| Wednesday, April 30, 2025 |
| Human-mimicking petri dishes earn top marks at MSU Startup Summit | |
 | Before pharmaceutical drugs are tested on human subjects, they are tested on human cells in petri dishes. These dishes are usually glass or plastic and not even slightly representative of the human body, which creates an expensive problem that Humimic Biosystems Co-founder and CEO Lexi Applequist and her team are trying to solve. "Because we don't have very good models to study on in a lab setting before we put things into humans, we see about 90% of the drugs that we're testing on patients in clinical trials are either ineffective or have those toxic, adverse side effects, and so they never actually reach the market," Applequist said. Humimic Biosystems has developed what she describes as "a fancy petri dish" that mimics the surface of human tissue and the blood flow that the potential medicines could affect. The idea, she said, is to make sure ineffective drugs "fail fast and fail cheap" before they make it to human or animal test trials. On Friday, that idea earned Applequist and her team a $30,000 prize out of more than $100,000 awarded at the Mississippi State University Startup Summit business competition hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach, which is also known as the E-Center. |
| Our View: MSU's E-Center is an asset on the state's business support balance sheet | |
| The Dispatch editorializes: One of the biggest developments in education is that the best education isn't linear. It used to be that in almost every field of study, formal education began and ended with theory, equipping students with the knowledge and skills to pursue a profession with little exposure to the actual job for which they had trained. Today, there are programs that turn theory into practice, allowing students to use the knowledge they gain in the actual field they will enter. This sort of "learn by doing" was once the exclusive domain of vocational education. Today, it is employed in all sorts of disciplines. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better, more successful example of this than Mississippi State University's Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach, more commonly known as the MSU E-Center. ... The MSU E-Center remains an invaluable asset to students, entrepreneurs, investors, and local businesses, demonstrating the effectiveness of integrating practical experience into education. |
| Where Federal Dollars Flow to Universities Around the Country | |
 | The Trump administration's moves to freeze federal funding to universities have targeted elite institutions, like Harvard and Columbia. But many other schools are concerned that the administration's policies threaten the future of research and development programs. In fiscal year 2023 alone, roughly $60 billion flowed from the federal government to universities in all 50 states, funding research on an array of topics, like cancer, Alzheimer's disease and rare isotope beams. That money, in turn, often provided a boon to the surrounding communities. The threats to this funding are concerning enough that community and Mississippi State University leaders in Starkville, one of the smallest cities in the Southeast with a major research institution, have been discussing the potential consequences. The university's research has led to economic growth in the state and helped bring several aerospace companies to the area. It remains to be seen which programs might be affected by cuts, and what it might mean in turn for Starkville. Already, an aquaculture research project at the university intended to improve food security in Africa and Asia, which was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, has been paused. "Every time you touch the university, you, in effect, touch Starkville," said the city's mayor, Lynn Spruill, a Democrat. |
| 215 pups 'racing for glory' Saturday through Cotton District | |
| A symphony of barks and the thundering of tiny paws are about to return Saturday to the Cotton District, as dachshunds race for glory in the third annual Starkville Derby, presented by Bocock Brothers Premium Cigars. Event Organizer Alden Thornhill said the derby is set to bring about 215 racers from all across the country to the city, ready to compete and celebrate all things dachshund. "You will see some amazing short kings and queens racing for glory," Thornhill said. Festival grounds will be open from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Thornhill said, though he encouraged viewers to get there early to find their seats along a 100 foot long turf green. Thornhill said there will be bleachers available along the track, along with a separate viewing area with a jumbotron where attendees can set up a blanket or a chair. More than 130 food and art vendors will also be set up on the festival grounds, Thornhill said, along with children's activities like pony rides and bounce houses. The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile will be making an appearance as well, he said. This year, Thornhill said a few things have changed, as the derby has added frisbee dogs performing tricks to its entertainment lineup. The event will also be broadcast by the Mississippi State University Television Center, he said. |
| Madison students welcomed into MSU engineering honor society | |
 | The Mississippi State Tau Beta Pi chapter recently welcomed 36 new members into its ranks, including three Madison students. The students are Kacy Crothers, a junior in biomedical engineering; Tyler Malin, a senior in mechanical engineering; and Sarah Beth Usey, a senior in computer science. Open to all concentrations within the Bagley College of Engineering, Tau Beta Pi is the oldest universal engineering honor society and the second-oldest honor society in the U.S. Chapter advisor and Assistant Teaching Professor Morgan Green commended the new inductees for their hard work. "These are some of the best and most hardworking students in the Bagley College of Engineering, and it's an honor to advise them in MSU's Tau Beta Pi chapter," she said. Green said special thanks are due to student officers Kiersten Tullos, Hanna Hardy, Sarah Kate Dockery, Anamica Khadgi, Daniel Hurley, Ethan Crow, Nathan Snyder, and Olivia Leatherman. This year's induction ceremony featured guest speaker Ray Dillon, an MSU chemical engineering alumnus, 2024 BCoE Distinguished Fellow and retired vice chairman for Deltic Timber Corp., who also was a Tau Beta Pi member during his time at Mississippi State. |
| Michael Hogan appointed as State Construction Engineer for MDOT | |
 | Michael Hogan, P.E., has been named the State Construction Engineer, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT). Hogan has served MDOT for more than 20 years in various construction roles. "We are proud to announce Michael's promotion to State Construction Engineer," said MDOT Executive Director Brad White. "He brings a wealth of experience, leadership and dedication to this role, and I am confident that he will help our state's transportation system continue to grow." As the State Construction Engineer, Hogan will oversee MDOT's construction division and provide support to district construction operations across the state. According to MDOT, he assumed his new role on April 1. Hogan received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Mississippi State University (MSU) in 2004. |
| Giant 'sea dragon' fossil discovered in Mississippi, believed to be largest in state history | |
 | From coast to coast and sea to sea, Mississippi continues to have some of the coolest fossil finds in the entire country. The latest geological gem was found in Oktibbeha County on April 15 when a team of scientists with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality came across the vertebra of a mosasaur, commonly referred to as a "sea dragon" or "sea lizard," protruding from a streambed. The newly discovered fossil could be evidence of one of the largest sea dragons to roam when most of what is now Mississippi was underwater 66 million years ago. "While visiting an outcrop of the late Cretaceous Prairie Bluff Formation beneath a bridge on the Bluff Lake quadrangle, our survey scientists came across a very large fossil vertebra of a giant sea lizard called a mosasaur," a release from MDEQ reads. The vertebra found by MDEQ scientists marks the largest mosasaur ever recorded in Mississippi, believed to be from a sea dragon that was at least 30 feet in length, and was deposited into the state's paleontology collections at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson. |
