| Monday, July 1, 2024 |
| Addressing Mississippi problems by telling Mississippi stories | |
 | James Parker and Olivia Aylsworth won't soon forget a night they spent last summer working with a Vietnamese boat captain and deckhand in the Gulf of Mexico. Both with the University Television Center at Mississippi State University, Parker and Aylsworth spent 17 hours capturing content for a four-part documentary on Vietnamese-American culture on the Gulf Coast. They slept when the boat engine was running, Parker said. When it stopped every hour, the nets were coming up, and it was time to film again. The UTC, with its MSU Films initiative, won seven Southeastern Emmy awards out of the 13 nominations they received at the chapter's 50th anniversary awards ceremony June 15. Including the awards for this year, MSU Films has accumulated 24 Emmy awards, all in the past four years. Monday marks 10 years for David Garraway as UTC director. That job entails everything from hiring new producers to handling business matters to being out in the field, a part of the action. He said he and his staff are dedicated to covering large topics that affect the state through personal perspectives. One might call it home-field advantage. "We don't fly in from LA or New York, land for three weeks, shoot something, and then take it back home to edit," said Garraway, a Hattiesburg native. "We are here. These are our shared lived experiences. We understand the nuances of the stories because a lot of times these are our relatives and our friends and our neighbors. These are the stories we're telling." Garraway credits the success of the last four years to telling longer stories to fully address the complex issues they cover. |
| France's historic D-Day ceremony welcomes MSU band performers for 80th anniversary | |
| Nine current and former members of Mississippi State's Famous Maroon Band experienced the opportunity of a lifetime as they performed this month as part of the 80th anniversary D-Day ceremonies in France. The Maroon Band participants joined more than 160 college band students and alumni from across the U.S. to form the D-Day 80th Anniversary Collegiate Mass Band, the first of its kind assembled in honor of World War II's Normandy Invasion. MSU Associate Director of Bands Craig Aarhus served as the southeast region assistant director and conducted one of the ensembles. At Brittany American Cemetery, the band joined other music groups to perform the U.S. national anthem and John Williams' "Hymn to the Fallen" from the film "Saving Private Ryan." The cemetery is the resting place of 4,404 fallen service members, and its Wall of the Missing is inscribed with 500 names. "It's extremely humbling to think about how many in those memorials and cemeteries were the same age as us (18-22), many even younger than that," reflected MSU junior kinesiology/sports administration major Rowan Russell of Forest. "They carried out arguably the singular most critical event in modern history, so the least we could do was play some pretty music for them. It was extra special getting to be a part of the 80th because it was likely the last big anniversary for most of those veterans who are still alive." |
| Mississippi State creates novel cotton quality model to help farmers | |
 | With climate change impacting cotton growth, a Mississippi State University (MSU) researcher developed a model to help farmers maintain healthy cotton yields. Cotton quality impacts how much, or little, money a farmer makes. Given its wide use in manufacturing, cotton is subjected to federal quality measurements. High-quality cotton fibers mean more income for the producer, while low-quality fibers often foreshadow financial loss. MSU researchers, like Professor K. Raja Reddy, are part of a team that produced the world's first cotton quality module, allowing cotton producers to better monitor output under changing environmental conditions. Other partners include the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Nebraska Water Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service. The cotton quality module is the culmination of more than a decade of research between Reddy's team and those at the Nebraska Water Center. The quality module works with GOSSYM, a computer application developed in the 1980s. GOSSYM, derived from the scientific name of cotton, simulates the processes affecting cotton plant growth and yield. |
| Long-time waiter becomes first Del Rendon Foundation artist-in-residence | |
| Nate Pugh spent nearly 20 years waiting tables at local restaurants. But after a decade away, he returned to the city two weeks ago as the Del Rendon Foundation's first artist in residence. Now, instead of waiting tables, he is building them, along with shelves, hammers, guitars, and a new invention: a guitar case with a built-in amplifier, an "amplicase." "You can literally open it up, have your amplifier right there, and have your suitcase open for people to throw change in, and then plug right in," Pugh told The Dispatch during an art reception at the Del Rendon Foundation's headquarters Friday night. While Pugh grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan, he visited Mississippi often as a child, coming to see his grandparents in Philadelphia. That was enough to convince him to attend Mississippi State University. "When it came time for school, my grandparents were still alive, and it was like 'yeah, let's go down and go to school," Pugh said. "I met Martin Rendon, and that was my connection. And being so far away from everybody, that was my family." Pugh became fast friends with brothers Martin and Del Rendon at MSU. Though Del passed away in 2005, he left a lasting impact on the city's art and music scene. By 2006, Del's family members and friends formed the Del Rendon Foundation, with a mission to embrace his passion for art and music and to continue his legacy. Since then, the foundation has established a $100,000 endowed scholarship at the university, financially supported local art events, hosted the Del Rendon Music and Art Festival every year, and more. |
| It's Home-Building Season, but No One Is Buying Lumber | |
 | Lumber prices have tumbled into building season, a sign that residential construction and home-improvement markets are buckling under high borrowing costs. The price of two-by-fours, which skyrocketed during the pandemic, is a reliable leading indicator for the housing market. Lately it is flashing caution. Lumber futures shed 3% Friday to end at $452.50 per thousand board feet, down 27% since mid-March. Wood has piled up in the market and pushed cash prices even lower. Trade publication and pricing service Random Lengths said its framing-lumber composite price, which tracks on-the-spot sales, fell this past week to $366, the lowest since May 2020. Southern yellow pine, favored for fences and decks, has also dropped to its lowest prices since the depths of the Covid market crash. Random Lengths' Southern pine composite price declined to $335 this past week. "The spring rally never happened," said Russ Taylor, a Vancouver wood-market consultant. "No one is making much money at these prices." North America's sawmill operators have flocked to the South over the past decade to feast on the region's glut of pine timber. Teal-Jones Group, a closely held Canadian firm with sawmills in the South, filed for bankruptcy protection in late April, blaming high costs and low lumber prices that reduced revenue and the value of its inventory. Its assets are now for sale. Those include mills in Virginia, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Washington, British Columbia and a majority stake in a Plain Dealing, La., sawmill that is scheduled to open this summer. |
| Jackson, Hattiesburg area counties see improved jobless rates in May | |
