| Monday, December 2, 2024 |
| Maple was found with two crushed legs. One couple used their wedding fund to help her | |
 | On Halloween, Maple the goldendoodle lay broken and muddy on the side of the road in Arkansas, her back legs shattered with no owner in sight. By Thanksgiving, due to the help of veterinarians at Mississippi State University and the help of two strangers willing to sacrifice their wedding savings, she was walking again. Dylan McCay found the 10-month-old puppy in October after seeing a Facebook post that afternoon that said she had been hit by a car around 9 a.m. Halloween morning. "Once I saw the post, I just got some blankets and towels and started driving out there, hoping that I wouldn't find her, that somebody else had already addressed the situation ... but I found her," he told The Dispatch on Friday. Maple was checked in at MSU's Animal Emergency and Referral Center, and Dr. Michael Jaffe, College of Veterinary Medicine Chief of Small Animal Surgery, and Dr. Weston Beamon, a second-year surgical resident, began planning her treatment. When he called Jaffe, Schrand had suggested at least one of Maple's legs may need to be amputated due to the threat of infection. But after taking another look, Jaffe felt optimistic about saving both of the dog's legs. "The surgeries went really, really well," he told The Dispatch. "We were super happy with how the fractures came together. (We) repaired each leg in exactly the same fashion with a plate, screws and some pins." But that was only half the battle for Maple, who had to start aggressive physical therapy after her surgery. Over the next three weeks, more than 30 people at the MSU Animal Health Center worked Maple's case, from ER students to doctors to radiologists. It was a team effort that paid off, Jaffe said. |
| MSU Horticulture Club's annual holiday poinsettia sale set for Dec. 6 | |
| The Mississippi State University Horticulture Club is hosting its annual holiday poinsettia sale on Dec. 6. The campus and community are invited to the event from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the greenhouses behind Dorman Hall, located at 32 Creelman St. Shoppers are advised to enter through the parking lot behind the greenhouses. Prices are as follows: 5 inches for $6; 6 inches for $8; and 8 inches for $15. Cash, check or Venmo payments are accepted. For more information, contact Professor Richard Harkess at richard.harkess@msstate.edu or (662) 325-2311. |
| MSU Dining Services provides Thanksgiving meals for students | |
 | Not all college students can make it home for Thanksgiving, so Mississippi State University is making sure they have a traditional feast. The university provided a traditional meal for students to enjoy over the holiday. Students picked up meals of turkey, dressing, and traditional sides today at the Fresh Food Company on campus. Many were international students and dining services staff say they hope the meal gives them a taste of the season and a reason to be thankful. "Seeing the students that are not fortunate enough to go home and see the family so we're trying to be the extended family they don't have right here at Mississippi state dining and this is our second year doing this and it's good...leaving a footprint in the community that students know that we care we have to support them," said Dominic Towe from MSU Dining Services. More than 300 students picked up meals during the first pick-up. |
| Christmas parades roll into the Golden Triangle | |
| Holiday cheer is about to roll through the cities of the Golden Triangle once again, as Christmas parades are on the horizon. Festivities kick off with the Starkville Christmas Parade at 6 p.m. Monday on Main Street. The parade will follow the theme "Christmas Royale," and will feature former Major League Baseball pitcher Roy Oswalt as the grand marshal, according to an email from Starkville Main Street Director Paige Watson with the Greater Starkville Development Partnership. "The Christmas parade is such a special event and wouldn't be possible without our sponsor, Reed's," Watson said in a text to The Dispatch. "We are so proud that this year we have 80 applicants and the parade will be featured on even more broadcast channels. We are looking forward (to) a very special evening celebrating the holiday season in Starkville." |
| Black Friday shoppers catch good deals in area stores | |
| The busiest shopping day of the year has arrived. Black Friday sales have begun and Christmas shoppers are out. "We're just kind of randomly going around Starkville just trying to find some good deals. We went to Book Mart and found a lot of good deals, bought the boys some shirts for Christmas, so we're hoping to find some good deals here," said Ashley McCain. Academy Sports and Outdoors in Starkville opened its doors at 5 AM -- four hours earlier than normal. "It's been pretty steady. We've seen a lot of traffic especially pick up in the last hour or two," said Bryan Day, an Academy manager. Rodney Hogan and his family came from West Point with a specific goal in mind. He was shopping for "hunting material, boots and stuff like that. Work boots. I found exactly what I wanted. Work boots," said Hogan. Many stores will be opening earlier and closing later between now and Christmas Eve. |
| Earthquake strikes Jackson area on Thanksgiving Day | |
 | A 2.5 magnitude earthquake struck near the Ross Barnett Reservoir on Thanksgiving Day, the United States Geological Survey confirmed. The minor-earthquake struck around 12 kilometers southeast of Canton at a depth of 5 kilometers. It happened around 7:48 a.m. No damage was reported. The quake was recorded on the north side of the of the reservoir near where Highway 43 crosses the lake and south of the Natchez Trace Parkway. Earthquakes have occurred in the region before. "Until 2014, when the dramatic increase in earthquake rates gave Oklahoma the number one ranking in the conterminous U.S., the most seismically active area east of the Rocky Mountains was in the Mississippi Valley area known as the New Madrid seismic zone," according to the USGS website. In the winter of 1811 and 1812, according to the USGS, the New Madrid seismic zone "generated a sequence of earthquakes that lasted for several months and included three very large earthquakes estimated to be between magnitude 7 and 8. The three largest 1811-1812 earthquakes destroyed several settlements along the Mississippi River." |
