| Monday, October 13, 2025 |
| Civil War roundtable to explore newly annotated Sherman memoirs | |
 | The October meeting of the Golden Triangle Civil War Roundtable will be held this Tuesday, at the Golden Triangle Planning and Development Center, 106 Miley Drive in Starkville. A social time will begin at 6 p.m., followed by the program at 6:30 p.m. This month's program will feature a discussion of "The Memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman: The Complete Annotated Edition" (Harvard University Press, 2025), edited by Roundtable member and Civil War historian John Marszalek, along with editors Louie Gallo and David Nolen. Marszalek taught American and Civil War history at Mississippi State University for nearly 30 years and has published more than 17 books, including one that inspired the 1995 Showtime movie "Assault at West Point." In 2008, he took over publication of the Ulysses S. Grant Papers and later became director of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at MSU, a position he held until his retirement in 2022. Gallo is the managing editor of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library. Nolen, associate dean for archives and special collections at MSU Libraries, has worked at the university since 2008. Along with Marszalek and Gallo, he co-edited "The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant" and "The Memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman." He also co-authored "Hold On With a Bulldog Grip." |
| Starkville-MSU Community Band to present first fall concert | |
| The Starkville-MSU Community Band will present its first fall concert Sunday, Oct. 12. The program is free and open to the public. It begins at 2 p.m. in Kent Sills Band Hall, 72 Hardy Road, on the Mississippi State University campus. Director Johnny Folsom said the concert will open with "Sabre Dance" from the ballet Gayane, followed by an arrangement of the classic tune "Autumn Leaves." Other selections include Leroy Anderson's The Syncopated Clock, made famous by the Boston Pops Orchestra, and an arrangement of Franz Schubert's Ave Maria. The concert will conclude with the New Orleans tradition "At a Dixieland Jazz Funeral." Learn more about the Department of Music, housed in MSU's College of Education, at www.music.msstate.edu. |
| MSU alumnus receives prestigious NASA award for contributions to Artemis Program | |
| Terry Abel, a two-time graduate of Mississippi State's Bagley College of Engineering, has received NASA's prestigious Silver Snoopy award, an honor given to employees and contractors for exceptional contributions to spaceflight safety and mission success. The Silver Snoopy is awarded to fewer than 1% of NASA's workforce each year and is personally presented by astronauts. Each recipient receives a commemorative Snoopy pin that has flown on a previous Space Shuttle mission. Abel works at Lockheed Martin as a technical liaison to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where he oversees on-site activities, including work on the Orion spacecraft, part of NASA's Artemis program to send humans to the moon and ensure safe return. Abel said he feels "extremely blessed" to receive an award he has long admired. "I am deeply honored and extremely grateful to have been nominated and selected for NASA's Silver Snoopy Award," Abel said. "This award reflects our commitment at Lockheed Martin to prioritize crew safety in support of NASA's Artemis program as we prepare to transport a crew to the moon in early 2026 and future missions to follow." |
| State funding many economic development projects in South Mississippi. Seven stand out | |
 | Gulf Coast business leaders want to see millions in special economic development funds spent to create high-paying jobs and to leverage private investment in South Mississippi. The grant money comes from a settlement the Gulf states reached with BP and related companies over the 2010 oil catastrophe. The Mississippi Legislature controls the funding -- a total of $477 million arriving in annual increments of about $30 million through 2033. Over four years, the Legislature has doled out more than $200 million to projects in the six southernmost counties of Mississippi. The funding has produced only a few projects that promise the kind of transformative economic impact the business community envisioned. "We've seen more small projects coming from cities and counties that aren't bad projects, necessarily," said Jamie Miller, president and CEO of the Gulf Coast Business Council. "They just have very little economic impact regionally." Here is a list of the projects, among dozens approved since 2020, that Miller believes are on the right track to grow the Coast economy, including: Mississippi Cyber and Technology Center: The Legislature has provided a total of $20 million in GCRF funding over several years for the Cyber Center, an initiative led by Mississippi State University that had $17.8 million in matching funds. The center is being built outside Keesler Air Force Base. It will provide training, research and outreach in the growing cybersecurity field. The project is designed to strengthen Keesler's mission and establish South Mississippi as a national hub for cybersecurity. Multiple partners are involved, including Keesler. |
| Hard growing season, trade war, soybeans caught in middle | |
| Dust kicks up in the afternoon air over rows of crops as Dale Weaver's combine crawls across a field of soybeans, the roar of the machine blending with the crunch of the stalks. From a distance, the harvest looks plentiful. But after months of spring rain followed by a parched end to the growing season, Weaver said his yields are down, just as soybean prices are across the country. "So you've got a little bit here and a little bit there, and it's not going to be a banner year," Weaver, who farms roughly 1,400 acres in Noxubee County, told The Dispatch. "But hey, God is good, and we're thankful for what we've got. He's always been good to us, and we'll keep going as long as he lets us." With the harvest season wrapping up, farmers in the region are seeing yields slightly lower than the norm after a season of difficult weather. Additionally, with China -- the country's primary customer for soybean exports -- currently boycotting U.S. soybeans in retaliation for Trump Administration tariffs, farmers across the country are seeing challenges marketing their product this year. |
| Barnes Crossing connector street moves forward as Target lays groundwork for storefront | |
 | Work on a new connector road from North Gloster Street to Barnes Crossing Extended in Tupelo is rolling along as national retailer Target continues its plans to build a large storefront in the area. The Tupelo City Council voted this week unanimously among present members to approve the bid and $12.2 million contract with James A. Hodges Construction for the construction of the access road that will run parallel to Gloster Street ahead of Target's 148,721-square-foot storefront being built. "We had six very competitive bids come in on this," Public Works Kelly Knight said. "(James A. Hodges bid) came in at 23% under the engineer's estimate." Knight said the engineer's estimate was close to $16 million. The second lowest bidder, Cook and Sons, was just $372,142 lower than Hodges. The highest bid was about $18 million. The project will go in two phases: The first will involve connecting North Gloster Street to the Target work site, which will have over 500 parking spaces and multiple outparcels alongside the storefront, starting on Gloster across from Commonwealth Boulevard. The second phase will connect the new road from Target's lot to Barnes Crossing Extended. |
| Uncertainty over economy, tariffs forces many retailers to take a cautious stance on holiday hiring | |
