| Monday, August 5, 2024 |
| 'Goals nobody can argue with': Mississippi universities rebrand DEI to focus on access, opportunity and belonging | |
 | The University of Mississippi is in the midst of restructuring its Division of Diversity and Community Engagement as other universities across the state have already made changes to their diversity, equity and inclusion offices, potentially in an effort to ward off a legislative ban. Earlier this year, the head of Mississippi State University's diversity division gave a presentation to faculty on the restructuring that was announced last fall. As of July 1, the University of Southern Mississippi's renamed "Office of Community and Belonging" will serve a broader audience, a spokesperson confirmed. At all three institutions, the universities told Mississippi Today the changes did not come with a reduction to any programs, scholarships or initiatives that aim to support the enrollment, retention and employment of students and faculty from historically marginalized groups such as racial minorities, veterans, first-generation and low-income students. Last November, Mississippi State University announced a new organizational structure for its Division for Access, Diversity and Inclusion, as well as a new name. It is now called the Division of Access, Opportunity and Success. This effort got underway in 2020 in an effort to lessen disparate outcomes that a taskforce found among first-generational, low-income and racial minority students at the university. Alongside the renaming, the university moved programs aimed at low-income, housing insecure and first-generation students under the Office of Access and Success, according to a presentation the division's vice president, Ra'Sheda Boddie-Forbes, gave to the faculty senate earlier this year. |
| Clarke County alumni recognize MSU students at send-off party | |
 | Photo: Area students planning to attend Mississippi State University this fall were honored at an annual send-off party sponsored locally by the Clarke County Chapter of the MSU Alumni Association. The university's alumni association sponsors send-off parties throughout the state and at various out-of-state locations each summer. Four students were recognized at the Clarke County party, held at Clarkco State Park in Quitman on July 25. Posing for a photo at the send-off party were, front row, from left to right, William and Elaine Reed, MSU student Patti Watson of Quitman, student Michelle Parker of Wayne County, student Kylie Green of Quitman, student Jaymee Carruth of Enterprise and Jonathan Jackson, MS South 1 Region district representative for the MSU Alumni Association. Pictured, back row from left to right, are Carl and Sandi Blackwell, Pam Hampton and Libby Riley, all friends of MSU and the Clarke County alumni chapter. Green was the winner of a $500 award applied to her student account at MSU. To join the Clarke County chapter, contact Lisa Riley, president, at 601-480-6052 or email her at rileydawgs@gmail.com. |
| MSU Extension offers food business training | |
| Mississippians with a quality food product looking to scale up their business are invited to take advantage of a series of one-hour webinars and a one-day, in-person workshop to learn ways to navigate different markets. The Mississippi State University Extension Service is offering the "Food as Business: Scaling up from the Market - Take Your Food Business to the Next Level" program. It is for anyone who currently operates or is interested in operating an agriculture-based food business, including agricultural and food entrepreneurs, farmers and cottage food operators. The webinars will be offered online in September and October, and there are two in-person workshops scheduled. Those interested can take advantage of either or both of these options. The one-day workshop costs $15, payable on-site, and includes lunch, refreshments and course materials. Topics include financial planning, credit readiness and access, marketing tools, social media advertising, digital marketing, market access, pricing strategies, and compliance with food safety regulations, certification, and production licenses. |
| Starkville-based Camgian awarded $55 million contract from the U.S. Army | |
| Starkville-based software company Camgian has been awarded $55 million to develop kill chain automation technologies for the U.S. Army. According to a news release, the grant will support the development of innovative approaches to improve sensor and survivability and reduce warfighter cognitive overload. "Kill chain" describes the process the military uses to attack targets in battlespace. "Winning on today's battlefield is about closing kill chains faster than our adversaries," Camgian CEO Dr. Gary Butler said. "This contract affords us the opportunity to work closely with the Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense community to deliver new capabilities that enable our warfighters to fight at machine speed." "We are excited to bring our innovative approaches to the forefront of the Army's IAMD mission," Camgian Product Technical Manager Kevin Martin said. "Our goal is to enhance the sensor survivability and streamline the kill chain process, providing the Army with faster and more reliable decision-making capabilities. This project represents a significant step forward in modernizing our defense infrastructure." The $55 million contract is the largest Camgian has ever received. The release added that the Army plans to develop and deploy advanced solutions from Camgian over the next several years. |
| Killing enemy drones from Starkville. How it happens | |
 | Killing enemy drones from Starkville may seem like a tall task, but that is exactly the task with which Starkville-based Camgian Corporation has been entrusted. Camgian has been awarded a $55 million contract by the U.S. Army to develop advanced "kill chain automation technologies" for the Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense systems. The contract will support the development of innovative approaches to improve sensor survivability and reduce warfighter cognitive overload. Specifically, this technology is meant to pinpoint drone attacks, drone swarm attacks and missile attacks. "All of these terms are a fancy way of saying that we build software systems that leverage AI machine learning algorithms to help drive faster, high quality decisions," Camgian CEO and Founder Gary Butler told the Clarion Ledger. "Most of what we do today is with the military, but we also do work in the commercial sector." Under the contract, Camgian will utilize its Reactor kill chain automation platform and expertise in machine learning and software engineering. The goal is to deliver new automated capabilities that will improve the effectiveness of the Army's existing air and missile defense systems against rapidly evolving aerial threats. |
| Christine Powell named first woman deputy director at NASA's Stennis Space Center | |
| A Mississippi Gulf Coast native has been tabbed as the first woman to serve as deputy director at NASA's Stennis Space Center. Director John Bailey announced on Friday that longtime propulsion engineer/manager Christine Powell has been selected to operate in the executive role at the Bay St. Louis site. She will begin in her new role on August 12. Powell currently serves as manager of the NASA Rocket Propulsion Test Program Office located at the Stennis Space Center. In that role, she oversees propulsion assets valued at more than $3.5 billion across the agency, management of the program's operations and annual $48 million budget, and strategic planning for NASA's key objectives. She is the first woman to be selected as NASA Stennis deputy director. She will be responsible, with the center director, for coordinating all of NASA Stennis' rocket propulsion test capabilities, as well as managing the overall site. Powell, from Biloxi, began her 33-year agency career at NASA Stennis as an intern in 1991. The incoming deputy director has received numerous recognitions during her career, including two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals. She is a graduate of Mississippi State University and the University of New Orleans. |
