| Thursday, April 24, 2025 |
| MSU to host Veterans Resource Fair in Starkville | |
 | Current and former military service members will have a wide range of resources all in one place during a veteran's fair this weekend. The G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Center for America's Veterans is sponsoring the Veterans Resource Fair. The event takes place this Saturday, April 26, and will feature more than 20 vendors. Eddie Scales is with the center and said the goal is simple: to connect veterans and their family members with available services, but oftentimes can be tough to navigate. "I hope the takeaway is that veterans find valuable resources they can actually use. Not just a place to go to see things, but also benefits they can use. For instance, the home purchase board will be there. The Veterans Administration out of Jackson should be there, and they work with claims. So, if there is a veteran who needs help with a claim, purchasing a home, or financial help, we should have those resources there." The veteran's resource fair is this Saturday, from 8 am until 3 pm, at the Bost Extension Center on the MSU Campus. |
| MSU, Department of Public Safety sign forensics agreement | |
 | Mississippi State University and the Mississippi Department of Public Safety have formally agreed to work together on forensic investigations, including recovery of human remains, exhumations, surface scatter and burial recoveries, as well as identification of human skeletal remains. MSU President Mark E. Keenum joined Public Safety Commissioner Sean J. Tindell for a Memorandum of Agreement signing in Jackson on April 17. Keenum said the university's areas of expertise uniquely position MSU to support the Department of Public Safety's forensic science needs. The two entities will collaborate to develop and implement protocols for the recovery and analysis of human remains in various forensic contexts, communicate about forensic investigations and conduct periodic assessments and reviews of forensic methodologies and best practices to ensure effectiveness and compliance with legal and scientific standards. |
| Sweet potato now the official state vegetable | |
 | It's official. The Mississippi sweet potato is growing tremendously -- in status that is. The storage root formally becomes the "Official Vegetable of Mississippi" on July 1, after Governor Tate Reeves signed Senate House Bill 2383 into law this past month. And, none could be happier about the legislation's passage than Mississippi State University sweet potato expert Lorin Harvey. Known as the comfort food in grandma's savory pies and casseroles -- and even mysterious hash -- this veggie graces many tables in the Magnolia State mainly because of its taste and nutritional value. Considered a specialty crop, sweet potatoes have a statewide production value of $82 million annually---small potatoes compared to yields of soybeans and corn, according to MSU agriculture economist Will Maples. However, Maples said Mississippi is known as a major producer in the U.S. of the fibrous plant. "We are third to North Carolina and California as a domestic producer. Of these big three, we're also third in number of farms with 156, while the other two have 528 and 202, respectively," Maples said. |
| King Cotton to be crowned at Saturday crawfish boil | |
 | The scent of Cajun seasoning, the bubble of boiling crawfish pots, and the spirit of friendly competition are returning downtown Saturday for the King Cotton Crawfish Boil. Paige Watson, director of Main Street for the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, said the boil is set for 3-6 p.m. at the Hub Plaza, 301 East Main St. There, cooks will serve unlimited, delicious crawfish to the judges and attendees. "We've got thousands of pounds of crawfish," Watson said. "We definitely want people to come and come eat." The King Cotton Crawfish Boil is the second largest fundraiser for the Main Street Association, Watson said. The event will sell out at 750 tickets, she said, with a goal of raising $20,000 or more for Main Street initiatives. During the boil, teams cook crawfish, supplied by the Main Street Association, along with any fixings and seasonings they choose to add to their pots. While the final numbers have not yet been set, as teams are still allowed to sign up through Thursday, Watson said this year's boil will include about 10 teams and anywhere between 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of crawfish. While the competition is fun, Watson said the boil is also a great "family friendly event." The Jason Miller Band will be playing live throughout the boil, she said. |
| Starkville Police Department gives notice on towing | |
 | Starkville Police have recently received calls about tows. The city of Starkville and local police do not conduct these tows. The Police Department says it follows specific policies and procedures when it comes to towing a car, and that most of the incidents involve private towing arrangements. Police say you should review your lease or any posted parking policies for any questionable tows. If you think a tow was improper you can contact the Mississippi Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division to file a complaint. |
| Mary Means Business: Rural King files building permits for Columbus store | |
| The ball keeps on moving for the former K-Mart lot and location. Building official Kenny Wiegel confirmed Rural King has filed permits with the city and construction is currently in progress with Columbus-based Weathers Construction as the contractor. The Dispatch broke the Rural King news in October. The Mattoon, Illinois-headquartered business was founded in 1960 and has more than 133 locations in 13 states. The Columbus location will be the first store in Mississippi. According to Dispatch reporting, the Rural King plans to invest $8 million into the 110,000 square foot building that has remained vacant since K-Mart's closure in 2018. Rural King will occupy about 90,000 square feet and create up to 70 jobs with an annual payroll of $1 million. ... Big local news this weekend, it's Indie Bookstore Day on Saturday. More than 1,600 bookstores are participating in the 12th annual celebration, and we have two in the Golden Triangle celebrating: Starkville's own Book Mart & Cafe on East Main Street and Friendly City Books in Columbus. ... Even though egg prices have continued to decline lately, I know a ton of first-time chicken owners hoping to get some fresh eggs with their first batch of chickens. Mississippi State's extension office is hosting an Egg-ducation Meeting for backyard poultry at 6 p.m. tonight at the Lowndes County Extension office. |
| Meridian woman develops tech that assists people in learning how to read | |
 | A new reading assistance technology is soon to be on the market, and this new product was created right here in Meridian, Mississippi. VTO, or Vertical Take Off Reading, was founded by Leta Palmiter; she is the Director of the Illuminations Center for Dyslexia and is now the CEO of VTO. This new AI technology analyzes students' ability to read out loud and reports the results back to the teacher. This product has gained some traction. Now it is a semifinalist in a Mississippi State University Business Startup Summit that takes place Thursday, and Palmiter couldn't be more excited about the success of her new business. "This is our newest tech product to aid in that mission, so we have made a product that helps students learn how to read measures, their oral reading and reports that back to teachers and parents at the sound level. And it's one-of-a-kind. It is new in the market and we are patent pending, we're excited to bring it to market, and this is our chance to show it to our investors," said Palmiter. Leta and her team are thankful for this opportunity and will present this product in front of a panel at Mississippi State University on Thursday. |
