Tuesday, June 29, 2021   
 
ITS to continue network upgrade in selected academic buildings throughout July
Information Technology Services began an upgrade to Mississippi State University's entire network last November and will continue with the upgrade throughout July. As part of this upgrade, ITS will visit individual academic and administrative buildings on the Starkville campus to install new network equipment. Careful consideration has been taken on scheduling building upgrade dates to minimize the impact on academic classes and administrative work. Please be aware of the following on the day a building is scheduled to be upgraded as the building will be without network connectivity (wired and wireless) all day: Phones will be unavailable during the upgrade. Instructors should be prepared to deliver course material from another location if network access is required. ITS-supported lecterns will not be functional during the day of the scheduled upgrade. Academic buildings with classrooms scheduled to be upgraded during the month of July are: Friday, July 2, Magruder Hall, Patterson Engineering Building; Friday, July 9, McComas Hall; Friday, July 16, Dorman Hall, Dorman Hall Greenhouse; Friday, July 23, Howell Building, Landscape Architecture Administration, Landscape Architecture Freehand Studio, Landscape Architecture Seminar Studio; and Friday, July 30, Industrial Education Building. If there are extenuating circumstances that would exclude one of the above buildings from being updated on the specified date and/or time, please immediately notify the ITS Service Desk at 662-325-0631 or servicedesk@msstate.edu.
 
Buddy, the pup that stole our hearts, is recovering well
Do you remember the story of Buddy? In April, he was found dazed and in shock in Tate County. He had an extension cord twisted around his neck and his face had been set on fire. Since then, Buddy has been in the loving care of Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine. On Monday, they provided the following update on Buddy's courageous journey: The dog that everyone has been rooting for is cheering on the #Omadawgs from Starkville! Buddy has been in our care for about nine weeks now. In that time, he has received 5 Kerecis Vet Codfish skin grafts. His face is healing well! The main part left to heal is the bridge of his nose between his eyes -- basically the center of the wounded area. Tension from the healing process has been affecting how his eyelids close, so his team has been performing small cosmetic releasing incisions and tarsorrhaphy periodically to release the tension on his eyelids and help keep them closing properly as he heals. Some hair is regrowing around his eyelids and at the edges of the burned area. Whiskers are coming in as well! So much healing has already taken place. I'm hoping to be able to release him by the end of July/early August, but that will depend on how long it takes for this last area to heal. He continues to heal rapidly, but it's a large area to cover," said Dr. Betsy Swanson.
 
Viticultural Research in New York, Texas, and Mississippi
When the 2020 ASEV National Conference scheduled to be held in Monterey, California, was cancelled, the wine community across the country hoped that this year's conference would be held in person. That didn't happen, but the conference in 2021 did take place virtually on June 22 to 24. One advantage to online conferences is that speakers from many different regions were able to present their projects and, on June 24, the Eastern Viticulture session focused on research from three locations East of the Rockies: New York's Finger Lakes, Mississippi and Texas. Haley Williams is a master's student at Mississippi State University working with Dr. Eric Stafne on small fruit crops at the Coastal Research & Extension Center in Poplarville, MS. She started her talk by recognizing that Mississippi has a climate with high summer temperatures, and both high humidity and considerable rainfall year-round. In spite of that, the hybrid bunch grape MidSouth has been successfully grown the Mississippi climate, in part because it is resistant to Pierce's disease. Its low total soluble solids and high titratable acidity are a challenge for winemaking and are two of the items researchers would like to improve. Williams and Stafne developed an experimental design consisting of 48 vines divided into four blocks, with three replicates of each of four treatments: early pruning; early pruning plus leaf removal; normal pruning plus leaf removal; and normal pruning. When crop yields were determined, early pruning with leaf removal had the most negative affect, while normal pruning with leaf removal had the best results.
 
Manufacturing delays force law enforcement agencies across Golden Triangle to wait for new patrol vehicles
For the second year in a row, law enforcement agencies in the Golden Triangle and all over the country are having to wait on new squad cars and other patrol vehicles. Mississippi State University Police say they are searching for three new vehicles to add to their fleet after budget issues forced them not to buy new cars in 2020. "In a normal year, we would have purchased at least two units," says Police Chief Vance Rice. "So, that puts us a little behind and running vehicles longer than we normally would have." In 2021, the delay in production is being caused by the chips for the vehicle's key fobs. "The chip makers overseas have focused all their chips on computers, and apparently, the automakers are at the lower end of the spectrum in getting computer chips," Chief Rice says.
 
Sales tax revenue revs up across state, region
Sales tax collections are up statewide as businesses throttle up their operations during the waning pandemic, according to figures by the Mississippi Department of Revenue. A snapshot of several cities across Northeast Mississippi shows a marked increase in sales tax from a year ago, even surpassing pre-pandemic levels of collections from 2019. Tupelo, which has long been the economic hub of the region, collected $2.21 million in April, a 49% increase from the pandemic-hampered figures from a year earlier, and a 24% improvement from 2019. For the fiscal year to date, Tupelo has collected $21.7 million, a 13% increase from last year's $19.2 million that was collected. Two years ago, the April collections totaled $19.5 million. Oxford had the second-highest sales tax collection total in Northeast Mississippi, bringing in $1.09 million compared to just under $610,000 last year and nearly $857,000 in 2019. For the fiscal year so far, Oxford has collected $9.28 million, compared to $8.63 million a year ago and $9.11 million two years ago. Statewide, sales tax collection in April totaled nearly $47 million compared to about $35 million a year ago. In 2019 the state collected $37.6 million. So far during the fiscal year, the state has collected $455.7 million, some $48 million more than a year earlier and about $46 million higher than in 2019.
 
This worldwide hurricane chaser is back on the Coast, his 'favorite place on the planet'
An international storm chaser is headed back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for hurricane season. Josh Morgerman, known as @iCyclone on Twitter, spent the 2020 season living in a little Bay St. Louis house that survived both Hurricane Camille and Hurricane Katrina. The front porch became his "favorite place on the planet," he told fans in a YouTube livestream last week. And after years of hunting storms around the world, dropping in on each place for only a few days at a time, he loved experiencing what he calls the "rhythms of the season" in one community. The pandemic ended his plans to spend 2020 chasing storms in "faraway lands." But he found he liked the Coast so much that he's headed back for the 2021 hurricane season. Starting in late June, he told the Sun Herald, he'd be back in the Bay St. Louis home he's dubbed Hurricane House. When he's planning a storm chase from his home in Los Angeles, he spends most of his time looking at computer models, and has to work out complicated travel logistics. From Hurricane House, things were different. "When I'm living on the Gulf Coast, of course I'm still looking at computer models," he said on the livestream. "But I'm also just going to the shoreline everyday, and just looking at the sky and the ocean, and asking, what is the Gulf going to bring me today?" "Before I lived in Mississippi, I would laugh at the idea of two feet of storm surge or three feet," he said. "Who cares? Who does that impact? Well, it impacts places like Mississippi."
 
