| Wednesday, January 14, 2026 |
| Annual MLK Jr. observance at MSU includes remembrance, service components | |
 | Mississippi State is honoring the legacy of the late Martin Luther King Jr. with a Unity Dinner, sponsored by the Division of Access, Opportunity and Success. This formal event for invited guests Friday [Jan. 16] at The Mill Conference Center features live performances and opportunities for Starkville residents and MSU leaders to come together. "The MLK Unity Dinner is a reminder that unity is not a moment -- it is a commitment we renew together as a university and as a community. This will be a great way for us to remember history and also build connections," said MSU Vice President for Access, Opportunity and Success Ra'Sheda Forbes. A chapel service takes place at 5 p.m., Monday [Jan. 19] in the Chapel of Memories and is sponsored by the Center for Student Activities and Student Leadership and Community Engagement within the university's Division of Student Affairs. MLK Days of Service will be held Tuesday and Wednesday [Jan. 20-21] in the Colvard Student Union Ballroom. Students will make emergency winter kits for the homeless. Vice President for Student Affairs Regina Hyatt said MSU students are honoring King's legacy not just through reflection, but through meaningful action. |
| Ask The Dispatch: What kind of economic impact do recreational sports tournaments have in the Golden Triangle? | |
 | In 2025, recreational sports tournaments hosted at area public facilities generated more than $6.8 million in economic activity. Lowndes County and Starkville recreation departments already have more than 50 tournaments scheduled in 2026, with hopes of booking more. In 2025, Starkville Parks and Recreation hosted 38 tournaments at the 27 fields combined between Cornerstone Sports Complex and Starkville Sportsplex, General Manager Greg Owen said. Those tournaments, he estimated, brought in about $6 million in economic impact. These estimates are generated based on how many people attend a tournament, how far they are traveling and the length of the event, according to officials with both Starkville and Lowndes County Parks and Recreation. From there, the organizations estimate how much attendees are likely to spend on hotels, food and other expenses while in the area. Owen said there are currently 41 tournaments on the books this year at Starkville facilities. Beyond those, Starkville Parks and Recreation is also starting recreational volleyball and pickleball leagues next fall with hopes of eventually hosting tournaments for the same sports. |
| Alley project almost done with underground phase | |
 | An alley beautification project in downtown Meridian is almost done with underground work and will begin above-ground improvements in the near future. Meridian Main Street Director Matt Schanrock, who is heading up the project, said Monday the contractor has laid down gravel and begun setting up concrete forms in the alley and will hopefully begin pouring concrete by the end of the week or early next week. "And then we'll just start making it look pretty in the next couple months," he said. "So we're getting there." The alley project, which is located between Weidmann's Restaurant and the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation offices on 22nd Avenue, will transform a downtown eyesore into a multi-purpose space for events and pedestrian access between 22nd and Constitution avenues. In other news, the Mississippi Main Street Revitalization Grant is back in front of the State Legislature for funding, and Meridian could see another long-awaited project knocked out if all works out. Schanrock said Meridian's application has already been approved, but the work has been waiting for funding. "We're one of 18 communities that have been approved for our project, which is the string lights on Fifth Street that we've been talking about for three years," he said. "If they can finally figure out a way to fund that through MDA (Mississippi Development Authority, hopefully we'll start some string lights this year." |
| Johnston Tombigbee Furniture to cease operations after 94 years | |
| After nearly 100 years in business, the Johnston Tombigbee Furniture factory off Waterworks Road will cease operations in February. The business, which was family-run from 1932 until it was sold to Prime Hospitality in 2024, manufactured furniture for residential and hospitality markets. Jim Donnelly, president of Prime Hospitality, said the decision was difficult but long anticipated. "We don't like for any operation that we had big plans for to cease," Donnelly told The Dispatch on Tuesday. "That was one thing that really kept us from doing this before. To be honest, the writing had been on the wall for a while that this is something that may need to happen. ... You've got things that you see and don't want to do because of the way you feel about the community and that company. The good thing is, we're keeping the name going. The customers are still going to get a quality product." While operations will end in Columbus, Donnelly said furniture bearing the JTB logo will continue to ship from Prime Hospitality facilities in Saltillo and Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. The Columbus factory, which once furnished tens of thousands of hotel rooms nationwide, was hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, cutting its workforce of nearly 200 people in half and operating just 165 days in 2020, according to previous reporting by The Dispatch. |
