| Monday, November 24, 2025 |
| State and Ole Miss cadets face off in Calhoun City | |
 | A rivalry rich in tradition like a tale as old as time, the 2025 Egg Bowl kicks off Friday, November 28 in Starkville. The Rebels are looking to continue their streak against the Bulldogs, and the Dawgs are looking to regain ground -- and bragging rights. But, before the Rebels and Dawgs face off in Davis Wade Stadium, their cadets met on friendlier ground at the Square in Calhoun City for the annual Egg Bowl Run and Food Drive. Cadets from the ROTC programs at Mississippi State and Ole Miss met in Calhoun City Saturday to hand off the game ball -- and help those in need. And while next Friday's Egg Bowl will be a hard-fought rivalry, the 12th annual Egg Bowl run was a day of fun, food, and friendly jabs. "We are the closest midway point so it allows us to have a community event where people come out, where we can be friendly rivalries and the can food drive that we do each year fortifies the pantries at both of our food pantries here in the county. We have one here in Calhoun City and one in Bruce and we always split the donations that come in from the cadets between the two," Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce Director Laura Sanders said. Sanders said the donations that the cadets bring are a help to the county. |
| MSU assistant professor discovers new asteroid, a first for the state | |
 | A faculty member from Mississippi State University has discovered a new asteroid, a first for the Magnolia State. Jean-François Gout, an assistant professor of biological sciences, is also an amateur astronomer in his free time away from campus. In January, Gout identified a new asteroid, which he named "(826856) Commodorecochran," after Commodore Shelton Cochran. Cochran, a 1923 MSU alumnus who graduated when the university was known as Mississippi Agricultural & Mechanical College, was the first MSU athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. In the 1924 Summer Olympic games in Paris, France, Cochran ran the first leg of Team USA's 4 x 400-meter relay. This story ties back to Gout in a meaningful way, as the assistant professor is originally from France. "The discovery was just over 100 years after the gold medal, and he won his medal at the Olympic games in Paris," Gout said. "I thought it was an even stronger connection to name the asteroid for a Mississippian who won their medal in my home country." |
| Shooting for the Stars: MSU's Gout makes asteroid discovery first for Mississippi | |
 | Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Jean-Francois Gout, an amateur astronomer in his spare time, recently became the official discoverer of a new asteroid. Gout named the asteroid "(826856) Commodorecochran," in honor of Commodore Shelton Cochran (1902–1969), the first MSU athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. The Minor Planet Center, the world's official authority for verifying new asteroid findings and operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory confirmed the discovery. After confirmation, Gout proposed a permanent name to the International Astronomical Union, or IAU, which oversees the naming of celestial bodies. The asteroid belongs to a group known as Jupiter Trojans, which share Jupiter's orbit around the sun. Traditionally, Jupiter Trojans have been named for heroes of the Trojan War. As discoveries increased, the IAU expanded the naming rules to include Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Only about 7,000 of the currently 1.5 million known asteroids belong to the Jupiter Trojan family. Gout said most asteroids orbit in the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Using his own 11-inch telescope and a small observatory he built in his Starkville backyard, Gout captured multiple images of a star field and used specialized software to detect objects moving against the background stars. |
| MSU hosts world-renowned animal scientist, inventor and author | |
 | Mississippi State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will host Temple Grandin Dec. 2 for a book signing and screening of the newly released documentary "An Open Door." Taking place at the Wise Center Auditorium, doors open at 5 p.m., with the viewing at 5:30 p.m. and a book signing will follow. Grandin is a professor at Colorado State University, author of numerous books and scientific publications, and a dedicated advocate for livestock handling, equipment design and animal welfare. Much of her inspiration and passion for her work comes from her unique sensory perception as an individual living with autism. Christy Bratcher, professor and head of the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, spearheaded the event and shared her excitement about the opportunity. "Regardless of whether you study agriculture or education, are interested in leadership or history, the chance to learn firsthand from the subject of academic lectures is remarkable," she said. "This event is open to anyone who wishes to learn more about the changing social landscapes of fields like agriculture and academia." |
| Tennessee Williams Home marks 150 years Sunday | |
| A building that stays standing for 150 years isn't something that happens by accident. It takes dedicated work from a preservation champion, William "Brother" Rodgers, historian with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, said to a crowd of more than 50 people Sunday afternoon. Nancy Carpenter, CEO of the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation, has been that champion for the Tennessee Williams House Museum and Welcome Center, he said. "Columbus needs a champion for (it's) history, somebody who values history, somebody who recognizes the need to preserve history, somebody who is willing to plan and to tackle project after project after project to promote history," Rodgers said at Sunday's event. "And that champion is Nancy Carpenter." More than 50 community members, organizers and public officials gathered Sunday afternoon at Poindexter Hall at Mississippi University for Women to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Tennessee Williams House Museum and Welcome Center. Mississippi Heritage Trust, MDAH and Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area partnered for the event, which also served as a way to recognize Carpenter with a Preservation Champion Award for her work with the welcome center and with other organizations across the state. |
| The shutdown is over. Flights have resumed. Thanksgiving travelers might wonder: What now? | |
