| Friday, March 19, 2021 |
| Colleges Turn Arenas to Mass Vaccination Sites for Students | |
 | U.S. colleges are laying plans to roll out Covid vaccinations to thousands of students, faculty and staff, turning large spaces like stadiums and auditoriums into inoculation centers as the academy yearns for a return to normality. So far, they've been limited by a lack of supply for a largely young and healthy demographic. That's changing rapidly as states try to meet President Joe Biden's May 1 deadline for all adults to be eligible. About half of 296 higher education institutions polled are planning mass vaccination clinics by June, according to a continuing survey by the American College Health Association. "Schools have been preparing for months now," said Anita Barkin, co-chair of the group's Covid-19 task force. "Many are just waiting for the opportunity." Some have already begun. Mississippi State University is making shots available on its Starkville campus at a drive-thru in the parking lot of the student health center, after Governor Tate Reeves said all adults would qualify. The school began administering vaccines Tuesday, initially for faculty and staff. Later shipments will be available for those over 18, including students. |
| Starkville-based education platform company receives $100K to expand marketing | |
 | Four years after Starkville-based education platform CampusKnot launched, the company formed by three Mississippi State students has received a $100,000 grant to expand its online marketing. CampusKnot grants online interaction between teachers and students, and the company has been steadily growing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as the demand for online education increases. The grant comes from Innovate Mississippi, a nonprofit organization geared toward cultivating innovative technology and entrepreneurship. Co-founder and CEO of CampusKnot Rahul Gopal said the company has not invested in online marketing since the company began. This $100,000 Seed Fund grant from Innovate Mississippi, the second such grant CampusKnot has received, he said, will give the company the means to carry out its new marketing plan, including paid advertisements and social media promotions. Gopal, along with classmates Hiten Patel and Perceus Mody, all from India, created the idea for this social-media teaching outlet in 2012 at MSU's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the College of Business. It now operates out of its parent office in downtown Starkville and subsidiary office in India. Dozens of colleges and universities, including Mississippi University for Women and University of Southern Mississippi, as well as middle and high schools utilize the social platform's teaching tools. |
| JSU Masking Initiative, MSU Student Pandemic Support and MSU Humanities Council Awards | |
| Mississippi State University plans to use $8.9 million in federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act funding to directly support students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal funds are intended to help students with exceptional financial need or emergency costs due to the ongoing pandemic, a release from MSU says. Covered costs include tuition, food, housing, healthcare and childcare. The deadline to apply is March 21. MSU will send instructions for completing the three-question online application to eligible students via email and text messages. The Mississippi Humanities Council will recognize three Mississippi State University faculty members for their work in conveying insights of the humanities to public audiences during an online program on March 26. Originally scheduled for March 2020 but canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MHC is combining its 2020 awards ceremony with this year's virtual program. Toby G. Bates, associate professor of history at Mississippi State University-Meridian, will receive the 2021 MHC Teacher of the Year award alongside 2020 MHC Teacher of the Year Mark Edward Clark, associate professor in MSU's Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures. James C. "Jim" Giesen, associate professor in MSU's Department of History, will receive MHC's 2020 Humanities Scholar Award for his work as the official scholar for the Mississippi tour of the Smithsonian Institution exhibit "Waterways." |
| New COVID cases continue to decline in Golden Triangle | |
| Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, cases are steadily declining across Mississippi and the Golden Triangle area. This week alone, only 44 cases were reported in Clay, Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Noxubee counties. Lowndes County still has the highest COVID-19 numbers in the four-county area with 6,197 total reported cases and 143 deaths since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, according to the most recent data from the Mississippi State Department of Health. There were 22 new cases and only one death reported in the county since March 6. The MSDH website shows the test positivity rate for Lowndes County has declined from 7.7 percent on Feb. 27 to 5.9 percent on March 6. In Oktibbeha County, there have been a total of 4,484 COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths reported with only 14 cases and no deaths since March 6, according to the MSDH website. Oktibbeha County's test positivity rate has drastically decreased from 9.2 percent on Feb 27. to 3.5 percent on March 6. There have been 15,238 doses of the vaccine administered to residents of Oktibbeha County as of Thursday morning. |
| Mississippi State Department of Health reports 392 new COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths | |
 | The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) on Friday reported 392 additional cases of COVID-19 and seven additional deaths. Marshall County in Northeast Mississippi reported one additional death. The statewide total number of cases since March 11, 2020 is now 302,316 with a death toll of 6,945. As of this week, around 287,341 people are presumed recovered from the virus. The seven-day moving average for new COVID-19 cases in Mississippi is 15 per 100,000 people, as of March 17. In Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, the seven-day moving average is 15 per 100,000 people. MSDH also reported 41 ongoing outbreaks in long-term care facilities. Several counties in the Daily Journal's coverage area reported new cases: Calhoun (2), Chickasaw (4), Clay (1), Lafayette (3), Marshall (19), Monroe (2), Oktibbeha (5), Pontotoc (1), Prentiss (1), Tishomingo (4) and Union (1). |
| Young Mississippians can now get the coronavirus vaccine | |
 | In the waiting room at Central Mississippi Health Services in Jackson, Erica Washington is filling out some paperwork before her coronavirus vaccine appointment. She's one of the thousands of Mississippians who recently gained eligibility for the vaccines. Erica lives with her family in Jackson but attends college at Mississippi State University. "That means I have to stay away from home a lot longer to make sure that I'm not sick so I don't get anyone else sick because there are older people in my house. It's been difficult, but we've been making it. But now since, you know, I'm fixing to get a shot, it'll kinda make it a little easier." "All right now, 1-2-stick," says Nurse Sharon Ivory, giving Erica her vaccine. Erica is getting the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, which only takes one dose to be fully vaccinated. "Done, finished. Let me give you your card. You have been vaccinated, Ms. Erica" As Erica waits the required 15 minutes so she can be monitored for side effects, she says she's excited and looks forward to spending time with family again. "Oh I feel good, so that means I can get on their nerves more. Get on their nerves more often," laughs Erica. |