| Why your favorite catalogs are smaller this holiday season | |
 | Honey, they shrunk the catalogs. While retailers hope to go big this holiday season, customers may notice that the printed gift guides arriving in their mailboxes are smaller. Many of the millions of catalogs getting sent to U.S. homes were indeed scaled down to save on postage and paper, resulting in pint-sized editions. Lands' End, Duluth Trading Company and Hammacher Schlemmer are among gift purveyors using smaller editions. Some retailers are saving even more money with postcards. Lisa Ayoob, a tech-savvy, online shopper in Portland, Maine, was surprised by the size of a recent catalog she received from outdoor apparel company Carbon2Cobalt. "It almost felt like it was a pamphlet compared to a catalog," she said. Catalogs have undergone a steady recalibration over the years in response to technological changes and consumer behavior. The thick, heavy Sears and J.C. Penney catalogs that brought store displays to American living rooms slimmed down and gave way to targeted mailings once websites could do the same thing. Recent postal rate increases accelerated the latest shift to compact formats. Fans of printed information may rejoice to hear that apparel retailer J.Crew relaunched its glossy catalog this year. Research shows that the hands-on experience of thumbing through a catalog leaves a greater impression on consumers, said Jonathan Zhang, a professor of marketing at Colorado State University. |
| Online holiday shopping brings variety of scams as well as goods | |
| If you are planning to spend money online this holiday season, beware of scams that range from fake delivery texts to ads for nonexistent products. Now is the time to be especially careful when a deal looks too good to be true. Experts warn that we should be particularly cautious if we are among the 100 million Americans expected to shop directly on social media. "A lot of those advertisements are essentially fake brands which are being marketed," said Abhishek Karnik, director of threat research and response at McAfee. Watch out, he said, for fake celebrity endorsements generated by artificial intelligence, sales on hot items that are too good to be true and companies that ask for cryptocurrency or gift cards in payment. Because often, "the product doesn't exist, it doesn't ever get delivered to you. Or if it does get delivered, it could be of substandard quality," Karnik said. According to the AARP, a Marketplace sponsor, about 82% of consumers have been the target or victim of a scam in the last year. "If you're superinterested in an ad from a company you haven't heard of before, open up your web browser and type in that company name with the word 'scam' next to it," advised Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention programs for the advocacy group for older Americans. |
| The Hot New Job for Men: Nursing | |
 | Brandon Holcombe went straight from high school to working as a welder in northern Georgia, but it wasn't for him. Holcombe worried that the field was being automated away by robots, and besides, he wanted something with more problem-solving skills. Now, a decade later and at 28 years old, Holcombe is a long way from welding, studying at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to become a registered nurse. "Each day brings new learning opportunities," Holcombe said. The number of men in the U.S. with the job of registered nurse has nearly tripled since the early 2000s. Many come to the field after working in the military or in jobs, such as paramedics or firefighters, that exposed them to the work of nurses. "What I hear a lot from female students is, 'I've always wanted to be a nurse, I like helping people,' where the men tend to look more at job security and job stability," said Jason Mott, president of the American Association for Men in Nursing. Many of the manufacturing jobs that are being moved overseas, replaced by automation or phased out of the American economy were mostly filled by men. As a result, other occupations traditionally dominated by women are now gaining a larger share of men, including elementary and middle-school teachers and customer-service representatives. Economists at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth found that men who were becoming registered nurses tended to do so in their late 20s or early 30s rather than as their first job. |
| Stealth destroyer to be home for 1st hypersonic weapon on a US warship | |
| The U.S. Navy is transforming a costly flub into a potent weapon with the first shipborne hypersonic weapon, which is being retrofitted aboard the first of its three stealthy destroyers. The USS Zumwalt is at a Mississippi shipyard where workers have installed missile tubes that replace twin turrets from a gun system that was never activated because it was too expensive. Once the system is complete, the Zumwalt will provide a platform for conducting fast, precision strikes from greater distances, adding to the usefulness of the warship. "It was a costly blunder. But the Navy could take victory from the jaws of defeat here, and get some utility out of them by making them into a hypersonic platform," said Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute. The U.S. has had several types of hypersonic weapons in development for the past two decades, but recent tests by both Russia and China have added pressure to the U.S. military to hasten their production. Hypersonic weapons travel beyond Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, with added maneuverability making them harder to shoot down. The Zumwalt arrived at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, in August 2023 and was removed from the water for the complex work of integrating the new weapon system. It is due to be undocked this week in preparation for the next round of tests and its return to the fleet, shipyard spokeswoman Kimberly Aguillard said. |
