| Wednesday, June 9, 2021 |
| NCAA Super Regional brings boost to local businesses in Starkville | |
 | Local businesses suffered heavily during the coronavirus, but in Oktibbeha County, many owners are making up some of the losses with not one but two major weekends. This weekend, Mississippi State University is hosting its fifth straight NCAA Super Regional Tournament bringing people from across the country to a town with many local shops and restaurants that can't be found anywhere else. Bart Wood is the owner of the nationally-known Little Dooey BBQ in Starkville. During the coronavirus pandemic, the restaurant struggled, but Wood said events like Regionals and Super Regionals are making a dent in the losses. "Last week you had that Game Day atmosphere in Starkville at 100% and that's the first time we've had that in a while," explained Wood. "That really made the difference in our sales." Wood said he easily had a couple of thousand customers this past weekend during the NCAA Regional Tournament ranging from State fans to fans of the opposing teams looking for local gems. However, Wood believes these weekends do more than just boost his own business. "We're able to take a slow month of June and turn it into a busy month," said Wood. "These two weekends really help out the economic situation in Starkville." |
| Starkville may soon see additional outdoor dining opportunities | |
 | There may be outside dining in downtown Starkville. Special Circuit Judge David Chandler ruled in favor of the City of Starkville. The city proposed using nine parking spaces on Main Street to create a streatery. The area on the south side of the street would allow for tables, chairs, and expanded seating for downtown restaurants. This was proposed during the pandemic to give businesses options for social distancing. But a local businessman objected, filing suit against the city. The suit was resolved this week by a special circuit judge, allowing the city to use the space. Mayor Lynn Spruill says the board hopes Starkville residents and visitors will enjoy the area. "This is one of the things that we're trying to do is bring a lot of life and vibrancy to our community. And through that, you bring people downtown to stay in to do things that downtown and having public spaces as part of that, so we view that as one of the steps that we were trying to achieve, particularly during the pandemic, so that people could be outside," said Mayor Spruill. Spruill says there is an appeals process and that the city will wait until that ends before they begin work on the outdoor area. |
| Montana sculptor bringing Cool Papa Bell to life in Starkville | |
| Montana sculptor Gareth Curtiss is working to create a 9-foot bronze statue of baseball Hall of Famer and Starkville native James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell. "You're creating icons and you're putting this up in your community and saying, 'What do we honor? What do we value? How does this represent who we are?'" Those in the game considered him to be one of the fast men to ever play. Curtiss is also working on small clay sketches which he'll bring to the Starkville Board of Aldermen to choose Bell's permanent pose. He expects the work to take approximately a year to complete. Once completed, the statue will be displayed in Cornerstone Park near the sports fields. Curtiss has created more than 50 sculptures in 20 states but said this project feels different. "The thought of doing a statue in his hometown was really special and inspirational too for kids to know, 'Gosh, you too can be a great athlete or achieve anything.'" |
| OCH board member requests confidential hard copies of hospital documents from supervisors | |
 | A member of the OCH Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees, who previously filed a civil suit against hospital administrator Jim Jackson and her fellow board members, asked the Oktibbeha County board of supervisors to grant her access to hard copies of documents from the hospital. Peggy Rogers, who was appointed to the board in June 2020, alleged the hospital, with the OCH trustees' approval, withheld public information she needs to perform her duties. Rogers appeared before supervisors Monday morning claiming, as a trustee, she had the right of access to these hospital records, such as employees' salaries and contract information. Rogers told supervisors if "they wish oversight of the operations of OCH" they should release three pieces of information -- all compensation for the 50 highest paid individuals employed by OCH, including all benefits and bonuses in 2018-20; all documents for the 50 largest contracts for non-medical services, such as insurance and public legal services, contracted out by OCH for 2018-20; and all documents for the 20 largest medical contracts entered into by OCH for those years. |
| COVID-19 Community Forum Tackles Vaccine Hesitancy, Indifference | |
 | The coronavirus found Pastor Odee Akines fast. Akines, of Abundant Grace Temple Church in Forest, Miss., spent more than two months in a COVID-19-induced coma in April 2020, fighting for his life while family and congregation alike prayed for him. "After spending 80 days (in the hospital), I didn't know whether I was gonna live or die. The doctors gave me a 2 percent chance of making it. And coming from a faith-based Church, I thank God for a praying family. I attribute my being here now to the prayers of my family," Akines said. The pastor shared his story in an online forum organized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, exploring the state's ongoing vaccination effort and the reasons for its slowdown. Dr. Regina Young Hyatt, vice president for student affairs at Mississippi State University, is coordinating the public university's safe-return strategy for the coming fall. As restrictions continue to loosen, preventing a coronavirus surge in unvaccinated students could be the difference between the first undisrupted school semester and another year of quarantines and virtual classes for many. Educating students overly afraid of side effects or long-term harm from the vaccines is one strategy, Hyatt said, but increasingly she finds herself dealing with a different kind of resistance. "Students have expressed to us, not necessarily vaccine hesitancy, but more what we are calling vaccine indifference," she said last night. "They are not necessarily opposed to getting vaccinated, but not certain or not in a hurry to get vaccinated. We have been pressing on that particular point." |
| Ballot initiatives give voters a voice: Are states listening? | |
