| Tuesday, June 25, 2024 |
| Life in catfish farming includes daily stressors | |
 | While every job has stress points, few people go to work knowing they could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in any given day. That is a reality for many in the agricultural sector, and mental health struggles are a frequent result. Ed and Ben Pentecost own Pentecost Brothers Catfish Farm in Doddsville, Mississippi. They have farmed catfish since the early 1980s, but exclusively since 1993 on what are now 585 acres of ponds in Sunflower County. "There are times where I've wondered whether it was a worthwhile life choice to choose the catfish business because it's so demanding day in and day out," Ben said. Ganesh Kumar, a Mississippi State University aquaculture economist in Stoneville with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, said catfish farming is tough physically as well as mentally and financially. The Pentecost Brothers story can be viewed as one of four stories in the second season of the miniseries, "On the Farm," produced by the MSU Television Center. Each film tells the story of an agricultural worker navigating industry and personal challenges. The films also spotlight resources and organizations that can assist producers in crisis and feature specialists from MSU in agricultural economics, family science and clinical psychology. These specialists connect the lived experiences of the farmers to scientific literature on rural and agricultural lifestyles. |
| Starkville Main Street Association earns statewide honors | |
 | The Starkville Main Street Association achieved significant recognition during the 2024 Mississippi Main Street Annual Awards Ceremony, securing four esteemed honors that underscored the organization's dedication to community revitalization and creative event planning. For the second consecutive year, the association earned a coveted spot in the Mississippi Main Street Association's Circle of Excellence, a testament to its consistent excellence in fostering downtown and economic growth. In addition, the association secured the award for Outstanding Creative Fundraising, specifically highlighted for its innovative Starkville Pet Mayor election. "We're thrilled to receive these awards," said Paige Watson, Director of the Starkville Main Street Association, who accepted the awards on behalf of the organization. Further adding to the evening's success, the Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center garnered recognition for its Cowbells and Paint Pails public arts project, which aimed to enhance pedestrian safety and community pride between downtown Starkville and Mississippi State University. |
| Highway 182/MLK corridor in Starkville gets more than $20M grant | |
 | For years, it was one of the main highways through Starkville. But U.S. Highway 82 now winds north of the city, leaving the original road, Highway 182, in need of attention. A project to revitalize the 182/MLK corridor got a big boost on Friday. According to Senator Roger Wicker's office, a grant of more than $20 million was awarded to the city of Starkville to complete construction. The project will reconstruct the eastern end of the corridor from Old West Point to Jackson Street, complete a portion of the streetscape on the western end from Henderson to Long Street, and install pedestrian lighting and street trees for the entire length of the project area. The first phase of the project began in 2019 with a nearly $13 million BUILD grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. That money was earmarked for stormwater drainage, improving infrastructure, and making the street more accessible to pedestrians and wheelchair access. |
| 4 teenagers charged with breaking into vehicles in Starkville | |
 | Four teenagers have been arrested after allegedly breaking into vehicles in Starkville. Starkville Police say the burglaries took place in The Pines Manufactured Home and RV Community on Louisville Street around 1:45 a.m. Shy Pittman, 18, of Starkville, Montrikius Idom, 18, of Louisville, Jermarium Yates, 19, of Louisville, and another unnamed 16-year-old were arrested after police set up a perimeter to catch the suspects. Pittman has been charged with possession of a stolen firearm, eight counts of auto burglaries, possession of a controlled substance, and disorderly conduct. Idom has been charged with possession of a stolen firearm, and eight counts of auto burglaries. Yates has been charged with eight counts of auto burglaries. The 16-year-old has been charged with eight counts of auto burglaries and curfew violation. The two firearms that were recovered were reported stolen out of Louisville, according to police. |
| Ask The Dispatch: Your questions answered about progress at Columbus Place | |
 | For more than 50 years, the giant building at 1404 Old Aberdeen Road has been a mall. But how that mall has looked has changed drastically over the past few years. Georgia-based Hull Property Group purchased the mall in October 2019 through an online auction for $3.5 million. In 2023, the group changed the mall's name from Leigh Mall to Columbus Place, indicating new things to come. Hull Property Group Vice President of Government Relations John Mulherin said renovations designed to flip the mall "inside-out" are almost complete. "We're still very bullish on the community and the market and look forward to great things," Mulherin said. "Once we finish all of this work, it's going to be a shopping experience that not only the people of Columbus, but the people of the region can be proud of." While the majority of the mall's remodel is complete, Mulherin said there are still a few changes on the docket. "The next step there on the interior will be a full interior remodel, which will include additional lighting and carpeting," Mulherin said. "On the exterior, we need to finish the work out front first, but we're going to redo the entire parking lot." Parking lot improvements will include an asphalt overlay, a restriped parking lot and improved lighting in the parking lot. |
| Traveling Northeast Mississippi's doughburger trail | |
 | On a typical day, Johnnie's Drive-In serves up some 400 doughburgers. Many of those burgers go to fans of Tupelo native Elvis Presley, who ate at Johnnie's as a child. The booth he frequented is still in use today. "Everybody who's into Elvis is going to want the doughburger," said restaurant co-owner Christi White. But what exactly is a doughburger? Doughburgers are originally products of the Great Depression, when cooks would stretch their pennies by mixing extenders like flour, potato flakes, corn meal or grits into ground beef or pork. The cooks would shape this combination into patties, fry them and then serve them on white buns with pickles, mustard and onions. A culinary creation of the South, doughburgers have picked up a slew of colloquial names over the decades, including fillerburgers, cerealburgers and, most commonly, slugburgers, a name that referenced their cost -- a nickel, or a "slug" -- at the time. Also, some say that it was John Weeks who created the slugburger in Corinth, tying the city to the dish. Each year, the city hosts a festival celebrating the slugburger, drawing thousands of fans to the area. But is there a difference between a doughburger and slugburger? Well, that depends on who you ask. |
