| Wednesday, November 1, 2023 |
| Setting sail: MSU launches Gulf Coast Aquatic Health Laboratory | |
 | Mississippi State University is launching a new Gulf Coast Aquatic Health Laboratory to further enhance the university's efforts to improve the health of aquatic animals and environments in the Gulf of Mexico, particularly in the Mississippi Sound. The new lab, housed within the College of Veterinary Medicine's Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security, or GCAFHS, is made possible by $1.8 million in funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The three-year project is led by Stephen Reichley, GCAFS associate director and assistant professor in CVM's Department of Pathobiology and Population Medicine. "At MSU, we are taking care of what matters and setting the standard for aquatic medicine. Establishing the MSU Gulf Coast Aquatic Health Laboratory complements our many existing programs that support the state of Mississippi, the southeastern U.S. and the global community," said Reichley. "With this lab, we will enhance Mississippi by protecting our commercial and recreational fisheries, supporting the growth of aquaculture, and protecting our natural resources." These factors make the Mississippi coast the perfect setting for a project aiming to improve aquatic health, but moreover, MSU -- being the state's leading research university with vast knowledge on aquaculture and aquatic health -- "makes this a valuable endeavor to the state and research communities alike," Reichley said. "The need for research, diagnostic and other testing related to aquatic health is steadily increasing," he added. |
| Sizes of Mississippi sweet potatoes affected by dry conditions | |
 | Most of Mississippi's sweet potatoes are grown far northeast of the state's worst drought conditions, but the excessive heat and dryness is still factoring in this year's crop. Lorin Harvey, sweet potato specialist with the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service, said dry weather affected production more than most growers anticipated. Because of the drought, irrigated acres performed better than potatoes on dryland. "Those in the Delta who utilized irrigation fared better than many of the growers around Vardaman who were at the mercy of soil moisture at planting and sparse rainfall throughout the growing season," Harvey said. "We had sparse popup showers around the growing region, but nothing substantial. Several fields went 45 days without a drop of rain during peak root bulking from July to August." The lack of precipitation has caused variability in the size of potatoes between fields and increased chances of skinning, making it hard to plan for harvest. About 65 commercial growers in Mississippi planted about 28,000 acres of sweet potatoes this year. |
| Oktibbeha, Lowndes, Clay unemployment rates fall to near 3% | |
 | September unemployment rates throughout the Golden Triangle improved by between 0.7% and 1.7% from August. Oktibbeha and Noxubee County saw the largest drop, falling 1% and 1.7%, respectively. Lowndes County fell 0.9% from August, (4.1%), and Clay County saw the smallest improvement, going from 4% to 3.3%, according to data released by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. Year over year, Noxubee County showed the most improvement, falling to 4.6%, a 1.8% drop from September 2022. Clay County fell 0.9% from 2022 (4.2%), while Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties both fell 0.8%, currently sitting at 3.2% and 3%, respectively. On the state and national level, Mississippi fell 0.7% from August and the nation fell 0.3%, both sitting at 3.1% and 3.6%, respectively. The state rate also fell 0.7% from 3.8% in September 2022, while the nation rose 0.3% from 3.3% by this time last year. The number of people unemployed in Lowndes and Oktibbeha County fell to 790 and 670, respectively. Clay and Noxubee County fell to 300 and 150 people. There are currently 1,910 people unemployed throughout the Golden Triangle, down 530 people from September 2022 (2,440). |
| State seeks bond revocation for Starkville murder suspect | |
| A Lowndes County man indicted for murder and attempted murder in Starkville could wait for his upcoming trial in jail after a domestic violence incident over the weekend. Benjamin Brownlee Jr., 22, of Artesia, was free on a $300,000 bond when he was arrested Sunday Oct. 29, charged with aggravated domestic violence and booked into the Lowndes County Jail. On Tuesday, the district attorney's office filed a motion in circuit court to revoke Brownlee's bond. The move would force Brownlee to remain incarcerated until his trial. Starkville police responded to the Sandhill Arms apartments located at 135 Sand Road on the south end of town at 9:48 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Multiple callers reported a gunshot victim at the apartment complex. Responding officers found two individuals with gunshot wounds: Zavier Armstead, 20, was pronounced dead on scene, and a second victim was taken to the hospital. The following day, Brownlee was arrested and charged with one count of capital murder and one count of attempted murder. |
| Absentee balloting is low as Mississippi general election nears | |
 | Just a week out from Tuesday's general election, the number of absentee ballots requested by Mississippi voters is less than 69% of those requested last statewide election cycle. Low absentee balloting typically portends a low turnout for an election. In 2019, voters requested 52,380 absentee ballots, and a little over 48,000 were cast and counted. As of Monday, Oct. 30, only 35,946 absentee ballots had been requested. A look across Mississippi's 82 counties shows 10 counties at or above their number of requested ballots four years ago, but most are well below, including some larger counties. For instance, Hinds County was at 80% of the previous election's numbers and Forrest was at 76%. Rankin and Jackson counties were at 59%. Jones County was at 55%, Hancock at 53% and Simpson was at 45%. Counties with high absentee requests so far include Sunflower County with 223%; Humphreys with 138%, DeSoto with 138%, and Harrison with 133%. Madison County was at 97% of absentees compared to the previous statewide election. The lowest numbers were in George and Quitman counties, each at 32%, Smith at 22%, and Tallahatchie and Issaquena counties at 19% each. The August primary in Mississippi saw the lowest turnout since 2007, according to the secretary of state's office, with just 30% of registered voters casting ballots. |
| Mississippi general election 2023: What to know before heading to the polls | |
| Mississippi's General Election Day is less than a week away, with the November 7 ballot set to feature statewide, state district, county, and county district offices. The last day to absentee vote in person is Saturday, November 4. Circuit Clerk Offices will be open from 8 a.m. to noon. All mail-in absentee ballots must be postmarked by November 7 and received by county Circuit Clerk Offices by November 15 to count. Voters who cast an affidavit ballot by reason of voter ID must present an acceptable form of photo ID to their Circuit Clerk's Office by November 15. Visit the polling place locator on the My Election Day portal, or contact your county Circuit Clerk's Office or local Election Commissioners to verify your polling place. Voters are required to show photo identification at the polls. A voter without an acceptable form of photo identification is entitled to cast an affidavit ballot. Voters are prohibited from taking pictures of their marked ballot. At this time, approximately 36,000 absentee ballots have been requested throughout Mississippi, according to the Statewide Election Management System (SEMS). As of Monday, 35,946 absentee ballots were requested with 28,379 of those already being filled out and received for the upcoming statewide elections. In-person voting will open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, but any voter in line at the closing of the polls is legally entitled to cast a ballot. |
| Mississippi gubernatorial contenders Reeves and Presley will have 1 debate to cap a tough campaign | |
 | Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley were set to face off Wednesday night in their only debate to cap a hard-fought campaign, six days before the Nov. 7 general election. The two men have proposed significantly different platforms for governing Mississippi, a deeply conservative state that has long been one of the poorest in the United States. Republicans have held the governor's office for the past 20 years. Presley advocates expanding Medicaid to people earning modest wages who don't receive health insurance through their jobs. Reeves says he does not want to add hundreds of thousands of people to a program he calls "welfare." Presley called on Reeves to take part in five debates, including one last month at a forum sponsored by the NAACP in Gulfport. But Reeves agreed to only one. It's scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. CDT in the studio of WAPT-TV in Jackson and is being aired on that Jackson ABC affiliate and on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. |
| Brandon Presley raised $5 million more than Tate Reeves this election cycle | |
| Democrat Brandon Presley has outraised Republican Gov. Tate Reeves by more than $5 million to date in the 2023 statewide election cycle, according to campaign finance reports filed on Tuesday night. Presley reported raising $11.2 million since January, and Reeves raised $6.2 million during the same timeframe. And the two gubernatorial candidates in this year's campaign have remained neck-in-neck with spending, with Reeves spending $10.9 million and Presley spending $10.7 million. With one week remaining before the election, Reeves has $3 million in cash remaining -- but nearly $2 million of it is in a "legacy" account grandfathered under old campaign laws. Presley has $1.2 million cash on hand. This marks the third straight reporting cycle where Presley has outraised Reeves, who has built a reputation for raising significant amounts of money. The Democratic challenger raised $3.4 million during the month of October, while the Republican governor raised $1.1 million. This is the last comprehensive report campaigns are required to file before the election, but if they receive a donation between now and Nov. 5, the campaigns are required to list the individual donation within 48 hours of receiving it. |
| Presley outraises Reeves again, lifting other Mississippi Dems | |
| Mississippi Democratic gubernatorial nominee Brandon Presley raised significantly more campaign funds than Republican incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves and kept up with his spending this year but has less cash on hand for the final week of the campaign, according to the latest campaign finance reports. It continues Presley's surprising advantage from the last reports, which showed him ahead in contributions versus a governor well-known for raising money. Reeves often accuses Presley of relying on out-of-state donations. But even excluding the $5.85 million the national Democratic Governors Association gave Presley this year and the $1 million the Republican Governors Association gave Reeves, Presley outraised Reeves by nearly $200,000. The Republican Governors Association has invested a total of $1.75 million in Mississippi this year. In addition to the $1 million the RGA's "Mississippi Strong" PAC gave Reeves directly, it has spent money on get-out-the-vote efforts. It spent over $187,000 on paid canvassing in the last week of October. Presley's campaign gave the state Democratic Party about $770,000 this year, about 70% of the $1.1 million it has raised on top of the $633,000 it had in the bank Jan. 1. In turn, the state party has contributed to candidates identified as high-priority. The party gave several thousand dollars to five of its other statewide nominees, $1,000 each to the five state legislative candidates the national party said it supports this year, and several thousand to central district Public Service Commission nominee Rep. De'Keither Stamps, who is running what state party chair Rep. Cheikh Taylor has called one of the cycle's "most winnable races." |
| Trump endorses Tate Reeves for Mississippi governor in new commercial | |
| In what many thought was bound to happen, former U.S. President Donald Trump has once again come out in favor of Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves heading into the state's Nov. 7 general election. Reeves released a new commercial on Tuesday -- one day before he and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley are set to take the debate stage – showing Trump endorsing him over "President Biden's candidate." Trump, who is in the middle of his third presidential campaign after losing a second-term attempt in 2020 to Biden, went on to allege that the current president has directed Democratic donors to contribute to Presley's campaign. While Trump did not call out specific individuals who have donated to Presley's campaign, Reeves has used multiple opportunities along the trail to call out his opponent for receiving support from Democratic governors Gavin Newsom of California and Phil Murphy of New Jersey, former Georgia State Rep. Stacey Abrams, and "Hollywood liberals" such as Morgan Freeman. Trump's endorsement of Reeves is similar to that of 2019 when the former Republican president voiced his support for the then-lieutenant governor just five days before the election. |
| Donald Trump endorses Gov. Tate Reeves ahead of Nov. 7 election | |
| Former President Donald Trump endorsed Republican Gov. Tate Reeves' bid for reelection, likely giving the incumbent governor a needed boost less than a week from the election. In a video, Trump says President Joe Biden is "absolutely destroying our country" and that Presley is the Biden's chosen candidate. "Joe Biden's people are funding Brandon Presley's campaign," Trump said in the video, which was first reported by Mississippi Public Broadcasting's Will Stribling. "They own him. He'll do whatever they want him to do. It's really bad for Mississippi. I'm asking you to make time to vote. You've got to vote for Gov. Tate Reeves, and he has my total and complete endorsement." Presley in a statement did not address the Trump endorsement, but said he was proud of the "coalition of Republicans, Democrats, and independents" supporting his campaign that he believes will result in his victory in the general election next week. The Trump video is a marked contrast to Trump's involvement in Reeves' 2019 campaign for governor. Just five days before the November 2019 election between Reeves and Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood, then-President Trump flew to Tupelo for a rally in a key battleground region of the state. Some Democratic and Republican operatives contend that eleventh-hour Trump visit got Reeves over the hump, ultimately leading to a Reeves victory with 51.9% of the vote. |
| Mississippi's congressional delegation seeks Presidential Medal of Freedom for Medgar Evers | |
| Mississippi's congressional delegation is urging President Joe Biden to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to civil rights leader Medgar Wiley Evers. U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, and U.S. Reps. Bennie Thompson, Trent Kelly, Michael Guest and Mike Ezell on Tuesday sent a letter to Biden encouraging him to bestow the honor on Evers. He was assassinated outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 12, 1963, as a result of his work to promote racial equality, voting rights and social justice. "Mr. Evers dedicated his life to the defense of civil rights in Mississippi and the United States," the legislators wrote. "His sacrifice inspires Americans to this day, and he furthered the cause of freedom for all humankind." The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest U.S. civilian honor awarded to individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." Awardees are selected by the president. President Harry S. Truman selected the first Medal of Freedom recipient in 1946. |
| 'Serious and intertwined': On foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine, McConnell has unlikely allies | |
