| Thursday, December 5, 2024 |
| Mary Means Business: Ice cream shop opens in Starkville | |
 | Starkville's newest ice cream shop opened this week. Blissful Paradise, located at 325 University Drive, sells smoothies, raw juice, milkshakes, fruit salad, ice cream and more. It first opened in Meridian in 2023 but the owner, Kaid Alsaidi, wanted to relocate the business to Starkville hoping to tap into a new demographic. "I think it's going to do better here with the college (students) and teenagers," he said. According to the website, Blissful is open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. In other Starkville news, High Ground at 106 E. Main St. is having its soft opening. The coffee shop and Odyssey Game Room joint is located in the former 929 location and offers various coffee and tea beverages along with sandwiches, salads, baked goods and more. Check out the new coffee spot every day 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The company announced it would host a grand opening in the near future. If you're looking to get into the holiday spirit, another coffee shop in town is hosting an inaugural Christmas Bazaar. On Saturday, Umble Coffee Co., 216 Industrial Park Road, will host the company's first Christmas event from 8 a.m. to noon. |
| Starkville firefighter becomes department's first woman sergeant | |
| Anna Beth Robertson didn't set out to become a firefighter. She was studying for her psychology degree at Mississippi State University and happened to work out at the same gym as some of Starkville's firefighters. What she did have, however, was a drive to excel that led her from that chance encounter all the way to a position as Starkville Fire Department's first female fire sergeant. "I was doing my little workout when our current training officer Brian Arnett came up to me and said, 'Whenever you really want to work out you can come work out with us,'" she told The Dispatch on Wednesday. "He didn't know me. I didn't know him. But I guess I took it as a challenge because I started working out with them. They gave me some training gear, and after that I was hooked." Arnett remembers the encounter. "One of the other guys just mentioned something about her being strong, so I invited her," Arnett said. "Coming into a male-dominated world, fairly or unfairly, she feels like she has to consistently prove herself. But it does give her an incredible drive to say, 'Not only can I do what you do, I can do it better than you.' It's just part of her personality, and it's made her great." |
| Lee County approves Target agreement, Tupelo needs more time | |
 | Lee County and Tupelo officials continue to work toward what they believe will be a significant economic boon: the establishment of retail chain Target within the All-America City. While the Lee County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the development and reimbursement agreement for the Target Corporation storefront planned for the Barnes Crossing area, the Tupelo City Council voted to table the matter until its next meeting later this month. "This isn't the final step, but this is close to the final step," City Attorney Ben Logan said during the Monday afternoon pre-council meeting, noting that the agreement condenses about 15 pages of legal documents into a single paragraph of obligations and expectations. Following the Tuesday night meeting, Logan said there were last-second changes to the agreement specifically for the city, meaning this delay would not affect the status of the supervisor's approval. He expected the kinks to be worked out by the next meeting, scheduled for Dec. 18. The agreement irons out details and obligations for the city, county and Target Corporation, including infrastructure agreements, potential reimbursements and other topics. |
| Mississippi revenue collections rebound in November | |
 | Mississippi state revenues rebounded in November, after dipping below legislative estimates the prior month. The Legislative Budget Office reported Tuesday that the total revenue collections for November were $7,704,685, or 1.48 percent above the sine die revenue estimate. This means revenue collections have exceeded estimates four out of five months so far this fiscal year. When comparing the November General Fund collections with the prior year, revenue was down $227,313, or 0.05 percent. Sales tax collections and corporate income tax collections for the month were also down compared to the prior year, coming in at $5.9 million and $24.2 million, respectively, below November 2023. However, despite the continued phase in of the 2022 state income tax cut, individual income tax collections for November were above the prior year by $9.6 million. State Economist Corey Miller told lawmakers at a Joint Legislative Budget Committee meeting in mid-November that individual income tax revenues are up 1.6 percent through the first four month of this fiscal year compared to the same period last year. He attributed the increase to an 0.8 percent increase in the state's labor force participation rate as of April. Miller also noted that residential employment is up 1.7 percent in the last six months. |
| Civil rights organizations ask Secretary Watson to explain mail-in ballot 'confusion' | |
| A group of civil rights organizations wrote a letter to Secretary of State Michael Watson's office Tuesday asking for an explanation for why the agency declared that Wednesday would be the final day that elections workers could process mail-in absentee ballots. Representatives from Disability Rights Mississippi, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the state conference of the NAACP said that Watson's office, which oversees state elections, unilaterally counted Friday, November 29, as a business day, even though the state government considered that day a holiday. The questions from the three organizations come at a time when incumbent Justice Jim Kitchens and Republican state Sen. Jenifer Branning remain locked in a tight race for a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court as absentee ballots are being counted. The reason for the questions surrounding what the agency considers a business day is that current state law allows local election workers to process mail-in absentee ballots for five business days after Election Day, as long as the absentee ballots were postmarked by the date of the election. Though the United States Postal Service conducted business on Friday November 29, Gov. Tate Reeves declared November 28 and November 29 state holidays because of Thanksgiving. |
| Will Sen. Mitch McConnell sink another Donald Trump cabinet nominee? | |
