Tuesday, March 29, 2022   
 
Starkville found ways to grow economic development throughout pandemic
Starkville has seen 23 new retailers and 22 new restaurants since January 2020. While the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a difficult time in economic development, Starkville continued to grow and prosper, Greater Starkville Development Partnership CEO and Director for Corporate and Economic Partnerships at Mississippi State University Mike Tagert told Starkville Rotarians Monday. For the first time, the Starkville Area Chamber of Commerce, a branch of the Partnership, eclipsed 600 business members with a 92-percent retention rate. "We're very fortunate to live in a community where we see that kind of growth continually," Tagert said. Starkville's 2-percent food and beverage and 1-percent hotel sales taxes have helped bring new developments and tourism to the city, Tagert said. Each year of the last decade, with the exception of 2020, has broken its own record in terms of generated revenue. Tagert said the Partnership works with other organizations throughout the city, such as the MSU Small Business Center and the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach, to provide resources for entrepreneurship. He said the Partnership works daily to generate data and analytics to find the best mechanisms for all business partners. With the development of Cornerstone Park, Starkville's new baseball and softball complex which is set to open in August, and the Northstar Industrial Park, Tagert said he expects not only to see a great return on investment, but also the development of new jobs and residencies.
 
MILO opens on Mississippi State campus
A new lab in Mississippi State University's College of Business places students and faculty members at the leading edge of biometric marketing and human behavior research. College leaders celebrated the grand opening of the Market Innovation Lab and Observatory (MILO) with a ribbon cutting and open house Friday in McCool Hall. The new lab contains 12 computer stations fully outfitted with hardware and software for eye tracking, facial recognition and the collection of biometric data. Using platforms developed by the international company iMotions, College of Business researchers can conduct in-depth studies of how individuals react to different media and situations. "This new lab puts our students at the forefront of the marketing industry, further increasing their job prospects as companies look for marketing and business leaders that can better understand the people that every business is built around," said College of Business Dean Sharon Oswald. "MILO also represents an opportunity for area businesses to take their marketing to the next level by getting incredibly detailed feedback on how consumers perceive their messaging. "This lab would not be possible without generous financial support from members of our College of Business and Department of Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Business Law advisory boards. I want to personally thank them for helping make this transformative project a reality," she said. Mike Breazeale, associate professor of marketing, serves as director of the lab and worked closely with Melissa Moore, marketing, quantitative analysis and business law department head, on developing MILO.
 
Mississippi State University honors Vietnam veterans
Mississippi State University spent the day honoring Vietnam war veterans. The university held a ceremony at the Center for America's Veterans on campus. Patriot Guard Riders participated in the event and laid a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The event was an opportunity to celebrate veterans who may not have received the proper recognition when they first came home from Vietnam. "When the veterans came home, you know, they didn't have the pageantry and folks welcoming them home like they did in my time when I came back from deployment so I just think it is important that we take whatever opportunity we can just to recognize them, just to honor them, and just to say thank you," said Brian Locke, the director of veteran affairs at MSU.
 
Local law enforcement dealt with alcohol, drug-related offenses over weekend
As the Golden Triangle saw an influx of activity this past weekend, local law enforcement stayed on top of keeping their communities safe. From the beginning of the weekend Friday morning, Starkville Police Department made six arrests for driving under the influence. The ages of those who received DUIs ranged from 20 to 71, and it was a combination of people from the area and college students, according to SPD's public information officer, Sgt. Brandon Lovelady. The first DUI of the weekend was given early Friday at 12:40 a.m. and the final two of the weekend were given Sunday morning at 12:29 a.m. and 2:03 a.m. Of the six arrests, there were two single vehicle accidents with no injuries. "There were five who were driving while under the influence of alcohol," Lovelady said. "There was one that was under the influence of another substance we are still waiting on testing for. Of the five, one was a mixture, but there was definitely alcohol in that person's system." On an average, non-event weekend SPD can see between three to five DUIs. While this weekend was relatively tame considering Starkville hosted an SEC baseball series, Lovelady said it is always important to have a plan to avoid driving while under the influence. "The best thing anyone can do is plan out the night before they begin drinking and can still make good decisions," Lovelady said. "Whether it is a friend or a rideshare option, everyone needs to have a plan. I understand rideshares may take a little longer, but it's better to wait that extra time than risk your life or someone else's by getting behind the wheel."
 
Mississippi weather: At least 27 tornadoes hit March 22; more storms expected Wednesday
The National Weather Service in Jackson updated its tornado count to 27 from the March 22 storms that passed through Mississippi as the state braces for more severe weather this week. "We don't know what the final number is going to be," Meteorologist Alan Campbell said. "We do have a survey team that is currently out in the field today inspecting some more potential damage." The largest of the March 22 storms that touched down was rated an EF-3 and struck the Damascus community in Kemper County. Mississippians should prepare for another round of thunderstorms and showers Wednesday afternoon into the evening, with wind gusts of up to 70 mph and the possibility of a few tornadoes, Campbell said. The storm system will pass through Texas and Oklahoma on Tuesday before reaching Louisiana and Mississippi on Wednesday, according to an Accuweather report. Later in the week, another system is likely to pass through the state, but "appears to be just a rainmaker," though that could change as the system gets closer. That storm system is expected to reach Mississippi on Saturday.
 
Bad weather expected Wednesday
The National Weather Service is warning another bout of thunderstorms could bring severe weather to the region Wednesday. Warmer temperatures are expected to dominate the first part of the week, with temperatures climbing into the 80s Tuesday. On Wednesday, a cold front will clash with the warmer air and create the potential for severe storms. In Monday's forecast discussion the National Weather Service in Jackson said high winds will be the main threat, but addition severe weather is possible. The main threat from the storms will be damaging winds. An elevated threat for wind has been issued for the Meridian area beginning 10 a.m. Wednesday. Winds are forecast to be in the 20-25 mph range with gust up to 45 mph. Higher gusts of over 60 mph are possible. The National Weather Service said tornadoes are also possible. Wednesday's storms will also bring rain, with 1-2 inches forecast for Meridian. Lauderdale County Emergency Management warned Monday low-lying areas of the county could experience flooding with rain adding more water to already saturated areas.
 
Tornadoes, 70 mph winds possible on Coast tomorrow after last week's deadly weather
After tornadoes tore through Louisiana and parts of Mississippi last week, the Magnolia State should be prepared for another round of severe weather on Wednesday. Severe storms are predicted across the entire state Wednesday starting in the early afternoon, according to the National Weather Service in Jackson. Thunderstorms packing winds of up to 70-80 mph are likely across the state, including Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties on the Coast. Tornadoes are also possible, the NWS said. The bad weather will begin in the western part of the state by 1 p.m. Coast residents should prepare for effects from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., the NWS said. The three Coast counties face a level 3, or enhanced, risk for severe weather on Wednesday, which includes possible tornadoes and thunderstorms with winds of up to 70 mph. New Orleans and Slidell also face an enhanced risk of severe weather on Wednesday, the NWS said. A large swath of the state -- including Pearl River, Stone and George counties -- face level 4 severe weather, a moderate risk. Possible tornadoes and storms with winds of up to 80 mph are in the NWS forecast.
 
