| Thursday, January 26, 2023 |
| 2023-2024 Community-Engaged Learning Fellows applications now available | |
 | Applications are now available for Mississippi State University's 2023-2024 Community-Engaged Learning Fellows program. The CEL Fellows program supports instructional faculty and staff in integrating community-engaged learning into their formal or non-formal teaching. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President and the Center for Community-Engaged Learning, CEL Fellows learn community-engaged learning theory, course design and pedagogy. CEL is a high-impact educational practice that improves student engagement, learning and development, and social responsibility. The CEL Fellows program seminar will meet in May. Participants receive a $1,000 course or research development award, peer support and one-on-one assistance to design a new CEL course or modify an existing course. Program guidelines and application can be obtained via an email to michelle.garraway@msstate.edu. Submissions are due by Feb. 28. |
| US economy slowed but still grew at 2.9% rate last quarter | |
 | The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.9% annual pace from October through December, ending 2022 with momentum despite the pressure of high interest rates and widespread fears of a looming recession. Thursday's estimate from the Commerce Department showed that the nation's gross domestic product -- the broadest gauge of economic output -- decelerated last quarter from the 3.2% annual growth rate it had posted from July through September. Most economists think the economy will slow further in the current quarter and slide into at least a mild recession by midyear. The economy got a boost last quarter from resilient consumer spending and the restocking of supplies by businesses. Federal government spending also helped drive GDP. But with higher mortgage rates undercutting residential real estate, investment in housing plummeted at a 27% annual rate for a second straight quarter. The resilience of the U.S. job market has been a major surprise. Last year, employers added 4.5 million jobs, second only to the 6.7 million that were added in 2021 in government records going back to 1940. And last month's unemployment rate, 3.5%, matched a 53-year low. But the good times for America's workers aren't likely to last. As higher rates make borrowing and spending increasingly expensive across the economy, many consumers will spend less and employers will likely hire less. |
| Legislators tour renovated Ellis Theater | |
 | About 50 members of the state Legislature traveled to Philadelphia last week to tour Marty Stuart's Congress of Country Music at the recently renovated Ellis Theater. State Rep. C. Scott Bounds and State Sen. Jenifer Branning, both of Philadelphia, co-hosted the event. Stuart was present and performed a solo concert for lawmakers. Members of the Congress' board of directors were there along the Mayor James Young, Chief Cyrus Ben of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and other local leaders. "We had put together a trip of legislators only to view the Ellis," Bounds said. "The Legislature appropriated the money for the renovation of the Ellis. It was done with state bond funds. We wanted to give members a chance to see what their money got for them. "Around 45 members came up by bus. They toured the Ellis Theater. Marty happened to be in town and gave a solo performance. And then we went back to Jackson." Sen. Branning said since around 2014, the state has put around $8 million into the project in different increments. Both Branning and Bounds said the response has been very positive. "Those who were seeing it for the first time where really put back by the way it looked, the design of it and the beauty of it," Bounds said. "We explained, too, the economic development things that were happening because of the renovation. That all plays into the project and all of the things it can be." |
| USDA buys $42M worth of catfish at request of Mississippi congressional delegation | |
| The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has purchased $42 million of catfish products for distribution to various nutrition assistance programs, including charitable institutions. Members of Mississippi's congressional delegation led the way in securing this transaction by sending a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The letter requested for Vilsack to use "Section 32," a permanently-authorized program, to make emergency purchases of surplus U.S. commodities, such as Mississippi catfish, for distribution to domestic food assistance programs. Section 32 purchases assist U.S. catfish producers with reducing the risk of financial insecurity resulting from sharply-climbing inventories and increases in feed costs. USDA provided notification of the purchase approval on Wednesday. U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., U.S. Representatives Trent Kelly, R-Miss., and Michael Guest, R-Miss, as well as former Congressman Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., were all involved in the process. |
| Michael Watson will run for re-election as secretary of state | |
 | Secretary of State Michael Watson on Wednesday filed paperwork to run for re-election to a second term as the state's chief elections administrator and forgo a run for governor. Watson, a Republican, told the Daily Journal in a statement that while he believes the state would improve with "better leadership at the top," he wants to remain at the secretary of state's office to continue to implement initiatives that he's started during the past four years. "I'm not at peace leaving the work we've started here at the Secretary of State's office because there's a lot more to be done," Watson said. The secretary of state mulled a move to challenge current Gov. Tate Reeves for the job and prevent him from securing a second term in office. Republican strategists predicted that it would be extremely difficult for Watson to successfully oust Reeves from power. The governor controls a huge war chest of campaign funds and is already a fiscal and social conservative. "That's not saying Michael Watson doesn't have a bright future," Austin Barbour, a longtime Republican consultant, previously said. "But to beat Tate Reeves in 2023 -- man, that's a really difficult task for Michael or anyone else who's thinking about doing that in a primary." |
| Mississippi secretary of state, GOP's Watson, seeks 2nd term | |
| Republican Michael Watson filed qualifying papers Wednesday to run for a second term as Mississippi secretary of state, ending speculation that he might instead challenge Gov. Tate Reeves in the GOP primary. Watson had told The Associated Press on Monday that he would announce his intentions by early next week at the latest. At the time, he declined to say which office he would seek. "While I believe Mississippi would be more prosperous with better leadership at the top, leadership that fostered teamwork as opposed to micromanagement, leadership that cared more for Mississippi than politics, I'm not at peace leaving the work we've started here at the Secretary of State's office because there's a lot more to be done," Watson said in a statement Wednesday. One Democrat, Shuwaski Young, has announced as a candidate for secretary of state. Watson is the only Republican running for that office so far. Republican incumbents in the other seven statewide offices, including Reeves and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, had already filed qualifying papers. |
| Secretary of State Michael Watson announces 2023 run for reelection | |
 | Secretary of State Michael Watson announced Wednesday afternoon that he will be running for reelection, putting to rest months of speculation that he may challenge an incumbent for another office. Watson, who was a member of the state senate before running for secretary of state in 2019, officially qualified for the race after signing papers at the state Republican Party headquarters in Jackson earlier Wednesday. "I'm excited to ask Mississippians for four more years as your Secretary of State. I look forward to traveling our beloved state visiting with you and earning your support for another term as your Secretary of State," Watson said in a statement. The Pascagoula native reportedly seriously considered challenging incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves, a fellow Republican, for the state's top job. Speculation ramped up last summer, when Watson was the only political speaker at the Neshoba County Fair not to list an office on his campaign signs, instead opting for "Michael Watson for Mississippi." In December, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported that Watson had conducted internal polling for a possible run against Reeves. |