Mississippi truckers could help identify human trafficking across the state
Law enforcement officials are teaming up with truckers across Mississippi to identify and report signs of human trafficking. Officials say this will train thousands of Mississippians to safely and accurately help prevent crime. Mississippi school bus and truck drivers will soon receive special training to identify and report signs of human trafficking. Since 2007, there have been more than 500 human trafficking cases in Mississippi according to the Human Trafficking Hotline. Experts say around 1 in 12 jobs in Mississippi are connected to the trucking industry. Attorney General Lynn Fitch says the initiative will expand an existing program with the Mississippi Truckers Association to create a statewide network of eyes and ears to help victims. Fitch says "This is a full outreach campaign training with all those commercial drivers. Some of them have already been doing it, but how do we do it more forcefully? And how do we do it those several hundred thousand commercial drivers out there to be aware? We're going to train the school bus drivers. People have to be willing to step in." Advocates for victims of human trafficking will help in the training process and teach the state's truckers how to safely and accurately make a report for human trafficking.
 
Mississippi lawmakers hear testimony on medical marijuana
Two prominent Mississippi physicians urged lawmakers Monday to put "guardrails" in place if medical marijuana is legalized in the state, warning that officials should be careful about making a product available that has not been thoroughly tested by the FDA -- especially when it comes to children. Meanwhile, a patient advocate told the stories of three Mississippi children who experience seizures and want to be able to access medical marijuana as a treatment. The advocate said they have tried FDA-approved pharmaceutical drugs, and none have helped. The Mississippi Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee met to hear testimony on the effect a medical marijuana program could have on the state. It's the second time the committee has met since the state Supreme Court ruled in May that a voter-approved medical marijuana initiative is void because Mississippi's initiative process is outdated. However, Dr. Jennifer Bryant, chair of the Mississippi State Medical Association Board of Trustees, said the idea of a medical marijuana program coming to Mississippi has always concerned her. She said she does not see the marijuana plant as medication, but rather a substance to be studied. Calling marijuana medication is "an attempt to make it more benign than it really is," she said.
 
'We'll get something done': Draft of medical marijuana bill expected soon, official says
State Sen. Kevin Blackwell said he will have a draft of a medical marijuana bill ready in about two weeks, and that a bicameral bill will be ready for the governor in August. Speaking after a Senate Public Health Committee hearing, the Southaven Republican expressed confidence about his ability to write a bill and revise it with Speaker of the House Philip Gunn. "We'll get something done," Blackwell said. "The speaker is very reasonable." Blackwell is the de facto architect for any marijuana bill that comes out of the Mississippi Senate. Top Republican lawmakers, including Gov. Tate Reeves, have said a consensus should be reached before Reeves calls a special session for legislators to vote on any bill. Blackwell said once he and Gunn present a bill to Reeves they've both worked and agreed on, it would be prudent for Reeves to call a special session. Blackwell's comments came after the state Senate Public Health Committee held an hours long hearing as part of a continuing fact-finding mission on the virtues of medical marijuana. The committee heard from lawmakers in Utah and Oklahoma about the marijuana programs in those states.
 
How regulated should Mississippi medical marijuana be?
Mississippi lawmakers pondering a medical marijuana program heard on Monday from colleagues from two ends of the spectrum: Utah, which strictly regulates medical marijuana, and Oklahoma, whose program is so open it resembles recreational marijuana use. "This begins to look a lot like de facto recreational use," Mississippi Senate Public Health Chairman Hob Bryan, D-Amory, told Oklahoma state Rep. Scott Fetgatter, who spoke with Bryan's committee via Zoom. Fetgatter told lawmakers his state has issued about 400,000 medical marijuana use cards and issued about 10,000 business licenses for dispensaries, cultivators, processors and testing labs. Oklahoma has about 2,000 dispensaries, allows smoking of medical marijuana and allows patients to grow a small number of plants in their homes. "That is a fair statement," Fetgatter said. "We'd be better off at this point if we had an adult use (recreational) program along with medical marijuana ... Ten percent of our population currently has a medical marijuana card ... and two to three people are using each one of those cards ... I had no idea there were so many ill people in Oklahoma ... A large amount of the population in Oklahoma is using medical marijuana." By contrast, Utah has only about 23,000 people with medical marijuana use cards -- about 1% of its population -- 42 dispensaries that operate more like pharmacies and a "cap" of only eight growers licensed. The state does not allow smoking of medical marijuana or home growing and it charges a hefty fee -- $100,000 for a dispensary license, which limits who can enter the market.
 
Senate committee explores how strict a medical marijuana program should be
Against the backdrop of a court ruling that tossed a voter-backed medical cannabis program, state lawmakers on Monday considered two very different approaches to medical marijuana regulations. The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Monday heard from representatives in two states -- one in Utah and one in Oklahoma. Senate Public Health Chairman Hob Bryan, D-Amory, told the Daily Journal that Monday's hearing is a way for lawmakers to consider how a potential program should be regulated. "What that looks like right now, I don't know, but I do believe there is a widespread consensus that people who are suffering from severe illness should have access to medical marijuana," Bryan said. In Utah, marijuana is strictly regulated for medicinal purposes, and only around 42 pharmacies in the state carry an active business license to participate in the program. By contrast, Oklahoma has a much less regulated medical marijuana program, which has about 368,218 patients or about 9.3% of the state. "If it's medicine, let's treat it like medicine," Evan Vickers, Utah's senate majority leader told lawmakers via Zoom. "Both from the regulatory side and the medical side."
 
Why Philip Gunn became the first prominent Republican to call for changing the state flag
The day Speaker of the House Philip Gunn became the first prominent Republican elected official to publicly call for changing the state flag, the backlash he received was so distressing that he asked the Clinton Police Department to watch his house closely overnight. "I called and said, 'Hey, I don't know what's going to happen. Would you just keep an eye on my neighborhood?' I have no idea if they did, but I was concerned, to say the least," Gunn said, pausing to collect his thoughts. "We had gotten some -- just some very aggressive, hateful responses in emails and text messages that day." It was June 22, 2015, and Gunn had attended a fundraiser earlier in the day for state Rep. Joey Hood in Ackerman. After the event, a reporter at a northeast Mississippi television station grabbed Gunn for a quick interview. Less than a week before in South Carolina, a young white man walked into a Black church in Charleston and brutally murdered nine worshippers. Because the gunman had publicly documented his obsession with the Confederate battle emblem, the murders inspired debate across the country about the government-sanctioned use of the Confederate symbol.
 