 | Zack Wilson describes himself as a "redneck," born and raised in small town North Mississippi. He has a Mississippi drawl that could be heard from a mile away. He works in the firearm industry. He was also among the 74% of voters who approved of Initiative 65 last year, a citizens' ballot initiative that would have legalized medical marijuana in the Magnolia State. But despite the medical cannabis measure's widespread approval by more than two-thirds of the electorate in November, its future now hangs in the balance between the legislators' power and the voters' will. Last month, the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down Initiative 65 -- potentially even voter initiatives approved in other years since 2002 -- in a sweeping, controversial 6-3 majority decision. Mississippi finds itself as the latest state where tension has emerged between institutions of government and the notion that citizens can have a direct say on issues through the ballot box. And while the issue doesn't always follow predictable partisan lines, the subversion of the voters' will, as opponents describe the efforts, has become particularly evident in conservative-led states. Opponents of the ruling have pointed to a politicization of the courts, but the accuracy of that particular charge remains unclear. "This is certainly being interpreted as such, particularly because the initiative structure has been utilized in the last decade," writes Thessalia Merivaki, an elections expert at Mississippi State University, in an email. "That said, it would be inappropriate to charge the court as political, because other initiatives had not been challenged in the court, and so we cannot know whether they would have ruled similarly on another case." |
| Poll: Mississippians and politicians at odds over marijuana, Medicaid | |
| A new poll says a majority of Mississippi voters not only want the Legislature to create a medical marijuana program like the one the state Supreme Court nullified, but they favor allowing recreational use of pot. Nathan Shrader, chair of government and politics and director of American studies at Millsaps, said the poll shows a vast divide between Mississippi voters and politicians on marijuana and other issues. The latest State of the State survey by Millsaps College and pollster Chism Strategies reports that 63% of those polled want the Legislature to enact something "mirroring" Initiative 65 -- a medical marijuana constitutional amendment that voters passed overwhelmingly last year but the state high court shot down. It reported that 52% of those polled support recreational marijuana legalization, with 37% opposed. The poll also reported that 52% of Mississippians support expanding Medicaid to cover roughly 200,000 working poor Mississippians. A move to put this before voters was also derailed by the recent Supreme Court ruling that declared the state's ballot initiative process constitutionally flawed because of outdated signature gathering rules. Despite years of debate and fizzled attempts, lawmakers have balked at allowing medical use of marijuana or at accepting federal dollars to expand Medicaid despite growing movements to do both. The divide has typically fallen along partisan lines, with the supermajority GOP leadership thwarting both efforts. |
| Congressman Guest calling on DOJ to update Congress on Cattle Market Investigations | |
| Congressman Michael Guest (R-MS) and Congressman Darren Soto (D-FL) sent a bipartisan letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) provide updates or a final report to Congress on the DOJ's investigations into anticompetitive conduct within the beef industry. Cattle producers in Mississippi and across the country have continued to experience volatile livestock markets driven by supply chain disruptions and labor challenges driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and a consolidated beef market. In May of 2020, the Department of Justice launched investigations into the four largest meatpackers in the United States to examine if anticompetitive market-distorting practices led to price disparities between live cattle prices and wholesale beef. |
| President Biden ends GOP infrastructure talks, but new group emerges | |
 | President Joe Biden ended talks with a group of Republican senators on a big infrastructure package on Tuesday and started reaching out to senators from both parties in a new effort toward bipartisan compromise, setting a summer deadline for Congress to pass his top legislative priority. The president is walking away from talks with lead Republican negotiator Sen. Shelley Moore Capito after the two spoke Tuesday, but would welcome her in the new bipartisan group, according to an administrative official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations. Shortly after the Biden-Capito talks collapsed, 10 senators huddled late Tuesday over pizza -- five Republicans, five Democrats -- emerging after three hours with some optimism their new effort could create a viable path forward, said a person familiar with the closed-door talks and granted anonymity to discuss them. At the same time, with anxiety running high as time slips by, Democrats are laying the groundwork to pass some or all of the ambitious package on their own. Biden conferred Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer about launching the budget resolution process for Senate votes in July, the White House said. |
| Bipartisan House caucus offers alternative infrastructure plan after Senate GOP talks collapse | |
 | The 58-member bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus has put together a $1.25 trillion infrastructure spending framework, including $761.8 billion in new spending over eight years, to help salvage faltering bipartisan negotiations. The caucus's proposal comes as President Joe Biden ended his negotiations with a group of Senate Republicans led by West Virginia's Shelley Moore Capito. That Senate GOP group had offered a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure plan, roughly a third of which was new spending above the "baseline" amount the government would normally spend to sustain current infrastructure. Biden initially proposed a more than $2 trillion plan, which Republicans said went far beyond their definition of core, physical infrastructure. In negotiations with Capito's group, the president was willing to go as low as $1 trillion, but he wanted that to be all new spending -- although Republicans said Biden told them the $1 trillion could include baseline spending before his staff walked that back. The Problem Solvers Caucus framework gets much closer to Biden's demand on new spending. And unlike the offer from Capito's group, it has buy-in from congressional Democrats. However, the bipartisan caucus has not yet included any provisions to offset the cost of its proposal. |
| Offshore wind power in Gulf of Mexico? Possibility for areas off Mississippi, other states | |
