| Tuesday, May 24, 2022 |
| Mississippi State University is home to an out-of-this-world tree | |
 | On Mississippi State University's campus stands an out-of-this-world tree -- a sycamore grown from a seed that ventured further into space than most Mississippians ever will. All the way to the moon. The tree, known as the "moon sycamore," was planted by astronaut Stuart Roosa upon his return to Earth from the Apollo 14 mission in the 1970s. It stands in the Junction, near the southwest corner of David Wade Stadium, and is marked by a plaque. The tree, part of MSU's campus tree trail, stands out as a treasure at a university known for a rich history of agriculture programs. Many of these so-called moon trees were given to state forestry organizations to be planted as part of the nation's bicentennial celebration in 1976. MSU was the proud recipient of a sycamore moon tree, planted on the campus by Roosa himself in 1975. Bart Prather, associate director of campus landscape, has worked at MSU for 23 years, where his department maintains just shy of 1,500 acres of land, caring for grass, shrubs and trees on campus -- including the moon sycamore. "It's nice to have something this historic," Prather said. "It's got a good story." Over the years, the tree has overlooked thousands of students coming and going. Through college football tailgating and the mighty winds of a hurricane, the moon sycamore has continued to stand tall. That's not to say it hasn't had a close call or two over the past nearly five decades. In 2005, the moon sycamore was damaged when Hurricane Katrina tore through Mississippi. |
| MSU graduate named Fulbright finalist | |
 | A Mississippi State graduate who will participate in the U.S. Department of State-sponsored Critical Language Scholarship Program this summer also is a Fulbright finalist selected to study in Germany. Javad A'Arabi, a political science major from Starkville, will study Persian along with 24 other students during the virtual language program. Implemented by the Washington, D.C.-based American Councils for International Education, the Critical Language Scholarship Program is part of a government initiative to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering foreign languages critical to national security and economic prosperity. A'Arabi recently graduated magna cum laude with the collegium honorum distinction. He will begin his Fulbright studies in September at Goethe University Frankfurt, where he will begin work on a master's degree in sociology. |
| Mississippi State's Office of Survivor Support working to help more victims of sexual assault | |
 | The Mississippi Attorney General's Office recently honored the director of Mississippi State's Office of Survivor Support for her work providing help for victims of sexual assault. Dr. Yvett Roby received the Outstanding Service to Crime Victims Award in April. The school made her the director of the Office of Survivor Support in 2020 after she spent some time working for Mississippi State's Student Counseling Services in a similar capacity. "Because they've had so much taken from them, I've found that the more empowering I am, the easier it is for students to want the services," she says. Dr. Roby says her goal is to come alongside students and help them transition from victim to survivor. Mississippi State is one of the first colleges in the state with a dedicated office for helping victims of sexual assault separate from the school counseling center. The Office of Survivor Support offers a wide array of services like advocacy, crisis management, and confidential individual therapy. "(We provide) academic and housing accommodations, we'll assist with court and medical advocacy, as well as referrals for psychological services as needed," Dr. Roby says. Dr. Roby says it starts with making students feel as comfortable as possible. "We create this environment with empathy, respect, that's a non-judgmental zone and therefore, the students are more comfortable coming forth," she says. |
| Stock market slump unsettling Americans eying retirement | |
 | Americans on the cusp of retiring are facing a tough choice as they watch their nest eggs shrink: Stay the course or keep working. A stock market slump this year has taken a big bite out of investors' portfolios, including retirement plans like 401(k)s. The S&P 500, the benchmark for many index funds, is down about 17% since its all-time high in early January. The sharp reversal after a banner 2021 for Wall Street has been particularly unsettling for those who have been planning to retire sooner, rather than later, and banking on a healthier stock portfolio to help fund their post-work lifestyle. It doesn't help that the cost of everything from gasoline to food is up sharply amid the highest inflation since the 1970s. And that the Federal Reserve's recipe for fighting inflation -- hiking interest rates -- has heightened fears the U.S. economy will slide into a recession. All of that is bad news for corporate earnings growth, which is a key driver of stock prices. The market skid has financial planners hearing more often from anxious clients seeking advice and reassurance in equal measure. They say some clients are opting to push back their retirement date in hopes that will buy time for their investments to bounce back. Meanwhile, retirees already tapping their investments may have to consider beefing up their savings with a part-time job or putting off major travel or spending plans. |
| Fed Searches for the Magic Number to Cool a Red-Hot U.S. Housing Market | |
 | When the Federal Reserve set out to cool the economy and slow inflation in the past, it counted on the housing market to do much of the work. By raising interest rates, the central bank made mortgages more expensive and trimmed the number of buyers. This time, America's red-hot housing market threatens to make the Fed's job tougher. With so many buyers competing for so few available properties, home prices in the U.S. rose 18.8% last year, according to a home-price index maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices and CoreLogic that measures average home prices in major metropolitan areas. With a nudge from the Fed's recent interest rate increases, mortgage rates have risen almost 2.3 percentage points since November to 5.25% last week, the steepest rise in a six-month-span in decades. In the past, that kind of increase was usually enough for home buying and construction to fall sharply. Yet home prices could still hit new highs, even with sales starting to fall. Economists at Goldman Sachs estimate housing prices will grow around 10% this year; Bank of America forecast 15%. "This is a market as resistant to higher interest rates as you could possibly imagine," said Christopher Thornberg, founding partner at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles. "This is not a market that 5% interest rates are going to scare at all." That leaves the Fed to decide how far and how fast rates need to go up to make a dent in the housing market without triggering a painful economic slowdown. Housing has been a traditional battleground in the fight against inflation because it is sensitive to interest rates and makes up a significant part of the U.S. economy. |
| Mississippi Baptist leaders react to report on sexual abuse allegations with Southern Baptist Convention | |
