| Friday, March 7, 2025 |
| Trebulldawgs: Singing Acapella on the National Stage | |
 | Video: Mississippi State University's Dr. Daniel Stevens and Dr. Phillip Stockton join the conversation on "Good Things with Rebecca Turner" by phone to discuss the MSU Trebulldawgs qualifying for a national acapella semifinal. |
| Bridge repair to close Oktoc Road next week | |
 | Oktoc Road will be closed to through traffic starting at 10 a.m. Monday due to accommodate bridge repairs. The bridge being repaired stands just southeast of the Hillbrook subdivision by the intersection of Oktoc and McKell Roads. Traffic will be detoured down Hail State Boulevard, leading down East Poor House Road until it intersects again with Oktoc. The Oktibbeha County Road Department expects work to be completed by March 14. |
| Road manager: 20% of Oktibbeha roads surveyed get an F | |
| Officials are reviewing county roads and finding many in worse shape than anticipated, raising questions about how the county can repair them on a limited budget. The county's public works department is roughly halfway through an inventory of Oktibbeha's roads, with Districts 1 and 4 already mostly completed. Even at this early stage, Road Manager Victor Collins has found many miles of road so far degraded that standard maintenance is no longer possible. Putting them on a standard grading chart, he estimated that 20% of the roads surveyed would get an F, requiring a full tear-down and rebuild. "Our F roads have passed the state of repair, and the only thing we can do is reclaim them," he said. "That would consist of grinding them up, resetting them, adding material to some of them and repaving them. ... These roads have multiple types of deterioration throughout their length." Collins estimated only 5% of the roads might get an A, mostly ones resurfaced in recent years. The rest hovered around a C or D, meaning they'll require resealing in the years to come. |
| Owner of Brewski's explains crawfish sales this year | |
 | Workers at Brewski's are bagging and serving crawfish. Something they struggled to do last year. "Last year was definitely a beast of its own, it was very challenging because we could not even come close to supplying the demand here," said Ashley Ray, Store Owner of Brewski's. "We were shorted hundreds of sacks a week, and it was very challenging because we never want to let our guests or our clientele down." Last winter, Brewski's and several other restaurants struggled to keep crawfish in the store, due to a drought. "Our prices are much more comparable to the previous year, so we are back to normal," said Ray. "We are lower now than we were at any point last year. Our first cook this year was December 6, I believe, and last year, the first cook was mid-March." And crawfish is actually one thing that has gone down in price since last year. Prices then topped out at $13 to $14 a pound. This year, Brewski's is selling cooked crawfish at 5.85 a pound. "We have more people walking out happier honestly," said Ray. "I am also able to employ more people as well because we have more product moving out of the door. I think all in all, it is great all around, because this is a tradition for people." |
| Mississippi weather could bring severe storms this weekend | |
 | On the heels of Tuesday's deadly weather in Mississippi that spawned at least two tornadoes and left three dead, another round of possible severe weather is expected to enter the state on Saturday, but the storms are expected to be different. "This is not going to be much of a tornado threat," said Mike Edmonston, senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in Jackson. "The main threat is hail." Edmonston said a cold front will enter the state on Saturday and meet a low pressure system from the south, creating instability and thunderstorms. Unlike Tuesday's storm that was basically a solid line, Saturday's weather system is expected to be isolated cells. Wind is also a threat. Tuesday's deaths were the result of falling trees and branches and with potential strong wind gusts on Saturday, more could come down. "Sixty miles per hour is what we're looking at," Edmonston said. "It only takes 40-50 miles per hour for dead pines to start falling. We still have a bunch of them." As of Friday morning, the NWS Jackson forecast calls for a marginal risk of severe weather for roughly the southern half of the state. |
| Pedro Cherry named president of Mississippi Power | |
 | Mississippi Power announced Wednesday that Pedro Cherry has been named president of the company with Anthony Wilson continuing in his roles of chairman and CEO until summer. Wilson announced previously he plans to retire after more than 40 years with Mississippi Power and Southern Company. Cherry has worked in the energy industry for 30 years and been a part of the Southern Company system for nearly 25 years. He previously served as president and CEO of both Atlanta Gas Light and Chattanooga Gas, two southern region natural gas utilities serving approximately 1.8 million customers in two states. Prior to his roles at Atlanta Gas Light and Chattanooga Gas, Cherry was the executive vice president of Customer Service and Operations at Georgia Power. "Pedro is a tremendous leader with a broad base of knowledge and experience across Southern Company," Wilson said. Cherry earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and an MBA in operations management and finance from Auburn University. |
| US employers add a solid 151,000 jobs last month though unemployment up to 4.1% | |
