| Monday, March 10, 2025 |
| MSU celebrates renovations of historic Ballew Hall | |
 | Mississippi State University celebrated the grand opening of the newly renovated Ballew Hall -- the administrative hub for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station -- with a ribbon cutting Friday [March 7]. The renovations provide state-of-the-art spaces for student engagement, recruitment and administrative functions, and the facility includes modern teaching areas, versatile conference rooms and a spacious auditorium. Belinda Stewart Architects in Eupora and Ethos Contracting Group in Starkville completed the work. MSU President Mark E. Keenum and Vice President for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine Keith Coble helped celebrate the university milestone with CALS and MAFES leaders, faculty, staff and students, among other campus and community guests. "This beautiful facility shows our commitment to our work and how important agriculture is for us as a university and our mission to serve our state," Keenum said. Key donors include the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, Southern AgCredit, Chris and Martha Robertson, and Susanne Boyd Purvis and her husband, David Purvis. |
| Historic building at MSU to receive a new look | |
 | A historic building on the Mississippi State University campus is getting a new look. Administrators, faculty, students, and guests were on hand for the grand reopening of Ballew Hall. The newly renovated building will house the administrative offices for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, or MAFES. It will also feature state-of-the-art classrooms, and conference rooms. MSU President Dr. Mark Keenum says bringing the historic building into the modern era benefits students and ties them to school traditions. "We wanted to keep that tradition. We wanted to provide an opportunity for students to continue to be able to learn and utilize this. But also, meet critical needs we have for the administration of our wonderful college and our experiment station to serve our mission of agriculture and forestry and veterinary medicine and natural resources for the entire State of Mississippi," said Keenum. |
| MSU's Ballew Hall opens, showcasing dedication to agriculture | |
 | Mississippi State University (MSU) celebrated the grand opening of the newly renovated Ballew Hall. The facility is the administrative hub for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. According to MSU officials, the renovations provide state-of-the-art spaces for student engagement, recruitment and administrative functions, and the facility includes modern teaching areas, versatile conference rooms and a spacious auditorium. "This beautiful facility shows our commitment to our work and how important agriculture is for us as a university and our mission to serve our state," said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. For more on MSU's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, visit www.cals.msstate.edu. Visit www.mafes.msstate.edu to learn more about the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. |
| Architect, New Albany native Ted Porter to speak at museum | |
| Award winning Architect Ted Trussell Porter will be the guest speaker at the Union County Heritage Museum on Thursday, March 20, at noon. Porter, a native of Union County, now a New York award-winning architect, was educated in New Albany, Mississippi State, and he received a master's degree from Yale University. His work has been featured in multiple national magazines, and he was named Alumnus of the Year at Mississippi State University in 2024 among many other awards. Porter was also featured in New Albany Magazine this past year. He has designed several award-winning homes in New Albany and returns often to visit his mother, Jimmie Rogers. Porter is included in the Creative Spirits of Union County Exhibit that is now in the design phase. The public is invited to this event, made possible by the museum's Community Partners. |
| Citrus greening disease found in Mississippi, quarantine set | |
| A statewide citrus quarantine was issued for Mississippi after one of the "most serious" citrus plant diseases in the world was detected in the state. Citrus greening, also known as Huanglongbing or HLB, was confirmed earlier this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS). There is no cure for the disease, which is caused by a bacterial infection spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, a gnat-sized insect. Infected trees die within a few years. Eric Stafne, fruit and nut specialist with the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service, said people with citrus trees should be vigilant in watching for signs of disease, but there is no need to panic. "We do not know how widespread the disease is in Mississippi," Stafne said. "Just because it exists here doesn't necessarily mean a tree will get it. People should be aware of the possible symptoms, but they shouldn't jump to conclusions about the disease being present in their trees." Mississippi does have limited commercial production of mostly satsumas along and south of Interstate 10. |
| New Starkville High plan might have little impact on tax bills | |
 | Property taxes across Oktibbeha County are set to increase in 2026, but it does not appear a potential bond to fund a new Starkville High School campus will factor significantly into why. New values set by the Mississippi Department of Revenue for appraising building materials will go into effect in 2026 in the county, adding to the tax burden for property owners. The updates, which happen periodically, are intended to better reflect actual costs for construction in Mississippi. That will increase property values for homes and commercial buildings. For a $200,000 home in the county, owners currently pay $3,738.30, excluding homestead exemptions. Property owners in the city pay $4,593 for a $200,000 home, excluding homestead exemptions. When the DOR's manual changes go into effect in 2026, taxes on the same home -- which will increase in value -- in the county would increase by $449.10 to $4,187.40. In the city, the total tax bill on that home would increase by $564.30 to $5,157.30 -- if the city, county and school district tax rates all remain the same. State law allows Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District to periodically issue bonds to improve district facilities between July 2015 and July 2024. A bill passed during the 2024 legislative session extended that window to July 2027. The decision could be subject to a referendum if 20% of voters in the school district petition for an election. |
| Starkville Democratic forum pits new blood versus establishment | |
| Democratic municipal election candidates locked horns and solidified their messaging in a Thursday candidate forum at the Sportsplex, with challengers sharpening their criticisms of the sitting board and mayor. Running a half-hour longer than its planned 7-8 p.m. schedule, the platform was put together by the Oktibbeha County Democratic Party to give voters a chance to ask candidates more questions ahead of the April 1 municipal primaries. For new candidates, however, it represented a chance to go on the offensive against incumbents, sometimes with help from friendly audience members willing to pitch for specific candidates. Former Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough, now a mayoral candidate, went so far as to compare city government under two-term incumbent Lynn Spruill to a "dictatorship" before pivoting to the shuttered Fire Station 5 in response to a question from his wife, who was in the audience. Spruill touted her existing accomplishments and large projects still underway, such as McKee Park improvements, the Highway 182 renovation, wastewater treatment and upcoming redesign of Main Street. |
| Female leaders express concern over potential rollback to women's rights | |
| Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill doesn't flinch when confronted with the "B word." "I'll lean into it," she said, prompting laughter Saturday from the audience at the Women Who Make History panel held at the Black Prairie Blues Museum. While Spruill confidently embraces the label, her fellow panelists -- State Senator Angela Turner-Ford and civil rights activist Lavern Greene-Leach -- admitted they don't lean into it quite as freely. Yet all three agreed on one key point: Being a woman in leadership demands a strong sense of self. "I know who I am," Greene-Leach said. "You can say anything you want to. You can call me anything you want to. I know me, and I know who I am, so it doesn't bother me." Spruill, Turner-Ford, and Greene-Leach were honored at the event in celebration of Women's History Month. The event drew an engaged crowd as panelists shared their leadership journeys, offering valuable insights into the challenges women still face today and the ongoing work necessary to achieve lasting equality. A key concern that emerged during the discussion was the potential rollback of civil rights protections, particularly regarding women in the military. As a former member of the U.S. Navy, Spruill voiced her deep concerns about such setbacks. |
| Tornadoes, severe storms likely in Mississippi later this week | |
 | Mississippi is expected to experience sunny skies and warm days with high temperatures reaching into the low 80s this week, but on Friday, storms are expected to roll in with possible tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. "At the moment, the main threats are tornadoes, damaging wind gusts and large hail," said Christopher Rainer, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson. "We're looking at quarter-size hail with some larger hail possible. In terms of strength of tornadoes, we're looking at some brief spin-up tornadoes, but an EF2 can't be ruled out for Friday and Saturday." Damaging wind gusts are also likely. In the areas of enhanced risk, which is a level three risk out of a possible five, gusts could reach as high as 70 mph and the areas of enhanced risk change from Friday to Saturday. "For Friday, the enhanced risk will be in the Northwest Delta" Rainer said. "For Saturday, the enhanced risk is along and east of the I-55 area." Because the system won't arrive for several days, the forecast can change. "We'll have a much better picture and the time will be more defined as we get closer to Friday and Saturday," Rainer said. |
| Agri Education center set to open in April | |
 | DeSoto County is hoping to be able to show off its Agri Education Center by mid April or early May. Michael Lee, a former county supervisor who was hired as director in January, said there are still a lot of moving parts left to go before it is totally finished, but added that the main building which will house the Extension Service should be ready to move in sometime next month. The 200 acre $19 million project is located at 1170 Star Landing Road and broke ground in August 2023 at the site of the former landfill. The Agri-Education Center will serve as a one-stop shop for agricultural services and will be home to an indoor and outdoor rodeo arena, stables, classrooms, conference and convention space, learning labs for 4-H youth programs, as well as walking and equestrian trails. Future phases will include outdoor pavilions, baseball fields, RV park, and tennis and pickleball courts. Lee said they likely won't have an event at the Agri Center this year, but they hope to at least have a ribbon cutting ceremony soon and then a grand opening and open house for the public to tour the facility. |
| DOGE cuts felt in Columbus; IRS office to close | |
| Columbus is in the crosshairs of Department of Government Efficiency spending cuts, with impacts stretching from tax services to infrastructure upgrades. Led by billionaire Elon Musk, DOGE estimates its total cuts to contracts, grants and leases has cut spending by over $100 billion. While that number is widely contested by multiple sources, the website's tally also breaks down the source of the savings, including an item situated in Columbus -- the city's Internal Revenue Service office. While the entry is light on specifics, there's only one public IRS office in the city, a taxpayer assistance office at 2209 Fifth St. N. with roughly 2,300 square feet of space. Taxpayer assistance offices offer appointments for a range of IRS services, with Columbus' helping constituents with tax adjustments, making payments, questions about forms, immigrant departure permits, income tax applications, heavy vehicle use taxes, requests for assistance from a taxpayer advocate, and general "tax law questions" from January to mid-April, according to a sign on the door of the building. |
| ERDC to hold groundbreaking ceremony for new Watercraft and Ship Simulation Facility | |
 | The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Watercraft and Ship Simulation Facility located next to its Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) in Vicksburg Thursday, March 27, at 10 a.m. Developed by ERDC-CHL, the Watercraft and Ship Simulator addresses critical needs in harbor design and navigation safety and has become an indispensable tool for optimizing navigation channels, evaluating harbor modifications and enhancing maritime safety across the United States, ERDC officials said. Officials said the technology can be applied in both civil and military maritime operations and played a crucial role in emergency response and recovery efforts of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse response in Baltimore in 2024. The new 7,500-square foot building will expand on the laboratory's current simulation capabilities to accommodate an expanding military mission. ERDC officials said that, through this new facility, the organization expects to grow the research and development areas of autonomous/robotic water and gap crossings, watercraft and vehicle transition characteristics between hydraulic and terrestrial environments, ship-to-shore operations methods and the design and analysis of watercraft to aid acquisitions. |
| Barbour tours Hurricane Katrina exhibit at Two Mississippi Museums, reflects on spirit of Mississippians | |
| Former Governor Haley Barbour calmly walked through the Two Mississippi Museums Friday afternoon, taking in the black-and-white photographs depicting the remnants left behind on the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina's wind and water. Barbour would stop, say a few words and walk another few feet before recalling the days after the natural disaster that claimed over 200 lives swept through southern Mississippi August 29, 2005. Barbour described the 30+ foot storm surge that day as "catastrophic." Estimated damage from Katrina topped $100 billion. Barbour was visiting the museum for a preview of a new exhibit titled Hurricane Katrina: Mississippi Remembers, Photographs by Melody Golding. Golding captured the angst and resilient spirit of Mississippians in a couple dozen photos during a storm that devastated the Coast. Nearly twenty years later, the effects are still evident, a reminder of what was lost as well as how far those who stayed to rebuild have come. Barbour remembers people helping their neighbors, no matter their differences, he said. Mississippi's federal delegation came through as well. Former U.S. Senator Thad Cochran pressured Washington to send more emergency aid and faster, Barbour said. Cochran and former U.S. Senator Trent Lott were able to work with Congress and then-President George W. Bush to rush unprecedented recovery assistance to the area. |
| Tourism industry on the rise in Mississippi | |
 | This week, industry leaders headed to the capital for Mississippi Tourism Day to celebrate the exponential growth in the industry. The tourism industry in Mississippi has grown leaps and bounds over the years. "When we look at the growth of Mississippi, since the pandemic, we have far exceeded where we ever thought that we would be by this moment in time," said Visit Hattiesburg Executive Director Marlo Dorsey. Dorsey said some 43.7 million visitors come to the state of Mississippi in 2023, spending $11.5 billion. Both numbers were the largest the state ever has seen, Dorsey said. She added that Hattiesburg was seeing record-breaking figures as well. "We here in Hattiesburg had $582 million in direct visitors spending," said Dorsey. "That is, by far, a record." Dorsey said tourism professionals and Hattiesburg leaders are looking at the next phase to take the city tourism industry to the next level. "(We're) really leaning into a lot of our successes, but also looking at things in a new way to ensure that we continue that growth trajectory," Dorsey said, "helping us build this next chapter of Hattiesburg and make it a place that we're all happy to be here, put down roots, raise our families and continue to thrive." |
| AWS VP: Madison expansion already underway, commits to more Mississippi projects in the future | |