Wings Over Columbus draws 60K-plus over two days
For the first time since 2017, the Columbus Air Force Base hosted an air show that drew in about 60,000 spectators over two days. The largest crowd came on base Saturday. 14th Flying Training Wing CAFB Public Affairs Operations Chief Danielle Knight said more than 40,000 people are estimated to have attended the Wings Over Columbus Air Show on Saturday, which was the first day of the event. Sunday's crowd was about half of that with an approximated 20,000 attendees. Col. Seth Graham, commander for the 14th Flying Training Wing, is grateful to those who came out as well as those who worked to keep the event running smoothly. "The Wings Over Columbus Airshow and STEM Expo was a great success...," Graham said. "We are grateful for the tremendous teamwork by base and community personnel, which made this year's airshow a memorable experience." Erica Jones from Caledonia was at the show Saturday and enjoyed all that it offered. "We had a great time," Jones said. "There's a lot of interesting things to look at and see. From where I live you get to see the planes, so I was excited to come check it out."
 
Mississippi works to set budget after missing deadline
Mississippi legislators worked on budget proposals Monday after missing deadlines because of a long dispute over a tax cut plan. They were also negotiating final versions of several bills, including one to revive an initiative process so people could petition to put proposed laws on the statewide ballot. The state Supreme Court ruled in May that Mississippi's previous initiative process was invalid because it required petitioners to gather signatures from outdated congressional districts. The new state budget year begins July 1. Legislators were supposed to file final budget bills Saturday, but talks bogged down until they finished their work on the tax cut. The House and Senate passed a bill Sunday to provide the state's largest-ever income tax cut. It will go to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves for his signature in the next few days. Top lawmakers said the budget will include a pay raise for teachers and for many state employees. The House and Senate also must agree on plans to spend part of the $1.8 billion Mississippi is receiving from the federal government for pandemic relief. House Speaker Philip Gunn, a Republican from Clinton, said legislators will probably spend about $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion of the federal relief money. He said the rest would be set aside "just for the unknown."
 
Lawmakers working on final budget, ARPA money after missing key deadline
Legislative leaders are on the edge of reaching a handshake deal on spending some of the $1.8 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds the state received from the federal government, but they'll have to use a legislative quirk to get over the finish line. Both House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, and House Speaker Pro Tempore Jason White, R-West, told reporters on Monday that House and Senate leaders are still in negotiations on crafting a final budget for the next fiscal year and on disbursing the federal funds. But they're close on a deal. "We will reach an agreement on the budget tonight or tomorrow," Gunn said. The House leaders also said that they would likely obligate around $1.4 billion or $1.5 billion of the ARPA money and reserve around $300 million or $400 million for next year. White said he was largely in agreement with the Senate on spending the dollars on improving water and sewer infrastructure, the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, and Child Protection Services. "We're talking about some type of matching program for counties and municipalities," White said.
 
Lawmakers 'close' on budget, stimulus spending deals, ending session
House and Senate leaders late Monday said they were close to deals on budget, federal stimulus spending and other measures, but said they would have to extend deadlines for final negotiations as the 2022 Mississippi legislative session draws toward a close. Lawmakers are expected to vote Tuesday to extend the session "on paper" because they couldn't meet Monday's midnight deadline to pass budget bills. Still, they hope to finish work and end this year's session by Friday. Still being finalized is a nearly $7 billion state budget for the fiscal year that starts in July, and a plan to spend most of $1.8 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act pandemic stimulus money from Congress. "Chairman Hopson and Chairman Read are busy right now working on (appropriations bills) but obviously they will not finish" tonight, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, said referring to House Appropriations Chair John Read and his Senate counterpart, Briggs Hopson. "I do believe we will reach a budget (agreement) tonight or sometime tomorrow," House Speaker Philip Gunn said Monday. "... But the physical process of printing the bills -- having analysts read them, proof them, then the actual printing, can take 48 hours. Friday -- that's my guess (on ending the session)." Legislative leaders said they've also agreed on most details of spending $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion of the state's ARPA money and holding back $300 million to $400 million. The bulk of the state's ARPA money -- about $750 million -- would go to local governments and rural water associations for infrastructure projects, House Speaker Pro Tem Jason White said. Other spending will likely include a new nursing center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and about $50 million for workforce development.
 
Buddy's Law lives in new House bill amendment
Buddy's Law, which originally required that a child who injures a dog or cat be subjected to a psychological or psychiatric evaluation and counseling, is expected to be amended into HB 1065 by the Mississippi Senate. Inspiration for the bill came from Buddy, a dog who was severely burned by a 12-year-old in April and has made a full recovery. When HB 1065 was introduced, it centered around the trapping and hunting of nuisance animals as well as the importation and release of wild hogs. Now, it mentions penalties that would be imposed on those convicted of animal cruelty with a small section citing the amended Buddy's Law. Additional sections would require that adults convicted of aggravated cruelty to a dog or cat for the first time be fined up to $5,000 and $10,000 if it is their second or subsequent conviction. Sentenced individuals would also be required to have a psychological or psychiatric evaluation and counseling or treatment, just as convicted children would. The amended bill now waits in the Senate with hopes of passing before the end of the legislative session.
 
Legislation to revive the initiative process in Mississippi dies in conference
The only remaining piece of legislation that would have revived the initiative process in Mississippi following last year's state Supreme Court ruling that effectively killed the public ballot referendum mechanism has died in conference. HCR 39, authored by Speaker Philip Gunn, initially passed the House by a vote of 92-26. When it made its way to the Senate, changes were proposed through an amendment before it passed 52-0. The House declined to concur with the Senate changes and conference was then invited. House conferees were State Representatives Fred Shanks, Nick Bain and Dana McLean. Senate conferees were Senators John Polk, Mike Thompson, and Kevin Blackwell. The legislation would have allowed for a public ballot initiative process to propose new laws or amend or repeal existing laws. It would not have allowed state constitutional amendments through the initiative process, as was previously the case. That authority would remain with the Legislature. The proposed legislation would have cleaned up the language in reference to collecting signatures from the state's current congressional districts, not specifying a certain number while distributing them equally, and would have limited the number of initiatives that could be on any one statewide ballot. Y'all Politics has learned that efforts are being made this morning to add it to the calendar through a suspension resolution to allow negotiations to continue. However, whether that is possible or not remains unclear at the time of publication.
 
Nine bills restoring voting rights pending in Senate
Senate Judiciary B Chair Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, said he will decide early this week whether to take up nine House bills restoring voting rights to people convicted of felonies. Fillingane said it is probable that at least some of the suffrage bills will be taken up in his Judiciary B Committee with the intent to send them to the full Senate chamber for consideration. "We're looking at them now," said Fillingane. The state's 1890s' Jim Crow-era Constitution strips voting rights of people convicted of certain felonies. The right to vote can be restored via legislation approved by a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the Legislature and the signature of the governor. Mississippi is one of less than 10 states that do not automatically restore the right to vote of people convicted of felonies at some point after they complete their sentence. Mississippi Votes, a grassroots group that promotes voter access, said in a statement it is time to reform the process of restoring suffrage. In the 2021 session, the House passed 21 bills restoring voting rights. All but two of those were killed in the Senate Judiciary B Committee. At the time, Fillingane said that the Judiciary B Committee has guidelines that prohibit the restoration of voting rights to those convicted of violent crimes and those convicted of embezzling public funds. House Judiciary B Chair Nick Bain, R-Corinth, who passed the suffrage bills out of committee said last year that is essentially the same criteria he uses.
 
