| Wednesday, May 1, 2024 |
| MSU provides Bulldog family free learning opportunities via LinkedIn Learning | |
 | Sharpen skills. Explore new interests. Increase professional value. These and other results are now available via no-cost learning opportunities to Mississippi State faculty, staff and students through MSU's new agreement with LinkedIn Learning. A popular, online education platform, LinkedIn Learning's 20,000-plus courses are available to campus via a quick login using their MSU NetID email addresses. "Whether it's a faculty member looking to add a supplemental resource to their course or professional development plan, a student looking to add a certification badge to their existing LinkedIn profile, or a staff member itching to venture into new areas of technology, there's a wealth of information available to the entire MSU Bulldog family at no cost to them," said Brent Fountain, MSU vice provost. Whether or not users have existing LinkedIn accounts, courses in business and technology, as well as creative areas and professional certification preparation, await. For more information and login instructions, visit MSU's LinkedIn Learning landing page. |
| MSU Physician Assistant students present research | |
 | The 24 students who will graduate from Mississippi State University-Meridian's Master of Physician Assistant Studies program in May took part in a second annual research poster symposium last Friday with their research representing countless hours of work and covering a wide range of health care topics. From studying the benefits aerobic exercise can have on adolescents with depression to whether social media has had a positive influence in lowering HPV rates to whether medication prescribed for ADHD can increase the cardiovascular risk in pediatric patients, the PA students lined the hallways in the Physician Assistant Studies area of the Rosenbaum facility of MSU-Meridian's downtown Riley campus. Their posters, which represented hours and hours of research into their chosen topic, were tacked to the wall above their heads as faculty members, visitors and MSU-Meridian administrators walked the area to peruse their work. "This is their capstone project for their master's degree. This is the culmination of all of their hard work that they've done since they have been here," said Debra S. Munsell, an associate professor in the program. During Friday's symposium, the students presented their research to a panel of judges made up of MSU-Meridian faculty. |
| A Mystery Mound | Mississippi | |
| The Conservancy's latest acquisition in Mississippi is in the southwestern part of the state in Adams County near Natchez. Spokane Mound was first recorded in the 1930s by archaeologist James A. Ford as a single mound site. At the time, Ford was a student at Louisiana State University, but he would go on to become one of the most important and well-known pioneers in American archaeology, credited with developing the ceramic seriation technique. He was an early president of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference and excavated some of the largest earthen mounds in the Southeast. Using LiDAR, archaeologist Shawn Lambert with Mississippi State University noticed what may be another mound at the site. This area could be just the "toe" of a ridge which is visible rising into the bluffs across the road, or perhaps it is another mound. Interestingly, the surface of the ridge yielded the distal end of a Late Archaic (circa 4000-1000 B.C.) projectile point, indicating an occupation even earlier than the Middle or Late Woodland period. Further research at the site would be needed to determine if there is more than one mound, and during which time periods the area was inhabited. |
| Man arrested in shooting at car wash | |
 | A Starkville man is in custody for his alleged involvement in a Monday afternoon shooting at a car wash. Devonte Lucious, 31, is charged with aggravated assault after being arrested Tuesday morning, according to a Starkville Police Department press release. Officers on patrol heard gunshots at about 4:13 p.m. Monday and responded to Dawg Wash South at the intersection of Louisville Street and Academy Road. Both parties involved fled the area before officers arrived. No injuries were reported but a vehicle was damaged, the press release said. Anyone with information on the shooting can contact SPD at (662) 323-4131, Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at (800) 530-7151 or leave an anonymous tip on SPD's website. Crime Stoppers may offer a cash reward. |
| Market Street Festival brings concerts, food and road closings to Columbus | |
| Thousands will be coming to Columbus this weekend for the 28th annual Market Street Festival, and several downtown streets will be closing starting on Friday morning. The festival will include more than 200 arts, crafts and food vendors, taking up 12 city blocks downtown. It will kick off at 6 p.m. Friday with a Jimmy Buffet tribute concert -- in keeping with the weekend event's "Market-ritaville" theme -- at the Roger Short Soccer Complex and will conclude Saturday afternoon. Streets will begin closing for the festival at 6 a.m. Friday. All streets will be closed by 3 p.m. and will remain closed until the festival's conclusion Saturday. A section of Main Street, from Third to Fifth Street South, and Catfish Alley will close at 6 a.m. Friday. The remaining streets will close after 3 p.m. Friday, including portions of Fifth Street, Main Street, College Street, Sixth Street, Fourth Street and Third Street South. Three downtown parking lots will be closed, including behind J. Broussard's and Hollyhocks, beside Catfish Alley and on College Street behind the Post Office. Each parking lot must be vacated by 3 p.m. Friday. There will be one special entrance open Friday afternoon at College Street and Seventh Street South for parents to pick up their children from the First United Methodist Day care. |
| One of Jackson's oldest and most iconic restaurants has a new owner | |
 | The historic Mayflower Cafe has a new owner, and he hopes to return the Downtown Jackson institution to its former glory. A social media post last week from the Mayflower Cafe marked the last day for owner Jerry Kountouris and that the restaurant had closed. Its reopening is on the horizon, though. Hunter Evans, 34, who was recently nominated for a 2024 James Beard Award and is the owner of the nationally renowned restaurant Elvie's, will be the new owner. He says that after some cleanup and reorganization, he expects The Mayflower to reopen in July. Evans and his business partner Cody McCain will run the operation. "When we were opening Elvie's, I always joked that I wanted Elvie's to be the next 100-year-old restaurant in Jackson," Evans said. "It's kind of fun now that we are taking over a restaurant that is almost that old." Evans says as he and he team move forward, they want to make sure that The Mayflower keeps its historical identity. "The plan is to change a lot but not change a lot," Evans said. "We really want to take it back to its former glory. We are being pretty intentional about that." When the restaurant reopens in July, it will be open for lunch Monday through Friday and open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday. |
| Mississippi Medicaid expansion plan could struggle for bipartisan support, Democratic leader say | |
 | A Medicaid expansion plan endorsed by leaders in the Republican-led Mississippi Legislature could struggle for bipartisan support because it includes a work requirement that is unlikely to receive federal approval, the state House Democratic leader said Tuesday. Approving the plan could create false hope among people who want Medicaid coverage but might not receive it, Rep. Robert Johnson told reporters after his party's caucus met privately to discuss the issue. "The Democratic Caucus in the House didn't want to vote for a Medicaid expansion bill that was Medicaid expansion in name only," said Johnson, of Natchez. House and Senate leaders were working behind closed doors to secure support. They need at least a two-thirds margin in each chamber -- enough to override an expected veto by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. Reeves said Tuesday on social media that legislators were poised to vote on "FULL Obamacare Medicaid Expansion" and that it would be "Just like Obama-Biden wanted!" |
| Why many House Democrats say they'll vote against a bill that is 'Medicaid expansion in name only' | |
| For a decade, House Democrats have been beating the drum -- often when it seemed no one else was listening -- to expand Medicaid to provide health care for working poor Mississippians. It looks as though a large majority of those House Democrats as early as Wednesday will vote against and possibly kill a bill that purports to expand Medicaid. They say the agreement reached late Monday between House and Senate Republicans may be called Medicaid expansion, but it is not written to actually go into effect or help the hundreds of thousands of Mississippians who need health care coverage. "It is just like an eggshell with no egg in the middle," said Rep. Timaka James-Jones, a Democratic from Belzoni in her first term. "It does not make sense." Republicans, who have have supermajorities in both the House and Senate and do not need a single Democratic vote to pass any bill, have for years relished their power over legislative Democrats. But when a three-fifths vote is needed and Republicans aren't in unanimous agreement like on this current bill, Democrats have real power to flex. Earlier on Tuesday, after a closed-door luncheon meeting of House Democrats, Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez, the minority leader, informed Speaker Jason White that 32 of the 41 House Democrats planned to vote no. That news sent shockwaves through the Capitol. |
| Mississippi Lawmakers Reach a Tentative Deal to Expand Medicaid | |
 | Mississippi lawmakers reached an agreement late Monday on a proposal to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, providing largely free health coverage to an additional 200,000 low-income residents in a state with dire health outcomes and numerous rural hospitals facing financial collapse. The proposal still faces daunting hurdles, including a possible veto from Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican who opposes Medicaid expansion, and the Biden administration's stiff resistance to imposing work mandates. Even so, the agreement represents a breakthrough for Mississippi, where a coalition of hospital leaders, the broader business community, religious groups and a bipartisan bloc of elected officials have pressed lawmakers to join the 40 other states that have expanded Medicaid over the past decade. Besides Kansas and Wyoming, all of the holdout states are in the South. "We know this is a historic piece of legislation," Representative Missy McGee, the Republican chairwoman of the House Medicaid committee, told reporters during the negotiations. For years, Republican officials in Mississippi were among the most vocally opposed to expanding Medicaid. In this legislative session, though, many Republican lawmakers -- including the new House speaker, Jason White --- were willing to welcome the surge of federal funds that would come with expansion, and use the money to increase health care access and bolster the state's strapped hospitals. |
