| Tuesday, January 27, 2026 |
| Winter storm takes a toll on agriculture in the South | |
 | Agriculture is at the mercy of the weather gods. And even though it's winter -- between harvest and planting season -- for a lot of crops in the South, the record cold and ice still left a mark on some of the local agricultural sectors. In Mississippi, rain quickly turned into ice in many parts of the state, freezing powerlines and trees, delivering a blow to the state's timber industry, according to Keith Coble, a professor of agricultural economics at Mississippi State University. "What tends to happen with pine trees is that when they get bent over with ice, they may break off, or they may pull out of the ground, and it leads to a tree that's probably not salvageable," he said. And you can't just replace a 12-year-old tree. "You've lost 12 years' worth of growth, and all you can do is clean it up and start over." |
| Row Crop Short Course highlights best practices, growing tips | |
 | The 2025 Row Crop Short Course, hosted by the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, was held at The Mill in Starkville in early December. With almost 800 registrants and nearly 700 attendees, the annual event offered agricultural producers, industry representatives and row-crop specialists the chance to learn best practices and expand professional networks. Topics included best practices for weed and pest management; advanced irrigation management; nutrient management and delivery; spray drone application and regulation; updates to federal farm policy; and economic outlooks for soybeans, corn and cotton. Speakers, along with experts from MSU, included industry and row-crop specialists from Oklahoma State University, the University of Arkansas, Auburn University and the University of Georgia. The 2026 Row Crop Short Course will be held Dec. 7–9, 2026, and free preregistration will open in early November. |
| How fire, people and history shaped the South's iconic longleaf pine forests | |
| Mississippi State University's Andrea De Stefano writes for The Conversation: For thousands of years, one tree species defined the cultural and ecological identity of what is now the American South: the longleaf pine. The forest once stretched across 92 million acres from Virginia to Texas, but about 5% of that original forest remains. It was one of North America's richest ecosystems, and it nearly disappeared. As part of my job with the Mississippi State University forestry extension, I help private landowners, public agencies and nonprofit conservation groups restore these ecosystems. The forests' story begins before European settlement, when Native peoples shaped and sustained this vast landscape using one of nature's oldest tools: fire. Longleaf pine trees depend on fire for survival and regeneration. Fire reduces competition from other plants, recycles nutrients into the soil and maintains the open structure of the landscape where longleaf pines grow best. In its open, grassy woodlands, red-cockaded woodpeckers, gopher tortoises, orchids, pitcher plants and hundreds of other species find homes. |
| Free workshops on blueberry production available in Mississippi | |
 | Mississippi blueberry producers have two opportunities to learn more about production of the state's largest fruit crop. The Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service will host an in-person workshop in Hattiesburg and a virtual workshop. The in-person workshop will be held January 29, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the MSU Extension Service office in Forrest County. The office is located at 952 Sullivan Drive in Hattiesburg. A virtual workshop will be held February 19, 2026, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Both workshops are open to blueberry producers and those interested in growing blueberries at any production level. Topics for both workshops will include organic versus conventional weed control, disease management practices and pest scouting and integrated pest management practices. Also included is the Transition to Organic Partnership Program, which helps producers transition from traditional production practices to organic production practices. |
| Mississippi shivers under ice as long recovery looms | |
 | Residents in a iced-over swath of Mississippi began to confront the ugly truth Monday as they shivered in ever-colder and darkened houses: Recovery from the state's worst ice storm in more than 30 years could take a week or more. While the weekend's winter storm impacted tens of millions of Americans, the most lingering effects are concentrated in a band from far eastern Texas across north Louisiana, Mississippi and into Nashville, Tennessee. Parents were worrying about the 20,000-plus college students at the University of Mississippi, which canceled classes and closed campus for the rest of the week. Officials were fretting not only about restoring electricity and opening warming stations, but keeping fuel flowing to backup generators that run water pumps and supply medical facilities and opening darkened gas stations and grocery stores. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday that he's deploying 500 National Guard soldiers by Wednesday to remove debris and control traffic. He said 61 shelters and warming centers were operating in 30 counties, and the state had doubled its request for generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 30 to 60 to provide power to shelters, nursing homes, hospitals and water systems. The state is also distributing cots, blankets, prepackaged meals and bottled water. |
| Ask The Dispatch: What's the status of Columbus Place? | |
 | Since Georgia-based Hull Property Group purchased the former Leigh Mall in 2019 and rebranded it as Columbus Place, residents have wondered what the future holds for the long-struggling property. While the property has yet to land new tenants, John Mulherin, vice president of government relations for Hull Property Group, says it's only a matter of time. "The mall property did not devolve down and fail overnight," Mulherin told The Dispatch on Thursday. "It happened over a period of time. It's going to take a period of time for it to come back. What we've done ... (and) the work we're continuing to do, we continue to invest into the properties to create the best offering (and) the best opportunity for somebody." Current development includes work along Old Aberdeen Road, which was deeded to Hull Property Group in 2024. Mulherin said pulling the road back and combining it with nearby parcels creates space for up to four outparcels along the main corridor. Dirt work for that project is ongoing at the property and should be wrapped up in about a month, Mulherin said. Mulherin said the challenge is not the property itself, but attracting tenants interested in the Columbus market. |
