| Monday, February 27, 2023 |
| Starkville/MSU Symphony Orchestra to host concert with special guests | |
 | Music lovers in the Golden Triangle area will have a chance to hear pieces of familiar composers yet not so familiar compositions when the Starkville/MSU Symphony Association presents, "Expressions of Sound," on Saturday at the First Baptist Church, on Lampkin St. in Starkville. The 7:30 p.m. performance will include the Starkville/MSU Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Phillip Stockton, associate director of choral studies in the Mississippi State University Music Department. Accompanying the orchestra will be the Community Chorus, MSU Cantore' and the Starkville High School Chamber Singers. "Jubilate Ex(s)ultate" (Rejoice, Be Joyful) will begin the concert and feature Roza Tulyaganova, voice faculty at MSU, as guest soloist. This three-part movement was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for the famous soprano castrato Venanzio Ranzzini who was principal for the Opera of Vienna for several years. The orchestra will next perform "Symphony No. 98," which was composed by Joseph Haydn during his time in London. In the composition, Haydn quotes a portion of Mozart's "Coronation Mass" in the second movement, Adagio Cantabile. Haydn was still in London in December 1791 when he received the devastating news of the death of Mozart. He was working on "Symphony No. 98" at the time and decided to pay homage to the composer in this piece. The concert will end with Tulyaganova, along with the Community Chorus, the MSU Cantore' and the Starkville High School Chamber Choir joining the orchestra with "Mozart's Mass in C major," or better known as "Coronation Mass." |
| CWD Update: MSU Deer Lab releases new video series, testing wraps up for season | |
 | Mississippi State University's Deer Lab has released a new video series on its YouTube Channel titled CWD and Me. The video series explores the relationship between hunters, biologists and the effects of CWD on the deer herd. It is the latest of MSU Deer Lab's efforts to help fight Chronic Wasting Disease. In late November, MSU's Deer Lab released a series of animated videos 13 episodes long which explored the 100 percent fatal infectious prion disease. The deer lab also received funding this year from the USDA to study the relationship between feral hogs, deer and the spread of chronic wasting disease and are researching if scrapes also help the spread of CWD. To date, Mississippi has collected 6,934 samples with the majority being tested. MSU's Veterinary Lab in Pearl has worked throughout the year to test samples for Chronic Wasting Disease. In total, 78 deer have tested positive for CWD this season which brings the total since first detection in 2018 to 205. Benton County led the state in positives with 44 this year, Marshall had 29, Alcorn had two, Tippah had one and Warren County had two. Taxidermists led the way this season with 3,555 samples submitted while hunters were close behind with 3,243 samples. |
| Films, workshops highlight of three-day 'Mag' film festival in Starkville | |
| When writer and producer Jeremy Burgess walked into the dark, unfinished basement of a ranch-style house in Petersburg, Tennessee, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the location was perfect for his feature film, "Don't Die." "We saw this creepy basement, and we told (his friend) we saw the basement, and she immediately apologized," Burgess said. "She said, 'I'm so sorry. It's unfinished, it's gross.' We said, 'No, no, it's great. That basement is awesome.' We didn't have to production-design anything, just some touches here and there." Burgess spoke to a room of about 30 people interested in the film industry gathered at the old State Theatre at Hobie's on Main on Saturday afternoon. His focus was the power of collaborating on film projects from pre- to post-production. Burgess' screenwriting workshop is one of the many offerings of The Magnolia Independent Film Festival, or "The Mag," which began in 1997 in West Point but quickly found its home in Starkville, festival director Chris Misun said. This year's festival began Thursday at UEC Hollywood Premiere Cinemas and ended Saturday. It included full-length feature films, short films, documentaries, music videos and even animation. Misun said while Mississippi filmmakers get a chance to showcase their work, other filmmakers from around the world also submit their work to The Mag. First-time festival volunteer and goer Zachary Calhoun, from Kosciusko, said he has always been interested in film, and since he graduated from Mississippi State University in December and works in Starkville, he had the time and opportunity to volunteer. "I'm very interested in working in film and working in it in the future," Calhoun said. |
| Over 36,000 blackout tags sold in Mississippi through first 6 months | |
 | The popularity of Mississippi's blackout vanity plates has soared within less than a year, bringing in an influx of funding to the state's death benefit trust fund for law enforcement and firefighters. A certain percentage of the total cost of the tags is sent to the fund each time a Mississippi resident purchases the blackout plate. The price of each tag varies depending on the make and model of the vehicle, with additional fees of $10 for registration and $5.40 for mailing the plate tacked on to the end total. According to Senator Josh Harkins, Senator Scott DeLano presented the idea to the Legislature as a way to provide funding to families of law enforcement and firefighters who die in the line of duty. "We were looking for a way to create a death benefits fund for our first responders, for our EMS, our fire, and police and the blackout tag was the vehicle we used to do this," Harkins explained. Harkins added that the number of tags has risen exponentially since being made available in July. “If you’ve been anywhere in Mississippi, you’ve seen the black tags on cars and it’s been wildly successful,” Harkins stated. “I think they’ve issued over 36,000 tags. It’s created over $1 million in the trust fund for death benefits for our first responders.” |
| Mississippi GOP governor now backs longer Medicaid for moms | |
 | Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves did an abrupt about-face Sunday on an issue for which Democrats have been sharply criticizing him this election year, saying for the first time that he wants the state to allow a full year of Medicaid coverage to women after they give birth. Reeves said on social media that if the Republican-controlled state House and Senate send him a bill to allow a year of postpartum Medicaid coverage, "I will sign it into law." Reeves said he is willing to do so "as part of our new pro-life agenda." He said more babies will be born because the U.S. Supreme Court upended abortion rights nationwide last year with a case that originated in Mississippi. "I believe that to be a beautiful thing," Reeves wrote. "I also believe that added stress will be felt by more Mississippi moms. We have to love them. We have to support them." As governor since January 2020 and during two previous terms as lieutenant governor, Reeves has resisted efforts to expand the scope of Medicaid and other government programs. He has not publicly changed his opposition to a broader expansion of Medicaid coverage to working people with low-wage jobs that don't provide private insurance. Mississippi is one of 11 states that have not approved that broader expansion. |
| DeSoto attorney appeals GOP's Gunasekara decision to state court system | |
 | Matthew Barton, a Republican candidate for DeSoto County's district attorney, on Friday appealed the Mississippi Republican Party's decision to certify Mandy Gunasekara as candidate on the primary ballot for Northern District Public Service Commissioner. Barton's petition, filed in Hinds County Circuit Court, alleges that Gunasekara does not meet the residency requirements to run for the commission because she has been a Mississippi citizen for at least five years before the date of the election. Sean Akins, Barton's attorney, told the Daily Journal in a statement that the decision to take the residency issue to the state judiciary was not a partisan move, rather it is intended to protect the "integrity of the election." "Mississippi is fortunate that Matthew Barton is willing to demand that only qualified candidates are on the ballot for the Public Service Commission," Akins said. "Residency requirements are in place so that only candidates with deep Mississippi roots are eligible to serve." Gunasekara in a statement to the Daily Journal called Barton's appeal "comical." "Mr. Barton apparently has decided that his only way to defeat Gov. Reeves' appointee is to continue his frivolous challenge to my candidacy," Gunasekara said. "I look forward to the judicial system's swift rejection of Mr. Barton's shenanigans." Barton in previous interviews with the Daily Journal said he believed his opponent, incumbent DeSoto County District Attorney Bob Morris, has skirted residency rules, though he is not pursuing a residency challenge against him. |
| Black Candidate Says Mississippi Dems Barred Him From Governor Primary to Help Presley | |
