| Thursday, June 19, 2025 |
| GALLERY: Bulldog Book Bash | |
 | Photos: Local children got fired up for reading Wednesday by pep talk professionals as members of the Mississippi State University football team and women's basketball team joined them for Bulldog Book Bash at the Meridian-Lauderdale County Public Library. The reading rally offered young readers a chance to decorate custom megaphones, wave pom-poms and make posters in support of both reading and the MSU Bulldogs. Athletes took part in the fun, too, making their own crafts, playing games with the children, answering questions and conducting a special story time just for those in attendance. Wednesday's program was held as one of a host of summer events planned at the library as it works to encourage summer reading and learning. More events and information about the library can be found at meridianlauderdalecolibrary.com. |
| My impact as a scientist in Starkville, Mississippi | |
 | Mississippi State University Associate Professor Barbara Kaplan writes in the Starkville Daily News: My career as an immunotoxicologist is important to me, but I want to share why it should be important to you. As a scientist, I teach and do research; specifically, I do this at Mississippi State's College of Veterinary Medicine. I have also made it a priority to continue to learn to be an effective communicator of my sciences, so that I can tell anyone who has an interest about my research and its significance. However, what I have not done well in my career is talk about how science is done -- at least at universities -- and how scientists make an impact on everyday lives. This article is part of a broader effort by scientists across the country to talk about science. |
| Bears are on the move in Mississippi | |
 | With a growing black bear population in Mississippi along with bears searching for food, mates and new home ranges, some are showing up in places where they're not frequently seen. So, here's what you need to know about black bears in Mississippi and what to do if you see one. "You're always going to have a big influx of sightings this time of year and some outliers where you don't normally see bears," said Anthony Ballard, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks' Black Bear Program coordinator. Ballard also noted that sighting a bear isn't cause for MDWFP to respond. If it is aggressive or otherwise seems threatening, that's another story. Mississippi once had a healthy population of bears, but habitat loss and unregulated hunting reduced the population to an estimated 12 individuals by the 1930s. Since, the population has grown significantly, especially in recent years. How many bears live in Mississippi isn't known, but MDWFP is actively working with Mississippi State University to produce an accurate estimate of the population and what it will look like in coming years. |
| Development projects in Oktibbeha 'on the line' without dirt borrow pit | |
 | Aldermen denied an exception for Burns Dirt to open a borrow pit on Pat Station Road, after a resident of a nearby home on Tuesday night raised objections to the company's operations in the area. But the decision could lead to increased prices for construction projects in the city. The board of aldermen voted unanimously to deny Burns Dirt's request to build the pit at 1420 Pat Station Road, down the road from a Burns Dirt construction yard that is already operational. The area is zoned as a rural neighborhood, and a local farmer owns the lot. A borrow pit is an area from which soil or other material is removed to be used in things like landscaping or building and roadway construction. Burns Dirt's request included digging out such a pit, along with creating a haul road and stockpile area for the dirt. Burns Dirt CEO Nic Parish told The Dispatch on Wednesday that his company intended to create the borrow pit for a potential private project coming into Starkville, along with others down the line. The pit would have allowed the company to use local dirt that meets construction specifications. Currently, the company hauls about 90% of its dirt in from Lowndes County, he said, since Oktibbeha County has poor quality dirt for construction. |
| Business Brief: MBJ names Fisackerly, Walker to 'Top 40 Under 40' | |
| Two Golden Triangle residents will be honored by Mississippi Business Journal as members of the publication's "Top 40 Under 40" list for 2025. Meryl Fisackerly, chief operating officer for the Golden Triangle Development LINK, and Hagan Walker, founder of The Glo Companies, were named to the list by a panel of business and community leaders, a press release from Mississippi Business Journal said. Fisackerly and Walker will be honored during a luncheon June 25 at the Old Capitol Inn in Jackson. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann will deliver the keynote address. "The annual event recognizes emerging leaders from across Mississippi who are under the age of 40 and are already making a significant contribution in their communities and industries," said J. Scott Coopwood, publisher and owner of MBJ. "The 2025 honorees are from diverse fields, including business community involvement and more." |
| Vicksburg Main Street Program and MCITy take home Outstanding Economic Impact Project award | |
