| Friday, April 8, 2022 |
| Top Dawg: MSU president returns to Corinth | |
 | When the Rotary Club begins their meetings, the tradition is for there to be a single bell rung. At a joint meeting of the Kiwanis and Rotary Club at Pizza Grocery on Thursday, there was still a bell rung. With one small difference: this particular bell was a maroon cowbell. To Mississippi State University president Dr. Mark Keenum, the blaring cowbell was a familiar one and a happy welcome back to his hometown. The Corinth native made the trek from Starkville to his old stomping grounds as the guest speaker for Kiwanis and Rotary. "It's so good to be back in Corinth," said Keenum as he took the podium. "I love getting to come home." After a few minutes of laid-back pleasantries, Keenum began speaking about the university he has the pleasure to serve. "After two years at Northeast Mississippi Community College," said Keenum, "I went on to Mississippi State. Getting to serve as president for the past 14 years has been so fulfilling. I love Mississippi State and we are on the rise as a research university." The artificial intelligence, unmanned aircraft, and high-performance supercomputer programs at MSU are regarded as some of the best in the nation. "Programs like these can bring industry to Mississippi and opportunities for so many residents of our state," said Keenum. |
| MSU Riley Center looks forward to upcoming concerts, busy season | |
 | On Friday night, one of the biggest names in music will hit the stage of the MSU Riley Center. Bob Dylan will perform to a sold-out crowd. The tickets sold within minutes of being listed a few weeks ago. This performance is part of his "Rough and Rowdy Ways" tour. Rough and Rowdy Ways is a reference to Jimmie Rodgers. "It was kind of a last-minute thing and it worked out with his routing, Head of campus, Dr. Terry Dale Cruse said. It really worked out because of the Riley Foundation. They are underwriting such huge part of this concert. He's coming through and he'll be here tomorrow night. That show sold out in 22 minutes." Organizers are excited to have such a legend grace the stage in Meridian. "We expect a huge crowd. Perhaps the largest we've ever had here. He's certainly one of the most talented artists we've had at the Riley Center, but we get a lot of talented artists." Cruse said. Not only is the MSU Riley Center expecting a large crowd at the Dylan concert, but they are anticipating around 12,000 people to come through the doors over the next 45 days. "The facility is very versatile. It allows us to have banquet space, as well as host a small conference room type setting for some of our local businesses," Cruse said. There are a variety of things coming through the Riley Center." Through a combination of concerts, conferences and other social events, the MSU Riley Center is certainly helping the uptick of downtown activity in Meridian. |
| Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward to visit MSU campus | |
| Mississippi native and two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward will be visiting the Mississippi State University campus on Tuesday, April 12. The public is invited to join the writer at a free event where she will read excerpts from her award-winning writing in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. "It truly is an honor to have Ms. Ward engage with our MSU faculty, staff, students and Starkville community," said MSU Vice President for Access, Diversity, and Inclusion Ra'Sheda Forbes. "Not only is she a prolific writer with numerous accolades, but she is a Mississippian which provides a deeper connection and understanding of the history and experiences." Ward has broken through barriers with her writing as the first woman and person of color to win two National Book Awards in fiction in its 72-year history with her novels Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing. Her other works include Navigate Your Stars, Where the Line Bleeds, The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race, and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award Men We Reaped. |
| MSU Hosting Inaugural Research Week | |
| Mississippi State University will celebrate its inaugural Research Week with more than two dozen events from Monday, April 11, to Friday, April 14. MSU's Office of Research and Economic Development is sponsoring the event, which will celebrate and showcase university faculty, staff and students advancing their fields and making an impact in Mississippi and across the globe, a release from MSU says. Events will include research center tours and showcases, panels, lectures, exhibits and more, culminating with the 2022 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. Exhibits from MSU research centers, institutes, support units and academic departments will be on display all week on the first floor of the Old Main Academic Center. Select research centers will be open for tours, visits and conversation from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, April 11, and Tuesday, April 12. MSU will highlight its innovation-based startup companies from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, April 13, during the Innovation Enterprise Showcase at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach in McCool Hall. |
| MDA to launch technical assistance program for technology ventures | |
 | The Mississippi Development Authority currently is accepting applications for Virtual Quad grants from qualified teams developing new products or services in energy and agriculture technologies. Teams are eligible for a maximum award of $25,000 each in the form of a voucher that may be used to receive technical assistance from a research university in Mississippi. MDA will award a total of $100,000 in the Entrepreneurs Technical Assistance Program, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy – State Energy Program. Teams receiving an ETAP grant will be paired with a relevant research university to solve specific technical challenges posed by the applicants. Teams will have up to nine months to complete their respective proposed tasks. The goal of V-Quad is to build an innovative, virtual incubator network to support Mississippi entrepreneurs launching businesses focused on energy- and agriculture-related technologies. V-Quad is a public-private partnership that connects Mississippi's research universities, industry, government and non-profits in a cohesive, tech-based entrepreneurial network. The project also includes a consortium with MDA, Innovate Mississippi, the Institutions of Higher Learning and the four research universities: Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, University of Southern Mississippi and Jackson State University. The competition is open to teams of high school and college students, university or community college faculty, for-profit businesses, non-profit organizations, public-sector employees or any combination of individuals from these entities. |
| Program focuses on teaching youth about agriculture | |
 | One out of every four jobs is affected by agriculture in the state, according to the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation. The MFBF is a member-based nonprofit that advocates for farmers, and one of the programs the nonprofit offers is called "Ag in the Classroom." Fran Guerry leads the charge in Lowndes County for Ag in the Classroom, which focuses on teaching children from kindergarten through 12th grade how agriculture affects them. She spoke to the Exchange Club of Columbus about the program on Thursday. "I go into schools, and I help kids of all ages know where their food, fiber and shelter come from," Guerry said. "You would be surprised how many will tell you they've never had a carrot. All they know is chicken nuggets and french fries. So, it gets all into some nutrition, where it's coming from and planting seeds and all sorts of things." The curriculum for Mississippi's Ag in the Classroom is developed by Mississippi State University's School of Human Sciences. Lesson plans are created with agriculture and educators in mind. It is meant for ease in the classroom for all ages. |
| Interest-Rate Surge Ripples Through Economy, From Homes to Car Loans | |
