Friday, February 11, 2022   
 
Ag Commissioner Gipson Kicks-off 2022 Dixie National Sale of Junior Champions
Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson kicked off the 53rd Annual Sale of Junior Champions [Thursday] by recognizing the collaborative efforts of the Mississippi State University Extension Service, FFA, and the Sale of Champions Promotion Committee in making the Sale of Junior Champions a success year after year. The Sale of Junior Champions is one of the highlight events of the Dixie National Livestock Show and Rodeo. During the livestock auction, 4-H and FFA youth livestock exhibitors winning Champion and Reserve Champion in the Junior Round-Up sell their animals through an auction. Commissioner Gipson was joined by Dr. Gary Jackson, Mississippi State University Extension Service Director; Jill Wagner, Mississippi FFA State Advisor; Gary Blair, Chairman of the Sale of Junior Champions Promotion Committee; Billy Jade Chapman, FFA State President; Scotty Lovelace, owner of Harper & Morgan Rodeo; and Phillip Morgan, CEO of Southern AgCredit. Two Sale of Champions Scholarship recipients, Logan Johnson, from the West Lauderdale FFA/Lauderdale County 4-H, and Tatum Madden from the Covington County 4-H, gave remarks on how the livestock program has impacted their lives. "The Dixie National is the largest livestock show and PRCA Rodeo east of the Mississippi River. MSU Extension is always honored to bring over 1,200 4-Hers each year to exhibit their livestock. Youth development is really what the Dixie National Junior Livestock Show is about, and the Sale of Champions is a major highlight of the event. We want to congratulate our youth and express our appreciation to Mississippi's business leaders who make the Sale of Champions and the scholarship program a reality," said Jackson.
 
Submit a podcast, writing, film for Story State 2022
Mississippi State University's (MSU) Communications Department is hosting Story State 2022. The event includes well known Mississippi storytellers as they share meaningful Magnolia state narratives. A contest is also being held for new and original written, oral or filmed stories. Undergraduate students from any public or private university in Mississippi are encouraged to submit their original nonfiction writings, podcasts, or short documentary films. Cash prizes will be awarded to category winners and to the 2022 overall master storyteller. Email submissions to storystate@comm.msstate.edu by Friday, February 11. Winners will be announced at the Thursday, February 24 virtual Story State event.
 
Golden Triangle Theatre drawing more youth, adult participants
Golden Triangle Theatre Director Garrett Torbert said his favorite part of teaching students about the art of live theater is watching his students shine on stage. "Watching them take that leap of faith and watching them go out on stage in front of a large crowd and just do it, is something special," Torbert said. Golden Triangle Theatre is well on its way to bringing live performances to the area. The theater troupe put on its first production in fall 2021, performing a student talent show with only 15 children. With great recruitment efforts, the group expanded to 52 kids for the spring production, which will be a full-scale production May 6-8 of "Beauty and the Beast." Along with children productions, Golden Triangle Theatre also produces adult-aged shows. After auditions, 27 adults from the community will perform "The Pirates of Penzance," a comedic opera, April 22-24 with the Saturday evening show being a dinner theater night. While the troupe is primarily located in Columbus, residents from all across the Golden Triangle participate in Golden Triangle Theatre. Torbert also works with a staff of seven comprised strictly of students from Mississippi State University and the Mississippi University for Women.
 
New contactless parking will soon take over the Cotton District in Starkville
Signs are popping up all over the Cotton District promoting the new parking. They are located from Montgomery Street going east toward the Mississippi State University campus. Mayor Lynn Spruill said this will be an easier way of parking with the ParkMobile app. "It's the group that the university uses, so it'll be an easy transition for students as they come off campus into the Cotton District and the other reason is they didn't have meters," said Spruill. "It is driven by the app on your phone." Parking will last from up to four hours and is a dollar per hour, but the service will be free from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Two MSU students who live in the Cotton District said they are not too happy about the new technology for the parking. "That's really expensive," said student Chatham Kennedy. "That's going to add up especially if you're trying to go out to the District. I know some people leave their cars here on the weekend, so they'll park here and walk to class because they don't want to pay for a parking pass." The contactless parking will begin in mid-March during Spring Break.
 
LINK receives $3.4 million grant to further develop North Star
The Golden Triangle Development LINK has received a $3.4 million grant from the state to further enhance the North Star Industrial Park. The industrial park, located on land north of the Highway 82-Highway 389 intersection, includes mostly undeveloped or agricultural property. With this grant, the park will add a pad-ready site of 50,000 square feet, expandable to 100,000 square feet, LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said. A pad is a plot of land prepared for a structure. "This grant is going to allow us to build a pad-ready site. It will be capable of building a 100,000 square-foot building," Higgins said. "We're going to do a good amount of clearing and grubbing." Higgins said the LINK plans to cut down and clear the area of trees and grub to add the extended pad. Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday the state is investing nearly $25 million into site development projects throughout the state. Grants were made available through the Mississippi Development Authority, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the RESTORE Act to spur economic growth by attracting new industry to shovel-ready sites. Higgins said the state worked with the LINK, asking what would make the park the most competitive, and in turn, granted these dollars to expand the park. Higgins said this grant will allow the park to not only have a major impact on the Golden Triangle, but Starkville as a whole.
 
Mississippi investing nearly $25M in site development
Mississippi is investing nearly $25 million in site development projects statewide, Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday. "Shovel-ready sites are a top priority for companies seeking a new location," Reeves said in a news release. "By investing in these sites today, we are laying a foundation upon which companies can quickly locate, expand and create jobs for future generations of Mississippians." Reeves said the grant funds were made available through the Mississippi Development Authority, Appalachian Regional Commission and the RESTORE Act to assist local economic development entities in their efforts to spur economic growth. Sites eligible for up to $50,000 in funding include drainage improvements at Howard Industrial Park in Jones County; broadband installation in the North Harrison County Industrial Complex in Harrison County and clearing and to design and build an entrance at the U.S. Hwy 98 site in Walthall County. Premier sites, which are eligible to receive up to $250,000 in funding, include engineering and design for an elevated water tank at Panola County Airport Industrial Park and infrastructure improvements at the Smith County Industrial Site. And select sites, eligible to receive anywhere from $346,000 to $3.4 million in funding, include the Belwood Industrial Park in Adams County to complete levee construction and make drainage improvements.
 
