| Monday, July 31, 2023 |
| Clarke County alumni group recognizes new MSU students
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 | Photo: The Clarke County chapter of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association recently held its annual send-off party at Clarkco State Park for local students who are headed to MSU for the first time this fall. The new Bulldogs, all from Quitman, were presented a MSU cowbell, a gift bag, and will receive $500 in financial assistance applied to their respective accounts at the university. Participating in the send-off were Lisa Riley, from left, chapter president; Trinity Watts, a graduate of the Mississippi School for Math and Science in Columbus; Michelle Parker, a graduate of Wayne County High School; Caroline Nelson, a graduate of Russell Christian Academy; Clarke County Miss Hospitality Nya Nobles, a current MSU student; and Heather Stewart, chapter secretary-treasurer. Jonathan Jackson, the alumni association's MS South 1 region director, also attended the event. Jackson serves Clarke, Jasper, Jones, Lauderdale, Newton and Wayne counties. |
| Education roundup: MSU to hold kick off events, JPS registration underway and more | |
 | As Summer winds down, the state's universities are preparing for returning students for the 2023-2024 academic semester. At Mississippi State University, admissions kick off on Aug. 1 with welcome events featuring fun, games and orientation knowledge. "Additional campus activities throughout the semester give students a multiplicity of options for getting involved, enhancing academic experiences and enjoying entertainment," an MSU press release states. "Football games, tailgating and Bulldog Bash -- Mississippi's largest free outdoor concert -- are among student favorites during the fall, but other chances to engage with the Bulldog family are ongoing." MSU officials said undergraduate students planning to enroll at Mississippi State next summer or fall can apply for university admission beginning Aug. 1 at 8 p.m. during "Hail State @ 8." |
| Starkville Mayor asks residents for patience as crews are making improvements throughout the city | |
 | Things may not look the best in certain parts of Starkville as workers are making improvements throughout the city. Many have seen that certain portions of downtown Starkville are blocked off as crews are redoing the roads and what's under them. There's also power line work being done on Reed Road. Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill says although the work being done may have a slight inconvenience for drivers now it will make for a better Starkville in the future. "We're replacing power lines, sewer lines, so as they're working their way through town they're digging into the pavement, replacing those lines, covering it back up again, and at some point in the not too distant future when they get that done in most areas they will cover it over with some temporary assault and then that sets us up to be in our main street redesign project. Old electric poles that need to be replaced so they're going through and replacing them with the larger concrete poles will have a much stronger life and much greater ability to withstand weather, wind, etc." |
| SCT kicks off auditions for next season | |
 | Starkville Community Theatre's new season begins this fall with the musical fable "Bright Star," which will host open auditions for all available roles on Monday and Tuesday onstage at its Playhouse in downtown Starkville. Inspired by a real event and featuring the Grammy-nominated score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Broadway's "Bright Star" tells a sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and '40s. When literary editor Alice Murphy meets a young soldier just home from World War II, he awakens her longing for the child she once lost. Haunted by their unique connection, Alice sets out on a journey to understand her past. She finds has the power to transform both of their lives, with the story unfolding as a rich tapestry of deep emotion, beautiful melodies and powerfully moving performances. An uplifting theatrical journey that holds you tight in its grasp, "Bright Star" is as refreshingly genuine as it is daringly hopeful. The production is directed by Paula Mabry, with musical director Jordan Durham and choreographer Katherine Hardin. "Bright Star" will perform Oct. 4-6, nightly at 7 p.m.; Oct. 8 at 2 p.m.; and Oct. 10-14, nightly at 7 p.m. |
| Tupelo native earns top furniture industry honor | |
 | Southern Furniture Industries, which owns Southern Motion and Fusion Furniture, recently announced that Tupelo native Anna Claire Curtis, vice president of merchandising for Fusion, was named a 40 Under 40 recipient by Furniture Today. She was honored at an event in Las Vegas on July 28. The ceremony put a spotlight on the current stars of the furniture industry, who were carefully selected by the Furniture Today team. The winners of this prestigious recognition have displayed exemplary leadership and made significant contributions to the advancement of the furniture industry. Curtis graduated from Mississippi State University. She majored in apparel, textiles and merchandising. She began working for Fusion in June 2016 as a merchandising manager. Knowing that her work ends up in someone else's home brings joy to Curtis. "The main part of my job is developing frame concepts and putting fabric combinations together. It is exciting to think that a project I have worked on ends up in someone's home and becomes a part of their everyday lives," Curtis said. |
| Three inducted into Waterways Experiment Station Gallery of Distinguished Civilian Employees | |
 | A new group of U.S. Army Engineer and Research Development Center (ERDC) retirees were recently celebrated for their contributions and enshrined into the agency's most esteemed collective in Vicksburg. Dr. Alfred Cofrancesco, Patti Duett and Dr. William Grogan were inducted into the Waterways Experiment Station (WES) Gallery of Distinguished Civilian Employees during the agency's Induction Ceremony on July 27 at the ERDC Headquarters Auditorium. The achievement is the highest honor a former ERDC-WES site employee could accomplish. Dr. David Pittman, ERDC director, applauded the inductees' accomplishments and credited them for their impact on the agency's growth. Cofrancesco retired in 2020 as technical director for ERDC's environmental engineering and sciences Civil Works portfolio with more than 40 years of service. Duett retired from the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) in 2021 after 30 years of service. Duett dedicated her career to ensuring ITL and ERDC were at the forefront of technical achievements. Grogan, the first ERDC chief of staff, retired in 2020 after 36 years of service. |
| Mobile homes turn deadly when tornadoes hit. This year has been especially bad, AP analysis finds | |
 | Many were not just killed at home. They were killed by their homes. Angela Eason had visited Brenda Odoms' tidy mobile home before. It was a place where Odoms, who had many tragedies in her life, felt safe. In March, a tornado ripped through this small Mississippi town and people in mobile or manufactured homes were hit the hardest. Inside a mobile morgue, Eason, the county coroner, examined Odoms' gaping fatal head wound. Odoms was found just outside of her collapsed mobile home that was tossed around by a tornado. Blunt force trauma killed her. "The one place she felt safe she was not," Eason said. Fourteen people died in that Rolling Fork tornado, nine of them, including Odoms, were in uprooted manufactured or mobile homes. Tornadoes in the United States are disproportionately killing more people in mobile or manufactured homes, especially in the South, often victimizing some of the most socially and economically vulnerable residents. Since 1996, tornadoes have killed 815 people in mobile or manufactured homes, representing 53% of all the people killed at home during a tornado, according to an Associated Press data analysis of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tornado deaths. Meanwhile, less than 6% of America's housing units are manufactured homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Auburn University engineering professor David Roueche called manufactured homes in non-coastal places "death traps compared to most permanent homes" when it comes to tornadoes. |
