
Friday, May 12, 2023 |
MSU-Meridian holds spring commencement ceremony | |
![]() | The words atop Jolynn McKinion's graduation cap read, "I wanted to give up but then I remembered who was watching." McKinion, who graduated from Mississippi State University-Meridian during spring commencement on Thursday, said it was a message for her two teenage daughters. Being a teacher was a dream of hers since childhood. But, she said, she walked away from education during her senior year of college more than two decades ago after failing to pass the math portion of the Praxis test by one point. Instead, she went to cosmetology school. After working as a cosmetologist for 21 years, she enrolled at MSU-Meridian a few years ago in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when she found out there was a teacher shortage. She was finally able to realize her childhood dream when she earned her bachelor's degree in education and became a teacher in Philadelphia. She then set out to get her master's degree, which she received Thursday at MSU-Meridian's spring commencement ceremony held at the MSU Riley Center in downtown Meridian. McKinion was one of 206 candidates who received their degrees, MSU-Meridian's largest class of graduates ever and included the inaugural class of 19 Physician Assistant (PA) Studies students who started in the program in January 2021. Family and friends who crowded into the MSU Riley Center for the ceremony were welcomed by Dr. Terry Dale Cruse, associate vice president and head of campus at MSU-Meridian. MSU President Dr. Mark Keenum delivered the commencement address, congratulating the graduates on their hard work and success. |
MSU-Meridian held spring commencement Thursday | |
![]() | Mississippi State University held its spring commencement ceremony at The Riley Center Thursday. Two hundred four students received degrees in various fields such as social work, business administration and education. There were 35 honor graduates, eight Riley Scholars, and one Stephen D. Lee Scholar. Dr. Terry Dale Cruse, Head of Campus for MSU Meridian, gave the welcome speech and Dr. Mark Keenum, President of MSU, gave the commencement address. News 11 spoke with some of the graduates about the degrees they received and what's in their future. Cadedra Wilder received her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. When asked where she was hoping to work, she said, "I'm thinking about Leake Central. I have to finish putting everything in and hope I get the job." Harold Boo Hollingsworth is currently an instructor at East Central Community College. He received a Bachelor of Applied Science degree. "I initially started this degree," said Hollingsworth, "to show my students that everything that we teach on the career technical level is what they're going to use." This spring class also included the inaugural class of 19 Physician Assistant Studies students. |
MSU-Meridian recognizes outstanding graduates for spring semester | |
![]() | Five graduates at Mississippi State University-Meridian, who received their diplomas Thursday, were recently recognized as outstanding students for the 2023 spring semester. The outstanding students include: Zoë Null, of Collinsville, outstanding undergraduate student for the Division of Arts and Sciences and recipient of the Dennis J. Mitchell Award of Excellence. Tara Shelton, of Meridian, outstanding undergraduate student for the Division of Business. Kyle Fuller, a native of Meridian, outstanding graduate student for the Division of Business. Jade Willis, of Bogue Chitto, outstanding undergraduate student for the Division of Education. Edward Routh, of Choctaw, outstanding graduate student for the Division of Education. |
MSU, Toyota Mississippi, Liquid Wire Inc. announce collaboration project | |
![]() | Mississippi State University, Toyota Mississippi, and Liquid Wire Inc. are teaming up to improve the workplace. The collaboration was announced Thursday at the MSU Athlete Engineering Summit as part of the project MSU's interdisciplinary Athlete Engineering research group will work directly with the Northeast Mississippi auto-manufacturers to implement and assess Liquid Wire wearable technologies inside its facility, providing new insights into ways Toyota can improve job performance and identify potential injury risks. EMCC Communiversity held its annual summit and there were speakers and displays to show people how athlete engineering is making its way to your day-to-day jobs. "Train the next generation of workers and those workers will go to Aluminum Dynamics and Paccar and all our great partners here in these parts of the region so this is a good crossover and it's really interesting to see this technology crossover into the workforce. You think about in a workplace where repetitive motions industry and carpal tunnel and all these and what the engineering research is finding is that you can help people avoid these injuries by workarounds and being in shape and exercising," said Scott Alsobrooks, EMCC President. |
MSU alumni chapter plans May 20 fundraiser | |
![]() | Photo: Members of the Clarke County chapter of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association recently met at Clarkco State Park to discuss plans for the upcoming year. The first activity will be participation in the annual Standing Together Against Cancer event scheduled for May 20 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Archusa Water Park. Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to the Anderson Cancer Benevolence Fund. Another activity discussed was the annual Send-off Party for new Mississippi State University students slated for 6 p.m. July 20 at Clarkco State Park. A $500 scholarship award will be presented to two lucky students. Chapter members present were Lisa Riley, front row, from left, chapter president; Elaine Reed; Libby Riley; Lacia Donald; and Courtney Nelson; and Rob Riley, back row, from left; Carl Blackwell; Sandie Blackwell, chapter secretary; Charlie Sorto; and William Read. For more information, contact Lisa Riley at 601-480-6052 or email rileydawgs@gmail.com. |
Phelps leads opponent in sheriff's race fundraising | |
![]() | The latest campaign finance report for Democratic sheriff candidate John Rice includes a $1,471 contribution from another country. Ayman Alhazmi, listed as from "Jedettah," Saudi Arabia, provided Rice's largest itemized contribution in his campaign finance report filed with the Oktibbeha County circuit clerk's office. Speaking to The Dispatch on Thursday, Rice said Alhazmi, a friend, United States citizen and former Mississippi State student who now lives in Kentucky, sent the contribution while he was on a trip to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Rice said he misspelled the city name on the form. Despite Alhazmi's help, Rice still trails Republican Shank Phelps in fundraising, according to reports that were required to be filed by Wednesday. Those reports require candidates to itemize contributions and expenditures that exceed $200. Rice reported raising $3,656 and spending almost all of it so far. His itemized donations included $500 from Bill Cook and BJ's Family Pharmacy, $300 from Robert Camp, $200 from Jack Robertson and $100 from John Young. He also reported $585 in non-itemized contributions. Phelps, by comparison, reported $9,950 in campaign contributions, more than half of which came from out of state, and $4,952 in spending. His itemized contributions show $5,000 from Matt Wiggins of Kemah, Texas, along with $500 each from Rudy Johnson, Sammy Kally and Buddy Daniels; $350 from Clayton Richard; and $250 from Roy Carpenter and Jim McReynolds. He also reported $2,600 of non-itemized donations. |
Challenger Sibley outraising incumbent in Dist. 15 Senate race | |
