| Thursday, April 6, 2023 |
| Rural Mental Health's Stressors, Barriers, and Protective Factors: Q&A with Dr. Dawn Morales | |
 | Dawn Morales, PhD, is the Program Chief of the Office of Rural Mental Health Research (ORMHR) at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Morales discusses the challenges facing rural mental healthcare as well as the importance of cultural competency and protective factors, especially in rural populations such as American Indian and Alaska Native communities and farmers and ranchers, including an award to Mississippi State University for research looking at how to better help older people with hoarding disorder, with specific focus on older adults in rural communities. Rural-dwelling older adults with hoarding disorder can be an especially difficult-to-treat population. There's a variety of reasons driving this, but basically municipal officials, neighbors, and family in rural areas are all less likely to make formal complaints. And this means that the older adults in question are at greater risk of issues related to fire safety and other health concerns. The research project is specifically looking at an intervention called motivational interviewing -- which is an evidence-based practice and very respected -- and how it can be used to help older adults living in rural places engage in more sorting and discarding behaviors. And this particular research award uses a special kind of funding mechanism that encourages the scientists to build research capacity at the institution, in this case Mississippi State University, and to provide research experiences to undergraduate students at more rural-serving institutions. |
| Stock Buyback Accountability Act of 2023 | |
| Listen: Introduced in February, the Stock Buyback Accountability Act of 2023 is legislation to increase taxes on a publicly traded corporation from 1% to 4%. Brian Blank, professor of finance at Mississippi State University, explains what a stock buyback is, the proposed tax and what it means for investors. |
| Funding in hand to build new MHP station | |
 | This year's legislative appropriations bill included $6 million to help build a new headquarters for Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop G at Cornerstone Park. Once complete, it will replace the existing substation on Mississippi State University property at the Highway 182 and East Lee Boulevard intersection. Talks of the new substation have been ongoing for years. The Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority donated a parcel at Cornerstone Park to the MHP in 2013. District 43 Rep. Rob Roberson (R-Starkville) said the upgrade is long overdue. "The reality was that we're the last Highway Patrol station to get fixed or (replaced)," Roberson said. "We've been on the project list for the past 15 or 20 years, and the outdated ... station that we're in has outlived its ability to do what needs to be done." Roberson said the new location will have helicopter pads for emergency services and space for drug enforcement offices. He called it a "total change" for how the troop operates. Over the past two sessions, the legislature has put $10 million toward the project, which Roberson said was enough to get it built. Construction should start later this year. "I'm proud that it's finally getting finished," Roberson said. |
| Columbus man charged with capital murder in Starkville shooting | |
 | Just a day after a man was shot and killed in a south Starkville apartment, a suspect has been arrested and charged with capital murder. Starkville police said Tyshawn De'vontea Marquez Henley, 18, of Columbus, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Columbus by the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Fugitive Task Force. He was charged with capital murder because the killing took place while a robbery was being committed, officials said. Police officers responded to the Blake Court townhouses at 1220 Louisville Street around 7:30 p.m. April 4 after being notified that shots had been fired. The responding officers found an unresponsive victim who was later identified as Kirby Sherman, 31, of Starkville. He was pronounced dead at the scene. "Drugs, cash, and guns remain a consistent contributor in the senseless loss of life throughout this area," said Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard. "I am sorry for this family's loss. The speed of this arrest would not have been possible without the diligent efforts of the first responding officers at Starkville PD and the tremendous assistance of community members who provided their support." |
| Dollar stores are everywhere in the South. These 5 charts explain what's behind their growth | |
 | On a standup album released in 2002, comedian Lewis Black claimed he found "The End of the Universe" in Houston, Texas -- two Starbucks stores directly across from each other. If he updated the bit for 2023, Black should replace Starbucks with dollar stores. After all, Dollar General has a more than thousand store-lead on Starbucks in the U.S. Add in Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, and dollar chain stores outnumber both Starbucks and Walmart combined. Many of them even share the same street -- just like the Starbucks stores in Black's joke. But today, neighboring dollar stores aren't limited to massive metros like Houston. Even in rural towns of just a couple of thousand people, it's possible to step outside of a Family Dollar and spot a yellow-and-black Dollar General sign not far from it. So what's behind this explosion of dollar stores? Since 2008, Dollar General has more than doubled its number of stores, growing from 8,222 stores to 18,130 in 2022. The chain holds the title for most retail stores in the U.S. and recently passed the 19,000 store milestone. Another way to look at that growth: Dollar General alone opens about three stores a day. So what's behind the rapid expansion? Maybe it's because Dollar General is planning on breaking into small-town health care and even banking. It could also be to beef up its side hustle of selling customer data, pitching it as having access to rural customer info no one else has. While all of those are potential upsides, Brian Yarbrough, a financial advisor with Edward Jones who follows Dollar General, said that's overthinking it. Dollar General opens so many stores, he said, simply because its profits grow with each one -- a new store nets them a roughly 20% return. |
| Bank Failures. High Inflation. Rising Rates. Is the Resilient Jobs Market About to Crack? | |