More than $9 million coming to Mississippi for development projects on the Coast
Mississippi is doling out $25 million for site development projects across the state, including nearly $9 million for three sites on the Coast, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday. The money comes from grant funding made available through the Mississippi Development Authority, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the RESTORE act. Twenty-two projects -- some new developments and some ready sites -- are receiving money, Reeves said. The three largest projects on the Coast to receive money are projects in Hancock and Harrison Counties that are receiving $8.9 million in RESTORE ACT funds: The Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport is getting $4.18 million, the largest single award, for site development work at a 241-acre economic development site at the airport. The Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission is getting $2,547,940 for engineering/design and site development work at Site #13 at Stennis International Airport. The port is also getting $2.2 million for a Hancock County Tech Park at the Kiln airport. Additionally, MDA is giving the Harrison County Development Commission $28,000 for broadband installation in the North Harrison County Industrial Complex. The Hancock County port is also getting $250,000 for "environmental due diligence" at a site in the Port Bienville Industrial Park near Pearlington.
 
In Mississippi, Life Expectancy Was 6 Years Lower Than Hawaii Pre-Pandemic
Southern states had some of the lowest life expectancies in the country before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reflecting differing lifespans for Americans across regions. Mississippi had the lowest life expectancy at birth in the U.S. in 2019, at 74.4 years, according to the report from National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the CDC. That's more than six years lower than Hawaii's life expectancy of 80.9 years, the highest in the nation. The report, released Thursday, examined life expectancy on a state-by-state level in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic and other causes lowered life expectancy on a national level. West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee followed Mississippi as the five states with the lowest life expectancies in 2019. "Southern states typically have a higher incidence of chronic diseases that lead to death, such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and stroke," said Liz Sharlot, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi State Department of Health. "This is not just a Mississippi problem."
 
Presley: Local utilities may provide power to medical cannabis facilities
A north Mississippi utility regulator says the Tennessee Valley Authority cannot block local utility companies from providing power to medical cannabis facilities. Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, who represents the state's northern district, took issue on Thursday afternoon with a recent statement by the TVA that it would not "not direct federal resources or funds to the cultivation and/or distribution of marijuana." TVA is a federally-owned electric utility corporation that sells power to local and area utility companies, and a small handful of direct customers. Marijuana is still illegal on the federal level, even for medical use. Despite TVA's federal ownership, Presley said on Thursday that local utilities in north Mississippi that buy wholesale power from TVA are obligated by state law to serve all customers. "It is a long-held principle in state law that electric utilities have an obligation to serve customers without discrimination," Presley wrote in his statement. "A licensed medical marijuana facility under Mississippi law is no different." Presley wrote that he believes any licensed medical marijuana facility should be "served with electricity upon application and request." Presley further said that he believed TVA’s previous statement caused some prospective medical cannabis facilities to rethink locating in Northeast Mississippi.
 
Mississippi House votes to end Medicaid contract with health giant Centene
Mississippi representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to essentially end the state's contract with health care giant Centene, an organization that has been investigated by two state agencies for overcharging state taxpayers millions of dollars in pharmacy benefits. During discussion on a separate Medicaid bill, state Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, introduced an amendment that would prohibit the Mississippi Division of Medicaid from contracting with a company that has paid over $50 million in a settlement agreement to the state, which is aimed at Centene. The amendment, which the House adopted, would require the state to contract with a nonprofit entity to provide Medicaid services. "I am for doing away with our business to a company who took $55 million of our money that was supposed to be spent on the poor, the sick, the elderly, the mentally ill, the disabled," Currie said. The bill was held on a motion to reconsider, which means the legislation can continue to be debated. The state Attorney General and State Auditor investigated Centene and its Mississippi subsidiary, Magnolia Health, for around two years for allegedly inflating its bills to the Division of Medicaid, which covers some of the state's most vulnerable residents. Centene settled with the state for $55.5 million. Centene did not admit fault under the agreement.
 
Senate passes bill allowing 3rd graders with low reading assessments to be promoted
The Mississippi Senate passed Senate Bill 2706 which would allow children who do not pass the third grade reading assessment but only score as low as a 2, to proceed to fourth grade with recommendations for the 2021-2022 school year. SB 2076 was created in response to COVID-19 effect on in-school learning and retention in students. Mississippi third graders are scored on a 1-5 scale for the reading gate test. In the past, they needed a 2 was needed to pass, but it has since been elevated to a 3. Students who receive what is considered to be a failing score, a 2, on the reading screener will still be promoted along with the rest of their class. However, those students will be given remedial instruction provided in the literacy-based promotion act. Students who take the remediation courses will still have to pass the reading screener in the 4th grade. Republican Senator, and principal author of the bill, Nicole Boyd of Oxford spoke on the Senate Floor to explain the purpose and origin of the legislation. Boyd spoke with school superintendents and reading interventionalists from schools around state who have requested help for students that didn't have enough time in the classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past three years, students have missed entire semesters of schools, dealt with the transition to online learning and experience inconsistent schooling due to quarantines and other coronavirus-related factors. "They said we simply haven't had the time we need to make sure that these children get there," Boyd said. "But if they can at least make that 2, we think with that summer reading intervention and that minimal [instruction], they think most of these children can be remediated very early." SB 2706 will only be in effect for one year. The aim isn't to lower the standard, but only to change the timeline for interventions.
 
State revokes Express Grain's warehouse licenses
Express Grain Terminals LLC has had its grain warehouse licenses revoked by the Mississippi Department of Agriculture, setting up a likely battle over who owns the soybeans and corn still stored in the company's facilities. In an order issued Thursday, Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson said Express Grain's licenses for grain warehouses in Greenwood, Sidon and Minter City were "fraudulently sought and obtained on the basis of material misrepresentations contained in the applications and accompanying documents." Gipson's ruling comes a week after he held a hearing into the fraud allegedly perpetrated by Express Grain in May 2021, four months before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company had been accused of submitting a doctored audit report as part of its application for renewal of the warehouse licenses. Gipson said that Express Grain hired Horne LLP, an independent auditing firm based in Ridgeland, to perform a combined audit for financial years 2019 and 2020. He said Express Grain received the results on May 20, 2021, and a week later submitted to the Department of Agriculture what the company represented to be the audit. Gipson said the hearing determined that the two documents were not the same but different in several significant ways, including altering the company's operating loss of $20 million to an operating profit of $162,000, as well as the removal of warnings by Horne that the company was in dire financial straits and risked failing on the terms of its loans to UMB Bank of Kansas City, Missouri, Express Grain's largest creditor.
 
USDA draws on critics for equity accountability panels directed by Congress
The former president of a farm workers union will co-chair the Agriculture Department's equity commission that includes the NAACP president, a dairy industry executive and a longtime advocate for Black farmers unfairly forced out of the department during the Obama administration. The commission and a 13-member subcommittee on agriculture announced Thursday include people who have long called for changes at USDA to make it more hospitable for small and minority agricultural producers. The department said a subcommittee on the rural community and economic development will be announced in the future. "This Commission will support our work to build a USDA that does not ignore or leave anyone behind .... as we dismantle barriers that historically underserved communities have faced in accessing USDA programs and services," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. The department announced a 15-member commission to be led by Arturo Rodríguez, who headed the United Farm Workers for 25 years, and Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh to carry out a congressional directive to examine USDA policies and programs for racial equity. "We are serious about our efforts to end discrimination across all areas of the Department," Bronaugh said in a statement. Other commission members include Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP; Rick Smith, president and CEO of Dairy Farmers of America; and Shirley Miller Sherrod, executive director of Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education Inc., and a Black former USDA official forced out of the department in 2010 because of a heavily edited video that wrongly implied that she had discriminated against a white farmer before joining the Agriculture Department.
 
