| Wednesday, March 26, 2025 |
| MSU generated $3.9 billion for Mississippi in 2024, report finds | |
 | Mississippi State University has made a significant increase in its economic contribution to the state of Mississippi, generating an annual impact of $3.9 billion, according to the university's National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center. This figure indicates a significant increase from the $1.8 billion reported in 2019. University leaders unveiled the study's findings during a press conference on March 19. The analysis highlights that for every dollar invested by taxpayers into MSU, $25 in income is produced within Mississippi. MSU President Mark Keenum highlighted these statistics when he spoke at the press conference among other university leaders. "I truly cannot believe that there is a better investment for tax dollars and the impact they can have for this state than what is invested here at Mississippi State and what we're able to return back to the citizens of our great state," Keenum said. "This report quantifies what we have long known --- Mississippi State University is a core economic driver across the state of Mississippi," Keenum said. "Our world-class faculty and staff work hard every day to move Mississippi forward and educate the students and future leaders we need in our state and nation." |
| Experts warn of termite swarms in Mississippi | |
 | Mississippi's native subterranean termites have started swarming, according to officials. The structure-destroying insects will continue to swarm across the state over the next few months. John Riggins, professor of forest entomology in the Mississippi State University (MSU) Department of Agricultural Science and Plant Protection, said termites swarm to produce new colonies when the weather warms up, often after a rain. "Eastern subterranean termite swarmers are black with long, straight, bead-like antennae. Their most distinctive feature is two sets of clear white wings that are much longer than their body, but both sets of wings are equal in length," Riggins said. "These wings drop off after the swarmers mate, so in some instances, the only sign of these swarmers is large amounts of light-colored wings in areas such as windowsills." Santos Portugal, urban entomologist with the MSU Extension Service, said if these termites are found indoors dead or alive, it's time to bring in the professionals. With termites, the best prevention is a good offense. Officials said you should maintain an annual termite contract with a reputable pest control company and make sure to keep up with annual treatments. |
| Mississippi State grows minds one chick at a time in Lauderdale County | |
| The Hatch Out Program is a hands-on educational experience for students that teaches the ins and outs of farm life and livestock care. Mississippi State University provided a Pre-K class at Northeast Elementary School with chicken eggs and an incubator so they can learn about the life cycle while watching hatching in real time. "We are doing a unit called 'Things That Grow' in Pre-K and this was just an opportunity to let them see hands-on things that grow, that not just vegetables and gardens that grow, that animals also grow," Kristi Johnson said. MSU Agricultural Agent Meribeth Boland was inspired by programs like this as a child and knew she wanted to teach agriculture and farming to spark curiosity and inspire the next generation. "I think lessons like this can spark that curiosity, as well as make them think maybe this is something they would want to do, I mean the kids in there are devastated that these chicks are going home today, but it allows them, you know, raise their own animals, and have a respect for that animal as well as get a benefit like eggs or milk from that animal," Boland said. |
| The Poultry Hatch-Out program teaches students about chick handling, biosecurity, and food sourcing. | |
 | Spring has officially hatched, and so have baby chicks in Mrs. Johnson's Pre-K class at Northeast Elementary. Last week, Mississippi State University Extension Service dropped off an incubator full of eggs to Mrs. Johnson's classroom as part of their Poultry Hatch-Out program. Over the weekend, four little chicks made their appearance. The Poultry Hatch-Out program teaches students about chick handling, biosecurity, and food sourcing. It also exposes them to farm animals, which many don't have access to. "Kids of this age respond really well... they learned about the chicks growing and hatching and how a chick can hatch from an egg. They also learn how they need to make sure they wash their hands to keep from spreading germs as well as handling the chick and not being too rough, and being really calm and gentle," said Meribeth Boland with the MSU Extension Service Lauderdale County. |
| MSU launches advanced wind lab for drone testing | |
 | Video: A new wind lab opened at Mississippi State University in Starkville. |
| MSU Alumni Association announces 2025 class of Reveille 25 honorees | |
| A Louisville native has been named as one of Mississippi State University Alumni Association's Reveille 25 awards during a recognition ceremony Saturday, March 8. The award honors 25 exceptional young alumni who are "answering the call" of the university's mission for excellence and inspiring others with their positive impact on their communities and professions. Sarah Beth Jones, a native of Louisville and a 2008 graduate of Mississippi State University was one of the 25 honored. Jones is a founding partner at Gay Jones & Kuhn PLLC in Jackson, a women-owned law firm with additional offices in Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana. She graduated summa cum laude from MSU in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. Launched in the fall of 2021, the Reveille 25 program celebrates the impressive achievements of MSU's growing number of young alumni. Its familiar name comes from MSU's former yearbook, "The Reveille," which documented student life throughout the university's history and pays tribute to the institution's foundational military background. |
| Mississippi Department of Education: Move MSMS to MSU | |
| The Mississippi State Board of Education voted unanimously to recommend relocating the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science to Mississippi State University during its March 20 meeting. The move would occur starting with the 2026-27 school year if the Legislature approves the action. "Mississippi State University is pleased that the State Board of Education saw the obvious merit in the proposal they requested from us," MSU Vice President for Strategic Communications Sid Salter told the Mississippi Free Press after the vote on March 20. "If authorized by the Mississippi Legislature, we look forward to providing an exceptional experience for students chosen to attend MSMS." During its December 2024 meeting, the Mississippi Department of Education created the MSMS subcommittee to explore options for the school's future. The committee invited both MUW and MSU to submit proposals to expand MSMS -- a move that MUW officials said was unexpected. The committee also invited public comment until March 4. The MSMS Subcommittee recommended the move during its meeting on March 19. MDE Board member Dr. Ronnie McGehee said the committee rated the proposals out of 400 points. Mississippi State University earned 363 points, and Mississippi University for Women earned 304 points. |
| State Board of Education recommends MSMS relocation to MSU | |
| The Mississippi State Board of Education voted unanimously on March 20 to recommend that the Mississippi Legislature relocate the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science to the Mississippi State University campus. "The SBE is grateful to the Mississippi University for Women for its decades of service supporting MSMS," State Board of Education chair Glen East said in the DOE's press release. "Our recommendation reflects our assessment of future growth possibilities and academic opportunities for MSMS students; it is not intended to diminish MUW's contributions to the success of MSMS." After evaluating both proposals, the SBE determined that MSU offers greater advantages for future MSMS growth than MUW. The board cited several reasons for its decision, including MSU's expansive academic resources and modern research facilities as well as its ability to provide additional opportunities for MSMS students through faculty partnerships and specialized STEM programs. If approved, MSMS will be located in a new facility next to Partnership Middle School, adjacent to the planned site for Starkville High School. MSU's proposal includes plans for shared facilities such as a cafeteria, library, gymnasium, academic courses, laboratories and performing arts centers for both high schools. |
| Three arrested following drive-by shooting in Oktibbeha | |
