| Friday, November 6, 2026 |
| Flesh-eating screwworm is spreading in the US, threatening livestock and wildlife -- hunters can be the first line of defense |
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| Mississippi State University's Jacob Dykes and Eric Michel write for The Conversation: For the first time in over 50 years, an infestation of the flesh-eating fly known as the New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) is spreading on the U.S. mainland, and it is putting livestock and other animals at risk. The New World screwworm doesn't just attack cattle. All warm-blooded animals are susceptible, including deer and elk, as well as small game and waterfowl. That means hunters headed to the field this fall may be the most important line of defense for spotting this destructive parasite and keeping it from spreading further. As co-directors of the Mississippi State University deer lab, we believe the country's millions of hunters can serve as a powerful early warning system by keeping a close eye on the state of wildlife they see. Wildlife agencies are already asking them to be vigilant and report any signs of screwworm infestations. | |
| What C.S. Lewis said about Narnia's most famous character: the Jesus-like lion Aslan |
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| Mississippi State University's Christopher A. Snyder writes for The Conversation: As Netflix teases glimpses of Greta Gerwig's newest project, an adaptation of C.S. Lewis' novel "The Magician's Nephew," many Narnia fans are worried. In particular, there's been online chatter about the new film's depiction of the great lion Aslan: Will he really look like David Bowie, with the voice of Meryl Streep? For many readers, Aslan is not just a literary character, nor an ordinary hero: He is a representation of Jesus. Aslan sings the entire world of Narnia into existence and performs Christ-like acts throughout Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia," which have sold over 120 million copies worldwide since the series' publication in the 1950s. As a scholar of medieval history and literature, I've taught and written about Lewis and "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien, who were close friends and colleagues for more than 30 years. Lewis himself was a medievalist at Oxford, and both of their popular literary series are steeped in their knowledge of medieval languages, literature, mythology and theology. Both authors acknowledged the ethical and religious themes of their fiction. Yet Lewis rejected the idea that "The Chronicles" were simply an allegory. | |
| First phase of Brush Arbor cemetery improvements complete |
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| Allen Landfair remembers feeling concerned as she would pass by Brush Arbor Cemetery. The state of disarray made her feel like the dead were being disrespected. The 2-acre historically Black cemetery was left neglected for years with shrubbery overgrowing, marked only by a small sign atop two crumbling concrete steps that made it easy to miss. When Landfair and her family learned a relative, Grover Zuber, was buried at the cemetery, they wanted to help restore it. "(We) wanted to do something or see something done," Landfair said. "They can't do it for themselves. We have to do it. We're here, left behind for that." Landfair was among those gathered for a ribbon-cutting Thursday celebrating the cemetery's new entrance, designed to highlight the site's significance and improve public access. Formal preservation work began at the site in 2023 with an MSU field school that aimed to digitally document the cemetery's history and residents. | |
| Board approves design exemptions for $45M student housing, hotel development |
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| The board of aldermen at its Tuesday meeting approved a variance and special exemption that clear the next step for a roughly $45 million hotel and student housing project. Ridgeland-based Desai Companies and Hattiesburg-based York Developments are partnering on the project, which includes a 100-room Home2Suites hotel and a 500-bed student housing development on a 21.6-acre site off Highway 12 and Pat Station Road, behind Walk-On's and La Quinta Inn. The two exemptions York developers requested pertained to student housing designs, which exceed the maximum building heights allowed by the city by about six feet and make more than 25% – the city's set limit -- of its units four-bedroom apartments. Both recommendations to approve the variance for the building height and special exemption for the apartment development's units received unanimous support from the city's Planning and Zoning Commission. Mayor Lynn Spruill said she is "excited" by the prospect of the vacant land transforming into a benefit both for Mississippi State University students and tourists coming to visit the city. | |
| U.S. employers added a surprising 165,000 jobs in October; unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% |