 | The turbulence caused by the longest government shutdown on record may still be fresh on travelers' minds this Thanksgiving, but experts say preparing for the usual holiday crush of winter weather, heavy traffic and crowded airports can help ease those jitters. "I think the shutdown at this point is history for air travel. The airlines understand this time of year so well. They know exactly what they need to do," said Sheldon H. Jacobson, an airport and airlines operations expert. "The real challenge is making sure travelers can help themselves." Travel forecasts point to packed airports and roads. A week after lifting the unprecedented flight restrictions it placed on commercial airlines during the shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration is preparing for its busiest Thanksgiving week in 15 years, with more than 360,000 flights scheduled between Monday and next Tuesday. That's more than 17.8 million people who will be screened by the Transportation Security Administration. AAA projects 1.3 million more travelers will be on the roads than last year, pushing the total number of people traveling by car to at least 73 million. |
| Survey shows this year's classic Thanksgiving feast will cost U.S. families less | |
| According to American Farm Bureau Federation's 40th annual Thanksgiving dinner survey, a Thanksgiving dinner for your family will cost less than last year, marking the third straight year of price declines. Prices were checked during the first week of November. The average cost of Thanksgiving staples that make up a classic holiday feast for 10 will run you $55.18, or about $5.52 per person. The survey said that dollar amount is a 5% decrease from 2024. The average price for a 16-pound frozen turkey is $21.50, which is $1.34 per pound, down more than 16% from last year. "While the wholesale price for fresh turkey is up from 2024, grocery stores are featuring Thanksgiving deals and attempting to draw consumer demand back to turkey, leading to lower retail prices for a holiday bird," American Farm Bureau Federation reported. Other items on the Thanksgiving table the survey checked included stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream, all in quantities sufficient for 10 servings. The survey found that half of the ingredients declined in price, including dinner rolls and stuffing. However, fresh vegetables and sweet potatoes increased, with a veggie tray up more than 61 percent and sweet potatoes are up 37 percent. |
| Christmas tree lots: Some branch out, others trim back | |
| Chad McComic hauls Fraser firs from a truckload of more than 200 Christmas trees Friday morning, lining them along the front yard of CM Farms in West Point. As he prepares the staging area for his Christmas tree lot a week before Thanksgiving, McComic said calls have already begun coming in from customers eager to know when trees will be available. Despite their interest, McComic said he isn't expecting a strong season. "No one really has extra money," McComic said. Even as the only Christmas tree seller in West Point, he said he still loses customers to vendors in Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties. "We don't mind competition, but we hate to do competition with Lowe's," McComic said. Toby Steed, vice president of East Mississippi Lumber Company, said that competition is particularly fierce in Oktibbeha County. "I think there's six places to buy Christmas trees here, so you're competing against big boxes and other mom and pops," Steed said. "Ours is mainly about relationships. ... The first 40 that we sold were pre-sold. The customer told us what they were looking for when they bought a tree last year or years previous to that, and we keep their name and number and call them when the trees get here, and they get theirs the first day." |
| State Representatives, Senators discuss priorities for upcoming legislative session | |
| State Representatives Jimmy Fondren and Jeffrey Hulum, and State Senators Jeremy England and Bryce Wiggins participated in a legislative preview this week. They spoke to WLOX reporters Hugh Keaton and Bill Snyder about several topics ahead of the upcoming legislative session. The briefing gave the state legislators a chance to speak with residents of south Mississippi about their priorities for the upcoming session. England said the gathering is also a place to hear feedback on what's important to people on the coast. England said Governor Tate Reeves calls energy and workforce development, is a priority for the next session. "There are a lot of other things as well: SNAP benefits, Gulf Coast Restoration Fund. There are so many big issues now." England said. "School choice will be a big issue this year, and energy and workforce development is also big. Look for people in this room getting a workforce together and keeping them here." Wiggins said debate about school choice is important because of how broad the term is. "As Jeremy said, there's been a lot of pre-debate on school choice. What is clear, as I said here today, is there's no bill yet. What will the bill look like? Part of this is getting a feel for where people are," he said. |
| Full November SNAP benefits being issued to Mississippi recipients | |
| The Mississippi Department of Human Services is distributing the remaining November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to recipients. With the longest shutdown in U.S. history coming to an end earlier this month, officials at the state level scrambled to deliver full SNAP benefits to individuals who missed all or part of their regular monthly payments. Mississippi officials, who announced a temporary pause on SNAP benefits last month before later saying that up to 65% of benefits would be delivered, vowed to issue this month's funds as soon as possible. Now, they're expecting recipients to expect their total benefit balance to be available as early as Friday. SNAP clients, however, are encouraged to check their account balance to confirm receipt of benefits. MDHS further added that December benefits are expected to be issued on time. The food-assistance program serves around 42 million people nationally -- about 1 in 8 Americans -- including roughly 385,000 Mississippians. |
| Marjorie Taylor Greene to Resign From Congress | |
 | GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she would resign from Congress at the start of next year, a shocking move by the Georgia firebrand whose once-close relationship with President Trump imploded this month. The announcement Friday came about a week after Trump disowned Greene politically and offered to back a primary challenger against the prominent MAGA figure in her rural conservative district next year. Greene said that she would step down on Jan. 5, 2026. In a statement, Greene said she did "not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for, only to fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms." She predicted that Trump would be impeached again if Democrats won back the House, and that she would be perversely expected to vote to defend him. "It's all so absurd and completely unserious," she wrote. Citing the effort by Trump to remove her from Congress, she said: "I refuse to be a 'battered wife' hoping it all goes away and gets better." Once one of Trump's most strident allies, Greene split with the president this year on the economy, foreign policy and the Jeffrey Epstein case, while painting herself as unapologetically "America First." She was in turn fiercely criticized by Trump, raising the question of whether there was room for both of them in the MAGA movement. |
| Members search for end to House censure battle | |
 | The House has a lot on its plate after reopening the government -- including bad blood. After a week of censure threats on the floor, many are grumbling about wasted time and an endless cycle of revenge. But that cycle could be hard to break, as members increasingly turn to punishment tools they once used only sparingly. "It's become a political baseball bat, and not a way to seriously discipline members for misconduct. And it's making it meaningless," said Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-Va. Asked about the censure spree, Congress' newest member said it made for a strange first few days at work. "It feels a little bit chaotic, like a high school cafeteria, or like some sort of soap opera," said Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz. Some are floating concrete ideas to stop the tit for tat. Reps. Donald S. Beyer Jr., D-Va., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., unveiled a resolution on Friday that would require 60 percent of House members to agree to censuring or reprimanding a colleague, instead of a simple majority. The rules change would also apply when booting members off their committees. The higher threshold would discourage lawmakers from forcing overly partisan votes to scold their colleagues, they said. An even higher threshold of two-thirds is already required to expel a member from the chamber, the most serious penalty the House can inflict on its own. |
| Southern universities reportedly see massive influx of Northeast students seeking sunshine and Greek life | |
 | Students from the Northeast are heading South in record numbers, drawn by universities where sunshine, football and Greek life define campus life. Rather than chasing the Ivy League dream, many students are now opting for schools in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), which consists of 16 schools including the University of South Carolina (USC), the University of Alabama, the University of Mississippi and the University of Tennessee, The Sunday Times reported. Between 2014 and 2023, SEC colleges saw a 91% increase in undergraduate students from northeastern states, according to The Sunday Times, citing government data. USC alone is up 90% over that same period. The largest pipelines are from North Carolina, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, The Sunday Times reported. "All my friends are from [New] Jersey, [Philadelphia], New York, Maryland," Sean Carroll, a 21-year-old USC senior from New York, told The Sunday Times. "People always ask me, 'was it a culture shock?' but there's so many people from the north that you don't even realize you're in South Carolina. It's just so trendy." "Northern fraternities hang with northern fraternities, southern with southern," Carroll told The Sunday Times. "Even the tailgate lots are divided." |
| Two W music students win top honors at state MTNA competitions | |
| Two students from Mississippi University for Women's Department of Music earned top prizes at the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) state competitions earlier this month at Jones College in Ellisville. Senior music composition major Charles Weathersby of Wesson, a student of Dr. Valentin Bogdan, took first place and was named state representative in the Young Artist Composition category for his original work "For Better and For Worse," written for violin and piano. This marks the second consecutive year Weathersby has earned the honor. Weathersby will now advance to represent Mississippi at the MTNA Southern Division competitions, where he will compete against winners from across the southeastern United States for a chance to reach the national finals in March 2026. "In my preparation for the competition, one of the things I tried to do was go outside the box and compose in a style I have not done before," Weathersby said. "I am excited to see how I fare against the rest of the winners at the regional level." |
| USM School of Music to present 2025 Holiday Choral Spectacular | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) School of Music will present its annual Holiday Choral Spectacular. The event will take place on December 2 and December 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Main Street Baptist Church in Hattiesburg. The concerts will feature the choirs of Southern Miss Choral Activities, the Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra, and several area school choir programs. "In addition to choral masterworks by Morten Lauridsen and waltzes by Strauss, audiences will hear recognizable holiday classics like 'Angels We Have Heard on High,' 'Silent Night,' and 'Joy to the World,' among others," said Dr. Gregory Fuller, director of Choral Activities. "It's a great opportunity for all the artists of the Hattiesburg area to spread some holiday cheer to everyone." This year's community celebration also features choirs from Central Baptist School, Jefferson Middle School, Laurel High School, Pearl River Central Middle School, and Pearl River Central High School. |
| Alcorn's band heads to NYC to perform in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade | |
| The Sounds of Dyn-O-Mite are gearing up to embark on a historic journey to the Big Apple. After months of preparation, Alcorn State University's band is headed to perform in the 99th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. "You can expect, okay, that's Mississippi. That's Alcorn. That's SOD. You know, we definitely wanted to bring our flavor, but at the same time just represent in a good way, in a positive way. So, it's going to be exciting. We're going to play some nice catchy tunes, we're going to do a little dab or two here and there. I think people are going to enjoy it," Band Director Dr. Everson Martin said. Students in the band are excited to show off their talent and hard work on the national stage. "Traveling this far and being a part of the Macy's parade that I would usually see on TV, that's like, dang, that's not real," Lola Nogzi, sophomore band student, said. Supporters on campus gave the band a roaring send off. Martin said the community raised over $500,000 to make this trip happen. The band made stops in Port Gibson, Vicksburg, and Clinton before heading to New York City. |