| President Joe Biden's administration wants to know whether offshore wind companies want to move into the Gulf of Mexico. The agency that oversees offshore leases will publish a request for interest Friday in the Federal Register, for areas off Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama, the Interior Department said Tuesday. Those areas are largely in shallower waters where many wells have played out rather than the deep seas where the Gulf's offshore oil and gas industry is now focused. Biden has said he wants enough wind-generated electricity for more than 10 million homes nationwide by 2030. Offshore wind development has the potential to create tens of thousands of good-paying, union jobs across the nation, said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. Her agency's request for interest from developers "is an important first step to see what role the Gulf may play in this exciting frontier," she said. Friday's publication will start a 45-day public comment period about developers' interest, potential environmental consequences and other uses of the proposed area. Those will be considered in deciding the next steps in renewable energy leasing in the Gulf of Mexico, the news release said. |
| More Young Women Are 'Drinking To Cope,' In A Dangerous Trend | |
 | Victoria Cooper thought her drinking habits in college were just like everyone else's. Shots at parties. Beers while bowling. Sure, she got more refills than some and missed classes while nursing hangovers, but she couldn't have a problem, she thought. "Because of what my picture of alcoholism was -- old men who brown-bagged it in a parking lot -- I thought I was fine," says Cooper, now sober and living in Chapel Hill, N.C. That common image of who is affected by alcohol disorders, echoed throughout pop culture, was misleading over a decade ago when Cooper was in college. And it's even less representative today. For nearly a century, women have been closing the gender gap in alcohol consumption, binge-drinking and alcohol use disorder. What was previously a 3-1 ratio for risky drinking habits in men versus women is closer to 1-to-1 globally, a 2016 analysis of several dozen studies suggested. And the latest U.S. data from 2019 shows that women in their teens and early 20s reported drinking and getting drunk at higher rates than their male peers -- in some cases for the first time since researchers began measuring such behavior. This trend parallels the rise in mental health concerns among young women, and researchers worry that the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could amplify both patterns. |
| Scholar discusses his book on rhetoric of the old South at Southern universities | |
 | The images depicted in Heritage and Hate: Old South Rhetoric at Southern Universities (University of Alabama Press) will make one recoil. There are photographs of Ku Klux Klan imagery in yearbooks of Southern colleges and universities -- from the early 20th century. There is a photograph from the University of Mississippi in 1949 -- a large group of white students in blackface. But the author notes that "modern incidents of blackface are not outliers or racist innovations but parts of a continuum of Confederate rhetoric on these campuses." The author is Stephen M. Monroe, chair and assistant professor of writing and rhetoric at the University of Mississippi. He focuses on the University of Mississippi and the University of Missouri at Columbia, which in 2015 experienced a series of racial incidents when Black students demonstrated during a homecoming parade. The Black students were shouted down by white students who used a cheer for Mizzou to do so. One of the themes Monroe explores is that seemingly non-racial traditions and cheers can be used to advance racist goals and become racist. For example, he has a chapter on the Hotty Toddy, a cheer at the University of Mississippi, that had been used, among other things, to protest the integration of the university in 1962. |
| Morgan Freeman makes donation to launch evidence-based policing center at Ole Miss | |
 | Actor Morgan Freeman has made a donation to help launch a legal studies center at the University of Mississippi focused on developing evidence-based practices and training for law enforcement amid ongoing calls for police reform. Freeman, along with Ole Miss criminal justice and legal studies professor Linda Keena, have together contributed $1 million to establish the school's Center for Evidence-Based Policing and Reform, pending approval from Mississippi's Institutions of Higher Learning, according to a Tuesday press release. Freeman in a statement included in the university's announcement said the past year's instances of violent police encounters and civil unrest have demonstrated a major disconnect between officers and the communities they serve. Criminal Justice and Legal Studies Department Chair Wesley G. Jennings said training at the center will also "address how to improve community members' perceptions of and trust and confidence in police, and how to improve their willingness to call the police in a time of need." According to the university, the funding will be allocated in two portions, with the first $500,000 directed toward start-up costs, and the other $500,000 being placed in an “endowment for long-range sustainability.” |
| Mississippi woman was a homeless alcoholic. Now she's earned a full-ride scholarship | |
 | After a series of traumatic pregnancies, Stacey Spiehler began a descent into alcoholism during a bout of mania. "It was either pick up a bottle or pick up a gun. And I found the bottle first," Spiehler says. "Once I started drinking in July 2012, I just didn't stop." She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder three years earlier. "I had an ectopic pregnancy, my son was born with cerebral palsy and autism, and I had a miscarriage," Spiehler said. She was admitted to a treatment facility in Jackson and received counseling medication and therapy for the bipolar symptoms. But homelessness and forced separation from her son followed before she began a recovery that continues. Today, Spiehler, 40, has gone from a homeless, couch-surfing alcoholic in 2015 to taking charge of her life and competing with hundreds of applicants to win a full tuition scholarship to the University of Mississippi in Oxford through one of the 2021 Lyceum Scholar Awards. "Stacey Spiehler is undoubtedly one of the most inspiring people I have ever had the privilege of working with," said Amie Bernstein, transfer admissions counselor at Ole Miss. |
| Person of the Day: Thomas Hudson | |
