| Tuesday, July 6, 2021 |
| Partial road closure of Lakeview Drive scheduled for July 6-Aug. 17 | |
 | Beginning July 6, Lakeview Drive will be partially closed to allow for underground utility work on the east side of Humphrey Coliseum. There will be detours through the parking lot of the Joe Frank Sanderson Center. Click on the accompanying map for details. The closure is expected to last until Aug. 17. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and support. Please contact the Facilities Management Service Desk at 662-325-2005 if you have any questions. |
| Bulldog Nation has business booming for Starkville stores as they buy up Diamond Dawgs national championship merchandise | |
 | After the Diamond Dawgs made history in Omaha by bringing home the College World Series title, Mississippi State fans have been out making sure they bring home as much championship memorabilia as they can. "It's been crazy," said McKensi Lashy, a cashier at the Lodge in Starkville. "We've had people from all over. We've had people from Atlanta, we've had people from Texas coming in, buying 20 t-shirts at a time." Bulldog Nation has business booming for retailers all over the city as they buy up all the College World Series and national championship gear they can find. In his more than 40 years as owner of the Lodge, John Hendricks says he has only seen this much of a demand for Maroon and White gear during the 1996 Final Four season and when Dak Prescott and the football team ranked number one in the country. "With the World Series championship, we decided we would close Independence Day but we needed to be open today for customers," he says. "And so far, it's looking as if that decision was correct because we've been pretty busy." Lodge employees said that both Friday and Saturday, they had a line stretching from the register at the front of the store all the way around to the back of the store. |
| Starkville Mayor on plans to open sports facility next year | |
 | There are plans to open a sports tournament facility at Starkville Cornerstone Park next year. During a visit on The Gallo Show this morning, Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill told SuperTalk Mississippi she thinks it will create a synergy with athletics at Mississippi State University, home of the 2021 National Championship baseball team. "My vision is that it builds those baby Bulldogs. You bring your child in to play baseball or softball and they develop that connection with the University and they want to become Bulldogs. When the time comes, they want to go to the Carnegie Hall of baseball." She went on to say that the impact that athletics have in the community cannot be underestimated. "We are one of the only cities in Mississippi that are actually increasing in population. We had a boom in construction; people wanting second homes, alumni coming back to ball games and athletic events, an increase in the student population out at the university." And she expects the economic impact to last. "The only other thing that I can compare it to was the Dak effect when we were on Sports Illustrated nationally for two weeks running. We had that number one position and it boomed for us. We probably enjoyed the results of that for two to three years." |
| Asian hornet look-alikes confuse Mississippians | |
 | Mississippi is home to several flying insects that can be mistaken for the invasive Asian giant hornet discovered in Washington in 2020. Blake Layton, Mississippi State University Extension Service entomologist, said this insect, also called a "murder hornet," has not been confirmed outside the Northwest. However, Layton said he has been contacted by people who think they have seen these hornets in Mississippi and Alabama in the last few weeks. "Asian giant hornets are still confined to a small area of Washington state, and they are working to eliminate them there," Layton said. "We do not have Asian giant hornets in Mississippi, and it is very unlikely that they will occur here anytime soon. But we do have one large stinging insect that is almost as big, and we do have one nonnative hornet that is already established here." The Asian horntail wasps is one of five insect species found in Mississippi that can be confused with the Asian giant hornet. Southern yellowjacket queens, cicada killer wasps, European hornets and periodic cicadas also look like this pest. Asian giant hornets are not pests that Mississippi beekeepers or anyone in the Southeast should be overly concerned about right now, said Jeff Harris, MSU Extension bee specialist. "There is no evidence that we have high numbers of this pest or that they have established colonies in the U.S.," Harris said. |
| Mississippi lawmakers meet to discuss redistricting | |