Biden administration plan calls for $5 billion network of electric-vehicle chargers along interstates
The Biden administration laid out plans Thursday for a $5 billion network of electric vehicle chargers along interstate highways, aiming to boost confidence in battery-powered cars by ensuring drivers can always find somewhere to plug in. The money, included in last year's infrastructure legislation, will be shared over five years among states, which are likely to hire private companies to install and operate the charging network. Officials say the federal funding is aimed at standardizing charging systems so drivers have an experience comparable to finding a gas station on a road trip. It is one of the most significant investments in the $1 trillion infrastructure law aimed at reducing carbon emissions from transportation and a steppingstone toward the administration's goal of having half of new cars be battery-powered or plug-in hybrids by 2030. "We are modernizing America's national highway system for drivers in cities large and small, towns and rural communities, to take advantage of the benefits of driving electric," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. The administration says the money is the largest investment of its kind, yet it still represents a fraction of the estimated $39 billion cost of building a public charging system by 2035. Electric vehicles are a tiny fraction of annual sales and establishing a viable network of chargers -- the administration wants 500,000 -- is widely seen as a vital step to convince more Americans to switch out their gas-powered cars. But it's a job that must account for the needs of apartment and rowhome dwellers, who can't charge on their driveway, and people traveling through rural areas, where electric grids might struggle to meet demand.
 
Nearly 60 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden's job performance: poll
Nearly 60 percent of Americans disapprove of President Biden's job performance as his approval rating sinks even further, according to a new CNN poll released Thursday. Fifty-eight percent of Americans said they disapprove of Biden's performance, while only 41 percent approved. The same poll in December found that 49 percent of Americans approved and 51 percent disapproved of Biden. In the new survey, only 36 percent of independents and 9 percent of Republicans approved of the job Biden is doing. Eighty-three percent of Democrats still approve of Biden, but that's a drop from 94 percent from last summer. In a sign of how tough it could be to turn the tide, when those who disapproved of Biden were asked to name one thing that they approved of during his tenure, 56 percent could not come up with an answer. The survey is the latest in a string of polls showing Biden's approval plummeting. The administration has been hit with criticism from across the political spectrum over inflation, its handling of the coronavirus, foreign policy and more. It has responded by touting its infrastructure bill and deployment of vaccinations across the country, though those arguments have thus far failed to stop the backslide in Biden's poll numbers. The poor polling has caused Democrats to sound the alarm over the November midterm elections, warning that such low approval ratings could lead to Republicans flipping both chambers of Congress.
 
How Republicans Saw Inflation Coming
If Democrats lose control of Congress in November, it seems safe to say that inflation will be a major reason for their defeat. Consumer prices have risen by 7.5 percent over the last year -- the fastest rate in 40 years. President Biden's approval rating is just 41 percent, according to the latest CNN poll, and it's doubtful those two numbers are a coincidence. Food and gas are more expensive, and voters are upset about it. Rocket science it's not. While Democrats have struggled to deliver a consistent message on the economy, Republicans have been disciplined. Dating back to the spring, they've made inflation the centerpiece of their re-election pitch to voters. And that didn't happen by accident. It began, to no small degree, at the grocery store. Early last year, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, who was then campaigning to become the No. 3 Republican in the House, began to notice that the prices of fruit, bacon, milk and eggs were creeping up. At the time, economists were still debating whether Biden's rescue plan would set off an inflationary spiral. The White House and the Federal Reserve pushed back, insisting that inflation was a "transitory" phenomenon. But Stefanik had a hunch. "I'm the grocery shopper in my family, so I go by my gut," Stefanik told us. As a new mother, she also saw diapers and formula growing more expensive. "And I'll tell you," she added, "babies use a lot of diapers." Stefanik had stumbled on a potent issue, and not just at the ballot box. She rallied her colleagues around a new economic message as she sought to oust Representative Liz Cheney from the leadership role. She said Cheney was "leaving these issues on the table" as chair of the House Republican conference. In a May 12 letter to her colleagues, Stefanik promised to go "on offense" every day.
 
Meat prices have been rising with inflation. But who's benefiting?
The grocery store is arguably where consumers feel inflation most. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, meat costs about 20% more than it did in 2021, and analysts expect prices to keep going up before they come back down. That's great news for meat processing companies like Tyson Foods, which told shareholders Wednesday that it saw double-digit increases in profits and sales in the last quarter and that its operating income was up 40%. Tyson is one of the so-called Big Four meat processing companies, which control about 80% of meat production in the United States. But isn't Tyson feeling the effects of supply chain disruptions and inflation? And what about those ranchers producing the cows or the folks buying it at the grocery store? Just a few miles down the road from Tyson Foods headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, you'll find Wright's BBQ, which is owned and operated by Jordan Wright. He said business is good, but he probably needs to raise his prices soon because of what he's paying for the raw product. Wright knows how meat pricing works better than most -- he used to work at Tyson and gets why it's charging him more. But Stephanie Mercier doesn't as much. The senior policy adviser with the Farm Journal Foundation said that at the shareholder meetings of big meatpackers, they're talking about consumer inflation expectations. "And they were essentially acknowledging in those conversations that they were taking advantage of the general inflation environment to raise their profits," she said.
 
Cage-free chicken campaign scores surprising success
Without much fuss and even less public attention, the nation's egg producers are in the midst of a multibillion-dollar shift to cage-free eggs that is dramatically changing the lives of millions of hens in response to new laws and demands from restaurant chains. In a decade, the percentage of hens in cage-free housing has soared from 4% in 2010 to 28% in 2020, and that figure is expected to more than double to about 70% in the next four years. The change marks one of the animal welfare movement's biggest successes after years of battles with the food industry. The transition has cost billions of dollars for producers who initially resisted calls for more humane treatment of chickens but have since fully embraced the new reality. Pushed by voter initiatives in California and other states as well as pressure from fast food restaurant chains and major grocers, egg producers are freeing chickens from cages and letting them move throughout hen houses. "What we producers failed to realize early on was that the people funding all the animal rights activist groups, they were our customers. And at the end of the day, we have to listen to our customers," said Marcus Rust, the CEO of Indiana-based Rose Acre Farms, the nation's second-largest egg producer.
 
