| Wednesday, June 19, 2024 |
| Businesses review how AI could help them day-to-day | |
 | Business leaders met in Amory on Tuesday to learn more about artificial intelligence as well as how it can be used day-to-day. "The great thing about AI is that it helps you do more with less," said Jonathan Barlow, the Associate Director of Mississippi State University Data Science Academic Institute. "You have fewer employees but you might have a lot of great ideas. AI helps you realize those ideas. It could help you write a first draft of nearly anything, so you never start with a blank page which is a great advantage." Barlow says AI could also help you generate questions a customer might ask you and compose an answer for them as well. Some worry that AI will replace workers. Barlow says AI can be a great tool for productivity and creativity, but it does not necessarily mean it will replace people in the workforce. "AI is an extension of human ability. Just like a shovel extends the hand, AI can extend the mind a bit," Barlow said. "I think that AI has risks but they are very manageable at this point. I think that companies that use AI will have an advantage over those that don't." |
| MSU Riley Center unveils its 2024-2025 concert season | |
 | On Tuesday, the MSU Riley Center hosted an unveiling party to announce their 2024-2025 concert season. This year's list of artists includes Lorrie Morgan, The War and Treaty, Gladys Knight, Mac McAnally, and more. Community members from around the area enjoyed food and refreshments while waiting for this list to be unveiled. "It's a lot less pressure. It's always that way when we release the season because we are no longer keeping those behind the curtains. We are actually releasing them to the public, we always welcome and let people talk about what they like and who they like because it's always exciting for us, so oh I can't wait for this band or this artist and we always like hearing that. It's a blast in the past for me, I grew up on Billy Ray Cyrus. So we're excited to have him in January to grace the stage," says Morgan Dudley, Director of Conferences, Events, and Operations. Members of the MSU Riley Center and the community can't wait to see each of the artists. To purchase concert tickets, visit the MSU Riley Center or the box office at https://msurileycenter.com/shows/riley-center-shows/ or https://msurileycenter.com/shows/season-packages/. |
| Cursed musical comedy spans time and space | |
 | A curse strikes a chaotic medieval kingdom. Little does the kingdom know, that curse will affect the near and far-off future, eventually striking a modern high school battle of the bands competition, and eventually, a distant planet of space cowboys and aliens. Soon, this three-act play will come to life, as campers in the Summer Scholars program arrived at Mississippi State University on Sunday to work on their new play. By the first week of July, the show must go on. Eric Fritzius, staff writing director, said the camp is now going on its 40th production. He said it has perfected its fast-paced play-creating process over time, allowing seventh through 12th grade campers to show off their skills. "These days, I just marvel at the creativity the kids bring," Fritzius said. "They're writing the show they want to write. I'm there to help polish the script up with corrections on grammar and punctuation, and if there are any scripting issues that come up, I make suggestions, but this is their work." At the end of the first week, a group of production-only campers will join the writers, with a total of 42 campers forming the entire show. Campers then rehearse the show, working with props, lighting, costuming, choreography and more to bring the musical to life. Free public performances for this year's Summer Scholars play will be at 7 p.m. July 5 and 1 p.m. July 6 in McComas Hall on MSU's campus. |
| Miss Mississippi Becky Williams advocates for education | |
 | A Purvis native was crowned this year's Miss Mississippi. "Hearing my name for again, this dream that I've dreamed for so long was completely surreal. And I don't think I'll ever get over it," said Becky Williams, who was crowned in Vicksburg earlier this month. Williams won several preliminary rounds, including talent and evening wear. She said being Miss Mississippi means being the ultimate role model for young girls. "My goal is to not be the impossible Miss Mississippi that you look at and you realize, 'Oh, I could never do that.' I want to be the girl that shows you that anyone can do this and anyone can do it well," she stated. Williams is an Elementary Education graduate student at Mississippi State University (MSU). She's focused on advocating for better education and public health. Through the Miss Mississippi program, Williams received more than $13,000 in scholarships. She's now working with state leaders to draft legislation to provide better scholarship opportunities. Williams is looking forward to representing the state in the 2025 Miss America pageant. |
| Blueberry leaf rust identified in Mississippi | |
| Blueberry leaf rust has been identified on blueberries in Perry County, according to the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service. Officials said everyone in the state with blueberries is cautioned to be on the lookout for this disease. Alan Henn, plant pathologist with the MSU Extension Service, said leaf rust is not a common disease of blueberries in Mississippi, but it has been identified occasionally in several Mississippi counties during the last 10 years. "Outbreaks tend to be localized but can be severe, causing defoliation and reduced yield," Henn said. Mississippi commercial blueberry growers typically have either rabbiteye or Southern highbush blueberry varieties, and these differ greatly in their susceptibility to leaf rust. "The varieties Bluecrisp, Climax, Delite, Emerald and Jewel are reported to be highly susceptible, and the varieties Powderblue and Star are reported to be moderately susceptible," Henn said. Rebecca Melanson, Extension plant pathologist, said blueberry growers should scout their fields for symptoms of blueberry leaf rust. |
| Miller to retire after 24 years with horse park | |
