Friday, February 5, 2021   
 
Diabetic-friendly restaurant opening at Research Park
For Kirk Hutchinson, there's a lot of power in one's passion. In less than six months, Hutchinson has transformed his hobby to a full-scale restaurant and bakery. Starkvillians prepare for our newest culinary addition: Power of the Almond. The restaurant and bakery will open at 60 Technology Blvd. in the Research Park, replacing the outgoing Park Cafe that opened in 2019. Power of the Almond will offer customers diabetic-friendly "sweets" and keto-friendly meals. "Struggling with diabetes myself, I always found it cumbersome to find quality products in stores that were diabetic friendly," Hutchinson said. "Many don't know it, but most diet companies market their products as sugar free but use these cheap sugar substitutes that actually cause an insulin response for diabetics and keto dieters. ... I said, 'Why not just make your own desserts and meals at home and see if people will buy them?' And boy did they!" He plans to open the bakery on March 1 and the restaurant, located in the same building, on April 1. Power of the Almond will be open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
 
Famous Maroon Band instructor dies after long fight with COVID-19
The Mississippi State Famous Maroon Band is remembering one of their own who lost his life from COVID-19. The band announced the passing of colorguard instructor and FMB alumnus Tim Avant Wednesday morning. Avant was a longtime band director across Mississippi. He started his career working with the Famous Maroon Band colorguard since 2016. "He was really involved in music education in a lot of ways and will certainly be missed," Director of Bands Elva Kaye Lance said. "He basically designed our auxiliary and coordinated equipment and designed their work as well." Avant was diagnosed with COVID-19 shortly after Christmas and battled the virus for weeks. "He, his mother, and his sister were all admitted to the hospital. His sister is recovering, but his mother passed away. Mr. Avant wasn't aware because of his own struggles," Lance said. Lance said Avant's passing leaves a huge void in heir leadership team and for musical education programs across the state. Avant was a vital role in other organizations such as Lion's Band.
 
Survey Shows Which Americans Love Sports the Most
A lot of people will be watching the Super Bowl this Sunday, but not everyone will be equally excited about it. A new study that considered the influence of gender and sexuality on sports fandom found that though 9 of 10 Americans say they enjoy sports at least a little, heterosexual men most commonly identify as passionate fans. In the study, about 60% of heterosexual men reported identifying as passionate sports fans. This was compared to 40% of both heterosexual women and lesbians, while only 30% of gay men reported being passionate sports fans. "One of the advantages of the survey data in this study is that it has a relatively large sample of individuals who identify as a sexual minority or as nonbinary in terms of their gender identity, which has not been the case in most previous studies," said lead author Rachel Allison, an associate professor of sociology at Mississippi State University. "It allowed us to show that while heterosexual men are particularly likely to identify as strong sports fans, there are substantial numbers of people across gender and sexual identities who are also passionate fans," she said.
 
MSU Virtual Greenhouse and Endowed Fellowship
Mississippi State University recently launched a 3D virtual-reality greenhouse project as part of its Future Growers Technology Initiative. The project is a partnership of MSU's Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems. The virtual greenhouse will teach students about analyzing crop production, a release from MSU says. The university's development team modeled the greenhouse with temperature, water and nutrient settings, as well as a control panel and user interface. Pulseworks, LLC, a company that specializes in motion simulators, is refining the MSU team's prototype. The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture is funding the project through a three-year grant, which runs through July 2022. The grant is part of the organization's Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics and Tools initiative. Mississippi State University alum Bruce Thomas recently donated $100,000 to his alma mater to establish the Dr. Charles L. Wax Endowed Climatology Faculty Fellowship. The College of Arts and Sciences fellowship will benefit meteorology and climatology faculty in MSU's Department of Geosciences. Wax was a professor emeritus and former geosciences department head at MSU. The fellowship's faculty recipients will use the funds at the MSU High Performance Computing Collaboratory to promote future weather and climate research.
 
New parks plan aims for cleaner facilities, more programming
Brandon Doherty started his job as Starkville Parks and Recreation executive director in August amid a slate of already underway capital improvement projects in his department, the largest being a $20 million tournament-ready baseball/softball complex at Cornerstone Park. To run the expanding parks system at peak efficiency, he noticed more systemic issues with staffing and management he needed to address. "We had so many instances where we had one person wearing seven hats," Doherty said. "It's not that we had bad employees or a lack of support. We had people doing the best they could with limited direction and structure." On Tuesday, at Doherty's request, aldermen unanimously approved a staff restructuring plan that would add $500,000 to the department's payroll over the next three years. It includes adding eight new full-time positions, a handful of seasonal or part-time positions and better aligning job titles/descriptions for existing employees with the department's needs. As a result, he said, residents should soon see increased recreation programming and "safer, cleaner" park facilities.
 
After 20+ years, some Starkville residents to finally get sewer service
By sometime early next year, the often stinky, muddy, water-filled hole where the septic tank drains in Darrell and Annie Johnson's yard on Babylon Road, should be no more. The Johnsons have been looking forward to that news for 23 years. "This septic tank has been a hassle, I'm telling you," said Annie Johnson, who retired after working at both Mississippi State University and Starkville School District. Her husband, also retired, is a former emergency medical technician and city firefighter. "Sometimes it will back up in the house," Annie added. "It's not good at all." Babylon Road and its 12 homes, located off Garrard Road west of Highway 25, were annexed into Starkville city limits in 1998. On Tuesday, they learned sewer service would finally come to their neighborhood through a $308,000 Community Development Block Grant. Mayor Lynn Spruill said the city has partnered for 15 years with the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District to secure block grants to bring sewer service to areas from the 1998 annexation that didn't have it. Babylon Road marks the third such grant-funded project. "We're hoping to get the project started this year and have it completed by next year," Spruill said.
 