| CDC Revises Physical-Distancing Recommendation for Schoolchildren | |
 | The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut in half the distance students should remain from one another in classrooms, a step that could speed the reopening of schools. In guidelines updated Friday, the nation's public health agency said K-12 students should remain at least three feet apart in classrooms rather than the six feet it had recommended previously, a change it said was made possible by new scientific findings. The agency also removed a recommendation that schools install physical barriers such as sneeze guards, partitions or tape and urged schools to consider Covid-19 symptom screening for sports and extracurricular activities. The reduced distance applies to students only, not teachers and staff, the CDC said, because transmission rates of Covid-19 are higher among adults. Also, the change for children is recommended only in communities where transmission of Covid-19 is not high, the CDC said. Students should still remain at least six feet from one another during eating and activities like singing or sports, at other times when masks cannot be worn, and in common areas like school lobbies and auditoriums, the CDC said. |
| The pandemic has been especially damaging to working moms | |
| In just one year, the coronavirus pandemic has decimated women's participation in the workforce. More than 2.3 million women have left the labor market entirely since the beginning of the pandemic in the United States, according to the National Women's Law Center. And the numbers could continue to grow. According to a report from Lean In and McKinsey & Co., 1 in 4 women are considering leaving the workforce or downshifting their careers due to the impact of COVID-19. Before the pandemic, women made up more than 50% of the U.S. workforce. But that number has dropped to levels not seen since 1988, as many women, particularly mothers, have been furloughed or laid off. With day care centers and schools shut down, many women have had to choose between showing up to work and caring for their children. Studies estimate that employment for women may not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2024. |
| 'There's tremendous fear': Farmworkers face vaccine eligibility woes | |
 | State officials and advocates are racing to overcome obstacles that hamper vaccinating the nation's 3 million farmworkers before the upcoming harvest season. The biggest hurdle: Many agriculture-rich states have been slow to make laborers eligible for shots, triggering outrage among activists and lawmakers that farmworkers and other crucial food industry employees have been overlooked throughout the pandemic. Waiting to qualify is just one challenge with protecting this essential yet hard-to-reach workforce. It's difficult for health providers to vaccinate this demographic that has had staggeringly high infection rates because it's a low-income, spread-out population with intense fears about potential repercussions. More than a half-million agriculture workers have been infected with Covid-19, according to a Purdue University analysis, with the highest numbers in Texas, California, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Florida and Minnesota. Undocumented workers are also deeply worried they will be caught and deported by law enforcement when they go for vaccines. Misinformation about the safety of vaccines is another issue. Yet time is running short. In states across the south, harvest season will pick up soon, meaning that more workers will be working together in conditions conducive to spreading the virus, like tight quarters in fruit and vegetable packing houses. |
| Severe weather: Early reports indicate 4 tornadoes confirmed in Mississippi | |
 | One person is dead and at least four tornadoes have been confirmed after storms swept through Mississippi Tuesday and Wednesday. Malary White, external affairs director for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said officials are still reviewing assessments from various counties. "This is very, very preliminary and can definitely change," White said. Early reports indicate at least four tornadoes have been confirmed. White said the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is waiting to get confirmation on 14 other possible tornadoes from the National Weather Service. Joanne Culin, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said assessment teams were sent to Lincoln, Simpson and Marion counties Thursday to survey the extent of damage caused by the severe weather. The Mississippi Highway Patrol reported there were at least 28 crashes on the state's interstates and highways related to the weather. Of those, there were six injuries and one fatality in Adams County. White said about 15 residential areas, including trailers, homes and apartments, sustained some type of damage from the storms. While there were both minor and major damages to the various homes, none was destroyed, she said. |
| F-150 pickups to Nissan Canton plant: What chip shortage means for automakers, consumers | |
 | A global semiconductor shortage and a February winter storm have combined to force Ford to build F-150 pickup trucks without some computers. The company says the pickups will be held at factories for "a number of weeks," then shipped to dealers once computers are available and quality checks are done. Also Thursday, Nissan announced it would temporarily cancel production at factories in Canton, Mississippi, Smyrna, Tennessee; and in Aguascalientes, Mexico, due to the chip shortage. Some U.S. production lines will be down from Friday through Monday, while others will be idled just for the weekend. Aguascalientes Plant 1 will stop production through Tuesday. Affected models include the Murano, Rogue, Maxima, Leaf, Altima, NV Vans, Kicks, Versa and March. The move is the latest ripple from the global semiconductor shortage, which earlier this week forced Honda and Toyota to announce production cuts at some North American factories. General Motors also has been forced to build pickups without some computers and install them later. Automakers have said they don't expect the chip shortage to get any better before the third quarter of the year. |
| Mississippi teacher pay raise plan headed to governor | |
| Mississippi legislators have agreed on a teacher pay raise plan, and it will head to Gov. Tate Reeves. The Republican governor said earlier this year that he would sign any teacher pay raise bill that lands on his desk. House Bill 852 would give most teachers and teachers' assistants a $1,000 pay raise. Newer teachers would get $1,100. The House passed the final version of the bill Thursday, agreeing to changes made by the Senate. "Advancing the teacher pay raise bill to the Governor's desk was the right thing to do," Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann wrote Thursday on Twitter. "Our teachers deserve a salary increase, particularly after their efforts on behalf of kids during the pandemic." House Speaker Philip Gunn, a Republican, praised the House for passing the bill -- and he leveled criticism at the Senate. "The Senate sent back an amended version of our original bill, which provides less money for certain teachers," Gunn wrote on Twitter. |