| After 24 years at the reins, Mississippi Horse Park Executive Director Bricklee Miller announced that she is retiring from her position. Miller thanked the city's board of aldermen during its Tuesday night meeting for the opportunity to serve the horse park and said she is proud of how much growth the facility has seen during her tenure. "Under my leadership, we have had 1,440,000 people come to the events, and ... those events have generated a $63 million economic impact for our area," Miller told the board. "... So there again, we're growing, thriving, not slowing down. People want to come because it's just an absolutely amazing place." Miller, who also served as the District 4 Supervisor for Oktibbeha County from 2015 to 2023, became facility director of the horse park in 2000. Since then, she said the park has seen more than 60,000 visitors annually with an average of 50 events each year, like the Rotary Classic Rodeo, the Lucky Dog Barrel Race and the Golden Triangle Kennel Club of Mississippi Dog Show. The horse park is funded by a partnership between Starkville, Oktibbeha County and Mississippi State University. To Miller, the partnership has been "a fairytale story that few people across the country can tell." |
| Miskelly makes moves with 1st store in college town | |
 | Top 100 retailer Miskelly Furniture is expanding into northern Mississippi with its first store in Starkville. The Pearl, Miss.-based retailer plans to open a 40,000-square-foot facility, with around 37,000 square feet of showroom space, on Highway 12 West in Starkville, home of Mississippi State University and part of the state's Golden Triangle area along with nearby cities Columbus and West Point. "There's not a lot of other retailers serving the area so we felt it was a good time to get some top line growth," CEO Oscar Miskelly told Furniture Today. The store is expected to be soft-opened in mid-July with a grand opening planned for early August and will be serviced from Miskelly's Pearl distribution center, which is about two hours away. Miskelly said the retailer is already known in Starkville, which helps build those early relationships. "We're already doing some business there, so we believe we won't have to start cold in the market," he said. "We just started billboards and social media and advertised for sales staff and management." It's the first expansion for the retailer in six years, when Miskelly opened a store in Hattiesburg, to the south. Similarly to Starkville, Hattiesburg is also a college town, home of the University Southern Mississippi. Oscar Miskelly said those cities offer chances for long-term success. |
| Entertainment lineup announced for 2024 Mississippi State Fair | |
| The Mississippi State Fairgrounds has announced the musical and entertainment lineup for the upcoming state fair in Jackson. The 165th annual Mississippi State Fair, which will be held from Thursday, Oct. 3 through Sunday, Oct. 13, will feature the following headliners, according to the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce: Saturday, Oct. 5: The Oak Ridge Boys, a Country Music Hall of Fame quartet founded in 1943, will bring hits such as "Elvira," "Bobbie Sue," and "American Made" to the stage. Sunday, Oct. 6: Matthew West, a Dove Award-winning contemporary Christian artist, will sing hits such as "Hello, My Name Is," "The God Who Stays," and "Broken Things." Wednesday, Oct. 9: Ronnie McDowell, a country music singer who is most popular for his tribute to Mississippi's very own Elvis Presley titled, "The King is Gone," which was released soon after Presley died in 1977. Friday, Oct. 11: Dru Hill, an R&B group founded in 1992, best known for their songs "Beauty," "The Love We Had," and "Tell Me." "We are excited to announce that tickets to the Mississippi State Fair can be purchased online for the first time in history," Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson said. Additional details regarding concerts and special attractions will be announced in the near future. |
| Buc-ee's in Mississippi is going to be bigger than Alabama's | |
 | Buc-ee's travel center in Mississippi is moving along. Slowly, but it's moving. In the nine months since the company held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site on Menge Avenue at Interstate 10 in Pass Christian, it has moved a lot of mountains, including mounds of dirt. A new overpass over I-10, development plans and all the other behind-the-scenes preparation work had to be done, but now it's time for construction to begin in earnest. A concrete driveway has been poured that leads to the future Buc-ee's site and workers are installing pipes and leveling the ground at what will be the travel center some time in 2025. Buc-ee's Harrison County will be the first Buc-ee's in Mississippi. Buc-ee's is known for having "the world's cleanest bathrooms, freshest food and friendliest beaver," but the Pass Christian location also will have plenty of other favorites, including Texas barbecue, homemade fudge, kolaches, jerky and fresh pastries. Outside, there will be 120 fueling positions for pumping "cheap" gas and 24 EV charging stations at the 74,000-square-foot facility. That's a much larger travel center than any of the ones in Alabama, which range in size from 50,000 to 55,000 square feet. Harrison County will bring at least 200 full-time jobs, with starting pay above minimum wage, full benefits, a 6% matching 401k plan and three weeks of paid vacation. |
| Will Arkansas cutting taxes impact Mississippi's plans for tax reforms? | |
| One of our neighboring states is just starting a special session. Arkansas' governor says it's all about cutting taxes. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she wants lawmakers to cut the income and property taxes. It comes after no tax reforms during Mississippi's 2024 session. However, there are discussions on the House side about making it a priority in 2025. "The fact that Arkansas is moving forward with a plan like this to reduce their income tax puts pressure on us," said Rep. Jansen Owen. "Because if we want to be competitive in the recruiting industry and growing Mississippi's economy, we're going to have to compete with those lower tax rates across the river." Owen and fellow Republican Rep. Lee Yancey believe that Arkansas is stepping up to cut taxes partly because of what's already been done in Mississippi. They agree that there is still more to be considered. "As all of these tax cuts that we passed take effect, we can see what our budget is going to be and determine what, you know, what are the necessary functions of government?" asked Yancey. "What is it that we should be spending our money on? Then, we ask the taxpayers to help cover those items in the budget. Whenever we're taking in a billion dollars too much, we certainly need to return that to the taxpayer." Democrat Rep. Otis Anthony is also part of the House select committee on tax reform. He still worries about the budget impacts of continued income tax cuts. "It's good political talking points, but truly, down the road, we're hurting our people doing more than helping because that's only helping a certain small portion of Mississippians," said Anthony. |
| BEAM working to build out internet connectivity in Mississippi | |
