| Friday, May 7, 2021 |
| Radiology director named 'Outstanding Student' at MSU-Meridian | |
 | Jason Holland of Philadelphia is Mississippi State University-Meridian's Outstanding Undergraduate Student for the Division of Business for the Spring 2021 semester. He was to be recognized at MSU-Meridian's 2021 Spring Commencement on Monday at the MSU Riley Center. A business administration major with a concentration in healthcare administration, Holland returned to school to advance his career. Less than a year after he began taking classes at MSU-Meridian, he was offered a job in his hometown as director of radiology at Neshoba General Hospital where he oversees 23 full- and part-time employees. "I was 39 and working in radiology in Meridian when I started my undergraduate degree at MSU's Meridian Campus," he said. "The position required a bachelor's degree, and since I was already enrolled at the university, I was offered the job provided I completed my degree within their designated time frame." For Holland, the timing was perfect. "Being in school at the same time I assumed my new administrative role, although challenging, was helpful as well," he said. "Before I started the job, I never really had much experience in a management position or human resources, and so the information I was learning in many of my classes I incorporated into my day-to-day responsibilities." |
| Southern Prize and State Fellowships Awards, JSU Commencement Ceremonies and Research Grant | |
| Mississippi State University assistant professor of drawing Ming Ying Hong will represent Mississippi in the 2021 Southern Prize and State Fellowships awards. Launched in 2017, the program acknowledges and supports the highest quality art created in the South, a release from MSU says. More than 850 artists applied for consideration for the 2021 State Fellowship. Hong earned a bachelor of fine arts in studio art from the University of Kentucky in 2011 and a master of fine arts in studio art from Washington University in 2015. She began teaching drawing at Mississippi State University in 2018 and recently received a Robert Hearin Faculty Entrepreneur Fellowship. The visual artists for the 2021 State Fellows represent each state in the South Arts region, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Each artist received a $5,000 award and will be included in an exhibition at the Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Ga., from Aug. 20 through Dec. 20, 2021. Hong is also in consideration for two larger Southern Prize awards at a virtual ceremony on June 17. |
| Northeast Mississippi vaccinations lag as state vaccination efforts lose momentum | |
 | Northeast Mississippi's vaccination rates are largely lagging behind the state average as Mississippi's overall vaccination efforts lose momentum. The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Mississippi has dropped more than 19% for three consecutive weeks, with the largest drop of 25% last week -- down from 74,383 doses for April 18-24 to 55,638 doses for April 25-May 1. As of 8 a.m. on May 6, 26% of Mississippians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while 30% have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health. Of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's 16-county coverage area, only four counties -- Chickasaw (26%), Lafayette (37%), Monroe (27%) and Oktibbeha (31%) -- have met or surpassed the state's average of 26% of residents fully vaccinated. The county with the lowest percentage of residents fully vaccinated is Marshall with only 20%, followed by Alcorn, Benton, Itawamba and Tippah counties, which are all at 21%. Thousands of open vaccination appointments were available at MSDH sites on Thursday afternoon -- approximately 1,500 between Lafayette County's drive-thru and walk-in sites, 2,700 at Lee County's drive-thru site and 2,800 at Oktibbeha's drive-thru site. |
| Economy added just 266,000 jobs in April even as states eased COVID restrictions and vaccinations rose | |
 | Employers added a disappointing 266,000 jobs in April even as the number of new COVID-19 cases stayed low, more states lifted constraints and vaccinations accelerated. The gains fell well short of projections in a recovery that's expected to gather force through the summer, with a million or more jobs added each month. The unemployment rate rose from 6% to 6.1% as a large increase in the labor force -- the number of Americans working or looking for jobs -- more than offset solid employment gains, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists had estimated that 995,000 jobs were added last month, according to a Bloomberg survey. Instead, gains for February and March were revised down by a total 78,000, with March's blockbuster 916,000 additions downgraded to 770,000. Economists proposed a variety of possible reasons for the poor showing, including worker shortages, a shift away from industries that thrived while Americans stayed home during the pandemic, supply-chain snarls and problems with Labor's seasonal adjustment of the raw numbers. "There are elements that suggests some of this represents a structural shift... with losses concentrated in sectors associated with online activity and jobs that may have been temporary during the pandemic," economist Leslie Preston of TD economics wrote in a note to clients. |
| Chicken Shortage Sends Prices Soaring, and Restaurants Can't Keep Up | |
 | Chicken wings are flying off the shelves. After a year promoting takeout wings and crispy chicken sandwiches, restaurants including KFC, Wingstop Inc. and Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. say they are paying steep prices for scarce poultry. Some are running out of or limiting sales of tenders, filets and wings, cutting into some of their most reliable sales. Independent eateries and bars have gone weeks without wings, owners say. Chicken breast prices have more than doubled since the beginning of the year, and wing prices have hit records, according to market-research firm Urner Barry. For chicken producers, restaurants' growing poultry appetite is driving a windfall and helping offset surging grain prices, which inflates companies' cost to raise chickens. Pilgrim's Pride Corp. , the second-largest U.S. chicken company by sales, last week reported $100 million in quarterly profit, a nearly 50% increase on year and surpassing expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet also anticipate strong profits for Tyson Foods Inc. and Sanderson Farms Inc. when they report quarterly results over the next several weeks. "Demand for wings is more than we can currently fill," said Mike Cockrell, chief financial officer for Sanderson, which supplies chicken to chains, including Buffalo Wild Wings and TGI Fridays, and food service distributor Sysco Corp. |
| Farmers trying to save the Ogallala Aquifer seeing success | |