 | The market is finally getting the message that the era of cheap money is ending. Just look at mortgage rates. At the beginning of 2022, the average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage hovered above 3%. Today it stands at 4.72%, according to Freddie Mac. That translates into sharply higher borrowing costs for Americans looking to buy a home -- and it is only the beginning. For the better part of the past 15 years, households and businesses paid very little to borrow. Americans could get cars and homes and the appliances to fill them at interest rates in the low single digits. Companies, especially profitable ones, could practically name their price in the credit markets. The Federal Reserve, facing inflation that has climbed to its highest level in 40 years, has been signaling for months that these days of unfettered credit are numbered. Over the past few weeks, the market has responded in force. Rates and consumer prices are likely to rise in tandem, at least for a little while, said Brian Riley, director of credit advisory services at Mercator Advisory Group, a payments research and advisory firm. Consumers, in turn, could start putting more on their credit cards to cover a shortfall between what they're bringing in and what they're paying out, compounding the effect of rising rates. |
| Citizen organizers say lawmakers fell short by not reinstating ballot Initiative | |
 | The future of Mississippi's ballot initiative process remains uncertain as lawmakers chose to not pass an amendment that would reinstate the measure. Advocates say this prevents Mississippians from directly participating in policymaking. Members of the Mississippi Legislature began to debate how the ballot initiative process could be reinstated as early as last summer following a supreme court ruling deeming it unconstitutional. Dr. John Gaudet, pediatrician and author of an initiative to expand Medicaid, says lawmakers had months to prepare and pass a bill. Dr. Gaudet says, "I feel like the differences between the House and Senate could have been worked out. This is not something that came as a surprise. So I think the legislators know that this is a priority for their citizens. Very disappointed that that impasse came to be and they were not able to get a bill across the finish line." Leadership in both chambers agreed on wanting to change the initiative process from constitutional amendments to statutory measures. House leadership wanted to keep the signature threshold unchanged at 12% of voters from the most recent gubernatorial election, but Senate leadership wanted it raised to 12% of all registered voters. Kelly Jacobs is a community activist and author of several initiatives. "I just think that the lawmakers are pushing their job onto the people. And it's a huge burden when they do that because it's a time-consuming process," says Jacobs. |
| What Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson means for the country | |
 | And with that, America's history is officially being rewritten. With a 53-47 vote, the U.S. Senate completed the ascension of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the highest court in the land. The accusations of being an activist jurist who is soft on crime and lenient to child pornography offenders are in her rear view. Jackson has become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court and the first justice to have previously been a federal public defender. Of course, Jackson's elevation does nothing to change the ideological balance of the court, but her presence will represent a tectonic shift for the Supreme Court in other ways. Taken together, Jackson's background as the first Black woman and first former public defender to sit on the Supreme Court means that she'll bring a new perspective to judicial opinions, and some legal experts suggest it could even help her to influence her colleagues. University of Georgia law professor Melissa Redmon says that bringing the lens of a defense attorney to deliberations can help reframe the way other justices view certain cases, especially, she says, criminal ones in which legal disputes over unlawful searches and seizures, protections against self-incrimination and other rights of the accused come into question. Even if she doesn't sway the ultimate decisions rendered by the court, Jackson can convey her point of view in dissents that may have greater influence in future cases or with other branches. |
| Jackson will join more diverse and conservative high court | |
 | Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will join a Supreme Court that is both more diverse than ever and more conservative than it's been since the 1930s. She's likely to be on the losing end of a bunch of important cases, including examinations of the role of race in college admissions and voting rights that the high court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, will take up next term. Jackson, 51, is the first Black woman confirmed to the Supreme Court following Thursday's 53-47 vote by the Senate. She won't join the court for several months, until Justice Stephen Breyer retires once the court wraps up its work for the summer -- including its verdict on whether to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion rights. When Jackson takes the bench as a justice for the first time, in October, she will be one of four women and two Black justices -- both high court firsts. And the nine-member court as a whole will be younger than it's been for nearly 30 years, when Breyer, now 83, came on board. Among the younger justices are three appointees of former President Donald Trump, and the court's historic diversity won't obscure its conservative tilt. But Jackson's presence could make a difference in the perspective she brings and how she expresses herself in her opinions, said Payvand Ahdout, a University of Virginia law professor. Jackson, who was raised in Miami, may see the high court's cases about race "from the lens of being a Black woman who grew up in the South. She has an opportunity early on to show how representation matters," Ahdout said. |
| Senators say Pentagon must do more to help Ukraine defeat Russia | |
 | A bipartisan chorus on the Senate Armed Services Committee took the Defense Department's most senior leaders to task Thursday for what some senators described as a half-hearted approach to helping Ukraine win its war against Russia. At a hearing on the fiscal 2023 budget, the senators -- mostly but not entirely Republicans -- applauded the U.S. military's aid to Ukraine in the six weeks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began but insisted the Pentagon could do more to turn back the invaders. The senators questioned why the administration has not yet spent two-thirds of the money Congress appropriated last month for Ukraine in the fiscal 2022 omnibus appropriations act. And they asked why the Defense Department was providing some weapons but not others. Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker asked the witnesses pointedly why the administration has spent just $900 million of $3 billion provided in the recent omnibus for military aid to Ukraine. "Does the administration not want to send it yet?" Wicker asked. "Is it not available yet? Are there throughput problems at the Pentagon? And how do we fix these problems to get our friends in Ukraine the equipment, the weaponry they need to defeat the Russians?" |
| Global food prices hit record levels amid Ukraine conflict | |
 | The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reported on Friday that its Food Price Index has hit its highest levels yet since its 1990 inception, with record highs in cereals, vegetable oils and meats amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. The FAO Food Price Index, which measures the change in international foods monthly for different commodities, rose 17.9 points between February and March, averaging 159.3 points for March. The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index rose close to 47 points between the months, averaging 248.6 points in March, a record high for the commodity. The organization's index for cereal rose close to 25 points, averaging 170.1 points in March, another high, while its meat price index rose 5.5 points, averaging 120 points in March. The FAO's price indices for dairy and sugar also made noticeable upward trends. The FAO noted that the upward trend in their price indices for vegetable oil and cereal was tied to the conflict in Ukraine given that Ukraine is a key exporter of sunflower oil and wheat. "This month's increase reflected a surge in world prices of wheat and coarse grains, largely driven by conflict-related export disruptions from Ukraine and, to a lesser extent, the Russian Federation. The expected loss of exports from the Black Sea region exacerbated the already tight global availability of wheat," the FAO said regarding their cereal oil index. |
| Historic expulsion of Russian diplomats will limit Moscow's spying | |
