| Thursday, November 3, 2022 |
| Fed faces twin threats of recession and financial crisis as its inflation fight raises risks of both | |
 | Mississippi State University's Brian Blank writes for The Conversation: There is wide agreement among economists and market observers that the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes will cause economic growth to grind to a halt, leading to a recession. Less talked about is the risk of a financial crisis as the U.S. central bank simultaneously tries to shrink its massive balance sheet. As expected, the Fed on Nov. 2, 2022, lifted borrowing costs by 0.75 percentage point -- its fourth straight hike of that size, which brings its benchmark rate to as high as 4%. At the same time as it's been raising rates, the Fed has been quietly trimming down its balance sheet, which swelled after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. It reached a high of US$9 trillion in April 2022 and has since declined by about $240 billion as the Fed reduces its holdings of Treasury securities and other debt that it bought to avoid an economic meltdown early in the pandemic. As a finance expert, I have been studying financial decisions and markets for over a decade. I'm already seeing signs of distress that could snowball into a financial crisis, compounding the Fed's woes as it struggles to contain soaring inflation. |
| A brief history of the mortgage, from its roots in ancient Rome to the English 'dead pledge' and its rebirth in America | |
| Mississippi State University's Michael J. Highfield writes for The Conversation: The average interest rate for a new U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage topped 7% in late October 2022 for the first time in more than two decades. It's a sharp increase from one year earlier, when lenders were charging homebuyers only 3.09% for the same kind of loan. Several factors, including inflation rates and the general economic outlook, influence mortgage rates. A primary driver of the ongoing upward spiral is the Federal Reserve's series of interest rate hikes intended to tame inflation. Its decision to increase the benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage points on Nov. 2, 2022, to as much as 4% will propel the cost of mortgage borrowing even higher. Even if you have had mortgage debt for years, you might be unfamiliar with the history of these loans -- a subject I cover in my mortgage financing course for undergraduate business students at Mississippi State University. The term dates back to medieval England. But the roots of these legal contracts, in which land is pledged for a debt and will become the property of the lender if the loan is not repaid, go back thousands of years. |
| Medical, scientific racism revealed in century-old plaque from Black man's teeth | |
| In the 1930s, a 23-year-old Black man was admitted to City Hospital #2 in St. Louis and, according to his death certificate, died of pneumonia shortly after. Without his consent -- or his family's -- his deidentified body was included in one of the United States's most studied collections of human remains, the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Skeletal Collection, which is now at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Almost a century later, a team of researchers has been able to confirm the pathogen that ultimately killed him by studying the plaque on his teeth, an achievement that opens new avenues for studying diseases of the past that may leave no other mark after death. In their paper, published last month in Communications Biology, the researchers also took steps to address the complex issues of ethics and social justice that surround repositories such as the Terry collection. They reconstructed the context in which a now-nameless man lived, including how structural racism contributed to his death -- and helped build the collection itself. "Previous research does not recognize the individual skeletons and the once-living individuals that they represent," says Molly Zuckerman, a bioarchaeologist and paleopathologist at Mississippi State University, Starkville, and a co-author of the new study. "Their humanity has been reduced or ignored, and they're turned into just a collection of objects for scientific research." As the field of biological anthropology grapples with -- and tries to correct for -- a complex history of racism, she and her colleagues aim to set a new ethical standard for studying anthropological collections with a controversial past. |
| Mississippi lawmakers approve incentives for aluminum plant | |
 | Mississippi lawmakers met in special session Wednesday and quickly approved nearly $247 million in state incentives for an aluminum plant that is supposed to bring 1,000 jobs to the northern part of the state by 2029. Many legislators voted on the incentives without knowing the name of the company. At a news conference as the session ended, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves acknowledged the aluminum project is being developed by Steel Dynamics Inc., an Indiana-based company that already operates a steel mill near Columbus, Mississippi. "They are a fantastic employer in the Golden Triangle today," Reeves said. Reeves had previously said a nondisclosure agreement prohibited him from publicly naming the company until the deal was done. House and Senate leaders said they intentionally did not find out the name because they did not want to let the information slip out early. The proposed state incentive package includes $155 million in direct contributions, about $25 million for roads in and around the project site, money to help purchase land and income tax rebates, Reeves said. "Mississippi is open for business, and that is the message that was sent to every job creator in America today," Reeves said Wednesday. He said the state will have "aggressive" provisions to recover its investment if the company does not fulfill promises. |
| Mississippi Legislature passes incentives for economic development | |
 | The Mississippi Legislature passed three bills to provide nearly $250 million in economic incentives to an aluminum production facility in Lowndes County, during a one-day special session Wednesday. The company plans to invest $2.5 billion into the area, the largest economic development in the state's history, and according to its agreement with the state the project will employ 1,000 people with an average salary of $93,000. "It's a great day to be a Mississippian. It's a great day for the efforts of the men and women of the Mississippi House of Representatives and the Mississippi Senate, who came in and very quickly passed legislation to enact the biggest economic development project in Mississippi history," Gov. Tate Reeves said. If the company does not live up to its promises, it risks losing the incentives that the Legislature approved. "As we're going through the project, and the life of this project, if they ever fall below some of their required numbers of jobs and investment, these things are suspended," Sen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, said. "They have a 90 day grace period to cure it, but if they don't they don't get the tax credit. They don't get the payroll rebate. The number of years that they have to collect is not extended. It stays the same and they just lost that year. If next year they're in compliance, they get it back." Harkins said those clawback measures are "some of the tightest we've done," and that all of the grants are reimbursements, where the company will be paid for work they have already done. |
