| Wednesday, July 8, 2026 |
| Former mayor of Mississippi's capital city pleads guilty in bribery scheme | |
 | The former mayor of Mississippi's capital city and the former City Council president have pleaded guilty in a bribery scheme one week before they were set to face trial. Former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and former Jackson City Council President Aaron Banks pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy. Their pleas came after Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens pleaded guilty last week and resigned. All three are Democrats. Two other people -- Angelique Lee, the Democratic former vice president of the Jackson City Council, and Sherik Marve Smith, a businessman and relative of Owens -- had already pleaded guilty to bribery charges. A November 2024 indictment accused Owens of taking at least $115,000 from two FBI agents posing as real estate developers and facilitating more than $80,000 in bribe payments to Banks, Lumumba and Lee in exchange for their help greenlighting a development project. Lumumba, Banks and Owens could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. Their sentencing hearings are set for Oct. 15. |
| Mississippi Christian, Millsaps partner on accelerated law degree program | |
 | Mississippi Christian University is easing the pathway for Millsaps College students to earn a law degree one year quicker than normal through a new partnership. The two private schools reached a memorandum of understanding on Monday, creating a pathway to law school initiative to streamline the academic journey of students looking to pursue a legal career. As part of the plan, a student who has completed 75% of the coursework required for a bachelor's degree from Millsaps will be eligible for admission to the MC School of Law. "Through this partnership with Millsaps College, we are expanding opportunities for students, strengthening legal education across our state and helping ensure that future lawyers can pursue their calling and build their careers right here in Mississippi," MC President Blake Thompson said. Millsaps is the sixth higher learning institute to sign an accelerated law program agreement with the MC School of Law. Other partners include Mississippi State University, the Mississippi University for Women, Troy University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and William Carey University. |
| Alabama professor fired over Charlie Kirk comments rejects settlement banning her from UA System jobs | |
 | A former University of Alabama professor who was fired after making social media posts following the assassination of Charlie Kirk has not agreed to settle her case against the university despite earlier news reports. In her federal lawsuit, Candice Hale claimed she was fired from the University of Alabama after the school's president objected to her Facebook post about Charlie Kirk shortly after the conservative activist was gunned down in Utah in Sept. 2025. Previous press reports indicated that "according to court records, Candice Hale, a former English professor at UA, reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount of money with the University of Alabama last month." However, Hale's new attorney, Richard Rice said his client has not agreed to a settlement. "She's still optimistic she can reach a settlement with the University of Alabama, which is her alma mater," Rice told AL.com. "At this point she doesn't see there's been a meeting of minds and that she has reached terms with the University of Alabama or with Auburn University." |
| Laika Steiger named senior associate dean for UGA's nursing school | |
| Laika Steiger has been chosen as the senior associate dean for the University of Georgia's Victoria Kay Ivester School of Nursing. The Ivester School of Nursing was established in 2025, and the inaugural class is set to start in the fall of 2027. Prior to joining the University of Georgia's faculty in March, Steiger served as the associate dean of clinical practice operations and executive director at the Emory Nursing Learning Center within Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodroof School of Nursing. According to a press release, prior to her work at Emory, Steiger led workforce development for an integrated health system overseeing the professional development of 20,000 workers. Now at UGA, Steiger works closely with the Ivester School of Nursing's Founding Dean Carolyn K. Clevenger to provide administrative and operational leadership for the new school. In this position Steiger oversees finance, human resources, information technology, clinical education infrastructure, accreditation readiness and technology operations for the Ivester School. |
| The Unraveling of 'a Very American Institution' | |
 | John R. Thelin's A History of American Higher Education has for two decades served as essential reading for those who want to understand the sector's evolution, twists, and turns. A fourth edition that extends into the 2020s is due out next month from the Johns Hopkins University Press. The U.S. semiquincentennial offered the ideal opportunity to talk about the country and its higher-ed history with Thelin, who is a university research-professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky. Our conversation below has been edited for length and clarity. "We inherit, in recent years, the interlocking fabric of the sectors -- federal, state, institutions both private and public -- intertwined in what has been a mutually beneficial way. That is why I think the unraveling is all the more painful and surprising." |
| Texas A&M researchers shift strategy to opioid prevention | |
| Texas A&M University researchers are shifting opioid prevention efforts away from traditional fear-based tactics, focusing instead on teaching students practical skills to recognize risks, resist peer pressure and avoid substance misuse. The Texas Opioid Prevention for Students (TOPS) project is an initiative that brings together lessons, activities and mental health support to improve youth risk prevention efforts across the state. TOPS also works with Texas schools to provide THRIVE, a six-lesson program for students in grades 6-12 to prevent opioid misuse and suicide. The curriculum offers resources to local schools. The project is led by principal investigators Marcia Ory, a Regents and Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M, and Joy Alonzo, an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at A&M and co-chair of the Texas A&M Opioid Task Force. Alonzo said TOPS focuses on behavioral change management rather than simply warning students about the dangers of drugs, noting that programs like D.A.R.E. and the "One Pill Kills" campaign do not work. |
| Prepared not scared. Dedicated volunteers in Nashville relay calm, straight-talk info during storms | |
