| Monday, August 9, 2021 |
| Monday Profile: MSU student body president prioritizes 'safe and fun' school year | |
 | Garrett Smith represents nearly 23,000 students as the Student Association president at Mississippi State University, but this may be his last election. "I doubt that I would run for office again, but I would not rule it out. I would imagine student body president was my last ever election," said Smith, 21, a senior who will graduate in May 2022 with aspirations of a career with the federal government in foreign affairs. The SA president essentially acts as a lobbyist for the students of Mississippi State, advocating on their behalf in front of the university administration, and occasionally in front of other entities like local or state governments. The president also directs events for students, working with a team to balance a sizable annual budget of nearly $400,000 as well as organizing events that students across campus can enjoy. "I really hope to unify our Student Association with the student body it represents," said Smith, a political science major with minors in psychology and international studies. "I am excited about the plans we have to ensure that all student voices are heard, and to increase campus participation through ... events and activities." Assistant Dean of Students Jacqueline Mullen described Smith as a great leader. "Garrett is very thoughtful and intentional in how he leads and makes decisions," she said. |
| Even before Hiroshima, people knew the atomic bomb | |
 | Matt Lavine, an associate professor in the Department of History at Mississippi State University, writes for The Conversation: Milton Rothmar, an American Army corporal stationed in Italy, got the news about the Hiroshima bombing from the Armed Forces newspaper Stars and Stripes. He wrote: "The headline said 'Atomic Bomb.' To a person who has been raised on stories such as The Final War, this was both a terror and a hope. Man could use this to destroy everything." But Rothmar couldn't suppress his excitement at the prospect that atomic energies might be put to less destructive purposes. His reaction, written down the very day he heard the news, might seem oddly prescient: how did he so quickly understand all the implications and possibilities of what was supposed to be a top-secret weapon? The answer is that he had been thinking about them for years -- and so had many other Americans. The sudden appearance of a real atomic bomb was shocking, but its nature -- and the implications of its use -- had been talked about for decades. People grappling with the news of Hiroshima did so less by learning new information than by remembering things they had long known. |
| MSU and DHA Launch Mississippi RIVER Project | |
| Mississippi State University is partnering with the Delta Health Alliance to encourage more people at the university and around the state to get a COVID-19 vaccination as part of the DHA Mississippi "Recognizing Important Vaccine and Education Resources" Project. The DHA grant, which employs multiple partnerships, funds outreach workers to raise awareness of the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccinations, a release from MSU says. The program also works with healthcare providers to address specific barriers of vulnerable populations, particularly among rural populations and communities of color. As part of the project, MSU has recruited 20 student Vaccine Ambassadors MSU who will work during the school year to provide information to MSU students, discuss commonly asked questions and encourage students to visit pop-up clinics or the Longest Student Health Center to receive vaccinations. MSU is also offering student and employee incentives through the DHA grant. Student incentives include raffles for $100 flexible dining dollars, $250 bookstore vouchers, $190 parking decal vouchers and two drawings for $9,000 in tuition. MSU employee incentives include National Championship gear and meal vouchers, with more planned for the fall semester. |
| Cargill, Continental Grain to Acquire Sanderson Farms | |
 | Sanderson Farms Inc. agreed to sell itself for around $4.5 billion as the poultry giant rides a wave of demand for chicken products. Cargill Inc. and agricultural-investment firm Continental Grain Co., which owns a smaller chicken processor, said Monday they reached a deal to take Sanderson private. The deal values Sanderson at $203 a share, about 30% above the stock price before The Wall Street Journal reported in June that the company had attracted interest from suitors including Continental. The Journal reported Sunday that the three were nearing a deal. Mississippi-based Sanderson is the country's third-biggest chicken producer. It runs 13 poultry plants from North Carolina to Texas, processing about 13.6 million chickens a week. Combining Sanderson with Georgia-based Wayne Farms LLC, a poultry company owned by Continental, would form a new competitor representing about 15% of U.S. chicken production. Continental and Cargill will evenly share ownership of Sanderson, a Cargill spokesman said. Clint Rivers, chief executive of Wayne Farms, will lead the combined business, the companies said. Sanderson got its start in 1947 as a farm-supply store. Joe Sanderson, the founder's grandson, has been the company's chief executive since 1989 and chairman since 1998. He owns approximately 3.7% of the company's shares, according to a regulatory filing. |
| PERS officials consider steps to ensure long-term viability | |
| The officials who manage Mississippi's defined benefit pension system might leverage some of the plan's biggest-ever investment gains as an opportunity to make lasting changes to ensure the plan's long-term viability. The Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi (PERS) -- which is the retirement fund for most state, city and county employees -- reported a rate of return of 30 percent on its investments, the second most since the fund began investing in the stock market in 1981 and the best since it recorded a 25.4 percent return in 2011. The PERS Board of Trustees held a meeting on July 27 to discuss possible changes proposed by PERS executive directory Ray Higgins. The plan's actuary, Cavanaugh Macdonald Consulting, has modeled several scenarios on the possible changes, which could include reductions or freezes to the plan's annual cost of living adjustments (COLA), changes to the COLA for new hires and increases in the taxpayer contributions to the plan. Higgins told the board that there was no better time, with tax revenues up and a big year on the investment front for PERS for it to consider making major reforms to ensure its long-term stability. Thanks to the big investment returns, the plan's position will be strongly improved from the year before, when the COVID-19 pandemic took a bite out of the plan's position. In fiscal 2020, PERS endured a 49.6 percent reduction in investment income from the year before and a funding ratio that shrank from 60.9 percent to 59 percent while the unfunded liability grew from $16.9 billion to $17.6 billion. |
| Over 6,900 new COVID-19 cases reported in Mississippi Friday-Sunday | |