 | Unemployment rates throughout the Jackson and Hattiesburg areas continued to see nominal improvement in May, falling 0.1% to 0.3% in all five of the area counties, according to a Mississippi Department of Employment May report. The improved rates in Hinds, Rankin, Madison, Lamar and Forrest counties also seem to line up with continued shrinkage of the state's jobless figures, while the nation's rate has risen as compared to last year for a second month in a row. Democratic U.S. President Joseph Biden said in a press release Wednesday that he is happy to see the magnolia state continue to see year-over-year decline in unemployment, which he credits to his economic policies within the U.S. workforce. "My economic plan is creating good-paying jobs in Mississippi---more than 27,000 Mississippians have gained jobs since I took office, and unemployment is at a record low of (2.9%)," Biden wrote. Unemployment reports from MDES are released every one to two months and the data reflects the month prior or earlier in the year. the MDES June unemployment figures will be released July 23, according to its website. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves sang the state's praises in a press release issued Wednesday, giving credit to the state's growing economy and several projects within the state that have created more jobs. "Our economy is firing on all cylinders, which is why we continue to make history," Reeves said. "There are more jobs in Mississippi than ever before, which is truly a victory worth celebrating. We'll continue fighting for good-paying, high-quality jobs that attract more residents to our great state." |
| Mississippi sets new laws on Medicaid during pregnancy, school funding, inheritance and alcohol | |
 | Mississippi is enacting several new laws, including one that says sign language courses may replace foreign language courses for students to earn credit toward high school graduation. A look at some of the other new laws taking effect on July 1: A new law changes the way Mississippi pays for public schools. The Mississippi Student Funding Formula replaces the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which has been fully funded for only two years since it was enacted in 1997. The new formula is designed to give districts a boost for students who can be more expensive to educate. A new law allows any town or city, regardless of its size, to hold an election on whether to allow the sale of alcohol, even if that municipality is in a dry county. The previous law had population thresholds of at least 5,000 for any municipality that is entirely within one county or 6,000 for any municipality in two different counties. Mississippi is expanding its law against shoplifting to specify that aiding, abetting or encouraging people to steal at least $1,000 worth of goods is a felony. The punishments are the same as for the previously existing punishments for grand larceny: up to five years for stolen items totaling $1,000 to $5,000; up to 10 years for items totaling $5,000 to $25,000; up to 20 years for items totaling more than $25,000. |
| Pink hunting vests allowed. Squatted vehicles aren't | |
| Starting Monday, pink is the new orange for hunters in the Golden Triangle. Or at least, one will be just as good as the other. Under House Bill 526, which will become law next week, hunters have the choice to swap their typical orange vests for at least 500 square inches of "unbroken fluorescent pink." Diane Lewis, manager at Outlaw Sporting Goods in Columbus, sees the new vests bringing more women who like to hunt into the store, a demographic she said she doesn't see often. "We might just have to test it out, but not necessarily go all out and buy like we normally do for regular vests during the season," Lewis told The Dispatch Friday. HB 526 is one of nearly 400 new state laws passed during the legislative session that will go into effect Monday. Several of the laws will have a direct impact in the Golden Triangle, including changes to law enforcement processes and industrial development provisions. Sponsored by local legislators District 37 Rep. Andy Boyd and District 39 Rep. Dana McLean, both Columbus Republicans, House Bill 1617 amends some of the guardrails around developing an industrial megasite. A megasite is a swath of land, at least 800 acres, dedicated to industrial developments for several companies to build and operate on. Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Trip Hairston said the new bill will make it easier to purchase and develop a megasite without as much red tape. |
| Thompson unhappy with SCOTUS decision to curb charges against Jan. 6 rioters | |
 | Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and one of the leading forces behind the investigation into the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, isn't too pleased with the latest decision from the Supreme Court. On Friday, SCOTUS ruled in favor of riot participant Joseph Fischer, who challenged the conviction of a federal obstruction crime. Fischer's attorneys argued that the charge of obstruction of an official proceeding has historically only been used for cases that involve evidence tampering, something their client has not been proven to have partaken in. In the 6-3 decision, the high court reversed lower courts' interpretation of the law with those in favor arguing that it sweeps too broadly into areas like peaceful but disruptive protests and could set a future precedent for unjust arrests. Thompson, who co-chaired the House Jan. 6 committee, said in a statement that while disappointed with the SCOTUS decision, he believes the Justice Department will still be able to "aggressively pursue" those who were involved in the riots. |
| Supreme Court Set to Decide Trump's Bid for Immunity | |
| The Supreme Court is set to decide Monday whether Donald Trump must stand trial on charges he tried to subvert the 2020 election he lost to President Biden, a question fraught with political, legal and historic significance unlike any the justices have before confronted. Coming days after a blustering Trump confronted a sometimes addled Biden at a candidate debate many considered a watershed of the 2024 campaign, Monday's decision could again reset the race, potentially consigning the presumed Republican nominee to spend weeks before Election Day in a federal courthouse -- or leaving Trump's fate to the Electoral College. The court has had cases before involving closely contested elections and aggressive assertions of presidential immunity. In December 2000, the court voted 5-4 to halt the presidential election recount in Florida, handing the White House to Republican George W. Bush, who led Democrat Al Gore by 537 votes. In July 1974, the court unanimously ordered President Richard Nixon to comply with the Watergate special prosecutor's subpoena for White House tapes. But where Bush v. Gore involved state election procedures and the Watergate case concerned a second-term president barred from running again, Monday's opinion in Trump v. U.S. implicates both: a pending election for president and an assertion of executive privileges from a previous administration. |
| Supreme Court's 'Chevron' ruling means changes for writing laws | |
 | A Supreme Court decision Friday left an uncertain and more difficult path for Congress to shape how the federal government carries out laws on major issues such as environment, health, immigration and more, lawmakers and legal experts said. The opinion overturned a long-standing legal doctrine called Chevron deference, which required judges to defer to an agency's interpretation when it comes to regulations about laws that are ambiguous. Instead, the decision states that judges should give that deference only when Congress explicitly says an agency can make its own decision. The high court ruling will spark more litigation over regulations, experts said, but also scramble the lawmaking process on Capitol Hill. The Supreme Court's opinion "supplied no guideposts, not even rough ones, for ascertaining when Congress meant to delegate policymaking authority to the agency," Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan, posted on social media. "The answer is not always going to be clear; Congress may mean to delegate without saying 'we hereby delegate to the agency,'" Bagley wrote. "Using words like 'reasonable' or 'sufficient' are clues, for example, and there may be many others." Kaye Pestaina, a vice president at KFF, a health policy organization, on Friday said the ruling could make it more difficult for Congress to pass laws if they have to include the smallest of details in legislation. Congress often intentionally leaves gaps in legislation for agencies to work out in regulation, Pestaina said. |