 | A bipartisan joint committee of state senators and members of the house met for the first time last week to begin discussing redistricting in Mississippi. Because last year was a Census year, the US Congress will re-apportion its representation in the House of Representatives. And on the state level, Census Data will also be used to draw Mississippi's House and Senate districts for the next legislative elections in 2023. Senate Pro Temp Dean Kirby of Rankin County is Vice Chair of the Joint Legislative committee on Re-apportionment. He says based on preliminary numbers, they're expecting a shift in districts statewide. "Well as an example in the Senate, we have 52 senators. Some of those senators will either have to shrink in area if their area has grown in population if their district has grown," says Kirby. "And then others will have to take on additional areas for the reason that their district has shrunk in population." Kirby believes it could be a greater task redrawing maps for House districts because there's more than twice the amount of lawmakers in that chamber. House Minority Leader Representative Robert Johnson of Natchez says one challenge associated with redistricting is electoral competitiveness or gerrymandering. "Democrats will try to draw districts that make it as easy as possible for a Democrat to be elected and Republicans try to draw districts that make it as easy as possible for Republicans to get elected," said Johnson. "What you end up with are districts that are so polarized that you never create a situation where people there can have a meeting of the minds." |
| Area lawmakers hesitant to address medical marijuana during special session | |
 | Under the hot sun and storied history of a local political tradition, some mostly Alcorn County lawmakers were not enthusiastic about tackling medical marijuana in a special session. At the annual Jacinto July 4th Celebration event, held on Saturday, a handful of local legislators told the Daily Journal they prefer addressing medical cannabis and the voter referendum process during next year's regular legislative session. State Rep. Nick Bain, R-Corinth, said he is not outright opposed to going special into session to address marijuana and the initiative process, but believes lawmakers should probably just wait to address both issues beginning next year, instead of this summer. "If we don't have a special session to address these issues -- the initiative process and medical marijuana -- I think those need to be the first things we address when we go back to our regular session," Bain said. Bain said he did not have any specific measures that he would specifically like to see in a program because he has not been active in drafting any legislation on the issue. State Sen. Rita Potts Parks, R-Corinth, echoed many of Bain's sentiments. Parks said she wants to see the state get a medical marijuana program "right" instead of rushing a program. Despite her reticence to go back to a special session, Parks, who is a member of the Senate Public Health Committee, said the issue needs to be addressed. |
| Miss. state senator Joey Fillingane gives update on medical marijuana | |
 | The fate of medical marijuana now rests in the Mississippi legislature's hands after the state Supreme Court struck down Initiative 65 earlier this year. It's no longer a question of, should there be a medical marijuana program in Mississippi. "I think something ought to be able to be agreed upon between the two chambers given how popular this idea is," said Sen. Joey Fillingane, who represents District 41. Now the question seems to be, what should the program look like? "You could have a medical marijuana called medical marijuana but really a recreational use marijuana. Or, you could have the very strict, truly medical marijuana type program," Fillingane said. Since Initiative 65 got the ax from the state Supreme Court due to an outdated initiative process, it'll take action from the state legislature for a medical marijuana program to be established in Mississippi. "The point right now we're trying to get to is what do we want to do. Do we have legislation drafted that would accomplish that, and do we have consensus from the house and the senate that there is sufficient majorities in both chambers to pass the bill. My guess is that there will be," Fillingane said. "The governor has indicated that he will call us back into session just as soon as that agreement is reached between the house and the senate. So, this could happen well before January," said Fillingane. |
| Mississippi Fairgrounds will build its own well for water service | |
 | In February, the City of Jackson lost water service due to the ice storm and residents of Jackson were without water for almost a month. The Mississippi Department of Agriculture is working to find solutions to assist residents if a similar situation arises in the future. Testing for a well at the fairgrounds began last week. Hopes are that it will be able to provide water to those who live in Jackson should the water system fail again as it did in February. Assuming all goes as planned, construction of a well could be completed around the end of this year. The water system's failure took place during the time of the Dixie National Rodeo. Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson canceled many of the Dixie National Rodeo events due to no access to water. "The water loss in Jackson during the February freeze impacting the rodeo illustrated the necessity of the State Fairgrounds having backup water sources for both human and animal health. The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce is currently drilling a test well to determine our options," said Gipson's Chief of Staff Brian Perry. "Ideally, we will be able to provide potable water for facilities, guests, and animals throughout the Fairgrounds. The water cost savings could pay for project within a decade. There may be opportunities for the Fairgrounds to provide water to other parts of the Capitol Complex as well." |
| Forks of the Road: How a Slave Market Became a National Park Service Site | |
