| Wednesday, February 10, 2021 |
| Groups look to provide e-commerce to farmers | |
 | Several universities and ag groups are establishing a public-access system to connect small and mid-size farmers to buyers. The Open Market Consortium will serve as a blockchain system allowing direct sales from farmers to food companies and institutional buyers. Blockchain is a network of peer-to-peer transactions like Bitcoin allowing farmers to market their products using e-commerce. The consortium, led by AgLaunch, is receiving a total of $4 million from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, Mississippi State University, Tennessee State University, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and other groups. AgLaunch Executive Director Pete Nelson said OMC provides farmers a traceable and secure system for diverse ag products while bringing more transparency into the market. |
| Mississippi pushes to OK college athletes' earning on image | |
 | Mississippi legislators are pushing forward with proposals to let college athletes earn money from their own name, image or likeness. Legislative leaders say all eight of Mississippi's public universities and the state College Board support the proposals to help the schools compete for talent. Senate Bill 2313 passed the Senate on Tuesday and will go to the House for more work later. House Bill 1030 is similar, and it could come up for debate in the House this week. The two chambers would have to agree on a single bill to send to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves for his consideration. A Florida law that takes effect July 1 will let student-athletes make money through contracts. A similar California law takes effect in January 2023. A small number of other states have also enacted such laws. The NCAA, which governs intercollegiate sports, says that it is "best positioned to provide a uniform and fair name, image and likeness approach for all student-athletes on a national scale." |
| Legislation could result in faster internet for large swaths of Mississippi | |
 | Rural Mississippians with slow or nonexistent internet connections could get relief under two bills moving through the Legislature. House Bill 942 would allow internet companies to lease out existing or planned "dark fiber" lines operated by Entergy and Mississippi Power to run the electric grid. The legislation easily passed Tuesday and follows a similar proposal, Senate Bill 2798, which cleared the opposing chamber last week. "We need to have broadband in every home," Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann told reporters last week. Lawmakers from both chambers are now expected to negotiate on at least one key provision included in the House bill, which could limit how many communities would ultimately benefit and receive the faster internet. "Dark fiber" refers to portions of fiber optic cables that are not being used. Power companies have installed these cables around the state to connect various parts of their electric grids. But much of the Entergy and Mississippi Power cable capacity isn't needed by the electric companies. Under the legislation, this "dark" portion of each individual cable could be leased out to an internet company and provide high-speed internet connections to homes and businesses. |
| Bills take aim at lottery money, but highway commissioners balk | |
| Multiple bills in the state Senate take aim at the state transportation department's $80 million cut of lottery money, including one bill backed by a Marshall County lawmaker. Sen. Neil Whaley, R-Potts Camp, has signed on as a cosponsor to Senate Bill 2825, which would increase trucking weight limits for agricultural haulers while also diverting the first $80 million in lottery revenue from the state's highway fund into an emergency repair fund for cities and counties. Sen. Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez, has also filed a bill that would do much the same thing regarding the lottery money, which was designated for the Mississippi Department of Transportation during the 2018 special session that created the lottery. Both bills contain a clause that would revert state statute back to the current status quo after three years. Some of the state's elected highway commissioners have voiced concern about these legislative proposals. "I'm not a fan of the bill as it's written," said the Northern District Transportation Commissioner John Caldwell, a Republican. "I think we need to be increasing the amount of money the Transportation Commission gets from the lottery, not decreasing it." |
| Mississippi Senate rejects 2 proposals to expand Medicaid | |
| The Mississippi Senate on Tuesday rejected two proposals to expand Medicaid to people who work low-wage jobs that don't provide private health insurance. Both votes fell along party lines. Democrats who are in the minority in the Senate voted for both expansion proposals, and Republicans who are in the majority voted against them. Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Republican from Ellisville, said Medicaid -- a government health insurance program for the needy, aged, blind and disabled -- has been "an economic nightmare" with rising costs for the federal government and state governments. "There is no money tree in Washington," McDaniel said. Democratic Sen. David Jordan of Greenwood, who grew up in a sharecropper's family, asked him: "Sen. McDaniel, where's your compassion? Don't you have any compassion at all?" Republican-led Mississippi is one 12 states that have not taken the option to expand eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the health care overhaul law signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2010. |
| Senate Republicans reject plan to expand Medicaid, provide health care to 300,000 more Mississippians | |
| Senate Republicans rejected two efforts late Tuesday afternoon to expand Medicaid, which would provide coverage to an estimated 300,000 Mississippians who cannot otherwise afford health care. Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation and one of just 12 U.S. states not to expand Medicaid, would receive an estimated $1 billion per year in federal funds from the program. The Tuesday evening vote was the first on expanding Medicaid in the Mississippi Legislature in multiple years. Previous Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, a staunch opponent of Medicaid expansion who is now the state's governor, went out of his way to keep the vote off the Senate floor. Both amendments to expand Medicaid on Tuesday were defeated by the identical 34-16 margin along straight party line votes. Two Republicans in the 52-member Senate did not vote. "Where is the money going to come from?" asked Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, who was a vocal opponent of Medicaid expansion as is allowed under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. He added of the people who Medicaid expansion would cover: "These are able-bodied people. You are talking about childless adults." |