Black Mississippians Paved The Way For State Flag Change A Year Ago
For 126 years, a banner based upon the Confederacy's first national flag and the Confederate battle flag waved atop poles and government buildings, reminding residents of the Blackest state in the nation that white supremacy still ruled in Mississippi. That changed one year ago today when years of work paid off for the Black Mississippians who led the effort to retire the 1894 Mississippi State Flag. "I feel good," Sen. Hillman Frazier, a Black lawmaker from Jackson who worked on the flag issue for decades, told the Mississippi Free Press on the anniversary of the Legislature's historic vote to take the old flag down. That would not have happened, he said, if not for the COVID-19 pandemic, which cut the spring 2020 legislative session short. After early spring lockdowns, lawmakers in the mostly white, Republican-led Mississippi House and Senate reconvened over the late spring and summer months. "COVID gave us more time to talk about the issues and have heart-to-heart discussions. So I had time to talk to my colleagues one-on-one. That was important. ... Had it been a regular session, it wouldn't have passed because we wouldn't have time to get around to talking to our colleagues," Frazier said. "We had the chance to educate one another."
 
GOP senator jams up Pentagon pick over President Biden's Navy plan
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker is holding up a high-level Pentagon nominee in an attempt to push the Navy to commit to buying more amphibious ships, according to two people familiar with the situation. The nominee, Susanna Blume, had been tapped to run the Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, which would give her a central role in assessing new weapons systems proposed by the armed services. The veteran of the Obama Pentagon largely sailed through her confirmation hearing in May, and her nomination has been sent to the full Senate for a vote with several other top picks for the department. Wicker, the second-most senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, slowed down her nomination in an effort to pressure the Pentagon into following through with a congressionally mandated rule to buy four amphibious ships in a single "block buy," which proponents say would be cheaper than acquiring the ships individually, the people said. Defense policy legislation enacted in January mandated the contract, but the four ships were left out of President Joe Biden's fiscal 2022 budget submission. Recent comments from Navy officials make the contract's eventual award far from a sure thing. In a statement to POLITICO, Wicker blamed the White House and professional budgeteers for undercutting Navy plans to significantly expand the fleet that have the support of shipbuilding boosters on Capitol Hill.
 
Spending bill report would overhaul Capitol Police; Panel calls for removal of commemorations of white supremacists and Confederates
The House's $4.8 billion fiscal 2022 draft Legislative Branch bill and accompanying report seek to implement several changes at the Capitol Police department and remove statues of people in the Capitol who were part of the Confederacy or were otherwise white supremacists. The report, released Monday ahead of the Appropriations Committee markup on Tuesday, would instruct the Capitol Police, which would receive $603.9 million in fiscal 2022, to make its arrest data more user-friendly, require newly promoted supervisors to undergo enhanced leadership development and provide a plan to have all department employees maintain a security clearance and be subject to continuous vetting. The panel would direct the Architect of the Capitol to remove statues or busts in the Capitol "that represent figures who participated in the Confederate Army or government, as well as the statues of white supremacists Charles Aycock, John C. Calhoun, and James Paul Clarke and the bust of Roger B. Taney." If the language is adopted by the Senate and becomes law, some states would have to completely revamp their offerings. Mississippi is the only state represented in the National Statuary Hall Collection by two men who served in the Confederacy. Neither Jefferson Davis, a former senator and Confederate president, nor James Z. George, a former senator and Confederate colonel, was born in Mississippi. "The placement of statues in the Capitol commemorating men who tried to overthrow the government of the United States or who were white supremacists has been controversial for years and offensive to many of the visitors who come to the Capitol each year," the report says. "The Committee believes their removal is long overdue."
 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi Discloses Details of Planned Jan. 6 Capitol Riot Committee
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) on Monday introduced the legislative text needed to establish a select committee with subpoena power to investigate the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, in advance of an expected vote in the House on Wednesday. The resolution, which mirrors the language used to create the GOP-led select committee on the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, gives Mrs. Pelosi the ability to appoint the chair and 13 members -- five of them "after consultation with the minority leader," a reference to Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.). Mrs. Pelosi is considering including a Republican lawmaker among Democrats' eight appointments, according to a Pelosi aide. The chair of the select committee would be empowered to issue subpoenas. The chair also could order the taking of depositions, including by subpoena, in consultation with the ranking Republican member, according to the resolution. The structure gives Democrats wide latitude and more control over proceedings than they would have had if the independent commission had passed the Senate. Rep. John Katko of New York criticized the select committee as "literally the exact opposite" of the independent bipartisan commission he had proposed with Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Mr. Katko, one of 10 House GOP lawmakers who voted to impeach Mr. Trump in January, is the panel's top Republican.
 
'It definitely feels early': GOP's long race to 2024 begins
In the past week alone, Nikki Haley regaled activists in Iowa, Mike Pence courted donors in California and Donald Trump returned to the rally stage, teasing a third campaign for the White House. The midterms are more than a year away, and there are 1,225 days until the next presidential election. But Republicans eyeing a White House run are wasting no time in jockeying for a strong position in what could emerge as an extremely crowded field of contenders. The politicking will only intensify in the coming weeks, particularly in Iowa, home to the nation's leadoff presidential caucuses and a state where conservative evangelicals play a significant role in steering the direction of the GOP. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas is slated to visit on Tuesday, and others, including Pence, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are expected to appear in July. The flurry of activity is a sign that there is no clear frontrunner to lead the GOP if Trump opts against a 2024 campaign. "It definitely feels early, but it doesn't feel like it's a bad idea based on the situation," said Mike DuHaime, a longtime Republican strategist. "The party has changed, the voters are changing and I think the process has changed. And I think many of the candidates have realized that."
 
