| Wednesday, October 16, 2024 |
| MSU hosts AI Discovery Day on campus in Starkville | |
 | The future is here and artificial intelligence is leading the way. That's why Mississippi State University is making sure students, staff and researchers understand the power of AI and how they can use it in various fields. During "AI Discovery Day" on campus October 15, participants attended sessions and participated in range of activates to gain insight into the varied uses of AI. Some of the topics included using AI ethically and learning how it can streamline routine tasks and enhance productivity. "So understanding how it works, the limitations that it may have, as well as the possibilities it may have to increase work efficiency and capturing large amounts of data that is hard for a human to manage," said MSU's Cyber Education Director Shelly Hollis. Dozens of MSU students, instructors and staff attended the event. One session tailored for students focused on the role artificial intelligence can play in communication and time management. |
| Presidential elections provide opportunities to teach about power, proportions and percentages | |
 | Mississippi State University's Liza Bondurant writes for The Conversation: To American voters, the process of electing a president and other officials may be difficult to explain and understand. For America's math teachers, the system represents a gold mine for real-life lessons on ratios, statistics and data. And by basing the lessons on elections, teachers can help put students on the path to becoming informed and engaged voters later in life, according to a 2020 survey of 2,232 young adults ages 18-21. Americans don't vote directly for the president. Instead, a group of electors vote for the candidate who wins the popular vote in that state. In most states, whoever wins the most votes wins all the state's electors, or "electoral votes." Not all states have the same number of electors. Each state starts with two electoral votes, based on the two U.S. senators in each state. States receive additional electors based on the number of representatives they have in the House of Representatives, which depends on a state's population. The number of representatives in the House, however, has been set at 435 since 1929, despite a huge and varied increase in the population. This means the number of people represented by each member of the U.S. House -- the ratio of people to representative -- varies considerably, as shown in a table from the U.S. Census Bureau. |
| Attendance down at State Fair compared to 2023 | |
 | Mississippi's 165th State Fair ended Sunday with an overall estimated attendance of nearly 507,000, according to Mississippi's Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson at a press conference Tuesday at the Trade Mart at the state fairgrounds. The 12-day event saw attendance numbers down nearly 20,000 or 3% compared to 2023, which brought 525,576 guests to the fairgrounds in Downtown Jackson. But both this year and last year had far less attendance compared to 2021, which saw a total of 562,521. Gibson said he thought the weather had something to do with the numbers being down. "We had good weather, but that first weekend, it was downright hot around here," Gibson said. "I think that was part of it. Weather is 90% of the state fair. If we had weather on the first weekend like we have had the last couple days, I expect attendance would have been up." He also said he believes having a curfew and closing earlier than usual probably led to some people not attending as well. There were no major incidents reported at this year's fair. "However, safety and security is the No. 1 priority, and we had a safe event," Gibson said. "In my eyes, the curfew was a positive effect." Gibson took advantage of the opportunity to talk about the upcoming Dixie National Rodeo and Livestock Show. The event, which will take place Feb. 7-15, 2025, will be the 60th anniversary of the event. |
| Billionaires like Elon Musk are changing Stennis Space Center's historic role | |
 | Five decades after it began testing rockets deep in South Mississippi's woods, the Stennis Space Center and sites like it around the country are trying hard to adapt to a world that includes billionaire rocket moguls like Elon Musk. A recent report by NASA's Office of Inspector General warns that new private rocket companies such as Musk's SpaceX sometimes use their own test sites, and do not always need Stennis. Stennis and other rocket test sites are also aging, the report says. They are costly. NASA's budget cannot afford major repairs. Those warnings and the prospering commercial space industry are forcing Stennis to study its future. It is also raising new questions in South Mississippi, where Stennis helps drive the economy and creates jobs for around 5,000 people. NASA agreed with the report's warnings that its systems are aging and its budget is flat. But the agency rejected the idea that private space companies are outpacing it. "We're not being taken over," said Michele Beisler, the acting program manager of NASA's Rocket Propulsion Test Program. "Stennis is not going out of business." The report describes challenges at Stennis and seven test sites around the nation. It says testing stopped at two of Stennis' stands for almost a decade until NASA leased them out in recent years. It also says NASA and its customers used 18 of the country's 38 test stands in 2022. In two years, the report predicts, NASA and its customers will use only 10. |
| Capitol Police cut ribbon on new headquarters in Jackson | |
| The Capitol Police officially opened their new headquarters in downtown Jackson on Tuesday. State and local leaders attended the ribbon cutting for the facility that has been in the works for nearly 2 years at the former Wright and Ferguson funeral home. The Capitol Police's new headquarters will house administrative offices as well as dispatch. In recent years, lawmakers have invested millions into growing the Capitol Police force in an effort to assist the City of Jackson in curbing crime in the capital city. The Capitol Police's jurisdiction has also grown with the expansion of the Capitol Complex Improvement District, giving Capitol Police nearly triple the amount of territory to patrol. "As you may know, we went from 8 square miles to approximately 24 square miles," Capitol Police Chief Luckey told Magnolia Tribune earlier this year. As previously reported, expansion of the CCID included funding for 37 more officers to be added to the already 150 sworn personnel on the Capitol Police roster. That extra funding also accounted for additional patrol vehicles and equipment needed to outfit those officers, Luckey said. In a social media post Tuesday, Governor Tate Reeves called the new Capitol Police headquarters "another valuable tool that will help keep Mississippians safe in our capital city." Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell, whose office oversees the Capitol Police, thanked Governor Reeves and lawmakers for their support of the project. Tindell also noted the assistance of Department of Finance and Administration Director Liz Welch and her team. |