| Lawmakers pass $247M in incentives for aluminum mill | |
| The Mississippi Legislature, in a one-day special session with only a handful of dissenting votes, approved $247 million in taxpayer-funded incentives to help a company build an aluminum mill and other operations near Columbus and create at least 1,000 jobs. Lt. Gov. Hosemann said Mississippi was in competition with at least two other states for the project. Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday when he called the special session on short notice that the incentive package needed to be approved quickly to help the company with "speed to market" and ensure the mill was built in Mississippi. State officials said they agreed not to name the company until the deal was inked, and referred to the deal as "Project Triple Crown" during Capitol deliberations Wednesday. But numerous sources and industry trade journals said the parent of the deal is Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics, the third-largest producer of carbon steel products in the U.S. The company already has a steel plant in Columbus. Over the summer, Steel Dynamics announced plans to build three large facilities -- including one in the Southeast -- to supply the automotive and packaging industries with flat-rolled recycled aluminum material. An officer for Steel Dynamic recently filed paperwork with the state registering Aluminum Dynamics LLC in Mississippi. "A $2.5 billion project doesn't come to Mississippi very often," Hosemann said, "but it will be happening more often because Mississippi is open for business." When asked about why lawmakers were not spending or passing policy to tackle water infrastructure woes, hospital closures and other urgent issues, Hosemann noted that only the governor can call lawmakers into special session and set the agenda. He vowed the Legislature will tackle such issues when the regular session starts in January. |
| Hall, former Mississippi Transportation Commissioner, dies | |
| Dick Hall, a former Mississippi transportation commissioner who was one of the state's longest-serving public officials, has died. He was 84. Hall was a member Mississippi Transportation Commission for nearly 21 years, 11 of which he spent as chairman. He retired from the three-person commission in 2019. "Mississippi lost one of its longest-tenured public servants and I lost a great friend and mentor," said Mississippi Department of Transportation executive director and former Hall staffer Brad White. "Commissioner Hall led by example and my life is much better because of the major role he played in it." Hall began serving in public office as a 24-year member of the Mississippi Legislature. He served three terms in the House and three in the Senate. During that tenure, he rose to become chairman of the environmental committees in both chambers. He also served as chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. In 1999, Gov. Kirk Fordice appointed Hall to fill an unexpired term as the central district transportation commissioner. He would hold that position until his retirement. Hall advocated for using state revenue to shore up Mississippi's roads to help attract economic development. |
| Dick Hall, longest serving transportation commissioner, dies at age 84 | |
| Mississippi's longest serving transportation commissioner Dick Hall died on Wednesday at the Baptist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson. He was 84. Hall had been retired from the elected, three-person Transportation Commission since he opted in 2019 not to seek reelection for the current four-year term. But before being elected as transportation commissioner, Hall had an eventful tenure in the Legislature, including serving as Senate Appropriations chair. He first was appointed to the post by Republican Lt. Gov. Eddie Briggs. Briggs removed him from the position after the Legislature was required to run for election in consecutive years by a federal court because of conflicts over redistricting. Briggs appointed Hall to chair the Public Health Committee after removing him from Appropriations. But Democrat Ronnie Musgrove, who defeated Briggs in the 1995 election, re-appointed Hall as Appropriations chair where he served until his appointment to the Transportation Commission by Fordice. As transportation commissioner, Hall was an outspoken advocate for providing additional revenue to deal with a deteriorating infrastructure system. Finally in a 2018 special session, the Legislature passed bills to address some of the road and bridge issues highlighted so often by Hall. |
| Director: Federal government will force Mississippi to repay misspent TANF money | |
 | The federal government will force Mississippi officials to repay millions of dollars in misspent welfare funds, according to Mississippi Department of Human Services Director Bob Anderson. Anderson told a group of Democratic lawmakers at the state Capitol earlier this month that he has been in communication with the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services for months to discuss the details of repaying the federal welfare dollars. "We don't know how much the Department of Justice and Department of Human Services will ultimately require Mississippi to repay," Anderson said. "We know they're going to require us to repay some of that." It will likely be several years before the DOJ gives a final price tag to state leaders. State Auditor Shad White's office identified around $94 million in potentially misspent TANF money, and a forensic audit commissioned by MDHS brought the number of questionable costs down to around $74 million. Federal officials, according to Anderson, would recoup the money by withholding a portion of Mississippi's TANF block grant until the money has been repaid. If federal officials can prove state leaders intentionally misspent TANF dollars, then the federal government can impose an additional 5% penalty on top of what they believe was misspent. |
| Wicker honors World War II vet | |
| World War II veteran Howard "Jeff" Jefferson Parker, Jr., was presented with a Combat Action Ribbon for his service in the Navy Armed Guard during World War II by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker this past Friday. "This is a wonderful opportunity to thank people who have stepped forward, even decades and decades ago, to keep us free and to win our peace and freedom again," Wicker said. "Mr. Parker served admirably under very trying conditions in the Pacific, under active fire. Only about fifteen percent of servicemen actually see combat as he did. He is very deserving of the Combat Action Ribbon." Wicker presented Parker with the award in the lobby of the Ridgeland Place assisted living facility on Orchard Park in a 1 p.m. ceremony on Friday, Oct. 28. Wicker's office said Parker was awarded the ribbon after extensive research of his service records showed he had engaged in combat while serving as a member of the Navy Armed Guard in 1944. During World War II, Parker helped protect war-related cargo being transported from the West Coast of the U.S. to the South Pacific according to Wicker's office. Wicker's office said he helped transport everything from food to lumber to ammunition. His convoy came under attack by Japanese submarines and kamikaze aircraft in the vicinity of Guam and Palau. |
| Federal Reserve Hikes by 0.75 Point, Signals Slower Increases but Ultimately Higher Rates | |