James Carville, Mary Matalin are back in New Orleans with this new $2M downtown condo
James Carville, the blunt-spoken Louisiana political strategist who made his bones by helping Bill Clinton win the 1992 presidential election, earning him the nickname "the Ragin' Cajun," said he's tired of being accosted by people in Costco asking why he's moved to Mississippi. "They come up to me and say, 'Why you leaving?' And I tell them I'm not going anywhere, I never really left," said Carville on Monday, explaining that his recent sojourn in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, was only temporary until he and his wife, the Republican Party strategist Mary Matalin, found a new place back in the city. The Carville-Matalins moved into new digs on Girod Street, in the Lafayette Square Historic District, last Friday, Carville said, having sold their expansive Garden District mansion on Palmer Avenue in May for $3.3 million. The famous political odd couple, who moved to New Orleans from Washington, D.C. in 2008, had said they wanted to downsize from their 8,200 square-feet Uptown house now that their two daughters were away at college. Carville said the fact that the new unit is on one floor and covers less than half the ground the old place did was a feature for the couple. "Mary's going to be 68 in August and I'm going to be 77 in October," he said. "We don't have any kids at home and I'm totally retired." Totally retired, that is, except for occasional lectures at his alma mater, LSU, where Carville was until recently an adjunct professor. He said he will also continue to do regular television commentary and may write another book.
 
COVID-19 Delta strain spreading 'rapidly' in Mississippi
As Mississippi's vaccination effort continues to limp forward, state health officials are warning of the massive threat the Delta variant of COVID-19 poses to the unvaccinated, and of a potential surge of infections set off by a strain that's much more infectious and potentially deadlier than the original strain of the virus. "Delta variant increasing rapidly in Mississippi," State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs tweeted last week. "Let's pay attention to Missouri. I predict it will be our dominant strain in 1-3 weeks." Missouri is certainly a cautionary tale for how the Delta variant could impact Mississippi's recovery efforts. The variant now accounts for around 29% of total cases in Missouri, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also accounts for one in every five COVID-19 cases in the United States. A wave of new infections has left Missouri with the highest infection rate in the country and is stressing the limits of the state's hospital system. The vaccines are nearly as effective against the Delta variant as the original strain, greatly minimizing the chance of infection and nearly eliminating the risks of developing a serious illness. Dobbs has repeatedly stressed that Mississippians have the choice of getting vaccinated or contracting COVID-19, and that in every scenario a vaccinated person is going to have a better outcome than if they had declined the shot.
 
COVID-19 Delta Variant Spreading Through Central Mississippi
The more infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 may have been spreading throughout the state for weeks now, with Mississippi health officials seeing central Mississippi as a potential hotspot. In a June 25 Mississippi State Medical Association press briefing, State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers detailed how the variant may be spreading quickly to take over as the most common strain in the state. "More than likely very quickly, it's growing very fast, it's going to be the predominant strain in the U.S.," Byers said. Though the Mississippi State Department of Health first identified the Delta variant's presence in the state only weeks ago, cases have ramped up significantly. Most of these cases were reported in Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties, but the variant is present in areas around the state. Cases have been reported across, north, south and central Mississippi. Though the Delta variant is 40% more infectious than other strains, current vaccines are still almost as effective at protecting against infection, just 5% less effective than the original strain of COVID-19. Even breakthrough cases will still see a significant reduction in symptoms and disease severity if an individual is vaccinated. Of note is how the Delta variant spreads by way of younger Mississippians, compared with other variants. Byers cited children's summer activities as prime vectors, such as summer camps and parties.
 
Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines Likely to Produce Lasting Immunity, Study Finds
The vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna set off a persistent immune reaction in the body that may protect against the coronavirus for years, scientists reported on Monday. The findings add to growing evidence that most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need boosters, so long as the virus and its variants do not evolve much beyond their current forms -- which is not guaranteed. People who recovered from Covid-19 before being vaccinated may not need boosters even if the virus does make a significant transformation. "It's a good sign for how durable our immunity is from this vaccine," said Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis who led the study, which was published in the journal Nature. The study did not consider the coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson, but Dr. Ellebedy said he expected the immune response to be less durable than that produced by mRNA vaccines. Dr. Ellebedy and his colleagues reported last month that in people who survived Covid-19, immune cells that recognize the virus lie quiescent in the bone marrow for at least eight months after infection. A study by another team indicated that so-called memory B cells continue to mature and strengthen for at least a year after infection. Based on those findings, researchers suggested that immunity might last for years, possibly a lifetime, in people who were infected with the coronavirus and later vaccinated. But it was unclear whether vaccination alone might have a similarly long-lasting effect.
 
USM alumna designs costumes for Amazon Prime series 'The Underground Railroad'
The most rewarding part of designing costumes for the miniseries "The Underground Railroad' on Amazon Prime Video, said Caroline Eselin-Schaefer, was seeing the characters look true to the various historical periods covered during the show. "It was the biggest thing I've ever done in my life," said costume designer Eselin, a native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans. "It was a serious responsibility. The obligation of being as authentic as possible in each portrayal was a challenging undertaking." The miniseries from Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead. Eselin's experience also includes working as a costume production assistant for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and a costume designer for "The Blues." Eselin attributes her strong foundation in designing period costumes for TV and film to her studies at The University of Southern Mississippi. She graduated from USM in 1997. "(USM) gave me this great understanding of what film life and work would be like," Eselin said. "It was a very hands-on program and we all worked on each other's films and tried out a lot of different departments."
 
Progress reported in goal to add 500,000 newly credentialed workers by 2025
Alabama leaders say 45% of the state's workforce now has an educational certificate or degree beyond high school, representing progress in the goal of adding 500,000 newly credentialed people to the workforce by 2025 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Ed Castile, deputy secretary of the Workforce Development Division in the Alabama Department of Commerce, told Alabama Daily News the pandemic has even helped in some respects in reaching the half million goal. "Oddly enough, it hurt us, but then it helped us," Castile said. "The sad news is a lot of people lost their jobs, but that helped us a little bit by getting people into programs to give them a credential which added them to our numbers. But it also got them a job that could also not be so affected by something like the pandemic." Gov. Kay Ivey in 2018 set the ambitious 500,000 goal as part of her "Success Plus" initiative, which if accomplished would bring the level of work-age Alabamians with post high school training or degrees from about 43% in 2016 to 60% by April 30, 2025. "Right now, we're moving the needle in the right direction," Castile said.
 