| Work requirement will likely delay or invalidate Medicaid expansion in Mississippi | |
| The final version of Medicaid expansion in the Legislature could leave tens of thousands of uninsured, working Mississippians waiting indefinitely for Medicaid coverage -- unless the federal government makes an unprecedented move. The compromise lawmakers reached minutes before a legislative deadline on Monday night makes expansion contingent on a work requirement. That means even if both chambers pass the bill, the estimated 200,000 Mississippians who would qualify for coverage would need to wait until the federal government, under either a Biden or Trump administration, approved the waiver necessary to implement a work requirement -- which could take years, if ever. Lawmakers in favor of the work requirement have not been open to allowing expansion to move forward while the work requirement is in flux. The House bill proposed expansion be implemented immediately but included a "trigger law" similar to North Carolina's. The "trigger law" mandated that if the federal government ever changed its policy on allowing states to implement a work requirement, Mississippi would move to implement one immediately. Senator Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, one of the Medicaid expansion conferees, posted on social media "if CMMS wants people covered then it will approve (the work requirement). Nothing prevents them from approving it other than POTUS/CMMS philosophy." |
| Mississippi bill restricting where transgender people can use bathroom dies at capitol | |
| Legislation designed to clarify who can use what restroom in Mississippi is dead at the capitol. In an attempt to restrict transgender people's use of bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings, Republican Sen.Josh Harkins authored the Securing Areas for Females Effectively and Responsibly (SAFER) Act. The legislation deemed it necessary to provide male and female areas for each sex's exclusive use. Lawmakers on the GOP side quickly voiced their support for the bill following an incident at a Planet Fitness gym in Alaska in which a transgender individual identifying as a woman was spotted on video shaving in the women's locker room. "We're going to make sure boys go to the boys' bathrooms and girls go to the girls' bathrooms," Republican Rep. Joey Hood of Ackerman said in support of the bill in mid-April. The SAFER Act became a national movement as it was backed by Paula Scanlan, a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who has made waves along with fellow athlete Riley Gaines. Scanlan even made a trip to the Magnolia State to advocate for the bill to create "safe spaces" for women. Nonetheless, the bill, which received pushback from Democratic lawmakers, failed to survive Monday's deadline and will not make it to the desk of Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. |
| Mississippi lawmakers quietly kill bills to restrict legal recognition of transgender people | |
| Mississippi's Republican-led Legislature will not take final votes on two bills that attempted to restrict legal recognition of transgender people. The bills died quietly when House and Senate leaders failed to agree on compromise versions before a Monday night deadline. Lawmakers were working on several other complex issues at the time. One bill would have restricted transgender people's use of bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings, including university dormitories. The other would have specified that sex is defined at birth, and that "there are only two sexes, and every individual is either male or female." The House and Senate previously passed different versions of both bills. The Republican-controlled chambers would need to agree on a single version of each bill before it could go to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. In 2021, Reeves signed legislation to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls' or women's sports teams. Last year, he signed a bill to ban gender-affirming hormones or surgery for anyone younger than 18. |
| Legislation to define the two sexes, provide safe spaces for women dies in Mississippi | |
| Legislation that would have codified the definitions of a woman and a man in Mississippi law while providing protections for women within single-sex spaces, such as restrooms, changing facilities and public student housing, died Monday night. The news comes after it was announced Monday that the state is challenging the Biden Administration's new rule for adding terms such as "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to Title IX, the federal law originally meant to advance women's access to educational resources. The author of the bill, State Senator Josh Harkins (R), told Magnolia Tribune on Tuesday, he and his fellow Senate conferees were ready to move forward with the legislation. However, State Rep. Joey Hood (R), chairman of the House Judiciary A Committee, did not sign off on the conference report by the 8 p.m. deadline on Monday, choosing instead to let the bill die. Senator Harkins told Magnolia Tribune that he had no idea why the House let SB 2753 die. "I'm not sure why the House didn't sign the conference report. We [Senate conferees] passed it and signed a report sitting in the Judiciary A chairman's office two weeks ago," Harkins said Tuesday. Another piece of legislation narrowly written to codify the definitions of the sexes in Mississippi law was the Women's Bill of Rights, the wording of which was akin to the SAFER Act's biological definitions. It, too, died on Monday, failing to move out of conference. |
| Mobile sports betting will remain illegal in Mississippi after legislation dies | |
| Mobile sports betting will remain illegal in Mississippi after legislative negotiators failed to advance a final proposal Monday. The House and Senate passed versions of the Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act earlier in the state's legislative session. The bill would have allowed Mississippi to join the 30 other states where mobile sports betting is legal. Sports wagering has been permitted in the state for years, but online betting has remained illegal amid fears the move could harm the bottom line of the state's casinos. To assuage the concerns of casinos and lawmakers who represent areas where gambling is big business, the bill would have required betting companies to contract with brick-and-mortar establishments. Estimates show Mississippi could bring in over $25 million a year in tax revenue, said Republican Rep. Casey Eure of Saucier, the bill's prime sponsor. Legalization would also undercut the influence of illicit offshore sports betting platforms in Mississippi, which leads the nation in illegal online sports betting Google searches, according to data presented by lawmakers. During legislative debates, some lawmakers raised concerns that gambling platforms would have no incentive to partner with smaller casinos, and most of the money would instead flow to the Mississippi Gulf Coast's already bustling casinos. |
| Mississippi's Hispanic, Latinx population documented by MDAH as population grows | |
 | Mississippi is home to a growing number of Hispanic and Latinx people who are making a renewed investment in the state. According to the U.S. Census, the Hispanic population in Mississippi increased nearly 30% between 2010 and 2020, when official Census data were collected. While the total Hispanic population is less than 4% of the state's total population, it is the fastest-growing group in the state. According to the Urban Institute, the Hispanic population in Mississippi is expected to nearly double by 2040 to nearly 50,000 people -- up from 28,000 in 2020. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History recognizes the upward trend and has started collecting stories and artifacts to document the trend and follow its progression over time. "Their stories were not really recorded," said Ivette Ray, director of Curatorial Services at MDAH. "We're starting from there and working our way to the present. It is just a community that has been overlooked." Today, the Hispanic population is most prominent in Scott County, about 40 miles from the Jackson Metro area. The county is roughly 15% Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census. Other areas where Hispanic populations are higher include Issaquena County in the Delta, Jones County in the Pine Belt and Harrison and Jackson counties on the Coast. |
| New 35-acre oyster reef being constructed in Bay St. Louis | |
| The Nature Conservancy in Mississippi is closing in on the completion of a 35-acre oyster reef in the Bay of St. Louis. With restoration money from the BP oil spill of 2010, the reef is named after legendary coastal business leader Tony Trapani. Trapani, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 58, was an avid outdoorsman and conservationist who owned Trapani's Eatery on the Beach in Bay St. Louis. "The reef is a fantastic example of partnership between local, state, and federal groups with the same goal: protecting our Gulf and its resources," U.S. Congressman Mike Ezell, who represents Mississippi's coastal region, said. The project is managed by Tom Mohrman, director of marine programs at TNC Mississippi. It includes a mound of limestone rocks constructed vertically one to two feet off the ocean floor. The strategic approach is to protect young oysters from freshwater flood events that have decimated coastal oyster populations in the past, according to a news release. The Tony Trapani Reef will be located south of the Wolf River and is expected to be completed within the next two weeks. The project is supported through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, the Mississippi Tidelands Fund, and the Mississippi Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund. |
| Political center revolts against fringe, as leaders rebuke Greene, protesters | |