USM study shows investment in quality teaching leads to increased student retention
USM is celebrating increased student retention rates after a recent study about investing in quality teaching. One in every four USM professors is Association of College and University Educators certified. Certified educators use evidence-based practices teaching techniques in the classrooms. "My students are more active in their learning, they're also more independent learners and they feel like they're part of a strong community in my course. I've also learned from ACUE how to structure my course with a deep understanding of how student learning actually works. And all of this is rooted in research," says UMS ACUE certified professor, Dr. Hugh Broome. ACUE certified faculty retain more students, measurably improve student outcomes, and narrow equity gaps in their classrooms. "Dr. Broome's class emphasized active learning by having us solve problems and engage in discussions as a class. He made me feel more motivated to want to keep learning. He gave me feedback that allowed me to see where I was struggling and where I could improve. I really learned how to have a growth mindset," says Briannon Toney, a USM student in Broome's class. The study finds that first-year student retention is 3.7% points higher among students taught by a-cue faculty. There is also a 6.4% increase in passing rates in first-year gateway courses.
 
'We are undeterred': How Mississippi's oldest HBCU responded to the bomb threats
Ivy Taylor was in Jackson on Tuesday, Feb. 1, three hours away from Rust College, the small historically Black college in Holly Springs where she is president. She woke up early to prepare for a meeting of the Mississippi Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. She brushed her teeth and washed her face. Then she got the call. Hours earlier, her chief of staff explained, the campus safety officer on duty had received a bomb threat. There was a device on a campus that was going to go off at noon, the anonymous caller had said before making a derogatory remark about Black people. College security had already swept the campus. The next step, Taylor's chief of staff said, was to notify students, faculty and staff that they needed to shelter-in-place. Taylor's initial thought was, "Oh my god, I'm not there." Then she wondered, "Do we have the local law enforcement able to detect whether it's a real threat or not?" Taylor placed a call to the FBI field office in Jackson while her staff worked to find a nearby jurisdiction that had the technology to detect explosives. Soon, bomb-sniffing dogs were crawling under cars and through bushes on campus. Since January, more than two dozen HBCUs, including all but one in Mississippi, have received bomb threats, leading to cancelled classes and campus lockdowns. So far, all the threats have been unsubstantiated, and the FBI is investigating them as a racially motivated hate crime. Students and faculty at HBCUs have widely viewed the empty threats as an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate them.
 
Utica Institute Museum to officially open
After years of planning and preparation, the Utica Institute Museum at the Utica Campus of Hinds Community College will be officially opening its doors to the public at 2 p.m. on Feb. 17. The grand opening will feature a short program followed by tours of the museum. The museum tells the history of the Utica Institute, founded in 1903 by William Holtzclaw as a place to educate Black citizens. The Utica Institute and then-Hinds Junior College merged in the early 1980s. The Utica Campus is still designated as an HBCU, Historically Black College and University. Museum Co-Director Jean Greene said she has been working on bringing this gem to the Utica Campus as far back as 2003 before she retired as a librarian on the campus. "We plan to make this museum as vital in the HBCU community as any other institution," Greene said. "This is a living, breathing entity." The project received a boost when Greene and Dan Fuller, English instructor on the Utica Campus who later became the museum co-director, wrote a grant that would fund the project. The two began collecting pieces for the museum, reflecting the Utica Campus' unique role, and what was the old Vice President's Home eventually became the museum's permanent home. Renovations began in 2017. The museum held its soft opening in March 2021. Now it is ready for a full opening, an event both Greene and Fuller are excited about.
 
Auburn students express their concerns about inaccessible buildings on campus
The topic of accessibility has become a very popular topic on and around campus. It seems as if, as the topic is mentioned more often, people are becoming more aware of how adverse the town and campus' infrastructure is to those who have physical disabilities. Many students have been thinking of ways to change this. The Advocates for Disabilities Club at Auburn, or ADA, established in Jan. 2020, is a student organization dedicated to spread awareness of disabilities, help solve disability-related issues and create an environment that is welcoming to all. Their meetings often focus on problems the members have observed on campus and around it, as well as discussing solutions and voicing their frustrations with the lack of accessibility on a campus that claims to be inclusive. "Our campus is very beautiful and often historic, which means that accessibility was not even a thought when certain buildings were built," said ADA President Abbey Tucker, a senior in rehabilitation and disability studies. "The older a building is, the less accessible it is." Academic buildings are not the only buildings lacking in accessible features on campus. "Jane B. Moore Field is completely inaccessible to those in wheelchairs, and Jordan-Hare and the Auburn Arena have limited accessible seating and little railing throughout," Tucker continued. "Jane B. Moore Field has accessible seating, but there is no wheelchair ramp for events that take place on the field."
 
A missing sword, Roman coins and bayonet from LSU's history department: Was it an inside job?
Darlene Albritton thinks it was an inside job. Albritton, administrative coordinator for the LSU Department of History, has referred to herself as Nancy Drew lately as she works to solve the mystery of the missing sword -- and Roman coins and World War I era-bayonet. These three random historical items are missing from history professors' offices on the second floor of Himes Hall on campus. There were no signs of forced entry into any of the offices, and all offices were behind at least two sets of locked doors. "Whoever took the sword had to have a key to the main office of the history department," Albritton said. "Where did this person get a key? How did they know there was a sword in there? Could it be someone who comes in the early morning before we get here?" She speculates about how someone got the sword and scabbard, which was approximately 3 feet long, out of Himes Hall. "Maybe they stuffed the sword in their pants to get it out of the building?" she said. "I don't know. It's just so strange. Aside from this, someone once stole some candy in the department." Christine Kooi, interim history department chair, knows the World War I-era sword was there the morning of Jan. 24, because she hosted a Zoom meeting from her office and a participant on the call asked if she fenced, referencing the two swords behind her. She explained that she didn't fence and that both swords belonged to department chair Aaron Sheehan-Dean, who is in Ireland for a year teaching American History at University College Dublin. Both swords are heirlooms in Sheehan-Dean's family. The World War I sword belonged to his great-grandfather, Osmond Holmes Tower, and has his name inscribed on it. The sword was situated near a window along with a Civil War cavalry saber, which also belonged to a Sheehan-Dean family member. The Civil War saber was not stolen, which is a part of the mystery -- why take one sword but not the other?
 
