| Tuesday, May 2, 2023 |
| Handle With Care trauma response coming to SOCSD | |
 | First responders arrive at a traumatic situation involving a child. By class time the next morning, the child's teacher has a message from the school district with the child's name and three words: "Handle With Care." Starkville-Oktibbeha County Consolidated School District psychologist Kayla Turner and Mississippi State University Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology Arazais Oliveros presented this idea as a memorandum of understanding to the board of supervisors on Monday morning. The board approved the memorandum unanimously. "Usually if there's a first responder coming, there's a chance that something scary is happening, at least from the perception of a child," Oliveros said. "... When something happens that shakes your reality, it's hard ... for a kid to come back to class, pay attention and follow the rules. And if the teacher is not prepared, they may not know how to work around it." In the Handle With Care program, the Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Office, Fire Services, Youth Court and OCH Regional Medical Center would collect the name, age and the school of any child involved in a traumatic incident. This information would be sent to three "point people" at SOCSD, who will be responsible for contacting the school the child attends. From there, the school counselor and the child's teacher will be notified that something potentially traumatic has happened with that student. "By the school getting that notification, they're not getting anything confidential or problematic in terms of legal privacy," Oliveros said. "They don't get to know what the situation was. They just get to know that something happened last night." |
| 'Focused attack' at Sprint Mart involves modified Glocks | |
| A "focused attack" Sunday night involving gunfire outside the Sprint Mart at Highway 182 and Old Mayhew Road dealt minor injuries to two victims. One woman associated with the shooting parties was grazed by gunfire and a male bystander sustained a minor injury from a ricochet, a Starkville Police Department press release issued Monday afternoon said. So far, three have been arrested in the shooting, and police say more arrests are expected. Gunshots started at about 9:48 p.m., SPD Public Information Officer Brandon Lovelady said. He told The Dispatch police believe "illegally modified Glock pistols" were used in the shooting. Certain modifications to those pistols can convert them to automatic weapons. Coby Jones, 17, is charged with three counts of aggravated assault, according to an updated SPD press release issued Monday night. Both Jade Stallings, 22, and Aja Sherrod, 23, are charged with accessory after the fact. Both press releases said the parties knew each other. Lovelady said there was no apparent damage to the Sprint Mart, other than an exterior ice machine that was hit. This is the second shooting reported at that Sprint Mart since April 1. In the previous incident, three teenagers were arrested after pulling into the parking lot and firing at each other. One of the teens was treated for a gunshot wound and arrested once he was released from OCH Regional Medical Center. |
| Clark Beverage Group to build $100M facility in Madison County | |
 | Clark Beverage Group has announced that it will be building a new 400,000-square-foot facility near Amazon at the Madison County Mega Site. The $100 million expansion into Madison County will add approximately 30 new jobs for one of the leading distributors of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages like Coca-Cola. "We've created an environment that makes it easy to start and grow a business in Mississippi, and because of that companies are expanding across our state," Governor Tate Reeves said. "Clark Beverage Group's expansion in Madison County will create 30 good-paying, high-quality jobs for Mississippians and further strengthen Mississippi's already strong economy. This is another win for Madison County and Mississippi." Ken Skutnik, chief operating officer for Clark Beverage Group, said the company will be relocating from its current location in Jackson once the new facility is completed in the first quarter of 2025. The company operates five locations in Mississippi that currently serve over 5,800 customers in the Magnolia State alone. |
| Home insurance skyrockets to 'astronomical' rates for many on the Coast: 'It's scary.' | |
 | Homeowner insurance rates along the Mississippi Coast are skyrocketing and insurance agents are in some cases scrambling to find coverage for older homes. "It's getting ugly out there," said Joel Verdon, senior vice president at Lemon-Mohler Insurance Agency. He said rate increases are running 15-70%, and sometimes even doubling. Scott Mosher, owner and agent at Bishop Insurance Agency, said the rate increases are most acute within two miles of the coastline. The higher cost of insurance is forcing homeowners to make tough financial decisions. Coupled with rising interest rates, insurance costs are also contributing to a slow-down in the real estate market, said Tanya Swoope, a real estate broker and founder of Gollott Lyons Real Estate. Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said consumers may not realize all that factors into reinsurance prices, including the war in Ukraine. High inflation and increasing natural catastrophes are also included in the equation. As reinsurers tighten their rules, some insurance companies have dropped out of coastal markets altogether, although Chaney works to bring in more companies and encourage those that are here to stay. Chaney said homeowners should consider higher deductibles or lower coverage on contents to reduce their insurance costs. |
