| Wednesday, December 17, 2025 |
| Nutramax gifts support MSU Police K-9 Unit | |
 | Mississippi State University is once again the beneficiary of generosity from a College of Veterinary Medicine alumnus and leader of a renowned animal nutraceutical company, Dr. Todd Henderson. A $50,000 gift to the MSU Police Department is funding the purchase, training and equipment for two fully equipped K-9 officers, Cosey and Quinn, who joined the unit alongside Bash and Padi. The Nutramax Laboratories Veterinary Sciences Inc. team met one of the K-9s and gave the monetary donation and gifts. "At Nutramax, we are invested in the research and manufacturing of products that improve the quality of life for people and animals," Henderson said. "As a veterinarian, MSU Vet Med graduate, and father to a third-year MSU Vet Med student, I am invested in the safety and well-being of students, staff and the four-legged heroes that serve this campus." MSU Police formed the K-9 unit in 2014 to enhance campus safety and support major university events. K-9 teams also provide mutual aid support to the Starkville Police Department, Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Office and other regional agencies as needed. Nutramax's gift is just one of many impactful contributions that have supported MSU in their mission of learning, service and research to the veterinary community. |
| USDA leaders visit MSU to honor research geneticist's 64-year career | |
 | Mississippi State University welcomed leaders from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, or ARS, to campus on Tuesday [Dec. 16] to celebrate the retirement of Johnie Jenkins, an ARS Hall of Fame research plant geneticist whose 64-year career has had a global impact on agriculture. Over many decades at ARS, Jenkins conducted groundbreaking research, working on boll weevil eradication, transgenic cotton development and nematode resistance, often collaborating closely with MSU researchers. His longtime USDA office was on the MSU campus, allowing him to work with university faculty and Extension personnel -- an arrangement often referred to as the "Mississippi Model," a seamless partnership between MSU and USDA that focuses on solving real-world problems for farmers. "We have incredible scientists, technicians and administrators, but this group can't solve big agricultural problems alone," said Jenkins at his retirement reception. "Seek and develop collaboration in every direction needed to solve the problems." |
| Extension dietitian to serve on new Dairy Alliance Collective | |
 | A Mississippi State University Extension Service instructor has been selected to serve on the new Dairy Alliance Dietitian Collective. Qula Madkin, an Extension dietitian nutritionist in the MSU Department of Biochemistry, Nutrition and Health Promotion, is one of eight health professionals from across the Southeast chosen for the inaugural collective. The group will serve as trusted voices and spokespeople for The Dairy Alliance. Members bring expertise in areas including sports nutrition, culinary health, diabetes care and intuitive eating. "I'm truly honored by this recognition," Madkin said. "Serving The Dairy Alliance underscores my commitment to leading with purpose and expanding access to trusted nutrition education across our region." She is based at the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Raymond. Curt Lacy, head of the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center, said Madkin brings a deep and practical understanding of wellness promotion and nutrition education to the collective. "Qula is committed to professional excellence and high-impact public health work, and she is widely recognized as a leading nutrition expert across Mississippi," Lacy said. |
| Kayleigh Addington: MSU Doctoral Student Investigates Factors Behind Hurricane Intensity | |
| Kayleigh Addington "chased" her first tropical storm in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy barreled past her home state of Virginia and battered the northeast coast of the U.S. As other families moved inland, Addington's parents booked a hotel room in a deserted Virginia Beach, allowing the 8th grader to get closer to the storm and witness its power firsthand. "I was able to go out and on the boardwalk and just experience the winds and the blowing sand," recalled Addington, who continued chasing storms along the east coast well into her college years. "It's something I'd never seen before." Storms and meteorology have captured Addington's imagination since she watched news footage of Hurricane Katrina at 6 years old. She has spent much of the last decade studying tropical cyclones, first as an undergraduate and master's student in Virginia and now as a doctoral candidate at Mississippi State University in Starkville. |
| 15 high-end apartments in former First Baptist Church to be finished by February | |
| High-end apartments in the former First Baptist Church on Seventh Street North will be move-in ready by February, with more developments still to come. Developer Vince Rapisarda said most of the apartments in the 195-year-old church, now known as Seventh Street Centre, are likely to be leased before construction is even complete, with about a dozen people having already expressed interest. "You take a historical building and put all the modern amenities in it, (and) I think that people love it," Rapisarda told The Dispatch on Tuesday. "... I'm excited. We're going to start doing what I told the city we would do. It's moving right along." The city approved Rapisarda's plans to convert the 81,000 square-foot building into a multi-use complex in May, nearly three years after he purchased the property with his business partner Scott Wagner. Along with the apartment complex and an adjoining gym, both of which will occupy the church's former day care space, Rapisarda plans to add an outdoor recreational space, modernize the sanctuary and revamp the first floor. The apartments are already being "loosely marketed" on Zillow and Hometown Realty's website for $1,600 per month, Realtor Jody Davis told The Dispatch. |
| Local attractions featured on Great Mississippi Nature Trail | |
 | Mississippi is known for its beautiful outdoor spaces, and two such East Mississippi places are being highlighted as part of the new Great Mississippi Nature Trail Initiative. Announced Monday by Visit Mississippi, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and Gov. Tate Reeves, the Great Mississippi Nature Trail shines a light on some of the state's most diverse and beautiful outdoor attractions. The program, which was launched with an initial 20 sites throughout the state, looks to connect visitors to the Magnolia State's natural beauty. Among the initial 20 sites are Dunn's Falls in southern Lauderdale County, along with Clarkco State Park, which lies roughly 20 minutes south of Meridian in Clarke County. "Our goal has been to highlight and create spaces where families, students, and explorers of all ages can experience the quiet beauty, biodiversity, and history that make our state unique. These sites spotlight Mississippi's most remarkable habitats, but they also remind us of our responsibility to safeguard them. This is an investment in our outdoors, our economy, and our shared sense of place," said MDWFP Commissioner Drew St. John. |
| City of Tupelo to buy Tupelo Hardware, where Elvis purchased his first guitar | |
| The city of Tupelo will purchase the historic store where Elvis Presley bought his first guitar. The Tupelo City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to purchase two of the three buildings and the parking lot that house Tupelo Hardware. The city has first right of refusal on the third building. The council made their vote after a brief executive session. The purchase price is undisclosed as of Tuesday, as the purchasing process is ongoing, City Attorney Ben Logan said. "It was a quicker decision than we wanted to make, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for (the Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau) to continue the story that has been told over the years," said Tupelo Mayor Todd Jordan, hinting that the building could potentially be the new home of the organization. "There will be a lot of changes in the next two or three years, but I believe they will be for the better." The store, which was founded in 1926 by George H. Booth, is set to close at the end of the year. CVB Executive Director Stephanie Coomer noted it will close for a time as preparations for the property's new life are finalized. |
| 'This plan is really filling a need': Mississippi Farm Bureau offering new form of healthcare coverage | |