 | Coronavirus cases in Mississippi, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant, continue to climb, with 6,912 new cases reported Friday-Sunday. Within the week ending on Thursday, 14,193 COVID-19 cases were recorded, up 4,194 from the previous week. On Tuesday, the state saw the highest one-day coronavirus-related deaths, at 34, since early March when the department reported 44 deaths. There were 28 coronavirus-related deaths reported on Friday. Fifteen deaths occurred between Jan. 29 and Aug. 2, identified from death certificate reports. Residents between the ages of 25 and 39 represent the largest portion of the infected population in the state, with 79,341 cases reported Tuesday, the latest figure available. Among patients under 18, children between the ages of 11 and 17 have the highest infection rate, with 27,944 cases identified. The 65 and older age group has the highest total number of deaths with 5,734 reported. According to health department data, 1,257,725 people have begun the vaccination process in Mississippi as of Friday morning. Since December, about 1,048,917 people are fully immunized against COVID-19. |
| Mississippi reports nearly 7,000 new COVID cases, dozens of deaths. 'The worst is yet to come.' | |
 | It was a weekend of sickness and death in Mississippi, as 6,912 residents tested positive for COVID-19 and 28 more people were reported to have died from the coronavirus. That three-day total is up from 4,991 a week ago on Monday, Aug. 2 ,and 332 two months ago on June 7. "We are rapidly depleting valuable hospital resources. The worst is yet to come," Dr. Thomas Dobbs, state health officer, said on Twitter. He also posted a graphic that shows 97% of those who test positive in the state have not been vaccinated, 89% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated and 85% of the deaths are unvaccinated. "Vast majority of cases in unvaccinated -- with spill over effects to some vaccinated individuals (primarily older or with weak immune systems)," he said. Those who get COVID should ask their doctor about monoclonal antibody treatment, he said, which can help COVID patients avoid severe side effects, hospitalizations and death. |
| Mississippi medical group urges mask mandate for all schools | |
 | The Mississippi State Medical Association on Friday urged all school districts to require masks for students and employees as COVID-19 cases continue to proliferate with the highly contagious delta variant. "At MSMA, we love to follow the science. We digested it, and we believe in mask mandates for the schools," the association's president, Dr. Mark Horne of Laurel, said Friday during an online briefing about the pandemic. The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said during the briefing that he applauds school administrators and school board members who stand firm for mask mandates, even as some face pushback from angry parents. "It's tough to be a good leader, but it's good for the kids," Dobbs said. "It's going to save lives." Many districts are leaving decisions about face coverings up to students and parents, saying they don't want to set a requirement if Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is not issuing a statewide mask mandate for schools. A state lawmaker whose mother worked as a nurse and died in 2020 after contracting COVID-19 said he supports the medical association's recommendation. "When the folks who are eye-witnessing the devastation of this Delta variant recommend something, we need to listen up," Democratic Rep. Tom Miles of Forest said in a statement Friday. Mississippi has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the nation. |
| Pediatric hospitals filling up as delta variant surges | |
 | Pediatric hospitals are filling with coronavirus patients as schools start opening amid the latest surge in infections, this one driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Children's hospitals in Tennessee will be completely full by the end of this week, the state health department projected, and the number of children admitted to a Jacksonville, Florida, pediatric hospital in July was more than four times the number admitted in June. Schools are allowing students, maskless or with masks, back into the classroom. And some schools are closing as soon they're opening their doors. A district in Mississippi reported 114 COVID-19 positive students for the week of July 24-30 and 608 students under quarantine, pushing two high schools and a middle school to virtual learning until Aug. 16. Children in one pre-K classroom in Georgia were sent home Thursday following possible contact with a person in school who had tested positive. Another school in Tennessee delayed the school year start date by one week because of a number of COVID-19 cases among staff. The American Academy of Pediatrics sent a letter to acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock last week, urging the agency to continue working aggressively toward authorizing vaccines for children under 12. "Simply stated, the delta variant has created a new and pressing risk to children and adolescents across this country, as it has also done for unvaccinated adults," the letter says. |
| Companies Thought They Had Plans for Fall. Now They Are Scrapping Them. | |
| Up until a few weeks ago, corporate leaders felt confident about what to expect this fall. Offices would reopen after Labor Day. Business travel would resume more broadly. Long-delayed work gatherings, conventions and off-site meetings would finally take place. The pandemic has, once again, upended many of those plans. The swift, startling resurgence of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations across the U.S. is causing corporate leaders to rip up playbooks for the next few months. No longer is a September return a target for many companies. Some employers have in recent days shifted return-to-office dates to October. Meanwhile, a range of other prominent companies now predict it will be 2022 until most workers return. Business travel at the company also remains largely restricted. The delays come at a precarious time for many companies and workers. White-collar employees, while often not eager to give up remote arrangements entirely, have looked forward to some measure of normalcy in the coming months, with more in-person interactions with colleagues. Bosses remain concerned about their workers' mental health and how to keep them motivated as the pandemic drags on. Much is changing, and quickly. Events that had been planned for later this month or this fall have been scrapped or gone virtual. |
| Analysis: Mississippi reveals it has lethal injection drugs | |
| Mississippi has not executed a death row inmate since June 2012, and no executions are currently scheduled. But a new court filing shows that the state Department of Corrections in recent months has acquired drugs to carry out lethal injections. Attorneys for the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center sued the Mississippi prison system in April 2015 on behalf of two death row inmates, saying the state's lethal injection protocol is inhumane. The lawsuit is still going on, and it specifically tries to block Mississippi from using compounded pentobarbital as the first of three drugs in executions. A compounded drug is one made in a pharmacy. Mississippi and several other states have had trouble finding drugs for lethal injections in recent years since pharmaceutical companies in the United States and Europe began blocking the use of their drugs for executions. A Department of Corrections spokesman on Friday did not immediately respond to several questions from The Associated Press, including how much of each of the three drugs the department acquired, the total cost of the drugs and when the drugs will expire. Mississippi has 37 men and one woman on death row. Mississippi lawmakers in 2017 added electrocution and firing squad as execution methods. The change was pushed by Republican Andy Gipson, who is now the state agriculture commissioner but was then chairman of the House Judiciary B Committee. He said it was a direct response to lawsuits filed by "liberal, left-wing radicals" to challenge the use of certain execution drugs. |
