Tuesday, April 6, 2021   
 
Mississippi State offering free online performances of American Shakespeare Center's 'Twelfth Night'
Mississippi State's Center for Student Activities and the Performing Arts Committee are offering free, virtual performances of American Shakespeare Center's "Twelfth Night" April 6-13. Everyone who has purchased a season ticket since the 2019 MSU Lyceum Series season will be emailed a link to access the performances. Others interested in viewing "Twelfth Night" can request the link via the university's event ticket system, https://msstate.universitytickets.com. Contact the Center for Student Activities at 662-325-2930 or lyceum@saffairs.msstate.edu with any questions.
 
Municipal primary elections set for Tuesday
Primary battles for city seats in Columbus, Starkville and West Point are set for Tuesday, with polls open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Starkville voters will decide four primary races. In Ward 2, incumbent Sandra Sistrunk faces Jimmy Joe Buckley in the Democratic primary. Republicans Austin Check and Kevin Daniels are running in Ward 4, with Anna Chaney and Brady Hindman facing off in a Republican primary in Ward 5. Ward 2's primary winner will face Republican Brice Stubbs in the general election. Ward 4's winner moves on to face Democrat Mike Brooks and Ward 5's winner will face incumbent Democrat Hamp Beatty. In Ward 6, Roy A. Perkins will try to stave off Santee Ezell in a Democratic primary that will decide the race. Where to vote: Ward 2, Starkville Sportsplex Administration Building, 405 Lynn Lane. Ward 4, Needmore Center 610 E. Gillespie St. Ward 5, Fire Station No. 3 Hwy. 389 and Garrard Road. Ward 6, Mt. Pelier Missionary Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, 840 N. Jackson St.
 
Oktibbeha funds facilities study as first step in designing new headquarters
The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors approved an initial facility study assessment for $12,000 Monday morning to evaluate existing county buildings and possibly pave the way for building a new county headquarters. The board met with Major Design Studio of Columbus at its meeting March 15 to start the preliminary conversation about the possibility of creating a new facility to house county departments. MDS provided an extensive presentation of projects the company has completed in the past. MDS Principal Ryan Ashford outlined an initial study to assess the architecture and engineering of all existing county buildings, and the board approved the spending for this assessment 5-0. "We're going to see what the best option for them is in terms of letting them know which steps they need to take from here and how they need to move forward after we do our assessment," Ashford said. MDS will review the county-owned facilities in terms of age, size, insurance and utility costs, usage and functionality. The company will also be comparing the square footage of existing buildings to what the square footage would be for one potential facility to house all county departments.
 
Mississippi weather: Severe storms possible, with damaging winds, possible tornadoes
More severe weather is in the forecast for Mississippi this week with a line of severe storms expected to pass through the state Wednesday afternoon into the night. According to the National Weather Service in Jackson, most of the state is expected to get some severe weather Wednesday including strong winds, possible hail and tornadoes can't be ruled out. Meteorologist Ashlyn Jackson said areas west of the Interstate 55 corridor should expect strong winds ahead of the storms Wednesday during the morning and into the afternoon. Those winds could have sustained speeds of 20-25 mph, with wind gusts reaching 30-35 mph. The storms in the late afternoon and through the night could produce damaging winds, small hail and a few tornadoes. Areas along and north of the Interstate 20 corridor including the Jackson metro area have a slightly higher risk for receiving severe weather, but southern parts of the state will also have some storms. Areas west of I-55 can expect the storms from the late afternoon into the evening, while areas east of I-55 should see storms through the late evening into the night. However, Jackson said the timeline could change some as the line of storms gets closer.
 
Grass-fed protein production could be $1 billion a year industry in Mississippi
Production of beef and other animals on pastures instead of in feedlots or confined animal feeding operations is gaining steam due to concerns about animal welfare, the quality of the food, and the impact on the environment. Mississippi has been ground central for education about grass-fed protein production for decades because the country's foremost publisher on the topic, Stockman Grass Farmer, is located in Ridgeland. In addition to a monthly magazine, SGF publishes more than 30 books on the topic and puts on workshops across the country. But Dr. Allen Williams, a founding partner of Understanding Ag LLC and the Soil Health Academy who works with grass-fed producers across the world, says Mississippi has been slower to adopt this method of production than other states. As a result, Mississippi is not able to take full advantage of the surge in demand for grass-fed protein. "In Mississippi, there absolutely could be a billion plus a year generated from grass-fed protein production," said Williams, who is also a producer with pastured-based production near West Point and in Alabama. "There is no doubt about it. It could be a very nice business boom for the state and significantly improve the revenue generation for a number of farmers and ranchers in Mississippi."
 
Northeast Mississippi rural power associations receive final approval for federal broadband money
Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley on Monday cleared the way for local electric power cooperatives to receive some $91 million in federal subsidies to provide rural areas with broadband internet access. The Federal Communications Commission in December announced the award of nearly $500 million across the country in federal subsidies from its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. These subsidies are intended to underwrite the costs of broadband infrastructure construction in underserved rural areas. Mississippi saw the second-highest total amount of awards, lagging only California. With the Mississippi Public Service Commission's approval now in hand, nine Northeast Mississippi electric power associations now carry the necessary "carrier" designations that will allow them to receive their share of the federal awards already allotted to them. "We've got a chance here to change the future of Mississippi," said Presley, a Democratic officeholder from Nettleton. Presley hailed public investment in rural broadband as akin to public expansion of electricity. The Northern District utility regulator and EPA leaders also suggested that Mississippi's strides in this area offer a model for rural areas across the country to follow.
 