 | In the international game of spy vs. spy, Europe has dealt Russia a potentially crippling blow. Nearly two dozen European countries have expelled hundreds of Russian government personnel from embassies and consulates since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February and more recently was accused of war crimes against civilians. A significant number are probably spies posing as diplomats, according to U.S. and European officials. Russia depends on those operatives to gather intelligence inside the countries where they serve, so the expulsions could dismantle large parts of Moscow's spy networks and lead to a dramatic reduction in espionage and disinformation operations against the West, current and former officials said. "The intelligence war with Russia is at full swing," said Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA officer who oversaw the agency's clandestine operations in Europe and Russia. "This ... will prove to be a significant dent in Russian intelligence operations in Europe." Officials said it appeared to be the largest ever coordinated expulsion of diplomats from Europe. "Europe has always been the Russians' playground. They have wreaked havoc with election interference and assassinations. This is a long overdue step," Polymeropoulos said. In the past six weeks, European officials have asked nearly 400 Russian diplomats to leave their postings, according to a tally by The Washington Post. Notably, countries that have long tried to avoid confrontation with Moscow are among those declaring Russian diplomats persona non grata. |
| Legislature gives $20 million in pandemic relief funds to private schools, colleges | |
| Legislators approved $20 million in federal pandemic relief funds to private K-12 schools and private colleges for infrastructure improvements this week, despite concerns from some that public dollars should stay with public schools. The money comes from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which gave the Mississippi Legislature $1.8 billion to spend on pandemic response, government services, and infrastructure improvements to water, sewer, and broadband. After several rounds of deliberation, the Legislature approved grants of $10 million each to private K-12 schools and private colleges and universities. For the private colleges and universities, funds will be allocated based on a school's enrollment and schools can apply for grants to spend on water, sewer, broadband, or other allowable infrastructure projects under ARPA. The seven private colleges and universities named in the legislation are Belhaven University, Blue Mountain College, Millsaps College, Mississippi College, Rust College, Tougaloo College, and William Carey University. Jason Dean, director of the Mississippi Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, was grateful to see the needs of these schools acknowledged, which he said serve 13,000 students across the state. "There are private colleges that have served students in this state for decades, and some of their buildings are literally falling in," he said. "While the money can't go to build new buildings, it can go to water, sewer, and HVAC systems, which is a big one." |
| Mystery family donates $1M to Ole Miss | |
| During this year's Giving Day, a social media-heavy fundraising event put on by Ole Miss, the university received a $1 million gift from an anonymous family. According to the university, the donors designated the money to go into the Chancellor's Trust after meeting with Chancellor Glenn Boyce in the fall of 2021 to discuss the school's funding priorities. "We are making this gift to the Chancellor's Trust because we know Chancellor Boyce will use it to support areas on the Ole Miss campus that need it the most," the anonymous donors said. The single donation nearly doubled the amount raised ($550,000) on the first-ever Giving Day in 2019. During Giving Day 2022, which lasted for one day, eight hours, and 48 minutes in honor of Ole Miss' founding in 1848, raised a total of $2,541,438. |
| Annual USM student art/design show wraps up Friday | |
 | An annual exhibition of works by art and design students at the University of Southern Mississippi wraps up Friday. The show, from students in the School of Performing and Visual Arts, has been on display for a few weeks. About 120 pieces are in the exhibit. Included are works from studio courses in painting, printmaking, digital photography, ceramics and sculpture. The exhibit, like the Gallery of Art and Design, is free to the public. "It gives them a sense of confidence," said Mark Rigsby, gallery director. "They're spending all their time and creative energy producing these works, and so I think they need to have the public see the work and they need to see each other's work and they can give each other feedback." The gallery, in the George Hurst Building, will be open Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| USM Marine Education Center to host 2022 summer camps | |
 | Leaders with the University of Southern Mississippi's (USM) Marine Education Center (MEC) announced summer camps will be available for students in grades 1-12 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. These five-day camps are rich in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) activities. During the camps, children enjoy hands-on, immersive learning activities in a unique coastal setting. The center is located at the University's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, Miss. "We were so excited to be able to offer even the abbreviated selection after having to cancel in 2020 and with COVID still a concern last year," said MEC Director Dr. Jessie Kastler. "It was so successful. We filled all the camper spots, and one-quarter of the campers attended on need-based scholarships. Our campers had a great time." As registration gets into full swing for the 2022 camps, COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted. Kastler stated camp preparation is back operating at traditional capacity. |
| Great Migration art exhibit opens at Mississippi Museum of Art | |
 | During the 20th century, 6 million African Americans left the South for cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Great Migration altered American culture. It changed the lives of those who left and those who stayed behind. In "A Movement in Every Direction," a new exhibit that opens Friday at the Mississippi Museum of Art, a dozen leading contemporary Black artists were asked to explore how the Great Migration affected the nation and their own families. "All of them have a connection to the Great Migration and about half of them have ancestral ties to Mississippi," said MMA's Chief Curator Ryan N. Dennis, who organized the exhibit with curator Jessica Bell Brown of the Baltimore Museum of Art. The opening of the exhibit will be celebrated with a weekend of free talks, guided tours and music. Friday night's events are for MMA members only. Saturday's events are open to the general public. Talks throughout the day will feature artists and scholars discussing the exhibit and the Great Migration. The day will conclude with a 5 p.m. reception hosted by ABC's Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, first lady of Mississippi Elee Reeves and Ebony Lumumba, first lady of Jackson and associate professor of English at Jackson State University, followed by a 7:30 p.m. concert by the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra at Thalia Mara Hall featuring works by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin and the African American composer Florence Price. |
| Millsaps College joins fairgrounds, city of Byram in coming off of Jackson water | |
| The February water crisis that crippled much of the capital city is costing Jackson yet another major customer. This time, it's Millsaps College. The college recently announced plans to build two new water wells and a water tank on campus to ensure uninterrupted water service for students and faculty alike. The news comes more than a year after the campus was shut down for two weeks due to the winter water crisis, and as other major customers jettison city services. Millsaps isn't leaving the city system entirely and will maintain Jackson's service as a backup, but the loss of yet another customer means even less revenue for a city struggling to keep its water and sewer system afloat. Director of Communications John Sewell, though, said Millsaps owes it to its students to ensure they have access to necessities. "I can't speak to what the fairgrounds or other entities (are doing), but our primary responsibility is to our students and our campus community," he said. "That's priority one for us and we have to be sure we're taking care of them and meeting their needs." The new wells will be located on the West Street side of the campus, as will a new 100,000-gallon to 150,000-gallon water tower. |
| Professor: Jackson garbage situation far from policy, closer to 'personality and politics' | |