| Mississippi Ethics Commission hits City of Jackson with largest fine ever for failing to provide public records | |
 | On Friday, the Mississippi Ethics Commission issued its largest fine in state history to the City of Jackson. The Ethics Commission is requiring the City of Jackson to pay $170,397.50 to reimburse the legal expenses for WLBT's parent company Gray Television. It is also mandating that Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba implement accountability measures so the city does not violate the Public Records Act in the future. In addition, the city must pay $900 in a civil penalty to the state of Mississippi for violating the public records law. The order comes after more than two years since WLBT's reporter C.J. LeMaster made seven requests for public records to the Jackson Police Department related to comp time, crime reports, departmental memos, and more. Gray Televison filed the ethics complaint in October 2019. The Ethics Commission held hearings between November 2020 and January 2021 where members attempted to mediate the dispute between the City of Jackson and WLBT, yet no resolution could be reached as to the city producing the documentation. "The city's failures constitute deliberate indifference to its obligations under the Public Records Act," Ethic Commission Executive Director Tom Hood wrote in the order. |
| What follows Confederate statues? One Mississippi city's fight | |
| For more than a century, one of Mississippi's largest and most elaborate Confederate monuments has looked out over the lawn at the courthouse in the center of Greenwood, a Black-majority city with a history of civil rights protests and clashes. Protesters have demonstrated at the base of the towering pillar with six Confederate figures -- some residents demanding removal amid a racial reckoning across the country, others advocating for the statue's protection as a piece of history. Now, after years of debate, a new statue will be erected in Greenwood -- one of Emmett Till, the Black 14-year-old who was brutally beaten and shot in 1955 by white men just 10 miles from the city. The likeness of Till, whose death is still under federal investigation, will be one of only a handful of statues of African Americans in Mississippi, where dozens of Confederate monuments still dot the landscape at courthouses, town squares and other prominent locations. Greenwood is one of hundreds of cities and towns nationwide grappling with painful, expensive questions: What should be done with these tributes to the Civil War and the Confederate soldiers who fought in it? And, what monuments should go up in their place to represent the community? |
| President Biden's infrastructure bill on cruise control to Senate passage | |
 | President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure deal cleared its final serious Senate hurdle Sunday night, putting the legislation on a glide path to passage as soon as late Monday. In a 68-29 vote, the Senate closed down debate on a bill negotiated by a bipartisan group of 10 senators that spends $550 billion in new money on the nation's physical infrastructure. Sunday's vote came after senators spent the weekend haggling over amendments and time agreements to consider them. Final passage of the legislation is expected late Monday night, or the wee hours of Tuesday at the latest, unless a deal is reached among all 100 senators to speed it up. A 50-hour budget debate and an unlimited "vote-a-rama" on nonbinding but politically symbolic topics will follow immediately after. A total of 18 Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, joined all 50 Senate Democrats to advance the physical infrastructure bill. Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) supported ending debate, after previously voting against moving forward. Meanwhile, Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who is up for reelection in 2022, announced he would oppose the bill, citing concerns about the national debt. Young was part of a larger group of 20 senators that supported the bipartisan infrastructure talks. |
| Senate slogs through infrastructure debate | |
 | A sweeping bipartisan infrastructure agreement reached after what felt like glacially paced negotiations is now moving at a similar pace toward a likely Senate passage. The latest procedural step came Sunday night when the Senate voted 69-28 to adopt the substitute amendment, which contains the language adopted by a bipartisan group that at most included 22 senators. The Senate then voted 68-29 on cloture on the bill. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., who had been in the group of negotiators, said he will now oppose the bill, saying "we can't afford to continue to grow the national debt at this pace, particularly as our economy recovers from the pandemic." He said he's concerned about the pay-fors in the bill. Young is up for re-election next year. Another Republican, however, said he'd back the bill. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who has voted against prior procedural motions for the bill, announced his support on the Senate floor. Wicker is the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. "The bill we are now debating is far from perfect," Wicker said. "But at the end of the day, I believe this package will do a great service for the United States and a great service for my home state of Mississippi." |
| Humans have pushed the climate into 'unprecedented' territory, landmark U.N. report finds | |
 | More than three decades ago, a collection of scientists sanctioned by the United Nations first warned that humans were fueling a dangerous greenhouse effect and that if the world didn't act collectively and deliberately to slow Earth's warming, there could be "profound consequences" for people and nature alike. The scientists were right. On Monday, that same body -- the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- issued its latest and most dire assessment about the state of the planet, detailing how humans have altered the environment at an "unprecedented" pace and cautioning that the world risks increasingly catastrophic impacts in the absence of rapid greenhouse gas reductions. The landmark report, compiled by 234 authors relying on more than 14,000 studies from around the globe, bluntly lays out for policymakers and the public the most up-to-date understanding of the physical science on climate change. Monday's sprawling assessment states that there is no remaining scientific doubt that humans are fueling climate change. That much is "unequivocal." The only real uncertainty that remains, its authors say, is whether the world can muster the will to stave off a darker future than the one it already has carved in stone. |