| State history, civil rights museums get $50K grant from Nissan Foundation | |
| The Nissan Foundation has named the Two Mississippi Museums a 2023 grant recipient. The $50,000 grant will help fund field trips during the upcoming school year, defraying costs for admission, travel and on-site lunches for students. "We are grateful to the Nissan Foundation for their continued support of our field trip program," said Katie Blount, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. "Schoolchildren are our most important audience. The foundation's generosity has helped thousands of students experience this state-of-the-art museum complex." The Nissan Foundation is awarding a total of $1.2 million in grants to 39 nonprofit organizations for its 2023 grant cycle. The nonprofit recipients are in Atlanta, central Mississippi, Dallas and Fort Worth, middle Tennessee, New York City, southeast Michigan and southern California, all locations where Nissan has an operational presence. Museum hours are 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Sunday. The Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum are located at 222 North St. in Jackson. To reserve or learn more about field trips to the Two Mississippi Museums, contact Stephanie King at sking@mdah.ms.gov. |
| Sid Salter on politics at the NCF | |
 | The Neshoba County Fair has a long tradition of providing a platform for political candidates to speak. Last week the fairgrounds were packed with people wanting to learn more about the candidates running for office. Sid Salter, the Director of Public Affairs at MSU and award-winning syndicated political columnist for more than 30 years, was also there. News 11 spoke with him to get his take on the importance of politics at the Neshoba County Fair. "Leaving Neshoba with momentum is usually important," said Salter "more so in primary battles than in the general election. There's time in a general election too, you know, tweak the narrative, but in the primary, which is just around the corner, it's important and I think that's what people are looking for. Who left the fairgrounds with momentum." The Neshoba County Fair is known as the most revered political stop in the state of Mississippi. |
| What do the Neshoba County Fair political speeches signal about what's ahead for the hottest races? | |
 | We've been showing you highlights of the political speeches at the Neshoba County Fair this week. Now, let's get past the talking points and look at what they may reveal about the direction of two of the hottest races. With time running out before the August 8 primary, you won't see Chris McDaniel and Delbert Hosemann square off in a debate. So, we asked Mississippi College political science professor Dr. Glenn Antizzo what he thinks the Neshoba County Fair speeches say about the direction of the race. "McDaniel is always been a sort of a flame thrower fighter," said Antizzo. "I sort of expected the fiery rhetoric for him. That's sort of his MO. Hosemann's been surprising me, especially given some of the jabs that he took that were very personal at McDaniel." But he thinks much of that was designed to be red meat for the fair crowd. And then there was the preview of the expected match-up of Tate Reeves versus Brandon Presley in November. "Presley is positioning himself as not just a moderate Democrat, but almost a moderate Republican. He hit on a lot of populous themes... he's sort of emphasizing his small town values," Antizzo said. And Antizzo noticed that much of his platform mirrors traditional Republican themes. While Reeves is working to align Presley with national Democrats, he makes this note about Reeves' campaign: "He's got, you know, a good record to stand on," he said. "But he seems like he's really leading with the culture war stuff. And I think that he thinks that will rally people to the cause, because those are hot button issues right now that are getting a lot of press." |
| Neshoba County Fair closes out 134th year | |
| The Neshoba County Fair came to a close Friday after 7 days of family fun. What's known as Mississippi's Giant House Party is checking off another successful year in Philadelphia. There was horse racing, live music, a huge turnout for political speaking, and even a new edition of cornhole. News 11 spoke with fair manager Kevin Cheatham who said this was one of the most attended fairs in its history. He said there was an increase of 5,000 visitors compared to previous years. "A combination of the horse races today. With the Jim Dance Memorial Race, and Morris Therrel Race, so horse racing has been an outstanding venue for us. The carnival has been great for us this year as well. All the entertainers at night. We've had high praise for our entertainers at night. So overall just a great fair," said Cheatham. Cheatham said the goal is to provide a safe family and friendly atmosphere every year. |
| Compare Delbert Hosemann, Chris McDaniel on issues like abortion, taxes, ballot initiative | |
| With less than two weeks until Mississippi voters go to the polls to vote in primaries for this year's statewide elections, one of the most hotly contested races continues to be the Republican primary for lieutenant governor. State Sen. Chris McDaniel is for the third time in his political career attempting to run to the right of a Republican incumbent. After running against sitting Republican U.S. Senators in 2014 and 2018, McDaniel is this time challenging incumbent Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, a lifelong Republican, who McDaniel says is secretly "Delbert the Democrat." The two men, though members of the same party, are very different in political style, record and background. While Hosemann launched his first statewide campaign with ads poking fun at his own name, McDaniel's U.S. Senate runs were far more ruthless. In 2014, just as he has in this year's race, McDaniel repeatedly said he respected U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, while also launching attack ads labeling the longtime Republican as not conservative enough and a member of an out-of-touch political class. In this race, Hosemann has largely pushed back against those kinds of claims, pointing to his record on running the state like a business, and also to endorsements from powerful national conservative groups like Right to Life and the political action committee for the National Rifle Association. While the two men have their clear differences, talking points in the race have largely come down to a question of conservative bona fides, leaving voters to wonder just how far apart they really are on policy. |
| Lt. Gov. Hosemann touts state's strong financial position at Chamber luncheon | |