 | A few years ago, Stuart Beckman drove 65 miles with a neighbor to attend a wedding in Saint Francis in the northwest corner of Kansas. The two farmers weren't particularly welcome. "They found out where we were from," Beckman said, "and they just about ran us out of there." Not surprisingly for this part of the High Plains, the trouble started over water. "We're these dumb (farmers) that are thinking we can get by with an acre-foot of water and that's crazy," Beckman said, recalling the reception he and his neighbor got in Saint Francis. "'You guys ought to go back home.'" Beckman farms two counties away. And there, folks had formed the state's first local enhanced management area, or LEMA -- a 99-square-mile patch of northwest Kansas prairie where farmers set strict limits on the amount of water they can use for irrigation. The LEMA's irrigation restrictions represent a last-ditch effort to save the region's most critical water source: the Ogallala Aquifer. And in a place where agriculture is king and rainfall is scarce, the path to any kind of curb on irrigation took more than 100 years. The Ogallala helped transform western Kansas from an agricultural wasteland into America's breadbasket. But after generations of being tapped to irrigate the High Plains, parts of it are beginning to run dry. |
| Six active ballot initiatives could be halted by Mississippi Supreme Court ruling | |
| A pending decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court could end citizen efforts to put several issues on the statewide election ballot for voters to decide. Efforts are ongoing to gather signatures for six initiatives that among other things allow people to vote on legalizing marijuana for recreational use and restoring the 1890s flag as the official banner of the state, complete with the Confederate battle emblem as part of its design. But those two efforts and others could be stopped by the state's highest court. The nine-member Supreme Court is currently considering a lawsuit filed by the city of Madison and Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler trying to prevent a medical marijuana initiative approved by voters in November 2020 from going into effect. The lawsuit maintains the language in the Constitution requiring the signatures to place an issue on the ballot be gathered from five congressional districts makes initiative efforts invalid since the state as of the 2000 Census has only four districts. The court ruling potentially could make it impossible for the signature-gatherers to meet the mandates of the Constitution. If the Supreme Court does rule that the initiative process is invalid because of the requirement to gather signatures from five congressional districts that no longer exist, it most likely would take a two-thirds vote of the Legislature and then approval by voters in a general election to correct the language. |
| Brett Favre hasn't returned welfare funds as promised a year ago | |
| Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Brett Favre has not repaid $600,000 he received in Mississippi welfare money after promising one year ago that he would. A state audit released last May revealed that Mississippi Community Education Center -- a nonprofit at the center of what officials call the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history -- paid Favre $1.1 million in welfare money to promote a federally-funded anti-poverty initiative called Families First for Mississippi. In explaining why he had entered a high-dollar sponsorship deal with the charity, Favre tweeted on May 6, 2020: "My agent is often approached by different products and brands for me to appear in one way or another. This request was no different, and I did numerous ads for Families First." His longtime agent James "Bus" Cook conversely told Mississippi Today when approached at his home last week that he had nothing to do with Favre's contract with the public grant-funded nonprofit. Favre, the 51-year-old Kiln native and south Mississippi resident, has not returned several calls or messages to Mississippi Today, but told his Twitter followers last year that he didn't know the money he received was intended to help poor families. |
| The 'End Times' Are Here, Mississippi Elections Chief Says, Calling For Christian Leaders to Heed the Signs | |
| Mississippi needs Christian leadership to steward the state through the coming tribulations as Armageddon draws near, Secretary of State Michael Watson, the top elections official, announced at a prayer event alongside other state leaders today. "I believe we need Christian men and women in office today more than ever before. And if you're a believer, if you're a member of the church, you understand the signs of the times right now," Watson, the son of a pentecostal preacher from the Assembly of God denomination, said today. "In the last few years, no more than ever before in the history of the church, we see the end times." Watson made the comments during the Mississippi National Day of Prayer event at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. The organizers behind the event are part of a national evangelical organization, the National Day of Prayer Task Force. Today's event in Jackson included leaders from each of what the national task force describes as "the seven centers of power" it wants to influence: government, military, media and arts, business and commerce, education, church and family. |
| Mississippi officials apologize for gross mistreatment of Native Americans | |
 | Mississippi officials take time at the National Day of Prayer observance in Jackson to extend an apology for the gross mistreatment of Native Americans. The prayer observance was opened with the pledge of allegiance, and remarks from the governor. Then, Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson took to the podium to offer an apology for past acts against the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and all Native Americans. "As we gather here today and we come to pray, Jesus reminded us that before we pray there are some things that we should tend to," says Gipson. "We want to say 'I'm sorry.' And we want to acknowledge that there were injustices that were done to Native Americans. The original residents, the original farmers, the original citizens of this land." Gipson recalled a 2009 resolution passed by the United States Congress that recognized the oppression and mistreatment of Native Americans. He says apologizing will help continue reconciliation efforts in the state. Chief Cyrus Ben of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians embraced Gipson after the apology. He then took the stand to speak about his Christian faith and unifying Mississippi. |
| Hunger rates plummet after two rounds of stimulus | |