| When Amazon Web Services made its announcement in January of 2024 that it will occupy two Madison County locations, the historic buildout was for four hyperscale development center buildings. Everyone knew it was a big deal when Mississippi lawmakers completed the $259 million incentive package for the Amazon Web Services' $10 billion project in Canton and Madison County. Well, the plan has changed. Kerry Person, vice president of AWS Data Center Planning, told the Clarion Ledger this week that the company has decided to add a fifth building to the project, likely thanks to the work that Entergy Corporation has done. "We actually found that we had a little more additional capacity," Person said. "We originally started with four buildings. There's one more that's off by itself and looks a little more lonesome right now. But it will have some buddies over the course of the next couple of years. What we found was that we could get away with one more building with the power that was available to us right now." Person's announcement that there will be more to come for Amazon, not only for the Madison County campuses, but potentially other places in Mississippi, comes on the heals of the news earlier this year that Dallas-based Compass Datacenters, a multinational data center developer, is locating its next hyperscale data center campus in Lauderdale County, near Meridian. |
| Farmers called their work climate-smart to get federal funds. Now it may cost them. | |
 | Carolyn Jones never thought it was controversial to herd her cattle to different parts of her 200-acre ranch in northeastern Mississippi to give the grass time to grow back between grazing. "This is really simple stuff we have been doing since the beginning of time," said Jones, a lifelong farmer and the head of the nonprofit Mississippi Minority Farmers Alliance. About 40 percent of U.S. cattle ranchers already use this technique, according to federal data. It helps ranchers keep their grass healthier, but it also helps the environment, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last year, the Alliance won a USDA contract to educate other farmers about these long-standing conservation practices. The project description labeled them "climate resilient farming practices" to appeal to President Joe Biden's green priorities. Now, the Trump administration is considering axing the project, along with hundreds of other agreements "related to climate initiatives," according to internal USDA documents and two people familiar with the agency's deliberations. The whiplash shows how farmers have been caught in the middle of a political battle over the language used to describe federal programs. An internal USDA spreadsheet and accompanying instructions obtained by The Washington Post show more than $400 million of climate-related projects administered through the department's Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS) are under review for possible termination. |
| Trump predicts no shutdown as Congress faces spending deadline this week | |
 | President Donald Trump alleged Sunday that "the Democrats want" a government shutdown at the end of this week, but he predicted that a lapse in appropriations probably will not take place this time. "I think the CR is going to get passed. We'll see. But it could happen," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, referring to a continuing resolution that would extend current funding until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. The current funding extension expires at the end of Friday. The wrangling over that continuing resolution to prevent a partial shutdown will dominate the agenda for both the House and the Senate this week. The House Republican majority posted text of a stopgap appropriations measure Saturday that is not a bipartisan agreement. Democrats sought provisions to ensure that appropriated funds will actually be spent -- and not subject to the potential whims of the Elon Musk-led office known as the Department of Government Efficiency. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, is arguing for a shorter stopgap that would preserve the possibility of an omnibus. "Congress -- not Trump or Musk -- should decide through careful bipartisan negotiations how to invest in our states and districts -- and whether critical programs that support students, veterans, families, and patients get funded or not," Murray said in a statement. |
| Rubio thanks DOGE, says US is canceling most USAID programs | |
 | Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the United States is canceling 83 percent of programs at the United States Agency for International Development, thanking Elon Musk's DOGE team for its work amid reports of friction between the two men. "The 5200 contracts that are now canceled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States," Rubio said in a post to X, the social media platform owned by Musk. "Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform." Rubio's warm words for DOGE followed reports of a heated exchange between the secretary and Musk over concerns that the tech billionaire was overriding Trump's Cabinet officials during a contentious meeting last week. In coordination with Congress, Rubio said the remaining 18 percent of USAID's programs, which represents roughly 1000, will now operate under the State Department. |
| Trump loves the Gilded Age and its tariffs. It was a great time for the rich but not for the many | |
 | In President Donald Trump's idealized framing, the United States was at its zenith in the 1890s, when top hats and shirtwaists were fashionable and typhoid fever often killed more soldiers than combat. It was the Gilded Age, a time of rapid population growth and transformation from an agricultural economy toward a sprawling industrial system, when poverty was widespread while barons of phenomenal wealth, like John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, held tremendous sway over politicians who often helped boost their financial empires. "We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That's when we were a tariff country. And then they went to an income tax concept," Trump said days after taking office. "It's fine. It's OK. But it would have been very much better." The desire to recreate that era is fueled by Trump's fondness for tariffs and his admiration for the nation's 25th president, William McKinley, a Republican who was in office from 1897 until being assassinated in 1901. Experts on the era say Trump is idealizing a time rife with government and business corruption, social turmoil and inequality. They argue he's also dramatically overestimating the role tariffs played in stimulating an economy that grew mostly due to factors other than the U.S. raising taxes on imported goods. And Gilded Age policies, they maintain, have virtually nothing to do with how trade works in a globalized, modern economy. |
| Republicans worry Trump's tariffs could harm economy | |
 | Republican lawmakers are growing alarmed over signs that President Trump's expanding trade war is hurting the economy, something they're hearing from constituents at home who are struggling to adapt to Trump's zigzagging tariff pronouncements. GOP lawmakers say they're hearing from business owners, exporters, farmers and local leaders that Trump's threat of steep tariffs against Canada, Mexico and Europe are chilling business sentiment in the United States. Companies feel less confident about expanding operations and hiring new workers, given their uncertainty about the costs of imported goods and the potential loss of foreign markets over the next year. "The Canadian tariffs will definitely have a detrimental impact on the economy of Maine and on border communities in particular," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). "We have for example a major paper mill in Northern Maine right on the border that gets its pulp from Canada." "That mill alone, which is by far the biggest employer in the region, employs 510 people directly. I've talked to the owner of that mill, the imposition of a 25-percent tariff could be devastating," she warned. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he's hearing a deluge of complaints from business leaders in Kentucky about the potential impact of Trump's trade policies on the local economy. "I have every major industry in Kentucky lobbying me against them: the cargo shippers, the farmers, the bourbon manufacturers, the homebuilders, the home sellers -- you name it -- fence manufacturers," Paul told The Hill. |