 | Three suspects are charged in connection with a Sunday drive-by shooting on Blair Road southeast of Starkville. Ravion Bentley, 24, of Canton, faces a drive-by shooting charge. Deaundra Moore and Khaliah Bean, both 24 of Starkville, are charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. The shooting occurred at about 9:39 a.m. Sunday, according to an Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Office press release. At the scene, deputies found damage to a vehicle and trailer, though no injuries were reported. As part of the investigation, deputies executed search warrants Monday for vehicles and residences at North Montgomery Street and Lynn Lane that led to the arrests, OCSO Capt. Brett Watson said. During their search, deputies seized about four pounds of marijuana, two AR-style rifles and $1,697 cash. He said more arrests are likely and the three suspects in custody could face more charges. |
| Nissan's new CEO intends to slash vehicle development time | |
 | Nissan plans to dramatically cut its car development time to boost its competitiveness, the struggling automaker's incoming CEO Ivan Espinosa said on Wednesday. Japan's third-largest automaker currently takes about 55 months to develop a completely new vehicle. "We are slow. This is one of the things we have to face," Espinosa, currently chief planning officer, told reporters at an event about its product plans. He said he wants to cut development for the first car in a family of cars to 37 months while the second car or third car would take just 30 months. Espinosa, a two-decade company veteran known as a passionate product person, takes the helm on April 1. He is expected to refocus the automaker's priorities on developing vehicles more in tune with customers' tastes as he seeks to steer the company out of a deep sales slump. New vehicles to be offered in North America in the coming financial year include a Leaf crossover - the third-generation of the world's first mass-market electric car originally launched in 2010 -- as well as its first plug-in hybrid, the Rogue SUV developed with Mitsubishi Motors 7211.T. Nissan also plans to start producing an electric SUV at its Canton, Mississippi plant late in the year beginning April 2027. |
| Ergon Refining expanding operations in Vicksburg with $400 million investment | |
| The Mississippi Development Authority announced Tuesday that specialty naphthenic product manufacturer Ergon Refining is expanding its operations in Vicksburg. The expansion, which is scheduled to be completed by 2027, represents a $400 million investment that is expected to create 20 new jobs. "$400 million is a lot of money -- and this investment is another massive win for Mississippi. It really is an exciting time to be a Mississippian," Governor Tate Reeves said in a statement. "We're finalizing deal after deal and putting up win after win for the people who live here. Ergon is a Mississippi company growing right here at home, and their $400 million investment in Vicksburg is just the latest example of the special things happening in our state." The news follows the company's 2024 expansion of its Flowood headquarters which was an $85 million investment that is creating 200 new jobs. Ergon, founded in 1954 in Jackson, has grown into a global organization employing more than 4,200 workers, including 1,200 in Mississippi, and serving customers in more than 100 countries. |
| Bollinger Shipyards in Pascagoula awarded $951 million icebreaker contract | |
| Pascagoula is looking to secure its reputation as the "icebreaker capital of the world" with the announcement of nearly a billion dollars in government money going to Bollinger Shipyards and its efforts to build ice-breaking vessels. U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security had decided to modify the Polar Security Cutter (PSC) icebreaker contract to include an additional $951.6 million investment at Bollinger's location in Pascagoula. "As the Arctic grows as an arena of great power competition, the United States will require far more icebreaking capability from the U.S. Coast Guard to defend our interests in this region," Wicker explained. "Today's award is a testament to the good work that Bollinger continues to do on the [PSC] program and the growing urgency with which their platforms are needed to boost our national defense. The Mississippi Gulf Coast will not only benefit from even more national security-focused quality jobs and economic development, but it will also continue to be a national player and powerhouse in mission-critical innovation and military capability." |
| Consumer confidence is sliding as Americans' view of their financial futures slumps to a 12-year low | |
 | U.S. consumer confidence continued its sharp 2025 decline as Americans' views about their financial futures slumped to a 12-year low, driven by rising anxiety over tariffs and inflation. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021. The reading was short of analysts expectations for a reading of 94.5, according to a survey by FactSet. The business group found that the measure of Americans' short-term expectations for income, business and the job market fell 9.6 points to 65.2. That's the lowest reading in 12 years and well below the threshold of 80, which the Conference Board says can signal a potential recession in the near future. The proportion of U.S. consumers anticipating a recession remains at a nine-month high, the board reported. The administration of President Donald Trump has largely played down the souring mood among Americans, saying it doesn't necessarily reflect what's happening in the actual economy. This argument is similar to what officials in former President Biden's administration said as high inflation suppressed consumer confidence without undermining growth. |
| Consumer confidence in where the economy is headed hits 12-year low | |
| Consumer confidence dimmed further in March as the view of future conditions fell to the lowest level in more than a decade, the Conference Board reported Tuesday. The board's monthly confidence index of current conditions slipped to 92.9, a 7.2-point decline and the fourth consecutive monthly contraction. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a reading of 93.5. However, the measure for future expectations told an even darker story, with the index tumbling 9.6 points to 65.2, the lowest reading in 12 years and well below the 80 level that is considered a signal for a recession ahead. The index measures respondents' outlook for income, business and job prospects. The fall in confidence was driven by a decline in those 55 or older but was spread across income groups. In addition to the general pessimism, the outlook for the stock market slid sharply, with just 37.4% of respondents expecting higher equity prices in the next year. That marked a 10 percentage point drop from February and was the first time the view turned negative since late 2023. |
| Consumers are anticipating a weaker job market. Why does it matter? | |
| Consumer confidence data for March gives us a look at how people are thinking about the labor market. Views of current conditions didn't move much between February and March. But when The Conference Board, the nonprofit think tank that puts out the survey, asked people about their job prospects six months down the road, that's when they started to get anxious. If you look at the hard jobs data, you'll see steady hiring and relatively low unemployment. But if you ask regular people, its a different sentiment. "Consumers are not particularly excited about the state of the labor market," said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist with The Conference Board. She said this is the fourth month in a row of eroding confidence, with 28% of survey respondents now expecting fewer jobs to be available in six months. Economist Allison Shrivastava with the hiring site Indeed said workers have plenty to be anxious about "any time there is uncertainty among policies." And even President Donald Trump has said his policies are causing a "period of transition" in the economy. |
| Corporate America's Euphoria Over Trump's 'Golden Age' Is Giving Way to Distress | |
 | Rapturous applause and a sea of phones in the air greeted President Trump as he walked on stage and declared, "The golden age of America has officially begun." He was barely a month into office when the Saudi-backed investor conference in Miami captured the optimism. "The Nasdaq is up nearly 10% in just a few months," Trump said, ticking through a list of economic indicators. "The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 2,200 points." On the same day, Feb. 19, the S&P 500 hit an all-time high. But as Trump unleashed an on-one-day, off-the-next tariff fight with America's largest trading partners, those gains unraveled. In just a few weeks, the S&P lost $4 trillion in value driven by his whipsaw trade policy, receding optimism about an artificial-intelligence boom and souring consumer sentiment caused by threats of higher prices and weaker growth. A measure of consumer sentiment fell in March for the fourth straight month to the lowest level since January 2021, the Conference Board, a business-research group, said Tuesday. CEOs and lobbyists seeking clarity and fretting over what they see as a haphazard approach have inundated Trump's team with calls, according to people in the administration. Some of these people said the White House has been receptive to hearing from businesses about their concerns, but they said it's unclear if arguments for a more temperate and targeted approach have persuaded Trump. |
| Federal judge dismisses former Gov. Bryant's defamation case against Sports Illustrated | |
