| Monday, June 10, 2024 |
| Book Talk: Five Questions with Margaret A. Hagerman | |
 | Although young people are not able to vote, they are still exposed to the electoral environment -- and political messages about race impact them more than adults may realize, according to author Margaret A. Hagerman. In her new book "Children of a Troubled Time: Growing Up with Racism in Trump's America," the Mississippi State University sociologist shows that children have strong opinions and emotional responses about current events. She argues that their political beliefs and feelings are driven by racialized emotions from experiences related to their understanding of their race and social standing. Hagerman also discovered a major divergence between the children in this study, who were interviewed between 2017 and 2019, and those she interviewed between 2011 and 2015 for her first book "White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America." "Every single child that I spoke to in this study had things to say about politics," Hagerman said. "We don't take kids as political participants seriously enough." "Children of a Troubled Time," released in May by New York University Press, delves into more details about Hagerman's findings resulting from her study interviewing 45 children in Mississippi and Massachusetts between the ages of 10 to 13. |
| Miss Mississippi 2024: Becky Williams takes crown during final competition | |
 | In her third year competing, Miss Capital City Becky Williams was crowned Miss Mississippi 2024 during Saturday night's final competition held at the Vicksburg Convention Center. Williams, a Purvis native, proved to be the last woman standing in her sparkling red gown Saturday night, bursting with emotion as her name was called and 2023 Miss Mississippi Vivian O'Neal placed the winner's crown upon her head. Williams, who is in her first year at Mississippi State University's graduate program studying elementary education, said she was delighted to hear her name called, which left her in a bit of a shock. In 2023, Williams was O'Neal's second runner up. During her question-and-answer section, she spoke about cancel culture, saying that kids in the classroom and adults alike should be more mindful about what they say online and how their words can impact other people. The final competition Saturday night featured 11 contestants total vying in multiple categories such as evening wear, talent and question and answers. Besides Williams, another four contestants were chosen to be her runner-ups. Second runner-up was Morgan Nelson, Miss Mississippi State University. |
| Downtown's Starkville Cafe packs in flavor, daily crowds | |
 | It's tough to pick one thing that makes Starkville Cafe so famous, but duck butter may be that one thing. Here's your evidence: ESPN's Todd Blackledge dropped by the historic restaurant one day while filming his show "Taste of the Town." "I want to buy some of that syrup," Starkville Cafe owner John Peeples remembers Blackledge saying regarding the eatery's famous duck butter, the caramel-flavored syrup Peeples has made from scratch for 30 years. Blackledge's review? "Man, this is the best syrup I've ever tasted." Business sounds pretty sweet at Starkville Cafe, which opened in 1945 and, in a way, feels like the restaurant never left that decade. Walking into the Café is like slipping back in time. There are a few bar stools still at the counter and large black-and-white tiles on the floor. Old photos, Coca-Cola signs, picture quotes, and, of course, lots of Mississippi State memorabilia, cover the walls. "It's got an old-school feel," Peeples said. "We still handwrite tickets." They still grind their own meat, too. Nothing gets through the door of Starkville Cafe that's boxed That's one reason lunchtime lines trail outside the front door. But since those queues form just about every business day, according to Peeples, no one seems to mind too much. The menu? Home cooking. Anything from waffles and grits to meat-and-three lunch plates to banana pudding. And, of course, duck butter. |
| Jim Cantore 'blown away' by Coast city's rebirth 19 years after Hurricane Katrina | |
 | After Hurricane Katrina's winds and storm surge ravaged the Mississippi Coast in 2005, the small beach town of Bay St. Louis resembled a war zone. The bridge that connected the Bay to Pass Christian was reduced to concrete pilings. Streets in downtown near the water washed away. Storm surge of over 20 feet invaded homes, washing away structures and taking priceless mementos and memories with it. Some who stayed, like Bay St. Louis business owner Nikki Moon, clung to life on a tree as Katrina destroyed her bed and breakfast on the beach. What Katrina left behind on August 30, 2005, was a somber awakening of a new normal for Hancock County residents. It's been almost 20 years since that storm hit, and it's safe to say that Bay St. Louis has had a massive rebirth. Restaurants with ties to the Bay like Trapani's rebuilt on the beach, and dozens more opened in the downtown area. The French Potager flower shop found its home on Main Street. Houses were rebuilt and renovated, and the waterfront now looks like a mini-Destin, as colorful bars and eateries line the white sand. Bay St. Louis is beloved by New Orleanians, too, who have second homes there or go on the weekend for food, art, music and fun. And now, the Mississippi Coast city is catching the eye of famous meteorologist. The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore was in Bay St. Louis for the first day of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. |
