| Monday, November 6, 2023 |
| Radicioni named MSU's newest Rhodes Scholarship finalist | |
 | Mississippi State University Presidential Scholar Ann Olivia Radicioni is the university's newest Rhodes Scholarship finalist. The senior political science major and Shackouls Honors College student from Clinton is also being honored by the university as Miss MSU. Radicioni will interview Nov. 10-11 in Birmingham, Alabama, for the world's oldest and most prestigious international graduate scholarship. Criteria for selection as a Rhodes Scholar include demonstrated scholarly achievement, character, commitment to others and the common good, as well as leadership potential. Radicioni is MSU's seventh finalist in the last 12 years, joining graduates Reese Dunne, Natalie Jones, Holly Travis, Semaj Martin-Redd and Christopher Robinson, who also attained the prestigious honor as Rhodes finalists. Donald "Field" Brown, a Vicksburg native who majored in English and philosophy, was named a Rhodes Scholar in 2013. David Hoffman, associate professor in the MSU College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures and director of the Office of Prestigious External Scholarships, mentors students like Radicioni applying for national, merit-based scholarships and fellowships. "We are beaming with pride to have Ann Olivia join the elite group of Rhodes Finalists. Through taking advantage of various opportunities both at MSU and beyond, Ann Olivia has built a portfolio that speaks to the Rhodes selection criteria. She is a committed and engaged student of political science, has collaborated with faculty on multiple research projects, has practical international policy experience in Washington, D.C., with the Helsinki Commission, and is active in student government leadership," Hoffman said. |
| Masters of Soul brings Motown classics to MSU's Lyceum Series | |
 | The Motown tribute group Masters of Soul brings a classic era of music to Mississippi State University for the second performance of the university's 76th Lyceum Series. Featuring members from The TFC Band backed by professional musicians, the seasoned performers now tour as the Masters of Soul, reproducing the looks, choreographies, styles and sounds of Motown music and groups discovered in the early 1960s where the genre was born in the Motor City -- Detroit, Michigan. The group performs Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in Lee Hall's historic Bettersworth Auditorium. The show is free for MSU students, and the general public can purchase tickets at www.union.msstate.edu/student-activities/lyceum/tickets. Individual tickets are $30 per person and $25 for MSU employees and senior citizens. After touring worldwide for more than 40 years, The TFC Band created Masters of Soul in 2008 to honor influential artists including The Temptations, The Jackson Five and Stevie Wonder. The Lyceum Series is MSU's longest running performance arts series and a key part of the university's continued commitment to the arts. For more information and tickets, visit www.union.msstate.edu/student-activities/lyceum. |
| MSU anthropologist hopes to crack Mississippi cold cases with help from new online database | |
| Through the creation of a new online university database, a Mississippi State University forensic anthropologist is using his expertise to help find missing people. The Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons, launched this month at www.missinginms.msstate.edu, opens access to important forensic information and biological profiles -- from physical makeup to trauma assessments and estimated times of death -- used by law enforcement in finding missing people and identifying remains. The website features a searchable portal with access to public case information. "This database was developed to address the lack of missing and unidentified repository data at both state and national levels. This issue continues to impact the identification of missing and unidentified people, especially people of color in the rural South," said Jesse Goliath, an assistant professor in MSU's Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures who is leading the project. Goliath, who holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and a graduate minor in anatomy from Ohio State University, first began using his forensic skills for the U.S. Department of Defense as a contractor working with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identifying missing service members from past war conflicts. He joined MSU's faculty in 2021 and recently became the university's first fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the premier organization for professional forensic scientists in the country. |
| Drought calls for poor pecan crop for Mississippi in 2023 | |
 | A late freeze, high summertime temperatures, and a devastating drought mean a poor pecan crop for Mississippi in 2023. Eric Stafne, fruit and nut specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said weather stacked the odds against a good crop this year. He says drought could have carryover effects into next year too. Max Draughn, president of the Mississippi Pecan Growers Association said the late freeze in March destroyed any blooms that were on the trees. About 10% of the state's pecan orchards are irrigated and were better able to deal with the drought, and the high temperatures that accompanied the drought caused other problems. Draughn said Mississippi has 800 pecan orchards, totaling 17,000 acres of pecan trees. The last 10 years have seen a renewed interest in planting pecan orchards. |
| Region lands 4 of state's top 10 industrial projects since 2018 | |
| Of the top 10 most valuable economic development projects announced in Mississippi since 2018, four are in or near the Golden Triangle. Of them, two are expansions to existing industries. Aluminum Dynamics Inc. in Lowndes County, the largest industrial capital investment in the state's history, announced in October 2022, tops the list, while the Huber Engineered Woods plant in Noxubee County, announced in June, takes the third spot. A PACCAR Engine Company expansion announced Monday ranks seventh, while a Steel Dynamics Inc. expansion takes the ninth spot. Both are in Lowndes County. Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins told The Dispatch one of the key factors setting the region apart from others' recruiting efforts is the LINK's ability, in partnership with local municipalities and counties, to prepare sites for development before companies sign on. "If someone pointed a gun to my head and said, 'Why do you think you won the aluminum mill over the other two finalists in the competition that was in Louisiana,' I will tell you ... we had our work done and we had shovel ready sites. Water and sewer (infrastructure) were already there, as well as the utilities ready to go." Higgins added that as companies continue operations in the region, it becomes important to expand production and facilities to remain competitive. |
| Howard Industries cuts ribbon on Quitman plant | |
 | State and local leaders joined economic development officials and employees of Howard Industries in Quitman on Friday as the manufacturing company cut the ribbon on a new 180,000-square-foot facility. The new facility will employ about 200 people when fully operational, with about 60 employees already on board. Howard Industries is working to bring in the remaining equipment and machinery it needs, with an estimated six months or so before the plant is fully online. Michael Howard, CEO of Howard Industries, said the Quitman plant will make amorphous cores for transformers, which are the company's main products. The tissue-paper thin metal is a highly efficient material, he said. "It's a piece of steel," he said. "It's very thin, very fragile. It's one mil thick. Usually 300 pounds of this goes into a transformer." Opening the Quitman facility will meet a need for Howard Industries, Howard said, but it will also set the company up for the future. A proposed ruling from the U.S. Department of Energy, which governs transformers, will set higher energy efficiency levels transformers must meet to be used, he said, which will in turn impact how those transformers are manufactured. Gov. Tate Reeves, who delivered the keynote remarks at Friday's ribbon cutting, said the new facility represents millions of dollars invested in the community as well as continued economic impact on the surrounding area. |
| Races for sheriff, tax assessor headline Oktibbeha general election ballot | |
