| Wednesday, October 30, 2019 |
| NASA's first African-American deputy administrator recalls experiences in Vietnam, space at ASF scholarship ceremony | |
 | Fred Gregory travels to a few universities every year to present the $10,000 Astronaut Scholarship on behalf of the Astronaut Scholars Foundation. The program recognizes outstanding junior and senior college students in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Mississippi State University was the first university in the state to partner with the program in 2017 and is one of 40 universities affiliated with ASF nationwide. This year 52 students at those 40 institutions received the award. MSU students Mary Catherine Beard and Jacob Easley, both seniors in the Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College and the Bagley College of Engineering, received the award Tuesday before Gregory gave a speech about his life and career to a crowd with few empty seats in the Honors Forum Room in Griffis Hall. Fifteen students applied and four were selected as finalists before Beard and Easley were chosen, said Tommy Anderson, MSU director of Prestigious External Scholarships. |
| New infrastructure helps Starkville quality of life grow | |
 | The Locksley Way path connects existing walkways and bike paths in Starkville. Area businesses say features like this help the city's growth. Its infrastructure like this that residents say makes Starkville a better place to live. Terry Long is the manager at Central Station Grill in Starkville. He's lived in the city since 2005. He said the Starkville we see today is vastly different from the Starkville almost 15 years ago. "You drove everywhere. The public transportation wasn't going. It wasn't there. Now, you've got the SMART buses going. You can pretty much walk from Main Street to the Cotton District, all the way to campus. There's some more construction work right now. Once it gets finished, I think it's going to be a very easy, well-lit walk or bike ride to and from all the way from City Hall to Dudy Noble," said Long. |
| MSU-Meridian's Maroon Elite | |
 | Photo: Meet the newest members of Maroon Elite, Mississippi State University-Meridian's student ambassadors. Maroon Elite serves in a variety of student leadership roles at MSU-Meridian including giving campus tours, serving on the Student Advisory Board, and participating in recruitment and special events, as needed. Pictured are: front row, from left, Catherine Yohe (standing) a criminology major from Little Rock; Shelena Pace (sitting), a kinesiology major from Waynesboro; Alan Bracken (sitting), a psychology major, Catherine Hoffer (sitting), an elementary education major and Margaretta Campbell (standing), an applied technology health care services major all from Meridian. Back row, from left, Danesha Seales, a kinesiology major from DeKalb; Bethany Wellerman, an elementary education major from Lawrence; Veronica Newell, a kinesiology major from Meridian, Faith Curry, an elementary education major from Lawrence; Kristi Dearing, coordinator of academic advising at MSU-Meridian and Saquena Alford, graduate student in counselor education from Meridian. Not pictured: Landry Godwin, an elementary education major from Newton. |
| Starkville Area Arts Council scholarships now going to high school programs | |
| Only one person submitted a college scholarship application to the Starkville Area Arts Council in 2017, the year John W. Bateman became executive director. That person later withdrew the application. No one asked Bateman about college scholarships again until Oct. 21, when he updated Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors on SAAC programs. District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams raised the topic when Bateman told the board about the growth of SAAC's summer scholarship program for youth from 11-18 years old. The money previously used for college scholarships -- between $5,000 and $6,000 per year -- was added to the summer scholarship program in 2018, which has almost doubled in recipients since then. Recipients of the summer scholarships enroll in arts camps and programs of their choosing, most often Summer Scholars on Stage, a theater writing and production camp held annually at Mississippi State University. Twelve of last year's 26 recipients went to Summer Scholars, Bateman said. |
| Updates: Heavy rain prompts flash flooding across area | |
 | Heavy rain in the early morning hours caused headaches for motorists as traffic was impacted throughout Starkville due to flash flooding and tree damage. Lindbergh Boulevard saw some of the worst flooding Wednesday morning, as storm drains filled and flooded over into the streets. On Gillespie Street, a large tree limb fell into the street a little after 8 a.m., blocking traffic for both lanes. The debris was cleared out of the road and the street is open to traffic. The Starkville Fire Department on social media also said it had responded to numerous emergencies involving water rescues, including one from Highway 82 just west of Highway 389, where the driver of a truck was surrounded by high and fast-moving water. |
| MDOT highway signs share fun messages of safety | |
