| Tuesday, July 20, 2021 |
| Rehabilitated Kemp's ridley sea turtles to be released Tuesday | |
 | Six more of the Kemp's ridley sea turtles that were cold stunned last winter in the northeast will be released Tuesday afternoon along the coast. The smallest and most critically endangered marine turtle, they've now completed rehab with the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) and Mississippi State's College of Veterinary Medicine. The release will take place from 4:30-5:30pm in Pass Christian, the east side of Pass Christian Harbor roughly where Davis Avenue meets Beach Boulevard. Several of the veterinary students were part of the university team from CVM in Starkville that went down in December to help process the intake of the turtles with MSU faculty on the coast and IMMS staff. Dr. Thomason is a board-certified veterinary internal medicine specialist who has been integral in the veterinary care of these turtles during their rehabilitation. He also helped lead the virtual medical rounds held by CVM faculty on the coast and broadcast to MSU students in Starkville. |
| Mississippi State University hosting camp for kids interested in outdoor recreation | |
 | Some youth with an interest in nature are getting a taste of the great outdoors. After a one-year hiatus due to COVID, Mississippi State University's Conservation Camp is back. Over 30 6th through 9th graders will get a taste of outdoor recreation like fishing, along with lessons in firearms safety. Campers will also squeeze in a little Natural Science education, as they learn about their place in the ecosystem. "It's just real important for young people to be exposed to science in a different framework, to where it's very hands-on and experiential, and get them excited about learning and that's what we try to do at this camp," said Dr. Leslie Burger, camp director. The highlight of the week for many of the campers will be a trip to Jackson to visit the Museum of Natural Science. |
| Threefoot Hotel to feature restaurant, rooftop bar, Starbucks | |
 | After several years of renovation, the Threefoot Hotel in downtown Meridian is expected to open this fall. Jeremy Campbell, the area director of sales for the Fairfield Inn & Suites and the Threefoot Hotel, said the hotel was initially going to be a Courtyard by Marriott property, but Marriott has since given the hotel a boutique hotel licensing. The property will be part of the Tribute Portfolio brand, a boutique hotel brand. Contractors have spent a few years converting the historic building into a hotel. The project's architect, John Campo, said earlier this year that the project involves preserving many of the building's historic aspects, such as the elevator doors on the ground floor. Campbell said the hotel is designed specifically around Meridian. For example, the hotel's rooftop bar will be called the Boxcar. "It's going to have a railway theme to it," Campbell said. There will also be a restaurant in the building's lobby called 6:01Local, a reference to the building's street number and local area code. Campbell said the restaurant "pays homage to Meridian's railroad past" and will serve sophisticated Southern cuisine. "This project is nothing like Meridian has seen before," he said. "We're definitely excited to showcase the experience." |
| Health officer: Mississippi seeing '4th wave' of COVID cases | |
 | Mississippi's top public health official said Monday that the state is seeing a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in July. "4th wave is here," Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer, wrote on Twitter. The Mississippi State Department of Health said 2,326 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Friday through Sunday. That is largest three-day increase of cases reported in the state since February. As of Monday, the Health Department said Mississippi has had 329,130 confirmed cases of the virus since the start of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. The department said 7,468 people in the state had died from the virus. Mississippi has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the nation, and the increase of cases is happening as schools prepare for the new academic year. Classes begin July 26 in the northern Mississippi city of Corinth and in early to mid-August in most other districts. Under the Health Department guidance, fully vaccinated students, teachers and staff do not have to wear a mask indoors, do not have to quarantine or be excluded from school if exposed to COVID-19 and do not have to be tested unless they show symptoms. |
| 'Fourth wave is here': MSDH reports 2,326 new COVID-19 cases | |
| The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 2,326 new COVID-19 cases on July 19, further documenting the hold the Delta variant has on the state and the threat it poses to the unvaccinated. Commenting on the spike in cases and hospitalizations, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs tweeted Monday morning: "Very sad indeed. Didn't have to be this way. 4th wave is here." Delta currently represents nearly all COVD-19 circulating in Mississippi. There are 231 confirmed cases, but those only represent a small surveillance sample, so it is undoubtedly a small fraction of the Delta infections in the state. Additionally, the MSDH report on the number of variant cases in the state hasn't been updated since July 13. The surge of Delta infections Mississippi is experiencing is already hitting hospitals and ICUs. While hospitalizations are nowhere near their February peak, the increase in recent weeks has been sharp. Dobbs said that the increase in hospital and ICU admissions is straining the hospital systems in parts of the state, like Jackson and Hattiesburg, that have seen non-COVID procedures fill up their ICUs. Monday morning, Dobbs said there were 11 major ICU's across the state with zero beds available. |
