| Wednesday, June 2, 2021 |
| Starkville Regional is expected to bring in large crowds | |
 | The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on businesses last year, including those in Starkville. On Friday, June 4, 2021, Mississippi State hosts an NCAA Baseball Regional, and fans will be back in the stands. This means the tourism industry is looking at a big boost this weekend. America's favorite pastime is expected to bring thousands to Dudy Noble Field, and businesses have prepared for crowds that they haven't seen in nearly two years. "That just gets more eyes. Even the folks that don't come to the games that see them on TV. It just gets wonderful and positive exposure to our community and shows everybody that we are Mississippi's college town," said Greater Starkville Development Partnership tourism director Paige Hunt. Empty chairs are what was seen last year as Covid-19 forced businesses to limit their capacity, but with eased restrictions and the Mississippi State baseball team hosting a regional tournament owner of Little Dooey's in Starkville, Bart Wood said he was thrilled to fill their seats again. "We turned ourselves into a curbside type business but now we've got 100% inside you've got 100% at Mississippi State at the baseball park this weekend so there will be a ton of people in Starkville and we're just very excited and very happy that this is finally over and we can get back to normal now," said Wood. Wood said things slowed once Mississippi State students left for the summer but the baseball regional and super-regional will help the restaurant's bottom line. |
| Starkville teen found dead near school | |
 | The death of a teen reported missing early this week has prompted an investigation by the Starkville Police Department. Tuesday afternoon, police sent out an alert, asking people to help locate Kyle Phillips, 16, who was last seen leaving Mae Street (just off Montgomery Street in north Starkville) around 10 p.m. Monday May 31. The report said he had been armed with a firearm and his family was concerned about his welfare. Several hours later, police located the remains of Phillips on the evening of June 1. He was found about a block away in an area behind Sudduth School near Evergreen Street. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Phillips family and all affected by the loss of Kyle," said Starkville police spokesman Sgt. Brandon Lovelady. "We continue to conduct a death investigation." Police have not released any information on the cause of Phillips' death or whether the firearm was recovered. The body is expected to be sent to the state crime lab in Pearl for an autopsy. Police are still trying to determine where Phillips was, who he was with and what he was doing from the time he went missing Monday night until his death less than 24 hours later. |
| As lumber prices soar, reclaimed wood gets a second look | |
 | It smells good inside the warehouse of Brick + Board in Baltimore, like freshly cut wood -- only the wood itself, stacked floor to ceiling on one side of the shop, isn't so fresh. "We're taking old wood, materials that we've salvaged from buildings that are 100, 200, sometimes close to 300 years old, and processing it so that it can be used for another 100 years or so," said owner Max Pollock. A lot of the wood the six-year-old company sells comes from right here in Baltimore, where hundreds of vacant and abandoned houses are torn down every year. Every month, through a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, a truckload of that wood is sold to the high-end furniture retailer Room & Board, where it's turned into pieces like the McKean console table, named for a street of demolished row houses in West Baltimore. Price tag: $1399. Pollock also salvages wood from old barns and industrial buildings. As new lumber prices have soared during the pandemic: "We're seeing people who never would have considered this because of the price," Pollock said. "Now, you're paying a little bit more for something that's a lot more beautiful." Reclaimed wood isn't typically graded for structural building, say, framing a house, so it's not going to help solve the housing shortage. But Second Chance project manager Spence Jeffries said more builders are using it for things like decks and flooring. |
| No Meat Price Hike If JBS Rebounds Fast After Ransomware Attack | |
 | A weekend cyberattack on the world's largest meat processor won't have an immediate effect on U.S. prices, analysts said on the heels of an announcement that the company plans to restart production on Wednesday. But if the suspension across JBS USA's five plants continues for more than a week, then consumers could expect to pay a little more for a T-bone steak. JBS closed slaughter plants in the U.S., Canada and Australia on Sunday after learning it was the target of a cybersecurity attack on its servers, according to the company. The sudden move rocked the industry after the three-day holiday weekend and sparked a flurry of speculation of a possible beef and pork shortage that might send prices skyrocketing in the coming weeks. But by Tuesday evening, the Brazil-based company said that many of its systems were already coming back online. The U.S. is already in the midst of near-record high meat prices due to soaring demand that has been compounded by the pandemic, said Alton Kalo, chief economist at Steiner Consulting Group. The two-day JBS closure wiped out nearly a fifth of the nation's beef, pork and poultry production, he explained. Additionally, the USDA on Tuesday reported a 22% decline in beef and roughly 19.5% decline in pork, which Kalo said "pretty much coincided' with the JBS-sized production hole in the market. "So, you can see there is an impact but in terms of long term, it'll depend on whether the JBS issue is a one day or two day problem," Kalo said. "It is going to be very different if it goes on for a week or more." |
