| Thursday, July 25, 2024 |
| Mississippi catfish producers navigate challenges | |
 | Lower feed prices are providing some relief to Mississippi's catfish producers, but officials with the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service said many are still facing more than their share of obstacles just to break even. Among these are middling demand, high operating costs and renovation. "Marketing challenges have delayed fish sales by small and medium-sized farms as processors try to clear inventory of large fish products from their freezers," said Jimmy Avery, MSU Extension Service aquaculture professor at the MSU Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. "Retailers are taking advantage of these lower priced products leading to a decreased need for average size fillets." Mississippi is still the top state for catfish production in the U.S., joined by neighboring Arkansas and Alabama. Despite a slight reduction in water surface acreage this year from 2023, Mississippi still has double what their two closest competitors have combined. Despite the reduction in acreage, processing and feeding amounts are close to last year's volume. "Catfish processed through the first half of 2024 totaled 165 million pounds, which is 2% higher than the same period in 2023," said MSU Extension agricultural economist Josh Maples. "Prices received by farmers have been about 12% lower than during the first half of 2023." |
| Let's Eat, Mississippi: Preserving summer's bounty with home food preservation | |
 | As a middle schooler, it seemed that my parents planted the most enormous garden in Peoria County, Illinois. It felt like acres. But it wasn't. I dreaded summer because it meant lots of work -- planting, pulling weeds, and harvesting. ... I brought those experiences and training with me to the Magnolia State. However, my garden was a fourth in size, and items like purple hull peas, okra, butter beans, and G90 corn replaced those rows and rows of green beans. Investment in canning jars, freezer containers, water bath and steam pressure canners became new items in my kitchen. Because of my boy's involvement in 4-H, I learned about the Mississippi State University Extension Service. I was amazed at the extensive list of classes and brochures available to consumers. Furthermore, I was impressed with the availability of the Extension Agents. This summer, the extension service has offered Home Food Preservation Workshops throughout the state. I contacted Lara Angel, Extension Agent III, DeSoto County Extension Office in Hernando. She has worked in extension offices in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi. This coming September, she will start her eighteenth year of extension work. Ms. Angel has been busy this summer offering Home Food Preservation Workshops. The third one held yesterday at the Hernando Public Library. The program was free, but the workshop was $30 which included lunch and supplies. Interest was high -- the workshop was at maximum capacity. |
| Mary Means Business: Whiskey Ranch Bar and Grill coming to Starkville | |
 | Get ready, the next hot spot in Starkville is going to be open for the 2024 football season. Whiskey Ranch Bar and Grill is opening up in the former Moe's Barbecue spot on Main Street. Even though the new joint's owner and operator Finn Rice went to TSUN (Ole Miss for the uninitiated), we won't hold it against him because he's moving to Starkville and has fallen in love with the city. Rice, a native from Fryeburg, Maine, enlisted in the Army at 18 and found his way to Mississippi for college, majoring in business administration. Since he was 15, he's regularly worked in the restaurant industry from a food runner at a country club to bartending while in college. When he saw a prime spot for a new restaurant, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity. "I always loved Moe's (in Oxford)," Rice said. "I heard this place was requiring new ownership. I really liked the town and decided to come over and hopefully put some smiles on people's faces." The new spot will have a Nashville vibe with live bands and southern style dishes. ... Moving on, a local coffee shop is opening a second location. Umble Coffee Co., 216 Industrial Park Road, will start serving its famous coffee at the Barnes and Noble on Mississippi State's campus in mid-August. Follow Umble on social media to stay tuned with the new MSU location updates. |
| Wet, muddy conditions loom for Neshoba County Fair | |
| Expect the Neshoba County Fair to be wet but cooler than usual, according to The Fair Times meteorologist and Fairgoer Barbie Bassett. According to early forecast models Tuesday morning, Bassett, a former television news anchor and meteorologist in Jackson, said there would be the possibility of rain "almost every day" for the first half of the Fair, with an average low of about 92 degrees for the week. "People who are out porch-visiting will want to take their umbrella and should keep a raincoat and rain boots handy," said Bassett. Mississippi's Giant House Party officially opens on Friday, July 26, and runs through Aug. 2. Bassett said Fairgoers should note the rain is projected to start as early as tomorrow (Thursday) and is part of a system that will stall over the Fairgrounds for the first half of the Fair. Last year's Fair was said to be one of the hottest on record. Most days, the temperatures were in the high 90s, and with humidity, it felt like 115 degrees. A full slate of events is set, including the 45th running of the Heart O' Dixie Triathlon on Saturday morning, July 27, and the harness and running races starting the following day through the rest of the week. Political speaking begins on Wednesday, July 31, starting at about 9:20 a.m. and runs through Thursday. |
| Contour Airlines CEO expects 'no issues' with added Dallas route from Tupelo | |
 | While the U.S. Department of Transportation has yet to approve Contour Airlines' bid to add a Tupelo-to-Dallas route, the airline's CEO doesn't expect it to be a problem. "I don't foresee any issues," Matt Chaifetz said. "The grant will need to be in place, but there's no reason why it shouldn't." In April, in its effort to renew its contract with Tupelo Regional Airport, the airline submitted a plan to provide half of its 14 weekly roundtrip flights to DFW in Dallas, with the other half of the flights continuing to fly to Nashville. Contour has provided air service from Tupelo to Nashville since 2016. Every two years, a new contract must be bid upon, as the service is subsidized through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Essential Air Service program. Contour's current contract expires at the end of September. This time, Contour is seeking a four-year contract with the Dallas and Nashville routes. As it stands now, the airline would depart Tupelo for Dallas daily at 1:15 p.m., with a return flight from Dallas at 5 p.m. The air service is paid for through the Essential Air Service program, which is a subsidy provide to the airline by the federal government. The program is funded through annual transfers of fees paid to FAA by foreign aircraft overflying the United States, supplemented by annual Congressional appropriations of varying size. |
| New agricultural plant coming to Wayne County | |
 | Folks in Waynesboro are celebrating the first fungicide plant in the area. After purchasing Odom Industries this past December, Sipcam Argo Solutions is expanding its operations into Wayne County. The company is investing more than $2 million into the new plant, which makes agricultural chemicals to help farmers grow crops. The plant is expected to create around 20 jobs, and the the company's chief executive officer said choosing Waynesboro as a new home was a no-brainer. "We had already tolled at this plant, so we knew about the plant," said Brent Marek. "And we just thought it was a great opportunity. The people here are very friendly. And people that I have dealt with are just super proactive. Dealing with government and everything and they are just -- 'Let's get it done. We appreciate you guys being here. You mean a lot.' That goes a long way to making our final decision." Leaders said they will begin operations in December before becoming fully functional in early 2025. |