| While it's not technically insurance, the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation is now offering a new health coverage plan designed to offer greater choice, flexibility, and affordability. The move by the typically agriculture-focused organization comes as healthcare premiums rise, impacting the wallets of local residents. The new coverage was made possible through Senate Bill 2851, passed unanimously by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves in 2024. The legislation exempts nonprofit agricultural membership organizations, like Mississippi Farm Bureau, from insurance regulations. Known as the Mississippi Farm Bureau Health Plan, with Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield serving as the administrator, those who sign up will receive 80-20 coverage, meaning the issuer will pay 80% of covered costs, while the user only pays 20% for medical care. Any healthcare provider that accepts Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance will attend to patients under the new health plan. According to officials, the Mississippi Farm Bureau Health Plan was created in response to ongoing demand for more affordable alternatives to traditional health insurance and is not limited to just those in the agriculture industry. |
| Kademi celebrates 30 years of relationships | |
| When Kim Mills Kilpatrick and Dawn Lea Mars Chalmers opened Kademi in Philadelphia three decades ago, it wasn't the result of a long-term plan. It was a leap of faith shared between best friends, a love of creativity, and a belief in each other that made taking risks feel possible. On Friday, Dec. 5, their journey came full circle as longtime customers, friends, and supporters stopped by the store to celebrate Kademi's 30th anniversary. "I was overwhelmed by the calls, texts, and people who came in to see us," Chalmers said. "It meant so much that those same people are still shopping with us and encouraging us after all these years." "It meant a lot," Kilpatrick added. "These are the same people who have supported us for 30 years and made it possible to be here today." Over the years, both women said the moments they cherish most are the small, everyday connections, such as heart-to-heart talks with customers and the Kademi Girls, who have worked and grown with them. Looking back, events that made them most proud include their first open house, counting money at the cabin after selling out at the Neshoba County Fair Flea Market, being named Best Gift Shop by Mississippi Magazine, receiving the Small Business of the Year award, and designing the first Ham Jam T-shirt. |
| Mississippi lawmakers plan to focus on education during 2026 Legislative Session | |
 | There could be tension at the Mississippi State Capitol when lawmakers get ready to debate if school choice should be allowed. However, this won't be the only legislation discussed during the 2026 Legislative Session. "Math coaching is something that I think is going to be our next dynamic issue that we plug in," said State Rep. Rob Roberson (R-District 43). Lawmakers also want to give school teachers more resources, especially when lawmakers said it's working in reading. "We need to take that same model of strong curriculum, strong training and accountability into math, because we know it works if we will fund it," said State Sen. David Blount (D-District 29). Blount and Roberson want to see literacy coaches expanded into eighth grade. "Try to get MDE involved where we were able to fund it and provide these coaches or provide some support for the locals to be able to do the same. Regardless, I don't care how it's done, as long as it's done, and as long as we get the benefit from it," Roberson said. |
| Former Schumer chief counsel challenging Thompson in Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District | |
| Evan Turnage was born in Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District in 1992. "This was the poorest district and the poorest state in the country," Turnage said of the Mississippi Delta region. The next year, then-Hinds County Supervisor Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, became the district's congressman. He has won re-election every two years since despite the continued economic hardships and loss of population in the area. "Unfortunately, that's still the case today 33 years later," Turnage, also a Democrat, told Magnolia Tribune. Now, Turnage, a former Chief Counsel for U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D), believes the Mississippi Delta region needs a change of representation in the nation's capital. That is why he is running to unseat Thompson. "We need plans for real change right now and I think that I have a particular set of assets that I'm looking to use in the district for the betterment," Turnage said. A Yale-trained antitrust lawyer, Turnage was the lead architect of numerous federal bills while serving on Capitol Hill that were supported widely by the Democratic caucus such as Senator Warren's Price Gouging Prevention Act, a key piece of former Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, and Senator Schumer's No Kings Act. |
| Attorney with ties to Schumer, Warren launches Democratic primary challenge of Rep. Bennie Thompson | |
| Evan Turnage worked for years as a top aide for some of the most powerful Democrats in Congress. Now, the Yale-educated attorney from Jackson is launching a primary challenge aimed at ousting one of the body's most long-entrenched members. Turnage, 33, a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Senate Conference Vice Chair Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, will challenge U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson. Thompson has represented the 2nd Congressional District covering Jackson and the Delta since 1993. Thompson, a civil rights leader and former chair of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6th Capitol attack, is a towering figure in state and national politics. The intraparty contest between a millennial first-time candidate with a polished resume and a baby boomer who is one of the longest-serving members of the U.S. House could reveal generational and policy debates simmering among Democrats as the party aims to reclaim a House majority in 2026. Turnage has positioned himself as a generational challenger focused on affordability, economic power and what he calls a "come home agenda" centered on reversing Mississippi's brain drain problem. |
| Trump is previewing his 2026 agenda in an address to the nation as his popularity wanes | |
 | President Donald Trump intends to preview his agenda for next year and beyond in a live speech from the White House on Wednesday night, remarks that come at a crucial juncture as he tries to rebuild his steadily eroding popularity. The White House offered few details about what the Republican president intends to emphasize in the 9 p.m. ET speech. Public polling shows most U.S. adults are frustrated with his handling of the economy as inflation picked up after his tariffs raised prices and hiring slowed. The president's mass deportations of immigrants have also proven unpopular, even as he's viewed favorably for halting crossings along the U.S. border with Mexico. The public has generally been nonplussed by his income tax cuts and globe-trotting efforts to end conflicts, attack drug boats near Venezuela and attract investment dollars into the U.S. In 2026, Trump and his party face a referendum on their leadership as the nation heads into the midterm elections that will decide control of the House and the Senate. |
| Trump Dangles Cash Payments to Buoy Voters' Views of the Economy | |
 | Tariffs are unpopular, prices remain stubbornly high and Americans are souring on President Trump's handling of the economy. So Mr. Trump has reprised a familiar political strategy: promise people cash. The White House is trying to tamp down Americans' economic anxieties by dangling the prospect of checks and other paydays next year, hoping that the money might assuage voters who blame the president for their rising cost of living. Mr. Trump, who is set to address the nation on Wednesday night, has repeatedly teased the idea of sending one-time $2,000 rebate checks to many families, funded using money collected from his sweeping global tariffs. But he has not devised a detailed plan for providing the rebates, an expensive policy that Republicans in Congress must approve and one that they have not yet considered. The president has also begun hyping up the tax refunds that Americans are slated to receive in 2026. For many people, these cash payments are expected to be larger than they were last year, after Republicans adopted a sprawling set of tax cuts in July. But economists take a dimmer view. Even if Americans were to delight in a series of new government-issued checks, the payments would hardly address the reasons that prices remain so high -- including a shortage in housing that has driven up rents and mortgages and the global tariffs that have made imports more expensive. And the money that may soon be sloshing around the economy could end up worsening inflation, undermining Mr. Trump's own economic goals. |