| Job Openings Near Two-Year Low as Layoffs Jump | |
 | U.S. job openings dropped to their lowest level in nearly two years in March and layoffs rose sharply, in signs that demand for workers is cooling a year after the Federal Reserve began lifting interest rates to combat inflation. Layoffs rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.8 million in March from the prior month, up from a revised 1.6 million in February, the Labor Department said Tuesday. The increase was led by job losses in construction, leisure and hospitality and healthcare industries -- sectors that have driven job growth in recent months as tech, finance and other white-collar industries cooled. Employers also reported a seasonally adjusted 9.6 million job openings in March, the Labor Department said Tuesday, a decrease from a revised 10 million openings in February. Openings reached their lowest level since April 2021 and are down sharply from the record 12 million recorded last March. But they remain well above levels before the pandemic and exceed the 5.8 million unemployed people looking for work in March. Layoffs are approaching prepandemic levels as companies unveil high-profile job cuts, including Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft. |
| Hospitals join UMMC in departing Mississippi Hospital Association | |
| A handful of major hospitals say they're ending their membership with the Mississippi Hospital Association, long an influential player in the policy and political spaces in the state. Mere days after the University of Mississippi Medical Center announced that it's leaving the MHA, Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, Singing River Health System on the coast and George Regional Health System in Lucedale have all terminated their relationship as well, citing concerns with the hospital association's leadership. None cited specific reasons for their concerns. MHA President Tim Moore could not be reached by press time. He's led the organization for almost 10 years. As first reported by Magnolia Tribune, UMMC sent a letter to the MHA on April 28, ending its relationship and citing concerns with current MHA leadership. The letter was signed by Vice Chancellor LouAnn Woodward and Associate Vice Chancellor for Clinical Affairs Alan Jones. UMMC is the state's largest public hospital. A spokesperson for UMMC replied it had "no comment" to questions emailed by Mississippi Today about the decision. Memorial Hospital sent a similar letter, signed by its CEO Kent Nicaud, to the MHA on May 1. It's not clear how many hospitals could follow suit in the coming days. |
| Three more hospitals leave Mississippi Hospital Association, following UMMC | |
| On Friday, Magnolia Tribune reported that the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) terminated its membership in the Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA). In a letter, UMMC indicated it had lost confidence in MHA's leadership. The move came after MHA's political action committee, Friends of Mississippi Hospitals voted to donate $250,000 to Democratic gubernatorial challenger Brandon Presley. The second shoe dropped on Monday afternoon. George Regional Health System in Lucedale, Memorial in Gulfport, and Singing River in Jackson County sent similar letters to MHA terminating its membership in the organization. Neither UMMC or the other three hospitals leaving on Monday indicated whether the PAC's donation to Presley impacted their decision to terminate membership. The hospitals have declined to comment beyond what was written in the letters. Further investigation has revealed other hospitals are considering resigning their memberships, as early as this week. In addition to the $250,000 donation, MHA's PAC voted to make a $100,000 donation to incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. The donations are the largest in the PAC's history. |
| Few Mississippi lawmakers outright oppose Medicaid expansion | |
| No Republican lawmaker in the Mississippi House or Senate voted in favor of Medicaid expansion when legislative Democrats forced votes on the issue during the recently completed 2023 session. But those votes do not necessarily mean the state's Republican-controlled Legislature opposes opting into the policy that would provide health coverage for hundreds of thousands of poor, working Mississippians and revive rural hospitals that have been struggling to stay open. Only a handful of lawmakers in both the House and Senate say they outright oppose Medicaid expansion, according to a Mississippi Today survey of legislators conducted during the 2023 legislative session. Just 21 of the House members surveyed, or 18% of the House, said they outright opposed Medicaid expansion. And just 18 of the Senate members surveyed, or 38% of the Senate, said they outright opposed it. In the House, 67 members -- a voting majority -- said they either supported Medicaid expansion or were undecided. Mississippi Today could not get answers from 32 representatives. And in the Senate, 25 members -- one vote shy of a voting majority -- said they either supported Medicaid expansion or were undecided. Mississippi Today could not get answers from nine senators. But among the lawmakers who said they opposed expansion or asked to be labeled as "undecided," several went on to add that they were actually open to some version of expansion. |