 | When Donald Trump's trial balloon to name Matt Gaetz attorney general popped after just eight days, Mitch McConnell reacted with his trademark restraint. "I think that was appropriate," the lame duck GOP leader said of Gaetz's withdrawal. McConnell never publicly outlined his opposition to the aberrant former Florida congressman becoming the nation's chief law enforcement officer -- because he didn't have to. Kentucky's senior senator was among a cadre of GOP senators who privately locked arms to convey that Gaetz couldn't get to 50 Senate votes, even with an incoming Republican majority. And MAGA fans knew it. "You gotta give the devil its due," Steve Bannon told The Dispatch, referring to McConnell, before lamenting to Puck, "What's going to hold us back is Mitch McConnell." Now, as Pete Hegseth's nomination for secretary of defense teeters on the brink on Capitol Hill amid allegations of sexual misconduct, an open question in Washington is how far McConnell will go to preserve the Senate's role to "advise" on the president-elect nominees and which among them looks most vulnerable to a quiet killshot from the "Old Crow." "I think he will exercise his vote and will bring others along with him to selectively block the very worst of the Trump nominees. By that I mean the most dangerous ones," said Norm Eisen, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institute who conversed with McConnell on the floor during Trump's first impeachment trial. If Hegseth falls similarly to Gaetz, McConnell won't have to do more than watch. Given his traditional posture and emphasis on national security, some observers believe Tulsi Gabbard's nomination to be Director of National Intelligence could be the next most likely Trump pick to fall into McConnell's crosshairs. |
| DeSantis' political future widens as Trump dangles Defense chief job | |
 | Nearly a year ago, the political future of Ron DeSantis appeared to be buried in the snow alongside the highways of Iowa he had spent weeks criss-crossing, ahead of a second-place thumping at the hands of Donald Trump in that state's crucial caucuses. Now, Trump's trip back to the White House is helping revitalize DeSantis' fortune, giving him an opportunity to further cement his legacy in Florida -- or even hand the governor a prestigious spot in his administration running the Pentagon. Either path could put him in a place for another run for president in 2028, which the governor's allies have said repeatedly he is interested in. Trump's earlier picks for his administration have given DeSantis the opportunity for a legacy-defining pick to fill the Senate seat soon being vacated by Marco Rubio, which would let DeSantis further leave his mark on the state. But there may be an even greater prize; the president-elect has been considering offering DeSantis the position of Defense secretary if his current pick, Pete Hegseth, is unable to overcome opposition to his nomination that has built up in the Senate as allegations against him have spilled into view. Many DeSantis allies see the Defense secretary job as being attractive to DeSantis, giving him the keys to run the world's most powerful bureaucracy -- and just as important, will keep him in the spotlight ahead of any potential future presidential run. But some close to the two men think there are still pitfalls. |
| Romney denounces politicians who 'tear at our unity' in farewell Senate speech | |
 | Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah), a former GOP presidential nominee who later criticized fellow Republican Donald Trump, delivered his farewell address on the Senate floor Wednesday, stressing the importance of bipartisanship and promising to be "a voice of unity and virtue" after he leaves Washington. "There are some today who would tear at our unity, who would replace love with hate, who would deride our foundation of virtue or who debase the values on which the blessings of heaven depend," Romney said in his floor speech. Appearing somewhat emotional at times, Romney praised his fellow senators, and he expressed one regret: not resolving the growing national debt. "I will leave this chamber with a sense of achievement, but in truth, I will also leave with the recognition that I did not achieve everything I hoped," Romney said. "Among other things, the scourge of partisan politics has frustrated repeated efforts to stabilize our national debt." Romney, 77, joined the Senate in 2019 and announced his decision to retire after one term, telling The Washington Post last year that it was time for the next generation to "step up" and "shape the world they're going to live in." He also said a second Senate term would be less productive than his first, blaming discord among House Republicans and his own lack of confidence in the leadership of President Joe Biden and Trump. His retirement marks the end of a political career, during which he observed the transformation of his political party and, at times, drew ire from its leader. |
| Trump picks billionaire astronaut to lead NASA | |
| U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen billionaire businessman and pilot Jared Isaacman as the next NASA administrator. The founder and CEO of Shift4, a payment processing company, Isaacman has twice paid to fly in space aboard capsules built by SpaceX, a rocket company led by Elon Musk, a close Trump ally. "Jared will drive NASA's mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration," said Trump in a 4 December post on Truth Social. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Isaacman, 41, would oversee NASA's $25 billion budget, which includes roughly $7 billion for science. He would replace 82-year-old Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and senator from Florida. "We've gone nowhere since Apollo, because we keep changing destinations," says Clive Neal, a lunar scientist at the University of Notre Dame. He says Isaacman will "have energy, which we haven't seen in the last 4 years." The nomination is drawing praise even across the political aisle. Democrat George Whitesides, newly elected to the House of Representatives from California, said in an email he believes Isaacman will be "excellent." Whitesides, who served as NASA's chief of staff under former President Barack Obama and later was CEO of commercial space flight company Virgin Galactic, adds that Isaacman understands the breadth of NASA's responsibilities, "from the cutting edge of aircraft research to ambitious human space flight, from studying the Earth system to robotic Solar System exploration." |
| How backlash to the pandemic helped shape Trump's health picks | |
 | If there's a theme among President-elect Donald Trump's health Cabinet picks, it's this: The vast majority were critics of how the Biden administration handled COVID-19. The pandemic upended Americans' perspective on public health and health care delivery, both throughout the United States and among Republican lawmakers. Policy experts say that change is evident in Trump's selections to lead major U.S. health agencies. That change is particularly notable in Trump's pick for secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who has been critical of the federal government's pandemic response. Trump and Republicans have praised Kennedy for bucking conventional thinking when it comes to public health, even though many of Kennedy's theories and proposals are not backed by science. On the campaign trail, Trump won voters by promising to buck the system. But public health experts warn that moving too far from the medical establishment and rejecting scientific data could have disastrous consequences. "If [Trump's health nominees] move too far out of the mainstream of what we know is correct from a science and evidence perspective, they're going to have a very tough time getting things done," said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. |