| Mississippi lawmakers pass $1,000 teacher pay raise | |
| Legislation to provide Mississippi's public school teachers a pay raise of about $1,000 per year is headed to Gov. Tate Reeves after the House passed it on Thursday. The proposal provides a $1,110 a year pay raise for teachers with three year or less in experience to bring their starting pay with a bachelor's degree to $37,000 annually. Existing teachers with more than three years of experience would receive $1,000 annually. Teaching assistants, who provide support for classroom instructors in the early grades, also would receive salary increase of about $1,000 annually. The total package will cost about $51 million each year. "We are pleased the House has passed the teacher pay raise and thank legislators in both chambers for passing it," said Nancy Loome, executive director of The Parents' Campaign, a public education advocacy group. Erica Jones, president of the Mississippi Association of Educators, praised leaders of the House and Senate Education committees for passing the pay raise, which she said was "absolutely a step in the right direction." |
| Mother and son in Mississippi indicted on fraud charges | |
| A federal grand jury in has indicted a mother and son on wire fraud and other charges that accuse them of improperly obtaining millions of dollars from the state of Mississippi. Nancy New 68, and Zachary New, 38, appeared in court Thursday in Jackson, hours after the indictments were unsealed. Each pleaded not guilty to all charges. U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Ball set a May 3 trial date, with U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves set to preside. Ball also set a $10,000 unsecured bond, meaning Nancy New and Zachary New did not have to post money before being released. One of Zachary New's attorneys, Tom Fortner, said outside the courtroom: "I'm not even sure there's a crime here." Nancy New's attorney, Cynthia Speetjens, said her client is looking forward to the trial. "I have seen nothing that would give any indication that Nancy New or her son are criminals -- not even close," Speetjens said after the brief hearing Thursday. The federal indictments were issued more than a year after state Auditor Shad White announced that Nancy New, Zachary New, former Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director John Davis and three other people had been indicted on state criminal charges in what White called a "sprawling conspiracy" related to misspending of money in the Department of Human Services. |
| Nancy, Zachary New indicted in federal court, accused of taking millions from department of education | |
| A mother and son -- already caught up in the state's largest embezzlement scandal -- are accused of repeatedly defrauding the coffers of the state's department of education, taking in over a million dollars in funds meant for students and teachers, according to a new indictment. Nancy New and her son, Zachary New, who served as president and vice president with the for profit New Learning Resource Inc., were indicted in federal court on Tuesday on 17 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering conspiracy. The News appeared in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Thursday afternoon in Jackson. Each pleaded not guilty to all charges. The Associated Press reported U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Ball set a May 3 trial date, with U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves set to preside. Ball also set a $10,000 unsecured bond, meaning the two did not have to post money before being released. Prosecutors say in one case, Nancy New used funds from the department to purchase a home at 1800 Sheffield Drive in Jackson. The home is now subject to criminal forfeiture. |
| Feds accuse New Summit private school leaders of bilking $2 million in Mississippi public school dollars | |
| When agents arrested Nancy New and her son Zach New last year on charges they allegedly stole $4 million in Mississippi welfare dollars, onlookers speculated how the popular private schools they ran, New Summit, may be implicated. Now, the federal government is alleging the News also defrauded the Mississippi Department of Education out of $2 million they secured by filing fraudulent claims, sometimes on behalf of kids who didn't attend the school, people who didn't work at the school or teachers who had a lower certification level than they claimed. Nancy New allegedly used at least $76,889 of the public school money to purchase her house in northeast Jackson, according to a series of bank transactions outlined in the indictment against her. The U.S. Attorneys Office alleges the money came from the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which is the name for the state's public school funding formula. An education department spokesperson explained in a statement to Mississippi Today that "eligible accredited nonpublic schools may request MAEP add-on funds" to pay for special teacher teams to serve students with learning disabilities. In a 12-page federal indictment unsealed Thursday morning, the News are accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, five counts of aggravated identify theft, money laundering conspiracy and one count each of monetary transactions with proceeds of specified unlawful activity. |
| Donors Took Millions From Public Ed for Private School, Feds Allege | |
| Two wealthy Mississippi political donors "conspired" to "fraudulently" obtain more than $2 million in public education funds and used it to pay for teachers' salaries at their private school in Jackson, federal prosecutors allege. A March 16, 2021, indictment, which the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi's Northern Division unsealed today, charges mother-and-son duo Nancy New and Zachary New with 17 counts, including wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering. The allegedly unlawful activities began in 2016 and continued into 2020, the indictment says. "According to the indictment, Nancy New and Zachary New submitted fraudulent reimbursement claims for the salaries of teachers at New Summit School in Jackson to the Mississippi Department of Education under the Mississippi Adequate Education Program," the U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi said in a statement. "As a result, New Learning Resources, Inc., a for-profit company owned by Nancy New and Zachary New, fraudulently obtained in excess of two million dollars ($2,000,000) to which it was not entitled. Nancy W. New and Zachary W. New personally benefited from this scheme to defraud." |
| Justice Stephen Breyer mum as some liberals urge him to quit Supreme Court | |
| Forgive progressives who aren't looking forward to the sequel of their personal "Nightmare on First Street," a Supreme Court succession story. The original followed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's decision to forgo retirement from the high court, located on First Street in Washington, when Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate during six years of Barack Obama's presidency, until 2015. Despite some pointed warnings of what might happen, Ginsburg remained on the bench until her death last year at age 87. President Donald Trump replaced the liberal icon with a young conservative, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and cemented a 6-3 conservative majority on the court just over a month before he lost his bid for a second term. In the updated version, 82-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer plays the leading role. He is the oldest member of the court and has served more than 26 years since his appointment by President Bill Clinton. With spring comes the start of the period in which many justices have announced their retirement. Some progressives say it is time for Breyer to go, without delay. Other liberal voices have said Breyer should retire when the court finishes its work for the term, usually by early summer. |
