| Thursday, August 12, 2021 |
| MSU-Meridian announces Rick Kilgore as physician assistant program interim director | |
 | James "Rick" Kilgore, well known for his contributions to the Physician Assistant profession over the past 34 years, has been named interim director of Mississippi State University-Meridian's Physician Assistant program. A national search for a program director is currently underway. "Dr. Kilgore's appointment presents great opportunity to further strengthen our new PA program," said Terry Dale Cruse, associate vice president and head of campus. "His experience leading one of the nation's premier programs, as well as his proven reputation in the field, will immensely benefit our faculty and students as we search for a new director." In 2013, Kilgore moved into academia full time when he became program director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham PA program, a position he held for five years. Active in the American Academy of Physician Assistants, Kilgore has served on the board of directors as well as a member and chair of the Political Action Committee and was named a Distinguished Fellow of the AAPA in 2007. While serving as president of the Alabama Society of Physician Assistants, he led the overhaul of the rules and regulations that resulted in prescriptive privileges, remote site privileges, creation of an advisory board to the State Board of Medical Examiners and mandated third party reimbursement for PAs. Kilgore also was a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners Liaison Committee and its PA Advisory Committee. Kilgore is an avid pilot and is currently a search/rescue pilot with the Civil Air Patrol-U.S. Air Force Auxiliary at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama, where he also is the chief of staff. |
| SOCSD sees 49 positive COVID cases within first two days of class | |
 | Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District has seen more positive COVID-19 cases within its first two days returning to classes than it did within any week during the previous school year. SOCSD Public Information Officer Nicole Thomas reported to the board of trustees Tuesday there had been 49 positive cases within students across the district from just this past Thursday and Friday. In comparison, the highest case number the district saw during an entire week during the 2020-21 school year was 17. "This means that they were sick when their parents sent them to school," SOCSD Board President Sumner Davis said. About eight faculty and staff members reported positive cases so far this school year, Thomas reported. According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, students exposed in a classroom setting that are wearing a mask and observing a three-foot social distance, they are not required to quarantine, Thomas said. Therefore, not all of the exposed students from this past week have to quarantine unless they begin to show symptoms. SOCSD requires mask wearing inside its facilities. "With the new MSDH guidance, if you're wearing a mask in a classroom setting, it's not considered a close contact, so those students are not required to quarantine," Thomas said. Superintendent Eddie Peasant said the district is looking into options for teachers and staff members who have received the vaccine, including COVID relief days. |
| Up and running, but Mississippi businesses are again left to make do as COVID-19 resurges | |
 | The past year-and-a-half has been a blur for Malcolm White. He can't put his finger on the number of weeks he had to shutter his downtown Jackson restaurant Hal & Mal's when the coronavirus ripped through the city the first time in March 2020. When the doors reopened at the proclaimed "most talked-about upscale honky-tonk in all of Mississippi" he'd presided over for over three decades everything had to change. Hal & Mal's wasn't equipped for drive-thru or delivery service. It's a dining space. A venue. A gathering place for trivia nights and concerts, not expeditious meals wrapped up in plastic takeout bags. White had no choice. The pandemic was calling the shots. He'd lost a handful of staff, whittled down service hours and worked to navigate curbside service. For the past 18 months, the decisions of White and other Mississippi business owners have been predicated on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and those of their cities and state. Restrictions have ebbed and flowed. Spring 2021 was a breath of fresh air for businesses surviving the earlier waves of COVID-19. "We had a real burst of optimism after the CDC came out and said 'if you've been vaccinated you could go back to your life,' " White said of the CDC rolling back mask requirements for fully vaccinated people in mid-May. He was rebuilding momentum. But the delta variant of the coronavirus, particularly pernicious among the state's largely unvaccinated population, sent some businesses for a tailspin about three weeks ago. |
| Mississippi breaks its single-day total of new COVID cases | |
 | Mississippi reported its largest single-day total of new COVID-19 cases Thursday, far exceeding a record set only two days earlier and indicating more challenges in coming days for already-strained hospitals. The state Health Department reported 4,412 new cases of the virus Thursday, a 26% increase over the 3,488 cases it reported in the state Tuesday. The numbers Wednesday also exceeded 3,000. Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said the rapid increase in new cases is putting stress on the state hospital system, with few intensive care unit beds available in Mississippi. "If we continue that trajectory, within the next five to seven to 10 says, I think we're going to see failure of the hospital system in Mississippi," Jones said during a news conference Wednesday. "Hospitals are full from Memphis to Gulfport, Natchez to Meridian." The state Health Department said 36% of Mississippi residents are fully vaccinated, compared to about 50% nationally. It also said that between July 13 and Wednesday in Mississippi, unvaccinated people made up 98% of those newly diagnosed with COVID-19, 90% of those hospitalized with it and 84% of those who died from it. |