| Dow posts biggest single-day drop this year as COVID-19 worries resurface | |
| U.S. stock markets suffered among their steepest single-day declines of the year on Monday as the recent rise in COVID-19 infections stoked fears of an economic slowdown. New COVID-19 infections jumped 70% last week to about 30,000 a day as the Delta variant continued to spread. Deaths rose to an average of 250 a day, mostly in unvaccinated people. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 724 points, or 2.09% the worst session of 2021. While the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.58% and 1.06%, respectively, the worst drop since May. Selling in the equity markets caused investors to seek safety in the U.S. Treasury market with the yield on the 10-year note falling 10 basis points to 1.18%, the lowest since March of 2020 as tracked by Dow Jones Market Data Group. In stocks, rate-sensitive banks, like JPMorgan Chase & Co. Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., were lower. Stocks tied to the reopening of the global economy were under extra pressure including Delta Air Lines Inc., Carnival Corp. and Las Vegas Sands Corp., amid concerns a COVID-19 resurgence could cause virus-wary travelers to stay home. Restaurants also taking a hit. |
| Neshoba County Fair 2021 opens this weekend. State Rep. Bounds gives Y'all Politics a preview. | |
 | State Rep. Scott Bounds joined Y'all Politics on Monday to give a preview of the upcoming Neshoba County Fair. Bounds said the traditional fair is back in full swing this year after it was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. Political speaking is set for Wednesday and Thursday (July 28 and 29) with elected leaders such as Governor Tate Reeves, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann, and Speaker Philip Gunn headlining. Bounds said there would be a new "football" segment this year, featuring Ole Miss Football Head Coach Lane Kiffin, Mississippi State Football Head Coach Mike Leach, and Southern Miss Football Head Coach Will Hall. Watch the full interview below. |
| Former lawmaker joins Mississippi Archives and History board | |
| A former state lawmaker is the newest member of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Board of Trustees. Trustees met Friday and elected Kimberly L. Campbell of Jackson to finish a six-year term started by former state Supreme Court Justice Reuben Anderson, the department said in a news release Monday. Campbell will serve through 2022. The department is responsible for collecting and preserving historical documents. It also administers various museums and historic sites. Anderson had served on the nine-member Archives and History board since 2007, when he was chosen to fill another person's unexpired term. He was reelected in 2010 and 2016, and is the board's most recent president. Campbell is an attorney and is state director of AARP. She served in the state House of Representatives from 2008 to 2016. The nine-member Archives and History board was established in 1902. Its members have always nominated their own successors, and those nominees have been confirmed by the state Senate. |
| Lawmakers Spar Over Infrastructure Package as Deadline Nears | |
 | Lawmakers sparred Monday over Senate Democrats' decision to impose a midweek deadline on a bipartisan group still scrambling to reach an agreement on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) took the first step Monday to set up a vote Wednesday opening debate on the infrastructure bill. But the bipartisan group of 22 senators hasn't yet struck a deal on how to fully pay for the cost of the legislation, which would spend roughly $600 billion above projected federal spending on improvements to roads, bridges and broadband access, among others. The Wednesday vote "is simply about getting the legislative process started here on the Senate floor. It is not a deadline to determine every final detail of the bill," Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday evening. Over the weekend, the group agreed to remove a source of revenue disliked by Republicans that would strengthen the Internal Revenue Service's collection of unpaid taxes. That left lawmakers racing to find another way to offset the bill's cost and complete its text. |
| President Biden: 'Killing people' remark was call for big tech to act | |
| President Joe Biden tempered his assessment that social media giants are "killing people" by hosting misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines on their platforms, saying Monday that he hoped they would not take it "personally" and instead would act to save lives. While companies like Facebook defend their practices and say they're helping people around the world access verified information about the shots, the White House says they haven't done enough to stop misinformation that has helped slow the pace of new vaccinations in the U.S. to a trickle. It comes as the U.S. sees a rise in virus cases and deaths among those who haven't gotten a shot, in what officials call an emerging "pandemic of the unvaccinated." Speaking at the White House, Biden insisted he meant "precisely what I said" when he said Friday of the tech giants that "they're killing people." But he said the point of his rhetoric was to ramp up pressure on the companies to take action. "My hope is that Facebook, instead of taking it personally that somehow I'm saying 'Facebook is killing people,' that they would do something about the misinformation," Biden said. Biden's comments come as the White House has struggled to counteract resistance to getting a shot, particularly among younger and more Republican demographics. |