| A federal judge dismissed the civil defamation case brought by former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and his wife against a Sports Illustrated journalist writing about the state's welfare scandal and Bryant's alleged involvement. The May 2023 article from Michael Rosenberg alleged a conspiracy involving Bryant, former Mississippi Department of Human Services Executive Director John Davis, former Mississippi Community Education Center Director Nancy New and former NFL great Brett Favre. Lawyers for Bryant argued in their complaint that the article reiterated alleged defamatory statements first published by Mississippi Today and the organization's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Anna Wolfe; namely, that Bryant allegedly orchestrated the scheme to defraud tens of millions in welfare dollars to construct a volleyball stadium on the Southern Miss campus and invest in a pharmaceutical company, both of which had ties to Favre. U.S. District Judge Kristi H. Johnson wrote that Bryant could not prove any of the elements of its defamation claim. Bryant still has an open defamation case in state court against Anna Wolfe and Mississippi Today. |
| Speaker White says discussions ongoing between House, Senate related to tax reform legislation | |
| Discussions are ongoing between the House and Senate related to the legislation passed last week that phases out Mississippi's income tax, reduces the sales tax on groceries, adds a Tier 5 to the state employee's retirement system and increases the gas tax. Late last week, the House concurred with the Senate's version of the bill which was later revealed to include a lower threshold for phasing out the income tax than the Senate originally intended. The provision of the bill in question requires the economy to reach certain milestones in order to allow for future income tax cuts after the first four years of 0.25 points per year reductions. The bill was to require the economy to provide 85 percent or more of $400 million in tax collection surpluses for future cuts to occur. However, when the bill reached the House floor, a decimal point was added, making that threshold 0.85 percent. Speaker Jason White (R) admitted Monday to House leaders knowing the error was in the bill before it was passed. At a Republican Party press event Tuesday, White said additional discussions are expected to take place to address those economic thresholds contained in HB 1 as conference meetings occur related to SB 3095, a measure that now includes House tax reform language. The Democratic Caucus spoke out about the passage of the bill that included the typo on Tuesday, saying they were misled. |
| Special elections head to runoffs in House Districts 23 and 82 | |
| Special elections for House District 23 and House District 82 were held Tuesday, with both races now headed to a runoff on April 22. Five candidates were running in the House District 23 special election to fill the unexpired term of former State Rep. Andy Stepp (R), who died in December. On Tuesday, voters sent Perry Bailey and Colby Bollinger on to a runoff, with Bailey leading the field with 41 percent of the vote and Bollinger coming in second with 33 percent of the vote. In the House District 82 race, three candidates were seeking to fill the unexpired term of former State Rep. Charles Young, Jr. (D), who also died in December. Voters sent Gregory Elliott and Joseph Norwood to a runoff, with Elliott winning over 40 percent of the vote and Norwood narrowly finishing in second with nearly 30 percent of the vote. The separation between Norwood and the third candidate in the race, Joseph Denson, came down to just four votes. Elliott is known in the Lauderdale County area for his community service while Norwood served on the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors as a Democrat for six terms. |
| Replacing blight with baseball: Jackson puts Legislature on notice of its multi-million dollar needs | |
| Leavell Woods park in south Jackson used to host some of the best baseball around. "Everyone wanted to come to play at Leavell Woods because that's where the competition was," park president and coach Eric Barbour said. Over its more than 60-year history, Leavell Woods has saved hundreds of kids' lives, Barbour said, as home to a successful baseball little league. The park hasn't held tournaments for over a decade, but Barbour is aiming to bring the park back to its heyday. Rep. Grace Butler-Washington, D-Jackson, is seeking $150,000 in funding from the state Legislature this session for such additions at Leavell Woods. Similarly, Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson, is asking for up to $4 million to renovate various community centers, senior citizen centers and gymnasiums across the city. These are the kinds of requests that lawmakers from across the state make every session, often by filing individual bills that quickly die. They then try to get the appropriations included in the large projects bill, known as the Christmas tree bill because of the gifts it provides local communities across the state. House and Senate leadership craft this legislation just before they leave the Capitol for the year. But proportionate to its size, Jackson is frequently shortchanged by the end-of-session earmark legislation, a process driven by politics as opposed to studied need |
| Advocates campaign to raise awareness about wage disparities faced by Black women in Mississippi | |
 | Members of the Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable gave cookies to lawmakers at the capitol Tuesday to commemorate National Equal Pay Day. Angel Tidwell is the program manager of economic security for the Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable. She says this was a symbolic opportunity to bring attention to the wage gap faced by many female workers, especially those of color. "The cookies are in the shape of a coin," she said. "Our theme is equal pay is getting worse by the cent." According to a press release published in 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor found that Black women lost $42.7 billion in wages compared to White men in 2023. The research found that much of this disparity was due to women of color being concentrated in fields that paid significantly lower than jobs that are held by White men. State legislator Zakiya Summers, who represents parts of Hinds and Rankin counties, says she's concerned by this disparity. "What we want to do is raise awareness around the fact that we still have wage discrimination and wage disparities between genders," she said. "At the very top of the totem pole, of course, is White men and at the very bottom of the totem pole is Black women." Summers says the wage gap does not strictly apply to women of color. "Women on average are making 76 on the dollar compared to White men," she said. "For women of color, it's lower than that. So we want to continue to raise awareness because we want to bring attention to this issue to ensure that women are getting their fair share." |
| GOP lawmakers press for investigations of Trump Cabinet group chat | |
 | Republican senators are calling for the Trump administration and congressional committees to investigate the disclosure of sensitive national security information over Signal, a commercial app, fearing the controversy could have major political consequences. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Tuesday that his committee will investigate the matter but also called on the Defense Department's inspector general to launch a probe. "We'll certainly be asking the IG to look into it," Wicker told The Hill of the incident, which has sparked concerns among Republicans and Democrats over the frequency with which senior Trump officials are using Signal to hold sensitive conversations. Senators say the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), will also investigate the security lapse, according to senators on the panel. The topic was discussed extensively when five senior officials, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, testified before the Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said if senior officials in the Biden administration had made a similar mistake, Republicans in Congress would be blowing their tops. |
| The Atlantic releases entire Signal chat showing Hegseth's detailed attack plans against Houthis | |
 | The Atlantic released the entire Signal chat among Trump senior national security officials Wednesday, showing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timing of warplane launches and when bombs would drop -- before the men and women flying those attacks against Yemen's Houthis this month on behalf of the United States were airborne. The disclosure follows two intense days during which Trump's seniormost Cabinet members, heads of his intelligence and defense agencies, have struggled to explain how details that current and former U.S. officials have said would have been classified wound up on an unclassified Signal chat that included Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg. Hegseth has refused to say whether he posted classified information on Signal. He is traveling in the Indo-Pacific and to date has only scoffed at questions, saying he did not reveal "war plans." What was revealed was jaw-dropping in its specificity and includes the type of information that is kept to a very close hold to protect the operational security of a military strike. Signal is a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications, but it can be hacked. It is not approved for carrying classified information. On March 14, one day before the strikes, the Defense Department cautioned personnel about the vulnerability of Signal, specifically that Russia was attempting to hack the app. |
