| Wednesday, June 25, 2025 |
| Mississippi State partners with Italian university to enhance study abroad opportunities | |
 | A newly cemented partnership between Mississippi State University (MSU) and the Pontifical University Antonianum (PUA) will create more study-abroad opportunities for local students seeking an education in Italy, and vice versa. MSU President Dr. Mark Keenum and Professor Agustin Hernández Vidales, the rector of the Rome-based higher learning institution, formalized the partnership on Monday, establishing the framework for joint academic, research, and cultural initiatives. According to MSU officials, the memorandum of understanding with PUA establishes a collaborative focus on legal and social implications of digital transition, integrative intelligence, and cultural exchange between the U.S. and the Mediterranean region. The agreement aligns the two institutions with an emphasis on interdisciplinary and global perspectives. Additional collaborative outreach and cultural activities will include conferences, seminars, and events on shared cultural and academic interests, as well as promoting peace, justice, sustainability, and dialogue. |
| Magnolia Mornings: Miss. State partners with Pontifical University Antonianum in Italy | |
| Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum and Pontifical University Antonianum Professor Agustin Hernández Vidales, Rector of the university in Rome, Italy, formalized a partnership Monday establishing the framework for joint academic, research and cultural initiatives. MSU said Keenum and other university leaders are traveling this week in the country that hosts multiple meaningful connections with MSU, including study-abroad and research opportunities. The memorandum of understanding with PUA establishes a collaborative focus on legal and social implications of digital transition, integrative intelligence and cultural exchange between the U.S. and Mediterranean region. Among key areas of partnership are educational programs and training; joint courses, including master's degree programs and specialization tracks; internships for students, graduates and professionals; and exchange programs for students, doctoral candidates and faculty. |
| Mississippi State Hosts Nation's First S.A.F.E. Training for Spray Drones | |
| Mississippi State University made agricultural aviation history earlier this month by hosting the nation's first Self-Regulating Application and Flight Efficiency (S.A.F.E.) training program exclusively focused on spray drones. The five-day training at MSU's Agricultural Autonomy Institute marked a significant milestone in bridging the gap between traditional aerial application and emerging drone technology. "Everything that we're doing with spray drones, we want the traditional crop dusters to be involved in," said Madison Dixon, associate director of the MSU Agricultural Autonomy Institute and training participant. "We want to build inroads between the spray drone community and the traditional crop duster community and, more importantly, ensure the mutual safety of all agricultural aviators as spray drone adoption increases." The training brought together nine participants, including seven MSU graduate students and two professional aerial applicators who hold leadership positions with the Mississippi Agricultural Aviation Association. Dennis Gardisser, recognized as the foremost expert on aerial applications of all forms, conducts the training. While he has worked extensively with traditional crop dusters across the world, this is the first S.A.F.E. training program dedicated entirely to drone applications. |
| Aggressive killer bees are in Mississippi. How dangerous are they? | |
 | Africanized honey bees, often called "killer bees," are now found in 13 states, including Mississippi. Africanized bees are an invasive species commonly known as killer bees. According to the Mississippi State University Center for Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts, Apis mellifera are a hybrid between African and European bees. They were introduced in Brazil in the 1950s to boost honey production but some escaped quarantine. Over several decades, they migrated through Central America and Mexico and into the Southern U.S. According to MSU, individual Africanized bees aren't any more deadly than native honey bees. It can only sting once, then it dies. What makes them different is the way they swarm and how many will sting in one attack. They send more bees to swarm than other species, and they're willing to go the distance to protect their home and family. The bees are often ground-nesting, according to MSU, and can feel equipment like tractors and lawn mowers from 100 feet away. Because of their highly defensive nature, if you encounter aggressive bees, the best response is to leave -- fast. |
| TVA, local utilities ask customers to conserve energy during heat wave | |
 | Rising temperatures brings higher power demands, and local utilities and Tennessee Valley Authority are asking residents to help conserve energy. Temperatures are expected to be in the 90s throughout the week. 4-County Power Association also asked customers Tuesday to begin personally conserving energy if possible. Jon Turner, director of public relations and marketing, said the utility is anticipating the energy saving measure will be in effect throughout the rest of the week. Turner said the most simple and effective way consumers can help with the curtailment is bumping up the thermostat "as much as you can stand it." Starkville Utilities is also asking customers to conserve energy this week. General Manager Edward Kemp said customers can visit the company's website to find specific ways to save energy. "We have regular energy workshops to educate customers that they can conserve and manage their utility bills however they see fit," he said. "... Ultimately conservation does help lower utility bills. It's a win-win for everybody." |
| Spruill vetoes barbershop driveway reopening on 182 | |
| The board of aldermen's decision to reopen an access point to Larry "Luv" Johnson's business, Touch of Luv Barber and Beauty Salon, was vetoed by Mayor Lynn Spruill in a letter this week. Located at the corner of Earnest H. Jones Drive and Highway 182, the barber shop formerly had a dual-access driveway connected to both roads. As part of the city's ongoing Highway 182 revitalization project, the 182 access point, which is owned by the city, was replaced with sidewalk and grass. Spruill said the board's 4-3 vote to restore that access would threaten the integrity and timeline of the project. "It is my position that the board action taken with this agenda item is not in the best interests of the City of Starkville," Spruill wrote in the letter. "It has the enormous potential to jeopardize a project that will have a dramatic and positive effect on the redevelopment of the Central Business District." Spruill cited funding uncertainty and strict timelines imposed by the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration as reasons for the veto. Any changes to the project, Spruill said, require approval from both agencies. |
