| Friday, April 4, 2025 |
| GALLERY: MSU, Main Street team up for Blooms & Scoops | |
 | Photos: Mississippi State University Meridian students and local community members enjoyed colorful flower bouquets and silky ice cream during Blooms & Scoops held Thursday in the MSU Riley Courtyard. Visitors were invited to select flowers and greenery to build their own custom bouquets and enjoy cold MSU ice cream, with the choice of chocolate, vanilla or muscadine swirl. Those arriving near the start of the event were also able to meet Dak, the MSU mascot bulldog, who stopped by for photos with students and fans. |
| MSU expert unveils crucial tactics for row crop farmers | |
 | An ongoing challenge in farming is finding a way to manage weeds without creating populations that are chemical-resistant. The scale of modern farming requires the careful use of chemicals as part of the overall management plan to harvest good yields and make a profit. Although an array of government agencies regulate and oversee the use of these chemicals, farmers themselves are among the most cautious with their use. Jason Bond, weed scientist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said farmers do not make unnecessary pesticide applications, and this is not only dictated by economics. "Profitability is the top priority, but profitability is not possible without stewardship of the land and environment," Bond said. "These are also of the utmost importance to farmers in Mississippi." At the Row Crop Short Course held in December, sessions addressed resistance issues in various row crops. Topics included suspected causes of resistance, management tools, how to operate in the absence of a product long used for treatment and thresholds for using chemicals. |
| MSU Extension Service to host Backyard Poultry Meeting in April | |
 | Agriculture is big business in Mississippi and Mississippi State University is a national leader in Agriculture research. But how do you get that research to the people who can use it? That's where the Mississippi State University Extension service comes in. One of the Extension's main missions is providing research-based information to the public. Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent Josh Tilley was in Columbus doing that and getting feedback from people in the community about what they would like to see coming from the service. He said research and information aren't just for large farm operations. Much of their outreach is geared toward backyard gardeners too. "We can provide any kind of technical assistance to producers. You know, everybody from Pecan tree producers to gardeners, you know, your average hobby gardener or even commercial growers, cotton, corn, soybeans. You know we have a lot of different information we have there at our office that's available to the public," said Tilley. |
| Belzoni's World Catfish Festival Celebrates Mississippi's Aquacultural History | |
| Clara Ann Yates, in a silver sequined dress with a bouquet of red roses in her arms and a purple sash reading "Miss Catfish," bent her knees on the steps of the Belzoni, Miss., courthouse in April 2024 to accept her crown. As a kid who grew up in the neighboring Yazoo County, she would watch the event each year her family attended, and she often envisioned herself on stage next to other contestants. Now, after competing for the honor for three years, she was finally looking out toward the crowd, her eyes glistening with joy and pride. "Some people are kind of scared when they hear it's a pageant because they think it's based on looks, but it is based solely on your knowledge of the catfish industry," Yates said of the pageant, which is part of the larger World Catfish Festival held in Humphreys County each spring. While she lived in a region of the state known for its catfish farms, Yates knew effectively nothing about catfish until she began touring various farms to speak with catfish producers as part of a research project she was undertaking as a student studying communications and kinesiology at Mississippi State University, she said. One visit led to another, and she soon found herself motivated to keep learning more about the trade. "We thrive off of catfish. You can't go to a town (in the South) where they don't have at least two to three restaurants that serve catfish." Yates told the Mississippi Free Press. |
| Parks and rec manager pleads guilty to sports bid rigging | |
 | Former General Manager of Starkville's Parks and Recreation Doug Heflin pleaded guilty last month to rigging bids while selling sports equipment to public schools in both Mississippi and Louisiana. Heflin entered into a plea deal March 4 in the Northern District Court of Mississippi, which included two counts of bid rigging affecting sales to at least 31 public schools. The bid rigging conspiracies Heflin allegedly participated in "deprived victim schools" of the benefits of free and fair competition, as the conspirators submitted complementary bids for sports equipment and related services to public schools that caused them to pay higher prices than they would have paid in a competitive market, the plea agreement reads. "Bid rigging and the collusion that makes it possible drive up prices for taxpayers and will not be tolerated," U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi Clay Joyner said in the release. "We will continue our commitment to work with the (Federal Bureau of Investigation) to root out corruption." Heflin was employed by Sports Facilities Companies -- a third party that is contracted to manage the city's parks, Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch on Thursday. Heflin's last day of servicing the city through SFC was Monday, Spruill said, and the incidents in question occurred prior to his SFC work with the city's parks. SFC confirmed Heflin is no longer employed by the company. |
| Police officer, barber get into verbal altercation over Hwy 182 congestion | |
| Larry 'Luv' Johnson's barber shop has struggled financially as the Highway 182 revitalization has torn up streets and forced traffic to back up around his business. But his balance sheet, he told the board of aldermen during its Tuesday night meeting, wasn't what brought him to City Hall. When Johnson asked a police officer to help him by keeping the entrance to his business clear, and the officer told him he wasn't a babysitter, it became a question of respect. "I've been taking up with Starkville (Police Department) with these young kids for 30 years," Johnson said. "I've been telling them, 'give them the benefit of the doubt.' Now I need to apologize to them, because if (that officer) talked to me like that, I can imagine how he's talking to these young Black guys out on the street." The Highway 182 Revitalization has been ongoing for more than six months, narrowing the number of lanes and at times blocking traffic entirely. The western phase affecting Johnson's shop is nearing completion, but it's still forced him to shut down the cafe side of his business and dramatically reduced the number of clients he and the other barbers in the shop receive. Police Chief Mark Ballard spoke with Johnson after the meeting to apologize and make sure he understood the needs of the business going forward. |
| US added a surprising 228,000 jobs in March as economy shows resilience in Trump trade wars | |