| Bob Hickingbottom is accusing the Mississippi Democratic Party of preventing him and another Black candidate, Gregory Wash, from running in the primary for governor after party leaders declined to vote against certifying either man's candidacy. That decision leaves Brandon Presley, a white public service commissioner from Mississippi's northern district, as the only Democratic candidate on the ballot for governor in the August 2023 primaries. In an interview with the Mississippi Free Press on Tuesday, Hickingbottom accused Democratic leaders of wanting "to make sure that Brandon Presley doesn't have any competition, particularly from Black candidates." Presley, who was not part of the decision-making process that barred Hickingbottom and Wash from the primaries, said he had no comment for this story. When the Mississippi Democratic Executive Committee met on Feb. 16, the Daily Journal reported that officials said that, despite filing their qualifying papers before the Feb. 1 deadline, Hickingbottom and Wash did not meet the requirements for entry into the primary. Hickingbottom's Facebook says he has "25 years of successful experience as a political operative and campaign strategist." This reporter could not find contact information for Wash, but in a 2019 campaign ad, he described himself as a "movie star." The party cited the fact that neither man has filed a statement of economic interest with the Mississippi Ethics Commission, and also failed to do so when they ran campaigns in 2019. However, Magnolia Tribune reported on Feb. 19 that 56 other Democratic candidates, including five running for statewide offices and 51 running for legislative seats, have not filed the statements. The party nevertheless certified their candidacies. |
| State Rep. Yates petitions Hinds Circuit Court to disqualify Democrat challengers | |
| State Representative Shanda Yates has filed residency challenges in Hinds County Circuit Court against two Mississippi Democratic Party candidates seeking to run for House District 64. Yates, a first-term legislator, switched to be an Independent in January 2022, leaving the Democratic Party. She said at the time that her decision to leave the party "was made because I felt that it was the only option I had to remove myself from a toxic situation." Yates went on to say that certain members of the House Democrat Caucus and the state party made it clear that she was not wanted within their ranks. Two Democrats filed to challenge Yates in the 2023 election -- Angela Grayson and Kia Jones. Both candidates were certified to run by the Mississippi Democratic Party despite questions about their residency raised by Yates to the Democratic Party State Executive Committee. After the party certified both to run, Yates' recourse was to seek a legal remedy. Her petitions before the Hinds Circuit Court outline those objections and asks for both candidates to be disqualified from running for the House District 64 seat this election cycle. Even if Yates' petitions against the two Democrats are successful, she will still have an opponent in the November General Election as Amile Wilson, a Republican, has been certified to run for the seat and is unopposed in the GOP Primary. |
| Black Mississippi capital distrusts plans by white officials | |
| Random gunfire, repeated break-ins and a decaying city water system are constant challenges at Mom's Dream Kitchen, the soul food restaurant Timothy Norris' mother opened 35 years ago in Mississippi's capital. "I have some cousins that live in Ohio," said Norris, who has spent most of his 54 years in Jackson and now owns the restaurant. "They came last year. They hadn't been here in 22 years. They were completely shocked at Jackson." Citing rising crime, Mississippi's Republican-controlled House recently passed a bill that would expand areas of Jackson patrolled by a state-run Capitol Police force and create a new court system with appointed rather than elected judges. Both would give white state government officials more power over Jackson, which has the highest percentage of Black residents of any major U.S. city. The state Senate has also passed a bill to establish a regional governing board for Jackson's long-troubled water system, with most members appointed by state officials. The system nearly collapsed last year and is now under control of a federally-appointed manager. The proposals for state control have angered Jackson residents who don't want their voices diminished in local government, and are the latest example of the long-running tensions between the Republican-run state government and the Democratic-run capital city. |
| MS Top 50 names 6th class of influential Mississippians | |
| The 6th Mississippi Top 50 Awards were held Thursday night at the Old Capitol Inn in Jackson. The awards were sponsored by Magnolia Tribune, WJTV, C Spire, Atmos Energy, Capitol Resources, Farm Bureau Federation and The Payne Group. MS Top 50 is the annual list of the 50 Mississippians who are judged to be the most influential leaders in the state over the last year. This annual bipartisan selection of leaders comes from the ranks of elected and appointed officials, economic development professionals, business, media, culture, sports, faith, government affairs and more. In addition, MS Top 50 annually names two Mississippians to their Hall of Fame. These honorees have left a significant impact on the state and its people and have used their lives to make Mississippi a better place to live, work, worship and play. Past honorees include former Governors William Winter, Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant, along with former U.S. Senators Thad Cochran and Trent Lott, former Judge Reuben Anderson, State Rep. Alyce Clarke, former State Representatives Robert Clark and Steve Holland, and businessmen Joe Sanderson and Wirt Yeager, Jr. This year's Hall of Fame honorees were civil rights leader James Meredith and Mississippi's senior U.S. Senator Roger Wicker. Both honorees offered remarks before the sold out crowd gathered to recognize the Top 50. |
| Trans people face 'horrifying' rhetoric at statehouses | |
| It was pharmacist Gwendolyn Herzig's first time testifying before a legislative committee when she spoke to several Arkansas lawmakers in a packed hearing room this month about a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Herzig, who is transgender, spoke out against the legislation and told the panel that one of the biggest obstacles trans people face is a lack of empathy. Only a few minutes later, a Republican lawmaker asked her an inappropriate question about her genitalia. "It was horrifying," she said. The exchange, which was livestreamed on the Legislature's website and has since been widely shared on social media, is an example of the type of demeaning questions and rhetoric that transgender people meet when they show up to statehouses to testify against new bills targeting their rights. Advocates worry that increasingly hostile rhetoric about transgender people could have a chilling effect on those who want to speak out against new restrictions and could do lasting damage to a community of trans youth that is already marginalized. Bans on gender-affirming care for minors have already been enacted this year in South Dakota and Utah, and Republican governors in Tennessee and Mississippi are expected to sign similar bans into law. Arkansas and Alabama have bans that were temporarily blocked by federal judges. Advocates say the rhetoric surrounding these proposed bans further exacerbates an already treacherous environment for transgender people, their families and medical providers. Children's hospitals around the country have faced an uptick of harassment and threats of violence for providing gender-confirming care. |
| Why one state's plan to unwind a Covid-era Medicaid rule is raising red flags | |
 | GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former President Donald Trump's press secretary, is pushing to remove people from "government dependency," and this month her Medicaid agency started sending letters to tens of thousands of Medicaid recipients asking for proof of income and a host of other details to show they are still eligible for the insurance program. The high-speed effort in Arkansas, where more than a third of the state's 3 million people are on Medicaid, offers an early glimpse at the potential disruption in store for the country as states comb through their Medicaid rolls for the first time in three years. These verifications, once routine, were suspended during the pandemic, and their resumption nationwide could lead to as many as 15 million people, including 5.3 million children, losing their health insurance. While some states are taking pains to create a safety net to keep people insured, whether under Medicaid or a different health plan, other state Medicaid agencies are facing pressure from GOP governors and legislatures to work through the process as quickly as possible. "It's not surprising to me that we have a state like Arkansas -- and now we're beginning to hear from other states as well -- where the pressure to move fast is going to be overwhelming," said Sara Rosenbaum, professor of health law and policy at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. "The net result of all of this is that I expect -- and look, the [federal] government expects -- a lot of people to fall through the cracks. I think the government has seriously underestimated just how many people are going to fall through the cracks." |
| House GOP mulls putting 'woke' earmarks on chopping block | |
 | House GOP appropriators are gearing up to potentially bar local projects entirely from the largest domestic spending bill for fiscal 2024, along with others deemed "woke" by critics of earmarks funded in the December omnibus package. On the chopping block potentially are all earmarks in the Labor-HHS-Education bill, as well as the smaller Financial Services measure, according to sources familiar with the discussions. House Republican appropriators are preparing to roll out their earmarking guidance as soon as this week. The rationale for such a move wasn't entirely clear, but sources attributed it at least in part to concern over earmarks funded in the fiscal 2023 spending package. They include several LGBTQ and transgender services-related projects targeted by Republicans and conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation. Aides to House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger, R-Texas, weren't immediately available for comment. Republicans are also looking under the cushions for potential domestic spending cuts to try to meet a pledge to cut more than $130 billion from current levels when they write their fiscal 2024 bills. There were $15.3 billion worth of earmarks in the fiscal 2023 omnibus, a CQ Roll Call tally found, with the Labor-HHS-Education portion responsible for nearly $2.7 billion of that total. |