 | If you've driven on a Mississippi highway lately, chances are you've seen the signs. You know the ones. Lit up in bright orange, the quirky, often funny phrases cautioning drivers to pay attention to the road have become a sensation. The brainchild of the folks at the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the signs debuted in 2018. In the year since, they've become a known presence to Mississippi drivers. Paul Katool, MDOT digital media manager, first saw the success other state department of transportations, particularly Iowa and Arizona, were having with their Dynamic Message Signs. Turns out, the department had tossed around the idea before but, because "it's not the most serious thing in the world," the idea was nixed. But last holiday season, Katool got the go ahead. Everyday, a new message appeared across all 72 digital signs on Mississippi's interstates and highways. While the signs are fun, there's a serious message behind them. |
| Hosemann and Hughes seek most powerful office in Mississippi -- lieutenant governor | |
 | Republican Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and Democratic state Rep. Jay Hughes are running on similar issues as they seek to become the next lieutenant governor, what many consider the most powerful position in Mississippi state government. Both Hosemann and Hughes have said they want to work across party lines to expand Medicaid, give public school teachers large pay increases, address the state's road and bridge crisis and increase legislative transparency. "We still were able to work together without people talking about each other," Hosemann said of the previous political era when Democrats controlled government. "We'd talk to each other. We were able to go back through the process of having conversations about a common goal...You'll see us working with everyone to get things done on education, health care, infrastructure and all the things Mississippi needs to address. We'll solve those issues." Hughes commonly uses the line "people over party" on the campaign trail. |
| Vice President Mike Pence coming to Biloxi rally for Tate Reeves | |
 | Vice President Mike Pence is coming to Biloxi to campaign for Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, the Republican candidate for governor running against Democrat and state Attorney General Jim Hood. Called a "Mississippi Victory 2019 Rally," the event will be Nov. 4, the day before the election, at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The free event will be from noon to 2 p.m., but the doors will close at 11:30 a.m. The campaign advises attendees to "allow plenty of time for parking and security clearance." Polls show the race is close, the Clarion Ledger reports. "A Mason-Dixon poll last week showed Reeves ahead with 46% compared to 43% for Hood. Another poll from Targoz Market Research had Reeves up 1%, while a Hood-commissioned poll showed the AG ahead by four percentage points. A fourth poll, from NBC News/Survey Monkey, gave Reeves a 47% to 40% edge over Hood." President Donald Trump also is holding a rally in Tupelo the same day. The Coliseum was standing-room only for Trump's January 2016 visit for his presidential campaign. |
| AG Sends Settlement Money to General Fund | |
 | Attorney General Jim Hood announced the settlement monies recently collected from nine different entities. Hood, who is the Democratic candidate for Mississippi governor, is recommending legislators spend the money on early childhood education programs. "That is something that is vitally important to our state for growth in the future. It exponentially increases their vocabulary. My recommendation on this $36 million is that it will spend on our children, particularly those in 4-K," says Hood. Republican Sen. Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula serves on the Senate Education Committee. He supports the money going towards education, but says the state also has other needs. "The funds are already trending up. We're over the budget projections. We've filled the rainy day fund. You know, there are a lot of needs, of course we want to see education. We talked about pay raises, you know that may be continued from this last year. But certainly education is always at the top," says Wiggins. |
| First Amazon Academy event in U.S. scheduled Nov. 1 in Southaven | |
 | Amazon will host its first-ever Amazon Academy event in the U.S. Friday, Nov. 1 from 10 a.m. to noon at the DeSoto Center, Northwest Mississippi Community College, 5197 W.E. Ross Parkway West, Southaven. U.S. Sen. Roger F. Wicker and Nick Denissen, vice president, Amazon Small Business, are expected to be in attendance for the free event designed to provide an opportunity for small business owners to learn how to start and grow a business selling online. "Mississippi had the fastest growing Amazon sellers in 2018, so we are excited to come to DeSoto County with Sen. Wicker and help more small businesspeople learn about the opportunities of digital business," Sider said. Also scheduled to speak at the event are Prakash Somasundaram, head of projects, Amazon Launchpad, and a panel of local small business owners. |
| Impeachment on collision course with possible shutdown | |