| The Mississippi Main Street Association (MMSA) celebrated downtown revitalization success and announced statewide award winners at its 2025 Annual Awards Luncheon at The South in downtown Jackson earlier this month. The Vicksburg Main Street Program won the Outstanding Economic Impact Project award for the Mississippi Center for Information and Technology (MCITy): Technological Hub Impacts Region. The Vicksburg Main Street Program was also recognized for being a semi-finalist for the 2025 Great American Main Street Award and Vicksburg Main Street Program Executive Director Kim Hopkins was recognized for serving the program for more than 10 years. "Main Street programs are an essential economic driver in our state, and we honor and celebrate the local and state champions at our Annual Awards," said Kelle Barfield, MMSA's 2025-2026 Board President. Individual Award Sponsors included: Neel-Schaffer, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center, Belinda Stewart Architects, Rasberry Financial Services, Ten One Strategies, MAGCOR, Lorelei Books, SuperTalk Mississippi, City of Vicksburg, Mississippi Tourism Association, Mississippi Heritage Trust, AIA Mississippi, and West Point Main Street. |
| Mississippi, NVIDIA partner to advance AI education, workforce development | |
| A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been inked between Mississippi and NVIDIA, a leader in artificial intelligence, to advance the state's position as a leader in the AI field. The MOU will cover AI integration of several areas, said Governor Tate Reeves Wednesday in a press conference, including education, research, workforce development, and economic development. The collaboration between Mississippi and NVIDIA, the Governor said, will advance vital industries in the state, such as agriculture, healthcare, energy and defense. "By expanding AI education, investing in workforce development, and encouraging innovation, we, along with NVIDIA, are creating a pathway to dynamic careers in AI and cybersecurity for Mississippians," said Reeves. "These are the in-demand jobs of the future -- jobs that will change the landscape of our economy for generations to come. AI is here now, and it is here to stay. We are proud to partner with NVIDIA on this game-changing initiative and look forward to the many benefits Mississippians will reap as a result." Reeves believes small businesses and communities, big and small, will see the benefits of the agreement, with a major recipient being the state's education system. K-12 public schools, community colleges, and institutions of higher learning will benefit from the agreement as teachers will receive training in AI and cybersecurity from trained AI professionals. |
| Mississippi partners with tech giant Nvidia for AI education program | |
| The state of Mississippi and technology giant Nvidia have reached a deal for the company to expand artificial intelligence training and research at the state's education institutions, an initiative to prepare students for a global economy increasingly driven by AI, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Wednesday. The memorandum of understanding, a nonbinding agreement, between Mississippi and the California-based company will introduce AI programs across the state's community colleges, universities and technical institutions. The initiative will aim to train at least 10,000 Mississippians using a curriculum designed around AI skills, machine learning and data science. The agreement does not award any tax incentives to Nvidia, but Reeves said the state would provide funding for the initiative. Still, he did not foresee having to call a special legislative session in order to pay for it. Reeves said officials and Nvidia were still determining the exact dollar figure the project would require, but the state would spend as much as it took to reach its goal of training at least 10,000 Mississippians. Some of the funding may come from $9.1 million in grants to state institutions of higher learning through the Mississippi AI Talent Accelerator Program, which Reeves announced last week. |
| Mississippi to partner with tech giant NVIDIA to spur AI integration, economic development | |
| The state of Mississippi and the second-largest company in the world, tech behemoth NVIDIA, have signed a memorandum of understanding to push artificial intelligence integration in the Magnolia State. The partnership, as detailed by Gov. Tate Reeves during a Wednesday press conference, will expand AI education, promote research efforts, enhance workforce development, and drive economic development. "AI is not just the future – it's the present. By expanding AI education and fostering collaboration between our research institutions, industry leaders and workforce initiatives, we are creating an ecosystem that drives innovation and expands Mississippi's capabilities in AI and cybersecurity," AccelerateMS Executive Director Courtney Taylor. "This collaboration with NVIDIA is another step in equipping Mississippians with the skills necessary to thrive in an increasingly AI-driven economy." In the higher education realm, NVIDIA will help colleges and universities develop AI training programs, integrate NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute resources and provide hands-on learning experiences. |
| Mississippi partnering with NVIDIA to spread AI to classrooms throughout state | |
| The State of Mississippi has entered into a partnership with NVIDIA to spread Artificial Intelligence learning and workforce application programs in K-12 schools, as well as community college and universities alike. On Wednesday, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves told reporters the state has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the company to spread its AI learning program, called the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute. This was done to prepare the state for what Reeves called the jobs of the next 50 years. Reeves also said NVIDIA would specifically target schools in rural areas of the state to ensure the opportunities afforded by the program are equally available to some of the state's underserved areas. NVIDIA's Head of Strategic Initiatives for NVIDIA's global developer ecosystem Louis Stewart also made note that NVIDIA was attracted to Mississippi because of the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network, an initiative established in 2023 to identify opportunities in the AI space and spread awareness about AI education and workforce development. |
