| Friday, April 12, 2024 |
| International Fiesta returns to MSU Saturday | |
 | The International Fiesta returns to Mississippi State University's Drill Field on Saturday for its 32nd year celebrating international cultures. Hosted by MSU's Holmes Cultural Diversity Center and the World Neighbors Association, the fiesta brings cultures and traditions from around the world to Starkville with international cuisines and cultural performances. More than 40 cultural organizations from MSU and the local community will be participating. Joan Mylroie, a member of the World Neighbors Association, said the fiesta is the perfect opportunity to learn more about the international community without ever leaving home. "The best part is talking to some of these folks and learning about them," she told The Dispatch Thursday. "I like to describe it as a trip around the world without having to buy a plane ticket." Saturday's event begins at 11 a.m. with a parade of international flags -- an annual tradition at the fiesta where people carry flags from Allen Hall to the fiesta stage. Anyone interested in carrying a flag should arrive at Allen Hall about 15 minutes before the festival begins. "We encourage people, not only participants but community members also, to grab a flag and join us in the parade," said Karolina Kastisuchenka, program coordinator at the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center. After the parade, the fiesta will continue with cultural performances from campus organizations and local professional groups. Visitors will be able to visit the various booths and buy meals, snacks and sweets traditional to other cultures. Booths will also feature different displays, art and crafts. |
| Annual Threefoot Festival brings arts and entertainment to Meridian | |
 | At the formation of the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in extreme eastern Mississippi, Meridian is full of excitement, especially during the annual Threefoot Festival. This year the downtown-based festival kicks off on April 19th at 5:30 p.m. with an evening of music, followed by a day of more music and a marketplace of makers, designers, doers and dreamers. The festival is named after the famed Threefoot Building, opened in 1926. The iconic skyscraper is the centerpiece of downtown Meridian, coined the "Crown Jewel of the Queen City" in its golden age during the roaring twenties. Meridian has always been a railroad town, and the hotel provided all the comforts travelers of the day expected. After years of neglect and abandonment, the Threefoot is once again a shining star, now more than ever. A major renovation and restoration of the building has resulted in a stunning hotel that is located within walking distance of such Meridian attractions as the MAX Museum, the MSU Riley Center, and the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum. Laura Carmichael, the executive director of Visit Meridian, says that from a tourism perspective the Threefoot Festival is always good for Meridian. "It brings people from out of town to our city and shines a spotlight to music and arts. Meridian is so fortunate to have such a strong arts identity. It is a true creative economy. And this festival brings people in who stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants and shop downtown while they are here. We love the festival and hope it is successful for a long time to come." |
| Taylor ready to mold state's workforce efforts as new head of AccelerateMS | |
 | Ryan Miller, the first executive director of AccelerateMS, has described the fairly new state agency as "the tip of the spear for workforce development for the state." "And to coordinate the workforce development activities that are supporting economic development of the state," added Courtney Taylor, Ph.D., who on March 16 became the new executive director of the agency, which serves as the state's lead office for workforce development strategy and coordination. The new post is a promotion for Taylor, who served as deputy director for strategy and programs beginning in 2021. Taylor has served in higher education for more than 15 years, most recently as the vice president for workforce and economic development at East Mississippi Community College. Before that, she was the regional director of workforce and economic development for the Alabama Community College System and served as the director of workforce solutions at Calhoun Community College. She is a past assistant director at Troy University's Center for International Business and Economic Development. The Mississippi Business Journal sat down with Taylor to discuss her new position and other interests. |
| College financial aid expansion bill stalls after House balks at price tag | |
| Efforts to expand Mississippi's state financial aid programs to adult and part-time students could be at a standstill after the House failed to pass a bill to do so by a key deadline, due largely to the price tag. Earlier this week, the Senate moved to keep the possibility of changes alive by inserting code sections pertaining to the Mississippi Resident Tuition Assistance Grant into legislation that provides financial assistance to teachers in critical shortage areas. This move could send the bill to conference, potentially reviving the financial aid proposal. But whatever changes come out of conference could likely wind up looking very different from the proposal championed by the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid and Jennifer Rogers, its director. "You ever heard of the bird Phoenix?" asked House Appropriations Chairman John Read, R-Gautier, who let the Senate financial aid bill die in his committee. "Rises from its ashes? Sometimes that happens." "Every single lawmaker in the state Legislature could go back to their constituents and say, 'we made college more affordable for the state of Mississippi,'" Rogers said. "That's a win. That's doing something." But it may prove too costly for lawmakers. House Universities and Colleges Chairman Rep. Donnie Scoggin, R-Ellisville, said that, after he heard from House Appropriations that the bill was too expensive, his committee passed a strike-all amendment to gut the bill and reduce its cost to $3 million. The strike-all amendment is not online, but Scoggin said it would have created a scholarship to cover expenses after state, federal and institutional aid for community college students pursuing certain career-technical education programs determined by the state's Office of Workforce Development. "It was either gonna die, or we had to make changes," Scoggin said. |
| Efforts to legalize mobile sports betting take turn in Mississippi | |
| The process of legalizing mobile sports betting in Mississippi has taken a turn for the second year in a row. While the Senate voted on Tuesday to pass House Bill 774, which establishes the Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act, a strike-all amendment was inserted, gutting the text and reverting the legislation back to current state law. "The amendment that came out of committee makes no changes to the current law. It does not express the Senate's position one way or another," Democratic Sen. David Blount of Jackson said. "It does express our position to continue to discuss this and hear from people across the state about this issue. It simply keeps the issue alive." Now the bill heads back to the House of Representatives for concurrence and gaming committee members in both chambers are likely to work to iron out a concrete bill in conference. Sound familiar? Just one year ago, lawmakers in the House passed a bill that would outright allow those 21 and older to bet on sporting events legally from their mobile devices. That legislation was later amended and ultimately resulted in the creation of a study committee to further examine mobile sports betting and the effects it would have on Mississippi. The committee released a report of its comprehensive analysis of the matter, which found that Mississippi brought in less revenue than most of the 35 other states that offer mobile sports betting. Despite the cries from some in the casino industry that allowing people to place wagers outside of their premises would harm the state, Gaming Commissioner Jay McDaniel told SuperTalk Mississippi News otherwise. |
| Why a deep-red state could be on the verge of expanding Medicaid | |
| Mississippi, one of the country's poorest and least healthy states, could soon become the next to expand Medicaid. It's one of several GOP-dominated states that have seriously discussed Medicaid expansion this year, a sign that opposition to the Affordable Care Act coverage program may be softening among some holdouts 10 years after it became available. A new House speaker who strongly backs expansion and growing fears that the state's rural hospitals can't survive without it have kept up momentum in Mississippi's legislature this year. As many as 200,000 low-income adults could gain coverage if lawmakers clinch a deal in the closing weeks of the Mississippi session. Mississippi's House and Senate this week began hashing out differences between two very different plans passed by each chamber. Austin Barbour, a Republican strategist who works in Mississippi politics, said he expects lawmakers will reach a deal. But if they don't, "I know this will be an issue that'll pop right back up next session," he said. |