| New multipurpose outdoor facility to open in Tupelo on May 2 | |
| Tupelo officials are gearing up for the grand opening of a multipurpose outdoor facility, which will serve as home to the city's growing farmer's market. The Depot, located at 208 North Front Street, is a $2.1 million project funded by the City of Tupelo and Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau. Designed by architect Chris Root of Tek1 Studio and constructed by Master Craft Builders, the venue is named to reflect Tupelo's train history and its location by the railroad tracks. The structure includes a center cupola replicating the shape atop Tupelo's original train depot. Mayor Todd Jordan said that while The Depot will be perfect for the farmer's market, it will also be used for other events. The facility has a stage for live music, restrooms, tables, and chairs. Parking beside the facility on Front Street is large enough for not only visitors but also for food trucks to set up in. The Depot will open to the public on Friday, May 2, at 5:30 p.m |
| Reports: Nissan set to cut two lines from Canton plant | |
 | According to multiple media reports, Nissan has said it intends to scrap development of two sedan EV models planned to be produced in its Canton, Mississippi Nissan plant. Nissan Americas chairperson Christian Meunier has previously said that "the sedan market is shrinking". After an internal memo made its way to the press, the automaker confirmed that shifting market conditions had forced it to reassess the EV projects originally planned for Canton. The company has been in flux in recent months. In January, Nissan announced that factory workers at the Canton plant will be offered voluntary buyout packages in a cost cutting move by the Japanese auto maker. The buyouts are targeted at production lines in Canton and Smyrna, Tennessee. The Clarion Ledger has reached out to Nissan for comment on the specifics of the plan, but the company has not immediately responded. In a prior Clarion Ledger story on this subject, Nissan was bullish on the future of EVs in Mississippi. |
| Lt. Gov. Hosemann addresses letter to USACE amid potential opening of Bonnet Carré Spillway | |
 | On Wednesday, Mississippi Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann addressed a letter to Colonel Cullen Jones of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, in opposition to another opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway. Lt. Gov. Hosemann's letter comes following the spillway's first test in five years on Monday, April 21, as the rising Mississippi River reached floodgates. By Tuesday, April 29, USACE expects water flow at Bonnet Carré to exceed 1.28 million cubic feet per second, triggering the opening of 30 to 60 bays on the spillway until levels dip back to 1.25 million cubic feet per second. "I write to you in the strongest possible terms to oppose any proposed opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in 2025 without utilizing other available diversions to minimize its effects," Lt. Gov. Hosemann began his letter. "Repeated diversions of Mississippi River freshwater into the Mississippi Sound have devastated Mississippi's coastal ecosystem, crippled our seafood industry, endangered public health, and severely harmed our tourism economy. The cumulative damage is no longer tolerable and cannot be justified by the Corps' singular focus on flood diversion by this sole matter at the expense of an entire neighboring state." A study conducted by researchers at Mississippi State University in 2024 predicted that the state lost more than $20 million as a result of the spillway's openings in 2019, with half of the loss coming from the seafood industry. |
| US Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith speaks on tariffs | |
| US Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith made an appearance in the metro Wednesday. The senator was the keynote speaker for the Ridgeland Chamber of Commerce awards at the Old Capitol Inn. "The T-word -- the tariffs -- I really think will be short-term. I think that it's a really good tool; I think the president knows how to use that tool. And I say all the time that just means we need to talk. But there's been a lot of unfair trading practices in agriculture," said Hyde-Smith. Hyde-Smith formerly served as the agriculture commissioner. "Americans can compete with anybody, anybody on planet Earth, but we need fair deals, and it hasn't been that way in a long, long time, so I'm pretty excited about benefits that will come from the tariffs," Hyde-Smith said. |
| Independent pharmacists continue their push for PBM reform | |
| Independent pharmacists have been lobbying lawmakers for the last few months. But education is their latest step forward. Pharmacists like Gaston Box at Saver Express Pharmacy in Ridgeland found themselves outside their comfort zone this legislative session. Their pleas are all centered around a call for PBM reform. Pharmacy Benefit Managers are described as the middleman between the pharmacy and your insurance. "Ultimately, we have to do what we have to do to keep our businesses open," explained Gaston Box. "This is our livelihood. We're fighting so that we can take care of our community." Box says they're being reimbursed well below costs for many drugs. "There's so many things that people don't realize," added Box. "You know, we live it, breathe it, go through it every day. And I guess because of the hurt that we feel, you kind of assume that people know when we realize they don't. That's when we're like, we can't back down." They've created "The SIP," standing for "Saving Independent Pharmacies," as a way to sort through the complicated ins and outs of PBMs and why they say they're to blame for the closure of so many pharmacies in the state. They'd like reforms to be added to a special session call, but if not, they'll try again next session. |
| 'You ain't seen nothing yet': Mayor vows to push forward following election loss | |
| In an emotional speech Tuesday night, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba conceded his loss to state Sen. John Horhn and worked to reassure supporters that he's going to continue fighting for them. "I don't want anyone to be dismayed. I don't want anybody to think that because we're not in the mayor's office, that means this work stops," he said. "I am disappointed in the result, but I want you to understand that I won't stop working for you." "If you thought I was a problem as a mayor, you're going to really get a problem out of me as an organizer and an attorney. I won't stop," he said. "You ain't seen nothing yet." On Tuesday, Lumumba lost his bid for a third term as Jackson's top elected official, falling to state Sen. John Horhn in the Democratic primary runoff. His second term was plagued by multiple emergencies. The city's main water treatment plant shut down in 2022, forcing the state to temporarily take over operations. That was followed by a federal takeover that November. The following year, the sewer system was taken over by the federal government after Jackson, for more than a decade, failed to comply with its sewer consent decree. Then, there was the trash crisis, leaving residents without residential collections for weeks, followed by the temporary shutdown of Thalia Mara Hall, and continued declines at the Jackson Zoological Park. The mayor's chances of being re-elected were likely dealt their greatest blow last October, when he was indicted on five counts related to the Jackson Bribery Scandal. |