New legislative map ignites uproar from McDaniel, Sojourner
Legislators capped off a busy weekend at the state capitol in Jackson by unveiling their plans to redraw the House and Senate districts. In order to account for population changes over the last 10 years while still maintaining the number of majority-Black and majority-white districts, two new districts were created in the Senate and two in the House. Territory currently represented by Senator Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez, and Senator Albert Butler, D-Port Gibson, would be combined into a new majority-Black district. There would also be a new majority-white district created in Rankin and Smith Counties. In the House, districts currently represented by Representative Tommy Reynolds, D-Charleston, and Representative Chris Brown, R-Nettleton, are being absorbed by neighboring districts. New House districts would also be created in Harrison County as well as DeSoto County. According to Speaker Pro Tempore Jason White, R-West, most House members are content with the map. In the other chamber, Senator Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, and Sojourner have gone to social media to express their concerns with the plan, blaming Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann. The two are known as some of the most conservative lawmakers in the Senate, voting the same 93 percent of the time. If the current plan is approved, Sojourner will have an uphill battle in beating out Butler. Even amid the uproar from McDaniel and Sojourner, White believes this map will be the one to pass.
 
Mississippi lawmaker returns to burglarized car in north Jackson
A victim of car burglary in Jackson is speaking out. State Sen. Tyler McCaughn, of Morton, said he was in north Jackson Sunday when someone broke into his vehicle and stole several of his belongings. "We were in there for about 30 minutes and came back out and the window in the vehicle was shattered," McCaughn said. "Just because you park at the front of a business doesn't mean you're going to be in an area that's perfectly safe." In the past week, Jackson police have responded to multiple carjackings, including one on Carlisle Street in Belhaven Wednesday.
 
Could state funding be back on the table for the capital city's water system?
Weeks after the Senate struck the initial language of a bill to help Jackson fund its water and sewer needs, the bill has again been re-written to create a special account designed to do that. Monday, a conference report was filed for H.B. 1031. The bill would set up, but not fund, a special account to help Jackson pay for repairs to its beleaguered water and sewer systems. Angelique Lee, vice president of the Jackson City Council, applauded the legislature for changing the bill's language and is hopeful that funding will be set aside when lawmakers pass an appropriations bill. "We should find out the amount from appropriations shortly," she said. "Thanks again to our Hinds County delegation and the entire legislative body, and the leadership for prioritizing the city of Jackson and its infrastructure needs." Under the measure, the state would create a "Capital City Water/Sewer Projects Fund," under the purview of the Mississippi State Treasurer. The original version would have placed the account under the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration. Funds going into the account could solely be used for water and sewer and would be available through January 1, 2027. Rep. Shanda Yates, who introduced the bill, previously told WLBT that $40 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds would go into the account.
 
What Mississippi teachers have to say as historic pay raise bill heads to Gov. Reeves
An Oak Grove Middle School math teacher was enjoying a sunny spring break day with two of her children last Wednesday, walking around downtown Hattiesburg, looking for somewhere to eat lunch -- a rare break for an educator who works a second job to make ends meet. The teacher, Dacia Fortenberry, hopes that the largest pay raise Mississippi teachers have ever received will reduce the financial strain on her family. "I think it will affect me personally as well as a few other teachers I know of that we hold two jobs just to kind of have enough compensation to support our families," Fortenberry said. "So with that, it kind of allows some of us to back off that second job, and it will now be enough to live comfortably with." Fortenberry was with Veronica Jones, also a math teacher at Oak Grove Middle School, and her children. Jones, a teacher for a decade, hopes the bill will stop teacher turnover. The average annual pay increase will be about $5,100, and will begin with the 2022-2023 school year. The bill also includes a $2,000 pay increase for teacher assistants and annual step increases for teacher pay. Mindi Cook, a U.S. history teacher at Madison Central High School, said the raise makes teaching a viable option for those who don't want to have a roommate to get by. "You cannot go into teaching for the money, and you certainly won't stay in for the money," Cook said. "You have to want to teach and love to teach or it quickly becomes not worth it, but we have to at least get great people interested and qualified in order to move forward."
 
Program that covers health costs for uninsured Mississippi coronavirus patients ends
Uninsured Mississippians will no longer receive financial assistance from the Health Resources and Services Administration when they are tested or treated for the coronavirus. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that more than 14% of Mississippians are uninsured, and the state has not expanded Medicaid benefits. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs says transmission of the disease is currently low in the state, but a future surge could threaten thousands of residents. "And now that that's off, people that are uninsured do not have the financial support to get treated or tested," says Dr. Dobbs. "And I think if we have a surge and that's not on, that's really going to be horrible for the state of Mississippi because we really have relied on therapeutics, especially during the delta surge." Health officials have identified several dozen cases of the BA.2 omicron variant in Mississippi, which is a mutated strain of the omicron variant that spread throughout the state in January. State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers says BA.2 is spreading quickly throughout Europe. However, he believes the state will not reach that level of transmission because of the immunity developed during the January surge. "The proportion of BA.2 cases will increase but I think the numbers right now will hold steady," says Dr. Byers. "But remember, we're likely going to have another surge of COVID at some point. So you know, we're just going to have to kinda continue to monitor that." Health officials say if coronavirus cases do surge again, the state will be prepared to ramp up testing and case monitoring.
 
FDA authorizes second COVID booster for Americans 50 and older
People age 50 and up are eligible for a second booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine at least four months after their first, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. "Based on an analysis of emerging data, a second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine could help increase protection levels for these higher-risk individuals," Dr. Peter Marks, who directs the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has to sign off on the booster before it becomes available. It's not clear how soon that may happen. A second booster dose of an improves protection against severe COVID-19 and is not associated with new safety concerns, the FDA said. But when and whether individuals gets one remains a personal decision that should be based on age, health status and the course of the pandemic, experts said. According to the FDA's decision, people 50 and over who received a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine more than four months ago can now get another booster at no cost. For the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the booster will be identical to all previous shots, while with Moderna, a booster contains half the original 100-microgram dose. Although the initial shots provide good protection against hospitalization and death from COVID-19, a booster shot was better at preventing severe infection from the omicron variant that emerged near the end of last year. Some data suggests a second booster shot would help combat fading immunity after the third shot.
 
Top takeaways from Biden's fiscal 2023 budget request
President Joe Biden submitted his budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 on Monday morning, which will set the tone for the legislative scramble ahead of midterm elections in November. The ink was barely dry on the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package for fiscal 2022 before White House budget officials and agency program managers had to put their new proposals to bed. The White House is asking for about $1.64 trillion in appropriated funds for fiscal 2023, a nearly 9 percent increase over the $1.51 trillion enacted for the current year, over five months late. Including various budgetary add-ons to the "base" budget request, including disaster relief money and changes to mandatory programs that free up discretionary funds, domestic and foreign aid agencies and programs would receive roughly $829 billion in fiscal 2023, a nearly 14 percent increase from the comparable levels enacted this year. Defense programs, largely at the Pentagon, would get $813 billion, a roughly 4 percent boost. Counting all of the mandatory programs and federal benefits that flow automatically, largely independent of the appropriations process, the Biden budget envisions spending $5.8 trillion next year, or a hair lower than the current year.
 
Biden's Budget Raises Funding to Fight Violent Crime
President Biden's budget proposes billions of dollars to combat violent crime, setting a pre-midterm-election marker for moderate Democrats against calls from progressives to reduce funding to police forces. In the budget unveiled Monday, the administration asked for more than $2.5 billion in new spending for the Justice Department for the next fiscal year, and separately proposed $30 billion over the next decade to "support law enforcement, crime prevention, community violence intervention, and justice system reform," the Justice Department said. "The answer is not to defund our police departments. It's to fund our police and give them all the tools they need," Mr. Biden said Monday. "The budget puts more police on the street for community policing so they get to know the community they are policing." Some of the new proposed violent-crime funding includes doubling resources for a program to combat gun violence to $40 million; creating a new $250 million grant program to help communities develop strategies to calm tensions before they turn violent; and adding more than 100 additional agents to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and more than 100 new federal prosecutors to help prosecute violent crime.
 