| Faith leaders ask lawmakers to fully expand Medicaid, push back on Senate 'expansion lite' plan | |
| A coalition of clergy from around the state urged lawmakers on Thursday to pass legislation that fully expands Medicaid coverage to upwards of 200,000 poor Mississippians and cautioned them from enacting a watered-down plan that would only cover a fraction of that population. "We feel like full expansion is the best thing to do because we believe that full expansion is full gospel," the Rev. Dr. Jason Coker said. "Because the gospel means good news, and this has got to be good news for the most vulnerable." House and Senate leaders are in the process of negotiating a final bill to expand Medicaid coverage in some form to the working poor because both chambers have passed different plans. "We, therefore, call upon the conferees from the House and Senate to reach a compromise and fully expand Medicaid up to 138% of the federal poverty level," Bishop Ronnie Crudup Sr., the senior pastor of New Horizon Church International, said. House Speaker Jason White, a Republican from West, recently appointed Republican Rep. Missy McGee of Hattiesburg, Republican Rep. Sam Creekmore IV of New Albany and Republican Rep. Joey Hood of Ackerman to lead the House negotiations. Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, the leader of the Senate, has not yet appointed three senators to participate in the conference process, as of Thursday evening. |
| House looks to try again on surveillance authority reauthorization | |
 | House lawmakers moved forward with another push to consider legislation that would reauthorize a powerful surveillance authority, the day after the House rejected a rule that would have set up the terms of floor consideration of the last version. The House Rules Committee on Thursday approved a rule for floor consideration as soon as Friday on another version of legislation to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire April 19. This latest version would reauthorize Section 702 for two years, among other changes. The previous version would have done so for five years. The Section 702 authority allows the U.S. government to collect digital communications of foreigners located outside the country. But the program has also been the subject of controversy because it sweeps up the communications of Americans and allows the FBI to search through data without a warrant. The White House released a statement Thursday night that said the Biden administration "strongly supports" the reauthorization bill and "strongly opposes" an amendment that would add a warrant requirement. Also on Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray made his pitch to lawmakers at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, once again praising Section 702 as a critical tool. "Failure to reauthorize 702, or gutting it with some new kind of warrant requirement, would be dangerous and put Americans' lives at risk," Wray said. |
| Many say Biden and Trump did more harm than good, but for different reasons, AP-NORC poll shows | |
 | There's a reason why President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are spending so much time attacking each other -- people don't think either man has much to brag about when it comes to his own record. Americans generally think that while they were in the White House, both did more harm than good on key issues. But the two candidates have different weak spots. For Biden, it's widespread unhappiness on two issues: the economy and immigration. Trump, meanwhile, faces an electorate where substantial shares think he harmed the country on a range of issues. A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that more than half of U.S. adults think Biden's presidency has hurt the country on cost of living and immigration, while nearly half think Trump's presidency hurt the country on voting rights and election security, relations with foreign countries, abortion laws and climate change. The polling underscores why certain issues -- such as abortion for Biden and immigration for Trump -- have been persistent focal points for each of the campaigns. The former president regularly decries the number of asylum-seekers who have arrived in the U.S. under Biden, describing the situation in apocalyptic and dark terms. And Biden has gone on the offensive against Trump on abortion, especially after this week's ruling from the Arizona Supreme Court that essentially criminalized the procedure in the state. |
| Jan. 6 committee chair rips Trump 'election integrity' event with Johnson | |
 | Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) on Friday slammed former President Trump's upcoming "election integrity" event with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Thompson, who chaired the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, called the event a "sham" in a statement distributed by the Biden administration. The gathering, billed as a press conference to present legislation that would prevent noncitizens from voting, will be held at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort Friday. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. "The sham event at Trump's country club should remind the American people of a dangerous truth: Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and a danger to our Constitution," Thompson's statement said. Foreign nationals are banned from voting in federal elections under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, but a few jurisdictions do allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, such as municipal and school board elections. Thompson said the 2020 election was among the most secure election in the country's history, one where Trump lost to Biden by "over seven million votes -- fair and square." Thompson criticized the former president, who said last month that one of his first acts if reelected would be to free the Jan. 6 rioters who are in prison, calling them "hostages." |
| Trump weighs polarizing former rodeo cowboy for Cabinet post | |
 | Former President Donald Trump is considering naming a former rodeo cowboy turned bomb-throwing Texas agriculture commissioner to lead the Agriculture Department if he wins the White House. Sid Miller, a MAGA loyalist, has warred with agriculture interests and threatened to "hunt" moderate "RINO" Republicans back home, including those who won reelection in 2024 or, as Miller put it, " slipped the noose." And he has been investigated, but not charged, for misusing state funds for travel to a rodeo. His former political consultant is also set to face trial this summer on theft and bribery charges in a scheme involving hemp licenses from Miller's department. Nevertheless, Trump has indicated to some allies that Miller is a leading prospect for the top post at USDA, according to two people familiar with recent conversations Trump has had about his second term plans, who were granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. For the Agriculture Department -- and food and agriculture policy, writ large -- Miller's nomination would represent a seismic shift. If nominated, Miller would have to overcome not just a wall of Democratic opposition in Congress, but significant GOP resistance, as well. One GOP congressional aide who knows Miller bristled at the idea of him leading the Agriculture Department, pointing to his clashes with various Republicans and farm groups in Texas. He "does not take advice nor instruction," and his circle's record of ethics probes could spell trouble "when D.C. gets ahold of him," the aide said. The critiques against him may not hold much water with Trump, either. "I think this will be about who declares the most loyalty," said one of the people familiar with the conversations about Trump's USDA considerations. |
| 4 years ago, Sanders and Biden united Democrats. Biden needs young progressives again | |
