| Friday, February 4, 2022 |
| How America Saved Millions of Dogs -- By Moving Them | |
 | The dusty white cargo plane stood out among the gleaming corporate jets, as did its passengers: 48 barking dogs, newly arrived at the private air terminal at Hanscom Field, outside of Boston. They had left Mississippi that morning with their health certificates taped to their kennels. All week, the staff at Oktibbeha County Humane Society (OCHS), in Starkville, Miss., had been getting them ready, giving them their shots, testing their temperaments, and color-coding each crate for its destination: red for Second Chance Animal Services in North Brookfield, Mass.; gray for the Animal Rescue League of Boston; and blue for the MSPCA, an independent animal-welfare organization. These pipelines of adoptable animals -- primarily, but not exclusively, moving from south to north -- have become a cultural phenomenon in their own right, and a key part of a broader transformation of companion-animal welfare. OCHS occupies a tidy brick house on the industrial edge of Starkville, the thriving home of Mississippi State University. Inside, every inch is devoted to animals and their care, with barking dogs and prowling cats behind every door and supplies stacked in every corner. Outside, a fenced-in green-grass backyard gives the dogs a place to play. But the social heart is the iron bench on the little porch out front, often busy with chatting veterinary students from the university and volunteers. |
| 'Buddy's Law' makes it through State Legislature's Deadline Day | |
| Senate Bill 2261, also known as "Buddy's Law," made it through Deadline Day. It was almost a year ago that Buddy the Dog was nearly burned to death by a 12-year-old in Tate County. And now there's a bill in the legislature, also known as "Buddy's Law," that could protect both animals and help troubled children. "Buddy's Law" would require psychological evaluations, counseling, and/or treatments for children who torture domesticated cats and dogs - and Senator Angela Hill said it can only do good. "If they're abusing a dog or cat to that degree to where they're going to wind up in youth court, there's a problem. So our goal is to get them help for whatever problem that they have that's causing them to feel like that they need to, you know, do this to a dog or cat," Sen. Hill said. Director of the Justice for Animals Campaign said she's seen a correlation between child animal abusers and repeat offenders. "Statistically, violent criminals, repeat offenders, start out with animals because they're the most vulnerable," Doll Stanley said. But Stanley and Senator Hill said the bill wouldn't just help protect animals. It could actually help change the cycle of violence. "We must have something in our justice system that addresses the need for helping children, before the age of 13, when they could be prosecuted and incarcerated," Stanley said. "If we can get them the medical evaluation that they need and some type of treatment and counseling, hopefully, they would not progress on as a teenager and then later be charged with an adult," Sen. Hill said. |
| House lawmakers pass a bill that would waive college tuition fees for foster students | |
 | Students and youth advocates are hoping lawmakers will pass a bill to create a scholarship program for students in the state's foster care system. They say this would help those who have often faced many hardships throughout their lives. House Bill 1313 would waive tuition and other financial burdens facing students who are in the state's foster care system and would like to enroll in post-secondary education. Students can qualify if they are between 14 and 26 years old, and advocates say it would be transformative in opening doors for these underserved youth and young adults. Scentrellis Dixon of Tupelo is in Mississippi's foster care system and wants to go to Jackson State University. He says the tuition grants he applied for were unsuccessful but hopes this bill can make that dream of higher education a reality. "A lot of us foster youths, we get told that we can't go to college whether it be for things like money, or that they don't think that we're responsible enough. And personally, I believe that with this tuition waiver being in effect, that will take away a lot of the worry and concern people have about foster kids going to college." According to the advocacy group First Place for Youth, only 2% of students in the foster care system attend college or university due to the large cost and little access to financial aid. Andrea Sanders is Commissioner of Mississippi Child Protective Services. She says this bill would empower students to get higher education and begin their careers on a more stable financial foundation. House lawmakers passed the bill unanimously. |
| House passes Mississippi grain Indemnity Act; Ag Commissioner applauds efforts | |
 | The Mississippi Grain Indemnity Act passed the Mississippi House of Representatives on Wednesday. The bill would establish a voluntary Grain Indemnity Trust Fund that would go toward compensating Mississippi growers when grain warehouses and dealers are not able to meet legal obligations to farmers. The bill, HB 1389, passed by a vote of 111-6 and now heads to the Senate for consideration. The legislation was crafted by the task force led by farmers at no cost to taxpayers. Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson applauded the House on the passage of this bill. "House Speaker Philip Gunn took an early interest in this issue after seeing the impact a failed grain warehouse or grain dealer could have on farmers, their community, and the state," said Gipson. "I'm thankful he authored this legislation based on the Task Force's recommendations, and I and many Mississippi farmers thank the entire House for passing this important legislation. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Bill Pigott and Vince Mangold, also deserve praise and thanks for their leadership." Gipson said in a release that the Act would provide payments to any participating agricultural producers in the event there are contract losses due to the failure of a grain dealer that is licensed by the state. The Act also protects those producers in the event of storage losses due to a failure of grain warehouses. "This farmer-driven approach came from the work of the Mississippi Grain Indemnity Task Force chaired by Ted Kendall. The legislation is voluntary and taxpayer funds are not used. I encourage legislators who support this effort by farmers to continue to support this program as it moves through the legislative process," Gipson continued. |
| Mississippi NAACP questions constitutionality of redistricting plan | |
| The state chapter of the NAACP is asking a three-judge federal panel to rule on whether the U.S. House redistricting plan recently approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves is constitutional. The judicial panel will hear further arguments on the issue before ruling. Carroll Rhodes, a Hazlehurst attorney and veteran of many redistricting litigation battles, maintains that the plan approved by the Legislature with a Black majority 2nd District that runs nearly the length of the state along the Mississippi River is not constitutional. He maintains the sprawling district will make it more difficult to elect an African American when Bennie Thompson, the state's sole Black U.S. House member and the 2nd District incumbent, opts not to seek re-election. Rhodes made his argument Wednesday in front a three-judge federal panel that has had jurisdiction of the state's congressional redistricting process since the early 2000s when the Legislature could not agree on a plan. The Legislature also could not agree on a plan 10 years later to redraw the districts to adhere to population shifts ascertained by the 2010 U.S. Census. This year the Legislature did pass a plan, and during Wednesday's status conference in Jackson the panel of judges appeared ready to end its oversight of Mississippi's congressional redistricting. But Michael Wallace, a Jackson attorney representing the Republican Party, agreed with Rhodes that the three-judge panel should maintain jurisdiction long enough to hear the complaints of Rhodes and the NAACP. |
