| Thursday, August 11, 2022 |
| Miss. State announces new partnerships, programs, guidance ahead of 2022-2023 school year | |
 | lasses at Mississippi State University (MSU) will begin on Wednesday, August 17th. Leading up to the new school year, MSU has announced a round of partnerships, programs, and guidance for the upcoming year. "The start of a new academic year is always a very exciting time on campus. Welcoming our new students and their families to their new college home is an important part of the start of the fall term," said MSU Vice President for Student Affairs Regina Hyatt. "We can't wait to help our students find connections through student organizations and campus events and engage with the many resources we have available to aid in their success and transition to college. It's great to be starting a new year." MSU has announced a new partnership between the university and Adobe to optimize the academic experience and elevate career preparedness. MSU is the first and only Adobe Creative Campus in Mississippi. The university also announced a new Engineering Leadership Excellence (ELE) dual-degree program at MSU that opens student options to "'learn by doing." This degree is ideal for students to delve into experiential learning, combining technical and industrial engineering skills with business expertise while earning two MSU degrees to put them ahead in the competitive job market. A new policy at Mississippi State defines flexible work arrangements that achieve a reliable and productive work environment for both the employee and the university. The new policy defines the different types of flexwork arrangements, establishes procedures for implementation, and provides important considerations for both supervisors and employees considering flexwork. |
| In 2015, an unexpected drill at MSU revealed chaos, cooperation | |
 | A Maroon Alert dinged across the phones of students, faculty and staff on the Mississippi State University campus. There was an active shooter near Carpenter Hall. A supposed threat that proved to be a false alarm ended up being a very real drill for the MSU Police Department and other responding agencies in August 2015. It showed unequivocally how prepared the agencies were to work together and respond to the chaos on campus. MSU Police Department Chief Vance Rice had only been on the job for a year when the call came in, and his team sprung to action. "My officers did outstanding," Rice said. "We had a group quickly form up, and they were entering the building within seconds, or a minute at the most. Of course immediately, we were going, 'Something's not right. There's no bodies. There's no shooting.' We started slowing down because we knew that this was not right." Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District's chief school resource officer Sammy Shumaker remembers that day in the local public schools well. Shumaker said SOCSD schools went on lockdown, but a lot of panic from those in the school came from misinformation on social media. "One thing we learned that day is that social media is not our friend when things like that happen," Shumaker said. "We had students whose parents and relatives worked at MSU who were posting on social media incorrect information. I was in direct contact with 911 through the whole process, and we knew everything that was happening. We had students who were panicking because they were getting incorrect information through social media. ... We had to fight that to try to keep calm." |
| School Safety: Area law enforcement train rigorously to respond to active shooter events | |
| Sitting in a classroom, shots ring out from down the hall and those inside are instructed to hide or lay on the ground and play dead. The shots get closer to the classroom as the source of the noise walks through the door. Sounds of rooms being cleared and shouts for medical aid fill the air and law enforcement strategically breach the room. When the threat is neutralized, those in the room are told to put their hands up and get against the back wall. They are then instructed to follow the law enforcement to their designated safe area. As the instructors for the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) at Texas State University entered the classroom for this June training session at New Hope High School, law enforcement officers followed directions on how to properly disarm the officer acting as a suspect and treat the officers who were assigned to be wounded. Agencies from four different states assembled for Active Shooter Level I Train-the-Trainer session, which incorporates actual scenarios of past active shooters and potential situations that could arise. It not only teaches law enforcement how to respond to the threat but also how to treat the wounded before paramedics arrive. The training at NHHS included three SROs from Lowndes County School District and one from SOCSD as well as a police officer from Mississippi State University Police Department. The scenarios they assessed and worked through were based on real-life situations that have happened in schools across the country. |
| 50 best public colleges ranked from most to least expensive | |
 | he weight of student loan debt in the U.S. has become a genuine crisis -- millions of Americans now cumulatively owe $1.75 trillion in student debt as of 2022, an amount second only to mortgage debt in terms of individual indebtedness. And the debt crisis is only one issue impacting prospective college students; the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on college enrollment, with over a million fewer students deciding to attend school since the pandemic began in 2020. The rising cost of college, combined with economic and physical hardship brought on by the pandemic, has contributed to a growing belief that college is not worth the cost. And yet, the worth of a college degree in the workplace continues to grow. Stacker has ranked the 50 best public universities in the country in order, from most to least expensive, and includes: #19. Mississippi State University. Originally an agricultural school and now the largest university in the state, Mississippi State University is made up of nine colleges. These include the College of Veterinary Medicine, which is one of the top ranked in the country, as well as the College of Architecture, Art, and Design and the College of Forest Resources. The library at MSU Mitchell Memorial Library is the official home of Ulysses S. Grant's Presidential Library, which contains the Civil War general's letters, photographs, scrapbooks, and personal research. |
| Amazon facility up and running in Canton | |
 | The first Amazon robotics facility in Mississippi is up and running in Canton. Operations at the fulfillment center began July 25 after months of delays. The 700,000-square-foot facility in Madison County will bring more than 1,000 jobs to the area as Amazon ramps up hiring. According to Jessica Breaux, the economic development manager at the facility, Amazon will bring growth to the region in many ways. "We really want to look for opportunities to be a part of the community," Breaux said. "We will be looking, and partnering, with local organizations on different community engagement efforts." The site functions as a holding and sorting facility for many products Amazon sells and ships. Employees will work alongside robots to fill orders and deliver packages. |
| How Inflation Hit Households in July: Higher Prices for Food, Electricity and Alcohol Consumed at Home | |
 | U.S. consumers paid more to eat in July, facing higher prices for peanut butter, meats, eggs and other foods than the month before, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Shoppers also saw prices climb last month for a range of other goods and services, including medical care, new vehicles and household furnishings, as well as falling prices for used cars and clothing. Prices for gasoline, air travel and hotels also eased in July, good news for Americans hoping to squeeze in another vacation this summer. Add it all up, and the department's overall inflation measure -- the consumer-price index -- was flat in July compared with June. But the CPI was 8.5% percent higher in July from a year before -- a rapid rate, though slower than June's 9.1% annual pace -- which was the fastest since November 1981. Food prices overall rose 1.1% in July, the seventh consecutive monthly increase of 0.9% or more. They climbed across all of the major categories, including meats, poultry, fish and eggs, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, nonalcoholic beverages, food eaten at home and food eaten away from home. Breakfast eaters saw prices rise not just for eggs, but also for breakfast sausage, bacon, toast, cereals and bakery products. Coffee prices rose 3.5%. Peanut butter sandwich fans faced higher prices to assemble the lunchbox staple. Prices for peanut butter and breads other than white bread climbed 3.5%. White bread prices climbed 2%. Drinkers saw prices rise for all alcoholic beverages consumed at home, including whiskey (up 0.6%), wine (up 0.1%), beer, ale and other malt beverages (up 0.5%), and distilled spirits excluding whiskey but including tequila (up 0.8%). |
| Gas prices keep falling, but Americans still feel inflation's bite | |