| ABC facility moving to Canton site | |
| A new 400,000-square-foot warehouse for Mississippi's liquor distribution operations is coming here, officials announced this week. Joey Deason, executive director of the Madison County Economic Development Authority, said he has been working with the Department of Revenue for about four years on the project, with the Legislature approving the additional funding needed this past session. The current warehouse in Gluckstadt is about 225,000 feet in size and cannot be modernized due to space constraints, so state officials have been pushing for funding to build a new warehouse for years. State Rep. Trey Lamar said during the past legislative session that the roof was too short and the square-footage of the current warehouse was too small to modernize the warehouse with automated equipment and it would require literally tearing the roof and walls down to expand. The state has now issued a total of $95 million in bonds to pay for the warehouse, with some of the cost offset coming from an increase in the bailment fee that manufacturers pay to store alcohol. Deason said MCEDA sold the land to the state for about $980,000. Deason said MCEDA had already done a lot of the due diligence for the site, including soil borings, surveying and environmental testing. |
| U.S. Economy Grew a Robust 2.8% in Second Quarter | |
 | The U.S. economy accelerated in the second quarter as consumers increased their spending, businesses invested more in equipment and stocked inventories, and inflation cooled. Gross domestic product -- the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., adjusted for inflation and seasonality -- rose at an annual rate of 2.8% for April through June, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was more than the 1.4% rate during the first quarter, and well above the 2.1% rate economists had expected before the report. Household spending, the main driver of the U.S. economy, increased at a 2.3% rate in the second quarter, picking up from 1.5% in the first. Spending on goods increased while services spending moderated slightly. The report shouldn't change the outlook for the Federal Reserve's next moves. Officials have signaled that they expect to hold interest rates steady at their meeting next week but could cut at their subsequent meeting, in September, if inflation continues to cool. Thursday's report is one of the last major readings of the economy's temperature that Fed officials will see before next week's meeting. The report suggests the U.S. economy remains on solid footing. |
| RNC case against Mississippi mail-in ballot law pending ruling | |
 | A federal judge is mulling over arguments made during a July 9 hearing where the national and state GOP argued for the elimination of mail-in absentee ballot counting after Election Day. However, a similar case recently ruled on in the U.S. District Court for Nevada against the Republican National Committee may provide a concrete defense of current Mississippi law, which allows mail-in absentee ballots to be counted up to five days after an election. On July 9 in Gulfport, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola heard arguments from attorneys for the national and state branches of the Republican Party, the Mississippi Libertarian Party and others, against those made by attorneys representing the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office, who is the defendant in the case. GOP attorneys argued to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi that counting mail-in ballots after Election Day is unlawful because it extends the election. Other arguments, included that mail-in absentee ballot counting harms GOP candidates. Those arguments align with arguments made in the Nevada court, which ultimately ruled against the RNC. |
| Biotech company's CEO pleads guilty in Mississippi welfare fraud case | |
 | The chief executive officer of a biotech company with ties to the largest public corruption case in Mississippi history pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of wire fraud for improperly using welfare funds intended to develop a concussion drug. Jacob VanLandingham entered the plea at a hearing in Jackson before U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves, according to court records. A sentencing date was not immediately set. Possible penalties include up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A lawsuit filed by the state Department of Human Services alleges that $2.1 million of welfare money paid for stock in VanLandingham's Florida-based companies, Prevacus and PreSolMD, for Nancy New and her son, Zachary New, who ran nonprofit groups that received welfare money from Human Services. Prosecutors said the Mississippi Community Education Center, which was run by the News, provided about $1.9 million, including federal money from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, to Prevacus. The money was purportedly for the development of a pharmaceutical concussion treatment. But, prosecutors said in a bill of information that VanLandingham misused "a substantial amount of these funds for his personal benefit, including, but not limited to, gambling and paying off personal debts," according to the bill. |
| Brett Favre's ex-associate pleads guilty in Mississippi welfare case | |
| Brett Favre's former business associate pleaded guilty to wire fraud in federal court on Wednesday, admitting that he used Mississippi welfare money his company received for concussion research to pay off gambling and other debts, according to court filings. Biomedical researcher Jacob VanLandingham pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi to one count of wire fraud for using $1.9 million that his company, Prevacus, received in government funds to "unlawfully enrich himself," according to the filings. Wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He was released on bond. VanLandingham's lawyer, Thomas Marshall Findley, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. VanLandingham previously told ESPN in a 2022 interview, "I had no idea this was welfare money, and I've always been an upstanding person when it comes to research." Documents show Favre invested more than $800,000 of his own money in Prevacus and lobbied government officials, including former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, for funding for the company. Favre was the top investor in Prevacus, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the state in May 2022 against Favre, VanLandingham and Prevacus, among others. |
| House lawmakers to start summer break Thursday morning | |
 | House leaders canceled votes scheduled for next week as the GOP majority struggles to pass its fiscal 2025 appropriations bills. The decision to scrap next week's session came a day after Republican leaders had to yank the Energy-Water spending bill from the floor amid growing doubts they could muster enough votes to pass it with their razor-thin majority. Democrats have been marching in lockstep against the GOP-written spending measures, and some Republicans signaled Tuesday night they might oppose the Energy-Water bill amid concerns over Energy Department permitting standards and a Georgia port expansion project, among other things. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., chair of the Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee, said his bill won't be brought back to the floor until September at the earliest, as the House prepares to leave town after Thursday morning votes for an extra-long August recess. "It's a good rock-solid bill, but a few members had some issues with it and we're going to try to address that and come back in September," Fleischmann said Wednesday. The only two remaining legislative items on the docket this month include a bipartisan resolution to establish a task force to investigate the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, and a more partisan one attacking the border enforcement record of Vice President Kamala Harris, the expected Democratic presidential nominee. |