 | U.S. employers added a surprising 228,000 jobs last month, as the American labor market continues to show resilience as President Donald Trump wages trade wars, purges federal workers and deports immigrants working in the United States illegally. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%. The hiring numbers were up from 117,000 in February and were nearly double the 130,000 that economists had expected. President Donald Trump's trade wars -- including the sweeping "Liberation Day'' import taxes he announced Wednesday -- threaten to drive up prices, disrupt commerce and invite retaliatory tariffs from America's trading partners. Another threat comes from the president's promise to deport millions of immigrants who are working in the United States illegally. In the past several years, those workers have eased labor shortages and helped the economy keep growing. If they're deported or frightened out of the job market, companies could have to cut back on what they do or increase wages and raise prices, potentially feeding inflation. Likewise, purges of the federal workforce by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to threaten weigh the labor market and push up unemployment. Still, the impact of Musk's firings is only starting to show up. |
| Farmers are no strangers to trade wars. But this time may be worse. | |
 | President Donald Trump spent billions of dollars to bail out farmers when his first-term trade war hurt agricultural exports. But his new tariffs could be much worse for farmers this time around. The farm economy has shifted dramatically since 2018. Higher inflation has sent prices for fertilizer, seed and other inputs soaring and increased interest rates for farmers' annual operating loans to as high as 8 percent this year. Prices for major crops like soybeans and corn have plummeted roughly 40 percent since 2022 -- partly because Trump's first trade war reshaped the global market for soybeans, with Brazil and Argentina emerging as major competitors to the U.S. And though Trump is starting to explore another bailout, the fund he used to assist farmers the first time is now nearly depleted. "We have an example of what happened in the past, and it's a very similar situation, except the farm economy at that time was much stronger than it is now," said Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association and a Kentucky farmer. "We don't have any margin for error. ...We're going to lose a generation of young farmers." Farmers have been Trump's most loyal constituency and overwhelmingly backed him in the 2024 election. Now they could be one of the groups hardest hit by his trade war, potentially forcing a political reckoning in red states as small- and mid-sized farms struggle to stay afloat and big farms lose their export markets. |
| Commodity prices drop in response to tariffs | |
| The prices of commodities like crude oil, copper and soybeans have dropped in response to President Donald Trump's tariff announcements, indicating pessimism about where the global economy may be headed. Even though many commodities, like oil, were exempt from tariffs, the broader economic effects of tariffs are likely to take a toll if they continue. Tariffs have cast a shadow on the upcoming planting season for Iowa soybean farmer Dave Walton: "It feels a bit like today; cloudy, overcast, gray," he said. Before this round of tariffs, Walton said that soybean prices were almost breaking even. "With that additional drop in price, it just creates more red ink, so we went from a break-even or a small loss to a larger loss." As for crude oil -- the commodity of all commodities -- new tariffs make U.S. consumer products pricier, according to Joe DeLaura, a senior energy strategist at Rabobank. That will cool the demand for fuel for transoceanic shipping and other transportation. "Companies are just going to cut back on orders," he said. "That's going to decrease domestic usage of logistics, transportation and shipping." Gasoline demand could also take a hit. Consumers may be less likely to get in their cars and drive to the store. "You're not going to go shopping at Target if the $15 t-shirt costs you $30," said DeLaura. |
| Louisiana shrimp industry celebrates Trump tariffs. 'We can't live like this anymore.' | |
 | After decades of plunging prices and a dwindling workforce, Louisiana shrimpers are cheering President Donald Trump's tariffs on countries supplying the U.S. with almost all of its shrimp. The coastal industry has for years struggled to compete against cheap foreign imports and a pattern of fraudulent mislabeling at seafood restaurants. But shrimpers and advocates feel renewed optimism in Trump's "liberation day" tariffs announced Wednesday. The shrimp industry's reaction was one of the few bright spots so far following Trump's announcement, which has caused markets to plummet, provoked fears of a wider economic downturn and damaged relations with longtime allies. "We've been dying for the last 20 years, and the last four years have really been tough," said Acy Cooper, the president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association. "Then Trump comes in -- that's why we voted for him. We want change. We can't live like this anymore." A steep downturn in the price of imported shrimp since 2021 has led the U.S. shrimp industry to lose almost half of its market values, according to The Southern Shrimp Alliance, an industry group. But the drop in wholesale prices has not led to a decrease in market prices in the same time period. "Consumers are not getting a deal. I don't care how you look at it," Cooper said. |
| Domestic or imported? Mississippi will join neighbors by demanding honesty in seafood labeling | |
 | Mississippi consumers should soon be able to tell if they are being served imported seafood rather than having it passed off as fresh from the Gulf. A seafood disclosure law passed both the House and Senate and is headed to Gov. Tate Reeves, who is expected to sign it. The law would take effect July 1. Louisiana and Alabama already have seafood labeling laws, but previous attempts to pass one in Mississippi have failed. Sen. Mike Thompson, who supported the bill, said, "In my mind, I think it's a good start, but I think we can do more." Thompson wouldn't exactly call it a seafood labeling law because sellers are allowed some leeway in how they let customers know if the establishment is offering imported seafood. The notice could be printed "on a menu, sales display or any other form of advertisement," the law says. He wants to see a strong marketing campaign developed out of the law, which also establishes a committee to study promotion of Mississippi Coast seafood. State Rep. Brent Anderson of Bay St. Louis, who authored the bill, believes it will also bolster business for beleaguered Mississippi Coast shrimpers, oystermen and fishermen who must compete with cheaper foreign imports. |
| Governor considering 'priorities for conservatives' for 2025 special session | |
 | Republican Gov. Tate Reeves will call a special session, and he is considering whether to include "conservative issues" in addition to a $7 billion state budget sometime between now and June 30. On Thursday after the Legislature adjourned the 2025 Session, Reeves told reporters he does not yet know when he will call lawmakers back to the capitol, and he is mulling whether to put several conservative initiatives on the agenda. Possible political items discussed with Reeves were school choice, mobile sports betting, private healthcare reforms, state retirement system funding, tax cut triggers and more. He did not say any of those were off the table. "There were a lot of priorities for conservatives that did not get to my desk, so we were having internal, detailed conversations as to what else may or may not be asked of the Legislature to consider in a potential special session," Reeves said. "I will rule nothing out." A special session is one of the governor's most powerful tools to shape policy and steer debate in the Legislature. When the governor does call a session, he has the power to set the agenda and lawmakers cannot deviate from it. |
