| Monday, April 4, 2022 |
| MSU Air Force ROTC cadets run to honor POW/MIAs | |
 | Saturday evening, students from Mississippi State University took off for their first lap around campus to honor military members who are missing in action or killed in action or were prisoners of war. They planned to keep running for 24 hours straight. MSU Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets, Arnold Air Society and Silver Wings members held their 17th annual Arnold Air Society and Silver Wings Service Run. The first lap, which began at 5 p.m. Saturday, is called the "Honor Lap," and cadets will run the one mile circle around campus while holding the POW/MIA flag, the United States flag, a flag representing each branch of the U.S. military and the Mississippi state flag. For 24 hours, a baton will be passed continuously to a runner to symbolize perseverance. Lt. Col. Megan Loges is the commander of the MSU AFROTC Detachment 425, and this is her last run as the cadets' commander. She has been at MSU for three years, and she is proud of how the group has grown. "This run shows that the cadets honor the heritage of the U.S. Armed Forces and the sacrifices made by those who didn't get to make it home," Loges said. "I couldn't be more proud of the group I've seen grow and mature. Their futures are bright." This is one of the two 24-hour runs the MSU AFROTC hosts. The other is in the fall, and it is to raise awareness for the veterans and current service members who commit suicide. Like their spring run, the entire community is invited to participate. |
| Hand to lead MSU Extension Service's central region | |
 | Theresa Hand has been selected to lead the efforts of the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service in the central region of the state. Hand has has served as interim in the position since April 2020 and will assumes the regional Extension coordinator position on April 1. Regional Extension coordinators provide leadership for MSU's outreach efforts in the region and provide administrative direction to Extension agents in the development, implementation and evaluation of Extension's educational programs. Hand holds a bachelor's degree in family and consumer sciences from Delta State University (DSU) and a master's degree in community and Extension education from Mississippi State University (MSU). Her office is located at the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Raymond. |
| Avoid food-borne illness, handle Easter eggs properly | |
 | Eggs are a traditional part of Easter décor and celebrations, and it is risky to eat or use these hard-boiled eggs for recipes after the festivities are over. Fran Brock, a family and consumer science agent with the Mississippi State University Extension Service in Oktibbeha County, said the best practice is to discard hard-boiled eggs used for Easter decorations or hunts. "We don't recommend eating eggs that have been used for hunting or display," Brock said. "Hunts usually take place outside, and you don't want to eat eggs that have been lying on the ground or in other areas that may be contaminated with bacteria or chemicals. Bacteria can easily contaminate the egg, especially if the shell is cracked." Even if a hunt takes place indoors, eggs can still pick up dangerous bacteria. Hard-boiled eggs are more susceptible than fresh eggs to bacterial contamination because boiling removes the naturally occurring protective outer layer on the shell. Eggs used for hunting are also handled a lot, which increases the risk of bacterial contamination even more. Plastic, wooden and paper eggs are three alternatives to hard-boiled eggs. |
| In Remembrance: Goodbye to G.I. Joe | |
| Joe Stockwell was laid to rest Monday in the courtyard cemetery at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection. During his 96 years, Stockwell could lay claim to many titles -- Ph.D., distinguished professor, patron of the arts, The Starkville Library and the Boy Scouts, faithful communicant at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in West Point. Yet there is another title that humility would never permit him to embrace, although he probably had as good a case as anyone to claim it. Joe Stockwell, the original G.I. Joe. "He was the epitome of what we now know as The Greatest Generation," said Deboarah Collier, his sister-in-law. "His story was their story." Those familiar with Brad Freeman's story will see the parallels in the two men's military service -- a couple of small-town kids (Freeman is from Caledonia) thrust onto the stage of the most dramatic events of the 20th century as mortarmen, launching mortar shells at German positions in the climactic final years of World War II, fighting with valor and distinction then quietly returning home. Decades later, fame hunted down Freeman, who was a member of the legendary 82nd Airborne "Easy Company," whose exploits were immortalized first in Stephen Ambrose's book "Band of Brothers" and later in an HBO series of the same name. But fame never found Stockwell, which was fine by him. Stockwell, who was wounded in battle in January 1945 and again two months later, returned home after the war and went to college on the G.I. Bill. Joe Stockwell earned his degree at Tulane University and, after working in sales for a decade, returned to school at LSU where he earned his Masters and Ph.D. in English. He moved to Starkville in 1968, where he was a distinguished professor of English at Mississippi State before his retirement in 1986. |
| Cornerstone Park opening could be after Labor Day | |
| DD Consulting owner David D'Aquilla said the city of Starkville does not need to plan on opening Cornerstone Park until after Labor Day. Cornerstone, Starkville's upcoming softball and baseball sports complex, has been under construction since 2020, but due to delays from COVID-19, heavy rainfall and supply chain issues, the park's expected opening date keeps getting pushed back. While D'Aquilla said he knows the city wanted to open the park in August, he wants to ensure all finish and detail work is completed before hosting events at Cornerstone. "I'm trying to be realistic because between COVID, shipping delays and weather, this project has been a very difficult project to get momentum on," D'Aquilla said. Several contracting groups are working on construction for the park, D'Aquilla said, and he is encouraging all of them to complete their work by July 1, something he said may be unrealistic depending on weather conditions. He said Parks and Recreation Executive Director Brandon Doherty has planned events for August at Cornerstone, but if development is not yet finished, these events can be held at the Starkville Sportsplex. Along with Cornerstone, Doherty said Parks and Rec has received multiple sponsorships to help offset the cost of park operations. Through the various sponsorship packages, Parks and Rec has generated $20,500 from businesses such as Chick-fil-A, Spruill Properties and Mitchell Eye Care. |
| Lifestyles Briefs: Cotton District Arts Festival set for Oct. 29 | |
| The 2022 Cotton District Arts Festival is set for Oct. 29. Presented by the Starkville Area Arts Council (SAAC) and the Cotton District Arts Festival (CDAF) Committee, the historic festival will be held in the Cotton District this fall with new and returning artisans, local food vendors and food trucks, local musicians, fun arts activities for all ages, and more. The date change is due to scheduling conflicts with other major arts festivals in the South that many local artisans and vendors also participate in. This new date does not currently fall on an Mississippi State University football gameday weekend or any other major events in Starkville, which the committee hopes will make it easier for artisan and food vendors to participate. Applications for the Artisan Village, the CDAF Juried Arts Show, and Taste of Starkville are open on Submittable. See the Applications page on www.cdafestival.com for application links. |
| The job market continues to roar back. How long can the recovery keep going? | |
 | Over the past three months, the U.S. economy has added 1.7 million jobs and the unemployment rate has fallen from 4% down to 3.6%. That is just 0.1% above where it was when the pandemic hit, in February 2020. To find an unemployment rate lower than that, you have to go all the way back to 1969. Meanwhile, the number of people working or actively looking for work has been rising steadily. Employers are desperate to hire, and they're hiking up wages in response. Twenty-two million jobs evaporated from the U.S. economy after the pandemic started. It was a deep hole to dig out of, but Friday's employment report shows we've recovered more than 90% of those lost jobs. "Right now we're about 1.6 million jobs below where we were in February 2020," said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. She said the U.S. working-age population did grow during the pandemic. "If we take into account people graduating high school, entering in the labor market -- we're down about 3.4 million jobs. That shortfall, I think, can easily [be] made up by the end of the year, at the kind of growth we're seeing right now," she said. That would be incredibly fast compared to the aftermath of other job-destroying events, like the Great Recession. To keep up this steady, strong growth, we'll need more people to return to work. Fortunately, key groups that left the labor force are coming back, according to Curt Long, chief economist at the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions. None of this is to say that a big wrench couldn't jam the works of this strong job market, said William Rodgers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He put three risks at the top of the list: "What happens to the path of inflation, any more variants from COVID and then the longer that the conflict that we're seeing in Ukraine continues." |
| Mississippi lawmakers aim to finish budget and end session | |
 | Mississippi legislators are returning to the Capitol on Monday with hopes of finishing their 2022 session. They still need to finish passing a state budget for the year that begins July 1. The state-funded portion of the budget will be more than $6.2 billion. Legislators also will allocate billions of federal dollars, including money the state received from a federal pandemic relief package. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Friday that he intends to sign a bill that will authorize Mississippi's largest-ever tax cut. On March 27, the House and Senate voted by wide margins to pass the bill that will reduce the state income tax over four years, beginning in 2023. Reeves has a Tuesday deadline to act. "It's a major tax cut that heads us in the direction of eliminating the income tax," Reeves told reporters Friday at the Capitol. "Literally every Mississippian who pays income taxes in our state will have the opportunity to send less of their money to the government and the ability to keep more of their money." The legislative session started in early January, and it originally was scheduled to end Sunday. Final budget negotiations were delayed repeatedly because of contentious final discussions between House and Senate leaders over the tax cut plan. |
| Legislators, flush with cash, hope to finish budget early this week | |