| Engineer Research and Development Center names new Information Technology Laboratory | |
| The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has selected Dr. Robert Moser as the new director of the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL). As director, Moser will lead a team of approximately 700 federal and contractor personnel who work in the areas of information technology, high-performance computing, data analytics, software engineering, scientific visualization and more. Additionally, he will oversee the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program and serve as ERDC's chief information officer. Prior to being named director of ITL, Moser was a senior scientific technical manager in ERDC's Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, where he led program and organizational strategy development with a technical focus on material science, computational modeling, multi-physics modeling and sensing, asset management and advanced manufacturing. ERDC's mission is to solve the nation's most challenging problems in civil and military engineering, geospatial sciences, water resources, and environmental sciences for the Army, Department of Defense, civilian agencies, and our Nation's public good. Moser believes that the importance of that mission is only going to grow. "We are already facing challenges with our economy, resilience of our infrastructure, our supply chain and geopolitical challenges in the world," said Moser. "There's never been a time that we need to stand up and do good work and support the mission like there is now." |
| Longtime Reed's department store icon back after heart attack | |
 | As he always does, John Rush made sure his newest customer had everything he needed before he left. The customer had come into Reed's department store downtown Friday morning needing a black jacket and pants, and Rush found what he needed. "You need a good looking shirt and tie with that?," John asked as the customer was heading to the register. Sure enough, he also left with a new shirt and tie. Rush, who is 80, is as witty and helpful as ever. He's been a familiar face at Reed's for nearly 50 years, and customers and employees alike have nothing but good things to say about him. "He's a local celebrity," said Jack Reed Jr., the president of the store. "When somebody's been here for half a century and has the friendly personality John has, people respond to him and he responds to them." But if not for the heroic actions fellow employees in early April, Rush might not be back at his usual spot at Reed's. Rush suffered a near-fatal heart attack at the store while he was measuring a customer for a wedding. Three store employees from upstairs rushed to his aid, taking turns performing CPR until the paramedics arrived. On the way to the the hospital he had to be shocked twice. When he was eventually released and returned to his home in Pontotoc County, Reed thought Rush would enjoy retirement at that point. His legacy assured, Rush would be remembered fondly for this decades of service, helping dress five generations of customers. That would not be the case, however. Rush was well, not in a rush to stay at home. "I'm glad to be back," he said. "The Lord ain't ready for me to go. When he gets ready, you can't hold me back. But it's not my time." |
| Ergon breaks ground on new Flowood facility as it celebrates 70 years of business | |
| In 1954, Leslie B. Lampton, Sr., started Lampton Oil Company with just two employees, a used fuel transport truck, and a one room building in Jackson, Mississippi. Lampton Oil would become Ergon. From humble beginnings, Ergon grew to one of Mississippi's largest employers and a global industry leader. 70 years later, the company employs over 4,200 people. 1,200 of those jobs are located in Mississippi. Leslie Lampton, Sr. passed away in 2018. His legacy lives on through his family, both those he sired directly and those he employed. Ergon continues to be family owned and operated. This week, the company hosted a groundbreaking celebration for an expansion of their headquarters at Mirror Lake Plaza in Flowood. The expansion will support over 200 new jobs. As Bill Lampton, one of Lampton, Sr.'s four sons, said, it was "hot as hell." Bill was joined on stage by brothers Leslie, Jr., Lee, and Robert, each of whom addressed the crowd, as well as Kris Patrick, Ergon President & CEO, and Kathy Stone, Ergon's longest serving employee. Under a white tent on black asphalt sat rows of dignitaries from Governor Tate Reeves on down. Ergon's Vice President of Public Affairs and Government Relations, Whit Hughes, told Magnolia Tribune, "we're grateful to all the elected officials and government representatives, including Governor Tate Reeves, Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann and the Mayor of Flowood, Gary Rhoads, for being part of this celebration not just for Ergon, but for the state of Mississippi." |
| Damages sought for hundreds who ate foreign seafood sold as Gulf fresh at Mary Mahoney's | |
 | Hundreds of diners at nationally lauded Mary Mahoney's Old French House restaurant in Biloxi should be compensated for being served frozen fish from a foreign country instead of the fresh Gulf snapper advertised on menus, a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court says. Attorneys are seeking class-action status for a lawsuit filed on behalf of Todd McCain, an Alabama resident who claims to have dined three times at Mahoney's between 2013 and 2018 on what he thought was red snapper or snapper. "Had he known that, in fact, these species of fish were not red snapper and snapper, but instead inexpensive foreign fish, he would not have purchased the fish," the lawsuit says. Mahoney's has admitted in a federal criminal case that it conspired to mislabel fish and agreed to forfeit up to $1,350,000, the amount calculated as its gain, federal records show. Federal charging documents say Mahoney's sold 29 tons of cheaper foreign fish as Gulf fresh red snapper, snapper or redfish. McCain filed the civil lawsuit against Mahoney's, co-owner Anthony Cvitanovich and unnamed co-conspirators. The three law firms representing McCain -- two in Ridgeland, Mississippi, and one in Mobile, Alabama -- want financial damages awarded for "all persons residing in the United States who purchased foreign fish at Mary Mahoney's between January 1, 2012, and November 30, 2019." |
| Dow Sinks 1,100 Points as Global Selloff Intensifies | |
 | A stock-market selloff extended around the world, with U.S. indexes sliding and volatility spiking. In early trading, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled more than 3%. The S&P 500 and the Dow both fell more than 2%. Stock indexes and Treasury yields pared some declines after service-sector data came in better than expected. Turbulence started in Japan, with the Nikkei 225 falling more than 12%, its worst one-day drop since the crash after Black Monday in 1987. Losses cascaded across Europe and the U.S., as investors dumped riskier assets. The declines extended what has been a dizzying few days on Wall Street during which this year's most popular trades have been aggressively unwound. A selloff in tech shares continued Monday, with Nvidia, Meta and Apple each falling 4% or more. (The iPhone maker took an extra hit from news that Berkshire Hathaway had slashed its Apple stake.) Concerns about a slowing U.S. economy are front and center after job growth slowed sharply in July. Investors are worried that the Federal Reserve has moved too slowly and will need to play catch up in cutting rates. Around the world, investors rushed for the safety of the bond market. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield recently traded around 3.77%, down from over 4.1% a week ago and on pace to settle at its lowest level in more than a year. |
| Tax cuts, school choice, ballot initiative among hot topics as Neshoba speeches wrap up | |
