| Friday, October 28, 2022 |
| Cotton District Arts Festival set for Saturday | |
 | The Starkville Area Arts Council will be hosting the Cotton District Arts Festival and Taste of Starkville on Saturday. This will be the group's second festival since returning from a COVID-19 hiatus. The event has a full day of activities slated. "Right now we plan to have around 100 artisan vendors and around 20 Taste of Starkville food vendors," said Juliette Reid, program coordinator for SAAC. "We've got three live music stages all day. We've got the juried arts show in the visual arts center. We've got the children's village, hosted by Starkville Strong. We've got the international village, hosted by the World Neighbor Association. It has different cultural acts. We've got the south stage with different community acts, with the headliner, hopefully at 4 p.m., The Disco Stranglers. In the writer's village, Read to Succeed will be passing out free books for kids and it will have some other kids activities." However, weather may be a factor for all scheduled events. "We are in full weather mode," Reid said. "We are trying to make sure that everything is safe. (We want to make sure) we have a rollout plan, that we're communicating to the committee, the artisans, the vendors, the musicians, everyone involved. If anything dramatic occurs, those people will be notified first and then the public afterward." |
| People coming back out to enjoy shopping and Main Street activities | |
 | Disruptions from the pandemic impacted downtown business districts across the state. But now many shoppers are coming back, reviving the local economy while enjoying getting back together with friends and neighbors to enjoy each other's company and celebrate their communities. Thomas Gregory, executive director of Mississippi Main Street Association, said local Main Street retailers can survive by creating unique experiences, something that people enjoy getting out of their house and doing with friends. "The retailers that have succeeded during the pandemic are those who got the most creative with merchandise sales and providing a higher level of service than you get with online retailers," Gregory said. "They created an experience that was exciting, enticing people to come in their store. One thing our local Main Street programs did successfully during the pandemic was to promote 'buy local' campaigns. These campaigns promote the realization that every dollar spent in a locally owned small business circulates in the local economy three times more than a dollar spent with a national chain. Small business owners use the income from their stores to buy clothes for their kids, eat out, and shop at other local stores. We know the shops on Main Street are owned by people who live in the community. When you are spending locally, you are really investing in yourself and your own community." |
| Starkville police name community room after courageous boy | |
| The Starkville Police Department has named its community room in memory of a little boy who showed great courage while battling a rare disease. "Super Gabe," as Gabriel Valentine became known by most, struggled with epidermolysis bullosa, a genetic disease that causes extremely fragile skin that blisters and tears from minor friction or trauma. Valentine became a local hero and celebrity several years ago when community members rallied around and supported him. In October 2015, the police department swore in the 7-year-old as an honorary member of the police department. He lost his battle the following summer, just short of his ninth birthday. During a short ceremony on Thursday, Chief Mark Ballard officially renamed his department's community room as the "Super Gabe Community Room" in memory of the elementary school student's bravery while facing the fatal disease. Valentine is remembered not for EB --- often called "The worst disease you've never heard of" -- but the way he faced up to the challenge every day. In addition to honoring Valentine's courage, the department hopes to shine a little more light on the disease. The ceremony was held during National Epidermolysis Bullosa Awareness Week, Oct. 25-31. "With more resources and research, we can find a cure," Ballard said. |
| Port-to-SDI rail spur will mean fewer trucks on the road | |
| The Lowndes County Port Authority has received a $6.1 million grant to construct critical rail line infrastructure at its West Bank Port on Old Macon Road. LCPA Director Will Sanders told The Dispatch the port will design and construct a rail spur and 10,000 linear feet of rail line, connecting it to an existing railroad line operated by Kansas City Southern Railway. Once connected, scrap metal material can move from the dock to the Steel Dynamics mill on Airport Road, adjacent to the Golden Triangle Regional Airport. The project will also include the construction of three transloading docks on the West Bank, which will bring the total number of barges that can unload there from two to three, Sanders said. "We have never had a rail on that side of the port," Sanders said. "And now, we have this grant to build a rail spur that will come out at the main line (railroad) and come into our port so we can load straight from barges into rail cars." Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said the West Bank project serves as part of a longer-term goal to decrease the use of trucking and improve the output of the mill via rails, and it came sooner than initially anticipated. In a press release issued Thursday, Roger Wicker, Mississippi's senior U.S. senator, noted the importance of the project to keep the state moving forward. |
| Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves to push for full elimination of income tax | |
 | Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves promised to push for a full elimination of the state's income tax during the 2023 legislative session. The move would make Mississippi the 10th state with no income tax. Addressing a crowd of business leaders Thursday at an event hosted by the state Chamber of Commerce, Reeves touted "the largest tax cut in Mississippi history during the 2022 session" and said he wanted to go even further. "Last session the fiscal and the financial environment was right to do exactly that, but unfortunately, the political environment was not," Reeves said. "This session I hope that's not the case." Mississippi's Republican-controlled legislature passed legislation in 2022 that will eliminate the state's 4% income tax bracket starting in 2023. In the following three years, the 5% bracket will be reduced to 4%. Nine states don't have an income tax and one more, New Hampshire, only taxes interest and dividends, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Washington state passed a capital gains tax on high earners in 2021 that is facing a legal challenge. The Mississippi income tax accounts for 34% of state revenue. Lawmakers said the tax cut would reduce state revenue by $185 million in the first year. By the final year, the figure would be $525 million. |
| Gov. Reeves again renews call to eliminate income tax | |
| Gov. Tate Reeves again told Mississippi's business leaders on Thursday that he wants to fully eliminate the state's income tax, even though those same leaders have previously said cutting taxes is not a priority for them. During the Mississippi Economic Council's annual Hobnob event, Reeves, a Republican, said that it's time to abolish the tax altogether, even though he signed the state's largest tax cut into law earlier this year. "I don't think there's any doubt that eliminating the income tax will make Mississippi more competitive for not only capital investment but also for people," Reeves told reporters. The Legislature during its 2022 session voted to essentially leave Mississippi with a flat 4% tax rate on all earned income over $10,000 within the next four years. The cut is expected to slash state revenue collections by around $525 million over a four-year period. But industry leaders have been lukewarm to the idea of cutting the tax entirely. Officials from the MEC -- essentially the state chamber of commerce -- earlier this year released a report based on survey results that details all of the major concerns that business leaders across the state had about growing the state's economy. "The Mississippi tax environment was not high profile nor ever discussed significantly as a priority," the MEC report said. Instead, the survey said business leaders are more concerned with promoting an educated workforce to fill vacant jobs and fixing the state's crumbling infrastructure. |
| State's health care woes ignored by some, but not all at annual Hobnob | |