| Lt. Gov. Hosemann talks Warren County projects, problems, future plans | |
| Mississippi Lt. Gov. and Vicksburg native Delbert Hosemann recently sat down with The Post and spoke about the slate of ongoing projects in Warren County – including those currently underway and those he says are sorely needed – as well as what he sees in the immediate future for his hometown and the state as a whole. Hosemann said the state project that will have the most immediate impact on Warren County is work to expand the overpass at exit 15 in Flowers, which is scheduled to see work begin in early 2025. But Hosemann said Vicksburg is in need of improvements in other areas as well. "It's sorely needed," Hosemann said of the work in Flowers. "It's got the Love's truck stop there and all of those trucks are getting on. It's quite busy for Warren County in sales, but it's very dangerous there. The only place that I think is more dangerous is the Clay Street exit." While the ramp to exit Clay Street needs expanding, Hosemann said he is also actively involved in plans to bring traffic onto Clay Street from I-20. "We have been meeting with Katie Blount, who runs Archives and History, and we have also met with the architects that are designing the new interpretive center, or conference center, that is going out there for the (Vicksburg National Military Park)." Hosemann also touched on the recent meetings in Vicksburg and Yazoo City aimed at finding a solution to the decades-old flooding problems in the South Delta. |
| Attorney General Fitch sides with Idaho in abortion lawsuit | |
| Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch filed another brief in support of the argument that states with strict abortion bans should be able to deny emergency medical care to pregnant women if that care involves an abortion. The filing in the Idaho case is called an amicus curiae brief, which allows interested parties not directly involved in a court case to submit legal documents voicing their opinion. The case began when the Biden administration sued Idaho for barring abortions when a pregnant woman's health is at risk. Fitch added Mississippi to the amicus brief in 2022, immediately after the Dobbs decision overturned the constitutional right to abortion. Nineteen other states now stand with Mississippi, according to the newest court filing. Fitch's office declined to comment for this story. At the heart of the case, explained Mary Ziegler, one of the country's preeminent experts on abortion law and a professor at UC Davis School of Law, is a discussion of health versus life – which she says is less of a philosophical distinction and more of a political strategy. "There are plenty of things that go wrong in pregnancy that can really affect your health that aren't going to necessarily imminently kill you. But if you're coming from a movement perspective, you see all these health justifications basically as loopholes that people are exploiting," she said. |
| Grassley hearing 'rumors' of progress on farm bill | |
| U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says there are signs of progress on the farm bill. The Iowa Republican tells Brownfield he's hearing rumors the House and Senate Ag Committees are negotiating sticking points in hopes of getting the bill across the finish line before the end of the year. "That maybe a compromise could be worked out and passed just before we go home at Christmas. And from that standpoint, one of those people working on that would be Senator Boozman." He says the Arkansas Republican, who serves as Ranking Member on the Senate Ag Committee, is working hard to ensure there's more "farm" in the farm bill. "Which means more support for reference prices, which are too low compared to the inflation that we've had in input costs. And that's about the only rumor I hear." Grassley says if a farm bill gets completed by Christmas, he wants it done by regular order so there's opportunity for debate and amendments. |
| Republicans grapple with storm of misinformation from their own party | |
 | Republicans representing states hit by hurricanes Helene and Milton are grappling with the spread of storm misinformation, much of which has stemmed from prominent figures in their own party -- including sitting lawmakers and former President Trump. The false claims have run rampant on social media since the deadly pair of storms made their way through parts of the Southeast -- most notably Florida and North Carolina -- with Republicans floating inaccurate allegations about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), disaster relief and the weather. Some House GOP lawmakers who hail from hard-hit states have publicly pushed back on the misinformation, highlighting divisions in the Republican Party with less than a month to go until Election Day. But the lawmakers -- who are reluctant to take on Trump and other party leaders, and share some of their frustrations with the emergency response -- are walking a careful line. "It's been harmful," Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), who represents Asheville and surrounding regions that were devastated by Hurricane Helene, told The Hill in an interview of the spread of storm misinformation. "Not just unhelpful, it's been harmful." |
| Republican operatives sense opening with key Democratic bloc | |
 | Republicans are hopeful that former President Donald Trump's increasing strength with Hispanic voters could help flip crucial House seats that may determine which party controls the chamber next year. Recent polls show Trump with more support among Latino voters than he has had in past elections. And a New York Times/Siena College poll released this past weekend found Vice President Kamala Harris faring worse with likely Latino voters compared to Democratic candidates in the last three cycles. That could affect the congressional map. A handful of seats the GOP is seeking to flip have a slightly higher share of Hispanic eligible voters than the national average, which the Pew Research Center predicts is 14.7 percent. Those districts include Virginia's 7th, Pennsylvania's 7th, New York's 18th and Connecticut's 5th, according to a National Republican Congressional Committee internal data analysis shared with Roll Call. "Safe neighborhoods, a secure border and an affordable quality of life: voters of all walks of life want the same things for their community, regardless of heritage. It's why Hispanic voters say they're not going to give extreme Democrats another chance after the Harris-Biden administration sank their hopes of achieving the American Dream," Will Reinert, national press secretary for the NRCC, said in a statement. |