 | Four years ago this week, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ended his second bid for the White House, effectively cementing Joe Biden's path to the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders threw his support behind Biden. And unlike past displays of party unity after a primary fight, Biden and Sanders took a unique step to collaborate on a handful of policy-focused task forces in the hope of finding common ground between the candidates' coalitions. The partnership between Biden and Sanders helped deliver the Vermont senator's supporters, including young voters, into Biden's camp. Four years later, Sanders still backs Biden. But as Biden seeks a second term with low approval ratings, he faces a new struggle to win over young voters who were crucial to his first election. To Sanders' chief political adviser, Faiz Shakir, part of the difference now is that Biden has to answer to his own record. "He owns the policy direction in a way that in 2020 he didn't," Shakir said. And many young people don't like what they see. According to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, among voters under 30, 6 in 10 disapprove of Biden's job as president, the highest of any age group. The Biden campaign has six months to boost the youth vote. According to the poll, a third of Gen Z and millennial voters have a good idea who they'll vote for but could still switch, and 17% have not made a decision. |
| Iranian Attack Expected on Israel in Next Two Days | |
 | Israel is preparing for a direct attack from Iran on southern or northern Israel as soon as Friday or Saturday, according to a person familiar with the matter. A person briefed by the Iranian leadership, however, said that while plans to attack are being discussed, no final decision has been made. Iran has publicly threatened to retaliate for an attack last week in Damascus, Syria, that Tehran said was an Israeli airstrike on a diplomatic building. The strike killed top Iranian military officials, including a senior member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force. Earlier this week, U.S. intelligence reports showed that an attack on Israeli assets by Iran or its proxies could be imminent, but a source says it now appears that the attack could be within Israel's borders. A U.S. official with knowledge of the matter said Thursday that American intelligence reports indicate an Iranian retaliatory strike within days, "possibly on Israeli soil" as opposed to Israeli interests elsewhere. On Thursday, the American Embassy in Israel said U.S. government employees and family members would be restricted from any personal travel outside of central Israel, Jerusalem and Beersheba until further notice. Meanwhile, the international community has been scrambling to avoid an escalation. On Thursday, Annalena Baerbock and David Cameron, respectively the foreign ministers of Germany and the U.K., both called their Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to ask Tehran not to attack Israel, according to British and Iranian officials. |
| Bird Flu Is Spreading in Alarming New Ways | |
 | Last Friday, a health alert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pinged its way across the inboxes of clinicians and state health departments all over the US. The message described how a dairy farm worker in Texas had contracted H5N1, the highly infectious strain of avian influenza, or bird flu, that's currently circling worldwide. The dairy worker had caught the virus, apparently, from cattle. The CDC's alert urged doctors to be vigilant and consider H5N1 a possibility in any patients presenting with acute respiratory symptoms or sore eyes who had recently been in contact with animals. Around the world, virologists responded to the news with varying degrees of alarm. While this is the second confirmed human case of H5N1 infection in the US in the past two years -- in 2022, a worker at a poultry farm in Colorado contracted it from infected birds -- it appears to be the first known case of the virus jumping from another mammal to humans. According to Raina MacIntyre, who heads the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute in Sydney, the biggest concern is that as the virus adapts more and more to mammalian species, it will gain mutations that make it better equipped to spread between humans. So far, the public health threat from H5N1 has been minimal because it cannot easily enter the cells of the human nose and mouth, though when the virus does infect people, it can be deadly. "The virus is not one that can transmit easily between humans," says MacIntyre. "The key event that could result in a human pandemic is a mutation that switched the affinity of the virus to certain receptors in the human respiratory tract." |
| Tree collapses near student union, follows multiple others | |
 | A giant Grove tree fell on the sidewalk in front of Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union at approximately 12:50 p.m. on Thursday, April 11. This is at least the third towering tree to fall on the University of Mississippi campus in the last two days. Bystanders reported that one student was almost hit by the tree, but no students were injured. Freshman film production major Zack Byrd witnessed the tree fall. "We were walking down the Walk of Champions, like right at the end of it, and we started to hear crackling," Byrd said. "This girl was walking and we started to hear her scream and other people scream because we were watching this big tree just start to fall over. She was fine, luckily, because she heard it and ran out of the way." It took around two or three minutes for UM Landscape Services to arrive on scene alongside the University Police Department, Byrd said. Thomas Dickerson, who serves as a supervisor for Landscape Services, said that it could take from a day to a week for all of the debris to be cleared from the Union Plaza. On Wednesday, April 10, at least two other trees fell -- one in the Grove and one Carrier House, the chancellor's residence. On April 11, a tree near the Lyceum split causing part of it to collapse. Dickerson offered an explanation as to why so many trees have been falling on campus recently. "It looks like it's from too much rain saturation, plus probably the wind that we've had. Otherwise, that's all we pretty much know at this point," Dickerson said. |
| Authors, illustrators receive honors at USM's annual children's book fest | |
 | Noted authors and illustrators from across the country received honors Thursday at the University of Southern Mississippi, as part of the annual Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival. "New York Times" best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith received the festival's top award, the Southern Miss Medallion. A half dozen other new authors and illustrators took home honors from the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. The Keats awards have been presented at USM for the past 13 years. "It's huge that these authors and illustrators come to our town, come to Hattiesburg to see us and speak to us," said Mary Osborne, festival coordinator. "I can't think of anything else in the region that draws authors and illustrators like this. "And we're really proud to be able to host them and show them hospitality and really make them feel welcome here." The festival wraps up Friday. The first children's book festival was held in 1968. |
| Mississippi HBCUs receive funds in 2024 Retool Your School awards | |
 | The Home Depot awarded 42 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with nearly $3 million in grants for campus enhancements at the annual Retool Your School Awards Celebration. "The Home Depot has a proud legacy of supporting and uplifting Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We've reached more than 82 universities over the last 15 years with many multi-year relationships with the same schools," said Molly Battin, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of The Home Depot. In Mississippi, the following HBCUs received awards: Jackson State University – $80,000, Alcorn State University – $80,000, Mississippi Valley State University – $50,000, Coahoma Community College – $40,000. Jackson State also received an Innovation Lounge Grant. |
| OCR: Hinds Community College Failed to Support Pregnant Student, Violated Title IX | |
 | A pregnant student at Hinds Community College in Mississippi was repeatedly denied supports she needed to prepare for and parent her new child in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights announced Thursday. The student who filed the OCR complaint was told to withdraw for the semester when she asked for flexibility to leave a class early in order to get to her doctor's appointment on time, the agency found. The student became pregnant during her final semester of a redacted program at the college which entailed working in the community under an instructor. Students additionally attended lectures and took six tests as well as a final exam as part of the program. She was penalized for missing 20 minutes of a lecture while hospitalized after giving birth early. Back at the college, she struggled to find time and a working space to pump breast milk despite requesting breaks to do so and ended up pumping in a restroom at times. She failed her final semester. The instructor was eventually fired because of comments made about the student. But college officials didn't take action to remedy the effects of the harassment, even after the student filed a Title IX complaint. OCR has honed in on pregnancy discrimination as a key issue in recent years, particularly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. |