| Statue of racist ex-Gov. Bilbo quietly moved in Mississippi | |
 | A statue of white supremacist former Mississippi Gov. Theodore Bilbo has quietly been moved out of sight in the state Capitol -- a move praised by Black lawmakers who say he never deserved a place of prominence. Bilbo was a Democrat who blasted racist rhetoric. He was governor for the 1916-20 and 1928-32 terms and was in the U.S. Senate from 1935 until his death in 1947. The bronze statue of Bilbo stood prominently at the center of the state Capitol for decades. After the building underwent extensive renovations in the 1980s, the statue was moved to a first-floor committee room. Democratic Rep. Kabir Karriem, a member of the Legislative Black Caucus, said its lingering presence was "very offensive" in a state where nearly 40% of residents are Black. Legislators have been meeting since early January, and it's only in recent days that people have begun noticing Bilbo was nowhere in sight. The statue is approximately life-sized, at 5 feet, 2 inches (158 centimeters). It was not a revered art piece: People sometimes hung their coats or purses on its outstretched arm. House Speaker Philip Gunn said he was unaware the statue had been moved until Thursday, when someone asked him about it. He said he does not know where it is. |
| Where's Bilbo? Statue of racist former governor missing from Capitol | |
| The statue of one of Mississippi's most outspoken segregationist politicians, former Gov. Theodore Bilbo, has quietly been removed from public view in the state Capitol. The bronze, allegedly life-size statue of the diminutive Bilbo, standing with his right hand pointing toward the sky as if delivering one of his fiery speeches, apparently has been missing for the entire legislative session which began Jan. 4, though its disappearance was not noticed by most people until this week. On Thursday, no one would publicly take credit for the removal. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said he did not know the statue had been removed. A spokesperson for the state Department of Finance and Administration referred questions to House members since it was in a House committee room. "I don't have any idea," House Speaker Philip Gunn said Thursday afternoon. "I heard about it at lunch." Gunn said he would investigate. House Pro Tem Jason White, R-West, who chairs the Management Committee that administers House staff and the House's portion of the state Capitol, also said he did not know about the disappearance. Rep. Lee Yancey surmised that the removal of the statue was not an easy task. "He is 5-foot-2 and weighs 1,000 pounds, so he did not go willingly," Yancey, R-Brandon, said. "I don't know anything about it." "I guess it is like where's Waldo," said Rep. Tom Miles, D-Forest. "That is the mystery." Multiple legislators who had attended committee meetings in room 113 this session said they did not realize it was missing. |
| Mississippi ambulance providers fear a system collapse is near | |
| Mississippi's ambulance system is falling apart, pushing more and more workers from a job that was a hard sell even before the pandemic. Several of the state's emergency services leaders told Mississippi Today that while paramedic providers have been troubled for years by an incomplete reimbursement system, low wages and staffing shortages, problems have hit a critical point exacerbated by ongoing hurdles from COVID-19. They're not sure how much longer the system can last before swaths of rural Mississippi are left with limited or no access to paramedics' life-saving care and transportation to hospitals. "A whole bunch of things are converging at one time that we have never seen before," said Clyde Deschamp, a licensed paramedic and director at the Mississippi Healthcare Alliance. "A lot of people are of the opinion that the system is going to crash." Many in the field are desperate to see the system fixed before it busts, and some worry it's too late. The root of the problem is a dwindling number of paramedics and emergency medical technicians struggling to get their numbers up in a stress-ridden field known for high turnover. Mississippi's rural counties, lower wages, and statistically unhealthy and poor populations have created an especially complex and dire reality for Mississippians. Health care worker shortages have been consistent across all disciplines. But the pandemic has highlighted them in a way most Americans hadn't seen before: all-day waits to get into the emergency room or hours spent on stretchers in a hallway. |
| House Expected to Pass $350 Billion Bill to Help U.S. Compete Globally | |
 | The House is poised Friday to approve a sprawling $350 billion initiative to boost U.S. competitiveness with China and other rivals, but differences with the Senate signal struggles ahead in reaching a compromise. The Senate in June passed its $250 billion version of the measure, dubbed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. But House leaders waited until the past few weeks to put together their own package, called the America Competes Act, as Congress wrestled with other spending proposals. The House and Senate competitiveness packages share core elements. Both are aimed at increasing federal support for scientific research and particularly new technologies. Both bills also provide for substantial new federal incentives to help bring advanced semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. -- another bipartisan priority. "Now is the time to invest in U.S. innovation to lead the global economy, uphold and write the rules of the international order, strengthen our global supply chains, and spur domestic high-tech manufacturing of critical technologies like semiconductors and microchips," said Rep. Suzan DelBene (D., Wash.), chairwoman of the moderate New Democrat Coalition. But numerous differences in the House and Senate approaches have emerged in recent weeks. Senate sponsors predicted that many of the House proposals will have to be removed to ensure Senate passage. |
| Republicans stress process for Supreme Court confirmation will be one of 'respect' | |
 | Key Senate Republicans keep signaling their approach to the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation process will be one of "respect" rather than obstruction, to contrast with how they felt Democrats treated former President Donald Trump's high court appointees. Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee who met with President Joe Biden this week, said Thursday that Republicans will scrutinize the qualifications of the pick but "we will treat the nominee with dignity, fairness and respect while we do so." Grassley then went off of his scripted remarks to add that Republican senators need to make it known if they want to meet with the nominee, so that they can't be accused of using that part of the process to be "deliberately delaying consideration of the nominee." That echoes other comments from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other Republicans since liberal Justice Stephen G. Breyer announced he would retire at the end of the court's term. Biden said he would announce a nominee by the end of February, but he will not be able to alter the overall ideological balance of the court, where conservatives now have a 6-3 advantage. There are still members of the Judiciary Committee who could add heat to the confirmation process. Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, a Judiciary Committee member and possibly a 2024 presidential candidate, said to "expect a major battle in the Senate" if Biden picks "a left wing activist" who will agree with the president's vaccine mandates or immigration policies. |