Economy added 49,000 jobs in January amid COVID-19 surges as unemployment fell sharply to 6.3%
The U.S. economy added a modest 49,000 jobs in January as COVID-19 surges persisted but related business restrictions eased somewhat, kicking off a year that's expected to bring a pickup in hiring as more Americans are vaccinated. The unemployment rate, which is calculated from a different survey, fell from 6.7% to 6.3%, mostly because of a big drop in the number of Americans working or looking for jobs, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated that 70,000 jobs were added last month. Also disappointing: Total job gains for November and December were revised down by 159,000. The lackluster report comes as President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats look to move quickly on a $1.9 trillion stimulus aimed at easing the economic pain Americans are suffering as a result of the pandemic. Early Friday, the Senate approved a budget resolution that will pave the way for the chamber to take up Biden's American Rescue Plan without the threat of a GOP filibuster.
 
Mississippi says out-of-state residents 'not welcome' to its coronavirus vaccines
After news reports that Louisianans were heading to Mississippi for coronavirus vaccines, the Mississippi Department of Health said Thursday that Mississippi's inoculations are only for people who live or work in that state. The clarification on guidelines for out-of-state residents seeking vaccines came one day after NOLA.com reported that more than 5,300 Mississippi vaccines have been given to people with addresses in other states. "If they don't work in MS, they should not come here to get a vaccine," Health Department spokesperson Liz Sharlot responded in an email. "We order vaccine based on population. If you don't meet the ... criteria, you are not welcome to come over here and get a vaccine that is intended for Mississippians or those who work in MS. This is not right, and folks should not be doing it." Earlier, Sharlot had said people traveling to Mississippi for the vaccine were "not a concern." Sharlot said there are no identification requirements to receive the vaccine in Mississippi, and that verification is based on the honor system. There is some debate about whether vaccines are a federal resource and whether states may forbid them to non-residents.
 
Across The South, COVID-19 Vaccine Sites Missing From Black And Hispanic Neighborhoods
Communities of color have been disproportionately harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now they're at risk of being left behind in the vaccine rollout. Using data from several states that have published their own maps and lists of where vaccination sites are located, NPR identified disparities in the locations of vaccination sites in major cities across the Southern U.S. -- with most sites placed in whiter neighborhoods. The reasons are both unique to each place and common across the region: The health care locations that are logical places to distribute a vaccine tend to be located in the more affluent and whiter parts of town where medical infrastructure already exists. That presents a challenge for public health officials who are relying on what's already in place to mount a quick vaccination campaign. In Hinds County, Miss., where the state capital of Jackson sits, there's only one major drive-through site, which is where the state is sending the vast majority of doses. The state added the site in late January, weeks after it had already put two drive-throughs in the wealthier, whiter suburbs just outside the city. There's still a problem for the residents of Hinds County, nearly three-quarters of whom are Black: The vaccination site is north of downtown Jackson in a neighborhood that is 89% white and already has more medical facilities. It's close to a 30-minute drive from the more rural parts of the county, where many Black residents live.
 
What scientists know about the new variants and the Covid-19 vaccines
There is now real evidence that at least one coronavirus variant seems to elude some of the power of Covid-19 vaccines. What, exactly, that means for the pandemic is still being sussed out. Even if the vaccines are less powerful against the variant, they still appear to protect people from the worst outcomes, like hospitalization or death. But the loss in efficacy against the B.1.351 variant in clinical trials suggested to some experts that the immunity the shots confer may not last as long against that form of the coronavirus. Or that the vaccines won't be as powerful of a drag on transmission, the way scientists hope the shots will be for other versions of the virus. More urgently, experts said, the disparate results serve as a warning flag that the world needs to step up its current vaccination campaigns and expedite efforts to envision what Covid-19 vaccines 2.0 might look like. "It's a huge relief to know that the vaccines still seem to protect against hospitalization and deaths," said Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Bern. "The No. 1 thing at the moment is to try and reduce in any way the cost that this virus charges us as it spreads through societies. But it's definitely true the loss in efficacy, it raises some worrying questions."
 
Mississippi looks to create loan repayment for teachers
Mississippi could create a program for the state to pay off some college loans for people who become teachers. A bill that passed the Senate on Thursday would create a three-year loan repayment program. After a person completes one year of teaching, the state would pay a certain amount of the money the person borrowed for college. The state would pay more after the second year and more after the third year. People who teach in areas deemed to have critical needs would receive higher payments. Senate Bill 2305 passed by a wide margin. It will go to the House for more work. Democratic Sen. David Blount of Jackson said Mississippi has several programs intended to help fund college education for people who intend to become teachers. "All of them are well-intentioned, but none of them had been funded in recent years," Blount said Thursday.
 
Mississippi lawmakers pitch a college loan repayment program to attract new teachers
New Mississippi teachers could get help paying back their college loans under legislation that cleared the Senate on Thursday. Senators also approved a bill to ensure teachers moving to Mississippi don't run into licensing hurdles if they have already obtained a license from another state. Both proposals are part of a legislative push this year to fix Mississippi's teacher shortage. Though specific numbers on teacher vacancies are not available, the Mississippi Department of Education has previously reported about one in three districts have a severe staffing shortage. "Attracting more properly trained people to the profession and then keeping them in the classroom is imperative to continuing to improve academic achievement, especially as we recover from the pandemic," Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, said in a statement. The bill is called the "William F. Winter and Jack Reed, Sr., Teacher Loan Repayment Program," to honor both the late governor and Tupelo businessman who helped improve public education in the state. Only two senators voted against it Thursday: Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, and Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez.
 