| No timeline or agenda set for special session, Governor Reeves says | |
| In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Governor Tate Reeves (R) said he is not worried that legislators left Jackson this week without passing next fiscal year's budget. "I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it happens," he said, noting this is the third budget impasse since he was elected to public office in 2003. Reeves told reporters there is no budget crisis and should be no fear of a government shutdown. The House left town Wednesday and the Senate followed on Thursday without hammering out Mississippi's $7 billion budget, projected to be the largest in state history. Before he does call a special session, Reeves said legislative leadership needs to be close to an agreement on spending bill. He said he believes legislative leaders are close to an agreement. "I have no intention of calling a special session for members to stare at each other," Reeves said. "They need to go to their corners, get some water and towel off." When asked about legislation heading to his desk, the Governor said he would sign a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the state's schools and universities. |
| Gov. Tate Reeves says he'll call Mississippi lawmakers back in special session after they failed to set budget | |
| Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday said he will call lawmakers into a special session to adopt a budget before state agencies run out of money later in the summer and hinted he might force legislators to consider other measures. Hours after the Senate ended its regular session on Thursday morning, Reeves said in a press conference that he didn't have a specific date set for a special session, but his office will work with legislative leaders to quickly adopt a budget before the current fiscal year ends on June 30. "I am confident that the House and the Senate will be able to work together and get this done," Reeves said. "In fact, I have been in personal communication with legislative leadership over the last several weeks, and I don't think they're really that far apart (on a budget)." As has been the case with Reeves for past special sessions, he told reporters he would wait until the House and Senate reach at least a handshake agreement before calling them into a special session to pass a budget. But Reeves could force the Legislature to address other issues during a special session. The governor said taxpayers and agency leaders should not fear government services shutting down because he's confident the Legislature can iron out a final budget before the next fiscal year starts July 1. |
| Bill aimed at protecting Mississippi property owners from squatters sent to governor | |
| Ahead of lawmakers in the Mississippi House of Representatives and Senate adjourning sine die, Gov. Tate Reeves was sent a piece of legislation intended to protect home and building owners from squatters. For those unfamiliar with the term, a squatter is defined as a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land. In many cases, these individuals treat property belonging to someone else as their own, and sometimes, the legal system enables them to do so. For example, this past December, a Georgia woman was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing for attempting to move back into her home -- one that was occupied by a squatter. The homeowner in this situation had fewer rights than one living in her residence without her consent. To prevent this from happening to property owners in Mississippi, lawmakers in both chambers of the state legislature have overwhelmingly passed legislation limiting squatters' rights. House Bill 1200, or the "Real Property Owner Protection Act," formally recognizes that squatters are not tenants who pay dues to occupy a home or building, easing the eviction process of those dwelling in a shelter without prior permission. |
| GOP-controlled Senate rejects governor's pick for public broadcasting board | |
| The GOP-controlled Mississippi Senate refused to confirm a top staffer for Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to a position on a state board -- a move that occurred on the tail end of a legislative session marked by Republican infighting. The Senate on Wednesday roundly rejected the nomination of Cory Custer, Reeves' deputy chief of staff, to serve a four-year term on the board of directors of Mississippi Public Broadcasting. Reeves appointed Custer over the summer of 2024 to fill an open seat on the board as an interim member. Since then, he has participated in board meetings and is listed as a board member on MPB's website. According to Custer's profile on the website, he oversees the governor's communication team. Custer's role overseeing Reeves' public profile seemed to be a point of concern for some senators who voted against his confirmation. At a press conference Thursday, Reeves said the Senate's decision represented an unfair attack on Custer, and that Republican senators might suffer political consequences for killing one of his appointments. |
| Mississippi Humanities Council says it's had $1.5 million in federal funding terminated | |
 | The Mississippi Humanities Council was founded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1972. It has helped to support the creation of cultural projects throughout the state. The council also provides grants of up to $10,000 to projects that support the humanities in areas that include literature, linguistics, history and archaeology. Late Wednesday night, the organization's executive director, Stuart Rockoff, received a message regarding an operational grant the council was previously awarded. "It was about 11:45 p.m.," he said. "I got an email from some unclear email address announcing that our current operating grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities was terminated immediately." Rockoff reached out to his contacts at NEH headquarters in Washington for clarity. "It was very strange because our actual program officers at the National Endowment didn't know about it, and, in fact, asked us to please forward a copy of this letter to them," Rockoff said. "So clearly, I think it came out of the DOGE's [the Department of Government Efficiency's] effort." |
| House Republicans bash Senate's Trump agenda blueprint: 'This is offensive' | |
 | The Senate GOP budget plan designed to usher President Trump's sweeping domestic priorities into law is getting an ice-cold reception from Republicans in the House, where conservatives are balking at the low levels of mandated spending cuts and the heightened deficits that could result. But after Trump's endorsement of the plan, House Republicans face enormous pressure to give the president a victory on his top campaign promises, including an extension of tax cuts, new limits on immigration and a boost in domestic energy production. That pressure will likely grow in the face of the fallout from Trump's new tariffs, which sent markets plummeting on Thursday and threatened a global recession. The budget debate is just the latest challenge for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team, who are already struggling to resolve an internal battle over proxy voting for new parents -- one that's shut down floor activity indefinitely -- and will soon confront the dilemma of how to approach the Senate budget blueprint in the face of the uproar within their House GOP conference. |