| The South's aging water infrastructure is getting pounded by climate change -- fixing it is also a struggle | |
| Climate change is threatening America's water infrastructure as intensifying storms deluge communities and droughts dry up freshwater supplies in regions that aren't prepared. The severe storms that swept through the South April 10-11, 2024, illustrated some of the risks: In New Orleans, rain fell much faster as the city's pumps could remove it. A water line broke during the storm near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Other communities faced power outages and advisories to boil water for safety before using it. We study infrastructure resilience and sustainability and see a crisis growing, particularly in the U.S. Southeast, where aging water supply systems and stormwater infrastructure are leaving more communities at risk as weather becomes more extreme. To find the best solutions and build resilient infrastructure, communities need to recognize both the threats in a warming world and the obstacles to managing them. The fragility of aging water infrastructure is evident in many communities. The American Society of Civil Engineers' U.S. Infrastructure Report Card in 2021 estimated that a water main breaks every two minutes somewhere in the U.S., losing 6 billion gallons of treated water a day. The engineers gave U.S. municipal water systems overall a grade of C-minus. |
| Louisiana could offer college employees retirement plan flexibility | |
| A Louisiana legislative panel advanced a bill Thursday that would provide more lucrative retirement savings options to thousands of higher education employees. House Bill 31 by Rep. Barbara Freiberg, R-Baton Rouge, was unanimously approved by the House Retirement Committee. It would allow participants in the optional plan of the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL) hired before July 31, 2020, to switch to a defined benefit plan. More than 6,000 public college and university faculty and staff members have enrolled in the state's "portable" or optional retirement plan, which allows them to take their accrued benefits with them if they choose to leave Louisiana for another job. In exchange for that portability, employees lose out on more lucrative benefits available through a fixed, pension-style retirement plan offered to most state employees. But as professors earn tenure and key personnel stay in place longer, the inability to switch over to the fixed benefit plan with a higher payout makes Louisiana less attractive for employees who want to finish their careers here. Employer retirement contributions are significantly lower in Louisiana than other southeastern states, as is faculty pay. Freiberg pitched her bill as a way to combat "brain drain" and keep high-performing employees in Louisiana. "We have about 6,000 employees in higher education who are worried about can they afford to retire," Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed said in support of Freiberg's bill. "We don't want them to leave our state for better pay and better benefits. We want them to have the option to stay in our state." |
| U. of Florida letter to mayor asks for RTS cost data, calls threats of closures unhelpful | |
 | The University of Florida's senior vice president of construction, facilities, and auxiliary penned a letter to Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward Thursday, asking the city to provide data about Regional Transit System costs and return to the negotiating table rather than making "threats." The city of Gainesville announced Tuesday at a press conference that half of its Regional Transit System (RTS) budget is at risk of being lost if the University of Florida were to move forward with a proposal to scale back its prepaid bus fare program. The program, responsible for $6.8 million of RTS' $13.7 million budget this year, may end at the beginning of July, according to a press release from the city. In the letter, Dave Kratzer questions RTS' fares, stating that RTS charges non-UF riders $1.50 per ride and UF students $2.86 per ride. "This is very simple: We need to understand the city's operating costs in order to take care of our students and fulfill our reporting responsibilities to the state of Florida," Kratzer wrote. The data we have right now does not align with the city's price -- we need to understand why, and we ask that you share your data." Kratzer wrote in his letter that the university wants to receive data from the city in order to determine how to best serve students. |
| A&M student's research shows rural Texas students aren't ready for jobs in space field | |
 | Rural Texas high school students don't have as much access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses that would help them get into college programs at places like Texas A&M University and then pursue jobs in the state's space industry, according to research from an A&M graduate student. Keilly O'Reilly, who is working toward a master's degree of international affairs at A&M's Bush School of Government & Public Service, shared her findings at the Texas Lyceum's annual Public Conference (PubCon), "Mission Control: Texas' Leadership in Space, Technology, and Innovation" at the Space Center Houston on April 5. Texas has ambitious plans to remain a space leader in the coming years with NASA's Artemis Program relaunching the idea of people going to the moon for the first time in over 50 years to establish a permanent base with hopes of propelling the next generation to Mars. Texas lawmakers earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars toward the space industry during last year's legislative session, and A&M has been at the forefront of leading the state's academic efforts in the space sector. O'Reilly said A&M is in the perfect place to leverage helping more people get into their schools to pursue specific studies space organizations are seeking. |
| End of DEI initiative at UT Austin draws fire from education groups, civil rights leaders | |
| College educators and state civil rights leaders are planning to speak Wednesday in Austin just days after the University of Texas at Austin announced it is shutting down its efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on campus. UT says it has no choice, state law demands it. They're talking about Texas Senate Bill 17 which went into effect January 1st. In the short term, ending the DEI initiatives at UT Austin will mean firing as many as 60 university staff and faculty. UT says its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion had to close under Texas SB 17 which prohibits DEI offices and programs at public colleges and universities in the state. The bill's author-- State Senator Brandon Creighton from outside Houston tells us it's the right move. Creighton says the end of DEI programs doesn't mean that universities won't be seeking what he calls "diverse outcomes," but the state is getting rid of a model that does not work. But supporters of the programs disagree. Irene Mulvey is president of the American Association of University Professors. She says, "The problem is it's really the cruelty is stunning because these are employees whose work it is to help students succeed. And that's who's getting fired. So, my question for the people implementing Senator Creighton's SB 17 is, 'How does this help students?' It just there's just no way you can say this is going to help students." Those in favor of the ban have called DEI a "woke" program that promotes "critical race theory" on college campuses. But opponents of SB 17 call that a false narrative and insist DEI programs are about helping students of varied backgrounds achieve their dream of a college education. |
| With State Bans on D.E.I., Some Universities Find a Workaround: Rebranding | |
 | At the University of Tennessee, the campus D.E.I. program is now called the Division of Access and Engagement. Louisiana State University also rebranded its diversity office after Jeff Landry, a Trump-backed Republican, was elected governor last fall. Its Division of Inclusion, Civil Rights and Title IX is now called the Division of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX. And at the University of Oklahoma, the diversity office is now the Division of Access and Opportunity. In what appears to be an effort to placate or, even head fake, opponents of diversity and equity programs, university officials are relaunching their D.E.I. offices under different names, changing the titles of officials, and rewriting requirements to eliminate words like "diversity" and "equity." In some cases, only the words have changed. For some universities, the opposition to diversity programs comes at a challenging time. They face an incoming student shortage, the result of declining birthrates and skepticism of the value of an expensive college degree. Others are worried about how the ban on race-conscious admissions will affect the complexion of their campuses. In either case, many college officials feel they need D.E.I. offices to market to an increasingly diverse generation of students and the faculty who might attract them. While no two campus diversity programs are exactly alike, they often preside over a variety of functions, including operating student cultural centers, ensuring regulatory compliance and hosting racial bias workshops for students and faculty members. |