| Since the COVID pandemic, access to high-speed internet has become more integral in the lives of Mississippians than ever before. In response, one state agency created to address the need is working to distribute grant funding to build out fiber optic internet connections. Also, anyone in the state who is without access to a high-speed connection is being asked to participate in the upcoming challenge process to help the office identify underserved areas in Mississippi. Two years ago, the Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) office was established. Sally Doty, a former state senator, was appointed by Governor Tate Reeves to serve as the Director of the office. She moved to the new role after serving as the executive director of the Public Utilities Staff that was already working on policy and funding related to internet connectivity. Doty told Magnolia Tribune that during her decade-long tenure in the Legislature, discussions about access to high-speed internet were much different. "It did not seem as important as it is today. Then the pandemic hit, and we realized that there is a digital world that we've got to be a part of," Doty explained. Several rounds of grant funding have been provided in Mississippi to build out high-speed connections. The most recent stream of funding comes from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program through the federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act, totaling $1.2 billion for Mississippi. |
| Governors of Mississippi and Alabama place friendly bets on lawmakers' charity softball game | |
 | State lawmakers from Mississippi and Alabama are playing each other in softball this weekend to raise money for charity -- and the states' Republican governors are placing friendly bets on the outcome. The Battle of Tombigbee takes place Saturday at Trustmark Park in the Jackson suburb of Pearl, to raise money for Children's of Mississippi, a hospital in Jackson. "In the off chance that the Alabama team happens to win, then I'll send y'all a bunch of the world's best catfish, found right here in Mississippi," Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday in a social media post. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey replied in her own post to Reeves that she's betting some Alabama peanuts. "Just go ahead and put that Mississippi catfish on ice and send it my way because the Alabama Legislature is going to win this game," Ivey said. |
| Commissioner won't create state insurance exchange unless Gov. Reeves approves | |
| Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says he does not intend to create a state exchange to offer health insurance to Mississippians unless Gov. Tate Reeves signs off on it. "We probably could operate the exchange, but I don't think it is wise to do it without having the governor on board or at least having some of his approval to operate the exchange," Chaney said during a recent Mississippi Today "The Other Side" podcast. " ... It is the governor's call whether we will have a state-based exchange. We have done all the other hoops we have to jump through." States that operate their own exchanges can typically attract more companies to write health insurance policies, offer people policies at lower costs and it would likely save the state millions of dollars in payments to the federal government. Chaney said he has not talked to Reeves yet about whether he would submit a letter to the federal authorities saying the state wanted to operate its own exchange instead of being part of the federal Affordable Care Act Marketplace Exchange. The Legislature passed a bill during the 2024 session giving Chaney's office the authority to set up the state exchange. The bill was authored by House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia. The governor let the bill become law without his signature and without any comment. But in the past Reeves has been extremely critical of the Affordable Care Act. |
| Key results from Georgia runoff, Virginia and Oklahoma primaries | |
 | A veteran lawmaker who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and a former national security official who played a role in former President Donald Trump's first impeachment both won primaries easily Tuesday as voters cast ballots in Oklahoma, Virginia and Georgia. In Oklahoma's 4th District, Republican Rep. Tom Cole, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, easily defeated four fellow Republicans, including a political unknown who loaned his campaign more than $5 million. Cole had 68 percent of the vote at 8:33 p.m., when The Associated Press called the race. Cole withstood a flood of negative ads funded by businessman Paul Bondar, who had about 21 percent of the vote and faced questions about his residency. He owns a home outside Dallas, holds a Texas driver's license and voted in the Texas primary on March 5, according to a report on KFOR. Rep. Bob Good and state Sen. John McGuire were locked in a tight race Tuesday for the Republican nomination in Virginia's 5th District that saw some of Good's House GOP colleagues campaigning on both sides. No call had been made in the race at 10 p.m., when less than 200 votes separated the two candidates and an estimated 88 percent of the vote had been counted, according to the AP. Brian Jack, who served as White House political director under Trump and had his endorsement, secured the Republican nomination to an open seat in Georgia's 3rd District. Eugene Vindman, a former National Security Council official whose twin brother testified during Trump's first impeachment hearings, won the Democratic nomination in Virginia's 7th District and will seek to succeed Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor in 2025. |
| Matt Gaetz Faces House Ethics Committee Probe Over Sex, Drug Allegations | |
 | The House Ethics Committee said Tuesday it is investigating Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz over allegations that the lawmaker may have engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, providing details of its long-running scrutiny of the influential conservative lawmaker. The secretive 10-member panel released a letter Tuesday in which it said it was clarifying its investigation into the four-term lawmaker because of the significant and unusual amount of public reporting on the case. The committee's announcement didn't disclose a timeline for its investigation. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing. He said on social media on Monday that past probes "emerged from lies intended solely to smear me" and that the committee is "now opening new frivolous investigations." He said the panel is "doing this to avoid the obvious fact that every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration." Gaetz, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, engineered the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, last year. The two have sparred since then over the ethics probe, with Gaetz blaming McCarthy for the continued investigation, while McCarthy has aired allegations about Gaetz in media appearances. Gaetz is facing a primary challenge in his western Florida district from Aaron Dimmock, a former naval aviator, who has made Gaetz's ethics a centerpiece of the campaign. The primary is Aug. 20. |