| The Neshoba County Fair played host to two of the state's top political leaders on Thursday, Governor Tate Reeves (R) and Speaker Jason White (R). They shared achievements and plans for the Mississippi's future on the final day of political speaking under the pavilion at Founders Square. Other speakers on Thursday included Secretary of State Michael Watson (R), Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson (R), and State Treasurer David McRae (R). Governor Reeves addressed efforts to cut taxes for Mississippians, saying those pursuits would continue next year. Under his administration, Reeves said there have been efforts to rein in spending which has allowed the state to cut the income tax. The 2022 tax cut resulted in roughly $500 million being returned to Mississippians when fully phased in. "That's more money in your wallet because I believe you know better how to spend your money than any government every will," Reeves said. Within another year and a half, Speaker White said the current tax cut phase in will mean workers will be paying a flat 4 percent income tax rate. He said work will continue to fully eliminate the income tax, committing to work with Governor Reeves to accelerate the path to full elimination of the tax. In terms of sales tax on groceries, the Speaker said his plan is to cut the current rate of 7 percent to at least 3.5 percent. However, he said it will be a difficult task to keep the cities whole that depend on that tax revenue. "It really gets complicated when we start talking about cutting the grocery tax," White said. |
| State officials focus on national politics during final round of Neshoba County Fair stump speeches | |
 | The stump speeches at the Neshoba County Fair on Thursday were fiery and largely focused on national politics. Statewide officials received cheers from a packed pavilion as they stressed the importance of electing former president Donald Trump to a second term in November. No one revved up the crowd like agriculture security Andy Gipson. Tapping into his skills as a pastor, Gipson gave an intense speech decrying what he called the "woke agenda" and led the crowd in chanting "fight, fight, fight." "Fight" was the battle cry Donald Trump gave immediately following his assassination attempt. "I'm asking you to stand, Mississippi," Gibson said. "Let's stand and let's fight. Let's end this liberal threat, fight this woke liberalism, take America back and make America great again." House Speaker Jason White gave his first fair speech on Thursday. He praised Trump, but also spoke about some of his top priorities for the 2025 legislative session, like cutting taxes and expanding health care access. White said he wants to reach a compromise with the Senate and Governor Tate Reeves on expanding Medicaid coverage to the working poor. "The direction we go with policy next session, to a large extent, will depend on the presidential election, who's sitting in the white House and who's running CMS," White said. Reeves later told reporters that he still opposes any form of Medicaid expansion, but added that he appreciates White for advancing other conservative causes. |
| Favre challenges a judge's order that blocked his lead attorney in Mississippi welfare lawsuit | |
 | Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre says a Mississippi judge improperly blocked his lead attorney from representing him in a state civil lawsuit that seeks to recover misspent welfare money. Using another of his attorneys, Favre filed an appeal Thursday asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to overturn the ruling that Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson issued July 11. The Mississippi Department of Human Services filed a civil lawsuit in 2022 against Favre and more than three dozen other people, groups and companies. The state auditor has said welfare money that was supposed to help some of the poorest residents in the U.S. was spent instead on projects pushed by wealthy and well-connected people, including a university volleyball arena backed by Favre. Peterson wrote in her order that one of Favre's New York-based attorneys, Daniel Koevary, had violated rules for Mississippi civil court procedures by repeatedly demanding hearings "for matters unrelated to and not within the jurisdiction of this Court to resolve." Peterson also wrote that she deemed the behavior "an attempt to manufacture discord." One of Favre's Mississippi-based attorneys, Michael J. Bentley, wrote in the appeal Thursday that Peterson's order causes irreparable harm. |
| New legislatively mandated Jackson court slow to start | |
| Months after a separate court with state-appointed judges in Jackson was authorized to start work, individuals arrested in the Capitol Complex Improvement District are still being seen by elected Hinds County judges and are being held in area jails. The Capitol Complex Improvement District court was set to begin at the beginning of the year, but to date it does not have a space to operate, judges to hear cases, prosecutors or a system to manage cases, officials said. "This court is currently in the process of being established," Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bailey Martin wrote in a Wednesday email. The CCID Court was authorized through House Bill 1020, signed in 2023 despite receiving pushback from Jackson lawmakers and community members and hours-long committee and floor debates. Opponents saw the court as overtaking Hinds County residents' rights to elect judges from their own community, like any Mississippi voter is able to do. This argument became a focus of a state and federal lawsuit challenging the legislation. Supporters, on the other hand, saw the bill as a way to address crime in the capital city and give the overworked Hinds County Circuit Court more support. |
| Periodic flooding hurts Mississippi. But could mitigation there hurt downstream in Louisiana? | |
| Flooding left squishy, stinky messes in hundreds of homes in Mississippi's capital city in 2020 -- a recurring problem when heavy rains push the Pearl River over its banks. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it intends to make a final recommendation by the end of this year on flood-control plans for the Pearl River Basin in the Jackson area, after decades of discussion among local, state and federal officials. The biggest point of contention is whether to develop a new lake near Jackson. It would would be south of, and smaller than, a reservoir built outside the city more than 60 years ago. While Jackson-area residents and business owners are pushing for flood mitigation, people are also expressing concern about the potential environmental impact in areas downstream in both Mississippi and Louisiana. The corps is wrapping up a public comment period on a report it released in June, which included several flood-control proposals such as elevating, flood-proofing or buying out some homes in the Jackson area; development of a new lake; or the addition of levees. Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker is among the Mississippi officials who have pushed for federal funding to improve flood control in the Jackson area. Four members of Louisiana's congressional delegation sent a letter Monday to Michael Connor, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, about how flood-control proposals for central Mississippi could impact their state. |
| Agriculture interests and others worry that Congress will punt the wide-ranging Farm Bill again | |
 | The schedule shows Congress will be in town for 13 days between now and the week after the Nov. 5 congressional and presidential elections. Judging from the amount of work left, such as passing an annual federal government budget, most remaining legislation will be shunted aside, including the $1.25 trillion Farm Bill, the shorthand for H.R. 8467, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024. It's not just 25,000 Louisiana farms that rely on Farm Bill policies and federally backed loans to cover expenses until crops are harvested. The Farm Bill also funds SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food stamps for about 936,000 Louisiana residents. As Louisiana's third largest industry, after tourism and energy, agricultural production accounts for $30 billion of economic impact for the state, Louisiana economic development officials say. "The vast majority of Louisiana's agricultural commodities are penciling out below the cost of production," Richard Fontenot, president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau, said Friday night. "That means without an updated safety net through an updated Farm Bill, many of our farmers will either go further into debt or even out of business. That's why we need Congress to act now and proceed with the Farm, Food, and National Security Act. ...Farmers are counting on leadership to prevail, and prevail soon, over partisan politics." |