| Deadly Shooting, Hospital Gunfire, and Police Crash Rock Meridian Overnight | |
| Meridian police are investigating a string of incidents that occurred early Wednesday morning, including a fatal shooting, a disturbance at a local hospital that led to gunfire and arrests, and a police vehicle crash. According to Acting Captain Dareall Thompson of the Meridian Police Department, the first incident happened around 12:30 a.m. in the 4500 block of 25th Court. Officers responded to reports of gunfire and discovered three individuals had been shot. Two victims were transported to a local hospital for treatment. One person was pronounced dead at the scene. An investigation into the shooting is ongoing, and no additional details have been released. Approximately 30 minutes later, around 1 a.m., police were called to a separate disturbance at Ochsner Rush Hospital. During the altercation, shots were fired, prompting a brief lockdown at the hospital. Three individuals were taken into custody in connection with the incident. Police have not confirmed whether this incident is related to the earlier shooting. While responding to the hospital incident, an officer was involved in a crash on Royal Road near 39th Avenue. The patrol vehicle flipped over, but the officer escaped without serious injury. |
| Trio of Mississippi business organizations one step closer to full merger | |
| Three organizations dedicated to advancing a business-friendly climate in the Magnolia State have taken a major step toward merging into an entity dubbed the Mississippi Business Alliance. Executive leadership with the Mississippi Economic Council (MEC), the Mississippi Manufacturers Association (MMA), and the Business and Industry Political Education Committee (BIPEC) unanimously voted recently to bring the merger to fruition. Though the vote is not the final decision in creating the new organization, it was necessary. "This is an important step in the process, as it gives each of our organizations the ability to share confidential financial information, staffing details, and other necessary items in the process," MEC President and CEO Scott Waller said. "If everything continues to progress under the timeline we've established -- and I am confident it will -- a definitive agreement will be presented to each of the three boards this fall for final approval of creating a new, combined entity." Under the timeline, the Mississippi Business Alliance is expected to be up and running by January 2026. |
| What happened with local projects bill in the Mississippi House? | |
| Lawmakers had to consider at least two special projects during this year's special session that was agreed on by Republican leadership. However, after rank-and-file Republican House members were told they wouldn't be voting on special projects for their own districts but for two within the City of Jackson, many of them mutinied. "This (bill) needs to go back right where it come from," said Rep. Ken Morgan, R-Morgantown, on the floor. Senate Bill 2050 would have established funds for improvements at Lefleur's State Park and at the Mississippi Children's Museum. In total, the appropriations would have totaled $18 million. The projects themselves would have been for conservation efforts at the state park and to build a new wing at the children's museum "to support students and educators through workforce development training statewide." As the measure came to the House floor late in the evening between May 28 and 29, House members both Republican and Democrat challenged the bill. House Minority Leader Rep. Robert Johnson III, D-Natchez, asked Rep. Angela Cockerham, D-Dist. 96, who presented the bill, if leadership was cherry-picking special projects. "We agreed to no projects (in the special session)," Johnson said. "... All I know that's over there is a golf course. Are we getting ready to put $13 million into a nine-hole golf course in Lefleur's Bluff and not to build a dormitory at Mississippi Valley State University?" |
| New House select committees to discuss key issues ahead of 2026 session | |
| Though lawmakers have gaveled out of the state capitol for the remainder of 2025, barring another special session, House Speaker Jason White is giving a litany of elected officials homework ahead of next year's legislative session. The second-year speaker announced Tuesday three new select committees tasked with assessing education freedom, the state's public employees' retirement system (PERS), and voters' rights ahead of the next session's launch in January. White has also given the green light for the Capital and Metro Revitalization Select Committee, which launched last summer, to continue its work in the offseason. "The Mississippi House of Representatives has a strong track record of recognizing both challenges and opportunities within our state," White stated. "We diligently study these issues, engage key stakeholders in meaningful dialogue, and cultivate widespread support to pass legislation that truly benefits Mississippians." |
| Larry Ware Appointed as Director of Internal Affairs for Mississippi Department of Public Safety | |
| Mississippi Department of Public Safety (MDPS) Commissioner Sean Tindell has announced the appointment of Larry Ware as the new Director of Internal Affairs for the department. Ware brings a wealth of experience and a strong reputation for integrity to his new role. A graduate of Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, Ware began his law enforcement career in 2009 with the Mississippi Attorney General's Office. There, he served in multiple leadership roles, including Unit Supervisor of the Vulnerable Persons Unit and later as Chief Investigator of the Public Integrity Division. In 2021, Ware joined the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor as a Special Agent, where he was quickly promoted to Director of Investigations by State Auditor Shad White. "We're glad to have Larry join the MDPS family," said Commissioner Tindell. "His years of experience, dedication, and integrity will be invaluable as he takes on this important role. We look forward to the positive impact he will have on our team and state." |
| ICE arrests Iranian suspected terrorist in Gluckstadt | |