| Bill in legislature would take sole ownership of Jackson water system away from city | |
| Jackson would lose sole ownership of its water system if a bill being considered by the Mississippi Legislature were to become law. Senate Bill 2889, dubbed the "Mississippi Capitol Region Utility Act," gained preliminary approval in a Mississippi Senate committee Tuesday. It would transfer ownership of Jackson's long-struggling water utility system from the city to a nine-member board, once the work of federally appointed third party administrator Ted Henifin is complete. Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch, sponsored the bill and chairs the economic and workforce development committee where it passed. During the hearing Tuesday, Parker said the legislation comes from a desire to ensure safe and reliable water access. His daughter lives in Jackson, and he said there have been multiple occasions where he has had to bring water from the pool of her apartment complex to her unit in order to flush toilets. "This is impacting my family on a daily basis," Parker said. "This doesn't come from politics. This doesn't come from anything else. This just comes from trying to do the right thing for the people who need water in this area." Parker said he worked with Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and other state officials to craft the bill. He also added that Henifin has indicated support for an authority to take over the system once his time is up. While economics and workforce development may seem like a strange committee for a bill on a local utility, Parker said it was a direct result of conversations he has had with business leaders."I have been in economic development meetings with people, this year, who have told me that they don't maybe want to come to Mississippi because we don't have any water here," Parker said. "Whether we like it or not, we've got a problem that we need to act on here, and so this is an attempt to do that." |
| Jackson water manager calls bill to create water, sewer authority a 'pure grab for money' | |
| Jackson's water manager is denouncing a bill that would place Jackson's water system under the control of a nine-member authority, saying the effort is nothing more than a money grab. On Tuesday, S.B. 2889 passed out of a Senate committee, setting it up for a vote on the Senate floor. The measure, called the Mississippi Capitol Region Utility Act, would create a public utility district "separate and distinct from the city of Jackson to assume ownership, management, and control over the water system currently owned by the city." If passed, the legislation will transfer the control of Jackson's water, sewer, and stormwater systems -- and control of any money received to approve those systems -- to the authorities once the current federal receivership ends. "They're clearly trying to get access and control," said Ted Henifin, the third-party manager. "I do think it's a pure grab for money." The authority would be governed by a nine-member panel, with four representatives appointed by the mayor of Jackson, three members appointed by the governor, and two appointed by the lieutenant governor. The measure was authored by Rep. David Parker, of Olive Branch. Parker wasn't immediately available for comment but said in the bill that Henifin supported the idea of an authority. |
| Federal money driving Jackson water bill, DOJ appointee says | |
| A bill before the Mississippi Legislature that would transfer the capital city's troubled water system to a new regional entity could be motivated by a desire by state officials to access a large pot of federal dollars earmarked for the city, Jackson's federally appointed water operator said Wednesday. The legislation advancing in the state Senate proposes the eventual transfer of water, wastewater and storm water services provided by Jackson, a Democratic-led city, to a new regional entity's "ownership, management and control." That would come after Ted Henifin, the interim manager appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice to oversee reforms to Jackson's water system, concludes his work. He has said he favors the idea of a corporate non-profit to contract with the city to manage its system, not a regional entity. Henifin told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the impetus to award more control of Jackson's water system to a regional authority might come from a desire to tap into $800 million in federal funds that have been awarded to the city for water projects. Repeated breakdowns have caused many in the city of about 150,000 to go days and weeks at a time without safe running water. "Jackson's system is in disrepair and offers no benefits to the surrounding communities," Henifin said. "The only reason one would do this is (Jackson) is now sitting on almost a billion federal dollars that no one else in the region has the opportunity to use." Henifin said he has been clear in public comments that he's in favor of the creation of a new authority to manage the water system, but not a regional entity. |
| Mississippi Veteran Waited 18 Months in Jail For Mental Evaluation | |
| Beverly Pool worries about her brother, Marvin Pernell, who was in the Oktibbeha County jail in Starkville, Miss., from July 2021 until January 2023 and is now at the Mississippi State Hospital, a state-funded psychiatric hospital in Whitfield, Miss. Now 48, Pernell is a military veteran who served in the U.S. Marines from 1994 to 1998. In November, before his admittance to the hospital, an Oktibbeha county jail official told the Mississippi Free Press that Pernell was being held without trial while waiting for a mental health evaluation after an initial arrest for possession of stolen property. The official said he had been waiting for a bed to open up at the state hospital ever since a judge ordered the evaluation in 2021 and that such long waits are routine. Over the course of multiple conversations with the Mississippi Free Press, Pool said she fears for her brother's life and that he has a history of mental health struggles, but not crime. Oktibbeha Circuit Court Judge James T. Kitchens first ordered the mental health evaluation in September 2021; he later issued an "Order for Commitment for Treatment and Continuing Mental Evaluation" in October 2021, the docket for the case shows. This month, he postponed a hearing in Pernell's case from Jan. 5 to April 5. New courts and programs could alleviate wait times for people like Marvin Pernell. At the Mississippi Capitol on Jan. 17, 2022, Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Michael K. Randolph told a joint meeting of the House and Senate Judiciary A committees about five newly created mental health court pilot programs. |
| Hinds County plans mental health court | |
| Steps are underway to establish a court in Hinds County for individuals who commit non-violent felonies and suffer from chronic mental health illness. "We are the pilot jurisdiction," said Faye Peterson, presiding judge for the 7th Circuit adult mental health treatment court. "The hope and expectation are that we can work out the nuances and it can be adopted for other jurisdictions." The Supreme Court of Mississippi Administrative Office of Courts awarded the Hinds County mental health treatment court $250,000 for expenses related to the court. Annual funding will be based on the availability of funding from the legislative appropriations. Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph advocated for mental health treatment court and a legislative commitment to it. "We are blessed the Legislature put some money into this," Peterson said. "I believe we can do this." Peterson, a former Hinds County district attorney who is serving her second term as a Hinds County Circuit Court judge, personally saw the need for mental health treatment court when she was an attorney in private practice and was often appointed to handle cases that involved individuals with mental disorders accused of committing felonies. "They needed the community resources that are available," she said. |