| Who Likes Tariffs? Some U.S. Industries Are Eager for Them. | |
 | The United States buys more steel from Canada than from any other country, and those imports will become much more expensive under tariffs President Trump intends to impose this week. That's good news to Stephen Capone, president of Capone Iron Corporation of Rowley, Mass., which makes steel stairs, handrails, gratings and other products and has around 100 employees. For too long, he said, Canadian competitors have been flooding the New England market with cheap steel products, preventing his and other local companies from winning business. Many companies oppose Mr. Trump's tariffs, fearing that they will push up costs and provoke retaliation against their products by other countries. Ford Motor's chief executive, Jim Farley, said last month that tariffs could "blow a hole" in the U.S. auto industry, and retailers have warned that they will lead to higher prices for consumers. But there are deep pockets of support for his trade policies in the business world, particularly among executives who say their industries have been harmed by unfair trade. |
| Mass layoffs at Veterans' Affairs will begin early as June, memo says | |
 | The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin mass layoffs at the politically sensitive agency as early as June, according to a memo reviewed by Reuters. The memo, which is dated March 6, directs the department's human resources team to begin reviewing the agency's operations with an eye toward firing civil servants. It said it expects the review to be done by June, after which "VA will initiate Department-wide RIF actions," using an acronym for "reduction in force." Veterans groups, Democrats, and some Republicans have already voiced concern over the planned reductions at the department, which is seeking to cut more than 80,000 workers from the agency. The scale of the layoffs at the VA is greater than proposed cuts at other agencies and will hit a department that looks after a group that typically garners wide bipartisan support in the U.S., its military veterans. Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who said he learned of the cuts from the media, called it "political malpractice" not to consult Congress about the measures. |
| Joy Prom returns to The W for third year Saturday | |
| Mississippi University for Women will continue its partnership with Mt. Vernon Church this year to bring Joy Prom back to campus Saturday. Joy Prom, which was first hosted on The W's campus two years ago, is a full-scale prom for special needs individuals. The event is designed for ages 13 and older with developmental and/or physical impairments. The W's Campus Recreation Department facilitates the partnership for the event. The guests are matched with high school volunteers or W nursing students for the prom. Campus Recreation and the Division of Student Affairs will provide the "limo drivers," door greeters and transfer assistants, which help guests in and out of cars, golf carts and such. "This event creates a dedicated night of fun and excitement to celebrate and honor such an exceptional population in our community," said Maris Braddock, skills and simulation lab coordinator for the Vandergriff College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and one of the coordinators of the event. The theme of this year's prom is Let's Fiesta. |
| Alcorn's Sounds of Dyn-O-Mite to perform at Macy's Parade | |
| Alcorn State University's Sounds of Dyn-O-Mite Marching Band aims to travel, perform and represent Mississippi at the 2025 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The century-old celebration features performers and bands from across the country and the world. Alcorn seeks to raise $500,000 for the effort. So far, more than 400 donors have raised just more than 20% of that goal. Sponsorship packages range anywhere between $50 to $100,000. Like other HBCU bands in the state, the marching band has a storied history of high-profile performances. In 1975, the Sounds of Dyn-O-Mite was the first college band to perform in the Superdome. It has also performed during halftime for the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions. Alcorn's marching band is not the only one from Mississippi with a major performance in 2025. Jackson State University's Sonic Boom of the South performed at the Rose Parade on New Year's Day. That same month, Mississippi Valley State University's Mean Green Marching Machine performed at President Donald Trump's Inauguration Parade. |
| 'Everyone loses': 300 patients, researchers, students rally in Birmingham to protest Trump spending cuts | |
 | Holding a sign that said "UAB saved my life twice," Birmingham resident Mara Jambor credited researchers for flagging malignant melanoma on a screening before it was too late for treatment. At a rally at Railroad Park in Birmingham on Friday, Jambor said she is worried about what might happen if federal research agencies like the National Institutes of Health lose funding. "Trump is intentionally dismantling our government and all the good things we do," she told AL.com. "It doesn't just hurt us in Birmingham or in Alabama or in this country, it hurts the world." Jambor joined nearly 300 researchers, students, patients and community members to protest against funding pauses and proposed cuts to NIH, along with other federal research agencies. "Our American scientific engine is good for the economy," Kristina Visscher, a local neuroscientist, told the crowd. "It improves lives, and it's one of the true wonders of the world, and I am heartbroken to say that today it is under attack." |
| U. of Tennessee's balancing act: To guard 'academic freedom' and comply with Trump | |
 | Chancellor Donde Plowman said University of Tennessee at Knoxville leaders "are working to protect our people and academic freedom" in response to five stop-work orders and a federal letter to universities with precedent-driven guidance about actions that could be considered discriminatory under President Donald Trump. In Plowman's message -- a March 4 mass email to students and staff, obtained by Knox News -- she assured the campus community UT is "following the law and listening to our funding agencies" as higher education experts wait to see how federal cuts by the Trump administration will affect university operations in the long term. Recent orders to stop working are directed at federal grant recipients and federal contractors, with similar implications for subcontractors and subrecipients of federal grant money. The UT Institute of Agriculture has received six stop-work orders, UT System spokesperson Melissa Tindell told Knox News, in addition to the five received by UT. Plowman said the university is working with the Office of General Counsel to identify what UT needs to change -‒ if anything -- to comply, understanding these are "important determinations, and we are approaching them with care and diligence." |
| Students find convenience but hold pricing, supply concerns over UT's POD Markets | |
| For many students, the University of Tennessee's 11 Provisions on Demand Markets serve as quick meals or simple snack stops. However, students have reported various concerns about POD Markets, calling into question whether the stores are actually convenient. POD Markets fill an important gap in convenience and food options for students on campus, carrying a wide variety of products that range from: sodas, energy drinks, snacks, sushi, frozen trays and more. Most students agree that they are helpful, but share some concerns over prices being too high and locations often running out of more popular products. Mary Patterson, a senior district marketing manager for Aramark, responded to students' comments about pricing and stock. "Pricing on items sold in the POD markets is based on suggested retail pricing from our distributors," Patterson said. "We work diligently to provide consistent prices of same items in all the POD Markets across campus and encourage anyone who sees a discrepancy to contact us so that we may investigate and correct if needed." When comparing POD Market prices to nearby grocery stores, it is evident that the POD Market products are more expensive. |
| Texas A&M Board of Regents names Glenn Hegar as university system's next leader | |
| Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar will be the next chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, overseeing 11 universities that educate more than 157,000 students and eight state agencies, including the Texas Division of Emergency Management. The Board of Regents selected Hegar on Friday to succeed Chancellor John Sharp, who has held the job since 2011 and is slated to retire in June. The vote was unanimous. Hegar is inheriting the system's reins at an inflection point as Republican leaders scrutinize what they see as progressive policies and curriculum in higher education. He'll have to contend with continued accusations that public universities are violating the state's ban on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and navigate intensifying threats to academic freedom. As comptroller, Hegar has brought attention to problems that have plagued other states like infrastructure maintenance and state employee pensions. He worked with the Texas Legislature to pay down pension debt. He also helped create the first state-administered precious metals depository and the Texas Bullion Depository. Hegar is himself an Aggie, graduating from Texas A&M University in 1993. He later got his master's and law degrees from St. Mary's University, a private school in San Antonio, and a master of laws degree from the University of Arkansas. |
| Texas legislators question Texas university officials on future of higher education | |
| Members of the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Higher Education questioned a UT Systems representative Tuesday over student affordability and the system's removal of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and offices to comply with Texas Senate Bill 17. In its first committee hearing of the 89th Legislative Session, members of the higher education committee discussed student financial outcomes and school programs with representatives from multiple higher education boards, including Archie Holmes, a UT alumnus and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs for the system. Texas State Rep. Terry Wilson, the chairman of the committee, said this session would influence the committee's work and the funding for state-sponsored universities. Lawmakers' questions mainly focused on students' financial positions after college. A presentation given to the legislators by Holmes showed UT students accumulating approximately $21,000 of student loan debt while earning a four-year undergraduate degree, about $7,000 less than the national average. |
| Interim role becomes permanent for U. of Missouri student affairs leader | |
 | An interim role is now permanent for part of the leadership team at the University of Missouri. Angela King Taylor, who was the interim vice chancellor for student affairs since June 2023, will officially take on that role following a national search. MU President Mun Choi made the announcement Wednesday. "Vice Chancellor King Taylor is an incredible champion of student success with a proven commitment to excellence," he said. "Under her visionary leadership, we will continue to strengthen our Mizzou community and prepare the next generation of accomplished leaders for Missouri and beyond." King Taylor's role oversees the university's division of student affairs, which aims to enhance MU student experiences outside of the classroom. She started at MU in 2021 as the associate dean of students and focused on student engagement. Prior to her tenure at MU, King Taylor led student and faculty affairs teams at universities including Syracuse, Loyola University Chicago and the University of Kansas, MU said. |
| Universities are facing big cuts to research funding. At Duke, it's a time for 'damage control' | |
| Facing the potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, Duke University is preparing for the worst. Like research universities around the United States, the private school in North Carolina's Research Triangle would see a massive loss from Trump administration cuts to grants from the National Institutes of Health. Duke would be among the hardest hit. In its previous fiscal year, Duke took in $580 million in NIH grants and contracts, 11th most among the country's research institutions. The cuts are delayed temporarily by a court challenge, but universities nationwide have implemented hiring freezes, scaled back research and drawn up contingency plans in case the loss in funding takes effect. Historically, the federal government has negotiated with colleges and universities on its contribution toward their operating costs. If a scientist wins a federal grant to fund their research, the government pays the school an additional amount as a percentage of the grant money. At Duke, the current rate for these "indirect costs" -- expenses such as utilities and laboratory maintenance -- is about 61%. Last month, President Donald Trump's administration set the rate cap at 15%, significantly less than most universities receive. The cut in indirect costs is far from the only concern. Funding for new grants also slowed to a trickle after the NIH halted grant application review meetings in January. |
| U. of Virginia abolishes DEI Office | |
| The University of Virginia's governing Board of Visitors has ordered the school's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office be dissolved. In a resolution calling for the office's abolition unanimously approved Friday, the board said the move would align UVa with a White House executive order calling for cuts to DEI programs at schools as well as a U.S. Department of Education letter doing the same. The two-page resolution directs UVa to dissolve its main DEI Office, along with its Center for Community Partnerships. Permissible programs that do not conflict with the directives should be transferred to "a new organizational home," the resolution reads. The resolution further says that "faculty, staff and students doing legally permissible research and activities should proceed as normal." It was not clear Friday how many UVa employees the resolution will affect, if all of those positions would be terminated or if employees would be transferred into other roles. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican and Trump critic-turned-ally, applauded the decision. "DEI is done at UVA," Youngkin said in a statement Friday. "Today, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors voted for commonsense saying NO to illegal discrimination and YES to merit-based opportunity." |
| ICE arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests | |
| Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist Saturday who played a prominent role in Columbia University's protests against Israel, a significant escalation in the Trump administration's pledge to detain and deport student activists. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until this past December, was inside his university-owned apartment Saturday night when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press. Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil's student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that instead, according to the lawyer. Khalil's arrest is the first publicly known deportation effort under Trump's promised crackdown on students who joined protests against the war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring. The administration has claimed participants forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas. |
| Young people who aspired to public service are dismayed by end of fellows program | |
| A young economist who had uprooted her life for civil service. A fierce housing advocate terminated just before buying her first home. A semifinalist whose dreams were dashed before they materialized. For decades, the Presidential Management Fellows program was seen as a building block for the civil service with the expectation that the few who earned the position would one day become leaders in the federal workforce. Now the road ahead is uncertain. Hundreds of the fellows have been terminated or placed on administrative leave amid a nationwide slashing of the federal workforce. One of President Donald Trump's executive orders ended the program, which was created in 1978 to entice highly qualified workers with advanced degrees to join the federal government. Trump's Republican administration had ordered agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers in one fell swoop. That included recent classes of the fellows program, which has a two-year probationary period. Sydney Smith, 28, said many of the fellows were shocked at being let go because they came in to the government with ideas on how to make it more efficient. |
