| Wednesday, November 27, 2024 |
| MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine expands clinical facilities | |
 | Mississippi State's College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) will expand its clinical facilities, as well as establish the Center for Rural Veterinary Practice to address the shortage of veterinary services in Mississippi and throughout rural America. The university's existing teaching hospitals were built in the 1970s. MSU President Mark E. Keenum said updated facilities with state-of-the-art features will ensure CVM delivers world-class veterinary teaching and service for decades into the future. "Mississippi State is well known for meeting needs and providing solutions, and the College of Veterinary Medicine is a perfect example of how we are fulfilling our mission to serve the entire state of Mississippi. Our CVM faculty, staff and students provide vital care for our beloved pets. They also play essential roles in Mississippi's highly successful agriculture economy by supporting large animal producers, our rural communities and industry," Keenum said. |
| MSU announces expansion of veterinary college | |
 | Mississippi State University announced an expansion of its College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) facilities. Plans include a new cattle handling facility and farm animal hospital, a renovated equine hospital and an expanded small animal hospital wing. The cattle handling facility includes a drive-thru unloading and loading area and cattle handling and restraining systems. MSU built its existing teaching hospitals in the 1970s. MSU President Mark Keenum said updated facilities with state-of-the-art features will ensure CVM delivers world-class veterinary teaching and service for decades into the future. |
| MSU addresses plans for vet school expansion in Starkville | |
 | Mississippi State hopes to address several issues facing veterinarian care in an expansion of its vet school. $18 million will go to the first two phases of the College of Veterinary Medicine's clinical facilities project. The teaching hospitals the university uses now were built in the 1970's. Plans include a new cattle handling facility and farm animal hospital. A renovated equine hospital and expanded small animal hospital are also in the works. Construction is expected to begin within a year and planning is already underway. The university is also establishing the Center for Rural Veterinary Practice. It will focus on the recruitment, retention, and business practices to keep veterinarians in rural areas in Mississippi and across the country. |
| Three ways to help local food pantries thrive | |
 | As the holidays approach, consider three ways to share the joys of the season by supporting local food pantries. Keltra Chandler, program manager for the Mississippi State University Extension Service program AIM for CHangE, said the state's food pantries have seen increased traffic since the COVID-19 pandemic. "With the rising price of groceries and ongoing employment challenges, many Mississippians rely on local food pantries to feed their families," Chandler said. "As the holidays approach and fresh fruits and vegetables become less available, food pantries need donations more than ever." AIM for CHangE is short for "Advancing, Inspiring, Motivating for Community Health through Extension." For the past six years, working with food pantry operators has been a cornerstone of their work in counties with high rates of obesity. Chandler offered these three suggestions for supporting local food pantries: give money, food or time. |
| Mary Means Business: Black Friday deals abound in Golden Triangle | |
| Happy holidays, readers! I hope you eat well, nap good and all your football teams win (provided they aren't playing the New Orleans Saints or Mississippi State Bulldogs) this Thanksgiving weekend. With the holidays among us, it's also time to find all those gifts you and I put off until Black Friday. The Golden Triangle is stocked full of deals this year, from big box retailers to local businesses. Tons of local places in our area are advertising sales such as Starkville's Habitat for Humanity ReStore where everything is 75% off on Black Friday or Fired Up Studio in Columbus offering 25% off retail Friday through Sunday. Tis the season to be thankful, eat plenty and thank many. With all the shopping happening this week, Columbus Main Street Director Barbara Bigelow always reminds folks that supporting locals is an important investment in your community. Following Black Friday, Small Business Saturday celebrates local and independent businesses, a shopping holiday that takes place the last Saturday of November each year since 2010. |
| Mississippians encouraged to be safe while traveling for Thanksgiving holiday | |
 | The Thanksgiving holiday is traditionally one of the most important travel periods of the year. A record-breaking 80 million Americans are expected to travel for the holiday this year from Tuesday, November 26 to Monday, December 2, according to AAA. This exceeds pre-pandemic numbers. AAA estimates that at least 71.7 million people will travel by car over Thanksgiving -- that's an additional 1.3 million travelers on the road compared to last year. Barrett Wilson is a public information officer with the Mississippi Department of Transportation. She says the department's biggest priority is the safety of motorists. "Our biggest messaging is to wear your seatbelt," she said. "It is easy. It's free. It's already in your car. But it is the most effective way to prevent major injuries in the event of a crash." Wilson says motorists should pay attention to their speed as they're driving. "We want people to follow the speed limit," she said. "If you plan ahead of time, knowing that there are going to be more cars on the road, you should probably add an extra 10- 15 minutes to what you think [it will be]." Motorists should avoid distractions such as eating or texting while driving. |
| MHP announces heightened enforcement during Thanksgiving travel period | |
 | Ahead of what is expected to be a historically busy Thanksgiving travel stretch, the Mississippi Highway Patrol has announced details about their efforts to keep travelers safe. Beginning Wednesday at 6 a.m. and lasting through Sunday, December 1, the police agency will deploy a higher presence of state troopers and other safety efforts to reduce reckless driving, speeding, and distracting driving issues. Safety checkpoints will be conducted throughout the state during the period, specifically to enforce child restraint and seatbelt laws, while also focusing on taking impaired drivers off Mississippi roadways. "The holiday season is here, and with it comes increased travel across our state. The Mississippi Highway Patrol, along with all law enforcement agencies, is committed to ensuring the safety of everyone on our roadways," Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said. Across the 2023 Thanksgiving travel period, MHP investigated 169 vehicle crashes, which included three fatalities, and made 109 DUI arrests on state and federal highway systems. Nearly 80 million Americans are projected to travel for the holiday this year, a number that would shatter previous records. |
| Most in new poll trying to avoid political talk at Thanksgiving | |