| 'The state threw them to the wolves': Health department struggles to manage massive medical marijuana program | |
| Behind closed doors, Mississippi's eight-person medical cannabis office is struggling against its workload. The Health Department office charged by the Legislature with running Mississippi's new medical marijuana program is steeped in disorganization: agents rarely visit cultivation sites, application backlogs reach hundreds deep, and lags in communication with licensees often stretch on for weeks, a Mississippi Today investigation found. Business owners feel frustrated, unheard and worried that the millions of dollars they invested -- and the tens of thousands they paid in fees to the state -- could go up in smoke. "The state threw them to the wolves," cultivator Joel Harper said of the fledgling marijuana office. "They should have paid the money to bring in professionals, even a third-party consultant. Instead, they're sending people out into the cannabis world who have no idea about anything cannabis." At the center is a handful of workers, tasked with unrolling a massive program without enough staffing to operate efficiently. Cultivators say when they do hear back from the office, the messages are incomplete or inconsistent -- especially when it comes to how they construct their farming facilities. And that's if they hear back at all. The office already has mountains of unprocessed paperwork. As of the second week of January, 277 work permit applications sat in a queue waiting to be processed, according to copies of the office's records obtained by Mississippi Today. Could-be cannabis workers can't start their jobs without permits. Another 995 patients had yet to to be told whether or not they've been approved for their dispensary cards. |
| Is Mitch Daniels a good fit for the Senate? He's trying to figure that out | |
 | Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) made a pilgrimage to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to meet with senators as he continues to weigh whether to take the plunge into the Indiana Senate race and resume a role in political life he has largely eschewed in recent years. Daniels, the former two-term governor who recently wrapped up a decade serving as president of Purdue University, met with a number of GOP lawmakers and held a 45-minute sit-down with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). In a brief interview with The Hill, Daniels said that he plans to make a decision "shortly" on a bid to succeed Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) but is uncertain on a return to public life. Daniels, 73, said he's spent "much more time out of public life than in it." "I've always had action jobs, so I've always had great admiration and respect for people who follow the legislative path, but it's not something I've done or, frankly, seen myself doing," he added. "I'm just testing all that now because I've been asked to. People I admire have asked me to think about it, so I'm thinking." If he chooses to run, Daniels would likely have to battle Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and potentially others in a primary. To get to Washington, Daniels would face at least one formidable foe in Banks, who is backed by the Club for Growth -- essentially set up a proxy war for the Republican Party between establishment figures and pro-Trump forces that got nasty even before Banks announced his campaign last week. |
| Rep. Adam Schiff enters marquee Senate race | |
 | Rep. Adam B. Schiff, a decades-long fixture in San Fernando Valley politics who rose to national prominence as a top Democratic foe to then-President Trump, is joining a contest for U.S. Senate that is quickly shaping up to be highly competitive, he announced Thursday. A mild-mannered former prosecutor, Schiff built a profile as a moderate Democrat focused on foreign policy and national security. The Trump era, however, thrust him into the spotlight, as he led the first impeachment of the then-president and served on the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack that culminated in referring Trump to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. "The Senate is where many of these fights over the future of our democracy take place," Schiff said in an interview prior to his campaign launch. "Some of Donald Trump's biggest enablers are in the Senate. And I think that is where I can most effectively champion our democratic institutions." His campaign injects new fundraising and political heft to the race for the Senate seat currently occupied by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the San Francisco Democrat who has held that office for 30 years. Though the race for Feinstein's seat has begun in earnest, the 89-year-old has not disclosed whether she intends to seek reelection next year. Given some questions about her capacity to continue in that role, many observers expect she will not run for another six-year term. |
| Veterans of the Obama-era debt ceiling standoff on the current one: We may be doomed | |
 | The last time the U.S. found itself on the verge of a debt ceiling disaster, David Kamin had a front row seat to all the action. An economic adviser in the Obama White House, Kamin was among those charged with solving the 2011 standoff that rattled global markets, dented the economy and led to an embarrassing downgrade of America's credit rating. The government narrowly averted a catastrophic default that year, striking a deal with just days to spare. But more than a decade later, with the nation deadlocked again over the debt ceiling, he fears the outcome this time around could be far worse. "There's the potential for it to be very bad," said Kamin, who did a stint as a top Biden economic staffer before returning to academia last year. "We're back here, and there's a real risk to the economy on the line." Kamin isn't the only one struck by a foreboding sense of déjà vu. From the White House to Wall Street, a growing number of veterans of the 2011 debt ceiling crisis are again watching a story of bluster and brinkmanship play out -- and are terrified this will be the time it ends with the country in financial ruin. The parallels to the Obama-era stalemate are clear, as House Republican leaders vow to place restraints on a Democratic administration, while also trying to manage their troublesome conservative wing. But unlike in 2011, Republicans are preparing to stare down the White House with no clear consensus on what they want in exchange for keeping the U.S. financial system afloat. The prevailing principle, instead, appears to be extracting a degree of political pain for President Joe Biden. And perhaps most worryingly -- Democrats, economists and even some Republicans say -- there's little confidence that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has the influence to successfully steer his conference away from the brink. |
| House GOP considering 'clean' short-term debt limit suspension | |
 | House Republicans are mulling an attempt to buy time for further negotiations on federal spending and deficits by passing one or more short-term suspensions of the statutory debt ceiling this summer, including potentially lining up the deadline with the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30. No decisions on a cutoff date have been made, and it's not yet clear when the Treasury Department will run out of cash to meet all U.S. financial obligations. But most analysts agree Congress will need to act at some point between early June and September, and lawmakers likely won't want to leave the matter unaddressed before the August recess. Any such short-term measure would likely be "clean" of any strings attached or specific spending cuts, and be designed as a suspension of the borrowing cap, which had been done repeatedly over the past decade until 2021, rather than a dollar increase in the debt limit. That would presumably make it easier for Republicans to swallow voting for it after pledging to only back a debt limit increase if paired with spending cuts. Sources familiar with the talks described them as preliminary and subject to change after discussing with the House GOP rank and file. But there has been support within the conference for the basic idea of tying the two deadlines together -- the debt limit "x date" and the end of the fiscal year -- to create more pressure for a deal. Ultimately, the only way House Republicans say they'll vote for a longer-term debt limit fix is by tying it to spending cuts, and the current focus is on discretionary funds within the Appropriations committees' purview, although other pots of money could be looked at. |