| Tyson Replaces CEO Dean Banks After Eight Months on the Job | |
 | Tyson Foods Inc. replaced its chief executive officer after about eight months on the job as the top U.S. meat company contends with production constraints and fallout from Covid-19. Dean Banks stepped down from the CEO role and from Tyson's board of directors, the company said on Wednesday. He was succeeded immediately by Donnie King, a three-decade veteran of the Arkansas company who earlier this year was named chief operating officer. The abrupt change at the top of the largest U.S. meat processor by sales makes Mr. King Tyson's fifth chief executive in as many years. A Tyson spokesman said that while the CEO plays an important part, the company's leadership team is also responsible for driving Tyson forward. Tyson's workers and plants were among the hardest hit in the spring of 2020 as Covid-19 infected thousands of meat-packing employees across the U.S., leading the company to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on protective measures and bonus pay. As the U.S. economy rebounds from the pandemic, Tyson has struggled to meet demand for staples like chicken, with understaffed plants and trouble with breeding flocks leading the company to purchase meat from competitors to fill orders. |
| Mississippi Supreme Court's ballot initiative ruling could open challenges for voter ID law | |
 | Mississippi's voter ID law may be open to legal challenge after the state Supreme Court ruled May 14 to nullify the state's ballot initiative process that allowed voters to amend the state constitution. The 6-3 ruling came as part of the court's decision to overturn the state's voter-backed medical marijuana program due to a flaw in the state's Constitution. The flaw is a wording error from when the state had five U.S. Congressional districts instead of its current four. The Mississippi Constitution requires a certain percentage of signatures petitioning for an initiative to be on the ballot come from all five congressional districts. The error means the ballot initiative process "cannot work in a world where Mississippi has fewer than five congressional districts," according to the majority opinion authored by Justice Josiah Coleman. The ruling represents a rigid, textual reading of the state's constitution, according to Matt Steffey, a constitutional law professor at the Mississippi College School of Law. It also set the state up for a potential challenge to its voter ID and eminent domain laws, both of which were passed by voters as part of the ballot initiative process. Mississippi voters approved a voter ID law in 2011, with 62% of voters that cycle voting in favor of it. |
| Did the Supreme Court put Mississippi's voter ID law in jeopardy? | |
| The Mississippi Supreme Court's decision to nullify the state's ballot initiative process could make the state's voter identification law susceptible to a legal challenge. Now some attorneys are researching the possibility of challenging the law, which requires Mississippians show a government-issued photo ID at their polling place in order to vote. Meanwhile, some politicians are publicly calling for a special session to ensure the law cannot be successfully challenged. Voter ID was first passed through the ballot initiative process in 2011, when 60% of Mississippi voters enshrined it into the state Constitution. The law has been widely touted by Republican elected officials and opposed by prominent Democrats. Some believe that any legal challenge to voter ID would be pointless because after voters approved the initiative in 2011, lawmakers passed their own bill in 2012 that placed the voter ID language into state law -- a home for the voter ID program completely separate from the Constitution. "We put the voter ID into the state law," House Speaker Philip Gunn said on May 18 when asked about the possibility of a legal challenge to voter ID, suggesting that a lawsuit would not be successful. "It's already in the statutes." |
| Early voting sponsors ask Supreme Court to reverse ballot initiative ruling | |
| Supporters of ballot initiatives that would allow early voting and legalize medical marijuana are asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to reverse its landmark decision that struck down the state's initiative process. They say a 6-3 majority of the Mississippi Supreme Court overstepped its authority last month by rewriting the state Constitution to strike down the entire initiative process while invalidating a medical marijuana initiative. When the court acted, efforts were underway to gather the required number of signatures to place early voting, recreational marijuana and four other initiatives, including expanding Medicaid, on the ballot. "Only a party to the action can request a rehearing, and we are not a party," said Kelly Jacobs of DeSoto County, co-chair of MEVI78, the early voting initiative. "Therefore, we filed a motion to intervene requesting leave to intervene for purposes of filing a motion for a rehearing." In court filings, the early voting and recreational marijuana supporters want to argue language in the Constitution prevents the Supreme Court from changing the initiative process. In this case, the change was striking down the entire process. The initiative supporters say the court ruling disenfranchises Mississippi voters. "The court is legislating from the bench absent any authority to do so," the early voting supporters say in their court filing. |
| Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and President Biden to meet as 'fish or cut bait' moment nears | |
 | President Joe Biden's meeting Wednesday with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito on infrastructure comes at what Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg calls an approaching "fish-or-cut-bait moment" in negotiations with Senate Republicans. The meeting, the fourth between the administration and the West Virginia Republican, comes just days before work on infrastructure ramps up from high speed to full throttle, with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee set to mark up its highway bill June 9. Capito has been leading a group of six Senate Republicans hoping to strike a deal with Biden on infrastructure, first trying to push the package from his initial offer of more than $2 trillion to a $568 billion package. When Biden countered with a $1.7 trillion plan, they responded on May 27 with a $928 billion package. "We are inching towards one another," Capito told "Fox News Sunday." She is the only Senate Republican scheduled to attend the meeting Wednesday. Capito has emerged as the go-to deal-maker for Senate Republicans in the infrastructure negotiations. As Environment and Public Works ranking member, she's the party's top voice on the committee with jurisdiction over highways, which she calls the "anchor" of infrastructure. She says her Republican colleagues need to show they are "for something." |
| Charges after US Capitol insurrection roil far-right groups | |
 | Former President Donald Trump's lies about a stolen 2020 election united right-wing supporters, conspiracy theorists and militants on Jan. 6, but the aftermath of the insurrection is roiling two of the most prominent far-right extremist groups at the U.S. Capitol that day. More than three dozen members and associates across both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been charged with crimes. Some local chapters cut ties with national leadership in the weeks after the deadly siege. The Proud Boys' chairman called for a pause in the rallies that often have led to clashes with anti-fascist activists. And one Oath Keeper has agreed to cooperate against others charged in the riot. Some extremism experts see parallels between the fallout from the Capitol riot and the schisms that divided far-right figures and groups after their violent clashes with counter-protesters at the "Unite the Right" white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. The white supremacist "alt-right" movement fractured and ultimately faded from public view after the violence erupted that weekend. But others believe President Joe Biden's victory and the Jan. 6 investigation, the largest federal prosecution in history, might animate the militia movement -- fueled by an anti-government anger. |
| A Conversation With The National Institutes of Health's Francis Collins | |
| As Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, recounted the moment, his eyes welled with tears. A few months before, he and his colleague Anthony Fauci had confided in each other their hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA had set the threshold for approval at 50 percent efficacy, roughly what the flu vaccine achieves each year. They would have been quite happy to hit 70 percent. Then, on December 9, 2020, Collins received a phone call reporting the first results of the Pfizer vaccine trials. "It was breathtaking," he told me in a recent interview. "It was just so far beyond what Tony and I had dreamed the answer might be." The efficacy for the Pfizer vaccine was 95 percent. "I will admit, I cried," he said. "A lot of prayer had gone into that." A week later, Collins received the early results from Moderna, whose vaccine roughly matched the efficacy rate of Pfizer's. It was a medical miracle. Collins called the development of the vaccines "one of the most dramatic examples of scientific advancement, especially in the face of a worldwide crisis, that we have had the chance to witness." "I've been part of other scientific advances that were highly significant, like the Human Genome Project," he added, "but nobody was going to live or die if we ended up being a couple years late. We weren't, happily -- we were a couple years early. But this one was so different." |
| Rust College President Ivy Taylor delivers first State of the Institution Address, announces Ole Miss engineering program partnership | |
| In her first State of the Institution address, Rust College President Ivy R. Taylor laid out her plans for modernizing the state's oldest historically Black college and slow the decline in the school's enrollment numbers. On Tuesday, Taylor shared her goals over the past year and her vision for the college including a new mission statement: "students for excellence and service in their communities and throughout the world." Among her top priorities is the reversal of a five-year decline in enrollment -- from 1,004 students in 2016 to 636 students in 2020. Taylor said the school will launch a new health science degree in the fall and plans to restart its music major program. The college is also partnering with the University of the Incarnate Word in Texas and the Cleveland–Marshall College of Law in Cleveland, Ohio, to help students pursue health science and law degrees. The school also announced on Tuesday the Rust College + Ole Miss 3+2 Engineering Program, where students can earn a mathematics and engineering degree. Participants will spend the first three years pursuing a mathematics degree at Rust, alongside taking pre-engineering and engineering courses. Students will then enter the Ole Miss School of Engineering to complete the remaining courses needed to earn an engineering degree. |