 | The majority of Americans will steer away from discussing politics during this year's Thanksgiving holiday, according to a survey released on Tuesday. In the new poll, done by CBS News/YouGov, around 71 percent of Americans said they will try to avoid discussing politics on Thanksgiving. On the flip side, 29 percent of respondents stated they will try to talk about it. Following President-elect Trump's win in the 2024 presidential election versus Vice President Harris, Trump supporters are slightly more adamant, 38 percent, about venturing into the topic during the feast than those who backed Harris, 28 percent. But for the most part, both sides are looking to avoid it. Americans said they are the most grateful for family and friends, 79 percent. Seventy-one percent said they were most grateful for health while freedom ranked third at 58 percent, according to the poll. Faith and peace were tied at 49 percent while politics came in dead-last at 16 percent. Only one in 10 respondents, 10 percent, said they switched their Thanksgiving plans to avoid crossing paths with people who voted for a different White House contender than themselves. |
| More deals, more spending: What Black Friday has in store | |
 | This week officially kicks off the busiest shopping period of the year -- it's joy and chaos for shoppers and a make-it-or-break-it season for most retailers. People are expected to spend up to $989 billion this holiday season -- a record. The National Retail Federation predicts retail sales this winter will be up to 3.5% higher than last year. So far in November, shoppers have spent 9.6% more just on online purchases, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks transactions. Some of the higher spending is because of higher prices. But that's not the whole story: A greater share of people also plan to splurge this holiday season, according to a survey by market research firm Circana that closely tracks buying trends. It found people budgeting, on average, $771 for the holiday season. Parents are expecting to spend $1,014 on average. Children, as any parent will tell you, are expensive. Even though inflation has been cooling for much of the year, people say they are feeling squeezed after paying their expenses. And when budgets tighten, days known for big discounts take center stage. Overall, retailers expect a record number of shoppers between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday. In Circana's survey, 62% of people said their higher expenses on food and bills would lead to changes in how they shop. They're hunting for off-brand purchases, maybe buying fewer gifts or cheaper gifts and ---especially -- hunting for discounts. Are the deals actually any good? That's the perennial question. And, as usual, the answer is mixed. |
| A global glut of soybeans has been pushing down prices | |
| On Wednesday, the Census Bureau will release early trade data for October, providing insight into how much importers brought in and how much exporters sold. One export that's been on the rise in recent months is soybeans. That's because soybeans are getting cheaper. In fact, soybean prices have been falling for more than two years now. And that price drop is because global supplies of soybeans have been rising. Soybean supplies are up because soybean production is up. And soybean production is up because of China. "The amount of soybeans that China needs to purchase daily is just mindboggling. Like, your jaw drops," said Naomi Blohm, senior market advisor at Total Farm Marketing. China slapped retaliatory tariffs on American soybean exports during the Trump administration. So, it's been buying more soybeans from other countries; especially Brazil, where soybean production has exploded. "Ultimately they are just the world's biggest supplier of soybeans right now, and their biggest customer is China," she said. Blohm said China is still buying American soybeans. But Scott Irwin, an agriculture economist at the University of Illinois, said American farmers are in a tough spot: They can sell their soybeans now, at today's low prices, or wait and face the risk that the next administration starts another trade war with China, which could push prices even lower. |
| William Green Poindexter, longtime Mississippi lawmaker and mayor, dies at 80 | |
| Longtime Mississippi lawmaker and Inverness mayor William Green Poindexter passed away at his home Monday morning at 80 years old. The Greenwood native, born January 10, 1944, graduated from Greenwood High School before getting his undergraduate degree at Mississippi State University in 1967. After spending one year on staff under then-U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis and working as a farmer, Poindexter set his eyes on a career in public office. Poindexter began building a reputation as a public servant early on after he was elected mayor of the town of Inverness in 1971 -- becoming the youngest person to ever be elected to the mayoral office, earning the spot at 27 years old. After his tenure as Inverness' top politician ended, the young politician moved on to represent three different Delta districts (13th, 32nd, 31st) in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1976 to 1993. Poindexter's long stretch in the House came to an end after being defeated by William Richardson, a teacher at Gentry High School in Indianola. The capstone of a multi-decade career in public office for Poindexter was as a legislative liaison for then-Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice. |
| Mississippi Supreme Court Central District runoff race neck and neck | |
 | By 9 a.m. Wednesday, the Mississippi Supreme Court Central District runoff race still hadn't been called, leaving the race in a neck-and-neck position. Both incumbent Jim Kitchens' and challenger Jenifer Branning's campaigns confirmed they were no longer expecting full results right away. As of 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, there were fewer than 600 votes separating the candidates, with Branning holding a slight lead in a race that had nearly 123,000 votes tallied by Wednesday morning. Vote totals on Wednesday morning showed Branning widening her lead to nearly 3,000 votes at one point and then contracting to around a 1,600-vote lead with 93.66% of the vote counted around 9 a.m. "There seems to be more and more of (elections not called on Election Day), and so we expected this," Lin Floyd of Branning's campaign said. "We will wait and see where we are in the morning." Due to the close nature of the race, it is likely the victor will be decided by absentee ballots that are allowed to be counted for five days following an election in Mississippi, as well as the affidavit ballots. Holmes County was the last to report its ballot counts on Wednesday, with Kitchens taking a strong lead in that county. Holmes County faxed in their results, contributing to the delay. |
| Branning leads narrowly in state Supreme Court race | |
| State Sen. Jenifer B. Branning was leading narrowly early Wednesday in her state Supreme Court race runoff election with about 50 percent of the vote. Political observers say the tightly contested race will come down to absentee and affidavit ballots. In Neshoba County, Branning led incumbent Justice Jim Kitchens with about 90 percent of the vote, 3,478 to Kitchens' 529, complete but unofficial results show. In the runoff, 4,377 ballots were cast in Neshoba County, a significant decrease from the 10,861 ballots cast on Nov. 5 in the general election. Neshoba County has a total of 17,319 registered voters. In the General Election on Nov. 5, Branning led Neshoba County with 8,501 votes, outpacing Kitchens, Bryon Carter, Ceola James, and Abby Gale Robinson. In the general election, Branning led with about 41.8 percent of the vote, or 132,240 votes, while Kitchens received 35.6 percent or 112,935 votes. |