| House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy names five choices for Jan. 6 select committee | |
 | House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appointed Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks to lead Republicans on the Jan. 6 select committee, but his position and the four other GOP picks are contingent on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's approval. If Pelosi signs off on McCarthy's picks, Banks would serve as ranking member and would be joined on the panel to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by Reps. Rodney Davis of Illinois, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota and Troy Nehls of Texas. Banks said Pelosi created the panel to "malign conservatives" but added that he will work to provide Americans with the facts surrounding the attack. Banks indicated that the GOP might use the panel as a forum to attack President Joe Biden, who was not sworn in yet on the day of the Jan. 6 attack. Davis is the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, a panel that has held several hearings about the shortcomings of the Capitol Police. Jordan is the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, which has oversight of the Justice Department. House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who brokered a deal for a bipartisan, independent, 9/11-style commission that was later blocked by Senate Republicans, will chair the 13-member select committee. |
| Mississippi University for Women hosting large graduation ceremony for 2020 and 2021 graduates | |
| Mississippi University for Women is gearing up for a busier than usual Summer graduation. Summer 2021 graduates will cross the stage, beginning with the Master of Science in Nursing Majors on Thursday, July 29th. Ceremonies for other majors will be Friday, July 30th, beginning at 10:30 a.m. But the Class of 2021 isn't the only one that will be recognized. The W is hosting belated commencement ceremonies for all graduates from the classes of 2020. May, August, and December graduations were put off due to COVID. Those ceremonies will be held on Friday, August 6th. Times have not been finalized and will be based on the number of graduates taking part. That information will be posted on the university's website. |
| UMMC obstetrics and gynecology experts debunk misinformation about vaccine and pregnancy | |
| Getting the COVID-19 vaccine will NOT affect someone's fertility or make them sterile. Getting the COVID-19 vaccine has NOT shown to be dangerous or harmful to a pregnant woman or her unborn baby, or to a mother and her breast-fed baby. Getting the COVID-19 vaccine, however, WILL outweigh any possible or potential adverse events because it will help both pregnant and non-pregnant women to avoid severe COVID-19 disease, including the highly contagious Delta variant. Those science-based determinations, not social media posts or political rhetoric, should drive decisions about receiving the vaccine, UMMC experts and national obstetrics and gynecology leaders say. An advisory from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, updated on July 2nd, gives key information and recommendations to women, including those who are pregnant, said Dr. J. Martin Tucker, professor and chair of the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Tucker serves as president of the association, ACOG for short. Studies show the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines carry no increased risk for miscarriage, premature births and other complications. Additional studies have shown that transfer of maternal antibodies across the placenta and into breast milk confer passive immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in newborns after maternal vaccination. |
| East Central Community College to limit overnight access to campus | |
 | Leaders with East Central Community College (ECCC) in Decatur announced several changes to limit the amount of off-campus vehicle traffic overnight and to improve security. According to leaders, access gates will be installed at both ends of 10th Street that runs through the center of campus. The Town of Decatur recently deeded to the college 10th Street from North 5th Avenue to North 8th Avenue that runs between the academic buildings on the south campus and the athletics facilities on the north campus. Officials said access gates will also be installed at the north end of Warrior Drive at the campus entrance from Highway 15 and near the ECCC Tennis Complex, and on the south end of North 7th Street between Todd Hall (men's residence facility) and Davis Hall (science facility) near one of the two campus entrances from Broad Street. The gates will be closed from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. nightly and on extended school holidays. The only entrance to campus during those times will be off Broad Street at North 6th Avenue between the President's Home and the Arno Vincent Administration Building. ECCC campus police will monitor that entrance and also be available to open all other gates in an emergency situation. |