| National Military Park to commemorate surrender of Vicksburg | |
| Beginning Friday, July 5, and running through Sunday, July 7, Vicksburg National Military Park and Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign are hosting special program and reenactment commemorating the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4th, 1863. The anniversary marks 161 years since the event took place. "These free, engaging programs include Civil War rifled musket demonstrations, an immersive first-person discussion by (actors as) Generals Grant and Pemberton, and exploring the life of a soldier with Douglas the Camel," park officials said. "All programming will be weather dependent." Co-Sponsored by the Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park & Campaign, and includes: The Last 24-Hours: Grant and Pemberton Tell All Ulysses S. Grant and John C. Pemberton (performed by Curt Fields and Morgan Gates) meet again as they discuss the experiences they faced during the Vicksburg Campaign. |
| Mississippi Coast Chamber holds Hurricane Preparedness Seminar to prepare for major storms | |
 | How to get ready for a major storm was a topic of discussion for community members in Harrison County at the Hurricane Preparedness Seminar in Gulfport. Harrison County Emergency Management Director Matt Stratton was a keynote speaker at the seminar providing helpful ways to prepare for a storm like packing snacks, batteries, and flashlights. He also spoke about coordination with various agencies. Private sector agencies like Mississippi Power said they are always storm-ready. "Our storm team has met, our storm directors have met, and we've reviewed our plans," Griffith said. "So, at this point, we are ready to handle what Mother Nature may throw our way." Kaila Griffith is a spokeswoman for Mississippi Power and said it's all due to what they've learned from other storms. "It's about making our systems as reliable and strong as they can be. It's talking with our sister companies and partners to see what they're doing and what their plans are," Griffith said. Also, it's about helping out other areas who may be in recovery mode. "Just because you haven't seen a storm here on the Gulf Coast doesn't mean our linemen are not working storms across the United States, really. So, they've gone to Louisiana, Florida, they've gone up north. So, they are very storm tested and very experienced and ready to handle whatever may come our way," Griffith said. |
| TVA Names New Leader For Browns Ferry Nuclear Site | |
| The Tennessee Valley Authority has named Daniel Komm as the new site vice president for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Al., effective June 27. Current Browns Ferry Site Vice President Manu Sivaraman will return to the Chattanooga office and take on an enterprise-wide project in Human Resources. "Daniel brings operationally focused leadership from both his previous leadership roles at Browns Ferry as well as his experience as plant manager at other nuclear facilities," said Tim Rausch, TVA's chief nuclear officer. Mr. Komm most recently served as plant manager at Browns Ferry. He joined TVA in 2021 when he served as the assistant plant manager at Browns Ferry. He joined the TVA Nuclear Fleet Center in 2022 as general manager, Operations Support, before returning to Browns Ferry as plant manager. Mr. Komm has led three stations as plant manager from 2018 to 2020 including Vogtle, Farley and Hatch. He earned his Senior Reactor Operator License at Hatch. He holds a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from Mississippi State University. |
| 22 of the Best Pizza Places in the United States | |
 | Pizza in America has never been better. The wood-fire Neapolitan pizzerias that took off in the early 2000s, and have been spreading ever since, taught Americans to ask more of a dish they already loved. The ensuing craft pizza renaissance is a rare culinary convergence: born of metropolitan chef culture but not confined to big cities. There are great pizzerias virtually everywhere in the United States, from small New England towns to the Mississippi Delta to rural Iowa to Los Angeles to Alaska. And they're being opened by chefs from an unusually wide array of backgrounds. The result is a dish that has become a cooking style of its own, channeling a seemingly limitless number of cultures and ideas. The following list is a road map to a uniquely American phenomenon -- and evidence, perhaps, that the country is home to the world's best pizza, including Leña Pizza & Bagel in Cleveland. The pizza at Leña collapses the distance between Naples, Italy, where Marisol Doyle, the restaurant's chef and co-owner, studied pizza making; the Mississippi Delta, her adopted home; and Sonora, Mexico, where she was born and raised. Leña is reminiscent of many urban trattorias, except that it sits in a storefront on a small-town main street called Cotton Row. |
| Runoff elections in Mississippi moved back a week | |
| Runoff elections in Mississippi will now be four weeks after the initial Election Day instead of three. SB 2144, authored by State Senator Jeremy England (R), passed during the 2024 session changing the runoff period. The legislation, which went to conference, passed the House by a vote of 118-1 and the Senate 50-1. Governor Tate Reeves (R) signed the bill, with an effective date of July 1. Senator England told Magnolia Tribune on Monday that the main reason for moving the runoff elections from three weeks to four was to give Circuit Clerks and election officials more time to properly prepare for a runoff. "In Mississippi, results must be certified within 10 days after Election Day, which then leaves only 11 days remaining prior to the runoff," England explained. "Clerks' offices also have to open for two Saturdays before an election. This has always been a difficult time crunch, but it was made even more so with the move to paper ballots." He said the issue of moving runoff elections back a week was requested by many of the people who handle elections in the state, including the Secretary of State's office and the associations for the County Circuit Clerks and Election Commissioners. "The only pushback I received was from candidates," England said. "Their concern was that the seven additional days will add more to campaign expenses – and it will also extend the time by which voters must be engaged." |
| Debate in Atlanta Puts Spotlight on Georgia, Where Trump Has the Edge | |