| Mississippi's medical marijuana mess | |
| A lawsuit pending in the high court. More litigation possible. The agency tasked with running it doesn't want to. An "alternative" program proposed late in the game. Mississippi's fledgling medical marijuana program -- overwhelmingly enshrined in the state constitution by voters in November -- is an uncertain mess at the moment, even as the clock ticks for it to start. Meanwhile, lawmakers are trying another Hail Mary. Senate Bill 2765 would create an alternative or "parallel" medical marijuana program to the one voters put in the constitution. Its author, Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, said it's a bill he started working on in 2018 in hopes the Legislature would have adopted a program -- before voters took matters directly in hand. Blackwell said the bill is needed largely because the state Supreme Court could overturn Initiative 65. Then the state would still have a medical marijuana program, as voters clearly want. But if the court upholds the constitutional amendment, Blackwell said, "They would co-exist." The state would have two medical marijuana programs. |
| Inside Republicans' plans for a House takeover | |
 | House Republicans surprised nearly everyone last November when they almost captured the majority. Then they spent January roiled by the deadly attack on the Capitol, confronting a second impeachment of then-President Donald Trump and answering for a whirlwind of offensive conspiracy theories from a firebrand freshman GOP congresswoman. But the National Republican Congressional Committee has landed on a plan to regain the momentum with which it ended 2020: Ignore all that. "We're gonna talk about all the stuff that matters to people," said NRCC Chair Tom Emmer, citing school reopenings and job security. "We'll follow through on a game plan. Hopefully, people will allow us to operate under the radar again because they won't believe us. And we can surprise all of you again two years from now." In an exclusive interview with POLITICO on Tuesday, Emmer charted out his road map for the 2022 midterms, which includes a list of 47 Democratic seats to target and a messaging blueprint: Tag Democrats as jobs-killing socialists and stress the GOP's commitment to reopening schools and protecting the gas and energy sector. |
| GOP senators 'perplexed' by 'unfocused' and 'weaker' Trump legal defense | |
 | A number of Republican senators said they were "stunned" and "perplexed" by former President Trump's legal team Tuesday, criticizing the two attorneys for lacking focus and making "weaker" arguments than the House impeachment managers on the first day of Trump's impeachment trial. "Anyone who listened to those arguments would recognize that the House managers were focused, relied upon and trusted upon the opinion of legal scholars," said Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.) after joining with five other Republican senators in voting that the trial was constitutional and should proceed. "Anyone who listened to President Trump's legal team saw they were unfocused, they attempted to avoid the issue and they talked about everything but the issue at hand," he added. Cassidy's vote on Tuesday was a surprise after he voted last month in favor of a motion by Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) declaring the trial unconstitutional. Sen. Pat Toomey (Pa.), another Republican who voted with Democrats to move ahead with the trial, called Trump's legal case "weaker." "I think they had a weaker case to start with, and I don't think it was very persuasive," he said. Toomey, by contrast, praised Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and the other House impeachment managers. "The House impeachment managers made very strong arguments. It was persuasive and well grounded in the Constitution and precedent," he said. |
| As Trump Impeachment Trial Begins, Lawmakers Relive Chaos of Capitol Riot | |
 | The second impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump opened with graphic videos of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Some of the clips played by the House impeachment managers featured the senators themselves and the same chamber in which they now sit in judgment. Almost all 100 senators, most of them masked because of Covid-19, silently watched and listened in the hushed chamber as rioters on the screens rammed doors, attacked police, and chanted. It was an odd experience for the jurors. "They brought back a lot of memories," said Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.). "They sent a better team this time," agreed Mr. Wicker, comparing the current House managers to those in Mr. Trump's first impeachment trial. "In terms of advocacy they are very eloquent. I think they made their case as well as they possibly could." A reporter asked the Mississippi Republican if anything he'd seen or heard had changed his mind. "No," Mr. Wicker said. |
| WHO team: Coronavirus unlikely to have leaked from China lab | |
| The coronavirus most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal, a team of international and Chinese scientists looking for the origins of COVID-19 said Tuesday, saying an alternate theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab was unlikely. A closely watched visit by World Health Organization experts to Wuhan -- the Chinese city where the first coronavirus cases were discovered -- did not dramatically change the current understanding of the early days of the pandemic, said Peter Ben Embarek, the leader of the WHO mission. But it did "add details to that story," he said at a news conference as the group wrapped up a four-week visit to the city. And it allowed the joint Chinese-WHO team to further explore the lab leak theory -- which former U.S. President Donald Trump and officials from his administration had put forward without evidence -- and decide it was unlikely. The Wuhan Institute of Virology is home to many different virus samples, leading to allegations that it may have been the source of the original outbreak, whether on purpose or accidentally. Embarek, a WHO food safety and animal disease expert, said experts now consider the possibility of such a leak so improbable that it will not be suggested as an avenue of future study. |
