| Tuesday, July 28, 2026 |
| Education: MSU biologists win prestigious NSF awards to explore genetic errors, invasive species | |
 | Two Mississippi State University faculty members in the Department of Biological Sciences have received prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER awards supporting research into the biological mechanisms behind genetic errors and the spread of invasive species. Jean-François Gout and Megan Smith each earned five-year NSF CAREER awards, from the highly competitive program that supports early-career faculty demonstrating exceptional potential to advance research and education. Smith's award totals $779,889, with Gout receiving $754,667. The awards add to a period of success for MSU's Department of Biological Sciences, which now has had seven faculty members receive NSF CAREER awards in the past five years. "This is an incredible achievement for Drs. Smith and Gout and a tremendous reflection of the strength of our department," said Department Head Angus Dawe. "Their success also speaks to the commitment and support provided by MSU to recruit, develop and retain outstanding early-career researchers." |
| MSU scientist recognized internationally for wood engineering research | |
 | A Mississippi State assistant research professor is receiving international recognition for early career achievements in wood engineering, success that's enhancing efficient, sustainable wood construction. MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center's Laya Khademibami has earned the Wood Engineering Achievement Award for Young Engineers from the Forest Products Society. The FPS, a global organization promoting advancements in forest products research, education and industry, recognized Khademibami during its international conference held this month in Eugene, Oregon. Khademibami's research focuses on improving long-term performance of structural insulated panels. Working with collaborators at MSU, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Products Laboratory and the Structural Insulated Panel Association, Khademibami cultivated a series of full-scale studies designed to answer questions about building code development. |
| Meridian begins downtown demolition for Mississippi State expansion | |
 | Demolition work continues in the City of Meridian. The demolition began over the weekend for several downtown properties, as the City of Meridian states it is making way for Mississippi State University's expansion and development. Drivers and commuters are asked to use caution while work continues in the area. |
| Early corn crop headed to apparent good harvest | |
 | Sources from an MSU press release say that Mississippi's corn crop is looking good this year, and harvest began in July for what was one of the earliest planted corn crops in state history. Erick Larson, corn specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said most of the crop will be mature by the end of the month. This is weeks earlier than usual. "Most of our corn crop was planted in the last 10 days of March," Larson said. "Early planting and warmer-than-normal spring temperatures promoted earlier maturity." Mississippi growers are estimated to have planted about 780,000 acres, down from a record 910,000 acres in 2025. Recent corn acreage has fluctuated widely, with 580,000 acres in 2022, 790,000 acres in 2023 and 490,000 acres in 2024. Pest and disease issues have been minimal. Larson said there has been an unusual amount of heat stress that has resulted from anaerobic soils, which limit plant and root function. |
| MSU to offer training in hydroponic farming at Oct. workshop | |
| A limited number of people with an interest in hydroponic farming are invited to a free workshop Oct. 13 hosted by Mississippi State University. Registration will be open to the public July 31 with just seven spots available for the workshop, although those added to a waiting list may have an opportunity to join the workshop. There is no charge to attend, and participants will receive lunch and take home fresh, live hydroponic harvests of leafy greens and microgreens. Qianwen "Megan" Zhang, MSU Extension horticulturist and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station researcher, said the workshop is designed for those professionals who support hydroponic farmers and those in the business or seeking to get into hydroponic farming. The event is sponsored by MSU Extension and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. |
| Starkville Parks and Rec General Manager briefs community leaders at Starkville Rotary Club | |
| It may look like fun and games, but recreation is getting to be big business, and the City of Starkville has been steadily working on building that business. Greg Owen, the General Manager of Starkville Parks and Recreation, briefed area business and community leaders on what his department is doing to not only provide recreational opportunities for the area, but also economic development in the form of tourism. Starkville Parks and Rec surveyed the community last Spring and began to form a three-phase 10-year plan. The first phase involves adding new sports, including youth volleyball and adult flag football and volleyball. Four to seven years out, Owen wants to have Starkville Parks certified by the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies, or CAPRA. This will help them attract more tournaments, which in turn will have a ripple effect throughout the business community. |
