| Monday, January 24, 2022 |
| MSU baseball honored by both state and federal government | |
 | The first course of action for the Mississippi House of Representatives on Thursday was honoring the Mississippi State baseball team as the 2021 national champions. "I have been a Bulldog my entire life, and I couldn't be more proud of Bulldog baseball and the entire Mississippi State University family," Representative Rob Roberson, who authored the resolution commending the team, said. "This all started under Coach Ron Polk and culminated under Coach Chris Lemonis during the historic 2021 season. The young team that brought this national championship home to Mississippi deserves all the credit. They define what tough and fearless look like." HCR 8 will now head over to the Mississippi Senate, where it's expected to pass. The team was also recognized by Congress back in July when Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, along with Representative Michael Guest, introduced S.Res. 307 and H.Res. 528. "Following an unprecedented year, the Mississippi State University baseball team helped unite many Mississippians through one of America's most cherished past times, and capped their season off with a national championship that included moments that will go down in MSU history," Guest said at the time. "As a Mississippi State University alumnus, it's a special moment to recognize one of the greatest accomplishments in Mississippi sports history in Congress." |
| Monday Profile: Former MSU baseball player helps host Frostbite races | |
 | The overnight low in Starkville was 18 degrees, but Brad Jones was out on Main Street at 5 a.m. Saturday morning, getting ready for the Frostbite Half-Marathon, 10K and 5K races. "Wes (Gordon) will start setting up the course, and I'll start setting up tents and tables for our sponsors," said Jones, vice president of commercial lending at Renasant Bank and, along with Gordon, co-coordinator of the Frostbite. Jones grew up in Texas and Florida, but Starkville runs in the family. His parents are MSU graduates, and his grandfather, Art Davis, was the Football Writers Association of America college player of the year in 1955 and is a member of both the Mississippi Sports and Mississippi State Athletics halls of fame. "Wes was an athletic trainer at MSU when I was playing baseball," Jones said. "We ran in similar circles and got to know each other. I've known Wes for close to 20 years." The connection to the Frostbite was still a few years away. Back in those days, Oktibbeha County Hospital organized the event, which has been around since the mid-1980s and drew 200 to 300 runners most years. "I used to put on a knockoff Tough Mudder," Jones said, referencing the well-known obstacle course race. "I was a race director for that for two years and built up a relationship with the lady from OCH, Elaine Schimpf, who was in charge of the old Frostbite race. She had done it for eight or nine years and wanted to take a step back, and she turned to me." Jones says he fell in love with Starkville when he arrived on the MSU campus, and he and Gordon decided to change the race's format to maximize the role of his adopted hometown. |
| Schools navigate Omicron as case numbers keep rising | |
| The new year has meant renewed challenges for schools as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads through communities, straining resources and, in some cases, shutting down on-campus learning. Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District reported 143 student cases, with another 289 students in quarantine for COVID exposure. That's on top of 35 positive cases among teachers and another 27 in quarantine for exposure. "COVID continues to create challenges for our students, staff and families," SOCSD Superintendent Eddie Peasant said. "Our teachers and staff at each campus adjust their schedules to combine classes or cover classes for colleagues when substitutes are not available. Our bus drivers do the same." Peasant hopes his district can weather the storm without forcing schools to go to distance learning or a hybrid schedule, an option the Mississippi Department of Education authorized earlier last week in response to increased COVID cases. "In August, as we navigated through the Delta variant, we saw case numbers begin to decline after a few weeks," Peasant said. "We are hopeful that will be the case with the Omicron variant as well." |
| Several new solar projects in Mississippi have battery storage technology | |
| Some of the new solar projects in Mississippi are utilizing battery storage technology to help them power the grid even when the sun isn't shining. According to the University of Michigan's Center for Sustainable Systems, there is about 790 megawatts nationwide of battery storage capacity. These battery storage facilities usually feature lithium-ion batteries and store electricity generated by the solar panels via a chemical reaction. This allows some of the electricity generated while the sun was shining to be used at night. Other methods of energy storage include pumped hydroelectric storage (like the Tennessee Valley Authority's Racoon Mountain facility near Chattanooga, Tennessee) and compressed air storage in an underground cavern. An example of the capacity of one of these battery systems is MS Solar 6, a solar facility owned by Miami-Florida-based Origis Energy and located in Lowndes County. The facility has a capacity of 150 megawatts and its batteries have a capacity of 50 megawatts. The power from this facility will be delivered to the Tennessee Valley Authority, which will have Facebook as its primary off-take customer. Johan Vanhee is the chief commercial and procurement officer at Origis Energy, which has five solar projects in active service, under construction or approved by the Mississippi Public Service Commission. He told the Northside Sun that the company starts out automatically with the assumption that it will pair a field of solar panels with a battery storage unit. |
| 'Farms Are Failing' as Fertilizer Prices Drive Up Cost of Food | |
 | From South America's avocado, corn and coffee farms to Southeast Asia's plantations of coconuts and oil palms, high fertilizer prices are weighing on farmers across the developing world, making it much costlier to cultivate and forcing many to cut back on production. That means grocery bills could go up even more in 2022, following a year in which global food prices rose to decade highs. An uptick would exacerbate hunger -- already acute in some parts of the world because of pandemic-linked job losses -- and thwart efforts by politicians and central bankers to subdue inflation. "Farms are failing and many people are not growing," said 61-year-old Rodrigo Fierro, who produces avocados, tangerines and oranges on his 10-acre farm in central Colombia. He has seen fertilizer prices double in recent months, he said. Farmers in the U.S. are also feeling the pinch, with some shifting their planting plans. But the impact is expected to be worse in developing countries where smallholders have limited access to bank loans and can't pay up front for expensive fertilizer. Fertilizer demand in sub-Saharan Africa could fall 30% in 2022, according to the International Fertilizer Development Center, a global nonprofit organization. That would translate to 30 million metric tons less food produced, which the center says is equivalent to the food needs of 100 million people. |
| S&P 500 hits correction as Wall Street slides into 'white knuckle' zone | |