| Marjorie Taylor Greene says 'dam is breaking' within GOP against Trump | |
 | Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) on Tuesday said President Donald Trump has "real problems" within the Republican Party, adding in an interview with CNN that the president is out of touch with voters on key issues such as affordability. Greene told Kaitlan Collins on "The Source" that the "dam is breaking" in terms of Trump's hold on support within the party and that she expects Republicans to struggle in next year's midterm elections. Citing the backlash to Trump's comments on the death of director Rob Reiner, the 13 House Republicans who voted with Democrats to overturn Trump's executive order on collective bargaining and Indiana Republicans' rejection of the president's redistricting push, Greene said she expected "pushback" within the party to grow as lawmakers enter the campaign phase for the upcoming elections. "I think the midterms are going to be very hard for Republicans," Greene said. "I'm one of the people that's willing to admit the truth and say I don't see Republicans winning the midterms right now." In the interview, Greene described affordability as a "crisis" that Trump has failed to tackle. "What I would like to see from the president is empathy for Americans," she said. |
| Senate GOP grows uneasy as Pentagon's Kelly investigation escalates | |
 | Senate Republicans are growing increasingly uneasy with the Pentagon's investigation into Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced his office is escalating its probe into him. The Defense Department announced Monday the review into Kelly has risen to an "official Command Investigation," intensifying the feud between the two sides over Kelly's role in a video he and other congressional Democrats made to remind service members of their duty to disobey illegal orders. The news has also given a number of Republicans pause as they question whether this is a prudent decision by the Pentagon against one of their colleagues. "I think it's a terrible idea," said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Paul was one of five Senate GOP members who expressed reservations about the Hegseth-led investigation into Kelly, a retired Navy captain. Kelly has been under fire by the administration for nearly a month after he, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Democratic Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Chris Deluzio (Pa.), Maggie Goodlander (N.H.) and Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.) appeared in the video that set off the series of comments. Trump also called for the execution of the half-dozen lawmakers -- a remark he walked back. |
| After briefings, lawmakers say boat strike endgame remains hazy | |
 | Closed-door briefings on the Trump administration's military campaign against alleged drug-smuggling boats provided lawmakers with little clarity on the overall strategy of the operation and whether the ultimate goal is to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. After separate House and Senate briefings Tuesday from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, lawmakers on both sides of the regime-change debate said they received no clear answers on the administration's endgame. "I want to know what's going to happen next," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a confidant of President Donald Trump and influential GOP defense hawk. "Is it the policy to take Maduro down? It should be." Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., similarly told reporters that "the main question in front of us [is], what is the administration's strategy?" "It seems clear to me, their goal is to force Maduro out and the question, what comes next -- how do we prepare for and handle the consequences of a brutal dictator being removed whether by his own military or by popular uprising or by our military -- there was no clear answer to that question, and I'm not sure there is a clear answer," Coons said. Overall, the briefings appeared to do little to change minds about the boat strikes, with Republicans in lockstep with the administration and Democrats roundly opposed. |
| Trump Administration Expands Travel Ban to Additional Countries | |
 | The Trump administration expanded its travel ban to cover five additional countries, and added partial bans on 15 additional countries, in a move to formalize President Trump's promised crackdown on "third-world countries." Citizens of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria are joining the list of countries whose citizens are nearly all banned from immigrating to or entering the U.S., according to a White House announcement. Palestinians, whose documents are issued by the Palestinian Authority, are also now banned. Laos and Sierra Leone, which were previously subject to partial bans, will now face full restrictions. In addition, 15 countries will face new partial bans: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Citizens from these countries generally won't be able to apply for tourist or student visas while the ban is in effect. In total, 39 countries, plus Palestinian nationals, are now subject to full or partial travel bans under the Trump administration. Other countries the Trump administration has already subjected to full or partial bans include Afghanistan, Iran and Haiti. |
| Data centers have a political problem -- and Big Tech wants to fix it | |
 | Tech companies and lobbyists are investing millions of dollars to tackle a new political problem for the industry: Data centers, the lifeblood of the growing AI economy, are becoming toxic with voters. Alarmed by elections that candidates won by campaigning against new data centers, the industry is taking out ads and funding campaigns to flip the narrative and put data centers in a positive light -- spinning them as job creators and economic drivers rather than resource-hungry land hogs. The new campaigns mark a sharp change for an industry that has long relied on tech's image as an engine of growth and development. They signal how concerned the tech sector is becoming about data centers in the 2026 midterm elections. A new AI trade group is distributing talking points to members of Congress and organizing local data center field trips to better pitch voters on their value. Another trade association, the Data Center Coalition, nearly tripled its lobbying spend in the third quarter of this year from the previous quarter, according to U.S. lobbying disclosures. November's election results were bleak for the companies that need data centers to thrive. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey both won governor's races in part by campaigning to force data center operators in their states to make upfront payments to upgrade the aging electrical grid. The issue is likely to grow more acute. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed new limits on data centers this month as part of a state "AI bill of rights." Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) warned that rushed AI data center build outs will have "massive" consequences down the line. And Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has vowed to prevent what happened in Virginia from repeating in his own state. |
| Spooked by AI and Layoffs, White-Collar Workers See Their Security Slip Away | |
| Office workers are filled with anxiety. Tuesday's jobs report was the latest ominous sign in an era of big corporate layoff announcements and chief executives warning that artificial intelligence will replace workers. The overall unemployment rate ticked up to 4.6%. Sectors with a lot of office workers, like information and financial activities, shed jobs in October and November. Hiring in many industries that employ white-collar workers has softened this year, according to Labor Department data, while the unemployment rate for college-educated workers has drifted higher. Fears about the job market are contributing to widespread pessimism about the economy. The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment is near historic lows. Many Americans are buckling under almost five years of persistent inflation. College-educated workers who were once insulated from economic concerns aren't anymore. Just a few years ago, these workers were getting promotions and raises left and right. Now they are hanging onto their jobs for dear life, spooked by high-profile layoff announcements, the rise of artificial intelligence and an unforgiving job market for the unemployed. "It's a moment of intense uncertainty," said Sarah Rand, 42 years old, who was laid off from her communications role at the University of Chicago in the spring. Her husband was laid off from a digital health startup around the same time. They were both earning six figures. "If we can't feel stability, if the economy isn't working for us, then who is it working for?" |