| States seek to protect election workers amid growing threats | |
| Lawmakers in a handful of states are seeking greater protections for election officials amid growing concerns for their safety after they were targeted by threats of violence following the 2020 presidential election. Widespread threats against those who oversee elections, from secretaries of state to county clerks and even poll workers, soared after former President Donald Trump and his allies spread false claims about the outcome of the presidential election. "Corrupt secretaries will all hang when the stolen election is revealed" is just one example of the vitriol that has come from social media, emails and phone messages. Even in Vermont, where the outcome wasn't disputed, election workers have faced threats. A caller to the secretary of state's office said in 2020 that a firing squad would target "all you cheating (vulgarity)," and "a lot of people are going to get executed." To counter the threats, lawmakers have introduced bills so far in Vermont and several other states, including Illinois, Maine, New Mexico and Washington, all of which have legislatures controlled by Democrats. Much of the legislation would create or boost criminal liability for threats and, in Illinois, for assaults against election workers. More legislation is possible, as election officials warn that the ongoing attacks endanger democracy and that many election workers have quit or are considering doing so because of the abuse they have faced since the 2020 election. A survey of local election officials commissioned by the Brennan Center last April found one in three felt unsafe because of their job and one in six said they had been threatened. Trump has continued to promote his false claims that the election was stolen from him, despite no evidence of the type of widespread fraud that would be needed to question the outcome, in which President Joe Biden won by more than 7 million votes. |
| GOP Sen. Cassidy questions RNC censure of Kinzinger, Cheney | |
 | Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is questioning why the Republican National Committee (RNC) is moving to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), prominent critics of former President Trump who are both serving on the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. "The RNC is censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they are trying to find out what happened on January 6th," Cassidy wrote in a tweet. "HUH?" Cassidy is one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump for his actions ahead of the mob attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. Trump and Jan. 6 itself have badly divided the GOP as Trump continues to wield enormous influence within the party. Kinzinger is leaving the House at the end of his term, while Cheney is facing a primary opponent supported by the former president. Cheney also was kicked out of the House Republican leadership team. n the Senate, the divisions over Trump have been more muted than those in the House, but Trump has repeatedly criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). McConnell did not vote to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, but did starkly criticize the former president in a floor speech for his actions. The RNC is expected to consider the resolution to censure the two Republicans at its winter meeting on Friday. |
| 'Ground up and spit out': Inside the Hill staffer Instagram rebellion | |
 | Pay so low that aides survive on food stamps. Office cultures that drive committed employees to seek mental health support. Staffers of color feeling cut off from pursuing senior roles. A deluge of anonymous Instagram posts is pulling back the curtain on the ugly secrets of how the Hill treats its most vulnerable workers. An anonymously run account, known as "Dear White Staffers," has exploded in popularity and is dragging longstanding problems with staff diversity, paltry pay and punishing hours into the light. It comes at a time when there's also active, bipartisan efforts to shift Capitol culture, but clearly not fast enough for the staffers who take the brunt of the worst workplace behaviors. The problems are deeply entrenched, aides say, and there's little confidence in the institution's ability or willingness to support its employees. "Capitol Hill is staffed by the kid in the front row that has their hand up. They want to serve," said one former House staffer, granted anonymity to speak candidly, who has submitted a personal story to the Instagram account. "And then they get ground up and spit out." The account's unfiltered, unvetted and seemingly endless content has become a must-read for aides in a town always hungry for rumor and gossip -- for two very different reasons. Some devour the messages as a form of therapy that helps them feel understood while also providing relevant information on offices and bosses to avoid. Others monitor it defensively, worried their office or boss is being anonymously maligned and they'll have a mess to clean up. Still others read it for both reasons, simultaneously. |
| Russia, China push back against US in pre-Olympics summit | |
| The leaders of Russia and China pushed back against U.S. pressure on Friday, declaring their opposition to any expansion of NATO and affirming that the island of Taiwan is a part of China, as they met hours before the Winter Olympics kicked off in Beijing. Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping issued a joint statement highlighting what it called "interference in the internal affairs" of other states, as both leaders face criticism from Washington over their foreign and domestic policies. "Some forces representing a minority on the world stage continue to advocate unilateral approaches to resolving international problems and resort to military policy," it read, in a thinly veiled reference to the U.S. and its allies. The two leaders are looking to project themselves as a counterweight to the U.S.-led bloc, as China growingly shows support for Moscow in its dispute with Ukraine that threatens to break out into armed conflict. China and Russia are committed to "deepening back-to-back strategic cooperation," Xi was quoted as telling Putin. Putin is the highest-profile guest at the Beijing Games following the decision by the U.S., Britain and others not to send officials in protest of China's human rights abuses and its treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. The discussions mark their first in-person meeting since 2019 and come as China and Russia increasingly align their foreign policies bilaterally and in world bodies such as the United Nations, in opposition to the Western bloc and other major powers. |
| Economy added 467,000 jobs in January despite omicron surge, unemployment rose to 4% | |
