| Wednesday, November 5, 2025 |
| MSU makes road, access changes in anticipation of weekend's SEC Nation broadcast | |
 | According to a press release, Mississippi State is welcoming the return of "SEC Nation Presented by Regions Bank" this Saturday [Nov. 8] for MSU's matchup against the Georgia Bulldogs in Davis Wade Stadium. Broadcasting live in The Junction from 9-11 a.m. CT on ESPN, the show precedes the 11 a.m. Bulldogs vs. Bulldogs contest. Show analysts Laura Rutledge, Roman Harper, Jordan Rodgers, Tim Tebow and Paul Finebaum will take a look at football across the conference, and Finebaum will start the weekend off on Friday [Nov. 7]. "The Paul Finebaum Show" is live in The Junction from 2-6 p.m., and then the "Marty & McGee" show, featuring Marty Smith and Ryan McGee, continues coverage Saturday morning [Nov. 8] from 8-9 a.m. Fans and campus visitors are urged to be mindful of gameday policies as well as parking, road closures and traffic updates. Beginning Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m., Creelman Street will close from Stone Boulevard to Tracy Drive. It will remain closed until postgame on Saturday [Nov. 8]. All traffic accessing the Bell Island area must use George Perry Street from the north. On George Perry Street, fans continue past Old Main Academic Center and the Chapel of Memories to access Bell Island. Bollards at the YMCA and Chapel will be removed for vehicle access to West Lee Boulevard and Tracy Drive. All vehicles must exit on George Perry Street as well. |
| MSU achieves another enrollment record, state's only public university growing 10 of past 11 years | |
 | Mississippi State is seeing another record-breaking enrollment this fall and a 12.6% surge in first-time students, positioning the university as the state's only public higher education institution to grow 10 of the past 11 years. As the No. 1 college choice for high school graduates in Mississippi, MSU is recording a total of 23,563 students, an increase of more than 400 students over 2024's final count of 23,150. First-time in college students stand at 4,049, while returning undergraduates and professional students also are up. Mississippi State's pattern for record-breaking student numbers can be seen through its comprehensive strategies, focused recruitment, and a repeated affirmation of a college degree's value and significance. Strategic use of artificial intelligence in marketing and recruitment, improved advisory software, enhanced Career Center engagement, and a robust First-Year Experience program all have had roles in enrolling and retaining students. "Every day, we're placing strong efforts in developing new programs and revising existing ones to ensure Mississippi State is a university that creates futures for students," MSU President Mark E. Keenum said. "We're working to create the programs students want and need, while at the same time, partnering with more and more employers to meet their workforce needs." |
| Student Association approves letter to state leaders addressing appropriation funding freeze | |
| The Mississippi State University Student Association Senate passed a resolution last Tuesday calling on state leaders to address the effects of Mississippi House Bill 1193, a law that restricts diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public institutions. An interpretation of the law led MSU to halt all appropriation funding for student organizations this semester, a move the Student Association says has severely disrupted campus programming and student engagement. In a letter approved on Oct. 28 and addressed to Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, House Speaker Jason White, other state leaders and members of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, the Student Association urged lawmakers to reconsider how the law applies to student organization funds. "It has been determined that the student activity fee of $25 collected from every student constitutes state money," the letter reads. "...Because of this interpretation of H.B. 1193, our Student Association has been barred from dispersing these funds to registered student organizations." College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Senator Spencer Sanderson, who was recently appointed as the Student Association's appropriations chair, authored and defended the resolution. |
| Highway 182 revitalization nearly halfway finished | |
 | The Highway 182 revitalization project is nearly halfway complete. Chris Williams, associate city engineer, said the project has used about 207 of the 450 contracted working days, putting it roughly 46% complete in terms of schedule. The work should be completed by June 2027, he said, barring any major weather delays. "It will be early 2027," Williams told aldermen during the regular meeting on Tuesday. "It will probably be springtime. Like I said, it's a work day project, so if we have a monsoon that lasts a month, it drags out for that portion." The project, which runs about one mile between Old West Point Road and Long Street, broke ground in fall 2024 with plans to reduce the road to two lanes divided by landscaped medians, add pedestrian and bike lanes to each side of the street and install new underground utilities, among other things. The revitalization seeks to improve infrastructure, spur economic development in the corridor and also enhance overall beautification. "So this is really trying to reclaim a highway and turn it into a city street," Williams said. Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins commended the engineering department for work done on the project as well as Mayor Lynn Spruill for her efforts in securing funding. |
| Reeves announces new initiatives as part of Rural Health Transformation Program | |
| In an attempt to help drive better health outcomes within its rural areas, Governor Tate Reeves announced Tuesday afternoon that Mississippi's Rural Health Transformation Program Plan has been submitted for federal consideration. The application aims to bring in more funding from tens of billions in federal monies as part of the Rural Health Transformation Program established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in September of this year. "The program, as a reminder, is a $50 billion initiative, is a tremendous opportunity to make a real impact on the lives of Mississippians," Reeves said during Tuesday's announcement. "Particularly those living in rural communities throughout our state." This program will entail two pots of funding. The first $25 billion will be distributed evenly to each state over the course of five years, meaning Mississippi will receive an initial $500 million over that time. The remaining funding will be distributed based on applications from each state that display the health metrics and healthcare needs in rural areas. Since most of Mississippi is considered rural, Reeves expects this additional funding will provide beneficial results to every county in the state on some level, even those with a large metropolitan area. |
| Reeves unveils Mississippi's proposal for Rural Health Transformation Program one day before deadline | |