 | Mississippi is in the best financial shape ever in its history. That was the message Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann delivered during his remarks as the keynote speaker at the Horn Lake Chamber of Commerce quarterly luncheon on Thursday. Hosemann, who is running for re-election, said the state has pumped record amounts of money into education and workforce development, boosted teacher pay, paid down state debt, strengthened economic development incentives to help businesses grow in Mississippi, and cut taxes. "And the forecast for the future is bright," Hosemann said. Hosemann highlighted how the state's economic incentives and workforce development policies are helping companies like Rite Hite in Horn Lake find qualified workers and expand its facilities. Rite Hite manufactures loading dock equipment, vehicle restraints, industrial doors, safety barriers, industrial fans, and industrial curtain walls. The company is set to double the amount of warehouse space at its Horn Lake location. "Their company came here to Mississippi and now looking out here they are doubling their size in Mississippi," Hosemann said. "They can go anywhere in the world, but they chose to stay in Horn Lake, Mississippi and expand here. We are competitive with anywhere else on tax benefits and economic development benefits." |
| Virginia PAC launches attack ad for Newman in PSC race | |
| A third-party group supporting Tanner Newman has launched the first attack ad in the Republican primary against Rep. Chris Brown to represent Mississippi's northern district on the public service commission. Name ID driven by ads may determine the race's outcome, according to political observers and the summary of an earlier poll. Brown has reported far more cash on hand than Newman, and his campaign launched TV ads weeks ago. But if outside groups are willing to invest in the northern district PSC race, they could close the gap on Newman's behalf. The 30-second spot attacking Brown hit the airwaves Wednesday. A political action committee based in northern Virginia spent about $40,000 to run the ad, primarily on WTVA, in the Corinth-Tupelo and Memphis media markets through Aug. 8, FCC filings show. Newman told the Daily Journal the ad was not released by his campaign. By law, PACs are not allowed to coordinate their activity with political campaigns. Asked to respond to the content of the PAC ad, Newman said, "Chris Brown can speak for his own record. The facts are the facts. The people of north Mississippi deserve a public service commissioner who is committed to offering commonsense solutions to the issues facing our region. That's exactly what I'll do as public service commissioner." |
| Guest-authored bill barring DHS from using drones made by foreign adversaries passes House | |
| Amid threats from China, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from using drones made in countries designated as foreign adversaries. The Unmanned Aerial Security Act, authored by House Homeland Security Committee Vice Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.), passed Thursday ahead of the August recess. "We know that drones made by our foreign adversaries can be manipulated to undermine American security -- a security risk that we cannot tolerate as the Chinese Communist Party presents a continuous threat against our nation and our allies," Guest said. "The Department of Homeland Security utilizes drones for critical missions, and it is imperative that we trust the technology we are using. It is well known that the Chinese Communist Party has stolen our technology and information in the past. That's why this legislation is so important. It would help mitigate security risks by ensuring our drones are not manufactured by our adversaries -- including those manufacturers influenced by the CCP." |
| House Dems sideline one of their own leaders in the fight over food stamps | |
 | House Democrats are intensifying their efforts to fend off cuts to the country's largest nutrition program. But one Democrat who would typically be leading on the issue is notably absent from their new strategy: the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in late May assembled a task force on agriculture and nutrition led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) to respond to ongoing GOP efforts to restrict the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, which serves more than 40 million low-income Americans. It's a role that traditionally would be filled by Democrats on the chamber's Agriculture Committee, led by the current ranking member, Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.). Thompson denies there is anything out of the ordinary about the move, saying in an interview that, "We do task forces all the time." But a dozen current and former lawmakers, Hill staff and lobbyists said the creation of a parallel body to play attack dog on the issue is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. Scott's colleagues have been raising concerns with House leadership since last year about the 78-year-old Georgia Democrat's health and ability to steer the committee minority through a critical period for agriculture policy. "There are real questions about whether he's with it," one Democrat on the panel, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject, told POLITICO last year. |
| Congress Faces Crunchtime in Fight Over Spending Cuts | |
 | One down, a lot to go. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), who all year has tangled with his party's hard-line fiscal conservatives, heads into the August recess with the unfinished business of funding the government and only about a dozen legislative days when Congress returns in September. The House speaker closed out the July work period by steering passage of the first of 12 appropriations bills, a measure funding the Veterans Affairs Department and the construction of military facilities and related housing. Conservative Republicans balked at voting for a planned bill funding the Food and Drug Administration and agricultural priorities, forcing House Republican leaders to pull the bill from the schedule. A partial government shutdown would begin Oct. 1 if Congress fails to pass the funding bills. "September is going to be very busy," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R., La.) told reporters recently. "We will be working through August to get as many agreements as we can, so that when we come back, everybody is going to be buckling up and working hard." While shutdown politics have become an annual feature of spending talks, this round promises to be particularly unpredictable. Avoiding a government shutdown is only one of the must-do items before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. Congress must also reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, pass a farm bill and reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program so that home sales in flood-prone areas can continue. |
| Joe Biden, America's oldest sitting president, needs young voters to win again. Will his age matter? | |
| At 24, Alberto Rodriguez has grandparents younger than Joe Biden. But he's more interested in the 80-year-old president's accomplishments than his age. "People as young as me, we're all focusing on our day-to-day lives and he has done things to help us through that," Rodriguez, a cook at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, said of Biden's support among young voters. Rodriguez pointed specifically to federal COVID-19 relief payments and government spending increases on infrastructure and other social programs. Voters like him were a key piece of Biden's winning 2020 coalition, which included majorities of young people as well as college graduates, women, urban and suburban voters and Black Americans. Maintaining their support will be critical in closely contested states such as Nevada, where even small declines could prove consequential to Biden's reelection bid. His 2024 campaign plans to emphasize messages that could especially resonate with young people in the coming weeks as the anniversary of the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act approaches in mid-August. That legislation includes provisions that the White House will embrace to argue that Biden has done more than any other president to combat climate change. One key policy piece of Biden's efforts to appeal to young voters, providing student debt relief, was recently struck down by the Supreme Court. The White House has launched a new effort, but it will take longer. |