| Trump administration says it will pull back billions in COVID funding from local health departments | |
| Federal health officials said Tuesday they are pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for state and local public health departments and other health organizations throughout the nation. "The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago," the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. The statement said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects to recover the money beginning 30 days after termination notices, which began being sent out on Monday. Officials said the money was largely used for COVID-19 testing, vaccination and global projects as well as community health workers responding to COVID and a program established in 2021 to address COVID health disparities among high-risk and underserved patients, including those in minority populations. Lori Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County & City Health Officials, said much of the funding was set to end soon anyway. "It's ending in the next six months," she said. "There's no reason -- why rescind it now? It's just cruel and unusual behavior." |
| In new assessment, Trump team ranks fentanyl as a top threat to U.S. | |
 | Fentanyl and international drug gangs responsible for smuggling the deadly street drug rank among the top threats to U.S. national security. That's according to an assessment delivered on Tuesday by top Trump administration officials to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Cartels were largely responsible for the deaths of more than 54,000 U.S. citizens from synthetic opioids" during the 12-month period that ended in October 2024, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said during opening remarks. The U.S Intelligence Community's annual threat assessment for 2025, also released Tuesday, offered a slightly different number, estimating 52,000 U.S. deaths could be linked to cartel activity. NPR couldn't independently verify either figure. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of roughly 84,000 people in the U.S. died during that time period from all overdoses linked to fentanyl, methamphetamines and other street drugs. During Tuesday's hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who chairs the Intelligence Committee, noted that fentanyl has been elevated by the Trump administration as a top concern -- ahead of other national security threats from countries such as Iran, North Korea and Russia. "For the first time, the annual threat assessment lists foreign illicit drug actors as the very first threat to our country," Cotton said, singling out "Mexican-based cartels using precursors [industrial chemicals] produced in China." |
| Speaker Mike Johnson floats eliminating federal courts as GOP ramps up attacks on judges | |
 | Facing pressure from his right flank to take on judges who have ruled against President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Tuesday floated the possibility of Congress eliminating some federal courts. It's the latest attack from Republicans on the federal judiciary, as courts have blocked a series of actions taken by the Trump administration. In addition to funding threats, Trump and his conservative allies have called for the impeachment of certain federal judges who have ruled against him, most notably U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who attempted to halt Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants. "We do have the authority over the federal courts, as you know. We can eliminate an entire district court. We have power of funding over the courts and all these other things," Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. "But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act." Johnson, a former constitutional attorney, later clarified that he was making a point about Congress' "broad authority" over the "creation, maintenance and the governance" of the courts. Article III of the Constitution established the Supreme Court but gave Congress the power to "ordain and establish" lower federal courts. The Senate also would almost certainly reject any funding bill or package that defunded the courts. To pass it, Senate Republicans would need at least seven Democrats to join them to defeat a filibuster. And some Republicans might vote against such a proposal. |
| Top Republicans Rebuff Trump's Demand to Impeach Judges | |
| President Trump's call to impeach judges who have ruled against him is going nowhere in the GOP-controlled Congress, even as Elon Musk and other MAGA voices continue to rage against court orders slowing initiatives on immigration and other contentious issues. While some Republican lawmakers have heartily backed impeachments, others see them as a wrongheaded distraction from their party's legislative agenda and are pursuing alternative ways to rein in the judiciary. Removing a judge requires a majority vote in the House, followed by a two-thirds vote in the Senate -- the former an uncertainty, the latter a near impossibility. "How do you reconcile an impeachment vote like that that you know is not going anywhere, and how it takes your attention away from the more important things that Congress should be dealing with right now?" said Rep. Steve Womack (R., Ark.). "Let's do the people's business and not get sidetracked with the revenge piece of politics." The pushback and redirection from Republicans mark a rare break with Trump. The president has worked his will in Congress, from pushing controversial cabinet nominees through the Senate to strong-arming holdout House lawmakers on re-electing Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and then backing his government funding bill. |
| Supreme Court Upholds Biden Administration's Limits on 'Ghost Guns' | |
 | The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld federal restrictions aimed at curtailing access to kits that can be easily assembled into homemade, nearly untraceable firearms. In a 7-to-2 decision, written by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, one of the court's conservatives, the justices left in place requirements enacted during the Biden administration as part of a broader effort to combat gun violence by placing restrictions on so-called ghost guns. The ruling in favor of gun regulations is a departure for the court, which has shown itself to be skeptical both of administrative agency power and of gun regulations. Two conservative justices -- Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas -- each filed dissents. The Biden administration enacted rules in 2022 tightening access to the weapons kits, after law enforcement agencies reported that ghost guns were exploding in popularity and being used to commit serious crimes. During the oral argument, a majority of the justices appeared to favor keeping the rules in place, with at least two conservatives, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, raising sharp questions about arguments by the plaintiffs that the administration had overstepped its bounds. |
| Trump's war on public media comes to Congress | |
 | President Donald Trump's administration launched a war on public media. His allies in Congress are eager to carry the banner. NPR's CEO and President Katherine Maher and PBS' CEO and President Paula Kerger are set to appear Wednesday in front of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, which is chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and was launched as a companion to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. It comes as the Federal Communications Commission, helmed by Trump's ally Brendan Carr, is actively investigating both public media broadcasters over their corporate sponsorships. While the calls to strip funding from NPR and PBS are not new --- they've faced challenges from multiple Republican administrations going back to President Ronald Reagan --- the magnitude of the pushback exemplifies the president's escalating battles with the media during his second term. Trump said in a wide-ranging press conference in the Cabinet room at the White House on Tuesday that he would "love to" defund both NPR and PBS. Though both NPR and PBS get funding beyond the government, the potential revocation of their appropriation from Congress represents an existential threat to the future of public media, especially for the smaller, local stations across the country most reliant on that funding. |
| Students prepare to step back in time for 35th Tales from the Crypt event | |