| Senate Education Committee sets sights on increasing math skills, financial literacy | |
| Several bills passed out of the Mississippi Senate Education Committee late last week, including one that could lead to the consolidation of some school districts within the state. Other bills seek to set cellphone use policies in schools, improve math outcomes, provide financial literacy, and ensure funding for gifted education reaches students. Committee Chair State Senator Dennis DeBar (R) clarified that SB 2486 does not call for the immediate consolidation of districts, which total about 140 including the two state-run special schools, but would direct the Mississippi Department of Education to conduct a study to determine if there is a need to consolidate. Under the bill, MDE's Commission on School District Efficiency would review each district based on student population, accountability rating, fiscal impacts, and other factors before presenting that information to the Legislature for review next session. If the Legislature decides to consolidate any districts based on the findings, that process would begin in July 2028. ... The Senate committee also passed SB 2293, which would increase funding allocated for gifted education programs. It was passed with amendments that ensure those funds are only used on those programs. The bill increases the weighting under the Mississippi Student Funding Formula for gifted students from 5 percent to 14.5 percent. |
| Trump to talk 'affordability' in Iowa as fears of 'ag crisis' loom | |
 | As President Donald Trump heads to Iowa to speak about "affordability" and the economy, he will address a farm industry that's been battered by his tariffs and low prices. Asked by national reporters what his message would be in Iowa, Trump immediately referenced Iowa's farmers and how much they loved him. "The farmers have been very special to me, very successful, all three terms. I won it all the time," he said on Jan. 22. "So, I think they're really happy, the farmers, with what's happening." Iowa is the largest U.S. producer of corn and the second-largest producer of soybeans. It is also the country's largest producer of ethanol. But farmers have faced major headwinds in the past year, with the costs of growing corn and soybeans higher, at times, than the price farmers earned for their crops. Those losses were exacerbated by ongoing trade disputes instigated by the president as he levied tariffs on various U.S. trading partners. U.S. farmers are forecasting a fourth consecutive year of operating losses in 2026. |
| The 48 Hours That Convinced Trump to Change Course in Minnesota | |
 | The videos were splashed across cable news -- and President Trump was paying attention. Working from the Oval Office as a winter storm barreled toward the nation's capital, Trump watched as footage of a federal immigration agent shooting Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive-care nurse and U.S. citizen, played on repeat from Minneapolis. Within hours of the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleged Pretti had attacked officers and was brandishing a gun, labeling the actions domestic terrorism. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said Pretti wanted to massacre law enforcement. And Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's aggressive immigration strategy, called Pretti a "would-be assassin." It wasn't long before that narrative started to fall apart -- and Trump started to get frustrated, according to administration officials. Roughly 48 hours after the shooting, Trump decided to change course, moving to pull back one of his administration's most high-profile and divisive immigration-enforcement campaigns. By the end of the day Monday, Tom Homan, Trump's border czar who advocated for a more targeted approach to deportations, was en route to Minneapolis to take charge. Bovino, the face of the hard-edge approach employed in Minnesota, was leaving the state. In the process, Trump appeared to take sides---for now---in a simmering debate that has been playing out quietly in the administration. Over the past year, Trump's more hard-line aides, including Noem and her top adviser Corey Lewandowski, have pushed for missions that include roving patrols doing street sweeps in large liberal cities. Homan and others have favored a more methodical but slower approach to go after immigrants with criminal histories or final deportation orders, according to people familiar with the matter. |
| Republicans scramble to avoid shutdown amid public ICE backlash | |
 | Senate Republicans are scrambling to save a funding package that needs to pass by Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown, but they are meeting strong resistance from Democrats who are furious over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactics in Minneapolis. Republican lawmakers are suggesting President Trump might agree to executive actions to ease the tensions in Minneapolis after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti on Saturday. But Trump and Democratic leaders would need to reach an understanding quickly to avoid a partial shutdown Saturday, when funding for the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and an array of other federal departments and agencies is due to expire. Congress took a step closer toward a partial shutdown Monday when Republicans dismissed a demand by Senate Democrats to drop funding for Homeland Security from the funding package passed by the House last week. Key GOP senators said Monday they want to preserve the entire six-bill package, including the annual Homeland Security appropriations measure. "I remain hopeful. certainly have been talking and listening to my Democratic colleagues," said Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. |