 | The political center in both parties is pushing back more against the fringes on the far right and the far left, reflecting the weariness and exasperation with the threats to boot Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) out of his job and the ongoing clashes with pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses across the country. The overwhelming vote in the House for a foreign package including funding for Ukraine was a rebuke to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who is now running into bipartisan opposition as she threatens to force a snap leadership election in the House. Johnson made it clear he had run out of patience with hard-line conservative critics when he put the Ukraine funding bill on the floor and shrugged off warnings that it could cost him his job. House Republican lawmakers said Tuesday that Greene's efforts to pressure Johnson are falling flat with their constituents back home. In a remarkable development Tuesday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) announced he and other Democrats would step in to help Johnson defeat any motion offered by conservatives to vacate his position. "I think people are sick and tired of chaos and dysfunction. So I congratulate all of our friends on both sides of the aisle in the House for ... actually doing their job instead of all of the sideshow," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate leadership team. "Republicans are by and large tired of all the antics and the chaos, and they realize it's a political liability," he added. |
| Marjorie Taylor Greene to Force Vote Next Week on Ousting Speaker Mike Johnson | |
 | Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she would call a vote to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson next week, moving forward with the long-shot effort after more than a month of holding the threat over the leader's head. "I think every member of Congress needs to take that vote," the Georgia lawmaker said Wednesday at a press conference in which she accused Johnson (R., La.) of selling out his conservative values and ticked off a series of reputed betrayals. "Next week I am going to be calling this motion to vacate, absolutely calling it," she said. Hard-line conservatives are frustrated over how Johnson has repeatedly turned to Democrats to help pass legislation to fund the government and other critical measures, such as the Ukraine aid package and the reauthorization of a contentious surveillance bill called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Johnson has rejected the effort to push him out and has said he doesn't plan to resign. He has argued he is doing the best job he can given Republicans' historically small majority. In a brief statement Wednesday, Johnson said the motion to vacate "is wrong for the Republican conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country." |
| Lawmakers chafe at nonprofit earmark ban, tight request deadline | |
 | House members are scrambling to sort through earmark requests that are due Friday, just one week after House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., rolled out new guidelines for "community project funding" that cut off a lucrative avenue for delivering social services benefits back home. Some offices had started soliciting and reviewing project requests earlier this year, as the fiscal 2024 process dragged on. But others took a more cautious approach and waited to see if House Republicans would change the rules again, as they did last year. And they did -- Cole threw a curveball last week by announcing that nonprofits would be barred from earmarks in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Economic Development Initiative grant program. The final fiscal 2024 appropriations package included around $800 million worth of earmarks initially sought by House lawmakers for nonprofits under this account, part of HUD's Community Development Fund. Some members of both parties are frustrated by the change, which would prohibit grants for organizations ranging from Young Men's Christian Association facilities to Boys & Girls Clubs to shelters for victims of domestic violence. "Those charities and those nonprofits actually put the power to the ground for us," Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., a member of the Appropriations Committee, said. "So I'm not happy about this change at all." |
| Biden's historic marijuana shift is his latest election-year move for young voters | |
| President Joe Biden may eventually ban TikTok, but he's moving to give something back to the young people who dominate the popular social media app -- a looser federal grip on marijuana. Facing softening support from a left-leaning voting group that will be crucial to his reelection hopes in November, Biden has made a number of election-year moves intended to appeal in particular to younger voters. His move toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug is just the latest, coming weeks after he canceled student loans for another 206,000 borrowers. He has also made abortion rights central to his case for reelection. The push to highlight issues that resonate with younger voters comes as Biden fights to hold together the coalition that sent him to the White House in 2020. Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history, is battling a perception among voters that he's lost a step as he's aged. Discontent with his handling of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has exploded into unrest on college campuses. While inflation has ebbed from its peak and the job market remains strong, polls show Americans still blame Biden for high prices and high interest rates, which are squeezing first-time buyers out of the housing market. |
| Trump's trying to dismantle the Blue Wall again. That would be disaster for Biden. | |
 | Joe Biden's path to reelection has become increasingly clear: It's the Rust Belt or bust. The alternative route to the White House he appeared to break open in 2020 -- winning Arizona and Georgia on the strength of changing Sun Belt demographics -- would be far more challenging this time. While polls broadly show Biden continuing to fall behind former President Donald Trump in swing states across the country, they consistently show the older, whiter states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as the most competitive for Biden. Trump has larger leads in the Sun Belt states, in large part owing to Biden's loss of support with younger voters and voters of color. On Wednesday, Trump is spending his valuable day out of a courtroom visiting Michigan and Wisconsin. It's another reminder that -- even with the same two men as the major-party nominees -- 2024 will be a very different election from 2020. Trump won the three Rust Belt swing states in 2016, toppling what was once known as "The Blue Wall." Wednesday's visit comes as he's trying to do so again -- and Biden is forced to play defense, following the well-trodden path through the middle of the country instead of expanding the electoral map. Trump holds leads over Biden of between 3 and 6 points in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, according to FiveThirtyEight's polling averages. The Rust Belt states appear more competitive: Trump leads by 1.2 points in Michigan, 1.8 points in Pennsylvania and 2.6 points in Wisconsin. Biden can win without the four southern and western states --- as long as he holds all three Blue Wall states and captures at least four electoral votes from Maine and Nebraska, the two states that currently award some of their electoral votes according to the winners of each congressional district. But if Trump flips any one of the Blue Wall states in that scenario, he'd be the next president. |
| Meet the Woman Who Showed President Biden ChatGPT -- and Helped Set the Course for AI | |
 | One day in March 2023, Arati Prabhakar brought a laptop into the Oval Office and showed the future to Joe Biden. Six months later, the president issued a sweeping executive order that set a regulatory course for AI. This all happened because ChatGPT had stunned the world. In an instant it became very, very obvious that the United States needed to speed up its efforts to regulate the AI industry -- and adopt policies to take advantage of it. While the potential benefits were unlimited (Social Security customer service that works!), so were the potential downsides, like floods of disinformation or even, in the view of some, human extinction. Someone had to demonstrate that to the president. The job fell to Prabhakar, because she is the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and holds cabinet status as the president's chief science and technology adviser; she'd already been methodically educating top officials about the transformative power of AI. But she also has the experience and bureaucratic savvy to make an impact with the most powerful person in the world. Born in India and raised in Texas, Prabhakar has a PhD in applied physics from Caltech and previously ran two US agencies: the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency. She also spent 15 years in Silicon Valley as a venture capitalist. Prabhakar assumed her current job in October 2022---just in time to have AI dominate the agenda---and helped to push out that 20,000-word executive order, which mandates safety standards, boosts innovation, promotes AI in government and education, and even tries to mitigate job losses. |
| 'A step back in time': America's Catholic Church sees an immense shift toward the old ways | |
| It was the music that changed first. Or maybe that's just when many people at the pale brick Catholic church in the quiet Wisconsin neighborhood finally began to realize what was happening. The choir director, a fixture at St. Maria Goretti for nearly 40 years, was suddenly gone. Contemporary hymns were replaced by music rooted in medieval Europe. So much was changing. Sermons were focusing more on sin and confession. Priests were rarely seen without cassocks. Altar girls, for a time, were banned. At the parish elementary school, students began hearing about abortion and hell. "It was like a step back in time," said one former parishioner, still so dazed by the tumultuous changes that began in 2021 with a new pastor that he only spoke on condition of anonymity. It's not just St. Maria Goretti. Across the U.S., the Catholic Church is undergoing an immense shift. Generations of Catholics who embraced the modernizing tide sparked in the 1960s by Vatican II are increasingly giving way to religious conservatives who believe the church has been twisted by change, with the promise of eternal salvation replaced by guitar Masses, parish food pantries and casual indifference to church doctrine. The shift, molded by plummeting church attendance, increasingly traditional priests and growing numbers of young Catholics searching for more orthodoxy, has reshaped parishes across the country, leaving them sometimes at odds with Pope Francis and much of the Catholic world. Yet the changes they have brought are impossible to miss. |