| Starkville Parks projects $21M in economic impact this year | |
| Second place isn't good enough for the city's Parks and Recreation Department, General Manager Greg Owen told members of Starkville Rotary Club on Monday. Officials want to be No. 1 in every endeavor, he said, requiring a nearly $40 million investment to help reach their ambitious goal Starkville contracts with Sports Facilities Companies to manage city parks and recreation. Those improvements spurred higher park visitation rates and a $7 million increase in projected annual economic impact from 2025 to 2026, Owen said. "We want to be No. 1 in all that we do," Owen told Rotarians during the meeting at Hilton Garden Inn. "We want to be the No. 1 in Mississippi for parks and rec." Included in the most recent slate of park improvements were $7.1 million worth of work at McKee Park and about $2.4 million worth of paved parking and the turf "flat field" for football and soccer at the Sportsplex. |
| Meridian City Council votes to establish its own EMS district | |
 | After several months of discussion the Meridian City Council voted 3-2 to approve separating from the Metro Ambulance Service and creating a city-managed EMS district during its meeting Tuesday, July 21. The board also voted 3-2 to approve entering into an agreement with Pafford Emergency Service to provide ambulance service to the city of Meridian. The city has been discussing a move away from Metro for approximately 10 months now according to Meridian Chief Administrative Officer Craig Hitt. During the meeting Tuesday, Hitt said the administration felt that moving on from Metro and creating the city's own emergency medical service district was the best option for the city. He said the administration also wanted to move forward with a provider in the form of Pafford. Meridian Fire Chief Michael Evans said that the proposed EMS district would cover the whole city of Meridian. Evans stated that with the formation of such a district the city would have full control and would be able to hold any ambulance company accountable to the residents of the city. He said that under the current arrangement with Metro, the city has basically no say. |
| Why Baby Boomers and Gen Z have different concerns about the economy | |
| Over the past few months, Baby Boomers' confidence in the economy has continued its slow march downward, while Gen Z's has stayed elevated. That's according to the most recent consumer confidence data from The Conference Board. The main driver of this trend: 20-year-olds and 70-year-olds are just worried about different things. The more pessimistic groups are "very concerned about what's happening with healthcare. And they're also very concerned with things like retirement, or, if they are retired, how well are their benefits going to be doing," said Tom Arnold, who teaches finance at the University of Richmond. He said young people worry about labor and credit, or their ability to make and spend money. "The only time that the younger generation really, really gets pessimistic is if there aren't any jobs. But unemployment's at a relative low," he said. The job market and credit environment aren't all that worrisome right now, while healthcare costs keep rising. Hence, the sentiment gap. |
| Gov. Reeves appoints Judge Celeste Wilson to Mississippi Supreme Court | |
 | Governor Tate Reeves today announced the appointment of the Honorable Celeste Embrey Wilson of Southaven to the Mississippi Supreme Court, Northern District 3, Place 1. This appointment fills a vacancy created by the confirmation of the Honorable Robert P. Chamberlin to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. "Judge Wilson has dedicated her career to serving the people of Mississippi with integrity, fairness, and a steadfast commitment to the rule of law," said Governor Reeves. Judge Wilson currently sits as a circuit court judge for Mississippi's 21st Judicial District, which serves DeSoto County. She has served as a circuit court judge since her appointment to this position in February 2017. Before taking the bench, Judge Wilson was an assistant district attorney for Mississippi's 17th Judicial District for seven years. Judge Wilson earned her J.D. from the University of Memphis School of Law and her B.A. from Delta State University. |
| McRae seeking third term as Mississippi's State Treasurer | |
| While most other Mississippi statewide elected officials are eyeing higher office in 2027, State Treasurer David McRae has chosen to seek re-election to a third term. "People are very happy that I'm staying as Treasurer," McRae told Magnolia Tribune in a recent interview. "People are very excited with what I've done for the last seven years as Treasurer and look forward to what I'm going to be doing the next four years in my third term if I'm re-elected." If rumors are true, out of the eight statewide offices on the ballot in 2027, Treasurer McRae and Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney are the only two current officeholders who intend to seek re-election, bypassing the opportunity to run for Governor or Lt. Governor. McRae said the response to his re-election bid has been "overwhelming." "I think people are happy to have somebody stay where they are so there is some sense of normalcy," he said. |
| Still no report: Lawmakers question why firm hasn't provided review of prison health care | |