| Emboldened by its majority, House GOP turns up heat on federal workers | |
 | At a House hearing this month on fraud and waste in pandemic aid, some Republicans zeroed in on one group in particular for criticism: the federal employees overseeing the money. "Fire people if they don't do things they're supposed to do," Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said. "That is our biggest problem in the federal government. Nobody can be held accountable." That sentiment is animating a newly empowered GOP House majority eager to ramp up scrutiny of the army of civil servants who run the government's day-to-day operations. The effort includes seeking testimony from middle- and lower-level workers who are part of what Republicans have long derided as the "deep state," while some lawmakers are drafting bills that have little chance of passing the Democrat-led Senate but give Republicans a chance to argue for reining in the federal bureaucracy of 2.1 million employees. In recent weeks, House Republicans have passed legislation requiring federal employees to return to the office, arguing that pandemic rules have bled into a permanent state that diminishes productivity. Lawmakers have voted to rescind $80 billion for the cash-starved IRS to hire 87,000 employees in customer service, technology and audit roles to increase tax compliance of those earning more than $400,000 -- claiming the extra staff will unfairly target taxpayers. They've allowed House members to reduce or eliminate federal agency programs or slash the salaries of individual employees on a quick vote. |
| The AP Interview: Biden ready to run, US first lady says | |
| U.S. first lady Jill Biden gave one of the clearest indications yet that President Joe Biden will run for a second term, telling The Associated Press in an exclusive interview on Friday that there's "pretty much" nothing left to do but figure out the time and place for the announcement. Although Biden has long said that it's his intention to seek reelection, he has yet to make it official, and he's struggled to dispel questions about whether he's too old to continue serving as president. Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term. "How many times does he have to say it for you to believe it?" the first lady said in Nairobi, the second and final stop of her five-day trip to Africa. She added, "He says he's not done. He's not finished what he's started. And that's what's important." Biden aides have said an announcement is likely to come in April, after the first fundraising quarter ends, which is around the time that President Barack Obama officially launched his reelection campaign. The first lady has long been described as a key figure in Biden's orbit as he plans his future. "Because I'm his wife," she laughed. She brushed off the question about whether she has the deciding vote on whether the president runs for reelection. "Of course he'll listen to me, because we're a married couple," she said. But, she added later, "he makes up his own mind, believe me." |
| Oat, almond and soy drinks can be labeled as milk, FDA says | |
| The debate between dairy devotees and oat-latte lovers over what to call plant-based milk products may soon reach some sort of denouement after the Food and Drug Administration released draft guidelines proposing that companies can continue using the word "milk" to market products such as those made with almond, soy or oats. Consumers "understand that plant-based milk alternatives do not contain milk," the draft said, citing a study in which about three-quarters of respondents said they knew such products were not made with dairy. The FDA also said focus group research had indicated that referring to such products as "milk" is "strongly rooted in consumers' vocabulary." The FDA is also recommending that alternative milk makers include labeling that explicitly notes key nutritional differences between their products and dairy. It said one poll indicated that more than half of consumers believe drinking alternative milk beverages has health benefits similar to consuming cow's milk, despite quality varying widely across nondairy brands. The FDA's draft has not been universally welcomed. Sens. James E. Risch (R-Idaho) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who represent states with large dairy industries, said in a joint statement Wednesday that the "misguided rule will hurt America's dairy farmers and our rural communities." Nondairy milks have surged in popularity in recent years, with 1 in 3 U.S. households purchasing such products in 2016, according to the FDA. Meanwhile, consumption of cow's milk, measured on a per capita basis, has decreased by nearly half in the past 50 years, according to the Department of Agriculture. |
| Black farmers worry new approach on 'race neutral' lending leaves them in the shadows | |
 | Farmers of color across the country, who'd been promised debt cancelation as part of a special program to address racial disparity in lending, rejoiced when they received letters in 2021 in the mail that said their loans with the Agriculture Department would be canceled. And then, for over a year, there was nothing. Multiple lawsuits led by white farmers, who said the program discriminated against them for being white, stymied the race-targeted program. The debt forgiveness was a congressional effort to help USDA make up for a history of discrimination. For decades, farmers of color have filed individual lawsuits, class action lawsuits and congressional testimony against the department. And for decades, rulings and reports have repeatedly concluded that USDA's lending practices have been discriminatory. Now, USDA is in the process of rolling out a second, newer, program passed by Congress as a part of the Inflation Reduction Act. But the $3.1 billion now appropriated as payments toward loans don't just go to racial and ethnic minorities. They also go to some white farmers under a new category: "economically distressed." Economically distressed means farmers of any race who are behind on loan payments or on the brink of foreclosure. And since this new program is now race-neutral, those who are particularly concerned about the disparate impact of lending practices on Black and other farmers of color say the move could hide the scope of the problem and lead to further disenfranchisement. |
| A year into the Ukraine war, global food insecurity is at a record high | |
| Egypt is one of the largest wheat importers in the world, and it gets about 80% of its supply from Ukraine and Russia. So when Russia invaded Ukraine last February and disrupted the flow of wheat out of both countries, it became much harder -- and more expensive -- to get flour. A year later, it still is. Egypt is one of dozens of countries around the world where people are feeling the effects of the war in Ukraine every day. Ukraine and Russia combined produce more than a quarter of the globe's wheat exports. So when the war began, prices skyrocketed. Prices of other commodities -- including corn and sunflower oil -- did too, along with fuel and fertilizer. "Even before the war in Ukraine began, the food situation was precarious for millions of people around the world after two years of the pandemic affecting supply chains," said Tjada McKenna, CEO of the global humanitarian organization Mercy Corps. If the war had been the only thing disrupting those supply chains, "maybe it would have been a little bit better," said Arif Husain, chief economist at the United Nations World Food Program. "But on top of COVID, it made things so, so, so difficult -- not for one or two countries, but literally for dozens of countries." The number of people going hungry around the world has been rising steadily since the pandemic began and has only accelerated because of the war. Today, more people than ever are facing acute food insecurity -- an estimated 349 million. "I like to say that when the World Food Program sets records, it does not bode well for the world," Husain said. "And for the last three years, we have been setting records year after year." |
| China Rejects Energy Department's Lab Leak Theory of Covid's Origin | |
 | China's government rejected a U.S. Energy Department assessment that the Covid-19 pandemic likely originated with a lab leak, accusing the agency of engaging in a political smear. In Washington, Senate Republicans said the news backed up their long-held suspicions of a lab leak and urged declassification of more evidence related to the outbreak. The Energy Department, which had previously been undecided on the origins of the pandemic, recently joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in saying the virus likely spread via a mishap at a Chinese laboratory, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The origin of Covid-19 has been the subject of intense debate among epidemiologists, intelligence experts and lawmakers since the virus began circulating widely in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in early 2020. The head of the WHO-led investigative team later questioned the certainty of the "highly unlikely" wording, which he said came after two days of intense negotiations with Chinese counterparts. Division over the question extends to U.S. government agencies tasked by President Biden with discerning as much as possible about where the virus originated. The Energy Department made its judgment based on new intelligence, albeit with "low confidence," according to the Journal's reporting. Four other U.S. government agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still believe the pandemic was likely the result of a natural transmission from an infected animal, while two others are undecided. |