| After Tuesday's general election, Oktibbeha County voters are guaranteed to have chosen a new sheriff, tax assessor/collector, supervisor and constable. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on election day. In-person absentee voting ends at noon Saturday. The ballot consists of statewide and county-level races. Sheryl Elmore, deputy circuit clerk, said almost 800 absentee ballots had been cast as of Friday afternoon. Republican Shank Phelps and Democrat John Rice are vying to be the new sheriff, as three-term incumbent Steve Gladney did not seek reelection. Phelps is a former county emergency management director now serving as District 1 constable. Rice, a former sheriff's deputy, ran unsuccessfully against Gladney in 2019. For tax assessor/collector, Republican John Montgomery faces Democrat JoHelen Walker. Both are vying to replace longtime incumbent Allen Morgan, who did not seek reelection. Montgomery is serving his third term as District 1 supervisor. Walker has worked 12 years as one of Morgan's deputies. Incumbent Democrat Marty Haug faces a challenge from Republican Brian Michael Lindner for District 3 justice court judge. Haug, a local attorney, has served on the bench since 2015. Lindner is a local businessman and education minister at Meadowview Baptist Church. Oktibbeha voters will also cast ballots for 16th Circuit district attorney, who serves Oktibbeha, Lowndes, Clay and Noxubee counties. Two-term incumbent Scott Colom, a Democrat, is facing Republican public defender Jase Dalrymple. |
| Gubernatorial candidates hit Northeast Mississippi in statewide sprint to close campaign | |
| Mississippi's incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic nominee Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley each spent time in Northeast Mississippi on the final weekend of the campaign. Presley kicked off a Saturday voter canvass in Tupelo and Reeves made stops Sunday in New Albany and Pontotoc as the candidates traveled the state making final appeals to voters before Tuesday's general election. Both continued to pay attention to the region as they began their final day of campaigning Monday. Each made separate television appearances on Tupelo's WTVA morning news. The candidates made other stops in north Mississippi and across the state Saturday and Sunday. Reeves shared social media videos of his visits to Saturday football game tailgates at both Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Presley appeared in Columbus, Vardaman, Gulfport, Hattiesburg, and Meridian, wrapping up with a Sunday night rally in Jackson. |
| Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley hear from voters one last time the weekend before Nov. 7 election | |
 | When Stephanie Harvey goes to her local polling precinct to vote on Nov. 7, the top issue that will determine which candidates she'll vote for is Medicaid expansion to provide health coverage to the working poor. Harvey lives in Brandon, a suburb outside the capital city of Jackson, and works at a job that does not offer health insurance benefits. She could obtain insurance through the private market, but Harvey told Mississippi Today that she couldn't afford that option. "There's a lot of people who need that health insurance, and I'm one of them," Harvey said. "I'm out here working, and I just don't have the money to pay for it." Incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who is running for reelection, is opposed to expansion because he believes Mississippi can't afford to enact the program and has described the policy as "welfare expansion." Brandon Presley, the Democratic nominee for governor, believes the state should expand Medicaid coverage because more than 200,000 Mississippians could get health insurance, and economists project it would generate billions of dollars in revenue for Mississippi. Harvey said she doesn't consider expansion welfare because the people who would benefit from the program are "already working and trying to make a living." She was one of several Rankin County voters who visited Harvey's Fish Hut in Pearl on Friday afternoon and had the chance to visit with Democratic candidates running for office. And while Democratic leaders and candidates visited with customers, most of the patrons had no prior knowledge that the politicians would be there during the lunch rush. |
| Trump, Biden are embedded in Mississippi's governor race ahead of 2024 | |
 | Democrats looking to regain long-lost political ground in the South have a unique opportunity this week: In Mississippi, of all places. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley is making a surprisingly strong run at incumbent GOP Gov. Tate Reeves in one of the most Republican states in the nation, much less the South. Presley, a member of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, is threatening an upset with the kind of campaign that many southern Democrats run these days: Play up economic issues for middle class voters, play down social issues like abortion and distance yourself from the national Democratic Party. "This is not about politics -- this is about people," Presley said while promoting his key issue, expanding Medicaid benefits for lower-income people, during his one-and-only debate with Reeves last week. The fact that the Democratic nominee is a distant cousin of Mississippi favorite son Elvis Presley hasn't hurt his candidacy, though he remains an underdog to the incumbent Republican governor. Reeves, who is seeking his second term in the Mississippi statehouse, is favored in part because he -- like other Southern Republicans -- has cast his opponent as a tool of national Democrats who support abortion rights and other policies rejected by conservatives from coast to coast. "Joe Biden and his buddies have funded his campaign," Reeves said last week during his debate with Presley, which was marked by insults and interruptions. |
| Mississippi governor's race hasn't been this competitive in 20 years | |
 | Voters in this deep red state haven't elected a Democrat to the governor's office in more than 20 years, but party leaders and voters are hopeful about their prospects this year, thanks to a tarnished incumbent and their celebrity-related challenger. Brandon Presley, a former small-town mayor and state utilities regulator, has run a surprisingly strong campaign against Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who is seeking a second term. Presley also happens to be a cousin of Elvis Presley. But that's not what has Democrats excited as they prepare to head to the polls on Tuesday. Presley, 46, has focused his campaign on championing populist issues and battling corruption. Reeves, 49, has found himself on the defensive, tangled up in the state's largest public corruption investigation over misuse of millions of dollars in welfare funds while he was lieutenant governor. Reeves is still favored to win -- Republicans hold all of the top statewide offices and control both chambers of the legislature -- but strategists and grassroots activists on both sides say activity on the ground suggests a close race. A Magnolia Tribune/Mason-Dixon poll in early October had Reeves leading by 8 points. Some more recent private polls have suggested the race has tightened, and during the past month the Cook Political Report shifted it from "likely" to "lean" Republican. If neither candidate tops 50%, the contest would go to a runoff three weeks later. Reeves, in an interview with The Washington Post last week, rejected allegations that he is corrupt, saying the scandal predated his election as governor in 2019. Reeves was lieutenant governor from 2012 to 2020 and before that the state treasurer. |
| Why the governor's race in Mississippi is turning heads this year | |
 | The governor's race in Mississippi is days away, and Republicans may not have their typical upper hand over Democrats in this red state contest. In a state where Republicans hold all statewide offices and a large majority in the legislature, the governor's race should be a done deal for incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, said Glenn Antizzo, a political science professor at Mississippi College. "He should be winning by a huge margin, not 5%," said Antizzo. Prior to being elected governor in 2019, Reeves served two terms as lieutenant governor and two terms as state treasurer. Former President Donald Trump endorsed Reeves last week. The Cook Political Report shifted the 2023 Mississippi governor's race from "likely Republican" to "lean Republican" two weeks ago. "It just means there may be some softening of the expectation of Republican support," said Antizzo. "They still think that it's going to come out that way. It may be closer." But Antizzo is sounding the alarm on the Democratic roster in the state. "If the Democrats lose this, they're in trouble," said Antizzo. "The bench is empty. I don't know who they run for statewide office after this. I think they're going all in on this one." One student at the University of Mississippi law school says the governor's initiative to raise teacher pay is why he's supporting the incumbent. "I'm a Christian, and I'm also a conservative," said Tyler. "I think Tate Reeves is the best Christian conservative to lead our state. He's done good. My mom's a schoolteacher. He's given teachers the largest pay raise in state history, and he's done well for teachers. I think he's the right man for the job." |