| Legislators, working with an unprecedented amount of money thanks to record state tax collections and $1.8 billion in federal coronavirus-relief funds, are slated to return to the state Capitol Monday morning with hopes of finalizing a state budget. House Speaker Philip Gunn said the goal is to complete the task and end the 2022 legislative session by Tuesday. Legislators were scheduled to complete the budgeting process early last week, but twice have had to extend the session to complete the process. "We have a few little details to take care of" to finalize a budget agreement, said Senate Appropriations Chair Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg. The budget is likely to be about $300 million more than the $6.56 billion overall state support budget passed during the 2021 session. That will include the $246 million already committed for a pay raise averaging $5,145 for teachers and a 3% raise for state Highway Patrol troopers and for Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics officers. Money also will be set aside to provide raises for some state employees to get their salaries closer to regional averages. Senate Finance Chair Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, said the state will be able to save about $30 million this year by not passing a bond bill. The Legislature often incurs debt for the state by issuing bonds to finance various construction projects. Instead, this year the projects will be funded through the more than $1 billion in surplus funds the state has because of the unprecedented revenue collections. Those funds are expected to be used for state building construction, construction at the universities and community colleges and for road and bridge needs. |
| Gov. Tate Reeves signs 'landmark' teacher pay raise bill at Madison Central High School | |
 | Gov. Tate Reeves held a symbolic signing ceremony at Madison Central High School on Thursday for the state's most significant teacher pay raise in 30 years. "We have just signed a landmark piece of legislation into law," Reeves said after signing House Bill 530 that will increase pay for the state's public school teachers, long among the lowest-paid in the nation. "We continue to reach new heights that many said were not possible." State officials and educators joined Reeves inside the Madison Central High School library Thursday for the ceremonial signing of House Bill 530. Once the bill becomes law on July 1, it will increase the state's average teacher pay by about $5,100 per year -- more than 10% over the current average teacher pay. In the last listening sessions between legislators and teachers about the proposed teacher pay raise in Mississippi earlier this year, teachers from Madison Central were doubtful that anything would ever get done. "We heard a lot of skepticism about our commitment to education, our commitment to teachers," said Dennis DeBar, Senate Education Committee chair. "The question was, 'How can we trust you to make this happen? We don't trust you because your past doesn't show us (that you are committed to education).' I kept telling them to trust us and that we would make it happen. Today, we made it happen." |
| Legislature passes bill to create more freestanding ERs in rural counties | |
 | A bill that could fill a crucial health care need in rural Northeast Mississippi is headed to Gov. Tate Reeves' desk for review. Both chambers of the state Legislature have approved a final version of a bill that would permit the construction of "freestanding" emergency rooms -- ERs unattached to hospitals -- in rural counties without one. The bill passed the House 117-4. Rep. Chris Brown, R-Nettleton, was the only Northeast Mississippi lawmaker to vote against it. The legislation unanimously passed the Senate. If Reeves signs the bill into law, it could lead to more emergency health care access for rural counties in Northeast Mississippi -- particularly Chickasaw County, which has long fought to get an emergency room. "I've gotten numerous calls, texts and emails from folks in Chickasaw County, and they're excited about it," said Republican Sen. Ben Suber of Bruce, the author of the bill. "It's a huge need in our area." Houston, one of the county seats in Chickasaw County, could be considered to be in the middle of an emergency room desert. The town has just one medical facility, Trace Medical, which offers only limited hours and care. |
| 'Go, Mississippi': State could ditch song with racist roots | |
| Mississippi is on the verge of scuttling a state song with racist roots, two years after it retired a Confederate-themed state flag. The current song, "Go, Mississippi," takes its tune from a 1959 campaign jingle of Democratic Gov. Ross Barnett. "Roll With Ross" included the lyrics, "For segregation, 100%. He's not a moderate, like some of the gents." Barnett unsuccessfully resisted integration of the University of Mississippi in 1962, and legislators that year adopted a state song setting new words to his campaign ditty: "Go, Mississippi, keep rolling along. Go, Mississippi, you cannot go wrong." Some legislators have quietly sought a new song in recent years, saying the Barnett connection is an embarrassing relic of the bad old days. The effort gained momentum when Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn opened this year's legislative session by showing a video of "One Mississippi," composed by country music singer and songwriter Steve Azar for the state's 2017 bicentennial celebration. The Republican-controlled House and Senate on Thursday passed the final version of a bill to replace the Barnett-linked song with "One Mississippi." The bill also would create a committee to recommend that legislators designate additional state songs later. Tennessee is among states with multiple official songs. |
| Bill would remove racist state song, but creates a mostly white selection committee to replace it | |
| The final debate on the Senate floor about a large tourism spending bill didn't focus on the millions of dollars earmarked for the state's visitors bureaus, but over the future of the state song -- rather, songs -- and the lack of Black members on the song-selection committee. All but one of the six is white. Senators opposed to the bill pointed out the committee does not reflect the demographics of the state. While the legislation removes a racist state song, it would also create a committee comprised of mostly white members to select new ones. Mississippi lawmakers passed a bill late Thursday that removes "Go, Mississippi" as the official state song. In addition, it allocated $40 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds toward tourism and marketing. "I know that we're coming to end of a very difficult session and we are trying to get out of here and make the best decisions in the short period of time we have left," said Sen. John Hohrn (D-Jackson). "But this is a bad decision." "Go, Mississippi," adopted as the state song in 1962, has its roots in Mississippi's segregationist past. The song was an adaptation of segregationist Gov. Ross Barnett's campaign song, "Roll With Ross," which included anti-integration lyrics and was introduced at a rally during Barnett's fight against integration of the University of Mississippi by James Meredith. In response to those criticisms, Sen. Bart Williams (R-Starkville) said he viewed the committee as a "starting point, not an ending point." "Mississippi has not only transformed the course of America's music, it has revolutionized it, and because of this, it is important that the official songs of the State of Mississippi truly reflect the state's phenomenal musical heritage, while enthusiastically looking forward to its future," the bill says. |
| Azar's 'One Mississippi' set to become one of several state songs | |
| The Mississippi House and Senate voted on Thursday to repeal the current state song and replace it with multiple state songs. House Bill 453, a tourism recovery bill that also rids the state of the controversial "Go Mississippi" by Rick Pickren as the current state song, would create a Mississippi State Songs Committee for the purpose of designating "numerous state songs so that Mississippians may enjoy state songs that are appropriate for all occasions, events, and daily activities." To get the process rolling, lawmakers went ahead and chose Steve Azar's "One Mississippi" as the state's official song for the genre of contemporary music. Azar, who serves as the state's Music and Culture Ambassador, has charted nine times on Billboard Hot Country Songs as well as won a multitude of awards throughout his career. However, he says having one of his songs serve as a state banner is the best accolade he has ever received. As to how "One Mississippi" even came to be, Azar explained that former Governor Phil Bryant called him up to the state capitol building in 2016 and asked if he could put together a song to celebrate Mississippi's upcoming bicentennial. By the time Azar had made the drive back from Jackson to his hometown of Greenville, he said the song already "wrote itself. "My goal was to paint pictures of Mississippi in lyric and touch on all that makes us who we are," he explained. "When I started thinking about that, it all came so naturally." |
| Legislature passes all four local tax bills on last day of session | |
 | The mayors of Southaven and Horn Lake breathed a collective sigh of relief Friday after the Mississippi legislature voted to extend two existing tourism taxes that help support parks and economic development in those cities for another four years. Southaven currently charges one percent on restaurants and has invested the money on improvements at its ballfields at Snowden Grove which brings in major tournaments like the Dizzy Dean World Series. In Horn Lake, the city charges a $2 fee per night on hotel rooms which is used to fund the school band and non-profits like House of Grace and HeartLand Hands that help improve the overall quality of life. The bills were set to expire at the end of June and looked as though they would go away because of opposition from three area state representatives -- Rep. Steve Hopkins (R-Southaven), Rep. Dana Criswell (R-Olive Branch), and Rep. Dan Eubanks (R-Walls) who are anti-tax. The bills were passed in state Senate, but did not come up for debate on the calendar in the House. The tourism tax generates about $2.7 million for Southaven and $300,000 for Horn Lake. The bill to extend the tax in Southaven passed by a vote of 70-32, while the Horn Lake hotel tax passed by a margin of 68-21. Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite, who made numerous trips to the state capital urging legislators to support the bill, praised House members for continuing the tax calling it a win for Southaven and all the other cities as well. "We kept fighting," Musselwhite said. "The House leadership listened and did the right thing allowing all onto the House floor for a vote." |
| Vice President Kamala Harris discusses investments in small businesses and communities in Miss. | |
| Vice President Kamala Harris visited Mississippi on Friday. She traveled to Greenville, Miss., to draw attention to the Biden Administration's investments in small businesses and communities. "Over the past two years, like so many communities around our nation, you have faced incredible challenges and you have met those incredible challenges with incredible strength," Vice President Kamala Harris said. The Vice President aimed to make people aware of the resources available to them. The Mayor of Greenville says his residents could use federal help. "We don't want to cover anything," Mayor Errick Simmons said. "We want to make sure that she rides down some good streets, and she rides down some bad streets because we want to show that the investment is needed." Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith declined a White House invitation to accompany Harris during her visit due to previous commitments. The Senator issued a statement saying she's confident that the Vice President will enjoy her visit to Greenville and the Delta. |
