| Tuesday, June 14, 2022 |
| State's Soybean Crop Looks Strong Early On | |
 | Mississippi's anticipated soybean acreage -- 2.35 million acres -- is higher than in recent years, and it may grow even larger by the end of planting season. Trent Irby, soybean specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said Mississippi growers have already exceeded the 2.22 million planted in 2021. The anticipated soybean acreage this year will be the largest planted since 1988. "At the end of the day, we could even be a little higher than that estimate, as we've had some acres shift from other crops into soybeans," Irby said. "There will also be a few more acres planted as double-crop soybeans are planted behind harvested wheat." Irby said the crop had a good start in the state, with a respectable amount planted in April. "That sets the bar for greater yield potential across those earliest planted acres," he said. Today, soybeans are a major part of Mississippi agriculture and the most valuable row crop in the state, worth an estimated $1.49 billion in 2021. Will Maples, Extension agricultural economist, said USDA projects a 2022–2023 average farm price of $14.40 a bushel for soybeans. This price is up from the $13.25 average in 2021. "The soybean market remains positive and is influenced by strong export demand for U.S. soybeans," Maples said. "This demand should remain high, as the U.S. will be the only major source of soybeans for the next eight months." |
| Two to be honored at Unity Park on Saturday | |
 | Oktibbeha County will celebrate Juneteenth at Unity Park by honoring the park's 2022 class. The two honorees, the late Monica W. Banks and Clarence Taylor, will be celebrated for the mark they have left on race relations in the county. The ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday at the park located on Dr. Douglas L. Conner Drive. "This is the fifth year that we've done this, where we asked people in Oktibbeha County to nominate somebody that they know that they think would be worthy of the honor," Jeanne A. Marszalek with the Unity Park Committee said. "What we do is we put a plaque on the Unity Park wall with their names on it and the years that they lived. It represents the fact that they were involved in improving civil rights for people in Oktibbeha County but also bringing unity to our county." Banks, born in Oktibbeha County, became the first African American female to be a countywide elected official when she became the chancery clerk, a position she served in for more than 20 years. Taylor, also born in Oktibbeha County, served in World War II from 1941 to 1945. He spent much of his life serving others, and was a member of the American Legion Post 240, Griffin Methodist Church, Oktibbeha County Board of Trustees, Oktibbeha County NAACP and the chairman of its Legal Redress Committee. |
| Mississippi surpassing projected revenue collection amount by more than $1B | |
 | It's a record-breaking fiscal year for the state of Mississippi. The Mississippi Legislative Budget Office recently released the latest revenue report for the fiscal year 2022. It shows the amount of tax revenue collected by the state during May of this year. What the report found is that Mississippi is surpassing what legislators thought it would in terms of revenue. "For the month of May alone, $173.5 million more income (was) collected to the state coffers than we had anticipated," said Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-District 41. The data shows that two categories saw the largest increases. "For the month, individual income tax is what is really up a gigantic amount," said Fillingane. "For the month, we collected $131.2 million ... Then for sales tax, it's up a healthy amount." These surplus amounts aren't exclusive to May. According to Fillingane, the Legislature estimated the state would collect roughly $5.9 billion. In March of this year, however, legislators re-estimated that amount to be $6.8 billion -- a nearly $950 million increase. The same thing happened last year when the state ended up with a revenue surplus. Those funds were allocated to different projects. "This last set of money, a lot of it is going to infrastructure," said Fillingane. "So, roads, bridges, airports, some more broadband access dollars... a lot of those things, and then there are quite a few of the dollars that are being used to either renovate or construct new buildings at the community college and university level across the state." |
| Circuit judge candidates raising thousands in campaign cash | |
| Seven of the eight candidates for three circuit court judgeships in the 16th District have filed mandatory campaign finance reports, which were due June 10. One candidate is sitting on more than $20,000, while another has yet to report his first contribution. Two candidates are running for the judgeship based in Lowndes County, four for the seat that represents Clay and Noxubee counties and one judge is running unopposed for the seat based in Oktibbeha County. Candidates are required to itemize any donation or expenditure greater than $200. In Lowndes County, incumbent Jim Kitchens is facing off against challenger Chuck Easley. According to a campaign finance report filed May 2, Kitchens had raised a total of $2,720, of which $2,100 was itemized donations. Easley, on the other hand, reported donations and expenditures of zero dollars as of June 8, when his most recent report was filed. He is sitting on $0. Lee "Jay" Howard, son of retiring judge Lee Howard, is running unopposed for the Starkville judge seat and therefore has not filed a campaign finance report. Circuit judges are elected every four years and the elections are non-partisan. This year's election is Nov. 8. They handle all criminal felony cases, as well as civil cases where the dollar amount involved is more than $200,000. Circuit judges also qualify juries in both criminal and civil cases. The judges, although elected out of specific counties, hear cases in all four counties in this circuit. |
| Memorials, services announced for slain Mississippi police officer with Tuscaloosa ties | |
 | Memorials and services for a slain Mississippi police officer with Tuscaloosa ties will begin Thursday and last through Saturday. According to the plans for arrangements released on Monday, the services for Officer Kennis Croom will start Thursday in Meridian, Mississippi, where he served as a member of the Meridian Police Department, and conclude Saturday with the burial in his hometown of Tuscaloosa. Croom, 30, was killed Thursday in the line of duty after responding to a domestic disturbance call. A suspect has been captured and charged in connection with the crime. He worked with the Jackson, Mississippi, police department before joining the Meridian police force, and he is part of a family connected to University of Alabama football that includes an uncle, Sylvester Croom, who was an assistant coach at Alabama and in the NFL and head coach at Mississippi State University. |
| How to stay cool and save money during Mississippi's excessive heat warning | |