| The pace of price growth is cooling, with data released by the Labor Department on Wednesday showing that U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in July. Gas prices are a big part of the reason why, as they've dropped roughly 20% from a peak reached following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The national average for a gallon of unleaded is $4. Food and rent keep getting more expensive, even as prices at the pump fall. Because they're so volatile, gas prices can mislead when you're tracking inflation, said Severin Borenstein of University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business. "It's always one of the least reliable parts of the consumer price index." Gasoline has an oversized impact on the headline CPI number, which showed inflation staying steady in July, he said. Core CPI, which strips out gas and food, showed inflation rising, albeit at a slower pace. Gas could get cheaper in the coming weeks as it adjusts to lower oil prices, but "in a month or two, oil and gasoline could be headed back up again," Borenstein said. That could lead more Americans to drive less, a trend that's already underway, according to Kelly Sanders at the University of Southern California. "Demand compared to last summer is down this summer about 10%, which is pretty significant," she said. |
| Lumber Futures Hit Two-Week High as Canada Cuts Wood Output | |
| Supply cuts from a top Canadian producer are sending lumber prices on a rally even as rising interest rates put a chill on housing markets. Lumber futures rose for the third straight session Wednesday to $601.80 per 1,000 board feet on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. That's the highest intraday price since July 22 and the longest rally since July 1. The jump comes as West Fraser Timber Co. announced reductions in output at two British Columbia sawmills, equivalent to 2.5% of its total North American capacity. It's also cutting plywood production at another facility. Rising lumber prices affect real estate markets in the US as well as Canada. US builders get more than a quarter of their lumber from the northern nation, the world's largest softwood lumber exporter. "The bottom is in for now," said ERA Forest Product Research's Kevin Mason, noting West Fraser's move is a strong signal that prices are too low for British Columbia mills. Prices may fall again in the future "unless more supply is removed, or demand miraculously rebounds." This year's surge in borrowing costs has made homes too expensive for some buyers and sent lumber prices collapsing from all-time highs set in 2021 during the pandemic-fueled homebuilding boom. Almost 60,000 deals for home sales in the US fell through in June, as rising mortgage rates made homes more expensive, pushing buyers to walk away from deals. |
| Mississippi state revenues continue to exceed estimates in first month of FY 2023 | |
| For the first month in the new fiscal year, Mississippi continues to see collected revenue numbers exceed budgetary estimates, continuing a trend that saw last year's revenues outpace estimates by over a billion dollars. The FY 2023 July state revenues collections were $44,675,714, or 8.41% above the legislature's sine die revenue estimate. This represents nearly $2.2 million more than the same month last fiscal year. The FY 2023 Sine Die Revenue Estimate is $6,987,400,000. Also of note in the latest Mississippi Legislative Budget Office's revenue reporting is that when compared to the total General Fund appropriations for FY 2022 of $5.8 billion, the General Fund will end the 2022 fiscal year with an estimated excess of $1.575 billion including reappropriations. During the FY 2022 close-out period of July and August 2022, additional revenues may be recorded, and subsequent adjustments could be necessary, LBO says. Taxes on sales, income, and gaming for July exceeded the prior year's collections while corporate and use taxes were down year-over-year. |
| Rep. Jason White says he wants to be Speaker, encourages Gunn to make a decision soon | |
 | Rep. Jason White on Thursday publicly acknowledged that he is interested in becoming Speaker of the House in 2024 and indicated current House Speaker Philip Gunn should make a decision on his future plans to avoid prolonged questions about the party's leadership. White, currently the second highest ranking House member, said on statewide radio station SuperTalk Mississippi that several members have indicated they support him to lead the 122-member chamber but are wondering why Gunn is staying quiet. "I have gained some respect among my colleagues there and lots of them are encouraging me to run," White said in an interview with SuperTalk's Paul Gallo. Current House Speaker Philip Gunn has been silent about his future plans. He has not directly answered reporters' questions about running for re-election, a higher office or retiring. White, who is Gunn's chief lieutenant, said he would not run against the current speaker. "You won't see a Philip Gunn and Jason White race for the House," White said. But when pressed if that meant White would continue to serve as House Speaker Pro Tempore if Gunn wanted to remain as Speaker, the Holmes County lawmaker demurred. "We'll see how it plays out," White said. While the No. 2 Republican is saying that he will not participate in a head-to-head race against the leader of the Capitol's lower chamber, White's Thursday comments raise questions about the state of behind-the-scenes negotiations between him and Gunn. |
| Agriculture commissioner speaks in Gulfport | |
 | State leaders attended a luncheon with the Kiwanis Club at the Great Southern Club in Gulfport Wednesday. The local nonprofit has served Gulf Coast children for more than 100 years. "I think that's something we have in common with the Kiwanis Club," Andy Gipson said. "Making sure the workforce of the future is not only here but ready to go to work when they're grown." Gipson is the Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner. He spoke during this week's regular meeting to share the importance of the Coast's agricultural industry and international trade. "Cotton, corn, soy beans, all the products, not to mention forestry that we have," he told WLOX. "Whether it's shipping wood pellets to power the Mitsubishi plant in Japan, which is happening from Mississippi, or shipping chicken to our friends across the other side of the world who love Mississippi chicken, we can do it here from the Gulf Coast. And that's why I'm here, to promote those opportunities." He also touched on the impacts farmers are feeling right now from inflation. "What folks need to understand is our farmers are feeling those same pressures," he said. "It's costing more to do what we need to do in Mississippi agriculture. So, I encourage people to push back against the policies that are driving up those inflationary costs." |
| House Transportation Chairman Busby announces for Southern District Transportation Commissioner | |
| On Wednesday, State Representative Charles Busby confirmed to Y'all Politics that he will run for Southern District Transportation Commissioner in 2023, meaning he will not seek re-election to represent House District 111. "I have decided that the best way for me to continue to support our state is by putting my experience to use as our next Southern District Transportation Commissioner," Busby said. State Rep. Busby, a Republican, has been the Chairman of the Mississippi House Transportation Committee since 2016. He has represented HD 111 for three terms, winning the seat back for Republicans in 2009 when he defeated one term Democrat Brandon Jones for the Jackson County seat. Busby had repeatedly been mentioned over the years in Capitol circles as a possible candidate for Speaker of the House on day, drawing support from many members in the chamber. Current Southern District Transportation Commissioner Tom King told Y'all Politics in July that he was undecided on whether he would seek a fourth term. According to Busby, King told him in recent conversation that a decision on his potential re-election would not be announced until December or January. Busby said that was too late for him to wait. "I mean no disrespect to Commissioner King, and I appreciate his service to this state and our country. He has told me that he will make his decision as to whether he will run again in December or January," Busby said. "With a February 1 deadline for candidates to declare, that timeline simply would not allow my constituents in HD-111 sufficient time to recruit and vet candidates to replace me. That is why I am letting you all know of my decision now." |
| Mississippi now leads the world in mass incarceration | |
| Mississippi is now the world's leader in putting people behind bars -- more inmates per capita than any state or nation, including China, Russia and Iran, according to the World Population Review. "Is there a political price to be paid for foolishly sticking with a failed system that's made us the world capital of mass incarceration?" asked Cliff Johnson, director of the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law. "What's it going to take for Mississippians to realize that the mass incarceration we have carried out for decades has made us less safe, rather than safer?" Across the U.S., the number of those in prison in the U.S. is 16% lower today than before the pandemic, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, but Mississippi's rate is skyrocketing, rising more than 1,500 in less than six months. That population now exceeds 18,000 -- the highest rate since April 2020. "We have perfected throwing people away for long periods of time," Johnson said, "and yet after decades and decades of this approach, Mississippians are more fearful about violent crime than any time I remember." In September 2013, Mississippi had as many as 22,490 inmates behind bars. In the years since, reforms and an aggressive Parole Board, headed by a veteran law enforcement officer, reduced the number of inmates to the lowest level in two decades. On Feb. 7, that population fell to 16,499, according to MDOC. But with Gov. Tate Reeves' new board chairman, a former Chevron executive he put in charge in January, that trend has reversed itself. On Aug. 1, the prison population hit a high of 18,080. "We're stuck in this futile cycle of throwing more money at prisons," Johnson said. "Even with the Department of Justice breathing down our necks, we can't handle the people we have." |
| Emails show MDHS pushed to hamstring probe into welfare misspending | |