 | A new report claims Southern Baptist Convention leaders mishandled allegations of sex abuse for nearly two decades. The independent investigation was commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention last year. The document was made public Sunday and suggests that members of the convention's executive committee stonewalled and intimidated victims after they came forward with abuse allegations. Many questions are now trained on how to prevent future abuse and better respond to new allegations. So, we went straight to the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board for their reaction and to learn what current protocols, if any, exist. "I think the accountability is, is going to be the healthiest thing for us," explained Dr. Shawn Parker, Mississippi Baptist Convention Board Executive Director-Treasurer. "Obviously, I do have concerns that this might jade people in their perception of Southern Baptists and more importantly than that, the Christian church. And I would hate to see that be the case. Certainly, I would understand that there would be disappointment and frustration, and possibly even the development of some cynicism over this. But I would be, I would be disappointed to see that become such a deterrent to people's spiritual health and growth that, that they no longer look to the church for spiritual guidance." Parker says in the last nine months, they've taken steps at the state level, including a review of procedures and protocols for reporting, and redoubled their efforts to provide churches training for identifying predators/preventing sexual abuse/caring for survivors. Right now, they encourage churches to look at sex offender registries before hiring but know that doesn't cover instances of credible allegations not tied to an indictment. |
| Chief Justice Randolph gave state judges a pay raise, then lawmakers gave them another | |
| Mississippi lawmakers rubber-stamped a pay raise Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Randolph gave to himself and other state judges last year and provided judges an additional pay raise during the completed 2022 session. House Bill 1423, passed during the 2022 session and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves, puts into law the pay raise that was enacted early in 2021 by the chief justice. In addition, the legislation provides additional salary increases for the state's nine Supreme Court justices, 10 Court of Appeals judges, 57 circuit judges and 52 chancellors starting Jan. 1, 2023. The pay raises slated to begin on Jan. 1 are in addition to the salary increases Randolph awarded to the judges early in 2021. Before enacting the pay raise in 2021, Randolph wrote a letter in December 2020 informing state Personnel Board Executive Director Kelly Hardwick that he was authorizing a $15,000 pay raise for himself to bring his salary to $174,000 annually and awarded similar salary increases for other members of the state's judiciary. While most elected officials in Mississippi have their salaries set by the Legislature -- traditionally the only governmental body with the power to appropriate money -- a provision in a 2012 law apparently gives the Supreme Court chief justice the power to raise salaries of the judiciary without legislative approval. |
| Contractor Selected To Construct New Department Of Public Safety Headquarters | |
| The Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration has awarded a $33.7 million contract to AnderCorp and executed a Notice to Proceed with the construction of Phase I of the new Department of Public Safety (DPS) Headquarters. This new facility will centralize DPS operations to Rankin County, Mississippi. "We are pleased to have been awarded the contract to construct the new DPS facility that will consolidate and house DPS divisions to a new regional location," said Roy Anderson, III, Chairman & CEO of AnderCorp. "We look forward to bringing this important project to a reality and being a trusted partner for DPS and the State of Mississippi." "The Legislature providing this funding shows their strong commitment and support for public safety and security for all Mississippians. DPS will significantly benefit from having centrally located divisions that will provide operational proficiency to the safety of our state," said Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, Sean Tindell. "We are excited to commence construction and glad to have a highly respected general contractor leading the construction of this historic undertaking." AnderCorp's Jackson, Mississippi office in Fondren will manage the construction project. The general contractor has recently completed several projects in central Mississippi, including the Castle corporate headquarters relocation to downtown Meridian, Mississippi, Highball Lanes/Capri Theatre in Fondren, and Fertile Ground in Belhaven. |
| Divided panel of federal judges refuses to rule on constitutionality of redrawn U.S. House map | |
| A three-judge federal panel that has been overseeing the redistricting of Mississippi's congressional seats since the early 2000s has declined to rule on whether the state's four newly drawn U.S. House districts are constitutional. Judges E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. 5th Circuit and David Bramlette of the Southern District of Mississippi refused to rule on the argument made by the NAACP and other groups that the four new districts are racially gerrymandered and dilute the voting strength of African Americans. The third member of the panel, Judge Henry T. Wingate of the Southern District of Mississippi, said the majority was "shirking" its responsibility by not hearing the case. Wingate also wrote separately that he did not totally discount the arguments of racial gerrymandering. But Wingate said, "It is this judge's view ... that the citizens of Mississippi will be better served by giving their elected representatives the chance to revisit these issues in the upcoming 2023 legislative session." Additionally, the judges opted to end the panel's oversight of the state's U.S. House elections altogether. Jolly and Bramlette said their ruling did not prevent the NAACP and others from filing a separate lawsuit arguing the plan approved by the Legislature in January and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves is unconstitutional because of the alleged racial gerrymandering. But in the meantime, elections are slated to go forward this year under the plan approved by the Legislature. The primary elections are scheduled for June 7 with the general election set for November. |
| Tuesday's primary fights could be the latest sign of Blue Dogs' waning influence | |