 | U.S. employers added solid 151,000 jobs last month, but the outlook is cloudy as President Donald threatens a trade war, purges the federal workforce and promises to deport millions of immigrants. The Labor Department reported Friday that hiring was up from a revised 125,000 in January. Economists had expected 160,000 new jobs last month. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.1% as the number jobless Americans rose by 203,000. Employment rose in healthcare, finance and transportation and warehousing. The federal government shed 10,000 jobs, the most since June 2022, though economists don't expect Trump's federal layoffs to have much of an impact until the March jobs report. Restaurants and bars cut nearly 28,000 jobs last month on top of a loss of almost 30,000 in January. "The solid February jobs report shows that the economy remains healthy, but fears of what could come next are likely to overshadow the positive news from today's release," said Josh Jamner, investment analyst at ClearBridge Investments. |
| Trade wars heighten uncertainty for agricultural exporters | |
| This week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the trade deficit jumped 34% in January from the month before. That's largely because many importers have been trying to bring in extra goods ahead of the Trump administration's new tariffs. All the uncertainty around U.S. trade policy and the response abroad is also having an impact on American exporters, including the agricultural sector. Right now, farmers are starting to think about what they're going to plant this coming spring. But now that China has slapped retaliatory tariffs on big export crops like soybeans, "some of those producers are thinking, 'Well, should I be planting as many soybeans as normal if we're potentially going to be losing some of that demand?'" said Naomi Blohm, senior market advisor at Total Farm Marketing. In some parts of the country, farmers might decide to diversify and grow crops that can be sold domestically. "They might decide that they would plant barley instead of soybeans, or they could plant oats," Blohm said. But farmers don't always have that option. |
| Farmers strongly back Trump. A new trade war could test their loyalty | |
 | Travis Zook grows corn, raises cattle and owns a seed dealership and farm service business in northeast Indiana. He exemplifies some of the mixed emotions that many farmers have when it comes to President Trump. Like more than 75% of voters in rural, farm-dependent counties, the 44-year-old farmer says he cast his ballot for Trump in November. He stands by that decision. "I still think some of the stuff is maybe the right move for our country," Zook says, "but maybe not the way he's doing it." But Zook also recalls the pain experienced in Trump's 2018 trade war, which hit farmers particularly hard. "The markets definitely went down last time," he acknowledges. In fact, it ended up costing farmers an estimated $27 billion in lost agricultural exports. Adding to the pressure on U.S. farmers, Elon Musk's government efficiency team has put a stop to payments for essential agricultural programs tied to the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and severely cut funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which used to buy around $2 billion worth of American farm products annually. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the largest general farm organization in the U.S., has been urging Congress to address key issues like agricultural labor and the farm bill. |
| Mississippi Senate passes bill creating task force to assess seafood labeling policy | |
| Legislation initially intended to require those selling seafood in Mississippi to be transparent about where the food comes from, has been altered to create a task force to tackle the state's mislabeling crisis. House Bill 602, which cruised through its chamber without a dissenting vote back in February, was gutted by the Senate before lawmakers in the chamber voted unanimously to advance an amended version of the bill on Thursday. Instead of expanding an existing state law requiring restaurants and others selling certain seafood items to advertise the food's country of origin, the text now creates the "Mississippi Seafood Labeling Task Force." The goal is to bring a panel of experts and governing figures to the table. "Mississippi Gulf Coast seafood is a brand of its own. Gulf Coast seafood is something we hold sacred here in our state and across the southeast," Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson said. "We are 100% in favor of making sure that people know if they're buying real Gulf Coast seafood or some foreign import that they would not eat if they knew it happened to be that." House Bill 602 will head back to its chamber of origin for lawmakers to assess changes made by the Senate. |
| HB 248 could change sales tax exemptions for food pantries | |
 | Food pantries in Mississippi are exempt from sales tax on non-perishable foods, but when it comes to perishable foods, it's a different story. Feeding programs said the sales tax on perishables can add up to thousands of dollars per year. "By the standards of what we pay in a year for food, it's not a huge amount, but it is several thousands and that could buy a lot of peanut butter or rice and beans or tuna," said Edwards Street Fellowship Center executive director Ann McCullen said. McCullen said Mississippi state Representative Missy McGee (R-District 102) wanted to help make a change by proposing House Bill 248. "I was really happy to introduce legislation that just took the word 'non-perishable' out of this code," said McGee. "Now, the law would read, if passed, food(s) purchased by a designated food pantry in the state of Mississippi are tax exempt." McCullen said Mississippi has been recognized as one of the most food-insecure states in the United States. She said she believes hundreds of feeding agencies across the state would benefit from tax exemptions. |