 | Republican operatives here are betting Georgia's popular governor and his stewardship of the state's robust economy will help former President Donald Trump undercut President Biden's significant early investments in the state. The Democratic incumbent and his Republican rival will both be in the Georgia capital for the first presidential debate Thursday, putting a spotlight on the battle for the relatively new swing state and Trump's early polling advantage. Both campaigns say their ground-game operations will make the difference come November. But perhaps the biggest wild card is the involvement of Gov. Brian Kemp, whom Trump has made an enemy for not going along with his baseless claims of a stolen election in 2020. "I am not too worried about things that happened in the rearview mirror," Kemp said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, adding that he planned to work hard for Republican candidates "including the top of the ticket." Polling shows Trump leading in Georgia as voters expressed dissatisfaction with Biden on a range of issues, such as immigration and inflation. A Quinnipiac University poll, conducted between May 30 and June 3, showed Trump leading Biden 49% to 44%. Republican strategists think that Trump's path to victory would get easier if he embraced Kemp. They cite Kemp's popularity, the state's strong economy, and the governor having overseen the largest state income-tax cut in Georgia's history. |
| Trump, Gov. Youngkin to appear together for the first time in Va. rally | |
 | Donald Trump and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin will appear in public together for the first time this week as the former president campaigns in Virginia, a blue-trending state that has twice rejected Trump but could be in play this year. With a rally planned for Friday afternoon in Chesapeake, Trump will showcase an apparent shift in his relationship with the governor as much as with ordinary voters in Virginia, where two recent polls show the race for president tied. Trump and the governor have run hot and cold on each other since Youngkin entered politics three years ago, with relations particularly strained as Youngkin aggressively flirted with a presidential bid of his own. But now both see an upside to locking arms. The pair met privately for the first time just two weeks ago. Youngkin opted out of previous chances to meet. When Trump led a rally in Richmond on the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries in March, Youngkin said he had a conflict and showed up instead at the University of Virginia-Duke basketball game in Durham, N.C. Youngkin, citing another conflict, skipped a rally organized on behalf of his own campaign in October 2021, which Trump phoned into and his former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon headlined. Though independent political analysts and even Republican strategists don't rate Virginia a top-tier swing state, Trump and Youngkin have declared the commonwealth in play. What's more, Youngkin allies credit the governor with making Virginia competitive with his "common sense conservative" policies in education, public safety and cost of living. |
| US surgeon general declares gun violence a public health emergency | |
 | The U.S. surgeon general on Tuesday declared gun violence a public health crisis, driven by the fast-growing number of injuries and deaths involving firearms in the country. The advisory issued by Dr. Vivek Murthy, the nation's top doctor, came as the U.S. grappled with another summer weekend marked by mass shootings that left dozens of people dead or wounded. "People want to be able to walk through their neighborhoods and be safe," Murthy told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "America should be a place where all of us can go to school, go to work, go to the supermarket, go to our house of worship, without having to worry that that's going to put our life at risk." To drive down gun deaths, Murthy calls on the U.S. to ban automatic rifles, introduce universal background checks for purchasing guns, regulate the industry, pass laws that would restrict their use in public spaces and penalize people who fail to safely store their weapons. None of those suggestions can be implemented nationwide without legislation passed by Congress, which typically recoils at gun control measures. Some state legislatures, however, have enacted or may consider some of the surgeon general's proposals. His advisory promises to be controversial and will certainly incense Republican lawmakers, most of whom opposed Murthy's confirmation -- twice -- to the job over his statements on gun violence. |
| JSU kicks off groundbreaking loan assistance program to fix urgent teacher shortage | |
 | Jackson State University announced it is the first historically Black college and university to implement a student loan repayment program aimed at fixing the state's teacher shortage. The new Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) offers students with a post-graduation income below $45,000 help paying off federal, private and parent PLUS student loans. "Our goal is to alleviate the financial burdens of our students, particularly teacher education students, enabling them to focus on their careers without the worry of student loan debt," said Kylon Alford-Windfield, Jackson State's Vice President of Enrollment Management in JSU's press release. "We are proud to lead the way in providing practical, impactful support for our students' futures." Select incoming freshmen and all freshmen teacher education majors will be eligible for the program at no cost. In 1940, Mississippi designated JSU as a campus focused on teacher training. Since then, the school has produced 67% of Black educators in Jackson. Mississippi has experienced an uptick in teacher shortages in the past year, particularly in the northwest and central parts of the state. For the 2023-2024 school year, the Mississippi Department of Education reported 5,012 vacancies for teachers, staff and administrators across the state, up from the 4,988 vacancies reported for the 2022-2023 school year. |
| New Millsaps College president Frank Neville addresses future, announces projects | |
 | Frank Neville took over as Millsaps College's 12th president this past week with his eyes wide open about the challenges facing the school. However, he is also bullish about where he sees the school going in the near future. In a sit-down interview with the Clarion Ledger, he addressed some of those issues and broke some news about two projects coming in the near future. The private liberal arts school in midtown Jackson has struggled in recent years with enrollment. Millsaps has seen enrollment numbers drop from a high of around 1,200 students in the 1900s to 850 in 2019. In the fall of 2023, there were around 160 freshmen that enrolled, and according to U.S. News data, Millsaps had 637 undergraduate students as of 2022. In the wake of the much-publicized financial crises faced by Birmingham-Southern College, which shut its doors at the end of this semester, enrollment at small, liberal arts schools has come under more scrutiny. Neville said he doesn't see a Birmingham-Southern situation on the horizon and said the financial situation for Millsaps is very good. Neville said that Millsaps, as an entity, should be provide a leadership role for the City of Jackson and for the State of Mississippi and that he intends to push that line of thinking in the near future as well as a long-term priority. "All you really have to do is to look at where we are situated in Jackson," he said. "We are sitting between two significant medical facilities, and we should do a better job of having partnerships with them and taking advantage of that. We have to do a better job of that." |