| A farmer's feud with workers union leads to high-stakes Supreme Court showdown | |
 | A pending Supreme Court case that pits union rights against property rights began on a cold October morning in 2015 on a California strawberry plant farm near the Oregon border. Mike Fahner, the third-generation owner of Cedar Point Nursery in Dorris, recalls a "frightening" scene: "We had strangers on bullhorns marching up and down through our buildings." He cites a video of flag-waving union demonstrators he describes as an "invasion" and blames California's law that gives organizers the right to access a grower's property to make their case to farmworkers. Union officials are blunt in response. "They're absolutely lying about it being a trespass," United Farm Workers of America (UFW) general counsel Mario Martínez said. "What they're upset about is that their own workers went on strike. ... The video they've circulated? Those are all Cedar Point workers. They're not union organizers." Fahner acknowledges he would be in the lawsuit no matter how polite or ill-mannered union organizers might be. "The right-to-access law, whether provided to unions or anybody to somebody's personal private property, is wrong," he said. "And it doesn't exist anywhere else in the nation." But depending on how broadly the Supreme Court rules in the case it will consider Monday, it could have national implications for all sorts of instances in which the government authorizes entry onto a person's property. |
| 'Our community is bleeding': Asian American lawmakers seek to curb rise in violence | |
 | Asian American lawmakers testified Thursday about the rise in violence against Asians since the COVID-19 pandemic, calling for a change in rhetoric from Republicans and legislative action to curb the trend. The House Judiciary subcommittee hearing was the first in 34 years on violence against Asians in the United States, stemming from reports of nearly 3,800 anti-Asian crimes in the last year and an increase in hostile anti-Asian comments about the pandemic online. That hearing was set even before a deadly attack Tuesday on three Asian businesses in the Atlanta area, where five Asian women were among the eight people who were fatally shot. "His targets are no accident," California Democratic Rep. Judy Chu, the chairwoman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, told the subcommittee. "What we know is that this day was coming." California Republican Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel testified to condemn the increase in violence but also highlighted their concerns with race-based admissions to schools and universities that limit how many Asian Americans are accepted. |
| Two Immigration Bills Clear House as GOP Cite Border Surge | |
| The House passed two bills Thursday to provide a path to legal status for millions of undocumented people living in the U.S. -- part of Democrats' scaled back plans for immigration reform as a surge of migrants at the southern border puts pressure on the Biden administration. Nine Republicans joined all House Democrats to pass the Dream and Promise Act, H.R. 6, on a 228-197 vote, which would provide green cards and the prospect of eventual citizenship to young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers. The House also approved, 247-174, another bill to provide legal status for migrant agricultural workers, with 30 Republicans voting in favor. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has adopted a piecemeal approach to immigration, lacking the votes for President Joe Biden's more comprehensive proposal. But even the narrow bills on the House floor Thursday face a tougher sell in the Senate where they would need the support of at least 10 Republicans under the chamber's current rules. There has long been bipartisan support for the Dream Act, first introduced 20 years ago, although Republicans say such protections should be paired with tougher border security. Yet immigration has become an increasingly fraught political issue and one that the GOP will try to use against Democrats in next year's midterm elections. |
| 'I was sick to my stomach': George W. Bush says Jan. 6 insurrection 'really disturbed me' | |
 | Former President George W. Bush says the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol nauseated and "disgusted" him, describing it as an attack on democracy. "I was sick to my stomach," Bush said in a taped interview broadcast Thursday for the SXSW conference out of Austin, Texas. While he did not mention former President Donald Trump by name, Bush said he was disgusted "to see our nation's Capitol being stormed by hostile forces." The attack "really disturbed me to the point where I did put out a statement, and I'm still disturbed when I think about it," he said. More than 300 people in the pro-Trump mob have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack designed to stop the counting of the electoral votes that elected Joe Biden to the presidency. "It undermines rule of law and the ability to express yourself in peaceful ways in the public square," Bush told interviewer Evan Smith, the CEO of the Texas Tribune. "This was an expression that was not peaceful." During the interview that was taped on Feb. 24, Bush also said he regards Biden as a legitimately elected president. He did not comment on Trump's protests of the election process. Asked specifically if he thinks the election was stolen, Bush said: "No." |
| Yes, Capitol Rioters Were Armed. Here Are The Weapons Prosecutors Say They Used | |
 | In the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a popular narrative has emerged: that because rioters did not fire guns that day, they were not really "armed." But a review of the federal charges against the alleged rioters shows that they did come armed, and with a variety of weapons: stun guns, pepper spray, baseball bats and flagpoles wielded as clubs. An additional suspect also allegedly planted pipe bombs by the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties the night before the riot and remains at large. Those weapons brought violence and chaos to the Capitol. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died one day after two rioters allegedly sprayed him and other officers with what prosecutors describe as an "unknown chemical substance." Four other people in the crowd died in the insurrection, and more than 100 police officers suffered injuries, including cracked ribs, gouged eyes and shattered spinal disks. "This was a pretty heavily armed crew of people compared to what you usually see at protests," said Heidi Beirich, a co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "Even when you see people who are armed at protests in states, for example, where they have open-carry laws, they aren't storming into a building using the weapons in the way that we saw at the Capitol." |
| Southern Grace: MUW plans spring event | |