| UNC System's Roadmap of College Credit for Military Experience | |
| A new credit transfer tool for military service members enrolling in the University of North Carolina System is helping a target group of adult learners translate their technical on-the-job experience into college-level academic credit. Launched in late February, the UNC System Military Equivalency System builds on a pre-existing guide from the American Council on Education (ACE) to provide a user-friendly database that spans all 16 of the system's institutions and could aid their more than 21,000 military-affiliated students. For years, prospective military learners have faced the lengthy, complicated -- and often overwhelming -- process of contacting individual universities one-by-one to determine what military experiences equate to what credits at that particular institution. But with the introduction of this new tool, individuals will be able to simultaneously compare campuses, creating a faster, more efficient way to determine the most cost-effective pathway for them. Lawmakers, as well as military and higher education experts, believe the equivalency tool will help boost degree attainment and meet mounting workforce demand in two of the nation's fastest growing cities, Raleigh and Charlotte. "We're the fourth largest state in military presence, but our research indicated that we weren't the first choice for pursuit of bachelor's degrees by our military-affiliated students," said Thomas Walker, the system's senior adviser for economic development and military affairs. "That had to change." |
| National Protest Day Planned Against 'Attacks' on Higher Ed | |
| Faculty members and students plan to hold events across numerous campuses Wednesday, April 17, to kick-start a movement against what they consider concerted attacks on quality higher education for all. They're opposing academic freedom restrictions, defending protest rights, supporting diversity, equity and inclusion, calling for free public education, and advocating for more secure faculty jobs, among other things. More than 75 American Association of University Professors (AAUP) chapters, higher education unions, student groups and anti–student debt organizers have come together since December to organize the national Day of Action for Higher Education, said Amy Offner, president of the University of Pennsylvania's AAUP chapter. "The list of participating campuses is still growing," she said at an online news conference Thursday. "I think it's going to go beyond 75, actually, by a considerable amount." Events planned so far include a raffle of banned books organized by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln AAUP chapter and a march to administrators' offices organized by the Rutgers AAUP-AFT (American Federation of Teachers) union to protest cuts there, Offner said. A live-streamed national teach-in will also take place at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The organizers have posted a lengthy statement online, titled "The Future We Stand For," calling out the multiple "attacks" they see. |
| Education secretary elevates new deputy chief amid focus on affordability as enrollment deadlines loom | |
| Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will name LaWanda Toney as deputy chief of staff for strategic communications and partnerships, as the secretary's team looks to tackle college affordability with enrollment deadlines quickly approaching. "The message is clear: We want to make college possible for folks like the secretary, who's a first-generation college student [and] wasn't sure if college was possible for him," Toney told ABC News in an exclusive interview. Pushing for adequate college and career training programs have been among Cardona's top priorities during his three years as education secretary. But the last several months have been mired by higher education woes, such as the Supreme Court's gutting of affirmative action last year and President Joe Biden's initial student debt relief plan introduced in 2022 (and struck down by the Supreme Court last year). With Toney's strategic messaging, the department will work to ensure college is attainable, a senior Department of Education official told ABC News. "Time is of the essence," the official said, so the department is working toward what every young student needs: The choice to either choose their career or attend college. The daughter of college-educated teachers, Howard University shaped Toney, according to a source familiar, and Toney's experience at the historically Black institution empowered her. |
| College enrollment is up. The financial aid mess could bring it crashing down | |
| A report released earlier this year from the National Clearinghouse Research Center found that higher education is finally experiencing a reversal in enrollment declines for the first time since the pandemic began. In fall 2023, there were about 176,000 more undergraduates enrolled, a 1.2 percent increase over fall 2022's total enrollment at colleges nationwide. The trend could continue as applications continue to increase. "The undergraduate enrollment increase is significant. It's the first time that we have seen this happen in our tracking, which goes back to 2015," said Jeremy Cohen, a research associate at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. But as the annual May 1 enrollment deadline nears for many colleges, the tumultuous rollout of the new FAFSA, which has caused massive delays in the admissions schedule for families and schools, could destroy the gains. "It's bad. There are a lot of words not fit to print to describe how bad the FAFSA rollout has been and the impact that's going to have on student enrollment," said Katharine Meyer, a Brookings Institution fellow at the Brown Center on Education Policy. "I remain cautious to see what the fall 2024 [enrollment] numbers look like, to see if [the enrollment gains] are a shift in the trend, or if [2023] just ended up being a nice year." Enrollment-dependent institutions will suffer, too. It's why higher education experts are putting pressure on the Department of Education to fix these errors quickly. |
| Biden canceling student debt for more than 277,000 borrowers | |
| President Biden announced Friday he would be canceling student debt of more than 277,000 borrowers. The administration is forgiving $7.4 billion for borrowers in more than 40 states in the latest debt relief program, bringing the total amount of student loan cancellation over Biden's presidency to $153 billion. The latest loan forgiveness initiative is coming through various income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, including the president's newly established SAVE program. "From day one of my Administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity. I will never stop working to cancel student debt -- no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us," Biden said in a statement. Biden's loan forgiveness actions have largely targeted public service workers, those on IDR plans, borrowers defrauded by their schools and people with disabilities. "The administration is tone deaf. There's no other way to put it," Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chair of the House Education Committee, said in response to Biden's Friday announcement. "We know that instead of doing its job the administration focused time, energy, and resources on its illegal student loan scheme. And that has been frustrating, especially since it has jeopardized the academic journey of millions of students," Foxx said, referring to the difficulties with this year's FAFSA rollout. "But what is absolutely maddening is that the administration is STILL not doing its job and instead focusing on its student loan shenanigans." |
| Report: Biden's New Debt Relief Plan Estimated to Cost $84 Billion | |