| An excessive heat warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for the northern portion of Mississippi with temperatures expected to range over 110 degrees this week. Increased temperatures around 107 degrees are also expected for the rest of the state, which is currently under a heat advisory due to high levels of humidity. The National Weather Service advises those who go outside to watch for signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion while taking frequent breaks in cooler areas. They also suggest wearing loose-fitting clothes and staying hydrated throughout the day, especially if working outdoors. Children and pets should not be left unattended in vehicles and pets should be kept away from pavement during the hottest portions of the day. |
| Heat Wave Brings High Temperatures to Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago and More | |
 | Stifling temperatures were recorded from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes on Monday, as a heat wave that baked the Southwest over the weekend shifted eastward. More than 100 million Americans woke up to heat advisories. High temperatures are expected to stick around for the rest of the week, according to Bob Oravec, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service. The core of the weather pattern will shift back to the Southwest and Midwest by Friday, he said. New England and most of the coastal Northeast are unlikely to see much of an impact. Dallas was forecast to hit 101 degrees, which would tie the high set on June 13, 2011, according to Mr. Oravec. As of late afternoon, the record hadn't been broken, the local NWS office said, but temperatures were in the high 90s and the heat index exceeded 103 degrees at Dallas Love Field Airport. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state's power grid, said it had a record increase in demand on Sunday, breaking a prior peak set in 2019. The agency said it expects similar surges throughout the week. Rising energy prices will mean much higher air-conditioning bills for consumers as the heat wave moves into the densely populated Ohio Valley and along the Mississippi River. Electricity prices rose 12% in the past year, according to May's consumer-price index, and have shown no signs of slowing. |
| MDOT seeking public comments on Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan | |
 | The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) is developing a plan to guarantee Mississippian's and visitors have access to the Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure with a focus on the connectivity of rural and urban areas. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program is providing dedicated funding to states to deploy Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access and reliability. Executive Director of MDOT Brad White told Y'all Politics that electric vehicles are on the horizon for transportation infrastructure. "MDOT is seeking input from the public on where and how we channel potential federal resources to accommodate them as we prepare our long-range plan for them to the Federal Highway Administration," White said. In order to receive the allocated funds, MDOT must submit an EV infrastructure deployment plan by August 1, 2022, to the Federal Highway Administration describing the department's goals and how it intends to use NEVI funds. The deployment plan will cover areas such as charging infrastructure deployment, existing and future conditions, and public engagement. |
| Gov. Reeves has three candidates to lead Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries Parks | |
 | The state agency responsible for overseeing and maintaining Mississippi's 25 state-owned parks could soon have a new permanent director. Billy Mounger, chairman of the Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Commission, told the Daily Journal that the commission last month sent to the governor a list of three people to potentially lead the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. State law requires the commission to submit three names of potential candidates to the governor. The governor, who also appoints members of the commission, then selects one final person from the three-person list to appoint to the position. Mounger declined to reveal any of the three names the commission submitted but said "any of the three would be good." "The governor can take as long as he wants to review the names," Mounger said. "But we think they're all qualified and could be good leaders for the department." Shelby Wilcher, a spokesperson for Gov. Tate Reeves, said the governor is currently in the process of reviewing information about the proposed nominees, and he'll make an appointment after the review is complete. Wilcher did not give a specific timeline for when Reeves would make his final selection. |
| Cassidy announces intent to align with House Freedom Caucus if elected in MS03 runoff | |
| The top vote getter in the June 7th 3rd Congressional District Republican Primary is vowing to become the first member of the Mississippi federal delegation to join the House Freedom Caucus should he win the June 28th runoff and the November General Election. Michael Cassidy, who drew 48% of the vote last Tuesday, said in a release that he plans to join with the patriots on the Freedom Caucus who are fighting for limited spending, meaningful government reforms, and the Constitution. "Unlike our current incumbent, Mr. Guest, who has found common cause voting with Democrats in the January 6th Commission and for Biden's omnibus budgets, I will stand shoulder to shoulder with conservative leaders like Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, Marjorie Taylor Greene and other Freedom Caucus members," Cassidy is quoted as saying in a June 9th release. Incumbent Congressman Guest, who drew 47% of the vote in the Primary, called Cassidy's accusations about his record lies in an interview with Y'all Politics on Friday. Guest openly explained his position on the January 6th Commission, stating his opposition to the partisan committee appointed by Speaker Pelosi and chaired by fellow Mississippian 2nd District Congressman Bennie Thompson. Guest also spoke to votes and support for being pro-life as the candidate in the race that is endorsed by the National Right to Life. |
| Lawmakers hope Mississippi can become a key player in emerging carbon storage industry | |