| House Ag chairman blasts 'one-sided' farm bill coalition and 'meddling Senate Democrat' | |
| The farm bill coalition --- the rural and urban alliance credited with carrying farm bills to enactment --- "is a one-sided talking point," said House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson on Tuesday in insisting on a $53 billion increase in farm subsidies and cuts in SNAP. Time is running out for passage of the new farm bill this year, and farm groups, silent for weeks, are now calling for prompt congressional action. Election-year politics soon will freeze legislative progress in the already polarized House and Senate. The House was not expected to vote until after Labor Day on the farm bill that was approved by its Agriculture Committee before Memorial Day. The only hope may be passage of a House-Senate compromise bill after the Nov. 5 general elections. "I will not apologize for advancing a bill that seeks to put the farm back in the farm bill," said Thompson, who combines affability with red-meat rhetoric, at a committee hearing on agricultural finances. "The romanticized 'farm bill coalition' often talked about is a one-sided talking point." After describing Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow as "a meddling Senate Democrat," Thompson said he was open to "an informal pre-conference negotiation with the Senate" on make-up of the farm bill. Stabenow aides said Thompson proposed huge increases in farm spending without paying for it and bill unduly favors Southern growers over farmers in the Midwest and Plains. |
| Scott criticizes early recess with farm bill still in the wings | |
| Members of the House are returning today for what is expected to be the last series of votes before Speaker Mike Johnson dismisses the chamber for an early August recess. The House isn't due to return to work until Sept. 9. Following a letter from 500 commodity groups calling for a new farm bill to be passed by the end of this year, House Ag Committee Ranking Member David Scott, D-Ga., is criticizing the speaker's decision to cancel next week's votes. The early recess, and "the inability to finish the appropriations process means September will be taken up trying to keep the government open and casts even more doubt on the committee's bill reaching the House floor," Scott says in a statement being released today. "We have precious few legislative days left in the year to pass a farm bill," Scott says. "The failure of the House Republican Leadership to provide time and resources for a farm bill is a slap in the face to rural America, our farmers, and the families they feed." House Ag Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., told Agri-Pulse in May the farm bill "wouldn't get floor time until September at the earliest." And there remains a great deal of distance between him and his Senate counterpart, Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow, over the bill's funding framework. The House Ag bill also has a funding gap that still needs to be addressed. |
| What to know about Project 2025's plan for agriculture, and how it could lead to 'real chaos' | |
 | Steep increases in logging. An end to federal environmental enforcement for farms. Work requirements for food aid. Fewer school meals for children. And the demolition of the network of farm subsidies that have backstopped Big Ag since the New Deal. These are some of the sweeping changes that would be made to American agriculture under Project 2025, the controversial battle plan conservative groups have prepared to guide the next Republican administration. The vision for agriculture laid out in Mandate for Leadership, the nearly 1,000-page manifesto that outlines Project 2025, is a very long shot -- even if Republicans retake the entire government, experts told The Hill. Carrying out most of the policies detailed in the project would force a confrontation with urban Democrats and a polarized Congress, as well as with some of the most powerful players in the Republican coalition. A spokesperson for House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) panned the Project 2025 vision as an "obscure think tank paper" that didn't speak for the chair, committee or "any of our future plans," they told The Hill. Former President Trump, meanwhile, has sought to distance himself from Project 2025, saying he knows nothing about it and that "some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal." The spokesperson added that "these same misguided proposals were overwhelmingly rejected" by House leadership over the past decade. |
| Biden seeks to define his legacy in address explaining his campaign exit | |
 | President Biden delivered a somber, reflective address from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening, extolling democracy and decrying dictators during his first remarks to the nation since his monumental decision to end both his reelection campaign and political career. "The defense of democracy, which is at stake, is more important than any title," Biden said in remarks that were designed to have the gravitas of a presidential farewell speech. "I draw strength, and find joy, in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me. It's about you. Your families. Your futures. It's about 'We the People.'" With less than six months left in his presidency, Biden used the prime-time address to defend his record, define his legacy and describe his vision for the rest of his term. He repeatedly called on Americans to take up the mantle of safeguarding the nation's principles, asserting that as he prepares to exit public life, he was passing the baton to the public. "The American people will choose the course of America's future," he said at one point. "Whether we keep our republic is now in your hands," he said at another. Biden didn't mention Trump by name, though he used a line of attack he has previously lobbed against the former president. "Does character in public life still matter?" he asked at one point, signaling his answer throughout the address. |
| Kamala Harris has Gen Z appeal with young voters looking for change | |
 | A ripple of energy has gone through young voters eager to have the chance to help make Kamala Harris the first female president in U.S. history, not to mention the first Black woman president and the first South Asian president. Some have even compared it to how Millennial voters felt with Barack Obama in 2008. Angela Demas, 21, of East Lansing, Mich. said she remembers hearing about that excitement as a child. "I could definitely see a lot of people were enthusiastic and ready for change," Demas, who in 2024 is running for local office, said. "I think that has resurfaced again as Kamala Harris is running." The connections between Harris and Obama appeared immediately on social media once President Joe Biden on Sunday said he'd stand down from his own re-election campaign and instead would endorse his vice president in the White House race against Republican Donald Trump. Memes were shared hundreds of thousands of times. People remixed her old speeches, her laugh and her dance moves. Harris' campaign has also embraced it, albeit carefully. It is too soon to say whether the excitement around Harris translates from social media to votes in November. But early indicators show she is invigorating a group of Americans who earlier this year were cold to the Democratic administration's re-election prospects due to a long list of grievances, including concerns over climate change, inflation and Israel's war in Gaza. Many had previously told USA TODAY they were largely weighing either not voting or were drifting toward the Republican ticket, which now includes the 78-year-old Trump and the 39-year-old JD Vance. |
| Kamala Harris: A Baptist with a Jewish husband and a faith that traces back to MLK and Gandhi | |