| Amy Coney Barrett may be poised to split conservatives on the Supreme Court | |
 | A rift is emerging among the Supreme Court's conservatives -- and it could thwart the court's recent march to expand gun rights. On one side is the court's oldest and most conservative justice, Clarence Thomas. On the other is its youngest member, Amy Coney Barrett. The question at the center of the spat may seem abstract: How should the court use "history and tradition" to decide modern-day legal issues? But the answer may determine how the court resolves some of the biggest cases set to be released in the coming days, particularly its latest foray into the Second Amendment right to bear arms. If the court adheres to a strict history-centric approach, as Thomas favors, it will likely strike down a federal law denying firearms to people under domestic violence restraining orders. But Barrett recently foreshadowed that she is distancing herself from that approach. If she breaks with Thomas in the gun case, known as United States v. Rahimi, and if she can persuade at least one other conservative justice to join her, they could align with the court's three liberals to uphold the gun control law. That outcome would avoid the certain political backlash that would result from a high court declaration that alleged domestic abusers have a constitutional right to carry a gun. Thomas, famous for his intransigence, might not care about such backlash, but the more pragmatically minded Barrett is surely aware of it. "It does seem to me that there's a fight going on, and Rahimi played an important role in provoking it," said Reva Siegel, a professor at Yale Law School who is an expert on legal history. |
| No military training value': Guard chief dings Trump, Biden border missions | |
| The National Guard's outgoing top officer on Tuesday criticized the long-running deployment of Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to aid Homeland Security personnel there, saying it has "no military training value." Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the retiring chief of the National Guard Bureau, told senators that the deployment at the border during the Biden and Trump administrations puts strain on part-time troops while doing little to build warfighting readiness. "As I've expressed within the building as well, there is no military training value for what we do," Hokanson said during a Senate Defense Appropriations budget hearing for the Guard and Reserve components. "This is a law enforcement mission under the Department of Homeland Security." The candid comments from the top Guard leader come as the complex cross-party fight over the border and immigration loom over the November election rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Hokanson said 2,500 Guard personnel are at the southern border under federal authorities. The Guard was deployed by the Trump administration and continued under the Biden administration. But lawmakers and even Pentagon officials have expressed concerns that the military is compromising readiness as a temporary patch when it's DHS's mission to secure the border. |
| A US aircraft carrier and its crew have fought Houthi attacks for months. How long can it last? | |
| The combat markings emblazoned on the F/A-18 fighter jet tell the story: 15 missiles and six drones, painted in black just below the cockpit windshield. As the jet sits on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, its markings illuminate the enemy targets that it's destroyed in recent months and underscore the intensity of the fight to protect commercial shipping from persistent missile and drone attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. But they also hint at the fatigue setting in, as the carrier, its strike group and about 7,000 sailors close in on their ninth month waging the most intense running sea battle since World War II. That raises difficult questions about what comes next as U.S. military and defense leaders wrangle over how they will replicate the carrier's combat power if the ship returns home to Norfolk, Virginia. Already, the carrier's deployment has been extended twice, and sailors post dark memes around the ship about only getting one short break during their steadily growing tour. Some worry they could be ordered to stay out even longer as the campaign drags on to protect global trade in the vital Red Sea corridor. At the Pentagon, leaders are wrestling with what has become a thorny but familiar debate. Do they bow to Navy pressure to bring the Eisenhower and the other three warships in its strike group home or heed U.S. Central Command's plea to keep them there longer? And if they bring them home -- what can replace them? |
| North Korea's Kim declares 'full support' for Russian war in Ukraine | |
 | In a show of defiance against Western sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive strategic pact on Wednesday pledging to come to each other's assistance in case of a military attack -- the starkest evidence yet of Russia's alignment with anti-Western nations determined to topple the United States as a global leader. Putin, visiting the North Korean capital, Pyongyang for the first time since 2000, said Russia and North Korea "pursue an independent foreign policy and do not accept the language of blackmail and diktat." "The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today provides, among other things, for mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement," Putin said. Shunned by the West over his invasion of Ukraine, Putin is seeking partners who share his anti-Western stance, including China, Iran and North Korea. Kim extolled the "firm alliance" with Moscow and openly backed Putin's war against Ukraine, the strongest support for Russia's invasion from any foreign leader. Putin first visited North Korea in 2000, shortly after his election as president, becoming the only Russian or Soviet leader to travel to Pyongyang. He wanted to restore his country's influence over the Korean Peninsula. For the next 24 years, he saw no need to return -- until Wednesday. The reason: To sustain his war on Ukraine, he needs North Korea's help. |