NASA looks at Louisiana delta system, eyes global forecasts
Erosion, sinking land and sea rise from climate change have killed the Louisiana woods where a 41-year-old Native American chief played as a child. Not far away in the Mississippi River delta system, middle-school students can stand on islands that emerged the year they were born. NASA is using high-tech airborne systems along with boats and mud-slogging work on islands for a $15 million, five-year study of these adjacent areas of Louisiana. One is hitched to a river and growing; the other is disconnected and dying. Scientists from NASA and a half-dozen universities from Boston to California aim to create computer models that can be used with satellite data to let countries around the world learn which parts of their dwindling deltas can be shored up and which are past hope. "If you have to choose between saving an area and losing another instead of losing everything, you want to know where to put your resources to work to save the livelihood of all the people who live there," said lead scientist Marc Simard of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "I've been working here 15 years, and one of the toughest parts about working in a delta is you can only touch one little piece of it at any one time and understand one little piece of it at one time," said Robert Twilley, a professor of oceanography and coastal sciences at Louisiana State University. "Now we have the capability of working with NASA to understand the entire delta."
 
He Wants More Academics to Get Involved in Their Communities. So He's Running for Governor of Arkansas.
Growing up, Chris Jones was fascinated by the concept of time travel. He would stay up late at night thinking about what would happen if he could travel back or forward in time. He loved shows like Quantum Leap and Star Trek, so it didn't surprise his parents when he declared that he wanted to become an astronaut at just 8 years old. And while not being able to hear out of his right ear halted that dream, it didn't stop him from pursuing an academic career in science. In June, Jones announced that he was running for governor of Arkansas to replace the term-limited Gov. Asa Hutchinson, with a video that has since gone viral. Jones is, among other things, a veteran of the academy. The nuclear engineer received a full scholarship from NASA to attend Morehouse College and went to graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he later served as the assistant dean of graduate education. He's helped astronauts build technology that has been used in space and was part of a team that doubled minority enrollment for MIT's graduate school. But in the political sphere, he's a newcomer. "I think sometimes those in higher education underestimate their impact and underestimate their ability to save lives and to make a difference in our society," he says. Jones spoke with The Chronicle about his time in academe and what he sees as the biggest problems in higher education today.
 
Texas A&M report details pandemic's effect on traffic
Researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute have published a report detailing the COVID-19 pandemic's wide-ranging impacts on traffic patterns and road congestion. The researchers said traffic in Bryan-College Station fell by about half last year as people stayed home to prevent the spread of the virus, and road congestion nationwide has largely rebounded. Traffic congestion in the U.S. got worse every year from 1982 to early in 2020, according to Bill Eisele, TTI senior research engineer and one of the report's authors. The first two months of 2020 were "business as usual," according to Eisele, and then in March, virus-prevention measures and related concerns emptied roads and caused a range of economic disruptions. The number of hours spent in traffic and the costs of congestion fell to numbers not seen since the 1980s or 1990s, Eisele said, and congestion levels in the first half of 2021 are at least a decade behind 2019 levels. The report also anticipates that 2021 will see faster congestion growth than any year since 1982 as economic recovery continues. Heavy traffic, though frustrating, is a sign of economic vitality, Eisele said. "There is a clear relationship between a roaring economy and road congestion," he said.
 
U. of Missouri flu research center to open next year
In a little over a year, a specialized flu research center will open at the University of Missouri. The Middlebush Farm-NextGen Center of Excellence for Influenza Research project last week gained approval of the University of Missouri System Board of Curators. The $6.5 million project is scheduled to be completed by August 2022. The 8,300-square-foot building will be located at Middlebush Farm, about 10 miles south of campus. It will have specialized laboratory spaces with the ability to create conditions from extreme cold to hot to replicate a variety of climates. Centers like this are rare across the country, according to information provided for the board meeting. The building will provide animal research and laboratory space. The project will be funded from the Office of Research Commitments, and researchers have so far been awarded $15 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. The specialized building is needed to further enhance the research. Part of the research funding can be used toward construction of the building, said UM System Chief Financial Officer Ryan Rapp at the meeting. "We've got some really productive researchers that will be housed in this facility," Rapp said.
 
Emory University to rename buildings to address concerns over racism
Emory University leaders announced Monday they will rename some buildings on its campuses as part of an ongoing effort to reconcile with what it describes as "a legacy of racism, disenfranchisement, and dispossession." The university will rename Language Hall on its Oxford College in Newton County in honor of Horace J. Johnson Jr., who helped integrate the county's public school system as a fourth grader in the late 1960s and became the first Black Superior Court judge to serve in the Alcovy Judicial Circuit (comprised of Newton and Walton counties) in 2002. Johnson died last year. Emory's Longstreet-Means residence hall will be renamed Eagle Hall. Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, president of Emory College from 1839 to 1848, opposed abolition and strongly defended slavery and secession. "It is inappropriate for his name to continue to be memorialized in a place of honor on our campus," Emory University President Gregory Fenves said in an email to its campus community. Emory will also develop plans for twin memorials for its Atlanta and Oxford campuses to honor the labor of enslaved individuals who helped build the university. Additionally, Emory said it will explore the adoption of an official land acknowledgment statement to recognize the university's location on the homelands of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
 
At long last, a tenure vote for Nikole Hannah-Jones at UNC Chapel Hill
The Board of Trustees for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will hold a special meeting Wednesday, reportedly to vote on tenure for journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. The board's Monday announcement about a special meeting included no details about the agenda. But quoting two unnamed trustees, NC Policy Watch reported that the board will hold a vote on tenure for Hannah-Jones. Lamar Richards, Chapel Hill's student body president and therefore an ex officio trustee, petitioned the board last week to hold a special meeting to discuss the Hannah-Jones case. He would have needed five other board members to make similar requests to force such a meeting, but it's unclear if that's why the meeting was scheduled. The board chair can call a special meeting at any time. In a 180 from its previous stance on the Hannah-Jones case, the board is reportedly eager to hold a vote before Thursday. That's when six trustees, including board chair Richard Stevens, will cycle off the board and a group of new trustees will join. Before this week, the board's stance on the Hannah-Jones case was to say little to nothing publicly. Many faculty members had been hoping that the new board iteration would take up Hannah-Jones's case at its first scheduled meeting on July 14. Why the board's sudden interest in Hannah-Jones's tenure bid? Faculty members on Monday floated some theories on background, including that the board is hoping Hannah-Jones will ultimately decide to teach elsewhere, and that it can grant her tenure only to repair some of the damage it's done.
 