| McDaniel vows to sideline Democratic senators if elected lieutenant governor | |
| In his effort to label incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann "Delbert the Democrat," challenger Chris McDaniel says Hosemann gives Senate Democrats too much power as committee chairmen. But Hosemann counters that he's appointed more Republicans to chairmanships than any first-term lieutenant governor and that he routes important legislation to GOP-run committees. McDaniel, if elected, vows to break with Republican lieutenant governor predecessors Hosemann, Gov. Tate Reeves, former Gov. Phil Bryant and Amy Tuck and appoint only Republicans to Senate chairmanships. "As lieutenant governor, I will empower my Republican colleagues and appoint Republican senators to all chairmanships," McDaniel said in a statement. But McDaniel faces at least one challenge in that: math. The Senate has 41 standing and joint committees. The Mississippi Senate has 52 members. There are 36 Republicans and 16 Democrats, a number not expected to drastically change with this year's election. Further complicating things, of the 36 current Republicans, there are 11 freshmen. While there are occasional exceptions, unless they come in with specific expertise, freshmen are not usually appointed to major chairmanships until they've served at least a term because they haven't learned the ropes of legislating and how to run committees. |
| Fast-approaching debt deadline jolts a flat-footed Congress | |
 | One party or the other is going to have to blink in the debt ceiling standoff. The question is when. Washington's frozen negotiations over the imminent breach of the nation's borrowing limit thawed for the first time in months Monday night as the four top congressional leaders agreed to meet with President Joe Biden next week. Yet after senators held their party leadership meetings with the House out of town, it quickly became clear that Congress is not at all prepared for the new early-June deadline imposed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The House and Senate are scheduled to be in session simultaneously for just two weeks this month. And with potentially less than 30 days to get the job done, Senate Democrats are now openly discussing the prospect of bringing a clean debt ceiling increase to the floor --- effectively daring the GOP to either buckle and advance the bill or filibuster it. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats have crafted a proposal to extend the debt limit through next year's election. They aren't ready to call that play on the Senate floor quite yet, given the very real possibility that a Republican filibuster of that debt hike could send economic forecasters into a downward spiral. Instead, the chamber is focusing this week on judicial picks. In an ominous sign for House Republicans who are refusing to budge, several senators in President Joe Biden's party predicted that Congress ends up passing a clean debt hike or "something close" to clean, in the words of Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats. Some Democrats signaled they'd be willing to make significant spending concessions -- but only after the debt ceiling drama is solved. |
| Biden seeks debt ceiling talks, as U.S. faces possible June 1 default | |
 | President Biden invited House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other congressional leaders to the White House next week to discuss the debt ceiling, as Washington scrambled Monday to respond to news that the government could default on its obligations as soon as June 1. Biden's request for talks followed a jarring new projection from the Treasury Department that the government could run out of cash to pay its bills in as few as four weeks without additional borrowing authority -- an unprecedented event that could rattle world financial markets and tip the fragile U.S. economy into another recession. The debt ceiling imposes a legal limit on the amount of money the U.S. government can borrow, currently set at $31 trillion. Since the national debt hit the cap in January, the Biden administration has adopted special budgetary maneuvers to conserve cash and buy time for lawmakers either to raise the limit or to suspend its enforcement. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, sounded an urgent alarm about the need for haste: In a letter to lawmakers, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said the agency may be "unable to continue to satisfy all of the government's obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1." "I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible," Yellen said. |
| Biden sending 1,500 troops for Mexico border migrant surge | |