| The past meets the present this year in the 35th annual Tales from the Crypt as students prepare to bring history to life at Friendship Cemetery. With performances ranging from a free man fighting in a Black infantry regiment during the Civil War to a Mississippi University for Women alumna who changed the course of medicine, students will portray an array of historical figures with ties to Columbus. MSMS history teacher Chuck Yarborough, who has directed Tales from the Crypt for the last 25 years, said the project gives students a chance to dive deeper into the city's history before sharing it with an audience. "There's this magic that happens in the cemetery when a group of students who have committed to an academic project suddenly realize that it makes a difference in the broader community," he said. Using records at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library and Mississippi University for Women Beulah Culbertson Archives, students began researching for the project during the fall semester. With the help of local archivists, they learn about their characters through primary and secondary sources. |
| JSU holds Jackson City Council candidate forum | |
| With the primary election just a week away, city council candidates got the chance to share who they are and what they bring to the table at a Jackson State University candidate forum. Jacobi Grant, an adjunct professor at the university, shared how this came to be. "Our student here at Jackson State, specifically our political science department, has been researching voter apathy and some of the causes of it. One of the causes that we noted, that glaring cause, is people don't receive political news through conventional news sources anymore," Grant said. To combat this, Grant said they wanted to create a space for candidates to speak without bias. "We're bringing all of the candidates to one space and allowing them to share information about themselves to be broadcasted online in hopes that more people will be educated on who they are, what their campaign platform is and why they should and shouldn't vote for that particular person," Grant said. |
| Natchez Workforce Development aims to meet rising demand for electricians with new program | |
| A new free program has been launched by the city of Natchez's Workforce Development Department to help meet a rising demand for electricians. The Building Trades Electrical Program at Copiah-Lincoln Community College's Natchez Campus has been created to give prospective tradesmen a cost-efficient opportunity to participate in accessible, high-quality training. The program kicked off in early March and features five 8-week sessions running through December 30. Classes are offered both in the morning (9 a.m. through 12 p.m.) and evening (5:30 p.m. through 8:30 p.m.), Monday through Thursday, to accommodate varying schedules. Funding from the Delta Regional Authority allows the program to be completely free for participants -- eliminating financial barriers and opening doors for career advancement in the skilled trades. We are thrilled to receive this additional award for Natchez," Natchez Mayor Dan Gipson said. "The progress of our workforce development initiatives is propelling our city forward. Thanks to DRA's continued support, we are building momentum and paving the way for long-term success. We couldn't be more grateful." |
| Mississippian Laurie Todd-Smith tapped to head Trump administration's early childhood education program | |
| Dr. Laurie Todd-Smith was sworn in Monday as the Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Education at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), after receiving an appointment from President Donald Trump. Todd-Smith told Magnolia Tribune she is "deeply honored to step into this role" and emphasized that "every child deserves a strong start. She says she feels "privileged to work alongside so many dedicated advocates, educators, and families to make that a reality." Todd-Smith described the task before her as strengthening early learning initiatives, such as Head Start, collaborating with states to enhance child development outcomes, contributing to foster care reform efforts to ensure better support for vulnerable children, and working to address disparities in early education access. Todd-Smith was previously appointed by President Trump in 2018 to serve as the Director of the Women's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor. Todd-Smith is the second Mississippian appointed to a major role in the Trump administration after serving in Bryant's administration. Drew Snyder, who ran the Mississippi Division of Medicaid under both Governor Phil Bryant and current Governor Tate Reeves, and who also served as Bryant's policy director for a period, was appointed to run the national Medicaid program earlier this year. |
| Trump appoints Mississippi's Todd-Smith to lead Early Childhood Education program | |
| Longtime Mississippi education leader Dr. Laurie Todd-Smith was sworn in as a top education official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday. President Donald Trump tabbed the longtime Mississippi education administrator as the Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Education at HHS. In the new role, Todd-Smith will lead the federal program and manage policies geared toward optimizing education for young children, along with increasing access to quality education for American children. She'll also take the reins of two major HHS initiatives, the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which provides subsidies to working families with young children to help with childcare costs, and the Head Start program, which provides quality education and other care services to low-income children ages 0 to 5, along with their families. Todd-Smith, originally from Phoenix, Ariz., has lived in Mississippi for the better part of three decades, serving under former Gov. Phil Bryant as the head of his education policy team. She most recently served as the America First Policy Institute's Director of the Center for Education Opportunity & Director of the Center for the American Child. |
| Fewer Louisiana students seek college aid after state ends FAFSA requirement | |
 | Once a national leader in getting students to apply for college financial aid, Louisiana has plummeted in the rankings this year and is the only state to see a decline in aid applications this cycle, according to the latest federal data. The number of Louisiana students who have submitted the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, this school year is down 12% compared with the same period last year, according to federal data compiled by the National College Attainment Network, or NCAN. By contrast, applications are up 14% nationwide, and every state except Louisiana has seen a year-over-year increase. The sharp drop comes after the state board of education repealed a policy last year that had required high school seniors to complete the FAFSA, apply for an in-state TOPS scholarship, or request an exemption in order to graduate. Experts warn that college enrollment could dip if more students don't complete the FAFSA, which unlocks federal loans and grants, including Pell grants for low-income students, and is often crucial for helping families realize they can afford higher education. |
| New trend under Gov. DeSantis: Politicians appointed as Florida university presidents | |
 | As several of Florida's public universities have had new presidents at the helm recently, a trend is emerging among who's been chosen to lead: Politicians. Appointing former elected officials have been a part of the latest leadership changes in the state, mirroring a distinct shift being made on campuses across the country. That trend has been accelerating under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. To be sure, Florida's State University System (SUS) -- which consists of 12 public colleges and universities of higher education and is overseen by the Florida Board of Governors -- has a majority of traditional academic types as senior leaders. There's Florida State University President Richard McCullough, who is nearing his four-year mark in the role, as well as University of Central Florida President Alexander Cartwright, who was appointed in March 2020, and University of West Florida President Martha Dunagin Saunders, who began in 2017. Still, as Steven Mintz -- an ethics expert with nearly 50 years of experience in the higher education field -- put it, the "era of the scholar-president is fading." That appears to be true in the Sunshine State and elsewhere around the country. "Today's college leaders need the strategic mind of a CEO, the diplomacy of a statesman and the crisis management skills of a general," said Mintz, the ethics expert who's also a professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin. "They need leaders who can navigate financial peril, political landmines and public skepticism." |
| Gov. Beshear vetoes university performance evaluation bill amid concerns about tenure | |
 | Gov. Andy Beshear has vetoed a bill that would have required universities to implement a performance evaluation system, legislation which critics have worried could threaten the role of tenure and professors in Kentucky. House Bill 424, sponsored by Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, would require public university presidents and faculty members to undergo a performance evaluation at least once every four years. It gives schools the ability to fire employees who fail to meet "performance and productivity" standards, and applies to all public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Beshear said "in a time of increased federal encroachment into the public education," HB 424 would limit employment protections and academic freedom at higher education institutions in the state. "Team Kentucky's goal should be to attract, recruit and retain the best and brightest minds at Kentucky's universities and colleges," Beshear said. "One way to do that is to trust our university administrations and faculty to negotiate and offer competitive employment contracts. House Bill 424 does the opposite." |
