| Wednesday, January 11, 2023 |
| Research universities play an integral role in bringing new, better jobs to Mississippi | |
 | Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum writes for the Magnolia Tribune: Mississippi State University's legacy as a land-grant research institution producing impactful results that grow and secure more and better jobs remains strong and secure -- not just for our graduates but for the people of Mississippi. Working in concert with our distinguished MSU faculty and staff, MSU students are addressing global hunger and food insecurity, writing the flight plan for uncrewed aerial systems, shielding data from hackers, building better and more efficient vehicles, curing disease, and healing and protecting animals from pets to livestock. In short, at MSU we are taking care of what matters. "Student success" is a new phrase that describes an old concept -- providing a university education that improves the lives of our students and, at the same time, benefits humanity. We have a tremendous responsibility to prepare our students for the immense challenges of the 21st Century here in Mississippi and globally. ... Mississippi State is committed to providing a friendly, nurturing environment for students that values diversity, inclusion, engagement, intellectual challenge, academic rigor and memories of unique individuals and experiences that will last a lifetime. We do believe in "Taking Care of What Matters" -- and as I often remind students, what matters most during this season of your life is you and your future. |
| George Bryan was 'a uniquely good person' | |
 | He was a natural leader to whom people were immediately drawn, and his legacy will be one of a visionary. Among George W. Bryan Sr.'s admirers and friends was former Tupelo Mayor and TVA Chairman Glenn McCullough, who said Bryan would be sorely missed. Bryan, 78, died of natural causes at his home on Friday. "George was a uniquely good person," McCullough said. "He was a man of faith. He loved his family, he loved West Point, he loved Mississippi State, and he loved the state of Mississippi." McCullough said among the longtime businessman's skills was the ability to see possibilities and "explain those in a very laid back manner that gave people confidence." "He was very successful in business with Bryan Foods, Sara Lee and rose to the highest level because people liked him and they believed in him," McCullough said. Bryan was born in West Point in 1944, the youngest of four siblings. He began working with the family business, meat products company Bryan Foods, in 1964. He then attended nearby Mississippi State University earning his undergraduate degree in Business Administration in 1968. "People loved him and he made life so much better for so many people," McCullough said. "God blessed us for 78 years by giving us George Bryan." |
| MSU Extension hosts blueberry workshops | |
 | The Mississippi State University Extension Service will host two free educational workshops for blueberry growers in January -- one in person and another online. The in-person workshop will be held Jan. 24 at the MSU Extension Forrest County office at 952 Sullivan Drive in Hattiesburg from 1-4 p.m. The virtual workshop will be Jan. 26 from 2-4 p.m. The in-person workshop features speakers from MSU, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Topics include containerized production in high tunnels, spotted wing drosophila research, rabbiteye blueberry varieties and drought tolerance. No registration is required for the in-person workshop. Presenters at the virtual workshop include faculty and researchers from peer land-grant universities across the U.S., including Auburn University, the University of Georgia, Michigan State University and Oregon State University. Among the topics addressed are the use of sap analysis to determine plant nutrient status, the effects of plant growth regulators on blueberry ripening rates, blueberry breeding and solutions for blueberry splitting. |
| A Newsroom Team That Sees Data in the Air | |
 | In early November, Judson Jones was checking the weather forecast when he noticed that a low-pressure system in the Atlantic Ocean was taking on the characteristic rotation of a tropical cyclone. A hurricane in November is rare, but Mr. Jones could read the signs: A powerful storm was forming. After all, as a meteorologist at The New York Times, it's what he was hired to do. Mr. Jones spoke to his boss, John Keefe, the lead editor of the Weather Data team, a group formed last year that is focused on covering extreme weather events. "I think we need to write this story," Mr. Jones recalled telling Mr. Keefe. "This is really happening." So the Weather Data team, in close collaboration with The Times's Graphics desk, began working on an interactive article, with maps and rainfall forecasts, that would track the progress of the system as it raced across the Atlantic, then turned into Hurricane Nicole by the time it hit the Bahamas. On Nov. 10, Nicole became the first hurricane to come ashore on Florida's Atlantic coast since Katrina in 2005. Weather has always been part of The Times's coverage. Short forecasts have appeared on the front page since 1897. In recent years, interactive features, such as The Upshot's probability-based snow forecast and the Graphics desk's seasonal wildfire tracker, have offered readers more immersive weather reporting. As a meteorologist and a reporter, Mr. Jones said his role is "to take what scientists are doing and translating it so that it makes sense for the general public." Growing up in Little Rock, Ark., he was fascinated by the tornadoes that threatened the region every spring. After graduating from the University of Central Arkansas with a degree in mass communications, he found a job at CNN, where his childhood fascination with the weather bloomed into a professional passion. Soon, he obtained a certificate in meteorology from Mississippi State University. |
| Air travel across US thrown into chaos after computer outage | |
 | The world's largest aircraft fleet was grounded for hours by a cascading outage in a government system that delayed or cancelled thousands of flights across the U.S. on Wednesday. The White House initially said that there was no evidence of a cyberattack behind the outage that ruined travel plans for millions of passengers. President Joe Biden said Wednesday morning that he's directed the Department of Transportation to investigate. Whatever the cause, the outage revealed how dependent the world's largest economy is on air travel, and how dependent air travel is on an antiquated computer system called the Notice to Air Missions System, or NOTAM. Before commencing a flight, pilots are required to consult NOTAMs, which list potential adverse impacts on flights, from runway construction to the potential for icing. The system used to be telephone-based, with pilots calling dedicated flight service stations for the information, but has moved online. The NOTAM system broke down late Tuesday, leading to more than 1,000 flight cancellations and more than 6,000 delayed flights by 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. The chaos is expected to grow as backups compound. It was the latest headache for travelers in the U.S. who faced flight cancellations over the holidays amid winter storms and a breakdown with staffing technology at Southwest Airlines. |
| One GTRA flight delayed after all US flights grounded | |
 | A computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration brought flights to a standstill across the U.S. early Wednesday, with thousands of delays quickly cascading through the system at airports nationwide. The FAA ordered all U.S. flights to delay departures until at least 9 a.m. Eastern. Due to heavy congestion, the FAA cleared flights to depart at Newark Liberty and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airports and departures were expected to resume at other airports soon. More than 21,000 flights were scheduled to take off in the U.S. today, mostly domestic trips, and about 1,840 international flights expected to fly to the U.S., according to aviation data firm Cirium. Golden Triangle Regional Airport Executive Director Matt Dowell said the airport's 6 a.m. flight to Atlanta was rescheduled to 9 a.m. but the outage has not affected any of its other operations. "It did affect that whole morning flight," Dowell said. "It's really a flight operations effect but not not the rest of airport operations. The airport is still open, other traffic can come and go, especially on the general aviation and military side. This really has to do more on the commercial service." |
| 'Big day' becomes a reality for Homestead Furniture | |
| On a calendar for Homestead Furniture CEO "G" Lipscomb, written boldly were the words "Big Day." That big day was Tuesday, when the first chairs were scheduled to roll off the production line for Homestead Furniture. And the first chairs did just that, ready to be delivered to the company's first -- and only -- customer. It's a calculated move for the startup, but one with which Lipscomb and his partners feel comfortable. The major retailer who serves as both customer and adviser has declined to be identified, but with more than 100 stores it is safe to assume that Homestead will be kept quite busy. For now, Homestead won't be attending markets like Tupelo, High Point and Las Vegas to gain more customers. "We told our customer for the first year that our goal is to service them as long as they could give us enough business where we could just get by doing that," Lipscomb said. "I think it would be a dream to work in a plant to provide furniture for just one customer. It works good for the customer and for us." About 60 employees now work at Homestead, and the plant was a steady hum of activity Tuesday morning as the "Big Day" began. Plenty of laughter and smiles were present as a group photo was taken in front of the first two production chairs. |