| During pandemic, UMMC specialists also fight RSV | |
| At Children's of Mississippi, there's more than one virus infecting the state's children, resulting in rising numbers of hospitalizations. Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV, has been rampant throughout the southeastern U.S. this summer in an off-season surge, prompting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a health advisory last month. "We have had a huge number of RSV patients," said Dr. Mary Taylor, Suzan B. Thames Chair, professor and chair of pediatrics. "We're also seeing a rise in pediatric COVID-19 patients, including some who have both COVID-19 and RSV." In cases where children have both viruses, the RSV often results in more serious symptoms. "Viral respiratory illnesses such as RSV can make children seriously ill, and COVID-19 is only complicating matters," Taylor said. Children with RSV and COVID-19 "seem to be sicker, requiring prolonged respiratory support," said Dr. Jennifer Hong, associate chief medical officer for Children's of Mississippi, "and some are also battling superimposed bacterial infections when admitted." When RSV intersects with COVID-19, serious illness often results. The start of a new school year could bring a rise in viral infections, said Dr. April Palmer, professor and chief of pediatric infectious diseases. |
| MacKenzie Scott Donated $560 Million to 23 HBCUs. These Are the Other Things They Have in Common. | |
 | Last year MacKenzie Scott, a billionaire and philanthropist, shook the table when she donated $560 million to 23 public and private historically Black colleges and universities. For many of the colleges, it was the largest single financial gift that they had received, and it put a spotlight on institutions that had been critically underfunded for decades. But what distinguished the 23 institutions Scott chose from the other 78 accredited HBCUs that she didn't? Scott stressed that her approach to giving was data-driven with an emphasis on entrusting HBCU leaders with the freedom to decide how best to utilize the unrestricted funds. A study led by a scholar from Rutgers University offers further insight. A report based on the study and released on Thursday used federal data from the National Center for Education Statistics to identify commonalities between the intuitions that were chosen in comparison with those that were not. The findings can assist others who are interested in philanthropic giving to minority-serving institutions, said the report's lead author, Marybeth Gasman, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, and Resche Hines, chief executive officer of Trivium BI, an organization that analyses and collects data. "You do see across-the-board institutions that had strong leadership tended to get the donations," said Gasman, who is also the executive director of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions. She used the examples of Alcorn State University, which received $25 million from Scott, and Jackson State University, which wasn't selected. While Jackson State outperforms Alcorn on many of the metrics Gasman's team of researchers identified, Jackson State has seen more changes in leadership in recent years than Alcorn State has. In 2016, the former president, Carolyn Meyers, resigned amid criticism over her financial management of the institution; the following year, William B. Bynum Jr. held the position until he resigned after being arrested in a prostitution sting. After serving as acting president, Thomas K. Hudson was named the official president in 2020. |
| Fall Pandemic Prep and Vaccine Incentives at JSU and MSU, USM Blessings in a Backpack Program | |
| Jackson State University recently announced that it will require face masks or coverings in all public indoor campus spaces for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, regardless of academic or extracurricular activity. JSU based its decision on recent guidance from the Mississippi State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fall 2021 JSU classes will still be in-person with a possibly limited number of virtual course options, but JSU has modified all classrooms to accommodate social distancing. The university offers faculty, staff and student vaccinations every Tuesday on its main campus in collaboration with Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center. JSU has also launched a new residential student vaccination incentive program. Residential students who apply for the incentive program and show proof of vaccination will receive a $1,000 housing credit, which JSU will disperse in two $500 payments for the fall and spring semesters, respectively. The initiative is part of the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund grant program. The upcoming JSU Fall Faculty and Staff Seminar, scheduled for Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, will take place virtually. A virtual town hall for students and parents will take place on Aug. 10 at 6 p.m. and will cover JSU's fall 2021 COVID-19 plan and address further questions and concerns. |
| East Central Community College to temporarily require face masks on campus | |
 | Leaders with East Central Community College in Decatur announced they will temporarily require face coverings inside all buildings and classrooms on its campuses. The locations of the campuses include Choctaw, Philadelphia, Louisville, Carthage, and Forest. The policy goes into effect Monday, August 9. The mask requirement is in effect for all students, employees, and visitors regardless of vaccination status. The only exception to the mask requirement will be private offices, dormitory rooms, and until seated in the campus dining areas. "In light of the recent surge in COVID cases, especially the Delta variant, and following the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) COVID-19 Public Health Guidance for College and University Settings issued August 4, we have reevaluated and updated our opening of school plan for the Fall 2021 Semester," said ECCC President Dr. Brent Gregory. "As stated in the original Fall 2021 return to campus plan when it was released on July 1, we must be fully prepared to make adjustments in our operations if necessary and that is what we are doing." ECCC will continue to provide enhanced sanitation of classrooms and common areas, as well as increase the amount of hand sanitizing stations in all areas of campus. The college will also host two free vaccination clinics sponsored by Rush Health Systems. |
| Meridian Community College hosts summer commencement | |
 | "I'm pretty excited," said Meridian Community College student Christy Roberts as she and other members of the Summer Commencement 2021 waited to be called to receive their diplomas. MCC hosted its summer commencement in the Temple Theater on Aug. 6. Earlier in the day, the College's Practical Nursing Program held its pinning ceremony. Deanna Smith, MCC dean of student services, said, "graduation is a special day, one of my favorite days. Our graduates have showed resilience over the last year, and we are excited to celebrate their success." MCC President Thomas Huebner also acknowledged the class members' resiliency. "I'm thinking of a few words: focused, flexible, patient, techie, willing to learn, and refusing to quit. That's this class, and we're proud of them." A student in the College's Medical Assisting Technology Program, Roberts said she came to MCC to advance her career; she is a Certified Nurse Assistant. She credited her MCC instructors for their help. "It was an awesome experience," the Meridianite said. |