| U.S. rushes to fill void in viral sequencing as worrisome coronavirus variants spread | |
| Since May 2020, Jeffrey Milbrandt has had his systems fine-tuned to sequence 1000 coronavirus samples a week. The director of a major sequencing center at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), Milbrandt knew months ago that the United States urgently needed to identify and track emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the pandemic coronavirus already spreading across the nation. But to date, fewer than 100 coronavirus samples have made it to his sequencers at the McDonnell Genome Institute, and the United States remains nearly blind to several coronavirus strains that have recently upended the course of the pandemic. "We have it all worked out but there's not a lot of takers," Milbrandt says of his center's sequencing abilities. "We are getting more inquiries from the press than from people who need the information. ... Some of us have pipelines available -- they are just not being utilized." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans to rapidly change that by coordinating a national surveillance system for coronavirus variants. Scientists and public health experts welcome the plan. "The hardware is set up, the people are trained, the infrastructure is in place," says genome scientist Chris Mason of Weill Cornell Medicine. "It's just a big question: Who's gonna pay for it?" |
| Mardi Gras 2020 spawned up to 50K coronavirus cases, likely from a single source, study says | |
 | Public health officials have largely accepted that last year's Mardi Gras helped make New Orleans an early coronavirus hotspot in the U.S., even if a lack of testing made it hard to be sure. But a new study that sought to pinpoint how the virus spread through the city has found that 2020 Carnival revelry was responsible for tens of thousands of coronavirus cases, after a single person likely brought it to New Orleans in the weeks before Mardi Gras. Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute, Tulane University, LSU Health Shreveport and several other institutions said in a pre-publication report released Monday that the coronavirus probably arrived in New Orleans about two weeks before Fat Tuesday, likely from a person traveling from Texas. They found that almost 800 people were likely infected by time crowds died down on Ash Wednesday, and that those new infections went on to seed most of the 50,000 confirmed cases in Louisiana's first wave over the next few months. "The entire outbreak in Louisiana is almost certainly fueled by what happened on Mardi Gras," said Mark Zeller, study author and a researcher at Scripps. "It's basically the snowball. Once it's going, it's just going. It's really hard to stop." |
| Organizers cancel in-person 2021 Hal's St. Paddy's Parade over COVID-19 concerns | |
 | Organizers for Hal's St. Paddy's Parade have canceled the in-person event for 2021, but are working on a virtual parade. Parade organizers announced in a news release Tuesday the annual event was canceled because of continued concerns with the coronavirus pandemic. Details for the virtual parade, planned for March 27, are still being finalized. "We have determined that the St. Paddy's Parade cannot be safely produced in its traditional format, given the COVID-19 virus is still very much a health threat and vaccination efforts are still in their early stages," Malcolm White, founder and chief organizer of the parade, said in the news release. "We must put the health of parade participants and the general public at the forefront of any decision, and we have done just that." The online event would raise money through sponsorships and donations for the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, officials said. In 2019, the parade raised over $10,000 for the children's hospital, according to the release. |
| African American doctors debunk coronavirus vaccine myths | |
 | Many in the African American community are questioning the safety of the coronavirus vaccine. Health experts addressed concerns and myths about the vaccine during a virtual town hall event hosted by Jackson State University. Distrust in the coronavirus vaccine, and lack of supply in rural and black communities, have been barriers in vaccinating African Americans in Mississippi, according to health officials. During the virtual town hall, doctors addressed the myth that the vaccine was produced too quickly to have adequate research. Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, says while the vaccines were produced quickly, no steps in the research process were skipped. He says a new type of vaccine has been under research for years to address coronavirus diseases, such as the common cold. Dr. Benjamin says this new technology allowed researchers to take that framework, modify it slightly, and move the vaccine to clinical trials quickly. "And they worked very hard to make sure that the people in the study were representative of communities of color," says Dr. Benjamin. "And in fact, one of the lead researches on the Moderna product is actually an African American woman." |
| UM awaits COVID-19 vaccines as other SEC institutions begin their rollout plans | |
 | Though the University of Mississippi vaccine task force hopes the university will receive its COVID-19 vaccinations sometime in mid-February, six other universities in the Southeastern Conference have already begun immunizing their staffs and students with pre-existing conditions. To distribute the vaccine, UM plans to utilize the structure of Operation Immunization, the School of Pharmacy's annual provision of flu shots to the university community. The vaccine administration team that distributed the flu shots has undergone additional training to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, and Provost Noel Wilkin said it is a team in which he is "extremely confident." Dr. Lauren Bloodworth, an advisor to the Operation Immunization event and a clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice, said the vaccinations will take place in the Tad Smith Coliseum once operations begin. Appointment times will be available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with extended hours on Wednesdays. "We want to give people evening hours to come as well," Bloodworth said in a panel on Monday. "We're hoping that if we have vaccines, we will administer 400-500 vaccines per day." |
| Whistleblowers Who Exposed 'UM Emails' Facing Criminal Investigation | |