| A Democratic Governor in Mississippi? He Thinks It's Possible. | |
 | After stopping by a meet-and-greet in Ridgeland, a porch festival in Vicksburg, the Great Delta Bear Affair in Rolling Fork and an event on a baseball diamond in Yazoo City, Brandon Presley entered a packed room in McComb, launching into the message he believes can get a Democrat --- namely, himself --- elected governor of Mississippi. He would immediately move to expand Medicaid, which would help resuscitate rural hospitals and provide largely free government health insurance to most low-income adults. He would slash a hated tax on groceries. Above all, he assured the crowd, he would be a very different governor than Tate Reeves, the Republican incumbent, whom he denounced as ensconced in privilege and dented by scandal. Mr. Presley's campaign has been a built on a bet that his human touch and populist platform can forge a coalition of Black and liberal-to-centrist white voters, some disaffected Republicans among them, that is robust enough for him to win. Mr. Presley has invested enormous effort in mobilizing Black voters, a crucial bloc in a state where nearly 40 percent of the population is Black. But turning out the rest of the coalition that Mr. Presley needs -- for example, white working-class voters who might have voted for Mr. Reeves last time -- will be instrumental. "You can't win if you don't win white crossover votes," said Byron D'Andra Orey, a political science professor at Jackson State University. |
| After Roe's fall, Mississippi Democrats wrestle with backing a 'pro-life' candidate for governor | |
 | In Mississippi's first gubernatorial election since the fall of Roe v. Wade's -- which shuttered clinics across the South and drove pregnant women across state lines for care -- abortion rights aren't on the ballot. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and his Democratic challenger, Brandon Presley, both support the state's sweeping abortion ban. That has left some Democratic voters here wrestling with deeply held convictions about abortion rights in a surprisingly competitive governor's race: Should they support Presley's "pro-life" campaign, which promises to provide a desperately needed lift for vulnerable families? Or should they withhold their vote in protest, which could help Reeves, a conservative incumbent who critics say hasn't done enough to address some of the state's most persistent socioeconomic challenges, win a second term? Lovie West, president of the Mississippi Federation of Democratic Women, which helps women run for office, concluded that there was too much at stake for her to be a single-issue voter. "I would not support anyone who did not support Roe v. Wade," she remembers thinking after the Supreme Court's decision. But she said there are other "woes" facing Mississippi apart from abortion restrictions, from an infant mortality crisis to struggling schools. "When you look at the picture again," she continued, "it doesn't make sense to cut off my nose to spite my face." |
| Outside governor's race, Mississippi GOP outspent Dems 30:1 | |
| Mississippi's Democratic and Republican nominees for statewide office have raised more than $23 million and spent over $28 million combined in 2023, the latest campaign finance reports show. Excluding the heavily funded and closely watched gubernatorial campaign, Democratic candidates have raised about $452,000 and spent $225,000 in 2023, while Republicans have raised around $5.54 million and spent $6.84 million. That's a greater than 12-to-1 GOP advantage in fundraising, 30-to-1 in spending. Incumbent Republicans, running for reelection to all eight offices, have all outspent their Democratic challengers. The incumbents began the year with almost $15 million cash on hand between them thanks to fundraising from previous elections. Only in the governor's race has the Democrat come close to matching the incumbent. Brandon Presley has spent $10.76 million to Gov. Tate Reeves' $10.98 million as of Oct. 29, as the Daily Journal reported Wednesday. The latest publicly available data extend through the period ending Oct. 29 and do not include spending in the final week of the general election campaign. The figures do not include spending by outside groups. |
| The governor's race is a highlight of Tuesday's election. Here is a look at other races | |
 | While likely not as intriguing or competitive as the gubernatorial race between incumbent Republican Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley, a host of other statewide races will be contested Tuesday. Incumbent Republican Hosemann will run for another term as the state's No. 2 official, which plays an important role in the state Legislature overseeing the Senate. In the three and a half sessions that Hosemann has served, a number of important pieces of legislation have passed, including changing the state flag, a record-setting increase to teacher pay and the disbursement of billions of dollars of federal funds through COVID-19 relief bills, much of which went to infrastructure -- another category that saw record investment. The lone Democrat to file for the lieutenant governor's race is D. Ryan Grover, a former candidate for the Oxford Board of Aldermen. Grover, a graduate of the University of Mississippi, owns a marketing and consulting agency. Incumbent Republican Michael Watson is running for another term as secretary of state. Watson defeated Democratic former Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree to become secretary of state. Prior to running for secretary of state, Watson had been in the state Senate since 2008. Ty Pinkins, the Democratic challenger for Secretary of State, is a veteran, lawyer and former White House communications aide. As secretary of state, Pinkins has said he would go beyond the basic duties of the office to advocate for a new set of economic policies. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch is seeking reelection for her second term. In 2019, Fitch became the state's first Republican attorney general since 1878. Democrat Greta Kemp Martin is a Jackson-based attorney currently serving as litigation director at Disability Rights Mississippi. |
| Voter suppression: Many see signs of change in Mississippi as Black voters reengage | |
 | A few years ago, Tiffany Wilburn just didn't see the point in voting any longer. Her children didn't have proper school books, health insurance was expensive and hard to get, police abuse continued against Black residents, and her city's struggle to get clean drinking water seemed emblematic of her community always coming out on the short end of state decision-making. Combine that with Mississippi's long history of voter suppression and she felt casting a ballot was simply a hopeless exercise. "It's like you're not being heard," Wilburn said in her hometown of Jackson, the state capital. "You run to the polls, hoping and praying for change, and then you look around and nothing's really happening. So you shut down." Recent interviews with Black voters, voting rights groups, candidates and researchers show that the voter fatigue felt by Wilburn has been widely shared in a state where nearly 40% of the overall population is Black. This year, political dynamics have combined to begin changing that, leading many voters such as Wilburn to reengage. The race for governor appears competitive and is drawing national attention. Tuesday's election also happens to be the first one in Mississippi to be held without the burden of an unusual post-Reconstruction constitutional provision that had made it virtually impossible for Black candidates to win on a statewide basis. |
| Mississippi absentee turnout up 6.8%, highest in Democratic counties | |
