| Wednesday, June 28, 2023 |
| New chief named for MSU Police Department | |
 | On Friday, Mississippi State University announced the MSU Police Department has a new chief of police, though with 27 years of experience on the campus, it's hard to call Chief Kenneth Rogers "new." Rogers said he knows nearly every square inch of the campus, as he started working for the university's police department as a ticket writer in 1996. "I started off as a ticket writer," Rogers said. "Parking attendants are not people's favorite people... But being a ticket writer gave me a different perspective. I learned all of the streets and the buildings, and I walked around interacting with people." Over the years, Rogers worked his way up from ticket writer to officer to lieutenant to captain to assistant chief, and finally, to chief of police. After his recent shift into the chief's chair, Rogers told The Dispatch on Monday afternoon his plans for the department. "Our goal is to be a proactive police department," Rogers said. "To be out and to know that we are available to partner with... groups that are here on campus to make sure that our campus is safe. We want to be considered partners, because we can't do this by ourselves. We want to be transparent and accessible." |
| Incoming freshman take first steps toward campus life at MSU | |
 | Annabelle Paxton is a third-generation student at Mississippi State. She is following in her family's footsteps. "My parents came here in the 1980s; they met here and later got married. And my grandfather actually played baseball here in the 1940s," said Paxton. Paxton is an orientation leader, showing future students around campus. Her goal is to help incoming Bulldogs adjust to college life. The point of orientation is to help students learn about the campus, register for classes, and meet other incoming students. Orientation Director Jake Hartfield said he feels this time on campus is important to help students prepare for the fall semester. "So I think orientation is a great opportunity for students to get a taste of what it is like to be a student here, but it is really beneficial as they begin their journey here because there is a lot of information that they learn at orientation, but it is the start for them to kind of get acclimated to the university but also get to meet orientation leaders who guide them through that process," said Hartfield. For Paxton, maroon runs in her blood. "It is a kind of a full circle moment and there is really nowhere else I would want to be," said Paxton. |
| Kids learn new skills, foods at MSU culinary camp | |
 | The smells coming from the classroom at one Mississippi State University summer camp will make a person hungry, which makes sense as the camp teaches kitchen skills and introduces new foods. Culinary Arts Kids Camp is offered each year, with one week for older elementary age kids and another for junior high and high school students. The events focus on local foods, kitchen basics and easy recipes. Young people in fourth through sixth grade seventh through 12th grade are introduced to food science, culinary arts and food preparation techniques. "Research has shown the importance of hands-on experiences with foods and how, especially in children, it improves the consumption of fruits and vegetables," said Courtney Crist, camp organizer and MSU Extension food safety specialist in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion. "Our aim is to make food fun and expose 'chefs' to culinary skills and the science behind food," Crist said. "The great thing about food science and culinary arts is that it provides a tasty foundation for STEM principles of science, technology, engineering and math." |
| Researchers work to compare lives of Mississippi slaves to how they lived in Liberia | |
 | Laid out on a table, the items may not seem all that significant: flints possibly used in flintlock firearms, pieces of bottles, a kitchen knife, a button made of shell and even a chicken bone. But for researchers at Prospect Hill Plantation near Lorman, they help tell a story of enslaved people who once lived there and will help shed light on their lives after they were freed in the mid-1800s and migrated to Africa. "It's a story of slavery," said James Andrew Whitaker, adjunct faculty member of the Department of Anthropology & Middle Eastern Cultures at Mississippi State University. "It's a story of emancipation. "It's a story also of settlement and colonization, and in Liberia, new forms of oppression that emerged as well. If we know more about the material culture here and there, we can hopefully know more about their lives before and after they became Liberians." As researchers carefully dig and sift through dirt looking for objects long lost, it's hard to imagine crops were ever grown there. What would have been thousands of acres of farmland is now forest. Shawn Lambert, assistant professor of anthropology and archaeology at MSU on the site of what may have been a residence of enslaved people or a kitchen once stood on the property and talked about his findings. |
| USA International Ballet had a huge economic impact on Jackson area | |
| This year's USA International Ballet Competition is estimated to have brought $40 million to Jackson, according to Visit Jackson, making the IBC one of the most economically rewarding events the city hosts. That number accounts for all the different goods and services attendees and dancers could possibly spend money on in Jackson, including lodging, restaurants, transportation, venue rental, audio/visual services, printing services and flag manufacturers -- to name a few. In 2018, Visit Jackson estimated the economic impact of that year's competition to be $25 million -- double what the USA IBC calculated, which was $12.5 million. Mona Nicholas, executive director of USA IBC, said the organization's economic impact calculation for the 2023 competition wouldn't be available until August or September. Alan Barefield, a professor of 30 years, 20 of which have been spent teaching agricultural economics at Mississippi State University, explained just how economic impact studies are conducted. Barefield assists in creating economic profiles for the state and its counties every year and has conducted numerous economic impact studies during his career in higher education. You start with collecting the amount of people who are coming into the Jackson area from out-of-town for the specific purpose of attending the ballet, Barefield said. Once you have that count, which can be gathered through credit card information or a visitor survey, you factor in "the big five" expenses people will have to pay: cost of fuel, cost of lodging, cost of food, retail purchases and cost of the tickets. "When you calculate all that, you add all that up and that's your direct impact," Barefield said. "It's more than just the ticket sales." |