| Jenifer Branning projected to unseat Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens | |
| At the close of Tuesday night's runoff, the race between sitting Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens and his challenger, State Senator Jenifer Branning was too close to call, with Branning nursing a 3,000 vote lead. Magnolia Tribune now projects Branning will defeat Kitchens to take the District 1, Position 3 seat on the High Court after key outstanding votes were counted. The two big prizes left on the table for Kitchens late Tuesday night were Holmes County and Hinds County's absentee ballots. When Holmes' numbers were released this morning, Kitchens netted 1,337 votes. As first reported by Magnolia Tribune, when Hinds County's 1,723 absentee tally came in mid-morning Wednesday, Kitchens gained another 476 votes. After both Hinds' absentees and Holmes County's in-person voting were counted, Branning's lead fell to 1,216 votes. Reported absentees remaining to be counted in places like Yazoo (127) and Holmes (173) are insufficient to close the gap. Branning won Yazoo County's in-person voting. Branning's absentee ballot counts are also outperforming her in-person support. As an example, she won approximately 24 percent of Hinds County's in-person voting, but 36 percent of reported absentees. A similar pattern played out in Rankin County, where she won approximately 70 percent of in-person voting, but over 80 percent of absentees. District 1 is "bright purple" in a state often considered "deep red." The district consists of the counties of Bolivar, Claiborne, Copiah, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Jefferson, Kemper, Lauderdale, Leake, Madison, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Rankin, Scott, Sharkey, Sunflower, Warren, Washington, and Yazoo. |
| Mississippi Legislature will consider Youth Court reform | |
| Senate Judiciary A Committee Chairman Brice Wiggins will push lawmakers next year to support legislation to place a full-time Youth Court judge in every county across the state to make sure children receive a consistent level of treatment in Mississippi's justice system. Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula, told reporters earlier this month that he doesn't know how the Youth Court will specifically be reformed, but it would ultimately place more full-time judges in the state. "I think by adding those judges, it would bring a sense of uniformity because I think it would bring the staffing and the structures to go along with it," Wiggins said. Mississippi has a hodgepodge Youth Court system that differs from county to county. Youth Court deals with most instances where children commit crimes and where adults are accused of abusing and neglecting minors. Wiggins' decision to introduce Youth Court reform legislation during the 2025 legislative session is partly based on a report published by a 19-person Youth Court Commission that concluded Mississippi needs a system where every county has a full-time Youth Court judge in every county. |
| Corps releases plan backing Yazoo pump project | |
| Five years after floods devastated a large swath of the Mississippi Delta, the federal government is one step closer to implementing a plan to address it. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced its support for a plan that would include the installation of high-volume pumps, as well as voluntary buyouts from some property owners in the affected Yazoo Backwater Study Area in an Environmental Impact Statement released Friday. The plan comes five years after flooding from the Mississippi River inundated approximately 486,000 acres of land in 2019 after heavy rains upstream increased the Mississippi River levels for several months. It also comes more than three years after the Environmental Protection Agency reversed a Trump-era decision that would have allowed a pump plan to go forward. U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith praised the Corps' announcement as a major milestone to bring flood relief to South Delta residents. "For decades, the government promised flood control solutions to the people of the South Delta. Today's announcement puts us one step closer to preventing further hardship, loss, and frustration in the region. It is time to finish the pumps," Wicker said. Some 600 homes were inundated during the 2019 flood, which also caused about $800 million in agricultural losses. |
| We haven't seen a pardon as sweeping as Hunter Biden's in generations | |
 | Hunter Biden's pardon looks a lot like Richard Nixon's. President Joe Biden's grant of clemency on Sunday night -- an extraordinary political act with extraordinary legal breadth -- insulates his son from ever facing federal charges over any crimes he possibly could have committed over the past decade. Experts on pardons said they could think of only one other person who has received a presidential pardon so sweeping in generations: Nixon, who was given a blanket pardon by Gerald Ford in 1974. "I have never seen language like this in a pardon document that purports to pardon offenses that have not apparently even been charged, with the exception of the Nixon pardon," said Margaret Love, who served from 1990 to 1997 as the U.S. pardon attorney, a Justice Department position devoted to assisting the president on clemency issues. "Even the broadest Trump pardons were specific as to what was being pardoned," Love added. Joe Biden's "full and unconditional pardon" of his son is deliberately vague. The starting date of Jan. 1, 2014, in the Biden pardon was surely not chosen randomly: Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company, in April 2014, while his father was vice president. Republicans have accused the younger Biden of illegally profiting off his position on that board. |