| 'No pain': Trump team doubles down on tariffs as global markets plummet | |
 | The White House doubled down Thursday on President Donald Trump's sweeping worldwide tariffs, as he slapped stiff duties on unexpected allies and threatened an economic upheaval that could put Republicans' House and Senate majorities at risk next year. As Marine One lifted the president skyward from the White House South Lawn, American, Asian and European stock markets were heading in the opposite direction. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all were down significantly as trading neared the day's end. The announced import fees were higher and broader than expected, setting off a global selloff as Trump headed to his Miami golf club for a LIV Golf tour dinner ahead of the Saudi-funded league's tournament there this weekend. Contradicting what her boss has said publicly multiple times, Trump's top spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, contended Thursday in an interview with NewsNation that "there's not going to be any pain for American-owned companies and American workers." In contrast, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters at the White House that she expected "a short time of uncertainty, and then we'll move back to the prosperity that this president has envisioned." Vice President JD Vance, who has at times espoused foreign policy views even more isolationist than Trump, said in a Fox News interview that the president was "taking this economy in a different direction," adding: "He ran on that. He promised it. And now, he's delivering." |
| A Market-Rattling Attempt to Make the American Economy Trump Always Wanted | |
 | As investors and consumers fretted in recent weeks about the fallout if President Trump unleashed a massive trade war, Trump himself kept looking to the past. The rest of the world has been ripping off the U.S. for 40 years, he told advisers who asked him to articulate his economic vision. It was, he and his advisers would note, an argument he has been making on television since the 1980s. Before his second term ends, he said, he feels he has to right those wrongs. If people complained about the tariffs he was about to impose, Trump told his inner circle to remind the public of his view of how the U.S. once was and could be again: a place with thriving Main Streets and hometowns, where American workers made American products sold to the American public. Trump leaned into that vision with his market-shaking tariff announcement Wednesday. "Empty, dead sites, factories that are falling down...will be knocked down, and they're going to have brand new factories built in their place," he said, to an audience that included members of the United Auto Workers union. "We're going to be an entirely different country." Perhaps the most striking aspect of Trump's dramatic move to reposition the American economy is the timing. The economy he inherited was the envy of the world with growth of 2.8% last year, faster than almost every other major developed economy, an unemployment rate of just 4.1% and inflation of 2.8%. Stocks were at record highs. |
| Dow drops 1,200 points, Nasdaq set to close in bear market as Trump tariff sell-off worsens | |
| The stock market took another pounding Friday after China retaliated with new tariffs on U.S. goods, sparking fears President Donald Trump has ignited a global trade war that will lead to a recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded more than 1,200 points lower, or 3%. This follows a 1,679.39 point decline on Thursday. The S&P 500 slid 3.5% after the benchmark shed 4.84% on Thursday and is now off more than 15% off its recent high. The Nasdaq Composite, home to many tech companies that sell to China and manufacture there as well, dropped 3.8%. If it closes there, the measure will be 21% lower than its December record close, a bear market in Wall Street terms. China's commerce ministry said Friday the country will impose a 34% levy on all U.S. products. This matches the tariff on Chinese goods coming into the U.S. unveiled by President Donald Trump on Wednesday. "The Trump administration may be playing a game of chicken with trading partners, but market participants aren't willing to wait around for the results," said Michael Arone, SPDR chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. "Investors are selling first and asking questions later." CNBC's Jim Cramer ripped into the White House for the impact that its tariff policy is having on the stock market. "I struggle for what the president's game plan is because if you wanted to make the market crash, I think you would go with this game plan," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street." |
| Is TikTok getting banned tomorrow? What we know as of Friday | |
 | The fate of TikTok in the U.S. once again hangs in the balance in a déjà vu moment for fans of the social media platform. After briefly going dark following a ban in January, President Donald Trump extended the deadline for Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its U.S. assets to this Saturday, April 5. As of Friday morning, a deal still has not been announced. Users of the app likely don't have much to worry about, however. Trump recently said that a sale will be complete by Saturday, but if it's not, he'll extend the deadline again. "If it's not finished, it's not a big deal. We'll just extend it," he told reporters last Wednesday, March 26. He also said he'd consider lowering tariffs on China to encourage Beijing, where ByteDance is based, to support a sale of TikTok's U.S. assets. He reiterated faith in a deal closing soon on Sunday, saying, "We have a lot of potential buyers," according to Reuters. "There's tremendous interest in TikTok.... I'd like to see TikTok remain alive." Then, on Wednesday of this week, Trump met with top members of his administration to consider potential investors who could purchase a stake in TikTok. Vice President J.D. Vance said on Thursday that a deal would be announced before the April 5 deadline, reported Reuters. "It'll come out before the deadline," Vance said in an interview with Fox News. "I think that we're in a good place. We're going to keep on working at it." |
| National Security Agency chief ousted after far-right activist urged his removal | |
 | The director of the National Security Agency, the powerful U.S. wiretapping and cyberespionage service, was fired Thursday, according to one former and two current U.S. officials. Gen. Timothy Haugh, who also heads U.S. Cyber Command, was let go along with his civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble, according to the officials. Like others in this report, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves. Far-right activist Laura Loomer advocated for the firings during a meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, she confirmed to The Washington Post on Thursday evening. In the meeting, Loomer, a fervent Trump supporter, pressed for the dismissals of a number of officials besides Haugh and Noble -- in particular, National Security Council staff whose views she saw as disloyal to the president. At least five key National Security Council aides were fired Thursday. Sen. Mark R. Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said Haugh served with distinction. "At a time when the United States is facing unprecedented cyberthreats, as the Salt Typhoon cyberattack from China has so clearly underscored, how does firing him make Americans any safer?" Warner said in a statement. |
