| Friday, May 31, 2024 |
| Barr Avenue lane closure scheduled for road construction | |
 | A section of Barr Avenue will be reduced to one lane of traffic June 3-7 to allow for construction of sidewalk, curb and gutter at the connection of Bost Drive. Flagmen will be on-site to coordinate normal traffic operation at the intersection of Bost Drive and Barr Avenue. Drivers and pedestrians are urged to use caution while traveling through the area. Please contact the Facilities Management Service Desk at 662-325-2005 with questions. |
| Tight beef cattle supplies push prices to 10-year high | |
 | Beef cattle prices are the best they have been in nearly a decade for Mississippi's producers, but they face some tough management challenges to ensure their operations are profitable. "Producers are encouraged by high cattle prices and seem optimistic going into 2024," said Brandi Karisch, beef cattle specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. "However, these high prices may be offset by inflation, the high cost of inputs and costs associated with drought recovery." A tight supply is pushing prices up for calves, cows and replacement heifers. Calves in Mississippi are selling for nearly $3 per pound depending on weight. Cow and replacement heifer prices are also very strong, said MSU Extension agricultural economist Josh Maples. The tight supply in 2024 is partly a result of producers reducing their herds as drought conditions worsened throughout 2023. "Many producers are recovering from the severe drought that hit the state last year, decimating pastures and ponds used as water sources," said Karisch, who is also a research professor in the MSU Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. "The extremely dry conditions caused a decline in cattle numbers that we see reflected in the early January 2024 inventory numbers." |
| SOCSD, CMSD to serve free meals during summer | |
 | Even with schools letting out for summer on Thursday, Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated and Columbus Municipal school districts' meal programs will help students know where their next meals will be coming from. SOCSD has served free summer meals to local children for more than two decades, Child Nutrition Director Ginny Hill told The Dispatch. The Summer Food Service Program is federally funded and aims to fight summer hunger by providing free breakfast and lunch for children after the school year ends. The Mississippi Department of Education reimburses schools that participate in the program with funds from the United States Department of Agriculture. "What this provides the community is that any child 18 years or younger can come eat breakfast and lunch free every day that we're open," Hill said. The program aims to serve low income areas where at least half of the children come from families with incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty level, which qualifies them for free and reduced-price school meals. More than one in five children in Mississippi go to bed hungry most nights, according to the Mississippi Food Network. The SOCSD program averages about 400 students per day during lunchtime. But Hill said students aren't the only community members benefiting from the meal program. "Some parents bring students or we have different community groups that will bring their groups, so those adults will buy a meal," she said. |
| North Mississippi Pet Emergency clinic 'bridging a gap' | |
 | Veterinarians take care of animals and pets, small and large, during their clinics' regular hours, but what happens when there's an emergency after the doors close? Until recently, pet owners in Tupelo could call their local vet clinic, and a rotation of five clinics would provide treatment, much like having an on-call doctor. But in more rural locations, clinics were left on their own and it was more difficult to provide 24-hour treatment when there was only one veterinarian. In a collaborative effort with veterinarians Drs. Sonya Bryan, Aimee Daniel and Kirk Shumpert, the North Mississippi Pet Emergency clinic opened its doors to help. "This was an effort to be able to give clients a place to come and get emergency care and to also give veterinarians a chance to not be exhausted from day to day," Bryan said. "Most of us work 12 hour days already." Bryan said that a veterinarian shortage nationwide makes it more difficult to provide the care needed. A recent study by Mars Veterinary Health revealed that there could be a shortage of some 24,000 veterinarians by 2030. The clinic is entering its third week of operation. It saw some 50 pets during the first week and more than 100 in its second week. |
| Rain affecting peanut planting for South Mississippi farmers | |
 | A lot of people in the Pine Belt are happy to see rain, but many farmers are hoping for some dry weather to speed up the planting of this year's peanut crop. Drought conditions in 2023 drastically impacted peanut crop yields and hurt farmers' bottom lines. Now, they are having the opposite problem. Wet weather has forced some farmers to postpone planting their crops altogether and other have had to replant after heavy rain. "We normally like to be through (planting) by May the 25th and here we are, May 30th, and most of our growers have got another week of planting, if they can run every day," said Malcolm Broome, Mississippi Peanut Growers Association executive director. "We're just about where we were last year, it's almost amazing. Now, we're hoping for sure we don't go into July and August like last year. But we were late planting last year because of the rains." |
| Seafood restaurants, fishermen say iconic Coast restaurant's plea a sign of industry trouble | |
 | Mary Mahoney's Old French House Restaurant has long been a destination for gumbo and steak, a spot where celebrities dine, that locals adore and that just this month was named among the most beautiful restaurants in the country. So news that it pleaded guilty on Thursday to mislabeling fish and defrauding customers hit many across the Coast's seafood restaurants and fishing harbors like a punch. "I was shocked," said Darlene Kimball, who has sold seafood for years in the Pass Christian Harbor. "I had no idea this was going on." Neither did many others. Court documents unsealed this week show that between 2013 and 2019, Mary Mahoney's bought seafood from Africa, India and South America through a Biloxi supplier and sold it at the same price as premium Gulf fish. The restaurant -- a Biloxi institution since the 1960s -- has pleaded guilty and admitted its fault. And it will soon forfeit $1.35 million to the federal government on one felony charge of conspiring to defraud customers by mislabeling seafood and furthering the conspiracy through wire fraud, according to a plea agreement. Bobby Mahoney, its beloved owner, faces no felony charges. Co-owner Anthony "Tony" Cvitanovich pleaded guilty and could spend up to three years in prison. The fate of four unnamed co-conspirators in the case is uncertain. In Mary Mahoney's troubles is a story that has long been personal to the fishermen whose catch defines so much of the Gulf South. Imports, they say, are killing them. |
| More money brings renewed calls to use amphitheater | |
