| Friday, October 4, 2024 |
| 150 new homes coming to east Oktibbeha County | |
 | A new neighborhood development is coming to east Oktibbeha County, Atlanta-based real estate development firm Forest Street Partners announced Thursday. The project spans a 98-acre property off Highway 182, adjacent to Triangle Drywall Supply, that will eventually house a fully gated community with swimming and recreational areas. District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer said the new development will help address growing housing needs in the county. Pace Stead, a Starkville resident and the firm's project representative, said preliminary plans for the first phase of development include 150 homes. A completion date for that phase hasn't been determined. The neighborhood will have a mix of housing options, ranging from starter homes young professionals could purchase to larger homes for families. Filling the housing needs for those demographics will help keep more families and graduating students in Starkville, he said. "People are graduating, whether it's veterinarians or physical therapists or all the different degrees at Mississippi State, and they can't stay," Stead said. "There's no housing that they can afford." Stead said location was one of the driving factors in developing the property. Living on the east side of the county will give residents who commute faster access to West Point and Columbus, he said, not to mention the proximity to industry jobs at the Golden Triangle Industrial Park. |
| New electrical vehicle fast-charging station opens in Starkville | |
 | Like many local people, you may fill up your car at the gas pump. But some visitors to Starkville and surrounding towns are rolling in with an EV, an electric vehicle. This is the future of the pit stop. Pull in and plug in. Starkville Utilities General Manager, Edward Kemp said it's a privilege to have these new fast-chargers for motorists who want to charge and go. "A new technology. The new advanced features as opposed to some of the older chargers. We have some of those here, but we wanted to provide more options for more people to charge their electric vehicles," said Kemp. Starkville Utilities received a grant from Tennessee Valley Authority to help fund the two EV chargers through their Fast Charge Network program. Kemp sees this new addition in Starkville as a step towards a more progressive future. "It's also just trying to be a part of and build the grid of the future. We know that electric vehicles are becoming more and more common placed in our community certainly but also in our entire economic atmosphere," said Kemp. The fast-chargers are available 24/7 on Lampkin Street. |
| Two juveniles arrested for auto burglaries | |
| Police arrested two juveniles Tuesday following a slew of car burglaries in the Green Oaks neighborhood. The two teenagers, 15 and 17, were both charged with six counts of auto burglary each. The burglaries all happened between midnight and 4 a.m., Starkville Police Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Brandon Lovelady said. "We would like to thank the citizens who provided video that corroborated with other pieces of evidence to these arrests," Lovelady wrote in a press release to The Dispatch. "Video evidence plays a critical role in law enforcement investigations. We encourage our citizens to register their cameras in the Starkville Community Connect Program." Lovelady said there have been more than 100 auto burglaries in Starkville since the start of the year. Nearly every vehicle was left unsecured and some contained firearms. Computers, electronics and money are other commonly stolen items in auto burglaries, he said. |
| U.S. Hiring Accelerated in September, Blowing Past Expectations | |
 | The U.S. labor market strengthened in the weeks before Election Day, as job growth accelerated and the unemployment rate ticked lower. U.S. employers added 254,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday. That was the largest monthly increase since March. The unemployment rate slipped to 4.1%. The numbers beat expectations from economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. They expected payrolls to increase by 150,000 in September, and the unemployment rate to hold at 4.2%. The Federal Reserve is trying to engineer a so-called soft landing, in which inflation moves down without major deterioration in the labor market. Though Friday is just one data point, it strongly suggests that the U.S. might be headed there. "Today's numbers show that [a soft landing] is easily achieved---if anything it could be even better than that," said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING. "If we can also see rate cuts combined with greater political clarity after the election, it does really reinforce that message that the U.S. can just keep on growing." Friday's report also showed that hiring this summer wasn't as weak as initially reported. Stocks ticked higher in early trading. |
| Amazon, Target and other retailers are ramping up hiring for the holiday shopping season | |
 | Retailers are ramping up hiring for the holiday season, but fewer seasonal employees are expected to be taken on this year to help customers in stores and assemble online orders in warehouses. E-commerce giant Amazon said Thursday it will hire 250,000 full, part-time and seasonal workers for the crucial shopping period, rounding out a series of announcements made in recent weeks by the country's top retailers. Amazon is hiring the same number of employees it did last year, similar to Bath & Body Works and Target, which said in September it planned to bring in roughly 100,000 seasonal employees and offer current employees the option to work extra hours during the holiday shopping period. Meanwhile, the department store Kohl's encouraged people to apply for positions but stayed mum on its plans, mirroring Walmart, which said it's been hiring store associates throughout the year and will tap into its own staff when needed during the busy season. Others have indicated they will scale back their holiday hiring. Macy's said it would add more than 31,500 seasonal positions this year across its Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury stores, as well as its distribution centers. Last year, the company added 38,000. The holiday shopping period is the busiest time of year for online and brick-and-mortar retailers, some of which have already announced discount events to entice consumers planning to shop early for gifts. |
| People are hoarding toilet paper again. But there's no need to panic buy. | |