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| U.S. employers created a surprising 165,000 new jobs last month and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%. The hiring was far stronger than the 65,000 new jobs that economists had expected. The jobs report comes three days after voters delivered a stunning defeat to President Donald Trump and his Republican Party in midterm elections. Frustrated with the state of the economy -- and especially the high cost of living -- Americans handed full control of the U.S. Congress to the Democrats. Yet the American economy and job market have proven resilient in the face of a series of shocks -- Trump's double-digit taxes on imports and the war with Iran, which has driven U.S. gasoline prices above $4 a gallon and pinched family budgets. | |
| Mississippi revenues up $202.8 million over estimates four months into fiscal year |
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| Mississippi revenues exceeded legislative estimates by $79.5 million, or 11.5% over the revenue estimate for October. This adds to the state's four month fiscal year-to-date total revenue which is exceeding estimates by $202.8 million, or 8.13%. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee released the October revenue report on Thursday also showing that Mississippi revenue collections for the month were $132.6 million, or 5.17% above the prior year's collections. The total revenue estimate for Fiscal Year 2027 was set at $7,532,400,000. Sales tax and individual income tax collections for the month of October were above the same month in the prior year by $20.3 million and $9.7 million, respectively. This comes even as Mississippi is phasing out its personal income tax and has lowered the tax to 4%. Notably, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and Governor Tate Reeves (R) set the FY 2028 revenue estimate on Wednesday at $7.8 billion. That amount is $266.4 million more than the Legislature's current fiscal year sine die estimate, state economist and chair of the Revenue Estimating Group Corey Miller told the committee. | |
| Mississippi GOP chair vows to 'fight like hell' in Senate midterm vote counting |
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| As Democrat Scott Colom narrowly leads incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in a race for U.S. Senate, it appears Mississippi will see a partisan legal fight over thousands of affidavit ballots that will decide the outcome. Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst vowed at a Thursday press conference to "fight like hell" to ensure that only "legally cast" ballots are counted and that the process to review and count the outstanding ballots is aboveboard. "Let me be clear: This race is far from being over," Hurst said. "Right now, we estimate that there could be approximately 20,000 outstanding ballots left to be counted." Hurst said, without providing evidence, that the areas where a large number of affidavit ballots remain outstanding are traditional Republican-leaning areas of the state. When asked if he would name those specific counties, he declined. The press conference displayed the awkward and surprising position the state GOP currently finds itself in, a Deep South state that has consistently sent Republicans to the U.S. Senate for the last four decades. | |
| The Legal Wrangling Over Mississippi's Senate Race Has Begun |
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| Republicans sent a legal notice to Mississippi's 82 counties demanding local officials preserve any provisional midterm ballots as incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith trails Democrat Scott Colom by fewer than 2,000 votes. The unexpectedly tight race has dragged into a third day of vote-counting, and Republicans' request to segregate provisional ballots comes as both parties prepare to work around the state's unusual recount laws. Attorneys from Lex Politica, a law firm that represents Republican campaign infrastructure and candidates including Hyde-Smith, asked Mississippi officials to preserve the ballot affidavits submitted by people whose eligibility cannot be verified when they cast their votes. Election officials must later review their information to determine whether their ballot counts in the election. Colom's campaign described the letter as a "desperate stunt from national Republicans," saying sending them out "is what you do when you know you're about to lose a race." "We're confident that when every lawful ballot is counted, Scott Colom will be Mississippi's next U.S. senator," the statement says. | |
| Colom widens lead over Hyde-Smith with thousands of Mississippi ballots uncounted |
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| The race for Mississippi's Senate seat remains dramatically close: Scott Colom (D) pulled further ahead of incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) in a state that hasn't elected a Black senator since Reconstruction. Colom was leading incumbent Hyde-Smith by 1,813 votes, according to unofficial results as of Thursday evening, extending his small lead after election night. On Thursday, Hyde-Smith's campaign sent letters that signal it might challenge some of the latest-arriving ballots being counted. The gap could be hard for Hyde-Smith to overcome: Counties have until Nov. 13 to count the last ballots. Mississippi does not have automatic recounts and does not allow one of the candidates to request a recount. They are done instead by court order. A candidate who comes out behind by a thin margin and wants to challenge the tally could file a lawsuit to try to add or subtract certain ballots. They also could ask the Senate to decide who should be seated. Both campaigns are preparing for a drawn-out count. | |