 | The Biden administration will send 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of an expected migrant surge following the end of coronavirus pandemic-era restrictions, according to four administration officials. Military personnel will do data entry, warehouse support and other administrative tasks so that U.S. Customs and Border Protection can focus on fieldwork, the officials said. The troops will not do law enforcement work and will be sent down for roughly 90 days, though their presence can be extended if necessary. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly about the request and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. It's unclear when the troops would be deployed. The COVID-19 restrictions allowed U.S. officials to turn away tens of thousands of migrants crossing the southern border, but those restrictions will lift May 11, and border officials are bracing for an expected surge of migrants. Even amid the restrictions, the administration has seen record numbers of people crossing the border, and President Joe Biden has responded by cracking down on those who cross illegally and by creating new pathways meant to offer alternatives to a dangerous and often deadly journey. For Biden, who announced his Democratic reelection campaign a week ago, the decision signals his administration is taking seriously an effort to tamp down the number of illegal crossings, a potent source of Republican attacks, and sends a message to potential border crossers not to attempt the journey. But it also draws potentially unwelcome comparisons to Biden's Republican predecessor, whose policies Biden frequently criticized. Congress, meanwhile, has refused to take any substantial immigration-related actions. |
| Nearly a third of nurses nationwide say they are likely to leave the profession | |
 | Close to a third of nurses nationwide say they are likely to leave the profession for another career due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new survey from AMN Healthcare shows. This level is up at least seven points since 2021. And the survey found that the ongoing shortage of nurses is likely to continue for years to come. About 94% of nurses who responded to the AMN Healthcare survey said that there was a severe or moderate shortage of nurses in their area, with half saying the shortage was severe. And around 89% of registered nurses (RNs) said the nursing shortage is worse than five years ago. Nurses aren't optimistic about the future, either. At least 80% of those surveyed expect that to get much worse in another five years, the report shows. Unions representing nurses have long warned about the problem facing the profession, said National Nurses United President Deborah Burger and President of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Jane Hopkins. Both women are also RNs. "It's a critical moment in our time for nurses. The country needs nurses. We are very short and we are feeling very worried about the future of their work," Hopkins said. |
| Funding for a new LSU library or PMAC renovations? John Bel Edwards weighs in. | |
 | Sorry, Coach. Gov. John Bel Edwards was unmoved by the recent appeal from LSU basketball coach Kim Mulkey to spend state construction dollars this year on renovating the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where her team plays. Edwards would rather direct money to LSU for another pressing need, he said Monday. "I don't blame a basketball coach for wanting the best basketball arena," Edwards said. "I will tell you for me the biggest priority would be a new library." The governor made his comments while speaking at a luncheon Monday hosted by the Press Club of Baton Rouge. Mulkey, sounding like a politician, has at least twice recently made a pitch for spending state dollars on the PMAC: at LSU Day at the State Capitol and during a packed meeting of the Baton Rouge Rotary Club in the South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium. "That thing is 48-years old," she said at the Rotary Club. "You can't grab a rail without holding onto somebody." Mulkey added, "I can say this now. I just won a national championship." Edwards spoke warmly on Monday of Mulkey, noting that they have known each other for a long time since both are from Tangipahoa Parish. He also noted that he invited the LSU team to the Governor's Mansion a week ago for what he described as a "social/celebratory" dinner. |
| Warden to be named commissioner of Arkansas Division of Higher Education, governor says | |
| Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced on Monday that she will name an associate vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith campus to be the commissioner of the state Division of Higher Education. Ken Warden, who is the campus's associate vice chancellor for compliance and legislative affairs, will begin in his new role on June 1, according to a Twitter post from the agency. Warden was praised in a news release from the governor's office on Monday for his "extensive leadership experience in higher education." The Arkansas Division of Higher Education's tasks include recommending higher education and institutional budgets to the state Legislature, providing institutional accountability, giving professional development for faculty and managing the state's scholarship and financial aid programs, according to the agency's website. As commissioner, Warden will lead the division. His current salary is $153,000, according to UAFS spokeswoman Rachel Putman. The governor's office didn't immediately respond to an emailed question seeking information on what Warden's salary will be as commissioner. |
| HBCUs get donations 178 times lower than Ivy League: study | |