| Mississippi's $500 million plan for transforming rural health care over the next five years includes collaboration between providers, expanding the medical workforce, advancing health technology and closing gaps in care. But details about specific programs to accomplish those goals were sparse. "While Mississippi has long faced challenges in delivering access to quality health care in rural areas, our plan is designed to address those challenges head-on," Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said during a press conference Tuesday. The funding will be doled out to states over five years as part of the one-time federal $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, beginning in 2026. Mississippi is expected to receive at least $500 million -- and possibly more -- as a part of the program, the governor said. Virtually every county will be included in the plan, which will be implemented with a focus on transparency and evaluating outcomes, said Reeves, who will oversee and coordinate the program. A third-party organization will assist with deploying funds, tracking milestones and assessing outcomes, and the governor's office will work closely with the Mississippi Department of Health and Division of Medicaid, Reeves said. Some critics have called the funding program a "Band-Aid," emphasizing that it is temporary and will not cover all of the losses hospitals are expected to bear as a result of cuts to Medicaid in rural areas. |
| Gov. Tate Reeves unveils plan to bolster rural healthcare across Mississippi | |
| Mississippi has submitted a plan aimed at bolstering rural healthcare statewide to the federal government. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves announced Tuesday, alongside state health officials, that the state has proposed a Rural Health Transformation Program Plan to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The submission is part of a $50 billion federal program created under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, formerly known as President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill." Of the $50 billion, half will be distributed to all 50 U.S. states evenly, while the other half will be divvied out through competitive bids. Reeves said that Mississippi's plan, which was developed with input from stakeholders across the state, seeks to improve healthcare and patient outcomes for residents, strengthen the state's rural health workforce, and ensure sustainable access to care for those in need. When fully implemented, the goal of the plan is to ensure that by 2031, every rural Mississippian will have reliable access to high-quality healthcare services, both in-person and through telehealth. |
| Push for wine in Mississippi grocery stores likely to be a debate again in 2026 | |
| You can buy wine alongside your groceries in 40 states. In Mississippi, you can only buy light wine with a low alcohol content at those stores. Advocates for the change say it's a matter of convenience, with a busy mom as an example. "If we could allow wine in grocery stores, that would cut out a trip for her because she could pick up the wine when she goes in to get those ingredients for her dinner," described consumer advocate Serena Flowers. If this seems familiar, it's because WLBT has been telling you about these efforts for years. Senator Jeremy England thinks there is some momentum for this type of legislation. "We've tried this for the last 10 years, said Sen. England. "Haven't had success with that. But last year we passed the direct shipment bill so that people could get wine directly shipped to their homes... The consumer choice aspect of this has been a big thing that has pushed this legislation here lately." In the past, package stores have said the cheaper wines drive the revenue that allows them to offer a more unique selection. They argue that putting wine in grocery stores would make it harder to maintain those offerings. |
| Mississippi Democrats Break Republican Senate Supermajority, Flipping 3 Legislative Seats | |
| After 13 years, Mississippi Democrats have broken the Republican Party's supermajority in the Mississippi Senate. Voters elected Democrats to two seats previously held by Republicans, reducing the number of Republican senators in the upper chamber from 36 to 34 -- one fewer than necessary to constitute a supermajority. "Mississippi just broke the supermajority -- and the people have taken back their power," the Mississippi Democratic Party wrote in social media posts Tuesday night. "From the Delta to the Pine Belt, voters stood up for fair leadership and community progress: Better schools. Fairer representation. Expanded healthcare. Good-paying jobs." When a party has supermajority status in the Mississippi Senate, it can more easily override a governor's veto, propose constitutional amendments and execute certain procedural actions. In the Mississippi Pine Belt region, Democrat Johnny DuPree won Senate District 45, previously held by Republican Sen. Chris Johnson of Hattiesburg. In North Mississippi, Democrat Theresa Gillespie Isom won the Senate District 2 seat held by Republican Sen. David Parker of Olive Branch, who decided not to run for reelection. In the House, Democrat Justin Crosby also flipped House District 22, defeating incumbent Republican House Rep. Jon Lancaster. That district includes parts of Chickasaw, Clay and Monroe counties. |
| Democrats pick up seats in Mississippi House, Senate due to court-ordered special redistricting elections | |
| Mississippi voters in eight state Senate districts and two House districts went to the polls Tuesday to elect new representatives to send to Jackson ahead of the start of the 2026 legislative session. Six state Senate seats and one House seat were on the ballot as a result of court-ordered redistricting to allow for more majority minority districts in the Legislature. Voters in two other Senate seats and one House seat determined who will succeed outgoing members that resigned prior to the end of their terms. Due to the redistricting, Democrats picked up two seats in the Mississippi Senate and one seat in the Mississippi House. The gains in the Senate broke the Republican supermajority, reducing the GOP seats to 34 in the 52-seat chamber. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee along with the Democratic National Committee invested in helping the Mississippi Democratic Party organize and fund their special election effort. DLCC President Heather Williams said her organization "is thrilled to welcome more Democrats to the legislature as they continue chipping away at GOP power." |
| Democrats capitalize on new maps during Mississippi special legislative elections | |
| Unsurprisingly, incumbents held mostly strong during Mississippi's special legislative elections on Tuesday. But what may be a surprising result to some is that in a newly drawn Senate District 45, former Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree came out victorious. He wasn't the only Democrat to get a big win, either. Dupree, who served as the mayor of Hattiesburg for 16 years before being beat in 2017 by current Mayor Toby Barker, has tried twice to get back into office since the defeat, unsuccessfully running for U.S. Congress and Mississippi Secretary of State. On Tuesday, he returned as the one doing the defeating, squashing Republican attorney Anna Rush's bid by more than 35 points, winning by nearly 2,000 ballots, according to unofficial results. Dupree's win was one of several the Democratic Party will be able to tout as it seemingly took advantage of a rare chance to chip away at a metaphorical red paint job inside the state capitol. With most of the special elections being product of a federal order based on certain areas of the state diluting Black voting power, the party played to a new map that holds more majority-minority districts. |