| International Music by Women Festival set for this week | |
| The seventh annual international Music by Women Festival will be held on the campus of Mississippi University for Women Thursday through Saturday. The festival will feature concerts of new and historic music written by women composers as well as academic presentations and lecture recitals presented at historic Poindexter Hall. "We are excited for the 2023 festival," said Julia Mortyakova, The W's Department of Music chair and artistic director for the Music by Women Festival. "The festival has grown over the years, and this year we have more than 230 professional musicians performing works by women composers, our largest event yet." As part of the festival, 18 concerts will be presented. Each day concerts will be held at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. All festival concerts are free and open to the public. Between the concerts, lecture-recitals and papers will be presented. Renowned performers and scholars from different parts of the world will gather to celebrate the musical contributions of women. University faculty from top research institutions and conservatories as well as members of prestigious orchestras and opera companies can be heard on the festival program. |
| Mississippi quintuplets, mom, faring well after exceedingly rare birth at UMMC | |
 | The first set of quintuplets born at the University of Mississippi Medical Center are the talk of the city. And it took a small medical army and a lot of planning to pull it off. On Feb. 16, starting a little after 9 a.m., Haylee Ladner delivered four girls and one boy at UMMC with the assistance of four surgeons, 30 to 35 neonatologists, five anesthesiologists and an array of other physicians and therapists. Quintuplets occur in one in 60 million births. Adalyn Elizabeth was born at 9:19 a.m., weighing 2 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring 13.38 inches long. Shortly after, little sister Everleigh Rose came along at 9:20 a.m., weighing 2 pounds, .8 ounces and measuring 12.59 inches. Sister Malley Kate followed at 9:21 a.m. at1 pound, 11 ounces and 12.99 inches long. Magnolia Mae was the last sister delivered at 9:22 a.m., weighing 2 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring 13.18 inches. The four girls are identical quadruplets, exceedingly rare at one in 10 to 15 million. Little brother Jake Easton was the last to be born at 9:23 a.m., the biggest at 2 pounds, 5 ounces and 13.77 inches long. Dr. Mobolaji E. Famuyide, chief of the division of newborn medicine, said due to the risks of carrying five babies including premature birth, Haylee became a patient of Morris through the Center for Maternal and Fetal Care. Once Haylee was admitted to Wiser Hospital for Women and Infants, a labor and delivery room was set aside for her. |
| USM's Dixie Darlings host dance clinic | |
 | Current Dixie Darlings members counted off steps Sunday afternoon for what could be the team's next group of dancers. The team invited more than 40 high school students from across the Pine Belt for a session preparing them for upcoming auditions. "You have to have the strive to become better," said team co-captain Kiera Hinton. "So, we don't want any dancers (who) are content with (who) they are. Dixie Darlings constantly makes me a better dancer, so I want any girl (who) joins the team to become better all of the time." The students attended the three-hour session to learn exactly what the team is looking for. They also took home a routine in hopes of easing their nerves before tryouts. Dance team co-captain Annaclaire Nelson said she can relate to the knee-shaking experience. "I was honestly terrified," Nelson said. "I was so nervous. I came in here and I was shaking." In addition to the dance tips, team members offered encouragement to their potential future teammates in the near future. |
| New UTVs to increase safety and call response time on JSU's campus | |
| You will soon see a different police presence on the Jackson State University campus. A new fleet of vehicles is improving response time for officers and allowing them to go on wheels where they haven't been before. Jackson State University police force recently acquired seven Urban Terrain Vehicles equipped with the latest police technology, allowing them to have better response time across campus. "Previously, while operating our SUVs, we weren't able to navigate through some of the tough spots," said JSU PD Captain Eric Stanton. Now the nine-year law enforcement officer doesn't have to respond on foot when going to your calls at locations like the Plaza. His new UTV can go between buildings and on sidewalks. "That allows us to be more visible on campus," said Stanton. "So the community will know that we're out here. We're patrolling the area." "We're still able to monitor who comes on campus by the cameras that we have," said JSU PD Chief Herman Horton. He said the UTVs will improve safety by deterring outsiders not conducting business from entering the campus, which has public streets on the property. |
| AccelerateMS driving workforce training in Mississippi | |
| A state agency that's not quite three years old has big plans for the state's workforce. AccelerateMS is essentially the state's office for workforce training, according to Executive Director Ryan Miller. "A lot of Southeastern states have offices like this, and we didn't have it until it was created three legislative sessions ago," he said. "We are to be a lens through which workforce development, funding and deployment of workforce strategies connect individuals with transformative, high-paying careers." Community colleges throughout the state are involved with AccelerateMS. Workforce programs at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, for example, include GIS Helpdesk Tier 1 Support, Electric Lineworker, Welding Workforce Training, and Telecommunications Tower Technician along with some health care programs. MGCCC offers a variety of no-cost programs through AccelerateMS grants and in partnership with local industry that provide essential training for individuals in South Mississippi. Miller lists the sectors with the most needs across the state as health care at every level, advanced manufacturing and mecatronics which is how to program and control different manufacturing equipment. AccelerateMS recently recognized Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College President Dr. Mary S. Graham as the first AccelerateMS Champion of the Year in recognition of her dedication in providing quality education and training in communities throughout the college district. |
| College of Engineering hosts thousands of students for E Day | |
| On Friday morning, thousands of high school students gathered at the Brown-Kopel Center to take part in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering's 'E Day,' an event that has become a common sight on Auburn's campus. Held every spring, E Day gives students between 7th and 12th grade the opportunity to explore the College of Engineering's various programs and student clubs, ask current university students questions and picture themselves as a future Tiger on the university's campus. This year, it is estimated that more than 4,000 people attended the event, more than 2,500 of those being students. For high school students like Eric Lewis, a sophomore at Carver High School in Montgomery, Alabama, the experience E Day provided proved to be valuable. "Well, I think it's really interesting. This is my first time ever going. I'm part of FBLA [Future Business Leaders of America] at Carver Montgomery, so I was invited to come in. I think it's really cool and the campus is really nice," Lewis said. "It's like everywhere you turn to something new to learn about. So I like it." Those exhibits were developed and presented primarily by students enrolled in programs within the College of Engineering. According to Auburn student Ann Inskeep, junior in biosystems engineering, the ability to answer students' and parents' questions while showcasing their work is a way to give back. |
| Alabama GOP backs resolution to abolish diversity policies in state institutions | |
 | In what it has called a stand against "woke-ism" in public education, the Alabama Republican Party is taking aim at diversity training, pronoun usage and other inclusion policies at state colleges and other public institutions. Members of the ALGOP State Executive Committee unanimously approved a resolution to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in public institutions, including state colleges, at its winter meeting Saturday in Birmingham. DEI policies aim to promote the fair treatment of historically underrepresented groups. Experts say diversity training and other common DEI practices can contribute to a greater sense of community, personal growth and conflict resolution skills in the classroom. But in the resolution, authors claim such policies have "bloated public institution organization and structure." "These established bureaucracies and policies have, ironically, not fulfilled their claim but have actually stifled intellectual diversity, prevented equal opportunity and discriminated against anyone who dissents from these policies," the resolution stated. Education -- and particularly policies that take aim at discussions of race, gender and sexuality in the classroom -- remains a top priority for Alabama Republicans this year, as classroom culture wars become more and more of a political flashpoint for conservatives seeking office nationwide. |