| A Mississippi record and comic store deals with the January 'dead zone' | |
| For Phillip Rollins, owner of the record and comic store OffBeat in Jackson, Mississippi, January brings the doldrums. "It's either you're getting returns, or it's like dead zone," Rollins said. "So January and the summer tend to be my most hated months for me personally, because it's just so slow." Rollins, who recently relocated to a new storefront in downtown Jackson, had a good holiday retail season. "I had like a lot of high-dollar items," he said. "Recently, I bought a collection and in it had two rare copies of a Taylor Swift 45 [a vinyl record played at a speed of 45 revolutions per minute]. And I actually sold one of them, which I thought I never would have." But coming out of the summer, he's had to deal with an issue that's been top of mind since last year: inflation. And Rollins isn't alone. In December, nearly a third of small businesses said they were concerned about inflation, according to the Small Business Optimism Index, a monthly survey put out by the National Federation of Independent Business. |
| Americans are piling up credit card debt -- and it could prove very costly | |
 | More Americans are leaning on their credit cards in the face of rising prices. And as interest rates continue to climb, that debt is getting a lot more expensive. The average credit card user was carrying a balance of $5,474 last fall, according to TransUnion, up 13% from 2021. That marks a reversal from the first year of the pandemic, when many Americans were able to pay down credit card debt, thanks to generous government relief payments and limited spending on travel and entertainment. As credit card balances balloon again, they can cast a long shadow over family finances. With inflation outpacing incomes, more people are relying on credit cards to cover everyday expenses. "Contrary to popular opinion, it's not usually a vacation or shopping spree," says senior industry analyst Ted Rossman of Bankrate. "It's usually something pretty practical that gets you into credit card debt. But unfortunately, it's easy to get in and hard to get out." The average interest rate on credit card debt has soared to nearly 20%, from just over 16% at the beginning of last year. That's the largest one-year increase in the four decades Bankrate has been tracking rates. But when Bankrate did a survey last month, they found more than 4 out of ten credit card holders don't even know what their interest rate is. |
| Powell Says Fed Will Not Become a 'Climate Policy Maker' | |
 | The Federal Reserve must avoid straying into political issues that aren't directly related to its economic-management objectives to protect its ability to bring down inflation without interference from elected officials, said Chair Jerome Powell. The central bank remains strongly committed to lowering inflation by restraining economic growth through interest-rate increases, even though doing so could fuel political blowback, he said during a panel discussion with other central bankers in Sweden on Tuesday. Bringing inflation down when it "is high can require measures that are not popular in the short term as we raise interest rates to slow the economy," Mr. Powell said. That made it all the more important, he added, for the central bank to "'stick to our knitting' and not wander off" into addressing issues that aren't directly linked to its mandate to keep inflation low and to support a strong job market. "We are not, and will not be, a 'climate policy maker,'" Mr. Powell said. Some Democrats and environmental groups have put pressure on the central bank to take a more activist role in policing bank lending decisions to address climate change. Mr. Powell made the case for a much more limited role in which the Fed monitors how banks are managing an array of financial risks, including those posed by climate change -- steps that have drawn disapproval from some Republicans and that were opposed last month by another Fed governor. In his remarks, Mr. Powell said he believes the "benefits of independent monetary policy in the U.S. context are well understood and broadly accepted." |
| Mississippi state revenue $77.5 million over December 2022 estimates | |
| The Joint Legislative Budget Committee released the state revenue report for December 2022 showing tax collections continue to outpace budget estimates in Mississippi. Total revenue collections for FY 2023 through the month of December 2022 are currently at $334,180,589, which is 9.92% over previous year collections and $424,812,437, or 12.96% over sine die estimates. For the month of December, totals equaled $77,458,493, or 13.15% above the sine die revenue estimate the legislature used to set the budget. The total revenue estimate for FY 2023 is $6,987,400,000. Lawmakers, now back in session, are set to determine how best to appropriate these dollars as well as set a new fiscal year budget by the end of March. Sales tax collections were up for the month of December by $4.8 million. Individual income taxes were below the prior year by $6.8 million. Corporate income taxes were up by $57.6 million. Lawmakers are back in session and will be considering how best to appropriate these excess dollars while setting a new fiscal year budget by the end of March. |
| Mississippi lawmakers consider resurrecting ballot initiative process | |
| Mississippi lawmakers are back at the Capitol and debating the possibility of returning a voter's right to put their own measure on a statewide ballot. The Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the ballot initiative process two years ago during the medical marijuana legal fight, arguing that when the process was created, the state had five congressional districts. Since that number had dropped to four districts, the law was invalid. State Sen. David Blount wants to bring it back. "There are things that people want that this legislature has refused to do -- medical marijuana being the most recent example -- and the people need that right," said Blount, a Democrat from Byram. "If the legislature is failing to address those basic concerns that the people want, they need the option to get signatures and put it on the ballot." Blount's proposal would require 12% of the number of voters who cast a ballot in the previous governor's election to have to sign a petition to bring a measure up for a statewide vote. But some lawmakers are not in support of voters even passing state laws without first going through the legislature. "I don't want to become California," said Rep. Jill Ford, a Republican from Madison. "I think we need a higher standard. I want to make sure before I vote on the bill the standards are high, and not allow anybody and everybody to have an opinion. The reason we are here today is because they elected us to make law. That is the way I want to keep it." |
| State lawmaker says Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday should be celebrated without holiday for Robert E. Lee | |
 | A Mississippi lawmaker has drafted a bill to remove the celebration of Robert E. Lee on the same day the state honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Representative Kabir Karriem of Columbus says Dr. King and his work for civil rights and equality deserve to be celebrated without the history of the Confederate General. He says Mississippi should solely recognize Dr. King's birthday. Karriem says he has introduced this bill multiple times and is hopeful this is the year it moves forward and becomes law in order to make the change by next year. Representative Karriem said, "We're going to do all we possibly can. I think it's a very important issue for not only this generation but for generations to come. And it's a new day in Mississippi. We're gonna be everything that we say that we are, and being progressive in Mississippi, it's time to put Robert E. Lee to bed in the museums and honor Dr. King on his birthday." In the state of Mississippi, the third Monday of January is officially recognized as Robert E. Lee's and Dr. King's birthday. Only Alabama and Mississippi continue to commemorate King and Lee on the same day. |
| Lawmakers split on incentivizing districts to adopt modified public school calendar | |
| Over the last few months, the possibility of legislation that would encourage school districts in Mississippi to adopt a modified school calendar has gained steam among lawmakers, at least on the Senate side of the Capitol. Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann, who has noted that such legislation is among his top priorities, said he expects to see a bill come up "quite early" on in the 2023 legislative session. Such a bill would incentivize public school districts financially to make the change. Though both traditional and modified school calendars have 180 days of academic instruction, a modified calendar allows for additional breaks during the school year. Advocates say this helps to balance time in and out of school for both students and teachers. After each nine weeks there is typically a two-week break. This means summer break is shortened by approximately 10 to 12 days. State Senator Dennis DeBar, Senate Education Chairman, pointed out that every community is different, but lawmakers want school districts to have options with their calendar. "As we have seen in areas that have a modified calendar, students have the opportunity to catch up or take gifted courses, and teachers have the opportunity to recharge their batteries, when required instructional days are spread across the year," Senator DeBar said. However, the issue has not yet found consensus. Across the Capitol, members in the House are voicing their opposition for legislation that would incentivize modified school calendars. |