| Another $1 million for the Sen. Terry Brown Amphitheater on The Island has come with renewed calls for the city to start hosting events there. The legislature appropriated the new funds in this year's session -- roughly one-third of what the Columbus needs to complete the project. The city has spent $3.2 million in state allocations since 2017 on the initial phases of the amphitheater, including a 42-by-56-foot stage, but the site has yet to host its first event. "You could have a concert out there tomorrow," City Engineer Kevin Stafford said Thursday during a city council work session at City Hall, noting the amphitheater is Americans with Disabilities Act accessible. To have the amphitheater fully functioning for ticketed events, though, it still needs seating, fencing, bathroom facilities, a permanent concession stand and landscaping, among other things, Stafford said. When those things are finished, he said, the city could hire a private contractor to book shows and events at what will be a 3,500-capacity venue. Between now and then, District 39 Rep. Dana McLean, R-Columbus, who advocated hard for the latest amphitheater appropriation, urged the city to "have something out there that will get people excited about it." While Stafford said the latest appropriation leaves the city roughly $2 million short of finishing the amphitheater proper, the city is seeking $3 million more total -- which includes a parking lot and a potential land acquisition for additional parking space. |
| House leadership considers different perspective on school choice | |
| School choice is a hot-button issue at the State Capitol. It's been a divisive one. But House leadership says they have a different take on the topic that they'd like to focus on next year. "So, a school choice push, if you will, would be more about public to public," Speaker Jason White recently said. A bill was filed this session that would've made it easier to switch public schools, even if it's not the zip code where they live. "What we would like to do is keep the school that's losing the child from having any real say in that assuming that the school that can accept the child can take the child now," detailed House Education Chairman Rob Roberson. The legislation didn't survive but would've only had the state share of the per-student cost -- not the local tax dollars. The other proposal is one that leaves grandparent Lena Hampton with more questions than answers. "I thought we ought to have a magnet school at Delta State and Valley and a couple of community colleges in the Delta and give parents a choice in a failing school district to take their kid to a public school that we would establish on one of our public universities or community college campuses," said Speaker White. Hampton asks: "Why not take those staff persons who you would put in those schools and put them in the public schools or help this the existing staff that are in the public schools?" |
| State to track down potential orphan wells with new federal funds | |
| New federal funding announced in April will help bolster Mississippi's efforts to track down potential orphan wells, the State Oil & Gas Board says. Orphan wells, most of which were used for oil or gas production, are wells no longer in use but have no record of ownership or the company that dug them no longer exists. In an effort to ensure those wells have no oil or methane leaks, the federal government is spending $4.7 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The U.S. Department of Interior announced $6.8 million for Mississippi on April 24, which is on top of $5 million the state got in initial funding. "Many of these wells pose serious health and safety threats by contaminating surface and groundwater, releasing toxic air pollutants, and leaking methane -- a 'super pollutant' that is a significant cause of climate change and many times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere," an Interior Department press release said. The state's orphan well program has been around for decades, the Oil & Gas Board explained to Mississippi Today. Usually the board pays for the program with money it collects from the oil industry, but the new federal funds means the Board doesn't have to wait to build up that pot of money. So far, the state has plugged 473 wells, according to the board's database, most of which are in the southwest part of Mississippi. |
| Commercial Property Meltdown Clobbers Pension Funds | |
 | Government pension plans are getting hit by the commercial real-estate meltdown and many fear the bleeding is far from over. Canada's national pension plan said in May that it is selling stakes in Manhattan and San Francisco office towers for $225 million less than it paid for them. In April, California's government worker pension fund said it had unloaded a Sacramento property it had been trying to develop for almost two decades. In March, consultants warned California's teacher pension that office holdings would continue to drag down returns, even after a 9% real estate loss in 2023. The moves offer a new glimpse into the widespread and slow-moving commercial real-estate slump. Because those investments generally don't trade on public markets like stocks, there isn't an agreed-upon price. When the market shifts, it can take months or years for managers to adjust the value of their holdings. Now, two years after rates started rising and four years after Covid-19 hit, the impact of those events is spreading from U.S. banks with trillions of dollars of property loans and investments on their books to the retirement savings of teachers and firefighters. Many pension-fund managers fear the storm isn't over, said Wilshire managing director Shawn Quinn. "Folks are allocating less dollars, trying to understand what they have in their portfolio," Quinn said. "Institutional investors are not quite sure if we've hit the bottom yet." |
| Departing House Members Ask: 'Why Am I Here?' | |
 | At some point during a routine seven-hour trip from his Oregon district to Washington, Representative Earl Blumenauer, 75, a Democrat who has served in Congress for almost three decades, experienced a depressing epiphany. "I distinctly recall crawling on yet another plane to come back for yet another vote that made absolutely no difference and was going absolutely nowhere," he said in an interview. "And I had this singular experience of asking myself, 'Why would you do this?'" Mr. Blumenauer's moment of truth was in fact far from singular. A total of 54 House members, or about one-eighth of the total body, will not be seeking another term this November. As a matter of sheer numbers, the exodus is not history-making. What is striking are the names on the list. There are rising stars, seasoned legislators and committee chairs. But not a single bomb-thrower. "It's a shocking number," said one of them, Representative Patrick T. McHenry, the North Carolina Republican who was first elected to his seat two decades ago. Despite his status as the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and one of the most influential Republicans in Congress, Mr. McHenry said that he could appreciate Mr. Blumenauer's dire sentiments. "The institution's not functioning, the incentive structures are messed up and we're not doing real legislating. So people are like, 'Why am I here?'" |
| McConnell comes to Trump's defense after guilty verdict | |
 | Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who has steadfastly refused to comment about the presidential race or his long-running feud with former President Trump, came to his defense Thursday night. Hours after the jury rendered its guilty verdict, McConnell declared that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) should never have brought the case and predicted the conviction would be overturned. "These charges never should have been brought in the first place. I expect the conviction to be overturned on appeal," McConnell wrote in a post on the social platform X. McConnell's surprise decision to weigh in on the outcome of a court case he has refused to talk about for months may indicate that Trump's conviction could have a unifying effect on the GOP -- rallying even his biggest skeptics within the party to his defense. Thursday's verdict may bring skeptical mainstream Republicans closer to Trump. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a leading Senate GOP moderate who voted to convict Trump on the impeachment charge of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, criticized Bragg on Thursday for waging a politically motivated prosecution. "The political underpinnings of this case further blur the lines between the judicial system and the electoral system, and this verdict likely will be the subject of a protracted appeals process," she said. |
| Trump set to be sentenced just days before Republican convention | |
 | Donald Trump, the first former president to be convicted on criminal charges, is set to step on stage at the Republican National Convention in July knowing if he will serve jail time. Juan Merchan, a New York state judge, announced a July 11 sentencing hearing moments after Trump was found guilty Thursday by a jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The GOP convention is scheduled to begin July 15 in Milwaukee, with the nominee expected to deliver his acceptance speech three days later on July 18. A nominee convicted of a felony accepting a major political party's presidential nomination will be yet another unprecedented moment delivered by the former reality television star, playboy, product pitchman and New York real estate executive. One Republican strategist on Thursday evening said Trump is likely to use the trial's outcome to attempt "propelling" his standing among independent voters with a two-pronged message: The justice system is unfair and President Joe Biden has done little to drive down the prices of groceries and gasoline. GOP strategist Ford O'Connell said Democrats may use the verdict as a talking point, but Trump knows everything is counting on what voters believe in November. "This verdict doesn't change the fact that Joe Biden has a real problem on inflation, it doesn't change the fact that Biden has a real problem on the open [southern] border," O'Connell said in a phone interview. |
| Trump Guilty Verdict Rocks 2024 Presidential Campaign | |
| Donald Trump has survived countless scandals, allegations of sexual and financial impropriety and two impeachments. Can he and his campaign survive a felony conviction? Trump was found guilty Thursday by a New York jury on all 34 counts in his hush-money case, concluding the first-ever criminal trial of a former president. Now voters will render their own judgment, as Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, barrels ahead to the Nov. 5 election, using the trial and other prosecutions he faces as a rallying cry for his supporters. The verdict injects an unimaginable wild card into a race between Trump and President Biden that has appeared stagnant for months, with Trump holding a narrow lead in the battleground states that will decide the victor, and polls suggesting voters dislike both men. Fundraising exploded after the verdict, according to the Trump campaign, which said it raised $34.8 million online after the verdict, nearly double the previous high mark for small-dollar donations. Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said "no one is above the law," adding that "convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president." By now, Americans are used to the constant churn of controversy around Trump. The former reality-television star's 2016 victory may have upended politics for good. "In the past six weeks, another jury of sorts---voters in the battleground states---have been watching Trump, and his support continues to grow even as he shatters another norm for presidential campaigns," said GOP strategist Scott Reed. "The deeper Trump sinks into controversy, the more voters seem to ignore the sensationalism and fondly think how they had it better under Trump." |
| 'Justice will prevail': Mississippi leaders respond to Trump conviction | |
| Mississippi's elected leaders have responded to the conviction of President Donald Trump. On Thursday, a jury in New York returned a unanimous guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 presidential campaign. The verdict prompted many of the state's elected leaders to share statements on social media, with many Republicans coming to the defense of the former president and at least one Democrat saying justice was served. Gov. Tate Reeves described the conviction as "lawless," and that it "only reflects the desperation of President Biden and the corrupt methods he will use to steal this election." Rep. Bennie Thompson, however, said justice has prevailed. "Donald Trump is now a convicted felon, found guilty on all 34 counts. If I hadn't said it enough, no one is above the law, and today, the rule of law has prevailed." Thompson headed up the House's January 6 Committee, which investigated the riots outside the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. Mississippi's other Congressional leaders also weighed in, with Rep. Michael Guest saying Trump was "convicted... on charges that were politically motivated, and the evidence presented against him did not arise to the level of reasonable doubt. All Americans are entitled to a fair trial brought by an impartial prosecutor. President Trump was not afforded these fundamental protections and his conviction should be overturned." |
| John Grisham stirs controversy with joking comments on US Supreme Court on 'The View' | |
 | On a recent appearance on "The View," Mississippi author John Grisham, made comments about writing about more Supreme Court assassinations, prompting the hosts to quickly clarify the comments were a joke. The comments circulated on social media, eliciting a larger discussion on the current state of the U.S. Supreme Court. Grisham appeared Wednesday on the talk show "The View" to discuss his newest book, "Camino Ghosts." Joy Behar set up a political discussion by asking Grisham about future novels, especially since, she said, "life in the court right now is getting a little scary." Grisham, a former lawyer and member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, famously writes legal dramas. "Let's take the Supreme Court right now," Behar said. "A lot of people have issues with them. There are some scandals plaguing the Supreme Court." Grisham responded to Behar's comments by bringing up his 1992 novel "The Pelican Brief," in which two Supreme Court justices, one Democrat and one Republican, are assassinated. "I wrote a great book called 'The Pelican Brief' in which two Supreme Court justices were assassinated, and I've thought about doing it again," Grisham said. The five hosts quickly interjected to clarify that Grisham's quip referred to writing another novel, not a threat against the Supreme Court. After the hosts interjected, Grisham went on to say he believes the Supreme Court gets worse every term. |
| Roberts declines meeting with senators over Supreme Court ethics | |
| Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Thursday declined a meeting requested by two Democratic senators following reports that flags tied to the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election were flown outside the homes of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Senate Judiciary Chair Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., last week wrote a letter to Roberts that asked for a meeting about Alito and ethics issues more broadly at the nation's highest court. Roberts, who as chief justice of the United States heads the judicial branch, wrote Thursday in a response to Durbin and Whitehouse that it is "rare" for a sitting chief justice to meet with legislators even in a public setting with both major political parties present. "Separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence counsel against such appearances," Roberts wrote. "Moreover, the format proposed -- a meeting with leaders of only one party who have expressed interest in matters currently pending before the Court -- simply underscores that participating in such a meeting would be inadvisable," Roberts wrote. Following criticism over the justices' behavior last year, the court adopted a nonbinding ethics code, the first in the institution's history. |
| U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs hold first official meeting in Singapore | |
 | U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, defense minister Dong Jun, met for the first time in Singapore on Friday, as Washington and Beijing seek to head off potential conflict in the region. The meeting -- held on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La defense dialogue -- lasted for about 75 minutes, according to Chinese military spokesperson Senior Col. Wu Qian, who called the official engagement "positive, pragmatic and constructive." Although both sides see such top-level contact as a positive move, they also confronted each other on issues ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea during the meeting, according to officials from both sides. "The secretary expressed concern about recent provocative PLA activity around the Taiwan Strait, and he reiterated that the PRC should not use Taiwan's political transition -- part of a normal, routine democratic process -- as a pretext for coercive measures," Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement after the meeting. On the South China Sea, where China has overlapping territorial claims with several Southeast Asian countries, Austin reiterated the U.S. demand for the freedom of navigation under international law. But the Chinese side pushed back, according to Wu: "No one country can pursue security at the expense of sacrificing another country's security." |
| How a Mississippi canoe company is raising a new generation of river caretakers | |
 | On a Saturday morning in May, nearly two dozen kids fill three canoes and set out on the mighty Mississippi River near Helena, Arkansas. They're building new memories in the canoes, yelling chants and singing Mariah Carey songs. Jade Stokes, 17, helps paddle as the sun shines overhead. "I want to come every time," she said. "I'll just complain every time, but I still like it. I just forget how hot it [can] be. I think about this part, not about the canoeing part." Being out on the Mississippi is like an escape, Stokes said -- away from the city and all the other distractions in her life. Quapaw Canoe Company is a business, offering guided tours and multi-day trips down the Mississippi. But part of its goal is to teach kids to respect the river. One way it accomplishes this is through partnering with after-school programs to take younger people on trips. Clarksdale, where the company's main base of operation is in Mississippi, is a predominantly Black community, so getting people involved also means helping expose youth of color to the great outdoors. John Ruskey started Quapaw Canoe Company 25 years ago. In that time, they've grown to have locations in Memphis, Tennessee, and Vicksburg, Mississippi, and currently have about a dozen river guides. They've completed thousands of wilderness expeditions by canoe, kayak or paddle board along the lower Mississippi River. "We're creating a culture of Clarksdale youth who have fun in a place that they've been told to fear their whole life," Ruskey said. "The kids that we're taking out in the water today will become the next generation of adults who are living there and making decisions about this great waterway and all of its wild and wonderful beauty," Ruskey said. |
| New ChatGPT Version Aiming at Higher Ed | |
 | OpenAI unveiled a new version of ChatGPT focused on universities on Thursday, building on work with a handful of higher education institutions that partnered with the tech giant. The ChatGPT Edu product, expected to start rolling out this summer, is a platform for institutions intended to give students free access. OpenAI said the artificial intelligence (AI) toolset could be used for an array of education applications, including tutoring, writing grant applications and reviewing résumés. Addressing concerns about privacy and user data, OpenAI said the Edu platform allows for the creation of personalized large language models to power the AI tools, instead of using the publicly available ChatGPT. The announcement of ChatGPT Edu comes only a couple of weeks after the launch of GPT-4o, or Omni. That new ChatGPT version, with a more realistic voice and quicker verbal response time, brought mixed feelings from educators. Many in academia have struggled to keep up with the rapid advances in artificial intelligence tools. "This has been like a firehose and it's not settling down," said Marc Watkins, director of the AI Summer Institute for Teachers of Writing at the University of Mississippi. "There's a level of both fatigue and wondering when things are going to stabilize, because ... we like to take our time before we adopt things. It's another thing to worry about." |
| College Closures Are in the News. But Higher Ed Added Thousands of Programs Over the Past 2 Decades. | |
 | In the last year, cuts to programs have surfaced at colleges small and large, public and private. West Virginia University eliminated 28 degree programs last year -- including many in the humanities -- driving months of discussion in higher-ed circles about the future of public higher education. Other public institutions are poised to follow suit, among them St. Cloud State University, whose leaders last week recommended discontinuing roughly one-third of its 136 degree programs and more than half of its 85 minor programs to stem a structural budget deficit. As is common in the wake of such cuts, faculty members are slated to lose their jobs. The recent incessant drip of program closures suggests an industry in contraction -- and in some ways, that's the case. But even if it's true now, it's taking place against a far larger backdrop of growth. A Chronicle analysis of federal data from more than 2,000 four-year public, private, and for-profit colleges shows no evidence of a significant decline in bachelor's-degree programs or completions over a 20-year period. In fact, it's quite the opposite: Between 2002 and 2022, higher-education institutions expanded their number of programs by nearly 23,000, or 40 percent -- a period during which undergraduate enrollment grew 8 percent. |
| Colleges Eye Rule Changes in the Wake of Spring Protests | |