| Ex-publisher Bill Jacobs nominated for Mississippi Board of Education | |
| Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said Tuesday that he is nominating a former newspaper publisher to the state Board of Education, to finish a term that ends in July 2024. Bill Jacobs of Brookhaven would succeed Jason Dean, who left the nine-member board in February. The nomination must be confirmed by the state Senate. Jacobs was publisher of the Daily Leader in Brookhaven and Prentiss Headlight in Prentiss until December 2012, when he sold the companies. He currently serves on the board of directors for the National Newspaper Association and the operating board for the Mississippi Economic Council. "Bill Jacobs has spent his entire career asking questions, researching the facts, and reporting his findings to the wider public to improve his community and exhibit transparency," Hosemann said in a news release. "These traits, along with his business sense and support for public schools, make him an excellent addition to the Board." Jacobs and his wife, Amy Alexander Jacobs, have been members of Parents for Public Schools, and their two children graduated from Brookhaven High School. She was twice named Brookhaven High School Parent of the Year. She is also an advisory board member for the Mississippi School of the Arts. |
| Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann appoints newspaper publisher to Board of Education | |
| Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann appointed a former newspaper publisher and public schools advocate to the State Board of Education, the nine-member board that oversees public schools in Mississippi. William "Bill" Jacobs of Brookhaven will serve a three-year term ending in July 2024 pending confirmation by the Mississippi Senate. He is replacing former board chairman Jason Dean, who stepped down this year. "The foundation of every community is its public schools. Look at the prosperous communities across the state and one will find a single common element --- strong public schools. Mississippi has had some great successes but so too failures," Jacobs said in a press release from Hosemann's office. "The current brain drain of many of our best and brightest to other states is the most disturbing failure for its continued path weakens even our best school systems. These are challenging days for our state and I look forward to joining the others on the board to find credible solutions." Hosemann said Jacobs' experience in journalism and business make him a valuable asset to the board. |
| Alabama's auto industry looks to add more than 3,000 new jobs in wake of COVID | |
 | As Alabama's economy continues to dig its way out of the lull inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the state's auto industry is poised for some big movement. Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Honda and newcomer Mazda-Toyota all have plans to produce more vehicles and more jobs for Alabama. In Tuscaloosa County for starters, Economic Development Authority (TCEDA) Executive Director Danielle Winningham said the area will see as many as 3,200 new jobs within the next 2 to 3 years. Winningham said job additions aren't just in production. Some will be in engineering as well as research and development. And more announcements are possible this year. "We're working with our partners at West Alabama Works, the University of Alabama, Stillman College and Shelton State Community College to make sure our workforce is ready for the job openings that will be coming to this area," she said. In Huntsville, construction is 95 percent complete on the $2.3 billion Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant, which is projected to ultimately employ 4,000 workers and begin production later this year. Lyndsay Ferguson, human resources manager at MTM, said the plant currently employs more than 1,700 employees, with more coming on each week. |
| U. of Missouri Engagement Scholar Tim Evans to make the most of designation | |
 | This superhero is not faster than a speeding bullet. Nor is he stronger than a locomotive. He's not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Not even close. When visiting classrooms full of school kids pre-pandemic, The Antidote quizzed students about what superpower they thought he possessed. Flight and super-fast speed were among the guesses. "I tell them I have a lot of knowledge," said Tim Evans, The Antidote's alter ego. "I've been to school many years and I have a lot of degrees." Education is his superpower and it's a superpower they can have, too, if they go to school and study hard, Evans said. "I think education is the antidote to a lot of things," Evans said. Evans, an associate professor in the University of Missouri Department of Veterinary Pathology, was recently named among six in the university's first group of Engagement Scholars, tasked with taking research to the public. "I've talked about a lot of things," with groups, he said. "I'm trying to talk about science and basically STEM education." He doesn't speak only to schoolchildren and not always as The Antidote. His audiences have included a science museum, the state fair, a speedway and a TEDx talk at Furman University in South Carolina in 2017. University students in his classroom are another audience. |
| Running for change: U. of Missouri students using social platforms for social justice | |