| PRCC Aviation Academy set to open in August | |
| Major improvements are coming for college students in Hancock County as construction on the Pearl River Community College Aviation & Aerospace Academy is close to being completed. Located near Stennis International Airport and Hancock High School, the Academy has become a reality thanks to funding from the Department of Economic Development Administration, Gulf Coast Restoration Funds, the BP RESTORE Act grant, and local investments. This 25,000-square-foot facility has multiple classrooms and labs, an outdoor courtyard for student events, plus an 18,000-square-foot hangar featuring more classrooms with hands-on lab stations and simulations. Dr. Raymunda Barnes, Vice President of Pearl River Community College said they started this expansion to give students in the area the best resources for higher education. "Being able to have access to higher education is something that Hancock County has never really had to this capacity. So being able to offer them access to higher education without leaving home, they can get everything at a one-stop shop here at Pearl River Community College," Dr. Barnes said. The new facility will have academic courses, adult education, career and technical education programs, and workforce training on-site. |
| New Mississippi law makes ASL a foreign language credit | |
| American Sign Language will count as a foreign language credit in Mississippi high schools, under a law that goes into effect July 1. The force behind Senate Bill 2339 is Pearl River County high school teacher Miranda Loveless. Loveless teaches art and ASL at Pearl River Central High School. She fell in love with ASL as a teenager, which led her to becoming a special education teacher. "My hope for this new curriculum is not just for our students whether they are hearing, hard of hearing, or deaf. My hope is that we can grow as a community to accept everyone no matter their hearing abilities," she said. The new law calls for the state Board of Education to develop a curriculum related to the study of sign language and for any such class to count as an academic credit for a foreign language to meet high school graduation requirements. Loveless got the idea for the bill after learning that there'd never been an effort in the Legislature to make ASL a foreign language in Mississippi schools. She reached out to state Sen. Angela Hill, R-Picayune, through the lawmaker's grandson, who took one of Loveless' sign language classes. Hill said the law can incentivize hearing people to become translators. "The hope is that more young people will learn to communicate sign language and lead to potential careers in the field as translators for the hearing impaired," she said in an email. There is a larger problem of children with disabilities lacking sufficient accommodations in Mississippi schools. Chauncey Spears, whose daughter is deaf, says the new law will help deaf students who use ASL as their first language. |
| Louisiana is sued over new law requiring public schools to post Ten Commandments | |
 | A group of Louisiana parents of different faiths filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging Louisiana's new law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments, setting up a legal battle that could have far-reaching implications for students' rights and religious freedom. Gov. Jeff Landry signed the law last week, making Louisiana the only state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public K-12 school and college classroom. He has welcomed a legal fight over the law, telling fellow Republicans at a recent fundraiser, "I can't wait to be sued." The lawsuit alleges that the mandate runs roughshod over the U.S. Constitution, violating students' right to be free from religious coercion in public school and parents' right to direct their children's upbringing. It also alleges that the law ignores a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a Kentucky law requiring schools to post the Ten Commandments. "This new law doesn't just interfere with my and my children's religious freedom, it tramples on it," said Rev. Jeff Simms, a Presbyterian (U.S.A.) minister whose children attend public schools in St. Tammany Parish. "The separation of church and state means that families get to decide if, when and how their children should be introduced to religious Scripture and texts, not the state." The plaintiffs, all of whom have children in Louisiana public schools, identify as Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist and non-religious. |
| Randy Boyd gets five more years as U. of Tennessee president. His priorities: More students and housing | |
 | Randy Boyd will add five more years to his tenure as the University of Tennessee System president, with plans to grow enrollment to record numbers while also addressing challenges related to the student housing supply. While the priorities might seem counterintuitive -- growing population when housing is already hard enough -- Boyd is not shying away from the challenge to ensure the 2020s are the "greatest decade in the history of the university." "It's the honor of my life to be able to serve in this role," Boyd said. "I'm a big believer in the word serendipity. Great things that happen to you that are unexpected, things that are better than you had planned. I never really expected to be in this role. The day that I said I would be willing to serve as the interim (president), that morning I woke up not ever thinking I would be the president of a university, let alone my alma mater, let alone the university that's the land grant of the state that I love. "So to be able to get this opportunity to serve both my university and my state all at the same time is the greatest blessing I've ever had," he said. With a unanimous vote by the UT System Board of Trustees at its annual meeting June 24, Boyd's role was extended through June 2030, five years on top of his existing agreement. He has held this position since 2018 and will once again not accept a salary (just a $10,000 stipend to cover health insurance costs). |
| U. of Florida concrete canoe team wins fourth national title | |