 | The U.S. labor market has been on a tear since the economy bounced back from the pandemic, with employers adding 5.6 million jobs since the start of 2022 alone. Despite a wave of layoffs in technology and finance, many employers have kept hiring through the highest inflation in 40 years and the fastest pace of interest-rate increases since the 1980s. Recent banking-industry turmoil added another economic risk and raises the question: Is the long-resilient labor market about to slip? The Labor Department will release its March jobs report on Friday, coming on the heels of surprisingly robust job growth in January and February. Broad-based job figures are an important economic gauge but can lag behind other labor-market indicators. A smaller share of workers are handing in resignations this year than in April 2022, when the percentage of workers quitting their jobs matched a record high of 3%. The gradual decline in quitting indicates that workers are a bit less confident in their ability to job hop than they were a year ago. More workers could stay put in the coming months because of concerns about the recent banking turmoil, which might make it harder to get a loan. "When job seekers are worried about the future outlook they do become less likely to quit their current jobs, even if they're unhappy in them," said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. |
| Where did the workers go? Construction jobs are plentiful, but workers are scarce | |
 | When President Biden inked the $1 trillion deal to give roads, bridges and transit systems a boost, union officials and business leaders said a large scale investment in infrastructure was long overdue. But nearly a year and a half later, and about a third of the way through the funding's lifetime, economists and hiring managers point out that all that infrastructure money won't do any good if there aren't enough people qualified to do the work. The construction industry faces a dire labor shortage. The number of construction job openings jumped by 129,000 in February, even as hiring decreased by 18,000, according to a report from the Labor Department released Tuesday. That stands in contrast to the overall job market, where total job openings dipped to 9.9 million in February (down 632,000 from January). Even with more money to repair rundown roads and build new bridges, worker shortages loom over an industry already strapped for people. And, with fewer workers, projects could take longer to complete, becoming more expensive as they drag on. For Nathan Barry, the dean of career and technical education at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska, planning to expand construction training opportunities began about a decade ago. "We had so many people ready to retire, and we didn't have a good pipeline of people coming in," said Barry. The school opened its own construction education center in 2017, where it teaches building, welding and other skilled trades. But now, waitlists to join those programs are long, and Barry said that's meant adding more classes at night, recruiting workers to teach part-time. |
| Marty museum receives $10M from state | |
| Work on Phase 2 of Marty Stuart's Congress of Country Music could begin later this year following news that $10 million has been appropriated for the project by the Mississippi Legislature. State Rep. C. Scott Bounds and State Sen. Jenifer Branning confirmed the appropriation earlier this week. "The funds have been passed by the Legislature and have gone to the governor for is signature," Bounds said. "There are still some negotiations concerning the collection but I am sure that will be worked out." Phase 1 of the Congress of Country Music was completed last December with the re-opening of the Ellis Theater. With the $10 million and what they have raised, Stuart said they can start seriously planning Phase 2. "I am optimistic that this will enable us to complete Phase 2," Stuart said. "Right now, we are at the drawing phase with architectural drawings. I would hope by the end of this year, this will be in motion." Stuart said Phase 2 will be the construction of church façade located at the entrance on the Main Street side. Inside, they will build a new ticket office. They will finish out the dressing room space on the backside of the old Byars Furniture building next to the Ellis Theater. What is now the green room located behind the ticket office will be renovated and turned into meeting area. |
| Jackson expected to be without garbage pick-up for at least 50 days | |
| Mississippi's capital city of Jackson is expected to go without trash pick-up for at least 50 days while city leaders work through yet another RFP process. The emergency contract between the city and Richard's Disposal, the company that has been collecting the trash for the last year, has expired. On Saturday, Jackson City Council leaders voted down a new contract with the company. The vote was a tie with Vernon Hartley, Ashby Foote and Aaron Banks voting no and Brian Grizzell, Angelique Lee, and Virgi Lindsey voting in favor of the contract. Councilman Kenneth Stokes abstained from voting. The validity of the garbage contract has been an ongoing issue between the city council and Mayor Lumumba. Richard's was issued the contract on an emergency basis after the council voted down the mayor's pick last year, resulting in a lengthy and ongoing legal battle between the council and mayor. Councilman Ashby Foote released a statement on April 3, placing blame for the current situation that residents are in with no trash collection on the Mayor. In the meantime, Jackson residents are at a loss for what to do regarding trash pickup. Some neighborhoods are looking for individual ways to haul off their garbage. According to advertising Nextdoor, a popular neighborhood application, junk removers are requesting a nominal fee to haul off individuals trash during the week. |
| Rep. Jeff Jackson, Congress' biggest TikTok star, sees the app as a tool for transparency | |