| Could Walker's Drive-In lose an entire building? See the plan | |
 | An integral part of Walker's Drive-In for the past 20 years could be gone by year's end if a building deal gets done. The brick building next door to the actual Walker's restaurant, which owner Derek Emerson, has been renting for the last 20 years is now for sale by owners Roy and Anne Decker, who also own Duvall Decker Architecture Firm. That could leave the award-winning restaurant with significantly less dining-room space and no space for events. "They want to sell it for around $500,000 and it appraises for $280,000," Walker said. "I need the space, but I am going to pass on that. It's just a bad business decision for me." Since Emerson has been leasing the space for $3,000 a month for the last 20 years, the owners gave Emerson the right of first refusal. However, he said that putting another $500,000 into a space he has put more than $700,000 into just wasn't right for him. The building has not yet sold, and Emerson does not know when it will but said he will stay in the building until a new owner comes along for another use. He also said he is willing to stay in the building if a new owner offers a competitive deal. Roy Decker said nothing has been decided. "(We are in) informal talks with Derek and (his wife) Jen, because we wanted them to have it," Decker said in an email to the Clarion Ledger. "We are early in the process of exploring options. We may not sell and keep our relationship with Walker's. It is a valuable part of their business and the neighborhood." |
| New state law allows backup ambulance response in critical times | |
 | Donna Echols lost her ex-husband after having to wait 90 minutes for an ambulance to come to her Jackson home. A new law that goes into effect July 1 could prevent something similar from happening to someone else. The state Legislature passed House Bill 1644, which the governor signed into law in April. Now, contracts between a county or municipality and a private ambulance service must allow a mutual aid agreement to allow other ambulance services to respond to 911 calls when the main ambulance service can not. Echols was a major advocate for the bill, sharing her story with media and legislators. "What I did is talk to legislators about what happened to us and told them that it didn't need to happen to any other family in Mississippi," she said. Echols says this new law gives her a sense of relief. "It will be available to help other people in their time of need," she said. At the local level, there's been some backlash against AMR, the company contracted to provide ambulance service in Hinds County. An investigation by WLBT found that AMR met its contractually obligated response times around half the time. Hinds County did not fine the company for this, although it could have. |
| Mississippi is the latest state sued by tech group over age verification on websites | |
 | A new Mississippi law requiring users of websites and other digital services to verify their age will unconstitutionally limit access to online speech for minors and adults, a tech industry group says in a lawsuit filed Friday. Legislators said the new law is designed to protect children from sexually explicit material. The measure passed the Republican-controlled House and Senate without opposition from either party. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed it April 30, and it is set to become law July 1. The lawsuit challenging the new Mississippi law was filed in federal court in Jackson by NetChoice, whose members include Google, which owns YouTube; Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat; and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. NetChoice has persuaded judges to block similar laws in other states, including Arkansas, California and Ohio. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch is the defendant named in the lawsuit. The attorney general's office does not comment on active litigation but "looks forward to defending the State's law that gives parents the help they need to protect their children online," communications director MaryAsa Lee said. |
| Tech groups call for preempting state laws in privacy bill | |
 | A wide-ranging group of tech and other companies is asking that a prominent data privacy bill be altered to fully preempt state privacy laws. United for Privacy, a coalition of trade groups that also represent retailers, advertising agencies, and financial services companies, on Monday wrote to House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and the panel's ranking member, Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., requesting changes to their draft bill. The committee's panel on Innovation, Data, and Commerce last month advanced by voice vote the discussion draft that would establish a federal data privacy standard, restrict the activities of data brokers, preempt some state privacy laws, prohibit targeted advertising to children and require parental consent for kids accessing certain platforms. The proposal doesn't go far enough in establishing a national standard, Carl Holshouser, executive vice president of TechNet, a tech industry trade group that's part of the coalition, said in an interview. After holding dozens of hearings over multiple sessions of Congress, lawmakers have yet to enact federal data privacy legislation. The last time Congress came close to passing a nationwide data privacy law was in 2022, when the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation on a 53-2 vote. But the bill did not get a full vote in the House after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., objected to it on the grounds that it would weaken California state privacy legislation. The Senate did not take up a companion measure. |