| Mississippi Democratic Party chair vows support for Biden despite poor debate performance | |
| Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor on Friday stood by Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president after party officials around the nation were left reckoning with Biden's shaky performance in the first presidential debate. "Biden is tried and tested," Taylor said during a recording of Mississippi Today's "The Other Side" political podcast. "If we're looking at the priorities he's put forward, I don't think most Democrats have heartburn about that." Biden, 81, faced off in a Thursday debate with former President Donald Trump, 78, moderated by CNN that covered topics including abortion, the economy and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Several times during the debate, Biden stumbled over his words, paused to correct phrases and sometimes trailed off, leaving an unclear end to sentences. Trump had far more energy than the incumbent president, but often spouted false information, such as continuing to repeat the debunked claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and was rife with voter fraud. Several national Democratic operatives and media pundits have said the president should step aside and allow a new candidate to take his place atop the presidential ticket. If that were to happen, it would create a historic scenario at the Democratic National Convention later this year that would give the party's delegates power to select a new candidate. Taylor did say that if the first-term Democratic president does withdraw his nomination from consideration, then Vice President Kamala Harris should take his place as the head of the ticket. |
| Gathered at Camp David, Biden's family tells him to stay in the race and keep fighting | |
| President Joe Biden's family used a Sunday gathering at Camp David to urge him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite his dreadful debate performance, and some members criticized how his staff prepared him for the faceoff, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Biden spent the day sequestered with first lady Jill Biden, his children and grandchildren. It was a previously scheduled trip to the presidential retreat in Maryland for a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. But the gathering was also an exercise in trying to figure out how to quell Democratic anxiety that has exploded following Thursday's performance. While his family was aware of how poorly he performed against Donald Trump, they also continue to think he's the best person to beat the Republican presumptive nominee. They also believe he is capable of doing the job of president for another four years, according to the people who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Among the most vocal: Jill Biden and son Hunter, whom the president has long gone to for counsel and advice. Both believe the president shouldn't bow out when he's down, and believe that he can come back from what they see as one subpar performance. The family questioned how he was prepared for the debate by staff and wondered if they could have done something better, the people said. |
| Can Biden come back from a bad debate the way Reagan did in 1984? | |
 | After President Biden's surprisingly weak debate performance this week, some defenders have pointed to other incumbents who stumbled in their first debate but recovered to win reelection. Presidents Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan did it. The clear message these defenders want to convey is: Joe can too. But can he? Are the situations comparable? Or is this more like the incumbents who stumbled in their first meeting with the opposing nominee and wound up leaving office after one term? That list is longer: Gerald Ford (1976) Jimmy Carter (1980), George H. W. Bush (1992) and Donald Trump (2020). The most recent comeback story was Obama, who had an uncharacteristically flat first outing against Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012 (Obama himself called it a "stinker"), then did fine in the second debate and won with 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206 in November. But the classic and in some respects parallel case was Reagan's 40 years ago, as he faced Democratic nominee Walter Mondale in Louisville, Ky. Biden now faces a far steeper climb than Reagan did then. The incumbent in 1984 had been renominated with only token opposition, like Biden, but unlike Biden had a double-digit polling lead coast-to-coast and no apparent weaknesses prior to the Louisville debate. Biden by contrast has been buffeted by the age question since his reelection campaign began. |
| Carville predicted Biden would drop out. A campaign message invoked him anyway. | |
 | James Carville, the longtime Democratic strategist known as the "Ragin' Cajun," said in an interview published Saturday that he does not think President Biden will be on the ticket come Election Day. But hours after the story was published, the Biden campaign sent a fundraising message invoking his name. "Hi, it's James Carville. I need you and Democrats everywhere to make a contribution to the Biden-Harris campaign ASAP. Help them defeat Donald Trump," the text said. Carville told The Post that he "never signed off on that." Hours before the campaign text was sent, Carville was quoted in an Axios story examining who would play a role in influencing whether Biden would step aside in the wake of his halting presidential debate performance. Carville, who was the lead strategist for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, told the outlet he thinks Biden will no longer be in the running by the time Election Day comes around, paraphrasing a famous quote by the late economist Herb Stein, saying, "That which can't continue ... won't." Since the debate, Biden has been on a fundraising swing. After his rally in Raleigh on Friday, Biden traveled to New York and participated in a fundraiser in Manhattan with stars such as Billy Porter and Elton John. His Saturday schedule includes two campaign receptions in East Hampton and another in New Jersey. |
| Too Much Winning? Even Trump's Fans Are Uneasy After Biden's Weak Debate. | |
 | The day after President Biden melted down in Thursday's prime-time debate, Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia stood beside former President Donald J. Trump on a farm in Chesapeake, gushing. "This is the best Trump rally ever!" In the past, when it suited him, Mr. Youngkin kept his distance from Mr. Trump and his unpredictable behavior. Not now. Not with all this winning afoot. "Hello, Virginia," Mr. Trump cooed as he took the stage before thousands of his supporters in what Republicans increasingly see as a winnable state. "Did anybody watch a thing called the debate?" He roared: "That was a big one." On the surface, the rally in Chesapeake was a quick-turn victory lap after the debate and before the 2024 race hits a higher gear. "Democrats are in a lot of trouble, so I feel pretty good today," said Jason Alter, 35, a dentist from Miami. But beneath the jubilation, there was a low-grade panic stirring. It was the kind of panic that one sometimes feels when everything in life seems to be going ... a little too well. Throughout Mr. Trump's comeback campaign, his supporters have told anyone who would listen that Mr. Biden was nothing more than the tool of a shadowy establishment that would, at the right moment, pull him to insert a more formidable candidate. Now, as they see it, this exact plot is playing out before the eyes of the nation. |