| Last week when Millsaps College political science Professor Nathan Shrader tuned into developments about the city's garbage collection contract, he said there was a moment when everything shifted. The Jackson resident said that moment was when Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba used his veto power on an ordinance to ratify an emergency contract for Richard's Disposal Inc. Members of the Jackson City Council thought the contract was dead and couldn't be voted on. The mayor's view was they voted no for it and his veto reversed that action. "We jumped the shark," said Shrader, who worked in county and state government and campaigns before joining academia. "But you don't need a law degree or a PhD or to have taken a 1000 level government class to understand that is not how it works." Shrader said a drawn out showdown between the council and mayor over a garbage contract such as the one that has played out for more than a year in Jackson can have an impact on the city, residents and local government. The longer the contract dispute drags out, it hurts the city, he said. Recent Census data shows the Jackson area lost residents to other counties and states. Shrader said the main goal of Hinds County and the City of Jackson should be making Jackson a great place to live and to do business. The garbage dispute can go against that goal, he said. |
| U. of Alabama chosen to lead North America's water research efforts | |
 | In being chosen to lead North America's water resource information efforts, the University of Alabama has been awarded the largest external financial award in its nearly 200-year history. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday named UA as the recipient of a $360 million grant to form the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology, or CIROH. According to NOAA, the goal of this new research institute will be to improve NOAA's ability to provide useable water resource information to improve forecasts, watches, warnings and other related services meant to protect life and property while strengthening the national economy. A team led by Scott Rayder, executive director of the Alabama Water Institute housed on the University of Alabama campus, and Steven J. Burian, the institute's current director of science who now will serve as the executive director of CIROH, has been working for months to secure the competitive award and lead the project. The total funding will be doled out over a five-year period and, beyond the research, CIROH will create curriculum programs meant to educate and position University of Alabama students, as well as those within CIROH's member institutions, to be the next generation of water professionals. "The University of Alabama is at the forefront of hydrological research," said Russell J. Mumper, vice president for research and economic development. "Tuscaloosa is now a hub of innovation for putting intelligence related to water resources into action. |
| Auburn University student died in campus dorm, coroner's office says | |
| An Auburn University student died in an on-campus residence hall Wednesday night, according to Gene Manning, Lee County chief deputy coroner. Authorities with the Lee County coroner's office found Hailey Johnson, 20, unresponsive in her dorm room in Oak Residence Hall in the Village Wednesday night and pronounced her dead at the scene, Manning said. Hayley Harris, director of strategic communications and marketing in Student Affairs, said Johnson died of apparent natural causes. "We are completely devastated by this horrible news," said Bobby Woodard, senior vice president for Student Affairs. "We are heartbroken for Hailey's family, friends and our entire campus community. " Auburn University President Jay Gogue released a statement to The Plainsman regarding Johnson's death Thursday morning. "I was very saddened to learn of Hailey's passing," Gogue said. "To lose someone at such a young age is particularly tragic. We mourn her death and pray for her family and friends." Johnson was from Greenwood Village, Colorado. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and was a sophomore studying animal science with a concentration in equine science. |
| LSU lab finds compound in brain fluid that could be early identifier of Alzheimer's | |
 | By the time symptoms of Alzheimer's show up, changes in the brain have likely been happening for decades, and many scientists have concluded that treatment is too late to be helpful. But what if the clear, colorless fluid surrounding the brain could foretell your risk, acting as a red flag for the disease and a potential target for future drugs? A team at LSU Health New Orleans has identified an inflammation-causing compound in cerebrospinal fluid that could act as an early identifier of Alzheimer's, which is expected to affect 110,000 people in Louisiana by 2025. Among patients with varying degrees of memory problems who participated in a study published last week in the journal Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, those with higher levels of the compound also had higher levels of cognitive problems. Study author Dr. Nicolas Bazan, a neuroscientist at LSU Health New Orleans, hopes to use that information to help define the true onset of Alzheimer's. "If we know the key changes in the human brain early on, we might be able to intervene therapeutically, to slow down the loss of memory," said Bazan. The samples of cerebrospinal fluid arrived at LSU from patients in Sweden, where they were collected by the Karolinska Institute in Styrofoam coolers packed in dry ice. From there, Bazan's team placed 136 tiny vials in machines that extract the different components present in the fluid. |
| Bill to fire U. of South Carolina trustees is on House's fast track | |
| A proposal to fire all trustees from the University of South Carolina board has been put on a fast track by the South Carolina House. Tuesday's move came a week after a hearing where lawmakers didn't hide their anger about spending and what they felt is interference in daily affairs. House Speaker Jay Lucas introduced the bill and requested it skip committee and head directly to the House floor. The bill cuts the number of voting members from 20 to 13 and kicks all trustees off the board at the end of June 2023. It also redraws the districts for the trustees using U.S. House districts instead of judicial districts. |
| UNC System adopts new budget model based on student success and not enrollment numbers | |
| Universities in the UNC System will now be funded based on performance and student success, with a focus on North Carolina students, rather than relying on enrollment. The UNC System Board of Governors approved a new concept for a performance-weighted funding model at its meeting Thursday at Western Carolina University. The change, in part, is to better align system and campus goals with the money schools receive from the state. "This board has wisely revisited a decades-old funding model to better emphasize the core responsibility of undergraduate education and to reward performance: student outcomes," UNC System President Peter Hans said. Compensation for the system president and university chancellors already is tied to metrics like reducing student debt and increasing on-time graduation. Now, the campuses themselves will have a similar model. "Students and families should expect that any good faith encounter with our institutions will leave them better off than when they started," Hans said. He said funding model aims to help make that happen. Chair Randy Ramsey has said the "outdated" funding model incentivized enrollment growth over graduation rates, which contradicts the system's priority of student success. |
| Senate confirms Texas A&M engineer for nuclear safety role | |
 | Texas A&M University nuclear engineer Marvin L. Adams has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as deputy administrator for defense programs within the Department of Energy. Adams will oversee federal programs that ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. He will help manage a $16 billion budget in the National Nuclear Security Administration. The agency oversees the design, maintenance, assessment, manufacturing and dismantlement of all U.S. nuclear warheads and related programs. Adams' position is one of four top jobs in the agency that require Senate approval. "I look forward to working with the outstanding NNSA team -- the federal workforce and the workforce at the laboratories, plants, and sites -- to deliver our unique, essential contributions to U.S. national security," Adams said in a statement released by the Texas A&M University System on Thursday. Adams joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1992 after more than five years as a computational physicist at Lawrence Livermore in California. He has also served for decades in advisory roles at the nation's nuclear labs. |