 | This year's midterm primaries could be especially brutal for the conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. One of its members appears close to losing a primary with the final votes still to be tallied and two others could be defeated in Tuesday's elections, further diminishing the waning influence the once-powerful coalition had in the party. And that's ahead of general elections where many in the group will be top Republican targets in an election year that is supposed to be unfavorable to Democrats. Oh, and three lawmakers in the 19-member group have announced they are retiring or seeking a different office. Tuesday's action involving Blue Dogs will be all about the intraparty fight between moderates and progressives with the focus on the races of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) and Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-Ga.). The Blue Dogs were once one of the most powerful subgroup of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. This was particularly true during the early years of the Obama administration when with more than 50 members they pushed to keep budget deficits in check and to moderate liberal policies. Their sheer numbers and political proximity to the majority-making moderate districts gave them a tremendous amount of influence among leadership and helped to steer legislation -- most often to the center. For instance, the Blue Dogs were a driving force behind preventing a public option -- a top priority for liberals -- from being included in the Affordable Care Act. But the 2010 midterms, a disastrously bad year for all House Democrats, proved especially tragic for the Blue Dogs. They lost 28 members -- half of their coalition -- that election. And their numbers have continued to ebb and flow in the teens with just 19 House Democrats making up the group now, even as the socially conservative component of its agenda has faded, leaving its fiscally cautious stance as its remaining defining characteristic. |
| Trump heads for big rebuke in Tuesday's elections | |
 | Donald Trump wants Georgia Republicans to ditch their governor on Tuesday. If the polls are even remotely in the right ballpark, they're about to tell Trump to take a hike. The Republican base is poised to take a turn delivering Trump a stinging rebuke in a state where, during his presidency, the GOP lost two Senate seats, two House seats and the state's Electoral College votes for the first time since the mid-1990s. Since that 2020 defeat, Trump has trained his sights on GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, blaming Kemp for certifying instead of subverting the results of that election after multiple recounts. Trump recruited former Sen. David Perdue, whose 2021 runoff election loss was declared by news organizations amid news coverage of the ongoing Jan. 6 Capitol riot, to challenge Kemp. But the incumbent has led throughout the race, including final polls showing him easily clearing the 50-percent mark needed to win without a runoff. Trump could suffer another defeat, of sorts, in Alabama -- where his one-time ally, Rep. Mo Brooks, is making a late charge to get into a Senate primary runoff with frontrunner Katie Britt, even after Trump left Brooks for dead earlier this spring. And Democrats have important and fractious primaries of their own on Tuesday: one in South Texas, where the last anti-abortion-rights Democrat in Congress was dragged into a runoff by a liberal primary challenger, and another between the two women who flipped Georgia's House seats in the past two elections. Those are among the things to watch when voters in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota and Texas go to the polls for primary elections on Tuesday. |
| States, localities await federal help on cybersecurity | |
 | The House passed legislation last week to ensure that federal cybersecurity experts assist their state and local government counterparts in protecting networks from devastating attacks like those that have crippled cities in Alabama, Michigan, Oklahoma and elsewhere. The legislation would codify support and assistance that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency already offers to state and local governments. The agency provides security tools, helps states draft policies and procedures, conducts cybersecurity exercises and shares threat information through collaborative channels. The bill had already passed the Senate, and President Joe Biden is expected to sign it. "The states cannot do this on their own," said Doug Robinson, executive director of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, a group that represents top state tech officials. "They don't have the capacity. ... They are doing as much as they can within their own jurisdictions." Criminals using ransomware have in recent years attacked and disabled computer networks in major American cities, including Baltimore, Atlanta and Tulsa, as well as at several school systems overseen by states and local governments. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who co-sponsored the legislation, said in a statement that "state and local governments need some additional help or access to expertise to address these threats" that can be provided by federal agencies. |
| Biden Veers Off Script on Taiwan. It's Not the First Time. | |
 | Maybe President Biden isn't speaking off script after all. Maybe he just doesn't think much of the script. Offhand remarks that vary from the official talking points have become a feature, not a bug, of the Biden presidency, as he demonstrated again on Monday when he dispensed with decades of "strategic ambiguity" and indicated that he would militarily defend Taiwan against attack by China. Each time he says what he really thinks, there is the ritual cleanup brigade dispatched by the White House to pretend that he did not really say what he clearly articulated -- or that even if he did, it did not really amount to a change in policy. But then Mr. Biden, unperturbed and unapologetic, goes out and does it all over again. His remarks on Taiwan on Monday were just the latest instance of a president saying out loud what is on his mind even if it leaves his staff scrambling to spin it away afterward. In March, he called President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a war criminal (just his opinion, not a legal conclusion, aides quickly explained). Then days later, he ad-libbed at the end of a speech that Mr. Putin "cannot remain in power" (just an observation, they said, not a call for regime change). None of this should come as much of a surprise to anyone who followed Mr. Biden's nearly half-century career as a senator and vice president. But presidential freelancing carries more consequences than when a senator or even a vice president does it. A president's words are scrutinized to a forensic degree by politicians, diplomats and intelligence agencies around the globe searching for meaning and endeavoring to predict future actions. Any variation from past comments or official policy statements is accorded great weight, whether it should be or not. |
| Economy bigger priority than punishing Russia: AP-NORC poll | |
| Americans are becoming less supportive of punishing Russia for launching its invasion of Ukraine if it comes at the expense of the U.S. economy, a sign of rising anxiety over inflation and other challenges, according to a new poll. While broad support for U.S. sanctions has not faltered, the balance of opinion on prioritizing sanctions over the economy has shifted, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Now 45% of U.S. adults say the nation's bigger priority should be sanctioning Russia as effectively as possible, while slightly more -- 51% -- say it should be limiting damage to the U.S. economy. In April, those figures were exactly reversed. In March, shortly after Russia attacked Ukraine, a clear majority -- 55% -- said the bigger priority should be sanctioning Russia as effectively as possible. The shifts in opinion reflect how rising prices are biting into American households -- surging costs for gas, groceries, and other commodities have strained budgets for millions of people -- and perhaps limiting their willingness to support Ukraine financially. That may be a troubling sign for President Joe Biden, who on Saturday approved an additional $40 billion in funding to help Ukraine including both weapons and financial assistance. The poll shows low faith in him to handle the situation, and an overall approval rating that hit the lowest point of his presidency. |
