| Tuesday, January 26, 2021 |
| 'We were all flying kind of in the dark': Mississippi State President Mark Keenum on COVID-19, the College Football Playoff and a year of change in Mississippi | |
 | Dr. Mark Keenum's phone buzzed emphatically. Checking into his Nashville hotel on March 11, Mississippi State's 19th president picked up a call from his assistant. The Southeastern Conference presidents and chancellors meeting scheduled for the next day as the SEC men's basketball tournament got underway was suddenly called off. Instead, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, joined in person by Keenum and a handful of other administrators who made it to Nashville before Sankey told the others not to come, and the conference's senior leadership decided on a call that night to bar fans from Bridgestone Arena due to COVID-19 concerns. The next morning, as Keenum drove back to Starkville, another call was held. The SEC men's basketball tournament was canceled entirely. "We discussed and decided that...if we weren't going to have fans, we weren't going to have any games," Keenum said. Thursday, just shy of a year since those fateful days in Music City signaled a seismic shift in our everyday lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MSU president and chair of the College Football Playoff's board of managers spoke for nearly 45 minutes with The Dispatch on the challenges MSU and the CFP faced and the staunch social changes that persisted across Mississippi over the past 10 months. "Well, I'll just tell you," Keenum said through a brief sigh. "You know, this past year has been quite amazing for everyone on this planet." |
| Incitement to violence is rarely explicit -- here are some techniques people use to breed hate | |
 | Colleen Sinclair, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Mississippi State University, writes for The Conversation: As senators plan for an impeachment trial in which former President Donald Trump is accused of inciting his supporters to mount a deadly insurrection at the Capitol, global concern is growing about threats of violent unrest in multiple countries, including the U.S. The United Nations reports the proliferation of dangerous speech online represents a "new era" in conflict. Dangerous speech is defined as communication encouraging an audience to condone or inflict harm. Usually this harm is directed by an "ingroup" (us) against an "outgroup" (them) – though it can also provoke self-harm in suicide cults. U.S. law reflects the assumption that dangerous speech must contain explicit calls to criminal action. But scholars who study speeches and propaganda that precede acts of violence find direct commands to violence are rare. Other elements are more common. Here are some of the red flags. |
| IMMS and MSU veterinarians work to save dolphin | |
| So far, so good but researchers and care takers at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, as well as workers with Mississippi State University's College of Veterinary Medicine have their hands full caring for a young male dolphin they rescued Sunday. This young dolphin fell into the right hands and has a second lease on life thanks to good Samaritans who called the IMMS Sunday morning to report the young juvenile male dolphin appeared to be struggling in the shallow waters of the Mississippi Sound in Gulfport. Once here at the Gulfport facility, workers with the IMMS and MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine did blood work and diagnostics to assess the state of his condition. His care spilled over in to Monday. Clinical Instructor and Veterinarian at MSU College of Veterinary Medicine Christa Barrett said, "He's still not strong enough to keep himself up, so we have had people in the water here 24-7, and staff here 24-7 with him, to make sure he is able to breathe. Right now, we have Theresa in the water to make sure he is able to breathe. We gave him a combination of some milk, vitamins and things like that to help keep up with his nutritional status." |
| The Author's Corner with Andrew Lang | |
| Andrew Lang is Associate Professor of History and Graduate Coordinator at Mississippi State University. This interview is based on his new book, A Contest of Civilizations: Exposing the Crisis of American Exceptionalism in the Civil War Era (The University of North Carolina Press, 2021). |
| Anonymous anti-Spruill billboard invokes Bernie Sanders meme | |
| Bernie Sanders' sudden appearance in his meme-worthy mittens on a Highway 12 billboard has garnered plenty of local attention. It may also run afoul of state campaign finance law. Over the weekend, the ad began running on a digital billboard near Walmart Neighborhood Market. On the left is a photo of a masked, seated Sanders wearing knit mittens. The message to Sanders' right: Waiting on a new mayor in Starkville. Despite the ad's implied shot at sitting Mayor Lynn Spruill during a municipal election cycle, the billboard does not include any disclaimer that it is a paid political ad and does not identify the individual or group running it. Gathian Wells, a Farm Bureau insurance agent in Starkville, has owned the Highway 12 billboard since 2019. On Monday, he refused to identify his client to The Dispatch despite questions about whether he believed the law requires the advertiser to be named. He also would not disclose whether the advertiser was an individual or a group. Spruill, in her turn, has taken the Bernie ad in stride. "To be perfectly frank, I thought it was funny," Spruill told The Dispatch. "You've got to appreciate the creativity and the immediacy of including that meme. ... They were just trying to have a little fun at my expense, and I had a little fun at theirs." |
| Director hopes to position Starkville library as 'community hub' | |
| Phillip Carter tells people all the time he is a "bad librarian." He's not the person to ask about big-name authors or bestselling fiction, since he prefers to read nonfiction, the Starkville-Oktibbeha Public Library System director told the Starkville Rotary Club at its Monday meeting. But he described himself as "very community-focused." "I believe in community development, and I saw public libraries as a place where I could have a lot of influence on the community," Carter said. Before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020, the Starkville library received between 10,000 and 14,000 visits per month, which adds up to about 150,000 visits per year, Carter said. That translates to about three visits per capita in Oktibbeha County's population of about 50,000. Now, the library is open for curbside pickup from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and computer usage is by appointment only, with a limit on how many people are allowed inside the building at once. The city owns the building on University Drive, and aldermen decided in October to ask the state Legislature to consider funding a project to relocate it. If successful, the library would move from its 60-year-old location to the stretch of Highway 182 that will be revamped in the next few years with federal grant money. "Right now the conversation -- and nothing's set in stone -- is to put us on that 182 corridor as part of that remodel to sort of anchor it, to build a community hub," Carter said. |
| MSDH reports 1,452 new COVID-19 cases, 75 deaths | |
 | The Mississippi State Department of Health on Tuesday reported 1,452 additional cases of COVID-19 and 75 deaths related to the virus as of 6 p.m. Jan 25. Alcorn, Chickasaw, Monroe, Tippah and Union in Northeast Mississippi reported one additional death. Lee and Marshall counties each reported two deaths. Oktibbeha reported three deaths. The statewide total number of cases since March 11, 2020, is now 266,598, with a death toll of 5,852. Around 222,812 people are estimated to have recovered from the virus as of Jan. 24. There are currently 195 outbreaks in long-term care facilities across the state. All counties in the Daily Journal's coverage area reported new cases: Alcorn (5), Benton (4), Calhoun (2), Chickasaw (6), Clay (11), Itawamba (12), Lafayette (40), Lee (21), Marshall (16), Monroe (34), Oktibbeha (21), Pontotoc (19), Prentiss (9), Tippah (14), Tishomingo (7) and Union (24). |
| Coronavirus in Mississippi: State's death toll surpasses 1,000 for January | |
 | The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 75 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday, topping the 1,000 mark for January. More Mississippians have now died in January than any month since the state reported its first COVID-19 case in March. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths for January is 1,036, according to state data. The previous record for coronavirus-related deaths in a single month was 983 during December. The department also reported 1,452 new cases on its website. State health officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs warned on Twitter earlier this month that January was likely to be the worst month for COVID-19 deaths to this point. Since the virus hit the state in March, a total of 266,598 cases and 5,852 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported. Residents between the ages of 25 and 39 represent the largest portion of the infected population in the state, with 58,964 cases reported as of Tuesday. Among patients under the age of 18, children between the ages of 11 and 17 have the highest infection rate, with 19,912 cases identified so far. The 65 and older age group has the highest total number of deaths with 4,509 reported. |
| Despite statewide issues, area LTC vaccinations 'smooth' | |