 | Mitch McConnell's support for a $106 billion emergency foreign aid package to Israel and Ukraine is scrambling traditional partisan alliances in Washington. The Senate Republican leader's boosting of the Biden administration's request is earning support from House Democrats and visceral opposition from Republicans in both congressional chambers. "I think what Mitch McConnell is aligned with is international law -- a commitment to our allies, a defense of freedom and democracy. That's not a Republican or a Democratic issue. That's an American value," Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the former Democratic whip, said in an interview. But funding military and security exercises thousands of miles away has become an increasingly divisive prospect as newer faces in the GOP embrace a more populist and anti-interventionist posture that's been championed by former President Donald Trump. Many Republicans -- including Kentucky's Rand Paul -- are predicting the giant funding proposal has no chance of passing the House, and many are calling for support for Israel to be separated from the considerably larger parcel for Ukraine. On Tuesday, as a Senate committee heard testimony from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the details of the package, McConnell took to the Senate floor to argue that China and Iran's interests could be emboldened by weakness shown by the West in the two unfolding wars. |
| Why a 2023 Virginia Election Is a Proving Ground for 2024 | |
 | For clues about the strength of both parties' messages heading into 2024, look no further than this suburban Northern Virginia enclave, where Democrats and Republicans are betting big on a hotly contested state Senate race. Typically, such local elections don't have a major impact outside their direct communities. But this one could decide control of the Virginia legislature and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's ability to enact conservative policies on abortion, taxes and education -- making it closely watched in the run up to next year's presidential race. The Nov. 7 contest pits Republican Juan Pablo Segura, a 35-year-old entrepreneur, against Democrat Russet Perry, 39, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer and prosecutor. The seat is key to Democrats' bid to keep their slim edge in the 40-seat Senate, where they have squared off against Youngkin and Republicans who narrowly lead the House. Virginia's odd-year elections traditionally offer signals about the electorate's mood heading into national contests. Both parties have had recent statewide success in the state: Youngkin won the governor's mansion in 2021, and President Biden won its 13 Electoral College votes a year earlier. In a campaign that mirrors the political playbook across Virginia this year, Perry is pledging to prevent a rollback of abortion access, while Segura emphasizes education, crime and cost-of-living concerns. "Whoever wins this seat probably is in the majority," said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. The battle for the newly drawn seat covering parts of affluent Loudoun and Fauquier counties is shaping up as the state's most expensive Senate race this year, with more than $11 million raised through Oct. 26. If Republicans flip the Senate and hold the House, the GOP will have a trifecta with Youngkin in the governor's office. |
| Transformed Trump family will take center stage in New York courtroom | |
 | Donald Trump had been a pariah on Wall Street for years when a banker in Deutsche Bank's private wealth department started speaking with his daughter Ivanka. After a number of meetings, the banker emailed a supervisor in 2011 with an important update about the future of the Trump business. "Ivanka Trump will become a client for sure. She is the heir apparent of this Empire," wrote the banker, Rosemary Vrablic, according to an email that is part of a filing in a civil case against Trump now underway in New York. Grounded in its real estate empire, the family's future seemed clear then. But Trump's four-year presidency -- and the tumultuous period of investigations and criminal and civil litigation since he left office -- have reshaped much of the Trump family's wealth, business and dynamics with one another, according to court filings, financial records, emails and interviews with people close to the family. Ivanka Trump, once considered by Trump's business partners to be the most likely of his children to take over the Trump Organization, has largely stepped away from the limelight of both business and politics, at times telling others she was stung by the scrutiny she received in Washington, according to people who know her. She and husband Jared Kushner, who both served as senior White House aides when her father was in office, now spend most of their time in Miami. These days, it is Trump's second son, Eric, who as executive vice president of the Trump Organization is most involved in the family real estate business, while his eldest, Donald Trump Jr., is said by campaign advisers to be more interested in politics. Of the three, Eric Trump now speaks most regularly to his father, Trump advisers say, as the two have grown closer as a result of the second Trump son's leadership of the family business. |
| How Did Democrats Lose Control of State Agriculture Policy? | |
 | Jonathan Robertson was preparing to start the workday on his family cattle farm when a campaign ad in the race for agriculture commissioner of Kentucky flashed across his television. He couldn't hear the narrator, but he noticed that the candidate -- the name was Shell, he believed -- was shown on the screen baling hay and driving farm equipment. "I haven't heard anything about who's running," Mr. Robertson, 47, recalled a few hours later, stopping with his brother for the $5.99 lunch special at the Wigwam General Store in Horse Cave., Ky. "Who's his opponent?" Neither Mr. Robertson nor his brother, Josh, 44, knew who was in the race, but they had no doubt how they would vote: "I'm a straight-ticket Republican," Josh said. Democrats face daunting odds in races for the under-the-radar but vitally important position of state agriculture commissioner -- and not just in Kentucky, where the two people competing on Nov. 7 are Jonathan Shell, a former Republican state legislator, and Sierra Enlow, a Democratic economic development consultant. A total of 12 states in the South and Midwest elect their agriculture commissioners, who wield enormous clout on everything from regulating pesticides to containing animal disease outbreaks. Twenty years ago, Democrats held most of those seats; now, Republicans occupy all 12, even in states where Democrats have prevailed in other statewide contests for governor, attorney general and the United States Senate, like North Carolina, West Virginia and Georgia. The reversal of fortune is part of a general decline of the Democratic Party in the South in recent decades. But it also reflects a concerted focus by Republicans on down-ballot races. |
| Lose by less: Biden tries to stanch Democratic losses in rural America | |
 | President Joe Biden will visit Minnesota farm country Wednesday -- officially to promote his administration's work to support farmers in the fight against climate change and help rural areas connect to broadband. But privately, allies hope the White House outreach -- part of a two-week blitz of rural America -- can also help claw back voters in a part of the country where Democrats have hemorrhaged support in recent years. While party strategists are under no illusions they can win majorities in rural counties, they desperately need to lose by less next year. On the heels of Biden's visit to Northfield, Minn., a dozen Cabinet secretaries and other administration officials are fanning out to rural communities across the country. Democrats' vote share in these places plummeted in recent decades, hitting historic lows in the last presidential election: Former President Bill Clinton won about half of the rural counties in 1996, totaling more than 1,100. Former President Barack Obama won 455 in 2008 and President Joe Biden won 194 of them in 2020. Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, pulled out new voters in rural America, winning them by even wider margins in 2020 and deepening the urban-rural partisan divide. But Biden's path to victory in 2024 cuts through these rural counties, where the Biden campaign must make "sure the margins stay close," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who's scheduled to appear alongside the president on Wednesday and grew up in a town of 400 people. |
| President Joe Biden embarks on 'barnstorming' tour of rural America with stop at Minnesota farm | |