'Let voters decide': Ballot initiative to expand Medicaid filed in Mississippi
After years of partisan fear and loathing and failed attempts in the Legislature, health care and racial justice advocates want Mississippi voters to force the issue and expand Medicaid at the ballot box. A nonprofit incorporated by the president of the Mississippi Hospital Association and others has filed preliminary paperwork to start ballot Initiative 76, which would put Medicaid expansion in the state constitution, draw down billions of dollars in federal funds and provide health care to potentially hundreds of thousands of working, low-income, uninsured Mississippians. Mississippi is one of just 12 states that has refused to expand Medicaid, leaving hundreds of thousands of citizens without the ability to afford health care coverage and rejecting at least $1 billion per year in federal funds. "Hospitals and our working poor across the state of Mississippi cannot keep waiting," MHA President Tim Moore told Mississippi Today on Monday. "There's all the federal money we are leaving in D.C., our taxpayer dollars that we need to bring back to help our citizens. We do that with everything else, accept federal help, but for some reason not with this. It's time to let the Mississippi voters decide."
 
Senate Parliamentarian Rules in Favor of Democratic Reconciliation Effort
The Senate's nonpartisan parliamentarian Monday ruled in favor of a Democratic effort to pass additional legislation through a process called reconciliation, according to a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), opening the door for Democrats to approve more fiscal measures along party lines in the Senate this year. Democrats have used reconciliation once this year to pass the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, and lawmakers had expected to be limited to using it only one more time this year. With the parliamentarian's new advice to lawmakers, Democrats could now possibly use it a third time to skirt the 60-vote threshold necessary for most legislation to pass in the Senate. "This confirms the leader's interpretation of the Budget Act and allows Democrats additional tools to improve the lives of Americans if Republican obstruction continues," the spokesman for Mr. Schumer said. The spokesman said Mr. Schumer hasn't decided whether to move forward with using reconciliation again and that "some parameters still need to be worked out" around its use. The ruling will give Democrats more room to maneuver to pass President Biden's agenda, including his recently announced $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. The White House is expected to roll out another large package in the coming weeks, this time focused on child-care and antipoverty efforts.
 
Justice Clarence Thomas Takes Aim At Tech And Its Power 'To Cut Off Speech'
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lower court ruling that former President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment rights of critics he blocked on Twitter. Lawyers for those Trump blocked on Twitter argued that the former president's Twitter account functioned as an official source of information about the government, leading a federal appeals court to rule that Trump's blocking amounted to illegally silencing their viewpoints. But Trump is no longer in office, and Twitter has permanently banned him from its platform over glorifying violence. So the lower court's ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should be tossed, the Supreme Court ruled, instructing the court to dismiss the case as "moot," or no longer active. While the case can no longer be cited as precedent, other courts have held that an elected official's social media accounts can be treated as public forums. The decision from the high court did not surprise court watchers, but a concurrence in the ruling from Justice Clarence Thomas has drawn intense attention in technology circles. In it, Thomas took broad aim at social media networks, attacking Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the landmark law that protects technology companies from lawsuits and also provides platforms wide latitude in patrolling speech on their sites.
 
New COVID cases tick up across US. How are variants and vaccines doing in Mississippi?
New COVID-19 cases in the United States are ticking back up, but so far Mississippi is bucking the trend. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, the seven-day average for new cases in the U.S. was about 8% higher last week than the week before. In Mississippi, the number of new cases reported has fallen 28% in the last two weeks. On Monday, the state health department reported 70 new cases, bringing the seven-day average to 209, the lowest it has been since mid-April 2020. It also reported 0 new deaths for the second day in a row, bringing the seven-day average number of COVID-19 deaths to 7.71, a slight uptick from the recent low of 5.14 on March 30. On Monday, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs tweeted a graph showing the number of COVID-19 deaths reported in Mississippi since the pandemic began. "MS making phenomenal progress!" he wrote. "Let's keep it up and avoid the 4th wave." Last week, Gov. Tate Reeves extended the executive order lifting the state's mask mandate. He also revised upward capacity restrictions at indoor sports arenas from 50% to 75%. The mask mandate at schools is still in place.
 
CDC Awards $29,694,340 to Expand Mississippi's COVID-19 Vaccine Programs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded Mississippi $29,694,340 to support local efforts to increase vaccine uptake by expanding COVID-19 vaccine programs and ensuring greater equity and access to vaccine by those disproportionately affected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The award is part of $3 billion in funding that CDC has granted to 64 jurisdictions to bolster broad-based vaccine distribution, access, and administration efforts. The funding was made available by the American Rescue Plan and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and will provide critical support through CDC's existing immunization cooperative agreements in communities around the country. "We are doing everything we can to expand access to vaccinations," said CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH. For example, funds could be used to identify and train trusted members of the community to conduct door-to-door outreach to raise awareness about COVID-19 vaccines and help individuals sign up for appointments. Funds may also be used to support hiring community health workers who perform culturally-competent bilingual health outreach so they can provide people who are receiving care with the information they need to get a free vaccination.
 