 | If you've heard of Rep. Jeff Jackson and you're not from North Carolina, there's a good chance you've seen him on TikTok. The freshman Democrat, who represents the state's newly formed 14th District, has become a surprise social media star in recent months thanks to a series of videos in which he directly addresses the camera on topics including the Russia-Ukraine war, unmanned aerial vehicles and the controversy swirling around TikTok itself. One video, on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, has had more than 28 million views. "I'm also on LinkedIn," Jackson, 40, quipped during a recent interview in his Longworth office. It's true: Jackson posts regularly on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Substack. But he's found his niche on TikTok. Jackson has amassed 1.6 million followers and collected more than 11 million likes in two years on the app, though he's self-deprecating about his success. Many users find his straightforward approach appealing. But others, including some in Congress, argue that members have no business on a Chinese-owned app that critics say could mine user data. For his part, Jackson said the app should be banned if a sale can't be negotiated. But he doesn't plan to stop using it in the interim. "The appetite that people have for direct, transparent communication from elected officials is so much greater than is generally perceived," Jackson said. "So much political communication is just designed to elicit outrage." |
| Biden to visit Ireland, mark Good Friday accord anniversary | |
 | President Joe Biden will travel to the United Kingdom and Ireland next week in part to help mark the the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday accord, a U.S.-brokered agreement that helped end decades of deadly sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Biden will first visit Belfast, Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., from April 11-12 to mark progress since the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was signed a quarter century ago and to underscore U.S. readiness to support Northern Ireland's economic potential, the White House said. Biden will then spend April 12-14 in the Republic of Ireland, holding engagements in Dublin, County Louth and County Mayo, where he will deliver an address celebrating the "deep, historic ties" between the United States and Ireland, the White House said. Signed on April 10, 1998 -- which was Good Friday -- the landmark accord helped end three decades of sectarian violence over the issue of Northern Ireland uniting with Ireland or remaining in the United Kingdom. The anniversary is being marked with celebration that peace has endured, but concern about entrenched divisions and political instability. And the specter of violence has not wholly disappeared -- last month U.K. intelligence services raised the terrorism threat level for Northern Ireland from "substantial" to "severe." Asked whether the heightened terrorism threat level would affect his plans to visit, Biden, who is proud of his Irish heritage and has long wanted to visit Ireland, said it would not. "No, they can't keep me out," he said last month. |
| Biden's pick to lead welfare investigation gets approval from Mississippi senators | |
| Mississippi is one step closer to having a permanent U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, who is expected to oversee the prosecution of what's been called the largest public fraud case in state history. Both Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith have indicated their approval of President Joe Biden's nominee for the position, Todd Gee, deputy chief of the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice. Waiting for Gee in Mississippi are five defendants in the welfare scandal who have pleaded guilty to federal charges and have agreed to help the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office with their ongoing probe. These include nonprofit founder Nancy New and her son Zach New, former welfare director John Davis, former nonprofit director Christi Webb and retired professional wrestler Brett DiBiase. The scandal involves the theft or misspending of $77 million in federal welfare funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, including payments to the pet projects of former NFL quarterback Brett Favre. Officials have hinted that the investigation is moving higher up the chain and New has already alleged in civil court that former Gov. Phil Bryant directed her to make one of the largest payments in question -- $1.1 million to Favre for a radio ad promoting the state's anti-poverty initiative called Families First for Mississippi. Bryant, whose office oversaw the welfare department during the scandal, has not faced civil or criminal charges. |
| Wisconsin and Chicago elections expose liabilities in GOP case for '24 | |
 | Democrats from the upper Midwest to the White House were brimming with confidence after Tuesday's wins in Wisconsin and Chicago, believing President Joe Biden was handed a template for crucial battlegrounds once he moves forward his reelection bid. Already, top party officials and operatives were sketching out the beginnings of a 2024 campaign playbook that again leans heavily into shielding abortion rights and doesn't shy away from taking more nuanced approaches to tackling crime. The twin victories -- in the Chicago mayoral race and for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court -- had emboldened their belief that voters were more repelled by the GOP brand -- colored by anti-abortion politics and personified by former President Donald Trump -- than by accusations that Democrats were soft on crime. Left-leaning Janet Protasiewicz won resoundingly in her bid for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, despite being labeled "No Jail Janet" by her opponents. Democrats noted that her opponent, Dan Kelly, was connected to a plan to reverse the 2020 election results. Similarly, Brandon Johnson, a Chicago union organizer, was hammered by his rival for previously leaning into the "defund the police" movement. But he stressed that his opponent Paul Vallas was not actually a Democrat, forcing him to repeatedly defend his credentials. Both Protasiewicz and Johnson prevailed. |
| Bragg's case against Trump hits a wall of skepticism -- even from Trump's critics | |
| Alvin Bragg's case against Donald Trump is running into a wall of skepticism -- including from left-leaning legal experts, liberal pundits and some of Trump's Republican detractors who have otherwise been eager to see him held accountable. A day after the Manhattan district attorney unveiled the history-making charging documents against the former president, some of Bragg's natural allies were left scratching their heads and Trump world appeared emboldened by the uncertainties in the case. The post-arraignment hangover was fueled by burning questions about the prosecution's legal theories that Bragg has, for now, left largely unanswered. The concerns were exacerbated by the noticeable absence of support -- and in some cases pointed skepticism about the case -- from many of Trump's critics in the legal community and Congress. "I believe President Trump's character and conduct make him unfit for office. Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda," said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who twice voted to convict Trump in impeachment trials that would have rendered him ineligible to run for president. "The prosecutor's overreach sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing political opponents and damages the public's faith in our justice system." "You've got to work hard to make President Trump a martyr," added Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), another GOP lawmaker who has been critical of Trump. "Congratulations to Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg, who has managed to do just that." |