| 'We Are Confusing Conservatism With Anger and Hate' | |
 | It's nearly impossible to find a Republican politician who can stand against Donald Trump and still hold on to their political viability. But one -- perhaps the only one -- is Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. A longtime Trump skeptic, Cox sat for an interview with the Playbook Deep Dive podcast after cruising to victory against a far-right challenger in this week's GOP primary. In deep red Utah, that puts him clearly on track to win a second term in November. But the 48-year-old governor is not like some other Never-Trumpers; he actually finds fault with different factions in the GOP. Regarding Trump-aligned populists, Cox said: "We are confusing conservatism with anger and hate and polarization." Yet when asked about Trump critics like former GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, he expressed heavy reservations: "I don't know that they're changing anybody's minds." Cox has built a growing profile outside of Utah, mostly through his work as chair of the National Governors Association, which has pushed Cox's signature initiative: "Disagree Better," a public service campaign to try to depolarize politics. Cox is going to need those skills if Trump wins. With many prominent Trump critics, such as Sen. Mitt Romney and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, leaving office, Cox is emerging as the new face of Trump skepticism on the right. |
| Research gives more reassurance that milk pasteurization kills bird flu, officials say | |
| A new study that recreated commercial pasteurization in a government lab provides reassurance that heat treatment kills bird flu virus in cow's milk, U.S. officials said Friday. When the bird flu known as H5N1 was first detected in U.S. dairy cows earlier this year, there were no studies of whether heat treatment killed the virus in cows milk. But officials were comforted by studies that showed the pasteurization of eggs -- which involves heating at a lower temperature and for a shorter amount of time -- worked, said the Food and Drug Administration's Donald Prater. A study in April found that there was no evidence of infectious, live virus in store-bought samples of pasteurized milk, though they did contain dead remnants of it. Some later small studies that attempted to simulate pasteurization showed mixed results. The new study was done at a federal research center in Athens, Georgia, using custom equipment that tried to more completely recreate commercial pasteurization. It also allowed sampling at different stages in the process. The milk goes through several heating steps before being flash-heated, and the study found the virus was inactivated even before it hit the 161-degree, 15-or-more-seconds "flash pasteurization" stage that is considered the key step in making milk safe. |
| Ole Miss, Jackson State partner on accelerated law degree | |
| A new program will allow Jackson State University students who want to pursue a law degree at the University of Mississippi to accelerate the process. Representatives from both universities met in Jackson on Thursday to finalize the first-of-its-kind partnership in Mississippi, dubbing the initiative as the Pathway to Law School Program. It will allow undergraduate students at the HBCU to begin taking law school classes as early as their senior year, trimming two semesters off the required time to attain a law degree from Ole Miss. The initiative was championed by Redd Thompson, wife of new Jackson State President Dr. Marcus Thompson and a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law. "As a lawyer and proud alumna of the University of Mississippi School of Law, the partnership between Jackson State's pre-law program and my alma mater holds a special place in my heart," Redd said. "I am embracing this opportunity to help Jackson State students enter the legal field, which I am deeply passionate about, through the very institution that shaped my own career." |
| 'We will not go at Auburn's pace': Campus employee union fights for living wage | |
| The United Campus Workers at Auburn University began in 2019 with the mission of securing fairness and dignity for all of those who work for the university. Its Living Wage Campaign, with the mission of obtaining living wages for all Auburn employees, seeks to do exactly that. The Living Wage Campaign outlines a list of demands made out to Chief Financial Officer Kelli Shomaker and President Christopher Roberts. The demands, which can be found on their website include separate categories by employee type: graduate students, staff, faculty and promotion-related issues. UCW-AU's demands for the Living Wage Campaign focus on the need for adjustments to Auburn employees' pay due to the high cost of living in Auburn. The With the goal of 500 signatures from Auburn employees themselves, UCW-AU hopes to show Auburn's administration that change needs to be made on their campus. They currently have 270 signatures in support of their Living Wage Campaign. UCW-AU believes that even though Auburn increased its minimum wage to $15 per hour, there are still employees being overlooked for equity in pay. This minimum wage does not apply to part-time employees, and therefore excludes a large population of Auburn's employees on campus, including student workers. |
| LSU president gets 3-year extension after successes across Louisiana campuses | |
 | The LSU Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a three-year contract extension for President and Chancellor William Tate IV. The 13 members of the board voted at their Friday meeting on the new contract, which offers a base salary of $750,000 and the ability for incentives that were not discussed. It is a $25,000-a-year increase of his base salary compared to his first contract. The vote came after the board was in executive session for about 45 minutes to discuss Tate's character. Tate was hired in May 2021 and officially started in July 2021. The board had virtually no discussion about the contract extension. Supervisor John Carmouche was the only member who made a comment, noting that he was comfortable approving the contract only because the board could vote to terminate the contract early if it was dissatisfied with Tate's performance. The contract did not have any punitive language if Tate did not meet the standards of the board, Carmouche said. While serving as president, Tate has seen success, and not just at the university's flagship Baton Rouge campus. Both the Alexandria and Shreveport campuses have seen record growth in enrollment. LSU also had one of its largest graduating classes in May with more than 4,800 students receiving diplomas. LSU's research activity reached $488 million in 2023, the largest amount spent on research projects in the school's history, the university reported earlier this month. |
| Historic move: U. of Tennessee music college will be the first named after a woman | |
 | The budding College of Music at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville will be branded with a familiar name in a historic first for the campus. Only a year old, the college will be named the Natalie L. Haslam College of Music on July 1 after a "transformational" donation from the Haslam family. The exact amount of the donation was not immediately shared with Knox News. This marks the first college at UT Knoxville named for a woman and the fourth named for a person or family, joining the Tickle College of Engineering, the Herbert College of Agriculture and the Haslam College of Business. Natalie Haslam's name already is attached to one aspect of the college, the Natalie Haslam Music Center, which opened in 2013. She is a philanthropist, a former UT "Miss Tennessee," a 1952 alumna and the wife of Pilot Corporation founder Jim Haslam. The College of Music recently completed its "historic inaugural academic year," Chancellor Donde Plowman said in her letter of recommendation. The college was born out of the School of Music and is the first college of music at a Tennessee public university -- or in the Southeastern Conference for that matter, according to UT. The renaming aligns with Haslam's passion for music and comes with an endowment from the Haslam family. For the board to consider a donation, it needs to be enough to establish an endowment that's either at least $75 million or enough to generate and distribute substantial income for the facility within a set range. |