| With food prices climbing, the U.N. is warning of crippling global shortages | |
 | Fears of a global food crisis are growing due to the shock of the war in Ukraine, climate change and rising inflation. Kristalina Georgieva, the International Monetary Fund managing director, told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Monday that "the anxiety about access to food at a reasonable price globally is hitting the roof" as food prices continue "to go up up up". Last week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned of "the specter of a global food shortage in the coming months" without urgent international action. The U.N. estimates that in the past year, global food prices have risen by almost one third, fertilizer by more than half and oil prices by almost two thirds. According to U.N. figures, the number of severely food-insecure people has doubled in the past two years, from 135 million pre-pandemic to 276 million today. Now, more than half a million people are experiencing famine conditions, according to the U.N., an increase of more than 500% since 2016. In the U.S., consumer prices in April were up 8.3% from a year earlier, according to data from the Labor Department. Food costs were up 9.4%, with prices for things like meats, poultry, fish and eggs up 14.3% from the previous year. In March, around 65% of the 200 food banks in the Feeding America network, the nation's largest food recovery organization, reported a greater demand for assistance month on month. |
| First for Ole Miss: Six U. of Mississippi students awarded Fulbright scholarships | |
| In a first for the University of Mississippi, six current or former students have been awarded prestigious Fulbright scholarships for the 2022-23 academic year, which will take them to new challenges and opportunities in countries around the world. Established in 1946, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program, designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries. The highly selective program chooses university seniors, graduate and terminal degree students from the U.S. to study, research or teach English around the globe. This year's recipients include Tyler Caple, Neely Griggs, Olivia Jaramillo, Kaitlyn Read, Charles Savage and Ashleen Williams. Two of the Ole Miss recipients plan to teach English abroad, two are pursuing master's degrees and two aim to conduct research toward their doctoral dissertations. Also, Kaitlyn Sisco, a 2022 graduate in international studies and Spanish from Brandon, was selected as an alternate for the Fulbright Global and International Studies Master's program at the University of Salamanca in Spain. "This record-setting group of outstanding student Fulbright awardees has reached a tremendous pinnacle of achievement," Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. "We applaud them for their focus on excellence and their commitment to global learning and scholarly pursuits. |
| Governor's Job Fair coming to The Communiversity at EMCC | |
 | Dozens of potential employers will interview job seekers and accept applications during the Governor's Job Fair that will take place June 7 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Communiversity at East Mississippi Community College. The job fair is open, and free of charge, to all college students and area residents. The event is part of the Governor's Job Fair Network of Mississippi, which connects job seekers and employers during job fairs held throughout the state. The job fair at The Communiversity is taking place in conjunction with EMCC WIOA Career Services' summer "Employer in the Foyer." "This will be our largest job fair of the year," WIOA Career Services Director Greta Miller said. "We usually have a good number of local employers participate in Employer in the Foyer, which takes place most months of year at The Communiversity. The Governor's Job Fair typically attracts employers from Mississippi and surrounding states as well." Orange Beach, Alabama-based Columbia Southern University will attend and is looking to fill instructor and staff positions, while Halter Marine in Pascagoula is hiring pipefitters, pipe welders, electricians and engineers, just to name a couple of employers from outside the Golden Triangle area who have so far registered to attend. Some employers are expected to hire for immediate openings while others will be recruiting for future openings. "This is an excellent opportunity for those seeking their first job out of school or those looking to explore new career paths," Miller said. |
| Tuition increases proposed at some U. of Arkansas System schools; UA-Fayetteville, UALR avoid hikes | |
| Tuition and mandatory fees are proposed to rise by 5% or more at some University of Arkansas System campuses after three years of much smaller increases. But the two largest schools in the UA System -- the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock -- would hold the line on tuition, at least for in-state students. Combined tuition and fees at UA-Fayetteville would remain within 1% of costs now and at UALR costs would stay flat. The UA System board of trustees will consider tuition-and-fee proposals at a two-day meeting in Batesville scheduled to begin Wednesday. Colleges and universities seeking larger rate increases are citing rising costs, according to Nate Hinkel, a spokesman for the UA System, who also noted that the covid-19 pandemic has affected campuses differently. UA-Fayetteville, the state's largest university, would see tuition and mandatory fee costs increase to $9,656 annually in 2022-23 from $9,572. If approved, this would be an increase of 0.87% for an in-state student taking a 30-hour schedule over the academic year, with the increase due entirely to rising fees rather than a tuition hike. At UA-Fayetteville, in recent years about half or more of incoming freshmen arrive from outside Arkansas. Out-of-state tuition would rise to $847.32 per credit hour from $816.06, an increase of about 3.8%, though UA-Fayetteville's largest non-resident scholarship program for academically qualifying students can reduce the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition by as much as 90%. |
| Administrators sound an alarm: Half of Tennessee high school graduates aren't going to college | |
| Nearly half of Tennessee's high school seniors aren't going to college right after they graduate -- the lowest rate in the past 10 years. "We're going in the wrong direction very fast," University of Tennessee System President Randy Boyd said Monday. "I'd like to take it as a challenge, and this is definitely the challenge of our time." Despite Tennessee's financial aid programs like the Tennessee Promise and the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship, which make college more affordable, only 52.8% of high school graduates from the class of 2021 enrolled in college after they graduated. That rate is down 4 percentage points from the year before and down 11 percentage points from 2017, according to the report from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. The declines are not distributed equally across the state or its populations, according to a new report. More than half of Tennessee's 95 counties have a college-going rate below 53%, and fewer Latino and Black students are going to college in the past two years compared to white students. The trend is not unique to Tennessee. The National Student Clearinghouse, a higher education research nonprofit, found that nearly 213,000 fewer students enrolled in college last fall than in fall 2019. But given Tennessee's goal of bringing up the number of working adults with a college degree or technical certification, the decline will hurt the state's workforce development. "In the current economic reality, a high school diploma is not enough for long-term success," Tennessee Higher Education Commission Executive Director Emily House said. |