| In O.C., former Vice President Harris says she'll stay politically active: 'I'm not going anywhere' | |
 | In a rare appearance after her loss in November's presidential election, former Vice President and potential gubernatorial candidate Kamala Harris on Thursday decried the rollback of fundamental rights under President Trump, urged people to prioritize self-care and pledged to remain active in the fight to safeguard constitutional protection. "We can't go out there and do battle if we don't take care of ourselves and each other," she said at a national conference of Black women, including business owners and politicians, at an oceanfront resort in Dana Point. "I'll see you out there. I'm not going anywhere." Harris is expected to decide by the end of the summer whether to enter the 2026 race for California governor to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. If she proceeds, it would jolt a contest that already has prominent Democratic candidates. While Harris didn't mention Trump by name, she was clearly referring to rollbacks of protections for minorities, women, the LGBTQ+ community among others in her remarks. She also mentioned that people and organizations are remaining silent and "capitulating" to the administration, notable language because her husband's law firm earlier this week was the latest to strike a deal with the Trump administration and agree to conform with the president's policies. |
| Jordan Center debuts with symposium on risks and rewards of artificial intelligence | |
 | The University of Mississippi's Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation hosted its first symposium titled "Addressing the Impact of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence on Democracy" on April 2-3. The Jordan Center was created in 2024 through a $4 million donation made by two former UM professors, Jerry and Jean Jordan, with the goal of fostering critical media literacy. or the event, industry experts, journalists and academics traveled from across the country to deliver speeches and participate in panels on topics including AI, social media, disinformation and censorship. Members of the public, students and faculty members attended the event. Andrea Hickerson, dean of the School of Journalism and New Media, explained why there was a focus on AI in particular. "We need more public communicators that have a basic understanding of AI because there are a lot of risks to the public and opportunities," Hickerson said. "We need more informed journalists, and we need more informed consumers, as well." |
| Boeing announces support of Delta State's commercial aviation program | |
| Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, has become a monetary supporter of Delta State University's commercial aviation program. According to a press release, the "generous contribution" will directly enhance educational opportunities for students pursuing careers in the aviation industry, reinforcing the university's mission to produce highly skilled pilots while expanding other members of the workforce within the field. "We are deeply grateful for Boeing's investment in our commercial aviation program," Delta State President Daniel J. Ennis said. "This donation will provide essential resources that empower our students to gain hands-on experience and develop the technical expertise required to excel in aviation careers. Boeing's support underscores the importance of industry partnerships in shaping the future of aviation education." While the specifics of the donation amount were not disclosed, the release noted it would go toward supporting state-of-the-art training technologies, expanded student scholarships, and industry collaborations that offer real-world learning experiences. |
| Heavy metal icons provide grants to ICC students | |
| 18-year-old Rudy Hernandez is paying for his education at ICC out of his own pocket, but he is getting some help from an unlikely source. Heavy metal hall of famers Metallica established a foundation called "All Within My Hands" to provide grants to support workforce education programs and help students. Hernandez is studying HVAC repair and maintenance. He is one of 84 ICC students to get the $500 grant. "It will help me a lot. Financially, better. Being able to pay for more stuff. More affordable," Hernandez said. Hernandez was told about the grant by Dylan Baldwin, who is Dean of Career Education at ICC. Baldwin said this is the second year ICC students have been eligible for the grants. It covers a lot of students. "Any skilled trades. Career education, welding, robotics, nursing, physical therapy. Like that," Baldwin said. And even with low tuition and course fees, Baldwin said the $500 scholarship can help with a wide range of expenses. |
| How the Trump Administration Might Target D.E.I. in Public Schools | |
 | What counts as a D.E.I. program in a school? And how do such programs differ from simply learning and talking about race and identity? Those questions have been central to local education debates over the past five years. Now, they are most likely to become even more pressing, after the Trump administration notified all 50 states on Thursday that public schools could lose federal funding if they engage in the use of D.E.I. to "advantage one's race over another." The letter presents the clearest threat yet to the country's largest source of federal funding for K-12 schools -- Title I, which supports low-income students. (Federal dollars account for about 8 percent of total K-12 education funding.) President Trump has previously pressured schools not to recognize transgender identities. The new directive focuses on the categories of race, color and national origin. The document sent to states cites Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which seeks to prevent discrimination, and the Supreme Court's 2023 decision overturning affirmative action in college admissions. The administration has not offered many examples of K-12 programs it considers illegal. |
| U. of Alabama System approves salary for Chancellor Sid Trant | |
 | Sid J. Trant's salary as chancellor of the University of Alabama System was officially approved March 28. The University of Alabama board of trustees' compensation committee approved a handful of new athletic contracts, and renewable faculty contracts as well as compensation for new UA chancellor Trant and Stephanie Mullins, vice president of finance at UAB. In a unanimous vote, the committee approved Trant's salary of $884,716 with an annual performance bonus of up to $105,000. The University of Alabama System on Feb. 7 named Trant as its chancellor after he had served in the role on an interim basis for about 10 months. As chancellor, Trant will oversee the three public research universities -- the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville -- along with the UAB Health system. The UA System has an annual operating budget of nearly $7 billion, with an enrollment of 70,315 students. The system is the state's largest employer with about 67,000 workers. |
| A Georgia bill to ban DEI in schools and colleges nears passage, even as potential effects stay hazy | |