| Trump's Upheavals Worry Early-Career Researchers | |
 | Julia Barnes, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow, was watching President Donald Trump's speech to Congress last week when she heard him refer to her work as an "appalling waste" that needs to end. In a list of expenses he called "scams," Trump mentioned a $60 million project for Indigenous peoples in Latin America. "Empowering Afro-Indigenous populations in Colombia, South America, is exactly what I do," Barnes said. "My project is explicitly DEI, and it is DEI-focused in a foreign country." The Trump administration has targeted both foreign aid and diversity, equity and inclusion. "It's pretty devastating," she said. "This is the highest position I've ever gotten in my career. This is my dream job to do this research; it's a cause that I care about very deeply." She said, "It really breaks my heart to see this shift in values away from what I had initially hoped would become a tenure-track professorship and something -- something greater." Postdocs like Barnes are worried about their careers amid the tumult of the Trump administration, which has frozen federal funding; canceled grant review meetings; slashed National Institutes of Health payments for indirect research costs; targeted diversity, equity and inclusion activities without clearly defining DEI; and laid off swaths of federal research agency employees. |
| After Trump's inauguration, a dramatic halt to LGBTQ+ research | |
| Four months ago, Tara McKay, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University, received an award from the National Institutes of Health recognizing her contributions to the field of LGBTQ+ health research. After President Donald Trump was inaugurated, the office that gave her that award -- the Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office -- was closed. And over the last week, grants that McKay and other researchers had through the NIH to study LGBTQ+ health have been canceled, with researchers told via email that their work's inclusion of trans people conflicted with "agency priorities." The dramatic shift reflects how quickly the world's largest funder of biomedical research went from supporting and even trying to increase research into LGBTQ+ health to canceling funding for it based on the change of presidential administration. During the first Trump administration, there was little interference with what the NIH would fund or what areas it would prioritize. But the cancellation of grants over ideological differences between the administration and scientists and the medical establishment reflects a new era for the storied agency which has contributed to scientific advances from the Human Genome Project to mRNA vaccines. |
| Scholars stranded in America and abroad amid funding freeze of State Department programs | |
| Fulbright scholar Aubrey Lay was supposed to get paid for three months of work by the U.S. government through his teaching assistantship at a school for Ukrainian refugees in Estonia. Instead, he only got about one week's pay and no word on when he might see the rest of his grant. Lay is among scholars around the world who depend on State Department funding to participate in long-established programs like Fulbright and say their payments were abruptly cut off after being notified that officials were reviewing their activities. The move appears to be in line with the White House's initiative to sharply slash government spending, a shakeup that has affected scores of federal agencies. The government faces even more dramatic changes in the coming weeks and months. President Donald Trump has directed agencies to prepare plans for widespread layoffs, known as reductions in force, that likely will require more limited operations at agencies providing critical services. The funding freeze has sparked panic among thousands of scholars who area stranded outside their home countries without clarity on the future of their programs or the money needed to support themselves. |
| Study-Abroad Funding Is Paused, Leaving Some Students Stranded | |
| Two days after Frida Larios, a senior at California State University, Los Angeles, landed in Seoul for a study-abroad scholarship, she received an email stating that her money was in limbo. The State Department enacted a funding pause on grants in mid-February, affecting the longstanding international exchange and study-abroad programs that connect Americans to the world, including the Fulbright-Hays and Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship programs, according to several groups that support international education. But no one has turned the funding tap back on, leaving thousands of students and others involved in the programs worried they will be stuck abroad without money or may not get to go on scheduled trips at all. The State Department, which funds the programs but does not administer them directly, did not comment. The confusion over the international programs is a small piece of the chaos unleashed as the Trump administration takes an ax to federal government spending. The administration has argued it is ending wasteful spending and identifying programs driven by left-leaning ideologies. Critics have said the cuts and uncertainty are diminishing America's influence in the world. Ms. Larios said she feels stranded in Seoul. She said she reached out to everyone she thought could help at her university. She was offered student loans, which she was trying to avoid. |
| Business school group scraps diversity and equity targets | |
| The world's largest business school accreditation body has purged diversity and inclusion from its reporting standards, as US President Donald Trump's campaign against "woke" education reaches the next generation of managers, entrepreneurs and investors. The US-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which accredits more than 1,000 business schools around the world, has issued an update replacing "diversity and inclusion" as one of its 10 "Guiding Principles and Expectations for Accredited Schools" in favour of "Community and Connectedness". It has removed the phrase "AACSB remains deeply committed to diversity and inclusion in collegiate business education" and eliminated another dozen references to diversity and inclusion in the document. The action is the latest indication that organisations which had previously embraced diversity are scrapping or modifying policies targeted by the Trump administration in a series of executive orders. A number of universities and business schools have already sought to reduce their exposure to scrutiny. |
| Trump signs executive action targeting public service loan program | |
 | President Donald Trump has signed an executive action that directs the U.S. Education Department to exclude certain federal student loan borrowers from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The action says "individuals employed by organizations whose activities have a substantial illegal purpose" will no longer be eligible for the program, known as PSLF. It comes three weeks after Education Secretary Linda McMahon said at her Senate confirmation hearing she would keep the program intact. Created by Congress, PSLF forgives the federal loan balances of borrowers who work in public sector jobs, including nonprofit organizations, after they have made 10 years of payments while working for their qualifying employer. The executive action directs McMahon to redefine "public service" in a manner that "excludes organizations that engage in activities that have a substantial illegal purpose." Among the activities listed are: support for terrorism; child abuse, including "the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children or the trafficking of children to so-called transgender sanctuary"; "aiding and abetting illegal discrimination"; violating federal immigration laws; and state law violations such as "trespassing, disorderly conduct, public nuisance, vandalism, and obstruction of highways." Critics say that represents an attack on the free speech rights of borrowers, and on organizations that engage in activities that conflict with the administration's agenda. |
| What Republican Voters Want for Higher Ed | |