| Inflation is hitting the poor harder, president of St. Louis Fed tells Mizzou audience | |
 | Inflation is hard on everyone, but especially hard on the poor, James Bullard, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, told an audience Thursday at the University of Missouri. "Inflation, as you know, is very hard on low- and moderate-income households" and those without investment income, Bullard said. "They're just poorer." In his position, he's a member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve's monetary and policy-making body. He votes on interest rate increases. He spoke in Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union, with tables filled by bankers and some academics. The Federal Reserve is working to curb inflation by raising interest rates. In a meeting with reporters after his talk, he said he wants interest rates to hit 3.5% by the end of the year. "Yeah, we have to move," he said. Incomes are getting higher, but people's raises aren't keeping up with inflation, he said. "So, they're worse off," he said. The situation is dire for people trying to find affordable housing, Bullard said. Although most Americans see the affects of inflation at grocery stores and gas pumps, it's everywhere, Bullard said. "This is a story of widespread inflation across a wide variety of goods and services," Bullard said. |
| U. of Wisconsin Delays Free-Speech Survey That Led One Chancellor to Quit | |
 | A controversial plan to poll students in the University of Wisconsin system about free-speech issues has been delayed until fall amid questions about whether it had bypassed institutional-approval channels. The survey, which was to have started on Thursday, sparked one campus's leader to resign this week. In an email to system administrators on Wednesday afternoon, Timothy Shiell, the director of the center funding the survey, wrote that the pause "will enable us to answer fully and accurately the avalanche of questions arising and lay the groundwork for a successful survey." Shiell was not immediately available to comment. Student leaders on five of the system's campuses -- Eau Claire, La Crosse, Madison, Stevens Point, and Whitewater -- had called on the system to delay or cancel the survey. Davin R. Stavroplos, president of Whitewater's student body, wrote in an email to The Chronicle that the delay marked "a great win for students. Like a similarly controversial survey being conducted in Florida, Wisconsin's Student Perceptions of Campus Free Speech Survey includes questions about topics such as viewpoint diversity and whether students have felt pressured by professors to agree with a specific political or ideological opinion discussed in class. It also poses hypothetical scenarios, asking whether students believe those scenarios would be protected under the First Amendment. Survey respondents would also be asked what political party and ideologies they most identify with. |
| U. of Kansas professor convicted of concealing China ties | |
| A chemical engineering professor at the University of Kansas was convicted on Thursday on charges that he concealed work he was doing in China while conducting research that was funded by the U.S. government. A federal jury in Kansas City found Feng "Franklin" Tao guilty of four of the eight counts against him including wire fraud charges in the latest trial to result from a now-ended Trump-era crackdown on Chinese influence within U.S. research. He was one of about two dozen academics charged in the U.S. Department of Justice "China Initiative," which was launched during former President Donald Trump's administration to counter suspected Chinese economic espionage and research theft. Tao denied wrongdoing. His lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg, in a statement said he would challenge the verdict post-trial, saying U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson said she saw "significant issues" with the government's evidence. "While we are deeply disappointed with the jury's verdict, we believe it was so clearly against the weight of the evidence we are convinced that it will not stand," he said. Tao began working in 2014 at the University of Kansas Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis on projects involving renewable energy, including shale gas. |
| Prominent colleges see international applications surging | |
| Prominent U.S. colleges and universities are reporting a surge in international applications over the past two years, fueled by the easing of pandemic travel restrictions and new policies that allow potential students to apply without SAT or ACT scores. The Common Application, an online platform for hundreds of schools, found that as of March 15 the number of international applicants had grown 34 percent since 2020. That far exceeded the 12 percent rate of growth for U.S. applicants. The data reveals a tantalizing source of potential students as colleges nationwide grapple with significant enrollment losses since the pandemic. However, those applicants are often chasing big-name schools that are not hurting for students. "It's obviously a huge population of young people around the globe who could potentially pursue education here," said MJ Knoll-Finn, senior vice president for enrollment management and student success at New York University. "There's a lot of strength in the U.S. market." The Institute of International Education, which tracks enrollment, found the number of international undergraduates in the United States plummeted 14 percent in the 2020-2021 school year. That exacerbated major domestic recruiting problems. Now, colleges and universities are hoping that the volatility in global higher education is easing. "The pandemic just blew up everyone's enrollment models and projections," said John Wilkerson, associate vice president for international services at Indiana University. |
| New app encouraging students to post authentic snapshots of their lives at a random moment every day | |
 | Georgetown University junior Ben Telerski is no stranger to social media; he has over 28,000 followers on TikTok. When he first heard about the new social media app BeReal last summer, he was skeptical that he needed another online vehicle for expressing himself. But now he and his friends use the app almost every day. BeReal "seemed a bit sketchy," Telerski said. "Should we really be putting personal information and taking photos of where we are every single day at the same time?" He decided that yes, in fact, they should. BeReal, founded in 2020 in France, calls itself "not another social network" and prides itself on being an app for users who want to show their real selves online. "BeReal won't make you famous, if you want to become [an] influencer you can stay on TikTok and Instagram," the description for the app reads. The app works by notifying users at a random moment each day to take a photo of themselves, whatever they're doing, using the front and rear cameras of their smartphone. Users are encouraged to take the photo within two minutes, but they don't necessarily have to post right away; many retake the image multiple times before sharing it. BeReal then creates a post with the two images, showing the entire scope of the user's surroundings at that particular moment. Users can't see or comment on their friends' posts until they share their own BeReal photo of the day. The app is making waves on other campuses, too. But some students are raising questions about whether BeReal is as authentic as it claims. |
| Should colleges help students pay for basic living costs? | |
| When Heather Griner was a counselor at the Community College in Baltimore County, or CCBC, she realized students' needs went beyond academics and interpersonal problems. So, the college started helping students with rent, electric bills, health care, bus rides and food. "It kinda takes another thing off my back," said Akira Tisdale, a student at the community college. CCBC gave Tisdale gift cards to local grocery stores with funding from the COVID relief laws, including the American Rescue Plan. There's now more money available for colleges to help with basic needs. Schools have until midnight on Friday to apply for grants from an additional $198 million made available from the American Rescue Plan. The Department of Education says the money can be used to help with things like food, transportation, or child care. The idea that colleges would provide this kind of help is relatively new, according to Bryce McKibben, senior director of policy and advocacy with the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice. Research from the Hope Center finds that three in five college students in the U.S. are struggling -- and that affects how many are graduating. |
| Lawsuit Charges For-Profit University Preyed on Black and Female Students | |
