| Wednesday, February 24, 2021 |
| MSU celebrates Black History Month with service and reflection | |
 | February is Black History Month, so several Mississippi State University organizations, such as the Student Association and the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, have planned and orchestrated different events and exhibitions in order to remember and illuminate both the struggles and accomplishments of Black people in America. These events, targeted at aiding Black students and telling stories of their histories, have occurred on campus or online almost every day of the month. The month begins with the "28 Days of Service" challenge hosted by the African American Studies program. These projects are geared toward serving the community through storytelling, visuals, conferences and more. The Holmes Cultural Diversity Center (HCDC), led by interim director Timothy Hopkins, has played a significant part in coordinating programs throughout the month, including a unique event providing the opportunity for Black students to speak with law enforcement regarding police brutality. "Black students got the opportunity to have conversations with local police officers to talk about police brutality and the do's and don'ts of getting stopped by a police officer," Hopkins said. "I think it's important in the current climate that we live in that we have conversations to bridge any gaps between the students and law enforcement." |
| Story State brings Mississippi stories into the spotlight | |
| Mississippi State University's Department of Communication will virtually host Story State: Fostering Innovative Storytelling on Thursday at 1 p.m. The event can be found on the Story State website. Event organizer and MSU instructor Josh Foreman said anyone can join to hear successful storytellers from the state of Mississippi speak about their lives and professions. Foreman said the event is set up like a TED Talk where people can tune in live or go back to watch it on the website any time after the event airs. This way, everyone has an opportunity to learn from some of the best storytellers the state has to offer. "In the communication department, our goal is to train storytellers," Foreman said. "We thought, 'Why don't we take a look around Mississippi and identify those who are leading the state in storytelling and have them not only speak to students but people in general?'" According to Foreman, the communication department focuses on storytelling by training actors and writers in the theatre concentration, writers in the journalism concentration and filmmakers in the broadcast concentration. |
| Noxapater Attendance Center student accepted into MSU ACCESS program | |
 | To the average person, graduating high school is a big deal. It's a rite of passage and a significant milestone. For one Noxapater Attendance Center student, this accomplishment is everything and more. Clay Kugle is a multi-sport athlete. In fact, he participates in every single sport his school has to offer. He's also a hard-working student and a friend to all he meets. Kugle is also classified as having an intellectual disability. For students like Kugle, opportunities after high school are limited. That's where the MSU ACCESS program comes into play. Through this program, Kugle could become employed and even live independently– These are goals Kugle and his mentors have all been working towards for a long time. Today, those years of hard work and determination are paying off -- as Kugle has been accepted to Mississippi State University for the Fall Semester. "We're extremely proud of Clay because every student here, they work 13 years, Kindergarten through 12th grade, so that they can be college and career ready. Ready to move on to that next step, whether that's getting a job or going on to school, so we're extremely proud that Clay has this opportunity," said Noxapater Attendance Center Assistant Principal Sarah Webb. |
| Inside This Amazon Scientist's $25 Million Plan to Turn 12 Abandoned Acres in Jackson, Mississippi Into a Tech Hub | |
| Nashlie Sephus's latest venture isn't just a moonshot. It's a homecoming. Her goal: Create a tech hub out of 12 abandoned acres of vacant lots and derelict buildings in the heart of downtown Jackson, Mississippi. The 35-year-old has spent the past four years splitting her time between Jackson, her hometown, and Atlanta, where she works as an applied science manager for Amazon's artificial intelligence initiative. Amazon had acquired Partpic, the visual recognition technology startup where she was chief technology officer, in 2016 for an undisclosed sum. In 2018, she founded the Bean Path, an incubator and technology consulting nonprofit in Jackson that she says has helped more than 400 local businesses and individuals with their tech needs. Her plan for the $25-million Jackson Tech District is a bold one for a place not known for its tech prowess. For Sephus, bringing investment to a community that's been left out is a big part of the appeal. "It's clear that people don't expect anything good to come from Jackson," she says. "So it's up to us to build something for our hometown, something for the people coming behind us." Her road to real estate development was atypical. Sephus received her undergraduate degree in computer engineering at Mississippi State University. |
| Supervisors approve stricter procedures for maintaining bus turnarounds | |
 | Supervisors on Tuesday approved a resolution setting up clearer guidelines and more oversight for the county maintaining bus turnarounds on private property. The vote was the conclusion of discussion that spanned the board's last four meetings on the scope of the work the law allowed the county to perform at those turnarounds and the process for how work requests were being submitted. The county maintains 60 bus turnarounds on private property, which includes five spaces where bus drivers park buses at their homes, according to a list Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Director of Transportation Kelvin Gibson provided the board at its Tuesday morning meeting. By state law, the county can repair, maintain, grade, gravel or shell areas on private property designated as bus turnarounds. "Our road manager was getting requests and came to us wanting to know what the limit was on what he could do," District 4 Bricklee Miller, who led the charge for the stricter guidelines, told The Dispatch after the meeting. "That sparked conversation about what exactly we were doing, and there were honestly a lot of unknowns. We needed clear legal guidance and clear procedures, and I think we have those in place now." |
| Macon man arrested in Reed Ridge Circle shooting | |
| A third suspect has been arrested for a December shooting on Reed Ridge Circle in Starkville that sent one person to the hospital. Dushun Poindexter, 24, of Macon, has been charged with attempted murder and armed robbery, Starkville Police Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Brandon Lovelady said. Officers with the U.S. Marshal's Task Force arrested Poindexter on Monday in Noxubee County. Poindexter is accused of an early morning shooting on Dec. 7, 2020, outside a residence, according to previous reporting by The Dispatch. One victim was treated at an area hospital, but investigators have not said whether the victim knew the suspects. Two other suspects, Roderiques Lockett, 24, and John King Jr., 35, were arrested a few days after the shooting. Poindexter is currently in custody at Oktibbeha County Jail with bond set at $750,000 for both charges. |
| Lumber Prices Are Soaring. Why Are Tree Growers Miserable? | |
 | The pandemic delivered an unexpected boon to the lumber industry. Hunkered-down homeowners remodeled en masse and low mortgage rates drove demand for suburban housing. Lumber supplies tightened up and prices smashed records. "You must be making a lot of money," an Ace Hardware store manager told timber grower Joe Hopkins, whose family business has about 70,000 acres of slash pine near the Okefenokee Swamp. "I'm not making anything," Mr. Hopkins replied. Timber growers across the U.S. South, where much of the nation's logs are harvested, have gained nothing from the run-up in prices for finished lumber. It is the region's saw mills, including many that have been bought up by Canadian firms, that are harvesting the profits. Saw mills are running as close to capacity as pandemic precautions will allow and are unable to keep up with lumber demand. The problem for timber growers is that so many trees have been planted between the Carolinas and Texas that mills are paying the lowest prices in decades for logs. The log-lumber divergence has been painful for thousands of Southerners who are counting on pine trees for income and as a way to hold on to family land. And it has been incredibly profitable for forest-products companies that have been buying mills in the South. |
| MDAC Accepting Applications for Specialty Crop Block Grant | |
 | Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson announced the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC) is now accepting proposals for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and authorized by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill). The purpose of the program is to enhance the competitiveness of Mississippi's specialty crop industry by leveraging efforts to market and promote specialty crops; assisting producers with research and development relevant to specialty crops; expanding availability and access to specialty crops; and addressing local, regional and national challenges confronting specialty crop producers. Specialty crops are defined as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture. Specialty crops are an important part of Mississippi's agriculture, accounting for more than $203 million of our state's agriculture industry last year. Eligible applicants include producer groups and associations, non-profits, colleges and universities. |
| Mississippi leads U.S. in new-business applications | |
 | Mississippi led the nation in new-business applications in the 12 months starting in January 2020, according to data gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Magnolia State's increase of more than 6,000 applications was 164 percent year over year, according to a report by Visual Capitalist. The region with the highest growth rate was the South at 84 percent, with more than 220,000 new business applications in the region as of January of this year. A policy change in Mississippi could combine well with the state's new-business applications trend. Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives Philip Gunn on Monday endorsed the lifting of the personal income tax for most residents of the state. Gunn's proposal would mean the first $47,700 earned is tax exempt. For married couples, the threshold would rise to $95,400. Skeptics contend that the rate will hobble the state's educational system and roads and bridges. The income tax is "progressive," in that it increases with the individual's ability to pay. Backers respond that the policy change would give the economy a shot in the arm. |
| Teachers, first responders eligible for COVID-19 vaccine beginning March 1 | |
| Mississippi's teachers and first responders will be eligible for vaccination for COVID-19 on Monday, March 1. Gov. Tate Reeves announced the expanded vaccination efforts during a press conference on Tuesday. Those newly eligible for vaccination may begin booking appointments on Wednesday. The group includes all teachers, staff and employees at K-12, preschool or child care settings in the state, along with all law enforcement, public safety, fire services and emergency management officials. College and university professors, staff and employees are not included in the next round of eligible vaccine recipients, but "we will certainly add them soon," Reeves said. "I think they're certainly next up," Reeves said of employees in higher education. "As we expand further and as we watch what demand does, it will give us the ability to expand. I'm ready to be at the point where anybody in the state can get it at any time, and we're close. We're really close." |
| Teachers, first responders to be eligible for vaccine Monday | |
 | Mississippi teachers and first responders will be eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine starting Monday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Tuesday. Vaccinations in Mississippi are currently available for people 65 and older, health care workers and those who are at least 16 and have health conditions that might make them more vulnerable to the virus. Reeves said teachers and first responders put themselves at risk to support the community during the pandemic and deserve to be next in line. About 350,000 people in Mississippi have now received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of Tuesday, according to data from the state Department of Health. People eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine can make an appointment at COVIDvaccine.umc.edu or by calling the COVID-19 call center at 1-877-978-6453. |
| Gov. Tate Reeves: Teachers, first responders to be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations in March | |
 | First responders and K-12 teachers and staff will soon be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in Mississippi starting Monday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Tuesday. Tens of thousands of open appointments are expected to be added to the state's scheduling system in the coming days to accommodate the expansion, he said. Although the new appointments are not yet available, the online appointment scheduling site had been updated to include the new groups Tuesday. Larger vaccine shipments are also expected to come to Mississippi over the next few weeks. The Biden administration announced Tuesday that weekly vaccine shipments from the federal government will be increased to 14.5 million, the second time in two weeks the allotment has gone up. President Joe Biden suggested during a CNN town hall on Feb. 16 that he wants shots to be available for all Americans by the end of July. |
| Mississippi teachers, first responders eligible for COVID-19 vaccines on March 1 | |
| Gov. Tate Reeves announced on Tuesday that teachers and first responders in Mississippi can begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines starting on March 1. The expanded eligibility includes all K-12 school, preschool and daycare employees, who can begin scheduling open vaccine appointments on Feb. 23. It does not include college educators or employees. "This is exciting news for people who are working hard to keep our schools open and our streets safe," Reeves said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. The Mississippi State Department of Health reported on Monday that 341,102 people in Mississippi -- about 12% of the state's population -- have received at least their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. About 145,941 people have received both doses since the state began distributing vaccines in December. As vaccine eligibility increases, COVID-19 cases and deaths continue their dramatic decline in Mississippi -- an encouraging sign after a brutal winter spike that set new records for both statistics. |
| Two new groups will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves says | |
 | Teachers and first responders will become eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine in Mississippi starting March 1, but newly eligible Mississippians can start making appointments as early as Wednesday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. "This announcement marks a great milestone, and it is exciting news for those who have been working hard to keep our schools open and our streets safe," Reeves said. Reeves said thousands of new appointments will be available starting Wednesday for teachers and first responders. He also struck an optimistic note on the state's recent COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Both have declined steadily following the post-holiday spike that brought the worst wave of infections and deaths the state has seen since the pandemic began. Reeves said he anticipates the state will soon begin rolling back restrictions related to COVID-19. The mask mandate covering most of the state, including the six counties of South Mississippi, is set to expire on March 3. "We are going to see less restrictions in Mississippi," he said. |
| One-dose J&J COVID-19 vaccine meets criteria as safe and effective, FDA report finds | |
 | Detailed information on a Johnson & Johnson candidate vaccine for COVID-19 raises no safety concerns, according to a report released early Wednesday. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee is holding an all-day meeting Friday to review the data and is likely to give the vaccine a thumbs up, leading to an expected FDA authorization for the vaccine within the next few days. The J&J vaccine differs from the two already authorized, because only one shot is recommended, instead of two. The company also is studying a two-dose regimen, which might prove more effective or more durable, in which case people might be encouraged to get a booster shot at some point. The FDA advisory committee, called the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee or VRBPAC, is expected to sign off on the vaccine because it seems to have met all the criteria for authorization the FDA established last year. Like the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, the one from J&J held a large clinical trial showing its safety and effectiveness, and the company has proven it can manufacture the vaccine in a safe and consistent manner. |
| Novavax Nears Covid-19 Vaccine Game Changer -- After Years of Failure | |