| With both parties pushing Mississippi voter turnout in Tuesday's close gubernatorial race, absentee ballot turnout has gone up more in Democratic counties than Republican ones compared to the last state election. Overall absentee ballot requests are up 6.8%, suggesting voter interest and turnout may be higher this year than in 2019. Absentee requests increased in over 59% of the counties Democrats won in the last gubernatorial election but only 42% of those won by Republicans. The average absentee ballot increase was 110% in Democratic counties and 102% in Republican ones. The Daily Journal reviewed data through Saturday, the last day of absentee voting. That data showed 62,121 absentee ballots requested in the 2023 general election compared to 58,142 in 2019. Both parties have boasted about turnout efforts. High absentee turnout can predict high in-person Election Day turnout, although the increase could mean a higher share of voters chose absentee voting instead of waiting until Election Day. Absentee counts went up in 40 of Mississippi's 82 counties. Regions with higher absentee numbers this year include densely populated areas such as the Memphis suburbs in the northwest, the Gulf Coast, and the Jackson metro. Much of the heavily Democratic Delta region has high absentee numbers relative to 2019. |
| Farm bill faces battle as GOP pushes to strip climate, SNAP funding for subsidies | |
 | Congress appears unlikely to pass a new farm bill by the end of this year amid standoffs over Republicans' push to extend subsidies to three specific Southern crops -- at the potential cost of billions in both food aid and popular farm conservation programs. Funding for farm bill programs is currently set to expire at the end of the year. Senate leaders say they'll need to extend it -- possibly through a separate measure that would keep the government funded -- to buy more time for negotiations. But in the House, Republicans are pressuring newly minted Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to pass a new farm bill this year. On Friday, House Agriculture Committee ranking member David Scott (D-Ga.) called on the committee to pass a temporary one-year extension to the bill instead. "The extremism and cynicism that has taken hold of the broader House Republican Conference makes a five-year farm bill reauthorization by the year's end increasingly unlikely," he said. That's a prospect that committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) on Thursday told The Hill he was open to. "With how the Senate is proceeding, we're not going to have a [combined] farm bill by January," he said, adding that the bill would require an "extension" to make sure programs don't run out. But he also said that he thinks the Republican-controlled House can finish the full legislation this year -- a punishing timeline that would require drafting, debating, and voting on the mammoth $1.4 trillion bill over just a few weeks in December. The consequences of not extending funding through either a stopgap measure or a new bill by the end of the year would be dire, threatening food aid and farm payments for tens of millions of Americans. |
| Supreme Court to hear arguments in case that could limit Congress on gun control | |
 | The Supreme Court hears oral arguments Tuesday in a case that could limit the legislative and political power of Congress and local lawmakers to regulate gun possession nationwide. The case, U.S. v. Rahimi, is the first of dozens of challenges to federal and state gun control laws to reach the justices since their decision last year in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. An appeals court leaned on the reasoning of that Bruen decision to strike down as unconstitutional a decades-old law that bans gun possession for anyone subject to certain domestic violence restraining orders. The Biden administration, members of Congress and legal experts have said a Supreme Court ruling against the domestic violence law could restrict what else Congress could do to address gun violence nationwide. Andrew Willinger, executive director of the Duke Center for Firearms Law, said the arguments in the case implicate a broad range of federal prohibitions on gun possession, including the ban for convicted felons. A ruling that tosses those prohibitions could ossify the already intractable politics around gun control, Willinger said. "I'm not really sure where Congress goes from there. I think maybe the focus shifts to the similar provisions in effect at the state level," Willinger said. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said a ruling against the law also could disrupt the political dynamic of such legislation because gun rights groups likely would use it for wider advocacy against gun control legislation. |
| Trump's business and political ambitions poised to converge as he testifies in New York civil case | |
| When Donald Trump takes the stand Monday in a Manhattan courtroom to testify in his civil fraud trial, it will be an undeniable spectacle: a former president and the leading Republican presidential candidate defending himself against allegations that he dramatically inflated his net worth. The charges cut to the very heart of the brand Trump spent decades carefully crafting and put him at risk of losing control of much of his business empire. But the appearance may also mark the beginning of what will likely be a defining feature of the 2024 election if Trump becomes his party's nominee: a major candidate, on trial, using the witness stand as a campaign platform as he eyes a return to the White House while facing multiple criminal indictments. "It's going to be a stunning moment. This is dramatic enough if he was simply an ex-president facing these charges. But the fact that he is the overwhelming favorite to run the GOP, it makes this a staggering Monday," said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. Among the topics likely to be covered: Trump's role in his company's decision making, in its valuing of his properties, and in preparing his annual financial statements. Trump is likely to be asked about loans and other deals that were made using the statements and what intent, if any, he had in portraying his wealth to banks and insurers the way the documents did. Trump is also likely to be asked about how he views and values his brand – and the economic impact of his fame and time as president -- and may be asked to explain claims that his financial statements actually undervalued his wealth. |
| Why Republicans Abandoned Their Fight to Repeal Obamacare | |
 | One of the most revealing debates in the Republican Party is one that has disappeared from the campaign trail: the fight over repealing Obamacare. This presidential election marks the first in more than a decade in which no GOP candidates are pledging to eviscerate the landmark Affordable Care Act, ending a standoff between the parties over whether the government is responsible for providing access to healthcare. When it comes to medical coverage, at least, the debate is largely settled: Americans want their government to help, rather than leaving it to insurers and market forces to try to provide the best coverage for the most people. The silence today from the leading GOP candidates, nearly all of whom played central roles in their party's efforts to repeal Obamacare during Donald Trump's presidency, comes as many Republicans in Congress are pushing for the government to become more active in other business sectors to help workers and families. Often working with Democrats, they have proposed new social media regulations, railroad safety rules, caps on credit-card interest rates and limits on noncompete clauses that make it hard for workers to switch jobs, among other measures. Accepting an expanded government role in healthcare is part of that broader shift, said Peter Wehner, who served in the three Republican administrations before Trump's. "It's a significant change from 'markets can solve everything,' " he said. "From the Republican perspective, markets are viewed in much more qualified terms" than in prior years. |
| Tech Start-Ups Try to Sell a Cautious Pentagon on A.I. | |
| When he reflected on his time as a Navy SEAL serving in Afghanistan a decade ago, Brandon Tseng wondered why he and his team did not have any way to see inside buildings they were about to raid and reduce the chances of walking into a deadly trap. He brought that question to his brother Ryan, a tech whiz who had invented a type of wireless cellphone charger when he was in college. After Brandon Tseng left the military, he joined with his brother to find ways to apply technology to national security challenges and quickly had what he remembers as his "aha" moment. The rapidly emerging field of artificial intelligence, he believed, could be applied to fast-evolving hardware like drones to transform how they are used in war, like sending a tiny, self-piloted vehicle to do reconnaissance inside a structure that troops were about to enter. Even fighter jets could perhaps be turned into A.I.-controlled robot drones. The company the Tseng brothers created in 2015, named Shield AI, is now valued by venture capital investors at $2.7 billion. The firm has 625 employees in Texas, California, Virginia and Abu Dhabi. And the Tsengs' work is starting to show real-world results, with one of their early products having been deployed by the Israel Defense Forces in the immediate aftermath of the coordinated attacks last month by Hamas. Shield AI is one of a handful of start-ups demonstrating the potential of cutting-edge technology to revolutionize war-fighting tools and help the United States keep its military advantage over China. |