Dr. Anthony Fauci tamps down fears of another coronavirus wave
Dr. Anthony Fauci the nation's top infectious disease expert, on Tuesday, said he is confident the mass vaccination effort underway in the United States will prevent another "explosion" of coronavirus cases and a fourth deadly wave of the pandemic. "As long as we keep vaccinating people efficiently and effectively, I don't think that's gonna happen," Fauci said of a fourth wave during an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "That doesn't mean that we're not gonna still see an increase in cases." Fauci said it will "remain to be seen" if there is an uptick in cases or if it will "explode into a real surge" as more states reopen their economies and relax public health guidelines. "I think that the vaccine is gonna prevent that from happening," he said. The White House early on Tuesday announced President Biden's administration is moving up the target for all American adults to be eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine to April 19, two weeks earlier than the last stated goal. Senior White House pandemic advisor Andy Slavitt said during a briefing on Monday that Americans should not "mistake progress for victory" when it comes to vaccines and nationwide coronavirus case numbers.
 
Some industries still have a long way to go to recover from the pandemic
The economy added over 900,000 jobs in March, but a lot of people, especially in certain industries, aren't feeling the recovery yet. For all of the good jobs news recently, there are still nearly 10 million people who are out of work, and more than 4 million of them have been unemployed for six months or longer. "So we still have a very long way to go until we get a full recovery," said Elise Gould with the Economic Policy Institute. She said the industries that have the furthest to go are the ones you'd expect: "leisure and hospitality, accommodations, food services, restaurants" and the public sector, especially in education. Michael Strain at the American Enterprise Institute said he expects those public sector jobs to start coming back soon because state and local governments got a lot of money in the latest COVID relief package. "And also because schools are reopening, and hopefully they'll all be open in the fall, and they'll need to hire in order to make that happen," Strain said. Strain said he also expects hiring to pick up across the board in the next few months, as all that government aid makes its way into the economy and more people get vaccinated.
 
'I don't think it's necessary': Mississippi governor admonishes vaccine passports
Vaccine passports -- digital or paper documents showing proof a person was vaccinated against COVID-19 or had a recent negative test -- isn't something Gov. Tate Reeves supports, he told CNN on Sunday. Reeves did not explain his opinion during his appearance on "State of the Union." His press office did not comment further when the Clarion Ledger reached out Monday. "I don't think it's necessary and I don't think it's a good thing to do in America," Reeves said. He isn't the only official pushing back. Even though there is no vaccine passport in the United States, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order Friday banning the use in the state. DeSantis cited individual freedom and privacy concerns, according to the order. President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Monday on a Politico Dispatch podcast the White House will not mandate the use of vaccine passports. The administration wants private sectors and nonprofits to design and issue vaccine identification, according to USA Today. Behind the push for vaccine passports are airlines that have been saddled with COVID-19-based restrictions, USA Today reported. Vaccine passports would help international airlines make a case to governments so restrictions could be loosened.
 
CDC updates guidance on disinfectants vs. soap to stop COVID's spread on surfaces
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance on cleaning and disinfecting everyday household surfaces, saying that in "most situations" with no known coronavirus exposure, a thorough scrub with soap and water will suffice -- rather than disinfectant sprays and wipes -- to ward off COVID-19. "Routine cleaning performed effectively with soap or detergent, at least once per day, can substantially reduce virus levels on surfaces," the CDC said at a White House briefing Monday. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said "disinfection is only recommended in indoor-setting schools and homes where there has been a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19, within the last 24 hours." The updated guidance tracks with what health officials and medical experts have already advised -- that the risk of passing on or becoming infected with the respiratory virus through "fomite" surfaces is low, compared to direct contact, droplet or airborne transmission. But the announcement Monday offers new specifics, saying there is "little scientific support" for routine disinfectant use to prevent surface contact infection. White House health officials on Monday reiterated their calls for Americans to heed mitigating health measures as a prime mode to stop the coronavirus' spread.
 
White Evangelical Resistance Is Obstacle in Vaccination Effort
Stephanie Nana, an evangelical Christian in Edmond, Okla., refused to get a Covid-19 vaccine because she believed it contained "aborted cell tissue." Nathan French, who leads a nondenominational ministry in Tacoma, Wash., said he received a divine message that God was the ultimate healer and deliverer: "The vaccine is not the savior." Lauri Armstrong, a Bible-believing nutritionist outside of Dallas, said she did not need the vaccine because God designed the body to heal itself, if given the right nutrients. More than that, she said, "It would be God's will if I am here or if I am not here." The deeply held spiritual convictions or counterfactual arguments may vary. But across white evangelical America, reasons not to get vaccinated have spread as quickly as the virus that public health officials are hoping to overcome through herd immunity. The opposition is rooted in a mix of religious faith and a longstanding wariness of mainstream science, and it is fueled by broader cultural distrust of institutions and gravitation to online conspiracy theories. The sheer size of the community poses a major problem for the country's ability to recover from a pandemic that has resulted in the deaths of half a million Americans. And evangelical ideas and instincts have a way of spreading, even internationally.
 