| Black clergy who know Vice President Kamala Harris, now the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, marvel at the fusion of traditions and teachings that have molded her religious faith and social justice values. A Baptist married to a Jewish man, she's inspired by the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother's native India as well as the Black Church. "She's had the best of two worlds," says her longtime pastor, the Rev. Amos Brown, who leads Third Baptist Church in San Francisco. In interviews, religious leaders and theologians told The Associated Press that Harris' candidacy has special symbolic significance following President Joe Biden's departure from election campaign. Not only because she would be the nation's first female president, but she's a Black American with South Asian roots and her two cultures are intrinsically linked. The clergy and scholars noted that the concept of nonviolent resistance, a critical strategy in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, gained influence under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi in India, who was an inspiration for many decades to America's Black preachers and civil rights leaders. As a student at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Harris was immersed in a cultural environment influenced by deep faith. The fellowship and service she learned at her alma mater is key to understanding the spirituality driving her sense of purpose, said  Matthew Watley, pastor of nearby Kingdom Fellowship AME, one of the fastest growing churches in America. |
| How the most right-wing appeals court was reined in by the Supreme Court this term | |
| The conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court would only be pushed so far. In this year's blockbuster Supreme Court term, there was a notable loser: a Louisiana court that has become the national testing ground for conservative causes. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, is arguably the most conservative appeals court in the nation. But the high court threw out one conservative challenge to social media content moderation, sent another back to the 5th Circuit for more analysis, and said the appeals court should not have allowed a challenge by anti-abortion doctors to a commonly used abortion drug. The justices also rejected a conservative-led attack on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and said the appeals court was misapplying a previous decision expanding gun rights when it ruled that a domestic abuser can't be denied a gun. "It shows that the 5th Circuit was, at the very least, moving too fast for the Supreme Court," said Adam Feldman, a lawyer and political scientist who runs a blog called Empirical SCOTUS. This is despite the fact that the court, which now has a 6-3 conservative majority, made a number of controversial right-leaning decisions this term including imposing new hurdles on federal regulatory agencies and granting broad legal protections for the presidency. To be sure, the Supreme Court did side with the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on two big cases -- one that killed off a major gun control effort and another that contributed to curtailing the regulatory power of the federal government. |
| JSU receives grant to preserve historic hospital | |
| The Zachary T. Hubert Health Center at Jackson State University received a $198,564 grant from the National Park Service to preserve the building. The money will go towards a new roof and a new HVAC System. Jackson State University's Community Engagement Director, Heather Denne, believes the money will not only preserve the building itself, but the history behind it. "Jackson State played a pivotal role in access to healthcare during a time when African Americans could not access healthcare," said Denne. Former Jackson State president, Zachary T. Hubert opened the hospital to offer healthcare services for African Americans when other hospitals in the area were still segregated. Angela Stewart is an archivist for the Margaret Walker Center at JSU and spoke about the value of the historic hospital. "If you did get into a hospital, you were often limited to segregated services, such as in the basement, and that's why the Zachary Taylor Hubert Health Clinic was important because African American doctors provided top rate care to African American patients," Stewart said. The hospital opened in 1944 and served Black Mississippians until the early 1980s. |
| Educators discuss teacher shortage, training in Mississippi | |
| Mississippi's teacher shortage continues to persist statewide despite recent efforts to reduce vacancies and get more educators into classrooms. A 2024 report from the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) reveals that the problem is not improving. MDE data indicates 2,775 teacher vacancies in the 2023-2024 school year. That is a 7% increase compared to the previous school year. Despite incentives and alternative routes to teaching becoming more popular, university officials say it is hard to get teachers to stay. Trenton Gould is Dean of The University of Southern Mississippi's (USM) College of Education and Human Sciences. He said that for teachers who stay in Mississippi, different teaching experiences compared to college influence teachers even staying in the profession. "A new teacher's expectations for what it means to now be the lead teacher may not actually align with the real-world expectations. New teachers often get overwhelmed which results in frustration and, ultimately potentially leaving the profession," Gould said. Tony Latiker, Interim Dean for the College of Education and Human Development at Jackson State University (JSU), describes the state of Mississippi as a teacher-exporter state. In other words, educators taught in Mississippi's universities leave for teaching jobs outside of the Magnolia State. |
| In Mississippi, student filmmakers tell Emmett Till's story through their lenses | |
 | Students pile out of a bus in Drew, Mississippi, with notepads and cameras tucked under their arms. This stop, on a hot Friday afternoon in June, is the third of many throughout the quiet farming region. One student, Amari Smith, listens intently to her instructor as she carries a tripod to the edge of the nearby pond. She angles her camera at the surface, at cypress trees covered in soft green algae, and presses the red circle on the side. As she records, a drone circles overhead, sweeping across the expansive property, where Emmett Till was murdered nearly 70 years ago. The shoot is part of a Mississippi Delta Film Academy field trip. For two weeks this summer, two dozen students traveled from Sumner to Drew and Mound Bayou, visiting historic locations and museums of Black Southern history along the route that Till took the day of his murder. The goal is for the students to create a documentary that continues to tell his story. At a special screening, the students debuted their documentary in Sumner on June 29. They also shared what the project taught them about Civil Rights and how the work affected them. The documentary and the process of putting it together is part of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center's mission to educate people on Till, which students like Myiesha Wright, who's worked with the center for three summers in a row, say deepened her understanding of her hometown. "Sumner has like a lot of history that don't nobody really know about," Wright said. "So [the project] really helped me realize that." |
| What Helps Poor Kids Move Up? Whether Adults in the Neighborhood Have Jobs | |
| For all our divisions, Americans have been united by a singular obsession: How can we have a better life? Economists call this economic mobility -- the ability to move up the income ladder and make it to a higher rung than your parents. Harvard University economist Raj Chetty has spent more than a decade working to understand what makes mobility possible, and why in some places the children of poor parents have been more able to move up than in others. Using anonymized census and tax data, Chetty and his fellow researchers have been able to follow millions of Americans from childhood into adulthood. The data showed that even in neighborhoods bordering one another, outcomes for poor children can be vastly different. That gave rise to the fundamental question: Why? The answer is important not just to understand what makes economic mobility happen, but to come up with ways to improve opportunities for poor children. Chetty, along with Will Dobbie, Benjamin Goldman and Crystal Yang at Harvard and Sonya Porter at the Census Bureau, published research Thursday that brings us closer to one. Analyzing data covering a near universe of Americans born from 1978 to 1992, the researchers found that when employment among the poor parents of children in a community improves, those children are better off economically as adults. It is a dynamic that some researchers have suspected, but that has never been shown systematically. Importantly, it doesn't rely on whether a child's own parents are employed: Outcomes also improve for children who simply grow up in a neighborhood where more parents have jobs. In other words, their own parents might be unemployed, but if their schoolmates' parents work, their outcomes will be better. |