| Business leader Thomas Duff speaks to Rotary Club of Hattiesburg | |
 | A prominent Mississippi businessman who may run for governor in 2027 was the featured speaker at the Rotary Club of Hattiesburg Tuesday afternoon. Thomas Duff, co-founder and co-owner of Duff Capital Investors, spoke about lessons he's learned as both a business leader and a board member for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. Duff has said he's considering a run for governor, but has not made a final decision yet. "I don't have a personal deadline, because for me, it's too premature," Duff said. "I think people that are trying to run and make things happen, might just be out there a little too soon. I'm more interested in learning about our state and what our state needs and wants." Duff said he's interested in what Mississippians have to say. "Frankly, it's what our citizens want," Duff said. "That's the best part about being a member of this state and my experiences traveling." "I like to see what people want." |
| Mississippi law enforcement leaders push back on proposed Tier 5 retirement plan | |
 | Law enforcement leaders across Mississippi are raising concerns about a proposed Tier 5 retirement structure that would require first responders to work longer before becoming eligible to retire. Tyree D. Jones, who serves as both Hinds County sheriff and chief of the Jackson Police Department, shared a public statement opposing the change, citing growing safety risks and staffing challenges for officers and deputies. Jones said requiring law enforcement officers to serve up to 35 years places added strain on a profession that is already physically and emotionally demanding. He warned the proposal could make it harder for agencies to recruit new officers and retain experienced ones at a time when departments are already stretched thin. The position is shared by the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police, which also posted opposition to Tier 5. The group argues the plan forces first responders to stay longer in what it describes as an increasingly dangerous line of work. The Tier 5 proposal remains under discussion as lawmakers weigh pension costs against workforce needs for police, deputies and other first responders statewide. |
| Mississippi House speaker invokes Trump in push for school choice. How involved might the president get? | |
| Faced with internecine Republican opposition to "school-choice," or spending tax dollars earmarked for public education on private schools, House Speaker Jason White broke out the biggest gun in Mississippi GOP politics: He invoked President Donald J. Trump. "The @WhiteHouse is watching Mississippi and Education Freedom is gaining momentum!" White posted Monday on the social media site X. "HB 2 promotes the Make America Great Again Platform and @POTUS's Executive Order to return power over education to families, instead of bureaucracies ..." White had retweeted a post from Trump Education Secretary Linda McMahon, endorsing the House's proposed HB 2 as "ambitious school choice expansion" and adding, "Well done, @JasonWhiteMS." A key question that remains unanswered, though, is how far the Trump White House is willing to go to see a robust school-choice policy become reality in the Magnolia State, which remains a holdout in the Deep South. A White House official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation told Mississippi Today that the Trump administration is "very closely monitoring" the school choice debate in the Legislature and wants strong school choice legislation to pass. |
| FBI tracked Jackson leaders years before 2023 sting, documents show | |
 | The FBI was secretly tracking former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens nearly a year before federal prosecutors said their public corruption case began, according to FBI records and court filings attached to Owens' recent motion to dismiss federal corruption charges. More strikingly, those same filings show the FBI had been collecting corruption allegations about Jackson officials since at least 2017 -- including claims involving Lumumba, City Councilman Kenneth Stokes and Owens' former bodyguard. This was years before the FBI's 2023 undercover operation that led to the federal indictments of Lumumba, Owens and former City Councilman Aaron Banks in November 2024. The newly released court records show that by late 2022 federal agents had obtained phone-tracking authority on Lumumba, wired up a confidential informant to record him and formally added Owens as a "subject" of an FBI investigation tied to alleged bribery and contract-steering at Jackson City Hall. The records were made public this week as part of Owens' motion to dismiss his 2024 federal indictment. |
| Kevin Wilson visits Vicksburg on congressional campaign tour | |