| Board of Trustees to Introduce New Delta State University President | |
| The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning will introduce Dr. Daniel J. Ennis as the ninth President of Delta State University to the campus community on Thursday, April 6, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. Delta State University faculty, staff, students, and alumni and friends of the university are invited to attend the announcement and a reception to follow in the E.R. Jobe Hall Auditorium on the campus of Delta State University, Highway 8 West in Cleveland, Miss. A livestream webcast of the announcement will be available online. Following a nationwide search, the Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Ennis president of Delta State University earlier this month. Currently serving as Provost and Executive Vice President of Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., Dr. Ennis has served in several administrative roles at the university over the past 20 years, including Provost, Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts, Vice President for Academic Outreach, Chair of the Department of English, and Co-Director of the University Honors Program. A tenured professor of English, Dr. Ennis has been an assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor at Coastal Carolina. Dr. Ennis will begin serving as President of Delta State University on June 1, 2023. |
| Former U.S. congressman partners with UMMC to help people with fragile X syndrome | |
| The University of Mississippi Medical Center and former U.S. Congressman Gregg Harper are joining forces to raise awareness for fragile X syndrome (FXS) while also looking to aid people who have the condition. FXS results from mutations in a gene on the X chromosome and is the most commonly inherited form of developmental and intellectual disability. For many, it's often confused with autism, resulting in multiple misdiagnoses. Harper, whose 34-year-old son, Livingston, has FXS, became a champion in the fight to aid individuals who have FXS and other intellectual disabilities while in office. During his time in Washington D.C., the now-retired congressman created the Gregg and Livingston Harper Congressional Internship Program for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. The program worked in conjunction with George Mason University's LIFE Program to give students with varying intellectual disabilities an opportunity to gain congressional work experience. Today, Harper is eager to work with UMMC in finding participants for clinical trials linked to testing medication that may become the very first prescription that would be used to assist individuals with FXS. According to UMMC, anyone between the ages of three and 17 who has FXS and meets eligibility requirements can participate in the experimental trial process. |
| USM hosts annual public health symposium | |
 | Students and public health professionals gathered for an annual conference on public health at the University of Southern Mississippi Wednesday. Speakers addressed current public health issues and trends. Among those attending was Southern Miss senior Ciarra Shaw, who is majoring in public health administration and policy. "I've always wanted to help people and I feel like this is the best way I could do it is through this field and I've fallen in love with public health," Shaw said. USM's School of Health Professions hosted the event. Speakers included Daniel Edney, state health officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, and Roy Hart, Mississippi Public Health Institute chief executive officer. "(The conference) helps you to network and it gives you inside knowledge about the research and how we can face challenges," said Abeera Zahid, a graduate students in public health. The conference was held as part of National Public Health Week. |
| New lawsuit alleges race-based discrimination by all-white community college board | |
| When the Mississippi Community College Board unanimously selected Kell Smith as executive director earlier this year, it discriminated against a more-educated Black applicant who had worked at the agency longer, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday. In January, the 10-member board, composed entirely of white people, announced that Smith, a white man, would be the sixth executive director of the agency that oversees state funding for Mississippi's 15 community colleges. Smith, the agency's longtime director of communications, was elevated to the position over Shawn Mackey, the deputy executive director for accountability who is Black. Now Mackey, through his attorney Lisa Ross, is suing MCCB for discrimination and seeking damages for emotional distress. Smith, who is also serving as communications director for MCCB, said the board had no comment on the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Mississippi. The executive director serves as MCCB's representative to the leadership and oversees the day-to-day functions of the agency. Unlike Mississippi's eight public universities, the 15 community colleges are independently governed. |
| 123 Madison Central students score 30 or higher on ACT | |