| While state health director Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Friday efforts to vaccinate the state's roughly 51,000 residents of long-term care facilities has been sluggish so far, a sampling of local LTCs suggests much better results in the Golden Triangle. Dobbs said CVS and Walgreens were allocated 47,000 doses of vaccine in December to inoculate long-term care residents as part of the federal government's vaccination plan, but only about 14,000 residents, roughly 30 percent, had received first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Friday. Dobbs said the delay has been partially due to slow rollout by CVS and Walgreens and also to "sluggish" uptake of the vaccine, especially among staff at long-term care facilities. On Monday, local LTC administrators from Trinity Health Care Center and Garden Hill Assisted Living in Columbus, as well as Montgomery Gardens Senior Living in Starkville, said the vaccination clinics at their facilities have worked well. "I sleep better at night," said Tmara Bigger, administrator at Montgomery Gardens, which held its first vaccination clinic on Friday. "Of our 24 residents, only two didn't get the vaccine and that was on doctors' orders to wait. The people from CVS showed up with plenty of vaccine, way more than we needed. Everything went very smoothly." |
| State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs: Vaccinations going up, hospitalizations going down | |
| State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs tweeted what he said was some encouraging news on Tuesday: COVID-19 hospital admissions are going down, while the number of people vaccinated is going up. For the week ending January 23, an average of 122 patients were admitted to hospitals in the state for COVID-19. The number represents the second week in a row where new COVID hospitalizations fell, according to numbers provided by the Mississippi State Department of Health. Dobbs also pointed to the state's vaccination efforts, which have ramped up dramatically since mid-December, when the first vaccines were made available. Between January 17-23, 62,615 people were vaccinated, nearly 7,000 more than the week before and nearly twice the number vaccinated the week of January 3-9. Though January 25, 184,498 people in the state had been vaccinated, including 167,856 who had received their first dose and 16,542 who had received their second, health department figures show. |
| '37,000 A Week, That's It': Without New Vaccines, Supply Would Take 57 Weeks to Reach All Mississippians | |
| Mississippi is set to receive 37,000 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine each week, mostly intended for Mississippi State Department of Health drive-through clinics, putting a long road ahead of the effort to reach herd immunity through vaccination. At that vaccination rate, it would take roughly 57 weeks to fully vaccinate the population of the state, just over a year and a month in all. At a press event late last Friday, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs explained that supply is allocated and delivered as it arrives each week. "We don't have a stockpile of vaccine---we're using it real time," he said. Mississippi's vaccination rate is thus dependent on new supply, not stored vials. Census estimates from 2019 peg Mississippi's over-18 population at 2,276,754 people. Subtracting the 163,471 first-dose vaccinations already delivered, the task ahead of Mississippi is to vaccinate 2,113,283 individuals. This timeline has one immediate problem -- vaccine providers Pfizer and Moderna have asserted that the vaccination should last at least a year. It is possible that the antibodies the vaccines generate will last longer than that, but if the lower estimates are correct, Mississippi's currently anticipated rate of vaccination may run into waning immunity for those who first receive their shots before everyone has had the shot. |
| Advocates for Mississippi seniors push for more coronavirus vaccine availability | |
 | Mississippians age 65 and older have received more than half of the state's coronavirus vaccines. But health officials are concerned about disparities in who can get the shots because of location, internet access, and transportation. Mississippi AARP State Director Kimberly Campbell says the federal government needs to increase the doses coming into the state each week. She says there also needs to be additional funding available to support vaccination efforts in underserved communities. "To really provide those measures to make sure that we have enough sites," says Campbell. "Are there areas to where we don't have enough sites for however many mile radius? We want to make sure that we can have sites available as much as possible, and make sure that people also have the transportation to getting to those sites as well." Long-term care facilities are expected to finish the first round of vaccinations this week according to representatives with CVS and Walgreens, the federally contracted partners conducting vaccinations in Mississippi's nursing homes. In the facilities that have finished vaccinations, nearly every resident has gotten the shot according to the Department of Health. But only 4 in 10 long-term care employees are participating. Campbell says the vaccine should not be mandatory, but employees should consider the health risks they are placing on residents. |
| New bill aims to bring mobile sports betting to Mississippi | |
| Sports betting launched in Mississippi back in 2018, but a bill introduced at the capitol would bring mobile sports betting to the Magnolia State. Currently, those wishing to place a wager on any sporting event must be on casino property. SB 2732, authored by Senator Philip Moran (R-District 46) would allow you to make bets from your phone or computer from anywhere in the state with a "percentage of operator profits flowing to the state." "Every day millions of Americans in 15 states have access to state-of-the-art mobile sportsbooks, allowing them to place bets on their favorite teams and leagues at home while fostering much-needed tax revenue. Unfortunately, Mississippi law does not authorize online sports betting, but this bill seeks to change that" Moran said. "Mississippi has been leaving money on the table by not authorizing online sports wagering, and it is time to modernize Mississippi's gambling offerings and do what's best for Mississippians." Several casinos currently offer sports gaming apps but are forced by state law to geofence those apps around their property. This bill would lift that restriction while also allowing Mississippians to use national sportsbooks such as DraftKings and FanDuel. As for the bill's chances of passing, it may face an uphill battle following comments made by Speaker of the House Philip Gunn in December. "I have been in consultation with my chairman and those who are in charge with the responsibility of knowing this," Gunn said, referring to the House Gaming Committee. "They are very cautious about that at this point. I think, right now, they are not in favor of it." |
| Legislators Push for More Felony Expungements, Prison Labor Minimum Wage | |
| Under current law, Mississippi citizens convicted of many misdemeanors and some felonies can petition to have the offense struck from their permanent record. Sen. Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville, is asking the Legislature to add several felonies to the list of possible expungements five years after the offender's sentence was fulfilled. His Senate Bill 2136 would also add a new class of felonies that can be expunged after 20 years. Mississippi code currently lists only six possible felonies open for expungement five years after fines and any sentence are completed: a bad-check offense, drug possession, false pretense (fraud), larceny, malicious mischief or shoplifting. SB 2136 would instead make any felony with 10 exceptions -- including violent crimes, embezzlement, drug trafficking and felony gun violations -- open to a petition for expungement. If signed into law, the bill also would allow for additional expungements after a 20-year window. Only rape, sexual battery, failure to register a sexual offender, witness intimidation, certain crimes against vulnerable persons and repeat DUI felonies would be excluded from the list of felonies open for expungement from an offender's permanent record after two decades. |
| Mississippi governor gives State of the State speech Tuesday | |
 | Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is preparing to give his annual State of the State address. The Republican will discuss his priorities for the legislative session. He is also expected to talk extensively about the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic. The speech is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday on the south steps of the state Capitol. A livestream is supposed to be available on the governor's Facebook page. The State of the State is usually held inside the Capitol, with senators, representatives, state Supreme Court justices and other officials sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in the House chamber. Public health officials recommend that people avoid that kind of crowded indoor event because of the highly contagious virus. |
| Lawmakers discuss what they'd like to hear during Gov. Reeves State of State Address | |
| Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves will deliver his second State of the State Address today from the Capitol. Some lawmakers are looking to hear him discuss issues ranging from the coronavirus response to economic development. Vaccinating Mississippians for the coronavirus tops the concerns some legislators want to hear Reeves address. They say constituents want to know when the vaccine will be available after appointments are cancelled. And Republican Representative Donnie Bell of Fulton says there's no drive-thru vaccination site in Itawamba county, making it difficult for the elderly to be vaccinated. There are only 19 drive-thru sites statewide. Bell, the chair of the Workforce Development Committee also wants to hear the governor's approach to funding technical training and education. Democratic Senator Angela Turner-Ford of West Point chairs the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus. She'll be listening for the governor's goals for bringing teacher pay up to the southeastern average, access to broadband and expanding Medicaid. Republican Senator Joey Fillingane of Sumrall chairs the Judiciary B Committee. He wants to learn Reeves' goals for infrastructure and economic development. |