| It's a retread of the COVID crisis: People are panic buying toilet paper again. After port workers began striking on the East and Gulf coasts, Costco and Walmart customers reported toilet paper and paper towel shortages at stores. On Thursday morning, Marketplace verified that several Costcos had sold out of TP in Brooklyn, New York; Clifton, New Jersey; Norwalk, Connecticut; and Gilbert, Arizona. We learned that Walmart stores in Lindale, Texas, and Boonton, New Jersey, have also sold out. Almost 45,000 dockworkers walked off the job Tuesday, pushing for higher pay and protection against automation. But Thursday, the union representing these workers suspended the strike until Jan. 15. Strike or no strike, toilet paper should be safe, since it's made in the U.S. The panic buying we're seeing "is really unnecessary," said David Dobrzykowski, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Arkansas' Sam M. Walton College of Business. The disruption caused by the strike "is different from the pandemic in that it is fairly geographically isolated. In other words, it will not reduce production of products around the globe," Dobrzykowski explained. "Given that most of the toilet paper we consume in the USA is manufactured domestically, rail and trucks are the key modes of transportation used to move toilet paper -- not ships and ports." |
| Milwaukee Tool officially opens $60 million manufacturing facility in Grenada | |
| Milwaukee Tool has officially opened its $60 million manufacturing center in Grenada after some delays. On Wednesday, the company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the 500,000-square-foot facility sitting along Interstate 55 -- the largest Milwaukee location in the U.S. -- to mark the beginning of a new era of manufacturing in north Mississippi. On Thursday, Milwaukee Tool held a job fair seeking new workers as the company is set to employ 800 people at the Grenada plant. Those working at the facility will produce power tools, including Sawzall blades before expanding to other products over time. "This is an excellent opportunity for folks to start with a great company from day one and work their way up the career ladder," Grenada County Board of Supervisors President Chad Bridges said. Over the past five years, the company has invested more than $250 million in the state and now employs over 4,000 people in Mississippi. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Milwaukee Tool continues to expand both domestically and globally, supported by a U.S. workforce of more than 10,000 employees. |
| AG urges lawmakers to enact paid maternity leave for state employees | |
| A post-Roe agenda should include paid maternity leave for state employees, Attorney General Lynn Fitch said to lawmakers Wednesday. This recommendation is part of her office's Empowerment Project, which was launched in 2023 after abortion in Mississippi became illegal -- a "game changer," Fitch told members of the Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann tasked the Senate group with reviewing the needs of Mississippi families and children from birth to age 3, following the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that allowed the state's near-total abortion ban to take effect. Mississippi has no paid family leave on the books. Currently state employees may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. There are around 85,000 state employees -- including public school teachers and staff and faculty from public universities and colleges -- and tens of thousands of Mississippi women could benefit from legislation offering paid maternity leave. It's a critical workforce issue, Fitch said in response to a question from Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, and it could be the deciding factor for someone choosing between a private sector job and a public sector job. "This is a great tool, a great resource, to have these women in public service and to keep them there," she said. |
| Broadband coming to last ten percent of state | |
| Mississippi is getting billions from the federal government to provide broadband Internet speeds to the last ten percent of the state which doesn't have high-speed Internet, according to former Brookhaven state senator Sally Burchfield Doty. Doty was speaking to the Stennis Capitol Press Forum at Hal & Mal's in downtown Jackson. She heads BEAM, a 2022 creation of the legislature, the Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi. BEAM is charged with managing 1.2 billion dollars that the federal government is providing Mississippi to bring broadband to last ten percent of the state that is lacking this. Doty demonstrated the new BEAM website map at https://broadbandms.com/ where you can zoom in on your town or county and check whether your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is served, underserved or unserved. Doty said one of the challenges was tracking down all the potential locations for the BEAM map. She said BEAM is also working to include satellite provider subsidies for extremely remote areas for which fiber would be impractical. The fiber is run both overground and underground. |
| Pentagon voices 'significant concern' with many NDAA provisions | |
 | Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has sent to leaders of the Armed Services panels a 15-page letter detailing his serious worries about several dozen pending provisions in the House or Senate NDAAs. Some of these are "topics of significant concern," Austin wrote in the Sept. 26 letter, obtained by CQ Roll Call. "lf left unaddressed, certain provisions in the House-passed or Senate-proposed bills will substantially impact the Department's ability to accomplish our strategic goals." House and Senate negotiators have begun reconciling the House-passed fiscal 2025 NDAA with the Senate Armed Services Committee's version and hope to clear a bicameral measure later this year. Austin's new missive is this year's version of an annual Pentagon communication, known as the "heartburn letter." In it, the department tells the authorization committees of provisions in the House or Senate NDAA that are causing the department worry as lawmakers meet to write a final version of the measure. The new letter reiterates some Pentagon concerns that were previously known -- for example, about provisions in the House GOP-authored bill to limit what the U.S. military can do on "culture war" matters such as transgender health care and diversity promotion. But the document also reveals Defense Department concerns about numerous other provisions that are less well-known. These include a number of NDAA proposals to prescribe or proscribe weapons or military organizations, as well as disclosure of several cost estimates and projections of budgetary implications. |
| Melania Trump says she supports abortion rights, putting her at odds with the GOP | |