| Texas A&M board takes next step toward Fort Worth expansion | |
 | The Texas A&M University System is one step closer to growing its footprint in Fort Worth. The system's board of regents on Thursday added two buildings to its capital plan for a new education and research campus proposed in downtown Fort Worth, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. The board must add the projects to the construction plan before moving forward with design and ultimately construction. The board agreed to spend $85 million on a law and education building, which A&M officials expect to start building next year. Another $85 million was approved for a research and innovation center, which is scheduled to be built in 2024. "Texas A&M is the future of Fort Worth," Mayor Mattie Parker said. "This is truly the most transformational thing that will happen in Fort Worth that will continue into perpetuity." Dubbed "Aggieland North" by Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp, the new campus will be next to the Texas A&M School of Law and will house a variety of research and education programs. Sharp's vision is 10 years in the making. It's where leaders of the system's Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture hope to develop a new food pyramid for the country. Tarleton State University, about 70 miles southeast of Fort Worth, will relocate its health-related courses so students are closer to nearby hospitals and clinicals. The campus also will provide space for local companies to conduct workforce training. |
| U. of Missouri will no longer require employees or students to report COVID-19 | |
 | Citing the availability of vaccines and testing, the University of Missouri on Monday ended its requirement that employees and students voluntarily report infections of COVID-19. Simultaneously, the university is ending its data-tracking dashboard. The notice was sent in an email to the campus community from John Middleton, operations section chief for the MU Incident Command Team and Mark Diedrich, incident commander for the team. The announcement comes as COVID cases and hospitalizations increase around the country. "We have reached a new stage as vaccination and testing availability, treatments, and changes in guidance from the Centers from Disease Control have all evolved," the statement reads. "In recognition of this changed reality, President Mun Choi has suspended UM System policy HR-702, which set requirements and expectations of staff and faculty regarding COVID-19 safety practices. At this point, faculty and staff members are expected to manage their own personal health regarding COVID as they do for other contagious illnesses." Ending the dashboard now is understandable, said MU biology professor Anand Chandrasekhar, who worked to improve the dashboard. "The decision to end the dashboard is not a big loss considering the data reported were incomplete at best," Chandrasekhar wrote in an email. "My hope is that the pandemic is behind us, and that we don't have to reinstate the dashboard." |
| Rocky Pathways From Youth to a Good Job | |
| Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) released two new reports that showed how by age 35, workers with a bachelor's degree or higher are nearly twice as likely as workers with just a high school diploma to land a good job. Yet race, class, and gender disparities compound inequalities on the uneven journey to good jobs as well as wealth. "We found the story of millennials transitioning to the workforce is more nuanced than people usually describe it," said Kathryn Campbell, associate director of editorial policy and senior editor/writer at CEW as well as one of the report's authors. "If you have a bachelor's degree, you're in a pretty strong position relative to baby boomers at those same ages. But for all other groups without a bachelor's degree, there is more of a lag. And that lag really has implications for how firm your footing is in economic independence." The two reports came out of CEW's "The Uncertain Pathway from Youth to a Good Job," which is funded by a philanthropy investment from JPMorgan Chase. One of the reports looked at how the pathway from youth to adult economic independence has shifted across generations. The second report unpacked persistent opportunity gaps among demographic groups, especially by race and gender. Researchers stressed the long-term consequences for young people having a slow journey to good jobs. Such consequences include delaying homeownership, marriage, childbirth, and independent living. Campbell pointed out that CEW thinks of the earnings and net worth outcomes "not just as money for the sake of money but for the life you want." |
| Report: Colleges' Role in Easing Nursing Shortages | |
 | A new report by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, examines barriers in higher education that contribute to the nation's nursing shortages and how policy makers can help colleges and universities train more nurses. The report, released Monday, points out that universities turn away "tens of thousands of qualified students" from nursing programs every year because of a lack of capacity. Meanwhile, nurses fatigued by the emotional toll of the pandemic have left the profession in droves. The report notes that the nursing workforce decreased by 3 percent from 2020 to 2021, the largest drop in more than two decades. Campuses struggle to register more nursing students because of an ongoing lack of nursing educators, limited clinical placements for student nurses and insufficient space to accommodate more students, according to the report. The report urges Congress to consider a series of policy solutions, such as giving more funding to nursing schools for laboratories and equipment and passing a bill that would offer competitive grants to nursing schools -- especially at minority-serving institutions -- to enhance their programs and better respond to public health crises. |
| Financial-Aid Offices Are Short-Staffed -- and Some Are 'Drowning' as a Result | |
 | Many financial-aid offices are understaffed and struggling to fill open positions, according to new survey results from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. The findings, released on Tuesday, echo a major concern within a profession that helps keep higher education's wheels turning: Leaner staffs with a long list of responsibilities are finding it more difficult to serve students while complying with federal and state regulations. For some financial-aid offices, the association wrote in a summary of its findings, "what was once a challenge -- albeit a manageable one -- has become a crisis." Many colleges found it difficult to recruit and retain qualified financial-aid staff members before Covid-19 hit. But the pandemic has exacerbated that difficulty, according to the group, known as NASFAA. The organization, which first surveyed institutions in March 2022, found that half of the 518 respondents had operated at 75 percent of their staffing capacity during the past two aid cycles. In a follow-up survey of those that didn't respond the first time, 56 percent of 507 financial-aid offices said that they were understaffed -- and lacked the time to gather the information needed to complete the survey. Empty seats come with high stakes: Understaffing can jeopardize customer service. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they were at least slightly concerned about their ability to adequately serve students, who often seek help with many tasks. |