| The Mississippi Department of Human Services hired an accounting firm, using welfare dollars, to ostensibly get to the bottom of who stole or misspent millions in federal grant funds and try to recoup them. But never-before-published emails Mississippi Today obtained through a records request show Gov. Tate Reeves' appointed MDHS director pushed to limit who and what the hired forensic audit could examine. And he tried to keep the state auditor and other law enforcement agencies out of the mix. "This is nothing but a whitewash to show that MDHS was not complicit in this problem, except for (former MDHS Director) John Davis," a deputy in state Auditor Shad White's office wrote to White in April of 2020 after reviewing the proposal MDHS drafted to solicit an auditing firm. White's office was to be a "third party" to a contract with a forensic auditor. But MDHS pushed to limit the Office of the State Auditor's involvement and even at one point omitted language requiring the independent auditor to contact OSA or other law enforcement if it spotted potential crimes -- a standard practice in audit contracts. White, who is involved in separate state and federal criminal investigations into the welfare scandal, appeared to win some concessions on the final forensic audit contract. At the same time, he objected to MDHS having access to the auditor's office's workpapers. |
| In Mississippi, a trespasser, a killing and DEA meddling | |
 | U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Harold Duane Poole was waiting with his semiautomatic service rifle -- and an explanation -- when deputies arrived at his sprawling wooded property on a warm spring night last year and found a bullet-riddled body near the driveway. A veteran of the DEA's military-style commando teams, Poole acknowledged he fatally shot a mentally ill neighbor just minutes after calling law enforcement to report the man was trespassing on his land -- yet again -- "out of his mind" and threatening him with a rock. "I'm going to kill you!" Poole recalled Chase Brewer yelling before he responded by firing eight high-powered rounds, striking the man in the chest, gut and hip. Sheriff's investigators were skeptical of Poole's self-defense claim from the start, reports show, mostly because he mentioned in his call for help that the trespasser was already leaving. No rock of any kind could be found. And the shooting happened 200 yards from Poole's house, near the edge of his property, prompting deputies to determine Mississippi's "castle doctrine" didn't apply. Yet a little more than a year after Poole was arrested on a murder charge in the April 27, 2021, shooting, he has quietly returned to work as a supervisor in the DEA office a half-hour's drive north in Jackson after a grand jury this spring declined to indict him. What happened with the case amid the farm fields and pastures of Mississippi has baffled and frustrated the slain man's family, and it's something neither local prosecutors, the DEA nor Poole himself would discuss. But interviews and hundreds of law enforcement records obtained by The Associated Press raise new questions about the justification for the shooting, how Poole avoided trial and whether DEA brass overreached to protect one of their own amid a flurry of misconduct cases in the agency. |
| Hyde-Smith, in rare deviation from the party line, votes to cap insulin prices | |
| In a rare vote that set her apart from most Senate Republicans, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith voted on Saturday to keep a proposal in the Inflation Reduction Act that would have capped the price of insulin at $35 per month for patients with private health insurance. The U.S. Senate passed a major budget package that will invest hundreds of billions of dollars into clean energy, health care subsidies and deficit reduction, but not before Republican senators forced the removal of the insulin price cap proposal. Seven Republicans voted with Democrats to keep the insulin price cap in the bill, including Hyde-Smith. However, the 57-43 vote to waive budget rules still fell short of the 60 votes needed to keep the proposal in the final bill. Republicans did not challenge a provision that places the same price cap on insulin for Medicare patients. The vote from Hyde-Smith was surprising because of her opposition to the bill as a whole, which she voted against. Hyde-Smith supported the insulin proposal because of the aid it would provide her constituents, she said in a statement to Mississippi Today. Mississippi had the highest rate of diabetes in the nation in 2016, according to the Mississippi Department of Health, with over 308,000 adults estimated to be living with the disease. Mississippi had the second-highest diabetes mortality rate in the nation in 2020, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. "We must find a sensible solution to lower drug prices for the American people, especially now that everyone is struggling from the pressures of high inflation," Hyde-Smith said. "I strongly opposed the Democrats' tax and spend plan, but liked the chance of capping insulin costs even if that plan may not have been a perfect fix. I will continue to work toward improving access to affordable insulin for Mississippians and others across the nation with diabetes." |
| Historic debt relief program for farmers of color takes hit after discrimination suits | |
 | Congress is on the verge of rolling back a significant debt relief program intended to provide aid to farmers of color after the Democratic-led effort hit a roadblock last year following legal challenges brought by white farmers claiming discrimination. Democrats are planning to repeal the program in a sprawling economic package the party could pass as early as this week. But there are new plans to put more than $5 billion toward helping farmers whose operations are deemed at "at financial risk," as well as those who have faced discrimination. Specifically, the bill outlines $3.1 billion to help "distressed borrowers of direct or guaranteed loans administered by the Farm Service Agency," and $2.2 trillion for a program to provide assistance for farmers that experienced discrimination in Department of Agriculture (USDA) farm lending programs prior to January 2021. Agri-Pulse was first to report the plan, which was tucked away in Democrats' 700-plus-page Inflation Reduction Act, a mammoth tax, climate and health care plan the Senate passed over the weekend. The plan comes more than a year after Congress passed the American Rescue Plan, a coronavirus relief package that President Biden signed into law in March 2021, which included $4 billion in aid for underserved farmers. The measure was met with instant praise from advocates last year and seen, in part, as a step by Congress to acknowledge a long history of discrimination that Black farmers and farmers of color have experienced in the nation, particularly by the government. |
| Plan to help poor Mississippians with health insurance stripped from latest federal bill | |
| The budget reconciliation bill approved over the weekend by Democrats in the U.S. Senate and now pending a vote in the House does not provide help for poor Mississippians trying to obtain health insurance. While generally praising the bill, Sharon Parrott, president of the Washington D.C.-based Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, said, "However, the current bill does nothing to make affordable coverage available to the more than 2 million people with incomes below the poverty line who are uninsured because their states have refused to adopt the Medicaid expansion. Most of the people in the Medicaid coverage gap live in the South and three in five are people of color." An earlier version of the bill, considered last fall, provided a mechanism for people living under the federal poverty level (about $13,550 annually) to obtain health insurance. The proposal was designed specifically to provide a health care option for the poor in the 12 states, including Mississippi, that have not expanded Medicaid. But at the time Senate Democratic leadership could not muster the 50 votes needed to pass what is known as the reconciliation bill. Democratic senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona rejected the far-reaching $3.5 trillion bill for various reasons, not necessarily related to the health care provision. Over the weekend, Sinema and Manchin got on board to help pass a scaled-down, $669 billion version of the reconciliation bill. |
| Breyer, Gorsuch join to promote education about Constitution | |
| Recently retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has become the honorary co-chairman of a nonpartisan group devoted to education about the Constitution, joining Justice Neil Gorsuch at a time of intense political polarization and rising skepticism about the court's independence. The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia said Thursday that Breyer and Gorsuch, who has served since 2019, will be spokesmen for civics education and civility in politics. The justices' decision to work together "is especially meaningful in this polarized time," Jeffrey Rosen, the center's president and CEO, said. The 84-year-old Breyer retired at the end of June after nearly 28 years as a justice. His seat was taken by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the high court's first Black woman. Breyer has been a constant voice for seeing the court as something other than "politicians in robes" even as the court has issued a string of conservative-driven decisions topped by eliminating the constitutional right to abortion and overturning Roe v. Wade. "Despite the strong disagreements on the court, Justices Breyer and Gorsuch, like all their colleagues, unite around a shared belief that civics are necessary for the future of the republic," Rosen said. Recent public opinions surveys have shown a sharp drop in approval of the court and its role as an institution that is above the political fray. |