| Minneapolis shooting galvanizes some Trump faithful in Senate GOP | |
 | The fatal shooting of a Minnesota man by federal officers this weekend -- as well as the Department of Homeland Security's quick assessment of the incident -- has spurred even some typically ardent Trump loyalists to call for an investigation into the shooting. On Monday, a handful of Senate Republicans called for an independent investigation, and potentially more guardrails, into Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an intensive-care nurse, by federal agents in Minneapolis Saturday morning. The Trump administration said the agent involved in the shooting acted in self-defense, a claim contradicted by witness accounts and video. Immediately after the shooting, which happened fewer than three weeks after a separate officer shot and killed another Minneapolis resident, Renee Good, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called Pretti a "domestic terrorist." Among those who spoke out against the administration's response were occasional Republican Trump critics and more MAGA segments of the conference. None, however, went as far as opposing a Department of Homeland Security spending bill which will come before the Senate this week, as many Senate Democrats have. |
| 'It's starting to turn against us': White House reckons with Minnesota fallout | |
 | The Trump administration is rushing to contain the political fallout after a second person was killed by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis. Republicans across the spectrum have for weeks warned the White House that its implementation of the president's immigration agenda had Americans increasingly anxious about the federal government's heavy-handed role. The backlash exploded this weekend following the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Federal officials said Pretti "approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun." Video verified and analyzed by several media outlets, including The New York Times, show the item Pretti appeared to be holding was a phone he was using to film the scene before he attempted to help a woman pushed to the ground by Border Patrol agents. Normally loyal Republicans criticized the president, a partial-government shutdown over Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics seems possible, and polling shows that the president is losing ground on immigration -- including among voters who backed him in 2024. On Monday, President Donald Trump offered the first hint that the political crisis engulfing his administration would lead to changes on the ground. He deployed border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis, a move viewed by some administration officials and Trump allies as a recognition that the president needed to change course. Homan, Trump said, will report "directly to me." |
| Shootings Pose a Hard Question for the Right: Who's a Conservative, Really? | |
 | Representative Randy Fine, a hard-right Republican from Florida, has regularly warned about the perils of federal government overreach during his decade-long career in government. As a state legislator, he described federal Covid-19 vaccination mandates as "tyrannical." As a member of Congress, he supported the elimination of the Department of Education, stating, "Federal bureaucrats shouldn't dictate how our kids are taught." In a 2022 social media post, Mr. Fine, memorably and menacingly, addressed President Joseph R. Biden Jr. over gun control, telling him, "try to take our guns and you'll learn why the Second Amendment was written in the first place." But this weekend, Mr. Fine took to X.com to voice his approval that federal immigration officers in Minneapolis had killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse whose filming of immigration officers on Saturday morning turned into a confrontation. The officers shot Mr. Pretti at least 10 times after one of them had removed a holstered gun that he was legally authorized to carry. American conservatives have a long history of supporting gun rights and states' rights, as well as calling for firm restraint on the federal government. And they have criticized the excessive use of federal power in a number of bloody confrontations with recalcitrant citizens, including a white separatist family in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992, and the Branch Davidians cult the following year in Waco, Texas, both by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. But in the case of the Minneapolis deployment, the Trump administration and some allies like Mr. Fine have taken positions that seem to contradict some of the bedrock principles of conservatism. |
| Meta, TikTok and YouTube face landmark trial over youth addiction claims | |
| Three of the world's biggest tech companies face a landmark trial in Los Angeles starting this week over claims that their platforms -- Meta's Instagram, ByteDance's TikTok and Google's YouTube -- deliberately addict and harm children. Jury selection starts this week in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. It's the first time the companies will argue their case before a jury, and the outcome could have profound effects on their businesses and how they will handle children using their platforms. The selection process is expected to take at least a few days, with 75 potential jurors questioned each day through at least Thursday. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum. At the core of the case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials "KGM," whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials -- essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury and what damages, if any, may be awarded, said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are expected to testify at the trial, which will last six to eight weeks. Experts have drawn similarities to the Big Tobacco trials that led to a 1998 settlement requiring cigarette companies to pay billions in healthcare costs and restrict marketing targeting minors. |
| TikTok Settles Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Ahead of a Landmark Trial | |