| Customers of some of the state's worst water and sewer systems are seeing 'astronomic' rate hikes | |
| A December hearing at the Woolfolk Building in downtown Jacskon started to sound like an auction: Fifty percent. One hundred. Two hundred. Three hundred. State officials watched studiously from their dais as customers recited how much their water and sewer bills ballooned in the last few years. Judy Johnson's sewer bill in Raymond went from $16 in 2022, to $40 in 2023, to $52 in 2024, to $67 two months after that. David Huber in Natchez said his combined water and sewer bill grew from $50 to $108 in that same time. The three of them are among 28,000 Mississippi customers of Central States Water Resources, or Great River as its subsidiary in the state is known. In 2021, Central States -- which operates in 11 states, mostly in the South -- arrived in Mississippi, where it now owns 123 small water and sewer systems. In Mississippi, which has the lowest median income in the country, many Great River customers are seeing costs skyrocket for basic necessities that were or are still below regulatory standards. But for years, many of them previously paid low rates to providers who were, in turn, neglecting or underinvesting in their infrastructure. "It just cascades and everyone keeps kicking the can until a crisis happens," said Central States founder Josiah Cox. "The butcher's bill is coming due. These places are falling apart." The result is a chasm between the perceived and actual costs of delivering water and sewer services. |
| Durbin announces retirement, capping off decadeslong career in Congress | |
 | Senate Democratic Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois announced Wednesday that he would not seek reelection next year, opening up a safely blue seat that's likely to spark a competitive Democratic primary. "The decision of whether to run for reelection has not been easy. I truly love the job of being a United States senator," Durbin, 80, said in a video posted to social media. "But in my heart, I know it's time to pass the torch." Durbin, who was first elected to the House in 1982 before joining the Senate in 1997, told The New York Times that the decision to retire was not an easy one, given his prime standing as the No. 2 Senate Democrat. But, he told the newspaper, "I have to be honest about this. There are good people in the wings, good people on the bench ready to serve, and they can fight this fight just as effectively as I can." Over his more than 40 years in Congress, Durbin has been a visible messenger for Democrats. He has long focused on consumer protection issues, going after the tobacco industry and big banks, as well as, more recently, credit card companies. In recent years, he has also pushed to overhaul ethics for Supreme Court justices. The law for which Durbin might be best known is the provision of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul that imposed limits on what the issuers of debit cards could charge to merchants accepting the cards. |
| Hounded by Wall Street, Trump tempers his populist rhetoric | |
 | Donald Trump has described his trade war as a bold effort to prioritize Main Street concerns, the fulfillment of a promise to an American working class hurt by decades of globalization. But Wall Street has his ear. The president softened his hostile rhetoric toward China and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell this week following Monday's market sell-off and pressure from some of the nation's most important business interests. The Chamber of Commerce has been warning the White House that the new trade levies will hammer small businesses that are less capable of reorienting their supply chains or front-loading their inventories, the Chamber's executive vice president Neil Bradley said. The CEOs of some of the nation's largest retailers -- Walmart, Target and Home Depot -- also met with Trump at the White House this week, a White House official confirmed. Their concerns about supply chains echoed private pleas from some wealthy donors who have reached out to senior aides and, in some cases, to Trump directly, according to three people clo se to the administration. Trump's latest comments indicate that some of these arguments have been heard. And they're another indication that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Cabinet member with the most credibility on Wall Street, has solidified his central role after helping persuade Trump to dial back his broader tariff regime two weeks ago. |
| Most Americans expect higher prices as a result of Trump's tariffs, a new AP-NORC poll finds | |
 | Americans' trust in President Donald Trump to bolster the U.S. economy appears to be faltering, with a new poll showing that many people fear the country is being steered into a recession and that the president's broad and haphazardly enforced tariffs will cause prices to rise. Roughly half of U.S. adults say that Trump's trade policies will increase prices "a lot" and another 3 in 10 think prices could go up "somewhat," according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About half of Americans are "extremely" or "very" concerned about the possibility of the U.S. economy going into a recession in the next few months. While skepticism about tariffs is increasing modestly, that doesn't mean the public is automatically rejecting Trump or his approach to trade. However, the wariness could cause problems for a president who promised voters he could quickly fix inflation. Three months into his second term, Trump's handling of the economy and tariffs is showing up as a potential weakness. About 4 in 10 Americans approve of the way the Republican president is handling the economy and trade negotiations. That's roughly in line with an AP-NORC poll conducted in March. |
| How DOGE Plans to Plow Ahead Without Musk at the Helm | |
 | Elon Musk's controversial role at the White House is expected to diminish in the coming weeks, a change that risks undercutting his Department of Government Efficiency but isn't likely to stop its work outright. DOGE has cut jobs at nearly every federal agency, canceled thousands of contracts and taken control of computer systems that run the government. As its leader, Musk has been a polarizing figure seen by many Republicans as an agent of cost cutting and efficiency and by Democrats as a blunt-force instrument hurting government services. While Musk is the face of DOGE, most of its work has been done by dozens of computer programmers and lawyers who have fanned out across the federal government. Those staffers, which Musk has said tops 100, are expected to remain. They have largely taken control of the Office of Personnel Management, which helps manage the federal workforce. DOGE played a central role in the demolition of two major agencies, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The moves against both have been challenged in court. A number of DOGE officials have attained powerful positions in the government. DOGE has a long way to go to meet Musk's ambitious budget-cutting goals. The loss of its most high-profile advocate risks making its gargantuan task even harder. |
| Russia bombards Kyiv, provoking rare rebuke from Trump as peace talks stall | |
 | Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities early Thursday, prompting a rare rebuke from President Donald Trump, who called the deadly attack "not necessary, and very bad timing." "Vladimir, STOP!" he wrote on Truth Social, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has generally refrained from criticizing the Russian conduct of the war, focusing more recently on Ukrainian reluctance to agree to a U.S. deal to end it. The Russian attack killed at least eight people and wounded more than 60 others, according to emergency authorities, in one of the deadliest attacks on the capital in nearly a year. Officials initially said nine had died but revised the toll, citing confusion over recovering remains from the rubble. The strike is the latest in a devastating series of Russian attacks on Ukraine and comes as the White House is pushing Kyiv to cede territory to end the war, enraging Ukrainians who increasingly feel abandoned by Washington. Trump said Wednesday that while Russia is ready for a deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is proving difficult. Ukraine, however, accepted a U.S. proposal for a full ceasefire in March, while Russia did not. "I think Russia is ready," Trump told reporters from the Oval Office. "I think we have a deal with Russia, and we have to get a deal with Zelensky. I thought it would be easier to deal with Zelensky, but it's been harder." |
| New hub at W to bring early learning to 'next level' | |
| What began as a grassroots effort to support early childhood education in Lowndes County is now becoming a centralized initiative at the Mississippi University for Women, where the Center for Education is launching a program aimed at using data to create long-term impacts on child development. Funded by a $500,000 grant, the Wise Start Early Childhood Project, as well as the newly established Office of Early Childhood in which it's housed, is intended to strengthen local early learning systems. The new initiative builds on work done through Excel by 5, a program that works with families, child care providers and educators to prepare children for school and identify gaps in support services. The new Wise Start program will take those efforts to the next level, Center for Education Director Penny Sansing Mansell said. "We've seen a lot of good work happen in our community, especially through Excel by 5 and through local businesses supporting the work, but this is to take it to the next level," she told The Dispatch on Wednesday. "This is for us to be able to sustain what we've been doing, have a home to collect the data, and then be able to continue to make an impact here locally and hopefully be able to have a better impact in the region and state later." |
| Congresswoman Crockett to headline Tougaloo College's 2025 Commencement | |
 | U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett will deliver the keynote address during Tougaloo College's Commencement 2025. The graduation ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 4 at 9:00 a.m. on Tougaloo's campus in Jackson. Earlier that morning, the college will host its Baccalaureate Ceremony in the Historic Woodworth Chapel, where Rev. Cassius L. Rudolph will deliver a sermon. |
| Head Start helps Mississippi kids. A new Trump budget might strip all funds | |
 | Head Start helps thousands of Mississippi families, and a budget being considered by the Trump administration would remove all funding for the early childhood education program from the federal planning. An official familiar with the proposal told USA Today that the 2026 fiscal plan being considered has no Head Start funding and could eliminate several other programs. (The federal fiscal year is October 1 to September 30.) Congress doesn't necessarily pass the presidential budget as requested. It's more like a wish list. "No final funding decisions have been made," Rachel Cauley, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget, told USA Today earlier in April. Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association has warned that more than a million parents need the program for childcare that lets them stay in the workforce. How could families in Mississippi be affected if the program goes away? According to the Mississippi Head Start Association, the program serves 25,000 children in the state. About 22,400 Head Start slots are funded for kids ages 305, and almost 2,700 babies and toddlers have funded Early Head Start slots. They also assist at least 238 pregnant moms. The program has more than 15 local grantees that aid people in all 82 counties. |
| Campus Dining partners with the Office of Sustainability | |
| Auburn University is bringing more sustainability to its campus as composters and reusable to-go containers become the newest addition. Going on his thirteenth year at Auburn, Glenn Loughridge, Director of Campus Dining and Concessions, shared his environmentally friendly efforts. As an Auburn graduate, he wanted to make his impact on the Auburn Family special. The composter that Auburn has can break down up to 2,000 pounds of waste a day. With a plan to eventually add one to the Wellness Kitchen, Loughridge expressed that the current goal is to target the two major dining halls. "We expect that there is the potential to divert somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 pounds, a semester, of food waste that would have gone into the landfill. It's a significant opportunity as a campus," Loughridge said. Auburn sets aside a certain amount of money each year, called a mission enhancement grant, for faculty and staff projects that will enhance the university. Partnering with poultry sciences on the mission enhancement grant, Loughridge shared that dining matched around $200,000 worth of funds, and the overall project was $450,000. "The composter is very high-tech. One of the things we feel like was critical to what we feel will be the long-term success, is that it is end to end," Loughridge said. |
| New Green Roof at ANR Building brings new sustainable ideas, concerns to UT's skyline | |
| Overlooking the urban metropolis of Knoxville, an explosion of green is hidden among a sea of gray. The new "Green Roof" on top of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Building is a lush addition to the campus that fosters sustainability while bringing a break to an otherwise concrete skyline. "The green roof is an integration of ecology and the social space where humans, wildlife and nature can coexist," Mike Ross, an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and key player in the project, said. The primary purpose of the roof, according to Ross, was to meet state requirements for managing stormwater. While a simpler project could have met those demands, the green roof provided the opportunity to take things a step further. "There's no question it's sequestering stormwater. It's doing a good job in that regard," Ross said. "But by going the extra step and putting a glade ecosystem on top of this roof we've not only addressed stormwater, but we've also got all these other ecosystem services that come into play in a more rich and robust way." |
| U. of Tennessee's partnership with Arizona State has major goal: Help 1M Tennesseans earn their degree | |