 | Uncertainty over the economy and tariffs is forcing retailers to pull back or delay plans to hire seasonal workers who pack orders at distribution centers, serve shoppers at stores and build holiday displays during the most important selling season of the year. American Christmas LLC, which creates elaborate holiday installations for commercial properties such as New York's Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, plans to hire 220 temporary workers and is ramping up recruitment nearly two months later than usual, CEO Dan Casterella said. Last year, the company took on 300 people during its busy period. The main reason? The company wants to offset its tariff bill, which Casterella expects to be as big as $1.5 million this year, more than double last year's $600,000. "The issue is if you overstaff and then you underperform, it's too late," Casterella said. "I think everyone's more mindful now than ever. " Job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas forecasts hiring for the last three months of the year will likely fall under 500,000 positions. That's fewer than last year's 543,000 level and also marks the smallest seasonal gain in 16 years when retailers hired 495,800 temporary workers, the firm said. The average seasonal gain since 2005 has been 653,363 workers, the firm said. |
| Factory Towns Revive as Defense Tech Makers Arrive | |
 | The factory in Auburn Hills, Mich., had stood vacant for months, surrounded by unoccupied warehouses that had once been used by car companies in the heartland of America's auto industry. Last year, a start-up called Swarm Defense Technologies moved into an 8,000-square-foot section of the building to begin making drones for defense. By this summer, demand for its drones had grown so rapidly that the company took over the entire 14,000-square-foot factory. Today, 47 Swarm employees work in the cavernous space pumping out thousands of drones each month for the U.S. military and other clients. The drones, a little over 10 inches long and less than two pounds, can be used to test anti-drone systems and to simulate attacks. That has made Swarm's factory a hive of activity in an area where dozens of "For lease" signs are visible. Swarm is one of hundreds of defense technology companies that are reviving manufacturing in once-vibrant industrial cities across the Midwest and Northeast. Drawn by local talent, cheap labor and state cash incentives, these companies are building the weapons of the future in old factories or are constructing state-of-the-art sites in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Delaware. In January, Anduril, an artificial-intelligence-backed weapons manufacturer, announced that it was building a $1 billion factory in Ohio to make drones and other A.I.-enabled weapons. It has since said it also plans to open factories in Rhode Island and Mississippi. |
| The US and China are about to launch the next front in their trade war | |
 | The U.S.-China trade war has lurched from fragile truce to bare-knuckle brawl. It is about to intensify further when the two countries hike fees on each others' commercial ships Tuesday -- a move that, on the U.S. side, could end up raising consumer costs and driving down imports from Asia. Along with a new tussle over China's global chokehold on the supply of critical minerals -- which prompted President Donald Trump to threaten 100 percent tariffs and new curbs on "all critical software" in retaliation -- China's Ministry of Transport announced Friday that it is matching the Trump administration's planned increase in port fees on Chinese-owned and operated ships. Those new fees will have relatively minimal impact on the U.S. given that the U.S. exports just a fraction of the cargo to China that flows the other way. But Beijing's willingness to impose the fees underscores how a U.S.-China trade conflict that began with tariff increases in February has bled into economic sectors previously insulated from those tensions. And it raises the stakes in ongoing negotiations ahead of the Nov. 10 deadline for a U.S.-China trade deal. |
| Miss. Dept. of Education preps Senate Committee for increased funding requests | |
 | During a two-day hearing of the state Senate Education Committee last week, the Mississippi Department of Education outlined its needs to continue the gains the state has seen in recent years. In prior years, the Magnolia State was ranked at or near the bottom of nearly every category in terms of education. For instance, in 2013, the state was ranked 49th in fourth grade reading proficiency, a ranking that rose to 9th nationally in 2024, State Superintendent Dr. Lance Evans reminded the committee. "Just over a decade ago, we all know, Mississippi was at a crisis point in public education," Evans said. The state's rankings in math during that time also increased, from 50th in 2013 to now being 16th. The graduation rate saw gains as well. In 2013, the state's graduation rate was at 75.5 percent. The most recent ranking is 89.2 percent, above the national average of 87 percent. To reach those gains, Mississippi took advantage of federal law changes that turned control of the education system to states as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Dr. Christy Hovanetz, a senior policy fellow for ExcelinEd, said some states did well with that local control, while others did not. "It sounds like a good thing, but not all states are good actors," Hovanetz described. |
| Mississippi House Speaker Jason White breaks down support of school choice in interview with Daily Journal | |
| Mississippi Speaker of the House Jason White is one of the state's leading proponents of school choice in the State Legislature. Over recent months, he has been on a statewide tour touting what he says are the benefits of giving parents greater flexibility in where their children attend school. In September, White sat down with the Daily Journal to discuss the topic, which he hopes will gain traction during the next legislative session, which begins in January. The interview below has been edited for both space and clarity. Q. Are you looking for a full open enrollment model like some states have? A. We are looking at that. The House actually passed that last year, and we called it "open enrollment" or "portability." Several of our southern states have that. Arkansas has always had it ... You can go to any public school you want to; just show up. It's not even a capacity issue. It's so accepted that it's not even thought about anymore. I like to frame my words on this topic of portability, school choice -- whatever you want to call it -- and let people know this: My mom taught English at Kosciusko Junior High School for 35 years. I grew up in a public school system. My dad was vocational director at Holmes Junior College back then; it's now Community College. But I'm saying that's the world I grew up in. |
| Senate study committee looks at insurance market, health care delivery in Mississippi | |
| A state Senate study committee created to explore possible solutions to Mississippi's health insurance struggles heard suggestions on how to give doctors more say in patient treatment and how to fund low-income, rural clinics. The Insurance Study Committee was established in March 2025, following the passage of SB 2401, to enhance oversight of health care financing and delivery services for enrollees and to address a critical gap in the state's health insurance landscape. The committee will present its findings on December 1 for consideration of possible legislation during the 2026 session. On Thursday, the study group learned that a few insurance companies have a monopoly on providing coverage to Mississippians. This limited pool forces medical professionals to accept whatever reimbursement rates and regulations the insurance companies dictate, according to Mark Garriga, testifying for the Mississippi Independent Physician Practice Association, MIPPA. Garriga presented a slide presentation showing that in Mississippi, one company has an 85 percent market share for large groups. In the self-insured category, one company has a 96 percent market share. In the small group, a single company has a 94 percent market share. That company in each category is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi. Garriga asked the Senate committee if this would be acceptable in auto sales or real estate, where one lending institution has the power to deny customers access to services. |