| University of Mississippi Campus Police are pursuing a criminal investigation into Ole Miss Information, a group of anonymous whistleblowers who, last year, provided the Mississippi Free Press with copies of emails that served as the basis for this publication's "UM Emails" expose. Documents that UM Ombudsman Paul Caffera's attorneys filed in a Lafayette County Chancery Court on Feb. 3 allude to the existence of an investigation into the Ole Miss Information whistleblowers. The UM Emails series revealed how some UM officials had repeatedly catered to certain wealthy donors' sexist and racist views in order to obtain financial gifts for the university. |
| Ag Commissioner Andy Gipson Announces Promotional Partnership Between MDAC, Alcorn State University | |
 | Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson announced the promotional partnership between the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC) and Alcorn State University. Commissioner Gipson was joined by Dr. Felecia M. Nave, President of Alcorn State University; Marcus Ward, Vice President for Institutional Advancement; and Dr. Franklin Chukwuma, Associate Director for Extension. This partnership is part of a new initiative to promote universities within the state through MDAC's Bureau of Regulatory Services inspection stickers. Each division within the Bureau of Regulatory Services will feature the school colors of the chosen university for one year. This authorized system in the regulation of various segments of commerce informs the public when inspections were conducted as well as the contact information for MDAC's Weights and Measures Division, State Metrology Laboratory, Petroleum Products Inspection Division and Consumer Protection Division. "We're excited to have Alcorn State University as the first university represented on our Bureau of Regulatory Services inspection stickers, which will be seen at various businesses across the state," said Commissioner Gipson. "As the oldest public historically Black land-grant institution in the United States, Alcorn State University has a rich history in agriculture, and we are proud to incorporate their gold and purple school colors on MDAC's official inspection stickers for 2021." |
| Pearl River Community College honored for trade degree | |
| Pearl River Community College has been named "#1 Best" Associates Degree Trade School in Mississippi for Electronics Engineering Technology and Industrial Production Technology according to tradecollege.org. "These programs are examples of what happens when the right partnerships are in place," Dean of Career and Technical Instruction FCC Dr. James David Collum said. "The students' success from our Electronics and Industrial programs is a direct result of the combination of outstanding faculty, supportive administration, state of the art laboratories, and local industry support. I am proud that PRCC can provide the training needed to place students into high-earning careers. "I am equally proud that PRCC can provide a trained workforce that attracts new businesses and industries to Mississippi." This ranking of the best associate's degrees considers quality metrics such as time to graduate, average salary and debt levels of graduates. |
| Major construction projects at Pearl River Community College making progress | |
 | A $13 million residence hall project on the Poplarville campus of Pearl River Community College is nearly complete. One of the dorms, for male students, is finished and students have already moved in. Female students should be moving into their dorm, next door to the male residence hall, in a couple of weeks. The residence halls will add 260 beds to campus and a ribbon-cutting will probably take place sometime in the spring, according to Adam Breerwood, president of Pearl River Community College. Meanwhile, renovation work continues on Seal Hall, one of PRCC's main academic buildings on the Poplarville campus. That work began about two months ago. New classrooms and offices are being built for that decades-old building. "This is a building that is used by a lot of our academic transfer students so it was very important to the Board of Trustees and all of here at Pearl River to get this building where it needs to be to address the future of education," Breerwood said. |
| 4 nominees are confirmed to education boards in Mississippi | |
| The Mississippi Senate on Tuesday confirmed three people to the state Board of Education and one to the state Charter School Authorizer Board. Former Madison County Schools Superintendent Ronnie McGehee of Madison was nominated to the nine-member Board of Education by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. Gulfport School District Superintendent Glen East of Gulfport was nominated to the state Board of Education by Gov. Tate Reeves. Angela Bass of Jackson was also nominated by Reeves to the state Board of Education for a term that ends June 30, 2025. Kimberly Remak of Olive Branch was nominated to the six-member Charter School Authorizer Board by Hosemann. Her term will end in August 2022. Three seats on the state Board of Education are vacant. One member of the charter school board recently died. |
| Mississippi has a critical teacher shortage. No one knows how bad it really is. | |
| The Mississippi Legislature is taking aim at teacher pay raises this year, something lawmakers say is a first step in addressing the state's critical teacher shortage. But even if educators do see a pay increase this year, there is a bigger issue in solving what is considered one of the biggest problems facing the state: no one knows the full scale of the crisis. The Mississippi Department of Education does not track teacher vacancies, meaning state officials -- lawmakers included -- do not know how many unfilled teacher positions there are for individual districts or for the entire state. In December 2019, Mississippi Today asked MDE how many teacher vacancies there were. A spokesperson said that MDE surveys for that information, but individual school districts aren't required to send it in. "The only way to really get that information is to go to every single district and ask them or look on their website," she said, indicating that a reporter would have to individually reach out to 146 school districts to get a comprehensive understanding of the state's teacher shortage. The department again confirmed in February 2021 that it doesn't track the state's teacher vacancies. |
| Republican state lawmakers want to punish schools that teach the 1619 Project | |