| Mississippi requests federal aid as hospital admissions continue to rise at 'staggering rate' | |
 | As the University of Mississippi Medical Center constructs a 50-bed field hospital in a parking garage for a federal disaster medical team to treat patients and the Mississippi State Department of Health has inquired about having the USNS Comfort hospital ship bring aid to Mississippi, positive COVID-19 cases continue to increase at an alarming rate. The mood inside the Mississippi State Department of Health is grim. "It's been kind of a hard time around here," State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, sounding exhausted and demoralized, said during a Wednesday press briefing. Worst of all, Dobbs said, is that most of the deaths could have been prevented. In the fourth wave of COVID-19 cases in Mississippi, caused by the highly contagious delta variant, MSDH is reporting more deaths in people under the age of 50. State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said that 26% of the 61 people reportedly killed by the virus in the past two days were under the age of 50. Several deaths occurred among individuals in their 20s. Among the dead were two pregnant women. The vast majority, 97%, of new cases are unvaccinated. "I just want to reiterate this point because I think it's true and more obvious than ever: People are either going to get the vaccine or they're going to get COVID," Dobbs said. |
| Mississippi opening field hospital amid surge of COVID cases | |
| Mississippi will open a 50-bed field hospital and the federal government will send medical professionals to help treat patients as COVID-19 cases continue surging in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S., officials said Wednesday. Many Mississippi hospitals face a crunch for space and staffing. The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, expressed frustration Wednesday about people ignoring recommendations to get vaccinated and wear masks to slow the spread of the virus. Masks are required in some schools and optional in others, but some parents say mask mandates infringe on children's freedom. "I kind of personally feel like I'm an air traffic controller, and every day I'm watching two airliners collide," Dobbs said during a news conference. The state's temporary field hospital --- on reserve for disasters -- will be in a parking garage at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and it could be open by Friday. Dr. LouAnn Woodward, the head of UMMC, said the facility should help with an influx of patients, including some transferred from smaller hospitals. She described the field hospital as "a Band-Aid." |
| UMMC prepping field hospital as COVID-19 cases surge; 18K cases in Mississippi in a week | |
 | The fourth wave of COVID-19, driven by the delta variant, has overburdened the University of Mississippi Medical Center, leading it to begin clearing out a floor of one of the center's garages to serve as a field hospital. Field hospitals are temporary medical units typically used in disasters and wartime. UMMC's unit will have 50 beds, according to a Wednesday tweet from Gov. Tate Reeves, and will open no later than Friday. The field unit will have a mixture of inpatient and outpatient services and will be a resource for the entire state, not just UMMC. Around 30-35 physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and pharmacists from out of state are expected to make their way to Mississippi to staff the 50-bed unit field hospital. The federal health care workers will staff the field unit for a few weeks, UMMC said. "We've gone through this four to five times," Alan Jones, UMMC associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs and COVID-19 clinical response leader, said Aug. 4. "We're at a breaking point." UMMC previously established a field unit for COVID-19-related reasons back in April 2020. The intention then was to treat people who were not sick enough for the emergency department or hospitalization, according to WLBT reporting from April 8, 2020. |
| Mississippi's hospital system could fail within 5-10 days. Gov. Tate Reeves says to 'remain calm.' | |
 | As Mississippi's top medical professionals worked to sound the alarm on Wednesday about an imminent failure of the state's hospital system due to the surging COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Tate Reeves downplayed the severity of the situation and urged Mississippians to "remain calm." The contrast in approaches on Wednesday is illustrative of the gulf between the crisis at hand and the government's lack of response to it. And at the worst moment so far of the pandemic, all Mississippians -- COVID-stricken or otherwise -- may soon not have adequate hospital care at their disposal. The University of Mississippi Medical Center is so overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients during the state's worst wave of cases that it is constructing a field hospital in a parking garage to increase capacity. The state's largest medical center, completely out of staffed intensive care unit beds, is just one of the many medical facilities across the state on the verge of collapse as the delta variant causes a level of need the state's healthcare workers cannot meet. "If we track back a week or so when we look at the case positivity rate, the rate of new cases, the rate of hospitalizations -- if we continue that trajectory within the next five to seven to 10 days, I think we're going to see failure of the hospital system in Mississippi," Dr. Alan Jones, UMMC associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs, said during a press conference on Wednesday. The current COVID-19 crisis is, for the most part, not one for lack of hospital beds and ventilators, but of staff. |