| Mississippi school homecoming celebrations turn deadly as 8 people are killed in separate shootings | |
| High school homecoming celebrations in Mississippi ended in gunfire, with two separate shootings on opposite sides of the state Friday night that left at least eight people dead and many more injured, authorities said. Six were killed in downtown Leland after a high school football homecoming game in the Mississippi Delta region on the state's western edge, according to the county coroner. On the east side of the state, a pregnant woman was among the dead, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said. In Leland, four people were killed and two died later at a hospital, according to a statement from Washington County Coroner La'Quesha Watkins. Some 20 people were injured in the gunfire after people gathered in the downtown area following the game, state Sen. Derrick Simmons said. Of those, four were in critical condition and were flown from a hospital in nearby Greenville to a larger medical center in the state capital, Jackson, Simmons told The Associated Press. He was being updated on developments from law enforcement authorities in the Delta. Meanwhile, police in the small Mississippi town of Heidelberg in the eastern part of the state are investigating a shooting during that community's homecoming weekend that left two people dead. In Sharkey County, Mississippi, also in the Mississippi Delta region, the local sheriff was investigating yet another shooting after a high school football game in the area, authorities said. |
| Congress is losing its grip on the power to spend Americans' money | |
 | There are really three political parties in Washington, according to an old saying: Democrats, Republicans and appropriators. The latter are members of Congress lucky enough to get placed on the powerful committees that dole out roughly $1.6 trillion in federal funds for the military and government services each year. They have traditionally shared a common goal of jealously guarding their tremendous ability to steer federal resources. It's a bond that often defies the political rules of gravity that govern everything else on Capitol Hill. But now, those ties are being tested like never before: The White House was aggressively encroaching on Congress's power of the purse even before it began using the ongoing government shutdown as justification for rolling back billions more in spending. Democratic, and many Republican, appropriators are angry at Trump's White House for unilaterally canceling contracts, abruptly freezing billions of dollars in congressionally sanctioned funding and trying out a "pocket rescission" technique to permanently withhold $5 billion in foreign aid without congressional input. Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, have largely swallowed those concerns out of fealty to President Donald Trump. In the process, they have allowed their power to erode. The implications of that erosion are significant and long-lasting, say scholars of the U.S. political system and congressional observers. |
| A triumphant Trump basks in Mideast praise and promises more | |
 | The path to a durable peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians that President Donald Trump is pursuing will surely face hurdles and setbacks ahead, and success in that long struggle is hardly guaranteed. But on Oct. 13, there was joy in the morning. "After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today, the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace," Trump told the Israeli Knesset in a triumphant 65-minute address marked by asides and interrupted by applause. "Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change." There was jubilation on the streets of Tel Aviv and Gaza, and Trump, who is both praised and derided in his homeland, was greeted almost everywhere as a hero. After two years, the brutal war that started with Hamas' seizure of hostages and led to Israel's bombardment of Gaza was stilled. Hamas released the final 20 living hostages and began the transfer of the remains of those who had died. Israel began the release of Palestinian prisoners, pulled back its forces and allowed humanitarian aid to resume. That said, it was at least premature to declare, as Trump did, that the ceasefire was "the historic dawn of a new Middle East." The accords were just the first steps to a process that, it is hoped, will rebuild Gaza and ensure Israel's security. Without those first steps, though, all those that must follow would be all but impossible to imagine. |
| Gaza Hostages Are Freed, Ending Two-Year Ordeal | |
 | President Trump addressed the Israeli Parliament after all 20 remaining hostages alive in Gaza returned to Israel, closing a chapter in the two-year war. "We gather on a day of profound joy, of soaring hope," he said, later adding that international pressure had played a part in bringing about the cease-fire. Ahead of Trump's address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said no American president had done more for Israel. The release was a requirement of the cease-fire and a step that could push forward Trump's broader proposal to end the war and rebuild the enclave. Israel and Hamas are expected to begin negotiating a peace deal that would see the U.S.-designated terrorist group disarm and give up power in Gaza. Trump, who will attend a summit in Egypt aimed at spurring momentum for the broader plan, called for Israel to pardon Netanyahu. The high-profile Egypt summit, coming on the heels of the cease-fire and final hostage release, allows President Trump and other leaders the momentum for expanded peace negotiations, while also receiving credit for executing the first phase of the deal. "Trump wants to give his peace process international legitimacy that extends beyond the Middle East," said Randa Slim, a fellow at the Johns Hopkins University-based Foreign Policy Institute and an expert on conflict resolution. Having these countries attend the summit provides Trump the optics he is seeking, Slim said. "And these countries gain by placing themselves in Trump's orbit, and earning credit points with the U.S. president." |
| Supreme Court takes up Republican attack on Voting Rights Act in case over Black representation | |
| A Republican attack on a core provision of the Voting Rights Act that is designed to protect racial minorities comes to the Supreme Court this week, more than a decade after the justices knocked out another pillar of the 60-year-old law. In arguments Wednesday, lawyers for Louisiana and the Trump administration will try to persuade the justices to wipe away the state's second majority Black congressional district and make it much harder, if not impossible, to take account of race in redistricting. "Race-based redistricting is fundamentally contrary to our Constitution," Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill wrote in the state's Supreme Court filing. A mid-decade battle over congressional redistricting already is playing out across the nation, after President Donald Trump began urging Texas and other Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines to make it easier for the GOP to hold its narrow majority in the House of Representatives. A ruling for Louisiana could intensify that effort and spill over to state legislative and local districts. The conservative-dominated court, which just two years ago ended affirmative action in college admissions, could be receptive. At the center of the legal fight is Chief Justice John Roberts, who has long had the landmark civil rights law in his sights, from his time as a young lawyer in the Reagan-era Justice Department to his current job. |