![]() | The two contested races for state or district-level offices have shown very little in the way of financing since January. Alan Sibley, a Republican challenger for Senate District 15, has the most year-to-date contributions of any candidate in any race with $4,058. Sibley's opponent, Republican incumbent Bart Williams, has received $500 in contributions. District 15 includes most of Starkville and stretches west to Winona. The numbers come from the most recent campaign finance reports the candidates were required to file by Wednesday with the Secretary of State's Office. The two candidates will face off in the Aug. 8 party primary. Unopposed candidates include District 38 Rep. Cheikh Taylor (D-Starkville), District 39 Rep. Dana McLean (R-Columbus), District 41 Rep. Kabir Karriem (D-Columbus), District 16 Sen. Angela Turner Ford (D-West Point) and District 17 Sen. Chuck Younger (R-Lowndes County). District 43 Rep. Rob Roberson (R-Starkville), also is running unopposed after his opponent, Kenneth Aasand, dropped out of the race. |
'Top-notch' Sportsplex to complement, not compete with Cornerstone | |
![]() | Construction for the $12 million Lowndes County Sportsplex along Highway 82 is well underway, and Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Trip Hairston told members of Columbus Exchange Club Thursday at Lion Hills Center he is excited to see the project progressing. "Yes, it is a big price tag, but the children of Lowndes County are going to benefit," Hairston said. "It will be a big thing for tourism. It is going to be a top-notch facility. (There are) turf infields where, when it rains, you can play on them within a couple of hours. I am very excited." The first phase includes completing the eight fields, which should be complete by late September, and Hairston hopes to see the next phase sooner rather than later. When asked about competing with the $20-million-plus Cornerstone Park nearing completion in Starkville -- which will also have tournament-ready baseball and softball fields -- Hairston said tournament recruitment was only a secondary part of the facility's mission. He cited a 53% growth in the last three years in county baseball league participation, which has outgrown the facilities it uses at Lake Lowndes State Park. "The primary function is to serve the citizens of Lowndes County," Hairston said. "I think first and foremost, we ought to serve our own leagues. Personally, I think we can complement Starkville and Starkville can complement us." Hairston also addressed the county's recent big wins for economic development and what it will mean for the near and long term. |
McDaniel financial docs leave more questions than answers, prompt criticism from Hosemann | |
![]() | At first glance, state Sen. Chris McDaniel appeared to lead incumbent Delbert Hosemann in January-April fundraising for the hotly contested Republican primary for Mississippi lieutenant governor. However, McDaniel's official filing form, as it appeared on the secretary of state's website Thursday morning, failed to include a detailed breakdown of contributions, leaving much up to interpretation and prompting questions over its accuracy. According to a single summary page, McDaniel raised more than $677,000 in the first four months of this year, compared to the nearly $193,000 raised by Hosemann, whose filing included both a summary page and a 31-page list of contributions and disbursements. State law requires candidates to disclose any donations or expenditures over $200. Hosemann, who did not hold fundraising events during the legislative session, which ended April 1, maintains a lead in cash on hand, with about $3.34 million compared to McDaniel's reported total of roughly $336,000. Incumbents often come into races with leads in cash on hand compared to their challengers. "We are grateful for the support we have received," Hosemann said in a statement. "Mississippi voters want solutions, not just talk, and we have a significant record of running government like a business. The next three months will be devoted to spreading the message about our record and priorities over the next four years." The accuracy of information McDaniel claimed on the summary page has been called into question by Hosemann in a later statement. |
Chris McDaniel files incomplete campaign finance report, Hosemann posts $3.4M cash on hand | |
![]() | Once a vocal champion of campaign finance transparency and reform, lieutenant governor candidate Chris McDaniel has again filed an incomplete and incoherent report of the amounts and sources of funding for his campaign. This comes after McDaniel's campaign last month said he was returning legally questionable large donations from a Virginia dark-money nonprofit, and shutting down his PAC through which the donations flowed to his campaign. Incumbent Republican Delbert Hosemann, who faces McDaniel in the Aug. 8 Republican primary, on Wednesday reported raising nearly $193,000 from January through April, and having $3.4 million cash on hand as the primary race enters the final stretch. McDaniel, a four-term state senator who has twice run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate, filed only a cover sheet for his campaign finance report, failing to itemize donations or spending over $200 as required by state law. His filing on Wednesday's deadline was listed as the "Committee to Elect Chris McDaniel," not under his name as his past reports have been filed, and McDaniel failed to register such a committee with the secretary of state's office. McDaniel and campaign staff did not respond to a request for comment about the filing. Hosemann in a statement Thursday said: "At this point, there appear to be multiple campaign finance violations stemming from multiple committees. Standing for election integrity includes following campaign finance laws, which require basic reporting of contributions, expenditures, and cash on hand. We are asking for enforcement of these laws. If Chris McDaniel can't get this simple paperwork done, he won't be able to manage a $7 billion budget." |
Mississippi Supreme Court rules Gunasekera not eligible for PSC ballot | |
![]() | Mandy Gunasekera does not meet the requirements to seek the northern district seat on the Public Service Commission, according to a Thursday ruling by the Mississippi Supreme Court. The unanimous opinion by the court upholds a prior decision by a special circuit judge and finds that Gunasekara cannot show she will have been a citizen of the state for five years before this November's election. Gunasekara has exhausted her state appeals but raised several constitutional issues in written briefs submitted to the Mississippi Supreme Court and could theoretically attempt to sue in federal court to keep herself on the ballot. In a written statement, Gunasekara wouldn't rule out a federal challenge. Thursday's decision by the high court marks a significant reversal of fortunes for a candidate who entered the PSC race early and with national political connections, including a stint in President Donald Trump's administration, which Gunasekara frequently highlighted. The decision by the court leaves only two candidates in the race to represent north Mississippi on the PSC: Chris Brown and Tanner Newman, both Republicans. |
Residency requirement keeps Mississippi PSC candidate off ballot, justices say | |
![]() | A former chief of staff for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency won't appear on the ballot for a Mississippi Public Service Commission post because she failed to meet an in-state residency requirement, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a 6-0 decision, justices affirmed a decision made by a circuit court judge in the case of Mandy Gunasekera. She signed up to run as a Republican for the northern district seat on the state commission that regulates utilities. Gunasekara is a native of Newton County, Mississippi, and worked in Washington for several years on energy policy, including as chief of staff for the Environmental Protection Agency when Donald Trump was president, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal has reported. Special Circuit Judge Lamar Pickard ruled that Gunasekara could not fulfill the requirement of being a Mississippi resident for at least five years before the Nov. 7 general election. He based that partly on a finding that she had voted in November 2018 in a local election in Washington. |
Supreme Court removes Mandy Gunasekara from Public Service Commission race | |