| House rolls the dice again on mobile sports betting, amending two Senate bills | |
| A House committee is rolling the dice that language inserted into two Senate bills to allow mobile sports betting will make its way through the legislative process. However, it's a game of chance that is not likely to win over senators. House Gaming Chairman Casey Eure (R) tucked the language into SB 2510 and SB 2381 after the Senate Gaming Committee killed his House bill which overwhelmingly passed earlier this session. The measure does not have the support of Senate Gaming Committee Chairman David Blount (D). The Jackson Democrat points to growing consumer protection and economic impact concerns, particularly raised by gambling establishments, in states where the mobile wagering has been approved. "This is a different industry than any other industry because it is subject to forces outside of the control of the folks who are in this business," Blount told reporters. Eure, a representative from the Coast, said the House bill was reworked from prior session attempts aimed at addressing concerns raised by the Senate. |
| 'Folks will continue to illegally gamble': House speaker blasts Senate for not passing mobile sports betting | |
| Mississippi House Speaker Jason White did not hold back when criticizing his legislative counterparts for neglecting to pass a bill that would legalize mobile sports betting. "It looks like again this year, the Senate is going to stand in the way of mobile sports [betting]. Folks will continue to illegally gamble and bet on sports online," White said on Thursday. "That money will go elsewhere or into illegal dealers' pockets instead of through the normal channels where our gaming officials could regulate it, and we would at least see the benefit of our operators making that money and Mississippians making it versus it hitting on the illegal market." Per the American Gaming Association, roughly $64 billion in illegal online bets goes to sportsbooks and bookies nationally. House Gaming chair Rep. Casey Eure, a Republican from Saucier and consistent advocate for mobile sports betting legalization, estimates that Mississippi is responsible for roughly $3 billion of that figure. |
| Effort to establish mandatory deer harvest reporting dies | |
 | Hunters would have been required to report deer harvest under a newly proposed law in House Bill 816. However, the bill died in the Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks senate committee. Chairman Ben Suber did not return a phone call or reply to an email asking about the bill last week. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks currently has a phone application, webpage and telephone number for hunters to voluntarily report harvest through the GameCheck program but mandatory harvest reporting is a needed management tool. As previously reported by The Daily Leader, MDWFP Deer Program Coordinator William McKinley stated it was a needed tool to manage the state's deer herd at a county level. Rep. Bill Kinkade authored the bill and argued Mississippi was the only state in the US without mandatory deer harvest reporting in the House. Kinkade mentioned the House had entertained a similar program in the past. In 2022, the Mississippi House passed a bill which would have created mandatory deer harvest reporting but it died in the Senate. Mandatory reporting would also be a tool to help game wardens catch outlaws and perhaps limit illicit activity. |
| Lawmakers honor longtime journalist Emily Wagster Pettus | |
| The Mississippi Legislature on Thursday honored longtime, award-winning journalist Emily Wagster Pettus for her decades of legislative news coverage. The Senate and House passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 505 honoring Pettus. The resolution notes, "Emily steadfastly continued to cover Mississippi news, telling citizens across the state and nation about events far and wide and helping to strengthen our democracy." It also praised her fair, balanced coverage and said, "Emily always took time to mentor and share her knowledge of Mississippi politics with new reporters sent to the Capitol to cover the daily activity of the Legislature and state leaders." Pettus recently left the Associated Press where she served as Mississippi Capitol correspondent. She formerly worked for the Clarion Ledger and the Vicksburg Evening Post. "It was an honor and a privilege to cover the Legislature for 31 regular sessions and no telling how many special sessions -- and let me tell you they are not all that special," Pettus told lawmakers during a ceremony in the state Senate, where she received a standing ovation. Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory on Thursday said, "Her reporting has always been fair and accurate. I don't think anyone reading her reporting had any idea of her political views, just the way it used to be." |
| Judge Blocks Trump Administration's Funding Freeze Indefinitely | |
 | A second federal judge has indefinitely blocked President Trump's freeze on federal grants and loans, saying the White House had "put itself above Congress" and undermined democracy. In a ruling on Thursday, U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island prohibited the Trump administration from freezing or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated federal funds to state governments. The decision is a victory for Trump critics who say he has trampled on Congress's authority in his effort to cut federal spending and overhaul agencies. McConnell's order follows a similar one issued by a different federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 25. The judge had previously issued a temporary restraining order, which on Thursday he converted into an injunction, a more permanent form of relief. "The Executive's categorical freeze of appropriated and obligated funds fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government," McConnell wrote. McConnell said in Thursday's ruling that state governments face "significant disruption in health, education, and other public services" because of the funding freeze. In light of that disruption, "the Court finds that the public interest lies in maintaining the status quo and enjoining any categorical funding freeze," the judge wrote. |