| The pro-Palestinian encampments that once crowded U.S. campuses have mostly dissipated now, vanishing with the end of the academic year. But the heightened student protests that erupted in April -- first at Columbia University before quickly spreading coast to coast -- seem likely to continue in some form when the fall semester arrives, bringing students and their political concerns back to campus. That likelihood only increases if the war between Israel and Hamas is still ongoing. This time, however, colleges will have the benefit of summer break to prepare and plan for the next wave of student protests. It's time they may well need, given Congress's harsh scrutiny of administrators' protest responses and the acknowledgment of some college presidents that their student codes of conduct and disciplinary policies were not designed to handle the rise of encampments. Compounding the potential headache for administrators is the 2024 election, in which Democratic President Joe Biden is taking on former Republican President -- and convicted felon -- Donald Trump in a repeat matchup that has left many young voters disillusioned. Now college leaders are heading into the summer with fall protests in mind. Michael Harris, a professor of higher education and chair of the Department of Education Policy and Leadership at Southern Methodist University, believes that current policies and enforcement efforts were insufficient for the latest protests in part because of "atrophy in the system" -- meaning they challenged college rules and disciplinary codes in ways not seen for some time. Now that the academic year has ended for most institutions, Harris suspects revising campus policies will be a key focus for administrators over the summer. |
| Cardona Pledges FAFSA is 'Going to Get Better' | |
| The Education Department did not take away money or resources from the overhaul of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) to support student debt relief, as some Congressional Republicans have alleged, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said defiantly Thursday. "We've been devoting resources to FAFSA since we got in," Cardona said in a keynote interview with The New York Times at the Education Writers Association's national conference in Las Vegas. "We recognized early on that it needed to be delayed and we continue to find ways to move it along. But the idea we took resources away from this to do that is false." The botched launch of the new FAFSA was the first topic of discussion in the wide-ranging interview before a packed ballroom of journalists and other media professionals. The session also touched on the Supreme Court's ruling last summer banning race-conscious admissions, civil rights investigations into campus antisemitism and other issues in K-12 education. Cardona also addressed what he sees as growing political interference in the nation's K-12 schools and colleges that's intended to create division. "We're going to do everything in our power to make sure students feel welcome, seen for who they are, respected and let the political stuff stop at the doorstep," he said. "That's what they're dealing with right now. It's hard enough to lead schools and lead colleges, but when you have that interference, and quite frankly, a lot of it is just people trying to make a name for themselves politically." |
| Federal rule on Title IX is a ruse to require trans sports participation, GOP states say | |
 | The Biden administration has put on hold a plan to prohibit across-the-board bans on transgender athletes on school teams during an election year in which Republicans are rallying around restrictions on trans youths. But GOP state leaders are making sure voters know the issue is still on the table. At least two dozen Republican-controlled states have sued over a different federal regulation being implemented to protect the rights of transgender students that they argue would require governments to allow transgender girls to play on girls teams. The rule they are challenging doesn't specifically mention transgender athletes. It spells out that Title IX, the landmark 1972 law originally passed to address women's rights at schools and colleges receiving federal money, also bars discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Republicans now are trying to keep the focus on sports, appealing to parents' and athletes' sensitivities over fairness in competition. They have student athletes signing on as plaintiffs and appearing alongside attorneys general at news conferences announcing the lawsuits. The states argue the new rule would open the door to forcing schools to allow transgender athletes to compete on teams aligning with their gender identity, even if the rule doesn't say so specifically. They may have a point. The new regulation "gives a pretty good sense that says, 'You can't have a rule that says if you're transgender, you can't participate,'" said Harper Seldin, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which has represented trans athletes in unrelated cases. |
SPORTS
| Diamond Dawgs Set for the Charlottesville Regional | |
| The Mississippi State Diamond Dawgs head to Charlottesville, Va., for the 2024 Charlottesville Regional. This is the Diamond Dawgs' 40th trip to the NCAA Tournament. Play in the Charlottesville Regional starts on Friday afternoon. Friday's game will be aired on ESPN+ and will also be carried on the Bulldog Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD, along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/OnDemand. The Diamond Dawgs have claimed 16 regional titles since 1975 and will be looking for their 17th title in the Charlottesville Regional. St. John's enters the regional with a 37-16-1 overall record. The Thunderbirds are currently on a three-game win streak. The Red Storm are 12-10 in away games and are 3-0 in neutral site games this season. Jimmy Keenan leads the team in batting average hitting .341 on the season. He also had the team lead in homers (11) and RBIs (55). Blake Mayberry follows with a .345 batting average. Through 181 plate appearances Mayberry has collected 58 hits and 33 RBIs. The pitching staff is led by Xavier Kolhosser. Kolhosser has made 14 appearances with 11 starts. In his 14 appearances he has punched out 44 batters and earned a 3.61 ERA. His ERA is the 4th best mark in the Big East. Mario Pesca, a right-handed pitcher, holds an ERA of 2.94 on the season, the second-best mark in the Big East. He has pitched 70 1/3 innings this year and is 6-1. This will be the first time the Diamond Dawgs have faced St. John's in program history. |
| Jordan, Hines ready for fresh starts at Charlottesville Regional | |
| Mississippi State has come this far after two down years thanks to its pitching. But if the Bulldogs are going to advance out of the Charlottesville Regional, they will need their two biggest bats to help carry the freight. Right fielder Dakota Jordan and first baseman Hunter Hines, MSU's best power hitters who have anchored the middle of the lineup all year long, have just one hit between them in their last 46 at-bats combined. The Bulldogs (38-21) still pitched well enough to win two games in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, but asking them to make a deep NCAA Tournament run without Jordan and Hines as major contributors is a tall order. MSU's loss to Tennessee last Friday night gave the Bulldogs a full week of rest before they take the field again against St. John's, and they spent Saturday and Sunday away from the field before returning to practice Monday. "It is good to get away from the game," head coach Chris Lemonis said. "Sometimes this game can be really cruel. We've got a good lineup. They've hit all year, and they've had weeks where they haven't hit and they've come back and hit. They're out here banging balls. (Hitting coach Jake Gautreau) will have them ready to go." It has been 11 years since MSU's last visit to Charlottesville, but that trip ended with the Bulldogs mobbing one another on the pitcher's mound after a two-game sweep of Virginia in the 2013 super regionals. |