| Panhellenic makes changes to sorority recruitment at Auburn | |
| This year, sorority recruitment is looking a little different than previous years as sororities work to climb back into a sense of normalcy. Following a year and a half disrupted by COVID-19, the Panhellenic Council has taken this year as an opportunity to implement change. Things will still not be the same as before the pandemic, as some precautionary measures will still be taken, including a virtual option for those interested. Lady Frances Hamilton, Auburn University Panhellenic Council president and senior in public relations, joined the Panhellenic community upon arriving her first year. As her love for recruitment grew, she sought a way to become more deeply involved. She soon stepped into the role of Panhellenic delegate and later ran for president. "I wanted to participate in recruitment because it is such a fun way to create a community in college," Hamilton said. "Being from out of state, I did not know many people and was desperately looking to find a sisterhood of friends that would encourage me, love me and support me throughout the duration of my college years. The Panhellenic community offered that to me and has been the greatest blessing of my college experience." However, recruitment in 2021 will look a bit different from when Hamilton went through recruitment in 2018. "In keeping with Auburn University's latest COVID-19 guidelines, we will now be wearing masks indoors on campus, which includes the Panhellenic chapter rooms where Panhellenic recruitment is held," Hamilton said. "We are happy to provide this as a compromise to continue to have large events on campus, specifically for Panhellenic recruitment." |
| What should the redesigned LSU lakes look like? Organizers ask public's help to choose | |
 | In recent years, LSU's rowing team has waged an ongoing battle with the campus lakes where they practice. The area around their dock is choked with invasive vegetation, said Josephine Engelman, a senior on the team. Near the dock, the water has grown shallow, making it difficult for the team to launch their boats. These are just a few of the problems The University Lakes Project hopes to address. The initiative aims to improve the health of the six lakes bordering LSU's campus and revamp the recreational options available. An affiliate of the LSU Foundation is overseeing the project. An event was held Sunday afternoon at BREC's Milford Wampold Memorial Park -- known colloquially as the Baton Rouge Beach -- to view some of the landscaping options different firms are proposing for the lakes' renovation. Engelman, who stood behind a table with the LSU Rowing logo, said she and her teammates are "huge fans" of the project, even though some won't see the final outcome because they will have graduated by the time it's completed. "We're here kind of in support of the entire project," she said. A 2016 master plan sponsored by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation explored how the project could address water quality, general health of the lakes and recreational use. This includes increasing flood protection and reshaping the shorelines of the lakes to foster biodiversity. |
| Think the COVID vaccine happened overnight? LSU doctor says it took years of research | |
| Dr. Catherine O'Neal is chief medical officer of Our Lady of the Lake hospital system in Baton Rouge, Louisana. She is also an assistant professor of infectious disease at LSU Health New Orleans. In this video, Dr. O'Neal shares how a lifetime of mRNA vaccine research made it possible to have the vaccine when it was needed. O'Neal said, "I think about elite athletes, who work their whole lives to get to the National Championship and play the best game of their lives. And for those of us who are the average sports fan, we actually think it was just that season's practice that got them there. Absolutely not. It was the first person who put a ball in their hand when they were 3-years-old." "They have been practicing and working every single day, not just that season," she said. "And that's what this COVID-19 vaccine is. We have been working for decades to make sure that when we had a pandemic, we took it out of our back pocket and we said, 'We're ready.' We should be proud of this. We were ready." |
| All Kentucky public universities to require masks as COVID cases rise | |
 | Presidents from all of Kentucky's public four-year state universities made a joint announcement Friday that masks will be required in all campus buildings for the fall 2021 semester. "After careful consideration of the CDC's updated guidelines, consultation with public health officials, and the current spike in cases due to the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant, all of Kentucky's public colleges and universities will require face coverings to be worn in all campus buildings, by both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals," the announcement said. At UK, President Eli Capilouto announced Friday that new campus mask rules will begin Monday. In an email, Capilouto said that regardless of COVID vaccination status, all UK students, faculty, staff and visitors will be required to wear masks indoors. Roughly 31,000 students attend UK where roughly 14,000 faculty and staff work. Earlier in the week, UK officials asked students, faculty and staff to self-report their COVID vaccination status to the university, and Capilouto said more than 2,000 individuals have done so. He said the percentage of students and faculty vaccinated has hit more than 70 in recent days. |
| COVID-19 Update: UF expects, but does not require, mask usage indoors | |
| The University of Florida expects everyone, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks at all times indoors effective immediately. "It's not a mask mandate," UF spokesperson Steve Orlando said. "It's expected, not required." In a campus-wide email brief sent Friday, UF advised students, faculty and staff of COVID-19 precaution measures to prevent further transmission of the virus. The university expects everyone to wear a mask in indoor facilities and encourages vaccinations; neither masking nor vaccination mandates are in place. Masks still remain optional, as mask-wearing will not be enforced, according to Orlando. The phrasing "we expect everyone to wear a mask at all times when inside any UF facility," and "effective immediately," caused confusion among news outlets, such as the New York Post and CBS4 News Gainesville, which reported UF requires masks indoors. UF clarified its announcement hours later on Twitter: "Masks are not required at UF -- they are expected." The email announcement followed record-breaking cases statewide, a sixth wave of the virus at UF and labor union demands for mandatory masking. The email urged students to get vaccinated, as it not only helps prevent serious illness or hospitalization but protects those around them, the brief read. |
| Top U. of South Carolina presidential aide headed to new role at LSU | |