| St. Pé defeats Schloegel in hard-fought race for seat on Mississippi Court of Appeals | |
 | Pascagoula attorney Amy St. Pé defeated Chancery Judge Jennifer Schloegel of Gulfport in her bid to secure a seat on the Mississippi Court of Appeals. The Associated Press declated St. Pé the winner once 94% of votes were counted. At that point, St. Pé had more than 17,000 votes, or about 61%, to roughly 11,000 votes, or 39% for Schloegel. The women previously edged out a third candidate, Coast assistant district attorney Ian Baker, to qualify for the runoff in the nonpartisan race. St. Pé won the District 5, Place 2 position on the court. Its 10 members serve 8-year, staggered terms. The sitting judge, former Coast District Attorney Joel Smith, did not seek re-election. St Pé graduated from Mississippi College law school and has practiced law for 22 years. She founded her own law firm in Pascagoula, specializing in governmental law. She has served for 15 years as a city attorney for Moss Point and is also a municipal judge for the city of Gautier. St. Pé also served on Governors Advisory Council Committee for Restore Act funding, to which she was appointed by Gov. Tate Reeves, and is on the board of directors for Merchants & Marine Bank, the biography on her campaign website says. She also serves as attorney for both the Pascagoula and Moss Point redevelopment authorities. St. Pé has stressed her wide range of legal experience, saying she's shown the "temperament and skills" to be fair, and follow and uphold the law. She said that she's campaigned hard for 11 months. |
| Trump transition signs White House agreement | |
 | The Trump transition has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Biden White House, incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles announced on Tuesday -- a move that clears the way for coordination with the federal agencies they will soon take over. The Trump team's unprecedented delay in signing these agreements, weeks after being declared the winner of the election, had alarmed former officials and ethics experts who warned it could lead to conflicts of interest and leave the new government unprepared to govern on Day One. In the Tuesday announcement, Wiles suggested the Trump transition will not sign a separate agreement with the General Services Administration, which would have allowed them to receive federal funding, cybersecurity support and government office space, pledging instead to fund the transition with private dollars, run it out of private facilities, and deploy their own "existing security and information protections" for sensitive data. The transition, Wiles said, "will operate as a self-sufficient organization, adding that declining government funding will "save taxpayers' hard-earned money." And while Wiles also pledged in the Tuesday statement to publicly disclose the private donors to the transition and "not accept foreign donations," there will be no legal mechanism to enforce those promises of transparency. White House spokesperson Saloni Sharma said the Biden administration is concerned about the ramifications of their successors forgoing GSA support, but remains "committed to an orderly transition." |
| Trump renews hope of Space Command HQ reset with Alabama lawmakers | |
| Alabama's congressional lawmakers are sounding optimistic about winning back the U.S. Space Command headquarters after a Biden-era tug-of-war with Colorado. With President-elect Trump's return, those Republican lawmakers are eyeing a reset to Huntsville, Ala., the site initially chosen during Trump's first term but spurned when President Biden chose to keep the headquarters at its temporary location in Colorado Springs. But Colorado lawmakers are also now calling for the incoming Trump administration to avoid what they consider a drastic change that will impact military readiness. Lawmakers from both states pitched their sides in statements to The Hill this week, showing there is a returning battle over the estimated $1 billion annual economic impact of Space Command's headquarters, which brings some 1,400 jobs. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the chair of the House Armed Services Committee who led a hearing on Biden's Space Command decision in September 2023, said he was "incredibly excited" to work with Trump on relocating to Huntsville, which he argued has proven to be the "best location." The public spat over Space Command, one of 11 combatant command centers under the U.S. military, is now poised to continue through three administrations. |
| White House rule would expand coverage of anti-obesity drugs | |
 | The Biden administration on Tuesday proposed expanding drug coverage under Medicare and Medicaid to include anti-obesity drugs -- a move rebuking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s critique of the popular medications. The proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services seeks to expand when Medicare and Medicaid can cover anti-obesity drugs, sold as Zepbound, Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy. The obesity drug coverage changes were part of a larger proposed rule that also would make changes to prior authorization, provider directories and beneficiary protection. Currently, Medicare covers the weight loss drugs in question for beneficiaries diagnosed with diabetes or cardiovascular disease who are also classified as overweight or obese. All state Medicaid programs cover the drugs for patients with diabetes, but only about a quarter cover the drug for weight management. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said the proposal reinterprets Medicare statute to cover these medications not as weight loss drugs but as drugs to manage the chronic condition of obesity. Congress has taken some preliminary action to expand access to the drugs under Medicare. In June, the House Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill that would allow Medicare to cover the drug for patients who had already been prescribed and taken the drug rather than to all Medicare beneficiaries. |
| Trump Returns to 'Maximum Pressure' as Era of Biden Alliances Ends | |
 | President-elect Donald Trump's brandishing of tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China marks the passage from one era to another: Partnerships are out, and coercion is in. Trump is showing his second term will be much like his first, defined by the economic and diplomatic fights he picked with friends as well as foes. His punitive use of tariffs to bend others to his will is a far cry from the pains the Biden administration took to forge agreements and build consensus on policy in Europe and Asia. The president-elect has long taken strong positions with the goal of cowing negotiating partners. It is part of the playbook he used during his first term to confront Iran's aggression and North Korea's nuclear program. In the end, his "maximum pressure" strategy produced mixed results: Iran was strangled financially but continued supporting proxies in the Middle East, and North Korea grew and advanced its nuclear arsenal. "His whole worldview is maximum pressure, it's that simple," said a Trump adviser under consideration for a senior foreign-policy position. "Scare your negotiating partner into thinking you will do what most think is unthinkable." Trump will re-enter the Oval Office with the world far more dangerous than when he was first president. Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the introduction of North Korean troops complicate efforts to negotiate an end to the war. In the Middle East, Israel's retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians killed and most of Gaza's more than two million people have been displaced. Iran, which has been engaged in a cycle of escalating attacks with Israel, has moved closer to obtaining the weapons-grade fuel needed for a nuclear weapon. |