| An Iranian national and suspected terrorist remains in the Madison County Detention Center after he was arrested by federal agents this weekend in Gluckstadt for being in the country illegally. The man, Yousef Mehridehno, 48, was arrested and charged with illegally entering the country. On June 22, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents arrested Mehridehno, an Iranian national and former lawful permanent resident, a release from the Department of Homeland Security said. The U.S. government terminated Mehridehno's residency in October 2017 after determining he lied on his original visa application and committed potential marriage fraud, the release said. In February, Mehridehno was listed as a known or suspected terrorist, and he's now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. Mehridehno is currently housed in the Madison County Detention Center. Mehridehno was one of 11 Iranian nationals arrested by ICE over the weekend for being in the United States illegally, the release said. |
| Richard Jordan set to be executed | |
| Barring a last minute reprieve, the state of Mississippi is set to execute Richard Jordan this evening. Attorneys representing the 79-year-old, the state's oldest and longest serving inmate on death row, filed a flurry of motions with the U.S. Supreme Court and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals this week. As of today, the appeals court denied his request for stay, and the high court had not responded to a request for stay. A week after receiving a clemency petition for Jordan, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves denied it. Reeves has not granted anyone clemency during his two terms in office. He said Jordan admitted being guilty of kidnapping Edwina Marter at gunpoint from her family's home in coastal Harrison County in 1976 while her 3-year-old son was sleeping, and of forcing Marter to drive into a forest and killing her by shooting her in the back of the head. "At this time, all necessary procedures are being followed with the anticipation that the execution will proceed as scheduled." |
| Congressman Thompson votes to pursue impeachment against President Trump | |
| Mississippi 2nd District Congressman Bennie Thompson was among 79 Democrats in the U.S. House to vote to pursue articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump (R) on Tuesday. Thompson, who also supported both impeachment efforts during the President's first term, joined fellow progressive Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett, Rashida Talib, Ihan Omar, Ayanna Presley, and others on Tuesday in opposing the motion to table the impeachment resolution. At the other end of the party spectrum was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, both of whom were among the 128 Democrats who joined all Republicans in killing the resolution by a vote of 344 to 79. The impeachment resolution was put forward by Texas Congressman Al Green after Trump ordered airstrikes on Iran's three nuclear facilities, a move Green and other critics said was "illegal and unconstitutional." On Saturday, Congressman Thompson condemned Trump's order to strike Iran. |
| Key GOP senator warns Medicaid cuts could spell political disaster for Republicans | |
 | Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), one of the most vulnerable Senate Republican incumbents facing re-election in 2026, warned Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) bluntly in a private meeting Tuesday that deep cuts to Medicaid could cost Republicans control of the House and Senate, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Tillis, who has kept relatively quiet about the hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts proposed by the Senate Finance Committee, blasted his leadership's plan to forge ahead during a Republican luncheon on Capitol Hill. "Thom Tillis got up and he had a chart on what the Senate's provider tax structure will cost different states, including his. His will lose almost $40 billion. He walked through that and said 'this will be devastating to my state,'" said a person familiar with Tillis's blunt exchange with Thune behind closed doors. The proposal to cap the health care provider tax rate is a major cost cutter in President Trump's "big, beautiful bill," but it is also among the most controversial provisions. Several key GOP senators have expressed alarm about the Medicaid cuts in the Senate's version of the legislation. |
| GOP weighs canceling recess to wrap up Trump's budget bill | |
 | Republican leaders are stepping on the gas to get the giant budget reconciliation package to President Donald Trump's desk after a renewed push by the president for his Capitol Hill allies to meet his July 4 deadline. But from tax provisions to Medicaid changes, roadblocks remain in meeting that aggressive timetable, which is more symbolic than tied to any legislative deadline, though the debt ceiling likely needs to be raised by the end of July. And lawmakers will certainly want to hold on to as much of their July 4 recess as possible, which is set to start Friday -- for now. Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday morning that he needed the bill on his desk "ASAP." "To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don't go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK," Trump wrote. "Work with the House so they can pass it IMMEDIATELY. NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT'S DONE." Speaker Mike Johnson told Republicans during a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning that they should keep their schedules flexible this weekend and early next week. He said the Senate could pass the bill "maybe by Friday, Saturday." "If the Senate does its work on the timeline we expect, we will do our work as well," Johnson said. "And I think everybody's ready for that." But there's a significant amount of work for both chambers to do to get the bill to the finish line. |
| Trump administration is preparing to challenge budget law, U.S. officials say | |
 | The Trump administration is preparing to test a 1974 budget law by refusing to spend congressionally mandated funds, senior federal officials say -- an escalation that could change the balance of power between Congress and the White House. In both internal communications and interviews, more than two dozen current and former employees across multiple agencies said the administration appears to be readying to push the boundaries of the law meant to prevent the president from unilaterally overturning spending decisions made by Congress. Key White House aides have long argued that the law is an unconstitutional limit on presidential power and suggested they will seek court rulings to overturn it, which could allow the White House to determine which spending to carry out. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office has issued two rulings that funds have been illegally withheld already, and congressional Democrats have said a far wider scope of funding freezes has broken the budget law. Deadlines in the coming weeks will clarify how much the administration wants to test the law, enacted in 1974 after President Richard M. Nixon's Watergate scandal. Interviews with federal workers show that a wide spectrum of government spending has already been stalled. |