| Does a college degree help you earn more? New Georgia study says yes | |
| Parents and academics are constantly harping on the importance of a college degree. A study released Monday offers proof. Students who graduate from Georgia's public university system are likely to earn, on average, about $850,000 more over the course of their professional careers than Georgians with a high school diploma, according to the study by the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business. In a separate report by the center, the University System provided an $18.6 billion statewide economic impact during a 12-month period that ended in June 2020, a 0.6% increase from the 12-month prior period, amid the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. The additional estimated earnings for University System students who graduate with a bachelor's degree in comparison to a high school graduate are $1,152,500. The estimated average career earnings for a University System master's degree graduate are $2,797,000. The total is about twice as much as high school graduate. |
| FAFSA completions down nearly 5%, report says | |
| The high school class of 2021 completed 4.8% fewer Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms than students did in the previous year, according to a new report from the National College Attainment Network. The decline represents about 102,000 fewer high school seniors finishing the FAFSA as of July 2. The decrease was more pronounced in schools with large percentages of low-income, Black and Hispanic students. NCAN said the data suggests another enrollment downturn could come in the fall, as last year's "catastrophic" decline in college students followed fewer FAFSA completions. The 2021 class trailed last year's cohort of seniors in FAFSA completions through the entire period that NCAN tracked, it said. But the situation "hit rock bottom" at the end of November, when FAFSA completions had fallen 16.8% year over year, Bill DeBaun, NCAN's director of data and evaluation, said in a statement Monday. NCAN said the FAFSA data could forecast uncertain enrollments this fall, which follows more than a year of economic turmoil spurred by the pandemic. |
| California Community Colleges chancellor will advise Biden administration | |
 | California Community Colleges chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley will take a temporary position as a special adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, according to an announcement from system leaders Monday. Oakley will begin his role at the Biden administration on July 26 and will return as chancellor in late fall. Deputy Chancellor Daisy Gonzales will serve as acting chancellor in his absence. Pamela Haynes, president of the system's Board of Governors, called the move a "win for California and the nation." "Answering this call to service is a recognition of work our system is leading," she said in the announcement. Oakley became chancellor of the California Community Colleges, which enroll 2.1 million students across 116 campuses, in 2016. He also serves on the University of California system Board of Regents and was previously superintendent and president of Long Beach City College. He said he plans to help push forward President Biden's "very aggressive and comprehensive agenda" for higher education policy, including the administration's efforts to make two years of community college tuition-free nationwide, increase the federal Pell Grant, put funding toward increasing student persistence and graduation rates, and support colleges and universities that serve low-income students, students of color and first-generation students. |
| New academic center aims to 'strengthen' democracy in U.S. | |
 | A well-regarded elections law expert is launching a new center focusing on elections and free speech at the University of California-Irvine School of Law. UC-Irvine law professors Rick Hasen, a well-known expert in elections law, and David Kaye, a former UN appointee focused on freedom of opinion and speech across the globe, are co-directing the new center, called the Fair Elections and Free Speech Center. Plans for the center were shared first with POLITICO. "American democracy is under increasing strain, and the 2020 election exacerbated threats to the rule of law and to public confidence in fair elections," Hasen said in a statement. "Much of that is thanks to the rise of social media. The new Center will look at what's wrong, and what can be done, to strengthen democratic institutions in the U.S. and around the world." The center's early events focus on elections and democracy, both in the United States and globally. The group's first event will be on Sept. 1, with a focus on the global impact of disinformation and digital media on elections. On Sept. 24, the center will hold a conference called "Election Subversion: Is American Democracy in Danger?" |
| Federal judge upholds Indiana University's COVID-19 vaccine requirement | |