| Proposal would allow Mississippi's retired teachers to return without losing retirement benefits | |
 | Nothing's stopping retired teachers from changing their minds and eventually coming back to a school setting. But they're limited in how they can return. A new proposal at the State Capitol could bring them back without jeopardizing their retirement benefits. Mississippi's pipeline of educators is weakening faster than it can be refilled. "We're losing a lot of good teachers into retirement," noted Lauderdale County District Superintendent Dr. John Mark Cain. If they do come back: "They can only work at 50% of the capacity and earn 50% of what they retired as earning," described Clinton Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Andy Schoggin. Rep. Jody Steverson of Ripley is filing a bill that would let them return without those questions. "They will be able to draw 100% of their retirement plus a first-year teacher salary," noted Steverson. Steverson notes that the two cannot be combined to increase their "high four." Their "high four" will still be locked in at their current retirement rate. He explains the "high four" is the average salary from the highest four years of their employment. Steverson first planned to propose a reduced retirement pay of 70%, which is what Tennessee approved last year. However, the change to keeping it all is a strategic one. "We have teachers currently retiring from Mississippi, drawing 100% of their retirement and going over to Tennessee and teaching," said Steverson. "So the 70% would not benefit, you know, counties across Mississippi that join other states." |
| Mississippi increasing pace of adoptions from foster care | |
| Mississippi's foster care system is on pace for more adoptions during the current budget year than the previous one. Department of Child Protection Services Commissioner Andrea Sanders told lawmakers Tuesday that judges finalized adoption of 644 foster children during the year that ended June 30, while 600 adoptions have happened since the current year began July 1. Some children are in foster care for a short time before returning to their original families, while others remain in the state program for years, Sanders said. Several legal hurdles must be cleared before a foster child can be adopted, and that can be a "logistical, legal nightmare," she said. "It is pretty amazing that kids get adopted in this state through the foster care system," said Sanders, who has led the department since November 2020. Sanders -- who has been a social worker and earned a law degree -- said Child Protection Services employees have been trying to move a backlog of cases to get children into permanent homes. The pandemic slowed some adoptions. "I'm not interested in pointing fingers about that, but we just started really taking it down as granular as each child and looking at why they're stuck in the system and starting to move them through," Sanders told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. |
| Adoption numbers up this year as changes continue at Mississippi Child Protection Services | |
 | Mississippi is only about halfway through fiscal year 2023, yet adoption numbers from the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services are already nearing the total they hit last year, said MDCPS Commissioner Andrea Sanders during a legislative hearing Tuesday. Sanders told the House Appropriations Committee there were 644 adoptions last fiscal year, and there have already been 600 in this year, which began July 1, 2022. She attributes the increase to a "big push over the holidays" and to a change in attitude toward the way things were done in the past. Sanders, who took over the department in November 2020, said there was a prevailing belief at the time that adoptions were being held up due to docket space in the court system. She has found that not to be the case. "It's not an issue of docket space," Sanders told the committee. "It's an issue of us, legally, having representation, having someone who understands the courts and will not take no for an answer." Sanders said when she sits down with judges and asks them to hold five or six adoption hearings at a time, letting them pick a day that works best for the court, "they've done it every time." She also said her department has been working to determine and resolve the causes behind cases that have been sitting in legal limbo for extended periods of time. |
| Mississippi state agencies have hundreds of vacant jobs | |
 | Multiple state agencies are reporting troubles with the hiring process as labor shortages continue across Mississippi. Many of these positions have remained vacant for long periods of time, or low wages have contributed to high turnover rates. And while all state-employment pay scales were adjusted last year, agency heads say they need more funding to fill those roles. Bob Anderson is Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. "We have 506 vacancies right now. Our eligibility staff, some of them have been working for three decades for less than $25,000 a year," says Anderson. "We'll raise their salaries ultimately to a starting salary of about $31,000, which is a significant increase for them. But we need it. We have a 20-25% turnover rate." Within recent years, Mississippi has eliminated more than 3,000 unfilled jobs within state government, and Joint Legislative Budget recommendations have outlined another 2,000 jobs that could be eliminated this legislative session. Among the agencies asking for additional funding is the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services. Commissioner Andrea Sanders says they need qualified case workers in all parts of the state to adequately protect children. Sanders says "We can't do this job without having people where our children are. We have to respond when reports come in that a child may be abused or neglected. That is a first responder job, so we're running a 24/7 first responder agency on what really is an 8-5 regular old agency state model." |
| Democrat Young to run for Mississippi secretary of state | |
| Shuwaski Young, a Democrat who worked in the Department of Homeland Security during Barack Obama's presidency, announced Tuesday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for Mississippi secretary of state. This will be Young's second bid for public office within the past year. In the 2022 midterm elections, he was the Democratic nominee for the seat in Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District. He lost to U.S. Rep. Michael Guest. If he wins the nomination, he will potentially challenge the Republican incumbent, Michael Watson. The Mississippi Democratic Party has not said whether any other candidates have filed a bid for the position thus far. At a Tuesday news conference in front of the state Capitol, Young promised to work with Republicans to promote economic growth, while at the same time scrutinizing how state leaders have handled an ongoing welfare scandal in which millions of dollars intended for poor people were diverted to the rich and powerful. "We're going to stop the stealing that's taking place here in Mississippi," he said. "It's clear that charities, which fall under the auspice of the secretary of state's office, have played some role in the unprecedented corruption that we're seeing and hearing about." |
| Shuwaski Young Launches Bid For Mississippi Secretary of State, Vows Easier Voting | |
| Democrat Shuwaski Young is running for Mississippi Secretary of State, the Philadelphia, Miss., native announced during a morning press conference on the steps of the Mississippi Capitol. He promised to make voting easier and to investigate welfare-system abuses involving nonprofits and powerful individuals. Secretary of State Micheal Watson, the Republican incumbent, has not indicated whether he will seek re-election, and his office did not respond to a request for comment at press time. Young previously ran for election to Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District in November 2022, but lost to incumbent Republican U.S. House Rep. Michael Guest. "Mississippi does not have to be known as a voter suppression state," Young said today. "We can, and we must, change this outlook in our actions and our reputations, which also affect our business endeavors." The Democratic candidate noted that Mississippi recorded the lowest voter turnout in the nation during the 2022 midterms, when just 31.5% of eligible voters participated. He said his ideas for changing that include online voter registration and educating voters on disenfranchising crimes. Young is a graduate of East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss.; he earned a degree in political science from Jackson State University. "We need a more educated electorate when it comes to voting," Young told the press. "Many folks feel they can't vote because they've been incarcerated." |
| Shuwaski Young announces run for Secretary of State | |
| Shuwaski Young, a former candidate for Congress, announced on Tuesday that he will campaign to become Mississippi's next secretary of state, making him the first Democratic candidate to publicly announce a bid for a statewide office. Young's announcement is an abrupt change from a pledge he issued in November, declaring that he would never campaign for public office again until Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Tyree Irving had been replaced, something that has not happened. But Young on Tuesday said even though Irving is still the state party chairman, there had been enough changes made at the state party, such as a new executive director, that he was comfortable mounting a statewide run. But even with additional support from the party, Young has a steep hill to climb. It will be an extremely difficult task for a Democrat to win a statewide election in a ruby red conservative state like Mississippi. Sen. Joel Carter, R-Gulfport, and Rep. Fred Shanks, R-Brandon, previously told the Daily Journal they would consider running for the office if incumbent Secretary of State Michael Watson were to run for governor. Shanks filed paperwork last week to run again for his House seat. |