 | The Federal Reserve lifted interest rates by another 0.75 percentage point to combat inflation and signaled plans to keep raising them, possibly in smaller increments but to higher levels than previously anticipated. The increase approved Wednesday, the Fed's fourth consecutive 0.75-point rate rise, lifts the central bank's benchmark federal-funds to a range between 3.75% and 4%. After the decision, Chairman Jerome Powell said officials would contemplate a smaller hike at their next meeting in December. But he cautioned that they might raise borrowing costs next year more than they have projected. "The question of when to moderate the pace of increases is now much less important than the question of how high to raise rates and how long to keep monetary policy restrictive," he said at a news conference Wednesday. Mr. Powell also warned that reducing the size of rate increases didn't mean the Fed thought it was close to pivoting away from raising rates. "It is very premature to be thinking about pausing," said Mr. Powell. "We think we have a ways to go." Data released since the Fed's September meeting have provided a mixed picture of the economy. While domestic demand has slowed and the housing market is entering a sharp downturn, the job market has remained strong and inflation pressures have stayed elevated. Recent earnings reports have shown strong consumer demand and pricing increases. |
| Misinformation and the midterm elections: What to expect | |
| Conspiracy theories about mail ballots. Anonymous text messages warning voters to stay home. Fringe social media platforms where election misinformation spreads with impunity. Misinformation about the upcoming midterm elections has been building for months, challenging election officials and tech companies while offering another reminder of how conspiracy theories and distrust are shaping America's politics. The claims are fueling the candidacies of election deniers and threatening to further corrode faith in voting and democracy. Many of them can be traced back to 2020, when then-President Donald Trump refused to accept the outcome of the election he lost to Joe Biden and began lying about its results. "Misinformation is going to be central to this midterm election and central to the 2024 election," said Bhaskar Chakravorti, who studies technological change and society and is the dean of global business at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. "The single galvanizing narrative is that the 2020 election was stolen." Russian efforts to interfere in U.S. elections go back years, and there are indications that China and Iran are stepping up their game. Tech companies, government officials and misinformation researchers say they're monitoring for such activity ahead of the midterms. But the misinformation threat posed by domestic groups may be far greater. |
| Midterms' final stretch marked by fights in unexpected places | |
 | At the outset of this election cycle, Oregon's new 6th District was considered such a good opportunity for Democrats to pick up a House seat that outside groups invested $16.7 million to influence their party's primary. Now, with the general election six days away, Democratic nominee Andrea Salinas, a state lawmaker, finds herself in a toss-up race against Republican businessman Mike Erickson, who is hardly a baggage-free candidate. The race illustrates a theme running through many competitive House and Senate races this year: Some voters do not appear to be acting as political operatives expected, forcing candidates and outside groups to spend big money in some unexpected places -- or to give up the fight in certain districts altogether. Though Republicans are likely to win control of the House, the unusual dynamics in some enclaves aren't exclusively leaning in the GOP's favor. Races where Republicans were viewed as having a clear advantage now appear as heavy lifts or even long shots because of controversial candidates. The unusual and seemingly unpredictable patterns in pockets around the nation have political insiders searching for answers: Bad candidates, errant polling, economic volatility and high inflation, and coattails or drag from the top of the ticket are just part of the list. Some, also, say they believe they are observing a political realignment happening in real time. "Generally, realignments occur by inches, not yards," said former Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, who ran his party's House campaign arm from 1999 to 2002. "I think we're seeing a larger realignment, as the Republican base migrated from the country club to the country." |
| Biden: 'In our bones, we know democracy is at risk' | |
 | President Joe Biden warned in a speech on Wednesday that the country's democracy was dangerously close to crumbling, painting the closing stretch of the midterm elections in stark terms. "In our bones," the president declared at one point, "we know democracy is at risk." "We're often not faced with questions of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy," he said at another point. "But this year we are." Biden's speech was a closing argument for Democrats, who face an uphill battle in the election next week: While the race for the Senate remains a toss-up, the House is forecast to flip in favor of Republicans. The roughly 20-minute address, delivered at Union Station in Washington, represented the president's clearest attempt of late to inject spiraling threats to democracy, lies of conspiracy and malice, and violent intimidation into the midterms. Biden spoke about the location being so close to the U.S. Capitol, which he referred to as the "citadel of democracy," invoking the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, that he has periodically returned to, including in a speech earlier this fall in Philadelphia and one marking the anniversary of the attack. It was a familiar tone from the president, who has warned about threats to democracy before. But with the midterms just days away, it took on a sharper note. Biden blamed his predecessor, Donald Trump, for stoking divisions in the country and breeding election denialism. But he was also careful to add that much of the danger was being spurred by MAGA Republicans, specifically, whom he described as a clear danger despite being only a distinct minority of the country. |
| Why the Paul Pelosi attack keeps drawing in conspiracy theories | |
 | It didn't take long for the news of the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul, to get wrapped up in conspiracy theories. Once the police identified the suspect in custody as David DePape, journalists quickly identified blog posts that appeared to be written by him. The writer of those posts embraced far-right views, including antisemitic tropes, false claims about the 2020 election and conspiracies about COVID vaccines. DePape's daughter told The Los Angeles Times that her father wrote the posts. But as details of the story emerged, many high-profile outlets and personalities on the right quickly moved to cast doubt that the attack was tied to someone who shared some of their beliefs. The speed at which mainstream figures picked up conspiracies was striking to Jared Holt, an extremism and disinformation researcher at the nonprofit Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Earlier this year, Holt reported about how a baseless story about biolabs in Ukraine could be traced back to one QAnon influencer on Twitter. This time, the conspiracy theories seemed to emerge spontaneously with no single originator. "After the attack on Paul Pelosi, it seemed to kind of all churn at the same time. There wasn't the same kind of, you know, origin point." As is often the case, many aspects of false narratives aren't new. One that ISD identified surrounding the attack was that the attack was a so-called false flag operation, where the apparent perpetrator is affiliated with the perpetrator's opponents. |