| How U. of Tennessee students are scrambling to keep WUTK on air in 'hectic' times | |
 | University of Tennessee at Knoxville students are picking up extra shifts, prerecording radio shows and learning on the fly how to program a station to keep WUTK on the air in the absence of longtime GM Benny Smith and after volunteer community DJs were asked to step aside. Two people are leading the station through this uncertain time: senior Carter Moore, the station's music co-director, and underwriting and marketing manager Matt Keaton. Keaton, who is a paid nonstudent, handles daily operations at WUTK (90.3 FM) and reports to Jody Hamblett, general manager of WUOT (91.9 FM). Keaton became the highest-ranking member of WUTK once the College of Communication and Information announced Smith's retirement July 15. Specialty program hosts Rob Levering and Derek Senter said during Smith's administrative leave that their show "The Funhouse" was volunteer-led because students did not want to work Friday nights. Now that volunteers are no longer allowed on the airwaves, students are scrambling to pick up the slack at a time when many of their peers are home for the summer. Senior student DJ Seth Harper has filled slots in the absence of volunteers. Harper has done extra voice tracking to help the station and is enjoying expanding his wheelhouse with music outside his normal genre of choice. But that doesn't negate the fact these are difficult times for WUTK. With the summer's uncertainty, Harper is encouraging listeners to refrain from feeding the wildfire of speculation surrounding WUTK and Smith's retirement. |
| US moves forward with plan for national research security centre | |
| In its continuing push to tighten research security, the US government awarded $67 million to two consortia led by the University of Washington and Texas A&M University to set up a national organisation helping US researchers safeguard their research. The new SECURE Center, to be hosted in Seattle, is intended to be a kind of one-stop-shop for US research organisations and small businesses looking for guidance on security. Its creation was mandated by Congress in the CHIPS & Science Act of 2022, as part of a growing effort to prevent unauthorised leaks of sensitive research to other countries -- especially China. The award, announced 24 July by the National Science Foundation, grants $50 million over five years to a consortium of ten universities led by the University of Washington, which since 2014 has built up a large centre for security and safety research under a professor there, Mark Haselkorn. An additional $17 million grant goes to Texas A&M to provide services analysing potential security risks and developing tools to manage them. Under the SECURE Center grant, there will be five regional security centres around the country to be managed by the University of Washington, Northeastern University, Emory University, Texas A&M with the University of Texas-San Antonio and the University of Missouri. Four additional consortium members are the University of Michigan, Mississippi State University, Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the College of Charleston, South Carolina. |
| Could George Mason U. Be Republicans' 'Test Case' for Project 2025? | |
 | Yet another Republican governor appears eager to make his mark on public higher education. Faculty fear George Mason University is the next target. Beginning this week, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's appointees will make up a supermajority on George Mason's Board of Visitors. Among them are numerous researchers and activists with ties to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank. One board member is a lead author of Project 2025, a blueprint for a second Trump administration that many critics have called authoritarian. At a meeting on Friday, George Mason's new board is expected to elect a chair, called a rector in the state's Jeffersonian jargon. Eradicating diversity, equity, and inclusion is the primary force driving conversations about who should lead the board, according to several people with knowledge of the discussions. In some ways, George Mason appears an obvious choice: Its law school, named for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, has close ties with Washington's conservative legal movement. Record-breaking gifts from the right-leaning Charles Koch Foundation have created new professorships in free-market economics. But in other ways, the anti-DEI movement is at odds with a university like George Mason. The student body is the most diverse in Virginia. Administrators have boasted that intentional inclusion efforts support that diversity and help prevent achievement gaps. |
| College education may not be preparing employees for generative AI | |
| While the majority of college graduates say their education has readied them for success in the job market, more than half said their programs didn't prepare them for the use of generative AI, according to a Cengage Group report released July 23. And employers may be confirming these suspicions, the report noted; nearly 2 in 3 employers said candidates "should have foundational knowledge" of generative AI tools. More than half of employers said they were more likely to interview and hire applicants with AI experience. However, research showed improvement in colleges and universities focusing on "employable skills," Cengage Group said; nearly 3 in 5 recent graduates of 2- or 4-year degree programs said that they believed their program equipped them with needed skills for their first job, up from 41% in 2023. Two-thirds also said that their education "has positioned them for success in the current job market." "The increased satisfaction among graduates and their improved perception of education's value are encouraging signs that educators are listening and responding to the needs of both students and employers," Michael Hansen, CEO of Cengage Group, said in a statement. But the survey also signals that shifts in expectations may be coming yet again for higher education and employee development programs. |
| GAO Report on Students' Food Insecurity Highlights SNAP Gap | |
 | Two-thirds of the 3.3 million college students eligible for federal food assistance in 2020 didn't access it, the Government Accountability Office found in a report released Wednesday. Requested by Democratic lawmakers in 2021, the report comes as Congress is in the midst of updating the Farm Bill, a sprawling piece of legislation that sets policy for agriculture and nutrition programs, and it offers new insights about food insecurity among college students and access to the federal food assistance program known as SNAP. Over the years, advocates have pushed Congress to make SNAP easier for college students to access. The need is certainly there: About 23 percent of college students reported experiencing food insecurity per the report, which analyzed federal data released last year. For advocates, the GAO findings highlight why changes are necessary -- as well as the need for colleges to reach out to students who are potentially eligible for SNAP and ensure they are aware of their benefits. "This reinforces the brokenness of the SNAP student rules, and the need for deep reform in the rules, and sort of rewriting other rules," said Mark Huelsman, director of policy at the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice at Temple University. "If two-thirds of potentially eligible students are not receiving benefits, the eligibility criteria and the outreach and really every piece of the system needs to be fundamentally rethought." |