 | U.S. stocks fell sharply Monday coming off their worst week since the beginning of the pandemic, with the S&P 500 index falling into correction territory and the Dow tumbling more than 700 points. Markets have seen three consecutive weekly declines to kick off 2022, as investors have been gripped by worry over inflation's growing threat to the economic recovery and the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will aggressively raise interest rates to combat it. The sell-off has battered all sectors and heaped losses on high-risk and speculative areas of the market such as cryptocurrencies. Now, all eyes are on the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting and on the flurry of earnings reports from giants like Tesla, Apple, 3M, GE, Boeing and others in the coming days. Wall Street is in a "white knuckle period" and investors are desperate for good news, according to Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities. "It's been a nightmare 2022 thus far for investors," Ives told The Post in an email. "Right now, risk assets including tech stocks and Bitcoin are all being sold globally with nowhere to hide." After enduring its worst week since March 2020, all major U.S. indexes fell sharply Monday morning. Those hoping for volatility to diminish in the coming days are likely to be disappointed, according to Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. Tensions around the Fed's plans and growing concerns over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine have weighed on an already edgy market. So far this year, volatility has more than doubled, according to Cboe's volatility index. |
| Governor Reeves to deliver 2022 State of the State address Tuesday | |
 | On Tuesday, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves will deliver his 2022 State of the State address at the Capitol as lawmakers continue to work through the session on a laundry list of priorities, including a medical marijuana bill, teacher pay raises, elimination of the state income tax, the initiative process, redistricting and more. A release from the Governor's office announcing the address says Reeves will discuss Mississippi's successes in the face of the pandemic and give a vision for the year ahead. According to House Minority Leader Robert Johnson (D), the Democratic Response to Governor Reeves' State of the State is expected to be delivered by Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons, brother of State Senator Derrick Simmons (D). Senator Simmons is the chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. Mayor Simmons took office in 2016 and is in his second term. He is an active member of the Mississippi Municipal Leage, the Delta Council, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the Washington County Democratic Party. Governor Reeves' annual address to lawmakers and the state will start at 4 p.m. Mayor Simmon's Democratic Response will follow the conclusion of the Governor's remarks. |
| State archives awards more than $3M in preservation grants | |
 | More than $3 million in grants have been awarded to 18 preservation and restoration projects in Mississippi. The Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History announced the awards Friday on behalf of the Community Heritage Preservation Grant program. The program helps preserve and restore historic courthouses, schools and other properties. "The Legislature has saved hundreds of significant Mississippi properties through this program," said Katie Blount, the department's director. Some projects the grants are funding include $150,000 to the Alcorn County Courthouse in Corinth to restore its interior and courtroom; $214,690 to the Chickasaw County Courthouse in Houston for window replacement; the Saenger Theater in Hattiesburg is getting $250,000 for interior restoration and Fulton Grammar School in Fulton is getting $93,860 for roof repairs. |
| Carter Burns elected to MDAH Board of Trustees | |
 | Carter Burns, executive director of the Historic Natchez Foundation (HNF), has been elected to the board of trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). The action took place at the regular meeting of the MDAH board of trustees on Friday, January 21. His nomination will be submitted to the Mississippi State Senate for confirmation. "We are excited to welcome Carter Burns to the MDAH board." said board president Spence Flatgard. "Not only does he have deep roots in Natchez, but he brings valuable expertise in historic preservation. With MDAH focused on two major projects in Natchez -- at Historic Jefferson College and Grand Village of the Natchez Indians -- Burns will be a tremendous asset to the board." A Natchez native, Burns has served as the executive director of the HNF for three years, where he is responsible for all staffing, operations, and programs. He holds a bachelor of arts in English from Millsaps College, a juris doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law, and a master of historic preservation from the University of Georgia. He is a former board member of the Mississippi Heritage Trust and currently serves on the board of the Mississippi Historical Society and the National Preservation Partners Network. |
| Anti-abortion protesters optimistic at March for Life in DC | |
| The annual anti-abortion rally in the nation's capital sounded more like a victory celebration as speakers expressed a growing sense of optimism that their long-sought goal, a sweeping rollback of abortion rights in America, was finally in reach. Thousands of protesters rallied in the bitter cold Friday and marched to the Supreme Court, which has indicated it will allow states to impose tighter restrictions on abortion with a ruling in the coming months -- and possibly overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that affirmed the constitutional right to an abortion. "It doesn't feel real. There's so much hope and vibrancy and happiness and joy at this thing," said Jordan Moorman of Cincinnati. "I really do believe that we're in a post-Roe generation." The annual March for Life rally, held one day before the 49th anniversary of the Roe decision, took place amid a COVID-19 surge that limited turnout at the National Mall. Still, the rally drew a crowd of thousands, with a heavy contingent of young people and students bussed in by schools and church groups. The mood was overwhelmingly upbeat, with many treating the end of Roe v. Wade as inevitable. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, in a statement released Saturday, said the right established under Roe "is under assault as never before" and they said they were committed "to ensuring that this country is not pushed backwards on women's equality." Abortion rights groups worry that at least 26 states are in line to further limit abortion access if Roe is weakened or overturned. In December, the court indicated in a major case that it would uphold a Mississippi ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and allow states to ban abortion even earlier. The Mississippi case directly challenges Roe. |
| Wicker: Biden comments on Ukraine caused 'distress' for both parties | |
 | Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said that "there was distress among Democrats and Republicans" after President Biden suggested during a lengthy press conference this week that Russia would face smaller repercussions for a "minor incursion" in Ukraine. Following the remarks, the White House raced to quickly clarify the president's stance. "I can tell you from private conversations that I had on the floor of the Senate shortly after the president's press conference, there was distress among Democrats and Republicans about what the president had said," Wicker, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Greta Van Susteren in an interview to be aired on Sunday. "We know that it was a misstatement of American policy. I think one of your competitor newscasters on one of the morning shows called it a gaffe. And I guess we all do that," he added. "These are all too common in the Biden White House." Wicker, who was among a bipartisan group of senators to visit Ukraine this week, was referring to comments that Biden made during a nearly two hour press conference on Wednesday. The Mississippi Republican noted that different options should be considered by the president in the event of a Russian invasion into Ukraine, including sanctioning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. "I think Putin would be able to get around it in a few months, but temporarily it would be a crippling blow to the Russian economy. And I think it's something we shouldn't rule out," Wicker said. "As a matter of fact, I don't think the president should take anything off the table." |
| Court blocks COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees | |
 | A federal judge in Texas blocked the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for federal workers nationwide Friday, in a ruling that leans on a Supreme Court order last week that stopped a similar rule for larger businesses. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown in the Southern District of Texas wrote that granting the preliminary injunction is about the authority of the president, and not about "whether folks should get vaccinated against COVID-19 -- the court believes they should." "It is instead about whether the President can, with the stroke of a pen and without the input of Congress, require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment," Brown wrote in a 20-page order. "That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far." The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 order last week, halted an Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule for larger businesses to either require vaccination or have a masking and testing policy early this year. The court concluded that Congress gave the agency the power to regulate workplace dangers but not health care more broadly. Brown pointed to part of that Supreme Court ruling that held COVID-19 "is not a workplace risk, but rather a 'universal risk' that is 'no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases.'" |
| Trump followers zero in on secretary of state campaigns | |
 | Donald Trump's pick to become Arizona's top elections official raised more campaign cash in 2021 than his two potential Democratic opponents combined -- a sign of MAGA-world's deep engagement in taking over under-the-radar positions in charge of running battleground state elections. State Rep. Mark Finchem, whom Trump endorsed for Arizona secretary of state in September of last year, has made the former president's lies about the 2020 election results a cornerstone of his campaign. Finchem has said repeatedly, and without providing legitimate evidence, that the election was tainted by fraud, and he was a major backer of the GOP-led review of the vote in Maricopa County, which election experts and the county's own Republican officials trashed as an unprofessional fishing expedition. Another Republican with business ties actually raised even more than Finchem. But the financial haul from Trump's pick, which included thousands of donations under $100 that poured in from around the country, points to a broader trend across the states. Having failed to prevent certification of the 2020 election, Trump and his followers are targeting state and local offices that will be involved in running the next presidential election, boosting loyalists who cast doubt on the 2020 vote and pouring energy into races that typically see little engagement. In interviews, both Democratic hopefuls said they were not overly concerned by Finchem's fundraising. But it's another sign, they say, that Democrats need to take these races incredibly seriously. |
| A Shrinking Band of Southern Nurses, Neck-Deep in Another Covid Wave | |
 | Bobbie Anne Sison was heading to the hospital just before dawn when she got a panicked call from one of her best nurses saying she couldn't come to work because her car had overheated on Route 63. Ms. Sison, a nurse manager at Pascagoula Hospital, slammed on the brakes, made a U-turn and raced to fetch her. "We have staff members dropping like flies from Covid so there was no way I was going to leave her on the side of the road," Ms. Sison said a few hours later as she walked the corridors of her 350-bed hospital, which has been steadily filling with Covid patients after a monthslong lull. On Sunday, 106 coronavirus patients were being treated at Singing River Health System, a county-owned network of three small hospitals along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, up from a dozen or so patients at the beginning of the month. With 40 percent of all Covid-19 tests in Pascagoula coming back positive and about 100 hospital employees out sick, Ms. Sison was trying not to think about what the coming days would bring. "I just don't know if we can do this again," she said. Lee Bond, Singing River's chief executive, said the current surge was simply exacerbating a calamitous labor shortage that state hospital leaders and public health officials say will persist long after Omicron fades. "The real crisis we're facing right now is a foundational shortage of nurses," he said. The labor shortage has been especially brutal for the small, nonprofit safety-net hospitals like Singing River where millions of Americans seek care. Financially fragile even before the pandemic, they have been unable to match the lofty salaries dangled by travel nurse agencies and large health systems, further accelerating the personnel drain that threatens their ability to provide quality care. |
| Coast hospitals 'can't afford' to lose nurses, but many front-line workers refuse the vaccine | |
 | As the sun set outside of Gulfport Memorial Hospital in early December, just a few days after a Louisiana federal court temporarily blocked a requirement that health-care facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs have their staff fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a group of triumphant anti-mandate advocates gathered in prayer. They thanked God for the court's decision, for (medical) freedom and prayed for their enemy by default: hospital administrations that would have had to enforce the mandate or risk shutting down with the loss of the federal insurance money. "I understand the position our CEO is in, I don't blame him and I pray for him daily, but I don't feel guilty for standing up for freedom. We can't afford to do that any longer," said Angie Stevens, an unvaccinated Memorial nurse who attended the vigil. Stevens, who administers COVID shots at one of Memorial's vaccine clinics, is one of a number of Coast nurses prepared to lose their jobs over the mandate, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld. Now, instead of mandatory COVID vaccinations by a previous Jan. 4, 2022, deadline, unvaccinated health-care employees must have their first dose of the vaccine by Jan. 27, 2022, or risk losing their jobs. Hospitals have been pleading with vaccine-hesitant Mississippians to get their shots. But they stopped short of enforcing it for front-line workers who fight daily to save the lives of COVID patients. Some Coast health-care workers, many of whom have seen the sickest of COVID patients, remain hesitant. |
| Bird Flu Is Back in the US. No One Knows What Comes Next | |