| Trump faces an alliance shaped to his liking as he attends the NATO summit | |
 | U.S. President Donald Trump huddled on Wednesday with members of a NATO alliance that he has worked to bend to his will over the years and whose members are rattled by his latest comments casting doubt on the U.S. commitment to its mutual defense guarantees. Trump's comments en route to the Netherlands that his fidelity to Article 5 "depends on your definition" drew attention at the NATO summit, as will the new and fragile Iran-Israel ceasefire that the Republican president helped broker after the U.S. unloaded airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. At the same time, the alliance is poised to enact one of Trump's chief priorities: a pledge by NATO member countries to increase, sometimes significantly, how much they spend on their defense. "I've been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years," Trump said Wednesday as he met with Mark Rutte, the alliance's secretary-general. "I think that's going to be very big news." The boost in spending follows years of Trump's complaints that other countries weren't paying their fair share for membership in an alliance created as a bulwark against threats from the former Soviet Union. Most NATO countries, with the key exception of Spain, are preparing to endorse the 5% pledge, motivated to bolster their own defenses not just by Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine but also, perhaps, to placate Trump. |
| Iran 'much further away' from building nukes after US strike, Rubio says | |
 | Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Iran is "much further away from a nuclear weapon" amid new intelligence assessments that a U.S. strike did not destroy three of the country's nuclear sites. Rubio, in an exclusive interview with POLITICO's Dasha Burns on the sidelines of the NATO summit, offered a more measured assessment than President Donald Trump, who has insisted that Iran's sites at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan have been "completely destroyed." "The bottom line is, they are much further away from a nuclear weapon today than they were before the president took this bold action," Rubio said. "That's the most important thing to understand -- significant, very significant, substantial damage was done to a variety of different components, and we're just learning more about it." A preliminary intelligence report by the Defense Intelligence Agency found that the strikes on Tehran's nuclear program set it back by only a few months, CNN reported. Other news outlets confirmed the reporting. Rubio dismissed the media reports as "false" and said they did not capture the full picture. |
| Powell Reaffirms Wait-and-See Posture on Rate Cuts | |
 | Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Tuesday that recent economic data would have likely justified continuing to lower interest rates if not for concerns that higher tariffs might derail the central bank's yearslong fight to defeat inflation. Powell said little to tee up a rate cut next month without explicitly ruling one out. But his answers to lawmaker queries suggested it was more likely officials would wait until at least their September meeting to see if tariff-driven price increases are milder than expected before resuming rate cuts. "If it turns out that inflation pressures do remain contained, we will get to a place where we cut rates sooner rather than later, but I wouldn't want to point to a particular meeting," Powell said at a House Financial Services Committee hearing. Officials broadly expect tariffs to lead price growth to pick up this summer, interrupting an uneven but broad-based inflation slowdown over the past two years. "We do expect [inflation] to move [up] in the summer and if we see it not happening, we will learn from that," Powell said. 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. There's great uncertainty over when and how much businesses may pass along the cost of higher import taxes into consumer prices. |
| Cable channel C-SPAN looks for help as streaming takes a toll | |
 | C-SPAN, the nonprofit outfit that has brought live gavel-to-gavel congressional coverage to cable TV viewers for decades, is feeling the squeeze faced by the rest of the TV business. As consumers drop their traditional cable and satellite TV subscriptions for streaming platforms, C-SPAN's main funding source is shrinking. The trend poses a threat to one of the rare media institutions that has bipartisan political support, including a fan in the Oval Office. "It's not a sustainable situation," said C-SPAN Chief Executive Sam Feist said in an interview. C-SPAN stands for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, and therein lies the problem. The service is supported by cable and satellite operators who have seen their customer base steadily decline as consumers move to streaming platforms that now account for half of all TV viewing, according to recent data from Nielsen. C-SPAN, which reached around 100 million pay TV homes in 2015, is now down to 51 million households. The contraction has led to a significant loss in revenue for C-SPAN, which has never sold advertising. Feist said C-SPAN can fill its budget gap if companies that run smaller bundles of TV channels -- such as Google's YouTube TV and Walt Disney Co.'s Hulu Live TV -- would agree to carry its feeds. It's a big ask. |
| Judge considers blocking DEI ban enforcement in Mississippi | |
| A federal judge will decide sometime next week whether to grant a restraining order seeking to halt the enforcement of House Bill 1193, a Diversity Equity and Inclusion ban passed into state law earlier this year. On Tuesday, lawyers with American Civil Liberties Union representing several education advocacy groups and students, asked U.S. Judge Henry Wingate to grant the restraining order that will prevent several state boards of education from enforcing bans on DEI programs at K-12 schools and public universities. The hearing came just a week after several of those boards adopted anti-DEI policies related to reporting and enforcement against DEI ban violations. The defendants' attorney, Rex Shannon, an assistant attorney general, in response, asked Wingate not to grant the TRO because the federal court lacked jurisdiction over state boards. He also mentioned that if the court granted the restraining order, it would be harming the state by impeding on its sovereignty. Wingate after hearing both sides asked Shannon several times what specific harms the state would experience if he granted the restraining order. Shannon said he had not had enough time prior to the hearing to list specifics harms. |
