| Monday, February 15, 2021 |
| Mississippi State University celebrates Arbor Day by planting trees | |
 | Trees play a vital role in everyone's life, whether it's your job or your health. Friday, Mississippi State celebrated Arbor Day by planting trees. Campus leaders were there as the student chapter of the Society of American Foresters and scholarship winners planted oak, elm, and hickory trees. They were planted around the center of campus and at the MSU-Starkville-Oktibbeha Partnership School. Organizers believe the celebration sends a strong message and commitment to the forestry industry. "Celebrate the importance of trees in our daily life. Trees help provide shelter. They give us even the oxygen that we breathe, and we are proud of the role we play as a university in our College of Forest Resources for producing leaders, future leaders, to support the importance of the forestry industry, which is one of the largest industries in our state. So, we are here to plant a very important tree right here on our Drill Field," said Dr. Mark Keenum, MSU President. |
| Despite pandemic, Dixie National Sale continues | |
 | The Dixie National Sale of Junior Champions began in 1970 to encourage young people to pursue livestock projects and has been the culmination of the Dixie National Junior Round-Up ever since. That annual tradition not only continued uninterrupted this year through the COVID-19 pandemic, but the number of animals shown during the week was actually up 3% from last year with 2,292 head of livestock. The 52nd consecutive sale was held Feb. 11. Throughout the week, 1,593 4-H and FFA members participated in the round-up. Forty-five animals advanced to the sale as champion market animals. This year, the total sale amount generated since the event's inception eclipsed $8 million. "Every participant we had this week exhibited more than just their animals," said Mississippi State University Extension 4-H livestock specialist Dean Jousan. "They showed an ability to clear even more hurdles than in a normal year just to make it to the round-up. Everyone involved, from the parents and event staff to exhibitors of animals featured in the sale, deserves praise." MSU Extension sends faculty and staff to assist with the event each year. "We're proud of this event's legacy, but, more importantly, we're honoring these students here today who made the Sale of Champions, the scholarship winners and also all the exhibitors that were here this week," said Extension Director Gary Jackson. |
| $4 Million Pilot Connects Small and Mid-size Farmers to Institutional Buyers | |
 | Announced in February, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) said it would invest $2 million to launch the Open Market Consortium (OMC), which is a multi-organization collaboration aiming to minimize food system supply disruptions. OMC will be led by the AgLaunch Initiative with supporting members including Mississippi State University, The Seam, Tennessee State University and the Wallace Center at Winrock International. Additionally, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture is providing matching funds for a $4 million total investment. OMC will develop and pilot an open-source, public-access blockchain system. It will focus on connecting small and mid-size specialty crop farmers to institutional buyers. The OMC founders note how the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the food supply chain to adapt in the short-term as well as it has brought longer-term effects. "The coronavirus is training a spotlight on the importance of our nations' farmers, an unseen workforce that keeps us nourished, and the significance of food and agriculture supply chains. In both good times and in times of crisis, this new technology can connect small and mid-size farmers with local institutions to keep food moving from farm to plate," FFAR Executive Director Dr. Sally Rockey said. |
| Tyler Jones joins Dispatch staff as Starkville bureau reporter | |
 | Tyler B. Jones has joined The Dispatch staff as its Starkville and Oktibbeha County bureau reporter. Her first day was Monday. On her beat, Jones will cover local government in Starkville and Oktibbeha County, as well as write pieces focused on the people, trends and issues that impact the area. Jones, 23, is a native of Vaughan in Yazoo County. She is currently a graduate teaching assistant on news writing in the Mississippi State University Department of Communication and is pursuing a master's degree in public policy and administration at MSU. She earned her bachelor's in journalism, with an emphasis in public relations, from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Jones also has interned with Visit Hattiesburg in marketing and communications. "Reporting and writing have always been passions of mine, so I'm excited that I get to bring the news to the public," Jones said. "... I'm super eager to start reporting on public service and local government here in Starkville." |
| Ice creates hazardous Mississippi road conditions | |
 | Mississippians in much of the state woke to a layer of ice on the landscape with the promise of more wintry accumulation throughout the day and record-breaking cold coming overnight. According to the National Weather Service in Jackson, areas in a band stretching from Natchez and Southwest Mississippi to Columbus face an extreme threat with an expected ¼ inch to 3/4 inch of ice and up to 1 inch of snow and sleet. Temperatures are expected to fall into single digits. Roads may be impassable and power outages could last up to two weeks. Areas just south of the band and northwest of a line from Natchez to Eupora are facing a significant threat with about 1/4 inch of ice and 2 inches to 6 inches of snow and sleet. Roads may be impassible and power outages could last several days. Temperatures are expected to fall to about 15 degrees Tuesday morning. The Mississippi Highway Patrol reported vehicle accidents across the state with treacherous driving conditions. Other accidents caused lane closures on interstates Sunday evening. |
