| Wednesday, July 13, 2022 |
| MSU accepting applications for SEC Visiting Faculty Travel Grant Program | |
 | Mississippi State University faculty members are invited to apply for the Southeastern Conference Visiting Faculty Travel Grant Program through July 22. The SEC Visiting Faculty Travel Grant Program is intended to enhance faculty collaboration that stimulates scholarly initiatives between SEC universities. It gives faculty from one SEC university the opportunity to travel to another SEC campus to: exchange ideas; develop grant proposals; conduct research; consult with faculty and/or students; offer lectures or symposia; or engage in whatever activities are agreeable to the visitor and host unit. MSU can select a maximum of 12 faculty members to receive 2022-2023 travel grants of $850 each for transportation, room, board, etc., to use for travel to another SEC campus. Travel dates for these visits are between August 1, 2022 and June 9, 2023. The faculty member will contact a host unit (e.g., department, research center, school, etc.) that he or she wishes to visit to determine that unit's receptivity and availability. The selected faculty members will be responsible for arranging coverage of their duties during their absence. After the visit, the faculty member must submit a brief report describing the outcomes of the visit. |
| Who has the best bean field in the Delta? | |
 | For the first time, Mississippi's top soybean growers can compete with their peers and win money for producing the highest yields. The Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board (MSPB) has announced the launch of the "Grow It. Show It. Win It. Mississippi Soybean Yield Challenge." Mississippi State University Extension agents will serve as contest officials. "Growers from across the great state of Mississippi will have the opportunity to showcase their outstanding production practices in various soybean yield divisions," said MSPB communications specialist Bailey Walhood. The four competition divisions include irrigated and nonirrigated categories in the Mississippi Delta region and outside that region. First place winners in each division receive $7,500, while second and third place finishers will win $3,500 and $1,000, respectively. The deadline to apply is August 1. |
| Three charged with Starkville armed robbery | |
 | Starkville police arrested three people after an online sale turned into an armed robbery in a grocery store parking lot Sunday. Starkville police spokesman Sgt. Brandon Lovelady said the "targeted armed robbery" began on Facebook Marketplace. The victim and the suspects negotiated a transaction online and agreed to meet in the parking lot of Kroger at 826 Highway 12 West Sunday, July 10. Aliza Cox, 24, and Marquavious Turnipseed, 23, both of Starkville, were arrested and charged with armed robbery. Turnipseed was also charged with of possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, and possession of cocaine with intent to sell. Courtney Neal, 31, of Tupelo, has been charged with accessory after the fact and false identifying information. Lovelady said the Starkville Police Department offers a safe and secure location for people to conclude online transactions. The downtown office is open to the public 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The lobby, plaza in front of the building, and the parking lot are under video surveillance. |
| Altex Tube invests $110M in new Columbus manufacturing plant | |
| Altex Tube LLC has released plans to locate a new manufacturing plant in Columbus, investing an estimated $110 million in the construction of the facility. In addition to bringing 58 direct jobs to the area's economy, the new plant is expected to specialize in manufacturing various sizes of black and pre-galvanized steel tubing using coil products produced by SDI. The plant, which will be built on the Steel Dynamics campus in Golden Triangle Industrial Park, is set to begin construction this summer. Once the facility is complete, manufacturing will commence in mid-2023 with a second phase also set to begin the same year. "As a Mississippi State graduate, I'm thrilled to be relocating back to Mississippi. Altex Tube is thankful for local and state support throughout this process of building a world class HSS and mechanical tube mill in the Golden Triangle," President and CEO of Altex Tube, Zach Smith, explained. The Mississippi Development Authority, Lowndes County, and the city of Columbus are also providing assistance in the project's development. "We are excited to welcome Altex Tube to the Golden Triangle and thank the company for the strong commitment to our state and local communities," Governor Tate Reeves stated. "Bringing good-paying jobs and solid corporate neighbors to Mississippi is a top priority of our administration." |
| Tropical system will dump rain on the Mississippi Coast for days | |
 | It's likely going to be a wet week as a tropical system in the Gulf is expected to dump rain across the Coast for days. Heavy rainfall is expected "at least through Sunday morning" across portions of Southeast Louisiana and South Mississippi, according to the National Weather Service. Rainfall totals will be highest south of Interstate 10 on the Coast, the NWS said. Up to 8 inches of rain is possible in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties through the rest of the week. Rainfall rates of 2 inches to 4 inches per hour is also possible. The greatest risk of flash flooding for the Gulfport-Biloxi area will be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, said Matt Stratton, Harrison County emergency manager. The tropical system has a 30% chance of development over the next five days, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "The surface trough is expected to meander near the northern Gulf coast through the end of the week, but gradual development will only be possible if it remains over water during that time," the NHC said in its 1 p.m. update. |
| Mississippi collected $7.4B in 2022, shattering records | |
 | Mississippi state government posted record revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30, a new report shows. Revenue not only eclipsed previous years but also went above what was expected. The report for June, the last month of the previous fiscal year, was released Tuesday by the Legislative Budget Office. It shows revenue collections for June were about $163.2 million, or roughly 27%, above initial estimates, which were made at the end of the legislative session. Revenue for the whole fiscal year was about $1.5 billion, or roughly 25%, above the initial estimates of $5.9 billion. Legislators and budget office staff expected numbers to be higher than estimates and even revised their revenue expectations in March. But revenue came in even higher than those revised estimates. Revenue for fiscal 2022 was $502 million higher than the revised estimate of $6.9 billion. At the end of fiscal 2022, the state treasury had collected $7.4 billion. That's more than $643 million above the previous year, a roughly 9.5% increase. Fiscal 2022 saw the highest level of revenue in at least a decade, according to the report. Nearly every category of tax collection increased. An exception was the "Tobacco, ABC & Beer" category, which decreased 3.8% compared to the previous year. The largest increase was in "Oil & Gas Severance," which rose by nearly 85%. |