![]() | A majority of justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Mandy Gunasekara is not a certified Republican candidate for Northern District Public Service Commissioner and removed her from the August Republican primary ballot. Justice Leslie King, writing for the majority, found that a lower court's determination that Gunasekara did not meet the necessary citizenship requirements to run for the office was correct. At issue is a requirement in the state constitution and state law that candidates running for the three-member utilities regulatory board must be a citizen of the state at least five years before the date of Mississippi's general election in November. Gunasekara hails from the rural southwestern town of Decatur, but she worked in Washington, D.C., for several years. Public records show that Gunasekara voted in Washington on Nov. 6, 2018. Mississippi's general election this year is on Nov. 7, meaning she had a 24-hour window from her 2018 vote to become a Mississippi citizen. "The record shows that on Nov. 7, 2018, Gunasekara owned a house in D.C., where her husband and children resided, and on which she received a homestead deduction," King wrote. "Gunasekara paid income taxes in D.C. She had a full time job in D.C., had a D.C. driver's license, and was registered to vote in D.C. Gunasekara renewed her car tag in D.C. at the end of October 2018." |
Mississippi Supreme Court issues ruling on Gunasekara, Jones eligibility | |
![]() | On Thursday, the Mississippi Supreme Court handed down two rulings that have effectively removed candidates from the ballot this election cycle. Mandy Gunasekara, a Republican seeking the Northern District Public Service Commissioner seat, had appealed the ruling in Hinds County that deemed her ineligible based on a five-year residency requirement. Today's ruling will remove her from the ballot. Gunasekara says she is exploring her options. "I'm a fighter and a constitutional conservative. I'm assessing all my legal options. The Mississippi Supreme Court acknowledged the potential unconstitutionality of this provision, yet found a convenient, procedural mechanism to avoid a decision on the merits," Gunasekara told Magnolia Tribune. "I believe the voters of Mississippi deserve a ruling on the merits." The other ruling today from the state Supreme Court dealt with a House race in District 64. Two Democrats filed to challenge State Rep. Shanda Yates, now an Independent. They were 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. The court today ruled that Jones did not meet the residency requirement to run and is to be disqualified. Grayson chose to voluntarily drop out of the race in late March after the petition was made by Yates. |
Mississippi chief justice removed from lawsuit over courts and policing in Jackson | |
![]() | The Mississippi Supreme Court chief justice is no longer a defendant in a lawsuit that challenges a state law dealing with courts and appointed judges in the capital city of Jackson. Hinds County Chancery Judge Dewayne Thomas on Thursday dismissed Chief Justice Mike Randolph and Hinds County Circuit Clerk Zack Wallace as defendants. Three Jackson residents who are plaintiffs testified Wednesday that having appointed rather than elected judges would rob them of equal rights because the state constitution requires the election of most judges. It is one of two lawsuits challenging laws Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed April 21. The laws will expand state policing in the capital city of Jackson, establish a court with an appointed judge and authorize four appointed judges to work alongside the four elected circuit court judges in Hinds County, which is home to Jackson. During the hearing Wednesday, Thomas said he would rule quickly on whether all defendants would remain in the lawsuit. He said he intends to rule by early next week on a request to temporarily block the creation of a new court with an appointed judge and the appointment of four circuit judges who would serve through 2026. |
Hodding Carter III, newspaper man, member of Carter administration dies | |
![]() | Journalist icon and Mississippian Hodding Carter III died Thursday at his home in North Carolina. His daughter confirmed the news to the Clarion Ledger Friday morning. The former owner of the Greenville Delta Democrat Times, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, Carter was also Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs for the Jimmy Carter administration. He was 88.Carter wrote the book "The South Strikes Back." He won the Sigma Delta Chi National Professional Journalism Society Award for Editorial Writing in 1961. In the 1960s, Carter was involved in the Civil Rights Movement, both editorially and in political action. In 1968, he co-chaired the "Loyal Democrats of Mississippi" that replaced Mississippi's previously all-white delegation.When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, Carter left his post in the government and moved into television as a major critic of Reagan's policies. Up until 1994, Carter held various positions for ABC, BBC, CBC, CNN, NBC and PBS including anchor, panelist and reporter. His most notable television work was as the host of the media criticism show "Inside Story" on PBS. Beginning in 1994, Carter served as the Knight Professor of Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland. He resigned the post in 1998 to become the president of the Knight Foundation.Under Carter, Knight heightened the impact of its grantmaking by increasing funding to the foundation's signature journalism program as well as expanding its commitment to the 26 Knight communities. |
Commerce Department starts process to fund tech hubs across the US with $500 million in grants | |
![]() | The Commerce Department on Friday is launching the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become technology hubs. The $500 million is part of a $10 billion authorization from last year's CHIPS and Science Act to stimulate investments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotech. It's an attempt to expand tech investment that is largely concentrated around a few U.S. cities -- Austin, Texas; Boston; New York; San Francisco; and Seattle -- to the rest of the country. "This is about taking these places on the edge of glory to being world leaders," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told The Associated Press. "My job is to enhance America's competitiveness." The Biden administration has made it a priority to set an industrial strategy of directing government investment into computer chips, clean energy and a range of other technologies. Officials say that being leaders in those fields will foster economic and national security, reflecting a belief that the best way to compete against China's ascendance will come from building internal strength. The tech hubs are meant to build up areas that already have major research specialties but lack the access to financing that could fuel stronger growth and business formation in those fields. |
Pentagon chiefs: Debt default is bad for troops, good for China | |
![]() | The Pentagon's top civilian and military leaders have a warning for lawmakers fighting over the government's borrowing limit: a default would be a win for China, and would endanger troops' pay. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley on Thursday told the Senate Defense Appropriations panel that breaching the debt limit would significantly damage U.S. standing in the world and call into question the country's global leadership. "China right now describes us in their open speeches, etc., as a declining power," Milley said. "Defaulting on the debt would only reinforce that thought and embolden China and increase risk to the United States." Austin added that a default would mean a "substantial risk to our reputation" that China could exploit. The comments are the latest admonition that a default would harm national security, as Republicans and President Joe Biden spar over raising the debt limit with as little as a few weeks until the government runs out of money to pay its bills. The most substantial impact, Austin said, would be troops' pay. If the federal government defaults, the Pentagon would not be able to guarantee that military personnel are paid on time. |
White House meeting delayed amid staff talks on budget, debt | |