| Chairman vows to overrule CBO on question of overspending in GOP farm bill | |
| The Republican-written House farm bill is $33 billion over budget and fails to pay for its large increase in crop subsidies, said congressional scorekeepers in an official cost estimate. House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson, who brushed aside earlier warnings about over-spending, said if the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office won't change its mind, he would rely on the House Budget Committee to overrule the CBO. Lawmakers are 10 months late in enacting a successor to the 2018 farm policy law due to a stalemate over food stamp cuts, larger farm spending, and climate mitigation funding. The CBO cost estimate, released on Friday, created a potential obstacle to the legislation. The House bill would increase commodity supports by $45 billion over 10 years, while cutting SNAP by $29 billion and greatly restricting USDA use of a reserve fund. Thompson said repeatedly the proposed limitations on the $30 billion USDA reserve would save more than enough money to offset the expense of increasing by 15% the so-called reference prices that trigger crop subsidy payments, allowing larger payments per farmer, and making more land eligible for subsidies. The House Agriculture Committee approved Thompson's bill on May 24 despite unofficial CBO estimates of high costs. In its formal "score," the CBO said the limits on the USDA fund would save $3.6 billion over 10 years, not the $64-$73 billion that Thompson claimed. |
| GOP senators say Trump caught 'off guard' by Harris's strength | |
 | Republican lawmakers say the Trump campaign was caught off guard by President Biden's decision to drop his reelection bid and that the former president's team has faltered in responding to the surge of momentum behind Vice President Harris. Some Republican senators think former President Trump should have seen the swap atop the Democrat ticket coming and crafted a messaging and political strategy weeks ago. They see Trump's awkward discussion about Harris's racial heritage at the National Association of Black Journalists convention as a clear sign the Trump campaign hasn't yet hammered out a workable strategy for Harris. GOP lawmakers also view Trump's selection of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate as evidence that Trump didn't expect Biden to drop out of the race. They worry Vance's outspoken views on restricting abortion and his claim that "childless cat ladies" run the country play right into the message that Harris and Democrats will center their campaign on in the fall. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump's closest allies in the Senate, insisted in an interview with The Hill that Trump thought Harris taking over the Democratic ticket was a possibility. But Graham acknowledged that Trump is having difficulty finding a message that hits home against Harris amid widespread Democratic enthusiasm about her campaign. |
| JD Vance's Marine buddies back his service over his politics | |
 | JD Hamel was a high school senior in an Ohio steel town when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. The future senator and nominee for vice president, who uses Vance for his surname now, joined the Marines a few weeks later confident, he later recalled, that freedom and democracy would follow. But his optimism was short lived as the war, deemed necessary by President George W. Bush after spurious intelligence indicated a dire threat to U.S. security, quickly proved a deadly quagmire instead. "My entire life has been influenced and affected by the decisions we made a month before I enlisted," Vance said last year in a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation. He lamented how those who were "the most wrong" about Iraq "suffered no consequences." The U.S. foreign policy establishment, he asserted, "has learned zero lessons from what is perhaps the most unforced and catastrophic error in the history of this country." Those comments are emblematic of the antiestablishment views Vance, 40, has promulgated before and since becoming Donald Trump's running mate. And while his military service represents only a brief period of his early adulthood, he and his political opponents both have seized on his service in the early days of his addition to the ticket. |
| Americans are 'getting whacked' by too many laws and regulations, Justice Gorsuch says in a new book | |
| Ordinary Americans are "getting whacked" by too many laws and regulations, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch says in a new book that underscores his skepticism of federal agencies and the power they wield. "Too little law and we're not safe, and our liberties aren't protected," Gorsuch told The Associated Press in an interview in his Supreme Court office. "But too much law and you actually impair those same things." "Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law" is being published Tuesday by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Gorsuch has received a $500,000 advance for the book, according to his annual financial disclosure reports. In the interview, Gorsuch refused to be drawn into discussions about term limits or an enforceable code of ethics for the justices, both recently proposed by President Joe Biden at a time of diminished public trust in the court. Justice Elena Kagan, speaking a couple of days before Biden, separately said the court's ethics code, adopted by the justices last November, should have a means of enforcement. But Gorsuch did talk about the importance of judicial independence. "I'm not saying that there aren't ways to improve what we have. I'm simply saying that we've been given something very special. It's the envy of the world, the United States judiciary," he said. In 18 years as a judge, including the past seven on the Supreme Court, Gorsuch said, "There were just so many cases that came to me in which I saw ordinary Americans, just everyday, regular people trying to go about their lives, not trying to hurt anybody or do anything wrong and just getting whacked, unexpectedly, by some legal rule they didn't know about." |
| Timeline set for opening of the Saban Center in Tuscaloosa | |
 | The city of Tuscaloosa expects the Saban Center will have its grand opening in June 2027. The multimillion-dollar interactive learning hub for children, spearheaded by retired University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban and his wife Terry, will begin its design phase in January 2025. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said that April 2025 is when he expects construction work will begin on the project, which will be built on the former site of the Tuscaloosa News at the corner of Jack Warner Parkway and Nick's Kids Avenue across from the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater. "We are excited about this groundbreaking project," Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox told the City Council's finance committee in late April. The Saban Center will focus on science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics. Organizers say they intend to build a first-of-its-kind, state-of-the-art facility. "There is nothing like this across the nation," Maddox said. "There's pieces of it here, pieces of it there, but nothing that is totally integrated into the K-12 curriculum and nothing that can meet the needs of our workforce and our children in Alabama today." Maddox pointed out that the Saban Center will not only serve 30,000 school-age children in Tuscaloosa, but also 168,000 students within a one-hour drive of Tuscaloosa. |
| After 25 years, Georgia lawmakers reconsidering switch from quarters to semesters for universities | |