| Amid a war in the Middle East, a primary challenger from Minnesota and slipping poll numbers, President Joe Biden will kick off what aides are calling a "barnstorming" of rural America with a visit to a farm just north of Northfield today. The trip to Dutch Creek Farms in rural Dakota County is billed by the White House as a chance to spotlight farmers who are leaning on recent federal spending to improve sustainability and offer producers a competitive leg up in new markets. In a call with reporters Tuesday, Biden's domestic policy advisor, Neera Tanden, previewed the Minnesota visit, saying the public will "hear more about how these investments are creating real opportunity so the next generation doesn't have to leave the family farm to have real opportunity." The president is also expected to detail $5 billion in new investments, including $1.7 billion in climate-smart agriculture programs, another $1 billion in broadband deployment, and some $2 billion in rural development programs. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the primary goal, however, is highlighting federal farm subsidies. "I think there are obviously a lot of folks in Minnesota who understand and appreciate climate-smart agriculture and the enormous new income opportunities and environmental benefits that that accrues," Vilsack said. Pertinent to farmers and ranchers, Congress missed a September deadline to reauthorize the highly influential farm bill, a Great Depression-era omnibus, which undergirds everything from crop insurance to food stamps. Observers hope Congress greenlights the massive bill before year's end. "I appreciate that he's recognizing that rural America needs help with funding to either create or maintain revenue streams or livelihood," said Dan Glessing, a Waverly farmer and president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau. "We need options." |
| War plunged Israel's agricultural heartlands into crisis, raising fears for its farming future | |
| The soldiers guarding Avi Chivivian's organic vegetable farm in southern Israel must first scour every corner of his fields for militants before they give him the all clear: He has six hours to work. It's potato planting season for the farms of southern Israel, a region near the Gaza border that the Agriculture Ministry calls the country's "vegetable barn" because it supplies at least a third of Israel's vegetables. But Chivivian -- one of the few remaining farmers in the area since the brutal Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas militants -- no longer lives by the harvest cycle. He's on the military's timetable. "If we don't plant potatoes now, there won't be any in the spring," said Chivivian, who lives in the small village of Yated. "If we put our hands up, we will have a food crisis in Israel." The Israel-Hamas war has plunged Israel's agricultural heartlands, located around the Gaza Strip and in the north near the Lebanese and Syrian borders, into crisis. Israeli airstrikes, ground operations and a siege have also upended all manner of life in Gaza. Chivivian lost his entire harvest in the few days following Oct. 7. He was unable to tend to his 65 acres (25 hectares) as militants rampaged around his community. All of his crops -- tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet potatoes -- now lie dead in the fields and must be uprooted before he can till the soil anew and start over. |
| Amid Israel-Hamas war, some Palestinians rage against another target: Their own rulers | |
 | Even amid the terrible destruction that has transformed parts of Jenin into pits of jumbled masonry, the bullet-pocked tower of the Palestinian government headquarters stands out -- not for the relatively light damage it sustained but for who caused it. Whereas homes in this West Bank city have been demolished by Israeli troops, roads have been churned up by Israeli bulldozers and storefronts have been disfigured by Israeli gunfire, the offices of the Sultah, or Palestinian Authority, were attacked by Palestinians themselves during a noisy protest over Israel's bombardment of Gaza. Disgusted with the authority's inability to protect its own people or stand up to Israel, militants in the crowd aimed their bullets at the government compound after its security forces tried to break up the demonstration. "The Sultah started firing live rounds at us to stop it, so the guys fired back," said Abu Hamzeh, a bulky 37-year-old fighter with the Jenin Brigade, a cross-factional Palestinian resistance group that includes members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah. His comrade in arms beside him, hand on the butt of a weathered-looking M4 rifle, warned of Palestinians' growing anger with their nominal rulers alongside their antipathy toward Israel. Although much of their fury is directed at Israel, many in Jenin accuse the Palestinian Authority of abandoning them. The Palestinian Authority, which was founded as a proto-state administration as a result of the 1993 Oslo peace accords, manifests itself mainly as a sprawling bureaucracy across the West Bank, where it has limited powers. In Gaza it has none, after the violent ouster there of its ruling party, Fatah, in 2007 by Hamas, its top rival. |
| Are your company's cybersecurity trainings a waste of your time? | |
| It many companies, employees are expected to take cybersecurity training to learn how to detect malicious emails and craft a secure password. In some cases, the training can take hours. So is it worth it? Experts say that employees should have some form of training, but there's room for improvement. "I think cybersecurity trainings are absolutely essential. But I think they need to be modernized, and they need to be tailored to the organization," said Chester Wisniewski, global field chief technology officer at security firm Sophos. "Right now, it's a tick box for a lot of audits and for a lot of certifications, and for a lot of governments and rules, depending on the state and country that you live in." Because of that, Wisniewski thinks companies are doing the minimum. "Staff members are watching comic characters for 15 minutes and taking a quiz about phishing at the end," he said. Phishing is a practice where seemingly reputable emails, text messages or other forms of communication are sent to users in an effort to get them to reveal personal information or sensitive financial information. Phishing is a huge part of cybersecurity training because it remains the top cybersecurity threat, said Joseph Nwankpa, director of cybersecurity initiatives at Miami University. And it's become a bigger problem with more employees working from home since the pandemic started. In an ongoing study, Nwankpa and other researchers found that effective training for identifying phishing attempts plateaus. They're working with Miami University's IT department, which is sending fake phishing emails to faculty and staff to see the rate at which they click on a suspicious link. |
| Ole Miss to offer medical marijuana master's degree | |
 | Ole Miss' history in the medical marijuana field dates back to 1960s when the university began researching the subject and built a cannabis growing facility. Now, the university is advancing that history by adding a master's program focused on medical cannabis and dietary supplements. The two-year online program under the School of Pharmacy opens fall 2024 and will be split between learning about two industries -- dietary supplements and medical marijuana, both of which are currently on the rise of use in the United States. David Colby, director of online graduate programs in the biomedical sciences department, said the medical cannabis and dietary supplements master's program will be unique in the nation. "The purpose is to provide advanced training for people who are seeking employment or want to advance their current jobs in dietary supplements, which could be herbal products or medical cannabis," Colby said. While it will overlap in some ways with other programs in the nation, the program at Ole Miss will center more on training students to design products rather than teaching people how to use cannabis products. It won't necessarily focus on diseases and treatment. "We're more focused on providing the skills for people to be successful in the industry," Colby said. |
| Sen. Tim Scott promotes presidential campaign, conservative values at UM | |