 | "Only positive Mississippi spoken here," a phrase coined by former Gov. Kirk Fordice, was the theme for the most part of the politicians at the annual Hobnob event sponsored by the state's Economic Council. But two politicians -- Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney -- devoted much of their speech at the Mississippi Economic Council's annual Hobnob to the state's troubled health care system and the financial difficulties that many of the state's hospitals are facing. "Would you locate (a business) in a state that you don't have health care?" Chaney asked of the crowd of about 1,000 primarily business leaders gathered at the Mississippi Coliseum to hear from the state's political leadership. "I don't think you would." Hosemann said the Senate would be looking at health care issues during the upcoming session. He also said the legislative leadership should not be scared away from efforts to improve health care by "that X word." Hosemann was presumably referring to Medicaid expansion where, through primarily federal funds, the state could provide health care for about 200,000 poor Mississippians, mostly people who work in jobs that do not offer health insurance. Hospitals have argued that expanding Medicaid like 38 other states have done would help them financially. At the very least, the lieutenant governor said the state should extend Medicaid coverage for mothers from 60 days after giving birth to one year. "How can we not be pro-life and pro-child at the same time?" asked Hosemann. "That does not make sense to me." |
| Insurance Commissioner Chaney discloses details about recent UMMC reimbursement demands | |
 | On Thursday, Mississippi Commissioner of Insurance Mike Chaney told business leaders and politicians gathered at the annual MEC Hobnob event in Jackson that he has been made aware of a new demand by the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) to an undisclosed managed care company. According to Chaney, who was one of many speakers at this year's Hobnob hosted by the Mississippi Economic Council, UMMC has told a Medicaid managed care group that if they do not provide a 15% (an estimated number by Chaney) increase to reimbursements they will possibly remove those that are covered by their plans. This would account for up to 100,000 people, including children, in Mississippi. "It's just wrong," said Chaney. He added that this practice has never been done in the state of Mississippi but has happened elsewhere. This is a separate issue from the current dispute going on between UMMC and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi regarding rate reimbursements. That dispute, Chaney said, is likely at a turning point. He said he anticipates an agreement by Monday. Y'all Politics has reached out to UMMC for a copy of the letter disclosed by Chaney. No response has been received at time of this publication. |
| Months after water outages, Jackson restaurants still working to get customers back | |
| The city of Jackson got devastating national publicity from the water system outages this past summer. Small businesses, particularly restaurants, took a big hit from increased costs and fewer customers. When this article was written in October, the water had been restored for eight weeks, but many restaurants were still struggling to bring back customers. "August was the worst business month we had in the 29 years we have been in Jackson," said Jeff Good, a partner with Sal & Mookie's, Broad Street Bakery and BRAVO! restaurants in Jackson. "It was worse than when we had to shut down for COVID. ... My problem as a businessman who sells food in Jackson, and this is echoed by all the restaurant operators in our city, is I can't operate in a city where there are frequent outages or boil water notices with extremely long tails. There must be a fundamental change in how the water system is managed, operated and delivered." Starting in mid-October, the restaurants coordinated with Leah Rupp Smith, who works for the lieutenant governor's office, to launch a four-week campaign putting out passionate pleas for people to eat out in Jackson. The Cirlot Agency donated time to create the commercials that featured local restaurant workers who could lose their jobs if business doesn't improve. Spot On Productions likewise offered their video production skills. "Leah lives in Jackson and is worried about Jackson," Good said. "Visit Jackson donated the funds to run the commercials on TV. Then the TV stations were kind enough to add additional free time because they saw the gravity of the situation." David Conn, a partner with Char Restaurant in Highland Village and Saltine Restaurant in Fondren, said the national media attention to the problem was bad publicity for Jackson and its restaurants. |
| Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi leaving diocese, wife to be rector at California church | |
 | The Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi, who recently led the diocese through the COVID-19 pandemic and Jackson water crisis, will be leaving the state once a replacement is elected. Brian Seage, the diocese's 10th bishop, was elected in 2014 and succeeded Bishop Duncan Gray in 2015, upon Gray's retirement. The move comes as St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Northeast Jackson announced that Kyle Seage, also an Episcopal priest and the bishop's wife, had accepted a job as rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere, CA. She had been the rector of St. Phillip's for 12 years. Brian Seage said his family wasn't looking for a move, but when they saw the profile listing for St. Stephen's, they felt like she had to apply. Brian Seage will remain in Jackson for longer, as the diocese and leaders of its parishes conduct a search for the 11th Bishop of Mississippi. That process, from the beginning of the search to the installation of a new bishop, can take up to two years. Once it is complete, the then-former bishop plans to join his wife in California. Before he was elected bishop, Brian Seage was rector at St. Columb's Episcopal Church in Ridgeland. After his undergraduate education at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, he attended divinity school at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. "For me, in my ministry with the Diocese of Mississippi, I'm looking at these next two years as being ones where my foot is going to remain on the gas pedal," the bishop said. "And we're going to continue to push forward with some really important ministry that we've started as we've been coming out of the pandemic, and I'm looking to strengthen existing ministries before I leave so that I can leave the table set for the next bishop, and provide them with what I hope will be opportunities to be successful." |
| Will young voters turn out in Mississippi's midterm elections as they did in 2020 and 2018? | |
 | Young voters, those under the age of 30, have a longstanding reputation for not voting at the same levels as their older counterparts. However, for the last two elections, turnout for America's youth has been relatively high. In 2020, more than half of eligible young voters, 55% of them, showed up at the polls or cast their ballot through the mail. That number was 11% higher than the amount that voted in the previous presidential election in 2016. Midterm elections, like the one quickly approaching, typically have lower turnout than those where presidential candidates are on the ballot. A recent analysis of election patterns found that much of that decrease in turnout comes from young voters. Put simply, the research found that young voters show up less in midterm elections than their older counterparts. However, the last midterm election in 2018 seemed to buck that trend slightly. While young voter turnout was still below 2020 and 2016 levels, it set a record for a midterm election year at 36%. This leaves the question, what will young voter turnout look like on Nov. 8, and what impact will it have on midterm elections in Mississippi? The answer is complicated, said Jackson State University Political Science Professor Byron Orey. For young voters to show up in large numbers, issues that they care about have to be visible in the campaigns, Orey said. In 2020, for example, young people who care about racial inequality were galvanized by nationwide protesting that took place just months before the election. That awareness factored into the record turnout numbers, Orey said. Whether the top issues in the 2022 election will motivate young voters to turnout remains to be seen, and Orey said he could see it playing out either way. |
| Thompson says he's willing to help hospital | |
| Mississippi's longest-tenured representative in Congress says he is willing to provide help to Greenwood's nearly insolvent hospital if he is allowed a look at its financial records. "I've never let you down," said Rep. Bennie Thompson to the Greenwood Voters League on Wednesday. Thompson, a Democrat, is running to continue his tenure as Mississippi's 2nd District congressman, an office he has held since 1993. He is chair of the House Homeland Security Committee and chair of the special committee investigating last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol. His opponent on Nov. 8 is Republican Brian Flowers. Thompson defeated Flowers in 2020. Choosing to speak without a microphone, Thompson touted his record and said he was the only member of Mississippi's congressional delegation to continually support health care. Among other topics, Thompson discussed the state of Greenwood Leflore Hospital, which is on the brink of financial collapse. Hospital officials have been negotiating for the past two months to enter into a long-term lease agreement with the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Negotiators had originally hoped to close the deal by early December, but now they say it will be January at the earliest before a lease agreement can be finalized. Meanwhile, further reductions in the hospital's services and costs, including job cuts, are expected in order to buy the additional time. Gary Marchand, the hospital's interim CEO, has said that without additional austerity measures it would have to close by the end of November. |