 | Georgia lawmakers are having second thoughts after switching the University System of Georgia from a quarter to a semester system back in 1999. A state House study committee will begin meeting soon to take a fresh look at whether both the university system and the Technical College System of Georgia -- which moved to semesters in 2011 – should switch back to quarters. "There's no preconceived outcome here," said Rep. Chuck Martin, R-Alpharetta, chairman of the House Higher Education Committee and a member of the study committee. "It's just to assess the situation and some of the things that could be impacted if we were to change this. ... We know some significant work would have to go on." When the switch from quarters was made, arguments in favor of going with a semester system included aligning Georgia's university system with the approximately 70% of the nation's colleges and universities operating on semesters. That made transfers within and across systems easier. Greater administrative efficiencies and reduced administrative costs also were anticipated. But a quarter century later, legislative leaders say they see a downside to semesters. "The conversion from the quarter system to the semester system has resulted in longer terms with more classes and fewer graduation cycles," according to the language of a resolution the House passed unanimously in March to create the study committee. "Some question whether semesters are the better option for students or for workforce development." |
| Colleges Race to Ready Students for the AI Workplace | |
| College students are desperate to add a new skill to their résumés: artificial intelligence. The rise of generative AI in the workplace and students' demands for more hirable talents are driving schools to revamp courses and add specialized degrees at speeds rarely seen in higher education. Schools are even going so far as to emphasize that all undergraduates get a taste of the tech, teaching them how to use AI in a given field -- as well as its failings and unethical applications. The schools are eager to prove their relevance as a path to well-paying jobs as more Americans question the value of a college degree. The students believe the AI skills could make the difference between getting a job and not. Jake Golden, a rising junior at Emory University's Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, avoided ChatGPT after OpenAI launched it in 2022. He watched classmates use it to write essays and he grew concerned about its potential to sap creativity. At a marketing internship the following summer, however, his boss asked him to use ChatGPT to draft crowdfunding pitches and mimic previous campaigns. "If I don't learn AI, it's going to take over everything around me and I'm going to have no idea what's happening," he recalled thinking. When Golden returned to campus in fall 2023, Emory launched its AI minor, which covers applications in areas such as psychology, economics and English. He immediately enrolled in the introductory courses and added the program to his business degree. |
| Only 36% of adults say higher education is 'fine how it is,' survey finds | |
| Just 36% of surveyed adults said they think higher education in the U.S. is "fine how it is," down 5 percentage points from last year, according to an annual survey from New America, a left-leaning think tank. Adults across the political divide shared this view -- 39% of Republicans and 36% of Democrats agreed the sector is currently fine. A large majority of adults from both parties also agreed that cost is the biggest factor preventing people from attending college. The survey is the latest in a long string of polls that show confidence in higher education is falling. Despite this, U.S. adults still value college, with 75% of respondents saying they think postsecondary education provides a good return on investment. Several responses to this year's survey indicate that the "current state of higher education is trending downward," according to the report's authors. For instance, just 54% of adults said the higher education sector has a positive impact on the country, down 16 percentage points from five years ago. And even though 75% of respondents indicated that college provides students a positive ROI, that share has fallen from 80% who said the same in 2019. Despite these trends, respondents to New America's survey indicated that they still believe college is an important stop on the road to financial security. |
| Declining Enrollment, FAFSA Issues Led to More Cuts in July | |
 | As temperatures across the nation soared in July, many universities were feeling the heat from financial pressure prompting waves of layoffs and program cuts to ease steep fiscal challenges. Last month, just over a handful of universities announced sweeping cuts, citing a mix of familiar factors: rising operating costs, declining enrollment and the problematic rollout of an overhauled Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which has been delayed by various issues. FAFSA woes have added more pressure to institutions already struggling with serious demographic drop-offs. Grappling with a $15 million budget deficit and declining enrollment, the University of New Orleans plans to eliminate dozens of positions and decommission a building, Nola.com reported. In all, more than 70 positions will be eliminated, though many of those are reportedly unfilled. UNO also plans to close a building that houses several academic departments, including the anthropology, sociology and political science offices, but has costly maintenance issues. The university is also reducing its athletics budget by 25 percent. Some senior leaders, including President Kathy Johnson, are reportedly taking pay cuts. |
| Education Department reverses course on batch FAFSA corrections | |
| The U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday that colleges will not be able to make corrections to federal financial aid forms en masse this application cycle. This reverses the department's June announcement that institutional batch corrections to Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms would be available by the first half of August. The about-face likely means an increased workload for overstretched college administrators and extends the saga of the new form's tumultuous rollout to the end of summer and beyond. Despite the rapidly approaching start to the fall semester, Tuesday's announcement shows some FAFSA processing issues will continue to go unresolved. Batch corrections are usually available when the FAFSA form is released and allow financial aid employees to avoid manually submitting individual corrections. Beth Maglione, interim president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, called the news "beyond frustrating." "The Department's poor planning has led to a stunning failure: Some college students might not have financial aid dollars in their hands in time to start classes in the next few weeks," Maglione said in a Tuesday statement. |
| Students gearing up for round 2 of pro-Palestinian protests: 'We've been working all this summer' | |
| The pro-Palestinian activists who disrupted campuses across the nation are plotting their return for the new academic year. Demonstrators say all forms of protest are still on the table, despite the more than 2,000 arrests so far, as students try to figure out a new strategy to demand their schools divest from Israel, among other goals. "What we will see [is] the students will continue their activism, will continue doing what they've done in conventional and unconventional ways. So not only protests, not only encampments, kind of any --- any available means necessary to push Columbia to divest from from Israel," said Mahmoud Khalil, student negotiator on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest. "And we've been working all this summer on our plans, on what's next to pressure Columbia to listen to the students and to decide to be on the right side of history," Khalil added. Students will be heading back into the classroom this month after a chaotic ending to the last academic year. Dozens of schools across the country saw protests against the war in Gaza, including interruptions to multiple graduation ceremonies, and scores of students were suspended for their actions. Since then, the war in Gaza has only escalated with thousands killed and no clear end in sight. |