| United Methodists take first steps toward removing LGBTQ+ restrictions | |
 | The United Methodist Church's top policymaking assembly illustrated on Monday the legislative slog the 700-plus delegates are encountering. On the first day of the second and final week of the UMC General Conference in Charlotte, delegates spent hours Monday debating a proposal regarding the total number of African bishops. The debate was part of a larger conversation about the international structure of the church, one of the most high-profile legislative items facing the conference in addition to LGBTQ+ rights. The largely Nashville-based UMC is emerging from a splintering that led to a quarter of all U.S. churches leaving the nation's largest mainline Protestant denomination following disagreements over church policy and theology -- including dealing with LGBTQ+ rights. Years of negotiations to strengthen ties between the United Methodist and Episcopal churches, the UMC General Conference passed a resolution on Tuesday affirming full communion with the denomination's sibling mainline Protestant denomination. In a moment of solidarity with pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses throughout the country, seminary students staged a silent demonstration outside the convention hall as UMC General Conference delegates filtered out of the Charlotte Convention Center during lunch. The pro-Palestinian demonstration on Tuesday reflects the politically progressive perspective at some of the 13 official United Methodist seminaries. Other official UMC seminaries are known for more centrist or traditionalist views. |
| Ole Miss student creates a story, now on its way to becoming a film about Latinx culture | |
| Alexa Christian is a woman with a vision and she wants the whole world to see it. The University of Mississippi junior theater arts major is working on a Latinx short film about Alonso, a young man struggling to recover from a life-changing accident yet still hoping to become a champion bullfighter like his father and continue his family's legacy in the ring. Unlike bullfighting elsewhere in the world, American-style bullfighting focuses on the art without harming the animal. "I have always loved Hispanic and Latinx culture," Christian said. "When I was 3, my mom placed me in an all-Spanish-speaking daycare. Since then I have really fallen in love with the culture. I don't really know Spanish anymore, but I really loved that part of my life." Christian wrote the script as a short story in Summer 2021 to enter in a contest but ended up missing the deadline. One of the requirements for the contest was it had to feature a raging bull, which gave rise to the bullfighting theme of her story. She later transformed the story, now called "Segundo Muerte," into a screenplay while taking an introductory filmmaking class at the University of Cincinnati. Segungo muerte means "second death" in English. |
| Jon Mark Weathers leaves judge seat to return to USM's General Counsel Office | |
| After serving eight years on the bench in Mississippi's 12th Circuit, judge Jon Mark Weathers returned this week to the role of general counsel for the University of Southern Mississippi. "I appreciate the opportunity to return to Southern Miss as general counsel and look forward to assisting Dr. Paul in his journey as president and rejoining my colleagues in the General Counsel's Office," Weathers said in a news release. Weathers worked in the Office of General Counsel from 2010 to 2016, when he was elected to the newly created position on the bench, joining Judge Bob Helfrich in serving Forrest and Perry counties. "I am thrilled to welcome the Honorable Jon Mark Weathers back home to Southern Miss," President Joe Paul said in a news release. "His extensive legal experience, along with his knowledge of the university, makes him the perfect person for this role at this time. He will undoubtedly guide us well in our journey to the top." Bob Gholson, who currently holds the position, will officially retire June 7, after eight years with the university's legal office. Gov. Tate Reeves will appoint a judge to fill Weathers' seat until a special election can be held in November 2025 to fill the remainder of Weathers' term, which ends in December 2026. |
| Pearl River Community College employee arrested on child exploitation charges | |
| Officials at Pearl River Community College are speaking out after an employee was recently arrested on charges related to the exploitation of children. Through a statement on social media, PRCC noted that the Pearl River County Sheriff's Department notified it on April 18 that Megan Boles was being investigated. Boles, who was arrested this week and subsequently fired, served as director of the Pearl River Community College Child Development Lab School. "It is with deep concern and profound shock and disappointment that we address the recent arrest of Ms. Megan Boles, a former employee of Pearl River Community College," a portion of the statement reads. "The alleged actions of Ms. Boles are not reflective of the values and standards upheld by Pearl River Community College. We at Pearl River Community College condemn all behavior that jeopardizes the safety and welfare of children, and we are committed to taking swift and decisive action to address this matter." The community college added that law enforcement, up to this point, has said no alleged wrongdoing took place on campus. |
| New Alabama law pushes back against DEI curriculum | |
| A new law in Alabama that restricts diversity, equity and inclusion curriculum in public institutions has just been signed by Gov. Kay Ivey. The law will prohibit publicly funded institutions from endorsing or mandating DEI programs and goes into effect Oct. 1. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin is now calling on Black athletes to boycott playing sports at Alabama colleges and universities in hopes the potential economic loss will lead to the law's repeal. The University of Alabama's Crimson Tide football team has won 18 national football championships and brings in around $200 million annually to its home city of Tuscaloosa. The threat of losing that money is just the kind of economic pressure Woodfin hopes to put on the governor. Woodfin is asking parents of Black and minority athletes to avoid playing for institutions in Alabama and other states promoting anti-DEI legislation. He's also calling for more vocal opposition from Alabama students and university officials. "Don't tell me you want, as a coach recruiter, you come in my living room, and you want my Black son to play on your football field or on your basketball court, but you don't want diversity of thought in professors or programs to support my child outside of that football field or outside of the basketball court. So why should they come?" Woodfin said. |
| FAFSA issues make Alabama student college decisions difficult: 'It's been tough' | |
 | As graduation approaches, fewer than a third of Alabama high school seniors have successfully completed federal financial aid forms. That's a significant dip from completion rates last year, and could spell trouble for both students, who need to fill out the FAFSA to get college aid money, and colleges, who are scrambling to determine how much aid to budget for future students. With decision day just around the corner, students and families are running out of time to get help from school counselors. "Every month has been something different -- a different delay, a different issue, a different problem," said Courtney Sankey at Birmingham Promise, a group that helps local students pay for college. "So it's been tough." "The US Department of Education's delay in rolling out the 'new FAFSA' and then their technical delays because of software problems has made this year very problematic for students and institutions," ACHE president Jim Purcell told AL.com in mid-April, calling the numbers "disheartening." "I do anticipate that less high school seniors will complete the FAFSA than last year and the decline could be dramatic," he added. "It's been a disaster by the Department of Education federally, despite everybody's pleas from both the public and private sector to mitigate it," Gen. Paul Hankins, of the Alabama Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, told AL.com recently. |
| U. of South Carolina keeps growing. Not everyone in Columbia is happy about how | |
 | It's an oft-heard sentiment around Columbia that there are two versions of the capital city: one with students in town and one without. That half-joking gap is only widening as the University of South Carolina enrollment continues to grow -- along with its campus and student housing through the recent opening of the new Campus Village dorm complex and the planned purchase of two downtown office buildings. The Campus Village project was intended to help fill the ever-increasing need for on-campus student housing, bringing 1,800 beds to the south side of USC's campus when it opened in August 2023. But the four dorm buildings have also served as a flashpoint for Columbia residents who see the growth as harmful to neighborhood tranquility, suing USC and the city of Columbia in March over claims that the university reneged on promises to a trio of neighborhood associations just south of campus. Their suit comes as city officials were already moving to take a deeper look at the relationship between Columbia's universities and the city, forming a Town and Gown committee in April meant to spur greater cooperation amongst officials and the public. USC's undergraduate student body has grown by more than 4,200 students in the past decade, up to 28,429 in the 2023-24 school year. Enrollment was 24,179 a decade prior. That's a 17.6 percent increase, and it doesn't appear to be stopping. The 2024-25 freshman class is expected to be similar in size to this year's, according to spokesman Jeff Stensland, which was its largest ever. |
| Vanderbilt University students have been protesting for one month | |
| The past weekend marked one month since student demonstrations began on Vanderbilt University's campus to demand the restoration of a blocked student vote that would have prevented student government funds from going to certain businesses that support Israel. After a March 26 sit-in of the Chancellor Daniel Diermeier's office that resulted in the arrest of four students, the expelling of three and the disciplinary action of many more, students have continued to protest by camping in the lawn in front of administrative building Kirkland Hall. The encampment, named the "Palestine Solidarity Encampment," mirrors ongoing demonstrations across the country at universities as officials clash with students over free speech issues surrounding the Israel-Hamas war. A smattering of nearly a dozen colorful tents -- layered in protest banners and Palestinian flags -- dotted the administrative lawn in front of Kirkland Hall early Tuesday morning, more than a month after the protests began. The scene was mostly silent, apart from the toiling of the campus bells as students within the encampment cycled through to take their finals before returning to the site. University officials confirmed to the Tennessean that there are currently no plans to remove the camping students, as they have not broken any rules. |