| The average historically Black college and university received 178 times less funding from foundations than the average Ivy League school in 2019, according to a new report on the underfunding of HBCUs released Tuesday. The study -- conducted by the philanthropic research group Candid and ABFE, a nonprofit that advocates for investments in Black communities -- found that the eight Ivy League schools received $5.5 billion from foundations compared to $45 million for the 99 HBCUs in 2019. Between 2002 and 2019, foundation support of HBCUs declined 30%, even before inflation is taken into account. "We were not surprised by the findings because philanthropy generally funds Black-led nonprofit organizations disproportionately less than other similarly situated organizations," said Susan Taylor Batten, ABFE's president and CEO. "However, we were surprised by the data that indicated the enormity of the disparate funding between Ivy League colleges and HBCUs." Some study participants blamed systemic racism for the underfunding. Others said it was a result of limited connections between philanthropists and HBCU leaders. In any case, the disparity is even more problematic, experts say, because HBCUs have proven themselves so effective in educating Black students. |
| Conservatives take aim at affinity graduation celebrations | |
 | As graduation season rolls around, conservatives are taking aim at an annual tradition that aims to celebrate the accomplishments of minority students. Affinity graduation celebrations, a long-standing tradition at many institutions, have become the latest target in the conservative attack on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at U.S. universities. The events, which are optional and typically supplement an institution's larger commencement ceremony, honor the achievements of students of various identities -- racial, ethnic, cultural, sexual and others -- who may receive stoles or cords representing their identity that they can wear at graduation, or a certificate to hang beside their diploma. But conservative news outlets have taken aim at the celebrations in recent weeks, in much the same way they have targeted identity-based housing in recent years. Campus Reform, a right-wing online publication that purports to "[expose] liberal bias and abuse on the nation's college campuses," has published at least seven articles about affinity graduations in the past two weeks, referring to the events as "segregated graduations." Other outlets, including Fox News and The Daily Mail, have also criticized such celebrations. |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs Set To Host Starkville Regional | |
| For the fifth time in program history, Mississippi State will be the host site for the opening rounds of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships. The 15th-overall seeded Bulldogs will be the top seed in the Starkville Regional and take on fourth-seeded Alabama State on Friday not before 2 p.m. "It feels pretty good to be able to host," said junior Nemanja Malesevic. "It's also good for the community to be able to host. It was kind of our goal from the beginning of the year to make the top 16 and host NCAAs at home. I'm super glad we got a chance to show our crowd how we play." No. 2 seed Middle Tennessee will open the regional earlier on Friday against No. 3 seed Tulane starting at 11 a.m. The final of the Starkville Regional is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. "I'm excited to get a big crowd out because this group on our team has not hosted," said head coach Matt Roberts. "There's just a lot of excitement to play in front of a lot of people. There seems like a lot of people in our community that want to come out and watch so it's exciting for our team to be able to play in front of a big crowd." |
| 'Just felt like it was the right time and place': Chris Lemonis comments on firing of Scott Foxhall | |
| Mississippi State baseball coach Chris Lemonis said Monday was "one of the hardest days" of his coaching career after he made the decision to fire pitching coach Scott Foxhall. "(We had) a couple of great years pitching, won a national championship with a great pitching staff, but the last two years have been tough," Lemonis said on his weekly radio "Dawg Talk" radio show. "Just after the weekend, the way we were moving just felt like it was the time and place." That time came Monday afternoon when MSU and Lemonis announced through a press release that the baseball program had decided to part ways with Foxhall. Foxhall had been on Lemonis' staff since both arrived in Starkville from Indiana five years ago. Under Foxhall the Bulldogs had built one of college baseball's best pitching staffs, which set an NCAA single-season record in 2021 with 817 strikeouts. However, the past two seasons have seen a dramatic decline in pitching development and effectiveness. Trending in the wrong direction over the past two weeks when it comes to NCAA Tournament possibilities, and with only three weeks in the regular season remaining, Lemonis said he could have waited to make the call on Foxhall's future, but had a gut feeling it was what his team needed. "I am appreciative of Scott and his family and all they did," Lemonis said. "...My job is to protect the program." |
| Dennis Hires Aaron King As Assistant Coach And Recruiting Coordinator | |
| Mississippi State's volleyball head coach Julie Darty Dennis announced the addition of Aaron King as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator to her staff on Monday. King joins Dennis' staff after spending six seasons as an assistant coach at Stetson University. In his six seasons with the Hatter's, King helped lead the program to 65 overall wins including 38 conference wins. In 2019 he helped the team win a single-season record of eight matches in a row which was their the first wining season in ASUN play since 2002. "We are just thrilled to have Aaron join the staff here at Mississippi State," Dennis said. "He checks all of the boxes of what we need and I know he will come in and make an immediate impact. Aaron is someone who communicates and connects really well. He will do a great job coming in and serving as our recruiting coordinator. He has a positive energy about him that you can feel when you are around him. I think our team will really enjoy his infectious personality and his approach to coaching." |