Florida Senate passes university presidential search exemption
The Florida Senate on Thursday approved a proposal to conceal information about applicants vying to become college and university presidents, a move that could change a presidential search system that five of Florida's 12 universities are preparing to begin. The idea behind the proposal is that secrecy during the early stages of the search process will allow state universities and colleges to draw better candidates who will feel comfortable applying, knowing that their names will not become public -- including to their current bosses. "This is going to create a better process for the state," said Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, the sponsor of Senate Bill 520. But critics, among them Democrat and faculty union groups, say that argument is a "talking point" and that the effort will "invite further politicization of our college and university campuses." "We won't get a significant difference in qualified applicants. Instead, we will get more insider candidates, and we will risk losing our state university and college system preeminence," said Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach. "Please vote no on this bill and vote for transparency." The five universities already looking for new presidents or will be doing so soon are Florida International University, the University of South Florida, the University of Florida, the University of North Florida and Florida Gulf Coast University. Shortly after the measure passed the Senate, House Speaker Chris Sprowls told reporters that he was not aware of the differences between the House and Senate measures, but said he supports the concept and called the current system "a bizarre process."
 
Florida bill would require colleges to change accreditors
The Florida Senate Education Committee approved a bill Tuesday that would require public colleges and universities in the state to switch accrediting agencies at the end of each accreditation cycle. Earning accreditation -- which typically lasts between 8 and 10 years, with a review at the halfway point -- is a years-long process. If passed in both chambers of the Florida Legislature, the new bill would create major financial and logistical headaches for institutions, experts say. It could also stymie the kind of innovation and improvement that often result from strong and continuous college-accreditor partnerships. Supporters of the bill say that colleges and universities could benefit from a fresh perspective, News Service of Florida reported. "A different perspective from a different regional accreditor would be helpful to our universities," Republican state senator Manny Diaz Jr. said during the Senate Education Committee meeting Tuesday. But the bill's critics -- which include several accrediting agencies -- believe that it could be an attempt at political retaliation by the Senate Republicans, the majority party, against the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the regional accrediting agency for Florida institutions. "I think that they're upset because we stepped into their business," said Belle Wheelan, president of SACSCOC. "While they may be angry with me for doing my job, they're going to be angry with whatever accreditor they go to, because those are requirements that we all have." Barbara Brittingham, former president of the New England Commission of Higher Education, said that NECHE would have likely made the same requests of those institutions. "As an accreditor, you can't ignore things that raise legitimate questions," Brittingham said. "If SACS had a legitimate question, there's a very good chance that another accreditor would have the same question."
 
U. of Missouri Civil Rights and Title IX office announces new name
The University of Missouri office responsible for reports of discrimination has changed its name to the Office of Institutional Equity. The office was formerly known as the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX and announced a name change in a news release Thursday. "The updated name represents the office's central role in supporting MU students, faculty and staff," Maurice Gipson, the vice chancellor of the Division of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity said in the news release. The office will still provide all essential resources to the campus community and continue its mission to "foster a living, learning and working community where everyone is valued," Gipson said. The staff at the Office of Institutional Equity help to enforce nondiscrimination policies and provide sources of support to those who have experienced discrimination. The staff also investigates sex-based reports, including sexual misconduct. "We are the reporting destination for all equity concerns on campus and hope that our new name further encourages people to use us as a resource," Andy Hayes, assistant vice chancellor and Title IX administrator, said in the news release.
 
As Cyberattacks Roil Colleges, Many Look to Faculty Members and Students for Help
A virtual escape-room challenge at the Rochester Institute of Technology opens with the dramatic flair of a James Bond movie. "Every single Gizmo employee here is about to get robbed," the prompt states. "One team of special agents, from their remote security-operations center, is feverishly working to find the source of a massive insider breach. ... You are that team." The college in New York, known as RIT, is one of many nationwide tackling an increasingly pressing question: How can we get our employees and students interested in helping strengthen campus cybersecurity? The last two years of the pandemic, which prompted unprecedented transitions to remote work and schooling, have been checkered with cyberattacks against American colleges. At least 26 were attacked with ransomware in 2021, the same number recorded by Emsisoft, a software company, in 2020 -- double the 13 it reported in 2019. And while there are hosts of tests and types of software every college should have in its arsenal, those tools may leave out the largest piece of the equation: people. Verizon's 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report found 85 percent of breaches involved a human element, including errors like stolen credentials and downloaded malware. When it comes to effective prevention strategies, "the whole pie is people, with the processes and technology sprinkled on top," said George Finney, chief security officer at Southern Methodist University, in Texas. Yet, at least in his experience, only a small fraction of security resources are devoted to training." Training" can be a loaded word in academe, though, said several information-security administrators. Faculty and staff members have training "fatigue," they said, and mandated, rehashed sessions can be especially unpopular and ineffective.
 
U.S. House passes Pell expansion but excludes online education
New legislation to expand Pell Grant eligibility for students enrolled in short-term skills and job training programs has wide support in Congress, even though it excludes students attending these programs online, a provision some community college leaders and online education advocates call a mistake. The legislation, which the House of Representatives passed Feb. 4, now heads to conference committee, where legislators will hammer out a final bill. The bill passed the Senate last year, but without an amendment the House bill included, which contains the Pell Grant–expansion language. The language calls for allowing Pell Grants to apply to any short-term program with "at least 150 clock hours of instruction time over a period of at least 8 weeks" as long as it is not primarily delivered online. Russell Poulin, executive director of the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, which is focused on improving the quality and reach of digital learning programs, said he was disturbed by the provision excluding all online programs. He cited strong short-term online programs, such as cybersecurity boot camps and other certificate programs, with good student success results such as those offered by Western Governors University and many community colleges. Poulin said the legislation should be based on program outcomes as opposed to modality.
 
What The College Transparency Act May Mean for Higher Ed
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the long-awaited, bipartisan College Transparency Act (CTA) as an amendment to the America COMPETES Act, a larger bill that the House passed and now awaits Senate approval. Experts and advocates stress that the CTA would gather more comprehensive student data, including by race, to better identify inequities and close those gaps. "Right now, we have student outcome information only for limited groups -- and that's because we have federal data limitations," said Dr. Robert Kelchen, a professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. "For example, in the College Scorecard tool, we can have information about post-college earnings by family income or if you're a first-generation graduate. But we don't have information about earnings or student loan debt by race." This data blind spot makes it harder to ensure higher education is serving all students fairly and equitably, added Kelchen. But CTA would instead require colleges and universities to collect and file data to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on student enrollment, transfer, persistence, and completion across all programs and degrees. The data would also be disaggregated by demographics, such as race and ethnicity, gender, and age. "This bill is as American as apple pie," said Craig Lindwarm, vice president for governmental affairs at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), a research, policy, and advocacy organization dedicated to public universities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. "It is about the transparency that should be expected in this country to ensure students and families are informed about colleges and universities."


