| Friday, September 27, 2024 |
| Feature Article: Unmanned Aircraft Systems for First Responders in Rural Environments | |
 | Drones are revolutionizing public safety by enabling quicker, safer, and more effective responses by our nation's first responders. But some drones present cybersecurity risks and broader implications for national security. To safeguard against any harm, it is critical that responders understand which drones mitigate these cybersecurity risks and can adequately perform the needed public safety operations. In June, NUSTL and a coalition of public and private partners braved the sweltering Texas heat to assess cybersecure "Blue UAS" that help first-on-scene responders conduct a wide range of public safety missions. The collaboration, part of S&T's System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) Program, brought the lab together with Mississippi State University's Joint Unmanned Systems Testing in Collaborative Environment (Project JUSTICE), Texas A&M University, DAGER Technology LLC, and others to determine if Department of Defense-vetted UAS systems also meet the growing needs of our nation's responders. The SAVER Blue UAS assessment was the first in a series of operational assessments at sites across the country designed to evaluate systems along with their cameras (both infrared and electro-optical), data sharing/streaming capabilities, and overall flight capabilities. The goal of the assessment in Texas was to determine how effectively each system aids in search and rescue operations, damage assessment, and situational awareness missions in rural environments. |
| Sales tax revenue almost flat in Columbus, soaring in West Point | |
 | Sales tax diversions in Columbus and Starkville grew only slightly between the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, with growth in Columbus failing to keep up with the rate of inflation. Columbus finished FY 2024 with $11.48 million in general sales tax diversions, up about 1.1% from the previous fiscal year. Starkville diversions for the fiscal year came in just less than $9.1 million, a 2.7% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, West Point saw 16.7% growth in its sales tax diversions, finishing FY 2024 with almost $3.1 million. These totals only include the 18.5% the cities received from state sales taxes from businesses located within their corporate limits. It does not include any special sales taxes collected on food, beverages or hotels. The national rate of inflation from September 2023 to August 2024 was 2.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Annual inflation rates were trending upward for the better part of two years. Yet, consumers kept spending, likely due to pent-up demand after the pandemic and rising real wages," said Kathleen Thomas, a professor of economics at Mississippi State University, describing the COVID-era trend of prices and sales tax collections increasing significantly. "But wage growth has started to cool. Consumers will change their spending habits when faced with high prices, but they will also pull back their current spending based on their expectations about the future. "Maybe consumers worry that their work hours will be reduced, or they won't receive a bump in pay this year," she added. |
| Monday hearing could reveal future of Oktibbeha Lake dam | |
| A public hearing Monday could reveal the future of Oktibbeha County Lake. Supervisors set the hearing for 6 p.m. in the Oktibbeha County Community Safe Room at 985 Lynn Lane. The Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission, in partnership with the National Resources Conservation Service, will present a report from its monthslong study of the lake dam, and possibly recommend how the county should address it. NRCS will fund the ensuing project if supervisors approve the recommendation. "They will give us the solution, whatever that solution is," board attorney Rob Roberson said. "The choice will be still on the board to accept that solution. And if they accept that solution, they can accept the money attached to that solution. If the board determines that it does not want to accept that solution, then it would be left to the county to come up with the money to fix it." In 2020, the lake was drained to an unusable level after county officials reported the dam was in imminent danger of breaching. At the first public hearing in December 2023, the engineering firm presented two options: repairing the lake or decommissioning it. But Board of Supervisors President Marvell Howard said Monday's presentation will include some options "in between" the two that the public hasn't gotten to hear before. Howard said he is excited to hear opinions from the public and options for the future of the lake, as he believes the county lake is a valuable resource that should be rehabilitated if possible. |
| Meridian's Key Field makes shortlist for home of new KC-46s | |
| Mississippi's congressional delegation received word Thursday from the U.S. Air Force that Meridian's Key Field is officially in the running to be the future home of the new KC-46 aircraft. The full Magnolia State delegation has been actively advocating for Key Field to be the home of the military refueling and strategic transport plane for well over a year. In April, both U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) along with Congressmen Trent Kelly (R-MS 1), Bennie Thompson (D-MS 2), Michael Guest (R-MS 3) and Mike Ezell (R-MS 4) sent a letter to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall outlining why Key Field in Meridian should be selected. According to the Air Force, the nation-wide candidate field has been narrowed to seven, in what is called a "down-selection." "Making it this far in the down-selection process is an accomplishment. If Key Field is ultimately chosen, it would cement and extend the base's role in our country's national security infrastructure for decades to come," Senator Wicker said in a statement. Wicker is the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. "For the Meridian community, this would be a significant investment," Wicker added. "It would bring more service members and families, as well as direct and indirect jobs, to the area. This is one of my top priorities." |
| HHI awarded $9.4 billion, General Atomics $27M in defense contracts | |
 | Huntington Ingalls Inc. has been awarded a pair of contracts totaling more than $9.4 billion, with most of the work to be done at its facilities in Pascagoula. On Tuesday, HHI was awarded a $5.798 billion fixed-price incentive contract for detail, design, and construction of three amphibious transport dock ships. Work is expected to be completed by September 2035. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. In a second contract, HHI was awarded a $3.673 billion fixed-price incentive modification to previously awarded contract for the detail, design and construction and special studies in support of one amphibious assault ship replacement America class Flight 1 ship. This contract modification includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $3.895 billion. Work is expected to be completed by September 2033. General Atomics was awarded a pair of contracts totaling about $27 million with work to be done in Tupelo and completed by August 27. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. |
| Exxel Outdoors relocating distribution center from Nevada to Mississippi | |
| The Mississippi Development Authority announced Thursday that Exxel Outdoors, a brand leader dedicated to creating high-quality products for outdoor recreation, commercial uses and the U.S. military, is relocating its national warehousing and distribution center from Reno, Nevada, to Tupelo, Mississippi. MDA said the project represents a corporate investment of more than $2 million and will create at least 40 jobs, with hiring to begin immediately. "Today is an exciting day as Exxel Outdoors announces its plans to establish operations in Mississippi. The company's decision to locate in Tupelo is a nod to the state's commitment to maintaining a business environment that encourages companies to locate and expand here," Governor Tate Reeves said in a statement. "The Mississippi momentum is strong, and I am glad to continue it by adding Exxel Outdoors to our impressive list of economic development wins this year." Harry Kazazian, Chairman and CEO of Exxel Outdoors said MDA and Lee County "have provided us with an absolutely stellar experience in bringing our new Tupelo distribution operation to fruition." Exxel brands include Kelty, Kelty Tactical, Ultimate Direction, Sierra Designs, Hex, Slumberjack, Wenzel, SJK and X2O. |
| Mississippi peanut growers getting much better crop in 2024 | |
 | It's harvest time for peanut growers in the Pine Belt, and this year is a whole lot better than last year for the peanut crop, according to the Mississippi Peanut Growers Association. In 2023, many growers lost up to half of their peanuts, due to the devastating drought and intense heat of the summer and fall. But in 2024, growers are getting good yields, so far. "We're 100% different," said Malcolm Broome, executive director of the Mississippi Peanut Growers Association. "We had almost an ideal August, we got scared there a little bit, it was getting hot right at the first, but excellent crop, our growers in this part of the state are tickled to death with what their seeing on yield." Broome says the cotton crop in South Mississippi is also pretty good this year. |
| Halloween superfans see the culture catching up to them. (A 12-foot skeleton helped) | |