| Republicans push oversight and politics after Mar-a-Lago search | |
 | In their defense of former President Donald Trump following an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, congressional Republicans showed how close they remain to Trump and previewed how the next Congress could proceed under Republican control. Republican leaders, responding to Monday's search, quickly tied it to broader criticism of the Biden administration's Justice Department and its handling of issues such as a probe of the president's son and a response to parent protests at school boards last year. The Mar-a-Lago search also already fed into Republicans' pitch to voters in the hotly contested midterm elections this fall. Others on the House side went further; Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., compared FBI agents to Nazis and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called for defunding the FBI. That reflexive defense of the president, when the public knows so little about the subject of the search, worried some legal experts. The Justice Department has so far remained quiet about the search since Trump announced FBI agents had entered Mar-a-Lago. The Biden administration said it knew nothing about the search in advance. "I know that's how politicians roll but it suggests to me a lawlessness and an elevation of the president to be above the law in a way that I find really troubling," Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at University of Michigan, said. McQuade pointed out that public reporting so far has pointed to the FBI searching for classified information Trump took from the White House after his term ended. "This means that there was a detailed affidavit that established probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime was located on the premises at Mar-a-Lago," McQuade said. "There are a variety of different crimes that could be charged here from misdemeanor mishandling of classified information up to felony violations of the Espionage Act." |
| FBI Quest for Trump Documents Started With Breezy Chats, Tour of a Crowded Closet | |
| Around lunchtime on June 3, a senior Justice Department national security supervisor and three FBI agents arrived at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida to discuss boxes with government records sitting in a basement storage room along with suits, sweaters and golf shoes. A few days later, the FBI sent a note asking that a stronger lock be installed on the storage room door, signing off: "Thank you. Very truly yours, Jay Bratt, chief of counterintelligence and export control section." In the following weeks, however, someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may be still more classified documents at the private club after the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes earlier in the year, people familiar with the matter said. And Justice Department officials had doubts that the Trump team was being truthful regarding what material remained at the property, one person said. Newsweek earlier reported on the source of the FBI's information. Two months later, two dozen Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were back at Mar-a-Lago with a warrant predicated on convincing a federal magistrate judge that there was evidence a crime may have been committed. After hours at the property, the agents took the boxes away in a Ryder truck. Many elements of what happened between those events---one seemingly cordial, the other unheard of---remain unknown. But the episode points to a sharp escalation in the Justice Department's inquiry into Mr. Trump. |
| Trump world gripped with anger, fear and a host of conspiracies about the FBI search | |
 | A wave of concern and even paranoia is gripping parts of Trump world as federal investigators tighten their grip on the former president and his inner circle. In the wake of news that the FBI agents executed a court-authorized search warrant at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trump's allies and aides have begun buzzing about a host of potential explanations and worries. Among those being bandied about is that the search was a pretext to fish for other incriminating evidence, that the FBI doctored evidence to support its search warrant -- and then planted some incriminating materials and recording devices at Mar-a-Lago for good measure -- and even that the timing of the search was meant to be a historical echo of the day President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974. Trump world is no stranger to being deeply suspicious, even conspiratorial. But the speculation sparked by the FBI search has taken on a different scope, coming amid a combination of anxiety -- that the so-called Deep State is out to get the former president -- and a dearth of public information about the bureau's actions. There is no evidence that the Department of Justice did anything improper, and it in fact obtained approval from a federal court to obtain its search warrant. Trump himself could answer some of the lingering questions. He is at liberty to disclose the warrant -- though he has not been provided the underlying affidavit -- and to describe the files that were confiscated by the FBI. But so far he has opted against doing so. |
| Historians privately warn Biden that America's democracy is teetering | |
| President Joe Biden paused last week, during one of the busiest stretches of his presidency, for a nearly two-hour private history lesson from a group of academics who raised alarms about the dire condition of democracy at home and abroad. The conversation during a ferocious lightning storm on Aug. 4 unfolded as a sort of Socratic dialogue between the commander in chief and a select group of scholars, who painted the current moment as among the most perilous in modern history for democratic governance, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions who requested anonymity to describe a private meeting. Comparisons were made to the years before the 1860 election when Abraham Lincoln warned that a "house divided against itself cannot stand" and the lead-up to the 1940 election, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt battled rising domestic sympathy for European fascism and resistance to the United States joining World War II. The diversion was, for Biden, part of a regular effort to use outside experts, in private White House meetings, to help him work through his approach to multiple crises facing his presidency. Following a similar meeting with Biden last spring, the Aug. 4 gathering was distinguished by its relatively small size and the focus of the participants on the rise of totalitarianism around the world and the threat to democracy at home. They included Biden's occasional speechwriter Jon Meacham, journalist Anne Applebaum, Princeton professor Sean Wilentz, University of Virginia historian Allida Black and presidential historian Michael Beschloss. White House senior adviser Anita Dunn and head speechwriter Vinay Reddy also sat at the table. |
| Iranian charged in alleged plot to kill former national security adviser John Bolton | |
 | The Justice Department has charged a suspected Iranian operative for allegedly plotting to assassinate former Trump national security adviser John Bolton. Shahram Poursafi offered to pay contacts in the U.S. up to $300,000 to murder Bolton, according to court papers unsealed Wednesday. The Justice Department says the plot was likely in retaliation for the U.S. killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020. Bolton, an Iran-hawk who served as former President Donald Trump's national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, thanked the Justice Department and FBI for uncovering and foiling the alleged plot. "While much cannot be said publicly right now, one point is indisputable: Iran's rulers are liars, terrorists, and enemies of the United States," he said. "Their radical anti-American objectives are unchanged; the commitments are worthless; and their global threat is growing." Poursafi, who is 45 and believed to be in Iran, was charged by criminal complaint with two counts: use of interstate commerce in the commission of murder for hire; and providing material support to a transnational murder plot. The court papers provide a wealth of details into Poursafi's alleged efforts to arrange the assassination from afar. |
| Tribe signs tuition assistance deal with Mississippi College | |
| The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a special tuition program for MCBI students at Mississippi College. During their regular call meeting of the Choctaw Tribal Council on July 12, Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben signed the MOU between the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Mississippi College, establishing a special tuition assistance program to be offered to MBCI students (Tribal member and Tribal descendants) who plan to attend or are attending Mississippi College. During the meeting, Dr. Blake Thompson, President of Mississippi College, and Jim Turcotte, Vice President and Executive Director of Alumni Affairs, presented Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben, a graduate of the school, with the 2022 Order of the Golden Arrow award. This award honors Mississippi College graduates who have accomplished outstanding personal and/or professional achievements during their lifetime. The Tribe thanked Mississippi College for being a valued partner in educational advancement, and congratulated Ben for his accomplishment. |
| Clinton development to bring new retailers, restaurants, businesses to city | |