| Five Arkansans win prestigious Goldwater Scholarships | |
| Five Arkansans -- four from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and one from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. -- have been named 2024 Goldwater Scholars, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation has announced. The UA students are: James "Ethan" Batey, a chemistry major from Fayetteville. Batey wants to get a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and continue in this field through a post-doctoral position, eventually becoming a professor and academic researcher of advanced spectroscopy and microscopy methods. Joshua Mora Sanchez of Bentonville. He is an engineering student who plans to pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and conduct research on the electrification of aircraft. He wants to work in the space industry. John "Sam" Sooter, also of Bentonville, who is studying physics and astronomy. Sooter intends to pursue a Ph.D. in physics with the aim of conducting research on collective behavior in biological systems. Emilee Walden, of Harrison, who is studying life sciences, plans to obtain a Ph.D. in bioinformatics and genomics to conduct research on biological data using computational and mathematical tools. She also wants to teach and mentor at the university level. Congress established the highly competitive scholarship in 1986 to honor the former United States senator from Arizona and was the 1964 Republican Party nominee for president. |
| 'Race-based metrics' no longer included in state funding model for Kentucky public colleges | |
 | The Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) has made initial changes to the way Kentucky public universities receive state funding, removing "race-based metrics" from the performance-funding model to be in compliance with a law passed earlier this month. Senate Bill 191, signed by Gov. Andy Beshear on April 18, explicitly bars CPE from considering race in its performance-based funding model. CPE "shall not include any race-based metrics or targets in the formulas" under the new law. It also strikes out references to minority students in the formula, allowing colleges to be evaluated on the number of bachelor's degrees and credits awarded to "underrepresented students" instead of "underrepresented minority students." At a special-called meeting April 25, the CPE board approved changes to the funding model to be in compliance with the law, which includes an emergency clause that causes it to go into effect on May 1. Performance-based funding is a complex funding formula that has been in place since 2016, which gives state funding to public universities based on their performance in certain metrics. The University of Kentucky, the largest college in the state, receives the largest amount of performance-based funding. For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, UK received $33.3 million of the state's $75.8 million performance funding pool, according to the university. UK's total budget is $6.8 billion for the current fiscal year. |
| Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at FSU, other Florida college campuses | |
 | Five pro-Palestinian protesters on Florida State University's campus were arrested on Tuesday afternoon. Social media videos show that the arrests came shortly after several tents were erected on Landis Green, a central area on the Tallahassee campus filled with large lawns, paths and -- over the last several days -- chants against Israel and FSU's administration. Anna Prentiss, an FSU spokesperson, said those arrested ignored "multiple requests and warnings to comply with a lawful order." "Anyone who was arrested today made a conscious choice to engage in unlawful conduct," Prentiss said in an email. "The university's rules and regulations had been explained repeatedly over several days and the group had been compliant until this afternoon." Prentiss said two of the five arrested have been confirmed as students. "Florida State University cherishes and upholds freedom of speech and all the other rights we enjoy in this country," Prentiss continued. "However, the expression of these rights must comply with university regulations and the law." "They are dead set on quashing any freedom of speech that we have, anything that makes FSU administration, especially President Richard McCullough, uncomfortable," said Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society Vice President Tavyan Dorsey, an FSU student. "I still stand by the idea that putting up a tent is not a crime, and the fact that we have people arrested for that shows exactly where the university stands." |
| UVa allows protesters to remain in 'liberated zone' so long as it doesn't become an encampment | |
| A student-led protest demanding the University of Virginia divest from the state of Israel originally planned for Wednesday got off to an early start Tuesday afternoon. University officials say the nearly 100 protesters gathered on Grounds will be allowed to stay so long as they do not erect tents, as have been seen at other campus protests nationwide. And those protesters -- a crowd including students, faculty and Charlottesville community members -- were complying even as a light rain began to fall late Tuesday night. "Earlier this afternoon, University officials became aware of a small group setting up tents near the UVA Chapel," UVa said in a statement provided by spokesman Brian Coy. "Representatives from UVA Student Affairs and University Police met with the group and informed them that, while they are free to demonstrate in public spaces, tents are prohibited by University policy. The individuals complied with requests to voluntarily take down the tents. There were no arrests and no disruption of University activities." Protesters have been encouraged to wear masks and not share their identities with the press. Since 1950, it has been a crime in Virginia for any individual over the age of 16 to wear a mask, hood or face covering with the intention of concealing their identity, a implicit tool to prosecute members of the Ku Klux Klan. Tuesday marked the last day of classes for the spring semester at UVa, and protesters started to gather by the UVa Chapel adjacent to the school's landmark Rotunda late in the afternoon. |
| Violence breaks out at UCLA after officials declare pro-Palestinian encampment 'unlawful' | |
 | Violence broke out early Wednesday at the pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA, hours after the university declared that the camp "is unlawful and violates university policy." Just before midnight, a large group of counterdemonstrators, wearing black outfits and white masks, arrived on campus and tried to tear down the barricades surrounding the encampment. Campers, some holding lumber and wearing goggles and helmets, rallied to defend the encampment's perimeter. Videos showed fireworks being set off and at least one being thrown into the camp. Over the next few hours, counterdemonstrators threw objects, including wood and a metal barrier, at the camp and those inside, with fights repeatedly breaking out. The violence is the worst on campus since counterprotesters, who support Israel, set up a dueling area near where the war protesters were camping. Some tried to force their way into the camp, and the pro-Palestinian side used pepper spray to defend themselves. UCLA officials decried the violence and said they had requested help from the Los Angeles Police Department. "Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support. The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene. We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end," Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA Strategic Communications, said in a statement. |
| Northwestern, Brown University reach deals with student demonstrators to curb protests | |
 | Hundreds of student activists who pitched tents and camped on university lawns to protest Israel's military attacks in Gaza have begun to declare victory at select universities around the country after hammering out agreements with school administrators. Northwestern University became the first U.S. school to publicly announce a deal on Monday, which was followed by Brown University's announcement on Tuesday with student organizers to curb protest activity. The peaceful conclusion of the protests and the victorious stance of students come as encampments have become a flashpoint in the nationwide movement. The scene was a significant contrast to those that have played out on other college campuses where tensions have only escalated. Organizers hope the deals set a new precedent for protest encampments around the U.S. and show a way to find common ground without using force. "What these students have done is truly, truly historical," Summer Pappachen, a graduate student and organizer of the Northwestern encampment, told USA TODAY Tuesday amid cleanup of the lawn students held for days. "We have been able to achieve [our goals] while keeping students safe." Brown University's pro-Palestine encampment agreed to clear out Tuesday in exchange for the Brown Corporation voting on a divestment measure in October. |
| Clemson University, NASA sign space exploration research deal in first for school | |
| Clemson University and NASA's Johnson Space Center are partnering under a Space Act Agreement, a first for the school as it aims to align itself with other prominent research colleges. Signed April 29, the university said in a news release the partnership paves the way for Clemson faculty and NASA to pursue research in areas like aerospace engineering, space and Earth science, advanced materials, computer and data science, advanced manufacturing, human health in space and more. The agreement is not for any specific project and there is no funding involved, but it will open the door to mutually beneficial research, Clemson spokesman Alex Brooks told The Post and Courier. "We both share a deep commitment to research, innovation, collaboration and positively impacting the lives of others," Clemson President Jim Clements said of NASA. "And together, we will continue discovering new and exciting ways to create an even brighter future for everyone." The deal also comes as Clemson broke ground on a $130 million advanced materials engineering center last May and announced a $10 million partnership with GE Aerospace and the U.S. Air Force last June to develop advanced flight materials. |