| Meta to reinstate Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts | |
| Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) said Wednesday it will reinstate former U.S. President Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks, following a two-year suspension after the deadly Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021. The restoration of his accounts could provide a boost to Trump, who announced in November he will make another run for the White House in 2024. He has 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram, platforms that are key vehicles for political outreach and fundraising. His Twitter account was restored in November by new owner Elon Musk, though Trump has yet to post there. Free speech advocates say it is appropriate for the public to have access to messaging from political candidates, but critics of Meta have accused the company of lax moderating policies. Meta said in a blog post Wednesday it has "put new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses." The decision, while widely expected, drew sharp rebukes from civil rights advocates. "Facebook has policies but they under-enforce them," said Laura Murphy, an attorney who led a two-year long audit of Facebook concluding in 2020. "I worry about Facebook's capacity to understand the real world harm that Trump poses: Facebook has been too slow to act." |
| Elaine Chao responds to Trump's racist attacks on her Asian American heritage | |
 | Former transportation secretary Elaine Chao issued a rare public comment about former president Donald Trump -- whose Cabinet she served in -- and criticized his string of racist attacks aimed at her and other Asian Americans. The most recent missive from the former president attempted to link Chao and her husband, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), to the classified documents found in President Biden's office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington. "Does Coco Chow have anything to do with Joe Biden's Classified Documents being sent and stored in Chinatown?" Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday. "Her husband, the Old Broken Crow, is VERY close to Biden, the Democrats, and, of course, China." In a statement, Chao said, "When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation. He doesn't seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans." Wednesday's statement is the latest rupture between Trump, who has announced his third bid for the presidency in November, and a key insider in the Republican Party. Chao has largely avoided responding to Trump and urged journalists not to quote his inflammatory rhetoric. The "media continuously repeats his racist taunt," Chao told CNN in December. "And so, he's trying to get a rise out of us. He says all sorts of outrageous things, and I don't make a point of answering any one of them." |
| Russia plays down West's move on tanks, attacks Ukraine anew | |
| From Washington to Berlin to Kyiv, a Western decision to send battle tanks to Ukraine was hailed enthusiastically. Moscow first shrugged it off --- and later launched a new barrage of attacks. The Kremlin has previously warned that such tank deliveries would be a dangerous escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, and it has strongly denounced the watershed move by Germany and the United States to send the heavy weaponry to its foe. But it insists the new armor won't stop Russia from achieving its goals in Ukraine. "The potential it gives to the Ukrainian armed forces is clearly exaggerated," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "Those tanks will burn just like any others." Moscow played down the move right after the announcement in an apparent attempt to save face as the West raised the stakes in Ukraine. Some Russian experts also emphasized that the supply of the deadly armor will be relatively limited and could take months to reach the front. On Thursday, Russia launched a new wave of missiles and self-exploding drones across Ukraine -- the latest in a series of strikes, many of which have targeted power plants and other key infrastructure. Poland, the Czech Republic and other NATO countries have already provided Ukraine with hundreds of smaller Soviet-made tanks from the Cold War era when they were part of the Soviet bloc. |
| ASB passes preferred pronoun policy | |
 | The Associated Student Body requests UM professors use students' preferred pronouns such as he/him, she/her and they/them. In a formal meeting Dec. 13 over Zoom, Senate Resolution passed 22-9 with two "no" votes, effectively putting into place a preferred pronoun policy for students. Senator Caleb Ball, one of the authors of the resolution, suggested that moving forward, to assist professors in using a student's preferred pronouns, a section may be added to MyOleMiss for users to add their pronouns so they show up next to their names on the roster. Pronouns may also be added to student ID's. Since this is a resolution, professors are highly encouraged to use preferred pronouns but will not face punishment for failing to do so. The resolution resulted from an incident during the fall semester. According to Ball, a student emailed him in the beginning of the school year stating that a professor had emailed everyone in the class informing them he would not be using any pronouns that did not match the student's assigned sex. The professor referred to preferred pronouns as "meaningless." According to Ball, the email read, "I will refer to females as she/her and males as he/him. I'm also often not politically correct. I say it as I see it. The rest is just a waste of my time and yours." |
| Ridgeland doctors help establish burn center | |
| Two doctors who live in Ridgeland are among the large team of doctors, administrators and other staff at the University of Mississippi Medical Center who have established the Mississippi Burn Center on its main campus. The center was established in part as a result of the closing of the burn center at Merit Health in Jackson last October. Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs and a resident of Ridgeland, said the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning approved UMMC's request to establish and operate the Mississippi Burn Center on Jan. 19. Dr. Peter Arnold, professor of surgery and chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UMMC, has been named the Medical Director of the burn center. Arnold lives in Ridgeland and has been at UMMC for 13 years. He said having burn patients under one roof will help them offer better care. "Burn patients need almost every specialty available," Arnold said. Arnold noted that burn care often goes well beyond the first visit to the emergency room. "When you have burns, you have them for the rest of your life," Arnold said. "The (first) treatment for burns is just the beginning. We have the resources in place and the willingness of the organization for that to take place." |
| High school juniors, seniors invited to explore health care pathways | |
 | The University of Mississippi Medical Center is asking high school juniors and seniors interested in health care careers to register for three events at college campuses in the state. Each one-day event is part of an outreach program called Exploring Healthcare Pathways, where high school students have the opportunity to learn more about health care professions from representatives of UMMC's various health science schools. They will also hear about each schools' admission requirements, opportunities for funding, and more. The program is for students who have decided to make health care a career or who are considering it. They will be able to interact with Medical Center students, faculty, and staff at: Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, February 4; Alcorn State University in Lorman, February 25; and Delta State University/Mississippi Valley State University, March 4. The deadline for each location is one week before each date. Students are urged to register soon at a location near them. |