| Jack Smith Closes Up Shop, Defeated More by Voters Than by Jurors | |
 | Jack Smith arrived in Washington almost two years ago with expectations that his assignment to investigate Donald J. Trump would be profoundly consequential. But instead of leaving his post on the heels of a courtroom victory, he is departing after a defeat determined largely at the ballot box. Mr. Smith filed two federal indictments against Mr. Trump, the first ever against a former president. His plans for getting the cases in front of juries, already complicated by adverse court rulings, were wiped away by Mr. Trump's triumph on Election Day. The Justice Department has a longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president. The legacy of Mr. Smith's investigation is shaping up to be a complex one. Legal experts give him credit for running a tightly disciplined investigation and amassing considerable evidence to back the charges he lodged. But legal battles that spun out of his prosecutions have left the Justice Department with what appear to be considerable new constraints on holding presidents accountable. And for all Mr. Smith's efforts to avoid having his work enmeshed in politics, Mr. Trump essentially put the voters between himself and federal prosecutors. As Mr. Smith prepares to file a final report, he knows Mr. Trump's legion of loyalists will keep after him. The prosecution team is likely to face some manner of investigation -- first from congressional Republicans, but then possibly from the Justice Department's inspector general. |
| As legal walls close in, Giuliani rants at judge | |
| Rudy Giuliani lashed out in court Tuesday at the federal judge who ordered him to turn over his belongings to the two Georgia women who won a $148 million defamation verdict against him, telling the judge "every implication you make is against me." "I don't have a car. I don't have a credit card," Giuliani told U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman, raising his voice from the defense table during a hearing. "They have put a stop order on, for example, my Social Security account," he said of the women, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. Cutting off Giuliani's outburst, Liman threatened the former New York City mayor. "I permitted Mr. Giuliani to speak. Next time, I will not permit him to speak and the court will have to take action," he said. As the judge admonished him, Giuliani banged lightly on the table with a pen, shaking his head. Liman previously threatened to hold GIuliani in contempt after he missed a court-imposed deadline to turn over assets to the women. Freeman and Moss won the verdict last year after Giuliani falsely accused them of committing election fraud in the 2020 election. Speaking to reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom on Tuesday, Giuliani continued his tirade about Liman, calling him an "activist Democrat." Liman is a Trump appointee. |
| Walmart's DEI rollback signals a profound shift in the wake of Trump's election victory | |
| Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are re-evaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups. The changes announced by the world's biggest retailer on Monday followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The retreat from such programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump's incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller, who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. "There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination," said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher at the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. "This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino," he added. |
| USM junior named Miss University of Southern Mississippi | |
 | A nursing major in her junior year was crowned Miss University of Southern Mississippi recently. Annalee Toler, of Liberty, Mississippi, secured the honor at a scholarship pageant held Nov. 16 in the Mannoni Performing Arts Center. Toler, who is minoring in sociology and psychology, earned scholarship funding which she said she will use in pursuit of a nurse practitioner degree. "Words cannot express how excited and honored I am to represent this university," said Toler. "When I came to Southern Miss, competing in the scholarship pageant was something I always dreamed of." A Luckyday Citizenship scholar, Toler also is active in the Citizen Scholar and Greek Seeker programs. Inspired by her cousin's own cancer journey, her community service initiative, "Crafts 4 Kids," supports St. Jude Children's Research Hospital through advocacy for art therapy programs and organization of art supply donations. Toler now will compete for the title of Miss Mississippi in June 2025 in Vicksburg. |
| Documents confirm JSU officials fired their police chief weeks before federal lawsuit against chief, university | |
| Months after Jackson State's top cop went silent in the midst of a murder investigation that now has him facing a federal suit for his handling of the case, 3 On Your Side has confirmed the university fired Herman Horton, and school officials still have yet to share any of this with the public. Records obtained exclusively by 3 On Your Side show Horton, who served as JSU's police chief since March 2022, had been terminated on August 24, with no reason for the dismissal given. Horton's short time at the university had become marred by his department's handling of the homicide investigation of student Jaylen Burns. Days after Burns' killing, investigators arrested Joshua Brown and charged him with murder. A subsequent 3 On Your Side investigation revealed evidence that Brown was nearly 90 miles away at the time of Burns' killing, meaning he could not have been involved. Authorities dropped charges against Brown and released him more than a week after our reporting. |
| Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry targets LSU law professor over comments on Donald Trump | |
 | Gov. Jeff Landry doubled down on his criticism of a law professor, posting on his official social media account a letter he sent to the LSU Board of Supervisors suggesting the university take disciplinary action. Landry's letter includes a transcript of comments made by Nicholas Bryner, an environmental law professor and director of LSU's Climate Change Law and Policy Project, during a lecture for an administrative law course on Nov. 6, the day after the presidential election. "If the school does not discipline Mr. Bryner for his comments, I hope that the Board will look into the matter, as LSU professors are prohibited from utilizing state resources to influence public policy," Landry said in the Nov. 25 letter addressed to LSU Board of Supervisors Chair Jimmie Woods Sr. Neither LSU nor the Board of Supervisors responded to a request for comment Tuesday. Landry also called on students to report to the attorney general violations of a law passed this year that prohibits professors from requiring students to participate in political activities. |