| Melania Trump revealed her support for abortion rights Thursday ahead of the release of her upcoming memoir, exposing a stark contrast with her husband, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, on the crucial election issue. In a video posted to her X account Thursday morning, the former first lady defended women's "individual freedoms" to do what they want with their bodies -- a position at odds with much of the Republican Party and her own husband, who has struggled to find a consistent message on abortion while wedged between anti-abortion supporters within his base and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights. "Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard," Melania Trump said in the video. "Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth: individual freedom. What does 'my body, my choice' really mean?" Melania Trump has rarely publicly expressed her personal political views and has been largely absent from the campaign trail. But in her memoir, set to be released publicly next Tuesday, she argues that the decision to end a pregnancy should be left to a woman and her doctor, "free from any intervention of pressure from the government," according to the published excerpts. |
| Kamala Harris deploys Liz Cheney to woo anti-Trump Republicans | |
 | The pairing once would have been unthinkable. In Ripon, Wisconsin, the sentimental birthplace of the GOP, Kamala Harris hit the campaign trail with Liz Cheney on Thursday in what marked the vice president's highest-profile attempt yet to woo non-MAGA Republicans. The California liberal and Wyoming conservative agree on little besides their view that former President Donald Trump is a threat to democracy who shouldn't return to the White House after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. At Ripon College, in a small city where a group of Whigs, Free Soilers and Democrats met in 1854 to form a new party, calling themselves Republicans, Cheney said she would vote for a Democrat for the first time in her life to stop Trump. "Our republic faces a threat unlike any we have faced before," said Cheney. "A former president who attempted to stay in power by unraveling the foundations of our republic, by refusing to accept the lawful results confirmed by dozens of courts of the 2020 election." At the small-scale event, Harris framed the presidential race as an existential event and sought to draw voters' attention back to the riot at the Capitol nearly four years ago. Harris has made a sustained effort to attract disenchanted Republicans. Her team is airing ads featuring endorsements from former Trump supporters, one of whom said in a spot that "Jan. 6 was a wake-up call for me." Conservative surrogates are also fanning out across the country this week at campaign events for Harris. |
| After VP debate, JD Vance cements status as MAGA heir apparent in 2028 | |
 | When JD Vance took the debate stage on Tuesday night in New York, he didn't waste a beat before introducing himself to the American people. A working family raised him. His mother and grandmother, who he calls Mamaw, required food assistance and Social Security to make ends meet. The G.I. Bill funded his college education after he served in the Marines, which included a tour in Iraq. "I stand here asking to be your vice president with extraordinary gratitude for this country, for the American dream that made it possible for me to live my dreams," Vance said, before answering the moderator's original question about turmoil in the Middle East. Over the next 90 primetime minutes, Vance, 40, showed a genial side of himself as he sparred in Midwestern fashion with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz during the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate. It was an opportunity for the Ohio senator to share his story and boost his brand with voters, many of whom knew little beyond his viral comments about "childless cat ladies." His favorability rating among voters improved by 9 points after the debate, according to a CBS News poll. Then "Vance 2028" started trending. "He has definitely put himself, in my opinion, not only as the frontrunner for 2028 but the face of the new generation for the Republican Party," said Mike Hartley, an Ohio-based GOP consultant who's not affiliated with the Trump-Vance campaign. |
| Filing in Trump case details remarkable schism with Pence over rejecting 2020 election loss | |
| Days before rioters roamed the halls of the U.S. Capitol threatening to "hang Mike Pence," Donald Trump told his vice president that people are going to "hate your guts" and "think you're stupid" if he failed to stop the 2020 election certification. The New Year's Day warning wasn't the first time Trump pressured Pence to overturn the election results. Nor was it the last. In what came to be known as "Operation Pence Card," Trump spent weeks publicly and privately pushing his vice president to help him stay in power after losing. "You're too honest," Trump berated his vice president in that Jan. 1 morning call. After they hung up, the president tweeted a reminder for his followers to come to Washington for the "BIG Protest Rally" just days away -- what would become the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. The exchanges between the president and his vice president, detailed in special counsel Jack Smith's court filing this week, show the extraordinary lengths Trump went to overturn the 2020 election, even as he lays the groundwork to challenge this year's contest, if he loses. Pence is no longer standing beside Trump, and has refused to endorse the Republican nominee's bid to return to the White House. Trump and his new vice presidential running mate, JD Vance, still refuse to accept the 2020 election results that delivered the presidency to Joe Biden. |
| Jackson State eying downtown Marriott as solution to student housing shortage | |
| Jackson State University has been eying an empty hotel in downtown Jackson as a potential solution to its shortage of student housing. President Marcus Thompson pitched the project -- a $5 million purchase of the Jackson Marriott at 200 E. Amite St. -- to the university's governing board last month, calling it a forward-thinking win-win for the historically Black university and the capital city. "As Jackson grows, Jackson State grows, and vice versa, similar to what I believe and I've seen over the years at an Oxford or a Starkville," Thompson told the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees at its retreat at Mississippi State University's Riley Center in Meridian. The effort comes as the state's largest HBCU recently received roughly 800 more housing applications than it had room to accommodate, Thompson told trustees. The campus has about 2,000 available beds. In fall 2022, Jackson State had about 4,900 undergraduate students, according to federal data. Enter the Marriott, a 15-story, 303-bed hotel that has been unused since the pandemic. "Housing has been a topic and an issue for our university for a number of years," Thompson said. "We're really excited about the possibility to bring forward a solution to the issue of housing through this Marriott project." |
| Why many college students are forced to spend more on housing than tuition | |