| Controversial Lawmaker Nancy Mace Fights for Her Political Life | |
 | Rep. Nancy Mace says she is fighting a lonely battle. She faces a tough Republican primary challenge, with outside groups tied to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy trying to remove the lawmaker from her seat representing South Carolina's low country. Mace's contest Tuesday will test whether the 46-year-old's colorful persona and unorthodox policy stances still resonate with Charleston, S.C.-area voters, after a bruising year in which she joined with GOP rebels to oust their leader while also grappling with personal and professional turmoil. A deep-pocketed group switched its allegiance to her opponent, and the state's longest-serving GOP lawmaker declined to back her. "I owe Washington nothing," said Mace in a recent interview, sitting on a velvet couch in her well-appointed townhome. "They left me out to dry, and I'm going to be stronger for it." The second-term lawmaker has confounded colleagues and political watchers since taking office. She has bucked the party line by criticizing Donald Trump and taking centrist positions on abortion rights, while also drawing a hard line on spending. She voted with the right flank of the party against the debt ceiling deal last year, opposed government spending bills and rejected a foreign-aid package for Ukraine. She also voted against banning Chinese-owned TikTok, unlike most of her GOP colleagues. |
| Inflation data this week could help determine Fed's timetable for rate cuts | |
| After Federal Reserve officials meet this week, a statement they will issue may suggest that they've seen meaningful progress on inflation this year -- a prelude to eventual interest rate cuts. Yet it's hard to say, because the officials themselves may not know for sure until they begin their meeting. That's because the government's latest snapshot of U.S. inflation will be released Wednesday morning, just before the Fed begins the second day of its policy discussions. One key issue is a sentence the Fed added to its statement after its last meeting May 1: It said "there has been a lack of further progress" in bringing inflation back to the central bank's 2% target. Inflation had come in uncomfortably high in the first three months of this year, dimming hopes that it would continue to steadily cool, as it had in the second half of last year. In April, though, consumer inflation did resume slowing, if only slightly. And if the May inflation report being released Wednesday shows further signs of improvement, it's possible the Fed could drop that sentence from its statement. It would be an encouraging sign that the policymakers may cut their benchmark rate within a few months. Rate cuts would eventually lead to lower costs for mortgages, auto loans and other forms of consumer and business borrowing. |
| Animal rights comes to 'America's Provence' and farmers are worried | |
 | Animal rights activists first forced their way onto Mike Weber's chicken ranch six years ago, seeking to expose what they view as the horrors of egg production in a region known as the "American Provence" for its abundance of vineyards, dairies and organic farms. That confrontation, which resulted in the arrest of 40 activists for trespassing, turned out to be just an initial skirmish in a battle playing out now over animal rights and farming that will soon move to the Sonoma County ballot. In November, voters will weigh in on a proposal to prohibit large poultry and livestock operations, which activists say are factory farms that pollute the environment and mistreat animals with closely packed confinement. Sonoma would be the first county in the United States to ban such facilities. "People deserve a say over what happens in the county they live in, and people don't want that happening here," said Lewis Bernier, a researcher for Direct Action Everywhere, a Berkeley-based group with a history of confrontational protests that led efforts to get the measure on the ballot. The group has also collected signatures to place a similar question before Berkeley voters this fall, although it is largely symbolic since there are no commercial farms in the Bay Area college town. In Sonoma, however, a measure pitting people who shop at farmers markets against those who supply them strikes deep in the terroir. Once-fringe beliefs about animal rights are becoming mainstream just as the nation is facing a rural economic crisis, having lost over a half a million farms since the 1980s. What is underway in an iconic food-producing area might soon spread elsewhere as exurban development increasingly encroaches into agricultural regions nationwide. |
| First class of graduates complete NMMC's internal medicine residency program | |