| President Biden's new plan to forgive some or all student loans for 26 million Americans would cost about $84 billion over 10 years, according to economists at the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan research organization at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. When combined with the administration's income-driven repayment plan, known as Saving On a Valuable Education, the total cost would be $559 billion. The administration, which this week previewed its plan to provide debt relief for borrowers who fall into five discrete categories, has not yet released a cost estimate. More details about the expected cost should be included in the proposed regulatory changes that will be published in coming weeks. Individuals who owe more than they initially borrowed could have all their accrued interest eliminated if they earn less than $120,000 and are enrolled in SAVE. Waiving the interest for borrowers will cost about $58 billion, according to the analysis. The potential costs of this attempt at debt relief pale in comparison to estimates for SAVE, which offers borrowers more generous repayment terms and quicker paths to forgiveness than other federal repayment plans, and to those for Biden's initial plan for student loan forgiveness that was struck down by the Supreme Court last summer. Penn Wharton Budget Model has estimated that SAVE will cost about $475 billion over 10 years, while it calculated that the original student loan forgiveness plan would have had a price tag of about $519 billion. |
| A fight over college textbook prices is leaving students unsure who to believe about costs | |
 | President Joe Biden's crusade against so-called "junk fees" is on its way to college campuses, and some of the pushback is fierce. Some university leaders say a planned change to an Obama-era regulation could raise prices on textbooks and other course materials for students nationwide. Publishers are in a panic, accusing the Biden administration of upending a pricing model they've spent years perfecting to offer affordable digital materials to millions of students on the first day of class. Backed by consumer advocates, Education Department officials see it differently. They argue the model currently favored by colleges and textbook companies is akin to automatic billing and leaves out vulnerable students. The Biden administration says it's just trying to give college students more say in the ever-mounting fees listed on their bills. Some students and professors are worried the effort will backfire. Others are happy to have more control over their college costs. It's unclear exactly how the change, which could take effect next year, will affect students' bank accounts. But the implications will likely depend on how publishers react, the types of colleges students attend and their own individual financial situations. The disagreement has played out in recent months in a sometimes-contentious federal rulemaking process. As federal officials mull over a final version of the rule, a messaging war has broken out between colleges, publishers and the government. It's leaving some students without a clear sense of whether prices will rise or fall in the coming years. |
SPORTS
| Diamond Dawgs Set For Magnolia State Showdown | |
| The Mississippi State baseball team heads to Oxford for the Magnolia State Showdown when they take on Ole Miss in SEC action. The Dawgs and Rebels series starts on Friday. Friday's game will be aired on SECN, Saturday will be on ESPN 2 and Sunday will be broadcasted on SECN+. The series will also be carried on the Bulldog Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD, along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/OnDemand.Ole Miss enters the rivalry weekend with a 18-15 record and 3-9 SEC record. Ole Miss is currently tied for fifth in the SEC West. The Rebels are currently on a seven-game losing streak heading into the weekend. Ole Miss was swept by No. 1 Arkansas in Fayetteville last weekend. The Rebels offense has two players batting over .300 this season. Ethan Ledge leads the way with a .351 batting average and Ethan Groff follows with a .306 batting average. As a staff, the Rebels have a team ERA of 5.85 and have tallied 327 strikeouts this season. The 327 batters struck out are the eighth most in the SEC. The in-state rivalry dates back to 1892 where the Diamond Dawgs claimed their first win over Ole Miss with a 6-3 win in Starkville. Mississippi State leads the all-time series 264-211-5. The Bulldogs and Rebels last faced off on Apr. 25, 2023, and the Dawgs claimed the win 2-1 for the Governor's Cup. Last season, MSU took the series against Ole Miss at Dudy Noble Field. The Rebels won Friday night before the Diamond Dawgs took the next two games. Saturday's game was played in front of the largest crowd in NCAA history for an on-campus facility. |
| Ole Miss, Mississippi State square off at Swayze Field | |
| Ole Miss will try to rewrite some recent history this weekend against its biggest rival. Mississippi State has won every regular-season series against the Rebels since 2016 and leads the all-time series 255-214-5. Mississippi State has also won five of the last seven Governor's Cup matchups. The Rebels host the Bulldogs for three games at Swayze Field this weekend. Mississippi State (21-12, 6-6) is coming off a series win against Georgia. Dakota Jordan leads the Bulldogs with a .372 average, 14 home runs and 45 RBIs. Khal Stephen has a team-best 3.37 ERA while switch-pitching sensation Jurrangelo Cijntje leads the team with 61 strikeouts. The Bulldogs are hitting .274 in SEC play, which ranks fifth in the conference. Their 4.60 ERA in conference games also ranks fifth in the SEC, and Mississippi State's .990 fielding percentage is best in the league. The Rebels won the opener between the teams last season in Starkville before dropping the final two games of the series. Jordan hit a walk-off single in the second game of the series, and Hunter Hines hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning of the finale to break a 3-3 tie. Ole Miss' opener against Mississippi State on Friday will start at 7 p.m. and be broadcast on SEC Network. First pitch for Game 2 on Saturday is 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2) and Sunday's finale will begin at 1:30 p.m. (SEC Network+). |
| What to watch, keys to victory for Mississippi State baseball at Ole Miss | |
| It's rivalry week in the Magnolia State, and Mississippi State is out to maintain its recent dominance over its in-state foe. The Bulldogs have not lost a series to Ole Miss since 2015 and enjoyed a particularly dramatic win over the Rebels last year. After dropping the series opener at Dudy Noble Field, MSU came from behind and won the middle game in front of a record crowd on a walk-off single by Dakota Jordan, then took the rubber match the next day. This season, the scene shifts to Swayze Field in Oxford, where a Bulldogs team coming off an emotional series win against Georgia faces an Ole Miss squad that has lost seven straight games. The Rebels (18-15, 3-9 Southeastern Conference) led in all three games last weekend at No. 1 Arkansas but were on the wrong end of a sweep, a week after being swept at home by Kentucky. Here are three keys to victory for the No. 22 Bulldogs (21-12, 6-6) as they try to win their ninth consecutive series over their biggest rivals: Stay patient at the plate. Get length from the starters. Come through with runners in scoring position. |
| Mississippi State, Ole Miss baseball pitching rotations released for rivalry series | |
| Mississippi State baseball is sticking to a familiar pitching rotation for its series at Ole Miss. Khal Stephen will start Friday, Jurrangelo Cijntje will follow Saturday, but Sunday's spot is left undetermined, the SEC announced. As for Ole Miss, the Rebels (18-15, 3-9 SEC) will have Riley Maddox for the opener, followed by Liam Doyle and Mason Nichols. Nate Dohm opened the season as the Friday night starter for MSU (21-12, 6-6). However, an injury suffered in a March 8 win against Evansville shook up coach Chris Lemonis' rotation, leaving one spot undetermined each weekend since. Dohm returned in Sunday's rubber match against Georgia, but was removed after only 12 pitches. "It wasn't anything major," Lemonis said postgame. "He just didn't feel comfortable, and I just wasn't going to mess with it." In three starts since he opened SEC play with a poor outing against LSU, Stephen has been worthy of MSU's top spot in the rotation. Against Texas A&M, Florida and Georgia, Stephen has allowed only three earned runs. Cijntje, Mississippi State's ambidextrous pitcher, has improved his ERA from 8.10 as a freshman to 3.45 this season. In his lone career start against Ole Miss, he threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing only one run in the win. Though the Rebels were swept at Arkansas last weekend, coach Mike Bianco is sticking with his same rotation. |
| Ole Miss baseball looks to win series over Mississippi State for first time since 2015 | |