| Home Depot was about to launch something big -- really big -- when the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020: a 12-foot skeleton. "There were a lot of internal discussions. It was like, is there going to be Halloween this year?" said Lance Allen, senior merchant of decorative holiday at Home Depot. "Are customers going to think this is in poor taste? Should we go forward with it?'" Home Depot did. And the towering skeleton arrived at the perfect time. "Nobody could possibly need a 12-foot skeleton, but everybody wanted a 12-foot skeleton," Allen said. The retailer's gamble upped the game for decorations. A population stuck at home and wanting some semblance of community entertainment created a Halloween phenomenon that's now bigger than any one store. (Others carry various versions of the larger-than-life skeleton.) And as stores race to get the latest and greatest Halloween score out as soon as possible, superfans say it's about time. Home Depot's 12-foot skeleton is affectionately known by fans across the internet and globe as "Skelly." When Skelly was launched, the thinking was that he'd be out for a week or two leading up to Halloween night, Allen said, the usual consumer behavior observed at the time. But the pandemic changed that timeline. "Everybody started decorating in early October for something to do," Allen said. "And we've really seen a shift in the market where now people are decorating for Halloween how we've seen with Christmas historically, planning out decorations five to six weeks, two months ahead of time." |
| District Attorney John Weddle appointed to state Court of Appeals | |
| After spending the last nine years prosecuting cases in Northeast Mississippi, District Attorney John Weddle has been appointed to the state's second highest court. Governor Tate Reeves made the announcement Wednesday that he was appointing the 55-year-old Weddle to the Mississippi Court of Appeals. He replaces Jim M. Greenlee, 72, who retired June 30. "I'm proud to appoint John as a judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals," Reeves said. "His years of legal experience and public service make him an excellent addition to the court." A practicing attorney since 1995, Weddle has held all three jobs in a criminal courtroom. He served as a municipal court judge for the city of Tupelo. He has been a public defender and, since 2015, he has been the district attorney for the First Circuit Court Judicial District. Weddle earned a bachelor's degree from Mississippi State University and went on to get his law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law. His term on the Court of Appeals will begin Oct. 14. The governor will call for a special election to be held in November 2026. The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the eight-year term which runs through December 2030. |
| States are restricting cellphones in schools, Mississippi could be next | |
| At least 15 states have enacted laws that ban or restrict students' use of cellphones in public schools, or at a minimum, recommend local school districts enact their own bans or restrictions, according to an Education Week analysis published in June. Mississippi could soon join the group. Concerns over mental health and distractions in the classroom are largely driving the push among state lawmakers to curb cellphone use in schools. he Mississippi Senate Mental Health Task Force took the issue up during a hearing last week. State Senator David Parker (R), chairman of the task force, told Magnolia Tribune that the group is researching best practices and looking at what is being done in other states. "Through our work in the Mental Health Task Force over the past two months, we have analyzed and looked at data from many sources. Those sources include books like The Anxious Generation and feedback from leaders in education and mental health. We have also looked at actions being considered and taken in other states," Parker said. Senator Parker said his main concern is that during key instruction and interactive time, students are distracted and are unable to regain focus because of their phones. "This is creating a crisis that is reflected in countless areas. I expect our task force to recommend that cellphone use be restricted during these key moments in education," Parker added. "We continue to look at best practices to achieve this goal and hope to have a legislative method to help achieve this goal." |
| Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Edwin Lloyd Pittman dead at 89 | |
| Former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Edwin Lloyd Pittman has passed away at the age of 89. Officials report that Pittman died at his home in Ridgeland. In his 40 years of public service, Pittman was elected to positions in all three branches of state government. He began on the Mississippi Supreme Court in January 1989 and became chief justice in January 2001 ahead of his retirement in 2004. Pittman, a Pine Belt native, was Mississippi's attorney general from 1984-88. He began his public service as a state senator from Hattiesburg, serving from 1964-72. He served as state treasurer from 1976-80 and as secretary of state from 1980-84. He also retired from the Mississippi National Guard as a Brigadier General with 30 years of service. During his more than three years as head of the state's high court, Pittman sought to improve the efficiency and transparency of the courts, protect judicial independence, and strengthen ethics, impartiality, and fairness within the judiciary and the legal profession. He also believed in improving access to justice for the poor. The storied public servant was the recipient of the Humanized Education Award 1982-83 from the Mississippi Association of Educators. He received the University of Southern Mississippi's HUB Award recognizing outstanding community and public service in 1989 and was a charter member of the Southern Miss Alumni Association Hall of Fame. The Mississippi State University Pre-Law Society named Pittman as the recipient of the Distinguished Jurist Award for 2002. |
| Justice Department Details Wide Pattern of Abuses by Mississippi Police Force | |
 | The city of Lexington, Miss., has fewer than 1,500 residents and only 10 police officers. But it prompted a 47-page report by the Justice Department's civil rights division, which found that residents were routinely jailed on illegal "investigative holds" or for unpaid fines, and that they faced excessive force, sexual harassment, retaliation when they criticized the police and racial discrimination. So intent were officers on collecting fines, said the report released on Thursday, that body camera videos showed them brainstorming additional charges such as "disturbing a business" for a man who ran into the police station to escape a beating. (He was charged with disturbing the peace.) The report was released after a 10-month investigation, and comes nine years after the Justice Department placed the Police Department in Ferguson, Mo., under federal oversight, in part because of a similar focus on raising revenue at the expense of respecting constitutional rights. In Lexington, the Justice Department said, more than half of the residents had a warrant for unpaid fines and fees, making them subject to arrest. "Going into town for any reason can mean going to jail," the report said. The report said that the Lexington police responded to low-level offenses with force and aggression that are usually reserved for serious crimes. |
| Republicans press Johnson for farm bill vote, warning of looming 'crisis' | |
| Dozens of House Republicans are calling on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to schedule a vote on a farm bill before the end of the year. That timeline is essential: Funding from the stopgap farm bill passed last year after the 2018 version expired is set to run out at the end of December. If that happens, American farm policy will be thrown back into the days of the New Deal -- a stark and disruptive change that will upend much of the foundation the modern agriculture sector is built on, the Congressional Research Service found in May. And while some lawmakers -- including Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Ark.) -- have called for another one-year stopgap, on Thursday GOP House members warned that this would fail to staunch the bleeding. "Farmers and ranchers do not have the luxury of waiting until the next Congress for the enactment of an effective farm bill," the members, who included House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), wrote in their letter. Passing the bill, they wrote, is among "the top priorities" of the Republican conference. The letter pointed to record levels of farm debt ($540 billion) and steep falls in receipts from crop sales amid rising costs from disasters -- all of which the agricultural sector is grappling with as the federal support it receives "is projected to reach its lowest level since 1982." |
| Despite last-minute press, reporters' source shield faces hard deadline in Senate | |