| Three years after North Mississippi Medical Center's internal medicine residency program launched, its inaugural class of 11 graduating residents were honored Thursday during a ceremony at Kingfisher Lodge in Tupelo. Dr. David Pizzimenti, program director for the internal medicine residency program, said the ceremony was a great way to celebrate the hard work residents put in throughout the program. "This first class is especially important because they had to take a chance," Pizzimenti said. "These folks could've gone anywhere in the country ... and they chose to come here and to be a part of starting something that they saw as important, both for themselves but also for the community and hospital that they serve." The residency program was established with the mission of competently training internal medicine physicians to practice at the highest level in a state that struggles with providing adequate access to health care, he said. Pizzimenti said the hope is for a significant number of the program's participants to remain in the area where doctors are needed to improve access to care. Upon graduation, resident physicians will go to work or start fellowships to pursue a specialty. All residents who applied for fellowships after graduation got into their top choices. The first class of 11 residents was welcomed in 2021, and 12 new doctors were admitted each of the next two years. Going forward, classes will comprise 24 residents. |
| Declining enrollment forces budget cuts at Delta State | |
| Delta State University is taking measures to get its budget in order, but a tuition increase is not on the table. According to a presentation to the Board of Trustees at the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning last month, Delta State was the only public institution in the state not to request a tuition increase for the coming year. While Delta State is keeping tuition at $8,435, all other institutions are increasing their rates by an average of $300. Mississippi University for Women will see the largest increase of $400, to a new rate of $8,392, which is still lower than Delta State's. The highest tuition in the state will be $10,272 at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Those rates do not include fees for student activities, capital improvements, technology and other associated costs. According to enrollment and budget data compiled by IHL, Delta State's full-time equivalent enrollment (FTE) has declined by 47 percent over the last 10 years, going from 3,753 in the 2013 school year to 1,991 in the 2023 school year. The full-time equivalent enrollment is a calculation demonstrating the number of students attending a university if they were all full-time students. While six of the state's eight public universities have seen enrollment declines in that same period, Delta State's decline is the highest among the group. |
| College board seeks to dismiss lawsuit alleging sex discrimination in JSU presidential hiring | |
| The governing board of Mississippi's public universities is seeking to dismiss a federal lawsuit from Debra Mays-Jackson, a former Jackson State University vice president who says she was discriminated against when two less-qualified Black men were hired over her to lead the historically Black university in Mississippi's capital city. Mays-Jackson can't prove the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees passed her up for the top job at Jackson State because she is a woman, the board has argued in recent filings. At most, her allegations may show the 12-member IHL board and its commissioner, Alfred Rankins, hired from their personal network, not that it violated her rights. In 2020, the board picked Thomas Hudson, a former special assistant to the Jackson State president whom Mays-Jackson alleged she had supervised. Then, after Hudson's resignation last year, after a national search, the board appointed Marcus Thompson, a deputy commissioner at IHL who hadn't worked in a university administration, to lead Jackson State. "Even assuming the truth of Mays Jackson's allegations for purposes of this motion only, they at best suggest that Rankins sought to promote Hudson based on his alleged personal friendship," an attorney for the IHL board members argued in an April 1 filing. "They do not plausibly suggest that the treatment of Mays Jackson stemmed from her status as a female." |
| Mississippi college, organization receive $1 million grants | |
 | A local college and civic organization recently received $1 million in grants to help empower their communities. According to U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson's (D-Miss.) office, Google awarded a $1 million grant to support Tougaloo College's new Cybersecurity Clinic. His office also announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded a $1,008,333 grant to the Central Mississippi Civic Improvement Association, Inc. Its focus is eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and child health. The HHS grant funding is part of the Healthy Start Initiative. It will support the Central Mississippi Civic Improvement Association's efforts to reduce infant mortality rates, increase access to prenatal and postnatal care and provide education and support services to mothers and families in Central Mississippi. Thompson believes the grant will have a profound impact in the Jackson metro. The grant funding Tougaloo's cybersecurity clinic will likely impact the local area. It recruits and trains students to provide organizations with cybersecurity risk reviews and audits; hosts cyber awareness training for students, faculty and clients; and offers pro bono services for the local community. Thompson is ecstatic about the college receiving the grant. |
| The final decline of Birmingham-Southern College: New tax records show pattern of losing money | |