| For decades, natural resources from an extinct volcano called the Jackson Dome, about 3,000 feet below Mississippi's capital city, have given the state a role in a multistate oil extraction business. The operation, known as enhanced oil recovery or EOR, takes natural carbon dioxide from the Dome, sends it through a pipeline to oil fields in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and injects the CO2 into the ground to push oil out for production. Now, as the United States government tries to encourage emissions reduction from industrial sources, Mississippi lawmakers are hoping that the same pipeline, owned by Denbury Inc., will give the state a new role in the emerging carbon capture business. Mississippi House Energy Chair Rep. Brent Powell, R-Brandon, explained that companies hoping to receive the tax credit could potentially move to the state and use its existing pipeline for storage. "What we're hoping with this is that the landowners and the public can get some royalties for the storage, but we'd really like to see some industry come into the state that's close to the pipeline," said Powell, who specified electric and fertilizer plants as businesses he envisions offloading their carbon in Mississippi. This year, Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law House Bill 1214, a bill that would allow the Mississippi State Oil & Gas Board to oversee a carbon storage program in the state. Experts suggest that Mississippi, as well as its neighboring states, are prime locations for carbon storage because of their geology. |
| Juneteenth marked as state holiday in Alabama this year | |
 | Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has authorized Juneteenth Day -- the federal holiday marking the end of slavery -- as a holiday for state workers this year in Alabama. Ivey issued a memo earlier this month authorizing the day as a holiday for state workers. State offices will be closed on June 20 for the holiday. Juneteenth, or June 19, falls on a Sunday this year, so the holiday will be recognized the following Monday. President Joe Biden signed legislation last year to make Juneteenth, or June 19, a federal holiday to recognize the end of slavery. Ivey authorized the holiday for state employees since its designated at the federal level, spokeswoman Gina Maiola wrote in an email. "However, it is important to remember that ultimately the Legislature must decide if this will become a permanent state holiday," Maiola wrote. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas -- two months after the Confederacy had surrendered. That was also about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Southern states. |
| Fed Likely to Consider 0.75-Percentage-Point Rate Rise This Week | |
| A string of troubling inflation reports in recent days is likely to lead Federal Reserve officials to consider surprising markets with a larger-than-expected 0.75-percentage-point interest rate increase at their meeting this week. Before officials began their pre-meeting quiet period on June 4, they had signaled they were prepared to raise interest rates by a half percentage point this week and again at their meeting in July. But they also had said their outlook depended on the economy evolving as they expected. Last week's inflation report from the Labor Department showed a bigger jump in prices in May than officials had anticipated. Two consumer surveys have also shown households' expectations of future inflation have increased in recent days. That data could alarm Fed officials because they believe such expectations can be self-fulfilling. The Fed raised rates by a half-percentage point at its meeting last month, the first such increase since 2000, to a range between 0.75% and 1%. The Fed last raised rates by 0.75 percentage point at a meeting in 1994, when the central bank was rapidly raising rates to pre-empt a potential rise in inflation. The Labor Department reported Friday that its consumer-price index rose 8.6% in May from the same month a year ago, pushing inflation to a new 40-year high. That was a setback for forecasters who were looking for signs that inflation had peaked in March. Rising fuel prices and supply-chain disruptions from Russia's war against Ukraine have sent prices up in recent months. |
| US Sen. Wicker of Mississippi again tests positive for COVID | |
| Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi has again tested positive for COVID-19, his office said Monday. His communications director, Phillip Waller, said Wicker took a required test and received a positive result. "He will be expected to miss votes and committee business this week until he is able to return in person to the Senate," Waller said. Wicker, 70, attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in late May. Wicker was also diagnosed with COVID-19 in August last year and in February this year. He said in February that he is fully vaccinated against the virus. Wicker is the top Republican on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. On April 8, he joined several Republican senators and representatives in a letter urging the Biden administration to drop the federal mask mandate for airlines and other transportation services. "The American people have seen through the false logic that COVID-19 only exists on airplanes and public transportation. They see it every day when they go to a grocery store, restaurant, shopping mall, or movie theater with no masks in sight, leading them to demand unneeded mandates come to an end," the lawmakers wrote. |
| Graham, Sanders square off in televised debate to find common ground in DC | |
 | The purpose of Monday's televised debate was to find policy common ground between South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham and self-described Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders -- two veteran U.S. senators with not a whole lot in common. The two did agree that Social Security has a solvency problem, that the future of the country's transportation will be electric and that Russian President Vladimir Putin "sucks." But on major policy solutions -- from gun control, to taxes, infrastructure, health care reform and foreign trade -- the two could not have been further apart as they debated for 73 minutes Monday at the Kennedy Institute in Boston. "What you got is that he sees it as a problem. I see it as a problem," said Sanders, when moderator Bret Baier asked directly, for the second time, if the two saw any common ground on the budget and Social Security. "I admire Sen. Sanders. He is on message, he's got solutions -- I don't think they'll work," Graham said. "I've never had such a hard time begging somebody to vote on their own bill." The Oxford-style, long-form debate was announced May 25 as an effort by the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute to revive the bipartisan debate in the U.S. Senate. |
| Future of DACA program remains uncertain, a decade after it began | |
 | Bruna Sollod first applied for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program weeks after it began in 2012. After she was accepted, the Brazilian-born college student was able to avoid deportation, work legally and enjoy some stability as she began her adulthood. Ten years later, Sollod still benefits from the protections that former President Barack Obama put in place. Except now, she's lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, is well into her career, and worries about being separated from her 3-month-old son if the program is rescinded. "As a 20-something-year-old when I first got DACA, I thought for sure that by the time I got here, in this stage of life, by the time I had a family ... that I would be a citizen," said Sollod, who works as communications director at United We Dream, an advocacy group for immigrant youth. A decade after the DACA program began, its fate is deeply uncertain following numerous court challenges and years of legislative inaction. That also means uncertainty for Sollod and other original so-called Dreamers, as well as a younger generation of immigrants who can't access the benefits at all. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is scheduled to hear oral arguments next month in that case, initiated in 2018 when a group of Republican-led states challenged the program over how the Obama administration created it. And in Congress, lawmakers' yearslong inability to find a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers appears unlikely to change as the midterm elections draw closer and tensions over immigration and border security grow. |