| In December of 2025 Kristen Windham, director of policy for Gov. Tate Reeves, emailed a state lawmaker with a "report" on the status of a long-awaited review of Mississippi's prison health care system. The document that Windham called a report was a letter that barely stretched beyond a page. And her update was that the monitoring report lawmakers were expecting still did not exist. That came as a surprise to lawmakers who passed a law that said they are due a review of the medical services contract from the corrections department on Dec. 15 of each fiscal year. The state recently approved paying the law firm Butler Snow $700,000 for monitoring prison health care, despite no report being delivered yet. The urgent interest in the review stems from the alleged denial of health care in state prisons. Mississippi Today has documented potentially thousands of people living with hepatitis C going without treatment, amputations following delayed care and trouble getting cancer screenings. Such findings, as well as handwritten letters sent to lawmakers by prisoners seeking care and panicked messages from their family members, drew bipartisan condemnation in the state House and numerous hearings at the Capitol. "They have decided to treat 50 inmates a year with Hepatitis C when there are thousands," House Corrections Chairwoman Becky Currie, a Republican from Brookhaven, said in a recent interview with Mississippi Today. "They provide care when the Hepatitis C patients are so far gone that they need a liver transplant or die." |
| AG: Threats against investigators in Nolan Wells case will be 'taken seriously' | |
| Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has issued a warning that threats made against those investigating the tragic death of Nolan Wells will be taken seriously. Fitch expressed her full confidence in the law enforcement and legal officials assessing the 18-year-old's passing, while noting that her office is on the alert for any potential efforts to hinder their ability to thoroughly fulfill their obligations to this case. Wells, an Ocean Springs native and football player at Southwest Mississippi Community College, was found deceased by a park ranger on Horn Island on July 6. "I am proud of the professionalism which our law enforcement, district attorney, and other local leaders are approaching this tragic case. During an open investigation, it is vital to the cause of justice that everyone respects the integrity of the process," Fitch said. "Efforts to intimidate, disrupt, or interfere with the work and threats to anyone's well-being will be taken seriously." While the state autopsy has yet to be released and the independent autopsy did not provide any substantive answers to link Wells' death to a specific cause, social media has been in a frenzy with speculation and accusations running rampant. |
| Witnesses told authorities Nolan Wells had 'heavy' alcohol intake: Preliminary info | |
| Witnesses told investigators that 18-year-old Nolan Wells had been drinking heavily with friends on Horn Island in Mississippi, according to a document with preliminary information from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. The document -- a description sent on July 5 by the Marine patrol as part of attempts to find Wells after he went missing -- was an email that listed basic information for Wells, including his physical description, as searchers scanned the island for signs of him after he went missing on July 4. Wells was found dead on July 6 and his cause of death is not known. The official autopsy report from the state Medical Examiner's Office and the toxicology tests are still pending. A private autopsy commissioned by Wells' family preliminarily ruled his cause and manner of death as "undetermined pending investigation." Authorities said they suspect Wells drowned. Another document ABC News obtained reinforced what friends told investigators about why Wells was not on the return trip on July 4 in the boat he took to Horn Island with his friends. A police report from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources said, "several friends that traveled to the island on the vessel with Nolan" told authorities "that when they left he was in the company of an unknown female and that he chose to remain at the island." |
| Mike Lee's Threats to Nix August Recess Are Infuriating His Colleagues | |
| Senate Republican leaders are used to headaches from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, but the battle is reaching an apex as Lee attempts to derail the August recess and force another vote on President Donald Trump's priority voting bill. Lee said that he planned to object to the upper chamber's planned five-week August recess "until such a time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act." On Monday, Trump joined Lee's call and demanded that the Senate cancel recess to push through the bill. Those loud, and very online, efforts are part of a deepening rift between Trump and members of Senate leadership, who have little interest in keeping the conference in town to take a perilous vote only months before the midterm elections. Top Senate Republicans not only believe those votes would be a waste of time, but they would be politically problematic. Staying in session would preclude incumbent senators from campaigning back home, though senators who vote to give themselves a long summer break might have a difficult time explaining themselves to constituents. "If I thought there was a path to getting a result, I'm all for it," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune. "But if we are going to be sitting here and in endless quorum calls, I don't know if that's in anybody's best interest." |