| Clinton community leaders are partnering on plans to bring new businesses to the city. The location for the development is on Highway 80 and Springridge Road, across the street from Mississippi College. Crews clearing trees Wednesday from the vacant lot near the interstate. The city is partnering with Mississippi College and a local developer to transform the site into an upscale location they hope will attract retailers, restaurants, groceries and hotels in what could be one of the largest developments in the city's history. Mississippi College and developer Ben Walker are putting up part of the land. "The plans are still a kind of work in progress. Mississippi college is doing a great job leading that. Dr. (Blake) Thompson and his staff, they are the ones that are the brains behind the operation," Walker said. With the help of House Speaker Philip Gunn, who is from Clinton, planners got an $8 million grant from the state to build out infrastructure. |
| WCU offers online, tuition-free class to K-12 teachers renewing license | |
 | William Carey University will offer K-12 teachers an online, tuition-free class in September that can be used to assist in the renewal of the Mississippi Educator License. This is WCU School of Education's latest move in a series of steps designed to tackle Mississippi's teacher shortage by finding ways to recruit and retain classroom teachers. The tuition-free course was first offered in the Spring of 2020 and 128 teachers used it to renew their licenses. "This is not the first time we've offered scholarships or tuition assistance to people who want to become teachers," said Dr. Teresa Poole, dean of the WCU School of Education. "We work to support the recruitment of new teachers, but we also want to ensure we provide support and resources for the retention of teachers. It is our prayer that our Mississippi teachers know we support them and want to help ease the burden of the costs to renew their license." The class, called "Teacher Performance and Professional Growth," is meant to foster professional growth and development through performance self-study. The emphasis is on informed decision-making and reflection on the five domains of the Mississippi Teacher Growth Rubric. Current K-12 teachers can earn three credit hours by completing the five-week master's level class. |
| ICC adds more medical personnel courses due to overwhelming need in the field | |
 | There are more than 3,000 registered nurse job openings in Mississippi alone. Itawamba Community College (ICC) is looking to help fill the need. The lack of nurses and other medical workers is most likely due to burnout caused by COVID-19's strain on hospitals. The lack of crucial medical care is beginning to limit bed capacities, since hospitals are having a tough time staffing them. The large call for nurses began in 2020, but saw an even bigger increase in the last 12 months as nurses and other personnel are leaving in packs. Now, hospitals and other care facilities are increasing pay, adding sign-on bonuses, and even travel options just to get those empty spots filled. ICC is doing what it can to help fill those vacancies. Typically the college will triple the amount of classes to help educate those willing to work. Becky Kelly oversees the nursing assistant program at ICC. There are so many vacancies for certified nursing assistants (CNA) that students don't have to look for a job for long. "Nursing homes are screaming for them, hospitals are screaming for them...," Kelly said. "There is such a high demand that they can just pretty well, as soon as they finish class, just walk into a job." |
| The Unclear Future for Gifted-and-Talented Education | |
| Will gifted-and-talented school programs still exist in five years? Controversy has ramped up around the longtime practice of providing accelerated classes for selected students. Racial-justice movements highlighted inequalities, prompting changes in districts across the nation. Lawsuits related to these programs are pending in states including Virginia, Missouri and New York. Critics say gifted-and-talented classes lead to racial segregation and take resources away from other students who need them. Even some proponents say changes may be needed in methods for selecting students and in the names of these programs, which many brand as elitist. Backers argue they are a strong selling point for public education, especially to middle-class families, and play a valuable role in educating students. Some say advances in assessing the ways that children learn, which have been helped by new technology, point toward a need for more tailored instruction, not less. Many parents want the option of gifted programs for their kids, and the classes can be important in educating talented students, says Johns Hopkins University professor Jonathan Plucker, a past president of the National Association for Gifted Children. But, to survive, he says, the programs need an overhaul and likely a name change as well. "I think, for some people, the term brings lots of raw feelings about elitism," Dr. Plucker says. "Opportunities that they feel that they were unfairly denied when they were growing up." |
| U. of South Carolina freshman class poised to be largest, most diverse, most local in history | |
 | The University of South Carolina's incoming freshman class is set to be record-breaking in more ways than one. President Michael Amiridis confirmed that it will be the largest class in university history. USC received its most applications ever during the admissions cycle -- more than 42,000. While the official number of students won't be made public until classes begin, upwards of 6,200 will join the university's class of 2026, said Scott Verzyl, vice president of enrollment and dean of admissions. Including transfers, nearly 8,000 new students will be on campus this fall, Amiridis said this week, speaking to a group of local business leaders. "It's good to be popular. It speaks to the South Carolina brand," Verzyl said. The class is also more local than past cohorts. It will have the most state residents, with students from every county in South Carolina. "(It's) something we're very excited about, that we're serving more South Carolinians than ever in the history of the university," Verzyl said. The state's flagship school was criticized in the past for admitting a high proportion of out-of-state students, who pay more in tuition, to make up for a lack of funding, while the number of Black students declined. Verzyl said the new class is the most diverse the university has welcomed. He is confident USC will have more students of color on campus than ever before, including more Black students, Hispanic students and multiracial students. |
| UA professor details state's party shift; move to Republican control over 3 election cycles called 'amazing' | |
| A University of Arkansas professor on Wednesday lectured about the state's rapid shift from being the ninth most Democratic state in 2009 to the ninth most Republican in 2015. Dr. Janine A. Parry, the University Professor of Political Science at the University of Arkansas gave a talk titled "From the Bluest of Blue to the Reddest of Red? Quantifying and Contextualizing Arkansas' Partisan Earthquake" during a meeting of The Political Animals Club at the Governor's Mansion. Former Arkansas House Speaker Shane Broadway, the club's chairman, introduced Parry, whom he said he's known since she first came to Arkansas. Parry teaches courses in Arkansas politics, gender and politics and American government at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. She has directed the Diane D. Blair Center's annual Arkansas Poll since its inception in 1999. Her research expertise is in state politics, voter behavior and gender. As a scholar of comparative state politics, Parry sought to answer the question of whether Arkansas was "special" in its party transformation during the lecture. Arkansas believes it's special in many cases, she said, but rarely is the state as special as its residents think. Rather, the state might be in the top 15 or the bottom 20, and Arkansas is almost never the first or last in any category, she said. |
| U. of Arkansas enrollment on track to set record | |
| College students are unpacking this week, and the University of Arkansas expects to have more students and the largest-ever freshman class this fall, spokesperson John Thomas told Axios. Official enrollment numbers are not available yet, but it looks like the school could top 30,000 students, including about 7,000 first-year students. The university had 29,068 students in the fall of 2021, including undergraduate and grad students. "We're also on track to set a significant new record for the number of Arkansans in the freshman class this fall, which is all great news for our campus and state," Thomas wrote in an email. The university must get creative with housing for those who want to live on campus. About 900 will live in nearby, off-campus apartments, including The Locale Fayetteville, The Vue, The Marshall at Arkansas and Ozark Villas. On-campus housing can accommodate 6,274 students, according to University Housing's website. U of A does not have any new dorms in the works, Thomas said. |
| Regents authorize $4.5 million upgrade of Georgia Tech building | |
| A Georgia Tech building that houses lab space for the engineering and computing colleges will undergo a $4.5 million renovation. The Georgia Board of Regents this week authorized the renovation of a portion of the 30,300-square-foot Tech Way Building. The site is located off North Avenue on the school's Atlanta campus. Planned updates include a new high-security storage space, laboratories, high-voltage electrical research laboratories and work space for graduate students. The building was previously an electrical parts warehouse. "Approximately one-third of the building would be renovated to better meet the needs of graduate students and research faculty in the colleges," Sandra Neuse, the University System of Georgia's vice chancellor for real estate and facilities, told the board. Funding for the project will come from Georgia Tech. |