| Trump puts new limits on Elon Musk | |
 | President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver a message: You're in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk. According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room. The meeting followed a series of mass firings and threats to government workers from the billionaire Tesla founder, who helms the Department of Government Efficiency, that created broad uncertainty across the federal government and its workforce. DOGE's actions have faced ferocious resistance in court and criticism from Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans. The president's message represents the first significant move to narrow Musk's mandate. According to Trump's new guidance, DOGE and its staff should play an advisory role -- but Cabinet secretaries should make final decisions on personnel, policy and the pacing of implementation. Musk joined the conversation and indicated he was on board with Trump's directive. According to one person familiar with the meeting, Musk acknowledged that DOGE had made some missteps -- a message he shared earlier this week with members of Congress. |
| Trump Republicans lash out at Justice Amy Coney Barrett as a DEI hire | |
 | Some of President Donald Trump's loudest supporters have a new diversity, equity and inclusion target: Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The reason? Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts this week sided with the court's three liberal justices in backing an order that the Trump administration has to pay foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government. Although Roberts wasn't targeted, Barrett faced some scathing criticism from the right. Jack Posobiec, a senior editor at Human Events, a conservative political news and analysis site, called Barrett "a warning against the dangers of Republican DEI." "Barrett's vote didn't just defy Trump, who gave her the robe," Posobiec wrote about the fact that Trump nominated Barrett. "It propped up a globalist system conservatives have long despised. That's not a one-off -- it's a pattern." The court has become a crucial backstop for Trump's controversial agenda because he already enjoys the support of Republicans who control Congress. Conservatives not from the MAGA wing of the party came to the defense of Barrett, the court's youngest justice at 53. "This is nonsense," Charles C. W. Cooke, a senior editor at National Review wrote. "Barrett is a terrific justice, and, in most cases, those who are criticizing her are forgetting the proper role of the judiciary." |
| MUW hosts its 9th annual Music by Women Festival in Columbus | |
| Mississippi University for Women hosting the 9th annual Music by Women Festival at the historic Poindexter Hall. The festival features 15 concerts with music written by female composers. Over the course of three days, a concert is held at 10 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Along with performers from MUW, performers come from institutions of higher learning domestically and internationally. Concerts are free and open to the public. The festival also features academic presentations. Registration is required for all non-concert events. |
| USDA Reopens 1890 Scholars Program at Alcorn State University and Other HBCUs, Extending Deadline | |
| Students from rural and underserved communities who attend historically Black colleges and universities again have the opportunity to apply for a federal scholarship program after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reopened a temporarily suspended program. The program's permanent suspension would have affected Alcorn State University in Mississippi and 18 other HBCUs across the nation. The USDA 1890 National Scholars Program resumed on Feb. 24, days after being closed pending review, and will accept applications through March 15, USDA officials say. The original deadline was March 1. "The application process was temporarily suspended pending review to ensure that the program, its mission and its metrics ensure the most efficient use of taxpayer resources. This review was completed late afternoon on February 24, 2025," a USDA spokesperson told the Mississippi Free Press in a statement on Feb. 25. Alcorn State University is the nation's oldest and Mississippi's only land-grant HBCU. The school announced its 2025 USDA 1890 scholars on Dec. 19, 2024. |
| Search committee lists qualities U. of Alabama's next president needs | |
 | The University of Alabama's next president should be someone with a record of significant leadership, sterling character and the ability to help guide a successful athletics program. Those three qualities were among 14 bullet points listed by UA Presidential Search Advisory Committee's presidential profile and position criteria as the panel seeks a new leader for the Tuscaloosa campus. The list, released Feb. 20, was compiled after a series of listening sessions with members of the UA community designed to find out what kind of characteristics, qualifications and credentials they want to see in UA's next leader. The listening sessions were held in late January and early February via Zoom, with more than 500 faculty, staff, students, alumni and Tuscaloosa community members participating. The committee will be accepting applications for UA president at least through April 2. The position came open Jan. 15, when UA President Stuart Bell announced that he would be stepping down in July after 10 years in the role. |