| As Drought Drops Water Level in the Mississippi, Shipwrecks Surface and Worries Rise | |
 | Along the drought-stricken Mississippi River, a world usually hidden beneath the waves has been basking under the sun. In recent weeks, new islands have breached the surface, as have the hulls of sunken ships and a vast array of lost marine equipment. The diminished waterway that remains has been clogged with barges, stuck in the mud or waiting their turn to press ahead down a narrowed channel. On the Lower Mississippi -- the portion that flows south from Cairo, Ill. -- the water level in some places has fallen below records set more than 30 years ago. The conditions have hamstrung one of the nation's busiest and most vital waterways and jeopardized drinking water systems. And experts have cautioned that the substantial rainfall needed to improve the situation could be weeks away, if not longer. "We have seen disasters regarding hurricanes, we have seen disasters regarding tornadoes," said Errick D. Simmons, the mayor of Greenville, Miss., a port city of roughly 28,000 people in the Delta region. "But we haven't seen a historic drought like we're seeing on the Mississippi." The river's tremendous reach -- linking soybean farms, chemical plants and food factories -- has made it a crucial shipping lane for roughly 500 million tons of cargo each year, including a large portion of the world's food supply. The cost of barge shipping has surged. |
| Student organizations get out the vote | |
 | With midterm elections approaching on Tuesday, Nov. 8, the University of Mississippi's political student organizations are aiming to get students to vote. UM College Democrats is an organization "dedicated to upholding and promoting the goals and ideals of the Democratic Party on campus and in the greater community through political action and community service." The group has biweekly meetings for discussion of topics such as student loan forgiveness, women's rights, LGBT+ rights and more. Outreach coordinator Caleb Ball, a sophomore political science major, emphasized the importance of voting. "Your vote is never going to matter until every single person who is a Democrat in Mississippi or in any other red state shows up to vote because it shows that we are here. We (have) to make sure our vote counts because there are very important issues on the ballot," Ball said. This November, the economy, immigration, abortion regulation and education are key issues being considered by candidates. The Young Women for America chapter at UM promotes biblical and conservative values on campus. "The organization itself is on a 'She Prays, She Votes' tour, so we have been praying along with them," President Jordyn Ewing-Anderson, a junior political science major, said. "They recently stopped in Jackson, and I gave a speech about how Mississippi is the cornerstone of the pro-life movement." |
| Blue economy attracting companies from across the globe to Coastal Mississippi | |
 | The blue economy is giving the Coast a chance to cash in. On Wednesday, business leaders from around the globe gathered in Gulfport to get a glimpse into how their companies could potentially flourish in South Mississippi. Six startup tech companies took part in a kickoff reception. As part of a six month program, representatives from those companies are learning about the business potential the area provides. "We're here to plug into the various resources around the blue economy here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast," said developer Peter Macy. Macy's company Blue Ocean Gear is based in California. The company designs and makes smart tracking buoys. Macy said expanding his operation on the Mississippi Coast could make a lot of sense. "It's access to water along with access to talent," Macy said. "There's a lot of smart people here who've got strong backgrounds working in the shipbuilding business or ocean data scientists that we're really looking to plug into. We hope this is an opportunity to build our team and perhaps even open an office." The USM Research Foundation and other partners are working to recruit these companies as part of the Gulf Blue Navigator program. "We're showing them what the possibility is of setting up shop, maybe moving their headquarters here and setting up a satellite," said Hailey Bathurst, Gulf Blue Navigator program coordinator. "If they do that, they come with their families and they hire local work force. We're focused on the economic development piece and connecting them with the community here." |
| Billboard names Delta State one of America's top music business schools | |
| Billboard has named Delta State University's Entertainment Industries Studies program one of the top music business schools in America. The list, which appeared in the October 11 issue of the magazine, has Delta State alongside other renowned programs such as Abbey Road Institute, Belmont University's Mike Curb College of Entertainment, and Middle Tennessee University. Delta State's Entertainment Industries Studies program, also known as the Delta Music Institute, is intended to develop a broad range of skills in audio engineering technology and entertainment industry entrepreneurship, providing students with a foundational base of knowledge for working in various entertainment industry careers. The program promises that alumni will be prepared for the technical, business, and legal issues that confront the practicing entertainment industry in not only today's world but the future. "It is an honor for our program to be included in this list for the first time," Richard Tremmell, the program's chair, said. "We have a great team of faculty and staff who bring a diverse body of knowledge into our classrooms to prepare our students for real-world experiences." |
| MVSU enrollment falls below 2,000 | |
| Mississippi Valley State University's enrollment has fallen below 2,000 for the first time in decades. The historically Black university, the smallest of the state's eight public four-year colleges, has an enrollment of 1,879 students this fall, down 9% from the prior year, according to figures released Wednesday by the state Institutions of Higher Learning. That was the largest percentage decline among the eight universities. MVSU has been struggling for years to boost its numbers, dealing not only with the Delta's declining population but increased competition for students with the state's larger, comprehensive universities. Delta State University had the second largest decline this fall, falling 6.3% to 2,556 students. Its president, William LaForge, was abruptly removed in June by the state College Board after he had served nine years in the post. Enrollment at Delta State has fallen 32% since 2019, when it stood at 3,761. |
| MVSU above state average in awarding of 4-year degrees | |