 | The University of Florida's concrete canoe team has claimed its fourth national title. The 12-member team and its Springseeker concrete canoe placed first overall Saturday at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Engineering Championships in Utah. UF led the top five, followed by Universite Laval (Quebec), California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, Virginia Tech and Western Kentucky University. UF's concrete canoe team also won ASCE's virtual competition nationals in 2021 with Polligator. UF's canoe Foreverglades took top honors in 2015, while the Tom Petty-themed Free Floatin' won the title in 2019. The championship comes several weeks after UF's Eckhoff Steel Bridge team made history by claiming its fourth consecutive title at Louisiana Tech University. The civil engineering teams (concrete canoe and steel bridge) share space in The Pit, a large industrial space in Weil Hall. The championship canoes Foreverglades and Free Floatin' hang from The Pit's ceiling. The canoes are made from thin layers of concrete and carbon fiber. The team must balance the weight of construction materials with performance in the water and turning agility. "We test the limits of the materials," said Taylor Rawlinson, the team's laboratory manager with faculty advisor Robert Thieke. Known as America's Cup of Civil Engineering, the ASCE competition combines precise engineering, hydrodynamic design and racing technique. |
| Texas A&M continues to create semiconductor infrastructure with new programs | |
 | The Texas Semiconductor Summit, which took place at Texas A&M University from Oct. 4 – 5 , 2023, brought together industry experts, university leaders and government officials to talk about strategies for overcoming the global chip shortage and making sure Texas remains a leader in semiconductor research and development. Texas A&M University officials have continued to create a larger infrastructure for semiconductor studies this spring as state and nation leaders and other industry entities continue to create the field's infrastructure at-large. In April, A&M's College of Engineering announced its Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will offer three semiconductor-related certificate programs starting this fall and a Master of Science program focused on microelectronics and semiconductors starting in fall 2025. The certificates are for digital integrated circuit design, semiconductor manufacturing and electromagnetic fields and microwave circuit design. The master's program in microelectronics and semiconductors is still pending approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and authorization from A&M. University officials said the development of this program is being made possible by a $1 million donation Samsung made to A&M last September to help build a workforce pipeline from Aggieland to the Austin area for the burgeoning semiconductor industry. The creation of these programs and certificates comes amid a continued strong push for domestic semiconductor production. |
| 'SportsCenter' anchor John Anderson to join U. of Missouri faculty | |
 | Acclaimed sportscaster John Anderson shared his future plans Monday, ahead of his final episode as host of ESPN's "SportsCenter." The Missouri School of Journalism announced it has hired Anderson as the school's Endowed Chair in Radio and Television Journalism on Monday. Anderson graduated from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Journalism in 1987 and will officially retire from ESPN during his last show Friday. He will assume the new faculty role in January 2025, while maintaining some track and field broadcast assignments for the network. "John has kept fans and aspiring sports journalists in the know for more than two decades," Dean David Kurpius said in a news release. "I'm so excited that he has chosen to bring that experience back to his alma mater for the benefit of new generations of students." The Emmy award-winning journalist reported at KOMU 8 during his time at MU, and spent 12 years in local news before starting his 25-year run at ESPN. He was also known for hosting the reality game show Wipeout from 2008 to 2014. |
| US needs Chinese students in humanities, Indian students for sciences, US diplomat says | |
| The U.S. should welcome more students from China, but to study the humanities rather than sciences, the second-ranked U.S. diplomat said on Monday, noting that U.S. universities are limiting Chinese students' access to sensitive technology given security concerns. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said not enough Americans were studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics. He said the U.S. needed to recruit more international students for those fields, but from India -- an increasingly important U.S. security partner -- not China. For years, Chinese students have made up the largest foreign student body in the U.S. and totaled nearly 290,000 in the 2022/23 academic year. But some in academia and civil society argue that deteriorating U.S.-China relations and concerns about theft of U.S. expertise, have derailed scientific cooperation and subjected Chinese students to unwarranted suspicion "I would like to see more Chinese students coming to the United States to study humanities and social sciences, not particle physics," Campbell told the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank. Campbell said some had suggested that China was the only source to make up the shortage of science students "I believe that the largest increase that we need to see going forward would be much larger numbers of Indian students that come to study in American universities on a range of technology and other fields." |
| FAFSA Fiasco Pushes States to Mandate Universal Completion | |
 | This year's rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid was, by almost all accounts, a fiasco. What was supposed to be a simpler form made the process more complicated for many. The new form was riddled with technical glitches and calculation errors, and delays left students and colleges in limbo, waiting for the need-based scholarship awards to come through. Experts warned that steep declines in college going could ensue. But out of the overall mess has come an unexpected victory for college access advocates: increased momentum for state legislation on FAFSA completion. Such bills, often known as universal FAFSA policies, require students to complete the federal aid form in order to graduate from high school. The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) and local nonprofits across the country have been pushing state lawmakers to mandate FAFSA completion for more than a decade, on the theory that it encourages more students to enroll and attain a postsecondary credential. As of this spring, 15 states had passed some kind of universal FAFSA policy; eight were in effect this past academic year. Recent NCAN data, combined with case studies from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO), show that many of those states had the highest completion rates -- and lowest year-over-year dips -- despite this year's bungled rollout. |