| Foxx Warns Possible Subpoena in Continuing Campus Antisemitism Investigation | |
| Columbia University has until Aug. 8 to produce documents and communications as part of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce investigation into antisemitism. The university is one of several institutions criticized for responses to reports alleging antisemitism and harassment on their campuses following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Isreal. Columbia's president, Dr. Minouche Shafik, testified in April before congress regarding its response. However, Committee Chair Virginia Foxx of North Carolina said the university has failed to produce priority items the committee requested Feb. 12 by the committee. Foxx sent a letter Aug. 1, addressed to Shafik and The Trustees of Columbia University co-chairs David Greenwald and Claire Shipman. The letter warns of possible subpoenas if university leaders do not meet the request. "Columbia has failed to comply with the Committee's requests in a timely manner," the letter read. "The Committee is providing Columbia an additional week to fulfill them. If these requests are not satisfied by the above deadline, the Committee is prepared to issue subpoenas." |
| The Growing Trend of Attacks on Tenure | |
| Over the past two years, lawmakers in at least 10 states have pushed legislation that would weaken -- or outright eliminate -- tenure in public colleges and universities. With the exception of a Democratic state senator in Hawai'i, these bills have all been pushed by Republicans in states such as Texas where the party controls the Legislature. Despite these proposals, no state has actually gone through with fully banning tenure from its public colleges and universities. The bills that would've done so either failed to pass or were watered down before passage after facing opposition from faculty members, who stress that tenure protects academic freedom, including for conservatives, and from university leaders, who say it helps recruit professors who could make more outside academe. But state lawmakers may keep pushing, perhaps encouraged by their national counterparts in Congress calling for universities to punish allegedly antisemitic professors and by the rise of a GOP vice presidential nominee who's called professors "the enemy." "This is extremely alarming for academic freedom," said Anita Levy, a senior program officer in the American Association of University Professors' Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure and Governance. Faculty members who lack tenure "teach in precarious positions," she said, and don't "have economic security and may feel that they need to either self-censor or revise their curricula or their teaching methods." |
| Visions of sugar plums as 2027 race for governor starts | |
| Magnolia Tribune's Russ Latino writes: Less than a year removed from Mississippi's last gubernatorial election and with three years remaining in Governor Tate Reeves' final term, would-be successors are jockeying for position. It's early, but such is the nature of politics these days. Once one candidate begins stirring, others are forced to join for fear of missing out on commitments, fundraising dollars, and earned media that can help shape a race. In this case, Auditor Shad White was the first mover. Before the ink was dry on headlines declaring Reeves the winner of his race against Democratic challenger Brandon Presley, White was telling people he intended to run for governor in 2027. An aggressive fundraiser and methodical campaigner, White has also demonstrated a willingness to mix it up with potential rivals. For much of the year, he trained sights on Attorney General Lynn Fitch, long rumored as a possible replacement for Reeves. But at the Neshoba County Fair this week, he picked a new target, sitting Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann. Borrowing a page from Donald Trump, White has started calling Hosemann "DEI Delbert." During the course of his Neshoba speech, the State Auditor was critical of Hosemann's failure to pass a piece of legislation pushed by White that would have banned spending on DEI programs at Mississippi's colleges and universities. Hosemann, who will be 81 when the next governor is inaugurated, noted he is term limited as Lt. Governor, but has plans to run for another statewide office. "We decided if we're where people still want us to work for them, we want to keep working for them. We're term limited on this one, so it'd be another office. Another statewide office. I'll put it that way," Hosemann said. |
| Do voters know enough to elect Mississippi judges? | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: Here's a quick pop quiz: Who are the justices on the state Supreme Court running for reelection this year? What judicial elections will be on the Mississippi ballot this November? Who are the judges who hear cases where you live? And, what are the differences between chancery and circuit judges? Granted, that last one is a tough one. Odds are many people cannot answer those questions and others involving the Mississippi judiciary. And that might be considered disappointing since most judges in Mississippi, including the nine justices on the state Supreme Court, the 10 Court of Appeal judges and the 57 circuit and 52 chancery court judges are elected. There are a few instances in Mississippi where judges are appointed, but in general the state Constitution mandates that judges be elected instead of appointed. ... The issue of Mississippi's system of selecting justices came to the forefront this past week as four of the five candidates vying for a Central District Supreme Court race spoke and campaigned at the Neshoba County Fair. ... The judicial contests might be Mississippi's most competitive elections this year. The federal elections on the state ballot -- for president and for U.S. senator and representatives -- are not expected to be competitive in Mississippi. But some of the judicial elections, which many Mississippians know little about, could be real donnybrooks. |
| Olympics provide respite of good cheer | |
| Columnist Bill Crawford writes: What a rare and special respite. Thank you Olympics! Getting to cheer for American contestants without having to first determine if they were conservative or liberal, socialist or capitalist, Republican or Democrat felt like a blessing. Suddenly, it did not matter if they were white, black, Hispanic or Asian, believers or atheists, vegans or carnivores, one percenters or deplorables. Their sexual habits were not an issue. All that mattered was that they were Americans representing our country. Such positiveness used to be quite common for us. Not so much any more. Author Howard Burton writing in The Hill described what he called "the average American temperament these days." "Somehow, an ever-opinionated but fundamentally kind-hearted people have become transformed into a collection of bitter, irascible, clannish, overly sensitive creatures perpetually mired in a constant state of flinty irritation at 'the other half' of the nation, inexplicably determined to spend their days hurling increasingly bitter ad hominem accusations at each other across a patently irreconcilable divide." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State football defense seeking higher standard in practice | |
| Mississippi State football defensive back Hunter Washington says he and his defensive teammates coined a phrase brought in by coaches in the offseason: Chew the elephant. The statement is described as taking one bite at a time -- in this case, on the field. "Just taking it one day at a time," he said. "Just focus on one part and build it as as we go." MSU and Washington are abiding by that expression as the Bulldogs approach their season opener at home Aug. 31 (5 p.m. CT, SEC Network+) against Eastern Kentucky. Last season, MSU ranked sixth in total defense in the SEC, averaging 350.58 yards and 35 touchdowns allowed per game. Washington had a sense of realization after the Bulldogs finished the 2023 season 5-7 and missed a bowl game for the first time since 2009. He took a step back and understood his role in the secondary: focusing on the team more than himself. "To help my team to a higher standard and pushing my teammates to the next level," he said. "I'm here to help people out and also focus on me, but I put the team before me." With transfers and newcomers, he has lauded the improvement in the secondary from the spring. "I like to praise the young guys because it was hard when you first get to college and stuff like that," he said. "But they really took a step forward, coming up to this fall camp. So I'm really proud of them. All (the defensive backs) been better. We've been coming in as one group, and our goal is to go to the best." |