| US inflation reached a new 40-year high in June of 9.1% | |
 | Surging prices for gas, food and rent catapulted U.S. inflation to a new four-decade peak in June, further pressuring households and likely sealing the case for another large interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, with higher borrowing costs to follow. Consumer prices soared 9.1% compared with a year earlier, the government said Wednesday, the biggest 12-month increase since 1981, and up from an 8.6% jump in May. On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.3% from May to June, another substantial increase, after prices had jumped 1% from April to May. The ongoing price increases underscore the brutal impact that inflation has inflicted on many families, with the costs of necessities, in particular, rising much faster than average incomes. Lower-income and Black and Hispanic Americans have been hit especially hard, because a disproportionate share of their income goes toward such essentials as housing, transportation and food. Some economists have held out hope that inflation might be reaching or nearing a short-term peak. Gas prices, for example, have fallen from the eye-watering $5 a gallon reached in mid-June to an average of $4.66 nationwide as of Tuesday -- still far higher than a year ago but a drop that could help slow inflation for July and possibly August. |
| For low-income military service members, inflation hits family budgets hard | |
| Like the rest of us, military families are taking a hit from inflation. But some low-income service members also have limited or uncertain access to adequate food. When Kelley Klor's husband first enlisted in the Air Force back in 2008, things were tough. "There were times that it's like, 'Well -- I guess we're going to have cereal today because ... we're at the end of the pay period and we don't really have a whole lot of money left over to go to the grocery store and have a big grocery order.'" Things are much better now. Klor's husband is an officer. She's a consultant with Blue Star Families -- a military service organization. Klor said a Blue Star survey found that one in seven military families is food insecure. Congress is now considering a Pentagon funding bill that would continue a "basic needs allowance" for low-income service members. Josh Protas is with the group MAZON, a Jewish organization focused on hunger. "And unfortunately for far too long military families have been struggling and have turned in desperation to charities and to food pantries," he said. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the allowance averages around $400 a month. |
| Stocks slip as Wall Street braces for big hike in rates | |
| Stocks are slipping in shaky trading on Wall Street Wednesday after a highly anticipated report on inflation turned out to be even worse than expected. The S&P 500 was 0.3% lower after tumbling as much as 1.6% earlier in the morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 216 points, or 0.7%, at 30,764, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged after erasing an early loss of 2.1%. Stocks began the day with sharp drops, as Treasury yields soared with expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates drastically to slow the nation's skyrocketing inflation. But yields pulled back as the morning went on, helping stocks to recover some of their losses. Inflation and the Federal Reserve's response to it have been at the center of Wall Street's sell off this year. Wednesday's discouraging data showed that inflation is not only still very high, it's getting worse. The Fed's main tool to combat inflation is to raise short-term interest rates, which it has already done three times this year. After Wednesday's inflation report, traders now see it as a lock that the Federal Reserve will hike its key interest rate by at least three-quarters of a percentage point at its next meeting in two weeks. That would match its most recent increase, which was the biggest since 1994. A growing number of traders are even suggesting the Fed will go for a monster hike of a full percentage point. That big an increase hasn't happened since 1981. "Shock and awe from the Fed might cause a lot of collateral damage to the economy without really providing near-term inflation relief," said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments. "The Fed probably needs to temper people's expectations about what they can do," he said. |
| Mississippi is cheap, but a weak workforce makes it America's worst state for business | |
| There may be no better place to beat inflation than Mississippi, which offers the lowest cost of living in the nation. But workers are not exactly beating their feet to get there. With one of America's least educated and least productive workforces, and one of the worst rates of worker migration, according to Census data, Mississippi finishes at the bottom of CNBC's annual state competitiveness rankings. The situation for business owners is even worse when it comes to those looking for workers with advanced technical skills. Mississippi has the nation's lowest concentration of so-called STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math -- workers. Only about 3% of Mississippi workers are employed in these high-demand fields, according to BLS data. Roughly 23% of Mississippi workers have a bachelor's degree or higher, according to the Census Bureau, making the state's workforce the nation's second-least educated, ahead of only West Virginia. Improving the state's workforce has been a priority of first-term Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican. The state's retooled workforce development agency, Accelerate Mississippi, has vowed to do so by seeking to better connect workers with employers. The program is showing results. Mississippi now has one of the nation's best records in getting workers from its training programs into jobs, according to U.S. Labor Department data. |
| Gov. Phil Bryant directed $1.1 million welfare payment to Brett Favre, defendant says | |
| Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant instructed his wife's friend -- whose nonprofit was receiving millions in subgrants from the welfare department he oversaw -- to pay NFL legend Brett Favre $1.1 million, according to a new court filing. Nancy New alleges Bryant directed this and other spending, resulting in a massive scandal and what officials have called the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history. Nancy New, a friend of former First Lady Deborah Bryant, and her son Zach New have pleaded guilty to several criminal charges, including bribery and fraud. As part of their plea, a favorable deal which recommends they spend no time in state prison, the News have agreed to cooperate in an ongoing criminal investigation. The Mississippi Department of Human Services is also suing Nancy New civilly, asking the court to make her repay $19.4 million. The department alleges New and 37 other defendants, including Favre, violated federal rules when they spent or received money from a federal block grant called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. But Bryant, who had the statutory oversight responsibility over the department's spending, has remained insulated from official liability. Mississippi Today, in its investigative series "The Backchannel," first reported the former governor's role in the scandal based on a trove of text messages between Bryant, Favre and other key defendants in the case. New's filing marks the first time Bryant has been directly, publicly accused of wrongdoing by main defendants in the case. Bryant's spokesperson Denton Gibbes denied New's assertion. "She's pointing her finger at everybody but the Easter Bunny," Gibbes told Mississippi Today. "This is just legal hogwash." |
| Election officials fear copycat attacks as 'insider threats' loom | |
 | Election officials are confronting a wave of threats and security challenges coming from a troubling source: inside the election system itself. In interviews on the sidelines of the National Association of Secretaries of State's summer conference, a dozen chief election administrators detailed a growing number of "insider threats" leading to attempted or successful election security breaches aided by local officials. The most prominent was in Colorado, where a county clerk was indicted for her role in facilitating unauthorized access to voting machines. But there have been similar instances elsewhere, including in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio. Beyond security breaches, other insider efforts to undermine elections have sprouted. In New Mexico last month, the board of commissioners in Otero County -- a predominantly Republican county along the state's southern border with Texas -- refused to certify primary election results, citing unfounded claims about the security of voting machines that are rooted in conspiracy theories about hacked election equipment from the 2020 election. "What's clear is this is a nationally coordinated effort," said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat. "It's multi-year, multi-faceted ... not just pressuring election officials, but pressuring local elected officials as well." Election officials fear the handful of publicly disclosed incidents over the last two years are only the start of a wave ahead of the 2022 and 2024 elections. |
| Senate GOP pitches options for stalled competition bill | |
 | Senate Republicans on Tuesday offered some alternatives for moving a package of domestic semiconductor manufacturing incentives outside of a conference committee that's halted work on melding rival bills due to GOP objections over Democrats' partisan budget reconciliation negotiations. "The conference is stuck," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. "And so it seems to me there are a couple of ways out of this, potentially." The alternatives the Kentucky Republican floated include having the House pass the Senate version of the competition bill without amendments, which would send the measure directly to President Joe Biden's desk. Another option is pulling out the $52 billion in funding for semiconductor manufacturing subsidies and moving that separately. Democrats, however, are not ready to give up on the conference process for the broader bipartisan competition bill or negotiations on the slimmed-down version of a reconciliation package that Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., are negotiating. "I'm working on getting a bipartisan bill ... and a bipartisan effort in the conference," said Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore. |
| Biden fondly recalls less polarized era while hosting picnic | |
| President Biden on Tuesday hosted hundreds of lawmakers, their families and aides for the first congressional picnic at the White House in three years, speaking fondly of a bygone era in which Democrats and Republicans could get along, despite differing political views. "I wish we were able to do more of this so that you all got to know one another well," Biden said, casually dressed without a jacket or tie. The president reminisced of an increasingly quaint time on Capitol Hill, when lawmakers would spend considerably more time socializing and becoming acquainted with one another's families. Those interactions, Biden said, helped lawmakers get along better. The president, who spent 36 years in the Senate, recalled advice that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., gave him when he arrived in Washington as a young senator: spend time in the Senate Dining Room, which is for senators only, and get to know new colleagues. "It's hard to dislike a colleague when you know he or she has a wife or husband that has cancer," Biden said. "It's hard to look at someone who you strongly disagree with and make it personal when you know they have a son or daughter that has a problem." Though the White House picnic was cut short by an impending thunderstorm, Biden had plenty of time to mingle with lawmakers and their families, taking selfies and greeting them shortly before he was to leave for the Middle East. The White House said more than 250 lawmakers, including dozens of House and Senate Republicans, attended the picnic along with a smattering of Cabinet officials and scores of congressional aides. |
| Biden, old-school backer of Israel, arrives at a tricky moment for both nations | |