| The United Negro College Fund and the Higher Education Leadership Foundation recently named Jackson State University President Thomas K. Hudson as one of eight historically black college or university presidents taking part in the inaugural Presidential Leadership Institute cohort. Other members of the cohort include Vernell Bennett-Fairs of LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tenn.; Bobbie Knight of Miles College in Fairfield, Ala.; Kevin James of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Ga.; Cheryl Evans Jones of Paine College in Augusta, Ga.; Ivy R. Taylor of Rust College in Holly Springs, Miss.; Nicole Pride of West Virginia State University in Institute, W.V.; and Ronnie Hopkins of Voorhees College in Denmark, S.C. HELF will host the inaugural PLI cohort at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens during the summer of 2021. The cohort will be a series of training sessions focused on finances, brand management, value proposition, accreditation, institutional effectiveness and situational leadership. "This cohort will serve as a forum for newer presidents to network and develop fellowship with each other," Hudson says. "There is always room to grow and develop new ideas in a position like this, and being able to work with retired presidents and chancellors as well as the other cohort members will serve as the perfect opportunity to learn those skills." |
| These Mississippi schools never returned to in-person learning. Here's what happened. | |
| Last school year, Krystal Williams' son Ca'Marion was named a "star student" in first grade at McNeal Elementary School in Canton Public School District. In September of 2020, he was honored as a "high flying" second-grader, which recognizes students who are active in class, complete their assignments and are top performers. But the longer his school stayed exclusively virtual, the more his grades suffered. By this spring, the end of a full academic year of distance learning, he had failed the second grade despite attempts by his mom to get him help along the way. The principal recently informed Williams her son is reading on a preschool level. Canton Superintendent Gary Hannah declined to answer Mississippi Today's questions about the district's decision to remain virtual, but said in a statement the decision to was made "after careful consideration of the well-being of our students, staff, and community." There are countless stories like these in the six Mississippi public school districts that never returned to in-person learning during the 2020-2021 school year. The districts include Canton Public School District, Sunflower County Consolidated School District (with the exception of kindergarten through fifth graders at the end of the year), Holmes County Consolidated School District, East Tallahatchie School District, and West Tallahatchie School District. |
| Former LSU law firm criticizes sexual misconduct report, says it harmed firm's reputation | |
 | The Husch Blackwell report that examined LSU's culture of downplaying -- sometimes ignoring -- complaints of sexual misconduct contained reckless statements that damaged the reputation of the Baton Rouge law firm that had represented the university for 80 years prior to the release of the report, the Taylor Porter firm alleged in April during an exchange of correspondence with LSU. "It is unfortunate Taylor Porter has had to endure an unfair mischaracterization of its work and advice, as will eventually be proven in court," Darrel J. Papillion, who represents Taylor Porter, said Tuesday in a statement about the two letters that LSU released the day before. LSU parted ways with the law firm on April 23, after members of the Board of Supervisors questioned why they only learned of 2013 sexual harassment allegations against football coach Les Miles upon reading the Husch Blackwell report that was released in early March. Some supervisors put the blame on legal advice by Taylor Porter. The law firm, which was founded in 1912, would have none of that and said so in an April 23 letter, sent hours after they received LSU's letter calling for the return of 10 case files and terminating their legal services. LSU made public both letters at the request of The Advocate | The Times-Picayune. |
| U. of Tennessee assured NASA that professor had no prohibited ties to China | |
 | The University of Tennessee at Knoxville repeatedly told NASA that a law seeking to restrict funding to Chinese scientific development didn't apply to one of its researchers, revealed federal court testimony Tuesday. Former UT associate professor Anming Hu is standing trial this week in Judge Tom Varlan's courtroom, accused of intentionally hiding his ties to a Chinese university so he could secure grant funding the American space agency. But testimony Tuesday revealed Hu had filed plenty of reports at UT that listed his work with Chinese students, his collaborations with Chinese researchers and links to research papers clearly listing his status as a professor at both UT and the Beijing University of Technology in China. At the same time, UT officials assured NASA that none of its faculty members were in violation of the 2011 law barring the federal agency from pay for any research that involved "participation, collaboration or coordination" with "China or a Chinese-owned corporation," testimony revealed. None of the federal allegations against Hu accuse of him of spying for China or giving the country NASA research dollars or technology secrets. |
| Career outlook for recent college graduates better than expected | |
| Among a sea of students spaced out across a stadium, Toshiki Aburaki rose from the bleachers for a moment of applause. The University of Maryland Class of 2021 graduate -- black robe, red stole -- didn't get the victory lap across a stage he'd hoped for. And yet, honored along with fellow business majors, he felt "super relieved." The May socially distanced ceremony capped an end to his pursuit of a bachelor's degree. Virtual senior year -- done remotely with family in Tokyo last fall and back at College Park, Maryland, this spring -- robbed him of hangouts with friends and afternoon work in the baseball dugout coaching middle schoolers. Yet the stakes of senior year meant more than academics: The dual Japanese U.S. citizen was competing for a career, napping during the day in Tokyo and rousing himself for remote job interviews well past midnight. After what he estimates were about a dozen rejections, Mr. Aburaki landed a full-time gig as an analyst for Deloitte. It begins remotely in July, but he's moving to New York City with the prospect of working -- someday -- in an actual office. "I'm very, very optimistic about this, about our futures," says Mr. Aburaki. His optimism reflects an improving job market that notched modest gains last month. Though it's still short of pre-pandemic levels, employers added 559,000 jobs in May -- around double the jobs added in April. The prospects for recent degree-earners appear better than anticipated, especially since the pandemic has spared college graduates more than those without degrees. |
