| Wednesday, February 22, 2023 |
| Theatre MSU brings Shakespeare classic 'Macbeth' to campus | |
 | Mississippi State's Theatre MSU this week presents a Shakespeare classic for its final production of the year. "Macbeth," set during 11th century Scotland, opens Wednesday [Feb. 22] and continues Friday-Saturday [Feb. 24-25] at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday [Feb. 26] at 2:30 p.m. on McComas Hall's main stage. A special performance for school audiences also is planned. Admission is $10, and tickets may be purchased at https://msstate.universitytickets.com or at the door. Shakespeare's five-act tragedy based on Scottish history is "steeped in magic, mischief and murder as Lord and Lady Macbeth are swept away by power and ambition," according to Theatre MSU's production description. "Everyone's attitude toward this show has been so positive and uplifting. The cast and crew have been working so hard, and it's been amazing seeing everything come together. Overall, I'm tremendously excited for this show and seeing both cast and crew's hard work and dedication pay off," said Kylie Dowd, assistant play director and sophomore art major from Clinton. The play also features original music composed by MSU senior music major Aliyah Necaise of Gulfport. |
| MS Visionary: Nashlie Sephus Sees Opportunity in Jackson | |
 | Dr. Nashlie Sephus sees opportunity where others may see urban blight. She has always had a different way of looking at things. Identifying needs and finding solutions is her superpower. Nashlie is making a positive difference and Jackson is benefiting from her vision. As the Applied Science manager for Amazon Artificial Intelligence (AI), Nashlie focuses on fairness and identifying biases in these technologies. Based in Atlanta, Nashlie travels back to her hometown of Jackson frequently, where she is attempting to create a tech hub that rivals those in major cities in the Northwest. Inspired by Amazon, which owns eight blocks in Seattle dedicated to technology, Nashlie says she envisioned something similar in Jackson. On September 11, 2020, Nashlie purchased 21 acres next to Jackson State University to create the Jackson Tech District. "That's just the name we put on it," says Nashlie, who wants to see Jackson progress the way other cities have. "I saw the need for technical experience and technical literacy in Jackson." Nashlie was exposed to technology through the math and science camps she attended at Jackson State University when she was young. "I also attended an engineering camp at Mississippi State University the summer after the eighth grade. I learned something different from what I had learned in school, and I loved it." Nashlie graduated from Mississippi State with a B.S. in computer engineering. |
| Feds award $17M military contract to Starkville business | |
 | The U.S. military awarded a multi-million dollar contract to a Starkville company. The military awarded Camgian Corporation $17 million to build high-tech equipment for the Army. The company builds software systems, enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), to help businesses speed up operations. CEO Gary Butler said the contracts will push AI to help soldiers think and act faster by improving situational awareness. "Being able to not only expand our business and artificial intelligence with the military and serve our warfighters, but also we've been working with a lot of industrial companies as well, many of those in the Golden Triangle region [West Point-Columbus-Starkville]," he said. The CEO said the company has been able to hire more local engineers and give back to other local companies as a result of the new contract. |
| Lent starts with Ash Wednesday ashes, prayer, fasting | |
 | For millions of people around the world, today will be observed as Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. Many Christians will line up in church and get a smudge on the forehead in the shape of a cross. Clergy applying the ashes will quote Genesis: "You are dust and to dust you shall return," a reminder of human mortality. On Ash Wednesday, many Christians fast and begin penance by giving up something for Lent. Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the last day of indulgence allowed before the period of fasting and penitence. Lent is a period of spiritual preparation for Easter Sunday, the celebration of the resurrection, which falls this year on April 9. In his 2023 message for Lent, Pope Francis urged Christians to focus on Jesus, read the scriptures and help those in need. "We need to listen to Jesus," Pope Francis said this week. "Lent is a time of grace to the extent that we listen to him as he speaks to us." It's a time of self-examination, he said. "To deepen our knowledge of the Master, to fully understand and embrace the mystery of his salvation, accomplished in total self-giving inspired by love, we must allow ourselves to be taken aside by him and to detach ourselves from mediocrity and vanity," Pope Francis said. "We need to set out on the journey, an uphill path that, like a mountain trek, requires effort, sacrifice, and concentration." |
| Shooting at Yokohama Tire leaves one dead | |
 | Clay County deputies are investigating a deadly shooting at Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi. Sheriff Eddie Scott says deputies were called early Wednesday morning. He believes an argument between two coworkers led to gunfire in the parking lot around shift change. Scott was not immediately available to answer more questions. WCBI is not releasing the names of the victim or the suspect at this time. |
| Recruiting incentives, in-house residency program keep staffing levels up at Baptist | |
 | Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle recruitment methods have allowed the hospital to maintain a staff of approximately 1,300 and keep turnover rates two-thirds lower than the national average for physicians and nurses. Chief Executive Officer and Administrator Paul Cade and Chief Medical Officer James Martin presented recruitment efforts and community impact updates to the Rotary Club of Columbus on Tuesday at the Lion Hills Center. Cade told Rotarians nursing shortages and increased turnover rates for medical staff that has affected hospitals nationwide have not had as significant of an impact on BMH, which he credits to the local nursing programs at Mississippi University for Women and East Mississippi Community College. Currently, the hospital has a turnover rate of 8 percent, compared to the 24 to 30 percent average nationwide, Cade said. "It's difficult for everyone to hire more nurses," he said. "We're blessed to have MUW here because they have a great nursing school. EMCC has a great nursing school. So we're able to recruit locally and hire those individuals." Martin added the hospital hires five to 10 new physicians a year, and the Graduate Medical Education program, a three-year residency course that puts college graduates into medical programs at the hospital, has pulled five graduates from the program since 2017 who are now practicing at Baptist. |
| Mississippi distillery features botanical spirits. Where is it and what does it make? | |
 | Take a ride through the hills of Jefferson Davis County and you will find lush forests and rolling fields of grass. Cyclists, hikers and equestrians may be found on the Longleaf Trace, which stretches 44 miles from Hattiesburg to Prentiss. Cattle, horses and other farm animals are sprinkled throughout the 55,000 acres of rich farm land. Nestled along the side of a hill near Bassfield is Beaver Creek, a small creek on private land that pools at the base of what is now Beaver Creek Distillery, believed to be the state's first distillery utilizing native botanicals. Brother-and-sister team Greg Phillips and Rhonda Phillips started working on the distillery three years ago, with Rhonda Phillips taking care of the paperwork and Greg Phillips working on construction. Both create and distill the products, which will make their public debut Saturday during the distillery's grand opening. "I was born and raised, right there," Rhonda Phillips said. "That was part of my great-grandparents' farm that I ended up keeping all these years, and so that's where the distillery is." The spirits -- mainly gin and unaged corn spirits or what is commonly known as moonshine -- are made with locally sourced plants native to Mississippi, including strawberries, figs and sweet potatoes. "Our plan is to do what grows in Mississippi," Rhonda Phillips said. |
| Retirement might not be in the cards for everyone | |