| Millsaps President Announces Plans to Step Down | |
| Dr. Rob Pearigen, president of Millsaps College, announced in a Jan. 25 letter to the Millsaps Community that he will step down as president of the college later this year. The letter that is signed by Pearigen reads, in part: "Dear Millsaps Community, I am writing to inform you that I will be stepping down as president of Millsaps College on May 31, 2023. The 2022-23 academic year is my thirteenth as Millsaps' president. It has been my privilege and joy to serve Millsaps in this role, and I shall be forever grateful for the time spent, friends made, students taught and lessons learned during my service. I shall also be proud of the many things that we -- the faculty, staff, administration, students and board of trustees -- have accomplished over the past 13 years, as well as the promising developments on the horizon. Millsaps, of course, faces challenges, particularly in increasing our enrollment to complement the outstanding students currently enrolled at the college. Many other challenges we have faced, such as the COVID pandemic and the difficulties of operating in a city where clean water is no guarantee, are much larger than this college. But the Millsaps legacy is solid and its community strong and resilient." |
| Pearigen resigns as president at Millsaps College. Trustees focused on next steps | |
| Millsaps College President Dr. Robert Pearigen has announced his resignation, school officials confirmed. He will officially step down as president, effective May 31, 2023. It is expected that Pearigen, Millsaps' 13th president, will assume a similar position at another university. There is a formal announcement scheduled to take place Thursday at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. for its vice chancellor position, which is the equivalent of university president. Pearigen came to Millsaps from Sewanee, where he served as Dean of Students. Pearigen also attended Sewanee. Several members of the Sewanee community have been told that Pearigen is returning to Sewanee. Millsaps officials would not confirm Pearigen taking a similar position at another institution. He has been the leader at the midtown Jackson liberal arts college since 2010. Pearigan has overseen a renaissance of sorts at the Methodist-based Millsaps as enrollment had dropped from a high of 1,200 in the mid 1990s to a low of below 800. However, it has been built back to nearly 1,000. |
| Students unite to celebrate Creed Day | |
| In 1943, George Petrie wrote the Auburn Creed. That same creed has become a rally cry for Auburn students and a unifying force each year when Creed Day rolls around. On Wednesday, Jan. 25, stations were set up throughout Auburn's campus, each one highlighting a section of the Auburn Creed. At these stations -- located on Haley Concourse, The Edge Dining Hall, Cater Lawn and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering -- snacks, copies of the creed and special guests were present. Creed Day, which is put on yearly by SGA, has become a day that many look forward to, especially those who are tasked with putting it on. Director of Creed Day for SGA Lily Grace Thome, sophomore in public relations, said that this day has been in preparation for some time, and she hoped to see the work of her and those around her truly pay off. "My team and I have been working super hard to make this day perfect this year," Thome said. "To me, this day is one of the ways that we can see the Auburn family. We talk about the Auburn family, but it's days like today where it's actually tangible, and you can see it and feel it." Thome also said her favorite part of Creed Day was all the special guests who were going to their stations. Among those were therapy dogs and Auburn's own Aubie the Tiger. |
| For survivors, Madison Brooks case shows dark side of LSU, Tigerland: 'continuing to happen' | |
 | As Samantha Brennan pored over the details of Madison Brooks' recent rape and death after a night in Tigerland, she was struck by the similarities between her own case from 2016 and Brooks' final night. Brennan, too, had been drinking underage at bars near campus, met a man and trusted him to bring her home safely. She woke up with little recollection of what happened the night before, but had a text on her phone from then-LSU football star Derrius Guice saying he'd left his wallet at her apartment. And about a week later, friends told her that a partially nude photo of her was circulating among LSU football players, which she reported to police. "We were not an isolated year where all of this happened in 2016," Brennan said in an interview on Wednesday. "It's been happening and it's continuing to happen." While Brennan would go on to become an advocate for sexual assault survivors and spoke out about LSU's mishandling of that case, Brooks would not make it to the next sunrise. After she got in a car on January 15 with four men who she met at Reggie's bar, police say two of them raped her, then dropped her off on Burbank Drive, where she was later hit by a car and killed. Sexual assaults and alcohol-related deaths involving LSU students have come under deep scrutiny in recent years, as Brennan and many other women have sued the university, accusing it of a pattern of failing to stop predators from roaming campus. |
| Report: U of Arkansas system may buy U. of Phoenix | |
 | The University of Arkansas System is considering a transaction in which it would transform the for-profit University of Phoenix into an independent nonprofit affiliate, spokespeople for both institutions have confirmed. The deal, if it came to pass, would be the latest in a series of absorptions of formerly massive for-profit colleges by public universities, most of which have stirred controversy. "Because these conversations are ongoing, we are unable to provide much detail," Nate Hinkel, director of communications at the University of Arkansas System, wrote in a prepared statement. "However, I do want to confirm that the UA System itself would not be acquiring the University of Phoenix, and no public or university funds would be involved in this potential transaction. The contemplated structure would also not include any remaining private ownership of the nonprofit entity or the University of Phoenix." The system has created an affiliated nonprofit entity for the purpose of a potential University of Phoenix acquisition, Hinkel wrote. The Arkansas Times broke the news about the possible deal based on a leak, according to Hinkel, who confirmed that discussions are under way but that "there is nothing imminent at this time." Hinkel added that the university system has been exploring new educational markets, especially in online education. Also, this week's regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas does not have this item on its agenda, Hinkel said. |
| U. of Florida takes No. 1 spot for best online bachelor's program | |
 | The University of Florida has found itself in top rankings once again. The U.S. News and World Report has ranked UF as a top public institution in the country for a second consecutive year where students can receive an online bachelor's degree. The university also took first place for veterans and active-duty service members to earn a bachelor's degree online. Though it's the second time UF has taken the No. 1 spot for having the best online undergraduate program, it's a first for being recognized for its veteran ranks. "The recognition of the university's online bachelor's degree program is a tribute to the team that develops and delivers that program and the students who challenge the program to be the best," said Andrew McCollough, an associate provost and director of UF's Office of Teaching and Technology. "Whether we are serving veterans, working parents, career professionals or traditional students, this evaluation suggests we are moving in the right direction." The top veterans ranking recognizes student retention, graduation rates, faculty credentials, UF's certification for participation in the G.I. Bill and the Yellow Ribbon Program. It also recognizes UF's tradition of supporting military members. |