| 'We are not panicking.' Gov. Tate Reeves tweets response plan to Mississippi's COVID-19 crisis | |
 | Mississippi needs 920 health care workers to battle the state's COVID-19 surge in the near future, Gov. Tate Reeves said on Facebook Wednesday. The state is asking other states for additional personnel. If they can't help, Mississippi will turn to FEMA. That announcement was part of what looks to be the governor's most significant public comments on COVID-19 in Mississippi since the state's fourth wave began, pushing hospitals almost to the breaking point. He has not held a press conference about the pandemic since April. "We are not panicking," he wrote on Facebook. "As we do with every emergency (tornado, hurricane, flooding, ice storm, and this pandemic), we are calmly making decisions based on the best available data to manage the situation and mitigate its impact on our people." Reeves wrote that the "real challenge" facing Mississippi during its fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is not lack of beds, but lack of staffing. "Unfortunately, I've been advised hospitals throughout Mississippi have lost nearly 2,000 nurses over the last year," he wrote. "The reason for the shortage can be debated in the future ... the task at hand is to help backfill these vacancies to protect the integrity of our healthcare system." Reeves also seemed to hit back at those who have wondered why he has been nearly silent in public as cases accelerate and ICU beds fill up across the state. |
| Mississippi daily COVID-19 cases hit record high of more than 4,000 on Thursday | |
| Coronavirus cases in Mississippi, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant, continue to climb, with 4,412 new cases Thursday. It's the highest number of cases since Jan. 8 when the Mississippi State Department of Health reported 3,542 cases. Between Aug. 6 to 12, the state reported over 20,000 new COVID-19 cases. On Tuesday, the state saw the highest one-day coronavirus-related deaths, 36, since early March when the department reported 44 deaths. On Thursday, the state reported 20 coronavirus-related deaths Thursday. Ten deaths occurred between Dec. 23 and July 31, as 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 83,833 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 29,852 cases identified. The 65 and older age group has the highest total number of deaths with 5,778 reported. According to health department data, 1,284,736 people have begun the vaccination process in Mississippi, as of Wednesday morning. Since December, about 1,062,396 people are fully immunized against COVID-19. |
| Leaders fear what could happen if Gov. Tate Reeves ends state of emergency on Sunday as planned | |
| Thousands of teachers and state employees may lose the ability to get paid leave for COVID-19 absences. The program the state uses to assess hospital bed space in real time to provide adequate care for patients may be dismantled. The National Guard, an integral piece to the state's vaccine and testing rollout during its busiest peaks, may no longer be available to assist. Even as new COVID-19 cases set daily and weekly records, and hospital intensive care units and emergency rooms fill up across Mississippi, all this and more could become a reality on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. if Gov. Tate Reeves lets his state of emergency order expire as planned. Issuing states of emergency -- which effectively provide legal framework for extraordinary government actions to be carried out -- is one of the governor's most direct powers in Mississippi. Reeves' announcement that he would let the current state of emergency order expire came on June 18, when daily COVID-19 cases were low and the state's hospitals were not overwhelmed. This week, as the pandemic reaches its worst point since it began, the governor's office did not respond to multiple questions from Mississippi Today about whether he is reconsidering terminating the executive order. But on Wednesday afternoon, Reeves said on social media he was considering whether to extend the emergency order. "We are discussing our options on the State of Emergency and will make a final decision within the next 48 hours on whether or not it needs to be extended," Reeves said on Wednesday. |
| Mississippi Book Festival canceled because of COVID concerns | |
| This month's Mississippi Book Festival has been canceled amid concerns of contagion from the latest surge in coronavirus infections. "Authors were very uncomfortable traveling, and we didn't want to take any chances," the festival's executive director, Holly Lange, said Wednesday. "We did not want to be a super-spreader event and put any more stress on the hospital system." The free event was to have been held on Aug. 21 inside and outside the state Capitol and at nearby Galloway United Methodist Church in downtown Jackson, with than 180 authors signed up to speak during 48 panel discussions. Scheduled speakers included novelists Kiese Laymon and Ellen Gilchrist; historian Lonnie G. Bunch, who is secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; and former Time magazine editor Walter Isaacson, who is now a history professor at Tulane University. Among the topics this year were panels on civil rights, the Gulf South, Afrofuturism, cooking and young adult fiction. |
| Gulf Coast business leaders, not the state, working to create vaccine lottery program | |