| When it comes to retirement, the barrier for entry is only getting higher. Retirement age is going up around the world, and investors are now advising workers to put away as much as $3 million to fund the rest of their non-working lives. For those who aren't planning on retiring in the first place, though, the calculus for saving and spending is different. "I have never had an expectation that a good day would come when I could just quit working and money would just be there for me to live off of," said Shelley Rivers, 62, a substitute teacher in Iowa City, Iowa. Instead, her priorities are less about saving for a future where she's not working anymore, and more about shoring up enough to continue getting by comfortably. "My dream would really just be to be able to see my sister now and again, to be able to go visit my brother, and to be able to make things easier for my kids," Rivers said. "One daughter had to take her cat to the vet, and she just cried when I told her that I could cover the vet bill because she didn't know how she was going to do it. That I can stop that at least once is a good feeling." |
| Power-Grid Attacks Surge and Are Likely to Continue, Study Finds | |
 | Physical attacks on the U.S. power grid rose 71% last year compared with 2021 and will likely increase this year, according to a confidential industry analysis viewed by The Wall Street Journal. A division of the grid oversight body known as the North American Electric Reliability Corporation found that ballistic damage, intrusion and vandalism largely drove the increase. The analysis also determined that physical security incidents involving power outages have increased 20% since 2020, attributed to people frustrated by the onset of the pandemic, social tensions and economic challenges. The NERC division, known as the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or E-ISAC, recorded the sharp increase in incidents in 2022, driven in part by a series of clustered attacks on infrastructure in the Southeast, Midwest and Pacific Northwest. One of the most significant incidents occurred in early December when attackers targeted several substations in North Carolina with gunfire, leaving roughly 45,000 people in the dark. Brian Harrell, former assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the Department of Homeland Security, said there has lately been a notable increase in conversations among extremists about targeting critical infrastructure. "These groups are talking to each other, and they're learning from each other," he said. "It gets a lot of people's attention when you start turning off the lights, and I think that's what they're craving." |
| $1.3B investment paves the way for Mississippi road construction to begin in one year | |
| Less than one week ago, Governor Tate Reeves announced an overall investment of $1.3 billion in transportation capacity funding to repair roads and create project-ready sites across Mississippi. Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) Executive Director Brad White explained that the funds will address the department's capacity program, which focuses on the state's major construction projects. "That's kind of sat dormant for the last 10 years," White said on The Gallo Show. "Thanks to Senator Wicker, the Federal Highway Administration received an extra $1 billion for Mississippi to be spent out over the next five years and that allowed us to restart the capacity program." White stated that prior to last week's announcement, Reeves chose what projects to fund out of a three-year plan compiled by MDOT. "He took them right out of our plan, starting with those that are most shovel-ready and he just moved down the list until he had those projects that he thought were key to moving forward," White said. "They are all projects that we are already investing and have been investing pre-construction dollars into to bring them to the construction phase." |
| Tax cuts, rebate check proposal die in Legislature from GOP opposition | |
 | In a surprising rebuke of legislative authority, both chambers of the state Legislature rejected their respective leaders' requests to pass new tax relief legislation, killing short-term efforts this year to cut the state income tax. House Speaker Philip Gunn and House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar both called on their colleagues in the 122-member House to take steps to reduce the state income tax rate, but rank-and-file GOP House members did not have an appetite to slash taxes again. Around a dozen House Republicans, according to Lamar, R-Senatobia, opposed efforts to reduce the income tax rate, though he declined to specifically name some of those members. "There's still tremendous support to eliminate the tax on work in the Mississippi House of Representatives," Lamar said. But a person familiar with the internal deliberations in the GOP caucus meeting said that even more Republican lawmakers than Lamar's estimate were reluctant to advocate for tax cuts again because of rural hospitals at risk of closing and infrastructure needs around the state. Democratic House members also relayed a message to Republican leadership that they would vote against any potential income tax bill that came to the House floor. |
| Tax cuts, rebates fizzle from lack of GOP support in Legislature | |
| With a Wednesday deadline for action on major tax cuts, elimination or rebates, Republican House and Senate leaders said such measures don't appear likely, largely due to lack of support from fellow Republicans who hold supermajorities in both chambers. "There's tremendous support to eliminate the tax on work (income tax) in the Mississippi House of Representatives," Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, said Tuesday. "... But a small group in the Republican Caucus doesn't want us to take it up, and we are on notice the Democrats are going to block vote against it. It's a three-fifths vote, so that's where it's at." In the Senate, Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann had vowed to push for income tax rebate checks for Mississippians. But Finance Chairman Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, on Tuesday said many in the Senate are more focused on "paying off debt, not taking on more debt, infrastructure needs and a lot of other financial issues to consider." Wednesday is the deadline for first floor action on revenue and appropriations bills. Since late last week, media, lobbyists and other observers had hovered around Ways and Means and Finance meetings, expecting them to roll out major tax cut or rebate bills. Both Lamar and Harkins had indicated such measures might be forthcoming. On Tuesday, both indicated they are not forthcoming. |
| Mississippi governor vows to sign limit on transgender care | |
 | Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves confirmed Tuesday that he plans to sign a bill to ban gender-affirming care in the state for anyone younger than 18 -- part of a broad effort in conservative states to restrict transgender athletes, gender-affirming care and drag shows. House Bill 1125 won final approval Tuesday in the Republican-controlled Mississippi Senate, and it will be sent in the coming days to Reeves, a Republican who is running for reelection. "Sterilizing and castrating children in the name of new gender ideology is wrong," Reeves wrote on Twitter. "That plain truth is somehow controversial in today's world." Reeves signed a law in 2021 to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' or women's sports. The Republican governor of Utah recently signed a ban on gender-affirming care into law, and judges have temporarily blocked similar laws in Arkansas and Alabama. In Arkansas on Tuesday, the state Senate approved legislation that tries to effectively reinstate that state's ban on gender affirming care for minors by making it easier to sue providers of such medical care. The vote in the Mississippi Senate came less than a week after transgender teenagers, their families and others who support them protested against the bill. |
| Lawmakers pass gender-affirming procedure ban, governor says he will sign it into law | |
| The state Senate, with a split partisan vote on Tuesday, sent a bill that bans gender-affirming procedures and drugs for Mississippians under 18 to Gov. Tate Reeves, who has indicated he will sign it into law. House Bill 1125, the "Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures Act," is boilerplate Republican legislation similar to measures passed or debated in other states and was authored by Rep. Gene Newman, a Republican from Pearl. It passed the Senate on a party-line vote 33-15. The measure was one of more than 30 bills Mississippi Republican lawmakers filed this election year to limit rights of LGBTQ+ people in the state. "We love people," said Senate Judiciary Chairman Joey Fillingane, a Republican from Sumrall who handled the bill's floor passage. "We don't hate people. We want people to be well and healthy ... But these are unnatural things taking place in our state." Republicans fended off an attempt by Sen. Rod Hickman, a Democrat from Macon, to amend the bill to clarify that mental health services are not prohibited. Fillingane said that is already the case with the bill. Republicans didn't want any amendments to the measure, which would have sent it back to the House and prolonged its inevitable passage with a GOP supermajority during an election year. Hickman and others have argued that the measure, besides further alienating a group already ill-treated in Mississippi society, would cause doctors to be leery about providing any services, such as mental health, for fear of the strong penalties in the bill. |