| UT Special Collections: How past artifacts find preservation, utilization | |
| The University of Tennessee Special Collections department, situated on the first floor of Hodges Library, provides students access to rare materials that support learning and research. Acting as an agent of preservation, the department keeps history alive. UTSC holds many artifacts that fit classic expectations -- the "Psalter in Manuscript on Parchment," from 1586 Spain, is a massive leather tome with parchment pages and curved writing. "Psalter in Manuscript on Parchment" is as artifact-like a relic can get. It's materials like this that archivists at UTSC find themselves storing most often. Alesha Shumar, an archivist at UTSC, said there are about 80,000 rare books stored in their collection. She said the numbered call system -- SCOUT (Special Collections Online at UT) -- allows students to easily access them for research with calling numbers. Yet, that's not nearly the extent of work done by Special Collections. Laura Romans, the manuscript archivist at UTSC, said that notability defines the quality of something worth preserving --- it's not all just old written mediums. "It is very paper-based, but there can be objects, collectibles and all manner of things from all over the place," Romans said. |
| U. of Tennessee invests in professor's startup to solve major health care problem | |
 | A $5 million fund set aside by the University of Tennessee System to help professors and their students turn research into products has a new recipient, and its investment is timed well for booming interest in the power of artificial intelligence tools. The UT Research Foundation invested $150,000 into VisualizAI, a startup co-founded by computer science professor Jian Huang with an AI product aimed at helping health care providers recover revenue lost to denied or underpaid insurance claims. While it's a niche product, the company's ClaimsAgent tool could help hospitals and clinics stay financially viable and focus more resources on providing care to patients, Huang said. The startup will provide real-world opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students as Huang stays on faculty. "Hopefully, a lot of UT students could get the startup experience working on AI while being a student," Huang told Knox News. "I really want to be that bridge." The investment will allow Tanner Hobson, a former doctoral student under Huang, to join VisualizAI full-time as co-founder and director of algorithms. |
| Family of Riley Strain files wrongful death lawsuit against Delta Chi fraternity | |
 | The family of Riley Strain, the University of Missouri student who was found dead in Nashville's Cumberland River last March after a night out with fraternity friends, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Delta Chi on Friday. The suit in Missouri's Boone County Circuit Court names the Delta Chi fraternity and several of its members and officers as defendants. The family is seeking damages related to Strain's death and compensation for pain and suffering, as well as payment for funeral and medical expenses. The plaintiffs are Michelle Whiteid, Christopher Whiteid, Robert Ryan Gilbert and Melissa Gilbert. The suit argues fraternity members violated their own policies by providing strong liquor to Strain. The lawsuit said Strain did not want to attend the spring 2024 formal trip to Nashville but was eventually pressured to attend. While on the charter bus to Nashville, beer and vodka Jello shots were served. "Although it was supposed to be prohibited, this type of conduct was typical for the Delta Chi formal. It would have disastrous results for Riley," the lawsuit states. |
| Texas' school DEI bans spur clashing views on discrimination | | |
| Over the past year, University of Texas at Austin senior Kam McQueen has had a first-hand look at what happens when the state bans diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public colleges. The school's multicultural center, which hosted six groups that supported students of color, formally closed in January 2024. University funding quickly evaporated for several student groups the center sponsored -- like the Queer Trans Black Indigenous People of Color and Allies and Afrikan American Affairs organizations -- leaving them to find financial support elsewhere. For McQueen, a Black and queer student, it was a blow on a campus where just 4.5% of students are Black. "It's hard to find spaces where you feel like you belong and there's people with you," McQueen said. "Whenever they got rid of the Multicultural Engagement Center at UT, it was detrimental to my well-being, having to fight every single day for your place." Many Texans who support DEI programs say such initiatives simply support and connect people from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. They see the efforts as a natural outgrowth of bedrock American principles and landmark laws -- like the constitutional right to equal protection and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- meant to protect people from discrimination. But a growing Republican-led movement in state and federal government sees such efforts as exclusionary, prejudiced and ineffective. |
| Amid Financial Headwinds, Could Course Sharing Offer Colleges Relief? | |
 | As massive cuts to federal funding escalate long-standing financial uncertainty for many colleges, institutions are increasingly reducing course and program offerings. Although that approach may alleviate immediate budget pressures, 57 percent of college students nationwide are already prevented from completing their degrees on time because their institutions don't offer the required courses during the days and times or via modalities they need. But colleges could work together and allow students to take classes at other institutions -- a model known as course sharing that a recent white paper argues could benefit institutions and students alike. The report from online course-sharing platform Acadeum found that colleges that share courses see higher retention and more revenue. "Colleges simply cannot be everything to everyone," Charles Ansell, vice president for research, policy and advocacy at Complete College America, said in the report. "Course sharing and collaboration more broadly enable them to focus on their mission while doubling down on completion with minimal costs." Acadeum manages a network of 460-plus institutions that allows students to choose from thousands of online courses and earn credits toward a degree at their home institution, which gets to set competitive prices and collect a share of the tuition money. |
| Trump-Inflicted Funding Cuts Could Lead to Overworked Faculty and Staff, Larger Class Sizes | |
 | College officials across the nation are instituting hiring freezes and spending cuts in response to President Trump's widespread attacks on higher education, hoping to stave off even more drastic measures down the road, such as layoffs. The budget cuts being implemented now could mean more overworked staff and larger class sizes this fall. Many colleges were already facing financial pressures due to declining enrollment and increased skepticism about the value of a college degree. The Trump administration's moves in recent weeks have threatened even the most elite institutions, including Ivy League universities and state flagships, which had previously been left largely unscathed. Robert Kelchen, a professor and head of the department of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, who predicted widespread budget freezes across higher education a month ago, said the financial uncertainties facing higher education now remind him of the early days of the Covid pandemic. But this time around, so many college leaders have now lived through another once-in-a-lifetime crisis that they have "a little bit more of a playbook" on what to do. While the federal government's $76 billion in emergency aid to higher education from 2020 to 2022 helped colleges get through the Covid financial crisis, research universities may be facing an even more significant financial threat this time around, Kelchen said. |
| What will happen to grad school? Research universities face tough choices. | |