| The W, CAC team up for inaugural art festival | |
| Mississippi University for Women has partnered with the Columbus Arts Council to present the inaugural Under the Oaks Art Festival. Set for Nov. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Welty Drive on campus will be lined with local artisans showcasing their work. The road also is lined with Oak trees, hence the name, Under the Oaks. "We have talented students and a beautiful campus during the fall. We thought it would be an excellent idea to bring the community to campus," said Erik Studdard, graphic designer for The W, and one of the coordinators of the event. More than 20 unique artists will be set up for the event, and they will offer their art to prospective buyers as well. The event is free and open to the public. Additionally, there will be live music and food trucks. The event serves not only to highlight The W's campus, but it also brings the university and the community closer together. "We've always wanted to connect better with The W and bridge the gap between Downtown Columbus and the university. We found this as an opportunity to continue to strengthen that collaboration," said Columbus Arts Council Executive Director Salem Gibson. |
| Ole Miss dedicates Payne Family Esports Facility | |
| A Hattiesburg family was honored Thursday, Nov. 2, with the dedication of the Payne Family Esports Facility at the University of Mississippi, celebrating a Division I program that serves as a strong student recruitment tool. Jennifer and Abb Payne and their children Ford and Arden were the focus of a tribute from Chancellor Glenn Boyce during the ceremony on the lawn of the E.F. Yerby Center, home of the competition-level gaming facility. Family and friends were present to witness the dedication. The Paynes' gifts have provided major funds to renovate existing space into the Payne Family Esports Facility; cover operational expenses such as team travel, technology and staff; and establish scholarships for the recruitment and support of students in the program. "The impact of the Paynes' support has been monumental," said John McDermott, director of the Ole Miss esports program who joined the university in August 2022 after building a successful program at Long Island University. "It has set a major example of how alumni and donors can get connected to universities across the U.S. The university has established an interdisciplinary esports minor, which offers six courses from the School of Business Administration as well as other classes from across the academic spectrum. Seventy-six students are enrolled in the first classes of the minor, which began this fall, McDermott said. |
| USM Student Government Association passes resolution after student's death | |
 | In response to a student's death on The University of Southern Mississippi's campus in September, the Student Government Association (SGA) recently passed a resolution urging the university to action. The SGA resolution calls on the USM administration to install suicide prevention signage and barriers on the fifth floor of its 4th Street parking garage. A Change.org petition advocating for a barrier on the top floor of the parking garage garnered over 2,700 signatures. As of publication, the cause of death for the student is not known. The SGA resolution was authored and sponsored by student Senators Logan Boudreaux, James Darby, Aaron Morgan, and Alesia Williams. It was then approved by the SGA President Jonathan Jenkins, Senior Vice President Alyson Gonzalez, and SGA Advisor Carl Thomas. "This resolution acts as a formal request that the administration of the University of Southern Mississippi immediately begin the process to plan and construct barriers on the fifth level of the Fourth Street Parking Garage," the resolution said. According to the resolution SGA seeks to work in conjunction with a university to create a targeted solution to prevent more deaths from occurring in the parking garage. |
| HBCU Awareness Foundation's 13th college fair tour ends Saturday | |
| More than thirty recruiters from HBCUs around the nation were on hand exposing soon-to-be college students to the importance and the benefits of attending a historically black college. Some high school students were even given scholarships and accepted to some universities on the spot. "When you graduate from an HBCU, you feel a whole lot different," Corey Allen, the HBCU Awareness Foundation founder and CEO said. Hundreds of high school students were on the move inside the Tougaloo College gymnasium, going from table to table speaking with recruiters from several universities. Some of the HBCU recruiters on hand included those with Albany State, Tennessee State, and Philander Smith University. "Unfortunately, some of our scholars do not have the exposure to the amount of HBCUs we do have. So this is mainstream, it brings this to central Mississippi the heart of Jackson where predominantly we are black," Alma Scott, the enrollment officer at Tougaloo College said. Organizers say the fair aims to give students knowledge of why HBCUs are essential to the community. They also feel attending one puts some students at an even greater advantage of being successful both academically and after graduation. |
| Birmingham-Southern updates plan, asks students to register for spring classes | |
 | Two weeks after learning that Birmingham-Southern may, once again, be at risk of closure, officials say more options are firming up – and that the school will likely remain open for the rest of the year. "These developments give us confidence that, at a minimum, we will complete the academic year, during which we will continue to procure funds that will stabilize the College for the long term," BSC President Daniel Coleman said in a letter to the campus community Friday. "That includes working with the Alabama Legislature, private donors and other entities." The 167-year-old private, liberal arts college announced the extent of its financial woes last winter, and after months of lobbying, lawmakers created a loan program that would provide $30 million in bridge funds to any college that applied – just enough to get BSC back on its feet. But two weeks ago, Alabama State Treasurer Young Boozer III denied the school's $30 million loan application, forcing the college to reevaluate its options. BSC officials, in a lawsuit that was later dismissed, said the school would shut down in December if they couldn't find enough funding. But on Friday, Coleman said they'll likely be able to cobble enough funds to sustain operations, at least for one more semester. |
| LSU is among the SEC's most diverse schools: See the numbers, what students think | |
 | Coming from Texas to Baton Rouge to attend LSU, R. Joshua Wilson was surprised at how many Black students he saw walking the campus. "I didn't know it until I was here," said Wilson, a junior majoring in African and African American Studies. "It's definitely a presence felt -- like, I can go outside right now and within the first 10 seconds I'll see somebody Black. So that definitely made me feel happy." Wilson is one of more than 6,253 Black students who enrolled at LSU this fall. In 2022, the latest year for which comprehensive data is available, roughly 16% of the university's student body was Black That's the highest percentage among 13 public universities in the Southeastern Conference. The average for those universities was 8%. About 62% of LSU students were White, the second-lowest among SEC schools after the University of Florida. Roughly 8% of students at Louisiana's flagship university identify as Hispanic/Latino; only Arkansas, Florida and Texas A&M have a higher proportion. For some students, like Wilson, the difference was noticeable when they visited different campuses to pick a school. "It's not like a typical PWI [predominantly White institution] where you have to try your hardest to find Black people," he said. |
| U. of Tennessee, Knoxville Advisory Board talks admissions, growth | |