| Some Justices Appear Ready to Allow Bans on Transgender Care. One Is a Mystery. | |
 | Several Supreme Court justices signaled a willingness Wednesday to let states prohibit transgender teenagers from obtaining puberty blockers and other treatments, but the outcome of the case appeared uncertain after one closely watched justice, Neil Gorsuch, said nothing during more than two hours of proceedings. The court heard arguments to decide the constitutionality of a 2023 ban enacted in Tennessee. The families of three transgender teens, along with the Biden administration, argued that the measure discriminates based on sex, therefore violating the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. Their argument hinges on the fact that Tennessee forbids medical treatment only for what practitioners call gender dysphoria but allows use of the same hormones and drugs for other conditions. While most of the justices signaled their inclinations through their questions, Gorsuch's silence and the evenhanded approach of Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested their votes would control the outcome. Gorsuch wrote a 2020 opinion extending civil rights for transgender employees; on Wednesday, he was an enigma, occasionally donning black reading glass and glancing through legal papers as the argument unfolded. Both Gorsuch and Barrett joined a 2022 decision overruling Roe v. Wade, but she has sought a pragmatic middle ground in some subsequent hot-button cases. Her questions during the session suggested she was still grappling with the case's implications. |
| Kroger Partners With Grove Grocery To Gather Donations | |
 | This month, Kroger shoppers in Oxford will have the opportunity to round-up their total or make a donation to benefit Grove Grocery, the University of Mississippi's campus food pantry. Established in 2013, Grove Grocery helps alleviate food insecurity among the university's student and faculty population. "We give out canned food, refrigerated food, frozen food, but we also have hygiene products and meal swipes as well," Capri Lobotzke, student director of the pantry and junior biomedical engineering major, said. "We offer delivery options and pickup options, so we cater to all the options for students here." Grove Grocery received approximately $10,000 in donations from Kroger during the round-up campaign from last year, Lobotzke said. There are plenty of pressing needs for the food pantry. "One of our biggest struggles has been keeping food in the pantry this year," Lobotzke said. "Within just a couple days, we'll be totally out even buying such a large amount of food." |
| UM Department of Music to hold Holiday Concert | |
| The University of Mississippi Department of Music will host its annual holiday concert on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. An evening of holiday music will be presented featuring a broad range of pieces from sacred to secular, and from traditional to new. It is all to help the performers and audience alike have a wonderful beginning to their holiday season. The program will feature the UM Chorus, directed by Dr. Don Trott and Dr. Elizabeth Hearn, LOU Orchestra, directed by Dr. Selim Giray, UM Steel Orchestra, directed by Dr. Ricky Burkhead, the Mississippians Jazz Ensemble, directed by Dr. Michael Worthy, and The UM Clarinet Ensemble, directed by Dr. Michael Rowlett. "We look forward to the Holiday Concert each year. It's a great way to both bring the semester to a close and to kick off the Holiday Season. We enjoy collaborating with the other directors and ensembles who participate," said Mississippians' director Michael Worthy. |
| Southern Miss students enjoy food, singing at 27th annual 'Lighting The Way' celebration | |
 | The semester's almost over for Southern Miss students, and they came together Wednesday night for some holiday cheer. This year made 27 years since the university started its "Lighting The Way" Christmas celebration. Several speakers took the stage outside before the crowd moved inside the Thad Cochran Center. Students, faculty and community members also enjoyed food, drinks, Christmas carols and even lit the Christmas Tree. "There are many students who don't get to go home, especially international students or students who have jobs in Hattiesburg," Dean of Students Sirena Cantrell said. "They're not able to return home. So, this gets them into that holiday spirit and be around others and be a part of the Southern Miss family." |
| Shared facility allows DuBard School, Children's Center to expand services | |
 | Thanks to a $7.9 million federal grant and a generous $4.5 million anonymous donation, the services offered by the DuBard School for Language Disorders and The Children's Center for Communication and Development will soon expand. The expansion of the shared facility will take place at the University of Southern Mississippi's (USM) Gulf Park. DuBard School provides specialized support for children ages 3 to 13 with severe speech-language disorders. The Children's Center supports children, birth to age 5, to achieve developmental milestones through its interdisciplinary approach. Collectively, they have served more than 5,000 children since they were established. "Based on state data and other statistics available through the Mississippi Department of Health, we know that approximately 600 children in the lower six counties are eligible for early intervention services and an additional 2,600 children are eligible for special education services," said Dr. Lachel Story, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions, where both programs are housed. |
| U.S. Students Posted Dire Math Declines on an International Test | |
 | American students turned in grim results on the latest international test of math skills -- adding to a large body of research showing significant academic declines since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The exam, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, known as TIMSS, was given last year to fourth and eighth graders from dozens of education systems across the globe. The results, released on Wednesday, found that since 2019, American fourth graders have declined 18 points in math, while eighth graders have declined 27 points. In fourth grade, those declines were driven by the struggles of students at the bottom end of the achievement spectrum. While fourth graders in the 75th percentile and above did not decline since 2019, those in the 25th percentile and below declined significantly. In 16 other countries, fourth graders performed better in math in 2023 than in 2019. Among American eighth graders, both high-performing and low-performing students lost ground in math. Overall, American students' performance in math was similar to their performance in 1995, when TIMSS was first given -- a notable stagnation, given the energetic movement to improve American schools over the last three decades. That movement has pushed a flurry of bipartisan laws intended to enact tougher accountability standards for schools, more school choice for parents and more rigorous academic standards. |