| Gulf Coast business and casino leaders are doing what Mississippi government leaders have not: They are working to create a vaccine lottery-like program. Several prominent Gulf Coast businesspeople are pooling resources in efforts to create a program that would offer vaccinated Mississippians a chance to win cash or other prizes. Mississippi, which ranks 48th for its vaccination rate in the nation, would join dozens of other states in having similar programs. "We believe time is of the essence," said Ashley Edwards, the president of the Gulf Coast Business Council. "So we're quickly trying to do work that should take months and do it in weeks, days." Organizers say they are confident they will be able to offer prizes -- likely cash -- eligible only to vaccinated Mississippians. The program funds are being collected through the nonprofit Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Leaders from Hancock, Harrison and Jackson have been involved so far. Governors across the nation have created similar incentive programs in efforts to raise vaccination rates. As of Wednesday, Mississippi's overall vaccination rate was about 35%. But the vaccine rate for south Mississippi -- the state's tourism hub, churning out millions in economic impact every month from both gaming revenue and sales tax -- has consistently been below the state average. |
| Children's hospitals are swamped with Covid patients -- and it may only get worse | |
 | The number of kids infected with Covid-19 is soaring as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads and schools reopen, pushing children's hospitals around the country to the brink. Nearly 1,600 kids with Covid-19 were hospitalized last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- a new seven-day record and a 27 percent increase from the week before. As dire as the situation is now, hospital leaders and public health officials predict it will get even worse in the coming weeks. They are already contending with unseasonably high levels of RSV, a respiratory virus that can be dangerous for young children and infants. Flu season is on the horizon. Yet the escalating crisis has had little political impact thus far, even in the southeastern states where Delta is hitting hardest. Most GOP governors and state officials who have banned vaccine mandates, mask requirements and other public health tools to fight Covid-19 are sticking with those policies. Conditions are worst in rural states like Arkansas and Mississippi. Patients at Children’s of Mississippi hospital in Jackson often have to wait hours in the emergency room for a bed to clear because the facility has been slammed with RSV and coronavirus cases. In recent days, the hospital has had between 13 and 16 kids with Covid admitted at any one time -- about twice the number it saw during January’s peak, said pediatrics chair Mary Taylor. She said people are wrong to assume that Delta isn’t a threat to children, especially if they are in crowded schools without masks. “It’s misleading because during the first go-round, there were children with zero symptoms,” she said. “Now, they are more symptomatic and are at far greater risk of spreading it and they seem to be getting sicker.” |
| Lawmakers 'very, very close' to medical marijuana deal | |
| The lead Senate and House negotiators working on a Mississippi medical marijuana program to replace the one shot down by the state Supreme Court say they're close to having a draft that could prompt a special legislative session, as early as this month. "I believe we have basically most of the major issues resolved," said Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, who's leading the Senate's medical marijuana work. "... We're very, very close." Rep. Lee Yancey, R-Brandon, said, "I would be surprised if there were not a special session soon, but that's not my call ... I think at some point soon we will be ready to say to the governor that we have something we can work with." Mississippi lawmakers are trying to reach consensus on a medical marijuana program after the state Supreme Court shot down one overwhelmingly passed by voters last year with ballot Initiative 65. The state Supreme Court ruled in May that the medical marijuana initiative and the entire ballot initiative process is invalid. Gov. Tate Reeves has sole authority to call lawmakers into a special session. He has said he would do so for a medical marijuana bill, but not before the House and Senate have general agreement on a proposal to avoid a long, drawn out session. Blackwell and Yancey had previously estimated a session could be called by mid-August. They said that might be pushed back, but that having one before the end of the month is still doable. |
| Congressman Trent Kelly talks about vaccinations, immigration | |
| First District Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Mississippi) talked about the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations, accountability for the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol and the complexities of immigration during a speech Tuesday to the Columbus Rotary Club at Lion Hills Center. First elected in 2015, Kelly is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, serving as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations. He also serves on the Budget and Agriculture Committees. Kelly stressed the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19, particularly with the emergence of the virus' Delta variant. He cited several statistics that indicate being vaccinated reduces health risks, transmitting the virus to others and the potential for hospitalization, even death. He said he hopes people become more confident about receiving the vaccine after the federal Food and Drug Administration fully approves it. All three vaccines -- Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson -- have been given an emergency use authorization (EUA), which FDA offers during crises as a quick way to give people access to potentially lifesaving medicines. He said politics should not be a barrier for getting vaccinated because being vaccinated will absolutely save lives. |
| Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Credits President Biden for Infrastructure Breakthrough, Dismisses Trump Criticism | |
 | Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell credited President Biden with helping to get the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed in the Senate, but said he doesn't anticipate many more opportunities for Republicans to work with Democrats. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the Kentucky Republican also dismissed criticism from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans that he was handing Democrats a political victory ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. "Infrastructure is popular with both Republicans and Democrats," Mr. McConnell said. "The American people, divided, sent us a 50-50 Senate and a narrowly divided House. I don't think the message from that was, 'Do absolutely nothing.' And if you're going to find an area of potential agreement, I can't think of a better one than infrastructure, which is desperately needed." The infrastructure bill, negotiated by a group of bipartisan senators, passed the Senate 69-30 on Tuesday. Mr. McConnell was one of 19 Senate Republicans who voted yes. Without Mr. Biden's support, centrist Democrats, led by Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, wouldn't have been able to get the bill across the finish line, Mr. McConnell said. "There's nothing to back you up like the promise of a presidential signatory, if you're in the same party as the president," he said. "And so I think the president deserves a lot of credit for getting the Democrats open to reaching a bipartisan agreement on this bill." |
| East Central Community College updates school opening plans | |
| East Central Community College in Decatur has updated its opening of school campus plan for the Fall 2021 Semester which is set to begin Monday, Aug. 16. "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 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." Based on MSDH recommendations, ECCC will temporarily require face coverings inside all buildings and classrooms on the Decatur campus and at its locations in Choctaw, Philadelphia, Louisville, Carthage, and Forest beginning Monday, Aug. 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 an effort to boost the vaccination rate of its campus community, ECCC is preparing to offer several incentives for students and employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. |
| Building ban extended on student-based complexes in Tuscaloosa | |
 | An extension of a "temporary" ban on large-scale, student-based housing developments faced no opposition from a unanimous Tuscaloosa City Council . With a 7-0 vote, the council on Tuesday extended the moratorium on approving building or land development permits for mega-student complexes until, at least, May 1, 2022. The council's action came at the urging of Mayor Walt Maddox, who said more staff time was needed to create rules and regulations that would prevent such projects from overtaxing city infrastructure and services in the future. "We have taken this time to not only help with Framework, in terms of codifying some policies in place that I think will make a difference," Maddox said, referencing the latest citywide approach to planning, "we're also exploring some ideas on how do you fairly assess what these developments are costing in terms of city expenses, but we would appreciate a little bit more time to work through this." Advocates of privately-funded, student-based housing said the extension would only serve to further limit outside investment in Tuscaloosa. Originally adopted in January 2019, the student-based housing moratorium held up two student complexes, one in north Tuscaloosa and one near Bryant-Denny Stadium -- the $70 million Union on Frank, a 396-bedroom, 200-unit complex -- that the City Council previously had approved for construction. Plans for the north Tuscaloosa project never materialized, but a temporary lapse in the building ban was approved by the City Council in May 2020, allowing Union on Frank to proceed. |
| Faculty worry about crowded classes in nation's hottest COVID hotspot | |
 | Margo Brault, an instructor of French at Louisiana State University, invited members of the university's Board of Supervisors to take a mental trip with her to her assigned classroom last week. "From here, we'd walk to Allen Hall and open the west door and go down a flight of stairs into the basement, where the ceiling is low and the hallway is packed with students during class change," Brault told the members during their regular board meeting last Friday, which was held with 50 percent capacity. "Then we will turn right into a small hallway, where we will find again on the right the door to Room 38. Inside this small room there are no windows but 24 seats. That's where she teaches her 19 students "for one hour, three hours in a row, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30," she explained. "I will teach them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for the next 15 weeks. This will be a petri dish for the Delta variant." Amid a surge in coronavirus cases fueled by the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant, faculty and staff at Louisiana State and elsewhere are questioning their colleges' plans. LSU is mandating masking but not vaccination when classes begin on Aug. 23. The university is planning for normal classroom occupancy, although professors teaching classes of 100 students or more will have the option of switching to a hybrid teaching format where only 50 percent of the students are in person in the classroom during "peak infection periods." The university is currently in a peak infection period according to LSU's Health and Medical Advisory Committee. Louisiana has the dubious distinction of leading the nation in per capita COVID-19 cases. Its rate of 120 cases per 100,000 people is almost four times the national average of 36 cases. |
