| Thursday, June 22, 2023 |
| Water, sewer study aims to modernize, prep for growth | |
 | Starkville Utilities is gearing up for an evaluation of its water and wastewater system that could shape the future of utilities in the city for the next two decades. Edward Kemp, general manager for Starkville Utilities, said the evaluations will help modernize the city's water systems. Kemp said the evaluations will be paid for by December's water and sewer rate increase. "We're not doing this because there's anything not working or not functioning now, but we're trying to be proactive and prepare for the future," Kemp said. "We want to have a really solid game plan in how we invest our capital dollars into these ... aspects of our utility organization to better serve our customers in the long run." In a press release on Tuesday, Starkville Utilities said the evaluation results will be used to identify equipment, facilities and technologies to be upgraded and replaced. The release said the evaluations will also be used to estimate costs for proposed future projects and to find federal grant programs to cover capital improvements. Starkville Utilities currently serves 14,000 individual customers, including residents, businesses and industries in the city, as well as Mississippi State University. Kemp said this number has grown over time as the city has grown. |
| Goings on with Grant: Texas barbeque coming to Starkville Aug. 2 | |
| I need to be honest, y'all. There aren't too many places around Starkville to remind me of my home state of Texas. But Craig and Michele Fant, owners of Taste and Bluto's Greek Tavern, aim to change that, and not just for me. The Fants are working on their latest restaurant, The Joint, a Texas barbeque place located in the former Breakfast Club building at 105 Eckford Drive, right off Highway 12. After spending time visiting several local barbeque joints in the Lone Star State, Fant told me she and her husband wanted to bring a new flavor to Starkville. "We just wanted to bring a different type of barbecue to Starkville," Fant said. "We wanted to be as true to Texas-style barbecue as we could. We also ship in post oak wood and use all the same meats that they use in Texas. Even inside of the building, we tried to make it as Texas-style as possible to keep it authentic." Right now, the building is still being renovated. Once complete, the restaurant will feature Texas barbeque staples like whole smoked hogs, beef ribs, cow tips and brisket, to name a few menu items I'll certainly be using to reminisce about my childhood. The restaurant is expected to open Aug. 2, Fant said. |
| 2023 Mississippi Main Street Association award winners announced | |
 | The Mississippi Main Street Association (MMSA) celebrated the achievements of statewide communities at the Annual Awards Luncheon at The South Warehouse in downtown Jackson. Main Street directors, board members, and volunteers were honored and recognized for outstanding downtown revitalization projects and events that took place throughout the Magnolia State. "Each year, the Annual Awards Luncheon highlights the people, projects, and initiatives that drive economic development in Mississippi's Main Street communities," MMSA Executive Director Thomas Gregory said. "Our local Main Street programs are strategic in their downtown revitalization work, and we are proud to recognize their accomplishments over the past year." Six programs also earned the Main Street Circle of Excellence, a new achievement added this year, and were recognized for their notable efforts in running efficient local programs and excelling with all state requirements of a designated Main Street program. Medals were presented to Team Cleveland Main Street, Nettleton Main Street, New Albany Main Street, Pontotoc County Main Street Chamber, Starkville Main Street Association, and Sumrall Main Street Association. |
| Second teenager arrested in connection to Hangout automobile shooting | |
| Another teenager has been arrested in connection to a May automobile shooting at the Hangout, according to Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Office officials. Jamionte Paster, 18, Starkville, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon and charged with shooting into an automobile, OCSO Lt. Jon Davis said. OCSO previously arrested Ralpheal Henry, 19, who turned himself in on May 22 in connection with the shooting. The shooting originally occurred in the parking lot of the Hangout on Mary Lee Lane on May 10 at about 1:50 a.m., with the shooting directed towards an unoccupied vehicle. One minor injury was reported in association with the incident, which was a gunshot wound to an ankle, Davis told The Dispatch on May 23 following Henry's arrest. More arrests are still expected. |
| The labor market is still really tight in the Midwest and the South | |
| This week, the Labor Department released state-by-state data about job openings and labor turnover for the month of April. The data showed that the labor market is tight throughout the U.S. But there are some parts of the country where employers are having an especially hard time finding workers. The labor market is tightest in the South, along with the Midwest and in New England. "They have very high job openings compared to the number of unemployed persons," said Meagan Schoenberger, senior economist at KPMG. A big reason the labor market is so tight in the South, she said, is that a lot of people have been moving there. Many of those people are starting up businesses, which creates demand for even more workers. "That's sort of robustified economies in geographic regions, and now they need a lot more labor, and it's just not there yet," Schoenberger said. |
| Report: Mississippi worst in nation in healthcare performance, bottom 10 in over two dozen metrics | |
 | Mississippi ranks last in the nation in overall healthcare performance, according to the latest Scorecard on State Health System Performance by nonpartisan healthcare foundation the Commonwealth Fund. The scorecard, which looks at all 50 states and Washington, D.C., also ranked the Magnolia State 50 out of 51 on reproductive care and women's health, a new category to be specifically tracked by the roughly 15-year-old annual report. Mississippi also ranked 50 out of 51 in healthy lives, 49 out of 51 in racial and ethnic health equity and 47 out of 51 in overall access and affordability and prevention and treatment. Among its 11 Southeastern neighbors, Mississippi ranked last in overall healthcare performance, reproductive and women's health, prevention and treatment and racial and ethnic health equity. It only ranked in the top half in one category, income disparity. Like in many states, the report found that Mississippi saw a rise in preventable deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. "There's no doubt that the scorecard really gives us a detailed view of how we've come out of the pandemic," said Joe Betancourt, primary care doctor and Commonwealth Fund president. "And it sounds alarms, you know, clear and present dangers in a couple of different areas. We've gone backward on life expectancy, backward on avoidable deaths. Women's health, mental health, substance abuse disorder are all critical issues that require urgent attention." |