| Trump's USDA pick could focus on foreign investments in agricultural land | |
 | Brooke L. Rollins is poised to tackle foreign investments in U.S. agricultural land if confirmed as Agriculture secretary, but she will face some limitations on the scope of her power to do so. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Nov. 23 that he will nominate Rollins to lead the Agriculture Department. Rollins was a senior aide for Trump during his first administration and is the president and CEO of America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank founded in 2021. The AFPI has called on Congress to restrict China's ability to own U.S. agriculture land. Rollins said in an AFPI video in October that the think tank's agenda mirrors what "would have been the second-term agenda, which we had built out in the last year of the last White House." Foreign investments in U.S. agriculture land accounts for about 40 million acres in 2021, according to the USDA. The Government Accountability Office said in a 2024 study that such purchases, especially when near military installations, can pose national security risks. The USDA collects data on foreign investments under a 1978 Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure law, or AFIDA, but the GAO study found the department doesn't share the information in a timely manner and provided six recommendations for the Agriculture secretary to increase oversight. |
| As Congress Feuds Over Farm Bill, Growers Are 'Stuck in Limbo' | |
 | Congress is feuding over a new farm bill, making lawmakers likely to punt the matter for another year and leave American farmers and families on food assistance without an update to the legislation that controls how much federal support they receive. Republicans and Democrats agree it is time for an updated bill. The last one was written in 2018 and expired two years ago, meaning American farmers are trying to run their businesses based on 6-year-old policy. But the two parties cannot get past a core dispute over how to pay for it. Republicans want to cut nutrition assistance for the poor to pay for bolstered financial support for farmers, while Democrats refuse to reduce food support for low-income people. The disagreement is likely to only deepen next year, with President-elect Donald J. Trump in the White House and Republicans in total control of Congress. "A lot has changed in our world since 2018 and the last farm bill," said Robert Guenther, a former House Agriculture Committee aide and an agriculture policy expert who represents tomato growers in Florida. "We're kind of stuck in limbo with old policy that needs to be modernized and reinvigorated." Underneath the policy fight also lies a political subplot. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, the Democratic chairwoman of the Agriculture Committee who has been her party's leading voice on the issue for more than a decade, will retire in January. |
| Trump takes aim at Mississippi's largest trading partner | |
 | In what would be one of his first actions in January, President-elect Donald J. Trump announced plans Monday that would have an instant impact on Mississippi. The president-elect said he would sign an executive order immediately after his inauguration introducing a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico and Canada and a 10% tariff on goods from China. Canada is Mississippi's largest trading partner and Mississippi would likely feel negative impacts from a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Canada. There also would likely be some reactionary impacts on goods that are exported from Mississippi to Canada. Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director and Chief Economic Development Officer Bill Cork would not address the issues specifically when contacted by the Clarion Ledger on Tuesday. "(Trump) hasn't done it yet, so there is no sense in me commenting on hypotheticals about our largest trading partner," Cork said. One of the largest investments in Mississippi, Tolko Industries of Canada has embarked on a $150 million capital investment in the STP lumber mill in Ackerman that was announced in 2022. Under the banner of Southeastern Timber Products LLC, the project is a joint venture with STP Holdings, LLC, a family-owned and operated manufacturer of southern yellow pine dimension, timber, and decking products for the treating, homebuilding, and repair and remodel sectors. |
| Trump announces plan to replace FBI director with Kash Patel | |
| Donald Trump announced his intention to cut short the term of FBI Director Christopher Wray and select Kash Patel to lead an agency the president-elect often criticized on the campaign trail. The pick would be another high-profile test for Senate Republicans, who would be tasked with deciding whether to confirm Patel, a former Trump administration official who has pledged to identify "conspirators" in the government. Patel is likely to receive scrutiny during his confirmation process for past comments, such as plans to "come after" members of the media. "We're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We're going to come after you, whether it's criminally or civilly. We'll figure that out. But yeah, we're putting you all on notice," Patel said last year on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast. Several GOP senators praised the pick, including Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who's likely to be chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the new year. "Chris Wray has failed at fundamental duties of FBI Dir He's showed disdain for cong oversight & hasn't lived up to his promises It's time 2 chart a new course 4 TRANSPARENCY +ACCOUNTABILITY at FBI," Grassley posted on the social platform X. "Kash Patel must prove to Congress he will reform &restore public trust in FBI." |