| The cost of housing has risen sharply in recent years, including for college students. Living in a dorm or renting an off-campus apartment can be the single largest expense a student faces, even more than tuition. Laura Barron-Lopez reports on how students are coping with the high cost of living and how some universities are responding. Senior Adrian Aguilar is studying civil engineering. But one of the biggest stressors during his time at the University of Texas at Austin has not been academics. It's how much he has to pay in rent. Aguilar was raised in a rural city south of Houston by parents who immigrated from Guatemala. He has scholarships and financial aid to cover tuition, and gets some help from his parents. But it's never been enough to cover his rent. Last year, Aguilar paid about $1,000 a month for a room in an off-campus apartment that had no natural light in the common areas, but it was walking distance to campus. This year, he's on the southeast side of Austin, paying about $200 less each month. He says it's far less depressing, but now getting to class is a 20-minute drive, followed by a more than 30-minute walk. For more than a decade, Austin has been one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. Though down from pandemic-level highs, average rents are still 20 percent higher than they were five years ago. |
| LSU, public universities bracing for $250 million budget deficit due to a sales tax sunset | |
| Louisiana's public university systems and officials have been told to brace for a possible $250 million budget deficit ahead of next year's fiscal forecast, largely because of the expiration of a state sales tax. The news came last week in the annual Board of Regents budget hearing where board members and higher education officials stressed that such a budgetary shortfall could lead to layoffs, a decline in enrollment, the shuttering of some campuses and a significant loss of funds toward student financial aid. "It's not just an exercise, this could be a reality. We asked every system to be in store for $250 million cuts," said Regent and Finance Committee Chair Blake David at the hearing on Sept. 24. The projected quarter-billion deficit in higher education would only be one slice to a larger $700 million statewide deficit which Gov. Jeff Landry said at a Tuesday news conference could balloon up to $1.5 billion. The sales tax, which was passed as a temporary solution to a budget crisis years ago, is set to expire in July 2025. It ticks up the state sales tax by an across-the-board 0.45% and brings in hundreds of millions annually. Louisiana has the highest sales tax in the country. |
| So, who wants to be a college president? Anyone? | |
 | From the outside, the job as president of an Ivy League university might not seem so desirable right now. Prestigious? Sure. Lucrative? Certainly. But during the past year, some leaders have had tenures that lasted less time than it takes to make the dean's list. Claudine Gay, the first Black woman president at Harvard University, lasted just six months. Minouche Shafik at Columbia University and Liz Magill at the University of Pennsylvania fared slightly better at 13 and 17 months, respectively. But in the end, they all left unceremoniously -- along with presidents from other prominent schools -- in the wake of mass campus protests against the war in Gaza. So far, none of the universities have named permanent replacements. That raises the question: Who would want to be a college president right now? "It's making the job of a president a really shaky job to take on," says former college administrator Joe Sallustio, who hosts the "EdUp Experience" podcast. Dr. Sallustio says that he has spoken to administrators who acknowledge they are wary. "The pipeline of people that are willing to do that job -- I see from those that I talk to -- is not drying up, but it is not as juicy of a job as it used to be, because [presidents] are going to have all eyes on [them]," Dr. Sallustio says. |
| Censorship and Consternation Mar Oct. 7 Campus Remembrances | |
 | With Monday marking the first anniversary of Hamas's deadly attack on Israeli civilians and the beginning of the war in Gaza, numerous colleges are aiming to commemorate and honor the lives lost in the Middle East over the past year while also preparing for a new wave of protests. But after a year in which many colleges were roiled by demonstrations and received backlash from all sides of the issue, commemorating the tragedy of Oct. 7 has proven fraught for some, rekindled conflicts for others -- and, in at least one case, prompted legal action. At the University of Maryland, administrators attempted to cancel an interfaith prayer vigil being planned by the campus's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, saying they felt it would only be appropriate for "university-sponsored events that promote reflection" to be held on that date. But the student organizers were eventually granted an injunction to stop UMD from blocking their event, with a federal judge ruling Tuesday that the college's actions violated the First Amendment and were "clearly neither viewpoint- nor content-neutral." University-sponsored speakers and vigils have also sparked opposition. Here's a sampling of other colleges' plans -- and other campuses' controversies -- heading toward Oct. 7. |
| Universities embrace 'neutrality' ahead of Oct. 7 | |
| American universities are drawing a hard line when it comes to engaging around geopolitics ahead of Oct. 7. The campus-wide activities and protests planned for next week will put this policy of neutrality to the test. More universities -- from Ivys like Harvard, Cornell and UPenn to big state schools like the University of Virginia, Washington State, University of Texas and University of Michigan -- have committed to remaining neutral on current events. This means they will not comment on social or political issues with the hope it "frees students and faculty to develop and articulate their own individual ideas and opinions," according to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. "Neutrality only works until something happens on your campus," says Sandy Lish, principal and co-founder of The Castle Group. "As soon as a protest goes awry or something hurtful or dangerous happens to someone on campus, or a social media post by an employee or a student goes viral, neutrality is out the window. So neutrality is fine, but when it starts to affect your community, you have to comment," she added. |
| 5 Chinese nationals charged with covering up midnight visit to Michigan military site | |