 | Ole Miss students, Capitol Hill staffers and Oxford residents gathered in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion on Friday, Oct. 27, to hear Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott speak. UM's Declaration of Independence Center for the Study of American Freedom hosted the event. The South Carolinian spent the bulk of a 40-minute conversation with Steven Skultety, director of the Declaration Center, describing how Christian values and hard work have influenced his own life -- and that these "universal truths" are at risk in America. "I think we are seeing some of the greatest assaults on religious liberty that we've ever seen in the history of our country," Scott said. "Without any question, we're seeing it today around the world, but we're seeing a lot of it at home as well. People want to challenge whether or not your faith should be a part of the public forum." Scott spoke of the connection between capitalism and freedom, sharing his experience growing up in poverty. "My first pursuit of freedom was freedom from poverty," Scott said. "American capitalism, American free enterprise can work for a kid growing up in a single-parent household, mired in poverty, living in an inner city. It was another alternative to athletics to find economic freedom." |
| Two women charged with felonies in Oxford pocket park vandalism | |
| A pair of out-of-state University of Mississippi female students have been arrested and could face up to five years in prison for the vandalism of a new city park in Oxford less than a week after it opened. Abigail Fuqua, 19, of Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Madison Brown, 18, of Davidson, North Carolina, have been arrested and charged with felony malicious mischief. Both have since been released on $5,000 bonds. Around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 24, two females vandalized the globe fountain at the newly dedicated pocket park next to Oxford City Hall. Security camera video showed the two women shoving the large marble ball off the fountain. The ball then rolled away into a flower bed. Police released the video and enlarged images of the women the same day on social media. By 1 p.m., officials said a barrage of shares and tips led to the identification of the suspects. Fuqua was detained the day of the incident and taken to the Lafayette County Detention Center, though neither information about her arrest nor her mugshot was available on the jail website. Brown was booked into the county jail Tuesday at 11:19 a.m. She was processed and bonded out 15 minutes later. The fountain was damaged to the point it will have to be replaced. According to information released Tuesday, it will cost $4,700 to replace the fountain and repair the plumbing. Under Mississippi's malicious mischief law, damages of more than $1,000 are considered a felony. If the damages are more than $1,000 but less than $5,000, the penalty is a fine of up to $5,000 and/or up to five years in prison. |
| Narcan now available in all USM residence halls | |
 | Colleges across the U.S. are now being proactive by making Narcan available on their campuses, and the University of Southern Mississippi is one of them. Emergency kits containing the medicine have been installed in all of the dorms on the Hattiesburg campus. Through a recent grant, the campus was able to install the kits in dorms and has plans to install them in other campus buildings and shared spaces. "This was really important to us, but not just getting these overdose emergency kits installed but just the teaching of overdose, and the symptoms of that, what to watch for, how do you know if someone's overdosing," said Melanie Blanton, nurse and health educator. Each emergency kit comes with two doses of Narcan, a CPR mask and instructions. "But, we just want to do everything to make it easier," Blanton said. "If someone is with them, they can read the directions out to them as somebody is giving the Narcan or at least accessing if it needs to be given." USM has started training its residence hall staff on how to use the Narcan kits, which includes student resident assistants. |
| JSU murder suspect could still be on the loose | |
| 3 On Your Side was first to show you exclusive video that could prove the wrong person is behind bars for the recent killing at Jackson State University. Tuesday, we uncovered new information that further validates that claim. While officials with JSU continue to stay tight-lipped about the investigation, we've confirmed that Jackson Police got a call about a man shot near JSU's campus on October 15th at 9:26 p.m. That's less than a half hour before the shooting suspect was apparently caught on camera in the drive thru of Krispy Kreme in Hattiesburg. A Krispy Kreme employee claims he remembers taking an order from the alleged killer that night. "It was near the time we were about to close our lobby because our lobby closes at 10, and he came through. It was a normal night, slow for a Sunday, and just like any other customer, he came through and paid cash," Krispy Kreme employee Jordan Stianche said. "We exchanged a few words about Jones College, but yeah, I saw him in that white truck and recognized him as soon as I saw his picture again." If that's true and Brown is, in fact, the killer, he would have had to drive 89 miles from JSU to the Krispy Kreme in Hattiesburg in roughly 30 minutes. "It just really surprises me that they're not really doing much about it right now after having all this evidence come to light, but at the same time, I can understand them having their suspect and wanting to stick to it to have a closed case," he added. It also comes to the surprise of Jones College Head Football Coach, Steve Buckley. "Josh Brown is a sophomore in our program here. This is his third semester. He's set to graduate in December, and he has a 3.06 GPA. Josh has never been an issue on the field or off the field," Buckley said. "Josh is punctual. He's dependable. He's a leader in our program." |
| LSU and Tulane are getting $22 million to lead group effort to save the Mississippi River Delta | |
| Louisiana State University and Tulane University are receiving a $22 million award from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to lead a consortium seeking ways to save the ecologically fragile Lower Mississippi River Delta, the schools announced Wednesday. The consortium will explore ways to combat the effects of increasingly intense hurricanes, rising seas, ground subsidence and the diminishing of river sediment that builds the delta, according to a joint news release. Six historically Black colleges and universities are also part of the consortium: Southern University of Baton Rouge, Xavier University of New Orleans, Jackson State University, Grambling State University, Dillard University and Alcorn State University. Also part of the group are the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of Central Florida, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, the Water Institute of the Gulf and the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Much of the award announced Wednesday will go toward workforce development and diversity, according to the release. "Universities in the consortium will work with students in middle and high schools to increase the number of persons from underrepresented groups participating in coastal research and activities," the statement said. |
| Are you ready for it? Taylor Swift course hits UF Honors College | |
| Ten seconds. That's about how long it took for the 15 spots in Musical Storytelling With Taylor Swift and Other Iconic Female Artists to fill when the UF Honors Program opened its early registration Oct. 24. The class is one of many Swift-themed courses hitting college campuses, a phenomenon that combines "Miss Americana" with the academic world. Taylor Swift is one of the most popular singers worldwide. Despite the ebbs and flows of scrutiny she's faced in the past, her latest Eras Tour and album re-releases have achieved record-breaking success. Melina Jimenez, an associate instructional professor at the UF English Language Institute, does not consider herself a Swiftie. In fact, for most of her life, she rarely listened to the singer. But after participating in an online writing workshop this summer dedicated to Swift's music and writing style, she was surprised at how in-depth her lyrics were. "I wanted to see what all the buzz is about," Jimenez said. "It made me want to create a space where students could talk about it." Intrigued by the singer's popularity and dedicated fanbase, and with the help of two honors college students who serve as peer instructors, the Taylor Swift class became a reality. The Spring 2024 one-credit class will be discussion-oriented, each week centering on themes present in songs by Swift and other female songwriters, such as aging, old flames, karma and double standards. |