![]() | President Joe Biden and the top four congressional leaders will skip a planned Friday meeting and instead get together early next week to discuss the debt limit and budget process, a White House spokesperson confirmed. White House and congressional leadership staff will continue to meet in the interim, and a source familiar with the talks described the delay as a positive development. Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters the principals agreed that there hadn't been enough progress in the talks yet to warrant the Friday meeting but he expects it to occur next week. "We didn't think it was going to be productive," the California Republican said, adding that one of the leaders has a funeral to attend Friday and wouldn't be able to make it anyway. Senior aides including Louisa Terrell, Biden's top legislative liaison, and Dan Meyer, McCarthy's chief of staff, met for roughly two hours each on Wednesday and Thursday. Staff were tight-lipped leaving Thursday's meeting, shortly before The Washington Post reported on the delay of Friday's expected principals meeting at the White House. McCarthy wouldn't go so far as to call the staff talks thus far productive. "If these were staff meetings happening on Feb. 1, I'd call them productive," he said. McCarthy and other congressional leaders met with Biden at the White House on Tuesday, which was the first time he'd met with the president on the topic since Feb. 1. |
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy wants to save Social Security. Will Washington let him? | |
![]() | Sen. Bill Cassidy, a gastroenterologist by trade, is comfortable doing uncomfortable things, so it's no surprise he's trying to lead an effort in Congress to protect Social Security, commonly referred to as the "third rail" of American politics. In other words: Anyone who tries to touch it, gets burned. "The third rail should be that you're going to sit passively while the program goes insolvent, at which points benefits are cut," the Louisiana Republican, 66, told NPR in an interview in his Senate office. "I'm trying to stop those cuts. Allowing the cuts should be the third rail." Cassidy is an equal opportunity critic of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump -- currently the frontrunner for the GOP nomination -- because both men are campaigning to protect Social Security but not offering much of anything on how they plan to do it. "If I sound aggravated as heck, we've got a program that's going insolvent in eight to nine years," Cassidy said, noting the resulting cut could see poverty among the elderly nearly double. "And we have the leading presidential candidates acting like there's not a problem." If Washington does nothing, in about a decade, Social Security will start to run out of money. It's funded by workers' taxes and any surpluses or interest earnings in its trust fund. The program cannot borrow money on its behalf, so the only option once existing funds are exhausted would be an estimated 24% benefits cut for recipients. Nearly everyone over the age of 65 in the U.S. receives some form of Social Security benefit. It's unlikely Washington will let it get to that point -- Social Security is wildly popular and economically crucial for most Americans -- but few in positions of power are actually trying to come up with a fix to actually prevent it from happening. About two years ago, Cassidy decided to start working on it. |
Tuberville: A white nationalist is a Trump Republican | |
![]() | Sen. Tommy Tuberville defined "white nationalist" as a Trump Republican after being asked to clarify his comments defending white nationalists in the military. "I look at a white nationalists as a Trump Republican," Alabama's senior senator told NBC News reporter Julie Tsirkin, according to a transcript Tsirkin posted of their interview Thursday on Twitter. "That's what we're called all the time," Tuberville continued, referring to how Democrats characterize such Republicans. "A MAGA person...." Tuberville then appeared to walk back his definition. Asked if he agrees with that characterization, Tuberville responded, "We agree that we should not be characterizing Trump supporters as white nationalists." Alabama's senior senator drew criticism after he gave an interview to WBHM, the National Public Radio affiliate in Birmingham, where he was asked whether white nationalists should serve in the military. "They call them that," he said, referring to the Biden administration. "I call them Americans." |
Tuberville seeks to clarify remark about white nationalists in military | |
![]() | Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Thursday sought to clarify comments he made earlier this week about white nationalists in the military, suggesting his highly controversial remarks had been misunderstood. During an interview Monday with WBHM, a public radio station in Birmingham, the Alabama Republican was asked whether white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military. "They call them that. I call them Americans," Tuberville said during the radio interview. Extremism in the military has been a focus of many lawmakers after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which involved some veterans and even a handful of active duty servicemembers. Tuberville's comments earned widespread condemnation. But Tuberville on Thursday told reporters that his comments had been misconstrued. Instead, he said, he meant to criticize Democrats for calling servicemembers with right-wing beliefs white nationalists. "There's a lot of good people who are Trump supporters in the military," he said. "But for some reason my Democrat colleagues want to portray everybody who's a Trump supporter as a white nationalist. That is not true." Tuberville is already in the spotlight for blocking hundreds of military nominations to protest the Pentagon's new abortion policy, which reimburses servicemembers who must travel to other states for reproductive health care. |
The U.S. and China Are Finally Talking Again, but Mistrust Clouds Next Steps | |
![]() | An unexpected burst of diplomacy between the U.S. and China this week points to a growing desire in both capitals to begin stabilizing relations after months of free fall. The question of how to achieve that and what comes next is much more difficult to answer due to high levels of mistrust running through Beijing and Washington, especially when it comes to the most sensitive areas of the relationship such as Taiwan. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan convened more than eight hours of talks with China's top foreign-affairs official, Wang Yi, during two days in Vienna this week. In Beijing, meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in recent days. The talks sought to break the ice of a bitter few months after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in February and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen, defying warnings from Beijing. The balloon incident reinforced concerns in Washington over Chinese spying and led the Biden administration to cancel a rare visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Beijing saw the furor over the balloon as evidence of a U.S. effort to contain its rise as a global power. This week's meetings are important for breaking the impasse of the past few months, said Dingding Chen, a professor of international relations at China's Jinan University. "Both countries want to stabilize the relationship," he said. "Neither side wants to continue to deteriorate the relationship. That's for sure. The question is how to do that." |
Re-Rebs: new campus organization aims for a greener Ole Miss | |
![]() | The University of Mississippi is planning a greener future with the new clothing donation initiative Re-Rebs, a student organization created by student Mia McKey. McKey, a junior undergraduate student at UM, generated the Re-Rebs idea during the fall semester of 2022, with the organization coming to fruition in the spring. "Last semester, I started kind of dreaming it up, and then this semester, it turned into a full-on initiative through one of my public policy leadership classes," McKey said. The idea came to McKey after witnessing countless friends throw away clothes they no longer wanted. She decided that she would help turn their old wardrobes into fresh fashion for someone else. "Seeing friends have garbage bags full of clothes to donate, and then getting too lazy to do it and just throwing it away was a really big push for me," McKey said. Her original response to the growing issue involved a project for Greek houses. However, after presenting her idea to her public policy leadership class, Re-Rebs was selected as the campus Project of the Year. |