| U.S. authorities charged five Chinese nationals with lying and trying to cover their tracks, more than a year after they were confronted in the dark near a remote Michigan military site where thousands of people had gathered for summer drills. The five, who were University of Michigan students at the time, were not charged for what happened at Camp Grayling in August 2023. Rather they are accused of misleading investigators about the trip and conspiring to clear their phones of photos, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The FBI noted in the Tuesday court filing that there have been instances of college students from China taking photos of vital defense sites in the United States. There was nothing in the file revealing the whereabouts of the five men. "The defendants are not in custody. Should they come into contact with U.S. authorities, they will be arrested and face these charges," Gina Balaya, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, said Wednesday. The FBI said all five men graduated last spring from the University of Michigan. They were part of a joint program between the university and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. In 2020, two Chinese nationals who were pursuing master's degrees at the University of Michigan were sentenced to prison for illegally photographing sites at a naval air station in Key West, Florida. |
| Why Are Politicians Talking About Apprenticeships? | |
| During a presidential election cycle that's involved little talk of higher ed, apprenticeships have claimed an unusual share of the spotlight. Vice President Kamala Harris recently posted on X that she plans to double the number of registered, or federally recognized, apprenticeships, if she is elected president. The Democratic nominee also told a crowd at a September rally in Pennsylvania that "our nation needs to recognize the value of other paths, additional paths, such as apprenticeships and technical programs." The 2024 Democratic Party platform, meanwhile, boasts "record investments" in registered apprenticeships under the Biden administration, with a million trainees participating in them as a result. "That's a path to the middle class that families can count on," the platform reads. Republicans are also bringing apprenticeships to the fore. These programs make a notable appearance in Project 2025, the controversial blueprint for a second Trump administration from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The plan calls for a return to a prior Trump administration policy to have a system of industry-recognized apprenticeships, separate from registered apprenticeships, to skirt what Republicans view as too much federal regulation. Registered apprenticeships have to meet certain quality standards in order to be eligible for federal money. So, apprenticeships are clearly on the minds of politicians and thought leaders this election season. But what are they, exactly? Why is everybody talking about them? And what does their current place in the national discourse mean for higher ed? |
| Biden student loan forgiveness plan gets win in Georgia court | |
 | President Biden's student debt relief plan was dealt a win by a Georgia judge this week by removing one Republican challenger and letting the program advance for now after a temporarily restraining order expires. U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall said Wednesday that Georgia does not have standing to sue because it could not show it would be adequately harmed by Biden's $73 billion student loan forgiveness plan, despite arguments the plan would hurt its tax revenue. The ruling came one day before the temporary restraining order would expire, allowing the administration to continue the program while the case is moved to Missouri. Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota and Ohio originally sued the Biden administration after new regulations were proposed this year to help more than 27 million borrowers receive full or partial loan forgiveness. "Without standing, Georgia cannot provide the proper venue for suit because a plaintiff that lacks standing cannot create venue where it would not otherwise exist," Hall wrote. The judge has transferred the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, with the states already asking the new judge to make a ruling by Friday on whether to block the program or not, Reuters reported. |
| A Young Doctor's Dilemma: Stay Home or Move Where Abortion Is Protected? | |
| Dr. Kyle Baugh has a choice to make. In the penultimate year of her residency program in obstetrics and gynecology at Indiana University School of Medicine, the lifelong Hoosier is weighing where to build a career: East Coast or West Coast? Chicago, New York or San Diego? Indiana, where Baugh seldom misses an Indy 500 and completed her undergraduate and medical-school degrees, is off her list. The Supreme Court's removal of constitutional protections for abortion in 2022 and Indiana's ban on abortion in 2023 recast her life plans. Indiana is among more than a dozen states to outlaw or restrict the procedure. "To me, this is basic healthcare," said Baugh, 33 years old. Applications to OB-GYN residency programs in states with abortion bans have fallen. Having fewer doctors in these states could exacerbate shortages of caretakers in poorer, rural swathes of the country that overlap considerably with new abortion restrictions, doctors said. OB-GYN residency programs in states that restricted abortion have established partnerships for their young doctors to learn the procedure in states where it remains legal. The residents spend weeks at a time on the rotations. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires OB-GYN programs to provide abortion training or help residents get it elsewhere. Politics will shape whether those arrangements last as state abortion laws shift. |
SPORTS
| No. 7 Mississippi State Soccer To Host No. 1 Arkansas In Historic Top 10 Showdown | |
| Friday marks a historic night in the history of State soccer as the seventh-ranked Bulldogs welcome No. 1 Arkansas to Starkville for what promises to be a historic top-10 clash. With both teams currently undefeated in SEC play, the matchup will not only feature two of the best teams in the nation but also mark the highest-ranked contest ever held at the MSU Soccer Field. This is the first time Mississippi State will host the nation's top team and the first time the Bulldogs have been part of a top-10 matchup on their home turf. The battle between Mississippi State and Arkansas will bring together two of the most balanced teams in the country. Mississippi State's defense, led by Anderson, has allowed just two goals all season, and the team's depth on offense ensures that any player can step up when needed. Arkansas, however, boasts a high-powered attack, averaging 4.80 goals per game, with forwards Ava Tankersley and Kate Doyle leading the charge. Tankersley has eight goals and seven assists this season with Doyle netting eight goals of her own as well. The Bulldogs enter Friday in top form, coming off a decisive 2-0 win over LSU, improving to 9-1-0 on the season and 3-0-0 in SEC play. Ally Perry, State's leading scorer, shined once again, netting both goals in the victory. The Bulldogs dominated every aspect of the game, outshooting LSU 22-1 and earning 12 corners while preventing LSU from gaining a single corner kick. Friday's match between No. 7 Mississippi State and No. 1 Arkansas will be broadcast live nationally on the SEC Network at 6:00 p.m. CT. |