SPORTS
 
Challenging Opening Weekend Features Pair of Ranked Opponents
Mississippi State will open its 31st season of softball on Friday when the Bulldogs travel to Irvine, California, for the Mark Campbell Invitational. State will play three games in the tournament on Feb. 11-12 before wrapping up the weekend with a trip across town to Los Angeles to meet Loyola Marymount on Sunday. All three games of the Mark Campbell Invitational will be broadcasted by FloSports. "This is always a month full of anticipation," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "It's about the time where we're tired of facing each other at practice, especially with the added excitement of a big opening weekend for us. We know that we're going into an immediate challenge, and that's by design for this team." Following a season opener against LMU at 3 p.m. CT, the Bulldogs meet defending national champion and consensus No. 1 Oklahoma at 8:30 p.m. Ricketts will meet her former head coach, Patty Gasso, for the second time at the helm of the MSU program. No former Gasso player has ever beaten the Sooners as a head coach. It will be the 14th time the Bulldogs have played the nation's top-ranked team. On Saturday, State will face another stiff test in No. 3 UCLA. The Bruins played in the Women's College World Series a year ago, and MSU has not faced the program since a pair of neutral site meetings in Lakewood, California, in 2006. State has never met the Bruins when they were ranked outside the top five. State closes the weekend with a second meeting with LMU on the Lions' campus. That matchup will be available to stream on YouTube.
 
'It's one of the main goals': Mississippi State softball opens season with hopes of hosting regional
There's a certain aura around the Mississippi State softball facilities of a team with serious expectations but a merrymaking approach to reaching them. Head coach Samantha Ricketts and her staff invited local reporters for a first-person experience with the team's training regimen before the typical media day activities. I was among those in attendance, and I'll start by saying the changeup cage was a cakewalk. Then I entered the cage where pitches are randomized, and suddenly looking for the impossible-to-hit riseball made the off-speed changeup hard to anticipate. The third cage with graduate assistant Alyssa Loza actually pitching after coming out of the bullpen for the team last season -- well, I'll spare you the details. I made contact a few times. The staff was smiling throughout the afternoon, joking with each other and helping give us tips when needed (pretty often). But the moment the festivities moved upstairs to sit and talk about the upcoming season, the tone shifted. "It's one of the main goals -- we're gonna take it game-by-game, but -- to host a regional," catcher Mia Davidson said. Ricketts recalls surveying Dudy Noble Field last season and seeing the impact the crowd could make at a baseball regional. Playing in a harsh SEC combined with this weekend's opening slate in Irvine, California, featuring a pair of national contenders in Oklahoma and UCLA won't make the path toward hosting an easy won for State. But on a team with added depth, a pitching staff not reliant on one or two arms and a balanced lineup, it's possible. And hosting postseason play could become much easier.
 
Mississippi State looking to end road woes, re-enter tournament conversation at LSU
The lone perk of Mississippi State's life on the NCAA Tournament bubble is the fact that even a crushing loss against No. 19 Tennessee doesn't end all hope at making the field next month. But it makes games such as Saturday's trip to LSU (17-7, 5-6 SEC) feel like a must-win. Mississippi State (14-9, 5-5) sits at No. 56 in the NET rankings, No. 49 in KenPom and No. 45 in Sagarin. State has one Quadrant 1 win on the year, so adding another at LSU could launch them back into the conversation. However, what could be more important than a Quad 1 win for the Bulldogs is simply a road win -- something they haven't accomplished this season. The road woes are well-documented. MSU is 0-5 in true road games with three of those coming down to the final moments. State led for a majority of its loss at Florida, forced overtime at Kentucky and trailed by one with two minutes to go at Arkansas. The theme this season has continued to be an inability to close games late -- something forward Garrison Brooks said needs to change immediately. "Finish. That should be our motto for the next week: finish," Brooks said. "Finish games, finish practice, finish drills, finish layups, finish free throws. We have to finish more. We have to finish better as a team."
 
Mississippi State heads to LSU in matchup of struggling teams
The Mississippi State men's basketball team has had no shortage of games against opponents featuring elite defenses of late. Texas Tech and Tennessee both boast top-five defenses in the nation per KenPom.com, and both were on the Bulldogs' schedule in the past two weeks. So was Arkansas, with the country's 25th-best unit. Mississippi State lost all three games, not even breaking 65 points in any of the contests. And when it comes to top defenses, the Bulldogs aren't getting a break anytime soon. MSU (14-9, 5-5 Southeastern Conference) will travel to Baton Rouge to face LSU (17-7, 5-6 SEC) at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Tigers boast the No. 2 defense in Division I and steal the basketball at a higher rate than any team in the country. But like Mississippi State, LSU is struggling. The Bayou Bengals have lost six of their past eight games. The only team they've beaten since Jan. 12 is Texas A&M. The Tigers have suffered a pair of three-game losing streaks, one a whole lot more respectable than the other. The first skid featured losses at home against Arkansas, at Alabama and at Tennessee. After a home win over A&M, LSU lost at TCU, at home to Ole Miss and at Vanderbilt before winning Tuesday in College Station. Mississippi State has been similarly struggling amid a lot of road games in the middle part of its conference slate. The Bulldogs have dropped four of five games after falling 72-63 to the Volunteers at home Wednesday night.
 
Mississippi State -- shorthanded once again -- battles but falls against No. 19 Florida
Mississippi State women's basketball fell short Thursday night against No. 19 Florida, losing by a final score of 73-64. The game was back and forth throughout the evening with State trailing by two going into the fourth quarter. But a fatigued, shorthanded roster couldn't keep up with Florida late -- allowing UF to close out the game on an 8-2 run. Mississippi State, as has been the case throughout the season, was shorthanded Thursday night with just seven players available. Backup center Raven Farley was out due to "health-related reasons" and was not on the team bench. Without Farley, MSU's Charlotte Kohl was the lone frontcourt player available. Kohl's role has increased since starter Denae Carter tore her ACL in a win against Texas A&M on Jan. 30. Kohl played 13 minutes in that game following the injury and 20 minutes in State's win a week ago at Auburn. She started her fourth game of the season against Florida and played 31 minutes. Her previous season-high was 15 in a Jan. 23 loss at Arkansas. Kohl became a fan favorite Thursday night as the crowd noticed the increased role she was handed. She scored three points to go along with four rebounds. "So proud of her," interim head coach Doug Novak said. "Not shying away. Not nervous. Not backing away from the challenge."
 
Three Diamond Dawgs Named Preseason All-SEC
Three Diamond Dawgs were named to the Preseason All-SEC Teams, while Mississippi State has been voted as one of the top contenders in the Southeastern Conference, it was announced by the league office on Thursday (Feb. 10). Mississippi State was tabbed to finish tied for second in the SEC Western Division and received two votes to walk away with the overall SEC championship. Just three points separated the top three teams in the west, as Arkansas (80), Mississippi State (77) and Ole Miss (77) were the top contenders in the division following a vote by the 14 head coaches in the conference. On the preseason all-conference team, Landon Sims earned one of two spots on the All-SEC first team as a starting pitcher. State catcher Logan Tanner joined Sims on the first team, while Luke Hancock garnered second-team honors as a designated hitter/utility player. MSU's three preseason candidates are tied for the second-most in the conference along with LSU, Vanderbilt and Arkansas.
 