 | In its penultimate year, Birmingham-Southern College quickly burned through what little cash it had left. The private liberal arts college in west Birmingham started out the tax year in 2022 with a little over $6 million cash in hand. By May 2023, the school had less than $800,000, newly released tax forms show. "It's really declined," said Linda Parsons, an accounting professor at the University of Alabama who specializes in nonprofits. "That tells me they are just burning through their liquid assets." But Birmingham-Southern's financial troubles began at least two decades earlier, according to tax records it's required to file with the IRS. Long before this fatal round of financial troubles, Birmingham-Southern had nearly gone broke many times in its 168-year history. The institution operated in the red for six years straight starting in 2004, peaking at a single-year deficit of $22 million during the 2008-09 school year. The college's accounting firm, BDO USA, sounded the alarm in a financial audit for 2022 and 2023, writing in bold letters that there was "substantial doubt" about BSC's ability to continue operating and noting compliance issues in the college's use of federal programs and ability to prevent accounting inaccuracies |
| Graduate school enrollment softens and schools fret about less tuition | |
 | Two construction cranes hover over a giant worksite just outside the Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology. What they're building is both a show of optimism in and a way to attract more students to something universities badly need but are beginning to worry about: graduate education. The $200 million project will house Scheller's graduate and executive business programs in one tower, connected to Georgia Tech's School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in another. Linking graduate business programs with other disciplines has proven to increase demand; Scheller has already added a science, technology, engineering and math designation to its master's program in business administration, with a resulting bump in applications, the school says. At a university focused on technology, doing this "seemed like a natural fit, and we were seeing some of our competitors doing it," said Peter Severa, Scheller's assistant dean for MBA student engagement, in a conference room overlooking the construction site. It's also a kind of enticement that's become essential in response to signs that, after years of increase, the graduate enrollment on which universities heavily rely for revenue may be softening, as prospective students question the cost of grad school and as shorter, cheaper and more flexible alternatives pop up. "What we're seeing now is a combination of a leveling off and a big question mark as to where this long-term trend will go," said Brian McKenzie, director of research at the Council of Graduate Schools. |
| Gen Z Plumbers and Construction Workers Are Making #BlueCollar Cool | |
| Most of the time, when Lexis Czumak-Abreu is stripping cables in a ditch or troubleshooting a sparking outlet, the size of her fan base doesn't mean too much to her. But then she'll be strolling through the airport in Las Vegas, and a stranger will call her name. Some 2.2 million people on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook watch Czumak-Abreu do her work as an electrician in Cornwall, N.Y. Maybe you are one of them. Did you see her recently atop a bucket truck, adding utility outlets to power poles? Or fixing an electric panel in a water-damaged basement? "You feel just like a normal person, until you actually get confronted by people and you're like, oh, my goodness, this is real, people know who I am," says Czumak-Abreu, the 27-year-old daughter and granddaughter of electricians. Since she began posting videos from her job in 2022, she's gotten thousands of messages from viewers saying she sparked their interest in trade work. Czumak-Abreu's path is one that more young Americans are considering. Skepticism about the cost and value of four-year degrees is growing, and enrollment in vocational programs has risen as young people pursue well-paying jobs that don't require desks or so much debt, and come with the potential to be your own boss. The number of students enrolled in vocational-focused community colleges rose 16% last year to its highest level since the National Student Clearinghouse began tracking such data in 2018. Fostering that appeal are workers like Czumak-Abreu, whose short videos have racked up millions of views. |
| Colleges in Republicans' Crosshairs Enroll Only a Sliver of U.S. College Students | |
 | Following an explosive hearing in December about campus antisemitism, House Republicans have been ramping up their investigations of America's colleges and universities. But more than six months later, the Congressional scrutiny has been concentrated on a small number of institutions that don't represent the thousands of colleges and universities in the United States and only enroll a fraction of the country's 24 million postsecondary students. House Republicans are pledging to stamp out antisemitism on U.S. campuses, a problem they say is ubiquitous and emblematic of other deep problems within higher education. Antisemitism "is a moral rot that has taken root across American higher education institutions," said Representative Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, in late April. "It is time to restore law and order, academic integrity and moral decency to America's higher education institutions." To do so, they've opened investigations into 10 universities and called two others to provide interviews. The House Education and Workforce Committee also held a series of highly publicized hearings focused on the issue that meant bad press, presidential resignations and administrative headaches for those institutions, most of them private and elite. But the intense critical attention on a select group of institutions has wider implications for the thousands of other colleges and universities in the U.S. -- most of which don't resemble the ones under fire. As lawmakers seek to use a handful of institutions to make broad arguments about the state of American colleges and universities, critics say they're promoting a warped view of higher education with their actions and their rhetoric. |