| Jackson-area voters will return for runoff to replace Horhn in Senate | |
| After John Horhn represented the district for three decades, voters in northwest Jackson and rural parts of Hinds and Madison Counties cast ballots Tuesday for their new state senator. By 9:20 p.m., with all six Madison County precincts and 18 Hinds County precincts in the district unofficially tallied, Canton municipal judge Kamesha Mumford and attorney Letitia Johnson were in the lead with 39% and 28% of the vote, respectively. The unofficial results show nearly 9,500 people in the district voted. The final vote tallies can change because local election officials can process absentee and affidavit ballots for up to five days after the election. If no candidate receives 50% plus one vote after the complete official count, a runoff election will be held Dec. 2 to determine the new lawmaker for Senate District 26. Physician Coleman Boyd, the race's conservative candidate, was in third with nearly 16% of the vote after a strong showing in the district's Madison County precincts. The race saw seven candidates -- including a chemist, retired educator, businesswoman and bishop -- most of whom told Mississippi Today during their campaigns that they viewed the district as ripe for economic development but in sore need of infrastructure improvements and better-funded schools. |
| City steps in to keep Vicksburg National Military Park open | |
| The City of Vicksburg will provide up to $7,500 in matching funds to help keep the Vicksburg National Military Park open during the federal government shutdown. In Monday's city board meeting, Mayor Willis Thompson said the park is an essential part of the local economy. "The military park is a vital component of our local economy, and this is support to provide help in this time of crisis," Thompson said. "We all understand what's going on and why. There's a threat of closing, so this board, in an effort to support the park, and to help sustain our local economy, decided to get involved." The funds will match contributions from the Friends of the Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2008 to help preserve the park and support its operations. City documents state the park is the most visited attraction in Vicksburg and generates significant economic activity for the Vicksburg-Warren County community. During the shutdown, the Friends group has been covering operating costs to ensure the park remains open to visitors, including riverboat tours and a PBS America 250 travel series filming at the site. |
| As SNAP funding lapsed, a top official called the program 'corrupt' | |
 | As the controversy over funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the government shutdown dragged on in recent days, the top official in charge of the program pivoted to a new talking point, calling the program that some 42 million Americans rely on "corrupt." Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins described SNAP at a recent press conference as "so bloated, so broken, so dysfunctional, so corrupt that it is astonishing when you dig in." The message came as headlines highlighted food banks warning of an impending crisis as money ran out over the weekend for SNAP recipients. The Trump administration announced Monday it would partially restore some federal food assistance payments after being ordered by two federal judges to do so, but warned they would be delayed. In an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, Rollins elaborated on what she said the states' SNAP data revealed. "We have found thousands and thousands of illegal use of the EBT card," Rollins said, referring to the electronic benefit transfer cards used by SNAP recipients. "We have been moving people off of SNAP. We've got almost 700,000 people, I think we've moved off just since the president took office. We've arrested about 118 people." People with experience analyzing SNAP and other safety net programs say such statistics need more detail and context about how they were calculated to be evaluated. "We have real questions about how they've arrived at these numbers," said Nicole Schneidman, an attorney with the nonprofit, Protect Democracy. Schneidman represents SNAP recipients and hunger and privacy groups who sued over USDA's data demand to states. |
| SASC Republicans gripe about spotty Pentagon communication | |
 | Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee repeatedly voiced frustration with a lack of information coming from the Pentagon at a confirmation hearing Tuesday for several assistant secretary nominees. Austin Dahmer, who is currently serving as the acting deputy undersecretary of Defense for policy and has been nominated to be the assistant secretary for strategy, plans and forces, took the brunt of criticism from senators, who blamed the information vacuum on the Pentagon's policy shop. "The department is allegedly conducting a broad review of U.S. forces stationed abroad. I say 'allegedly' because the department has not formally conveyed to this committee that it is actually undertaking such a review," Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said in his opening statement. "Members and staff of this committee have struggled to receive information from the policy office and have not been able to consult in a meaningful way with the shop either on the National Defense Strategy or the Global Posture Review," he added. In one of the more recent examples raised by senators, Wicker and other committee members took issue with the lack of a briefing ahead of the administration's decision last week to withdraw hundreds of U.S. troops from Romania on NATO's eastern flank. But senators also raised other concerns about a dearth of communication from the Pentagon, including on the upcoming National Defense Strategy and even a change in the title of the position Dahmer was nominated for. The palpable frustration from Republicans was notable for a party that typically backs the Trump administration. |
| Lawmakers See Hope for Ending Record-Setting Shutdown | |
 | Republican and Democratic senators signaled optimism about reaching a bipartisan deal to end the government shutdown, while striking cautionary notes about how quickly lawmakers could resolve the impasse. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) on Tuesday outlined a pathway forward, pointing to the possibility of combining a new short-term bill to reopen the government with some of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund federal agencies. He said that the off-ramp was focused on giving Democrats a vote on an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies along with plans for the spending bills. "I've said this before, but the question is whether or not they'll take 'yes' for the answer," Thune said. Most Senate Democrats emerged from a closed-door lunch with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) grim-faced, declining to utter a word. The few Democrats to speak included centrist Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) and Gary Peters (D., Mich.), who are in talks with Republicans over finding a way out of the shutdown. "We had a good discussion," Shaheen said, exiting the meeting with a smile. |
| Democrats dominate as economic woes take a toll on Trump's GOP. Takeaways from Election Day 2025 | |