MUW to limit attendance for spring graduation
Mississippi University of Women (MUW) will hold a virtual commencement ceremony and in-person degree conferral ceremonies for its spring graduates. Graduation exercises will be held April 23-24. Graduates will receive their degrees at one of six conferral ceremonies in Rent Auditorium in Whitfield Hall on the MUW campus in Columbus. Friday, April 23: 12 p.m.- virtual convocation and celebration of achievement (stream available at muw.edu/live). 2 p.m. -- pinning /degree conferral ceremony for the Associate of Nursing program. 5 p.m. -- pinning /degree conferral Ceremony for the Bachelor of Nursing program. Saturday, April 24: 10 a.m. -- degree conferral ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences & Culinary Arts Institute. 12:30 p.m. -- degree conferral ceremony for the Department of Business & Department of Legal Studies. 3 p.m. -- degree conferral ceremony for the School of Education & Department of Speech-Language Pathology. 5:30 p.m. -- degree conferral ceremony for the Department of Health and Kinesiology
 
UMMC's School of Nursing receives $600K gift
The Sarah Elizabeth Allison Foundation gifted $600,000 to the School of Nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson. The gift will create the Sarah E. Allison Research Lab for Self-Care and Wellness, which will promote instruction in how self-care can fight burnout among Mississippi's nurses and how nurses can teach their patients these resilience-building skills. "Dr. Allison had a real heart for Mississippi," said Dr. James Hughes, who was a friend and colleague of her and is a member of the Allison Foundation board. "She may have been Baltimore by birth, but she had a warm spot in her heart for this state and for supporting leadership in the nursing arena. Her first love was providing nursing leadership." According to UMMC, Burnout can be a danger to nurses' health and can affect the care they provide. The Joint Commission, which accredits and certifies more than 22,000 health care organizations and programs in the U.S., reported that, out of 2,000 respondents to a national nursing survey in April 2019, more than 15 percent reported feelings of burnout.
 
UM Student Housing Announces Strategic Plan
Seeking to make campus housing more attractive and accommodating to both first-year students and upperclassmen, the Department of Student Housing at the University of Mississippi has launched a strategic plan designed to enhance its operations. The 2020-26 Student Housing Strategic Plan encompasses six overall themes, including student learning, facilities, occupancy development, employee excellence, sustainability and diversity. Several objectives developed for each of these areas will allow the department to evaluate and assess its progress annually. The plan creates a framework for what the team collectively expects to achieve over the next six years, said Lionel Maten, assistant vice chancellor for enrollment management. "I am encouraged and expect that this plan will operationalize and guide the housing team through meaningful engagement and collaboration with campus partners in response to departmental opportunities and challenges," Maten said. "Student leaders, staff and faculty within (the Department of) Student Housing contributed much in the three-day planning session," said John Yaun, director of student housing.
 
Laundress's gift inspires total of $3.1M from Army retiree
The University of Southern Mississippi has received $2.9 million from the estate of a man first inspired to donate by a laundress who gave the school money for scholarships. The gift will create scholarships for students in need because retired Chief Warrant Officer Lamar W. Powell wanted people "to get an education, strive for the top, save all you can save, and give back when you can," a news release said. It said the bequest brings Powell's gifts to the school to $3.1 million. Powell also left money to South Carolina State University, the statement said. He grew up on a farm outside Liberty, Mississippi, enlisting in the Civilian Conservation Corps after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, and then in the Army. Throughout his career, he took correspondence business courses from the University of Chicago and used what he learned to invest. After 23 years in the Army, he worked for the State Department. His first donation to USM came after he learned about Oseola McCarty, who invested what she earned by hand=washing laundry and gave the school $150,000 in 1995 to use for scholarships.
 
Activist, civil rights attorney to speak at virtual University Forum on April 6
Mónica Ramírez, an activist and civil rights attorney who has advocated for women, immigrants and farmworkers, will be the presenter for the final program of the spring 2021 University Forum Online series at the University of Southern Mississippi at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 6. Her talk is titled "Seeding Change: How Farmworker Women are Leading the Fight to End Workplace Sexual Violence from the Fields to Hollywood." Visit usm.edu/forum to sign up for a reminder or for a link to attend the event. In 2003, Ramírez created the first legal project in the United States to address sexual harassment and gender discrimination against farmworkers. That program became Esperanza: The Immigrant Women's Legal Initiative at the Southern Poverty Law Center. She also developed the award-winning Bandana Project to raise awareness about workplace sexual violence. Since then, Ramírez has served as the acting deputy director for Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, an organization supporting migrant workers, and founded Justice for Migrant Women. Ramírez's forum speech is co-sponsored by USM's Sexual Assault Prevention Ambassadors.
 
Stimulus packages offer big boost for Mississippi parents in need of child care
Eleven years, four kids, two degrees. That's how long Keronique Davis of Robinsonville has been taking classes at Coahoma Community College, how many children she has and the number of degrees she'll be graduating with in May. "I've had so many jobs -- I can't even count on my fingers how many jobs I've had to leave because I didn't have a babysitter, or I had a babysitter but something happened," she said, describing how her daughter began having seizures at four months old. But she kept coming back to school, and she now works in customer support for Verizon. She said she was able to juggle it all with the help of the Child Care Payment Program, part of the federal Child Care Development Block Grant. The program defrays the cost of private child care tuition for families that earn 85% of the state median income and meet certain work requirements. Families who receive the voucher pay a co-payment based on income. But until now, many more people qualify for the program in Mississippi than there have been funds to cover. But the two latest federal COVID-19 stimulus packages include a big boost for the program and will result in nearly $330 million flowing to Mississippi to give more families access to assistance.
 