| Key Takeaways From Anthony Fauci's Covid-Era Journals | |
 | Republican Sen. Rand Paul this weekend released writings from Dr. Anthony Fauci's private journals during the Covid-19 pandemic, showing the doctor's efforts to placate President Trump while focusing on his media image. Fauci, who helped guide the country's pandemic response as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, kept detailed journal entries recording his private dealings with the White House and the president. In more than 1,000 pages of entries from 2019 to 2022, he chronicled efforts to address the fast-spreading virus while fielding regular calls from the president and interacting with the press. Fauci is scheduled to testify about Covid-19 on Wednesday before Paul's Senate committee. The Kentucky senator has long maintained that Fauci tamped down assertions the Covid-19 virus could have come from a lab. Fauci has said the virus originated from natural means. Scientists have never concluded where the virus originated. Covid-19 emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and killed millions around the world. |
| Trump Asks Supreme Court to Allow Order Restricting Mail Voting | |
 | The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for an executive order by President Trump that restricts voting by mail, setting up a legal showdown as the president pushes for more control over voting ahead of the midterm elections in November. The administration filed the emergency application to the justices after a federal appeals court on Saturday blocked key parts of his executive order. In the application, Solicitor General D. John Sauer called the lower court ruling "indefensible," asserting that it imposed "serious irreparable harm on the federal government" and would bar federal agencies from implementing an executive order "promoting election integrity in the upcoming federal elections in November." The legal battle stems from an executive order signed by Mr. Trump in late March that had attempted to place limits on mail-in voting, including using federal oversight of the U.S. Postal Service to gain greater control over mail-in voting practices. So far, federal courts have stymied many of Mr. Trump's efforts to restrict mail voting. |
| Despite its strength, US military faces a reputational crisis over Iran | |
 | As the United States and Iran trade increasingly ferocious blows, President Donald Trump is reportedly weighing ramped-up operations against Tehran once again. He threatened this week to target the country's critical civilian infrastructure -- power plants and bridges, for example -- every time Iran fires into the Strait of Hormuz. But with a new surge of U.S. forces into the region in recent days, the war is quickly becoming less a test of American military dominance than its limits. The five-month-long conflict has exposed America's strategic vulnerabilities and reflected poorly on the Pentagon's reputation, some analysts add. U.S. firepower, overwhelming though it may be, has so far failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or bring the regime back to the negotiating table. The administration bears much of the blame for demonstrating a "distinct inability" to see over the strategic horizon, says retired Col. Peter Mansoor, a professor of military history at Ohio State University. But as Iran has continued to absorb attacks and retaliate against American bases in the Middle East, the U.S. military must take responsibility for its strategic shortfalls as well, says retired Col. Mark Cancian, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This includes the "glaring failure" of the Navy to secure the Strait of Hormuz, he adds. |
| Gorsuch: US 'never supposed to be ... about one race or one religion' | |
 | Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said in a recent interview that the U.S. was not founded on "one race or one religion," pushing back on arguments made by conservatives such as Vice President Vance. "We were founded, a lot of our colonies, for our religious pluralism, right? And the opportunity to practice your own faith in your own way," Gorsuch told PBS host Margaret Hoover in an episode of "Firing Line" published Friday. "And we were never supposed to be a nation that was about one race or one religion, it was about those ideas," he added, referring to America's founding principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. "And those things are perfect ideas that speak to every human heart and that unite us all." Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, touted his view in December that Christianity provided the prevailing ideals for the founding and continuation of the country. But Gorsuch took a different tact, pointing out that Charles Carroll, who was also Catholic, signed the Declaration of Independence alongside members of other Christian faiths. He also explained that Amish and Quakers settled in the then-British colonies. "We have a First Amendment for crying out loud. No established religion, everybody has a freedom of religion, everybody has the freedom of speech, we are all equal under law," the high court justice told Hoover. |