Jan. 6 panel missing roughly 8 hours of Trump's phone calls
The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol has identified a roughly eight-hour gap in official records of then-President Donald Trump's phone calls as the violence unfolded and his supporters stormed the building, according to a person familiar with the probe. The gap extends from a little after 11 a.m. to about 7 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, and involves White House calls, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity. It's unclear if that gap includes White House cellphones. It's widely known that Trump had conversations on Jan. 6 with Republican lawmakers. House investigators are looking at whether the president was communicating during that time through other means, possibly through personal cellphones, or some other type of communication --- like a phone passed to him by an aide or a burner phone. The committee has subpoenaed cellphone companies for records and is awaiting data. Trump had no immediate comment Tuesday, but he has previously disparaged the investigation. The committee also is continuing to receive records from the National Archives and other sources, which could produce additional information. But the lack of information about Trump's calls is a frustrating challenge to investigators as they work to create the most comprehensive record yet of the attack.
 
Federal Judge Finds Trump Most Likely Committed Crimes Over 2020 Election
A federal judge ruled on Monday that former President Donald J. Trump and a lawyer who had advised him on how to overturn the 2020 election most likely had committed felonies, including obstructing the work of Congress and conspiring to defraud the United States. The judge's comments in the civil case of the lawyer, John Eastman, marked a significant breakthrough for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The committee, which is weighing making a criminal referral to the Justice Department, had used a filing in the case to lay out the crimes it believed Mr. Trump might have committed. Mr. Trump has not been charged with any crime, and the judge's ruling had no immediate, practical legal effect on him. But it essentially ratified the committee's argument that Mr. Trump's efforts to block Congress from certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s Electoral College victory could well rise to the level of a criminal conspiracy. "The illegality of the plan was obvious," wrote Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California. "Our nation was founded on the peaceful transition of power, epitomized by George Washington laying down his sword to make way for democratic elections. Ignoring this history, President Trump vigorously campaigned for the vice president to single-handedly determine the results of the 2020 election." In a statement hailing the judge's decision, the chairman of the House committee, Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, and its vice chair, Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, said the nation must not allow what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, "to be minimized and cannot accept as normal these threats to our democracy." Mr. Trump made no public statement about the ruling.
 
Impeach Thomas? House Dems can go there, but most won't.
House Democrats are outraged that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife pressed top White House officials to overturn the 2020 election. Yet they're not ready to talk about the most tangible step they can take: impeachment. Multiple Democrats said Monday night that Ginni Thomas' conspiracy-laden post-election text barrage to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows -- and potentially others in the West Wing -- warrants serious alarm about Thomas' involvement in cases related to the 2020 ballot. Several insisted Thomas should resign or recuse himself from anything to do with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and other litigation that may reach the high court in the coming months. But despite fervent calls for impeachment from the left, most Democratic lawmakers say they're not yet prepared to consider that option -- the only one with teeth that's in their purview. Other Democrats say there's much more for the select panel to do before the House should take action on its own. The panel might decide to call Ginni Thomas as a witness, a politically fraught choice as its members prepare to enter the investigation's public phase as soon as this spring. "Based on the evidence we have in our possession, I feel very confident about inviting her to the committee," select panel chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said. "And if she refuses, issuing a subpoena." The debate will likely intensify as Jan. 6-related litigation and prosecutions wind through the courts.
 
Ukraine's other fight: Growing food for itself and the world
Planting season has arrived in Ukraine. Boot marks stamped in the frozen earth have thawed. But the Pavlovych family's fields remain untouched in a lonely landscape of checkpoints and churches. Over a week ago, the family learned their 25-year-old soldier son, Roman, had been killed near the besieged city of Mariupol. On Tuesday, the father, also named Roman, will leave for the war himself. "The front line is full of our best people. And now they are dying," said the mother, Maria. In tears, she sat in her son's bedroom in their warm brick home, his medals and photos spread before her. The Pavlovych family knows a second front line in Russia's war runs through the farmland here in western Ukraine, far from the daily resistance against the invasion. It is an uphill battle for farmers to feed not only their country but the world. It is unclear how many farmers will be able to plant or tend to their harvests with the war raging, forcing those like Pavlovych to the front lines. And the challenges keep growing. Infrastructure -- from ports and roads to farm equipment -- is snarled and damaged, meaning critical supplies like fuel are difficult to get and routes for export almost impossible to reach. Fertilizer producers are paralyzed by nearby fighting, and a prolonged winter may disrupt spring yields. Concerned about feeding its own people, Ukraine's government has limited exports of oats, millet, buckwheat, sugar, salt, rye, cattle and meat. Under specific licensing, wheat, corn, chicken meat and eggs, and sunflower oil can be shipped.
 
Russia invasion fuels fear of American food price hikes
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is raising fears of a global food shortage that could hike prices for U.S. consumers and spark a humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. Ukrainian producers are struggling to grow and export their crops amid the war, and American farmers are warning that they may not be able to meet increased demand because Russia's invasion has spiked the price of fertilizer and fuel. Ukraine is the world's largest exporter of sunflower oil, the fifth-largest wheat exporter and a top corn exporter. Together, Russia and Ukraine account for 29 percent of global wheat sales and the bulk of wheat imports to Middle Eastern nations. If the war rages on and prices remain elevated, the cost of bread, cereal, pizza, pasta and other foods in the U.S. could spike, hitting consumers again after grocery prices rose by 8.6 percent on the year, the largest annual increase in four decades. "In the next few months, if Ukrainian farmers aren't able to get their crops in the ground as we go into the springtime, and we're looking at an entire year without a quarter of the world's wheat supply, it's going to have a significant impact on prices," said Robb MacKie, president and CEO of the American Bakers Association. MacKie added that the surging price of natural gas, the primary fuel used to bake common food products, will also impact costs for American consumers. His trade group is pushing the Biden administration to stave off increased biofuel mandates in an effort to boost the nation's supply of cooking oil. In a recent opinion piece, Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called on the Biden administration to purchase U.S. commodities and transfer them to hunger-stricken nations. Agricultural groups have cast American farmers as the solution. Lobbying groups representing farmers, bakers and oilseed processors sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week asking him to allow farmers to plant crops on lands that are currently sitting idle under the federal government's conservation program.
 
Russia says it will scale back near Kyiv as talks progress
Russia's military announced Tuesday it will "fundamentally" scale back operations near Ukraine's capital and a northern city, as talks brought the outlines of a possible deal to end the grinding war into view. Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the move was meant to increase trust in the talks after several rounds of negotiations failed to halt what has devolved into a bloody campaign of attrition. The announcement was met with skepticism from the U.S. and others. While Russia portrayed it as a goodwill gesture, it comes as the Kremlin's troops have become bogged down in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance that has thwarted President Vladimir Putin's hopes for a quick military victory. Late last week, and again on Tuesday, Russia seemed to roll back its war aims, saying its "main goal" now is gaining control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had not seen anything indicating talks were progressing in a "constructive way," and he suggested Russian indications of a pullback could be an attempt by Moscow to "deceive people and deflect attention." "There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does, and we're focused on the latter," Blinken said in Morocco. "And what Russia is doing is the continued brutalization of Ukraine."
 