| TikTok reached an agreement late Monday to settle a lawsuit over claims that social media companies had engineered their products to hook young users, avoiding the first in a series of landmark trials. The trial, which is scheduled to begin in the California Superior Court of Los Angeles County with jury selection on Tuesday, is the first in a series of lawsuits expected to be heard this year against Meta, YouTube, Snap and TikTok. The cases stem from lawsuits filed by thousands of individuals, school districts and state attorneys general, accusing the companies of making their products addictive, like cigarettes, and causing personal injury. TikTok and Snap have both now settled the first case, leaving Meta and YouTube as the remaining defendants. The case involves a 20-year-old California woman identified in a 2023 lawsuit as K.G.M. The woman said she had become addicted to the social media sites as a child and experienced anxiety, depression and body-image issues as a result. Meta's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and YouTube's chief, Neal Mohan, are expected to testify. TikTok and Snap are still defendants in more than a dozen other trials expected in state and federal courts this year. The lawsuits argue that features like infinite scroll, auto video play and algorithmic recommendations have led to compulsive social media use and caused depression, eating disorders and self-harm. |
| More Americans concerned about AI, even as it drives economy | |
| The AI boom, namely the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent to build data centers, is driving U.S. economic growth at the moment. So of course Americans are all excited about this technology, right? Well ... not exactly. The tech industry is racing toward a future that doesn't sound great to a lot of people. Recent data from the Pew Research Center shows Americans are much more concerned than excited about AI. They worry the technology will erode our ability to think creatively and form relationships. Enid Baxter Ryce counts herself in that camp. For 20 years, she's taught cinema and technology at California State University, Monterey Bay, and for a while now she's noticed troubling changes in her students as smartphones, social media, and short form video have become ubiquitous. "I saw a huge amount of distraction," she said. "I saw that they weren't socializing as much, and I saw that they had more anxiety." Now she's contending with the latest disruption -- AI. Big Tech has a pretty big trust deficit with Americans after the social media era, said Daniel Schiff, an assistant professor of technology policy at Purdue University. "Your perceptions of Meta, your perceptions of X, you know, these are going to be very much tied in with how you might start to think about these chat bots," he said. Many Americans don't have positive perceptions of those platforms even as they flock to them, he noted. |
| People are protesting AI data centers, and it's scrambling political lines | |
 | Demand for more artificial intelligence has led to a rapid growth of AI data centers -- and lots of concerned citizens. The politicians aren't far behind. In recent months, protesters in Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and other states have shut down proposals for new building sites. A town in Wisconsin is even trying to oust its mayor after approval of a data center there. The large-scale facilities are necessary to match the electricity demand required for AI, but high energy costs come with them, angering residents. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, won her election last year in part by talking about higher energy bills in the state. And the issue is growing in importance for this year's midterm elections, even getting on the White House's radar. "I do think this is going to be a big issue in our politics throughout this year and probably for the foreseeable future," said Brendan Steinhauser, the CEO of the Alliance for Secure AI, a group pushing for more AI safeguards. But the issue isn't exactly divided by party lines. While President Trump and his AI czar David Sacks have been outspoken about the need for more data center construction and looser regulations on artificial intelligence, other elected officials on both sides of the aisle are taking a different approach. |
| Inside a tech company's secretive plan to destroy millions of books | |
 | In early 2024, executives at artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic ramped up an ambitious project they sought to keep quiet. "Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world," an internal planning document unsealed in legal filings last week said. "We don't want it to be known that we are working on this." Within about a year, according to the filings, the company had spent tens of millions of dollars to acquire and slice the spines off millions of books, before scanning their pages to feed more knowledge into the AI models behind products such as its popular chatbot Claude. Details of Project Panama, which have not been previously reported, emerged in more than 4,000 pages of documents in a copyright lawsuit brought by book authors against Anthropic, which has been valued by investors at $183 billion. The company paid $1.5 billion to settle the case in August but a district judge's decision last week to unseal a slew of documents in the case more fully revealed Anthropic's zealous pursuit of books. The new documents, along with earlier filings in other copyright cases against AI companies, show the lengths to which tech firms such as Anthropic, Meta, Google and OpenAI went to obtain colossal troves of data with which to "train" their software. |
| Too Cool For School: UM Classes Delayed Until February After Winter Freeze | |
 | The University of Mississippi announced on Monday, Jan. 26, that its Oxford campus would remain closed through Sunday, Feb. 1, citing "continued extreme winter weather conditions" and "ongoing recovery efforts" in an email sent to the university's student body. Several trees from the Grove to the campus intersection of Jackson Avenue and Rebel Drive collapsed during the weather conditions on Sunday, Jan. 25. The Oxford campus was painted a reflective white layer of ice with a shimmer of snow barely atop. The weather knocked out power for much of Oxford and the Ole Miss campus, leaving many without electricity at least until Monday night. "The university experienced significant impacts from the ice storm and is working diligently to restore operations and begin recovery efforts," the email said. "This includes reinstating power, clearing roads and walkways, removing trees and debris and assessing and addressing ongoing impacts to buildings and campus infrastructure." Also in the email, the university discouraged students who were not on campus or in the local area from returning to campus, while advising caution for students in the area who decide to travel back to Oxford. |