 | The percentage of Americans struggling with hunger is now at its lowest level since the pandemic began, suggesting the recent flood in aid from Washington is making a significant difference to families struggling economically. Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau this week shows the percentage of adults living in households that sometimes or often did not have enough to eat dipped to just over 8 percent late last month, down from nearly 11 percent in March. That is a substantial drop, and it came after hundreds of billions in stimulus checks went out. "Money helps," said Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, an economist and director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, who has been tracking hunger rates closely throughout the pandemic. With all of this data, Washington is learning that if you give people money, they will feed their families. "We're continuing to see signs of progress. That's exciting. That's good news." "I think it shows the wisdom of the rescue plan," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an interview. "This type of support does make a difference. This is a pretty dramatic decrease." |
| Frontline, farm-state Democrats push back against President Biden's tax plan | |
 | A group of 13 House Democrats, led by Iowa's Cindy Axne and California's Jim Costa, is pressing party leaders to exempt family farms from a tax increase President Joe Biden has proposed on inherited assets to help pay for new child care, education and other spending. Under Biden's $1.8 trillion package of family-related assistance, heirs would no longer receive "stepped up basis" for capital gains tax purposes, which resets the value of inherited property to the date of death. Instead they'd be liable for the tax on the full appreciation in value from the time the original owner purchased the assets, in some cases many decades earlier. Groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation have fought against proposals to repeal stepped up basis for years. In a report last month the Farm Bureau co-authored with the American Soybean Association, the groups looked at Agriculture Department data going back to 1997 and found the average value of cropland has risen 223 percent since then. That could lead to such steep tax bills that affected farms would need years to pay it off, the report said. In a handful of states, including Iowa and Minnesota, the average increase in value tops 300 percent. |
| Red meat politics: GOP turns culture war into a food fight | |
| Conservatives last week gobbled up a false news story claiming President Joe Biden planned to ration red meat. Colorado Rep. Rep. Lauren Boebert suggested Biden "stay out of my kitchen." Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted out a headline warning Biden was getting "Up in your grill." The news was wrong -- Biden is planning no such thing -- but it was hardly the first time the right has recognized the political power of a juicy steak. Republican politicians in recent months have increasingly used food -- especially beef -- as a cudgel in a culture war, accusing climate-minded Democrats of trying to change Americans' diets and, therefore, their lives. "That is a direct attack on our way of life here in Nebraska," Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, said recently. The pitched rhetoric is likely a sign of the future. As more Americans acknowledge the link between food production and climate change, food choices are likely to become increasingly political. Already, in farm states, meat eating has joined abortion, gun control and transgender rights as an issue that quickly sends partisans to their corners. "On the right, they are just going for the easiest applause line, which is accusing the left of declaring war on meat. And it's a pretty good applause line," said Mike Murphy, a Republican consultant. "It's politically effective, if intellectually dishonest." |
| UMMC nurse now hopeful after year of treating COVID-19 patients | |
| A nurse who has spent the past year on the front lines treating COVID-19 patients is hopeful, but that wasn't always the case. "This virus has just -- it's been a challenge," said Lacey Ward, a University of Mississippi Medical Center ER nurse. 16 WAPT first spoke with Ward back in November. At the time, cases were skyrocketing during the holidays and she was forced to watch patient after patient die from COVID-19. "It made me question if this is what I was really meant to do because I was so defeated," Ward said. That was nearly six months ago, and now a lot has changed. "Ah, we're in a much better place today," Ward said. Thursday, on National Nurses Day, Ward said that she is grateful for the progress we have made in the fight against COVID-19. "It's not over but it has gotten exponentially better. People did eventually take it very seriously. People started getting vaccinated," Ward said. Ward is fully vaccinated, which she said was to protect her family. Ward said that being able to hug her three boys at the end of the day is all she needs. |
| Jackson State University to honor graduates, classes of 2021, 2020 and 1971 | |
 | Jackson State University is hosting three separate commencement ceremonies Friday and Saturday for graduates of 2020, 2021 and 1971, university officials said. The first commencement ceremony will start at 9 a.m. Friday at the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center, according to a news release. The ceremony is set to honor the 2021 graduate class and acknowledge the 50-year anniversary of the class of 1971's graduation. Superintendent of Jackson Public Schools Errick Greene will be the keynote speaker during the ceremony, according to the news release. Greene was appointed as superintendent in October 2018. The second ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium for the 2021 undergraduate class, according to the news release. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D- Mississippi, will be speaking during the ceremony. Jackson State University will honor its 2020 undergraduate and graduate classes during a 6 p.m. Saturday commencement ceremony at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Jordan Jefferson, 2020 graduate of Jackson State University, will be the speaker. |
| Burnout could make severe teacher shortage even worse | |
| Despite hiring and unemployment numbers moving in the right direction, with hotels, restaurants and other in-person service businesses reopening to more and more vaccinated consumers, the U.S. is actually looking at a labor shortage now. And there's also another big employer looking to replenish its workforce: public schools. But it's not going to be easy. Eighth-grade math teacher Melanie Passovoy is extremely happy to be back in her classroom. It's much easier to teach geometry there than rearrange the geometry of her living room for distance learning. Some of her colleagues, though, were just done. "I definitely know some teachers who retired at the beginning of the school year who were not intending to retire," she said. That's not likely to let up this year, said Chad Aldeman, an education researcher with Georgetown University. Younger teachers may also be more inclined to leave and even switch career paths entirely. "They are more likely to leave this year if the economy is strong, if they've been tired and stressed out at work and just need a break," Aldeman said. That could make an already a severe teacher shortage even worse. Overall, schools were down nearly 600,000 jobs in March from pre-pandemic levels. |