| Originalist 'Bombshell' Complicates Case on Trump's Power to Fire Officials | |
| The Supreme Court will hear arguments in December about whether President Trump can fire government officials for any reason, or no reason, despite laws meant to shield them from politics. There is little question that the court will side with the president. Its conservative majority has repeatedly signaled that it plans to adopt the "unitary executive theory," which says the original understanding of the Constitution demands letting the president remove executive branch officials as he sees fit. But a new article, from a leading originalist law professor, has complicated and perhaps upended the conventional wisdom. The legal academy treated the development like breaking news. "Bombshell!" William Baude, a law professor at the University of Chicago who himself is a prominent originalist, wrote on social media. "Caleb Nelson, one of the most respected originalist scholars in the country, comes out against the unitary executive interpretation" of the Constitution. Professor Nelson, who teaches at the University of Virginia and is a former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote that the text of the Constitution and the historical evidence surrounding it grants Congress broad authority to shape the executive branch, including by putting limits on the president's power to fire people. |
| Obama talks of issues affecting California on Maron's final podcast | |
 | Former President Obama, speaking on stand-up comedian Marc Maron's final podcast on Monday, said the Trump administration's policies are a "test" of whether universities, businesses, law firms and voters -- including Republicans -- will take a stand for the nation's founding principles and values. "If you decide not to vote, that's a consequence. If you are a Hispanic man and you're frustrated about inflation, and so you decided, ah, you know what, all that rhetoric about Trump doesn't matter. 'I'm just mad about inflation,'" Obama said. "And now your sons are being stopped in L.A. because they look Latino and maybe without the ability to call anybody, might just be locked up, well, that's a test." In a more than hourlong discussion with Maron on the wildly popular "WTF With Marc Maron" podcast, the former Democratic president said current events could jolt Americans. "It'd be great if we weren't tested this way, but you know what? We probably need to be shaken out of our complacency," he said. Obama also criticized some Democrats' messaging as he touched on significant issues facing Californians and discussed the state of the nation's democracy, core convictions and the weakening of institutional norms. Faulting language used by some liberals as "holier than thou," Obama argued that Democrats could remain true to their principles while respecting those with whom they disagreed. |
| Residents share what America means to them for nation's anniversary | |
| In a makeshift studio Friday morning inside the Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center, Isabel Candelario Vanegas told the story of what America means to her. She was 15 when she moved from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Columbus in 2004. It's where she started her business, her family and where she earned her U.S. citizenship in August. "America means to me a better life," Vanegas told The Dispatch. "America gives a way to make my dreams come true (and) gives a better life for my family, too. America is beautiful, and I'm happy to stay." Her story was one of many collected through the America250 initiative, a nationwide effort to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States. As part of the project, the America250 Airstream trailer stopped in Columbus Friday to record oral histories for its "Our American Story" project. Some residents, like Vanegas, were chosen for in-depth interviews for an America250 documentary. Meanwhile, residents outside were invited to step into a red, white and blue tent, where a kiosk prompted them to answer two questions: What does American spirit mean to you? And what is your hope for America's future? |
| Board of Trustees to Meet | |
| The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning will hold its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, October 16, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. Members of the Board may participate in the meeting via teleconference or an online meeting platform. The meeting will be webcast on www.mississippi.edu. Members of the public and media may attend the meeting in the IHL Board Room, located in the Universities Center, 3825 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, Miss., 39211. An Executive Session may be held in accordance with the Open Meetings Act. The Real Estate Committee, a standing committee of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning chaired by Trustee Gregg Rader, will meet on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at 2:00 p.m., to discuss various real estate topics. The Finance & Budget Committee, a standing committee of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning chaired by Trustee Charlie Stephenson, will meet on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, immediately following the Real Estate Committee to discuss various financial topics. The Health Affairs Committee, a standing committee of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning chaired by Trustee Dr. Steven Cunningham, will meet on Wednesday, October 14, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. to discuss various health affairs topics and initiatives. |
| Mississippi Treasury now accepting Venmo, cryptocurrency for college savings plan | |
| In an evolving world where cash and cards are becoming more antiquated, State Treasurer David McRae is integrating new forms of payment for Mississippi families looking to lock in affordable college tuition rates for their pupils. Families can now use PayPal and Venmo for gifting and cryptocurrency to make payments toward their college and career savings plans through the state treasury's office. "Mississippians don't need government telling them how to save. They just need government to get out of the way," McRae said. "As one of the first in the nation letting residents invest in their child's future using crypto and Venmo, along with traditional funding sources, we're cutting red tape and bringing a little innovation to a system that's been stuck in the past." The Mississippi Affordable College Savings plan is a tax-advantaged opportunity aimed at helping cover expenses ranging from K-12 education, college tuition, school and classroom supplies, and job training costs for students seeking postsecondary education. |
| Shootings at Jackson State and Alcorn State leave multiple victims; follow violent weekend across Mississippi | |