| UGA named among nation's best values for education, career preparation | |
 | The Princeton Review has named the University of Georgia one of the nation's best public colleges for providing "excellent education and career preparation at a great value." UGA Today announced on Friday the university's ranking in the 50 best value public colleges ranking. The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta was named the No. 1 college in the nation. The Princeton Review is an educational services company offering such services as tutoring and test preparation. The company reported it surveyed students attending 650 colleges nationwide regarding such issues as academics, cost, and graduation rates. It also surveyed alumni about their salaries and job satisfaction, according to the report. "We are setting new standards for excellence across so many areas of our institution thanks to the extraordinary caliber of our faculty, staff and students combined with strong support from our alumni and friends," UGA President Jere Morehead said in a statement to UGA Today. UGA came in at 13th in the country. Georgia Tech was first, followed by the University of California-Berkeley and University of Virginia. |
| Yes, University Cybersecurity Is Still a Concern | |
 | Cybersecurity concerns rippled through higher ed's awareness in 2023, when a data breach hit dozens of institutions across the nation. Nearly a year later, those breaches are still occurring. MOVEit, a software product used by several universities and related organizations for file transfers, announced Friday that it had found new vulnerabilities that could lead to further security problems. "So, no, your guard can't be taken down," said Shawn Waldman, CEO of Secure Cyber Defense. "Organizations need to be on the highest alert possible, especially today." Higher education institutions are now markedly more prepared than they were last year, according to several cybersecurity experts who have seen institutions invest more time and money into safety measures. "The increase in notoriety from these threat groups has really taken over and given administrators something to look at, because [being hacked] hurts your reputation," said Todd Doss, senior managing director at Guidepost Solutions. An Inside Higher Ed survey last fall found that 82 percent of CIOs said they were "moderately," "very" or "extremely" confident that their institution's cybersecurity practices could prevent ransomware attacks -- up from 73 percent in 2022. That aligns with findings from Moody's, a bond rating agency, which found college and university cybersecurity budgets increased more than 70 percent in the last five years. But money alone may not be enough to ward off the persistent -- and growing -- threats. |
| How Concerning Is Underemployment of College Graduates? | |
| More than half of bachelor's degree holders are underemployed a year after graduation, and roughly four in 10 are still underemployed a decade later. How worrying are those rates? And what can colleges and universities do to decrease them? A recent episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed's news and analysis podcast, explored those questions. It examined "Talent Disrupted," a report released this spring by Strada Education Foundation and the Burning Glass Institute that adds important nuance to the larger discussion about postcollege outcomes for graduates. Joining the discussion were Carlo Salerno, managing director at the Burning Glass Institute and an author of the aforementioned report, and Gary Daynes, founder and principal of Back Porch Consulting and a former professor and senior administrator at several private nonprofit colleges. |
| The Supreme Court Just Weakened Federal Agencies. Here's What It Means for Higher Ed. | |
 | The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a 40-year-old legal precedent that helped insulate federal regulations from legal challenges, a shift that will significantly limit the executive branch's power to make rules touching all parts of American life -- including higher education. The 6-3 decision to invalidate the doctrine known as the "Chevron deference" will narrow how the Department of Education can make policies related to student-loan forgiveness, policing student outcomes at for-profit institutions, and preventing sex discrimination on campuses. The gutted precedent, which arose out of the 1984 Supreme Court decision in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., required judges to defer to agencies' "reasonable" interpretations of "ambiguous" federal laws when considering legal challenges. Without the Chevron deference, judges will have more leeway to decide whether federal regulations are consistent with the laws that underpin them. "Chevron's presumption is misguided because agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities," Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in the majority opinion. "Courts do." Many observers expect more rules, including those governing colleges, to be struck down. In fact, the effect of the ruling may be especially acute in federal higher-education policy. The major federal law governing colleges, the Higher Education Act, was last reauthorized in 2008, leaving the three subsequent presidential administrations to make policy primarily through executive rules. |
| Tate Reeves and Joe Biden agree that Mississippi's economy is thriving. But are they right? | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic President Joe Biden, routinely political opposites, finally agree on something: the Mississippi economy is thriving. On a recent July day when Reeves proclaimed that the state economy "is firing on all cylinders," the Democratic president also bragged on the Mississippi economy. Biden, to be more precise, primarily was making the point that the Mississippi economy is much stronger now than when he took office in January 2021. On the same day that Biden and Reeves both were touting the Mississippi economy for their respective political purposes, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann also sent out a news release related to the state economy. Hosemann announced the formation of a special committee to look into ways to improve the state's dismal workforce participation rate. The percentage of working Mississippians age 16 and up is the lowest in the nation. Hosemann pointed out that Mississippi labor force participation rate in April was 53.7% compared to the national average of 62.7%. Hosemann and others, including State Economist Corey Miller, have said the low labor force participation rate is a tremendous drag on the Mississippi economy and is one of the primary reasons the state trails the rest of the nation on many economic indicators. If that is so, how can Reeves and Biden brag on the Mississippi economy? |
| Is there a least bad choice? | |