| Campus masking requirements in place at Arkansas colleges | |
| Most university students around the state have been directed to wear face coverings in classrooms and indoor shared spaces after new mask mandates were issued by schools Wednesday. The measures to try to reduce the spread of the coronavirus were announced days after a Friday order from a Pulaski County circuit judge that temporarily blocks the state's anti-masking law. The mask requirements apply not only to students, but also university employees, with most of the announcements also explicitly stating that guests are to comply with the policy. Colleges also continue to encourage vaccinations as coronavirus hospitalizations have reached record highs this week, with the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville set to begin on Sept. 1 weekly prize drawings as a way to encourage students to get vaccinated. Campuses in the University of Arkansas System were directed to implement face-covering policies after a trustees vote Wednesday morning. "This effectively goes back to using CDC guidelines," system President Donald Bobbitt told trustees, referring to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Fayetteville campus later on Wednesday announced that face coverings would be required indoors, effective immediately, whenever 6 feet of physical distancing cannot be maintained, though the announcement to campus asked that some consideration be given until word of the policy can reach everyone at UA. |
| From Free Pizza To Free Tuition, Colleges Try Everything To Get Students Vaccinated | |
 | In late July, Jeremiah Monteiro, a rising sophomore at Purdue University, got a surprise visit from his school's mascot. The black and yellow train, known as the Boilermaker Special, pulled up to Monteiro's family home in Naperville, Ill., and Purdue officials presented the sophomore with a Willy Wonka-inspired golden ticket worth $9,992, the equivalent of a year's in-state tuition at the Indiana school. "I was really shocked," Monteiro says. ""I'm glad that not that many people were outside at that time." Back in May, when Monteiro had shared his proof of vaccination against COVID-19 with Purdue, he had been entered in a drawing -- and officials explained he was one of 10 students to win a golden ticket. Purdue is among the hundreds of U.S. colleges that are counting on high COVID-19 vaccination rates to keep their campuses safe this fall. Colleges have adopted vaccine mandates, a few are charging students a fee for being unvaccinated and many are hosting vaccine clinics on move-in days. If all that wasn't enough, countless colleges are also offering flashy rewards to encourage students and faculty to get their shots. "Incentives really work best when they're aimed at people who are not against being vaccinated, but they have for whatever reason not prioritized vaccination up until now," says Emily Largent, a professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. |
| Stanford among first universities requiring weekly coronavirus testing -- even for vaccinated students | |
| Stanford will test students for the coronavirus every week, regardless of vaccination status, the university announced Wednesday, making it one of only a few campuses in the country to do so. Citing the ongoing threat of the highly contagious delta variant, officials unveiled several new safety measures in an email to students ahead of the university's planned return to campus beginning Aug. 15. The school already mandated face masks and vaccines for all returning students. The new rule requires students who live in Stanford-owned housing or attend classes on campus to take a coronavirus test before school starts and undergo weekly tests whether they are vaccinated or not. Results will be provided within 24 hours, according to the message sent to students. "We will continually assess these measures and will notify the entire campus community if changes are needed," Susie Brubaker-Cole, vice provost for student affairs, said in the message. Officials did not say how much the school will pay Color, a health technology company, for the tests the private university will provide for free. Stanford's new budget plan said the campus spent $44 million on surveillance testing for the coronavirus last year -- when many students, particularly undergraduates, were not on campus. Princeton, Brown and Yale will also require weekly coronavirus tests for vaccinated students, for at least a limited time. Stanford is also recommending vaccination and testing for spouses, partners and children of students. Unvaccinated staff, faculty and postdoctoral students will need to test weekly, according to the university spokesperson. |
| Justice Department Settles With Brown University Over Mental Health Leaves | |
| The U.S. Justice Department reached a settlement with Brown University after students who took medical leaves for mental health reasons were refused readmission, even after their doctors cleared them to return. A department investigation found that Brown broke the law by denying readmission to dozens of undergraduates who sought to return to campus after taking mental health leaves between fall 2012 and spring 2017, according to an announcement from the department on Tuesday. Students were allegedly denied readmission even when treatment providers confirmed that they were prepared to continue their studies. Students were also forced to remain on leave for at least two semesters, regardless of what their doctors recommended. The department claims Brown violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which guarantees people with disabilities equal access to public institutions' programs and services and requires colleges and universities to make reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. "Students with disabilities deserve access to equal opportunity to help ensure that they can achieve their educational goals," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in the settlement announcement. "The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that colleges and universities do not exclude students on the basis of their disability or because they took time to receive the treatment they needed to thrive." |