| Mississippi House passes 'Pregnancy Resource' tax credits | |
| The Mississippi House passed a bill Tuesday to expand tax credits for women and families after a law that banned most abortions went into effect last year. The legislation, called the "Pregnancy Resource Act, passed in a bipartisan 104-8 vote. It is a priority for House Speaker Phillip Gunn, a Republican in his final year in office. The bill will now head to the state senate for further consideration. The proposal would create a child care expense tax credit for individuals or married couples earning $50,000 or less. It would mirror a federal credit that exists to help parents pay for child care. Additionally, the bill would double the expense tax credit for families seeking to adopt from a maximum of $5,000 to $10,000. It would also expand tax credits individuals and businesses can receive for donating to charities that assist women and children, foster care organizations and so-called pregnancy resource centers. Pregnancy resource centers have aimed to provide support to pregnant women and discourage them from seeking abortions. The facilities have been expanding in every state with support from wealthy conservative donors, powerful state lawmakers and religious institutions. They've also received tens of millions of tax dollars funneled to them by conservative state leaders. |
| House Republicans abruptly end debate as Democrats offer amendments to help poor women, children | |
| The House Republican majority flexed its muscle Tuesday and abruptly cut off Democrats' efforts to offer amendments that aimed to improve the health of poor Mississippi women and children. The debate came on Republican-authored House Bill 1671, which provides multiple tax credits for businesses and individuals for making contributions to pregnancy crisis centers that were created to try to curb abortion in the state and for contributions to various adoptions services. The bill, Republican supporters said, was designed to provide additional help for women and children after the 2022 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court ending a national right to an abortion and resulting in a near total abortion ban in Mississippi. Democrats had planned to offer multiple additional amendments that they said would provide additional help for women and children. "We let rich Mississippians steal welfare funds. This amendment simply says we will raise the allotment for (poor) women and children," said Rep. Robert Johnson, the House Democratic leader from Natchez. "If you don't want to take care of them in the hospital, at least vote to feed them." But Democrats didn't get the chance to offer and debate most of their amendments. On motions by Rep. Steve Massengill, a Hickory Flat Republican, the GOP majority voted to cut off debate on two Democratic amendments, though a handful of Republican members voted with Democrats to debate those issues. |
| Northeast Mississippi lawmakers lead effort to silence debate over women's healthcare | |
| Lawmakers from Benton and Tippah counties on Tuesday led the effort in the state House to cut off debate on proposals to extend postpartum Medicaid benefits and give more financial assistance to poor families. Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Democratic leader of the House, tried to tweak a bill about tax credits to require the state to extend Medicaid benefits for up to a year for new mothers and increase the amount of cash assistance poor mothers receive from the state. But Rep. Steve Massengill, R-Hickory Flat, twice motioned for the amendments to be tabled, meaning debate ends and lawmakers must immediately vote on whether to reject Johnson's amendment. The House approved of Massengill's motions mostly along party lines. "When a motion is made to table an amendment, that means they don't want to hear what you have to say," Johnson said. " ...That means that an issue that is as important as women and children and the birth and the life and the ability to survive, nobody wants to talk about." Mississippi has some of the worst maternal health metrics in the nation and Mississippi children are more likely to die before their first birthday than anywhere else in the country. Health leaders around the state have repeatedly called on the House to extend benefits to new mothers for a year to help solve those metrics, but House leadership has blocked the bills from being considered before the full House chamber. |
| Mississippi Racial Gerrymandering Case Dismissed in Supreme Court | |
| The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear Buck v. Reeves, a case alleging that the state's congressional maps are racially gerrymandered. The decision affirms that Mississippi is no longer required to get federal preclearance for its congressional maps. In 2002, a three-judge panel ordered Mississippi to use court-drawn congressional maps "in accordance with the procedures in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965." However, in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority struck down Section 5, with Chief Justice John Roberts saying at the time that "things have changed in the South." Mississippi is a 38% Black state with four congressional districts; one is majority Black and currently represented by a Black Democrat, U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson, while the other three are majority white and represented by white Republicans. Despite being the state with the largest Black population per capita, Mississippi has only sent two Black representatives to Congress since the Reconstruction era after the Civil War: Thompson and his predecessor, former U.S. House Rep. Mike Espy. The state has not elected a Black U.S. senator or any other statewide official since Reconstruction. |
| Fixing the health care worker shortage may be something Congress can agree on | |
 | Senators are eying the growing shortage of health care workers in the United States as one of the few problems where there is room for bipartisan solutions, even in a deeply divided Congress gearing up for a presidential election cycle. The shortage that's only worsened since the pandemic is a prescription for skyrocketing costs, suffering, and unnecessary death, warned Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is the new chairman of the Senate's top health committee. He spoke in his committee's first hearing last week. "We are going to produce legislation, and I think people will be surprised about the level of bipartisan supporters," Sanders said in a brief interview during a break from the hearing. He called for the committee to "produce something meaningful." The shortage of health care workers of all sorts is a widespread problem, but is especially acute in rural areas and minority communities. "Despite all of our health care spending, we don't have enough doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists, dental hygienists, pharmacists, mental health providers, and other medical professionals," Sanders said, pointing to data that suggest the nation faces a shortfall of about 450,000 nurses and 120,000 doctors in the coming years, and 100,000 dentists now. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the committee's top Republican who is also a doctor, cited a few programs the committee is responsible for updating this year, such as an expiring program that trains many of the nation's pediatricians. He said funding should reflect what works in the health care system and come "with the appropriate spending offsets." |
| Taiwan frustrated by weapons delays, key lawmaker finds in stealth visit | |
 | The war in Ukraine has impressed on Taiwan's leaders the need to acquire and stockpile more weapons -- a lesson that's become increasingly urgent in recent months as China's provocations accelerate, said the chairman of the new House select committee on China following a stealth trip to Taipei. "Almost every Taiwanese official I met with mentioned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a wake-up call," said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), in an interview Monday upon his return from the self-governing democracy. China claims Taipei as its own -- and has vowed it will be united with the People's Republic one day -- by force if necessary. Taiwan faces a $19 billion arms backlog, awaiting crucial weapons -- such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles and F-16 fighter jets -- that in many cases aren't due to arrive for years. In the case of Harpoons, one congressional aide said, the missiles aren't likely to begin arriving in real numbers until 2027 at the earliest. "That was the biggest thing we heard from every major Taiwanese leader --- concerns over delays," said Gallagher, who met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, her vice president, defense minister, intelligence chief and other top security officials in a four-day trip. "That's troubling the Taiwanese, and I think that's unacceptable." Gallagher, who had never visited Taiwan before, said he came away impressed by the urgency with which the government took the threat posed by Communist Party-led China and its fast-growing military. |