| Appeals court halts federal oversight of Hinds County jail | |
| Days before a federal receiver was set to take control of the Hinds County Detention Facility, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay halting that work. On Dec. 28, a three-member panel of the 5th Circuit Court granted a stay for the order appointing a receiver and the new injunction, which stays a court order put in place by U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves in April to set standards for Hinds County to fix the jail in Raymond. In November, Reeves appointed former Baltimore jail warden and criminal justice adjunct professor Wendell France Sr. as jail receiver. France started work then and was set to take full operational control of the jail Jan. 1, but did not due to the 5th Circuit Court order. A three-person monitoring team that has been documenting conditions and progress at the jail was also ordered to stop work, according to a Dec. 29 order by Reeves. The monitoring team issued its last report Dec. 12, highlighting ongoing issues such as the lack of direct supervision of jail housing units and facility maintenance. The 5th Circuit Court's decision comes less than a year after attorneys from the county and U.S. Department of Justice were in Reeves' courtroom to argue for and against federal receivership. Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Credell Calhoun said Tuesday he is pleased with the stay. The current board has spent millions to try to bring the jail into compliance, he said, and the county is building a new jail in Jackson that addresses issues with the current jail. |
| Rep. Mike Ezell takes office in Mississippi Congressional delegation | |
| For the first time since 2010, Mississippi's fourth Congressional District is not represented by Steven Palazzo. Former Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell defeated Palazzo in the midterms and was recently sworn in to the 118th Congress. The 63-year-old Rep. Mike Ezell, R-MS, said this is an emotional time for him after working his way up from a local beat cop into the halls of Congress. "It's the American dream," Ezell said. "And I'm very thankful, and I'm very humbled. And I will work hard for our people." Ezell hopes to work his way onto the transportation, agriculture and armed services committees. "I want to do whatever I can to support our military," Ezell said. "You know, I think our small rural farmer needs help. You know we've got a lot going on with roads and bridges throughout the country." Ezell supported Kevin McCarthy for speaker throughout the entire House process. He said one of his biggest priorities is establishing relationships to work with others in Congress. "Because that's what the people sent me up here to do is to go to work," Ezell said. "Not to argue and fuss with other Republicans, but to get the job done." |
| Wicker making stops at military bases across Mississippi | |
 | U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker made a special trip to the Columbus Air Force Base on Tuesday. As a member of the U.S. Armed Forces Committee, he's on a statewide tour visiting military bases and plans to meet with National Guardsmen. He also spoke at the Lion Hills Country Club. He also spoke about several topics including flood control, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the new Steel Dynamics development. WTVA also asked him about the Russian war in Ukraine. "I think Russia got a rude awakening," he said. "They thought they would move in, and really most of the observers, the talking heads, thought this would be a one or two-day war. What the Russians found out is that the Ukrainian people want to be free." |
| Senator Roger Wicker visited with residents, business leaders in Columbus | |
 | Senator Roger Wicker is home from Washington for a few days looking for ways to get the most out of Federal spending in the Magnolia State. Mississippi's senior Senator made his first stop in Columbus today, where he visited with area residents and business leaders at Lion Hills. Wicker spoke about the need for further economic development and job creation in the state. He has also been supporting flood control projects along the Yazoo River in the Mississippi Delta, as well as continuing work along the Tenn-Tom Waterway. One of Wicker's priorities has always been the military. And he is looking at ways to improve from recruitment to infrastructure. The main focus of this tour is to get a better look at Mississippi's bases and what they need. "In my new role on the Armed Services Committee as the ranking Republican member in the United States Senate. I'm doing a statewide tour at military facilities and also defense manufacturing installations, and, actually, this is my first visit of the new year and we are doing it right here at Columbus Air Force Base," said Wicker. |
| CAFB 'absolutely essential' says Wicker during tour | |
| On a tour of military bases and defense production facilities across the state, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) made his first stop Tuesday in Columbus. As the incoming ranking republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Wicker visited the Columbus Air Force Base as part of his own initiative to hear from servicemen -- from commanding officers to enlisted troops. Before Wicker's base tour, he stopped at Lion Hills to visit with the Lowndes County Republican Women and the Rotary Club of Columbus, speaking with media members about issues regarding military affairs. "We're looking at military construction requests," Wicker said. "I also want to talk to the troops about recruiting. We have a problem in most of our branches of the armed service getting young men and women to sign up. ... We need to see what we can do to address quality of life issues -- on-base housing and assistance for off-base (housing). There's just a wide range of issues." Keeping bases and active duty military members up-to-date with the latest training and technology helps the U.S. military stay ahead of foreign forces like Iran, Russia and China, Wicker said. As an Air Force veteran himself, Wicker said veteran health care is an important part of what is done each year in Washington and lumps it in with quality of life issues. |
| House lawmakers call for a freer C-SPAN. But is that what they actually want? | |
 | There were no rules in the House chamber last week, and C-SPAN made the most of it. Republicans' multiday ordeal to select a speaker of the House -- Kevin McCarthy ultimately won early Saturday morning, on the 15th ballot -- left the chamber without an active rules package. For C-SPAN, the nonprofit cable network that normally relies on a live feed provided by House officials, that meant their own camera operators had free rein to capture the drama -- including an irate Mike Rogers, a GOP representative from Alabama, lunging at colleague Matt Gaetz of Florida after his "Never Kevin" coalition scuttled yet another ballot. The rare view of the chamber made for compelling television and was reflected in C-SPAN's ratings. On the first day of the new Congress, 379,000 households tuned in, up 161 percent over the opening day of the previous Congress, according to an estimate from Samba TV, a firm that tracks what people watch on smart TVs. It also brought the often unsung network a heap of praise and has spurred efforts from both Republicans and Democrats to allow wider video coverage of the floor, reigniting a decades-old debate. But do lawmakers actually want everyone at home to see their unscripted moments? But do lawmakers actually want everyone at home to see their unscripted moments? |
| IRS advocate reports big cut in backlog as GOP votes to cut funds | |
 | The Internal Revenue Service reduced its massive backlog of unprocessed tax returns by nearly two-thirds over the past year, an independent watchdog said Wednesday, which could lead to shorter delays for tax refunds. Taxpayers who can avoid filing on paper should still choose electronic filing if they want refunds on time, according to the annual report of the IRS's national taxpayer advocate, Erin M. Collins, who described a clogged system that delayed millions of tax refunds for many months. The IRS started the 2022 tax season behind, with a backlog of about 11.5 million individual and business returns that it had yet to process from previous years. But during the year, Collins's report says, the agency whittled down that backlog to about 4 million returns by mid-December. Wednesday's Taxpayer Advocate Service report says that the IRS owed refunds to about two-thirds of individual taxpayers in 2022, owing each household an average of almost $3,200. People who filed their tax returns on paper usually had to wait six months or longer to get their refunds. Some who filed electronically and some businesses also ran into significant delays. Collins condemned the IRS's crumbling technology and slow customer service, which has dramatically worsened over the past three years since the agency curtailed some operations at the start of the pandemic. But the money that Congress has allocated to hire more IRS employees for customer service and processing returns provides optimism for the future, Collins said. Just before Collins's report was released, the new GOP-controlled House passed a bill to repeal most of that increase in IRS funding. |