| Mississippi absentee voting well below 2020 mark three weeks from Election Day | |
| As of Monday -- three weeks from Election Day on November 5th -- the Mississippi Secretary of State's office reported that 42,102 absentee ballots have been received in the Magnolia State. The Statewide Election Management System also showed that a total of 60,057 absentee ballots had been requested and 57,920 absentee ballots were sent as of October 14. Compared to four years ago just over three weeks out, nearly 59,000 absentee ballots had been cast in Mississippi with over 91,000 absentee ballots requested. Voters in Mississippi willing to vote by absentee ballot increased significantly during the 2020 election cycle, due in large part to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 234,000 Mississippians had their votes accepted in that election by way of an absentee ballot. In 2016's November General Election, just over 103,000 absentee ballots were accepted. Races on the ballot in the 2024 election cycle include President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, state judicial races and other local elections. The in-person absentee voting deadline is November 2nd. |
| Gender Gap Is Defining Feature of Deadlocked Trump-Harris Race | |
 | Vice President Kamala Harris is struggling to win support from men. Former President Donald Trump has the same problem with women. The gender gap has come to define a deadlocked presidential race, with a galvanized group of women voting for Harris because of her support for abortion rights and Trump wooing men with uber-masculine rhetoric. The split has affected the candidates' media strategies and how they frame the issues most important to voters in the final weeks of the campaign. While a divide between the sexes has become a fixture of modern elections, it appears to have broadened since 2020, cutting across many racial, educational and economic groups. Trump's 5-point advantage among men in the 2020 election has widened to 10 points in The Wall Street Journal's most recent national poll, in late August. President Biden's 12-point edge among women in 2020 has become a 13-point lead for Harris. Sarah Longwell, executive director of Republican Voters Against Trump, called 2024 the most gendered election she had seen, particularly among younger voters. "You don't want it to become boys vs girls," she said. "You don't want to be in a political environment where your gender is the number one factor you are voting on." |
| RFK Jr. suggests he'll have a significant role on agriculture and health policy if Trump is elected | |
| Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is suggesting he will have significant influence on American agriculture policy if Donald Trump is elected president, the latest in a series of roles he has envisioned for himself in a second Trump administration. Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist and environmentalist who ran for president as an independent before endorsing Trump, on Monday posted a video on social media that he filmed outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington. "Corporate interests have hijacked the USDA dietary guidelines to make natural unprocessed foods merely an afterthought. That's one reason why 70% of the American diet now consists of ultraprocessed food. We're going to change that," Kennedy said, before listing off a series of policy ideas that would seem to run counter to much of what Trump's Agriculture Department did in his first administration. "When Donald Trump gets me inside the building I'm standing outside of right now, it won't be this way anymore. American agriculture will come roaring back, and so will American health." The Trump campaign has said in a statement that formal discussions of who would serve in a second Trump administration are "premature." But the former president himself has said at recent rallies that RFK Jr. is someone who could help his administration if he wins. The prospect of Kennedy's influencing a wide array of federal policy has raised alarm bells among advocates of sound science. |
| 'Off the charts': How Trump tariffs would shock U.S., world economies | |
 | Former president Donald Trump is campaigning on the most significant increase in tariffs in close to a century, preparing an attack on the international trade order that would likely raise prices, hurt the stock market and spark economic feuds with much of the world. Trump's trade plans, a staple of his stump speeches, have fluctuated, but he consistently calls for steep duties to discourage imports and promote domestic production. The former president has floated "automatic" tariffs of 10 percent to 20 percent on every U.S. trading partner, 60 percent levies on goods from China, and rates as high as 100, 200 or even 1,000 percent in other circumstances. These proposals would go far beyond the disruptive trade wars of his first term even if they are only partially implemented. They would wrench the nation out of the system of global interdependence that arose in recent decades, making the U.S. economy much more isolated and autonomous, like it was in the late 19th century. (Trump last week falsely claimed that the United States was never richer than in the 1890s, when it had high trade barriers.) "To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff. And it's my favorite," Trump said in Chicago on Tuesday. "I'm a believer in tariffs." The consequences would be far-reaching: Americans would be hit by higher prices for grocery staples from abroad, such as fruit, vegetables and coffee. Domestic firms dependent on imports would need to either figure out new supply chains or raise costs for consumers. U.S. manufacturers would almost certainly see sharp declines in orders from abroad as foreign nations impose retaliatory tariffs. |
| Harris says she remains open to reparations in interview with Charlamagne Tha God | |
