| Friday, April 29, 2022 |
| MSU Art Galleries to honor International Sculpture Day | |
 | Mississippi State University Art Galleries will celebrate International Sculpture Day with a variety of activities from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. The Idea Shop in downtown Starkville at 10 a.m. to start with a walking tour of the recently installed sculptures by Mississippi artist Earl Dismuke. These sculptures include Toro, in the roundabout downtown; Stand Tall, in the ORED Plaza; Molly Ringwald, in the courtyard outside Commodore Bob's; and Big Dreamer, at Fire Station Park. Sculpture workshops will be held from noon to 3 p.m. at The Idea Shop. With material such as paper mache and bent wire, the possibilities are endless and fun for all ages. At 4 p.m., gather with friends for site-specific teamwork. MSU Arts Galleries will place boxes of random stuff around downtown. It is up to the group to create something right at the spot. The day's celebrations will end with a silent disco mannequin challenge. Participants are asked to download an app, bring headphones, boogie shoes and muscle control. Location will be announced at a later date. |
| Yes, US economy may be slowing, but don't forget it's coming off the hottest year since 1984 | |
 | Mississippi State University's Brian Blank writes for The Conversation: The U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank in the first quarter, according to gross domestic product data released on April 28, 2022. While the reasons were technical and weren't seen as signs of weakness, they add to worries that the U.S. might be headed for another recession as the Federal Reserve seeks to fight inflation by raising interest rates. But before we fret too much about what 2022 will bring, I believe, as a financial economist who studies the decisions people and companies make with money and the resulting impacts, it's worth reflecting on 2021, which saw the strongest economic growth in almost four decades. GDP, which provides a snapshot of the economy by measuring the total value of all goods and services consumers produce and exchange, surged 5.7% in 2021 after accounting for inflation, the fastest pace since 1984. So who benefited from all this growth? A useful way to assess how economic growth affects individuals is by looking at personal financial wealth. This is measured by net worth, or the difference between what someone owns and owes. By that measure, it's likely that the vast majority of Americans are better off than they were in 2020 -- or even before the COVID-19 pandemic -- meaning they have less debt relative to their assets. This is in no small part thanks to the trillions of dollars in pandemic-related spending by the U.S. government. |
| MSU, Jones College introduces employee course to increase digital literacy | |
 | Jones College has partnered with Mississippi State University in its efforts to push digital transformation around the state through increased digital literacy. While during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and after facing multiple disruptions to business operations, JC President, Dr. Jesse Smith, started to prepare his community college employees for the changing demands made by a new business environment. Around the same time, Senior Advisor for Data Science Development & Professor at MSU, Dr. Mimmo Parisi, was going over the greater need for a complete digital transformation across the State of Mississippi. Parisi believes, "that data is the center of our state, national and world economics" and that "step one is establishing a baseline of data literacy across all levels of education and work." The arrival of "Big Data," which is defined as the rapid increase and availability in our society, demands labor force members to have knowledge and skills in data science, as big data analytics help organizations get their data and use it to identify new opportunities and make decisions that create value for the institution. MSU made an investment in the state's digital literacy foundation by creating a 12-hour Data Science Advanced Certification Program. It is designed to activate digital transformation across the state's community college landscape. The program was created as a partnership opportunity between MSU and the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges. |
| Official grand opening for Mississippi State Research and Teaching Apiary | |
 | A new lab at Mississippi State University is buzzing with activity. Thursday was the official grand opening for the Mississippi State Research and Teaching Apiary. The university now has a dedicated space to house honeybees and conduct research. Bees not only produce honey, but they are also the main pollinators for many crops, and in recent years their numbers have been declining. The 12 to 15 hives will help researchers study things like nutrition for bees. "I have been working here for a long time, and so I have been wanting this apiary forever, and the community came together to make this happen. They pitched in funding and just giving us access to the area and materials. So, for us, it's really a step forward with our program," said Audre Sheridan, Research Associate. |
| Growing threat of tornadoes in the South prompts demand for more storm shelters | |
 | There are three reinforced safe rooms that provide shelter during severe weather threats at the Mustard Seed in Brandon, Mississippi. The rooms intentionally feel familiar and double as a laundry room, a library and office space. The Mustard Seed is both a residential facility and community space for adults with developmental disabilities. The rooms are strong enough to withstand the force of a tornado, with 12-inch thick concrete walls and ceilings, and reinforced steel doors. "We wanted these rooms to be familiar places for our Seedsters when we have inclement weather," said Del Adams, the executive director of the Mustard Seed, referring to the program participants. "They know this is the library or an office. It gives them familiarity in uncertain times." The Mustard Seed's safe rooms were installed over a decade ago. Plans for a third residential building will also include a safe room. In parts of the Deep South more accustomed to hurricanes, tornadoes are increasingly becoming a troublesome new reality that has prompted communities, businesses and homeowners who can afford the cost to invest in storm shelters or safe rooms. The 2022 tornado season has been especially active. Over a two-week period starting March 22, there were 49 confirmed tornadoes in Mississippi, according to data from the National Weather Service office in Jackson. That's nearly as many as were reported in all of March, April and May last year, according to weather authorities. The spate of storms in late March seems to be part of a troubling pattern weather experts have noted in recent years as the frequency and strength of tornadoes in the Deep South have grown. |
| Governor Reeves requests major disaster declaration for March 22 tornadoes | |
| 27 tornadoes swept through Mississippi on March 22 of 2022, injuring three residents. Governor Tate Reeves has requested a Major Disaster Declaration from President Biden for Individual Assistance in connection with the severe weather, which caused major damage to homes. The State is requesting Individual Assistance for the following four counties: Clay, Hinds, Holmes, and Kemper. Validated numbers show in those four counties there were: 68 homes destroyed or with major damage, estimating over a million dollars in property damage. Individual Assistance is for residents in declared counties. It can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals recover from the effects of a disaster. The president must approve the request for federal assistance to become available. |
| Busy season anticipated at top Mississippi tourism destinations | |