| Cornell student arrested in connection with antisemitic threats on New York campus | |
 | Two days after social media posts threatened a violent rampage against Jewish students at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, federal prosecutors have filed charges against a 21-year-old student. Patrick Dai, a junior, allegedly posted threats "to kill or injure another using interstate communications," a felony. He has yet to enter a plea and is expected to appear in federal court on Wednesday in Syracuse, New York. Officials say he remains in custody. Dai is innocent until proven guilty. If convicted, the U.S. Attorney's Office said he could face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. "We remain shocked by and condemn these horrific, anti-semitic threats and believe they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," said Joel Malina, a spokesman for Cornell University in a statement. "Cornell Police will maintain its heightened security presence on campus," he added. The threats posted Sunday sent waves of fear through the Jewish community in Ithaca. They prompted a visit to campus by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. In a speech Tuesday, Hochul warned of rising antisemitism on college campuses across New York state. She cited to the threats at Cornell but said bigotry against Jewish people has taken root on other campuses, including the City University of New York in New York City. |
| In "buyer's market," tuition increases haven't outpaced inflation | |
 | Despite public perceptions that the cost of college is too high, tuition prices remained relatively low this year. And while the average dollar amount colleges charged for tuition and fees rose for the 2023–24 academic year, those increases were less than inflation rates, according to the College Board's 2023 "Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid" report released today. "We are seeing that some public school systems continue tuition freezes, which is welcome news, especially in the current inflationary environment," said Jennifer Ma, executive research scientist for the College Board and co-author of the report. In-state students at public four-year institutions saw their tuition and fees increase by 2.5 percent this year before adjusting for inflation. The rates increased by 2.6 percent for in-district students at public two-year colleges and by 4 percent for students attending private nonprofit four-year institutions. But after adjusting for 4.5 percent inflation between the first eight months of 2022 and 2023, the report showed that average published tuition and fees fell across all three of those sectors. "It's important to look at not only the sticker prices, but also the net prices, which is what students and families pay after subtracting total grant aid they receive," Ma said. "In recent years, the net prices have been fairly stable or declining after adjusting for inflation." |
| Carnegie Is Changing How It Classifies R1 Institutions. Will Your University Make the Cut? | |
 | The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is making changes to its most closely watched college labels. The American Council on Education, which helps manage the classifications, is making several revisions, effective in 2025. The one that will capture the most attention is its drastic simplification of the criteria that determine what caliber of research university an institution is. Carnegie Classification analysts have long used a complex formula, involving 10 factors and calculations that compare universities, to decide which ones will get the coveted "doctoral universities -- very high research activity," or "R1," label. Now, just two factors distinguish that designation from the R2 level ("high research activity"): how much money an institution spends on research, and how many doctorates it awards in a year. The new sorting is likely to startle administrators who've long used certain calculations and strategies to try to land their institutions on one of higher ed's most exclusive lists. "It is a fairly big deal because the R1 designation has so much power in the higher-education industry," said Robert Kelchen, a professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Now ACE says it wants to lower the temperature around the research categories; to disincentivize institutions from making decisions based on achieving R1 status; and to recognize a wider variety of institutional accomplishments, including improving students' socioeconomic fortunes and research done outside of doctorate-granting universities. |
| Major overhaul coming for key framework for organizing higher ed | |
| If most people know anything at all about the Carnegie Classifications -- and many don't -- it starts and stops with one phrase: R-1. "Research 1," the term the classification system attached to universities with the strongest research base, has in some quarters become synonymous with the "best" institutions, just as the most selective colleges are often assumed to be at the top of the heap. Governing boards, state legislators and ambitious campus leaders often make pursuing (or sustaining) R-1 status central to their strategic plans -- sometimes prioritizing it over other goals that might serve their students or communities better. The Carnegie Classifications were designed 50 years ago to help researchers, policy makers and college officials themselves make sense of the complex, diffuse mélange of roughly 4,000 American colleges and universities whose missions, resources and student bodies vary greatly. That the Carnegie framework has, for many people inside and outside higher education, become reducible to one factor is among the reasons why officials at the American Council on Education, which last year joined the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in managing the classifications, concluded that it needed an overhaul. Today ACE announced the first steps in that process: a set of changes to Carnegie's "basic" categorization that will simplify it in some ways and make it more nuanced and complex in others. "We wanted to be complex where the complexity matters, and simple where simple tells the right story," said Ted Mitchell, the council's president. |
| Biggers's Ayers case rulings changed higher education but had unintended consequences | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: The jurist who brought so-called "open enrollment" to Mississippi higher education as part of settling historic racial discrimination in funding and resources lawsuit died last month, but he left a powerful shadow over the state's university system. Mississippi U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. died Oct. 15 at his Oxford home at the age of 88. He served in the state's federal Northern District from his appointment by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 until his death. Biggers took senior status in 2000. ... The hallmark case in Biggers' outstanding federal judicial career was the Ayers higher education lawsuit. At inception, the lawsuit was based on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But in 1992, the Supreme Court sent the case back to Biggers's court to address the issues of eliminating the effects of state-enforced segregation. Biggers ruled in 1995 that there were still vestiges of discrimination in Mississippi higher education. Biggers was in charge of enforcing the Ayers settlement, which imposed the same admissions standards for all of Mississippi's eight institutions of higher education -- or what came to be called "open enrollment." These standards were based on a combination of factors, including GPA and/or ACT, CPC and SAT scores. For context, the late Jake Ayers Sr. of Glen Allen filed the suit in 1975 on behalf of his children and other Mississippi Black college students, claiming the state had historically discriminated in providing equitable facilities and programs for Jackson State University, Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State University in comparison to the state's predominantly white colleges and universities. |