| Bulldogs face biggest test yet in No. 1 Arkansas | |
| The No. 7 Bulldogs soccer team takes on the No. 1 team in the nation on Friday when undefeated Arkansas arrives in Starkville. The Razorbacks, one of the most prolific teams in Division I soccer, present a case of opposing styles in this top-10 matchup. Arkansas is fourth in shot attempts and leads the nation in goals with 48 scored through 10 games, leading the next closest team by 15 goals. Razorback forwards Kate Doyle and Ava Tankersley each have eight goals this season, spearheading an attack that averages nearly five goals per game. "We'll be ready for Arkansas," Armstrong said. "They'll come in here all guns blazing and we have to match that intensity." Armstrong's side is built on defense. Mississippi State leads the nation in goals-against average, and is level with Duke with just two goals conceded all season while having played two more games than Duke. The team's high-intensity defensive approach has allowed them to attack opponents from the front. The forwards and wingers all play an important role through counter-pressing to win the ball back quickly, but another aspect of the tactic is the time it buys the defense to get into shape and prepare for an attack. Arkansas will attack unlike any team the Bulldogs have played so far this season. They pounce high up the field as well, getting numbers forward and putting players in position to fight for second and third chances in case the first doesn't go in. |
| Zac Selmon Joins Charlie Winfield And Bart Gregory On Out Of Left Field | |
| Podcast: Mississippi State Director of Athletics Zac Selmon sits down with Charlie Winfield and Bart Gregory to talk State Excellence Fund, Bulldog Football, Jeff Lebby's leadership, the Starkville community and more. |
| Party Animals Coming To Dudy Noble Field | |
| The 2025 Banana Ball World Tour is making its way to Dudy Noble Field. "The Greatest Show in Sports", according to ESPN, will be making its way to Starkville in 2025, with Dudy Noble Field being a stop along the Banana World Tour. The announcement was made during the two hour-long Banana Ball World Tour Draft, which was featured on the Savannah Bananas YouTube Channel. The Party Animals will headline the two-day event at Dudy Noble Field on Friday, Aug. 22 and Saturday, Aug. 23. The games will start at 7 p.m. each night. "We are excited to partner with the Greater Starkville Development Partnership to bring the Party Animals to the Best Small Town in the South," MSU Director of Athletics Zac Selmon said. "This is a fantastic opportunity for fans to enjoy a unique game at the Carnegie Hall of College Baseball and visit our incredible community and campus." "The partnership is excited to welcome the Party Animals to Starkville," Director of Tourism for the Greater Starkville Development Partnership Paige Hunt said. "It's a wonderful opportunity for visitors to experience Mississippi's college town and a brand of baseball they've never experienced before." Tickets for the games at Dudy Noble Field will be made available in 2025, but fans must join the Ticket Lottery List -- by visiting www.ThePartyAnimals.com/Tickets -- to get the opportunity to be drawn in the lottery for a chance to purchase tickets. The lottery will close on Nov. 1, 2024, and the random drawings will occur about two months before the event. |
| Savannah Bananas to visit 3 football, 18 MLB stadiums in '25 | |
| The Savannah Bananas, the unconventional independent baseball team that has become a nationwide phenomenon, will take its unique brand of "Banana Ball" to 18 Major League Baseball stadiums and three football stadiums in 2025, it was announced Thursday. Owner Jesse Cole said sellouts are expected at each of those venues. "We played in front of 1 million fans this past year," Cole told ESPN. "We're playing in front of 2 million fans next year. Maybe that sounds boastful, but our waitlist is at 3 million right now." The Bananas will be joined by the Party Animals, the Firefighters and a new team, the Texas Tailgaters, during a 39-game tour that runs from March to September. The football stadiums that will host tour stops are Memorial Stadium (Clemson), Nissan Stadium (Tennessee Titans) and Bank of America Stadium (Carolina Panthers). The visits were announced Thursday night during the organization's annual "world tour city draft" on YouTube, after which fans were able to enter a ticket lottery through the team's website. The experimental phase of Banana Ball, born out of a desire to quicken the pace of baseball games and keep fans engaged throughout them, began a little more than five years ago. It is now played year-round by the Savannah Bananas and their affiliated teams. |
| What Mississippi State legend Victoria Vivians brings to Sam Purcell's coaching staff | |
| The process of bringing Victoria Vivians back to Mississippi State women's basketball actually began a decade ago. Sam Purcell, now MSU's coach, was an assistant at Louisville at the time. He recalled Thursday when he tried to recruit Vivians to play at Louisville but failed. What resulted was one of the most decorated careers in MSU program history. She was a four-time All-American from 2014-18, led the team to four NCAA tournaments and two national championship game appearances. Vivians, 29, is still playing in the WNBA for the Seattle Storm but just began a new offseason position as an MSU assistant coach and director of scouting. The hiring was announced in June and her first day was Tuesday. "I told her I see a rising star," Purcell said. "And that's what I want for her, is when I hired her, is, one, get back to my young women, but just like people did for me and my mentors, let me get back to you. Because at one time, I'm going to eventually -- and I got a lot of years ahead of me -- stop coaching, and she'll be that next generation. She's going to be that next star, and I'm glad that she's able to come back to her alma mater and give back to these young women." |
| Softball: Zac Selmon Announces Contract Extension For Samantha Ricketts | |
| Mississippi State head softball coach Samantha Ricketts has signed a four-year contract extension through the 2028 season, the maximum allowable under state law, Director of Athletics Zac Selmon announced on Thursday. Ricketts will enter her sixth season as the head coach and 11th overall in Starkville in 2025. She is the second-longest-tenured head coach currently employed by the Bulldogs and will move into a tie for the third-longest-tenured head coach in MSU softball history. Under her leadership, Mississippi State softball has witnessed historic improvements on the diamond. In her first five years, she has guided the Bulldogs to their first NCAA Super Regional and highest ranking in program history. Her career winning percentage is the highest of any head coach in program history. "I am grateful to Zac Selmon for the opportunity to continue leading the Mississippi State softball program," Ricketts said. "I have been blessed to work with some incredible young women and work with a great support staff that have helped this program grow over the last few years. I'm excited to keep building on that progress and see what the future holds for this program." |