| What incumbent Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann wants to do for Mississippi | |
| Incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said that if he is reelected, he wants to continue to cut Mississippians' taxes, and he argues it is feasible because of conservative policies and spending he pushed in his first term. "One of our goals, of course, will be to continue to lower the tax rate," Hosemann said. "... We implemented the largest tax cut in Mississippi history, which will reduce the income tax rate to 4% by 2026 ... And we are having discussions in the Senate on both the income and the grocery tax. And as you know, I am open to either or both. And by doing things like paying off $550 million worth of state debt ... that saves us about $35 million a year in interest that can go back to lowering people's taxes and education and infrastructure." Hosemann is running for reelection to a second and final term as lieutenant governor, overseeing the state Senate. Mississippi Today recently asked Hosemann and his opponent, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, to share their ideas for the future. Hosemann said Mississippi and state government are seeing an unprecedented economic boon that will allow focus on numerous priorities such as tax cuts, improving infrastructure, workforce development, education and health care. |
| What lieutenant governor candidate Chris McDaniel wants to do for Mississippi | |
| Four-term Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel said that if elected lieutenant governor, "tax relief" would be his top priority. "That would include income tax elimination and grocery tax elimination," McDaniel said, "which leads to more job creation and economic growth ... The grocery tax is particularly regressive and punishes people for purchasing necessities and impacts lower-income people the most. I think it's wrong to tax necessities." McDaniel is running against incumbent Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann in the Aug. 6 Republican primary. Mississippi Today recently asked McDaniel and Hosemann to share their ideas for Mississippi's future. Another top priority if elected, McDaniel said, would be reinstating voters' right to ballot initiative -- bypassing the Legislature and putting issues or policies to a direct popular vote. A state Supreme Court decision in 2021 nullified Mississippi's ballot initiative process. Attempts to reinstate it failed the last two years in the Legislature, with many including McDaniel blaming Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and his Senate leadership for its failure. "The ballot initiative is frankly right up there with tax relief, tied for number one of my priorities," McDaniel said. "The ballot initiative in my mind is a constitutional right that allows people to circumvent politicians who aren't listening to their wishes." |
| The water in Mississippi's capital is safe to drink, city officials say | |
 | The water flowing from faucets in Mississippi's capital is safe to drink, city officials said in federal court Wednesday. U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate ordered Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Ted Henifin, whom Wingate appointed in November to manage the city's beleaguered water system, to appear in court because of comments Lumumba made at a June 14 news conference. Wingate was worried the mayor "may have misinformed the public" about whether Jackson's water was safe to drink, court records show. "Not only must we address the water woes, we have to worry about instilling confidence that the water is safe to drink," Wingate said in court Wednesday. Jackson has struggled with water problems for decades. Most of the city lost running water for several days in August and September after heavy rainfall exacerbated problems at the city's main water treatment plant. At the June 14 news conference, Lumumba announced a new initiative to distribute free water filters, focusing on pregnant women and families with young children. In court Wednesday, Wingate said he became concerned at a meeting with Henifin after the news conference in which Henifin took issue with some of the mayor's comments. Specifically, Henifin said, the promotion of water filters might have implied that Jackson's water wasn't safe to drink without them. "There is no health risk drinking the water that I'm aware of," Henifin said. "We really need to be careful with messaging about the water." |
| Disability advocates are asking a court to halt a Mississippi law on ballot assistance | |
 | Disability and voting rights advocates are asking a federal court to block a measure in Mississippi, set to go into effect next week, that creates new restrictions for people who need assistance voting by mail. Senate Bill 2358 limits who can collect and transmit a ballot that was mailed to someone else. In Mississippi, the state's absentee-by-mail voting program is for limited groups of voters -- people out of town on Election Day, people 65 or older and people with a temporary or permanent physical disability. Under the new law, which goes into effect July 1, only election officials, postal workers, a family member or household member or a caregiver can assist these voters in mailing back their ballot. Violating these new restrictions is punishable by imprisonment of up to one year in county jail and/or a fine of up to $3,000. Supporters of the Mississippi law say it's aimed at preventing ballot harvesting, which is when someone collects and returns other people's ballots. Many Republicans have argued this practice leads to vote stealing and fraud, which studies have found are extremely rare in United States elections. Last month, a voter who requires assistance returning their ballot, two Mississippians who have provided voting assistance to their friends and neighbors -- as well as Disability Rights Mississippi and the League of Women Voters of Mississippi -- sued the state in federal court, arguing the new law violates federal voting protections for people with disabilities. |
| 'Congress should stay out' of regulating Supreme Court ethics, McConnell says | |