| Blake Shapen states Jeff Lebby stresses consistency | |
| Blake Shapen and Jeff Lebby are both experiencing Starkville together for the first time. Both were a part of Big 12 programs in 2023, with Shapen playing at Baylor, and Lebby being the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. Lebby has never been a head coach before and is learning how to lead a program. Shapen has never directly worked with Lebby either. So, when asked what aspect of coaching has been different from Lebby, Shapen answered with consistency. Being pushed to reach a certain level and doing so with consistent moves is what Lebby's preaching. "Consistency," Shapen said. "There's an expectation level and if you don't reach it, you need to find a way to reach it. I think that's the thing I haven't had in the past -- to be pushed like I'm being pushed right now to the level that I need to get. I'm very blessed. That's what I need in my career." This is year No. 5 of college football for Shapen. Nearly 30 games of experience are on the resume, all with the Baylor Bears. Shapen has thrown for 5,574 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions throughout his career but only played one full season in Waco, occurring in 2022. Shapen transfers to Mississippi State for what could be his final year, hoping to find a more consistent structure. Thus far, Lebby has been able to provide that and is hoping results prove as such once the season begins. |
| Position group preview: Looking at Mississippi State's offensive line for the 2023-24 season | |
 | The countdown to this year's college football season has begun in earnest with less than five weeks until Mississippi State opens the season on Aug. 31 against Eastern Kentucky at Davis Wade Stadium. The Bulldogs, under first-year head coach Jeff Lebby, opened fall camp on Thursday. As camp progresses, The Dispatch will be taking a look at each position group on MSU's roster, noting who could be the potential starters, backups and impact players to look out for on the gridiron. The Bulldogs are replacing their entire starting offensive line, but brought in four transfers who all have plenty of experience, and several reserves from last year are ready for bigger roles this fall. Here is all you need to know about MSU's offensive line heading into the 2024 campaign. |
| #JavU Returns To Olympic Stage | |
| Mississippi State is responsible for two of the three former collegiate javelin throwers who will compete at the Olympic Games this year. Two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Curtis Thompson of the United States will represent the Bulldogs in Paris after both competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Baylor is the only other school with representation in the field, boasting Nigerian thrower Chinecherem Nnamdi. Thompson and Peters both won NCAA titles while at Mississippi State, and the pair were part of State's men's javelin podium sweep at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships. That sweep stands as one of just 12 podium sweeps in the history of the outdoor championships, and only two have come in the men's javelin. State's duo will begin their Olympic journey on Tuesday, Aug. 6 with the qualifying rounds at 3:20 a.m. and 4:50 a.m. CT, which is 10:20 a.m. and 11:50 a.m. in Paris. Thompson will throw in the first group with Peters following in Group B. Any athlete who throws beyond 84.00m will automatically advance to the final on Thursday, Aug. 8 at 1:25 p.m. CT. The final will consist of a minimum of 12 athletes with the remaining places filled by the top throwers who did not reach the automatic qualifying mark. |
| Soccer show at Williams-Brice delivers an epic night for fans, university and Columbia | |
 | Garnet is usually the color that fills Williams-Brice Stadium when the college football season begins in August, but two different shades colored the stadium's stands on Saturday as Columbia welcomed one of England's biggest soccer rivalries. A sellout crowd of 77,559 fans watched Liverpool and Manchester United, England's most successful clubs historically, complete their preseason U.S. tours with the first soccer game hosted at Williams-Brice Stadium. Liverpool was largely dominant in a 3-0 win over its Premier League rivals in a game that saw the home of the South Carolina Gamecocks mix the traditions of its football team and both clubs throughout Saturday's matchup. South Carolina tried to make the most of the historic event it landed in February, especially with Columbia playing host to two teams that previously played in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and San Diego during their U.S. tour. "It's a showcase event, no question about it. (We're) on ESPN tonight and they're talking about the University of South Carolina and Columbia." athletic director Ray Tanner said. "We have a great environment here for football, but we can do other events. ... So, there's opportunities and when you get to showcase what you have, people pay attention." Tanner told The State that about 50% of the crowd of 77,559 traveled from outside of South Carolina. |
| Texas A&M football features highest average ticket price in SEC | |
 | Excitement is sky-high for the Texas A&M football season, and so are the ticket prices. As the Aggies embark on their first campaign under coach Mike Elko, fans are eager to catch the team in person. According to sportscasting.com, A&M has the highest average ticket price among Southeastern Conference teams, with a standard ticket on secondary marketplace StubHub costing $157. The Aggies are tied with Georgia for the top spot. Kyle Field will play host to several marquee matchups, including four games with teams that finished last year ranked in the top 15. The 2024 campaign is highlighted by the opener against Notre Dame before A&M wraps up the regular season with the first edition of the Lone Star Showdown against rival Texas since 2011. In between, it'll face Southeastern Conference foes Missouri and LSU in College Station. The anticipation for the football season is apparent with the Aggies selling out their allotment of over 54,000 season tickets in late June. The renewal rate of 97% was the highest since Kyle Field was renovated in 2014 to its current capacity of 102,733. Included in the supply of season tickets are nearly 37,000 student sports passes, which guarantee students entry to each home football game with the opportunity to purchase a guest ticket as well. The passes sold out, leading to the emergence of secondhand selling of sports passes on social media sites such as GroupMe, Snapchat and Reddit. Long story short: It'll cost a pretty penny to make it into the Aggies' top games. |
| Nebraska, Ohio State, Alabama raise NIL funds at football practice through fan admission, autographs | |
| Three of the most tradition-rich college football programs are capitalizing on the passion of their fans to generate funds for their NIL collectives. Nebraska and Ohio State are opening one or more of their preseason practices to the public and charging admission. Alabama will let fans in for free to an open practice, but those who want to get player autographs afterward will be required to pay a few bucks to join the Crimson Tide's collective. NFL teams have long allowed fans to attend training camps, with most charging no admission. College athletes have been allowed to cash in on their name, image and likeness since 2021, and collectives that facilitate deals for them initially were funded by big-money donors. Now, fans at large are being asked to chip in as well, with no donation too small. Temple University associate professor Thilo Kunkel, who researches NIL's impact on college sports, said opening practices for a price is a creative way to add to the NIL pool if a school can pull it off. Even though the players won't be in full pads and temperatures could be in the 90s, hardcore fans will come for an up-close look at the team. "They want more than just a Saturday afternoon game," Kunkel said. "They want that authentic behind-the-scenes access and the practices actually are giving them that." |