| A federal judge sided with Indiana University in a lawsuit filed by eight students who challenged the university's COVID-19 vaccine mandate and related face-masking and testing requirements. The ruling is the first evaluating the constitutionality of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. In denying the students' motion for a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty ruled that the students failed to show a likelihood they will succeed on their claim that IU lacks a rational basis for its vaccine requirement. The students had claimed that the vaccine requirement violated their due process rights under the 14th Amendment. "These students argue that they have rights to refrain from wearing a mask and to refuse nasal testing," Leichty wrote. "But there is no fundamental constitutional right to not wear a mask ... Nor is there a fundamental constitutional right to not be tested for a virus before entering a place of public accommodation." Leichty also did not accept the students' argument that wearing masks would make them vulnerable to bullying on the basis of their religion. |
| Indiana U.'s Vaccine Mandate Has Survived a Legal Challenge. It's Still an Anomaly. | |
 | A federal judge ruled on Sunday against a legal challenge to the Indiana University system's vaccine mandate, effectively upholding the requirement that all students must be vaccinated from Covid before returning the campus in the fall unless they qualify for an exemption. The ruling sends a strong signal that the lawsuits filed in response to colleges' vaccine requirements may face steep odds in court. Eight undergraduate and graduate students at Indiana filed a lawsuit against the university in June, arguing the mandate -- which also applies to employees -- was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. But Judge Damon R. Leichty of the U.S. District Court for Northern Indiana denied the request in favor of the university's "discretion to act reasonably in protecting the public's health." "Recognizing the students' significant liberty to refuse unwanted medical treatment, the Fourteenth Amendment permits Indiana University to pursue a reasonable and due process of vaccination in the legitimate interest of public health for its students, faculty, and staff," said the court's ruling. "Today, on this preliminary record, the university has done so for its campus communities." Some nearby colleges aren't following Indiana University's example. Purdue University will not require the Covid vaccine for students in the fall. |
| President Mitch Daniels: Purdue will not require COVID-19 vaccine, not saying how it will enforce other restrictions | |
| Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said he will not require students and staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but did say those not vaccinated will face other restrictions. During an interview Monday on MSNBC, Daniels said Purdue and many other universities are taking the same path. "We're with that very large majority of American colleges and universities who are not planning to require the vaccine this fall," Daniels said. Daniels said that it will be left up to a student to decide if they will get vaccinated or not. "We believe there will be very big enforcement problems trying to absolutely require, throw people off campus if they didn't prove their vaccination status," Daniels said. "The vaccine is not approved yet and some people draw a distinction on that basis. Of course you should also notice the age group we're talking about here, and they're smart enough to know this, are at almost zero risk, personally, from this." Daniels also said the university has not yet decided on mask wearing. "We won't make the masking indoors or masking in classrooms decision until we get much closer. That's something we can decide literally at the last minute. And so, we don't know what we're gonna do yet and neither do any other schools that we're talking to, or most of them," Daniels said. |
SPORTS
| Scouting the Schedule, Game 4: Mississippi State hosts LSU a year after historic upset | |
 | Mississippi State's 2020 season started with a bang. The Bulldogs marched into Baton Rouge to take on defending national champion LSU and shocked the Tigers 44-34 in Mike Leach's first game in the maroon and white. This season, coach Ed Orgeron's team comes to Starkville on Sept. 25 anxious to return the favor. Here's the book on the Bayou Bengals. Mississippi State and LSU have met every year since 1944, and 2021 will be no exception. The Tigers lead the all-time series 71-37-3, but the Bulldogs pulled off notable upsets in Baton Rouge in 2014 and 2020 and routed LSU 37-7 in 2017 in Starkville. Before Dak Prescott led his team to victory in the 2014 contest, Mississippi State had lost 14 games in a row to LSU. But playing at home after a down year for the Tigers in 2020, the Bulldogs have a decent shot at putting together a winning streak against a team MSU hasn't beaten twice in a row since a string of five consecutive victories from 1980 to 1984. From the very first game of 2020, it was a down season for LSU, which lost to Missouri two weeks later and fell to an unsightly 1-2. The Tigers managed to finish 5-5 on the year, losing to Texas A&M and getting blown out by Auburn and Alabama. LSU did not play in a bowl game. The Tigers used a trio of quarterbacks in 2020 as Myles Brennan, Max Johnson and TJ Finley all threw for between 900 and 1,200 yards each. Finley transferred to Auburn, leaving Johnson and Brennan -- a Long Beach native -- to battle for the job this summer. |
| Mississippi State unveils non-conference men's basketball slate | |