 | U.S. employers unexpectedly added a booming 467,000 jobs in January even as COVID's omicron variant kept millions of Americans out of work. The unemployment rate, which is calculated from a different survey of households, rose from 3.9% to 4%, the Labor Department said Friday. Unemployment, however, rose for an encouraging reason. About 1.4 million Americans streamed into a favorable labor market. The share of adults working or looking for jobs increased sharply from 61.9% to 62.2%, though that's still well below the pre-COVID mark of 63.4%. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated a modest 150,000 jobs were added last month but many projected an outright decline. Even more encouraging: Job gains for November and December were revised up by a whopping 709,000, more than doubling what were weak average monthly advances of 224,000 during that period to 578,000. The upgrade reveals an economy and labor market that were much more resilient than believed toward the end of 2021 as omicron emerged. The big jump in the labor force -- which includes people working and looking for jobs -- despite omicron suggests Americans who have been fearful of the virus, caring for their children or living off stimulus checks or other aid may finally be returning to a robust labor market "The ease of finding a better job, the rising wages, and perhaps the (expiration) of the child tax credit last month might have incentivized would be workers," says economist Kathy Bostjancic of Oxford Economics. |
| GEER Fund Summer Grant Program is offering one-time grant for students | |
 | The state of Mississippi and Mississippi University for Women are "GEER"ing up to help students whose college careers were postponed by the pandemic. The Governor's Emergency Educational Relief or GEER Fund Summer Grant Program is offering a one-time grant for students who were affected by the pandemic to stay on track for graduation. GEER will make supplemental grants of up to one thousand dollars available to continuing college students for the Summer 2022 Term. The GEER grants are only available to Mississippi residents, and there are other criteria that must be met, including the student must be a true, continuing student with at least 12 hours of College courses as of Fall 2021, and have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0. These and other requirements can be viewed at https://www.msfinancialaid.org/geer/ The deadline to apply is April 30th. |
| Retired Rust College librarian lives life creating, preserving Black milestones | |
 | For her entire life, Anita Walton Moore has been a creator and preserver of history. It's her calling. "I don't mind it," Moore said. "I never thought that I would live to be 82 ... and I'm still doing everything that I did at 16." The Byhalia native worked at the Leontyne Price Library of Rust College from 1967 to her retirement in June 2021, moving up from an assistant librarian to library director. In 1969, she became the first Black person to receive a masters degree in library science from the University of Mississippi. In her lifetime, Moore has been both a documentarian of and participant in the Mississippi's civil rights movement. She's stood alongside groups like the Council of Federated Organizations and the NAACP, and has witnessed firsthand the expansion of Black rights in the state. Moore has written and published multiple books and poetry, her most recent being "Tower of Hope: The History of Rust College Founders and Presidents, 1866-2020," and has served a number of notable leadership roles, including a position on the Library Board of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) evaluation team for over 30 thirty years as a library evaluator. Her award-winning career includes receiving the Mississippi Humanities Council Teachers Award in 2006 for presenting the documentary "The Travels of a Librarian" and appearing in the PBS documentary "Civil Rights Voting Registration," according to "Tower of Hope." Throughout a storied life and prestigious career, Moore has largely been driven by a single goal: To care for others. |
| U. of Alabama trustees vote to add Autherine Lucy's name to Graves Hall | |
 | The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees voted Thursday to amend the name of Graves Hall on the UA campus to Lucy-Graves Hall. "Dr. Autherine Lucy Foster is a continuing testament to courage, tenacity and compassion," said Judge John England Jr., a trustee emeritus who chaired the board's Building Names Working Group. "Her bravery opened the door for students of all races at The University of Alabama to achieve their dreams. We are honored to recognize her lasting legacy." Sixty-six years ago, Autherine Lucy Foster became the first African American student to enroll at the University of Alabama, where she hoped to earn her master's degree in education. She took classes at Graves Hall, sometimes having to shelter in a tunnel leading to the building's annex to avoid violence from white mob of students and residents, who had surrounded the building to protest her enrollment, until officials expelled her for her safety on her third day of classes. The building, which houses the College of Education, will still bear the last name of Bibb Graves, a former Grand Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan who used his position to gain political power. He became governor of Alabama during the Great Depression and sponsored several educational and social reforms, later denouncing the Klan in the late 1920s. The name change was recommended by the board's Building Names Working Group, which was convened in June 2020 to conduct a comprehensive review of named buildings, structures and spaces on UA System campuses. So far, at least five additional buildings on the Tuscaloosa campus with racist namesakes have been renamed by the group. |
| U. of Alabama makes available digital version of 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' | |
 | The University of Alabama has made available a digitized version of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail." The 21-page letter, which was addressed to a group of Alabama clergymen in 1963, is King's famous answer to his moderate critics, written from his jail cell on scraps of paper and in the margins of newspapers, which he had passed on to his lawyers. "It is significant that the letters were sent to clergymen who were moderates at that time," said Lorraine Madway, a professor and associate dean for UA library's special collections, in a news release. "The thrust of much of this letter is to criticize those who were advocating moderation at a time when the struggle demanded direct action -- direct nonviolent action." UA came in possession of one of those letters in 2006, when Ann Higginbotham, the wife of the Rev. Joe Higginbotham, a Methodist minister from Centre, donated his copy to the university. Madway said the digitized letter, available at https://bit.ly/3rmm0ZT, offers readers a chance to directly experience its impact. "King is an effective persuader," she said. "He is saying to the clergymen that what I'm sharing with you is steeped in Christian and Jewish teachings. He's quoting the Hebrew Bible as well as New Testament material and saying, 'You are clergymen, but you're not honoring your own tradition.' " King spent 11 days in the Birmingham City Jail, including time in solitary confinement. He wasn't allowed to make a phone call. The Kennedy administration intervened on his behalf, since his wife, Coretta Scott King, had recently given birth. |