 | College students and adult workers across Tennessee have access to a wide variety of online courses powered by the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Arizona State University. The partnership stems from a single goal: Help the nearly 1 million Tennesseans who have some college credits but didn't finish their degrees, UT Chancellor Donde Plowman said. UT already had over 70 degree or certificate programs offered online when the partnership was announced in 2024, with the ASU agreement bringing over 300 online programs to Tennesseans. "That's the land grant mission today. It's building on what we've always done," Plowman said. "And there are a lot of different ways of thinking about that. Every single part of this university can play a role. It seems so obvious that ... online education is a way of extending the land grant mission in ways we just haven't thought about in that way before, but it's right there in our grasp. Our colleagues from Arizona State have helped us see how to do this more quickly than if we were out there by ourselves just trying to build from scratch," she said. The partnership opens doors between the universities in other ways, too, by sharing technology, offering academic advice to students and providing expertise from departments each individual campus might not have. |
| Higher Ed leaders talk collaboration, ACCESS, and college affordability | |
| Rather than competing against one another, college leaders in Arkansas collaborate to do what's best for students, which in turn benefits the state, a trifecta of higher education administrators said Wednesday. "The idea is serving the state of Arkansas, and we do that better when we work together, (as there's) strength in togetherness," said University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Chancellor Charles Robinson. "The old divides don't work in today's world, (and we all) want to make sure every Arkansan knows there is a pathway in the state to their goals and dreams." In Arkansas, "you can run forward and not be afraid of 'friendly fire,'" said Northwest Arkansas Community College President Dennis Rittle. "We're all trying to get to the same" destination. It's paramount to "break down barriers" not only between colleges, but also between higher education and K-12 education, added University of Central Arkansas President Houston Davis. Rigor and relevance are pivotal at all levels of education for the state to have an educated workforce made up of individuals who can adroitly adapt to changes throughout their careers. |
| Republican Nancy Mace fields concerns over university funding during South Carolina town hall | |
| Republican Rep. Nancy Mace faced criticism over the legal wrangling concerning universities and allegations of antisemitism during a town hall at a private, gated island community in her coastal South Carolina district. The crowd of several hundred, mostly gray-haired attendees on Dataw Island was primarily friendly, with a moderator asking pre-screened questions of Mace on stage. A small group of attendees did walk out after Mace talked about Jewish college students being mistreated by campus protesters, an issue that has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration's feud with institutions of higher learning. "I support all Jews in Israel, thank you very much," Mace said. "They are our best friend, and Christians are in their fight with them. I support them 100%, and it says a lot about the folks walking out of here, when I'm talking about protesting Jews and religion." The conversation later turned back to federal funding for colleges, including Harvard, with Mace saying she supported efforts to rein in schools that are "raising lunatics." Mace has often invited confrontation, posting to her social media videos of conflicts with protesters and people who come to her events. As she drove to the Dataw Island event, she posted a video of herself on social media, waving at people gathered to protest her appearance. |
| Bill aims to repeal in-state tuition, limit college aid for Texas' undocumented students | |
| Thousands of undocumented students would no longer be eligible for in-state tuition rates at Texas' public universities under a proposal debated Tuesday. Some lawmakers want to repeal the 2001 Texas Dream Act that allows such students to pay in-state tuition if they can show that they have lived in the state for three consecutive years before high school graduation. Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, told a committee that any financial aid in Texas colleges and universities should be prioritized for U.S. citizens. His bill, Senate Bill 1798, would prohibit undocumented students from paying in-state rates and bar them from any state funds from universities, including a scholarship, grant or other financial aid. "Public funds for higher education, in this case, should certainly be reserved for citizens," Middleton said. He added that the bill would align state policy with federal law, which does not allow undocumented students to receive federal financial aid. Texas was the first state to extend in-state tuition to undocumented students when former Gov. Rick Perry signed the measure into law. State leaders then highlighted such students' contributions to the state's workforce and economy. Now, 23 other states offer the same. |
| Uncertainty looms as U. of Missouri School of Medicine rescinds offers amid proposed NIH cuts | |
 | The University of Missouri School of Medicine has rescinded graduate program offers made to future students. The decision has sparked concern across campus as researchers and students worry about what could happen if the National Institutes of Health's budget is slashed. "We're trying to protect the integrity of the offers we make," said Jeni Hart, dean of the graduate school and vice provost for graduate studies, as she discussed how the proposed cuts affect the medical school. "The rescinded offers were limited to students who had not yet committed, and the decision was made by the academic unit itself. It's not reflective of a university-wide policy." For Harper Snyder, a lab technician at MU's NextGen Precision Health building, the possibility of funding cuts feels like a serious threat to important work. "It's gonna cause problems, for sure, if people can't have enough personnel," Snyder said. "It takes a lot of people just to do one thing, just to keep everything organized and keep it going forward." Snyder's lab focuses on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease -- conditions that impact thousands of lives. Her team uses long-term mouse studies to better understand how the diseases work. "Even if it's 1% of patients, it's still a huge difference," she said. |
| Beyond 'Prestige': New Carnegie Classification Focuses on Student Success | |
 | As widespread public skepticism about the value of a degree persists, a new institutional classification system recognizes colleges and universities that afford all types of students the opportunity to access an education and earn competitive wages thereafter. It's the latest update to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, which has also spent the past few years retooling its decades-old framework for categorizing colleges and universities. "We want this to be and be seen as higher education holding itself accountable for ensuring student access and success," Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, said in an interview with Inside Higher Ed. "We don't think we can convince the American public of the value of higher education unless we can first convince them that they have access to high-quality education that will propel them along in their version of the American dream." That goal guided ACE and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's revamping of the long-standing Basic Classification -- now called the Institutional Classification -- and the development of a new Student Access and Earnings Classification, both of which were unveiled Thursday. Though plans for the latter, student success–oriented framework were first announced in 2022, the inaugural set of designations was just released. The announcement comes two months after ACE and Carnegie shared changes to the metrics for evaluating an institution for Research-1 status. |