| AI is pushing young people toward the trades | |
| Earlier this year, the CEO of artificial intelligence company Anthropic predicted the technology will lead to a sort of white-collar bloodbath. That uncertainty in the white-collar workforce has more young people turning to blue-collar work. It's the reason Brendan Hancock is about to graduate for the second time. The 40-year-old said his English degree from a traditional four-year college didn't amount to the stable career he was looking for. "I don't think I've ever seen a job ad that said 'English degree required,'" he said. Hancock took a gig teaching English overseas in Ukraine and Asia, but said, "the type of teaching I was doing, it was really inconsistent, and my schedule could be horrible at times." So, he decided to start over at the Northwest Washington Electrical Industry Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee in Mount Vernon, Washington, about an hour north of Seattle. "Going back to university when I had already been to university and not gotten a career out of it wasn't very appealing," he said. Apprenticeship programs are growing steadily across the U.S. Enrollment in two-year, trade-focused college programs increased almost 20% since 2020, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. |
| IHL requesting $130 million bond to address aging university facilities | |
| Brad Rowland, Associate Commissioner for Real Estate and Facilities for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, provided the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee with the results from the most recent Gordian report last week. Rowland said IHL currently manages 1,631 buildings, comprising of over 42 million gross square feet of space, which makes up about 25 percent of the state's buildings. In terms of age, many buildings are so old that they require significant ongoing maintenance to keep them operational. "A lot of our buildings are over the age of 50 in terms of actual construction," Rowland described. The Gordian report states that it would cost $1.6 billion to address all building needs within the IHL system. "When looking at all backlog and priority renewal across our system, their target investments is somewhere around the $130 to $140 million a year range," Rowland described. "It's important that we address the backlog. If we fail to address backlog that only continues to grow each year out." The bond request to the Legislature in the coming session is anticipated be $130 million. |
| Legislators discuss increasing numbers of Mississippians attaining jobs and education beyond high school | |
| State lawmakers and leaders of Mississippi's public colleges and universities are examining ways to increase the number of adults who complete some form of education after high school, land a job and earn a living wage. The initial conversations, held Wednesday and Thursday during a joint meeting of the state House and Senate committees on universities and colleges, will likely continue during the 2026 legislative session. Some lawmakers want to tie state funding to public universities based on post-graduation student success. The goal is to get a better value for taxpayers to ensure college students are getting the best benefit of their education and the state is getting a return on investment for them to enter the workforce, said Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford and the Senate committee chair. Higher education systems in some states, such as Texas, Tennessee and Florida, use a performance-based funding model. Their models reward institutions for graduating students, placing them in jobs with median wage earnings, and helping high need populations succeed. |
| Ole Miss professor, Fulton native recognized for decades of service in child welfare, education | |
| Patricia Digby has spent more than four decades working to advance child welfare, serving as a supervisor, administrator and educator. In honor of her lifelong dedication to the field, the Children's Advocacy Centers of Mississippi recently presented her with its 2025 CAST Crusader Award. Digby, an instructional assistant professor of social work at the University of Mississippi, helped develop the university's child advocacy studies minor program, known as CAST. She also recently helped launch the CARES (Child Advocacy Response and Education for Scholars) Club to engage students in supporting children and families affected by abuse and neglect. Her work has been instrumental in building the Ole Miss program and the Mississippi Academic Pathways Title IV E Program, said Keith Anderson, chair of the Department of Social Work. "Her work and dedication over her career to the children and families of Mississippi will reverberate for years to come and she is so deserving of this prestigious award," Anderson said. The MAP program is a grant through the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services and part of a collaboration of seven public universities. It uses federal funding to assist college students majoring in social work. |
| USM secures $2.1M grant to boost student success | |
| The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) received a five-year, $2.1 million U.S. Department of Education Strengthening Institutions Program grant. The funds will support efforts to remove barriers students may face in completing their degrees. According to USM officials, the grant focuses on predictive analytics as well as high-quality teaching, advising and mentorship. It includes supplemental funds that will allow the project team to expand intentional career guidance efforts throughout the student experience, from recruitment to graduation. The goals set by the project team include improving student degree completion by identifying and addressing significant obstacles. Officials said additional benefits of the grant include expansion of the university's ACUE (Association of College and University Educators) Faculty Development Institute and support for professional development for advisors and the Institutional Research team. |
| U. of Alabama honors class of 2025 at fall graduation | |
 | Around 2,200 graduates received their degrees Dec. 13 during the University of Alabama's fall 2025 commencement at Coleman Coliseum. Students took their seats to the music of "Pomp and Circumstance: March No. 1" and the welcome was provided by UA's Chief Administrative Officer Chad Tindol. Philip McCown, a doctor of musical arts student, performed the national anthem, as well as the alma mater. The Rev. T. Wade Langer Jr., pastor of Bama Wesley, the United Methodist campus ministry, gave the invocation. Interim Provost Lesley Reid introduced Faculty Senate President Matthew Hudnall, who gave the faculty greeting. UA President Peter Mohler conferred the degrees as Eugene O. "Doff" Procter III read each graduate's name. UA suspends normal business operations Dec. 22-Jan. 1, 2026, for the winter break. Classes will resume Jan. 7 for the spring semester. |
| U. of Alabama will give college scholarship in honor of Charlie Kirk | |
 | An Alabama state senator has partnered with a college alumni association to start a scholarship in honor of Charlie Kirk at the University of Alabama. Sen. Gerald Allen (R-District 21) is funding the Charlie Kirk Memorial Endowed Scholarship. The University of Alabama Alumni Association will award incoming and continuing Tuscaloosa County undergraduate students starting in 2027. Scholarships will be given to full-time students "who exhibit leadership, strong moral character, civic engagement or public service as demonstrated by their involvement in on- and off-campus extracurricular activities and who demonstrate financial need as determined by federal aid guidelines." Kirk, a right-wing political activist, was killed Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University. Allen is funding the initial scholarship himself, but donations are accepted to continue funding. |
| LSU's restructuring is off to a rocky start | |
| In the days since LSU announced plans to overhaul its multiple institutions to gain leverage in higher education research rankings, university leaders have faced intense criticism for not seeking input from faculty, administrators, legislators or the public. A new structure for the LSU System was unveiled last week and approved by its Board of Supervisors. It calls for making LSU's medical schools in Shreveport and New Orleans, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the LSU AgCenter part of its main campus, creating a singular university that can immediately shoot higher in rankings for research spending. This reconfiguration is the next step toward achieving LSU's goal of becoming a top 50 public research university and joining the prestigious Association of American Universities. But to get that boost, the medical schools and research institutions have to give up their autonomous leadership. Their current leaders have been demoted, and none were consulted on the change. LSU General Counsel Trey Jones said he doesn't believe legislation is necessary to combine the campuses, though he said it might require some wording changes in various statutes. |