U. of Alabama's Community Engagement Tour makes stop in Sumter County | |
![]() | The University of Alabama's Community Engagement Tour made a stop in Sumter County Thursday afternoon to learn about the community and how they could possibly help improve the quality-of-life in the Black-Belt area. Dr. Samory Pruitt, the Vice President of Community Affairs at UA, said the tour group consisted of new students and staff that wanted to get more familiar with rural areas and how the university could partner with these communities. "What we've done is identified faculty members who have research interest in various things. Graduate students, undergraduate students, graduate meaning masters or PhD who maybe interested in learning more about the surrounding communities and have a research or professional interest in either helping with some of the things that are already taking place in those communities that improve the quality of life for folks. Or helping to kind of remove some of the challenges and obstacles to quality-of-life issues in those communities. So, we come to those communities and there's a panel, we talk, and we see if there are some opportunities for us to work together." said Dr. Pruitt. |
U. of South Carolina mascot identity reveal is celebrated at graduation. It's getting national attention | |
![]() | Sarah Sylvester wore an unusual piece of regalia to the University of South Carolina's graduation last weekend: two big, yellow feet. Sylvester, a biomedical engineering student, finally got to share one of the best-kept secrets on campus at Saturday's ceremony: she is one of the students who has played Cocky, the university's mascot, for the past two years. And she's gaining national attention. Per tradition, when a mascot graduates from USC, they show it with a nod to the iconic character. A video of the big reveal was shared on USC's social media platforms and took off. The video has accumulated almost a million views on TikTok, and posts on Twitter, Instagram and Reddit received significant traction. Clad in cap and gown, Sylvester ran through the aisles of students, hyping up the crowd, just like she would at a football game. "It's crazy to reflect on this moment in time and realize how far I've come. But it's bittersweet because I have come so far and I'm letting so much go," Sylvester told USC . "I also know I have nowhere to go but up." On Tuesday morning, NBC's "Today" show featured the video, with hosts saying Sylvester "exuded joy." "You would be hard-pressed to find a mascot more beloved than Cocky," said Craig Melvin, a "Today" show host and Columbia native. |
U. of Arkansas, Fayetteville employees learn more about strategic planning resources | |
![]() | As the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville continues to develop its 150 Forward strategic plan, the university is encouraging employees to take advantage of resources from partner EAB to inform their feedback and suggestions. EAB, a higher education research group, "has done a heavy lift," said Laura Jacobs, the university's chief of staff. "We should use those resources available to us" to learn about current best practices. "We have ideas of tactics" and strategies used by other universities to accomplish their goals, said EAB's David Vuletich, senior director for research advising services. Getting down to the strategy level is "probably the most difficult" part of strategic planning, but "once you do, the tactics kind of take care of themselves." The university has already set its trio of strategic plan pillars -- student success, research excellence and being an employer of choice -- and it's currently at the "objectives" level, Jacobs said. The university is establishing work groups around those pillars to workshop possible metrics and key performance indicators, as well as identify strategies and tactics to achieve goals, a process expected to last through roughly October. A critical element of becoming an employer of choice is an employee value proposition, but that's often missing in higher education, and UA-Fayetteville is working with EAB to establish one, Vuletich said. An employee value proposition has to be "personal -- what does an institution provide that serves the needs of employees in a unique way?" |
Pedestrian injured on UGA campus when tree falls during storm | |
![]() | A young woman was seriously injured when a tree was toppled on the University of Georgia campus during a late Tuesday rainstorm that was centered over the university and adjacent neighborhoods. The storm, which lasted several minutes, toppled the tree along East Campus Road, which runs through the campus. UGA spokesman Gregory Trevor said Thursday that during the storm winds reached 64 mph and uprooted the tree near Field Street. Corte remains hospitalized. UGA President Morehead and Dean of Students Eric Atkinson have visited Corte and her family in the hospital. Trevor said the Student Care and Outreach team has also offered support. The UGA student, Mia Wei Corte, was seriously injured when she was hit by the falling tree, according to the UGA statement. Athens-Clarke County Fire Capt. Nate Moss said Thursday that firefighters responded to assist until an ambulance could arrive. The accident occurred in the vicinity of the UGA Poultry science building. "There were a good number of bystanders assisting to keep the tree off the patient," Moss said. |
Florida Lawmakers Want Oversight of Invited Speakers on Public-College Campuses | |
![]() | Public universities in Florida would be required to have offices that oversee campus speaker events and ensure that "multiple, divergent, and opposing perspectives" are represented, under a bill that passed the Florida Legislature this month. The potential mandate comes amid another semester of campus-speech controversies across the country, in which students called on colleges to cancel appearances by invited speakers, arguing that their presence was harmful to particular identity groups, such as transgender students. The Florida legislation, HB 931, specifies that public colleges must host at least four events each academic year, with two each semester, and that events must include speakers who represent a "diversity of perspectives." The bill's sponsor, State Rep. Spencer Roach, a Republican, didn't respond to a request for comment. The idea that legislatures should direct colleges to create an office of speaker oversight was- proposed by George R. La Noue, an emeritus professor of public policy at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, in his book Silenced Stages: The Loss of Academic Freedom and Campus Policy Debates (Carolina Academic Press, 2019). It also emerged in a model bill written by Stanley Kurtz, a prominent conservative and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which advocates "civic and cultural renewal in the U.S.," via "the Judeo-Christian tradition," according to its website. |
Texas A&M's law school ranked top-30 nationally | |
![]() | Texas A&M's School of Law in Fort Worth has ascended into the top-30 of national law school rankings, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2023-24 ranking of best graduate schools released Thursday. A&M's School of Law is ranked 29th in the nation, up from 46th last year. A&M Law had the largest rankings jump of any schools ranked in the top 50 in 2022. "The first thing I did as Chancellor was to acquire this law school. At the time it was unranked and has now risen in the rankings faster than any law school in history," A&M Chancellor John Sharp said in a statement. "We won't stop until it is ranked in the top 10 in America." A&M Law ranks second among Texas schools, only trailing the University of Texas. A&M Law had two programs ranked in the top-10 nationally. Its dispute resolution program placed seventh in the nation and the intellectual property program was ninth. "Recent critics of rankings aren't wrong to raise questions about how much they reveal -- at the narrowest level. The broad trajectory of progress in Texas A&M Law's ranking in recent years, however, reflects real progress," said Robert Ahdieh, dean of A&M's School of Law, in a statement. |