| Anming Hu, professor falsely accused of espionage, reinstated by U. of Tennessee | |
 | More than two years after he was falsely accused of espionage by the U.S. government, Anming Hu is back on the payroll at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. The nanotechnology expert returned to UT this week with tenure, Hu's lawyer Phil Lomonaco told Knox News on Thursday. He received $300,000 worth of funding to restart his research program and has been provided with lab space similar to what he had before. "I feel it's exciting," Hu said in a phone interview Thursday with Knox News. "It's a new beginning. Even though I suffered a lot -- it's still painful in my heart -- and the damage with my reputation, to my family, I think we have to move on. Very important things that we learn the lesson from the past and I don't want to waste the time. I came to the U.S. to build my career and to contribute to the university, to the state, to the country. So I have no problem moving on. I don't want to stick on the past." Hu was prosecuted last year on fraud charges related to his interactions with a China-based university after the FBI's espionage case against him fell apart. UT fired him as he fell under what turned out to be an unfounded suspicion of espionage, and has been fighting to get his job back since a federal judge threw out fraud charges against him in September 2021. "All steps needed to resolve his immigration status were completed on Thursday, January 27," Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor John Zomchick and Tickle College of Engineering Dean Matthew Mench wrote in an email to faculty and staff in the engineering college. "Dr. Hu was immediately reinstated with an effective date of February 1. Working with Dr. Hu, we have developed a plan to help him re-establish his research program in nanomanufacturing." |
| Maurice Gipson grilled on Critical Race Theory, equity training by U. of Missouri System curators | |
 | Maurice Gipson, University of Missouri vice chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, on Thursday received pointed questions from members of the UM System Board of Curators over hot-button topics. In his report to the board Thursday, Gipson listed goals for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The goals include DEI training to provide a shared understanding of common diversity and inclusion topics. Another goal is inclusive employee recruitment practices that start with choosing a search committee. A third goal is inclusive teaching practices. Mo Dehghani, chancellor of Missouri University of Science & Technology, said he was surprised by the response he received from an email to faculty during the week of Martin Luther King Day. "To my surprise, I got a number of pushbacks purely on the term 'equity' instead of 'equality,'" Dehghani said. He answered the first few thoughtfully and carefully, but they continued to come, he said. "Equality means everyone has the same access," Gipson said, adding that equity means allowing some to catch up to have the same access. Some people just want to "poke holes" in terminology, Gipson said. Board chairman Darryl Chatman, who is Black, asked if there was any intersection between Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practices. "The short answer is 'no,'" Gipson said. "We don't use Critical Race Theory as the lens through which we deliver our DEI training." |
| U. of Missouri System generates $6.5 billion for the state, study shows | |
 | The University of Missouri System generated $6.5 billion in economic impact to the state last year, according to a study presented Thursday to the Board of Curators. The study examined not just UM System's direct spending, such as maintaining operations and paying employees, but also the indirect and induced impact, or the various ways dollars stemming from the universities are respent within local and state economies. "It really shapes the narrative of what people perceive, what they really understand and what the reality is of the value of higher education and investment by the citizens of the state of Missouri," Marshall Stewart, vice chancellor for extension and engagement, said after the meeting. The curators met online because the MU campus was closed due to winter weather in Columbia. For the report, the nationally known consulting firm Tripp Umbach collected data from the system's four universities, highlighting research, academic medicine, athletics and the MU Extension program during fiscal year 2021. The fiscal year ran from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. "We're measuring not just the rock hitting the pond, which is the operations of the university and the attraction power," said Paul Umbach, founder and president of Tripp Umbach. "We're also measuring all the ripples." In addition to the $6.5 billion impact, more than 69,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs were supported and sustained by the universities within Missouri. State and local taxes generated $366.5 million. |
| Clemson students, faculty sign petition asking to end university's mask mandate | |
| A student-led petition at Clemson University has made its way to President Jim Clements' front door. Students are calling on the university to end the mask mandate which requires masks to be worn inside all University buildings statewide for all persons until further notice. Out of approximately 24,000 students and faculty at Clemson, 252 have signed the petition. A letter addressed to Clements from junior Fish Belk expressing his lack of trust in Clements' and university leadership was taped on his door. "You and your leadership have proven to be untrustworthy for several reasons, the primary being the complete lack of transparency regarding leadership decision-making," Belk said in the letter. He also noted that during the First Lady's Gala at the Madren Center, Clements and a majority of other attendees were maskless. He said that the display at the gala "has shaken the trust of the student body and demonstrates a hypocritical leadership approach." The University responded, standing by its protocols and mentioning that they are currently reviewing the protocols. "As the semester began, Clemson provided COVID guidance including requirements for masks and testing while ensuring classes would remain in-person. University leadership committed to reviewing protocols after three weeks of classes, a time period we've just entered this week," said Clemson spokesperson Joe Galbraith. "With data and information gathered over the beginning of in-person instruction, we anticipate providing updated guidance in the very near future." |
| Colleges Send Mistaken Acceptances Every Year. Why Does This Keep Happening? | |
 | For many students, it all comes down to a simple email. Accepted or rejected. Scholarship or no scholarship. But what happens when the email is wrong? In just the last month, two Michigan colleges sent out mistaken offers. Due to "human error," 5,500 already admitted students were told they had received $12,000-per-year, four-year scholarships at Oakland University. Central Michigan University told 58 students they were the recipients of an award that covers full tuition, room and board, and money toward books, plus $5,000 for studying abroad. Mistaken acceptances or scholarship offers are nothing new. In 2009, 28,000 students received a mistaken email saying they had been accepted to the University of California at San Diego. In 2016, 130 hopeful Tulane University applicants were mistakenly welcomed as students and even given university email addresses. Mistakes like those can leave plenty of hurt feelings in their wake. So why do they persist across the decades? "When you are working with lots of names, and addresses, and communicating often to different sets of students with different academic or programmatic interests, there is the chance for error," said Jay Blanton, a University of Kentucky spokesperson, in an email. "That's why it is important to build in redundancy and different check points in the system so that there isn't only one person checking the data or only one person making sure that names are being matched with the appropriate communication." In April, Kentucky accidentally sent out acceptance letters to 500,000 high-school seniors. The accident led university officials to quickly apologize and create a landing page for anyone with questions. |