 | Democrats dominated the first major Election Day since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. And while a debate about the future of the Democratic Party may have only just begun, there are signs that the economy -- specifically, Trump's inability to deliver the economic turnaround he promised last fall -- may be a real problem for Trump's GOP heading into next year's higher-stakes midterm elections. Democrats on Tuesday won governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, the only states electing new chief executives this year. They also swept a trio of state Supreme Court contests in swing-state Pennsylvania and ballots measures from Colorado to Maine. Trump was largely absent from the campaign trail, but GOP candidates closely aligned themselves with the president, betting that his big win last year could provide a path to victory this time. They were wrong. Democrats are hoping the off-year romp offers a new winning playbook, but some caution may be warranted. Tuesday's elections were limited to a handful of states, most of which lean blue, and the party that holds the White House typically struggles in off-year elections. |
| Republicans try to turn national Democratic candidates into Mamdani copycats | |
 | Republicans got their midterms bogeyman in Zohran Mamdani. Now comes the challenge: making the incoming New York City mayor's brand of democratic socialism sink candidates outside his liberal bubble. They're getting right to it. Republicans' House campaign arm launched digital ads Wednesday morning across 49 battleground districts tying Democrats to the "socialist mayor" who "built his movement on defunding the police and abolishing ICE." "This is the future House Democrats want," a male narrator intones over images of Mamdani and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who issued a late-stage endorsement of the mayor-elect. "And your city could be next." Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, sent donors a letter Wednesday morning warning that the GOP "must be prepared to fight back early" against the "socialism [that] now controls the Democrat Party" and is "shaping every major Senate Democrat primary in 2026." The committee also blasted memos Tuesday casting Democrats in seven competitive Senate races as Mamdani copycats. And Republicans are brandishing a National Republican Congressional Committee poll of 1,000 voters across 46 battleground districts in July that showed Mamdani with 81 percent name recognition -- just five points behind Jeffries -- and a double-digit net unfavorability rating. |
| Spanberger's unlikely journey from the CIA to Va.'s first female governor | |
 | In 2014, Abigail Spanberger had a decision to make. Her young family was living in Los Angeles, where she was a Central Intelligence Agency officer working drug cartel cases, and the time had come to put in for her next assignment. She and her husband, Adam, handed a toy globe to their 5-year-old daughter, Claire, and described endless possibilities for adventure. "Where should we go?" they asked. England? Costa Rica? Kenya? Claire had another idea: Virginia. "No!" Spanberger retorted. "It's mommy's job. We're not going to go to Virginia." "Why wouldn't we go to Virginia?" Claire said. "Everyone we love lives in Virginia." A wrenching choice began what Spanberger thought would be a temporary detour off the track of a dream career. They would move to the Richmond suburbs so her three girls could spend a few years surrounded by grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Then, she could return to globe-trotting espionage, or maybe a job at CIA headquarters in Langley. Fate had other plans. Barely a decade later, Spanberger on Tuesday was elected governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia by a double-digit margin. Come January, she will be the first woman to step into a line of men going back to Gov. Patrick Henry in 1776. While making history, Spanberger will also be looked to as a blueprint for resurrecting a party suffering historically low public approval and shut out of power in Washington. |
| Republican Barbour and Democrat Thompson both praise legacy of former VP Cheney | |
| After Hurricane Katrina walloped south Mississippi in 2005, then-Vice President Dick Cheney was among the national leaders who traveled to the area to assess damage, and he was instrumental in helping the state secure federal money for recovery, Republican former Gov. Haley Barbour said Tuesday. Cheney died Monday night of complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said. He was 84. Barbour and Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson are among the Mississippi political figures who say they appreciate the legacy of Cheney, who is widely considered one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history. Barbour was governor from 2004 to 2012, overlapping with most of the Bush-Cheney terms from 2001 to 2009. "He wasn't loud, but he was strong ... and he was a very nice man," said Barbour, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee in the mid-1990s and served on the first Bush-Cheney national campaign committee in 2000. Cheney has been a polarizing figure in Republican politics. Once a hero to the right, he fell out with the GOP in recent years as he criticized President Donald Trump. Thompson, Mississippi's lone Democrat in Congress, is a former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. As chairman of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Thompson appointed Liz Cheney as vice chair. "When I met Vice President Cheney, he personally thanked me for that decision and for the integrity with which the committee conducted its work, even at a time when many in his party chose not to participate in the one-year commemoration of January 6th," Thompson said in a statement Tuesday. |
| After years of decline, MUW boasts biggest enrollment jump in state | |
| Mississippi University for Women grew in enrollment by more than 8% since fall 2024, the largest increase in nearly a decade for the university. It also marks the largest percentage increase among the state's eight public universities since last fall. "It's been a while coming," MUW President Nora Miller told The Dispatch. "I think we finally got some momentum behind what we were doing, and it was the hard work of (the) enrollment management team, of our faculty, who were out there recruiting students. ... Seeing that success was really encouraging." The Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning released data Monday outlining enrollment growth among Mississippi's eight public universities. For the first time since fall 2019 MUW grew in total students attending the university. MUW added 173 more students to last fall's total of 2,193. Mississippi State's enrollment grew nearly 2% to 23,563 and ranks second in the state. |
| Chief Justice Mike Randolph speaks to students at Mississippi College School of Law | |
| Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph told new law students that determination and education matter more than finances and family history in pursuit of a career in law. In a candid question and answer session at Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson on Oct. 30, Chief Justice Randolph told more than 40 first-year law students that his first glimpses at law offices and a courtroom came from collecting payments for his paper route when he was about 8. He recalled watching the defense lawyer character Perry Mason on TV and thinking that world was unattainable. His father was a construction worker with a third grade education. Two brothers dropped out of high school. No one in his family had ever gone to college. He said that he is guided by the U.S. and Mississippi Constitutions, Mississippi Rules of Court and the Holy Bible. In all of his public speeches, the Chief Justice professes his faith. "I'm not ashamed to say it and if you don't believe, it's OK." He rereads the Bible each year, as he has done for the past 31 years. He repeated an oft quoted passage in Exodus in which Jethro tells his son-in-law Moses to seek out men who fear God, are trustworthy and hate dishonest gain. |