| Separate shootings at Jackson State University and Alcorn State University left several people wounded and at least one dead Saturday, capping a violent weekend that also saw deadly gunfire at multiple high school homecoming events across Mississippi. At approximately 7 p.m. Saturday, Capitol Police responded to reports of a shooting near the Jackson State University football stadium in the tailgating area, according to a statement from the agency. A juvenile was shot in the abdomen and taken to a nearby hospital. No arrests have been made. The investigation remains open and active, police said. About 30 minutes earlier, around 6:30 p.m., officers at Alcorn State University responded to a call of shots fired near the Industrial Technology Building on campus, according to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Three people were found with gunshot wounds, and at least one person died. MBI is handling the investigation and continuing to gather evidence. Anyone with information is asked to contact the agency at MBITIPS@dps.ms.gov. The Saturday campus shootings followed a night of violence across the state. On Friday, two people were killed and another wounded in gunfire during homecoming celebrations at Heidelberg High School, and at least six were killed out of 16 shot at a homecoming block party for Leland High School. |
| Next phase of Museum Trail in Downtown Jackson to break ground | |
| The next phase of the Museum Trail Greenway in Downtown Jackson is set to break ground on Monday. According to a release, the project will extend Jackson's trail network directly into the heart of downtown, linking museums, neighborhoods, landmarks, and civic spaces through a new green corridor. Once complete, the Capitol Green Connector will connect the existing Museum Trail to major destinations, including the Old Capitol Museum, Two Mississippi Museums, the historic GM&O Depot, Hal & Mal's, and future phases planned to connect to the Arts District, then Jackson State University. "The Museum Trail Downtown Connector represents more than just a new path through our city, it is a symbol of connection," Jackson Mayor John Horn said. "By linking our neighborhoods, cultural institutions, and business districts, this trail will bring people together around revitalizing Downtown Jackson, making it more vibrant, walkable, and economically dynamic." "It will strengthen our connection to Jackson State University, opening a new gateway between the campus and the heart of Downtown," he continued. "This project is a powerful example of our Jackson Rising Strategic Plan, which is investing in public spaces that improve quality of life, spark economic growth, and chart a brighter future for our community." |
| Amid shutdown, Trump administration guts department overseeing special education | |
 | Sweeping layoffs announced Friday by the Trump administration landed another body blow to the U.S. Department of Education, this time gutting the office responsible for overseeing special education, according to multiple sources within the department. The reduction-in-force, or RIF, affects the dozens of staff responsible for roughly $15 billion dollars in special education funding, and for making sure states provide special education services to the nation's 7.5 million children with disabilities. "This is decimating the office responsible for safeguarding the rights of infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities," said one department employee, who, like the others NPR spoke with, requested anonymity for fear of retribution. According to sources, all staff in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), with the exception of a handful of top officials and support staff, were cut in Friday's RIF. The office is the central nervous system for programs that support students with disabilities, not only offering guidance to families but providing monitoring and oversight of states to make sure they're complying with the landmark Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). |
| To Find Workers, Hospitals Are Training Teenagers | |
| Ballad Health has a $70 million problem. Like many rural hospitals, the Tennessee-based health system struggles to recruit workers, forcing it to pay traveling nurses tens of millions of dollars every year to fill the gaps. It also thinks it has a solution: train more local high-school students to join its ranks. The idea is catching on elsewhere, too, as health systems struggle to find enough workers to care for an aging population. Nationwide, hospitals are confronting a shortage of everything from aides to doctors that has strained many wards and emergency rooms. Even as the labor market has softened, healthcare jobs have stayed plentiful: People spend on healthcare in good times and bad, and thus far, the ability to change bedpans and insert IVs hasn't been automated. Ballad is trying to create a local labor pool by working with five northeast Tennessee school districts to train teenagers. The first batch of 200 students will graduate in 2029 with their licensed practical nurse credentials and be eligible to work right away at Ballad, earning $23 an hour. In some ways, the new high schools are a throwback to the days when hospitals ran their own nursing programs, as they did a half-century ago, said Janet Coffman, a professor at the Institute for Health Policy Studies, at the University of California, San Francisco. Hospitals have closed many such programs in recent decades, in part to save money, she said. |
| Shutdown continues with some U. of Tennessee grants restored, more cut | |
 | The University of Tennessee System, which is working to stabilize research efforts amid targeted federal spending cuts across higher education, was able to get 29 federal grants reinstated as of Sept. 30 -- just one day before the ongoing government shutdown put colleges across the country in a further state of uncertainty. The UT System in May provided Knox News with a list of 61 grants that had been terminated or were at risk of being terminated by President Donald Trump's administration. The grants supported research into vaccines, school shootings, Alzheimer's and mental health, as well as climate change and social issues. Thirteen of the 29 reinstated grants were included in our list of cuts published May 22. University of Tennessee at Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman told Knox News she and UT leaders went line by line through the list of terminated grants to come up with solutions for getting them reinstated. The other cuts came later, and the reinstated grants touch on a range of topics from Appalachian voices in library collections to diversity in the fusion workforce. The dollars attached to the 29 grants total $44.58 million. |
| U. of Arkansas, Fayetteville aid campaign receives $1M gift | |
| The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Land of Opportunity Scholarship campaign has received another seven-figure contribution. The Schoen Foundation gift of $1 million in honor of William J. Schoen will impact student access by addressing the critical funding gap often limiting those opportunities, the university announced Thursday. With this contribution, the Schoen Foundation joins the Leaders of Arkansas Founders' Circle, an esteemed group of benefactors who have each committed at least $1 million to the scholarship campaign. Land of Opportunity is a three-year initiative to further educational access opportunities for students from all 75 counties in Arkansas, improve graduation rates, create two-way engagement between the university and businesses throughout the state, and fulfill the institution's land-grant mission to uplift Arkansas, according to the university. More than $135 million in pledges and commitments have been raised -- as of the end of September -- for the campaign, which began in November 2024 and has a goal of $200 million. ... UA announced this week the creation of the William R. (Bill) McKamey and Patsy McKamey Endowed Undergraduate Teaching Support Program for the Department of Industrial Engineering. |