 | In the first days of the new year, on the marshy coastal edge of South Carolina's Lowcountry, a hunter shot an American widgeon, a rusty-fronted duck with a pale beak and a brilliant green stripe. This was not a big deal; the state's duck hunting season runs from Thanksgiving through the end of January. Neither was what happened next: Before taking it home, the hunter let a wildlife biologist affiliated with a government program swab the carcass for lab analysis. But what happened after that was a big deal indeed. After the sample went through its routine check at Clemson University, it made an unusual second stop at a federal lab halfway across the country, in Iowa. The news of what was in the sample percolated through a pyramid of agencies, and on January 14 the US Department of Agriculture revealed why it had attracted so much scrutiny: The South Carolina duck was carrying the Asian strain of H5N1 avian influenza, the first sighting of that pathogen in the continental US in years. But not the last. Just a few days later, the USDA disclosed that two more birds shot by hunters also carried the same pathogen: a teal, shot in the same South Carolina county, and a northern shoveler shot in the far northeast corner of North Carolina, about 400 miles away. The virus in all three was what is known as highly pathogenic -- meaning it could cause fast-moving, fatal disease in other bird species, such as poultry, though it was not making the ducks ill. Three birds out of the millions that American hunters shoot each year might seem like nothing -- but the findings have sent a ripple of disquiet through the community of scientists who monitor animal diseases. It is far too soon to say whether the arrival of this virus in the US is a blip, an imminent danger to agriculture, or a zoonotic pathogen probing for a path to attack humanity. But it is a reminder that Covid is not the only disease with pandemic potential, and of how easy it is to lose focus when it comes to other possible threats. |
| USM Merit Health Partnership, JSU Carnegie Classification and MSU 'Old Main' Documentary | |
| The University of Southern Mississippi's College of Nursing and Health Professions is partnering with Merit Health Wesley in Hattiesburg to add two of the hospital's nurses to the University's clinical teaching faculty during the spring 2022 semester. The goal of the partnership is to reduce the state's ongoing nursing shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a release from USM says, by having nursing graduates work in a Mississippi healthcare setting while assisting USM in increasing its clinical faculty to expand enrollment capacity. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education recently reaffirmed Jackson State University in the category of "Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity." During the 2021 fiscal year, the JSU Division of Research and Economic Development received $54.4 million in research awards, including more than $11 million from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities to establish the RCMI Center for Health Disparities Research, a release from JSU says. The Division of Research also received $1 million from the National Science Foundation to partner with other universities to study the global impact of a controversial new generation of insecticides. Mississippi State University's University Television Center will premiere a short documentary titled "Old Main" on Sunday, Jan. 23. The documentary pays tribute to a large dormitory on the MSU campus that burned down on Jan. 23, 1959. The MSU Films initiative, a UTC project to tell stories of the institution through those that witnessed them, developed the 11-minute film. |
| New semester causes uptick in COVID-19 cases around campus | |
 | With the spring semester in full swing, Omicron cases continue to be on the rise nationally and on college campuses. Currently, the university has 159 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 77 of the cases being students and 82 of them faculty and staff. From Jan. 13 to Jan. 19, the City of Oxford COVID-19 count over the past seven days is 1,108, according to the City of Oxford website. As of Jan. 20, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported 7,509 new cases in the state. Over the past seven days, there have been 137 new active COVID-19 cases on campus. According to NPR, more than 1,000 college campuses required vaccinations last year. Although the University of Mississippi does not require vaccinations, the school continues to urge students to get vaccinated if they have not already. Students and professors at UM are struggling with maintaining the in-person class structure. Briana Reaser, a sophomore public health major, said her professor canceled class 15 minutes into the lecture, due to a mild cough. "In a way, it is a disruption to typical class activity that has been scheduled in advance. She stated we would resort to not having class on Fridays in order to limit contact with other students. Although the concern is nice, some pay for their education and are not getting its full value," Reaser said. |
| Father's gift to help future generations of Ole Miss student pharmacists | |
| Students often look to their parents for guidance and inspiration when deciding on their career path. For Val Soldevila, that was no different, as his father, Frank Soldevila, provided many footsteps to follow. "I have heard his story numerous times, of how he came to the United States from Panama without speaking English," Val Soldevila said. Frank Soldevila immigrated to the U.S. in 1944 to pursue a pharmacy education. He began his studies at Loyola University in New Orleans for two years before finding his eventual academic home at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. Soldevila graduated with honors and went on to a successful pharmacy career. He had been a registered pharmacist for more than 50 years at the time of his death in 2015. It was this story that inspired Val Soldevila to establish a scholarship in his father's name that will make an impact on future pharmacists. The Francisco "Frank" Soldevila Pharmacy Scholarship Endowment will help students forge their own path in the profession. "Since I sold my pharmacy in 2020, I thought it was only fitting that I could honor my father in this way," Val Soldevila said. "I am sure it would make him proud that he will be helping deserving students in their pharmacy careers." |
| U. of Southern Mississippi's president to leave | |
| University of Southern Mississippi President Rodney Bennett has announced he is stepping down at the end of his contract, which expires in 2023. Bennett, the school's first African American president and the first African American president of any predominately white university in the state, announced the decision Friday. "My intention is to begin exploring other professional opportunities later this spring, and I wanted to be transparent with each of you about my plans for the future," Bennett wrote in a letter to USM faculty, staff and students. During his nearly 10 years at USM, Bennett said the school has maintained its regional accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, as well as program-specific accreditations. It also has invested in student life, achieved milestones in private fundraising, and has completed a "wide range of construction projects to maximize the role facilities play in student growth and development, faculty pedagogy and research." Bennett said he will work closely with the Institute of Higher Learning system's commissioner of higher education to develop a transition plan. |
| USM President Rodney Bennett to step down | |