| Republican voters believe in the value of college degrees but harbor concerns about accountability and affordability, according to a new national survey conducted by Third Way, a center-left think tank, and GS Strategy Group, a Republican polling group. The survey of 500 Republican voters found that most respondents, 63 percent, view four-year degrees as valuable -- including 60 percent of voters who have "very favorable" perceptions of President Trump. Trade schools and community colleges enjoy particularly robust support; 91 percent and 87 percent of respondents, respectively, view them favorably. By comparison, 69 percent hold favorable views of four-year colleges and universities, and 37 percent feel positively toward for-profit universities. At the same time, Republicans surveyed believe the most needed reforms in higher ed today are greater accountability and greater affordability. "As Congress considers where to trim the budget this year, it's important to remember that Republican voters aren't looking for higher education cuts but rather a renewed emphasis on making it more affordable and holding institutions to the line for delivering a return on investment," the report concludes. |
| 'School choice' supporters want public money up front but they don't want accountability later | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: It is becoming crystal clear that proponents of school choice -- sending public funds to private schools -- want the money but do not want the accountability. Two of those leading proponents -- House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar and state Auditor Shad White -- have made it clear in recent days through their words or actions that they eschew accountability for private schools receiving public funds. The latest example of avoidance of accountability for private schools receiving public funds is legislation authored by Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, that has passed the House and is pending in the Senate Finance Committee. The legislation over time could more than double the public dollar amount that private schools could receive from a dollar-for-dollar state tax credit on the amount donated to the schools. ... White, the state auditor, on numerous occasions has been critical of public school funding even though under state and federal law, public schools face what some argue are burdensome accountability standards. While White demands accountability of public schools, he said recently during a Mississippi State Stennis Institute of Government/Capitol Press Corps luncheon that no government oversight of private schools receiving public funds is needed. "They are held accountable by the parents who choose to send their kids there," White said. |
| Tariffs and DOGE make case for caution in cutting state taxes | |
 | Columnist Bill Crawford writes: What impact will President Donald Trump's tariffs and Elon Musk's DOGE layoffs and contract cancellations have on Mississippi? It's too soon to tell, but the risks of major impacts are high. Trump imposed stiff tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China last week, then backed off some. All three countries announced retaliatory tariffs. A trade war risks upsetting critical supply chains and disrupting vital food markets. Mississippi export/import enterprises from farmers to refiners to manufacturers to retailers could be decimated. The president just about abolished USAID which has been a primary buyer of U.S. crops, many from Mississippi, for international food assistance. Meanwhile layoffs of federal employees and contract cancelations loom. Trump and DOGE have threatened 50% or higher layoffs for HUD, IRS, VA, SSA, DOE, EPA, NSF, NOAA, GSA, USAID, and other agencies. Mississippi is home to nearly 20,000 federal employees not counting government contractors. Already, 13 federal offices in Mississippi have been ordered to close and two designated for sale. To assume that huge federal spending cuts and high tariffs cannot harm Mississippi's economy would be foolish. |
SPORTS
| Baseball: State Takes Sunday Game To Sweep Queens | |
| Mississippi State topped Queens 9-3 in the final game Sunday afternoon to sweep its third-straight series at home. Aaron Downs led the Diamond Dawgs (11-4) at the plate with his second-straight two-homer game and finished the day 2-for-3. Bryce Chance and Ross Highfill both went 2-for-4 with two singles apiece with Chance driving in a pair and Highfill collecting one RBI. Sawyer Reeves and Noah Sullivan each doubled and drove in a run as MSU finished with 14 hits. Karson Ligon (2-1) started and logged five shutout innings on the mound only surrendering two hits while striking out a career-high nine and walking two. The Bulldog pitching staff finished with 14 total strikeouts and limited Queens (2-13) to six total hits. State travels to Biloxi on Tuesday and Wednesday for the Hancock Whitney Classic at Keesler Federal Park. The Diamond Dawgs take on Old Dominion on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Nicholls on Wednesday at 5 p.m. All games will be broadcast on ESPN+ |
| Baseball: Downs' home run binge leads Mississippi State to sweep of Queens | |
| With Reed Stallman, Bryce Chance, Nolan Stevens and defensive specialist Michael O'Brien, Mississippi State has a surplus of capable outfielders, and not everyone can be in the lineup every day. Aaron Downs' recent performance is making it difficult for head coach Chris Lemonis to make him the odd one out. A part-time player over his first three years with the Bulldogs, Downs entered his senior season still looking for his first collegiate home run. He now leads MSU with seven despite starting just eight of the Bulldogs' 15 games. Downs homered twice Saturday and hit two more homers Sunday as MSU finished its last non-conference weekend with a sweep over Queens. "I may not be in the starting lineup every day, but when that opportunity presents itself, I'm just having a positive mindset and trying to put a good swing on the ball," Downs said. "(I've been) slowing down mentally and physically in the box. The first three years I've been here, I was real jumpy at the ball. I've started to slow down and I've found results." MSU makes its annual trip to Biloxi on Tuesday and Wednesday for games against Old Dominion and Nicholls, then returns to Dudy Noble Field for the start of Southeastern Conference play Friday against No. 12 Texas. |
| Mississippi State's SEC tournament seed, opponent set for Nashville | |
| A disappointing end of the season has seen Mississippi State tumble down the SEC standings in recent weeks. After the Bulldogs once had aspirations of getting at least a first-round bye in next week's SEC Tournament in Nashville, State is now set for a double-digit seed. The Bulldogs grabbed the No. 10 seed as they got involved in a four-team tiebreaker with Arkansas, Georgia and Vanderbilt. The Razorbacks secured the No. 9 seed that the Bulldogs were playing for as Arkansas was able to knock off the Bulldogs 93-92 in a heartbreaking finish. The Bulldogs were trailing by 16 points in the second half before making a furious comeback and ultimately taking the lead late in the game. Arkansas made a free throw in the final 10 seconds and Riley Kugel and RJ Melendez couldn't cash in on the other end. The first round of the tournament will take place at 6 p.m. in Nashville next Wednesday as the Bulldogs fight it out with No. 15 seed LSU again. State (20-11) won the meeting last week 81-69 but started that ball game slow and trailed by two points at the half. |
| Softball: No. 21 State Secures Series Against No. 18 Auburn On Sunday Night | |
| No. 21 Mississippi State never trailed on Sunday night as the Bulldogs clinched the series against No. 18 Auburn with a 9-4 victory. Three different Bulldogs hit a two-run homer, and all but one starter had a hit in the ballgame. Six of State's (21-3, 2-0 SEC) nine hits went for extra bases. "I thought our offense did a really good job of adjusting," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "Being able to see two of their pitchers yesterday and prepare a little bit today for it, I loved the adjustments we made off of the one they started. I thought we had really mature at-bats up and down the lineup, and it's good to see coming from different people. That's what it takes in the conference, contributions up and down the lineup and not just relying on one batter." Morgan Stiles led the way offensively, with a career-high three RBIs while collecting a double and a homer. Lexi Sosa and Sierra Sacco also homered in the game. Jessie Blaine has yet to be retired by her former team, collecting a double and two walks to make her 4-for-4 in the series. The series finale is set for 7 p.m. CT on Monday night. The game is SEC Network's first showcase game of the season. |