| Mississippi's agriculture department announces key leadership assignments | |
| The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce announced a pair of leadership assignments Wednesday. Michael Lasseter, executive director of the Mississippi State Fairgrounds, has been appointed to chief projects officer at MDAC. Hayes Patrick, who serves as deputy commissioner, will temporarily assume Lasseter's responsibilities at the fairgrounds in Jackson while continuing to serve in his current role. Lasseter, an MDAC employee of 25 years, will now oversee special projects for the entire agency, including renovation and improvement projects at the fairgrounds, the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum, agency headquarters, the Bureau of Plant Industries office in Starkville, and the metrology lab at Alcorn State University. Patrick joined MDAC in 2019 as director of the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum in Jackson and was later promoted to deputy commissioner in 2023. A lifelong beef producer, Patrick has extensive experience in business management and development, education, and agriculture. MDAC is tasked with supporting and regulating agricultural businesses and promoting Mississippi's agricultural products. |
| The Great Egg Heist: 280,000 eggs disappeared from America's top producer. Then came a ransom note. | |
 | "I'd like to report a crime," said the man who called a Maryland sheriff's office on April 16. There was a theft, he explained, involving a freight truck. "So they stole the whole freight?" a dispatcher asked. "Only took the cargo," the man answered. It was valued, he said, at about $100,000. The dispatcher asked what was stolen. The caller hesitated. "They took ... basically ... they took a whole trailer full of eggs." The hens were unaware of the heist. They had done their part: the shuffling around, the squatting down, the gentle plop! to release one perfect orb, ready to be tucked into a carton and shipped to the grocery aisles and diner griddles and breakfast tables of America. Before the product of their labor was an item on a police report, it was a shipment headed from Maryland to Florida: 280,000 brown eggs, sizes large and extra large. They belonged to Cal-Maine Foods, which boasts being "number one in the pecking order" of egg supply. About 1 of every 5 eggs sold in America are laid by a Cal-Maine hen. They line the refrigerated shelves of Walmarts, Costcos and other supermarkets, labeled Eggland's Best, Land O'Lakes and various generic brands. By gobbling up its competitors, Cal-Maine built an egg empire without most egg eaters knowing the company's name. But by the April afternoon when the 280,000 eggs left the farm, that was beginning to change. |
| The Fed Waits Out the Tariff Economy | |
 | Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell projected confidence when he insisted the central bank was in a good position to handle whatever the economy does next---all while repeatedly acknowledging the Fed has little idea what's actually coming. The Fed is trying to see how the dust will settle from the aftereffects of President Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" tariff announcements, among other policy changes. Most economists expect tariffs to lift prices over the coming months, and that is a worry for the Fed because officials still don't feel as if they completely vanquished inflation after a three-year-long fight. "We haven't been through a situation like this, and I think we have to be humble about our ability to forecast it," Powell said. Inflation has eased recently, but tariff effects loom. The job market shows hints of softness, though unemployment remains low at 4.2%. "The data to date can be viewed as glass half-full, or glass half-empty," said Krishna Guha, vice chairman at Evercore ISI. Powell offered nothing to hint at a July rate reduction, and investors eyed September as the earliest possible resumption of rate cuts paused earlier this year. With most relevant data still to come, it made little sense for the Fed chair to commit to a specific course of action, Guha said. |
| From Budget Chaos to Public Defenders: Mississippi Poised to Fund 'Day 1' Experiment | |
| Under the shadow of a rushed and unusually chaotic budget process last month, Mississippi legislators approved nearly $700,000 for a pilot program to help poor defendants in one of the state's most rural areas get public defenders. Mississippi lawmakers have long resisted reforming the state's dysfunctional public defense system, which can often leave an indigent defendant in jail for weeks or months without access to a lawyer, a long-held Constitutional right. Gov. Tate Reeves has until June 19 to sign the funding bill, allow it to become law without signing, or veto it. The bill provides $668,000 for the Office of State Public Defender to set up the one-year test run. State Public Defender André de Gruy said if the bill becomes law, the money will be used to hire three or four attorneys and support staff working in the seven counties of the state's 5th Circuit Court District, located in north-central Mississippi. Those new attorneys would work alongside lawyers already handling public defense in the district. He hopes the pilot program will be renewed next year and ultimately run for three years. The new state money would come in addition to what the counties in that court district are already spending on public defense. A key goal will be to represent indigent felony clients beginning the day they are first charged, de Gruy said. That's an area where public defense in Mississippi has long failed to meet national standards. |
| Lawmaker probing Mississippi's prisons finds inmates suffering from treatable diseases as corrections asks for more money | |