 | In light of another bombshell report detailing undisclosed gifts to a Supreme Court justice, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that Congress should have no role in trying to write ethics laws for the nation's highest court. "The Supreme Court, in my view, can't be dictated to by Congress," McConnell said on Capitol Hill in response to a question. On Monday, ProPublica published an article revealing that Justice Samuel Alito had taken an Alaskan vacation valued over $100,000 with billionaire Republican donor Paul Singer, who later had at least ten cases heard before the Supreme Court. Alito never disclosed the gifts and claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed he never spoke with Singer about issues that came before the court. In April, the same publication reported that Justice Clarence Thomas enjoyed luxury vacations paid for by billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow. Similarly, Thomas never reported the trips on financial disclosure forms. The twin cases have reignited calls on Capitol Hill for Congress to tighten the ethics rules guiding Supreme Court judges. "I think the chief justice will address these issues. Congress should stay out of it, because we don't, I think have the jurisdiction to tell the Supreme Court how to handle the issue," McConnell said Wednesday, reiterating his response to Thomas' gifts in April. |
| Waning Blue Dogs eschew branding in favor of taking down 'weirdos' | |
 | The Blue Dog Coalition doesn't have a branding issue, its new leaders say. They aren't concerned with its dwindling numbers. Nor are they preoccupied with the political labels others place upon them. "I hate to even have to address that stuff you're trying to bring up. I really do, because I never thought about that stuff when I chose to join the Blue Dogs," said Rep. Jared Golden, the third-term Maine representative who last month was named one of three co-chairs of the centrist caucus of House Democrats. The former Marine sat in his office on a recent Thursday in the midst of the House Freedom Caucus' vote-stopping debt ceiling protest. Beside him were fellow Blue Dog co-chair Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez of Washington and the group's newest member, Wiley Nickel of North Carolina. Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska rounds out the caucus' new leadership. "I feel like there's a lot of focus on messaging and a lot of people in D.C. need to touch some grass," said Gluesenkamp Pérez. Yet it was an internal rift over branding earlier this year that led to the Blue Dogs, once an influential caucus, to be cut nearly in half. According to reporting at the time, a faction of Blue Dogs wanted to shed the reputation of being too conservative on social issues and too much of an "old boys' club." They proposed a new name -- the Common Sense Caucus -- and left en masse when that effort failed. The skirmish left the Blue Dogs with just seven members -- and zero women -- in the early months of the 118th Congress, down from 19 in the previous Congress and a high of 54 in the 111th Congress. Their power waned steadily as rural Democrats vanished, and other caucuses, like the moderate New Democrat Coalition, gained influence. |
| House GOP votes to censure Schiff over role in Trump investigations | |
 | The House GOP voted Wednesday to publicly reprimand Rep. Adam Schiff for his leading role in Democratic investigations of former President Donald Trump. The measure, which passed 213-209, formally censures Schiff and directs the House Ethics Committee to investigate his actions. All five Republican members of the House ethics panel and Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) voted "present" on Wednesday's measure. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), the sponsor of the resolution, and other conservatives tried to advance a similar censure measure last week, but 20 Republicans -- objecting to language that could have resulted in a $16 million fine for Schiff, unless he resigned from Congress -- joined most Democrats to sink it before it came up for a full House vote. Luna removed that provision to allay their concerns. Schiff has long been a Republican foil for his participation in the Trump probes, including the House investigation into the former president's campaign ties to Russia and his first impeachment. Luna said Schiff had "launched an all-out political campaign against a sitting president" and "abused his privileges" as the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, which Speaker Kevin McCarthy removed him from earlier this year. It's the latest example of conservative-pushed "privileged" resolutions, which require a speedy floor vote and bypass the committee process. The right flank of the House GOP also plans to force votes on other controversial measures, despite the wishes of leadership, like the impeachment of President Joe Biden and his Cabinet secretaries. |
| Ex-Texas congressman Will Hurd calls Trump a 'failed politician' as he launches GOP presidential run | |
| Former Texas congressman Will Hurd, a onetime CIA officer and fierce critic of Donald Trump, announced Thursday that he's running for president, hoping to build momentum as a more moderate alternative to the Republican front-runner. Hurd, 45, served three terms in the House through January 2021, becoming the chamber's only Black Republican during his final two years in office. "We need common sense," said Hurd, who made the announcement on "CBS Mornings," adding, "I believe the Republican Party can be the party of the future, not the past." In a campaign video, the former congressman said that the "soul of our country is under attack," reminiscent of Democrat Joe Biden's slogan about the 2020 race being a "battle for the soul of the nation." "Our enemies plot, create chaos, and threaten the American Dream. At home, illegal immigration and fentanyl stream into our country. Inflation, still out of control. Crime and homelessness growing in our cities," Hurd says in the video. "President Biden can't solve these problems -- or won't. And if we nominate a lawless, selfish, failed politician like Donald Trump -- who lost the House, the Senate, and the White House -- we all know Joe Biden will win again." |
| RFK Jr.'s White House Bid Is a Mix of Nostalgia and Conspiracy Theories | |
 | Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood in front of a statue of President John F. Kennedy at the site marking his uncle's first stop in the 1960 campaign. Then he defended his claim that a contaminant in water might be causing people to identify as transgender. In an interview later, he expounded upon his position. "If we're chemically damaging sexual development in our children, if it injures frogs that way, my idea would be it should be prohibited unless they...show it doesn't hurt people," he said Tuesday. Kennedy was citing a small study in which frogs were exposed to a herbicide and their genders changed. The maverick presidential run by the 69-year-old environmental lawyer for the Democratic presidential nomination is a mix of the nostalgic and the weird. While tapping into his family legacy as the scion of the most-storied family in Democratic politics, he is taking to the campaign trail to push viewpoints somewhere between outside the American mainstream and firmly in conspiracy-theory land. He has aired claims---debunked by public-health experts---linking childhood vaccinations to autism. He has cast doubt on the safety of Covid-19 vaccines. He has questioned whether prescription drugs have caused a rise in school shootings and whether Wi-Fi exposure leads to cancer. He has said that the Central Intelligence Agency assassinated his uncle and could have killed his father, Robert F. Kennedy, despite no concrete evidence. And he has said the U.S. is perpetuating the Ukraine war to fuel the defense industry. It isn't likely that any of this will endear him to enough Democratic voters to replace Joe Biden as the party's presidential nominee in 2024. But he is causing the Biden team, and the party, some heartburn as he campaigns in one of the earliest-voting states. |
| MSMS student wins NPR podcast competition for her reporting on Jackson water crisis | |
| On Wednesday Georgianna McKenny finally got to share a secret she'd been keeping for weeks: she beat out more than 3,300 students across the country in a national podcast competition. The 17-year-old is the winner of National Public Radio Student Podcast Challenge, which gives students a chance to have their work featured on the daily national broadcast. Her episode exploring the impact of the Jackson water crisis on students was created in her University Composition class at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, a public boarding school located in Columbus. Her teacher, Thomas Easterling, created the project three years ago in an effort to revamp his coursework after the pandemic. "It forces them to get out of the classroom and it forces them to see how scholarship and citizenship really are tied," Easterling said. Judges praised the creative introduction and personal connection in McKenny's episode. McKenny said it feels "amazing" to have won, and encouraged others to pursue telling stories they are interested in. |
| UMMC receives top marks for stroke care | |
| Judy Herrington is a stroke survivor whose caregivers affectionally call their "miracle patient." Nurses at the University of Mississippi Medical Center zeroed in on a change in her neurological status while Herrington was recovering from an elective procedure. "They immediately activated our stroke care team," said Neal Kiihnl, manager of UMMC's stroke outreach program. The Madison resident was quickly given a clot-busting medication for ischemic stroke after the stroke team consulted with her primary care providers. Her full neurological workup included scans, "and the stroke team saw the clot could be removed from her brain. She was taken to Interventional Radiology for surgery," Kiihnl said. "From the time that the stroke alert went out, in under an hour and a half she'd already had the procedure to remove the clot from her brain," he said. "Time is brain. You want to eliminate that clot as soon as possible." Herrington's care at the state's only academic medical center was provided through UMMC's advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center. That new designation, recently awarded by The Joint Commission, is a significant step up from Primary Stroke Center, a designation UMMC held during Herrington's hospitalization in 2019. |
| Alcorn State University awarded over $1M for scholarship expansion | |
| Alcorn State University is the recipient of two grants totaling $1,050,000 from the Bernard Osher Foundation for the expansion of scholarship offerings. According to Alcorn officials, the funding will support the reentry to the university for individuals between the ages of 25 to 50 through the Osher Reentry Scholarship Program. The newly expanded scholarship offerings are expected to increase the yearly total from 10 to 20. "We are appreciative to the Bernard Osher Foundation for its generous gift to Alcorn State," said Dr. Ontario Wooden, interim president. "We were founded on the principle of providing access to the underserved. This gift will allow us open doors of educational opportunity to students who may have stopped the pursuit of their education due to various life circumstances. I would like to thank the team for their work to secure the grant and endowment." Osher Reentry Scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate students who have experienced a gap in their education of five or more years and are pursuing their first bachelor's degree. |
| 'When You Get A Yes': Five Mississippi HBCUs Receive Grant to 'Retool Your School' | |
| The Rust College Lady Bearcats Basketball team's bus pulled onto the North Mississippi campus in February 2022. On a nearby stage, singer Anita Ward stood performing her hit song, "Ring My Bell," while students and faculty danced to the music. The athletes exited the bus while carrying the trophy that signified their freshly earned status as 2022 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference champions. The crowd, there for the Home Depot "Retool Your Campus" competition, applauded the Lady Bearcats' victory. "The girls had just arrived on campus, so we got to celebrate them during the event," Rust College Vice President for Institutional Advancement Tiffani Perry told the Mississippi Free Press. "The morale of the student body, it just kicked up a notch." In its 14th year, the Home Depot "Retool Your School" grant program awards three types of campus-improvement grants to historically Black colleges and universities, ranging from $40,000 to $150,000, using an online voting challenge. Perry described the huge social-media campaigns and videos other HBCUs started to encourage people to vote for them. She learned that engaging with students during the pre-voting phase was key to added success. "We were like, 'Wait a minute. We gotta do better. We can compete. We're a little school, but we got this,'" Perry recalled. "So, for this year, we actually started our planning before the end of (last) year." Home Depot awarded grants to 36 HBCUs this year including Tougaloo College, Jackson State University, Coahoma Community College and Mississippi Valley State University. |
| ECCC to start nursing program here | |