| Biden Administration Announces New Border Crackdown | |
 | n a bid to prevent a surge of migrants at the southern border when a pandemic measure is lifted in May, the Biden administration on Tuesday announced its toughest policy yet to crack down on unlawful entries. The proposed rule, which has been opened for 30 days of public comment before taking effect, would presume that migrants are ineligible for asylum if they entered the country unlawfully, a significant rollback in the country's traditional policy toward those fleeing persecution in other countries. It would allow rapid deportation of anyone who had failed to request protection from another country while en route to the United States or who did not notify border authorities through a mobile app of their plans to seek asylum. Administration officials said the policy would take effect on May 11 with the expected termination that day of Title 42, a Trump-era health emergency rule that has allowed border authorities to swiftly expel migrants back to Mexico. The new rule would then remain in place for two years. The decision, announced jointly by the Homeland Security and Justice Departments, was sharply rebuked by human rights advocates who said the policy mirrored an earlier, much-criticized restriction under Mr. Trump that denied asylum to most migrants who had not first applied for it in Mexico or another country along their way. That policy had been struck down by several federal courts. |
| Biden may not run -- and top Dems are quietly preparing | |
 | Joe Biden's closest advisers have spent months preparing for him to formally announce his reelection campaign. But with the president still not ready to make the plunge, a sense of doubt is creeping into conversations around 2024: What if he decides not to? Biden's past decisions around seeking the presidency have been protracted, painstaking affairs. This time, he has slipped past his most ambitious timetable, as previously outlined by advisers, to launch in February. Now they are coalescing around April. But even that target is less than definitive. People in the president's orbit say there is no hard deadline or formal process in place for arriving at a launch date decision. According to four people familiar with the president's thinking, a final call has been pushed aside as real-world events intervene. His cloak-and-dagger trip to Kyiv over the holiday weekend took meticulous planning and the positive reaction to it was seen internally as providing him with more runway to turn back to domestic politics. While the belief among nearly everyone in Biden's orbit is that he'll ultimately give the all-clear, his indecision has resulted in an awkward deep-freeze across the party -- in which some potential presidential aspirants and scores of major donors are strategizing and even developing a Plan B while trying to remain respectful and publicly supportive of the 80-year-old president. A decision from Biden to forego another run would amount to a political earthquake not seen among Democrats in more than a half century, when Lyndon B. Johnson paired his partial halting of the U.S. bombing of Vietnam with his announcement to step aside, citing deepening "division in the American house now." |
| Biotech Founder Vivek Ramaswamy Enters 2024 GOP Presidential Race | |
| Vivek Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire biotech company founder and investor, said Tuesday that he is entering the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race. The native of southwestern Ohio has criticized what he calls woke capitalism, including investment based on environmental, social and corporate-governance principles. Under ESG, individuals seek to invest in ways consistent with their own values and to benefit from growth in sectors such as renewable energy. Mr. Ramaswamy, 37 years old, said he is launching a long-shot bid as the nation faces an identity crisis over what it stands for and where it needs to go. "If you ask people in my generation, really any generation, what does it mean to be an American today, you get a blank stare in response," he said. In an announcement video, Mr. Ramaswamy said the "woke left preys on that vacuum" and tells Americans that their race, gender and sexual orientation "govern who you are, what you can achieve and what you are allowed to think." Mr. Ramaswamy is the author of "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam." He is co-founder of Strive Asset Management, which launched last year with backing from the billionaire investor Peter Thiel and calls on companies to focus on excellence over politics. By targeting so-called woke capitalism, Mr. Ramaswamy is competing in a favorite space of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to jump into the race in May or June. |
| Georgia grand jury probe of Trump bid to overturn vote recommended charges - media | |
| The foreperson of a Georgia grand jury that investigated former U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state told media on Tuesday that the panel recommended multiple criminal indictments. The foreperson of the recently concluded Fulton County, Georgia, special grand jury, Emily Kohrs, did not discuss specific charges that the grand jury in interviews with outlets including CNN and the New York Times. "There may be some names on that list that you wouldn't expect. But the big name that everyone keeps asking me about -- I don't think you will be shocked," Kohrs told CNN. Reuters was not immediately able to reach Kohrs. A Georgia judge last week ordered the release of some excerpts of the special grand jury's final report, which concluded that some witnesses may have lied under oath and delivered recommendations to prosecutors on possible indictments for election interference, the document showed. The special grand jury did not have the authority to issue indictments. To do that, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis would need to seek a regular grand jury's approval. |
| Supreme Court weighs tech giants' liability in terror case | |
| The Supreme Court is weighing Wednesday whether Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be sued over a 2017 Islamic State group attack on a Turkish nightclub based on the argument the platforms assisted in fueling the growth of the terrorist organization. What the justices decide to do in this case and a related one it heard Tuesday is important particularly because the companies have been shielded from liability on the internet, allowing them to grow into the giants they are today. On the first day of arguments, the justices suggested they had little appetite for a far-reaching ruling that would upend the internet. Wednesday's case about the nightclub attack in which 39 people died could provide an off-ramp for the justices if they want to limit the impact of what they do. At the heart of the cases before the justices are two federal laws. The first is Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which protects tech companies from being sued over material put on their sites by users. The second is the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which allows Americans injured by a terrorist attack abroad to sue for money damages in federal court. The platforms argue that they can't be sued because they did not knowingly or substantially assist in the Reina attack. If the justices agree, they don't have to reach bigger questions about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and whether it protects platforms when they recommend content. |
| Student financial aid opportunities could see major changes on state level | |