| Amos drops out of district attorney race | |
| Assistant District Attorney Marc Amos has dropped out of the 16th Circuit District Attorney's race. Amos told The Dispatch Tuesday morning that he decided to drop out earlier this month. "I made the decision because I was running in case (incumbent Scott Colom) got confirmed (as a federal judge)," Amos said. "It's no longer looking like he'll be confirmed before the primary, so it was time for me to drop out." In November 2021, U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson (D, Mississippi) sent a letter to President Joe Biden recommending Colom as judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. The seat became open after the Nov. 1, 2021, retirement of Judge Michael P. Mills, who presided over the U.S. District Court in Oxford. Biden nominated Colom for the judgeship in October 2022, and in April 2023 Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith told the White House and Senate Judiciary Committee that she will not support Colom's nomination to the bench. That same month Biden said he still supported the nomination. "I would have loved for (Colom) to have gotten confirmation by now," Amos said. "It would've been good for him and his family." Amos' withdrawal leaves Colom as the only Democratic candidate in the race. On the Republican side, Jase Dalrymple and Chuck Easley will face off in the Aug. 8 primary. The winner will face Colom in the Nov. 7 general election. |
| Candidate Says Mississippi Democratic Party Chair 'Undermined Democracy,' Should Be Replaced | |
 | Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Tyree Irving should be replaced, a Democrat running for statewide office says. In a statement this afternoon, Mississippi Secretary of State candidate Shuwaski Young said Irving "has undermined democracy and railroaded critical local, statewide, and national relationships that would benefit Mississippi." The party made Irving its new chair in 2020 after he had served for decades as a Mississippi Court of Appeals judge. The call for Irving's resignation comes a day after Mississippi Today's Adam Ganucheau reported that fellow Democrats fear the chairman may have jeopardized a $250,000 commitment from the Democratic National Committee. The report said that following a call about the funds on Thursday, June 22, Irving emailed DNC Senior Adviser Libby Schneider urging the party to also "make an equal investment" in Democrat Brandon Presley's campaign for governor. Mississippi Today reported that Mississippi Democratic Party State Executive Director Andre Wagner replied to the thread the next morning, including Irving and DNC officials, saying that "the chair misunderstood" and that "we plan to use the funds in accordance with Mississippi law and will use the funds in support of electing Democrats up and down the ticket." The report says he added that "we also acknowledge that the DNC has not earmarked any funds for a particular candidate." The report says the 77-year-old party chair sent a reply that included Wagner and the DNC officials in which he harshly criticized the state executive director. |
| Statewide candidate calls for ouster of Mississippi Democratic Party chairman | |
| After Mississippi Today published an emailed tirade by state Democratic Party Chairman Tyree Irving that some fear could jeopardize $250,000 in funding for the state party, one of the top Democratic statewide candidates is calling for Irving's removal as party boss. Shuwaski Young, the lone Democrat running for secretary of state this year, said the state Democratic Party's executive committee should promptly remove Irving from his post. "It is my hope -- and I hate it has to come to this -- that Tyree Irving will be removed as chair of the Mississippi Democratic Party for the sake of Mississippi and the collective futures of our residents," Young told Mississippi Today in an interview late Monday. "I don't see any other path forward." Emails published Monday showed that Irving sharply criticized Andre Wagner, the state party's executive director and No. 2 leader of the party, in a note that was sent to three Democratic National Committee staffers. Young, who faces incumbent Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson in November, said on Monday that Irving's comments were "shocking and unacceptable," and that several high-ranking state Democratic officials felt the same way. Young, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2022, said Irving "is not doing the job Mississippi needs from him." |
| Statewide Democratic candidate again calls for his party leader to be removed, replaced | |
| Democratic Secretary of State candidate Shuwaski Young is again calling for the ouster of the chair of his state party, one day after an email written by chair Tyree Irving heavily criticizing the state party's executive director, Andre Wagner, was published by Mississippi Today. After losing his race challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Guest in November, Young said he would not run for another office until Irving was gone, but the Philadelphia-native ultimately changed course and filed to run for Secretary of State. Young's previous criticisms of Irving related to his ability to bring in financial and logistical support for candidates. The new call for his removal focused more on behavior. "I am shocked by the release of internal emails at the Mississippi Democratic Party. While I did not approve or release these emails into the public square; it is my belief that Mr. Irving has undermined democracy, and railroaded critical local, statewide, and national relationships that would benefit Mississippi," Young said in a statement Tuesday. "Ultimately, it's up to the Mississippi Democratic Party State Executive Committee to replace Tyree Irving, not me as a candidate for Secretary of State." Young, who was sharply critical of the party's assistance in fundraising during his 2022 congressional race, is once again in a difficult financial situation. According to his latest campaign finance report -- which was filed 13 days late -- Young raised just $3,710.76 in May. |
| Mississippi gets $1.2 billion for broadband, $28.4 million for streets | |