| Trump's School-Choice Agenda Hits Pushback From Red-State Voters | |
| President-elect Donald Trump has made school choice a core tenet of his plan to remake education -- but it isn't clear his voters are on board. Trump has indicated that he supports public funding of private schools and other options outside traditional school districts. "We will give all parents the right to choose another school for their children if they want," Trump said in a campaign video. "It's called school choice." Yet school-choice ballot measures lost in three states in the November election, including in two that went strongly for Trump, Kentucky and Nebraska. The results suggest a divide between Republican lawmakers and voters, many of whom have said in opinion surveys that they are generally dissatisfied with what they view as a "woke" agenda in public education but still like their own children's local schools. To school-choice supporters -- which include some parents, Republican politicians and conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation -- subsidizing private or other options outside traditional school districts gives parents more say in their children's education. Teachers unions, Democrats and some public-school parents say that giving families money to go elsewhere drains needed resources from public schools. Before this year, school-choice ballot measures have lost 14 of 16 times, according to an analysis by Christopher Lubienski, a professor of education policy at Indiana University. "These are popular with politicians," said Lubienski, a critic of school vouchers. "But voters tend to push back pretty hard." |
| Dems fear Harris' continued fundraising 'erodes trust' | |
| The 2024 election is over. But Kamala Harris' fundraising emails keep coming -- and sound as urgent as ever. "Even a quick donation of $50 is enough to help us in this fight," said one email sent two weeks after Election Day. "And with only hours left to hit our goal today, NOW is the best time to rush your support." Another recent message carried the simple subject line: "Please do not click away." The fundraising appeals may be necessary: Harris' operation ended with around $20 million in debt, according to two people familiar with her campaign finances and granted anonymity to speak freely. And there are limited ways campaigns can pay that down under federal law. The emails themselves don't mention debt, instead citing the organization's support for recount efforts in close races and legal challenges. And the Harris campaign denies that the campaign or affiliated joint fundraising committees had outstanding debts on Election Day, and says they won't report debts owed in future Federal Election Commission reports due in December. But the fundraising appeals have still continued, and some Democrats fear she may be compounding the party's problems with the tone of some of her appeals -- damaging relationships with online donors who have long powered the party. |
| Herrington Defense Files Motion To Dismiss Capital Murder Indictment | |
 | State Rep. Kevin Horan, the defense attorney for Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., filed a motion in the Lafayette County Circuit Court on Nov. 28 to dismiss Herrington's indictment on the charge of capital murder in the case of the death of Jimmie "Jay" Lee. On July 22, 2022, Herrington was arrested by the Oxford Police Department and initially charged with Lee's murder -- however the charge was elevated to capital murder in the grand jury indictment on March 28, 2023. Horan's motion to dismiss claims the indictment failed to include the statute for kidnapping, citing 14.1(c) of the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure, which requires the indictment to state each provision of law that the defendant is alleged to have committed. Jury selection for the trial is expected to begin on Monday, Dec. 2 outside Lafayette County. The decision to select the jurors from another county -- which has yet to be released -- was made by Luther in August after Horan filed for a change of venue, citing the amount of pretrial media attention the case had received. After the jurors are selected, the rest of the proceedings are set to take place at the Lafayette County Courthouse and are expected to begin Tuesday, Dec. 3. Lee was a 20-year-old who graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2022. He was last seen on July 8, 2022, at approximately 6 a.m. as he was leaving his apartment at Campus Walk just off of Jackson Avenue. |
| How U. of Kentucky's new drug overdose dashboard is helping counties with persistent addiction crises | |
 | Researchers at the University of Kentucky say a new dashboard that tracks granular data about drug overdoses can help the commonwealth combat an addiction crisis that remains stubbornly prevalent in some counties. An improved Drug Overdose and Related Comorbidity County Profiles Dashboard, launched in October by The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center at UK, aims to help the state deploy resources to counties that have not recorded the same decrease in overdose deaths that has been seen statewide. Last year in Estill County, for example, the fatal overdose rate was almost 194 per 100,000 residents --- the county's highest rate since 2016, and a significant increase from 2022, when it was 121 per 100,000 residents. The statewide fatal overdose rate, meanwhile, fell last year to 44 per 100,000 residents. "We want to make sure that the people who need this information can actually use it to make impactful decisions," epidemiologist said Mira Mirzaian, an epidemiologist at UK. "It's all about accessibility and practicality." While fentanyl is still a driving force in overdose deaths, other opioids like heroin have become less pervasive in recent years. Stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine, meanwhile, have become more common. |