| LSU offers first carbon capture concentration in U.S. | |
 | LSU announced last month it became the first university in the country to offer a formal concentration in carbon capture, utilization and storage -- a technology lauded by state leaders and industry experts despite recent controversy in the public eye -- through its petroleum engineering department. Carbon capture and sequestration is a process in which carbon output from a plant is captured, compressed and sent via pipeline deep underground to be stored, rather than emitted into the atmosphere. The technology has grown in popularity in recent years after Congress approved $3.5 billion to support carbon capture and sequestration projects as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Louisiana in particular has become a hotbed for these projects because of its ideal geological conditions and preexisting industrial infrastructure and expertise, according to Karsten Thompson, chair of the LSU Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering. "This is an emerging field that we believe is going to be really big," Thompson said. "It meshes with a lot of [students] that are growing up at a time where they're more aware of the environment and want to do something about the climate." Gov. John Bel Edwards has been a staunch proponent of the technology as well, saying it's a necessary step to transition away from fossil fuels. Seventeen students are currently enrolled in the CCUS concentration, four of whom are expected to graduate in May. Thompson said his department made the decision to add the curriculum after companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron expressed interest in hiring students with CCS expertise. |
| Bike builder to share skills at U. of Arkansas event | |
| If you've ever looked at a bike and thought, "I could build that," you can test that theory on March 9. Steve McGuire, creator of the University of Iowa's handmade bicycle curriculum, will present "Design, Build, Ride" and show off a titanium bike made for NWA's trails. The University of Arkansas is sponsoring the event. Bentonville is the self-proclaimed "mountain biking capital of the world," cycling-related companies are opening offices in NWA, and last spring, Northwest Arkansas Community College's bicycle assembly and repair technician program saw its first group graduate. The industry has traction in Arkansas, and those with an eye for art and discipline for engineering could design the next big deal in bikes. The event is Thursday, March 9 from 6-8pm at 700 SE 5th St., #130, in Bentonville. Admission is free but registration is required. |
| Acceptance rate plummets by nearly 30% in most competitive year in UT history | |
| On Tuesday, the University of Tennessee Office of Undergraduate Admissions released regular admission decisions for the incoming class of 2027. While the Office of Undergraduate Admissions Instagram page had a positive outlook on the admissions cycle, posting a celebratory photo congratulating accepted students, this excitement was met with disbelief in the comment section from accomplished applicants who were rejected. This year, UT experienced record growth in the number of first-year applicants, totaling 47,838 applications by the Dec. 15 regular admissions application deadline, a stunning 40.2% increase from last year which was driven largely by out-of-state applicants. By Feb. 14, the number of applications had increased to 49,790. For the Fall 2023 admissions cycle, the university reported an in-state acceptance rate of 59.4% and an out-of-state acceptance rate of 33.3%, a drastic decrease from the year before. According to material presented to the Board of Trustees on Friday, the in-state acceptance rate in 2022 was 71.2% and the out-of-state acceptance rate was 67.2%. The overall acceptance rate in 2022 was 68.4%. Though the final figure for this year's acceptance rate has not been released and more acceptances may be issued for those who applied after the regular admissions deadline, the acceptance rate plummeted by nearly 30% in one year, according to figures from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. |
| New U. of Tennessee colleges aligned with goals to elevate the entire state | |
 | In a major academic restructuring of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, administrators have created three new colleges to meet the emerging needs of students balanced with administrators' goal to lift up the entire state of Tennessee. In short, administrators say, even Tennesseans who have never attended the university will benefit from the changes. "We have a huge responsibility in the workforce development and helping the state meet its needs," said Chancellor Donde Plowman. "It's a great time to be a Tennessean," she said, adding there is an influx of business, students and families in the state. The university's Board of Trustees unanimously approved three colleges Feb. 24: Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies, and College of Music. At a time when colleges around the country are struggling to recruit students because of the financial burden of education, the University of Tennessee System's enrollment has stayed steady, according to data shared at the meeting. The University of Tennessee in Knoxville in particular is "bucking the trend" when it comes to enrollment, UT System President Randy Boyd said. Administrators believe these three new offerings will help show families their investment is worthwhile. |
| 'Never Seen Anything Like It': New Bill Would Write DeSantis's Higher-Ed Vision Into Law | |
 | In recent months, Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has laid out a comprehensive vision that would place public higher education under extraordinary state control. A bill introduced this week would write that vision into law. House Bill 999 takes up almost every bullet-pointed goal that DeSantis included for public higher education in a press release last month. It would prohibit public colleges from funding any projects that "espouse diversity, equity, and inclusion or Critical Race Theory rhetoric," no matter the funding source; allow boards of trustees to conduct a post-tenure review of faculty members at any time for cause; and put faculty hiring into the hands of trustees. It also has new specifics DeSantis hadn't proposed, such as a ban on gender studies as a major or minor. "This bill will be a gut punch to anyone who cares about public education in a democracy or academic freedom or the fact that our system of higher education is the envy of the world," said Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors. "Because higher ed in America is organized around the fact that research and teaching and decisions involving research and teaching are best made by experts and scholars in the field." "We need to protest, we need to vote, we need to make our voices heard," Mulvey added, acknowledging a student protest on Thursday. "I've never seen anything like it. The future of higher education is at stake. If it works in Florida, you know it'll spread to other red states." |
| New Florida bill aims to enact DeSantis's higher ed reforms | |
 | Florida governor Ron DeSantis promised sweeping reforms earlier this year to, he claims, rescue higher education in his state from "woke activism." Last week, the Legislature took the first step toward realizing DeSantis's vision with the introduction of HB 999, which aims to dramatically reshape higher education in the Sunshine State. The bill, prefiled in the Florida House before the legislative session begins in March, looks to defund diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at state institutions; concentrate hiring power in the hands of trustees; allow for posttenure faculty review at any time; eliminate majors in certain subjects focused on race and gender; and create new general education requirements. Critics consider the bill an attack on higher education related to broader culture war issues -- ahead of a potential DeSantis presidential run in 2024 -- rather than a serious piece of legislation aimed at fixing current issues or improving higher education. They worry that if passed as written, HB 999 will deal an irreparable blow to Florida's public higher education system by eliminating academic freedom, exacerbating faculty recruitment issues, causing problems with accreditors and potentially costing institutions millions in federal grant money. |
| Bill and Hillary Clinton to speak at Clinton Foundation event at Vanderbilt | |
 | Former President Bill Clinton, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and others will speak at the 15th-annual Clinton Global Initiative University meeting at Vanderbilt University this week. CGI University aims to foster and empower a community of university students taking action to address challenges in their communities. The meeting, held March 3-5, marks the first time the group has met in person since the COVID-19 pandemic. A host of executives, authors, academics and activists will join the Clintons to "bring together aspiring leaders and global experts in business, public service and social impact to develop innovative solutions to the world's most pressing challenges," according to a news release. Sessions will address climate change, reproductive rights, health equity, post-pandemic recovery and alternative education in crisis-worn areas. Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton will speak at a community town hall Saturday morning. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Nashville Mayor John Cooper are also expected to participate. Nashville Council member at large Zulfat Suara will be one of several speakers in CGI University's Story Studio, sharing stories of innovation around widespread challenges. |