| Mississippi will be receiving $1.2 billion in federal funds to invest in broadband access for unserved and underserved communities, according to multiple state and federal officials. The funds come as part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which just two of Mississippi's six members of Congress supported. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican, and Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, voted for the bill. Rep. Mike Ezell, a Republican, had not yet been elected. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Reps. Trent Kelly and Michael Guest, all Republicans, voted no. The $1.2 billion for Mississippi is part of $42.45 billion being spent nationwide on broadband deployment, mapping, and adoption projects. Mississippi's share of the funds, about 2.8% of the total, outpaces its share of the U.S. population, about 0.88%. Wicker, who was also a key negotiator as the bill was being crafted, celebrated the allocation in a Monday news release. Also Monday, a separate roughly $28.4 million grant was announced from the federal Department of Transportation, earmarked for streets in Laurel and Meridian. Those funds also come from a program authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In a joint statement, Wicker, Ezell, Hyde-Smith and Guest celebrated the grants, despite the latter two voting against the underlying law. |
| How the Supreme Court's decision on election law could shut the door on future fake electors | |
 | The Supreme Court's rejection of a controversial election theory may also have another huge political consequence for future presidential contests: It obliterated the dubious fake elector scheme that Donald Trump deployed in his failed attempt to seize a second term. That scheme relied on friendly state legislatures appointing "alternate" slates of pro-Trump presidential electors -- even if state laws certified victory for Joe Biden. Backed by fringe theories crafted by attorneys like John Eastman, Trump contended that state legislatures could unilaterally reverse the outcome and override their own laws and constitutions to do so. Mainstream election lawyers on both sides of the aisle denounced the theory in the months after the 2020 election. But because no court had ever directly ruled on the theory, its proponents were able to describe it as a plausible, if untested, interpretation of constitutional law. Eastman himself, currently facing disbarment in California for his actions to subvert the election, has claimed that he was engaged in "good-faith" advocacy on an unsettled legal question. But by rejecting the so-called independent state legislature theory in Moore v. Harper on Tuesday, Chief Justice Roberts effectively extinguished it as a plausible path in 2024 and beyond. "It keeps the toothpaste in the tube, in the sense that the theories that would give state legislatures unvarnished power has been rejected," said Ben Ginsberg, a prominent Republican elections attorney who loudly pushed back against Trump's attempts in 2020 to overturn his loss. "State legislatures thinking that they can just, if they feel like it after an election, replace the popular will with a slate of electors is as gone as 'there can't be any review of redistricting plans.'" |
| How a Conservative Supreme Court Boosted Democrats' Hopes of House Gains | |
 | Democrats have new hopes of gaining three U.S. House seats in the 2024 elections and offsetting potential Republican pickups as a result of actions in recent days by the Supreme Court. In one ruling, the justices set the stage for the creation of additional majority or nearly majority Black districts in Alabama, Louisiana and Georgia, though that outcome isn't assured and is subject to additional court action. Democrats need to gain a net five seats to win control of the House. Lower courts in the three states have accepted or are considering arguments that existing House maps violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by illegally diluting the voting power of Black voters. The Supreme Court this month unexpectedly gave new impetus to plaintiffs in those cases by ruling that the voting rights law required Alabama lawmakers to create an additional majority-Black district. Because Black Alabamians overwhelmingly vote Democratic -- while white residents heavily favor Republicans -- the decision is expected to shift a House seat. In a second ruling, handed down Tuesday, the high court affirmed that state courts have the power to determine whether political district maps and voting rules violate state law, rejecting a novel legal theory from North Carolina Republicans that state legislatures aren't bound by state courts or constitutions. The two rulings by a conservative-leaning Supreme Court were a surprise to many legal analysts. |
| Scientists Are Gene-Editing Flies to Fight Crop Damage | |
 | In 2008, a fruit fly known as the spotted-wing drosophila made its way from Southeast Asia to the continental US, likely hitching a ride on fruit shipments. First detected in California raspberry fields, the insect rapidly spread to other states. Unlike the common fruit fly, which is attracted to rotting food, spotted-wing drosophila prefers ripening, healthy fruit. Using a serrated, tubelike organ, the females slice through fruit skin and deposit their eggs inside. When the eggs hatch, the emerging larvae destroy the crop. The invasive pests cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage each year. To control them, growers rely on pesticides that kill insects indiscriminately, including both pests and helpful bugs. But scientists are working on new solutions that could one day replace -- or at least limit -- the need for spraying chemicals. In greenhouses in Oregon last month, researchers with the US Department of Agriculture began testing one such approach: sterilized male flies. The gene-edited bugs, made by St. Louis–based biotech company Agragene, are meant to suppress wild fly populations. The idea is that if they were to be released into the environment, the sterilized males would mate with wild females, resulting in a fertility dead end. "We see this technology as being able to provide healthier fruit and vegetables without doing a lot of harm to the environment," says Agragene CEO Bryan Witherbee. |
| 3 nursing programs at MUW ranked No. 1 in state | |
| Three nursing programs at Mississippi University for Women have been recognized as number one in the state and top five in the Southeast by NursingProcess.org. MUW's associate of science in nursing, bachelor of science in nursing and registered nurse to BSN ranked second, fourth and fifth respectively in the southeast which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. "The W has a long-standing tradition of excellence in nursing," said Brandy Larmon, dean of MUW's College of Nursing and Health Sciences. "We have high standards and expectations and many of our past graduates come back to teach. We have years of dedicated professionals who value the work we do and are committed to seeing it continue." NursingProcess.org forms its rankings by compiling data such as average National Council Licensure Examination-RN first-time pass rates, academic quality, affordability and reputation gathered from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, U.S. News and World Report, Niche, Grad Reports, Rate My Professors and the official school websites, a press release from MUW said. There are 31 approved nursing programs in the state, according to the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. |