| Thousands still without power in Oxford, Lafayette County | |
| Winter Storm Fern wreaked havoc across North Mississippi, and among hardest hit were the city of Oxford and Lafayette County. Thousands of homes were still without electricity, water or heat, and when utilities will return is unknown, as crews must work through the debris strewn in the streets and yards. Additional utility crews from Alabama and Tennessee are supplementing efforts to restore power, but it will take time given the damage. Oxford Mayor Robin Tannehill, in a Facebook post early Monday said, "I know people are frustrated. I know people are cold. I know there are people with needs I cannot imagine. Please know we are working as hard and as fast as we can to get power back on." She also addressed parents of Ole Miss students, telling them, "I know it is stressful not to be close to help your kids. We aren't forgetting about them! I promise." Road conditions remain hazardous in and around the city. Tannehill said the sub-freezing temperatures Sunday night after Fern blew through "did us no favor." |
| Some K-12 schools and college campuses remain closed Tuesday after winter storm | |
| Areas of Mississippi were still reeling on Monday from the aftermath of the weekend winter storm -- including local elementary and secondary schools and colleges. Many will remain closed on Tuesday. For some colleges still dealing with power outages, that meant ensuring students and others on campus had warm places to retreat to and hot meals regardless of whether they have paid meal plans. Delta State University, for example, will open its Statesman's Shelf Food Pantry on Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Young-Mauldin Cafeteria will be open through Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., according to the university. Delta State students and essential staff can eat hot meals in the cafeteria and take home bagged dinners when they stop by for brunch, spokeswoman Suzette Matthews said in an email. Officials aim to return to regular hours and offering three meals a day by Thursday, Matthews said. "And we are SO SO thankful for our staff for making this happen," Matthews said in the email. In a Monday Facebook post, Delta State President Daniel Ennis noted lingering safety concerns such as icy roads around campus and interruptions in cell phone service. |
| Education: W, EMCC students come together for leadership retreat | |
| A cohort of first-generation students from Mississippi University for Women and East Mississippi Community College, members of the Lowndes First-generation Youth Realizing Success Together Leaders, came together at Plymouth Bluff Environmental Center for the 2026 leadership retreat, Jan. 8-9. "This year our cohort included not only traditional undergraduates, but also transfer, online and graduate students; some work fulltime and one is a parent. They truly reflect the varied make-up of today's student population," said Clear Moore, director of the Student Success Center at The W. Lowndes FYRST Leaders is a partnership between The W, EMCC and the Rotary Club of Columbus. There were eight students in this year's cohort, seven W students and an EMCC student. "Being part of the Lowndes FYRST Retreat showed me how important it is to have a support system for first-generation students," said Aaliyah Heard, a sophomore biology student at The W. "The program created a space where I felt seen, encouraged and empowered to grow academically and professionally." The overall goal of the retreat is to empower first-gen students to not only stay the course in their educational journeys but also foster leadership skills that will help them succeed in the classroom and beyond. |
| Gov. Greg Abbott wants Texas universities, schools to disclose information on H-1B visa hirings | |
| Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that his administration is examining whether Texas taxpayer dollars are being used in connection with employees working under H-1B visas at public K-12 schools and universities. Internal emails obtained by Quorum Report show the governor's office asked Texas A&M University System leaders Friday to provide data on employees working under H-1B visas, including their roles and country of origin, by close of business Monday. Abbott told Mark Davis, a conservative radio talk show host, Monday that the state has inquiries out to public schools and universities and expects to announce an "action plan" later this week based on what is learned. "I don't see any reason why we need any H-1B visa employees in our public schools in the state of Texas. But we're going to find out if there's some unique skill set or whatever the case may be," Abbott said. He also suggested that some visa holders may have been admitted before or during the Biden administration and may have overstayed. "Those, again, are the type of people that the Trump administration is trying to remove," Abbott said. |
| Oklahoma legislative priorities for K-12: literacy, teacher retention. Higher ed: international students | |
| The Oklahoma Legislature is gearing up for its 2026 session, and lawmakers have rolled out their priorities for education policy. The Senate previewed its legislative agenda mid-January, with a focus on kindergarten through twelfth grade policy on literacy and numeracy, teacher recruitment and retention, and daily life for Oklahoma students. Other proposals to watch include changes to adjunct and emergency certified teachers, and new rules for district school boards and the State Board of Education. For higher education, several proposals address international student admission, financial aid and institutional finances. Several measures also appear to be in response to an incident at the University of Oklahoma in which a student received a failing grade for an essay that referenced the Bible. At least 10 bills propose restrictions on international students at Oklahoma colleges and universities. Senate Bill 1669 from Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, would require higher education institutions to publish on their websites the number of students enrolled from foreign countries, which countries students are from and the percentage of total enrollment made by international students. |