| David Skinns' record-setting round at Sanderson Farms Championship misses 59 by just inches | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: The PGA Tour years ago produced a memorable TV commercial with golf pros hitting booming drives, precise iron shots, and perfect chips and putts that went in from every angle. There was lots of fist-pumping, lots of back-slapping and wild celebrating. At the end, you heard these words: "These guys are good!" On a warm, sunny Thursday at Country Club of Jackson, they could have shot 50 commercials like that during the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship. Heck, they could have shot seven or eight commercials just from David Skinns' round. "David Skinns?" you ask. Yes, David Skinns, a gray-bearded, 42-year-old journeyman pro from the United Kingdom who played his college golf two decades ago for Tennessee. All Skinns did was make 12 birdies en route to a career-best round of 60, which broke the course record at CCJ by a single shot. This is the 57th edition of Mississippi's only PGA Tour Tournament. This was the lowest round in history of the event. |
| Suspect pleads guilty to murder of Southern Miss football player MJ Daniels | |
 | Nytavion Shaw, one of four suspects charged in the June shooting death of Southern Miss football player MJ Daniels, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Tuesday, according to Forrest County court documents. Shaw, 16, of Laurel was charged as an adult and could face 20-40 years in prison. His sentencing will be at a later date. Daniels, a senior defensive back for the Golden Eagles, was shot and killed while sitting in his car outside his apartment in Hattiesburg on June 11. Shaw was arrested nine days later and three other teenagers -- Samir Green, Orlando May and Allen Marcus Gardner -- were arrested on June 13 on capital murder and attempted armed carjacking charges. All four of the charged suspects were denied bond during preliminary hearings. Green, May and Gardner have not yet stood trial. Daniels was a three-sport athlete at George County High School and a 2020 Clarion Ledger Dandy Dozen selection. He played his first two seasons of college football at Ole Miss before transferring to Southern Miss before the 2023 season. |
| Greg Sankey says he doesn't support college football super league | |
 | The college football landscape is in unprecedented territory, as the transfer portal, NIL, conference realignment and TV media rights deals continue to make their way in the sport. Fans, pundits and coaches alike have mentioned a potential college football commissioner giving the sport a more unified order with all the recent changes. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said that, after some thought, he couldn't disagree more. "I've studied it a little bit and I come back to, I don't want to dumb down the Southeastern Conference to be a part of some super league notion with 70 teams that some people speculate would happen," Sankey said on the "Triple Option podcast," hosted by Urban Meyer and Mark Ingram. "They want to be us and that's on them to figure it out, not on me to bring myself back to earth." The comments come on the heels of a group of administrators and backers pitching the idea of a college football super league -- or "College Student Football League," in this instance. The SEC, which currently has a clear advantage as the top football conference in college football -- with four of the top five ranked teams nationally in the US LBM Coaches Poll -- of course backs the current setup with its new ESPN media rights deal and strong conglomeration of college sports brands. |
| Big Ten commish Tony Petitti outlines the importance of partnership with the SEC | |
 | One week before college athletics' superpower conferences meet in Nashville, Tenn., Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti identified the mission for working with the Southeastern Conference and why it's important at this moment in time. The NCAA, Big Ten, SEC and other conferences are waiting for U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken to rule on a proposed settlement of the $2.7 billion House case. Whether Wilken accepts or rejects the proposal, the entire college athletics structure will change. For the 18 Big Ten schools and the 16 in the SEC, there are enough similarities that make cooperation essential. "We still need to be doing the work about what that next set of rules looks like and how we all come together to do all those things," Petitti told The Athletic in an interview at Big Ten men's basketball media day Thursday. "So the timing on that is really important. "I look at it as, like, a holistic approach. It's everything we should be talking about -- scheduling, regular season, postseason, all of it." Petitti, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, every athletic director in both leagues plus other league officials will gather in Nashville, Tenn., next Thursday to discuss issues ranging from governance to on-field competition. There's a desire to expand postseason partnerships in bowl games and compete more often in regular-season football games. Petitti described the relationship as in the "planning stages" and hopes the groups can have an open discussion in areas of shared interest. He and Sankey were in constant communication during the House settlement talks, which their leagues voted to accept in May. And, of course, all conversations will involve football. |
| Les Miles moves LSU lawsuit from federal to state court | |
| Former football coach Les Miles' lawsuit against LSU and the NCAA over a decision to vacate 37 of his teams' victories from 2012 to 2015 has been moved from federal court to state court. Miles initially sued in June in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge. He alleged that LSU never gave him a chance to be heard before altering his career record significantly enough to disqualify him from consideration for the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. The foundation is also a defendant in the lawsuit. No reason was given for Miles' decision to dismiss the federal suit and sue in state court, also in Baton Rouge. Miles' lawyer declined to comment. The state lawsuit, filed Sept. 9, largely tracks allegations made in the federal complaint, which was dismissed Sept. 30 at Miles' request. But the state lawsuit does add a claim that the defendants violated the state constitution. In documents in the federal case, the defendant organizations say Miles cannot sue because he did not have a "property right" to the LSU victories or in Hall of Fame eligibility. |