| Ole Miss professor, author retiring after 33 years | |
| Anyone who has come through the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media in the last 30 years likely took a course under Joseph Atkins. The journalism professor retires this summer after 33 years in the classroom, where he taught courses in advanced reporting, international journalism, ethics and social issues, media history, and labor and media. "I'm leaving this program as a full-time professor in good hands because a lot of great, exciting things are going on," Atkins said. "We've got a great faculty and good leadership." Before he started his work in academia, Atkins spent 15 years as a journalist, with the last five serving as a congressional correspondent for the Gannett News Service in Washington, D.C. "I consider myself as much a writer as a professor," Atkins said. "I always try to keep active as a practicing journalist as well as a professor who is teaching journalism, so I like to practice what I preach." Atkins used that passion as inspiration for the international Conference on Labor and the Southern Press at the university in 2003. Besides organizing conferences about labor unions, he is also a member of the United Campus Workers of Mississippi, an organized labor group at the university. The Mississippi Association for Justice named Atkins "Advocate of the Year" in 2011 in honors of his work in underrepresented communities. His emphasis on labor relations was a major influence on former student Jaz Brisack, the university's first female Rhodes Scholar, who rose to national fame after leading the unionization of Starbucks employees. |
| Legislative back and forth creates confusion about the additional $100 million for public schools | |
| The Mississippi Department of Education says its hands are tied when it comes to the $100 million in additional funding allocated to school districts this year because of disagreements in the Legislature about how to distribute it. After a push this session to fully fund public schools, school districts ultimately received $100 million outside of the regular school funding formula to be distributed by student enrollment. But in the months since the Legislature adjourned, there has been confusion regarding exactly how to calculate enrollment, leading to questions for superintendents as they make budgets for the upcoming school year. "We have not been given a clear direction on how it is that we are to calculate how we divide up the $100 million," Interim state Superintendent Mike Kent told Mississippi Today. Kent said he originally thought the extra $100 million was to be distributed based on enrollment in months 2-3 of a school year, similar to how students are counted for the public school funding formula. However, when he followed up with the Legislative Budget Office after the session ended, the office said it needed to check and would get back to him. Two proposals emerged, one from the Senate to count enrollment using months 1-8 of the school year, and a plan from the House to count it based on months 2-3. |
| U. of Arkansas, Fayetteville celebrates milestone for new research institute | |
| The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Institute for Integrative & Innovative Research will be "a place where bold visions and exciting innovations come to life," says Ranu Jung, its executive director. Though she acknowledged it's an "ambitious aspiration," she believes I³R -- as the Institute is called -- can be the unquestioned leader in convergent research, as it's "well within our reach, [and] together we are making it a reality." The Institute will be home to a whole body calorimeter -- there are fewer than two-dozen of those in North America -- which measures human metabolic performance in real time, and that detailed knowledge opens a whole other body of research, including personal prevention strategies to "get ahead of disease," leading to significant health breakthroughs, she explained during a "top out" ceremony for the under-construction institute on campus Tuesday. It's research and innovation like this that will "grow the recognition of our state as a hub of innovation," said Jung, who is an associate vice chancellor at UA-Fayetteville. No longer will "we be stuck in the old stovepipe research model," said Republican Steve Womack, U.S. representative for the state's 3rd congressional district, which includes Northwest Arkansas. Instead, Womack said, collaboration across disciplines is prized at I³R. "This cutting-edge facility" will improve society while attracting the "best and brightest minds -- and keeping them here." |
| Private Tennessee universities can now plant public K-12 schools after bipartisan effort | |
 | A new Tennessee law allows school districts to partner with both public and private local colleges and universities to plant public schools in their communities. The schools, also known as laboratory schools or training schools, can range from pre-K through 12th grade and must be run in partnership a public school district. First established in the 1820s, lab schools are typically high-performing, with smaller student bodies and a focus on innovative teaching and learning practices. They also serve as a training ground for pre-service teachers, similar to the clinical model used by medical schools. Under previous law, the path was easier for public colleges and universities to establish the schools. While it did not outright bar private universities, the new measure amends the law and paves the way for more institutions to join the effort. They qualify for the same funding and adhere to the same standards as public schools, and must negotiate contract details with a local district. Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville, first introduced the bill in the House. A public school graduate and father, he sees it as a positive move that expands quality, free education options for Tennessee kids. At least three universities already run lab schools for a variety of grade levels in the state: the University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State University and East Tennessee State University. All three lab schools have been around for more than 100 years, and some are among the highest-performing schools statewide. |