Confused about U.S. election process? Auburn poli-sci professors tackle issues in webinar series
Auburn University political science professors Kathleen Hale and Mitchell Brown will host a new webinar series focused on issues surrounding election processes, beginning Tuesday, April 6. Titled "ELECTION TENSION: The Voting Process and Credible Outcomes -- A series of four webinars," the series partnership with international election technology company Smartmati begins with "Engendering Trust in Election Outcomes" at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Hale, a faculty fellow of the McCrary Institute of Cyber and Infrastructure Security, and Brown are both professors in the political science department and serve as co-directors of Auburn's Election Administration Initiative. The panel will address questions such as "How can election officials engender trust in future election outcomes?" and "How can we build a protective shield around election processes so that the necessary checks and balances, auditing and appeals procedures are indisputable?" The moderated discussion by Hale and Brown will include three panelists: Joseph Uscinski, University of Miami professor and conspiracy theories expert; Lance Gough, former executive director of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners and leader of change in election administration; and Antonio Mugica, Smartmatic's CEO.
 
UF begins COVID-19 vaccinations for students, faculty and staff
The University of Florida is offering COVID-19 vaccines on campus for students, faculty and staff. The university opened ONE.UF pre-registry March 30 for the UF community to receive their first or second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Monday, which is in accordance with the governor's expansion of eligibility to ages 16 and up. On Monday, about 5,000 vaccines will be distributed at the Champions Club section in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, where mass vaccination efforts have been held in the past. UF does not plan to mandate the vaccine for future semesters, but other schools like Nova Southeastern University near Fort Lauderdale, Rutgers University in New Jersey and Cornell University have attempted to mandate it with different results. The Florida governor issued an executive order Friday barring businesses from requiring COVID-19 documentation; in turn, Nova Southeastern University had to wind back vaccine requirements for students that would have been effective Aug. 1 in order to comply. UF cannot mandate vaccines unless the governor and the Florida Department of Health do, Dr. Michael Lauzardo, the head of UF Health's Screen, Test and Protect program, said. Yet students are eager to get the shot.
 
Law school rankings are out, and these Louisiana colleges saw startling decreases
Louisiana law school ratings fell like rocks in the one of the major rankings that compare the quality of education provided by colleges around the country. Tulane University School of Law dropped six places from last year in the U.S. News & World Report ranking released earlier this week. LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center was down 13 and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law lost 18 positions over a year's time. All are startling decreases in normal times. Before local law school deans are packed off, though, the reasons for the drops have more to do with modifications to the formulas that calculate the rankings, changes that have roiled the law school scene over the past few weeks and has led U.S. News to alter -- three times in the past two weeks -- the weights assigned to various aspects of the hundreds of variables used to come up with a ranking for each of the 193 law schools fully accredited by the American Bar Association. Top administrators of Louisiana law schools were quick to point at U.S. News & World Report. "This year's significant changes in methodology could be the primary or only reason why our ranking by U.S. News declined. Our performance as an institution and our graduates' outcomes have remained incredibly strong," said LSU Interim Dean Lee Ann Wheelis Lockridge. LSU law school actually scored higher this year than last, though its ranking slid.
 
AAC&U survey finds employers want candidates with liberal arts skills but cite 'preparedness gap'
The Association of American Colleges and Universities' newest report, "How College Contributes to Workforce Success: Employer Views on What Matters Most," is something of a mixed bag for higher education. First the good: employers generally have confidence in higher education and value the college degree. They believe that a liberal education -- or preparation for more than a specific job -- provides knowledge and skills that are important for career success. And increasingly, employers say, college graduates are more effective at explaining what they bring to the table. Personal aptitudes and mind-sets also play a role in career success, employers say. Breadth and depth of learning are essential to longterm performance. Completion of active and applied learning experiences in college gives job applicants a clear advantage in the hiring process, as well. Now the not-so-great findings: employers see room for improvement in how colleges and universities prepare students for work. Views on higher education and perceptions of recent graduates also vary significantly by employer age and educational attainment. Younger employers -- those under 40 -- place a higher value on civic-related learning outcomes and experiences than do employers over 50.
 
Anti-American,' Pushing 'Marxism,' and More: Do You Recognize Your College Here?
If you live in Idaho and you've recently flipped on the radio or picked up a landline phone when it rang, you may have heard a confident male voice on the other end, painting an ugly portrait of higher education in the Gem State. Public colleges are teaching students "to hate America," the voice says, in at least one version of the recorded message. These institutions are promoting Marxism and socialism. They're "attacking law enforcement, the Second Amendment," and "pushing the cancel culture that threatens all of us." It's time, the voice insists, to take a stand, and for Idaho to become the first state to stop "leftist indoctrination" on college campuses. "Will it work?" the voice asks before it answers in the affirmative: "We say, Yes." The "we" saying yes is Idaho Freedom Action. It's the advocacy arm of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which describes itself as a free-market think tank. Idaho Freedom Action's campaign says it is an effort to "Fix Idaho Colleges" by pressuring state lawmakers to end "anti-American programs" on campuses, and says Idaho students are being conditioned to "apologize for being white" and "shut up because of their gender or race." The attacks have only escalated further.
 