| High school graduates seeking financial aid from MTAG could be in for a surprise with major changes to the eligibility requirements coming from a House bill in the Mississippi Legislature. MTAG, the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant program, was originally created in 1995 by the Legislature as a program to provide financial aid to Mississippi residents who are attending or planning to attend public and private, not-for-profit, two- and four-year colleges or universities. Since its creation, it has never been altered. Current eligibility requirements for entering freshmen who are awarded MTAG include, being a legal resident of the state, a GPA of at least 2.5 or the equivalent from a GED certificate or completion of a Home School program, score a 15 or higher on the ACT, enrollment in a full time approved post-secondary institution in the state, and a family income which reflects the median for the state. One of the largest caveats to the program is that students who are eligible for the Federal Pell Grant, cannot receive MTAG. In order to address ways to improve education pathways and fill gaps in the workforce, Woodward Hines Education Foundation formed a task force in the summer of 2022 made up of individuals from colleges, universities, financial aid, and workforce development. From their discussions, lawmakers took initiative to author bills based on the recommendations. The bill, HB 771, which was authored by Rep. Donnie Scoggin, also proposes changes to the Higher Education Legislative Plan for Needy Students, or HELP grant. However, the state's third grant program, Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant (MESG), which is based solely on merit and not family income, will remain unchanged. |
| College students at U. of Mississippi to grapple with ethical issues in national competition | |
| Should a high school basketball team rein in its scoring against a weaker opponent? Should artists' copyrighted creations be fair game for tattoos? Is separating students by abilities a modern form of segregation? College students at the University of Mississippi (UM) will wrestle with these and other thorny issues as they prepare for the APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (APPE IEB)® national championship, which will be held March 4-5 in Portland, Oregon. They will be one of 36 teams competing against their peers using a set of cases that are drawn from real-life ethical challenges in education, business, life, and politics. Teams participating in the APPE IEB® will be judged not by their answers to such questions, but by their ability to identify and analyze the ethical dimensions of each case in a clear, focused, and thoughtful manner and with an appreciation for varied perspectives. The team is sponsored by The Center for Practical Ethics (TCPE), a newly-created center at UM that focuses on promoting civil discourse and providing pragmatic policy solutions to oftencontentious moral problems. "The Ethics Bowl competition demonstrates how to have civil discussions about complicated, divisive ethical problems," said Ethan Davis, Assistant Director of TCPE. |
| House committee approves up to $4 million for UMMC burn center | |
| The House Appropriations committee on Monday passed a bill that would award the University of Mississippi Medical Center up to $4 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding to establish a burn center. UMMC officials have said UMMC is a natural fit for a burn center and that the hospital's status as a Level 1 trauma center puts them in the position to care for these patients. It's unclear how the hospital arrived at the $4 million figure. UMMC did not respond to a request for that information. Mississippi Today submitted a public records request to the Mississippi Department of Health for UMMC's application for burn center designation, but the department said it could not produce the records because the application contains "trade secrets or confidential information or commercial or financial information." Another bill that would award Baptist Medical Center $12 million to establish a burn center under the former Merit Health Central burn center medical director, Dr. Derek Culnan, is still alive but has not passed out of committee. If it does not pass out of the House by tomorrow's deadline, the bill, authored by Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, will die. A request for comment from Gunn was not immediately returned Tuesday morning. |
| PRCC hosts hundreds of science students for 9th annual Gulf South Regional Science Olympiad | |
| Pearl River Community College welcomed middle and high school students along with their teachers and parents to enjoy a day of science competition and fun at the annual regional Science Olympiad. PRCC has been hosting the Gulf South Regional Science Olympiad since 2015. "We've been hosting a Regional Olympiad since 2015, when the State Science Olympiad became too big to host at one venue," said PRCC Instructor of Biology and Gulf South Regional Director Robert Maynard. "We're now the largest regional Olympiad in Mississippi, and 2023 has been our largest tournament, with 17 teams representing schools from the Coast to the greater Jackson area. "While we're incredibly proud of our male and female athletes on the State and National Level, we're equally proud that we can showcase Pearl River academically to future Wildcats." Nine schools brought a total of 17 teams for the event. The top teams from the regional events qualify to compete at the State Tournament at the University of Southern Mississippi in March. The winners at State are invited to attend the National Science Olympiad. |
| Military mementos: LSU professor creates project to help troops, veterans preserve items | |
 | While in his attic going through the belongings of his father, a retired Air Force veteran who died in 2011, Edward Benoit III thought of his own time in the Air Force and realized he didn't keep much of his military memorabilia. "I don't actually have that much left over because I didn't save much," he said. Benoit, an associate professor at the LSU School of Library & Information Science, noticed that many veterans keep their mementos in attics, garages, under beds and digitally on cell phones or laptops. Using his background working with archives at LSU, Benoit felt compelled to create a central location where veterans could keep their items preserved. "Working with archives, it really just made me think more about providing some sort of training and resources to help contemporary veterans and active duty military," he said. Collecting hundreds of surveys and stories from active-duty military and veterans over the past five years, Benoit created the Virtual Footlocker Project, an online portal designed to provide military members with the tools to organize, store and preserve their personal collections. With help from a $391,000 early-career grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Benoit organized dozens of focus groups to find out what types of memorabilia military veterans have on hand and what they need or care about. |
| Tennessee considers banning TikTok on public college campus networks | |
 | Following similar bans in other states around the country, the Tennessee legislature is considering a bill that would block TikTok from public college and university internet connections. The bill wouldn't ban Tennessee college students from using the wildly popular social media app, but they wouldn't be able to access it using campus-provided wifi. Members of the Tennessee Senate Education Committee will discuss SB 834 on Wednesday afternoon. A similar bill was introduced in the Tennessee House. The bill targets TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese parent company ByteDance. Government bodies around the country have banned the app on government-funded phones and wireless networks over fears that users' data is shared with Chinese government officials. Tennessee's bill specifically seeks to ban access to all video platforms from companies headquartered outside the country. A spokesperson for the University of Tennessee, the largest public university in the state, declined to comment. "We will continue to monitor any developments regarding this proposed bill," spokeswoman Melissa Tindell said in a written statement to Knox News. |
| Vanderbilt University apologizes for using ChatGPT to write letter on MSU shooting | |
 | Vanderbilt University is drawing heat from its student body for using ChatGPT to generate a communitywide letter addressing the recent mass shooting at Michigan State University. The office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Vanderbilt's Peabody College of Education last week issued a statement that many have criticized as impersonal and lacking empathy. "The recent Michigan shootings are a tragic reminder of the importance of taking care of each other, particularly in the context of creating inclusive environments," the letter's opening line read. "As members of the Peabody campus community, we must reflect on the impact of such an event and take steps to ensure that we are doing our best to create a safe and inclusive environment for all." A paragraph further down began with a sentence that struck community members as generic. "Another important aspect of creating an inclusive environment is to promote a culture of respect and understanding," the letter stated. "This means valuing the diversity of experiences, perspectives, and identities on our campus, and actively working to create a space where everyone feels welcomed and supported." In small font, just above the signature line, a disclaimer appeared, indicating that the entire statement was a "paraphrase from OpenAI's ChatGPT AI language model." Students and community members blasted the university for the misstep, accusing administrators of orchestrating a public relations stunt. |