| New Carnegie Classification Aims to Shake Up How Higher Ed Sees Itself | |
 | The latest Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is here, and there's a new top category for colleges to strive for: "Opportunity Colleges and Universities." Carnegie analysts previously promised this year's revision would be "the biggest update" ever, and had already rolled out one aspect of their overhaul: their research labels. In the full revision published on Thursday, colleges got new core classifications based on their size and the degrees they most commonly bestow. They also all got labels denoting whether they enroll underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities and Pell-eligible students at rates reflecting the geographic areas they draw from, and whether the students who attend -- including those who don't graduate -- make more money than their peers. Those institutions whose numbers make them "higher access" and "higher earnings" are being branded by Carnegie as "Opportunity Colleges and Universities." The new classifications measure how colleges perform on "two key components of what we think is the social project of higher education: providing access to students who deserve it and providing them with a pathway to a strong, middle-class job and career," said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education. ACE runs the classifications, along with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. "The Carnegie classifications, the old versions, you didn't see students," Mitchell said. "You saw money, you saw structure, but you didn't see students. We want to put student success at the center of how institutions describe themselves and how others look at them." |
| 2025 Grads Face a Slower Hiring Market This Spring | |
| A fall 2024 survey of the Class of 2025 found seniors were less than optimistic about their futures after graduation due to a competitive job market. Just weeks before commencement, new data from Handshake finds the sentiment remains true, with 56 percent of graduating students reporting feeling "very" or "somewhat" pessimistic about their careers. Those sentiments aren't entirely surprising given the downward trends in the U.S. economy and job market. But there's an upside, said Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake's chief education officer: The circumstances push graduates to be adaptive, flexible and innovative in the ways they think about their careers. "Every so often we have cycles like this where unfortunately some of the graduating class experiences this downturn and they have to figure out, 'How am I going to get creative?' And I think this class in particular is doing just that," Cruzvergara said. In the face of greater competition, graduating seniors have increased the number of jobs they apply to, averaging around 16.5 applications to date -- 21 percent more than their peers in the Class of 2024. |
| Trump pushes training for skilled trades that do not require college | |
| President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday an order to improve job training for skilled trades, an initiative twinned with tariffs in his gambit to revive U.S. manufacturing. The Labor, Education and Commerce departments will focus on job needs in emerging industries including those enabled by artificial intelligence, with a goal to support more than 1 million apprenticeships per year, according to a White House summary of the order, which was first reported by Reuters. The Republican president, who took office in January, shocked markets with a blitz of tariffs on imports, some of which are now paused pending negotiations with U.S. trading partners. Trump has promoted levies on imports as a solution for a wide range of ills including a decades-long decline in U.S. factory jobs. Some of his economic advisers blame this trend on industries relocating factories abroad where workers earn lower wages, thus shrinking high-paying career opportunities for Americans without college degrees. Tariffs could steer more U.S. customers to American-made goods. But any hoped-for U.S. factory renaissance faces several obstacles, including a shortage of skilled workers. The U.S. has been training far fewer factory workers for decades now, while retirements and immigration crackdowns are draining the pool of labor available to manufacturers. |
| Trump signs executive orders targeting colleges, plus schools' equity efforts | |
| President Donald Trump has ordered sharper scrutiny of America's colleges and the accreditors that oversee them, part of his escalating campaign to end what he calls " wokeness " and diversity efforts in education. In a series of executive actions signed Wednesday, Trump targeted universities that he views as liberal adversaries to his political agenda. One order called for harder enforcement of a federal law requiring colleges to disclose their financial ties with foreign sources, while another called for a shakeup of the accrediting bodies that decide whether colleges can accept federal financial aid awarded to students. Trump also ordered the Education Department to root out efforts to ensure equity in discipline in the nation's K-12 schools. Previous guidance from Democratic administrations directed schools not to disproportionately punish underrepresented minorities such as Black and Native American students. The administration says equity efforts amount to racial discrimination. Often overlooked as an obscure branch of college oversight, accreditors play an important role in shaping colleges in many aspects, with standards that apply all the way from colleges' governing boards to classroom curriculum. "Instead of pushing schools to adopt a divisive DEI ideology, accreditors should be focused on helping schools improve graduation rates and graduates' performance in the labor market," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. |
| President Trump's Executive Order Bashes College Accreditors, Blames DEI for Poor Outcomes | |
| President Trump signed an executive order taking aim at college accreditors Wednesday, describing the agencies as lax in ensuring academic quality and "improperly focused on compelling adoption of discriminatory ideology" -- meaning standards that require colleges and programs to address diversity, equity, and inclusion. "The accreditors' job is to determine which institutions provide a quality education -- and therefore merit accreditation," the order states. "Unfortunately, accreditors have not only failed in this responsibility to students, families, and American taxpayers, but they have also abused their enormous authority." In addition to demanding that accreditors abandon goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion, the order seeks to make it easier for institutions to change accreditors and to expedite federal approval of new accreditors. The order, essentially a statement of the president's policy goals, also warns that the administration will seek to remove accreditors' federal recognition should they fail to adhere to its aims. And it admonishes the agencies against encouraging or forcing institutions to violate state laws. An association of major accrediting groups said its members "firmly reject President Trump's mischaracterization of accreditors' role" but welcome discussion of several policy changes that they support, such as making it easier for colleges to switch accreditors. |