| EMA directors report hazardous driving conditions, potential for power outages | |
| By Monday morning, the impact of the winter storm was already emerging, Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency Director Kristin Campanella said. "We have very hazardous road conditions everywhere in the county with wrecks reported on both the east and west sides of Starkville," Campanella said. "We're not seeing a lot of traffic in the city of Starkville but as that picks up, there is likely to be more accidents. We're urging people to stay home unless it's an absolute emergency." As the day progresses, the forecast calls for continuing freezing precipitation, bringing with it the possibility of power outages. Campanella said even without outages, the increased demand for power could have negative consequences. "Set your thermostat as low as you can stand it," Campanella said, "at least 2 or 3 degrees, so we don't overload the power grid." Campanella said as temperatures continue to drop throughout the day and into Tuesday, residents should keep a small steam of water running from faucets and open cabinets that contain those water faucets. "A slow drip isn't enough with the temperatures we expect," she said. "It needs to be a stream, not just overnight but throughout the day, probably well into Tuesday." |
| Coronavirus in Mississippi: 544 new cases, 2 deaths reported Monday | |
 | The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 544 new cases of COVID-19 and two coronavirus-related deaths on Monday. Since the virus hit the state in March, a total of 287,980 cases and 6,464 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported. There are currently 113 outbreaks at Mississippi nursing homes. There have been 10,355 cases of the coronavirus in long-term care facilities and 1,936 deaths as of Saturday, the latest figures available. Residents between the ages of 25 and 39 represent the largest portion of the infected population in the state, with 62,469 cases reported Tuesday, the latest figures available. Among patients under 18, children between the ages of 11 and 17 have the highest infection rate, with 21,555 cases identified. The 65 and older age group has the highest total number of deaths with 4,882 reported. According to health department data, 319,354 people have begun the vaccination process in Mississippi as of Sunday. About 123,520 people have been fully immunized against COVID-19 since the shots began in December. |
| Mississippi could set deadline for posting campaign reports | |
 | Mississippi's secretary of state could soon face a strict deadline for posting campaign finance reports, a demand the office says it is not equipped to handle without more employees to carry the workload. A bill that passed the state House earlier this month requires the secretary of state's office to make campaign finance reports publicly available within a day of receiving them. House Bill 718 also requires circuit clerks to send reports submitted by candidates for county or county district office to the secretary of state's office within a day. "This is about transparency," Republican Rep. Steve Hopkins of Southaven said Feb. 4 on the House floor. Hopkins said there have been issues with finance reports not being made public "in a timely manner." However, in a statement Friday, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said his office is not capable of uploading finance reports in a day. He said doing so would require additional funding to "develop and expand" its system. "While the Secretary of State's Office fully supports transparency in all levels of government, it is not reasonable to expect our office to make these reports available online within a day of receipt," Watson said. "We currently have one full-time employee devoted to Campaign Finance and would need many more to complete this task as the bill is currently written." |
| Rep. Jill Ford credited with female sports bill passage in Senate | |
 | A bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing in female sports at Mississippi schools and universities passed the Mississippi Senate 34-9 with four senators voting present Thursday night. The bill's author, Sen. Angela Burks Hill, R-Dist. 40, which includes Pearl River and Marion counties, said she introduced the bill in Mississippi after seeing issues arise in other areas of the nation, such as in Connecticut, where lawsuits have been filed after biological females lost titles to transgender athletes. "I also got calls from coaches in Mississippi who have athletes they believe would want to compete as females," Hill said. Hill said she was pleased with the overwhelming support of the bill in the Senate and hopes it will pass in the House. Hill also said she is encouraged because State Rep. Jill Ford, R Dist. 73, Madison, added an amendment banning transgender athletes from competing in female sports to a House bill on pay for student-athletes Thursday night. Hill thanked Ford and others for their efforts in supporting the measure in social media post after Thursday night's vote. SB 2536 has met opposition from LGBTQ rights groups. |
| LGBTQ advocacy group reacts to Senate, House bills they call discriminatory | |
 | A Senate Bill to ban transgender females from playing girls' and women's sports in Mississippi public schools and colleges passed by 34-9. Senate Bill 2536, also requires that every member of a team have the same biological sex. Republican Senator Angela Hill of Picayune authored the bill. "I've had numerous coaches across the state call me and believe there's a need for a policy in Mississippi, because they're beginning to have some concerns of having to deal with this. Mississippi is one of only ten states that don't have a policy," said Angela Hill. Rob Hill is with the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group. He says the legislation is a cookie-cutter bill being used across the country by extremist groups. Hill says the false story conveyed is that men and boys are transitioning to become females so they have a competitive edge in sports. "There's no evidence of anything like that occurring so I'm angry. This is not just an attack on transgender people but it's an attempt to disenfranchise, further disenfranchise the LGBTQ community," said Rob Hill. The House also passed a bill that would allow college athletes to be compensated for their name and likeness. House Bill 1030 passed with an amendment that bans males from playing on females teams. Rob Hill says both measures advance fear and hate. |