| It's been 3,260 days since the Ole Miss baseball team won a series over bitter rival Mississippi State with Mike Bianco's squad looking to change that this weekend in Oxford. The Rebels (18-15, 3-9 SEC) are currently on a seven-game losing streak and desperately need conference wins if they want to keep their postseason chances alive. Bianco, during an appearance on SportsTalk Mississippi, revealed what his message was to the team as they prepare for a pivotal series against the Bulldogs (21-12, 6-6 SEC). While Kendall Rogers, managing editor of D1Baseball, did not say this weekend is a must-win series for Ole Miss, he believes it's vital to the Rebels' path to the postseason. Typically, an SEC team needs at least 13 conference wins to make a regional, which would mean Ole Miss needs to win over half of its remaining games. "This is one of those weekends that if you're Ole Miss – and I'm not sure they'll ever completely turn it around because of some of the pieces they've lost on the mound – you're looking for a weekend to kind of change the narrative," Rogers said, noting season-ending injuries to Hunter Elliott and Xavier Rivas. J.T. Quinn has also missed significant time with a strained oblique. "At 3-9, they need to boogie a little bit. You're looking at the remaining schedule and you're going, 'OK, how do they get to 13 wins?' It's a tough pathway, but hope isn't lost yet." The in-state foes will begin this weekend's series on Friday at 7 p.m. CT at Swayze Field. |
| David Mershon is Mississippi State baseball's voice -- from field, faith to national anthem | |
 | An Uber was awaiting Chris Lemonis and a selection of his Mississippi State baseball players on Easter morning, but it wasn't a move organized by the coach and his staff. Instead, the ride prepared to take the Bulldogs to Holy Faith Catholic Church for a sunrise service was scheduled by middle infielder David Mershon. MSU beat Florida 12-2 the night before -- a game that featured a local 6:30 p.m. first pitch. Yet amid the competitiveness and exhaustion of that victory, Mershon remained aware of what the next morning meant. As is the case every Sunday, even on the road, a late Saturday game doesn't keep Mershon from going to church. The Gainesville trip was no different, and given the significance of the holiday, it was a morning he wanted to share with teammates and coaches. o he extended the invite, with logistics already taken care of. "We got up, went and celebrated Easter and celebrated the Lord," Mershon told the Clarion Ledger. "Then we went and played our game." The gesture provided a glimpse into the leader Mershon has become for Lemonis, despite only being a sophomore. Whether it be through conversations of faith off the field or the echoing of his voice during a game, Mershon is a vital piece to the fabric of a storied program looking to end a two-year postseason drought. |
| Nusz Park Prepares To Host Third Straight Ranked Opponent | |
| For the third time this year, No. 16/17 Mississippi State will welcome a ranked team to Nusz Park for a three-game conference series. The Bulldogs host No. 4/4 Tennessee on April 12-14. Every SEC team that has visited Starkville or is scheduled to this season is currently ranked inside the top 10 in at least one poll. Saturday is the SEC's annual All For Alex day honoring the legacy of former Bulldog Alex Wilcox and her fight against ovarian cancer. All 13 conference schools will wear teal along with multiple non-conference teams that have ties to her story around the country. That game will be televised nationally at 2:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network. The matchup is one of contrasting strengths. While State boasts a top-10 offense nationally and leads the SEC in nearly every major offensive statistic in conference games, the Lady Vols bring in one of the nation's top pitching staffs. Tennessee leads the nation with a 1.26 team ERA and has thrown 15 shutouts. The Bulldogs have been shut out just twice this year. Fans in attendance on Friday will receive promotional "Nuszpapers" to help spread the news at Nusz Park. While State honors Wilcox on Saturday, the first 500 fans will receive an Alex Wilcox trading card. Sunday is Native American Heritage Day, recognizing Aspen Wesley, the first Mississippi Choctaw to pitch in the SEC. Wesley is having a career year, winning 10 games for the first time and already nearly matching her regular-season career highs in both strikeouts and innings pitched. |
| Makylan Pounders working toward long-awaited first season at Mississippi State | |
| More than three years later, Makylan Pounders is back where it all started. As a three-star offensive line recruit from Byhalia, in northwest Mississippi, Pounders had offers from five Southeastern Conference programs out of high school, including both institutions in his home state. His first unofficial visits as a high school junior were to Ole Miss, but in April 2020, Pounders committed to Mississippi State. And he was all set to become a Bulldog until he decommitted that December, shortly before that year's early signing period. Three days after decommitting from MSU, Pounders committed to the Rebels, and was ready to sign his national letter of intent to play for head coach Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss' offensive coordinator at the time -- Jeff Lebby. But Ole Miss never sent over the proper paperwork, and after Pounders called the coaches several times, he was told the Rebels were rescinding his scholarship offer. Pounders quickly pivoted and ended up playing even closer to home, signing with Memphis the very next day. He redshirted his freshman year with the Tigers but soon worked his way into the starting lineup, making 10 starts as a redshirt sophomore last fall and helping Memphis rank seventh in the country in scoring offense. With two years of eligibility remaining, Pounders entered the transfer portal and immediately had several enticing offers waiting for him. Auburn and South Carolina each offered him the day Pounders put his name in the portal, as did Texas Tech and Pittsburgh. But Pounders knew MSU was the right fit for him, and he became the fourth transfer addition Lebby brought in after taking over as the Bulldogs' head coach in late November. |
| Women's Golf Set for SEC Championship | |
| Mississippi State women's golf begins its postseason journey on Friday as they travel to Belleair, Florida to compete in the 2024 SEC Championship. The unique format of the championship involves stroke and match play over the five days of the tournament. The first three days feature three rounds of stroke play, while the final two days are match play. Match play will see five golfers from two teams paired head-to-head. Whichever team has three or more golfers win the majority of their holes will advance to the next round. The SEC Champion will be named after the final match on Tuesday. State fields a familiar five for the SEC Championship. The group begins with the 2023 SEC Individual Champion, Julia Lopez Ramirez. The defending champ carded two rounds in the 60s in the SEC Championship last year to finish the stroke play portion of the tournament at four-under par. This season, Lopez Ramirez is currently shooting for an average of 71, which is the fifth best average in the conference. The Bulldogs will tee off beginning at 8:10 a.m. on Friday. State is matched up with Georgia and Kentucky in the opening round. The final two days of the SEC Championship will be broadcast. Monday's quarter and semifinals matchup will be transmitted on SECN+, while Tuesday's finals will be broadcasted on SECN. |
| MSU Set To Host The 46th-Ranked Hogs | |
| Chris Hooshyar will close out his first regular season as Mississippi State's women's tennis coach with a pair of home matches this weekend. Up first for the Bulldogs will be a showdown with No. 46 Arkansas on Friday at 3 p.m. The Razorbacks will be the 12th-consecutive ranked opponent MSU has faced in Southeastern Conference play. Graduate Alexandra Mikhailuk has recorded 67 career singles victories, which ties her with MSU Hall of Famer and current Northwestern head coach Claire Pollard (1986-89) for the 10th-most in school history. Mikhailuk needs one more win to match Sabine Guibal (1988-91) for ninth place all-time for the Bulldogs. Mikhailuk is currently tied with junior Maria Rizzolo for the team lead with 13 singles wins this season. Arkansas heads to the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre with a 10-11 record and a 3-8 mark in conference play. The Razorbacks were swept at home last weekend by then No. 39 LSU (4-2) and No. 11 LSU (4-1). The second half of Friday's originally scheduled doubleheader against Alcorn State has been canceled and will not be made up. |
| Mark Pope confirmed as Kentucky's basketball coach. 'Hanging a banner is the expectation.' | |