| Geologists Stumble Upon Remains of Giant 'Sea Monster' in Mississippi, Likely the Largest Mosasaur Ever Identified in the State | |
| Geologists were studying rock layers in east-central Mississippi when they spotted something unusual sticking out of the mud. After the scientists carefully pulled the object from the sediment, they knew right away they'd found something special. It was a massive, fossilized mosasaur vertebra that measured more than seven inches across at its widest point. They were ecstatic. "I ... was completely awe-struck by its size," James Starnes, a geologist at the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality who first spotted the bone, tells Live Science's Patrick Pester. "The feeling you get when you find a fossil, even as a professional, never gets old. But when you find something you have never seen before, the elation can be overwhelming." Starnes and his colleagues Jonathan Leard and Tim Palmer found the bone near Starkville, a small town that's home to Mississippi State University. |
| Geologists accidentally found a monstrous mosasaur fossil in Mississippi mud | |
| Mosasaurs were some of the most fearsome apex predators to ever stalk the Cretaceous era's oceans. And according to Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) geologist James Starnes, a recent vertebrae fossil find belonged to "about as big" a mosasaur specimen as one could get. Starnes and colleagues found their latest discovery by complete accident. The team was out in the field near Starkville's Mississippi State University to create a 3D map of local geologic layers when fellow geologist Jonathan Leard realized he misplaced a pile of ancient seashells he had collected. While searching for the missing shells, Starnes noticed a partially exposed bone in the muck. It didn't take long before it became clear this was something much larger than any seashell. That said, mosasaur didn't immediately come to mind. "It was so big, we didn't think it was a mosasaur," said Leard. "It might be the biggest one ever collected in Mississippi." |
| Ground broken on new industrial park in Grenada County, economic impact to top $4B | |
| Local and state leaders gathered Tuesday for the groundbreaking of the SouthPoint Mississippi Industrial Park in Grenada County. The latest win in Mississippi's push for further economic development is slated to have a $4 billion direct impact on the economy and be home to up to 2,500 jobs, according to Gov. Tate Reeves. The Hollingsworth Companies, the largest non-urban industrial real estate developer in the southeastern U.S. with 125 tenants across 18 states, is behind the SouthPoint Mississippi Industrial Park. Upon full buildout, the new business park will offer over two million square feet of industrial space in 14 strategically designed buildings. Being constructed along Interstate 55 in Grenada with access to major distribution routes serving Memphis and Jackson, the hope is to attract national and international companies to the region. "These new high-quality industrial facilities will enhance our ability to attract new businesses and strengthen the local economy for years to come," Greater Grenada Partnership President and CEO Matthew Harrison said. |
| Will the Bonnet Carré Spillway be opening? The news is good for the Coast | |
 | The U..S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided against opening the Bonnet Carré Spillway -- welcome news for South Mississippi as Mississippi River water released through the spillway can degrade conditions in the Mississippi Sound. The Army Corps notified Mississippi officials on Tuesday afternoon that the spillway would not be opening. It's used to relieve potential flooding in and around New Orleans when the Mississippi River hits a flow rate set almost 100 years ago in federal law. The Army Corps' said the river's flow rate near the Old River Control Complex north of Baton Rouge is "lower than the originally forecasted flow figures." Joe Spraggins, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, was relieved to hear the news. He believes the Corps has been more cautious about a decision on opening the Bonnet Carré because of all the issues the polluted river water creates for southeastern Louisiana waterways and the Mississippi Sound. "I think the corp's working a lot harder with us on it." |
| Taylor sworn in as new Senator for District 18 | |
| Lane Taylor was sworn in on Tuesday as the newest State Senator representing Leake, Winston, and Neshoba counties, promising to be "of the people, for the people" of Senate District 18. Taylor won the seat in the mid-April special election with 58 percent of the vote. He is serving out the unexpired term of Jenifer Branning who resigned after winning a seat on the State Supreme Court. "Of course, I am nervous," Taylor said, pausing before adding, "But I am more excited to represent the district. Not so much nervous, but excited." As a state senator, Taylor said he will focus on three areas key to District 18: agriculture, forestry, and state highways. Neshoba and Leake counties have a thriving agricultural industry, mainly soybeans, cotton, and aquaculture. In Winston County, forestry is also a major economic driver. Taylor started as a Farm Bureau insurance agent and is now the owner and founder of Lane Taylor Auction Company. He was the first to throw his hat in the ring, announcing a run for the Senate seat in December. While the special election was non-partisan, Taylor campaigned as a Republican. On Tuesday, his new Republican colleagues were shaking his hand and welcoming him to the Senate. |
| Rep. Trent Kelly celebrates retirement from military with ceremony in Mississippi Capitol | |
| Mississippi Congressman Trent Kelly has officially retired from the military. On Saturday, inside the state capitol rotunda in Jackson, Gov. Tate Reeves hosted a retirement ceremony for Kelly, a Major General and Assistant Adjutant General with the Mississippi Army National Guard. Kelly began his military career with the 134th Engineer Company in 1985. His career as an officer began upon graduating from the University of Mississippi and commissioning as an engineer officer in 1988. He has served in various positions of increasing responsibility, including command at the company, battalion, and brigade levels as well as key staff positions at the Mississippi National Guard Joint Force Headquarters. "As a young soldier, choose your mentors well. They don't always choose you. Find people you want to emulate or be like, but also understand that they're not perfect and they're going to have flaws. So ignore their flaws. Learn from them and don't repeat them, but learn all the good things you can from them," Kelly said, offering a word of advice to those who answer the call to serve in the military. "Enjoy every single day of it. When it's over -- it's over." |
| Mississippi appealing mail-in absentee ballot ruling to U.S. Supreme Court | |
| Mississippi officials are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a federal court ruling that struck down Mississippi's five-day grace period for mail-in absentee ballots to arrive after Election Day. Attorneys for the state filed court documents stating their intention to petition the nation's highest court to overturn a decision from an appellate court that found a state election law conflicted with federal election laws. U.S. District Judge Louis Guirrola halted all lower court action until the proceedings with the Supreme Court are completed. The Republican National Committee, the state Republican Party and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi sued Secretary of State Michael Watson and local elections officials over a state law that allows election workers to process absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day for up to five days after the election. The political parties argue that Congress is the only entity that can set specific parameters for federal elections, while state officials contend that federal law defers to states on specific details for conducting elections. |