| Softball: No. 21 Mississippi State starts SEC play with series win over No. 18 Auburn | |
| Raelin Chaffin may have been fighting off fatigue with every pitch, but the senior had the largest regular-season crowd in Mississippi State program history behind her. With 1,903 fans packed into Nusz Park on Saturday evening -- many of them youth softball players who had played in a travel ball tournament nearby earlier in the day -- the Bulldogs' new ace battled a tight strike zone and a strong Auburn lineup. The Tigers had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with two outs in the seventh when Chaffin threw her 144th pitch of the game, a 1-2 fastball to Kylie Brockman on the inside edge of the plate. Strike three called. Game over. "It's just tough, especially when you're in a close game like that with a really good Auburn team," Chaffin said. "It got to a point where I was just throwing it over the zone and trying to make them earn it." Chaffin issued seven walks but also struck out 11 batters as No. 21 MSU took the series and Southeastern Conference opener 5-4 over No. 18 Auburn. The Bulldogs then earned the series win with a 9-4 victory on Sunday, with a chance to complete the sweep Monday night. |
| Men's Golf: Mississippi State Wins Desert Mountain Collegiate | |
| Mississippi State won the Desert Mountain Collegiate with a three-day score of 11-under 853, defeating a field of 16 other teams. This is MSU's sixth tournament victory under head coach Dusty Smith and its third time winning the Desert Mountain Collegiate in his tenure. The Bulldogs were led by three top-10 finishers -- Garrett Endicott (T-2nd), Dain Richie (T-8th) and Harrison Davis (T-8th). "I'm really proud of the effort we showed this week," Smith said. "We had a great gameplan and really good preparation leading into this week. It was a full team effort, and I'm really happy for all the guys and our entire team. Our goal was to immerse ourselves in our process and what makes us successful. We knew if we did that, we would have a really good shot at winning." Mississippi State returns to the desert at the Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate in Tucson on March 17-18. |
| Ole Miss fined $500k for fans storming court after win over No. 4 Tennessee | |
| The Ole Miss Athletics Department is no longer all smiles following the men's basketball team's historic win over No. 4 Tennessee on Wednesday night. On Friday, the Southeastern Conference announced that Ole Miss will be fined $500,000 for a violation of the league's access to competition area policy due to fans entering the court following the midweek contest against the Volunteers. The university was also cited for the game being interrupted due to an object thrown onto the court --- which prompted Rebel head basketball coach Chris Beard to grab the microphone and urge his fanbase not to act out in that manner. According to conference officials, the half-million-dollar fine was levied due to the court storming being Ole Miss' third offense since the SEC updated its access to competition policy in the spring of 2023. "These selfish actions have consequences, as they will cost our coaches and student-athletes valuable resources. We are being levied a $500,000 fine to bring our department's total to $850,000 for the season. Additionally, SEC regulations dictate that this money be distributed to the opposing institution," Ole Miss Athletics Director Keith Carter said in a statement. In the NIL era and with revenue sharing on the horizon, schools like Ole Miss are not looking to incur self-inflicted wounds. |
| Congress May Have to Settle NCAA Athlete Eligibility Issue | |
| The NCAA scored a legal win last week when U.S. District Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. denied University of Tennessee first baseman Alberto Osuna a preliminary injunction to keep playing college ball after the former junior college star exhausted his NCAA D-I eligibility. It was the latest ruling in a growing number of player eligibility cases that raise the same basic question: Given that college athletes can earn NIL income and, if the House settlement is approved, a share of revenue, do NCAA rules limiting eligibility to four seasons in five years illegally restrain trade? The timing might be right for Congress to provide an answer to this question. It's a question that has been in play since last December, when Vanderbilt quarterback and former junior college transfer Diego Pavia convinced Chief U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell Jr. that D-I football players are a labor market whose exclusion from NIL and other commercial opportunities warrants antitrust scrutiny. Pavia's victory has encouraged other college athletes whose eligibility has or will soon expire to try to litigate an extension of their collegiate careers. It's not inconceivable, as U.S. District Judge William M. Conley recently suggested while granting University of Wisconsin redshirt senior Nyzier Fourqurean an injunction to keep playing, that some athletes -- particularly those not good enough for pro sports -- could try to extend their collegiate careers into their 30s so they can maximize NIL and other collegiate earnings. |
| American Athletic Conference becomes first league to set 'minimum standard' revenue share of $10 million | |
| The American Athletic Conference approved an initiative on Friday to establish a minimum standard of benefits that schools are required to share with athletes in the new revenue sharing era of college sports, becoming the first NCAA conference to make such a move. As part of this "Minimum Investment Program," schools must share with athletes at least $10 million in cumulative additional benefits over a three-year period, starting with the 2025-26 academic year -- a concept driven by commissioner Tim Pernetti and one he describes as an "important moment for the conference," he told Yahoo Sports in an interview Friday when reached to comment on the league's decision. Schools can reach the required $10 million figure through a combination of benefits now available to them through the settlement of the House antitrust lawsuit. The settlement, if approved later this spring, will permit schools to offer scholarships to entire rosters and, separately, share a projected maximum of $20.5 million annually with their athletes through direct revenue sharing. As part of the American's Minimum Investment Program, schools can include as additional benefits (1) up to $2.5 million in new scholarships and (2) direct revenue they share with athletes, as well as (3) up to $2.5 million in Alston payments -- a stipend that some schools have been distributing to their athletes. |
| The 'Perfect Storm' of Sports Betting: Gambling is easier than ever, and students are part of the human toll. | |
 | When Chase first started betting on sports, he'd deposit a couple hundred bucks a day -- already more money than he could comfortably afford to risk. Now, as a 23-year-old medical student? "I'm totally willing to blow through a couple grand in a day or two," says Chase, who lives in Illinois, and who asked The Chronicle not to print his last name. What started as a hobby is a hobby no longer. Chase estimates that he spends two hours a day placing bets -- that is, if he has money to place -- and 12 hours a day with gambling in the background, when he watches streamers discuss their wagers or chats with other gamblers on the app Discord, often while in class or while studying. On his computer screen, his academic work takes up the right half. His gambling stream takes up the left. Chase knows he has "a major problem." Though sometimes he wins, more often he loses, and he worries about how much of his money he'll be willing to fork over when he's earning a doctor's salary. Many young people, particularly young men like Chase, have flocked to sports betting in recent years. More than 30 states legalized the practice in some form after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 overturned a federal ban that applied to most states. Since then, ads for online sportsbooks, or platforms on which people can bet on sports, have exploded, along with the range of betting options. |
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