| The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Advisory Board met on Friday morning, Nov. 3 to discuss UT's successes and growth plans. Chancellor Donde Plowman opened the meeting with a reminder of her recent address, where she outlined a theme for UT: "We choose great." Plowman used her time to highlight how UT is a university "on the rise." The growth in admissions was a focus of the meeting as applications are flooding in for fall 2024. UT's early action closed Nov. 1, and over 40,000 applications have already been sent in. In September, UT's Board of Trustees approved automatic enrollment for Tennessee students who graduate high school either in the top 10% of their class or with a 4.0 GPA. Over 4,000 students who qualify have already submitted applications. With a goal of enrolling less than 7,000 first-year students, Tom Smith, chairman of Smith/Hallemann Partners, raised concerns about the program not allowing "the full student" to be seen when giving admission based on numbers. "That we, in our striving to be on the top of the list, that we are careful that we serve all of Tennessee and admit the full student, particularly as it relates to Nashville and middle Tennessee," Smith said. Students who do not meet the requirements for guaranteed admission are still able to be admitted based on the holistic admissions process. Admission accessibility was highlighted as 95.2% of all Tennessee applicants were offered a pathway to attend UT. |
| Disabled author to visit U. of Arkansas, Fayettevile | |
| "Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body" is this year's One Book One Community choice at the University of Arkansas, Fayettevile, and author Rebekah Taussig will be on campus for multiple events this week. The mom, wife, author, disability advocate and educator with a Ph.D in creative nonfiction and disability studies -- who has been paralyzed since age 3 -- will be in the Arkansas Union ballroom at 6 p.m. Wednesday to discuss her book, said Lauren Copley Sabon, a teaching associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology who chairs the One Book One Community Committee. American Sign Language interpreting will be available onsite at this keynote address, light refreshments will be served and Taussig will be available to sign her book. The following day, Taussig will be featured at a luncheon in the Union (rooms 509-511) at noon, Sabon said. Co-sponsored by the UA Disability Employee Resource Group, the luncheon is open to students, faculty, staff, and the community, but limited to 50 seats. One Book One Community has been collaborating with a number of departments and programs across campus to support conversations around the book this fall, she said. "Engagement with the book is up this year, and many people have been spotted across campus and Northwest Arkansas with their books." |
| Shop with a Bulldawg shopping spree for kids bridges UGA and Athens communities | |
 | The holiday season got a kickstart Sunday with the annual Shop with a Bulldawg event at Cedar Shoals High School, a gathering which brings the University of Georgia community together with the Athens-Clarke County community for a day of shopping, gift wrapping, eating and playing. SWAB is a student-run nonprofit at UGA that was established in 2009 and offers elementary school-age children in the community the opportunity for a $120 shopping spree for "wants and needs" at the Lexington Road Walmart. The group -- about 100 strong, including a 21-member executive board -- raises money through a series of grants, sponsors and donations, as well as its own fundraising events. For Event Day 2023, SWAB collected about $44,000 and gave 400 youngsters a day they won't soon forget. In addition to the internal members of SWAB, there were several hundred other UGA students at Cedar Shoals on Sunday morning, providing guidance to the young students they'd been assigned to mentor and accompany to Walmart. The process of getting signed in and getting on a bus ran quite smoothly, considering this is something SWAB and its volunteers only do once a year. "The last two weeks have been crazy. On Friday we actually had a walk-through and came to the school to show everybody how it runs and tell everybody a little bit more about what to do," said director of event operations Lindsay Kilpatrick, a senior business major from Marietta, who added SWAB has been meeting since January to plan the event. "It's cool because it's all student-run." |
| Campus police investigated suicide-bomb threat at chaotic U. of Florida vigil | |
 | The first substantial videos to emerge from a panicked stampede at the University of Florida during a nighttime vigil for Israelis killed in the Hamas attacks show waves of terrified students sprinting out of their shoes, discarding phones and water bottles and colliding with startled and confused police officers who had drawn their pistols searching for a possible gunman through the melee. Two of them, Lt. Scott J. Silver and Capt. Kristy Sasser, raced downstairs from a balcony overlooking the scene last month where they had been watching, as seen on the newly released videos. Silver shouted into his radio: "Get me traffic right now!" As he reached the plaza, advancing with his pistol drawn, he yelled, "Down, everyone down, get out of the way!" Some students continued running past him; others crouched behind landscaping walls or brick table-like structures in the university's Turlington Plaza. Sgt. Stephanie Williams was in his university police cruiser parked at a nearby intersection when he heard Silver's emergency signal and saw the human wave running toward him. He exited and ran south on Newell Drive toward hundreds of incoming students, who crashed into and bounced off him over the next 19 seconds. "Watch out! Move, move, move, move, move, move!" he shouted, his gun in his hand. The videos also revealed that police earlier the same day were secretly investigating an older man in the college town overheard by a neighbor saying he planned to detonate a suicide bomb inside a backpack at the vigil last month "to kill a bunch of Jews." Students said they were not warned about the threat, which has not previously been reported. When a reporter asked organizers about it, they expressed surprise and asked to see the evidence. |
| Union workers call on U. of Missouri to bargain worker pay, policies | |
 | Some 40 workers, University of Missouri students and union supporters marched from MU's Speakers Circle to Jesse Hall on Saturday to protest low wages and attendance policies for MU employees. Laborers International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 955, Missouri Jobs with Justice and MU Workers United organized the rally. The crowd held signs and shouted chants such as "What's disgusting? Union busting" as they walked across campus. LiUNA representative Andrew Hutchinson said Saturday's demonstrators hope to bring MU officials back to the bargaining table to negotiate better pay and equitable attendance policies for unionized workers. Hutchinson said that MU officials have, at times, declined to negotiate with workers and have put forth proposals only to argue among themselves about those proposals. "The university isn't taking negotiations seriously," Hutchinson said. "We are always ready and willing to meet with the union and their representatives," MU spokesperson Christian Basi told KOMU 8. "And do so on a regular basis." While the protesters said their wages are unsustainable, Basi countered, saying the university pays good wages. "We're all in a pretty tight job market to begin with, but we do understand that we need to make sure that we are providing a good, competitive wage," Basi said. "We believe we are." |
| One Key to Student Success? Socializing in Class. | |
 | When Tammy Nguyen took an anatomy course at Evergreen Valley College last spring, her professor made sure that the students in her lab section got to know each other. Jennifer Kurushima, a biology professor, had the 25 students sit in different seats each time, asked them to learn each other's names, suggested they quiz each other during any down time, and encouraged them to trade contact information. Kurushima also offered extra credit if students went to the biology skills lab, a resource that the San Jose community college created to support its many students pursuing health-care careers. Kurushima explained that learning names is important, and health careers require working with many different people. That made sense to Nguyen, who plans to become a nurse. She and her classmates formed a study group that regularly met at the skills lab. Before an exam, the group would migrate to the library after the lab closed, and then to a coffee shop after the library closed. "Coming into Dr. Kurushima's class, it was really nice being able to expand my social circle," Nguyen says. "In high school, I was talking to the same people, with the same ideas, same mentality, same personality. Being in this class, it was really interesting to learn how to work with people who were very much different from me." The weirdness of the pandemic emphasized for many that we are social creatures; during its most isolating stretch, the virtual classroom, hastily built as it was, remained a place where students and professors could attend to that aspect of their humanity. All the same, the pandemic warped the social experience of the teenagers who are now traditional-age college students. While many are eager to connect with their peers, they might not quite know how to go about it. |