| Rep. Jerry Turner urges overnight parking policy at weigh stations | |
 | A Lee County legislator and north Mississippi's highway commissioner are exploring the possibility of allowing truckers to park and sleep overnight at state-operated weigh stations. Rep. Jerry Turner, R-Baldwyn, has encouraged the Mississippi Department of Transportation to drop its policy banning overnight parking at its scale facilities. Turner said when drivers need to sleep or rest, there are often limited options to get off the road. "One night I came by where the truck stop is at Belden. Both ramp sides had trucks lined up, coming off and on the entrance ramp," Turner said. "Truckers were there sleeping. That's not the safest thing in the world, and the truckers don't like it." Federal regulations limit the number of consecutive hours truckers may drive on the road and mandate certain periods of rest, both within a single day and over longer spans of time. Hours-of-service, or HOS, regulations limit property-carrying truckers to a maximum of 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off duty. Drivers who violate these rules face hefty fines, or with repeated violations, even criminal penalties. |
| Mississippi politician David Jordan giving up 1 of his 2 offices | |
| A longtime Mississippi state senator is not seeking reelection to the other office he holds. David Jordan, a Democrat, has been on the Greenwood City Council 36 years. He originally filed to seek another term this year, but he withdrew from the race shortly before the Feb. 5 qualifying deadline. "I've enjoyed the ride for 36 years," Jordan said. "It's been challenging, but I've enjoyed every moment of it.″ The Greenwood Commonwealth reported that Jordan's action left only one candidate in the Ward 6 council race -- Democrat Dorothy Glenn. Glenn, 63, represented Ward 5 on the council from 2013 until November 2014, when the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling that she was not a resident of Ward 5 and forced her off. Jordan, 87, remains in the state Senate, where he has served since 1993. Mississippi law allows people to serve in two offices at the same time, as long as they are in the same branch of government. The city council and the state Senate are both in the legislative branch. |
| Will impeachment even be a blip in 2022 battle for Senate control? | |
 | Former President Donald Trump's historic second impeachment has dominated recent headlines, but neither party expects the votes cast Saturday by senators from battleground states to be a major factor in the fight for Senate control next year. With the midterms more than 20 months away, some party operatives don't believe the high-profile impeachment trial will be an issue on the campaign trail next year. That was the case with Trump's first impeachment at the start of 2020, which by November had been overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic, an economic crisis and a national reckoning over social justice. "We'll see what happens," National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott told CQ Roll Call on Friday when asked if impeachment could be an issue in the midterms. "I think the election is going to be about issues," the Florida Republican said. "I think the Biden administration is doing so many things that are killing jobs that it's all going to be about job creation." The more immediate political impact could be felt in primaries. |
| Party leaders rip Republicans who voted to convict Trump | |
 | The seven Republican senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection are already feeling the heat back home. Several state Republican parties moved quickly to discipline or criticize home-state senators for breaking with the 43 other Senate Republicans who voted to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial. The moves are the latest in a series of censures and disciplinary actions doled out to lawmakers deemed to be critical of the former president in the wake of the Capitol riot. Trump, acquitted Saturday of inciting the insurrection, still has broad support among Republican voters and state and local parties have lashed out at elected officials who have been critical of his actions. In Wyoming, the state party voted to censure Rep. Liz Cheney for her House vote to impeach Trump. The Arizona Republican Party recently censured Republican Gov. Doug Ducey after he opted not to back Trump's bid to subvert the election results. The Arizona party also censured Cindy McCain, GOP Sen. John McCain's widow, and former GOP Sen. Jeff Flake after they backed Joe Biden for president. |
| Bill Cassidy's vote to convict Trump draws swift, harsh backlash from Louisiana Republicans | |
 | U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy broke with the Republican party in visceral terms Saturday, voting with just six other members of his party to convict Donald Trump on charges of incitement of insurrection and declaring he was putting the Constitution over the former president. The blowback from Republicans back home was swift and dramatic. The state GOP took the remarkable step of censuring the Baton Rouge Republican hours after his vote to convict. Several Republican elected officials condemned the senator, who was a reliable conservative vote during his first six-year term that began in 2014, voting with Trump 89% of the time. The schism between Cassidy and his own party made clear that the allegiances among many Louisiana Republicans still lay with the former president, and not their senior U.S. senator. "Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person," Cassidy said in a brief video released after the vote. "I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty." Louisiana's other senator, John Kennedy of Madisonville, who is up for re-election in 2022, voted to acquit Trump, criticizing the impeachment proceedings as "political sport." |