| A New Antidote for Youth Loneliness: Sharing Data About the Kindness of Others | |
| The college years once ranked among the happiest times of most people's lives, but that's changed. Young adults face an escalating mental health crisis, fueled in part by loneliness. In 2023, 19% of young adults reported having no one they could count on, compared to less than 14% in 2006. When explaining this trend, it's tempting to turn to stereotypes: phone-addled, self-obsessed kids these days have forgotten how to connect. A new study from our lab tells a different story. We surveyed thousands of students at Stanford University, where we both work, and discovered two different schools. The first Stanford was made of real students, who defy tidy put-downs of "kids these days." Undergraduates were near the top of the scale in empathy. Ninety-five percent said they would help peers who were feeling down, and nearly 90% wanted to befriend students they didn't know. The second Stanford was a colder, pricklier place that lived inside students' minds. Students vastly underestimated how empathic, kind and friendly their average peer was. This "empathy perception gap" didn't stay in students' heads. Undergraduates who thought the least of their peers also asked the least of them. They were less likely to strike up conversations with classmates or confide in dormmates. This, in turn, predicted loneliness, isolation and unhappiness. |
| Of farmers and phages: Auburn's College of Agriculture tackles bacterial spot in peaches | |
| For the past two years, Auburn University's College of Agriculture has conducted research to help peach farmers combat a crop-destroying disease: bacterial spot. Led by Dr. Edgar Vinson, assistant extension professor at the Chilton County Research & Extension Center in Clanton, Alabama, researchers aim to utilize a type of virus called a bacteriophage to counter bacterial spot. According to Vinson, Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni, the bacterium that causes bacterial spot, attacks the leaves of peaches and creates dark, water-soaked lesions that kill the affected tissue. These lesions then spread and cause the leaves to fall off the trees. Without the nutrients from the leaves, the peaches never properly mature and struggle to reach marketable size, leaving growers with fewer yields and lower earnings. If the peaches become infected, they might still be marketable depending on when they get infected. However, bacterial spot infections early in the season can devastate crops and leave them unsalable. |
| This LSU law student and Turning Point USA member sees a 'new era of American conservatism' | |
 | When Ethan Vogin was deciding where to go to college, the New Jersey native knew he wanted a school in a red state. He chose LSU, where he joined Turning Point USA, a conservative advocacy group for students. Now, more than five years later and in his second year at LSU's law school, Vogin finds himself at the center of a rising political movement. After the recent assassination of right-wing activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, interest in Kirk's organization has skyrocketed. In Louisiana, students are looking to form Turning Point chapters at some high schools and colleges, including Loyola University in New Orleans, where the student government recently made national news for denying the chapter formal recognition. As vice president and spokesperson for Turning Point's LSU chapter, Vogin has witnessed the recent surge of interest in the group. He argues that it is part of a larger cultural shift to the right, which he says is here to stay. |
| Shirinian argues U. of Tennessee double standard on Kirk post | |
 | Suspended professor Tamar Shirinian replied swiftly to the University of Tennessee's effort to block her return to the classroom, asserting in a federal court filing the university is applying a double standard after it allowed a UT law professor to advocate violence in 2016 without consequence. Shirinian was suspended Sept. 15 for a crass Facebook comment she made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. In her Nov. 21 filing, she also argues UT's legal team is ignoring a parallel case in South Dakota, where a federal judge ordered the University of South Dakota to reinstate a professor and pause its efforts to fire him after he called Kirk "a hate-spreading Nazi" and expressed no sympathy for his murder. Chancellor Donde Plowman suspended Shirinian and said she would move with urgency to fire her the day after social media provocateur Robby Starbuck posted a screenshot on X of Shirinian's comment and urged his more than 800,000 followers to contact UT System leaders to demand she be fired. |
| Texas A&M committee rules professor's firing over gender identity lesson was unjustified | |
| A Texas A&M committee agreed that the university was wrong to fire a professor earlier this year after a controversy over a classroom video that showed a student objecting to a children's literature lesson about gender identity. The internal committee ruled that the university didn't follow proper procedures and didn't prove there was good cause to fire Melissa McCoul, who was a senior lecturer in the English department with over a decade of teaching experience. Republican lawmakers, including Gov. Greg Abbott, had called for her termination after seeing the video. The committee unanimously voted earlier this week that "the summary dismissal of Dr. McCoul was not justified." The university said in a statement that interim President Tommy Williams has received the committee's nonbinding recommendation and will make a decision in the coming days or weeks after reviewing it. |
| UT-Austin still silent on Trump compact after deadline to sign passes | |