| Pared down State of State with limited audience set for Tuesday | |
| The Mississippi Legislature, trying to limit the potential spread of the coronavirus, will meet in what is expected to be a pared down joint session Tuesday afternoon for Gov. Tate Reeves to deliver the annual State of the State speech. The speech is scheduled to be delivered on the south steps of the state Capitol, but will be moved to the House chamber if there is inclement weather. Both presiding officers, Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, will be on hand to officiate as well as the House and Senate committee (three from each chamber) to escort the governor to the joint session. But the State of the State, in the COVID-19 environment, is expected to take place without the pomp and circumstance that normally surrounds the event. Gunn said on Monday that he knows scant details about the governor's State of the State address plans. "I'm told that I need to show up, bang the gavel and introduce the bugler -- it is my understanding there will be a bugler," Gunn said. "I don't know who all is coming to it ... It's really up to them, the governor's office, on how they are going to do it." "The governor has requested no audience," Hosemann said. |
| State Sen. Derrick Simmons to give Democratic Response to Governor's 2021 State of the State Address | |
 | Governor Tate Reeves, a Republican, will deliver his 2021 State of the State Address on Tuesday outside of the Mississippi Capitol. The Democratic Response, as is customary for the political party not holding the Governor's office, will be given by state Senator Derrick Simmons. Simmons represents Senate District 12 and has been the Senate Minority Leader since 2018. According to his legislative bio, Senator Simmons is a trial lawyer and is affiliated with the American Bar Association, National Bar Association, Mississippi Bar, Magnolia Bar, District of Columbia Bar and Greenville Rotary Club. He is a Mason, life member of NAACP, and life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He also sits on the Mississippi Technology Alliance Liaison Committee. Senator Simmons serves as the Chairman of the Municipalities Committee in the Mississippi Senate and Vice Chairman of the Constitution Committee. |
| Officials present top priorities for legislative session in forum | |
 | When given the opportunity to present requests to state legislators on Monday, Natchez and Adams County officials only listed two priorities for this session -- with a later possibility of more requests should those projects become funded. Natchez Inc. Executive Director Chandler Russ said both City of Natchez and Adams County officials weighed in on prioritizing the completion of the Bellwood Levee and the widening and resurfacing of Morgantown Road. At least 50 Adams County citizens and officials attended the question-answer forum with Mississippi legislators Monday at the Natchez Convention Center with approximately half attending virtually. Citizens and legislators had the option to attend via teleconference as a result of COVID-19 and many seized the opportunity, including District 97 House Rep. Sam Mims, R-McComb. District 94 House Rep. Robert Johnson III, D-Natchez, was the only legislator to attend in person while District 37 Sen. Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez, and District 96 House Rep. Angela Cockerham, D-Magnolia, were absent due to prior appointments. Hudson said Sojourner notified her Saturday that she could not attend the forum because of a doctor's appointment and Cockerham, who is an attorney, had to appear in court. |
| Toby Barker, touting accomplishments, seeking 2nd term as mayor of Hattiesburg | |
 | Toby Barker on Monday announced that he will seek a second term as Hattiesburg's mayor. Barker, an independent since 2017, made the announcement via a Facebook post. "A campaign in the middle of COVID-19 will look different, but we will find ways to aggressively share our positive vision and love for Hattiesburg safely and responsibly," Barker said in the post. Barker, in his announcement, said the last four years "have been marked by significant accomplishments." "Even in the midst of a pandemic, progress is evident through investments in neighborhoods and infrastructure, improved public schools, investments in parks, solid financial footing for our city and funding for two railway overpasses," he said. Prior to being elected mayor, Barker served in the Mississippi House as a representative for District 102. |
| America's rural crisis triggers calls for Biden to name rural czar | |
 | The incoming Biden administration is facing growing pressure to appoint a rural envoy within the White House to oversee a national strategy to uplift rural communities facing severe health and economic challenges. Members of Congress and advocates are making the case that the problems plaguing rural regions exacerbated by the pandemic run so deep that a coordinated federal response is critical -- a move they argue would speed up the nation's economic recovery and boost Biden's popularity among voters in red states. The envoy would work closely with the executive branch, especially the Department of Agriculture, which has offices in nearly every county in the U.S. The Agriculture Department is expected to be the first response to many of these problems, given the department's sprawling mission that touches nearly every corner of rural America, from funding affordable housing to building rural hospitals to deploying broadband access to combating climate change. But the rural development branch of USDA has long been neglected by both Republican and Democratic administrations, as it's been consistently underfunded and understaffed. Advocates say that an early order of business for Tom Vilsack, Biden's pick to lead USDA, should be restoring morale among rural development career staff by elevating the public profile of the agency's work. |
| Sen. Rob Portman's exit leaves void in chamber and 2022 map | |
 | Ohio Sen. Rob Portman's announcement Monday that he would not run for reelection sent shockwaves through GOP circles, as Republicans grappled with losing a senator with his stature and history of winning campaigns. Portman's decision leaves a wide-open Senate race in 2022, when Republicans will be looking to win control of the chamber. "I think everyone is just trying to get their hands around it right now," Ohio GOP consultant Curt Steiner said. "We've gone from a seat where the Republicans would be heavily favored to one that could be somewhat uncertain," Steiner later added. "In the aftermath of a bombshell like this, most people are really just guessing." Ohio has a long history of conservative senators who've worked across the aisle, including George V. Voinovich and now-Gov. Mike DeWine. In losing Portman, many establishment Republicans in the state worry that the race to replace him could signal the end of such pragmatic politics and mark the beginning of an era in which conservative firebrands, such as Rep. Jim Jordan, could become the symbol of the party. Ensuring the seat stays in GOP hands may be a tougher task without Portman’s name recognition and sizable campaign war chest. Portman’s campaign had $4.6 million as of Sept. 30. But Republicans are confident they will prevail. Democrats, though, believe they have a shot. |
| Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell relents on Senate rules, signals power-sharing deal with Democrats | |
 | Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday night signaled he would step back from an ultimatum over Senate rules that sparked a partisan showdown and threatened to obstruct President Biden's early legislative agenda. McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement that he was ready to move forward with a power-sharing accord with Democrats on how to operate the evenly divided Senate, defusing a potentially explosive clash over the minority's rights to block partisan legislation. At issue for McConnell was the fate of the filibuster, the Senate rule that acts as a 60-vote supermajority requirement for most legislation. With many Democrats calling for its elimination as their party takes control of the House, Senate and White House, McConnell had sought assurances from the new Senate majority leader, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), that the filibuster would be preserved. Democrats bristled at the request, demanding that McConnell agree to a power-sharing arrangement that followed the model used during the last 50-to-50 Senate, in 2001 -- which would give the party with the vice presidency and its tie-breaking powers control of the floor agenda -- without any additional provisions. |
| Sen. Roger Wicker will vote to dismiss 'pointless and divisive' article of impeachment against Trump | |
| Sen. Roger Wicker says that he will vote to dismiss the "pointless and divisive" article of impeachment against former president Donald Trump. The article of impeachment was brought against Trump in the wake of the riot on and inside the U.S. Capitol which left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. Democrats and some Republicans have blamed Trump for inciting the riot, charging him with "incitement of insurrection." Sen. Wicker is not among them. "Impeaching President Trump is a mistake," he wrote in a press release Monday. "The effort to remove a President who is no longer in office raises serious constitutional questions and threatens to delay national healing." He then called the article of impeachment "rushed" and that it was done without any hearings or any careful consideration of evidence or precedent. Wicker also said that a second impeachment trial against Trump, who is the only U.S. president to be impeached twice, would only "inflame partisan tensions and could poison the cooperative spirit we need in a 50-50 Senate." |