| This State Has Plenty of Money. It's Weighing Cuts to Its Only Public University Anyway. | |
 | There's no state-budget crisis in Wyoming. Lawmakers are sitting on excess revenue of about $250 million. And yet, the University of Wyoming's president recently sent an email to campus warning of steep cuts on the horizon -- including the possible loss of Division 1 sports -- if the Legislature doesn't override a key committee and cancel a $40-million cut to the university's block funding, freeze pay raises for employees, and reject a $6-million request for the athletic department. The situation is so dire, President Ed Seidel's email broke his longstanding tradition. "During my time as president, I have followed a general policy of not commenting on day-to-day legislative actions, largely because of the fluidity of the legislative session and the multiphase nature of the legislative process," he wrote, going on to call the proposed cuts "both harmful and unnecessary." Seidel is stepping down from the presidency at the end of the academic year. The reasoning for the proposed cuts is no mystery: A group of influential state lawmakers -- the Freedom Caucus -- is working to chop the budget because they are unhappy with a university they see as a bastion of liberalism. "The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university that has forgotten its founding purpose," state Rep. Ken Pendergraft, a member of the caucus who made the suggestion to hack the university's funding, wrote in an email to The Chronicle. |
| Report: How Indirect Rate Costs Differ Between Academia and Industry | |
 | Compared to private industry contractors and federal laboratories, universities receive less from the federal government to cover costs indirectly related to research, according to a study commissioned by research university associations. Indirect costs can include building maintenance, utilities and compliance with patient safety regulations. Currently, individual colleges and universities negotiate reimbursement rates with federal agencies, but the Trump administration has sought unsuccessfully to cap funding for indirect costs at 15 percent of the research grant. Federal courts have blocked those efforts, and a coalition of higher ed associations have since proposed their own model to change how the government funds research. The Association of American Universities (AAU) and the COGR commissioned Attain Partners, a consulting firm, to conduct the study in part to dispel confusion about the current approach to funding indirect costs. "It is important to note that the government's approach to indirect cost accounting and reimbursement for universities and nonprofit research organizations is different than its approach for other entities conducting federally sponsored research," the report states. "This fact has contributed to the resulting confusion -- and that confusion, in turn, is now imperiling the funding needed for America's research institutions to continue performing groundbreaking research that improves health, saves lives, and nourishes America's innovation ecosystem." |
| After Another ICE Killing, Minnesota's Flagship Faces a Test | |
| The day after federal agents shot and killed a protester during immigration operations in Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota released a statement from the president, Rebecca Cunningham, and other campus leaders. In it, they expressed grief over the death of Alex Pretti, a 2011 graduate of the university, and urged calm during a "complex and challenging moment." Online, the statement drew hundreds of comments. Some criticized Minnesota officials for speaking out. "Funny how you pick and choose to mourn. Just a suggestion, sit these issues out," wrote one, while another posted, "STFU." Another called for boycotting "this woke communist college." Many, though, castigated the university for not condemning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "U of M alum here. This is not adequate," said one commenter. Others chimed in: "This is so hollow." "Empty words." "Booooo!" The response to the university's response reflects current dissension about whether colleges ought to enter broader public debates, which has been supercharged by campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war and amplified by political criticism of higher education. Some say college leaders have an obligation to add their voices, while others think they should stick to academics. The deaths of Pretti and another protester, Renee Good, and weeks of tension over immigration raids in the Twin Cities are a case study of how institutions are handling close-to-home political events in an era of institutional neutrality. |
| Education Department Eyes Rewrite of Accreditation Rules | |
| The Department of Education is taking its next major step toward overhauling the college accreditation system, inviting higher ed policy experts to suggest nominees for an upcoming negotiating committee. But while the Monday announcement sheds more light on the Trump administration's priorities, it provides no concrete plan on how they intend to make those goals a reality. President Trump has long declared accreditation reform his "secret weapon," and the department had already signaled its desire for change. Now, the department turns its attention to rewriting the rules that govern accreditors -- a process that will involve convening an advisory committee to provide input on the changes. That committee will discuss up to 10 topics outlined in the Federal Register notice, though much of the attention is expected to focus on making it easier for new accreditors to join the market, increasing the agencies' focus on data-driven student performance benchmarks, and scrubbing any existing diversity, equity and inclusion standards. Emmanual Guillory, senior director of government relations at the American Council on Education, a lead institutional lobbying group, said one provision the Trump administration has repeatedly discussed and he will be looking out for is granting accreditors the ability to evaluate a campus's intellectual diversity for purposes of ensuring conservative voices have academic freedom on campus. |