| Vanderbilt apologizes for using ChatGPT in email after MSU shooting | |
 | Vanderbilt University's Peabody College apologized for using ChatGPT --- the text-generating artificial intelligence program --- to craft what was supposed to be a very personal, heartfelt human message to students after a deadly mass shooting earlier this month on Michigan State University's campus. A Feb. 16 email from the Peabody Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion encouraged faculty, students and staff to rally as a community and care for each other after the shooting left three dead and five injured, said Camila Benbow, Vanderbilt's dean of Education and Human Development. The campus correspondence paraphrased language from ChatGPT. The next day, Nicole Joseph, the associate dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, sent a follow-up email to apologize for the "error in judgement," according to a statement. The email fell short of the typical Peabody process for development and distribution, which includes multiple layers of review. Benbow said she and other university leaders were unaware of the email before it was sent, and that a thorough review is underway. Joseph, along with assistant dean Hasina Mohyuddin, will step back amid the review. |
| U. of Missouri to launch program for students with developmental disabilities | |
 | The University of Missouri will offer a new two-year residential program in fall 2023 tailored to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Director Maggie Center said the program -- called Preparing Adults for Work and Society, or PAWS -- is designed to provide an inclusive, community-based college experience for students seeking education to help achieve their goals for meaningful employment, independent living and social skills. PAWS is specifically for students who wouldn't have been able to attend MU previously, Center said, or other universities that lack support for their disabilities. "Our students will be working and learning alongside traditional Mizzou students so that we can add value to each other's lives," Center said. "It's not just another program outside of MU; it's meaningfully included." Center said PAWS is a much-needed program many have asked for. Like many colleges, MU's Disability Center offers many services, such as accommodations for students with physical, learning and other disabilities -- but not the unique support and individualized skills training PAWS involves that some students with intellectual and developmental disabilities seek. |
| AI bots can seem sentient. Students need guardrails | |
 | Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg once advised tech founders to "move fast and break things." But in moving fast, some argue that he "broke" those young people whose social media exposure has led to depression, anxiety, cyberbullying, poor body image and loss of privacy or sleep during a vulnerable life stage. Now, Big Tech is moving fast again with the release of sophisticated AI chat bots, not all of which have been adequately vetted before their public release. OpenAI launched an artificial intelligence arms race in late 2022 with the release of ChatGPT---a sophisticated AI chat bot that interacts with users in a conversational way, but also lies and reproduces systemic societal biases. The bot became an instant global sensation, even as it raised concerns about cheating and how college writing might change. When Emily Pitts Donahoe, associate director of instructional support at the University of Mississippi's Center for Teaching and Learning, began teaching this semester, she understood that she needed to address her students' questions and excitement surrounding ChatGPT. In her mind, the university's academic integrity policy covered instances in which students, for example, copied or misrepresented work as their own. That freed her to craft a policy that began from a place of openness and curiosity. Donahoe opted to co-create a course policy on generative AI writing tools with her students. |
| War and politics could make on-the-ground study of China and Russia difficult, if not impossible | |
 | Radomir Ray Mitic spent part of the summer and fall of 2019 studying civic awareness and engagement among students at a Russian university. As part of his research, which was funded by the Higher School of Economics, in Moscow, he interviewed students, administrators, and faculty members and even lived in a residence hall so he could make first-hand observations. But by the time Mitic, an assistant professor of higher education at the University of North Dakota, published a paper on his findings, last fall, such fieldwork was no longer feasible. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, nearly a year ago, slammed the door on scholarship, severing international academic partnerships and making the country effectively off limits to American and other western researchers. "It's sort of a cautionary tale," Mitic said. "I just don't see that line of research continuing." Russia's war on Ukraine caused an abrupt rupture. Joint projects were called off overnight, with European countries outright banning research cooperation with Russia. Russia's government, too, announced measures to discourage international collaboration. Russia is not the only place where on-the-ground fieldwork has become difficult, if not impossible, for outside researchers. In China, President Xi Jinping's tightening grip on power has extended to academe. Archives have been closed to the public. Once-innocuous topics of inquiry, like trade policy or migration, have become politicized. Wariness of the West has made it more difficult for researchers to interview officials or average citizens. And Sino-American tensions, including policies put in place by the U.S. government, have further chilled scholarly exchange. |
| New gallon drinking trend takes off at college campuses | |
| The latest college drinking trend is as simple as it is potent: equal parts water and liquor, combined with some sort of sugary flavoring. And while some see the beverage as just another way to get drunk quickly, others consider the fad a safer alternative to drinking games of yore, such as Slap the Bag or Edward Fortyhands. Called a borg -- short for "blackout rage gallon" -- the beverages have been around since at least early 2020, when the first recipes for the concoction were posted on the video-sharing app TikTok. But borgs have garnered increased attention in recent months as more and more TikTokers, often college students, post videos of themselves making or drinking them. Borg parties, in which every attendee makes, names (something punny like Ruth Bader Ginsborg, U.S. Borger Patrol or Soulja Borg) and drinks a borg, are especially popular fodder for viral videos. The drinks are often consumed over the course of a daylong party or tailgate. Despite its somewhat hostile name, the drink has actually gained attention as a potential harm-reduction tool, given that diluting the alcohol with water -- and drinking it over the course of a day -- ostensibly makes it safer. But not all substance use experts are excited about the trend. Ashley Linden-Carmichael, an associate research professor at Penn State University's Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, appreciates that individual portions and sealed containers can keep students safe from being drugged, but she believes that the harm of drinking 16 shots of liquor in one day generally outweighs the potential benefits of borgs. |
| In 1976, Jimmy Carter was the last Democrat to win a Mississippi presidential election | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: Like most of the rest of the country, I was saddened to learn over the weekend that former President Jimmy Carter had decided after a prolonged battle with cancer and advancing age to end the fight on his terms and enter hospice care. May God grant him peace and comfort. Notably, Carter was in 1976 the last Democratic presidential candidate to win a majority in Mississippi and one of only two Democratic presidential nominees to carry the state since Adlai Stevenson II of Illinois carried the state in 1952 and 1956 against Republican Dwight Eisenhower. Carter's 1976 win was a narrow one, taking only 49.56 percent of the vote but winning all seven pledged Mississippi electors in the Electoral College. The former president was also a close friend and confidante of the late Owen Cooper of Yazoo City, the driving force behind what would become Mississippi Chemical Company, a farmer-owned nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing company. Cooper was also a pillar of the Southern Baptist Convention (serving as president in 1972) and that group's domestic outreach arm, the Home Mission Board. Cooper's outspoken moderate stance on race went against the white political majority and saw him lead ventures to address domestic U.S. poverty and healthcare disparities along with global hunger challenges in India. In the early 1960s, Cooper was the most influential white member of Mississippi Action for Progress, the entity created to administer the federal Head Start program in the state. It was Cooper's national notoriety in agricultural interests and moderate Southern racial initiatives that brought highly successful Georgia peanut farmer and Georgia Baptist Convention leader Jimmy Carter into Cooper's orbit. Cooper's backing was a key reason that Carter carried Mississippi's 1976 presidential election vote. |