| Proposed Welfare Rule Change May Alter State Scholarship Funding Practices | |
 | Colleges and universities in at least eight states could lose a total of between $970 million and $1.3 billion in scholarship funding under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The states have been misusing funds from the federal welfare program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families that were intended to help low-income parents on public assistance pay for college. In many cases, the money went instead to state residents who were not eligible for the tuition assistance under TANF guidelines. If the proposal is approved, it could force state lawmakers and welfare administrators to reassess how they spend TANF dollars and adjust how they continue to fund existing scholarships. States have long had broad flexibility to decide how to use TANF money under the program's guidelines, but there was no explicit ceiling for who qualified as "needy." The rule change would "establish a federal limit on how states may define the term 'needy,'" cap income eligibility for the scholarships at 200 percent of the federal poverty level and clarify that allocations can only go to welfare recipients with children. The notice of proposed rule making is currently open for public comment until Dec. 1. "Education and training for parents with low incomes is a critical element of the TANF program's capacity to increase opportunities for family economic mobility," the proposal reads. "However, the Department is aware of instances of TANF funds being used for college scholarships for adults without children. Under the proposed rule, college scholarships for adults without children would not meet the reasonable person standard." |
| The Next Generation of Law Students Is Obsessed With Lina Khan | |
 | Lina Khan had spent the day doing TV interviews and press conferences defending the administration's new tough-on-mergers stance. Now the chair of the Federal Trade Commission joined a more hospitable crowd. Squeezed into the corner of a bar steps from the White House, she urged law students not much younger than her to join the growing antitrust movement. "This is just the very, very, very, very beginning of this work, and we need all of you to be in this movement, to be coming into government, to bring all your skills and talents to bear," said Khan to whoops and cheers. Waiting in the wings was an eager Columbia Law School student, Sahaj Sharda. He grasped the mic from Khan. "Antitrust is like a great lever that lets the small lift up the large, opens new space for new ideas and inventions, enterprises and energy," he said earnestly. "And you, the lawyers of tomorrow, are the fulcrum from which that lever draws its strength." The 34-year-old Khan stood nearby, a smile on her face. Critics have called it "hipster" antitrust, but make no mistake: Antitrust is hip. It's been decades since government regulators were seen as anything but a punch line. Derided on the right as drags on the economy and on the left as rubber stamps for business, those in the federal bureaucracy aren't accustomed to tributes. Now, as they aim to build an antitrust movement that would transform the economy, they're on the receiving end of the kind of hero worship on display that summer evening -- especially among law students. |
| A close governor's race is nothing new for Tate Reeves. Can he repeat his 2019 closing? | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: In mid-October 2019, Democrat Jim Hood held a 46% to 42% lead among likely voters over Republican Tate Reeves in the governor's race, according to a poll conducted by the Hood campaign. In most of the multiple internal polls conducted in 2019 by Hickman Analytics, Hood maintained a lead over Reeves. True, Hickman Analytics, a national pollster, was employed by the Hood campaign, but the intent of the poll, like most internal polls conducted by campaigns, was to provide an accurate reflection of the state of the election. None of the polls conducted by Hickman, except for one, were released to the public during the heated 2019 election. Obviously, those polls did not reflect the outcome of the election. Reeves won 52% to 47%, or by about 45,000 votes out of the almost 875,000 votes cast. But people who conduct polls like to say they are a snapshot in time. In October 2019, there might have been people who thought they were going to vote for Hood, but in the end did not. It is ingrained in the DNA of many Mississippians not to vote for the Democrat. |
| Meridian professionals hope to reduce deadly maternity care deserts | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: "Maternity deserts can be deadly" headlined a recent story in the McComb Enterprise Journal. The March of Dimes defines maternity care deserts as counties with no hospitals that provide obstetric care and no certified obstetric providers. Unnecessary deaths are no surprise in a state where 42 of 82 counties qualify as maternity care deserts, which suffers from a critical shortage of maternity care providers, and which boasts the highest rates for infant and maternity mortality. Two separate conferences held last month in Jackson focused on improving access to health care. The American Cancer Society partnered with non-profit Together for Hope at Duling Hall. Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church focused its annual T.W. Lewis Lecture Series on Jesus and a Just Society on "Access to Health Care: a Gospel Response." At both events, key solutions identified to help reduce maternal care deserts included: 1) integrating midwives and their model of care into hospitals; and 2) training more physicians in obstetrics care. Two medical professionals with Meridian connections are at the forefront of efforts to do just that. Meridian native Janice Taleff Scaggs, D.N.P, leads an initiative to implement the midwife model of care at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). Long-time Meridian physician Lee Valentine, D.O., helps lead an initiative to train family physicians in obstetrics care. |
SPORTS
| No. 18 State Soccer Prepared for Monday's NCAA Selection Show | |
| With conference tournaments officially in the books across the country, the anticipation builds for Monday's NCAA Selection Show as the eyes of the women's collegiate soccer world will turn to NCAA.com for where their postseason road takes them. This season, there are 337 Division I women's soccer programs. On Monday, 64 of them will earn a spot in the single-elimination NCAA tournament. Thirty-one spots go to the teams who earn an automatic bid by winning their conference championship and the remaining 33 are selected at large by the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Committee. Those selections and the entire bracket will be released on Monday, Nov. 6 at 3 p.m. CT. Mississippi State enters selection Monday ranked No. 18 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, the highest ranking in program history. The Bulldogs enjoyed a near flawless October, going 4-1-1 with two ranked wins on the road to conclude the regular season. State then proceeded to defeat Bama in the SEC Tournament on penalty kicks to advance to the semifinal round in the tournament for the first time in program history to begin the postseason. The Maroon and White are currently 24th in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index). |
| Women's Basketball: PREVIEW - Alcorn State | |