| Harris taps Black sorority and fraternity 'family' for political power | |
 | Vice President Kamala Harris rallied members of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. on Wednesday, urging some of her staunchest supporters to "make history" in one of her first events as the Democrats' all-but-assured nominee -- and underscoring her connection with a critical voting bloc. Her rousing speech amounted to a hometown reception. Harris is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority since her days at Howard University, which is also part of the "Divine Nine." The group represents historically Black sororities and fraternities, a ready-made coalition of supporters who the vice president called on "to energize, to organize and to mobilize" against former President Donald Trump. The organizations collectively represent a significant well of support for Harris, both personally and politically. "When we organize, mountains move," Harris said. "When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history." After Harris' ascension to the party's apparent standard-bearer, the "Divine Nine" presidents collectively put out a statement promising to "meet this critical moment in history with an unprecedented voter registration, education and mobilization coordinated campaign." |
| How Trump could roll back Biden changes to student loans, Title IX | |
| President Biden has implemented numerous education policies denounced by Republicans who hope former President Trump would sweep them away if he returns to the White House, but some could prove more unyielding than others. Biden reforms on everything from student loans to Title IX could be on the chopping block in a second Trump administration. "We've seen this before: The regulatory ping-pong between administrations is something the higher ed community probably expects at this point," said Stephanie Hall, senior director of higher education policy at the Center for American Progress. "I do think alarm bells are going off, though, maybe more so ... under precedented times, because there's a number of routes" that can be taken to overturn Biden's policies. One of the biggest potential fights would be over the new income-driven student loan repayment program called Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE). Republicans have denounced the plan numerous times, with several red states challenging the initiative in court. Judges have swung back and forth on blocking certain parts of the SAVE plan, and one group of Republican-led states has appealed for an emergency ruling from the Supreme Court. "If there's a second Trump administration, there's a number of routes they could go to eliminate the SAVE plan," Hall said. |
| GOP committee orders Biden administration to hand over documents on FAFSA rollout | |
| Congressional Republicans are escalating their probe into what caused a college financial aid crisis that hurt students nationwide. The education committee in the U.S. House of Representatives issued a subpoena Thursday that legally compels the Biden administration to hand over troves of documents by Aug. 8, according to a copy of the order shared with USA TODAY. Virginia Foxx, a Republican congresswoman from North Carolina who leads the committee, criticized the U.S. Department of Education for not fully cooperating with federal investigations into changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Millions of students each year rely on the form, commonly known as the FAFSA, to get help paying for college. A cascade of glitches with the application this spring led to delays that prevented many students from estimating their college costs. The bureaucratic logjam forced many high school seniors to make one of the most important decisions of their lives on a far tighter deadline than usual. Earlier this year, an independent government watchdog agreed to review how the process went haywire. That agency, the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, has launched two separate investigations into the issue. The GAO confirmed to USA TODAY that its staff attended a summer conference for college financial aid workers. The agency did not say whether its visit was part of those probes. A featured speaker at that conference was Richard Cordray, a top Education Department official who stepped down amid the disastrous FAFSA rollout. |
| Senate Bill Aims to Hold Universities Accountable for Antisemitism | |
| Legislation introduced Wednesday in the U.S. Senate would require universities and the Education Department to immediately address reports of discrimination. It's the latest effort by congressional Republicans to combat antisemitism on college campuses. The Restoring Civility on Campus Act would provide more transparency for federal civil rights investigations into reports of discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, which includes antisemitism and Islamophobia. Provisions in the legislation are also aimed at bolstering the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights' oversight of colleges that are under investigation. For example, the bill would require OCR staff to work in person at a college campus as they evaluate a complaint about a university. The legislation also would temporarily increase the fine for universities that fail to disclose a crime motivated by antisemitism on their annual security reports, which are required by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security and Campus Crime Statistics Act. Currently, universities can be fined $69,733 per Clery violation, but the bill would raise the maximum fine to $1 million for the next two years. Under the bill, OCR would be required to immediately open an investigation into any complaint involving alleged shared ancestry discrimination after Oct. 7, 2023, which is when Hamas attacked Israel. |
| Warren, Democratic lawmakers introduce bill to resurrect Chevron doctrine | |
| Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced legislation that would reverse the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the Chevron doctrine, according to a Tuesday press release. The Stop Corporate Capture Act, a joint effort by Warren, nine other Democratic senators and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would codify the Chevron doctrine, which required federal courts give deference to agencies' reasonable interpretation of ambiguous statutes. The high court overturned the doctrine in a June ruling. "Giant corporations are using far-right, unelected judges to hijack our government and undermine the will of Congress," Warren said in a news release. "The Stop Corporate Capture Act will bring transparency and efficiency to the federal rulemaking process, and most importantly, will make sure corporate interest groups can't substitute their preferences for the judgment of Congress and the expert agencies." The Supreme Court ruling could put several higher education regulations at stake. Moody's Investors Service predicted earlier this month that the U.S. Department of Education could face "stronger and new challenges" to its policy agenda in the wake of the decision. The Stop Corporate Capture Act, the senators say, "reforms the regulatory process to end corporations' influence over the rulemaking process." |
| Local newspapers are shutting down | |