 | Lawmakers in several statehouses this year want to stop lesson plans that focus on the centrality of slavery to American history as presented in the New York Times' 1619 Project, previewing new battles in states over control of civics education. Republican lawmakers in Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri and South Dakota filed bills last month that, if enacted, would cut funding to K-12 schools and colleges that provide lessons derived from the award-winning project. The South Dakota bill has since been withdrawn. Some historians say the bills are part of a larger effort by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, to glorify a more white and patriarchal view of American history that downplays the ugly legacy of slavery and the contributions of Black people, Native Americans, women and others present during the nation's founding. Political battles have long been fought, largely in education boards, over how American students learn about everything from the Civil War to ethnic studies and health. But proposed legislation that would penalize schools for teaching curriculums based on the 1619 Project signals a new era of policy debate over civics education that may increasingly play out in state legislatures. |
| Auburn University renaming 2 residence halls to honor Black Alabama women | |
 | Two of Auburn's residence halls will soon be renamed in honor of two Black women from Alabama. Both Tiger Hall and Eagle Hall will bear Bessie Mae Holloway's and Josetta Brittain Matthews' names respectively, according to a release from Auburn University. The announcement comes after a Feb. 5 Board of Trustees' meeting. Holloway was from Prichard and spent more than 25 years being a teacher and instructional specialist in the Mobile County Public School System. Holloway was the first Black person to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees, according to the release. Matthews was the first Black student to graduate from Auburn and the first Black faculty member at the university, according to the release. The move to rename the two residence halls comes after the university renamed their student center to the Melton Student Center in November, in honor of the school's first Black Student Government president, Harold D. Melton. |
| U. of Missouri College of Human Environmental Sciences merging with other schools | |
 | The University of Missouri College of Human Environmental Sciences is merging with other schools and colleges in an effort to strengthen collaboration among researchers and provide more opportunity for students to connect to similar subject areas. The academic restructuring of the school will simplify and align student major choices and allow professors to better respond to student interests and industry needs, university officials said in a news release. All of the programs in the college will continue and students shouldn't have any concerns, said MU spokesman Christian Basi. When the restructuring is finalized, though, the College of Human Environmental Sciences will no longer exist as an entity. The departments within the college for which new academic homes are being found include: nutrition and exercise physiology, textile and apparel management, human development and family science, personal financial planning and architectural studies. |
| West Virginia's E. Gordon Gee noncommittal as lawmakers explore eliminating personal income taxes | |
 | E. Gordon Gee, president of West Virginia University, walked a narrow line Tuesday amid a discussion about eliminating the state's personal income tax, indicating such a move could be successful in the long term but would need to be paired with a broader look at taxes or other offsetting moves. A university spokesperson made clear that Gee needs more information about specific proposals before forming a final opinion. But the longtime university president's thoughts matter because state lawmakers are exploring the idea of ending individual income taxes, and some have already drawn a line between state tax policy and spending on college and university campuses in West Virginia. Cuts to the state's income taxes could very well leave less money available for state funding for the public university -- and other public institutions in West Virginia, where a substantial percentage of state spending goes to higher education. "Gee acknowledges there is support among West Virginia legislators regarding this issue but that there are many factors to consider and that it is not something that can be implemented immediately or without careful thought and planning," April Kaull, a spokesperson for the university, wrote in an email. |
| U. of Louisville police investigating incidents involving white supremacists | |
| A radical political group has been posting recruitment materials and misinformation about the 2020 election around the University of Louisville campus for weeks, alarming students and triggering an investigation by university officials. The posters and stickers, shared by U of L students in photos, include the logos and language of the white supremacist group the Patriot Front. They feature phrases such as "Keep America American" and "Better Dead than Red." In an email to students sent Jan. 15 and obtained by The Courier Journal, V. Faye Jones, the school's senior associate vice president of Diversity & Equity, said the incidents also include "vandalism and hostile interactions directed at people of color" and the theft of a LGBTQ Pride banner from the College of Business. U of L's Young Democrats and College Republicans released a joint statement condemning the incidents on social media. U of L's situation is not the only instance of the Patriot Front's materials appearing on college campuses in Kentucky and around the country in recent weeks. |
| Vandals target home of U. of the South's new vice chancellor | |
 | The on-campus home of Vice Chancellor Reuben Brigety II has been repeatedly vandalized throughout his first year of leading the University of the South. During a Sunday worship service at All Saints' Chapel, Brigety detailed the nighttime incidents that happened outside Chen Hall, which is where he resides with his family. "They have trashed our lawn with beer cans and liquor bottles. They have left threatening messages on pilfered signs near our back door and they have taken measures to ensure that my family and I saw the indecent insults that they left behind," Brigety said in a video of his Sunday address. Brigety, the first African American to lead the Episcopalian college, was appointed vice chancellor and president of the University of the South about a year ago. He has led the small, Christian liberal arts school known familiarly as Sewanee through the coronavirus pandemic. Brigety is also helping the university continue to reckon with its Confederate past. On Sunday, Brigety not only spoke about the vandalism, but also issued a call to action. While he does not think the vandalism represents who the university community is broadly, Brigety asked everyone to consider what values they want represented at Sewanee and to reject the ones they do not. |