| In January of last year, employees of Novavax Inc. met at a local Maryland bar to discuss how they might salvage their careers. For decades, the small biotech had tried to develop an approved vaccine, with no success. The company had enough cash to survive only another six months or so and its shares traded under $4, with a market value of $127 million. Today, Novavax is advancing toward authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine. Scientists believe that, if cleared, it could be one of the more powerful weapons against the pandemic, offering key possible advantages over its competitors. Some early data suggest the Novavax shot may be one of the first shown to stem asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus and also potentially provide longer-lasting protection. Novavax's vaccine "looks as strong as any vaccine, and it may have better durability," says John Moore, an immunologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. Initially skeptical of Novavax and its shot, Dr. Moore said he grew so encouraged by early study data last year that he volunteered to be a study subject and purchased some shares in the company, which he has since sold. Much is riding on Novavax's success. |
| Bill to phase out state income tax, raise sales tax passes House | |
| A bill that would phase out the state income tax in Mississippi and reduce sales tax on groceries, while raising the general sales taxes, is getting some pushback from local business owners and at least one local legislator who say it would seriously harm retailers. On Tuesday, the Mississippi House of Representatives voted 85-34 to pass HB 1439, largely along party lines. All of the Golden Triangle's Republican representatives -- Dana McLean and Lynn Wright of Columbus, along with Rob Roberson of Starkville voted for the bill. Democrats Kabir Karriem (Columbus) and Cheikh Taylor (Starkville) voted against the bill. The bill now goes to the Senate. To pass, the legislation would require three-fifths approval of both chambers. It figures to face fierce opposition in the Senate, said Sen. Chuck Younger (R-Columbus). "It's a piece of trash," Younger said. "It's robbing Peter to pay Paul, only you're doubling the taxes on the other end. I can't believe (House Speaker) Philip Gunn would do such a stupid thing. It's going to kill car dealers, restaurant dealers, tractor dealers, everything. Everybody on our side (the Senate) is upset about this." Local business owners, especially those who deal in big-ticket items, said the legislation could hurt their businesses. |
| Mississippi House passes state income tax elimination | |
| A sweeping bill that would eliminate Mississippi's personal income tax and shift the state's tax burden onto sales tax within about a decade passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon. House Bill 1439 -- authored by the three top House Republicans, Speaker Philip Gunn, Speaker Pro Tempore Jason White and Rep. Trey Lamar -- passed on an 85-34 vote, with all but one Republican and a few Democrats backing the measure. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. The legislation would eliminate income taxes for individuals making up to about $50,000, or couples making about $100,000, with those income levels scheduled to gradually increase to phase out taxes for all incomes. The bill also would also cut the grocery sales tax in half over the coming years. To offset those revenue losses, the bill would increase sales taxes in several other areas. "The working man, the lower income, the common folks, were given priority with this plan," Lamar told his colleagues before the vote, adding he has been working on the proposal for about five years. |
| Gov. Tate Reeves pours cold water on income tax cut plan as it passes House | |
| A sweeping bill that would eliminate Mississippi's personal income tax and cut the sales tax on groceries in half while increasing the sales tax on other items by 2.5 cents passed the House on Tuesday. As the bill was being passed, Gov. Tate Reeves praised House GOP leaders for their proposal to phase out the personal income tax, but threw cold water on their plan for commensurate increases in sales and other taxes to balance the books. "I wouldn't want to be a Republican that votes to increase taxes substantially for certain segments of the public," Republican Reeves said during a news conference. "... I personally support tax cuts, not tax swaps or tax transfers or tax increases ... I don't think we ought to sit here and pick and choose who to take money from. I think we ought to take less from everybody." As Reeves was speaking, the proposal passed the House by an 85-34 vote (needing 72 to pass) after Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, took about 30 minutes of questions on the bill called the Mississippi Tax Freedom Act. While most of the questions were by those opposed to the measure, no one rose to speak against the bill. Most of those voting no were Democrats, though some in the minority, including House Democratic leader Robert Johnson of Natchez, voted for the proposal. |
| As State GOP Moves to End Income Tax, Critics Warn of ALEC-Backed 'Kansas Experiment' | |
| More than half of working Mississippians would no longer pay state income taxes starting next year under a bill Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn touted today as "probably the most extraordinary policy change that we've ever done -- at least in my book." The plan calls for higher sales taxes overall, but cuts the current grocery tax rate in half. "We are putting $1.9 billion back into the pockets of Mississippians," Gunn said as he introduced House Bill 1439, the "Mississippi Tax Freedom Act of 2021." The bill's chances in the Senate, where Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann presides as Senate president, are less certain. The upper chamber's leader expressed skepticism of proposals to eliminate the state income tax last year, but House Republicans rolled a $1,000 teacher pay raise into the bill, essentially tying its fate to that of one of Hosemann's top legislative priorities. Gunn is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, where he served as chairman of the board of directors throughout 2020. ALEC, an Arlington, Va.-based pro-business organization made up of conservative lawmakers and corporate interests, drafts "model legislation" that often shows up in legislatures across the state. The corporate-funded nonprofit has long urged state lawmakers across the country to eliminate their states' income taxes. |
| Gov. Tate Reeves announces plans to restore Jackson water late Tuesday amid earlier state takeover comments | |
| Gov. Tate Reeves suggested during a news conference Tuesday that a state takeover of Jackson's troubled water system could come under review in the future. "The state does not run the water system in the city of Jackson," he said. "Perhaps we should." Reeves did not offer details on if or when such a review could happen. A request for comment from Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba was not returned Tuesday. Various state agencies have had difficulties functioning due to Jackson's ongoing water crisis, which began this time when back-to-back winter storm systems took the city's water system offline on Feb. 15. Residents and businesses across Jackson have struggled to find water in the days since. Officials estimate service may not be fully restored until Friday. "It certainly has not been easy to run state government because of the lack of water over the past several days and we do recognize that to be a challenge," Reeves said. Late Tuesday, Reeves tweeted that he had secured more help for Jackson water customers, including securing tankers to provide non-potable water and activating the Mississippi National Guard to assist. |
| Could Indiana's 'conservative' version of Medicaid expansion work for Mississippi? | |
| Two years before Mike Pence kicked off his term as vice president with a pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the former Indiana governor announced an agreement with the Obama administration to bring the national health law's benefits -- and billions in federal dollars -- to his home state. By that time in 2015, "Obamacare" was already a dirty word in Republican-controlled Indiana. And even as he spent months negotiating with the federal government on a waiver to expand Medicaid, Pence took pains to publicly denounce the very law that made the expansion possible. "We've been saying no to government-driven health care -- Obamacare," then-Gov. Pence said in a video announcing the state's expansion of Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor. As pressure builds for Mississippi to join 38 other states in expanding Medicaid, Indiana stands out as both a potential model and a cautionary tale. Since expanding Medicaid in 2015, Indiana has provided government-sponsored insurance to nearly 600,000 adults that were too poor to afford private insurance, but made too much money to qualify for traditional Medicaid. |
| US Attorney William C. Lamar resigns after nearly three-decade career | |