 | Kamala Harris remained open to reparations for slavery and agreed with an accusation that Donald Trump supports fascism in a wide-ranging interview Tuesday with popular radio host Charlamagne Tha God. "This is a margin-of-error race. It's tight. I'm gonna win. I'm gonna win, but it's tight," Harris told listeners at the top of an hour-long interview, three weeks before Election Day as the Democratic nominee expands her outreach to Black voters, in particular, Black men. Harris, who would be the first Black female president if elected, has sharpened her pitch to African American voters -- a critical Democratic constituency -- while polling suggests Trump has made slight inroads with Black male voters. Harris told Charlamagne that reparations for descendants of enslaved people should be studied, but stopped short of endorsing a reparations plan. "On the point of reparations, it has to be studied. There's no question about that. And I've been very clear about that position," said Harris, who as a U.S. senator from California backed legislation that would have created a federal commission to study slavery reparations. Harris defended her record addressing issues that largely impact Black voters, arguing "mis- and disinformation" has distorted the reality. "That's just not true," Harris said when asked about assertions she would not do anything specifically for Black Americans if elected. "One of the biggest challenges that I face is mis- and disinformation. And it's purposeful, because it is meant to convince people that they somehow should not believe that the work that I have done has occurred and has meaning." |
| Walgreens is closing stores; CVS is announcing layoffs. Here's why | |
 | Not too long after Tim Wentworth became CEO of Walgreens, he revealed a stunning figure: Roughly a quarter of the pharmacy chain's stores do not make money. On Tuesday, he said 1,200 of those stores will close over three years. That's two weeks after rival CVS announced layoffs of 2,900 corporate staff. Both chains are on a multi-billion-dollar cost-saving spree -- closing hundreds of locations, cutting thousands of jobs and, really, reconsidering their role in Americans' lives. The slow simmer of mistakes and misfortunes have come to a boil for the biggest U.S. drugstore chains. They've accumulated too many stores at a time of changing shopper habits. They're saddled with numerous government fines and a particularly ailing relationship with insurers. CVS and Walgreens have some notable differences. Walgreens, which also owns the British drugstore Boots, is more singularly focused on its pharmacy business. CVS has expanded further into health care through mergers with insurer Aetna and Caremark, a pharmacy benefit manager that helps insurers negotiate prescription drug coverage and costs. Yet the two companies have made similar missteps. The simplest part of the problem is scale. CVS and Walgreens grew massive nationwide footprints of more than 9,000 and 8,000 stores, respectively. CVS and Walgreens “probably do have too many stores because they over-expanded, but the bigger problem is that the stores that they have are not very good,” said Neil Saunders, retail analyst at the firm GlobalData. |
| Ole Miss professor named editor of national pharmacy journal | |
 | The Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy has announced University of Mississippi pharmacy professor Stuart Haines as its newest editor-in-chief. Haines is a professor of pharmacy practice and director of the university's Division of Pharmacy Professional Development. "Being appointed editor-in-chief of JACCP is an honor and a privilege," Haines said. "I'm looking forward to another opportunity to serve the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and working with some of the brightest minds in pharmacy practice today to advance the frontiers of practice." Haines has been a contributing author and reviewer for the ACCP journal Pharmacotherapy: The Journal of Human Pharmacology and Drug Therapy for more than 25 years, also serving on the editorial board and as a scientific editor at various points over that time. Haines joined the Ole Miss pharmacy faculty in 2016 and has served at the school's Jackson campus since his hire. Before his arrival, he spent more than 20 years at the University of Maryland. |
| 'In a panic': USM faculty vote no-confidence in program review | |
| Faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi are pushing back on an administrative plan to cut low-enrolled programs. Earlier this month, the faculty senate voted no-confidence in the program review process that President Joe Paul announced earlier this school year as part of his administration's efforts to afford future faculty pay raises. The vote came after the administration shared a list of dozens of programs that could be cut or consolidated, such as bachelor degrees in criminal justice and philosophy, graduate programs in public relations, mathematics and computational science, and multiple music and theater programs. The process for reviewing this list of programs was determined by the provost, Lance Nail, and will be based on a data-based analysis that looks at enrollment and program revenue. Nail's office will meet with the deans and school directors to determine the future of these programs, and will make a recommendation on whether a program should stay with a corrective action plan, be consolidated or be cut. That's a problem for faculty, who say that any matters affecting teaching and learning at the research institution in Hattiesburg should be conducted by the people who know it best -- the faculty, not the administration. |
| Man wrongfully arrested in connection with fatal shooting at JSU files lawsuit against HBCU | |
| A man wrongfully arrested in connection with a deadly shooting that claimed the life of a Jackson State University student has filed a federal lawsuit against Jackson State and several other people and organizations. The lawsuit was filed Sept. 17 by Shirley Brown, the mother of the teen wrongfully arrested, Joshua Brown. According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Brown names the university, the university's campus police department, former interim President Elayne Hayes Anthony, former JSU police Chief Herman Horton, Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. in the lawsuit. Shirley Brown accuses the defendants of conducting a grossly negligent or reckless investigation, which led to her son's arrest. The court filing accuses JSU Campus Police of obtaining a warrant to arrest Joshua Brown for the killing of Jaylen Burns after statements were given to the campus police department by members of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, which Burns was a member of. Burns was shot and killed at University Pointe Apartments in October 2023 during the Jackson State University homecoming weekend while trying to break up a fight. According to JSU police, the fight was between one of his fraternity brothers and their girlfriend. |
| MCC hosts its annual 'My College Cares Day' to give back to the community | |