| There were 123 Madison Central students recognized Wednesday morning for their outstanding achievement of scoring 30 or higher on the ACT, joining the school's the "30+ Gold Club." Dr. Teague Burchfield, principal at Madison Central, told students he appreciated their efforts, thanked them for meeting the standard set at Madison Central, and for setting an example for the entire student body. "Your efforts have not gone unnoticed," Burchfield said. "Congratulations, and let's finish strong and strive for more. Do what you do best. Bring it, and continue to bring the example." Only around 6 percent of students who take the ACT during their high school careers make a score of 30 or more, and Madison Central sees students who achieve that kind of score as future leaders. The Hon. Kristi Haskins Johnson, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi, was the guest speaker for the ceremony. She said it was a privilege to celebrate the hard work of all the students in the 30+ Club. "I did not score a 30 or higher on the ACT and I won't tell you what I scored, but it was not close to that," Johnson said. "I am so impressed that you all scored that high and there are so many of you that have. Congratulations to all of you." |
| TikTok banned from use across entire state university system in Florida | |
 | Universities across the state will now be prohibited from using campus Wi-Fi or school-owned devices to access the popular app TikTok after a recent decision from the Florida Board of Governors. The ban includes the state's largest institutions with hundreds of thousands of students, including the University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida Atlantic University, University of South Florida and others. In an email sent to UF employees and students late Wednesday, no one is to use TikTok through the university's network due to potential security risks. Along with Tencent QQ, WeChat, VKonatke and Kaspersky, TikTok is also now prohibited for use in any UF marketing or advertising initiatives. UF also urged deleting such apps from personal devices. "Taking this action will help protect your personal information as well as university data," the email read. The policy is in compliance with an emergency regulation adopted by the State University System Board of Governors on March 29. The regulation references the State University System's prohibited technologies list, and requires apps like TikTok to be removed from all university-owned devices immediately and for UF to block network traffic from these platforms. UF previously sent an email to students and faculty on Jan. 12 that discouraged the use of TikTok and suggested removing the app on all devices due to data collection concerns. Students, however, said they intend to keep using it and suggested that the administration was overreacting. |
| Georgia's Stacey Abrams to join faculty at Howard University | |
| Georgia's Stacey Abrams will join the faculty at Howard University in Washington, D.C., the next step in her reemergence after the Democrat lost her second bid to be governor of Georgia last year to Republican Brian Kemp. Howard, one of the nation's top historically Black colleges, said it was appointing Abrams as the Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics beginning in September. "Stacey Abrams has proven herself an essential voice and eager participant in protecting American democracy --- not just for certain populations, but for everyone with the fundamental right to make their voices heard," Howard President Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a statement. The 49-year-old political activist and lawyer won't be a traditional full-time faculty member, the university says, but she will lecture, invite guest speakers, and host symposiums. Howard says she will work across multiple academic departments to focus on "real-world solutions" to problems facing Black people and other vulnerable groups. Abrams will still live in Atlanta. Abrams, a Mississippi native, graduated from Atlanta's Spelman College, another top historically Black institution, and has taught there as an adjunct professor. |
| National security trumps Trump talk in FBI Director Wray's visit to Texas A&M | |
 | Many Texas A&M University students heard from Christopher Wray on Wednesday night as the FBI director gave insight to the challenges his organization currently faces, and ways to overcome them. "Today's national security threats are as complicated and sophisticated as ever, and it can be easy sometimes to get caught up in the day-to-day work of responding to those challenges. But, to stay ahead of the danger, we need to look five, 10 years down the road to anticipate where the threats are going," Wray said at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center in College Station. "And when I look ahead, I expect hostile nation states to become even more aggressive in their efforts to steal our secrets and our innovations, target our critical infrastructure, interfere with our democratic institutions and export their repression to our shores." Wray served as the guest speaker for the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs and the Intelligence Studies Program at the Bush School of Government & Public Service. He became the eighth director of the FBI on Aug. 2, 2017, during a tumultuous opening year of Donald Trump's presidency that saw one FBI director fired in James Comey and one former director, Robert Mueller, head up a special prosecutor's unit that sought to find evidence of alleged Trump administration collusion with Russia, a case that saw the FBI's fingerprints all over it. But Wray didn't mention the former president once Wednesday despite Trump becoming the first chief executive to be indicted the day before. During his introductory speech, Wray said China is at the forefront of hostile governments. |
| Texas Supreme Court says universities can revoke degrees | |
 | The Texas Supreme Court has ruled 6 to 2 that the University of Texas and the Texas State University systems can revoke degrees that graduates received through academic misconduct. "The only difference between expelling a current student for academic misconduct and revoking the degree of a former student for the exact same academic misconduct is one of timing," Debra Lehrmann, the court's senior justice, wrote on the majority's behalf. "That distinction is immaterial to the issue presented and erroneously hinges the university's bare authority to address its students' academic misconduct on when that misconduct is discovered." Two graduates, referred to by the initials K.E. and S.O. in the ruling, sued the universities after their advisers reported that the graduates earned their doctorates through fraud in their dissertations and the universities attempted to revoke their degrees. The advisers said they learned about the alleged fraud while working with the graduates after they graduated, the ruling says -- S.O.'s adviser retracted his own article that had used S.O.'s data after another graduate student's experiments indicated some of the data were inaccurate. K.E.'s adviser "found inconsistencies in K.E.'s dissertation research data that led the adviser to believe K.E. had manipulated the data," while S.O.'s adviser "brought a complaint against her for academic misconduct relating to some of the data reported in her dissertation," the ruling says. |
