| Monday, June 23, 2025 |
| Hybrid physical therapy doctoral program on horizon at MSU-Meridian | |
 | Mississippi State University is continuing to take crucial steps in improving health outcomes in rural Mississippi and beyond after the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning voted Thursday to approve MSU's new Doctor of Physical Therapy degree program. This hybrid program will be the first of its kind in Mississippi to admit applicants from any background who have completed the appropriate prerequisites. The program will utilize online and onsite components to enhance student accessibility to the degree, while addressing projected PT shortages and healthcare needs. "For 53 years, MSU-Meridian has been providing education for non-traditional students -- meeting students where they are, while maintaining the high academic standards the university is known for," said David Buys, associate vice provost for health sciences and interim head of campus. School of Health Professions Dean Lesley Clack, said, "With this growing shortage of physical therapists in Mississippi, particularly in rural areas, the Doctor of Physical Therapy program will be an important addition in Meridian." |
| MSU reveals new degree in learning and user experience design | |
 | The state is looking to the future with A.I., and so are some universities. Mississippi State is launching a new bachelor's degree for Industrial Technology, Instructional Design, and Community College Leadership students. Professors believe new courses will offer numerous career paths in a faster, more efficient way and get students into a quickly evolving career field. Setting up the future for students after college is what MSU is striving to accomplish. "A lot of tech companies are hiring people in this area," Greg Francom said. "What they do is they design interfaces for people to use. For instance, the app on your phone that you use was designed by somebody. They don't have to develop it like a programmer does, but they work with people to design the best way they can for people to use, and then they tell the programmer what to use to make it the right way." The new Bachelor of Science in Learning and User Experience Design adds to the opportunity of getting into the workforce. |
| MSU Vicksburg center to host entrepreneur pitch competition, award $20K in prizes | |
 | A chance for entrepreneurs to win $20,000 in total prizes to advance their businesses is set for Thursday, June 26, at Vicksburg's Mississippi State University @ MCITy. The public is invited to the venture-idea competition and the Connect Networking event, co-hosted by Innovate Mississippi. "DAWG Tank is back with more than 30 teams, big ideas and thousands of dollars in prizes. Now that we have a great roster of teams competing, we'd love to pack the house," said Tasha Bibb, senior program manager for MSU's Office of Technology Management. The event starts at noon with business ideas pitched in two categories---Main Street and Innovation Startups. Award money will be divided with $10,000 awarded in each category. For the third consecutive year, DAWG Tank is a qualifying event for the Innovate Mississippi statewide accelerator program CoBuilders, which includes expanded mentorship, funding and investment opportunities for innovation-based businesses. Located at 1622 Washington St., Suite 250, in Vicksburg, the expanded MSU presence was developed in 2022 at the Sen. Thad Cochran Mississippi Center for Information and Technology, commonly known as MCITy, to accelerate support for business development and growth. The university's Office of Technology Management and Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach both have full-time staff in the second-floor MCITy office to help grow the state's technology and start-up sector. |
| Blueberry Producers See High Yields, Good Market | |
| This year, Julie Bounds was expecting a bumper crop of blueberries. What she could not anticipate was the excess amount of rainfall her family's blueberry farm would receive. "In the last few years, we've had drought and a tornado, so we do have a bigger crop than we've had the last couple of years. But we've also gotten a lot of rain. We've had over 11 inches just this week," Bounds said on June 17. Bounds, who runs Bounds Blueberry Farm in Wiggins with her husband Dennis and his brother Robert, pointed out that large amounts of rain at once make the berries softer and not as sweet. It also hinders farmers from getting into the fields to pick their berries, especially if they use mechanical pickers. The Bounds use a mixture of handpicking and mechanical pickers to gather their berries. This untimely rain has been the biggest challenge for growers across the state, said Eric Stafne, fruit and nut specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. "Overall, the crop looks good. The rain has just recently been a problem, mostly in June. We did not have a late freeze so that was good news for our growers," he said. "The severe cold we had this winter seemed to have no negative effects." |
| Starkville Police Arrest Suspect in Auto Burglary Spree at Apartment Complex | |
| An early morning auto burglary call led to a foot pursuit and arrest Friday at the Crossgates Apartments on Stark Road in Starkville. At approximately 2:48 a.m. on June 20, Starkville Police Department officers responded to an auto burglary in progress at 1087 Stark Road. When officers arrived, they encountered a suspect who attempted to flee the scene on foot but was quickly apprehended. The suspect, identified as 19-year-old Alexzay Tripplett of Noxapater, has been charged with one count of auto burglary and three counts of attempted auto burglary. At the time of the incident, Tripplett was already under court-ordered electronic monitoring. Tripplett remains in custody at the Oktibbeha County Jail. The Starkville Police Department is coordinating with the Mississippi Department of Corrections as the investigation continues. |
| Eastern half of US sweltering again, with dangerous heat wave expected to last until midweek | |