| Will There Be a Trump Presidential Library? Don't Count On It. | |
| For months, as the end of Donald Trump's term approached, historians and journalists have been playing a speculation game: What will Donald Trump's presidential library be like? "A shrine to his ego," predicted a historian in the Washington Post. Others imagine a theme park, or a "full MAGA" exercise in rebranding his presidency. One report said he's trying to raise an astonishing $2 billion to build it. Here's another, more likely possibility: There won't be one. Presidential libraries are complicated. And if you understand how they work -- and how Trump himself works -- it's nearly impossible to imagine him actually pulling it off. The consequences of this failure, for Trump and his supporters, will go beyond just a building: Without a library, a center or some kind of institute to shore up his reputation, his legacy as a president and his place in history are likely to fall even further out of his control. The first and most important reason not to expect a Trump Library is that it's expensive to build one. The government might pay for lifetime Secret Service protection, but it doesn't front the money for a library: No federal funds may be used to build or equip a presidential library, and no federal property may be used. To get the ball rolling, former presidents must create a nonprofit to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. While they may do so in unlimited sums, with almost no disclosure, from any source, anywhere in the world, it's a lot easier to do it while in office. |
| Trump establishes 'Office of the Former President' in Florida | |
 | Former President Trump on Monday established an official post-presidency office in Palm Beach County, Fla., setting up a vehicle for future public appearances and statements. "The Office of the Former President" will manage Trump's correspondence, public statements, appearance and official activities, according to a press release from the office. "President Trump will always and forever be a champion for the American People," the release said. The title of the office could fuel speculation that Trump may not run for president again in 2024, something he and his advisers have not definitively weighed in on. Trump has been publicly silent since leaving the White House last week for his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. He has been banned from Twitter and suspended from other major social media platforms in the wake of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. The president is readying an impeachment defense team for next month's Senate trial, though he has not commented on it publicly. |
| Auditor seeking to dismiss Ole Miss professor's suit | |
| State Auditor Shad White filed a motion to dismiss a defamation suit brought against him by a University of Mississippi professor. Attorneys for White submitted the motion on Tuesday in Hinds County Circuit Court, about a month after the Mississippi Center for Justice filed the suit on behalf of professor James Thomas. The complaint raises a claim of defamation relating to White's claims that Thomas had violated the state's no-strike law. According to the Center for Justice, the suit is seeking a declaratory judgment that Thomas did not violate the law. White, though, claims he is immune under the statute of "the doctrine absolute privilege," and that Thomas' suit would prevent him from doing his job. "As a constitutional executive officer and statewide elected official, (the) defendant should be entitled to the protection of an absolute privilege for statements undertaken in the performance of his official duties," he writes. "As a matter of law, (the) plaintiff's allegations of defamation should not be actionable." Thomas is seeking no damages, only a declaratory judgment that he did not violate the law. |
| Study: Diabetes, COVID-19 combo riskier for Blacks, Hispanics | |
 | According to a study authored by a University of Mississippi Medical Center faculty member, Black patients coping with both Type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 are about four times as likely to be hospitalized for life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis as someone who's white. "It gets worse if you are a Black man or woman with diabetes, in terms of COVID," said Dr. Osagie Ebekozien, assistant professor of population health in the John D. Bower School of Population Health. Ebekozien also serves as vice president of population health and quality improvement at the nonprofit T1D Exchange. His findings were published January 7 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in a paper that has garnered much attention nationally at a time when COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths were on the rise. Although previous studies have pointed to significant evidence that patients with Type 2 diabetes are more at risk for worse COVID-19 outcomes that include hospitalization, intubation and death, Ebekozien said, his study demonstrates that patients with less common Type 1 diabetes also have increased risk. |
| Career coach, virtual career expo teach students about transportation/logistics careers | |
| In September 1979, David Simmons dropped $150 to enroll in a truck driving course at East Central Community College. That decision enabled him to land his first job as a trucker. Some 40 years and countless miles later: "(It) turned into a pretty doggone good career," he said. Now a career coach for Union County School District, Simmons is well equipped to help students find their calling in the transportation/logistics field, one of the leading career fields in Northeast Mississippi and a featured pathway in this year's virtual Imagine the Possibilities career expo. He works with students at West Union, East Union, Ingomar and Myrtle attendance centers in the Union County School District, where he tries to visit one school a day, visiting classrooms and meeting one-on-one with students. His speciality is teaching students at goal-setting and achievement. The ongoing Imagine the Possibilities Career Expo, which Simmons was introduced to via his work with Walmart, is operating online as virtual experience this year, sponsored by the Toyota Wellspring Education Fund and the CREATE Foundation. It launched on Oct. 6 and will continue online through March. Simmons believes the virtual Imagine the Possibilities Career Expo is often enlightening for students because it shows them people working locally in career fields in which they're interested. |
| Auburn University brings in executive to lead new approach to fundraising, marketing, communications | |
 | Auburn University is bringing in a new face to oversee its new approach to fundraising, marketing and communications. John Morris will become Auburn's first senior vice president for advancement on March 8, overseeing the merger of the offices of Alumni Affairs, Development and Communications and Marketing. He has served as the Kansas State University Foundation's senior vice president for development since 2016. "The 'advancement' model is a standard structure of operations seen throughout higher education, serving as an integrated approach to leverage the collective strengths in the areas of alumni engagement, philanthropy and communications and marketing," university spokesman Preston Sparks told the Opelika-Auburn News. "All three areas of focus will report up to John Morris as the senior vice president for advancement. No organizational plan has been determined as of yet, with current roles remaining unchanged." Morris will serve in President Jay Gogue's cabinet. This new structure will operate with approximately 200 employees and a $14 million budget, according to university estimates. |
| Auburn international students reflect on America in 2020 | |
| International students travel to the U.S. in pursuit of educational opportunities they may not have in their home countries. Their time abroad also provides them a window of what it's like to live here. Though many countries look toward America for guidance, some Auburn international students say the U.S. in 2020 challenged their perceptions of what they once felt was a role model nation. They feel events last year bear some similarities to life back home. As America entered a new decade and another presidential election year, morale seemed high but was soon broken when COVID-19 arrived in full force in March. Ishwor Poudel, a Ph.D. student in pharmaceutical sciences from Nepal, did not expect some of the reactions he's witnessed from Americans about the virus and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's safety recommendations. "In February, I experienced staredowns in grocery stores when I was using a mask after hearing about China's situation," Poudel said. "I also had [discussions] with some of my domestic friends and colleagues about the validation of the masks' importance." Before the pandemic, Americans were not used to seeing face masks outside medical and hospital settings, but to Poudel they were nothing new. Masks are commonly used in some Asian countries. |
| One of LSU's first steps back to normal after coronavirus: surveying students, staff on vaccines | |