| Who will speak at Turning Point event today at Auburn University? Here's the lineup | |
| Turning Point Tour continues its fall campus tour with a stop at Auburn University today, Nov. 5, featuring appearances by Erika Kirk, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville and conservative commentator Benny Johnson. The Turning Point Tour event will be at 6:30 p.m. in Neville Arena. Doors will open at 5 p.m. Additional speakers for other tour stops include Vice President JD Vance, Megyn Kelly, Glenn Beck, Russell Brand, Rob Schneider and Savannah Chrisley. The brand, formerly known as Turning Point USA, is moving forward with the campus tours after the tragic death of founder Charlie Kirk. Kirk, who founded Turning Point USA in 2012, a nonprofit that aimed to promote conservative values on high school and college campuses, was fatally shot on Sept. 10 while speaking at a TPUSA event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Tickets are free for students. Tickets for general admission attendees are also listed as free, but they're available on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the site. In a comment on Auburn's Turning Point chapter's Instagram, student admission will be prioritized. |
| Big leadership changes at LSU: McNeese's Wade Rousse to be president, and a chancellor named | |
 | After a months-long process and two hours of deliberation by LSU Board of Supervisors, McNeese State University President Wade Rousse is LSU's 29th president. A Louisiana native, Rousse pitched himself as a nontraditional candidate who would shake up the university with corporate-oriented leadership after past presidents had lengthy academic backgrounds. He said the exact date he will start hasn't been set. In an unexpected turn of events Tuesday afternoon, the board simultaneously appointed another finalist for the president position -- James Dalton, executive vice president and provost at the University of Alabama -- as the executive vice president of LSU. The position will include the traditional chancellor role of the flagship campus in Baton Rouge and signals a significant change to the current system. The proposed structure laid out by Rousse and Dalton in their acceptance remarks has Dalton overseeing most of the academic and research components of the university. External affairs, governmental affairs and athletics will report to Rousse, while operations on the flagship campus, the AgCenter, the two health science centers and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center will report to Dalton. Dalton will serve under Rousse. |
| Vanderbilt shares timeline, new details on Manhattan expansion after plan 'clears the final hurdle' | |
| Vanderbilt University is sharing new details on its plans to move to the Big Apple. The university announced earlier this fall that it is planning to open its first campus build of Nashville through an expansion to Manhattan. On Tuesday, Vanderbilt announced plans to open its New York campus by the fall of 2026. "Today the New York Board of Regents unanimously approved Vanderbilt's application for academic programming, which clears the final hurdle in the state's regulatory process and moves Vanderbilt's planned expansion from vision to reality," a press release from the university said. Next fall, the Chelsea campus will welcome its first students for an undergraduate semester program and a Master of Science in Business and Technology program. The undergraduate semester program will be made up of mostly juniors and seniors, the university said. They will live in residence halls in Manhattan and "participate in internships, research positions and other project-based learning as they pursue their interests and explore future career opportunities" in addition to their studies. Vanderbilt plans to offer similar programming over the summer and for "shorter intensives" in the coming years. |
| As Trump's Compact Looms, UT-Austin Affirms 'Non-Negotiable' Commitment to Academic Freedom | |
 | The University of Texas at Austin on Monday released a statement affirming its "non-negotiable" commitment to academic freedom, which, it says, "lies at the core of the academic enterprise" and "is foundational to the excellence of the American higher-education system." While talk of drafting a statement began before the White House released its proposed "compact" for higher education and initially invited nine colleges to join -- with Texas the only institution not to respond publicly since then -- the administration's proposal "became part of the context under which we were working," one of the statement's signatories told The Chronicle. "We wanted to make it very clear that the university is not going to negotiate away academic freedom in any way, shape, or form, and we're not going to engage in banning ideas," Zachary Elkins, a professor in the College of Liberal Arts and a member of the faculty working group that wrote the statement, said. The use of the word "non-negotiable," Elkins added, was meant to "preserve some autonomy and some independence from external actors who may not have the best interests of the university at heart and may not be respecting academic freedom as fiercely as we do." |
| Texas A&M paid former president Mark A. Welsh III $3.5 million after he resigned | |
| The Texas A&M University System paid former President Mark A. Welsh III more than $3.5 million after he resigned amid the fallout of a controversy over the teaching of gender identity issues, according to a separation agreement obtained through a public records request. In the days before he stepped down, Welsh had pushed for a full payout of the remainder of his contract, something that Welsh seemingly believed some members of the Board of Regents were opposed to, according to communications reviewed by The Texas Tribune. Welsh became president in 2023 and his contract ran through December 2028 with a $1.1 million annual salary, meaning he had a little more than three years remaining when he resigned. He was also eligible for a $150,000 retention bonus on each anniversary of the agreement, plus a $150,000 housing allowance each year. On Sept. 17, two days before he resigned, Welsh emailed Chancellor Glenn Hegar and Executive Vice Chancellor Susan Ballabina and told them that Board of Regents Chair Robert Albritton supported giving Welsh a full payout. Welsh's payout follows a series of costly leadership and reputational crises at Texas A&M. In August 2023, regents approved a $1 million settlement with journalism professor Kathleen McElroy after the university watered down her job offer following conservative criticism of her past diversity work. The controversy led to the resignation of then-President M. Katherine Banks. Regents brought in Welsh to replace her and stabilize the university. Months later, in November 2023, Texas A&M agreed to pay more than $75 million to buy out head football coach Jimbo Fisher, the largest buyout in college sports history. |
| Trader Jeff Yass Is Giving $100 Million to 'Anti-Woke' U. of Austin | |