SPORTS
| No. 6 Women's Golf Wins Team Title in Las Vegas | |
| he Golf Dawgs have won yet again, capturing their third team title of the season at The Show in Las Vegas. The two-day event featured stellar performances and was a complete team effort. Led by the outstanding play of the senior/freshman duo Hannah Levi and Izzy Pellot, State was able to claim their first title of the spring, shooting 9-under (855) over 54-holes. The Bulldogs were locked in a fierce battle down the stretch as the Spanish Trail Country Club set the stage for The Show. Heading into the final three holes, State held a one-stroke advantage over No. 30 Pepperdine before pulling through behind some stellar performances up and down the scorecard to capture the victory. The Bulldog's two top-10 finishes from the senior/freshman duo of Hannah Levi and Izzy Pellot led the way through the event. Reigning SEC Golfer of the Week Julia Lopez Ramirez carded her 32nd round of par or better golf (70, 2-under) in the final round to climb up the leaderboard to finish tied for 12th. Lopez Ramirez now has 16 top-20 finishes in 19 career events. The Bulldogs will return to the course on March 4th and 5th for the 51st Annual Vystar Credit Union Gators Invitational from Gainesville, Fla. |
| How JerKaila Jordan, Ahlana Smith fueled Mississippi State basketball's March Madness push | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball guard JerKaila Jordan said she had a horrible pregame shootaround. Nothing was falling, but after knocking down a 3-pointer in the first quarter of Sunday's win against Alabama, Jordan pointed finger guns toward her bench. That's all it took for coach Sam Purcell to know her 24-point performance was loading. "Oh, baby," Purcell said. "You can't deny that." One half of the "Splash Sister" was unlocked. The other joined shortly after. Early in the second quarter, MSU guard Ahlana Smith caught a pass from Anastasia Hayes in the corner. The graduate transfer wore her experience, taking time to square up her shoulders and knock down the 3-pointer en route to a 15-point outing. Behind the powerful guard dynamic, Mississippi State secured a Quadrant 1 win for perhaps the final bullet point in the Bulldogs' NCAA Tournament resume. Jordan is a junior guard out of New Orleans who transferred to MSU from Tulane two years ago. She's never played in March Madness, and it's that hunger which fuels performances such as these. Smith is new to Starkville, but she's seen success Mississippi State fans know from the Vic Schaefer era. She spent the last two seasons at Louisville, in which the Cardinals made an Elite Eight and Final Four, respectively. Together, they've averaged nearly 30 points per game in February as the Bulldogs look to inch toward an at-large bid with their final home game against Arkansas on Thursday (8 p.m., SEC Network). |
| Mississippi State sunk by late 3-pointers in overtime loss at Missouri | |
| Chris Jans knew how lucky Mississippi State had gotten when Missouri's Kobe Brown missed a point-blank layup right under the basket in the final seconds of regulation. Decades of coaching have shown Jans what missed chances like that can do to the team that fails to convert. "I thought, 'This is the break. This is the one that's going to give us a chance to steal one on the road,'" Jans said. Brown's miss sent Tuesday's game between MSU and Missouri at Mizzou Arena to overtime. With 20 seconds left, Mississippi State pulled ahead by one point on a jumper by Dashawn Davis. But the Bulldogs ended up having one stolen from them instead. A contested 3-pointer by Missouri's Nick Honor with seven seconds to play sent MSU (18-10, 6-9 SEC) to a 66-64 loss to Missouri (20-8, 8-7 SEC) at Mizzou Arena. Honor and Noah Carter made 3s for the Tigers in the final minute of overtime, giving Missouri the victory in a wild, back-and-forth game in Columbia. The Bulldogs went to overtime in a road SEC game for the second time in three days, but unlike Saturday at Ole Miss, they failed to come out on top. The two teams traded 3-pointers early in overtime, but Carter's 3 with 47 seconds left put Missouri up by two points. Davis answered for Mississippi State, but Honor pulled up from the left wing and drained the winning shot in the closing seconds. |
| ULM builds 11-0 lead, stuns Mississippi State | |
| Mississippi State baseball's worrying start to the 2023 season continued Tuesday. Louisiana–Monroe came to Dudy Noble and downed the Bulldogs 11-5 thanks to some hot bats, including Michelle Artzberger, who hit a pair of home runs to drive home five runs. The Bulldogs (2-2) had a decent start on the mound with Bradley Loftin striking out eight through four innings of work, but an early defensive mistake got things going for the visitors. With two away in the first the Bulldogs should have gotten the third out on an easy chopper to Lane Forsythe, but the shortstop dropped the ball trying to toss it to second base as Artzberger slid in. Riley Davis drove Artzberger home for the Warhawks. It was an inning that maybe summed up State's current situation too well, with some nice pitching on display, but a walk, a costly error and an easy hit adding up to give the visitors the lead early on. It would have been less costly if the Bulldogs had answers, but the batters just couldn't get anything going on offense. Luke Hancock's two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh got the Bulldogs on the board, but they managed only three more runs and fell short of the miracle comeback. They'll regroup and face ULM again at 3 p.m. Wednesday. |
| Alabama hoops star delivered gun in shooting, police say | |
| University of Alabama basketball star Brandon Miller brought a teammate the gun that was used in a fatal January shooting near campus, an investigator testified Tuesday. Miller, a freshman standout, brought Darius Miles' gun to him on the night of the shooting after Miles texted him and asked him to do so, Tuscaloosa Police investigator Brandon Culpepper testified, according to news outlets. The allegation of Miller's involvement on the night of the Jan. 15 shooting came during a preliminary hearing for Miles and Michael Davis, who face capital murder charges for the death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris. Former Tide player Miles is accused of providing his gun to Davis, who fired it and killed Harris, prosecutors say. Alabama coach Nate Oats told reporters Tuesday the team has been aware that Miller allegedly brought Miles the gun, but the team's leading scorer is not in "any type of trouble." He has started every game since the shooting. Miller was just in "the wrong spot at the wrong time," Oats said, later clarifying what he termed his "unfortunate remarks" after receiving criticism on social media. Miller has not been criminally charged. A team representative did not immediately know if Miller had an attorney. |
| Cohen: With Oklahoma and Texas coming to the SEC, scheduling is a 'pressing' matter among ADs and commissioner | |
 | John Cohen's answer started with a question. "It has to be sooner than later, right?" the Auburn athletics director asked. As the SEC moves to 16 members next year, it's vital that it moves quickly to figure out how it will model its football scheduling model, both on paper and in Cohen's opinion. The conference is reportedly focused on dissolving its current two-division format to make way for a one-division league with Texas and Oklahoma officially becoming SEC members in 2024. However, with less than a calendar year to go, nothing has been made a certainty. The closest a resolution has come is consensus on two likely scheduling formats: an eight-game conference schedule with one permanent opponent, and a nine-game slate with three permanent opponents. In a sit-down with the Opelika-Auburn News, Cohen didn't stress a preference between the two formats. Instead, he spoke about the timing for what he believes is a pressing issue. "If -- if -- you go to the nine-game schedule, you're going to have to reroute one of your non-conference games or cancel it," Cohen said. "We're already working in that area, just in preparation for a possible nine-game (schedule)." |
| A Popular Player at LSU, Which Is Sponsored by Nike, Has Her Own Shoe Deal With Puma | |