 | Prospects for getting a federal press source shield measure enacted this year appear to be waning, even though the bill already sailed through the House and has just one public opponent in the Senate. Supporters of the bill, which would prevent the federal government from compelling journalists to reveal their sources except when doing so might prevent imminent violence or identify a terrorist, want the Senate to pass it before the end of this congressional session. "Given that we have both parties telling the public that should the other win [the upcoming elections], the United States will turn into an authoritarian country where there will be crackdowns on speech and crackdowns on the press, both parties should be commonly interested in getting this bill through right away as a safeguard," said Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation. "It's not a hypothetical: Pretty much every administration has at some point attempted to find out who journalists' sources were for stories that embarrassed them." But time is running out. Lawmakers have now left Washington for a preelection recess, meaning the bill's last chance this Congress will be during the lame-duck session. Reporter privilege, akin to attorney-client or doctor-patient privilege, is recognized in 49 states. In addition to Freedom of the Press Foundation, the legislation is backed by dozens of news organizations and civil rights groups. |
| Young voters play 'potentially decisive' role in 2024 election | |
 | On the way to his dorm between classes at Morehouse College, freshman Daylan Moore, 18, was stopped in his tracks by a question: "Baby, have you registered to vote?" A bright-eyed woman, donning the royal blue and gold colors of the sorority Sigma Gamma Rho, beckoned Moore over to a sign-up table. The group from the Fulton County elections office, wearing the colors of their Black Greek sororities, had a steady flow of registrants from the lunchtime crowd. It was hard for students to ignore the gentle nudge from women who reminded them of their mothers or aunties. Moore quickly grabbed a form. The sociology major from Los Angeles had already registered in his home state but said he will instead use his one vote, which he plans to cast for Vice President Kamala Harris, where it could have more impact: in the swing state of Georgia. He worries about the erosion of abortion rights. He worries about the future of affirmative action. "This is a critical election," Moore said, standing in front of Chivers Dining Hall at the historically Black, all-male college that cohosted the registration drive. Young voters could have a monumental impact on the election, including the deadlocked presidential contest. Nationwide, nearly 42 million 18-to-27-year-olds -- the group known as Generation Z -- will be eligible to vote, according to a Post analysis of 2022 census data. Nearly half are people of color. In the seven battleground states --- Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- about 7.8 million Gen Zers are eligible to vote in this fall's election. |
| Jews and Catholics warn against Trump's latest loyalty test for religious voters | |
| Former President Donald Trump recently reissued his loyalty test to religious Americans, declaring that he can best protect their freedoms while preemptively blaming members of certain faiths should he lose the presidential election in November. Jews and Catholics can vote for him and ace the test, but those who don't, he says, "need their head examined." If he loses, Trump added, "Jewish people would have a lot to do with the loss." Among the Jewish leaders appalled at Trump's remarks was Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism -- an umbrella group for more than 800 Reform synagogues in North America. "Your words preemptively blaming Jews for your potential election loss is of a piece with millennia of antisemitic lies about Jewish power," Jacobs said in a social media post. "It puts a target on American Jews. And it makes you an ally not to our vulnerable community but to those who wish us harm. Stop." Trump's speeches for years have hewed to divisive "us" versus "them" messaging, but tying those themes to specific religious Americans who oppose him is out of line and even dangerous, according to rhetoric experts, religious leaders and academics. Matthew Boedy, who studies religious rhetoric as a professor at the University of North Georgia, said Trump has adopted spiritual warfare rhetoric, which is commonplace in certain Christian circles. "Those who gave him that rhetoric saw Satan or evil as the enemy. Now that enemy is anyone -- Jew, Christian, Muslim -- who stands in his way," Boedy said via email, calling it dangerous to democracy and religion. |
| Migrants from around the world are trying to reach the U.S. via charter planes | |
 | As often happens in the immigration world, the news spread first on social media. On TikTok and Facebook, Haitians posted videos of themselves fleeing the country by plane. And not just on any planes, but on charter planes, whose sole purpose seems to be to help people migrate. In New Jersey, Pierre avidly watched video after video. He and his wife had hurriedly fled Haiti in 2016 after his father survived an assassination attempt, leaving their three children behind. They had been trying to reunite with them ever since, and these flights presented an opportunity. In September 2023, Pierre decided it was worth the risk. He paid nearly $8,000 for his children, ages 10, 13 and 18, to take a charter flight from Haiti to Nicaragua. They would travel with an acquaintance and, after arriving there, travel by foot, bus and car to the U.S. border. Once in the U.S., they would apply for asylum. Pierre's children are among hundreds of thousands of migrants who have used charter planes since 2022 to reach the U.S., according to immigration analysts. These migrants are flying into Nicaragua and, from there, making their way north. The Biden administration accuses these charter companies of collaborating with global human smuggling networks and is taking steps to clamp down on them and their executives. "These charter companies are working with criminal organizations. Often, they are part of criminal organizations," says Blas Nuñez-Neto, deputy assistant to President Biden and senior advisor for migration and southwest border coordination. |
| Harris to accuse Trump of 'playing political games' with immigration in border visit | |
 | When Vice President Kamala Harris makes her first trip to the southern border as the Democratic nominee, it will mark a major step in her effort to cut into Donald Trump's strength with voters on immigration. The issue is one of her top vulnerabilities. And Harris is going on the attack. She will use the stop in Douglas, Arizona, to call for tougher border security, while once again emphasizing Trump's role in killing the bipartisan border deal earlier this year, according to a senior campaign official granted anonymity to speak about Friday's speech. The campaign will also launch a new ad in Arizona and battleground states, highlighting her plan to "hire more border agents, enforce the law and step up technology and stop fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking." "The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games," Harris will say, according to her prepared remarks. Voters continue to give Trump higher marks on immigration despite the vice president spending the last several months leaning into her record as attorney general of California to tout her work prosecuting international gangs and criminal organizations who traffic drugs, guns and humans. She's also vowed to bring back the border bill if she wins the White House. |
| China's Nuclear-Submarine Mishap Points to Challenge of Catching Up With U.S. | |
 | The reported sinking of a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine at a Wuhan shipyard highlights the difficulties Beijing faces in building an advanced oceangoing navy that can challenge U.S. maritime power. China has been racing to expand its relatively modest fleet of nuclear submarines as part of a campaign to modernize its military and tilt the strategic balance with Washington in Beijing's favor. Building a potent nuclear submarine force would help China tighten control over its peripheral waters and shipping lanes, project power globally and improve its ability to seize the island democracy of Taiwan. The effort hit a snag this spring when, according to U.S. officials, China's newest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank near the central city of Wuhan, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. "Nuclear-powered submarine technology is one area where China has lagged, remains relatively weak and is trying to play catch-up," said Nick Childs, senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank. While the causes remain unclear, the mishap would at least "raise new questions about the design, quality control and training involved in China's efforts to rapidly develop its submarine force," Childs said. The U.S. and other powers have boosted military spending and forged new coalitions to counter China's growing military might. In 2021, the U.S., U.K. and Australia formed an alliance, known as Aukus, to help Canberra acquire nuclear subs and cement the West's advantage in undersea military technology -- a development that added urgency to Beijing's quest for more capable submarines. |
| MUW hosts quarterly Town and Tower luncheon | |
 | For many years, Mississippi University for Women has been one of the smaller colleges in the state. But there is some growth to report. This year's freshmen class is 13% larger than last year's. Faculty and staff are trying to keep that momentum going. "We are making great impacts with volunteerism of our students, faculty and staff, and with the programming that we offer," said Nora Miller, MUW'S President. "Today we had two busloads of students from Columbus High School, so we are offering opportunities for outreach and competition where they are able to come for the math competitions and various things like that" At the quarterly Town and Tower meeting, faculty also updated progress at the Vandergriff college of nursing and health sciences, and the school of education. Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Scott Tollison said the luncheon was a great opportunity for the community to learn more about the academic programs at The W. "At this meeting today, our academic deans will have the opportunity to tell the community leaders what we have been doing," said Tollison. "And what programs we do have available." |