 | Tens of millions of people across the Midwest and East endured dangerously hot temperatures again on Sunday as a sprawling June heat wave that gripped much of the U.S. was expected to last well into this week. Most of the northeastern quadrant of the country from Minnesota to Maine was under some type of heat advisory. So were parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, the National Weather Service said. Weather service offices throughout the region warned of sweltering and sometimes life-threatening conditions through Wednesday. "Please plan ahead to take frequent breaks if you must be outside, stay hydrated and provide plenty of water and shade for any outdoor animals," the service office in Wakefield, Virginia, said on X. Meteorologists say a phenomenon known as a heat dome, a large area of high pressure in the upper atmosphere that traps heat and humidity, is responsible for the extreme temperatures. Mark Gehring, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sullivan, Wisconsin, said this level of heat is not uncommon during the summer months in the U.S., although it usually takes hold in mid-July or early August. The most unusual facet of this heat wave is the sheer amount of territory sweltering under it, he said. |
| America's Top Logger Bets It Can Make Money Off Small, Crooked Trees | |
 | Weyerhaeuser has broken ground on a $500 million plant in Arkansas to produce engineered lumber from the small trees that have piled up across the pine belt after the closure of many pulp and paper mills. It is a big bet on one of the most depressed commodities in America: pine trees that are too small, crooked or otherwise unfit for making lumber. The decline of pulp and paper mills has left some timberland owners with wood they can't sell. Several ventures have sought to capitalize on the pulpwood glut, including burning it to generate electricity -- locally and abroad -- and manufacturing oriented strand board, a type of wood panel known as OSB. Weyerhaeuser's plant will be largely heated and powered by burning bark, branches and sawdust, but its gambit is more like making OSB. The factory near Monticello, Ark., will produce TimberStrand, a laminated strand lumber made by pressing together and gluing thin slices of wood. It is stronger and stays straighter than regular lumber and is used for headers and footers and to frame tall walls, and for studs that hold up cabinets and heavy tile. Weyerhaeuser and others currently make laminated strand lumber with low-value hardwood, such as aspen and birch. Weyerhaeuser has a facility in Ontario, Canada, that is perpetually sold out. Chief Executive Devin Stockfish said Weyerhaeuser figured out how to use Southern yellow pine. "We have some of the most brilliant wood scientists on the planet and we've dialed it in," he said at an investor conference in New York this month. "It will be very hard for anyone to replicate this." |
| Governor signs budget bills, vetoes some spending measures | |
 | Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday had signed most of the appropriations bills passed by lawmakers during a special session on May 28 and 29, setting a $7.135 billion budget for the coming Fiscal year. Of the more than 100 pieces of legislation, Reeves vetoed only one bill and line-item vetoed several financial items inside three appropriations bills. Reeves said two bills were passed in error during the special session. One was a part of the Mississippi State Department of Health's budget that would have given $1.9 million to a hospital for its associated costs of administering Medicaid, which would threaten the state's federal Medicaid funding. The other was a bill that was outside the special session's agenda, which Reeves set. If House Bill 50 had been signed or allowed to pass into law, the bill would have moved $2.5 million from the state's Capital Expense Fund into the Victims of Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation Fund. Reeves plucked out specific appropriations inside of three appropriations bills that were passed into law. |
| Trump ignites debate on presidential authority with Iran strikes and wins praise from Republicans | |
| President Donald Trump's bombardment of three sites in Iran quickly sparked debate in Congress over his authority to launch the strikes, with Republicans praising Trump for decisive action even as many Democrats warned he should have sought congressional approval. "Well done, President Trump," Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina posted on X. Alabama Sen. Katie Britt called the bombings "strong and surgical." The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, said Trump "has made a deliberate -- and correct -- decision to eliminate the existential threat posed by the Iranian regime." The instant divisions in the U.S. Congress reflected an already swirling debate over the president's ability to conduct such a consequential action without authorization from the House and Senate on the use of military force. While Trump is hardly the first U.S. president to go it alone, his expansive use of presidential power raised immediate questions about what comes next, and whether he is exceeding the limits of his authority. "We now have very serious choices ahead to provide security for our citizens and our allies," Wicker posted on X. |
| Aboard Marine One, a Phone Call and the Decision to Strike Iran | |