 | Aljanal Carroll never doubted her ability to beat the odds -- not when a doctor told her she would never attend school after battling spinal meningitis as a child, or when she set her sights on a 4.0 G.P.A. in her master's program, or when she heard it was rare for Black women to earn a doctorate in business administration. Then she enrolled at Walden University. Ms. Carroll started taking classes at Walden, an online, for-profit school, in the fall of 2017, drawn by the promise that she could complete her doctoral degree in 18 months. She sailed through her coursework, but when it came time for her "capstone project" -- essentially a dissertation -- she hit a wall. Her review committee would take weeks to deliver feedback that amounted to little more than minor grammatical and formatting suggestions yet required her to make revisions, starting the weekslong wait all over again. By the time Ms. Carroll's project was approved, it was three years and tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected tuition costs later. Her experience reflects what a class-action lawsuit alleges was an insidious scheme by Walden to lure and then trap students, especially those who were Black and female, in a cycle of debt and despair. The National Student Legal Defense Network, which filed the suit in January on behalf of former students, claims that Walden violated not only consumer protection laws, but also Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by preying on minorities and women and misrepresenting the costs and credits required for getting an advanced degree. |
| HBCU bomb threats take a toll on mental health | |
| When Tanya Washington Hicks heard there was a bomb threat at Morgan State University, she felt like her heart was being "squeezed" in her chest. She called her son, a freshman at Morgan State, in a panic on that February day but tried to tamp down the fear in her voice to keep him calm. He told her he was on lockdown in his dorm room. Similar threats spread at historically Black colleges and universities across the country in February and March. Washington Hicks and other mothers with children at HBCUs started a text chain and shared the latest news as campus leaders and media outlets reported threat after threat. Washington Hicks, a professor of law at Georgia State University, said the incidents raised unexpected concerns about her son going to college and never factored into the advice she'd given him when he enrolled at Morgan State, "like make sure that you're getting enough sleep, make sure that you're safe, make sure that you wear a mask in the middle of a pandemic." ut "make sure you are protected from violent, terroristic threats ... that wasn't on my list of instructions for my son," she said. Things changed after the bomb threats became a regular occurrence at HBCUs and a handful of other colleges that disproportionately serve students of color. |
| Student loan forgiveness isn't off the table, Education Secretary says | |
| This week, millions of borrowers learned the pandemic pause on their federal student loan repayments is extended through the end of August. "We recognize that this is a tough time," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a one-on-one interview with our Washington News Bureau. "We know that Americans are still hurting and this is an opportunity for them to have a little bit more time to get some of the other things that they're taking care of right now like their mortgage, child care." It's a step supporters say will help give much needed relief, but questions remain about the long-term plan for borrowers. Progressives in Congress have been critical of the Biden administration's inaction on widespread student loan forgiveness. We asked Cardona about President Biden's campaign promise to forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loans for individual borrowers. "We're continuing those conversations about broader loan forgiveness," said Cardona. "But I will tell you that if you look at day one until now, more has been done in one year under President Biden in terms of loan forgiveness than any other administration combined – in one year. $17 billion in loan forgiveness. We've canceled debt for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities." |
| Colleges, Cops, Airports Among Earmark Winners in 2022 Funding | |
| Universities, police, and airports were among the most popular items in the 4,975 earmarks tucked in the fiscal 2022 government funding measure, which revived the practice of allowing members to include money for specific local projects. The projects are the first earmarks to be enacted in a government funding bill since they were banned in 2011. They range from two measures totaling a combined $200 million by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) for the Alabama State Port Authority to a $4,000 measure by West Virginia's Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R) and Rep. Carol Miller (R) for the City of Huntington's police department to buy a hydraulic vehicle lift. The earmarks, totaling $9,688,599,148, were included in the $1.5 trillion government funding bill (Public Law 117-103) enacted in March, according to a Bloomberg Government analysis of 10 documents published by the House Appropriations Committee. The bill included 3,696 earmarks filed solely by Democrats, totaling $5.2 billion, plus 1,015 earmarks filed solely by Republicans, totaling $3.9 billion, while 263 earmarks were filed by bipartisan groups of lawmakers, totaling $615.7 million. Universities, community colleges, and other postsecondary education institutions were a popular category for earmarks. Lawmakers included at least 589 earmarks for universities, colleges, or other similar organizations, totaling slightly more than $1 billion. Shelby's measure for UAB was the largest, followed by Sen. Roy Blunt's (R-Mo.) $61 million measure for the University of Missouri. Shelby also secured $60 million for the University of South Alabama's College of Medicine and $50 million for the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. |
| Blue-Collar Workers Make the Leap to Tech Jobs, No College Degree Necessary | |
| As the labor market reorders, more Americans are making the leap from blue-collar jobs and hourly work to "new collar" roles that often involve tech skills and come with better pay and schedules. More than a tenth of Americans in low-paying roles in warehouses, manufacturing, hospitality and other hourly positions made such a switch during the past two years, according to new research from Oliver Wyman, a management consulting firm that surveyed 80,000 workers world-wide between August 2020 and March 2022. Many of the new jobs are in software and information technology, as well as tech-related roles in logistics, finance and healthcare. New data from the Current Population Survey and LinkedIn also suggest the pandemic has helped catapult more workers into more upwardly mobile careers. Tech job postings have boomed over the past two years as work, shopping and other aspects of daily life have gone more digital. At the same time, millions of Americans quit their jobs, with some sitting on the sidelines and others finding new ones with higher salaries. Companies have struggled to hire all the talent they need, so many have dropped prequalifications like prior work experience or a four-year college degree. Those pandemic shifts kicked in as broader macroeconomic forces were already creating new job-market opportunities and pressures. Altogether, these forces have led to a giant shock to the workforce. |
SPORTS
| Diamond Dawg Gameday: vs. LSU | |
| Mississippi State Baseball will host No. 16-ranked LSU in an SEC home series this weekend beginning at 7 p.m. CT on Friday, April 8, at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville. The series opener will air nationally on SEC Network with Dave Neal and Chris Burke on the call, while all three games will be available on SEC Network+. The series will also be carried on the Mississippi State Sports Network powered by Learfield along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/plus. The series opener on Friday will mark the 403rd time Mississippi State and LSU have met on the diamond in a series that dates back to 1907. Mississippi State holds a 216-186 edge over LSU in the all-time series. Last season, the Diamond Dawgs traveled to Baton Rouge and came away with a series victory with wins in the first two games of the weekend set. State opened the series with a 6-1 win before clinching the series with a 3-0 victory in game two. The Tigers took the series finale by a score of 8-3 over MSU. MSU's pitching staff enters the week ranked 2nd in the SEC and 4th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (11.6). Preston Johnson leads the team with 57 strikeouts in seven appearances (6 GS), while he is ranked 3rd among SEC pitchers and 27th nationally in strikeouts. Parker Stinnett is 2nd on the team with 47 strikeouts. he Dawgs are hitting .270 as a team with 48 doubles and 54 home runs. MSU is out-scoring opponents 236-158. State third baseman Kamren James leads the team with a .308 average on the season. James has three home runs, three doubles, 26 runs scored and 15 RBIs through 30 games. LSU is led by head coach Jay Johnson, who is in his first season with the Tigers. LSU enters the weekend with a 20-9 overall record on the season and a 4-5 mark in SEC play. The Tigers are 2-2 this season in road games. |