| Attorney Whitney Lipscomb announces run for secretary of state |
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| Whitney Lipscomb, the general counsel for the Republican Attorneys General Association, announced Thursday that she is running for Mississippi secretary of state next year in the Republican primary. "I am more convinced now more than ever that Mississippi needs leadership with unwavering conservative convictions, a deep desire to make a difference and the ability to get things done," Lipscomb said at a press conference at the Mississippi Republican Party headquarters in Jackson. While this is her first time running for office, Lipscomb has spent much of her career in Republican politics and government. Lipscomb was deputy chief of staff and an attorney for then-Gov. Phil Bryant. She served as deputy attorney general for about five years under Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who is running for governor next year. | |
| Democrats rode rural frustration to Senate wins. Now farmers want results |
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| Democrats flipped Senate seats in previously deep-red territory such as Kansas and Texas in part by criticizing Trump administration policies that helped create high diesel and beef costs. Now they're going to be under pressure to deliver for farmers, who want the party to put words into actions once they take control of the House and Senate. To put it more bluntly, Democrats are facing "a lot of pressure," Democratic strategist Maria Cardona told The Hill. "But Democrats are looking at it as a tremendous opportunity to show the country not just what they can do, but to contrast it with what Republicans have done," she continued. Once the 120th Congress begins in January, the onus will be on Democrats in Congress and the Trump administration to provide relief for farmers. Outside of ending the war and reining in the president's tariffs, experts say it is time for lawmakers to address deeper issues facing the industry. | |
| 'The South rose up': Black lawmakers urge Democrats to invest in region before 2028 |
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| Black voter turnout fueled wins across the South in Tuesday's midterms. Now Black lawmakers are warning national Democrats they can't take the victories for granted. Following a string of stunning wins and incredibly close contests in bright red states powered by a surge in Black voters, Black Democrats are calling for their party to invest in the South now for future cycles. Many of them aren't waiting until the dust settles to actively seek commitments from party leaders and donors, who they have previously chided for not investing earlier in promising candidates, like Scott Colom in Mississippi's Senate contest, who is within striking distance of beating incumbent GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. "You cannot reap for which you don't sow," said Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.), who is poised to chair the Congressional Black Caucus next year. "The South rose up this election without the timely resources. Now imagine with a little bit of investment, not just at election time, but 365 days a year." Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who has previously criticized the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for not investing earlier in this cycle, said in an interview Wednesday he and other House lawmakers will lobby the DCCC to step up its aid to Black candidates in the South going forward. | |
| White House Warns Conservative Groups It Is 'Monitoring' Their Statements |
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| The White House delivered a warning to conservative groups on Thursday: We're watching you. Two days after voters rebuked President Trump and his party, the administration moved to hold together a coalition that was beginning to splinter. The White House Office of Public Liaison, which works with outside groups, sent a memo to more than 3,000 conservative organizations that laid out a list of Trump's accomplishments in office and pledged to prevent newly ascendant Democrats from reversing them. The memo concluded with a sentence that was highlighted in yellow. "As always, we are monitoring statements, press releases, and media engagements from your organizations," the memo said. Leaders of two prominent conservative organizations confirmed that they had received the memo. The memo came after Republican leaders and well-known conservatives publicly blamed Trump's policies for the election outcome. A White House official said the memo was meant to keep the conservative coalition unified during the final two years of Trump's presidency. Some on the right now argue that Tuesday night's election results ought to force the GOP to return to what Sen. John Curtis (R., Utah) described in a social-media post as "principled conservative values." "After the Biden era, Americans wanted an economy that worked for them," Curtis wrote on Tuesday night. "Instead, they received a hastily executed war, headline after headline of scandals, a ballooning $40 trillion debt, and unpredictable tariffs." | |