| Duke expands aid as affirmative action decision looms | |
 | Duke University announced last week that it would offer full tuition grants starting this fall to students from North and South Carolina whose family income is less than $150,000. The new financial aid policy is notable not just for its high income cap and geographic specificity, but also for its timing. It comes in the midst of a weeks-long period of collective anticipation regarding the Supreme Court's ruling in two cases that will determine the fate of affirmative action. Expectations that the conservative-majority court will ban the practice have sent selective institutions scrambling to brainstorm alternative strategies to ensure the diversity of their student bodies doesn't plummet. Christoph Guttentag, Duke's dean of admissions since 1996, said the primary purpose of the policy is to improve accessibility to what is arguably the most elite private university in the Carolinas. The median family income for Duke students is $186,700; more than two-thirds come from families in the top 20 percent of income earners and a fifth from the top 1 percent -- a higher proportion than almost any other college in North Carolina, according to data from The New York Times. While Guttentag didn't make a direct connection to the looming Supreme Court decision, he said he hopes the new tuition plan has a knock-on effect on diversity in admissions and recruitment. |
| RPI sues after cleaner's error allegedly destroyed decades of research | |
| A custodial worker switched off a super-cold freezer in a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute lab -- destroying decades of scientific research and causing a least $1 million in damage, according to a lawsuit filed by the university against the outside firm that employed the cleaner. The freezer contained cell cultures, samples and other research elements that were stored at minus-112 degrees Fahrenheit until September 2020, when an employee of Daigle Cleaning Services turned off a circuit breaker. That caused the temperature to rise to a relatively toasty minus-25.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and resulted in the materials being damaged or destroyed, according to the lawsuit filed in the Rensselaer County Clerk's Office. The freezer shut down when the cleaner turned off a beeping alarm that he found to be annoying, according to the lawsuit, despite the presence of a sign on the door to the lab's freezer explaining the source of the alarm, with instructions on how to mute it. "People's behavior and negligence caused all this. Unfortunately, they wiped out 25 years of research," said Michael Ginsberg, RPI's attorney, whose law firm Pattison, Sampson, Ginsberg & Griffin has long represented the university. Ginsberg said it is estimated it will take $1 million to recreate the research, which explored photosynthesis and could have a valuable impact on solar-panel development. |
| New Gen Z graduates are fluent in AI and ready to join the workforce | |
 | It's not a hallucination. The youngest generation entering the workforce may be the most prepared to champion and use generative artificial intelligence at work. For months, many of these up-and-comers have been exploring the technology's capabilities, sharpening their skills and learning how to best apply it to their tasks at hand. And while some are cautious about AI's potential harms, many are more fascinated than they are worried about the technology. "I'm really excited about AI and what it can do," said Naomi Davis, a May graduate of business administration from Georgia Institute of Technology, who uses AI to help her clearly express her ideas in writing. "I used it every week [of my last semester], or at least played around with it." Generative AI is making a big splash as it gets integrated into workplace tools like email providers, graphics editors, productivity tools and coding programs. Despite some leaders, including AI creators, warning about doomsday scenarios in which the tech takes over humanity, hundreds of thousands of Gen Z students -- those born between 1997 and 2012 -- have experimented with it, and in some cases, have even been encouraged by their schools to explore it. Now as new hires, Gen Z is bringing their AI chops to work, expediting more usage in the future. And young adults are more likely to use AI than their older counterparts at work, a recent Pew Research Center survey suggests. Gen Z made up more than 13 percent of the civilian labor force last year, according to data the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And that number is only expected to grow as the youngest of Gen Z, also known as Zoomers, are still several years from joining the workforce. |
| Thousands more prisoners across the US will get free college paid for by the government | |
 | The graduates lined up, brushing off their gowns and adjusting classmates' tassels and stoles. As the graduation march played, the 85 men appeared to hoots and cheers from their families. They marched to the stage -- one surrounded by barbed wire fence and constructed by fellow prisoners. For these were no ordinary graduates. Their black commencement garb almost hid their aqua and navy-blue prison uniforms as they received college degrees, high school diplomas and vocational certificates earned while they served time. Thousands of prisoners throughout the United States get their college degrees behind bars, most of them paid for by the federal Pell Grant program, which offers the neediest undergraduates tuition aid that they don't have to repay. That program is about to expand exponentially next month, giving about 30,000 more students behind bars some $130 million in financial aid per year. The new rules, which overturn a 1994 ban on Pell Grants for prisoners, begin to address decades of policy during the "tough on crime" 1970s-2000 that brought about mass incarceration and stark racial disparities in the nation's 1.9 million prison population. For prisoners who get their college degrees, including those at Folsom State Prison who got grants during an experimental period that started in 2016, it can be the difference between walking free with a life ahead and ending up back behind bars. Finding a job is difficult with a criminal conviction, and a college degree is an advantage former prisoners desperately need. |
| Lawsuit arguing VA shortchanges vets heading to Supreme Court | |