| Inside Joe Manchin's new quest to elect more Independents to Congress | |
 | A year and a half after leaving office, former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is embarking on a new political chapter with an initiative designed to elect independents to Congress. "The way the parties have weaponized the political process today, they make it impossible to have a 'D' or an 'R' next to your name and speak to the other side," said the former senator. The Democrat-turned-independent, alongside his daughter Heather Manchin, is launching the Independent Leadership Council to support and elect independents. It combines the forces of her Americans Together organization and the Independent Center, a nonprofit that studies and engages with independent voters. "This is not about a third party. This is about people running outside the two party system," she told NPR. "We're willing to go out there and campaign, we're going to be fundraising, we're going to put our arms around this effort to do all we can, because the infrastructure for independents lacks significantly." Independent candidates have long had an uphill battle, locked out of the massive fundraising and infrastructure advantage of the two main parties. |
| William Carey University works to complete campus improvement projects ahead of fall semester | |
 | While students are out on summer break, construction crews have been busy working on several major improvement projects across William Carey University's Hattiesburg campus. University President Dr. Ben Burnett said the projects were designed to enhance the student experience and give returning students something new to enjoy when they arrive for the fall semester. "Our retention rate of our students coming back has been really good," Burnett said. "And so, we want them to come back and to be excited about coming on campus and not just see what all they saw last year, but to see something new and something exciting." Among the largest additions is a new 6,400 square foot building for the university's growing art program. "They really didn't have their own space; they were split up around the campus," Burnett said. "And our art program has posted gains in enrollment for the last several years. And this year looks like they're going to be at about a 7 or 8% growth again." |
| Schools are adding pepper-spraying drones to help combat active shooters | |
 | Schools in at least three states will be equipped with drones this year that can zoom through halls, smash windows and pepper-spray active shooters if teachers report a threat. At least nine schools -- three in Florida, five in Georgia and one in Colorado -- will have storage boxes that house the plastic, nonlethal aircraft made by Austin-based Mithril Defense. The drones, which can be activated by teachers, are capable of reaching a shooter within 15 seconds. The aircraft are designed to distract their targets by flashing strobes, blaring sirens, spraying them with pepper gel, or ramming into them at 60 mph. "Once I get the drones on you, you just can't escape them," said Bill King, a retired Navy SEAL and Mithril Defense co-founder. The programs continue a wave of spending on high-tech security on campuses -- a multibillion dollar industry fueled by threat of school shootings. Nearly 400,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the 1999 attack at Columbine High School in Colorado, according to a Washington Post tracker, which has recorded 435 shootings over that period. |
| Rise in US preteen suicide rate alarms mental health experts | |
| In the past several years, numerous studies have pointed to a mental health crisis among America's youth. Much of the attention has focused on teenagers, who have higher suicide rates. But preteens are struggling, too. The number of preteens -- ages 8 to 12 -- who die by suicide in the United States each year is relatively small. But the total in 2025 was 194 -- the most since at least 2001, according to preliminary data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 2008, the rate of preteen suicide has increased by an average of 8.2% annually, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Their analysis, published in 2024, found that Black preteens had the highest overall suicide rate, while girls and Hispanic preteens had the greatest percentage increase. Native American preteens also saw some of the most pronounced increases. Suicide is complex and is often the result of a combination of factors. Talking with trusted adults and connecting kids with help can aid in prevention, and research shows most who have suicidal thoughts do not carry through with them. |
| Hiding in plain sight: UAH researchers discover new 'Demon Cavefish' in North Alabama cave | |
| Researchers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, have helped uncover a new genus of blind cavefish hiding in one of the most studied cave systems in the southeastern United States, a discovery that is reshaping scientists' understanding of evolution, biodiversity and conservation in subterranean ecosystems. The newly described Demon Cavefish (Demogorgonichthys arcanus) is completely eyeless, colorless and faintly electric blue in life. The discovery, published in Scientific Reports, reveals that one of Alabama's most intensively studied cave systems can still hold extraordinary biological secrets. The study's lead author was Dr. Matthew L. Niemiller, associate professor of biological sciences and director of the Cave Bio Lab at UAH, in collaboration with researchers from three other regional universities, including Drs. Jonathan Armbruster of Auburn University, Pamela Hart at The University of Alabama and Dr. Michael Sandel at Mississippi State University, as well as Redstone Environmental and students in the Cave Bio Lab. |