| Mississippi newspaper publisher and columnist Wyatt Emmerich writes: It was front page news last week when the Clarion-Ledger reported that three weekly newspapers in Mississippi had ceased operation -- the Leland Progress, the Jasper County News and the Smith County Reformer. All three newspapers have been operating for more than 135 years. There were dozens of Facebook comments on the closing. ... Sixteen thousand three hundred and sixty six people live in Jasper County. There will not be a single local journalist whose job it is to report basic local news. That's a travesty for the richest major country in the world. People love to bash the national media for being biased, but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about basic coverage of things like garbage pick up, the board of supervisors meeting, crime news, economic development and the like. ... Facebook is fine for keeping up with friends and neighbors. It has a role in communicating local news. But a Facebook post is not the same as a genuine local article written by a properly trained professional journalist. ... Over the decades, I have written hundreds of times about threats to our society and political system. It has been a great honor to make a living commenting and reporting on our democratic republic -- the greatest in the world. But now I'm commenting on something that I am intimately involved in -- the production of local news. It's dying and this is a threat to our democracy. |
SPORTS
| New Team Areas And More Provide Big Boost For Bulldogs | |
| Mississippi State continues to transform Humphrey Coliseum into a premier facility courtesy of another round of upgrades at the men's and women's basketball venue. A year after debuting a renovated Hump in public spaces, the building is now nearing the completion of multiple redesigned team areas as part of the first projects to be completed in MSU athletics' new comprehensive long-term master plan for all athletics facilities. New-look locker rooms for both the men's and women's teams, upgraded training rooms with an increased emphasis on injury prevention and elite recovery, and more, are among the most notable features that have been added to enhance the experience for current and future Bulldog student-athletes. "There is a long-standing tradition of excellence at Humphrey Coliseum," MSU Director of Athletics Zac Selmon said. "The recent renovations updating our fan amenities certainly played a role in the electric environments that we had last season, but we always knew we needed to go beyond that and provide upgrades to the way our student-athletes fuel, train and recover. We recognize they compete in the toughest conference in America and we will now have elite facilities for elite athletes. We cannot thank Bulldog Club members enough for playing a key role in making this happen." |
| Julia Lopez Ramirez Earns No. 1 World Ranking | |
| Mississippi State women's golf standout Julia Lopez Ramirez has earned the top amateur ranking in the world by the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Lopez Ramirez is currently ranked No. 1 in the world entering her senior season at State. Over the past few months, Lopez Ramirez has been ranked inside the top three despite defeating the previous WAGR No. 1 ranked golfer from LSU. This was highlighted by her SEC Championship performance, where Lopez Ramirez won her second consecutive individual SEC crown while also helping MSU defeat LSU in match play before eventually win the program's first-ever SEC Team Championship. Lopez Ramirez's No. 1 ranking comes on the heels of yet another outstanding season at Mississippi State. The senior-to-be from Spain earned First Team All-America honors in 2024 by Golfweek and the WGCA. She is also tied with Bulldog alum and LPGA star Ally Ewing with six career All-America honors. Ewing, who recently was selected for her fourth U.S. Solheim Cup Team, is currently ranked No. 14 in the world by the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings. Lopez Ramirez has made a name for herself as one of the best collegiate golfers in the country. She was named the SEC Player of the Year for the second consecutive season after becoming just the fifth women's golfer in SEC history to win back-to-back individual SEC Championships. |
| Mississippi State golfer Julia Lopez Ramirez earns No. 1 World Ranking | |
| Mississippi State women's golf standout Julia Lopez Ramirez has topped the World Amateur Golf Rankings ahead of her senior season in Starkville. Lopez Ramirez has hovered in the top three of the world rankings in the last two months but hadn't reached the peak position despite defeating the previous No. 1 ranked player. Her historic run includes an individual SEC title, along with helping the Bulldogs beat LSU to claim the program's first-ever SEC Team Championship. The Spaniard also earned Golfweek and WCGA First Team All-America honors following her junior season. In gathering the recognition, she tied Bulldog alum and LPGA star Ally Ewing with six career All-America awards. Ewing is currently ranked the world's No. 14 player. Mississippi State women's golf became one of just 14 teams in the county to make each of the last three NCAA Championships, the first time in program history that MSU had achieved the feat. |
| Golden Triangle feeling effects of softball's national explosion | |
| Growing up in Caledonia, Andy Finch was introduced to baseball around the ages of 5 or 6, when he started playing tee ball. He played baseball all throughout his youth and adolescence, graduating from Caledonia High School in 1998 and playing football and basketball as well. It wasn't until he began teaching at West Point High School, though, that Finch discovered softball. West Point's athletic director knew Finch was familiar with baseball, and figured the two sports were similar enough that he would be comfortable coaching the Green Wave's softball team. Finch took the opportunity and ran with it, and he is now back at his alma mater building a perennial softball contender at Caledonia. Softball has exploded in popularity nationwide in recent years, both in terms of participation and viewership, and that rapid growth is being reflected in Mississippi and the Golden Triangle region. On a larger scale, the 2024 Women's College World Series finals between Oklahoma and Texas drew an average of two million viewers on ESPN, the most on record and up 24 percent from 2023. Meanwhile, new travel softball teams have formed across the area, giving girls the opportunity to compete against some of the best players in their age group from all over the South and potentially beyond. Mississippi's top college softball programs are recruiting more in-state talent, although many of those players come from travel teams in other states. Mississippi State had five players from Mississippi in 2024, compared to three the year prior and two the year before that. |
| Lincoln Riley makes passionate plea to induct the late Mike Leach into CFB Hall of Fame | |
| There has been rising support for the late Mike Leach to make it into the College Football Hall of Fame, despite not being eligible due to the rules, with USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley being the latest to share his support. Riley and Leach have a long history together, and it was in his opening statements at his first Big Ten media Days when he chose to make a passionate plea on Leach's behalf. "I also want to mention, I know a couple of my counterparts have said some of the same things regarding this notion," Lincoln Riley said. "But obviously Mike Leach meant a lot to my career. Instrumental in my upbringing. I know there's been a lot of debate and talk about him belonging in the College Football Hall of Fame and [I] certainly want to voice my support for that happening here on this stage." Leach always made his impact felt on college football. That included as a guru of the Air Raid offense, which has permeated the sport as a whole in terms of the concepts used. It was with that offense that Leach was able to create a massive coaching tree and find success in his stops at Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State. Along the way, he was always a larger-than-life figure in the sport. Along the way, one of the people who Mike Leach impacted was Lincoln Riley. He played quarterback at Texas Tech under Leach before getting his start there as an assistant coach. That makes him one of the strongest branches of Leach's coaching tree. "That's something that's very important to me. He changed the game and changed a lot of people's lives, mine included in the process of it," Riley said. |
| Country music star Brett Young to headline concert ahead of Ole Miss football season | |