| High school boys are trending conservative | |
 | A popular narrative suggests young people are liberal and getting more liberal. Thus, social media buzzed when a chart surfaced in spring that seemed to suggest 12th-grade boys had become overwhelmingly conservative. As with many Reddit posts and viral tweets, the truth was more complicated. But the numbers do say this: Twelfth-grade boys are nearly twice as likely to identify as conservative versus liberal, according to a respected federal survey of American youth. In annual surveys over the last three years, roughly one-quarter of high school seniors self-identified as conservative or "very conservative" on the Monitoring the Future survey, a scholarly endeavor that dates to the 1970s. Only 13 percent of boys identified as liberal or very liberal in those years. The figures represent a striking shift in the political views of boys. As recently as the late 2000s, liberal boys occasionally outnumbered conservatives. Back in the Carter era, both boys and girls leaned liberal. Nowadays, it is girls who are drifting to the left. The share of 12th-grade girls who identified as liberal rose from 19 percent in 2012 to 30 percent in 2022. Only 12 percent of girls identified as conservative in last year's survey, administered by the University of Michigan. The political leanings of young men have changed little over the past two decades, according to an analysis by the Survey Center on American Life. But the leftward drift of young women alone has sufficed to move the needle on young adults as a whole. |
| Coastal Mississippi leading worldwide blue economy efforts | |
| The recreational and tourism benefits of south Mississippi's location on the Gulf of Mexico have long been recognized. More recently, thoughts have turned to capitalizing on this location for the emerging blue economy. The Gulf Blue initiative is leading the way with its motto, Big Ideas Out of the Blue. It's managed by the University of Southern Mississippi's Research Foundation and housed in the historic Gulf & Ship Island Railroad Building in downtown Gulfport. It sits at the center of the Gulfport Blue Economy Innovation District, which includes Gulf Blue, the Port of Gulfport, the Mississippi Aquarium, the USM Marine Research Center and the Roger Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise. Other nearby existing investments in coastal Mississippi include Stennis Space Center, the USM Gulf Park campus, Point Cadet, the USM Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and the Port of Pascagoula. The Gulf Blue building, dating to the turn of the 19th century, has been beautifully renovated under the direction of Jerrilyn Neumaier, project management coordinator with the research foundation. Blue economy entrepreneurs and startups can find a home here with available office space and everything needed to conduct business. There is also an extensive mentor network and many networking opportunities with the community and existing industries. |
| Job hunting? Southern Miss to host job fair on Tuesday | |
 | Job hunters can explore opportunities at the University of Southern Mississippi at a job fair on Tuesday. The fair will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hattiesburg WIN Job Center on Arcadia Street. Southern Miss departments with current openings include academic units, iTech, parking management, Physical Plant and more. The job fair will include on-site application assistance. Applicants should bring a resumé, or work history, and references. For more information, contact the USM Office of Employment and Human Resources. |
| Delta State president, band students discuss interim director | |
| Delta State University President Daniel Ennis met Thursday with the school's marching band students in the wake of revelations that the recently hired band director had mocked trans people and agreed pro-LGBTQ+ religious leaders should be stoned on his now-deleted podcast. During the 45-minute meeting, Ennis told students via Zoom from a conference in California that the comments in Steven Hugley's podcast "Always Right" prompted several alumni and parents of students to reach out to him, but not any students. So he said he wanted to know what the roughly 30 students in the band who joined the call thought before taking an action that might affect them. Ennis invited students to share any information with him that would help him "as an outsider" better understand the situation. He started as president of the regional college in Cleveland, a small town in the Mississippi Delta, earlier this summer after spending two decades at a university in South Carolina. (In a text to a Mississippi Today reporter after the meeting, Ennis said he was "fine" letting his comments speak in the Zoom meeting for themselves.) "Certainly, I have to be clear, all decisions on a college campus are eventually the responsibility of the president," Ennis said in the meeting. "It is my place to make sure that we're doing the things we should be for our students." The Zoom seems to be just one step Ennis is taking to address the situation. |
| Group pushing charter schools says Democrats losing voters on education | |
 | Voters in four battleground states narrowly trust Republicans more than Democrats to ensure schools prepare students for success, according to a new poll by a group trying to convince Democrats to support public charter schools and other alternatives to traditional K-12 institutions. The survey of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina commissioned by Democrats for Education Reform found 36 percent of voters trusted Republicans on the education question, versus 33 percent who trusted Democrats and 17 percent did not trust either party. The rest were unsure or trusted both parties. On other key issues, such as reducing gun violence and addressing the affects of climate change, the survey found far more trust in Democrats over Republicans. The findings come as Republicans have been trying to regain support in suburban areas that backed Democrats for Congress in recent election cycles by pressing issues such as parents' rights to have more control over public education. Jorge Elorza, CEO of Democrats for Education Reform, said the poll results should alarm Democrats, who he said are losing ground on education. "Voters -- especially parents -- want to see bold investments and more choices for their children,'' Elorza said in a news release accompanying the poll's release. "Republicans are capitalizing on this." |
| Auburn professor to showcase innovative printing process in Alabama Launchpad contest | |
 | An assistant professor at Auburn University wants to shake up the technological ecosystem in Alabama with a new dry print process that could overturn conventional electronic printing and possibly revolutionize the Internet of Things. But first, Masoud Mahjouri-Samani has to impress the judges at Alabama Launchpad. The statewide business startup incubator will hold the final round of its 2023 competition here in Auburn on August 17. Mahjouri-Samani's company, NanoPrintek, is one of three local startups participating in the Alabama Launchpad final. The other two are VivoSphere, LLC, and Autonoma, Inc. Both NanoPrintek and VivoSphere are part of Auburn University's New Venture Accelerator program. NanoPrintek is competing in Alabama Launchpad's concept phase competition. If he wins, Mahjouri-Samani will take home $25,000 in seed money and a whole lot of new support for his company. Mahjouri-Samani was able to start NanoPrintek with the help of New Venture Accelerator, located in the Research and Innovation Center at Auburn. New Venture is the university's incubator for new business ideas. Mahjouri-Samani said they help people who want to transition their research onto commercialization. |