 | The hospitality and tourism sector of the economy had two extremely tough years with COVID-19 keeping many people in isolation. With new cases of COVID-19 at the lowest levels seen since the beginning of the pandemic, there are hopes of a return to normalcy which will include people being able to travel again to enjoy vacations. "We are expecting a very busy summer for domestic travel," said Danielle Morgan, executive director, Mississippi Tourism Association. "With many international restrictions still in place, people are still largely looking for nearby road trip destinations. Smaller, quaint towns are really hot right now. Mississippi is fortunate to have wonderful outdoor amenities and unique communities, which are also very popular." However, she is concerned about inflation, and particularly high gasoline prices. "The past few years have tested all of us in the travel and tourism industry and it's starting to look as though we can't catch a break," said Webster Franklin, president and CEO, Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau. "The most recent national Visitor Sentiment Study conducted by Longwoods International revealed that 74% of Americans, a pandemic high, now feel safe traveling outside of their community. The same study also found that 65% of the traveling public say that rising gas prices and inflation will either impact or greatly impact their decision to travel over the next six months." |
| Survey finds people are feeling worse about their own finances than they did a year ago | |
| A new Gallup survey indicates that a growing number of people are feeling pessimistic about their personal finances. This time last year, nearly 60% of Americans said they felt their personal finances were "good" or "excellent." Now, only about half feel that way. "Last year we had more people saying their finances were getting better than saying they were getting worse. This year, more people say they're getting worse." said Jeff Jones at Gallup. Jones says a lot of the pessimism to do with inflation, and that what people feel has real-world consequences. "If they're not feeling good about how their finances are, they're probably going to be more reluctant to spend money." That can have a big effect on the economy, says John Leer at Morning Consult. "We do see some growing weaknesses in Americans finances... we're seeing price growth outpace wage growth," said Leer. But he says there is some good news from one of Morning Consult's recent surveys: more than 75% of people who are currently employed feel secure in their job right now. "What we've seen over the course of the last five to six months is a growing sense of job security, particularly among lower-income workers," he said. |
| Train Delays Bog Down U.S. Farm Sector | |
 | Congestion on America's railroads is disrupting operations for farmers and agriculture companies, industry officials said, potentially pushing up food prices. Delayed trains and scarce railcars are impeding crop shipments this spring, causing grain storage facilities to fill up, backing up fertilizer shipments and temporarily shutting down production at ethanol producing plants, company executives said. Railroad operators said they are working to fix the problems but struggling to find enough workers. The railroad slowdown has grain companies looking for other ways to move farm commodities across the country, leading to higher transportation costs that company officials said will ultimately increase food prices for consumers. Food globally is already becoming more expensive, with food makers paying more for fuel, ingredients and labor. "We are seeing a disruption across the industry from top to bottom," said Todd Becker, chief executive of Green Plains Inc., a major producer of ethanol and animal feed ingredients. "Transportation is a big driver of food prices." The National Grain and Feed Association, a trade group representing grain companies including Archer Daniels Midland Co., Bunge Ltd. and Cargill Inc., has raised concerns about the congestion problems in the U.S. with the Surface Transportation Board, which regulates freight railroad operations. "It adds another layer of logistical and supply-chain uncertainty into the market at what is already a historically volatile time," said Michael Seyfert, president and CEO of the NGFA. |
| Reeves vetoes money for golf courses and other projects | |
 | Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday that he has vetoed spending for several projects, including more than $13 million to revive a golf course and create an adventure trail at LeFleur's Bluff State Park in Jackson. He struck down the proposals two weeks after other Republican officials, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Philip Gunn, attended an event to celebrate plans for improvements at LeFleur's Bluff. "I've been trying for a long time to get the state out of the golf course business," Reeves said. LeFleur's Bluff is already home to the Mississippi Natural Science Museum and the Mississippi Children's Museum, and the playground there was recently improved. The state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks had said a redesigned golf course and the adventure trail would make the area "one of the best urban parks in the country." Reeves said three public golf courses are within a short drive of LeFleur's Bluff. "Rather than invest more money into what Jackson really needs, like more police officers, this appropriation throws millions of dollars into a golf course that has already failed," he said. Reeves vetoed $1 million for the Scenic Rivers Development Alliance for improvements including golf cart path repairs and course equipment upgrades at Quail Hollow Golf Course in Pike County. The vetoes Reeves discussed Thursday are a small slice of the spending legislators approved, which included a roughly $7 billion state budget for the year that begins July 1 and about $1.5 billion that Mississippi received from the federal government for pandemic relief. |
| Billions of dollars going towards infrastructure in Mississippi | |
 | A collection of spending bills have been signed totaling investments of around $3 billion to update, repair, and improve infrastructure across Mississippi. Among the bills includes a nearly $1.5 billion investment for roads and bridges through the Department of Transportation and a $300 million appropriation for rural water infrastructure. "Every one of these dollars symbolizes the potential to start and finish new projects that Mississippians know are needed in their communities," says Governor Tate Reeves. He continued, saying these investments will go where the state needs them most. "Today we take another step towards ensuring that these resources are in the shape we need them to be. We'll accept nothing less than continued improvements and top-notch infrastructure. The governor also issued several line-item vetoes, including funding for a public pool, improvements to some municipal buildings and repairs to Jackson's Planetarium. Governor Reeves says he also vetoed a line item for a $13.5 million improvement project at Lefleur's Bluff State Park. While Reeves says there's value in most of the improvements, he objects to the inclusion of a top-of-the-line golf course. Reeves says "Unfortunately it is a single line item in the bill. It was for the entirety of the $13.5 million. Having said that, this is not a slam the door shut on the improvements to that area. There are other pieces of the project that we hope to have robust conversations with the supporters in the coming weeks and months." Reeves says the state should be moving away from the golf course industry, and says he would prefer funding be spent on greater police presence in the state capital. |
| City and state leaders say they are 'shocked' by Governor Reeves' vetoes | |