Professor's composition earns award nomination
Inspiration surrounds Joe L. Alexander. It can come from a bird call or a waterfall or a walk in the park. In the case of Alexander's latest creation, "Arkansas Vignettes," the Mississippi University for Women professor of music discovered all of those pieces during walks in parks in the state of Arkansas and then turned that inspiration into a classical music piece that shares his outdoors experiences with others. "Nature played a big part in the formation of the vignettes," said Alexander, who started walking in the parks in the fall of 2020. "Several of the pieces have bird calls and one has a waterfall. The title for each vignette refers to a state park or a national park in Arkansas." The Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters (MIAL) recently recognized "Arkansas Vignettes" for a nomination in the classical music composition category. The nomination is the first for Alexander. Alexander said he tried to use the bird songs he heard during his walks as melodies. There are four or five bird calls in the piece. He said he then applied typical compositional techniques to expand and develop the movements. Alexander started composing "Arkansas Vignettes" in February 2021, which was around the same time he started to get interested in bird calls he heard during his walks. The trio Bantam Winds performed "Arkansas Vignettes" virtually for its premiere at the Festival Internacional de Música de Campina Grande on July 8, 2021.
 
IMC Connect! to bring industry experts to UM campus
The University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media welcomes some of the nation's top communications executives and leading researchers to campus this week for the inaugural IMC Connect!: A Roundtable Experience. The conference is set for Thursday and Friday (March 31-April 1). Sessions will be in the Overby Center auditorium and at The Inn at Ole Miss. "The purpose of this event is to foster connections and collaborations among multiple stakeholders, including integrated marketing communications practitioners, academic researchers, faculty members and students," said Amanda Bradshaw, co-chair of IMC Connect! and an assistant professor of integrated marketing communications. Throughout this roundtable experience, students, faculty and staff will have opportunities to network and participate in working sessions, including a discussion of the school's IMC curriculum and how to best prepare students for entering the job market. To aid in these efforts, the UM Public Relations Student Society of America chapter will host a Q&A Job Prep Panel: The Connection Between Research and Practice on Thursday. The following day, invited guests will gather at The Inn at Ole Miss for four panel sessions, which will include insights and knowledge on crisis communication, social media and big data analytics, advertising and building your brand, and the role of advocacy and social justice in public relations.
 
Students complain that air quality problems persist in UM dormitories
Since 2018, Ole Miss students and parents alike have complained about the conditions in the university's traditional dormitories. After many complaints about sickness due to mold growth in dormitory rooms, showers and bathrooms, the Department of Student Housing stated in their strategic plan that the university would facilitate mold and air quality testing each summer in Martin, Crosby and Stockard halls beginning in 2018. The facility air quality reports that the university has conducted are located on the Student Housing website. The most recent air quality report available was conducted over 2 years ago in September 2019. University of Mississippi Public Relations states that the tests happen annually. Freshman Fiona Muldowney, an integrated marketing communications major, has experienced illness that she believes is caused by mold in her room in Crosby Hall. After she reported the issue to Student Housing, they took notice of the issue and came to clean the air vent in her room last semester. They denied the presence of mold in her room. "They were super nice, but I felt like they were trying to convince me there was no way mold was in my dorm instead of just doing their job and looking," Muldowney said. "I was clearly sick and scared, and it sort of felt like they were there to back up the university rather than to actually check for mold."
 
USM Professor to Give Lecture on War in Ukraine March 30
Brian LaPierre, an associate professor of history in The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) School of Humanities, will present the public lecture "Putin's War in Ukraine: History, Interests, and Ambitions" Wednesday, March 30 at 4 p.m. in room 204 of the USM Liberal Arts Building, located at 1999 Pearl St., on the corner of Pearl Street and North 31st Avenue on the Hattiesburg campus. This program will also be available online via Webex. Vladimir Putin's brutal war in Ukraine has sparked international outrage and widespread condemnation. It has also raised thorny questions concerning Putin's motives, aims, and intentions. In this presentation, LaPierre will examine the historical relationship between Russia and Ukraine and take a deep dive into the various interests that Putin has at stake in his showdown with the West over the fate of post-Soviet Ukraine. Why is Putin willing to gamble and risk so much over Ukraine? How has Putin used history in his hybrid warfare with the West? A question-and-answer session will follow LaPierre's lecture. LaPierre has conducted significant archival research in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe and is a social historian of modern Russia.
 
Playwright Q&A sessions to be held at USM
The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) will host the 2022 Blaine Quarnstrom Playwright Series with playwright Phillip Howze from April 8 to April 10. Phillip Howze is an associate senior lecturer on Theater, Dance & Media and Playwriting at Harvard University. Howze will host two public question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions on his working methods and industry trends. There will also be four writing workshops for students in both programs and a staged reading of the playwright's work. The Q&A sessions will be held in the Hartwig Theatre on Friday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 9 at 2:00 p.m. The first session will focus on the playwright's specific works. The second session will focus on the current state of American theater.
 
EMCC's Scooba campus to offer computer networking
Starting this fall, students will be able to enroll in Computer Networking Technology on East Mississippi Community College's Scooba campus. Classes for the two-year Associate of Applied Science program begin in August. "Although the concentration is in Computer Networking Technology, students will be exposed to a variety of different IT classes, from Networking to PC Hardware, and Programming to Database Management," program instructor Jordan Miller said. "The intent is to help students develop a pathway to a career based on their interests." Students in the program, which can be completed in four semesters, learn to build computer networks from the ground up. The course includes instruction in computer protocols, operating systems, hardware components, networking devices and software, among other things. Students in the program also earn professional certifications. After their first year they will sit for the CompTIA A+ certification, which is globally recognized in the IT industry. In their fourth semester, they will take the CompTIA Network+ certification exam. The program has been taught on EMCC's Golden Triangle campus for a while and has proven popular. Students interested in enrolling in the program will need to complete the WorkKeys assessment and earn a minimum score of silver. Miller is a 2014 graduate of the program who attended school on EMCC's Golden Triangle campus. He continued his studies at the Mississippi University for Women where he worked for more than six years in the IT department.
 
Gov. Ivey says new AUBix data center will help spread high-speed internet to more of Alabama
AUBix, a new data center facility in Auburn, will help make high-speed internet available to more people in the state of Alabama, provide cyber security, enable advanced research and data mining and attract businesses to the area. The City of Auburn held a ribbon cutting on Monday to celebrate the grand opening of the new data center that will bring more reliable fiber services all across the state and become a place where, in the words of Gov. Kay Ivey, "broadband access meets cyber security." "So often we talk about the need for broadband to increase access in Alabama," said Ivey, who attended the event and toured the facility. "Now we are doing that." The $120 million, 40,000 square foot facility is located on West Samford Avenue about half a block from Auburn University and is officially operational. Auburn University President Jay Gogue said he's also looking forward to the partnership with AUBix and working with the company that will be able to provide internet to rural parts of the state. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when the university went from in-person instruction to remote instruction only, many students who lived in rural areas struggled with finding internet," Gogue said. "For them to be able to take remote courses through Zoom or whatever became a real challenge," Gogue said.
 
Makeshift bridges now span bayou between LSU students and Tigerland watering holes
Tigerland patrons and city-parish contractors have taken matters into their own hands after the closure of the primary crossing from LSU's campus to popular student watering holes led to scenes of people leaping off a demolished bridge in an effort to access the bar district. Several makeshift bridges have been erected at the Bob Pettit Boulevard Bridge construction site in recent months, including a large slab of concrete spanning Bayou Fountain. Contractors hired by the city-parish said Monday they put the slab down recently to give bargoers a way to access Tigerland without clambering across the partially built but still dangerous replacement bridge. The contractors' move comes after Tigerland bar owners' attempts to fund the purchase and installation of a temporary pedestrian bridge were blocked by government red tape that regulates such crossings. The saga began last year when the city-parish announced it would replace the 52-year-old bridge, making for a 2-mile-long detour on Nicholson Drive, Brightside Lane and Alvin Dark Avenue. Bar owners in Tigerland successfully lobbied the city-parish to delay the project until after football season so it wouldn't hamper their business during a busy time of the year. The first weekend after construction began at the start of December, videos were posted on LSU student-run social media accounts of people falling more than 10 feet from the demolished bridge onto the earth below during attempts to cross Bayou Fountain.
 