| Mississippi Valley State University awards a higher percentage of four-year and graduate and professional degrees than the state's public universities do overall. The Education Achievement Council released annual report cards for public universities last week for the 2020-2021 academic year. The EAC reports show the progress that universities and community colleges have made toward educational goals. MVSU scored slightly above the state average of four-year degrees awarded, with 75.5% of awarded degrees being four-year degrees. In the state, 74.8% of degrees awarded from public universities are four-year degrees. MVSU also issued a significantly larger percentage of education-related degrees. Out of degrees issued by MVSU, 16.1% were in the field of education. |
| Mississippi College introduces two new logos | |
| Mississippi College unveiled two new logos during this past weekend's Homecoming. The traditional "MC" letters have received what the school calls "a nuanced adjustment, with clean, symmetrical lines, sharp, thin edges, and a more modern look." The Division II school's new main athletic logo, on the other hand, features an eagle adorned with feathers and diamond shapes modeled after Choctaw culture, moving away from the arrowhead with the MC letters on top. The new logos, which are part of a new branding initiative at the 197-year-old Christian university, is intended to appeal to a new generation of students, according to Mississippi College Director of Marketing Nick Stafford. "The rebrand is reflective of changes that are happening at the operations level of the university. We're growing and striving to reach the next generation. We want to strategic steps to reflect those changes that speak to that generation of students," Stafford said. |
| Pearl River Community College Creates Scholarship for Foster-Care Students in Forrest County | |
| Inside the fitness center on Pearl River Community College's Forrest County campus, students of varying ages lift weights, cycle in spin classes and contort their bodies while practicing yoga -- all as part of Zac Bennett's physical education class. Underneath the clanking of barbels and the spinning whirs of bike chains, however, another deceptively prevalent sound often goes unheard: a deep and empty growling of stomachs. "A lot of students come into my classes and tell me that they haven't eaten all day," Bennett, who serves as the coordinator of wellness and student activities for PRCC's Forrest County campus. "That's where I often see financial insecurity in my day-to-day life here. Some students just don't have the funds to buy lunch, so they go without." Financial insecurity is at the root of PRCC's Costumes for a Cause, a Halloween-themed 5k and one-mile "fun run" on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at 7:30 a.m. Organizers encourage participants to wear costumes for runs and will award medals to the overall race winner, the age-group race winner and the participant with the best costume. All proceeds from this event will go toward the establishment of a scholarship fund for students who were raised in the foster-care system and whose education could potentially be hindered without financial support. While the scholarship focuses on students who have grown up in foster care, PRCC administrators acknowledge that this group represents but one example of circumstances that can lead to financial hardship and impede students' paths toward higher education. |
| As midterms approach, Auburn College Democrats and Republicans ramp up engagement | |
| It is November in Auburn. On campus, students have begun to bundle up in their oversized sweatshirts as the air grows chilly and crisp. And with that fall feeling has come the long-anticipated 2022 midterm elections. Since January, Auburn College Democrats and Republicans have been organizing for the midterm elections on campus and beyond to ensure their party retains or attains power at the federal and state levels by knocking on doors, making phone calls and engaging fellow students in conversation about issues that matter to them. As the runup to the Nov. 8 midterm elections enters its final, crucial week, Jack Clem, junior in political science and Vice President of Auburn College Republicans, detailed how various chapters of College Republicans across the state have collaborated to support candidates not just in Alabama, but across the country. "We've done some door knocking in Georgia and phone banking, you just do that sitting at home, but we've done that for Governor Kemp (R-Ga.) just because our races in Alabama are not looking all that competitive," Clem said. For College Democrats, the nature of their organizing has been dramatically different when compared to their conservative counterparts. According to Seth Johnson, senior in political science and President of Auburn College Democrats, much of Democrats' organizing has revolved around on-campus voter registration and education from their table on the Haley concourse every other Wednesday. |
| Growing broccoli for college credit: LSU class gives hands-on experience, helps fight hunger | |
 | An LSU horticulture class isn't just teaching students how to grow their own food, it's helping fight hunger on campus. At the Hill Farm Teaching Facility, a five-acre facility dedicated to horticulture science, students in professor Carl Motsenbocker's Horticulture 4083 class are growing vegetables from the seeding stage to harvest. Students harvested their first crops of the season -- broccoli, chard, collard greens and turnips, to name a few -- at Hill Farm on Tuesday during their lab. "They are learning the history of growing food, the physiology of vegetable crops and this is the hands-on section where they extend their knowledge and sort of learn by doing," Motsenbocker said. The goal of the class is for students to learn how to grow food, appreciate where it comes from and complete a service project for the LSU community. "I think it's important for students to have a learning experience putting into practice what they learned in a book or what they get from a lecture," Motsenbocker said. "They're also learning about the importance of food security and food access because there are issues with college students not having enough food and college students starving." Students will get to keep the vegetables they want from the two separate 20-foot plots; the rest will go to the LSU's on-campus food pantry which helps out students who are worried about missing meals. |
| Texas A&M AgriLife IHA works to reduce chronic disease | |
 | The Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture is preparing to start a path forward to strengthening agriculture's integral role in reducing chronic disease, according to IHA Director Patrick Stover and former vice chancellor and dean of agriculture and life sciences at Texas A&M. "This is an important event for us and it is a continuation of a process and an initiative that we have been pursuing through the [IHA] and that is to really position agriculture as the solution to improving human health and reducing an epidemic of chronic diseases that are a major driver of health care costs," he said. The IHA, with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, partnered with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to host a "Conference on Agriculture for Health: Priority Setting to Solve the Ultimate Grand Challenge" on Thursday in Chicago to bring experts from higher education, agriculture, government and the private and nonprofit sectors to discuss the role of agriculture. "The food system that we have today really came out of the Great Depression and World War II where there was a lot of hunger," Stover said. "The goal was to eliminate hunger after WWII and the subsequent decades to try to scale an agricultural system that produced food, and specifically calories in abundance such that hunger would be rare, and where there was hunger it wouldn't be due to a lack of food production." |