 | American colleges and universities are facing hard decisions this spring after the Trump administration cut billions in research dollars. The White House announced hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to prominent research powerhouses such as Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Columbia was threatened with the loss of $400 million in grants and contracts due to the school's response to protests of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Several dozen other schools are being investigated for perceived antisemitism. Cuts have come in many forms, including billions of dollars being slashed from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). For academia, the billions cut from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) might hurt the most. Research from institutions like NIH affects the sciences, business, education, health care, and more. It lays the groundwork for what the private sector then picks up and delivers to the marketplace. Money used from those grants helps establish labs to conduct research, augment career training and development, fund conferences where information is shared, and pay salaries of small, medium, and large research operations, including the work of master's degree and Ph.D. students at universities. "American higher education is the absolute envy of the world. And America's elite institutions of higher education contribute so much, to not just American society but to the world, that it's really a self-inflicted wound for the federal government to be going after these kinds of institutions," says Morgan Polikoff, professor of education at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education. |
| Senate confirms Bhattacharya to lead NIH | |
 | The Senate voted along party lines Tuesday to confirm Jay Bhattacharya as the next director of the National Institutes of Health. The vote was 53-47. As director, Bhattacharya would oversee the $48.6 billion agency, the world's largest public funder of biomedical research. Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research, has been a vocal critic of the NIH. He gained attention as a co-author and signer of The Great Barrington Declaration, a controversial open letter from scientists issued in October 2020 that expressed concern with restrictive COVID-19 policies and called for a more targeted approach. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee advanced his nomination on party lines earlier this month. The Senate voted to end debate on his nomination earlier Tuesday on a 53-46 party line vote. During his confirmation hearing, Bhattacharya said he would prioritize rebuilding trust in science, increasing overall transparency and seeking new solutions to combat chronic disease. At that hearing, Democrats criticized the administration's freezing of NIH grants and workforce reductions, but Bhattacharya deflected, saying he would re-examine those issues after his confirmation. But he also stopped short of condemning those cuts and argued he doesn't believe that President Donald Trump intends to slow down science, even though the agency has been criticized for canceling meetings of committees that recommend projects NIH should fund. |
| Remembering Kirk Fordice | |
| Mark Garriga writes in The Northside Sun: On April 2, as part of its History Is Lunch series, the Department of Archives and History will present Remembering Mississippi Governor Kirk Fordice, The Legacy of Kirk Fordice: His Politics, His Policies, and His People at the Two Mississippi Museums. The distinguished panel that will be discussing this weighty subject will include key Fordice staffers who were witnesses to the Governor's astounding, successful underdog campaign and exciting tenure as Mississippi's first Republican Governor since Reconstruction. Space does not permit a detailed discussion of the 1991 Governor's race or Fordice's eight-year tenure in office (the first Mississippi Governor in modern times to serve two-consecutive terms). For that, I commend to everyone Andy Taggart and Jere Nash's excellent book, Mississippi Politics, The Struggle for Power, 1976-2006. Instead, let me just preview next week's discussion by stating the obvious: the Fordice years marked an important turning point in our state's history -- and maybe the not so obvious: his legacy is important to preserve. ... As Governor Fordice's Chief of Staff for five years, I had a ring-side seat (figuratively, but sometimes almost literally) to an exciting political era. |
| Decimals aside, the proposed tax compromise hits historically significant tax structures | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: While the typos in the tax compromise legislation sent from the State Senate to the State House of Representatives last week are garnering most of the attention from politicos, insiders and those who oppose aspects of the bill, let's not lose sight of the significance of the structural tax changes the legislation could provide if signed into law. The legislation provides a path to eliminating the state's income tax. However, the typos in the bill deal with a core component -- the speed with which income tax reduction or elimination can or should be accomplished. But the compromise extends to other taxes as well, including the sales tax on groceries. Sales taxes account for about 38.4% of state tax revenues. It is essential to reflect on how that tax originated. |
SPORTS
| Baseball: State Grabs Midweek Win Against Samford | |
| Mississippi State's pitching staff keyed a 6-1 midweek win against Samford on Tuesday night at Dudy Noble Field. MSU's hurlers struck out 14 opposing batters, walked only two and limited Samford to five hits. Kevin Manell secured the win, bringing his record up to 2-0 this season. Also on the mound, starter Noah Sullivan and relievers Dane Burns, Mikhai Grant, Ben Davis and Nate Williams combined to pitch 6 2/3 shutout innings. Burns retired five batters in 1 2/3 frames, punching out three. Joe Powell had perhaps the biggest swing of the evening for State. With the game tied at 1-1 in the fourth, Powell delivered a go-ahead two-out, two-run single to cap off an eight-pitch at-bat. The Diamond Dawgs led the rest of the way. Other MSU standouts at the dish included Gatlin Sanders, who went 2-for-2 including a double and an RBI. Hunter Hines also hit a double that scored a pair and helping State outhit Samford 8-5. Mississippi State travels to No. 8 LSU for a three-game set starting Thursday at 7 p.m. in a contest televised by SEC Network. The series continues Friday at 6:30 p.m. and concludes Saturday at 2 p.m. The final two games of the series will be streamed on SEC Network+. |
| Baseball: Powell's hit, bullpen game lead Mississippi State over Samford | |
| With Ross Highfill still working his way back from a broken nose he sustained last Friday night at Oklahoma, Joe Powell is getting the chance to be the everyday catcher for Mississippi State. In his second year as a Bulldog, Powell is not playing as much as he did last year with Highfill back in the fold. But now that he's getting more consistent at-bats, he is starting to look more comfortable at the plate. And he had the biggest at-bat of the game Tuesday night against Samford, stepping into the box with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning of a tie game. Powell quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count before fighting off a few pitches and taking a couple out of the zone. On the eighth pitch of the sequence, he lined a two-run single to right field off Samford starter Brooks Rice, giving MSU the lead for good in a 6-1 victory. "The more pitches I see, the more at-bats I'm getting, the more comfortable I feel (and) the more settled in I am," Powell said. |
| Softball: State Closes Road Stretch At Southern Miss Wednesday | |
| Coming off a week that saw No. 18 Mississippi State win three games, including two by run-rule, the Bulldogs are set to face Southern Miss on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT. It will be the last contest in a run of eight straight road games for MSU before the Bulldogs return home to host No. 1 Texas this weekend. The Bulldogs have played Southern Miss more than any other non-conference opponent, and this will be the teams' 55th meeting all-time. They have met six times in the previous five years, playing twice in 2021 and 2022 before missing each other in 2023. State is 5-1 in those six meetings. The Golden Eagles are coming off of a series victory against Troy and are in the middle of a five-game homestand. USM is 1-3 against SEC teams this year with an extra-innings victory over Ole Miss in its home opener in February. They've also faced Arkansas, Kentucky and LSU this season. Head coach Natalie Poole earned her 600th career win this season. The Bulldogs are back at home this weekend to host No.1 Texas. The series opener is set for Friday at 6 p.m. and will be MSU's annual Bark in the Park night. Saturday is All For Alex day when every SEC team will wear teal or teal accents in honor of the late Alex Wilcox, who played at MSU in 2018 while battling the ovarian cancer that would ultimately take her life. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday, and Sunday's finale will begin at 1 p.m. All three games will air on SEC Network+. |
| Davon Booth ready to run it back with Bulldogs after unexpected return | |