 | When driving through Natchez, Miss., a town popular with tourists, it is easy to overlook an awkwardly shaped patch of land, only modestly marked by a few signs, free-standing exhibits and shackles cemented in the ground. But from 1833 to 1863, the land, Forks of the Road, was among the largest slave markets in America. And now, local historians, residents and officials are celebrating its recognition as a new national historical park site. Once long forgotten by many outside the region, Forks of the Road was where tens of thousands of enslaved men, women and children were taken to work in homes and plantations. The domestic slave trade was such a central feature of the nation's economy, and it made millionaires out of many Natchez residents. In an emotional ceremony late last month in which the city donated nearly three acres of land to the National Park Service, officials unveiled a large National Park Service sign that now marks the acknowledgment that residents and many outside the region said was a long time coming: "Forks of the Road, Natchez National Historical Park." "History is not always pleasant, but it's important that history be told, all of it," and particularly in this moment in America, said Dan Gibson, the mayor of Natchez. He was elected in July 2020, as thousands of people were marching in streets across the nation to protest systemic racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's murder. "It's a sad story," he said of the history of Forks of the Road. "And I think for many years, there are some who would have been satisfied to see that story forgotten. But how can you forget it?" |
| Kushner Family Expands Investments in Southern Midsize-City Apartment Complexes | |
 | The New York region's Kushner real-estate family is expanding its investments in Southeastern states as it waits for the local commercial property sales market to reopen from the pandemic. The family, which gained global attention during the Trump administration because of the senior White House role played by Jared Kushner, has either purchased or signed contracts to buy 2,500 apartments in Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia in the past month. The total price was about $400 million, according to Laurent Morali, the president of New York-based Kushner Cos. Mr. Kushner, the son of family patriarch Charles Kushner as well as former President Donald Trump's son-in-law, has played no role in the southeastern acquisition strategy, which Kushner Cos. launched before the Trump presidency ended, Mr. Morali said. The family's recent deals included its purchase of 1,200 units in Jackson, Miss., for $160 million. Average rents are $1,000 a month for a two-bedroom unit and $900 for a one-bedroom unit, Mr. Morali said. Kushner Cos. found Jackson attractive because its economy has been strong thanks to stable local employers, including the state government and a Nissan assembly plant that opened in 2003, he said. |
| New US rules to protect animal farmers expected this week | |
 | The Biden administration plans to issue a new rule to protect the rights of farmers who raise cows, chickens and hogs against the country's largest meat processors as part of a plan to encourage more competition in the agriculture sector. The new rule that will make it easier for farmers to sue companies they contract with over unfair, discriminatory or deceptive practices is one of several steps that the White House plans to announce in the next few days. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also expected to tighten the definition of what it means for meat to be labeled a "Product of USA" to exclude when animals are raised in other countries and simply processed in the United States. Some farmer advocacy groups have pressed for these changes for several years but Congress and the meat processing industry have resisted the changes in the past. A USDA official familiar with the White House's plan said an executive order is expected to be announced later this week that will clear the way for the new rules. The regulation that will make it easier for farmers to bring complaints under the Packers and Stockyards Act is similar to one the Trump administration killed four years ago. That rule was first proposed in 2010. |
| 'Rampant issues': Black farmers are still left out at USDA | |
 | The Biden administration is trying to make up for decades of racial discrimination in U.S. farm assistance by forgiving loans to farmers of color. But Black farmers and their advocates say that plan, while welcome, won't fix the ongoing problem: Agriculture Department programs are still biased against them. The agency granted loans to only 37 percent of Black applicants last year in one program that helps farmers pay for land, equipment and repairs but accepted 71 percent of applications from white farmers, according to a POLITICO analysis of USDA data. In a grant program to help producers weather the coronavirus pandemic, farmers of color received less than one percent of the payments even though they are five percent of all U.S. farmers. In addition to forgiving debt, advocates for Black farmers want the administration to address barriers such as loan terms that favor large, wealthy farms, a complex application process, and poor service and inequity at local USDA offices. How the administration approaches USDA lending will be a major test of whether President Joe Biden can make good on his broader pledge to combat racial discrimination. The problem, many say, lies at the local level. "I don't even know if USDA understands how rampant the issues are in 2021 in these small, local county offices," said Carolyn Jones, a Black farmer and executive director for the Mississippi Minority Farmers Alliance. |