| Last month, the Trump administration gave the University of Texas at Austin and a handful of other universities until Nov. 21 to decide whether they would agree to a series of policy changes in exchange for preferential access to federal funding. That deadline has now passed, and UT-Austin still hasn't indicated publicly whether it will sign the agreement, even as other universities have rejected the administration's offer. UT-Austin and the White House did not respond Friday to inquiries about whether the university plans to accept, reject or seek revisions to the agreement. UT-Austin and UT System leaders have previously spoken favorably about the compact. UT-Austin is trying to navigate competing pressures from a White House seeking to reshape higher education in its image; from Texas elected officials who have already imposed limits on diversity, equity and inclusion and faculty governance; and from faculty and students who say the compact threatens their freedom to teach and learn. The university is already weighing a major restructuring of its College of Liberal Arts. Emails obtained by the Tribune show that administrators created a committee this fall to explore consolidating several language, ethnic studies and area studies departments into larger units because they believe the college has become "overly fragmented" and needs more "critical mass." |
| UVA struggles to shake political upheaval as it hunts for new leader | |
 | The fight over who will lead the University of Virginia (UVA) has now drawn in the Trump administration and both the current and future governors of the state. After former UVA President James Ryan released a 12-page letter last week alleging some on the school's board worked with the Trump Justice Department to force him to resign under threat of funding cuts and federal investigations, the Faculty Senate of the Charlottesville university called for its rector and vice rector to resign, and Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger (D) said the hunt for Ryan's replacement should wait until she takes office. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) is balking at that request, while the school's interim president says he is focused on the future and trying to rebuild trust with a shaken community. The search for a new president is also stymied by the lack of a full Board of Visitors, with five vacancies on the 17-member board because they "have failed to achieve confirmation by the General Assembly," Spanberger said in her letter to the board. All of the current members were appointed by Youngkin, serving four-year terms. UVA faculty and outside experts say the distrust between leadership and the community has been long in the making, with the letter from Ryan just the breaking point for a university they say desperately needs to restore confidence in the public eye. |
| Cyberattacks' harm to universities is growing -- and so are their effects on research | |
| On 10 November, hackers gained access to a Princeton University database containing the personal information of those in the institution's community, including alumni, donors and students. In October, similar data breaches occurred at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These incidents are part of a broader trend. Over the past few years, cyberattacks have been on the rise at academic institutions around the globe. Not only are attacks time-consuming and costly to contain and clean up, but they have also caused university employees to lose access to essential digital services, such as e-mail and research software, for weeks -- or even months -- at a time. "The number of cyberattacks is not relenting," says Harjinder Singh Lallie, a cybersecurity specialist at the University of Warwick, UK. Universities have been working to implement more robust security systems, but specialists say that academic institutions need to do more to shore up defences, especially against attacks that are assisted by artificial intelligence (AI), which might enable hackers to conduct breaches with greater speed and ease. |
| An MIT Student Awed Top Economists With His AI Study -- Then It All Fell Apart | |
| Aidan Toner-Rodgers, 27, sprang to the upper tiers of economics as a graduate student late last year from virtually out of nowhere. While still taking core classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he wrote a paper on artificial intelligence's workplace impact so rapidly influential it was cited in Congress. He appeared in the pages of The Wall Street Journal in December as the very picture of a wunderkind, in faded jeans with tousled hair, in between two of his mentors, including Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu. Toner-Rodgers's work offered a surprising and even hopeful revelation about our high-tech future. He concluded that AI increased worker productivity and spurred innovation. Also, people didn't like using it very much. Within weeks, those mentors were asking an unthinkable question: Had Toner-Rodgers made it all up? By the spring, Toner-Rodgers was no longer enrolled at MIT. The university disavowed his paper. Questions multiplied, but one seemed more elusive than the rest: How did a baby-faced novice from small-town California dupe some of academia's brightest minds? What has stunned his former colleagues and mentors is the sheer breadth of his apparent deception. He didn't just tweak a few variables. It appears he invented the entire study. |
| Wealthy People Have Always Shaped Universities. This Time Is Different. | |
 | The ultrawealthy have long lorded their money and might over university presidents, pelting them with ideas and demands, promises and threats. Now they have an ally in the White House. President Trump embraced a billionaire's strategy to try to wring ideological concessions from universities. He blessed another's role as Harvard University's emissary for negotiations with the federal government. Yet another billionaire helped steer cuts at the Department of Education -- which a different billionaire leads. Mr. Trump's approach represents a shift in how wealthy people are shaping higher education. Some of the moneyed voices Mr. Trump has elevated have, in the name of encouraging open debate, sought to expunge progressive orthodoxy from academia and tilt campuses rightward. And since Mr. Trump has taken office, the president and his allies have pursued an aggressive campaign to realize their vision, including reshaping the relationship between the federal government and the nation's colleges and universities. The campaign is accelerating. But it has been in the works for years. |
| Next generation of nurses at risk with proposed student loan caps | |