| Next frontier in the abortion wars: Your local CVS | |
 | Fresh off winning their decades-long battle to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion-rights opponents are pinpointing their next targets: the nation's biggest pharmacy chains. Anti-abortion advocates are organizing pickets outside CVS and Walgreens in early February in at least eight cities, including Washington, D.C., in response to the companies' plans to take advantage of the Food and Drug Administration's decision last week allowing retail pharmacies to stock and dispense abortion pills in states where they're legal. The demonstrations aim to bring the same chants, signs and tense confrontations to drug store parking lots that groups have long used to try to deter visits to abortion clinics. The protests will coincide with a call-in campaign and planned national boycott of the chains. The anti-abortion movement is zeroing in on pharmacies as the pills have become the most popular method for terminating a pregnancy in the U.S. and a key way people are accessing abortion in states where it's banned. The upcoming protests are just one piece of a broader strategy that, if successful, could further fray the national patchwork of access to abortion. As legislatures reconvene this month -- many for the first time since Roe v. Wade was overturned -- Missouri and Kansas are among several states weighing bans on mail delivery and pharmacy dispensing of mifepristone, the first of two pills used to terminate a pregnancy. Members of the new House Republican majority will also put forward a bill on Wednesday, first shared with POLITICO, that would expand the rights of pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for the drug. |
| Ole Miss announces Frederick Slabach as new dean of law school | |
| Following a national search, Frederick Slabach has been chosen as the new dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law. Slabach will join the university on July 1, pending approval by the board of trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL). The Fernwood, Miss. native is a veteran legal educator with nearly three decades of experience in the classroom. Slabach, a 1982 Ole Miss Law graduate, spent the last 12 years as president of Texas Wesleyan University. "I want to make sure that all potential students and their future employers know what a great law school Ole Miss has," Slabach said. "The quality is there from the faculty, the staff, the skills training, the doctrinal education, all of it. I want to make sure everybody knows what we do, so that we can attract the top-quality students that I know want our quality education." As a young lawyer, Slabach served under former Mississippi Governor William Allain before later serving as a legislative counsel to Senator John C. Stennis and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. He would also serve as assistant U.S. secretary of agriculture for congressional relations and as deputy director of the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Training and Development. |
| Ole Miss students, staff to join community for MLK Day of Service activities | |
| Many University of Mississippi students, faculty and staff members, and community volunteers will spend their Jan. 16 cleaning, doing yardwork, packing literacy kits, composting, making dog toys and more as part of a university-led Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The annual day of service provides volunteers from the campus and local community who donate their time and skills to improve life for Oxford and Lafayette County residents. The UM Division of Diversity and Community Engagement will host a small-group immersive service experience from noon to 5 p.m. This event honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "Through active participation in the community and intentional relationship building, the MLK Day of Service seeks to continue Dr. King's legacy of love, service and community," said Castel V. Sweet, director of community engagement. "We have committed to cross-promoting communitywide activities and supporting broad campus and community participation." Kathy Watcher, president of the Oxford Community Garden, said the organization appreciates any and all help the Ole Miss community provides. "I'm hoping to possibly have them build another arbor as a day of service project this year," said Watcher, who has been involved with MLK Day of Service since she joined the garden in 2009. "But whatever they do will help us get ready for things to start growing in the spring." |
| STEMM leadership program kicks off at USM Gulf Park campus | |
| It was the kickoff for Environmental Justice STEMM Leadership Academy. Four Boys and Girls Club sites across the Gulf Coast participated in the science education program. The University of Southern Mississippi and Steps Coalition partnered to give students an insight into the STEMM field. Yes, that is STEMM with two M's; the second m is for medicine. Groups were divided into teams for a nightly scavenger hunt to collect data on the Gulf Park campus. During the program, 6th to 12th-grade students will learn about scientific modes of analysis. "This is a five-year grant. We will be targeting five different themes on climate change. So, this first year we're looking at urban heat, mapping in urban and rural areas. Each year, we'll have a different theme or the kids will learn the different STEM content," said Dr. Rachel Gisewhite, Assistant Professor of Science Education. The STEMM Leadership program will continue to work with the youth in more counties across the Gulf Coast. |
| Resources in the Golden Triangle are working to fill the workforce gap | |
| You could call it a good problem to have businesses with good-paying jobs steadily calling the Golden Triangle home. They need people to fill those good-paying jobs. Groups like the LINK and EMCC have put resources in place to help fill that gap, but not everybody knows where to look. Connecting industries with the people they need to produce their goods and get them to market, that's the challenge facing groups like the WIN Center, Communiversity, and Golden Triangle Development Link. Workforce Business Outreach and Training Manager, Ray Hollis said many businesses allow employees to start working while getting more advanced training through the Communiversity. "We have a lot of companies that are moving into our area that are going to have a lot of openings and positions where they need to fill those positions. They don't need highly skilled individuals they need basic skills so that they can come in and start working with the company and then work with us as well when they come in to get more advanced training, " said Hollis. |
| DeSantis Aims to Turn College Into 'Hillsdale of the South' | |
 | In his first term as Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis sought to reshape higher education at the state level, pushing changes to accreditation requirements and tenure while requiring widely criticized intellectual diversity surveys and limiting diversity, equity and inclusion instruction in public colleges. Freshly re-elected, he's now shaking up higher ed at the campus level, aiming to transform the state's public liberal arts college in the image of one of the country's most visible private Christian colleges. "It is our hope that New College of Florida will become Florida's classical college, more along the lines of a Hillsdale of the South," DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier told The Daily Caller. On Friday, DeSantis appointed six new trustees at NCF: Christopher Rufo, Matthew Spalding, Charles R. Kesler, Mark Bauerlein, Debra Jenks and Eddie Speir. Of those, the first four are well-known conservative academics or activists who appear to live outside Florida. Arguably the most prominent of the trustees is Rufo, who gained national attention for his campaign against the obscure academic concept of critical race theory, often conflating it with diversity, equity and inclusion programs and fueling a conservative backlash against DEI efforts. In a state full of large public universities, the New College of Florida stands out as an anomaly. With just under 700 students, the liberal arts college is by far the smallest of the 12 institutions that make up the State University System of Florida. |
| Embattled U. of South Carolina trustees seeking reelection get a new chance to keep their seats | |
 | Five incumbent University of South Carolina trustees, whose futures were placed in limbo last year after a wave a criticism over their oversight of the state's largest college, will have a chance to win reelection. A legislative screening committee recommended the board members, including current chairman Thad Westbrook and two past immediate chairmen, Dorn Smith and John von Lehe, be moved forward to the General Assembly a year after their scheduled election. Lawmakers will get to vote on whether the five USC trustees get to keep their seats. Last March, the trustee screening panel spent five hours firing pointed questions at the incumbent trustees seeking another term over two contentious presidential searches at the state's flagship university, multimillion-dollar buyouts paid to former football coach Will Muschamp and former men's basketball coach Frank Martin, as well as spats with a pair of top donors. On Jan. 10, state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a Columbia Democrat who remains one of the board's harshest legislative critics, voted against moving forward Smith's nomination to the Legislature. Harpootlian and state Rep. John King, D-Rock Hill, both cast "no" votes for Edward Floyd, the board's longest-serving trustee at 41 years. All college trustees votes in the Legislature were postponed last year because of the dispute over the embattled USC board members. |