| East Central Community College will be starting a new nursing program on the Neshoba General campus in the next couple of years. The program was announced Monday by Dr. Brent Gregory, president of East Central Community College, and Lee McCall, chief executive officer at Neshoba General, during the regular meeting of the Neshoba County Board of Supervisors. "It will be located in our building across from our main clinic," McCall told supervisors. The tentative opening date is January 2025. McCall expects a good partnership "We are excited about it," he said. "A few months ago, East Central announced it would be moving some of its job training programs to Neshoba County. At the same, they indicated they would be bringing a nursing program here. "I reached out to Dr. Gregory and we started exploring the possibilities of bringing that program and possibly more related programs on to our campus. A lot of their students already come here to do their clinical training. As we pursued those discussions, we decided we have the perfect location for it. The East Central board has approved the concept and we met with the supervisors." |
| Christmas comedy starring George Lopez being shot in Jackson at Belhaven University | |
| A Christmas comedy movie is being filmed in the heart of Jackson at Belhaven University. This holiday season, the capital city and Belhaven University will be featured in the star-studded Christmas-Comedy movie "How the Gringo Stole Christmas." "It's the realization that as much as my character tries to keep his family, one way that I can't tell the kids out of think," stand-up comedian and actor George Lopez explained. "George Lopez plays a proud Mexican American gardener with a landscaping business. And his daughter brings home kind of a hippie white dude, and hilarity ensues," Amile Wilson, producer and unit production manager said. Belhaven University's track and field became the backdrop for a key scene in the movie Wednesday. "There's an argument about the recreation and games that adults can and can't play. And so the family challenges the boyfriend to a game of football, which of course means soccer," Wilson explained. For many in the cast, this was their first visit to the Magnolia State - and so far, you've left a great impression. "We love how green Mississippi is. How chilled out everybody has been and sweet. And, frankly, well, we're just happy to be experiencing this," Mariana Treviño, who was recently in A Man Called Otto said. The crew doesn't just consist of people from California. In fact, students from Belhaven are involved. |
| Tigerland can be a dangerous place to walk. Could this LSU grad's senior project help? | |
 | In 2019, LSU sophomore Sarah James was hit by a car and killed at the busy intersection of Nicholson Drive and Bob Pettit Boulevard. On weekend nights, the area is crowded with LSU students walking to and from the popular bars in Tigerland. But it has also been the scene of multiple fatal and non-fatal pedestrian accidents. One of James' friends, landscape architecture student Taylor LaSorsa, made it the goal of her senior capstone project to make the area safer. "Tigerland is such a piece of LSU culture, so many students go," LaSorsa said. "It can be fun, but it can also be a scary experience depending on the day." Safety at Tigerland has been a burning issue in Baton Rouge since the death of Madison Brooks, who was raped and fatally hit by a car after a night at Reggie's, the now-shuttered bar. And the lack of pedestrian options became clear last year when a bridge was closed for construction -- and students responded by jumping over the creek, clambering over the active construction site or even building their own makeshift bridges. In a quest to reimagine the bar district, LaSorsa spent the entire school year researching, meeting with stakeholders and redesigning the entire area, from medians to walkways to greenery to additional lighting. LaSorsa's final project has caught the eye of officials in East Baton Rouge Parish government who see it as a guidebook to reimagining the entire area. "When I found it I was absolutely blown away by the project," said Metro Councilwoman Jennifer Racca, who represents Tigerland. "It was even more captivating because she had the foresight to do what (the city) pays hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars for other people to plan for them to do." |
| U. of Tennessee Cherokee Farm research building breaks ground | |
 | A new research building will help the University of Tennessee at Knoxville train the next generation of workers and develop new technologies in biotech, forestry, manufacturing and other key industries. Innovation South is a project owned and developed by real estate developer Partners Development that's being built at the UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm. It will join the Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing headquarters and the UT Spark Innovation Center at the park. Work starts on the building June 22. UT is the anchor tenant of the 30,000-square-foot facility for research, training and education. The building will be occupied by other tenants, including the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation -- the Composites Institute, the U.S. Forest Service, Trimble, the Golden Roast, Volkswagen Group of America and EDP Biotech. The UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm was acquired by the university in 1916 to be used as a farm for agricultural research. In 2008, the farm was transferred from the UT Institute of Agriculture to the UT System. Redevelopment of the land from a farm into a research park began in 2010. |
| U. of Florida opens for new $26M public safety facility | |
 | It has taken nearly a century but the University of Florida finally has itself a sparkling new, state-of-the-art public safety facility for the campus' first responders. UF officials held the grand opening for the $26.8-million, three-story building Wednesday, replacing a crumbling 93-year-old facility that some referred to as a "gingerbread house" where people have fallen through the wooden floor. Prior to its construction, the UF Police Department staff were spread throughout five buildings. Now, the department is centrally located in two adjacent buildings that allow UFPD officers to quickly access necessary resources, such as security footage and card-reader access points. "The location makes us accessible," UFPD Capt. Latrell Simmons said. "We're hoping that as we continue to highlight the resources that we offer here at the University of Florida Police Department, that everyone will come in and engage with us." But it's not just UFPD that will enjoy the new digs. The 51,000-square-foot facility is large enough to also house the Department of Emergency Management, including the Emergency Operations Center and UF Physical Security's Global Security Operations Center. "It's not only a police department, but it's named the Public Safety Building for a reason," said Linda Stump-Kurnick, UF's assistant vice president of public and environmental safety. "It's a safe environment for those people who work at the university to come and help us keep the business of the university going." |