| Rodney Bennett, who made history as the University of Southern Mississippi's first Black president, announced his intent to step down in June 2023. "The time is coming for me to step aside for another individual to chart the path for the next chapter in our Southern Miss Story," Bennett wrote in a campus-wide email Friday afternoon. Bennett, 55, wrote that he intends to explore new professional opportunities this spring. He said he will work closely with the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees to "develop a strong transition plan." The Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees selected Bennett to lead USM, a predominately white institution, in 2013, when the university was struggling financially. Bennett downplayed the significance of his selection, according to a report from Gulf Life. "I don't know what message it sends, other than don't let any barrier that other people may place in front of you, and label that people place on you, stop you from pursuing your dream," Bennett said at the time. "Race wasn't going to be an issue for me." Bennett started his resignation email by listing USM's accomplishments under his administration, from "facilitating tremendous growth all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast" to "stabilizing the University's overall financial position." |
| Hometown Hero: USM  graduate student volunteers to help her city rebuild | |
| Destruction, debris, and the dismay in the eyes of survivors – at first, that's all Jessica Beckham could see in her hometown of Mayfield, Kentucky, following a deadly weather system in December that ripped through the western half of the state. More than 75 people lost their lives in the storms, and many more were left homeless and without work with the destruction of homes and businesses by tornadoes that devastated several communities the Midwest. But now, Beckham, a doctoral student in the USM School of Communication, is witnessing hope slowly replace despair as volunteers and donations have poured into Mayfield from across the country in the last several weeks, as she also pitches in along with one of her sisters and a USM alumnus, Brian Perna, to help those in need. Beckham's academic advisor and mentor, USM Associate Professor Kathryn Anthony, described Beckham as "bright, kind, compassionate and always willing to help those in need around her." "When I heard of her efforts to assist her fellow Kentuckians following the tornadoes, I was not surprised in the least," Anthony said. "She is an excellent ambassador for Southern Miss, and I am so proud to serve as her advisor." |
| USM nursing school partners with Merit Health Wesley to fight healthcare shortage | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi has teamed up with Merit Health Wesley to battle the current shortage of nurses, according to College of Nursing Dean Dr. Lachel Story. "As the pandemic has progressed... we've watched an ongoing nursing shortage increase and get worse with each variant of COVID-19," said Story. Story says this partnership allows students to learn from experienced nurses who are on the front lines of this pandemic. "They're paid by the hospital, but they have a faculty designation and really kind of advancing it to have these folks be instructors for a whole clinical group. One of their nurses on staff would be the person who would be the clinical instructor," said Story. Not only will this experience be great for the students, but it will also relieve a lot of stress off the current hospital nurses and staff. "That will also help provide them with more staffing, so to speak, to kind of help with whatever it just needs to be done but also give them access to potential graduates to work there. And, really, the end goal is hopefully keeping nursing graduates here in the state of Mississippi," said Story. Story says this is the first semester with the partnership. She expects it to stay in place for a while because the health care shortage is not getting better. |
| Mississippi doubles number of 4-year-olds served in state-funded pre-K program | |
| Mississippi will gain five new early learning collaboratives in August 2022 to serve more of the state's youngest learners. On Thursday, the State Board of Education approved the additional collaboratives, which will serve 840 new 4-year-old students. These additions were the first to be approved in an expansion of the program that will double the number of students served. Early learning collaboratives are pre-K programs made up of partnerships among school districts, Head Start agencies, childcare centers, and nonprofit groups. There are currently 18 collaboratives serving more than 3,000 children across the state. These early learning collaboratives will be located in the Brookhaven School District, Kosciusko School District, Rankin County School District, Scott County School District, and South Panola School District, bringing the total number of early learning collaboratives across the state up to 23. "When early learning collaboratives increase in Mississippi, it means more of our state's preschoolers will have access to a quality early childhood education," Carey Wright, state superintendent of education, said in a statement. |
| New facility will expand U. of Alabama's water research efforts | |
 | Tuscaloosa will soon be home to a state-of-the-art science and engineering facility that will focus on the study of water. The new Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility, a partnership between the University of Alabama and the U.S. Geological Survey, will be built on the north side of campus near the Black Warrior River. " ... Our campus will serve as the epicenter for water research and operations in the United States" with the addition of the U.S. Geological Survey-Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility, said University of Alabama President Stuart R. Bell in a news release. He added that UA's partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey "will provide countless teaching, research and service opportunities for our students and faculty." Construction on the 95,000-square-foot, two-story facility is scheduled to begin in late 2022, with the opening set for 2023. The $38.5 million facility will include a hydraulics lab, water quality labs, field testing facilities, environmental chambers, sensor innovation space, a warehouse, training labs, a network operations center and administrative offices. The Tuscaloosa facility will replace the aging U.S. Geological Survey facilities at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. UA System Chancellor Finis St. John credited U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby with playing an integral role in the process and helping to ensure that the university could expand its water research program at a time when global demand for water is rising. |
| Bruceland: Auburn's new student housing | |
| As most of Auburn's campus lay asleep, a few brave students braced the cold morning weather Friday morning and started setting up their new home. This new development of student housing is called Bruceland. Russell Clark, sophomore in exercise science, and his pal Jackson Marsh, junior in biosystems engineering, were the first members of this new community. They were the first to assemble outside of Auburn Arena at about six in the morning. Class was secondary on Friday. "It was cold as hell," Clark said. "But we had to be first. We have been chilling ever since." No. 2 Auburn basketball does not have a game on Friday though. Auburn plays the following Saturday at noon. The Tigers host the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats, in what might be the biggest game in Auburn Arena's history. Clark and Marsh don't care that they were going to be waiting upwards of 30 hours in the cold to watch the game. They would have waited longer. "It was really cool to be the first ones out here," Marsh said. "Some guys from the school knocked on our tent at like seven this morning and took pictures of us. They called us crazy. But this whole thing is kind of crazy." The sentiment shared by the two friends is shared all throughout Auburn basketball's new town. Well over 60 tents have been set up around the green spaces in front of the Arena and all throughout the winding paths of the Village. "Walmart must be loving this," Clark said. |