| Auburn University's 'War Eagle Road' sign stolen | |
 | The sign introducing Auburn University's musical road has been stolen. A section of South Donahue Drive is dubbed "War Eagle Road," as it uses strips of material on the surface of the road that, when in contact with car tires, create the first seven notes of the university's fight song. At 35 mph, drivers experience the hum of "War Eagle! Fly down the field"as they head in to campus. "I would love to see the sign reappear magically," said Tim Arnold, a 1994 Auburn University engineering alumnus behind the project in October of 2019, in a phone interview. "A win would be for the people who stole is to feel caught and bring it back." Calling it "petty vandalism," Arnold said he first noticed the sign's disappearance earlier this week. He said its being stolen could be connected to a "right of passage" for college students. Road Tunes Custom Musical Roads, the Auburn-based company behind the musical road, shared the news Wednesday afternoon across its social media channels. Two "War Eagle Road" signs stand near the 154-feet musical road. The identical sign following the road remained adhered to its post late Thursday morning. |
| LSU picks next president; William F. Tate IV will be first Black man to lead university system | |
 | William F. Tate IV will be the first Black person to head LSU -- the first to lead any Southeastern Conference college, for that matter -- after a unanimous vote by the Board of Supervisors on Thursday. The board spent much of the day interviewing the three finalists before debating for more than 90 minutes behind closed doors, then voting to offer Tate the job of LSU system president and chancellor of the flagship -- a job that one supervisor described as being a combatant in a political knife fight. Tate is the provost of the University of South Carolina, which puts him charge of the academics at 13 schools and colleges plus two medical schools. He took that post less than a year ago, on July 1, after landing among the finalists for that university's presidency a few months earlier. He had been a candidate for chancellor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville the year before. He said his target start date at LSU is July 2, but the details of his contract need to be worked out first. The other two finalists were Kelvin Droegemeier, who was President Donald Trump's science adviser, and Jim Henderson, who is president of the University of Louisiana system's nine public colleges. All three were questioned for more than an hour each. Tate grew up on the southside of Chicago, "which means I'm really from Mississippi," he said. His grandparents were part of the Great Migration between the two world wars when more than 100,000 Black Mississippians moved north for work and a chance to live in a less repressive environment. |
| U. of South Carolina provost picked to run LSU, second to head state flagship school in 2 1/2 years | |
 | Bill Tate, the University of South Carolina's No. 2 administrator, will become the president at Louisiana State University after less than a year in Columbia. He is the second USC provost to leave to run a state flagship school since late 2018. Tate's predecessor, Joan Gabel, left to become president at the University of Minnesota. The previous two provosts before Gabel also are running colleges. Mark Becker is leading Georgia State, while Michael Amiridis is head of University of Illinois at Chicago. Starting in July, Tate will run the LSU system with roughly 45,000 students, a little smaller than the USC system. But LSU has a high-profile athletics pedigree with a football team that has won four national championships, something he noted during an interview as a semifinalist. "There are a few universities in this country, where it's possible to win the Heisman Trophy and a Nobel Prize," he told the search committee. "If I asked you to name those universities. I bet you could, Michigan, UCLA. My goal would be to create a context in which student athletes can win national championships, while working and engaging in an academic environment where the very, very best people could actually can win Nobel Prizes." |
| U. of Arkansas, Fayetteville abuzz over commencement | |
| Seniors at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville described a pandemic year that made the familiar turn strange. And looking back, some said it's the small things that they came to cherish. "I got emotional the other day when I heard the Old Main bells. I haven't heard that since my junior year," said Stephanie Barber, 22, a journalism and political science double-major. Traditionally at 5 p.m. the bells ring out the university's alma mater. Not many people have been around to hear it. For semesters last fall and this spring, a majority of UA courses were taken online rather than in person, making students' visits to campus few and far between. Another tradition, commencement, once again has the campus buzzing. A total of 4,168 graduate and undergraduate students registered to walk in one of 19 ceremonies that began Thursday and continue today and Saturday, a UA spokesman said. Limits on attendance mean students are allowed six guests, who need tickets to attend. It's another example of how efforts to reduce the spread of covid-19 have affected almost all facets of college life. Students found themselves having to adapt to new modes of learning and living after covid-19 first emerged in Arkansas in March of last year. Barber, who is from Argyle, Texas, said the pandemic led to some personal realizations. "The pandemic helped me slow down and figure out what my priorities are for my senior year," Barber said. |
| U. of Florida's IFAS to host first ever agricultural technology expo online | |
 | University of Florida agricultural scientists are putting on the university's first ever agricultural technology expo, "Ag Tech Expo -- the Future of Farming," on Monday and Tuesday. The event will be held online through Microsoft Teams and is open to anyone. It is hosted by the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences' Southwest Florida Research and Education Center. "Agriculture is changing, and it's changing rapidly," said Gene McAvoy, associate director for stakeholder relations at SWFREC. "All of these revolutions are the future." McAvoy said he hopes the expo will become an annual tradition for UF/IFAS to help bring farmers, scientists and any curious people from the around the U.S. together as the agricultural industry continues to merge with cutting-edge technology. This year's event, announced to media Wednesday, already had almost 200 attendees signed up Thursday morning, he said, including people from California and Idaho. He expects another 50-100 to join before registration closes Saturday evening. |