| 2 DeSantis-appointed trustees showed up at New College. Here's how it went. | |
| In an unusual visit to the New College of Florida campus Wednesday, two of the six people appointed to the school's board of trustees this month by Gov. Ron DeSantis told faculty and students they are coming with a mandate to rescue an institution they described as failing and in need of a turnaround. Christopher Rufo, a conservative journalist and commentator, called himself "a drastic solution to a crisis." He was accompanied by Jason "Eddie" Speir, the founder and superintendent of a private Christian high school in Bradenton. Their appearance drew a range of responses, from those who disputed the new trustees' descriptions of New College to others who said they saw a chance for the school to improve under new leadership. It was a prelude to Tuesday, when the school's newly reconstituted board will meet for the first time, now populated with several strong conservative voices. In his opening statements to staff and faculty, Rufo raised concerns about what he described as the school's declining performance and enrollment. "We're all here because there is a serious problem," Rufo said, adding that legislators had long been frustrated with the school and had even considered dissolving New College. He outlined four core concerns, including the school's "echo chamber" culture and its struggle to attract and retain students. The school's "extraordinary focus on social justice" was driving down enrollment, he argued. |
| U. of South Carolina seeking $30M for brain institute at new medical school campus | |
 | The University of South Carolina wants $30 million to build what it's calling a brain health institute as part of its proposed new medical school campus. USC President Michael Amiridis went before state lawmakers Jan. 25 to make a case for the one-time funding, as well as $10 million in recurring funds for five satellite clinics that will act as part of a rural brain health network for treating Alzheimer's disease and dementia around the state. Amiridis told the House budget subcommittee that early detection of Alzheimer's disease is crucial to treatment. USC announced in December that its new $300 million health sciences campus, planned for downtown Columbia's BullStreet District, would have a dementia focus. The major construction project, the largest in the school's history, is currently in the design phase by the development firm Gilbane, with construction expected to begin in 2025. The new medical campus was expected to start with two structures -- a 110,000-square-foot classroom building and a 165,000-square-foot research facility. Should lawmakers grant the university's budget request, a third structure would house the brain health institute. |
| Texas A&M online undergraduate program ranks fourth in report | |
 | Texas A&M's online bachelor's degree program was ranked as the fourth best in the nation and No. 1 in Texas, according to a recent US News and World Report. The University of Florida maintained the top spot with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide and the University of Illinois-Chicago tied for second. This is Texas A&M's first time ranked in the top 10 in this report. In addition, several of A&M's master's programs also made the top-10 list. A&M's overall master's degrees in Business (No. 6) and Education and Human Development (No. 10) led the way, while Engineering ranked 12th. The master's for veterans within the Education and Human Development College ranked second, the school's highest ranking, followed by the Mechanical Engineering program at sixth. Educational administration, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, and masters for veterans in business all ranked eighth. The educational/instructional media design program within the Education and Human Development College was 10th. |
| U. of Texas Will Offer Large-Scale Online Master's Degree in A.I. | |
 | The University of Texas at Austin, one of the nation's leading computer science schools, said on Thursday that it was starting a large-scale, low-cost online Master of Science degree program in artificial intelligence. The first of its kind among elite computing schools, the new program could help swiftly expand the A.I. work force in the United States as tech giants like Microsoft rush to invest billions in the field. The university announced the initiative amid a clamor over new technology powered by artificial intelligence that can generate humanlike art and texts. And while some of the technology industry's biggest companies are laying off workers after years of rapid growth, hiring in A.I. is expected to stay strong. University officials said they planned to train thousands of graduate students in sought-after skills like machine learning, for a tuition of about $10,000, starting in the spring of 2024. School officials said the cost was intended to make A.I. education more affordable. By contrast, Johns Hopkins University offers an online M.S. degree in artificial intelligence for more than $45,000. The funding to develop the new master's program came in part from the National Science Foundation. In 2020, the foundation awarded the University of Texas a five-year, $20 million grant to establish an A.I. institute in machine learning. That is a field in which computer algorithms learn to make predictions by analyzing large data sets -- such as predicting which drug formulations could be best used to treat new viruses. |
| 'Everybody is cheating': Why this teacher has adopted an open ChatGPT policy | |
 | Ethan Mollick has a message for the humans and the machines: can't we all just get along? After all, we are now officially in an A.I. world and we're going to have to share it, reasons the associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton School. "This was a sudden change, right? There is a lot of good stuff that we are going to have to do differently, but I think we could solve the problems of how we teach people to write in a world with ChatGPT," Mollick told NPR. Ever since the chatbot ChatGPT launched in November, educators have raised concerns it could facilitate cheating. Some school districts have banned access to the bot, and not without reason. The artificial intelligence tool from the company OpenAI can compose poetry. It can write computer code. It can maybe even pass an MBA exam. And yet, not all educators are shying away from the bot. This year, Mollick is not only allowing his students to use ChatGPT, they are required to. And he has formally adopted an A.I. policy into his syllabus for the first time. He teaches classes in entrepreneurship and innovation, and said the early indications were the move was going great. "The truth is, I probably couldn't have stopped them even if I didn't require it," Mollick said. He readily admits he alternates between enthusiasm and anxiety about how artificial intelligence can change assessments in the classroom, but he believes educators need to move with the times. |
| ChatGPT Is Coming for Classrooms. Don't Panic | |