| Blasting U. of Florida, Judge Says Professors' Testimony Can't Be Blocked | |
 | In a blistering opinion on Friday, a federal judge ruled that the University of Florida may not block professors from testifying against the state under the institution's conflict-of-interest policy. The decision is the latest turn in a closely watched case that arose from concerns that the university, in barring professors from testifying in a voting-rights case, had violated the faculty members' First Amendment rights and infringed on academic freedom. In granting six faculty members' request for a preliminary injunction, Judge Mark E. Walker, of the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, rejected the university's argument that its recently revised policy passed constitutional muster. For the time being, the judge ruled, UF may still enforce a policy that, in some cases, allows it to prohibit faculty members from citing their university affiliations when serving as expert witnesses. Also left standing is the university's conflict-of-commitment policy for outside work. The controversy has brought undeniable reputational damage to UF, a university that has risen in rankings and prestige in recent years. Given that, Walker suggested, it is significant that the university has stuck with a policy that would still allow the restriction of professors' work in politically controversial cases. "Consider the costs UF is willing to bear to maintain its power to discriminate based on viewpoint," Walker wrote. "It is willing to suffer threats to its accreditation, congressional inquiries, unrelenting bad press, an all-but-certain hit to its rankings, and the substantial monetary cost of hiring an experienced D.C. firm to defend its policy. The only thing UF will not do, it seems, is amend its policy to make clear that it will never consider viewpoint in denying a request to testify." |
| Top Jan. 6 Investigator Fired From Post at the U. of Virginia | |
| The top staff investigator on the House committee scrutinizing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has been fired by the state's new Republican attorney general from his position as the top lawyer for the University of Virginia, from which he was on leave while working on the congressional inquiry. The office of the Virginia attorney general, Jason S. Miyares, said the firing of the investigator, Timothy J. Heaphy, was not related to the Jan. 6 investigation, but the move prompted an outcry from Democrats in the state, who accused him of taking the highly unusual action as a partisan move to further former President Donald J. Trump's attempts to undermine the committee's work. Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for Mr. Miyares, said: "The decision had nothing to do with the Jan. 6 committee or their investigations." In a written statement, the University of Virginia sidestepped the issue of whether his dismissal had been motivated by politics, but made clear that it had no role in it. "University leaders are grateful to Tim for his outstanding service to our community and disappointed to see it come to an end," said Brian Coy, a spokesman for the university. "If you have further questions about this matter, I would check with the attorney general's office, as this was their decision to make." |
| Will test optional become the new normal in admissions? | |
 | The Iowa Board of Regents this month voted to become test optional, permanently. That means Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa will no longer require the SAT or ACT for admissions. A report prepared for the regents said, "Currently, of UNI's 10 peer institutions, six have permanently gone test optional, three are still in a pilot of the policy and just one continues to require ACT or SAT. Many Big 10 and Big 12 institutions also have pilot test optional policies, but three in the Big 10 and at least three in the Big 12 have made a permanent change to test optional admissions while the rest are continuing a pilot of the policy for additional years while they assess." "Our findings continued to indicate that the tests do have some value on predicting first year GPA [grade point average], but ultimately had a limited relationship to the likelihood of graduation," Chief Academic Officer Rachel Boon said at the regents' meeting. Boon said the "widespread" shift to test-optional policies created a sense of urgency for Iowa to make a change. In December, Harvard University extended its test-optional period through the Class of 2030 (the current admissions cycle is for the class of 2026). The Harvard decision attracted much attention. After all, Harvard is Harvard. And its stance makes it easier for other highly competitive colleges to follow the same path. But the dozens of decisions like Iowa's may have more impact. Even considering the huge applicant pool Harvard gets, many more students are trying each year to get into the Iowas of the nation. Statewide decisions for public colleges are particularly important because many students apply only to public colleges in their home state. |
| Drop in college enrollment threatens to cause long-term economic, social consequences | |
| Slower economic growth. Continued labor shortages. Lower life expectancy. Higher levels of divorce. More demand for social services, but less tax revenue to pay for it. A sharp and persistent decline in the number of Americans going to college -- down by nearly a million since the start of the pandemic, according to newly released figures, and by nearly 3 million over the last decade -- could alter American society for the worse, even as economic rival nations such as China vastly increase university enrollment, researchers warn. "It is a crisis, and I don't think it's widely recognized yet that it is," said Jason Lane, dean of Miami University's College of Education, Health and Society. The reasons for the drop in enrollment have been widely discussed -- declining birthrates, the widespread immediate availability of jobs, greater public skepticism of the need for higher education -- but the potential long-term effects of it have gotten less attention. People without education past high school earn significantly less than those who go on to earn bachelor's degrees, and are more likely to live in poverty and less likely to be employed. They're more prone to depression, live shorter lives, need more government assistance, pay less in taxes, divorce more frequently, and vote and volunteer less often. With fewer people going to college, "society is going to be less healthy," Lane said. |
| 'We Will Take Care of It': Why Over 100 Campus Leaders Asked Biden to Cancel Student-Loan Debt | |