| Texas A&M researchers say higher mortgage interest rates are hurting housing affordability | |
 | Higher mortgage interest rates are hurting Texas housing affordability, which is affecting first-time homebuyers, according to Clare Losey, an assistant research economist at Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. "A higher mortgage interest rate equates to a higher monthly mortgage payment because, all else being equal, the borrower is going to be spending more on the cost of mortgage capital, meaning they are going to be paying out more in interest," she said Wednesday. "As the total monthly mortgage payment increases, the income that the borrower needs to make to qualify for that mortgage loan also increases. The effect that this has is that for the same priced home with a higher mortgage interest rate, the borrower actually needs to earn a higher income in order to be able to qualify for a mortgage loan." Losey said higher rates push out more households from the market for homeownership, because as the required income to qualify for a mortgage loan increases, fewer potential buyers are going to be able to qualify. Losey said barring any sort of economic shock, like a recession, she anticipates that as the Federal Reserve tries to get ahold on inflation and achieve price stability, they are going to continue to increase federal fund rates, which is going to induce upward pressure on mortgage interest rates. |
| U. of Missouri researcher: FBI search of Trump's home may reinvigorate QAnon | |
 | QAnon followers who may have become discouraged about how things turned out on Jan. 6, 2021, have a new sense of purpose with Monday's FBI search of Donald Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago, said University of Missouri researcher Chris Conner. Conner, an assistant teaching professor of sociology, is the lead author of "The Perfect Storm: A Subcultural Analysis of the QAnon Movement" published in Critical Sociology. It's the 20th-most-read paper in the journal's history, Conner said. His co-author is Nicholas McMurray at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. "To my knowledge, it's one of the first papers on the topic in sociology," Conner said. And how are the QAnon followers reacting to the FBI search? "When things don't go the way they're supposed to, they believe them anyway," Conner said. "They think Trump will unveil something or kick off something they call 'the storm,' which is an apocalyptic event." Conner talked about the level of concern about what may come next. "I don't want to diminish the concern," he said. "There are people who may use this to take advantage of people and weaponize them as they did on Jan. 6. Some of these people might become unhinged if the worst-case scenario for them happens and Donald Trump ends up in jail." |
| How does Cal KIDS work? Free college funds for Californians | |
 | It may be hard to believe, but California's esteemed university system was tuition-free for state residents until 1970. Now, the average charge in the UC system is more than $13,000 a year, and fees, housing, meals and other costs add an estimated $25,000 to that total. The increase in costs is due in part to the declining percentage of the UC budget that the state covered. Lately, however, state officials have tried to make higher education affordable again for more Californians, pumping larger amounts into the UC and Cal State University budgets and making community college tuition-free for low-income residents. And now the state is launching CalKIDS, a taxpayer-funded scholarship program aimed at helping kids start saving for college from the day they're born. The program grants up to $100 automatically to every child born in California on or after July 1 and up to $1,500 automatically to every eligible low-income student. The tax-free money is invested in a mutual fund managed by ScholarShare, the state's college savings plan, and can be spent on tuition, books and other education-related expenses. Withdrawals for other purposes would be subject to taxes. The point, state officials say, is to encourage more kids to continue their studies after high school. |
| As monkeypox spreads, campuses prepare for another outbreak | |
| Public health experts are urging universities to prepare for the arrival of monkeypox before students return to campus in the coming weeks. As the current outbreak has rapidly spread around the U.S., five campuses already confirmed cases this summer, even with most students away. Monkeypox is a viral infection that is primarily transmitted through close skin-to-skin contact. It is currently concentrated among communities of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, but it is not limited to those populations. Schools need to develop a clear communication strategy and plan to identify suspect cases, access testing and vaccines for students and staff, and provide contact tracing services, public health experts said. "I think universities really do need to prepare, and we're going to see outbreaks at universities," said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University in Washington, one of the five schools where cases have been reported. The others are George Washington University, also in Washington; the University of Texas at Austin; and Bucknell and West Chester universities in Pennsylvania. Rachel Cox, an assistant professor at MGH Institute of Health Professions who studies infectious disease epidemiology, said parties, dancing, or sharing towels and bedding in dorms can all increase risk of transmission as students seek a traditional college experience. Speaking about the CDC guidelines, she added, "It's really going to be up to the schools to figure out the best way to disseminate this information to their students." |
| Online Education Is Booming, but Colleges Risk Lapses in Quality, Report Says | |
 | A survey of more than 300 officials at American colleges shows many are planning for long-term growth in online education, but few are consistently evaluating the quality of their mushrooming course lists. According to a newly released report on the survey's findings -- by the nonprofit group Quality Matters and Encoura's Eduventures, a higher-education-market research firm --- more than 90 percent of the "chief online officers" surveyed said they expect the typical traditional-age undergraduates on their campus would be taking courses in some kind of hybrid format by 2025. That's a stark departure from just three years ago, before the pandemic, when 20 percent of such undergrads took hybrid courses. The vast majority of college officials in the survey -- 96 percent -- said they'd adopted "quality assurance" standards to guide this rapid metamorphosis. Such standards advise faculty members on how to make online learning accessible, intuitive, and engaging for students. That might mean setting expectations for offering timely, regular instructor feedback on assignments, clearly aligning activities with a course's learning objectives, and posting transcripts of all video content. But ultimately, there's no universal definition of what "quality" means, though experts note that there's ample research on what quality teaching and learning looks like. And as the report's authors acknowledge, both the scope and the teeth of colleges' quality standards vary considerably. |
| Chinese Student Visas to U.S. Tumble From Prepandemic Levels | |
| The number of U.S. student visas issued to Chinese nationals plunged by more than 50% in the first half of 2022 compared with pre-Covid levels, with the U.S. losing ground as the most-coveted place for Chinese students to pursue higher education abroad. Even before the pandemic, Chinese students were shifting their study-abroad sights elsewhere, driven by doubts about whether they would feel welcome in the U.S. and the emergence of more domestic and international alternatives. Travel restrictions and heightened safety concerns during the pandemic accelerated that decline. In the first six months of 2022, the U.S. issued 31,055 F-1 visas to Chinese nationals, down from 64,261 for the same period in 2019, according to data from the U.S. State Department. The drop has hit revenue at big and small colleges and universities around the country, including state flagships. For more than a decade, China has been the top source of international students to the U.S., providing universities with crucial tuition dollars to offset domestic declines and dwindling state funding at public universities. Many factors are now leading Chinese students to seek their higher education elsewhere, including within their own country. If U.S. schools can't find other international students, the financial hit could be devastating as federal pandemic relief funds run out. |
| White House solicits ideas on student debt relief as Biden's decision looms | |
| White House officials plan to meet this week with student debt activists and advocacy groups ahead of President Joe Biden's self-imposed deadline of Aug. 31 for deciding whether to approve broad-based debt relief for millions of Americans. The virtual meeting, scheduled for Thursday, is the latest sign that the White House is seriously considering canceling some amount of student loan debt as Biden advisers weigh the election-year political consequences of such a decision. A range of outside groups working on student loan cancellation were invited to participate in the event. The White House described the meeting as "an opportunity for you to share your priorities on student debt relief," according to a copy of the invitation obtained by POLITICO. Officials from the White House Domestic Policy Council, National Economic Council, Office of Public Engagement and Office of Political Strategy and Outreach are scheduled to attend the meeting. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday that Biden had not made any decision on whether to extend the freeze on payments or widespread debt cancellation. Jean-Pierre reiterated on Tuesday that Biden has committed to deciding by the end of the month. "He'll have something before August 31," she said. |