| Vice President Kamala Harris visits Greenville in support of small businesses | |
 | Vice President Kamala Harris visited Greenville on Friday to tout President Joe Biden's plan for investing in America's small businesses and communities. Greenville, a city of 27,000 in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, has suffered from a shrinking economy for decades and has worked to build back its downtown and other areas over the past 15 years. Residents turned out in droves as people lined the streets and highways with signs and balloons to cheer for the vice president as her motorcade traveled from Mid-Delta Regional Airport into town. Harris made one stop to meet with Joycee Johnson, owner of Joycee's Fabric and Sewing Center, and Johnson told her she was busy making dresses for prom season. "Some of these girls I made dresses for when they were born and then when they were toddlers," Johnson said. "Now, I am making their prom dresses. So, yes, I have been here for a while." Johnson told Harris that the Paycheck Protection Program loans helped her survive during the COVID-19 pandemic. "I thought I was going to have to close, but it all worked because of the PPP," Johnson said. Harris told Johnson that business leaders who can overcome such struggles are a strength of the nation. |
| House readies relief package for restaurants, other industries | |
 | The House might vote next week on a small-business pandemic aid package that would provide $42 billion for additional restaurant relief and $13 billion for other "hard hit" industries. The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet on the revised bill Tuesday afternoon, which indicates floor action soon after. Democratic leaders are whipping the bill to see if there are enough votes to pass it, according to a source familiar with the planning who wasn't authorized to speak publicly. The restaurant and hard-hit business grant funding would be offset by "all funds rescinded, seized, reclaimed, or otherwise returned" from various programs in prior pandemic relief laws. It was not immediately clear if that would score as a full or partial offset for the $55 billion in total funding. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have been negotiating a COVID-19 supplemental they hope to finalize and pass next week. Before leaving town Thursday, senators said they were closing in on a deal that would provide roughly $10 billion for near-term needs like purchasing more therapeutics, testing supplies and vaccines, which they plan to offset with repurposed funds from prior pandemic relief laws. The negotiators couldn't agree on enough offsets for appropriating another $5 billion in foreign assistance, but they were debating whether to take approximately $1 billion from the domestic funds and direct it to overseas vaccination efforts. Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., said in an interview Friday that he doesn't think a supplemental bill could pass the House if it did not include any international funding. That would shut down the United States Agency for International Development's foreign pandemic aid efforts since the agency is out of money, he said. |
| Russia war could further escalate auto prices and shortages | |
| BMW has halted production at two German factories. Mercedes is slowing work at its assembly plants. Volkswagen, warning of production stoppages, is looking for alternative sources for parts. For more than a year, the global auto industry has struggled with a disastrous shortage of computer chips and other vital parts that has shrunk production, slowed deliveries and sent prices for new and used cars soaring beyond reach for millions of consumers. Now, a new factor -- Russia's war against Ukraine -- has thrown up yet another obstacle. Critically important electrical wiring, made in Ukraine, is suddenly out of reach. With buyer demand high, materials scarce and the war causing new disruptions, vehicle prices are expected to head even higher well into next year. The war's damage to the auto industry has emerged first in Europe. But U.S. production will likely suffer eventually, too, if Russian exports of metals -- from palladium for catalytic converters to nickel for electric vehicle batteries -- are cut off. In the United States, the average price of a new vehicle is up 13% in the past year, to $45,596, according to Edmunds.com. Average used prices have surged far more: They're up 29% to $29,646 as of February. So far, negotiations toward a cease-fire in Ukraine have gone nowhere, and the fighting has raged on. A new virus surge in China could cut into parts supplies, too. Industry analysts say they have no clear idea when parts, raw materials and auto production will flow normally. |
| In Ukraine, New Reports of War Crimes Emerge as Russians Retreat From Kyiv Area | |
 | More than 100 civilians lay buried in mass graves in this suburb of Kyiv after Russian troops withdrew last week, one of several regions in which Ukrainian officials and independent rights watchdogs say they are uncovering evidence of war crimes perpetrated by occupation forces. When the Russian military forces abandoned Bucha, it left streets littered with bodies of civilians. Human Rights Watch on Sunday released a report documenting instances of rape and summary executions in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, including Bucha, as well as other alleged crimes. The reports are adding to the already persistent pressure on the Biden administration and European allies to do more to punish Russia and step up support for Ukraine. They could make it harder for some countries to justify continuing to purchase oil and natural gas from Russia and complicate the peace talks currently under way between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine's Defense Ministry compared the emerging evidence of mass killings in Bucha and other areas near Kyiv that the Russian military occupied for more than five weeks to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which Serb troops slaughtered more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims. "The cases we documented amount to unspeakable, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians," said Hugh Williamson, the group's Europe and Central Asia director, adding that these should be investigated as war crimes. |
| Russia faces growing outrage amid new evidence of atrocities | |
| Russia faced a fresh wave of condemnation on Monday after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine. Some Western leaders called for further sanctions in response, even as Moscow continued to press its offensive in the country's east. Western allies, though united in outrage, appeared split on how to respond. Poland, which is on Ukraine's border and has taken in large numbers of refugees, angrily singled out France and Germany for not taking more strident action and urged Europe to quickly wean itself off Russian energy, while Berlin said it would take a longer-term approach. Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians were found in towns around the capital, Kyiv, that were recaptured from Russian forces in recent days. In Bucha, northwest of the capital, Associated Press journalists saw 21 bodies. One group of nine, all in civilian clothes, were scattered around a site that residents said Russian troops used as a base. They appeared to have been shot at close range. At least two had their hands tied behind their backs. The U.S. and its allies have sought to punish Russia for the invasion by imposing sweeping economic sanctions. But they may be reluctant to impose measures that cause further harm to a global economy still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. As a major oil and gas exporter, Russia stands to benefit from any rise in already high global energy prices. |
| Ramadan kicks off in much of Middle East amid soaring prices | |
| The Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk -- began at sunrise Saturday in much of the Middle East, where Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sent energy and food prices soaring. The conflict cast a pall over Ramadan, when large gatherings over meals and family celebrations are a tradition. Many in the Southeast Asian nation of Indonesia planned to start observing Sunday, and some Shiites in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq were also marking the start of Ramadan a day later. Muslims follow a lunar calendar and a moon-sighting methodology can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day or two apart. Muslim-majority nations including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates had declared the month would begin Saturday morning. Many had hoped for a more cheerful Ramadan after the coronavirus pandemic blocked the world's 2 billion Muslims from many rituals the past two years. With Russia's invasion of Ukraine, however, millions of people in the Middle East are now wondering where their next meals will come from. The skyrocketing prices are affecting people whose lives were already upended by conflict, displacement and poverty from Lebanon, Iraq and Syria to Sudan and Yemen. Ukraine and Russia account for a third of global wheat and barley exports, which Middle East countries rely on to feed millions of people who subsist on subsidized bread and bargain noodles. They are also top exporters of other grains and sunflower seed oil used for cooking. |
| 3 University of Mississippi students now Goldwater Scholars | |
| Three students at the University of Mississippi, for the first time, have been awarded Goldwater Scholarships in a single year. Ethan Lambert, of Corinth, Mississippi; Reinhard "Matt" Knerr, of Paducah, Kentucky; and Alexandria "Ally" Watrous, of Lexington, Kentucky, all members of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, have become the university's 19th, 20th and 21st winners. This year, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation awarded 417 scholarships from a pool of 1,242 undergraduates nominated by 433 institutions. The Goldwater is one of the oldest and most prestigious national scholarships in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. It supports exceptional sophomores and juniors who show promise in becoming the next generation of research leaders in these fields. "Ethan, Matt and Ally have all presented an incredible commitment to a career in research, and a genuine display of intellectual curiosity," said Vivian Ibrahim, director of the UM Office of National Scholarship Advisement. "This is the first time UM has had three Goldwater scholars. We couldn't be more excited for them." |
| UM Alumnus Named New Development Associate for Applied Sciences | |
| Tyler McCraw has been named the new development associate for the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Mississippi. McCraw will lead efforts to increase financial support for the school during the Now & Ever comprehensive campaign and beyond. He brings several years of experience in sales and relationship building. Most recently, he was a financial adviser for Prudential Advisors. Before joining Prudential, he was a marketing consultant. "We are thrilled to have Tyler on board the development team," said Susan Boyette, executive director of UM Development. "His experience in relationship building and intimate knowledge of Ole Miss will allow him to hit the ground running to raise money for all areas of the School of Applied Sciences." McCraw, his wife, Breezy, and his family have deep connections to Ole Miss. His parents and siblings are all alumni, and his wife has two degrees from UM. He earned a bachelor's degree from the School of Business Administration, where he majored in marketing, and a Juris Doctor from the UM School of Law. McCraw will work closely with Dean Peter Grandjean, faculty and staff to identify, cultivate and solicit support for the school while focusing on major gift prospects. |