| As the punishing Mississippi sun baked the grounds of one of America's most notorious prisons, a wheelchair-bound man was so jaundiced he appeared to glow in the dark. The 6-foot-2 man had dropped to 115 pounds and sat drenched in sweat between bouts of vomiting at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. He sat before Rep. Becky Currie, chairwoman of the state House Corrections Committee, at the facility in the Delta known for its long history of deaths and violent disturbances. Currie, a registered nurse, could tell the man had liver disease. She asked that the man's name be concealed to protect him from retribution from prison officials. Currie said the inmate told her he contracted liver disease from untreated Hepatitis C. The contagious virus can be treated with antiviral medication that, if administered properly, is highly effective, curing more than 95% of patients. The man said he had been asking for medication for years, to no avail. Another man Currie met in prison with Hepatitis C had blood ammonia levels so high that he was hallucinating and had been told he had three months left to live. "He didn't have but a five-year sentence," Currie said. "Now he's got a death sentence." |
| SNAP work requirement carveouts for vets, homeless caught in crosshairs of Trump bill | |
 | Congress could soon put an end to work requirement exemptions for veterans, homeless individuals and youth that were in foster care who receive food assistance. While House Republicans preserved the exemptions to work requirements under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as part of their broader package to advance President Trump's tax cut and spending priorities, Senate Republicans omitted the key language in their version of the bill. The exemptions were initially negotiated as part of a bipartisan deal two years ago. The GOP-led Senate Agriculture Committee confirmed the provision's absence would mean the exemptions would no longer be retained for members of the three groups. The move has drawn little attention on both sides of the aisle so far, as other pieces of the Republicans' megabill take center stage, including significant changes to Medicaid and what some estimates have projected as a multitrillion-dollar tax package. Even multiple GOP members of the Senate committee that produced the text say they intend to press for more information about the potential change before the upper chamber votes on the bill. |
| U.S. Supreme Court rules Tennessee ban on gender transition treatments for minors is legal | |
 | The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision upheld Tennessee's ban on gender transition treatments for transgender minors in a case brought by a Nashville family. The ruling comes six months after the high court heard arguments in the case that will likely have broad ripple effects for transgender youth across the nation, not just for the family who initially challenged the state in 2023. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing the majority opinion, found that Tennessee's law barring transgender minors from using treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, which requires that the government treat similarly situated people the same. "This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field," Roberts wrote. "The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound. The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements. Nor does it afford us license to decide them as we see best." Roberts wrote, "we leave questions regarding (the law's) policy to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process." |
| DEI backlash has changed how companies observe Juneteenth | |
 | As protests against racial injustice gripped the nation in 2020, major corporations rushed to observe Juneteenth and give their employees the day off. Five years later, they are still commemorating the holiday but not with the same fanfare. "For the past few years, companies were using Juneteenth as an opportunity to share commitments to advance racial equity," said Joelle Emerson, CEO of culture and inclusion platform Paradigm. "In the current climate, I imagine we may see fewer of these high visibility statements and more of an internal focus." Emerson said she has not spoken with any companies that plan to stop recognizing the holiday, but 15% of organizations in a recent benchmarking study from Paradigm said they would stop celebrating identity and heritage-related events like Juneteenth amid the Trump administration-led backlash against workplace diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. In observing the holiday celebrated by Black Americans for generations, corporations are focused on "lower visibility" activities, Emerson said. About 4 in 10 large employers observed Juneteenth in 2024 and gave the federal holiday as a paid day off, up from 39% last year and 9% in 2021, according to consulting firm Mercer. The firm did not track Juneteenth participation this year. |
| City Council reinforces support for keeping MSMS close to home | |
 | The City of Columbus is reinforcing its support for keeping the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science close to home. At its regular meeting, the Columbus City Council passed a resolution pledging up to $15,000 to the MUW Foundation to help hire a public relations firm to take The W's case for keeping MSMS on its campus to a statewide audience. Earlier this year, the Mississippi Department of Education made a recommendation to move MSMS from The W, where it's been since its beginning, to the campus of Mississippi State. The Mississippi Legislature would have to sign off on any plan to move the school. "Mississippi University for Women is grateful that the City of Columbus and Lowndes County have passed these resolutions to support the MUW Foundation in keeping the statewide conversation going about the significance of Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science remaining on the W campus and in our community. Both the city and the county have a vested interest in these pioneering educational institutions, which have had an invaluable impact on our community, state, and region," said MUW President Nora Miller. |