| Sen. Lindsey Graham: Lara Trump is biggest winner of impeachment trial | |
 | Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) predicted former President Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump will benefit from his second acquittal in an impeachment trial this weekend. "The biggest winner of this whole impeachment trial is Lara Trump," Graham said on "Fox News Sunday." "My dear friend Richard Burr, who I like and have been friends to a long time, just made Lara Trump almost the certain nominee for the Senate seat in North Carolina to replace him if she runs, and I certainly will be behind her because she represents the future of the Republican Party." Burr, a Republican who is retiring, voted to convict former President Trump on Saturday on the sole article of inciting an insurrection on the U.S. Capitol earlier this year. "The evidence is compelling that President Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection against a coequal branch of government and that the charge rises to the level of high Crimes and Misdemeanors," Burr said in a statement Saturday. "Therefore, I have voted to convict." A poll taken late last year showed Lara Trump as the favorite among possible Republican primary candidates to fill Burr's vacant seat. She is married to the former president's son Eric and was a top surrogate for both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. |
| Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell votes 'not guilty' at impeachment trial, then calls Trump actions 'unconscionable' | |
 | After a lengthy silence about how he would vote in former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ultimately voted Saturday to acquit. Trump was accused of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Senate fell short of the 67 votes, a two-thirds majority, required to impeach him, voting 57-43 in favor of impeachment. Both McConnell and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul voted to find Trump "not guilty." In a speech on the Senate floor after the vote, McConnell condemned Trump's behavior as "unconscionable," but he said "we have no power to convict and disqualify a former office holder who is now a private citizen." "I believe the Senate was right not to grab power the Constitution doesn't give us," he said. On Saturday, McConnell said rioters at the Capitol Jan. 6 acted as they did "because they'd been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth because he was angry because he'd lost the election." |
| Three exhibitions will feature W students' artwork | |
| Mississippi University for Women is celebrating the artistic achievements of its students this month in three exhibitions. "Museum Studies: Anatomy of an Exhibition" is on display through March 12 at The W Galleries. The annual "Juried Student Exhibition" will be Feb. 17 through March 12, also at The W Galleries. The work of Audrea Powell, a senior at The W, will be on display on the third floor of Welty Hall. The display of Powell's recent artwork will be up from Feb. 11 to April 23. Beverly Joyce, director of The W Galleries and a professor of art history, said the exhibitions are an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of The W students and to follow their continued growth and maturation. "The project was a challenge in that students conducted traditional research but had to think about how to communicate their findings in an object-based format," Joyce said. East Central Community College art instructor Jeffrey Hodges served as the juror. |
| UM campus closed due to winter weather | |
 | The University of Mississippi's Oxford campus will be closed on Monday, Feb. 15, due to inclement winter weather that will impact travel conditions on roadways. Regional campuses will make individual announcements about operating hours on their campus websites. "Students, faculty and staff are urged not to travel to campus as the Oxford Police Department is reporting icing on roadways that already contributed to several accidents," a weather alert email to the university community read on Sunday, Feb. 14. "A combination of ice and snow accumulation is expected tonight and Monday and temperatures forecast to remain well below freezing for at least a couple of days, resulting in hazardous driving conditions." Along with the Oxford campus, the Oxford-University Transit bus system will also be closed on Monday. |
| Weather Closures: JSU, Belhaven Cancel Classes; MSDH Closes Vaccine Sites | |
| Colleges and state government entities are announcing closures this evening due to winter weather forecast for Monday: Jackson State University: Due to inclement winter weather, all campuses of Jackson State University are closed Monday, Feb. 15, and classes are canceled. As always, we want to ensure the safety of our students, faculty and staff. For further updates about inclement conditions, we urge the campus community and constituents to monitor the university's social media and website: www.jsums.edu. Belhaven University: Due to the severe winter storm, the campus will be closed all day and evening on both Monday, February 15 and Tuesday, February 16. No classes will be held on campus or virtually on Monday and Tuesday either for traditional or adult students. For the latest updates, please call the Inclement Weather Information line at 601-968-8998 or visit the Belhaven University website at www.belhaven.edu. |
| U. of Tennessee pharmacy student suing over 'vague' professionalism codes | |