| GOP unity on spending bills holding, despite earmarks galore | |
 | House Republicans are staying unified thus far in opposition to Democrat-drafted spending bills, despite racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in home-district earmarks after a selection process many in the GOP acknowledge has been fair and transparent. From the multiyear, $759 billion surface transportation bill to the initial batch of fiscal 2022 appropriations bills for agencies ranging from the Small Business Administration to the Interior Department, Republicans are staying on message: The bills spend too much and are too laden with policies they oppose. "I think these bills are gonna face pretty uniform opposition across the board," Oklahoma's Tom Cole said of upcoming appropriations votes. Cole is the top Republican on Rules and the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the largest domestic spending bill. Just two Republicans -- Pennsylvania's Brian Fitzpatrick and New Jersey's Christopher H. Smith -- voted for the massive transportation bill Thursday. That's despite Republicans procuring 67 percent of their earmark requests in that package, for a total of $1.7 billion. By contrast, Democrats received 60 percent of their requests -- though they submitted three times as many as Republicans -- worth almost $4 billion, according to a Transportation and Infrastructure panel tally. |
| House Democrats take different approach to economic, national security threats posed by China | |
 | In a fractious Washington, any deal that would inject billions in new federal spending into the economy and receives overwhelming support from a bitterly divided Senate would seem a good candidate to move swiftly through the House and onto President Biden's desk. But a sprawling bipartisan Senate proposal that passed on a vote of 68 to 32 last month and would spread $250 billion across several key industries to counter China's growing technological and economical prowess is being viewed warily in the House. The skeptical response by Democrats is motivated by policy concerns and a feeling among members of the House that they aren't going to rubber stamp a bipartisan Senate bill simply because it is so rare that one emerges. Among House lawmakers' concerns is that the Senate bill became a magnet for unrelated policies, that it would not direct enough funding to scientific research and that it would limit international cooperation regarding scientific endeavors. Some liberal members have warned that the bill needs to be framed as specifically taking on the government of China and not the Chinese people at a time when violence against Asian Americans has increased. At stake is one of the most ambitious policy initiatives to confront the increasing economic and national security threats posed by China -- an issue that both parties highlight as paramount to the United States' future. |
| When the Next Animal Plague Hits, Can This Lab Stop It? | |
 | To diagnose deadly diseases and develop treatments and vaccines for them, researchers need to work with them in a lab, but very few facilities are secure enough. Foot-and-mouth disease, in particular, is so easily transmitted that the live virus cannot be brought to the US mainland without written permission from the secretary of agriculture. The only place researchers can work with it is Plum Island Animal Disease Center, built on a low-lying islet 8 miles off the Connecticut coast. Plum Island has the advantage of a natural cordon sanitaire---the ocean. But it opened in 1954, and its laboratories are outdated. They aren't certified to handle pathogens that need the highest level of containment. That will change next year, when the Department of Homeland Security opens its new $1.25 billion lab, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. Located in Manhattan, Kansas, a college town in America's agricultural heartland, the NBAF will follow the 21st-century trend in infectious disease control: Rather than relying on a Plum Island-style geographic barrier for security, it will use extraordinary engineering controls. Here, amid the corn and cattle, researchers will work to protect the food supply from a coming plague. |
| Hundreds of colleges nationwide are requiring COVID vaccines this fall. Can Mississippi? | |
| Last year, DeeDee Baldwin, a history research librarian at Mississippi State University, saw firsthand how her community came together to keep each other safe during the pandemic. The faculty asked for a classroom mask mandate, the provost made it happen. It seemed to Baldwin like the custodial staff were always on campus. Professors worked with students who missed assignments or couldn't come to class. "Everybody from the leadership on down really came together to do their best with a bad situation," Baldwin said. "I think the last year really showed us the importance of working together and remembering that we live in a society and we depend on each other." That is why Baldwin was alarmed when, in late April, she received a notice from the Office of Public Affairs that MSU would be lifting the mask mandate for some indoor locations on campus starting in May. Social distancing requirements would be relaxed by 75%. In a Facebook group, other faculty at MSU also questioned the logic of relaxing these safety guidelines with Mississippi's vaccination rate lagging behind the rest of the country and murmurings of rapidly spreading Delta variant. Then one of Baldwin's colleagues, Andrea Spain, an English professor at MSU, suggested they speak up. |