| Has the Hunt for Chinese Spies Become a Witch Hunt? | |
 | When the Biden administration took office, many in higher education expected a shift in Washington's attitude toward academic collaboration with China. President Donald J. Trump, after all, is alleged to have called all Chinese students spies. His secretary of state suggested that colleges were compromised because they were "hooked on Chinese Communist Party cash." The Trump administration restricted Chinese-student visas, froze exchange programs, and policed the money colleges were getting from China. President Biden, by contrast, has toned down the rhetoric, and his administration has called for a "renewed U.S. commitment" to international education. Yet the Trump administration's signature China Initiative, an investigation of economic and academic espionage, continues. That's despite the change in administration -- and despite some notable setbacks for the U.S. Department of Justice program. But if the future of the China Initiative looks a little blurry, its impact is far clearer. To critics, the investigations, which with few exceptions have focused on American scientists of Chinese and Asian descent, amount to racial profiling. They are concerned that if the China Initiative continues it could diminish international research collaboration, weaken academic freedom, and discourage not only Chinese scientists but Chinese American ones from working at American universities. Many worry it already has. |
SPORTS
| 'Play the next play': Mississippi State running backs taking Bulldogs' motto to heart in fall camp | |
| By the time he reached the end of the field, Eric Mele was out of breath. Mississippi State's running backs coach had run quite a ways in the wake of sophomore Dillon Johnson, who broke through the Bulldogs' defense to score a touchdown during Tuesday's preseason practice. "I ran out of wind chasing (Johnson) 70 yards down the field," Mele said. The assembled Bulldogs had just four words for their coach, exhausted in the summer heat: "Play the next play." The phrase has been Mississippi State's "message" for more than a year now, Mele said, and its usage Tuesday -- after good plays and bad plays alike -- is just another sign the Bulldogs' running backs room is coming together in preseason camp. "You score a touchdown, the only thing that matters is the next play," Mele said. "So they're doing a good job with that." With a duo of starting-caliber rushers, two experienced backups and a pair of skilled freshmen, Mississippi State's running backs might just be as balanced as they are talented -- and they're still getting better. "It's definitely improving from the spring to the fall camp at this point," Mele said. That starts at the top, where both Johnson and Jo'quavious Marks have made necessary changes that mirror each other almost perfectly. |
| Jaden Crumedy, Jordan Davis, Cameron Young prepared to pressure SEC quarterbacks | |
| Jeff Phelps compares it to a marriage -- this relationship between the secondary and the defensive front – as his defensive line heads into a season where the unit behind it is expected to be among the best in the SEC. "They're covering guys in the back end, and it gives us more time to get to the quarterback," Phelps said after Wednesday's practice. "We get a little more pressure on the quarterback a little quicker, it allows them to do some different things, get a little bit more creative in the back end. It goes hand in hand." For the defensive line to take the next step in Phelps' second season coaching the unit, it has the core to succeed if the big names play to their expectations. Jaden Crumedy -- a 6-foot-5-inch, 310-pound defensive tackle -- enters his redshirt junior season as the anchor of the line. His ability to get to the quarterback like he showed late in last season's win at LSU proves the ability is there, but it's in the leadership category where Phelps believes Crumedy has taken the next step this offseason. "You can have success and do the right things off the field --- in the classroom, study table," Phelps said. "It's huge for us, especially when you graduate guys and guys go on to play in the NFL, you need somebody to step in and replace that." For Crumedy, that means mentoring the younger players and making sure they're engaged in various aspects of the game. |
| JSU's Deion Sanders scheduled to speak at Florida State legendary coach Bobby Bowden's funeral | |
| After another week of fall football practice at Jackson State, coach Deion Sanders will head back to Tallahassee, Florida to pay respects to Bobby Bowden. Bowden, who served as football coach at Florida State from 1976-2009, died Sunday at age 91. This Saturday, the coach with the second-most wins in college football history's public funeral service is set for 11 a.m. at the Tucker Civic Center. Sanders, along with two other FSU greats that played under Bowden, Charlie Ward and Warrick Dunn, are scheduled to speak at the service, as well as former assistants Mickey Andrews and Mark Richt, according to the News Star. Sanders played defensive back at Florida State for Bowden from 1985-88 before being selected fifth overall in the 1989 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. The JSU coach posted multiple messages in honor of Bowden on social media since Sunday. "My prayers goes out to the entire Bowden family, friend, loved ones, staff and all former players," Sanders wrote in an Instagram post Sunday. "I've lost one of the BEST COACHES I've ever had, a man of God and a true Father Figure when most young men arrived on college campuses without the love, affection and correction of a father. Love you 4Ever Coach Bowden." |