| UMMC goes out-of-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield | |
| Mississippi's largest hospital went out of network with the state's largest insurer on Friday, meaning thousands of Mississippians will now face higher out-of-pocket costs for their health care or be forced to leave the state for certain specialty care. This is the first time the state's only academic medical center has officially gone out of network and not had an active contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi, according to UMMC officials' knowledge. UMMC is asking Blue Cross for substantial increases to inpatient, outpatient and professional reimbursement rates, some as large as 50%. UMMC maintains it's asking for below market rates for academic medical centers, while Blue Cross officials say that steep rate hikes would necessitate a substantial increase in customer premiums. "We are disappointed that Blue Cross doesn't value the Medical Center enough to agree to a fair contract and keep us in its network," Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the UMMC School of Medicine, said in a press release. "We know that patients are disheartened and frustrated. We must -- for the health and wellness of all Mississippians -- stand firm in our resolve that Blue Cross should agree to pay us at fair market rates." The two sides have also sparred over Blue Cross' quality care plan, which measures hospital performance and whether services provided to patients are adequate across 15 different categories. UMMC leadership has said that the complexity involved in the care the hospital provides means it should have an individualized quality care program, while Blue Cross maintains that UMMC should be held to the same standards as its other network providers. |
| Southern Miss student's music charts on iTunes | |
 | University of Southern Mississippi student Kyle Graves says he was surprised to see his debut EP climbing the iTunes singer-songwriter chart when he released it in March. "I was kind of expecting myself to scroll down and see like, I don't know, 250 or something like that," Graves said. "It was a really surreal moment. It was cool." Graves says "The Autumn Sessions" ranked No. 26 in the iTunes "U.S. Singer/Songwriter Top 40″ between Canadian-American singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell and American musician Paul Simon. "They're such famous and iconic artists and I don't know," Graves said. "That was just really surreal seeing myself in the same boat as them." The 21-year-old plays guitar and sings in a few of the five original acoustic folk tracks. "There are a couple of instrumentals on there," Graves said. "There were just some that I just could not work up lyrics for. Some that I felt that didn't need lyrics." Graves says none of this would have been possible without God and the help of a few USM students. Graves is majoring in Liberal Studies with a double minor in Marketing and Spanish. He says he plans to attend grad school at Southern Miss. |
| JSU hosts 5K to bring awareness to obesity | |
| Jackson State University (JSU) hosted the 14th Annual 5K Run and Walk to fight obesity. Leaders said the purpose of the run is to increase obesity awareness in Mississippi and to promote physical activity in the community. Those who attended the event said it's an important cause. "Sometimes obesity can affect a lot of people's lives. Sometimes, it's overlooked. I just feel like more people should just be aware of obesity," said 1st place winner Donovan Horst. "Being fit is not just about physically alone. It's mentally, too. That's the power of exercising. You meet friends. It clears the mind. It helps the body stay in shape. That's one way that you can live a healthy and long life," said 2nd and 3rd place winners Stanley Brent and Robert Berry. The 5K kicks off Jackson State's Blue and White week, which will feature a game night, a service day and a golf tournament. |
| George Bey recognized by Explorers Club 50 as someone to know about | |
| Dr. George Bey, professor of sociology and anthropology at Millsaps College, has been recognized by The Explorers Club in their second annual recognition of the "Explorers Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World that the World Needs to Know About." Bey was recognized for his efforts to use archaeology as a means of sustaining biological resources and cultural heritage in the Yucatan. "Being recognized as one of the top 50 explorers in the world for 2022 by The Explorers Club is one of the greatest honors I have received," Bey said. "It is very satisfying to be recognized for my and Millsaps' efforts to both carry out world class research in Maya archaeology and also develop a unique biocultural reserve. Through the Millsaps Kaxil Kiuic reserve we have developed a model where biology, culture and archaeological heritage work together to conserve the past and the present." Millsaps College, in coordination with the non-profit Kaxil Kiuic reserve, supports and operates a 4,500-acre tropical forest reserve in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula. "Small schools like Millsaps College are often not recognized as places that create new knowledge and ways of changing the world," said Bey. "I think our work in Yucatan is an example of how liberal arts schools can in fact be at the forefront of allowing undergraduate students to assist in developing new knowledge and ideas to creating change at the world level." |
| U. of Alabama leaders, Randall family break ground on new campus welcome center | |
 | On a gloriously sunny spring day, golden shovels shone and dug into a ceremonial mound of earth outside historic Bryce Main, as the University of Alabama broke ground Friday on its forthcoming "front door," the Catherine and Pettus Randall Welcome Center. "I was speaking with a group from up north yesterday, recruiting students, as we do here often," said UA President Stuart R. Bell, "and I said 'You know, it's like this every day in Tuscaloosa.'" Members of the notably philanthropic Randall family joined UA leaders, construction and architectural teams, numerous donors and alumni outside on the back porch of the Bryce House for talks and introductions, then walked or rode down Bryce Lawn Drive for photos of the groundbreaking. "As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait," said Bob Pierce, vice president for advancement, who helped lead fundraising for what will be an $83,750,000 restoration project for Bryce Main. The Randall Welcome Center will occupy the ground floor of Bryce Main, while rising above will be offices for UA's Department of Theatre and Dance, its classrooms, studios, and rehearsal halls, along with museums dedicated to the history of UA and mental health in Alabama. |
| Right-wing activist Charlie Kirk visits Auburn | |
| Right-wing activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk visited Auburn Thursday night in a crowded auditorium in the Hotel at Auburn University. Kirk and Allie Beth Stuckey, a conservative author and podcast host, came to Auburn as part of Turning Point USA's "Educate Don't Mandate" tour and were hosted by Auburn University's chapter of the conservative nonprofit organization. Open for free to both students and the general public, the crowd filled the hotel auditorium, which has a seating capacity of 356 people, according to the hotel's website. Kirk and Stuckey's discussion touched on many hot-button political issues including transgender rights and systemic racism -- both of which the speakers deny exist -- as well as the group's core values of limited government and self reliance. Before the event started, many said they were looking forward to discussions of vaccine and mask mandates for COVID-19, neither of which are in place at Auburn University, but Kirk and Stuckey spent very little time discussing the topic. Jerome Kelly, freshman in political science, said he was glad Auburn is no longer enforcing a mask mandate, but he was interested to see what the speakers would talk about given that the tour's title is based on the idea that the government shouldn't enact such mandates. During Kirk and Stuckey's last few minutes before opening the floor to questions from the audience, they shared advice to students. Both Kirk and Stuckey encouraged students to get married and start a family young, start businesses and "stop blaming other people for their problems." |
| $2.7 million UAB program seeks to build a healthier Alabama | |
 | UAB's Live HealthSmart Alabama community wellness program hosted its first ever "Spring Into Wellness" health fair Saturday at Birmingham's Legion Field, part of a $2.7 million effort to boost community health measures in low-income areas. The event offered free access to physicians for wellness screenings as well as certain bloodwork, COVID tests, COVID vaccines, a Mobile Market offering fresh produce and other grocery items and information and demonstrations about how to live a healthier lifestyle. Dr. Mona Fouad – director of UAB's Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center and CEO of the Live HealthSmart Alabama program -- said that improving those rankings will take effort across the board, in a lot of different areas. Fouad secured a $2.7 million grant from UAB's Grand Challenge initiative to create the program in 2019, and now as concerns about COVID-19 begin to fade into the background, the effort is kicking into high gear. The program also works with the city of Birmingham and local construction companies like Brasfield & Gorrie, Dunn Construction, Vulcan Materials and others to make improvements within the communities themselves to give people better access to transportation, parks and infrastructure. "We're fixing sidewalks, doing crosswalks, putting in lights so people can walk freely in a safe space," Fouad said. Fouad said that the companies listed generally donate the material and manpower to improve the community at large. |
| Columbia is losing its tree canopy as developers hack down forests, U. of South Carolina study finds | |
 | Trees that provide cooling shade in Columbia are falling to the axes of development as the city expands into new areas and remakes existing neighborhoods. Columbia, notorious for its sweltering summers, lost nearly 22% of its tree canopy from 2005 to 2019, exposing once shaded areas to hotter temperatures, researchers at the University of South Carolina say. The loss of mature trees is a concern as the city grapples with how to deal with climate change that is sending temperatures higher. Columbia could experience a nearly 600% increase in hot days by the end of the century if something isn't done to slow the effects of climate change, according to a 2019 forecast made independent of the recent USC research. USC's findings about the loss of trees, uncovered by PhD and graduate students, were presented Saturday at a conference that focused on improving Columbia's response to climate change. Kirstin Dow, a USC scientist who studies climate, said Columbia should look for ways to protect its tree canopy because forests hold down temperatures, soak up stormwater after heavy rains and improve air quality. Columbia's loss of trees since 2005 didn't surprise city officials who attended the climate conference. Development rules haven't always been strict enough to stop clear-cutting, and sometimes contractors don't follow the rules, officials said. |