| The Greenwood Commonwealth's Tim Kalich writes: Going into Thursday night's debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, I was wondering whether it might cause me to reevaluate my inclination of sitting this election out. It did not. The choice between Biden, the increasingly feeble and possibly crooked incumbent, and Trump, the wannabe authoritarian and certainly crooked challenger, has left me in a moral quandary. Do I vote for the one who doesn't make me hold my nose as tightly, or do I lodge a protest against the system that produced them as the top two choices by not voting for either? Granted, some of this indecision will in the end be mostly inconsequential. No matter what I do, Mississippi is going to vote for Trump handily, as it has in the two previous presidential elections in which he has been the nominee. This state is too Republican and too conservative to think it might do otherwise. Thus, my vote would have no bearing on the Electoral College count, which determines the winner. My vote, though, would be counted toward the national popular vote, which has no practical effect but does have symbolic importance. Trump's constant lies, now almost four years in repetition, that the 2020 election was stolen from him has garnered less traction with the American people than it might have otherwise if he had won the popular vote, instead of losing it by 7 million votes. |
SPORTS
| MSU AD Selmon discusses future of college athletics in university forum | |
| Mississippi State Athletic Director Zac Selmon spoke for the university's "Dialogue Matters" series held virtually Thursday. He fielded questions from viewers and discussed several topics concerning MSU athletics, but spoke at length on the many issues facing college athletics in its current model. With President Mark Keenum's standing in shaping the future of college football, the university and the culture around it have a natural interest in the department's standing on what that future should look like. Selmon spoke directly on the issue, and though the future is uncertain, he made it clear that the university's efforts to uphold the amateurism of college athletics and remain committed to its student athletes hasn't changed. "What happens at the intersection of higher education and sport is life-changing, and that will never change," Selmon said near the end of the 40-minute forum session. He compared it to gas prices from when he first started driving to now -- he may want gas to still be as cheap as it was then, but he's not going to stop driving a car because of it. The biggest revenue driver in the sport has been and will continue to be broadcast revenue. Both TV and streaming networks bring in huge audiences with college football broadcasts and Selmon didn't shy away from its importance. He said he wants to make sure football isn't seen as a "favorite child," but acknowledged the role football plays in driving the rest of the athletic program. With football as a driver for the many other NCAA programs it only creates bigger questions about revenue and where it should go. |
| Why Blake Shapen didn't need a Jeff Lebby sales pitch to join Mississippi State football | |
| New Mississippi State football quarterback Blake Shapen said he didn't need a sales pitch from new Bulldogs coach Jeff Lebby. A firsthand demonstration was enough. Shapen, who spent the first four years of his college career at Baylor, received an education in Lebby's offense from the opposite sideline in November 2022, when Lebby served as Oklahoma's offensive coordinator. Shapen's Bears escaped Norman with a 38-35 win that day, but an impression had been made. "I got to witness his offense in person, so I knew," Shapen said at the Manning Passing Academy on Friday. "He didn't really have to say much to me for me to hop on board. Obviously he recruited me, but it wasn't much of a sales pitch. I wanted to be there." Available to the media for the first time since his transfer, Shapen spoke from the campus of Nicholls State, where the Manning family annually invites some of college football's top quarterbacks to instruct a four-day youth camp. Shapen ranks among the most important members of a 19-man transfer class for Lebby. Lebby, in his first head coaching job, is tasked with building something new in Starkville. Shapen said he knows that process can come with bumps and bruises, but it appealed to him anyway. "I have trust in them," he said. |
| Jans Announces Men's Hoops Staff Promotions | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball coach Chris Jans announced promotions for Patrice Days, Dillon Elder, Jovan Austin and Scott Padgett on Friday. Days, Elder and Padgett have been elevated to assistant coaches, while Austin will serve as the program's director of recruiting. "We've been able to reward our staff recently for their work and for their commitment to Mississippi State basketball," Jans said. "We have a core group returning for our third season together which is great for communication, synergy and production. Our recent additions will mesh well with our returning staff and their skill sets. I'm excited to see what this team can accomplish for the betterment of our players and our program." The quartet has been a part of Jans' staff which has guided State back to college basketball's biggest stage sparked by two NCAA Tournament trips and a pair of 21-win seasons. The last time the Bulldogs collected back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids was in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Last season, State captured three victories over Associated Press Top 10 opponents for the third time in program history and for the first time since 2001-02. The Bulldogs knocked off No. 5 Tennessee, the SEC regular season champion, during the regular season and at the SEC Tournament in addition to defeating No. 8 Auburn. Mississippi State is now accepting season ticket deposits for the 2024-25 season at www.HailState.com/tickets. |
| Mississippi State's Tolu Smith signs UDFA deal with Detroit Pistons | |
| While former Mississippi State star Tolu Smith III didn't hear his name called during this week's NBA Draft, it didn't take long for the All-SEC big man to sign a professional deal. On Friday, Smith inked an undrafted free agent contract with the Detroit Pistons, meaning the 6'11" center will have a chance to prove himself during the NBA Summer League beginning on July 12. Smith, a Bay St. Louis native, played four seasons for Mississippi State after transferring from Western Kentucky. During that span, he scored over 1,500 points in 108 games for the Bulldogs. He was twice named to the All-SEC first team, following the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns. Smith finished his time in Starkville with a career stat line of 14.4 points and eight rebounds per game. At the beginning of this past season, he missed time with a foot injury but made a nice return to the court on Dec. 31, finishing the year with an average of 15 points and eight rebounds across 23 games. Smith, who Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans has referred to as a "tireless worker," was key in helping the Bulldogs reach the NCAA Tournament in both 2023 and 2024. |
| KJ Wright to hold alumni basketball game July 6 in OB | |
 | Football was where he made a name for himself as a Super Bowl winning linebacker in the NFL, but KJ Wright has always loved basketball just as much. The Olive Branch native will be returning to his alma mater on July 6 to host the 3rd Annual Alumni Charity Basketball Game to raise funds for high school athletics. "I love basketball just as much as I love football," Wright said in a telephone interview. "But football is what got me a free ride to college. So I had to follow that. But I love both sports equally." The event will be held at Olive Branch High School at 6 p.m. and will feature both a men's and women's basketball game with a lineup of former boys and girls standouts, along with a 3-point shooting and dunking contest, alumni cheerleaders, a live DJ, and food trucks. Wright said this year's game will be played between Olive Branch and Holly Springs High School. "It's an old historic rivalry that we're going to rekindle," Wright said. "So we will split the check right down the middle." The 6-foot-4, 245 pound Wright, was a three sport standout at Olive Branch High School. The Conquistadors went undefeated in basketball his senior year and went to State his sophomore and junior years. Wright was a 3-star recruit and earned a football scholarship to Mississippi State where he played for the Bulldogs from 2007-2010. Wright played 11 seasons in the NFL and was part of the "Legion of Boom" defenses that helped the Seahawks win Super Bowl XIVIII in 2014. |