| Congress Is Asking Dozens of Prominent Universities About Students' 'Dismal' Math Skills | |
| A prominent U.S. senator has sent letters to three dozen selective colleges seeking to find out why students are entering with such dismal math skills. "The United States faces a crisis in student achievement at the K-12 level that has begun to spill over into higher education, especially in math," wrote Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. "This state of affairs is unacceptable and demands immediate corrective action." The committee is asking the colleges for data on which math courses first-year students were placed into from the fall of 2019 to the fall of 2025, descriptions of those courses, and how they made their placement decisions. It also asks whether the colleges require the SAT, ACT, or other standardized math tests. Recipients of Cassidy's letter include all eight members of the Ivy League, public flagships like the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and private research institutions like Stanford University and Washington University in St. Louis. The congressional inquiry comes after a faculty report on math preparedness at the University of California at San Diego went viral last fall. That report showed a significant increase in the number of freshmen requiring remedial math, as well as writing. |
SPORTS
| Men's Basketball: Five Things To Know: State vs. LSU | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball starts a weeklong road swing with a trip to LSU and the Maravich Center on Wednesday evening. State (10-10, 2-5 SEC) is led by Josh Hubbard and Jayden Epps who have combined to rack up 36.2 points per game which is 2nd among SEC duos this season. The Tigers (13-7, 1-6 SEC) posted a 12-1 mark during the nonconference but have lost six of their seven SEC decisions, a majority of which came without leading scorer Dedan Thomas Jr. (15.2 PPG, 6.7 APG). He returned to action at No. 20 Arkansas last Saturday. LSU's interior play is sparked by Mike Nwoko (14.2 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.1 BPG) and Marquel Sutton (13.5 PPG, 8.3 RPG). State has won five straight in the series under Coach Jans which also includes two SEC Tournament victories over the last two seasons. Hubbard has dialed up consecutive 30-plus point performances in the regular season meetings. Overall, the Tigers possess a 114-107 series edge. |
| Hubbard, Mississippi State Bulldogs to visit Sutton, LSU Tigers | |
| Josh Hubbard and Mississippi State take on Marquel Sutton and LSU on Wednesday. The Tigers are 9-2 on their home court. LSU averages 83.2 points while outscoring opponents by 9.7 points per game. The Bulldogs have gone 2-5 against SEC opponents. Mississippi State is third in the SEC with 26.8 defensive rebounds per game led by Quincy Ballard averaging 5.0. LSU's average of 6.9 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.9 fewer made shots on average than the 7.8 per game Mississippi State allows. Mississippi State has shot at a 44.0% rate from the field this season, 2.0 percentage points above the 42.0% shooting opponents of LSU have averaged. The matchup Wednesday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play. Hubbard is averaging 21 points and 3.6 assists for the Bulldogs. Jayden Epps is averaging 14.3 points over the last 10 games. |
| Play ball? Snow, ice and cold will prevent baseball from starting on time at Delta State | |
| Delta State's nationally renowned NCAA Division II baseball team was supposed to open the 2026 season Friday against Harding (Arkansas) University in Cleveland. That won't happen. Boo Ferriss Field at Harvey Stadium on the DSU campus in Cleveland is covered in ice and snow. At noon Monday, the temperature was 21 degrees. The wind chill was 7. The weekend forecast is for more freezing temperatures. The DSU Statesmen are sometimes called the Fighting Okra, but they would be more like Eskimos if they played this weekend. "We'll play it by ear, but it doesn't look good, " Delta State coach Rodney Batts said Monday. Repairs will have to made to the backstop at Harvey Stadium before any baseball is played. "The ice on the netting is so heavy with ice, it tore away from the poles," said Delta State athletic director Mike Kinnison, a former DSU baseball All America and Hall of Fame coach. "In fact, it is so heavy that it bent some of the poles that were holding it up. That will all have to be repaired." The good news: Delta State, which must replace 25 seniors who graduated from last year's team, can continue pre-season workouts in the Bryce Griffis Indoor Practice Facility adjacent to Harvey Stadium. |
| College football targeting rule could be headed for overhaul, but it's not going away | |
| During the national championship game last week, one team played the first half without a key defensive player. Miami cornerback Xavier Lucas spent the first two quarters sidelined as part of a targeting foul he committed in the second half of the previous game -- a semifinal win over Ole Miss. The foul cost Miami 15 penalty yards, disqualified Lucas from the final three defensive drives of the semifinal and, in a carryover disqualification, kept him from playing in the first half of the biggest game of his career -- the national championship bout against Indiana. Miami head coach Mario Cristobal described the foul and punishment as "unjust." Well, this offseason, officials plan to review potential changes to the most scrutinized penalty in all of college football. "We're going to be having a discussion on targeting," Steve Shaw, the national coordinator of officials and the NCAA's secretary-rules editor, told Yahoo Sports last week from Miami, site of the national title game. "That needs to be an annual discussion. It will be a focus discussion." Is targeting on the proverbial chopping block? No, not even close. There will be no "backing up" on the targeting rule, Shaw says, as it has been successful in its goal of making the game safer by changing player behavior related to head collisions. |