| USM's Institute for Disability Studies gets $200K grant to establish advocacy network | |
| The University of Southern Mississippi is using a $200,000 federal grant to establish a statewide network of advocates to help families who have children with disabilities. USM's Institute for Disability Studies has gotten a grant from the Administration for Community Living. It's helping to set up the Special Education Family Advocacy Network. It'll cover six regions across the state and will assist students in grades K-12. The grant is for a one-year period, but is renewable. "The hope is that when we get intakes and referrals, or when we do intakes and get referrals from other agencies, that we can connect them with somebody in their community that has navigated that specific school district, to kind of help them along, as well as providing advocacy services through our organization," said Leslie LaVergne, assistant director of the Institute for Disability Studies. It currently works with three dozen school districts across the state. |
| Long Lines: Auburn University struggles to meet rising dining demand | |
| Auburn University students are no strangers to waiting for lunch. In recent years, as student enrollment has risen, finding the perfect campus bite has gotten more time-consuming. The university and its contractors are making strides to meet student demand, but in the face of record student enrollment, their task seems insurmountable. The Auburn University Office of Institutional Research released new student census data on Sept. 16, 2024. In the fall of 2024, Auburn's full-time, on-campus student enrollment set a record high of 32,311, an increase of 1,093 students since last year, which also set records. Admitting so many new students has placed considerable strain on existing campus infrastructure, which in many cases is expanding to keep up. Auburn Campus Dining and its primary food service contractor, Aramark, are tasked with managing Auburn's expansion as it pertains to dining. Their primary avenues of improvement are increasing efficiency through the use of new technology and increasing the total number of dining options. One of the newest options, Foy on the Fly, represents both efforts. As the name suggests, Foy on the Fly aims to provide timely and consistent service, with the aid of a new robot working the fryer. Even with these improvements, demand for campus dining options remains highly uneven. Representatives from Auburn Dining and Aramark both freely admit to the challenges of handling Auburn's large and growing student body. |
| 'Trailblazing' PhD in Statistics and Data Science Approved by Board of Trustees | |
| The Auburn University Board of Trustees Academic Affairs Committee approved a doctoral degree program in statistics and data science, the first of its kind in the state of Alabama, at their Sept. 6 meeting. The program received strong support from the Dean of College of Science and Mathematics Edward Thomas, the graduate council, the provost and the president. Vini Nathan, the university's provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, proposed in late July the doctoral degree program which entails an "in-depth understanding of both theoretical and practical aspects of statistics and data science, preparing them for careers in research, academia, or equivalent roles in industry or government." Current doctoral students at Auburn University interested in a statistics career must declare a major in mathematics with a concentration in statistics, completing distinct work from the mathematics program under the guidance of professors in statistics and data science. PhD students with a statistics concentration did similar work as those with a declared major in statistics at other institutions, but because their degree had no statistics label, they could not market themselves as statisticians and data scientists. As a pioneering program in the state, the doctoral degree program rivals similar schools like the University of Alabama's PhD in applied statistics and the University of Alabama at Birmingham's PhD in biostatistics. |
| Miles College signs deal to buy Birmingham-Southern campus | |
 | Miles College has signed a purchase agreement with Birmingham-Southern College for the 192-acre campus that's been closed since the end of May. The announcement from Miles College on Wednesday, first reported by The Birmingham Times, comes after months of uncertainty around the future of Birmingham-Southern's Bush Hills campus. The purchase price -- and long-term future for the property -- remain unclear. Birmingham-Southern's land, buildings and equipment had a roughly $65 million value last year, according to an audit and tax records the college filed with the IRS. The two schools are about 6 miles, or a 10-minute drive on the interstate, apart, but have historically served different groups of students. Birmingham-Southern President Daniel B. Coleman said in the statement that the institution was "very pleased" to move forward with Miles College. "Our hope has been to find a buyer whose mission paralleled BSC's mission of educating young people for lives of service and significance, and whose presence on the Hilltop would also benefit the surrounding communities who have been such good neighbors to BSC for more than 100 years," Coleman said. |
| Chancellor Plowman speaks on improving retention rates, growth in every UT college as she prepares for another 5 years at UT | |
| University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman gave the sixth annual Flagship Address Thursday in the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center. This address keeps the Tennessee faculty and students informed about the work the chancellor has done throughout her time at UT. The speech began by announcing that Donde Plowman has officially committed to serving UT as chancellor for another five years. With this expanded time, Plowman said she will continue to work to grow the school into its best possible version. "I wasn't surprised when I heard her announce that she would be staying another five years. ... She's done a lot for the university, and you can see that in the numbers," Gracyn Thatcher, a sophomore journalism student, said. In the past year, Tennessee has added three new academic colleges to its system -- the College of Music, the Baker's School of Public Policy and Affairs and the College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies. Additionally, athletics have been revived, and the retention rate of students is at an all-time high. Plowman noted that this past year, all of UT's varsity athletic teams competed in postseason competition. These teams are putting up all-time high GPAs and have been greatly successful in the classroom. She stated that the university is trying to graduate more students in every field because Tennessee needs students to go on and get careers in their respective fields of study. |
| Plowman's priorities: U. of Tennessee chancellor has a 'national story to tell' | |
 | Chancellor Donde Plowman plans to stay at least five more years at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and her priorities − coming off another year of record-smashing success -- include keeping graduating students in Tennessee and increasing their knowledge of civics, politics and public service. Provost John Zomchick announced Plowman's plans to stay while introducing her sixth flagship address Sept. 26. In her address, Plowman discussed the major accomplishments UT has made during her five years of leadership, including record-breaking enrollment of 38,728 this fall and a record-breaking 91.9% retention of first-year students. Now, Plowman is on a mission to let Tennesseans know how these success in academics and athletics at the state's flagship campus are molding a new generation of professionals in the Volunteer State. "We have to internalize the university we are becoming and match ourselves with it because we're becoming this place where everyone wants to be here," Plowman told Knox News in an exclusive interview prior to her address. "Kids want to come to school here from everywhere ... and that's really a cool thing." Reputation comes from academic rigor and success. UT recently hit a record $380 million in research expenditures, Plowman said, leveraging partnerships with the National Science Foundation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the FIFA World Cup. Reputation also comes in the form of new construction that demonstrates an investment in academics. |
| Vanderbilt University expands to New York, takes over Manhattan seminary | |