| Historic Crowder Hall gets reprieve as U. of Missouri takes 'breather' on demolition plan | |
 | Crowder Hall, which houses the University of Missouri's Military Science Department and ROTC programs, is getting a reprieve from demolition at least while officials assess progress on the university's Space Reduction and Strategic Relocation Plan. "We're taking a breather on the entire demolition plan," said MU spokesman Christian Basi. As a result of the buildings demolished so far, the university has freed up 318,000 square feet of campus space, eliminated $73 million in deferred maintenance and reduced annual operating costs by $2.3 million, Basi said. Some other buildings remain scheduled to be demolished in the coming months, Basi said. Those include Manor House, Neff Annex, Mizzou North and the Laboratory Animal Center. That will eliminate another 317,000 square feet of space, $72 million in deferred maintenance and reduce operating costs by $2.4 million. "What we wanted to do is take a step back and look at the progress we've made," Basi said. "We'll look at what makes the most sense in terms of the future campus needs." The Space Reduction and Strategic Relocation Plan has drawn criticism for involving some historic buildings. The plan to demolish Crowder Hall also drew criticism from alumni of the military programs. |
| Hooked on history: MU professor offers class on ancient and modern pirates | |
 | For students searching for a class that is out of the ordinary, the University of Missouri may have the buried treasure they're looking for. Kristy Wilson Bowers teaches a History 2700 class titled "The History of Pirates: Maritime Raiding from Ancient to Modern Times." She has offered the class shortly after arriving at MU in 2015. "Piracy studies is a booming field," Bowers said. "It pulls students from a lot of different majors and different backgrounds, which I love. It gives us a lot of different perspectives." Bowers has always had an interest in piracy in the back of her mind after primarily focusing her research on early modern Spain. When she was a graduate student living in Spain, she studied plague epidemics which led to her curiosity sparking questions about Mediterranean courses. When she came to MU in 2015, she knew creating a new course or two would be in the works. From there, she started incorporating short excerpts of Atlantic piracy to her Western civilization courses to share and discuss with students. The deeper she dove into piracy research, the more she thought about how she could create a class that solely focuses on the study, since nobody else seemed to be interested in teaching it. When the class was first introduced, no textbook was available. Instead, Bowers dug up several articles and eventually found a lot of scholarship she could work with. After compiling studies, short books and more, Bowers was officially ready to begin her piracy class at MU. |
| Colleges go offbeat for cybersecurity training | |
 | When Whitworth University was hit by a cyberattack earlier this year, it faced a public relations nightmare, significant financial strain and a data breach that may have affected thousands of former and current students and employees. The incident was one of an increasing number of cyberattacks against colleges since 2020. Such attacks have more often succeeded against higher ed than other sectors, including business, health care and financial services. Though college information technology offices have long worked behind the scenes to bolster institutional defenses, their countermeasure efforts, such as installing network threat detection and risk-mitigation systems, are often invisible. Meanwhile, students and faculty and staff members -- end users -- who remain unaware of security threats pose significant risks. Mandatory cybersecurity-awareness training helps but is often top-down and requires email nudges from managers, according to Chas Grundy, IT strategy and transformation director at the University of Notre Dame. As a result, community members are often slow to engage. Notre Dame is one of several institutions experimenting with unconventional cybersecurity awareness training in the form of festivals, art installations and role-playing games. Here's a sample of serious cybersecurity training in fun formats, including some lessons learned and wins along the way. |
| Student-Led Programs Are Key Mental-Health Resources. But More Research Is Needed. | |
 | There is strong interest on college campuses for scaling up peer support as a mental-health resource for students. But more research is needed to establish guidelines for the programs -- in light of concerns about liability, training, and risks for students leading the efforts. That's according to a new report by the Mary Christie Institute, a think tank focused on college students' well-being. The report was commissioned by the institute and by the Ruderman Family Foundation. The report's authors argue that peer support should be taken seriously as part of a public-health approach to treating student mental health, especially as college-counseling centers struggle to meet the demand for services. The report -- which is based on case studies, interviews with experts, a literature review, and a survey of counseling-center directors -- calls on the higher-education and philanthropic communities to spearhead new research on what ideal peer-support models should look like. The report follows a survey, conducted this year by the institute, that found that one in five college students had used some form of peer support in the past year. Nearly 60 percent said it had been helpful, and rates of use were higher among Black, LGBTQ, and first-generation students. |
| Fidelity is the latest employer to offer free college education to workers | |
| Despite growing economic uncertainty, employers are still waging a war for talent, and employees are coming out ahead. Now, more businesses are expanding their benefit offerings with free college programs to attract and retain workers. Most recently, Fidelity Investments said it will offer fully funded undergraduate degrees to 18,000 employees, including entry-level customer service phone representatives. The company, which already offered student debt repayment, will cover the upfront costs for tuition, books and fees at select two-and four-year schools, avoiding the need for reimbursement. Other major financial institutions, including Citi and PNC, announced similar offerings this year. Roughly 38,000 Citi front-line consumer banking employees are eligible for its education benefits program, including free college. PNC's tuition program is available to 62,000 employees. "The war for talent is over," PWC U.S. Chairman Tim Ryan said at the CNBC Work Summit last month. "Talent won." Coming out of the pandemic, these types of benefits play a big part in the competition for workers and, as a result, more companies are offering opportunities to develop new skills, according to the Society for Human Resource Management's recent employee benefits survey. Now, 48% of employers said they offer undergraduate or graduate tuition assistance as a benefit, according to that survey. |
| Covid-19 Disrupted International Education, but Colleges Remain Hopeful About Global Engagement | |