 | Mississippi State has a clear idea of what the start of the men's basketball schedule will look like, as it announced its non-conference schedule Monday morning. The Bulldogs' season will open with a four-game homestand as North Alabama, Montana, Detroit Mercy and Morehead State -- an NCAA tournament participant last season -- come to town. While the news release said Thanksgiving games are to be determined, it was reported last month by CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein that MSU would be among the four teams (Louisville, Richmond and Maryland) playing in the Cable Beach Championship in the Bahamas. Mississippi State will get more time at home following the trip with another four-game homestand with Lamar, Minnesota, Georgia State and Furman. The non-conference slate will close out with a neutral court game at the Mississippi Coliseum against Winthrop -- a 12-seed in last season's NCAA tournament -- and a trip to face 2019 runner-up Texas Tech in the Big 12/SEC challenge before the new year. |
| Mississippi State men's basketball releases home nonconference schedule | |
| A Dec. 5 date with Minnesota highlights the 2021-22 home nonconference schedule for the Mississippi State men's basketball team, released Monday. The Bulldogs have eight home games at Humphrey Coliseum as well as a matchup with Winthrop on Dec. 21 in Jackson before the Southeastern Conference slate begins. North Alabama opens the home slate, coming to Starkville on Dec. 10. Montana, Detroit Mercy and Morehead State visit before a multi-team tournament to be played Nov. 25 (Thanksgiving Day) and Nov. 27. According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the event will be in the Bahamas and will feature Louisville, Maryland and Richmond. Lamar comes to The Hump on Dec. 2 before the Golden Gophers visit three days later. Home matchups with Georgia State and Furman close things out before the Bulldogs head to Mississippi Coliseum to face Winthrop. Mississippi State will play at Texas Tech on Jan. 29 in the Big 12/SEC challenge. The Bulldogs finished 18-15 in the 2020-21 season, reaching the NIT championship game. |
| Neshoba County Fair will include Football Roundtable | |
| Mississippi's Giant House Party will return this Friday, July 23rd. And there's a little something new for football fans. Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin, Mississippi State Coach Mike Leach and Southern Miss Coach Will Hall will participate in a roundtable from 2-3pm Thursday, July 29th at the Neshoba County Fair. And it'll be broadcast live right here on SuperTalk Mississippi. Entertainment for the 2021 Neshoba County Fair was announced Friday: Hardy, Tuesday, July 27; Trace Adkins, Wednesday, July 28; Jordan Davis, Thursday, July 29; and Riley Green, Friday, July 30. The Fair runs July 23-30. |
| Will Hall noticed a worrying trend once he arrived at USM. He has a message for fans | |
 | Will Hall has been the Southern Miss football coach for just shy of eight months, but it didn't take long for the former Tulane offensive coordinator to recognize a sense of doubt that has crept in for some of the Golden Eagle faithful. Some question whether USM will ever regain the level of relevance that the program experienced during the days of Bobby Collins, Jeff Bower and Larry Fedora. They worry that USM can no longer be a giant killer or capable of bullying the rest of Conference USA. Hall relayed a message to those fans as he started his speech Tuesday night on the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Park campus. "The biggest shock for me taking over this job was how many people just walked around with a feeling, 'You know what, I just don't know if we can do it anymore. I just don't know if we can be a championship program anymore,'" Hall said. "I'm here to tell you if you run into those people, you look them dead in the eye and say, 'You're wrong. We can, and we're fixing to again.'" With a list of accomplishments projected on the screen behind him, Hall then rattled off why Southern Miss is a program that deserves to still be considered among the best Group of 5 programs in the nation. In an auditorium full of 200-plus Golden Eagle fans, Hall was mostly preaching to the choir. |
| College football nearing return amid rise in COVID-19 cases | |
 | With college football just over a month away, teams are busy preparing and fans are getting excited. However, there are still a few questions about how conferences and schools are handling the rising number of new COVID-19 cases. The USM Golden Eagles are looking to right the ship under new Head Coach Will Hall. The Mississippi native spent Monday evening visiting with fans and alumni at the university's Long Beach campus. Last year, the team had two games rescheduled and two games cancelled due to COVID-19 related issues. Now, with the number of cases once again rising, Coach Hall says the medical staff is keeping the team informed. "We leave that up to our medical people. They know all the ins and outs," said Hall. "As a matter of fact, we have a team doctor coming in and talking with our guys in the morning just to educate them on what is going on. Educate them on the right way to handle things, educate them on the vaccine." Hall plans on giving his players all of the facts and then allowing them to determine what is best for themselves. "I don't ever want young men to base a decision off an opinion," he said. "I want them to base them on facts from people who have the facts. We are constantly giving them those and we will update them in the morning." |