| NCAA asks Alabama donor judge to recuse from Charles Bediako case | |
 | The NCAA has asked a Tuscaloosa Circuit Court judge to recuse himself from Alabama basketball center Charles Bediako's eligibility lawsuit against the organization, according to court documents obtained by AL.com. The judge, James Roberts, is listed as a UA donor on the Crimson Tide Foundation's website. The organization filed the motion for recusal on Tuesday. "The NCAA has faith in the judicial process and does not currently contend the Court has an actual bias, partiality, or prejudice," the motion reads. "the Similarly, the NCAA does not allege that any actual bias motivated the Court's granting of a temporary restraining order. Instead, the NCAA contends that proceeding in this Court has created an impermissible appearance of impropriety because of the intense media scrutiny and public speculation surrounding the Court's relationship with the University of Alabama and its athletics programs and student-athletes." Roberts granted Bediako a temporary restraining order Wednesday, allowing the center to play on Saturday. A hearing on the injunction was to be held on Tuesday, but due to weather preventing the NCAA's representation from attending, it was postponed indefinitely and the restraining order was extended for 10 days. |
| NCAA confirms it is looking into Dabo Swinney's tampering accusations against Ole Miss | |
| Dabo Swinney made national headlines last week when the Clemson coach publicly accused Ole Miss coach Pete Golding of "blatant" tampering. Now he's hoping for a quick resolution. The NCAA confirmed to The Athletic via a statement Monday night that it is involved in the matter. Though the organization did not provide specifics, officials have been in direct contact with Clemson about Swinney's allegations. "The NCAA will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as is required by NCAA rules," NCAA vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan said in the statement. "We will not comment further on any ongoing investigation." Late Friday afternoon, Swinney laid out the case against Golding, who Swinney said directly tampered with now-former Clemson linebacker Luke Ferrelli. Ferrelli transferred from Cal to Clemson and signed a revenue-sharing contract with the Tigers on Jan. 7. He moved to Clemson, S.C., on Jan. 11, rented an apartment, bought a car, enrolled in classes and began team meetings and workouts with the Tigers. According to Swinney, Ferrelli told Clemson general manager Jordan Sorrells on Jan. 15 that Golding texted him during his 8 a.m. class the previous day, allegedly writing: "I know you're signed, what's the buyout?" Golding also allegedly texted Ferrelli a picture of a $1 million contract and allegedly asked former Ole Miss star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss to call him and convince him to enter the transfer portal. On Jan. 16, the final day of the transfer portal window, Ferrelli informed Clemson coaches and personnel staff that he was leaving for Ole Miss -- despite initially reassuring Clemson coaches he had no interest in parting ways with the Tigers. |
| Ole Miss' Chambliss Compares NCAA to Crooked Insurer in Court Filing | |
| In a new court filing, Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss accuses the NCAA of crafting an "illusory" and deceptive policy for waiver requests to play another season. Chambliss says the review process is predisposed to rejection and likens the NCAA to a "bad faith" insurance company that deploys "a pattern and practice to deny requests." This argument was featured in a filing by Chambliss' attorneys -- Tom Mars, William Liston III and W. Lawrence Deas -- on Monday in Lafayette County (Miss.) Chancery Court. To the extent Chambliss can establish that the waiver process is rigged for rejection, he can more persuasively argue the NCAA has treated him and similarly situated players unreasonably in violation of Mississippi's duty of good faith and fair dealing. The 23-year-old seeks an injunction to play a fourth "countable" season of college football in what would be his sixth year of college. At issue is Chambliss' 2022 season, a year after he redshirted at D-II Ferris State. Although on the Bulldogs roster, Chambliss recorded no passing or rushing statistics in 2022. According to court documents, Chambliss suffered from post-COVID complications including chronic tonsillitis and adenoiditis in 2022. After successful treatment, Chambliss played for Ferris State in 2023 and 2024. He then transferred to Ole Miss for the 2025 season when he threw for 22 touchdowns against three interceptions. |
| The Easiest Play in College Basketball: Rigging Games for Gamblers | |
| It was a couple of weeks before March Madness in 2024, and the men accused of orchestrating one of the biggest point-shaving plots in American sports history were looking for their next score. "U got somebody at Robert Morris"? one texted. The reply came quickly: Markeese Hastings, the Colonials' leading scorer that season. He was about to play against Northern Kentucky and was amenable to the scheme. All he had to do for some quick cash was ensure that his team was trailing by at least two points at halftime. With Hastings and two of his teammates on board, federal prosecutors said, the organizers of the scam successfully wagered about $256,000 against Robert Morris in the first half. When they messaged back to arrange delivery of Hastings's payment, he was enthusiastic. "We might as well do the next one too," Hastings wrote, according to court documents. "[This] was too easy." Their case wasn't unique. In a 70-page indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania earlier this month, the government described how a group led by a pair of gamblers named Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley allegedly promised payouts of $10,000 to $30,000 to players willing to intentionally underperform on the court. Prosecutors say that their massive game-rigging conspiracy across college basketball ensnared at least 39 athletes at 17 different schools. Perhaps the most alarming part of the purported scheme, though, wasn't its reach. It was how simple it was to pull off. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