 | At a time of historic nurse shortages, aspiring healthcare workers might find it harder to get help paying for their degree. Nursing advocates are raising alarms that a new set of proposed federal regulations could limit the amount of financial aid available to fund the next generation of nurses. The concern stems from proposed new regulations the Education Department recently developed around limits to federal student loans. Previously, borrowers in graduate programs could borrow up to the cost of attendance. But the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act did away with Graduate Plus loans, as they had been known, and created separate loan limits between professional and graduate programs. Under the proposed new regulations, borrowing is capped based on whether it's a graduate or professional degree. The statutes still have to go through a public comment period, which isn't expected to be finalized until sometime in 2026. The new limits for graduate programs would be $20,500-a-year and $100,000 in total. The limits for professional degrees would be $50,000 annually and capped at $200,000. |
| The Education Department gave another agency power to distribute money. It hasn't gone smoothly. | |
 | The stumbles of an early Trump administration experiment to carve up the Education Department risks undercutting the president's more dramatic demolition plan for the agency. The Labor Department began taking control of federal career, technical, and adult education money as part of a pact this spring with the education agency that was intended to centralize and streamline government workforce programs. Critics say a combination of technical problems, communication lapses, bureaucratic hurdles and scant preparation related to new grant payment systems snarled the process of distributing money from a $1.4 billion program for career and technical education initiatives for schools and local governments. The record-breaking government shutdown didn't help, either. Now state education leaders, Democratic lawmakers and former Biden administration officials say recent issues with distributing funds are likely a preview of bigger problems that could unfold when the Trump administration starts to outsource more of the Education Department's work to other agencies. |
| Trump's Effort to Break Up Education Dept. Part of Long History | |
 | Last week, the Trump administration announced it was moving a raft of Congressionally required Education Department programs to other federal departments -- effectively undermining Congress's aim 46 years ago when it created the department. It's a move that has some scholars who've studied the history of federal education policy scratching their heads, including about how it relates to the administration's mantra of "returning education to the states." They don't know exactly what the ramifications of this decoupling will be. Some say it could waste time or reduce efficiency -- or worse. They also see Trump's efforts as the latest chapter in a more than 200-year debate over the federal role in education, including whether to create an Education Department, what should be in it and whether to dismantle it again. There was a version as far back as 1867, established and swiftly eliminated amid civil and states' rights arguments that continued through the 20th century Civil Rights Era to the 1979 creation of the modern Education Department and into today. This happened while the government got more involved in education in response to the country's competition with the Soviet Union and now China. |
SPORTS
| Egg Bowl more than just bragging rights for Bulldogs | |
 | Mississippi State may not have playoff hopes like its counterpart in Oxford, but the Bulldogs still have plenty to play for. When Mississippi State (5-6) hosts No. 6 Ole Miss (10-1) on Friday, the Golden Egg trophy, bragging rights and, for MSU, bowl eligibility is on the line. Last year, State could only attempt to play spoiler in the final game of a woeful 2-10 season, and the Bulldogs ended up losing 26-14. "I think our guys understand we've got a ton to play for," Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby said at Sunday's press conference. "We've got a ton out in front of us. We have the opportunity to hit two huge goals for us as a program in Year 2, again, is exciting for us. Our guys understand what's at stake. It's about us, it's about us maximizing every day from a preparation standpoint to give ourselves a chance to be able to go 1-0 on Friday morning. It's a huge game with a great atmosphere and a lot at stake." For Mississippi State's seniors, it's an opportunity to not only close out their collegiate careers with a win in a rivalry game, but it's also a chance to give themselves one more game by clinching a bowl berth. |
| Men's Basketball: Five Things To Know: State vs. New Orleans | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball wraps up a three-game stretch over a five-day span when the Bulldogs play host to New Orleans on Monday evening at Humphrey Coliseum. Last time out, the Bulldogs (2-3, 0-0 SEC) were handed defeats by Kansas State (98-77 on 11/20) and New Mexico (80-78 on 11/21) at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Missouri. State has won 10 straight and 20 of its 21 non-conference home games with Coach Jans at the helm. New Orleans (2-3, 0-0 Southland) has already defeated TCU in the non-conference slate. The Privateers are led by Coleton Benson (17.4 PPG) and Jakevion Buckley (16.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG). The Bulldogs have won nine of the previous 10 meetings on the hardwood over New Orleans. The last meeting was in 2019-20 when State came away with an 82-59 victory. Robert Woodard II (21 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists), Reggie Perry (14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists) and D.J. Stewart (13 points) led the way for the Maroon and White. |
| Mississippi State hosts New Orleans following Hubbard's 29-point performance | |
| Mississippi State hosts New Orleans after Josh Hubbard scored 29 points in Mississippi State's 80-78 loss to the New Mexico Lobos. The Bulldogs are 2-0 in home games. Mississippi State is seventh in the SEC with 28.0 defensive rebounds per game led by Achor Achor averaging 5.4. The Privateers are 2-3 on the road. New Orleans ranks third in the Southland shooting 38.8% from 3-point range. Mississippi State averages 8.8 made 3-pointers per game, 1.5 more made shots than the 7.3 per game New Orleans gives up. New Orleans has shot at a 44.9% clip from the field this season, 1.3 percentage points above the 43.6% shooting opponents of Mississippi State have averaged. Hubbard averages 3.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Bulldogs, scoring 23.8 points while shooting 36.4% from beyond the arc. Jayden Epps is shooting 46.3% and averaging 13.5 points. |
| Women's Basketball: Bulldogs Set For Emerald Coast Classic | |