| Republican congressional candidate Kevin Wilson made a campaign stop in Vicksburg on Tuesday as part of a multi-day tour of Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District. Wilson is seeking the seat held by U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat who has represented the district since 1993. Wilson faces Ron Weller in the Republican primary on March 10, 2026. Wilson said he is traveling county to county across the district to introduce himself to voters and hear their concerns. "We're going to try to meet as many people as we can just to introduce ourselves," Wilson said. "We're going to show up, and we're going to listen to them." Wilson said the tour began Monday in Natchez and has included stops in multiple southwest Mississippi counties, including Franklin, Copiah and Claiborne. He said the goal of the trip is to reach voters in areas where he is less well known. "While I'm pretty well known down there, I'm not well known up here," Wilson said. "People have to see you to kind of understand what you are." Wilson, 64, is president of the Adams County Board of Supervisors. He was first elected in 2019 and re-elected in 2023. Wilson said he has spent 40 years working in the oil industry, where he built his own company. "I enjoy helping people, so I need a bigger stage for that," he said. |
| The Fed chair race is becoming a proxy war for central bank independence | |
 | In the White House, fidelity to President Donald Trump is seen as a key attribute for Federal Reserve chair contenders. On Capitol Hill, it could be a major liability. The Justice Department's move to investigate Fed Chair Jerome Powell is renewing lawmakers' focus on central bank independence as Trump inches closer to deciding who he wants to nominate as the next Fed chief. And that could lead lawmakers to take aim at the front-runner, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, if he is nominated for Powell's position. Hassett has been a ubiquitous presence on TV, making the case for the president's economic agenda and his repeated calls to cut interest rates. "I've got a lot of respect for [Hassett], but he also has a lot of history with the president, so we'll just have to look at that," said Sen. Thom Tillis, a retiring North Carolina Republican who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the Fed and will advance any nominee for confirmation in the upper chamber. The new scrutiny on the Fed's political autonomy illustrates how the investigation into Powell could have an impact far beyond its outcome. The legal clash could disrupt the president's vision for who leads the Fed starting in May. And it could also compel Powell to stay on the Fed board beyond the expiration of his term as chair, depriving Trump of getting a pick for another seat until January 2028. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in an interview Tuesday that Fed independence “should be a factor” in the confirmation process of Trump’s eventual chair pick. “Having an independent Fed is important for America,” he said. |
| From Minneapolis to Venezuela, Trump piles up the risks as he faces midterm verdict | |
 | It's only two weeks into the new year, and President Donald Trump has already claimed control of Venezuela, escalated threats to seize Greenland and flooded American streets with masked immigration agents. And that's not even counting an unprecedented criminal investigation at the Federal Reserve, a cornerstone of the national economy that Trump wants to bend to his will. Even for a president who thrives on chaos, Trump is generating a stunning level of turmoil as voters prepare to deliver their verdict on his leadership in the upcoming midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. Each decision carries tremendous risks, from the possibility of an overseas quagmire to undermining the country's financial system, but Trump has barreled forward with a ferocity that has rattled even some of his Republican allies. "The presidency has gone rogue," said historian Joanne B. Freeman, a Yale University professor. She said it's something "we haven't seen in this way before." Trump seems undeterred by the potential blowback. Although he doesn't always follow through, he seems intent on doubling and tripling down whenever possible. "Right now I'm feeling pretty good," Trump said Tuesday in Detroit. His speech was ostensibly arranged to refocus attention on the economy, which the president claimed is surging despite lingering concerns about higher prices. However, he couldn't resist lashing out at Jerome Powell, who leads the Federal Reserve and has resisted Trump's pressure to lower interest rates. "That jerk will be gone soon," Trump said. |
| Trump defiant on economy in Michigan remarks amid growing voter angst | |