| This Is What Would Happen if China Invaded Taiwan | |
 | In late March, a Taiwanese data analyst posted on social media about an odd satellite image: It appeared that the Chinese military had erected at one of its remote military bases in Inner Mongolia a series of roads that perfectly re-created the roads around the presidential palace in Taipei. The revelation only appeared to underscore the seriousness with which Chinese officials are proceeding with President Xi Jinping's directive to be ready to invade the independent island by the late 2020s. As part of the research for his new book, World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century, Dmitri Alperovitch journeyed to Taiwan, talked with multiple high-level officials and national security planners in Taiwan and the United States, and walked the possible invasion terrain to imagine just how such an invasion might occur. His scenario, excerpted here and which he imagines taking place on November 13, 2028, serves as the new book's prologue. |
| Itawamba Community College breaks ground on new Connection Center | |
 | Itawamba Community College officials broke ground on the site of the future Connection Center building Tuesday, June 18. Expected to be open for use in spring 2026, the Fulton campus Connection Center will include a 3,200-square-foot multi-use meeting space as well as a 3,000-square-foot Chick-fil-A. "This outstanding facility will not only serve the students who are enrolled in 2026, but will serve countless students and community members for many years to come," ICC Board of Trustees chairman Steve Coleman said at the groundbreaking. "And I'm hoping my six grandchildren will get to enjoy it with me." The Tuesday morning groundbreaking ceremony included remarks by ICC president Jay Allen, Coleman, PryorMorrow's president and managing principal architect Michael Taylor, and Sodexo's Charles Diggs. The $4.9 million project will be funded by both state and local contributions and by Sodexo, ICC's food service provider, which is contributing more than $1.2 million and will operate the Chick-fil-A. ICC has hired JESCO Construction to build the center. In concert with the Connection Center construction, ICC will be building a new sidewalk along Main Street "that will start at the (Fulton) Square and go to the (Tennessee-Tombigbee) Waterway, with a route in front of our campus and then a path down Stadium Drive," Allen said. The project will be done in partnership with the City of Fulton and through a grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation. |
| Millsaps welcomes 12th president | |
| On Monday, June 17, the Millsaps College Board of Trustees welcomed Frank Neville as its 12th president, culminating an exhaustive national search. Neville's appointment marks a new era for Millsaps, bringing his extensive experience in innovative leadership and strategic planning to the forefront of the college's mission to foster academic excellence. "Education is key to America's national competitiveness. If we are to meet the challenges of the 21st Century, we need citizens who can innovate and continuously adapt to an increasingly complex world," said Neville. "A liberal arts education like that offered at Millsaps helps students develop the critical thinking, problem-solving and leadership skills necessary to navigate this dynamic environment." Nationally recognized for its academic excellence in the liberal arts tradition, Millsaps is also known for its study abroad programs and its focus on experiential learning. Millsaps alumni include some of the state and region's foremost business, government and NGO leaders. "I look forward to building on this storied tradition and helping educate the next generation of leaders here at Millsaps," said Neville. "The world needs more of what Millsaps has to offer and we are committed to doing our part to move our community forward through the transformative power of education." |
| Pandemic is just one factor in chronic absenteeism | |
| Post-pandemic absenteeism is declining in Mississippi schools, but kids are still missing more school than the pre-COVID days. At many schools, more than a third of all students are missing 18 days a year or more. Nationwide, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to mark the point when absenteeism rates in public schools went from bad to worse. The numbers tell the same story in Mississippi. Though the pandemic is a causal factor, educators identified a myriad of reasons -- from anxiety to socioeconomic struggles -- as to why Mississippi's public school students seem to be missing more school. The Mississippi Department of Education defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% of the school year or more -- this works out to roughly two days a month, or 18 days in a year. In the 2022-23 school year, at nearly half of all school districts in Mississippi, 25% or more of the student population was chronically absent. "Research says chronic absenteeism could impact students from reaching early learning milestones, can be a predictor for early dropout prior to graduation, and overall poor academic performance," Armerita Tell, the Mississippi Department of Education's director of the Office of Compulsory School Attendance and Dropout Prevention, said in an email. "The outcomes are not typical for all children, but the research points to the aforementioned top outcomes." |
| Jeff Landry vows to sign bill putting Ten Commandments in schools: 'I can't wait to be sued' | |
 | Gov. Jeff Landry said he plans to sign into law a controversial bill requiring public schools and colleges in Louisiana to post the Ten Commandments in their classrooms and that he welcomes challenges to the law in court. During his keynote speech on Saturday at a Republican fundraiser in Tennessee, Landry touted the bill as a conservative victory in the ongoing culture wars. "I'm going home to sign a bill that places the Ten Commandments in public classrooms," he said, according to a report in the Tennessean. "And I can't wait to be sued." Landry, a Republican, was the state's attorney general before becoming governor. If he signs the bill, Louisiana will become the only state mandating that all public universities and K-12 schools display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, a move that will almost certainly draw legal challenges. Critics say the bill violates the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from "establishing" a religion. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Groups that promote the separation of church and state argue that Louisiana's law would be equally unconstitutional. Some religious leaders have also opposed the mandate. More than 100 Christian pastors and churchgoers in Louisiana signing a petition last month urging Landry to veto the bill. They argued that families and faith groups should control religious education -- not the government. |