| 'Anger, sadness and fear': UGA study finds student loan debt contributes to poor mental health | |
 | A recent University of Georgia study has found that the mental burdens that go hand-in-hand with student loan debt may be driving mental health issues among Americans. Analyzing close to 90,000 Reddit and Twitter posts related to student loans from 2009 to 2020, the study found high levels of posts expressing mental illness. "The core sentiment of users was mostly negative. Anger, sadness, and fear were dominant emotions among social media users when discussing their student loans," said Gaurav Sinha, lead author of the study and UGA School of Social Work assistant professor. In addition, the mental burden of student loans was also linked to failing academic performance. "Our study showed both academic and non-academic consequences of having student loan debt. Student loans sometimes tend to create significant performance pressure and that creates academic hardship and college affordability. And this is not a new finding. Many other studies have also shown similar findings," said Sinha. |
| Two people killed after shots fired blocks from U. of Florida campus | |
| Gunshots rang out in a crowd early Sunday, killing two people in the city that is home to Florida's flagship university, authorities said. Police officers had been conducting crowd control in downtown Gainesville, Florida, in a commercial corridor several blocks from the University of Florida campus when they heard gunshots, the police department said in a post. The post didn't disclose how many people were shot but said two of the shooting victims later died from their injuries. Police were seeking the public's help for any information on the shootings. |
| Who are highest-paid employees in U. of Tennessee system? | |
 | The University of Tennessee system employs more than 12,000 people across all 95 of the state's counties, according to the system's website. The Knoxville campus makes up roughly 75% of that workforce. A publicly available database of salaries for all paid, regular, active employees at UT revealed those making the most center around athletics, health and science, and administrative roles. It's important to note the database does not include additional or supplemental pay and reflects base salaries as of November 2022. At $9 million a year, Josh Heupel, the head football coach for Tennessee, brings in the most across the UT system. While Heupel's base yearly salary is set at $275,000, he makes around $8.725 million in supplemental pay. He recently received a contract extension through 2029. Other than top-paid coaches, the employee who makes the most in the entire UT system is Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Daniel White, who recently got a raise bringing him to a $2.2 million base salary. Chancellor Donde Plowman has a base salary of $820,000. She received a 24% raise in 2022 after propelling the university to become the fastest-growing in the Southeastern Conference, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. Plowman became the highest-paid chancellor in the university's history when she was hired in 2019. Former Chancellor Beverly Davenport was previously the highest-paid chancellor with a $585,000 annual salary. |
| A&M Regents authorize potential McElroy settlement, directs counsel to release investigation findings | |
 | Texas A&M's Board of Regents approved authorization to negotiate a potential settlement of claims over the failed hiring of Kathleen McElroy to become A&M's new journalism director and directed the A&M System's Office of General Counsel to complete an investigation of McElroy's situation and release the findings to the public after meeting for almost three-and-a-half hours in executive session during a special meeting on Sunday night. Regent Bob Albritton made the motion for the A&M System's general counsel to complete the investigation as quickly as possible and emphasized the Regents support the release of the findings to the public. Regents also unanimously approved to appoint Ret. Gen. Mark A. Welsh III A&M's interim president during the meeting. Welsh, dean of A&M's Bush School since 2016, has served as A&M's acting president since July 21 when he was asked to take over for M. Katherine Banks, who resigned in wake of the fallout of McElroy's botched hiring. A national search is being held for Banks' successor. McElroy, A&M Class of 1981, told The Eagle that soon after her hiring was announced on June 13 she thought A&M's leadership was forced to listen behind the scenes to outside influences with "great concerns" on diversity, equity and inclusion. |
| UNC board changes admissions, hiring policies on race | |
 | The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Board of Trustees voted Thursday to prohibit the institution from considering race, sex or ethnicity in both admissions and hiring decisions, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. "Race will not be a factor in admission decisions at the university," university chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz declared after the vote, speaking to a large crowd outside the board's meeting place at the Carolina Inn just off campus. The vote took place during the board's first in-person meeting since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in June, a particularly harsh blow to Chapel Hill, which -- along with Harvard University -- was a defendant in the case. The defeat exacerbated last week's contentious board proceedings, which pitted conservative trustees against more moderate defenders of diversity practices -- a division that has plagued the Chapel Hill board for years. Before the vote, Trustee John Preyer called the ruling a "moment of humility" for Chapel Hill and asked his colleagues to consider the cost of its attempted defense of affirmative action. "For nine years, we've spent in the neighborhood of $35 million to lose a high-profile case," he said. "Why did we do that?" The board passed the resolution banning racial considerations in admissions anyway and later amended it to include hiring as well. By expanding to hiring policies, Chapel Hill becomes the first institution to tie hiring to the court's decision, a connection that has been asserted by Students for Fair Admissions, the group that brought the affirmative action case against the university. |
| Regional Public Colleges Are Affordable -- but Is That Enough to Draw Students? | |
 | Regional public colleges are the backbone of American higher education and, somehow, also one of its best-kept secrets. They educate nearly 5 million students every year, including almost half of all bachelor's-degree-seeking students at four-year institutions and nearly half of all Black and Latinx students. Yet they're typically eclipsed by their public-flagship siblings in the popular imagination and left out of the prevailing narrative about "college" by much of the media. Their traditional mission of broad access and teaching rather than prestige and research may be leaving them at a further disadvantage in an increasingly competitive student-recruiting market, according to a new survey by the Art & Science Group, a company that consults colleges on strategy and market research. Art & Science surveyed 778 respondents who intended to attend a four-year institution in the fall of 2022 and found that the only competitive advantage regional publics had over other types of colleges was their relatively low price. Being an affordable option is good, right? Not necessarily these days, says David Strauss, a principal of Art & Science. Shifting demographics have led to increased competition for students, which has led public flagships and private colleges to more aggressively recruit, and admit, a wider array of students. Between 2010 and 2021, enrollment at public flagships rose 12.3 percent nationwide, according to a Chronicle analysis, while enrollment at regional publics fell by more than 4 percent. Enrollment at regional institutions in some states has fallen by double-digit percentages in recent years. |