| Three major projects that were vetoed by the governor Thursday involved the Capital City. Both city and state leaders say they are not happy with the governor's decisions and think it was vetoed for the wrong reasons. "We are very disappointed in the governor's actions," said State Senator John Horhn. Disappointed and confused are just some of the emotions of both city and state leaders after Reeves vetoed three major projects that were approved during the last legislative session. Over $16-million was to go towards the LeFleur's Bluff complex, Jackson's planetarium, and a new parking lot for the Convention Center. Now, those projects won't be moving forward. "Jackson is struggling in so many ways and we need as much economic development activity as we can lay our hands on," stated Horhn. Horhn claims he doesn't know exactly why Governor Reeves vetoed the projects, but thinks his decision could have been influenced by Jackson's infrastructure problems. However, Horhn says infrastructure was still going to be worked on while the three economic developments were being completed. "As much money as the city puts up, the state is willing to match dollar-for-dollar. However, in the midst of all these problems in Jackson's past, this was a real opportunity for us, it was an opportunity to create jobs, there was an opportunity to create a destination, a true destination in our Capital City." |
| Reeves vetoes $13.2 million LeFleur's Bluff project in Jackson, among many other items | |
 | Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday vetoed a $13.2 million project at LeFleur's Bluff in North Jackson as part of many line-item vetoes in a state infrastructure bill. With Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith on hand, the Mississippi Children's Museum announced the plans for the second phase of amenities on April 12, joining the LeFleur's Bluff Playground, which opened in December 2021. "This is definitely worth our time and our money," said U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith at the event announcing the project. Hyde-Smith responded Thursday by saying she is still behind the project. "Sen. Hyde-Smith remains supportive of further development of LeFleur's Bluff into an educational and recreational asset for the capital city and the state, and hopes the legislature and governor will revisit the option to invest this area," Hyde-Smith's director of communications Chris Gallegos said. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hyde-Smith secured $1 million in FY2022 federal transportation funding to support construction of a pedestrian bridge over Lakeland Drive to link the bluff with the Mississippi Agriculture Museum and other facilities north of Lakeland Drive. The Mississippi Children's Museum is part of the LeFleur's Museum District, along with the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame & Museum, located near I-55 and Lakeland Drive in North Jackson. |
| Mississippi Speaker Philip Gunn says 2022 legislative session was a success | |
| Mississippi House speaker Philip Gunn told a group of 50 state leaders and media that the 2022 state legislative session was a great success. Speaking at the Press Forum of the Stennis Institute of Government at the Capital Club in downtown Jackson, Gunn said, "I have a list here of about a dozen items that your legislature accomplished this year any which in and of themselves would have been a tremendous accomplishment." Gunn's legislative accomplishment list included tax cuts. "It's the largest tax cut in the history of our state," Gunn said. "In full implementation it will be about a one-third cut in our state income tax which is about $600 million dollars of money going back to the taxpayers. Teacher pay raise was another big accomplishment, Gunn said, stating that teacher pay is now above the national average. "Every teacher will get from $4,000 to $6,000 in income." He called it the biggest teacher pay raise in the history of the state. Gunn said the distribution of ARPA funds (American Rescue Plan Act) was a major accomplishment. "We had about $1.8 billion to distribute and we passed out about $1.5 leaving $300 million to be distributed in the future." This includes a city and county water and sewer grant program. Gunn also mentioned a new office of broadband to speed up the development of high speed broadband throughout the state. |
| A nonprofit beat the health department to win a key grant for family planning. Can it transform a broken system? | |
| For the first time since the launch of a federal grant to expand reproductive health care decades ago, the state health department won't be running the program in Mississippi. Instead, a nonprofit will. For years, Jamie Bardwell and Danielle Lampton worked at the Mississippi Department of Health, learning how the state's family planning programs worked– or didn't. They left the Department in 2018 and founded Converge, a nonprofit focused on reproductive health. Their team conducted training for Mississippi health care providers and helped clinics learn how to affordably expand birth control offerings. Then, earlier this year, Converge beat out the health department to win a critical $4.5 million federal grant, called Title X, to provide family planning services around the state. Access to Title X-funded services in Mississippi has long been more theoretical than universal. Patients sometimes struggled to get through to clinics over the phone, even though the health department offered family planning services at almost every county health department. Wait times for appointments could be long. And most people wound up with less effective methods like the pill or male condoms, instead of long-acting IUDs or implants. In Mississippi, a majority of Title X patients are at or below the poverty line, and a majority are uninsured, according to federal data. The consequences of poor access to care are clear: The majority of pregnancies in Mississippi are unplanned. The state has the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea of any state in the country, and the sixth-highest rate of HIV. |
| Hyde-Smith shows support for chronic wasting disease research | |
 | Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has backed a bill that would increase research and management of CWD in the state of Mississippi. This disease has been show to negatively affect recreational hunting, outdoor tourism, local business, farms and ecosystems in the state. CWD is a neurological disorder, similar to "mad cow disease," which is contagious within each species and always fatal. As of 2021, CWD has been discovered among deer, elk, and moose (cervids) in 26 states, including Mississippi. She joins U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.) in proposing the Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act (S.4111). The bill allows for a five year CWD research program to be conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The work will be carried out with state and tribal agencies as well as the Ag department. The bill would also allow for those agencies to develop education materials to inform the public on CWD. "The spread of chronic wasting disease, which has a presence in Mississippi, is a major cause for concern. We must dedicate more resources to understanding all we can about the cause, spread, management and control of this always-fatal disease," Hyde-Smith said. "I am pleased to support Senator Hoeven's legislation to give the USDA more resources to focus on this problem." There are roughly 1.75 million whitetail deer in Mississippi. Deer hunting encompasses the state's largest outdoor/hunting industry and helps fund the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. |
| Georgia prosecutor faces biggest decision of career as Trump grand jury looms | |
| Fani Willis was hours into her new job as Fulton County district attorney when she was first confronted with the issue that almost certainly will define her tenure. It was Jan. 4, 2021, and every cable news channel was blaring snippets of President Donald Trump's recorded phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In the hour-long conversation, which had occurred two days earlier and was leaked to the media, Trump prodded Raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's narrow victory in Georgia. The discussion stopped Willis in her tracks. "There was probably a moment where I prayed, well, maybe he lives in Macon," Willis said of Raffensperger. "And then, I won't have jurisdiction over it." That, of course, was wishful thinking. The veteran prosecutor would soon reach the conclusion that, if the president and his allies had crossed a line while pushing for the state's 16 Electoral College votes, she was the only one who could hold them accountable. Multiple other Georgia agencies with investigative power had conflicts of interest because Trump also had reached out to their leadership, Willis said. "I don't want you to think I'm naïve or I don't get the gravity of the situation," Willis told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a recent interview. "I get the gravity of it. ... But it's just like every other case. You just have to do your due diligence." Fifteen months after launching a criminal investigation, Willis is now at an inflection point. Prosecutors on Monday will gain some much-needed investigative firepower when a rare special purpose grand jury is seated. The group can meet for up to a year and issue subpoenas, compelling reticent witnesses to testify and produce evidence. |