 | When high school English teacher Kelly Gibson first encountered ChatGPT in December, the existential anxiety kicked in fast. While the internet delighted in the chatbot's superficially sophisticated answers to users' prompts, many educators were less amused. If anyone could ask ChatGPT to "write 300 words on what the green light symbolizes in The Great Gatsby," what would stop students from feeding their homework to the bot? Speculation swirled about a new era of rampant cheating and even a death knell for essays, or education itself. "I thought, 'Oh my god, this is literally what I teach,'" Gibson says. But amid the panic, some enterprising teachers see ChatGPT as an opportunity to redesign what learning looks like---and what they invent could shape the future of the classroom. Gibson is one of them. After her initial alarm subsided, she spent her winter vacation tinkering with ChatGPT and figuring out ways to incorporate it into her lessons. She might ask kids to generate text using the bot and then edit it themselves to find the chatbot's errors or improve upon its writing style. Gibson, who has been teaching for 25 years, likened it to more familiar tech tools that enhance, not replace, learning and critical thinking. "I don't know how to do it well yet, but I want AI chatbots to become like calculators for writing," she says. Gibson's view of ChatGPT as a teaching tool, not the perfect cheat, brings up a crucial point: ChatGPT is not intelligent in the way people are, despite its ability to spew humanlike text. It is a statistical machine that can sometimes regurgitate or create falsehoods and often needs guidance and further edits to get things right. Despite those limitations, Gibson also believes she has a responsibility to bring ChatGPT into the classroom. |
| After Mysterious Suspension of Award-Winning UCLA Professor, Scientists Fight Back | |
 | More than 300 academic scientists from around the world are fighting a decision by the University of California at Los Angeles to suspend an award-winning faculty member without pay, ban her from campus, prohibit her from speaking to her students, and cut her off from a National Science Foundation grant she brought in. The university isn't saying why penalties were imposed on Priyanga Amarasekare, a tenured professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who'd recently been awarded two of the highest honors in her field. Amarasekare has been prohibited by the university from talking about the campus proceedings that resulted in the sanctions. Contacted this week by The Chronicle, she declined comment. But conversations with current and former students and faculty members both within and outside UCLA reveal a messy dispute over allegations of racial discrimination in the ecology department and retaliation against those who complain. According to information obtained by The Chronicle, some of Amarasekare's critics had suggested that she was using a time of national racial unrest to further her own grievances and turn students against the department. |
| A New Job Comes to the College Cabinet: Chief Experience Officer | |
| A handful of universities are taking a page from the corporate world's playbook and hiring for a new senior-level position -- chief experience officer. The job title is common in fields like health care, technology, finance, and entertainment, and its duties typically involve coordinating across departments to ensure that customers have satisfying interactions with a company. Nearly 90 percent of companies surveyed by the research firm Gartner in 2019 employed a chief experience officer or similar position, up from 61 percent in 2017. The title hasn't been as widely adopted in higher education, which traditionally bristles at likening students to customers; a Chronicle search found only five universities with such a position, and a search of job listings posted in The Chronicle in the past two years found none with the title "chief experience officer." Despite such small numbers, the arrival of the job title in academe speaks to larger trends, like the increasing adoption of business practices in higher ed as well as concerns about how the public's eroding opinion of the sector might be driven, at least in part, by widespread frustrations with applying to, enrolling in, and completing college. |
| Report proposes waiver criteria for Confucius Institutes | |
| Over the last five years, most of the Confucius Institutes hosted at American colleges and universities have closed down -- but now a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlines a process for their potential return. Whether U.S. colleges and universities would be interested in partnering with the Chinese government to host a Confucius Institute is unclear. The institutes started in 2004 as a way to provide Chinese language instruction and cultural programs to communities, K-12 schools and college students, but they came under scrutiny during the Trump administration from lawmakers who said the institutes were a national security threat. Faculty groups had been sounding the alarm about the threat to academic freedom before lawmakers got involved. As part of the Confucius Institute model, the Chinese government would provide instructors and funding, and the host institution would provide matching funds and in-kind resources, such as office space. Gao Qing, former director of now-closed Confucius Institute U.S. Center, said he doesn't expect to see a return of Confucius Institutes. The Confucius Institute U.S. Center served as the headquarters of the American network of institutes, and the State Department designated it a foreign mission of the People's Republic of China in 2020. "The ground is poisoned right now, not only with the Confucius Institutes but also almost everything related to China," Gao said. The Defense Department sponsored the report, which was released this month. The Committee on Confucius Institutes at U.S. Institutions of Higher Education, made up of college administrators and professors, wrote the study. |
SPORTS
| WBK Preview: at Ole Miss | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball is back on the road for a pair of games this week with trips to Ole Miss and Georgia. The two-game road trip will commence in Oxford when the Bulldogs take on in-state rival Ole Miss. The meeting will be the second between the two programs this season. Mississippi State and Ole Miss will meet for the 104th time in the series' history. Ole Miss leads the all-time series, 65-38. Ole Miss is on a one-game winning streak after defeating MSU 61-50 on Jan. 1 in Starkville. When the game is played in Oxford, the Rebels lead the series 33-15. Ole Miss won last year's meeting in Oxford, 86-71. Mississippi State has won 15 of the last 17 meetings. Since 2009, the Bulldogs are 23-5 in the series. Head Coach Sam Purcell earned his 15th career win on Sunday. He is one win shy of having the most wins by a head coach in their first season at MSU. No coach has had a winning SEC record in year one. Ole Miss enters Thursday with a 5-2 record in the SEC. They have lost their last two contest, a home game against Alabama (66-58) and a road game at Auburn (77-76 in overtime). On Sunday, MSU will travel to Athens, Ga., for a 1 p.m. CT contest against Georgia. Mississippi State's next home game will be Monday, Feb. 6, against Tennessee at 6 p.m. |
| Sam Purcell looking for complete performance from Mississippi State women in rematch with Ole Miss | |
 | Mississippi State women's basketball heads to Oxford for a rematch with Ole Miss on Thursday night, looking for a fourth straight SEC win as well as payback for the defeat in a Jan. 1 matchup at the Hump earlier this month. Head coach Sam Purcell's team is hoping to make amends for the 61-50 loss, and he knows the Bulldogs will have to do a better job sustaining momentum and playing their game from start to finish. "You've got to be tough for four quarters," he said when asked what MSU learned from the first game. "Again I can't say enough good things, I know our fanbase may not like this, but I'm a keep it real coach: (Ole Miss) coach Yo(lett McPhee-McCuin) has done a great job. She's got them tough; they have the NCAA tournament DNA; they've got players that have been there and have that swag. And I embrace that, and our team embraces that, and I thought they were able to finish the fourth quarter and steal one at our place, which hurts. It is, it's the truth, but I thought you've got to give credit to them. They were the tougher team for four quarters." The loss was the first to Ole Miss at the Hump since 2007, a signal of the work done by McPhee-McCuin to level the playing field in Mississippi. It could also potentially be a significant motivator for the Bulldogs, who could have an especially motivated individual. Purcell said he was unhappy post player Jessika Carter was snubbed in the reveal of this season's Naismith Defensive Player of the Year finalists. He listed a number of statistics on both ends of the floor to back up her dominance and claim as one of the best post players in the country. |
| Quinerly, No. 2 Alabama hold on to beat MSU, 66-63 | |