 | Congress could navigate a shutdown and a presidential impeachment inquiry if lawmakers and the Trump administration can't reach an agreement on government funding during the next three weeks.The two events haven't overlapped before in the nation's history. If that happens next month, however, roughly 2 million federal workers would get hit in their wallets as the holiday season begins, including staffers working on the impeachment proceedings. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Tuesday preemptively blamed President Donald Trump. For their part, top Republicans have been accusing Democrats on a near-daily basis of focusing on impeachment rather than legislation, affecting not just appropriations but other priorities like a prescription drug pricing bill and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact. Molly E. Reynolds, a Brookings Institute senior fellow in governance studies, remains optimistic a Democratic House and a Republican Senate will avoid a shutdown --- with one major caveat: "President Trump could always throw a wrench into whatever plans Congress agrees to, as we saw at the end of last year." |
| When JFK Was Trump - | |
 | Have we ever had a president before this one who so disdains the advice and policies of those who have spent their lives working for the government he leads? Have we ever had a chief executive who is so skeptical of the judgments of career diplomats and military leaders, who rejects the advice of top intelligence leaders, who trusts his family more than those with a lifetime of experience? Yes we have. And his name was John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Kennedy and Donald Trump are hardly similar men, nor are they similar presidents. JFK's 14 years of experience in the House and Senate, his knowledge of history and his prudence in public (as opposed to private) matters make that notion absurd. But in one way they are alike: Throughout Kennedy's presidency, he came more and more to distrust the received wisdom of the "permanent government" or "deep state" or "military-industrial complex" or whatever term seems apt today. In his case, that skepticism may have saved the planet from nuclear annihilation. |
| Joe Biden's communion denial highlights faith-politics conflict | |
 | A Catholic priest's denial of communion to Joe Biden in South Carolina on Sunday illustrates the fine line presidential candidates must walk as they talk about their faiths: balancing religious values with a campaign that asks them to choose a side in polarizing moral debates. The awkward moment for Biden came during a weekend campaign swing through South Carolina, a pivotal firewall in his hopes to claim the Democratic presidential nomination. Biden's campaign has declined to comment on the situation. Pope Francis has asserted church opposition against abortion, equating it to "hiring a hitman" to resolve a problem, but also suggested that communion should not be withheld from practicing Catholics based on a specific belief. "The Eucharist ... is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak," Francis wrote in 2013. |
| U.S. slowdown deepens as economic growth slips to 1.9 percent pace in third quarter | |
 | The U.S. economy cooled over the summer, growing at a 1.9 percent annualized pace from July through September, the latest sign that the slowdown is deepening. The data, released Wednesday morning by the Commerce Department, came as economists anticipated slightly weaker growth following President Trump's decision to dramatically expand his trade war with China in early August. That decision spooked business leaders and deterred them from making major investments during a period of so much uncertainty. Consumer spending continues to power the economy, but business investment has now contracted for six straight months, falling 3 percent in the third quarter, the biggest drop since the end of 2015. A number of companies have said they are pulling back because of economic uncertainty, particularly related to whether trade rules will be shifting with China and other countries. Spending on both structures and equipment was deeply negative. |
| East Mississippi Community College picks Communiversity director | |
| East Mississippi Community College announced Tuesday it has hired Courtney Taylor as its first executive director for the $42 million Communiversity. Taylor comes to the job with experience in both educational work force training and economic development, a combination of experiences that made her uniquely qualified for the job, EMCC officials said in a statement released Tuesday. The Communiversity, which began classes this fall, is a collaboration among EMCC, Mississippi State University and the Mississippi Development Authority focusing on the advance manufacturing skills required by local industries. Taylor has served in higher education for the last 13 years, most recently as the regional director of workforce and economic development for the Alabama Community College System. In addition to her role at the Communiversity, Taylor will also be in charge of EMCC's workforce and community services, replacing Raj Shaunak, who is retiring. |