| Biden Asks Congress for $33 Billion to Support Ukraine | |
| Democratic and Republican lawmakers welcomed President Biden's request for $33 billion to fund weapons and provide longer-term economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, as the country's conflict with Russia enters its third month. The proposal, announced by Mr. Biden Thursday, is designed to back Ukraine's war effort through the end of September. Lawmakers must now work out how to approve the aid while also trying to advance a package funding Covid-19 vaccines and treatments and resolving a dispute over U.S.-Mexico border policy. "We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine," Mr. Biden said at the White House, terming it a "fight for freedom." Congress provided Ukraine earlier this year with $13.6 billion in military, humanitarian and economic aid as part of a broader spending bill, covering the first two months of the war. In his remarks, Mr. Biden said that money was nearly exhausted, requiring Congress to provide more to sustain Ukraine's defenses. Lawmakers, who returned from recess this week, backed the new proposal and said they were prepared to quickly approve another package of Ukraine aid. The House is out of Washington next week, putting off immediate action. |
| Inside the Republican drift away from supporting the NATO alliance | |
 | In early 2019, several months after President Donald Trump threatened to upend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during a trip to Brussels for the alliance's annual summit, House lawmakers passed the NATO Support Act amid overwhelming bipartisan support, with only 22 Republicans voting against the measure. But this month, when a similar bill in support of NATO during the Russian invasion of Ukraine again faced a vote in the House, the support was far more polarized, with 63 Republicans -- more than 30 percent of the party's conference -- voting against it. The vote underscores the Republican Party's remarkable drift away from NATO in recent years, as positions once considered part of a libertarian fringe have become doctrine for a growing portion of the party. The isolationist posture of some Republicans is in line with the "America First" ethos of Trump, the GOP's de facto leader, who has long railed against NATO. Last week, speaking at a Heritage Foundation event in Florida, Trump implied that as president he had threatened not to defend NATO allies from Russian attacks as a negotiating tactic to pressure them to contribute more money toward the organization's shared defense. The vote also comes against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has catapulted NATO to its most prominent role in decades. And it comes as some hawkish Republicans seek to cast themselves as stronger opponents of Russia than Democrats. Metin Hakverdi, a German lawmaker who chairs the North America working group within the ruling Social Democratic Party, said the question that preoccupies him is, "Was Donald Trump the exception, or will Joe Biden be the exception?" |
| Hickerson selected as SOJNM dean, pending IHL approval | |
 | Andrea Hickerson has been selected to serve as Dean of the School of Journalism and New Media. Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Noel Wilkin announced that Hickerson accepted the position in an email to SOJNM employees. Her appointment to the position will be effective once approved by the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees. "She is an accomplished researcher and scholar with experience studying 'deepfakes' and issues facing international journalism," Wilkin said in the email. "She has been a principal investigator, co-principal investigator or investigator on over $1.6M in external support from a wide range of sources that include the National Science Foundation, U.S. State Department, foundations and news networks. She is also an accomplished administrator, having served as a director at two universities." Prior to accepting the dean position at the University of Mississippi, Hickerson was the Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications and an associate dean in the College of Information and Communications at the University of South Carolina. Hickerson will succeed Debora Wenger, who has served as interim-Dean of the SOJNM since the resignation of Will Norton in 2020. |
| EMCC hosts inaugural health fair, service learning event | |
| High school students milled about the East Mississippi Community College Communiversity campus Thursday morning learning all about different areas of expertise in health care and the education provided for those roles right down the road from their homes. Many secondary students around the Golden Triangle intend to enter a career in health care since there is an increased need for those professionals around the globe. Area colleges are looking to help these students by showing them what classes are offered to help them reach those goals. The EMCC Communiversity hosted to a health fair on Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., but before the general public was invited in, high school students enjoyed a private educational session. Associate degree nursing instructor Dr. Brittany Shurden was one of the organizers of EMCC's inaugural service learning event paired with the health fair, and she said the students' learning experience differed from the one open to the public. Groups from Lowndes County School District, West Point, Millsaps Career and Technology Center in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, and Louisville all came out to learn from industry professionals and current EMCC students. "This is great for students to see their options for college, but it's also great for the community to know how to take care of themselves," Shurden said. |
| The education culture war is raging. But for most parents, it's background noise | |
 | Math textbooks axed for their treatment of race; a viral Twitter account directing ire at LGBTQ teachers; a state law forbidding classroom discussion of sexual identity in younger grades; a board book for babies targeted as "pornographic." Lately it seems there's a new controversy erupting every day over how race, gender or history are tackled in public school classrooms. But for most parents, these concerns seem to be far from top of mind. That's according to a new national poll by NPR and Ipsos. By wide margins -- and regardless of their political affiliation -- parents express satisfaction with their children's schools and what is being taught in them. The nationally representative poll of 1,007 parents of school-aged children follows up on a similar survey NPR and Ipsos conducted about a year ago. In both polls, parents answered questions about the impact of the pandemic on their children, academically and socially, and about their schools' performance during this time. or decades, voters have expressed concern in polls about the state of K-12 education in the U.S. But when you zoom in closer, parents seem to like their own kids' school, and they like their kids' teachers even more. That's true in the NPR/Ipsos poll as well. Parents named education as their top concern after inflation and crime/gun violence. However, 88% of respondents agree "my child's teacher(s) have done the best they could, given the circumstances around the pandemic." And 82% agree "my child's school has handled the pandemic well." |