| What is an 'illegal protest'? What could Trump's warning for colleges mean in Tennessee | |
| President Donald Trump has vowed to cut off federal funding for universities that allow "illegal protests." Under the First Amendment, protestors are guaranteed the right to freedom of speech and protest. This is a civil right that Trump does not have the power to forbid. The University of Tennessee is not looking into amending its protest and free speech guidelines, according to university spokesperson Kerry Gardner. "The legal implications of the social media post about protests are unclear," Gardner said in an email statement. "Until there is clarity on the legal implications, the campus's approach to expressive activity remains the same." Students at the University of Tennessee have organized many on-campus protests. Notably, students matched in a pro-Palestine protest in May 2024. The protests started in May and continued through the month on and off campus. Demonstrators marched through the streets of Knoxville, rallied at Market Square and showed up outside of graduation. UT already has strict guidelines surrounding protests and listing student's rights. The guidelines state that students have the right to express their beliefs and viewpoints, but the university "may impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions regarding any free expression activity." |
| U. of Florida to relocate memorial plaque ahead of planned demolition of former graduate housing | |
 | The University of Florida has made plans to move a memorial plaque from its soon-to-be-demolished graduate housing properties. On Feb. 11, the university announced it will start the abatement process and will demolish former grad housing properties Maguire Village and University Village South (UVS) this year. With fencing scheduled to be installed on March 19, the future of a memorial plaque in honor of a former UVS mayor was in question. The plaque is dedicated to Welch McNair Bostick III, who died Aug. 28, 2006, after he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle. Hannah Farrell, UF's director of marketing and strategic communications, wrote in an email to The Sun in February that the university had discussed relocating the plaque with Bostick's family. Frazier Rogers Hall on Museum Road is the agriculture and biological engineering department where Bostick studied. |
| As U. of Missouri vote approaches, sports betting's repercussions loom large | |
 | As discussions surrounding sports gambling and addiction become more prevalent at colleges across the country, the University of Missouri plans to take a proactive approach to prohibit sports betting on its campus. At the next Faculty Council meeting on March 13, Pamela Bruzina, representative for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Faculty Athletics, will propose policy language that would potentially prohibit MU faculty, staff and students from wagering on MU sports. The policy could also eliminate prop bets on collegiate student-athletes and assess the prevalence and impact of sports wagering on the general student body. "The policy is still a work in progress," Bruzina said. "However, I can tell you that we are considering multiple potential negative impacts of sports wagering on student-athletes, including problem gambling." Currently, MU offers resources through its Partners in Prevention program, which provides information about gambling addiction on its website. The site includes warning signs, campus resources and links to additional help options. The university does not have a dedicated gambling-specific treatment program. |
| Survival of study-abroad and exchange programs is threatened, advocates say | |
 | Faced with a funding pause that may have become a full-fledged stoppage, global-education groups are appealing to Congress to push President Trump to restore spending on international education and exchange programs run by the U.S. Department of State. The State Department informed grant recipients in mid-February that it was suspending all payments for a 15-day review. Among the programs affected by the freeze were the prominent Fulbright and Gilman scholarships as well as foreign-language and study-abroad programming. The review period expired on February 27, but little, if any, money has been disbursed --- leaving exchange students struggling to pay rent, colleges searching for stopgap funding, and groups that administer the programs facing layoffs. On Monday, international-education groups said they were beginning a campaign to get Congress to intervene. "The freeze on State Department grant programs threatens the survival of study abroad and international-exchange programs that are essential to U.S. economic and national security," said Fanta Aw, executive director of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. "Restoring this funding immediately is absolutely in the country's national interest." |
| Hit by 'Gut Punches,' Scientists Band Together to Protest Trump | |