| The billionaire trader Jeff Yass is donating $100 million to the University of Austin, the fledgling program whose founders include venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale and journalist Bari Weiss, who recently became editor in chief of CBS News. The university, which was formed in 2021, has about 150 students across its inaugural freshman and sophomore classes. It doesn't charge tuition, though students cover costs for housing, meals and books. The school, known as UATX, has financial backing from wealthy individuals frustrated by the political polarization and silencing of unpopular ideas they were seeing at elite universities. The Wall Street Journal reported last fall that it had raised $200 million, including $35 million from Yass. Real-estate developer Harlan Crow and investor Len Blavatnik are also among the school's early supporters. UATX has a physical space in downtown Austin, Texas, and dedicated student housing. It says it is nonpartisan and describes its mission as "the fearless pursuit of truth." Its curriculum prioritizes classical texts, such as Homer's "The Odyssey," and entrepreneurship. "I was really impressed by what they have done," said Yass. Yass, a major donor to Republican causes and co-founder of trading giant Susquehanna International Group, which has a big stake in TikTok's parent company, has been the school's largest benefactor to date. |
| Risky business: Farm safety net policies don't catch everyone | |
 | A rainbow of crops fills farmer Abbey Innes' table at the Columbia Farmers Market: tomatoes, squash, garlic, kale and flower bouquets -- all from her and her husband's 15-acre farm in Howard County. But for a few markets last year, the table was a bit emptier. "We planted hundreds of pounds of seed potatoes and got 10 inches of rain within 10 days," she said. "And they drowned; they rotted." Farming is risky business, and crop insurance helps keep farmers paid when something goes wrong. A few years ago, Innes tried to see if she could get her farm insured. But the agent told her she didn't have enough of any one particular crop to qualify for insurance. For some farmers, crop insurance is the backup plan. It's subsidized by the federal government, and taxpayers foot most of the bill. Taxpayers will pay about $13 billion directly into the program each year over the next decade, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. But not all farms enjoy equal protection. "Anywhere between 90 and 100% of corn, soybean and wheat acreage in the United States is covered under some form of crop insurance policy," said Ben Brown, an University of Missouri Extension agricultural business and policy specialist. "There is, I would say, larger barriers to entry for fruit and vegetable producers," he added. |
| U. of Nebraska's Attempt to Measure Academic Programs' Productivity Draws Faculty Ire | |
| Erin Haacker, an associate professor of earth and atmospheric science, remembers the April meeting at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where Mark Button, the flagship's executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer, introduced metrics the university would use to evaluate programs for possible elimination. The institution was seeking to close a $27.5-million budget deficit. It was billed, she said, as "a feedback meeting" for academic leaders. (She is a member of the College of Arts and Sciences' executive committee.) There was a lot of feedback, she recalled -- most of it skeptical of the suggessted process -- though it seemed to make little impact. Haacker says she didn't hear another word about the metrics or the evaluations until her department chair informed her in August that earth and atmospheric science might be in trouble. With competition for traditional-age students increasing and budgets tightening even at some large public universities, academic-program reviews have become a fact of life, and they often follow a predictable path. There are town halls and data to pore over followed by proposed cuts and sometimes rancorous pushback. The people most affected may be unhappy, but ideally college leaders can say the process was as transparent and collaborative as they could make it. Faculty members at Nebraska said they feel blindsided by a rushed and opaque process fueled by flawed data and questionable analysis. |
| Talks Over Loan Caps See Some Progress | |
 | College aviation programs are pushing the Education Department to designate them as professional and allow their students to access higher levels of federal loans. So far, the lobbying effort has included a slew of public comments from aviation associations, airlines and aerospace institutions as well as a letter from a bipartisan group of more than 30 senators. Together, the air travel advocates argue that the bachelor's degree necessary for a pilot's license meets the same standards as a doctorate in medicine or law, which are more commonly cited as professional programs. And if aviation training isn't treated as professional, they say, it will only further exacerbate an already dramatic shortage of commercial pilots. The Education Department hasn't publicly commented on the request, but officials and an advisory committee are set to decide this week which programs should be make the cut for larger loans. Congress created the loan caps in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed over the summer. But the Education Department is under a time crunch, as the caps take effect in less than eight months. That's where this week's meeting comes in, as the advisory committee and the department work to craft the regulations and define the terms needed to implement the bill. |
| Incoming 'silver tsunami' of seniors will strain federal and state government resources - Magnolia Tribune | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: The "Silver Tsunami" isn't just a clever turn of phrase---it's a demographic freight train barreling toward Mississippi's already strained health care infrastructure. Every day, 10,000 Americans turn 65. By 2030, one in five U.S. residents will be senior citizens. In Mississippi, where chronic illness, poverty, and rural isolation already complicate health care delivery, this wave of aging citizens threatens to swamp the system. Our state ranks near the bottom in health outcomes. We have too few doctors, too many hospitals on life support, and a rural health care network that's been fraying for decades. The federal government estimates that 70% of people turning 65 today will need long-term care at some point. That's not a distant possibility -- it's a certainty. And in Mississippi, where nearly 20% of the population is already over 60, the impact will be felt sooner and more severely than in many other states. ... Our elected officials must rise above partisan political squabbles and craft a comprehensive aging strategy. That includes planning for long-term care, supporting family caregivers, and ensuring that every Mississippian can age with dignity. The silver tsunami is coming. We can't stop it. But we can prepare. Mississippi has weathered storms before -- economic, political, and literal. With foresight, compassion, and bold action, we can meet this challenge head-on. |
SPORTS
| Soccer: State Battles Back To Reach Third Straight SEC Semifinal | |