| William C. Lamar, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, announced on Tuesday he tendered his resignation after nearly 30 years of service with the US Department of Justice. The resignation, effective Feb. 27, was submitted at the request of President Joe Biden and Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson who have requested the resignation of all US Attorneys. Lamar was nominated to serve as US Attorney by President Donald Trump on June 29, 2017. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Nov. 19, 2017 and sworn in by Chief US District Judge Sharion Aycock on Nov. 22 of that year. "It has been a privilege and honor to serve as an AUSA and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi and in the town where I was raised," Lamar said in a statement. "While I leave with a bit of a heavy heart, I'm so proud of the accomplishments, past, present and future, of our office. It will be left in good hands." The US Justice Department is asking all US Attorneys who were appointed by President Trump to resign their post as the Biden administration moves to transition its own nominees. |
| Congressman Bennie Thompson discusses COVID-19 relief bill, civil lawsuit against Trump | |
| Congressman Bennie Thompson voiced about the latest COVID-19 relief bill and his civil lawsuit against former president Donald Trump Tuesday during a panel discussion by Jackson State University. Congressman Thompson discussed President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which is expected to be passed by the House this week. Under the proposal, Americans could see another stimulus check by the middle of March. "As another stimulus payment, a little bit higher, $1,400, hopefully that payment will be in by the 15th of March," Congressman Thompson said. "That is the deadline for the unemployment to run out for those individuals unemployed." Congressman Michael Guest went to social media to express his thoughts. "Every day we find more and more unnecessary spending and liberal priorities in the Democrats' stimulus bill. This legislation does little to help the economy or reopen schools. Americans deserve better," Congressman Guest said. Congressman Thompson also discussed Tuesday in his panel with JSU the lawsuit he filed against former President Donald Trump and others over the Jan. 6 insurrection at the capital. Congressman Thompson and members of the NAACP said President Trump incited the violence. |
| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gives shoutout to Rep. Bennie Thompson, calls him a 'pioneer' in health and education reform | |
| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given a shoutout to Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson. On Twitter Tuesday, Pelosi called Thompson an "advocate for the social and economic needs of the vulnerable" and a "pioneer in health & education reform." Congressman Bennie Thompson is an advocate for the social and economic needs of the vulnerable and a pioneer in health & education reform. "A son of the Civil Rights Movement, [Bennie Thompson] protects America and the free exercise of our fundamental rights," the Speaker wrote. Pelosi has been spotlighting Black congressmen and women in honor Black History Month. Thompson is the only Black U.S. representative in Mississippi and the first African-American to chair the House Homeland Security Committee. |
| Tom Vilsack confirmed as Agriculture secretary | |
 | The Senate on Tuesday easily confirmed Tom Vilsack, President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Agriculture Department, by a 92-7 vote. The confirmation gives Vilsack a second spin in the same role he held for the entirety of the Obama administration. Vilsack has long enjoyed bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. In 2009, he was confirmed by unanimous consent on Inauguration Day. But this time, his confirmation had been delayed as Senate leaders wrangled over the 50-50 power sharing agreement and was further pushed back due to the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. Vilsack's selection in December had sparked criticism from civil rights leaders and Black farmers who argued that he didn't do enough to address racial equity problems at USDA during the Obama administration. Vilsack, 70, has a long to-do list waiting for him. The former Iowa governor has said addressing climate change and racial equity will be among his top priorities, two issues the department has long struggled to tackle. Vilsack will also have to deal with historically high levels of food insecurity, pandemic aid efforts, continued supply chain disruptions and concerns about meatpacking and farmworker working conditions and vaccine access. |
| Senate confirms Tom Vilsack for second stint as USDA secretary | |
 | The Senate voted 92-7 Tuesday to confirm Tom Vilsack as Agriculture secretary, sending the former Iowa governor back to a department he ran for eight years under President Barack Obama. "His deep knowledge of agriculture and rural America is needed now more than ever," Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said ahead of the vote. "The COVID-19 crisis is continuing to disrupt our food supply chain... We have more than 50 million Americans today who are in a hunger crisis." She noted the threat of climate change and that farmers of color are experiencing economic disparities and said Vilsack would consider "new ideas in a new era at the department." Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., the ranking member of Senate Agriculture, noting Vilsack's reputation, urged Republicans to vote to confirm him. "I trust that the secretary will work with Congress as the agriculture community tackles new and existing challenges," he said. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Rand Paul, R-Ky., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, voted against confirmation. |
| Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pushes back on GOP inflation fears | |
 | Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told senators on Tuesday that rampant inflation is "not a problem" to fear amid the recovery from the coronavirus recession. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said that while the release of pent-up savings may contribute to higher prices when the pandemic subsides, it won't be enough to reverse decades of downward pressure on inflation. "We've averaged less than 2 percent inflation for more than the last 25 years," Powell told members of the committee, referring to the Fed's annual inflation target. "Inflation dynamics do change over time, but they don't change on a dime, so we don't really see how a burst of fiscal support or spending that doesn't last for many years would actually change those inflation dynamics," he said. Powell has for months tried to dispel concerns about the potentially inflationary impact of trillions in fiscal and monetary support for the struggling U.S. economy. Republican lawmakers, some Wall Street analysts and even a handful of center-left economists have expressed fears that President Biden's $1.9 trillion relief bill and Fed measures could overheat the economy as the pandemic eases. |
| President Biden to order sweeping review of U.S. supply chain weak spots | |
 | President Biden on Wednesday will formally order a 100-day government review of potential vulnerabilities in U.S. supply chains for critical items, including computer chips, medical gear, electric-vehicle batteries and specialized minerals. The directive comes as U.S. automakers are grappling with a severe shortage of semiconductors, essential ingredients in the high-tech entertainment and navigation systems that fill modern passenger vehicles. Biden's executive order, which he is scheduled to sign this afternoon, also is aimed at avoiding a repeat of the shortages of personal protective gear such as masks and gloves experienced last year during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. "We're going to get out of the business of reacting to supply chain crises as they arise," said one administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to brief reporters. The president's order, which had been anticipated, represents the partial fulfillment of a campaign pledge. But mandating a government study will be the easy part. Extensively modifying U.S. supply lines and reducing the country's dependence upon foreign suppliers -- after decades of globalization -- could prove difficult and costly. |
| Sen. Mitt Romney Says Trump Would Win 2024 GOP Nomination If He Runs | |
| Republican Mitt Romney said Donald Trump likely would win the GOP presidential nomination if he decided to run again in 2024. The Utah senator, the only Republican who voted to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials, said he expects the former president will continue to play a big role in the Republican Party even though he was voted out of office. "He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party," Romney said at a New York Times DealBook virtual event on Tuesday. "I don't know if he's planning to run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I'm pretty sure he would win the nomination." The two wings of the GOP -- traditionalists like Romney and Trump loyalists -- are struggling over the party's future. Trump has continued to exert a strong hold on Republican voters. A plurality of them, 46%, said they would abandon the GOP and join a Trump-led party if he were to create one, according to a USA Today/Suffolk poll conducted last week. Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House Republican, said in a speech earlier Tuesday that Republicans must acknowledge the damage done by Trump's false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, and his encouragement of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol. |