| USM Digital Hub hosting workshop to help preserve Mississippi history | |
 | New, cutting-edge technology has been developed that will help better preserve Mississippi history. College faculty, librarians and museum staff from across descended on the University of Southern Mississippi this week to learn the latest at the first workshop for the Mississippi Digital Humanities Hub. The workshop lasts two weeks. "This has been a wonderful opportunity to learn digitization techniques, archival techniques, how to preserve the items in our collection, how to develop a website, a social media presence," said workshop participant Claire Gray. Gray is an intern with Waveland's Ground Zero Hurricane Museum. Workshop participants are learning techniques to digitize historic manuscripts, letters and other documents and place them online. "We've had enough hurricanes, tornadoes, fires and stuff," said Jamie O'Quinn, public programs and outreach liaison with the Mississippi Digital Humanities Hub. "Once those treasures are gone, there's no recovering them. "That's what we want to help document, so it is saved for all times." |
| Tek2Go camp introduces students, teachers to manufacturing | |
 | Taffie Ray, who teaches gifted students in grades two through eight at Verona and Plantersville, was a student herself on Monday. Ray was among 14 teachers taking part in the Tek2Go Advanced Manufacturing Camp this week. Among the skills she learned on her first day of the three-day camp was how to weld. Not as well as she would have liked, she admitted, "but better than I thought I would." Along with her fellow students, Ray also saw robotic welding in the Robotics Lab and how fast and accurate robots can be. Also on the schedule for Monday was a class on making name badges and pens in the CNC Lab using both a CNC machine and a manual machine. On Tuesday, the teachers were scheduled to visit Hawkeye Industries to make a clock, and on Wednesday they're booked for a tour of Toyota Mississippi in Blue Springs. For Ray, the camp complemented what she was teaching her students "We do a lot of hands-on activities," she said. "I try to teach them life skills, critical thinking skills and all that, and I thought this was a great opportunity to get myself familiarized with other things new in the market, and take it back to them." Tek2Go is a SparkForce (formerly Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs) Foundation Camp and is sponsored by the Community Development Foundation, Itawamba Community College, Hawkeye Industries and the Toyota Wellspring Education Fund. |
| Screen addiction and suicidal behaviors are linked for teens, a study shows | |
 | A new study finds that addiction to social media, mobile phones and video games is linked to a higher risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The study, published in JAMA on Wednesday, looked at data on more than 4,000 kids from an ongoing longitudinal study following them for years, starting at ages 9 to 10. It found that by age 14, about a third of the kids had become increasingly addicted to social media, about a quarter had become increasingly addicted to their mobile phone and more than 40% showed signs of addiction to video games. "And these youth are significantly more likely to report suicidal behaviors and thoughts," says study author Yunyu Xiao, a professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. "It's an important study and raising awareness about screen addiction," says Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician specializing in adolescent screen use at the University of California, San Francisco. "It shows that elements of addiction related to screen use are more strongly predictive of poorer mental health and even suicide risk compared to just screen time. So, I think that it provides more nuance." |
| In Florida, University Presidents' Pay Goes Up. Is Politics to Blame? | |
 | At Florida A&M University, new president Marva Johnson is set to receive a hefty compensation package -- one that the university can't afford. Per state law, the university may use a maximum of $200,000 from state-appropriated funds to pay for Johnson's salary, which according to reports could reach over $839,000 in her first year. Usually, the remaining difference would be covered by the university's foundation, but because it lacks the funds, lawmakers have proposed a fix. A last-minute addition to the state's budget would allow the university's board to use extra money -- such as from past state appropriations -- to pay Johnson's salary, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. But Johnson's unusually large salary points to a larger trend in Florida. Leaders at the University of West Florida, Florida A&M, and New College of Florida -- all of whom have close ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican -- receive salaries that James H. Finkelstein and Judith A. Wilde, experts in executives contracts and pay, said are out of the scope of their respective institutions. "You're more likely to see governing boards wanting to make certain there are candidates who are aligned with certain ideological principles, and they're willing to pay whatever it's going to take to get them. And that's the lesson of Florida," said Finkelstein, a professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason University. |
| Once again targeting higher ed, Texas lawmakers limited faculty influence, campus speech this session | |