| Botched FAFSA rollout leaves students in limbo. Some wonder if their college dreams will survive | |
| The last thing standing between Ashnaelle Bijoux and her college dream is the FAFSA form -- a financial aid application that's supposed to help students go to college, but is blocking her instead. She has tried to submit it over and over. Every time, it fails to go through. "I feel overwhelmed and stressed out," said Bijoux, 19. She came close to tears the last time she tried the form. "I feel like I'm being held back." Normally a time of celebration for high school seniors, this spring has been marred by the federal government's botched rollout of the new FAFSA application. By May 1, students usually know where they're headed to college in the fall. This year, most still haven't received financial aid offers. Three months before the start of fall classes, many don't know where they're going to college, or how they're going to pay for it. "We're asking them to make probably one of the biggest financial decisions -- and decisions that will have the biggest implications on their lives going forward -- without all of the information," said Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Across the United States, the number of students who have successfully submitted the FAFSA is down 29% from this time last year, and it's even worse at schools with more low-income students, according to the National College Attainment Network. The group's CEO, Kim Cook, warned members of Congress this month about a potentially "catastrophic" drop in college enrollments that would make the decreases of the pandemic seem mild. |
| Education Dept. Announces a Long-Awaited FAFSA Fix. But Is It Too Little, Too Late? | |
 | The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday announced a long-awaited fix that it said would allow students whose parents lack a Social Security number to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, which many such families have been unable to do since the online form became available late last year. James Kvaal, the under secretary of education, said during a call with reporters on Tuesday that changes to the FAFSA system would "substantially streamline" the application process for mixed-status families. If the remedy works as described, it would ease what has arguably been the most vexing aspect of the form's calamitous rollout. Problems with the recently revamped online application had been preventing many U.S.-born students with undocumented parents from completing the form. Despite a recent fix meant to solve that problem, some parents without a Social Security number still haven't been able to create an FSA ID, which all contributors -- students and parents -- must have to complete the FAFSA. Undocumented parents have also been unable to pull in their tax information from the Internal Revenue Service when filling out the FAFSA. Until the latter issue is resolved, the department said, there's a temporary solution: Contributors without a Social Security number must manually enter their tax information online, something that parents lacking an FSA ID have been unable to do. The department also said it would provide a temporary workaround to the identity-verification process that has been hindering undocumented parents from obtaining an FSA ID. |
| When do college protests become criminal? Experts weigh in amid Columbia building takeover | |
| Pro-Palestinian protesters have taken over a building at Columbia University, marking a significant escalation for nationwide demonstrations that experts say have pressed and sometimes strayed from what is legally permissible. While protesting is a sacred right in the U.S. and is all the more cherished on college campuses, hundreds of students have been arrested in multiple states as administrators and elected officials try to enforce what they see as essential boundaries. Legal advocates say activists must understand the right to protest in different contexts, such as if they are at a private or public school, whether they are protesting indoors or outdoors and the "when and where" rules colleges can place on demonstrations. Many of the protests at U.S. campuses have turned into encampments where student activists have been staying over night in large groups. Zachary Greenberg, a senior program officer for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) pointed to the "time, place and manner" restrictions that schools can impose on expressive activity. "Among the limits universities can impose are reasonable time, place and manner restrictions and almost all universities impose restrictions on students camping out overnight or installing fixtures on university property," he said. "These are reasonable because they are designed to prevent disruption and allow the campus to operate efficiently." |
| Faculty members defend student protesters with open letters, no-confidence votes | |
 | Sarah Phillips was on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington for meetings Saturday when she saw social media posts calling for help protecting students' free speech rights. When Phillips, an anthropology professor at IU, arrived at the site of the campus protest she recognized some of her students, "completely peaceful," standing face-to-face with what she described as heavily armed riot police. Reflexively, she started walking toward them. "My instincts just kicked in," she told NPR on Monday. "And a few moments later, I found myself on the ground, handcuffed and being marched with some students and other faculty to a bus that was ready to take us away to the local jail." Demonstrators at Indiana, as in many other states, are calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and an end to both university investment in Israeli-affiliated companies and its partnership with a nearby U.S. Navy installation. And professors are increasingly standing with students, in what many describe as an effort to safeguard the students' right to protest. Protests at Indiana have continued, with demonstrators now also calling for the university's president and provost to step down. More than 800 current and emeritus faculty members from the school have also signed an open letter calling for their resignation or removal. It's one of several schools around the country where professors are getting arrested at demonstrations, circulating letters in support of arrested protesters and holding no-confidence votes in their administrations. |
| Senate Republicans Press Cardona to Act Promptly to Combat Antisemitism | |
 | Education Secretary Miguel Cardona condemned the protests at Columbia University and other colleges where demonstrators have been accused of intimidating Jewish students and chanting antisemitic phrases as "unacceptable." "What's happening on our campuses is abhorrent," Cardona told lawmakers at a Senate budget hearing Tuesday. "Hate has no place on our campuses and I'm very concerned with the reports of antisemitism." Republican senators on the appropriations subcommittee grilled Cardona and largely denounced the protests and urged him to do more to combat antisemitism, including by taking more immediate actions such as pulling federal funding from the colleges that aren't addressing the problem, and by ensuring college leaders are protecting students from discrimination prohibited under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When questioned about the new Title IX rule, taking issue with the decision to change the definition of sex-based discrimination to include discrimination based on gender identity, Cardona pushed back. "Senator, we cannot pick and choose which students we want to protect," Cardona told Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Mississippi Republican. "You might not recognize students who are transgender but just because you don't recognize them doesn't mean I don't protect them." |
| Morehouse College pushes the White House for 'direct engagement' ahead of Biden's speech | |
 | Morehouse College faculty members remain apprehensive about the decision to have President Joe Biden deliver the school's commencement speech on May 19 and have asked the White House to take some steps to address their concerns. Regine Jackson, a professor of sociology and the dean of the Humanities, Social Sciences, Media and Arts Division, said the faculty members were hoping for some "direct engagement" with Biden ahead of his speech, pointing to a town hall Vice President Kamala Harris held during her visit to the school last fall. "There was an opportunity for an exchange, and we all recognize that commencement is not that opportunity, so [we're] trying to find and carve out space and time for that," Jackson said. Jackson was among the roughly 80 faculty members who joined a virtual meeting last week, arranged by Morehouse administration leaders, to give them an avenue to voice their concerns, which largely centered on worries that Biden's presence could distract from the graduation ceremony and unease over his policies toward Israel and its war in the Gaza Strip. Morehouse Provost Kendrick Brown, one of the officials who organized the call to address faculty concerns, acknowledged that a Harris-style town hall is unlikely, given the president's schedule, but he said they have requested some form of additional communication as tensions remain high on college campuses in Georgia and nationwide over the war in Gaza. |
| New Battle Lines Drawn in Congressional Fight With Colleges | |
| House Speaker Mike Johnson and other lawmakers are planning a wide-ranging effort to crack down on campus antisemitism that will likely involve nearly every committee in the House. The crackdown will increase the pressure and scrutiny on colleges, particularly wealthy elite institutions, which are already under fire on numerous fronts as administrators grapple with a nationwide wave of protests and encampments, as well as criticism of college leaders' responses to the escalating tensions, and in some cases, violence, on their campuses. "Over the last few weeks we've seen absolute lawlessness and chaos on college and university campuses across America," Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday, where he was flanked by nine powerful House Republicans. "It's not right and everybody in this country knows it." Several lawmakers hinted Tuesday at the possibility of cutting off billions of federal dollars for financial aid and research to institutions they say are violating federal civil rights laws by not adequately protecting Jewish students. Johnson and the other Republican lawmakers criticized what they see as inaction and equivocation by the Biden administration on this issue, and they pledged to fill the void. In a shift that could be more concerning for institutions, other committees will be focused on the federal research dollars that flow to colleges and universities. |