 | Tuesday was the annual Meridian Community College "My College Cares Day." This one-day volunteer event cancels classes and focuses on giving back to the community. The MCC staff serve as team captains, supervising students who help volunteers. MCC volunteered at sites like Wesley House Community Center, St. Patrick School, Memorial Gardens, Okatibbee Lake, and more. Those who volunteered were happy to be helping and loved giving back to the community. "My college cares is a way for the college to give back to the community and we can come out and do public service and our if we close the college and we get together and do work and we're having a good time, we get to be outside. This is just a lot of fun. I really enjoy it and I like to get work with some people and get to know students and the faculty better and be able to serve the community because I don't get to do that much," said Amy Miller. |
| Career coaches provide access to early career experience, workforce opportunities | |
 | Students in the Golden Triangle are getting far more than advice when it comes to making their plans for after high school. With the help of career coaches, they're building job skills, connecting with industry professionals and landing internships well before they walk at graduation. Dave Kitchens, a career coach manager for Three Rivers Planning and Development District, gave an overview of the nonprofit's career coaching program to Lowndes County supervisors during their Tuesday meeting. "We are an arm of the workforce division, and what we want to do is to expose the students in your schools to the opportunities (and) careers that are in Lowndes County," Kitchens told supervisors. " ... We want them to investigate the possibilities of that career that they're looking for, and then we want to connect those students to the career path that they chose." AccelerateMS coordinates grants to local regional development authorities to manage the coaches. The state allocated $15 million to the program in 2023, $5.6 million of which went to Three Rivers Planning and Development District, which manages districts in the Golden Triangle. With a focus on workforce development, the AccelerateMS career coach program specifically aims to help students discover successful paths into the workforce by connecting them with industry professionals. |
| Nearly half of Texas high school students who earn college credits are Hispanic, study says | |
| Nearly half of all public high school students in Texas who earn college credits before they graduate are Hispanic, a new study found. That makes Texas a national leader in closing the gap between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students who participate in dual credit programs. Hispanic students in dual credit classes, however, graduate from college at a lower rate compared to peers who were also in those programs, underscoring the need to strengthen the transition from high school to college for students of color. "We both have to focus on equalizing access to dual credit and providing dual credit students with the supports they need to go to college and complete college," John Fink, a researcher with the Community College Research Center, said. The Community College Research Center used National Student Clearinghouse data to look at high school juniors and seniors in 2015 who were enrolled in a dual credit course and tracked where they went in their first four years out of high school. Researchers selected that particular group of students to study the long term effects of dual credit on educational attainment. The researchers said it's the first of its kind to break down dual credit outcomes by race, socioeconomic status and age by state. |
| The University of Michigan Doubled Down on D.E.I. What Went Wrong? | |
 | Leaders of the University of Michigan, one of America's most prestigious public universities, like to say that their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is inseparable from the pursuit of academic excellence. Most students must take at least one class addressing "racial and ethnic intolerance and resulting inequality." Doctoral students in educational studies must take an "equity lab" and a racial-justice seminar. Computer-science students are quizzed on microaggressions. Programs across the university are couched in the distinctive jargon that, to D.E.I.'s practitioners, reflects proven practices for making classrooms more inclusive, and to its critics reveals how deeply D.E.I. is encoded with left-wing ideologies. Michigan's largest division trains professors in "antiracist pedagogy" and dispenses handouts on "Identifying and Addressing Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture," like "worship of the written word." The engineering school promises a "pervasive education around issues of race, ethnicity, unconscious bias and inclusion." A decade ago, Michigan's leaders set in motion an ambitious new D.E.I. plan, aiming "to enact far-reaching foundational change at every level, in every unit." Striving to touch "every individual on campus," as the school puts it, Michigan has poured roughly a quarter of a billion dollars into D.E.I. since 2016, according to an internal presentation. When Michigan inaugurated what it now calls D.E.I. 1.0, it intentionally placed itself in the vanguard of a revolution then reshaping American higher education. Today that revolution is under withering attack. |
| The Guru Who Says He Can Get Your 11-Year-Old Into Harvard | |
| Seven children flew into New York in late July to meet with the college counselor they believed would get them into Harvard University or another top-flight U.S. college. Two traveled from Switzerland, two from Australia, one from the United Kingdom. The youngest was 11. They were there to meet Jamie Beaton, a 29-year-old Rhodes scholar from New Zealand with a reputation as the man who has cracked the code on elite college admissions -- and who is Wall Street's favored partner to mine the rich vein of parental anxiety embedded in the college process. Beaton's message to the kids distilled: Optimize childhood by starting to build skills and interests years before high school. Strategically choose areas where you can excel -- if you aren't going to be a top performer in an activity, drop it and move to something else. And find ways to be unique, whether through entrepreneurship, scholarship or well-placed PR. "A great education transformed my life," said the chief executive and co-founder of Crimson Education. "It can change yours too." The kids took note of every word. "He's like the Steve Jobs of college counseling," said one of the attendees, a Japanese high-school student. Private equity is also paying attention. Crimson, launched in 2013, is now valued at $554 million after several funding rounds, according to PitchBook. Clients pay Beaton's firm from $30,000 and $200,000 for a four- to six-year program that includes tutoring in academics and test-taking, and advice on how to gather stellar teacher recommendations and how to execute extracurricular projects. |