| U. of Florida sets date for President Stuart Bell inauguration in Gainesville | |
 | University of Florida President Dr. Stuart R. Bell's inauguration is scheduled for Nov. 18, according to a university press release. "President Bell has wasted no time getting to work for the University of Florida. Since July 1, he has started to identify and appoint leaders in key positions, met with various stakeholders, and is listening to all of you about what makes the University of Florida the best in the nation," UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini wrote. "Dr. Bell's strong leadership and vast experience will build on UF's momentum as a top public university in the nation." Bell assumed the presidency on July 1 after the State Board of Governors approved his nomination 16-1. Since starting in the role, Bell has outlined several top priorities. In a July 13 statement, he said his first 100 days would focus on filling vacant leadership positions across the university. He also said he aims to improve the university's ranking, moving it into the nation's top five public universities and promised to continue dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campus. |
| U. of Tennessee wins SEC Student Government of the Year | |
| Last week, the University of Tennessee won Student Government of the Year at the annual SEC Exchange in Starkville, Mississippi. At this event, student governments from across the Southeastern Conference gathered for networking and recognition of exceptional service and leadership to their respective institutions. This award honors outstanding student leadership in several categories within the last academic year. UT Student Body President Caroline Marcus shared the magnitude of this recognition. "For our university, I believe that this award exemplifies another way that we excel within the Southeastern Conference," Marcus said. The winning submission was selected on the basis of supporting student needs, collaboration with administrators and off-campus partners and development of necessary and innovative programs and services. The awards were voted on by advisors, faculty and SGA executive members of the host school, which was Mississippi State University this year. |
| U. of Texas student government attends, collaborates at annual SEC Exchange conference | |
| University of Texas Student Government leaders attended the SEC Exchange this year in Starkville, Mississippi, from July 16-19. The exchange brought together student governments from across the Southeastern Conference to collaborate and discuss initiatives and solutions to common university-wide issues. The annual SEC Exchange is held to build community among the colleges in the conference. Each year, the host college changes; this year Mississippi State University hosted, featuring social gatherings, breakout meetings and presentations from each school. MSU administrators hosted a panel about building credibility and influence as leaders. "The SEC has the craziest rivalry... it's always prevalent, and so getting to see that pushed aside for the common goal of serving our students and what we care about ... that's the benefit of every SEC Exchange every year," said MSU Student Association President Keegan Figueroa, who helped organize the event. |
| Regents vote to allocate $10 million for cyclotron expansion | |
| On Monday afternoon the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents voted unanimously to revise the funding source for the Cyclotron Institute Expansion project after learning some of the planned funding from the state was not going to be coming. The regents learned in the leadup to the Monday meeting that $10 million that had been pledged to the project by the Texas Space Commission was no longer going to be provided. Instead the regents voted to fund the $10 million on top of the $5.1 million from institutional cash sources allocated when the Cyclotron Institute Expansion project was first approved at the February quarterly meeting. The funding will come from system investment earnings. The cyclotron at Texas A&M is a K500, one of only five in the world and it provides technical capabilities for applications in space science, materials science, analytical procedures and nuclear medicine. |
| Universities to detail progress on new Texas law that increased state scrutiny of colleges | |
| Texas university leaders on Tuesday will share their progress and challenges in carrying out a new state law that gives governor-appointed regents more control over what students learn. A Texas Senate committee will hear invited testimony only. However, students and professors who say they experienced censorship and other effects under Senate Bill 37 are planning a news conference at the Capitol beforehand. Under SB 37, governing boards must regularly review universities' undergraduate course requirements and academic programs. It expands regents' authority over the selection of campus leaders and faculty senates, groups that represent professors in university decisions. The law took effect Sept. 1, and boards must complete their first review of general education requirements by Jan. 1. |