 | Following a brief but eventful search that included some of the biggest names in college basketball, the University of Kentucky has chosen one of its own. Mark Pope will be the school's next men's basketball coach. UK officially announced Friday morning that Pope has been hired to lead the Wildcats' program. "Mark Pope not only brings an impressive record in nine years as a head coach, but also a love of the University of Kentucky and a complete understanding of what our program means to the people of our state," UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement. "As a captain on the '96 championship team, Mark was a beloved and respected teammate. As a head coach, he is highly regarded nationally as an innovator. His teams run a unique and dynamic up-tempo offense and they get after it on defense. He is a strong recruiter with international ties and a person of integrity." Barnhart zeroed in on Pope -- the head coach at BYU for the past five seasons -- Thursday after Baylor's Scott Drew, UConn's Dan Hurley and the Chicago Bulls' Billy Donovan were all linked to the job. Pope has a 110-51 overall record in five seasons at BYU, leading the Cougars to NCAA Tournament berths in 2021 and 2024. Kentucky's new coach is likely to have to build a 2024-25 roster almost completely from scratch. National freshman of the year Reed Sheppard is the team's top remaining player who has yet to announce a decision regarding his immediate basketball future. |
| Kentucky boosters donate $4 million for NIL after Mark Pope hire | |
| The Mark Pope era of Kentucky basketball is starting with some major NIL backing. According to Kentucky Sports Radio's Matt Jones, two donors have combined to make a $4 million donation to the Wildcats' NIL efforts. News broke late Thursday night of Kentucky closing in on hiring Pope, the BYU head coach and former Kentucky player. The Wildcats have yet to name him their next head coach officially, but barring something unforeseen, Pope is expected to sign a five-year deal at an average of $5.5 million annually. The $4 million NIL infusion is a crucial way to kickstart recruiting efforts. NIL dollars factored into John Calipari's decision to leave the Bluegrass State. A source told On3 earlier this week that Calipari will have "at least" $5 million annually in NIL funds to disperse at Arkansas. The same source estimated the budget will be in the $6 million ballpark. Typical top 30 school's budgets range from $1 to $4 million. The $4 million donation gives Pope a strong foundation to work with. NIL has become an increasingly large talking point during contract negotiations at top college football and basketball openings. While revenue sharing and employment models could be on the horizon, they haven't arrived yet. Meaning for the time being, dating back to the summer of 2021, the programs that can offer top dollar are attracting the top talent. |
| FIFA's World Cup 2026 turf challenge in the hands of U. of Tennessee scientists | |
 | In 2026, scientists from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville will take their work to the world's biggest stage -- or, rather, 16 of the world's biggest stages. A research team at the UT Institute of Agriculture is helping develop natural turf for the FIFA World Cup 26, set to be the largest global soccer tournament on record, with 48 teams playing 104 games in 16 stadiums across Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The grass grown by UT scientists could have a generational impact not just on the World Cup, which draws a viewership of half the world, but on soccer itself. And yes, that's grown. The World Cup does not use synthetic turf, even for domed stadiums that get little to no natural light. Half of the stadiums for 2026 are either enclosed or semi-enclosed. UT scientists are studying whether the experimental grass could be replicated other places. An added challenge this time around is the continental sprawl of the tournament. The 16 stadiums – 11 in the U.S., three in Mexico and two in Canada – sit in three different climate zones and three different time zones. The 2022 World Cup, by comparison, was held in eight stadiums all clustered in the host nation Qatar, which is smaller than Connecticut. Since 2021, UT researchers have completed over 75 research trials supported by FIFA, the international soccer governing body. The central challenges they hope to address are which varieties of grass can be used at which stadiums and how to keep living pitch healthy with grow lights instead of natural light in domed stadiums. |
| AAC Commissioner Tim Pernetti says CFP expansion is encouraging and there is room for more growth | |
| New American Athletic Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti said Thursday that College Football Playoff expansion is good for the sport and he believes there is room for more growth. Pernetti, the former Rutgers athletic director and IMG executive, officially takes over for the retiring Mike Aresco in June. In his first news conferences -- both in-person and on a video conference -- since being hired last week, the 53-year-old Pernetti said he wants the conference to take "big swings" and is not interested in chasing the status of certain labels that are now more nebulous than ever in college sports. Pernetti said he won't be using terms like Power Five or Group of Five, which became the common way to delineate the 10 major college football conferences during the College Football Playoff's first decade. "When I look at college football, to me college football is college football. Are there different levels of competition and levels of play? Of course there are," he said. "Is there a financial disparity? We know that. We don't control a lot of that stuff but what I will try to focus on with the staff and the schools is what do we control? What is the stomach for taking some big swings." Pernetti also talked about the possibility of the conference being involved in compensating athletes for name, image and likeness as a way to help retain top talent and looking into non-traditional forms of revenue generation such as private equity. |
| NIL-era college athletes navigate new realm of financial literacy | |
| Three years after three little letters revolutionized collegiate sports, a billion-dollar industry is funneling more money into college athletes' bank accounts -- and financial literacy has never been more important. In 2021, college athletes in the NCAA gained the opportunity to benefit financially from their name, image and likeness -- known as NIL regulations. That meant that they could get paid for signing autographs or posting on social media as brand ambassadors, among other things. Athletes like Louisiana State University gymnast Olivia Dunne and University of Iowa women's basketball star Caitlin Clark have NIL valuations over $3 million, according to college sports site On3, which combines an athlete's projected value to his or her roster and their licensing and sponsorship prospects to estimate an overall annual value. The NIL regulations have resulted in athletes younger than ever cashing in and saving up, creating a need for financial literacy specifically tailored to them. Morgan Stanley's head of Global Sports and Entertainment, Sandra Richards, and her team work with several NCAA athletes. Richards said she works to make sure her advisors help their clients identify their financial goals from the beginning. "It's forcing these young people to have the conversation about, what do I want this money to do for me," Richards said. |
| Latest trend in state NIL laws prepares for inevitable | |
| State legislatures continue to be proactive by pushing the envelope in NIL rights given to college athletes despite resistance from the NCAA. The willingness and quickness of legislators to introduce and pass these NIL reform bills has constantly put the NCAA in a reaction mode. And that hasn't changed during the 2024 legislative session across the country. The latest trend for the NCAA to deal with is legislation being introduced that would pave the way for schools to directly compensate their athletes for the use of their NIL. Missouri -- whose legislature has been a major trendsetter in the NIL legal landscape -- kicked off this shift in 2023 by amending its state law to say a school shall not compensate a current athlete or prospective athlete, or the family of such individuals, for the use of the athlete's NIL, "unless otherwise permitted by institutional policy and a collegiate athletics association that the postsecondary educational institution is a member of." Since then, a handful of states have introduced similar legislation. For example Mississippi Senate Bill 2417 recently passed the House and the Senate and would permit a school or officer, trustee or employee of the school to compensate an athlete for the use of their NIL to the extent consistent with any legally enforceable rules of a national association, a conference or any other group or organization with authority over the sport, that promotes or regulates collegiate athletics applicable to that institution. |
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