| Mississippi State hoping to begin run toward 'One Shining Moment' against No. 19 LSU | |
 | The stream of light off the projector shined over the Mississippi State backdrop just above Chris Lemonis' head. MSU was fresh off Tuesday's win against UT Martin, but the aspirations Lemonis has for his team stem much further than an April midweek win. The projector, left on by accident, proved exactly that. Leftover was the iconic "One Shining Moment" video aired at the conclusion of March Madness. It depicts the journey teams endure in the premiere college basketball tournament, from the opening tip to when Caleb Love's missed 3-pointer clinched a title for Kansas. Lemonis showed his team the three-minute clip before facing the Skyhawks, and it wasn't just because of his ties to Indiana -- the self-proclaimed state of basketball. North Carolina started its season poorly and sat on the bubble well into February. The Tar Heels were fortunate a late-season run ignited them to an 8-seed in the NCAA tournament, but their exterior expectations were low. As March Madness goes, UNC instead made a run to the national championship game. Though the Tar Hells fell to the Jayhawks, Lemonis felt his Bulldog squad -- a team fighting to find momentum this season -- could learn from Hubert Davis' group. "We've had our struggles, but we have talent and we can play," Lemonis said. "They're starting to play a little bit better every day." |
| Freshman Grant Taylor -- math nerd of the LSU staff, Rubik's cube enthusiast -- finds an early niche | |
 | Grant Taylor knows how to get that one discolored square on the Rubik's cube to match the others. The right-hander is a calculated perfectionist, so when he allows a runner on base, it's just one piece out of place, and he'll have to sort through one of his five pitches to make sure the next one gets him in the right place: walking back to the dugout. That's what helped the freshman this fall. After some of LSU's top hitters squared up his pitches in practice, pitching coach Jason Kelly told Taylor how to adjust his grips. "My fastball was a little bit flatter than it should be," Taylor said. "So I've changed my grip to get a little bit more movement and kept the velo (velocity), so that was good." Taylor is a problem-solver. He likes to talk numbers with his teammate, right-hander Bryce Collins, but he tries not to get too much in his head when he's on the mound, instead taking the signals and punching them into his brain, like a calculator. Then he fires toward the strike zone. In fact, he admits that sometimes he threw too many strikes, which is why he got lit up in fall ball. Usually, accuracy and attention to detail work in his favor. He's never made a B in a class and he's a finance major. His precision on the mound stems from his high school experience. Taylor always had the size and athleticism, but as an eighth-grader on varsity at Florence High School in Alabama, he struggled with his accuracy, and he bore the brunt of critical fans. Taylor and the Tigers (20-9, 4-5 Southeastern Conference) will face a raucous crowd when they visit Mississippi State (18-12, 4-5) at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, Mississippi. The series begins at 7 p.m. Friday. |
| Bulldogs Host No. 24 Missouri At Nusz Park | |
| Coming off a lengthy road trip, Mississippi State softball returns home to host No. 24 Missouri at Nusz Park this weekend. All three games will air on SEC Network+. The Bulldogs (24-13, 5-4 SEC) went 2-3 on the road trip, but picked up a big win over then-No. 11 Tennessee, 8-3. MSU has been much improved in its second full season under Samantha Ricketts, and State has the chance to match its SEC win total from last season (8) at the midpoint of the conference slate this year. Missouri (23-13, 3-5 SEC) has been ranked as high as No. 8 this season, but started SEC play with five straight losses against Tennessee and Ole Miss. The Bulldogs were 4-2 against those teams this season. This weekend is Alumni Weekend in Starkville, and former members of the program will be recognized on Saturday. Members of the Bulldogs' 40th Anniversary All-Time Team who are in attendance will be presented with a gift from the program. Free throwback logo t-shirts are available on Saturday as well. Friday night continues the Bulldogs' weekly scorecard bingo games, and former Bulldog Carter Spexarth will be recognized for her career that spanned 2018-21. On Sunday, the second set of All-Time Team trading cards will be given away. Admission to MSU softball games at Nusz Park is always free. |
| From Sand Rock to TikTok, Brylie St. Clair is reaching new heights with Mississippi State softball | |
| Brylie St. Clair knows nothing comes easy in Sand Rock. Besides the school, the churches and the cemetery, the tiny East Alabama town doesn't offer much, the Mississippi State outfielder admits. "We have a gas station that also serves breakfast, and there's a four-way stop," St. Clair said. "Not even a red light. Just stop signs." But St. Clair beat the odds to become a Southeastern Conference softball player. Now, she's documenting her life for the next generation of girls from the Sand Rocks of the world. With more than 123,000 followers on TikTok, St. Clair is using the social media service to be herself -- and show those who might come next what it's like to play for the Bulldogs. "It was fun to really take my platform and channel it more for young softball girls," St. Clair said. "They get to see, 'This is fun. This is enjoyable. I want to be there. I want to be able to do that.' It's fun to be able to use my platform for that." St. Clair's online presence has soared right along with her softball career. The junior is an everyday starter for the first time at Mississippi State, and she's showing the package of skills that took her out of "the middle of nowhere" and into SEC country. Bulldogs coach Samantha Ricketts said St. Clair has grown her offensive game and continued to develop the standout fielding that has made her a fixture in the lineup. |
| Bulldogs To Hold Open Scrimmages | |
| Fans will have the opportunity to attend each of Mississippi State football's three spring football scrimmages at Davis Wade Stadium. Starting with Saturday, April 9, the Bulldogs are set to scrimmage on three consecutive weekends. Other dates include Super Bulldog Weekend Saturday, April 16, as well as Saturday, April 23. Admission is free and all scrimmages are slated to begin around 11 a.m. Fans are asked to sit on the eastern side of Davis Wade Stadium and enter through Gate H or Gate L, located on the northeast and southeast corners of the venue. Gates will open at 10:30 a.m. Note that concessions will only be available on Super Bulldog Weekend Saturday. Also, the stadium's videoboards and ribbon boards will not be in use for any of the scrimmages as they are all being replaced. The project is already underway in order to ensure the boards' readiness for the 2022 season. All scrimmages will feature approximately 100 plays of football action and include competition between State's starting offense and starting defense before other Bulldogs hit the field looking to hone their skills and perhaps make moves on the depth chart. Mississippi State's spring practice period runs through April 26. The Bulldogs are slated to kick off the 2022 season on Saturday, September 3, when MSU hosts Memphis at Davis Wade Stadium. |
| Washington pushing 'anticipation' in new role as Mississippi State running backs coach | |