| Texas Republican lawmakers continued their carrot-and-stick approach to higher education during this year's legislative session, pressuring public universities into abandoning what they view as progressive policies. As in 2023, they opened with threats to withhold hundreds of millions in funding unless universities aligned more closely with their conservative vision of higher education. In the end, lawmakers left that pool of money alone, but the pressure may help explain why university leaders held back from commenting publicly on some of the most controversial proposals brought forward this session. One new law will shift power away from faculty -- who have often resisted GOP leaders' recent efforts to push schools to the right -- by giving governor-appointed university regents more control over curriculum and hiring. It will also create an office to monitor schools' compliance with the new law and the existing ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which could lead to funding cuts for schools found in violation. Lawmakers also responded to pro-Palestinian protests with bills that limit how students can express themselves on campus and require schools to use a definition of antisemitism in disciplinary proceedings. Meanwhile, university officials were vocal about the need for a law allowing them to directly pay student athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness, which they said will be essential to help their athletic programs remain competitive. |
| New state laws target job protections for college professors | |
| The "gravy train." That's what a Hawaii state senator called the practice of awarding tenure to university research faculty when she proposed legislation in 2022 stripping this long-standing form of job protection from them. The bill got little notice at the time. Now, obscured by the turmoil of the many other challenges to higher education since the start of Donald Trump's second presidential term, tenure has come under siege in states across the country. Never in the 110-year history of tenure in the United States has there been so many attempts to gut or reconfigure it, said Julie Reuben, a professor of the history of American education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At least 11 states, including seven since the start of this year, have imposed new levels of review for tenured faculty, made it easier to fire them or proposed banning tenure altogether. Almost all have Republican-controlled legislatures or have seen lawmakers question what is being taught on campuses. This comes at the same time as the Trump administration's higher-education funding cuts and investigations into colleges and universities, though it has received less attention. Most backers of curtailing tenure say they are not doing it for ideological reasons. They say they are trying to lower costs for taxpayers and consumers by removing faculty whose productivity is low. In other states, however, curbs on tenure have been linked directly or indirectly to faculty political views. |
| How Universities Would Overhaul Research Funding | |
 | After the National Institutes of Health tried earlier this year to cut funding for universities' costs indirectly related to research and set off alarm bells across higher education, 10 higher education associations decided to come up with their own model for research funding rather than having the government take the lead. Now, after just over six weeks of work, that group known as the Joint Associations Group is homing in on a plan to rework how the government funds research, and they want feedback from the university research community before they present a proposal to Congress and the Trump administration at the end of the month. "Unfortunately, something is going to change," said Barbara Snyder, president of the Association of American Universities. "Either we will be part of it or it will be imposed upon us ... Significant division in the research community is going to kill us." Snyder and other JAG members said at a virtual town hall Tuesday that the current system for direct and indirect research funding costs has served the community well, but it isn't transparent and leads to confusion about how the rates are calculated, among other challenges. AAU and other higher ed groups sued the NIH in February after the agency proposed capping indirect expenses for all institutions at 15 percent of the direct research costs---down from the average of 28 percent. (Historically, colleges negotiate their own reimbursement rates directly with the federal government.) |
| US resumes visas for foreign students but demands access to social media accounts | |
 | The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it is restarting the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review. The department said consular officers will be on the lookout for posts and messages that could be deemed hostile to the United States, its government, culture, institutions or founding principles. In a notice made public Wednesday, the department said it had rescinded its May suspension of student visa processing but said new applicants who refuse to set their social media accounts to "public" and allow them to be reviewed may be rejected. It said a refusal to do so could be a sign they are trying to evade the requirement or hide their online activity. The Trump administration last month temporarily halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students hoping to study in the U.S. while preparing to expand the screening of their activity on social media, officials said. Students around the world have been waiting anxiously for U.S. consulates to reopen appointments for visa interviews, as the window left to book their travel and make housing arrangements narrows ahead of the start of the school year. |