 | Mark Bieger, who was chief of staff to former University of South Carolina President Bob Caslen and has military ties to Columbia, has accepted a new position at another SEC school. Bieger will be the vice president of strategy at Louisiana State University, according to a release from the school. In that role he will "help improve organizational alignment of all of the LSU campuses throughout the state and help drive the implementation of top priorities." The president at LSU is William Tate IV. He was USC's provost under Caslen, but in May was named president of the Louisiana school. He is the first Black president of LSU. USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said Bieger has submitted his resignation at South Carolina. His last official day is Tuesday. Bieger starts work at LSU on Sept. 1. Bieger was named chief of staff to then-USC President Bob Caslen in January 2020. He had previously served as Caslen's chief of staff at West Point. Caslen ultimately resigned in May after gaffes during speeches at USC commencement ceremonies, including one where he referred to the school as the "University of California," and another where he lifted a portion of another speech from retired Navy admiral William McRaven without attributing the source material. |
| Faculty, students push for vaccine mandates at Minnesota, elsewhere | |
 | With the fall semester approaching, the much more easily transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus spreading, and COVID-19 cases rising, professors and students at several flagship public universities are pushing their institutions to join the more than 600 other colleges and universities that are mandating vaccines. Dimitri Drekonja, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, co-authored an open letter in June signed by more than 500 people calling on the university to reconsider its decision not to require vaccines. "At this point they're getting to be more and more of an outlier," said Drekonja, who noted that the top 25 leading institutions in the country are all requiring vaccines. "I think when you see all your peer institutions go in one direction and you're not, at some point it makes you reconsider." University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel explained the decision not to mandate vaccines in a June announcement and said the institution is "putting the full weight of the University behind access to vaccines and information about the benefits of vaccination. Public health experts note that a 100 percent vaccination rate is not possible in any situation and the most effective strategy is access and information." Half of the University of Minnesota's peer universities in the Big 10 have mandated COVID-19 vaccines, including the Universities of Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Michigan, as well as Michigan State, Northwestern and Rutgers. A federal appeals court upheld the legality of Indiana University's vaccination requirement in a ruling last week. Another Big 10 peer, Pennsylvania State University, has opted against requiring vaccines in favor of incentivizing vaccination and imposing additional COVID-19 testing requirements for unvaccinated individuals. |
| Fewer Foreign Students To The U.S. Cost Billions In Revenue Loss | |
 | The Biden administration is hoping to attract tens of thousands of international students who stayed away from U.S. campuses during the pandemic. Foreign enrollment plummeted by 20% last year costing nearly $10 billion dollars in lost revenue. Though some students are starting to return, recovery might not be so easy. Even before the pandemic, international students were already turning away from the U.S. In the 2018-2019 school year, foreign enrollment peaked at 1.1 million students and it's been declining ever since as countries like Australia, Canada and the U.K gain more foreign students. That's a challenge for American colleges. But it also could be a blow to U.S. competitiveness. Foreign students often go on to build their lives in the United States, filling our faculty offices, our laboratories, our boardrooms. One in five entrepreneurs who founded start-ups in the United States is an immigrant -- and three-quarters of them first came to America as students. When the pandemic sliced away a huge chunk of foreign students, the new administration took note. Higher education is one the nation's largest service exports --- bigger than agriculture exports like corn and soybeans. Unlike the Trump administration's hostility to foreigners, the Biden administration recently called it a "foreign policy imperative" that the U.S. remain the top study destination for international students. It's putting students first in line for interviews and visa processing at U.S. consulates around the world. But for many foreign students, the U.S. just isn't as dominant. |
| Senators call on State Department to speed up student visas | |
| Sen. Alex Padilla, chairman of the Judiciary Committee's immigration panel, and nearly two dozen other Democratic senators called on the State Department on Friday to speed up processing of student visas ahead of the start of the school year. In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the senators urged the department to increase staffing, maximize use of virtual interviews and provide more flexibility in an effort to work through a backlog of student visa requests and ensure international students are able to attend American universities this academic year. "We are at a critical point in the academic calendar when international students and scholars must make visa appointments and plan their travel to the United States," Padilla, D-Calif., wrote alongside 23 other senators, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Cory Booker, D-N.J. Although U.S. consulates are reopening from pandemic-era closures, they are still operating at partial capacity, and visa appointments are limited, the senators noted. Citing data showing international students --- who typically pay full tuition --- contribute tens of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, the Democrats also indicated the U.S. could lose these students to other competitor countries that "have issued clear guidance for international students" despite pandemic-related challenges. |
| Biden administration extends repayment pause to January 2022 | |
| The temporary pause on student loan repayment has been extended to January 31, 2022 for the final time, the Department of Education announced Friday. Repayments were originally scheduled to resume October 1, 2021. This is the fourth time that the repayment pause has been extended since it was first enacted in March 2020 by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. Under the pause, all student loan payments have been suspended, every borrower has had their interest rate set to zero percent and collections on defaulted loans have been paused. The department said that with the additional time and a definitive end date, borrowers will be able to plan for the resumption of payments, reducing the risk of delinquency and defaults after the restart. It also said it will be working to facilitate a smooth transition for borrowers back into repayment, which includes improvements to student loan servicing. Recent survey data has shown the extension for borrowers was likely necessary. An analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that two-thirds of respondents to a survey conducted this past spring said it would be difficult for them to afford payments if they resumed a month from the date they took the survey. Another survey, conducted by Student Debt Crisis, showed that 90 percent of the nearly 24,000 borrowers surveyed said they were not ready to resume payments in October. Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said that while the organization welcomes the decision, the department must begin preparing for the restart immediately. |