SPORTS
| Inside Mississippi State's security plan for football gamedays | |
| Mississippi State was among a string of schools in the Magnolia State to receive a bomb threat two weeks ago. This came a day after a similar series of threats in Alabama at schools including Auburn. The threats proved to be false, but Mississippi State still reacted in an, "abundance of caution" by evacuating the Barnes & Noble and using K-9s to check for any explosives. This process was efficiently performed on a late-July day when campus is barren, but how does Mississippi State respond if such a threat is made on a college football gameday? It starts on Fridays. "We take a lot of precautions before the game ever starts," MSUPD chief Vance Rice told the Clarion Ledger. "All three of our dogs come in and spend hours scouring the stadium the night before the event." Once the search is complete, the stadium is locked down. Any individual entering the stadium following the search is known and monitored. Some portion of gameday security is already in place, and cameras are used to patrol as well. The variety of equipment and dogs is met by officials who are in Starkville on Saturdays. Along with the local police departments, Mississippi Highway Patrol and police officers from surrounding communities provide help. Meetings are held prior to games to ensure all parties are on the same page. "If it's about fan safety, Mississippi State has said, 'If it's going to make it safer, let's do it,'" Rice said. "They've been very good." |
| A boost in the back end could give Bulldogs something special on defense | |
| The Daily Journal's Parrish Alford writes: There are a lot of things to like about Mississippi State as it makes its way through August camp. The most endearing quality is that the Bulldogs are settled at the most important position, quarterback. They return seven other starters on offense and eight starters on defense. There's optimism for the offensive line, experience for the front seven on defense and a potential play-making pass rusher who wasn't available last year. It's not hard to see a more experienced roster making fewer mistakes such as those that hurt in losses against Memphis, LSU and Arkansas last season. If the Bulldogs are indeed closer to the team that won at Texas A&M and Auburn, they're going to have to show that with improvement in the secondary. ... So far in camp, MSU receivers say they're being challenged. "We've had some new guys come in, and some other guys are stepping up. Everybody's chirping and competitive. There's high energy," graduate receiver Austin Williams said. ... The fine line between winning and losing is often set by one or two plays. If the Bulldogs can take a step in the secondary to go with their front seven, they could have something really special on defense. |
| Mississippi State soccer looks to start anew in 2022 after heartbreaking 2021 season | |
| A tiebreaker. That's what separated Mississippi State women's soccer from a spot in the Southeastern Conference tournament last season. Despite being tied on points and record in SEC play with Florida, the Gators advanced to Orange Beach, Alabama, while the Bulldogs' season ended. That tiebreaker has turned into something good for this program: motivation heading into the 2022 season. "Last year was an interesting year," head coach James Armstrong said. "It was definitely the most talented team we've had since I've been here, the most committed team that we've had since I've been here, but we just fell short." Of last season's 16 matches, just three were decided by two goals or more. Mississippi State was well within striking distance of every match played -- even those against the powers of the SEC, including Arkansas and Tennessee, both of which were hard-fought losses on the road. It was a few things here and there that made the difference in the end, but for a team like the Bulldogs, those minute details made the eventual difference. "The challenge for the returning players is can we just pay closer attention to the little details that make such a big difference, whether it be a clearance, attacking a ball in the box, having the mentality to score when we're through on goal," Armstrong said. "Those are kind of the little things that we're talking about taking the next step." |
| Dawgs Ready for Home Exhibition Pair | |
| The 2022 campaign is finally here for head coach James Armstrong and the Mississippi State soccer program. The Bulldogs will open the season at home Thursday, Aug. 11, and Sunday, Aug. 14, with a pair of exhibition matches against Samford and Southeastern Louisiana, respectively. Admission is free to all MSU soccer matches. MSU will play in front of its home crowd 12 total times during the 2022 campaign, two exhibitions and 10 regular-season contests. Upon returning from a season-opening road trip to South Beach, the Bulldogs will enter a four-match homestand starting with Lipscomb on Aug. 25 and concluding with Louisiana Tech on Sept. 4. Half of State's conference matches will also be played in Starkville, starting with Arkansas on Sept. 16, and ending with Georgia in the final regular season match of the season on Oct. 27. The Bulldogs ended their 2021 season with a 5-8-3 record. The last pair of home contests for MSU saw two come-from-behind wins, knocking off Texas A&M for the first time in program history and upsetting rival Ole Miss in dramatic fashion to secure its second-straight Magnolia Cup victory. |
| Corky Palmer, who coached Southern Miss baseball to College World Series, dies at 68 | |
 | Corky Palmer, a beloved figure within the Hattiesburg baseball scene and the coach of the 2009 Southern Miss team that reached the College World Series, died Wednesday. He was 68 years old. "I don't think there was a better representative of Southern Miss baseball and the University of Southern Miss as a whole than Corky Palmer," USM baseball coach Scott Berry said. Born on March 15, 1954, Palmer attended Hattiesburg High School, where he earned three varsity baseball letters as a catcher. He played collegiately at Southern Miss, taking over as the Golden Eagles' starting catcher as a freshman. Molding himself after Yankees legend Yogi Berra, Palmer notched a .277 batting average over the course of his career and graduated from Southern Miss in 1977. Palmer quickly moved into the prep coaching ranks, He stepped into his first head coaching job at Lee High School in Columbus, Mississippi, and delivered rapid success, winning three Little 10 Conference titles in three seasons beginning in 1979. He then moved on to Columbia High School, securing a South State title in 1983. Palmer briefly returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach in 1985 before taking the head coaching job at Meridian Community College in 1987. There, he appeared in three Juco World Series, compiling an overall record of 409-160. The head job at Southern Miss opened ahead of the 1998 season, and Palmer set about revitalizing the program. The Golden Eagles appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history in 1999. Palmer then brought Southern Miss to seven consecutive NCAA regionals from 2003-2009, winning Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles in 2003. |
| Corky Palmer: Hall of Fame coach, Hall of Fame character | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Some days you remember for a lifetime. Here's a memory from 61 years ago, the day I met Corky Palmer, the future Hall of Fame Southern Miss baseball coach who died Wednesday at 68 after a prolonged illness. Corky was 7, and I was 8. Future college and NBA basketball coach Tim Floyd -- he was still Timmy at age 7 -- had invited Corky, my brother Bobby and me the Floyds' house on Mamie Street in Hattiesburg for a backyard baseball game. "You're gonna really like my new friend, Corky," Timmy had told me. "He's a good ballplayer, and you aren't going to believe the way he talks. He's more country than Gomer (Pyle)." So we started playing ball, Bobby and I against Timmy and Corky, a chunky little guy with a round face, baggy shorts and a crewcut. Early on, Bobby hit a sharp ground ball right at Corky, who bent over to catch it, only to have it go right through his legs. Six decades later, the scene is as vivid as it was comical. Corky stayed bent over and watched through his legs as the ball kept going into some hedges. When Cork looked back up, his eyes were as big around as donuts. He really could not believe he had missed it. "Well, I'll be a sardine sandwich!" Corky shouted before turning around and retrieving the ball. Corky did not miss many balls that day, nor any day we played baseball from then on, which was a lot. |
| How Lane Kiffin's dog Juice has become the face of Ole Miss football | |
 | Here's an urgent news bulletin for those of you who may have spent the last six months living under a rock, hibernating in a cave or wandering the desert investigating life's greatest mysteries: Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin got a dog. His name is Juice. He's a 5-month-old golden English lab. And, unwittingly, he's become the new face of Rebels football. Juice's star power can't be overstated. He's amassed more than 17,000 Twitter followers, more than every Rebels player except running back Zach Evans. Ole Miss named its last recruiting weekend before preseason practices "Juice Fest" and snagged four commitments in his honor. Juice gets to run around Ole Miss practices with a GoPro camera strapped to his back. "I think a lot of things in my career maybe seem like they're planned when they come out," Kiffin said. "This was not. It looks pretty brilliant. The dog is a recruiting tool. 'College GameDay' has already been here for a special on him whenever they go on. He has a Twitter and Juice Fest and all that. But this was just my daughter wanting a dog." It might sound weird or unconventional or flat-out silly, but a puppy is establishing himself as the Rebels' most marketable star. The Rebels' other players are just rolling with it. "I think here, in our culture, it's not weird," defensive end Jared Ivey said. "That's just us." |