| As Biden Zeroes In on Student-Loan Forgiveness Decision, Voter Anxiety Grows | |
| President Biden in the coming weeks is expected to decide whether to put forward a student-loan forgiveness plan aimed in part at motivating young voters to cast ballots in November's elections. At the University of North Carolina, and in neighborhoods across the surrounding Research Triangle area, there are signs that whatever approach he takes could leave swaths of voters dissatisfied. Students and recent graduates with heavy debt loads worry that Mr. Biden's plan will be too weak, after the president and his advisers signaled they are considering relief that could be far less than the $50,000-per-borrower sought by prominent Democrats. At the same time, voters who tightened their belts to pay off their loans or didn't go to college say it would be unfair to make taxpayers subsidize school debt for Americans whose education can boost their earning power. Mr. Biden is likely to face political blowback from the kind of voters that Democrats need to turn out in November if they hope to limit midterm election losses that have been predicted by pollsters. A moratorium on student-loan payments that started at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic is set to expire at the end of August just as the thick of the campaign season gets under way. While North Carolina voters name inflation and the economy as their biggest priority, issues such as student-loan forgiveness have the potential to make a difference in competitive states. |
| Education Department delays release of draft Title IX rule again, now targets June | |
| The U.S. Department of Education is once again pushing back the release of its highly awaited regulatory proposal on Title IX and now plans to publish it in June. The draft rule will dictate how colleges and K-12 schools must investigate and potentially punish sexual misconduct. The head of the department's Office for Civil Rights last year said it expected to issue the proposed regulation in April. The department then delayed the draft until this month. But the department "is taking the time necessary to ensure that schools are providing students with educational environments free from discrimination," an agency spokesperson said in a statement, explaining why it now anticipates releasing the draft regulation next month. Postponing the intended timeline for the draft rule runs against the wishes of advocates for sexual assault prevention, some of whom had called for the Education Department to publish it by the beginning of October 2021. In other circles, the prospect of a new regulation is highly unpopular. More than two dozen organizations, led by conservative advocacy group Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, last month urged the department to abandon efforts to rewrite the current rule, which took effect August 2020 under former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. |
| Opposition to Medicaid expansion beginning to look dumb? | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: That's the dumbest thing ever in Mississippi complained a businessman. Other businessmen at the table piped up. That may be dumb, they said, but not the dumbest. But, uh, none said it wasn't dumb. The subject was Mississippi political leaders' obstinate opposition to Medicaid expansion. The first businessman had attended a Mississippi Economic Council session where such expansion was discussed. Weeks before the Delta Council announced Medicaid expansion would be "in the best interest of our rural economies." "An analysis by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning confirms that the State of Mississippi would actually profit from the decision, increase employment by over 11,000 individuals in the healthcare and social services sector, provide over 220,000 unserved Mississippians -- many of them working poor -- coverage for the first time, substantially enhance the bottom line and ability to provide services for the healthcare field particularly in rural areas like ours, and drive down the cost of private insurance for employers," read the Council's statement. The main obstacles to Medicaid expansion by state leaders, particularly Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, appear to be cost and its origin as part of Obamacare. The IHL study revealed, as had others before, that the cost concern does not stand up. That just leaves the Obamacare link. |
SPORTS
| Why Not Us? Bulldogs have turned doubters into believers. | |
| The soft pop up settled into the glove of Mississippi State's Paige Cook. In an instant, the Bulldog third baseman took the ball and spiked it into the ground. It was the final out of the Tallahassee Regional on Sunday night. MSU had just topped No. 2 national seed Florida State for the second time in just a few hours. It was the triumphant moment that solidified this group of Bulldogs had gone where no MSU softball team before them had. A Super Regional berth was secured. The celebration was on. The Dawgs had just definitively answered the question they'd been asking themselves since the season began. The one that'd stuck in their brains despite any outside questions or concerns. The question: Why not us? The answer: There is no reason why it can't be. For the Bulldogs have now proven they are among college softball's elite. To tell the tale of what happened to the Mississippi State softball team on a late-May afternoon and evening down in Florida, you have to first go back to an early-February trip to California. On the docket for that opening-weekend trek? Four battles against would-be NCAA Tournament teams, including an Oklahoma squad that's now the nation's No. 1 overall seed, as well as the country's No. 5 seed, UCLA. The Dawgs lost three out of four over the three-day stretch. They were run-ruled against both Oklahoma and UCLA. But here's the thing. What went down as losses in the record book were huge wins in resiliency. Whether or not they realized it at the time, the Bulldogs were getting used to staring at the nation's figurative Goliaths. And when you stare at those giants long enough, sooner or later, they're not so scary anymore. You realize you have the stone, the sling and all the weapons you need to hold your own. That's precisely what started happening for Mississippi State. |
| Arizona's stellar pitching fueling unexpected NCAA Tournament run | |