| Caren Royce Yap started thinking about how she would afford a higher education long before she set foot on campus. When she was a freshman in high school, one of her teachers told the class that even after being out of college for 25 years, the teacher was still paying off student loans. The comment stuck with Yap. Today she is the student-body president at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and she's one of 111 student-government leaders who signed a letter this week calling on the Biden administration to cancel federal student-loan debt. Concerned about how she would be able to afford college, Yap says she worked hard in high school to earn a scholarship. As student-body president, she's seen others struggle to pay their tuition, sometimes dropping out or transferring to less-costly community colleges instead. Like Yap, many of the student leaders who signed the letter said they had been motivated to do so by a concern with the decades-long drag that debt can exert on people in the years after they leave college. "Part of the goal of this is recentering the conversation to be about students," said David Bruen, Syracuse University's student-body president and one of the letter's organizers. "This is not just a Gen Z problem, and of course it's not just wealthy or well-connected people in Gen Z impacted." The letter urges President Biden to consider how canceling debt would promote racial equity, spur economic recovery, and encourage educational access. |
| Biden administration actions aim to attract STEM talent | |
| The Biden administration announced a series of administrative actions aimed at attracting and retaining international students and researchers in STEM fields on Friday. These actions include identifying 22 new fields of study eligible for the STEM optional practical training program, which allows international students in STEM fields to stay in the U.S. and work for up to three years after they graduate, rather than the typical one-year period allowed for non-STEM graduates. The expansion will newly allow international students in a range of fields -- including climate science, cloud computing, data analytics, economics and computer science, geobiology, geography and environmental studies, financial analytics, and industrial and organizational psychology -- to gain additional work experience in the U.S. while remaining on a student visa. The move to expand the STEM OPT program marks a significant shift from the Trump administration, when the program was widely seen as vulnerable, legally and politically. Although it never proposed a regulation to this effect, the Trump administration expressed interest in "reducing fraud and abuse" in practical training programs like OPT and in seeking ways to "improve protections of U.S. workers who may be negatively impacted by employment of nonimmigrant students." OPT is very popular with international students -- more than 200,000 international students used the program to gain work experience in the U.S. in the 2020–21 academic year. The Department of State also announced new guidance Friday relating to the academic training program, which allows students on J-1 exchange visitor visas to work in a job related to their field of study. The change will allow undergraduate and graduate students in STEM fields on J-1 visas to participate in academic training for up to 36 months, an increase from the maximum 18 months previously allowed in most cases. |
| Affirmative action: Supreme Court to consider use of race in college admissions | |
 | The Supreme Court announced Monday it will decide whether the use of race in the admissions process at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violates civil rights law and the Constitution, reviving a controversial legal debate over affirmative action that has been years in the making. The decision to hear the two cases puts the contentious issue of whether universities may consider race when accepting students before the high court for the first time 2016. Harvard acknowledges considering race in its admissions process, but says it does so as one of several factors -- an approach that is consistent with the current legal standard. By accepting the blockbuster case, the justices are adding another polarizing debate to a docket already full of culture war issues. Much of the court's current term has been defined by abortion fights in Texas and Mississippi, gun regulations in New York and COVID-19 related battles, including the decision this month to block the Biden administration's vaccine-or-testing requirements on large employers. The high court did not say when it will consider the affirmative action suits, but given the number of cases already queued up for argument this year, there's a good chance the justices won't take the matter up until its next term, which begins in October. Affirmative action policies in university admissions have been a target of conservatives for decades but many such policies have been upheld by a series of Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1978. |
| Remembering Lusia Harris, a stellar Mississippi athlete | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: Once upon a time the late Orley Hood was just a sports writer. Back in 1976 when he would head to Delta State to cover basketball, I would drive over from Charleston where I was a weekly newspaper editor to enjoy his company and watch the games. When there was room, he would let me sit by him at the scorer's table where I would sort of keep unofficial stats. That's how I got to see up close and personal one of Mississippi's few national championship teams, the Lady Statesmen with starters Lusia "Lucy" Harris, Debbie Brock, Wanda Hairston, Cornelia Ward, and Ramona VonBoeckman and coach Margaret Wade. What a team! What a run -- three national championships in a row! What a record – 100-6 over four years! Miss good times like that. Miss Orley too. These memories came back last week when the news broke that Lusia Harris-Stewart had passed away. I had forgotten all the honors the Minter City native and Amanda Elzy graduate had won -- All-American, inducted into several Halls of Fame, silver medalist and first woman to score a basket in the Olympics, drafted by the men's New Orleans Jazz team. Sports writer emeritus Rick Cleveland called her "the Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell of women's basketball." I just remembered her stellar play and that team winning and winning and winning. |
| Gov. Tate Reeves, a self-proclaimed 'numbers guy,' is ignoring some pretty significant numbers | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: Gov. Tate Reeves likes to proclaim, "I'm a numbers guy." He did so on social media on Nov. 19 and on multiple other occasions. He's also been known to remind reporters at his news conferences. The former financial portfolio manager does like to eschew the numbers and engage in political and social commentary. He also does that a lot on social media and in his news conferences. Reeves offered some of that commentary recently when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate. But the self-proclaimed "numbers guy" ignored some significant numbers when he accused Biden of being "a tyrant" for attempting to impose a coronavirus-vaccine mandate on certain large companies, on entities with contracts with the federal government and on medical providers that accept federal funds. "It's a tyrannical move," the governor proclaimed on social media last year when the president announced the mandate. "If you can't comprehend that, you're in the wrong job or the wrong country." There were some numbers behind Biden's proposed vaccine mandate. Those numbers are literally thousands of Americans dying each day from COVID-19. The president said his vaccine mandate was an effort to stop those deaths. Granted, reasonable minds could and did disagree about whether Biden had the authority to impose such a mandate. |
SPORTS
| Molinar hits milestone as Mississippi State beats Ole Miss | |