 | Kimberly Diei, a second-year doctoral student at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's College of Pharmacy, said she has a "mind for medicine" and decided to pursue pharmacy as a way to touch the lives of a range of patients. Diei got her bachelor's degree in biological sciences at the University of Chicago, which is considered one of the nation's most academically rigorous colleges. She is a frequent participant in class, so much so that she said classmates have complained and approached her about limiting her speaking time. She said the "toxic" and targeted comments by classmates soon escalated into formal reports, as fellow pharmacy students began to monitor and anonymously share Diei's personal social media posts with college administrators, claiming they were in violation of the Memphis health science center's "professional standards" for students studying health and medicine. The offending content -- more than 17 tweets and posts under her Instagram and Twitter pseudonym, KimmyKasi -- included a selfie of Diei wearing a top that exposed her cleavage and profane rap lyrics she wrote based on the Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion song, "WAP," which had recently sparked a national conversation about women's sexuality and empowerment. Diei said she personally identified with the song because it was made by and for people like her, "strong Black women who embrace our sexuality." |
| Texas A&M professor leads research showing energy drink's harmful effects on heart | |
 | A Texas A&M University professor recently led a team of researchers that determined energy drinks can be harmful to the heart's muscle cells. Ivan Rusyn, a professor in A&M's Veterinary Integrative Biosciences Department, led a team that examined lab-grown human heart cells that had been exposed to energy drinks that affected the heart's function, including an increased heart rate. The team's research will be published in the March edition of Food and Chemical Toxicology. The study found that consuming energy drinks has resulted in improper heartbeat, cardiomyopathy, increased blood pressure and other heart conditions. Rusyn said in a release announcing the findings that it is important to understand the potential health consequences of consuming energy drinks. Energy drink sales are increasing after totaling around $53 billion worldwide in 2018, the release said. "Because the consumption of these beverages is not regulated and they are widely accessible over the counter to all age groups, the potential for adverse health effects of these products is a subject of concern and needed research," Rusyn said. "Indeed, the consumption of energy drinks has been associated with a wide range of adverse health effects in humans, many of them are concerning the effects on the heart." |
| 'It's Going To Be Hard': A New West Point Leader On Confronting Extremism In Military | |
 | Brig. Gen. Mark Quander is taking a new leadership role at the prestigious military school of West Point at a time that the spotlight has returned to the problem of extremism in the military. Quander was appointed last month to be the next commandant of cadets, equivalent to a dean of students. Many graduates of West Point go on to leadership roles in the military. "It's hard and it's also very challenging," Quander tells Michel Martin on All Things Considered about confronting extremism. "Because I think if it was easy, we would have fixed it a long time ago. But I do think that everyone is committed to addressing it." Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week ordered a military-wide "stand down" for commanders to discuss the "corrosive effects" of extremist ideologies. His family is also front and center when it comes to his thinking about his job at West Point, which he will start this spring or summer. "For me, it's personal because we're continuing the tradition" of family military service, he says. "My niece is up there right now and she'll be a senior next year, or 'firstie.' And so for me, now there's another personal connection to making sure that we can develop leaders of character to serve our nation." |
| English departments rethink what to call themselves | |
| English departments nowadays are big tents, housing experts on everything from Chaucer and Shakespeare to LGBTQ and diaspora literature. Increasingly, departments are tweaking their names to reflect this diversity. Cornell University's Board of Trustees, for instance, recently approved the English department's vote to rebrand itself as the department of literatures in English. Department professors Carole Boyce-Davies, Mukoma Wa Ngugi and Derrick Spires proposed the idea last summer, writing in an open letter that the "double pandemic of COVID-19 and global racism, along with the demands for decolonized institutions, have brought a new urgency to ongoing questions about how racism functions in symbolic and structural ways." English departments historically "bore the imprint of British colonialism and imperialism" and "were therefore meant to valorize English dominance in language, literature and culture," the letter said. But following the "advancement of a range of literary studies over the last century and a growing faculty and students from diverse cultural locations, the need to create a more dynamic department of literatures in English which actually reflects the world has become an even stronger mandate." |
| Evolving patchwork of approaches for how states prioritize educators for COVID vaccines raises equity concerns | |
| As states continue fine-tuning their plans for prioritizing scarce doses of COVID-19 vaccines, some in higher education who expected to be vaccinated along with other educators have found themselves pushed farther back in line. About half of all states are already vaccinating K-12 teachers. But while some states are treating college educators the same as teachers for prioritization purposes, many are not. Some states are prioritizing K-12 workers first and scheduling higher education workers for later vaccination phases, while other states are seemingly not giving any prioritization to higher education workers and are instead leaving them to be vaccinated according to wherever they fall in line among the general population. Bioethics experts disagree on the fairness of prioritizing individuals for vaccine distribution by virtue of their occupation. But for those states that have chosen to give educators early doses of the vaccine -- a choice that's in line with the recommendations of an influential federal advisory group -- the variety and still-evolving nature of approaches has created frustration and raised equity concerns. |