| Schumer Caught on Mic Forecasting Democrats' Midterm Races | |
 | When politicians play pundit, it rarely reflects well on them. Which makes what happened Thursday, when Senator Chuck Schumer of New York was caught on a hot microphone assessing the Democrats' chances of retaining power, such an anomaly. His comments, made while greeting President Biden on the tarmac at Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, were mostly positive, talking up his party's fortunes. The remarks ricocheted around social media on an otherwise slow political news day -- and not to his, or his party's, detriment. "It looks like the debate didn't hurt us too much in Pennsylvania as of today," Mr. Schumer, the majority leader, can be heard telling Mr. Biden, his former Senate colleague. "So that's good." The comments came two days after an uneven performance by Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, in the state's lone debate for that position. Mr. Fetterman had a serious stroke in late May, and deals with auditory processing issues. He has been making steady progress, he has said, but continues to see a speech therapist. "To be honest, doing that debate wasn't exactly easy," Mr. Fetterman said Wednesday, before a friendly crowd of more than 3,000 people in Pittsburgh. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy after, you know, having a stroke after five months." During his conversation Thursday with Mr. Biden, Mr. Schumer also forecast other hotly contested Senate races. Democrats are defending vulnerable incumbents in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire, while the seat in Pennsylvania is held by Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican who is retiring. Republicans need to pick up just one Senate seat to retake the majority. |
| Biden and Trump step into a Pennsylvania proxy war | |
 | After criss-crossing the country for the midterms, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will find themselves ending the campaign on common ground in Pennsylvania. The must-win battleground has emerged as a proxy fight between the two men. It's the rare state where both are appearing, culminating in final weekend showdowns when Biden is expected to join former President Barack Obama and the Democratic ticket while Trump rallies with the Republicans in the western part of the state. The stops foreshadow a likely 2024 rematch and escalate the posturing between the two that's been simmering since Biden vanquished Trump two years ago, thanks in large part to reclaiming Pennsylvania. While their paths seldom cross so obviously, Biden has used Trump's probable return to ground his own reasoning for potentially running again. Trump, meanwhile, is using Biden's shaky standing in the polls as a springboard for himself, despite myriad investigations and legal troubles following the former president. Their teams are acutely aware that the success of any future campaign would again heavily rest on success in Pennsylvania. They are keen on keeping roots there. And yet, the late campaign swing through the state also threatens to showcase their current vulnerabilities. "Presidents can raise money, and that's really all you want him to do right now, is vacuum up some bucks and sneak out of town," said Rick Santorum, a Republican former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. "It's like with Trump -- he would be much more effective if he came in to raise money and left. But Trump and Biden, both of whom have huge egos, want to feed that ego." |
| DOD strategy reports show rising nuclear tensions | |
 | Newly released Pentagon strategy documents reveal a growing U.S. military focus on adjusting policies, plans and programs to respond to Russian threats to use nuclear weapons. The Defense Department made public on Thursday unclassified versions of the documents -- the National Defense Strategy, Nuclear Posture Review and Missile Defense Review -- after having previously sent Congress classified versions while releasing just fact sheets to the public. Each U.S. president issues a National Security Strategy, as the Biden administration did publicly earlier this month, followed by a National Defense Strategy that spells out the military's part in executing it. Defense Department officials conducted their defense strategy review and the nuclear and missile-defense reviews simultaneously -- a first, they said. The nuclear review, in particular, and a public discussion of it Thursday by senior Defense Department officials, revealed urgent questions inside the Pentagon about new atomic realities. The questions have been largely prompted by Russian President Vladimir Putin's veiled but unsubtle threats to use his atomic arsenal either in Ukraine or against nations that contest him there. The nuclear report also points out another risk from Russia's nuclear threats during the Ukraine crisis, as well as North Korea's similar threats and the prospect of Iran gaining nuclear weapons: these developments, the report said, could increase the risk that other nations want to obtain nuclear arms too. |
| As Washington wavers on TikTok, Beijing exerts control | |
 | In 2020, TikTok, the world's most popular app, seemed inches from annihilation. President Donald Trump's top advisers had staged a raucous brawl in the Oval Office, shouting at each other over whether the app's U.S. presence should be carved up and sold or banned for life. Trump responded by ordering the app banished from the country within 45 days, signing its death warrant aboard Air Force One. Then, with his flair for messy drama, he changed his mind, demanding the company instead get sold to a U.S. buyer -- provided, he said, that the United States got rewarded for its efforts by pocketing a "very large" cut of the sale's proceeds. The leaders of TikTok, owned by the Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance, had resigned themselves to selling to some stalwart of American capitalism, like Microsoft or Walmart, if it meant the app could survive, according to people familiar with the inner workings of the company who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive matters. But the Chinese government had the final say. Feeling protective of their powerful asset and antagonized by Trump, officials moved quickly to squash the takeover, adding the algorithms that drive TikTok's growth to their list of banned exports and warning ByteDance through a state-owned news organ to "strongly and carefully" reconsider any deal. The Chinese government "would rather have the company die than have it sold," one of the people said. "They are not going to let the United States have one of their crown jewels -- their algorithms. They would rather destroy it." The fight over TikTok has become one of the biggest standoffs of the modern internet: two global superpowers deadlocked over a multibillion-dollar powerhouse that could define culture and entertainment for a generation. Yet the battle has often played out like a farce, loaded with an almost comical level of contortions and contradictions -- even as China's power over the company has grown. |
| Elon Musk Purchases Twitter, Firing Top Executives | |
 | Elon Musk fired several Twitter Inc. executives after completing his takeover of the company, according to people familiar with the matter, capping an unusual corporate battle and setting up one of the world's most influential social-media platforms for potentially broad change. Mr. Musk fired Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal after the deal closed, the people said. Mr. Musk also fired Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's top legal and policy executive, and Sean Edgett, general counsel. Spokespeople for Twitter didn't comment. Hours after those actions, Mr. Musk tweeted "the bird is freed" in a seeming reference to Twitter, which has a blue bird as its logo. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday confirmed the deal closed Thursday, and that Twitter is now part of Mr. Musk's X Holdings I Inc. It wasn't immediately clear who would step into the top positions left vacant by Thursday's exits. CNBC earlier reported the departures of Mr. Agrawal and Mr. Segal. A self-described free-speech absolutist, Mr. Musk has pledged to limit content moderation in favor of emphasizing free speech. However, that approach risks causing conflicts with some advertisers, politicians and users who would prefer a more-moderated platform. Mr. Musk's takeover leaves big questions over the future of the platform, including how he might revamp its business model and how he might implement changes he has proposed for the way it polices content. |
| Paul officially introduced as new USM president Thursday | |
 | The new president of the University of Southern Mississippi was formally introduced to the USM community on Thursday afternoon at the Thad Cochran Center. USM alum and longtime Southern Miss administrator Joe Paul is now the university's 11th president. Paul served as an administrator in student affairs for 40 years and, for the last four months, was interim president at the university. The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning announced Paul's selection as president earlier this week. "The biggest short-term goal is to grow our enrollment and also, to enhance the quality of student life," Paul said. "Our students deserve no less. We've got work to do on the Mississippi Gulf Coast to grow enrollment and have a positive economic impact down there." Paul also spoke about long-term goals. "Long-term is to maintain and enhance our Research One status and to really be a unicorn in higher education," Paul said. "Southern Miss is a comprehensive research university that has a heart, and it makes us unique in all of higher ed, and we just need to spread that good news. We've got good days ahead." |