| Can Shaun Harper Save DEI? | |
 | March 7, spoiling for a fight. It was the first day of the 17th annual African American Male Student Success Summit, something of a homecoming for Harper, whose career as a researcher and advocate has focused on better educational outcomes for Black men. Harper, 48, was getting ready to deliver remarks at a panel discussion, but on C-SPAN that morning, he could see trouble brewing 2,600 miles away. Just as the sun was peeking over the horizon in Los Angeles, Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) was gavelling to order a hearing in Washington before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The title? "Divisive, Excessive, Ineffective: The Real Impact of DEI on College Campuses." Harper started to get angry. The key argument of his research -- that deficits in college achievement among Black men were not personal failures but could be laid at the feet of administrators who gave them insufficient support -- helped usher in the DEI movement. In the 20-plus years since he began his work, the movement has become a powerful force in higher education. Central to its mission of building inclusive campuses has been providing college employees and students training to confront implicit bias and, in Harper's estimation, begin to unwind years of ingrained prejudice. "When people go into our democracy and do racist, homophobic things, colleges and universities are partially responsible for that," Harper says. "If we don't teach about race and racism and inequality, we leave them terribly underprepared to confront those issues and address them -- and, in fact, they are complicit in perpetuating those issues." |
| Missouri, Kansas judges temporarily halt much of President Biden's student debt forgiveness plan | |
| Federal judges in Kansas and Missouri on Monday together blocked much of a Biden administration student loan repayment plan that provides a faster path to cancellation and lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers. The judges' rulings prevent the U.S. Department of Education from helping many of the intended borrowers ease their loan repayment burdens going forward under a rule set to go into effect July 1. The decisions do not cancel assistance already provided to borrowers. In Kansas, U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled in a lawsuit filed by the state's attorney general, Kris Kobach, on behalf of his state and 10 others. In his ruling, Crabtree allowed parts of the program that allow students who borrowed $12,000 or less to have the rest of their loans forgiven if they make 10 years' worth of payments, instead of the standard 25. But Crabtree said that the Department of Education won't be allowed to implement parts of the program meant to help students who had larger loans and could have their monthly payments lowered and their required payment period reduced from 25 years to 20 years. In Missouri, U.S. District Judge John Ross' order applies to different parts of the program than Crabtree's. His order says that the U.S. Department of Education cannot forgive loan balances going forward. He said the department still could lower monthly payments. |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs past and present eyeing Summer Olympics | |
| Several MSU track and field alumni will be competing over the next week for a place in the 2024 Team USA. Erica Bougard, Sarah Blake, Cameron Crump, Curtis Thompson and Tiffany Flynn began their competitions over the weekend. Bougard and Thompson both made their Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, with Bougard competing in the heptathlon and Thompson in the javelin. Bougard is one of the most-decorated Bulldogs ever with 16 All-America honors and two USATF heptathlon championships. Thompson is a three-time USATF champion as well, winning in 2018, 2021 and 2023. Flynn missed out on the 2020 games and is hoping to make the cut this time around. The Bulldogs aren't short of international competitors either. World Champion runner Marco Arop is competing for a spot on Team Canada this week. He currently ranks No. 1 in the world for the 800m event, for which he holds the indoor and outdoor Canadian records and won the 2023 World Championship. Navasky Anderson and Tyrese Reid will compete to join Team Jamaica, with Reid making his Olympic trials debut after earning second in the 2024 SEC Indoor Championships. MSU javelin duo Franck Di Sanza and Remi Rougetet are hoping to make it to Paris as well, though they'll be competing against each other if they do. Di Sanza will compete for Team Switzerland and Rougetet for Team France. Marta Pen Frietas will compete for a spot on Team Portugal at the end of the week. |
| Mississippi State track NCAA javelin champion Curtis Thompson qualifies for 2024 Paris Olympics | |
| Curtis Thompson has earned a trip to Paris. Thompson, a former Mississippi State track and field athlete and a Florence High School grad, placed first in the javelin with a throw of 272 feet, 5 inches at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, on Monday and qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Thompson will be making his second appearance in the Olympics after representing the United States in the 2020 Tokyo Games, where he placed 22nd in 2021. "(I feel) really good," Thompson told media after qualification. "I was in a little slump at first then was able to kind of get out of that at the right time. So I just trusted the team, making sure I trusted what they were saying, and we trusted the process and was confident about it." Thompson's distance is the second-best in meet history, and he is only the second athlete to win consecutive U.S. Trials javelin titles. Thompson, 28, has won three national javelin titles, including an NCAA title for MSU in 2016 and the 2018 USA Track and Field Championship. The 2024 Paris Games are scheduled to begin July 26 and run through Aug. 11. |
| New Orleans Saints All-Pro Safety Starts The 'Mental Mindset Initiative' To Tackle Mental Health Issues | |
| Saints All-Pro/Pro Bowl Safety JT Gray has announced the creation of his mental health initiative, Mental Mindset. A fundraising campaign for mental health services in the three cities that have been significant in JT's life: his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, and Starkville, Mississippi, where he attended Mississippi State University, and New Orleans, Louisiana. "I know that everybody goes through something at some point in their life, and there should always be a helping hand," JT said. JT was inspired to start the initiative after seeing people in his community struggling with mental health issues and unable to get the care they need. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that nearly 50% of Mississippians and Louisianans who needed mental health care but did not receive it cited cost as the reason. The hope is that Mental Mindset will help normalize seeking mental health care, especially in rural communities. Therapy sessions and crowdfunding are organized through Fund Recovery, a non-profit organization that provides scholarships for mental health and addiction services to those who cannot afford them. |