| White House confirms Biden to meet Saudi crown prince in Middle East | |
 | President Biden will visit Saudi Arabia in July on a trip that will include a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a senior administration official told reporters Monday night. The announcement that the president would meet Mohammed had been expected for weeks and has drawn scrutiny from human rights advocates and tacit approval from Democratic allies in Congress. The meeting is part of a wider trip to the Middle East, between July 13 and 16, where the president will also travel to Israel and the West Bank before flying to Jeddah for the meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The senior official said that Biden's meeting with the crown prince will take place as part of engagement with "over a dozen leaders," to include Saudi King Salman, the official leader of the Kingdom. The president's face-to-face with Mohammed marks a stark reversal from Biden's promise on the campaign trail to make the Kingdom a "pariah" and vowed to make them "pay the price" over the gruesome killing of the dissident Saudi writer and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The senior official on Monday night said that while the administration sought accountability for Khashoggi's death, it did not seek to "rupture" relations with the Kingdom completely. The official called the crown prince "critical" to extending a ceasefire agreement until at least August in Yemen's catastrophic seven-year civil war. |
| Jan. 6 panel makes case election fraud claims were Trump vs. 'Team Normal' | |
 | The Jan. 6 select committee's case that former President Donald Trump stoked a violent insurrection rests on a fundamental premise: Trump was endlessly told, over and over, that his claims of election fraud were false. And he amplified them anyway. At Monday's public hearing, the panel unloaded a stream of evidence, most of it videotaped interviews, that showed Trump's own top advisers repeatedly told him his elections claims were wrong. Time and again -- no matter what detailed corroboration they provided -- advisers testified that Trump responded with derision, ultimately pushing those aides aside in favor of the fringe lawyers willing to echo the false allegations. "I didn't mind being characterized as part of 'Team Normal,'" Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien told the select committee, in a newly aired clip of his testimony -- contrasting himself favorably to the attorneys who took up Trump's crusade. Stepien. Attorney General Bill Barr. Campaign aides Matt Morgan and Alex Cannon. Barr's successor Jeff Rosen. Rosen's deputy Richard Donoghue. White House advisers Eric Herschmann and Derek Lyons. All delved into the fraud claims that gained Trump's favor, according to testimony aired Monday, and all told Trump there was nothing to them. But Trump shunted Stepien and others aside in favor of Rudy Giuliani -- who, while "apparently inebriated" convinced Trump on Election Night to declare victory -- and Sidney Powell, the two attorneys who drove Trump's fraud claims when others would not. |
| Worrying phone call adds to concerns about Sen. Dianne Feinstein's cognitive health | |
 | Journalist Rebecca Traister set out to write a profile of the oldest sitting U.S. senator, Dianne Feinstein of California, who turns 89 on June 22. And while Traister's feature piece does center on Feinstein's long and storied career, it also evokes questions about the senator's cognitive health. NPR's All Things Considered spoke with Traister, a writer for The Cut, about a worrying call she had with Feinstein two days after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. "It felt to me to be deeply disconnected from the very urgent and chilling realities that we are very much in the midst of," Traister said on All Things Considered. Traister had that 30-minute phone conversation with Feinstein in the course of her reporting for her feature piece, titled "Dianne Feinstein, the Institutionalist." Traister made it clear that she was not making any definitive comments on Feinstein's cognitive health, nor does she feel qualified to do so. However, she is not the first person to make observations about Feinstein's cognitive health. A misstep by Feinstein at a 2020 hearing further fueled questions about her health and the age of senators. "We are run by a gerontocracy on both the Democratic and Republican sides," Traister said. |
| This Massachusetts doctor's trips to Mississippi to perform abortions will end if Roe v. Wade is overturned | |
| For the last five years, Dr. Cheryl Hamlin has spent a few days every month in Jackson, Mississippi, performing abortions. Hamlin is an obstetrician-gynecologist at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge and at community women's clinics in the area. She's among a handful of out-of-state doctors who staff Jackson Women's Health Organization, or what some call the "Pink House." It's the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, and it pays doctors like Hamlin to fly in and perform the procedure. No Mississippi doctors work there, because the stigma of the work keeps them from getting hired anywhere else in the state, Hamlin said. As of now, Hamlin is scheduled to travel back to Jackson in July. But in the coming days, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce its ruling in a case that could overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in 1973. If that happens, Mississippi is among 13 states that would ban abortion altogether. WBUR's All Things Considered host Lisa Mullins spoke with Hamlin about what she's seen in her time at the Pink House and what the end of Roe v. Wade could mean for her activism moving forward. |
| Southern Baptists to Convene to Elect New President Amid Sex Abuse Scandal | |