| The Farm Bill strategy gets a new push from Chairman GT Thompson; lawmakers remain hopeful | |
| The long-delayed Farm Bill may get a boost from a new strategy on Capitol Hill. House Ag Chairman GT Thompson says he is looking to move key commodity and crop insurance provisions through the budget reconciliation process. Those provisions from last year's Farm Bill would be funded through Congress to SNAP. Thompson says benefits would not be cut. He also says the $230 billion in required budget cuts could be adjusted. Thompson still wants to pass a standalone Farm Bill this year, and he says any remaining pieces could be added later. Despite the uncertainty, Congressman Dan Newhouse says he remains hopeful. "This is not the first time in history that it's been difficult to get a Farm Bill passed. There have been several times that it's taken multiple attempts, so I'm not throwing in the towel or giving up on the effort. But I think it's vital to agriculture that we update those things that are important to the industry, and I know the chairman is determined to get it passed as well. The fact that we've had some difficulties and obstacles is not uncommon. This is probably one of the hardest things to accomplish in Congress." The biggest challenge this time, according to Newhouse, is the debate surrounding food programs, particularly SNAP. |
| How reconciliation could help -- and hurt -- the farm bill | |
| House Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson said Tuesday that the spending cuts his panel is expected to make toward a budget reconciliation deal next week will probably be less than predicted. Speaking to an annual gathering of agriculture reporters at the Capitol, Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, said he thinks the amount the committee will be asked to contribute toward spending cuts will come in below the $230 billion in the House budget resolution, easing some of the pressure on lawmakers to squeeze programs such as low-income food assistance. "Would I feel more comfortable with a number less than $230 billion? You bet," Thompson told the North American Agricultural Journalists. Thompson met earlier in the day with committee Republicans for an update on the budget reconciliation bill. The GOP majority hopes to deliver to President Donald Trump a party-line deal on tax cuts, border security, energy and other priorities. House panels are beginning to mark up portions of the package this week. Agriculture and other panels are expected to get in on the action next week. Thompson said his basic goal hasn't changed: to use the reconciliation process to help advance a long-overdue five-year farm bill. While Thompson and Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) laid out an optimistic scenario for the farm bill, Democratic lawmakers who addressed the agriculture reporters said they're uncertain about the bill's prospects and worried about the Trump administration's cuts to agriculture agencies that aren't raising many public objections from Republicans. |
| Trump Touts Tariffs in Michigan Rally as Voters' Economic Concerns Mount | |
 | President Trump swept into a sports complex in Warren, Mich., and declared the first 100 days of his administration a success. "You haven't even seen anything yet," said Trump, who stood in front of jumbo screens that read "100 Days of Greatness." At a shopping complex down the road from the rally, a more mixed picture came through. Concerns about the economy and the president's tariffs were on the mind of some Trump supporters and converts such as Valerie Walker. "Everything still costs a lot -- groceries, bills, housing," said Walker, 64, a Ford assembly worker who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but switched to Trump in November, helping the Republican narrowly win this swing state. She likes Trump's immigration policies but is concerned about tariffs, even though Trump says they are designed to grow American manufacturing jobs such as hers. "Like he says, it's going to take time," Walker said of Trump's economic plans. The 89-minute rally Tuesday marked a return to the campaign-style events that have helped turn Trump into a political force. He has done little domestic travel, save for weekend jaunts to his private club in Florida. He reveled in the moment, thanking auto workers for their support, heralding the tariffs and touting efforts to slash the size of government and end "transgender insanity." Despite Trump's bullish message, a raft of public opinion polls shows voters losing confidence in his handling of the economy, inflation, tariffs and other issues. |
| US economy shrinks as Americans brace for Trump's trade war | |
 | President Donald Trump promised that his second term would mark the beginning of a new golden age. The early economic returns look more like pewter. The Commerce Department on Wednesday estimated that the U.S. economy shrank during the first three months of 2025, its worst performance in three years. The 0.3 percent contraction is a sharp decline from the 2.4 percent expansion that was notched in the final full quarter of President Joe Biden's presidency, and it's a far cry from the boom times Trump allies and top CEOs had anticipated after the president was reelected. What's more, the pro-growth elements of his agenda like the extension of the 2017 tax cuts haven't materialized, providing little cover for the negative effects of the president's trade war. "We came into this year with the idea that your tax policy was going to be enough of a tailwind to overcome the negatives from trade," said Brett Ryan, a senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities. "That script has been flipped." Commerce's initial estimate is a rough start for a president who was elected on the promise of unleashing private investment and boosting the spending power of American consumers. Recession fears have climbed in the weeks since Trump began rolling out a series of massive tariffs -- followed by quick reversals -- that economists and Wall Street CEOs say will drive up costs and weaken investment. |
| 'BE PATIENT!!!': Trump blames Biden for shrinking economy, stock market dips | |
 | President Donald Trump is blaming his predecessor for the country's economic slowdown in the first three months of the year, calling it the "Biden Overhang" one day after reaching 100 days in the White House and with more troubling signs emerging that are tied to the Republican's economic policies. U.S. gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services, shrank at an 0.3% annual rate in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department said on April 30. That's down from a 2.4% increase at the end of last year. Stocks dipped in reaction to the latest U.S. government economic news, prompting Trump in a morning Truth Social post to put the blame on former President Joe Biden: "This is Biden's Stock Market, not Trump's," the president wrote. "I didn't take over until January 20th." Trump's comments came as businesses imported a massive trove of goods before Trump's sweeping tariffs took effect, which widened the U.S. trade deficit and curtailed growth. Excluding the tariff effects, the underlying economy turned in a solid showing in the first quarter despite tumbling consumer confidence and rising business uncertainty over the import fees. The U.S. stock market recorded its worst first 100 days of any presidential term since President Gerald Ford assumed office after President Nixon resigned in 1974, according to a Center for Financial Research and Analysis report. |
| Trump's Cuts to Science Funding Could Hurt U.S. Economy, Study Shows | |