| The Supreme Court will consider a long-running lawsuit over whether the Department of Veterans Affairs is shortchanging veterans on their education benefits. A decision in favor of James Rudisill, the plaintiff in the case and a retired U.S. Army captain, could affect more than 1.7 million people. Rudisill wants the Supreme Court to overturn a decision from the full bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in favor of the Biden administration. Other appeals courts have ruled in Rudisill's favor since the legal challenge began in 2015. At issue is how the Department of Veterans Affairs calculates educational benefits for service members who earned benefits under two different versions of the GI Bill. The Department of Veterans Affairs says veterans must first exhaust all of their benefits under a less generous program known as the Montgomery GI Bill before receiving benefits -- including more money for college -- under the revamped GI Bill that passed in 2009. The plaintiff and veterans' groups say that those who earned benefits under two GI Bill programs are entitled to receive 48 months of funding for their postsecondary education without first exhausting one benefit and to use those benefits with the most flexibility. The Federal Circuit ruled in December that those who switch their unused Montgomery GI Bill benefits to the new plan are not entitled to receive 48 months of benefits. |
| Is the Confederate flag still an issue in Mississippi elections? Chris McDaniel campaign tries to revive it | |
| Mississippi Today's Geoff Pender writes: Mississippi's former flag with a Confederate emblem in its canton was an issue -- sometimes a major one -- in state politics and elections for decades before it was officially changed via a vote of the Republican-led Legislature and signature of Republican Gov. Tate Reeves in 2020. The Jim Crow era-adopted banner appears to have faded as a major issue as the new magnolia-themed banner flies over the state. But in his effort to energize the right wing of the state GOP to oust incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, state Sen. Chris McDaniel appears to be trying to revive the issue. But he's got to be careful, a little more surreptitious, in his approach as he wants to keep favor with his former political foe turned majordomo, Gov. Reeves. Any slings and arrows Hosemann would face on the flag change would apply to Reeves as well -- along with many fellow Republican lawmakers down ticket. They had publicly called for voters, not lawmakers, to decide the issue before doing an about-face and facilitating the legislative change. Thus, McDaniel appears for now to be letting a surrogate -- a fellow state senator -- publicly broach the issue. |
| No action: But grocery tax cuts and cheap car tags are frequent election-year rhetoric | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: Driving into the Neshoba County Fair gates for an inspection of what needed cleaning, washing, replacing, fixing, or receiving other attention at the Salter-Denley cabin, there was no doubt that this was a courthouse-to-statehouse election year in Mississippi. Political signs dot the landscape from Philadelphia south to the fairgrounds. Inside the fairgrounds, political signs are already up from local beat races in Neshoba County to the marquee statewide races for governor and lieutenant governor. Even more telling that it's an election year is the fact that a month out from the opening of the state's premier political stump at the fair's Founder's Square Pavilion, the talk is turning to grocery tax cuts proposals. This year, grocery taxes are the top-shelf issue because of Alabama's decision to cut its grocery taxes. Alabama lawmakers voted to reduce the state portion of their grocery taxes from 4% to 3% in September and if certain fiscal benchmarks are met in 2024, the state will cut their portion of the sales tax on food from 3% to 2%. Where those facts get interesting is that Alabama has a combined state-local sales tax structure that produces an average 9.25% sales tax on groceries with some of the highest local sales taxes in the nation. That fact means that even with the state sales tax cut legislation there, most Alabamians will be paying more taxes for groceries than their Mississippi counterparts in the near term. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State basketball making changes to student section seating | |
| Changes are coming to Mississippi State basketball's student section at Humphrey Coliseum, according to first-year athletics director Zac Selmon. In an announcement shared on social media, Selmon said MSU is expanding its student section. Rather than seats only behind the north basket, a section of the student seating will stretch across courtside. The change comes as Selmon, who was hired as John Cohen's replacement in January, gathered feedback and worked in collaboration with MSU's student association. Both Mississippi State programs are coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance with new coaches. The men's team was eliminated in the First Four under coach Chris Jans. After five seasons at New Mexico State, Jans was hired by MSU last year. He led the Bulldogs to their first March Madness appearance since 2019 behind a dominant defense. The women's team also made its first March Madness trip since 2019. Behind coach Sam Purcell, MSU won a play-in game against Illinois and upset No. 6-seeded Creighton before losing to host Notre Dame in the second round. The success saw a jump in attendance at The Hump. The men's team went from averaging 6,830 fans in 2021-22 to 7,674 last season. The women's team jumped from 4,691 to 5,096. The boosted attendance numbers came while MSU was working on renovations of Humphrey Coliseum. Those renovations are expected to be completed before the upcoming season. |
| Men's Hoops Travels To Georgia Tech For Inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge | |
| Another piece of the Mississippi State men's basketball schedule was announced on Wednesday as the Bulldogs will travel to Georgia Tech for the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge. Mississippi State and Georgia Tech will meet at McCamish Pavilion on Tuesday, November 28th. Tip time is set for 6 p.m. CT with television network assignment announced at a later date. The inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge will total 14 games over a two-day period on November 28 and 29 televised by the ESPN Family of Networks – ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network and ACC Network. All matchups also will be available via the ESPN app. The Bulldogs won two of their final three matchups at the SEC/Big 12 Challenge highlighted by an 81-74 triumph over No. 11 TCU last season. The TCU victory started a five-game winning streak and fueled the Maroon and White to an 8-3 mark to conclude the regular season. Georgia Tech is led by first-year coach Damon Stoudamire with the program's last NCAA Tournament appearance coming in 2020-21. The Yellow Jackets hold a 16-13 series advantage with a majority of the 29 meetings between the two programs coming as SEC rivals. The last time the two programs met on the hardwood was in 1974-75. |