| Self-described 'Black nationalist' a Finalist for Ole Miss Law School Dean | |
| The University of Mississippi is seeking to fill the position of Dean of its School of Law. Finalists for the position have been named and campus visits are being arranged as the University would like to have the Dean on the ground and in place by July 1, 2023. According to an email obtained by Y'all Politics, one of the finalists is Kenneth Nunn, the University Term Professor from the University of Florida (UF). Nunn is a Professor of Law and Associate Director of the Center on Children and Families at UF. He is expected to be on the Ole Miss campus early next week. Nunn joined the UF faculty in 1990 and co-founded the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations, one of a few law school centers that focus on race. He previously worked as a public defender in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. and as a staff attorney at the Southern Africa Project. Nunn has published a variety of written works, including several book chapters and various articles on topics almost exclusively centered on race, diversity, critical theories -- including CRT -- and human injustice. In one of his writings titled "Essentially Black: Legal Theory and the Morality of Conscious Racial Identity" Nunn describes himself as "a Black nationalist and an African-centered scholar." |
| Mississippi College offers full tuition scholarship to new in-state students | |
| Mississippi College has announced plans to offer a full tuition scholarship to all in-state high schoolers and transfer students admitted for an undergraduate degree program in the fall semester of 2023. The Leland Speed scholarship, which has been named in honor of the longest-serving board member in the school's history, will cover tuition costs for the eligible students for four years after all federal, state, and institutional grants and scholarships are applied. "I'm not sure everybody fully understood what I announced when I first said it," Mississippi College President Dr. Blake Thompson explained. "Leland Speed has made it possible for anybody in the state of Mississippi that is admitted to Mississippi College to come here with a full tuition scholarship." Speed served for more than four decades as a member of the school's Board of Trustees before his death in January 2021. He also held the position of executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority under Governor Haley Barbour. Those who receive the scholarship will only be required to pay the final costs for room, board, and fees that are not covered by additional scholarships and outside grants. |
| NEMCC to open student health services center in 2023 | |
| Northeast Mississippi Community College leaders announced plans Thursday afternoon to open a student health services center in 2023. Dr. Laurence L. Dennis will serve as medical director of the NEMCC Student Health Services Center. He has practiced internal medicine in Booneville for more than 30 years and operates the Northeast Mississippi Internal Medicine clinic. The center will provide an opportunity for NEMCC students, employees and family members of employees, particularly those who do not have health care coverage, to seek free quality care. There will be approximately 15 staff members, including five physicians specializing in internal medicine, psychiatry and sleep disorders, along with three nurse practitioners. The center will be located at 202 North First Street in Booneville, alongside Dennis's existing clinic. It's just down the road from the NEMCC campus and right across the street from Baptist Memorial Hospital-Booneville. That location and the clinic's existing relationship with the hospital will enable doctors to order tests and send patients there as need be. "My vision for Northeast and for Northeast Mississippi is to have a healthy workplace and have a healthy society," NEMCC President Dr. Ricky G. Ford said. "But in order to do that, you've got to have opportunities for your employees and your students to have access to health services." |
| ACT scores for seniors still affected by pandemic as juniors make slight gain | |
| Mississippi high school juniors performed slightly better on the ACT as average scores for the graduating class continued to suffer this year, according to data released by state education officials. This indicates that pandemic-related learning loss continued to affect ACT scores last year, said Alan Burrow, the executive director of district and school performance at the Mississippi Department of Education, during a presentation at the board's regular meeting on Thursday. "Although in the 11th grade report, we saw a little bit of a rebound after the pandemic, here in the graduating class, you still see most of these are down from the prior year," Burrow said. "So I'd say a lingering impact of the pandemic." The data also shows the vast majority of Mississippi high school juniors -- 90.7% -- did not meet college readiness benchmarks. Most juniors did not score high enough to qualify for the state's most substantial college financial aid programs like the Higher Education Legislative Plan for Needy Students (HELP) or the Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant (MESG). As of spring 2022, Mississippi high school juniors made an average composite score of 17.4 out of 36 on the ACT, up one decimal point from last school year, according to MDE. The graduating class, however, made a composite score of 17.8 this year, down from 18.1 in the 2020-21 school year. It's unclear if the small gain that high school juniors made indicates that the state's average ACT score will improve next year. In Mississippi, the test is administered to every high school junior. |
| LSU Ag Center study finds hogs root up $91.1 million in damages | |
 | From rooting up crops to destroying farm infrastructure, Louisiana's growing population of feral hogs causes $91.1 million in damage to agricultural and timber lands each year, according to a newly released LSU AgCenter estimate. Based on responses to a 2021 survey, the study found that hog damage costs landowners $66.2 million in crop losses and $24.9 million in other expenses annually. More than 950 people completed the survey, representing nearly 660,000 acres of crop fields, pastures and woods. The hogs cause a myriad of problems to Louisiana agriculture, an industry worth about $12 billion annually. They root up, wallow in and trample crops, tree seedlings and wildlife food plots. They also are known to wreak havoc on pastures, drains, levees, fences and waterways. "Feral swine continue to be a growing problem to farmers, ranchers, foresters and landowners in many areas of the U.S. and are considered to be one of the most damaging invasive species in existence," wrote study authors Michael Salassi, associate vice president and program leader for plant and animal sciences; Melissa Cater, director of the Northeast Region; and Glen Gentry, director of the Doyle Chambers Central Research Station and the Bob R. Jones-Idlewild Research Station. The study indicates annual production losses were greatest for sugarcane, rice, corn, hay, soybeans and timber. Those losses ranged from $6.9 million for timber to $14.8 million for sugarcane. |
| U. of Florida Faculty Senate Condemns Process That Tapped Ben Sasse as Next President | |
 | Days before the likely appointment of U.S. Sen. Benjamin E. Sasse as the next president of the University of Florida, the institution's Faculty Senate on Thursday voted no confidence in the selection process that ended with him as the sole finalist. Florida's Board of Trustees will formally interview Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, on Tuesday and vote on his appointment. The faculty group's resolution, which passed by a vote of 67 to 15, took aim at Florida's presidential-search committee and its secretive selection of Sasse this month. The search process "has undermined the trust and confidence of the University of Florida Faculty Senate in the selection of the sole finalist Dr. Ben Sasse," the resolution says. When the presidential-search committee's unanimous approval of Sasse was announced, the selection spurred controversy for its lack of transparency: The other finalists were not named due to the Sunshine State's new law that allows public colleges to preserve the anonymity of presidential candidates. The Faculty Senate's resolution states that it lacks confidence because the selection process prevented the faculty from being informed of other candidates. The resolution also states: "The next president should come already equipped to lead an institution of this caliber rather than aiming to learn on the job. Anything less will result in a lack of faith in leadership." Faculty members voted on the resolution following a discussion that became heated at times. Presiding over the vote was the Faculty Senate's chair, Amanda J. Phalin, a senior lecturer in the university's business school who has repeatedly voiced strong support for Sasse's appointment. |