| Legislating against critical race theory, with curricular implications in some states | |
| Lawmakers in 16 states have introduced or passed legislation this year seeking to limit the teaching of critical race theory within public institutions. These bills all resemble former President Trump's now-defunct executive order prohibiting federally funded institutions from teaching "divisive concepts" about race and gender. But whereas Trump's order was widely interpreted to apply to diversity training, and lacked serious bite with the 2020 election fast approaching, these new state-level bills are already impacting the college curriculum. Many faculty members see this as censorship, by design. "That's the point -- it will have a chilling effect so that our administrators or even people like me say, 'I don't want to get into trouble, right, maybe this is a little too close, I better change it I better modify what I'm doing,'" Brian Behnken, associate professor of history at Iowa State University, said of his state's pending anti-divisive concepts law. "That's instead of saying, 'You know, it's valuable and important for students to learn about institutional racism, and I can't be scared or timid going into the classroom to teach about these things." Conservative lawmakers have argued that critical race theory is divisive and regressive, focusing too much on the darkest parts of America's past and not nearly enough on the racial progress that's been made. |
| Inside One University's Hybrid-Work Decision | |
 | What issues does a hybrid workplace raise at the University of Utah? Parking capacity. Home-office spending. Cybersecurity. Employee retention. College leaders there have seen that firsthand. Campuses across the country are revising their remote-work policies for fall 2021 and beyond, but Utah has a tighter deadline to work through the big question of where and how its employees work. A state executive order by Gov. Spencer J. Cox requires state agencies, including public colleges, to try to create remote jobs, in an effort to bolster employment in rural areas of the state. They have until July 1 to evaluate each position and determine whether it can be held by a remote employee. The university's decision-making process and priorities as it begins a two-year pilot for new telecommuting rules, then, can serve as a guide for other colleges making this transition. The pilot program is designed to monitor what does and doesn't work in a hybrid office. Managers and employees will decide on what work modality -- like fully remote, in person, or hybrid -- makes the most sense for their position. Then they will need to sign a written agreement before proceeding. From July 1 to the university's first day of classes in late August, the campus will transition into its new policies, and they will be fully implemented for the fall semester. |
| Without change, engineering equality may take 76 years or more | |
| Despite a slight increase in the number of engineering degrees achieved by Black/African American and Latinx students over the past two decades, the two groups still lag severely when it comes to turning those into jobs in the field. According to a report done by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, at its current pace it would take 76 years to balance positions with those held by White and Asian workers. That gap is most severe for Black individuals: an estimated 256 years to achieve racial equity. "It shouldn't take decades or centuries to ensure diversity in the engineering workforce mirrors diversity in society," said Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. "This report makes clear that Black and Latinx individuals are underrepresented and underpaid in the engineering workforce. It will take a comprehensive, committed, and innovative approach from employers and universities to close the gap." Engineering degrees are effectively golden tickets to successful careers and earnings potential. According to CEW and APLU, those who graduate and pursue careers in the field earn 25% more to start than other graduates. Those who have specialized degrees can earn as much as 90% to 125% more. |
| Senate Passes Bill Funding Technology Research Through NSF | |
| The Senate passed bipartisan legislation Tuesday that would authorize billions of dollars in funding for technology research in the United States, much of which would be available for institutions of higher education. If the U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act -- intended to help the U.S. better compete with China -- passes the House as is, the National Science Foundation would receive $81 billion over five years, beginning in fiscal year 2022. The bill is largely centered around "key technology focus areas," which include artificial intelligence, advanced computing, robotics and automation, natural disaster prevention or mitigation, biotechnology and data storage and management. The allocated funds that would be available for higher education include $9.6 billion for university technology centers: The NSF would establish a competitive award program for institutions to create technology centers that conduct research in one of the key technology focus areas. The centers are expected to be multi-disciplinary and multi-sector. |
| Senate Approves $250 Billion Bill to Boost Tech Research | |
 | The Senate on Tuesday approved a bipartisan, $250 billion bill boosting government spending on technology research and development amid rising competition from China and other nations. The bill passed 68-32. It won approval after being delayed just before the Senate's Memorial Day recess, as some Republican lawmakers raised last-minute concerns about its size and scope. The legislation represents a potential landmark effort to turn the tide on several long-term trends in U.S. competitiveness. Those include eroding federal investments in research overall and a shrinking share of the world's semiconductor manufacturing. Backers contend the U.S. also has lacked an agency clearly focused on cutting-edge science such as artificial intelligence technology. The bill proposes an expanded role for the National Science Foundation to fill that gap. The bill that won passage, known as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, still needs approval in the House, which has been weighing somewhat different approaches. The size of the final vote tally in the Senate suggested that the package could see wide support. Much of the legislation authorizing major spending increases also must still be funded by Congress. The bill aims to overhaul U.S. government support for science by expanding the government's role in technological research, including through the National Science Foundation. It would authorize about $190 billion in spending to strengthen U.S. advanced technologies to better compete globally, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office analysis, although not all of that money would represent new spending. |