| An inside look at how doctors in Mississippi are identifying coronavirus variants | |
| At the University of Mississippi Medical Center, a state-of-the-art research lab is sequencing dozens of coronavirus samples to see if they are variants. Dr. Michael Garrett heads the lab. "In some ways, it's not like an old professor looking through a microscope, it's like a zoomer looking through a CDC camera and taking the pictures." Most samples they work with are collected by the medical center, but they also have surveillance partnerships with the Department of Health and the CDC. After pathologists test someone for the coronavirus, they neutralize the virus and send it to the lab. Even though these viruses are not contagious Dr. Garrett says they only handle samples under a ventilated hood, or by using robotic tools. He says a computer reads the DNA to identify variants. "The sample is taken up through some pipes and then it ends up in what is called this flow cell. The samples and the individual fragments of the virus wash across, and they bind to this," says Dr. Garrett. "Ultimately, this machine will then image this flow cell to identify all those millions of spots to determine the sequence." Each sample gets a barcode-like identifier to ensure data is not lost during processing. Once they know if the sample is a variant or not, findings are reported to the Department of Health along with other data for tracking viral transmission. Microbiology and immunology professor Dr. Ashley Robinson says the lab is the most advanced genetic research facility in Mississippi, and they are processing around 50 coronavirus samples per week. |
| JSU to offer COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday, July 6 | |
| COVID-19 vaccinations will be available to students, faculty, staff and community members from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 6 in Jackson State University's Rose E. McCoy Auditorium. The Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center will be offering Moderna and Pfizer vaccinations. All vehicles must enter through the Prentiss Street security checkpoint. Insurance is not needed, and vaccines are provided at no cost by the Mississippi State Department of Health. Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center is one of two Federally Qualified Health Centers in Mississippi designated as a federally approved vaccination site. |
| Back-to-school shopping makes a comeback | |
| School is back on for the fall, and so is back-to-school shopping. Mastercard estimates overall retail sales from July to mid-September will climb more than 5% over the same period last year and nearly 7% over 2019. Most of that spending growth can be attributed to outfitting those other growing things -- kids. There may be more dollars than usual chasing those backpacks, courtesy of the federal government. The newly expanded child tax credit will funnel hundreds of dollars into family bank accounts starting July 15, continuing monthly until the end of the year. "The majority of Americans aren't really expecting it, so it should be a pleasant surprise. It just kind of really fuels back-to-school revenues," said Jen Redding, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. The real stimulus, though, won't come from the feds. It'll come from parents dreaming of Zoom meetings uninterrupted by math class. |
| New LSU president moves in to Baton Rouge home ahead of first day of leadership role | |
 | The 4th of July weekend marks the transition of leadership at LSU. Over the weekend newly named system president and LSU A&M campus chancellor William F. Tate IV is moving into the president's house overlooking the east side University Lake and outgoing President Tom Galligan cleans out his desk in the LSU System on western banks of the lake. Tate's first day is scheduled to be Tuesday. Tate will be paid $725,000 a year plus receive a $35,000 housing allowance and $15,000 vehicle allowance each year. On Friday, Galligan emailed his farewell to students, faculty, and staff. "The past 18 months have been unlike any other in the history of our university, and I am tremendously proud of all we have achieved together," Galligan wrote, in a bit of an understatement. The end of F. King Alexander's nearly seven-year tenure was stormy as big LSU donors complained about his policies, particularly his moving admissions emphasis from college board test scores to essays and grade point averages. Alexander left in December 2019 to lead Oregon State University. |
| New sexual assault prevention measures will launch at UF in Fall | |
| This Fall, two new sexual harassment prevention measures are coming to UF: a revamped sexual assault prevention training for incoming students and an app to aid students and employees who need sexual assault resources. The new training and app -- led by the Office for Accessibility and Gender Equity -- aim to educate the UF population on sexual harassment, methods of reporting sexual misconduct and tools to avoid dangerous situations. "We understand that preventing sexual-based discrimination and harassment and interpersonal violence is complex and multifaceted. So, it requires a more comprehensive, holistic approach," Jessica Baker, the Office for Accessibility and Gender Equity engagement and prevention coordinator, said. The office's new mandatory Fall training for incoming students will work to improve sexual harassment education through four key tenets: understanding consent, identifying behavior that contributes to interpersonal violence, incorporating bystander intervention and observing how personal identity and inclusion affect relationships. New trainings will also be made available for UF employees on sexual assault prevention and understanding approaches to disclosures of harm. |