| UF Student Body President tells students she's undecided on Sasse vote | |
| Student Body President Lauren Lemasters told student organizers her vote on UF presidential finalist Sen. Ben Sasse is still to be decided Thursday morning during her office hours. A coalition of UF organizations attended Lemasters' office hours Oct. 27 at 8 a.m. to ask her to vote against Sasse, who will be interviewed and voted on Nov. 1. The coalition includes student organizations UF Young Democratic Socialists of America, UF College Democrats and Graduate Assistants United. The coalition also presented five demands regarding the presidential search process as a part of its "Spook Sasse Out of Our Swamp" plan. One of the demands was asking Lemasters to vote "no" at the Board of Trustees final vote on Sasse. Lemasters' vote won't be known until Nov. 1, she said. "I'm honestly still listening to students and figuring it out," Lemasters said. Sasse would need a majority vote from the board to move on to the Florida Board of Governors to be confirmed as president-elect. Another demand was for the Board of Trustees to release the names of all 12 UF presidential finalists. |
| A new $227M business building is coming to the U. of Tennessee | |
 | The Haslam College of Business, home to more than 6,000 undergraduate students and 150 full-time faculty members at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, is expanding its footprint on campus. The business school is booming with enrollment up 31% from 2016, according to the UT's Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. UT estimates up to 8% growth in the college annually. To help make room for all those students, UT is building a 306,000-square-foot space at the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Volunteer Boulevard, pending approval from the UT System Board of Trustees on Friday. The new building will be placed where Dunford, Greve and Henson Halls currently stand: 821 Volunteer Blvd. It's just across the street from the other two business buildings: the Stokely Management Center and the James A. Haslam II Business Building. The three buildings, which sit in horseshoe pattern, will be demolished. Chris Cimino, the senior vice chancellor for finance and administration at UT, told Knox News earlier this month that the decision to raze the buildings "is not taken lightly and is studied carefully." The state-of-the-art building will have a footprint of more than 306,000 square feet. The building itself will mimic the campus' brick Collegiate "Tennessee" Gothic style. |
| U. of Arkansas panel discusses native storytelling | |
| Stories "are how we learn, how we share about ourselves, and what we value," says author Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Stories "help explain who we are and how we got here," added Boulley, author of "Firekeeper's Daughter," which was No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list in the Young Adult Hardcover category in April 2021. "Story is a living force that finds its way when it sees an opening." Boulley was joined by other area indigenous authors and artists for a panel discussion Thursday at the Arkansas Union on the campus of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Boulley also delivered a lecture Wednesday night at the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History. "I wanted to tell a truthful story, so I had to include unpleasant truths about our community, but also joyful things, and the way our community finds healing, [because] we are more than our trauma," said Boulley, whose follow-up to "Firekeeper's Daughter" is scheduled for a May 2023 release. Non-native writers too often spot only the "surface trauma and tragedy" in indigenous communities, but "that is not what I see." "My community has as much joy, humor, and fun as anything else," she said. "I write about trauma, but I didn't write a tragedy." |
| How college students are leading Columbia's latest campaign to land an Apple Store | |
 | The capital city's latest efforts to land an Apple Store are on the fingertips of college students. Through petitions, social media campaigns and letters, a council of students is working with Columbia City Council to land the vaunted retailer of smartphones, tablets and laptops. "What sends a stronger message to a company than 60,000 students reaching out to them?" Mayor Daniel Rickenmann said. Rickenmann formed the Intercollegiate Engagement Council in January, made up of students at six of Columbia's colleges -- the University of South Carolina, Benedict College, Allen University, Columbia College, Columbia International University and Midlands Technical College. As city leaders try to spur development, the council is part of an effort to keep college students in town after they graduate and harness their economic power while they're here. After hearing on the campaign trail from students who felt left out of the conversation, Rickenmann's goal was to help create a sense of community and brainstorm ways to make Columbia a more appealing place to live. Other than Gamecock iHub --- an "Apple-authorized" store for USC students --- Columbia doesn't have a place to buy, trade or troubleshoot Apple products in person. The nearest Apple Store is nearly an hour and a half away in either Augusta, Ga., or Greenville. |
| Mizzou will use $8 million NIH grant to meet demand for its modified pigs | |
 | Despite constant turnover of genetically modified pigs because of high demand, the pens at the National Swine Resource and Research Center at the University of Missouri remain full, said Randall Prather, its director. "Every pig pen is full," said Prather, a Curator's Distinguished Professor. "The swine center sends pigs all over the country." An $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will allow the swine center to double its space for animals, Prather said. The facility was designed to be expanded when it was built 20 years ago, Prather said. Still, it won't be a quick turnaround. "We break ground in 2024," Prather said. "This next year is all figuring the design. NIH has to approve everything." It's a clean facility, with showers required when entering, he said. In January, a pig heart that included a gene edit developed at MU was transplanted into a 57-year-old Maryland man. The modification prevented immediate rejection of the heart. David Bennett Sr. died after two months with the heart. More recently, a surgeon in the College of Medicine at Medical University of South Carolina tested pig-to-pig transplant of heart valves and surrounding tissue that MU developed to fluoresce, or "glow," under ultraviolet light. It showed that transplanting the valve with the surrounding tissue allowed the valve to grow with the pig. Human heart valves that were transplanted without the tissue don't grow, Prather said. It "dooms" the recipient to repeated heart surgeries over their lives. |
| At least nine Black faculty have left MU in 2022, provost reports | |
 | At least nine fewer Black faculty are at the University of Missouri compared to last year, a sign that the university still has challenges recruiting and retaining faculty of color. In 2021, there were 92 Black faculty members, both tenured/tenure track and non-tenured. Now, in 2022, that number has decreased to 83, according to data from Latha Ramchand, MU provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. Ramchand spoke Thursday to the MU Faculty Council on University Policy, whose members raised concerns about retention rates for faculty of color. The MU Faculty Council is an organization of elected MU faculty who represent every college, division and school that is led by a dean. The data provided also showed a decrease in the percentage of total Black faculty out of total faculty, which is now 3.73%, compared to 4.16% in 2021. Ramchand clarified that the 2022 data is as of Oct. 21 and is not complete. She also said that the Office of the Provost started conducting exit interviews with faculty leaving the university as of spring last year. She said they conducted 22 interviews since spring 2021 and that some of the concerns those leaving expressed included better opportunities elsewhere -- like senior administrative roles or a better fit with area of work -- family reasons, denied promotions, frustration with administration and micro-aggressions or culture and relationships within colleges or departments. |
| Penn State Scraps Plans for a Racial-Justice Center | |
| Amid a severe budget crisis, Pennsylvania State University on Wednesday reneged on its plan to create a Center for Racial Justice. The announcement came just days after the university canceled a scheduled appearance by the founder of the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group, because of escalating violence ahead of the event. Even so, the cancellation of the center enraged employees, who accused the university of being noncommittal about fighting racism on campus. "It's an appalling retraction of a promise and commitment on the part of the university that reflects a very general viewpoint on the part of the administration that these issues are not important enough for Penn State to give them the credibility that they require," said Gary King, a professor of biobehavioral health and African American studies. The university said in a statement that administrators are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and will instead spend $3.5 million or more over the next five years on existing projects aimed at fighting racism on campus. "We remain deeply committed to continuing to build on the foundation of scholarly research and programming around racism and racial bias at Penn State," Neeli Bendaputi, the university's president, said in the statement. "I have determined that enhancing support for current efforts by people who know Penn State best will be more impactful than investing in a new venture, and so we will not pursue efforts to launch a Center for Racial Justice." |