| Texas A&M expecting employees back on campus June 1, full capacity this fall | |
 | Texas A&M University employees will be expected to return to in-person work next month and occupancy levels on campus will increase to 100% beginning June 1, according to a human resources memo distributed Wednesday afternoon. "COVID-19 infections can be drastically reduced by vaccination, and current conditions are such that vaccines are widely available," the letter reads. "As a result, the university's executive leadership, in consultation with the chancellor, has decided to adjust protocols in an effort to better serve the growing number of students returning to campus including those participating in New Student Conferences over the summer." The updated COVID-19 protocol guidance outlines the implementation of a return-to-campus plan that includes the rotation of employees onsite. John N. Stallone, speaker of the Faculty Senate and professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, said in a Thursday phone interview that for him, the human resources memo leaves several questions unanswered, particularly about mask-wearing and distancing. Angelique Gammon, an instructional assistant professor of journalism in the department of communication, called for the university to be more forthcoming in explaining its decision-making processes and on how it will shift policy as needed going forward. |
| $1 million donation will fund scholarships for U. of Missouri education students | |
 | The first recipient of a University of Missouri scholarship for students preparing to become elementary teachers on Thursday said it would help relieve some of the financial stress of student debt. "Being a teacher is really special and is something I've wanted to do since I was a first- grader," said Shelby Johnson, a junior elementary education major from Parker, Colorado. A special first-grade teacher sparked her passion for education, she said, while shedding a few tears. "Thank you for celebrating teachers," Johnson told the donors who made her scholarship possible. "We need them and they're so, so important." MU alumnus Gary Coles and his wife, Patricia, made a $1 million donation to the MU College of Education to fund the scholarships. Walking to the building, UM System President and MU Chancellor Mun Choi said he considered the number of MU students who had become teachers and how many generations of students they had taught. "I'm really happy to work at a university that can have that kind of impact," Choi said. He said he's grateful for the Coles' donation. |
| New study says more abstract, jargony articles get cited less | |
 | It's been 25 years since physicist Alan Sokal punked academe by getting a purposely nonsensical paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. And it's been almost as long since the journal Philosophy and Literature ceased its Bad Writing Contest to dishonor each year's "most stylistically lamentable passages." Yet academic writing still skews pretty bad, according to a new study in the Journal of Marketing. The study does more than show impenetrable writing won't die, though. Through several experiments, the study's authors attempt to bust these "myths" about scholarly prose: that academic articles are not intended for a broad audience, that unclear writing impresses readers and that scholars already know what makes their writing impenetrable -- and how to avoid it. "Our biggest goal with this paper was to convince scholars that unclear writing is a problem, even if we're only writing for a niche audience of other scholars," said co-author Matt Farmer, a Ph.D. candidate in marketing at the University of Arizona. "Academics are just like anyone else," Farmer continued. "The more effort we make them go through to understand what we're saying, the more likely they are to give up in frustration and look for a paper that is clearer." |
| University ag research facilities need $11.5 billion, institution groups say | |
| The labs and facilities that fuel agricultural research in the U.S. need $11.5 billion from the federal government to secure the future of the agriculture industry, according to a letter co-signed this week by hundreds of agricultural organizations and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. Leaders make the case based on a study released in March showing that 69% of buildings at schools authorized to receive USDA funding are more than 25 years old and require "urgent upgrades." The study was conducted by the APLU, which represents 244 higher education research institutions, and Gordian, a facilities assessment provider. The cost of replacing these facilities was estimated to be $38.1 billion. These centers or extensions are where community members often turn to get solutions for emerging problems in agriculture. Research incorporates data analytics and bioinformatics to solve problems, requiring access to technology resources, as well as physical infrastructure, according to the APLU. The letter also touches on the need for agricultural workers. The USDA, in a report predicting five-year employment opportunities, estimated the number of openings in agricultural jobs at an average of 59,400 openings annually. Researchers also predicted the employment areas with the most growth as management and business and science and engineering. |
SPORTS
| Diamond Dawg Gameday: at South Carolina | |
| With three weekends left in the regular season, the No. 2 Mississippi State baseball program will travel to No. 12 South Carolina for a three-game series at Founders Park. The first two games of the series are available on the SEC Network+ with the final game airing live on the SEC Network. Mississippi State (33-10, 14-7 SEC) will meet South Carolina (27-15, 11-10 SEC) for the 22nd time in the Gamecocks 30 seasons as a part of the SEC. Overall, South Carolina holds a three-game lead in the all-time series, 39-36, but Mississippi State has won each of the last four series and is 8-4 over that span. The Diamond Dawgs have won five of seven SEC series this season and 14 of the last 18 conference series since sweeping No. 1 Florida to close out the 2018 campaign. Of those 14 series wins, seven have been sweeps, with three of those coming this season (TAMU, Kentucky and at Auburn). This series features two of the top pitching staffs in the country, with Mississippi State leading the nation at 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings and South Carolina sitting No. 2 with 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings. State also ranks among the top 20 nationally in ERA (No. 18), hits allowed per nine innings (No. 7), strikeout-to-walk ratio (No. 9) and WHIP (No. 11). |