| Texas risks losing billions in federal funds over Abbott LGBTQ directive, Democrats say | |
 | Texas colleges and universities risk losing billions in federal funding if they comply with Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) directive to ignore a new federal rule bolstering nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ students, Democrats warned a state education board Monday. In a congressional inquiry letter to Texas's Higher Education Coordinating Board, the state agency overseeing public post-secondary education, four House Democrats from Texas said public colleges could violate students' civil rights and lose government funding if they follow Abbott's orders to disregard changes to Title IX -- the federal civil rights law preventing sex discrimination in schools and education programs that receive government funding -- that the Education Department finalized in April. The new rule, which covers discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time, is slated to take effect Aug. 1, though federal judges have temporarily blocked enforcement in 10 GOP-led states. Abbott in a letter to President Biden in April called the changes "illegal" and said his state would not implement them. Monday's letter, led by Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and signed by Democratic Reps. Sylvia Garcia, Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee, accuses Abbott and other public officials who have pledged to reject the Biden administration's rule of using schools as "political pawns." |
| Medical examiner releases autopsy, toxicology reports of U. of Missouri student Riley Strain | |
 | The Davison County Medical Examiner has ruled the death of University of Missouri student Riley Strain as an accidental drowning, according to documents obtained by KOMU 8 on Tuesday. The accompanying toxicology report found that Strain's blood alcohol level was measured at 0.228%, almost three times the legal driving limit in Tennessee, where he went missing for nearly two weeks before being found March 22 on the banks of the Cumberland River in West Nashville. Strain's toxicology report also found trace amounts of Delta-9 THC. In a news release, the Metro Nashville Police Department said that the autopsy corroborates the department's findings from its investigation. Strain was a senior at MU and was attending his fraternity's formal in Nashville when he went missing March 8. The Strain family's private investigator Steve Fischer also released the report findings on X, stating that his investigation is ongoing and expects to share his final report to Strain's parents after 10 to 14 days. The toxicology report also revealed that no central nervous system depressants were detected, which are commonly associated with the "knocking out" of individuals, according to Fischer. |
| Meet the Internet's 'Admissions Dad' | |
 | Prashant Sehgal has a son who just finished his third year at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a daughter who will start applying to colleges next year. But he's also a sort of virtual dad to thousands of strangers on the internet. He's a moderator for three college-admissions forums on Reddit, including one of Reddit's largest communities about the topic, called ApplyingToCollege, which has 1.1 million users. Three years ago, a member of ApplyingToCollege posted that Sehgal should have called himself "admissionsdad." (His username is the more prosaic "prsehgal.") On most days, Sehgal gets up at 4 a.m. and takes an hour-and-a-half walk around his neighborhood in Delhi, India. Using his phone's glide-typing functionality, which allows users to type quickly by swiping on their keyboards, he answers forum questions. He does it again in the evening for an hour, and sometimes during the day as replies come in. His time is unpaid and he has no interest, he said, in starting a consulting business. "I can skip Reddit for a day," he said, "but if people are dependent on me for their applications, then that becomes a bigger responsibility." Besides, he already has his dream job. After getting master's degrees at New York University and Carnegie Mellon University, and working as a programmer for a decade in New York, Silicon Valley, and India, he quit in 2008 to become an independent filmmaker. In communities that can be hyper-focused on the shiniest names in higher education, he consistently counsels fit and affordability over prestige. He's a voice of calm in a vortex of teen stress. And he doesn't hesitate to dole out prescriptive advice. |
| Are Students Who Protested Losing Out on Job Opportunities? | |
 | Nearly 30 percent of students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses say they have had a job offer rescinded in the last six months, and two-thirds believe that it likely had to do with their activism, according to a new report by Intelligent.com. Even so, more student protesters say their activism has had a net positive impact on their job hunt (55 percent) than say it's had a negative (15 percent) or neutral (33 percent) effect. The report, released last week, sheds new light on a trend that emerged almost immediately after Hamas's deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel: Some members of the business community quickly announced that they would refuse to hire students who had signed onto controversial statements blaming Israel for the attack. In one prominent example, Bill Ackman, a hedge fund manager and Harvard University alumnus, called on his alma mater to release the names of students who had supported such a statement so that CEOs would know not to hire them. In the ensuing six months, the pro-Palestinian movement on campuses has evolved, with protesters across the country erecting encampments to push their institutions to divest from Israel. Many students continue to face repercussions for their campus activism, including arrests, sanctions and deferred diplomas. |
| 'Under Pressure': Federal Officials Face Financial-Aid Officers Grappling With the FAFSA Crisis | |