| Hundreds protest campus sexual assault at universities across the U.S. | |
 | College students across the United States staged socially distanced demonstrations this week to protest against sexual assault on college campuses. "BU has a rape problem," said signs taped all over Boston University's campus on Monday morning. Organizers said 600 students had participated in the protest there. "Minnesota State University, Mankato has a problem with consent... End the silence. End the violence," said fliers posted around that campus, which also listed resources for survivors of sexual assault. The protests were organized by the University Survivors Movement, an international coalition of student activists working to address the problem of sexual assault on college campuses. They were designed to be COVID-safe by focusing on flyers and chalk messages rather than gathering in big crowds. Activists from at least 17 schools had signed up to participate ahead of the planned actions. Grace Verbrugge, who helped organize the protest at Gettysburg College, told CBS News that it has become more difficult for survivors of sexual assault to get help due to the coronavirus pandemic. |
| Physicists discuss threats facing departments and how faculty can respond | |
| It's not unusual for Theodore Hodapp to get a call when a university physics department is under threat of cutbacks or closure. As director of project development at the American Physical Society for the last 16 years, he's typically gotten one or two calls a year. "I've now gotten, I think, six requests in the last year, just to give you a sense, and three in the last month," Hodapp said last week at a session of the APS Annual Leadership Meeting, which was held virtually this year due to the pandemic. "We realize that this economic thing is hitting lots of places. It's hitting smaller places more than it's hitting bigger places, and we're trying to work with departments as much as we can to help them out." Physics, a relatively expensive program to operate and a major that enrolls modest numbers of students, is one of many liberal arts and sciences disciplines that has come under increasing pressure in recent years as colleges dealing variously with decreased public funding, enrollment declines and demographic shifts have cut or consolidated degree programs and shifted resources toward fields that produce more majors. Those pressures have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. |
| For Some Private Colleges, Larger Numbers of International Students May Have Led to In-Person Instruction | |
 | Private nonprofit colleges with larger shares of international students were more likely to shift their fall reopening plans to offer in-person instruction, according to a new working paper based on data collected by the College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College. While earlier research has looked at other factors, such as state politics, that may have played a role in reopening decisions, the paper is the first to examine how the presence of international students --- and the tuition dollars they bring -- may have influenced college leaders. The researchers found that, in July 2020, increases in the percentage of nonresident enrollments -- Ipeds's category for international students and other non-U.S. residents -- were "significantly and positively related" to a shift toward a reopening plan that incorporated more in-person instruction. For example, a shift from 6 percent to 7 percent nonresident enrollment was related to a roughly 20 percent increase in the likelihood that the institution would change reopening plans. The researchers did not find a similar relationship between international enrollments and face-to-face instruction at public colleges. |
| Reckless student behavior delays UNC Chapel Hill plans for some in-person classes | |
| Students, faculty and staff members, and alumni of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, were horrified and outraged at the sight of hundreds of students crowding onto a popular street full of bars and restaurants over the weekend to celebrate the men's basketball team's win over Duke University. The possibility of spreading the coronavirus and undermining the university's attempt to safely begin in-person classes this Monday seemed lost on the jubilant crowd of revelers. In a typical year, the crowd would be expected; it's a tradition for Tar Heel fans to rush nearby Franklin Street after beating the rival Blue Devils, a cutthroat basketball foe based 20 minutes away in Durham, N.C. But after Chapel Hill's widely publicized failed attempt to hold an in-person semester six months ago due to COVID-19 spread, people affiliated with the campus were quick to label the crowd of students "embarrassing" and "disgraceful." Faculty members, students and alumni said on social media and in written statements that the weekend display of mostly maskless students packed together and deliberately flouting public health guidance -- two days before the start of Chapel Hill's second attempt at an in-person semester during the pandemic -- is evidence that students still don't get it, or simply don't care about preventing the spread of COVID-19. |
| U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson Elected Chair of Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee | |
| U.S. Rep. Frederica S. Wilson, a former school principal, was elected chair of the Higher Education and Workforce Investment (HEWI) Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and Labor on Monday. "I am thrilled to take on this important responsibility," Wilson said in a statement. "As chair of the HEWI Subcommittee, I will seek to help make attaining a quality degree more accessible for all, which includes robust investment in historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions, fostering a more inclusive environment on our nation's campuses, and stronger support for first-generation, low-income, and minority students." Wilson added that she would work to address the student loan crisis, reverse "harmful" policies under former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and support alternatives to college, like career and technical education, apprenticeship programs, and vocational rehabilitation. |
| Jill Biden pushes free access to community college, training | |