| Educause lays out higher ed's top 10 technology issues | |
 | In a packed ballroom at Educause's annual conference on Thursday, Susan Grajek, the organization's vice president for partnerships, communities and research, laid bare higher education's top 10 technology issues for 2023. "The pandemic sparked a great rethink that upended previous models of management and working," Grajek said. "In 2023, institutional and technology leaders are ready for a new approach." Grajek's speech was peppered with technology concepts such as "cybersecurity" and "privacy," while also including numerous references to "empathy" and "humanity." Educause's 2022 IT issues panel and higher education institutional and technology leaders identified the trends along with their implications for colleges. The report is scheduled to publish Monday. Here's a sneak preview that highlights higher ed's need to move from data insight to data action, develop learning-first strategies, and lead with humility. ... Data is at the heart of enrollment strategies, but many college cultures do not emphasize data, Grajek said. Data analysts would benefit if they could interrogate data that emanated from a single source, said Karen Warren, deputy chief information officer at Wesleyan University. "We're pretty far from that," Warren said. "Right now, there's still a lot of work being done moving data around, trying to get it into suitable places where you can then extract data and do what you need to do with that data." |
| College Student Voting Expected to Remain High in the Midterms | |
| As the countdown to the midterm elections crosses the two-week mark, college students are poised to make a difference at the ballot box. With control of the House, Senate, and 36 governorships up for grabs, students could play a decisive role in many races, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, particularly the Senate races in Georgia and Arizona and the gubernatorial race in Wisconsin. But will college students turn out at the polls? College voter participation has traditionally been low. Students are often eligible to vote for the first time and haven't yet made it a habit. They've often moved to a new precinct for school. And students may feel disillusioned or disempowered about the process. In the 2014 midterm elections, the average student voter rate was only 19%, according to the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University. But in recent years, student voting has jumped significantly. In 2018, the average student voting rate more than doubled from the previous midterm, to 40%. And in the 2020 elections, the student voting rate was 66%, similar to that of the general population. The increased voting numbers correlate with the rise of Donald J. Trump, who galvanized voters of all ages for and against him in the six years since he declared himself a candidate for the presidency. But without Trump in office, college voting should remain high, according to experts. "Politics right now is an issue of pop culture," said Dr. Adam Gismondi, director of impact for the IDHE. "It's something that seems to find its way into every corner of public life." |
| U.S. issues final regs for 90-10 rule, Pell Grant for prisoners | |
| After years of lobbying, the so-called 90-10 loophole that advocates argued encouraged some for-profit institutions to aggressively recruit military service members and veterans is closing under final regulations effective July 1 that were announced Thursday. "We're thrilled with it," said Matthew Brennan, a policy analyst for the American Legion. "For over a decade, the American Legion along with other veteran service organizations have fought to close the 90-10 loophole." For-profit institutions are required to bring in 10 percent of their revenue from nonfederal sources -- a market viability test stemming from the 1992 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965. However, federal money from the GI Bill and Department of Defense were not considered a federal source until Congress changed the law in March 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. Brennan and other advocates said the rule incentivized "unscrupulous organizations" to target veterans. The for-profit industry doesn't plan to oppose the new regulations. "These new rules crack down on some of the most deceptive practices we see in higher education, such as predatory marketing tactics that target U.S. service members and veterans," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. The department also has issued final regulations to add new accountability measures for when colleges and universities change ownership and to set standards that postsecondary prison education programs will have to meet in order to access Pell Grant funds, which will be open to incarcerated individuals next July. |
| Colleges brace themselves for SCOTUS loss on race-conscious admissions | |
| American colleges have had the Supreme Court's blessing for more than four decades to factor race into their admissions processes -- and now they're preparing for a future without it. Students for Fair Admissions, led by longtime affirmative action opponent Edward Blum, is challenging race-conscious admissions practices before the high court on Monday in two cases against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Blum's strategy has come a long way since his failed attempt to get the Supreme Court to side with Abigail Fisher, a white female University of Texas at Austin applicant who believed she was denied because of her race. Affirmative action in higher education has endured by relying on moderate justices like Sandra Day O'Connor, only to see the court remade by Donald Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The need for negotiation is over on an issue that sharply divides Chief Justice John Roberts from the liberal justices, particularly Sonia Sotomayor. And striking the policies down could also open up broader legal attacks on the use of affirmative action in employment. Blum's group, which says it represents about 20,000 students, has asked the high court to overturn its ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger, a 2003 landmark decision that held colleges can consider race and use holistic reviews as long as their affirmative action programs are narrowly tailored. It's a move education and civil rights groups fear will exacerbate inequality for years to come. |
| Biden predicts student loan forgiveness checks will go out within two weeks | |
 | President Biden on Thursday predicted that a court fight over his student loan forgiveness program would be quickly resolved, and that borrowers would soon see their refunds materialize. "We're gonna win that case. I think in the next two weeks you're gonna see those checks going out," Biden told Nexstar's Reshad Hudson in an exclusive interview in Syracuse, N.Y. A federal appeals court ruling last Friday halted the loan forgiveness program and stopped the administration from disbursing relief while the court considers a challenge from six Republican-led states. A federal district judge had dismissed the case a day before, ruling that the six attorneys general representing the states did not have standing to sue because they did not demonstrate that the policy directly harms their states. Biden has used the challenges to argue Republicans are opposed to providing relief to middle- and low-income Americans who are buried under student loan debt. "At a time when people are dealing with a pandemic and at the time that he's -- as you know, late this year, he's going to lift the pause, he wanted to make sure that the American people, as he says, has a little bit of a breathing room," press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday. |
| A window is closing for government, nonprofit employees to get student loans forgiven | |
| Even before President Joe Biden announced his plan to forgive up to $20,000 for most people with federal student loans, he had already made a number of less high-profile changes to the student loan system. For many borrowers, advocates say, some of those changes will end up being more significant than the $10,000 to $20,000 of across-the-board debt forgiveness -- because they will lead to full cancellation. "I've been working in the student loan industry in a compliance or advocacy role since the world was round," said Betsy Mayotte, founder and director of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors. "And the last two years have had more significant and positive changes, especially for the most vulnerable student loan borrowers out there, than I've ever seen in my career combined." Some of the most significant changes have been temporary ones made to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which Congress created in 2007 to encourage people to go into lower-paying public service jobs. "These are our nurses, teachers, doctors, emergency service professionals, our social workers," said Jane Fox, a New York Legal Aid Society attorney who has done a lot of organizing and advocacy around PSLF and had her own loans forgiven through the program in 2020. Basically, anyone who works in government or at most nonprofits can apply to have the balance of their federal student loans forgiven after 10 years of regular, on-time payments. |