| What's the Best Business School? For This Year's M.B.A. Rankings, It's Not Who You Think. | |
 | Several top U.S. business schools are skipping popular M.B.A. rankings this year, upending an annual rite for programs and prospective students. Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Columbia Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, among others, opted to skip the most recent rankings by the Economist and the Financial Times. Several schools said Covid-19 made it difficult to gather the data they must submit to be ranked. More than bragging rights hang in the balance -- though there are plenty of those, too. Schools say a good showing in rankings can draw interest from prospective students, stoking application volumes, as well as plaudits or pans from alumni who continue to track their alma mater long after leaving campus. Overall, 62% of programs plan to participate in some rankings, while 10% don't plan to cooperate for any lists this year, according to a survey of business-school admissions officials by Kaplan, the education subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Co. Bloomberg Businessweek suspended its 2020 ranking, the only major list to do so. Dozens of notable schools were missing from the Economist's list published last month. Nine schools that normally take part in the FT's list chose not to participate, a spokeswoman said. |
| The Great Contraction: Cuts alone will not be enough to turn colleges' fortunes around | |
 | When the chaos of the pandemic eventually subsides and the dust settles, American higher education as a whole may look very different: Wealthy institutions will remain relatively unchanged, but a stratum of even leaner public universities and smaller private colleges are likely to have moved further away from the classic spectrum of a university education. Their academic offerings, taught by a faculty whose jobs are less secure, will be focused more tightly on job outcomes. And in the aftermath of a crisis that has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable students, they may employ fewer student-support specialists and may call on faculty and staff members more often to fill those shoes. Such shifts don't have to mean that colleges become trade schools, or that the liberal arts are dead. But Covid-19 has narrowed the options for leaders, shortened the timeline for any changes, and raised the stakes for the outcomes. Colleges may succeed in positioning themselves for a future in which they can grow, but that depends on the strategic decisions they make today. |
| The issue closest to hearts of lawmakers is coming: legislative redistricting | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: A smile can be seen behind Rep. Jim Beckett's Ole Miss mask when he is asked if his colleagues are already coming to him to talk about the redrawing of their legislative districts. After all, nothing is more important to most legislators than having a district in which they can be re-elected. "A day doesn't go by when somebody doesn't want to share his or her opinion," said Beckett, a Republican from Bruce. "My response is we don't have the (Census) numbers yet. I tell them they will be given an opportunity...That is my intention to talk with the members about their districts." Beckett, though, stressed that he is making no promises that House members will get all they want in the process of redrawing the 122 House districts to match population shifts found by the 2020 Census. Beckett, a small-town attorney who is in his fourth term in the House, was tabbed by Speaker Philip Gunn to head up the all-important-to-legislators task of redistricting. On the Senate side, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann is playing his cards close to his vest. He has yet to name a chair of the Senate redistricting panel. |
SPORTS
| Monday Profile: Meet Ron Caulfield, Mississippi State baseball's own Candyman | |
| If Willy Wonka based his operations in North America, Ron Caufield might well be his director of Southeast distribution. For more than two decades, Caulfield, better known around Starkville as "The Candyman," has endeared himself to Mississippi State faithful young and old through an ear-to-ear grin and a 40-pound bag of varying confections. Perched among the barbecues and grills in the outfield rigs at Dudy Noble Field, he's the sweets connoisseur everyone wants a piece of. "He's a big kid," Lisa Daniels, a longtime friend of Caulfield's, said. "He's got a big heart. ... Once you meet him, if you weren't his friend before, when you leave, you're his friend." A 1975 graduate of MSU, Caulfield is as fanatic as fans come. His wardrobe is littered with varying shades of maroon and white, an ode to his love for his alma mater. Friends joke sitting alongside him at Bulldog baseball games takes getting used to, given his boisterous voice and deafening claps that permeate throughout the Left Field Lounge during the spring. "Ron is an avid, avid, avid Bulldog fan," Barbara Gilbert, another longtime friend and former coworker of Caulfield's, said. "That's all he lives, eats, sleeps and breathes." Now retired and relocated from Jackson to Starkville, Caulfield is a fixture at most every MSU sporting event. From basketball and football to tennis and soccer, he goes anywhere a Bulldog squad is involved. |
| Late comeback propels No. 20 Mississippi State softball to sweep of Miami (Ohio) in season-opening doubleheader | |