| LSU president William Tate IV elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences | |
 | LSU President William F. Tate IV has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a 240-year-old group that has included Benjamin Franklin and Charles Darwin as previous members. He's among 261 people selected this year to recognize their work in academia, the arts, industry, public policy and research. "It is an honor to be selected alongside some of history's greatest scientists, artists and leaders who have advocated for public good during their lifetimes," Tate said in a statement. He said the research aims of the Academy "are what I've been striving for in my career as well, and since I arrived at LSU, they match the goals that we've outlined in our Scholarship First Agenda for Louisiana." Tate earned a bachelor's degree in economics with a minor in mathematical sciences from Northern Illinois, a master's degree in mathematical sciences education from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Ph.D. in mathematics education with a cognate in human development from the University of Maryland. With a Anna Julia Cooper post-doctoral fellowship to study social and public policy at the University of Wisconsin, Tate completed a second postdoctoral fellowship at the Washington University School of Medicine, where he earned his master of psychiatric epidemiology degree. Tate's research has focused on the conditions that lead to certain outcomes in mathematics performance and STEM attainment. He has developed models to explain the social determinants of educational attainment as well as health and developmental outcomes. |
| 'American Idol' winner Laine Hardy says he is cooperating with LSU police over 'sensitive' allegation | |
 | "American Idol" winner Laine Hardy said Thursday that he is cooperating with Louisiana State University police after a "sensitive" allegation was made against him. In social media posts, Hardy said he "received a warrant" because of the allegation but did not provide additional details. A spokesman for LSU confirmed there was an "active investigation" with the school's police department that involved the singer but declined to provide additional details Thursday night. In the post, Hardy said he understood "that my career has thrust me into the public spotlight, and I embrace that wholeheartedly as my entire world belongs to my music and my fans." He added: "However, due to the sensitive nature of this allegation, I humbly ask for privacy at this time. I have utmost respect for the law and will assist in their investigation as needed moving forward." Hardy, 21, was raised in Livingston, Louisiana, east of Baton Rouge. He won season 17 of "American Idol" in 2019. |
| Mother of U. of Kentucky student who was killed in robbery: He had 'the most generous heart' | |
 | As three young men sat in a Fayette County courtroom Thursday to learn their sentences for robbing and killing a University of Kentucky student seven years ago, the victim's loved ones were brought to tears by testimony from his mother. Jonathan Krueger was a UK student who died in April 2015 when he was shot by assailants who were trying to rob him while he walked home, according to court records. The three responsible for his death pleaded guilty earlier this year and were given prison sentences Thursday ranging from 20 to 35 years. Mary Krueger, Jonathan Krueger's mother, gave testimony in court Thursday and said she'd been waiting seven years for this day. The memories of police telling Mary Krueger her son had died were painfully vivid, she said, and it's something she wishes on no other parent. His mother talked about her son's final visit back home to Toledo, Ohio, to celebrate his 22nd birthday the week before he died. She said the memories from that visit are as vivid today as they were from over seven years ago. "He had the biggest and most generous heart to match his smile," Krueger said. "It isn't possible for me to wrap my head around the idea that someone could crush his heart." |
| UT Chattanooga offers scholarship for students fleeing Ukraine war | |
 | As millions of refugees leave Ukraine to escape Russian attacks, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is doing what it can to help a few people caught in the crisis. Ukrainian universities haven't been spared from attacks from Russia. Hundreds of students at Sumy State University near the Russian border aren't able to leave because Russian forces blocked access to trains, and explosions have forced them to seek bomb shelters, according to The New York Times. International students fleeing Ukraine can apply for a graduate assistantship program at UT Chattanooga to continue their education despite the war in their home country. Right now, it's one of only a few universities in the nation with a program providing this much support. The idea was a collaborative effort between the college's Center for Global Education and Student Government Association. UT Knoxville has secured funding to support students and faculty fleeing the war, according to Assistant Director of News and Information Kerry Gardner, and programs and resources are being developed. UT Chattanooga is offering two international students a fully supported graduate assistantship. The program offers two selected students paid tuition, free housing and a $600 monthly stipend. It pays for round-trip tickets to and from Chattanooga. |
| Up Next For Higher Ed? Cryptocurrencies, Political Battles and Hybrid Learning | |
| What's on the horizon for higher education? It's the question that nonprofit association Educause poses annually to college faculty, staff, administrators and researchers from around the world. This year, 57 such experts identified social, technological, economic, environmental and political trends influencing the higher ed sector. And unsurprisingly, their reflections underscore dramatic shifts in teaching and learning either instigated or sped up by the pandemic. "Higher education likely will never be the same again," the report says. One of the top technological trends for colleges is the collection of student data, according to the report, although it notes that few institutions are using that information to bring about meaningful change. Artificial intelligence tools have the potential to help process big datasets, but privacy, ethics and equity worries about the use of data remain unresolved. An economic trend that the research identifies as significant is the growth of the digital economy. More specifically, it predicts that colleges will need to respond to increased interest in cryptocurrencies among consumers. The report also suggests that institutions may face challenges associated with maintaining their "digital identities," as well as navigating the fact that each student and employee is more and more likely to have their own personal digital identity. The spread of hybrid and online learning was named one of the top social trends. |
| Disability advocates: Don't drop COVID-19 safety measures | |
 | As higher education slowly returns to a long-awaited sense of normalcy, college students and employees with disabilities worry that they'll be forgotten in the rush to dial down coronavirus mitigation factors, noting that COVID-19 continues to pose a lethal threat to high-risk individuals. Case rates vary significantly at the state, county and city levels. Some colleges have recently dropped mask and vaccine mandates, even as others restore such practices or shift classes online amid local surges. But regardless of the numbers, some advocates for students and employees want to see universal standards in place to protect those most at risk. Some advocates say students are being asked to choose between their education and their lives. "Universities aren't necessarily listening to disabled students," said Eiryn Griest Schwartzman, who co-founded COVID Safe Campus, an advocacy organization for students and employees with disabilities. "That push to return to normal has persisted. It gets demoralizing, and it gets harder to continue to advocate. And it could potentially result in people stopping their education if they feel like they don't have the resources to keep going and feel undersupported." While the advocates at COVID Safe Campus are sharply critical of colleges' efforts to dial back mitigation measures, others suggest that institutions largely have done a good job of handling the pandemic, even for those who face the greatest threat from the coronavirus. "During COVID, they have risen to the challenge and provided more services, more hours and focused especially on students with high-risk conditions, those students who are disadvantaged in some way, that have a greater risk for exposure or risk of serious disease from COVID," said Gerri Taylor, co-chair of the American College Health Association's COVID-19 task force. But Taylor acknowledges colleges can do more, including by battling the stigma of wearing face coverings as mask mandates drop across the U.S. |