| 'Sadly-timed': New bill would allow Florida professors, TAs to open carry on campus | |
| Florida professors, university faculty, and teaching assistants could soon be able to openly carry firearms on campus, thanks to a sweeping new measure filed by a Republican lawmaker. Sen. Don Gaetz is sponsoring the legislation, entitled "School Safety," to address security concerns in higher education. If passed, the bill would remove college campuses as gun-free zones -- marking a significant shift in how Florida handles gun issues. It would become one of the few Second Amendment expansion bills adopted in Florida since the Parkland massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, which prompted a higher gun-purchasing age and red flag laws. In an interview with the Phoenix, Gaetz called his legislation "sadly timed," adding that he "never wanted" to file a bill like this. He referred to a slate of violent incidents in the past few months, including a shooting spree at Florida State University in April, the assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in September, a shooting at Brown University over the weekend, and, most recently, an anti-Jewish shooting in Australia that left 15 dead. |
| Texas A&M sophomore Aiden Ross, a College Station native, wins 'The Voice' Season 28 | |
| College Station native and Texas A&M sophomore Aiden Ross won season 28 of NBC's "The Voice" Tuesday night. Ross, 20, is studying industrial engineering at the university and he grew up on his family's strawberry farm near College Station. "I don't even know what to say. Thank you to my family and to God. Happy holidays guys," he said just moments after the announcement while being congratulated by mentor and singer Niall Horan. The singing-competition show is in its 28th season on NBC. Singers and performers from across the country move forward in rounds until the finale. This year, coaches and mentors included Michael Bublé, Snoop Dogg, Horan and Reba McEntire. In the season premiere in September, he performed Adele's "Love in the Dark." He got a "chair-turn" from all four mentors and chose Horan as his coach. "With his remarkable talent, he impressed not only that lineup but the entire nation, taking home the top prize during the nail-biting finale of the popular musical competition 'The Voice,'" according to a story announcing his win from Texas A&M University. |
| The Man Behind Texas Tech's Controversial Curriculum Crackdown | |
 | In a sweeping memo sent earlier this month, the Texas Tech University system sharply limited how faculty members can teach about race and sex. The policy bans faculty from teaching that a person can be inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive; a person should "bear responsibility or guilt for actions of others of the same race or sex"; or that there are more than two sexes when discussing gender identity. The university system encouraged faculty to consult a flow chart to help determine if their course content is both "relevant" and "necessary" to classroom instruction. Many faculty members have criticized the policy and its guidelines as vague and a violation of academic freedom. Brandon Creighton, chancellor of Texas Tech University system, says that the new policy will help the university system produce degrees of "high value." Creighton became chancellor in November after he resigned from his position as a state senator. As a Republican legislator, Creighton introduced several bills that banned diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in public schools and restricted how K-12 teachers and university professors can teach about race and sex. Creighton cites one of the last anti-DEI bills he authored as a senator -- SB 37 -- as a reason for enforcing the new policy. In a wide-ranging interview, Creighton said that higher education has become hostile to conservative viewpoints and an overemphasis on race and gender is eroding the value of a college diploma. |
| One Way the Brown Attack Was Unusual: The Gunman Escaped | |
| He could be so many people on the street: dark winter hat, dark zippered jacket, black pants. Even the gun the police say he used to open fire in a Brown University classroom on Saturday was one of the world's most common types, a 9-millimeter handgun. The man who carried out a rampage that killed two students and wounded nine seemed to have left little behind, other than shell casings and video snippets of a portly figure pacing past doorbell cameras in the neighborhood east of campus, his facial features concealed behind a medical mask. The hunt has put the city, and the authorities, in a tense situation, with a high-profile case and a killer in the wind. On Tuesday afternoon, as the three-day manhunt inched toward four, they released yet another grainy image of the suspected gunman and said that they were confident that once he was identified, he could be found. It is unusual, but not unprecedented, for manhunts in high-profile attacks to stretch on, dangerous as any delay may be. Three days passed before the F.B.I. released photos of the Boston Marathon bombers in 2013, and during the ensuing search, the fugitives shot three police officers, two fatally. It took five days to capture Luigi Mangione, now accused of killing the C.E.O. of United Healthcare one year ago. But in apparently random, public shootings like the one at Brown, the majority of attackers kill themselves or are killed by law enforcement officers at the scene. |
| NSF Lowers Grant Review Requirements, NIH Hunts for Phrases | |
 | Two major federal research funding agencies are altering their grant review processes. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is scaling back its reviews of grant proposals, according to a Dec. 1 internal memo that Science obtained and published, while STAT reported that the National Institutes of Health distributed guidance Friday ordering staff to use a "text analysis tool" to search for certain phrases. The NSF memo says the government shutdown, which ended in November, hampered its progress toward doling out all its funding by the end of the new fiscal year. It said "we lost critical time" and "now face [a] significant backlog of unreviewed proposals and canceled review panels. In parallel, our workforce has been significantly reduced." The memo said the changes "enable Program Officers to expedite award and decline decisions," including by moving away from the "usual three or more reviews" of proposals. It said that, now, "full proposals requiring external review must be reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers or have a minimum of two reviews. An internal review may substitute for one." |
| Turning Point's Student Membership Keeps Growing | |
| Three months after Charlie Kirk's assassination, the footprint of the right-wing youth organization he founded continues to grow on college campuses. This week, Turning Point USA chapters at both Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Oklahoma reported membership surges. According to the Indiana Daily Student (IDS) and Indy Star, IU's chapter says its membership has tripled this fall, from 180 to 363. At the University of Oklahoma -- which put an instructor on leave after the Turning Point chapter accused them of "viewpoint discrimination" -- the group's membership has grown from 15 to 2,000 over the past year, NBC reported. Those increases follow other local media reports about new chapters and membership growth at scores of other universities across the country, including the University of Missouri, and Vanderbilt and Brigham Young Universities. Within eight days of Kirk's death, Turning Point said it received messages from 62,000 students interested in starting a new chapter or getting involved with one. "I think that our club has kind of become a beacon for conservatives," a Turning Point chapter member told IDS, Indiana University at Bloomington's campus newspaper. "So, after his death, more people showed up, more people got involved, and it was really nice to kind of see a scene in the way people wanted to get involved." |
| Under Trump, Accreditation Oversight Committee Produces Some Smoke, but No Fire | |