| Cutting federal funding for scientific research could cause long-run economic damage equivalent to a major recession, according to a new study from researchers at American University. In recent months, the Trump administration has sought to cancel or freeze billions of dollars in grants to scientists at Columbia, Harvard and other universities, and has moved to sharply curtail funding for academic medical centers and other institutions. Deeper cuts could be on the way. As soon as this week, the White House is expected to propose sharp reductions in discretionary spending, including on research and development, as part of the annual budget process. Economists have warned that such cuts could undermine American competitiveness in areas like vaccine development, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and could slow growth in income and productivity in the long term. The private sector can't fully replace government dollars, they argue, because basic research is too risky and takes too long to pay off to attract sufficient private investment. A recent paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found that government investments in research and development accounted for at least a fifth of U.S. productivity growth since World War II. "If you look at a long period of time, a lot of our increase in living standards seems to be coming from public investment in scientific research," said Andrew Fieldhouse, a Texas A&M economist and an author of the Dallas Fed study. "The rates of return are just really high." |
| Donation saves Illinois Soybean Innovation Lab | |
| The Soybean Innovation Lab (SIL) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will remain open another year thanks to an anonymous $1.02 million donation through the Founders Pledge, a global nonprofit supporting entrepreneurs. Peter Goldsmith, director of the lab, which is part of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Feed the Future program that addresses global hunger and poverty, said in February that it would close on April 15 due to the loss of funding from the federal agency. On April 28, the university announced the donation, and Goldsmith said the grant will continue some essential work while providing time to seek additional and stable funding sources that can help the lab continue its work. SIL's goal is to give researchers, non-governmental organizations and the private sector information and technology needed to advance soybean development in Africa. The lab has more than 100 soybean experts from 24 countries. Other universities that contribute to the U of I lab, which opened in 2013, include Iowa State University, Mississippi State University and the University of Missouri. Goldsmith emphasized that although the SIL's work has direct benefits for African farmers and agribusinesses, building the African soybean value chain also represents a major boon for the US and global economies. |
| World Food Program and other UN aid agencies slash jobs amid US funding cuts, officials say | |
 | The World Food Program and the United Nations refugee agency will slash jobs because of funding cuts, mainly from the United States, officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday, warning the reductions will severely affect aid programs worldwide. The WFP, also a United Nations organization, is expected to cut up to 30% of its staff. The head of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it would downsize its headquarters and regional offices to reduce costs by 30% and cut senior-level positions by 50%. That's according to internal memos obtained by The AP and verified by two U.N. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal personnel decisions. Other agencies like UNICEF -- the U.N. children's agency, and OCHA -- the organization's humanitarian agency -- have also announced or plan to announce cuts that would impact around 20% of staff and overall budgets. One WFP official called the cuts "the most massive" seen by the agency in the past 25 years, and that as a result, operations will disappear or be downsized. The cuts to the U.N. agencies underscore the impact of President Donald Trump's decision to pull back the U.S. from its position as the world's single largest aid donor. |
| Mellon Foundation Announces $15 Million for Humanities Councils | |
| The Mellon Foundation on Tuesday announced $15 million in emergency funding for state humanities councils across the country, throwing what advocates say is a crucial lifeline after the cancellation of federal support had left some in danger of collapse. The new funding, which will support humanities councils in all 50 states and six jurisdictions, comes a month after the National Endowment for the Humanities abruptly cut off federal funding for the councils, as well as most of its existing grants. The endowment, which had a budget of $207 million last fiscal year, is the nation's largest public funder of the humanities, providing crucial support to museums, historical sites, cultural festivals and community projects. The $15 million from the Mellon Foundation will offset only a portion of the $65 million the state councils were set to receive this year from the humanities endowment, as appropriated by Congress. But Elizabeth Alexander, the foundation's president, said it would help preserve humanities programs, particularly in rural states without a robust base of private philanthropy. While humanities councils may have a low profile, they support book festivals, literary events, local history projects and historical sites. They are also drivers of local economies, including tourism; according to the federation, every $1 of federal support results in $2 in private investment. |
| Ole Miss blues archive celebrates 40 years, plans digital expansion | |
 | Rare 78-rpm records from legends such as Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, never-released studio recordings and personal letters sent to fans by Ray Charles are just a sliver of the 400,000 artifacts preserved in the University of Mississippi's Blues Archive. Housed in the J.D. Williams Library, the archive is celebrating 40 years of collecting stories, voices, memorabilia and images that define the genre often defined as "the people's music." Born from struggle and resilience, the genre has threaded its style into countless others to become one of the nation's most influential. "Sometimes people have this misconception that blues is all sad music," said Greg Johnson, head of the Department of Archives and Special Collections. "The blues is so important to much of the popular music people listen to today. "Jimmie Rodgers, from Meridian, Mississippi, is known as the 'Father of Country Music' and he learned to play from blues musicians and many of his songs followed a blues structure." The exact birthplace of the blues is a subject for debate. But given Mississippi's history of musicians such as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf, and the growing number of Mississippi Blues Trail markers statewide, it's clear that blues is woven throughout the state's DNA. |
| 'It's just devastating': Dozens of local students now without scholarships due to federal budget cuts | |
| Sweeping federal cuts are impacting dozens of students here in the Capital City. For some students at Tougaloo College when they enroll next fall, they won't have their scholarships. It's all due to funding cuts at the National Institutes of Health, resulting in research grants being cancelled. In all, 36 students will no longer be able to receive scholarships through the Jackson Heart Study Scholars program. The Jackson Heart Study is a collab between Tougaloo College, Jackson State University, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Funding is now being stripped from all three institutions. It's purpose was to study and improve heart health in the African American community. "My reaction is that I was very, very shocked. Speechless," said Dr. Kisa Harris, who first started with the Jackson Heart Study as a high school student and now works at Tougaloo College. "Through that experience, I had the opportunity to do research both on campus and off campus. I even had the chance to travel to Buffalo, New York to do research." Nine former JHS scholars have been chief residents, two are cardiologists and one is a cardiothoracic surgeon. Forty alumni JHS scholars have earned MPH degrees and fifteen have nursing degrees. Thirty-three of the former scholars work in education/teaching related fields. |