| APLU Hails Passage of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act in the Senate | |
| Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) President Peter McPherson today issued the following statement on the passage of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act in the Senate. "Senate passage of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act is a critical legislative step forward for American science and innovation. It enables exactly the kind of investments necessary to ensure the U.S. remains the world's unparalleled innovation powerhouse. We thank Senators Schumer and Young for their bold leadership in developing and advancing this landmark legislation. For decades, federal investment in research and development as a share of the economy has flatlined even as our global competitors have jumpstarted innovation and economic growth through such investment. The investments authorized in this bill would lay the foundation for U.S. innovation leadership for decades to come. We urge lawmakers to back these authorizations with the funding necessary to help spark new innovations, spawn new companies, and create new jobs." |
| Queen Elizabeth II's portrait pulled from Oxford college, new uproar ensues over 'cancel culture' | |
 | Britain's conservatives in government and the media got their knickers in a twist Tuesday after reports emerged that graduate students at Magdalen College at Oxford removed a 1952 photo portrait of Queen Elizabeth II from a common room as an unwelcome symbol of "recent colonial history." According to Guido Fawkes, the rightwing website published by political blogger Paul Staines, who broke the news, a committee of students, many of them international students, voted by a substantial majority to take the portrait down from the Middle Common Room wall, and to explore replacing it with "art by or of other influential and inspirational people." "Stalin would be proud," the Fawkes post said. The post decried what British conservatives consider another egregious example of "woke" posturing that includes tearing down statues, no-platforming demands and removing portraits of historical figures believed connected to slavery or colonial abuse. But according to Matthew Katzman, president of the student committee that voted against the portrait remaining on the wall, it was done to ensure the common room would be "neutral" and welcoming. Meanwhile, Dinah Rose, the barrister who is president of Magdalen (pronounced "Maudlin"), took to Twitter to distance the college and by extension Oxford from the portrait storm. A collection of colleges, Oxford is one of the world's leading universities. |
| National, personal security at risk from harmful digital technology | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: The amazing and menacing futuristic era of digital technology has furnished us smartphones, digital TV and radio, wi-fi, virtual assistants, online shopping, and such but also blockchain, autonomous weapons, artificial intelligence, ransomware, the dark web and more. Oil, gas and meat shortages from foreign ransomware cyberattacks on Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest pipeline companies in the U.S., and JBS, one of the world's largest meat processors, have stoked public fears of menacing digital technology run rampant. Many are certain that disruptive attacks on our financial systems, power grids and transportation systems are just around the corner. And it seems that our all-powerful defense systems designed to keep foreign enemies at bay are helpless against digital enemies. But there are other digital calamities that hit closer to home. CNBC reports about 50% of identity thefts come from digital thefts. Experian estimates that 1 in 20 Americans suffer such thefts yearly. Unauthorized charges to credit and debit cards, takeover of checking and cell phone accounts, filing of fake tax returns, and more can be life debilitating events. |
| UFO report from Pentagon shouldn't surprise anyone after 2020 | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: Over the last two years, a global pandemic rocked the international economy and the civilized world withdrew and in great measure shut down for a time. Internal national political conflicts and longstanding inabilities to deal with complex matters of race, gender and economic equity in the U.S. spilled over into irrational violence in the public squares of our nation and even in the supposedly sacred seat of our federal government. Social media has become a toxic cesspool. Mistrust, misinformation and meanness dominate that arena. Cyber attacks threaten our food, our fuel and our very personal security. So is anyone actually shocked that the United States government is about to seriously resume a discussion of a topic that once was relegated to B-movies in the 1950s -- unidentified flying objects or UFOs? Actually, that's an old school reference. What our government will be discussing is in modern parlance called Unexplained Aerial Phenomena or UAPs. This is not some dubious "report" emanating from a travel trailer souvenir stand in Roswell, New Mexico. This is a congressionally authorized report from the Pentagon's Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the UAP Task Force, an organization formed by the Pentagon last year to study the U.S. military's documented encounters with UAPs. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State's Mike Leach, Ben Howland visit Meridian on Road Dawgs Tour | |
 | Mississippi State's alumni network is strong. That's easy to see when you attend a game day in Starkville and don't see an empty seat in the house. To connect more with alumni, Mississippi State holds an annual Road Dawgs Tour with this year's tour kicking off in Meridian. Tyler Covington, Vice President of the Lauderdale County MSU Alumni Chapter, was happy the tour included a stop in the Queen City. "The Road Dawgs Tour is a great event to get both Coach Leach and Coach Howland out to meet a lot of the fans and do a fan tour," Covington said. "It's really a great event to have here in Meridian." MSU football coach Mike Leach and men's basketball coach Ben Howland headlined today's stop on the tour at the MSU Riley Center. This year's tour is the first for Coach Leach, who was hired by MSU in January 2020. "Of course, we didn't get to do this last year because of all the COVID restrictions and the fun everyone was having with that, so now we get to hit the road and meet some great people," Leach said. "There's a great theater here which was awesome to check out and it's just great to be in Meridian." Coach Howland, who's entering his seventh season leading the men's basketball program, said he's been to the Queen City many times. "One time I came down here for Mr. Hood and did a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club, which is dear to my heart because I grew up in the Boys and Girls Club out in California when I was a child," Howland said. |