| McMaster asks South Carolina colleges to cut costs after budget provides 'more than their share' | |
 | South Carolina's public universities need to cut students' costs after the Legislature provided them "many times more" than they need to hold tuition steady, Gov. Henry McMaster said in releasing his budget vetoes. The Republican governor didn't strike any of the money legislators sent to colleges, despite being critical of it. As a percentage, he struck almost nothing from the Legislature's nearly $14 billion spending package that takes effect July 1. In all, the line-item vetoes he released June 20 tallied just $1.5 million. That's the smallest sum any South Carolina governor has tried to nix from a budget in at least a quarter-century and amounts to a tiny fraction. McMaster said that's because he worked with House and Senate leaders throughout the process, noting the final package includes a record 283 of his recommendations totaling $3.3 billion. "It wasn't necessary" to veto more, he told reporters. "We worked it all out as we were going along." Still, he said the "unprecedented investment in higher education demands greater accountability." |
| This Year, One Major College Ranker Is Turning From Rankings to Ratings | |
 | As U.S. News & World Report has faced boycotts and criticisms of its college rankings over the past several months, other rankings editors have been watching. Now, one ranker, Money magazine, is announcing a major change. Colleges on Money's 2023 list will get a rating -- somewhere between two-and-a-half and five stars -- instead of a numbered rank. Stories about the rankings on Money.com encourage students not to obsess over small differences in ranks, and to use the Money list as one tool among many in making their college choice. (U.S. News offers similar advice.) But Kaitlin Mulhere, Money's higher-education editor, said all the caveats felt a bit disingenuous. "We know how long people spend on the website," she said. Largely, readers were scrolling through the list, not getting a nuanced understanding of how rankings work. So, Mulhere said, "We're hoping that the ratings can be in the middle, where they can give some idea of a college's quality and value, but not make it so easy to get distracted by where a college places among peer colleges or, you know, where your work friend went to school." |
| Is college worth it? Recent analysis says yes | |
 | College degrees have historically been known as a primary path to economic mobility, but when the value of a degree is based on the institution awarding it -- and on demographics such as race, gender and income level -- the financial feasibility and the return on investment isn't always guaranteed. As tuition continues to rise and enrollment continues to drop, the debate over the value of a college degree continues. According to a report released by the Institution for Higher Education Policy Wednesday, a college degree still has value for about 93 percent of students. The analysis shows that for the majority of students, especially those attending a public institution, having a college degree leaves them better off financially in comparison to peers who did not pursue postsecondary education. About 2,400 institutions, enrolling about 18 million undergraduates nationwide, reach a minimum level of value return that makes the cost of college worth the investment, the report says. However, another 500 institutions, enrolling nearly 1.5 million undergraduate students, do not meet the same standard. Building on the work of the Postsecondary Value Commission, a team of higher ed experts aiming to define and measure college value, the report uses public data to estimate the number of colleges nationwide that provide a "minimum economic return." It also suggests policy changes, such as doubling the federal Pell Grant and implementing free college programs, that could increase education equity by improving college affordability. |
| When a professor is 'canceled' for bigotry, colleges strain to respond | |
 | On a Thursday morning in February, Charles Negy stood before a group of about 40 students, presiding over his theories-of-personality class at the University of Central Florida. Scattered across a large auditorium, students jotted notes as Negy, a 62-year-old associate professor of psychology, spoke about Sigmund Freud. Projection, Negy explained, is when "we see in others what we don't want to see in ourselves." It's like calling someone else a racist, Negy continued, when, in truth, "everybody is a little bit racist." This lecture would have seemed unlikely two years ago. UCF fired Negy in early 2021, months after the professor provoked a firestorm by complaining on Twitter about "Black privilege" just days after George Floyd's murder. University officials insisted that Negy wasn't fired for his views. Instead, an exhaustive investigation concluded that the professor had created "a hostile learning environment." UCF cited comments he made in class: that being anti-racists gave students "a little boner," and that a woman is "kind of like a Ford pickup truck, built to take a pounding." But in 2022, an arbitrator reversed Negy's dismissal. So, with gritted teeth, UCF reinstated him in August, returning to the classroom a professor about whom it had sent an undeniable message: This person is toxic to our university. Across higher education, cases like Negy's are tying college administrators in knots as they seek to balance free-speech traditions with goals like diversity and inclusion. |
| House fails to overturn Biden veto in effort to cancel student debt relief | |
 | House Republicans were not able to convince the two-thirds majority they needed to overturn President Biden's veto of a resolution that would have shot down his proposal to cancel up to $20,000 of a borrower's student debt. The 221-206 vote on attempt to overturn Biden's veto of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to end the president's debt relief plan is officially dead in the water. Beating Biden's veto would have required two-thirds support in the House and the Senate -- both of which passed the original resolution. Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office found Biden's student loan forgiveness plan was subject to the CRA, which lets Congress suspend actions taken by the president. Republicans jumped on the opportunity, quickly introducing a CRA measure in the House attempting to stop the student debt relief. Biden's student debt relief plan, however, still faces a significant hurdle: the conservative-majority Supreme Court, which may rule on the proposal as early as Thursday. |
SPORTS