| Most Campus Tech Leaders Say Higher Ed Is Unprepared for AI's Rise | |
 | Nearly two years after generative artificial intelligence exploded into the public consciousness, just 9 percent of chief technology officers believe higher education is prepared to handle the new technology's rise. That's one of several key takeaways from Inside Higher Ed's third annual Survey of Campus Chief Technology/Information Officers, executed with help from Hanover Research earlier this year. The results released Wednesday offer a portrait of how colleges and universities are -- and aren't -- using technology to enhance learning, work and research in an era of rapidly evolving digital innovation. About two out of three CTOs said the digital transformation of their institution is essential (23 percent) or a high priority (39 percent). And most are concerned about AI's growing impact on higher education, with 60 percent worried to some degree about the risk generative AI poses to academic integrity, specifically. Despite ongoing worry from administrators and educators that AI will increase cheating, 46 percent of CTOs are either extremely or very enthusiastic about AI's potential to boost their institution's capabilities, according to the report. |
| Here's the Latest on the FAFSA Test-Drive of 2024 | |
 | The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday began the second phase of beta-testing for the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. It's the next step in the department's plan to let thousands of students throughout the nation complete the federal-aid form before December 1, when it's scheduled to become available to all students and contributors. The department will continue to conduct extensive tests of the FAFSA among increasingly larger cohorts of prospective and current students throughout the fall. The goal: to identify and resolve any technical issues that might hinder large numbers of applicants down the line -- and to avoid another federal-aid crisis. It's early. But, so far, the FAFSA test-drive is going smoothly, according to department officials. The first phase was "a complete success," Jeremy Singer, FAFSA executive adviser, said during a call with reporters on Tuesday. "The system is working from end to end." During the initial phase of testing, which was completed the first week of October, six community-based organizations (CBOs) in various states hosted FAFSA events for students. Department staff were on hand to observe and assist applicants and their families. More than 650 high-school seniors in all successfully submitted a FAFSA, according to the department. |
| How the 2024 Election Could Reshape Education, from Pre-K to College | |
| Education in the U.S. is in a state of flux. The pandemic has left students across the country with learning gaps, especially in math and science. Teacher turnover is high, with some areas hit by staffing shortages. Schools are increasingly targeted in mass shootings and effectively segregated by race. Public schools face budget cuts and declining enrollment, while states across the country are allowing taxpayer dollars to fund private education instead. The two current presidential candidates propose two sharply different paths forward for the U.S. education system. Former president Donald Trump favors what's known as school choice, or privatization, and increasing government involvement in curriculum. Vice President Kamala Harris supports programs to address inequity across early childhood, K–12 and higher education. Here's how their policy proposals measure up. |
| In defense of those dastardly Europeans | |
| The Magnolia Tribune's Russ Latino writes: This week, Americans celebrated Columbus Day. The holiday commemorates the trans-Atlantic voyages of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus to 'The New World' more than 500 years ago. Like most everything these days, Columbus, and in a broader sense, European settlement of the Americas, has become a flashpoint in a tiresome culture war. Growing up, I learned in school that "in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." But not everyone views the explorer's trans-Altantic voyages to the Caribbean in such idyllic terms. Video resurfaced this week of Vice President, and Democratic nominee for president, Kamala Harris celebrating the rival holiday of 'Indigenous Peoples Day' with some harsh criticism of European settlers. "Those explorers ushered in a wave of devastation for Tribal nations – perpetrating violence, stealing land and spreading disease," Harris said. "We must not shy away from this shameful past, and we must shed light on it and do everything we can to address the impact of the past on Native communities today." History is complicated because people are complicated. There's only ever been one perfect person to walk the earth, and it was not Christopher Columbus. But modern day efforts to vilify European settlers to the Americas are misguided in at least three ways. |
| New non-fiction book: October is a busy month for Mississippi author John Grisham | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: A self-described "just about full-time grandparent" to three grandchildren, bestselling Mississippi author John Grisham is a few months shy of his 70th birthday – some facts that belie his packed calendar this month. The author of fifty consecutive #1 bestsellers translated into some 50 languages, Grisham's latest novel "Camino Ghosts" was released this summer. The recent Grisham works "The Exchange: After The Firm" updated the journey of "The Firm's" Mitch McDeere and the third Jake Brigance novel "A Time for Mercy" is being developed as a limited HBO series. For the first time since his groundbreaking 2006 non-fiction book "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in A Small Town," Grisham has collaborated with Jim McCloskey to produce a new non-fiction book that builds on the theme of wrongful convictions. The book, entitled "Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions" was set to release Oct. 15. Grisham for many years has been passionate about what he sees as deep, systemic flaws in the criminal justice system particularly as it relates to wrongful convictions and the death penalty. "The Innocent Man" gave rise to a powerful six-part Netflix documentary series on wrongful convictions. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State Soccer Soars To Highest Rankings In Program History At No. 3 | |