| London's Sky Pool serves as learning space for Texas A&M construction science students | |
 | Texas A&M construction science students had a part in helping construct and inspect the newly opened Sky Pool, a transparent, acrylic swimming pool suspended 115 feet in the air that stretches between two residential towers in London, England. For the past five years, students from the department of construction science have traveled to London in the spring to intern with Irish-based Ballymore Group to work on the project. "It's a really good feeling whenever you see people enjoying what you helped build," said construction science student and 2021 Sky Pool intern Asa Cable. Steve Rodgers, who oversees the department's London study abroad program, said he enjoys seeing the students transition from tourists to foreign citizens of London, working collaboratively on a British construction site. "It truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said, "because you're not 20 or 21 years old getting to live in a major European world city and explore it the way you get to do it on this study abroad." Rodgers said the opportunity opens people's eyes to what is available to them outside of College Station and their hometowns, especially first-generation college students. "That transformation in the way they see the world is remarkable to say the least," he said. |
| 'Too early to say' what caused the Florida condo collapse, says this Missouri engineering professor | |
 | After the June 24 collapse of a condominium building in south Florida, Sarah Orton's research took on added significance. Orton is an associate professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of Missouri. She's also a member of the American Concrete Institute and the American Society of Civil Engineers. As part of a grant from the National Science Foundation in 2018, she began her research into how reinforced concrete buildings collapse. The grant is in collaboration with the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and is scheduled to end next June. She's researching the effect of sustained loads where slabs connect with columns in reinforced concrete buildings. Her research looks at causes other than natural disasters. Her research and experience can tell her some things about the recent condominium collapse, but not everything, she said. "It's going to take years to determine the cause of the collapse," Orton said. The "pancaking" that has been described frequently is common for what is called a shear failure around a column. When one column fails, it continues with others, she said. It can happen when materials lose flexibility and become brittle. |
| Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ta-Nehisi Coates joining Howard University faculty | |
| Journalists Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates are joining Howard University's faculty, school officials announced Tuesday in a major recruiting victory for the private institution in the nation's capital. It was a simultaneous setback for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to lose Hannah-Jones after a long and remarkably contentious effort to recruit her. The surprising development came less than a week after trustees for UNC-Chapel Hill voted to award tenure to Hannah-Jones. Initially, the public university hired her as a professor without the job-protection status. But its board of trustees approved tenure for her on Wednesday, after faculty and students at Chapel Hill protested that she had been mistreated. In an interview Tuesday on CBS This Morning, Hannah-Jones said she would not join the UNC faculty. "Very difficult decision," Hannah-Jones told Gayle King. "Not a decision I wanted to make." Now Hannah-Jones will have tenure at Howard in the new position of Knight Chair in Race and Journalism, starting this summer at the historically Black university in Washington. Coates, an award-winning author known for his work on topics including race and white supremacy, will be a writer-in-residence in the university's College of Arts and Sciences, and hold the Sterling Brown Chair in the English department. He said in an interview he plans to teach a class in creative writing next year. |
| Dr. Kayse Shrum takes reins as Oklahoma State University president | |