| President Trump was flying over the palatial estates that neighbor his New Jersey golf club on Saturday when he made one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency. As he barreled toward a nearby airport on Marine One, before flying to Washington, Trump received a call from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It was time to make a final decision: move forward with U.S. strikes on Iran or abort the mission. The president, who had grown convinced that diplomacy alone wouldn't prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, gave Hegseth the greenlight, according to people familiar with the matter. Hours later, B-2 bombers targeted nuclear sites in Iran, the culmination of a frenetic week of behind-the-scenes deliberations marked by covert plans to keep the operation secret. Trump and his advisers have said the strikes were a targeted campaign to impede Tehran's nuclear ambitions. But the move threatens to drag the U.S. into a broader conflagration in the Middle East, potentially further dividing Trump's political coalition. Ultimately, Trump saw the operation as a way to assert U.S. dominance. "Our country is hot as a pistol," Trump told The Wall Street Journal in a brief interview on Sunday. "Six months ago, our country was cold as ice. It was dead," he said, calling the strikes "a great victory for our country." |
| Trump floats regime change in Iran, muddying the administration's message | |
 | President Donald Trump's top national security officials spent much of Sunday insisting his administration doesn't want to bring about the end of Iran's government, only its nuclear program. Then Trump left the door open for exactly that. "It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. While Trump did not call for the ouster of the regime, or say that the U.S. would play any role in overthrowing the Iranian government, his words undercut what had appeared to be a coordinated message from his top advisers. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth each insisted Sunday that the U.S. was only interested in dismantling Iran's nuclear capabilities. The conflicting tones highlight the difficulty the Trump administration faces as it tries to navigate the fallout -- both domestically and abroad -- of its massive strike on Iran. Officials want to convince Tehran to keep its response limited, and mollify the factions of the MAGA base that didn't want the U.S. to launch the strikes. But Trump's post makes clear the sense inside the administration that this all may end with the Iranian government toppled. |
| Gen Z, Iran and the mass panic happening on TikTok | |
 | U.S. Vice President JD Vance says America is "not at war with Iran," but young people aren't so sure. Gen Z has taken to social media to share their fears – and a heavy dose of misinformation – about the U.S. entering "#ww3" following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend. Unlike millennials, who grew up witnessing U.S. invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen Z has yet to experience the political culture of the U.S. engaged in a war. This is a cohort born after 9/11, whose collective memory thus far has largely been defined by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, their penchant for coping with humor is capturing very real feelings following the weekend's scary news. "I wanna just live my life peacefully with my dog but I guess that's just too much to ask," said one TikToker in a video that has more than 195K views. Another wrote that fears about the conflict "really makes me wonder if I'll ever get experience being a husband and father." "It's not just fear, it's a loss of innocence," said Kristen Harrison, Richard Cole Eminent Professor at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. "There's more than fright there, there's a sense of betrayal and a real hit to a feeling of trust," Harrison added. |
| GOP leaders face internal pushback, doubts on 'big beautiful bill' vote | |
 | Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is moving full-speed ahead toward a planned vote this week on his chamber's version of President Trump's tax and spending bill, despite pushback from GOP colleagues and serious doubts about his prospects. Republicans say Thune and other Senate GOP leaders have told them the bill is on track for a vote before the July 4 recess in the face of misgivings from colleagues about the impact on Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and renewable energy projects across the country. Thune is also coming under strong pressure from a trio of conservatives led by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to cut significantly more from the budget. Fiscal hawks including Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) want to slash the federal share of Medicaid spending in states that expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act and to speed up the phaseout of renewable energy tax breaks. The cross-cutting criticisms from different parts of Thune's conference, combined with the tight timetable, has many observers doubting the Senate will get to the promised vote this week. |
| IHL approves 2026 fiscal year budget | |
| Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning on Thursday, June 19, unanimously approved a budget for the system's 2026 fiscal year amid concerns over what they cited as declining revenues from the Mississippi Legislature. "We are thankful for what we receive from the Legislature," said IHL Board President Gee Ogletree. But he noted that when he was enrolled at a state university in the 1970s "about 70% of the expenses were covered by the state." He said that percentage has now dropped to under 30% and defended those appropriations as money well spent. "If you look at the return you have to look at it in a number of different ways, including the economic impact on communities, which is significant. We believe it is a great investment," Ogletree said. John Pearce, IHL's senior associate commissioner for finance confirmed that roughly 68% of the coming year's Education and General Operating Budget will come from tuition receipts with only 28% coming from state appropriations. IHL Commissioner Al Rankins Jr., in a passionate address before the board, said that in the field of higher education "We are seeing more change and more flux than I've seen in my entire career." He said average salaries at Mississippi universities had dropped to only about 70% of what some nearby states are paying. |
| Pell grant changes in 'One Big Beautiful Bill' could affect nearly 80,000 Mississippi college students | |