| Two Aggie students present comedy thriller 'Maid to Kill' | |
 | What do you get when you mix Monty Python comedy, Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" and the Texas A&M University campus? You get "Maid to Kill," a student film made entirely by two Aggies. "Maid to Kill" was co-directed, co-written and co-produced by Connor N.F. Field and Pranav Krishnan over one year and will be widely released on Sunday. The story of "Maid to Kill" follows Detective Decade Lieutenant and his partner, Officer Hughie Crusade IV, as they try to figure out the mysterious figure known as The Maid-To-Kill. The only clues they have to go on are the killer's fatal flaw of always having to clean the crime scene and a mysterious sign in the rooms of all the victims: "Saturdays are for the boys." While the two co-directors had previously worked on short films, this was the first time they had worked on a feature film. Field, a junior marketing major, said the film allowed him to gain invaluable experience in a variety of fields. "I've always followed this philosophy of, if you can't get your own experience, make it," he said. "I figured that making this movie could get me experience with directing, management, scheduling, advertising, editing, anything that could be creatively focused and I could work on for marketing." The 90-minute movie was written in the fall semester of 2023 and filmed last spring in a variety of locations on-campus and more, Field said. With the budget of two college students, Field said they utilized resources available to them on-campus to make their movie. |
| 4-Year Colleges Ride the Dual-Enrollment Wave | |
 | A few years ago, Moravian University, a small liberal arts college in Bethlehem, Pa., made an unorthodox decision: It would offer courses to local high schoolers. It started off small, a single partnership with Salisbury High School in nearby Allentown. In 2021, 14 students were in the program. But by 2023 Moravian had expanded to four high schools, and in the last year it more than doubled the number of high school students taking its courses -- a practice known as dual or concurrent enrollment -- from 33 to 72. Brian Martin, Moravian's executive director of undergraduate admissions, said the university is working to expand the program to more school districts in the region. "We've seen dramatic growth in the past year alone," Martin said. Moravian, like many four-year colleges, began its dual-enrollment program as an equity initiative to give local high schoolers access to higher-level courses. That's still a key part of the mission, Martin said, only now they're banking on an enrollment windfall, too. That hasn't happened yet. Only five of Moravian's 530-student incoming class came via the dual-enrollment program, a re-enrollment rate of about 1 percent. It's a common challenge for four-year institutions dipping their toes into dual enrollment. Only about 31 percent of dual enrollees at a four-year college re-enroll after they graduate from high school, according to new data from Columbia University's Community College Research Center, and that number drops to 23 percent after one term. Meanwhile, re-enrollment rates at community colleges average about 40 percent. |
| Home away from home: The history of college dormitories | |
| Whether it's learning how to live alone for the first time or making new friends with the other students on your floor, living on campus is an important part of the college experience for many Americans. As many students near their end of the fall semester and return home for the holidays, we're taking a look at the history of dormitories to see how college housing has changed over the years. Student housing has been a part of American college life since early in the country's history; some dorms were built before the revolution. "Colleges were very small, and some of them were in remote, rural locations," said Carla Yanni, a professor of architectural history at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and the author of "Living on Campus: An Architectural History of the American Dormitory." "These were small colleges that were in towns that simply weren't big enough to house the students," she said. Colleges built one large, multipurpose building that included a place for students to sleep, classrooms and a dining hall. Today, college housing continues to serve an important role in the student experience. "We don't really need dormitories, and yet, Americans are far more dedicated to this building type than in other countries and places," Yanni said. |
| States Disinvesting in Higher Ed: Fact or Myth? | |
| hen the American economy plummeted in 2008, higher education found itself an easy target for state lawmakers who had to slash budgets. Headlines like "A Bad Budget" and "Dwindling Funding" became commonplace even as enrollment numbers skyrocketed and entire buckets of state funding vanished. Now, more than 15 years later, state funding nationally, on average, has finally bounced back and in some cases begun to surpass pre-recession levels. The positive trends have sparked discussion about whether it's time to end a long-running debate over state disinvestment -- or lack thereof -- in higher education. A recent report from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, that documented state funding and tuition revenue at public colleges over the past four decades has prompted the latest installment of disagreements over the issue. The author, Andrew Gillen, argues that data shows state disinvestment is a myth. "I have no idea why this is an ongoing debate, because this isn't a particularly hard thing. You plot the numbers over time and look for a trend line," said Gillen, a research fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom. "This is not rocket science. So it's surprising and frustrating to me that this has been a debate for such a long time." But conversations with other policy analysts, higher education lobbyists and academic researchers show that much of the disagreement comes down to how to define disinvestment and how to measure state funding changes. |