| Mississippi ranks number one for score gains on National Assessment of Educational Progress | |
 | Mississippi ranked number one in the nation for score gains in reading and mathematics on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation's Report Card, in 2019. Fourth grade students made the largest score gains from 2017 to 2019 in reading and mathematics while eighth grade students outpaced the nation for growth in mathematics and eighth grade reading scores held steady. The fourth grade reading score rose by four points and the math score rose by six points. Mississippi was the only state in the nation to have a "significant score change" in a positive direction for the fourth grade reading test from 2017 to 2019. This is the first time Mississippi fourth-graders have scored higher than the nation's public school average in mathematics and tied the nation in reading. |
| Results are in: Mississippi students No. 1 in the country for reading gains | |
| Mississippi was the only state in the country to improve reading scores, and was number one in the country for gains in fourth-grade reading and math, according to newly released test results. On Wednesday the National Center for Education Statistics released 2019 data from the Nation's Report Card, known officially as the National Assessment of Education Progress. NAEP tests fourth- and eighth-grade students on what they know and what they can do in math and reading. Previous results are from 2017, when Mississippi students boosted their reading scores and math scores did not change. While most states saw no improvement or a decline in scores in 2019, Mississippi was the only state to see improvement in three of the four tested subjects: fourth-grade reading and math, and eighth-grade math. |
| Governor Bryant encourages participation in cybersecurity competition | |
| Governor Phil Bryant announced today that Mississippi will be participating in an innovative cybersecurity training partnership with the SANS Institute known as the Girls Go CyberStart challenge, a skills-based competition designed to encourage girls to pursue cyber-based learning and career opportunities. Registration is now open. "Programs like Girls Go CyberStart continue to encourage the pursuit of cyber-based learning and career opportunities in technology," said Governor Phil Bryant. "I have no doubt the participants from Mississippi will do a great job representing our state in this year's competition." The Girls Go CyberStart program is an online game consisting of a series of challenges that put students in the role of a cyber-protection agent charged with solving realistic problems and puzzles. It is designed to explore relevant and exciting topics such as cryptography and digital forensics. |
| U. of Florida names new vice president for student affairs | |
 | The University of Florida has hired D'Andra Mull as vice president of student affairs, a position she will start Jan. 13, 2020. She previously worked at Ohio State University since 2012, first as assistant vice president for student life, then as the associate vice president of student life and dean of students. In her role at UF, Mull will lead in creating a comfortable and healthy environment that enables students to achieve success. Former UF VP of Student Affairs David Parrott was fired in April three months after UF officials confirmed they had launched an internal investigation into the possible misuse of millions in public money. |
| ACT shows decline in students ready for college | |
 | No gains have been made in student preparedness for college, according to ACT data. There are still gaps in scores between white and minority students, excluding Asian American students, who have improved over the past few years. The new ACT score results show that scores across the country are continuing to decline slightly from last year, especially in math and English. The number of graduates meeting the required benchmarks in math and English is the lowest it has been in 15 years. The average composite score was 20.7, a tiny drop from 20.8 last year and down from 21 in 2017. The ACT test is scored on a 36-point scale. Almost 1.8 million students, or 52 percent of the 2019 graduating class, took the ACT. Of the Class of 2019 who took the test, 37 percent met three of the four College Readiness Benchmarks, and 36 percent did not meet any. The latter number has grown over the past few years. |
| ACT scores see little change in Arkansas | |
| Arkansas' average ACT score largely held steady for the second year in a row, data released today by the testing agency shows. The state's average composite score for the 2019 high school graduating class was 19.3, slightly down from 19.4 last year. It also was 19.4 in 2017, the year the state began having every 11th-grader take the exam. That 0.1-point drop doesn't say much, state education officials said. "It's not the direction to go," state Higher Education Division Director Maria Markham said, but "I don't think it's a statistically significant change." Changes to the ACT next year hold some promise for score improvement, Arkansas officials said, while currently the numbers show most Arkansas students aren't ready for college. Of the 15 states that tested every student, Arkansas scored ahead of five of them: Alabama (18.9), Louisiana (18.8), Mississippi (18.4), Nevada (17.9) and Oklahoma (18.9). |