| Oklahoma State University is officially under new leadership as Dr. Kayse Shrum took over as president on Thursday. "Yesterday it really set in that today's the first day and that all of this is really under my purview," Shrum said Thursday. "I'm very excited, but this is extremely humbling. It's a really exciting time for me, my husband, Darren, and our family. "It's a big day at Oklahoma State University and at the Shrum household." The OSU/A&M Board of Regents tapped Shrum in April to be the 19th president of the OSU system after more than 20 hours of closed-door meetings in a two-day window. The third OSU graduate and first woman to hold the post, she succeeds Burns Hargis, who retired Wednesday after 13 years as president. Shrum credited Hargis on Thursday with facilitating a smooth changeover during the three-month window between the regents' vote and her first day in office. Originally from Coweta, Shrum earned her doctorate in osteopathic medicine from the OSU Center for Health Sciences and was named its president in 2013. Under her leadership, the enrollment at OSU-CHS more than doubled. The school also launched initiatives to address the state's shortage of doctors in rural communities through expanded residency training programs and partnering with the Cherokee Nation to launch the country's first tribally affiliated medical school in Tahlequah. After meeting with her team over breakfast, Shrum made her first announcement as president Thursday morning with the introduction of Chad Weiberg as the school's new athletic director -- a move the former college softball player said was a fitting start to her tenure. |
| Colleges requiring COVID vaccines consider how to enforce these requirements for international students | |
 | AstraZeneca or Moderna? Sinopharm or Sputnik? For the more than 500 American colleges that plan to require COVID-19 vaccines for students coming to campus this fall, a major challenge will be implementing this requirement for international students who might not have access to one of the three vaccines currently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S. Some of those students may have access to a different vaccine authorized by a different national regulator in their home country, or they might not have access to a COVID-19 vaccine at all. "It runs the gamut," said Edythe-Anne Cook, associate director for administrative services at the Student Health Center at American University in Washington, D.C. "As you can imagine, every country has their own access to vaccines, and they have their own policies and plans for how they're distributing them." Gerri Taylor, co-chair of the American College Health Association's COVID-19 task force, said colleges already have a track record of accepting international versions of vaccines for more long-standing vaccine requirements, such as those for preventing meningitis, measles, mumps and rubella. "Each college has to make their own decision, and the WHO is a good standard, as is the CDC," said Taylor. "If we follow what they're recommending, I think schools will be in good shape." |
| Will Free Community College Hurt HBCU Enrollment? | |
| President Biden's American Families Plan aims to create free community college for all and cover the first two years of costs for low- to middle- income students who attend historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Some conservatives have been quick to point to the price tag of Biden's proposal ($1.8 trillion), arguing that making the first two years of higher education free ultimately limits student choice and could be potentially damaging for HBCU enrollment. Dr. Robert T. Palmer, department chair and associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Howard University, said that the impact of the Biden proposal varies, depending on the different needs served by each MSI. "We have to remember that HBCUs are not a monolith," he said. "The plan right now calls for at least $39 billion to be set aside to subsidize tuition for students wishing to attend HBCUs if the family makes less than $125,000 dollars," he said, adding that the plan demonstrates "some concerted effort to not do any damage to HBCU enrollment." Still, some institutions may be unintentionally impacted, said Dr. Michael J. Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College, a HBCU headquartered in Dallas. "If you go down a path where you want to make college free, you can hurt, in the short run, a segment of institutions like your smaller regional publics," he said. "You can hurt many of your HBCUs, because you remove people in the first two years from their base." |
| Debate over Bill Cosby hits Howard University | |
| Temple University has been, until now, the university that has been hurt the most by the Bill Cosby scandal. Before he was convicted of sexual assault, in 2018, Temple was seen as being too slow to revoke honors for Cosby. It acted only after he was convicted, saying, "In 1991, based on his career achievements, Temple awarded an honorary degree to William Cosby. Yesterday, Dr. Cosby was found guilty by a jury of the felony of aggravated sexual assault. Today the Temple University Board of Trustees has accepted the recommendation of the university to rescind the honorary degree." When Temple did consider the matter, it said that Patrick J. O'Connor, then chairman of the Board of Trustees, didn't participate in the discussion. That's because he was previously a lawyer for Cosby. And Cosby himself was on the Temple board until he resigned in 2014. And of course Cosby is a Temple alumnus and longtime donor. The victim in the case, Andrea Constand, was formerly director of operations for Temple's women's basketball team. She met Cosby several times between 2001 and 2004, and she said Cosby contacted her at her office to discuss university-related matters. So how has Howard University been hurt by the scandal? It started with a seeming success for the university. In May, the university named Phylicia Rashad dean of its College of Fine Arts, effective July 1, 2021. |