| How colleges are using MacKenzie Scott's money | |
 | Twice in 2020 and once in 2021 the billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott surprised colleges unaccustomed to multimillion-dollar gifts -- among them community colleges, tribal colleges and historically Black colleges and universities -- with bigger gifts than they've ever gotten. Five million dollars for this college, $30 million for that one, up to $50 million in unrestricted dollars for university leaders to use as they saw fit. In announcing many of the gifts, Scott -- who also gave to a number of other higher education and scholarship-granting nonprofit organizations -- said she was accelerating her giving in response to the crisis wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. She said she asked her advisers to identify organizations "with strong leadership teams and results, with special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital." Several college officials said they believed Scott's decision to help their institutions had helped attract other large gifts. A spokeswoman for Tougaloo College, a private historically Black college in Mississippi, said the college "garnered numerous unexpected by-products from private donors" as a result of Scott's gift, including $2.75 million for scholarships from anonymous donors, a $1 million gift from TikTok for scholarships for students pursuing health-care careers, and a $1 million gift from Gilead Sciences to support social justice programming and student support. |
| Public higher ed could see a windfall in fiscal 2023 | |
| Two years into the pandemic, state revenues have for the most part made strong recoveries, easing fears that COVID-19 could plunge the public higher education sector into a cycle of budget cuts akin to those prompted by the 2008 recession. Federal assistance from the three stimulus packages buoyed college and university funding even as states slashed higher education budgets -- cuts they later reversed. As governors and state legislatures work out their budgets for the fiscal year that begins in July, experts agree: states are flush and higher education will likely reap the benefits. "We're seeing states have fairly sizable budget surpluses that have allowed higher education agencies and state higher education systems to make more ambitious requests than they have in other years," said Tom Harnisch, vice president for government relations at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. The Education Commission of the States, an agency that tracks education policy, is monitoring governors' State of the State addresses this year. Of the 28 addresses the commission has reviewed, 23 have mentioned issues related to education funding or finance, Zeke Perez Jr., a senior policy analyst at the commission, wrote in a brief for Inside Higher Ed. Not every state is looking at an increase to higher education appropriations, however. In his budget proposal, Florida governor Ron DeSantis outlined $1.3 billion for state colleges and $2.7 billion for state universities, reflecting a $100 million decrease in funding for the universities. |
| Senators Klobuchar, Cassidy, and Colleagues Urge Senate to Tackle Hazing on Campuses | |
| U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Bill Cassidy, led five other Senators to write a January 2022 letter pressing Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair and Ranking Member Patty Murray and Richard Burr to address hazing on college campuses in future legislation about mental and behavioral health. "Studies have shown that hazing can intersect with concerning behaviors like high-risk substance use, sexual harassment and assault, and other forms of violence," wrote the senators in the letter. "Hazing is often overlooked and unreported, but its impact on student wellbeing and interpersonal violence is too devastating to ignore." The letter also pointed out that alleged hazing incidents have led to five deaths in 2021 alone. Senators Bob Casey, Raphael Warnock, Angus King, Sherrod Brown and Dianne Feinstein, signed the letter along with Klobuchar and Cassidy. In March 2021, Klobuchar and Cassidy released the bipartisan Report and Educate About Campus Hazing (REACH) Act, which would mandate that hazing incidents be included in a college's annual crime report. The Act would also require hazing to be defined to clarify what makes up a reportable offense. In addition, REACH would mandate institutions create a campus-wide, research-based program to educate students about hazing. |
| What College Students Really Think About Cancel Culture | |
| Every couple of months it seems the news features another college-campus free-speech incident. In 2021, for instance, a University of Rochester professor was suspended after quoting texts that contained a racial slur; MIT canceled a lecture by a speaker who'd criticized diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; and a handful of students across the country felt they were kept out of campus leadership positions due to their conservative beliefs. Because of events like these, many political commentators write about the threat to academic freedom with an end-of-times urgency. State legislators have introduced roughly 81 bills since 2019 aimed at protecting free speech on campuses, according to Joe Cohn, the legislative and policy director at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). And last June, two House Republicans launched a committee called the Campus Free Speech Caucus based on the claim that "the First Amendment is under attack on campuses across the country" and that "every day, students and faculty are forced to self-censor out of fear that they will be 'canceled' by the mob." Though self-censorship is a problem in academia -- more than 80 percent of college kids say that they self-censor at least some of the time, according to one study -- not all students agree with the adults who are catastrophizing. "I wouldn't call this speech suppression," said Matthew Metrick, a white student at the University of Michigan who describes his politics as issue-based. "I don't think there's a deliberate wave of average liberal organizations [trying] to suppress conservative voices." Instead, Metrick told me, "I think it's a question of open minds ... The biggest problem is preconceived notions." |
SPORTS
| For Mississippi State baseball, 'flushing' 2021 championship will be easier said than done | |