| Is Mississippi up to the task of (properly) spending billions in federal pandemic dollars? | |
| Geoff Pender writes for Mississippi Today: Billions of federal dollars are flowing to state and local governments and agencies through the American Rescue Plan Act, providing unprecedented opportunity for a poor state such as Mississippi to enact projects and programs that would otherwise be impossible. But (properly) spending and riding herd over billions of federal dollars is a monumental undertaking -- something Mississippi learned the hard way after Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil disaster and from various scandals such as the welfare fraud case. It raises the question: Is Mississippi up to the task? "That's the question I'm asking every night as I go to bed," state Auditor Shad White said. "... Do they have the bandwidth to spend the money properly? I think the answer is: the jury is still out." It also raises questions of whether the state's top leadership can get on the same page -- something they have struggled to do even though they're all Republicans -- and work together on what many are calling a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Mississippi will receive over $6 billion from the $1.9 trillion ARPA. The money has to be obligated by 2024 and spent by 2026. About $1.8 billion will be controlled by the state Legislature. Another $932 million will go to county and city governments. Around $166 million is earmarked for capital projects, primarily for broadband expansion. Millions more will go directly to K-21 schools, colleges and universities, mental health and human services and other agencies, and billions of dollars is going or has gone directly to Mississippians through stimulus payments, child tax credits, enhanced unemployment benefits and other areas. |
| Gov. Tate Reeves decries critical race theory, but doesn't comment on death of civil rights icon Bob Moses | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: The spokesperson for Gov. Tate Reeves was asked on July 25 for a comment from the governor on the death of Bob Moses, a civil rights icon and education innovator. Moses, who died at the age of 86, was not a Mississippian. He was born in New York and lived his later life in south Florida. But his contributions to Mississippi in terms of developing the strategy in 1964 for mass registration of disenfranchised Black Mississippians to vote and of developing the integrated Freedom Democratic Party are monumental in the history of the state and nation. Still, it was not surprising that the governor's office did not respond. Reeves' staff often ignores requests for comment from the media. While the governor sometimes ignores such requests, he often goes straight to the people, so to speak, by commenting on social media -- just like his political hero former President Donald Trump would often do. Reeves didn't even do that. The week Moses died, though, the governor did express sympathy via social media regarding the death of conservative talk show host J.T. Williamson. |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs feeling acclimated as fall camp begins | |
| Jaden Walley felt out of shape in the summer swelter when the Mississippi State football team began training camp last August after a lengthy layoff caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Twelve months later, he's in the same situation -- without the same feeling. Moving padless across the practice fields outside the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex, the sophomore wide receiver and his teammates seem as energized as they can be under the scorching sun. "I know last year around this time I was almost dying, and this year I feel a lot better," Walley said. It's the prevailing mood in Starkville after a valuable spring season on which the Bulldogs missed out in 2020 thanks to the nascent pandemic. Fall camp got underway Friday, and with less than four weeks to go until the 2021 season begins, Mississippi State no longer feels behind. "It's great to be back out here for sure," head coach Mike Leach said Friday. The Bulldogs' first practice came with the typical "sloppiness" and "rustiness" of a first day but still delivered plenty of good signs for a Mississippi State team that went 4-7 last season. In practices Friday and Saturday, quarterbacks Will Rogers and Chance Lovertich looked solid, Walley and a pair of transfers will lead the way at wideout, and the offensive line has bulked up considerably to bolster a scoring unit that struggled for much of last season. |
| Mississippi State football kicks off fall camp as QB competition continues | |
 | Music was blaring from Mississippi State's football practice fields Friday afternoon meaning college football is back. The Bulldogs took the field for their first practice with Mike Leach looking as comfortable as ever in his second season as MSU head coach -- sporting a T-shirt and khaki shorts just as he wished he could have done at SEC Media Days a couple weeks ago. The main topic heading into Year 2 of Leach's Air Raid offense at Mississippi State surrounded the team's quarterback battle with Will Rogers and Southern Miss transfer Jack Abraham expected to compete for the job. The subject stirred some attention Friday as Abraham took the field for a few warmups but was not present during team drills. "We'll find out," Leach said when asked if Abraham still learning the offense played a role in his limited practice. "We'll see because we've got a number of quarterbacks, and we've got to work through all of them." When asked if any players were limited in practice, Leach said he couldn't think of any but he wouldn't comment on any injuries anyway. Rogers took the reps with the first-team offense as he looks to show his increased knowledge of Leach's offense. |
| What Mike Leach said about Mississippi State QBs, first practice | |
| Mississippi State football opened its 2021 preseason practices Friday and all eyes were on sophomore quarterback Will Rogers. Mostly because the Mississippi State quarterback competition didn't look much like a competition at all. Rogers received almost all of the first-team reps Friday, continuing to build chemistry with a revamped receiver group that's significantly deeper than the one he threw to last fall. Rogers made a few good throws and a few bad decisions, as should be expected on the first day of practice, but coach Mike Leach was more impressed with the growth he's seen from the sophomore. "I think leadership he's come a long, long ways as far as elevating the play of others," Leach said. "He's more consistent than he obviously was starting as a true freshman without a spring. There's plenty of progress to make." Rogers has had time to make that progress this offseason. Rogers didn't have a spring in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions and was thrust into a starting role because of an injury, not because he was necessarily deemed ready. This year, Rogers had a full spring. And a more regular summer. And he's heading into fall as the man to beat. It's important to note, however, that Rogers does have some competition. South Alabama transfer Chance Lovertich took all the second-team reps behind Rogers. |
