A car dealership or insurance company could have done a lot worse than have him endorsing their products.



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