| Mizzou celebrates record research spending in 2022, topping $432 million | |
 | The University of Missouri in the fiscal year 2022 set a new record for research spending of more than $432 million. It's the tenth consecutive year of research growth at MU. Some of the major projects include an $8.7 million grant in the School of Medicine's Precision Health Institute, an $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education and a $5.3 million grant from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center researching the origins of life. The research is important, said Mun Choi, MU chancellor and system president. "Research expenditures correlate with important outcomes of scholarship including citations, books published, highly-prestigious recognition of faculty to conferral of doctoral degrees," Choi said in a news release "I'm very proud of the many efforts of our faculty, staff and students to achieve excellence in research." The research will lead to innovations to improve lives, said Thomas Spencer, vice chancellor for research. "Thanks to investments in our research enterprise, such as MizzouForward and the NextGen Precision Health initiative, MU continues to empower our world-class researchers and scholars as they pursue challenging questions and strive for new heights through research breakthroughs and creative works," Spencer said in the news release. "We are changing the world by building on our existing strengths and developing new ones through interdisciplinary collaborations." |
| Colleges Fear Cost of Doing Business Will Become Much Costlier | |
| It's budget season for colleges and that could mean faculty and staff raises, money for new programs and improvements, and breathing room, or layoffs, cutbacks, and, in the worst cases, closure. For many colleges, budgeting in 2023 is tougher than ever, according to experts. Tuition-dependent private institutions and increasingly tuition-dependent public colleges are facing lower revenues, thanks to enrollments depressed by the pandemic and ongoing demographic shifts. The nearly $80 billion in federal aid that buoyed institutions through the worst of Covid-19 is effectively gone. And the go-go economy that helped the country power through the worst of the past three years has cooled, sapping endowment performance and spiking inflation, which makes it more expensive to heat classrooms and feed students. Enrollment represents the biggest stumbling block for many institutions. Undergraduate enrollment fell by about 4 percent nationwide between the fall of 2020 and the fall of 2022, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Community colleges and their students were among those hardest hit by the pandemic; some two-year institutions lost as much as a quarter of their enrollments in the fall of 2020. Though community colleges have begun to recover, they lost nearly 7 percent of their enrollment between 2020 and 2022, according to National Student Clearinghouse data, compared to about 4 percent for public four-year colleges. But traditional-age college students were becoming increasingly scarce before Covid-19 complicated matters. |
| The Taliban ended college for women. Here's how Afghan women are defying the ban | |
| She's a young student in Afghanistan who graduated high school 3 years early at age 15. For years, she's dreamed of becoming an engineer, both to rebuild her country and to prove that women could work in what's often seen there as a male field. M.H., who requested anonymity fearing Taliban reprisal for speaking to the press and criticizing their policy, was inches from reaching her goal this past December. But days after she completed requirements for a civil engineering degree, the Taliban banned women from universities. Her gender torpedoed her dream. The Taliban "decided to withhold our diplomas just because we are women," M.H. told NPR. "Now I cannot even apply for any further education because I have no document to prove that I finished my engineering degree." To have any hope of leaving and establishing a career abroad, or even of working in a future Afghanistan where the Taliban are no longer in power, she's relying on the one alternative available to her -- making a second attempt to earn a bachelor's degree by taking online classes in computer science from a university in the U.S. Enrollment in college in Afghanistan has historically been low for women and men. While exact figures aren't known, M.H. is one of an estimated 90,000 women impacted by the ban. Many of them are now turning to digital spaces for alternatives. It's not an ideal path. Obstacles abound, from erratic internet connectivity to a lack of jobs for women to aspire to. |
| How the Biden administration will try to save its student loan relief plan at the Supreme Court | |
 | President Biden's student loan relief plan faces a do-or-die moment on Tuesday as it reaches the Supreme Court for oral arguments. The up to $20,000 in debt relief that could go to millions of Americans faces two challenges: one from six Republican-led states, Biden v. Nebraska, and another from two student loan borrowers, Department of Education v. Brown. Biden's plan to save one of his biggest campaign promises hinges on two arguments. The administration says that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona had the authority to forgive the debt under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act. But legal observers suggest the closer question could be whether the justices reach the merits at all. The Biden administration contends that neither group of challengers has standing, meaning the legal capacity to sue. With the lower courts placing the plan on hold, the Biden administration now must face a conservative-majority Supreme Court in its efforts to give borrowers relief. |
| Supreme Court to hear debt-relief lawsuits | |
| Six months after President Biden announced his plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for eligible Americans, the administration will defend that plan before the Supreme Court Tuesday. The legal fight could doom the debt-relief plan and also curtail the authority of the executive branch, depending on the final opinion. At issue will be whether the administration has the authority to forgive the loans and whether the plaintiffs who challenged the plan have standing to sue. Michael Brickman, who worked at the Education Department during the Trump administration and is now an adjunct fellow at American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank, expects the Supreme Court to strike down the program, but he said he'll be looking to see if the justices weigh in more broadly on the rules proposed by the Education Department and other federal agencies that he and others think go beyond the department's statutory authority. "There's no question that the department is pushing the envelope in terms of its congressional authority on a lot of different fronts, just within the category of student loan forgiveness," Brickman said, adding that the administration could "certainly still get away with it." |
| Republicans argue Biden student debt program is 'major question' | |
| Congressional Republicans want the Supreme Court to use a case about student loan debt relief to restrict the regulatory power of the Biden administration -- even if that also would hamstring a future GOP president. In two briefs in high court cases set for oral argument Tuesday, more than half of the Republicans in Congress urged the justices to rely on a legal doctrine that requires an agency to point to "clear congressional authorization" for rules on any "major questions" of political and economic significance. The Biden administration has argued that the major questions doctrine does not apply to its program to forgive as much or more than $400 billion in student loans owed to the government. The authority to discharge debt is part of a federal benefit program -- not a regulatory action -- and it is central to a 2003 law, the government said in a brief. But 43 Republican senators filed a brief that calls for the Supreme Court to use the major questions doctrine to find that the student debt relief plan goes beyond what Congress intended in that law -- especially when it will cost more than $2,500 per taxpayer. "And, if anything, Congress's exclusive power to spend and forgive the monies owed to the government should make this Court even more reluctant to believe that it broadly delegated that core legislative power here," the brief said. |
| With no 2023 election opponents, 40% of lawmakers are having a relaxed session | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: Almost 40% of legislators (69 of 174) will have no opposition this election cycle. In other words, they can cast whatever vote they want for the remainder of the 2023 legislative session knowing they will not face any electoral consequences until at least 2027. For decades, the qualifying deadline for state and local officials has been the ridiculously early date of March 1. Party primary elections normally are not until August while, of course, the general election is in November. Despite those late election dates, the Mississippi Legislature set a qualifying deadline of March 1, forcing people to make an early decision on whether they wanted to be on the ballot months later for political office against an entrenched incumbent -- especially an entrenched legislative incumbent. The reason for setting the early qualifying deadline was clear: to let legislators know early on about potential opponents, giving them time to take reelection friendly action during the final legislative session before voters go to the polls. In addition, the early qualifying deadline, it could be argued, gives incumbents a financial advantage since they normally have an easier time raising campaign contributions. By having an early qualifying deadline, candidates often feel they must be raising funds for a longer period of time. The current crop of legislators, in their infinite wisdom, decided the March 1 qualifying was not early enough. In the 2021 session, they moved the qualifying deadline to an even earlier date: Feb. 1. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State surges past No. 25 Texas A&M for crucial win in Starkville | |