| Professors craft courses on ChatGPT with ChatGPT | |
| Andrew Maynard has studied cutting-edge technology for nearly two decades and tracked the rise of generative artificial intelligence from the start. As interest in AI intensified, he knew he had to release an offering for students -- and fast. "We got to the point where it was very clear to me [that] there was a lot of panic, a lot of intrigue and things were moving fast," said Maynard, a professor at Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society. In April he began planning to offer a course now known as Basic Prompt Engineering With ChatGPT. Prompt engineering, like the name suggests, focuses on creating the most useful text prompts -- in this case, for ChatGPT -- that yield the best answers from the AI chat bot. Maynard, along with Jules White at Vanderbilt University, are among a small number of professors launching courses focused solely on teaching students across disciplines to better navigate AI and ChatGPT. "This is our duty to students to do everything we can to help them succeed in this new world," said White, director of the Vanderbilt Initiative of the Future of Learning and Generative AI. Many universities, however, find the idea of balancing their course load while monitoring developing technology daunting, according to Derek Bruff, visiting associate director at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi. He suggested, in those cases, turning toward outside experts for guidance. |
| Senate panel approves 2% bump for NIH budget in 2024 | |
| To the relief of biomedical research advocates, a Senate spending panel has approved a modest budget increase of 2% for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bump to $47.8 billion roughly matches President Joe Biden's request for the 2024 fiscal year that begins this fall. Although below the rate of biomedical inflation, it is far more generous than a corresponding House of Representatives bill that would slash NIH's budget by 6%. Advocacy groups welcomed the measure approved on 27 July by the Senate appropriations committee. "The Committee laid down an important marker for the appropriations process going forward by protecting and growing funding for the National Institutes of Health," Research!America said in a statement. Mental health and Alzheimer's disease research are each tagged for $100 million increases in the bill, and cancer research for a boost of $60 million. The Senate panel would provide level funding of $1.5 billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, whereas the House measure would cut the 1-year-old agency to $500 million. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is cut 17% in the House bill, would stay flat at $9.2 billion in the Senate measure. It would also preserve a new CDC center for forecasting disease outbreaks that is zeroed out in the House bill, but would trim its $50 million budget by 10%. The Senate committee has proposed one big change at NIH that enjoys bipartisan support: More turnover of leadership. NIH should end its "long-standing practice of allowing its top officials to effectively serve indefinitely," states a report accompanying the bill. |
| House lawmakers volley ideas for taming college costs, boosting transparency | |
| In American higher education, it's often said that a perfect storm is brewing, characterized by economic headwinds, fewer traditional students and political meddling in college operations. Among those problems is declining public trust in higher ed, in part because college costs have jumped, with students and families skeptical they'll actually see a strong return on investment. In light of these trends, policymakers have begun scrutinizing college pricing much more closely -- which they did Thursday at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development. Democrats and Republicans on the subcommittee repeatedly took opportunities to plug legislative proposals that their respective parties have crafted to lower costs and hold colleges accountable for poor outcomes, like the GOP's Promoting Employment and Lifelong Learning, or PELL, Act. It would authorize Pell Grants for short-term academic programs and ensure "students and taxpayers receive a positive return on investment within three years or less." Democrats, meanwhile, endorsed the Biden administration's regulatory plan that would end federal funding for career programs that don't meet a debt-to-earnings ratio, called gainful employment. However, lawmakers from across the political spectrum seemingly agreed -- something must change. |
| Some Republicans are exploring a new position on student loan debt | |
| Some prominent Republicans are changing their tune when it comes to the economy. They're still social conservatives, but they're veering away from the party's traditional laissez-faire take on business and embracing ideas from a new conservative group called American Compass. One of them? Allowing student loans to be wiped away during bankruptcy. Oren Cass is not your father's Republican. Especially when he's talking about how student loan debt is treated in bankruptcy. "We try to set it aside and say this is special and thou shalt forever be buried under any debt you take on," he explains. Cass sounds like a Democrat there. But he was an adviser in Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. He founded American Compass in 2020. It's a think tank dedicated to encouraging Republicans to take a new look at capitalism. For example, treating student loans like any other debt and allowing them to be discharged during bankruptcy. Right now they can't be, and that was disastrous for 47-year-old Anjal Bracy. She enrolled in the University of Phoenix, a for-profit school, majoring in human resources while working full time. Then she lost her job and had to drop out. "It's frustrating to have that debt and not have, you know, something to show for it," she says. To have your student loan debt discharged by a judge, you have to prove it's causing you "undue hardship." Bracy didn't meet that standard, even though her student debt is greater than her yearly income. It's virtually impossible for anyone to meet that standard, which led the Department of Justice to simplify it last year. Bipartisan Senate legislation to overhaul the bankruptcy code on student loans didn't go anywhere two years ago. But Cass calls it a step in the right direction. |
| A Biden plan cuts student loan payments for millions to $0. Will it be the next legal battle? | |
| The Biden administration calls it a "student loan safety net." Opponents call it a backdoor attempt to make college free. And it could be the next battleground in the legal fight over student loan relief. Starting this summer, millions of Americans with student loans will be able to enroll in a new repayment plan that offers some of the most lenient terms ever. Interest won't pile up as long as borrowers make regular payments. Millions of people will have monthly payments reduced to $0. And in as little as 10 years, any remaining debt will be canceled. It's known as the SAVE Plan, and although it was announced last year, it has mostly been overshadowed by President Joe Biden's proposal for mass student loan cancellation. But now, after the Supreme Court struck down Biden's forgiveness plan, the repayment option is taking center stage. Since the ruling Biden has proposed an alternate approach to cancel debt and also shifted attention to the lesser-known initiative, calling it "the most affordable repayment plan ever." The typical borrower who enrolls in the plan will save $1,000 a year, he said. Republicans have fought against the plan, saying it oversteps the president's authority. Sen. Bill Cassidy, the ranking Republican on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, called it "deeply unfair" to the 87% of Americans who don't have student loans. |