After Biden executive order, Gov. Tate Reeves accuses politicians of 'pushing children into transgenderism'
Gov. Tate Reeves is accusing politicians of pushing children "into transgenderism" in response to one of President Joe Biden's executive orders. The Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation, signed by Biden on the first day of his presidency, seeks to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. In an effort to be inclusive, the order mandated that transgender women should be able to compete on female teams in school. Reeves stated that he is "disappointed" by this move by Biden, saying that "it will limit opportunity for so many competitors like my daughters. It is bad policy and it is wrong for America." "I don't understand why politicians are pushing children into transgenderism in the first place," the Governor also wrote. "I certainly don't understand why the President chose to make it a priority. And my heart breaks for the young women across America who will lose in this radical social experiment." Some states are already challenging Biden's executive order, with Politico reporting that at least six, including Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tennessee, have intruded bills to limit sports opportunities for transgender athletes. House Bill No. 112, or the Save Women's Sports Act, would require athletic programs in public schools to be designated upon the biological sex of the competitors.
 
Mississippi considers bill to outlaw 'revenge porn'
Mississippi could join most other states in punishing people for "revenge porn." A bill that passed the Mississippi Senate on Thursday would set penalties for people who share intimate visual material of another person without that person's permission and with the intent to cause harm. The material could include pictures shared during a relationship that were only intended to be seen by the recipient. It could also include images of someone being molested. The bill defines the material as photos or videos of a person's private body parts that are exposed or engaged in sexual conduct. Republican Sen. Jeremy England of Vancleave said 46 states already outlaw the sharing of such material that is sometimes called "revenge porn." He says Mississippi prosecutors are requesting a law in this state. Senate Bill 2121 goes to the House for more debate.
 
Bill would allow offenders to expunge multiple felonies
Mississippi lawmakers are considering a proposal that would give nonviolent offenders a chance to get more felony convictions wiped from their record. House Bill 122 would allow people to expunge two felonies from their record after 10 years and expunge three felonies after 15 years. The change would not apply to habitual offenders or anyone convicted of a violent crime. The time clock for eligibility would start only after a person has completed all terms and conditions of their sentence. Republican Rep. Jansen Owen of Poplarville, the bill's sponsor, said Thursday that passing the legislation would show that Mississippians have "a forgiving spirit." "This targets those people who went through a span of their life where they made a lot of wrong decisions, somebody in their 20s who got a drug conviction at 22, 24, 27 and now they're 50 and they go to church and they want a job and they want their kids to not see that they have this mark on them," he said. The legislation is similar to a bill vetoed last year by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves that would have allowed people to expunge three felonies after only five years. Reeves said then he felt the proposal was "well-intentioned" but "would threaten public safety."
 
Mississippi politicians continue to enrich themselves with campaign funds, documents show
Mississippi politicians continue to personally profit from their campaign funds, new state filings show, a practice that's illegal in many other states and at the federal level. In November, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney paid himself $30,000 from his campaign account. "Personal," Chaney wrote as the purpose of the expenditure, according to his finance report filed last week. Before he wrapped up a 16-year career in the state Senate last year, J.P. Wilemon, a Democrat from Belmont, pocketed $12,016 that was leftover in his campaign account, a filing shows. Lawmakers passed campaign finance reforms in 2017 following embarrassing reports by the Clarion Ledger that showed how officials had spent donations on everything from children's parties, to cars, to an $800 pair of cowboy boots. Yet a grandfather clause inserted into the legislation essentially let the unregulated spending continue – as long as politicians used money raised before 2018. Millions of dollars' worth of this old campaign money is still out there, according to annual reports recently posted on the Mississippi Secretary of State's website.
 
Mississippi medical marijuana regulations coming, but patients may be waiting longer
Regulations for a medical marijuana program in Mississippi will be in place by a July 1 deadline, members of the state Board of Health said Wednesday. But they cautioned that it's unclear how soon marijuana might be available to patients. Aug. 15 is the deadline for the state to begin issuing licenses for dispensaries and cards for patients. "I worry that there's a little bit of a misconception among some in the public about what that means," board member Jim Perry said during a meeting Wednesday. "They may be expecting that on Aug. 15, that you can walk into a dispensary or treatment center, whatever the nomenclature may be, and say, 'I got my card this morning. I'm here for my marijuana.'" Perry said growing marijuana plants for the program could take months. He said people cannot grow plants before they get a license, and then regulators will need to test the medicinal strength of the plants. The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said it could take six to nine weeks for growers to get viable plants for use in the program. He said the Health Department could try to "get a little ahead" of the July 1 and Aug. 15 deadlines.
 
Wicker, Sinema, Blumenauer, Fitzpatrick Introduce the RESTAURANTS Act
U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Representatives Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., today introduced the Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed to Survive (RESTAURANTS) Act of 2021. The bipartisan, bicameral legislation is an updated proposal to establish a $120 billion revitalization fund to support independent restaurants and small franchisees as they deal with the long-term structural challenges facing the industry because of COVID-19. "The coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten the existence of many of America's restaurants and the suppliers that support them," Wicker said. "Without additional targeted relief, many restaurants, especially small and independent establishments, may not survive the year because of state indoor dining restrictions. The RESTAURANTS Act would provide support to help these small businesses adapt their operations and keep their employees on the payroll as our nation works to finish the fight against COVID-19." The RESTAURANTS Act of 2021 is modeled after legislation the authors introduced last Congress. Their new proposal would create a $120 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund to provide relief to food service or drinking establishments that are part of a group of up to 20 facilities.
 