| D.J. Jeffries missed his share of chances to give Mississippi State a big momentum swing during the second half of Saturday's game against No. 25 Texas A&M at Humphrey Coliseum. With the Bulldogs clinging to a two-point lead and 8:15 to play, the senior forward was whistled for traveling. A minute later, Jeffries missed an open 3-pointer that would have given MSU a five-point lead. But with the ball in his hands in another clutch situation, Jeffries delivered the afternoon's biggest moment in a 69-62 Mississippi State win in Starkville. Jeffries charged down the floor, caught a two-handed outlet pass from Dashawn Davis in stride and threw down a thunderous and-one dunk, prompting a massive roar from a lively crowd at the Hump. "I don't know if we win this game if we don't have that kind of crowd," Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. The play put MSU up six points with 3:58 to go, and the Bulldogs (19-10, 7-9 Southeastern Conference) held on from there for a potential Quad 1 victory over the Aggies (21-8, 13-3 SEC) at a critical late-season juncture. Mississippi State will play its final regular-season home game Tuesday, an 8 p.m. tip against South Carolina (10-18, 3-12 SEC). |
| Mississippi State men's basketball team snaps Texas A&M's six-game winning streak | |
 | A six-game Southeastern Conference winning streak pulled the Texas A&M men's basketball team off the NCAA tournament bubble and squarely into the conversation of a potential league title. But on Saturday, a near 13-minute streak without a field goal ended the Aggies' winning ways in a 69-62 loss to Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum. When guard Andre Gordon hit a 3-pointer with just more than 14 minutes left, the Aggies held a 44-35 lead. They didn't hit another field goal until Henry Coleman rebounded a long 3-point attempt and put it back with 1:18 left, cutting Mississippi State's lead to 64-60 and ending a shooting drought that cost A&M the game. "Their defense is third in the country and they're second in the SEC in creating turnovers," A&M head coach Buzz Williams said. "I think that was a big portion of what hurt us was that our turnover rate was too high, and now a team who is so dominate defensively is playing in a broken floor offensively." The Aggies (21-8, 13-3) have struggled offensively over the last four games. In the three games leading up to Saturday's loss, the Aggies shot just 39.3% from the field. They managed just 39.5% on Saturday, while Mississippi State shot 44.2%. The Bulldogs (19-10, 7-9), which ESPN's Joe Lunardi projects as the last team into the NCAA tournament field, jumped to a nine-point lead midway through the first half. |
| Colton Ledbetter slams Mississippi State to series victory over Arizona State | |
| Colton Ledbetter nodded to himself in the batter's box when a borderline 3-0 pitch on the outside corner was called a strike. The Mississippi State center fielder was close to being walked and forcing in a run, but given what happened next, perhaps Ledbetter was glad to have another chance. "I liked the grand slam a little bit more than the walk," Ledbetter said. The Samford transfer crushed the very next pitch over the right-field stands, a game-breaking homer in the Bulldogs' 16-3 victory over Arizona State on Sunday at Dudy Noble Field. Mississippi State (5-3) finally put two good days of baseball together, winning back-to-back games for the first time this year and rebounding to take the series from the Sun Devils (5-2). "There's some confidence there for our guys," MSU coach Chris Lemonis said. Ledbetter's grand slam was part of a six-run fourth inning that saw the Bulldogs blow the game open. Kellum Clark brought home the first tally on an infield single, and Bryce Chance roped a base hit into the outfield for another run before Ledbetter's grand slam off reliever Matt Tieding. |
| Mississippi State baseball clinches series win against Arizona State | |
| The message boards and social media posts weren't kind to Mississippi State baseball on Friday. After an ugly loss to Arizona State to drop to 3-3, the struggles from last season resurfacing forced some fans to express their displeasure -- ranging from benching players to firing coaches. Those hot takes were simmered with MSU winning 5-1 on Saturday and 16-3 on Sunday. It's the first series victory against a Power Five foe for Mississippi State (5-3) since last April against Ole Miss last season. The Bulldogs unleashed three home runs and 15 hits against the Sun Devils (5-2) on Sunday -- a day after coach Chris Lemonis said MSU played, "by far" it's best game of the season. MSU heads to Pearl, Mississippi, to face No. 19 Southern Miss (5-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday. USM is coming off a series loss against Illinois. |
| Mississippi State women's basketball claims SEC Tournament No. 5 seed | |
| Despite a 74-59 loss at No. 4 LSU on Sunday, it was a productive day for Mississippi State women's basketball and first-year coach Sam Purcell. The Bulldogs clinched the No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament with Alabama falling to Ole Miss and Georgia losing to South Carolina. MSU (20-9, 9-7 SEC), Alabama and UGA finished in a three-way tie, but Mississippi State's win against Tennessee gives the Bulldogs an edge in the tiebreaker. Finishing in the top 10 ensured a bye, meaning MSU won't play until Thursday at approximately 1:25 p.m. CT. State will face the winner of No. 12 seed Vanderbilt and No. 13 seed Texas A&M. The Aggies and Commodores square off at 10 a.m. Wednesday inside Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. MSU opened SEC play with a win against Vanderbilt on Dec. 29 and swept the season series against Texas A&M. With a win Thursday, Mississippi State would advance to face rival and No. 4 seed Ole Miss at 1:25 p.m. Friday. The 20 regular season wins and nine conference wins are a record for a first-year MSU coach. Mississippi State is projected as a No. 9 seed in the latest NCAA Tournament projection from ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme. |
| Jessika Carter Named Finalist for Gillom Trophy | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball's Jessika Carter was named one of three finalists for the Gillom Trophy, announced Thursday by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. The Gillom Trophy is awarded annually to Mississippi's best female college basketball player. Angel Baker of Ole Miss and Dominique Davis of Southern Miss are Joining Carter as a finalist. This year's winner will be announced during a luncheon at the Golden Moon Casino at Pearl River Resort in Choctaw on Monday, March 6. Carter will be looking to join a list of Bulldog greats who have won this award since its inception in 2008. In the award's 16th year, a Mississippi State player has won the award nine times. Carter was named a finalist for the award for her strong play this season. She is having a career year under first-year head coach Sam Purcell. She is averaging a career-high 14.8 points per game to go along with her 7.6 rebounds per contest. She has blocked 55 shots through 25 games and is just six blocks from setting a new single-season career high. Carter has also established a career mark with 34 assists; her previous high was just 16 during the 2020-21 season while also being just seven steals away from a new career-high with 24. |
| 3 Mississippi State football spring position battles worth watching | |
| Coaching changes have been made, signing days have passed and the transfer portal is closed. For the first time since being promoted to head coach in December, Mississippi State football's Zach Arnett has a schedule filled with practices and on-field decisions. The Bulldogs opens the spring slate on March 7 with a second practice to follow on March 9. MSU then takes a week off for spring break before returning to campus for weekly practices on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays through the spring game on April 15. It'll provide a glimpse into what an Arnett-run program looks like, along with a chance to see how the offense runs under new offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay. It also provides a chance to see which players can separate from their teammates in crucial position battles. Here are three we're keeping an eye on this spring. |
| Nate Oats defers to administration when asked about contacting Harris family | |