| Flau'jae Johnson saunters into an empty LSU women's basketball locker room, rapping to a music track, and pulls out a shoebox. The freshman guard slips on a pair of sneakers as a camera zooms in -- recording a video she'll later post to her nearly 800,000 Instagram followers. The shoes are Puma, the brand that pays Johnson six figures a year to promote it. And that's where things get complicated. LSU, the school Johnson plays for, has a multimillion-dollar contract with Nike Inc. The deal requires the school's varsity athletes to wear the brand in games, practices and official public appearances. Such deals have ruled the college landscape for decades. All-school sponsorships by a single brand have become a reliable revenue center for universities, with a few surpassing $10 million a year in cash and apparel. Their hallmark was exclusivity. Now, thanks to new rules that let college athletes capitalize on their name, image and likeness (NIL) -- a right that had long been denied under the pretense that they were amateurs -- athletes can endorse car dealerships, soft drinks and just about anything else. Yet they have largely sidestepped one big-ticket battleground: shoe deals that might conflict with the ones cut by the schools they play for. Johnson is among the first to sign a major deal that clashes with her school's contract -- but she's unlikely to be the last. |
| Experts call new 12th Man+ Fund for NIL compensation cutting edge and legal | |
 | The 12th Man Foundation on Feb. 15 announced its newest endeavor, the 12th Man+ Fund, which represents the booster club's entrance into the name, image and likeness compensation space. While fans of college athletics collectively scratched their heads at how this could be legal, due to the foundation's close relationship with the university's athletic department, legal experts in the NIL field have confirmed that the new fund is above board. Beyond that, it's somewhat revolutionary. "It's definitely cutting edge," Ryan Whelpley, an attorney with the legal firm Morse, said. "To my knowledge, there isn't anything like this, besides the one at Arkansas, which is the only one similar to this. So, it's definitely cutting edge in the NIL space and you might see a trend of other schools kind of moving towards this to try and keep things more in house, in a sense and more connected to the athletic program -- a little bit more validity behind fundraising as well." Neal Newman, a professor at the Texas A&M University School of Law who has done extensive research into NIL, said the new fund appears to be in compliance with the Texas law that governs name, image and likeness compensation for college athletes in the state. "As far as the legality of it, if you look at SB 1380, there is no specific prohibition against what they are doing," Newman said. "Some could argue that, given the 12th Man [Foundation's] close affiliation with the university, they may be going against the spirit of the law, even if they are not in conflict with the letter of the law, but that's an arguable point. The other part of it is, I don't know who would challenge it." |
| Dabo Swinney, Clemson balance the 'main thing' with the new big thing: NIL | |
 | Dabo Swinney holds tightly to his motto of "keeping the main thing the main thing," believing Clemson can distinguish itself with an unrelenting focus on personal growth and earning a degree. Worry about the main thing, and winning follows. But in this era of college athletics, where the race to build the fanciest facilities and the most advanced strength and conditioning programs has now added the check-box of maximizing name, image, and likeness (NIL) pay for student-athletes, even the most principled coaches have to expand their message. After spending an hour-plus speaking to boosters on his program's "uncommon" success during a national signing-day event, citing a dozen straight seasons of 10-plus wins but also dozens upon dozens of All-ACC academic honorees, Swinney came to his pitch. "There's not one kid that's come to Clemson because of NIL. Not one," Swinney told boosters on Feb. 1, as he turned to the subject of driving donations to the NIL collectives TigerImpact and Dear Old Clemson. "But we don't want anyone to leave because of NIL." While a revved-up transfer portal and wild allegations of schools using NIL promises to court athletes has created some unease, Swinney says the Tigers won't abandon the culture they believe separates them. Swinney promises to sell athletes and families on the value of a degree, not NIL pay. But Swinney also needs to sell his boosters on donating to the NIL collectives funding deals for Clemson athletes. He can't afford to have his program fall behind in an inextricable new piece of the athletics arms race. "It is a huge part of where we are in college football," Swinney said. |
| What's the latest on a White House visit for the national champion Georgia football team? | |
 | The Georgia football team didn't visit the White House after its 2021 national championship season. The Bulldogs could still get that chance after its 2022 team made it back-to-back titles. Georgia's congressional delegation from both sides of the aisle and two Democratic Senators signed a letter to President Joe Biden on Jan. 18 requesting a White House ceremony "at your earliest convenience." Rep. Earl L. "Buddy" Carter (R-Ga.) said in a statement to the Athens Banner-Herald Tuesday through his spokesperson: "I'm optimistic that the Bulldogs will be invited to the White House, which is well deserved after back-to-back football national championship wins." Carter's office put out a press release, Jan. 23 saying he led the bipartisan effort to get the Georgia football team to the White House. Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said earlier this month when asked about a White House visit: "You know, I don't know. I did see the request made, and we're going to kind of just sit and see what happens from there. I don't think I've seen a response yet, but we'll kind of take it day by day and see how that goes." The NBA champion Golden State Warriors visited with Biden at the White House last month. The World Series champion Atlanta Braves went last September. Georgia was not hosted in Washington after winning in January of 2022 due to COVID-19 restrictions, "adding to the importance of this visit for the repeat champions," the letter last month said. |
| Apple a potential landing spot for Pac-12 football, per report | |
| The New York Post is reporting Apple TV+ is a potential landing spot for the Pac-12 college football rights. According to the report, Apple could end up being the platform for the Pac-12, according to sources, because ESPN, Amazon Prime Video and Fox Sports are "lukewarm" on the league. The sources told The Post that Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff could present Apple as a possibility to his schools soon. Apple Insider reports Apple is looking for more sports content for Apple TV+, and it seems to want more control and rights than some franchises want to give up. It was for this reason that Apple passed on NFL Sunday Ticket. A Pac-12 spokesman and an Apple spokeswoman both declined comment to The Post. The Pac-12′s current deal with ESPN and Fox Sports runs through next season. |
| Deion Sanders' secret weapon at Colorado: the son who no longer plays football | |
 | The three sons of Deion Sanders are expected to play big roles this year for the football team at Colorado, including one who is expected to be the starting quarterback and another who plays defensive back. But it's the other son, the oldest, who may have had the biggest impact so far on the program his father is trying to build with the Buffaloes in Boulder. His name is Deion Sanders Jr. Though he doesn't play football anymore, Sanders Jr. instead is using a video camera and various social media channels to do something that no other college football program is doing quite like this. He's building an audience for Colorado football, one video at a time, with daily behind-the-scenes access to players, coaches and the celebrity life of his dad, CU's new head coach. "We try to flood the market," Sanders Sr. said about the strategy on one of his son's videos from January. It's worked. This content -- along with Sanders' big personality -- have helped dramatically increase the size of the Buffs' audience since their arrival in early December. Subscriptions to Sanders Jr.'s YouTube channel, Well Off Media, have rocketed to about 250,000, up from about 80,000 in late November, when Sanders Sr. was head coach at Jackson State in Mississippi. One video of their first team meeting at Colorado in December has been viewed 4.2 million times. Colorado finished 1-11 last year – its 15th losing season in the past 17 years. But the number of businesses and other registrants that are looking to pay Colorado football players for the use of their names, images and likenesses (NIL) has increased 258% since Sanders' arrival. |
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