| As Annie Willis wound and fired, Celeste Soliz bounced up and down on the balls of her feet in the dugout, slapping her hands against the black rail. All around her, Soliz's Mississippi State teammates were hardly moving, lulled into inertia by the near-freezing temperatures, stunned into silence by a big fifth inning from visiting Miami (Ohio): seven runs and counting, two runners in scoring position, just one out. The RedHawks, who 15 minutes prior had trailed 7-2, suddenly led the Bulldogs 9-7 in the first game of Saturday's season-opening doubleheader at Nusz Park. Then the Bulldogs showed why Soliz was able to keep her faith. Willis recovered to get out of the inning without further damage, and No. 20 Mississippi State scraped across enough offense for a dramatic 10-9 comeback win to avoid a season-opening shocker in Starkville. And in the second contest of the day, the Bulldogs (2-0) left no doubt. Paced by back-to-back home runs in the first inning by Mia Davidson and Fa Leilua, Mississippi State beat the RedHawks 10-3 to sweep Saturday's doubleheader. "It's kind of special," senior designated player Carter Spexarth said. "It's the first time after 339 days. We were just super excited to get back out there." |
| Built to be a Bulldog: After turbulent collegiate career, Mississippi State softball's Montana Davidson finally feeling comfortable | |
| Montana Davidson has been associated with the Mississippi State softball team longer than Samantha Ricketts has. Ricketts, in her second year as MSU's head softball coach, first became an assistant under Vann Stuedeman in 2015. She was named associate head coach in July 2018 and took over the program a year later. But Ricketts still can't match the longevity of Davidson, the team's redshirt senior third baseman. The North Carolina native first committed to play for Mississippi State in the summer of 2013, enrolled in 2016 and is now in her fifth year on the roster. A lot of that time wasn't easy. Davidson's time at MSU has been marred by injury and disappointment. She lost her opportunity, her health and her friend. Still, Davidson is a Bulldog -- and could be, in fact, for another year and a half. And now, as Mississippi State's 2021 season gets underway, she's feeling better than ever as she continues to make her mark in Starkville. "She's definitely a key piece to our success," Ricketts said. |
| Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State women's basketball postponed by storm | |
| Sunday's women's basketball contest between Ole Miss and Mississippi State has been postponed as Mississippi braces for a winter storm. The Rebels and Bulldogs were originally scheduled to play at 3 p.m. Early Sunday morning, game time was moved up to 1 p.m. By 11:30 a.m., the game had been postponed outright. No day or time has been given for when the game might be made up. Mississippi State defeated Ole Miss 60-56 on Jan. 10, the team's one prior meeting this season. The Bulldogs host Tennessee on Tuesday and Auburn on Thursday. |
| How Mississippi State guard Myah Taylor reshaped her game and found her voice | |
| Standing alone on the left wing at Bud Walton Arena, Myah Taylor squared and fired. With her right foot squeezed tight into her maroon sneaker and the skin on her ankle tinted black and blue due to an injury she suffered in practice the day before, Taylor was a gametime decision ahead of Mississippi State's Thursday night loss at Arkansas. But after donning a medical boot in the hours prior to tipoff, she was given the go-ahead, splashing home a 3-pointer from the wing on MSU's second possession of the contest. Gutting through the swollen ankle, Taylor finished with a career-high 22 points, including a 5-of-12 mark from beyond the arc. She herself attempted more shots from 3-point range than an Arkansas team that ranked No. 8 nationally with just under 10 made 3-pointers per game heading into Thursday. "She's a warrior," MSU head coach Nikki McCray-Penson said Friday. "She's going to do whatever she needs to do to play in any game." In passing, Taylor is focused, tempered and even keeled. She's the quiet kid in a class filled with boisterous abilities like those of reigning second team All-Southeastern Conference selections Rickea Jackson and Jessika Carter. But for a team that's struggled in finding its identity, Taylor is the steadying figure amid a year that has amounted to, at least by MSU standards, a complete tear-down. |
| How the SEC plans to complete its 56-game baseball season | |
| After months of deliberation, the Southeastern Conference baseball coaches and league administrators gathered Jan. 7 for another Zoom call. With about one month until opening day, they needed to decide if they would attempt a normal schedule during the coronavirus pandemic. Over numerous calls, the 14 coaches had considered 10 conference weekends with four games per series, 12 conference series with three or four games and an entirely SEC schedule with no midweek opponents, a last-resort possibility in case other leagues canceled non-conference games. Really, they wanted to keep their full schedule. The pandemic stole almost an entire season from the league last spring, and playing non-conference games increased the possibility that more SEC teams would reach the NCAA Tournament. So they stuck with their usual format -- 10 conference weekends with three games per series plus 26 non-conference games -- marking one of the first attempts at a typical season since the coronavirus shut down college baseball and everything else last March. "We wanted to try to stay as normal as possible," Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin said. "If we had to make a change -- and who knows, it still could happen -- we can always take games away or cancel weekends. Let's not do that if we don't absolutely have to." |
| When it comes to extra innings, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn a fan of 'regular baseball' | |
| The NCAA has allowed college baseball conferences the option of beginning extra innings with a runner on second base. Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said SEC coaches aren't likely to utilize the optional rule. "In the SEC, we won't agree on that," Van Horn said. "We're going to play regular baseball unless there's a get-away time, maybe a commercial flight situation." Major League Baseball announced this week it will begin extra innings with a runner on second, a rule that started last year during a season shortened by covid-19. While Van Horn thinks the SEC won't be using the extra-innings rule, he said it could make for some interesting end-of-game situations. "You put whoever made the last out, say in the ninth, out there and put him at second base," Van Horn said. "You have to figure out if you just want to hit, you want to bunt -- what do you want to do? I guess there will still be some strategy because you don't go to the top of the order. If my 2-hole hitter made the last out and he goes to second base and I have 3, 4 and 5, I'm going to swing. If the other team's got No. 8, 9, 1 coming up, maybe I just try to punch one in." |