 | Ellis Harrison wasn't expecting to go viral on TikTok. Harrison, a freshman at the University of Missouri, was inspired to run every day to protest the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by three armed white men who followed him in their trucks. Harrison has been documenting his runs on TikTok every day for more than a year and says he will continue to do so until Arbery receives justice. To his surprise, his TikTok account has attracted more than 60,000 followers and generated more than 2 million likes. Harrison said he was inspired to protest because he was particularly struck by the killing of Arbery in February 2020. "I was in the Army before, so I kind of ran, just like maybe once a week. I would go out and run, and then I was just thinking that could literally happen to me," he said. "Like if I ran in, say, a neighborhood and they didn't recognize me, that is something that could possibly happen to me." Harrison is not the only MU student using social media to push change. Mikaela Ashley, a senior at MU, was named one of the nation's 50 most promising multicultural students by the American Advertising Federation. She said social media, particularly Instagram, has been a useful tool to reach thousands of people and share her beliefs. "A ton of the people who follow me are not following social justice advocates, so they're not getting that kind of messaging from the people that they're following," she said. |
| New campus carry law in Montana raises state constitutional questions | |
 | The Montana University Board of Regents won an injunction temporarily staying the implementation of a new state law allowing for the open and concealed carrying of guns on public college campuses that was scheduled to go into effect June 1. The passage of HB102, which substantially restricts the regents' ability to prohibit carrying firearms on the campuses, gave rise to a legal battle over whether the Republican-controlled Legislature overstepped its bounds and usurped the authority Montana's constitution grants the Board of Regents to set campus policies. The state constitution, ratified in 1972, grants the Board of Regents "full power, responsibility, and authority to supervise, coordinate, manage and control the Montana university system." The regents argue in a lawsuit that "in restricting BOR's authority to supervise, coordinate, manage and control the presence and use of firearms on MUS [Montana University System] campuses in the manner the Board determines is best to 'ensure the health and stability of MUS' ... the Legislature exercised control over the MUS and impermissibly infringed on BOR's authority." Casey Lozar, chair of the Board of Regents, said the new legislation may infringe on the board's constitutional authority. "We're essentially seeking clarity on the unique constitutional roles that the key stakeholders have in the state of Montana," he said. |
| The Rise of Remote Work May Reshape College Towns. Here's How These Campuses Are Wooing Transplants. | |
 | Universities are luring remote staff at corporations to move from urban hubs to college towns, as companies look to continue flexible work arrangements for their employees. At least two colleges -- Purdue University and West Virginia University -- are supporting programs for these remote workers, betting that this mode of work will have staying power after the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to scattered workplaces. Universities have long hosted corporate incubators, but the new programs represent another way the pandemic has shifted the way colleges think about who works on campus, and why. Many universities are considering how employees' desires for remote work will affect their own human-resources policies. These colleges, however, are making a play for other people's employees, showing that campuses will both influence and be affected by this major shift in where Americans live and work. This is a "once in a generation" business shift in which "all companies are rethinking their corporate footprints," said David Broecker, the Purdue Research Foundation's chief innovation officer. The foundation is one of the entities supporting the work-from-Purdue program. College campuses could be ideal places for individuals or for businesses to set up strategic clusters as they move away from having large headquarters, he said. |
| The Brewing Political Battle Over Critical Race Theory | |
| Last month, Republican lawmakers decried critical race theory, an academic approach that examines how race and racism function in American institutions. "Folks, we're in a cultural warfare today," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said at a news conference alongside six other members of the all-Republican House Freedom Caucus. "Critical race theory asserts that people with white skin are inherently racist, not because of their actions, words or what they actually believe in their heart -- but by virtue of the color of their skin." Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., added: "Democrats want to teach our children to hate each other." Republicans, who are fighting the teaching of critical race theory in schools, contend it divides Americans. Democrats and their allies maintain that progress is unlikely without examining the root causes of disparity in the country. The issue is shaping up to be a major cultural battle ahead of next year's midterm elections. Academics, particularly legal scholars, have studied critical race theory for decades. But its main entry into the partisan fray came in 2020, when former President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning federal contractors from conducting certain racial sensitivity trainings. It was challenged in court, and President Biden rescinded the order the day he took office. Since then, the issue has taken hold as a rallying cry among some Republican lawmakers who argue the approach unfairly forces students to consider race and racism. |