| FBI alert about possible 'war' against Congress reached D.C. and Capitol Police on eve of attack, deepening security questions | |
| Around 7 p.m. on Jan. 5, less than 24 hours before an angry mob overran the U.S. Capitol, an FBI bulletin warning that extremists were calling for violent attacks on Congress landed in an email inbox used by the D.C. police department. That same evening, a member of the Capitol Police received the same memo. But the alert was not flagged for top officials at either agency, according to congressional testimony Tuesday -- deepening questions about the breakdowns that contributed to massive security failures on Jan. 6. Both acting D.C. police chief Robert J. Contee III and former Capitol Police chief Steven Sund said the intelligence community at large failed to detect key information about the intentions of the attackers and adequately communicate what was known in the run-up to the Capitol riot. "There were clearly intelligence issues with information that was out there that didn't get to the right people, actions that weren't taken," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), chairwoman of the Rules and Administration Committee, told reporters during a break in the hearing. |
| Southern Baptists Expel 2 Churches Over Sex Abuse and 2 for L.G.B.T.Q. Inclusion | |
 | The Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee voted on Tuesday to expel four of its member churches, ousting two for policies that "affirm homosexual behavior" and the others for employing pastors who are convicted sex offenders. "The last year has revealed areas of weakness in our beloved convention of churches," J.D. Greear, the S.B.C. president, said in a fiery opening address to the committee on Monday night in Nashville. "Fissures and failures and fleshly idolatries. Covid didn't produce these crises. It only exposed them." The next day, the committee "disfellowshipped" Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Ga., and St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., for church policies deemed accepting of homosexuality, in violation of the denomination's statement of faith. Two other churches were removed for employing pastors known to have committed sexual crimes. Mr. Greear, whose final term as president is set to expire in June, has made a priority of improving the denomination's response to sexual abuse in church settings. The Southern Baptist Convention is the nation's largest Protestant denomination and has been increasingly divided in recent years over a variety of cultural and political issues, including racism, sexuality and white evangelicals' embrace of former President Donald J. Trump. National leaders, including Mr. Greear and Russell Moore, its policy head, have attempted to hold the denomination together while expanding its reach. |
| Nearly 100 Confederate statues were removed in 2020, but hundreds remain, new SPLC data shows | |
| More than 90 Confederate monuments were taken down or moved from public spaces in 2020 following the death of George Floyd, according to new data from the Southern Poverty Law Center. The latest data documents nearly 800 Confederate monuments that were in the U.S. at the beginning of that year, a number that dwindled to about 700 by the end of it. In August, the Montgomery, Alabama-based law center found 38 monuments had been removed in the nearly three months since May 25 when Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis who knelt on Floyd's neck as he repeatedly said he could not breathe. That number alone was notable, since it had previously taken years for the database to log a similar number of statue removals. Statues of prominent figures in the Confederacy are a common sight in the South, and Virginia is home to the most Confederate symbols. Activists have long called for Confederate flags and symbols to be taken down, but the accelerated removal of statues was fueled by widespread protests against systemic racism and police brutality following Floyd's death, with more people linking Confederate monuments with white supremacy, according to Erin L. Thompson, a professor of art crime at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. |
| New Evidence Shows Fertile Soil Gone From Midwestern Farms | |
 | Farming has destroyed a lot of the rich soil of America's Midwestern prairie. A team of scientists just came up with a staggering new estimate for just how much has disappeared. The most fertile topsoil is entirely gone from a third of all the land devoted to growing crops across the upper Midwest, the scientists say. Some of their colleagues, however, remain skeptical about the methods that produced this result. The soil that's darkest in color is widely known as topsoil. Soil scientists call this layer the "A-horizon." It's the "black, organic, rich soil that's really good for growing crops," says Evan Thaler, a Ph.D. student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Some other soil scientists, however, are skeptical of Thaler's methodology. Michelle Wander, at the University of Illinois, says that the study relies on a series of assumptions to fill in gaps in the data, and those assumptions probably overestimate topsoil loss. She also points out that topsoil may get mixed into underlying soil layers, rather than disappearing completely. |
| 'Moving forward': UM students march to celebrate Black History Month | |
 | "Say it loud: I'm Black, and I'm proud," University of Mississippi students and officials chanted as they marched from Lamar Hall to where the Confederate monument once stood in the Circle. Over two dozen university community members gathered on Tuesday afternoon to commemorate Black History Month with the annual Black History Month March. This year's march was strikingly different from those that took place over the past two years. In 2019 and 2020, the university's Confederate monument was a central focus, and now, it is gone from the center of campus. "Look at where we are standing. Last year, we marched from Lamar Hall to this very place with this degrading Confederate statue standing right here, going against everything that the university says it stands for -- equity, diversity (and) inclusiveness," said Demetrius Harris, president of UM's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). "Now, we are standing in the absence of racism, oppression and bigotry." Once they reached the Circle, student leaders celebrated the relocation of the Confederate monument while speaking about the changes they have witnessed in Oxford and the United States as a whole over the past year. |
| Mississippi students selected for U.S. Senate Youth Program | |
 | The U.S. Senate Youth Program (USSYP) announced two Mississippi high school students will represent the state during the 59th annual USSYP Washington Week. The USSYP Washington Week will be held March 14-17. According to the Mississippi Department of Education, Jacob Pearson of Corinth and Weston Archer Taylor of Petal were selected from among the state's top student leaders to be part of the 104 national student delegation. They will each also receive a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate study. Due to the pandemic, the 2021 program will break ground as the first-ever fully virtual Washington Week, designed to be a highly interactive and exciting education and leadership forum for the nation's most outstanding student leaders. The program's alternates are Flowood residents Cass Rutledge, who attends Jackson Preparatory School, and Vaibhavi Mahajan, who attends Northwest Rankin High School. |
| 'Time is of the essence' for AU Archives in saving videotapes | |
| Hundreds of videos held on tapes in Auburn University's Special Collections and Archives are degrading. If their contents are not digitized in time, they could be lost, but the department is seeking to restore and preserve them. The department is asking for $10,000 in donations for Tiger Giving Day on Wednesday, Feb. 24, for the preservation project. This project is listed on the Tiger Giving Day website under the tagline, "Save Historic Auburn Videos." Greg Schmidt, head of special collections and archives, explained that this initiative is a renewed funding push in an ongoing project. The archive already has hundreds of preserved audio files which were digitized with the help of funding from Tiger Giving Day 2019, he said. While the archive has its own digitization equipment for audio "reel-to-reel tapes" Schmidt said that it has no means of digitizing the scores of videotapes on the shelves. "Time is of the essence for old videotapes," Schmidt said. Schmidt explained that the videotapes are mostly "U-Matic" tapes, commonly used in video production from the 1970s to the 1990s. The machines that play these tapes, however, are "difficult to maintain, clunky and old," he said. |
| UAB researchers take aim at COVID 'brain fog' | |