| The Disappearing Student Safety Net | |
 | An unexpected expense is one of the most common reasons students stop out of college. Research has showed that emergency aid -- a timely grant that helps students cover unexpected costs -- can greatly improve the odds that they stay enrolled and complete a degree or credential. However, a new analysis from the Hope Center for Student Basic Needs at Temple University found that despite growth in emergency aid programs on college campuses, far fewer students are receiving that assistance. The analysis is based on data from Trellis Strategies' most recent Student Financial Wellness Survey of more than 65,000 undergraduate students across 153 institutions nationwide. It found that the share of students receiving emergency aid fell from 44 percent in fall 2021 to 4 percent in fall 2025 -- a decline of roughly 90 percent. |
| New grads have to compete with AI for entry-level roles, hiring managers say | |
| Hiring managers in the U.S. are betting on artificial intelligence over new graduates, with 48% saying they would rather invest in AI tools than hire and train a recent college graduate, according to a July 17 report from ResumeTemplates.com. The job market does still have space for 2026 graduates, and 65% of hiring managers said they planned to hire the same number or more this year compared to last year, per the report. However, 23% said they expected to hire fewer 2026 grads this year or none at all, and 12% didn't know how many they would hire. Most hiring concerns centered around workplace skills rather than credentials. Nearly 70% of hiring managers said they had "at least one character concern about recent grads," including 33% who cited "a lack of work ethic." Another 76% said recent grads required assistance understanding basic documents such as memos, contracts and budgets. |
| Why One Professor Abandoned the AI Resistance | |
| Two years ago, Scott Latham, a business professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, was one of academia's leading voices of the resistance to artificial intelligence. "AI is not your friend," he wrote in a June 2024 editorial for Inside Higher Ed, imploring faculty to "pump the brakes on artificial intelligence in higher education," lest robots take their jobs in the not-so-distant future. But as the technology has evolved, so has Latham's view on it. "For everyone who works in higher education, there is a great deal of pain and disruption to come," he wrote in an editorial for The Chronicle of Higher Education in April 2025. "We can minimize the damage, though, by helping people understand how AI will transform higher education." Now, he's not only embraced AI in his own classroom, he's also trying to create a clearer portrait of how universities across the country are using it. Last month, he and his colleagues, in partnership with the nonprofit Alliance for Data Science and AI, launched the AI Campus Index, an independent national ranking system that measures how well colleges and universities use and provide AI for their students, faculty and operations. |
| More than 100 former NASA astronauts launch college tour ahead of midterms | |
 | Astronauts may be accustomed to embarking on missions that take them well beyond Earth, but one group of former spacefarers is preparing for a journey that will keep them much closer to home. A group of retired NASA astronauts is on the cusp of launching a nationwide tour of college campuses in an effort to encourage young people to vote as the midterm elections fast approach. Politics and spaceflight may not immediately seem to be topics that go hand in hand. But just like any elected official, those joining the U.S. space agency's esteemed astronaut corps take oaths to defend the Constitution. And now, more than 100 of them have joined forces in a group dubbed Astronauts for America to ensure those sworn ideals remain at the forefront of the nation. "Going to the polls is a small step for each American, but a giant leap for our country," John Daniel "Danny" Olivas, who flew on two spaceflights in his 12-year astronaut career, said in a statement. "Young voters are the stewards of our shared future." |
SPORTS
| The SEC's 9-game schedule was the talk of Tampa; here's what MSU's camp is saying about an added game | |
| The SEC's new nine-game schedule was one of the hottest topics in Tampa last week. The 2026 season will be the first to feature a nine-game SEC conference slate, and it was mentioned 13 times combined among SEC coaches and commissioner Greg Sankey throughout the four-day SEC Media Days press conferences. LSU's Lane Kiffin voiced concern about the changes effect on non-conference games, which under the new rules requires SEC schools to play one "high-quality non-conference" opponent as one of its three non-conference games. Texas' Steve Sarkisian spoke on the challenge of keeping his guys physically and mentally ready each week with an added SEC game. South Carolina's Shane Bearmer talked about his excitement for the challenge of change. The consensus among SEC coaches who spoke on the change? It's going to be a challenge. But it's hard to find teams dealt a tougher slate than Mississippi State. |
| Expect More NCAA Lawsuits If Protect College Sports Act Stalls | |