| Jason Washington hardly has to move when he needs help. The Mississippi State running backs coach can just cup his hands around his mouth, lean back in his chair and let out a hearty shout. "ERIC," Washington yells. The message doesn't need to travel far. Across the hall is special teams coach Eric Mele who coached MSU's running backs last season. In Mike Leach's reshuffling of the staff following Dave Nichol's departure in the offseason, Mele and Washington found themselves in new roles. For the former, moving to special teams wasn't new. Washington can't say the same, which is why he doesn't hesitate to holler for help across the hall. Washington joined Leach's staff at MSU in 2020 as a safeties coach. He had coached only in the secondary since he began working in the college ranks in 2004. So when Leach approached Washington and asked him to coaching running backs in the Air Raid offense, his response was as expected. "Are you sure?" Washington told Leach. Leach knew the importance of Washington's recruiting to the program. With defensive coordinator Zach Arnett taking control of the safety position, Leach knew he needed to find a spot for Washington. The move was unorthodox, but Leach put Washington in an experienced room. |
| Mississippi State offensive line seeks two starting tackles as spring camp progresses | |
| Mason Miller makes no secret about what the Mississippi State offensive line still lacks. "We're still looking for two tackles," Miller said Thursday. "That's what we're looking for around here." It's no small feat to fill the holes left by Charles Cross and Scott Lashley on the Bulldogs' line. Cross will be a first-round pick in the NFL draft on April 28, while Lashley exhausted his collegiate eligibility. They leave Mississippi State's offensive line solid on the interior but lacking on the edge. "Somebody's got to step up," Miller said. "Something's got to happen." Mississippi State should have the bodies to replace Cross and Lashley, but it won't be easy to make up for their production -- particularly Cross, a likely top-10 pick. "He's gifted," Miller said of Cross. "He's a gifted kid." But the two players in the lead to take over at tackle are gifted in their own right. Six-foot-eight Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College transfer Percy Lewis is receiving first-team reps at left tackle. Lewis is down more than 30 pounds but is still listed at 345, giving him the size to handle opposing pass rushers. On the right side, sophomore Albert Reese IV is the leading candidate to supplant Lashley at right tackle. Reese played some down the stretch last season for the Bulldogs. |
| Often overlooked Delta State celebrates athletic success | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Delta State, in many ways the most successful college athletics program in Mississippi, will celebrate much of that rich sports history Friday night at the Grammy Museum in Cleveland with its annual Hall of Fame celebration. When I write "most successful in Mississippi," I mean it. Delta State has won national championships in baseball, football and six -- count 'em, six -- in women's basketball. In all sports combined (including swimming), Delta State athletes have claimed 14 national titles, 37 regional championships and 68 conference crowns. Not bad for a rather remote school of about 3,500 that receives precious little publicity outside of Bolivar County. As traditional newspapers have reduced staffing and the size of sports sections, much of what Delta State has achieved has gone under-publicized, to say the least. Nevertheless, the Deltans keep winning. It is an amazing story that dates back to when the legendary and gentlemanly Boo Ferriss returned home from the Boston Red Sox in 1960 to take over the Delta State baseball program, carve out a baseball field out of a bean field, and create a national powerhouse. |
| MHSAA executive board approves plan for seventh classification starting in 2023-24 | |
 | The MHSAA executive committee voted 13-1 on Thursday to add a seventh classification, according to executive director Rickey Neaves. The seventh classification will be implemented in the 2023-24 school year. The executive board discussed adding the seventh classification in February and tabled the vote until April. The focus over the last two months has been gathering information on how adding a new classification would help even the playing field for schools with higher enrollments. "This does level the competition in the state as for as the discrepancy between the number of students in our higher classifications," Neaves said. "It makes it where there is no longer a thousand-member difference between the upper and bottoms schools. "We think it creates a better environment for all students involved." Tupelo -- the largest school in Class 6A -- had 1,907 students in October 2020 when the MHSAA made its 2021-23 classifications. Nineteen of the 32 schools in Class 6A had enrollments of 500 fewer students. Olive Branch, Pascagoula, Grenada and Center Hill each had fewer than 1,100 students. "The 6A and 5A schools were definitely elated that number has gotten smaller," Neaves said. "Classes 1A through 4A were glad that number did not increase." |
| Q & A with Auburn athletic director Allen Greene | |
 | Allen Greene usually prefers the performance of the players and coaches to speak on behalf of the program he runs at Auburn. Overall, there are a lot of positives with the men's basketball team winning the Southeastern Conference regular-season title and reaching the first number one AP ranking in the history of the group. Gymnastics, led by Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee is in contention for a national championship. Having ranked teams currently ranked in baseball, softball, equestrian, women's tennis, men's golf, men's track and field, women's golf, women's track and field, and men's tennis is great for Auburn. However, there's cause for concern after the football team lost it's last five games en route to a losing season. Auburn is becoming the "everything school" that head basketball coach Bruce Pearl proudly proclaims. However, it's the SEC and Auburn where football is still the main thing. The confluence of a tough football season, an embarrassing off-season inquiry led by the university into Harsin's treatment of players and staff, and Greene's contract ending in late January of 2023 present several questions for Greene. AL.com had an opportunity to chat with the former New York Yankees farmhand for a chat inside Greene's office at Auburn's athletic facility. We addressed his job status, relationship with Harsin and Pearl, and several other topics. |
| Nick Saban sets record straight after ESPN report about academic bonus payments | |
| Nick Saban took time in his opening statement at his news conference Wednesday to clear things up after ESPN published a report after asking 130 FBS schools whether they had plans to give recently-allowed academic bonus payments. In 2021, schools began having the opportunity to pay athletes up to $5,980 each year for academic achievement after the U.S. Supreme Court voted unanimously against the NCAA in June in NCAA v. Alston, upholding lower-court rulings. Alabama was not listed as one of the schools that said they plan to participate this semester in the optional Alston payments, but Saban said the school is taking part. "The Alston money, we pay our players that," Saban said. "We paid them last semester, we're paying them this semester. I don't know where some of those things come from." Alabama was not included on ESPN's list, and ESPN said the UA athletics department didn't respond to multiple requests for information. A UA athletics spokesperson told The Tuscaloosa News that it did respond to the survey. UA filled out the required fields, and the spokesperson said filling in the name of the specific institution was not one of those required fields. So it was recorded as a response of a school paying the Alston money, but the response was not attributed to UA specifically. |
| Kentucky governor vetoes bill banning transgender students from women's sports | |
 | Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill this week that would mandate student athletes to participate in sports based on the sex written on their birth certificate. Senate Bill 83, known as the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," passed the state Senate 26-9 and was sent to Beshear on March 25. Beshear's veto came on Wednesday. "Transgender children deserve public officials' efforts to demonstrate that they are valued members of our communities through compassion, kindness and empathy, even if not understanding," Beshear said in a letter. The bill said that K-12 schools belonging to the Kentucky Board of Education "shall designate all athletic teams, activities and sports for students in grades six through twelve as one of the following categories: 'boys,' 'coed' or 'girls.'" At public colleges in the state, the bill would have disallowed transgender women from participating in both intercollegiate and intramural sports. Additionally, the bill stated that for Kentucky students wanting to participate in sports, their sex would be determined by the sex printed on their birth certificate and an affidavit from a doctor ascertaining that information. |
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