| Can you turn your supposed weakness into one of your strengths? That's exactly what the Arizona Wildcats are attempting to do as they aim to get to a third straight Women's College World Series. The Wildcats, who entered postseason play second-to-last in the Pac-12 with a team ERA of 3.98, swept the Columbia Regional in large part due to three straight brilliant pitching performances, where they allowed a combined three runs over 21 innings. Hanah Bowen and Devyn Netz each threw complete-game shutouts over the weekend, beating No. 15 seed Missouri in consecutive days after an 8-3 win over Illinois on Friday. Arizona won 2-0 on Saturday with Bowen in the circle, then punched its ticket to the Super Regionals with a 1-0 win over the Tigers on Sunday. Netz allowed just two hits in the clincher in what was her first-ever postseason pitching appearance. "A lot ran through my mind," Netz said. "But I know I'm at my best when I just go out and attack." The Wildcats (36-20) will head to Mississippi State this week with the Super Regionals beginning Friday. If the Wildcats are to advance to a 25th WCWS, they'll need to put all the pieces together for a second consecutive weekend. "The ones where we pitch our heart out in the circle," Arizona coach Caitlin Lowe said as to what UA will need to do in Starkville. "We play great defense and then we come through with the big hit." |
| Three Bulldogs Receive Four All-SEC Honors | |
| Three members of Mississippi State's baseball team received postseason honors from the Southeastern Conference on Monday. Second baseman RJ Yeager was named first team All-SEC by the league's coaches while catcher Logan Tanner was selected to the second team in addition to being recognized on the All-Defensive team. Hunter Hines was also tabbed to the Freshman All-SEC Team. Yeager led the Diamond Dawgs with a .317 batting average and finished sixth in the conference with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs. The graduate from Lynn Haven, Florida also ranked ninth in the SEC with a .668 slugging percentage and added 15 doubles, one triple and three stolen bases during his lone season in Starkville. Tanner hit .285 with eight doubles, seven homers and 38 RBIs during his junior campaign. In 47 starts behind the plate, the Lucedale, Mississippi native led the league with 458 putouts and only allowed three passed balls. He also threw out seven would-be base thieves. Hines led all SEC freshmen with 16 long balls and finished second at State in that category. He was also second on the team with 52 RBIs and 13 doubles and also legged out a triple. The Madison, Mississippi native started all 56 games and topped the Diamond Dawgs with 51 runs scored. |
| Jones Named Strength and Conditioning Coach for Women's Basketball | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball head coach Sam Purcell in conjunction with Mississippi State Athletics, announced the hiring of Kaiti Jones as the program's strength and conditioning coach on Monday. Jones, who comes to Mississippi State after spending the 2021-22 season with the Sacramento and Stockton Kings as their Performance Coach and Sport Scientist, will be in charge of Sam Purcell's program's daily strength and conditioning regime. While working with the NBA's Sacramento Kings and their G-League affiliate, the Stockton Kings, Jones was responsible for the physical development, preparation, and individual performance needs of assigned NBA roster athletes, two-way personnel and the entire Stockton Kings roster. She provided data-driven athlete readiness, preparation, periodization, assessment, monitoring, regeneration and reconditioning for all assigned athletes. Jones led the Kings organization nutrition department that provided meals to athletes and kept the players fueled between practices and games. Before going to the professional ranks, Jones spent four seasons at the University of Louisville, where she worked with women's basketball and women's lacrosse. She started with the Cardinals in 2017 as the performance coach before being promoted to senior performance coach in 2018. |
| Southern Miss pitcher Tanner Hall wins Ferriss Trophy for best college baseball player in Mississippi | |
 | The Ferriss Trophy is returning to Hattiesburg. Southern Miss sophomore right-handed pitcher Tanner Hall won the Ferris Trophy on Monday, the award presented annually to the top college baseball player in Mississippi. The other finalists were Ole Miss first baseman Tim Elko, Mississippi State infielder R.J. Yeager, Delta State pitcher Harrison Haley and Belhaven pitcher Brett Sanchez. Hall was dominant in 2022, owning a 7-2 record with a 2.68 ERA and 0.98 WHIP across 87 ⅓ innings. His 120 strikeouts were the eighth-most in the NCAA and his strikeout-to-walk ratio of 12.00 was the second best in the nation. Opponents batted .227 against Hall this season and Hall only surrendered five home runs. Hall is the first Southern Miss player to win the Ferriss Trophy since pitcher Nick Sandlin won the award in 2018. He's the fourth Golden Eagles player to win the award since its inception in 2004. The Ferriss Trophy is voted on by coaches and professional scouts familiar with Mississippi baseball. |
| Southern Miss baseball reaping rewards of record-breaking season | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: The Southeastern Conference long has cast a huge shadow over the sports world in these parts in any given season. But consider this: In college baseball this season, Mississippi State came in as the defending National Champion. Ole Miss was ranked No. 1 in the early season. That's not a shadow, that's more like a black out. And it's nothing new for Southern Miss, which has long struggled for attention in its own state, even while playing quality baseball season after season after season. Given that, here's a little what many might not know... Did you know that this spring marks the sixth straight season during which the Golden Eagles have won at least 40 games or more? It's true. Southern Miss is one of only two Division I teams in the nation to have won at least 40 games for six straight seasons (Dallas Baptist is the other). And did you know that this season Scott Berry became the winningest coach in the school's long-successful baseball history? He did. When the Eagles defeated UAB on May 1, it was Berry's 469th victory as head coach in only his 12th full season. You can do the math, but that's really close to 40 wins per. And consider this: Berry's three predecessors -- Pete Taylor, Hill Denson and Corky Palmer -- have all been selected to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Note to MSHOF selection committee: Reserve a spot for Berry, a nice guy who never finishes anywhere close to last. |
| As NIL debates heat up in NCAA, solutions remain distant | |
| Overshadowed by the public barbs and the accusations, the name-calling and the incendiary remarks, Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher each fired a request into the public arena last week. Saban encouraged the NCAA to begin enforcing its own bylaws, and Fisher wants Congress to create a uniform policy to govern name, image and likeness (NIL). Many within college sports believe one of those two things is necessary to bring some kind of regulation to what has evolved into a pay-for-play scheme that officials say is disrupting the recruiting landscape. So, will the NCAA and Congress listen to two of the sport's most influential coaches? Is a solution on the horizon? "It's the golden goose of a question," says Drew Butler, a former NCAA and NFL punter who is vice president of Icon Source's NIL collegiate division. "The bad actors knowingly breaking the rules should be concerned. The NCAA should bring the hammer down." However, while the association released additional NIL guidance earlier this month, there is little evidence it plans to enforce that guidance. The NCAA is paralyzed by legal fears and significantly understaffed, officials say. But what of Congress? Much like the NCAA, slow-moving and at times ineffective, Congress's attention is focused on much more important matters in this midterm election year, a time when legislation is often difficult to move anyhow. And don't look to the states, either. They have no incentive in creating a disadvantage for their own public universities by enforcing an NIL law for which those same colleges lobbied. So what now? |