| 'The times change quickly': SEC commissioner Greg Sankey gives update on vaccines, NIL at media days | |
| The last time Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey stood in front of a room full of reporters, he had to do what he called the "unimaginable." Speaking inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on March 12, 2020, Sankey laid out the dramatic impact COVID-19 had caused so rapidly on the landscape of college sports. By the end of that fateful day, the Men's and Women's College World Series had been canceled, the rest of the baseball and softball regular season on permanent pause. Tennis, golf and other spring sports met the same fate. The SEC men's basketball tournament -- the very reason Sankey was in Nashville to begin with -- was canceled just that morning. "It's a reminder that not only do the times change, but the times change quickly," Sankey said Monday at 2021 SEC Football Media Days at The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama. Now in his seventh season at the helm of the premier conference in college athletics, Sankey stressed the importance of forging ahead in the midst of so many unknowns. COVID cases are spiking once again thanks to the Delta variant. Many players, coaches and staff remain, to the league's dismay, unvaccinated against the virus. And if that wasn't enough, name, image and likeness legislation has surged to the forefront as the NCAA's amateurism model stands on shaky ground. |
| Greg Sankey: SEC teams could be forced to forfeit games this fall due to COVID-19 disruptions | |
 | The term "no contest" seems as though it won't be in the SECs vocabulary this season, and the days of rescheduling games are in the rearview mirror. A year removed from an adjusted, and abbreviated, football schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SEC does not have safeguards in place to navigate potential in-season disruptions due to the disease. Meaning, if a team has an outbreak or sees its roster significantly impacted due to health and safety protocols, it may be forced to forfeit games this fall. "Let's just indicate like the realities we deal with," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said Monday at the start of SEC Media Days in Hoover. "You hope not to have disruption, but hope is not a plan is the great cliche ... You're expected to play as scheduled. That means you team needs to be healthy to compete, and if not, that game won't be rescheduled. And thus, to dispose of the game, the 'forfeit' word comes up at this point." The SEC still has in place roster minimums that were enacted last season to ensure teams had the requisite number of available players each week. |
| SEC's Greg Sankey recommends not rescheduling games for COVID-19, urges vaccination | |
 | Commissioner Greg Sankey pushed for higher vaccination rates among league members in his opening remarks of the Southeastern Conference Media Days on Monday, adding that he has recommended not rescheduling league games if teams are disrupted by further coronavirus outbreaks. Sankey said the league still currently has its 53-man roster minimum requirement it had last season, but he has recommended to remove that minimum to further incentivize teams to get vaccinated. "That means your team needs to be healthy to compete, and if not, that game won't be rescheduled," Sankey said. Six of the SEC's 14 football teams have reached 80% vaccination, Sankey said. While there are no SEC mandates for people to get vaccinated, there are incentives in place. Once a team reaches the 85% threshold, the SEC no longer requires it to test regularly or wear masks inside its facilities. "We know nothing is perfect," Sankey said, "but the availability and the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines are an important and incredible product of science, not a political football, and we need to do our part to support healthy society." |
| SEC Media Days Report: Greg Sankey, SEC back vaccines | |
| SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey spent a portion of his time at the podium to kick off SEC Media Days touting the need for more people to take covid-19 vaccinations. "Let me be clear to our fans, to our coaches, to our staff members, and to our student-athletes: covid-19 vaccines are widely available," Sankey said. "They've proven to be highly effective. And when people are fully vaccinated, we all have the ability to avoid serious health risks, reduce the virus' spread, and maximize our chances of returning to a normal college football experience and to normal life." Arkansas and fellow SEC footprint states Florida, Louisiana and Missouri were identified last week as four of the top five states in rates of covid-19 cases. "With six weeks to go before kickoff, now is the time to seek that full vaccination," Sankey said. "And we know nothing is perfect, but the availability and the efficacy of the covid-19 vaccines are an important and incredible product of science. It's not a political football, and we need to do our part to support a healthy society because, as we look back, the potential absence of college sports last year caused us to think about not losing sight of the lifelong experiences, the laboratory of learning that takes place, and the educational benefits that accrue to the people who participate on our teams." |
| SEC commissioner Greg Sankey fighting for change within NCAA | |