More than 6,000 will graduate in 17 University of Missouri ceremonies this weekend | |
![]() | It's a big weekend for more than 6,000 graduates at the University of Missouri, with 17 commencement and officer commissioning ceremonies scheduled Friday through Sunday. There will be 6,652 degrees awarded, including 4,815 bachelor's degrees, 1,137 master's degrees and 272 doctorates. "We couldn't be more proud of our graduates, who have worked hard to reach this important milestone and are now ready for their life's journey," said Mun Choi, MU chancellor and system president. "We know that they will contribute as productive citizens and make important contributions to Missouri, the nation and beyond." Tyler Hagan, 22, from Chesterfield, will graduate with a bachelor's degree in business administration. The commencement ceremony for the Trulaske College of Business is 7 p.m. Friday at Mizzou Arena. "My family's coming to town and we'll have a chance to celebrate during the day, which I'm excited for," Hagan said during a Wednesday interview in the MU Student Center. "And I have a handful of buddies that are graduating as well which makes the weekend a blast and a joy." He has a job waiting for him as an analyst with JP Morgan Chase & Co. in Chicago. He interned there last summer, he said. "There's a number of people from Mizzou that are going to be up there that I'm friends with which is going to make the transition a whole lot easier," Hagan said. |
U. of Missouri counters report that faculty were 'pressured' to pull tenure applications | |
![]() | University of Missouri faculty members said they felt "pressured" by administrators to withdraw their tenure and promotion applications, according to an MU Faculty Affairs Committee report. An MU spokesperson said that the findings of the report were inconclusive due to large gaps of missing data but added that the university was looking into the issue and plans to talk with faculty about their concerns. The committee interviewed 20 people who said that they have experienced or been involved in a situation where they were pressured to withdraw their tenure application or delay applications for promotion. In some cases, faculty said they were directed toward non-tenure-track positions, according to the report. Seven applications were withdrawn in both of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, and 11 have been withdrawn so far this school year, according to the report. The report has several gaps. Although it lists total withdrawals for 2006 to 2011, only the 2011 total can be confirmed because the data for each level of review for the preceding years is unknown. "The data in the report is inconclusive because of the lack of data between 2005 and 2020," MU spokesperson Christian Basi said. He added that the university is looking to gather additional data, but gathering data from the early 2000s will likely prove challenging. |
Share of Hispanic College Students Has Nearly Doubled Since 2005 | |
![]() | Nearly one in five college students ages 18-24 identifies as being of Hispanic or Latino origin, according to a new analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau -- up from one in 10 students in 2005. The rise in the share of Hispanic and Latino/a students correlates with a rapidly growing number of Hispanic-serving institutions, a federal designation that can be accompanied by money for a college or university if at least 25 percent of its student body identifies as Hispanic or Latino/a. The number of HSIs has tripled since the 1990s, from 189 institutions in 1994 to 569 in 2019, according to an analysis by The Chronicle. However, federal dollars specifically allocated for HSIs have not nearly kept pace with the growing crop of qualifying institutions. The Center for American Progress calculated that the total funding available for HSIs represented just $87 per Latino/a student enrolled, a rate far lower than the funding for targeted students, per-pupil, at almost all other minority-serving institutions, like Native students at tribally controlled colleges and universities ($3,197) and Black students at historically Black colleges and universities ($1,642). |
Can enrollment bounce back before it's too late? | |
![]() | Higher ed experts gathered in the nation's capital Thursday -- the day the CDC declared an official end to the COVID-19 public health emergency -- to reflect on the damage the pandemic dealt to enrollments across the country and discuss how to rebuild. The gathering, at a panel series jointly hosted by the Lumina Foundation and Gallup at the pollster's headquarters a few blocks from the White House, was titled "Bouncing Back From the Enrollment Plunge." And while the panelists agreed on the depth of the plunge, they were divided on how big a bounce higher ed can muster at the moment -- and whether their proposed solutions would boost enrollments to pre-pandemic levels or simply ease the slide to the new normal of reduced head counts. Doug Shapiro, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, kicked off the day with a summary of his organization's bleak enrollment and attainment findings since the pandemic began in 2020. While freshman enrollment at four-year institutions rose 4.3 percent last fall -- the first year-over-year boost since the start of the pandemic -- Shapiro was quick to point out that it's still 6 percent below 2019 levels. And while there's been some recovery among four-year colleges and universities, Shapiro said the vast majority has been concentrated at selective and financially stable institutions. Most small private colleges and regional publics, he said, are still hemorrhaging students -- and he's not sure many of them are going to be able to stop the bleeding. |
Was Brett Favre used as a celebrity 'trapdoor' by Mississippi Today? | |
![]() | The Magnolia Tribune's Russ Latino writes: Mississippi Today investigative reporter Anna Wolfe and editor-in-chief Adam Ganucheau recently sat for an interview with The Journalist's Resource at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard. The two discussed their experience in putting together the Pulitzer-winning "Backchannel" series. The Journalist's Resource's article says Ganucheau, along with Wolfe, "developed overarching narratives for the series." Mississippi's welfare scandal broke on February 5, 2020, when State Auditor Shad White and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens publicly announced six indictments following an eight month investigation. The investigation was triggered by a tip from Bryant. Prior to the Auditor's press announcement, no outlet had reported on the scandal. That day, many outlets, including Mississippi Today and low-profile publications like the New York Times, reported on the scandal. In the interview with Journalist's Resource, Ganucheau suggested no one would have known about the welfare scandal apart from the work of Wolfe. "I would venture to say right now, looking back on it, the welfare scandal in Mississippi wouldn't be on anyone's radar, you wouldn't have even heard about it, had it not been for what Anna did next." What did Wolfe do after White and Owens broke the case to the public? She and Ganucheau relayed her course of action to Journalist's Resource, sharing a series of tips for other journalists "navigating similarly complex investigations." One of the tips highlighted in the article: "If your investigation involves celebrities, use their notoriety as a 'trapdoor.'" |
At the Crossroads of Mother's Day & Mother Nature | |