 | On Feb. 8, Colette Delawalla, a graduate student in psychology at Emory University, nervously announced to the online world that she was planning a national protest in defense of science. "I've never done this before, but we gotta be the change we want to see in the world," she wrote in a post on Bluesky, a social media platform. A team of scientists quickly coalesced around her and formed a plan: a rally on the National Mall, satellite protests across the country, March 7. They threw together a website so rudimentary, initially, that visitors had to type the "www" manually, or else the web address raised an error. Within days, the (improved) site received so much traffic that it crashed. The event, dubbed Stand Up For Science, is something of a revitalization of the March for Science that took place in cities around the world in April 2017, not long into President Trump's first term. But this time, in a greatly sharpened political climate and a post-Covid world, the protests are being organized by a completely different team, and with a distinct vision. "The spirit of it is the same," Ms. Delawalla said. But, she added, "now we are in a position of being on defense as opposed to offense." |
| Sticker shock: New U.S. tariffs could raise cost of research equipment and supplies | |
| The tariffs imposed today by the United States on its three largest trading partners could not only drive up the cost of goods for U.S. consumers, but also hit researchers by raising prices for scientific equipment. Saying it wants to reduce trade practices it sees as unfair and stem the cross-border flow of migrants and illegal drugs, President Donald Trump's administration imposed 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, and hiked tariffs on Chinese imports from 10% to 20%. Canada and China have already announced retaliatory measures, whereas Mexico's president said her government would announce its own response later this week. The three countries are deeply involved in the manufacture of scientific instruments and other lab equipment, and the trade dispute is likely to raise the cost of running a lab, says Canan Gunes Corlu, a supply chain expert at Boston University's Metropolitan College. Researchers at U.S. institutions already facing uncertainty about their federal funding could find themselves particularly squeezed, she adds. "It is another type of pressure. ... This will really affect research in some areas in universities." The Trump administration could ultimately exempt some products or lower the tariffs if new trade deals are struck -- as occurred during Trump's first term. |
| This Professor Is Committed to Rooting Out DEI From Higher Ed, One Program at a Time | |
| William A. Jacobson thinks America has a race problem. Anti-Black racism, the Cornell University law professor says, is wildly exaggerated. Some Black Lives Matter activists are anti-American fascists. And it's white people who are now more likely to be the victims of discrimination. In 2020, students, alumni, and law professors tried -- unsuccessfully -- to get Jacobson fired for a series of blog posts they perceived as creating a hostile learning environment for Black students. Undeterred, Jacobson started one of the nation's most aggressive campaigns to suss out and report race-conscious programs in higher education. He and three other lawyers have filed 60 complaints with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights against identity-focused programs and scholarships. Of those 60 complaints, 35 cases resulted in schools and colleges changing eligibility requirements for various programs or ending them altogether. "There is no good that can come in our universities or our society by making people focus on their skin color and their ethnicity and by doling out particularly government-funded benefits based on race or ethnicity," Jacobson said in an interview. "I think it's setting people against each other, and it is not advancing us." |
| The Future of Apprenticeships Under Trump | |
 | Advocates for apprenticeship programs came into a second Trump administration with a rosy outlook on their future. Historically, these on-the-job training programs have enjoyed bipartisan support, and apprenticeships featured prominently in Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint for a second Trump administration put forth by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank. The plan encouraged their expansion, lauding the programs as a meaningful alternative to "the woke-dominated system of public schools and universities." But now, apprenticeship proponents are divided on how hopeful to feel. Some maintain their optimism. They foresee a potential period of growth for the programs, as Trump administration officials and supporters speak positively about apprenticeships and nondegree pathways. But others worry that at least some apprenticeship programs -- and their financial supports -- could be hurt by the administration's slashing of federal spending. Already, some grants supporting apprenticeship programs have been cut to trim costs or for perceived connections to diversity, equity and inclusion work. |
| 'Not their business': Trump mulls major changes to federal student loan office | |
| President Donald Trump on Thursday floated major changes to the office that oversees the federal government's massive student loan portfolio. Speaking to reporters at the White House, he said he's had discussions about moving the Federal Student Aid office, which handles loans for millions of borrowers, elsewhere within the federal government. The Education Department, he argued, shouldn't be in charge of helping people pay for college. "That's not their business," he said. Specifically, he said he hopes to shift Federal Student Aid to the Small Business Administration, which provides financial and counseling assistance to entrepreneurs. Linda McMahon, who was confirmed Monday by the U.S. Senate to lead the Education Department, previously ran the SBA during Trump's first term. Kelly Loeffler, a former Republican senator from Georgia who now leads the SBA, has expressed interest in the student loan portfolio, Trump said. "Kelly really liked it and would like to do it," he said. The proposal would technically require an act of Congress, and the Senate's filibuster rules would necessitate Democrats to get on board, which is unlikely. It would also be a major technical challenge, which Trump himself acknowledged Thursday. |