| All the elements were there Tuesday for a contentious meeting of the federal panel that oversees college accreditation: a deadlocked vote for chair; lobbying by Education Department officials; and a former Heritage Foundation researcher ultimately getting the nod. But by the end, members mostly avoided partisan conflict and even found some things to agree on. The 18-member National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity advises the U.S. education secretary on accreditation issues, including whether to recommend that accrediting agencies receive federal recognition to serve as gatekeepers to federal student aid. The tensions were, in part, engineered by the Education Department, which had delayed the meeting for months and allowed the terms of six Biden administration appointees to expire. At Tuesday's meeting, the members were announced and, in a change from past practice, seated according to whether they were appointed by Democrats or Republicans in Congress or the Education Department. (Each of these groups picks six members for a six-year term.) In addition, the committee's first votes were tallied according to their appointing body, not as had been done in the past. |
| 'Buckle Up': Trump Official Pledges to Fix Accreditation | |
| President Donald Trump's skepticism of the current accreditation system bled into Tuesday's National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) meeting -- the first since Education Secretary Linda McMahon and other officials were confirmed. The Trump administration has cast accreditation as beset by alleged woke priorities, a theme repeated Tuesday along with pledges to shake up the system. Concerns about a supposed pervasive liberal ideology among such bodies prompted an executive order in April that threatened to strip federal recognition from accreditors that require institutions to engage in unlawful diversity practices. The Department of Education is also seeking public comment on accreditation reform, which officials have said is to increase transparency and efficiency, and is planning to update the rules for accreditors next year. Tuesday's meeting began with the election of a new NACIQI chair, a process that required two votes after the 18-member board tied on the first try. After the second vote, Jay Greene, a former senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation staffer and sharp critic of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, was named chair. |
| China exploits US-funded research on nuclear technology, a congressional report says | |
| China is exploiting partnerships with U.S. researchers funded by the Department of Energy to provide the Chinese military with access to sensitive nuclear technology and other innovations with economic and national security applications, according to a congressional report published Wednesday. The authors of the report say the U.S. must do more to protect high-tech research and ensure that the results of taxpayer-funded work don't end up benefiting Beijing. They recommended several changes to better protect scientific research in the U.S., including new policies for the Department of Energy to use when deciding whether to fund work that involves Chinese partnerships. The investigation is part of a congressional push to raise a firewall blocking U.S. research from boosting China's military buildup when the two countries are locked in a tech and arms rivalry that will shape the future global order. Particularly concerning, investigators found that federal funds went to research collaborations with Chinese state-owned laboratories and universities that work directly for China's military, including some listed in a Pentagon database of Chinese military companies with operations in the U.S. The report also detailed collaborations between U.S. researchers and groups blamed for cyberattacks as well as human rights abuses in China. |
| Trump administration to dismantle key climate research center | |
| The Trump administration said Tuesday it was breaking up one of the world's preeminent earth and atmospheric research institutions, based in Colorado, over concerns about "climate alarmism" -- a move that comes amid escalating attacks from the White House against the state's Democratic lawmakers. "The National Science Foundation will be breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado," wrote Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget on X. "This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country." The NCAR laboratory in Boulder was founded in 1960 at the base of the Rocky Mountains to conduct research and educate future scientists. Its resources include supercomputers, valuable datasets and high-tech research planes. The announcement drew outrage and concern from scientists and local lawmakers, who said it could imperil the country's weather and climate forecasting, and appeared to take officials and employees by surprise. "Maybe if Colorado had a governor who actually wanted to work with President Trump, his constituents would be better served," said a senior White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were "not at liberty to discuss internal discussions." |
| Amid talk of a brain drain, some scientists leave U.S. behind | |
| When Pleuni Pennings and her family came to this university town in the south of France at the beginning of the year, the plan was to stay a few months for a sabbatical of sorts before returning home to the U.S. She and her husband thought about moving to Europe one day, and were scouting Montpellier as a possible future home. After all, Pennings was originally from the Netherlands. But she, like so many, had moved to the U.S. for scientific training and had stuck around, becoming a professor at San Francisco State University. She and her husband -- who is from Germany -- had built a life in the U.S., with two born-and-raised American kids and a house in San Francisco. They weren't planning on uprooting any time soon. Then Pennings watched from afar as the second Trump administration started tearing into the scientific research system, and the hazy possibility of one day moving back to Europe became her current reality. Being an academic was hard enough in the U.S., and she grew pessimistic about her chances of winning grant funding. Pennings, an expert on how pathogens evolve resistance to drugs, was also a vociferous critic of President Trump on social media. Despite holding a green card, she became nervous about traveling back to the U.S. amid an immigration crackdown. So she and her family stayed in France. With that, Pennings became an embodiment of the concern that scientists, dispirited by the upheaval in the U.S. and restrictions on academic freedom, will leave for jobs abroad, imperiling America's long-held pole position at the forefront of innovation. |
| PERS pension concerns remain volatile for state lawmakers in 2026 as markets rumble | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: Across the U.S., public pension unfunded liabilities generally decreased, falling about 9 percent from $1.62 trillion in 2024 to $1.48 trillion in 2025. That's the good news. The unwelcome news is that a recession or other severe economic downturn could raise state and local public pension debt to as much as $2.74 trillion by 2026. Mississippi's Public Employees Retirement System, or PERS, has an unfunded liability of roughly $26 billion. PERS is the public pension defined-benefit system that provides retirement benefits to some 360,000 current and former public employees in the state, including elementary and secondary school teachers and administrators, university and community college faculty, staff and administrators, and other state employees. There are 145,836 active PERS members (workers still employed). ... The PERS policy debate confronting government at all levels in Mississippi isn't new. |
SPORTS
| Men's Basketball: The Final Horn: State 87, Long Island 83 | |
| Mississippi State picked up its second-straight win with an 87-83 triumph over Long Island on Tuesday night at Humphrey Coliseum. After a fast start for the Bulldogs, LIU trimmed a nine-point deficit to one as MSU held a 39-38 lead at halftime. The second half was a tight battle as the two teams traded blows down the stretch. In the final minutes, Josh Hubbard contributed nine of the team's last 17 points to seal the victory for State. The other eight points came at the free throw line from Jayden Epps, Quincy Ballard and Shawn Jones Jr., who sank a pair from the charity stripe with 7.9 seconds left to push MSU's lead to 87-83, icing the game for the Dawgs. Hubbard led the Bulldogs in scoring with a season-high 34 points. The Bulldogs will host Memphis on Saturday, Dec. 20. Tipoff at Humphrey Coliseum is set for 3 p.m., and the game will be televised via ESPN. |
| Mississippi State uses every bit of Hubbard's 34-point effort to subdue LIU | |