| Georgia lawmakers could pass a bill banning a sweepingly broad range of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in Georgia's public schools, colleges and universities on the last day of their 2025 session. Republicans in Martin Luther King Jr's home state muscled House Bill 127 through the Senate early Thursday morning on a party-line 33-21 vote, meaning the House must vote only once on Friday to give final passage. The measure has advanced even as Senate Republicans repeatedly shut down debate and testimony on what the proposed law would actually require. The measure would ban any policy or procedure "designed or implemented with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity or sexual orientation." The University System of Georgia eliminated use of DEI statements in hiring at its 26 universities and colleges in 2023. Georgia's measure also bans colleges and universities from promoting concepts including social justice and racial privilege as well as such ideas as intersectionality -- the thought that people experience particular forms of discrimination when they have overlapping identities, such as being Black and a woman. The measure would withhold state and state-administered federal funding from any school district or college that disobeys, but doesn't outline a process for determining noncompliance. |
| R.E.M.'s hometown of Athens, Ga., still welcomes fans 45 years after the band started there | |
 | R.E.M. is turning 45 years old this Saturday, which is a perfect time to take a trip to its hometown. Let's just say, you can get there from here. All it takes is the right frame of mind. You don't take a trip to Athens. You make a pilgrimage. Now, get in your car and point it towards Athens, Georgia. You're ready for some driving music like "Driver 8." The world outside blurs past you. The walls are built up, stone by stone. Fields dividing one by one. Take a break when you need to. Before you know it, you have reached your destination. It's a plain, little parking lot, with a free-standing church steeple. "We are standing here at the site of Saint Mary's Episcopal church," says Paul Butchart, who gives tours to people from all over the world, who come here for one reason. " It was here in 1980, that R.E.M. played their first show." It was a birthday party of a friend of his. The church building is long gone, torn down to make way for condos, but the brick and stone steeple remains, a monument to where it all started. But if you really want to go back to the beginning, to "begin the begin" you're gonna go to Wuxtry Records in downtown Athens. Not the main store, but the boxcar sized building on the side. This is the exact space where Wuxtry employee Peter Buck met a customer named Michael Stipe, who kept coming back to buy cool records. They struck up a friendship and, in true Athens fashion, formed a band. And in 1987 had their first big hit with "The One I Love." |
| Cuts to humanities will impact U. of Missouri professors, renovation projects | |
 | Funding for humanities projects, including several in Columbia, is at risk after the Trump administration threatened Tuesday to cancel millions in grants administered by the National Endowment for the Humanities. NEH is a federal organization that funds museums, historic sites, universities and independent scholars across the United States. Grant terminations have already been sent to recipients in Missouri, according to a news release from the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403. Johanna Kramer is an associate professor of medieval literature in the English department at the University of Missouri. Like many humanities professors, Kramer has a nine-month contract with the university, meaning she is not paid during summer. She had been awarded a $6,000 summer stipend from NEH that would have covered her salary while finishing the book she is writing. Now, the program's website states that grants will no longer be honored. As of Thursday, she is waiting for official notice on whether the funds will be rescinded. "It's profoundly demoralizing when it gets awarded to us and then it gets yanked back," Kramer said. |
| Higher-Ed Employees Say the Sector Is Less Attractive Under Trump | |
 | Uncertainty, dejection, and fear have pervaded much of higher education in the first weeks of the second Trump administration. Now, new Chronicle data quantify those concerns, showing that faculty, staff, and administrators are less enthusiastic about the sector than they were before Trump took office. The Chronicle surveyed 3,844 respondents at two- and four-year colleges in the United States between March 5 and March 20, asking whether they'd recommend their work to others, how their institution has responded to federal actions, and whether they felt free to express their opinions. About half of respondents, across faculty, staff, and administrative ranks, said they were less enthusiastic about recommending their work to others than before Trump took office in January. That included being less likely to recommend that someone pursue a career in their role, at their institution, and in higher education writ large. In open-ended responses, dozens of respondents used the word "uncertainty" to describe their reasons for doing so, noting that research funding, student-loan policies, and visa statuses for international students and scholars were in flux. One staff member compared their job outlook now to how they felt at the height of the pandemic, saying that both periods were marked by "uncertainty and belt-tightening." But the contexts were different: During Covid-19, the changes that were made felt "necessary but temporary, at least at the outset." In the Trump era, they added, "the changes now feel existential." |
| Colleges say the Trump administration is using new tactics to expel international students | |
| A crackdown on foreign students is alarming colleges, who say the Trump administration is using new tactics and vague justifications to push some students out of the country. College officials worry the new approach will keep foreigners from wanting to study in the U.S. Students stripped of their entry visas are receiving orders from the Department of Homeland Security to leave the country immediately -- a break from past practice that often permitted them to stay and complete their studies. Some students have been targeted over pro-Palestinian activism or criminal infractions -- or even traffic violations. Others have been left wondering how they ran afoul of the government. Officials from colleges around the country have discovered international students have had their entry visas revoked and, in many cases, their legal residency status terminated by authorities without notice -- including students at Arizona State, Cornell, North Carolina State, the University of Oregon, the University of Texas and the University of Colorado. In this new wave of enforcement, school officials say the federal government is quietly deleting foreigners' student records instead of going through colleges, as was done in the past. Students are being ordered to leave the country with a suddenness that universities have rarely seen, said Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. |
| The Confusion in Higher Ed Right Now 'Knows No Bounds' | |
 | When he was mayor of Lexington, Ky., Jim Newberry worked closely with the University of Kentucky, Transylvania University and Bluegrass Community Technical College and came to understand how important the institutions were to the city. He built close relationships with the leaders at all three colleges and said he admires the broad mission of higher education institutions: to educate and train the next generation. "That was the mission to which I wanted to devote the rest of my professional career when I left the mayor's office," Newberry said. In 2012, he refocused his law practice on the higher education sector, and he is currently a member of Steptoe and Johnson, where he is co-chair of the firm's higher education team. He predominantly represents private, nonprofit, independent colleges, but also works with large R-1 institutions. Inside Higher Ed recently reached out to Newberry over Zoom to hear how he is helping his clients navigate the uncertainty in federal regulations, what advice he'd give to college presidents who might want to speak out and why he took Project 2025 at its word. Excerpts of the conversation follow, edited for space and clarity. |