| Davon Booth had assumed the 2024 Egg Bowl would be his final game as a college football player. Originally from the Las Vegas area, the running back won a California state championship at El Monte High School near Los Angeles, then played two seasons at nearby Cerritos College. He had a strong junior year in 2023 at Utah State before transferring to Mississippi State, where he totaled 1,231 all-purpose yards and nine touchdowns. As a senior in 2024, Booth -- and everyone around him -- believed that was it. On Dec. 5, he announced that he would be entering the NFL Draft and began training for professional football. But less than two weeks later, a federal judge in Tennessee granted an injunction allowing Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia to pursue another year of eligibility. Pavia's lawsuit claimed that the NCAA counting junior college seasons toward NCAA eligibility was a violation of antitrust law, unfairly limiting his ability to earn money from his name, image and likeness. That opened the door for Booth and other former junior college players to seek additional eligibility, and on Jan. 7, Booth announced his return to MSU for the 2025 season. |
| Old Waverly To Host Spring Men's Golf Event | |
| Mississippi State men's golf will return its annual home event to Old Waverly this spring on April 14-15. Mossy Oak, the tournament's host venue since 2022, is undergoing renovations. Old Waverly previously hosted the men's tournament from 2013-21. The tournament was moved across the street to Mossy Oak in 2022 and renamed the Mossy Oak Collegiate Invitational. Mississippi State first competed at Old Waverly in 2005 with the first Magnolia Cup match between the Bulldog men and Ole Miss. The men have continued to play the course when hosting the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship. The club is also home to The Ally, formerly known as the Magnolia Invitational, the home tournament for the Bulldog women. Previously, MSU's women hosted the Bulldog Invitational on the course. Play will begin with 36 holes on Monday, April 14, with the final round being played the following day. State will compete alongside 13 teams -- Alabama, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Memphis, Missouri, Murray State, Ole Miss, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Tennessee, ULM and UTEP. The Mississippi State men's and women's golf programs have combined for six team titles and five individual titles at Old Waverly between the Magnolia Cup, Old Waverly Collegiate Championship, Bulldog Invitational and The Ally. |
| Mississippi State's Chandler Prater target of social media hate after JuJu Watkins injury | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball player Chandler Prater has received vulgar comments directed at her on social media after she was involved in the play that ended the season for Southern Cal star JuJu Watkins on Monday in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Watkins, the nation's fifth leading scorer and a two-time All-American, suffered a torn ACL during the first quarter at Galen Center in Los Angeles while driving to the MSU basket. Prater was guarding her and made slight contact as Watkins' right knee buckled and she fell to the ground. Watkins was carried off the floor, and she didn't return to the game. Bulldogs coach Sam Purcell said after the game there was no intention to injure Watkins. "To reiterate what Coach (Sam) Purcell said following last night's game, it was an unfortunate situation during a basketball play and our thoughts are with JuJu Watkins as she recovers, " a Mississippi State athletics department spokesperson said in a statement given to the Clarion Ledger on Tuesday. "We recognize that emotions run high in competitive sports, but there is no excuse for personal attacks or harassment online toward the young women in our program. Mississippi State will continue to support all of our student-athletes, both on and off the court." |
| JuJu Watkins ACL Tear Continues Troubling Trend in Women's Sports | |
| USC Trojans superstar JuJu Watkins tore her ACL in the 2025 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament on a first-quarter fast break against Mississippi State on Monday night. The injury will cost the two-time All-American a substantial amount of basketball action; it also endangers the Trojans' 2025 national title hopes and removes a commercial mainstay -- Watkins has deals with State Farm and Nike -- from the hardwood. The Trojans have entered the national spotlight in large part because of Watkins, who is averaging 25.5 points per game for her career. Watkins' March Madness injury follows the trend of top women athletes sustaining knee damage at a disproportionately high rate. Women are roughly 3.5 times more likely to tear their ACLs while playing basketball than men, according to an NIH study whose conclusions are backed by multiple peer reviewed papers. Studies show women athletes are uniquely at risk of such setbacks across all sports when they compete. The list of elite women's college hoopers to sustain long-term knee injuries in recent years includes Paige Bueckers (UConn), Azzi Fudd (UConn), Liz Kitley (Virginia Tech), Olivia Miles (Notre Dame) and Rori Harmon (Texas). One source of optimism for Watkins: All those players have fully recovered and returned to the court. |
| Could impending rev-share changes help Cinderellas in the future? 'Everybody will be in the game' | |
| During the NCAA tournament's opening weekend, five power conference teams punched their proverbial tickets to the Sweet 16 with wins over so-called "mid-majors." Top-seeded Florida survived a scare from two-time defending national champion UConn; Auburn outlasted Creighton; Arkansas upset St. John's; Alabama cruised past Saint Mary's; and Houston beat Gonzaga. By most accounts, four of those five power league programs spent more on their rosters than their mid-major opponents, in some cases by as much as $2 million. The outlier is UConn. But perhaps, soon enough, the mid-majors will be the ones with the bigger basketball budgets. No, really. "In the Big East," says Duke athletic director Nina King, "their basketball revenue-share portion will be a lot more than what those of us can do who have Division I power football programs." The spending issue looms as a serious enough threat that it has emerged as a critical discussion point and agenda item within power league administrative meetings in the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 -- something SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and other high-ranking officials acknowledged this month in interviews with Yahoo Sports. As the NCAA tournament's second weekend arrives, the potential spending disparity is at the forefront of many minds. |
| March Madness fashion: Suited up coaches stand out in college game dominated by casual coaching wear | |
| Notre Dame's Niele Ivey is doing it the way she learned how to coach, pacing the sideline in stylish attire in a time when most coaches favor far more casual attire. "When I first got into coaching, I learned under a Hall of Fame coach," Ivey said. "Being coached under Coach (Muffet) McGraw, her whole staff dressed up. Coaching with her we dressed up. That's kind of the fabric of Notre Dame, and what I'm used to style-wise." As the NCAA Tournament heats up, the styles of Ivey, LSU's Kim Mulkey, Alabama's Nate Oaks and South Carolina's Dawn Staley stand out in a sea of coaches in team polo shirts and quarter-zip pullovers. There are a handful of coaches on the men's side who evoke memories of a time when John Wooden, John Thompson and Denny Crum roamed the sidelines immaculately dressed. Oaks, who routinely reminds fans of former Crimson Tide coach Wimp Sanderson with his colorful tailored sports coats, will stand out on the men's side in the Sweet 16. Fans saw two other throwbacks -- Texas A&M's Buzz Williams and Rick Pitino of St. John's -- before the Aggies and the Red Storm were eliminated in the second round last weekend. "I don't fish, I don't golf, I don't hunt, I don't do all the things that you're supposed to do as a hobby," Williams recently said when asked about his dapper attire. "That's just always been my hobby." |
| Why This University Is Taking a Step Back in Sports | |
| Saint Francis University, a small private Catholic university in Loretto, Pa., will move from Division I to Division III, according to a campus announcement Tuesday. The move reflects the difficult financial reality facing college athletic programs amid a series of recent rule changes. "The driver for us is the student-athlete experience," said Saint Francis's president, the Very Rev. Malachi Van Tassell. "We're one of the smallest if not the smallest school in Division I." That tier, the highest in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, is a harsh place for small colleges without the money to invest heavily in athletics. Athletes can now transfer between colleges easily and frequently, making it more competitive to keep players and recruit new ones. Van Tassell said that soon after the transfer-rule changes were made several years ago, half of Saint Francis's men's basketball team transferred, and he knew he was in a new era. "We have become a farm team for the bigger programs," he said. Saint Francis has fewer than 2,000 students. Van Tassell cited a headline from this year announcing excitedly that a college with zero NIL dollars -- Saint Francis -- had made it to March Madness. What followed was a positive story about the men's basketball team, but it was not exactly good publicity from a recruiting standpoint. Van Tassell said Saint Francis athletes can now land big NIL deals if they leave for other colleges. |
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