| Inside the Lawsuits Challenging SEVIS Terminations -- and Succeeding | |
| At least 290 international students or recent graduates who had their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System records terminated by the federal government are fighting that decision across 65 lawsuits. They are hoping to get those terminations reversed and return to their work or studies, and many have been successful, securing at least a temporary reprieve. The individuals represented in the lawsuits come from across the country and range from undergraduate students to postgraduates who are working under Optional Practical Training, which allows F-1 students to stay in the U.S. and work in a position that relates to their degree for a period of time after they graduate. At least 14 of the plaintiffs, but possibly more, were slated to graduate in the next six months until a SEVIS termination interrupted their studies. The plaintiffs are among the thousands of students whose records in SEVIS, a database of information about international students studying in the U.S., were quietly and unexpectedly terminated by the federal government in recent weeks. The unprecedented terminations, which came amid the Trump administration's broader attacks on immigrants. So far, many of the suits have been successful. |
| Fearing Trump's Visa Crackdown, College Students Race to Scrub Op-Eds | |
| The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper at one of America's most prominent universities, is facing a challenge unlike any in its 152-year history. Students -- particularly those without U.S. citizenship -- are asking to have their names removed from articles for fear of backlash by immigration officials. Some requests are simple: Take down a byline from an old opinion column. Others ask editors to scrub entire articles from websites. In other instances, students who might have been quoted in a published story now want their names removed. Such appeals have skyrocketed, according to Crimson President McKenna McKrell, 21. The publication recently fielded 10 requests over two weeks, one concerning an article published more than a decade ago. The nationwide surge began last month after Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish national authorized to study at Tufts University, was detained by immigration officials in Massachusetts. The Trump administration said it revoked hundreds of student visas -- including Öztürk's -- over the students' participation in pro-Palestinian activities. Öztürk had co-published an opinion piece in support of the Palestinian territories in Tufts's student newspaper a year earlier. The government cited the article as evidence in immigration hearings. |
| Big Ten university faculties push for defense compact against Trump | |
| A burgeoning movement among Big Ten universities would create an alliance to counter government attacks on higher education, which the White House says aim to end "woke" policies on campuses it views as fostering antisemitism and harboring foreign students engaged in "known illegal" activity. Several faculty and university senates have approved resolutions asking their leaders to sign a NATO-like agreement that would allow the institutions to share attorneys and pool financial resources in case President Donald Trump's administration targets one of its members. The Washington Post reached out to all 18 senates and administrations at schools in the Big Ten for comment. Many professors contacted said the proposed compact was vital to ensure they are protected from a White House that has cut research funding, revoked visas of international students and tried to direct curriculum at some institutions. Most administrators, with whom the final decision will lie, did not directly address the issue. The situation across campuses is extremely charged because of the Trump administration's threats to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding to higher education. But the Big Ten isn't an enclave of elite, northeastern schools that cultivate America's next ruling class. It represents land-grant universities in the Midwest -- and corn-fed athletics programs -- that are central to each state's identity. |
SPORTS
| No. 20 Women's Golf Returns To NCAA Tournament For Fifth Consecutive Season | |
| The Mississippi State women's golf team will be returning to the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time, as they will be the four seed in the Gold Canyon Regional, which begins on May 6. The Bulldogs will be making their fifth straight appearance in the tournament, which extends the longest streak in program history. In five years under the guidance of Charlie Ewing, the Bulldogs have made the tournament in every season. State has advanced out of the regional round in four of those seasons. The only time the Bulldogs did not advance to the championship was 2021, where the regional round was canceled and only the top six seeds advanced. The Bulldogs were the 12th seed in the regional. The No. 5 Oregon Ducks are the top seed in the Gold Canyon Regional. Alongside them, No. 8 Arizona State, No. 17 Auburn and the No. 20 Bulldogs are all ranked inside the top 25 in the latest edition of the Scoreboard rankings. The field sees four other conference champions beside the top-seeded Ducks, which include Navy, Quinnipiac, Sacramento State and Cal State Fullerton. The field is rounded out by Oklahoma State, California, Virginia Tech and San Jose State. |
| Men's Golf: Bulldogs Tied For Eighth After SEC Championship Round One | |
| Mississippi State wrapped up day one of the SEC Championship in a tie for eighth with a score of 1-under 279. The Bulldogs played steady golf with all four counting scores coming in at par or better, putting themselves in a tie with Alabama after Day 1. "We played a really steady round of golf today," head coach Dusty Smith said. "We had all five guys in the round, which helps a lot. We know we don't have to do anything special this week; we don't need to do anything more than to be ourselves. From a mental standpoint, each player knows what they need to focus on to be successful." Garrett Endicott led State with an opening round of 1-under 69. He was even through his first nine but carded two birdies on the back nine to get into red figures. He now moves into solo third in program history with his 27th career round in the 60s. |
| NCAA settlement on hold as judge requests changes on roster limits | |
| The NCAA and power conferences' settlement of three antitrust cases hangs in the balance. In an order issued on Wednesday, a California judge announced that she will not approve the landmark House settlement unless changes are made to new roster limits --- a concept that the settlement agreement imposes on schools and one that has led to the elimination of roster spots for hundreds and, perhaps eventually, thousands of athletes. Claudia Wilken, the presiding judge in the case in the Northern District of California, is giving attorneys 14 days to implement a grandfather-in concept to roster limits, assuring those athletes who are on a roster do not lose their spot -- something that's happening across the country as schools reduce their rosters to adhere to the new limits. In the wake of the order, the industry is now searching for an answer to a daunting question: What do we do now? Several athletic administrators who spoke to Yahoo Sports on Wednesday are privately urging their conference leadership to adhere to the judge's recommendation and to grandfather in current athletes on rosters -- something Wilken suggested during an April 7 hearing in Oakland. "We are playing chicken with a damn federal judge," said one high-ranking college leader. |