| The Mississippi State women's basketball squad begins Thanksgiving week with a road trip to Niceville, Florida, for the Emerald Coast Classic. The two-game stand kicks off on Monday at 1:30 p.m. against Alcorn State. The Bulldogs will then take on either Middle Tennessee or Providence on Tuesday. In regular season non-conference play, Mississippi State is 41-6 under head coach Sam Purcell. Destiney McPhaul will return to the site where she spent her first two seasons when the Bulldogs open play at Raider Arena. McPhaul was the top junior college transfer when she left Northwest Florida State. McPhaul now leads the Bulldogs with 13.2 points per game. Alcorn State lost their last matchup to LSU, 112-49. The Braves will be taking on their third SEC opponent, as they have taken on Alabama as well this season. |
| Cross Country: Jemeli Closes Season At NCAA Championships | |
| Mississippi State cross country runner Nelly Jemeli finished in the top 130 runners at the NCAA Championships, held this morning. "This was a great season for Coach Erinn and our women's cross-country team this year!" said head coach Chris Woods. "We've been able to build a team that can compete with the best of the best in the NCAA. The way that Nelly and our women's XC team closed out this season gives us the foresight and motivation we need to have our entire team at the NCAA championships next season!" Jemeli was the sole competitor for State at the championships. She earned an individual bid after her performance at the South Region Championships last weekend. As the first Bulldog to race at the championships in nearly a decade, she crossed the 6k finish line in 20:05.9. Jemeli earned a 127th-place finish in the event, finishing in the top half of the racers. Alabama individual racer Doris Lemngole took the national title, and NC State took the team title in the race. The race marked the end of a historic cross country season for State, the best in nearly a decade. |
| Cowboys overcome 21-point deficit to defeat visiting Eagles | |
| Coach Brian Schottenheimer likes to tell his Dallas Cowboys team that a game can't be won in the first, second or third quarters. It can be won only in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys certainly tried to show that a game can be lost in the first two quarters Sunday, going down 21-0 to the Philadelphia Eagles with the game barely 18 minutes old. But in the final 42 minutes, the Cowboys put together a franchise-record-tying comeback to beat the Eagles 24-21 on a 42-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey as time expired. As music blared from the speakers inside the locker room, defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa waved a flag with Marshawn Kneeland's name and No. 94 on it. Eighteen days earlier, Kneeland died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. In the past seven days, the Cowboys have won their past two games. How the Cowboys won -- overcoming a 21-point deficit, two turnovers from the offense, a missed field goal, a roughing the punter penalty that would have been overturned had replay assist had an enhanced look at the play from the broadcast, a fourth-down stop after Schottenheimer eschewed a short field goal try with 3:46 left and the game tied -- matters more than just winning, according to Dak Prescott. "There's going to be moments when you're down a touchdown or maybe two touchdowns and that's not going to be the last time this season," Prescott said. "When you have a game like this, talking about the belief and the knowing, that's what allows these guys in the locker room to believe we're going to come back or know that we have the team, the brotherhood, the connection to do just that." |
| Dak Prescott passes Tony Romo for most passing yards in Dallas Cowboys history | |
| Dak Prescott made Dallas Cowboys history on Sunday, as he broke Tony Romo's record for the most career passing yards in team history. The veteran quarterback broke the record in the third quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles when he threw a nine-yard pass to George Pickens. Romo threw for 34,183 yards for the Cowboys, and Dak Prescott needed just 160 yards to pass him on the all-time list. In his 10 seasons in Dallas, Prescott has collected at least 2,500 passing yards eight times. Along with making Cowboys history, Prescott helped the team earn a 24-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. The former Mississippi State star threw for 354 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday, and he now has 34,378 yards in his career. Becoming the Cowboys' all-time passing leader is a big deal, but Prescott is focused on getting Dallas to the playoffs. Sunday's win keeps the Cowboys in the playoff race, but Prescott knows they need to keep winning to have a chance. "[These next three games], they will be defining," Prescott said last week, per Patrik Walker of DallasCowboys.com. "I don't think there's any ifs, ands, or buts about it. Knowing where we put ourselves, what we have to do, yeah, after these three games, we'll either have given ourselves a good shot or put ourselves in a hole. I don't think that'll really be a discussion." |
| CFP expansion talks are expected to drag into 2026, and the 24-team pitch isn't going anywhere | |
| Any day now, what has been apparent about the College Football Playoff for weeks, months even, is likely to become official: The CFP will not expand for next season and will remain a 12-team event for 2026, the first year of the event's new contract with ESPN. Nothing has drastically changed around expansion talks since the offseason, when the Big Ten's proposal for a 16-team field with multiple automatic qualifier (AQ) bids going to each power conference initially seemed to be the leading contender for a future format. But at the SEC's spring meetings, league coaches expressed their preference for a model with five AQs and 11 at-large berths, and commissioner Greg Sankey has not wavered from that stance since. The Big Ten countered this summer with an idea for a 24-team playoff, with even more automatic qualifiers that would be determined by conference standings. Even if commissioner Tony Petitti's counterparts at the other nine Football Bowl Subdivision conferences had absolutely loved the idea -- they did not -- the chances of implementing a playoff double the size of the current model for 2026 were minuscule. "I'm not a big fan of automatic qualifiers," Mississippi State president Mark Keenum said on the SEC Network earlier this month. "I think the best teams ought to play in our nation's national tournament to determine who our national champion in college football is going to be." |
| Lane Kiffin's decision still hanging over college football as LSU finalizes massive offer for Ole Miss coach | |