| How the medical humanities combine art and medicine at U. of Missouri | |
 | It's a simple and beautiful moment. A mother holds her tiny baby and the father sings a gentle harmony to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." This baby, however, is hooked up to a thin tube transporting essential nutrients to her heart and this lullaby is sung in the hushed silence of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Lillian Austin Hook was born just over a month ago, at 31 weeks, and had surgery for a triple intestinal atresia -- a defect that causes obstructions in the intestines -- three days later. Since her arrival in the NICU, Lillian and her parents, Benjamin and Kara, are joined three days a week by Emily Pivovarnik, a NICU music therapist employed by the University of Missouri. Pivovarnik sits in a chair directly in front of Kara and plucks her guitar softly, humming a litany of meditative lullabies while instructing Lillian's parents to massage her head, limbs and back. Pivovarnik's bright smile and calming voice in an otherwise sterile environment is an example of a quietly growing trend in medicine. An increasing number of medical providers are weaving art into their medical work. The arts and sciences are sometimes treated as separate spheres, and the humanities are often treated as a second priority in medical training. But supporters of the use of art in medicine say the sick and dying -- and those who care for them -- need the humanities. This ritual is scientifically backed. The type of music therapy that Pivovarnik practices helps ease distressed infants out of their fight-or-flight response and counteracts the negative stimulation of the hospital environment. |
| Cornell University Rejects Students' Call For Trigger Warnings | |
| Administrators at Cornell University have rejected a student resolution calling for the university to require faculty to provide trigger warnings about classroom content that students may consider "traumatic." Resolution SA 31, passed by the Student Assembley on March 23, urged the university to require faculty to provide advance notice to students about traumatic content that could be presented in class "including but not limited to: sexual assault, domestic violence, self harm, suicide, child abuse, racial hate crimes, transphobic violence, homophobic harassment, xenophobia". The resolution also called for students who choose to opt-out of exposure to triggering content to not be penalized, "contingent on their responsibility to make up any missed content." This week the university responded. "We cannot accept this resolution, as the actions it recommends would infringe on our core commitment to academic freedom and freedom of inquiry, and are at odds with the goals of a Cornell education," wrote Cornell President Martha Pollack and Provost Michael Kotlikoff. The administrators also refused to require that students choosing to opt out of exposure to what they viewed as triggering content would not be penalized. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) had written Cornell officials, urging them to turn down the Student Assembly's resolution. |
| Will ChatGPT Change How Professors Assess Learning? | |
 | The worst-case scenario came into focus almost as soon as ChatGPT was released: Students could feed a professor's prompt into the chatbot, collect its response, turn it in as their own, and get credit without doing any work at all. Go through those motions enough times, one imagines, and a student could pass a class -- even earn a degree -- without the learning that those things are supposed to signify. For three years now, professors have adjusted their teaching, and adjusted it again, to adapt to a global pandemic, remote instruction, and a student population whose actions and expectations have changed. What fresh new hell was this? ChatGPT, which runs on a "large language model," a word predictor that has been trained with enormous amounts of data, has been greeted as a game changer in many domains. The potential uses of the tool, and others like it, extend far beyond the completion of college coursework. And many professors are excited by the technology's potential to enhance learning, and perhaps provide needed support to students who start at a disadvantage. There are lots of ways students could use ChatGPT without having it do their work for them, like using it to brainstorm ideas or offer clearer definition of something they're trying to understand. But many professors are apprehensive. What does it mean if a text generator can complete assignments as well as an undergraduate? Will the advent of these generative artificial-intelligence systems force faculty members to change the way they assess student learning all over again? |
| Librarians' 'New Normal' Includes Pain Points | |
| As snow fell from gray skies on Tuesday, higher education professionals, publishers, librarians, information technologists, government researchers and others met this week for the Coalition for Networked Information spring membership meeting. There, attendees gathered to discuss the use of information technology to advance scholarship and education. Ithaka S+R shared results from its triennial survey published last week, which sought to capture college library deans' and directors' perspectives three years into the pandemic. But Ioana Hulbert, Ithaka S+R researcher and survey author, confided to a packed ballroom that she had been anxious during the survey's administration in the fall of 2022 -- mostly because of question 17. "Without fail, almost every library director stopped on this question for multiple days," Hulbert said about the prompt that asked respondents how they would handle budget cuts. "I just sat there hoping they would come back and finish the survey." Many of the survey results resonated with librarians present at the Denver meeting. Over meals and in hallways, they discussed an evolving library landscape in which print resources have been demoted, staffing shortages feel urgent and pandemic-era students struggle to engage with libraries. Question 17, which was new this cycle, asked respondents to indicate the top three areas where they would implement cuts if a 10 percent budget reduction were necessary. |
| Some States Want to Ban DEI in Higher Ed. These States Want to Require It. | |