| 31st annual Beat Bama Food Drive raises over 900,000 pounds of food | |
| The 31st annual Beat Bama Food Drive wrapped up on Nov. 21, raising 908,928 pounds of food to fight food insecurity in the Auburn area. This year's total was record-breaking, showing the drive's continued success and dedication to addressing hunger. Since it was established, BBFD has been more than just a food drive, it is a tradition. BBFD raises food and money for the Food Bank of East Alabama in a friendly competition against the University of Alabama's Beat Auburn Beat Hunger drive, which supports the West Alabama Food Bank. On Nov. 22, the BBFD committee gathered at the Food Bank of East Alabama to reveal this year's record-breaking total. The moment marked the culmination of weeks of hard work and collaboration among students, local businesses, campus organizations and volunteers. "BBFD's reveal is an extraordinary day that is the culmination of the hard work we put into the drive," Lily Bradford, BBFD President and senior double majoring in accounting and business analytics said. "The emotions are always high, but we know that regardless of the competition's results, we have made a huge impact on both food banks and the food-insecure population across this state." |
| UF Health researchers say update to type 1 diabetes staging system would enhance patient care | |
 | The understanding of type 1 diabetes races forward, propelled by Big Data, technological advances and the urgent hopes of millions globally who long for new treatments or an elusive cure. Now, some researchers suggest the model used to assess the risk of developing type 1 diabetes in individuals with early, symptomless markers of the disease is ready for an update. And it's barely 9 years old, a reflection of the meteoric pace of science and medicine. University of Florida Health diabetes researchers and collaborators last week issued a call to action in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, one of the most prestigious journals in the field, urging the development of a more precise method of calculating type 1 diabetes risk. The hope is that a revised calculation incorporates new knowledge generated by researchers worldwide since the current staging model was published in 2015. Since the model informs treatment decisions, researchers said a change would enhance patient care. "What we're proposing, and this is our personal view, is that we create a more individualized risk tool that the diabetes community can agree on," said pediatric endocrinologist Laura Jacobsen, an assistant professor in the UF College of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics. "We should continue to evolve and get better and better at our prediction." |
| After Handing Out Pay Raises, Ohio State U. Claws Them Back | |
 | Ohio State University announced that it will roll back more than $2 million in raises for hundreds of employees that had been set to take effect on January 1. The raises had been granted to compensate for pending changes to the federal overtime rule, which was supposed to make more workers around the country eligible for overtime pay. But the changes were struck down last month by a federal judge. Until earlier this year, federal law mandated that any employee who made around $35,000 or less per year must be paid overtime if they worked more than 40 hours a week. The Biden administration released a new rule this past spring raising the overtime threshold to about $58,000 by the beginning of 2025, a 66-percent increase over the current threshold, with provisions for further increases every three years. The overtime-rule change affects the many college employees who earn modest salaries but work long hours, especially due to travel. In interviews, college administrators always say with palpable sincerity that they want their employees to be paid fairly. But the federal overtime rule presents numerous challenges for them, including increased personnel costs at a time when many institutions are doing their utmost to hold costs down. Ohio State isn't the only institution that raised some salaries to avoid the additional hassle and costs of administering overtime pay for employees who might regularly work far more than 40 hours a week. Will other colleges roll back those pay increases? Raising the overtime threshold may be dead for now, but the issue will surely return. |
| Howard Expects to Gain R-1 Status. Other HBCUs Will Follow. | |
 | Next year, Howard University is expected to gain Research-1 status, the coveted Carnegie Foundation classification for doctoral universities with very high research activity. HBCU leaders and experts say Howard's ascendance would be a win for the entire sector as more historically Black institutions strive to make it into the upper echelons of research. Currently 10 other HBCUs have R-2 status, connoting high research activity; a couple are already hot on Howard's heels, falling just shy of meeting the criteria for next year. R-1 status has become a badge of honor in the higher ed world, known to attract high-caliber faculty and prestigious research funding opportunities. But for two decades, the designation has eluded historically Black colleges and universities, many of which remain hampered by chronic underfunding and other challenges. Multiple HBCUs have been vying to join the ranks of R-1 universities, galvanizing their faculty to apply for grants and funneling unprecedented resources into research. Now Howard is poised to become the only HBCU to hold the designation, after meeting recently revised R-1 criteria for the 2025 Carnegie classifications cycle, university leaders say. The designation would be a major boon for the Washington, D.C., institution, which secured R-1 status back in 1987 but lost it in 2005 after updates to the classifications. |
| The UC Berkeley Project That Is the AI Industry's Obsession | |
| Record labels have the Billboard Hot 100. College football has its playoff rankings. Artificial intelligence has a website, run by two university students, called Chatbot Arena. Roommates Anastasios Angelopoulos and Wei-Lin Chiang never imagined the graduate school project they developed last year would quickly become the most-watched ranking of the world's best AI systems. Traditionally, AI technologies have been assessed through advanced math, science and law tests. Chatbot Arena lets users ask a question, get answers from two anonymous AI models and rate which one is better. The ratings are aggregated onto a leaderboard where big Silicon Valley players like OpenAI, Google and Meta Platforms vie for supremacy with lesser-known startups from China and Europe. "Everyone is striving to be at the top of this leaderboard," said Joseph Spisak, a director of product management at Meta Platforms working on AI. "It's amazing to have a few students get together and be able to create that level of impact." Chatbot Arena has taken off as tech companies spend billions on a bet that AI will be the defining technology of the coming decades. Any perceived advantage over the competition can make a big difference in attracting customers and talent, which is why so many tech executives and engineers follow Chatbot Arena the way Wall Street traders watch the markets. |