LGBT students sue Education Department over Title IX religious exemption
About 30 current and former students at evangelical colleges filed suit last week against the U.S. Department of Education, asking that the religious exemption to a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at educational institutions be declared unconstitutional in how it is applied to LGBTQ students. The students say the Education Department has failed to protect them from policies that discriminate against sexual and gender minority students at their colleges. The Title IX law, which dates to 1972, prohibits educational institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex, but it includes an exemption for educational institutions "controlled by a religious organization" if the application of the law "would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization." "What we're asking is the department be allowed to do its job and investigate discrimination complaints that are filed by LGBT kids instead of just closing them when there's a religious exemption asserted," said Paul Carlos Southwick, the lawyer representing the students and director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, a group that advocates for equality for LGBTQ students attending taxpayer-funded religious institutions. spokesman for the Education Department said, "The Biden-Harris administration -- and the Office for Civil Rights -- is fully committed to equal educational access for all students."


SPORTS
 
Sports remain hostile territory for LGBTQ Americans
Rachel Allison, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Mississippi State University, and Chris Knoester, an associate professor at Ohio State University, write for The Conversation: For all of the gains LGBTQ people have made over the past few decades, sports remain a highly visible reminder that homophobia and transphobia persist. In recent years, more professional athletes, from U.S. women's soccer team player Tierna Davidson to Olympic gymnast Danell Leyva, have come out of the closet. However, locker rooms remain less inclusive of LGBTQ people than places like schools or workplaces. And though many sports teams and figures have publicly campaigned against homophobia and transphobia, half of LGBTQ respondents in our recent study said that they'd experienced discrimination, insults, bullying or abuse while playing, watching or talking about sports. For the study, we surveyed 4,000 U.S. adults and asked them whether they'd been mistreated in various sports-related contexts. We also asked them whether they believed LGBT athletes were unwelcome in sports. We found that this sort of personal mistreatment -- whether it's bullying or insults -- is a relatively common experience in sports.
 
Diamond Dawg Gameday: host Southern
Coming off of an SEC sweep over Kentucky last week, the No. 4 Mississippi State baseball program will host Southern on Tuesday (April 6) at Dudy Noble Field. The Bulldogs and Jaguars will throw the first pitch at 6:30 p.m. Mississippi State (20-7, 5-4 SEC) and Southern (10-14, 8-4 SWAC) will meet for just the third time in program history. All three meetings have come since 2018, with State claiming the victory in each of the previous two meetings. MUS and SU met in the 2018 season for the first time in series history and then met to open up the 2019 NCAA Starkville Regional. Graduate student Carlisle Koestler will get the start for Mississippi State on the mound. The right-hander owns 34 career starts between his undergraduate career at Southeastern Louisiana and his graduate seasons at Mississippi State. Over his five college seasons, Koestler has struck out 178 batters in 210 innings of work and will make his first start of the season versus Southern.
 
MSU inducts Thigpen, Gregory, DuBose into Ron Polk Ring of Honor
Bobby Thigpen has no shortage of baseball accolades. The former standout Major League Baseball relief pitcher set a major league record for most saves in a single season (57) in 1990 for the Chicago White Sox, earning him an All-Star Game appearance and the Rolaids Relief Pitcher of the Year award. His record stood for 18 seasons, and he made more than $10.7 million in career earnings according to BarryCode.com. Yet, after being in attendance for the first-ever Ron Polk Ring of Honor class in 2019 that included former teammates Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro, he was told by Polk himself it wouldn't be long before he gets his own name called. One year later, Thigpen did. That just hit differently for the former Mississippi State pitcher and outfielder. "There is no other award I could get at this point that would be better," Thigpen said. The ceremony was supposed to occur in 2020, but it was pushed back to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When Thigpen was inducted in a class that includes MSU's career strikeout leader in Eric DuBose and the first coach to lead MSU to a College World Series in Paul Gregory in the middle of the Arkansas series March 27, emotion took over. "This was an honor that exceeds anything I've ever done individually," he said. "I look at this from the view of the fans, school, and coach Polk. I'm eternally grateful for the school giving me the opportunity to come here and play and will forever be a Mississippi State Bulldog."
 
Mississippi State pitcher Christian MacLeod named SEC's pitcher of the week
Mississippi State pitcher Christian MacLeod was named the SEC's Pitcher of the Week on Monday. MacLeod, a third-year freshman, pitched six scoreless innings on Friday as No. 5 Mississippi State beat Kentucky, 8-1, at Dudy Noble Field. MacLeod allowed only two hits and retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced. Mississippi State swept the Wildcats and improved to 20-7 with a 5-4 record in conference play. He struck out 11 total batters in the game and retired 12 straight Kentucky batters between a two-out double in the second inning and a two-out single in the sixth. This is his second time he has struck out 10 or more batters in a game this year and the fourth time in his career. He pitched a career-high 95 pitches, 65 of which were strikes, and walked no batters. He improved his season record to 3-2 and has a 2.67 era.
 