| Ahead of Trump visit, U. of Alabama faculty blast anti-DEI actions, 'threats of dismissal' | |
 | University of Alabama faculty have denounced state and federal crackdowns on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In a resolution voted on and approved April 22, faculty said anti-DEI actions have had a "chilling effect" on their ability to teach and research. They said "unwarranted threats of dismissal" have made faculty afraid and have made students unable to express their freedoms. "This is not a political statement or meant to be a negative action," president Matthew Hudnall told AL.com. "Instead, it is a genuine attempt to convey to our faculty, staff, students, and the public that the University of Alabama stands behind academic freedom. We will provide our students with the education and tools necessary to blaze paths that are both honorable and impactful." According to the resolution, faculty recently have been reported, investigated and warned of potential disciplinary action. The senate said they recognize the need to follow applicable laws, but that enforcement has "impinged upon both academic freedom and the institutional autonomy required for its protection." The senate noted they do not speak for the university "but seeks to aid the System and University in making judgments on questions of policy, development, and operations and provides input on matters of general faculty concern." |
| Kennedy, Rollins praise Texas A&M for improving nutrition | |
 | U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised the work being done at Texas A&M University to improve nutrition in the nation's food supply during a visit to College Station on Tuesday. "What we talked about was all of the work that A&M has done, and the groundbreaking and world-changing and transformative effort to not only feed America, but to feed the world," Rollins said at a press conference following tours of the Norman E. Borlaug Building and the AgriLife Phenotyping Greenhouse. "I was really blown away by the commitment of this university to make nutrition the centerpiece of agricultural policy," Kennedy said. "And they're developing cooking programs and they're developing strains of corn that have super levels of antioxidants in them. They're focusing on providing nutrition for the American people. Rollins, a 1994 Texas A&M graduate, said the USDA is tasked with updating the nation's dietary guidelines, first known as the food pyramid, every five years. This year she has enlisted Kennedy's help. "We're ... changing the game and changing the structure on how we're building those dietary guidelines," she said. "Nearly 100 million Americans are obese in a country of 340 million and the instances of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other diet-related diseases are on the rise, particularly in children and adolescents. |
| In visit to Texas, RFK Jr. said autism, diabetes deserve more attention than measles | |
| U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a visit to Texas on Tuesday that measles deserves less attention than other chronic diseases, while downplaying the number of deaths that have occurred in the state's historic outbreak of the virus. During a visit to Texas A&M University in College Station, Kennedy said that Europe's measles deaths are higher than the U.S.' "four deaths in 20 years," two of whom were Texas children this year. He also said more attention should be focused on chronic conditions like diabetes, as well as autism, which Kennedy has previously linked to the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. The scientific community has widely debunked the theory, asserting the vaccine does not cause autism. "Every child who gets measles gets a headline," Kennedy said during the visit alongside Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. "When I was kid, there were 2 million measles cases a year and nobody wrote about them." Public health officials have repeatedly said that two doses of the MMR vaccine is the most effective way to prevent measles. Rollins said she invited Kennedy to her alma mater to see Texas A&M's research, as the two agencies work on the upcoming five-year Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The report, which both secretaries said would come out this summer, is expected to be a rejection of the latest 453-page advisory report, completed under the Biden Administration, that typically informs policies on healthy eating. |
| US Ag Secretary Rollins explains beef with New World screwworm on College Station visit | |
| The backdrop of three cows at U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins' roundtable discussion on New World screwworm flies Tuesday at the Texas A&M Beef Center drove home the seriousness of the growing problem that the parasite from Mexico could inflict upon U.S. cattle populations. Rollins, a 1994 Texas A&M University graduate making her first appearance back in College Station on the job, announced Tuesday that the United States and Mexico had reached an agreement on the screwworm issue. Rollins had sent a letter to Mexico Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegues on Saturday warning that the U.S. would limit the importation of animals from Mexico starting on Wednesday if the Mexican government did not agree to intensify its efforts to stop the screwworm spread. "If screwworm entered the United States, it would have a major and devastating impact on cattle users. That is why we continue to take strong actions to stop its spread in Mexico," Rollins said during opening remarks at the roundtable. "As of [Monday] we had a verbal agreement for full compliance of all of our requests in my Saturday letter. I believe we are moving toward an agreement and those restrictions will not be necessary tomorrow, but they are still on the table." |
| Indiana Budget Bill Contains Sweeping Higher Ed Changes | |
 | Indiana state lawmakers have sent their governor a state budget bill that goes beyond setting funding levels. If Republican governor Mike Braun signs it into law, House Enrolled Act 1001 will require faculty at public colleges and universities to post their syllabi online and undergo "productivity" reviews. The bill would also -- among other things -- prohibit faculty emeriti from voting in faculty governance organizations, place low-enrolled degree programs at risk of elimination by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and end alumni elections for three Indiana University Board of Trustees seats by filling them with gubernatorial appointees. In addition, it has a provision that would let Braun remove the currently elected board members before their terms expire. "I think overreach doesn't begin to describe the actions of the Legislature," said Russ Skiba, a professor emeritus of education at IU Bloomington. "This is really a sweeping takeover of higher education in Indiana." The Republican-controlled Indiana General Assembly passed the legislation -- which runs more than 200 pages -- less than two days after revealing it Wednesday, April 23. The state House approved it around 12:45 a.m. Friday, followed by the Senate's agreement at about 1:20 a.m. "I know a lot of legislators ... simply didn't have enough time to fully read it," Skiba said. "There was no opportunity whatsoever for any sort of public input." |
| These NIH Grants Were Terminated. Now They're Back. | |