Bipartisan support emerges for domestic-terror bills as experts warn threat may last '10 to 20 years'
An apparent bipartisan majority of the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday endorsed the idea of new laws to address domestic terrorism in the wake of last month's riot at the U.S. Capitol, as experts warned such internal threats would plague the country for decades to come. Elizabeth Neumann, a former assistant secretary of homeland security for counterterrorism during the Trump administration, warned lawmakers that there is a "high likelihood" that another domestic terrorist attack would occur in the coming months and that the problem would persist "for the next 10 to 20 years." Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, told lawmakers that Jan. 6 had been a "watershed moment for the white supremacist movement," and that its adherents viewed the Capitol breach as a "victory." Their comments came during the committee's first hearing in its investigation into the riot that has moved House Democrats and 10 Republicans to impeach the now-former president for an unprecedented second time. The panel's chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), indicated that he expected its probe would result in concrete legislation to punish and dissuade such attacks, and better monitor and regulate the environments in which extremist ideologies proliferate. "We have to do something," Thompson said during the hearing. "I'm sure somewhere there will be agreement on specific legislation."
 
GOP eyes path to power by making peace with the far right
Over the course of 24 hours this week, House Republicans voted to defend a freshman conspiracy theorist with a history of violent rhetoric and a mainstream party leader who backed Donald Trump's impeachment. The seemingly conflicting moves signal that Republican leaders, particularly in the House, are betting they can return to political power by cobbling together a coalition featuring both pro-Trump extremists and those who abhor them. The votes also suggest that Washington Republicans are unable, or unwilling, to purge far-right radicals from their party, despite some GOP leaders' best wishes. "I do think as a party, we have to figure out what we stand for," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., warning Republicans to "get away from members dabbling in conspiracy theories." House Democrats voted Thursday to do what their Republican counterparts would not the night before, stripping first-term Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., of her committee assignments and leaving her effectively powerless to influence policymaking. The move follows outrage over Greene's use of social media to promote bigotry, anti-Semitism and violence against Democrats linked to the pro-Trump conspiracy theory group known as QAnon.
 
GOP senator warns his party must decide between 'conservatism and madness'
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who's said he may vote this month to convict former President Trump on an article of impeachment, is pushing back against possible retaliation from the Nebraska Republican State Central Committee by warning that his party must choose between "conservatism and madness." Sasse on Thursday released a five-minute video responding to Republican officials back home who want to censure him at a Republican State Central Committee meeting on Feb. 13 because of his criticism of Trump. He warned that purging Trump skeptics from the GOP is "not only civic cancer for the nation [but] just terrible for our party." Sasse, who didn't support Trump's candidacy in 2016 or 2020, dismissed his critics in the state party as "angry about life" and out of step with regular Nebraskans. "I listen to Nebraskans every day and very few of them are as angry about life as some of the people on this committee. Not all of you, but a lot," Sasse said in the video. "Political addicts don't represent most Nebraska conservatives." Sasse is one of several Republican officeholders under attack for criticizing Trump. But Sasse is standing his ground.
 
How Kevin McCarthy fought off a party revolt
On a plane ride back from Houston earlier this week, Kevin McCarthy revealed to a small group of Texas Republicans just how he planned to extinguish a pair of fires that were threatening to engulf their already bitterly divided party. He was going to try to save Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican who was at risk of losing her leadership post over her vote to impeach Donald Trump. And McCarthy was also going to give frustrated members a forum for their voices to be heard. But according to multiple sources, the House minority leader also signaled during Tuesday's trip -- which was organized to highlight the impact of President Joe Biden's climate policies on energy-industry workers -- that he would try to head off a floor vote to boot Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from her committee assignments for her incendiary behavior. In the end, Cheney easily kept her job, while Greene lost her committee seats when Democrats insisted on holding a vote on her fate. But in the process, the California Republican made clear this week that the post-Trump GOP is a big tent --- even if the party turns into a circus at times. How McCarthy has approached this dual set of crises -- with a mix of crowd-sourcing and people-pleasing that has become a hallmark of his leadership style -- offers a preview of how he plans to navigate what will undoubtedly be tricky internal GOP dynamics over the next two years.
 
MUW continues to bring safety in and outside of the classroom
Mississippi University for Women (MUW, The W) is working around the clock to keep its students safe through the pandemic. MUW began its spring semester on Jan. 11. University president Nora Miller said after enduring the fall semester, things have clicked into place. "In the fall semester, we were just, we had a plan and we were implementing it and just hoping that it would have addressed everything that we needed, and things were tweaked as we went through the semester, and we were able to just start spring and things are going well," she said. To keep numbers low, Miller said the university cleans in-person classrooms after each use and asks students to wear masks as often as possible. The W also continues to offer numerous courses virtually. "Laboratory science classes are face-to-face, nursing classes," she said. "Those that really need to be hands-on are face-to-face and pretty much everything else has moved to virtual."
 
Housing is a unique challenge MSMS faces during pandemic
A public high school teaching students from across the state in Columbus faces challenges other schools do not need to consider when thinking about the safety of their students during the pandemic. The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science (MSMS) is located on the campus of Mississippi University for Women (MUW). It accepts students from across Mississippi. Students are provided learning experiences similar to any other high school; however, the school is also a residential school. "With this pandemic, whereas traditional schools or day schools only have to worry about students during the day, we see the students 24/7," Executive Director Germain McConnell said. McConnell has served eight years as executive director but said this has been the most difficult school year he's ever faced. To navigate the pandemic as best as possible, MSMS has limited the number of students on campus at one time.
 