Lopez Ramirez Named SEC Women's Golfer of the Week
After a record-breaking week during her play at the 2022 FAU Paradise Invitational, freshman Julia Lopez Ramirez was tabbed the SEC Golfer of the Week after claiming the second individual title of her young career. Lopez Ramirez used a hot start in the first round to fuel her way to victory in the first of the first event of the spring 2022 season. Lopez Ramirez recorded the lowest first round (and second-lowest overall round) in school history with 8-under par. After the second round. Lopez Ramirez broke the school record for the lowest score after 36 holes with 13-under. After the final round, Lopez Ramirez broke yet another record, recording the lowest score in school history after 54 holes with 16-under. Lopez Ramirez shot par or better on 50 of the 54 holes during the tournament, including sinking 21 birdies. In the first round, Lopez Ramirez birdied 8 of the first 12 holes to jump to first place and never trailed throughout. Lopez Ramirez is the first Bulldog to receive the honor since Ashley Gilliam in February of 2020.
 
SEC increased its revenue by $105 million in 2021, reaching a total of $833 million
While most sports-industry revenues substantially fell in late 2020 and early 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Southeastern Conference increased its annual revenue by $105 million during a year ending Aug. 31, 2021, the conference's new federal tax records show. The document -- provided by the conference on Thursday in response to a request from USA TODAY Sports -- shows the SEC with total revenue of just over $833 million. The resulting distributions to its 14 member schools averaged about $54.6 million per school, an increase of just over $9 million per school compared to the distributions the conference reported for its 2020 fiscal year. In addition, the SEC provided each of its schools with a $23.3 million advance on future conference distributions in fiscal 2021 as school athletics departments struggled through game cancellations and attendance restrictions that affected numerous income streams. The advance money came from a loan to the SEC that, according to the new document, was for $350 million from Truist. SEC spokesman Herb Vincent said in an email that Regions also is involved in the loan. Nearly all of the SEC's revenue increase came in TV and radio rights fees, which rose to $588 million in 2021, from $497 million in 2020. Vincent said in the email that the "increase in media rights reflects continued success of the SEC Network, expansion of the SEC's media rights agreements (and) contractual escalation of existing rights."
 
Bryan Harsin attends SEC meeting, doesn't comment amid Auburn probe
With news crews staking out two of the three entrances to the SEC headquarters in downtown Birmingham, embattled Auburn football coach Bryan Harsin slipped in the third. Riding in a state trooper's SUV, Harsin entered the building just after 9:30 a.m. CT Thursday for a previously scheduled meeting of conference football coaches. Camera crews from local TV stations were stationed at the main entrance and at the third-floor skywalk from a parking garage into the SEC headquarters. Harsin arrived in a side alley and entered an unmarked door and walked into the building flanked by a state trooper. He exited five hours later from a side door near the main entrance, through a crowd of reporters and cameras but didn't answer questions as he quietly entered the same SUV and left Birmingham. Harsin's status has been a matter of debate for the past week as Auburn reportedly investigates the inner workings of his program. The coach just finished his first season that began with promise but ended with five straight losses -- the last of which came directly across the street from the SEC headquarters in the Birmingham Bowl at Protective Stadium. Questions about Harsin's future with Auburn led to the heavy media presence but he was able to sidestep all but one camera. ESPNs Alex Scarborough snapped a picture of the back of Harsin's head as he exited the black SUV for daylong meetings.
 
Auburn implements new cooperation policy amid Harsin probe
Amid an investigation into football coach Bryan Harsin, Auburn University has implemented a new policy stating that employees can be fired for not cooperating with an investigation or review. The new policy, which went into effect on Tuesday, states that violations "may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination." It was titled the "Employee Duty to Cooperate Policy." The university is looking into the football program, which has lost 18 players and five assistant coaches since the end of Harsin's first season. The defections came after the Tigers lost their final five games and finished with a 6-7 record. Harsin attended a meeting of Southeastern Conference coaches on Thursday at league headquarters in Birmingham. Harsin, escorted by a state trooper, entered through a side alley while reporters staked out other entrances to the building. Auburn did not immediately respond to a question about the reasons for the new policy or whether it was related to the Harsin investigation.
 
Auburn faced with paying full buyout or keeping Bryan Harsin
Auburn coach Bryan Harsin's future with the football program remains in limbo, but the university could be faced with an ultimatum soon enough. Sources tell Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger and Richard Johnson that Harsin's representatives have resisted attempts by Auburn officials at settling for a price lower than the coach's full buyout, about $18 million. This has forced Auburn into a corner: fire the coach for cause, hoping evidence for such is strong enough; pay the full buyout; or retain him. "That's where the fight is," an Auburn source tells SI. "From the moment [Harsin] got hired, it seems like people on the outside looking in, those people wanted to go in a different direction." Rumblings about the coach's relationship with players and coaches, and a high-amount of transfers, led to an official internal inquiry led by Auburn president Jay Gogue. The source tells SI the leaked information around Harsin was an "attack on his character," adding "there's a contingent of people trying to make stuff seem worse than it is." The same source says the staff is incredibly frustrated, feeling like they are twisting in the wind with spring football set to start a month from this Monday. The school is looking into the football program, which has lost 18 players to transfer (including quarterback Bo Nix) and five assistants since the end of Harsin's first season leading the team, per ESPN. The Tigers lost their last five games, finishing with a 6–7 record, and to add fuel to the fire, Auburn didn't sign a single player on the late National Signing Day.
 
U. of Arkansas extends Yurachek contract by 5 years
University of Arkansas Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek has signed a contract extension through 2027. Yurachek is in line to be paid a base annual salary of $1.25 million under the new agreement, which was released Thursday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Yurachek could also receive up to $175,000 a year following an annual review in which the UA chancellor will evaluate the overall performance of the athletics department. Yurachek signed the new contract Feb. 3 and it was finalized with the signature of UA System President Donald Bobbitt on Sunday. According to his contract, Yurachek will be paid $566,000 in UA salary -- just shy of the line-item maximum for his position -- and an additional $684,000 for speaking engagements, TV and radio interviews, and other sponsorship obligations. The UA Board of Trustees is expected to vote whether to approve the salary at its next scheduled meeting on March 16-17 in Little Rock. The Razorbacks' most profitable programs, football and men's basketball, have experienced a resurgence under head coaches hired by Yurachek in 2019. Yurachek was hired from Houston in December 2017, one month after the UA fired former Athletics Director Jeff Long.
 