| Days before prospective regional sites released, No. 4 Mississippi State focused on making lasting impression against No. 19 South Carolina | |
 | In one week, 20 prospective regional host sites will be nominated by the NCAA for 16 college baseball regionals. Ranked No. 4 in the country in the D1Baseball.com national rankings, Mississippi State figures to be safely among the 20 nominated with three weeks remaining in the regular season. According to a report from D1Baseball's Kendall Rogers, the 20 possible host sites for the 16 regionals will be revealed either Thursday or Friday of next week, but they will not be given a ranking. Of course, the Bulldogs have higher aspirations than just hosting a regional; they'd like to finish as a top eight seed to secure a site to host a Super Regional. They'll need a strong showing against No. 19 South Carolina to ensure that. Chris Lemonis knows it. His players know it. But the third-year MSU coach said the Bulldogs won't put any extra pressure on themselves. "I think we have a chance to be a national seed," Lemonis said. "We're top five in the country right now. If you have a good weekend here, you'd think you'd solidify it ... Honestly, we have a big place to host that makes money for the NCAA. It gets big crowds. They've done it before. It's our job to win games. That's where we keep our focus." Should the Bulldogs rack up the wins, the coveted regional bid will come. How many will get to be there to watch it is another mystery. |
| Mississippi State's Will Bednar has major supporter in brother David, a Pirates pitcher | |
| An observer as intrigued as any watched the second game of Mississippi State's baseball series against Vanderbilt from a hotel room in Minneapolis nearly 900 miles northwest of Hawkins Field in Nashville. Wait, what? Yeah, that's right. A pitcher whose Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Minnesota Twins earlier that afternoon on April 24 had rooting interest in the matchup pitting the hottest starting pitcher in college baseball at the time against a Mississippi State sophomore with aspirations of becoming just that. The MSU sophomore was Will Bednar. The Pirate in the hotel room was David Bednar, Will's older brother. Will pitched five innings with eight strikeouts and one earned run. The Bulldogs lit Vanderbilt's Jack Leiter up for four earned runs in his five innings. Mississippi State beat Vanderbilt. Will beat Leiter, who suffered his first loss of the season. And David didn't miss a pitch. He never does. Whether he's watching from an airport, a bus, a training table in the Pirates' clubhouse or wherever else life as an MLB pitcher takes him, David watches every one of Will's starts. He's seen Will go 4-1 with a 3.14 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 43 innings. |
| Coach Chris Lemonis remains confident in starting rotation | |
| Despite some recent struggles, coach Chris Lemonis is sticking with his weekend rotation. No. 4 Mississippi State hits the road for an SEC weekend series against No. 19 South Carolina, starting tonight at 6 p.m. The other games: Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. South Carolina (27-15, 11-10 SEC) made a slight change to its rotation this weekend. Normal Friday starter Thomas Farr has been moved to the Sunday role, while Brannon Jordan moves into the Friday role and Will Sanders moves up to Saturday. For Mississippi State (33-10, 14-7), Lemonis made no changes and remains confident in Friday starter Christian MacLeod and Sunday starter Jackson Fristoe despite them only reaching the sixth inning once in their last six combined starts. "They give us a chance to win every time out," Lemonis said of his starters. "They've been a little inconsistent as of late, but if you look at our record on the weekend, we've won a lot of games. I'm looking forward to seeing them throw this weekend. It'll be a real challenge." |
| Facing crucial SEC series, South Carolina shuffles rotation, may tweak lineup too | |
 | Heading into a potentially pivotal weekend SEC series, South Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston is shaking things up on the mound -- and may do so at the plate as well. After sticking with the same two top starters for the entire season and the same weekend rotation for the last six weeks, the No. 19 Gamecocks will use the same pitchers against No. 4 Mississippi State, but Kingston and pitching coach Skylar Meade have shuffled the order. Redshirt junior Thomas Farr, who has started every Game 1 this season, will go Sunday in the series finale. Senior Brannon Jordan, who has started every Game 2, will get the Friday night nod. And freshman Will Sanders, who has established himself as the third option behind the two veterans, will go Saturday in the middle of the series. Most national analysts have the Gamecocks right on the edge of hosting a regional -- before being swept by Ole Miss last weekend, USC was projected to host by D1Baseball and Baseball America. After the sweep, Kingston's club fell out of those projections and to No. 15 in RPI. Needing to stay in that top 20 to maintain a chance at hosting, South Carolina can ill afford to drop a third consecutive series. But at least publicly, Kingston downplayed the notion that there is extra pressure to win this set against the Bulldogs. |
| Softball Closes Regular Season At Home Against No. 22 Georgia | |
| Coming off an emphatic doubleheader sweep against No. 15 Tennessee, Mississippi State's softball program will look to stay hot in its final regular-season SEC series. State hosts the other Bulldogs of the SEC, welcoming No. 22 Georgia to Nusz Park on May 7-9. Friday and Saturday's games will be televised on SEC Network with first pitch times of 5 p.m. and 1 p.m. CT, respectively. Sunday's regular-season finale will air on SEC Network+ beginning at 1 p.m. MSU (29-22, 5-15 SEC) has won four straight SEC games and five of its last seven. The Bulldogs' pitching has been key during that run, posting a 1.25 ERA over the four-game winning streak. During that streak, MSU has also taken advantage of 6.0 "freebies" (walks, HBPs and errors) per game while allowing 3.3. State holds the edge over Georgia (29-17, 7-14) in nearly every offensive statistic as well with the exception of home runs, triples, slugging percentage and strikeouts. The Bulldogs will hold a pregame graduation ceremony featuring MSU President Dr. Mark E. Keenum on Friday night. |
| Mississippi State softball's Paige Cook grew up a Georgia fan. Now she'll be playing against her home-state team. | |