| Fewer but Happier: Humanities Master's and Ph.D. Graduates in 2020 | |
 | The share of master's and doctoral degrees awarded in the humanities in 2020 hit a record low, according to a new report released on Friday by the Humanities Indicators project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The report, "State of the Humanities 2022: From Graduate Education to the Workforce," relies heavily on federal data to examine graduate education in the humanities, including graduate-degree trends, career outcomes, the state of the professoriate, and the lack of diversity in the field. "To see the share of our degrees falling to levels I've never seen before," said Robert B. Townsend, program director for humanities, arts, and culture at the Academy of Arts & Sciences, "that was really surprising." The study's wide-ranging findings amplify some familiar trends in disciplines like English language and literature, history, foreign languages and literature, and philosophy, among others, that have long been framed as being "in crisis." The report also highlights the declines in humanities-faculty positions and in academic job ads for humanities Ph.D.s, long-running trends that have fueled the dismal academic job market that graduate-degree holders in the humanities face. But a bright spot emerged in the data: Despite their median earnings being less than their counterparts in most other fields, about 90 percent of recipients of graduate degrees in the humanities were satisfied with their jobs (whether employed in academe or not) in 2019 -- in line with master's and Ph.D. holders in other fields, the report said. |
| Biden Says He Is Taking a 'Hard Look' at Student Loan Relief | |
 | President Biden said on Thursday that he is considering wiping out some student loan debt and will make a final decision "in the coming weeks." "I am considering dealing with some debt reduction," Mr. Biden said after a speech in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. The comments were the clearest signal yet from Mr. Biden that he may make good on a promise to cancel at least some debt for student loan borrowers. During the campaign in 2020, he said he would "make sure that everybody in this generation gets $10,000 knocked off of their student debt." The White House has been under intense pressure to provide the relief through executive action, and Mr. Biden this month extended a pause on loan payments for a fourth time. But the president made clear that his decision would disappoint at least some progressive Democrats and advocates who argue that large-scale cancellation is necessary to address economic and racial disparities and want him to wipe out $50,000 or more per borrower. "I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction," Mr. Biden said. But he added that he was "taking a hard look" at debt forgiveness. "I'll have an answer on that in the next couple of weeks," he said. Republican lawmakers are firmly opposed to the idea. Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Republican, filed a bill on Wednesday that would block Mr. Biden from canceling student debt through an executive action and end the payment pause that began in March 2020. "Any future suspension of federal student loan repayments should be left to Congress, not the Biden administration," Mr. Thune said. |
SPORTS
| A new voice at Dudy Noble: Mississippi State senior happy to fill in as baseball PA announcer | |
| Mississippi State senior Chris LoNigro had pretty standard plans for the evening of April 12. LoNigro, a communications major from Katy, Texas, had a group project meeting to attend. Afterwards, he planned to head over to Dudy Noble Field for the Bulldogs' baseball game against UAB. But earlier that day, LoNigro got a text that upended all those plans. New MSU marketing director Chris Opheim was in need of a public address announcer for the contest, and LoNigro -- the PA voice of Bulldogs softball, volleyball and previously tennis -- was his first alternative. LoNigro saw Opheim's message as soon as he got out of class. Immediately, he said yes. He had to break the news to his fellow group members first, but they understood. "I was super happy to say, 'Hey, guys, I can't be here,'" LoNigro said. For a student who "hounded" former marketing director Michelle Pontiff for years to let him fill in at baseball, working the mic at Dudy Noble was a dream opportunity. LoNigro voiced not only Tuesday's game but all of the ensuing weekend series against Auburn. "I never really thought I'd actually be able to do it, but this past week was amazing," LoNigro said April 20. LoNigro, who graduates in two short weeks and is searching for sports broadcasting and PA jobs, has been on the mic somewhere or other since his freshman year. |
| Diamond Dawg Gameday: at Missouri | |
| Mississippi State will hit the road for the second straight weekend to face off against Missouri in a three-game SEC series beginning at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, April 29, at Taylor Stadium in Columbia. All three games will be available on SEC Network+ with Sunday's series finale also set to air nationally 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. Mississippi State and Missouri will meet for the 15th time in a series that dates back to 2003. The Diamond Dawgs own a 10-4 edge in the all-time series. The first meeting came in the 2003 NCAA Starkville Regional and resulted in a 10-5 Mississippi State victory. Missouri enters the weekend looking to snap a four-game losing streak after a midweek loss at Missouri State and getting swept last weekend at LSU. The Tigers have two series wins in SEC play this season, both of which came at home. Mizzou took two of three from South Carolina (April 1-3) before doing the same thing to Kentucky two weeks later (April 14-16). Mizzou enters the weekend with a 13-5 record at home, which includes a 5-4 record in SEC games at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers have five players hitting over .300 this season, led by Torin Montgomery who is batting .336 with 10 doubles, four home runs and 34 RBIs. Luke Mann and Mike Coletta lead Mizzou with 10 home runs each on the year. |
| Mississippi State travels to Missouri in search of third-straight series win | |
| Mississippi State's effort to have a chance to defend its national championship takes it to Missouri this week. The Bulldogs, in search of a third-straight SEC series victory, take on a Tigers team that's 22-16 overall and has the league's worst conference record at 5-13. Missouri was swept last weekend at LSU, but the games were competitive. The visiting Tigers lost 5-3, 4-3 in 10 innings and 8-6. Missouri lost 3-2 at Missouri State on Tuesday night. Game times for the Bulldogs and Tigers are tonight at 6, and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Game 3 will air on the SEC Network while the others are available through the network's live streaming option. The Bulldogs won two out of three in Oxford last weekend in the games that count in the SEC standings. They won a home series against a ranked Auburn team the week before. If the Bulldogs (24-18, 8-10 SEC) are going to continue their climb they're going to have to find ways to stretch a bullpen that has been hit or miss while losing several key players to injury. One approach by MSU coach Chris Lemonis has been to use shortstop Lane Forsythe on the mound when possible. "We try to get Lane out there in case we get into an emergency and need him," Lemonis said following the Bulldogs' win over Jackson State prior to the Ole Miss series. |