 | Not long ago, Patty Kissinger, an epidemiologist at Tulane University, was one of many scientists to lose federal funding. On March 18, she was crushed to learn that the National Institutes of Health was killing her grant -- a program to treat sexually transmitted infections in Black youth -- on the grounds that it was about "DEI." Then, in an email that arrived on April Fool's Day, an NIH employee informed her of a change in plans: Her grant was getting restored. Kissinger was sure she was being pranked. But she was not. The agency gave no explanation, she said, leaving her both delighted and bewildered. "I've been asked by so many people, 'What is the magic sauce? How did you get that grant back?'" Kissinger said. "And I'm like, 'I have no idea.'" As President Trump's administration cancels billions of dollars of scientific-research funding, Kissinger feels like she won the lottery. But she isn't the only one. A small number of canceled NIH grants have quietly been restored, according to a Chronicle review of government data collected by independent researchers -- often for reasons not disclosed to the recipients or the public. "In a sea of unhappiness, I'm delighted to be able to serve our people," Kissinger said. But "there's always in the back of your mind: 'Are they going to take it away again?'" |
| US creates new policy for terminating international students' legal status | |
| The U.S. government has begun shedding new light on a crackdown on international students, spelling out how it targeted thousands of people and laying out the grounds for terminating their legal status. The new details emerged in lawsuits filed by some of the students who suddenly had their status canceled in recent weeks with little explanation. In the past month, foreign students around the U.S. have been rattled to learn their records had been removed from a student database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some went into hiding for fear of deportation or abandoned their studies to return home. On Friday, after mounting court challenges, federal officials said the government was restoring international students' legal status while it developed a framework to guide future terminations. In a court filing Monday, it shared the new policy: a document issued over the weekend with guidance on a range of reasons students' status can be canceled, including the revocation of the visas they used to enter the U.S. Brad Banias, an immigration attorney representing a student whose status was terminated, said the new guidelines vastly expand ICE's authority beyond previous policy, which did not count visa revocation as grounds for losing legal status. This just gave them carte blanche to have the State Department revoke a visa and then deport those students even if they've done nothing wrong," Banias said. |
| Republicans are planning big changes to federal student loans | |
 | Republicans on the House education committee publicly unveiled their plan Tuesday to remake the federal student loan system while also cutting more than $330 billion in federal spending to help offset the cost of extending President Trump's tax cuts. The Republican proposal includes eliminating previous income-contingent loan repayment options and replacing them with one "Repayment Assistance Plan." It also ends the Grad PLUS loan program, sets strict limits on Parent PLUS loans and envisions a new system whereby colleges and universities are forced to reimburse the federal government for a share of the debt when their students fail to repay their loans. During the plan's unveiling Tuesday -- what is known as a committee "markup" -- the education committee's Republican chairman, Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan, said, "If there is any consensus when it comes to student loans, it's that the current system is effectively broken and littered with incentives that push tuition prices upward. Schools have no reason to lower costs or ensure degrees align with employer needs, all while students and taxpayers pay the price." The committee's ranking member, Democrat Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, made clear, though, there's no consensus on Republicans' proposed remedy: "This current reconciliation plan would increase costs for colleges and students, limit students' access to quality programs ... and then take the so-called 'savings' to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy and the well-connected." |
| Trump's 100-Day War on Higher Ed | |
| It's been 100 days since Donald Trump entered the Oval Office for a second time. When he was elected, attacking higher education had already become a conservative shibboleth, but the new administration's plans for the sector were still murky. Would they take up the torches and pitchforks that Republicans in states like Florida and Texas hoisted against DEI spending and student protesters, or would they turn their focus elsewhere? Within a month, the administration had launched a barrage of attacks on colleges and universities, accusing them of fostering antisemitism. Trump officials slashed federal grants first to Columbia University and then to many more, demanding institutions capitulate to sweeping demands in order to restore funding. They gutted the Education Department and fired most of the staff responsible for higher ed policy and oversight. They declared DEI programs unconstitutional and launched investigations into colleges they suspected of favoring minority students in admissions. University counsels' offices were inundated with unprecedented legal questions, budgets stood in limbo and administrators walked a precarious tightrope between appeasement and resistance. The escalating confrontation between higher ed and the federal government has upended colleges' business models and strategic planning, subdued academic freedom and campus speech, undermined research in medicine and technology, and greatly exacerbated the political and public relations challenges that higher education has been facing for years. |
| Is a new era in federal natural disaster relief something Mississippi can easily navigate? | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee was President Donald Trump's White House press secretary during his first term in office. Today, she is appealing her former boss's denial of a federal disaster declaration request after an outbreak of severe storms and tornadoes ripped through her state. The same scenario is also playing out in Washington state, North Carolina, and Kentucky. As the Trump Administration begins to move toward changing federal disaster relief policies to shift more responsibility for natural disaster response and recovery away from the federal government and toward state and local governments, Mississippi's historical status as a "frequent flyer" in seeking federal disaster declarations due to the frequency and severity of such disasters leaves local and state officials nervous. The denial of the Arkansas request on April 11 said the Trump administration had "determined that the damage from this event was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state, affected local governments, and voluntary agencies. Accordingly, we have determined that supplemental federal assistance is not necessary." Should the change in federal disaster declaration policy make Mississippi state and local officials and taxpayers give pause? In a word, yes. Historically, Mississippi has been a natural disaster magnet. |
SPORTS
| Diamond Dawgs Roll To Run-Rule Win Over Memphis | |
| Justin Parker notched his first win as interim head coach as Mississippi State rolled to an 18-5, run-rule win over Memphis on Tuesday night at Dudy Noble Field. The Diamond Dawgs totaled 16 hits with six going for extra bases.Ten of the 18 runs scored by the MSU offense came in the fourth inning to break the game open. Reed Stallman and Ross Highfill each hit home runs to power the Bulldogs. Stallman finished with five RBIs while Highfill drove in three. Hunter Hines, Bryce Chance, Ace Reese and Sawyer Reeves each grabbed a pair of hits. Noah Sullivan earned the start on the mound and struck out five through three shutout innings. Jacob Pruitt earned his first win in the Maroon and White with three punchouts in 1 2/3 innings of work. The Diamond Dawgs host the Kentucky Wildcats in a three-game series as part of Super Bulldog Weekend. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. The first two games of the set will be streamed via SEC Network+ while Sunday's series finale will be televised by SEC Network. |