| Federal lawmakers are considering changes to a longstanding financial aid program that could impact the amount of money thousands of low-income Mississippi students and families depend on to pay for college. The proposal known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act -- dubbed by President Donald Trump and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in May -- would reduce the maximum Pell Grant award students could receive from $7,395 to $5,710 beginning with the 2026-27 school year. It would also change the eligibility requirements by increasing the number of credit hours students must take from 12 to 15. Nationwide, nearly two out of three recipients could lose some or all of their Pell Grant funding as the House proposal now stands, according to the Center for American Progress. In Mississippi, 79,709 students received Pell Grants last year, according to a report from the National College Attainment Network. Mississippi higher educational officials and advocates warn that part-time students wouldn't be eligible for Pell Grants at all if the budget proposal passes. Mississippi's community colleges would be hit hardest by the proposed changes. They enroll many part-time students, including those who work and parent while taking classes. Rural students are also more likely to enroll part time because they are limited by time and expense required to commute to college. |
| Veteran communicator tapped to lead Ole Miss marketing, communications | |
 | The University of Mississippi has named Lisa Stone, a trusted leader who has shaped the university's communications for nearly three decades, as its vice chancellor for marketing and communications. Stone, who has served as interim vice chancellor since September 2024, will start July 1, pending approval from the Institutions of Higher Learning board of trustees. "For nearly three decades, Lisa Stone has been a valued member of our campus community," Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. "She has led award-winning communications campaigns, managed major initiatives, developed purposeful communication strategies and built strong stakeholder relationships." Before serving as interim vice chancellor, Stone spent seven years as director of strategic communications in University Marketing and Communications. She led university-wide messaging, guided crisis communications and strengthened the institution's public profile and communications. |
| Most Louisiana students won't get bigger TOPS scholarships, but an elite few will | |
 | Louisiana will cover the full price of college tuition for a small group of stellar students, under newly passed legislation -- but it won't give more money to thousands of students whose state scholarships cover only part of their tuition bill. Top-scoring high schoolers will qualify for a new "Excellence" award through the state's TOPS scholarship program under House Bill 77, which the Louisiana Legislature passed last week and Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign. Starting this fall, the award will provide up to $12,000 per year to students who attend a public university, or roughly the annual cost of tuition and fees at LSU's main campus, and up to $8,500 for students at eligible private universities. To qualify, students must score 31 or higher out of 36 on the ACT and earn 3.5 or above grade point average. Fewer than 900 students annually are expected to get the award, or less than 2% of first-year students at the state's public colleges and universities. But the bill faced pushback because it would have resulted in smaller scholarships for some LSU students while increasing state spending on TOPS by nearly $48 million. In the end, the Legislature scrapped the new rates and kept only the Excellence award, which is projected to cost about $3 million next fiscal year. |
| U. of Florida faces GOP pressure for more open presidential search process | |
 | In the wake of the Board of Governors' rejection of Dr. Santa Ono to be the University of Florida's 14th president, state Republican leaders now are calling for more transparency when it comes to future presidential searches. There's one catch: State law requires such searches to be exempt from Florida's open government laws. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and U.S. Reps. Greg Steube and Byron Donalds -- alarmed in part by Ono's previous defense of diversity, equity and inclusion measures (DEI) that are opposed by conservatives -- sent a letter June 18 to UF's Board of Trustees. They urged that the university's third presidential search in less than three years be more of an "open process." "We believe an open process to the public that enables multiple candidates to be considered and interviewed is what led Florida to becoming the top state for higher education almost a decade ago," the letter says. UF's search committee was able to conduct the process in secret thanks to a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in March 2022 that exempts identifying information from public records and open meetings laws about applicants for presidents of state colleges and universities. And a bill filed in the state Senate this year to reverse the law died in committee. |
| Florida's GOP Presidential Hiring Spree | |
 | Roughly two weeks after the Florida Board of Governors rejected Santa Ono as the next president of the University of Florida over his past support of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, members signed off on the hire of three new college leaders, all from the political world. None of the three has led a university before. On Wednesday FLBOG confirmed Jeanette Nuñez as president of Florida International University, Marva Johnson to head up Florida A&M University, and Manny Diaz Jr. to lead the University of West Florida. Both Nuñez and Diaz are former Republican lawmakers; Nuñez stepped down from her role as lieutenant governor in February to take the FIU job in an interim capacity at first. Diaz, who was confirmed Wednesday as interim and is expected to end up in the position permanently, will leave his job as Florida commissioner of education. Johnson is a lobbyist whom Republican Governor Ron DeSantis previously appointed to various positions, including on the Florida State Board of Education. While Ono -- a three-time college president unanimously selected by the UF Board of Trustees -- was rejected by the Florida Board of Governors on a 10-to-6 vote, Nuñez, Johnson and Diaz were swiftly confirmed at Wednesday's meeting, with little discussion of their qualifications. |