| College graduation rates are up. We can thank community colleges. | |
| College graduation rates are up -- in fact, they're at the highest point in 12 years. New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that more than 60% of students who started working toward a degree in 2018 have finished. The real success story here: community colleges offering two-year degrees. When Rebecca Hansen graduated high school, college wasn't in the cards. She became a cosmetologist instead. "My dad was like, 'This is great. When are you starting college?' And I was like, 'This is it, Dad. I'm never going to college. Like, this is my career,'" she said. But when the youngest of her four kids started school five years ago, she enrolled in a community college to study to become a therapist. "It just developed me into a much stronger mother, wife and community member," she said. Hansen is part of a wave of people heading to community colleges and earning their degrees. Doug Shapiro with the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center cited two reasons behind the trend. No. 1: The sharp decline in enrollment tied to the pandemic was a wakeup call for community colleges. And No. 2: There has been major growth in dual enrollment. Shapiro expects both of these things to continue and completion rates to keep rising. |
| They Punished the Protesters. Now No One Is Happy About It. | |
| There are lasting images of the spring surge in pro-Palestinian campus protests: seas of tents on grassy lawns, smashed glass in occupied buildings, keffiyeh-clad students in handcuffs. What came next typically happens behind closed doors. But not this time. Student protesters accused of violating campus rules have been subject to months of meetings with the staff members who enforce those rules. Some students have faced hearings before panels of peers and professors. In a few cases, the possibility of long-term suspension or expulsion looms. The student-conduct system is a routine part of campus life. But over the past year, the tidal wave of disciplinary cases from pro-Palestinian protests, the scrutiny from politicians and advocacy organizations, and the lawsuits claiming unfair treatment have been anything but routine. Student-conduct officers say they've tried to do what they've always done: balance enforcement with education. For many students, that message isn't resonating. Meanwhile, politicians -- mostly Republicans -- and Jewish advocacy groups say conduct offices have handled rule violators with kid gloves and allowed hostile environments to fester. President-elect Donald J. Trump himself reportedly said in May that he would deport international students who were protesting. Student-conduct leaders say that while they maintain faith in the mission of their work, the caseload and the barrage of criticism have saddled them with burnout and anxiety. They worry about the long-term health of their field. |
| International students confused, anxious about their futures under second Trump term | |
 | International students are holding their breath as President-elect Trump gears up to return to the White House. Multiple schools have put out guidance on when foreign-born students should and shouldn't go abroad to ensure they are in the U.S. in case the new president implements travel restrictions at the start of his term. Both the documented and the undocumented could find themselves targets of Trump, who made immigration crackdowns the cornerstone of his campaign. "I feel like there's a lot more anxiety and panic among some disciplines more than others, or some nationalities more than others," said an international student in Washington, D.C. who is applying for Ph.D. programs. "We come here thinking, 'This is where you can choose your future,' and then, suddenly, realizing that maybe it's not. I think it's been a very big learning experience about governance and what international relations mean," added the student, who requested anonymity. Trump, who is set to be sworn in on Jan. 20, has promised sweeping immigration action right out the gate, including potentially revoking the visas and statuses of those who are here legally. College administrators are sounding a warning. |
| Survey: Majority of College Students Believe Their Vote Didn't Matter in the Election | |
| Promoting civic engagement on college campuses is a priority for higher education institutions, particularly before an election, as is helping students to get involved in political discourse and use their voices. But in the wake of this election, most students say they don't feel like their vote matters. A November Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse found 57 percent of college students feel like their voice/vote makes a difference not much or not at all following the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. Only 14 percent of respondents said they strongly agree that their vote makes a difference, and the remaining 29 percent believe their vote matters somewhat. Voter apathy is not unique to college students. Approximately one in three Americans said they felt exhausted with politics after the election. But campus leaders are hoping to keep young voters engaged in the democratic process, not seeing voting as the end goal but one piece of the puzzle. "[Students] are the future of this democracy of this country; they're going to be the ones making the decisions of the future, and we want them to be engaged beyond the presidential election years," says Julie Schumacher Cohen, assistant vice president of community engagement and government affairs at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. |
SPORTS
| Murphy and Nwoko lead Mississippi State to 90-57 rout of No. 18 Pitt | | |
| KeShawn Murphy scored a season-high 20 points and Mississippi State led from start to finish in thumping No. 18 Pittsburgh 90-57 on Wednesday night in the SEC/ACC Challenge. Mississippi State (7-1) opened a 35-point advantage in the second half and was never threatened. Michael Nwoko had his first double-double of the season with a career-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Josh Hubbard scored 12 for the Bulldogs, while Claudell Harris and RJ Melendez each had 10 points. Jaland Lowe led Pittsburgh (7-2) with 19 points and Brandin Cummings added 12 for the Panthers, who shot 31% and were outrebounded 49-27. Mississippi State shot 54% in the opening period and went 4 of 13 beyond the arc. The Bulldogs outscored the Panthers 11-0 in points off turnovers. MSU also controlled the glass, 27-14, including 10 offensive boards. The Bulldogs host Prairie View A&M on Sunday. |
| Mississippi State responds in major way and dominates No. 18 Pittsburgh, 90-57 | |