SPORTS
| Baseball: State Returns Home To Host Gamecocks | |
| After two weekends on the road, Mississippi State returns to the friendly confines of Dudy Noble Field to host South Carolina for a three-game set. The Bulldogs and Gamecocks enter the weekend with identical Southeastern Conference records and are each in search of their first series victory inside the league. The series starts on Friday at 6 p.m., continues Saturday at 2 p.m. and concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be streamed on SEC Network+. MSU will also hold the induction ceremony for the 2025 Ron Polk Ring of Honor as Mitch Moreland, Ted Milton and Mike Proffitt are enshrined in the Adkerson Plaza at Dudy Noble Field on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. The Diamond Dawgs are set to send junior left-hander Pico Kohn to the mound to start off the series on Friday. State rounds out its starting rotation with a pair of righties for the rest of the weekend. Junior Evan Siary (0-0, 2.45 ERA, 18 K, 4 BB) is slated to start on Saturday while Karson Ligon (2-4, 7.33 ERA, 32 K, 9 BB) goes on Sunday. The Bulldogs are 17-12 overall and 1-8 in SEC play and are coming off a 5-3 comeback win at Memphis on Tuesday night. Chris Lemonis' club is hitting .301 as a team with 44 home runs and scoring 7.2 runs per game. They're also fielding at a .969 clip and have stolen 33 bases in 37 attempts. |
| Mississippi State returns home for three-game set with South Carolina | |
| Following a come-from-behind win at Memphis on Tuesday night, Mississippi State returns to Dudy Noble Field for a three-game weekend series against South Carolina. The Bulldogs (17-12) and Gamecocks (18-12) are both 1-8 in Southeastern Conference play, but MSU -- which is at home and had higher preseason expectations to begin with -- is the more desperate team. Head coach Chris Lemonis is on a contract that expires in June, and if the Bulldogs continue to struggle, his days in Starkville could soon be coming to an end. It's not like MSU has been getting blown out over and over, though. Apart from Saturday night's series finale at LSU that lasted into Sunday morning, every Bulldogs loss has been a competitive game. But when the pitching is good, the bats have gone cold. And when the offense has been clicking, the pitching has fallen apart. MSU's first three SEC opponents -- Texas, Oklahoma and LSU -- are all ranked in the top 10 this week. "This will be a big weekend for us. It's nice to be back home," Lemonis said. "I'm sure our people are ready to get back, crank up the grills and have a good weekend of playing baseball. That's our plan." |
| MSU to induct Polk Ring of Honor class on Saturday | |
 | Mississippi State University (MSU) will induct the seventh class of the Ron Polk Ring of Honor in a ceremony on Saturday, April 5 at 9:30 a.m. in the Adkerson Plaza at Dudy Noble Field. Mitch Moreland (2005-07), Ted Milton (1969-72) and the late Mike Proffitt (1969-72) will be enshrined among other Diamond Dawg legends as members of the 2025 class. The Ring of Honor Ceremony is open to the public and will take place prior to Game 2 of the Diamond Dawgs series with South Carolina, which is slated for a 2:00 p.m. first pitch. The Ring of Honor is named after legendary head coach Ron Polk, who led the Bulldogs from 1976-97 and again from 2002-08. Polk served 31 years as head coach in the league, including a stint at the University of Georgia (2000-01). |
| Mississippi State set to face hardest thrower in college softball in series at Tennessee | |
| The pitching machines inside Mississippi State's softball fieldhouse have been cranked up to the maximum velocity over the past few days. That's because the No. 17 Bulldogs are heading out on the road to face the fastest pitcher in college softball, Karlyn Pickens, and her No. 7 Tennessee team this weekend. Pickens set the record for the fastest pitch in softball history -- college and professional -- with a fastball clocked at 78 miles per hour earlier this year against Arkansas. The previous record was held by former Volunteers great Monica Abbott. Pickens is the reigning Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year for the two-time defending SEC regular-season champions. She has been even better this year, with a 1.03 ERA in 102 innings with 143 strikeouts. Not only will MSU (30-8, 6-3 SEC) be preparing for the speed with the pitching machines, but head coach Samantha Ricketts said graduate assistant Matalasi Faapito and coordinator of player development Alyssa Loza, both former Bulldogs pitchers, would be throwing batting practice from about 10 feet away. "We're going to do everything we can to get them prepared so that when they get in the box, they feel like they've seen the velocity," Ricketts said. "It's always different in games, but we want to do everything in our power to make sure we're prepared for the (velocity)." |
| Isaac Smith talks Bulldog defensive improvements in the offseason | |
| One of the only brights spots in a tough football season in 2024 was sophomore safety Isaac Smith. The SEC's leading tackler, Smith was a consistent force for a Mississippi State defense that really struggled to keep offenses from scoring. Instead of deciding to transfer and find a new home, Smith is sticking it out for another season and it's his goal to bring the Bulldog defense back to prominence this season. Part of that is going to be playing more linebacker this season instead of his traditional safety role. He discussed that move in a recent talk with media as well as his thoughts on some new faces on the team and the defense as a whole this season. |
| Men's Tennis: No. 12 State Picks Up A Dominant Win Over No. 13 Aggies | |
| The 12th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team picked up a top-15 win and remain undefeated in SEC home contests after defeating No. 13 Texas A&M 6-1 on Thursday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. State remained dominant in doubles play on Thursday and remained perfect in SEC doubles action, following wins from No. 2 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez and Bryan Hernandez Cortes and Mario Martinez Serrano. Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez dominated for a 6-1 win, and Hernandez Cortez and Martinez Serrano battled to a 7-6(2) tiebreaker victory to clinch the doubles point for MSU. To begin singles play, Dusan Milanovic cruised to a victory. No. 50 Sanchez Martinez won a tiebreaker during his first set to take a 7-6(5) lead before winning his second set 6-2 over No. 33 Theo Papamalamis to extend the Bulldog lead to 3-0. No. 67 Jovanovic outlasted Alan Magadan in three sets to clinch the match. No 102 Martinez Serrano picked up a win via retirement to push the advantage to 5-0. Hernandez Cortes quickly won his opening set before dropping the second set. However, Hernandez Cortes continued to fight winning his last set and giving the Bulldogs a 6-0 advantage. The victory moved MSU to 16-1 at home and 8-3 in the SEC. |
| LSU athletic department not subject to university budget belt-tightening | |