| Richard A. Cordray, chief operating officer of the Education Department's Federal Student Aid office, has overseen the disastrous rollout of the form that makes colleges possible for millions of students. On Tuesday, he spoke to college officials who are scrambling to mitigate the unfolding crisis caused by problems with the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Cordray, who spoke at the annual conference of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, or NASFAA, in Milwaukee, took the stage as Queen and David Bowie's 1981 hit "Under Pressure" played -- a fitting walk-up song that prompted a wave of laughter through a packed convention-center ballroom. The department's leaders, much like those who lead the nation's financial-aid offices, are indeed under pressure: The fall semester is fast approaching, some families are still waiting for their aid offers, and the federal-aid process remains an engine in need of repair. Cordray's speech came one day after news of yet another delay in the FAFSA saga caused gasps and groans among frustrated financial-aid leaders. On Monday, the Education Department announced that colleges would not be able to submit corrections to students' FAFSA records in bulk until the first half of August -- not the end of June, as the department had previously said. Further delaying that process, which is normally available when the FAFSA goes live, means that some students with special circumstances -- such as a parent who lost their job -- must continue to wait for a final financial-aid offer. |
| Mississippi is burdened with the nation's highest rates of gun deaths, gun violence | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: In the rural South, we are conditioned to a self-image of small communities like fictional Mayberry where crime and violence are almost non-existent and the real dangers from gun violence lurk on the streets and back alleys of Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles. However, the mean streets are not limited to the big cities. Rural Mississippians now live squarely in locales prone to gun violence. We don't live in Mayberry in the rural South. We live in a region and a state with a dangerous rate of gun death and gun violence, and we are as a state among the nation's leaders in household gun ownership. The adage in television news is that "if it bleeds, it leads." In Mississippi, the first 10 minutes of virtually every newscast recount shootings that occur with such frequency as to become commonplace. ... From across the political spectrum in the gun law debate, there is ample hyperbole and alarmist rhetoric. But the fact is that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ranked Mississippi as having the highest rate of gun deaths in the country at 29.6 per 100,000 residents. That's just over double the national rate of 14.2 gun deaths per 100,000 residents. ... From a practical political standpoint, legislation restricting Second Amendment rights is a non-starter at the Mississippi State Capitol. But Mississippi's increasingly consistent rank as the state with the highest rate of gun deaths should concern conservatives and liberals alike. |
SPORTS
| Five Mississippi State baseball players heading to MLB Draft Combine | |
| All three of Mississippi State's opening weekend starting pitchers are headed to Phoenix for the MLB Draft Combine, as are sluggers Dakota Jordan and Hunter Hines. Jordan, Hines, Khal Stephen, Jurrangelo Cijntje and Nate Dohm are all projected top-200 picks in next month's draft. The fourth annual MLB Draft Combine started Tuesday and runs through Sunday at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jordan, ranked No. 29 in MLB Pipeline's Draft Top 200, followed up an excellent freshman year with an even better sophomore campaign. He finished with a .354/.459/.671 triple slash, 20 home runs and 72 runs batted in, closing the season in style with a 10-for-19 showing that included three homers in four games at the Charlottesville Regional. Cijntje is two spots behind Jordan at No. 31, and the ambidextrous pitcher lowered his ERA from 8.10 as a freshman to 3.67 as a sophomore to go along with an 8-2 record and 113 strikeouts against just 30 walks in 90 2/3 innings. He also held opponents to a .211 batting average and allowed fewer hit batters and home runs than he did in 2023 even with a much bigger workload. Three MSU commits from the high school class of 2024 --- outfielder Dante Nori (No. 47), and pitchers Conrad Cason (No. 99) and Cade O'Leary (No. 191) --- are also on the MLB Pipeline Draft Top 200, so it remains to be seen whether they will sign with the teams that draft them or play for the Bulldogs. |
| USC-Ole Miss home-and-home series scheduled for 2025 and 2026 canceled | |
 | The anticipated football games between USC and Ole Miss are no more. The home-and-home series featuring the two schools, scheduled for 2025 and 2026, was canceled, according to Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. The Clarion-Ledger was the first to report the cancellation news. The series was announced in May 2020, a few months after Ole Miss hired Kiffin as coach. Kiffin coached USC from 2010 to 2013. Kiffin said the cancellation happened "awhile ago," with USC's move to the Big Ten and the uncertainty around the SEC schedule contributing to the decision to cancel the series. Georgia has a series with UCLA from 2025-26 that could also go by the wayside. "I do think some of those things might be taking place around the conference, just because of realignment of the teams that went to the Big Ten and different scheduling on their part, and then down here, there's an uncertainty about nine conference games," Kiffin said. "There's been a lot of talk that that's the direction it's headed, nine conference games, and the difference in scheduling people, and people potentially having extra games with the Playoffs." Ole Miss' last home-and-home series with a marquee nonconference opponent was Texas in 2012 and 2013. |
| U. of South Carolina's ambitious development project near football stadium takes next step | |
 | The University of South Carolina has taken another step toward major development around Williams-Brice Stadium and renovations to the stadium itself, though details remain limited. The USC athletic department met with the State Fiscal Accountability Authority on Tuesday in Columbia and received approval to begin soliciting proposals for what can be built on roughly 900 acres of land near the stadium and the Congaree River. "We'd like to move into the private sector to see what interest there would be," USC Athletics director Ray Tanner said at Tuesday's meeting. "We think it would certainly be robust." The university wants to create a new, significant stream of revenue for the university through an entertainment district -- and help fund stadium renovations that will further modernize the home of Gamecocks football. Any development will be designed, constructed and funded by private companies and will not be owned, operated or funded by the university, according to meeting-specific documents listed on the authority's website. USC will be more of a landlord than anything else, looking to make money off a large chunk of un-utilized and/or under-utilized real estate. The university, however, will be allowed to contract the use of any facility built on the property for dining, student housing, academic space or athletic facilities -- or buy any future properties outright for similar purposes, according to documents. |