| The Education Dept. Survives for Now, but Program and Staffing Cuts Cause Upheaval | |
| For now, the White House has not formally called for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. That's little comfort for many in higher education who fear the administration will continue to wreak havoc with its move-fast-and-break-things approach to policymaking. Wednesday evening, The Wall Street Journal reported viewing a draft version of an executive order calling on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department" to "the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law." Other news organizations followed suit with similar reports, but by Thursday afternoon the administration denied that an order was forthcoming, calling the earlier reports "fake news." Observers have been awaiting an order to dismantle the department since Trump's inauguration. The president had promised on the campaign trail to shut it down as part of a strategy to put more spending and policy decisions in the hands of states -- a goal of some conservatives since the department was founded 45 years ago. The department doesn't have to be eliminated to be weakened substantially. Higher-education associations, scholars, and campus leaders have all expressed deep concerns that the administration will continue to alter the department in ways that are disruptive to both colleges and students who rely on the programs and money it administers. |
SPORTS
| Diamond Dawgs Hosting Queens This Weekend | |
| Mississippi State has one final weekend tune-up before conference play begins as Chris Lemonis and the Diamond Dawgs welcome Queens to town for a three-game set. The series gets underway on Friday at 6 p.m. followed by a Saturday outing at 2 p.m. and Sunday's finale beginning at 1 p.m. All three games will be televised on SEC Network + and can be heard on the Bulldog Sports Network powered by Learfield. Southpaw Pico Kohn gets the nod on the mound again on Friday night for MSU. Kohn, a junior, is 2-0 on the year with a 1.53 earned run average and tops the team with 28 strikeouts and has only walked two in 17 2/3 innings. Queens will counter on Friday with Landry Jurecka, who is making his fourth start of the season and sports an 0-2 record and a 6.08 ERA. The junior right-hander has struck out 14 and walked five in 13 1/3 innings with opponents batting .365 against him. The Bulldogs will switch up their pitching rotation for the rest of the weekend. Junior right-hander Ben Davis (0-1, 2.53 ERA, 18 K, 2 BB) will make his first start for State on Saturday followed by senior right-hander Karson Ligon (1-1, 5.00 ERA, 14 K, 4 BB). |
| Mississippi State basketball vs Arkansas: Predictions, picks, injury updates | |
| Mississippi State basketball lost at home to a desperate NCAA tournament bubble team on Tuesday. Now it faces another one in a similar situation to end the regular season, but this time on the road. The Bulldogs (20-10, 8-9 SEC) are squaring up with Arkansas (18-12, 7-10) on Saturday (11 a.m., SEC Network) at Bud Walton Arena. They just lost to Texas in overtime on Tuesday after overcoming a 12-point deficit in the second half. MSU can no longer get a bye in the SEC tournament but can finish anywhere between No. 9 and No. 11 in the standings based on Saturday's results. Arkansas lost its first five games of SEC play. It has played better lately, but has still been inconsistent. Arkansas beat Missouri and Texas but then lost by 19 points to South Carolina on Saturday. It rallied for a 90-77 win at Vanderbilt on Tuesday. Arkansas averages 7.1 3-pointers per game, 13th in the SEC. That has often been a determining factor in Mississippi State's SEC games. MSU is also 2-10 when allowing at least 10 3-pointers, but Arkansas has only made that many once in conference play. |
| Women's Basketball: Bulldogs Fall In Second Round Of SEC Tournament | |
| The Mississippi State Bulldogs fell in the second round of the SEC Tournament by a score of 85-73. Five Bulldogs finished the game in double figures. Jerkaila Jordan led the Bulldog offense in the contest, as she earned 14 points, six rebounds and two steals. Madina Okot collected her 11th double-double of the season with 14 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. Destiney McPhaul finished the game with 11 points off the bench. Eniya Russell and Chandler Prater both gained 10. Russell picked up four rebounds and two steals, while Prater collected five rebounds and two steals. The Bulldogs will learn their fate in the NCAA Tournament a week from Sunday when the NCAA Selection Show airs at 7 p.m. on March 16. The First Four play-in begins on March 19 and the Tournament officially begins on March 21. |
| Why Sam Purcell is confident Mississippi State women's basketball can make NCAA Tournament run | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball fell 85-73 to No. 7 seed Ole Miss in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. It was a quick turnaround for the No. 10 seed Bulldogs. On Wednesday, Mississippi State (21-11) won its first conference tournament game since 2020. After the loss, coach Sam Purcell posed a question to his players. "What are you willing to sacrifice to make one last special run?" That was Purcell's challenge to his team for the upcoming break before the NCAA Tournament begins March 19. "Can we get in the gym and get extra shots, free throws?" Purcell said. "Every basket matters, every possession matters." The SEC tournament loss on Thursday won't likely push the Bulldogs out of NCAA tournament territory. After clinching win No. 20 against Missouri on Wednesday, it became even more likely that Purcell would take his team to March Madness for the second time in his three seasons as coach. "We're going to go back and watch this film because we have a NCAA Tournament team that can make a deep run," Purcell. "That's what I told (them), that we are going to funnel that energy, clean some things up, gets some kids healthy and let's try to do something special in about two weeks." |