| Jackson financial adviser wants Ole Miss to equip students for digital asset economy | |
 | University of Mississippi alumnus Stephen Griner wants to help make the university a leader in the digital asset realm of finance education. Griner, managing director and founding partner of Magnolia Capital Advisors in Jackson, has committed a portion of the revenue generated from his company's hedge fund to the UM School of Business Administration. The gift will be used to support new course options, a student investment fund and related activities. "(Dean) Ken Cyree and I discussed blockchain and digital assets and how we both believe they will be the financial infrastructure of the future," he said. Blockchain is a system in which a record of transactions, especially those made in a digital asset such as cryptocurrency, is maintained across an online network. "I have two teenagers who will hopefully be attending Ole Miss, and I'd like a blockchain course to be an option for them or at least have it covered in some upper-level finance classes," Griner said. "So, to get that started, I decided to gift 1.5% of the fees generated from the hedge fund." A Columbia native, Griner worked for Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and then Raymond James before starting Magnolia Capital Advisors with two other Ole Miss graduates. |
| Jackson State University and IHL tentatively settle faculty senate president lawsuit | |
| Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning and Jackson State University have reached a tentative agreement to settle the months-long federal lawsuit filed by a former faculty senate president who was placed on leave pending termination last fall. The settlement would give Dawn Bishop McLin her job back as a tenured professor. McLin's case is the latest in a series of lawsuits against the state's college governing board and the historically Black university. Two others have cited gender discrimination when it comes to the board's presidential search and its selection process. The proposed agreement, which is still being hammered out by attorneys, would return McLin to her position as psychology professor. It would also restore the roughly $38,000 in research grants she lost after her termination, as well as $10,000 in pay for summer school courses she would have taught this semester, all totaling $48,000. IHL attorney Pope Mallette also requested a motion for the settlement agreement to be closed to the public, which prompted U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate to question the move by the taxpayer-funded governing board. "The court does not seal public money," Wingate said in response to Mallette's request. |
| MCC welcomes incoming students at first summer orientation | |
 | Dozens of incoming college students and their families visited the Meridian Community College campus Tuesday for the first of several summer orientation sessions. The session included welcomes by school officials as well as information from leaders in campus financial aid, advising, safety and law enforcement, tutoring and more. MCC President Tom Hubner said the orientation sessions are a good way for incoming students -- and their parents -- to get a better grasp on college life, connect with resources and find answers to any questions they may have. "This is just an opportunity for our students who are going to be matriculating here in the fall to be able to come to campus and get their schedules, meet each other, tour the campus, hear from our faculty and staff and get a real sense of what life is going to be like here at MCC when they get here in the fall," he said. Joseph Knight, vice president for Workforce Development at MCC, said the college has a multitude of degree pathways, workforce certifications and job training programs to help students get where they want to go. While some students already know what profession they plan to pursue, many entering college are still trying to figure that out, he said, and MCC has a variety of resources to help students do just that. |
| FAFSA to Launch Oct. 1 With Minor Changes | |
 | The Department of Education plans to launch this year's Free Application for Federal Student Aid on Oct. 1, the agency announced Monday. It would be the first time since 2022 that the form is released by the traditional deadline date, after a major overhaul and technical issues pushed back the 2023–24 launch to January and the 2024–25 launch to late November. The department will also repeat a new beta-testing period that was piloted last fall. Officials plan to gradually roll out the FAFSA to a limited number of school districts and college-access organizations starting in August and will begin sending test Institutional Student Information Records to colleges at the same time. They're also introducing a simplified process for inviting contributors to the form, a step that frustrated many families over the past two years and stymied completion of the new FAFSA. Instead of requiring a unique Contributor ID code, this year students can invite a parent or guardian to contribute to the form by entering their email, and contributors don't have to be registered on StudentAid.gov beforehand. |
| These Students Use AI a Lot -- but Not to Cheat | |
 | Two years ago Allison Abeldt arrived at Kansas State University afraid to even touch generative AI. "I worried that if I opened ChatGPT on my laptop," she recalled, "my teacher would know." That's no longer the case. After a frustrating freshman year, in which she spent hours every day trying to learn and remember enormous amounts of material, from general biology to chemistry, Abeldt ended up with a B grade-point average. Always an A student in high school, she decided to explore AI tools to see if they could help her study better. It began with an anatomy and physiology course last summer, when she asked ChatGPT about a bone that she didn't quite understand, and was amazed by the clear explanation. Abeldt began building her AI arsenal. She used ChatGPT and watched YouTube videos to break down complex topics. Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, helped her find information. Google NotebookLM turned class notes and lecture slides into study guides and podcasts, which she listened to on the way to class. Quizlet made flashcards and ChatGPT created mock exams and quizzes. Abeldt even used AI to develop a study plan to avoid procrastinating or spending too much time on any one assignment. She followed its guidance, and it worked. The idea that when students turn to AI, they're being lazy and cheating "completely enrages me," Abeldt said, "because that's not true." She doesn't think professors truly understand what students are doing with AI. |