| How Justin Parker, Mississippi State baseball reacted to Chris Lemonis' firing | |
| Mississippi State baseball held its usual pre-game meeting in left field, conducted approximately 15 minutes before first pitch. Seventh-year coach Chris Lemonis typically leads it. He jogs out from the dugout to meet the players in left field. They huddle, Lemonis gives a speech, he breaks it down and then leaves. The players then take a knee for a pre-game prayer. Lemonis didn't lead it on April 29. He was fired one day prior after the Bulldogs lost an SEC series at Auburn. The players led the meeting instead, just before MSU (26-19) dismantled Memphis 18-5 in a run-rule win in seven innings at Dudy Noble Field. "I kind of was in the dugout just watching and got goosebumps," interim coach Justin Parker said. "When they broke that huddle, watching our fanbase come to its feet, that's the kind of passion that we need." It was an impressive first game for Parker, who was hired by Lemonis as the pitching coach last season. Parker and MSU players met with reporters following the game for the first press conference since Lemonis' firing. "It's super important, especially in a time like this, you really have to lean on each other that much more," senior outfielder Bryce Chance said after batting 2-for-2 with a walk, two RBIs and two runs. "Not that we didn't before, but it's been a weird 24 hours or 36 hours I guess. It's super important to lean on each other even more." |
| 'We need each other right now': Parker victorious in debut as Bulldogs' interim coach | |
| Justin Parker learned that he would be in charge of the Mississippi State baseball program for the rest of the season just after lunch on Monday. Athletic director Zac Selmon approached Parker, in his second year as the Bulldogs' pitching coach, and told him MSU would be firing head coach Chris Lemonis that afternoon and promoting Parker to interim head coach. Parker had little time to process the news -- the Bulldogs are still in the running to make the NCAA Tournament, and they had a game the very next night against Memphis. The baseball portion of Tuesday was by far the easiest part of Parker's day. MSU had struggled to put away the Tigers in the teams' first meeting in Memphis, but the Bulldogs scored three runs in the first inning and put the game away with a 10-run fourth, cruising to an 18-5 victory in seven innings. "It's kind of status quo for the most part," Parker said. "We have good players, we have good coaches, their vision is good, their message has been good. I felt like consistency in that regard, just from what we're doing preparation-wise, was important. The guys got a breath of fresh air tonight and went out and played really free and easy and played really well." |
| Brent Rooker savoring stability with A's | |
| Stability isn't something Brent Rooker knew much about his first few years in the big leagues. The 35th pick in the 2017 draft by Minnesota after a stellar career at Mississippi State, Rooker was traded twice in 2022 -- from the Twins, who he debuted with in 2020, to the Padres in April, and from the Padres to the Royals that August. After finishing 2022 in Kansas City, the Royals placed him on waivers. Enter the Athletics, who claimed him. Now in his third year with the A's, Rooker, an All-Star in 2023 and a Silver Slugger recipient in 2024, earned a five-year, $60 million extension last offseason. "It's nice," Rooker said of his extension. "I spent some years going from team to team, but I landed here, and here is where I want to be. I'm excited to have made that official in the offseason." Mark Kotsay is the only manager this ex-Bulldog has known with the Athletics, who dropped the Oakland designation after the franchise departed the Bay Area following last season for Sacramento for three seasons while their new ballpark in their permanent new home of Las Vegas is being constructed. And given the progression he's seen in Rooker as a player, teammate and leader, during their time together, Kotsay was ecstatic to see him receive an extension. Through Tuesday, Rooker is batting .250 with seven home runs, 15 RBIs and 18 runs scored. |
| MAIS approves consolidated classes, revamped playoff format for 2025-2027 seasons | |
| The competitive field for Mississippi's private school league, the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools (MAIS), will undergo a sweeping metamorphosis to begin the 2025-26 athletic calendar. According to minutes from the most recent meeting of the Academy Activities Committee, the governing board of the MAIS, the changes are aimed at providing competitive balance while also opening further championship opportunities. The association will consolidate from six classes -- previously 1A to 6A -- to four, with four to eight districts within each division depending on the class and sport. In 11-man football, the most heavily participated MAIS sport, classes 4A (20 largest schools), 3A (next 16 largest schools), and 2A (next 16 largest schools) will compete in four districts. Formed in 1968, the MAIS now includes 120 schools in Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Louisiana. That includes a total enrollment of more than 40,000 students and over 6,000 people employed at the institutions. |
| Ole Miss football stadium renovation plans changed | |
 | A lot has changed since Ole Miss began planning upgrades to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium four years ago. On Dec. 31, 2021, the university announced it would raze the west side of the stadium and rebuild it to bring vast seating improvements, as well as new club seating and office space. That isn't happening, but construction is still taking place. On March 20, the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) board of trustees recommended approval of a renovation project with a revised scope. While the entire west side will not be torn down, Ole Miss will construct new "Founder's Suites" on a level above the existing press box. The project is planned to be ready for the 2027 football season. "Right before NIL kind of became a thing, the plan was to basically tear the west side down all the way to the slab and kind of start over," Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter told the Clarion Ledger. "In a perfect world, we would do that. It's obviously dated and we need more room in the concourses and things like that. It's just not feasible to do that right now." Carter remains cognizant that Vaught-Hemingway Stadium is growing outdated. Its original construction was a three-year process that began in 1939. He said Ole Miss athletics is in communication with Chancellor Glenn Boyce about stadium-wide upgrades. |
| Home of Jackson State football voted best FCS stadium in nation | |
| For the second straight year, the home of Jackson State football, the Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, has been voted the best FCS stadium in the country. The Vet, owned and operated by Jackson State University, was voted by fans as the best stadium via a poll on X orchastrated by X account, College Football Campus Tour. JSU received 62 percent of the votes, beating out Idaho for the second year running. Jackson State's home field was founded in 1950 and has been the program's stadium since 1970. It has a capacity of 60,492, the third largest in the state. The Tigers, led by JSU alum, head coach TC Taylor, are coming off a historic season in which the team won the SWAC East Division Title, the SWAC Championship game, and the school's first Celebration Bowl victory. The reigning HBCU National Champions will begin the upcoming 2025 season at home against Hampton on August 30. |
| Savannah Bananas game a boon for Clemson | |