USM grad to speak about human trafficking in Zoom presentation Feb. 4
Attorney Brittney Eakins, a 2014 alumna of the University of Southern Mississippi, will give an online presentation on human trafficking via Zoom from 5:30-6:15 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 4. This free event is sponsored by the USM Center for Human Rights and Civil Liberties and is open to the public. A native of Kiln, Eakins graduated magna cum laude from USM with a bachelor's degree in political science before earning a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law, where she received a concentration Certificate in Criminal Law. She serves on the board of directors of Mississippians Against Trafficking, a nonprofit organization formed to facilitate collaboration with regional task forces, law enforcement, victim service providers and state agencies actively engaged in the fight against human trafficking. Eakins is a special assistant attorney general in the Criminal Appeals Division of the State Office of the Attorney General but will be speaking on her own behalf for this event.
 
East Mississippi Community College's Scooba library to host Smithsonian exhibit
The Smithsonian Institution's Museum on Main Street traveling exhibition titled "Crossroads: Change in Rural America" will be on display at the Tubb-May Library on East Mississippi Community College's Scooba campus from Feb. 8 to March 12. An opening reception for the exhibition will take place Monday, Feb. 8 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Guest speakers are expected to include EMCC President Dr. Scott Alsobrooks, Mississippi Humanities Council Executive Director Dr. Stuart Rockoff and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, who is tentatively scheduled to address attendees remotely via Zoom. The reception is open to the public, although given COVID restrictions no more than 50 people at a time will be allowed inside the Tubb-May Library and the room where the exhibition will be set up will be limited to 10 people or fewer at a time. Those who wish to attend the reception are asked to contact EMCC librarian Christina Jurusik in advance. "Crossroads: Change in Rural America" pays homage to America's rural past and looks at ways in which some small towns have successfully adapted to the U.S. shift from an agrarian society to one that is increasingly urban.
 
Fewer Children Are Attending School, Remotely and In Person
More children have been absent from school this academic year than a year earlier, with attendance declining as the pandemic wears on, new research and data show. Students attending school in person as well as those learning remotely are struggling with poor attendance, though it is worse among the millions of homebound students who are still learning primarily through a screen. Districts showed a 2.3% decline in average daily attendance nationally from September to November of last year, compared with the same period in 2019, according to data from PowerSchool, which tracks grades and attendance for schools. Attendance fell in 75% of the districts as the year wore on, dropping by 1.5% on average each month, data show. The data covers 2,700 districts that include more than 2.5 million students learning in person and online. Limited data from some states and districts shows that students learning remotely -- especially students of color, special needs and elementary school students -- were attending school less often compared with their in-school classmates. The data deepens concerns that the lengthy school closures will widen the pre-pandemic academic achievement gaps between poor students and others.
 
Auburn board to consider whether to approve $91.9 million football performance center and sell land in Montgomery
Building and real estate are on the agenda for Friday's Auburn University Board of Trustees meeting. The biggest item appears to be final approval for construction of a $91.9 million football performance center, which has been in the planning stages since the fall of 2019. The 233,000-square-foot center will include a 138,100-square-foot operations building, a 95,300-square-foot indoor practice facility and two full-sized, natural turf football practice fields at the corner of Samford Avenue and Biggio Drive. The center was designed jointly by the HOK Architects of Kansas City and Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood of Montgomery. The firms previously teamed up for Clemson University's football operations center. HOK has also worked on similar projects at Florida, Northwestern, Georgia and Ohio State. The project will be financed by university bonds, and the debt will be serviced by Athletics Department revenues. The department has suffered over $60 million in losses since the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020. In other business, the trustees will consider whether or not to sell $2.8 million of university property in Montgomery. Carl Stockton, chancellor of Auburn University at Montgomery, has notified the board that the three empty parcels -- 1.15 acres adjacent to the Hyundai plant, 5.6 acres around the corner from the plant on U.S. 331 and a 22-acre commercial development site on U.S. 80 -- could be attractive to potential buyers.
 
UF students and faculty oppose proposal to build on the McCarty Woods conservation area
Amid the dense foliage, ancient trees and rich soil that houses thousands of microbes in the McCarty Woods conservation area, Akito Kawahara sees it: a Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly. The Florida Museum of Natural History Associate Curator who studies butterflies said he had never seen the delicate creature -- defined by a striking blue line on its wing -- until the encounter on one of UF campus' most centrally located conservation areas. Though the moment was touching, he worries experiences like it will soon come to an end. In December, UF Board of Trustees approved a 2020-30 Campus Master Plan that marked 2 of the 2.9 acres of the McCarty Woods as a future construction site for research buildings, UF's Director of Planning Linda Dixon wrote in an email. The decision has been met with opposition from UF students, faculty and staff who have banded together to prevent the implementation of the proposal. Future development sites are needed for various academic and research buildings, Dixon wrote. Development in the eastern third part of campus is required to foster a centralized, flexible learning environment. "We need more buildings, and campus needs to grow," Kawahara said. "But campus can grow in a different way, and it doesn't have to encroach on existing spaces. Natural areas like that should be perceived as a building in itself."
 