| Texas A&M likely to be included in EA Sports' new college football game | |
| When the newest edition of EA Sports' college football video game hits the shelves, there is a good chance Texas A&M will be featured. Video game maker Electronic Arts announced it would return college football to its platform of sports games under the altered title EA Sports College Football at a future date. The new edition will be made possible by a partnership with collegiate licensing company CLC, according to a press release from EA. CLC is the licensing division of Learfield IMG College. A&M's athletics department already has a relationship with the company through Texas A&M Ventures, the multimedia rights partner for A&M athletics and a branch of Learfield IMG College. A&M officials confirmed the prior relationship with CLC. "We've heard from the millions of passionate fans requesting the return of college football video games," EA Sports executive vice president Cam Weber said in a statement. "We love the energy, tradition and pageantry of college football and I am beyond thrilled to say we are back in development. We have a lot of really exciting work ahead of us and a great team that is eager to bring a new game to players in the next couple of years." Through the new partnership with CLC, the game will have the rights to logos, stadiums, uniforms and school traditions of more than 100 colleges. |
| Vanderbilt basketball's Jerry Stackhouse says Trump reference was 'totally out of context' | |
 | Vanderbilt basketball won its second SEC game Saturday. But during the postgame news conference, Commodores basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse was clarifying comments he made that referenced people who voted for Donald Trump. In an article published by The Athletic on Friday, Stackhouse responded to some of the flack he received for his lack of college coaching experience upon being hired at Vanderbilt in August 2019. "How am I not qualified when I played basketball at the highest level and played under some Hall of Fame coaches?" Stackhouse, who played under Dean Smith at North Carolina and 18 seasons in the NBA, told The Athletic. "I don't have the acumen to know what I'm looking at? What's the angst? And it becomes the things we see right in front of us, man. All I can say is, 75 million people voted for Trump. That's all I can say. You ain't fooling me. I know what it's about, a lot of you hate everything we did when we came here about the staff, the diversity of the staff, it was this or that. And I like to think I know a little something about building teams and what organizations should look like. I've worked and played for some of the best organizations." Stackhouse didn't mention Trump by name on Saturday. But after the game, he said his comments were not in response to fans, but directed toward the media. |
| It's still early in the Pac-12 commissioner search, but a decision is expected sooner than later | |
| The search for the next Pac-12 commissioner is still in its infancy, but things are going to start cranking up sooner rather than later. In the days since the TurnkeyZRG announcement, the Pac-12 executive committee, which is composed of University of Oregon president Michael Schill as chair, Washington State president Kirk H. Schulz, and University of Washington president Ana Mari Cauce, has had an initial meeting with the search firm. The Pac-12 has already declared its intention to have a new commissioner in place by the end of the academic year, which would allow crossover with outgoing commissioner Larry Scott, who is set to depart on June 30. "Overlap is critical," Schulz told The Salt Lake Tribune in a phone interview on Wednesday. "Larry has been really good with this transition, he wants to see the conference do well. Overlap is critical so the next person can pick his brain, hear about what has worked, and start to put his or her imprint on the job." "For myself, as one of 12 voices in the room, I want someone with on-campus experience," Schulz said. "They need to understand an academic environment, how sports play a role at colleges, the challenges our different campuses face. It is hard to do that coming from a different profession." |
| The Ivy League Is Still on the Sidelines. Wealthy Alumni Are Not Happy. | |
| The Ivy League was the first conference to call off athletic competition back in March 2020. Nearly one year later, America's oldest athletic conference is still on the sidelines with no clear plans to restart. The extended pause that was once seen as prudent is now a point of contention. Athletes are in limbo. Sports are important enough to some of them that they are unenrolling from their Ivy League schools to prolong their athletic eligibility. Influential alumni, miffed by what they see as rigidity at the expense of students, are turning up the heat on conference leadership to end the sports freeze. But university presidents have not caved. The Ivy League has been reluctant to restart competition despite evidence that indicates the biggest risks for viral transmission do not occur on the field. It canceled fall sports in early July and winter sports before Thanksgiving. Each Ivy institution implemented slightly different guidelines for returning students to campus, but health protocols pertaining to athletic training facilities were strict across the board. Most courts, gyms, pools and rinks remained closed for the fall term. "I do wonder sometimes if sports are being singled out," said George Pyne, chief executive of Bruin Sports Capital and a Brown football alum. |
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