 | A research team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham hopes to prove its established therapy for stroke patients might also clear out the "brain fog" in people recovering from COVID-19. Other researchers have found that up to a third of recovered COVID patients reported experiencing issues such as memory loss, struggling to think clearly or other altered mental functions long after their initial illness. Some of the patients said these impairments were so severe they had difficulty performing routine tasks such as cooking or paying bills. The UAB team, led by psychology professors Edward Taub and Gitendra Uswatte, believes these patients may benefit from the kind of cognitive therapy that they have developed to help people who have suffered from a stroke or other brain injury restore their cognitive abilities. "The technique that we use for COVID patients is a variant of technique that we've been using for over 30 years for impairment after stroke, MS, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy," Taub said. Taub and Uswatte said they have already enrolled one COVID patient in their trial and hope to include at least 20. |
| LSU board awards massive energy deal after secretive negotiations without public bid | |
 | The LSU Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to split an $810 million energy deal between two contractors, Enwave Energy Corp. and a joint venture that includes Baton Rouge businessman Jim Bernhard and the national firm Johnson Controls Inc. The LSU board did not disclose the price of the deal during the meeting, but LSU officials confirmed it afterward. The agreement calls for the university to pay Enwave $27 million per year over the next three decades. How much money Enwave makes off the deal will fluctuate annually based on natural gas prices and the price of the energy Enwave produces for LSU, said LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard. Enwave will pay Louisiana Energy Partners -- the name of the joint venture between Bernhard LLC and Johnson Controls -- directly, instead of LSU paying both entities, Ballard said. The agreement calls for Enwave to operate and maintain LSU's energy plants for the next 30 years. The company will also provide financing for initial improvements to LSU's energy plant and distribution systems, which LSU will pay back later on. LSU board members billed the agreement as an important cost-savings measure for LSU going forward. |
| Now open at LSU: City Pork and Zippy's are on campus | |
| Two popular local restaurants have opened locations on the LSU campus. City Pork, which has been in the LSU Design Building for nearly three years, now has a store in the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. The restaurant, dubbed Three Little Pigs Café & Eaterie, serves City Pork's popular sandwiches, such as the Big Pig and the Cubano. The café also offers street tacos and daily plate lunch specials. Three Little Pigs is open from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Zippy's Burritos, Tacos and More has opened a location on the second floor of the LSU Union. The restaurant offers the Tex-Mex favorites the Perkins Overpass Zippy's is known for, such as overstuffed burritos, nachos and quesadillas. However, it doesn't offer the location's signature frozen cocktails. Zippy's is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. |
| Florida bill would limit college aid for degrees that don't lead to jobs | |
| State financial aid for college would be based on whether a student's course of study is likely to result in a job after graduation, under a bill filed Tuesday in the Florida Legislature. The bill, SB 86, was filed by Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala. It would require the Board of Governors and the State Board of Education to approve a list of career certificate, undergraduate and graduate degree programs that lead directly to employment. The list would be updated every year. And students in programs not on the list would receive less aid, a maximum of 60 credit hours instead of the 120 hours typically needed for a bachelor's degree. In addition, the legislation would create two grant programs. One would be the Florida Bright Opportunities Grant Program to provide more funding for Pell Grant-eligible students in a certificate or associate degree program. The other would be the Florida Endeavor Scholarship, covering tuition and fees for students without a high school diploma who wish to enroll in a certificate or high school equivalency program at a career center or college. |
| Texas A&M's Faculty Senate forms committee seeking standardized process for investigating professors | |
 | Texas A&M University's Faculty Senate has formed a committee that will propose standardizing procedures for investigations into professors. The proposal will be presented to the provost and the president. The creation of the seven-person Senate Select Committee on Faculty Investigations is the result of concerns among faculty members regarding recent investigations into anthropology professors Filipe Castro and Michael Alvard, which led to the dismissal of the former and disciplining of the latter. The investigations into Castro and Alvard were led by Texas A&M Chief Risk, Ethics and Compliance Officer Kevin P. McGinnis and focused heavily on remarks the professors made in class. Committee member Adam Kolasinski said in an email to The Eagle that he called for the Faculty Senate leadership to take action because a lack of rigorous and fair investigations could open doors to faculty members being punished for protected speech or exercises of academic freedom. He said that while he does not have sufficient information to say if this occurred in the cases of Castro and Alvard, details available so far "warrant serious concern." |
| Faculty turned to digital materials in lieu of print textbooks after pandemic hit | |
 | For the first year on record, more faculty members used learning management systems than print course materials when teaching classes, according a new report released Tuesday from the National Association of College Stores. The 2020 Faculty Watch report is based on a survey of 968 faculty members from 17 two- and four-year, public and private institutions in the United States and Canada. The survey asked faculty members about their courses, delivery methods and course materials for the 2019-20 academic year, which ended as the pandemic was beginning to cripple the U.S. last spring. Faculty members were surveyed in October and November. More than half of surveyed faculty members said the pandemic affected their course structures in some way, and 65 percent of respondents said such changes negatively impacted educational quality. Only 15 percent of respondents said the pandemic-caused changes improved the quality of education. The pandemic appeared to influence the types of course materials faculty members used during the 2019-20 academic year. Online options, including ebooks and learning management systems, were popular. During the 2019-20 academic year, 62 percent of faculty members used ebooks, compared with 53 percent the previous year. |
| College Fundraisers' Confidence Continues to Be on the Upswing | |
| After tanking last spring, college fundraisers' confidence in meeting their annual benchmarks has been on the upswing since June, according to a series of surveys of development officials by the fundraising consultancy Washburn & McGoldrick. Sixty-five percent of fundraisers now say they're confident they will meet their goals for fiscal year 2021, according to a January survey of 506 fundraisers at 84 institutions -- mostly colleges and universities but also 11 independent schools and one art museum. In April, the first of this series of surveys found that 22 percent of higher-education fundraisers expected to meet their fiscal-year 2020 benchmarks. Fundraising leaders and gift officers shared equally bleak fundraising outlooks that month: About 24 percent of chief advancement officers, vice presidents, and associate vice presidents said they anticipated meeting their fundraising goals. Twenty-one percent of gift officers and alumni fundraisers said the same. Fundraisers were right to worry. Higher education's broadest fundraising survey, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education's annual "Voluntary Support of Education" report, recorded stagnant giving during the 2019-20 fiscal academic year fiscal year -- bearing out the low confidence levels fundraisers expressed in April. It was the first time in a decade that CASE reported flat giving to colleges. The first months of the new fiscal year, however, seemed to buoy fundraisers' hopes. |
| Who's Mostly Missing From Among the Highest-Paid Employees at Top Research Institutions? Women | |