| Early in preseason camp, Mississippi State's inside receivers are seeing 'the big picture' | |
| Four words blare over the PA system late in Sunday's Mississippi State football practice at the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex. "Brodie having a day!" the disembodied voice crows. Redshirt junior wide receiver Brodie King, who just minutes prior caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Will Rogers during the team portion of the Bulldogs' third practice of the fall, is being praised once again for another nice catch. A few plays later, redshirt freshman Rufus Harvey III makes a big play and gets a corresponding shoutout over the loudspeaker. Once again Sunday, Mississippi State's inside receivers were making their names known. It's become a pattern over the team's first few practices as the group of wideouts continues to improve with under four weeks to go before the Bulldogs' Sept. 4 season opener against Louisiana Tech. "I've got a nice little room," inside receivers coach Dave Nichol said after Sunday's workout. And Ford and Harvey are far from the biggest names in it. Those would be sophomore Jaden Walley, he of the record-setting freshman season in 2020, and redshirt senior Austin Williams. |
| Mississippi State defense ready to follow offense with Year 2 improvements | |
| In the blistering heat of the start of Mississippi State's fall camp, the talk of any Mike Leach team heading into Year 2 will revolve around the improvement of the air raid offense. But the unit on the other side of the ball is going through much of the same: a second season under a new coach needing to make forward strides. MSU's SEC rankings last season -- fifth in yards allowed per game (389.7) and fourth in rushing yards per game (126.4) -- give reason for optimism for a defensive unit learning a new defense despite a diminished offseason due to the coronavirus pandemic. Defensive coordinator Zach Arnett doesn't care too much about what those numbers should mean coming into this season. Being his very matter-of-fact self following the second August camp practice, Arnett spoke to the media about how it's difficult to determine much of where the defense has progressed this offseason when players haven't put on pads yet. "Same old, same old," Arnett said of what he's seen after two practices. Wearing no pads leaves little to be seen in terms of game-like improvements, but it allows coaches to get a good look of where their players have progressed physically. |
| 'I wouldn't want to be compliance departments': Mississippi State, Ole Miss football talk NIL | |
| Three letters -- that when used as a word instead of an acronym mean zero -- have taken college athletics by storm, changing the complexity of the NCAA forever. Name, image and likeness (NIL) has been talked about more than anything in the past couple years around college sports, and this summer it finally arrived. Your favorite athletes filled social media feeds with announcements and advertisements about companies they'd be partnering with. From being whatever a "Barstool athlete" means to signing deals with local fireworks shops, athletes are finding ways to maximize opportunity off their brands and generate revenue many athletes before them weren't allowed to. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are no exception, and questions have risen about the issues NIL could create. Will jealousy become an issue within locker rooms? Will teams use their popularity and outreach as ways to entice recruits to join their program? Athletes at SEC Media Days shared a consensus opinion that NIL would create more good than bad. Here's what those within Mississippi's top programs are saying. |
| Mizzou names UNLV's Desiree Reed-Francois athletic director | |
 | The search took less than two weeks. Desiree Reed-Francois has been hired as Missouri's next athletic director, the school announced Sunday. Reed-Francois, 49, will be the first Hispanic woman to oversee a Power Five Conference program. She also becomes the Southeastern Conference's second female athletic director. Vanderbilt hired Candice Lee in February 2020. "This is a transformational day for Mizzou athletics," UM System President and MU Chancellor Mun Choi said in a statement. "Desiree Reed-Francois brings an unsurpassed passion for student-athletes and bold, visionary skills that will propel a championship culture at MU. As a proud member of the SEC, we are energized to go into the next era of Mizzou athletics with Desiree Reed-Francois at the helm." Reed-Francois has been UNLV's athletic director since April 2017. Her original contract ran through 2022 with an annual salary of $350,000. That deal was extended four more years in April alongside a raise to $420,000. In moving from Las Vegas to Columbia, Reed-Francois should stand to approximately double her annual salary. Since 2017 at UNLV, Reed-Francois has hired a new head football coach, former Oregon assistant Marcus Arroyo, and a new head men's basketball coach, Kevin Kruger, formerly a player and assistant coach at the school. Also as part of her tenure, she oversaw the building of a $35 million football complex, something she will do again with the Tigers' soon-to-be-built full-length indoor football practice facility. |
| Many venues from Atlanta '96 Olympics still in use | |
| When the international media alighted in Atlanta ahead of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, many weren't impressed with the venues they saw. That was kind of the point. From the outset, Atlanta organizers didn't have the billions in public financing that the Catalan capital did ahead of the previous summer Games. Georgia officials were instead largely reliant on what they could raise selling TV rights, souvenirs and sponsorships. In the end, Atlanta, one of the last cities to privately finance its games, spent $3.8 billion in 2009 dollars to build venues and run the show, according to an Oxford University study. Barcelona had spent $11.4 billion. And many of the facilities constructed for the Atlanta Olympiad are still in use, unlike many venues in Athens, Rio de Janeiro and Beijing. Some of the biggest winners from Atlanta's Olympic building boom were local universities. Sporting facilities found new life as dorms, practice fields and game day venues. The old Olympic Village along the Downtown Connector, first used by Georgia State University as dormitories, then sold to Georgia Tech, is credited with helping GSU turn around its reputation as a commuter college. But perhaps the biggest beneficiary was the Atlanta Braves. The team got its 30-year-old digs at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium replaced with the state-of-the-art Olympic Stadium. The remodeled facility still stands and is used by GSU. |
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