| In May, during a virtual call with his conference football coaches, Greg Sankey spoke with such discontent for the NCAA that his tone startled many of those listening. Sankey, largely known for guarded and cautious comments, even those made in private, doesn't often admonish organizations, entities or people in such a way. Yet, here he was, the SEC commissioner skewering the association within which his league operates, this time over policies that his conference opposes. "He was hot," says one listener. "He ain't happy." The anecdote is merely a window into the feelings of one of college athletics' most powerful figures, a slice of what Sankey has revealed in increments publicly: He's disappointed in and frustrated with the governing body of college sports. In interviews with Sports Illustrated over the last several weeks, the commissioner has suggested the need for a new governance model, has lobbied for more autonomy for the Power 5 conferences and has chided the top policy-making group in the association, the NCAA Board of Governors, for its lack of transparency and resistance to change. His frustrations have boiled over, producing shots that, for some, have left holes in the NCAA's broadside, jabs at the organization's accountability, pace and leadership. For instance, he described the College Football Playoff governance group as "productive and constructive," and then quipped, "It ought to be a model for the NCAA to follow." |
| NCAA's Mark Emmert credited with $2.9 million in total pay for 2019 | |
 | NCAA president Mark Emmert was credited with $2.9 million in total compensation during the 2019 calendar year, according to the association's new federal tax return. The amount includes just under $2.5 million in base salary, which represents an increase of slightly more than $175,000 compared to the base amount reported for him for the 2018 calendar year. The NCAA's new return -- provided Monday in response to a request from USA TODAY Sports -- is for a fiscal year running from Sept. 1, 2019 through Aug. 31, 2020. The NCAA is set up as a private, non-profit organization. Under IRS rules, such entities must report compensation data based on the calendar year completed during the fiscal year covered by the return. Revenue and expense data are reported for the fiscal year. And those data provided other insights into the association's activities, including that the association spent $67.7 million on outside legal fees in fiscal 2019-20. Among the legal challenges the NCAA faced during that period was the Alston antitrust case, which ended in June 2021 with the Supreme Court unanimously ruling against the association. The legal issues, as well as the NCAA's handling of matters including athletes' ability to make money from their name, image and likeness (NIL), have resulted in Emmert and other association executives being criticized by state and federal lawmakers. And that criticism was renewed Monday. |
| Texas A&M players Isaiah Spiller, Demani Richardson make $10,000 each for interviews with fan site in NIL deal | |
| They say everything's bigger in Texas. That seems to hold true after the announcement Friday that Texas A&M football players Isaiah Spiller and Demani Richardson are set to earn $10,000 each for exclusive interviews posted to Aggies-centric website TexAgs.com. The deal for the interviews, which are sponsored by GreenPrint Real Estate Group, has been reached under the new name, image and likeness rules for college sports. "As Aggie business owners, we embrace any opportunity to support local student athletes and the Aggie community as a whole," GreenPrint owners Geoff Myers and Randy Hightower said in a joint statement posted to TexAgs, which is not affiliated with Texas A&M University. "With the collegiate athletic landscape rapidly changing, GreenPrint is thrilled to partner with TexAgs and these two young men in this exciting new endeavor." TexAgs co-owner and executive editor Billy Liucci said in a statement his site is "excited about the ways the NIL changes will allow us to feature Texas A&M athletes, continue to push into new areas of content creation for our subscribers, and expand our work with sponsors." |
| Bald eagle Spirit to make last pregame flight this fall | |
| Spirit, the bald eagle who has excited Auburn football fans during pregame flights for nearly two decades, will make her final trip around Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 13. Spirit's retirement from pregame flights, announced in a press release from the University on Monday, comes after 45 flights during Auburn home football games since her first flight in 2002. Spirit will continue to serve as an educational ambassador for the College of Veterinary Medicine's Southeastern Raptor Center, where she has been part of more than 1,800 educational presentations to more than 105,000 attendees. Spirit, the only bald eagle to have flown alongside the University's golden eagles in the traditional pregame flight, is celebrating her 25th birthday in 2021, which is 8.5 years older than the median life expectancy for bald eagles in captivity, according to the press release. Spirit will make her final stadium flight at the military appreciation game against Mississippi State on Nov. 13. In addition to a halftime ceremony honoring Spirit, there will be a special Football, Fans and Feathers educational program at the Southeastern Raptor Center on Friday, Nov. 12, that will highlight bald eagles Spirit and Independence, honoring the impact they have had on the Auburn Family and wildlife conservation. |
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