| TV ratings and a Big Ten alliance could get SEC to 9-game schedule | |
| Alabama and Georgia played another instant classic Saturday night, and 12 million people watched, making it by far the highest-rated college football game of the 2024 season. That's according to Nielsen, and its list of the dozen most-watched games this season has a theme: The seven most-watched games, and 10 of the top 12, have involved at least one SEC team. And conference play is just starting: There are still marquee games to come, such as Georgia–Texas, Alabama-Tennessee, Oklahoma-Texas, Texas-Texas A&M ... The SEC ... it just means more ratings. And this reminder comes at an opportune time for the SEC office and, hopefully, the fans. SEC and Big Ten athletic directors are set to meet next week in Nashville to discuss several issues. Some things on the agenda might not be too popular, such as trying to seize more automatic spots in an expanded College Football Playoff. But a scheduling agreement between the two mega-conferences would be more eagerly received, and that's going to be discussed. It's not clear when it would start or even how likely it is to be agreed upon. One hang-up is the Big Ten, which currently plays a nine-game conference schedule and almost certainly won't agree to a deal if the SEC sticks with its eight-game conference schedule. But the fact it's even talking about it shows the SEC might be closer to moving away from that. The SEC largely shelved the argument during the past year, dealing with other issues, but it's still out there, with 2026 and beyond not resolved. The main issue, talking with people around the league not authorized to speak publicly, remains whether Disney will agree to pay more money if the SEC agrees to add a ninth conference game. |
| The 'Prime Effect' is real at Colorado. How long will Deion Sanders stay is a lingering question | |
| Even on a Monday -- two days after a thrilling Colorado win on homecoming -- things were buzzing at The Buff, a breakfast and brunch place where everybody knows your name and the 99-cent mimosas help wash down the bacon-filled pancakes and huevos rancheros. The arrival of Deion Sanders has raised this eatery's profile in much the same way it has amplified everything around CU these days. Before the celebrity coach arrived in Boulder, places like The Buff were well-established institutions. Now, they're destinations. "When we have a home game, well, I run a business, and I have to make sure we double order everything and we staff the floor to capacity," manager Dru Libby said of the noticeable difference between now and a few years ago at an establishment that never wanted for customers. That story plays out up and down Canyon Boulevard, or anywhere in Boulder, where the sandstone and red-roofed buildings on campus are the background for an entire town that is basking in Year 2 of what's known as "The Prime Effect." The numbers the arrival of "Coach Prime" have lavished on Boulder are so powerful -- from enrollment at the school to economic impact in the town to the number of celebrities on the sidelines -- that it can sometimes be tempting to overlook the number that means the most in sports: Wins. How many does CU need to consider this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity a success? What would the timeframe be? There are no clear answers to either question, but a consensus is building that, yes, CU, which went 4-8 in Sanders' first season, does need to start piling up Ws sooner or later. |
| O'Bannon lawyer challenges NCAA antitrust settlement over revenue-sharing system, NIL restrictions | |
| The lead attorney in O'Bannon v. the NCAA, a landmark case that paved the way for athletes to earn money off their name, image and likeness, has filed an opposition to the $2.78 billion settlement of three antitrust cases facing the NCAA and power conferences. Michael Hausfeld and his firm filed documents late Wednesday night to the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, arguing the damages portion of the settlement is too low, the cap on the proposed revenue-sharing system with athletes is unlawful and restrictions placed on booster-funded NIL collectives are unfair. "The settlements involve illusory, contradictory and overreaching terms; approval of them should be denied," the filing said. According to the documents, the filing was made on behalf of seven past, present or future Division I college athletes, most notably former Iowa basketball player Jordan Bohannon, an outspoken NCAA critic who pushed for athletes to be allowed to be paid through NIL during his career. Bohannon played at Iowa from 2016-2022. The NCAA lifted its ban on athletes being compensated for NIL in 2021. Lawyers for the plaintiffs and the NCAA and conferences filed a revised portion of the settlement last week. "We have negotiated an almost $3 billion settlement for college athletes. The Hausfeld firm never obtained anything for damages class in the case the brought against the NCAA," said Jeffrey Kessler, one the lead plaintiffs' attorneys in House v. NCAA, the case at the center of the settlement. "We are confident our settlement is a landmark achievement for athletes that should be approved." Steve Berman, the other lead plaintiffs' attorney who negotiated the settlement, called Hausfeld's filing "sour grapes." |
| The Demise of College Sports as We Know Them | |
 | West Virginia University President Gordon Gee and Syracuse University President Kent Syverud write in The Chronicle of Higher Education: Two years ago, a Southeastern Conference NIL collective paid $150,000 to keep a defensive end from transferring. To retain him this season, it had to pay $1.5 million -- and that's just for one player. There isn't a day that goes by when university presidents aren't forced to make difficult choices about the allocation of finite resources. Until recently, these decisions were hard, but navigable. Now, if you are a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) university president, you are going to be held responsible for what happens next, not only to college football but to women's collegiate sports and Olympic sports, which are fueled by football revenues. Our balkanized system of college football -- the conference structure itself -- is at the heart of the problem. Recent conference realignments have made the issue even worse, disrupting traditional rivalries --- the heart and soul of college football -- as well as diluting regional matchups and increasing cost and travel burdens for schools and student-athletes. Competitive balance has eroded, with the same few teams dominating every year. The introduction of name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights, increased use of the transfer portal, and lack of salary caps are exacerbating the divide and have the potential to bankrupt the entire system. |
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