 | One way to measure the gender gap in higher education is to look at the leadership teams of colleges and ask some pointed questions: Are women among the ranks? And how many of them are nonwhite? A report released on Wednesday by the Eos Foundation, a private charity, uses a different measure of who has power on a college campus. It looks at who holds the 10 highest-paid jobs at the nation's top research universities. A key finding is that women are notably absent among those top earners. And that's even more true of women of color, according to the report, which is also by the American Association of University Women. "Higher ed, in addition to being a moral exemplar, we think it could and should be the first sector in our economy to reach gender parity and fair representation of people of color at the top," said Andrea Silbert, president of the Eos Foundation. "We're using money as a proxy for position and power." "The Power Gap Among Top Earners at America's Elite Universities" reflects the most recent publicly available data on more than 2,000 top earners at 130 colleges listed in the Carnegie Classification's highest tier of research universities. The data is divided into three groups: core employees (mostly presidents, provosts, deans, faculty, and administrative leaders); medical-center positions (minus chief executives for health affairs and medical-school deans -- they're part of the core); and any employees who work in athletics. |
| Women make up just 24 percent of research universities' top earners | |
| Women are 60 percent of all professionals in higher education and have been earning the majority of master's and doctoral degrees for decades. Yet women represent just 24 percent of the highest-paid faculty members and administrators at 130 leading research universities, according to a new study from Eos Foundation's Women's Power Gap Initiative, the American Association of University Women and the WAGE project. Women of color are even more grossly underrepresented, at just 2 percent of top core academic earners. "Schools struggling to 'find' women and people of color for leadership positions should deeply examine their institutional cultures and seek to systematically change their hiring, retention and advancement practices to more quickly and urgently close the power and pay gaps," the report says. Women's Power Gap isn't strictly about higher education. It encourages pay and gender parity within corporations, too. But Eos and its collaborators say they focused this new report on academe because education "is viewed as the great equalizer, and institutions of higher education are considered moral exemplars for society." |
| Do college students feel heard by professors and administrators on their campuses? | |
| Inviting feedback from college students doesn't necessarily mean they feel heard -- just as spelling out campus department functions online doesn't guarantee students know whom to turn to when an issue arises. With higher ed financial models relying on satisfied students who stay and complete their studies, those realities spell trouble. Add COVID-19 to the mix, and there's even more reason for concern. Although higher ed institutions transitioned quickly last year to teaching and supporting students from a distance as COVID kept them apart -- and continued to enhance their offerings as pandemic life settled in -- many students have struggled to access needed help remotely. The above truths emerge as key takeaways for higher ed from the inaugural Student Voice survey of 2,000 undergraduates from 114 two- and four-year colleges and universities. Student Voice, a project conducted by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse and presented by Kaplan, explores higher education from the student perspective, providing insights for college and university administrators and instructors. Just 21 percent of respondents say they have spoken up about a campus issue that was important to them -- with many saying they did not anticipate officials would act on the concern. |
| Enrollment at US community colleges plummets amid pandemic | |
| Peniella Irakoze is cold calling a list of 1,001 fellow students who didn't return to Phoenix College this semester, checking on how they're managing during the coronavirus pandemic. The calls have become a regular part of her job at a community college like others across the U.S. that have experienced significant enrollment declines as students face challenges with finances, family life and virtual learning. "I didn't know that so many people were struggling," said Irakoze, 20, who studies medical laboratory science and works part-time for the college. "So many students aren't coming back." Nationwide, enrollment at community colleges -- which offer two-year degrees and vocational training and often attract older students looking to learn new skills -- dropped 10% from fall 2019 to fall 2020, according to the National Student Clearinghouse. They were hit the hardest amid all colleges and four-year universities experienced only slight declines, beating many predictions that the outcome would be worse. More Americans typically turn to community college education amid economic downturns, seeking to learn new job skills or change careers. But the depth of the pandemic's downturn, which kept many people homebound, seems to have upended usual trends, education experts said. |
| Ice storm aftermath will highlight road, bridge deteriorations | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: No matter where you drive in most of Mississippi in the next few weeks, you will encounter new and challenging potholes thanks to the Great Ice Storm of 2021. Last week's severe winter weather will make a lasting impact on Mississippi's already compromised infrastructure system -- particularly on roads and bridges -- and will exacerbate the need for more comprehensive means to repair and restore the state's overall infrastructure system. Mississippi isn't alone in the struggle to improve infrastructure. Congress faces some difficult decisions not just on roads and bridges but on the future of the nation's pipelines, airports, urban and rural water systems. Another extremely vital part of America's necessary infrastructure truly hasn't yet been fully built the first time in our state -- broadband access -- but the need for it has been brought home to everyone in the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. ... The bottom line is that every rural blacktop road, city streets, state highways, and bridges across Mississippi – along with airport runways, municipal and rural water systems, and other infrastructure features – took a beating during the ice storm. Multiple days of heavy ice and low temperatures have made an aging and deteriorating infrastructure even worse at every level of government in the state. |
SPORTS
| Gameday: Five Things to Know about MSU-South Carolina | |
| The Mississippi State men's basketball team looks for a regular season sweep and faces South Carolina for the second time over an 18-day span on Wednesday evening. The Bulldogs (12-11, 6-8 SEC) are looking to build off their recent momentum courtesy of a 66-56 win over Ole Miss on Saturday, while South Carolina (5-11, 3-9 SEC) has dropped its last five outings which began with State's 75-59 triumph on 02/06 in Columbia. State's four captains of Abdul Ado, Iverson Molinar, Tolu Smith and D.J. Stewart Jr. combined for 54 of the team's 66 points in Oxford. The Bulldogs enter this week's action in sole possession of ninth place in the SEC standings and trail Tennessee by two games for fifth place. Earlier this season, D.J. Stewart Jr. pumped in a SEC career-best 29 points followed by Iverson Molinar's 16 points and four assists to fuel State's 75-59 rout on 02/06 in Columbia. The Bulldogs have won three straight and 13 of the 17 all-time meetings in Starkville. Nick Weatherspoon dialed up 18 points and six assists followed by D.J. Stewart Jr.'s 16 points and Abdul Ado's 14 points as the Bulldogs earned a 79-76 home court win last season. |
| Mississippi State women's basketball snaps five-game losing streak with win over Auburn | |
| Mississippi State came dangerously close to utter disaster Tuesday night at Humphrey Coliseum. If you thought the Bulldogs had already hit rock bottom in losing five straight games and falling three games below .500 in SEC play, then you almost had to think again. Coach Nikki McCray-Penson's team went to the locker room trailing Auburn by six. Mississippi State trailed by as many as 10 in the first half. How bad is that? Auburn came in having lost 13 games in a row, including 12 SEC games. The Tigers lost by an average of 14.5 points during their baker's dozen streak. They had only kept the game within single digits twice. They last won on Dec. 17. Mississippi State hadn't even played its final regular season football game by then. Mississippi State woke up in the second half and salvaged the evening by beating Auburn 81-68. In doing so, the Bulldogs snapped their own skid. "It feels good," MSU coach Nikki McCray-Penson said. "A win always feels good. But for me, it's about building. What are we getting better at?" For a while, it didn't seem like much. Auburn only dressed eight players. It was evident the four players who played 30-plus minutes didn't have much left in the tank when the final buzzer sounded. |
| Bulldogs down Auburn, end losing streak | |