| A White Nationalist Wrote a Law School Paper Promoting Racist Views. It Won Him an Award. | |
 | Preston Damsky is a law student at the University of Florida. He is also a white nationalist and antisemite. Last fall, he took a seminar taught by a federal judge on "originalism," the legal theory favored by many conservatives that seeks to interpret the Constitution based on its meaning when it was adopted. In his capstone paper for the class, Mr. Damsky argued that the framers had intended for the phrase "We the People," in the Constitution's preamble, to refer exclusively to white people. From there, he argued for the removal of voting rights protections for nonwhites, and for the issuance of shoot-to-kill orders against "criminal infiltrators at the border." Turning over the country to "a nonwhite majority," Mr. Damsky wrote, would constitute a "terrible crime." White people, he warned, "cannot be expected to meekly swallow this demographic assault on their sovereignty." At the end of the semester, Mr. Damsky, 29, was given the "book award," which designated him as the best student in the class. According to the syllabus, the capstone counted the most toward final grades. The granting of the award set off months of turmoil on the law school campus. |
| Remember the Walmart near campus? U. of Tennessee wants it for student recreation | |
 | The University of Tennessee at Knoxville wants to lease the former Walmart building at University Commons to create a new student recreation space. The building is being leased by Walmart, which has not operated in the space since March 2019. The University of Tennessee Foundation would acquire the property at 2501 University Commons Way from owner Knoxville Supercenter DST and then lease it to UT. The lease term would last 99 years unless UT terminates the lease terms or purchases the foundation's interest. The UT System Board of Trustees will vote on the lease during its June 30 and July 1 meeting in Chattanooga. Pending all approvals, the foundation would purchase the building and enter into the lease with the university. While agenda documents do not share specifics about how the space would be used, UT has a variety of recreational facilities across campus, including the Student Aquatic Center, the Tennessee Recreation Center for Students (TRECS) and the Health and Physical Education Building. These facilities feature amenities such as swimming pools, basketball courts and rock-climbing walls. |
| Lawmakers push Missouri colleges to create 60-credit-hour transferable degree programs | |
 | Missouri students majoring in business, biology, elementary education, psychology and nursing may soon be able to transfer more college credits between the state's public universities. State lawmakers negotiated a plan to make 60-credit-hour blocks in five degree programs universally transferable among public universities and community colleges in Missouri as part of a bill awaiting the governor's signature or veto. The change is set to kick in by the 2028-29 school year. The legislation's original sponsor, state Rep. Cameron Parker, R-Campbell, has advocated for the bill for two years in hopes it can reduce the number of classes transfer students have to repeat. "If you go to a community college in southeast Missouri and you transfer to a four-year school in northwest Missouri, we want it to be a seamless transition across the state," she told The Independent. "So if you go to any community college, you will know what any of the four-year schools are going to take." Parker chose the five degree programs in the bill because they were the most popular for community-college students. She sees the potential for colleges to extend similar agreements to other fields but understands the process is "daunting" for universities. our-year institutions have been the only pushback on the legislation --- which garnered near unanimous approval from the Missouri House. |
| Texas A&M President Welsh picks Scott as new chief of staff | |
 | Changes at the top of the Texas A&M University System have led to changes at the top of the system's flagship institution in College Station. After the Texas A&M Board of Regents approved Susan Ballabina on Wednesday to become the system's new executive vice chancellor along with other appointments in the system leadership, A&M President Mark A. Welsh III needed a new chief of staff. On Wednesday afternoon, Welsh announced in a post to his page on the A&M website that Tim Scott, the vice provost for academic affairs since 2023, will take over as chief of staff on July 1. "While I'm sad to see her go, I am confident this is the perfect next step in Susan's successful 31-year career within the system," Welsh said on the A&M president's webpage. "Susan is hands down one of the best leaders I have had the honor of working alongside and our incoming chancellor has made a very wise decision to bring her over to the system." Scott has held numerous leadership positions at A&M since joining the university as a faculty member in 1990. |
| Texas Governor Signs Bill to Limit Expressive Activity on Campuses | |