| Mississippi State opens the 2023-24 season when the Bulldogs host Alcorn State inside newly-renovated historic Humphrey Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 6 at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+. Fans not in attendance can follow action with talent Bart Gregory and Charlie Winfield on SEC Network+ or through their affiliate radio station with play-by-play Jason Crowder. Live statistics throughout the contest will be available at statbroadcast.com. It marks the 12th overall meeting in the in-state series with Mississippi State holding a 9-2 advantage overall and a 6-1 edge in Humphrey Coliseum. The two programs last met in an 86-63 Mississippi State win on Nov. 14, 2021 in Starkville. Alcorn State is led by head coach Nate Kilbert, who has spent over 18 years coaching in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Alcorn State finished 12-17 last season; however, the Braves return their top four scorers including Preseason All-SWAC First Team junior forward Destiny Brown. Brown paced the team with 13.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in 2022-23. Mississippi State has won 19 consecutive season openers dating back to 2004. Mississippi State opened last season with a 104-47 win over Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 9, 2022. It remains the largest margin of victory under head coach Sam Purcell. Mississippi State remains home this weekend to face Southeastern Louisiana on Friday, Nov. 10 at 6:30 p.m. and Jacksonville State on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. Each contest will be aired on SEC Network+. |
| Tire mogul Dunlap donates $100K to Delta State athletics | |
| As Delta State continues to struggle financially, a new donation should be a big aid to the university's athletic department. Bob Dunlap, founder of Dunlap & Kyle Tire Company, pledged $100,000 to Statesmen athletics on Friday. The generous gift will go toward scholarships for student-athletes as well as the enhancement of the department's nutrition center. Dunlap, 94, is one of Mississippi's more noted philanthropists. After building a successful wholesale tire company that operates over 40 Gateway Tire & Service Centers across the U.S., the north Mississippi entrepreneur has supported multiple athletic programs and schools throughout his lifetime. "Mr. Dunlap's donation and support of Delta State Athletics demonstrates his desire to see student-athletes succeed and have a successful collegiate athletics experience," Delta State athletic director Mike Kinnson said. "Scholarship support allows our programs to strengthen their rosters and improve their overall talent level. We appreciate his commitment to our nutrition center which allows us to continue to provide quality nutritional resources." Dr. Lori Spencer of the DSU Foundation also thanked Dunlap while pointing out that the university's star quarterback, Patrick Shegog, used to work in one of the tire mogul's stores growing up. |
| Brett Favre Controversy Casts Shadow Over Mississippi Gubernatorial Race | |
| Brandon Presley mentioned Brett Favre's name. An overwhelmingly Black group of voters gathered inside Medgar, and Angela Scott Foundation's headquarters on Thursday and responded with near-universal nods and one "that's right." This was the Democratic gubernatorial candidate's first campaign stop after Wednesday night's debate with Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, who finds himself in an unusually close race in the deep red state that hasn't had a Democratic hold the state's highest office in two decades. "One of the things that got me into this race was that I had been working on getting running water for a family in Leflore County," Presley told Front Office Sports. "They were catching rainwater in a boat so they could flush their toilets. It took us over a year to get that money so they could get some basic water service, but these jokers like Brett Favre can snap their fingers and get $5 million for a volleyball court. It just made me sick to my stomach. I hate the good ol' boy network." Favre is still a somewhat beloved figure in his home state, where he was a prep football standout at Kiln before his legend grew at the University of Southern Mississippi en route to a Hall of Fame NFL career. Earlier in the campaign, Presley referred to Favre more as an "NFL star" or "celebrity athlete." But Presley mentioned Favre three times during the only debate Reeves agreed to on Wednesday. Presley has made the largest public corruption scandal in Mississippi history -- and Favre's alleged involvement -- one of his top talking points along with Medicaid expansion. Favre has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged criminally. |
| Federal judge's ruling puts billions at stake for NCAA | |
| A federal judge on Friday night granted class-action status in the damages portion of a lawsuit against the NCAA and major-college athletics conferences that could result in a multi-billion-dollar award to former and current college athletes. The suit challenges the association's remaining rules regarding athletes' ability to make money from their names, images and likenesses and seeks damages based on the share of television-rights money and the social media earnings it claims athletes would have received if the NCAA's previous limits on name-image-and-likeness (NIL) compensation had not existed. Attorneys for the NCAA and the conferences had written in legal filings that the athletes are seeking more than $1.4 billion. The filings did not specify whether that figure takes into account the tripling of damages awards that occurs in successful antitrust cases. If it does not, then more than $4.2 billion could be at stake in the case. Specifically, the suit claims that football, men's basketball and women's basketball players at schools in the Power Five conferences are entitled to damages related to the use of their NIL's during telecasts of games and that athletes in any sport at a Power Five school are entitled to damages related to social media earnings. If the plaintiffs prevail, most of the money would be spread among athletes in those three sports who have received full athletic scholarships and play -- or have played -- for a school in one of the Power Five conferences since June 15, 2016. That date is four years prior to when the suit was initially filed, the reach-back period allowed under antitrust law. |
| NCAA could face billions in damages with judge's ruling in case | |
| Class-action status in the damages portion of an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA was granted by a federal judge on Friday, a decision that could put the association on the hook for a potential multibillion dollar payout to former and current college athletes. House vs. the NCAA is being heard in the Northern District of California by Judge Claudia Wilken, whose previous rulings in NCAA cases paved the way for college athletes to profit from their fame and for schools to direct more money into their hands. Brought by Arizona State swimmer Grant House in 2020, the lawsuit challenges the NCAA's remaining name, image and likeness compensation rules. TCU women's basketball player Sedona Prince and former Illinois football player Tymir Oliver are also listed as plaintiffs. Wilken's latest ruling could make more than 14,000 current and former college athletes eligible to claim damages if the NCAA loses the case. Plaintiffs' attorneys claim athletes who were restricted from cashing in on their fame before an NIL ban was lifted in 2021 are owed damages for what they would have been able to make. Plaintiffs' attorneys are also targeting the billions of dollars in media rights revenue for the football and basketball players whose sports drive the value of those deal for the NCAA and the five wealthiest college sports conferences. |
| With judge's ruling, billions now on the line in consequential House v. NCAA case | |
| A federal district judge on Friday granted class-action status for the three remaining damages classes in the antitrust lawsuit filed against the NCAA and power conferences, a ruling that exponentially ups the ante in the blockbuster case. The picture of what's at stake for defendants in House v. NCAA is crystalizing: More than $4 billion in potential damages could be in play. Thousands of athletes could possibly receive NIL backpay as well as a slice of TV broadcast revenue. And NIL rule changes could take hold that would permit schools and conferences to pay NIL dollars to athletes for any reason, including athletic performance. In short, the outcome could radically alter the college athletics enterprise as we know it. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken's class-action ruling is consequential because potential damages wouldn't only be in play for three plaintiffs: former Arizona State swimmer Grant House, former Illinois football player Tymir Oliver and TCU basketball player Sedona Prince. Thousands of athletes who fall into the following classes could receive damages: The classes include one for Division I football and men's basketball players who have competed collegiately since June 15, 2016. One for women's basketball players from the same date and an additional sports class -- including all other sports -- from the same date are also in play. Wilken is the same judge who ruled against the NCAA in O'Bannon and Alston at the trial court level. |
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