| The Jackson Metro Chapter of the Mississippi University for Women Alumni Association will host a "Virtual" spring event at 6:30 p.m. March 25. The program for the evening is "Southern Grace and Grayce Hicks: Remembering Personal Appearance 101," a trip down memory lane with an entertaining twist for today that focuses on the course taught by "Miss Hicks" at the university in the 1960s and 1970s. "This will be a heartfelt toast to the lady and her quintessential personal appearance class," said Chapter President Barbara Travis, presenter for the evening. Participants will receive recipes for appetizers and beverages from the association's Southern Grace cookbook. Helping plan the event are Jackson Chapter officers (from left) Symone Bounds, Jenny Katool, Travis, Peggy Hampton, and Katy Pacelli. To register for this free event, e-mail the MUW Office of Development and Alumni at developmentandalumni@muw.edu. |
| Ole Miss Students Exhausted From Online, Remote Classes | |
| According to researchers, the switch to daylight savings time is tough on our sleep schedules. Add to that the fact that more Ole Miss classes are online than ever before and you have exhausted students. Ole Miss junior Mckenna Mason says she takes more naps than she did before COVID-19. Mason also says that attending online classes has made her lose motivation to work. "Being cooped up in a house on a computer and doing school, you're lazier," Mason said. "Instead of getting up and going to class, getting fresh air, going out and doing work somewhere else besides at home." Mason's roommate, Ole Miss junior Sarah Sides, also says that she feels more tired staring at a computer screen all day. Sides says that early morning zoom lectures cause her to be more fatigued. Experts also say that one of the leading causes of napping is too much screen time. Respiratory and sleep therapist Angela Laws says that a lot of what we look at on a screen during the day is harmful to our sleep schedules. "It's always good to get some rest," Laws said. "A big no, no to people is that they tend to look at their screens on their phones at night time." |
| USM OLLI class aims to bridge divide between conservatives, liberals | |
| The political divide in the United States is wide and deep, and two Osher Lifelong Learning Institute sites -- including the OLLI location at the University of Southern Mississippi -- are joining together in an effort to build a bridge between the two dominant political parties. OLLI at Southern Miss and OLLI at the University of Southern Maine will offer an eight-week Zoom class called "Conservatives and Liberals, Not Conservatives versus Liberals" beginning on March 23. The goal of the class, according to OLLI at Southern Miss Director Paula Mathis, is to bring together 12 conservative members from the Mississippi location and 12 liberal members from the Maine OLLI location. The class, which will meet from 11:45 a.m. until 1:45 p.m. each Tuesday, will be taught by Mike Berkowitz, an OLLI instructor at the Maine location. Class topics will include mini-lectures in psychology and politics, which will frame discussions about parenting, political parties, government, schools, media, religion, capitalism, socialism, taxes, the court system and more. |
| USM students to participate in annual Big Event March 22-26 | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi's Big Event community volunteer project will be done a bit differently this year. Instead of the traditional one-day effort, the 2021′s event will be spread out over five days from March 22-26. USM's Student Government Association and the Center for Community Engagement partner for the event each year, as volunteers participate in service projects at different sites in and around the Hattiesburg area, as well as the Gulf Park campus in Long Beach. Hannah Khan, a junior from Meridian, is a member of the Student Government Association's cabinet and director of the 2021 Big Event. She talks about how the Big Event team decided to make a change in strategy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "We thought that having a five-day event would be the best way to get students involved, while also following COVID-19 guidelines and keeping the student body and everyone at different sites safe," Khan said. "We also felt this was a way to get as many students as possible involved. We understand that some students go home over the weekend or use the weekend as a time to focus on self-care and take a break from all of the challenges that come from going to college during a global pandemic. Thus, by having a week-long event, it allows students to volunteer at a time that is convenient for them by offering multiple options throughout the week." |
| Auburn's chief financial officer shares how the University has weathered the pandemic | |
| Unlike other universities experiencing declines in enrollment, Auburn University has seen a much smaller dip this spring with an expected loss of about $2.5 million in tuition revenue. Kelli Shomaker, the University's chief financial officer, said this "reaffirms that the University is still an institution of choice in Alabama and beyond, despite the challenges of the pandemic." "Compared to most of our peers, Auburn has fared extremely well financially," Shomaker said. Revenue from tuition has remained steady throughout the past year as the demand for an Auburn education, research and on-campus housing has been reminiscent of previous years, she said. Although the impact of the pandemic on tuition revenue was smaller than expected, the University struggled to maintain numbers in auxiliary areas that relied on mass gatherings and social events, both of which were heavily scaled down in allotted numbers of attendees the past year because of health concerns. Despite losses in revenue, the University has saved money in other ways since the start of the pandemic. According to Shomaker, the University has saved about $20.6 million in operating costs with the reduction of travel, events, and employees working overtime. |
| OSU Faculty Senate calls on President King Alexander, trustees to resign | |
| The Oregon State University Faculty Senate called on President F. King Alexander and most members of the OSU Board of Trustees to resign on Thursday during a special session conducted by videoconference. Both motions -- which also included votes of no confidence in Alexander and the board -- appeared to pass by strong majorities, although the preliminary results were not expected to be confirmed until sometime Friday. In addition, the Faculty Senate approved a motion to open separate polls with the same calls for resignations and votes of no confidence to the entire faculty. The representative body, which hosted Alexander for a forum on Monday, also approved several other motions affirming its support for survivors of sexual and relationship violence, BIPOC community members and LGBTQIA+ community members. The votes come after the Board of Trustees elected not to terminate Alexander during a meeting on Wednesday, instead opting to place him on probation until June 1 and directing Alexander to evaluate current Title IX and survivor programs and attempt to rebuild trust with the OSU community. |
| Fire F. King Alexander if probe finds he mishandled allegations at LSU, Oregon governor says | |
 | Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Thursday that she expects Oregon State University's Board of Trustees to "take decisive action to remove" its president, F. King Alexander, if it finds he mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct when he was president of LSU. "In Oregon, we must hold our university presidents to the absolute highest standards for leadership and accountability," Brown said in a statement, according to the Corvallis Gazette-Times. Alexander has found himself fighting to keep his job amid intense scrutiny over his handling of Title IX complaints and sexual misconduct allegations during his six years at Louisiana's flagship college. OSU leaders reprimanded Alexander by placing him on a probationary status Wednesday. In a letter last week, Alexander voiced regrets for not taking stronger action against then-football coach Les Miles. He said the LSU Board of Supervisors opted not to fire Miles due to lack of evidence. That decision came two months before he became LSU's president, Alexander said. |
| His New Job on the Line, This President Unleashed a Scorched-Earth Critique of His Old Campus | |
 | With his presidency imperiled at Oregon State University, F. King Alexander on Wednesday blasted his former employer, Louisiana State University, casting the institution he had once led as a hidebound organization where he felt powerless to fire the football coach without the approval of a board that regularly intervened in athletics. Alexander's unusually critical assessment of a former employer, where he was president from 2013 to 2019, comes in the wake of damning revelations about Louisiana State's past handling of sexual-harassment and sexual-assault cases. Uncommon in both its candor and abrasiveness, Alexander's scorched-earth assessment of Louisiana State's athletics culture, governance challenges, and budget constraints could have lasting implications. College presidents seldom speak in detail about board members controlling a football coach's fate, even though board influence is often assumed to be a factor. Alexander's decision to describe bluntly the LSU board's approach has invited scrutiny from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the university's regional accrediting agency. "We will investigate this," Belle S. Wheelan, president of the agency, said in an email to The Chronicle on Thursday. |
| Time zone troubles: UF international students taking classes and exams in their home countries | |
| An alarm blared at 4:45 a.m. in Oulu, Finland, jolting Meri Karioja to wake up for a proctored physics exam in 15 minutes. She rolled out of bed and scrambled to scarf down protein-packed peanut butter and chia seed overnight oats before groggily making her way to her desk in the living room. The calculator, scratch paper and photo ID she laid out the night before awaited her. Her cat, Filip, meowed as she launched her exam, upset about being locked away in Meri's bedroom. The 21-year-old University of Florida applied physiology and kinesiology junior mustered up the strength to endure the two-hour exam before throwing herself back under her covers. She slept for another three hours, then peeled herself out of bed again for a six-hour shift at work. Karioja said the experience felt like being jet-lagged after a long flight. When the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic last March forced a campus shut down, UF students and faculty fled home to complete classes and work remotely. Some international students like Karioja have yet to return to campus. Completing coursework online poses challenges for students and instructors alike, but these issues are heightened for some international students who attend classes and take exams amid drastic time zone differences. |
| Education Department cancels $1 billion in debt for defrauded students | |
 | The Education Department announced yesterday that students who were cheated by for-profit institutions and previously granted partial relief on their direct federal loans will now be granted full relief. The department is rolling back a controversial formula -- established under the previous secretary, Betsy DeVos -- that gave some borrowers only partial debt forgiveness, even if it was found that they were defrauded or misled by their college. The change will help 72,000 borrowers with previously approved "borrower-defense" claims, department officials said, and will result in an additional $1 billion in debt forgiveness, on top of any debt forgiveness those borrowers previously received. Detractors of the formula criticized it for limiting the amount borrowers could receive and relying on earnings data that were not always informative. The department said it will make a decision on future claims once they come in, but it will not be using the partial relief formula. The department will also reimburse any amounts paid on the loans, request that credit bureaus remove negative credit reporting and restore federal aid eligibility where applicable. Eligible borrowers will be notified in the coming weeks, officials said. Miguel Cardona, education secretary, said in a statement that borrowers deserve a simple and fair path to relief when they've been harmed by an institution. |
| Targeting colleges and other educational institutions proving to be 'good business' for cybercriminals | |
| A spate of recent cyberattacks on colleges, universities, seminaries and K-12 schools prompted a warning from the FBI's Cyber Division this week. The advisory notice, published Tuesday, warned that criminals using malicious software called PYSA ransomware are increasingly targeting education institutions and attempting to extort them. The FBI became aware of PYSA ransomware in March 2020 but has not identified the criminals behind the attacks. Using phishing emails and stolen credentials to access IT networks, criminals leveraging the ransomware are stealing sensitive information and blocking access to essential data and systems through encryption. They are then demanding payment in exchange for returning access to the targeted institution. In a double-pronged extortion tactic that has become increasingly common in recent years, hackers are not only demanding payment to restore access to encrypted information. They are also taking sensitive data and threatening to sell or publish it on the dark web if their demands are not met. |
| APLU Statement Condemning Racism and Violent Attacks Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders | |
| Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) President Peter McPherson today released the following statement condemning racism and violent attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. "APLU and the public university community are appalled by the rising incidence of xenophobia, anti-Asian racism and violence. Racism and violence have no place in our society. It is incumbent upon us all to do our part to create a society that strongly rejects, stands up to, and roots out all hate. Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) should not have to experience the trauma and fear that many are increasingly feeling from these attacks. Asian American and Pacific Islanders, as well as those from Asian countries who are visiting the U.S. to study and work, are valued members of APLU and our public university community. They are our leaders, teachers, peers, friends, and neighbors. APLU and its members stand with the Asian American and Pacific Islanders community. The recent increase in racism and violence against members of the AAPI community is often linked to falsehoods and lies perpetuated about COVID-19. It is our duty in higher education to immediately counter this misinformation and instead speak out in support of our colleagues, students, and community members." |