| Texas universities propose two-year tuition freeze in exchange for nearly $1 billion in additional state funding | |
 | As Texas lawmakers consider what to do with an unprecedented $32.7 billion state surplus, leaders of the state's six largest public university systems -- including Texas A&M -- are pitching that nearly $1 billion be allocated toward higher education. If lawmakers agree, these university chancellors pledge to hold tuition flat for all undergraduate students for the next two academic years. In a letter sent to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, Senate Finance Committee Chair Joan Huffman and House Finance Committee Chair Greg Bonnen in mid-December, the university chancellors asked for more general-revenue funding as well as more funding for university employee health insurance and the program that gives free college tuition to military veterans and their children. "Our education mission is funded almost entirely by two sources of funding: state support and student tuition and fees," says the letter, which The Texas Tribune obtained Tuesday, the first day of the new legislative session. "Without increased state support, Texas institutions must look to additional efficiencies and then tuition and fees to be able to continue to maintain high quality education. In order to hold tuition flat for our students and their families, Texas universities seek increased state investment." In the letter, the chancellors argue that today's students require more hands-on tutoring and advising, increased mental health support and better technology services at a time when "inflation, supply-chain delays, and skilled labor shortages" are creating challenges. |
| 'There should be some consequences': Students, others respond to lack of discipline for U. of Missouri student's racist message | |
 | A sampling of students of color on the quiet University of Missouri campus on Tuesday said they were disappointed that officials won't discipline a student who sent a racist message that became public. The three students said the lack of action was expected from MU. The chairwoman of the MU Faculty Council's Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee said officials condemned the speech but must respect the First Amendment. The president of the Columbia NAACP said the university is wrong not to discipline the student. The students were interviewed in the MU student center. After a review by the Office of Institutional Equity, university officials determined the racial slur was in a direct message last month to a friend and didn't harass any individual. The message became public when it was posted on Twitter by another student. Taking action against racism isn't a priority for the university, said Alyssa Fritz, a senior natural resources major from Kansas City. "I think, yes, there's freedom of speech," Fritz said. "But if someone's affiliated with the university, there should be some consequences. Expulsion or something. I don't know the solution." "It doesn't mean they're OK with what happened," Bruzina said. "When it came out, they condemned it pretty clearly." Told of the student responses, Bruzina said the university does care. |
| USDA blames unsafe cage for death of monkey at Tulane research center | |
 | The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reprimanded officials at the Tulane National Primate Research Center near Covington for not providing requested documentation of the death of a crab-eating macaque there in 2021. USDA officials conducted an annual inspection of the 500-acre property in September, according to a report published in December. They also requested that Tulane officials turn over documents related to the death of the monkey, but one document was not furnished "in a reasonable time frame," the inspection report says. The report says the death of the macaque was caused by a faulty cage. "The primary enclosure ... was not safe for this particular animal as it did not protect the primate from injury," the inspection report says. "Primary enclosures must be designed and constructed so that they protect the nonhuman primates from injury." The USDA gave Tulane until Oct. 10, 2022, to correct the cage issue. A Tulane spokesperson, Keith Brannon, said Tuesday that the cage in use was an industry standard, and all cages at the center "meet or exceed USDA standards." Crab-eating macaques are one type of the more than 5,000 monkeys kept at the primate center. |
| Does Criminology Have a Crime Problem? Not at All, Experts Say. | |
 | When authorities named a criminology student at Washington State University as a suspect in the murders of four University of Idaho students, the internet went wild with speculation. Did Bryan C. Kohberger's academic background play a role in how he carried out the crime? Some theorized that he could have been trying to collect data and first-hand experience for his Ph.D. dissertation. Others pointed to prior examples of serial killers with criminal-justice degrees. But several experts in criminal justice, forensics, and sociology told The Chronicle that it's unlikely Kohberger learned how to commit a high-profile crime while studying criminology. Nor is it likely that the field is attracting would-be criminals, they said. Kohberger is facing four first-degree murder charges for the deaths of Ethan Chapin, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21. The four University of Idaho undergraduates were stabbed to death in an off-campus house on November 13. The University of Idaho's campus in Moscow, Idaho, is less than 10 miles away from Washington State's campus in Pullman, Wash. "In my career, I never had an undergraduate or graduate student who was studying criminology to commit crimes," said Steven E. Barkan, a retired professor of sociology at the University of Maine. "Actually, students took my courses because they wanted to prevent and reduce crime." Joseph L. Giacalone, an adjunct professor of law, police science, and criminal-justice administration at the City University of New York John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that it's rare that criminology students commit crimes. "I don't see this as a problem for the course of study," he said. |
| Murder on campus: Students go back to school in Idaho with killings still fresh on their minds | |
 | University of Idaho freshman Lauryn Riney has mixed emotions about coming back to campus from winter break. She's relieved an arrest has been made in the shocking stabbing deaths of four of her classmates that rattled her small-town campus community and captured nationwide attention. But she's still worried for her safety when classes start on Wednesday. "Even though they hopefully caught the guy, there are still people out there who have the mentality to do something like this," Riney, 19, said. "There's no way of really knowing who's capable of doing something like this until it actually happens." Locking doors. Walking in groups. Carrying pepper spray. Rituals that most people typically do in big cities, but now they are on the rise in this normally quiet college town. They're part of the new normal after the Nov. 13 killings in Moscow. Here and 10 miles away at Washington State University in neighboring Pullman, where classes began on Monday, campus life has a different feel. The once-cozy border colleges have been under the specter of a murder investigation and reporters from around the globe after four students were murdered in their beds by a masked intruder. "The communities as we knew it will never go back to normal, and that's just a hard realization for all of us," said Washington State student Sandra Kobiesa, 23. "I don't think Pullman and Moscow will ever be the same." The students' arrival back to both campuses this week comes as suspect Bryan Kohberger, 28, is scheduled to make his second appearance in an Idaho courtroom on Thursday. The former doctoral student at Washington State faces first-degree murder charges in the brutal stabbings of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20 at a rental home near campus two months ago. |
| National Endowment for the Humanities Announces $28.1 Million in Grants | |
| Projects to build a research center at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, to develop digital tours of an exhibition highlighting Jewish founders of the film industry at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, and to add touch-screen kiosks to the National Comedy Center in Lucille Ball's hometown of Jamestown, N.Y., are among 204 beneficiaries of new grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities announced on Tuesday. The grants, which total $28.1 million and are the first round awarded this year, will support projects at museums, libraries, universities and historic sites in 39 states and Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Shelly C. Lowe, the endowment's chairwoman, said in a statement that the projects, many of which use digital tools and technologies to make ancient cultures and practices accessible to a modern audience. A grant will support a faculty and student project at Georgia College to collect oral histories related to the life and works of Flannery O'Connor, the novelist and short-story writer whose work focused on the American South. Another award will allow researchers at the University of Kentucky to explore the underrepresentation of buildings and sites associated with minority racial and ethnic groups on the National Register of Historic Places. The grants will also support dozens of new books. |
| Amid Backlash, Stanford Pulls 'Harmful Language' List | |