| When Paige Cook came to Starkville for her first softball camp at Mississippi State, the high school freshman was the youngest player there. It was impossible to tell from watching her. From the start, Cook impressed the Bulldogs' coaching staff, displaying the "gamer" mentality throughout the event. She even socked a home run during live at-bats against one of the older pitchers at the camp. Since then, Cook has never shown Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts anything else. "It was what we get now," Ricketts said of Cook's initial performance. "It was just gritty, hard nosed." Later that fall, Cook, a standout infielder from a small town in Georgia, committed to play for the Bulldogs. In the five and a half years since, she's found a home away from home in Starkville, navigated an unprecedented freshman year and earned a starting spot in the SEC. And this weekend, Cook will get to show her skills against the home-state school she once planned to attend when No. 22 Georgia visits Nusz Park. "I get to play against them but still be a State Bulldog," Cook said. "It's definitely going to be weird, but it's going to be really cool and exciting." |
| No. 38 MSU Women's Tennis Set To Battle No. 31 Arizona State In NCAA First Round Friday | |
| The 38th-ranked Mississippi State women's tennis squad (11-12) will open play in the 2021 NCAA Team Championship on Friday, May 7, as the Bulldogs will battle No. 31 Arizona State (14-8) at the Texas Tennis Center on the University of Texas campus. Match time is slated for 12 p.m. CT. "We are excited to be back in the NCAA Tournament. It is one of our measurable goals every season," head coach Daryl Greenan said. "I am proud of the effort and commitment this team put forth to qualify. It has been a strange season with the pandemic, and I am thankful we were able to safely play every match on our schedule. We are definitely battle-tested by a strong SEC schedule. We look forward to our match against a quality team like Arizona State on Friday." The Bulldogs have now earned a bid to the to the NCAA Team Championship nine times in program history, including five times in the last six seasons in which the tournament has been held. In its previous eight appearances, MSU is 6-8 overall and has advanced to the second round six times. |
| NCAA reaches a key moment as transgender laws multiply | |
| The NCAA has reached a delicate moment: It must decide whether to punish states that have passed laws limiting the participation of transgender athletes by barring them from hosting its softball and baseball tournaments. Legislation requiring athletes to compete in interscholastic sports according to their sex at birth has been introduced in dozens of states this year, and governors have signed bills in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia. The Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia laws also cover college sports teams. The NCAA Board of Governors issued a statement April 12 saying it "firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports." "This is kind of where the rubber meets the road for the NCAA," said Mac McCorkle, a Duke University professor of public policy. Last year, following the Southeastern Conference's lead, the NCAA announced it would not hold championship events in Mississippi unless a depiction of the Confederate flag was removed from the state flag. The Mississippi Legislature acted swiftly to remove the symbol. |
| Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signs college athlete name, image, likeness bill into law | |
 | The setting for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's bill signing ceremony Thursday morning was the UGA football recruiting lounge overlooking the field of Sanford Stadium. "I can't think of a better venue than this one to really do something like this," said Kemp, a UGA graduate and Bulldogs fan. "If I was a five-star recruit, I personally wouldn't want to be anywhere else but Athens, Georgia." Nearly 93,000 fans pack the stands of the stadium on fall Saturdays in a typical season to watch a team chock full of future NFL players in games shown nationwide on ESPN and CBS. The SEC's lucrative media contracts help the school receive about $45.5 million in the conference's most recent revenue distribution, and the football program generated $57.1 million a year in contributions from donors in the latest NCAA financial report -- but that money doesn't go directly into players' pockets. The name, image and likeness bill passed by the Georgia General Assembly will allow athletes to start cashing in after Kemp put pen to paper Thursday surrounded by six state legislators including Sen. Bill Cowsert, Sen. Frank Ginn, Rep, Houston Gaines and Rep. Marcus Wiedower, who represent Athens. The law takes effect July 1. Georgia President Jere Morehead and athletic director Josh Brooks were among some 50 in attendance for the ceremony. No Bulldog coaches were seen at the event. |
| Gov. Henry McMaster signs bill allowing South Carolina athletes to profit off name, image and likeness | |
| South Carolina's college athletes will soon be able to profit off their brands -- joining their peers from more than 20 states in a move lawmakers said is essential for recruitment and retention of players. Gov. Henry McMaster on May 6 signed S. 685, which swept through the S.C. House by a 103-15 margin April 28 after squeaking out the Senate by a single vote earlier in the month. "The governor's proud to have signed this bill into law to ensure that South Carolina's colleges and universities are well-positioned to immediately take advantage of opportunities provided by either the NCAA or congressional action," McMaster spokesman Brian Symmes told The Post and Courier. The legislation won't take effect until May 2022, a delay meant to help give the NCAA time to create a uniform policy that would govern off-field compensation for athletes. But states have begun writing their own laws allowing players to be paid for the off-field reputations they build, and South Carolina is surrounded by neighbors with such measures on the books, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. USC and Clemson have both hired outside firms to advise players and staff on name, image and likeness protections and opportunities. |
| Missouri House approves letting college athlete benefit from their names, images | |
 | Missouri has moved one step closer to allowing college student-athletes to financially benefit from their name, image or likeness. A growing number of states have already passed such legislation, which goes against current NCAA rules barring most forms of income for student-athletes. The Missouri House joined them Thursday, passing name, image and likeness legislation as an amendment to a larger bill. Proponents of the amendment argued for its adoption primarily on three grounds: competitive fairness for Missouri college sports teams, equal treatment for student-athletes and liberty. First, lawmakers voiced concern for the MU football program's ability to recruit against other team's in the Southeastern Conference. Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, Kentucky is the only other state with an SEC school which has not passed legislation allowing student-athletes to benefit off their name, image or likeness. Basye further said he expected the Kentucky Legislature to pass such legislation in an upcoming special session. If it did so, Missouri would be the only outlier in the conference. "That will affect recruiting mightily," Basye said. The topic seemed fitting as Missouri football coach Eliah Drinkwitz had been introduced to the House at the beginning of the day's session. |