| Mississippi State soccer continues to break new ground, earning the highest rankings in program history at No. 3 in both the United Soccer Coaches Poll and the TopDrawerSoccer Poll. The Bulldogs have climbed the national rankings on the back of a historic season, highlighted by their unbeaten run in SEC play and dominance on both sides of the field. Now boasting a 12-1 overall record, Mississippi State is just one win away from tying the school record for wins in a season, which was set back in 2001 with 13 victories. The foundation of the Bulldogs' success has been their defensive prowess. Through 13 matches, Mississippi State has recorded 11 shutouts, giving them the best shutout percentage in the nation at .846. The Bulldogs have allowed just three goals all season, the fewest of any team in Division I soccer, including on the men's side. State's defensive dominance has made them the most difficult team to score against in the country, as they continue to stifle opponents and prevent them from generating any real scoring opportunities. Leading the NCAA with a goals-against average of .250, Mississippi State's backline, anchored by senior goalkeeper Maddy Anderson, has been nothing short of impenetrable. The Bulldogs' defensive organization and teamwork have allowed them to remain composed and compact under pressure, limiting opposing offenses to a few chances per match. Offensively, Mississippi State continues to show depth and versatility in each match, outscoring their opponents 30-3. The team's balance, with multiple players contributing goals and assists, has made them an unpredictable side that can strike from anywhere on the pitch. Up next, No. 3 Mississippi State will face in-state rival Ole Miss in the Magnolia Cup on Friday night in Oxford with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. CT. |
| Still an underclassman, Josh Hubbard becoming face of Mississippi State athletics | |
| It's only been a year and a half since Josh Hubbard signed his letter of intent to play at Mississippi State, shortly after decommitting from rival Ole Miss. But entering his sophomore season, Hubbard is already arguably the most recognizable active MSU student-athlete. Hubbard surprised even himself by leading the Southeastern Conference in 3-pointers made per game as a freshman. He heated up down the stretch, with at least 23 points in his last five regular-season games. This year, he won't be catching anybody off guard -- college basketball analyst and NCAA correspondent Andy Katz tabbed him as the second-best sophomore in the country heading into 2024-25. "If you told me I would have had that type of season, I wouldn't have believed you," Hubbard said Tuesday at SEC Media Days. "I'm just glad I have the teammates and the coaching staff that I had to make that year the way it was." MSU is replacing two centerpieces in the post with Tolu Smith and Jimmy Bell out of eligibility, but the Bulldogs' backcourt will also look different this winter without Shakeel Moore and Dashawn Davis. Jans went to work in the transfer portal, adding Kanye Clary from Penn State and Claudell Harris from Boston College, as well as two former SEC wings in Riley Kugel (Florida) and RJ Melendez (Georgia). Hubbard is already active both in the Starkville community and his hometown of Madison. He was the grand marshal of the Starkville Derby wiener dog race in May, and in April he hosted a two-day camp at Madison-Ridgeland Academy for some of the top high school players in Mississippi. |
| Mike Elko calls out how offenses are treated amid fake injury debate | |
| Faking injuries to stop the game has become a topic of conversation in college football as it appears teams are doing it more often. Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko is aware of it but he also has a unique perspective on the problem. While sharing his thoughts on the issue, Elko shared the perspective of a defensive coordinator and called out how offenses are treated in the sport. "So, can I be a defensive coordinator for a minute? Something has to be the other way too," Elko said. "The speed at which we play the game in college, you have a kid's shoelace come untied, nobody bails him out. And so he's out there, the offense is sprinting to the line, they're about to snap the ball. What do you want the kid to do? Kids' shoe comes off. They're sprinting to the line of scrimmage. He can't put his shoe back on. What do you want the kid to do?" The core reason why it's assumed that defenses might fake an injury comes down to getting the offense, typically an up-tempo offense, out of its rhythm. That can either allow for easier substitutions or just let a defense on its heels catch its breath or slow the opposing momentum. While there aren't current rules against it, it would be difficult to implement rules because it's difficult to know if a player is faking something like a cramp. However, there are times when players or teams don't try to hide it. |
| Danny Amendola dedicates 'Dancing with the Stars' performance to Mike Leach | |
| The legacy of late Mississippi State head football coach Mike Leach continues to find different ways to be honored. During Tuesday night's episode of Dancing with the Stars, retired NFL player Danny Amendola and his partner, Witney Carson, dedicated their routine to Leach and the impact he had on Amendola. The Super Bowl-winning wide receiver suited up for Leach at Texas Tech from 2004-07 before going on to enjoy a 13-year professional career that included stints with the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots, among other teams. "He told us to dream, that we could pay through hard work and dedication," Amendola said on the broadcast about Leach. "Being a coach is a very selfless job, and I miss him dearly... This one's for him." Leach, a man of many interests, would have undoubtedly been proud of his former player as Amendola and Carson's Contemporary routine set to "Unsteady (Erich Lee Gravity Remix)" by X Ambassadors shot Amendola to the top of the show's leaderboard with all 9s from the judges. |
| Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame announces 2025 class | |