SPORTS
| SEC Releases 2025-26 Men's Hoops Opponents | |
| The Mississippi State men's basketball program had its 18 SEC matchups unveiled for the 2025-26 season announced Wednesday by the conference office. SEC action starts on Saturday, January 3 and runs through Saturday, March 7. Every team will play each other at least once and will have a bye over the nine-week stretch. State will keep its home-and-home series with Alabama and Ole Miss for the 11th straight season, while the Bulldogs also will take on Missouri twice for the fourth time during the regular season since 2019-20. All nine of State's SEC home opponents are coming off NCAA Tournament berths headed by Auburn who made the 2025 NCAA Final Four. The Bulldogs also welcome Alabama and Tennessee who are coming off 2025 NCAA Elite Eight trips along with Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt to Humphrey Coliseum. State travels to Florida, the defending NCAA National Champions, in addition to road outings versus Alabama, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas and Texas A&M. The SEC will release game dates, game times and television information at a later date. |
| Bulldog soccer duo joins USWNT College Talent ID Camp | |
| Mississippi State junior Zoe Main and freshman Adia Symmonds are experiencing soccer on one of the country's biggest stages after scoring invitations to the U.S. Soccer Women's College Talent ID Camp this week. The camp began on Wednesday at McCurry Park in Atlanta with 42 total players selected. The five-day camp will have three training sessions and two intrasquad matches, with the players divided into two teams for the course of the camp. MSU is one of 11 colleges to have multiple players selected for the camp. Main earned Second Team All-SEC honors last season, scoring six goals and recording two assists as she broke into the starting lineup for the Bulldogs. Three of her goals were game-winners. She made an impact in the postseason as well, scoring against Southern in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament as well as the lone goal in the NCAA Round of 32 win over Washington in Starkville. Symmonds arrives in Starkville after an impressive high school and club career. She trained with English club Arsenal's U-21 side and was an early enrollee for the Bulldogs this spring, taking part in six friendly matches. |
| Men's Golf: Four Bulldogs Earn Academic All-District Honors, Richie Academic All-American Finalist | |
| Four Mississippi State men's golfers were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team this week. The Bulldogs were represented by Harrison Davis, Garrett Endicott, Ugo Malcor and Dain Richie. This is the third All-District selection for Davis and second for Endicott while Malcor and Richie earn their first. Richie was also named a CSC Academic All-American finalist. Richie completed his first season in the Maroon and White after transferring from Southern Illinois, where he was named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team. He was a two-time NJCAA DII All-Academic First Team selection as a junior college golfer at Parkland College in Illinois. He was one of two Bulldogs to start in every team tournament this season, finishing the year with a team-best 20 par or better rounds. He led the team with six top-20 finishes and was one of two players with a sub-72 scoring average. Davis, who earned his master's degree this spring, is a three-time SEC Honor Roll selection and has been named to the SEC Community Service Team twice. Endicott makes his second appearance on the Academic All-District team after having a stellar junior campaign. Malcor made a strong mark in his first season at MSU, having transferred from VCU. |
| Shuckers clinch first-half title behind former Mississippi State pitcher's debut | |
| In front of a packed house of nearly 5,000 fans at Keesler Federal Park, former Mississippi State pitcher Tyson Hardin had a dazzling debut with the Biloxi Shuckers on Wednesday night. Hardin struck out five over six innings of work, allowing four hits in the 6-2 win over the Knoxville Smokies. The Shuckers win clinched the Milwaukee Brewers AA team a first-half title in the Southern League. The division title marks Biloxi's first since 2019 and clinches a playoff title for the second year in a row. Hardin (1-0) was called up from High-A Wisconsin on Tuesday as he continues to work through the system in hopes of making his MLB debut sooner than later. He was selected by the Brewers in the 12th round of last year's draft. The series between Biloxi (40-25) and Knoxville (30-34) will continue on Thursday with another former Bulldog set to take the mound for the Shuckers. K.C. Hunt (4-4) will look to return to the win column when facing off against Knoxville's Nick Dean (1-1). |
| LSU baseball walks off Arkansas to face Coastal Carolina in College World Series final | |
 | Baseball is a game of inches. And no play better represented those inches than the ball Luis Hernandez hit in the bottom of the ninth inning on Wednesday night in LSU's 6-5 victory over Arkansas. With LSU trailing 5-3, the senior catcher walked up to the plate with runners on first and second and two outs. Hernandez, who had been seeing off-speed pitches all night, was prepared for freshman left-hander Cole Gibler's changeup after taking an off-speed pitch in the dirt for ball one. "I was looking for off-speed because all day they threw me off-speed," Hernandez said, "changeups and (a) slider in." The changeup is what he got on the next pitch, and Hernandez took advantage of it, roping a 104-mph line drive to left fielder Charles Davalan. The play initially seemed like a routine play for Davalan, but the sophomore hesitated and took an awkward dive toward the ball as the sinking drive ricocheted off his right shoulder and into the left-field corner at Charles Schwab Field. The drop, which was ruled a double, allowed two runs to score and tied the game at 5-5. "Whenever he didn't grab it, I started running," Hernandez said. |