| Texas governor Greg Abbott has signed a controversial bill that would restrict expressive activities on college campuses, reversing some of the rights afforded by a 2019 bill intended to protect Texans' ability to protest on campuses. The new legislation, SB 2972, includes a number of limitations on how, when and where individuals can demonstrate on college campuses, striking a key provision in the 2019 bill that established all common outdoor spaces on a public campus as traditional public forums -- spaces where anyone can engage in expressive activity. Now, college leaders will decide which areas are public forums. The bill also changes language from the 2019 legislation that says "all persons" can participate in expressive activities on college campuses to instead cover only "students enrolled at and employees of an institution of higher education," leaving it up to individual colleges to determine whether the public is welcome to demonstrate there. The most contested provision of the law prohibits all expressive activities on public campuses from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. Because the legislation defines expressive activities broadly -- as anything allowed under the First Amendment or the analogous section of Texas's constitution -- free speech experts and advocates have warned that the legislation would prohibit essentially all forms of expression between those hours, from wearing a red Make America Great Again hat to engaging in a heated debate in the dining hall. |
| More Americans Trust Public Universities Than Private Ones | |
| Americans have considerably more confidence in public colleges and universities than private ones, according to a new survey by Vanderbilt University's Project on Unity and American Democracy. While nearly half of respondents (46 percent) indicated they have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in public institutions, only 30 percent reported the same for private institutions. Fifteen percent of respondents expressed very little or no confidence in public colleges, and 26 percent had low levels of trust in private ones. The survey included responses from 1,029 American adults and was conducted in the second week of June. Despite the public's declining confidence in institutions of higher education, 76 percent of Americans think a college education is very or somewhat important for success. Ninety percent of Democrats, 71 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of Independents agree that a college education is at least somewhat important. By contrast, President Donald Trump's handling of higher education drew divided reactions along party lines. Across the board, 61 percent of respondents said they disapprove of the way Trump has approached issues regarding colleges and universities. Among those who approve, 77 percent of Republicans, 28 percent of Independents and 8 percent of Democrats indicated support for Trump's actions. |
| US judge blocks slashing of universities' federal funding from National Science Foundation | |
| A federal judge on Friday prevented the National Science Foundation from sharply cutting research funding provided to universities in the latest legal setback to efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to slash government support of research at major academic institutions. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston invalidated a policy NSF adopted in May that limited the ability of universities to be reimbursed for administrative and facility costs that indirectly support grant-funded research, ruling that it was "arbitrary and capricious." NSF, a $9 billion agency that funds scientific research, adopted the policy after having already canceled hundreds of grants out of step with the Republican president's priorities. His administration has also been freezing billions of dollars in government funding for numerous universities, including Harvard. NSF's policy, which was announced on May 2, set a cap on how much grant funding could go to cover indirect costs. NSF said funding for such costs could equal no more than 15% of the funding for direct research costs, regardless of what the costs actually were at universities. Historically, universities had negotiated with NSF and other agencies over the rate at which indirect costs could be reimbursed. |
| 'A Banner Year for Censorship': More States Are Restricting Classroom Discussions on Race and Gender | |
 | This year especially "has been a banner year for censorship at a state level across the country," said Amy B. Reid, senior manager at PEN America's Freedom to Learn program. "The point of a lot of these restrictions is to put people on guard, worried that anything or everything could be prohibited so you really have to watch what you say." Some of the chief architects of the DEI-dismantling playbook have insisted that they're not trying to silence anyone. In a January 26 letter to the editor in The Wall Street Journal by Ilya Shapiro and Jesse Arm of the Manhattan Institute, the institute declared that "Conservatives Have No Interest In Censorship." Despite such reassurances, recent bills seeking to eliminate diversity efforts are encroaching on curricula in a variety of ways. Some states, like Texas, Florida, and Utah, are giving boards more control over what goes into the core curriculum, as well as the ability to shut down programs with low enrollments or questionable work-force advantages. Others, like Alabama and Mississippi, have erected guardrails on topics that can be discussed in the classroom. "We're seeing an encroachment into the classroom that's troubling, but also part and parcel with today's broader attack on DEI," said Antonio L. Ingram II, senior counsel at the Legal Defense Fund and a lead lawyer in a lawsuit challenging the Alabama law. The ACLU of Mississippi has filed a similar lawsuit against a new Mississippi law, HB 1193, which also takes a broad swipe at colleges' diversity efforts. |
| After years of fighting, Mississippi education is fully funded with little fanfare | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: Give Mississippi legislators credit. Without being cajoled, threatened or begged, they fully funded education during the recently completed special session. With little fanfare, they provided full funding of $2.97 billion or $16 million more than last year to the formula that provides the basics to operate local school districts. That, famously, has not always been the case. Through much of the early 2000s, the preeminent issue facing legislators each session was whether education would be fully funded. There were knock down, drag out fights about education funding. Most times it didn't happen. From 2005 until 2024, education was fully funded once. But in 2024, legislators fully funded education and did it again this year in the special session that was held late last month. |