| Mizzou's 'business as usual' ends with Desiree Reed-Francois' arrival | |
| Five years to the day that Missouri introduced Jim Sterk as the school's new athletics director, MU went through the same routine Wednesday, parading his successor through the same room at Memorial Stadium as the pep band played the same fight song and cheerleaders and Truman the Tiger again greeted the new AD in front of a throng of supporters and media. Otherwise, this time, the more things change, the more they really changed. Desiree Reed-Francois, the first woman hired to run Mizzou athletics and the highest-paid in that position, flew Tuesday from Las Vegas to Columbia and on Wednesday shot for the moon. From the top down, Mizzou's messaging took on a new tone. University President Mun Choi started the event putting the Southeastern Conference and Mizzou fans on alert. "Business as usual goes out the window with our new athletics director," he said. Reed-Francois, 49, armed with a six-year contract paying her $800,000 per year, used the word "championship" nine times in her introductory news conference -- at a school that's won just two league titles since joining the SEC in 2012, both in volleyball. That lofty ambition also explains the rationale behind Mizzou's decision to part ways with former Sterk, who last month agreed to leave his post with two years left on his contract --- in exchange for $1.5 million. Speaking publicly Wednesday for the first time since making that decision, Choi made it clear university leadership wanted Sterk out of office. "Looking 10 years out into the future, I knew, the board knew, that we needed a different direction," Choi said. |
| U. of Missouri settles racial discrimination lawsuit with former track assistant for $1.1 million | |
 | A former track and field coach has settled his racial discrimination lawsuit against the university for $1.1 million, his attorney said. Brittany Mehl of Cornerstone Law Firm in Kansas City represented Carjay Lyles in the suit he filed in 2018 against the University of Missouri System Board of Curators, head track and field coach Brett Halter and former associate athletic director for compliance Mitzi Clayton. Clayton now works as the MU director of community relations and NCAA certification. "The parties have resolved the matter to their mutual satisfaction," Mehl said. MU spokesperson Christian Basi said the university had no comment on the settlement. Lyles worked for MU from 2013 to July 2017, when he left because of "intolerable working conditions," according to the lawsuit. The Missourian reported in 2020 that the lawsuit alleged that Halter discriminated against Lyles multiple times in comments to and about him, humiliated him in public and failed to consider promotion as compared to other staff. |
| NCAA Punishes Baylor U., but Not for Mishandling Sexual Violence | |
| In 2016, charges of sexual assault against two standout football players at Baylor University led to a reckoning at the world's largest Baptist university. An internal report found a "fundamental failure" to uphold Title IX, the federal gender-equity law, and led to the departure of the president and chancellor, Kenneth W. Starr; the head football coach, Art Briles; and the athletics director, Ian McCaw. Now, more than five years after several women came forward with those accusations, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has weighed in. The association's Committee on Infractions released a ruling on Wednesday in which it issued penalties for recruiting violations in the Baylor football program. The committee said it had no authority to punish Baylor for its acknowledged and well-documented mishandling of reported sexual violence. The ruling against Baylor is just the latest in which the NCAA has concluded that it cannot necessarily punish colleges even for what appears to be gross misconduct by athletes, coaches, or administrators who oversee athletics. In 2017, for example, the association ruled that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had not violated NCAA rules, despite a report that over two decades more than 3,000 students -- nearly half of them athletes -- had taken sham courses that awarded generous grades for little or no coursework. |
| NCAA, lacking rules against sexual assault, barely punishes Baylor | |
| A slew of sexual assaults by Baylor University athletes in the first half of the 2010s -- and widespread efforts by university administrators to quash information about the violence -- made the Texas private university a national example of a sports program out of control. But when the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced the results of its years-long investigation into the Baylor scandal Wednesday, it concluded that virtually none of the university's misbehavior actually went against the association's rules. The outcome of the Baylor case comes as the NCAA is preparing to rethink how it governs college sports, at a time when the association has suffered major legal setbacks over its restrictions on compensating athletes and faces broad public disdain. The Baylor ruling is likely to reinforce what many observers see as a disconnect between its historically significant limitations on athletes' behavior (selling tennis shoes and game tickets for a few dollars), and its failure to punish major academic wrongdoing, as in the 2017 case involving the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and, now with Baylor, proven sexual violence by athletes against students. Mack Rhoades, vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics at Baylor, said the NCAA ruling was fair. Rhoades replaced Ian McCaw, the previous athletics director, after he resigned due to the sexual assault scandal. |
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