| Entering Wednesday's SEC/ACC Challenge game against No. 18 Pittsburgh, Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans wondered how his team would respond from last weekend's disappointing loss to Butler. The Bulldogs had an emphatic answer for their head coach and showed no signs of the team that Jans called "an awful" defensive performance against Butler. KeShawn Murphy had a season-high 20 points and Mississippi State led from start to finish Wednesday with a 90-57 thumping of No. 18 Pittsburgh. The 33-point win was the largest margin of victory for State against a ranked team in school history. "I didn't know," said Jans. "That's the response we all wanted but I didn't know what it was going to look like. Obviously a little down returning from Phoenix (Arizona) and not winning our final game. Like I said to y'all and the team, we can handle getting beat by someone that betters us if we played and competed and did the things that we normally do. But that wasn't the feeling that we had (in the loss to Butler). I think they realized it when they watched the tape when we got back and got re-organized. I didn't know what the response would be but I'm certainly glad the way it unfolded tonight." The Bulldogs (7-1) led by as many as 35 points in the second half and were never threatened. |
| Men's Basketball: Mississippi State hammers No. 18 Pittsburgh in 33-point beatdown | |
| It was pure instinct from Michael Nwoko as the rebound from Claudell Harris Jr.'s missed 3-pointer caromed his way late in the first half of Mississippi State's game against Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. The 6-foot, 10-inch center swatted at the ball with his right hand, not appearing to aim it anywhere in particular. But when it's your night. It's your night. Nwoko's inadvertent tip hit the backboard and bounced through the net. That's how good the Bulldogs were against the No. 18 Panthers -- they scored even when they didn't mean to. Nwoko's bucket was part of a career night for the Miami transfer and part of a 22-3 run for MSU in a 90-57 thumping of Pitt, the Bulldogs' most lopsided win over a ranked opponent in program history. "We see it every day at practice (from Nwoko)," fifth-year senior forward Cameron Matthews said. "We see spurts of his athleticism. We're just trying to get him to do it more and more every night." Five nights after allowing Butler to make more than half of its field goals and 3-pointers, the Bulldogs came out sharp on defense as Pitt started the game 4-for-23 from the field. The team that entered the night fifth in the NET rankings was never in the game. |
| How Mississippi State basketball rallied from 'awful' Butler game to upset Pittsburgh | |
 | Claudell Harris Jr. attempted a stepback 3-pointer in Mississippi State basketball's first half against Pittsburgh. It clanked off the rim. Miami transfer center Michael Nwoko nonchalantly crashed the hoop and extended his right arm for the rebound. The ball ricocheted off his hand near the block and perfectly redirected off the glass and into the basket. All Nwoko could do was shrug his shoulders as he jogged back down the floor. It was that kind of night for MSU. Everything seemed to go right for the Bulldogs (7-1) who crushed No. 19 Pittsburgh 90-57 Wednesday night at Humphrey Coliseum in the SEC/ACC Challenge. It was their first ranked win of the season and the largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent in program history. Coach Chris Jans admitted afterward he wasn't expecting the result after MSU lost its first game of the season to Butler on Friday in the Arizona Tipoff. "I didn't exactly know what the response was going to be but I'm certainly glad with what unfolded tonight," he said. |
| Four-star quarterback KaMario Taylor headlines Mississippi State's signing class | |
| Asked after a playoff game in November 2023 what Mississippi State fans could expect from him when he arrives on campus, Noxubee County quarterback KaMario Taylor responded simply: "Greatness." More than a year after he first committed to MSU during his junior season, the four-star prospect signed his letter of intent Wednesday as one of 24 new high school and junior college signees with the Bulldogs. "He can do it all. He can do things you can't coach," MSU head coach Jeff Lebby said. "He's got his best ball ahead of him. The guy is incredibly intelligent, he plays the game the way we want him to play it, and he just has this bright light inside of him and gets the most out of all the guys who are around him, too. There are so many positives for him, but I love who he is as a young man." Taylor committed to the Bulldogs more than a month before Lebby was hired and turned over most of the previous coaching staff, and remained on board through the coaching transition and a 2-10 season this fall, MSU's worst campaign in more than 20 years. He will try to lead Noxubee County to a state title on Thursday and has nearly 4,000 yards of total offense in his senior season. |
| Will Mississippi State football make changes to coaching staff? What Jeff Lebby said | |
| Program evaluations are underway for Mississippi State football after its season ended with last week's Egg Bowl loss to Ole Miss. It started with player exit interviews, coach Jeff Lebby said during his national signing day press conference on Wednesday. From there, evaluations are still ongoing, especially with the transfer portal opening on Monday. He didn't rule out changes to the coaching staff either. "Since we got back from the Egg Bowl, there's been a bunch of evaluating going on," Lebby said. "And for us, it started with having exit meetings with our players. ... And then retention of the roster, making sure that we got to today and we were ready to sign the high school and the junior college players that we needed to sign today. And from there, you look at the totality of it. We have and I have been in constant evaluation of every piece of the program. And as I've continued to look back and evaluate, I think for me, the biggest thing is, regardless of the deck that we played with, at the end of the day, we fell short of our expectations. It was frustrating in the moment. There was a lot of disappointment. I am incredibly proud of our toughness, our effort, and how we tried to play, especially as we finished the year, even in the situation that we were in." |
| State suffers first loss in heartbreaking 78-75 road affair at Georgia Tech | |
| Mississippi State met its first match in women's basketball Wednesday night at the SEC/ACC Challenge. State and Georgia Tech competed in Atlanta in a battle of unbeatens. For the Bulldogs, second half turnovers proved crucial as the Yellow Jackets took advantage and found a way in a 78-75 victory. In a game where State had 17 total turnovers, 11 of them in the second half would be the culprit. MSU gave up 13 points from turnovers. That allowed the Jackets to go from a 39-34 halftime deficit to grabbing a five-point lead in the second half. The Bulldogs were able to take a late lead on a Debreasha Powe 3-pointer that made it 75-74 in the final minute, but State could score no more after that. MSU (8-1) shot 54% from the field and made 7-of-17 3-pointers while holding the Yellow Jackets to 38% from the field. Georgia Tech did make 12-of-38 3-pointers. State won the rebounding 38-34 but surrendered 12 offensive boards and gave up nine second chance points. MSU had just three offensive boards with no points. The Bulldogs will try to rebound from the first defeat of the year as they stay on the road Sunday and travel to Chicago to take on Chicago State and former MSU assistant Corry Irvin. Game time is set for 5 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on ESPN+. |