| What consequences will Trump's victory have on health care in Mississippi? | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: Elections have consequences, the winning side has often boasted. Donald Trump's victory and return to the White House could have major consequences on health care -- specifically on Medicaid expansion -- in Mississippi. In theory, Trump's election should make it easier to finally enact Medicaid expansion in the state to provide health insurance for the working poor. During the 2024 Mississippi legislative session, efforts to pass Medicaid expansion were unsuccessful, in part because of an insistence by some Republican leaders that to qualify for Medicaid expansion, a person, should be working in most instances. The work requirement created an impasse in the Mississippi Legislature because the administration of President Joe Biden was not approving work requirements to be eligible for Medicaid expansion. So Medicaid expansion ultimately died because some supporters of expansion believed that mandating the work requirement was a type of poison pill -- in essence, lawmakers could say they voted for Medicaid expansion, but in reality did not pass a bill that would expand health care options for poor people. But there is a general belief that the Donald Trump administration will approve work requirements and might even try to demand them in the 40 states that already have expanded Medicaid. |
SPORTS
| Long-Time Mississippi State Supporters Make Significant $3 Million Commitment To Athletics | |
| Mississippi State Athletics has received a $3 million gift from a family of long-time supporters of the Bulldogs' athletics programs, Director of Athletics Zac Selmon announced Wednesday. This significant contribution from the family who wishes to remain anonymous will support the department's State Excellence Fund, continuing the momentum of elevating the Bulldogs into the future of collegiate athletics. The family, which includes multiple Mississippi State alums and resides outside of the state of Mississippi, said: "Mississippi State has always held a special place in our hearts. We're excited to invest in the athletic department's mission of building the best program in the country while providing incredible resources for its student-athletes. We believe in Mississippi State and Zac's vision to move our athletics programs forward in this evolving landscape of college sports." Launched earlier this fall, the State Excellence Fund is dedicated to enhancing student-athlete resources and providing athletic benefits in a highly competitive environment. "We are so grateful for the outstanding generosity and investment from this family of Bulldog supporters and that they share our vision for success," Selmon said. "This gift is another incredible step forward for Mississippi State Athletics and our student-athletes, and it is a powerful testament to our exciting future ahead." Mississippi State continues to fundraise for the future success of its programs. If you are interested in learning more or supporting its initiatives, visit StateExcellenceFund.com. |
| Mississippi State gifted $3 million to boost resources for student-athletes | |
| Mississippi State's athletics department has received a much-appreciated $3 million gift in an ever-evolving college sports landscape. Name, image, and likeness compensation and the transfer portal have certainly created an opportunity for schools like Mississippi State to compete with counterparts that have historically been at the apex of the sports world. However, for a program to catch up with others, a collective effort must be undertaken to ensure that resources are available to attract premier athletes. This gift, made available by an anonymous out-of-state family with deep ties to the university, certainly aids Athletics Director Zac Selmon's efforts to add cream-of-the-crop talent to each roster on campus. The multi-million dollar contribution will support the recently announced State Excellence Fund, which aims to enhance student-athlete resources and provide athletic benefits in a highly competitive environment. Back in September, Mississippi State received an anonymous pledge of $8 million, the second-largest commitment in program history, to launch the State Excellence Fund. |
| Basketball Dawg Talk Debuts On Monday | |
| Mississippi State basketball's radio show, "Dawg Talk" presented by Learfield, makes its 2024-25 season debut on Monday at Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux from 7-8 p.m. CT with head coaches Chris Jans and Sam Purcell. The 60-minute program airs on the MSU Sports Radio Network affiliates from Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux which is locally owned by State alumni and located at 996 MS HWY 12 E in Starkville. Neil Price, "The Voice of the Bulldogs", will serve as the show's host for the men whereas Jason Crowder will act as the host on the women's side. For those unable to attend the show in-person, "Dawg Talk" can be watched online at www.Facebook.com/HailState in addition to being streamed courtesy of Hail State On-Demand at www.HailState.com/watch and The Varsity Network App. The two programs have combined for an impressive 15-1 start through the first month of the season. Both programs will face highly-anticipated SEC/ACC Challenge matchups this week. The men's team welcomes Pittsburgh to Humphrey Coliseum at 8:15 p.m. CT on Wednesday, while the women's program travels to Georgia Tech, also on Wednesday. |