| Corners cut in hiring Ladapo at U. of Florida according to Faculty Senate investigation | |
 | University of Florida administrators cut corners in the rush to hire Dr. Joseph Ladapo with tenure in the College of Medicine last fall, an investigative committee of the UF Faculty Senate concluded. A report submitted by the committee Thursday found "irregularities" that "appeared to violate the spirit, and in review the exact letter, of UF hiring regulations and procedures, particularly in the vital role faculty play in evaluating the qualifications of their peers." Even so, faculty in the College of Medicine acknowledged that "this example was a more extreme version of what often occurs," according to the report. Ladapo was named state surgeon general by Gov. Ron DeSantis within days of his appointment to the UF faculty. Since then, he has pushed back against COVID-19 safety measures recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, further limited publicly available data related to the pandemic, and downplayed the importance of vaccines. The Ad Hoc Committee on the Hiring of Dr. Joseph Ladapo was formed on Dec. 10 by Faculty Senate Chair David Bloom following news media reports on the hiring process. While the report sheds light on how the process proceeded through three weeks in September, it does not directly impact Ladapo's status on faculty at UF. The report includes more than dozen email messages from faculty in the College of Medicine, most expressing disappointment, dismay and "embarrassment" over the process in hiring Ladapo. |
| Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron speaks to Aggies about current events during lecture series | |
 | Former United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron visited Aggieland on Friday night to discuss the state of the UK's alliance with the United States, the war in Ukraine and much more during the Memorial Student Center Wiley Lecture Series at Texas A&M University's Rudder Auditorium. Cameron served as prime minister from 2010 to 2016 and became the youngest prime minister since 1812. He opened the lecture by sharing the details of his recent trip to Ukraine. "Two weeks ago I loaded up a truck full of food, clothes, medicines and other donations from my local community and I drove 2,000 miles from my home in Oxfordshire all the way to the East of Poland near the Ukrainian border," he said. "Why? Because I wanted to do what I could to help those families who were bombed and rocketed out of their homes. And don't let anyone tell you that what's going on here is complicated, or there is more to it. NATO did not provoke [this], Ukraine is not in any sense legitimately part of Russia. This was a full on invasion of a sovereign independent country. A member of the United Nations, it has been subjected to the most appalling brutality." He went on to discuss what binds the United States and the United Kingdom together. "It is not just our shared history, our shared language or our shared culture, it is the fact that our alliance and America's presence in Europe and in NATO makes our world more peaceful and more prosperous," he said. "Most of those pompous leaders think multi-racial democracies don't work, we know they do work. ... We have had some tensions in recent years and there are more challenges we may face. But building that shining city on a hill is still a worthy vision and we should never let that dream die." |
| U. of Missouri's Ukrainian students on attacks against their hometowns, hopes for negotiations | |
 | Vlad Sazhen faces a dilemma and a deadline. A University of Missouri exchange student from Ukraine studying aerospace engineering, Sazhen's time at MU ends at the end of the school year. He had decided to return to Ukraine, but he has changed his mind since then. "My family started a lot of quarrels with me, telling me I ought to stay here," Sazhen said. "If I'm able to stay here, they're not worried for me." He spoke Thursday in a very quiet and nearly empty Galena Residence Hall during spring break. In Ukraine, he said he's of no use to the society now and would be a financial burden on his family. "Right now, I'm looking for opportunities to stay here," he said, meaning North America. If he even could stay at the University of Missouri, Alina, his girlfriend, couldn't join him here, he said. One possibility is the University of Alberta in Canada, but it hasn't responded to his inquiries, he said. "I'm trying to get her out of Ukraine," Sazhen said of Alina. "I'm looking at different ways of finding funding for her, looking at different solutions." |
| Professor calls the police on two tardy Black students | |
 | An associate professor of English at Georgia State University's two-year Perimeter College is no longer teaching in person this term after she called campus police to her classroom to remove two students who arrived late and refused to leave. The two students, who have only been publicly identified by their first names, are Black, as is the professor. Internally and in public statements, Georgia State has condemned the idea of calling campus police on students for being late to class. Much of the public criticism of the professor, Carissa Gray, meanwhile, has centered on the fact that she called campus police on Black students, in particular, in this era of increased awareness of racial dynamics in policing. Gray did not respond to an interview request and has not commented publicly on the case. She will continue teaching an asynchronous online class this term, but her in-person teaching duties will be assumed by someone else, according to information from the university. Georgia State plans on making counseling available this week to students in the class in question. "The provost and police chief have reached out to meet with the affected students. The professor is no longer teaching in-person classes this semester," Georgia State said in a statement Friday. "Campus police arrived after being called by the faculty member and de-escalated the situation between the students and faculty member. Clearly, no crime had been committed so there were no arrests." The two students involved in the incident reported it to university officials last week, but it became international news after a third Georgia State student who said she witnessed what happened shared her story on TikTok. |
| U. of Illinois to require diversity statements for tenure | |
| The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will soon require all faculty members to submit a diversity statement to be considered for tenure or promotion. Andreas C. Cangellaris, UIUC's provost, announced the change this week, saying that in order to meet the goals of its current strategic plan, the university must "catalyze innovation and discovery, find novel and proactive ways to educate students from all walks of life, and develop ever-deeper connections with the public we serve." All of that requires that UIUC "recognize and support a wider range of contributions to the excellence of our institution," Cangellaris added. Numerous institutions or specific departments now require faculty job applicants to submit a diversity statement. Others encourage professors to include their diversity, equity and inclusion work in their tenure and promotion portfolios. Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis even approved a new DEI-related track to tenure and promotion last year. But few institutions of UIUC's size and research profile have considered requiring diversity statements -- and, effectively, DEI work -- from all professors who hope to be tenured or promoted. William Bernhard, executive vice provost for academic affairs, said UIUC began working to update its tenure and promotion policy more than two years ago, to better align it with the strategic plan. The policy update also carves out a clear place for DEI contributions in the tenure and promotion process, he said, as individual faculty members or departments had long been "squeezing" this work into the service criterion of their faculty reviews. |
| Oberlin's Aid to Student Protesters Led to a $32-Million Judgment. The College Appealed, and Lost. | |
 | An Ohio appeals court on Thursday upheld a 2019 ruling where Oberlin College must pay nearly $32 million in response to a lawsuit, filed by the owners of a nearby bakery, alleging that college administrators had disrupted their business by supporting student protests based in unfounded accusations of racism following a shoplifting incident and subsequent scuffle. The 2016 arrest of three Black students outside Gibson's Bakery led to charges of racism from Oberlin students who, days removed from the election of former President Donald Trump, surrounded the bakery and urged people not to enter. The college, in support of student activists, suspended its relationship with the longstanding bakery. It stopped purchasing goods from the storefront for a month after the incident and supported student activists who told shoppers to take their money elsewhere. At least one administrator attended the protests at which fliers were distributed that accused the bakery of a history of racism. The college's Student Senate passed a resolution calling for a boycott of the store, and college leaders said in an email that they were "grateful" for the determination of the students. The students who were arrested pleaded guilty to charges that didn't carry jail time on the condition that they state in court that the actions of the member of the Gibson family who chased one of the students out of the store weren't racially motivated. The shop's owners said their business had suffered, and they sued the college for defamation. |
| Zelensky to receive multiple honorary degrees | |
| Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky may not know it yet, but at least 15 U.S. colleges are planning to grant him honorary degrees this graduation season. He will receive the awards in absentia, given that the war Russia launched against his country in February shows no sign of ending. But the strength and perseverance Zelensky has demonstrated in the face of Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion compelled a group of college presidents in upstate New York to come together and formulate a plan to honor him and Ukraine while upholding their mission of teaching students how to live meaningful lives. U.S. colleges and universities have been among Ukraine's staunchest supporters since the war started. Students have organized protests, raised funds and collected supplies for Ukrainians. Some institutions have cut financial or research ties to Russia. Others are offering to fund full or partial scholarships for students impacted by the war. This week, the Texas A&M University system announced that any Ukrainian students enrolled would receive free tuition, room and board beginning next semester. And Stetson University said it would welcome to its central Florida campus Ukrainian students and faculty displaced by the war. A well-known polymath, Zelensky holds a special place in academe. "He's a person of the liberal arts -- he's trained in economics and law and in music," said Linda LeMura, president of Le Moyne College, a Jesuit institution in Syracuse. "And beyond his intense bravery, his leadership skills are just remarkable. But he uses all of the talents across the spectrum to communicate and to inspire multiple generations around the globe." |