 | Vanderbilt University's nationwide footprint is expanding to New York City. The school, which announced an expansion to southern Florida earlier this month, said Thursday that it entered into a lease agreement with The General Theological Seminary to take over its historic campus in the Chelsea neighborhood. Vanderbilt is still in the process of receiving approval for the lease and any future programming from New York state government. Vanderbilt University reported that approximately 7,800 alumni and 740 current students live in or are from the New York area. Last year, the university created a "regional administrative hub" in New York for its Development and Alumni Relations, the Office of Career Advancement and Education and the Office of Enrollment Affairs. That office will relocate to the Chelsea campus. The university said other programming details are still in the early stages and would be pending state approval. A faculty advisory committee has convened to discuss how best to utilize the campus, led by Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Tiffiny Tung. Undergraduate cost of attendance is $94,000, according to Vanderbilt's website and its Opportunity Vanderbilt program provides financial aid to applicants from households that earn less than $150,000 a year. |
| U. of Missouri Faculty Council discusses difficult MU Heath Care access | |
 | The University of Missouri Faculty Council pressed MU Health Care representatives Thursday in a discussion about increasingly difficult access to care at its clinics. Speaking at the council's meeting, MU Health Care CEO Ric Ransom recognized the challenges for people in Columbia and mid-Missouri to access its physicians. "I don't want to have us come in front of you and pretend like everything's perfect because it's not," Ransom said. In the 2024 fiscal year, representatives said MU Health Care saw more than 1.1 million clinic visits, an increase from just more than 846,000 in the previous year. Laura Morris is a family medicine physician who's booked until February, and she told the council the growth combined with a shortage of physicians has made things difficult for everyone. Nicholas LeFevre is member of the council and a family medicine physician at MU Health Care who is booked until April. Toward the end of the discussion, he reminded the council that MU Heath Care is an academic health center that also focuses on research. He said that requires physicians to take time away from seeing patients. "There is an enormous pressure to be academics and not just clinicians -- that is coming down from the highest levels of the university," LeFevre said. "Research is a huge priority." He also noted a 2015 Faculty Council report that suggested practitioners should see one less day of patients per week to increase research productivity. |
| Why a University Tried to Bring Its Live Bulldog Mascot to Court | |
 | Two colleges in central Iowa have found themselves in the middle of a contentious legal battle: Who gets to use a block-style letter "D" for their logo? In July, Drake University sued Des Moines Area Community College for trademark infringement. Last week, as part of an attempt to prove Drake University's claim to the "D," lawyers made an eye-catching request. They petitioned a federal court to bring Drake's mascot, a live bulldog named Griffin II, to a hearing on Tuesday. "His true effectiveness as an ambassador of the Drake Brand lies in his physical presence," Drake's lawyers wrote. The community college objected. Drake's request was ultimately denied by a judge. It's the latest development in a series of unusual efforts made by the university to protect its branding. Higher-education legal experts say the trademark fight between two colleges isn't common, but at a moment when colleges are trying to stand out in a crowded market for students, safeguarding a unique image is all the more important. Drake's lawyers have said in court filings that the university initially tried to reach a private agreement with Des Moines Area Community College, but after months of discussions went nowhere, the university decided to seek financial compensation and an injunction on the community college's marketing. |
| What traits make a great college president? | |
| Trustworthiness, resilience, and effective and authentic communication topped a list of most important skills needed in a college president, according to a survey of those who already hold the job by executive search firm Academic Search. Among the over 700 college presidents surveyed, over 90% listed those qualities as "very relevant" to the job, with "behaves in a way that is trustworthy, consistent, and accountable" cited the most frequently at 96%. Listening to and understanding stakeholder concerns was also highly cited. Some 84% of respondents ranked that as very relevant, along with gathering and using data, also named by 80% as very relevant. Driving the search for key skills, in part, is the ever-shifting demands on college presidents. "In the aftermath of the pandemic, presidents face intensified political polarization, campus unrest, demographic changes, and continued financial constraints," wrote the report's authors, Jorge Burmicky, professor at Howard University, and Kevin McClure, professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. "What it takes to be an effective college president evolves in concert with the context, meaning presidential competencies are not a fixed checklist but rather a constellation of skills whose salience rises and falls," they wrote. |
| Federal Agencies Aim to Boost Research at HBCUs | |
 | In the 14 years Michael Curry worked as a chemistry and materials science professor at Tuskegee University, he and his colleagues got research funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies. But the grants awarded to Tuskegee -- a private historically Black university in Alabama that, like most HBCUs, has battled systemic underfunding dating back to its founding in the Jim Crow–era South -- often weren't nearly as big as the grants received by Curry's peers at predominately white, Research-1 institutions, such as the University of Alabama or Auburn University. "We had a lack of infrastructure, a lack of proper facilities and a lack of resources that are critical for faculty being able to contribute to scientific innovation," said Curry, who is now a nanoengineering professor at North Carolina A&T State University, which has a $202 million endowment---the largest among public HBCUs. "At Tuskegee we didn't have as many resources as North Carolina A&T has been able to acquire, which presented some research challenges." North Carolina A&T is among a handful of HBCUs in line to become among the first to attain Research-1 status, an indication of high levels of research funding and output of doctoral graduates that can make a university more competitive for grants and other funding. That's part of the reason why bringing HBCUs into the R-1 ranks (currently none have that status) has been a top priority for the institutions themselves and advocates for years. |
| China's scientists often cite work from their own nation. Is that skewing global research rankings? | |
| In recent years, China has become a world leader in a key measure of scientific impact: the number of academic papers produced by researchers there that are then widely cited by other scientists. Now, two analyses identify one factor that might be helping boost these citations: An unusually high number is coming from scholars also based in China. One study reports that more than half of citations to the top 10% of China's highly cited papers come from the same nation's academics. The second finds a similar trend -- and suggests China's global research ranking is lower than it at first appears. Citation analysts have long known scientists working in one country tend to frequently cite papers produced in the same nation. But the two recent analyses -- which were not published in peer-reviewed journals -- show China stands out when it comes to home preference. One, released in August by Japan's National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP), mined the more than 1 billion citations recorded in Clarivate's Web of Science database. Analysts identified the top 10% most highly cited papers by authors in 25 countries published in the years 2020–22. They then assigned citations of those papers to a country, based on the affiliations of the authors of the citing papers. (When the cited and citing paper had authors from multiple countries, they assigned fractional values.) Overall, they found that 62% of citations to China's top 10% of papers came from within the country. The United States had the second-highest rate of home bias at 24%. Other developed nations had same-country citations ranging from Italy's 13% to Canada's 6%. |
| Is this the end of Miguel Cardona’s tenure -- or the next chapter | |
| The Biden administration's public face for reopening schools during the pandemic wants to be remembered for more than the bureaucratic, legal and political mess now confronting his agency. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona's department has lurched from crisis to crisis since President Joe Biden vaulted the Connecticut educator to the highest perch many in his profession could hope to hold. But he's run out of time to build a post-pandemic vision that draws absent students back to classrooms, boosts lagging test scores, and reshapes American education. Despite a recent flurry of travel and fiery speeches championing Democratic issues, Cardona's uneven tenure has clouded his prospects to influence the education industry or a potential Harris administration. Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump's education secretary, won attention for blasting teachers unions, rewriting campus sexual misconduct rules and loosening restrictions on for-profit colleges. Arne Duncan exercised a tough-love approach to public school improvement and helped oversee a major rewrite of federal education law under Barack Obama. Cardona's track record is more complicated. "They've been basically in crisis management mode for the majority of the past three and a half years," Duncan said. "And so having a forward-looking agenda, and a strategy, has been a challenge." At the center is Cardona, an educator who hasn't taken to being a politician. |