 | LSU is on the road to a return to normalcy amid the coronavirus pandemic -- but that destination is still a long way off. The university is surveying its students and faculty to gauge their interest in receiving the vaccine for COVID-19 and adding their names to a queue to schedule an appointment once it's available at LSU. With roughly half of all classes at the university still online-only, the university said vaccinating its students and staff offers the quickest path to a return to normal instruction -- although vaccinations may not begin until the late spring or early summer. "We've learned a lot with online on how to deliver it and make it work in this environment, but there is something more to in-person learning and what it provides to the college experience," LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard said. "We want to have that college experience back to normal or as close to normal as soon as we can." In the first 24 hours after the survey went up Monday, 7,000 people responded, including 4,500 students, Ballard said. To reduce difficulties with online learning while still keeping the virus at bay on its campus, LSU increased the number of online classes that are taught in real time, rather than a recorded lecture, to 71% in the spring semester, Ballard said. Many of the in-person classes are taught in a hybrid format with some online instruction, Ballard added. |
| Large gathering of UGA students sparks Twitter debate and official COVID-19 reminder | |
 | A large gathering of University of Georgia students at the intramural fields this past weekend triggered a flurry of comments on Twitter and prompted a statement from a UGA official urging students to engage in the safe practices recommended during the coronavirus pandemic. Victor K. Wilson, vice president for Student Affairs, issued a statement Monday welcoming students back to campus, but also imploring them to adhere to practices meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19. "I have always tried to be honest and up front with you, and I must level with you -- it appears that some in the student community have decreased your diligence in adhering to good public practices," Wilson wrote. "Primarily we are trying to keep you and the university and Athens communities safe." UGA spokesman Greg Trevor said Monday that the gathering of students was not a registered event on campus, but that the Student Affairs office is investigating. Wilson reported that mask wearing and physical distancing "for the most part" has been good in classes and on campus generally. However, Wilson said places where this could be improved include buses and bus stops, dining locations, libraries, the Tate Student Center and at outdoor gatherings at apartment complexes and downtown Athens. |
| Georgia State President Becker heads pay list at $2.8M in 2020 | |
| Longtime Georgia State President Mark Becker is ending his tenure in June, but he'll leave on a high note in terms of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's regular review of state pay records. Becker, who for more than a decade led a school that that saw its enrollment grow to became the largest for any university in the state, was paid $2.8 million in fiscal 2020, according to the state's Open Georgia salary website. He was one of three university staffers to be paid more than $1 million in fiscal 2020, which ended June 30, just after state lawmakers cut state spending 10% in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Becker's income was boosted by a University System of Georgia deferred compensation plan payment, money he received well before the pandemic. The system gives presidents such as Becker the payments for agreeing to remain in their jobs for a certain period of time. Others who made just over $1 million were Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera and the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University neurosurgery chairman, Fernando Vale Diaz. University of Georgia President Jere Morehead came in at $911,779. |
| Student dies at U. of Arkansas, Fayetteville fraternity house | |
| A 20-year-old University of Arkansas, Fayetteville student died Saturday afternoon at a fraternity house where he was residing, campus police said Monday morning. Capt. Gary Crain of the UA police department said there was no indication of trauma to the deceased student when police arrived after being called to the scene by fraternity members shortly after 1:20 p.m. Saturday. "The medical examiner will do their examination and give us some insight," Crain said. He said the body was taken to a state crime lab facility to try to determine the cause of death. Crain declined to release the name of the fraternity house where the deceased student was found or the student's name. "At some point it will all be released," Crain said. He said fraternity members attempted CPR on the student. Medics arrived and "everybody tried to provide emergency first aid, but the individual didn't make it," Crain said. |
| U. of Florida faculty, scientists push back against McCarty Woods development plan | |
 | Over 160 years ago, on private land owned by a state politician, the University of Florida had its beginnings. Flushed with trees and natural wildlife that surrounded a wooden school hall, the acres were verdant and lush. But with ever more students and buildings, that green space has shrunk to a handful of pockets scattered throughout campus. McCarty Woods is a 2.9-acre forest in the heart of Gainesville's main University of Florida campus. It has been open for community recreational use for over 40 years, and since at least 2000, has been designated conservation land, protected from development through rounds of university growth plans. Last December, that changed. McCarty Woods was labeled a future building site by the 2020-30 Campus Master Plan after approval from the UF board of trustees, and many faculty members in the forest's surrounding classrooms are angry. All but 1 acre of the land is slotted for a potential new development called the "Future of Learning" academic building site, which would combine classrooms, students and teachers from many different fields of study into one building, according to the campus plan. |
| UF encourages new recharge days for Spring 2021 semester | |
| With another semester of Zoom fatigue and pandemic paranoia looming over their heads, students and faculty fear they won't have enough time to recharge their academic batteries in a term with only one official day off. Because of this, D'Andra Mull, the UF Vice President for Student Affairs asked faculty to suspend their classes and exams for two days this Spring. The proposed Spring recharge days -- Thursday, Feb. 25 and Wednesday, Mar. 24 -- were created as an opportunity for students to rest during the Spring semester after UF canceled March Spring Break. Although not a formal requirement, UF administration urged faculty to take the days off to encourage student health and well-being in an email sent on Dec. 21. "We believe this will be much appreciated and needed by our students," Mull wrote. UF Student Affairs is teaming up with UF Performing Arts, Academic Affairs' Wellness Collaborative and Student Government to bring socially distanced events and activities to campus on the recharge days, Mull wrote. The specifics of these activities are not currently available, but the email promised more information would be available to students soon. "Our hope is that our Gator Recharge Days will allow students to take a well-deserved and much-needed break to renew their energy mid-semester," Mull wrote in a statement. |
| Texas A&M unveils eight-part action plan to improve diversity on campus | |
 | The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents agreed Monday to implement eight action items in an effort to address racial issues at Texas A&M University. The move is in response to a report released by the 45-member Commission on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, made up of current and former students, faculty and staff. The commission's report, which was completed in November, was released Monday after the regents agreed to the action items, which come with budget of $24.75 million. Actions include increasing the number of scholarship recipients and fellowship participants for certain programs, recognizing more "outstanding Aggies leading by example," establishing a task force to tell the story of A&M's history through displays and iconography, and documenting and communicating success stories of former students of color. There is also $1.5 million set aside to expand the student pipeline in fall 2021 and fall 2022, in part by "significantly" increasing the number of students from underrepresented groups by 2026. Interim A&M President John L. Junkins told the regents there is room for improvement, especially in terms of increasing the number of Black students and faculty members. He acknowledged that the eight action items he presented to them do not address all concerns raised in the report, but said others will continue looking at areas that have not been addressed. |
| Andrew Young ahead of U. of Missouri speech: Uprooting systemic racism has begun | |
 | President Joe Biden's commitment to tackling systemic racism in the United States is a difficult task, but the country already has started on that road, Andrew Young said Monday in a meeting with reporters over Zoom. Young, 88, a Civil Rights leader and confidant of Martin Luther King Jr., was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and was chosen by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 as the first African American U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He was elected mayor of Atlanta in 1981. He's the keynote speaker Tuesday of "Infinite Hope: MU Celebrates MLK 2021," the University of Missouri's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. The uprooting of systemic racism started with President Harry Truman's desegregation of the military in 1948, he said. "It's a difficult challenge and it's a challenge we have already met," Young said of tackling systemic racism. The GI Bill is another measure that gave educational opportunities for Blacks, he said. The work isn't finished, he added. "It is taking a little longer," he said. He's worried that university students don't have a sense of community, he said. When he spoke in front of university students before the pandemic, he said he asked them to talk with those sitting next to them. "I never find anybody who knows the person sitting next to them," he said. |