| March Madness is coming, and women's players are urging fans to keep cool in social media posts | |
| Iowa State women's basketball star Audi Crooks has a love-hate relationship with social media. Sometimes she'll scroll through her direct messages and find a note from a little girl who sees her as a role model and asks for advice or to take a picture with her after the next game. Other times, the Big 12's leading scorer will receive a message criticizing the way she looks, the way she plays or the way she acts. "They're missing the whole point of social media, of the internet, of being able to interact with us," Crooks said. "I want to use my social platform for positive connections." With March Madness approaching and International Women's Day on Saturday, Crooks and Iowa's Hannah Stuelke are promoting healthy digital habits through their name, image and likeness partnerships with UScellular. Online abuse of college athletes received attention last weekend when Kansas men's basketball player Zeke Mayo shared screen shots of hateful social media posts directed at him after he struggled in a loss at Texas Tech. Stuelke said she follows Iowa coach Jan Jensen's advice to the players, which is to put the phone down and spend time with people who matter the most, whether it's teammates, coaches, friends or family. |
| Auburn parts ways with women's basketball coach Johnnie Harris | |
| Auburn University announced a change in leadership for its women's basketball program Thursday, parting ways with head coach Johnnie Harris after four seasons. Athletic director John Cohen said the decision followed a thorough review of the program. "After a thorough review of our women's basketball program, I have made the difficult decision that a leadership change is in the best interest of Auburn University," Cohen said. "I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Johnnie. Having worked with her for more than a decade at two institutions, I know Johnnie is an exceptional person with a great basketball mind. I thank Johnnie for the way she represented Auburn and for her contributions to our women's basketball program. While these decisions are never easy, the program must move in a new direction." Harris was hired ahead of the 2021-22 season and led the Tigers to a 12-18 finish this year, including a 3-13 mark in SEC play. She went 58-63 in her four seasons with Auburn and made one NCAA Tournament. |
| As other SEC schools reveal revenue sharing plans, Mitch Barnhart has a different outlook | |
 | Just more than a month from the scheduled hearing where a federal judge could give final approval to the legal settlement that paves the way for athletic departments to start sharing revenue with athletes, SEC schools are starting to announce their plans for adapting to the new world of college sports. Texas plans to add almost 200 scholarships, mostly in non-revenue sports. Georgia is moving forward with a planned revenue split that would provide 75% of the $20.5 million schools would be able to distribute to athletes to football players, 15% to men's basketball players, 5% to women's basketball players and 5% to other sports. Meanwhile, in UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart's report to the Board of Trustees athletics committee in January, he shared no specific details about his department's plan. "A lot of people are putting in a lot of hours trying to get ready on a lot of fronts, whether that's locally, here at our institution, at the conference level, and then nationally," Barnhart told the committee. "I'm thankful for everyone's participation, but more about that as we go." Before their seasons started last month, UK baseball coach Nick Mingione and softball coach Rachel Lawson told the Herald-Leader they are expecting additional scholarships for their 2026 rosters. Mingione said he expected UK's final scholarship number to be in the 20s, up from the current 11.7 limit that has long hampered baseball recruiting. |
| NIL contracts have employment and pay-for-play all over them, experts say | |
| Some college athletes are being asked to sign away the rights to their own tattoos. At least one college wants to sell the rights to its players' dance moves. NCAA schools are going to contractual extremes when it comes to the name, image and likeness deals that they are now signing in the expected new era of direct college payments to athletes. The deals, which could become effective this summer, are designed to be generous enough so athletes will commit to a school but also stringent enough to stop the constant churn of transfers that has introduced upheaval in college sports. Along the way, school lawyers are constructing NIL contracts to exert control over athletes without making them official college employees. But experts who reviewed a sampling of more than a dozen NIL contracts obtained by ESPN said the deals bear the hallmarks of employment contracts. A federal judge is nearing a decision on the NCAA's $2.8 billion antitrust settlement -- a deal that was supposed to dampen a frenzy of litigation surrounding athletes' demands to share in the profits generated by college sports. Instead, experts say, the contracts now being signed by athletes might actually strengthen a line of attack in court: that these are de facto employment contracts, and if college athletes are employees, they should have collective bargaining rights. |
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