 | Joe Biden and Israel go way back. As he began his 10th trip to the Holy Land, he can look back on visits -- as a senator and vice president -- spanning almost five decades and nearly a dozen prime ministers. Biden landed in Israel touting his decades-long relationship with the country and reaffirming his Zionist credentials. "The connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep," he said at the airport after disembarking. "It's bone deep. Generation after generation, that connection grows. We invest in each other. We dream together. We're part of what has always been the objective we both had. I've been part of that as a senator, as a vice president, and quite frankly, before that, having been raised by a righteous Christian." Israel's unsettled political scene -- Prime Minister Yair Lapid assumed office when the coalition government collapsed in turmoil at the end of June -- means that the leaders will be navigating domestic pressures during a tightly scripted state visit, according to officials in both countries. Lapid's centrist party faces a November election and polls that show Netanyahu poised for a possible comeback. Biden, an old-school Democratic Israel supporter, is contending with the left wing of his own party, which has increasingly aligned itself with the Palestinians and connected the Middle East conflict to the struggle for racial justice in the United States. Lapid, a centrist and Israel's most moderate leader in more than a decade, is one of the few national politicians willing to endorse the possibility of an independent Palestine and the "two-state solution" that Biden has returned to the center of American policy. But the dynamics in both countries will take the most contentious issues off the table. |
| Biden gets an earful in the Oval Office from Mexican President López Obrador | |
 | In his long career as a U.S. senator, Joe Biden has sat through his share of lengthy speeches. But sitting in the Oval Office on Tuesday, President Biden seemed a bit out of practice. During a meeting with Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Biden at turns smirked, grimaced, fidgeted, and took notes as the Mexican president launched into remarks that went on for more than half an hour. Some 20 minutes into his remarks, López Obrador said he was getting ready to conclude. Biden broke into a big grin and laughed. Speaking through an interpreter, the populist leader touched on everything from Franklin D. Roosevelt's migrant policies, to the relative costs of American and Mexican gasoline, to lithium mining, and the need for broader, more predictable migration policies. Biden made a point to tell his counterpart that he agreed with many of López Obrador's broad points, that "our nations share close ties, family, and friendship." Biden said policy differences between the two were often exaggerated by "overhyped headlines." Biden also touted cooperation between the two nations on targeting drugs -- specifically fentanyl -- as well as on tackling the root causes that lead people to migrate from Central and South America to Mexico and the United States |
| Trump Spurred Far-Right Groups to Violence on Jan. 6, Committee Says | |
 | The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol said former President Donald Trump's tweets and public comments spurred far-right groups to violence as he made a last-ditch effort to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election win. Committee members said Mr. Trump rallied supporters to Washington that day as he was facing a narrowing set of options to hold on to the presidency, after legal challenges failed and other ideas, such as seizing voting machines, were rejected by administration officials. In his speech at the Ellipse, Mr. Trump urged the crowd to march to the Capitol as he implored then-Vice President Mike Pence and Republican lawmakers to overturn the election result. Mr. Trump "summoned a mob to Washington, D.C., and ultimately spurred that mob to wage a violent attack on our democracy," said Chairman Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.). The committee's seventh hearing of the year focused on potential connections between Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn the election and far-right groups who participated in the day's violence, as the panel sought to portray a president actively engaged in disrupting the peaceful transfer of power. Witnesses at the hearing Tuesday described a heated argument on Dec. 18, 2020, in which Mr. Trump's White House lawyers rejected claims of widespread election fraud by Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other outside advisers. Then, in the early morning hours of Dec. 19, Mr. Trump tweeted: "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" Committee members said the tweet sparked far-right groups, including the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, to start planning for a potential attack. |
| Search continues for missing Mississippi college student | |
| Authorities continued to search Tuesday for a University of Mississippi student who went missing days ago in the northern part of the state. Oxford Police renewed a call to the public for any tips leading to the whereabouts of Jimmie "Jay" Lee. His car was found Monday, identified at a towing company after it was taken from an apartment complex where he was believed to have last been seen. The car is a 2014 black Ford Fusion with a Mississippi license plate number "JAYLEE1." It has a gold racing stripe down the middle of the hood and front bumper, university police wrote in a statement. Lee was last seen leaving Campus Walk Apartments at 5:58 a.m. on July 8 wearing a silver robe or housecoat, gold cap and gray slippers, according to Oxford Police. Police believe Lee may have disappeared after visiting someone at Molly Barr Trails, a different apartment complex. Police said the organization Crime Stoppers has pledged $1,000 for anyone with information that leads to Lee being found. |
| Pearl River Community College names new VP to lead Hancock Campus | |
 | There's a new man leading Pearl River Community College's Hancock Campus. Dr. Raymunda Barnes moved into the role of Vice President on July 1. Dr. Barnes is a Biloxi native who started at PRCC 15 years ago. In that time he's held several different positions including Lead Instructor, Campus Dean, and Assistant Vice President of Hancock Campus. "Dr. Barnes is a phenomenal leader who has served Pearl River in a variety of roles and responsibilities over the past many years," said PRCC President, Dr. Adam Breerwood. "He represents our institution to the highest of standards and has a genuine love for our faculty, staff and students. "We are blessed to have him on our team and I look forward to his continued success. Having been closely associated with Dr. Barnes for many years, I know he is the perfect fit to lead our new Hancock Campus." Dr. Barnes graduated from D'Iberville High School. He began his college career at Alcorn State University where he earned a bachelor's degree in history. He then earned his Master of Education from William Carey University and his Doctor of Education from the University of Southern Mississippi in Higher Education Administration. |
| University Lakes restoration finally underway as project managers battle algae, sediment | |