| Georgia Match program hailed as college enrollment rises in GA | |
| Georgia higher education officials are crediting a program assisting high school students with a wave of new enrollment in the state's colleges and universities. Recruiting officials say Georgia Match helped the 26 schools in the University System of Georgia reach a total enrollment of almost 365,000 students, up 5.9% over 2023. Sonny Perdue, chancellor of the University System of Georgia, said Georgia Match helps students and their families understand the long-term value of a college education. "We try to promote the facts of the value and because people can understand value and that's really what we're trying to do," said Perdue, "quality versus cost -- and if you have a great quality product at an affordability rate, then people are more likely to choose that." Georgia Match reaches out to high school students with information on opportunities at Georgia universities and assists them with admissions. Perdue said enrollments have been down since before the pandemic in 2019, and state officials are looking to boost the numbers. Georgia Match is part of a nationwide trend called direct admission. The idea is to reach students who haven't considered going to college. |
| UK student newspaper sues university for public records related to assault in dorm | |
 | The Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky student newspaper, has filed a lawsuit against the university for declining to release records from the night a rape and strangulation in a dorm was reported. Abbey Cutrer, the editor-in-chief of the Kernel, filed a public records request with UK on Oct. 2, "seeking records related to whether UK enforced its non-student guest policies" in dorms, according to the lawsuit. The request was filed after a man, Chase McGuire, was arrested for the alleged rape and strangulation of a UK student in the Chellgren Hall dorm in September. "The Kernel believes that transparency and truth are crucial to the well-being of students on our campus," Cutrer told the Herald-Leader Tuesday. "The records I requested pertain to a serious matter of student safety and it's concerning that UK is using exemptions that don't apply in order to withhold them, which is ultimately why we decided to file the lawsuit. UK is willfully violating the Open Records Act by refusing to produce vital public records about whether UK is enforcing its policies that are intended to protect its students from assaults like the one committed this September." Whitney Siddiqi, UK spokesperson, said the university had not yet received a copy of the lawsuit on Tuesday morning, but "we are confident we followed the law and look forward to making our case." |
| Trump Taps Bhattacharya to Lead NIH | |
 | President-elect Donald Trump nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya on Tuesday night to be director of the National Institutes of Health. "Dr. Bhattacharya will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to direct the Nation's Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives," Trump said in a statement. Bhattacharya, a physician and professor of medicine, economics and health policy at Stanford University, was critical of COVID-19 restrictions and accused the National Institutes of Health of holding too much power. Now, he's slated to lead the agency that's a key source of federal funding for academic research at universities. The position is subject to Senate confirmation. Trump's pick as secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who would oversee NIH, has said he wants to lay off 600 employees at the agency and shift NIH's focus away from infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, toward chronic conditions like obesity. Bhattacharya was one of three authors of an open letter known as the Great Barrington Declaration, published in October 2020, that urged officials to lift the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and allow normal activities to resume for all who were not especially vulnerable to complications from the virus. |
| Trump's Vision for College Accreditation Could Shake Up the Sector | |
 | Overhauling higher-education accreditation could be on the agenda for conservative lawmakers and policy mavens now that Donald J. Trump has been re-elected president. Trump and his allies have floated a number of changes, such as barring accreditors from requiring that colleges adhere to diversity, equity, and inclusion standards. Republicans have also proposed creating new accrediting agencies that promote conservative values and allowing state governments to take on the role of accreditors. Colleges have to be accredited for their students to be eligible for federal student aid, such as loans issued by the Education Department and Pell Grants for students from low-income families. That role as a gatekeeper of federal dollars has put accreditors in the crosshairs of groups across the ideological spectrum that see the organizations as a barrier to change and improvement. Project 2025, a policy wishlist written by a constellation of conservative groups that support Trump, described accreditation reviews as "wildly expensive audits by academic 'peers' that stifle innovation and discourage new institutions of higher education." Worse, the report contends, is that accrediting agencies force colleges to adopt DEI standards that may conflict with private colleges' religious missions and fail to uphold standards for freedom of speech. The solution, the authors argue, is to limit what accreditors can require only to what is contained in federal law. Trump has gone a step further, calling for the creation of new accreditors that would "defend the American tradition and Western civilization." |
| Trump team eyes quick rollback of Biden student debt relief | |
| President-elect Donald Trump is poised to pull the plug on President Joe Biden's yearslong push to cancel student debt for tens of millions of people as Republicans sweep into power in the coming months. Trump transition advisers and outside allies have been discussing ways to quickly unwind the various Biden-era initiatives that offered new or easier paths to loan forgiveness for borrowers, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The move would be the culmination of nearly four years of attacks by GOP lawmakers and attorneys general on Biden's student debt relief policies. On the campaign trail, Trump slammed the loan forgiveness efforts -- which total hundreds of billions of dollars -- as "vile" and illegal. Yet his team faces a daunting challenge: A series of recent court decisions has left the federal government's $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio in disarray, with millions of borrowers stuck in limbo. "It's going to be insanely complicated," said Michael Brickman, who was a senior Education Department official during the first Trump administration. "You really can't overstate the mess that this new administration is inheriting." Brickman, now an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the Biden administration's "misadventures around loan forgiveness" that were repeatedly rejected by courts have created "a really chaotic situation that's going to have to be fixed." |
| How the WWE Shaped Linda McMahon | |