| Ole Miss Likely To Have Corporate Logos Near 25-yard-line Hashes This Fall | |
| The first visual change in this era of revenue generation in college athletics will likely be noticeable at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium this football season. Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter said he expects the Rebels football stadium to have corporate logos near the hash marks at the 25-yard lines during home games. Traditionally, the Southeastern Conference logo is present in those locations. "I don't think we want to become NASCAR and have logos everywhere, on our foreheads, but we're definitely looking at the on-field logos, what that's going to look like this year. I would say there's going to be some version of that this year by the time we get to football season. "We're not taking away the Ole Miss script in the middle. We know that has to be there. We are looking more at the hash marks and potentially some type of blended logo with the Ole Miss script if we can make it look appropriate -- potentially blended at the 50-yard line. We'll see. Don't get too upset yet." The SEC recently approved on-field corporate logos for athletic venues. Carter said he fully expects the 25-yard-line option to be utilized, and the midfield option isn't as certain but is possible for 2024. Schools are focused on increasing revenue and cutting costs with the possibility of revenue sharing on the horizon. Carter expects corporate logos on jerseys to be the next step, and said the SEC likely approves that option "sooner than later." |
| Reports: Texas A&M to hire Michael Earley as head baseball coach | |
 | Multiple reports say Texas A&M is expected to hire Michael Earley to be its next baseball coach. The news of Earley's hiring was first reported by Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle and later reported by TexAgs.com and D1Baseball.com. Earley, 36, has been an assistant for the Aggies under former coach Jim Schlossnagle for the last three seasons overseeing hitters and coaching first base. He had followed Schlossnagle to Texas in the same role this week when the Longhorns hired the former A&M skipper after the Aggies' run to the College World Series finals, but will be returning to Aggieland. A groundswell of support from current and former A&M players came late this week as athletic director Trev Alberts sought Schlossnagle's replacement. Earley has never been a head coach. The Indiana native played at Indiana from 2008-10. He was taken by the Chicago White Sox in the 29th round of the 2010 MLB draft and played six seasons in the minor leagues where he reached as high as Triple-A. In 2017, Earley began his coaching career as an assistant at Arizona State. After five seasons at Arizona State, Earley came to A&M in 2022 as part of Schlossnagle's initial staff. For the last three seasons, A&M has had one of the more powerful offenses in the SEC. A&M set a single-season school record for home runs (136) en route to this year's CWS finals. |
| What exactly do Texas and Oklahoma bring to the SEC? | |
 | Oklahoma and Texas are now officially members of the Southeastern Conference, having bolted from the Big 12 to create a 16-team football powerhouse. But the Sooners and Longhorns bring more to the table than just football. Each is a flagship school in its state, with a broad-based athletic program that's successful in a number of different sports. The Sooners are on the short list of true bluebloods in college football, standing alongside the likes of Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame in terms of historical success and prestige. Oklahoma has seven national championships (more than anyone in the SEC other than Alabama), 50 conference championships and won an NCAA Division I record 47 consecutive games from 1953-57. In baseball, the Sooners have won a pair of national championships (1951 and 1994). Overall, Oklahoma has been to Omaha 11 times. But it is in softball that the Sooners have become the dominant program nationally. Oklahoma has won four consecutive national championships (and eight overall) and won 53 consecutive games in 2023. The Longhorns are tied for fourth with Notre Dame in all-time wins in college football, and behind only Michigan, Alabama and Ohio State. However, they have not had as much postseason success, at least not recently. Texas' baseball program is the winningest in NCAA history in terms of percentage, and has six national championships (the most-recent in 2005). |
| How are Texas, Oklahoma celebrating SEC move? Pitbull, pep rallies and more | |
 | The celebrations for joining the SEC just mean more for Oklahoma and Texas. After agreeing to join the league three years ago and negotiating a settlement with the Big 12 to leave one year early July 1 is the official day the Sooners and Longhorns join the SEC. Both schools are going all out to mark the occasion. Texas is celebrating Sunday, one day before the official move with an "all-day SEC Celebration" that includes a performance from a Grammy Award-winning artist, while Oklahoma will begin its celebration that day and carry it into the first official day as an SEC member. The SEC Network will also be at both campuses hosting shows to welcome their new conference members. On Monday morning, Oklahoma will host "Wake Up in the SEC" events in Oklahoma City and Tulsa at 8 a.m. with university administrators, current and former coaches, as well as the band. From 11 a.m.-1 p.m., pep rallies will be held throughout the Norman area. The SEC Network will broadcast from inside the football stadium from 2-8 p.m. and will host a "Party In The Palace" event at 5 p.m. on the field, which have several activities and photo opportunities, as well as live music. At 9:30 p.m., a pep rally will take place with university administration and the event will close with a drone show. |
| Bye to the Big 12 and hello SEC: It's party time for Texas and Oklahoma | |
| Bye-bye Big 12, hello SEC. Texas and Oklahoma are finally making their long-awaited conference switch. But first, it's time to party with Bevo (the longhorn) and Pitbull (the human). The three-years-in-the-making switch to the Southeastern Conference for two programs that were co-founders of the Big 12 in 1996 officially happens Monday. And for their move to a league where "It Just Means More," Texas and Oklahoma have scheduled big campus celebrations Sunday and Monday with carnivals, live music and fireworks. Oklahoma's even stretches to events statewide. The SEC Network planned live programming from both campuses over the two days, and Longhorns and Sooners fans had their first chance to buy SEC-branded school merchandise. By mid-afternoon, thousands of fans had poured onto the Texas campus despite heat that flirted near 100 degrees (38 Celsius), as children played on bounce houses, rock walls and slides. Misters cooled their parents who waited in long lines for autographs, photos with Longhorns coaches, and packed into merchandise tents for gear with the SEC logo. It's a moment college sports in general has been building toward in the era of major realignment. The Texas and Oklahoma break from the Big 12 helped trigger myriad conference shifts with more on the way. By the first kickoff of the 2024 season, 11 so-called Power 4 programs will be in new conferences. Oklahoma's celebration started Sunday night with a "Race to the SEC" 5k race through the heart of campus, with midnight sales of SEC merchandise and fireworks. |