 | After years of planning, the project slated to revitalize and dredge University Lakes for the first time in decades is underway. With $50 million from state and local sources, Phase I of the University Lakes project is fully funded and has begun with contractors dredging and moving sediment to test what method works best for each of the lakes. In recent years, algae buildup has created an unhealthy lake environment for fish and other animals while developing into an eyesore for residents and visitors. University Lakes restoration project manager Mark Goodson said that Sevenson Environmental Services Inc., the company tasked with dredging the lake, is considering hydraulic and mechanical dredging techniques. According to Goodson, the area where University Lakes sits used to be a cypress-tupelo swamp that was logged and dug out in the 1930s in order to build up LSU's campus and the surrounding area. Because the area is naturally a swamp, Goodson said, it is constantly attempting to revert to its original state by filling with silt, sediment, dirt and debris. In the 1930s, the lakes were 15 feet deep with fishing holes as deep as 20 feet, compared to an average depth of 5 feet currently, according to the project website. |
| ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia, a supercomputing leader, plans to retire | |
 | Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thomas Zacharia announced he will retire at the end of the year. Zacharia has served in the position since 2017 and had a 35-year career at the laboratory, one of the top science and technology centers in the world. His tenure as director included many new research initiatives, according to a news release from the laboratory, plus navigating thousands of employees through the COVID-19 pandemic. This summer, the lab's Frontier supercomputer was named the fastest in the world. It was built last year by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Cray, a high-performance computing company. He also helped establish the UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, a partnership with the University of Tennessee. "I am very optimistic about ORNL's future and in its pursuit of excellence --- to be among the premier research institutions in the world," Zacharia said in a message to staff members, according to the news release. "I am very proud that mission and service continue to define ORNL on the eve of its 80th anniversary. We are stewards of an amazing legacy, and there comes a time when we all must pass that responsibility along." "Thomas Zacharia's life is the story of an enormously talented individual born in another country, attracted to the United States to earn advanced degrees and to raise a family, who then led one of our nation's most important institutions, creating prestige and jobs for Americans," said former Sen. Lamar Alexander, a longtime champion of the technological advancements at the lab. |
| U. of Missouri demolition projects generate tons of rubble and recyclables. Where does it all go? | |
 | One sunny afternoon in mid-June, two excavators were busy hauling debris from the demolition at London Hall on the University of Missouri campus. Two other excavators were collecting metal, pipe, wires and concrete to save and reuse. It was one step in the long process of clearing and discarding the mountains of rubble and trash that accumulate when a building is torn down. Twelve buildings at MU have been targeted for demolition under the university's Space Reduction and Strategic Relocation Plan, intended to cut overall facility square footage by 750,000 gross square feet by 2023. These ongoing demolition projects are generating tons of concrete, wood, asphalt, bricks, glass, rocks and metal, as well as hazardous materials like asbestos and lead. The hazardous materials will be sent to a specified collection center for proper disposal, and anything that can be recycled will be saved for reuse. After that, the rest of the debris end up in a legal landfill. |
| Faculty focus on belonging can improve student experiences and grades, report finds | |
| The portion of students who reported positive learning experiences rose 10.5% in the 2020-2021 academic year, when they were in classrooms where faculty members worked to make them feel that they belong, are valued and can succeed, according to a new report from the Student Experience Project, a consortium led by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities. Black, Latina, and Native American women who were experiencing financial stress responded to efforts most strongly. Their positive experience rate jumped by 25% according to the report, which compares data from surveys covering the fall 2020 and spring 2020 terms. Improvements in student experience were associated with better grades, the report said. Students' likelihood of earning an A or B in a course increased, and their likelihood of earning a D or F or withdrawing decreased, as they reported more positive experiences over the term. Researchers emphasized the importance of faculty when developing best practices to create an environment conducive to student success. "When campuses create learning environments designed to promote social belonging, students are more likely to take advantage of campus resources and actually succeed at the university," said Samantha Levine, associate director of the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities and co-lead on the Student Experience Project. |
| College business officers upbeat despite worrisome outlook | |
 | Scanning the landscape, college and university financial leaders would seem to have plenty to worry about. Student enrollments are declining, and tuition revenues along with them. Inflation is high. The federal government has turned off the tap on the recovery aid that helped many institutions weather the COVID-19 pandemic and related recession. Even colleges and universities with big endowments -- those best positioned to weather financial storms -- have to be nervous watching the stock market officially enter bear market territory by dropping more than 20 percent so far in 2022. A different picture emerges, though, in the results of Inside Higher Ed's 2022 Survey of College and University Business Officers, out today in advance of this weekend's annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Business Officers in Denver. While the 248 chief business officers surveyed acknowledge many of the pressures facing their institutions and express slightly less optimism than they did in last year's survey, they are on balance upbeat about their institutions' financial stability and largely disinclined to see the need for dramatic changes in how they operate. Sixty-four percent of business officers say their institution is in better shape than it was in 2019, before the pandemic hit, due in large part to American Rescue Plan funds. The third of colleges that say they're worse off than in 2019 overwhelmingly cite lower enrollments and tuition revenue. Business officers are split down the middle on whether they're better off now than they expect to be in a year. |