| Three takeaways from Mississippi State men's basketball's 2023-24 SEC slate | |
| Last season, the Southeastern Conference sent eight teams to the NCAA Tournament, including, for the first time since 2019, Mississippi State. The Bulldogs, in Chris Jans' first year as head coach, were ousted by Pittsburgh in the First Four in Dayton. Returning all five starters from that team, the Bulldogs are hoping for a longer March stay this season. To get there, MSU will have to navigate another tough conference season. On Monday, the Bulldogs found out their home and away SEC opponents for 2023-24, with dates and times to be announced in the coming months. Here are three takeaways from MSU's schedule. |
| LSU headlines Mississippi State women's basketball's home SEC slate | |
| For the second consecutive year the NCAA women's basketball national champions will be coming to the Humphrey Coliseum. LSU, who beat Iowa in April's national championship game in Dallas, will make the trip to Starkville this winter as part of Mississippi State's Southeastern Conference home schedule, which was announced Wednesday morning. Also included in MSU's home slate is Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Florida and Kentucky. MSU, which returned to the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time since 2019, beating Illinois and Creighton before falling to Notre Dame in the Second Round, won't be making the return to Baton Rouge next season, but will play 2023 Final Four participant and 2022 national champions South Carolina in Columbia. The Bulldogs will also travel to Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Florida and Kentucky. |
| Women's Basketball Draws Miami At Home In Inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge | |
| he Mississippi State women's basketball team will host the University of Miami on Wednesday, Nov. 29, as part of the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge. Tip-off against the Hurricanes is set for 6:15 p.m. (CT). Mississippi State and Miami have met once in the two programs' history. The Bulldogs defeated the Hurricanes 81-67 on Feb. 27, 1987, in the Northern Lights Invitation in Anchorage, Alaska. In conference challenge games dating back to the 2015-16 season, Mississippi State owns a 4-2 overall record. State is 1-0 vs. the AAC and 3-2 vs. the Big 12. The Bulldogs have lost their last two conference challenge games vs West Virginia and at Oklahoma. The 2023 ACC/SEC Challenge is a standalone year. The 2023 home/away designation is not connected to the 2024 ACC/SEC Challenge. Texas and Oklahoma will join the SEC on July 1, 2024, starting a new two-year home/away equitable distribution cycle. Mississippi State is now accepting new season ticket deposits for the 2023-24 season. Seat locations will be picked during a full reseat this September based on Bulldog Club ranking. More information on the seat selection process will be available at a later date. |
| SEC football quarterback fraternity shows at Manning Passing Academy | |
 | Tennessee's Joe Milton and Mississippi State's Will Rogers were on the same practice field working at last week's Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux, Louisiana, when they came up with a challenge. The two SEC starting quarterbacks serving as camp counselors, set up trash cans on their respective sidelines. Campers, the other QBs and even Pro Football Hall of Fame member Peyton Manning took turns trying to land a football into one. When a team succeeded, the opposing counselor was forced to do push-ups. While it resulted in a sweat-filled session, it was a display of the brotherhood between quarterbacks in the SEC. When they're not going head-to-head on a fall Saturday, they are picking each other's brains and rooting for success. "We all understand that we're going to be competing against each other at a very high level," Kentucky's Devin Leary said. "At the same time, we have to hold each other to a high standard if we're playing in this conference. ... In a sense, you do kind of get that collaboration with other SEC guys. It's friendly, but at the same time we know we're going to have to strap up against each other one day." Leary is a newcomer to the group. He transferred to Kentucky after four years in the ACC at North Carolina State. He got a taste of the conference in 2021 when the Wolfpack came to Starkville and lost to Mississippi State. Rogers threw for 294 yards and two touchdowns in the matchup, but rather than holding animosity from that result, Leary has grown fond of the Bulldog quarterback who he'll face again this season. "He's an awesome player," Leary said. |
| Kolton Lapa promoted to Mississippi State men's golf associate head coach | |
| Following its most successful season in 15 years, Mississippi State men's golf announced Monday that assistant coach Kolton Lapa would be promoted to associate head coach. Lapa, who is entering his second season with the Bulldogs, is a current member of the PGA Tour Canada and previously competed in multiple Korn Ferry Tour events, among others. "I'm so thankful for Kolton and everything he has done and continues to do for our program," head coach Dusty Smith said in Monday's press release. "He cares deeply for our players and wants to do whatever possible to make them better people, students and golfers. I have been very impressed with his attention to detail and his desire to work daily to be the best coach he can be." Lapa came to Starkville after stints as an assistant women's golf coach at Denver and Nebraska, where both programs set single-season school records for stroke average during his tenure. |
| New Southern Miss baseball coach will focus on high school talent over transfer portal | |