| Jill Biden is pushing free access to community college and training programs, saying the schools will be an important part of Biden administration efforts to rebuild the economy. A longtime community college professor and advocate, the first lady said people struggling to get by during the coronavirus-induced economic slump need access to these schools. "We have to get this done. And we have to do it now. That's why we're going to make sure that everyone has access to free community college and training programs," Jill Biden said in taped remarks broadcast Tuesday during a virtual legislative summit hosted by the Association of Community College Trustees and the American Association of Community Colleges. She was not more specific. As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised two years of community college or training "without debt." Similar proposals have been put forward in the past. |
| These borrowers plan a 'debt strike' to pressure President Biden to cancel student debt | |
| Armen Henderson said he did everything he was supposed to do. He had earned scholarships to college, still worked multiple jobs to minimize any extra costs, and then became a doctor. Yet, he's still not on a stable financial footing. By the time he left residency, Henderson's debt load ballooned to $600,000. Without some relief, Henderson said he expects to be paying off his loans for the rest of his life. Though Henderson would like to have faith that his loans will ultimately be discharged as promised by the government after ten years of public service, the headlines surrounding the challenges others have faced getting access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, don't give him much hope. Now, Henderson is part of a group of 100 borrowers taking part in a debt strike, or not paying their student loan bills, with the goal of pushing the Biden administration to cancel the outstanding $1.7 trillion in student loans in their first 100 days. The strikers were organized by the Debt Collective, a group of activists that has been working for years to build collective power among debtors. The idea is that, similar to a workers' union, this group of debtors can exert leverage on their creditors. |
| Let the campaigning begin | |
| Columnist Phil Hardwick writes for the Mississippi Business Journal: The qualifying deadline for primary and independent candidates for municipal office in Mississippi has recently come and gone. Now the campaigning begins. There are over 300 municipalities in Mississippi. Each is classified as a village, town, or city based on population size, according to the Mississippi Code. A village has less than 300 inhabitants, a town has between 300 and 2,000 inhabitants, and a city has over 2,000 inhabitants. Each is unique, and being a mayor of a municipality can be one of the toughest jobs going. A mayor does not have the influence and authority of a business CEO. Many new mayors are shocked to find that it oftentimes takes more persuasion skills than decision skills to run a city. Sometimes, mayors are merely caretakers. They live in communities that are on a track upward or downward. They might live in communities where not much changes and not much is really expected of mayors. Sometimes, mayors sort of grow into the job. Sometimes, mayors cross the line and become leaders. They change their cities for the better. How do they do it? Most veteran mayors will tell you that they did it by involving people and that they had a lot of help. That is no doubt true. But it starts from within. This column is about some of those intrinsic things in mayors. |
| The future of U.S. Navy shipbuilding will substantially impact state's Ingalls shipyard | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: The numbers are full of contradictions when one considers the future of U.S. Navy shipbuilding and the impact that industry has on our nation and state. Let's dive in, so to speak. First, let's look at the global merchant fleet. What is that? Oil tankers, container ships, general cargo carriers, and other so-called "bulk carriers." In 2019, some 93% of global shipbuilding took place in China, South Korea and Japan. About 52% of the global merchant fleet was owned by Asian companies with 41% owned by European nation. North American firms owned just 6% of the global merchant fleet. In essence, America since the Reagan years has been in steep decline in commercial shipbuilding as the market share of East Asian and other global competitors have soared. The U.S. decision to stop government subsidies to the nation's shipyards doomed the industry in the face of competing governments that were only too happy to subsidize their shipbuilding industries. |
SPORTS
| Gameday: Five Things to Know about MSU-LSU | |
| The Mississippi State men's basketball team plays its first conference home game in 22 days and squares off with LSU on Wednesday at Humphrey Coliseum. Last time out, the Bulldogs (11-9, 5-6 SEC) ended a four-game SEC losing streak and knocked off South Carolina, 75-59, on Saturday. The 16-point win marked its largest margin of victory over the Gamecocks in Columbia and equaled the second-largest margin of victory for the Bulldogs over the 40-game series. LSU (11-6, 6-4 SEC) has dropped four of its last five going back to 01/19 with three of those decisions coming against ranked opponents. The Tigers are playing their fourth consecutive SEC road game for the first time since the 1971-72 season. Mississippi State has won 12 of its last 16 February games dating back to 02/12/2019. The Bulldogs enter this week's action in a seventh-place tie with Georgia and Ole Miss in the SEC standings. Only 1.5 separate State from Arkansas, Florida and Tennessee for the third spot. A balanced offensive attack has been a successful formula for Mississippi State in 2020-21 as the Bulldogs has won eight of their nine games in 2020-21 record when four players or more reach double figures. |
| MSU hopes to contend with three-headed LSU monster Wednesday | |
 | The Southeastern Conference's deadliest trio of scorers is coming to Starkville. After a four-game conference road slate, Mississippi State (11-9, 5-6 SEC) is finally back at Humphrey Coliseum and hopes to fend off LSU (11-6, 6-4) at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The Tigers are led by Cameron Thomas, the highest-scoring freshman guard in the country with 22.3 points per game. SEC all-preseason first team selection Trendon Watford contributes 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest, while Javonte Smart (15.4 points per game) gives the Tigers another perimeter option. "They're really good players," MSU coach Ben Howland said. "Starting with Thomas, he has incredible elevation on his shot. He gets two and a half, three feet in the air every time he shoots a jump shot and is very hard to defend. When he gets hot, he can really get on a roll and we've seen it. I remember the first couple of league games I watched them play, I don't remember who they were playing but he was just killing it. It was just amazing." LSU, which had its scheduled contest with Florida postponed last Saturday because of contact tracing within the Florida team, has fallen on hard times, dropping four of its last five games. |