| Mississippi State soccer promotes top assistant Nick Zimmerman to head coach | |
| Roughly three and a half hours after James Armstrong was officially introduced as the new head coach at Auburn, Mississippi State announced they would be promoting from within to replace him, elevating associate head coach Nick Zimmerman to lead the Bulldogs' program on Tuesday evening. Zimmerman was on Armstrong's staff for each of his six seasons at MSU and was named the top assistant in January 2022. He helped lead the Bulldogs to their most successful stretch in program history, culminating in their first-ever Southeastern Conference championship this fall. He has worked mostly with the forwards and midfielders, helping MSU score 45 goals this past season -- a year after the Bulldogs scored just 26. Zimmerman grew up in Tampa, Florida, and was a college standout at James Madison University, earning two all-Colonial Athletic Association selections with the Dukes. He was selected by the New York Red Bulls in the 2009 Major League Soccer SuperDraft and by the Philadelphia Union in that year's MLS Expansion Draft. |
| Jackson expects economic boost from 2024 SWAC Championship | |
| The Jackson State Tigers will face Southern in the SWAC Championship game on Saturday, December 7. The game will provide an exciting atmosphere for fans, while also giving a boost to the local economy during the holidays. Yolanda Clay-Moore, director of External Affairs, Partnerships & Alliances for Visit Jackson, said the city expects to see 50,000 fans to attend the rivalry game at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. "We're looking at an estimated $6.6 million, an estimated economic impact. So huge, huge numbers for the city. It impacts so many areas of our city, from local grocery stores to retail shops and mom and pop shops, our restaurants," Clay-Moore said. The winner of the game will play in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 14. |
| Jersey patches on college uniforms? More sponsors could be coming soon with new Learfield initiative | |
| The evolution of college sports into a more professionalized entity may soon take another step: jersey patches. While jersey patches are still prohibited under NCAA rules, college leaders have spent months considering a change to permit patches on football and men's basketball jerseys and even on the uniforms of game officials. In anticipation of a rule change, in fact, the industry's multi-media rights giant, Learfield, plans to announce an initiative, Performance Partner Alliance, to help deliver a jersey patch solution for its schools. Why is a solution necessary? Jersey patches are not only, for now, against NCAA rules, but apparel partners such as Nike, Adidas and Under Armour have existing contracts with schools that prohibit other branding on jerseys and uniforms. It's an untapped source of revenue at a financially stressful time for athletic departments moving into the age of athlete revenue sharing. Learfield's new alliance program is intended to provide apparel brands with significant enough value that they enable schools to add sponsorship logos to game and practice jerseys. Uniforms would continue to feature official apparel logos and conference logos as well. The (apparel) performance partners are the first groups that you have to address. The NCAA is the other partner that must agree to this." "We've been at stagnation with arguably one of the most valuable aspects of college athletics --- jersey patches," Cole Gahagan, president and CEO of Learfield, told Yahoo Sports. "There is seemingly little to nothing anyone can do to actually get it moving. Activity has to start somewhere. We've got a responsibility to kick off that activity. |
| New study shows college transfers often move to smaller schools | |
| While the NCAA Transfer Portal has helped top-tier college programs retool and compete for national championships, a new study shows that many student-athletes actually transfer down to smaller institutions. AD Advisors -- a collegiate consulting firm headed up by former Auburn AD Jay Jacobs, Ari Fleischer, Carlette Patterson and Jeff Holbrook -- studied 800 FBS football portal entrants going back to the 2020-21 transfer portal window and found that 60% of portal entrants transferred down and 10% were not picked up at all. Those results highlight a different reality compared to what most fans see from media coverage, which reports players who make the jump up to a more competitive landscape. "Sometimes we get so blocked by our view of the 1/3 that is making a big jump or becoming a starter to a Power Five," Jacobs said. "We don't really realize what is actually going on underneath the water of that iceberg." Another key finding was that one third of entrants transferred multiple times in their careers, with a large percentage saying that student athletes can be lured into transferring with the promise of lucrative NIL deals and other factors. Jacobs said the information gathered around NIL's impact on the portal was not quantitative, but they were able to document through interviews the impacts NIL has on the decision to transfer. "It's often a major reason why athletes transfer, but we also found through interviews that it can lead to deceit and empty promises," he said. |
| South Carolina set to make new athletic director hire | |
 | South Carolina reportedly has its next athletic director lined up. Jeremiah Donati, the athletic director at Texas Christian University, is set to become South Carolina's athletic director, FootballScoop's John Brice and ESPN's Pete Thamel first reported. An industry source confirmed to The State that Donati is expected to be the Gamecocks' hire. The university scheduled a 3 p.m. Thursday board of trustees meeting with "Approval of Athletics Director" as the only agenda item. Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported that Donati will sign a six-year agreement with the university. Donati, 47, has been the AD at TCU since 2017 and worked in the athletic department since 2011 where, according to his official bio, "Donati has played a major role in enhancing the TCU student-athlete experience through donor-supported facility upgrades totaling nearly $500 million." Donati will take over for Ray Tanner, who served as the Gamecocks' athletic director since 2013 but announced in September that he was stepping down as AD and transitioning into a new role at the university. Donati's background is in fundraising, working for the booster clubs of Washington State, Arizona and Cal Poly before getting to TCU. And, in this new world of revenue distribution to college athletes, Donati has experience working on the other side. |
| Brett Yormark: 'No way' should Group of 5 champ outrank Big 12's | |
| Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark clearly expressed his displeasure about the College Football Playoff rankings while insisting Wednesday that his conference's champion should get a first-round bye over any Group of 5 champion. Arizona State and Iowa State, the 10-2 teams that will play in the Big 12 championship game Saturday, are outside the top 12 in the latest CFP rankings and behind three SEC teams with three losses: No. 11 Alabama, No. 13 Ole Miss and No. 14 South Carolina. The Sun Devils are 15th and the Cyclones 16th. "The [selection] committee continues to show time and time again that they are paying attention to logos versus résumés," Yormark said to open a nearly four-minute statement during a Zoom call to preview the Big 12 title game. The Big 12 is below No. 10 Boise State (11-1) from the Mountain West Conference. The Broncos, who play No. 20 UNLV on Friday night in the MWC title game, have a 10-game winning streak since a 37-34 loss on a last-second field goal at top-ranked Oregon, their only Power 4 opponent. The Big 12 commissioner said that while he disagrees with what has transpired, he is hopeful that there will be some adjustments in the final CFP rankings. "Obviously I challenge what I've seen to date, and again I'm going to lean on strength of schedule. I don't think it's played out the way it should," Yormark said. "But I do have trust in the committee that ultimately we'll land where we're supposed to land." |
| In expanded CFP era, are conference title games on their way out? 'How this plays out could shape that' | |
| In 2014, the first year of the four-team College Football Playoff, the selection committee made a controversial decision: The group left out not just one but both Big 12 co-champions, TCU and Baylor. The committee instead put into the field Big Ten champion Ohio State, which, thankfully for the committee, went on to win the national championship that year. The Buckeyes are one of only two No. 4 seeds to do it -- justification, in the end, for the decision. But TCU and Baylor were left at home to stew over what many believe was the reason for their snub: The Big 12, then, did not play a conference championship game. TCU and Baylor lacked a 13th game that all other participants had. The absence of the infamous "13th data point" sparked the conference to revive their championship game three years later. Now, a decade later, a question looms amid an expanded 12-team playoff: Will a 13th data point help at all? In fact, in at least one situation playing out this weekend in Charlotte, it may only hurt. And if it does hurt -- SMU missing the playoff field entirely with a loss in the ACC championship game -- there are more than a few people who believe conference title games are in line to be abolished. |
| House v. Settlement Is Illegal, State NIL Lawmakers Say | |
| Four lawmakers behind the college athlete NIL bills adopted in California, Nebraska and Oregon are telling universities in their states that the House v. NCAA settlement agreement, which was granted preliminary approval by a federal court, is incompatible with the laws they authored. On Thursday, state Sens. Nancy Skinner (D-Calif.), Steven Bradford (D-Calif.), Megan Hunt (I-Neb.) and James Manning Jr. (D-Ore.) jointly released an embargoed statement, in coordination with the National College Players Association (NCPA), arguing that key terms in the House settlement violate the statutes they authored by placing restrictions on NIL monies paid by athletic boosters and collectives. "We are sending letters to the universities in our state to clarify that, even if this settlement is granted final approval, our universities, conferences and the NCAA are prohibited from imposing such NIL restrictions on athletes and universities in our state," the statement said. The idea raised this week by the lawmakers and the NCPA is not new, nor is their framing of it legally rigorous. In October, seven athlete objectors -- a group that includes high school, current college and former college athletes -- filed a 30-page objection to the House settlement in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Whether the press release has any impact beyond attracting media attention is unknown. A press release is not a court filing and is not part of the record under evaluation by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken. |
| Diego Pavia, NCAA argue Vanderbilt QB's eligibility lawsuit; no decision yet | |
 | Attorneys for Diego Pavia and the NCAA argued their cases in front of judge William Campbell in the Middle District Court of Tennessee on Wednesday regarding Pavia's lawsuit objecting to the NCAA's eligibility rules for junior college players. Pavia attended the hearing and sat next to his attorneys. A handful of Pavia's Vanderbilt teammates also attended the hearing, including offensive linemen Steven Hubbard and Cade McConnell and tight end Emmanuel Adebi. A decision was not issued by the end of the 2½-hour hearing, with the judge instead taking the case under consideration. It was not immediately clear when a decision would be issued. Ryan Downton, one of Pavia's attorneys, said that while Pavia's side hoped that a decision would be issued by the time the transfer portal opened Monday, they did not have optimism that a decision would come by then after Campbell asked both sides when the transfer portal closed, which does not happen until Dec. 28. Pavia, the Vanderbilt football quarterback who shocked the world by helping lead an upset over Alabama in October, is seeking an extra year of eligibility by arguing that years spent at a junior college should not count against years of NCAA eligibility. |
| LPGA and USGA to require players to be assigned female at birth or transition before male puberty | |
| Players must be assigned female at birth or have transitioned to female before going through male puberty to compete in LPGA tournaments or the eight USGA championships for females under new gender policies published Wednesday. The policies, which begin in 2025, follow more than a year of study involving medicine, science, sport physiology and gender policy law. The updated policies would rule out eligibility for Hailey Davidson, who missed qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open this year by one shot and came up short in LPGA Q-school. Davidson, who turned 32 on Tuesday, began hormone treatments when she was in her early 20s in 2015 and in 2021 underwent gender-affirming surgery, which was required under the LPGA's previous gender policy. She had won this year on a Florida mini-tour called NXXT Golf until the circuit announced in March that players had to be assigned female at birth. "Can't say I didn't see this coming," Davidson wrote Wednesday on an Instagram story. "Banned from the Epson and the LPGA. All the silence and people wanting to stay 'neutral' thanks for absolutely nothing. This happened because of all your silence." The LPGA and USGA say their policies were geared toward being inclusive of gender identities and expression while striving for equity in competition. The LPGA said its working group of experts advised that the effects of male puberty allowed for competitive advantages in golf compared with players who had not gone through puberty. |
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