| County Hall of Fame celebrates some bygone values in the current athletics landscape | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: It was my privilege a decade ago to speak at the inaugural Scott County Sports Hall of Fame induction when the organization was founded. For the induction of the 2024 class, organizers invited me back to help honor this year's class. The evening was also marked by the accompanying 50th anniversary of one of Mississippi's most enduring sports stories -- the so-called "Un-Team" -- Lake High School's 1974 football squad's unbeaten, untied, unscored-upon season under the tutelage of the brash and legendary Coach Granville "Bear" Freeman. There were 29 members of the team. Three have since died over the ensuing half-century, but the other 26 returned for their anniversary salute -- one traveling from Germany to attend. ... All were winners in sports and life. All had compelling stories. All had families, friends, former students and grateful communities to remember them. It was a great afternoon, particularly for the announcers and parks and rec youth sports volunteers who were honored. But of all the honorees, the one that I believe bears some additional consideration given the modern climate in professional, intercollegiate, and even local sports, is Dr. Jim Ashmore. There was no Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deal for Jim Ashmore, and no transfer portal. Nor was the lure of the highest echelons of pro sports the top thing in his life. No, Ashmore used his prodigious talent as a basketball star as a means to an end to build his life and his life's work. |
SPORTS
| Dawgs Ready To Battle For The Governor's Cup | |
| The Mississippi State Diamond Dawgs head to Pearl, Miss., and Trustmark Park for the battle of the Governor's Cup against Ole Miss. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night's Governor's Cup game between Mississippi State and Ole Miss has been picked up by ESPN2, and first pitch has been moved from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The game will be aired on ESPN2 and carried on the Bulldog Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD, along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/OnDemand. Ole Miss heads to Pearl with a 23-20 record and 7-14 SEC record. Ole Miss is tied for fifth in the SEC West. Grayson Saunier's earns his second straight Governor's Cup start for the Rebels in 2024. This season, Saunier's has started seven games and holds a 4-3 overall record. He has a 6.54 ERA in 31 2/3 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .292 off him. Wednesday's matchup is the 16th time these two programs have battled for the Governor's Cup at Trustmark Park. The first matchup came during the 2007 season after the games moved from Jackson to Pearl. State holds the series lead 10-5. These two programs did not play for the Governor's Cup in 2020 or 2021. The Diamond Dawgs claimed the 2023 Governor's Cup, 2-1. Luke Hancock doubled home the second run for the Dawgs. Aaron Nixon closed out the game for the Dawgs. |
| How to watch Governor's Cup between Mississippi State and Ole Miss | |
| It's officially gameday for bitter rivals No. 16 Mississippi State and Ole Miss in the annual Governor's Cup held at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Baseball fans in Mississippi will be treated to a nationally televised broadcast of the ballgame with ESPN2 taking the reigns in showcasing the state's two Southeastern Conference teams. Both programs come into the matchup looking to win for different reasons. For Mississippi State (29-15, 12-9 SEC), a victory against the Rebels would help the Bulldogs build a strong case to be a host team in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Ole Miss (23-20, 7-14 SEC), on the other hand, is looking to get back on track and garner some much-needed momentum to appear in the SEC Tournament after falling flat in conference play in recent weeks. On the mound for the Bulldogs will be junior left-hander Pico Kohn who boasts a 1-0 record, a 4.50 ERA, and 11 strikeouts this season. Grayson Saunier will take the bump for the Rebels. The sophomore right-hander holds a 4-3 record with a 6.54 ERA and 23 strikeouts thus far. |
| MSU Recognizes Student-Athlete Success at 2024 Maroon And White Night | |
| On Tuesday evening, Humphrey Coliseum was filled with stylish outfits, flashing cameras and smiling faces as Mississippi State student-athletes celebrated the sixth-annual Maroon and White Night awards banquet. Individuals across 14 sports were recognized for their athletic success, scholarly abilities and community service endeavors that occurred between the beginning of 2023 and the end of the 2023-2024 winter sports season. The event was just as impressive as a Hollywood awards show, complete with a stage and runway, top-notch presenters and gold trophies shaped like Bulldogs for the winners. Football's Nathaniel Watson heard his name called for the Male Athlete of the Year award, while women's golf standout Julia Lopez Ramirez earned the award for Female Athlete of the Year. Bulldogs in attendance were able to vote on the Moment of the Year, awarded to the year's biggest win across all sports. Men's basketball's top-five victory over Tennessee inside an electric Hump took home the honor. Women's basketball's victory over defending-champion LSU, soccer's NCAA Tournament win over Brown and baseball's walk-off win against Ole Miss in front of a record-breaking crowd at Dudy Noble Field were the other finalists. Attendees also selected the event's best-dressed student-athletes, and it was certainly a tough choice. Women's tennis student-athlete Athina Pitta turned heads and captured the honor with a classy white business suit. On the men's side, golfer Garrett Endicott received a huge ovation for his maroon shorts that were covered with stitched MSU logos. |
| Mississippi State earns No. 16 national seed, will host NCAA regional | |
| Mississippi State assistant coach Jake Jacoby had run the numbers and was fairly certain the Bulldogs had done enough to earn a national seed and host an NCAA regional. It didn't take long into Monday's selection show for him to be proven right. When Georgia Tech, Middle Tennessee and Alabama State -- all within 400 miles of Starkville, following the rule the NCAA uses to build the bracket -- were revealed as part of the No. 16 seed's regional, the suspense regarding who would be hosting those teams was quickly extinguished. "I just try to stay over here in my lane, try to stay focused on the process and what we can control, and I try to also share that mentality with my team," MSU head coach Matt Roberts said. "Some of them like to look that up and some like to know, and some don't. My assistant (Jacoby), he has to know all those things. He loves it. He's a numbers guy, and I respect that he likes to know that because it also gives us a gauge on where we are if we do want to know that." When MSU takes the court Friday afternoon against the SWAC champion Hornets (14-3), it will have been two full weeks since the Bulldogs' last match. Roberts has emphasized conditioning during the time off, even taking the team to the research park for sprints and hill workouts. "We had a really tough week of practice," Roberts said. "The guys are putting in a lot of work. They're doing an individual (workout) in the morning twice a week and they're doing three to four hours in the afternoon, so they're pretty much hitting their 20 hours a week. Last week they had six full days of practice, so it was tough. We'll slow it down a little bit this week, get into more point play and sharpen up for the weekend." |
| Three Bulldogs Picked To Compete At NCAAs | |
| No matter how No. 16 Mississippi State does as a team during the upcoming NCAA Men's Tennis Championships, there will be three Bulldogs advancing to the final site in Stillwater, Oklahoma later this month. Once a new team is crowned an NCAA champion at the Greenwood Tennis Center, Petar Jovanovic, Nemanja Malesevic and Benito Sanchez Martinez will begin vying for individual titles at the event. No. 49 Jovanovic and No. 53 Malesevic will both compete in the singles bracket while the nation's 12th-ranked tandem of Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez will try to claim the doubles championship. The NCAA Men's Tennis Individual Championships will be played from May 20-25 and will mark the first time since 2022 that anyone from MSU has competed. Florian Broska represented the Bulldogs in singles that year and was also part of the last doubles duo to compete in 2021 alongside longtime partner Gregor Ramskogler. Jovanovic, Malesevic, Sanchez Martinez and the rest of the Bulldogs will be in action this weekend as they host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Championships. MSU takes the courts at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre on Friday at 1 p.m. against fourth-seeded Alabama State. |
| Mississippi State hires Samantha Williams as assistant coach | |
| Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell made his third addition to the Bulldogs' coaching staff this offseason, hiring former Tennessee assistant Samantha Williams as an assistant coach. Williams spent the last three seasons with the Volunteers under Kellie Harper, helping Tennessee reach at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament each year. Prior to that, she was the head coach at Eastern Kentucky from 2019-21, taking a program coming off a 2-27 season and guiding the Colonels to 11 wins in her first year there. From 2011 until 2019, Williams was on the coaching staff at Louisville under Jeff Walz, where she worked with Purcell for six years. The Cardinals won a pair of ACC titles with Williams and Purcell on the staff and reached the Final Four in 2018. "I'm so excited to join Coach Purcell and his staff and be a part of this program and community," Williams said. "There's a level of trust where he knows that I will have his back. He has a clear vision for where he wants to take this program and I can't wait to do my part in helping him accomplish those goals." Williams joins former Eastern Michigan head coach Fred Castro and former Georgia Southern head coach Anita Howard on Purcell's staff, along with Tony Dukes, the lone holdover from the staff last season. |
| Elevated premium experiences becoming a bigger part of college events | |