| Ten things to know about Regionals for Miss. State, Southern Miss | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Can Mississippi State and Southern Miss baseball teams win tough regional tournaments on the road this weekend and advance to the NCAA Super Regionals? Glad you asked. Answer: Of course, they can. But it will not be easy, especially where Southern Miss is concerned. The Golden Eagles, winners of 14 of their last 15 and the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship, were sent to overall No. 1 seed Tennessee at Knoxville. It's not a baseball death sentence, but it's whatever comes closest. State, which had hopes of hosting its own regional and probably should have, goes to Virginia where the host team won 26 of its 33 games this spring. The Cavaliers are not Tennessee, but they are not shabby, especially at the plate. ... State's first-round foe St. John's is no pushover. State skipper Chris Lemonis is correct when he says of the Red Storm: "It's just tough, hard-nosed, New York kids. Most of them are from the New York area and you're playing against tough kids." In its only shot at SEC competition this season, St. John's beat Florida on the road. The Red Storm was 5-4 this season against Top 50 RPI teams. They have an ace and there's a lot of him. Sophomore Mario Pesca, straight out of the Bronx, is 6-1 with a 2.94 ERA in 70 1/3 innings pitched, holding opponents to a .227 batting average. |
| Virginia will start veteran right-hander Joe Savino in Charlottesville Regional opener vs. Penn | |
| Hoos coach Brian O'Connor was deliberate and disciplined with pitcher Joe Savino's recovery from early-season elbow stiffness and Savino's buildup since. "His progression was very, very intentional," O'Connor said Thursday ahead of the Cavaliers' Charlottesville Regional opener on Friday against Penn. "We could've pushed him out there a little bit earlier," O'Connor said, "maybe logged more innings in those first few starts and really pushed it because we needed it at that time. That said, while talking with our trainer and our pitching coach, I was very clear that most importantly, we needed Joe Savino for the final stretch run. I felt confident we'd be in this position, not necessarily hosting, but we'd have an opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament." The No. 12-overall seeded Hoos (41-15), the top seed in this weekend's regional at Disharoon Park, will begin the double-elimination event with Savino (2-2, 3.18 ERA) on the mound against the Quakers (24-23). The right-hander, a graduate transfer from Elon, missed the first two months of the campaign while dealing with the injury, but has pitched well since returning in April. O'Connor said he'd figure out the rest of the pitching plans for the Cavaliers as the tournament unfolds. Top starter Evan Blanco (7-3, 3.50), a left-hander, would be a potential option in a Saturday evening winner's bracket matchup or the logical option should the Hoos have to player earlier on Saturday in the loser's bracket, elimination game. |
| Kick Times, TV Info For First Three Games Announced; Egg Bowl Moves To Friday | |
| The Southeastern Conference announced kickoff times and television networks for the first three weeks of the 2024 season on Thursday. Additionally, the annual Egg Bowl game will be played on Friday, Nov. 29. Head coach Jeff Lebby and Mississippi State will open the season at 5 p.m. CT on Aug. 31 against Eastern Kentucky inside Davis Wade Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and SEC Network+. State's first road trip of the season will take the Bulldogs to Tempe, Arizona, to take on the Sun Devils of Arizona State. That contest will be televised on ESPN with a 9:30 p.m. CT kickoff. This will be the Bulldogs' second trip to the state of Arizona, the first to Tempe, and the first game of a home-and-home series between the two teams for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The Bulldogs will host Toledo on Sept. 14 at 6:30 p.m. with the game being broadcast on either ESPN2 or ESPNU. Toledo is coming off an impressive 2023 campaign that saw the Rockets post an 11-3 overall record and a perfect 8-0 mark in the MAC. The 2024 Egg Bowl, originally scheduled to be played on Nov. 30, has been moved to Friday, Nov. 29 at 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ABC. The season opener is just 93 days away, and fans are encouraged to purchase their 2024 season tickets today. |
| Mississippi State football 2024 schedule features late-night kickoff at Arizona State | |
| The first three weeks of the Jeff Lebby era will feature plenty of action under the lights for Mississippi State football. MSU opens its season against Eastern Kentucky on Aug. 31. That contest against an FCS foe will start at 5 p.m. inside Davis Wade Stadium. The game will be on ESPN+/SEC Network+. The next week features a step up in competition for the Bulldogs. Mississippi State travels to face Arizona State on Sept. 7. The newly minted SEC vs. Big 12 matchup will begin at 9:30 p.m. while airing on ESPN. Mississippi State returns home for a Week 3 meeting with Toledo − the reigning runner-up from the MAC. Kickoff between the Bulldogs and Rockets on Sept. 14 is slated for 6:30 p.m. and will be on ESPN2 or ESPNU. The Egg Bowl against Ole Miss will be on Nov. 29 with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff airing on ABC. The rivalry contest is on Black Friday as opposed to its usual Thanksgiving night slot. SEC play for Mississippi State begins on Sept. 21 when Florida comes to Starkville. Kickoff times beyond the first three games have not yet been announced. Lebby is entering his first season as a head coach after various stints as an offensive coordinator. He comes to MSU after most recently working at Oklahoma (2022-2023). |
| State Communications Staff Wins Second ChangeMaker Innovation Award | |
| For the second time in the award's four-year history, Mississippi State has received the College Sports Communicators ChangeMaker Innovation Award. State is the first school to win the award multiple times. MSU's winning initiative centered on preparing students at MSU for careers in athletic communications. Associate director of communications Brian Ogden developed and taught an "advanced class" for the department's student interns in the fall semester. This optional course, held weekly with guest speakers and meetings with coaches, focused on basic writing, InDesign skills, game notes research, social media planning and execution, story pitching, building award nominations and more. In addition to the class, efforts to enhance the internship program as a whole included a career-long advancement checklist that roadmapped annual milestones for the students to mark their improvements, growths and achievements in specific skills and tasks required to be a successful sports communicator. All graduating students also completed mock job interviews and an exit interview to evaluate the program's success. "This class was optional for our students who truly see this as a future career path for themselves," Ogden said. "Out of a staff of 18 students in the fall, I had six sign up for the course. We met every Tuesday night for an hour, and they worked on their assignments at home or during free office hours as they would for any other collegiate course. A highlight of the course was the opportunity to meet individually with head coaches to discuss recruiting points and key messages and priorities before developing a 2-3 month social media calendar for them." |