| How the Pandemic Hammered a Key U.S. Export: Education | |
 | Despite a vaccine-driven recovery in other parts of the U.S. economy last year, economic activity generated by educational services to international students continued to languish in 2021, according to estimates released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Considered an export by the BEA, these education-related transactions produced $41.2 billion in inflation-adjusted economic activity for the United States in 2021 -- a significant decline from the $48.3 billion spawned during 2020 (exports of education services for the first two quarters of that year remained at levels commensurate with past quarters before falling substantially). Even more startling: Between 2019 and 2021, the economic activity spurred by the export of America's education services fell by almost 28 percent -- a decline of nearly $16 billion (seasonally adjusted). From 2006 (when the BEA began to more fully quantify the international trade of education-related services) until the pandemic, this particular facet of U.S. trade grew 13.7 percent, on average, each year. Preliminary estimates for 2022 suggest, however, that any pre-pandemic return to dependable economic growth still remains beyond the horizon. BEA estimated the country's export of education services to international students studying at U.S. campuses generated just $9.1 billion in economic activity in the first quarter of 2022, well below the $13.3 billion produced between January and March of 2020. |
| The Quiet Fight to Keep Legacy Admissions | |
 | Describing its incoming class of 2025, Yale boasted that its students hailed from 48 states, 68 countries and 1,221 high schools. What's more, the university announced last year, 51 percent of the class identified as students of color. Yet even as Yale promotes the diversity of its first-year students, the college has clung to an admissions tradition -- legacy preferences -- that mostly benefits students who are white, wealthy and well-connected. Of the incoming students, 14 percent were the offspring of a Yale graduate, receiving the kind of admissions boost also used at other elite institutions. Not much has made a dent in the century-old tradition, despite efforts to end the preference that have been waged by progressive students, lawmakers and education reformers. Many colleges say legacy students cement family ties and multigenerational loyalty. And only a few elite colleges have abolished the preference. The practice of legacy admissions, however, may soon face its greatest test yet -- and in a twist, its future could be tied to the future of affirmative action. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments this fall about race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. If the court ends or rolls back the widely used practice of considering race in selecting students, as many experts expect, the ruling could prompt a reconsideration of legacy applicants. Explicitly favoring the children of alumni -- some of whom would be competitive applicants regardless because of socioeconomic advantages -- would become harder to defend if racial preferences are no longer allowed. |
| To Boycott or Not? Academic Conferences Face Pressure to Avoid Abortion-Hostile States | |
| Corinne Low, an assistant professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, sat down with her colleagues last month to discuss what Low said was the year's biggest event for economists: the Allied Social Sciences Associations' annual meeting, hosted by the American Economic Association. But they weren't talking about presentations or forums or interviews. They were worried about the location. The 2023 annual meeting was set to take place in New Orleans, where a Louisiana law banning nearly all abortions was about to take effect. The U.S. Supreme Court had just issued its decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, revoking the constitutional right to abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years. Many of Low's colleagues had been pregnant at conferences. One had serious complications that required time in a hospital. They wondered if going to a state with restrictions on abortion would create disincentives for doctors to act to save pregnant women or their future fertility. "The difference between if a doctor has to say, 'I have to have a 99-percent chance the patient will die without intervention before I'm allowed to act,' versus being able to say, 'In my best medical judgment, the best thing to do is to act here' -- that difference is enormous," Low said. So Low and six of her colleagues drafted a letter to the economics association, demanding it relocate its 2023 meeting, and the 2024 meeting planned for San Antonio. The AEA is among a number academic associations fielding members' calls to take a stand for abortion rights by changing their conferences -- which can be a boon for local economies -- in states that ban or restrict the procedure. |
| Berkeley professor to Hawley: 'Your line of questioning is transphobic' | |
 | Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges rebuked Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, accusing him of peppering her with a line of transphobic questioning. Bridges during an exchange with Hawley at the hearing cited the suicide attempt rate among transgender people and accused Hawley of asking questions that could lead to violence against the trans community. Hawley appeared annoyed with those accusations and eventually asked Bridges if that was how she treated her students. The dispute began when Hawley began asking questions about pregnancy. "You've referred to people with a capacity for pregnancy. Would that be women?" the senator asked Bridges during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on abortion rights. "Many cis women have the capacity for pregnancy. Many cis women do not have the capacity for pregnancy," Bridges responded. "There are also trans men who are capable of pregnancy as well as nonbinary people who are capable of pregnancy." Seemingly unsatisfied with Bridges's answer, Hawley asked her, "Your view, the core of this right is about what?" "I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic, and it opens up trans people to violence," Bridges responded. |
| Draft bill would ban CDC, NIH from funding lab research in China | |