![]() | Rhonda Newman Keenum writes for the Magnolia Tribune: As Mother's Day approaches, I am reminded of the many Mother's Days that shaped me. Most of my clothes, much of my food and all of my sass were homegrown in the foothills of Appalachia -- northeast Mississippi. My maternal grandmother Eudell excelled in all things except diplomacy. She was a fearless gardener, seamstress, carpenter, chef, small grocery store owner and disciplinarian. Her red dirt gardening skills not only included vegetables of every variety but also roses – specifically red and white roses with a bloom cycle in early May. The timing and sequencing of her roses ideally meant blooms coincided with the second Sunday in May -- Mother's Day. Mother's Day Sunday church attire required a rose corsage pinned to our homemade Sunday best with a 2-inch straight pin complete with a faux pearl tip. Red roses were worn if one's mother was alive and white roses if one had lost their mother. ... The only thing that frightened or exposed any sense of vulnerability in Eudell was Mother Nature's wrathful side. She was terrified of storms and specifically tornadoes. ... I think about her proclivity for storm terror particularly after our state has experienced Mother Nature's wrath over the last few months. ... Mother Nature’s tornadoes in Rolling Fork, Silver City, Carroll County, Winona, and Amory on March 24 have forever altered the meaning of Mother’s Day for far too many of our fellow Mississippians. |
SPORTS
Diamond Dawg Gameday: at LSU | |
![]() | The Mississippi State Bulldogs return to Southeastern Conference play when they travel to Baton Rouge, La. for a three game with the LSU Tigers. First pitch for Friday is set for 7:30 p.m., continues Saturday at 6 p.m., and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday's game will be broadcast on SECN+, while Friday's game will be on SEC Network. The series will also be carried on the Mississippi State Sports Network powered by Learfield along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/Listen. Jay Johnson is in his 2nd season as the head coach of the Tigers. He holds a 78-32 record at LSU and a career mark of 395-204 for his 11-year career. LSU enters the weekend as the #2 team in the country with an overall record of 38-10 while going 16-7 in conference play. This is the first week of the season that LSU is not ranked No. 1. As a team, the Tigers are hitting .313 and have 94 home runs and an on-base percentage of .442. The Tigers hold an ERA of 4.49 on the season, with opponents hitting .220. The Dawgs and the Tigers meet for the 406th time on Friday when they begin the series. The last time the Bulldogs played at Alex Box Stadium, during the 2021 season, MSU took two of three from the Tigers. State leads the all-time series 216-189. The first matchup between these two programs was in 1907. |
Just Like Dad: Hunter Hines follows in dad's footsteps as college baseball masher | |
![]() | Hunter Hines has heard all the stories. After little league games while munching on orange slices and chips. After home runs during his high school career at Madison Central. Probably during family dinner trips to the "Main Street Cafe," too. There wasn't a time growing up where Hines, now a sophomore on the Mississippi State baseball team, hadn't heard about the folklore of his dad, Richey Hines. It's what happens when you grow up in the shadow of a local legend -- as the son of one of the best college hitters in Mississippi history. That is what Richey Hines once was during his career at Mississippi College. From 1982-85, nobody in Mississippi was a better hitter than him. Almost 40 years later, Richey Hines, who was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014, still holds program records in runs (181), career home runs (57), career RBIs (229), total bases (458) and walks (105). Tucked away inside boxes somewhere in the Hines' house might be some old balls, some plaques and other memorabilia that remind Hunter of the baseball royalty in his family. And if that wasn't a good enough reminder, the local baseball community had that covered. "He would hear, 'Your dad is better than you,'" Richey Hines told The Dispatch in a recent phone call. "Or, 'You are gonna be better than your dad.' " How's that for pressure? For the younger Hines, apparently not much. In two seasons, he has put his name in rarified air, among the top power hitters in MSU baseball history. His 22 home runs so far this season, with two weekend series left, sit just seven short of the program's single-season record held by Bruce Castoria (1981). |
Zac Selmon Formally Announces Additions To Leadership Team | |
![]() | Mississippi State Director of Athletics Zac Selmon has formally announced the additions of Joey Bailey as Deputy Athletics Director for Strategic Initiatives and Administration, and Tom Greene as Deputy Athletics Director for External Engagement to the department's senior leadership team. Bailey, who previously served as Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Oklahoma, is responsible for driving and executing cross-functional engagement within the athletics department, evaluating and improving internal functions and processes, while also advising on stakeholder and public relations initiatives. In addition, she assists with oversight and planning of special projects within the department and coordinates strategic planning initiatives. Greene comes to Starkville after three years at San Diego State University where he was the Vice President for Ticket Sales and Membership Services for Legends under the joint venture with JMI Sports. At MSU, Greene is responsible for the overall supervision of the Bulldogs' external operations with special emphases placed on revenue generation, brand development and marketing. He establishes and oversees the development of the department's integrated marketing programs and creates comprehensive strategies to advance the mission of MSU Athletics through innovation, technology and creativity. |
JAV U Shines on Opening Day of the SEC Track and Field Outdoor Championships | |
![]() | The best javelin team in America lived up to the billing on Thursday. 'Jav U,' as they have appropriately been named, filled the top 10 list for the Mississippi State Track & Field team that opened the first day of the SEC Outdoor Championships. Mississippi State's javelin squad earned all 13 team points for the Bulldogs on Thursday. Leading the way for Jav U was junior Tyriq Horsford, who earned a third-place finish with a throw of 71.66m (235'01"). The third-place finish for Horsford was his second top-three finish in an SEC Outdoor Championship in his career. Fellow Bulldogs Franck DiSanza (70.43m / 231'01") and Remi Rougete 227'07") came in fifth and sixth, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 finishes for State was Trent Zelden, who earned a throw of 58.41m (191'07"), finishing in ninth place. All three days of the SEC Championship event will be streamed live on SEC Network+, with Saturday night's final events being shown live on SEC Network. TV Announcers will be Dwight Stones, Dan O'Brien, Larra Overton and John Anderson. The final day of competition on Saturday will feature all final events in both field and running events. |
Scott Berry and USM baseball: models of consistency | |
![]() | Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Down years are virtually inevitable for college baseball programs. Even for elite programs, it's almost impossible to avoid an occasional disappointing season, because of so many different factors. You've got the severe scholarship limits: 11.7, spread among 27 players. You've got the uncertainty of who will be chosen -- and how high -- in the Major League draft. You've got the fragility of pitching arms: an elbow here, a shoulder there, and you're in trouble. And, now, you've got the transfer portal. Look at Mississippi State: a national championship in 2021, then 26-30 last year. Or Ole Miss: a national championship last year, 25-23 today. But then there's Scott Berry at Southern Miss. In the last six full college baseball seasons -- excluding the COVID year -- the Golden Eagles have won 41, 50, 44, 40, 40 and 47 games. All those teams received NCAA bids. Two hosted NCAA Super Regionals. Berry's current Eagles enter the weekend with a 32-15 record, the nation's longest winning streak (10), a No. 25 national ranking and an NCAA power rating (RPI) of No. 23. They are tied for first place in the Sun Belt Conference with No. 8 Coastal Carolina. They appear to be headed to a seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament. If they finish strong, they might host another regional. Is this USM's down year? It might be the closest thing to it since 2015, which is amazing. |
This is how a well-known Tommy John surgery guru is using new technology on LSU pitchers | |