| Georgia ACT score average same as last year | |
| High school seniors in Georgia scored about the same on the ACT test before they graduated last spring as the class before them. The average composite score for the class of 2019 stood unchanged at 21.4. One thing that did change: the percentage of students who took the test. It dropped four points, to 49%. The state's relatively high score is likely due in part to the lower test participation rate, since scores tend to drop as more students are tested. This year, ACT recommended only comparing scores between states with the same testing rate. Rhode Island, for instance, had the highest score -- 24.7 -- but with a 12% testing rate. Mississippi had the lowest score at 18.4, but a 100% testing rate. In Minnesota, where 95% took the test, the average score was the same as Georgia's. |
| Louisiana again ranks low in new education reports -- but math is a bright spot | |
 | Louisiana is ranked 49th in the nation on a test of college readiness called the ACT, down from 45th last year, according to results released Tuesday. The news was not much better on a separate test called the nation's report card, where public school students finished between 44th and 49th nationally in math and reading assessments. However, state Superintendent of Education John White said Tuesday it is significant that eighth-graders showed the biggest gains in the nation in math since 2017, a subject that has long challenged educators. The composite score on the ACT was 18.8, down from 19.2 last year and 19.5 the year before, when the state was ranked 43rd nationally. State education leaders are quick to note that Louisiana is one of just 15 states where all high school students are required to take the ACT. Louisiana ranked 13th of 15 among the states, ahead of only Mississippi and Nevada. |
| Texas A&M AgriLife shows off cutting-edge genomics lab | |
 | Texas A&M AgriLife's Genomics and Bioinformatics Service, known as TxGen, celebrates 10 years of operation this year. On Tuesday, departmental staff offered Texas A&M faculty and bioscience company representatives a tour of the department's newest facility. In operation since spring, the 6,200-square-foot laboratory and office space on Texas A&M's West Campus hosts dozens of DNA sequencing machines. Inside the laboratory, encompassing most of the second floor of a two-story building along Research Parkway, large windows cast bright light over the several dozen whirring machines at work using liquid and motion to manipulate DNA and RNA samples. In 2009, TAMU AgriLife acquired two genome sequencing instruments, which were operated by TxGen director Charlie Johnson. Since then, AgriLife has acquired more technology and staff. "The ultimate goal is to stay current with our technology and offer the latest and greatest to Texas A&M's partners around the world," Johnson said. |
| U. of Missouri graduate workers win ruling from state Supreme Court | |
 | The state Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the University of Missouri's last appeal to prevent graduate assistants from unionizing. In the minutes of the court, issued along with opinions in several cases, the court stated it had denied the university's application to transfer the case from the Western District Court of Appeals, which in late July ruled that graduate assistants are employees of the university with the right to organize a union and seek recognition of a union. "It sounds like we won," said Michael Vierling, co-chair of the Coalition of Graduate Workers, formed late in 2015. "It sounds like we got what we needed. That is great news." MU graduate assistants are employees as defined by the Missouri Constitution and entitled to collectively bargain over pay and working conditions, the appeals court ruled in July. There have been no discussions between the university and the union on how to proceed if the Supreme Court rejected the latest appeal, Vierling said. |
| U. of Missouri professor receives $1.8 million grant to study effects of alcoholism | |
 | A University of Missouri School of Medicine professor has received $1.8 million to study drinking, insomnia and brain inflammation. Mahesh Thakkar, professor and director of research in the Department of Neurology, plans on using the money to study how alcohol abuse leads to insomnia, sleep disturbances and brain inflammation in mice. "The major problem alcohol abusers have is they can't go to sleep," Thakkar said in a news release. "They have to drink alcohol to fall asleep. If they keep drinking, they build a tolerance and need even more alcohol to go to sleep." The goal is to find treatments to prevent insomnia so alcohol abusers do not face the temptation of alcohol as a sleep catalyst, Thakkar said. His research will also look into whether sleeplessness or alcohol abuse adds to brain inflammation. |
| Senators Demand CFPB Investigation Into Mismanagement Of Student Loan Program | |