How vaccines could cause trouble for international students
After a tumultuous year full of pandemic-era uncertainties for students who come to the U.S. for higher education, 90 percent of colleges across the country said they plan to offer in-person study to international students this fall, according to the Institute of International Education. But despite eased travel restrictions and U.S. consulates ramping up their visa process, confusion over vaccine policies may pose a significant hurdle for international students. More than 500 colleges across the country have a policy requiring vaccines for at least some students or employees, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education's database. While these policies vary, the three FDA-authorized vaccines -- those by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson -- may be out of reach for students now outside the U.S. And only eight vaccines have been approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use -- including, in addition to the FDA-authorized options, AstraZeneca's shots, as well as those of the China-based Sinopharm and Sinovac. Some students who have already been vaccinated with a different shot are worried about having to be vaccinated again once they get to the United States. Some schools with large international student populations, such as Carnegie Mellon University and New York University, have said they'll count any Covid-19 vaccine that has been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization. Many colleges are also providing vaccination appointments on campus for anyone unable to get them in their country of residence, and others said they'll assist international students in getting the vaccine after their arrival.
 
Harvard, MIT Part of $800 Million Deal to Push Access to Online Education
Education-technology company 2U Inc., which runs graduate programs for dozens of top universities, is buying web-based course provider edX, a nonprofit founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for $800 million. The deal combines two major players in online instruction as universities around the world push more aggressively into digital offerings. Many schools scrambled to shift courses online when the pandemic shut campuses last year, and they are now expected to build on -- and polish -- the programs. The sale proceeds will go to a nonprofit, to be run by Harvard and MIT, that the schools say will focus on reducing inequalities in access to education. It will maintain the open-access course platform built by edX, research online and hybrid-learning models, and work to minimize the digital divide that still serves as a barrier for many younger students and adults, the schools said. "This is early innings in the digital transformation of education," said 2U CEO Chip Paucek, adding that he anticipates a time when "online education is normalized as, simply, education." EdX was founded by Harvard and MIT in 2012, its aim to democratize elite education with free classes, taught by top professors, available to students globally. Over time, it added completion certificates, available for a fee, and course sequences that, when stacked together, could lead to credentials and ultimately a degree. It also began providing corporate training in subjects including entrepreneurship and cybersecurity.
 
Is the Pirate Queen of Scientific Publishing in Real Trouble This Time?
It's been a rough few months for Sci-Hub, the beloved outlaw repository of scientific papers. In January its Twitter account, which had more than 180,000 followers, was permanently suspended. In response to a lawsuit brought by publishers, new papers aren't being added to its library. The website is blocked in a dozen countries, including Austria, Britain, and France. There are rumors of an FBI investigation. And yet Alexandra Elbakyan, the 32-year-old graduate student who founded the site in 2011, seems more or less unfazed. I spoke with her recently via Zoom with the assistance of a Russian translator. Elbakyan, who is originally from Kazakhstan, has a bachelor's degree in computer science and coded Sci-Hub herself. She lives in Moscow now and is studying philosophy at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Back when she started the site, which offers access to north of 85 million papers, she didn't expect to be fending off lawsuits and dodging investigations a decade on. "I thought Sci-Hub would become legal in a couple of years," she said. "When the laws are obviously in the way of scientific development, they should be canceled." It hasn't been that simple. In 2017 a New York judge awarded Elsevier, the multibillion-dollar publishing company behind more than 2,500 journals, a $15-million default judgment against Sci-Hub for copyright infringement. The same year, a Virginia judge awarded the American Chemical Society $4.8 million. (With Elbakyan overseas and Sci-Hub's financial situation somewhat mysterious, neither publisher is likely to collect a dime.) Courts have repeatedly forced Elbakyan to switch domain names.
 
Democrats introduce legislation to help students meet basic needs
One day during this past academic year, Byanca Moore realized she needed help. The rising junior at Le Moyne College, in Syracuse, N.Y., had medical expenses to pay and no food to eat. So, she turned to the college's Jesuit Fund, which provides students with up to $500 in emergency funding. Moore applied for the assistance and received what she needed. "They do care for students, and they see which needs you need," Moore said. "It was helpful." But the Jesuit Fund is only a quick fix, noted Moore. She and her classmates who face financial challenges need more of a long-term solution. That's what Representative Norma Torres, a Democrat from California, realized when she saw one of her sons making four sandwiches for a two-hour class at the community college he was attending. "I'm looking at him like, 'You're going to eat all of that?'" Torres told Inside Higher Ed. "And he said, 'No, not for me, Mom. There are so many kids that are there the entire day but don't have any money to eat, so I'm making them for them.'" After talking with students and learning about how many of them struggle to meet their basic needs, Torres introduced the Basic Assistance for Students in College Act, or BASIC Act, in the House in 2019, with then senator Kamala Harris taking the lead on the bill in the Senate. An updated version of the legislation was introduced by Torres at the beginning of June, with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, picking up the bill in the Senate. So far, the bills are lacking support from any Republicans.
 
APLU Hails House Passage of the NSF for the Future Act and DOE for the Future Act
Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) President Peter McPherson today issued the following statement on the passage of the NSF for the Future Act in the House of Representatives. "House passage of the NSF for the Future and DOE for the Future Act represents a key step forward for U.S. scientific leadership. These bills unlock critical investments for science-led innovation that's been at the heart of American leadership for generations. We thank Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson and Frank Lucas for their bipartisan leadership on these critical bills. Decades of stalled investment in research and development as a share of our economy risks ceding innovation leadership at a time when our fiercest global competitors are rapidly increasing their investments in science and innovation. The research and development funding authorized in these bills would reverse recent trends to enable critical advances in the U.S. scientific enterprise. Yet while today's passage is an important victory, we can't lose sight of the fact that these authorizations must be backed by actual funding to ensure more innovations in the lab make it into the commercial marketplace."
 
Alondra Nelson Wants to Make Science and Tech More Just
The pandemic taught us a lesson that we needed to learn again, says Alondra Nelson: Science and technology have everything to do with issues of society, inequality, and social life. After a year in which science became politicized amid a pandemic and a presidential campaign, in January president-elect Joe Biden appointed Nelson deputy director of science and society in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, a new position. Nelson will build a science and society division within the OSTP aimed at addressing issues ranging from data and democracy to STEM education. In another first, Biden made his science adviser Eric Lander, who is also director of OSTP, part of his cabinet. Nelson has spent her career at the intersection of race, tech, and society, writing about topics like how Afrofuturism can make the world better and how the Black Panthers used health care as a form of activism, leading the organization to develop an early interest in genetics. She's the author of several books, including Social Life of DNA, which looks at the rise of the consumer genetics testing industry and how a desire to learn about their lineage led Black and Mormon people to become early users of the technology. Nelson is a professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey. Before her appointment, she was writing a book about the OSTP and major scientific initiatives of the Obama administration, which included a series of reports on AI and government policy. In an interview with WIRED, Nelson said the Black community in particular is overexposed to the harms of science and technology and is underserved by the benefits.
 