Detonation Research Test Facility planned at A&M's RELLIS Campus
A Detonation Research Test Facility will be built and opened next year on the RELLIS Campus in Bryan. On Thursday, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approved a plan to invest $5 million to construct the facility. World authority on physics and chemistry of explosions Elaine Oran will lead a team of researchers at the facility, according to an A&M System press release. Oran is an aerospace engineering professor and the O'Donnell Foundation Chair VI in the Texas A&M College of Engineering. Oran and her team will use the new facility to examine how flammable gases and other materials interact and sometimes detonate on a massive scale. The work is meant to prevent mining, industrial and home accidents, predict the path of wildfires, make high-speed engines run more efficiently and potentially increase the understanding of supernovas. The facility will be near two other testing ranges being assembled for the George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex, in partnership with Army Futures Command, which is geared toward warfare-related technology.
 
U. of Missouri housing and dining rates will increase
Students at the University of Missouri and the other campuses in the system will face higher costs for housing and dining in the 2021-22 school year after action Thursday by the UM System Board of Curators. At MU, the predominant room and board plan will increase to $9,915 per academic year, an increase of $243, or 2.5%. Rates in university-owned housing ranges from a high of $10,275 per school year for a single suite that remains open over breaks to a low of $6,105 for a traditional double room in Hatch Hall. "Affordability has been so key to our decisions," said Mun Choi, UM System president and MU chancellor, in a post-meeting news conference. The board decreased housing and dining rates a few years ago, MU spokesman Christian Basi said. There are students who want a housing experience with higher amenities and others who want more spartan accommodations, said Ryan Rapp, system chief financial officer. "Our goal really is to provide and offer reasonable rates that are affordable to our students," Rapp said.
 
U. of Missouri curators approve projects, look to future of research, infrastructure funds
The University of Missouri System Board of Curators reviewed a range of financial measures Thursday, including increased student housing and dining costs, repair and maintenance plans and the future of the university's state and research funding. The board also approved the hiring of architects and engineers for MU's $31.7 million indoor practice facility, designating just over $1.5 million for a design process that will kick off a projected 18-month schedule. A complete funding plan for the facility will be presented and voted on in May, UM Chief Financial Officer Ryan Rapp told the board. A $9 million, 4,100-square-foot thermal plant located on MU's Research Commons area also received approval. The plant will supply steam capacity to current and future buildings on campus, including the NextGen Precision Health building and the new children's hospital, according to a report delivered to the board. Construction on the plant is expected to be completed in July 2023. In addition to federal funding for repairs and maintenance, the system is requesting $428 million and a $10 million line-item for NextGen Precision Health from the state budget.
 
U. of Iowa debates academic freedom of students, faculty and administrators
A University of Iowa dean apologized to a student for the way he was treated in the fall during a campus debate over former president Trump's executive order banning federal funding for antibias or diversity programs with "divisive concepts." The Trump order has been blocked by a federal judge and revoked by President Biden. But the way some Iowa administrators responded to the order continues to reverberate through the campus. The controversy started when the leadership and faculty members from the dental school sent a mass email to students and faculty members in October that condemned the executive order. The student, Michael Brase, responded to the email (and to everyone who received it). A few weeks later, Brase received an email from the college. "It has come to the attention of the Collegiate Academic and Professional Performance Committee (CAPP) your unprofessional behavior involving the follow-up emails you sent out on a public platform after you were offered other means to continue the conversation," the email said. Brase was ordered to attend a student conduct hearing. But the university backed down after Brase threatened to go to state legislators with the story. No hearing was held. The threat of a hearing was only in place for two days. At a legislative hearing this week, David Johnsen, the dean of the school, apologized.
 
U. of Iowa makes first distribution from blockbuster $1.165 billion utilities deal
Months after the University of Iowa initially planned to allocate millions toward its strategic plan from last year's blockbuster $1.165 billion public-private utilities partnership, officials Thursday said they've decided how to use the first $7.5 million distribution of investment revenue. The money -- pulled from a $985.9 million endowment investment the university made in March after shaving millions off its partner's upfront lump payment to cover debts, consultant fees and employee training -- will support initiatives to bolster student success and retain faculty. The university in December 2019 -- following the likes of Ohio State University -- announced plans to partner with Paris-based global energy provider Engie and infrastructure investment company Meridiam for 50 years of private operation of its $1 billion utility system. For the collaborative's $1.165 billion upfront payment, UI committed to paying its new partner a $35 million annual fixed fee plus the cost of utility expenses, employees, maintenance and upgrades, fuel and other items.
 
Has the pandemic shown colleges and universities a way to avoid snow days?
In the fall, Assumption University in Worcester, Mass., reviewed its inclement weather policy and decided it would no longer cancel classes during heavy snow. Instead, all classes would be held remotely. The nor'easter that hit Worcester and the Northeast this week gave Assumption the opportunity to test out its new policy. The university moved to remote-only classes beginning at 1 p.m. Monday through the end of Tuesday. In previous years, before the pandemic, Tuesday would have been a traditional snow day with no classes for any students. This year, class schedules weren't disrupted. In many cases, a COVID-19-induced pivot to online learning last spring paved the way for colleges and universities large and small to eliminate or curtail snow days. For example, at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., classes already scheduled to be online are to be held even if the university changes its operating status because of inclement weather -- although exceptions exist if instructors or students would encounter certain difficulties. Students lost some unexpected free time that in past years might have allowed them to engage in snowball fights, hang out with friends or catch up on some reading. But some, at least, appreciated the relative lack of disruption at a time when so much else has been upended.
 