SPORTS
| Soccer Dawgs Knock Off Bama Once Again, Advance to SEC Semifinals for the First Time in Program History | |
| Mississippi State soccer continues to rewrite the program record books. In a year full of "firsts" for the Bulldogs, Tuesday night was no different. State advanced past Alabama for the second time this season, earning a spot in the SEC Tournament semifinals for the first time in program history. In a very windy and cold affair, Pensacola played host to the nightcap of the quarterfinal round. In a rematch of the regular season affair just nine days ago, the Crimson Tide came out looking for revenge. In the 24th minute, Bama struck first on a bouncing ball in the box that found the foot of Brooke Steere and into the back of the net to give the Crimson Tide a 1-nill lead. After trailing at the half, the Dawgs came out of the locker room with a vengeance. After trailing the first half in shots 10-2, the Dawgs were able to put shots on goal early in the second half. In the 55th minute, Bama was called for a handball in the box, resulting in a penalty kick for State. Aitana Martinez-Montoya looked to take advantage as she lined it up. Martinez-Montoya stepped up as the whistle blew, firing the ball into the back of the net, knotting up the match at 1-1. State and Bama traded scoring chances throughout the rest of regulation, however, neither team could find the back of the net. The battle waged on through two overtimes, neither team wavering. Penalty kicks was the only thing left to decide who would advance. Aitana Martinez-Montoya and Kennedy White secured successful penalty kicks as Maddy Anderson did not allow Alabama to find the net, giving State the 2-0 advantage to advance into the SEC semifinals. No. 4 seed Mississippi State will return to the pitch for a rematch with the No. 1 seed Arkansas Razorbacks on Thursday in Pensacola. The matchup is slated for a 5:00 PM kick. |
| Breakout game was months in the making for Zavion Thomas | |
| Kevin Barbay had a good feeling Zavion Thomas was primed for a big game last Saturday at Auburn. It only took one play for the Mississippi State wide receiver to begin proving his offensive coordinator right. "Last week, he had his best week of practice," Barbay said. "That correlated to his best game so far." The Bulldogs already trailed by a touchdown when they got the ball for the first time, so they felt some urgency to respond quickly. Thomas lined up out wide to the right, but motioned toward the formation as quarterback Mike Wright took the snap, faked a handoff to running back Jeffery Pittman and faded back to throw. The long pass was slightly overthrown, but Thomas used his fingertips to gather the ball in and placed both feet in bounds along the left sideline. It was the start of by far the best game of the sophomore's collegiate career -- Thomas caught nine passes for 112 yards, including MSU's only touchdown, his first receiving score in a Bulldogs uniform, in the 27-13 loss. "When the ball goes in the air, it has to be mine," Thomas said. "It can't be the (defensive back's); it has to be mine. Having that mentality makes everything easier." |
| First look at UK vs. Mississippi State football game: Story lines, key players, odds, more | |
| Kentucky's slide continued Saturday. After spotting Tennessee a 10-point lead in the opening period, UK could not mount a comeback, trailing for all 60 minutes of a 33-27 loss at Kroger Field. It marked the Wildcats' third straight setback following a 5-0 start this season. Now, they prepare to take on Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi, where Kentucky hasn't won since 2008. If UK can leave with a victory, it would secure a bowl bid for an eighth consecutive year to extend an ongoing program record. This season represents the final chapter of the SEC as presently constituted. Next fall, Oklahoma and Texas will be league members. With their addition will come a myriad of changes. Among them: the elimination of divisions. As a result, cross-division rivalries will go out the window, too. The SEC paired up Kentucky and Mississippi State after Arkansas and South Carolina joined the league prior to the 1992 season. But the Wildcats' rivalry with the Bulldogs predates even that: The two schools have played each other every year since 1990. Next season, that will be no more. The two won't play during the regular season, meaning the only way it will stretch another year is if both reach the 2024 SEC Championship Game. Saturday's winner takes a one-up advantage in the all-time series, which is tied 25-25. |
| U. of North Florida baseball coach Tim Parenton passes away; had been two-way sports start at Mississippi State | |
| Tim Parenton, who guided the University of North Florida baseball team for six seasons, passed away Monday at his Jacksonville Beach home at the age of 61, according to the university's athletics website. Parenton resigned as the UNF coach in June for health reasons. He had been battling throat cancer since 2019. "It's something a lot of people have to deal with head-on in life," Parenton told the Times-Union's Gene Frenette on May 16 of his battle with cancer. "You're going to have adversity. You just do your best to overcome it. I'm still throwing batting practice and hitting fungos. Keep on living my life." UNF president Moez Limayem said Parenton's impact as a coach and mentor will last far beyond his years. In his statement, UNF athletic director Nick Morrow said the university community was "devastated at the news of coach Parenton's passing." Parenton was a rare two-sport athlete at Mississippi State. But he was never more at home than on the baseball field or dugout. He played for two NCAA teams at Mississippi State under legendary coach Ron Polk, and counted future Major Leagues Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro and Jeff Brantly among his teammates. Parenton returned to serve as an MSU assistant when the team went to the 1997 College World Series. A funeral mass will be held in New Orleans, with details announced at a later date. |
| Ex-NBA star Erick Dampier wants to build $58M sports complex in Jackson | |
 | If former NBA and Mississippi State star Erick Dampier and Karla McCullough have their way, a new development could transform South Jackson bringing visitors there from across the country. The plan is to redevelop 33 acres of the former Jackson Square Promenade on Terry Road into a work-stay-play area that focuses on sports tourism. When completed, the development, the Mississippi Athletic Center, would have 10 basketball courts that double as volleyball courts and 50 yards of turf that can be used for football, baseball and soccer. The entire development would cost $58 million. The MAC will be the anchor with small businesses and other opportunities for business surrounding the anchor. Dampier, who led MSU to the 1996 Final Four before a 16-year NBA career, now works with multiple travel basketball teams in the area and wants to use his connections from the game to bring national-quality tournaments to the facility, which in turn would bring parents and spectators to stay. McCullough is the executive director of the Juanita Sims Doty Foundation. She is trying to help raise part of the money for the project while she says Dampier has already invested some of his own money to see this project become a reality. "We have done all of this traveling, but we kept asking the question of why doesn't Mississippi have a facility like the ones we are going to," Dampier said. "So, we want Nike camps or other tournaments like that to have that kind of economic development here. It wasn't necessarily a dream to build this. It just kind of developed over the years." |
| Are there any transgender athletes in public schools or universities in Mississippi? | |