| Exclusive: How the most affordable student loan program failed low-income borrowers | |
 | A federal program intended to help low-income student loan borrowers, and eventually offer them debt cancellation, has failed to live up to its promise, an NPR investigation has found. More than 9 million borrowers are currently enrolled in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, which are designed to help people who cannot afford to make large monthly payments. The plans also promise loan cancellation after 20-25 years. But documents obtained by NPR offer striking evidence that these plans have been badly mismanaged by loan servicers and the U.S. Department of Education. NPR obtained two-dozen pages of internal department documents, including emails and, most notably, a previously unreported, 2016 review of student loan servicers' struggles to implement IDR. The documents shed new light on the 2021 revelation that, at the time, 4.4 million borrowers had been repaying for at least 20 years but only 32 had had loans canceled under IDR. The documents also offer surprising new revelations. For example, some servicers weren't clearly tracking IDR payments and did not know when borrowers qualified for cancellation. In all, these records paint a breathtaking picture of IDR's failure, and cast a shadow over the federal student loan program. While the Biden administration did not make these problems, it must now address them as it weighs restarting repayment after a two-year pandemic pause. |
| Senate Dems question Education, Justice Depts. handling of student loan borrowers in bankruptcy | |
 | When the Education Department told Congress last year it was revising a restrictive bankruptcy policy for federal student loans, some lawmakers assumed the agency would end its aggressive challenges in pending cases. Yet as recently as March, the department was still contesting requests for bankruptcy discharges from people deep in debt and short on resources, according to court documents. Now the Biden administration is facing pressure from Senate Democrats to change how it handles those requests. Their concerns follow a case that sparked a public backlash after the department tried to fight the court-approved discharge of debt held by a man suffering from epilepsy, a case first reported by the Lever. The department dropped the appeal in February, but some senators say the case was an exception to the standard practice. A scan of recent bankruptcy cases involving student loans appears to support their conclusion. Justice Department attorneys representing the Education Department opposed several discharge requests in March, including one involving a 77-year-old retired nurse struggling to repay about $42,000 in student loans. "While a bipartisan effort is underway in Congress to reform the bankruptcy code's treatment of student loans, changes to administrative policies ... are also necessary and long overdue," a group of 27 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday. |
| Biden appoints NBA star Chris Paul, actor Taraji P. Henson to HBCUs advisory board | |
 | President Biden said on Thursday he will appoint basketball star Chris Paul and actor Taraji P. Henson to the White House board of advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Paul, a point guard for the Phoenix Suns, is a twelve-time NBA All-Star, two-time Olympic Gold medalist, and recently ended an eight-year tenure as the President of the National Basketball Players Association. He was given the 2016 ESPYs "Humanitarian of the Year" award and the 2022 inaugural Kobe and Gigi Bryant Advocacy Award for his contributions to the advancement of girls' and women's basketball. Henson, best known for her role in the show "Empire," recently launched TPH Entertainment and in 2016 and authored a bestselling novel, "Around The Way Girl." She launched the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation in 2018 in honor of her late father, which gives scholarships to African-American students majoring in mental health, offers mental health services to youth in urban schools, and works to lower the recidivism rates of African-American men and women. The board is tasked with advancing the goal of the of the HBCU Initiative, which dates back to the Carter Administration and aims to increase the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest-quality education to its students and continue serving as engines of opportunity. |
| If you can't name Biden's Education secretary, you probably aren't alone | |
 | Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sailed through numerous Sunday shows and "The View," but he was no match for Charlamagne Tha God. The co-host of The Breakfast Club, a nationally syndicated radio program, locked eyes with Cardona in December in a New York recording studio. Then he pressed the secretary on why President Joe Biden hadn't forgiven $10,000 in student loan debt per person as promised. Cardona took a sip of water from a Styrofoam cup, smiled and deflected by talking about loan forgiveness for public sector workers. Later on, Cardona had no clue that Howard University students protested for weeks last fall over shoddy housing conditions just a couple miles from his office. Three months later, Charlamagne is still irritated. "Stop selling dreams and be real about what you can and cannot do," Charlamagne, who also goes by Lenard McKelvey, said in an interview with POLITICO. "Otherwise, you start to sound like Charlie Brown's teacher." Cardona's appearance was characteristic of a leader who seems allergic to controversy in an age when everyone has a hot take. Education secretaries have relatively few powers and usually rely on the job's prominent platform to push their vision for students. Betsy DeVos, Cardona's predecessor, enraged teachers unions and Democrats with her school choice advocacy on a regular basis. But Cardona has kept a low profile and generally avoided the controversies of the moment. Supporters call him collaborative and say his default setting is positivity. That it's not in his nature to ruffle feathers. Critics say Cardona has almost been a non-factor. For example, Cardona has said he wants Congress to cancel $10,000 in student debt per borrower but has never said he supports using executive action to address the problem. And there's little chance Congress would enact such a change. |
| Biden's new biomedical agency fails to gain independence from NIH | |
| It's decided. President Joe Biden's new biomedical research agency for high-risk, cutting-edge research won't have the full autonomy many backers had sought. Instead, it will sit within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). But to give the agency a measure of independence, its director will report to the NIH director's boss, the secretary of health and human services (HHS). That is the compromise reached by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, he told Congress yesterday in a letter explaining the structure of the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). HHS declined to share the letter, but an agency spokesperson said in a statement that although ARPA-H will be "a new member of the HHS family with a distinct mission," it won't be a stand-alone agency. Instead, "Authority for administration and operation of ARPA-H will reside with a Director who will report directly to the Secretary of HHS under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health." The decision about ARPA-H's home settles, at least for now, a debate that began 1 year ago, when Biden proposed a new, nimble agency for funding bold biomedical research ideas modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Becerra's decision may not be the last word. A bill in the Senate would make ARPA-H part of NIH but put into law the requirement that its physical location be far from the agency's campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and impose other requirements to ensure its independence. A House proposal, meanwhile, would make it an independent agency. That bill's sponsor, Anna Eshoo (D–CA), commented in a statement that the "decision to place ARPA-H in the organizational chart of NIH is an opportunity squandered." |
| Mississippi's largest teacher pay raise? It is, according to how 'largest' is defined | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: Gov. Tate Reeves, members of the media and other politicians are touting the $246 million teacher pay raise passed this session of the Mississippi Legislature as the largest in state history. "The largest teacher and assistant teacher pay raise in Mississippi history is now law," the governor proclaimed on social media. Often, people lose perspective and are caught in the moment when they proclaim something is the best, biggest or most significant in history. But in terms of sheer dollars, it is true that the proposal approved during the 2022 legislative session is the largest single year pay raise for Mississippi's kindergarten through 12th grade teachers in the state's history. But there are many nuances to the claim "largest in state history." Through the history of the state, despite being known for perennially poor pay for teachers, there have been significant salary bumps for Mississippi's kindergarten through 12th grade instructors. ... State Economist Corey Miller said recently that wages and salaries grew by 7.2% in 2021. Considering recent wage growth and inflation, it would be almost surprising if the Legislature did not pass the largest pay raise in state history this year. |
SPORTS
| Luke Hancock's heroics help Mississippi State snap eight-game losing streak to Arkansas, stave off sweep | |
| In that interminable instant, the runner frozen in motion off of second base, Luke Hancock knew what to do. "Just make a good throw," the Mississippi State first baseman repeated to himself as he turned toward shortstop Tanner Leggett, waiting alone at the bag. "Don't throw it over his head. Just make a good throw." Luke Hancock did that. Luke Hancock has always done that. Need a game-saving catch in the bottom of the 11th? Hancock will snag that line drive every time. Need to bring a runner home in the top of the 12th? Hancock is finding that hole in the shift, no doubt about it. Need to save your team from a disappointing sweep? Just call on Hancock, and Mississippi State did in a 5-3 extra-inning win over No. 2 Arkansas on Sunday at Baum-Walker Stadium. "He just comes out and brings it every day," Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis said. The veteran infielder snared a liner from Peyton Stovall and fired to second for a key double play to keep the contest tied at 3-3, then snuck a single through the right side in the 12th to plate the eventual winning run. The Bulldogs (17-12, 4-5 Southeastern Conference) staved off a walk-off win and beat the Razorbacks (21-5, 7-2 SEC) for the first time in nine tries since 2018. "It was huge for us," Hancock said. "It's not just that we beat Arkansas; it's that we avoided a sweep on Sunday. That's the most important thing." |
| Behind Luke Hancock, effective bullpen, Mississippi State salvages series at Arkansas | |