![]() | Keith Meister uses his cell phone to take a photo of every Tommy John surgery he does, just to review afterward. Tommy John surgery itself has been in use for nearly 50 years, having taken its name from the old Major League pitcher who was the first to have it done. The procedure repairs the torn ulnar collateral ligament using a tendon graft from an athlete's hamstring or forearm, and it has a success rate higher than 90%. But Meister has recently experimented with new technology to enhance the repair. He's combining the tendon graft with what's called an internal brace. "If you're going to start changing the way you're doing something, the comparison isn't whether they get better or not," he said. "The comparison is two existing approaches and procedures that are doing pretty darn well. So you better have something that you feel strongly is a strong alternative -- not just that you're hoping to save a few months in the recovery." Meister is one of the three most sought-after orthopedic surgeons for Tommy John surgery, up there alongside Neal ElAttrache and James Andrews. Meister is head physician for the Texas Rangers and has repaired the elbows of some of baseball's biggest names. But recently, he's also been the go-to surgeon for LSU's pitching staff, including left-hander Javen Coleman and right-handers Grant Taylor, Garrett Edwards and Chase Shores. "I think he's doing some things right now with not only repairing, but also using an internal brace that is helping that healing process and stabilizing it a little bit more," said LSU coach Jay Johnson, whose team enters the season's stretch run without Taylor, Edwards or Shores in the bullpen. |
Johnny Majors estate is on sale -- including his Tennessee football, Pittsburgh memorabilia | |
![]() | The estate of Tennessee football icon Johnny Majors is being auctioned, and you won't believe what's available for fans and collectors to purchase. Trophies, plaques, autographed photos and other sports memorabilia from his legendary college football career are open for online bids, which started at $10 an item in most cases. But those prices are sure to rise. It's an online-only auction through Furrow Auction Co. To bid on items and get more information, go to Furrow.com. The auction is open for bids through June 7. The collection isn't just from Majors' time as a Hall of Fame player and coach at Tennessee. There are historic and personal items from his stints coaching at Mississippi State, Iowa State, Pittsburgh and more. Majors, 85, died in 2020. He was a high school football star at Huntland and then the 1956 Heisman Trophy runner-up for the Vols. He retired in 1996 as a legendary coach at two schools, Tennessee and Pitt. His estate is a treasure trove for those who cherished his kind-hearted southern drawl and championship resume. Majors' first coaching job outside of Tennessee was as a Mississippi State assistant from 1960-63. There are framed photos from those coaching staffs in the catalog. |
Favre ends lawsuit after sportscaster McAfee apologizes over 'stealing from poor' remark | |
![]() | Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre is ending a lawsuit against sportscaster Pat McAfee after McAfee publicly apologized Thursday for his previous on-air statements that Favre had been " stealing from poor people in Mississippi" in a welfare misspending case. Favre and McAfee both announced the settlement. McAfee, a former NFL punter, apologized during "The Pat McAfee Show" on YouTube and said he did not have to make a payment to Favre to settle the suit. "As I confirmed in my court papers and I repeat here, my statements expressed in comedic style were based solely on public information and allegations," McAfee said, adding that he respects Favre's football career. "I would much rather talk about sports than about lawsuits, so I'm glad we have all of this behind us," McAfee said. Favre wrote in a Twitter post: "Like Pat said, he was attempting to be funny and not commenting based on any personal knowledge. We'd both much rather talk about football." |
Two Auburn athletics trainers credited with helping save a life by Arkansas airport | |
![]() | Two Auburn athletics trainers traveling with the Auburn softball team have been credited with springing into action and helping to save a life at an Arkansas airport on Tuesday, according to a report from 5NEWS in Arkansas. As Auburn softball traveled to the SEC Tournament in Fayetteville, trainers Lora Fuhrmann and Noah Tanner intervened and assisted during a medical emergency at Northwest Arkansas National Airport, an airport official told the news station. The official said Fuhrmann and Tanner helped the individual while emergency personnel were en route. "Their efforts likely contributed to saving a life, and we are grateful for their actions as well as the quick response of our fire department personnel," airport spokesperson Brian Burke told 5NEWS. Fuhrmann told the station that anyone can get certified in CPR and that it can be helpful in situations like the one that occurred at the airport. |
Alabama baseball gambling scandal reflects new reality in college athletics | |
![]() | Five years have passed since the Supreme Court's ruling in Murphy v. NCAA overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which barred states from legalizing gambling on professional and college sports. The proliferation of fantasy sports companies such as DraftKings and expansive state-by-state legislation have since brought sports gambling into the national mainstream, pulling college athletics along for the ride. "As legal sports betting has expanded geographically, it's become a lot more mainstream and definitely a lot more higher profile," said UNLV professor David Schwartz, the former director of the university's Center for Gaming Research. At this intersection of gambling and the NCAA, recent allegations of violations involving the baseball program at Alabama underscore a fear within college sports: that given the increasingly easy access to sports gambling in person and online, players and coaches will be unable to resist the temptation to break one of the cardinal NCAA rules. "To some degree, it was inevitable," said Oklahoma State professor John Holden, who has written extensively on the regulation of sports gambling. "There was a lot of focus on how much revenue this was going to bring in for the state and not a lot of looking at the consequences, which we're now starting to see some of them." While college sports have evolved and adapted to the point where athletes can now monetize their celebrity status, restrictions on any form of gambling remain one of the hallmarks of the NCAA rulebook. |
Iowa, ISU gambling investigation: Amounts wagered key in possible athlete reinstatement | |
![]() | The punishment for student-athletes who gamble on any college or pro sport sanctioned by the NCAA is steep: a loss of college eligibility. However, there is a reinstatement process outlined by the NCAA that has been updated to include a section about wagers placed after April 25, 2018, a date shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a federal ban on commercial sports gambling. A total of 33 states have now adopted legalized sports gambling. That reinstatement process is of high interest to the 41 current student-athletes at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University at the center of a sports-gambling investigation that involves the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation's special-enforcement bureau and is being watched closely by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. At Iowa, 26 student-athletes in five men's sports (baseball, basketball, football, track and field, wrestling) were flagged; Iowa State said "approximately 15" in three men's sports (football, track and field, wrestling) were involved. Beyond any potential criminal charges – none had been filed in this investigation as of Tuesday, per the DCI – the question of NCAA eligibility is at the immediate forefront for the participants, coaches and fans of both universities. And depending on how much each student-athlete was found to have gambled on sports and what types of wagers were placed will depend on whether he will have a chance to return to competition. |
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