| Mizzou classrooms combine technology and learning in space-themed video game | |
 | At the University of Missouri, professors of American Government 1100 have moved to the next frontier: in-class gaming. One of the ways technology has been implemented to engage students in class is through a newly developed video game called "GalactiVote: Government in Action!" The idea is not a new phenomenon as many college students grew up on games like Cool Math Games and The Oregon Trail. However, the Mizzou Teaching for Learning Center partnered with Adroit Studios to make a game that was different and engaging for students studying the course's political material. GalactiVote! was developed by a team at Adroit, a company within the College of Education that creates video games specifically for learning. Adroit creates games that cater to different age demographics, from middle schoolers learning about nutrition to adults training to work as baristas. Victoria Mondelli, the founding director of the university's Teaching for Learning Center, helped facilitate the creation of the American Government game. Mondelli said she has found that the best way to regain attention from distractions is to use the technology to pull students' focus to their classes, not away from it. She said gaming is a great way to do that. |
| Grief Fuels Growth of Turning Point's Campus Footprint | |
 | In the hours after Charlie Kirk's assassination last month, RaeAnna Morales was overcome with disbelief, anger and sadness. "I saw a video of him being shot and I was absolutely horrified. That's not something you can ever completely get out of your head," Morales, a political science major and media director for the College Republicans at Vanderbilt University, told Inside Higher Ed. "He was out there speaking to both political parties. No one should get shot for expressing a political viewpoint." She canceled her plans for the rest of the day and reflected on how she could channel her grief. "I realized what I can do is bring Turning Point to Vanderbilt's campus," she said. "That night, I reached out to [Turning Point] and asked if we could start a chapter." Morales's request was one of 62,000 that Turning Point USA -- the group Kirk founded in 2012 "to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government" -- received from students interested in starting a new chapter or getting involved with one in the eight days after his death, the group posted on X. "It's not just a movement anymore, it's a nationwide awakening," one commenter replied. "They tried to silence him. Instead, they lit the fuse." One month later, momentum for the conservative movement Kirk started on college campuses more than a decade ago appears stronger than ever. |
| What Could MIT's Rejection of Trump's Proposed 'Compact' Mean for the Rest of Higher Ed? | |
 | As the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said Friday that it "cannot support" the Trump administration's compact for higher education, academics largely celebrated the rejection of what they saw as proposed government intrusion, though some were apprehensive about what could come next. Meanwhile, national observers hoped that MIT's response would serve as a template for other universities. "We are extremely relieved that MIT's leadership has seen this for what it is: a trap," said Ariel White, an associate professor of political science at MIT who's vice president for the institute's chapter of the American Association of University Professors. In declining to back the current version of the deal on Friday, MIT became the first recipient to give the government such a concrete, public answer. The compact "includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution," Kornbluth wrote in a public letter explaining her decision. "And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone." An MIT spokesperson said the institute would not comment further. |
| 'One-sided deal': College presidents see Trump offer rife with peril | |
| University leaders who have struggled to counter the Trump administration's monthslong campaign to rewrite higher education just caught the biggest break academia has had all year. Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth's public rejection Friday of an offer to voluntarily link the school's federal funding to President Donald Trump's higher education priorities on college finance, hiring and admissions came after a string of setbacks for elite institutions in particular. "Today really felt like the clouds were breaking," Ted Mitchell, the former president of Occidental College, said after MIT's announcement. "One of the things I appreciate most about Sally Kornbluth's letter is that she is capturing what a lot of presidents are saying behind the scenes." "It's pretty vague what the advantages are of signing the compact," said Teresa Sullivan, the former president of the University of Virginia, one of nine colleges the Trump administration is trying to court. "If you're thinking of this as a deal, it's a one-sided deal." Sullivan and others say the offer is all sticks and no carrots. And while the compact itself makes no mention of the benefits the White House is offering, it does spell out what costly financial penalties schools will face if they fall short of what the administration deems as compliance. |
| We are foolproof and incapable of error said HAL | |
| Columnist Bill Crawford writes: As hopes and fears for AI applications mount, can efforts succeed to keep this transformational technology from serving both? Fears were nudged last month when Open AI, parent of popular Chat GPT, revealed it had updated its "Preparedness Framework" by removing "persuasion" as a potential "severe harm" in its AI model evaluation process. Fears got jolted this month when Open AI said it would open up access to Chat GPT 5 to independent developers. For insight see "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison or "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein or "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke. "Let me put it this way, Mr. Amer," said HAL (the acronym for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) in "Space Odyssey." "No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information." I questioned Chat GPT (which converses much like HAL): "Are you allowed to persuade questioners about the accuracy of your answers?" |
| Government shutdown rhetoric begs the question: Should the sick and injured be denied emergency care? | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: Based on the ongoing rhetoric surrounding the federal government shutdown, perhaps it is time to ask the question. The question is, do we -- the United States of America -- really want undocumented immigrants receiving medical treatment in our hospital emergency rooms? If a non-citizen falls off a roof of a house while doing carpentry work, do we want to transport him to the hospital or just leave him in the yard to fend for himself -- broken legs and all? If a non-citizen child is sick, should she be provided emergency care? Under current law signed in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, the answer is yes to providing emergency care. Hospitals, if they receive federal funds, are obligated to provide "stabilizing care" in their emergency rooms to all who show up, including undocumented immigrants. The issue is worth discussing now because Republicans, led by U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, are complaining that Democrats are shutting down the federal government demanding federal funds to provide health care to undocumented immigrants. |
| Here's to Columbus: European settlement of the Americas was a good thing on net | |