Why the U. of Tennessee is focusing its new advertising school on diversity
Before Charles Tombras founded Tennessee's first-ever ad agency in 1946, he attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to study accounting and law. That agency still bears his surname as Tombras Group, and is headed up by his grandson Dooley Tombras, serving national clients like Subway, Orangetheory Fitness, Mozilla Firefox, and Hotels.com. Now the agency is honoring its founder's legacy by partnering with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to rename the school's ad program the Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations, and use it to build a strong, consistent pipeline of diverse talent into the advertising and marketing industry. "This is a decades-long problem, of systemic racism that's led to underrepresentation in the industry," says the Tombras Group CEO. "It doesn't get solved overnight, but hopefully this becomes a part of the solution." Broadly, the school's goal is to double the number of graduates of color entering the advertising and marketing industry from the university. One of the primary ways it intends to do this is also by growing the number of BIPOC students attending the program. Through initiatives like the Tennessee Promise, Tombras will be focusing recruitment and outreach at the state's 30 "flagship" schools, or schools in both at-risk and diverse areas, to start presenting advertising and marketing as a viable career path option to high school students.
 
State lawmakers grill U. of South Carolina trustees over presidential search, athletics buyouts
Frustrations stemming from three tumultuous years and two bumpy presidential searches at the University of South Carolina came to a head as lawmakers grilled trustees seeking to retain their seats. Members of a special legislative committee spent five hours firing pointed questions at incumbent trustees' over: the troubled hiring of former President Bob Caslen; multimillion dollar buyouts paid to former football coach Will Muschamp and former men's basketball coach Frank Martin; and spats with a pair of top donors, one of whom is considering withholding $20 million in expected contributions. Lawmakers charged trustees have neglected the Palmetto State's largest public agency with an annual budget of $1.7 billion. "If you look at Caslen as a loss -- certainly you can't look at it as a win -- and you look at the Muschamp buyout as a loss, you don't really have a winning record," Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Columbia, told board Chairman Dorn Smith. "Shouldn't we fire y'all like y'all did to Muschamp and like y'all did to Frank Martin? And the buyout is a lot cheaper." "That's your prerogative," said Smith, who is seeking a new four-year term from the Legislature. USC trustees were questioned by lawmakers who are weighing the school's budget requests, particularly a $300 million health science campus in Columbia's BullStreet District.
 
Florida officials fight back against rowdy spring breakers
Rowdy spring break crowds have forced curfews and led some establishments to close their doors from Miami Beach to Florida's Panhandle. Law enforcement officials in Bay County, Florida, said Sunday that they won't tolerate the bad behavior from spring breakers after a 21-year-old from Alabama was shot in the foot Sunday during a shooting in Panama City Beach. "The crowd that has been here this weekend, there are no words that can describe the way they have behaved themselves, conducted themselves and the amount of laws they have broken," Panama City Beach police Chief J.R. Talamantez said Sunday after the shooting. "We are doing the best to manage this situation." Police received word that the large crowd was out of control just before the shooting happened on Sunday afternoon. Six people were detained and officials said they could be charged with attempted murder related to that shooting. Officials noted that most of those arrested were not typical "spring breakers." "These are cimnials that came to our city and brought the guns with the intent to commit some type of act," Smith said. In South Florida, raucous crowds, public drinking and growing violence associated with the city's world-famous South Beach neighborhood led officials to impose a midnight curfew over the weekend. The action followed shootings that injured five people on South Beach last week.
 
Masks off? Students, professors hesitate to follow UF's relaxed masking policy
Each time the Century Tower bell marks the next period, students enter classrooms wondering if they should don or ditch a mask. Since Wednesday, UF no longer recommends or expects students to wear masks but welcomes them to mask if they choose to. UF released new masking guidance due to a decline in local and nationwide COVID-19 case numbers. While some dropped their masks the day after the revisions, others stayed cautious. Large lecture halls have a pattern of bare faces intermixed with only eyes peeking out from above masks. Despite dropping positivity and new policies, many UF classrooms have generally maintained the same appearance. Steve Noll, UF history professor, hasn't noticed a difference in his classes so far. Most of his students still choose to wear masks, though he expects more maskless students soon. "The biggest difference is UF had to print off all new signs and take down the old ones and put them up," he said. As Florida trended better with the pandemic, Noll assumed mask mandates would change. He said it's an appropriate time to move in this direction, but thought the university should have released a statement thanking people for masking this long. "I just think there should have been something in there about thanking those people who were masked for helping keep numbers down," he said. His only goal throughout the pandemic has been to keep his students safe, so he will still offer classes via Zoom and thanks any students who continue to mask.
 
Aggie Habitat's annual Shack-a-Thon brings students together to raise money, awareness for housing needs in the community
For the next week, 14 plywood shacks set up in the shadow of Kyle Field and the Memorial Student Center will be a temporary home to some students at different points during the week as part of Aggie Habitat for Humanity's annual Shack-a-Thon. The purpose of the student-run event is to raise money for the larger Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity and to increase awareness of affordable housing needs in the community and beyond. "Many people like to think that homelessness and substandard housing is something that affects people away from us, but in fact it's very close," Aggie Habitat co-president and Texas A&M grad student Trent Riek said. "It's very next door. In fact, in our case, in the Bryan community, Habitat for Humanity as an organization, has built 300 houses and counting for people that live in substandard housing. It's actually very prominent just within Bryan alone, and just within our area." He said the problem people face trying to find affordable housing is an important one that should be addressed both through fundraisers and advocacy. Hannah Lansford, Texas A&M senior and Aggie Habitat director of public relations, added, "Housing and accessibility to housing is a very prevalent issue, and it does play a role in people's quality of life as well as their ability to be educated and hold jobs, different things like that. It's just super important, and I really love this fundraiser because it's ultimately just helping people and that's the best part."
 
Dan Patrick's plan to end tenure at Texas universities could have dire consequences, experts warn
One of the most high-profile new laws Texas passed last year was Senate Bill 3, a ban on teaching "critical race theory" in grades K-12, which went into effect in December. The measure was met with rebuke from some academics. Members of the faculty council at the University of Texas at Austin voted 41-5 last month to reject any efforts by the Legislature to restrict or dictate what they could teach. Such faculty council resolutions are typically statements of principle. But Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick took it as a direct challenge to the authority of the Legislature and wasted no time in striking back. "Apparently this small group, they don't understand that we in the Legislature represent the people of Texas," Patrick said during a press conference at the state Capitol on Feb. 18. "We are those who distribute taxpayer dollars. We are the ones who pay their salaries. The parents are the ones who pay tuition. And, of course, we're going to have a say in what the curriculum is." The Texas Legislature won't meet again for more than nine months, but Patrick has already identified one of his top priorities for the next session: abolishing academic tenure at all Texas public universities. Neal Hutchens, who teaches higher education at the University of Mississippi, said tenure may not be perfect, but that eliminating it wholesale would have devastating consequences for Texas's public university system. "Texas is an example of a state that through decades has really built some really high-quality colleges and universities, certainly nationally known and leading and even with recognition internationally," Hutchens said. "To put a proposal on the table that really could wreck that, that's astounding to me."
 