| SEC's own college football playoff among topics at spring meetings, per report | |
 | There will be plenty to talk about next week when SEC coaches and officials meet next week during spring meetings in Destin, and it will be more than the back-and-forth of Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban. Among the topics to be discussed, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN, is the idea of the SEC "creating, running and profiting from its own intra-SEC postseason." Per the report, an eight-team model would be an "obvious" way to go, but there are no immediate plans moving forward. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the idea was among the nearly 40 different models that SEC officials discussed at their fall meetings. "As we think as a conference," he told ESPN on Monday, "it's vitally important we think about the range of possibilities." Sankey supports a 12-team playoff, which the ACC, PAC-12, and Big 10 voted against in February during a College Football Playoff management committee meeting. If the proposal would've passed the expansion would've started for the 2024 season. On the other hand, just earlier this month, the SEC commissioner is content with the CFP model now. "We can stay at four," he said earlier this month. "This conference will thrive at four. ... period. That's not healthy for the rest of college football, but we can stay at four." |
| Why Nick Saban's $1M NIL accusation 'stung' Deion Sanders and was an insult to HBCUs | |
 | When Alabama football coach Nick Saban accused Texas A&M of buying the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in the nation and Jackson State of paying a player "a million dollars," he was really using Deion Sanders and Jimbo Fisher as "pawns" in order to ask Alabama boosters for more money, Sanders said last week. "They just threw me in the fire because of what we accomplished in recruiting last year with Kevin Coleman and Travis (Hunter) and some others," Sanders, the JSU coach, said on the I Am Athlete Podcast with Brandon Marshall. "They just threw us in the fire because he was the spokesman for all the SEC and he was the spokesman for all the Power Fives and the PWIs (predominantly white institutions) by saying, 'Hey y'all, we can't let that happen again.'" Sanders doesn't blame Saban for the comments that led to the Crimson Tide coach and Fisher getting public reprimands from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. He said he still respects who Saban is as a coach. But hearing Saban's comments hurt, Sanders said. Saban's million-dollar accusation exposed a viewpoint that HBCUs can't attract top talent without paying players, Sanders said. "The thing that stung was that, so you feel like there's no connectivity for the culture, for our people so that the only way we could do that is if we're paying them," Sanders said. "So that's how you feel? So it's no way that I could secure a Power Five-caliber player ... like he chose something less to participate in than what they could offer?" |
| Jimbo Fisher: One Texas A&M football early enrollee has NIL deal, stories 'complete lies' | |
 | The Jimbo Fisher, NIL conversation continues, and it doesn't appear to be stopping anytime soon. On Sunday, KSAT-TV in San Antonio released video from a sit-down interview with Fisher, who said only one of their 11 early enrollees has an NIL deal. "I just researched this," Fisher said. "Of the 11 guys we have that came early, one guy has an NIL deal." "Really?" KSAT's Greg Simmons replied. "Yes," Fisher said. "Just one?" Simmons said. "Just one," Fisher said. "So all these stories you're hearing are complete lies." Fisher said he went and checked with compliance about the early enrollee NIL deals. This interview follows a heated news conference Fisher abruptly called the morning after Nick Saban said Texas A&M bought its entire recruiting class. Saban later apologized and said he shouldn't have singled out anyone. Simmons asked Fisher whether he would accept Saban's public apology. "I said we're not talking," Fisher said. When Simmons responded by saying Saban publicly apologized, Fisher said he didn't read it and he doesn't look at social media. Fisher, however, referenced earlier in the interview how the rumors started on social media with "the BroBible, Sliced Bread deal." "When they said we have $35 million in the thing, that's all false," Fisher said. "It was written on social media so everybody believes it. You've got news channels believing it. Big people believing it. And you believed it." Simmons replied saying Saban believed it, too. "He's not news," Fisher said. "You're news. You're media. Do you guys not research?" |
| SEC: Crews, DiChiara players of year, Dollander top pitcher | |
| LSU's Dylan Crews and Auburn's Sonny DiChiara are co-Southeastern Conference players of the year while Tennessee's Chase Dollander was named the top pitcher. The league announced the individual awards and All-SEC teams on Monday, as voted on by conference coaches. Georgia's Ben Anderson is the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Tennessee's Tony Vitello received coach of the year honors. Tennessee pitcher Drew Beam is freshman of the year. Crews leads the SEC with 61 runs scored and is second with 67 RBI. He hit a league-best 16 home runs in conference games. DiChiara is second in the SEC with a .382 batting average and leads the league in slugging (.782) and on-base percentage (.561). Dollander is 8-0 this season and leads the SEC with a 2.30 ERA while holding batters to a .158 average, which leads all league pitchers. Beam is tied for second in the SEC with eight wins and is second with a .184 opponent batting average. |
| Upcoming facility upgrades excite Scott Stricklin | |
| The facilities arms race in the Southeastern Conference does not just apply to football. It applies to baseball as well. One won't find a more competitive league than the SEC when it comes to football. To be successful, schools must be willing to invest millions of dollars or risk being left behind. The same is true for baseball. Fortunately, there's finally some optimism that Georgia's baseball facilities will soon be more in line with the rest of the league after trailing for years. During last September's UGA Athletic Association Board meeting, athletic director Josh Brooks announced a feasibility study, not only to look at the expansion of Foley Field, but to address some sorely needed additions at the stadium long needed for player development. Fortunately, plans are moving ahead. Monday, head baseball coach Scott Stricklin was asked to provide an update on the status of the renovations, which hope to be completed in time for the 2024 baseball campaign. "I remember my first year, when we got the job over the summer, we were recruiting a player against an SEC West power, and he was a kid from Georgia. When he made the decision to go to the other school, I asked him to tell me his thoughts and why, he said 'Coach, have you seen your stadium?'" Stricklin said. "That's the first thing he said. That's hard to beat." |
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