| "This website contains language that is offensive or harmful," a Stanford University Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative website stated in December. "Please engage with this website at your own pace." The initiative, published by the university's CIO Council and People of Color in Technology affinity group, sought to eliminate racist, violent and biased language in Stanford websites and code. The university was swiftly criticized for suggesting the elimination of words like "American," "immigrant" and "grandfather," prompting it first to remove the list from public view and then, weeks later, to pull it from its website entirely. But Stanford is not alone in seeking to remove harmful language from its college communications. On the contrary -- many colleges engage in such practices, though they are less transparent in their practices. Also, some acknowledge that their efforts, which have not engaged their communities, could be seen as performative. "Parodists have it rough these days, since so much of modern life and culture resembles the Babylon Bee," the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote on Dec. 19, referencing the satirical website that is sometimes referred to as a conservative version of The Onion. Following the backlash, the university hid the website from public view on Dec. 20. Stanford chief information officer Steve Gallagher clarified in a statement that the website had been intended to guide discussions about inclusion within the university's information technology community and did not represent university policy. But the university pulled back more in January by removing the guide from its website. The 13-page guide contained more than 150 words and phrases organized into 10 categories of harmful language: ableist, ageism, colonialism, culturally appropriative, gender-based, imprecise language, institutionalized racism, person-first, and violent words and phrases. Words and phrases such as “brave,” “seminal,” “American,” “take a shot at,” “no can do” and “submit” were deemed harmful. |
| Education Department's renewed plan to list and shame low-value colleges draws concern | |
| About a decade ago, then-President Barack Obama devised an ambitious plan to rate all American colleges, with the goal of publicly embarrassing bottom-placing institutions that burdened students with high debt loads and low earning potential. Many college leaders soundly rejected the system and it never materialized. When the College Scorecard debuted a few years later, it didn't include ratings. But flash forward to today, and Obama's vice president, current President Joe Biden, seems to be pursuing a pared-down version of the same concept. The U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday it will craft a list of "low-financial-value" programs, which would, similar to Obama's shaming tactic, publicly call out institutions with poor outcomes. The department said over the next 30 days it will accept feedback on which factors it should use to construct this watchlist. The announcement raised the hackles of for-profit college representatives, who say both the Obama and Biden administrations unfairly targeted those institutions and fear the new index will be much the same. Further, the idea of quantifying a college's benefits solely in economic terms has drawn criticism within the higher education sector, though much of the country, including pundits and policymakers, are hyper-focused on institutions' returns on investment. |
| In California, U.S. Education Secretary Cardona calls for states to up funding, lays out student debt relief case | |
| U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona was back in California this week, his latest trip to the state as he visited Los Angeles for a series of events honoring teachers. That included Monday evening's college football national championship game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, where K-12 educators from across the country were honored on the field for excellence in teaching. Cardona has a lot on his plate. A new Congress was just sworn in, including a House with a Republican majority that could make it difficult for President Joe Biden to advance his pre-K-12 agenda. Meanwhile, nationwide test scores in reading and especially math were down significantly in 2022, prompting renewed calls to help students who fell behind during the pandemic. On the higher education front, Cardona is preparing for the Supreme Court to hear arguments next month on whether the Biden administration can legally forgive billions in student debt loans. Just last week, the departments of Education and Justice filed a legal brief with the court defending the administration's authority in forgiving those debts. Cardona this past weekend sat down with EdSource for an interview to discuss those issues and more. The conversation was edited for clarity and length. |
| Mississippi's Public Pension in the Danger Zone | |
| Russ Latino writes for the Magnolia Tribune: Mississippi's Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) is in trouble. It has been that way for quite a while. Only no one wants to admit it. Addressing the fault lines in the program is fraught with peril for politicians. Failing to do so poses larger risks both to public workers and our state's economy. Lurking in the shadows is one of the largest unfunded liabilities in the entire country. Days before Christmas, the PERS Board of Trustees used what tools it has at its disposal. It voted to increase the employer contribution rate to 22.4 percent, effective October 1, 2023. Combined with the 9 percent employee contribution, the total contribution rate will jump to 31.4 percent. Nearly 32 cents of every dollar earned by a public employee will go to shoring up the state retirement system. This is an extraordinary expense, both to public employees and their employers. ... Conversations around PERS understandably evoke a lot of emotion. People in the system have worked really hard for a lot of years on the promise of a solid retirement. The state's ability to deliver on that promise, though, is not served by burying our heads in the sand. It's time for an adult conversation on what is driving deficiencies and how we can responsibly fix them. Adjusting contribution rates could be a part of the answer, but it almost certainly is not the whole answer. |
| McCarthy's politically expensive election as House Speaker leaves a hard road forward | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: American citizens last week learned a new phrase in the nation's political lexicon, one not heard 14 consecutive times on Capitol Hill since before the Civil War: "No person having received a majority of the whole number of votes cast by surname, a speaker has not been elected." With much dignity, House Clerk Cheryl L. Johnson recited that phrase 14 times after each failed vote on McCarthy's path to finally winning a majority on the 15th vote. When Johnson was finally able to report the results of the 15th vote that elected McCarthy as the new speaker, the chamber gave her a standing ovation. Without that threshold being attained, the 118th Congress could not be sworn into office, form committees, or begin the business of governing. That was the practical impact. But the political damage to the Republican Party who saw the speaker's choice derailed by a group of backbenchers and political showmen from within their own party was nothing if not embarrassing and harmful. ... During his time a Republican Leader, one of McCarthy's key staffers has been 2008 Mississippi State University alumna Natalie Buchanan Joyce, a Madison native. Joyce serves as the Deputy Chief of Staff, Member Services for McCarthy. In that capacity, Joyce served as a liaison between McCarthy and GOP members dealing with their chairmanship appointments and committee assignments. While serving as the GOP Leader, McCarthy visited MSU to deliver the keynote address when former Third District U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper donated his personal and political papers to MSU's Mississippi Political Collection in Mitchell Memorial Library. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State men's basketball faces tough road test against Georgia on Wednesday | |
| The mood after Saturday's home game against Ole Miss was a much-awaited one for Mississippi State, ending a three-game skid with a 64-54 win over the Rebels. Humbling is one way to put how the first two games of SEC play went for the men's team, losing to arguably the two best teams in the conference in Alabama and Tennessee. However, it was much needed for a team that was able to face adversity for the first time all season. Now, coming off a big win against an in-state rival, it's go time for MSU (12-3, 1-2 Southeastern Conference), taking on a fellow Bulldog program in Georgia (11-4, 1-1 SEC) at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Athens. Riding high off a 76-64 win over a ranked Auburn team last Wednesday, Georgia lost a tough road game against Florida during the weekend and will be just as hungry as MSU coming into Wednesday's game. "They're off to a great start," Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. "Coach White and his staff have done a great job playing above national expectations. I'm sure it's not above their own expectations. They're just so solid in every way." "...They know who they are. They know where the ball needs to go and whose hands the ball needs to be in." |
| Will Mike Leach be in the College Football Hall of Fame? | |