| COVID on Campus: Tracking and isolating students was hit-and-miss | |
 | Morgan Weesner spent six strange days in quarantine at Indiana University after one of her friends tested positive for the coronavirus. She was sent to a dorm that had been cleared out so students could be isolated. The aging building had eerily empty halls, populated only by cleaning staff wearing what she said looked like "hazmat suits." "I felt like I was in a horror movie," Weesner said. "I just didn't like it." Students report a wide variety of experiences after testing positive for COVID-19 on Midwest campuses. Some were held in university facilities where food was scarce; others were placed in hotels with regular meals. Some said their personal contacts were notified; others say no one even asked who they'd come into contact with, if their schools followed up with them at all. A critical component in preventing COVID-19 transmission is contact tracing: identifying those who have been exposed to a known positive case, quarantining them and monitoring their symptoms. Interviews with students and officials from several Midwestern universities and health departments show that getting those systems in place was more difficult than many campuses may have expected. |
| North Carolina campuses helping distribute COVID vaccines with clinics, ultra-cold freezers | |
| Public universities across North Carolina are stepping up to get more COVID-19 vaccines to more people as the state is lagging behind others in its rollout. Several UNC System universities are setting up vaccination clinics, and 15 of them will start storing and distributing COVID-19 vaccine vials with new ultra-cold mobile freezers. The UNC System's six historically minority-serving institutions received the first of 62 freezers scheduled to arrive at campuses over the next couple months. The mobile freezers are about the size of a large beach cooler and can plug into a car to keep the interior temperature as low as -112 degrees Fahrenheit for safe storage of the vaccines. North Carolina has vaccinated more than 450,000 people against COVID-19, and a mass vaccination site at UNC-Chapel Hill's Friday Center is a critical part of the state's efforts. The UNC System is working with the state health and public safety departments and county health departments to set up vaccination clinics at universities, using UNC-CH as a model. |
| Survey finds professors worried about dropouts, particularly among disadvantaged students | |
 | College faculty members finished the fall semester feeling more confident in their online teaching and their institutions' support for them, but they were also exhausted -- and deeply concerned about their students, especially those from groups that are historically disadvantaged in higher education. Those are among the findings of a report released today, "The Impact of 2020 on Introductory Faculty and Their Students." The study is the third in a series that Every Learner Everywhere, a network of college and technology groups focused on using digital learning to drive equitable access and success in higher education, and Tyton Partners, an investment, research and consulting firm that is part of the network, have released under the tagline "Time for Class." The first report last July explored faculty views from an April survey about last spring's emergency pivot to remote learning, and the second, published in October, shared the results of an August survey of instructors' impressions looking ahead to how their fall classrooms, in-person and virtual, might differ from the spring's. |
| Common App's new data show overall gains in applications, but not from first-generation, low-income applicants | |
| The Common Application is the most widely used college application out there -- with more than 900 institutions participating. No longer just used by liberal arts colleges, its members include many public institutions serving a variety of students. Newly released data about the Common App show that what has been reported anecdotally in admissions is actually occurring in large numbers. The larger and more competitive colleges and universities are having a good year and getting lots of applications. But smaller and less competitive colleges are not. And first-generation students and those who lack the money to pay for an application are not applying at the same rates they used to. These data are from after the Jan. 1 and Jan. 15 application deadlines of some colleges. This year especially, that is hardly the end of the admissions cycle. But the Common App administrators said that "alarm bells" were needed for low-income students. As of Friday, overall applications were up by 10 percent, reaching 5,583,753, according to the study. But despite those increases, "the numbers of first-generation applicants and fee-waiver recipients each declined (by three and two percentage points, respectively)," said a letter to Common App members from Jenny Rickard, president and CEO of the Common App. |
| Covid-19 Has Robbed Faculty Parents of Time for Research. Especially Mothers. | |
 | Female academic parents -- especially those with younger children -- have disproportionately lost research time during the pandemic, according to a new working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research. When Covid-19 began to spread in the United States, and K-12 schools and day cares closed, experts worried that women would assume more child-care duties. Unable to sacrifice their service or teaching work, they'd have less time to write grant proposals, submit essays, or conduct studies, potentially hampering their careers in the long term. That initial prediction seems to be bearing out, at least among nearly 20,000 respondents to a new survey conducted by Tatyana Deryugina, an associate professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Olga Shurchkov, an associate professor of economics at Wellesley College, and Jenna E. Stearns, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California at Davis. Their findings still must undergo peer review. The worst disruptions were for families with children under the age of 7. Male and female parents of children under the age of 3 reported losing about an hour and 15 minutes and over an hour and a half of research time per day, respectively. |
| Parents of Remote Learners Have Smaller Roles in U.S. Workforce | |
 | Parents of school-age children who are spending part or all of their time taking classes from home are less likely to be employed full-time, in the latest indication of how the pandemic-fueled school closures have taken a toll on working parents. About 47% of parents with children who are learning entirely remotely or are in hybrid situations because of the coronavirus pandemic are working full-time, compared with 71% of parents whose children are physically back in school buildings, according to results of the Franklin Templeton-Gallup Economics of Recovery Study released Tuesday. About 24% of parents whose children are attending school virtually aren't working at all compared with 15% of parents whose children are attending school in person every day, according to the survey. About 73% of the surveyed parents said their child is learning remotely at least part of the time. The results are the latest to illustrate how the prolonged school closures have increased the pressure on working parents. The mass switch to online learning has affected both men and women. Yet, women with school-age children are more likely to be dialing back from work compared with men. |
| Mental health professionals are themselves facing mental health challenges | |
| High rates of isolation, loneliness and heightened stress and anxiety among students coping with the pandemic are an inescapable aspect of the work of college mental health therapists. As the public health crisis stretches on and approaches the one-year mark, the overworked professionals who provide mental health services to students are also feeling emotionally overburdened -- and are themselves seeking support from each other and their institutions. Among the many negative consequences of the public health crisis, sad and stressed-out therapists was an unexpected but perhaps inevitable outcome. Now students and counselors alike have been thrust into a "universal experience" of uncertainty and anxiety about the future, said David Walden, director of the mental health counseling center at Hamilton College, a private liberal arts institution in New York. "We're humans in the world, too," he said. "If someone comes in to talk about the uncertainty of the pandemic, you can't avoid that. You're also living through the pandemic." |
| How to pay less for college: Merit aid | |
| Paying for college could easily become the biggest money decision you ever make. This depends on the cost of homes where you live, how many children you might have and what kind of college they go to. But think about it: The typical price of a house or condo in the U.S. is almost $300,000. To pay full price for a high-end college, including room and board and more? There's $80,000 a year over four years, which puts you at $320,000 -- if one of these most expensive colleges is right for the student. How did we get to this point? And are there better ways to shop for college? Parents try to be financially rational and look for the best deals, but the truth of the matter is that families face intense social pressures. Ron Lieber, author of the "Your Money" column in The New York Times, immersed himself in this world. His new book, "The Price You Pay for College," is framed as a road map. "What I was trying to do for people is to help them have the most emotionally intelligent college-shopping experience they possibly could," Lieber said. "Because if you get in touch with the feelings that can affect you, in this particular process -- things like fear and guilt and snobbery -- then you'll have a better sense of the ways in which you might be fooled or tricked internally into spending more than you need to and more than you want to." |