| Josh Hubbard scored 34 points and Jayden Epps scored 20 points and Mississippi State had to fight to the end to hold off Long Island 87-83 on Tuesday. Malachi Davis made a 3-pointer with 4:58 left and Greg Gordon's 18 seconds later put the Sharks up 76-71. The Bulldogs (6-5) used an 11-3 run and took the lead for good on two foul shots by Epps with 2:42 remaining. Jomo Goings' tip-in with 13 seconds left brought LIU within 85-83 before MSU's Shawn Jones Jr. made a pair of foul shots to seal it. Hubbard finished four points shy of tying his career-high. Sergej Macura scored 12 and Quincy Ballard grabbed 10 rebounds for Mississippi State. Mississippi State appeared poised to run away early by taking an 8-0 lead but never extended the margin to double digits. Up 17-8, Davis scored eight points in a 13-2 LIU run to give the Sharks their first lead at 21-20. The Bulldogs responded with 12-3 run before LIU used the last five minutes to outscore the Bulldogs 15-7. MSU led 39-38 at halftime. Mississippi State hosts Memphis on Saturday. |
| Mississippi State basketball vs LIU highlights, Josh Hubbard scores 34 in win | |
 | Mississippi State basketball struggled against another mid-major team but was able to find a win. The Bulldogs (6-5) defeated Long Island 87-83 at Humphrey Coliseum on Dec. 16. It's the first time this season they've won consecutive games. MSU led for most of the game, but never by more than nine points in the first half and six in the second half. The Sharks (6-5) led by three with 3:29 remaining, but MSU responded with an 8-0 run and never conceded the lead. Josh Hubbard was Mississippi State's leading scorer with a season-high 34 points and six 3-pointers. It was his fifth 30-point game of his career. Georgetown transfer Jayden Epps added 20 points. Mississippi State hosts Memphis (4-5) next on Dec. 20 (3 p.m., ESPN). |
| Women's Basketball: Bulldogs To Face Off With Alabama State On Wednesday | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball (10-1) looks to extend their six-game winning streak to seven when they host the Alabama State Hornets on Wednesday night. Tipoff for the contest is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. Mississippi State extended their winning streak to six after defeating Southern Miss, 87-64 on Sunday. The Bulldogs have won eight straight contests inside Humphrey Coliseum. Wednesday's matchup will feature a household divided, as Mississippi State assistant coach Anita Howard will sit opposite of her husband Theo, who is an assistant at Alabama State. Alabama State enters the contest with a 3-6 record. The Bulldogs will be the fifth power four opponent the Hornets have faced this season, with three of those being other SEC foes. Mississippi State owns the series over Alabama State 7-0. Every game has been played inside of the Hump. Coach Sam Purcell is 2-0 against the Hornets. |
| Purcell, Bulldogs focused on fixing fundamentals with SEC gauntlet looming | |
| Only two weeks remain until the start of SEC basketball, and Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell is still looking for more from his team. Purcell has praised the effort of his Bulldog squad, which is 10-1 through 11 nonconference games and fresh off blowout wins over Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Southern Miss. He knows his team should win those games, though, and his focus remains on the fundamentals where the margin for error shrinks drastically against SEC opposition. "Defense and rebounding," he said when asked where he is still looking for more. "We've got to hit bodies. I keep saying, it's fake numbers, we've got to have relentless effort in finding five people to box out, because it's coming." The Bulldogs open their SEC campaign on New Year's Day against Auburn. The 8-3 Tigers aren't considered conference contenders, but when even the lower end of the conference has a winning record, there is plenty to prepare for when the lights get brighter. "When you start predicting what is to come in the SEC, this year, I think it's going to be the hardest year in the league," Purcell said. "From top to bottom, there's not much of a break." The Bulldogs face Alabama State at Humphrey Coliseum today at 6:30 p.m., one of two remaining nonconference home games this month. A Saturday trip to face La Salle and a return home on Dec. 28 against Stamford are all that's left before the SEC gauntlet. |
| An MSU year-in-review: Top Bulldog performers of 2025 | |
| 2025 was a memorable year for several Bulldog athletes across multiple sports. The Dispatch begins its year in review for Mississippi State athletics with a look at some of the top performers from the calendar year in MSU sports. |
| PGA in Jackson for 2026 unlikely as planners eye 2027 | |
| While Century Club Charities announced on Dec. 16 it is giving $1 million from proceeds of the 2025 Sanderson Farms Championships to the Friends of Children's Hospital, an organization that supports the University of Mississippi Medical Center, there are still serious questions as to whether there will be another PGA golf tournament played in Jackson. That comes at a time organizers in Jackson are evaluating the future of the PGA stop at the Country Club of Jackson. October was the 13th and final year of sponsorship for Wayne Sanderson Farms as Mississippi's only PGA Tour event, and if the tournament cannot find a new sponsor immediately, Mississippi's run of having a PGA tournament since 1968 could possibly come to an end. Tournament director Steve Jent told the Clarion Ledger on Dec. 16 at the Century Club Charities that he was not sure whether there would be any event for 2026, but that he would rate the chances of there being an event in 2027 in the 80% range. "There most likely won't be a tournament for 2026," Jent said. "As the calendar flips, we are working hard to see what we can do for 2027, whether that is a PGA tour, Champions tour, the Centuries Club mission remains the same which is impact Mississippi charities through the game of golf. We just have to figure out what that looks like." |
| RS3 Hospitality acquisition another step in Proof of the Pudding's growth | |
| Proof of the Pudding's multi-million-dollar acquisition of RS3 Hospitality -- the Texas-based concessionaire started by Baseball HOFer Nolan Ryan and run by his son, Reid -- is the latest in a string of under-the-radar purchases by the Atlanta-based F&B provider. Bruin Capital's 2023 investment into Proof put some wind in the company's sails as it tries to grab a larger piece of an industry otherwise dominated by six multi-national, billion-dollar businesses. "We want to continue scaling and growing, we have a great partner in Bruin Capital, not just capital to acquire and do new deals, but they're connected across the industry, so strategic relationships," CEO Adam Noyes said. "Our goal is not to be any of those big companies, it's to be ourselves." Proof is heavily involved in professional golf and increasingly F1 and college sports. It's pursuing pro hockey, Noyes said, and just picked up Chase Stadium, soon to be Inter Miami's former home. But acquisitions enable faster growth, even if they're largely at the minor league level. In addition to RS3, Proof also acquired a Toronto-based company called Marigolds and Onions, after partnering with them on the President's Cup. That deal expanded Proof's presence beyond just 16 states and into a second country, and it now has more than 500 full-time employees. How much more growth Proof can acquire is unclear, though. Noyes said the company likes the Carolinas and Florida as markets, but there aren't a ton of regional food and beverage providers. |
| Florida baseball's Kevin O'Sullivan expected to return to program | |
| Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan is expected to return from his leave of absence, according to Baseball America's Jacob Rudner. According to the report, a statement is expected later this week. O'Sullivan announced on Oct. 22 that he opted to step away for personal reasons with no exact timetable on his return. "Coach O'Sullivan has our full support as he takes the time he needs to focus on personal matters," said Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin in a press release . "We appreciate his openness in communicating this decision, and respect his need for privacy." During O'Sullivan's absence, UF hired Tom Slater as the associate head coach as well as interim coach following Chuck Jeroloman's departure to Tennessee. Prior to O'Sullivan's leave, he was subject to a child welfare investigate, which cited no evidence of wrongdoing. Earlier this fall, O'Sullivan received a public reprimand for a viral outburst during the NCAA regional hosted by Coastal Carolina earlier in August. In response, UF opted to suspend O'Sullivan for the Gators' first three games of the upcoming 2026 season. |
| Q&A: Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart responds to criticism of JMI deal, NIL setup | |