| Education Dept. Plan to Send CTE Programs to Labor Stokes Concern | |
| Proponents of career and technical education programs and Democratic lawmakers are wringing their hands over the Department of Education's plans to offload the funding and administration of CTE programs to the Department of Labor. They worry the plan, if enacted, would be a nail in the coffin of the Education Department, sow confusion and diminish the quality of these secondary and postsecondary career-prep programs. News of an interagency agreement emerged earlier this month when the government filed a status report in court to show its compliance with an injunction preventing the administration from dismantling the Education Department. The agreement, blocked by that order, would move the administration of CTE program funding, under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act and the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, to the Department of Labor. Department officials quietly signed the agreement May 21. Critics strongly oppose the plan. Democrats in Congress insist, first and foremost, that the Education Department doesn't have the authority to make such a change. Some CTE advocates worry the agreement would complicate these programs and create bureaucratic mazes for grant recipients to navigate. Over all, about $1.4 billion annually is at stake for K–12 schools, colleges and states, which supports roughly 11 million students across the country. |
| Scoop: Trump admin cuts contracts with scientific publishing giant | |
| The Trump administration has terminated millions worth of funding for Springer Nature, a German-owned scientific publishing giant that has long received payments for subscriptions from National Institutes of Health and other agencies, Axios has learned. President Trump and MAGA have made a push to target academic institutions as well as research organizations perceived to be the source of so-called "woke" ideology, including DEI and gender-affirming care policies, by withholding federal funding and in some cases initiating legal action. Earlier this year, the Justice Department sent a letter to a Springer publication questioning its editorial practices and accusing the publishing house of acting as a partisan in scientific debates, as well as wrongfully advocating for positions, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. The letter also posed questions about Springer's alleged ties to China, CCP funding and related claims of censorship. Springer Nature has more than 3,000 journals and publications, and its portfolio includes Nature and Scientific American. The editorial content ranges from science and medical news to peer-reviewed research papers written by scientists. The company went public last October. |
| Congress Eyes Cap on Parent PLUS Loans | |
| A long-standing federal student loan program that has opened the door to higher education for millions of low- and middle-income families -- but has also been criticized for driving families deep into debt -- is at risk as Congress considers sweeping changes to higher education policy. Both House and Senate Republicans want to cap how much parents can borrow via the Parent PLUS loan program, though they disagree about the amount. The House plan limits parents to $50,000 total, while the Senate plan would allow them to borrow up to $65,000 per dependent. Currently, the loans are uncapped, so parents can borrow as much as they need. These loans, which are held solely by a student's parent, were created to fill gaps left over after other forms of aid have been awarded. But they come with high interest rates and limited income-based repayment options, leaving some parents paying off the loans for the rest of their lives, according to Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center. Research has also found that Black and Latino borrowers, who are more likely to lack other means to pay for college, disproportionately utilize Parent PLUS loans and have higher debt-to-income ratios, on average, than white borrowers. |
| GOP megabill takes aim at universities -- except for this conservative Christian college | |
| President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are angling to use their megabill to turn the screws on elite liberal colleges that take millions in taxpayer funds while sitting on endowments worth tens of billions of dollars. But a single college that's a paragon of conservative higher education has managed to secure a carveout after finding itself in the crossfire. Hillsdale College, a Christian liberal arts school of fewer than 2,000 students located in southern Michigan, is one of a slew of smaller institutions that had been working to avoid being swept up in the GOP effort to raise taxes on the seemingly bottomless endowments of household names like Harvard, Princeton and Yale. But Hillsdale stands apart from those schools: For one, it's a rare institution of higher learning that the modern Republican Party applauds. Just as uncommon, Hillsdale accepts no funding from the federal government: "The founders of our nation chose independence. As do we," the college boasts in advertisements. That formed the crux of its argument that, on principle, Hillsdale and schools like it should not be subject to a federal tax on endowments. Senate Republicans heeded that logic in their version of the reconciliation bill that the party hopes to send to Trump's desk next week by including an exemption for schools that fit Hillsdale's profile. |
| After a half-century of legal logjam, will killer of Coast banker's wife face execution June 25? | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: In a family crypt in the storied and elaborate St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 in New Orleans, the remains of murder victim Edwina de Gruy Marter rest alongside those of her parents, Edwin Joseph Dufouchar de Gruy and Emelie Carrie "Tootsie" Melancon de Gruy, and her older sister, Mary Agnes "Myrn" de Gruy. The St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 in New Orleans, like Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, is a place of beauty and solitude, but also one of regret and sorrow. In both venues, the ornate crypts inevitably succumb to time and decay. Those feelings are even more profound with the knowledge that the crypts often eternally house families. In the findings of several criminal court juries and appeals court judges, it was Richard Gerald Jordan's fevered plot to kidnap and hold Edwina Marter -- the mother of two small boys -- that assigned her to the family crypt. ... Jordan was convicted of capital murder in Mrs. Marter's death in Jackson County in 1976. That began 49 years of the inmate riding the appellate elevator up and down first in state court and then again in the federal courts. Changes in death penalty law and the normal gave Jordan multiple trials in front of multiple juries on a set of facts in which his guilt or innocence was never seriously called into question. Mississippi, after yet another federal appeal, set an execution for Jordan for June 25 |