 | Washington State kicker Quentin Breshears missed a 19-yard field goal with 19 seconds remaining to bring a deflating end to a high-flying 60-59 victory by California over the Cougars in a Pac-12 game on Oct. 4, 2014. The National Football Foundation announced the College Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2023 on Monday afternoon. In addition to former SEC stars Eric Berry of Tennessee and Tim Tebow of Florida, the inductees included former Georgia coach Mark Richt, the 31st man to coach in the SEC to reach the football shrine. What does a missed field goal have to do with a coach's selection for the College Football Hall of Fame? Had the field-goal attempt gone through the uprights instead of wide right and delivered the victory for Washington State, coach Mike Leach would be eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. Adhering to an innovative passing offense that became widely adopted and adapted, Leach compiled a career record of 158-107 at his three head-coaching stops. That's a .596 winning percentage. Change any one of those 107 losses to a victory, Leach's career winning percentage moves to .600. Why is that a big deal? According to the requirements, to be considered for the College Football Hall of Fame, coaching candidates must have at least 10 seasons and 100 games as a head coach with a minimum winning percentage of .600. |
| Deion Sanders on the Big Leap to Colorado, Leaving Jackson State, and Losing Two of His Toes | |
| The way Deion Sanders saw it, this was how it had to be -- the private jet, the frantic rush, the dramatic nighttime arrival in Colorado. "Everything is strategic. We couldn't wait," he said to me in the hours after he'd touched down in the state to be announced as the University of Colorado's next head football coach. He'd flown straight from Jackson, Mississippi, where he'd just led Jackson State University, a historically Black college, to its second straight Southwestern Athletic Conference title. He did not pause to celebrate. Fans and players danced and hugged, but Sanders had a plane to catch, a new job waiting. As the championship trophy was readied, cameras caught him with his arms folded, appearing to tell officials, "Let's go, let's go." He ended up skipping post-game press conference and instead met with his team to explain that he was leaving. Hours later, he was strolling from the jet in a long black coat trimmed in fur. A small red carpet had been put down at the airport, and Sanders made his way across it as cameras flashed in the night. Fans and followers who've charted the rise of Coach Prime on social media would have recognized the colossal ring dangling from the gold chain around his neck as the one gifted to him by the rapper Key Glock in a video that had gone viral. Clutching a Louis Vuitton duffel, Sanders jumped into a Sprinter van that carried him to the Colorado campus. That night, as he was shown around the empty football stadium, the tour marked his very first visit to the school. Sanders had taken the job sight unseen. |
| See the official terms of new Lane Kiffin contract with Ole Miss football | |
 | Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin signed a new contract to remain the Rebels' football coach following the 2022 season. The Clarion Ledger has obtained the official term sheet for Kiffin's new state contract, which went into effect on Jan. 1 and runs through Dec. 31, 2026. Under Mississippi state law, state universities cannot offer contracts to their employees that are longer than four years. Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger reported in November that Kiffin's new contract would be for "at least" eight years, with Ole Miss running the deal through its athletic foundation to work around the law. The details of that arrangement were not provided in the term sheet, nor was there any information provided about Kiffin's buyout. Kiffin's base pay for the next four years will be as follows: 2023: $8,750,000; 2024: $8,850,000; 2025: $9,000,000; and 2026: $9,000,000. Kiffin's contract is also full of incentives. He receives a $250,000 incentive if he remains employed by Ole Miss on Dec. 31, 2023, and a $150,000 incentive if still employed on Dec. 31, 2024. Kiffin will also receive a season ticket-based incentive. If Ole Miss sells more than 30,000 season tickets, he will receive a bonus of $50,000. He will receive additional $50,000 bonuses when Ole Miss surpasses the 35,000, 37,500 and 40,000 thresholds. |
| What happened to the 'Please Go to Texas' sign guy in Rupp? UK explains the situation | |
 | Amid Kentucky's stunning loss to lowly rated South Carolina in Rupp Arena on Tuesday night, the frustrations of the UK fan base spilled over onto social media in the form of a fan who ended up leaving the game early. About midway through the game, a man sitting in the lower level and holding a sign that read, "Please Go to Texas," had Twitter abuzz. He ultimately left Rupp Arena early, before the Gamecocks finished off their 71-68 upset of the heavily favored Wildcats. The sign was a reference to speculation that Texas could target UK Coach John Calipari for its head coaching vacancy. A UK spokeswoman told the Herald-Leader after the game that other fans behind the man holding the sign complained that they couldn't see what was happening on the court. As a result, event staff approached the man and asked him to hand over the sign. He refused to give up the sign and decided to leave the arena rather than comply, according to the UK spokeswoman. Rupp Arena's policies state that banners or signs that "cause any disturbance with other fans" are not permitted during its events. |
| Athens brewery releases IPA celebrating Georgia football's back-to-back championships | |
 | Southern Brewing Company hinted on its Instagram page that it has produced an IPA that will celebrate Georgia football's back-to-back national titles. The beer is titled 'Back 2 Back' and the photo showed a fan holding a can of the brew in SoFi Stadium as Georgia football celebrated in the background. "BACK 2 BACK CHAMPS! It's GREAT to be a Georgia Bulldog!" The post read. "We've got something special coming at you, Athens!" The brewery, @sobrewco on Instagram, replied on its post that the beer will be on the market later this week. Southern Brewing COO Steven Brand told the Athens Banner-Herald that the idea evolved from another batch of IPA they were brewing for 2023. "I was like, if we're going to do this then let's make something new," Brand said. "Let's make something crazy. As we were putting together our plan for 2023, we had this window for this IPA and we didn't have a name. So, it kind of worked and fit." The company will have the beer in pint form and in 6-packs at its taprooms in Monroe and Athens on Tuesday afternoon. It will begin distributing locally to Athens package stores on Wednesday. |
| NIL comes to UF women's basketball: Gators to get $1,000 each for 2022-23 season | |
| The University of Florida's women's basketball team spent some time away from the hardwood on Tuesday night as it was treated to dinner at Spurrier's Gridiron Grille at Celebration Pointe. But that was only a microscopic part of Tuesday's celebration. Thanks to a partnership between the Gators Collective, Wally Smojver and Jeff Nudelman, CEO of Stuart Building Products, each eligible player on Kelly Rae Finley's roster was given a Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deal worth $1,000 for the 2022-23 basketball season. The deal will require players to participate in fan-engagement activities, particularly with young fans in the Gainesville community. "You're in the game now," Smojver told the Gators over dinner, which was sponsored by Meldon Law; Davis & Monk, CPA; Ward Scott File Podcast and and Saliwanchik, Lloyd & Eisenschenk, P.A. "You're in the game and it's only going to get bigger." Tuesday's deal is the first for a women's athletic program on UF's campus. During an appearance with the Gator Tip-Off Club on Dec. 7, Finley was asked about NIL within the Gators' women's basketball program. It was then that she revealed the team didn't have any deals. A month later, that changed. "To see the outpouring of support and the light that they want to help us shine on our student-athletes and our team, it makes me feel very happy," said Finley. "And I know that they're all very, very grateful." |
| New NIL bill would 'even playing field' for Florida athletes | |
| Rep. Chip LaMarca didn't intend to become an expert in name, image and likeness, but during the past three years the Florida legislator has a better understanding of its impact on college athletics. "I'm an economics, environment and education priorities kind of guy in the legislative process and somehow I got pulled into this," said LaMarca. "It's an economic issue that also affects our education system." LaMarca, a Lighthouse Point Republican, has been at the forefront of NIL laws in Florida, helping sponsor the state's current legislation that went into effect July 1, 2021. He recently filed a new NIL bill which he hopes will help even the playing field for the state's universities and athletes. The proposed bill (HB 99) would allow more institutional involvement from universities and colleges regarding NIL. It would enable colleges, universities and its employees to steer NIL opportunities toward athletes. The current legislation prohibits schools from having direct contact with athletes regarding NIL opportunities. Florida was one of the first of many states to establish its NIL legislation. The law was intended to provide structure and guardrails for the process instead of NCAA legislation. But when the organization took on a broader view of NIL, many states that had enacted their own laws began repealing them to allow universities the freedom to do much more with their athletes in the marketplaces. LaMarca doesn't want Florida to repeal its law. Instead, he wants it tweaked to allow state schools to help provide more opportunities. |
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