The Far Right's College Crusade: How extremists are infiltrating -- and fracturing -- campus Republican groups.
Sitting in front of a roaring fire, Kimo Gandall looks and sounds like a politician from a bygone era. Wearing a three-piece suit and holding a tumbler of Elijah Craig bourbon as a soft jazz intro fades, he begins one of his "fireside chat" videos on Facebook or YouTube, taped at his parents' home in Huntington Beach, Calif. But Gandall's buttoned-down persona is at odds with his darker views. He believes, for instance, that the United States is headed toward a race war fueled by progressive politics and the Black Lives Matter movement. Gandall, who graduated in June with a degree in political science, is not an outlier. Instead, he has become a key figure in California campus politics, and one of many young conservatives across the nation who are leading campus Republican groups further right, ideologically. The shift has led to a schism among campus Republicans that mirrors the divide in the national party: In a dozen states, including California, campus conservatives are splintering, in part, over whether to support the former president, Donald J. Trump, and his populist message. As some campus Republicans move toward the far right, what was previously an assault on higher education from groups based largely outside academe has become an inside job; not a mob of tattooed white supremacists marching across campus in paramilitary costumes, but clean-cut undergraduates who are savvy on social media and cloak their extremism in irony and edgy internet memes.
 
Reimagined Harry Truman presidential library set to reopen
After nearly two years of renovations complicated by COVID-19 restrictions, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum is ready to welcome visitors back with an updated focus on how Truman's legacy resonates today. The museum opens to the public July 2, with hours and visitor numbers initially restricted because of pandemic regulations. Visitors will find a museum completely reimagined during its most extensive renovation since it opened in 1957 in Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri, an eastern suburb of Kansas City. The nearly $30 million project includes a sparkling new entrance; many more artifacts, photographs, videos and films; and exhibits that encourage visitors to touch and interact with displays. One solemn gallery showcases Truman's first four months in office, some of the most consequential months in U.S. history. Germany surrendered, the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Japan to end World War II, and world leaders at the Potsdam conference determined the makeup of the postwar world. The artifacts illuminate why Truman is one of the most significant presidents in U.S. history, said A.J. Baime, author of several non-fiction books, including "Dewey Defeats Truman" and "The Accidental President." "That's why presidential libraries are so important," said Baime, who did research at the library and toured it during renovations. "Many people are not going to crack open a 300-page book, but seeing those artifacts makes history come alive."


SPORTS
 
Big 1st inning sends Vandy past MSU 8-2 in CWS finals opener
Mississippi State had the crowd. Vanderbilt had a big lead and Jack Leiter on the mound, and that was plenty Monday night. The Commodores rode a seven-run first inning to an 8-2 victory in Game 1 of the College World Series finals to move within a win of a second straight national championship. Fans in Mississippi State maroon overwhelmingly outnumbered Commodores supporters in the crowd of 24,052, many showing up early for tailgating and ringing cowbells in the parking lots. Inside TD Ameritrade Park, some of the MSU faithful taunted the superfan known as the "Vandy Whistler" by chanting "Let's Go State" after each of his series of three quick whistles between pitches. "I think we had an idea what the stadium environment was going to be like," Leiter said. "Our fans were amazing all night. Of course, the Mississippi State fans, you've got to tip your cap to that fanbase because it's pretty awesome the support they give their team. Our offense came out of the chute really hot, so that quieted them down a little bit." The Commodores (49-16) scored their seven first-inning runs off Christian MacLeod and Chase Patrick after Mississippi State (48-18) had taken a 1-0 lead in the top half on Kamren James' homer into the left-field bleachers.
 
Seven-run first inning dooms Mississippi State in College World Series final Game 1 against Vanderbilt
Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis expected a tightly contested game when his Bulldogs squared off with No. 4 Vanderbilt in Monday's Game 1 of the College World Series final. With star Jack Leiter on the mound for the Commodores and Christian MacLeod pitching for the Bulldogs, Lemonis envisioned yet another close game in the late innings for MSU, one more critical contest going down to the wire. "We thought it would be 2-1, 3-2, something like that as the game went on," he said. For eight innings Monday night, that was essentially what he got. But a seven-run first inning for Vanderbilt shook up Lemonis' vision, blew the game open early and helped the Commodores (49-16) beat the Bulldogs (48-18) by a score of 8-2, leaving MSU reeling and -- once again -- one game away from elimination. "We played great," right fielder Tanner Allen said, "for eight innings." Lemonis didn't name a starter for Tuesday's game, but lefty Houston Harding is the likely choice. Harding gave up three runs in 4.2 innings of work Friday against No. 2 Texas and will be on short rest, but his services might just be needed.
 
'In it to win it': Mississippi State fans flood CWS finals for first sellout crowd of tournament
Vanderbilt University advanced to face Mississippi State University in the 2021 College World Series' final games. Hours before the scheduled first pitch at 6 p.m., fans walked out in droves to eat, drink and shop across downtown Omaha. Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA) confirmed to KETV Newswatch 7 that Monday's game was the first sellout of this years tournament. Event leaders called it a small surprise, only because they realized a loyal fanbase like Mississippi State had come in droves. The wall of maroon shirts seemed to stretch for miles around Baseball Village. "Everybody's going to drop what they're doing and drive up there and be there," superfan Matt Lea said. In asking other members of Bulldog Nation, they said the 13-hour drive to Nebraska is worth it. Susan Easley made the trek from Madison, Mississippi. "When we were driving up yesterday, we were passed by so many Mississippi tags, and some had (Mississipii State) on them," she said. "We're going to go wherever our team is, no matter what," Kimberly Walker said. She and her family were among that caravan arriving in Omaha Monday morning. "We're in it to win it," she said.
 
Baseball fans hyped for big games as Miss. State competes in the Championship Series
Mississippi State fans here in the metro spent the day getting ready to cheer on their favorite team in the College World Series. At College Corner in Ridgeland, fans were out in big numbers buying up Bulldog shirts and hats. Several said they were flying out to attend Monday's game. Others said they were driving to Omaha and hoped to catch game two of the series. With Mississippi State now poised to possibly bring home a national championship, State fans say that is something every Mississippian should cheer about. Ian Few, who manages Bulldog Burger in Ridgeland, said, "When we have all our TVs on to the game and everyone's focused on the same thing, we do have a big uptick. You can kind of hear it from the kitchen whenever we score a run or something like that. It is fun when you like to celebrate with the community here as a team." Several area restaurants say they've seen an uptick in business whenever the Bulldogs take the field. At Bulldog Burger, they've had a packed house for almost every game of the finals.
 