SPORTS
| Football: Shapen Earns 2025 Philanthropic Spirit Award | |
| Blake Shapen is a proven leader inside the huddle, and the Mississippi State quarterback is also a shining example outside of it as evidenced by his latest honor. On Tuesday, it was announced that Shapen has earned the Philanthropic Spirit Award from the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) Store. The award recognizes the athlete who supported the greatest philanthropic endeavor through their apparel sales. Back in April, as part of the Bulldogs' annual spring football game, Shapen welcomed around a couple of hundred kids to Davis Wade Stadium as his personal guests, presenting each of them with food vouchers and a postgame autograph meet-and-greet, as well as a special maroon and white "Blake's Bulldogs" t-shirt. Shapen's efforts produced unforgettable moments for area youth that will surely be treasured for years to come, and the veteran signal caller is proud to be in a spot to be able to deliver such memories. "Whenever you have a platform like this, I feel like you can use it to be able to influence others," Shapen said. "It's a blessing to be able to be in this position to be able to do something like this. I'm excited to be able to do it." |
| Five Mississippi State football players who could have breakout seasons for Jeff Lebby | |
| Isaac Smith was the epitome of a breakout player last season for Mississippi State football. He didn't have a big role as a freshman in 2023. Then last season, the safety soared to the All-SEC second team as the conference's leading tackler. He was the bright spot of the SEC's worst defense. The Bulldogs need more breakout players like Smith to improve from last season's 2-10 record. Here are five breakout candidates for MSU in coach Jeff Lebby's second season: CB Kelley Jones, WR Anthony Evans III, LB Zakari Tillman, S Tony Mitchell and WR Brenen Thompson. |
| Soccer: Zimmerman Completes 2025 Roster With Signing Of Tappe | |
| Head coach Nick Zimmerman announced the addition of Chiara Tappe to Mississippi State soccer's 2025 roster on Tuesday. Tappe, a native of Lemgo, Germany, is a defender who has spent time with FSV Gütersloh 2009 in her home country. The club finished second in the Second Division Frauenbundesliga in 2020-21, was second in the U-17 Women's Bundesliga in 2019-20 and third in the league in 2018-19. Since then, Tappe has scored nine times in 40 matches during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons with FSV Gütersloh in Regionalliga West. This year, she has played in 20 matches in the Second Division Frauenbundesliga, totaling 973 minutes. |
| Sacco and Chaffin shine in Talons' sweep | |
| Talons outfielder Sierra Sacco was busy keeping up with statistics during her team's series win against the Bolts in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League on Sunday. The former Bulldog was in charge of a whiteboard that tallied several metrics, and not just hits and runs. She tracked inning wins, leadoff hitters on, shutout innings, consecutive shutout innings and so on for what head coach Howard Dobson called a system of "checks and balances." Sacco and former MSU-teammate-turned-Talons-ace Raelin Chaffin helped add to the tallies over the course of the series as the Talons swept the Bolts and solidified their place at the top of the standings alongside the Bandits. "I know nowadays they have no clue what a checkbook is," Dobson said, "but we talk about it all the time, that you're going to have a play sometimes where you make an error, but if you can come back and do something for your team, hit behind a runner, move it up, you can have a squeeze, or score a run, or hit a bomb to make up for what happened. Then your checkbook's balanced by the end of the day." |
| Former Southern Miss women's basketball coach Joye Lee-McNelis dies at 63 | |
 | Former Southern Miss women's basketball coach Joye Lee-McNelis has died, the team announced on June 24. She was 63. Lee-McNelis was diagnosed with lung cancer for the third time before the 2023-24 season, this time Stage 4 lung cancer. It caused her to occasionally miss games that season, and she was absent for even more games last season. Lee-McNelis announced Feb. 25 that she was retiring when the season ended. "We'll forever cherish the life of Coach McNelis and all she gave to Southern Miss and her Lady Eagles," the team wrote on X. "Her story was an inspiration to countless people around the world." Lee-McNelis was the Southern Miss coach for 21 seasons, leading the Lady Eagles to a conference championship in 2023 and five WNIT appearances. They reached the WNIT Super 16 in 2024. The Leetown native was given the Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award after that season. Lee-McNelis is survived by her husband, Dennis; daughter Whitney; and son Connor, who was an assistant coach and director of analytics and player development for Southern Miss the past two seasons. |
| Raising Arch: How Cooper and Ellen prepared Texas' QB for the Manning family spotlight | |
 | Cooper Manning began to suspect his oldest son might be a gifted athlete when in elementary school. He noticed Arch could really throw and was always able to run around and make plays in flag football. But even when Arch was only 4 or 5, there was something different about him. Whenever he'd go to a Colts game to watch his Uncle Peyton or a Giants game to see his Uncle Eli, the little kid would sit there riveted from start to finish. "He'd just watch football like he was in a trance," Cooper said. At home, Arch didn't play video games. He wanted to go outside and play catch, shoot hoops or have his dad hit him fly balls. Now, Arch is 21, a former top-ranked recruit from New Orleans entering his third season at Texas but first as starter after patiently waiting behind Quinn Ewers. Behind the scenes, Arch has drawn rave reviews from coaches for his football intelligence, athleticism and make-up. But Cooper, the oldest of former Saints star quarterback Archie Manning's three sons, wasn't about to go telling anyone that his kid was some athletic prodigy growing up. Being the Next Manning meant he didn't need to say anything like that on his own. "You never wanna be that dad who says his son is really something special," he said. "When you share that with someone, you sound like a lunatic." |