| It's not every day Death Valley is outfitted for a baseball game. Clemson hosted the Savannah Bananas on Saturday night in the stadium usually reserved for Tigers football. And while Dabo Swinney's crew will take over the place again this fall, the Bananas drew their share of fans -- 81,000, to be exact. "It was a different vibe than a football Saturday," Clemson AD Graham Neff told me. "Namely, because about 40% of the ticket buyers were from out of state, we don't have the exact customer data. The Savannah Bananas own that. But generally, it was a lot of first time to Clemson, first time to Memorial Stadium folks. As part of the arrangements for the show, the Bananas received revenues from ticket sales and merchandise. Clemson, meanwhile, took home parking, premium sales and F&B. Clemson doesn't yet know its exact returns on Saturday night's contest, but they should be significant. Neff estimated the school would bring in somewhere between $400,000 and $600,000 in gross take from the game -- not bad for a night Memorial Stadium would otherwise have sat empty. Part of that equation was the addition of alcohol sales. Clemson approved a plan to allow beer and wine sales at Memorial Stadium and other sporting events earlier this month. The spring football game on April 5 marked the debut, while Saturday night's affair marked just the second time booze flowed officially in Death Valley since the policy change. |
| Alarmed by CBS disaster, Bill Belichick insiders say girlfriend Jordon Hudson is a 'runaway train' | |
| Even before this past weekend's embarrassing CBS interview -- in which Jordon Hudson made it clear who wears the pants in her romance with Bill Belichick -- the legendary football coach's friends were "shaking their heads," one insider told The Post. "They are talking to him about her, but very gently because they know how deep in he is. "She saw an opening and she took it," the insider added of how Hudson, 24, has inserted herself into every aspect of her 73-year-old boyfriend's life and career. The consensus among people around Belichick, another source said, is that this relationship is "alarming" and Hudson "is a runaway train." She has been heavily criticized and mocked after interfering in the former Patriots coach's interview with "CBS Sunday Morning" about his new book, "The Art of Winning" -- shutting down the conversation when correspondent Tony Dokoupil asked how the couple met. Hudson has also made her presence known at the University of North Carolina, where she recently attended spring practice as Belichick prepares for his first season coaching college ball. In March, it was revealed that Belichick wanted Hudson CC'ed on all emails between him and Robbi Pickeral Evans, the school's Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs and Strategic Communications. |
| Mario Chalmers' NIL Lawsuit Against NCAA Dismissed by Judge | |
| The NCAA and major conferences on Monday scored an important legal victory when U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Engelmayer dismissed an antitrust lawsuit brought by former Kansas star Mario Chalmers and 15 other former college basketball players over the use of their NIL in advertisements, broadcasts and other commercial purposes. The major problem with the case: Too much time has passed from when the plaintiffs were bound by amateurism rules, and their claims are thus barred by the statute of limitations. Chalmers and his fellow plaintiffs all played college sports before June 15, 2016, which is the start date for the House litigation and which means they aren't beneficiaries of the preliminarily approved House settlement. The plaintiffs raise a familiar legal argument: The NCAA and its member institutions violated antitrust law by agreeing to rules that precluded their chance to earn NIL deals and allowed the NCAA to use their NIL. These players had to accept amateurism rules as a condition of eligibility to play for their schools. The Big East, Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and SEC are also defendants. Engelmayer agreed with several of the NCAA's defenses, including that the claims are time-barred. Federal antitrust law claims have a four-year statute of limitations. While there are circumstances that justify extending or tolling the allowable time, Engelmayer found no valid reason to do so here. |
| What happens if the House settlement doesn't go through? | |
| Nothing is ever simple in college sports, particularly its myriad legal issues. It's been almost a week since Judge Claudia Wilken released an order essentially telling the NCAA and Power Four conferences, "Phase in roster limits or I'm spiking the House settlement." While all indications suggest the conferences and NCAA will, in fact, heed the judge's warning, there is a world where they don't, and the House settlement doesn't receive final approval. What would that mean for the enterprise? I polled three legal experts who work in and around college sports for their thoughts. "We'll see many schools just move ahead with paying their athletes this summer regardless of whether the House settlement receives final approval. Based on my conversations with schools, that seems to be the general consensus, especially at the [Power Four] level. You don't need the House settlement to be approved to start doing that. Many state laws or executive orders already contradict NCAA rules and allow schools to directly pay. And even in states without a law like that, there's really little to no risk of an NCAA compliance issue if you move forward with paying when other schools are doing the same," said Mit Winter, Kennyhertz Perry attorney. |
| With NCAA-House settlement hanging in balance, a new roster limit proposal has emerged | |
| For months now, hundreds of college coaches have met one-on-one with their athletes to deliver a message: We no longer have room for you on our roster. By the dozens, individual schools have trimmed their sports rosters as they prepare to meet new roster limits imposed as part of the House settlement agreement. Hundreds of Division I athletes -- many of them in football, swimming, track, men's volleyball and cross country -- have either voluntarily left their team or been removed from their team during this roster purge. Now, if a plan under discussion is finalized, many of these roster spots could be restored in a grandfathering-in effort that protects the roster spots of those athletes currently on a team, those who have already been cut this year and, perhaps, even some of those high school recruits who committed to a roster position only to see it eliminated. During meetings this week among NCAA and power conference executives and attorneys, a proposal to phase-in the new roster limits has emerged, multiple sources tell Yahoo Sports. However, no plan has been finalized as leaders work to find the solution to a judge's order last week to protect athletes on existing rosters and assure the approval of the settlement -- an agreement expected to usher in revenue sharing with athletes. Such a move -- the grandfathering-in of roster positions -- comes with a bevy of questions, concerns and uncertainties. |
| The 75-Year-Old Woman Who Has Become the Most Powerful Figure in College Sports History | |
| The most powerful person in college sports history isn't a conference commissioner or an NCAA president. It's not even Teddy Roosevelt, who reformed football in the early 1900s following a rash of deaths on the field. Instead, it's a 75-year-old federal judge who has degrees from two schools -- and never scored a touchdown or sank a jump shot at either one. Claudia Wilken is the jurist who will have the final say on the pending $2.8 billion settlement of a class-action lawsuit that is set to end the NCAA's decades-old rules that have prohibited players from getting paid. It's no exaggeration to say that the future of college sports rests on her decision. The deal Wilken is scrutinizing would award back pay to thousands of athletes, while allowing schools for the first time to pay their athletes directly from the billions of dollars they help generate. For an NCAA that had long sold the public on unpaid amateurs as central to the appeal of college sports, it is an earthquake. To athletes, it's a revelation. At the center of it all is Wilken, a polite but assertive judge with wavy, graying hair, rimless glasses and a preference for keeping cases moving. Unlike most judges, she doesn't require people to rise when she enters the courtroom. |
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