| Judge refuses to approve NCAA settlement that would allow revenue sharing for college athletes | |
 | A federal judge said Wednesday that she cannot approve the proposed settlement of three athlete-compensation antitrust cases against the NCAA and Power Five conferences in its current form because of roster limits that were set to go into effect as part of the agreement. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken wrote that she was inclined to approve the rest of the deal over a variety of other objections. That means she is otherwise prepared to accept an arrangement under which $2.8 billion in damages would be paid to current and former athletes -- and their lawyers -- over 10 years, and Division I schools would be able to start paying athletes directly for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL), subject to a per-school cap that would increase over time and be based on a percentage of certain athletics revenues. However, during a final-approval hearing on April 7, she strongly suggested a system of phased-in implementation of the proposed sport-by-sport roster limits, which were to take effect on July 1 alongside an end to the NCAA's existing system of sport-by-sport scholarship limits. "It's insanity," the person said. "She's not supposed to be negotiating for the people who write letters." |
| Judge delays $2.8 billion NCAA settlement to address roster limit concerns. Attorneys warn of chaos | |
| The judge overseeing the rewriting of the college sports rulebook threw a potentially deal-wrecking roadblock into the mix Wednesday, insisting parties in the $2.8 billion antitrust lawsuit redo the part of the proposed settlement involving roster limits that many schools are already putting in motion. "Any disruption that may occur is a problem of Defendants' and NCAA members schools' own making," U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken wrote in a pointed five-page order in which she gave no weight to the argument that a reworking of the proposal could throw college sports into chaos. She gave the sides 14 days to contact their mediator and return to the bargaining table. The settlement in the landmark class-action lawsuit called for schools to no longer be bound by scholarship limits for their teams, but rather by roster limits in which everyone would be eligible for aid. "The fact that the Court granted preliminary approval of the settlement agreement should not have been interpreted as an indication that it was certain that the Court would grant final approval," Wilken said of the preliminary nod she gave back in October that set these transactions in motion. While the attorneys look for a Plan B, the clock is ticking. Terms of the settlement were supposed to go into effect July 1. Football practice starts soon after. Whether rosters will come in at around the old average (128) or the newly prescribed limit (105) is an open question. |
| Judge delays House settlement approval over roster limits | |
| A federal judge told the NCAA and its members Wednesday that she would not approve the multibillion-dollar antitrust settlement that is expected to reshape the business of college sports unless they change a proposed policy for limiting roster sizes. Judge Claudia Wilken said the NCAA's insistence on immediately implementing roster limits would cause some college athletes to lose their spot on their current teams and that she could not approve a settlement that would cause harm to some members of the plaintiff's class. A spokesperson for the NCAA and defendant conferences said in a statement that they are "closely reviewing" Wilken's order. "Our focus continues to be on securing approval of this significant agreement, which aims to create more opportunities than ever before for student-athletes while fostering much-needed stability and fairness in college sports," the statement said. More than 4,600 Division I athletes have entered their names in the NCAA transfer portal in the month of April, in part because schools have been preparing for the expected roster limits. Steve Berman, co-lead attorney for the plaintiffs, told ESPN on Wednesday that he believes the NCAA will change its mind on roster limits because that is the only remaining obstacle to the industry-shifting settlement being approved. |
| Legal Scenarios That Could Follow Judge's House Settlement Order | |
| U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken issued an order Wednesday indicating she will not grant final approval to the 10-year settlement resolving the House, Carter and Hubbard antitrust litigations unless the parties' attorneys mitigate the impact of the settlement on current NCAA athletes set to lose roster spots under the deal. Wilken is providing the parties a couple of weeks to address what she regards as a major problem -- a "problem" that both parties already declined to resolve to her liking when she expressed concerns about roster limits in a fairness hearing earlier this month. Importantly, Wilken cannot "blue pencil out provisions" of the settlement. That legal expression refers to a judge lacking the authority to rewrite terms of a contract. A class action settlement is a contract, and Wilken will either approve or reject it in its entirety. She will make that decision on her own timeline, too, even if that means the matter remains unresolved into the 2025-26 academic year or beyond. Wilken's conclusion about roster limits reflects successful advocacy from attorney Laura Reathaford, a litigation partner at Lathrop GPM in Los Angeles. Reathaford's daughter, Temple University gymnast Emma Reathaford, is one of the objectors. Attorney Reathaford wrote a compelling brief in January and persuasively argued in the recent fairness hearing the points that Wilken has articulated in writing. |
| Clemson's Dabo Swinney predicts college football super league 'sooner rather than later' | |
 | Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney, known for his seeming resistance to the changes in college sports, now believes things are headed toward "probably the best era for college football." And a big part of that, Swinney believes, is a football super league. The idea of reorganizing the top level of the college game away from the traditional conference model has been out there for a while, and last year a formal proposal was circulated and endorsed by a group known as College Sports Tomorrow that included the presidents of an ACC school (Syracuse) and a Big 12 school (West Virginia), among other business and sports industry leaders. Around the same time, venture capital firm Smash Capital privately pitched schools on an injection of billions of dollars to create a single business that largely maintains college football's existing structure. The two most powerful conferences, the Big Ten and the SEC, have shown no interest in these initiatives. Nonetheless, Swinney thinks "those dominoes are already in place" for a super league, which he thinks would include 40-50 teams. Asked whether he thinks a super league is something that will or should happen, he answered, "Both." "It's not sustainable the way we are. It's just a matter of time," Swinney said Wednesday. "It's one of those things even though for some of us it's really clear to see, we've just gotta go through it to get there." |
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