| The Magnolia Tribune's Russ Latino writes: Today, Americans celebrate Columbus Day. Well, at least some Americans. The holiday commemorates the trans-Atlantic voyages of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus to 'The New World' more than 500 years ago. Like most everything these days, Columbus, and in a broader sense, European settlement of the Americas, has become a flashpoint in a tiresome culture war. Growing up, I learned in school that "in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." But not everyone views the explorer's trans-Altantic voyages to the Caribbean in such idyllic terms. Former Vice President Kamala Harris once explained a growing sentiment on the left against European settlement this way: "Those explorers ushered in a wave of devastation for Tribal nations -- perpetrating violence, stealing land and spreading disease," Harris said. "We must not shy away from this shameful past, and we must shed light on it and do everything we can to address the impact of the past on Native communities today." History is complicated because people are complicated. There's only ever been one perfect person to walk the earth, and it in was not Christopher Columbus. But modern day efforts to vilify European settlers to the Americas are misguided in at least three ways. |
SPORTS
| Rosters Set For The 2025 Farm Bureau Diamond Dawg Classic | |
| Dudy Noble Field has been the setting for many memorable moments throughout Mississippi State's storied history. On Nov. 7, "The Carnegie Hall of College Baseball" will be the backdrop for The Farm Bureau Diamond Dawg Classic powered by The Bulldog Initiative. This inaugural event brings back dozens of MSU greats to play in condensed game beginning at 7 p.m. in front of college baseball's most loyal and passionate fans. Tickets are on sale now. The alumni baseball game will be in conjunction with The Bulldog Initiative Dawgs Grand Slam Golf Event on Nov. 6 at Mossy Oak Golf Club in West Point with a noon shotgun start. A total of 48 former Diamond Dawgs were drafted onto two teams coached by two of the most iconic players to ever wear the M-over-S, Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro. Clark will be the manager for Team Thunder while Rafael Palmeiro will serve in the same capacity for Team Lightning. Current Major Leaguers Adam Frazier and Jake Mangum are among the State greats that will play alongside former big leaguers Mitch Moreland, Jonathan Papelbon, Hunter Renfroe, Travis Chapman and Tyler Moore. Moreland (Thunder) and Papelbon (Lightning) are serving as team captains for their respective teams. |
| Volleyball: State Topples Ole Miss In Four Sets | |
| Mississippi State volleyball took down Ole Miss in a four-set victory this evening. "It was a great team win and we're proud of the Dawgs for battling out that fourth set where it could've gone either way," said head coach Julie Darty Dennis. "Ole Miss is a very scrappy team and it took a lot of effort and execution for us to come out with a win against a tough SEC opponent. We love playing at home and the energy helps give us the edge that we need. Our serving, passing and defense were very important in this match and we fought hard for the win. Hail State!" Tonight's victory over Ole Miss marks Darty Dennis' 100th win at MSU. She recently surpassed the 150th career victory mark earlier this season. Three Bulldogs picked up double-doubles in tonight's matchup. Berni Aguilar collected double-digits in kills and digs, receiving her second double-double of the season. Lindsey Mangelson also tallied in kills and digs, marking her sixth double-double of the season. Cayley Hanson picked up assists and digs, collecting her fourth double-double of the season. |
| HBCU homecomings in Mississippi: Woman killed, child shot | |
| Two HBCU campuses in Mississippi -- Jackson State and Alcorn State -- have reported shootings during Homecoming events. At Alcorn State, authorities say a shooting occurred near an old gas station on campus around 6:30 p.m., resulting in one woman's death and two other people being rushed to the hospital. The campus was immediately locked down, and students were told to shelter in place until officials gave an all clear. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation. At Jackson State, reports surfaced of a shooting near the tailgate section of Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium on West Street. A child was reportedly struck and transported to UMMC by Jackson Police in a patrol vehicle. Capitol PD and JPD are investigating, but no suspect details have been confirmed so far. These shootings come on the heels of a shooting at South Carolina State University last weekend that resulted in the death of 19-year-old Jaliyah Butler. Across these three incidents -- at Alcorn State, Jackson State, and South Carolina State -- common threads emerge. Each incident happened during or around homecoming festivities. The locations varied: tailgate zones, campus peripheries, and student housing areas. At Jackson State, the victim was a child. |
| Why did college football move its transfer portal? An FAQ | |
| Transfer portal season in college football is officially moving to January. The NCAA Division I Cabinet formally approved a significant change to the transfer portal process Tuesday, establishing a single offseason transfer portal window for FBS and FCS players Jan. 2-16, 2026, and eliminating the spring portal window in April. What will this mean for coaches, players and roster management across the sport this offseason? While head coaches have been wanting to see a single portal window in college football for years, they didn't all agree that January is the best answer for the sport. Ohio State coach Ryan Day told reporters it "doesn't make any sense" that playoff teams will have to make decisions on next year's roster while they're still competing for a national championship. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said most Big Ten coaches wanted to move the portal window to April or May, citing the timing of revenue-sharing payments as another factor, because Nebraska pays its players from July 1 to June 30. SEC coaches came out in support of the January proposal, believing that it would ultimately be more problematic to put off these roster moves until the spring. They need to get their rosters set and their new players enrolled in January for offseason training and spring practice. Several SEC coaches acknowledged it might not be easy for the last few teams in the College Football Playoff, but it's the right change for everybody else. "I'm sorry, there's no crying on the yacht," LSU coach Brian Kelly said. |
| Judge in FOIA suit against U. of South Carolina wants more info about $20.5M shared with athletes | |
 | A judge has ordered that the University of South Carolina must provide the court more information about the $20.5 million in revenue being shared with student-athletes. Frank Heindel, a South Carolina freedom of information advocate, filed a lawsuit against USC on Sept. 30 for withholding information about its revenue-sharing program. Its secrecy, Heindel said, is "legally untenable." The judge's order was issued at a preliminary hearing Friday. Heindel sent USC a request for public records under South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act on Sept. 4. He asked for any revenue-sharing contracts, agreements or memorandums of understanding between the university and its football players. The university denied the request six days later. Heindel was told that the records he requested were considered "scholastic records" and protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law that shields a student's educational records from disclosure. Therefore, the FOIA coordinator said, there were no records responsive to his request. "This response contains a clear contradiction," Heindel told Fifth Circuit Judge Daniel Coble. "If the records are scholastic and exempt ... the records exist. If no records are responsive, then nothing exists to exempt. Both cannot be true." |