| This academic year, public colleges in Washington state were required to provide training for faculty and staff on diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism -- a new mandate based on a 2021 state law. As colleges' diversity efforts face possible bans in some states, lawmakers in others are doing the opposite: They're aiming to affirm these programs through legislation. Proposals this year in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey present a striking contrast to what's happening in states like South Carolina, where lawmakers have debated defunding diversity efforts, and Texas, where a handful of bills would ban critical race theory and prohibit diversity training, among other restrictions. A Chronicle analysis has found that at least 29 bills have been introduced in 17 states so far that would affect diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Leah Hakkola, an associate professor at the University of Maine at Orono who studies diversity in higher education, said the legislative initiatives today are particularly polarizing. "Our country is more divisive than ever," Hakkola said. In that environment, Hakkola said, legislation that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion at public colleges is increasingly important. Most administrators understand that these efforts improve accessibility and foster innovation, she said. |
SPORTS
| Diamond Dawg Gameday: Alabama | |
| The Mississippi State Bulldogs are on the road this weekend as they return to Southeastern Conference play when they take on the Alabama Crimson Tide. The series begins on Thursday at 6 p.m., continuing Friday at 6 p.m., and concluding Saturday at 5 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on SEC Network+, with Saturday's game airing on ESPNU. The games will also be carried on the Mississippi State Sports Network powered by Learfield, along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/Listen. Brad Bohannon is in his sixth season as the head coach of the Crimson Tide. He holds a 158-117 record. Alabama enters the weekend with an overall record of 22-8 and a conference record of 3-6. They have dropped two out of three in each series against #2 Florida, #22 Kentucky, and #6 Arkansas. The Dawgs and Crimson Tide meet for the 422nd time on Thursday when they begin the three-game series. In last year's series, Mississippi State took two out of three against the Tide, including a 10th-inning walk-off win in game one. The first matchup between these two programs was in 1896. |
| Mississippi State looking to turn the tide in series at Alabama | |
| Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis said last week he likes his team to feel relaxed, and that's certainly the impression they gave in their 21-2 win over Grambling State on Tuesday. The Bulldogs brushed off a first-pitch home run for the third-straight game to score 19 runs in the first two innings. It was easy on the night to relax, but it's a more difficult balancing act in a league like the Southeastern Conference, where there is already a lot of ground to make up. "That's probably one of the harder dynamics when you play at schools like this where the expectation is so high," Lemonis said. "That's the balancing act we're trying to figure out. Our guys are doing a pretty good job of it right now. We're just trying to get better." The Bulldogs (17-13, 1-8 SEC) are in need of a quick turnaround, but their next series in Tuscaloosa will be anything but. Alabama (22-8, 3-6 SEC) similarly lost three-straight SEC series to begin conference play, salvaging a game from each. |
| Time Set for Ron Polk Statue Unveil | |
| Mississippi State will unveil a statue of Ron Polk at 3 p.m. Friday, April 14, outside the Adkerson Plaza Entrance at Dudy Noble Field prior to the contest against Ole Miss on Super Bulldog Weekend. The ceremony will take place prior to the gates opening for the Friday night contest and is open to the public to attend. Polk -- now a special assistant to the athletic director who, in total, spent nearly three decades of his life as the head coach of MSU baseball -- is a Bulldog legend. Truth be told, even that label sells Polk short. He won 1,373 career games. He's had six different Hall of Fame inductions. He guided eight different teams to the College World Series -- six of those being Mississippi State squads. It's tough to find the words to do Polk justice. So, the Bulldogs will instead turn to bronze. |
| Mississippi State baseball unveiling Ron Polk statue to open series vs. Ole Miss | |
| Before Mississippi State baseball opens play against rival Ole Miss on April 14 (6 p.m., SEC Network+), the Bulldogs will honor a legend. MSU is unveiling a statue of former coach Ron Polk outside the Adkerson Plaza entrance at Dudy Noble Field. The ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. and will open Super Bulldog Weekend festivities. Polk, regarded by many as the godfather of SEC baseball, spent nearly 30 years coaching MSU. In his career, which also featured four seasons at Georgia Southern (1972-1975) and two at Georgia (2000-2001), Polk won 1,373 games and led eight teams to the College World Series. At MSU, he went 1,139-590 and led six teams to the College World Series. Polk's 1,218 wins while coaching in the SEC are still the most in conference history. The bronze statue is the work of retired dentist Rusty Reid, an MSU alumnus, who is donating the project. He also designed the statues of Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro standing at the home plate entrance of Dudy Noble Field. |
| Hall speaks to Rotary Club of Meridian | |
 | University of Southern Mississippi football coach Will Hall was invited by the Rotary Club of Meridian to speak at a meeting at Northwood Country Club on Wednesday. Hall spoke about Southern Miss football, his team's core values and his career before answering questions from the audience. "I was excited about coming back to Meridian," Hall told The Meridian Star in an interview following his speech. "Meridian is a place that's special to me. ... I know a lot of people from this area, so I wanted to come here and express some Southern Miss energy." Hall was introduced as Southern Miss' head coach following a 2020 season in which the Golden Eagles finished 3-7. The team lost more games in 2021, finishing 3-9, but Hall turned the program's trajectory around with a 7-6 finish in 2022. "We inherited a program that was down, and we've improved from year one to year two, and we just think we've got to keep believing in our values and keep working and keep recruiting, and we think over time that's going to win out," Hall said. Hall said his team's spring practices went great now that the Golden Eagles have more depth on their roster following three years of recruiting, and his players stayed healthy. |