| 'He lives in the gym': How freshman Derek Fountain boosts Mississippi State basketball | |
| D.J. Stewart's wide smile lit up the room -- and every computer screen Stewart was seen on during his post-game video press conference last week, too. Stewart had just scored 29 points to lead Mississippi State to a road victory over South Carolina. The first question the redshirt sophomore guard was asked was about the level of motivation the Bulldogs had going into the game. "We lost four in a row, so our backs were against the wall," Stewart said. "We were at rock bottom. When you're at rock bottom, only one way you can go is up." Then, before any questions came about his personal performance, he was asked about a nine-point outing from a player who had previously played in five games with 4.4 minutes of playing time per game. That's when Stewart grinned from ear to ear. The player in question was freshman forward Derek Fountain. He logged 29 minutes and made three of his four shots from the field -- including 2 of 2 from 3-point range. He grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists, blocked two shots and recorded a steal too. |
| It's not must-win time yet, but upcoming game at Mississippi State is huge for LSU basketball | |
 | With 4 1/2 weeks remaining before NCAA's Selection Sunday, it ordinarily would be a little premature to be talking about must-win games in mid-February. But, as everyone knows by now, this isn't an ordinary college basketball season. One never knows when a postponement might turn into another cancellation, so playing as many games as possible -- and winning as many of them as possible -- are paramount to a team's chances of making the 68-team tournament. That's where LSU, which dropped four of five games before having a Saturday date with Florida postponed, finds itself going into a huge Southeastern Conference game against Mississippi State at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Starkville, Mississippi. LSU (11-6, 6-4 SEC) needs to get back on track to keep its head above water, starting with the critical matchup against Mississippi State (11-9, 5-6 SEC). "All of them will be critical down the stretch here," LSU coach Will Wade said Tuesday. "We certainly have to win some games; we haven't won some games lately. You always say 'must-win, must-win, must-win,' but we just have to pick up as many wins as we can down the stretch," he said. "This is the next one, so this one's obviously critically important. But we've got to pick up some wins, win some games." |
| Alcorn State opts out of SWAC spring football season | |
| Alcorn State has officially opted out of the upcoming spring football season. Citing concerns related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Braves announced this afternoon that they will not participate in the SWAC's upcoming 6-game, conference-only schedule which was adopted after the league pushed its season back in the fall of 2020. "Due to concerns and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming spring football season, we have determined opting out is our best course of action," Athletic Director Derek Horne said. "This is indeed a difficult decision, and I'm especially mindful this will be disappointing news to our student-athletes, along with our dedicated fans and supporters. Alcorn State was set to begin the defense of its 2019 SWAC title against Alabama A&M on the 27th. Head coach Fred McNair stated that the Braves will instead move forward with a traditional spring practice in preparation for the fall. |
| Jackson barber thankful for Deion Sanders' open call to cut football team's hair | |
| A lot of the Jackson community has come together to assist the Jackson State football team and first-year coach Deion Sanders. The Tigers arrived on campus in early January to begin preparing for the upcoming spring season, which is happening because the Southwestern Athletic Conference voted to postpone all fall sports to the spring due to COVID-19. With the postponement, many of the preseason tasks like picture day and media day that usually take place late in the summer happened in January. Prior to JSU's football picture day, Sanders posted an open call on social media looking for barbers in Jackson. That's where DeAngelo Turner comes in. Turner is a 29-year-old barber at Superior Barber And Beauty in Ridgeland. He said his Facebook and Instagram notifications went off after Sanders' open call, as his clients, friends and family tagged him in the comments. The post told interested barbers to contact LaToya Williams, JSU's internal football operations director. Turner's mentee Zay Scott got in contact with Williams, and she invited both of them to come to campus to cut the some of the players' hair. |
| Birmingham, UAB building stadium for future of football | |
| The guys building Birmingham's new hillside stadium are so proud of their work that they invited me into the job-site recently to take a look around. Was this supposed to happen? Not sure, and don't care. Was it worth it? Friends, I can confirm: this place is going to be revolutionary for the city. Seeing it all come together from the new bridge is one thing. It looks great from there, but that vantage point just doesn't fully capture what Protective Stadium is about. When you walk through the pavilion area on the north side of the stadium, and look down into the field level dug into the mountain, the importance of it all comes into focus. Birmingham is about to have one of the more unique stadiums in the country for live sports. Put simply, this is a place where you're going to want to be. It is inspiring and different and retro cool with a modern vibe. At 47,100 seats around a sunken field that's surrounded by the city's skyline, the view from anywhere in the stadium will be captivating. UAB football went from death to this in five years. It still doesn't make sense. And the videoboard above the south side of the stadium, as UAB athletics director Mark Ingram noted last week, "is almost as wide as the field itself." The stadium's footprint is already flanked by Uptown, Top Golf and Legacy Arena, but there is room for the city to grow on the north side above it all. It will. |
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