| A proposal moving through Congress to bar the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from funding research laboratories in China is sparking concern among scientists. If signed into law, the measure could cut off millions of dollars of U.S. funds flowing to collaborative research projects in several areas, including HIV/AIDS, cancer, mental health, and flu surveillance. The proposed ban, part of a 2023 spending bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations on 30 June, grew out of suspicions among some lawmakers, so far unsupported by evidence, that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China released the coronavirus that started the current pandemic, as well as objections to other potentially risky biomedical experiments involving animals. Specifically, the measure would bar the Department of Health and Human Services (the parent agency of NIH and CDC) from funding WIV or "any other laboratory" in China, Russia, or any country the U.S. government has designated a foreign adversary, a list that currently includes Iran and North Korea. The measure's sponsor, Representative Chris Stewart (R–UT), says the ban is aimed at ensuring the United States does not fund "dangerous research" in "uncontrolled environments" overseas. Some scientific organizations are concerned by the proposal's expansive scope. "It seems a bit extreme," says Eva Maciejewski, spokesperson for the Foundation for Biomedical Research, which advocates for animal research. "In theory it's good to have oversight over biosafety and animal welfare, but in practice there may be better ways than blocking all NIH funding to foreign countries." The microbiology community is also troubled, says Mary Lee Watts, director of federal affairs for the American Society for Microbiology. "International collaboration is essential to allowing our scientists to ... understand disease threats wherever in the world they exist, in order to protect public health," Watts says. |
| Renick's rural background, quick mind will serve Mississippi well on the TVA board | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: William "Bill" Renick Sr. of Ashland is a solid choice by President Joe Biden to represent Mississippi's interests on the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors. Like Richard Howorth and Glenn McCullough before him in that role, Renick brings a quick, analytical mind to guiding the fortunes of the nation's largest public utility. But Renick's life experience in rural Mississippi and his extensive Mississippi political resume should make him effective on Day One. Renick, 68, has a unique 50-year background in public service -- holding elective office in municipal, county and state government -- winning election as an Ashland alderman at the age of 18. He also held appointive office as an economic development leader and as a hospital administrator. After serving in the Mississippi Legislature, he served both former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and former Lt. Gov. Eddie Briggs as chief of staff. Renick even did some lobbying in Jackson as president of the Mississippi Retail Association. Quick with a joke or a story and possessed of an authentic gift for putting people at ease, Renick also displayed throughout his government service a willingness to engage on behalf of causes he supported and to give as good as he got in political combat. Those qualities made him effective both in partisan battles and in struggles over the division of the governmental resource pie. |
SPORTS
| 116 Student-Athletes Named to SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll | |
| Mississippi State saw 116 student-athletes named to the 2022 SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll announced Wednesday by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and the conference office. The 2022 Spring SEC Academic Honor Roll includes the sports of baseball, golf, softball, tennis and track & field. It is based on grades from the 2021 Summer, 2021 Fall and 2022 Spring terms. Today's announcement brings Mississippi State's total to 190 student-athletes named to a 2021-22 SEC Academic Honor Roll. The Bulldogs placed 65 on the fall list, nine on the winter list, and a program-record 116 on the spring list, surpassing last season's mark of 113. Any student‐athlete who participates in a Southeastern Conference championship sport or a student‐athlete who participates in a sport listed on his/her institution's NCAA Sports Sponsorship Form is eligible for nomination to the academic honor roll. |
| New In 2022-23: Student All-Sport Pass On Sale August 15, Basketball Student Section Relocation | |
| For the first time ever, Mississippi State University students will have the option of purchasing an All-Sport Pass beginning Aug. 15 that will allow them admission to all ticketed home regular season MSU games across all sports. Created as the result of a partnership between Bulldog Athletics and the Student Association (SA) at Mississippi State University, the All-Sport Pass will provide students access to home Bulldog athletic events at a discounted rate of just $150 ($39 less than purchasing season tickets for each sport separately). In previous years, students were required to purchase tickets individually by sport. "The introduction of a student all-sports pass here at MSU will allow students to ensure they can support our Bulldogs year-round at a greatly discounted price," MSU Student Association President Kennedy Guest said. Another exciting change for 2022-23 athletic season features an enhanced student experience coming to Humphrey Coliseum. Coinciding with the start of the Jans and Purcell eras of Mississippi State Basketball, the student section at Humphrey Coliseum for men's and women's basketball games will move to sections 110-114 to place students closer to mid-court. For the 2023-24 season, MSU Athletics intends to move the student section to 111-115, which will extend all the way down to the court to mirror the well-known student section of years past in The Hump. Additional court side seating options are continuing to be explored with architects. |
| Southern Miss softball coach Brian Levin resigns after 3 seasons | |
 | Southern Miss head softball coach Brian Levin announced his resignation on Tuesday in order to spend time and be closer to his family. "It is a bittersweet decision for Michelle and I to step away from Southern Miss," Levin said in a prepared statement. "We have made some incredible relationships here but having the opportunity to move to Iowa where my children and grandchildren live is something we may not have a chance to do again." Levin took over the Southern Miss program in July of 2019. posting a 65-62 overall record in three seasons. The Golden Eagles went 29-23 with a 9-15 mark in Conference USA play in 2022. Levin arrived in Hattiesburg after three seasons at Belmont. Before that, he took the University of Missouri-St. Louis to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. The Golden Eagles will now embark on a head coaching search for the fifth time since 2010. "I appreciate Brian's commitment and effort during his time here at Southern Miss, and we wish him the best moving forward," Southern Miss Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain said in the statement. Southern Miss softball has not made an NCAA Tournament appearance since 2004. |