| Vice President Kamala Harris' rise illustrates the evolution of HBCUs | |
| Vice President Kamala Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, is the first graduate of a historically Black college or university to enter the White House -- and her background reflects the changing demographics at HBCUs. Harris' accession highlights the often overlooked legacy of HBCUs, which have educated Black students for generations. Today, the schools also attract Latino and Asian American students, as well as students from immigrant families, amid a transforming nation. Non-Black students make up around a fourth of HBCUs' student populations, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Today, 25% of students at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University are Hispanic, many coming from South Texas. HBCU officials say the institutions' survival rests on recruiting students like Harris, who graduated from Howard University in 1986, and attracting a more diverse student body to stave off enrollment declines. The number of HBCU students fell from 327,000 in 2010 to 292,000 in 2018. |
| Research Shows Black Students Increasingly Choose HBCUs When Reported State-Level Hate Crimes Rise | |
| A new paper, published by Stanford University's Center for Education Policy Analysis, explores the relationship between Black student enrollment and state-level hate crime rates. The research finds a moderate but consistent connection between increases in a state's reported hate crimes and increases in Black students attending historically Black colleges and universities in that state. The "genesis" of the idea for this study was "if students and families make decisions based on economic conditions -- an example being a higher likelihood of enrollment during recessions -- it is plausible that they are also making decisions about college enrollment based on sociopolitical climates, and particularly their experiences with racial climates where they live," wrote Dr. Tolani Britton, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California Berkeley, in an email to Diverse. "In some ways, the larger question is: how do students and families make decisions about the optimal learning environment in higher education?" Notably, the research shows that a standard deviation increase in reports of state-level hate crimes predicts a 20% increase in Black first-time student enrollment at HBCUs, about 33 students. |
| Biden Education Nominee Miguel Cardona On Reopening Schools | |
 | With many U.S. schools still shuttered or operating on a limited basis, and millions of children learning remotely (or trying to), the stakes are high for Miguel Cardona. He is President Biden's pick to run the U.S. Department of Education, and if confirmed, he'll be charged with making good on Biden's promise to re-open most K-12 schools during the new administration's first 100 days. When asked Monday if that goal was "too optimistic," Cardona pushed back: "No, I think it's strong leadership." That answer came in an interview with Lucy Nalpathanchil, host of Connecticut Public Radio's Where We Live, in which Cardona reflected on what it would take to meet Biden's goal. "Ultimately, we can only safely reopen our schools while we are able to reduce spread and contain the virus," he said, an acknowledgement that, at the moment, the virus' spread remains unchecked in many communities. The Biden Education Department's primary role in this pandemic, as envisioned by Cardona, would be as a communicator of best practices -- not as a top-down enforcer. |
| Justice Department Weighs Amnesty for Academics to Disclose Foreign Funding | |
| Justice Department officials are weighing an amnesty program under which U.S. academics could disclose past foreign funding without fear of punishment for their disclosures, according to people familiar with the matter. High-level officials, including Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers, have discussed the program in recent months, and circulated a draft proposal for it, these people said. Consideration of the program comes as the U.S. government continues to grapple with how to support international academic collaboration while making sure professors disclose foreign sources of funding. During the Trump administration, the Justice Department tried to target what it says are potentially inappropriate efforts by China to gain access to cutting-edge U.S. scientific research being funded by U.S. taxpayers. The program being discussed could allow investigators to ascertain the scope of foreign money funding U.S. research, and help FBI agents focus on the people they believed posed the greatest national security threats, the people said. But the plan hasn't yet been implemented, and some prosecutors are concerned that it could undercut existing cases, the people said. Mr. Demers declined to comment. |
| Our lives by design | |
| Columnist Phil Hardwick writes for the Mississippi Business Journal: WFH, also known as Work From Home, is getting a lot of attention as much of the workforce migrates from the office to the home. There are scores of articles about equipment needed, how to have virtual meetings, and how to set up a home office. These are all very important considerations, but one that should not be ignored is design. Design is the process of creating something based on a plan. No longer the purview of architects, interior designers, and the like, it has now come to us mortal souls. There is no longer any doubt about it. Design, has finally become regarded as the important aspect of life that it is. I know this because CBS Sunday Morning, my favorite television program, has had an annual design show each year for the past few years. I also know this because schools of design have popped up all over the place. In most cases, these schools are tied in with a school of art or architecture. Good design can sometimes be so subtle that it's hardly noticed. |
| Closing Time for Bars and Restaurants | |
| Robert St. John, Mississippi chef and owner of the Hattiesburg-based New South Restaurant Group, writes in The Wall Street Journal: From the first moment of my first shift on my first day in a restaurant, I knew I wanted to own my own place. That was 40 years ago and I've loved every challenge the restaurant business has thrown my way -- until now. I fear the work of four decades won't survive the coming months without a plan that truly addresses my industry's needs. In April I sat down with my wife, 22-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son and told them we may lose some, or all, of the six restaurants and two bars we owned. In the same conversation, I told them there was also a strong chance we might have to sell our home. Nearly a year into the pandemic, I have permanently closed two restaurants and a bar -- leaving 52 people to have difficult conversations with their own families. For the first time in my career, I have to ask for help. ... Time is nearly up for my business and many others. ... It's time for Congress to make restaurants a priority and pass direct aid. It's the only thing that will save our restaurants and workers. |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs hope to bounce back against No. 18 Volunteers Tuesday | |
| There's good news and bad news for Mississippi State men's basketball. The good: Mississippi State went toe-to-toe with Southeastern Conference leading Alabama on the road Saturday, trailing by as few as three points with just more than 30 seconds remaining. "I think that we had our poorest game in terms of effort of the year against Ole Miss," MSU coach Ben Howland said. "So, it was a bounce back game no matter who we were playing. It just happened to be Alabama, who is the best team in our league and really playing at eye level. So, it probably even heightened the response even more because they have been killing everybody ... I thought we really played hard and really competed against a very good team." The bad: Despite bouncing back from a poor outing against Ole Miss Jan. 19, the Bulldogs couldn't pull off the upset, dropping an eight-point contest. There are no moral victories in college basketball, certainly not when looking back at 16 crucial turnovers against the Crimson Tide. "Taking better care of the ball would be number one," Howland said Monday when asked what the biggest improvement needed on offense is. "When you look at the last game, we had too many turnovers that led to easy baskets. We've got to do a better job at taking care of the basketball and cutting down on our turnovers. I think that's a huge one." What's more, the second contest of a grueling four-game SEC road trip comes against a stingy No. 18 Tennessee squad at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Knoxville. |
| How Alabama loss gave Mississippi State basketball confidence going into Tuesday's game at Tennessee | |
| Moral victories are hard to celebrate. Anyone who follows sports knows coaches and athletes -- and even fans, for that matter -- much prefer actual wins to figurative ones. Mississippi State men's basketball, however, was in a position to take the latter last weekend, and that's what it did. No, the Bulldogs didn't go an hour and a half east on highway 82 and hand Alabama its first SEC loss of the season. But they came pretty darn close, and after losing to a previously .500 Ole Miss team by 18 points on their home floor, an eight-point road loss to the No. 1 team in the conference was something to take solace in. "I thought our guys really played hard," MSU coach Ben Howland said. "I thought they really played tough. I thought they really battled and were going after every 50-50 ball with all our might and all our strength. I thought there were a lot of positives even though we lost the game on the road against a really good team, who's the hottest team in our league." Mississippi State (9-7, 4-4 SEC) will face a team on a different trend Tuesday night, however. The Bulldogs stay on the road to face Tennessee (10-3, 4-3 SEC), which has lost two in a row. The Volunteers dropped from No. 6 to No. 17 in the latest Coaches Poll as a result. |