| New Laws in 27 States Could Keep Students From Voting | |
| In the last presidential election, an out-of-state student going to college in Ohio wouldn't have to do much to vote in the state beyond registering and bringing proof of residence -- a bank statement, a utility bill or even a paycheck listing their Ohio address -- to the polls. Some campuses ran buses all day to take students to voting places, making it considerably more comfortable than walking through the November cold. This year, things will be drastically different. Thanks to a 2023 law, the Republican-sponsored HB 458, Ohio's out-of-state students can no longer use those documents to prove their residency for voting in person; the only acceptable forms of identification are now passports, Ohio state IDs and driver's licenses, and military, National Guard, and Veterans Affairs IDs. That's left Ohio's out-of-state students with few options as Election Day approaches. The trouble in Ohio isn't unique. States across the nation -- primarily with Republican legislatures -- have passed restrictive voting laws since the 2020 election, many in response to lies about widespread election fraud stoked by former president Donald Trump. Experts say that many of the most common new restrictions -- including ID laws -- are likely to have a disproportionate effect on student voters. That includes presidential swing states such as Arizona, which has passed four such laws since 2020; Georgia, which has passed three; and North Carolina, which has passed one. (On the other hand, another swing state, Michigan, has been lauded for passing laws in recent years to greatly expand voter access under its current Democratic governor and Legislature.) |
| Calls for Divestment Make for Good Chants. But Is It Effective? | |
| Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University's business school, writes in The Wall Street Journal: "Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chant students at many American universities, demanding that their universities' endowments divest themselves of shares of companies they perceive as offensive. The students seem to believe, as many investors do, that selling their shares of these "offensive" companies -- whether supporters of Israel, producers of weapons or distributors of tobacco products -- is an effective tool for curtailing offensive operations by depriving companies of money they need to fund those operations. Yet this perception of investors is a misperception on several levels. Investors, of course, want different kinds of returns. First, they want financial returns---that is, the most money from their investments. But they also want emotional returns, which they get by staying true to their values. Calls for divestment focus on these emotional returns. The problem is that there are trade-offs between these different kinds of returns: Stocks perceived as offensive tend to yield relatively high long-term financial returns. In addition, divestment reduces the financial benefits of having a more-diversified portfolio. Yet not all students and investors understand these trade-offs. I recall a meeting at my university with students who demanded that our endowment divest itself of shares of fossil-fuel companies. I asked whether they would persist in the demand if it were to lower the endowment's returns and subsequently reduce their scholarships. Their responses indicated that they were never aware of the trade-off. Then there is the question of whether selling shares of companies deemed as offensive accomplishes the goal the students are aiming for -- depriving companies of funds they need for their operations. Again, it isn't nearly as straightforward as students like to think. |
SPORTS
| Five keys for Mississippi State's game at No. 1 Texas | |
| Following a 45-28 loss to Florida last week and a season-ending shoulder injury to quarterback Blake Shapen, Mississippi State (1-3, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) visits No. 1 Texas (4-0) on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. on SEC Network. The Longhorns will be playing their first-ever conference game as SEC members after moving from the Big 12 along with Oklahoma. Whether it's true freshman Michael Van Buren or redshirt freshman Chris Parson in the game, MSU lacks experience at the game's most important position. The Longhorns have played conservatively on defense for most of the season, but they will be sure to take advantage of the Bulldogs' youth behind center and dial up pressure packages. That means the Bulldogs' offensive linemen need to sustain their blocks, running backs will also need to block well on pass plays and head coach Jeff Lebby needs to install some easy throws for Van Buren and Parson, like screens and quick hitters to the outside. MSU doesn't need to completely overhaul the offense, but the coaches do need to make sure not to shatter the quarterbacks' confidence. Texas' offense can and will strike quickly, with the ability to generate explosive plays on the ground and through the air. Any time the Bulldogs have a chance to get the ball back to their offense, it is vital that they do so. For MSU to have any hope of winning this game, or even remaining competitive, the Bulldogs will need to keep the Longhorns' offense on the sidelines. That also means sustaining drives of their own by avoiding sacks and penalties and staying ahead of the chains. |
| Texas Longhorns rolling into long-awaited SEC debut against Mississippi State | |
| Mississippi State (1-3, 0-1 SEC) is at No. 1 Texas (4-0, 0-0), Saturday, 4:15 pm ET (SEC Network). Texas makes its long-awaited SEC debut against a Bulldogs team that is beaten up and struggling under first-year coach Jeff Lebby. The Longhorns will be looking to make a statement worthy of No. 1 in its first SEC game. Coach Steve Sarkisian must decide if injured quarterback Quinn Ewers is healthy enough to play or start Arch Manning for a second consecutive game. Key matchup: Mississippi State's defensive line vs Texas running back Jaydon Blue. The Bulldogs surrendered a whopping 262 yards rushing to Arizona State's Cam Skattebo, and 226 yards last week against Florida. Blue had a career game for Texas against Louisiana-Monroe last week with 124 yards rushing four total touchdowns. Texas ranks No. 1 nationally in scoring defense and No. 5 in overall defense ... The Longhorns have seven interceptions this season, best in the SEC ... Mississippi State has scored in 48 consecutive games dating to Oct. 21, 2020. |
| Steve Sarkisian still unsure on Texas' starting QB for SEC debut | |
| Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said on Thursday that the No. 1 Longhorns still haven't decided on a starting quarterback for Saturday's inaugural SEC game against Mississippi State. Quinn Ewers was listed as questionable on Texas' first SEC injury report, still recovering from an oblique strain. Arch Manning made his first career start last week in a 51-3 win over UL Monroe. "We're going to decide on the quarterback thing tomorrow," Sarkisian said. "It won't be a secret. We're not trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes. Just want to give Quinn every opportunity to see if he's ready to play and what he looks like." Sarkisian said on Monday that Ewers practiced and looked good, but he wanted to see how he was feeling after a week of work. He said he has been encouraged by what he has seen all week, even from third-string quarterback Trey Owens, a true freshman. Mississippi State has had injury issues of its own at quarterback and will be starting a true freshman, Michael Van Buren Jr., after starter Blake Shapen was lost for the season last week with a shoulder injury that will require surgery. Van Buren, the No. 57 prospect in the 2024 ESPN 300, went 7-for-13 for 100 yards off the bench in a 45-28 loss to Florida on Saturday. Sarkisian said that presents a challenge to Texas, without having much film on a new quarterback. And he knows his opponent in first-year Bulldogs coach Jeff Lebby, who was Oklahoma's offensive coordinator last year when Dillon Gabriel led the Sooners on a 75-yard drive in 62 seconds to beat Texas, 34-30. |
| Women's Basketball Finalizes 2024-25 Non-Conference Schedule | |
| Mississippi State finalized its 2024-25 schedule when it released the remainder of its non-conference portion on Thursday. Non-conference action will include six games inside Humphrey Coliseum and seven total inside the state of Mississippi. Mississippi State is 18-1 in non-conference home games under head coach Sam Purcell. Mississippi State will tip off with Jacksonville, Chicago State and Maryland Eastern Shore for the first time in program history. State will also face off with two former assistant coaches under Purcell who are now head coaches at their respective schools in Corry Irvin at Chicago State and Michelle Clark-Heard at Mercer. Mississippi State officially enters its third season under Purcell, who has guided the program to consecutive campaigns of 20 or more wins over his first two seasons, when it hosts Memphis inside Humphrey Coliseum on Nov. 7. Mississippi State will also take on Alcorn State on Nov. 10, Alabama State on Nov. 13, Chattanooga on Nov. 17 and Mercer on Nov. 20 in a stretch of five consecutive home contests to open the season. Fans can purchase season tickets through the Mississippi State Athletic Ticket Office starting as low as $99 at www.HailState.com/tickets or by calling (662) 325-2600 or (888) 463-2947 (GO DAWGS). Lower bowl season tickets are sold out, but general admission inventory still remains. |