| CWD management zones set. Here's what deer hunters need to know | |
| The number of cases of chronic wasting disease is growing in Mississippi and so are the CWD management zones. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks has set the CWD management zone boundaries for 2024-25 and is asking for hunters' help in managing the disease, which is always fatal for deer. "We have a total at 317 positives in 16 different counties," said Russ Walsh, MDWFP Wildlife chief of staff. "We had 110 positives for the 2023-24 sampling season which runs from July 1 to June 30, so we're almost at the end of the season. That was out of 9,002 samples." The neurological disease was first detected in Mississippi in 2018 and detection of new cases is rapidly increasing. The 110 cases found in the 2023-24 sampling year represents more than a third of the total number of cases found since 2018. Walsh said a part of the reason for the increase is more bucks are being tested and they tend to have a higher rate of infection than does. The other reason is prevalence of the disease appears to be increasing. Statewide, the prevalence went from 0.2% in 2018-19 to 1.2% in 2023-24. In Benton County, the hardest hit by the disease, the prevalence rose from 5.7% in 2018-19 to 20% in 2023-24. In other words, one in every five deer tested in Benton County is positive. |
| EMCC to add women's golf in upcoming year | |
 | East Mississippi Community College plans to introduce women's golf to its athletics programs during the upcoming academic year, the college announced last week. The addition of the program is being made possible with assistance from the NJCAA Foundation. As was supplied two years ago during the reinstatement of the EMCC men's and women's soccer programs on the Scooba campus, the NJCAA's Sport Opportunity Grant will provide $2,000 to assist in the introduction of EMCC's women's golf program. EMCC is set to join Northwest Mississippi and Pearl River community colleges as the first three Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference members to compete in women's golf this coming fall semester. "We are very grateful to the NJCAA Foundation for this Sport Opportunity Grant, as women's golf is really growing worldwide in popularity," EMCC President Scott Alsobrooks said. "We're very proud of Ashton (Maddaloni) for the job she has done with our men's golf program, and I'm equally excited to see how our women's program develops and competes under her leadership." EMCC Director of Athletics Sharon Thompson said adding the new women's golf program will allow student athletes to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level. |
| College Football Playoff first-round games vs. NFL Week 16 shaping up to be TV's biggest heavyweight fight | |
| No sport in America has more drawing power than the NFL, and though the behemoth has usually strayed away from competing against college football for television viewership, a pivotal showdown in December may awaken a collaborative partnership or spark a new war for ratings and dollars. The long-awaited expansion of the College Football Playoff this fall sets the stage for the first-of-its-kind battle on a Saturday afternoon in late December, with games of consequence in both the college and professional leagues scheduled for head-to-head competition on major national television networks: two first-round CFP games on TNT against two NFL matchups on Fox and NBC. The scheduling decisions by the CFP and NFL on the third Saturday in December are not as much a gamble as it is a litmus test as they forge a new working relationship while balancing cooperation and competition. "Our playoffs are going to be wildly successful," CFP board chairman Mark Keenum told CBS Sports. "The fans are going to be excited about this new format, the on-campus games are going to be very exciting. It's going to be a whole new exciting era of football." |
| Texas A&M's Jim Schlossnagle calls question about Texas job after CWS loss 'unfair' | |
| After leading Texas A&M to the College World Series finals and coming up short against Tennessee on Monday night, Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle bristled at being linked to the head coaching vacancy at rival Texas. Following the Aggies' 6-5 loss at Charles Schwab Field in a tiebreaker game that could've secured the first national championship in program history, Schlossnagle was asked to address the Texas job that opened Monday and his future in College Station. "I think it's pretty selfish of you to ask me that question, to be honest with you," Schlossnagle said. "I left my family to be the coach at Texas A&M. I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again. And that hasn't changed, in my mind. That's unfair to talk about something like that. ... I understand you gotta ask the question, but I gave up a big part of my life to come take this job and I've poured every ounce of my soul in this job and I've given this job every single ounce I can possibly give it. Write that." Texas fired coach David Pierce on Monday after the Longhorns went 36-24 this season and were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament with two losses in the Bryan-College Station Regional, including a 4-2 loss to the Aggies in 11 innings. The Longhorns are the winningest program in college baseball with six national titles but are moving into a loaded SEC that has produced five consecutive national champions. |
| Longhorn Network to get rebrand amid Texas' move to SEC | |
| The Univ. of Texas is set to unveil a new-look version of the Longhorn Network today that will rebrand the school's in-house television venture as a free streaming platform. The idea of this version of Longhorn Network, which will launch officially on July 1, percolated amid the process of Texas shifting from the Big 12 to the SEC. LHN was a novel concept at inception in 2011, but the SEC's television deal with ESPN entailed it be phased out amid the conference change since SEC Network will broadcast the live games while LHN will house original content, live coaches shows and other historic footage and content. Fans will also be able to follow along play-by-play radio audio and live football statcast, among other fixtures. Endeavor Streaming, which has been used as a back-end technology for streaming efforts by European soccer giants, presented a baseline operating platform in which a new-look LHN could run. Learfield Studios, meanwhile, will help staff the venture with four full-time employees that will work in conjunction with Texas' in-house creative team to develop branded content for Longhorn fans. Learfield will also handle advertising and sponsorship sales. "About 40% of people get their content through streaming," said Texas AD Chris Del Conte. "Having that available and having shoulder programming around all of our games, the ability to show coaches shows, replays, everything that's within the new, exciting move to the SEC, putting that on a streaming platform was just something we really felt passionate about." |