| U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) acknowledging that a vote on the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) is unlikely to happen before the Senate takes a five-week recess beginning Aug. 7 means more lawsuits against the NCAA are probably on the horizon. The PCSA, a bill sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) -- the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Commerce Committee -- would provide the NCAA and its members with a targeted antitrust exemption related to eligibility and transfers, media rights pooling and a hard cap on school spending, among other components. If it became law, the PCSA would disarm antitrust-based eligibility lawsuits brought by college athletes whose NCAA eligibility has expired and who want to keep playing so they can earn NIL and revenue share money. If the PCSA, or some other bill that provides an antitrust exemption, doesn't become law, there will continue to be eligibility lawsuits filed in courts across the country and unlimited transfers will remain a feature of college sports. While some critics blame the athlete-plaintiffs and their attorneys for bringing chaos to college sports, the reality is that NCAA member colleges are as much, if not more, to blame. These schools are contractually required to follow NCAA rules, yet some brazenly create incentives for athletes to sue the NCAA by promising roster spots if they can defeat the NCAA in court. |
| Stanford football players reach key threshold on path to college player unionization | |
| The momentum for collective bargaining within college athletics took another leap this week. A group of Stanford University football players is establishing the first-ever chapter of the College Football Players Association in a move intended to create a foundation for eventual unionization and collective bargaining, the association and players announced Monday. In the fifth year of the CFBPA's existence, Stanford became the first school to reach the membership threshold of players necessary to elect representatives. Those include fifth-year senior linebacker Ernest Cooper and offensive lineman Fisher Anderson, who calls the move a "milestone" and "step forward" for all of the sport. Anderson expects players at other schools to follow the group's lead by establishing chapters so "we can ride the wave together." "The time is now to do something," said Anderson, who earned 10 starts at center last year for the Cardinal. "This is college football and it's increasingly becoming more like the NFL. At some point, we're likely going to need a CFBPA." |
| The Swamp renovation puts microscope on college sports facilities' past-versus-future tension | |
| Florida's proposed $1.45 billion renovation of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, better known as The Swamp, captures the moment in college sports facilities. The university spent nearly 10 years studying what to do with its venerable stadium, which turns 100 years old in 2030, before announcing this summer that it will renovate The Swamp over the next three years in the most expensive college football stadium project ever. The work entails a combination of deferred maintenance ($500 million worth) and general modernization, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance-inspired alterations, and the creation of additional revenue generators, like premium seating. Simply adding handrails to the aisles -- necessary for ADA compliance -- will ripple through the stadium's seating bowl, requiring each aisle to be widened and some lower-bowl seats removed. Florida's journey to choosing renovation over a new stadium illustrates a central tension in college athletics facilities today: the tug-of-war between tradition and modernity, affordability and revenue generation, and college sports' amateur past and its professional-looking present and future. Florida thinks it found a solution that marries tradition with modern realities. |
| How Will New Student Visa Rules Impact Athletics? | |
| After the Department of Homeland Security finalized a rule limiting international students to a four-year stay in the U.S. -- unless they apply for and receive an extension -- some college sports fans noted on social media that the rule doesn't line up with the National Collegiate Athletic Association's eligibility requirements. New NCAA eligibility rules allow student athletes to compete for five years, starting either from the beginning of their freshman year or the day they turn 19. The new regulation would cut off that fifth year for international students unless they receive an extension. But language in the DHS duration-of-status regulation states that students will be granted extensions in the case of illness, circumstances outside their control and compelling academic reasons---which seems to rule out playing sports for an additional year. "Given the current immigration environment, I do not believe it will be easy to get an extension of F-1 status, even for F-1 student-athletes," Tom Arkell, an immigration attorney with Husch Blackwell who specializes in athletics, wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed. "I also do not believe [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] will take athletics into account in their decision. However, the athletics department and institution may provide more resources for high profile F-1 student-athlete cases when a revenue generating sport is involved." |
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