| Republicans worry that Trump's successor can't come from his White House |
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| Republicans' stunning midterm defeat is forcing them to confront a question that will shape their 2028 primary: Can their next standard-bearer come from inside the Trump administration? Vice President JD Vance remains the most prominent potential successor to President Donald Trump, but his blunt X post pinning the party's Tuesday collapse on the Iran war showed he's aware that it's a political liability for all Republicans heading into 2028. And concerns about Vance's viability are brewing in some corners of the GOP. "The biggest loser Tuesday night, heading into 2028, was JD Vance," one Republican strategist argued. "2028 shifted from a conversation about who could carry the torch of Trumpism, to who can rebuild the movement from shambles." Vance isn't the only prospective candidate tied to Trump with new problems after the midterms. While former Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested that Tuesday night might have opened a 2028 lane for Secretary of State Marco Rubio -- who's indicated that he has no plans to run -- anyone in Trump's circle could face similar headwinds. Others in the party are focused on an even touchier topic: Are Republicans doomed for 2028, particularly if the war drags on and voters continue feeling the economic effects? | |
| Fed Up With Politics and Struggle, Young Voters Rose Up |
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| Alienated by an older generation of politicians who felt out of touch and irrelevant to their lives, young voters revolted on Tuesday, powering the rout of President Trump's Republican Party. In swings of monumental proportion, young men aged 18 to 29 veered toward Democratic candidates by nearly 40 percentage points since 2024, according to preliminary results from Times Voter Trends. Young women, who were already inclined to support Democrats, swung by 27 points. In the Texas Senate race, men aged 18 to 44 swung nearly 50 points toward the Democrat, James Talarico. "He is my age," said Tristan Waumsley, 35, of Richmond, Texas, who voted straight Democratic at the state level for the first time in his life. "He sounded like I could have talked to him myself. He's somebody normal, like me." The youth movement swept in or bolstered politicians who looked more like them: Abdul El-Sayed, the senator-elect of Michigan; Rob Sand, the governor-elect of Iowa; Senator Jon Ossoff in Georgia; Nithya Raman, the newly elected mayor of Los Angeles; and Sam Forstag, an incoming congressman from Montana. The next clerk of the Superior Court in Maricopa County, Ariz., the Democrat Sebastian Matta, is a 19-year-old Arizona State University sophomore. Another 19-year-old, Daniel Darris-O'Connor, unseated an eight-term Republican incumbent in the Massachusetts House. | |
| Common book author Eric Weiner to visit Auburn for keynote, 'Ben & Me' book signing |
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| The Common Book Program will host author Eric Weiner on Nov. 9 at 5 p.m. in the Melton Student Center Ballroom for an author discussion and book signing. Weiner's book, "Ben & Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula," was selected as this year's common book. Jeffrey LaMondia, director of the Common Book Program, keeps the interests of the Auburn students in mind when choosing which novel to circulate. "We choose books that we think will resonate with students and faculty and staff and give them something to respond to and talk about," LaMondia said. This year, the Common Book Program strived to find a novel that balanced both the interests of the public and still fit in with events going on in the world. "This year we wanted to kind of lean into that America 250 theme and find a book that made sense for the Auburn community. ... The things that Ben Frankin was doing back then, we care about today," LaMondia said. | |
| Solo entrepreneurs dominate the SEC's fastest growing market |
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| Each week, hundreds of UT students with a Saturday ticket to Neyland Stadium open up Instagram, searching for the final piece to complete their outfit -- the 3-inch, shiny, coveted game day button. It's impossible to walk through campus before a Vols game and avoid them. But behind the scenes of this widespread phenomenon, you won't find the stereotypical multi-million dollar company run by suits and serious faces. In fact, these businesses are each entirely owned, operated and managed by one person. The bubbly smiles of collegiate women are the backbone of this market, with each creator filled to the brim with intelligence and an overwhelming sense of joy that she gets to share her creative outlet and entrepreneurial spirit with the world. She runs it all -- communications, design, marketing, production, finances -- and she runs it all through Instagram. With up to hundreds of orders each week for self-operated businesses, many spend upward of four hours a day on button making alone. For Ellie McKay, a junior public relations major and owner of "UTK Buttoned Up," this translates to an all-nighter every Thursday, perched at the desk in her Fort house. | |
| Former Columbia mayor, White House adviser funds U. of South Carolina leadership scholarships, speakers |