| As the upcoming college football season nears, Ole Miss will be putting on a concert to get fans hyped up for what is expected by many to be a historic campaign. Presented by SuperTalk Mississippi Media, on Friday, August 30, just one night ahead of Lane Kiffin and company's opener against Furman, a set of performances by artists with deep Oxford roots will take place in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion. Headlining the concert will be former Ole Miss pitcher turned Academy of Country Music Award-winner Brett Young with hits including "In Case You Didn't Know" and "Hell Yeah Damn Right (Ole Miss Tribute)." Young suited up for the Rebels in 2000 and later pursued a career in music, where he has had immense success. Joining Young will be Josh Kelley, a fellow former Ole Miss student-athlete converted into a country music singer. Kelley, who was a member of the Rebels' men's golf team in 2000-01, is best known in the entertainment scene for his songs "Amazing" and "Georgia Clay." In addition, none other than Oxford-based Mustache The Band, or "the world's most powerful 90s country party band," will take the stage at the indoor facility to perform some of the greatest hits from a bygone era of country music. |
| Archie Manning, Langston Rogers to headline Delta State's 'A Night of Champions' | |
| Delta State's inaugural "A Night of Champions" event is just around the corner, set for Thursday, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. inside Walter Sillers Coliseum. Headlining the get-together will be former Ole Miss and NFL quarterback Archie Manning, a native of the Mississippi Delta. Manning, born in Drew in 1949, will be joined by Statesmen Hall of Famer and former Delta State and Ole Miss sports information director Langston Rogers for a casual conversation with members of the public. "This is going to be a thrill, and it's going to especially be a thrill for me. I'm not from the Delta, but I've heard so much about these gentlemen. Now, I get to meet them in person," Delta State President Dr. Daniel Ennis said. Ennis recently surpassed one year on the job after moving to Cleveland from Coastal Carolina, where he served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. In addition to the conversation with Manning and Rogers, A Night of Champions will feature an auction and VIP opportunities to meet the guests of honor. |
| SEC dominates Baseball America's 'way too early' Top 25 rankings for 2025 | |
| The SEC proved to be the premier conference for college baseball once again during the 2024 season, accounting for half of the College World Series field, three of its national semifinalist teams and both of the CWS finals teams. Tennessee defeated Texas A&M in the all-SEC College World Series championship series, giving the conference the last five national champions. That includes Vanderbilt in 2019, as there was no national champion to speak of during the COVID-19-impacted 2020 college baseball season. And it doesn't appear the tide will change much in 2025, if Baseball America's way-too-early top 25 rankings are any indication. Per Baseball America, the SEC accounts for 11 of its top 25 teams, including four of the top seven. LSU, the 2023 CWS national champions, lead the way at No. 1 overall. The Tigers are followed up by Florida -- a runner-up in 2023 and semifinalist in 2024 -- at No. 2. Defending national champion Tennessee is the No. 7 team, while the 2024 national runner-up, Texas A&M, comes in at No. 5. The ACC had eight teams make the list, while the Beavers (Pac-12), rival Oregon and Indiana (Big Ten), Oklahoma State and Arizona (Big 12) and Southern Miss (Sun Belt) are the only teams from outside the SEC or ACC teams to make the cut. |
| Sources: NCAA to increase scholarships for sports, with football getting roster limit of 105 players | |
| Dozens more scholarship spots are coming to NCAA sports. During a meeting Tuesday, power conference commissioners finalized new roster-size limits that pave the way for athletic departments to distribute millions of dollars in new scholarships to athletes in, most notably, football, baseball and softball. Conference officials with knowledge of the figures spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity. As part of the new revenue-sharing model -- beginning in 2025-26 academic year -- by-sport scholarship restrictions are eliminated, and schools are permitted to offer scholarships to the entirety of their rosters. The new roster limit figures are not final until the approval of House settlement terms. Football, with a current scholarship restriction of 85, will now have a roster limit of 105 -- a 20-scholarship increase for those schools willing to give the maximum. In an important note for football, the 105 may not be a requirement until the start of the competitive season, giving coaches flexibility to go beyond that figure during preseason camp, for instance. Baseball, with a current scholarship restriction of 11.7, is expected to have a roster of 34. Scholarship spots for softball and volleyball, each currently at 12, will increase to 25 and 18, respectively. |
| How will the House v. NCAA settlement affect college sports' vital Olympic pipeline? | |
 | Grant House is a named plaintiff in arguably the most consequential antitrust lawsuit in college sports history. Grant House is also a swimmer, a recent graduate of Arizona State who served as a key piece of the program's emergence as a national championship contender and still trains with the Sun Devils as a post-grad. And therein lies the awkwardness of House's current predicament. His name is shorthand for the three antitrust cases (House v. NCAA, Hubbard v. NCAA and Carter v. NCAA) that the NCAA and power conferences are in the process of settling. The settlement will pay out approximately $2.8 billion in damages and set up a revenue-sharing model in which schools may pay up to $20 million directly to their athletes per year. As athletic departments nationwide brace for the new price of doing business, a number of athletic directors and commissioners have already alluded to necessary cost-cutting measures. For some schools, that will include dropping Olympic sports that don't drive revenue for the athletic department ... like swimming. ... It's hard to downplay the impact the settlement will have on non-football and non-basketball college sports. That's why the uncertain future of college athletics is so concerning to those who care about swimming -- and other Olympic sports that have long been supported and sustained through the NCAA model. So much has changed in the past few years, and an even more significant makeover is ahead. But what will that mean for Team USA's pursuit of gold? |
| Judge Denies Houston Christian's Effort to Join House v. NCAA Case | |
| U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken has denied a motion by Houston Christian University to intervene as a party in the House v. NCAA antitrust case. In an order Wednesday, Wilken argued that the university had failed to meet its burden in establishing that it could not otherwise "protect its claimed" interest without joining the case. She added that HCU's motion also was not filed in a timely manner, and that its "years-long delay in moving to intervene weighs heavily" in her decision. In its motion last month, the FCS school formerly known as Houston Baptist, argued that neither it nor its league were named as defendants in the House lawsuit, nor were they ever consulted by the NCAA and power conferences that are defendants. Nevertheless, HCU said, the impending House settlement would mean its share of annual NCAA distributions would be reduced by hundreds of thousands of dollars, thus forcing it to reallocate money from campus to keep funding its athletic programs at their current level. However, Wilken contends that scenario is neither inevitable nor grounds to have standing as a party in House. "Because HCU's membership in the NCAA and participation in Division I sports is optional," the judge wrote, "and because HCU is subject to the NCAA's decisions and rules only because it chooses to be, the Court cannot conclude that HCU lacks 'other means,' besides intervention, to protect its claimed interest in deciding for itself how to allocate its funds." |
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