| Iran's elite technical university emerges as hub of protests | |
| The aging brick campus of the Sharif University of Technology, Iran's elite technical school, has long been a magnet for the nation's brightest minds, with a record of elevating its students to the highest reaches of society. Thousands of Sharif University alumni power Iran's most sensitive industries, including nuclear energy and aerospace. One of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's closest advisors has taught there for decades. But as demonstrations erupt across Iran -- first sparked by the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country's morality police -- the scientific powerhouse known as "Iran's M.I.T." has emerged as an unexpected hub for protest, fueling Iran's biggest antigovernment movement in over a decade. "We've become politically active because there is nothing to lose," said an electrical engineering major and activist in Sharif University's student association who spoke on condition of anonymity. Like others who insisted their identities be shielded, he feared of reprisals. "The way things are now in Iran, you have to emigrate and leave your family and friends or stay and fight for your rights." "Students have come to the realization they will not achieve their rights in this framework," said Mohammad Ali Kadivar, an Iran scholar at Boston College. "They are demanding the end of the Islamic Republic." |
SPORTS
| John Cade Invitational Opens Play On Friday | |
| Mississippi State's women's tennis team is set to host their lone tournament of the fall this weekend. The John Cade Invitational welcomes players from Louisiana Tech, Louisville and Memphis to compete at both the Rula Tennis Pavillion and A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre Friday through Sunday. During last year's John Cade Invitational the Bulldogs posted a 22-5 record with 13 singles wins and nine doubles victories. "We love being able to play at home and be in front of our own crowd," head coach Daryl Greenan said. "It's exciting for our players, and we are excited to watch them play. They have been working hard and they are fired up about playing at home. There will be some good competition that we will get to see this weekend." The tournament begins with doubles on Friday with players from the Bulldogs squaring off against those from Louisville at 10 a.m. followed up by a doubles match against Louisiana Tech. MSU will also play six singles matches against Cardinal players at 1:30 p.m. Bulldog players will also begin Saturday with doubles matches against competitors from Memphis at 10 a.m. before switching over to singles against Louisiana Tech, not before 11 a.m. State will wrap up the tournament on Sunday with six more singles matches against Tiger players not before 11 a.m. The John Cade Invitational is open to the public and admission is free. In case of inclement weather, matches will be moved inside the Rula Tennis Pavillion. |
| State Closes Regular Season, Honors Senior Class | |
| The Mississippi State soccer program (10-4-4, 4-4-2 SEC) concluded its regular season, Thursday night, against Georgia (11-5-2, 5-3-2 SEC), playing to a 1-1 draw. "[I'm] really proud of the effort again tonight; we took a really good Georgia team to the wire," head coach James Armstrong said. "Obviously, we're disappointed to not close out the win and get the [SEC Tournament first-round] bye, but we're excited to go to Pensacola." After a quiet, and scoreless, opening half, State would only need 48 seconds into the second frame to break the deadlock, as sophomore Haley McWhirter slid home the setup from freshman Alivia Buxton. McWhirter's seven goals are now the most she's scored in one season spanning across her two-year collegiate campaign. The mark also moves the Magnolia, Texas, native into a tie for fourth-most goals scored in one season by a MSU sophomore. Nine minutes later, though, Georgia would grab the equalizer and secure the first-round bye of the conference tournament. Prior to kickoff, State recognized its 2022 senior class: Miranda Carrasco, Madison Cotta, Alyssa D'Aloise Gwen Mummert, Jojo Ngongo, Hannah Pimentel, Olivia Simpson, Hannah Telleysh, Andrea Tyrrell and student assistant coach Peyton York. The No. 8 seeded Bulldogs will take a quick break before arriving to Pensacola, Florida, for a first-round contest with No. 9 Texas A&M (9-5-5, 3-4-3 SEC). The match will kick off at 3:30 p.m. CT and will air on SEC Network. |
| Mississippi State soccer closes out regular season with draw against Georgia | |
| In a flash, the chance had gone. Alivia Buxton was in the right position at the right time, but the opportunity just wasn't there for her to take a controlled shot. Mississippi State had pressed for the better part of the second half to get a second goal but in the end came up short of a dramatic winner in the final minutes. The clock ran out, the match finished 1-1, and MSU (10-4-4) missed its chance at a first-round bye in the upcoming Southeastern Conference tournament. Georgia (11-5-2) earned the No. 6 seed, and MSU got the eighth position. Mississippi State looked to be the stronger side on the night, and although it didn't end the way the Bulldogs might have wanted, they got to close out the regular season with a solid senior night performance ahead of their trip to Pensacola. "Obviously tonight was a night of celebration for the seniors who've impacted our program so much," head coach James Armstrong said of the occasion. "All very different individuals, but all have done an amazing job progressing this program the way that we wanted to, to move forward." The match itself delivered entertainment, but failed to deliver a decisive result for either team. MSU will begin its postseason Sunday against Texas A&M in the SEC tournament in Pensacola. |
| Coaching tree: Ranking top branches of Mississippi State football's Mike Leach | |
| Mike Leach's coaching stops have spread throughout the country. His legacy was built in Lubbock, Texas, while at Texas Tech. After a break in coaching, Leach returned to the sidelines with Washington State. Now he's in the SEC, coaching in his third season with Mississippi State football. However, Leach's college football footprint extends beyond his stops. Leach has built one of the sport's largest coaching trees, along with Nick Saban, Bill Snyder and others. Leach stems from Hal Mumme, under whom he worked at Iowa Wesleyan, Valdosta State and Kentucky. Whether it be former players or assistants, Leach has mentored a plethora of coaches now building their own programs from the high school level to the NFL. Leach's tree has been in the spotlight this season with Josh Heupel (Tennessee) and Sonny Dykes (TCU) elevating their programs into College Football Playoff contenders. Unfortunately for Leach, he hasn't had much time to reflect on the success of his pupils. "It's tough while you're coaching because you're busy tending to your own team," Leach said. "You just hear about it secondhand or quickly see a score. I'm happy for them and all that. As far as to really enjoy it, recollect, exchange ideas and stuff like that, you've got to be out of it to do that. Otherwise you're too busy with what you're doing yourself." |
| Smith, Jans off to a good start in important relationship for Bulldogs | |
| The Daily Journal's Parrish Alford writes: When college teams start fresh as they so often do, not everyone is excited to see the new guy come in. Sometimes the biggest challenge facing any new coach is to earn the trust of someone else's players. That's especially true in the Transfer Portal Age. Players have more options. Four years ago, Ole Miss basketball coach Kermit Davis earned that trust with Terence Davis. Davis the player -- with incredible athletic gifts -- began to blossom under former Rebels coach Andy Kennedy and had one year of eligibility left when Davis the coach arrived. They bonded; Davis the player was All-SEC, and the Rebels reached the NCAA Tournament. Now he's in his fourth NBA season. Mississippi State coach Chris Jans hopes to have a similar experience with Tolu Smith. "You guys have all seen his skill level, his body, his quickness and all the things that make anyone a good player, and Tolu possesses a lot of those characteristics," Jans said. ... Skill level aside, Smith right now is doing and saying the more important things in a new coach-player relationship. He's giving the new coach a chance and encouraging returning teammates to do the same ... even those who at first thought they might not return. Smith was active in asking Shakeel Moore and DJ Jeffries to reconsider their decisions to transfer. Both of them decided to remain at State. |
| 3 key reasons why ESPN chose Jackson State's rivalry with Southern for College GameDay | |