| Disputing Racism's Reach, Republicans Rattle American Schools | |
 | In Loudoun County, Va., a group of parents led by a former Trump appointee are pushing to recall school board members after the school district called for mandatory teacher training in "systemic oppression and implicit bias." In Washington, 39 Republican senators called history education that focuses on systemic racism a form of "activist indoctrination." And across the country, Republican-led legislatures have passed bills recently to ban or limit schools from teaching that racism is infused in American institutions. After Oklahoma's G.O.P. governor signed his state's version in early May, he was ousted from the centennial commission for the 1921 Race Massacre in Tulsa, which President Biden visited on Tuesday to memorialize one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history. From school boards to the halls of Congress, Republicans are mounting an energetic campaign aiming to dictate how historical and modern racism in America are taught, meeting pushback from Democrats and educators in a politically thorny clash that has deep ramifications for how children learn about their country. Many conservatives portray critical race theory and invocations of systemic racism as a gauntlet thrown down to accuse white Americans of being individually racist. Republicans accuse the left of trying to indoctrinate children with the belief that the United States is inherently wicked. Democrats are conflicted. |
| A college town fired up reparations talk with $25K checks. Who's next? | |
 | The suburban town of Evanston, Ill., just north of Chicago will soon start cutting checks to Black people to make amends for Jim Crow era wrongs. The test will be whether anyone follows its lead. The cash is the latest step in Evanston's plan to dole out $10 million -- in $25,000 chunks --- to those who suffered the local sting of housing discrimination, and Robin Rue Simmons' phone has been ringing ever since the City Council greenlit the money in March. A former alderman who introduced the reparations legislation in this mostly-white Midwestern college town, Simmons continues to field calls from people around the country who want to know how Evanston pulled off what has eluded so many. From church leaders and corporate executives to a Black organization in New Jersey and an organizer in Detroit -- they are all curious how to right the wrongs of the past. Victory in Evanston is likely to be measured by cities hundreds of miles away: places like Amherst, Mass.; Asheville, N.C.; Providence, R.I.; and Burlington, Vt. How reparations play out in those cities -- and who gets to define what they are -- will demonstrate whether Evanston is the model activists envision or an outlier that shows how polarized the country remains in coping with the legacy of racism. And if reparations are ever to become a real goal for Washington or statehouses, it will be places like Evanston that laid the political and policy groundwork to make it happen. |
| President Biden's plan to close racial wealth gap should include student loan debt cancellation, experts say | |
| President Biden has announced a plan intended to help narrow the racial wealth gap, but it doesn't include any cancellation of student loan debt -- which some are arguing is necessary to make meaningful steps toward closing the wealth divide. The plan, which Biden unveiled Tuesday on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, includes a total of $25 billion in community revitalization and transportation infrastructure and $31 billion in programs for small businesses, among billions more dollars to "reinvest in failed communities that have been left behind by failed policies." The administration's proposals are aimed to shrink the wealth disparities between Black and white households -- the median wealth for a Black family is about 13 cents for every dollar in wealth held by white families, according to the administration. But omitting student loan debt cancellation from the actions the administration wants to take won't do enough to address the wealth gap, NAACP president Derrick Johnson told The Washington Post. Black college graduates have an average of $52,000 in student loan debt and owe an average of $25,000 more than white college graduates, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Four years after graduation, almost half of Black borrowers owe 12.5 percent more than what they borrowed due to interest, while 83 percent of white borrowers owe 12 percent less than they borrowed. And over half of Black students say that their student loan debt exceeds their net worth. |
| Rep. Michael Guest took moral stand on Jan. 6 commission | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: Republican Rep. Michael Guest voted "yes" on the bill to establish an independent 9/11 type commission to study the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Guest is a Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee chaired by Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson. The committee's top two leaders, Thompson and ranking member Rep. John Katko of New York, met over four months to hammer out the bill. In the end, it closely resembled a proposal put forward earlier by House Republican leadership. This led Katko to believe GOP leaders would allow members freedom to vote their conscience. The GOP political worm turned, however. A leadership memo went out to Republicans pressuring them to vote "no." Consequently, 175 House Republicans did, including Reps. Steven Palazzo and Trent Kelly. But 35 voted "yes," including Rep. Guest, allowing the bill to pass 252 to 175. "We need answers to questions surrounding the events of Jan. 6," Guest explained to Mississippi Today. "I believe the long conversations that have happened over the last few months have produced a commission that is fair and is structured to find actions that Congress can take to prevent another such attack." When I read this, a favorite Bible verse popped into my head: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." |