| Thousands of members of the Southern Baptist Convention meet Tuesday to elect a new president to set the course for the evangelical organization as it attempts to address its handling of sexual misconduct by ministers and others affiliated with Baptist churches. Last month, the convention's executive committee released a 288-page independent report that found that church leaders had covered up sex-abuse claims over two decades, including by maintaining a secret database of alleged perpetrators. It then released a list of more than 700 church leaders and others who had been credibly accused of abuse. Leaders apologized to the victims of sexual abuse, set up a hotline for people to report claims of misconduct and pledged to engage with people making allegations going forward. The country's largest and most influential evangelical denomination consists of roughly 13 million people at 47,000 churches. The convention itself comes together two days a year, but otherwise its churches operate autonomously. The meeting comes as the convention faces divisions over the direction of the church around social issues. Some pastors have decried what they say is a drift within the convention toward liberalism, including among churches and seminaries. Others say they believe the convention is on the right track and remains as committed to conservative principles as ever. |
| Right-wing extremists amp up anti-LGBTQ rhetoric online | |
| A few weeks before 31 members of a white supremacist group were arrested for allegedly planning to riot at a northern Idaho LGBTQ pride event, a fundamentalist Idaho pastor told his Boise congregation that gay, lesbian and transgender people should be executed by the government. Around the same time, a lawmaker from the northernmost region of the state, Republican Rep. Heather Scott, told an audience that drag queens and other LGBTQ supporters are waging "a war of perversion against our children." A toxic brew of hateful rhetoric has been percolating in Idaho and elsewhere around the U.S., well ahead of the arrests of the Patriot Front members at the pride event Saturday in Coeur d'Alene. Jon Lewis, a George Washington University researcher who specializes in homegrown violent extremism, said outrage directed at LGBTQ people had been growing for months online, often in chat rooms frequented by members of groups like the Patriot Front. In the same way that it mobilized against Black Lives Matter in the nation's capital in December, the Patriot Front harnesses what's in the news cycle -- in this case, drag queen story hours, disputes about transgender people in schools, and LGBTQ visibility more broadly. The rhetoric has been amplified by right-wing social media accounts that use photos and videos of LGBTQ individuals to drive outrage among their followers. Several posts have falsely sought to label teachers and librarians who accept the LGBTQ community as abusers or groomers of children. Others have lambasted pride events or drag performances as "depraved." |
| UM Professor studies effects of internal recognition on promotions, retention of female employees | |
| How does internal recognition affect promotions and retention of women in the field of academic medicine? That is a question that Kristin Cullen-Lester, an assistant professor of management at the University of Mississippi, hopes to answer. Research shows that women in academic medicine wait longer to receive a promotion and leave their jobs at a faster rate than male peers. This project seeks to clarify whether and to what extent internal visibility influences the data. Cullen-Lester is conducting the research with Caitlin Porter, a University of Memphis assistant professor of management, and Katelyn Cavanaugh, an industrial-organizational psychologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. "We are looking at the impact of internal awards on speed to promotion and voluntary turnover, including whether receiving these awards impacts the careers of men and women differently," Cullen-Lester said. The team recently traveled to the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology annual conference in Seattle to receive an SIOP Small Grant to fund their large-scale research study. "We are all looking forward to involving students at our respective institutions in the project and hope it will be a great learning experience for early career researchers," Cullen-Lester said. |
| USM graphic design student wins award at National ADDYs | |
| A former graphic design student in The University of Southern Mississippi's (USM) Art and Design program, housed in the School of Performing and Visual Arts, was honored at one of the advertising industry's largest creative competitions -- the National American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards -- at a Gala and Celebration held recently in Nashville, Tenn. Sydney Beech, a recent Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design graduate and native of Ellisville, Miss., won a gold ADDY in the Out-of-Home and Ambient Media: Poster Campaign category for her "St. Pete Conservation Festival" poster set. "This was a great year for the graphic design program and our students," said Jacob Cotton, assistant professor in the Art and Design program. "They've won countless awards at the national level and have been featured in numerous national publications for their work. These awards help to show potential employers the caliber work our students are capable of and they help our students to see where their hard work can take them." For this project, Beech was tasked with developing a brand, style guide, and collateral for a conference or event of choice. The location selected from a list served as the primary inspiration for her brand. It was important that the brand and theme be in context to the subject of the conference and the area and history of the chosen location. Beech selected St. Petersburg, Fla. for her project. |
| Arkansas's winding path to building an online university | |
 | In the middle of the last decade, the University of Arkansas system joined the growing number of public universities striving to significantly expand their capacity to educate working learners online. With a total of just $7 million in start-up funds and money borrowed from the university's various campuses and the system office, it created a fully separate online institution known as eVersity aimed at reaching hundreds of thousands of Arkansans who had attended college but never received a degree. Late last month, the Arkansas system's Board of Trustees announced that it would fold eVersity into the new institution it created when it paid $1 last summer to purchase the online, for-profit Grantham University. The combined University of Arkansas Grantham, a public institution, will have about 5,500 students, offer about 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and assume and pay off the several million dollars remaining from eVersity's original debt. At a time when the University of North Carolina system is spending $97 million to build out an online learning platform to help its 17 institutions reach adult learners, and the University of Phoenix is expected to be sold to help one public university supercharge its online education ambitions, Arkansas's experience may be instructive to understanding what's possible and not for the numerous states and public universities with similar goals. EVersity never achieved its founders' enrollment targets or came close to break-even status financially. In an era when a handful of mega-universities have tens of thousands of students, some might write Arkansas's effort off as a failure. Those behind eVersity don't see it that way, of course. |