| Mississippi Today ordered to turn over sources in Bryant defamation suit, appeals to state Supreme Court | |
| Magnolia Tribune's Russ Latino writes: Eons ago, as a young lawyer, I learned an old saying: "When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When the law is on your side, pound the law. When neither are on your side, pound the table." On May 20th, a Madison County Circuit Court judge ordered Mississippi Today to identify sources and produce information related to statements its staff made against former Governor Phil Bryant. The outlet now contends the court order violates its constitutional rights under the First Amendment. It has appealed the decision to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Mississippi Today took the unusual step this week, mid-litigation, of turning to the court of public opinion. In both an editorial and a public statement, Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau denied the outlet had made any false statements, argued the court's recent order "totally disregards the Constitution," and presented a rather lofty view of Mississippi Today's struggle on behalf of journalists, near and far. The Mississippi Supreme Court's ultimate decision will not ride, though, on the strength of an editorial, but on the facts and the law -- neither of which are as clear as Mississippi Today contends. |
| Lawmakers can lower Mississippi's sky-high grocery prices | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: California and Mississippi are not normally viewed as having much in common, but the Golden State and the Magnolia State do have one similarity: high grocery prices. California, according to a recently released analysis of U.S. Census data, is the most expensive state in the nation to purchase groceries. Mississippi is the third most expensive state to buy food, while Nevada is second. The fact that California is at the top of the list is not surprising. Most everything is more expensive in the left coast state. But Mississippi -- the hospitality state -- being near the top of the list is surprising. Mississippi, after all, is known for its low cost of living. Then again, Mississippi is used to being at the top of the bad lists (like highest infant mortality rates) and at the bottom of the good lists (like lowest wages). State leaders have been talking about improving Mississippi's standing on multiple lists for decades. For the most part, their efforts have been unsuccessful. But politicians could improve Mississippi's standing on the list of most expensive states to buy groceries by passing one piece of legislation to reduce the grocery tax. |
| My new pesky, excitable BFF is an avid sender of texts, requests | |
| Columnist Bill Crawford writes: My new, seeming BFF is a pesky and excitable fellow. He sends me emails and texts with lots of capital letters and exclamation points nearly every day. The latest text began, "ALL HELL JUST BROKE LOOSE!" And, the latest email began, "LIVE FROM TRUMP TOWER!" No "Hi guy, what's happening?" No, "hope all is well with you." He just jumps right in to his notion of the moment. I'm not sure where he got my email address, though it would be easy to find if someone looked. Why he looked I don't know. Now, my cell number is a different matter. That would take some invasive effort. What's really surprising is he found my wife's cell number. He's now her BFF too. Is he yours? |
SPORTS
| Will Mississippi State football make a 2024 bowl? Four games hold answer for Jeff Lebby | |
| Mississippi State football walked off the field at Davis Wade Stadium in disappointment on Nov. 23. After a 17-7 loss against rival Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl, MSU's season ended with the conclusion of the regular season.It marked the first year without a trip to a bowl game for the Bulldogs since 2009 -- coach Dan Mullen's first season at the helm. While a five-win 2023 campaign was telling of a underwhelming year under coach Zach Arnett, Mississippi State was still on the verge of keeping its bowl streak alive. One game could have been the difference between watching bowl season from home as opposed to taking part in it. A 37-30 defeat at South Carolina on Sept. 30 was likely the one that carried the biggest, "What if?" If Mississippi State had taken advantage of a game in which quarterback Will Rogers threw for 487 yards, the Bulldogs likely would have made a bowl game. It showed how small the margin can be between a five-win season and a six-win campaign. As the Bulldogs prepare for the 2024 season, here's a look at which games could be the difference between making a bowl game or not in coach Jeff Lebby's first year at the helm. |
| Mississippi State's Peyton Bair takes second in decathlon at NCAA Championships | |