 | Mississippi State pitcher Preston Johnson has a two-word answer when asked how to think about the Bulldogs' 2021 College World Series title with a new season coming soon. Forget it. "We're national champions, but we're also the 2022 Mississippi State baseball team," Johnson said. "What we did last year was nice. We've got to build on that, but we've also got to forget it and move on to try to get back there." That's not always so easy after the first team national title in school history. Off the field, Bulldogs players and coaches are bombarded by congratulatory fans. On the outfield wall at Polk-Dement Stadium, the words "national champions" are inscribed in maroon and white. It's one of many reminders of what Mississippi State accomplished not that long ago. "It still doesn't feel real to me," outfielder Brad Cumbest said. "I look out at the sign out there in right center field, and I'm like, 'Wow. We did that.'" MSU certainly did. The Bulldogs pounded Vanderbilt in back-to-back games to claim the CWS crown, capping a two-week run to the national title. They received unforgettable performances from pitchers Will Bednar and Landon Sims, clutch hitting from Tanner Allen and Co. and error-free defense the whole way through. |
| Mississippi State picks up road win against Auburn, extends winning streak to three | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball (14-7, 5-4 SEC) extended its winning streak to three games Thursday night with a 70-65 win at Auburn (9-12, 1-9 SEC). It wasn't a smooth start -- or a particularly smooth game throughout -- as MSU fell behind by nine in the opening five minutes due to an 11-0 Auburn run. But State immediately answered, thanks to its defense, and kept pace the remainder of the game. Mississippi State held Auburn scoreless for the final 5:15 of the first quarter to ignite 12-0 run of its own to take a lead at the end of the frame. From there, MSU continued what has created success throughout the three games since Rickea Jackson entered the transfer portal 10 days ago. The 3-point shooting showed up once again. State entered the night shooting 29.4 percent from deep -- 12th in the SEC. But against the Tigers, the Bulldogs shot 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from deep and are now shooting 30-of-53 (56.6 percent) from deep in their past three games. "We've had some good looks before, but the quality of the shot is directly related to the quality of the pass," interim head coach Doug Novak said. "And it's not just one pass. It's the pass that leads to the assist. What we've all been able to see is that we're making the passes that lead to assists as opposed to only one pass and we either gotta make that shot or we don't. The pressure is taken off." |
| Mississippi State women overcome another hole in lineup for road victory | |
| Anastasia Hayes scored 26 points, and JerKaila Jordan added 18 as the Mississippi State women's basketball team won its third consecutive game, 70-65 over Auburn on Thursday night before a crowd of 1,924 in Auburn, Alabama. It was another clutch performance after yet another setback for the Bulldogs, now 14-7 on the season and 5-4 in the Southeastern Conference. Freshman Denae Carter, who had established herself as a vital presence inside, went down with a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear during the win against Texas A&M on Sunday. The return of Raven Farley and progression of Charlotte Kohl helped fill the gap in the first game without Carter, but it was the guard play that once again got the Bulldogs going on offense. Anastasia Hayes has now scored at least 22 points in each of the three consecutive wins, taking over as the team's primary scorer since Rickea Jackson went into the transfer portal. Against Auburn, sister Aislynn Hayes provided a crucial 9 points off the bench. The game started slowly for the Bulldogs, and a few mental errors cost them possessions and points in the first half as they went into the break up only 29-28. An explosive third quarter gave them a 10-point lead going into the fourth, but Auburn did enough to stick around right until the end. Time after time the Tigers pulled close, but right as it seemed momentum was going the other way the Bulldogs found the right shot. The Bulldogs return home for a Feb. 10 game against Florida, followed by another game at Humphrey Coliseum when Ole Miss visits Starkville on Feb. 13. |
| Mississippi State looking to end its road woes with rematch against Arkansas looming | |
| The home stretch has arrived for SEC play as Mississippi State has reached the portion of its schedule where rematches become a factor. MSU's trip to Arkansas on Saturday (7:30 p.m. SEC Network) won't be the first time State has faced a familiar foe a second time. Mississippi State faced Ole Miss twice in two weeks last month and split the meetings. ut four of MSU's next seven games will be against teams they will have already faced – Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri and South Carolina. State plays Missouri twice in three days in late February, so that is an exception for now. But among the three others MSU has already played this season, State has beaten them all. Arkansas, Alabama and South Carolina will be looking for revenge. However, when Arkansas looks back on its 81-68 loss at State in late December, two key pieces play different roles now. In that first matchup, Arkansas was without its leading scorer in JD Notae, who averages 19 points per game. It is the lone game Arkansas played without him this year, and it sparked a rough stretch even in his return. Arkansas lost at home against Vanderbilt and at Texas A&M following its loss in Starkville. The Razorbacks sat in the 90s on the NET rankings in mid-January following that poor stretch of games – severely below preseason expectations for a team coming off an Elite Eight run. And then Arkansas got rolling. "They're the hottest team in the league," Howland said following Tuesday's win against South Carolina. |
| Mississippi State men head to Arkansas still in search of first road win | |
| Mississippi State handled Arkansas fairly easily when the teams first met at Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs pulled away in the second half to hand the Razorbacks an 81-68 loss on Dec. 29 in Starkville in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. But when they meet again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Fayetteville, plenty will be different -- and not in a good way for MSU. Mississippi State (14-7, 5-3 SEC) will be missing one of its best players. Arkansas (17-5, 6-3 SEC) will have its own star back after he missed the teams' first matchup. The Bulldogs have yet to win on the road; the Razorbacks have won seven straight games. All those storylines don't point to a positive outcome for MSU at Bud Walton Arena, but a lot can happen when the Dawgs and Hogs meet for the second time. Despite Arkansas' superior record and KenPom ranking (No. 31 to MSU's No. 40), the Razorbacks are projected to win by just four points, giving the Bulldogs more than a fighting chance in their fourth SEC road game. Mississippi State will try to use the recipe for a victory it followed more than a month ago, forcing 17 turnovers and winning the offensive glass. The Bulldogs remain one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the country (No. 17) and found success even against an Arkansas team ranked 15th in keeping opponents off the offensive boards. |
| Men's Tennis: No. 19 Bulldogs Earn Doubleheader Victories | |