| 'Nobody prepared us': An Ivy League wrestler's unlikely path to SEC lineman and NFL Draft prospect | |
| A groggy Joey Slackman woke from an anesthetic slumber the morning of Nov. 20. The Penn defensive lineman was in a Philadelphia hospital bed. He had just spent three hours in surgery to repair a torn biceps. That day also happened to be when Slackman's name appeared in the transfer portal, college football's centralized marketplace for players looking for a new school. Slackman, who graduated from Penn with a political science degree, had decided to pursue his master's, and coaches were now allowed to contact him. "It was completely surreal," said Paul Slackman, Joey's father. "We got there maybe 4:30 in the morning. I said goodbye. They prepped him. It just so happened that was the day that he entered the portal. It totally slipped my mind. We really didn't know a lot about this whole process." Joey arrived in the Ivy League four years ago as a no-star football recruit from Long Island who went to Penn to wrestle. He has never been a headlining player. But to the surprise of the Slackmans, Joey woke up after surgery as one of the hottest commodities on the transfer market. ... "He's an alpha personality, very articulate and very intelligent," said Florida head coach Billy Napier. "It's important to him. He's very motivated and driven. The biggest compliment I can give him is when he took his official visit here, I literally got 12 to 15 players coming up to me saying, 'Coach, we gotta get that guy.' He checked all the boxes." |
| How Judge Claudia Wilken could outline revenue sharing framework in House settlement | |
| In hallways throughout Mandalay Bay last week, the impact and unknown of the impending House settlement dominated conversations at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics convention. Panels and hallway conversations were filled with questions and not many answers. The top leaders in college sports don't know the exact date revenue sharing and the new world order will begin -- speculation is the 2025-26 academic year. Meanwhile, others are trying to figure out how much revenue they can share while keeping an athletic department up and running. Another major question remains: How will revenue actually be split up? How plaintiff attorneys divide back damages is expected to be how schools approach Title IX and shape a framework for revenue sharing. Steve Berman, the co-lead counsel for plaintiffs in the House case, confirmed to On3 on Monday the settlement is on track to disperse 75% of TV revenue in back damages to football. From there, 15% would be funneled to men's basketball, 5% to women's basketball and the final 5% divided by the remaining athletes. As administrators try to figure out how to split up revenue-sharing dollars, if Judge Claudia Wilken ratifies this portion of back damages it's expected to be looked at as a framework for the future, antitrust attorney Jay M. Ezelle believes. The Birmingham, Alabama, based litigator with Starnes Law has advised NIL collectives and institutions in the NIL Era and previously worked on NCAA investigations. If Wilken ratifies a settlement that follows a similar breakdown of TV revenue, Ezelle believes it could help institutions navigate Title IX. |
| A post-House reckoning awaits some bloated athletic departments | |
| The industry-wide financial stress test created by the House settlement is forcing campus leaders to look in the mirror and see the same image many have identified for years: bloated athletic departments. Athletic departments are not a monolith -- not all schools have 200-plus staff members like Ohio State, which generated a university-record $280 million in revenue in fiscal year 2023. But schools at all levels to varying degrees are dealing with the same issue: Non-essential positions may now be expendable. "Look at the staff sizes of these school athletic departments," ESPN analyst Jay Bilas told On3 before the House settlement. "Any basketball team in a Power Five conference, they have more suits in their team picture than they have uniform players. You look at the athletic department and it's like bank vice presidents. "How is it that Yale has 20-some athletic directors -- everybody is an athletic director? If you see somebody who is walking around on campus who has a tie on, they are probably an athletic director. It is unbelievable." As SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during league spring meetings, when there's a shift of revenue up to 22%, "things won't remain the same." Andrew Zimbalist, economics professor emeritus at Smith College, concurs, telling the Associated Press: "Some of the bigtime programs have staffs of 250-300 people and have very modern facilities and have been building more of them. Now there's no way they're going to be able to afford that." |
| Willie Mays, Baseball's Electrifying Player of Power and Grace, Is Dead at 93 | |
| Willie Mays, the spirited center fielder whose brilliance at the plate, in the field and on the basepaths for the Giants led many to call him the greatest all-around player in baseball history, died on Tuesday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 93. Larry Baer, the president and chief executive of the Giants, said Mays, the oldest living member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, died in an assisted living facility. Mays compiled extraordinary statistics in 22 National League seasons with the Giants in New York and San Francisco and a brief return to New York with the Mets, preceded by a 1948 stint in the Negro leagues. He hit 660 career home runs and had 3,293 hits and a .301 career batting average. But he did more than personify the complete ballplayer. An exuberant style of play and an effervescent personality made Mays one of the game's, and America's, most charismatic figures, a name that even people far afield from the baseball world recognized instantly as a national treasure. And New York embraced this son of Alabama, putting him on a pedestal with two others who ruled the city's center fields in an era when its teams dominated baseball. Mays captured the ardor of baseball fans at a time when Black players were still emerging in the major leagues and segregation remained untrammeled in his native South. |
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