| It didn't come easy, but the Mississippi State women's basketball team won its first game since January 10. Mississippi State beat Auburn, 81-68, at the Humphrey Coliseum on Tuesday night. The win breaks a five-game losing streak for the Bulldogs, which have played only three game in the month of February. Mississippi State (9-7, 4-6 in SEC) trailed Auburn (8-16, 0-13) by as much as 10 points in the first half and by six points at halftime, but outscored the Tigers by 13 points in the third quarter and never looked back. Four players scored in double-digits for the Bulldogs. Rickea Jackson led with 20 points, while Jessika Carter scored 17, Aliyah Matharu scored 15, and Myah Taylor added 12. "I just feel like now we can relax and get back to us," Taylor said. "We knew what was at stake tonight and we just needed a win. This is a starting point for us. We still have a long way to go, but it has to start somewhere and I think it started tonight." |
| Mississippi State narrowly escapes Auburn for first win in over a month to keep NCAA Tournament hopes alive | |
| In a season filled with ever evolving lows, Mississippi State narrowly avoided watching its season implode in spectacular fashion Tuesday evening before a sparsely populated Humphrey Coliseum crowd. Greeted with apathy from a fan base that has celebrated success for the better part of a decade, MSU (9-7, 4-6 SEC) gutted out an ugly 81-68 win over an Auburn team that's now riding a 13-game Southeastern Conference losing streak for its first win since Jan. 10. "I just feel like we can relax and get back to us," junior guard Myah Taylor said. "I think we knew what was at stake tonight and we just needed a win." Hastened with a staunch size-disadvantage, Auburn (8-16, 0-13 SEC) had few, if any, answers to stop junior forward Jessika Carter throughout the game's opening 20 minutes. Finding her spots in the paint possession after possession, Carter recorded 10 points and five rebounds in the first two frames to pace the Bulldog offense. Coming off the bench for the first time since a home loss to South Carolina on Jan. 28, Aliyah Matharu also drained a pair of second quarter 3-pointers to keep MSU within striking distance. |
| Mississippi State's Landon Sims named SEC co-pitcher of the week | |
| Mississippi State freshman pitcher Landon Sims has been named SEC co-pitcher of the week. Sims, a second-year freshman from Cumming, Georgia, pitched four perfect innings as Mississippi State beat a Top 10 opponent in Texas on Saturday in the 2021 College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas. He was also selected for the Golden Spikes Award D1Baseball Performance of the Week, announced by USA Baseball. Sims, who entered the game in relief of starter Christian MacLeod, struck out 10 of the 12 batters he faced and didn't allow a baserunner. He inherited a bases loaded situation with no outs in the fifth inning and proceeded to strike out the side on 16 pitches with no runs allowed. He tossed a career-high 58 pitches and earned his second career victory. Mississippi State, now ranked No. 5 in the nation, went 2-1 on the weekend and hosts Jackson State on Wednesday at 4 p.m. |
| Diamond Dawg Gameday: host Jackson State | |
| After a pair of top 10 victories on opening weekend at the State Farm College Baseball Classic, the No. 5 Mississippi State baseball program will open the home portion of its schedule against Jackson State at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24. The Bulldogs and Tigers will meet for the 61st time in program history and 38th time at Dudy Noble Field since the first meeting in 1976. The last meeting came during the 2019 campaign, a 17-4 MSU victory, as the Dawgs own a current three-game winning streak. In three games at Globe Life Stadium last weekend, Mississippi State toppled a pair of top 10 opponents in No. 9 Texas and No. 3 Texas Tech. State averaged seven runs per game and out-hit each of their three opponents at the plate, as the pitching staff piled up 41 strikeouts and limited the opposition to a poultry .196 batting average against. Jackson State dropped each of its first three contests at Mercer to start the 2021 campaign. The team hit .128 as a team, while Mercer hit .333 against the JSU pitching staff to account for the 33-0 margin of victory in the three-game series. |
| LSU graduate, former SID Herb Vincent among six inductees named to CoSIDA Hall of Fame | |
| Former LSU sports information director and LSU graduate Herb Vincent is one of six inductees to the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame for 2021, the organization has announced. A 1983 graduate of LSU, Vincent served for 20 years in the school's athletic department, working his way up from assistant sports information director to senior associate athletic director and then associate vice-chancellor. He supervised the sports information office and marketing and promotions office, served as the primary liaison with LSU Sports Properties, and was the department administrator for baseball. Vincent has worked for the Southeastern Conference since 2013 where he serves as the league's primary spokesperson as Associate Commissioner for Communications. In 2015, Vincent was named to the LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction. In March 2020, Vincent was inducted into the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication Hall of Fame. He is also the author of a book on LSU football. |
| Texas A&M planning to have full Kyle Field next football season | |
| Texas A&M officials are planning for a full Kyle Field for the 2021 football season, athletics director Ross Bjork said Tuesday on his monthly Facebook Live town hall meeting. "Our approach as we sit here today on February the 23rd is that we will operate at full capacity, that we'll have full stadiums," he said. "We'll have the full experience. We'll have the Aggie band back on the field. We'll do all the things that we normally do." A&M capped crowds at Kyle Field last fall to 25% of its full operating capacity, set at approximately 110,000, due to COVID-19. A&M led the nation in average attendance for the 2020 season at 24,876 per game. Four of the top five highest attended college football games last season were Aggie home games, led by the 27,114 fans at the Halloween night matchup against Arkansas. The crowds at A&M's home games against Florida, Vanderbilt and LSU also ranked in the top five. The Red River Rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma at Dallas' Cotton Bowl ranked fourth at 24,000. A&M required fans to wear face coverings at Kyle Field during the 2020 season, which Bjork said might be required again in 2021 depending on the progress of current vaccination efforts. |
| Senate GOP appeals to Tennessee universities to stop athletes from kneeling during anthem | |
| Tennessee Senate GOP Caucus sent a letter to all Tennessee universities Tuesday regarding college athletes kneeling during the National Anthem. The letter states that athletes represent Tennessee and its residents, "many of whom view this form of protest as offensive and disrespectful to the very thing our National Anthem represents." The GOP says it does not condone this type of protest that could be viewed as disrespectful to the nation or flag while representing state colleges and universities. The letter then asks higher education officials to prohibit athletes from doing so. "To address the issues, we encourage each of you to adopt policies within your respective athletic departments to prohibit any such actions moving forward. We view this as a teachable moment in which administrators may listen to concerns from students but also exercise leadership in stating unequivocally what the National Anthem means to this nation and explain proper times." After the letter surfaced, members of the Senate Democratic Caucus released a statement in support of student-athletes who are "protesting peacefully at Tennessee colleges." |
| A bright morning, a twisting road, a horrible crash: Tiger Woods' injuries cloud his future in golf | |
 | The luxury sport-utility vehicle was moving fast along twisty Hawthorne Boulevard when its driver lost control, plowing into the center divider, smashing the "Welcome to Rolling Hills Estates" sign to bits and slamming into a curb and a tree. The 2021 Genesis GV80 rolled and rolled. When it finally came to a stop about 30 yards off the road, it was lying on its side, so damaged that its doors could not be opened. There were no skid marks on the street, no sign of braking. Firefighters carefully extricated golf star Tiger Woods from the SUV he'd been driving Tuesday morning as he headed from a Rancho Palos Verdes resort to the Rolling Hills Country Club for a photo and video shoot. They needed an ax and a prying tool to pull Woods through the windshield. It was just after 7 a.m. The sun was shining. And the 45-year-old's future in the sport that made him a household name was suddenly an enormous question mark. Woods was already recovering from his fifth back surgery when he got behind the wheel Tuesday morning. By the time he was pulled from the vehicle, he was unable to stand. One of his ankles was shattered, according to a source familiar with his treatment. He had two leg fractures. |
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