| William Shakespeare penned a play entitled "All's Well That Ends Well" in 1623. Mississippi State's men's tennis team could certainly relate to the title of that classic during their doubleheader on Thursday. The 19th-ranked Bulldogs (5-1) began the day by dropping the doubles point to Memphis only to battle back and earn the win with four singles victories for a 4-1 win over the Tigers. MSU then shutout its second opponent, North Alabama, 4-0 for a twin bill sweep inside the Rula Tennis Pavilion. Alberto Colas and Carles Hernandez were the only Bulldog doubles tandem to pick up a win against Memphis (3-2), defeating the Tiger duo of Pablo Alemany Malea and Harry Rock, 6-4. Nemanja Malesevic and Davide Tortora came close to claiming the crucial doubles point for State but fell 7-6(5) to Oscar Cutting and Patrick Sydow. "Losing doubles takes a lot of energy from you," Malesevic said. "Dade and I were the last two on the court and it was stressful to lose that, especially having two match points on my serve and double-faulting. But you have to clear your mind after doubles and go after it. I think we did a really good job and I'm proud." The Bulldogs will complete their eight-match homestand on Sunday with a doubleheader against Tennessee Tech beginning at 10 a.m. |
| Softball Releases 2022 Promotional Schedule | |
| Softball returns to Nusz Park on Feb. 16 for Mississippi State's home opener against Alabama State. That will mark the first of 35 home games for the Bulldogs this season. The 2022 season marks the 40th anniversary of MSU's first varsity fastpitch softball game on March 10, 1982. To celebrate, the Bulldogs will reveal a 20-member All-Time Team and will make trading cards for each all-time player available throughout the SEC portion of the schedule. Additionally, State will welcome back the "Ladies of the 80s" on Saturday, March 19 against Ole Miss. A variety of theme nights, many including corresponding giveaway items, are on tap for fans at Nusz Park this year. In addition, MSU has reconstructed and improved The Deck along the outfield wall. A raised rear perch has been added to allow additional fans a viewing platform to see over the remainder of the crowd. The lighting at Nusz Park has also been replaced with state-of-the-art LED panels atop the existing light towers. Most midweek games will feature various musical themes, including Taylor's Version Night, Boy Band Night and 2000s Night. Additional theme games include Military Appreciation Night (Feb. 20), Little League Day (Feb. 26), First Responder Night (March 5), Teacher Appreciation Night (May 6) and Samoan Day (May 7). MSU will once again host The Snowman on Feb. 25-27 to raise awareness of ovarian cancer in honor of the late Alex Wilcox. During The Snowman, fans of the Bulldogs can pick up a punch card for all MSU events over the weekend to earn additional prizes based upon the number of contests they attend. Every Friday of the SEC schedule will offer a chance to play scorecard bingo, and every Sunday will be an opportunity to collect a five-card set of State's All-Time Team trading cards (20 total cards). |
| Mississippi High School Activities Association considers adding Class 7A | |
| The Mississippi High School Activities Association is considering adding a seventh classification, executive director Rickey Neaves confirmed Thursday. The MHSAA executive committee met Thursday to discuss a proposal to add a 7A class. Voting was tabled until April so that Neaves could hammer out some more details, such as how the divisions would look. "The biggest complaint (we get) is the disparity of the number between the smallest 6A school and the largest 6A school," Neaves said. "... We wanted to put together one that would answer their questions that we could live with that might alleviate some of the problems that our schools complain about. That was the whole purpose of doing this." Tupelo is the largest school in the state. When reclassification numbers were released in late 2020, Tupelo had a student enrollment of 1,907. Center Hill, the smallest 6A school, had 1,047 students. Under this proposal, the 24 largest schools in the state would comprise Class 7A. The next 24 would make up 6A, and then 24 in 5A. Classes 4A down through 1A would all have about 40 schools apiece. If the proposal is approved in April, it would take effect with the next round of reclassification, the 2023-24 school year. If the enrollment numbers stay about the same, current area 6A schools Tupelo, Oxford and Starkville would all be part of 7A. |
| Alabama AD Greg Byrne presents plan to UA system board for new arena | |
| Alabama athletics took an important step toward a new arena for basketball and gymnastics. After studying other arenas throughout the country, Crimson Tide athletics director Greg Byrne presented a plan for a new arena to the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees' physical properties committee during a meeting Thursday. "We would recommend potentially constructing a new arena," Byrne said. Byrne also shared a proposal for a $26.8 million golf complex on Thursday. The full board will vote Friday on Stage 1 approval for both the arena and golf complex. That would authorize Alabama to formally proceed with project planning. Alabama would like to have an arena with just under 10,400 seats. The cost would be about $183 million, Byrne said. About $62 million would come from fundraising cash from the Crimson Standard, a capital initiative for Alabama athletics. The rest would come from bonds. The original plan called for "extensive renovation and modernization" for Coleman Coliseum, which opened in 1968. But then Byrne and his staff studied other arenas. They visited Ole Miss, Virginia, Illinois, James Madison, Cincinnati and DePaul. The conclusion they came to was to look into building a new arena. Alabama plans to make sure no student seats are lost in the creation of a new arena --- 2,200 students seats exist right now in Coleman. UA also wants to have students in the lower bowl in the new arena. It would extend about three quarters around the court for what Byrne called maximum impact on the game. |
| Sixteen Penn swimmers say transgender teammate Lia Thomas should not be allowed to compete | |
 | Sixteen members of the University of Pennsylvania women's swimming team sent a letter to school and Ivy League officials Thursday asking that they not take legal action challenging the NCAA's recently updated transgender policy. That updated directive has the potential to prevent Penn swimmer Lia Thomas from competing at next month's NCAA championships, and the letter indicates the 16 other swimmers believe their teammate should be sidelined. Thomas, a transgender woman who swims for the Quakers women's team, competed for the Penn men's team for three seasons. After undergoing more than two years of hormone replacement therapy as part of her transition, she has posted the fastest times of any female college swimmer in two events this season. The letter from Thomas's teammates raised the question of fairness and said she was taking "competitive opportunities" away from them -- namely spots in the Ivy League championship meet, where schools can only send about half of their rosters to compete. "We fully support Lia Thomas in her decision to affirm her gender identity and to transition from a man to a woman. Lia has every right to live her life authentically," the letter read. "However, we also recognize that when it comes to sports competition, that the biology of sex is a separate issue from someone's gender identity. Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women's category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female. If she were to be eligible to compete against us, she could now break Penn, Ivy, and NCAA Women's Swimming records; feats she could never have done as a male athlete." |
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