| The Covid-19 pandemic was a major disruptor of American colleges' international-education efforts, yet college leaders surveyed by the American Council on Education remain optimistic about the future of higher education's global engagement. Sixty percent of colleges said that their level of institutional internationalization during the pandemic was low or very low, according to a new report, "Mapping Internationalization on U.S. Campuses," released today. By contrast, 47 percent of institutions said their international activities had been accelerating in the years prior to the pandemic, 2016 to 2020. Still, academic leaders took a positive view of future internationalization efforts, with two-thirds predicting that their institution's overall level of international engagement would increase in the next five years. Despite that hopeful outlook, the report, the fifth in a series of surveys the council has conducted since 2006, shows that the shift away from international education as a campus priority actually began before the pandemic. For instance, in 2016, 72 percent of colleges reported their internationalization efforts were accelerating, compared with only about half of institutions in the years immediately preceding the Covid outbreak. The number of colleges that include international or global education in their mission statements or strategic plans has also declined over the years. In the 2012 report, 51 percent of respondents said internationalization was part of their institutional mission. By 2017, the share had fallen to 49 percent. In this latest survey, 43 percent answered in the affirmative. |
| As Dollar Strengthens, U.S. Students in Europe Feel the Benefits | |
| In high school economics classes, Avery Scott studied foreign exchange rates through graphs and equations, but the subject felt confusing, faraway and theoretical. Now a junior at the University of Georgia, Ms. Scott is studying abroad in England and getting a real-life lesson in currency movements, as the British pound trades near historic lows against the dollar. The stronger dollar has meant that savings from her side jobs at a coffee shop and at an internship at a church back home are going further. "I'm seeing it happen every day," Ms. Scott, who is studying English at the University of Oxford, said. She had envisioned budget weekend trips that involved hourslong bus rides rather than flights and dingy hostels instead of hotels. Instead, she has been able to travel around Britain and other parts of Europe without breaking the bank, said Ms. Scott, 20, who had never been on a flight before this study abroad trip and is paying for the program through scholarships and her savings. American study abroad students, who may have once resorted to fast food and hostels while traveling in expensive European cities, are discovering that the strength of the dollar, which is up about 21 percent against the pound and 17 percent against the euro over the past year, is making it easier to find good deals. Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said that there had been an upward trend of students traveling abroad, especially to Britain, to study over the past two decades. The weakened British pound could be one reason, though it is difficult to disentangle it from other factors, Ms. Sumption said. |
| Loan company distances itself from GOP-led states' student debt suit | |
 | A student loan servicer cited in a lawsuit that temporarily blocked President Biden's debt forgiveness plan is distancing itself from one of the claims raised by six Republican-led states challenging the program. The states -- Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina -- claim that the president overstepped his authority in creating the forgiveness plan and that the move threatened the revenue of state entities that profit from federal student loans, including the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority. The quasi-state entity commonly known as MOHELA is not a named party to the lawsuit but nonetheless drew the ire of advocacy groups and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who questioned its perceived involvement. On Tuesday, Justice Department attorneys alerted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit -- which is weighing an injunction against the forgiveness plan -- to a letter MOHELA sent Bush last week clarifying that it played no role in the decision by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) to sue. The lawsuit filed by Schmitt and leaders in the other five states said MOHELA, which owns and services debt from the defunct Federal Family Education Loan program, would be deprived of interest payments if borrowers consolidated out of FFEL to take advantage of Biden's forgiveness plan. It said the company, which funds state scholarships, would also lose revenue from servicing Direct Loans -- those made and owned by the federal government -- that are wiped away. |
| Bill would force colleges to share data on asset management diversity | |
| Colleges and universities could be required to report how much of their endowment is managed by women- or minority-owned firms under a new bill from U.S. representative Emanuel Cleaver II. The Missouri Democrat's Endowment Transparency Act of 2022 is aimed at boosting diversity and inclusion in the asset management industry by mandating transparency and standardizing data collection. College and university endowment assets collectively total more than $821 billion, but determining how much of those assets are managed by diverse-owned firms has proven difficult. A majority of the 50 wealthiest U.S. colleges and universities declined to share data with the Knight Foundation for a report this year on the diversity of asset management firms managing the endowments. Data shared by the participating institutions show an overall lack of diversity. The Knight Foundation has previously found that in the overall asset management industry, firms owned by white men controlled nearly 99 percent of the assets managed in the United States. Cleaver said in a statement that it's "unacceptable" that most of the $82 trillion asset management industry is controlled by white men. "As colleges and universities tout their efforts to diversify at every level, from the student body to the faculty and staff, I believe they are a perfect place to encourage greater opportunity in this intractable industry," Cleaver said. |
SPORTS
| Why Dak Prescott wants Will Rogers to break all his Mississippi State football records | |
| Dak Prescott was strolling through Mississippi State football's locker room ahead of the season opener against Memphis. As players walked toward the exit, Prescott was walking against the stream and voicing his support. As he walked past the likes of linebacker Jett Johnson and receivers Jaden Walley and Caleb Ducking, it was clear Prescott was looking for someone. He was looking for quarterback Will Rogers, who was still sitting at his locker in the back. That's where the two embraced -- an MSU legend and one looking to cement his legacy. Amidst their conversation, Prescott reminded Rogers of the quarterback's role. "It's your team," Prescott told him. The program that the Dallas Cowboys star elevated to elite status during his tenure (2012-15) now belongs to Rogers as do many of Prescott's records, including a new one set to be broken Saturday (6:30 p.m., ESPN2) when Mississippi State (5-3, 2-3) plays host to Auburn (3-5, 1-4). Rogers is one passing touchdown away from breaking Prescott's career mark of 70. "I'm a big believer records were meant to be broken," Prescott told the Clarion Ledger last week. "It's exciting for Will and not only Will but his team as well and his coach. The record is going to have one name on it, but it's damn sure not one guy's record. For me, it's cool to see. Will, break them all." |