 | Christian Ostrander's formal introduction as the newest head coach of the Southern Miss baseball program was a family affair. Filling the front row was Ostrander's family watching on as he shook hands with athletic director Jeremy McClain Tuesday during the official passing-of-the-torch. Also along the row was a rare sight in college athletics: two former leaders of the Southern Miss baseball program. Retiring coach Scott Berry and the namesake of the field at Pete Taylor Park, Hill Denson, watched on. The two represent 996 wins at USM and preached the same relationship-centered approach Ostrander championed from the podium. That approach begins with recruiting and Ostrander made it clear the program will continue to buck the latest trend rolling across the landscape. "Our model is going to be just like it has been, we're going to recruit high school," Ostrander said Tuesday. "I believe in getting young talent and developing them, letting them grow. We're obviously going to bring in junior college talent when we need it for specific things." The new coach said the Golden Eages will be player in the college transfer portal, "but this program is not going to built on that." "It's not sustainable, in my opinion," he told the crowd at a press conference introducing him to the athletic community. |
| Athletes who sign NLI won't face penalty if they renege due to coach change or leave before year up | |
| The governing body for the National Letter of Intent Program on Tuesday announced new policies allowing athletes to back out of NLI agreements without penalty under certain circumstances. The signing of letters of intent has been part of the recruiting process in NCAA divisions I and II since 1964. It is intended to be a binding agreement between an athlete and school. The athlete promises to attend the school for one academic year in exchange for a full or partial athletic scholarship for one academic year. An athlete who does not fulfill his or her NLI agreement traditionally must sit out one season of competition at the next school they attend. Following a committee review of NLI policy, the Collegiate Commissioners Association will not penalize an athlete who requests a release due to a head coaching change. Neither will an athlete be penalized for leaving their original school after one quarter or one semester as long as a release is requested. The policy change takes effect with the 2023-24 signing periods for 2024-25 enrollees. |
| The new NIL collective model: 'It's illegal. But it's the future.' | |
| The brainstorming began last fall in Lubbock, Texas. There was Cody Campbell, co-founder of a Texas Tech-focused NIL collective, athletic director Kirby Hocutt and other stakeholders discussing how they could reimagine a collective's relationship with the school's fundraising arm while eluding legal landmines. Blurring the line between collectives and fundraising arms risked conflicting with NCAA rules. But the benefits were clear: Diminish donor confusion; infuse the collective with institutional credibility, establish more continuity for NIL strategy and streamline a two-pronged fundraising effort. Little did Tech's leadership brass know that similar conversations were occurring in another corner of the vast state, College Station. There, Texas A&M unveiled a new business model in February, viewed as equal parts brazen and innovative. The 12th Man+ Fund is a quasi-collective that operates under the umbrella of the 12th Man Foundation, the school's fundraising arm. When he heard of A&M's plan, Campbell thought, "It makes a lot of sense. Based on the rules and the laws we have now, it is a logical path." And so this month, Tech announced a similar new relationship between Campbell's collective, The Matador Club, and the school's fundraising arm, the Red Raider Club, which will promote and assist in the fundraising efforts for the collective. A critical element: the new Texas state NIL law, which had been percolating for months and will take effect July 1. |
| NCAA sets up confrontation with state lawmakers concerning NIL guidelines | |
 | The NCAA on Tuesday set up a confrontation with state lawmakers around the country concerning its rules governing athletes' ability to make money from their name, image and likeness (NIL). Several states, including Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, recently have passed laws that conflict with NCAA rules, including those related to schools' interactions with collectives -- booster- and business-driven organizations that have formed to pool resources and NIL opportunities for athletes at various schools and can be promoted in limited ways by the schools. However, in a letter to Division I schools obtained by USA TODAY Sports, the NCAA said, "If a state law permits certain institutional action and NCAA legislation prohibits the same action, institutions must follow NCAA legislation." Some of the new state laws include language that aims to specifically prohibit the NCAA from taking action against a school that follows the state law, but brings it into potential violation of NCAA rules. These provisions, among other actions by states, are driving the NCAA and many of its member schools and conferences to vigorously lobby members of Congress to pass federal legislation that would create national rules for college sports' NIL environment. NCAA president Charlie Baker recently alluded to such situations during an appearance at a conference in Washington sponsored by the University of Arizona titled "The Future of College Sports." Baker said these states "say, 'Screw the NCAA, screw the conference, screw their rules.' " |
| NCAA demands colleges follow its name, image, likeness rules over state laws | |
| The NCAA told its member colleges Tuesday that the association could punish them for violating its rules on athletes' ability to profit off of their names, images or likeness, even if state laws are more flexible. The directive sets up battles with states that have passed legislation challenging the NCAA's enforcement of NIL-related issues. Arkansas, for instance, approved a law in 2021 forbidding colleges from following sports association and conference policies if those rules interfere with athletes being compensated for publicity rights. Various state laws also allow for fundraising groups separate from colleges to pay athletes for NIL endorsements, but the NCAA stressed this too would infringe on its policy. State laws go beyond merely authorizing NIL arrangements. A Texas law that goes into effect July 1 allows for third parties, including groups commonly known as boosters, to strike NIL deals on colleges' behalf. Oklahoma recently passed a similar law. Both the Texas and Oklahoma laws attempt to block NCAA enforcement of these deals. But the association wrote Tuesday that it's not fair to enforce the rules on some colleges and not others. "Schools who do not like the application of a particular rule should work through the NCAA governance process to change the rule," the association wrote. The NCAA also said Tuesday that booster groups cannot contact prospective athletes to discuss potential NIL opportunities, nor can athletes' attendance at a college be hinged on whether they receive NIL money. |
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