| The game didn't look so easy for Alabama all of a sudden. The 3-pointers weren't falling and the second-ranked Crimson Tide fell behind by double digits instead of building a commanding lead. The end result was the same: a 'Bama victory, albeit a down-to-the-wire 66-63 game against slumping Mississippi State on Wednesday night. The Crimson Tide (18-2, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) had to climb out of a 10-point hole in the second half and then hold on two days after reaching the program's highest ranking since rising to No. 1 in the 2002-03 season. The result was a ninth straight win and the first real scare during that stretch. "We didn't start the game like we needed to but I give our guys a lot of credit," Alabama coach Nate Oats said. "In the second half, they found a way to get a win in a tight game. We haven't had very many tight games, so it's not the worst. We had to figure out how to win a close game, especially when you're down." The Bulldogs (12-8, 1-7) had one last chance to tie but Noah Gurley blocked Shakeel Moore's 3-point attempt in the final seconds. Mississippi State coach Chris Jans called the loss "hard to swallow." "Obviously, we had control for the majority of the game," Hans said. "They overtook us and I like how we responded. Just disappointed. We had an opportunity to get a big win for this team and this program against a team that is having a great season." |
| SEC, Big 12 matchups include several marquee games | |
| Conference races across the country are getting tight as the regular season winds toward the finish. The Big 12 and Southeastern conferences will take a break from league games on Saturday to play each other, gifting college basketball fans with some marquee midseason non-conference games. The 10th and final SEC/Big 12 Challenge will feature 10 games between the two conferences, including eight involving ranked teams. Topping the marquee will be No. 10 Texas at No. 4 Tennessee. Two blue-blood programs heading in opposite directions will face off when No. 5 Kansas plays at Kentucky. The Jayhawks last week had consecutive losses in the state for the first time since 1989 after losing in overtime to rival Kansas State and being blown out by TCU at home. Kansas continued its downward trend against No. 17 Baylor on Monday night, losing 75-69 for its fourth three-game losing streak under Bill Self. Kentucky is no longer ranked, thanks to some lackluster losses, but seems to be rounding back into form. The Wildcats blew out Georgia and beat Texas A&M by 10 points last week. Baylor beat Kansas for its fifth straight win, but has another difficult game against Arkansas on Saturday. The Razorbacks were near the top 10 most of the season before hitting a rough patch of four straight losses. Arkansas bounced back with wins over Ole Miss and LSU in the past week, but the Razorbacks fell out of this week's poll. |
| Why Deion Sanders said he'd never work with Nike again ... but he is now, sort of | |
 | Deion Sanders has said he would never work with Nike again. That's been his answer in recent years when asked about wearing Nike shoes or resuming his relationship with the shoe company that once helped make him rich: "Never," he said in 2017. He has given several reasons for this, all personal. So how is the former two-sport superstar working around this now that he is the new head football coach at Colorado, a Nike-sponsored school since 1995? A little awkwardly at first, according to contracts obtained by USA TODAY Sports and an abundance of video footage of Sanders on the job in Boulder. After cutting ties with Nike many years ago, Sanders has had a relationship with Under Armour, a Nike rival, since 2009, according to Under Armour. But then in December, Sanders was hired at Colorado, whose sponsorship agreement with Nike runs through June 2025. That contract says the university shall require its football coaches and team members to "exclusively" use Nike products during games, practices and other university-sanctioned activities such as interviews and photo sessions. Why does it matter? Each party in this arrangement has a stake in the logos Sanders wears, especially as sales of Colorado apparel have soared since his hiring. |
| LSU mistakenly overpaid Brian Kelly more than $1 million. Here's how they'll adjust. | |
| A state legislative audit found that the LSU athletic department overpaid Brian Kelly by more than $1 million during his first year as football coach. Kelly was overpaid $1,001,368 in supplemental payments during the 2022 fiscal year. LSU made double payments in May and June to Kelly's LLC, then continued to make supplemental payments to the coach directly, resulting in monthly double payments until LSU management detected it in November. According to a release from the Louisiana legislative audit, LSU and Kelly "have enacted an adjusted payment schedule so the amount of overpayment will be recouped by the conclusion of fiscal year 2023." Kelly signed a 10-year, $95 million contract last January. However, he will also receive a $500,000 longevity bonus every July, and if LSU makes a bowl game, he will earn another $500,000, helping him average eight figures per year by the end of the deal. |
| Survey: Only 8% of athletes say NIL is a 'locker room problem' | |
| When it became clear in July 2021 that NIL was coming to college sports, questions immediately emerged on how it would impact locker room chemistry. High-profile football figures like Alabama legend Nick Saban and Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin worried out loud that a landscape that features high-profile recruits, transfers, or even players buried on the depth chart making more money through NIL deals than established stars could destroy a locker room. Even former basketball coach and ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla warned talented teams will "crack" because of NIL. "There are all kinds of issues that are coming," Kiffin told Sports Illustrated in May 2022. Yet one of the most extensive research studies of NIL since it was launched more than 18 months ago appears to tell a different story. A survey of more than 1,000 student-athletes -- including more than 415 Division I football players -- found that only 8% of respondents have witnessed NIL causing rifts/tensions or say that it's a "locker room problem." The survey was conducted by Bill Carter of Student-Athlete Insights, a company that specializes in NIL education and consulting. Carter, who also lectures about NIL at the University of Vermont, is an expert on sports entrepreneurship. His NIL Research Poll is one of the most robust in the industry with a panel of around 5,000 student-athletes. In addition, the survey found that 76% of respondents said they share NIL earnings information with teammates. Furthermore, 78% of those surveyed said teammates have asked them to share information about their NIL earnings. |
| Joe Burrow has deep roots (and quite the gene pool) in Amory, Mississippi | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Joe Burrow, the superb Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, inherited much of his remarkable athletic ability from a northeast Mississippi gene pool on his father's side of the family. His dad, Amory native Jimmy Burrow, was an all-star safety on a Nebraska national championship team after walking on at Ole Miss and then transferring to the Cornhuskers. His uncle, Johnny Burrow, was a starting safety at Ole Miss. His grandfather, James, was the starting point guard for Mississippi State basketball in the early 1950s. That's a lot, but that's not all. His grandmother, Dot Burrow (the former Dot Ford) once scored a state record 82 points in a high school basketball game for Smithville, six miles up the road from Amory, and averaged 49.5 points a game for an entire 30-game season.In fact, when someone mentioned that Kobe Bryant once scored 81 points in a game for the Los Angeles Lakers, Joe Burrow quipped, "Yeah, but Kobe's still one short of my grandma." Late Sunday afternoon, James Burrow, 92, and Dot Burrow, 91, will watch the grandson they still call "Joey" and the Bengals take on the Kansas City Chiefs from their living room in Amory, where they watch all his games. |
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