MIT resumes mandate for SAT or ACT scores. Many other colleges have not.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology this week became one of the first super-selective schools to reinstate its requirement for SAT or ACT scores, an admissions mandate that had been suspended amid widespread testing disruptions at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic. MIT said scores can yield important insights into students' potential when considered alongside other information about their background and academic preparation. Whether the decision, announced Monday, will slow the momentum of the test-optional movement in higher education remains to be seen. But it is certain to be widely noticed because of the school's reputation as a premier destination for students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. The decision runs counter to the direction of many leading universities, including a certain well-known neighbor of MIT in Cambridge, Mass. -- Harvard University in December announced that it will be test-optional for the next four years. Stu Schmill, MIT's dean of admissions, wrote in a blog post that reviewing admission test scores as part of a holistic review significantly improves the school's ability to assess the academic potential of prospective students as it weighs tens of thousands of applications a year. Students at MIT, he wrote, must follow a rigorous program that demands everyone pass two semesters each of calculus and calculus-based physics. Georgetown University is requiring applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores. So are some public universities, such as Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia and the University of Florida. Debate over the value of admission tests has raged for many years. It is widely accepted that there is a strong correlation between scores and family income. The more affluence in a community, the higher its average scores.
 
FAFSA Requirements Aim to Boost College Enrollments. Here's Their Impact So Far.
Last year, nearly half of high-school graduates from the class of 2021 failed to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid. That means that altogether, millions of students left about $3.75 billion in federal Pell Grants unclaimed, according to an estimate by the National College Attainment Network, on top of other need-based aid they could have applied for through the form. Now, a growing number of states are requiring high-school students to complete FAFSAs in order to graduate. The states hope to both help students take advantage of unclaimed financial aid and nudge some who otherwise may not have considered college to enroll -- a goal that's become more urgent since the Covid-19 pandemic has depressed both college enrollments and FAFSA completions. "We're trying to increase universal awareness of financial aid because that knowledge can shape [students'] college-going decisions," said Bill DeBaun, senior director of data and strategic initiatives at the National College Attainment Network, which has long worked to increase FAFSA completions. Unsurprisingly, FAFSA completion rates have grown in the states with the graduation requirement. But while completions are strongly correlated with postsecondary enrollment, particularly for students from lower-income households, it remains to be seen whether the rules will improve college enrollment. Some experts caution that it will take a lot more than filling out a form to get more students to enroll in -- and eventually graduate from -- college.
 
Higher Ed's Labor Force Is Nearly Back to Full Strength. Thank the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Higher ed had little to celebrate last November when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its employment estimates for the sector. Academe had added basically zero jobs during the third-quarter of 2021, and the sector's sputtering job recovery lagged more than six months behind the rebound that was then underway throughout the broader economy. Fast forward to present day: Instead of a cumulative deficit of 300,000 higher-ed jobs lost since February 2020, that shortfall now sits at less than 40,000. And preliminary estimates suggest public colleges and universities have, strictly in terms of a top-line count, recovered the number of jobs lost over the course of the last two years, and then some. The chief reason for the change? The bureau's revised estimates suggest Covid-era job losses were not as extensive as previously reported. Instead of an all-time cumulative, seasonally adjusted low-point in December 2020 of over 610,000 jobs lost since the pandemic's start, revised estimates peg the total fallout that month closer to 430,000 employees shed. To be sure, even with the revised totals, higher ed's labor force still experienced historic job losses. America's colleges and universities can't point to another period since the 1960s when the sector shed so many employees so fast. So what happened?
 
Amid abortion bans, young doctors struggle to learn procedures
A barrage of abortion restrictions rippling across the country, from Florida to Texas to Idaho, is shrinking the already limited training options for U.S. medical students and residents who want to learn how to perform abortion procedures. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends standardized training on abortion care during medical residency, the training period after medical school that provides future physicians on-the-job experience in a particular specialty. But the number of residency programs located in states where hospital employees are prohibited from performing or teaching about abortion -- or at Catholic-owned hospitals with similar bans -- has skyrocketed in recent years, an overlooked byproduct of anti-abortion legislation taking root in the American South, Midwest, and Mountain states. The clinical skills used in abortion procedures are often the same used to clear the uterine lining after a miscarriage or end a pregnancy in demise that is causing hemorrhaging and other complications that can lead to maternal death. Clinicians who aren't familiar with abortion procedures are often less skilled at performing these lifesaving procedures, experts said. Medical students caught up in the shifting legal landscape are left weighing whether to alter methodically plotted career paths. Already, half of the medical schools in the U.S. include no formal training or offer only a single lecture on abortion-related topics, according to a 2020 study by Stanford University researchers, leaving medical residents who may want to incorporate the procedure into their future practice starting from square one, or nearly so.
 
Making Higher Ed More Accountable for Student Job Outcomes
Many colleges claim to help students find good jobs -- but Texas State Technical College takes that to a new level. The multi-campus community college has a unique mission and funding structure. It's not designed to help students study the liberal arts or transfer to four-year universities; instead, it prepares people to work as power linemen and dental hygienists. Its budget from the state of Texas depends on the employment outcomes of its students. And that's not simply a question of whether new graduates receive job offers. Instead, Texas State Technical College tracks how its alumni fare in the workforce for five years after graduation, calculating how much more money than minimum wage they earn during that period. This level of accountability for making sure graduates land jobs and take home good pay is rare in higher education. But a few efforts aim to change that -- at least for institutions that explicitly promise to train people for jobs. The U.S. Department of Education has been rethinking a "gainful employment" rule intended to ensure career-education programs pay off for students. Meanwhile, leaders of a new organization, called the Workforce Talent Educators Association, hope to create a quality-assurance system that holds workforce programs to high standards. If successful, these efforts wouldn't force most liberal arts degree programs to prove that they offer students a return on investment. But they could create pressure across higher education for institutions to better demonstrate how well they set graduates up for jobs.
 
Biden proposes spending more on higher education
President Biden proposed a $2,175 increase in the maximum Pell Grant Monday in his budget proposal to Congress for fiscal 2023. That would bring the maximum annual Pell award to $8,670. There is no guarantee the president will get what he's asking for. And Republicans in Congress are already taking aim at the overall budget proposal. Although the Pell increase is expected to be popular (even with some Republicans), it likely will get caught up in the larger debates about federal spending. The Democrats have an advantage in pushing appropriations bills: they do not need Republican support to do so. However, that is only true if they capture every Democratic vote in the Senate, which has proved difficult to do. And it will be hard for Biden to achieve another big goal -- cutting the federal deficit by $1 trillion over a decade -- and also to find money for his spending priorities. Nonetheless, Pell Grants remain high on his list. The president also proposed increases for a series of programs at historically Black colleges and for other minority-serving institutions. "To foster more and better opportunities in higher education for communities that are often underserved, the request provides $1.1 billion in discretionary and mandatory funding to expand capacity at institutions of higher education that serve high proportions of students of color," the budget book said. Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, praised President Biden for proposing the increase.
 