| Gator Motorsports designs race car, places third at annual Formula SAE Michigan event | |
 | Gator Motorsports, the University of Florida's Formula SAE team, raced to the podium for the first time in seven years at the annual Formula SAE Michigan, held May 18-21 in Brooklyn, Michigan. Gator Motorsports competed against more than 90 teams and placed third overall in the international competition where students design, manufacture, assemble, test and race a small Formula 1-style race car. Villanova University came in second behind the winner University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The competition consisted of an engineering design presentation, where each team defended its design strategies against industry professionals, as well as four different types of races: acceleration, skidpad/figure 8, autocross and endurance. Gator Motorsports placed first in acceleration, third in design and third in autocross. Since placing second overall in 2015, Gator Motorsports had struggled to finish the endurance portion of the competition. The team redesigned its vehicle over the last two years, switching from 13-inch wheels to 10-inch wheels in 2020, and switching from a steel tube chassis to a carbon fiber monocoque chassis in 2021. "These changes required a complete overhaul of every system on the car, all while battling the challenges of COVID," wrote team president Mitchell Thoeni in an email. "This year, we focused on working the kinks out after such radical changes and learning how the new car design behaved." |
| U. of Texas selects new director -- and new name -- for its conservative institute | |
| The University of Texas at Austin on Monday named a director to head its new conservative-backed center -- The Civitas Institute -- which will "focus on the teaching, understanding and appreciation of American values." Justin Dyer, the founding director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri will lead the new UT-Austin center, which had been previously called the Liberty Institute. Dyer, who received his doctorate in government at UT-Austin, starts on July 1. In addition to running the new institute, he will be a professor in the university's government department. In an op-ed in the Columbia Missourian, Dyer described himself as "a conservative, straight out of central casting, a pro-life evangelical who is an unapologetic admirer of the American Founding Fathers and the U.S. Constitution." Dyer is the author of the book "Slavery, Abortion, and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning," in which he draws legal connections between slavery and abortion, arguing that Roe v. Wade denies personhood to fetuses the same way the Dred Scott v. Sandford denied personhood to Black people. The Texas Tribune first reported last year that the school was working with conservative donors and politicians to create a right-leaning think tank on its Austin campus. |
| U. of Missouri Museum of Anthropology completes construction of new space | |
 | The University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology has completed construction of its new space on the ground floor of Ellis Library, according to a news release Thursday. The museum has existed in several locations since its founding. Most recently, it was located at Mizzou North after the closure of Swallow Hall in 2014 for renovations. The museum expects to reopen in Ellis Library before the end of 2022. "Mizzou North was like an old hospital setup with weird angles," said Amanda Staley-Harrison, the museum's assistant curator. "At the new space, visitors will have a more logical flow through the area and it should be a more enjoyable experience." According to the release, staff are now preparing for the instillation of exhibits, which will begin in the next couple of months. The new space includes two main exhibition rooms with a connecting hall that will be used for rotating exhibits. Low-profile or two-dimensional objects will also be on display in the entrance corridor that divides the anthropology museum from MU's art museum. Staff are excited to include a dedicated space for objects from the Osage Nation, one of the largest tribes in central North America, including modern-day Missouri, according to the release. "We wanted to bring a connection for visitors to the museum to the people who have been living here for thousands of years," Staley-Harrison said. |
| As professors struggle to recruit postdocs, calls for structural change in academia intensify | |
| When Jennifer Mason posted an ad for a postdoc position in early March, she was eager to have someone on board by April or May to tackle recently funded projects. Instead, it took 2 months to receive a single application. Since then, only two more have come in. "Money is just sitting there that isn't being used ... and there's these projects that aren't moving anywhere as a result," says Mason, an assistant professor in genetics at Clemson University. She isn't alone. On social media, many U.S. academics have been pointing to widespread challenges in recruiting postdocs. An investigation by Science Careers bears this out: More than 100 U.S.-based researchers were contacted because they advertised for postdoc positions this year on scientific society job boards, and of the 37 who responded with information about their hiring experiences, three-quarters reported challenges recruiting. "This year is hard for me to wrestle with: ... we received absolutely zero response from our posting," one wrote. "The number of applications is 10 times less than 2018-2019," another wrote. Those experiencing challenges span STEM fields, including biomedicine, chemistry, environmental science, anthropology, physics, and computer science. Many reported not only a drop in the total number of applications, but also in the quality of applications. "It took two rounds of advertising my current postdoc opening -- once in October 2021 and again in April 2022 -- to find a competitive applicant," one researcher wrote by email. "I received 28 applications in all, which in the past I could have expected within a month of the first announcement." The number coming from applicants who are currently based at U.S. institutions has also declined, according to many respondents. |
| Report: State higher ed funding up 4.5% in 2021 | |