| What will college look like in 2021? | |
| Angela Farmer, an assistant clinical professor in the Shackouls Honors College at Mississippi State University, writes: While the pandemic of 2020 brought with it a most unusual and, in many cases, remote level of learning for colleges across the nation, 2021 promises to maintain an atypical application and acceptance protocol. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Allison Pohle, "Is It Harder to Get Into College in 2020?" college admissions processes have evolved as the applicant pool has changed. Given that many students in 2020 had limited access to standardized testing for the ACT or the SAT, over 1,600 four-year colleges elected to go test optional for at least a window of time to ensure that they were still able to recruit and retain a competitive applicant class. As every action has an equal and opposite reaction, not surprisingly the article details how as a result, "selective colleges saw an overwhelming increase in the number of applicants...evidencing a record-breaking 17% increase in applications for both public and private schools." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State rotation at full health entering SEC play | |
| The Mississippi State baseball team finally has its weekend rotation at full health entering the SEC opener. No. 3-ranked Mississippi State (14-3) travels to No. 19 LSU (15-3) for a three-game series at Alex Box Stadium to open conference play. The Bulldogs have won seven-straight games entering SEC play and 11 of their last 12. MSU ace Christian MacLeod (1-1, 1.84 ERA) will take the mound tonight against LSU's Jaden Hill (2-1, 4.84) in the series opener at 6 p.m. Mississippi State will start right-handers Will Bednar (0-0, 0.00) on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Eric Cerantola (0-1, 6.97) on Sunday at 2 p.m. This is the first time all three will start on the same weekend. They were the projected starting rotation to begin the season, but Bednar dealt with a shoulder injury. "He's 100% ready to go," head coach Chris Lemonis said of Bednar. "This was our original rotation so this is what we were planning to start the year. Obviously things happened and we had guys step up and pitch well, but Will's ready to go." |
| Mississippi State preparing for NIT opener against Saint Louis | |
| Following Mississippi State's Southeastern Conference tournament loss to Alabama, Ben Howland thought his team only had an "outside shot" of getting into the NIT. Then came a flurry of opt-outs from teams that had no interest in going to college basketball's consolation tournament. Pair that with the fact officials from the NIT reached out to MSU to gauge its interest in the tournament before the SEC tournament started, and the sixth-year coach knew the chances of continuing the Bulldogs' season were growing by the hour Sunday. Filled with a roster of mostly underclassmen and players in a starting role for the first time, Howland jumped at the chance to continue playing postseason basketball when presented with an invite. The Bulldogs start NIT play as a No. 4 seed with a matchup against No. 1 Saint Louis at 4 p.m. Saturday in Frisco, Texas. If victorious, MSU will play Richmond, who defeated Toledo 76-66 Wednesday, on March 25. "I was excited, honestly," Howland said of learning MSU would be in the 16-team field. "... We are a young team. Any time you can get some postseason experience, I think it helps kids. There's only the 68 plus 16 teams that are playing (in the postseason), everybody else is done ... We went through a year last year where we didn't get to play in the SEC tournament. We had a double bye. So, to have a chance to still be playing, to be hooping, to be playing ball, what's better than this?" |
| Mike Leach gives update on quarterback battle as Mississippi State opens spring practices | |
| Mississippi State has a quarterback competition on its hands. Speaking with reporters Thursday after the Bulldogs opened spring practices, head coach Mike Leach noticeably mentioned that incumbent starter Will Rogers will have to "earn" his job over a plethora of signal-callers, including Southern Miss transfer Jack Abraham. "He's one of those guys that's a self-starter when he works and you trip over him in the film room all the time," Leach said of Rogers. "So I mean, that's a good quality. He's got to win his job, too. That's what spring is all about. All the jobs are open, and then they find it out." While no frontrunner has been named, it's presumed Rogers heads into camp with the edge given the final two months of the 2020 season he had. After spelling an ineffective K.J. Costello, Rogers completed at least 63 percent of his passes in four of his final six games. He also became the first passer in school history with three consecutive 30-completion games and sits tied for sixth in 300-yard passing games. Thursday, Leach made specific mention of Rogers as a player who's become increasingly vocal since last fall, something that's come with an added maturity and simply a full offseason within the program. With the departures of linebacker Erroll Thompson and defensive end Kobe Jones, MSU is in need of a new set of vocal leaders, and Rogers seems poised to embrace that role. |
| After sweep at Ole Miss, Mississippi State softball welcomes No. 5 Florida for first home SEC series | |
| Standing on her rivals' field after Monday's loss at Ole Miss, Mississippi State softball coach Samantha Ricketts admitted something wasn't right. The Bulldogs were understandably excited to play their first Southeastern Conference series in 22 months when they traveled to Oxford for a three-game set from Saturday through Monday. Action photos cropped up all over players' Instagram pages, and the Bulldogs yelled loudly from the first-base visitors' dugout. But after Mississippi State scored just one run all weekend in a sweep at the hands of its in-state rival, Ricketts said she could tell not everything was back to normal. "It just seems different," she said. "I think that's something we're going to have to work on." If the Bulldogs hope to correct whatever issues derailed their first conference series of the year, they won't have much room for error. Mississippi State (15-8, 0-3 SEC) welcomes No. 5 Florida (17-2, 2-1) to Nusz Park for a three-game weekend set. Friday's game begins at 6 p.m., Saturday's contest begins at 2 p.m., and first pitch Sunday will be at 2 p.m. |
| Almost 22 months later, SEC baseball 'can't get here soon enough' for LSU | |
| Paul Mainieri remembers everything. He recalls games he coached decades ago, can recount the reasoning behind almost every decision he ever made and shares random details about players, like the fact one of Mississippi State's pitchers this weekend is from Canada. But the gap between Southeastern Conference games stumped him Thursday morning, so he contacted LSU sports information director Bill Franques for information he usually remembers about the series history and LSU's record against its upcoming opponent. "It's been so long," Mainieri said. "My memory got stale about some of the things." Almost 22 months have passed since LSU faced another SEC team. The Tigers last played one May 25, 2019, against Vanderbilt in the conference tournament, a 13-4 loss after an exhausting stretch of games. Ten months later, minutes before they left for their first league series, LSU's players pulled their equipment off the bus as the coronavirus pandemic interrupted, and eventually canceled, their season. Two years of turnover means the roster that will play No. 6 Mississippi State on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium hardly resembles the one that faced Vanderbilt on that sunny day inside Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. Of LSU's 37 players, 25 have never experienced the intensity of a conference game, including seven projected starters and pitcher Jaden Hill. |