Report Provides Recommendations On Improving Outcomes for Formerly Incarcerated Students
The Campaign for College Opportunity's latest report uses first-hand experiences of formerly incarcerated Californians to highlight the barriers faced during their transition from prison to postsecondary education. Titled "The Possibility Report: From Prison to College Degrees in California," the report provides recommendations to policymakers and higher education institutions within the state to improve outcomes for formerly incarcerated students and address the school-to-prison pipeline. Black and Latinx Californians comprise 45% of the state population but represent 72% of the prison population, the report found. "[The overrepresentation among Black and Latinx communities] is a result of public policies that have had very racist outcomes, from our tough-on-crime policies, minimum-sentencing bail policies, all of that," said Audrey Dow, senior vice president of the Campaign for College Opportunity. "So we said, 'let's start thinking about some policies that are anti-racist in nature and can go a long way to improving college opportunity.'"
 
Charges Against MIT Professor Underscore Geopolitical Risks of International Collaborations
The arrest and charging of a prominent Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor for allegedly concealing his affiliations with China is underscoring the tensions inherent in the increasingly global nature of university research -- particularly when it involves China. In recent decades, institutions like MIT have set their sights across borders, striking ambitious academic partnerships and finding financial support for their research around the globe. But that strategy of international engagement is under strain as relations between the United States and China have entered a new, more conflicted era. Research and innovation, prized by both nations in today's knowledge economy, are at the center of that clash. Professors are pushing back, saying that federal prosecutions of Gang Chen, a professor of mechanical engineering, and other researchers could chill collaborative partnerships and hurt American science and education. Some 200 of Chen's MIT colleagues signed a letter in his support, and similar petitions are circulating on other campuses. Many of the most interesting and pressing research areas, such as climate change, are not confined by national borders, said Richard K. Lester, the associate provost who oversees MIT's international activities, and talented scientists are all around the world. For American institutions, international collaboration also offers a new source of funds, especially as U.S. government support for research has been largely flat.
 
Sociopolitical factors stronger influence than pandemic severity in some college reopening decisions, study says
In fall reopening announcements, colleges and universities emphasized student and employee safety as important in their decision making. But a new working paper finds state and county sociopolitical features had a stronger influence on whether colleges held in-person instruction than did the severity of the pandemic. Among several factors considered, county sociopolitical features had the strongest influence on colleges' decisions to reopen with in-person instruction this fall, followed by pandemic severity and state sociopolitical features, according to the working paper. Public four-year colleges were most strongly influenced by state socioeconomic features, and private colleges more seriously considered pandemic severity in their decision making than public institutions. The new working paper is part of a series by the College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College. The initiative has studied colleges' decision making throughout the pandemic. In September, the group released data showing that the political leanings of colleges' home states played a role in their decisions about whether to bring students back to campus in the fall. This latest paper, titled "We Want You Back: Uncovering the Influences on In-Person Instructional Operations in Fall 2020," builds on those findings. Authors analyzed final decisions for fall semester instruction as of Sept. 9, 2020, for 2,469 institutions. The paper has not been peer reviewed or formally published.
 
Senator Chuck Schumer Pushes a $50,000 Student Debt Forgiveness Plan
Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, is amping up the pressure on President Biden to take fast action on a plan to cancel $50,000 in student loan debts for each borrower, a top progressive priority. Congressional Democrats have proposed a nonbinding resolution calling upon Mr. Biden to use his executive authority to cancel about 80 percent of the student loan debt run up by some 36 million borrowers. Many are low-income people, including millions of Black and Hispanic students, disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Mr. Biden, already wrangling with Republicans over his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal, has thrown his support behind legislation calling for $10,000 in relief. He is not expected to quickly shift, according to aides to Democratic senators familiar with the administration's position. Mr. Biden "continues to support" the canceling of student debt, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki wrote on Twitter. "Our team is reviewing whether there are any steps he can take through executive action and he would welcome the opportunity to sign a bill sent to him by Congress," she added.


SPORTS
 
'Who is this Bruce Arians guy?': Reflecting on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach's early days at Mississippi State
Landing in Blacksburg, Virginia, in the winter between 1977 and 1978, Mississippi State assistant coach Rockey Felker sat puzzled. Arriving just a few miles from Virginia Tech's campus, snow had begun to fall in the mountainous part of the South's northernmost state. Head coach Bob Tyler and Felker initially headed to Blacksburg in hopes of landing former Hokies head coach Jimmy Sharpe for MSU's 1978 staff. But there was more reason for the trip than Sharpe. It was in Blacksburg and through conversations in coaching circles that Tyler had become smitten with a hotshot former Virginia Tech quarterback who'd spent the bulk of the previous three years on the Hokies' staff as a graduate assistant. "(I thought), 'Who is this Bruce Arians guy?'" Felker said. "I guess, in my mind, I didn't know a lot about him." Before Arians spent 28 years in the NFL with eight different franchises, before he teamed with Tom Brady to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl appearance in their home stadium Sunday, he was a strapping 25-year-old, sporting a youthful grin and a handlebar mustache, who landed his first major coaching job in a remote corner of northeast Mississippi. Arians got his coaching start at Virginia Tech, but it was in Starkville that the offensive mastermind made his most prolific early marks.
 
State basketball finals back to Jackson; quarterfinals format changes
It's official: the high school state basketball championships will be played in Jackson this year. The Mississippi High School Activities Association's executive committee voted unanimously on Thursday to have the title games played at the Mississippi Coliseum. They were originally scheduled to be held at Mississippi State University, but COVID-19 disrupted those plans. The games will be played March 4-6. The MHSAA moved the championship round out of Jackson last year, with Ole Miss hosting. The semifinals were still held at the Coliseum, which had hosted the state finals for 50-plus years. The semis will again be in Jackson. Also, the MHSAA decided to move the quarterfinal games to high school campus sites this year, with higher-seeded teams hosting. That was the setup two years ago. "I think it's going to work out, and I think it's the only thing we can do," MHSAA executive director Rickey Neaves said. "Our board, our schools, everybody is doing whatever we can to get this season in."
 