| LSU's Reese on White House flap: 'We'll go to the Obamas' | |
| First lady Jill Biden's walk-back of her suggestion that runner-up Iowa should join NCAA women's basketball champion LSU for a visit to the White House didn't sit well with Tigers star Angel Reese. Prompted by a discussion of Biden's comments during her Wednesday appearance on "The Paper Route Podcast," Reese said the Tigers should celebrate their title with former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama rather than President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden. Jill Biden, at an appearance in Denver on Monday, had praised Iowa's sportsmanship and congratulated both teams. She also said that as part of the longstanding tradition of having champions visit the White House, Iowa should come as well "because they played such a good game." Reese on Monday called Jill Biden's suggestion "a joke." Vanessa Valdivia, a spokesperson for Jill Biden, said the first lady had meant no disrespect to LSU and that her comments were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes. "I'm not gonna lie to you, I don't accept the apology because of, you said what you said. I said what I said. And like, you can't go back on certain things that you say," Reese told podcast hosts Brandon Marshall and Ashley Nicole Moss. "I mean, you felt like they should've came because of sportsmanship, right?" Reese added. "They can have that spotlight. We'll go to the Obamas. We'll see Michelle. We'll see Barack." Following LSU's victory, coach Kim Mulkey said she would go to the White House if invited. Reese said Wednesday she was uncertain if she would go. |
| Kansas enacts transgender athlete ban, overrides governor veto | |
 | Kansas has banned transgender athletes from competing in women's sports, after lawmakers in both chambers of the legislature, in which Republicans have supermajorities, overrode a veto from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Legislators voted on Wednesday to overturn the veto of the legislation, which was Kelly's third veto of such a bill in three years. It bans transgender athletes from competing in women's sports from kindergarten through college. Republicans in the state said the law would protect the fairness of women's sports, arguing it upholds the protections handed down in Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bars discrimination based on sex in educational programs. "The Fairness in Women's Sports act protects the rights of female athletes in the state by requiring that female student athletic teams only include members who are biologically female," Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins (R) said in a statement after overriding the veto. "House Republicans are united in our commitment to defending the intention of Title IX." Kelly said the move by Republicans to override her veto "breaks my heart." The move to ban transgender athletes from women's sports puts Kansas in a growing line of states that have pursued such action. |
| After Michigan athlete accused of rape, a mom appeals to Jim Harbaugh | |
 | On a cold January day in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Mary Moffett sat in an oversized chair in her living room, flipped to a blank page in her notepad and wrote a letter. Once finished, she typed it up and printed two copies: one addressed to University of Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the other to Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh. "I am writing to you as a mother who is grieving the loss of her 22 year-old-daughter," the Jan. 21, 2021, letter read. "I am writing and tell you this, as a Michigan football player is partially responsible for her death." Fifteen days earlier, Moffett's daughter, Quinn Moffett, had been found dead in the bathroom of her boyfriend's house. All signs pointed to an accidental drug overdose. But as Moffett saw it, her daughter's death was the culmination of a downward spiral that began the summer of 2018, when Quinn said a Wolverines football player sexually assaulted her while two other players stood by and watched. Quinn had told people she thought she had been drugged and that at least one of the men took photos or videos. Moffett didn't know it at the time, but her letter would land with the university's Title IX office, campus police, the Ann Arbor Police Department and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office. They would all look into the allegations. Within about two months, all of them would drop it. With Quinn dead, the authorities would decide it wasn't worth pursuing. |
| The Masters Navigates a Tricky Journey Through the LIV Golf Battlefield | |
| Fred Ridley, the tight-lipped chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, took his seat on the dais Wednesday flanked by two other green-jacket-wearing members for his annual remarks before the Masters, but this session was supercharged compared with the past. This year, the controversy consuming golf had sped its way down Magnolia Lane and straight into Butler Cabin. Ridley conspicuously avoided uttering the name of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed circuit that has driven a wedge in the sport by luring many of the top players away from the PGA Tour. When Ridley obliquely referred to the situation, it wasn't difficult to decipher his disagreements with players joining LIV and his displeasure with the divide that has landed on his doorstep. Ridley expressed disappointment that players abandoned the PGA Tour platform that was built for them by generations and leapt to another opportunity. He praised the Official World Golf Ranking, the body that has drawn LIV's ire for not granting it accreditation. He also said that while other golf luminaries descend on Augusta for this event, LIV commissioner and chief executive Greg Norman wasn't invited because Ridley wants to keep the focus on golf. Golf is at a crossroads, which this weekend puts it on the azalea-lined greens of the world's most famous golf course. Nobody knows how LIV Golf, which has suffered a number of recent legal setbacks, will fare over the long haul. Yet at the same time, the future of the golf establishment, including the PGA Tour and Augusta National, is just as uncertain. |
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