| Joy+US Foundation Launches With Creation Of Alex Wilcox Memorial Scholarship | |
| Award-winning ESPN broadcaster and Women's College World Series sideline reporter Holly Rowe announced the creation of her Joy+US Foundation on Thursday with the establishment of the Alex Wilcox Memorial Scholarship Fund. Coinciding with the opening day of play at the Women's College World Series, the foundation's first project is dedicated to Mississippi State softball's Alex Wilcox, who passed away from ovarian cancer in 2018. Wilcox continued to play her freshman season at State while undergoing treatment for the disease that would ultimately take her life. Rowe, a cancer survivor, was herself undergoing treatment at the same time as Wilcox. "When I was battling stage IV metastatic melanoma, I made a vow that whatever time I had left, I was going to do good in the world," Rowe said in her announcement video. "Alex was a young woman fighting ovarian cancer at the same time I was battling my cancer. She was going through chemo, and she would keep showing up every day to practice because it brought her so much joy. I want to make sure that someone around the country will forever be playing softball in Alex's name." Wilcox's story inspired the nation in the spring of 2018, and she's left a lasting legacy in the softball community. The SEC annually holds All For Alex weekend when every team in the conference wears teal to bring awareness to ovarian cancer. She was the first female student-athlete in MSU history to have her jersey number retired, and State renamed one of its home February tournaments as "The Snowman" in her honor and as a nod to her No. 8 jersey and nickname. With the permission of the Wilcox family, Rowe has created a memorial fund that will award an annual scholarship to a young softball player whose family or life has been affected by cancer. |
| Two-time Super Bowl champ Willie Gay Jr. to host free youth football camp | |
| Super Bowl champion linebacker Willie Gay Jr. is hosting his first youth football camp at his alma mater on June 8. The Juiceman Football Camp is a free, non-contact camp that will take place at Starkville High School's Yellow Jacket Stadium and be split into two sessions. According to Gay's agency, the camp will feature other "current and former pro athletes" leading the participants through drills and skill games. The first session will be for children ages 6-11. Registration check-in will start at 9 a.m. followed by the camp from 10 a.m. to noon. The second session will be for children ages 12-16. Their check-in will begin at noon followed by the camp from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Parents are required to stay for the duration of the event. Gay was a member of the 2015 6A state championship-winning team at Starkville and played in the 2017 U.S. Army All-American Bowl as a senior. He played three seasons for Mississippi State from 2017 to 2019, totaling 99 tackles, six sacks, and three interceptions. |
| NCAA, states reach agreement in lawsuit to permanently allow multiple-transfer athletes to compete | |
| The NCAA and a coalition of states suing the organization announced a proposed settlement of a lawsuit Thursday that would allow athletes to be immediately eligible to play no matter how many times they transfer and offer some who were sidelined an extra year of eligibility. Under the agreement, a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in West Virginia allowing multiple-transfer athletes to compete would be made permanent. Judge John Preston Bailey would still have to sign off on the pact. Thursday's agreement comes a month after the NCAA Division I Council fast-tracked legislation that was ratified by the Division I Board to fall in line with Bailey's preliminary injunction. Under the agreement, the NCAA would be required to grant an additional year of eligibility to Division I athletes previously deemed ineligible under the transfer eligibility rule since the 2019-20 academic year. "We've leveled the playing field for college athletes to allow them to better control their destinies," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement. "This long-term change is exactly what we set out to accomplish." Athletes would still be required to meet academic requirements to maintain eligibility. Transfer windows, which are sport-specific, remain in place and require undergraduate athletes to enter their names into the portal at certain times to be immediately eligible at a new school. |
| SEC's Greg Sankey confident NCAA Division I can operate together | |
| As the SEC spring meetings concluded on Thursday, commissioner Greg Sankey acknowledged that while college athletics is in "uncharted waters," he believes the NCAA Division I schools can continue to operate together, and his conference is prepared "to take a leadership role" as they all navigate the historic change. Sankey said the NCAA basketball tournament in March is what binds Division I together, but if it's going to stay together, "there are pressures that have to be recognized." "We've allowed Division I to grow," he said. "We have conferences solving their membership problem by inviting non-Division I members in, but we haven't modified the bracket size. I think common sense says you have to dig into that. There are competitive issues, there are calendar issues, there are economic issues. But I do think that March can be kept together. That doesn't mean it stays exactly the same. We also have to recognize the differences that do exist within the group that pursue that brass ring of the tournament access opportunity." Sankey has repeated every day this week that the critical answers to how the revenue distribution will be implemented to players on each campus -- and how Title IX factors into it -- will be part of a process that plays out over the next several months. The in-person meetings the league has had, though, over the past month, helped the conference discussions this week. |
| SEC's 8- or 9-game conference schedule debate on hold, but expanded CFP could factor into decision | |
| The debate within the Southeastern Conference about whether to play eight or nine league games is not over, it's just on hold. After much discussion last year, the SEC locked in a short-term solution to the eight or nine question by agreeing to go with eight games for this season and next, the first two with Texas and Oklahoma in the conference, but leaving open the possibility to change it in 2026. With more pressing matters to deal with, triggered by the NCAA and power conferences agreeing to a massive lawsuit settlement last week, SEC leaders essentially tabled the schedule discussion this week. It is still lingering in the background. Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin and Texas AD Chris Del Conte both re-iterated this week their strong support for playing nine conference games, while Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said he thought it was important to stay at eight. Commissioner Greg Sankey said having a couple of seasons play out with the new, expanded 16-team conference playing eight games under the new expanded 12-team College Football Playoff will help inform the decision. "We have an opportunity to learn from CFP selection this fall," Sankey said. "We have the bowl access learning." |