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| Steve Benjamin, the former mayor of South Carolina's capital city and adviser to President Joe Biden, donated $1 million to his alma mater to promote student leadership and community service. In response, the University of South Carolina named its leadership center, located inside the Russell House student union, in his honor. The center houses the school's more than 700 student organizations and student government. "As a student, I saw firsthand how mentors, service and a community that believes in you can help turn potential into purpose. My hope is that the Stephen K. Benjamin Leadership and Service Center will give students the same opportunities to learn, listen and serve alongside their neighbors while using their voices and talents to create meaningful change," Benjamin said in a statement. Benjamin earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 1991 and a law degree three years later, also from USC. While an undergraduate student, he was elected student body president and joined USC's historic chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, founded in 1970 as the campus' first Black, Greek-letter fraternity. | |
| Eli Jones, retiring Texas A&M professor, reflects on career |
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| In 1983, Eli Jones needed a job with benefits. He worked as a radio DJ in Houston and a wife with a baby on the way. Jones also held a degree in journalism from Texas A&M, which he completed in 1982. In need of a job with health insurance, Jones left his resume at The Bryan Eagle. He didn't think anything of it until a few weeks passed and the paper called his father's convenience store asking for Eli. That first job at The Eagle launched a career for Jones that led him all around the country. ... In 2015, as it had so often before, Jones' journey made another stop in College Station as he became the dean of A&M's Mays Business School, a position he held until 2021. He's proud of having served as dean at three different business schools in the SEC, but he's most proud of the students he's been able to teach at all of his stops, as well as having two different buildings completed while he was dean, one at LSU and another at A&M. | |
| Mizzou faculty question looming budget cuts | Higher Education | columbiamissourian.com |
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| University of Missouri President Mun Choi faced questions Wednesday from faculty after recent announcements of incoming budget cuts. "We face several emerging fiscal challenges that require careful planning and stewardship," the president wrote in an email sent out to faculty earlier this week. The email said the university will be looking to "identify opportunities to reduce FY27 expenditures and prepare for anticipated reductions in the FY28 core budget." It's those opportunities to reduce expenditures that came into question on Wednesday at the Fall General Faculty Meeting. During the Q&A session, Choi said no major decisions have been made at this time, and decisions won't be made in the future without the input of the MU Faculty Council. "There will be no major decisions about, let's say, restructuring of departments or colleges or other aspects that will affect faculty research, academics or extension without first speaking to the Faculty Council," Choi said. | |
| Purdue University names Jay B. Silveria its next president |
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| Retired Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria, president of the University of Arkansas System, will become the 14th president of Purdue University following his unanimous election by Purdue's Board of Trustees on Thursday (Nov. 5). Silveria will succeed Mitch Daniels effective Feb. 1, 2027. Daniels has served as interim president since July. Silveria, who has spent his career developing people, building organizations and connecting institutional missions to results, emerged from a diverse field of qualified candidates. A retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general, he has served as president of the University of Arkansas System since January 2025. Previously, he served as associate vice president and executive director of Texas A&M University and the Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, D.C. (2020-24), and as superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy (2017-20). Silveria grew up in an Air Force family and is a 1985 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Silveria earned a master's degree in social science from Syracuse University and master's degrees from Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and the National War College at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C. | |
| Colleges Struggle to Stop 'Melt': Students Who Commit, Then Don't Show Up |