| Van Horn updates status of several injured Razorbacks | |
| Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn indicated Monday that outfielders Jared Wegner and Tavian Josenberger will return from injuries by the end of the regular season later this month. In other injury news, Van Horn said right-handed relief pitcher Dylan Carter was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday that would reveal whether he has a torn ligament in his throwing elbow. Carter has experienced soreness after his last two outings, most recently against Texas A&M last Thursday. Arkansas right-hander Brady Tygart threw 20 pitches last Friday in his first outing since spraining his ulnar collateral ligament on March 1. Tygart worked around a two-out walk and threw one scoreless inning against Texas A&M. Van Horn said Tygart might increase his pitch count to 35 for his outing at Mississippi State this weekend, and might increase to 60 or 65 pitches the following week against South Carolina. Arkansas second baseman Peyton Stovall has an injured right shoulder that has caused pain throwing the ball and swinging the bat. Stovall is batting .253 and appeared to grimace on multiple plays in the field late in last Saturday's game against Texas A&M. Stovall will travel, but will not play when the Razorbacks take on Lipscomb on Tuesday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, but is expected to play Friday's series opener at Mississippi State. |
| Alabama deputy athletic director arrested on domestic violence charge | |
 | Matt Self, one of the senior members of the University of Alabama's athletic department and the department's administrator for the football program, was arrested Sunday by Tuscaloosa police on a domestic violence charge. According to Tuscaloosa Police Department spokeswoman Stephanie Taylor, police were called to a home shortly after midnight Sunday. As a result of the investigation, Self was charged with third-degree domestic violence. He appeared Sunday evening in the inmate database of Tuscaloosa County jail. Self, 45, was placed on a 24-hour domestic violence hold and bond was set at $300. He was no longer listed late Monday morning in the jail inmate database. Additional details surrounding the incident were not yet available from police. "Alabama Athletics is aware of this incident," an athletics department spokesperson said in a statement. "We take such matters seriously and will continue to gather more information to address this personnel matter." Self's title is Deputy Director of Athletics, Compliance and Support Services. |
| Ohio halts betting on Alabama baseball after suspicious activity | |
| Ohio gambling regulators on Monday instructed the state's licensed sportsbooks to halt betting on college baseball games involving Alabama after suspicious wagering activity was detected on the Crimson Tide's game against top-ranked LSU on Friday. The directive, issued by Ohio Casino Control Commission executive director Matthew T. Schuler and obtained by ESPN, prohibits "the acceptance of any wagers on University of Alabama baseball effective immediately." Schuler wrote that the emergency order was in response to a report from an independent integrity monitor. On Friday, U.S. Integrity, a Las Vegas-based firm that monitors the betting markets, issued an alert to its sportsbook clients regarding "suspicious wagering activity" involving the Alabama-LSU game. Because there is no national gaming regulator, a halt on wagering typically happens on a state-by-state basis. Sportsbook FanDuel has removed Alabama baseball games from its betting menu in all jurisdictions as a precautionary measure. Alabama plays Vanderbilt on Thursday. |
| Big 12 Set to Play Football, Basketball Games in Mexico Starting in 2024 | |
| The Big 12 has been exploring playing football and men's and women's basketball games in Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico, with a preferred top 10 men's hoops matchup between Kansas and Houston, multiple sources tell Sports Illustrated. The conference has had tentative plans to hold regular-season league games south of the border for months, with first-year commissioner Brett Yormark even visiting Mexico City last week. He met with officials and toured potential sites, including at 22,300-seat Arena CDMX in Mexico City for basketball. Football games would be played in Monterrey at Estadio BBVA, a 53,000-seat venue nicknamed El Gigante de Acero. The Houston Chronicle first reported the news of potential games in Mexico. The league expects to begin holding basketball games in Mexico during the 2024–25 season and football in fall of '25, a source told SI. In a more long-term plan, the conference is also looking to add baseball and soccer games in Mexico. Yormark, 56, was hired last summer from an entertainment agency to run the Big 12 and has been aggressive in his first few months on the job. He struck a new TV deal with ESPN and Fox in the fall, racing in front of the Pac-12 to secure a contract that, despite losing Texas and Oklahoma, increased in value. He was also instrumental in negotiations that resulted in a $100 million combined exit fee for Texas and Oklahoma to leave a year early for the SEC. |
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