| Hey Washington, Mississippi has infrastructure needs | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: Once upon a time the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development had staff members in regional offices across the state who helped local leaders learn about economic and community development. I particularly remember Gerald Mills teaching in Meridian about the four "Building Blocks of Economic and Community Development." He and the late Dr. Bill Scaggs, long-time President of Meridian Community College, used that as a foundation for a new Lauderdale 2000 community leadership program in the late 1980s that has evolved into the current Leadership Lauderdale program. This comes to mind as our most knowledgeable people in Washington vehemently debate what "infrastructure" means. Dictionary.com defines infrastructure as "the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization." Hmmm. That sounds a lot like building blocks to me. Indeed, two of the building blocks taught by MDECD (now MDA) were named infrastructure -- physical infrastructure and social infrastructure. The other two were business development and workforce development. ... Much as Nero "fiddled" in 64 A.D. while Rome burned, our leaders fuddle while our infrastructure corrodes. |
| New boss same as old boss when it comes to AG using private lawyers | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: Mississippi's settlement of a lawsuit with state Medicaid contractor Centene was based on the same blueprint as other cases: private lawyers were hired by the attorney general to pursue allegations of wrongdoing against mega companies. Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch sent out a news release last month touting the $55 million settlement of the lawsuit that accused Centene of overcharging the state for pharmacy benefits it was contracted to provide to the Medicaid program. The big difference is that Fitch's predecessor -- Democrat Jim Hood -- often called news conferences to announce such settlements where reporters routinely quizzed the state's only elected Democrat about the use of private attorney for such lawsuits. Hood was often savaged for the use of outside counsel by legislators, former Gov. Haley Barbour and by others. Legislation was filed to try to prevent the hiring of private attorneys. But when Fitch and state Auditor Shad White announced they had settled with Centene, the same people who used to complain about the use of private attorneys by Hood and his predecessor -- Democrat Mike Moore -- uttered not a single negative word. |
SPORTS
| State senator looking to honor Mississippi State win with new car tag | |
| After the Mississippi State baseball won the College World Series to claim the school's first NCAA team championship, a state senator is looking to honor the win with a new car tag. Sen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, tweeted Monday that he's requested a bill to create a Hail State Championship car tag. Harkins added the bill will be ready in time for the 2022 legislative session, or if Gov. Tate Reeves calls a special session before then. The District 20 senator request comes five days after the Mississippi State Bulldogs defeated Vanderbilt 9-0 in the College World Series championship final. Further info on ordering the tag will come in the future, Harkins wrote. |
| State Senator Pushes for Mississippi State National Championship Car Tag | |
 | State Senator Josh Harkins is doing his part to provide Mississippi State fans with a new car tag honoring the 2021 College World Series National Champions. In the tweet, he tagged the Mississippi State Athletics Twitter page, MSU Head Baseball Coach Chris Lemonis, MSU Athletic Director John Cohen, and "HailStateUnis", an account dedicated to chronicling uniforms worn by various sports teams in past and present Mississippi State history. According to the tweet, the bill requesting the tag will be ready for the next state session or a special session if Governor Tate Reeves chooses to include it. Harkins also said that info on how to order an MSU 2021 National Championship car tag will come later -- assuming the bill passes. |
| NIL Earnings Muddle Financial Aid Calculus for College Athletes | |
| Starting at midnight on July 1, when name, image and likeness rights officially went into effect, college athletes across the country began announcing a flurry of deals -- ranging from social media endorsements to paid autograph-signing sessions. Apparel lines were launched; unpaid off-field endeavors turned into moneymakers. Each deal that pays, though, also comes with financial implications, particularly for college athletes receiving need-based financial aid. "Everyone is talking about taxes; no one is talking about how this will impact grants and aid," a Power Five athletic director said, granted anonymity as his department has not yet finalized how it will approach financial advice. "Kids can figure out taxes -- 18-year-old TikTokers are having to do that -- but they're probably not [figuring] out how to calculate what kind of income puts your [aid] at risk." Money made from NIL is considered additional taxable income, which would be reported on any need-based financial aid application. A change to an athlete's adjusted gross income, then, could change their financial aid profile and potentially reduce eligibility for need-based aid -- though not immediately. So athletes now earning NIL compensation, who also receive some form of this need-based support, have an important math problem to solve: How much money is worth making? |
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