| Overcoming loss, Mizzou baseball's Cheeley finally made his dream come true | |
 | Missouri baseball pitcher Austin Cheeley carries a name on both arms. But it wasn't always that way. As Cheeley grew up in St. Louis, it wasn't his dream to pitch in the major leagues. He wanted to pitch for the University of Missouri. With uncle Brian DeLunas coaching for the team, Cheeley grew up around the Tigers and envisioned himself one day donning the black and gold. His dream had to wait. Coming out of high school, Cheeley only had two offers to play baseball. One was a Division II offer from Central Missouri. The other was a junior college offer from Jefferson College. He opted to go the JUCO route and excelled. In his two years pitching for the Vikings, Cheeley was a two-time all-conference and all-region selection, which caught the eye of Division I programs. Before the 2020 season, he transferred to Middle Tennessee. Cheeley struggled on the field, but his biggest struggles came off it. His father, John Cheeley, was sick. He was fighting bladder cancer, a battle that made him too sick to attend Austin's games five hours away. Despite not being able to attend in person, John made sure to watch every game on TV, calling Austin after each one. On March 6, 2020, John lost his battle with cancer. One day later, Austin made his fifth and final appearance in a COVID-19 shortened season. In his previous four outings, he allowed eight runs in 8⅔ innings. It wasn't the start to his Division I career that he envisioned, but on March 7, none of that mattered. His final inning, one day after his dad passed, was perfect. Using 11 pitches he got three outs and walked off the mound a winner. |
| Dawgs Travel to 'Cats For Final Regular-Season Road Trip | |
| Mississippi State will make its final road trip of the regular season this weekend as the Bulldogs head to Lexington to face No. 11 Kentucky. The two programs have not met since 2019. The Wildcats (31-14, 9-9 SEC) were supposed to be Samantha Ricketts' first SEC foe back in the cancelled 2020 season. Instead, she was forced to wait until her third year at the helm to meet Kentucky. The Wildcats and LSU, who State will play next weekend, are the only remaining SEC programs she has not faced as a head coach. MSU (30-19, 8-10 SEC) has secured its second consecutive 30-win season under Ricketts, following a 25-win campaign in the shortened 2020 season. Dating back to 2021, MSU's record in its last eight SEC series would stand as its best mark in conference play since the league went to an eight-series schedule in 2013. The Bulldogs have been in tight ballgames of late with six of their last nine games decided by a single run. Meanwhile, Kentucky is coming off a weekend that saw them swept by Missouri, which State took two out of three games from. It was Kentucky's first sweep at the hands of an opponent since 2019. MSU will host its final SEC series on May 6-8 against No. 19 LSU with all three games available on SEC Network+. Friday night's 6 p.m. game will include a pre-game graduation ceremony for those student-athletes who have earned their degrees this semester. Saturday is Samoan Day at 2 p.m., and Sunday is Senior Day with first pitch set for noon. |
| Seahawks draft LT Charles Cross at No. 9, filling need | |
| When general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll arrived to lead the Seattle Seahawks a dozen years ago, their overhaul of the roster started with finding a left tackle. They're hoping after an offseason of upheaval and more major roster changes that landing a new left tackle in Mississippi State's Charles Cross can help start another run of success. "It's a great place to start when you're trying to build an offensive line, always," Carroll said. "That left tackle spot is crucial in all of that." For just the second time in the Carroll era, the Seahawks had a top 10 selection Thursday night. And just like they did in 2010, the Seahawks used that top 10 pick on a left tackle. A dozen years ago, it was Russell Okung with the No. 6 pick. This time, it was Cross at No. 9, a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection last season after starting 12 games for the Bulldogs. With good size and length at 6-foot-5, 310 pounds, Cross is considered by some scouts to be the best pass blocker in this draft, especially after playing in the pass-happy offensive scheme of Mississippi State coach Mike Leach the past two seasons. The Seahawks like to emphasize the run and probably will need Cross to be a quick learner as a run blocker. "He's such a good a good athlete and he has such a good brain that we feel like our coaches are going to be able to really help him out in terms of the quantity of the run game that's going to be placed on him," Schneider said. |
| Mike Leach, OT Charles Cross' college coach, details Seahawks' top pick | |
| The Seahawks have their offensive tackle of the future in Mississippi State's Charles Cross, who Seattle selected with the ninth overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Charles enjoyed a standout career for the Bulldogs, which culminated in him earning first-team All-SEC honors in 2021 in his redshirt-sophomore season before entering the draft and being taken in the top 10. And the man who coached Cross during his two years starting for Mississippi State is Mike Leach, the former WSU Cougars head coach who moved out east ahead of the 2020 season. Leach joined Brock Huard, Dave Wyman and Bob Stelton on Seattle Sports Station 710 AM's draft show Thursday evening to give a quick scouting report on the Seahawks' new big man. "It was a heck of a deal. I was really proud for Charles and his family," said Leach, was in Las Vegas for the draft with Cross. Leach wasted no time hyping up what kind of player and person the Seahawks are getting with Cross. "He's one of the most steady guys I've ever coached, to the extent where his expression never changes. He never gets rattled and his own stability creates confidence with the rest of the offense," Leach said. Cross has 34.5 inch arms and stands nearly 6 foot 5 while weighing 310 pounds, but the things that stand out the most to Leach are that he has "great feet" and is extremely coachable. |
| Seahawks go the safe route by drafting Charles Cross, and they'll be better for it | |
| The Seahawks sent some distinct and straightforward messages Thursday with their first-round pick of offensive tackle Charles Cross from Mississippi State. First of all, they didn't get cute, as is their wont (and sometimes their undoing). Drafting in the top 10 for the first time in a decade, they seemingly concluded that the opportunity to land an impact player at a position of need superseded any primordial urge to try to outsmart the room. And thus, there was no trading down to hoard more picks. There was no selecting a player that the rest of the draft cognoscenti had rated much lower, or one who played a position that is not considered worthy of such a high pick. No, at No. 9 overall, they went conventional -- and that's a great thing, not a knock. The Seahawks needed a safe bet, not a high-risk stretch. They needed to solidify a position that, by acclimation, is as vital as any on the field. This was a pick that made you nod your head sagely when you heard it, not slap your forehead in disbelief. Or if there was any disbelief, it was that the Seahawks didn't go rogue. A team that has made a cottage industry out of defying convention picked a player who was actually linked to them in many mock drafts -- virtually unprecedented in the John Schneider-Pete Carroll era. And one who might well be valued higher than his draft spot, having been rated as a top 3 overall talent in the assessment of many. "We feel like he fell to us," Schneider said. "There were three guys, right, that everyone kind of saw (as highly rated tackles) and we feel like we were blessed enough to get one of them." Said Carroll: "He's got an attitude to let you know that he's gonna whip your butt. There's just nothing that we didn't like. I mean, really, every aspect of it, the grit that he brings is going to really be a complement to the rest of our guys." |