Maroon and white fans nervously watch as Bulldogs battle for College World Series
Mississippi State is in Omaha preparing Tuesday to play game two of the College World Series, and fans from all over the Magnolia State are showing their support. Across South Mississippi on Monday, State fans gathered at homes, sports bars, casinos and restaurants to cheer on the Diamond Dawgs. The excitement is made even greater because if State wins, it will make this the first-ever national title the baseball team has earned. Sports books throughout the Coast were filled Monday as people gathered to bet on their Dawgs. "This year, especially with two SEC teams being in it -- one of them being Mississippi State -- people have been calling asking what time and if they can come out and watch the game," said Brad Carpenter, the sports book manager at Draft Kings in the Scarlet Pearl. Other sports bars and restaurants also filled up ahead of game one. The Mississippi State Alumni Association's Gulf Coast chapter -- known as the Coast Dawgs -- gathered at Mugshots in Biloxi to watch the big game. The alumni that were gathered for the watch party even got to celebrate one of South Mississippi's own making a difference on the grand stage. George County's Logan Tanner drove in a run during the fourth.
 
Vanderbilt's Patrick Reilly and the redemption he seeks against Mississippi State in College World Series
One week after the worst start of Patrick Reilly's career, he was demoted to the bullpen in favor of a reliever making his only start of the season. Two weeks after, he was given the daunting task of replacing Jack Leiter in the rotation. The nightmare start came April 25 against Mississippi State. Reilly, at the time in his third week as Vanderbilt's Sunday starter, walked four batters. He made an error on a pickoff attempt. He allowed a single and a double, three runs in all. Corbin pulled him from the game after just one out. Two months after that rough start against MSU, Reilly is staring down the Bulldogs again. His Commodores (49-16) are in the College World Series finals against Mississippi State (48-18), one win away from a national championship, and Reilly could be called upon in the second game either as a starter or multi-inning reliever. Reilly doesn't know yet what his exact role will be, but what he does know is that he wants the ball. "That would be a dream come true," he said, "to get in and kind of prove myself again against those guys."
 
Vandy takes advantage of State's charity, takes 1-0 lead in national title series
Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Mississippi State faithful filled TD Ameritrade Park like a maroon-clad army Monday night for Game One of the College World Series championship round. They came ready to make noise -- and they made plenty, especially after Kamren James blasted a first inning home run well over the left centerfield fence. If there were 24,402 people here, as announced, fully three-quarters of them were State fans. It was the most non-neutral neutral site crowd these eyes have seen or these ears have heard. They were standing and cheering, even before James slugged his homer when the count went to three balls, one strike. They went bonkers afterward. Then, two things happened: One, State starter Christian MacLeod couldn't throw a strike and never got out of the bottom of the first inning. Vandy put up seven runs, silencing the crowd. Two, Vanderbilt's Jack Leiter, soon to be a top five pick in the MLB Draft, settled down and pitched like the several million dollars he's about to earn. He kept the State partisans out of it -- to the point that the loudest and certainly the most piercing -- noise was the infamous Vandy Whistler, who whistled the night away during the Commodores' 8-2 victory. So, the Bulldogs find themselves down one game in the best-of-three series.
 
Why did Jay Johnson, a West Coast lifer, come to LSU? He viewed this 'as the ultimate'
Twenty years before he became the next leader of LSU's baseball program, Jay Johnson coached in a small California town. He envisioned himself moving further through the profession and had no idea what he was doing, so he bought a copy of "Winning The Big One," an instructional guide made by Skip Bertman. Johnson often pulled from Bertman's videotape as he learned how to coach. He used the motivational sheets Bertman included inside, and he said "Hold the Rope" to a group of 16-to-18-year-olds, hoping words from the man he viewed as the greatest college baseball coach in the country would help him develop. "I believe that was the start of my journey here," Johnson said Monday inside Alex Box Stadium. He wore an LSU baseball hat and looked at Bertman from behind a podium, the future of LSU's baseball program admiring the one who created so much of its storied past. Johnson had no prior connections to Louisiana before LSU hired him as its next coach, but throughout his introductory news conference, he referenced the baseball team's history, showing why someone who spent his life on the West Coast felt pulled to a job across the country and eagerly accepted a five-year contract last week.
 
Kentucky football chief of staff Dan Berezowitz arrested on fourth-degree assault charge
Kentucky football chief of staff Dan Berezowitz was arrested Sunday and charged with fourth-degree assault in Lexington, according to court records. A UK spokeswoman confirmed the school is aware of the arrest and "gathering more info." Bond was posted for Berezowitz by UK director of player personnel Chase Heuke, according to court records. According to a report from the Lexington Herald-Leader, Berezowitz was observed in a video recording in a physical altercation with his wife. Berezowitz has been a fixture on the Kentucky staff since being hired as the administrative recruiting coordinator by Mark Stoops shortly after he was hired as Kentucky's coach before the 2013 season. Berezowitz was promoted to "chief of staff," an administrative position not included among the full-time on-field assistant coaches, in 2018. Berezowitz is the second Kentucky football staffer arrested this offseason. Wide receivers coach Jovon Bouknight was arrested on drunk driving charges in June and later placed on unpaid suspension. While most of Berezowitz's work in the program has been away from the public eye, he was involved in an on-field altercation with Louisville coach Bobby Petrino before 2014 game.
 
NCAA council recommends allowing athletes to profit off NIL
The NCAA's Division I Council recommended Monday that the organization cease its long-held amateurism rules regarding name, image and likeness rights, a seismic shift in long-standing policies that prohibited college athletes from benefiting financially from their talents and fame. The 24-member NCAA Division I Board of Directors will review and is expected to approve that historic recommendation Wednesday, the eve of the July 1 date that athletes rights advocates have been pointing toward with anticipation for months. On that day, eight of the 21 states that have passed laws enabling athletes the NIL option will see those laws go into effect. The eight are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky (by executive order from Gov. Andy Beshear), Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas. A ninth state, Arizona, has a law passed and going into effect July 23. Twelve more states have laws going into effect in 2022, 2023 and 2025, but some might move to bring those laws closer to the present. Faced with the prospect of athletes playing under different sets of rules depending on the state in which they attend college, the 40-member NCAA Division I Council, composed largely of university athletic directors, sought to even the playing field by suspending the policy that prohibited athletes from benefiting financially in such a way. It said athletes could employ "a professional services provider for NIL activities" and should report all such endeavors "consistent with state law or school and conference requirements to their school."



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