| Ongoing enrollment declines remain an area of concern across higher education, but a new report shows strong state appropriations and federal support in the last fiscal year buoyed colleges and universities struggling with dwindling tuition revenue. The "State Higher Education Finance" report, released today by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, found that state funding in the 2021 fiscal year increased by 4.5 percent above inflation, defying expectations as state governments grappled with the coronavirus pandemic. Appropriations were lifted by pandemic-related federal government stimulus funds. The SHEF report focuses on fiscal year 2021, the period between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, when significant federal dollars were being disbursed -- funds that will largely be gone by 2023 -- and before economic inflation sharply increased. SHEEO's analysis also notes a 10th straight year of declining enrollment and cautions that challenges may be on the horizon for many colleges as they make do with fewer students. Given the many other funding needs for state governments, some experts believe the overall outlook for colleges on the financial side is fairly positive, especially given the circumstances. "Over all, it's a story of stability," said Joni Finney, a higher education consultant and former director of the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania. "Except when you look at individual states, they're all over the place." |
| Why Does the Education Department Need A Chief Economist? | |
 | Jordan Matsudaira already has a job in the U.S. Department of Education, as a deputy under secretary. Now, he will have a second title, having been named the first-ever chief economist for the department, and given a somewhat expanded scope of responsibility to bring more economic data and analysis to higher-education policy decisions. Matsudaira's experience and academic background appear to fit well with his titles. He has a doctorate in economics and public policy from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and has held several faculty positions in those fields. Most recently, he was appointed associate professor of economics and education at Columbia University's Teachers College. He also worked as chief economist of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration. The job of chief economist isn't unusual for other executive agencies, Matsudaira said, and is a role the Education Department could have benefited from in past policy making. It's not just about having a "chief" economist, he said. The department is assembling a new team to focus on the economic outcomes of current policies and to help design new programs. |
| Even census follow-up numbers are uncertain | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: Listen to ruling Republicans, their aligned talking heads and even some media, and you would be certain Mississippi suffered a significant undercount in the recent 2020 Census. But, census numbers, even follow-up numbers, don't work to that degree of certainty. In general, the Census Bureau reports basic data at an estimated 90% confidence level. When a higher level of confidence is sought, it uses statistical conversion factors to adjust its estimates. The constitutionally required decennial census attempts to count every person. For the first time, with the 2020 Census the Bureau made the internet the primary self-reporting vehicle (along with conventional counting methods). People got postcards telling them how to register and enter data. There were also social media posts and extensive advertising. In addition, states established Complete Count Committees to support census activities. In March, the Census Bureau issued its "2020 Post-Enumeration Survey Estimation Report" wherein it compared the census count with other demographic estimates and a follow-up sample survey. The report concluded that 94.4% of the population had been correctly counted, 2.8% were counted erroneously, 2.8% were counted but had to have their demographic data imputed, and 0.6% had to have their data fully imputed. ... Mississippi was one of those six states with estimated undercounts. |
SPORTS
| Former Bulldogs preview SEC Network documentary on Mississippi State baseball's College World Series title | |
| Most Mississippi State fans know exactly how the Bulldogs captured their first-ever team national championship by winning the 2021 Men's College World Series. But take it from star right fielder Tanner Allen: There's a lot MSU fans were never privy to. "Not a lot of people know what went on behind the scenes," Allen said Monday. "There will be a few people who get shocked when they see what actually went on." At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Bulldogs fans will get the chance when "Banner Year: The Story of Mississippi State's First National Title" premieres on the SEC Network. The hourlong documentary will also be streamed live on the ESPN app. While the special includes interviews with athletic director John Cohen, former MSU coach Ron Polk, pitcher Will Bednar and alumni Dak Prescott and Victoria Vivians, other Bulldogs got their chance to speak in a Twitter Space on Monday previewing the documentary. Allen, the 2021 Southeastern Conference player of the year, joined center fielder Rowdey Jordan, pitcher Houston Harding and former MSU standouts Brent Rooker and Elijah MacNamee in Monday's discussion. ESPN's Ryan McGee and Ben McDonald led the event. "I never saw excitement in Omaha like I saw it there," McDonald said. |
| Kolton Lapa Hired As Men's Golf Assistant Coach | |
| Mississippi State head men's golf coach Dusty Smith is pleased to announce the hiring of Kolton Lapa as the Bulldogs' new assistant coach. A member of the PGA Tour Canada with caddying experience on that circuit ant the Web.com Tour, Lapa brings a wealth of knowledge to Starkville. He previously coached the women's teams at Nebraska and Denver where he helped both programs set single-season school records for team stroke average and claim team tournament titles. "I am so excited to welcome Kolton to Mississippi State and our golf program," Smith said. "He is going to be a great coach for our guys. His experience as a player and a coach will be very beneficial for our team. Kolton is a high achiever and his desire to make others better will be contagious within our program." Most recently, Lapa served as the associate head coach at Nebraska. He helped the Huskers to a school-record team stroke average (298.96) in 2018-19 and three top-five finished including Nebraska's first team tournament title since the 2013-14 campaign at the 2019 Westbrook Spring Invitational. Lapa replaces Steven Paine, who accepted the head coach position at Augusta earlier this month. He joins his wife Lauren Whyte, the Bulldog women's assistant coach, in Starkville. The two were married in December 2021. |
| Economic impact of Hattiesburg baseball tournaments over $20 million | |
 | Hattiesburg is a winner when it comes to the economic impact of hosting baseball tournaments three weekends in a row. Marlo Dorsey, executive director of VisitHattiesburg, the city's tourism commission, said Hattiesburg hit a home run with "Baseburg" this season. Early results show revenue from hotels is about 23% higher than the same 30-day period last year. "We know that our hotels are full and we also know that the rates some of our hotels can charge is a bit higher because demand is higher," Dorsey said. "We're looking at the best June, or the best 30 days, that we've had in a really, really long time in Hattiesburg." The economic impact? So far it's roughly $20 million, Dorsey said. And the value of exposure Hattiesburg received during the tournaments from national television networks? Priceless. "From an economic impact standpoint, when we're looking at early figures, we're looking at more than $20 million just from the last three weekends," Dorsey said. "When we look at the national exposure that Hattiesburg and Southern Miss on ESPN and a lot of other national platforms, that gives us the ability to be promoted on a national level." Although tourism was down during the pandemic, a lot of lessons were learned. Cooperation between competing businesses helped get them through the pandemic. "We learned over the last two years the importance of working together in adversity," Dorsey said. "And now that we are seeing a lot of economic vitality and growth that lesson has still continued to help us. |