| Increasingly elevated premium experiences at pro events are trickle-down influencing premium in college settings, Proof of the Pudding CEO Adam Noyes tells my colleague Bret McCormick. All the F&B provider's clients, including Georgia, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State and Wake Forest, are looking for any areas of their stadiums that they "can convert into a premium experience," said Noyes. "There is a higher demand for premium from their donors," who are experiencing those levels of hospitality in other parts of their lives, including pro sports. For Proof of the Pudding, that translates into hand-rolled sushi and more chef-driven stations serving a taste of tomahawk ribeyes or fresh oysters. In Auburn's case, it's sausage made from pigs raised by the school's students. The chef, dressed in a white coat, is working the room, explaining the story behind the food, which guests enjoy. "This is a very food-forward time," said Noyes, which has contributed to the gradual disappearance of traditional buffets. "We don't believe in chafing dishes. We think that's where food goes to die," Noyes added. "Food should be served in iron-clad pans with heat from below and above." The second and third touchpoints are becoming a bigger part of the overall offering. "It starts from the time you drive on campus to what's the parking experience, the entrance experience, and the wait to get to your VIP area," Noyes said, "all the way to the time you depart." |
| College Baseball Selection Committee Warns Teams Against Cancelling Games For RPI Purpose | |
| The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee on Monday sent a memo to every head baseball coach in the country, warning them against the practice of cancelling a non-conference game for reasons other than inclement weather. Coastal Carolina athletic director Matt Hogue, the committee chairman, wrote the memo, which was obtained by Baseball America. "On behalf of the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee, I wanted to let you know that we are concerned with the practice of cancelling regular season games for reasons other than inclement weather," he wrote. "It is not the intent or spirit of the game to adjust scheduled games in an attempt to strategically impact selection data or metrics. As you are aware, when selecting teams for the championship, the committee weighs all the available data and the complete body of work. The committee has kept, and will continue to keep, a watchful eye on team schedules and any known reasons for any cancellation. During the committee's subjective evaluation of teams, games cancelled to avoid the impact on mathematical metrics will be discussed and could have a negative impact on the committee's evaluation of a team." In recent years, it has become increasingly common for teams that are on the bubble for at-large bids in the NCAA Tournament to cancel games near the end of the season that carry more risk than reward in the calculation of RPI. |
| Georgia pitcher suspected of cheating vs. SEC foe Texas A&M | |
| Social media videos of Georgia pitcher Christian Mracna's activity in the bullpen and during a dominant performance on the mound in a weekend game at top-ranked Texas A&M has led Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle to suspect the pitcher was putting a foreign substance on the ball in violation of the rules. "Certainly appears that way," Schlossnagle said in a text to The Associated Press on Tuesday. "It's part of the game ... wish we would've caught it." He declined further comment. Mracna, a graduate transfer from George Mason in his first season with the Bulldogs, pitched the last two innings of a 5-4 win in College Station, Texas, on Saturday. He allowed a single to the first batter he faced and struck out six in a row to end the game for his first save. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander threw 30 pitches, 23 for strikes. A 30-second video of Mracna in the bullpen, posted by Barstool Texas A&M, showed Mracna appearing to work on his glove in a corner. He reached for something near or behind a post, but otherwise the view was largely blocked. Another video, taken from the SEC Network telecast, showed Mracna touching the thumb area of his glove with his right fingers between pitches against Texas A&M. Georgia declined to comment or make Mracna available. The Southeastern Conference declined comment. |
| Gamecocks lead the SEC -- at least on the Waffle House index | |
 | The Gamecocks are leading the Southeastern Conference, at least by one particular metric. If you're ever felt hungry after leaving Williams-Brice Stadium, you will be comforted to know that the University of South Carolina has the closest Waffle House within walking distance of any campus football stadium in the conference. The hard math was put together by the X (formerly Twitter) account Sickos Committee -- "A Committee of depraved CFB fans," according to their bio. ("We call ourselves Sickos since we watch every game!") By their calculations --- fact-checked by some quick work on Google Maps --- South Carolina fans have the shortest walk for a post-game trip to Waffle House. The quintessentially Southern eatery's Bluff Road location is only 0.2 miles from Williams-Brice. That's a four-minute walk from the nearest stadium gate, if you're using your GPS. Alabama fans leaving Bryant-Denny Stadium would have to hoof it twice as far, 0.4 miles, to get smothered and covered in Tuscaloosa, the numbers show. And Gamecock fans' trek is a third as long as Georgia Bulldogs, who go from between the hedges to between the hashbrowns. But spare a thought for the Aggies of Texas A&M. While other Waffle House distances in the SEC seem reasonable, College Station is missing a diner, which requires Aggie fans to travel a whopping 69.1 miles to reach the closest Waffle House to Kyle Field -- all the way over in the Houston suburb of Conroe, Texas. |
| Key questions abound as college sports eyes a two-pronged reform solution | |
| Talk with college sports stakeholders far and wide -- from inside power conferences to Football Championship Subdivision outposts and they'll tell you the same thing: A coming revenue-sharing model is inevitable. We're on the precipice of schools for the first time being allowed to share dollars with athletes. Universities are adjusting budget forecasts in advance of college sports' new world order. A growing number of industry leaders, everyone from those in the administrative class to old-school football coaches, are now proponents of athletes receiving a slice of the revenue pie. A new reality is crystal clear: A revenue-sharing paradigm is the only viable solution for the NCAA. Courts are increasingly, if not universally, now viewing the NCAA's long-antiquated amateur model on the wrong side of antitrust law. What awaits the college sports enterprise is a two-pronged solution: The first part is likely to be achieved in the coming months with a settlement in the landmark House antitrust case. Attorneys for the plaintiffs and the NCAA have for months engaged in settlement talks, with ESPN's Monday night report depicting "deep discussions" between both sides underscoring the state of play and what's at stake. But introducing a revenue-sharing model represents only half of the solution for college sports' ills, several stakeholders and legal experts told On3. Without opening the door to an era of collective bargaining specifically -- and, more broadly, enabling athletes to negotiate an array of benefits -- the NCAA will simply wind up making repeated visits to an unfriendly locale: The courtroom, as it tries to fend off even more antitrust lawsuits. |
| Details Matter: NCAA Settling House and Carter Won't End Legal Woes | |
| The NCAA has reportedly made substantial progress in settlement talks with Jeffrey Kessler and Steve Berman, the lead attorneys for the athletes suing the NCAA as part of In Re College Athlete NIL Litigation (also known as House v. NCAA) and Carter v. NCAA. The possible settlements would set the table for tectonic changes in college sports, but they wouldn't extinguish all the NCAA's legal controversies. In fact, they might spark new ones. The players in House, which is set for trial next January, accuse the NCAA and Power Five conferences of violating antitrust law by preventing conferences from sharing broadcasting revenue with players, denying revenue opportunities for college sports video games and barring NIL prior to 2021. The case was a certified class action last year on behalf of more than 14,500 college athletes. They seek monetary damages and an injunction that would force the NCAA to lift rules blocking conferences from sharing revenue. A settlement would presumably permit such sharing and pay money to players for lost telecast, video game and NIL opportunities. A settlement in Carter would likely involve payments for past economic harms and new NCAA rules allowing schools to directly pay athletes more than the grant-in-aid. NCAA president Charlie Baker proposed such a direct-play plan last year. The NCAA settling House and Carter would follow its decisive losses in O'Bannon v. NCAA and NCAA v. Alston, cases where the NCAA lost the legal deference it previously enjoyed. |
| Duck season will have two splits in 2024-25 | |
| Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks commissioners voted to accept the waterfowl program proposals for new season dates. The most significant changes are duck season will have two splits this year instead of three and the dove season will change. Splits is the term used to describe the breaking up of the migratory bird seasons. Mississippi used three segments for the duck season last year to take advantage of weekends, holidays and to stay within federal season frameworks. Houston Havens, waterfowl program coordinator, said they used the same criteria this year, and due to Thanksgiving falling on Nov. 28, the 2024-25 duck season will have two splits. The first split is Nov. 28-Dec. 1 and the second split is Dec. 7-Jan. 31. Youth, veterans and active military will have a special duck hunting season Feb. 8-9. Havens requested the commission change the dove season opener for the North Mississippi zone. The North Mississippi dove zone is defined as areas north of U.S. 84, plus areas south of U.S. 84, but west of MS 35. The South Mississippi dove zone is defined as areas south of U.S. 84 and east of MS 35. Commissioners approved the north zone dates to be changed to Sept. 1-Sept 29, Oct. 12-Nov. 10, and Dec. 27-Jan. 26. Opening day of dove season will be on a Sunday. Havens reminded commissioners the zones would still be separate if they ever wanted to go back to different dates for the specific zones. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