Florida athletic program hit financially by COVID, loses revenue during 2021 fiscal year
Florida's University Athletic Association experienced a revenue loss of $36 million during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the financial report submitted to the NCAA for the 2021 fiscal year. The UAA reported revenue of $138.8 million in the 2021 fiscal year -- from June 30, 2020, to June 30, 2021 -- down from the $175 million revenue reported in the previous year. However, the financial hit would have been significantly greater if not for the Southeastern Conference's one-time support payment of $23 million to each of its 14 member schools. The $23 million was provided as an advance against future conference revenue. With the combination of the SEC's support, a strong balance sheet and the support of Florida's fans and boosters, the UAA is back to operating under normal revenue for this current fiscal year, according to UF senior associate athletic director Steve McClain. Without the payment, the UAA would have incurred a revenue loss of $59 million, according to the report. A loss of about $50 million was projected last year. The UAA's total operating expenses declined by more than $18 million, due to a combination of smaller travel parties throughout the pandemic and the elimination of performance-based bonuses and incentives for coaches.
 
Kentucky basketball's John Calipari: 'People are looking to us' on how to handle NIL deals
A bill governing how college athletes can profit off their name, image and likeness in Kentucky was unanimously passed by the Senate on Thursday, one day after testimony from University of Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart and men's basketball coach John Calipari in support of the bill. Kentucky college athletes have been free to make money off their own endorsements since Gov. Andy Beshear's executive order went into effect on July 1, 2021, but that order was viewed only as a bridge until a state or federal law could be passed. "I think it's a model bill," Calipari told the Senate Standing Committee on Education Wednesday. "I think other states are going to look at this bill and say, 'Wow.'" Senate Bill 6, sponsored by Republicans Max Wise and Whitney Westerfield and Democrat Morgan McGarvey, includes many of the same restrictions as the current executive order. Initially it banned schools from negotiating any part of an NIL agreement on behalf of a student-athlete, but that restriction was removed by a floor amendment from Wise before it was passed by the Senate. That restriction drew attention from the committee in the wake of Ohio State recently announcing it was creating a department to directly facilitate NIL deals for athletes. While some pundits have speculated such a department could provide a recruiting advantage for Ohio State and other schools that create similar departments, Barnhart remains opposed to the idea. "I'm not sure I want our department to be going out there negotiating deals," Barnhart told The Courier Journal in an interview this week. "At our core, we're still about educating, still about competing, still about equipping people to launch them into life. That's our deal. That's what we've been about."
 
States rethink restrictive NIL laws
A number of forward-thinking states passed legislation in late 2020 and early 2021 to establish laws governing how NCAA athletes could profit off of their names, images and likenesses. Now some states are rethinking those laws after the NCAA ultimately put forth a bare-bones NIL policy last summer. That means states that were ahead of the game now have more restrictions than others that never passed NIL legislation. Suddenly they are considering fresh legislation so they don't fall behind on NIL and get passed over by recruits who choose more NIL-friendly territory. "In my mind, there's really not any benefit to having a state NIL law right now," said Mit Winter, a collegiate sports attorney at Kennyhertz Perry, a law firm in Kansas City, Mo. College athletes signing sponsorship deals was once unthinkable, but now it's big business. And as the dust settles from the shake-up of college athletics, states are looking to repeal or amend laws that put them at a disadvantage. College recruiting is at the heart of this strategic reset. "Some states, like Alabama, which is considering repealing its law, and Florida, which is considering amending its law, are rolling back because the premise for passing that legislation is gone with the NCAA changing its position," said Darren Heitner, an attorney who teaches sports law at the University of Florida law school and who worked with state representative Chip LaMarca to draft Florida's NIL legislation, which went into effect in July. "Now states that were proactive and led the charge are at a potential disadvantage because their restrictions are heavier than those that have been implemented by the NCAA. States that don't have any laws have a potential advantage."
 
Howard's Kenneth Blakeney, like Deion Sanders in football, wants to reawaken HBCU basketball
It was along D.C.'s streets, a couple of miles from where his team now plays its home games, that Kenneth Blakeney learned basketball. Through his local police boys and girls club, he also played baseball and football. He realizes now that sports kept him away from trouble. But sometimes, trouble came perilously close to him. "I could be at a basketball court and playing pickup and, 50 feet from me could be a crap game or a dice game that would turn into a shootout or a robbery," the Howard men's basketball coach recalls. "And literally there's guns firing and you gotta run." Blakeney, now 50, is back in Washington during a different period for the city and country, one in which protesters take to the streets outside and around the White House seeking accountability for the violent deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And like Deion Sanders in football, he is at the forefront of the sports movement taking place at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which five-star athletes are choosing to attend -- or at least strongly consider attending -- over traditional collegiate powers. Howard is a school where Vice President Kamala Harris, late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, novelist Toni Morrison and politicians Andrew Young and Elijah Cummings all studied yet one with virtually no basketball pedigree. Blakeney lacks the star power of Sanders, yet his ability to connect with players and share his vision is quietly laying the groundwork for a similar awakening at Howard. "He had a very holistic and comprehensive approach to Howard basketball," says Kery Davis, Howard's athletics director who hired Blakeney in 2019. "Some people ask, 'Why not us?' I like to demonstrate, 'Why us.' We tell our story. Deion has a great story to tell from his standpoint: Do you want to come and have the HBCU culture but also learn the game under one of the greatest players who ever played? That's his story, and it's a good one. And we're doing the same thing. We're telling our story of why choose Howard. Kenny's a big part of that story for our basketball program."
 
At Olympics and beyond, getting away with it is Russia's way
Be it sports, politics, hacking or war, the recent history of Russia's relationship with the world can be summed up in one phrase: They get away with it. Vladimir Putin's Russia has perfected the art of flouting the rules, whether the venue is the Olympic arena, international diplomacy or meddling in other countries' elections from the comfort of home. And it has suffered little consequence for its actions. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Russia the country isn't here -- technically. Its athletes are competing under the acronym ROC, for Russian Olympic Committee, for the third time. The national colors and flag are banned by the International Olympic Committee because of a massive state-sponsored doping operation during the 2014 Sochi Games, which Russia hosted. And yet the 2022 Games' first major scandal has managed to involve a 15-year-old figure skater who has tested positive for using a banned heart medication that may cost her Russia-but-not-really-Russia team a gold medal in team competition. Those who have watched the country's interactions with others in recent decades aren't entirely surprised at the developments. "In Russia, the culture is generally that the ends justify the means, and the only thing that matters is the outcome," said Dmitri Alperovitch, the chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank, who grew up in the former Soviet Union. Doping in particular has been a longstanding tradition in the Soviet Union and Russia, Alperovitch said. But Putin frequently operates with impunity in other arenas, including when the stakes are much higher than bronze, silver and gold.



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