| Intriguing games on tap in Big 12/SEC Challenge | |
| The Big 12/SEC Challenge is scheduled for Saturday, with the SEC trying to win the event for only the second time in its eighth edition. The Big 12 holds a 40-30 edge through seven challenges. The conferences tied 5-5 for the second time last year, with the A-teams --- Alabama, Arkansas and No. 16 Auburn -- winning at home, and Kentucky and LSU winning on the road for the SEC. This year's top matchups: No. 2 Baylor at Auburn, No. 5 Texas at Kentucky, No. 9 Alabama vs. Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, TCU at No. 12 Missouri, No. 15 Kansas at No. 18 Tennessee in a battle of struggling powers, and Arkansas at Oklahoma State. An added wrinkle to the Longhorns visiting Rupp Arena: Texas Coach Shaka Smart announced Monday that he had tested positive for covid-19. The other matchups: Texas Tech at LSU, Texas A&M at Kansas State, Florida at West Virginia and Iowa State at Mississippi State. SEC teams Georgia, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt are not participating. |
| In a year with a national title and coronavirus, here's how much money LSU athletics made | |
| An unprecedented year for LSU athletics that began with the football program's fourth national championship and ended with mass sporting cancellations because of the coronavirus pandemic saw the athletic department's net income cut nearly in half from the previous year. LSU still produced a net profit in fiscal 2020, according to the school's annual NCAA financial report. The $4.84 million the athletic department profited, a dip from the $8.8 million profit in fiscal 2019, was essentially entirely produced by the football team's historic season. The 2019 LSU Tigers -- a team that set several national, Southeastern Conference and school records and saw former quarterback Joe Burrow win the school's second Heisman Trophy -- produced $95.06 million in total revenue, which is about $3 million more than the team produced the previous season. The football team, with a net income of $53.66 million, was the only LSU athletic program to produce a net profit in fiscal 2020, which began on July 1, 2019 and ended June 30, 2020. The two other programs that generally produce a profit -- men's basketball and baseball -- both finished in the red when their seasons were partially canceled by the pandemic. |
| Retailers say more Alabama championship merchandise is sold online | |
 | Fans have spent the past two weeks snapping up T-shirts, hats and other souvenirs to commemorate the University of Alabama's 18th national championship, just like in seasons past. But some Tuscaloosa-based retailers say they're selling more of those items online compared to past Alabama championship years. Tracey Snider, who runs Alabama Express on University Boulevard near the UA campus, said in-person purchases of championship merchandise have fallen short of previous years because of COVID-19's impact on retail. Still, the store received a boost from fans buying championship merchandise, which she said helped compensate for fall sales affected by limited home game attendance during the 2020 football season. The 20% attendance limit in Bryant-Denny Stadium equated to about 20% of regular sales at her store. Along with fewer fans visiting Alabama Express and its sister store, Bamastuff, during home games, the foot traffic from on-campus events, like orientation, sports camps or campus tours, decreased when those events were moved online. "It was just one thing after the other that was not happening," Snider said. |
| It's official: $483,000 raise for new Georgia AD Josh Brooks | |
| As expected, new Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks assumed the salary that his predecessor Greg McGarity was earning. Brooks will make $700,000 in his first year as the Bulldogs' AD, according to UGA's response to a Freedom of Information request for recent salary actions. That represents a $483,000 raise from what he was making as Georgia's senior deputy athletic director. However, UGA did not provide any requested information on a new contract or employment agreement for Brooks. McGarity was working on a year-to-year basis, but Brooks is expected to eventually sign a multiyear agreement, as is typical for SEC and Power 5 ADs. Brooks, 40, became the youngest athletic director in Power 5 athletics when he was tabbed to succeed McGarity on Jan. 6. He was chosen over "dozens" of candidates. Also, a salary was approved for Courtney Gary, who was hired in December by UGA for the newly-created position of assistant AD for diversity. She will earn $80,000 a year annually. |
| Will Tennessee football require head coach experience or offensive mindset? Danny White explains | |
 | In hiring Tennessee's next coach, athletics director Danny White must first decide what he wants Vols football's brand to be. At Central Florida, White wanted the program to take on the mold of a high-octane offense. So, he hired coaches Scott Frost and Josh Heupel, who as offensive coordinators, operated up-tempo spread systems. White said during an interview with Knox News on Friday that hiring offensive-minded coaches "was intentional at UCF," and that he must determine what identity he foresees for Tennessee. "That place, where they're located, the conference that they're in, we subscribed to a high-octane offense. It fit the identity at that school and will continue to be the brand of that football program," White said. "We need to think about, what is the not only the future anticipated success of Tennessee football, but what's the brand of it going to be? And I don't know the answer to that yet. I haven't been on the job long enough. I've got to figure it out pretty quick." |
| Southern Conference plunges ahead with spring football during pandemic | |
 | To play or not to play college football in the spring, during a pandemic. That's the question that's been debated among FCS and Southern Conference schools in recent weeks as the pages on the calendar flipped toward a February start date. As of now, 30 of 127 FCS members have opted out of playing football in the spring, including the entire Ivy League. Even the fate of the SoCon, which postponed its conference season from the fall due to the coronavirus pandemic, seemed uncertain for a while. "I can tell you, some of the conversations going around right now are that schools may be opting out of the spring," The Citadel athletic director Mike Capaccio told the military school's Board of Visitors last week. Said Furman coach Clay Hendrix, "I think there's been a little gamesmanship about some people wanting to play and others not wanting to play." As it turns out, all nine football-playing members of the SoCon are plunging ahead with spring football. The league announced its preseason poll and held a virtual media day last week, and its members -- including The Citadel, Furman and Wofford -- are set to begin an eight-game conference slate Feb. 20. The SoCon and the Southwestern Athletic Conference are the only two of 13 FCS conferences in which every team has committed to playing a league schedule in the spring. |
| Hammered by Pandemic, N.C.A.A. Revenue Falls by $600 Million | |
 | The coronavirus pandemic fueled a $600 million plunge in the N.C.A.A.'s revenues during its most recent fiscal year, a staggering indication of how the pathogen forced a financial reckoning throughout a college sports industry that was already under scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators across the country. The decision in March to cancel the men's national basketball tournament cost the association $702 million in television and marketing rights, N.C.A.A. board members were told during a video call this month. And although the N.C.A.A. recouped some $270 million through insurance and spent about $473 million less, the association still posted a loss of nearly $56 million during the fiscal year that ended in August, meeting minutes show. The N.C.A.A. had planned to distribute $600 million to its Division I leagues last year, but ultimately paid out less than half of that. In an interview this month with The New York Times, Mark Emmert, the association's president, referred to a range of financial backstops, including reserves and lines of credit, and budget cuts that had the N.C.A.A. operating with a staff roughly one-quarter smaller than it did a year ago. "And so we're fine," said Emmert, who paused for a moment before he completed the sentence. "We're delivering all of the services that we need to -- not always as fast as we'd like to, but we're sure getting it done." |
| NCAA revenue for 2020 down 50% due to pandemic-forced cancellation of basketball tournament | |
 | The NCAA's cancellation of last season's Division I men's basketball tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a $600 million annual decline in the association's total revenue for its 2020 fiscal year, its new audited financial statement shows. That's a decrease of more than 50% compared to 2019. The document, a copy of which was obtained by USA TODAY Sports, showed a $700 million decline in television and marketing rights revenue, nearly all of which came from the NCAA's multimedia and marketing rights contract with CBS and Turner. In the association's 2019 fiscal year, it reported nearly $868 million in such revenue. The NCAA had been scheduled to receive $827 million from CBS and Turner for the 2020 tournament. According to the notes to the new financial statement, it ended up receiving $113.1 million. The notes stated that between losses from ticket sales and its TV/marketing rights agreements, "the NCAA lost more than $800 million in revenue" from the men's basketball tournament's cancellation. |
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