 | Twenty-three U.S. senators are calling on the nation's top consumer protection agency to investigate a loan servicer for its role in a troubled student loan forgiveness program. The program is designed to help public service workers like teachers and police officers. The loan servicer, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, better known as FedLoan and PHEAA, is one of the entities that handles the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. "For several years now, government watchdogs have repeatedly found that PHEAA's missteps, errors, and mismanagement of the PSLF program caused public service workers to be denied the loan forgiveness that they had earned," the senators said in a letter to Kathleen Kraninger, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program aims to help police, military service members, teachers, people who work at nonprofits and others. If they make qualifying payments for 10 years, the program promises to forgive the remainder of their student loan debt. |
| House Democrats start work on student aid measure | |
| The Democratic-led House Education and Labor Committee on Tuesday began debate on a sweeping overhaul of federal student loans and other higher education programs, but without bipartisan support. Among numerous other provisions, the 1,165-page bill would expand Pell Grants, tweak the Federal Work-Study Program, direct more aid to minority-serving institutions, emphasize campus safety, and set several new requirements designed to hold institutions -- particularly for-profit colleges -- accountable. At a committee markup, which is expected to last up to three days, Democrats lauded the bill as a desperately needed solution to a mounting student debt crisis. It would reauthorize the Higher Education Act for the first time since 2008, and seek to fulfill a pledge by Democrats to address the rising costs of college education, while pushing back on the Trump administration's support of for-profit schools. |
| White House to host closed-door summit on U.S. research enterprise | |
| You'll need an invitation to attend, but on 5 November the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will host a 1-day meeting in Washington, D.C., to discuss a host of hot-button issues affecting the U.S. research community. Several dozen university and industry leaders from across the country have been summoned by OSTP Director Kelvin Droegemeier to advise an internal committee he leads that is trying to harmonize research policies across all federal agencies. The impact of foreign collaborations on national security will probably be uppermost on the minds of attendees, some of them still reeling from aggressive efforts by the National Institutes of Health to enforce existing rules that require NIH-funded scientists to disclose all foreign sources of support. But the Joint Committee on the Research Environment is also tackling three other long-running challenges: how to combat sexual harassment in the workplace, how to reduce the administrative burden on grantees, and how to strengthen scientific integrity. |
| U. of California Faces Bias Lawsuit Over ACT/SAT Requirement | |
 | Lawyers representing students, the Compton Unified School District, civil-rights groups, and college-access organizations said on Tuesday that they planned to sue the University of California unless it drops its ACT/SAT requirement. In a letter to the system's regents, the lawyers allege that the testing requirement violates state civil-rights laws. They describe their clients as well-qualified students who as a result of the requirement "have been subject to unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, disability, and wealth." The letter alleges that requiring admission exams discriminates against underrepresented minority students, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. Moreover, the letter contends, that discrimination is exacerbated by unequal access to test preparation. The potential lawsuit apparently would be the first to take direct aim at a college's ACT/SAT requirement. This legal curveball comes as the influential university system is once again scrutinizing its reliance on college-entrance exams. |
| Faculty support for online learning builds slowly, steadily -- but not enthusiastically | |
| "Embrace" is probably too strong. "Acquiescence" suggests too much passivity. Whatever word you choose, though, the data indicate that American faculty members -- whether grudgingly or enthusiastically -- are increasingly participating in and, to a lesser extent, accepting the validity of online education. Inside Higher Ed's 2019 Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology, conducted with Gallup and published today, shows a continuing uptick in the proportion of faculty members who have taught an online course, to 46 percent from 44 percent last year. That figure stood at 30 percent in 2013, meaning that the number has increased by half in six years. Lest anyone think that that trend means professors have fully embraced the value and benefits of online education, though, think again. While three-quarters of instructors who have taught online believe it made them better teachers in several key ways, professors remain deeply divided about whether online learning can produce student learning outcomes equivalent to face-to-face instruction. |