 | Recent claims that JMI Sports is prohibiting University of Kentucky athletes from entering into NIL deals with competitors to the school's corporate partners are false, according to athletic director Mitch Barnhart. Yes, as part of the agreements signed by UK athletes for revenue-sharing payments from the school, athletes are prohibited from using university logos, facilities and other trademarks in any endorsements for businesses that are not affiliated with JMI and UK. However, athletes are still permitted to sign their own endorsement deals with other companies as long as they do not wear UK gear in the advertisements, UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart told the Herald-Leader in a one-on-one interview Tuesday. JMI's role in UK's NIL setup has come under fire in recent weeks, sparked in large part by a story from Kentucky Sports Radio that cited anonymous sources who attributed the men's basketball program's failure to sign any 2026 high school recruits so far at least in part to JMI limiting UK athletes to deals with its existing advertising partners. |
| ACC shares 9-game conference schedule in 'transition year' | |
| The ACC will roll out its new nine-game conference schedule in a modified form for the 2026 football season, the conference announced Tuesday, with a full nine-game slate beginning in 2027. For the upcoming season, which the ACC is calling a "transition year," 12 of its 17 schools will play nine conference games, with Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina and Boston College playing just eight. Those five teams each have multiple Power Four opponents already scheduled outside the conference. Because the ACC has an odd number of teams, one school will play eight league games each season starting in 2027. Four ACC schools -- Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Louisville -- have an annual rivalry game against the SEC, and while Louisville AD Josh Heird said his school is eager to play a strong schedule each season, the other three initially balked at the lack of scheduling flexibility that would come with a nine-game conference slate and an annual nonconference game against their SEC rival. This marks the fourth different scheduling format for the ACC in the past four years. The ACC remains contractually tied with Notre Dame as well, playing five nonconference games per year against the Fighting Irish. |
| 'It's been a nightmare:' College Football Playoff coaches juggling multiple jobs amid wonky calendar | |
| On the campus of James Madison, two head football coaches are hard at work. Within the JMU football operations center, outgoing coach and new UCLA coach Bob Chesney and his coaching staff are grinding on preparations for the biggest game in the school's history -- the College Football Playoff bout on Saturday night at Oregon. Less than a mile away, inside Hotel Madison, new JMU coach Billy Napier and his staff are knee-deep in preparations for the next version of the JMU football team -- scouting players, assembling a staff and examining the transfer portal. Every now and again, these two intersect. For instance, Napier attends most practices, watching Chesney coach Napier's future players from afar. The two, Chesney and Napier, have even met to share information -- Napier helping with Chesney's transition to the power conference level and west coast (Napier has experience in both), and Chesney helping Napier's transition to JMU. In the middle of it all is a chance at one of the biggest upsets in college football history. As this year's College Football Playoff revs up with four first-round games this week, one thing has impacted a majority of the 12-team field: the coaching carousel. Eight playoff-bound teams have experienced coaching staff turnover to some degree. |
| Chuck Neinas, who helped transform college football into big business, dies at 93 | |
| Chuck Neinas, the onetime Big Eight commissioner whose media savvy and dealmaking helped turn college football into the multibillion-dollar business it is today, died Tuesday. He was 93. The National Football Foundation announced Neinas' death, with its president and CEO Steve Hatchell calling him "a visionary in every sense of the word." A cause of death was not disclosed. From 1980-97, Neinas was executive director of the College Football Association, an agency created by several big conferences that sought to wrest control of their TV rights from the NCAA. Two key members, Georgia and Oklahoma, sued the NCAA over TV, and a 1984 Supreme Court ruling in their favor effectively made the CFA a separate business from the rest of college sports. It gave Neinas a key seat at the negotiating table. He brought home deals worth billions in the 1980s and '90s, and those huge contracts set the stage for today's industry, currently highlighted by a TV deal worth $7.8 billion for the College Football Playoff. |
| Congress addresses 'crisis' in youth sports. Can we fix it? | |
 | The big business of youth sports has reached the U.S. Congress. A House subcommittee says it has created a "crisis" for kids and their parents. "The youth sports industry generates more than $40 billion in annual revenue," Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA), the chair of the subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, said to open a hearing on Tuesday, Dec. 16, entitled "Benched: The Crisis in American Youth Sports and Its cost to Our Future." "But this revenue comes at a steep cost to families," Kiley said. "Parents are told that only year-round travel teams, private coaching and early specialization will keep their child competitive and maybe even earn them a scholarship. That false promise has created a spending surge that prices out the average family while pushing kids as young as eight into high-cost, high-pressure programs that simply aren't necessary for long term development." Kiley said more than 60 million kids participate in youth sports in the U.S., and he doubled down on the 63% participation target set through the Healthy People 2030 program administered by the government. |
| Poll shows Americans' growing concern over influence of sports gambling | |
| Americans are increasingly concerned about the growing influence of the sports gambling industry and remain wary of its effect on the games they watch, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. These negative trends cut across almost all groups -- including, notably, the most ardent sports fans and bettors themselves. Overall, 36 percent of Americans say the increasing number of states allowing people to bet on sports is "a bad thing" -- up from 23 percent in 2022 -- while the share of those saying it is "a good thing" declined from 23 percent to 14 percent. Roughly half of Americans (49 percent) are neutral on the question of good versus bad, down from 54 percent three years ago. The results of the Post-UMD poll -- which took place in the aftermath of gambling scandals in MLB and the NBA earlier this year -- confirm similar shifts in viewpoint seen in other polling in the years since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling opened the floodgates for legalized sports betting. Thirty-nine states plus the District of Columbia now permit sports wagering in some form. Last month, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation said it would investigate MLB in the wake of the Guardians scandal, saying widespread gambling had led to an "integrity crisis" in American sports. |
| How 2025 Became the Year of the College Sports FOIA Request | |
| There are some of us predisposed to wake most mornings, reach for our iPhones on the nightstand, open the latest AM edition of the D1.ticker newsletter, and deliberate over what sports-related public records requests we should send -- and to which university. It is not a life for everyone. But for a certain compulsive type of information gatherer -- hello! -- it works. Or it is our work. However, if 2025 has taught us anything, it's that this once-bespoke club is rapidly expanding beyond its traditional ranks of eggheads, nerds, wet blankets, muckrakers, basement-dwellers and haters (aka journalists) -- though some of those contingents are growing too. This culmination was made all too clear recently when Jordon Hudson, the girlfriend of North Carolina head football coach Bill Belichick and a frequent subject of public records requests, apparently decided if she couldn't beat 'em, she should join 'em. On Dec. 3, Hudson filed a records request with UNC for emails sent by Robbi Pickeral Evans, the school's top athletic communications official, related to an infamously awkward 60 Minutes segment on Belichick that ran in the spring. Hudson's dalliance with North Carolina's public records law came to light thanks to David Covucci, the proprietor of the recently launched newsletter FOIAball. In just a few months, Covucci has run an absolute clinic in deploying state sunshine statutes to expose the inner workings of athletic departments. |
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