| Sources: NCAA close to decision on tournament expansion | |
| A decision on whether or not to expand the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments will be made in the upcoming weeks, sources told ESPN. If the decision is made to expand, the expansion would begin in the 2025-26 season, per sources, and the tournament would expand to no more than 76 teams. Sources have indicated to ESPN for months that 76 is the more likely expansion option than 72, as the current format for the men's and women's tournament is 68 teams. The NCAA remains in talks with its media partners about the potential expansion, which have been ongoing for months. An expansion of the tournament would be a historic and potentially controversial step for the NCAA. An eight-team addition would be the biggest jump in how the men's NCAA basketball tournament has been compromised since 1985. The men's tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. An additional team was added in 2001, and the expansion to the current 68-team format came back in 2011. The expectation is that both the men's and women's tournaments would grow by the same amount of teams. |
| NCAA College Hoops Event Deregulation Plan Raises Alarm | |
| The NCAA's ongoing effort to streamline and deregulate its extensive bylaws is creating controversy in one specific corner of the college sports world. A new legislative proposal -- already approved by the men's and women's basketball oversight committees, and currently under review by the Division I council -- would dramatically harm the business of basketball multiple-team events (MTEs) and may effectively eliminate most neutral-site games. At least, that's the warning from a long-time MTE organizer. The Gazelle Group -- a Princeton, N.J.-based sports marketing firm that has run college basketball events since 1995, and which once sued the NCAA over alleged antitrust violations related to those contests -- sent a strongly worded letter last week to the D-I council, NCAA president Charlie Baker and NCAA senior VP Dan Gavitt, defending the current MTE system. That system is now on the brink of transformation thanks to NCAA Proposal No. 2025-2, which would establish an across-the-board maximum of 32 regular-season contests for men's and women's basketball programs, regardless of whether they participate in MTEs. Currently, schools can play up to 31 regular-season games if they participate in a two- or three-game MTE, and up to 28 games for those that do not. |
| Team physicians in college sports wary of greater liability risk with athletes now making big money | |
| The professionalization of college sports has prompted concern among team physicians that they will be exposed to a greater risk of being sued by athletes who claim a poor outcome from treatment caused them to lose future earnings. Before July 2021, when college athletes were cleared to be compensated by third parties for the use of their name, image and likeness, such lawsuits would have been virtually unwinnable. Four years later, and with schools set to share millions directly with their athletes, team physicians are wary. Some of the most high-profile college athletes are already signing multimillion-dollar deals and six-figure contracts are common. Though no malpractice lawsuits seeking lost future earnings at the college level are known to have been filed, it's only a matter of time, said Dr. James Borchers, Big Ten chief medical officer and president and CEO of the U.S. Council for Athletes' Health. "The complexity for the clinician is going to be significant," he said. "I do think there are people who are going to evaluate this and say, 'I didn't sign up for an 18-year-old making a million dollars and then saying the decision I make affected their ability to make money.' I think you may see people say this isn't for me." |
| IMG Academy keeping student-athletes ahead of curve with NIL, revenue-sharing education | |
 | Once again, July 1 will be a watershed moment for college athletics. It is the first day colleges will be able to share up to $20.5 million with its student-athletes. The revenue sharing was made official with the long-awaited settlement of the House v. NCAA case in June. "The big thing the average fan should understand is now schools will be directly paying NIL compensation to athletes," said Mit Winter, an NIL expert and attorney at Kennyhertz Perry in Missouri. A constantly evolving world is tricky enough for schools and athletic departments to navigate. It can be much more intimidating and confusing for a 17- or 18-year-old student-athlete. That's why IMG Academy, one of the nation's premier producers of college athletes, has been preparing its students for how revenue sharing will impact them and their bank accounts. "This moment in time for someone being at IMG Academy is exciting," said Kyle Brey, IMG's director of football. "It's not intimidating. This is a chance for us to flex a muscle that makes us different. We are the only high school on the planet that has the resources to be as far ahead of these conversations as we are. And when the landscape changes is when our resources really get challenged. And that's when we can step up." |
| NCAA panel proposes allowing Division I college athletes, staffers to bet on pro sports | |
 | A top NCAA policy-making group on Tuesday, June 24 voted to propose that the association change its rules to allow Division I athletes and athletics staff members to bet on professional sports events, the association announced. The move by the NCAA Division I Council will not become final until the group concludes meetings on June 25 and will not take effect unless similar governance groups representing Division II and Division III approve the move later this summer. In addition, it will require formal adoption by the Council in October. This past April, the Division III Management Council "took action to support, in concept, noncontroversial legislation deregulating betting on professional sports." This was nearly identical to the stance that the Division I Board of Directors -- a panel mainly comprising school CEOs -- overwhelming took in April. Current NCAA Division I rules say athletes, coaches and administrators cannot "knowingly participate in sports wagering activities or provide information to individuals involved in or associated with any type of sports wagering activities concerning intercollegiate, amateur or professional athletics competition." |
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