| With the general election coming up, the airwaves have been flooded with campaign ads over the past few weeks. Many of those ads mention transgender athletes, specifically boys playing girls' sports. Since this is a hot-button issue on the campaign trail, 16 WAPT News wanted to find out how big an issue it is in everyday life in the Magnolia State. Emails were sent to all of the superintendents of Mississippi public school districts, to the Mississippi High School Activities Association, the Mississippi Community College Board and the Institutions of Higher Learning asking, "Are there any transgender athletes in public schools and universities in this state?" The unanimous answer was, "No." In fact, many cited Mississippi's recently enacted state law regarding transgender athletes in public schools. "The law only prohibits, basically, a person that is born a male from playing an all-female sport," said MHSAA Executive Director Rickey Neaves. Neaves said there are no known transgender athletes in Mississippi's public schools. So, if there is a state law banning trans athletes, and there are no known cases, then why are we hearing so much about this issue from the political candidates? "It's showing that this is an intentional attack on trans people, particularly trans youth," said ACLU of Mississippi LGBTQ staff attorney McKenna Raney-Gray. But Neaves said the ban is necessary to protect the fairness of competition, because biological males generally have a competitive advantage over biological females. "If you look at what happened in some of the northeastern states with males swimming with females and winning and setting records, there's just not some fairness to it because of the difference between men and women," Neaves said. |
| Nighttime becomes the right time for November football in the Big Ten, like it or not. Bundle up | |
| Night football historically has been a rarity in the Big Ten after the first Saturday in November. The conference's billion-dollar-a-year television package will make it a regular thing beginning next week when Michigan State visits Ohio State for a 7:30 p.m. EST game. The rationale for the general prohibition was that the conference's traditional footprint in the Upper Midwest made November night games a hardship for teams and fans because of the increasing likelihood of inclement weather. Dollar signs have trumped tradition and any pushback that might have come from the schools. "I get all the reasons why, that's for sure," Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said. "I get it: There's a massive business aspect of that." Coaches generally said they have no preference about kickoff times and that their teams are tough enough to play through harsh weather conditions. Wisconsin's Luke Fickell and Nebraska's Matt Rhule said night games at any point in the season can create raucous atmospheres that help the home team. It was a big deal in the Big Ten in 2008 when Iowa played Minnesota at night the week before Thanksgiving. Of course, that game was played indoors at the old Metrodome.It wasn't until 2014 that there was another night game after daylight savings: Ohio State at Michigan State and Michigan State at Maryland. It was 39 degrees with an 8-mph northwest wind for that first game in East Lansing, Michigan. It was 32 with no wind for the game in College Park, Maryland. There were a total of eight night kickoffs in the Big Ten after daylight savings from 2014-17 but none since -- unless you count the outlier 2020 pandemic season when six were necessary because of tight scheduling for teams that played up to nine games between late October and mid-December. The Big Ten joined the rest of college football with season-long night football because its contract with NBC includes a weekly Saturday night game through the regular season. |
| Paul Finebaum questions Michigan AD Warde Manuel's role on CFP committee amid scandal | |
| With the Michigan football program both ranked in the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings and embroiled in scandal, this had to be a tough week for CFP committee member and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel. According to college football insider Heather Dinich, despite the pickle Manuel is stuck in, he remains a highly-respected member of the committee. And, of course, he has to leave the room when his own school is discussed. "Warde Manuel, Michigan's Athletic Director, is on the selection committee. He has to walk out and recuse himself. There is a lot of respect for him in the room," explained Dinich when she and Paul Finebaum joined GetUp Wednesday morning to break down the situation. She added that CFP chairmen said the ongoing situations with Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan program was "not an issue in the room at all for them." Finebaum found the situation rather comedic, since he claims that Manuel and Harbaugh are not buddies while Manuel is trying to save face for Michigan because of Harbaugh. "I mean, Heather's 100% correct, but I'm just laughing at the idea that the man in the middle of all of this, Warde Manuel, who is Jim Harbaugh's boss -- and by the way, every report out of Michigan indicates that these two do not like each other at all -- that he's sitting there at lunch, drinks at night, hors d'oeuvres, saunas in the morning, that nobody's saying, 'hey Warde, what's the deal?'" Finebaum simply isn't buying that Manuel is on the sidelines for any and all Michigan discussion, which could put the committee between a rock and hard place down the road. |
| College football coaching carousel: 10 Power Five jobs to keep an eye on | |
| Last year on this day -- Halloween of all days -- Auburn fired Bryan Harsin as its head football coach. The firing was anything but shocking. The buzz around Harsin's shaky standing at the school began months earlier and intensified after the school split with athletic director Allen Green before the season even began. But Harsin's firing was notable: He was the seventh FBS head coach of the season to be fired or resign for performance reasons during the season -- the highest number of coaches to lose their job before the calendar turned to November in at least a decade, and maybe ever. A year removed from that early season firing spree, college football sits in a far different place as Halloween 2023 arrives: Zero coaches have been fired or resigned for on-field performance this season. "It's probably a good thing for the sport," says one sports agent. "The triggers are normally way too quick." Reasons for the quiet carousel range widely, industry experts tell Yahoo Sports. For one, college athletics is in the midst of one of its most volatile times of change. For administrators contemplating a coaching change, there are plenty of other distractions: conference realignment, athlete compensation and legal challenges, to name a few. Secondly, buyouts are at an all-time high. And then there's name, image and likeness rules, which have created another expense for school officials who are now encouraging donors to give to NIL collectives. "Athletic directors are in a tough spot. Which one do you want, $20 million to get rid of your coach or $20 million for NIL?" asks one industry insider. |
| It Isn't Just Golf. The Justice Department Is Very, Very Interested in Sports. | |
| In January of this year, executives from the Big3 basketball league met with Justice Department officials in Washington to present their case: that the National Basketball Association was violating federal antitrust law. The meeting, according to people familiar with the matter, included Jonathan Kanter, the Biden administration's assistant attorney general for antitrust, who often likes to reference his own sports fandom. The DOJ's antitrust division has since launched an investigation into the question, people familiar with the matter said, but its attention is part of something far broader than whether the NBA acted anti-competitively in response to a 3-on-3 basketball league. The Justice Department is very, very interested in sports. The biggest and most powerful leagues in the country are under unprecedented scrutiny from U.S. antitrust enforcers these days. Other organizations known to be in the DOJ's sightline in some form include the PGA Tour, Augusta National Golf Club, Major League Baseball, FIFA and U.S. Soccer, and the NCAA. Even esports haven't escaped the brightening spotlight. The picture is clear: professional sports leagues, which had often been left alone by federal regulators, are increasingly getting attention from the top antitrust enforcers in the United States. The Justice Department hasn't explicitly said this publicly. But the new focus has been sitting in plain sight in court filings and speeches made by key figures in the antitrust division over the past five years. |
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