| The murky future of college sports: Q&A with U. of South Carolina president Michael Amiridis | |
 | A few weeks ago, inside of a Hilton conference room in Miramar Beach, Florida, all 16 Southeastern Conference presidents and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey gathered, all trying to chart a path forward. The presidents weren't drawing up a new institution. This was not the 21st-century Continental Congress, forming a new nation as kids in in swim trunks and sandals galloped to the beach. But it was the most powerful people in the most powerful conference in college athletics understanding what their world might soon look like and attempting to get on the same page about what they do and not want included in that new world. Top of the discussion was the looming $2.75 billion settlement stemming from the House v. NCAA class-action lawsuit. It has not been completely settled, but the actions of many conferences indicate it will go through. What we know is that it would open the door for schools to directly pay its student-athletes -- approximately up to $22 million annually -- and it introduces a whole host of other questions that no one seems to have an answer for. The list of unknowns goes on and on. But after the final day of the SEC meetings, The State spoke with South Carolina president Michael Amiridis to try and understand how the changes in college athletics will impact South Carolina. |
| How a trying year at Iowa State prepared Mizzou AD Laird Veatch for college sports' unpredictability | |
| In January 2003, a party full of college students in Columbia became a headache for Laird Veatch. The current Missouri athletics director was, at the time, an associate athletic director at Iowa State. After his football career at Kansas State and the start of his sports administration experience at Mizzou, Veatch had moved north for a tough-to-pass-up opportunity. And then the scandal set in. That party, which took place the night after the Tigers beat the Cyclones' men's basketball team, featured a prominent and problematic guest: Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy. Photos of him at the party circulated the morning after. They're dismissed as a coach posing for pictures with fans. A couple of months later, more images emerge -- this time, of Eustachy kissing women at that party. After The Des Moines Register reported on the incident, Eustachy told reporters at an April 30, 2003, news conference that he was an alcoholic and receiving treatment but would not leave his coaching post. But within a week, he had been suspended and agreed to resign for a cash settlement. It was a trying time for Veatch "It was hard because I was really young," he said on an episode of the "Mizzou Storytellers" podcast, "and I was going into a job that I wasn't really quite prepared for. ... For a young administrator to be in the middle of that and some other things that went on there was really difficult." "The experience I had at Iowa State made me kind of think, 'I don't know if I want to be in the head chair,'" Veatch said. Of course, he did wind up an athletics director after all, some 16 years later at Memphis and now at Missouri. But that turbulent year at Iowa State still impacts the way Veatch handles business in an athletics department. "I probably learned more in that year than in any others," he said. |
| Division I Council to vote on unlimited college football coaching staff size | |
| As the college athletics model undergoes massive change with revenue sharing on the horizon, the NCAA Division I Council could expand college football coaching staffs this week. As part of its annual meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday this week in Indianapolis, the 40-person council from all 32 conferences will vote on a legislative proposal that would expand the role of support staff. Specifically, all staff members would be allowed to provide technical and tactical instruction to athletes during practice and games. In the college football world, the expectation is the vote will pass. But some are holding their breath after the council initially rejected the move in the spring of 2023. The move would remove the current rules that allow just 11 coaches (head coach and 10 assistants) to instruct athletes. "In football, any institutional staff member may provide technical and tactical instruction to student-athletes," the proposal states. "An institution may not make arrangements with an individual outside the institution (e.g., consultant, professional instructor) to provide technical or tactical instruction to student-athletes." The guidelines would keep the number of off-campus recruits to 11, including head coaches. FCS would be able to have 12 assistants recruit off-campus. At the FBS level, head coaches could designate any 10 staffers as countable coaches who can recruit off-campus. |
| NCAA president seeks federal help for 'national standard' on Title IX as questions mount with House settlement | |
| NCAA president Charlie Baker is looking to the federal government for help in solving one of the most pressing questions surrounding the landmark $2.8 billion House antitrust settlement. How Title IX fits into the House settlement, which will pave the way for a new collegiate revenue-share model if approved, has loomed over college athletics since agreed to in May. Title IX requires universities to provide equal opportunities for male and female athletes, which has typically been reflected in the number of scholarships offered to each. With schools opting into a revenue-share model expected to cost approximately $22 million annually, how that number will be split up amongst the athletes has prompted great debate. In speaking to college athletes at the NIL Summit at the College Football Hall of Fame, Baker preferred a federal solution -- likely from the Department of Education -- rather than the NCAA telling its member institutions what to do. "This is a really hard question for schools to answer on their own for a whole bunch of reasons. The biggest one most schools have said to us is ... the rules around equity when it comes to Title IX and around men's and women's sports ought to be relatively consistent from school to school and conference to conference," Baker said. "That's going to require a national standard. If we create a national standard at the NCAA, the problem with that would be if anybody doesn't like it one way or the other ... it would be challengeable in court. |
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