Biden's 2023 budget request for science aims high -- again
President Joe Biden didn't forget research today, when he submitted to Congress a 2023 budget request that calls for a 9.5% increase in domestic discretionary spending. Biden is asking for a 19% increase at the National Science Foundation (NSF), a 9.6% boost for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 4.5% more for the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science, and a 5% hike for NASA's science missions. But as always when a president submits an annual budget, the hard part will be getting Congress to go along. That process usually runs past the 1 October start of the fiscal year, leading to a temporary freeze on spending at current levels. But with midterm elections in November that could shift control of one or both chambers from Democrats to Republicans, a final agreement could easily be delayed until after the new year. Even with his party now in control, Biden's first budget blueprint for science was seriously downsized when Congress passed a final 2022 spending bill earlier this month. For example, legislators shrank Biden's proposed budget for a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) from $6.5 billion to $1 billion, instead giving NIH's existing institutes a boost of 5%. But ARPA-H remains a presidential favorite, with Biden requesting a total of $5 billion for it in 2023. Likewise, the omnibus bill whittled his proposed 2022 increase for NSF from 20% to 4% and eliminated a $500 million request for a new technology directorate that would ramp up NSF's applied research efforts. But Biden has come back with a similar-size request for 2023, including a proposal to launch 10 megacenters to boost regional innovation.
 
Mississippi Joins the Tax Cutters
The Wall Street Journal editorializes: The tax reform movement has arrived on the Gulf Coast, with Mississippi becoming the latest state to propose rate cuts. The plan will help the state economy -- all the more if legislators keep their pledge to follow up with additional cuts. State legislative leaders agreed Saturday to an income-tax cut that will give Mississippi the nation's fifth-lowest top rate (for states with an income tax). The plan would reduce the highest rate to 4% in stages from 5% by 2026, and eliminate a current 4% rate that applies to taxable income between $5,000 and $10,000. The state House and Senate passed the tax bill on Sunday, and it now awaits Gov. Tate Reeves's signature. The upside is clear. State revenues have soared since 2020, and several states have taken the chance to offer permanent taxpayer relief. "We have about $1.5 billion in excess revenue right now," said House Speaker Philip Gunn last week, "and we're on pace to have about $2.5 billion." Mississippi trailed the nation with a median household income of $45,000 in 2020, and a low cost of living means even a modest tax cut goes a long way to help family budgets. ... Louisiana amended its state constitution last year through a ballot measure that caps the income-tax rate at 4.75% and the top rate in 2022 will be 4.25%. Arkansas passed a cut last year that by 2025 will reduce the top rate to 4.9% from 5.9%. Tennessee and Florida have no income tax. Mississippi's tax cut is a worthy step forward. But competition is a powerful incentive, and the example of neighboring states should encourage greater progress in Jackson.
 
Releasing ARPA funds can provide PPP-like boost to local economies
Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: Mississippi's economy survived COVID-19 much better than the nation, state economist Corey Miller said earlier this month. The state economy contracted only 1.8% compared to the national decline of 3.4%. Miller attributed much of this to federal transfer payments, pointing out such payments were up 26.4%. While CARES Act (and related Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021) direct payments to individuals and farmers plus increased unemployment and SNAP benefits accounted for much of this, loan forgiveness to small businesses also played a key role. (Varying estimates indicate 16% to 30% of pandemic benefits came to Mississippi in the form of loan forgiveness.) Altogether during two rounds of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), $5.4 billion was pumped into the state economy through 138,484 loans to small businesses. These funds allowed businesses to stay open and retain employees in both 2020 and 2021. No doubt this helped sustain payroll employment which Miller said dipped 4.3% in Mississippi compared to 5.8% nationally. A total of $4.9 billion of that $5.4 billion was forgiven, covered by CARES Act funds. ... The PPP impact illustrates how a stimulus program that spurs business activity in every county can benefit the overall economy as well as tax collections. Most hope the pending stimulus from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) for infrastructure improvements will do the same.


SPORTS
 
SEC 'All For Alex' Weekend Set For April 2
The SEC softball community will be united on April 2 when all 13 teams participate in the second annual "All for Alex" weekend to honor the legacy of Mississippi State's Alex Wilcox. Wilcox was a member of the 2018 Mississippi State softball team who inspired the nation with her courageous fight against ovarian cancer. That fight ultimately took her life in the summer of 2018. The Bulldogs are continuing their #NoOneFightsAlone campaign in 2020, wearing teal uniforms during midweek games. The 13 SEC schools will join together to wear teal or teal accents on Saturday as the entire league recognizes her impact on the softball community nationwide and in the fight against ovarian cancer. There are six conference games scheduled, and Texas A&M will be hosting Abilene Christian that day. The Bulldogs will be on the road for the event this season at No. 11 Tennessee. The Lady Vols will wear teal jersey tops, while State plans to debut a new teal and gray top created for the weekend. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. The campaign is a joint effort of LSU head coach Beth Torina and MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts and was approved at the SEC coaches' meetings in the fall of 2019 before being put on hold when the 2020 conference season was canceled.
 
Diamond Dawg Gameday: at Memphis
Mississippi State (15-10) will hit the road for the first of four straight away games beginning with a midweek matchup against Memphis (12-8) at 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday, March 29, at AutoZone Park in Memphis. Tuesday's game against Memphis will be streamed on ESPN+. The midweek contest will be carried on the Mississippi State Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/plus. Mississippi State enters the week with a 15-10 overall record over the first 25 games of the season, including a 3-3 record in SEC play following a series win over Alabama at home last weekend. The Diamond Dawgs are 2-4 in road games this season. Mississippi State leads the all-time series, 55-27, over Memphis in a series that dates back to 1950. The last meeting between the Dawgs and Tigers came during the 2019 season. State defeated Memphis by a score of 10-9 in Starkville on May 8, 2019. The previous year, the Dawgs traveled to Memphis and fell, 6-1, to the Tigers.
 
'They're just not doing the job': Chris Lemonis searching for elevated bullpen play
Chris Lemonis needs another arm in his bullpen, and he doesn't have the luxury of an MLB front office to make a midseason move. Brooks Auger and Pico Kohn have been his rocks out of the bullpen. Their 5 2/3 combined innings while allowing two earned runs against Alabama last weekend were the latest example. Beyond them, Mississippi State isn't getting much, and its opponents are loving the free insurance runs. Jackson Fristoe allowed three runs in Saturday's win. Cam Tullar allowed three Friday before another two Sunday -- a disappointing moment for Lemonis after bringing in the left-hander to face lefties in the lineup. "I'm making (the moves) because their guy doesn't hit left-handed pitchers," Lemonis said. "Well, somehow they're hitting ours." Jack Walker has been inconsistent, which is expected from a freshman. Drew Talley doing the same as a senior is not as expected. Help could be on the way in the form of KC Hunt. Hunt started the season's first Saturday game against Long Beach State and hasn't returned since due to injury, but Lemonis considers the right-hander to be "week-to-week." But Hunt's first start was shaky. His return provides depth, but that doesn't necessarily mean success. And Mississippi State needs some of the latter. Tuesday's midweek trip to Memphis will be a live audition. "It's gonna take a lot of guys to pitch because we have to pitch a bullpen day there," Lemonis said. "We gotta go out there, compete and pitch."
 
Fulton's Chad Ramey ends a long Mississippi drought on PGA Tour
Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: The call came Sunday afternoon shortly after news that Mississippian Chad Ramey, the former Mississippi State golfer from Fulton, had won the PGA Tour's Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic. The caller had a question: "When was the last time before today that a native Mississippian won an official PGA Tour event? You're supposed to know those kinds of things." The most obvious answer would be Jim Gallagher Jr. of Greenwood, whose nine professional victories include five on the PGA Tour, including The Tour Championship in 1993. One problem there: Gallagher was born in Pennsylvania, raised in Indiana and played his college golf at Tennessee. He once won the old Magnolia Classic in Hattiesburg, but he is not a native Mississippian. To which Gallagher, now a Golf Channel commentator, no doubt would tell you: "I'm better than that. I live here by choice." So, if not Gallagher, then whom?



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