| President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Linda McMahon as education secretary came as a surprise to many in the education world, akin to a story line swerve befitting of her former employer, WWE. McMahon's past in professional wrestling was quickly picked apart, with videos of her on-screen moments going viral. The prospective head of the Education Department was shown being manhandled by muscle-bound behemoths, including a wrestler who is now mayor of Knox County, Tenn. Some online commentators poked fun at the nominee and the carnival atmosphere of the WWE, while others embraced the image of McMahon as a fighter ready to bend the department to her will. The reaction shows how polarizing Trump's pick is and what lies ahead for McMahon as she gears up for a confirmation hearing to lead the agency that the president-elect has said he wants to eliminate. And in a world where pro wrestling has surprising overlaps with politics, the videos show her deep connection to an industry that shaped her as a leader and politician and gave her a personal connection to Trump, who appointed her to lead the Small Business Administration in his first term. While it's not yet clear how she will lead the department, those who watched her ascend from WWE to national political prominence, including two failed Senate runs in Connecticut, expect her to lead quietly, efficiently and perhaps ruthlessly, given how WWE took control of the wrestling industry through a mix of creativity and a cutthroat business approach that put numerous competitors out of business. |
| Why Did More College-Educated Young Men Vote for Trump This Year? | |
| In 2020, Owen Girard was all in for Bernie Sanders. The high-school junior couldn't vote just yet, but he liked the pro-worker, anti-establishment policies championed by the progressive Vermont senator during the presidential campaign. "I was fully embracing the 'democratic socialist' title of my beliefs," he said. Four years later, Girard, now a junior at Florida State University, found himself in a starkly different place -- voting for Donald J. Trump and leading his campus's chapter of Turning Point USA, a conservative student group. President-elect Trump's victory exposed a crack in a critical part of the Democratic Party's base: young voters. Early data suggests that Vice President Kamala Harris won 18- to 29-year-olds by four points, which pales in comparison to President Biden's 25-point margin in 2020. One of the largest shifts occurred among young, college-educated men. In 2020, 62 percent of that group voted for President Biden. In 2024, 52 percent supported Trump -- a swing of 19 percentage points. Those figures come from CIRCLE, a nonpartisan research organization housed at Tufts University, and are based on data from AP VoteCast, a national voter survey conducted by the Associated Press. Young men who did not go to college were still far more likely to vote for Trump than those who did. But the change in the voting patterns of college-educated young men suggests shifting attitudes on college campuses, which tend to lean left politically, experts on youth voters told The Chronicle. The rightward turn comes at a moment when higher ed is wrestling with two parallel trends: the declining number of men enrolling in college and the growing skepticism of higher ed, particularly on the right. |
| The Politics of the Academy Have Been Defeated | |
| William Deresiewicz, the author most recently of The End of Solitude: Selected Essays on Culture and Society, writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education: The politics of the academy have been defeated. Its ideas, its assumptions, its opinions and positions -- as expressed in official statements, embodied in policies and practices, established in centers and offices, and espoused and taught by large and leading portions of the professoriate -- have been rejected. This was already evident before November 5. It can now no longer be denied. Some data points: A post-election survey from Blueprint, a Democratic polling firm, discovered that, among reasons not to vote for the Democratic presidential nominee, "Kamala Harris is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues than helping the middle class" ranked third, after only inflation and illegal immigration. Among swing voters, it ranked first. California approved a ballot measure to stiffen penalties for theft and drug crimes by a margin of 69-31. Los Angeles elected a former Republican as district attorney over the progressive incumbent by 61-38. Alameda County, which covers most of the East Bay including Berkeley, recalled its progressive DA by 63-37. Portland, Ore., elected a former businessman as mayor over the leading progressive candidate by 18 points. We've seen comparable results in recent years. ... Survey findings tell the same broad story. |
| Early reactions to Rollins nomination | |
| Several agriculture-connected organizations issued statements on President-elect Trump's choice of Brooke Rollins as agriculture secretary. Rollins is a graduate of Texas A&M, a land-grant institution. Association of Public and Land-grant Universities President Mark Becker said, "APLU congratulates Brooke Rollins on her nomination as secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture." "USDA and land-grant universities have been deeply connected ever since they were both founded in 1862. This partnership has enabled game-changing agricultural innovations that solve farmers' most stubborn challenges and helped ensure the U.S. has the world's most productive, vibrant and resilient agricultural sector," Becker said. "We look forward to collaborating with Secretary-designate Rollins to strengthen this vital partnership and advance progress for communities to drive additional progress in communities across the country." |
| Eliminating DoEd could impact the state's elementary and secondary education funding | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: Regardless of one's partisan affiliation, Republicans and Democrats alike have to acknowledge that American voters handed former President Donald Trump a decisive victory -- winning both the popular and electoral vote, winning every crucial battleground state, his party taking control of the Senate and holding control of the House -- and with those wins a mandate for substantive public policy change. Substantive public policy change is an exercise that produces winners and losers. Explaining that requires a look at the fact that there are so-called "donor" states and so-called "subsidized" states – meaning that some "donor" states pay far more in federal taxes than they receive in federal spending. In contrast "subsidized" states receive more government funds than they pay in federal taxes. Mississippi is, by definition, a "subsidized" state; therefore, it makes sense that reductions in current federal support to the states will impact state and local programs through program reductions, higher state and local taxes to support the current program, or a combination of both. ... For the president-elect to make good on that pledge to shutter the Department of Education, the full-throated support of both houses of Congress will be necessary. |
SPORTS
| 'I don't like them anymore': Bulldogs' Smith to face father's alma mater in Egg Bowl | |