| LSU officials are mobilizing around a heightened pursuit of Lane Kiffin. University executives and athletic administrators are finalizing terms of a multi-million-dollar contract proposal and seeking a commitment from the Ole Miss coach within the next week -- the latest and most serious push in the courtship of Kiffin. However, the coach's true intent remains a mystery -- even to those closest to him, as he decides between staying in Oxford or leaving for open jobs at LSU or Florida. A meeting among Kiffin, Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter and university chancellor Glenn Boyce on Friday afternoon produced no resolution about his future, according to a statement from Carter. In the statement, Carter revealed that an announcement on Kiffin's future would be made next Saturday, after Ole Miss meets Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl on Friday. Meanwhile, in Baton Rouge, key LSU decision-makers are gearing up for a formal offer to the coach and his representatives. While specific details of the contract remain fluid, sources told Yahoo Sports that school executives have discussed a seven-year, incentive-laden deal worth at least $90 million -- figures that would make Kiffin, at the very least, tied for the highest-paid coach in the sport. The school is, as well, promising significant NIL and revenue share roster investments exceeding $25 million -- perhaps the most important determining factor for the coach. |
| Oxford business community braces as Lane Kiffin ponders Ole Miss future | |
 | The last decade has seen exponential growth in the housing market and general economic development in and around Oxford, Mississippi. Much of that coincides with the rise of the football program at Ole Miss, and now that the Rebels sit at the precipice of a college football playoff appearance, the fortunes of the North Mississippi city are at an all-time high. But could this be a bubble impacted by three-straight winning seasons steered by a popular coach in high demand? Should Lane Kiffin decide to leave the Velvet Ditch for greener pastures in Florida or Louisiana or Pennsylvania or anywhere else, could there be a drop off in home sales or a drop in prices of homes or a general decline in retail spending in Oxford. O'Keefe Graham of Oxford Real Estate said that college football and college athletics at Ole Miss certainly do play a role in the atmosphere of Oxford, but that his experience is there is another level that has nothing to do with Lane Kiffin or basketball coach Chris Beard. "Let's just be honest, out-of-state families want to send their kids to Ole Miss because out-of-state tuition at Ole Miss is still less expensive than in-state tuition in the states they live in," Graham said. |
| College basketball holiday tournaments: Teams, schedule, what to know | |
| Hope there's room on the plate for men's college basketball this Thanksgiving, as there's a full serving of games taking place over the holiday week. Multi-team events (MTE) bring teams across the country to give them a simulation what happens of March Madness by playing games in consecutive days against quality teams. It's a great opportunity to gain precious Quad 1 and 2 wins that will come in handy on Selection Sunday. Some tournaments have already begun and wrapped up, but Thanksgiving week is where the most notable ones are served up, like a loaded field in Las Vegas and a classic from the island of Maui. In total, 13 teams in the USA TODAY Sports coaches poll will be in action at MTEs, and there are other that could be ranked after strong showings. One of the most well-known tournament in the sport, the Maui Invitational has lost some luster in 2025 with fewer high-caliber teams. Still, this is a bracket to watch as most of the field are trying to prove they are NCAA Tournament-worthy. The main teams to watch include North Carolina State and Texas, both of which have first-year coaches expected to bring success back to their respective programs. There's also a strong USC team trying to take the next step under Eric Musselman. |
| Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says he regrets the state's legal sports betting law | |
| If Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine could turn back time, he would not have signed the law that legalized sports betting in his state. With two Cleveland Guardians pitchers and an Ohio-born guard for the Miami Heat snared in separate betting-related criminal probes, the second-term Republican says he now "absolutely" regrets unleashing this unbridled new industry on Ohioans with his 2021 signature. "Look, we've always had gambling, we're always going to have gambling," DeWine told The Associated Press last week. "But just the power of these companies and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to advertise and do everything they can to get someone to place that bet is really different once you have legalization of them." His comments reflect a reckoning that's unfolding across sports and politics as sports betting becomes more ingrained across much of the U.S. The wave of legalization in recent years unleashed a massive industry centered around betting and, more recently, a wave of investigations and arrests tied to allegations of rigged games. It's a dynamic that DeWine says he doesn't think lawmakers fully anticipated. "Ohio shouldn't have done it," he said. |
| NCAA Rescinds Rule to Allow Betting on Pro Sports Amid Reckoning | |
| In a move that highlights the changing landscape of legalized sports betting in America, the NCAA on Friday announced that two-thirds of Division I member schools voted to rescind a previously approved rule change that would have let athletes and coaches bet on professional sports. In early October, the NCAA announced the Division I Administrative Committee had adopted a proposal to allow betting on pro sports. There were several arguments in favor of the proposal. One reason is that in 39 states, along with Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, college students who are at least 18 years old (or 21 in many states, depending on the minimum age) can bet on pro sports. Colleges generally aim for students, be they athletes or regular students, to have the same rights and to be treated equally. From that lens it makes sense to treat college students who play sports like their classmates who don't. Another reason is that while college athletes and coaches betting on college sports raises concerns about use of inside information -- such as whether a player is more injured or less injured than is publicly known -- or manipulating play to further bets, those athletes and coaches aren't part of pro sports. To be sure, a college athlete or college coach may have connections to pro sports, but there is more separation than with college sports. |
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