| Joe Castiglione hopes to leave Oklahoma on an 'upward trajectory' when he retires | |
| Joe Castiglione is closing in on completing his third decade at the helm of the Oklahoma athletic department, having served as the athletic director in Norman since July 1998. And though the man in charge has plenty left in the tank, he is considerate of what he'd like things to look like when he does hang it up. And for Castiglione, the hope is that all things Sooners can not only maintain success, but continue achieving at higher and higher levels. "But I hope when the time comes that I leave Oklahoma in the best position possible," Castiglione said. "That's my dream, to leave Oklahoma with an upward trajectory that just greatness is still up on the ladder. We're doing great but we're continuing to climb and whoever I get to hand it off to, they continue to take it even farther. But that you can come back and be part of what's developed and the relationships that are here, those aren't going to go away, whether it's the coaches, the former athletes, actually you're really never a former athlete, you're just an athlete." Castiglione's tenure in Norman has been a highly successful one, one of the most fruitful stretches for any athletic program in memory for college athletics. In 26 years at the helm, Castiglione has seen the Sooners win 24 team national championships -- out of the 43 in school history -- and secured 110 conference titles. And for now, Castiglione isn’t really looking to leave, even if it’s in the back of his mind. |
| Why quarterbacks are excited about college football's new helmet communication rules | |
| Riley Leonard won't see a real defense for another two months. So all the new Notre Dame quarterback could do Friday was point forward and pretend, visualizing a line of scrimmage and listening to an imaginary voice rattle through his helmet. Most of the quarterbacks who attended the Manning Passing Academy at Nicholls State have already test driven the new helmet technology coming to college football for the 2024 season. But not Leonard -- the former Duke starter missed spring practice with a lingering ankle injury. So he's itching to test out a helmet radio and figure out how he can best use it to help him acclimate into a new offense. "You're just stealing answers to the test," Leonard said, "is what I like to think of it as." This season, for the first time, college coaches can communicate directly with their players during games. The NCAA playing rules oversight committee greenlit the change in April, allowing schools to take advantage of technology the NFL has been using for 30 years. It's just one of many changes coming to college football for the 2024 season. More than 40 college quarterbacks worked as counselors at this year's Manning academy. Four -- LSU's Garrett Nussmeier, Georgia's Carson Beck, Clemson's Cade Klubnik and Leonard -- took time to discuss the new helmet technology, the ways quarterbacks can use it to their advantage and the effects it will have on games this season. "It's been huge," Nussmeier said. "I think it adds a whole another level to how our offensive coordinator is able to call the game, the checks that we're able to make and things like that. It turns it into the NFL." |
| Pac-12 Networks to go dark Sunday night after 12-year run | |
| The Pac-12 Networks launched in 2012 as a Pac-12 Conference media company that promised lots of programming -- seven television channels that eventually produced about 850 live events per year with the help of about 150 full-time employees. But now it's all over. The Pac-12 Networks finally will go dark Sunday night at age 12 due to complications from a vexing national outbreak -- college football realignment. "Pac-12 Networks will end its signal for its seven linear television channels on June 30 at midnight," the league said in an email Thursday. "We will no longer broadcast or program these seven linear TV channels." The networks' killing had been planned for months. Yet as they disappear from cable channels Monday, their death still serves as a stark reminder of realignment's wreckage and the uncertainty still looming about what remains of the "Conference of Champions." The two remaining schools in the Pac-12 will own the networks' production facilities in San Ramon, Calif. That is part of a business called Pac-12 Enterprises, which now offers its broadcast production services to external clients, with profits flowing back to the two remaining schools. It also will produce the telecasts for the 11 home football games that will air on The CW Network for Oregon State and Washington State in 2024. |
| Why Is Parker Valby Still Racing in Her College Uniform? | |
| If the summer of 2024 were anything like the summer of 2021, the last time the U.S. Olympic Trials were held, six-time NCAA champion Parker Valby would have announced a pro deal by now. She'd be racing in the uniform of her shoe sponsor, and she'd likely have a new coach and a new training group. But she's not -- she's still racing in her University of Florida kit, even though she is done running for Florida and turning pro. When she was asked about it after the 5,000 meters at the Trials, where Valby finished fourth, she did not give any information. "When do you think a decision about a professional deal is going to come for you?" Jonathan Gault, of LetsRun, asked her. "When it comes," Valby replied. What's taking so long? Valby had an NIL (name-image-likeness) deal with Nike, which she signed last summer. And even though NIL deals usually end when college competition ends, sources familiar with Valby's situation say language in her NIL contract gives Nike the right to match offers from any other brands for her pro deal. Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Runner's World. These clauses, which give an NIL brand first dibs on an athlete's pro contract, are increasingly common with distance runners. Brands, waging recruiting wars for top college talent, use NIL to get any early start. |
| SCOTUS Chevron Rejection Could Upend NCAA, College Athlete Cases | |
| The U.S. Supreme Court Friday overruled a 40-year precedent that had provided federal agencies with substantial deference in interpreting federal law. The Court's ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo will mean that agency decisions impacting the sports industry, such as whether college athletes are employees and whether noncompetes for sports executives are legal, will be more vulnerable to challenge in federal court. Loper Bright is a case about fishing, specifically a group of herring fishing companies that objected to a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regulation mandating that boats allow a person onboard to collect conservation data and pay that person about $710 a day. According to court filings, that payment equated to around 20% of the fishermen's revenues. Lower courts reasoned that because they were compelled to give deference to federal agencies, the agency's implementing regulation of a federal law withstood legal scrutiny. Per the Supreme Court's 1984 ruling in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, courts were obligated to defer to agency interpretation when a statute was ambiguous and when the accompanying agency interpretation was reasonable or permissible. That submissive standard, which became known as "Chevron deference," made it difficult for businesses and individuals to challenge agencies in court. Critics complained Chevron deference overly empowered unelected regulators and agency staff who knew courts had to largely cede to their decisions. But supporters insisted that Chevron deference sensibly valued the expertise of agencies as well as the decision-making of knowledgeable civil servants. In a 6-3 opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court overruled Chevron and held courts may not defer to an agency interpretation merely because the statute is ambiguous. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