| Voter initiative process has been a hard right to win and an even harder one to keep | |
 | Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: Mississippians have been fighting over what would seem the very straightforward power of state voters to bypass the Mississippi Legislature and directly propose state constitutional changes for the better part of a century. Perhaps a more apt description would be to say that the legislative and judicial branches of Mississippi government have waged that battle, egged on frequently by the executive branch. The recent Mississippi Supreme Court ruling that derailed the state's medical marijuana initiative -- overwhelming supported by the state's voters -- is just the latest salvo in that long, curious battle. ... To be sure, the modern initiative process in Mississippi is one that was designed by the Mississippi Legislature to be difficult for those citizens who wish to circumvent lawmakers and get into the business of directly writing or changing laws for themselves. Since 1993, there have been 66 instances in which various Mississippi citizens or groups have attempted to utilize the state's initiative process. Like a carton of milk left unconsumed, 52 of those attempts simply expired for lack of certified signatures or other procedural deficiencies. |
SPORTS
| A 21-game win streak, a two-way star and a homecoming: Previewing the Starkville Regional field | |
 | As few as five wins could stand between the Mississippi State baseball team and a third straight trip to the College World Series in Omaha. But three teams heading to Starkville for this weekend's NCAA Regional can all say the same. None of them plans to go down without a fight at Dudy Noble Field as the No. 7-seeded Bulldogs (40-15, 20-10 SEC) host the first round of the national tournament from Friday to Monday. VCU, Campbell and Samford all punched their tickets to the Starkville Regional on Monday, and each school will be looking to oust the Bulldogs from their own event and advance to the Super Regional round. Here's the book on each of the three teams Mississippi State can expect to face. Samford, Mississippi State's first opponent in the Starkville Regional, will be a familiar one. The two packs of Bulldogs will square off for the second time this season after a March 16 midweek contest in Starkville. Mississippi State won that 10-2 thanks to a six-run sixth inning. But Samford, which won the Southern Conference's automatic bid, isn't exactly a pushover. Mississippi State remembers that well: Samford knocked MSU out of the Tallahassee Regional back in 2012. |
| Covington's Abbey Daniel set to compete in U.S. Women's Open | |
 | The ups and downs of this 2020-21 golf season are an appropriate metaphor for what Covington native and Mississippi State sophomore Abbey Daniel figures she will need to do well to compete in this week's U.S. Women's Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. The greens of course are fast. The rough, naturally, is dense and gnarly. And the air, thick and humid off the nearby Pacific Ocean, is heavy. "We're playing it about 6,500 yards," Daniel said. "I practiced at my home course at about that length before I left, but it's playing much longer here. I've never hit so many fairway woods into greens in my life." The key, then, Daniel figures, will be her short game, the ability to get up and down and keep pars from ballooning into bogeys. Fortunately for her, "The past year my short game has really improved," Daniel said. Daniel tees off at 9:01 a.m. CDT Thursday on Olympic's ninth hole, then starts on No. 1 on Friday. Because of the course's unusual routing, the ninth is where players will start the "back nine," or in this case, the back 10. One of 31 amateurs in the 156-player field, this will be Daniel's first Open. Daniel and her Mississippi State teammates were caught up in that waterlogged controversy in April in the NCAA Baton Rouge regional at the University Club. Several days of rain and a questionable decision by the NCAA official on site kept a single shot from being played. |
| A fatigued Ally Ewing is the last woman standing -- barely -- at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play | |
| The 112th and final head-to-head showdown of the week in the first LPGA event to feature match play since the 2019 Solheim Cup turned into a likely preview of the 2021 Cup at Inverness. American Ally Ewing beat German Sophia Popov, 2 and 1, for her second career LPGA Tour title, as the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play morphed into a rock fight of sorts under the sweltering 97-degree desert heat. "It was exhausting. I think I was limping in on the finish line really," Ewing, 28, said Sunday after her win. "This week was unlike any other. I'm definitely going to have to tape up the feet I think for another week next week, but well worth it." Ewing had played 105 holes, Popov clocking 98, before they added the final 17 from their championship match Sunday afternoon at Shadow Creek. Ewing, the winner of the Drive On Championship Reynolds Lake Oconee last fall, also separated herself to represent her country at the Solheim Cup. American captain Pat Hurst was on site all week and came away impressed with Ewing's steadiness. "She's come into her own starting in 2019," Hurst said. "We want her there. She's got the experience now." Ewing is just as anxious for the chance at redemption. "It's super exciting to represent the United States. The first time was unbelievable," Ewing said. "Obviously losing makes you want to go back even more." |