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| It is a growing scourge for colleges, a phenomenon they call "melt." The term refers to students who commit to an institution in the spring, then don't show up in the fall. Some placed deposits at multiple schools and went elsewhere; others might not be attending anywhere because of financial challenges. Melt has become enough of a problem that administrators are developing strategies on how to fight it year-round. "They were saying, 'Yup, I'll be there. I'll be there.' And all of a sudden, they're not here," said Ken Woods, vice president of enrollment at Whittier College near Los Angeles, which had a 17% melt rate this year. "It's like, what happened?" The problem is growing nationwide, with some schools seeing 20% of their students disappearing after placing their deposits. Amid enrollment pressures driven by a shrinking student population, colleges are implementing anti-melt tactics -- known as "freeze" strategies -- to prevent competitors from poaching their committed students and to keep young people engaged with them throughout the year. | |
| New limits on federal student loans are steering many borrowers toward private lenders |
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| New limits on federal student loans filled Chloe Frabotta with anxiety as she began studying in New York City to become a physician assistant. The changes that took effect this fall include caps on loans for particular programs as well as limits on the amount parents can borrow to pay for their children's schooling. Up until weeks before Frabotta, 25, started her program, it was up in the air whether it would count as a "professional" program with higher loan limits. Amid the uncertainty, she borrowed around $6,000 in federal loans for her first trimester, taking out private loans for the rest with her mother as a cosigner. "At least in my circles a lot of people were like, 'I guess that's what I'm going to have to do, and I'm going to try to make it work,'" Frabotta said. Students have been turning to private lenders to make up the difference between the cost of their educational programs and the amount they can borrow from the federal government, which offers more flexible repayment terms, the possibility of forgiveness after 10 years in public service, and -- for many -- lower interest rates. | |
| How Can Democrats Make the Most of Their Win? |
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| In their campaigns to retake Congress, Democrats repeatedly pledged to lower living costs for Americans. When it comes to college costs, that affordability agenda must first focus on closing a projected $17 billion shortfall in Pell grant funding before lawmakers tackle more ambitious policy ideas such as doubling the maximum need-based aid to $15,000, higher education experts said this week. "You want to make sure that students can continue to get Pell before you're trying to expand it," said Alex Holt, a moderate right-leaning higher education policy expert. "It's not necessarily giving students more money in their pocket. So, I can understand why that's hard as a legislator from an affordability perspective. But ultimately you do need to save Pell. That's an affordability issue." Protecting Pell is just one of several concrete steps that Democrats need to take in order to protect their new majorities and win the White House in 2028, Holt and others said. With that power, Democrats could then take bigger and bolder swings on higher ed policy. | |
| Democrats Narrowed the Diploma Divide. But It's Still Wide. |
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| The degree divide has emerged in recent cycles as one of the great certainties of electoral politics: There are few surer predictors of how you'll vote than whether you have a college diploma. The youth vote, meanwhile, has long been an electoral X factor. It's hard to know how many voters ages 18 to 29 will turn out, and how far they'll lean to the left. In this year's midterms, the certainty became a little less certain, the X factor a little more decisive, and the blue wave benefited from both. The degree divide narrowed, while young voters overwhelmingly backed Democratic candidates. Seven in 10 voters ages 18 to 29 cast ballots for Democratic House candidates, a more lopsided margin than for any other age group. That includes the majority of young men, a departure from the 2024 presidential election, when college-educated young men, in particular, swung toward Donald J. Trump. On Tuesday, the same issue drove both the youth vote and ballot trends by education, experts said: the economy. The returns raise the question of whether the chasm in voting behavior between college-educated voters and those without a degree, thought to be intractable, can be shrunk. Many Democrats had all but written off noncollege voters as unreachable. To be certain, the gulf is still there. | |
| Harmeet Dhillon Resigns From Justice Department |
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| The blue wave that swept Democrats into office across the nation appears to have washed out its first Trump administration official: Harmeet Dhillon, who resigned from the Department of Justice Thursday. Dhillon, who served as assistant attorney general for Civil Rights at the DOJ, was the architect of multiple settlements with universities over alleged violations of the law, often related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives or pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. Bloomberg Law was the first to report her resignation, which she later confirmed in a post on X. Dhillon downplayed any connection between her resignation and election results. However, according to CBS News, Dhillon was pushed out by President Donald Trump, who demanded her firing after she appeared on 60 Minutes last month and offered what he considered a weak defense of his administration's election integrity efforts. Dhillon led the Trump administration's charge against DEI, which the Department of Justice has claimed violates federal law. A University of Virginia School of Law graduate, Dhillon was also involved in the negotiations that led to then-President Jim Ryan being pushed out last year. | |