Mississippi State softball drops nonconference contest to Southeastern Louisiana
After picking up a pair of wins in a doubleheader against North Alabama on Saturday and taking down Southern Miss last week, Mississippi State softball couldn't keep up any momentum in a 6-4 midweek loss to Southeastern Louisiana Monday on the road. The loss will be all the more frustrating for MSU (18-15 overall) as it tries to keep its regional resume healthy despite being off to a 0-9 start in SEC play. "We talk a lot about the little things and giving extra opportunities," head coach Samantha Ricketts said in a news release. "The amount of freebies today is what did us in. We've got to do a much better job moving forward of limiting the extra chances and opportunities up and down the lineup." Chloe Malau'ulu's second double of the day gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead in the second, but once against MSU relinquished the lead after pitcher Emily Williams walked in a run in the bottom half of the inning. SE Louisiana cemented the victory with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. The Bulldogs are back in action at 4 p.m. Wednesday against Central Arkansas in Starkville.
 
Former Mississippi State assistant Johnnie Harris takes experience in Starkville into Auburn head coaching job
Johnnie Harris admits she's a shopaholic. So when she followed Vic Schaefer to the Mississippi State women's basketball program in 2012, Harris didn't know what to expect. All she knew was that Starkville didn't have quite as many retail options as she was used to. But it didn't take long. Shopping sprees -- or lack thereof -- aside, Harris became enamored with Mississippi State in her tenure as the Bulldogs' associate head coach from 2012 to 2020. "My time there was amazing," Harris said. "There were so many other things that I fell in love with while I was there." After Nikki McCray-Penson replaced Schaefer as MSU's new head coach in spring 2020, Harris followed her longtime boss to the University of Texas. Now, when Harris returns to Starkville and the school she once called home, she'll do so in a new role for a Southeastern Conference rival. Harris was introduced Monday afternoon as the new head coach at Auburn, marking her first chance to lead a program in her fourth stop in the SEC. She spent 2004 to 2007 at Arkansas and 2007 to 2012 at Texas A&M before coming to Starkville with Schaefer. "I knew it would come," Harris said at Monday's press conference of her premier opportunity to be a head coach. "I wasn't ever someone who was sitting in my position looking for a head coaching job. I knew it would come, and when it did, I knew I would be ready."
 
Chancellor Glenn Boyce: 'We're incredibly optimistic' about opening the Grove in 2021
Two weeks ago, the status of a full Grove come Saturdays this fall was still unclear, but Ole Miss Chancellor Glenn Boyce shed some light on the matter this week. Speaking with the EAGLE on Thursday, Boyce provided some clarity and stated his expectations for the fan experience during Ole Miss home football game days in 2021. While it is still more than five months away from the Rebels' home opener against Austin Peay, Boyce said he is "optimistic" the Grove will have a 2019 feel. The current state of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rollout of the vaccine come August and September will be key factors in a decision to allow tents and tailgating back on the University of Mississippi campus. "It won't be an official (decision) until we can absolutely know and the data can validate it, but our optimism and the way that the vaccine rollout is moving forward, and the way the numbers and the data looks across our state, and certainly within our university, we're incredibly optimistic that we're going to be able to open up the Grove this year," Boyce said. Boyce added that the university will continue to monitor the pandemic and how case numbers either continue to decrease, or if another surge might happen this summer.
 
Hogs to request home regionals
The University of Arkansas plans to submit bids to host NCAA baseball and softball regionals on its campus. Bids for the two sports are due by next Monday, significantly earlier than in other years. According to an NCAA memo sent to universities last Friday, more lead time is needed this year to determine hosting sites in order to ensure covid-19 testing protocols are functional at each site. Softball regional host sites will be announced by the NCAA during the week of April 26, and baseball regional host sites will be announced during the week of May 10 --- dates prior to the end of the regular season for both sports. Super regional sites will be determined after the regionals conclude. According to the NCAA, the super regionals will be played at one of the 16 regional sites, even if the home team has been eliminated. In the event a team is selected to host a regional and its team does not make the postseason, it will also still be required to host. Arkansas stands a good chance to be selected as a host in both sports, based on merit. The Razorbacks' baseball team is ranked No. 2 this week with an overall record of 22-4. Arkansas' softball team has a record of 31-3 and is ranked No. 11.
 
Ed Orgeron expected to send letter in lieu of appearing before senate committee: sources
LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron is expected to send a letter instead of testifying live Thursday before the Legislature's Senate Select Committee on Women and Children. The committee last week called for 10 people involved in LSU's recent handling of sexual misconduct cases, including Orgeron, to testify at its next committee hearing, set for Thursday. The request to hear from Orgeron directly came after the recent testimony of Gloria Scott, a Mercedes-Benz Superdome security employee, who said she was sexually harassed by then-star running back Derrius Guice. Scott said Orgeron tried to defuse the incident by calling her and asking her to forgive Guice. The committee's agenda asked for those invited to "attend in person or submit a written statement" by Tuesday. Orgeron is not expected to attend the hearing and plans on submitting a written statement, sources told The Advocate | Times-Picayune. State Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, who leads the committee, said Monday she had not yet gotten a response from LSU. Letters sent to the committee are still technically testimony, but it is more common for LSU officials to appear in person when requested. The Legislature oversees and votes on budget issues that impact higher education.
 