How the SEC's revenue increased slightly to $729 million in 2020 fiscal year
Despite the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic that affected some revenue streams, the Southeastern Conference managed to fractionally increase its overall income and its per-school payouts during its 2019-20 fiscal year. The conference had $729 million in total revenue for a fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2020, according to a federal tax return that the conference provided Thursday in response to a request from USA TODAY Sports. As a result, the conference distributed roughly $45.5 million to each of its 14 member schools. In addition to the revenue shares, the schools that participated in 2019-20 football bowl games retained a combined total of $20 million to "offset travel and other related bowl expenses", according to a statement by the conference. For its 2019 fiscal year, the SEC reported $720.6 million in total revenue and per-school distributions of nearly $45.3 million to the 13 schools that received full shares. Mississippi did not get a full share because its football team had been banned from postseason play.
 
After Danny White hired Josh Heupel, Tennessee owes search firm $120K
The University of Tennessee will pay Parker Executive Search $120,000 for its work helping athletics director Danny White hire Josh Heupel, who had worked for White the past three years. Tennessee used Parker, an Atlanta-based search firm, to assist White during the football coaching search that produced Heupel's hire on Jan. 27. Heupel coached the previous three seasons at Central Florida under White, who was UCF's athletics director until Tennessee hired him on Jan. 21. Tennessee also used Parker in the AD search that produced White. That, too, carried a $120,000 fee to the search firm. The search firm also will bill the university for expenses for each search. Knox News, via a public records request, obtained the search firm's letters of understanding with UT that outline the fees. The sum of $240,000 in search firm fees comes during a fiscal year in which the athletic department has projected a $40 million loss in revenue as a side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and attendance reductions. Tennessee owes UCF a total of $6 million in buyout fees for hiring White and Heupel while they were under contract. Meanwhile, athletic department employees who earn $50,000 or more annually are enduring eight months of tiered pay cuts that started Nov. 1 and are set to continue through at least June 30.
 
U. of South Carolina's 2021 athletic budget suffers from COVID-19 impacts, coaching changes
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on athletic budgets across the country, and the South Carolina athletics department is no exception. The loss of revenue due to limited ticket sales, a conference-only schedule and the expensive coaching change for the football program left the Gamecocks relying heavily on television contracts and the Gamecock Club to ride out the pandemic. USC's athletic department is projecting the expected outstanding debt to be more than $160 million on June 30, 2021. At a Board of Trustees retreat on Jan. 15, Chief Financial Officer Ed Walton said that the "athletic revenue ... suffered mightily." Though Walton expects a full recovery by 2026, he admitted it is going to be a "long road." John Humphries, the athletics budget director for USC, said revenue from televised games is a "significant" portion of the budget and will be crucial for future financial success. "Even if you had no fans, playing those games and getting the games on TV was very important to be able to operate this year," Humphries said. On top of the pandemic-related financial issues, the budget took another major blow after the termination of head football coach Will Muschamp. Since he was under contract until 2024, his buyout cost the department roughly $15.5 million.
 
Black creative directors leading the way in college sports during time of racial reckoning
You may not know the name Chanelle Smith-Walker but she is one of the most unique people in all of college sports. She's the director of creative media for North Carolina State's football team, and in the post-George Floyd world, and during a pandemic, she's had to balance creating enticing content during an unconventional season and advocating for Black athletes during, and after, a summer of racial reckoning in the nation. Smith-Walker is a member of a powerful group of people in college sports called creative directors. They use graphic design, photography, video, social media and other means to shape the image of an athletic program. If the athletes are the heart of a program, creative directors are the painters who illustrate how that heart pumps blood. While the number of Black creative directors in college sports isn't exactly known, their numbers are believed to be extremely small, and like other Black people across all of society, they also battle on multiple fronts to bring awareness to the battles Black people fight every day. Smith-Walker, who says she's the first Black creative director in college football history, and the first Black woman to hold the position, has found herself educating her white counterparts on the importance of allowing student-athletes to use their platforms to promote change. Smith-Walker said next week she's leaving N.C State and will become the creative director at the University of Tennessee. As she has before, she'll break barriers, being the first Black woman creative director in the SEC.
 
Sen. Chris Murphy offers bill to help college athletes make money from name, image, likeness
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is introducing legislation today that would enhance college and high school athletes' ability to make money from their names, images and likenesses while leaving the NCAA and its schools susceptible to antitrust challenges if they do not comply with the bill's provisions. The bill -- which is simultaneously being offered in the House of Representatives by Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass. -- also aims to prevent colleges from taking any action to prevent college athletes from forming a "collective representative to facilitate group licensing agreements or provide representation for college athletes." While that language comes under a section titled "Athlete Rights To Market Name, Image, Likeness And Athletic Reputation," and may be intended to be confined to that one area, the specific language may raise issues for colleges relative to possible efforts to help athletes attempt to collectively bargain. The bill is the first related to college sports' ongoing name-image-and-likeness (NIL) issue to be proposed during the new Congressional session, with Democrats controlling both chambers. The Murphy-Trahan bill's inclusion of prospective college athletes is notable, as it defines a prospective college athlete as any athlete who "may be recruited by an institution of higher education."



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