| Even government data succumbing to truth management | |
| Columnist Bill Crawford writes: Truth management, persuasion schemes that tailor truth, confronts us constantly, a disturbing aspect of modern life. Once the province of politicians and totalitarian governments -- the Soviet Union's disinformation apparatus during the Cold War was a marvel -- truth management has now infiltrated the sources we rely upon for information in America. "Sound decision making relies on the ability of an individual to analyze the facts at hand and come to a rational conclusion about the best course of action based on those facts," according to the American Security Project. Where can you turn for accurate information? ... "Facebook is fine for keeping up with friends and neighbors," wrote newspaper publisher Wyatt Emmerich. "It has a role in communicating local news. But a Facebook post is not the same as a genuine local article written by a properly trained professional journalist." In journalism school students are taught to verify the facts, he said. The problem, he notes, is the United States has lost half its journalists, most of them local journalists. "Ironically, the more viral and fake the news, the more eyeballs click on it." |
SPORTS
| Peyton Bair Named The USTFCCCA South Region Outdoor Field Athlete Of The Year | |
| Mississippi State combined events athlete Peyton Bair adds another award to his extensive resume, after being voted the USTFCCCA South Region Field Athlete of the Year. In a vote consisting of U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association member coaches, Bair was selected for the honor against the other Division I schools in the South Region. Bair has cemented himself amongst the greats during this outdoor season, capped off by taking the decathlon national title and two collegiate records at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. His record-breaking performance of 8,323 points at the championships beat the field by over 400 points and was the 14th highest score in collegiate history. Bair is the seventh man in NCAA history to sweep the heptathlon and decathlon in the same season. Bair was also named the USTFCCCA South Region Indoor Field Athlete of the Year earlier this season after taking home the heptathlon title at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Bair will compete at the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships later this summer, with the hopes of representing Team USA at the World Championships in Tokyo later this year. |
| Inside Starkville High School's massive athletics renovations with Jay Hopson as new AD | |
| Drive past the Starkville High School athletic facilities and you'll see plenty of construction equipment. The baseball and softball fields are completely dug up. Workers are tending to the hash marks of a new turf football field. There is no videoboard at the football stadium. A lot of rain has hit Starkville lately, so taking advantage of a dry June morning is important. One mile away, Jay Hopson, who's been a football coach at Delta State, Ole Miss, Alcorn State, Mississippi State and Southern Miss, sits at a mahogany desk in his office. A whiteboard on the wall lists all the different athletics projects happening in the district. It's a long list. The new Starkville athletics director hired in February inherited the ongoing multi-million-dollar project and now oversees the bulk of it. It's all part of a facilities transformation at Starkville that is expected to be completed before each sport's seasons for the 2025-26 academic year. "Just trying to upgrade our facility to where it's a (MHSAA) 7A showcase," Hopson, a first-time AD now four months into his job, told the Clarion Ledger. "It's kind of where we want to get it to where we can have something that rivals a small college or Division II. You look up and go, 'Oh, that's a pretty nice place.'" |
| Coopwood finishes 10 years of service with MDWFP commission | |
 | Routine housekeeping action typically defines the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks commission meetings in June. Thursday morning was a little more celebratory for the agency. MDWFP Commission Chairman Scott Coopwood presided over his final meeting concluding 10 years of service to the agency. His even temperament will be one of the lasting impressions of his tenure, MDWFP Executive Director Lynn Posey remarked. "10 years passed by at lightning speed but I enjoyed it," Coopwood said. "I hope everything I did was the right thing, I hope I bettered the outdoors and I am so appreciative of Reeves and Bryant for putting me on the commission. It was serious business for 10 years, I never took it lightly." Friends, family and MDWFP staff milled around in a short recess between a business session and executive session. Coopwood paused to take pictures and hug people around him. "When I first walked in 10 years ago I knew no one," Coopwood said. "Now I have incredible friends. All of this is a blessing from God through opportunities. This was a door that was opened to me and I'm grateful to have walked through it." Coopwood grew up hunting and fishing in Bolivar County. |
| LSU baseball wins its 8th national title by sweeping Coastal Carolina in Omaha | |
| The LSU baseball team has claimed its eighth national championship with a 5-3 victory, finishing off a two-game sweep of Coastal Carolina in the College World Series title series Sunday in Omaha, Nebraska. It's LSU's second national championship in the last three seasons under fourth-year head coach Jay Johnson. The win serves as a bit of revenge for Johnson, whose Arizona team lost to Coastal Carolina in the championship series in 2016 in Omaha. The Chanticleers jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a solo home run by Dean Mihos in the second inning, but the Tigers responded to tie it up on an RBI double by Ethan Frey in the third. LSU grabbed a 5-1 advantage in the fourth inning with four runs on a pair of two-run singles – one by Chris Stanfield and the other from Derek Curiel. A two-run home run by Wells Sykes in the bottom of the seventh cut the LSU lead to 5-3, but the Tigers were in control from that point forward behind relief pitcher Chase Shores. Starting pitcher Anthony Eyanson picked up the victory on the mound for the Tigers. |