| Presley teetering on the tightrope | |
| The Magnolia Tribune's Russ Latino writes: Barring a massive influx of money, or a hair raising scandal, the race for governor in Mississippi is over. Incumbent Governor Tate Reeves will very likely defeat Democratic challenger Brandon Presley, perhaps handedly. Even Presley's allies are begrudingly waking up to this reality. Presley started the race with a difficult tightrope act before him. With almost no name identification outside of his Tupelo-area stomping grounds, he needed big national Democrat donors to turn on the cash spigot to have any real chance of introducing himself to voters. The sitting Northern District Public Service Commissioner also needed to convince enough Republican voters to cross over–that he was not so different from them–without scaring off those same increasingly progressive donors, or losing the African American voters that comprise the base of the Mississippi Democratic Party. Thus far, he's failed the balancing act. Judging from his campaign coffers, liberal donors from across the country are not inspired by his down home, Pappy O'Daniel routine. Neither are the Republican voters he had hoped to lure. n a fairly polarized culture, "sort of, maybe conservative" on some things and "sort of, maybe liberal" on others does not scratch either sides' itch. If he's still on the rope at all, he's teetering on the precipice of a fall. |
| State's economic 'momentum' depends upon perspective | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: Perspective -- politicians work hard to sell their perspectives to voters. Sometimes, they find a narrow focus helps. For example, Gov. Tate Reeves has chosen lately to use a narrow focus to tout Mississippi's economic progress. "Mississippians are learning more and earning more," he said in touting the state's 17% per capita personal income gain since 2018. "It seems like every week there is more good news coming out about Mississippi. This is just one more example of the incredible momentum our state has." A broader focus shows every state experiencing similar "incredible momentum." All achieved double-digit personal income growth during that period. The national average increase was 16% as COVID payments, tight labor markets and inflation bumped up income across the nation. Significantly, Mississippi held on to the bottom behind West Virginia with the nation's lowest average personal income. "We made it a priority to increase wages," the governor touted. Mississippi did make gains. Average wages were up 16.5% from 2019 to 2022. But, as with personal income, every state enjoyed double-digit wage growth. The national average increase was 18.1% as tight labor markets and inflation bumped up wages across the nation. Again, Mississippi held the bottom with the lowest average annual wages behind West Virginia. |
| You wouldn't know it from the governor's race, but grocery tax cut can be bipartisan | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: Some see the issue of cutting Mississippi's grocery tax as a partisan divide. After all, in three of the past four gubernatorial elections, the Democratic candidate has advocated cutting or eliminating Mississippi's 7% sales tax on groceries while the Republican standard bearer has touted reducing the income tax. This year Republican incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves is again advocating for the elimination of the income tax. Brandon Presley, his Democratic opponent, wants to eliminate the sales tax on food. But the issue of cutting Mississippi's highest-in-the-nation, state-imposed sales tax on groceries is not always a partisan fight. And it is definitely not a partisan issue for Mississippi's four contiguous states. While Mississippi politicians have argued about and flirted with cutting the grocery tax only to be stymied at some point in the process, all four of Mississippi's neighbors have reduced or eliminated the state-imposed grocery tax. All were led at least in part by Republicans. ... Mississippi's partisan divide on the grocery tax goes back to at least the 1995 gubernatorial election. Democratic Secretary of State Dick Molpus proposed reducing the grocery tax while Republican incumbent Gov. Kirk Fordice advocated for a cut in the income tax. Molpus lost the election. |
SPORTS
| Three-point barrage sparks Mississippi State men's basketball win over Portugal All-Stars | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball dialed up 18 three-pointers and dished out 23 assists on 36 baskets in a 100-40 rout of the Portugal All-Stars on Sunday during the second game of its foreign tour. State clicked on all cylinders from long distance with 10 of its 18 treys coming during a 36-point second quarter barrage en route to a 55-19 halftime advantage. "That'll make them feel good walking out of the gym (making 18 three's). As a team, it will certainly give them some confidence going forward," head coach Chris Jans said. "When we were here in the gym, they weren't very contested. The team we played today wasn't as talented as the one we played yesterday. We played so many guys and kept coming at them in droves. That was a tough situation for our opponent but certainly was nice to see the ball go through the hole" The Bulldogs managed another balanced attack with seven players scoring at least seven points ignited by four players in double figures. Josh Hubbard put together another strong effort with 19 points and six assists. Adrian Myers tacked on 17 points and six rebounds followed by Andrew Taylor's 15 points and three assists. Trey Fort also secured 10 points for the Maroon and White. |
| Ranking Mississippi State football's most important players in 2023 | |
| Mississippi State football's offseason has centered around changes on the coaching staff. From Zach Arnett's promotion to head coach to the hiring of Kevin Barbay as offensive coordinator, plenty of questions surround the Bulldogs. However, Arnett continues to stress his program isn't about coaches. It's about players in his eyes, and MSU has plenty of returning pieces to generate optimism. Here's a look at Mississippi State's 10 most important players for 2023. |
| At 30, Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott finds 'urgency' in everything | |
| Dak Prescott turned 23 during his first training camp with the Dallas Cowboys in 2016. He was getting two snaps in team drills, splitting work with fellow backup QB Jameill Showers, and just trying to find his way. In a matter of weeks, that would all change after injuries to backup Kellen Moore and then-starter Tony Romo, pushing Prescott to the QB1 role he has had ever since. On Saturday, Prescott turns 30. He is the clear leader of the Cowboys, the last player remaining from the 2016 draft class with the departures of Ezekiel Elliott and Anthony Brown, and singularly focused on finding his way to the stage at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas after Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, 2024, holding the Lombardi Trophy. "It just speaks of urgency. Yeah, I'm blessed to play this game, blessed to be in this organization," Prescott said. "But as you see, it's a business. It's not forever for everybody and I know what I want to do. I know what I want to accomplish and I know what this team wants. And it's about that now." Troy Aikman was 29 when he won his last of three Super Bowls with the Cowboys in the 1990s. Roger Staubach was 29 when he won his first Super Bowl in 1971 and 36 when he appeared in his last in 1978, but he was 27 when he entered the NFL after his Navy commitment. Fairly or not, every Cowboys quarterback is compared to those two Hall of Famers. "Dak has never cowered to the expectations of winning the Super Bowl," Aikman said. "He's taken that head-on. He's the only one I've heard since I've played that is really been that adamant about that being the standard for a Cowboys quarterback." |