| Mississippi State has 49 players on its roster who grew up in the Magnolia State, and Friday's Egg Bowl at Ole Miss is a big deal for all of them. But it's particularly personal for sophomore safety Isaac Smith, whose father, Reggie, was a defensive lineman for the Rebels. Reggie Smith grew up in Amory, winning two state championships in high school, then played at Ole Miss in 1996 and 1997. Isaac's mother, Krystal Smith, also attended Ole Miss, so he and his older brother and younger sister were all big Rebels fans growing up in Fulton. "We were always visiting friends or going to games, baseball and football games, in Oxford," Reggie said. "They always had Ole Miss gear." In November 2020, when Isaac was a sophomore at Itawamba Agricultural High School, Ole Miss gave him his first college offer, with the Bulldogs following suit in January 2021. But while Isaac attended a football camp in Oxford, he never made an official visit there as offers from top programs around the country began pouring in. By his senior year, Isaac had offers from nine Southeastern Conference schools, as well as the likes of Michigan, USC and Notre Dame. "(MSU) recruited me a lot better than Ole Miss did," Isaac said Monday. "I love Starkville. The people here are awesome, and that's what drew me here. I wouldn't change that for the world." |
| Oxford Police Department Announces Egg Bowl Game Day Plans | |
| The annual Egg Bowl, another name for the yearly matchup between the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University, takes place Friday with kickoff in Oxford at 2:30 p.m. Official Statement on Egg Bowl proceedings from Oxford Police Department: To ensure that everyone has a fun and safe time celebrating, we will have an increased presence in and around the downtown Square area. Our goal is to be proactive in preventing any disturbances or unsafe activities, and as always, do not hesitate to contact us should the need arise. If you need any assistance in the downtown area, please go to the Safe Site tent in front of Visit Oxford and across the street from Funky's. There is a geofence set up on campus for rideshare app pickups. The locations are: Gertrude Ford Center Drop off, The Jackson Avenue Center parking lot, the Kudzu lot off of Old Taylor Road, and Insight Park located near the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium. Riders will be directed to choose one of these locations for their rideshare pickup. Be aware of no parking zones. Vehicles will be towed from designated no-parking areas at the owners' expense. This includes no parking on any highways or exit ramps. The SEC implements a clear bag policy for in-stadium use. The Oxford Police Department wants to remind everyone to store their valuables in the trunk and lock their cars. Once the fourth quarter begins in the game, Gertrude Ford and Old Taylor Road will automatically convert to one-way traffic off campus. Shuttle buses will pick up in the power plant parking lot across from the stadium on Gertrude Ford. The Ford Center lot will be required to exit northbound towards Jackson Avenue. Lot A near the stadium and Manning Way will be required to turn right towards Old Taylor Road. Be cautious of police officers directing traffic all around Oxford. Please be patient as we work to direct traffic for optimum traffic flow. |
| Egg Bowl week: Despite it all, one of America's hottest rivalries endures | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: It's Egg Bowl Week in the Magnolia State, as integral a part of Thanksgiving weekend in Mississippi as turkey, oyster dressing and casseroles. So, without further adieu, and in no particular order, my five most memorable Egg Bowls of the nearly 50 I have witnessed ... Here are five Egg Bowls I wish I had seen ... In 1941 at Oxford, State and Ole Miss played for the SEC championship for the only time in history. State won 6-0 to claim the only outright SEC title in Bulldog history. The late, great William Winter, a future governor, covered that game as an Ole Miss student reporter. More than seven decades later, he recounted the game, remembering even the most minute details. When an interviewer, this one, expressed amazement at Winter's keen memory for something that happened 73 years before, he replied, "Well, you have to understand it was the most important thing in my life at the time." |
| Men's Basketball: Five Things To Know: State vs. UNLV | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball will look for its third consecutive multi-team tournament crown in as many seasons under head coach Chris Jans as the Bulldogs travel to the Arizona Tipoff over Thanksgiving weekend. State (5-0) won the 2022 Fort Myers Tipoff defeating Marquette (58-55) and Utah (52-49) before claiming the 2023 Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament with victories over Washington State (76-64) and Northwestern (66-57). The Bulldogs take on UNLV (4-1) from the Mountain West Conference during Thursday's second semifinal which tips at approximately 8:30 p.m. CT, while Butler (4-1) and Northwestern (5-1) begin the four-team event. All four games will be televised by CBS Sports Network which also includes Friday's championship round at 6:00/8:30 p.m. CT from Mullett Arena on the Arizona State campus. State and UNLV will meet for the third time on the hardwood during Thursday's matchup. The Runnin' Rebels captured the two previous meetings in 1980-81 and in 2013-14 which were both played in Las Vegas. Overall, the Maroon and White have combined for a 6-7 mark against Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Jose State and Utah State who also are members of the Mountain West Conference. |
| Armstrong, Bulldogs made Starkville a soccer town | |
| The greatest season in Mississippi State soccer history came to an end Sunday. The Southeastern Conference regular season champions tasted defeat for the first time in Starkville after a remarkable run of 12 games without even conceding a goal in Starkville. Every team wants to win the last game of the season, but only one team can. Still, what is known globally as the beautiful game was introduced to a greater audience because of what the Bulldogs achieved in 2024. It was an emotional scene after the game. Fifth-year senior Macey Hodge showcased her strength even as she struggled to find the words to describe what this team, this place, and this experience meant to her after giving up on her first scholarship offer from Vanderbilt five years ago. "I gave up on life, truly, at 18 years old," Hodge said through tears in the post-game press conference. "I never thought I'd be anything other than a girl who stayed in a small town, and I'd be 30 saying what could have been. Truly, this program changed my life. I wouldn't be who I am as a person, I found myself and who I was here, with these girls on the soccer field. To be in the position I am, I'll be forever grateful." Both Hodge and senior goalkeeper Maddy Anderson fought back tears as they faced a press room with their emotions on their sleeve. Next to them was their head coach, James Armstrong, who will continue building what 11 seniors helped him construct, a winning program with championship aspirations. |
| Britney Spears' niece -- Jamie Lynn Spears' daughter -- commits to Southern Miss softball | |