| The LSU athletic department is not subject to budget belt-tightening measures the university announced for all departments last week amid an uncertain fiscal outlook, a school spokesman said. LSU President William Tate announced last week the university would withhold 2% of each department's budget, with 75% of that money going to a fund to support academic and research initiatives. This won't apply to the athletic department , LSU spokesman Todd Woodward said in a statement to the Illuminator and Tiger Rag, because it is considered an auxiliary to the university. During difficult budget times for the university in the past, LSU's athletic department has transferred money to the university. After Gov. Bobby Jindal slashed the state budget, the athletic department began making annual transfers. The school received tens of millions of dollars from its sports programs from 2012-19, when athletic director Scott Woodward ended the practice shortly after he took the job. As the rest of the university gets ready for cutbacks, Todd Woodward -- no relation to the athletic director -- said the university is not asking for help from athletics. Steven Rackley, a sport management professor at Rice University and a longtime former athletic director, said in an interview the cost of revenue sharing hitting at the same time as proposed federal funding cuts for higher education will force difficult decisions. "Presidents and board of trustees, whoever it may be, are going to have to decide how much is athletics worth as opposed to the worth of doing research in academia on campus, and that's going to be just a tough discussion that those people are going to have to have," Rackley said. |
| As Final Four looms, schools are scrambling to spend money on players: 'Everybody is playing beat the clock' | |
| The contracts are ready to be signed. Some, perhaps, are even in print. Terms are there. Financials are agreed upon. "The contracts are printed off," says Blake Lawrence, CEO of the name, image and likeness platform Opendorse, used by dozens of schools. "After a team's final game, at the final buzzer, as fast as possible, they'll get a signature." The eight teams, both men and women, competing at this weekend's Final Four are in a race not just for a championship but to solidify next season's roster. They are scrambling to sign current players and transfers to compensation agreements before those agreements become subject to a more rigid new enforcement entity that will prohibit booster collective pay. School general managers, administrators and coaches are working to strike deals in what many describe as a "mad cash dash" to a deadline date of Monday. That includes those still alive in the NCAA tournament. "Everybody is playing, 'Beat the clock,'" Auburn coach Bruce Pearl told Yahoo Sports. "It's obviously really challenging. It presents even more challenges for us because of what our focus is." |
| Beyond March Madness, colleges face sports betting issue | |
| A crime ring travels around the nation, inviting athletes to parties where there's gambling. The plan is to put the student-athletes in debt and compromise them for future exploitation. The plot sounds like a Hollywood script. But at least one college official believes it's happening in real life, part of a season pockmarked by suspicious bets on several low-profile schools across the country that suggest compromised competition. "What we found out is they're going into towns, throwing parties and having events, getting guys to come," said Chris Grant, the commissioner of the Southland Conference. "And when they come to these parties, they get [players] to gamble on site and [then say], 'OK, well you owe me X amount of dollars on the back end.'" Grant, like most smaller-conference commissioners, has been on alert for sports wagering issues that have broken out all season far from the glitz and spotlight of power teams such as those in this weekend's Final Four in San Antonio. One Southland Conference member, the University of New Orleans, is among a number of schools whose games have been flagged for suspicious betting in connection to a gambling ring. That ring, which is under federal investigation for its alleged role in an NBA betting scandal involving Jontay Porter, placed bets on at least two New Orleans men's basketball games this season, ESPN previously reported. "For us, it seems to point back to an organized crime ring that's not just localized in the Southland footprint," Grant said. "It is going on around the country." |
| Judge Wilken's NCAA-Shaping Legacy at Stake in House v. NCAA Hearing | |
| The last quarter-century of college sports history has lent itself to all kinds of "what-if" games, ranging from the plausible to the wildly speculative. Here's one worth pondering: What if U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken had never been involved in shaping the NCAA's relationship with federal antitrust laws? While Wilken's judicial legacy will forever be tied to the rights of college athletes, it's worth noting how unlikely it was she would have ever heard one such case, let alone a string of them, spanning nearly three decades. Over that time, Wilken has staked her claim as the most influential single force in dismantling the NCAA's foundational principle of amateurism, issuing a series of rulings addressing college athletes' rights that were cautious and methodical in their approach but, ultimately, transformative in their impact. This has culminated in her pivotal role overseeing the proposed multibillion-dollar settlement in three pending class-action antitrust cases -- House v. NCAA, Carter v. NCAA, and Hubbard v. NCAA -- which will allow schools to directly compensate athletes, up to a certain limit. On Monday, Wilken is set to preside over a fairness hearing to determine whether to grant final approval to the proposed settlement, which she gave preliminary approval to in October. Wilken's approval came only after initially expressing reservations about aspects of the settlement, leading the parties to tweak language. |
| The Trump-Saudi Relationship Behind LIV Golf | |
| Donald Trump in a red Make America Great Again hat has become a familiar sight at LIV Golf events. There is one striking difference this time: he isn't the ex-president anymore. The deep-rooted, much-debated relationship between President Trump and Saudi Arabia will be front and center again on Friday, when Trump's Florida golf course hosts a three-day tournament for the upstart LIV Golf circuit that is almost entirely funded by the kingdom's sovereign-wealth fund. LIV has made a stop at the Trump National Doral Golf Club for all four of its seasons, and this is the sixth time the circuit has used a Trump Organization course. This is the first time, though, that it has happened with Trump as a sitting president. On Thursday night, he attended a charity dinner for LIV's players at the club. He told reporters earlier on Thursday that he planned to give a speech and said he was working to combine the LIV and PGA tours. Trump has been trying for months to stitch together a long-term peace deal between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the PGA Tour, whose scorched-earth tactics against each other have cleaved the golf world in two. Trump is planning to visit Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks, in what will be the first foreign trip of his second term. He also traveled to Riyadh early in his first term, in 2017, when the kingdom announced a series of weapons sales and commercial deals that the U.S. valued at around $350 billion. |
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