| Mississippi State women's basketball freshman Tahj-Monet Bloom suffers season-ending injury | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball has lost a player due to injury before the start of the season. Forward Tahj-Monet Bloom, a four-star freshman, is out for the season with an ACL injury, coach Sam Purcell and the Bulldogs announced on Thursday evening. According to the team, it's a "non-sport related injury." Bloom was ranked as the No. 43 prospect nationally in the 2024 recruiting class by espnW. "We are all heartbroken to hear the unfortunate news for Tahj," Purcell said in a statement. "Tahj is an exemplary teammate, competitor and has been everything you can ask for in a student-athlete from the moment she arrived to campus. We will continue to support her in every step of the recovery process. We know that she will work incredibly hard to return stronger than ever and do everything she can in the meantime to pour her positive spirit into her teammates and our program." Earlier in the day, Purcell had posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Tough loss as she has a season-ending ACL injury. Keep your head up and no doubt you will bounce back strong. Your spirit & voice are contagious & we will need all of it on the sideline this season as you make us better." |
| Dak Prescott throws 2 TD passes and Cowboys win 7th straight over Giants, 20-15 | |
| There was a sense of relief in a somewhat subdued Dallas Cowboys locker room after a hard-fought victory over the New York Giants. There was little celebration. What was important Thursday night were the numbers on the scoreboard at MetLife Stadium. Dallas Cowboys 20, New York Giants 15. The two-game losing streak was over and those who have been criticizing Dallas (2-2) and coach Mike McCarthy and predicting a disappointing season had been quieted for one night. The Cowboys were back to being the Cowboys, a good offense and a solid defense. Dak Prescott threw one of his two touchdown passes to CeeDee Lamb and the Cowboys beat the Giants for the seventh straight time and 14th in 15 games. "We got to change the narrative. That's what this game did, especially over a long weekend," said Prescott, who completed 22 of 27 for 221 yards. "It puts us at 2-and-2. It allows us a couple of days to get our mind right, to get our body right." Prescott hit running back Rico Dowdle on a 15-yard screen pass for a touchdown to put Dallas ahead in the first quarter. He then found Lamb for a 55-yard catch-and-run TD on a play that ended with the receiver being called for taunting. The Cowboys are at Pittsburgh next for a Sunday night game on Oct. 6, the second of their five scheduled prime-time appearances. |
| Will there be a big announcement at next week's Sanderson Farms Championships? | |
 | As the 12th and final year of sponsorship for Wayne Sanderson Farms at Mississippi's only PGA Tour event is nearing an end, there is no better way to find a new sponsor than to show off at this year's tournament. Wayne Sanderson Farms' run as a full partner with Jackson and its PGA tournament has been a historic one. However, the 2024 Sanderson Farm Championship will be its last for the company as the title sponsor of the Jackson PGA Tour stop. While its contract runs through 2026, the company decided in August to move on as the title sponsor, but remain as a major sponsor for the tournament, which is held at the Country Club of Jackson. That leaves tournament director Steve Jent searching for a 2025 and beyond sponsor as this year's tournament gears up to kick off next week. "I feel really good in general for next week. The weather looks great. It's going to be a chamber of commerce type setting, for sure," Jent told the Clarion Ledger. Also, Jent believes the tournament is on track for its main job, which is raising money for charity. He said early returns look like last year when the tournament helped raised $1.5 million in charitable impact benefiting Children's of Mississippi and other Mississippi charities. "With both Mississippi State and Ole Miss on the road next week and with the weather looking great, that should help our crowds," Jent said. "So, yeah, I feel great about next week." |
| Tournament officials and Country Club of Jackson prepare year round for PGA event | |
| The Country Club of Jackson will soon once again be the site for the state's only PGA Tour event, the Sanderson Farms Championship. Scheduled Sept. 30-Oct. 6, the championship will feature 132 golfers competing for a total purse of $7.6 million with the top prize of $1.368 million and the opportunity to victoriously hoist the hand-sculpted, bronze rooster trophy overhead. Attention to details from bus schedules to special events ensures the event that raises funds for Children's Hospital of Mississippi and other charities in the state goes as planned. "We're making sure that all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed," said Steve Jent, executive director of the championship. "I want everybody who comes out to have a good time." Expected to draw as many as 30,000 individual visits by spectators, the tournament takes an army of people to produce. "It's a combination of a lot of people," Jent said, naming Sanderson Farms, Jana Bell at Maris West & Baker, the Country Club of Jackson board of directors and the championship's six-member staff. Also contributing to the event's success will be 950 volunteers, an entourage of 50 people from the PGA that includes rules officials and security, 80 to 100 Golf Channel employees, 100 concession employees, 50 construction workers who build the structures on the course and the employees of the country club. |
| Mississippi deer season 2024-25: Where to take tissue samples for CWD testing | |
 | In the continued effort to manage chronic wasting disease in Mississippi's deer herd, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is again asking hunters to have their deer tested for CWD. Since the disease was first detected in Mississippi in 2018, there have been 318 cases in the state as of Sept. 27. According to MDWFP, knowing where the disease is in the state allows the department to put special regulations in place to help slow the spread of the disease, which is always fatal in deer. Also, hunters should be know if their deer is infected because even though there have been no documented cases of CWD in humans, the CDC warns people against eating the meat of an infected deer. The department has placed freezers at 59 locations across the state where hunters can leave heads for testing. Antlers may be removed before dropping off the heads and hunters are asked to leave at least 6 inches of neck attached to the heads and to keep the heads cool or frozen before submitting them. |
| Illinois QB Luke Altmyer has emerged as an unlikely star amid the Illini's historic start | |
| Bret Bielema wasn't looking for a quarterback after the 2022 season. The Illinois coach thought an NCAA waiver was likely for incumbent starter Tommy DeVito, and his team was set for a 2023 run for the Big Ten West title. Despite the Big Ten approving DeVito's appeal for an extra year, the NCAA denied it. The transfer portal already was open for three weeks, and the Illini scrambled to search for their next quarterback. It ended quickly, thanks to an assist from a long-time Bielema friend. Now, that quarterback -- Luke Altmyer -- has guided No. 19 Illinois to a pair of ranked victories and a 4-0 start for just the second time since 1951. The superlatives are mounting for the Illini, who scored their first win as a ranked team over a ranked opponent since 2001. Last week, Illinois outlasted then-No. 22 Nebraska in overtime. This week, Illinois' challenges intensify with a trip to No. 9 Penn State (3-0). Traveling to Beaver Stadium and its raucous night atmosphere can seem daunting for a program trying to build on modest success, but that's where Altmyer's mix of steady leadership and competitive fire is important. Through four games this year, Altmyer is the nation's only quarterback with 10 or more touchdowns and no interceptions. "He brings a lot of different traits, to be honest, but the one he brings that's really awesome is just his football awareness, his IQ," Bielema said Tuesday afternoon. "He's a really, really smart player who has zero ego. He's a tremendous kid of faith. So he really doesn't get wrapped up in the whole me, me, me thing." Altmyer (6-2, 205) was a consensus four-star recruit from Starkville, Miss., with offers from Alabama, LSU, Oregon and Florida State among others. |
| MU Athletics receives $25 million donation toward Memorial Stadium Improvements Project | |
| Before Missouri breaks ground at Memorial Stadium for the $250 million Memorial Stadium Improvements Project -- which was approved Sept. 12 -- on Nov. 30, Mizzou Athletics has raised approximately $90 million in leadership philanthropic support and is about 72% closer to the department's $125 million goal. Mizzou took a big leap toward reaching that mark Thursday, when MU athletic director Laird Veatch announced that the department received a $25 million anonymous donation toward the stadium renovation, which is set to be complete in fall 2026 -- before the 100th anniversary of Memorial Stadium. "This donation is a powerful testament to the passion and commitment of Mizzou supporters," Veatch said in the news release. "It brings us closer to achieving our vision for the future of Memorial Stadium and signals that we are building something truly special here in Columbia." Mizzou Athletics received a $62 million donation in February -- also gifted by an anonymous source --- that was the largest single donation in program history. The donor designated $50 million of the $62 million commitment toward the Memorial Stadium Improvements Project, with the remaining $12 million going to the Tiger Scholarship Fund. |