 | On Thursday morning, the Jackson State University football team showed up bright and early to practice at the Walter Payton Center. Temperatures swayed between the high 40s and low 50s as dozens of young men practiced drills, ran plays, and stretched under the watchful eyes of the JSU coaching staff. While all of this may seem like a lot to deal with at 8 a.m., the team seemed energetic and excited. They'll need all the energy they can get when they host one of their biggest rivals under the added spotlight of one of the biggest productions in college sports this Saturday. ESPN's College GameDay will broadcast live outside of JSU's Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium ahead of the Tigers' highly-anticipated game against the Southern University Jaguars, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Every Saturday, College GameDay chooses a college football game to attend, and their cast of analysts preview the day's games on the chosen campus with an audience cheering behind them. It will be the first time that the well-known show comes to Jackson State. Coordinating producer Drew Gallagher says they don't always choose the best matchup or the highest-ranked teams, but instead try to follow the best story. That certainly describes JSU and its head coach, Deion Sanders. Since Sanders took the helm in 2020, he has ushered in a new era of football at historically Black colleges and universities. "Jackson State is one of the big stories of college football this year," Gallagher said. "We can't wait to be there." |
| Film needed for 'College GameDay' thrown out by former Jackson State coach | |
| Jackson State Assistant Athletic Director for Broadcasting and Video Services Rob Jay recently revealed in an interview on MidDays with Gerard Gibert that one former football coach's actions have made it incredibly difficult to prepare for ESPN's College GameDay. According to Jay, ESPN reached out after it was announced that JSU would be the Week 9 host of the popular college football pregame show and asked for game clips of some of the Tigers' greatest players -- including Walter Payton, Robert Brazile, Jackie Slater, and Lem Barney. The only problem was that James Bell, who was the school's head coach from 2003 to 2005 compiling an overall record of 8-23, had thrown away most of the program's game film. "[James Bell] was the worst coach in the history of coaching. He threw away all of that footage when he was the coach," Jay said. Fortunately enough, Jay was able to find enough film to suffice. "I was up all night finding videos," he said. "I had to find the footage they wanted." College GameDay will air from 8-11 a.m. on ESPN with Jackson State and Southern University kicking off shortly thereafter at 1 p.m. |
| Reigning SWAC coach of the year signs extension with Braves | |
| Alcorn State's men's basketball coach Landon Bussie has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him in Lorman, Mississippi, through 2026, the university announced Thursday. "I'm humbled and honored to have the continued support of our university president, as well as our director of athletics," Bussie said in a news release. "They believe in me, as well as in my vision and the goals I must help lead the men's basketball program into the future here at Alcorn State University. I'm ever so grateful for that." The length of his previous contract and other details were not immediately available. Bussie, the reigning Southwestern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, ended last season with a 17-17 record (14-4 in SWAC play), advancing to the postseason with an automatic berth in the National Invitational Tournament. Bussie began his tenure as head coach at Alcorn State in April 2020, spending the previous six seasons as an assistant for the men's basketball program at Prairie View A&M. Before that, he also spent four seasons at Xavier University of Louisiana, where he led the Gold Rush to three straight Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season titles. |
| Ole Miss announces Kayla Banwarth out as volleyball coach | |
 | A week after her suspension, Volleyball coach Kayla Banwarth and Ole Miss have mutually agreed to part ways. Banwarth was placed on leave Thursday, Oct. 20 for reasons that have not been specified by her or the university. Ole Miss Athletics released a brief statement regarding Banwarth's suspension. It read in part: "Ole Miss head volleyball coach Kayla Banwarth is not with the team as we conduct a review of the program. During her leave, assistant coach Bre Henry will serve as acting head coach," read the statement. Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics Keith Carter announced the university's agreement to part ways with Banwarth on Thursday. "With the accomplishments we experienced during her tenure, Coach Banwarth leaves this program well equipped for future success," Carter stated in the news release. "We wish her the best as she moves forward." Banwarth was in the middle of her third season as Ole Miss head volleyball coach. She led the Rebels to the NCAA Tournament last year after a 21-9 season. It was the Rebels' first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011. Banwarth had an overall record of 29-38, and the team was 7-10 under her command this season. |
| Rich McGlynn talks time as Auburn's interim AD, updates status of new football facility | |
 | More than two months have passed since Allen Greene announced he was stepping down as Auburn's athletics director. It has been 57 days since the university had a full-time AD and 44 since Rich McGlynn was named the program's interim AD. While Auburn president Dr. Chris Roberts continues with his meticulous national search for school's 16th all-time athletics director, McGlynn took a moment Thursday evening to reflect on his time in the interim role during an appearance on the "Tiger Talk" radio show. "I don't know what's going to happen long-term, but I know this, people when they look at me are going to say, 'That man had fun being the athletic director,' and that's exactly what I'm doing every day," McGlynn said. "I'm having a blast." McGlynn, who prior to earning the interim tag served as the program's executive associate athletics director of compliance, has been a fixture at Auburn athletics events the last month and a half. It has been a busy schedule, but of course the job has entailed more than just being seen publicly supporting the Tigers' athletics programs. It has also been about keeping the athletics department afloat during a time of uncertainty. One of his goals, he said, has been "trying to make sure we bring back that Auburn family feel" within the athletics complex. While McGlynn is uncertain about how things will play out for him as the search winds down, he's enjoying what time he has had overseeing the athletics department. He also provided an update Thursday on the program's new football-specific facility, which was recently announced as the Woltosz Football Performance Center. According to McGlynn, the university is putting the finishing touches on the facility, which began construction in March 2021 and was budgeted to cost $92 million. |
| New Vanderbilt basketball facility comes into focus with new renderings | |
 | Vanderbilt released updated renderings Thursday of the new men's and women's basketball operations center being built in the end zone of FirstBank Stadium. While prep work has begun, official construction on the facility will begin at the conclusion of the football season, according to deputy athletic director Tommy McClelland. In a two-minute video and Twitter thread, the athletic department shared digital renderings of what the interior of the facility will look like, including meeting rooms and player lounges for both teams, a hydrotherapy chamber and new weight room. The updated facilities are part of the Vandy United fundraising and facility upgrade campaign. The basketball center is the first stage of the project, which also includes a new indoor football practice facility, south end zone upgrades at FirstBank Stadium and a new tennis center. In addition to the facilities, Vanderbilt struck the FirstBank Stadium naming rights deal and plans to add a volleyball program in 2025. |
| Jimmy Pitaro: ESPN Has No Plans To Launch Sportsbook | |
| Disney-owned ESPN won't be launching its own sportsbook after all. "We just don't feel like it's appropriate for us to be creating a book," ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro said at Axios' BFD summit. "We're not interested in being a place where people place their bets." ESPN's reluctance to launch a sportsbook comes after the media giant appeared to be "all-in" on sports betting, as sources told Front Office Sports in 2021. The company hired sports betting analysts Tyler Fulghum and Joe Fortenbaugh to bolster its "Daily Wager" sports betting show. At Disney's D23 Expo in September, CEO Bob Chapek publicized ESPN's sports betting efforts, claiming Disney was "working very hard" on developing an ESPN sports betting app. Now, ESPN is going in a different direction. ESPN and DraftKings are reportedly close to signing an exclusive deal after the sports network secured co-exclusive deals with Caesars Entertainment and DraftKings in 2020. Disney owns roughly 5% of DraftKings after purchasing more than 18 million shares in 2020. |
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