| SEC again considering nine-game league schedule weighing revenue, College Football Playoff access | |
| The SEC is again contemplating an expanded conference football schedule with an aim of increasing revenue as the entire college athletics enterprise faces new financial challenges. Though the SEC has already decided to run eight-game schedules for the next two seasons, several programs originally against the prospect of increasing schedules are more open than ever before on the concept of playing nine league games starting in 2026, sources tell CBS Sports. The motivation for adding a a ninth SEC game comes as major college athletics is set to institute a new revenue-sharing program with players as soon as the fall of 2025. Expenses are estimated to approach $30 million annually, and as such, programs are scrambling to find new pockets of revenue. Among the factors the SEC is weighing is how the expanded College Football Playoff will treat leagues with nine conference games (Big Ten, Big 12) compared to those with eight (SEC, ACC). Further complicating matters, the CFP will likely not decide whether to expand to 14 teams and restructure its selection process until January, which means the SEC will likely also wait until the spring of 2025 to make a decision on its own schedule. Sankey joined Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark this week in support of delaying a decision until the conclusion of the first 12-team playoff in January. "We've worked really hard for a good long time to get to 12 teams, and we're excited," said CFP board chairman Mark Keenum, who is also the president at Mississippi State. "... I know there's a lot of talk about 14 or whatever. Well, let's give it a chance to see how well we do with 12 and assess everything. Obviously, with all the changes going on in college athletics and football, we can assess, see how successful the playoff is over the next couple of years. And then you make some decisions." |
| Texas A&M President Welsh says athletic department finances are 'healthy' | |
 | Texas A&M President Mark Welsh spent plenty of time during his first SEC spring meetings introducing himself to new peers among the conference. His reputation, however, proceeded his trip to the Hilton Sandestin. "Anytime a retired four-star [general] walks in the room, I salute," Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz said. Despite learning the ropes at his first spring trip to Destin, Welsh was a part of weighty discussions that included managing the future finances of college athletics while a class-action antitrust lawsuit settlement brings the dawn of revenue sharing with college athletes. From an A&M perspective, Welsh said the Aggie athletic department finances are "healthy." "I'm not worried about that at all," Welsh said. "I think the thing for all of us is, we're kind of in the middle of this wait and see what's really going to happen with this settlement and what the full impact of that will be. And, we're trying to get ahead of the curve, in terms of thinking about what would be potential options for us, then, to deal with it." So much of these options, at a university level, comes from a continual balancing of the checkbook. And, as the president of a Tier 1 research institution, the decisions about the the future finances of an athletic department of 600 athletes can't be to the detriment of the 70,000-plus students that are on campus for an education, he said. "You're not going to do anything on the athletics side of the house with your greater budget that is going to destroy anything on the rest of campus, that's just not going to happen." Welsh said. "So, the key is making sure that your athletic department budget, the revenues associated with it, are healthy, are growing. Your revenues streams are growing, your costs are under control, so you don't have an impact on the rest of the university." |
| Schools in basketball-centric leagues face different economic challenges with NCAA settlement | |
| Bernadette McGlade leads an Atlantic 10 Conference built around basketball and focused on getting multiple bids to the NCAA men's tournament much more than anything tied to big-time football. Yet her league is among dozens conferences and scores of schools that will feel the impact from the NCAA and major college conferences approving a $2.8 billion settlement of federal antitrust claims that calls for paying athletes with a plan framed in a football-driven college sports landscape. "We've got to move forward, we want to continue to preserve our rich history in basketball," McGlade told The Associated Press. "So we have to get to the strategy table and start doing analysis." Schools that lean on basketball in leagues like the A-10, Big East -- home to UConn, the two-time reigning men's national champion -- and the West Coast Conference face the prospect of directing millions to their athletes every year. But they have to figure out the best way to do that without streams of football money flowing in. "With the opportunity that football brings, there's a lot of (financial) obligation that football brings, too," said Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford, whose WCC basketball program has gone from mid-major to national power over the past quarter-century. "So it cuts both ways. We don't have the obligation of the operations and new expenses associated with the compensation of football players. But we don't have the benefit of the revenues that come with it, particularly the TV revenues." |
| With NCAA settlement looming, college leaders unsure how Title IX fits in | |
| Shuffling down the steps of the Hilton Sandestin lobby, Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze shakes his head, not in disgust but confusion. Fresh off of two days of meetings here on the Florida panhandle, Freeze was digesting the information distributed to coaches, including a 17-page packet on the NCAA's landmark settlement agreement and impending new athlete compensation model. What did he learn? "That we have more questions than answers," Freeze quipped. The story of the 2024 SEC administrative meetings is actually quite clear: There are few answers, and there is little clarity. But that doesn't mean there is none at all. In fact, SEC presidents and chancellors emerged from their meetings this week believing that, very soon, they will learn more answers about how Title IX impacts the distribution of revenue to athletes in a future compensation model -- the single most pivotal issue in this entire situation. According to SEC presidents on Thursday, how the plaintiff attorneys divide the back damages has emerged as a key piece in how schools divide the forward revenue in light of Title IX, the federal law requiring educational institutions to provide equal opportunities and benefits to women and men athletes. While Title IX requirements are clear, many in college athletics are questioning whether the federal law should apply to a revenue-sharing model that, in many cases, will distribute payments on the market value of an athlete's name, image and likeness (NIL). "We have Title IX experts in the room with us," Mississippi State president Mark Keenum said. "We want to be compliant with Title IX of course. These are NIL payments as described in the settlement. How are those payments viewed with Title IX? There are a lot of opinions on that." |
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