| Texas A&M to add checkout-free concessions from Amazon at Kyle Field | |
 | Texas A&M and Levy, the university's hospitality partner, announced Tuesday that three checkout-free food and beverage stores will be brought to Kyle Field this fall that will be equipped with Amazon's Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One. Shoppers enter the store by inserting a credit card or holding their palm over an Amazon One device at the store's entry gate. The Just Walk Out technology determines the items shoppers select, or return. When shoppers leave the store, the credit card they inserted or linked to their Amazon One ID will be charged for the items they took. No checkout is required. "Texas A&M seeks to always be on the cutting edge of technology so it's fitting that Kyle Field, Home of the 12th Man, would be the first collegiate venue in the world to feature Amazon's innovative customer shopping experience," Ross Bjork, Texas A&M's director of athletics, said in a release. "We must always make the fan experience better and I know that Aggies and our guests will love having the ability to avoid the line and get back to the football game as fast as possible. Two stores will be located outside Section 125 and the third will be outside Section 129. The stores will sell products such as snacks, chips, soda, bottled water and alcoholic beverages. IDs will be required to be shown to store attendants to purchase alcohol. These will be the first Amazon checkout-free technology and palm recognition service used at a collegiate venue. |
| LSU athletics expected to hire West Virginia official for No. 2 role, source confirms | |
| LSU is expected to hire West Virginia deputy athletic director/Chief Operating Officer Keli Zinn as the second-highest ranking member of the athletic department under Scott Woodward, a source confirmed to The Advocate | Times-Picayune. Zinn will replace former executive athletic director/COO Stephanie Rempe, who left last month to become the athletic director at Nevada. Rempe had spent three years at LSU. An announcement is expected in the coming days. ESPN first reported the news Tuesday. A West Virginia graduate, Zinn worked in her alma mater's athletic department since 2010. She started in compliance before moving up to the No. 2 position in the building. At one point, Zinn served as interim athletic director for three months, making her the first woman to hold the position in school history. In her current role, Zinn helped athletic director Shane Lyons lead the athletic department by providing "strategic direction and operations management," according to her bio. She was the athletic department's primary liaison to university administration while also overseeing the football program's finances, capital projects, infrastructure and contract negotiations. Zinn will take over for one of the most influential members of LSU's athletic department the past three years. Rempe oversaw daily operations and worked behind the scenes on several high-profile coaching searches, from women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey to football coach Brian Kelly. |
| Nick Saban Explains His Biggest Concern With College Football Realignment | |
| Ever since USC and UCLA announced their plans to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, college football realignment has been a major talking point in the sports world. Of course, Alabama coach Nick Saban had to weigh in and he has concerns. "My biggest concern is competitive balance," Saban said on the Always College Football podcast. "The NFL -- which I was involved in for eight years -- every rule they have is to create competitive balance and if they could have every team go 8–8 so at the end of a season every team was playing their last game to get in the playoffs they would be ecstatic. Because how much fan interest does that create? We don't have any guardrails on what we're doing right now," he continued. "We have no restrictions on who can do what. Some people are gonna be capable of doing certain things other people aren't going to be capable. But the bottom line is we'll lose competitive balance. Which everything we've always done in college football is to maintain competitive balance. Same scholarship, everyone had to play by the same rules whether it was recruiting or whatever. Right now that's not how it is." The SEC is also the subject of another major realignment with Oklahoma and Texas slated to leave the Big 12 and join the conference by 2025. Because of all the movement, Saban is also concerned that classic rivalries will suffer due to obvious schedule changes. |
| SBJ College: How the Big 12 commish race went down | |
| In the aftermath of the Big 12 commissioner search, it's been interesting to hear some of the stories about how the university presidents dialed in on Brett Yormark, the eventual selection, and Tim Pernetti, the very close runner-up. And the role that Charlie Hussey's withdrawal played in the outcome. Pernetti and Yormark were running neck and neck going into the final in-person interviews. Pernetti, the IMG exec and former Rutgers AD (as well as an SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree in 2008), brought a mix of the traditional and non-traditional experience. The question was whether the presidents making the decision would view him as more of an AD or a veteran sports exec with 25 years in a variety of roles. And when the presidents went back to their ADs for feedback, would they be supportive of Pernetti? All signs indicated that they were. Yormark, the SBJ Forty Under 40 Hall of Famer who was recruited by TurnkeyZRG, was missing the college experience, but he ascended to the top of the candidate list through his accomplishments, contagious energy and deep set of contacts in media and government. The finalists were asked to bring at least one "big idea" to the in-person interview. When Yormark showed up with 10, the presidents were moved by his enthusiasm and vision. What the presidents didn't expect was for Hussey, a Forty Under 40 honoree in 2016, to remove himself after moving into serious contention. The SEC's deputy commissioner was a factor as the search neared its conclusion, sources say, but it was also a bit uncomfortable. If Hussey had gotten the Big 12 job, he would have been responsible for negotiating the exit of Oklahoma and Texas so they could move on to the SEC. Negotiating them out after just negotiating them in would have been tough, especially since the Big 12 presidents would have expected Hussey to milk the Sooners and Longhorns for as much exit-fee money as possible. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