| Coastal Carolina calls for NCAA to reevaluate umpire training after coach ejections in championship | |
 | Coastal Carolina University wants the NCAA to reevaluate how it assigns and prepares umpires for championships after the school's baseball coach and an assistant were ejected during the first inning of the final game of the College World Series. After LSU defeated the Chanticleers 5-3 in the second game of the best-of-three series on June 22, the university released a statement criticizing the ejections of head coach Kevin Schnall and first base coach Matt Schilling. "These decisions were made with an alarming level of haste, without an attempt at de-escalation, and deprived our student-athletes of the leadership they have relied on throughout a historic postseason run," the release stated. "This is not about a single call -- it's about process and professionalism. In the biggest moment of the college baseball season, our program and its student-athletes deserved better." The university contends the ejections "drastically altered the trajectory of a must-win game" and called for the NCAA to reevaluate how it assigns, trains and reviews umpires in championships. In a statement, the NCAA said the Coastal coaches were ejected for continuing to argue about balls and strikes after an initial warning. Despite the NCAA's statement, Coastal officials maintain the situation was handled improperly. |
| Millions made available for Florida universities to pay student-athletes | |
 | Pointing to a need to avoid a disadvantage in recruiting athletes, Florida university-system leaders Wednesday made up to $22.5 million available for each state university to share revenues with athletes. The system's Board of Governors approved the funding, which will be available annually at that level as a loan or transfer for the next three years. It is designed to help carry out a new revenue-sharing model with athletes under a national legal settlement in a case known as House v. NCAA. It comes amid massive change in college sports, in part because of athletes now being able to cash in through "name, image and likeness" deals. Traditionally, college athletes could not be paid. Board of Governors member Alan Levine said the money approved Wednesday "takes some of the pressure off the donors" now funding name, image and likeness deals and ensures "we put our universities in as advantageous a position as possible to compete." "They're already out there trying to sign contracts with these athletes," Levine said. "And if we don't act, there's a really good chance that our institutions will be severely disadvantaged. I don't think anybody wants that." |
| College football leaders revisit moving up season to Week Zero | |
| College leaders are again exploring an earlier football kickoff date. Executives this week re-examined an issue that has, for years, been under discussion: making Week Zero a permanent playing date for college football teams. FBS leaders held more conversations on the long-discussed concept during the annual three-day gathering of Division I conference commissioners here this week. Commissioners expect the conversation to continue in the coming weeks and months. While there is growing support for the move, no formal proposal has been introduced. That's not the case for FCS. The division is expected to formalize a proposal that permits schools to begin playing on Week Zero -- a decision that would add a 12th regular season game to the schedule starting in 2026. For FBS, the decision is more complex. "My view is we should have a consistent start date," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. "The adage is, teams make their most substantial improvement between Games 1 and 2. I think we should have a consistent start date. Labor Day weekend has been a good start date for college football. The fact we are taking another look at it could be interesting," Sankey said of permanently playing on Week Zero. "I'm not opposed to that. I want to make sure it's a broad view of the issues and not something narrow." |
| Don't Be So Quick to Blame the House Case for College Sports Cuts | |
| In the wake of U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken granting final approval to the 10-year settlement between the NCAA, power conferences and current and former D-I athletes represented by the House, Carter and Hubbard antitrust litigations, some fear the settlement will encourage schools to cut Division I non-revenue and Olympic sports teams. A popular narrative is setting in: It insists the House settlement will impose new costs on schools that make it harder to justify keeping teams that aren't either money-makers or needed to comply with Title IX's gender equity requirements. But while the settlement is impactful, don't fall for the head fake that it is the only or most important factor in schools' decisions to keep certain sports or cut sports altogether. It's true that sports like tennis, track and field, and swimming and diving are more vulnerable in the post-settlement world. American Volleyball Coaches Association CEO Jaime Gordon recently said that 32 Division I Olympic sports teams have been cut since the settlement's announcement. To be sure, the House settlement will place new costs on colleges and up the cost of college sports. But it's important to remember that House settlement-related costs are not occurring in an intercollegiate sports vacuum. They should be placed in the broader context of higher ed; universities face a multiple budget challenges that aren't related to athletics but will make it harder to fund athletics. |
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