SPORTS
| Countdown To Kickoff: Bulldogs Host Vanderbilt for Homecoming |
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| Mississippi State begins its home stretch for the month of November, hosting the Vanderbilt Commodores at Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday at 3:20 p.m. CT. Saturday will mark State's 87th homecoming game. | |
| Josh Hubbard scores 15, Mississippi State beats Northwestern State 82-44 |
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| Josh Hubbard scored 15 points, King Grace added 12 and Mississippi State beat Northwestern State 82-44 on Thursday night. Kimani Hamilton also had 10 points and seven rebounds for Mississippi State (2-0). Kai Simpson led Northwestern State (0-2) with 13 points on 4-of-16 shooting. Nathan Ojukwu and Isaiah Vick, who went into the game averaging a combined 25 points per game, finished with a total of three points on 1-of-12 shooting. Grace hit a 3-pointer nearly 4 1/2 minutes into the game that gave Mississippi State a 10-0 lead and it was at least a two-possession game the rest of the way. Eleven Bulldogs scored at least two points in the first half and 12 played at least 3 minutes. Mississippi State committed just six turnovers, outrebounded the Demons 50-34 and outscored them 25-9 in second-chance points. | |
| Did the midterm elections kill the Protect College Sports Act? Here's what happens next |
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| The blue wave that hit Capitol Hill could sweep away the Protect College Sports Act. Massive gains by Democrats in both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections dealt a significant blow to supporters of the wide-ranging, bipartisan bill to bring some of college sports' most chaotic systems under control, which is backed by President Donald Trump. For months, polls forecast Republicans to lose control of the House of Representatives. That was expected, but the huge margins won by Democrats in both the House and Senate make passing the bill during a six-week lame-duck session an even more daunting task than it was when the legislation passed the Senate on Sept. 28. "I had this at about 25-30 percent in October," Kyle Saunders, a political science professor at Colorado State, wrote on his Substack about the bill's chances to become law. "I'm moving it to 5 to 10 percent for some version of the PCSA passing this Congress." | |
| NCAA Goes After Gamblers Who Harass College Athletes |
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| The growth of sports betting has brought a troubling side effect: bettors targeting college athletes when wagers go wrong. In response, the NCAA recently announced it is actively engaged in the Bad Actor Program, a venture established by IC360 and Signify Group that monitors and investigates individuals suspected of abusive online behavior and shares information that betting platforms could use to ban individuals. Abuse and threats directed at college athletes have become a significant problem. According to an NCAA study of more than 20,000 college athletes, nearly half of Division I men's basketball players report receiving a negative or threatening message from someone who had bet on their game. The NCAA has also found sports betting impacts a much wider scope of college students than athletes. In 2023, an NCAA commissioned study found 67% of college students living on campus had engaged in sports betting. The NCAA is the first sports governing body to publicly announce its participation in the Bad Actor Program, for which Fanatics is the first sportsbook partner. Additionally, the NCAA collaborates with Venmo on a reporting hotline dedicated to identifying and disrupting betting-related threats and harassment. | |
| Left-leaning Washington and Colorado join more conservative states in banning transgender athletes |
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| Voters in left-leaning Washington state and Colorado have approved measures designed to ban transgender athletes from participating in school-sanctioned sports. Measure 638 in Washington, which had more than 56% of the vote, will prevent students who were assigned male at birth from participating in sports designated for female athletes. The measure also requires athletes wanting to play in female sports to produce a statement from a health care provider verifying their gender. Proposition 134 in Colorado will require educational institutions and athletic associations to assign sports as male, female or coed. The proposal, which was supported by 52% of voters, will also limit athletes to playing in sports in the gender they were assigned at birth. The votes came in states where Democratic-led governors' offices and legislatures have declined to enact the kind of bans that have become the norm in Republican-led states. | |
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