| Mississippi State basketball's Cameron Matthews to return next season | |
| Mississippi State has another piece from last season's roster coming back. Guard/forward Cameron Matthews announced Thursday he'd be returning to play under new coach Chris Jans. Matthews, along with Tolu Smith and KeShawn Murphy, is among three scholarship players left on MSU's rosterfrom last season. Sunday 1 is the deadline for players to enter the transfer portal and receive a one-time transfer exemption from the NCAA. Matthews averaged 2.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game last season. He appeared in 33 games for the Bulldogs with 10 starts. He served as the prototypical "glue guy" for Mississippi State with plays often not shown on the stat sheet. He was among the team's top defenders while providing an athleticism unmatched by his teammates. Matthews' high-flying dunks brought energy to numerous nonconference wins for Mississippi State, but the offensive success dwindled in the latter part of the season. He joined Mississippi State as a versatile forward out of Olive Branch High School where he played with MSU teammate D.J. Jeffries who reportedly entered the transfer portal in mid-April. Matthews recorded 16.2 points, 14.5 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 3.1 blocks per game as a high school senior and was part of the Clarion-Ledger's Dandy Dozen. |
| Dawgs Prepare for Maroon and White Invite -- Final Meet of Regular Season | |
| The Mississippi State track and field program looks to wrap up its regular season for the 2022 outdoor campaign when it hosts the Maroon and White Invite, Friday and Saturday, at the Mike Sanders Track Complex. The meet begins Friday, April 29, at 9:30 a.m. CT with the hammer throw, featuring Francesca Chambers on the women's side and Daniel Pepper representing the men's program. The men's hammer throw will begin immediately following the conclusion of the women's portion. Later that day, eight Bulldogs will represent MSU (3 p.m. CT) spreading across the women's high jump and both the men's and women's discus: Helen Claire Edmonds (W high jump), Cade Finley (M discus). Emilia Lesniak (W high jump), Pepper (M discus), Jeremiah Pierce (M discus), Asia Poe (W high jump), Jhordyn Stallworth (W discus) and Aley Woodberry (W high jump). State will first appear on the track Friday evening (6 p.m. CT) in the women's 800m invite, featuring Sydney Steely, Hayley Ogle and Zoe Brito. Steely will then conclude Mississippi State's opening day of the meet at 7:10 p.m. CT in the women's 1500m invite. The Bulldogs enter the meet with five of their event squads currently ranked in the top-10 nationally. |
| Former Auburn athlete proposes U.S. military recruit college athletes to enlist | |
 | Dave Maloney, a former Auburn University track athlete and now the CEO a Houston-based Air Force contractor, has pitched to the U.S. military the idea of recruiting college athletes to enlist. In a report from Sportico, the Scholar-Athlete Intelligence and Leadership Program (SAIL-P) would fund athletic scholarships at the college level in exchange for mandatory service by student-athletes Department of Defense leaders and elected officials, per the report, are mulling the proposal over amid ongoing recruitment issues and a decreased eligible demographic for military service. The program "has been pitched as a solution to inefficient recruiting within the armed forces -- which spend billions on recruits who fail basic training -- and financial unease in college sports, where athletic departments face increasing cuts to non-revenue teams like tennis and wrestling." It should be noted, however, college football and basketball programs would be excluded from the proposal, which does include NCAA, NAIA and junior college level athletes. "We have funding challenges, and we're looking at how to solve them," Tanner Gardner, chief operating officer for athletics at Rice University, told Sportico. "But there's a lot of inertia in college sports right now, and I have a hard time understanding how you're going to convince student-athletes to commit to something other than an athletic scholarship." |
| Mental health resources for student-athletes becoming priority at colleges | |
 | Coming off her gold-medal performance at the Beijing Games, 22-year-old snowboarder Chloe Kim said this week she plans to take off the 2022-23 season to focus on her mental health, citing the need to press reset after a "draining year." Kim is the latest professional athlete to publicly share the impact competition can have on mental wellness and one of several high-profile performers to at least temporarily step back from athletic events entirely, including Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, tennis star Naomi Osaka and Olympic swimmer Caeleb Dressel. Bringing these choices into the public sphere has helped normalize what has long been a taboo topic on all levels of athletics. According to a 2019 study in the journal Sports Medicine, the barriers impeding an open discussion of mental health issues "include more negative attitudes towards help-seeking amongst athletes than the general population, as well as greater stigma and poorer mental health literacy." On the college level, conferences and universities are prioritizing overall health by placing mental well-being on an equal plane with the traditional medical support provided to physical injuries, embracing the concept that conditions related to mental health should be treated with the same focus and care as an ACL tear or concussion. Concerns over mental wellness have gripped college athletics in recent weeks after the deaths of three female student-athletes by suicide, according to statements from family members and local coroners' offices. "We have to make it a topic that's OK to talk about, that's OK to be able to speak about without any sort of stigma or without any sort of judgment," Dr. James Borchers, the chief medical officer for the Big Ten and the co-founder and president of the U.S. Council for Athletes' Health, told USA TODAY Sports. |
| California Bill Would Clash With NCAA Ban on Paying Athletes | |
| A California bill is again set to disrupt college-sports governance, undermine the National Collegiate Athletic Association's principle of "amateurism" and set up a system to pay some athletes. Senate Bill 1401, called the College Athlete Race and Gender Equity Act, would require some colleges in the state, both public and private, to pay athletes if the team generates more than twice as much revenue as it spends on scholarships. The bill is just the latest way that advocates for college athletes are breaking down the authority of the NCAA, said Sharianne Walker, dean of the College of Business at Western New England University and an expert in athletics governance. While the legislation is still being worked out, it has passed out of two state Senate committees in California and seems likely to pass that chamber, at least. If it becomes law in its current form, it could apply to athletes who play football and both men's and women's basketball at more than 20 colleges in the state that are members of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. An analysis by Sportico estimated that football players at such institutions could earn as much as $132,000 annually from the plan, in addition to their athletic scholarship, and men's basketball players would reap $107,000. Women's basketball players would earn about $15,000 annually, Sportico reported. B. David Ridpath, an associate professor of sports business at Ohio University, said the plan may not be the ideal for advocates that want an open-market solution to paying athletes. But its progress is a sign that more recent measures to allow athletes to profit have not dampened the appeal of college sports. |
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