| Just call them the Dawgs From Distance. A pair of fantastic strikes from outside the box lifted Mississippi State to a 2-1 comeback victory over No. 4 Arkansas on Tuesday night at the SEC Tournament. The Bulldogs conceded the first goal in the 23rd minute, but it took them just 32 seconds to answer. Rebeka Vega-Peleka hit a beautiful ball from just outside the top left corner of the box that sailed over the keeper to the back upper 90 to even the score. It was Vega-Peleka's first goal as a Bulldog. In the second half, Ally Perry did what she's known to do best. Her left-footed strike from the top of the box curled under the crossbar for the game-winning goal in the 59th minute. It was Perry's 11th career game-winner, tying the MSU school record held by MaKayla Waldner (2016-19). "We couldn't be more proud of this group," head coach Nick Zimmerman said. "To play the way we played tonight against a very, very good team after playing Sunday shows the commitment, the togetherness and the mentality that this group has. We were hard and smart tonight and embodied our 'Just Us' mentality!" MSU will now face LSU in the first semifinal match at 3:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, Nov. 6. The Bulldogs are the first No. 8 seed to advance to the SEC Tournament's semifinals since 2018, and this marks their third consecutive time advancing that far after having just one SEC Tournament victory prior to 2023. |
| Bulldogs rally past Razorbacks to reach SEC semi-finals | |
| Mississippi State soccer saved one of its best performances for the SEC Tournament, taking down regular-season conference champions Arkansas in Florida to book a place in the semi-finals. The Bulldogs (12-5-1) had to come from behind after conceding first, but answered after just 30 seconds with a scorcher from Rebeka Vega-Peleka. Ally Perry got in on the scoring in the second half, tallying her eighth strike of the season with a long-range hit from a similar position as Vega-Peleka outside of the box. It was one worthy of addition into an already impressive catalog of Perry goals, and one which Perry said might mean the most to her this season. Ahead of the tournament, her focus was on extending her senior season to as many games as possible, and she did just that on Tuesday. "The first half, I was getting opportunities, the coaches kept telling me to shoot, so I got the touch out wide and ripped it," Perry said of the winning goal. "I got so close in the first half, I was like one is bound to be a good one." The Bulldogs outshot the Razorbacks 23-16, with two more shots on target than their conference foes. The possession was more balanced, but Zimmerman's side did well to disrupt attacks and hold onto the ball to reset their own spells with the ball. The energy in the team was apparent from early on, and the determination to get back in the game after conceding early paid off quickly. |
| Men's Basketball: Five Things To Know: State vs. North Alabama | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball returns to the hardwood for its 2025-26 season opener versus North Alabama on Wednesday evening at Humphrey Coliseum. State secured its third straight NCAA Tournament bid for the third time in program history during the 2024-25 season. The last time the Bulldogs accomplished the feat was in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05. This season, State is looking to connect four consecutive NCAA Tournament trips for the 2nd time in program history. The previous 4-year run went from 2001-02 to 2004-05 under Rick Stansbury. State's victories over No. 18 Pitt, at No. 21 Memphis, versus No. 21 Ole Miss, at No. 19 Ole Miss and against No. 7 Texas A&M gave the Bulldogs five wins over AP Top 25 foes for the first time in program history during the 2024-25 regular season. Wednesday's opener will mark the sixth meeting between the two schools on the hardwood. The Lions were 24-11 and the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season champions. North Alabama was invited to the NIT after falling to Lipscomb in the ASUN Tournament final. The Maroon and White has won 11 of its last 12 seasons openers since 2013-14 highlighted by all three season debuts under Coach Jans by a combined 69 points. |
| Lebby wants more balanced offense against elite Georgia defense | |
| Mississippi State got back in the win column last weekend and is looking for more this week in its return home to Davis Wade Stadium. The Bulldogs (5-4, 1-4 SEC) are a win away from being bowl eligible for the first time since the 2022 season, but their next opponent is more worried about College Football Playoff eligibility. Georgia (7-1, 5-1 SEC) has its sights set on another conference title and more after a strong start to the season, and could prove to be the toughest test yet for MSU. Georgia is an opponent that carries weight with the name alone. Head coach Kirby Smart built a recruiting powerhouse and a back-to-back national championship-winning program after taking over in 2016, rivaling Nick Saban's Alabama by the end of his mentor's career in Tuscaloosa. While it's been a couple of years since the last title, Smart's team has remained a perennial contender because of the new standard, and above all, a ruthless defense. "Very talented defense, as you all know," Shapen said of Georgia. "Good team, well-coached, disciplined, all of those things. They're going to be in the right place at the right time. I think the strength of their defense is the defensive line. The secondary is also good, but the strength is definitely the defensive line. We've got a good test on Saturday." |
| Georgia football players not too concerned with Mississippi State's tradition of cowbells | |
 | Georgia football players are accustomed to how hard it is to play on the road in the SEC. This year they've already endured a night atmosphere at Jordan-Hare Stadium, and the insane sound trap that is Neyland Stadium. So, cowbells at Davis Wade Stadium? That's light work. "Noise is noise," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. "I have not been to an SEC venue that it was not hard to play on the road and that's not going to change with (Mississippi State). They've got a really vertical stadium, and I think the noise gets trapped in their stadium. It's one of the loudest places that I've coached, and I've coached there a lot. They've got a lot of pride." Georgia is headed to Starkville, also known as "Stark Vegas," this weekend for its final conference road game, and despite the warnings, players don't seem worried one bit about the second-smallest SEC stadium's famed tradition: cowbells. "We only worry about the 11 people on the field," redshirt junior offensive lineman Earnest Greene III said. "(Cowbells) are an external factor and once you get in the game, you don't really pay attention to the crowd noise or anything like that anyways." |
| 'We're going to get better': Purcell praises Bulldogs for gritty opening win | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball began the 2025-26 season with a 66-57 win over Davidson on Monday at Humphrey Coliseum. What started as a slow night offensively turned into a gritty win for the Bulldogs. Guard Destiney McPhaul stepped into the point-guard role with Saniyah King still recovering from a preseason injury and scored a career-high 20 points to lead the team to an opening-night win. McPhaul's evaluation of the performance? "Decent." "I feel like I played decent," McPhaul said. "I could have done a lot of things better, but overall, I feel that I gave my team some energy. I love it." McPhaul is one of just a handful of key returning players from last year. She inherited the No. 2 jersey from JerKaila Jordan, and lived up to the legacy with her shooting on the night, but above all was focused on adjusting as a team moving forward. "Early on, I was able to hit some shots, but I feel like after a while I was a little loose with the ball," she said. "Could clean up some things, and definitely could do better than I did tonight." |