| The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame announced its 2025 class on Tuesday afternoon, featuring eight new names set to be inducted next August. The list includes Scott Berry, Steve Freeman, Dexter McCluster, Mike Justice, Derrick Nix, Steve Rives, Robbie Webb, and Mo Williams. "Our selection committee has once again excelled in identifying remarkable individuals for this class," said Bill Blackwell, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. "Each inductee has made significant contributions to their sport and has embodied the spirit of excellence that we celebrate. Their legacies inspire future generations of athletes in Mississippi and beyond." Freeman, a standout defensive back at Mississippi State from 1971-74, was selected in the fifth round of the 1975 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. A 12-year professional playing career that also included time with the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings saw Freeman intercept 23 passes and score three defensive touchdowns. Upon hanging up the cleats, Freeman decided to stay on the field as a referee -- a position he still holds today as a game official for the NFL. |
| Alabama leads new-look SEC with Calipari changing schools, Texas and Oklahoma along for the ride | |
| Alabama is the Southeastern Conference favorite in basketball, not football. John Calipari is leading a team with high expectations, just not at Kentucky. And Texas and Oklahoma are along for the ride now, too. The SEC has matched its record with eight NCAA Tournament teams each of the past two years and has valid reasons to expect even more with the league now at 16 members. It just has a different look. No. 2 Alabama leads nine SEC teams in the preseason AP Top 25 after making the program's first Final Four. Like most years lately, SEC coaches are confidently touting their league as tops in college basketball, not just football. "We're the best league in college basketball. We just are," said Georgia coach Mike White, who thinks double-digit NCAA bids is possible. "The SEC is officially now the best league in college basketball." The SEC landscape has changed in the offseason, beyond even the addition of Texas and Oklahoma. Calipari headed to Arkansas after 15 seasons at traditional league hoops headliner Kentucky, and some top players went with him. "He's one of the great coaches of all time, and he will make it even tougher than it's ever been to play at Arkansas," said defending champion Tennessee's coach Rick Barnes, a longtime friend of Calipari. "I'm happy for him because I think he's happy." |
| Sylvester Croom delivers stirring words to Tide about 'fraternity of the crimson jersey' | |
 | The former Alabama player and assistant coach and member of the College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022 recently addressed the Crimson Tide and will have you running through a brick wall after you hear it. The official Alabama football social media account posted part of the speech for a highlight reel of the Tide's win over South Carolina last week, but Croom, who played from 1972 through 1974 and coached under Paul "Bear" Bryant and Ray Perkins from 1976-86, left the Tide with some moving words on the topics of playing at Alabama and with expectations. "You and I, we're the same," he began. "We're all in the same fraternity: The fraternity of that crimson jersey. I don't know a lot of you guys, but I respect you because the minute you signed that scholarship to come to Alabama that told me something about you. That told me you weren't ordinary. That told me you were special people because when you put that crimson jersey on, you got to be special. The expectation of wearing that jersey is like nowhere else in the country. It ain't like nowhere else in pro football." In Croom's time at Alabama, the Crimson Tide lost one regular-season game (by one point) and won three SEC championships. He understands the depth of the history. In 2004, Croom became the first African American head football coach in SEC history when he took the top post at Mississippi State. |
| Georgia Tech moves 2025 Georgia game to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for $10 million guarantee | |
| Citing the need for "new revenue sources," Georgia Tech is moving its rivalry game against Georgia next year to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, netting a $10 million guarantee. It will be the first time the rivalry game, known as Clean Old-Fashioned Hate, will be played off campus since 1913. And it comes a year after Georgia Tech gave then-No. 1 Georgia a spirited fight at Bobby Dodd Stadium, losing 31-23, the closest the game had been in seven years. But Georgia Tech athletic director J Batt said in a message to fans that the $10 million from Mercedes-Benz Stadium would be "a transformative lift for Tech athletics." Batt vowed that the 2027 game will return to Georgia Tech's campus, with renovations to Bobby Dodd Stadium a concern. (No other games are being moved at this point.) "This was not a decision that was made lightly," Batt wrote. "As I noted earlier, embarking on the new era of college athletics requires exploring new revenue sources, as that is paramount to our goal of competing for championships at the highest level." This is the second twist to the rivalry game in as many years: This year's game, in Athens, was moved to Friday night to give the game a bigger spotlight on ESPN. |
| From Missouri to Baylor, where did the tradition of homecoming truly begin? | |
| Standing alone in the middle of the grassy Francis Quadrangle at the University of Missouri are six ionic-style columns. They are the last remaining features from the school's first building, constructed in 1840, and when photographed with the domed, red-brick Jesse Hall in the background, it makes for a welcoming postcard. During campus tours, it's on The Quad where prospective students have long been given a crash course on university lore. "There were absolutely two things that we hit on every tour," said broadcaster Kevin Gehl, a Missouri alum and former homecoming king, who guided campus tours as an undergraduate student from 2006 to 2009. "Getting the history tied in right away was always so valuable because we could say, 'Listen, we have the first and best journalism school in the world and the oldest continuous homecoming.' "Now, sometimes that would get shortened to, 'Well, we've got the oldest homecoming.'" For many Missouri alums, the idea the school is the birthplace of modern homecoming -- a tradition celebrated at just about every high school and college in the country -- serves as a major source of pride. That's when football coach and athletic director Chester Brewer called for alumni to "come home" to see the Tigers play Kansas in Columbia, starting a homecoming tradition on campus that over a century later remains, without question, one of the largest, most cherished celebrations of its kind. But as Mizzou's origin story spread, so did competing claims. From Illinois to Michigan to Texas and beyond, there are differing tales of how homecoming came about. It all goes back to 1911. |
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