| Why dethroning top officials has not changed culture at LSU, where 'secrecy continues' | |
| A chorus of boos rang down as Joe Alleva climbed the stairs in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The jeers crescendoed as the athletic director slunk into a seat across from a "fire Alleva" banner. It was March 2019, and the LSU Board of Supervisors was watching. The board's discontent with Alleva had been building for years, and now there was blood in the water. LSU sports had been in a dry spell, though its men's basketball team was making an impressive run. The controversy du jour stemmed from Alleva's decision to sideline the coach, Will Wade, over alleged recruiting violations. It was the perfect time to pounce. A few weeks later, four members of the board summoned LSU president F. King Alexander to the backroom of Juban's Restaurant for what Alexander now refers to as the "Monday night massacre" and the "cocktail napkin incident." He says then-LSU board chairman James Williams directed him to fire Alleva and to hire Scott Woodward in his place, writing down an eye-popping salary on a napkin. Sitting with Williams were current LSU Board Chairman Robert Dampf, incoming LSU Board Chairman Remy Starns and former chairwoman Mary Werner, Alexander said. He was stunned and dismayed by the order, which he saw as well outside the board's purview and a major violation of university policy and accreditation standards. But he followed their instructions and decided to start looking for a new job. The episode and its fallout illustrate some basic truths about the scandal over the mishandling of sexual assault and domestic violence allegations that has rocked Louisiana's flagship university since late 2020. One is that there's overwhelming evidence some LSU Board of Supervisors members have prioritized athletic success above all else, though they insist they haven't. |
| Ann Rhoads, co-namesake of U. of Alabama softball stadium, has died | |
 | Ann Rhoads, whose name graces the University of Alabama's softball stadium along with that of her husband, has died, according to a social media post from Patrick Murphy, the head softball coach. The Rhoads family has supported hundreds of UA athletes through scholarships and gifts. John Rhoads, who passed away in 2001, was an accountant at Ernst & Ernst, and a posthumous inductee into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame. John and Ann Rhoads Stadium, at 321 Peter Bryce Blvd., on the northeast corner of the campus, is considered the largest university-affiliated softball stadium, with official capacity at 3,940. The $2.2 million facility was opened in 2000. Before the creation of Rhoads Stadium, Tide softball teams played on fields in Tuscaloosa's Sokol and Bowers parks. The always-competitive teams regularly draw NCAA-record-setting crowds, filling the Rhoads Stadium beyond official capacity, with a record of 4,015 for a 2017 game against Auburn. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, UA has set this year's capacity at 30 percent, or about 1,180. UA Director of Athletics Greg Byrne said he appreciated the support from Ann Rhoads and her family. "The Rhoads family means so much to Alabama Athletics, and we extend our deepest condolences," Byrne said. "Ann had a heart of gold and loved Alabama. She was an incredible supporter, and we are forever grateful for her." |
| Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek: Walton Arena renovations years away | |
| Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek said Thursday there are not immediate plans to renovate Bud Walton Arena. During a question-and-answer session at a Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Yurachek said he and his staff are in the early stages of re-examining a feasibility study for the arena. "We started to conduct a feasibility study for Bud Walton Arena that was almost to its completion point in December of '19, January of '20, and this thing called covid hit," Yurachek said. "That really got put on the back burner. We're starting to dust that off. "Bud Walton Arena is 27 years old now. It's lacking in fan amenities that exist in most venues now. We'd love to have a dynamic club level like we have at our football stadium and some different club areas. We need to renovate our suites and just create some different premium areas to enhance our fan experience." Yurachek said any renovation to the arena would not begin for at least three years. He said a "modest" renovation to the arena has been estimated at between $75 million and $100 million. "That's probably a three- to five-year timeline before anything like that happens, unless somebody has $100 million they want to donate to me today," Yurachek said. The arena was built for $32 million in 1993. In addition to Arkansas' men's and women's basketball games, it hosts the Wal-Mart Shareholders Meeting and university and high school graduations each spring. |
| Northwestern president defends hiring Mike Polisky as AD, saying he met the 'highest standard of conduct and character' | |
| Following days of criticism surrounding Mike Polisky's hiring as Northwestern's athletic director, university President Morton Schapiro released a letter Thursday explaining his decision and stating confidence that Polisky met the "highest standard of conduct and character." Polisky, a Northwestern deputy athletic director for more than a decade, is one of four defendants along with the university in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a cheerleader, who in her complaint accused Polisky of dismissing her allegations. Schapiro said an initial inquiry portion of an independent investigation is complete and "there is no information to suggest that Mike engaged in any conduct that is a violation of policy." The investigator was hired to examine "any new concerns of discrimination, harassment or retaliation, or any concerns of discrimination, harassment or retaliation that the Cheer Team feels were not previously addressed," he wrote. Northwestern filed a motion to dismiss last week, and Schapiro said, "Northwestern denies that it or any of its current employees violated any laws, including Title IX." Faculty have planned a protest Friday afternoon that will march to Schapiro's home. Six faculty members sent a letter to the university provost Wednesday asking for greater transparency. |
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