| 710 days later, NCAA Tournament is back with 'First Four' | |
| Who are we kidding? "First Four" still sounds more like an educational toy than the prelude to three of the best weeks in sport. But because of the pandemic, it's been 710 days since last we saw the NCAA Tournament -- who's counting? -- so let's not quibble over names and go straight to the opening-night review: Pretty, pretty good. In the finale pitting two of college hoops' marquee programs, UCLA outlasted Michigan State 86-80 in overtime. Two other games were decided by a single point: Drake beat Wichita State 53-52, and Norfolk State squeezed Appalachian State 54-53. In Thursday's opener, Texas Southern pulled steadily away from Mount St. Mary's and won 60-52. The first four games were grafted onto the 64-team main bracket in 2011, naturally, to pad the NCAA coffers. They were originally dubbed "play-in" games, and then briefly the "First Round," which the NCAA quickly squashed to avoid any confusion with the 16 games that begin the tournament in earnest Friday. Only one First Four team has also made it all the way to the Final Four -- Virginia Commonwealth in 2011 -- but survivors tend to punch above their weight. Four teams have made it to the Sweet 16 and 2019 marked the only year at least one of the first four survivors failed to win a game in the big-boy bracket. |
| NCAA acknowledges 'disrespectful' differences in amenities at men's and women's tournaments | |
| The NCAA acknowledged the discrepancy in amenities between the men's and women's basketball tournaments on Thursday after images posted to social media drew significant backlash. Pictures surfaced Thursday showing the stark differences in gifts that were presented to women's basketball players compared to men's. Stanford sports performance coach Ali Kershner posted photos of the facilities inside the Indianapolis bubble compared to the San Antonio bubble. WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu, last year's national player of the year in NCAA women's basketball, fumed over a poor display in the weight room. The picture showed the plentiful options in an Indianapolis weight room compared to a small rack of dumbbells in San Antonio. A'ja Wilson, who plays for the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA, tweeted the "weight room situation is beyond disrespectful." NCAA vice president Lynn Holzman took accountability for the bad look. "We acknowledge that some of the amenities teams would typically have access to have not been as available inside the controlled environment," Holzman said. |
| March gladness: U. of Alabama students savor basketball success | |
 | Students come to Tuscaloosa expecting football championships, but this basketball season has yielded an unexpected bonus at the University of Alabama. The Crimson Tide men's basketball team has emerged as a serious contender for the Final Four and March Madness is in full bloom in Tuscaloosa. "I think everyone always looks at Alabama as the football school," said UA student Katie Kuhn. "We're not just one-dimensional now." Kuhn and other UA students say they will watch intently Saturday afternoon as Alabama begins play in the NCAA Tournament with a first-round game against the Iona Gaels in Indianapolis. UA student Katie Poedtke watched the SEC Tournament championship game from home and FaceTimed friends near the end. After seeing the team's performance early in the season, she said she was optimistic about Alabama's chances to win the SEC Tournament. "Every win is so great, but winning the (SEC) championship felt different," she said. "After such a trying year, having a team to root for and a group of incredible people to support brings all of the students together, whether they're athletes or fans." Meanwhile, the UA women's basketball team also advanced to the NCAA Tournament, earning a spot in the Big Dance for the first time since 1999. |
| Wave Of Bills To Block Trans Athletes Has No Basis In Science, Researcher Says | |
| Throughout the country, roughly 35 bills have been introduced by state legislators that would limit or prohibit transgender women from competing in women's athletics, according to the LGBTQ rights group Freedom for All Americans. That's up from only two in 2019. The latest action in this push came last week, when Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed into law the "Mississippi Fairness Act." The law prohibits schools from allowing transgender female students to compete in female sports and cites "inherent differences between men and women" as one of the reasons to block these athletes from competition. The often heated debates around these bills have centered on whether transgender women and girls have an unfair advantage over cisgender women -- a term used for those who identify with the sex assigned to them at birth. Often missing from the culture-war aspect of the debate is a focus on the type of questions that Dr. Eric Vilain has spent much of his career researching. Vilain, a pediatrician and geneticist who studies sex differences in athletes, says there are no good faith reasons to limit transgender women's participation in sports, especially at the high school level. Vilain has advised both the International Olympic Committee and the NCAA, and says these laws generally aren't based in scientific evidence, but rather "target women who have either a different biology or ... simply look different." |
| The Pay TV Model Is Declining. The N.F.L. Is Still Banking on It. | |
 | The biggest conglomerates in television collectively agreed to spend more than $100 billion to continue putting N.F.L. games on their broadcast and cable television channels for the next decade, but the way they announced the deals on Thursday did not make that immediately apparent. ViacomCBS wrote in the headline of its news release that it had signed a "multiplatform" agreement. ESPN, in the second bullet of its news release, declared that "more exclusive national ESPN+ content" would be coming, while the second sentence in Fox's release pointed out that the digital rights were going to Tubi, a little-watched streaming service it owns. Such is the difficulty in purchasing the rights to show live sports in 2021. Streaming is the present of movies and TV series and the future of sports, and growth in that sector is what is currently rewarded by Wall Street. But the number of people who pay to stream sports, and the amounts they pay, are dwarfed by the tens of millions of American households that still spend $50, $100 or even $150 each month for a television package. The agreements cement the N.F.L.'s status as the richest sports league in the world and once again demonstrate that its programming is the keystone that keeps the crumbling traditional television ecosystem from falling apart completely. In 2020, 76 of the 100 most-watched television programs were N.F.L. games. |
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