| The U. of Iowa Keeps Losing Diversity Officers. The Turnover Has Raised Alarms. | |
| When TaJuan Wilson took over as associate vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University of Iowa in June, it was seen as a breakthrough for a campus working hard to diversify an overwhelmingly white faculty and student body but beset by frequent leadership turnover. He lasted six weeks. Wilson's resignation was just one in a string of departures from key administrative perches at Iowa, many of them directly related to diversity work. In another blow to Iowa's minority recruiting efforts, Melissa S. Shivers, the vice president for student life and a former interim chief diversity officer, announced last week that she is leaving to become vice president for student life at the Ohio State University. With the departure of Shivers, who's African American, there's only one remaining member of the president's cabinet who comes from an underrepresented minority group: the provost, who is from Spain. |
| Speaker Phillip Gunn likely to lead resurgence of the House | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: It was back in April of this year at a Stennis Institute of Government's Capitol Press Corps luncheon and the topic was finance proposals for the state's neglected roads and bridges. At the press luncheon, Phillip Gunn touted a House proposal commonly referred to as a "tax swap" that would have broadly paired state income tax cuts with state fuel tax increases over four years. But Gunn's House and the state Senate under the leadership of fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves were unable to agree on the House proposal this year, as the two chambers had been unable to agree on similar prior proposals. ... The House-Senate rift made headlines primarily last year over infrastructure and the politically associated online use tax issue, but those were certainly not the only issues. This is not the first time in Mississippi history that there were visible tensions between the leaders of the House and Senate and most importantly between the rank-and-file members. |
SPORTS
| SEC women: Who can beat the Bulldogs? | |
| The recent era of elite post players dominating Southeastern Conference women's basketball may have ended with Mississippi State's Teaira McCowan following former South Carolina star A'ja Wilson into the WNBA. Their absences have the SEC's 12 other teams hoping the league will have a more competitive conference race this year. South Carolina won the 2017 national championship and claimed at least a share of three SEC regular-season titles and four-straight SEC Tournament crowns with Wilson leading the way from 2014-18. McCowan helped Mississippi State sweep the SEC's regular-season and tournament titles as a senior last season after the Bulldogs reached back-to-back NCAA championship games in 2017 and 2018. "There's still great, great players in the league, but I think A'ja and Teaira both were these matchup problems that really no one else could solve," Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said. |
| NCAA Says It Will Allow College Athletes to Profit From Their Celebrity | |
| The National Collegiate Athletic Association's Board of Governors voted unanimously on Tuesday to allow college athletes to benefit from their name, image, and likeness as long as those benefits stay within the "collegiate model." The vote came in response to a presentation made by a working group that had been appointed to advise the board on how to proceed in the face of a growing national movement. Instead of issuing a final report at the meeting, as was the expectation when the Federal and State Legislation Working Group convened in May, the 19-member committee presented "principles and guidelines" along which the NCAA should address the question of name, image, and likeness. Included in the guidelines were recommendations to "maintain the priorities of education and the collegiate experience," distinguish between "collegiate and professional opportunities," and "protect the recruiting environment." |
| College athletes permitted to be paid for name, image, likeness | |
| The National Collegiate Athletic Association will allow college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, a decision that appears to diverge from the association's long-held standard of amateurism in college sports. The NCAA Board of Governors voted unanimously Tuesday to direct the association's three divisions to "modernize" their rules and allow athletes to enter into contracts with corporations and other parties to receive compensation for their personal brand or celebrity. However, the association made clear that any changes must be "consistent with the collegiate model" and ensure college athletes do not become employees of the university. The decision came after months of accelerating pressure on the NCAA from state and federal legislators. More than a dozen states and two U.S. congressmen began to discuss bills this year to overrule the association's governance. |
| Mississippi State football players sound off on new NCAA legislation | |