| The Pac-12 Is Almost the Pac-8 Again. Can It Survive the College Sports Consolidation? | |
| Television money has turned the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten into college-sports empires in recents years. Now, the relative lack of broadcast cash has created a crisis for another of the industry's legacy powerhouses: the Pac-12. Colorado last week said it would leave the Pac-12 to join the Big 12 for the 2024-25 season. The Buffs' move comes just a year after UCLA and Southern California announced their blockbuster departures from the Pac-12 for a much richer future in the Big Ten. In the span of a year, the Pac-12 has lost a quarter of its members and is suddenly closer to its roots as the Pac-8 than it is to the 16-team super conferences that the Big Ten and SEC have built. "Pac-12, Pac-10, whatever it is in the future -- all the best," Colorado regent Lesley Smith said after the board voted to rejoin the Big 12, the conference for which it competed from 1996-2010. The Pac-12's recent history has been defined by the pursuit of television revenue. Former commissioner Larry Scott tried---and failed -- to expand to 16 members in 2010. When he negotiated the conference's current broadcast deal with ESPN and Fox, the 12-year $3 billion deal was a high water mark for the industry. Like its competitors, the conference also created its own TV network to air games of its many sports. But the Pac-12 Network struggled with distribution, and football viewership was held back by late West Coast kickoff times on Saturday nights. |
| Texas QB Arch Manning's inaugural NIL trading card sold for record $102,500 | |
| Texas freshman quarterback Arch Manning's first NIL trading card has been sold, and it's proof that the Manning name is worth its weight in gold. The former five-star recruit's trading card was auctioned off for $102,500, the highest amount in Panini website history. It tops not only Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic's rookie national treasure card that sold for $100,000 but also Manning's uncle Peyton's top card that went for $71,988.88. 100% of the proceeds will benefit children and their families in Central Texas with Support from St. David's HealthCare and St. David's Foundation in Austin. The winner, who was not identified, will get a meet and greet with Manning, while also catching passes from the quarterback. They will also attend the check presentation to the beneficiary of the funds raised through the auction. Last week, Manning announced the deal despite initial reporting saying that Archie Manning told his grandson that he was not allowed to accept any NIL deals until he had earned the starting job at Texas. |
| 'Red flags on top of red flags': Problems mount for Miami athletics booster John Ruiz | |
| Even by Miami standards, John H. Ruiz has been living large. He doesn't buy just one waterfront mansion. He buys seven. He doesn't just buy a 20-seat private plane. He buys a private Boeing passenger jet. And he doesn't stop at buying fancy speed boats. He buys the companies that make them. The brash attorney and entrepreneur has also become known as the sugar daddy of the University of Miami athletic program, making headlines for his company's sponsorship of star players and bold proposals to build the university a new football stadium. But the high living might soon be coming to an end. The Miami Herald has learned that Ruiz and his health insurance claims company LifeWallet -- previously known as MSP Recovery -- are the target of federal civil and criminal investigations. The ongoing federal probes mark an unprecedented level of trouble for the one-time TV host whose business practices and out-sized lifestyle evoke comparisons to Donald Trump. If Ruiz or his company is charged by federal authorities, it could have major ripple effects across Miami. Among those who could be impacted are the University of Miami and many of its star athletes. Ruiz has been front and center in the extensive sponsorship of University of Miami athletes through newly legal Name, Image and Likeness deals, known as NIL, which allow college athletes to collect endorsements and have been a major boon to Miami's athletic program. Ruiz celebrated on the court after the men's basketball team defeated the University of Texas to advance to the Final Four in last year's NCAA basketball tournament and he regularly touts new deals on social media. He's been referred to by ESPN and other sports outlets as Miami's "NIL King." |
| Mack Brown blasts NIL tampering: 'People were absolutely paying cash to get players off your team' | |
| Few coaches in the country have been as vocal about the issues around NIL as North Carolina's Mack Brown. He has consistently pointed out issues with it, especially considering how the Tar Heels have had to deal with tampering, and, at the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff, he used his platform to do so again. Brown addressed NIL and tampering while sitting down for an ACC Network interview today in Charlotte. He said he couldn't imagine things being much worse than what he experienced with it over the first two years considering how blatant other programs were and how much work that his program was having to do to retain their players. "I don't think it could get any worse. It was awful the first two years. People were just absolutely paying cash to get guys off your team. That's not what we're doing," said Brown. "You don't need to recruit a guy and then have to recruit him twice. I'm having to say in recruiting, 'Let's recruit guys that, when they play really good, they're not going to leave us'. That's a huge part of this." However, at this point, Brown did say that he feels that the space is getting better considering the education that's being provided. It's a great pro for the players but, for teams, Brown just hopes more continues to be done to make recruiting as even as it can be across the country. |
| Big week ahead for NCAA's NIL reform plan | |
| The NCAA will take the next step on Monday toward implementing transparency measures and consumer protections that its president, Charlie Baker, has persistently sought during his brief tenure. The NCAA's NIL working group will convene in a virtual meeting Monday to consider input from last week's broader two-day meeting with stakeholders in Indianapolis. The goal is to draft a plan to be shared with the Division I Board of Directors on Tuesday. A database of NIL activity, uniform contracts for deals and a registry for those participating in the space -- including for agents and collectives -- were among the primary concepts explored last week, a source told On3. Stakeholders stressed that they are not walking the landscape back to a pre-NIL era. "There is no effort to reduce access to NIL opportunities for students," Lynda Tealer, chair of the Division I Council, told On3. "Bringing some transparency into the process was discussed, as was the notion that even with the assistance of Congress. There is room for the NCAA to operate to add some stability and clarity to the NIL environment." Evolving its interim policy -- buttressing the underpinning of the space -- does not reflect a strategy pivot, another source said. The NCAA continues to lobby Congress for a federal NIL bill aggressively. But the NIL working group has been tasked with drafting a Plan B in case Congressional efforts fall short. |
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