| How Notre Dame made sure its unique status was secure in college football's new world | |
 | Notre Dame holds a special place in college football. Not everybody likes that, but it's true. A few months into his new job, athletic director Pete Bevacqua has made sure that will remain the case for the foreseeable future. The grandson of Italian immigrants, Bevacqua only applied to one college out of high school, the one in South Bend, Ind., that his father and two older sisters also attended. Most importantly, as his alma mater's AD Bevacqua has convinced the sport's other leaders that Notre Dame's position is worth keeping. No other individual school has a seat at the table on the College Football Playoff boards or its own television deal. Notre Dame's football independence won't change anytime soon, not with its media rights agreement with NBC set for the next five years and its unique CFP financial status secured, achievements helped or led by Bevacqua. "I feel stronger about our place as an independent than maybe I ever have," Bevacqua told The Athletic, reflecting on his first 100-plus days since taking over. Former athletic director Jack Swarbrick used to point to three factors in Notre Dame keeping its independence: the TV deal, a path to a college football national championship and a home for Olympic sports. For Bevacqua to work closely with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on the CFP carve-out for the Fighting Irish showed a deft understanding of the need for those relationships. |
| U. of Kentucky president calls allegations against former swim coach 'deeply distressing' | |
 | University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto said in a statement Friday the allegations of sexual assault and harassment against former swim coach Lars Jorgensen are "deeply distressing." The statement marks the first time Capilouto has publicly addressed allegations that Jorgensen sexually assaulted multiple former swimmers. Jorgensen was fired in June 2023 as the university investigated two complaints -- one related to the sexual abuse allegations, and one for training violations. Capilouto's acknowledgment of the sexual abuse allegations was part of a larger statement from his office on Friday after the NCAA announced it was placing two university programs -- swimming and diving, and football -- on two years of probation for separate rules violations. The punishments for the swimming and diving program was related to training violations. The NCAA determined that student-athletes were not given required days off, and the program's maximum practice hours were exceeded for nearly three years under Jorgensen, according to a news release from the university. For the sexual misconduct allegations, public records showed that several people had reported Jorgensen's alleged misconduct to the university for years, and evidence was being gathered inside the UK Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity and the UK Athletic Compliance Office. |
| NCAA data dashboard offers treasure trove of NIL insights | |
| Even in its nascent form, the NCAA's new data dashboard -- which was unveiled Thursday and includes aggregated NIL data -- offers a treasure trove of intriguing insights. Working with NIL service provider Teamworks, the NIL Assist platform connects athletes with service providers, tracks disclosures of NIL activities and provides access to evolving trends across the industry. The public database -- which does not identify athletes by name – is a nod toward injecting some transparency into a three-year-old NIL space that has been defined by a scarcity of reliable transaction data. That transparency has been a priority for NCAA President Charlie Baker. The NCAA is also seeking to get a handle on what it calls "fair market value" for NIL deals, an element addressed in the 100-plus pages of the long-form House v. NCAA settlement agreement. The information displayed in the database as of Aug. 1 includes data submitted by members who elected to share their data from the 2023-24 academic year. Beginning Aug. 1, it includes self-reported data from active Division I institutions and Division II and III schools that sponsor a Division I sport as required by NCAA bylaws. This real-time data dashboard will obviously change over time, as more information is disclosed. The aggregated data has identifying information removed but illuminates trends about NIL agreements. It includes the valuable ability to sort by a multitude of filters, including subdivision, sport, player position and type of NIL deal. |
| Pro-NCAA Congressman Bob Good Officially Loses Reelection | |
| The NCAA is soon to lose if not its best man in Washington, at least a Good one. Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who sponsored legislation earlier this year that would prevent college athletes from obtaining employee status, officially lost his primary race to state Sen. John McGuire following a court-certified recount. Good, the chair of the conservative Freedom Caucus, also served as a chair of the House subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions. A former college wrestler and athletic administrator at Liberty University, he introduced in May the "Protecting Student Athletes' Economic Freedom Act," which would not only forbid college athletes from being deemed employees of their schools, but also their conferences and the NCAA. By extension, the bill would prevent athletes from joining a union, as the Dartmouth men's basketball team did earlier this year. Good framed his bill (H.R. 8534) as a push back against a runaway National Labor Relations Board that, under President Joe Biden, certified the Dartmouth players union bid and has given a friendly ear to unfair labor practice charges filed on behalf of USC football and basketball players. In June, along a strict party-line vote, H.R. 8534 was reported out of committee, becoming the first piece of college sports-related legislation to advance that far in years. |
| Scottie Scheffler's Crazy Comeback for Olympic Gold | |
| Scottie Scheffler was six strokes off the lead on the back nine at Le Golf National, the type of deficit that's supposed to be insurmountable, even for the No. 1 golfer in the world. That's when his crazy season got even crazier. In a season that has seen Scheffler break his own record for the most prize money in PGA Tour history, his most memorable victory might be one worth pennies to him. Scheffler is now an Olympic gold medalist. With a ridiculous home stretch that included six birdies on the back nine and a final-round 62, the 28-year-old American chased down an enormous deficit and outlasted a group of A-list contenders on a wild Sunday outside Paris. Five of the world's top-10 golfers, including Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele, were in the top-10 entering the last day. Scheffler was the one who finished clear of the pack, at 19-under, one stroke ahead of Britain's Tommy Fleetwood and two clear of Japan's Hideki Matsuyama. Scheffler's season for the ages already included six wins, a second Masters, and a Tour-record $28.1 million in prizes. Earlier this year, advanced metrics showed he was having the most dominant run since some guy named Tiger Woods. But somehow, his play wasn't even the most surreal part of his season. That was the time he got arrested at the PGA Championship on since-dropped charges that produced mug shots of him wearing an orange jumpsuit just hours before he was set to tee off. He still managed to turn in one of the best rounds of the tournament that day. |
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