| Wraparound Resources for Student Athlete Success | |
| A growing number of programs in higher education focus on student athletes' mental health, recognizing that the pressures of competing in collegiate athletics, combined with academic challenges, financial concerns and team relationships, can negatively impact student well-being. At the University of Richmond, the athletics department created a new program to emphasize holistic student well-being, taking into account the different dimensions of a student athlete's identity and development. Spider Performance, named after the university mascot, unites various stakeholders on campus to provide a seamless experience for student athletes, ensuring they're properly equipped to tackle challenges on the field, in the classroom and out in the world beyond college. "The athlete identity is a really special part of [students' identities], but it's not the only part, so making sure they are [considered] human beings first -- even before they're students, they're humans first. Let's examine and explore that identity," said Lauren Wicklund, senior associate athletics director for leadership and student-athlete development. The university is also adapting financial literacy programming to include information on name, image and likeness rights for student athletes, covering not just budgeting, investing and financial literacy topics but also more specific information related to their teams. |
| CFP leadership says there's no leading contender for Playoff format in 2026 | |
 | The College Football Playoff staff recommended updating the strength of schedule metrics used in the selection process and hopes to have a new Playoff format in place by the fall. But talks this week reached a reset on what that format will be for 2026 and beyond. "I wouldn't say there's a leading contender right now for them, but they're taking a good look and a fresh look at it," CFP executive director Rich Clark said Wednesday. The CFP management committee, composed of 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame's athletic director, met twice over two days at a resort hotel overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest North Carolina. After the full group was done, the Power 4 commissioners met on their own to further discuss the direction of a playoff format for 2026-31. Though expansion from 12 teams seems likely in the next iteration of the Playoff, Clark made a point to say nothing is off the table. "The format could be a lot different in '26 or it may be the same," Clark said Wednesday. How best to pick the teams seems up for debate more so than the number of teams in the field. |
| What's holding up CFP expansion? SEC and Big Ten are at a potential impasse on these key issues | |
| Deep within the Blue Ridge Mountains, the historical Biltmore Estate Hilltop Inn rises above an ocean of rolling greenery, its high stone walls and floor-to-ceiling windows all tucked between two giant peaks: Mount Mitchell and Mount Pisgah. The two mountains loom like sentries, dominating the blue skyline, unmistakable giants in this scenic land. Inside the Biltmore, two goliaths within the landscape of college sports, the SEC and Big Ten, are at odds on the future of the industry's most valuable product: the College Football Playoff. Can these mountains be moved? Well, here this week, CFP leaders took steps toward a change to the playoff selection process -- yet another chapter in what's already been a laborious journey toward potential expansion to 16 teams. The 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame's athletic director received a presentation from executive director Rich Clark and data analysts over adjustments to selection committee criteria in an effort to salvage the committee's role itself and appease both Big Ten and SEC leaders -- the two entities that, according to a memorandum signed last spring, control future format decisions. Whether such a change brings the two conferences together on a format remains unclear. The two leagues must agree on a playoff model for it to move forward, Clark said on Wednesday from the Biltmore Inn, confirming what's been previously reported based on last spring's memorandum. But, for now, they are at an impasse. |
| Loans, Fees, and TV Money: Where Colleges Are Finding the Funds to Pay Athletes | |
| This month, a judge approved a $2.8-billion settlement that will reshape college sports. The agreement, known colloquially as the House settlement, will create millions in new expenses for dozens of athletic departments by allowing colleges to pay players and removing limits to scholarships that campuses can award. Effective July 1, colleges will for the first time share revenue with their athletes and make payments for the right to use their names, images, and likeness. The $20.5-million cap on payments to athletes will go up each year for the 10 years that the settlement is in effect. The removal of the scholarship cap will also add several million to the expense column for the most competitive athletic programs. Where athletic departments will find the money to cover the new costs is starting to become clear. Some are turning to subsidies from campus. While smaller campuses will certainly also feel the financial pressure, it's the larger athletic programs that are producing eye-popping numbers. The University of Kentucky will lend its athletic department up to $141 million over the next few years; the University of Missouri announced in January, in anticipation of the settlement, that it would give $25 million to its athletics department in addition to a $15-million loan. |
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