| Plaintiff attorneys in House-NCAA settlement file brief to clarify language in hopes of appeasing judge | |
| Plaintiff attorneys have filed a brief with a California district court in the House settlement case, clarifying language that limits compensation from third-party entities to athletes under the new revenue-sharing model. Attorneys made slight adjustments and offered more details on a concept in the settlement that US District Court Judge Claudia Wilken expressed concerns over during a hearing on Sept. 5. The most notable amendment is the removal of the term "booster" from the language, though a more narrow description of a booster remains in the settlement. Boosters and booster-led collectives are at the center of the change as attorneys work to get the settlement approved -- something that still may be days or weeks away. Wilken found problematic language that required third-party entities, including boosters and booster-led collectives, to submit their endorsement deals with athletes through a newly created clearinghouse and enforcement arm. Those deals could be rejected based on fair market value standards. Rejected deals would then move to a court-overseen arbitration process. The amendment may pave the way for some school-affiliated boosters and collectives to survive, at least in a limited capacity. However, in all likelihood, those donating to collective efforts are likely to be considered a "set of people closely affiliated with schools," which would require them to clear their NIL deals through the clearinghouse. |
| Attorneys tweak $2.78B college settlement, remove the word 'booster' from NIL language | |
| Three weeks after being asked to modify a $2.78 billion deal that would dramatically change college sports, attorneys excised the word "booster" from the mammoth plan in hopes of satisfying a judge's concerns about the landmark settlement designed to pay players some of the money they help produce. As expected, the changes filed in court Thursday did not amount to an overhaul -- replacing "booster" with the term "associated entity or individual," was the headliner – but the hope is that it will clear the way for U.S District Judge Claudia Wilken to give the settlement agreement preliminary approval. The new language and replacing of the hazily defined "booster," which has played a big role in the NCAA's rulebook for decades, is designed to better outline which sort of deals will come under scrutiny under the new rules. Under terms of the settlement, the biggest schools would have a pool of about $21..5 million in the first year to distribute to athletes via a revenue-sharing plan, but the athletes would still be able to cut name, image and likeness deals with outside groups. It was the oversight of those deals that was at the heart of Wilken's concerns in the proposed settlement. Many leaders in college sports believe calling something a NIL deal obscures the fact that some contracts are basically boosters paying athletes to play, which is forbidden. |
| House v. NCAA settlement revises language around NIL in new filing | |
| New documents were filed on Thursday regarding the House v. NCAA settlement, responding to questions Judge Claudia Wilken raised during a preliminary approval hearing on Sept. 5. Lawyers in the proposed House settlement -- which would also resolve the Hubbard and Carter antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA -- filed a revised version of the agreement, as well as a brief explaining how Wilken's previous concerns have been addressed. Most of the revisions aim to clarify language in the original proposal regarding restrictions on third-party name, image and likeness (NIL) payments to college athletes, and to better define the term "booster" and what constitutes the pay-for-play inducements the NCAA is aiming to eliminate. No decisions or next steps regarding preliminary approval are expected from Judge Wilken this week. The settlement, which would be a historically impactful one for the financial structure of college sports, hit a snag in the approval process during the preliminary hearing earlier this month. Wilken, presiding over the case in the Northern District of California, sent the parties "back to the drawing board," with the stipulations involving third-party NIL receiving the bulk of that attention. "The parties have made changes ... to clarify these provisions so that it is explicit that the Agreement is only allowing the continuation of existing NCAA rules which already prohibit so-called 'faux' NIL payments in narrow and more objectively defined circumstances," the brief stated. |
| Revised House v. NCAA settlement documents submitted to court | |
| Attorneys in the House v. NCAA lawsuit submitted revised settlement documents on Thursday night, focusing on boosters and NIL collectives in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. At a preliminary approval hearing on Sept. 5, Judge Claudia Wilken called for attorneys to "go back to the drawing board" because of concerns around third-party NIL restrictions. Specifically, she was concerned about how the settlement would limit opportunities for athletes moving forward. Not much has changed, though. The revised settlement agreement still prohibits NIL collectives and boosters from entering into agreements with athletes unless they can prove the compensation is "fair market value." The settlement also requires non-institution, third-party NIL deals with athletes to be approved by a clearinghouse. Commercial parties like shoe companies and people who have given $50,000 to a school will be exempt from NIL enforcement. Speaking with sources following the Sept. 5 hearing, On3 learned leaving collective/booster restrictions out of the settlement could be a dealbreaker for certain conferences. The NCAA and Power Four conferences have viewed this settlement as crucial in regaining control of NIL activity between athletes and boosters. |
| Lawyers in NCAA athlete-compensation antitrust cases adjust settlement proposal with judge | |
 | Lawyers involved with a proposed multi-billion-dollar settlement of three athlete-compensation antitrust cases against the NCAA and the Power Five conferences filed documents on Thursday that included small, but potentially significant, changes aimed at convincing a federal judge to grant preliminary approval for the agreement. The lawyers attempted to redefine the types of entities and individuals whose name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements with athletes would be subject to special scrutiny under a new regulatory structure that the NCAA and the conferences are insisting that they get in exchange for agreeing to the industry-changing deal. While Thursday's filing was submitted by lawyers for the plaintiffs, an NCAA official said lawyers for the association and the conferences were involved in negotiating the language. In the revisions filed Thursday, the basic reporting, clearinghouse and arbitration processes would remain as originally proposed, but the settlement now would do away with the term "booster" and replace it with the term "Associated Entity or Individual." The filing said this would constitute "a narrower, more targeted, and objectively defined category that does not automatically sweep in 'today's third party donor' ..." What comes next the preliminary-approval process is unclear. |
| NCAA, Players File Revised House Antitrust Settlement | |
| Take two. When attorneys for the NCAA, power conferences and athletes in the House, Carter and Hubbard antitrust litigations met with U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken on Sept. 5, the meeting didn't go as planned. Going in, those attorneys probably thought the proceeding would be a layup. Judges routinely grant preliminary approval to class actions, especially antitrust ones. Here, the multibillion-dollar deal was pitched as providing much-needed order to the chaos of contemporary college sports. Judge Wilken had also bluntly rejected an attempt by an NCAA member school, Houston Christian University, to stop the settlement. It was a move suggesting Wilken, who has overseen college sports litigation since she was assigned to preside over Ed O'Bannon's case in 2009, wanted closure. But as the hearing played out, Wilken made clear she wasn't going to grant preliminary approval unless the parties made significant changes to key aspects of their deal---especially regarding name, image and likeness. Wilken objected to the settlement's measures to distinguish NIL deals that draw from an athlete's right of publicity versus those that are pay-for-play, and thus in violation of NCAA rules. She worried those measures could chill the NIL marketplace for college athletes that is currently in place. On Thursday, the attorneys reported back to Wilken by proposing changes to their original agreement. They hope they persuade Wilken that the settlement will not prohibit any deals that are currently allowed and that the NCAA's regulatory authority to enforce pay-for-play rules is not expanded in any way by the settlement. In other words, the parties want Wilken to be convinced the marketplace for athletes will not be restrained. |
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