 | Southern Miss has new connections to celebrities Jamie Lynn Spears and Britney Spears. Maddie Watson, the daughter of Jamie Lynn Spears, committed to the Golden Eagles softball team. Jamie Lynn Spears was the star in a Nickelodeon TV show "Zoey 101" where she played Zoey Brooks. She's also the younger sister of Britney Spears, the musical artist. Watson and Jamie Lynn Spears shared Instagram posts announcing the commitment. They include pictures of the two of them, plus stepfather Jamie Watson, on campus at the 50-yard line of M. M. Roberts Stadium, the eagle statue and inside Duff Athletic Center. "I'm so thankful to all the players, coaches, and family that have supported me and made it possible to get to the point I am today," Maddie Watson wrote. "All in my feels, bc my baby girl has committed to furthering her athletic & academic career at the University of Southern Miss," Jamie Lynn Spears wrote on Instagram. Watson attends Oak Forest Academy in Amite City, Louisiana, according to her Instagram page. However, Jamie Lynn Spears and Britney Spears were born in McComb, Mississippi, and attended Parklane Academy. |
| Hunting: What will duck season look like in Mississippi and why everyone should care | |
| Winter is almost here and for many Mississippians that means it's time to hunt ducks, but after decades of conservation efforts and billions of dollars spent to boost the numbers of waterfowl, what will the season look like in Mississippi and why should everyone care? "It's all weather dependent," Houston Havens, Waterfowl Program coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, said of the duck numbers in Mississippi this season, which openes Nov. 28 and closes Dec. 1 before reopening Dec. 7 and lasting through Jan. 31, 2025. "The latest reports I've seen have been below average." As Havens said though, the numbers of ducks in Mississippi in winter are dependent on weather. "It is changing by the day," Havens said. "Hopefully for the better with the weather changing. We need weather to push the ducks south for hunting in Mississippi." Although surveys indicated lower-than-average duck numbers in Mississippi going into the season, Havens noted that the numbers can swell quickly like they did last duck season when an Arctic blast came through in January. Protecting the habitats used by ducks certainly benefits the population, but it does a lot more. The grasslands and wetlands used by waterfowl act as filters that make for healthier water quality in streams and rivers. That also leads to healthier oceans and other saltwater bodies such as the Mississippi Sound and Gulf of Mexico that provide seafood for much of the nation and elsewhere. |
| Final week shows expanded Southeastern Conference just means more chaos | |
| One thing is sure as the newly expanded Southeastern Conference wraps up its regular season: Two new teams has just meant more chaos in a league that seemingly had settled in formation behind Georgia and Alabama. The SEC's "New Era" with no divisions and 16 teams hasn't changed that much heading into rivalry week. No. 6 Georgia already has a slot in the league's championship game for the ninth time since 2011, needing a win in a showdown the Bulldogs might rather have avoided solidify its playoff hopes. Old foes renew a rivalry for the other spot in Atlanta when No. 3 Texas visits No. 20 Texas A&M on Saturday, the first time the two have played in 13 years. And then there's No. 7 Tennessee. Tied for third in the SEC, the Volunteers might be in the perfect spot Saturday. They can polish their College Football Playoff resume against surprising Vanderbilt, though coach Josh Heupel is focused on the team that beat then-No. 1 Alabama in October. "There's a lot of football to be played," Heupel said. "That's for everybody across the country." |
| The making of the 12-team playoff: Inside the historic creation of the new college football postseason | |
| Deep within Jack Swarbrick's home, down a flight of stairs, across a basement floor and inside a small closet, the original relics of the expanded College Football Playoff format exist. These note-filled papers are artifacts of an 18-month-long endeavor to create the largest and most significant postseason concept in college football history. They are kept safe and secret here, buried inside a brown box, only to be unearthed as evidence of a process that, perhaps, changed the sport forever. "Some of them are in a landfill somewhere," Swarbrick says, "but the ones I thought would be useful if I ever wrote a book are here with me in Indianapolis." These notebooks tell quite a tale: how four college athletics executives spent nearly two years, in secret, covertly meeting at airport hotels, while using masking tape to cover conference room walls with drawn-up brackets, finally arriving at the 12-team playoff model used today. The working group of three conference commissioners, Bob Bowlsby (Big 12), Greg Sankey (SEC) and Craig Thompson (Mountain West), and one athletic director, Swarbrick (Notre Dame), examined nearly 100 playoff models -- from four teams to 32 -- during gatherings that spanned a global pandemic and, in the end, produced the format's public rollout in June 2021. "It's so beautiful what the 12 has done," said Bill Hancock, the former CFP executive director who assembled the working group in 2019 and was one of the few people involved in their meetings. "The real beauty is the value it places on conference championships. We're seeing that. The premium it places on conference championships ... it's magic." Three-and-a-half years later, following a drama-filled approval process, the fruits of their labor are now more tangible than ever. Bracket selections are less than two weeks away --- a historic and momentous occasion for an industry that, for decades, resisted such a multi-round postseason tournament. |
| NFL Thanksgiving Matchups Won't Spoil the Feast for Advertisers | |
| There are worse things than the New York Giants, although admittedly not a lot of them. Thursday's main course is one example; turkey may be the clucking embodiment of a sort of Tebow-esque blandness, but that's only when it's not trying to kill you. E. coli and salmonella often lurk in the store-bought birds, while their free-range, free-love country cousins are rife with avian chlamydiosis and lung fungus. And a hale and hearty bird is no prize either, what with that red ear-lobey thing hanging from his neck. And yet, for all that, something like 80 million Americans this week will take to the highways and skies, traveling far and wide to partake in the communal feast of ritual mediocrity. And while the late-afternoon NFL matchup promises to be about as palatable as a Jell-O salad -- hooves and marshmallows: two great tastes that go great together -- roughly half of these road warriors will slip away from the table to watch the Giants take on the Dallas Cowboys in the House that Jerry Built. That's how traditions work. We do things we don't always enjoy, because some people, now long dead, thought it was a good idea when they were still calling the shots. If the prospect of a 4-7 Dallas team playing host to a 2-9 Giants squad doesn't necessarily light up the neural pleasure centers, Fox can take comfort in the knowledge that the NFL's 57-year-old tradition is as indispensable to the holiday as cranberry sauce. You will watch because: a) there's nothing else on, and b) even sub-par football is still, well, football. Witness last year's centerpiece game, a 45-10 Cowboys blowout of their NFC East rivals from the nation's capital. While not something you'd hang in the Louvre, CBS' broadcast gobbled up an average draw of 41.8 million viewers, making it the NFL's second-biggest regular-season game. As in, ever. |
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