| Anyone who has watched an episode of "9-1-1: Nashville" could be forgiven for thinking the city is constantly beset by tornadoes that turn outdoor concerts into scenes of carnage and blow scooter-riding tourists onto the tops of water towers. That may be a TV exaggeration, but tornadoes and other dangerous storms do hit the city regularly. When they do, many people here turn to Nashville Severe Weather. This group of dedicated volunteers can be found on social media, calmly explaining the storm movement, advising when to take cover and giving the "all clear." The coverage by Will Minkoff, Andrew Leeper and Tom Johnstone draws tens of thousands of viewers who interact with them in real time. It's a service that evokes the early promise of the internet, before the rise of the influencer. This is happening at a time when many people no longer watch local news and weather reports. Yet Kevin Trowbridge, who teaches strategic communication at Belmont University in Nashville, says an informal survey of his students found many are tuning in to Nashville Severe Weather. "The millennials and Gen Z -- and teaching college students, I know this all too well -- their source of information is that handheld device," he says. "It's not turning on a TV. And it's not even looking at a traditional media outlet's online presence. It's finding sources that provide them quick information when they need it." |
| Michigan State's Departing President Made the Shocking Decision to Stay. We Asked Him Why. | |
| In late June, Kevin M. Guskiewicz, clad in an orange tie, spent a day posing for pictures with faculty and students at Clemson University, his soon-to-be home. Everyone was all smiles, preparing to welcome Guskiewicz to the presidency as he ran out the clock in the same position as Michigan State University. A couple of weeks later, on Monday, Guskiewicz shocked the higher-education world with an announcement: He was rescinding his resignation from Michigan State and voiding a signed term sheet that would have had him become Clemson's 16th president. The president said he and his wife arrived at the decision after much deliberation: "As Amy and I reflected on the possibility of leaving, we kept returning to one simple truth: we love this university. This place has become home to our family. The people, the mission and the opportunity to make a lasting difference here mean more to us than we can adequately express." He apologized for creating instability but did not back off his denunciation of members of the board. He spoke with The Chronicle for a few minutes Tuesday morning. |
| Colleges Fear Federal Grad-Loan Caps Will Hurt Enrollment. These State Groups Are Trying to Help. | |
| When news spread last summer that, starting this month, the federal government would phase out a decades-old loan program that effectively provided unlimited financing to graduate students, colleges flocked to the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority. "We started receiving direct calls not just from financial-aid officers, but high-level administrators" at around two dozen colleges, said Thomas Graf, the executive director of MEFA. They wanted to know: Had his organization heard about this? And, perhaps more essentially, what was it going to do to help? Elsewhere around the country, other state-based nonprofits were receiving similar questions and calls-to-action from institutions -- many of which have voiced concerns that the sunsetting of the federal Grad PLUS loan program could restrict access to graduate education, especially in health-care fields. These nonprofits, largely established by their states but operating as separate, self-funded financing authorities, see affordable lending as integral to their mission. Since they aren't beholden to shareholders and can't turn more than a small profit, they can often offer loans to students at lower interest rates than can their for-profit competitors. |
SPORTS
| 84 Bulldogs Listed On 2025-26 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll | |
| Mississippi State Athletics was represented by a total of 84 student-athletes on the 2025-26 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll, the league office announced Tuesday. The honor roll recognizes student-athletes who began their academic and athletic careers during the 2025-26 school year and earned a 3.00 grade point average or higher while meeting SEC eligibility and academic credit hour standards. Mississippi State's honorees represent 12 of its varsity programs and a wide range of academic disciplines. Baseball led all Bulldog teams with 20 selections, followed by softball with 10, women's track and field with nine, and football with eight. In addition to their accomplishments in competition, MSU student-athletes earned recognition while pursuing degrees in fields such as mathematics and criminology, aerospace engineering, economics, agribusiness, finance, chemical engineering, psychology, human development and family science, and other programs that carry strong academic demands. |
| Two Bulldogs To Pitch For USA Baseball In Taiwan | |
| Two Mississippi State hurlers will represent the Stars and Stripes as members of the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. Ryan McPherson and Tomas Valincius were selected to compete in the inaugural World Collegiate Baseball Championship in Taichung City, Taiwan from July 11-15 against collegiate players representing Korea, Japan and Taiwan. McPherson made two starts during training camp for USA Baseball logging 4 2/3 shutout innings surrendering just one hit and fanning four. Valincius was equally as dominant during his two starts, tossing 4 1/3 scoreless frames with six strikeouts and no walks. The rising junior Diamond Dawgs depart for Taiwan on Monday and will play their first game against Korea on Friday at 11:30 p.m. CT. Team USA takes on Chinese Taipei on July 12 at 5:30 a.m. and Japan at 11:30 p.m. The semifinals and finals are scheduled for July 14-15. Mississippi State had the most players participating in training camp for the Collegiate National Team this year. |
| Big 12 commissioner declines to address Sorsby gambling saga and describes league as `16 strong' | |
| Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark wanted to talk Tuesday about the league's upcoming season, not the Brendan Sorsby gambling saga at Texas Tech that led to a lot of legal wrangling and a since-dismissed court order that had sent shockwaves through college sports. Even though that was the first thing Yormark was asked about after his opening remarks at Big 12 football media days. "I appreciate the question. I appreciate other questions that are probably going to come forth today. Today is not the time to address that issue," Yormark said. "Today is about celebrating the upcoming football season and celebrating our 16 schools." Yormark later spoke about the conference "moving ahead as 16 strong." That would include Texas Tech, which the league and its other 15 members were discussing potentially punishing if Sorsby had indeed played this fall for the Red Raiders after the quarterback transferred from Cincinnati, another Big 12 school where he played the past two seasons. |
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.