| EXCLUSIVE: Sam Purcell excited for roster that matches rising expectations of program | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball coach Sam Purcell could sense the excitement at Starkville's Georgia Blue restaurant as he worked a room full of MSU alumni at the first stop of this year's Hail State Happy Hours tour. For hours, Purcell sat at tables, answering questions about his team's roster and how to get season tickets. Coming off the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019, there is renewed optimism that MSU is on its way back to being amongst the best in the sport – just as it was during the last decade. Heading into year No. 2, Purcell believes he has built a roster to meet those rising expectations. "I gotta give a lot of credit to my staff because after last year's awesome run, which was (tabbed) 'Why not us,' because we were trying to get the program back, the vision is real," Purcell told The Dispatch Tuesday night. "That is the beauty of the NCAA (transfer) rules. I know a lot of fans don't necessarily like it, but when it works in your favor, they love it. There was a situation where we were able to add some good, young women and then most importantly, our players that played last year came back. The ones that really loved it and had a great experience (came back). So we are excited for year two." |
| Clegg Named College Sports Communicators Academic All-American Of The Year | |
| For the third consecutive year, Mississippi State's Ford Clegg has been selected to the College Sports Communicators At-Large Academic All-America Team. Additionally, in his final year of athletic eligibility, Clegg has been tabbed as the organization's At-Large Academic All-American of the Year. In each of the last two years, Clegg was the only Division I men's golfer in the nation to named a First Team Academic All-American. This year, he is one of four and the only member from the SEC. He is the only three-time winner on this year's first team and one of just three repeat winners from a year ago. "What an incredible accomplishment it is to be named Academic All-American of the Year," head coach Dusty Smith said. "Ford has proved what is possible being a student-athlete at Mississippi State University. It takes a special type of person to accomplish what he has in our sport of golf and also in the classroom. I know he will go down as one of the great student-athletes in Mississippi State history. I am thankful I had the opportunity to coach Ford, and I couldn't be more proud of him." Clegg won the NCAA Elite 90 Award this spring as the golfer with the highest career GPA at the NCAA Championships. The graduate student from Birmingham, Alabama, is pursuing an MBA after completing his undergraduate degree in finance in May 2022. He graduated summa cum laude and has maintained a career 4.0 GPA in both his undergraduate and graduate studies. |
| CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock to step down in 2025 | |
| College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock will retire when his contract expires Feb. 1, 2025, the CFP announced following a routine June meeting in Half Moon Bay, California, on Wednesday. Hancock, 72, will remain in his current position through the 2023-2024 season. He'll then take on a consultant role to the new executive director when the CFP expands from the current four-team playoff to the new 12-team format for the 2024-25 season. Hancock was named executive director of the CFP a few months after the event was created in 2012. According to the CFP, he was the only employee at the time. The commissioners of the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick "directed him to finalize the details of a media rights agreement, negotiate agreements with bowl games and championship-game host cities, build a staff, find office space, contact members to serve on the selection committee, and draft protocol and procedures for the committee to use," according to the release. "Everyone who is blessed to work with Bill knows he is a highly skilled administrator, strong leader and truly good person," said Mississippi State president Mark E. Keenum, the chair of the CFP board of managers, in a prepared statement. "He's a legend in college sports." |
| CFP executive director Bill Hancock to retire in 2025: Who could replace him? | |
| Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff, will step down from his role at the end of this season and then officially retire when his contract expires on Feb. 1, 2025, he announced in a news release Wednesday. Hancock, 72, assumed the role shortly after the CFP was created in 2012 and will begin his 19th season working in postseason football this fall. The CFP is expanding to 12 teams after the 2023-24 season. Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, chairman of the CFP board of managers, said he anticipates that Hancock will "shift to a new role with the CFP in 2024 to help with the transition" to its new executive director. Keenum added that the CFP will "initiate a national search for a new executive director to take over when (Hancock) steps away." Hancock will have 18 months before he's officially gone, but the timing makes a ton of sense. He oversaw the transition from the BCS to the CFP and now the CFP's move from a four-team field to a 12-team bracket. He'll be in his current role for the coming season and then an advisory role for 2024-25, which should allow for a long transition period. This job has only ever belonged to Hancock, so its opening is particularly intriguing. The CFP board could go in any number of directions on this hire. |
| College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock to retire in 2025 after 12-team format makes debut | |
| College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock, a longtime influential college athletics administrator, will retire from his position when his contract expires on Feb. 1, 2025. His retirement will come almost immediately upon completion of the first 12-team College Football Playoff, which will be played following the 2024 season. Hancock, who's recognized as the first employee of the CFP, was named the first director after the organization was created in 2012 and has worked in the role since. In his position, Hancock, 72, helped create the office that administers the playoff and handles all aspects from financials to logistics and sponsorships. "We look forward to the next year under Bill's leadership and many opportunities to recognize what he has done for the playoff," Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, chairman of the CFP Board of Mangers, said in a statement. "We will initiate a national search for a new executive director to take over when he steps away, and I anticipate Bill will shift to a new role with the CFP in 2024 to help with the transition to our new executive director." Over the past 50 years, Hancock's fingerprints have been all over college athletics. In addition to the playoff, Hancock served as director of the NCAA Men's Final Four and administrator of the Bowl Championship Series, the format which preceded the CFP in crowning a national champion. He previously worked as a staffer at the Big Eight Conference. |