| Ole Miss' Bianco Becomes Second Highest-Paid Coach | |
| Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco, the 2022 D1Baseball Coach of the Year, on Wednesday, signed a new four-year contract extension that includes a substantial base salary increase and performance bonus enhancements. The raise and extension come after Bianco guided the Rebels to their first national championship with a series win over Oklahoma at the College World Series this past June. Bianco, 55, was previously sitting at the $1.2M mark in terms of base salary, but with this new four-year deal, his base salary is now up to $1.625M, which ranks second nationally and in the Southeastern Conference -- only behind Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin. Before this contract extension and raise, Bianco ranked sixth in the SEC in salary. Now, he's second only behind Corbin. After Bianco at $1.625M, Tennessee's Tony Vitello ranks third at $1.5M, followed by Texas A&M's Jim Schlossnagle ($1.41M), Arkansas' Dave Van Horn ($1.3M), Mississippi State's Chris Lemonis ($1.25M) and LSU's Jay Johnson and Florida's Kevin O'Sullivan are each sitting at $1.2M. In terms of coaches outside of the SEC, Louisville's Dan McDonnell is in the seven-figure club, and new Clemson head coach Erik Bakich and Florida State head coach Link Jarrett will both reach the seven-figure mark a few years into their tenures. |
| NIL collectives: The other side of college football's game changer | |
| Hendon Hooker and Cedric Tillman exit a lavish Mercedes-Benz shuttle bus, guarded by a suited-up security detail and trailed by their entourages. They waltz across Times Square and glance up at a towering screen that looms at this epicenter of Manhattan. On one of the most visible jumbotrons in the world, Hooker and Tillman are the featured act, at least for a few minutes. Their names, images and likenesses are scrawled across the giant screen that hangs over Nasdaq headquarters in a fitting snapshot of college sports' new era. The Tennessee football players -- Hooker, a senior quarterback, and Tillman, the Vols' top wide receiver -- are whisked around the city for meetings with brands, future partners and stock market executives, arranged and paid for by the Spyre Sports Group, a marketing agency that represents the players. Spyre agents paraded the players around the Big Apple like a pair of NFL stars or Hollywood celebrities. Before they left town, they visited the headquarters of Shake Shack, met the burger joint's CEO, Randy Garutti, and other executives and ate a few off-menu items the company's executive chef cooked in front of them. "A year ago, Tennessee is on probation if we do these things," says Will Watkins, who oversees athlete and brand marketing at Spyre. Watkins is not incorrect. The New York City visit came a mere three days before the NCAA levied allegations of recruiting violations on Tennessee's former coaching staff for providing meals, transportation and cash to recruits -- the same benefits UT athletes now receive through name, image and likeness (NIL) ventures. Though a recruit and current athlete are vastly different in the NCAA's eyes, the juxtaposition of the two is more evidence of the peculiar era in which college sports finds itself -- trapped between amateurism and professionalism. |
| Notre Dame AD: Big Ten deal with NBC 'perfect' for Irish | |
| Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick says the coming Big Ten television contract with NBC is a "perfect" way for the network to complement its deal with the Fighting Irish. Swarbrick held a live online chat for Notre Dame's alumni association Wednesday, during which he addressed recent developments with the Big Ten and how they could impact the school's ability to remain a football independent. The Big Ten's new media rights deals are not yet finalized, but the conference is moving toward contracts with Fox, NBC and CBS. The league has also said it is having discussions with streaming services to televise its games. NBC has had exclusive rights to broadcast Notre Dame home games since 1991. The latest iteration of that deal runs through 2025. Swarbrick called the Big Ten's strategy brilliant and said he expected the value of the deals will be "pretty amazing" for the conference. "But it's also perfect for Notre Dame," Swarbrick said. "We need NBC to have more college football to more effectively promote our games and to talk about our games and to have NBC be seen in that light. So that was great for us that (NBC) got a big piece of this." |
| First Mizzou football game might impact employee parking, in-person work | |
 | Some University of Missouri employees might have to work from home Sept. 1, according to an email from the MU Office of Human Resources. On Sept. 1, MU football will begin its season with a home game against Louisiana Tech. The Office of Human Resources asked MU employees to work from home and move their cars from their normal parking spots to accommodate increased traffic. This is due to the game taking place on a Thursday, which MU spokesperson Christian Basi said hasn't occurred in years. "We are asking all university employees who work on MU's campus in non-public-facing roles and are able to work remotely for the rest of the day to leave campus at noon on Thursday, Sept. 1," the email said. Employees are asked to obtain their supervisors' approval before working remotely Sept. 1. MU Health Care workers are excluded from this request and are asked to continue working in person. Classes held the afternoon of Sept. 1 will still take place in person, and professors are expected to remain on campus. |
| Joe Namath's fur coat up for auction; PETA wants it, writes letter to former Alabama QB | |
 | Joe Namath's 1970s mink coat is up for auction. PETA wants it. The former Alabama and New York Jets quarterback, known as "Broadway Joe," donned luxurious furs on the sidelines during his NFL career in the 1960s and '70s. He wore his most famous fur in 1971, donning a white coat while on the sidelines for the New York Jets. The 1970′s Joe Namath Personally Owned Mink Coat has a current bid of more than $9,000. PETA, on the other hand, has what it thinks would be a better use for the coat. Give the coat to the fur donation program, which sends furs to people in need at refugee camps and homeless shelters as well as to wildlife rehabilitation centers to be used as bedding for orphaned animals. According to a release by PETA, Anjelica Huston, Mariah Carey, Kim Cattrall and others have made such gestures. PETA opposes what it calls speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. This isn't the first time PETA has taken aim at Namath. The group previously blasted Namath in 2014 after he wore a "caveperson" coyote fur coat to perform the Super Bowl coin toss, calling it an "eyesore." |
| Chris Stewart isn't just filling in for Eli Gold on Alabama football games. He's returning a favor | |
 | Chris Stewart liked to pretend he was Coward Hosell. No, that's not a typo. It's the name Stewart, when he was about 3 or 4, originally thought belonged to Howard Cosell, the late broadcaster on ABC's original Monday Night Football show. Stewart's parents let him stay up later on Mondays to watch the halftime show. He always looked forward to seeing Sunday's highlights and hearing Cosell. "He was so distinctive, and it was so mimicked by everybody back then," Stewart said. Fast forward more than 40 years later, and Stewart's days of pretending to be a broadcaster are long gone. The Fairfield native has been in the business since 1988 and has broadcast Alabama men's basketball and baseball for more than two decades. This fall, he will also call Alabama football games on radio for an undetermined amount of time. Eli Gold, who has been the radio voice of Alabama football since 1988, will not be available to start the season because of health issues. "I used to dream as a kid of being the Alabama announcer," Stewart said. "I've done more than I ever imagined logically I would get a chance to do in my career. Whether it's for a game, a month or a season, the fact that I'm getting to do any Alabama football is an amazing opportunity. I just wish it was under very different circumstances." |
| 14 HBCU medical students chosen for NFL diversity initiative | |
| There will be 14 students from Historically Black College and University medical schools working for the first time on the staffs of NFL clubs this season. The students are coming from the four HBCU medical schools in the country and will be working with eight different teams. The teams include Atlanta, Cincinnati, the Los Angeles Rams, LA Chargers, New York Giants, San Francisco, Tennessee and Washington. The joint program with the NFL Physicians Society (NFLPS) and Professional Football Athletic Trainer Society (PFATS) aims to diversify staffs across sports medicine, including the NFL. A study that examines diversity of the medical student population shows Black medical students comprise only 7.3% of the total in this country. That figure has risen less than 1% over the past 40 years and is far lower than the 13.4% Black population in the United States. The NFL has nearly 70% Black players. The one-month clinical rotations will begin as the 2022 season gets going in September. Students will work under the supervision of the orthopedic team physicians, primary care team physicians and athletic trainers. |
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