| Iverson Molinar tossed in 20 points, topping the 1,000 mark for his career, and Mississippi State rolled to a 78-60 victory over Mississippi on Saturday. Molinar sank 7 of 11 shots -- 2 of 5 from 3-point range -- for the Bulldogs (13-5, 4-2 Southeastern Conference). Iverson went over 1,000 career points -- the 41st Bulldog to accomplish the feat -- when he scored on a fast-break layup with 2:27 left in the game, giving the Bulldogs a 76-57 lead. Molinar, the reigning SEC player of the week also had four steals. Ole Miss (9-9, 1-5) closed to within 61-59 on a jumper by Nysier Brooks with 13:21 remaining, but Javian Davis scored on a layup, Molinar sank a 3-pointer and D.J. Jeffries followed with a three-point play as Mississippi State scored 15 straight points to grab a 66-49 lead with 7:06 left. The Rebels, who have lost four straight, never threatened after the MSU run. Garrison Brooks had 17 points for Mississippi State. Jeffries and Tolu Smith scored 11 apiece. Shakeel Moore had 10 points and seven assists. Mississippi State travels to play No. 12 Kentucky on Tuesday. |
| 'Shut their water off': Mississippi State men clamp down on Ole Miss in second half | |
| Shakeel Moore and his Mississippi State teammates had seen the stats. The Bulldogs clung to a one-point lead at the half Saturday against Ole Miss at Humphrey Coliseum. That's because the Rebels were hot from the field, knocking down eight 3-pointers and shooting 61.5 percent from the field in the first half. "We knew going into halftime that they were shooting at a pretty high percentage," Moore said. So when the Bulldogs came out for the second half, they made it a point to limit the Rebels' offense -- as Moore put it, to "shut their water off." Consider that mission accomplished. Mississippi State (13-5, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) held Ole Miss (9-9, 1-5 SEC) to just 19 second-half points in a 78-60 win Saturday in Starkville. "I'm really pleased with our performance today," MSU coach Ben Howland said. "I thought the second half was the best basketball we've played in quite a while, especially on the defensive end." The Bulldogs held the Rebels to just 7-of-21 shooting in the second half, going on a 15-0 run to seize control midway through the period. Four different players had three or more points amid the spurt, which turned the score from 51-49 to 66-49 in less than five minutes. |
| Mississippi State finds redemption against Ole Miss basketball, pulling away in second half | |
| The timeout needed to come. The steady stream of Mississippi State scoring had turned Saturday's matchup against Ole Miss from close to comfortable, and Rebels coach Kermit Davis had to try to quell the torrent. But the noise that rose from that whistle only heightened Davis' problems, with the Rebels heading for a fourth straight defeat -- and this one to their in-state rival. The Bulldogs had embarked on a 15-point scoring run to pull away, and there was no coming back for the Rebels. The 78-60 Mississippi State victory perhaps meant more to the Bulldogs. If Mississippi State (13-5, 4-2 SEC) views itself as an NCAA Tournament team, a game at Humphrey Coliseum against a .500 squad classifies as a must-win. And after a dismal first game against the Rebels (9-9, 1-5) earlier this month, a response needed to happen. For Davis, though, this leaves the Rebels mired in a poor run of form, with six losses across their last seven games, the season threatening to spiral. As Iverson Molinar eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his Mississippi State career, the Bulldogs recovered from their last loss and washed the bitter taste of defeat against Ole Miss from their minds. |
| What Iverson Molinar means to Mississippi State basketball after reaching 1,000 career points | |
| Iverson Molinar had no idea. At the forefront was a Mississippi State basketball win Saturday, rebounding from a loss on Wednesday to Florida and washing away memories of the defeat in Oxford against Ole Miss two weeks earlier. That he had 20 points in the 78-60 victory at Humphrey Coliseum was a footnote. But over the course of two and a half seasons, those footnotes gain traction. They add up, even when no one is paying much attention. So there Molinar was, picking off a pass and driving down the floor in a game nearly decided, lifting up and laying the ball through the rim. That play was an even smaller footnote -- just one basket in a game full of them, one layup in a career loaded with such highlights. That particularly highlight, however, meant more. It was Molinar's 1,001st point for the Bulldogs -- the culmination of all those footnotes fitting together to create a major milestone. And yet, he had no idea. "Oh?" he said. "OK. All right." In a career such as his, spending time tracking those landmarks would take away from the preparation needed to reach them. Molinar is so frequently the driving force for Mississippi State; as he goes, the team goes. |
| Tolu Smith's MRI results show no structural damage after partially dislocated knee | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball can breathe a sigh of relief. After forward Tolu Smith underwent an MRI on Sunday morning, the Bulldogs found no structural damage in his left knee and he's considered week-to-week. Coach Ben Howland said the initial prognosis was a subluxation of the patella -- or a partially dislocated knee cap. The usual recovery time is three to six weeks, according to the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, although Smith has returned sooner from injuries in the past. The injury occurred with just over a minute remaining in Saturday's win against Ole Miss, and Smith needed help to get off the court and into the locker room. Howland said he was "kicking" himself for leaving Smith in the game that late, but he wanted to make sure the score remained distant as the Bulldogs try to boost an NCAA Tournament resume. Smith has faced plenty of injuries this season. He missed the beginning of the campaign as he recovered from a stress fracture in his foot. Shortly after his return, a fractured pinky toe held him out again. Without Smith, Garrison Brooks will likely start at center. Javian Davis' role also will increase. |
| Hundreds take to streets of Starkville for Frostbite races | |
| With less than a year of distance running under his belt, Dawson Tackitt was ready to test his young legs in the Frostbite 5K on Saturday morning in Starkville. "I've been doing a bunch of 2-miles," the 12-year-old from Tupelo said. "I thought it would be pretty cool to run here." Tackitt, or at least his parents, Kevin and Lesley, are part of the reason race co-coordinators Brad Jones and Wes Gordon changed the course of the races when they took over a few years ago. Back when Oktibbeha County Hospital organized the Frostbite Half-Marathon, the race began in Pheba and took Route 389 into Starkville "The hospital stepped away from it, and we were going to try and make this a Starkville event and draw people to Starkville," Jones said. "For people that aren't familiar with Starkville, it gives people a reason to visit a college town when they might not have another reason to come here." That certainly applies to Kevin Tackitt, a Mississippi State graduate who doesn't get back to Starkville too often. But with his young son in the early stages of running, and Dawson ready to tackle longer races, the Frostbite 5K brought him back. "It's three distances, 5K, 10K and half-marathon," Jones said. "You can see all different parts of Starkville and the (MSU) campus. The half will take you through the historic district of Starkville and out on the campus, through the Cotton District and then finish running down Main Street." In the main event, Starkville's Jay McCurdy, 37, beat out 20-year-old Carter Campbell, the older brother of the 5K winner, by 2 seconds to win the half-marathon. McCurdy, who acknowledged he does not run competitively often, crossed the line in 1:18:01 to edge his younger neighbor. |
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