| Bulldog grab bag: Emmanuel Forbes doesn't let awards get to his head | |
 | Every time Darcel McBath hears about a latest accolade for his star cornerback, he shoots junior Emmanuel Forbes a text. "This means nothing to me," the Mississippi State cornerbacks coach reminds his young player. "Reset, reload, let's get on to the next week." Those messages might no longer be necessary. "He doesn't even need that text anymore. He might have as a freshman, but now he doesn't," McBath said Wednesday. The awards keep coming, as do McBath's attempts to keep Forbes humble, but Forbes appears to have things under control himself. McBath said no amount of individual success has disrupted Forbes' team-first attitude. "He looks forward to getting a W more than anything," McBath said. Inside receivers coach Drew Hollingshead gets a front-row seat to Forbes every day, calling the junior Mississippi State's "best practice player" for the energy and talent he brings. "He's long. He's athletic. He's skillful. Can't say enough good things about him," Hollingshead said. "He's a tough, willing tackler. He'll mix it up. "He deserves all the accolades he's getting, and I'm glad he's on our team, that's for sure." |
| Mississippi State interim AD Bracky Brett issues statement on NIL collective, fanbase support | |
| As Mississippi State begins its search for a new athletic director, Bracky Brett is tasked with holding down the fort in the meantime. The Bulldogs interim AD penned a letter to the fanbase on Wednesday, both thanking them for their support thus far and encouraging them to continue attending games and supporting the program through NIL. "Countless people have contacted me to offer their support and to ask how they can help Mississippi State University's athletic department during our period of transition to a new Athletic Director," Brett wrote in the letter. "My answer to each of them has been consistent: be optimistic, be present and vocal at our games, and support the NIL efforts of our friends at The Bulldog Initiative." Brett was appointed to the interim athletic director role after John Cohen left earlier this week to become the next athletic director at Auburn. In his letter, Bracy Brett went on to talk more about Mississippi State's NIL collective The Bulldog Initiative, citing its success to date while also adding the program is nowhere near where it hopes to end up. "As we continue to ask for your direct support of our athletic department, we must also recognize that the success of groups like The Bulldog Initiative will have a direct bearing on the success of our athletic department and its programs," Brett wrote. "For this reason, we ask that you please consider helping them." |
| Lane Kiffin waves off Auburn talk, praises Deion Sanders as coaching candidate | |
 | Lane Kiffin was asked point blank Wednesday if he'd be interested in Auburn's opening for a new head football coach, giving a long-worded "no comment." "We don't really comment on those things in-season," the Ole Miss head coach said on the SEC coaches teleconference. "They happen every year a lot of times, and all they are is a product of players performing well and assistant coaches. ... We're extremely happy here, having got something special going and (we) have great support here." Kiffin, who's been oft-named for the opening, first spoke on it to some degree Monday, empathizing with Bryan Harsin in his weekly press conference. "When you've been through something like that, you obviously have empathy for people," Kiffin said Monday, referencing his Tennessee tenure. In the sphere of head coaching jobs, Kiffin was asked about another in-state coach and potential suitor for Auburn's opening in Deion Sanders, specifically if the Jackson State head coach would do well in a Power Five job. "I think he'd do great," Kiffin said. "I think that's a great name and they should hire him. Great recruiter, great name. This is a different world we're in now. Recruiting has always been important, but now you have the portal. ... You can change a roster faster than you ever could before." "Picture our team without the portal. Take those guys out of there and look what it looks like." |
| LSU's Golden Girls keep tradition alive in Tiger Stadium: 'There's nothing better.' | |
| Four notes is all it takes. With that iconic opening musical phrase, "Hold that Tiger" kicks off a slew of traditions on any given Saturday in Tiger Stadium. The Golden Girls are right in the middle of it all. They've been around since 1959. The experience of being a Golden Girl is almost always a dream come true -- one that many set their sights on as little girls. "Growing up, watching the Golden Girls, I got to see how talented they were, but also how they were ambassadors," said Madison Mistretta, a current team captain. "It was just so inspiring, and that made me want to be one even more knowing that it was more than just the dancing." Mistretta is one of two captains leading the 2022 team. She started working toward her goal of being a Golden Girl in high school, particularly during her junior and senior years. Mistretta is now a senior at LSU majoring in communication sciences and disorders with a minor in Spanish. She and her fellow captain, Lauren Aguillard, have been dancing together since they were 9 years old. Aguillard is also a senior, majoring in biological sciences on a pre-med track, and this is her second year as captain. The LSU Tiger Band and Golden Girls are unique organizations on campus, due to the fact that they are majority student-run. Both Mistretta and Aguillard choreograph performances and teach the other team members. |
| Inflation puts tighter squeeze on already pricey kids sports | |
| It only took a few seconds for Rachel Kennedy to grab her phone after she left the checkout line at the sporting-goods store, where she had just finished buying a new glove, pants, belt, cleats and the rest of the equipment for her son, Liam's, upcoming baseball season. "I texted his dad and asked him, 'Did we really spend $350 on all this last year?'" Kennedy said. Sticker shock in youth sports is nothing new, but the onslaught of double-digit inflation across America this year has added a costly wrinkle on the path to the ballparks, swimming pools and dance studios across America. It has forced some families, like Kennedy's, to scale back the number of seasons, or leagues, or sports that their kids can play in any given year, while motivating league organizers to become more creative in devising ways to keep prices down and participation up. Recent studies, conducted before inflation began impacting daily life across America, showed families spent around $700 a year on kids' sports, with travel and equipment accounting for the biggest portion of the expense. Everyone from football coaches to swim-meet coordinators are struggling to to find less-expensive ways of keeping families coming through the doors. Costs of uniforms and equipment, along with facility rental, are shooting up -- all products of the onslaught of supply-chain issues, hard-to-find staff, lack of coaches and rising gas and travel costs that were exacerbated, or sometimes caused, by the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted and sometimes canceled seasons altogether. |
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