| College Football Playoff committee makes clear it will use the 'eye test' to sort out contenders | |
| The College Football Playoff selection committee came into its meetings armed with a dozen metrics to help it tease out the differences that will ultimately decide which teams play for a national championship. When the first set of rankings were revealed Tuesday night, committee chairman Mack Rhoades said the members were just as apt to look at game tape alongside all the statistics. "I think we refer to it as art and science," said Rhoades, the athletic director at Baylor. If you're reading between the lines, which is all you can really do when it comes to the committee, the "eye test" -- that decades-old splash of subjectiveness that the 12-team playoff was built to subvert -- will play a meaningful role in setting the bracket. What's known after the first reveal: Defending champion Ohio State is No. 1 but is considered barely better than two other undefeated teams behind the Buckeyes, Indiana and Texas A&M. There's no big controversy there, though the Aggies did have an argument. Their 41-40 victory at Notre Dame early in the season might be the most impressive in the sport so far this year. They also have played a tougher schedule -- one of the metrics -- than either of the Big Ten teams ahead of them. |
| Meet the Billionaire Trying to Save College Football From Itself | |
 | On game day, at Texas Tech University, Cody Campbell is treated like royalty. He enters the football stadium with his children at his side to hear the pregame pep talk. He shakes hands with baby-faced recruits and poses for a photo with an admirer, flashing the "guns up" hand gesture unique to the school. Mr. Campbell, who made his fortune in oil, has helped make the Texas Tech Red Raiders one of the top college football teams in the country. He has helped to fund the team's $25 million payroll and pay for its new 300,000-square-foot training center, which anchors the south end zone. But amid all this good will and glory, Mr. Campbell knows deep down that college sports are in serious trouble. And now he's now fighting to save them, in many ways, from billionaires like himself. Twenty-five years ago, when Mr. Campbell played football for Texas Tech, student-athletes could not accept a free meal or a pair of shoes. Now, in the name, image and likeness (N.I.L.) era, student-athletes can earn millions a year, which mostly comes from donors like Mr. Campbell. Since July, Mr. Campbell said, 182 sports programs have been cut for budget reasons, many of them women's sports and less high-profile sports such as track, swimming and wrestling. That's a tiny faction of the 19,000 teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, but Mr. Campbell worries it is only the start of the cuts. Hoping to reverse this trend. Mr. Campbell has founded a nonprofit, Saving College Sports, to protect those sports from being axed and depriving student-athletes of playing a college sport like he did. |
| 'Are you serious?': How the LSU band got a 66 year-old tuba player | |
| Capt. Dale Dicharry, the commander of Homeland Security for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, has heard plenty of strange calls in his time in law enforcement, particularly here in south Louisiana. But this one beat all the others. Someone had called in about a wounded animal, and the call was coming from right in his own neighborhood. "He said, 'A wounded moose,'" Dicharry said. "I said, 'We ain't got no moose around.'" Then it struck him: That would be Kent. Kent Broussard, Dicharry's new neighbor, was a retiree who had just moved to Baton Rouge determined to fulfill his life's dream: to join the Golden Band from Tigerland at LSU. And he was learning to play, of all things, the tuba. Dicharry tells the story in the Broussards' living room, alongside his wife Dawn, Broussard's wife Cheryl and fellow neighbors Lynette Wilks and Barry Searles. They all immediately leap to Kent's defense. He wasn't so bad at the tuba that his playing was confused with moose noises, they say. It was just that confusion was natural; nobody in the neighborhood was expecting someone to be playing a tuba at all. They say it takes a village to raise a child. But it turns out it takes this neighborhood, on the southern edge of Baton Rouge, to raise a 66-year-old tuba player. |
| When sorority influencers meet Alabama football, game days turn into a campus-wide catwalk | |
| Eleven-foot-high doors embossed with Alabama's script "A" open onto a brick mansion with porcelain-white columns and a wraparound porch. A banner ripples above the doorway, shouting "Tri Delta Loves the Tide." Graceful arches preside over a faux red carpet where women in houndstooth blazers and crimson satin pose for photos, pom poms spilling from white cowboy boots and sorority pins fastened at their waists. Inside, chatter ricochets off polished walls as about 900 alumni and members of the 1914-founded chapter trade hugs and stories over the pregame lunch, a ritual before every marquee home football game. Up the winding staircase lined with balloons, heels click as Tri Delta women make their final touch-ups. Here, on game-day Saturdays deep in the SEC, Magnolia and Colonial drives of sorority row blur into a campus-wide catwalk against the backdrop of 100,077-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium. As "Tennessee Hate Week" nears its apex with an October prime-time showdown, thousands of sorority women from the 18 houses that power Alabama's Greek life take part in a tradition born of football religion that's become its own cultural rite, platform and ecosystem. Your browser does not support the video tag. The outfits mirror the architecture of the mansions: grand and unapologetically bougie. |
| Louisville QB Miller Moss Becomes New Rep of House v. NCAA Class | |
| Come on down, Miller Moss: You're the next contestant on The Price (of the House v. NCAA injunctive relief) Is Right. With Grant House and the other lead plaintiffs no longer enrolled as college students, the attorneys representing college athletes last week filed a motion asking the court to add Moss, Louisville's starting quarterback, to the roster of class representatives. Assuming his admission is granted, Moss, who played four seasons at USC before transferring to the Cardinals last year, will now be tasked with making sure that the injunctive relief component of the settlement process protects the interests of current college athletes. In her June 6 order granting final approval of the $2.8 billion settlement, U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken noted that while it was not "necessary," the injunctive relief settlement envisioned periodically adding new class representatives during the decade-long injunctive relief period. Moss is the first one to be added. Now pursuing a master's degree in social entrepreneurship at Louisville, Moss said in a sworn declaration that he first became interested in the NCAA's rules governing "amateurism" several years earlier while at USC -- and even wrote his undergraduate thesis on the subject. Moss' inclusion in the case potentially adds an element of House class conflict, by adding a high-profile, top-paid athlete from a major revenue sport. |
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