| Southern Miss mantra: When GPAs exceed ERAs, that's a good thing | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: You occasionally might beat Southern Miss baseball pitchers, but know this: Golden Eagles pitchers, a most intelligent group, do not beat themselves. The USM pitching staff ranks No. 1 in the nation in strikeouts-to-walks ratio, which might be the most under-valued of all pitching statistics. Southern Miss pitchers have fanned 522 batters, while walking only 122 over 466 innings. That means they have struck out 4.28 times as many batters as they have walked. No team in college baseball is even close. Senior righthander Hunter Stanley, expected to start Friday against Florida State in the first round of the Oxford Regional, leads the way having struck out 119, while walking only 16 over 93 innings. That means Stanley makes batters swing and miss quite often, while constantly throwing the ball over the plate. That's not easy. And, as imposing as that is, it might not be the most impressive statistic for Southern Miss pitchers. Pitchers play college baseball for two reasons: to pitch well and to get a college education. Get this: All four Golden Eagle weekend starters have a higher grade point average (GPA) than earned run average (ERA). OK, I'll grant you that is an esoteric stat, but it is nonetheless impressive. |
| U. of Mississippi reopens the Grove for 2021 games | |
| The Grove at the University of Mississippi will reopen for pregame and postgame parties during the 2021 football season after being closed in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Ole Miss Athletics Department made the announcement Tuesday, saying details will be available before the season begins. The first home game is Sept. 11. The Grove is a 10-acre spot in the heart of the Oxford campus. It traditionally attracts thousands of fans on game days, including some who set up elaborately decorated tents. "With its pageantry, hospitality and pure joy, there is no place on earth like The Grove, and as our lives return to normal, there is nothing that will give me more pleasure than to officially welcome Rebel Nation back to the greatest patch of grass in sports," Keith Carter, vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics, said in a news release. |
| Tennessee baseball is adding bleachers for the NCAA regional | |
 | Lindsey Nelson Stadium is taking on a new look. In anticipation of heavy fan interest for this weekend's NCAA baseball regional, Tennessee added a set of metal bleachers down the left field line at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The bleachers replace a small parking lot near the wall. Tennessee is welcoming Wright State, Duke and Liberty to Knoxville beginning Friday as a part of the regional round of the NCAA Tournament. The Vols are hosting a regional for the first time since 2005 and will play Wright State on Friday (6 p.m., ESPN+). The bleachers add 400 seats to the stadium's capacity of 4,283. Tennessee has sold out its allotment for all of this weekend's games, a university spokesperson told Knox News on Tuesday. It happened pretty quickly after the tickets went on sale Monday, moments after the full regional selections were revealed. "When there's a lot of orange in the stands, and we have our national anthem here, that's when I'll be excited about the vision that we have for this regional," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said Monday. There are 300 "standing room only" tickets available at the stadium, but most of those are being reserved for UT students. |
| Florida rewards Gators coach Dan Mullen with $1.5 million raise, extension | |
| Florida coach Dan Mullen has received a $1.5 million raise and contract extension after leading the Gators to three consecutive New Year's Six bowl games, producing an SEC East title and a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2020. He's now one of the four highest paid football coaches in the country. Mullen's annual salary has been increased from $6,070,000 to $7,604,200, according to contracts released Tuesday by UF through public record requests. Mullen also has six years remaining on his contract, which has been extended to January of 2027. "Dan has done a tremendous job in his three seasons at Florida, and we are fortunate to have someone with his obvious talents and head coaching experience leading our football program," Gators athletics director Scott Stricklin said. "I look forward to working alongside him to support his vision for Gators football and our student-athletes for many years." Mullen, 49, went 29-9 in his first three years at UF, including back-to-back double-digit win seasons and a record-setting offense last fall. With an annual salary of $7.6 million, Mullen surpasses Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher ($7.5 million) and Georgia's Kirby Smart ($6.8 million) to become the third highest-paid coach in the SEC behind Alabama's Nick Saban ($9.5 million) and LSU's Ed Orgeron ($8.7 million). Clemson's Dabo Swinney ($8.2M) also makes more, placing Mullen fourth nationally among college football coaches. |
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