| Mississippi State's Luke Hancock spoke for his team Friday night like one would expect from a leader. He fielded questions regarding an 8-1 loss, saying any team in the country could've beat MSU that evening -- let alone No. 2 Arkansas. The struggles continued for State in a 12-5 loss Saturday, but not to the fault of Hancock who brought in a pair of runs while moving from his usual No. 3-spot in the lineup to the leadoff hole. His success continued into Sunday, and, this time, Hancock's Bulldogs followed en route to a 5-3 win. State was back in a grind of a series finale with the teams exchanging blows for an exciting matchup following a pair of blowouts. Mississippi State hit a trio of solo shots in regulation -- the first of which came from Hancock in the opening frame. Arkansas balanced it out with a pair of solo home runs and a sixth-inning sacrifice fly. State's Cade Smith allowed two runs in five innings. He left the game after 88 pitches, the last of which was a chopper off his head. He walked off on his own after Logan Tanner fielded the ball and salvaged the final out of the frame in a rare 1-2-3 putout. Arkansas starter Jaxon Wiggins had a nearly-identical stat line. As is typically the case in these gruesome SEC battles, the game then came down to defense and bullpen -- a bad recipe for Mississippi State this season. But not on Sunday. Not with Hancock doing his part. Brooks Auger and Jackson Fristoe gave State the dominant bullpen outings it has desperately needed. They combined for seven innings of one-run ball, but the outlook could've been much different without Hancock. |
| In extras, Bulldogs salvage series finale vs. Hogs | |
| Mississippi State senior first baseman Luke Hancock beat the University of Arkansas with his glove in the 11th inning and his bat in the 12th on Sunday at Baum-Walker Stadium. The Bulldogs beat the No. 2 Razorbacks 5-3 in 12 innings after Hancock made a game-saving, leaping catch of a line drive off the bat of Peyton Stovall that resulted in a double play to end the 11th inning. Hancock then put Mississippi State ahead 4-3 with a two-out RBI single in the 12th inning off Kole Ramage. "Luke's one of those guys who just plays the game the right way," Bulldogs Coach Chris Lemonis said. "He makes the great play and then he gets the big hit. Really good day for him." Catcher Logan Tanner also had an RBI single for Mississippi State in the 12th inning off Ramage to make it 5-3. Bulldogs reliever Jackson Fristoe set the Razorbacks (21-5, 7-2 SEC) down in order in the 12th and pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings. Arkansas had the potential winning run on second base with one out in the 11th inning when Hancock caught Stovall's liner and doubled Jalen Battles off second base. Hancock went 3 for 6, including a home run, to raise his batting average to .252. "He's hitting in the 3-hole for a reason. He's a clutch hitter," Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn said. "You can kind of throw that batting average out the window. He's hitting the ball hard and he was the right man in the right spot obviously. He got the big hit for them." |
| With new coach Chris Jans, Humphrey Coliseum renovations come at perfect time for Mississippi State | |
| Before being introduced as Mississippi State's new men's basketball coach, Chris Jans got the chance to take a tour of Humphrey Coliseum. As soon as he stepped out of the tunnel onto the court, he got goosebumps. "When I walked out underneath it like I would on game day, I just had a bunch of emotions run over my body," Jans said. "That's going to be my perspective, for the most part -- standing at that level. It just felt good. It just felt good. It felt right." And soon, it's going to look even better. Currently, Humphrey Coliseum is under construction, just like the basketball programs it houses. Both the men's and women's teams at Mississippi State hired new head coaches in March, with Jans leading the men and Louisville assistant Sam Purcell tapped to coach the women. Renovations to the Hump won't be completed until the start of the 2023-24 season, but Jans is happy to know the Bulldogs are elevating their facilities just as he steps in. "Certainly, trying to keep up with the Joneses is always a part of college athletics at this level, and it was awesome to know that that was the direction that we're going in," Jans said. Construction began toward the end of basketball season, and the Bulldogs chose not to host a first-round NIT game. Already, caution tape and chain-link fences surround the back of the building. |
| Leach Provides Spring Ball Update | |
| Mike Leach was asked the question and answered with little hesitation. Mississippi State had just wrapped up its fifth practice of the spring on Saturday when the leader of the Bulldogs fielded a query from a reporter: What have been some of the biggest positives seen since spring practice started? "Probably the energy we practice with," Leach responded. "We have really good energy and intensity when we come out and practice." To get where the Bulldogs want to be, they can't be afraid to get their hands dirty. There's no time to be lackadaisical. A third of the way through the spring, none of that has been a concern. MSU is getting after it. Spirits are high. "Everybody likes being out here and everybody embraces the work," Leach continued. And there's work of course happening all over the place. On Mike Leach teams, no jobs are ever settled. Competition and improvement are paramount. So, the grind continues, practice after practice. Here are a few other observations from Leach following Saturday's workout. |
| Steve Spurrier Jr.: Mississippi State needs to 'get a lot better' at outside receiver | |
| Not much distance separates Mississippi State's inside and outside receivers on the football field, but there might as well be 50 yards between the two when it comes to their early outlook for the 2022 season. On the inside, the Bulldogs return their top four receivers: junior Jaden Walley, redshirt seniors Austin Williams and Christian Ford and graduate wideout Jamire Calvin. But on the outside, Mississippi State lost its best overall receiver in Makai Polk and its second-best man at the position, senior Malik Heath, who transferred to Ole Miss. "We need to get a lot better at the outside if this offense is going to click the way it does," outside receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. said Thursday. A pair of Power Five transfers should bolster that position group for the Bulldogs, but MSU doesn't have quite as much in terms of returners. Junior Lideatrick Griffin and sophomore Rara Thomas will be Mississippi State's top options, but neither was among the team's top six players in receiving yards last season. Spurrier praised the duo as well as Georgia transfer Justin Robinson, who has the size for the position at 6-foot-4. The redshirt sophomore committed to MSU in January and is already practicing with the team. "All three of those guys are doing well," Spurrier said. "All three of those guys are competitive." |
| How does Mississippi State make up for losing Makai Polk at outside receiver? | |
| Steve Spurrier Jr. doesn't shy away from what's obvious for his outside receivers unit: losing Makai Polk is a big deal. The record-breaking receiver accounted for more than 100 of Will Rogers' 505 completions last season. Without him, Spurrier and Mike Leach need to find a way to spread those out because the quantity of passes thrown in the Air Raid offense won't be dropping. Whether that comes from one player -- perhaps transfer Justin Robinson, redshirt-senior Caleb Ducking or sophomore Rara Thomas -- or an assortment of players is to be determined. But in the early parts of spring practice, Spurrier is seeing progress to give reason to believe the loss of Polk can be made up. Thomas is the obvious name expected to shine because of the promise he showed in his freshman year. His pure talent led Thomas to 18 receptions -- five for touchdowns. For a player who didn't play football until his junior year at Eufaula High School, it was an impressive welcome to the SEC. And the room for improvement is ground for excitement. "He's still very raw to the position," Spurrier said. "Didn't play a lot of receiver in high school." |
| Southern Miss Announces Per-Seat Model and Priority Points System for 2022 Football Season | |
| As Southern Miss moves into the Sun Belt Conference next season, the Department of Athletics announced Thursday the opening of its football ticket sales for the 2022 season as well as announce changes in how you purchase season tickets for the upcoming campaig. The Athletic Department has developed a fan-first model that will also put Southern Miss in the greatest position to be successful. In the past, the school has utilized a Zone Giving Model for purchasing season tickets. This model required an overall higher Eagle Club donation tiered by your desired section. The school is now moving to a Per-Seat Donation model which will allow fans to donate to the Eagle Club per-seat you purchase, tiered based on your desired location. This model is more fan-friendly and will allow for more fans to sit in premium sections and for more fans to join the Eagle Club. "We are excited to officially release the 2022 football season ticket sales in alignment with our first year of competition in the Sun Belt Conference," said Southern Miss Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain. "The support from our great fan base is more important now than ever. As we make this transition, we have many important goals ahead of us and we want to make sure we are doing all we can to continue to raise the bar for Southern Miss Athletics." |
| Deion Sanders wows players with tour of upgraded Walter Payton facility | |
| Deion Sanders has been preaching about the importance of facilities upgrades since he was hired at Jackson State back in Sept. 2020. Those dreams and aspirations are becoming a reality on JSU's campus currently. Sanders posted a video on Instagram showing off recent upgrades to the Walter Payton Center. The video shows Sanders taking student-athletes inside a new locker room, a full training room and a dedicated film room. He also showed them what will become a full lounge with video games and more. It will include multiple barber chairs. "Barbers, we need you on the rotation," Sanders said with a smile. Ironically, back in 2019, Eddie Payton -- Walter Payton's brother -- criticized the school back for what he saw as turning it into a football-centered building instead of something for the school and the community. "It's not an athletic facility; what you are doing is bullying the students by taking away from them something that was theirs since it was built," Payton said. "You can't put regular students in a weight room with athletes. It's not going to work." The university emailed a response rejecting that characterization, saying that the current use of the facility by students and the public wouldn't be compromised. A JSU spokeswoman said at the time that there were no plans "for a lounge for football recruits." The building is still open for public use but part of it is reserved for football operations. |
| Sankey's Vision: The powerful commissioner of the SEC tackles the transformative issues facing college sports. | |
| SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey rose from his seat in a discreet corner of Santa Monica Proper the day before Super Bowl LVI and strode across the lobby of the bustling boutique hotel. He had just wrapped up a lengthy face-to-face meeting with Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren -- one of the few times the leaders of the two most powerful and wealthy college conferences had met one-on-one like that. Later, Sankey was off to visit SoFi Stadium for the first time. He doesn't always attend the Super Bowl, but he wanted to go this year because SoFi Stadium will be the site of next season's College Football Playoff championship game and he wanted to explore the $5 billion sporting palace. He walked the stadium's concourses and premium spaces, checked out concessions and hospitality, and took meticulous handwritten notes -- he's known for his unyielding attention to detail and his capacity to analyze several issues at once. Interspersed within those travels, Sankey has met with more Power Five commissioners and led weekly NCAA transformation committee calls in his role as co-chair, while also preparing the SEC for the addition of Texas and Oklahoma in three years. A no-nonsense, demanding figure with a knack for details and a penchant for bobbleheads, Sankey has emerged from these past two years of the pandemic as the nation's most influential college figure, if he wasn't already. Likely, no one will have more sway over the transformative issues that threaten to disrupt college sports in 2022 and beyond. Sankey hit on many of these issues in a conversation with Sports Business Journal. |
| U. of South Carolina joins state universities overspending on sports teams | |
| When a joint committee of the state Legislature spent more than seven hours Tuesday castigating members of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees, their main target was the multiple botched attempts to hire a permanent university president. Also high on the lawmakers' list of grievances, though, was questionable spending by university administrators to cover a contract buyout of a fired football coach, and the potential to do the same for a recently fired basketball coach. The lawmakers' ire was prompted by a $10 million loan made, with the board's approval, by the university to the athletic department. The loan was made in 2020, during the pandemic, which closed down athletic events and cost the institution and the department millions in lost revenue. The money was needed to cover a $12.9 million lump-sum payment to end the contract of Will Muschamp, the football coach fired before the end of the 2019 season, with four years remaining on his contract. The university is now also liable for a $3 million buyout for basketball coach Frank Martin, who was fired in early March with two years remaining on a contract extension he had signed just one year earlier. With billions of dollars flowing to major universities annually for big-time college sports, subsidies from the institutions' main budgets are increasingly being seen as unnecessary and unreasonable by students, faculty members, alumni and donors, especially at a time when tuitions are rising and revenues are falling as enrollment declines nationally. Andy Schwarz, an economist who specializes in the legal and financial aspects of college sports, said what appears to be happening at South Carolina's flagship public university "sort of sounds like run-of-the-mill athletic department stuff." "You usually don't see it discussed at the level of the state house," Schwarz said. |
| In New Orleans, the Final Four Is a Reason for a Much-Needed Party | |
 | When he wrote about relying on the kindness of strangers, this city's most famous playwright probably wasn't envisioning Carolinians and conventioneers slurping down the dark roux gumbo at Herbsaint. But then even Tennessee Williams may not have been able to conjure the blows that his adopted New Orleans has suffered over the last two years -- and the welcome arrival of this better-than-fiction Final Four and the strangers it's bringing to town. Rarely in sports history has there been a convergence of a contest with the hype of the Duke-North Carolina showdown on Saturday, and a host city so desperately in need of the game-of-the-century buzz, and revenue, that comes with it. Ever since Joe Burrow led Louisiana State to the college football title in the Superdome in January 2020 and Louisianans celebrated Mardi Gras a month later -- back-to-back civic high holidays for this state -- New Orleans has been plunged into a dark winter. The coronavirus pandemic came early here and was vicious; then there was Hurricane Ida last year, which has still left blue tarps where roofs should be; crime has consumed many residents, thanks to a series of gruesome carjackings; and last week, as if to suggest the only plague yet to hit was a descent of locusts, a tornado swept through, damaging 150 homes. Less visible but just as threatening to the city's psyche and economy has been what hasn't happened -- the canceled concerts, conventions and festivals in a place that, more than any other destination this side of Las Vegas, depends on visitors. In 2020, the Superdome's stadium authority lost over $90 million in event and tax revenue. In a city that celebrates its excesses and appetites, it's fitting to be hosting an event so given to superlative. "It's the first big, good news attention we've gotten since Jan. 13, 2020," said James Carville, the famed Democratic strategist, alluding to the date of his beloved L.S.U. Tigers' college football title game triumph. "This is a chance for the country to get reacquainted with New Orleans." |
| Sports betting sites make inroads on college campuses | |
| When the University of Kansas and the University of North Carolina face off in tonight's NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game, it will mark the end of a tournament in which more college students than ever were able to wager on their favorite teams. Since last year's tournament, nine states have legalized sports betting, bringing to 30 the total number of states that allow adults to gamble, according to the American Gaming Association. Most set 21 as the minimum age. Some 45 million Americans -- 17 percent of the adult population -- were expected to wager a total of $3.1 billion on March Madness this year. To be sure, the rules on betting on collegiate sports vary widely by state, and only a small share of college students are old enough to gamble anyway. But as legalized sports betting has gathered steam since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on gambling in 2018, college campuses in many states are increasingly caught up in the fervor. Jacob Spudich, a first-year journalism student at Indiana University at Bloomington, is concerned that online gambling sites are targeting college students. "I don't have a problem with sports betting at all," Spudich said. "But I have a problem with how businesses like DraftKings and FanDuel consistently hammer it into people's heads ... I don't exactly interact with the ads, but it is everywhere. It's on social media when I scroll through, and it's on TV when I try to watch games." Spudich said he's never heard of another student winning a lot of money from a successful bet. On the contrary -- he's seen friends lose money from sports betting, and he worries that some may even struggle with gambling addiction. His concerns prompted him to write an op-ed about gambling addiction for the Indiana Daily Student. |
| Even final teams in NCAA women's tournament struggle to get equitable resources | |
 | Being good hasn't been good enough to get equitable resources for the women's basketball teams playing in the Final Four this weekend. Every public school with a team still competing in this year's NCAA women's tournament has historically spent less money on its female basketball players than it did on its male players who didn't advance this far. The same is true of the schools that played in the Elite Eight in both the men's and women's tournament this year, as women's teams have gotten fewer resources than the men's teams at their home schools. A first-of-its-kind analysis by USA TODAY examined spending across three categories -- equipment, recruiting and travel -- at 107 public schools in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The analysis, done in collaboration with the Knight Newhouse Data Project at Syracuse University, used NCAA revenue and expense reports for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. Of the 16 teams that made it to this year's men's and women's Elite Eight, 10 hailed from public schools whose spending data were included in the analysis. Together, those 10 public schools spent $14.2 million -- or 67% -- more on their men's teams than their women's teams over the two seasons. The picture would be worse save for one outlier – South Carolina. The Gamecocks' women's team, which won the 2017 national championship and is in its fourth Final Four under coach Dawn Staley, was one of a handful of teams to come close to parity with its men's team. "At South Carolina, our success has allowed us to probably hit the budget a little bit more than most, and our administrators are for giving our student-athletes an incredible experience," Staley said. |
| Tiger Woods remains undecided about playing at the Masters | |
| It will be a game-time decision for Tiger Woods at the Masters. Woods, who damaged his right leg a little more than 13 months ago in a crash, tweeted that he was headed to Augusta National on Sunday to continue his preparation for the tournament, but he is undecided about playing. "I will be heading up to Augusta today to continue my preparation and practice. It will be a game-time decision on whether I compete," Woods wrote. The Masters does not have a firm deadline to commit like regular Tour events because it is an invitation tournament. Players usually notify the club only if they do not plan to play. Tee times will be published Tuesday. If Woods decides to play -- he played 18 holes five days ago at Augusta National -- it would be his first competition against the world's best players since Nov. 15, 2020, when the Masters was moved to the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. |
| Politically charged US-Iran in first Middle East World Cup | |
| A World Cup buildup laced in controversy and geopolitical undertones has conjured up the most politically charged of matchups on the field in Qatar. Just like at the FIFA showpiece in 1998, the United States will play Iran with diplomatic relations yet to be restored between the nations since being severed in 1980. The Mother of All Games Part II. "(A) political group, but I'm not political," Iran's Croatian coach, Dragan Skocic, said. "I focus on football. I think this is the best way in sport and also we should give people the chance to make the situation better." The hope will be for a repeat of the tranquility around the 1998 encounter in France where the Iranians brought white roses for their American opponents before winning 2-1. "It's 24 years later from 1998 and further removed from the 70s and both nations have evolved tremendously since then," U.S coach Gregg Berhalter said. "For us, it's a soccer game." But if Group B needed any more intrigue it was provided in Friday's draw in Doha by the headline participant being Euro 2020 runner-up England, whose government has endured tense relations with Tehran. And the ramifications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which spilled into the Doha convention center, were evident in the final team drawn in the group. Ukraine's ability to qualify for Qatar has been delayed by the war halting football in the country. But if they beat Scotland and then Wales in the playoffs in June, the Ukrainians will contest a World Cup for the first time since 2006. "Ukraine is (a team) everyone's pulling for in a way because of everything they are going through," Berhalter said. |
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