| Rose Bowl Stadium announces renovation plans for 102-year-old landmark | |
 | The Rose Bowl Stadium is known for its traditions and moments but even the historic venue has to be renovated to help reaffirm its place as a top-end destination in Southern California. While the 102-year-old national historic landmark in Pasadena remains a captivating location for some, it does have to fend off the arrival of SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome, which are drawing some of the bigger events to Inglewood. The Rose Bowl was completed in 1922 and has served as the host of Super Bowls and college football championship games. among others. The venue will also host its third Olympic Games in 2028. The Rose Bowl Operating Company and the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation announced the Lasting Legacy Campaign Monday morning. It is a revitalization plan for the stadium over the next several years. In the coming weeks, the Rose Bowl will be part of the expanded College Football Playoff for 2024-25 on New Year's Day. An agreement was reached in 2022 which was considered the final hurdle before the CFP could expand to a 12-team playoff. The Rose Bowl will host a semifinal game in the sport's first year with the expanded playoff. The stadium has held well over 100,000 fans and most recently hosted the 2024 Rose Bowl Game with 96,371 in attendance to watch the CFP semifinal between Alabama and Michigan. |
| How 24 Hours of Chaos Remade the College Football Playoff Race | |
| You may not have noticed, but for most of the past 10 years, the final month of college football's regular season had become rather ho-hum. Ever since the four-team College Football Playoff was introduced in 2015, November was a time when only a handful of teams -- and usually the same ones year after year -- had a realistic shot at earning a semifinal spot so late in the season. The lack of suspense was one of the most compelling reasons for why the playoff field was expanded to 12 teams this year. (This being college football, the other compelling reason was money, obviously.) The thinking went that more postseason slots up for grabs would mean more teams playing meaningful games after Halloween. Now that the first November of the 12-team era is officially done, it's fair to say that the plan worked. Maybe a little too well. Conference races were already a mess heading into the final weekend of the regular season. Then came two days of gloriously chaotic, completely unhinged and utterly mind-blowing games that managed to table-flip the entire playoff race in the span of 24 hours. "Obviously today's been an interesting day in its own right," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on Saturday afternoon -- and that was before Miami watched its season go down the drain at the hands of Syracuse. |
| College sports reform could advance in GOP-controlled Congress, with Sen. Ted Cruz as NCAA ally | |
| The NCAA's yearslong efforts to get lawmakers to address myriad problems in college sports could finally pay off in the new, Republican-controlled Congress. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who is set to take over as chair of the powerful Commerce Committee, said recently that a college sports bill will be a top priority, accusing Democrats of dragging their feet on needed reforms. He still needs Democratic support for any bill to pass the necessary 60-vote threshold in the Senate, and that means some compromise with lawmakers who are more concerned about athlete welfare than giving the NCAA more authority. "Clearly the situation is much more doable with Republicans in control," said Tom McMillen, a former Democratic congressman who played college basketball and for several years led an association of Division I athletic directors. "From the standpoint of the NCAA's perspective, this is sort of an ideal scenario for them." Cruz and others want to preserve at least parts of an amateur athlete model at the heart of college sports that has provided billions of dollars in scholarships and fueled decades of success by the United States at the Olympics. |
| Specter of Trump Tariffs Has Sports Companies Bracing for Impact | |
| Amer Sports CFO Andrew Page didn't mince words on Tuesday when discussing the effect that looming tariffs might have on his business. "We have some degree of flexibility to adjust our supply chain," Page said on the company's earnings call, "but price increases will be the primary tool we utilize should tariffs occur." It's a conversation happening across the U.S. business world. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose hefty tariffs on some foreign imports, most notably a proposed 60% tax on those from China. For companies like Amer (NYSE: AS) that manufacture sportswear and hardgoods in China that are then sold in the U.S., it has created open questions over how to pay those tariffs, and whether to make rapid changes to existing supply chains. "It's the topic that everyone in the industry is talking about," Todd Smith, CEO of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, said in an interview. "And there's not a magic answer; there's no magic solution." Amer's stance -- that any additional costs will be passed along to the consumer -- is exactly what the SFIA fears most. When prices go up, according to Smith, fewer people in the U.S. have access to sports equipment, apparel and infrastructure. The health of Americans, he said, is the "hidden cost to tariffs." That said, there's also a lot of uncertainty surrounding the tariffs themselves. Will they actually happen? When? How large will they be? And which countries will be involved? |
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