| Penn State, Adidas Deny Wrongdoing Around $300M Apparel Deal | |
| On Sept. 5, Penn State and Adidas announced a "transformational" 10-year apparel agreement to begin in 2026 that will replace the school's decadeslong relationship with Nike. The deal was widely reported to be worth about $300 million. In the weeks since, several sources familiar with the contract negotiations have told Front Office Sports that some members of the board of trustees are outraged by the process behind the decision, and were never shown the full offers from Adidas or Nike -- only partial summaries -- despite repeated requests. The trustees believe they are entitled to view the documents under Pennsylvania state law. (The school's own bylaws do not require trustee signoff on athletic deals.) Those trustees are aggrieved, sources say, over two specific elements of the Adidas and Nike offers that were never disclosed to the board: that the Nike offer included more than $30 million in cash upfront; and that the Adidas contract includes, beginning in 2027, an annual product allotment of $500,000 in retail value for athletic director Patrick Kraft, separate from the $8 million annual product allotment earmarked for the athletic department. In response to a list of questions sent for this story, Penn State sent FOS a lengthy statement from board of trustees chair David Kleppinger and vice chair Rick Sokolov on Saturday night vigorously denying any misconduct around the deal -- and posted it on the school website. |
| Big Ten nearing decision on $2.4 billion deal with California pension investment fund in landmark move within college athletics | |
| A California pension fund may soon invest in the Big Ten Conference. An investment fund of the University of California pension system is in negotiations with the nation's largest and perhaps most valuable collegiate athletic conference to infuse about $2.4 billion in immediate cash to its 18 schools and help create the conference's long-discussed subsidiary, Big Ten Enterprises. Those with knowledge of the negotiations spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak about the potential 20-year agreement with the UC pension system's investment fund, better known as UC Investments -- a $190 billion entity responsible for managing the system's portfolio. UC Investments manages the endowment and retirement savings of the UC system and is independent from the universities within the system, such as UCLA and Cal. The Big Ten's year-long exploration into the private investment world is at its seminal moment, with a decision expected in a matter of days. Under the proposal, UC Investments will finance the potentially groundbreaking deal with the league to deliver an average of $140 million to each of the conference's schools in up-front payments. Over the last week, Big Ten executives and commissioner Tony Petitti accelerated their efforts to socialize and finalize deeper details of the concept with presidents, athletic directors and school board members. Stakeholders of the conference's two biggest brands -- Ohio State and Michigan -- have warmed to the idea, paving the way for a vote as soon as next week, those with knowledge tell Yahoo Sports. |
| Senator cautions Big Ten presidents about private capital as conference moves closer to deal | |
| As Big Ten schools moved closer to a decision on whether to accept a more than $2 billion investment deal, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) sent a letter to the league's university presidents Friday, stressing concerns and urging caution about getting involved with private capital. The investment deal being considered by the Big Ten is not with a private equity firm, but rather with the independent fund that manages the University of California pension system, a person involved in the talks within the conference told The Athletic on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the conference was not publicly addressing its internal discussions. Yahoo Sports first reported the Big Ten has been working on a deal with the UC pension fund. The fund is run separate from UC system schools such as UCLA, a Big Ten member, and Cal. The fund is run separate from UC system schools such as UCLA, a Big Ten member, and Cal. The deal would likely include sponsorship and branding rights, with the money to be distributed among the 18 Big Ten members and the conference office. Distributions would be tiered, with the schools that drive the most value earning more. "I still think it's a work in progress," said a second person who has been briefed on the details. Cantwell, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, wrote in her letter to Big Ten presidents that such a deal "may be counter to your university's academic goals, may require the sale of university assets to a private investor, and may affect the tax-exempt purpose of those assets." |
| Congress Becomes Private Equity's Latest College Sports Hurdle | |
| Since the NCAA acceded to demands that college athletes be allowed to use their NIL rights in July 2021, the intercollegiate athletics industry has undergone seismic change at a speed few anticipated. What was once expected to take years -- like the emergence of booster-backed NIL collectives -- materialized in mere months. Changes previously thought to be decades away, including direct payments from schools to athletes, arrived within just a few years. Given this precedent, it seemed only prudent to assume that once word leaked of schools and conferences fielding calls and Zooms with private equity firms, formal PE partnerships wouldn't be far behind. Indeed, those conversations soon moved from behind closed doors to press conference podiums, a further indication that this next once-unthinkable development would soon become the new normal. Instead, the courtship between institutional capital and college sports has been more of a slow stumble to the altar -- full of fits, starts and revised announcements. Remember College Sports Tomorrow, the Wall Street-backed "super league" proposal The Athletic broke in April 2024? Might have been better called College Sports Someday. This week, another obstacle reared its head: Congress. |
| College Leaders See a Stormy Outlook for Athletics | |
| Business models and basic assumptions of fairness are at risk of breaking down, suggest the leaders who see big-time athletics up close. Six in 10 college leaders say Division I athletics are headed in the wrong direction, according to a survey of D1 administrators and faculty athletics representatives released Thursday by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. Just 9 percent think things are looking up. Three-quarters predicted a negative impact from a revenue-sharing settlement approved in June. Participating colleges can send more than $20 million per year to their athletes, who can also collect separate name, image, and likeness payments. Overwhelming majorities worry about finances. Some 86 percent of presidents and 80 percent of athletics directors are concerned that athletic programs suck up institutional funds and student fees. They might want to worry about gender equity. Seven in 10 athletics directors predicted the revenue-sharing settlement will have a negative effect on women's sports, other than basketball. Pay-for-play will leave female athletes in a worse position, said 55 percent of all surveyed leaders. Everyone seems to want the feds to fix things, but no one agrees on exactly how. Dueling congressional proposals would provide varying types of antitrust exemptions. |
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