| Following No. 2 Alabama's three-point win against Arkansas, an announcement was made ahead of coach Nate Oats' press conference. The steward of the Crimson Tide men's basketball program would only answer questions regarding the game. The program was trying to move past the backlash following its handling of the Jan. 15 shooting which involved three Crimson Tide players (only Darius Miles was charged). And after decrying an introductory routine in which star freshman Brandon Miller appeared to be patted down for weapons, Oats talked a bit about the 86-83 final score. When one reporter asked Oats about comments made by the family of Jamea Harris, the 23-year-old victim -- Harris' relatives told AL.com they were offended by Oats and said he had not yet reached out to them -- a UA press representative tried to cut off a potential response. Oats answered anyway. "Listen, just to address it a little bit. I apologized for my previous comments this week," Oats said. "We understand the severity of it all, but I'm following the administration's lead on everything here. So we're going to talk about the game only is what they would like for me to talk about." DeCarla and Kelvin Heard, Harris' mother and stepfather, respectively, were brought to tears by Oats saying Miller, who brought Miles the gun used in the crime upon Miles' request, was at the "wrong spot at the wrong time" and Miller "did nothing wrong." |
| OU athletics director Joe Castiglione on SEC transition; OU-Texas afternoon kickoff; Kyler Murray statue and more | |
| Joe Castiglione was a guest on the KREF 94.7 radio show with Toby Rowland on Thursday morning. The Oklahoma athletics director, in his first public comments since his school's announcement of a 2024 move to the Southeastern Conference, discussed details surrounding the move. Castiglione said that the initial plan for a 2025 departure to the SEC now will be accelerated. The OU administrator said there were already internal groups looking at scheduling, travel and facility and staffing comparisons. It's not just the big items. It was also under-the-radar items like studying graphics at facilities where logos will have to be changed. "It's a pretty wide-ranging group of topics that our staff and subcommittees have been studying, comparing and analyzing over the past year-plus," Castiglione said. "There are certain things that will obviously we will be very ready for. There are some that we will use this next year to accelerate." he OU athletics director said the move was a very complicated process that included six different parties -- Oklahoma, Texas, the Big 12, the SEC, ESPN and Fox. From the 2021 announcement, Castiglione said OU was going to stay and honor all of the contracts, which initially ran through to August 1, 2025, "We were in the process of doing that, but the world around us, the college athletics ecosystem, if you will, has been changing in dramatic ways and continues to change," he said. "And we thought there very well might be a reason develop that the conference might have its own goals and objectives that they may want to have a conversation. That's how it got initiated." |
| How U. of South Carolina battled over Sir Big Spur's naming rights | |
 | Sir Big Spur's identity crisis is over for good. This past week, the University of South Carolina finished buying the rights to its live mascot's trademark after a fight between the Gamecocks' old and new handlers last summer put one of the nation's largest college athletics departments in a bind for weeks. The university also agreed to have the mascot seen on football sidelines and baseball stadium concourses with its comb -- the bright red crest atop a rooster's head -- clipped, an appearance tied to the tradition of cockfighting. That comb spurred months of conflict and national attention last summer, when the bird's owners, Ron Albertelli and Mary Snelling of Aiken, refused to give up the name when the bird's new handlers, Van and Beth Clark of Edgefield, did not snip the comb. USC was forced to find a new name. After weighing "Jingle Jangle," "Spurs" and "Spike," the school settled on "The General," after Revolutionary War Gen. Thomas Sumter, who was nicknamed "The Fighting Gamecock." USC got the rights to the Sir Big Spur name on Feb. 21 in exchange for $35,000, enough to buy a couple of rows of Gamecocks football season tickets. More details about how USC handled the back-and-forth over the live mascot's name last summer are coming out with university emails and new interviews. |
| Criticized for lashes and nails, Black women's basketball players embrace self-expression | |
| Jordan Walker grew up watching Skylar Diggins-Smith at Notre Dame. Diggins-Smith, a two-time First Team All-American, was one of the first prominent women's college basketball players to embrace looking feminine on the court. Seeing a Black woman do that on a national stage had a lasting impact on Walker as a young Black player. "She's so pretty and she just carries herself so nice and she looks so classy, but on the court she does the same thing," the Tennessee Lady Vols guard remembered thinking. "She still looks classy, looks put together, but she's a beast, you know? She can knock down shots, play defense, all of that." Chicago Sky point guard Dana Evans said Diggins-Smith, now a six-time WNBA All-Star, marked the beginning of the new generation of players -- a generation of Black women who choose to be authentically themselves on the court. "I think she really changed things around where you're looking girly, you're able to show different things on the court," said Evans. "I think she was one of the players to kind of start that and I think a lot of players fed off of that." But that shift has not come without outside resistance. Players who choose to look feminine while playing basketball also have faced criticism for their looks, including Tennessee center Tamari Key this season. After Tennessee's lackluster start to the season, a faction of fans attacked Key on social media for wearing eyelash extensions and nails, despite the fact that she wore them during her career-best junior season, too. |
| Greenville to host women's basketball College GameDay for SEC tournament championship | |
| After visiting South Carolina women's basketball in Columbia last season, ESPN's College GameDay is coming to Greenville next Sunday for the SEC tournament championship. In 2021-22, College GameDay came to Colonial Life Arena for the Gamecocks' 67-53 win over Tennessee. It was the first time in 11 years ESPN's pregame show featured a women's basketball game. This season, ESPN expanded the show to three women's college basketball games: UConn at Tennessee on Jan. 26 and Indiana at Iowa on Sunday were the first two sites chosen. The SEC tournament begins Wednesday with games among the four bottom seeds. The title game is scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m. Sunday (ESPN) at Greenville's Bon Secours Wellness Arena. It will be the first time College GameDay has attended a women's basketball conference championship game. No. 1 South Carolina (29-0, 16-0 SEC) enters the tournament as the top seed and clear favorite after finishing the regular season undefeated for the first time in program history. No. 4 LSU will be the No. 2 seed after losing 88-64 to South Carolina on Feb. 12. |
| Clemson AD Graham Neff: Unequal distribution of ACC revenue a 'need' | |
| As the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences deepen their pockets by adding schools with brand value, unequal distribution of ACC revenues has been floated as a way to keep bigger brand-name schools such as Clemson satisfied with their financial position in the conference. When asked if unequal distribution was a "want" or a "need," Clemson athletic director Graham Neff chose the stronger of the two words. "In all candor, I put it as a need," Neff said in an interview with The Post and Courier. "We certainly recognize the investment that we've continued to make as an institution, in our community, in athletics, namely in football, which certainly drives a lot of value that is important from a television and revenue-generation standpoint. "Is it time revenue distribution within conferences, or at least the ACC, is done differently? Yeah, I've been very active in those conversations within the league and continue to expect to take a leadership role in our desire for that to be a changed circumstance. Urgently." Neff has repeatedly said he's "looking out for Clemson," but it's difficult to grow the ACC's money pie to match those of the SEC and Big Ten because the conference is locked into a television contract with ESPN through 2036. The Tigers can't easily jump to the SEC or Big Ten and nibble at their pie, either, because ACC schools are bound by a rigid grant of rights agreement that surrenders media revenues to the conference. |
| FSU fires warning shot to ACC: 'Something has to change' | |
| Florida State's board of trustees meeting sounded like a warning shot to the ACC: Fix the massive revenue gap between the SEC and Big Ten, or else. "At the end of the day for Florida State to compete nationally, something has to change moving forward," Seminoles athletic director Michael Alford said. Something has to change because the status quo is unsustainable for a national-championship program. The numbers Alford presented are striking. The SEC will soon make $811 million per year with its new ESPN/ABC deal. The Big Ten's contracts are closer to $1.1 billion. The ACC lags far behind at $240 million. To make matters worse, the ACC's deal doesn't expire until 2036, after the Big Ten and SEC get another chance to negotiate an even bigger payday before the ACC. Factor in everything else that goes into conference payouts, and Alford said FSU faces a $30 million annual gap that might extend more than a decade. "At the end of the day, if something's not done, we cannot be $30 million behind every year compared to our peers," Alford said. Alford is pushing the ACC to change the way it gives money to teams. By his numbers, FSU contributes roughly 15% of the ACC's media-rights value because of its strong TV ratings, football/basketball success and major in-state markets. But the Seminoles get only 7% of the distributions as one of 14 full members of the conference. |
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