| Mississippi State's Jesse Henderson blew out his ankle. Then his hurdling career took off. | |
| Jesse Henderson can't find it. Scrolling through the weeks, months and memories on his iPhone, the Mississippi State hurdler needs a second to locate the video clip he's talking about. Near the end of his search, Henderson jokes to himself. "Did I ever get hurt?" he says. If you didn't know Henderson's story, it would certainly be hard to tell. The Benton native has broken the MSU records for the 60-meter and 110-meter hurdles in 2021 and this week, he'll compete in the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. It's a turnaround that less than a year ago was practically unfathomable. In the video -- taken last June 23 -- Henderson works out on his surgically repaired left ankle in a thick sand pit. He jumps up and down, does lunges and runs "suicides," stressing the joint with every painful motion. "I can't do it," he says. "I want to quit." Henderson never gave up. Now he's on the top of his game -- on the country's biggest stage -- in his first outdoor track season. "There's people on this level dreaming to go to places like this and compete at such a high level," Henderson said. "A Mississippi boy like me getting to do it his first time competing outdoor, it's just surreal. It's hard to believe." |
| 'Proud Dad': Ole Miss head coach tweets at son Drew Bianco after LSU advances to super regional | |
| LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri is gearing up for his last super regional appearance, standout Drew Bianco is preparing for his second and his dad, Mike Bianco, is entering his seventh -- as head coach at Ole Miss. Coach Bianco, head of the Rebels baseball program since 2000, led Ole Miss to a 12-9 victory Monday over Southern Miss to advance to the super regionals. But after the Rebels took care of their business on the field, Mike Bianco's day wasn't over. It was time to look ahead to Ole Miss' super regional against Arizona in Tucson, but it was also time to check on Drew's own quest to win a regional. The Tigers were taking on Oregon late Monday night. And after LSU beat Oregon 9-8, coach Bianco shared how proud he is of Drew as the Tigers advanced to face No. 3 Tennessee in Knoxville this weekend. Mike Bianco played for LSU under Skip Bertman in 1988 and 1989. He was the starting catcher and team captain for the 1989 team that placed third at the College World Series. And maybe a more intimate baseball reunion is in the future for the Biancos: The winners of all super regionals will advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. |
| TCU's Jim Schlossnagle hired as Texas A&M's baseball coach | |
 | Texas A&M has hired TCU head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle, according to a release from the athletic department. "I am extremely excited to get things started in Aggieland, and I am humbled by this incredible opportunity," Schlossnagle said in a statement. "With the resources and facilities available at this world-class university, the foundation is here to win championships and make the 12th Man a regular visitor to Omaha." Schlossnagle, who took the Horned Frogs to the College World Series five times in the last 11 years, replaces 16-year Aggie veteran Rob Childress. Childress' contract is due to expire on June 30 and athletics director Ross Bjork announced on May 23 Childress would not be retained. In 18 seasons at TCU, Schlossnagle tallied the most wins in school history with a 693-327 record, including a 255-107 conference record. He took the Horned Frogs to 15 NCAA tournaments, including seven super regionals. In 2016, after taking TCU to its third-straight College World Series, Schlossnagle was given a contract extension by then TCU athletics director Chris Del Conte. Schlossnagle went from making $359,503 in 2010 to around $1.5 million in 2018, according to reports from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in college baseball. In his five trips to Omaha, Schlossnagle's Horned Frogs won nine games and advanced to the national semifinals in 2015, 2016 and 2017. TCU ended A&M's seasons in all three of those years -- in super regionals in 2015 and 2016 and at the CWS in 2017. |
| 'Let's get this monster engine going': U. of Tennessee, Danny White launch $500 million fundraising campaign | |
| Danny White turned a paper cup of coffee around in his office Tuesday afternoon. The Tennessee athletics director stared at the power T on the side of the cup and made a declaration. "To build this brand, this place was innovative," White told Knox News in an exclusive interview. "We kind of lost our way the past couple decades. The national, iconic power T brand was built by coming up with a lot of ideas before our competitors." White announced Wednesday the "My All" campaign, a fundraising initiative focused on returning Tennessee to providing championship-level resources and amplifying the student-athlete experience across all 20 of Tennessee's varsity programs. Tennessee's goal is to raise $500 million with the campaign. Close to $200 million was already committed prior to Wednesday's announcement. "This is just the beginning," White said. "This is kind of the roadmap for restoring Tennessee. If we have the best and largest fan base in college sports, which I think that we do, then this is a plan that allows them to help us propel this athletic department to the top of the country like it was 15 or 20 years ago. ... Let's get this monster engine going in the right direction." |
| A Vanderbilt fan wanted a day off to attend Nashville Super Regional. Tim Corbin made it happen | |