| Mississippi State sophomore Peyton Bair shattered a 20-year-old school record in the decathlon this week at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, finishing in second place with 8,131 points. Bair finished the 100-meter dash in 10.3 seconds on Wednesday, a personal record, and also recorded a new personal best in the shot put (15.34 meters) and tied his best mark in the high jump (2.01 meters). Bair's 7.12-meter long jump was his best of the season. He placed second in Thursday's first event, the 110-meter hurdles, with a time of 14.08 seconds. Bair slipped to third overall after the discus and pole vault, but surged back into second after a personal record in the javelin. He held that position through the final event, the 1500-meter run, finishing in 4:41.15. Junior Remi Routeget continued the Bulldogs' long tradition of excellent performances in the javelin, earning his second First-Team All-American honor by finishing sixth with a mark of 74.23 meters. He improved upon his ninth-place finish at the championship meet from last year in Austin, Texas. |
| Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Kentucky in Men's College World Series | |
| Tennessee decisively ended Evansville's surprise run in the NCAA tournament Sunday, Florida outlasted Clemson in a wild five-hour game, Texas A&M used a nine-run inning to pull away from Oregon and Kentucky made program history over Oregon State. Next stop for the four SEC schools is the Men's College World Series. The Volunteers homered seven times in the first five innings and went on to a 12-1 victory over Evansville after the Purple Aces knocked off the No. 1 national seed Volunteers a day earlier to extend their best-of-three super regional to a third game. Michael Robertson, Florida's No. 9 hitter, sliced a ball into the left-center gap to bring home two runs in the 13th inning and deliver an 11-10 walk-off win. Florida has won nine straight super regionals under coach Kevin O'Sullivan, the longest streak by any team since the round was added in 1999, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Tennessee and Florida are in the MCWS for a second straight year, and Texas A&M is in for the second time in three years after Kaeden Kent's grand slam in the nine-run seventh inning carried the Aggies past Oregon 15-9. Kentucky advanced to the MCWS for the first time in school history with its 3-2 win over Oregon State. Nolan McCarthy doubled and scored the go-ahead run from second base on a wild pitch in the seventh inning. North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia swept their super regionals Saturday to lock up spots in the MCWS in Omaha, Nebraska, starting Friday. One MCWS spot remains. Georgia forced a third and deciding game Monday night against North Carolina State. |
| These College Leaders Have a Plan to 'Not Be Sued All the Time' Over Sports | |
 | No institution with an athletic program is immune from the mountain of litigation facing college sports. But there is one group that, given the size of its members' budgets, is in a particularly precarious spot: Division I colleges that are not football powerhouses. That group could be subject to many of the same legal challenges as members of the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest competitive level in Division I. They will help pay a $2.75-billion settlement in the recent antitrust case, House v. NCAA, if a judge approves it. They could someday be forced to negotiate with unionized teams if a National Labor Relations Board decision to allow Dartmouth College's men's basketball team to collectively bargain is upheld. While colleges in the most lucrative conferences may have the revenue to weather that storm, most Division I colleges just don't. Some members of that group have a plan to head off that scenario. Broadly, it seeks to de-professionalize athletics on their campuses, so that sports look more like extracurricular activities and less like jobs. In other words, something resembling amateurism -- the model the National Collegiate Athletic Association has used as a legal defense for decades but failed to realize in practice. Since late last year, a handful of athletic directors and athletes in the other two Division I subdivisions, known as the Football Championship Subdivision and the DI-AAA, have been meeting regularly with a consultant to assemble the plan, which includes proposals they are suggesting the member colleges put into practice. |
| Learfield expanding its licensing-driven Compass app to NIL dealmaking | |
| As institutions around college sports begin to tackle revenue-sharing questions before the model takes hold, Learfield is making a bold move. The multimedia rights holder for nearly 100 Division I athletic programs has leaned on Opendorse since the inception of NIL as its marketplace provider, using it to steer brands to pitch and compensate athletes. Now Learfield is entering the dealmaking business with its own software. Compass, which has been primarily used as the athlete opt-in platform for major licensing campaigns like Fanatics and EA Sports College Football 25, is turning into a dealmaking platform. Compass NIL already has 30,000 athletes onboarded from previous activations. Learfield plans to exclusively integrate its 12,000 brand partners onto the platform to create a simple connection between brands and institutions' athletes. The move from the marketing and tech giant comes at a moment when more dollars are flowing to players than ever before. "We've been, if not the most active organization in NIL since it started, certainly one of the most active businesses in NIL," Learfield president and CEO Cole Gahagan said in a conference call last week. "I don't think it's an overstatement for me to say that this is probably the biggest, most meaningful step that we've taken in the NIL era." |
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