| Auburn, Stanford heading to Omaha; SEC nabs 4 of 8 CWS spots | |
| The College World Series again will have a strong Southeastern Conference flavor after Auburn became the fourth SEC team to make the NCAA baseball tournament's final eight. The Tigers knocked off No. 3 national seed Oregon State 4-3 on the road Monday night to win their best-of-three super regional and lock up the last spot in the CWS. No. 2 Stanford also won the deciding game in its home super regional, beating UConn 10-5 to earn a second straight trip to the CWS. The CWS opens at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday with No. 5 Texas A&M (42-18) playing Oklahoma (42-22) in the afternoon and No. 9 Texas (47-20) meeting Notre Dame (40-15) at night. Openers Saturday match Stanford (47-16) against Arkansas (43-19) and Mississippi (37-22) against No. 14 Auburn (42-20). At least three SEC teams have made every CWS since 2014, and this will be be the third time since 2015 and fifth time overall that four have advanced. In a year Tennessee was thought to be a lock for the CWS -- Notre Dame knocked out the No. 1 Volunteers in super regionals -- all four of the SEC teams (Texas A&M, Arkansas, Mississippi and Auburn) come from the West Division. The SEC has won seven national titles since 2009. |
| SEC files brief supporting NCAA's opposition to recognizing athletes as employees | |
| The Southeastern Conference filed an amicus brief last week to support the NCAA in its ongoing attempt to prevent the recognition of college athletes as employees of the schools they attend. The NCAA is a defendant, along with Villanova and other universities, in Johnson v. NCAA, a case originally brought by current and former college athletes in which they say that they should be qualified as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The conference argued that participating in college sports does not qualify as work under the law, that schools are not employers, and that athletes should not be paid. "Such participation should be categorized as an extracurricular educational activity to be administered and conducted in a manner consistent with each institution's broader educational mission and policies," the SEC wrote in its brief. "Not as an employer-employee relationship between the institution and the participants that requires mandatory pay." The SEC said in a statement to The Athletic on Monday that it "joined more than a dozen educational organizations, including the American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and the NCAA in urging the court not to radically change existing law by treating student-athletes as employees of their universities." "Doing so, the SEC told the court, would be contrary to the spirit and purpose of the law. 'Congress, the courts, and other federal agencies have confirmed that student-athletes are not employees' under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the brief said, urging reversal of a trial judge's ruling," the SEC said. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals will determine in Johnson whether athletes can be classified as employees under the FLSA after a judge refused to grant the NCAA's motion to dismiss the case last fall. |
| Open records: Texas A&M officials asked SEC to consider suspending, fining Nick Saban | |
| The morning after Alabama football coach Nick Saban alleged Texas A&M's football program "bought every player on their team," Texas A&M University President M. Katherine Banks and Director of Athletics Ross Bjork told SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey the conference should consider suspending and fining Saban for his comments. Through an open records request, On3 obtained an email, co-signed by Banks, that Bjork sent to Sankey on May 19. Bjork and Sankey also had multiple phone conversations that morning, according to the email exchange, and Sankey and Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher reportedly spoke on the phone prior to Fisher's now-infamous press conference. "We write to express Texas A&M University's disappointment and outrage at the recent statements made by Alabama University [sic] Head Football Coach Nick Saban that 'A&M bought every player on their team-made a deal for Name, Image, Likeness,'" Bjork and Banks' email to Sankey stated. "Coach Saban's statement was a blatant violation of SEC bylaws regarding sportsmanship. More significantly, without citing any facts to support his statement, Coach Saban is accusing every, single player in Texas A&M's recruiting class and current football team of violating NCAA NIL guidelines and Texas state law." |
| Renovated Aggie Park to require tailgating reservations beginning this football season | |
 | Texas A&M football fans will no longer have a frenzy the day before Aggie home football games to fight for coveted tailgating spots across from the east side of Kyle Field. Reservations will be required for all tailgating locations in the renovated Aggie Park starting for the 2022 season. Fans will use a vendor -- Revel XP -- to make free and paid online tailgating reservations in Aggie Park, which is scheduled to open later this summer in a 20-acre area between Houston and Throckmorton streets. The park is expected to have twice as much tailgating space as before. This system will replace the long-standing "land rush," in which fans began to stake their spots for tailgating after the sound of an air horn at noon on the day before A&M home football games. "First and foremost, the virtual land rush creates an equal opportunity for all Aggies to tailgate in the park," said Neil Peltier, assistant director for A&M's University Center & Special Events. "Now, regardless of your location you will have the opportunity [to] request a tailgating space in Aggie Park. Virtual land rush will also help preserve the natural beauty of the park by eliminating the stampede of people and equipment. The reservation process also helps us better understand who is utilizing the park and can help us better understand how to serve them in the future." According to a release, free tailgating reservations will open at 6 p.m. on the Sunday prior to each A&M home football game. Fans can reserve up to two free 15-by-15 foot tailgating spots per game, and can only book one game at a time. Selling free tailgating spaces is prohibited. |
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