 | A Vanderbilt baseball fan wanted so badly to attend the Commodores' super regional game Friday that she asked coach Tim Corbin for an excused absence note from work. Corbin, the reigning national coach of the year, obliged. "And it worked," Chelsie Shaw said. "I can't believe it really worked." Vanderbilt's opening game of the best-of-three series against East Carolina starts at 11 a.m. Friday -- right in the middle of Shaw's shift as a medical assistant at Family Medical Associates in Lebanon. Shaw, 33, is a lifelong fan who couldn't imagine keeping tabs on the game through social media or with a passing glance at ESPN2. She had to see every pitch ace Kumar Rocker throws Friday, but seeing patients and monitoring X-rays at work wouldn't allow that. Shaw had to get at Hawkins Field to cheer on the Commodores in person as part of an expected sellout crowd. So she went straight to top -- or the dugout, that is. Getting a day off isn't easy, especially on short notice. And Shaw knew she'd have one shot to make the request to her boss, Dr. Roger McKinney. So, on Tuesday, she tried to secure the strongest ally possible to lobby on her behalf. She sent a request to Corbin on Twitter. About two hours later, Corbin made his pitch with a letter on Twitter to Shaw's boss. Then came the hard part. Shaw had to tell her boss what she did. |
| UF's Dan Mullen heavily involved in Gators' $85 million football facility on track to open in spring '22 | |
| Coach Dan Mullen's vision for Florida's burgeoning football facility did not include waterfalls, bowling alleys or a focus on the bells and whistles that have generated buzz and headlines for other schools. Mullen regarded the $85-million project with an eagle-eyed efficiency, putting functionality at the forefront of the 142,000-square foot Heavener Football Training Center. Rather than leave all the floor planning and design nuances to the architects, one of college football's keenest offensive minds put his energies into helping develop the best blueprint for the Gators. Channeling his inner Frank Lloyd Wright, Mullen said he gleaned ideas by visiting other schools and even corporate headquarters of successful businesses. "As a football coach, Dan Mullen is a tremendous facility planner," UF athletic director Scott Stricklin quipped Tuesday. Tuesday's "topping out" ceremony was a celebrated step toward the facility's scheduled completion in the spring of 2022. The final structural beam was autographed by Mullen and others on hand before being placed by a crane above the building's eventual entrance. Mullen's wheels had been turning for years leading up to the moment. Despite Mullen's input and involvement, HOK, the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering firm, and Gainesville-based Parrish McCall Constructors Inc., have done the heavy lifting to shepherd along the project. The COVID-19 pandemic compounded their challenge. |
| Missouri among states set to allow college athletes to profit off their name, likeness | |
 | A seismic shift will rock college sports next month, when a handful of new state laws go into effect allowing student athletes to make money off their personal images. It's been against the rules governing collegiate sports for student athletes to make a profit off their name or image -- a practice that's commonplace in professional sports. But a flurry of states has forged ahead with laws granting college athletes the rights to their own "name, image and likeness," arguing that it's a matter of fairness for student athletes. In Missouri, a bill approved last month sits on Gov. Mike Parson's desk awaiting his signature or veto. If signed, it goes into effect Aug. 28. Statutes in five other states will go into effect July 1. Congress could step in, but it has been unable to come to agreement on a federal law that would resolve the coming patchwork of differing state laws. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is scheduled to grapple with the issue again during a hearing Wednesday morning. Even with distinctions across states, the new laws all bring the prospect of at least modest and potentially significant new income for players, particularly those in the most-watched, big-dollar sports like football and basketball. |
| NCAA Issues COVID-19 Guidance for Summer Sports | |
| Student athletes who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 "should be able to engage in summer 2021 athletics activities without wearing a mask or physical distancing," the National Collegiate Athletic Association said in a new guidance document on summer sports issued Tuesday. "Unvaccinated athletes and athletics personnel should consider wearing masks and/or remaining physically distant during all athletics activities unless the population has reached a critical threshold of 85 percent immunity and the community transmission is low," the document states. The guidance document, developed in consultation with several medical advisory groups, also outlines considerations for testing unvaccinated athletes and athletic staff based on local levels of transmission and COVID-19 immunity. "Thanks to the distribution of vaccines, the level of COVID-19 immunity across the country has increased considerably, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidance for vaccinated individuals. This is reflected in our latest resocialization document," Brian Hainline, the NCAA's chief medical officer, said in a press release. "However, vaccination levels are still not high enough to reach effective immunity across the country. This suggests virus transmission will continue at the local level rather than large outbreaks across the country, emphasizing the need to carefully monitor local trends and immunity levels." |
| College Football Playoff could reportedly decide on future expansion soon | |
| The College Football Playoff could possibly consider expansion in a series of meetings over the next several weeks with some favoring a 12-team model according to several reports. The management committee, which is comprised of the 10 conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick, is expected to hear back from a working group during a series of meetings on June 17-18 in Chicago on the subject of expansion. Any recommendation favored by the management committee would then be forwarded to the Playoff's Board of Managers, which is comprised of 11 school presidents and chancellors from the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame, in a meeting on June 22 according to ESPN's Heather Dinich. The Board would make the final decision on any possible changes to the playoff model. It was after a series of virtual meetings in April that the Playoff group revealed that a working group had been considering 63 possibilities for change including 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 16-team options with a variety of scenarios for each. Playoff executive director Bill Hancock warned against reading too much into the group's findings. "For the last couple of years, when I've been asked about it, I'm very careful to say that my bosses are talking about the future," Hancock told the Orlando Sentinel at the time. "This really was an extension of that except for the first time we were able to give some color into what they were talking about. It's just analyzing and thinking about the future. That's all it is." |
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