| College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock to retire in 2025 | |
| More change is coming to the College Football Playoff. Bill Hancock, the executive director of the CFP since its inception in 2012, will step down from his role and retire when his contract expires on Feb. 1, 2025. He will remain with his current duties through the 2023-24 season. Hancock's retirement will come days after the conclusion of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. The CFP field will expand from four to 12 teams in 2024 and that season's national championship game is scheduled for Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. Hancock said there was a plan in place for him to inform the CFP Board of Managers a year in advance should he decide to step aside from his position. Mark Keenum, the president of Mississippi State and the chair of the CFP Board of Managers, said the plan is for Hancock to move to a new role within the CFP in 2024 to help with the transition to the new executive director. "We look forward to the next year under Bill's leadership and many opportunities to recognize what he has done for the playoff," Keenum said. "We will initiate a national search for a new executive director to take over when he steps away, and I anticipate Bill will shift to a new role with the CFP in 2024 to help with the transition to our new executive director." |
| What happens in Texas will reshape NIL 'arms race' | |
| All eyes are on the state of Texas. The new school-friendly state law enables schools to bridge the gap between NIL collectives and university fundraising arms. Stakeholders across campuses nationwide are closely monitoring developments at Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, which could provide other schools with a NIL template, where state laws allow. "It's an arms race -- it's real out there," said Walker Jones, executive director of the Ole Miss-focused Grove Collective. "It's a natural evolution to have a tighter bond between the fundraising arms and these collectives. They're essentially talking to the same people. They're all trying to raise money. The less stress on the donor, the more it cuts out confusion with the donor, and the more impactful it is -- seamless and convenient." For nearly two years, athletic departments and collectives have been battling for the same dollar from donors. Increased commingling of fundraising arms and collectives enables both entities to row in the same direction. At A&M, The 12th Man+ Fund, a quasi-collective, will operate under the umbrella of the 12th Man Foundation, the school's fundraising arm. |
| LSU AD Scott Woodward doesn't want schools to pay student-athletes directly | |
| LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward sees his role at the university differently from what the average fan might. "I always tell people that I'm more of an executive producer of a film than an autocratic leader of a corporation where I have, you know, 100 percent interest in my company and I can run it the way I wanna run it," Woodward says. "I have a lot of stakeholders and a lot of people involved, but when it comes to hiring coaches, I always try to hire the best. And LSU deserves the best." It is through that viewpoint that the Baton Rouge native and Catholic High graduate has been shepherding the university's athletic department through unprecedented changes while making audacious coaching hires. Woodward sat down with Business Report's JR Ball for the latest episode of the Strictly Business webcast to talk about hiring and managing top talent, and his thoughts on the impact of name, image and likeness deals on college sports. Since the 2021 Supreme Court ruling making way for college athletes to earn money through NIL deals, NCAA sports have been undergoing a rapid transformation. Woodward says that the industry has been forced to react quickly to adopt the NIL as just another part of the college sports machine. |
| Lure Eagle! Meet Auburn's National Championship, Million Dollar-Winning Bass Fishing Team. | |
| When you think about sports at Auburn University, you almost surely think football -- because it's Auburn, and the Southeastern Conference, and you know how crazyville that all gets. You might also think basketball, and famous Tiger players like Charles Barkley, or the highflying gymnastics program, which until recently was led by Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee. Auburn's baseball and softball teams have been to several College World Series. Golf is good. Auburn has had legendary swim teams. There's an equestrian dynasty, too. Horseys! But you need to think about fish. Specifically: bass. Big, ol' lunker, hogzilla largemouths. Auburn is home to another college sports juggernaut, likely swimming under your radar, unless you're the dedicated sort of athlete who likes to rise in the darkness, drive to the lake and flip and pitch mats. This team is ultra-accomplished, famous inside fishing circles, and has students earning real money -- while still in school. Meet the Auburn bass fishing team, which recently captured the National Collegiate Bass Fishing title, the latest feat from a student-run program that has no coach and limited scholarship money but consistently wins big tournaments and produces stars. |
| PGA Tour plans to testify at Senate hearing on LIV merger, but questions remain | |
| Key lawmakers on Wednesday invited the officials behind the proposed deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf to testify at a Senate subcommittee hearing. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee's permanent subcommittee on investigations, respectively, said the panel will hold a hearing July 11 on the merger. Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Johnson, R-Wisc., requested testimony from the tour's commissioner, Jay Monahan, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman and Yasir al-Rumayyan of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. In a letter to Monahan on Wednesday, the senators said the subcommittee would examine the proposed deal and the Saudi fund's "investment in golf in the United States, the future of the PIF-funded LIV Golf, the risks associated with a foreign government's investment in American cultural institutions, and the implications of this planned agreement on professional golf in the United States going forward." Blumenthal has expressed a particular interest in whether the PGA Tour deserves to keep its tax exempt nonprofit status as a business association that benefits its members. |
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