| It's been over six years since EA Sports released its last NCAA football video game. While the series of console-based games has been snagged by legal hurdles, a new edition may be on shelves soon -- and if Mississippi State junior running back Kylin Hill has his way, an image of him hurdling a defender would grace the cover. "I'd have to frame that one," Hill said through a laugh. Though video games are just the tip of the iceberg, the NCAA's ruling Tuesday that it will lay out a plan to allow players to profit from their names, images and likenesses stands to change the framework of college athletics. MSU athletic director John Cohen also issued the following statement on the matter: "We recognize the important actions taken today by the NCAA Board of Governors to enhance name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes. We take pride in the student-athlete experience we currently provide at Mississippi State. We will continue to support the best interests of our student-athletes and look forward to providing feedback to the SEC and NCAA that creates a fair structure within the guidelines of the NCAA working group." |
| NCAA's blockbuster news: ADs John Cohen, Keith Carter react | |
| Tuesday's unanimous decision by the NCAA Board of Governors, affirming the rights of college athletes to benefit from the "use of their name, image and likeness" is just the first step on a long road. As with anything involving the NCAA and rule-making, it won't be simple. And the athletic directors at Ole Miss and Mississippi State say they look forward to participating in the extensive effort that will be needed to put new rules in place by January of 2021. "We recognize the important actions taken today by the NCAA Board of Governors to enhance name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes," MSU director of athletics John Cohen said in a statement released Tuesday night. "We will continue to support the best interests of our student-athletes and look forward to providing feedback to the SEC and NCAA that creates a fair structure within the guidelines of the NCAA working group." |
| As NCAA moves toward athlete pay, Louisiana congressman calls it 'necessary step' | |
| The NCAA took a historic step Tuesday in support of allowing student-athletes to be paid for lucrative endorsements and other potentially profitable opportunities that come with the fame they receive from playing college sports, but the details remain murky about when college players will be able to cash in on their names, images and likenesses. The NCAA's top governing board voted unanimously to direct its three divisions to come up with updates to relevant bylaws and policies that must be adopted by January 2021 to pave the way for college athlete compensation. But the NCAA's decision to move forward with creating a still-undefined compensation framework "consistent with the collegiate model" may also bolster efforts in Congress to pursue bipartisan legislation on the issue --- an effort pushed by Rep. Cedric Richmond, a New Orleans Democrat, and Rep. Mark Walker, a North Carolina Republican. |
| Kirby Smart, Georgia legislator react to NCAA's move towards name, image and likeness | |
 | A Georgia state legislator who announced plans last week to introduce a bill to allow college athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness was encouraged by the step the NCAA took on Tuesday. State Rep. Billy Mitchell (D-Stone Mountain) plans to still press forward next year with a measure modeled after a California law that would also take effect in 2023 but "will probably be less vigorous about its passage unless we don't see movement from the NCAA." Meeting in Atlanta, the NCAA Board of Governors voted to "permit students the opportunity to benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness in a manner consistent with the collegiate model." "That still seems like a long way off in my mind," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Tuesday. "We'll have to prepare and whatever they decide to go with, we'll deal with it. I don't have enough information to form a complete opinion on it or understand it completely." |
| Meet Mattress Mack, the Mississippi native who is betting huge on the World Series | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Chances are, you've read or heard of Jim McIngvale -- AKA "Mattress Mack" -- the Texas furniture magnate who has wagered millions on his beloved hometown Houston Astros. Chances are, you did not know there is a strong Mississippi connection where Mattress Mack is concerned. Actually, there are several. Turns out, McIngvale is a Starkville native. Turns out, his father was a Mississippi State football star on one of the school's greatest teams. Turns out, Mattress Mack made several of his recent bets at Mississippi casinos. ... We'll get to the wagers made in Mississippi, but first the Starkville background, much of it provided by Mattress Mack's first cousin, Jack Cook, Jr., of Starkville. "Jim McIngvale's father, George Critz McIngvale, is my daddy's brother, nicknamed Teaberry. He grew up in Starkville, played football at Mississippi State and bled maroon his entire life," Cook said. |
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