UGA athletes have extra incentive to follow coaches by getting COVID-19 vaccines
Shots already have gone in arms for prominent UGA head coaches, and since anyone 16 and older in Georgia is now eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine, there is chatter in clubhouses and locker rooms about whether athletes will get theirs. "We're talking because, to be honest, I'm sick of getting that thing stuck up my nose every Monday, Wednesday," UGA baseball second baseman Josh McAllister said. "I think most of us are on board with it." Football coach Kirby Smart, who got his first shot on March 27, said players have been told about "incentives they've laid out with not having to test, not having to contact trace if you get the vaccine." The baseball team is holding a seminar about vaccines soon to educate them about it, but coach Scott Stricklin expects some players will choose to not get it even though he said it will be recommended. "It's an individual choice," McAliister said. "I don't care if you get it or not, but I think most of us are going to get it just so we don't have to wake up at 7:45 every Monday, Wednesday and go get stabbed in the nose." Two weeks after getting vaccinated, he said, will mean not having to get COVID tested as UGA athletes are accustomed. Some have been tested hundreds of time, according to the school.
 
B.L.U.Eprint student-athlete organization receives award from Texas A&M
Texas A&M athletics student-athlete organization Black Leaders who Undertake Excellence (The B.L.U.E.print) has been awarded the Diversity Service Team Award by the university. The B.L.U.E.print will be recognized at the 2021 Accountability, Climate and Equity (ACE) Awards ceremony, for their demonstrated commitment to the University's core value of Respect, promoting the respectful treatment of others, affirming and encouraging individuals to take pride in their social and cultural identities, and including all in their definition of the "Aggie Family". The student-athletes who were the founding members include president Karlina Sample (soccer), vice president Ciera Johnson (women's basketball), community relations coordinator Keldrick Carper (football), co-community relations coordinator Brian Williams (football), treasurer Chase Lane (football) and social media coordinator Jean Jenkins (track & field). The ACE Awards ceremony will be streamed at 11 a.m. April 14 on the school's multicultural services YouTube page.
 
Sen. Marco Rubio asks MLB commissioner if he would drop Augusta National Golf Club membership
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday asking if the baseball leader would be relinquishing his personal membership to the Augusta National Golf Club because the club was located in Georgia. The letter was in response to the MLB pulling the All-Star Game out of Atlanta over opposition to the recently signed voting laws by Georgia legislators. The laws were met with widespread opposition from Georgia Democrats and has raised responses from major Georgia brands such as Delta and Coca-Cola. "Taking the All-Star game out of Georgia is an easy way to signal virtues without significant financial fallout. But speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party would involve a significant loss of revenue and being closed out of a lucrative market," Rubio's letter to Manfred said. The move, which was announced by the MLB last week, was met with mixed responses from various Georgia figures, including Gov. Brian Kemp, who referred to the decision as one made on "fear." The voting law, titled SB2020, was signed into law by Kemp last week and raised concerns among Democrats that changes to the absentee ballot and early voting laws would lead to increased voter suppression.
 
Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus applauds MLB's opposition of Georgia voting law
The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus is "standing in solidarity" with Major League Baseball's opposition of Georgia's new voting law -- which they call "restrictive." This after the MLB moved the All-Star Game from Atlanta last week in their objection to the state's new voting law. Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola have also condemned the new legislation. "Laws making it more difficult to vote are especially alarming to members of the MLBC, who have seen the introduction of bills this legislative session aimed at purging the voter rolls," wrote Angela Turner Ford, Chair of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus. "Although those bills died, we view the comprehensive voting bill passed in Georgia as a signal of what is to come," she continued. "Republican election reform is sweeping the country. If we are not vigilant, Mississippi's election process will become even more suppressive than it is currently." But while President Joe Biden supported the decision by MLB to change the All-Star Game's location, one-time Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams (D), who had previously referred to the new law as "Jim Crow 2.0″, is saying that she doesn't want to see "Georgia families hurt by lost events and jobs."
 
Compensation of college athletes is inevitable and will likely expose some universities' questionable accounting practices
Nicholas S. Zeppos, chancellor emeritus at Vanderbilt University and Distinguished Professor of Law and Political Science, writes for Inside Higher Ed: As usual, March Madness took center stage for many universities in recent weeks. Yet this March, we in higher ed had an additional reason to focus on the National Collegiate Athletic Association. On March 31, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in NCAA v. Alston to decide whether college athletes may receive some forms of compensation for their efforts -- an increasingly vital issue of fairness and equality. Throughout the argument, the justices expressed support for some kind of compensation for student athletes. Their repeated references to the billions of dollars in revenue, the sky-high coaching salaries and the bizarre nature of a market that depends upon free labor demonstrated that the justices are keenly attuned to the reality of college sports. Predicting the outcome from argument is always speculative at best. But the justices clearly signaled that the equities are on the side of the student athletes. The justices did struggle with where to draw the line about any compensation. Experienced advocates will assure you, however, that a defense to a glaring injustice that depends on the difficulty of line drawing is the last line of defense. The Supreme Court's decision will command attention. Yet new state laws already authorize payment, and proposed federal legislation is moving in a similar direction. Regardless of the court's ruling, compensation of student athletes is inevitable. The question is not if but when.



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