 | President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a "Trump economic boom" was underway, again giving short shrift to indicators of a still-sluggish economy as Republicans gear up to defend their House and Senate majorities this year. Trump visited the Detroit Economic Club a few hours after new government data showed mixed signals about the state of stubbornly high prices, which rose by 0.3 percent between November and December; that was in line with the previous Bureau of Labor Statistics report, in September, which also showed a 0.3 percent uptick. Prices overall rose 2.7 percent from a year ago, according to the BLS data. That marked a decline in the broader inflation rate, which stood at 3 percent when Trump returned to office last January. Food costs ticked up by 0.7 percent between November and December, while gas-related utility prices rose by 4.4 percent. The costs of housing, transportation, medical care and clothing were also up, while appliance prices fell by 4.3 percent. Departing the White House on a cold Tuesday morning, Trump's breath was visible as he asserted that his administration had brought down inflation. The president's visit to battleground Michigan --- which he won narrowly in 2016 and 2024 but lost in 2020 --- came as voters continue to express worries about the state of the economy. A recent Morning Consult tracking poll found 45 percent of respondents approving of Trump's economic stewardship, while 53 percent disapproved. A Jan. 2-5 Economis/YouGov poll showed 36 percent approving of Trump's handling of the economy, with 57 percent disapproving. |
| Trump says his power is 'limited by my morality' in CBS interview | |
 | President Donald Trump said his power in the United States is limited by his own "morality" but that it "goes without saying" he's also restricted by the Constitution. Trump made the remarks in a Jan. 13 interview with CBS Evening News when asked by anchor Tony Dokoupil about the limits of his authority domestically. "It's limited by my morality, and I have a very high grade of morality, so therefore it's limited," Trump said the 13-minute interview, which took place in Dearborn, Michigan before the president gave a speech on the economy. Dokoupil, who began his role as the new anchor of CBS Evening News on Jan. 5, was following up on remarks Trump made last week to the New York Times when asked if there were any limits to his global powers. "Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me," Trump said on the heels of the United States' capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and as Trump pushes the acquisition of Greenland from Denmark, among other foreign objectives. |
| U.S. Blows Up China's Latin America Ambitions With Maduro Ouster | |
 | The U.S. ouster of the Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro is forcing Beijing into a high-stakes recalculation of its ambitions in a region that looks like America's backyard again, said people close to internal discussions in the Chinese leadership. For years, China made inroads into Latin America, coaxing countries to abandon support for Taiwan with loans to build roads, ports and rail lines, making significant purchases of commodities like soybeans and oil, and mining metals such as copper. Maduro was its most important ally, an anti-American leader with oil resources, earning Venezuela the rare distinction of an "all-weather" partnership -- China's highest diplomatic honor and a status held by no other country in Latin America. Now, Beijing is no longer seeking to make new advances into the region in the near term, the people said. Instead, the discourse in China's policymaking circles has shifted toward a potential trade-off: If the Western Hemisphere belongs to the Americans, then the Taiwan Strait belongs to the Chinese. This calculation doesn't mean China considers the U.S. action in Venezuela a green light for an immediate action to take back Taiwan, a democratically ruled island that Beijing views as a breakaway province. Rather, U.S. action against Maduro by force bolsters China as it gives priority to its "core interests," chiefly, bringing Taiwan under its control. China's leaders had already been watching its influence in Latin America wane since President Trump returned to the White House a year ago. |
| Trump: Anything less than Greenland 'in the hands of' US 'unacceptable' | |
 | President Trump said early Wednesday that anything less than U.S. control of Greenland would be "unacceptable." "The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building. NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON'T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post ahead of Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio meeting with officials from the island and Denmark at the White House. "Militarily, without the vast power of the United States, much of which I built during my first term, and am now bringing to a new and even higher level, NATO would not be an effective force or deterrent – Not even close! They know that, and so do I," Trump continued. "NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES," he said, adding that "anything less than that is unacceptable." The online post is the latest example of Trump's intensifying rhetoric on the U.S. acquiring Greenland. On Tuesday, Trump hit back at the Danish territory's prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who said he and his people would choose Denmark over the U.S. if they had to make a decision. |
| Trump seeks to quell rebellion over data centers | |
 | In a bid to tamp down growing unrest in communities over tech giants' expansion of power-hungry data centers, President Donald Trump said his administration would push Silicon Valley companies to ensure their massive computer farms do not drive up people's electricity bills, seizing on a promise Microsoft made public Tuesday to be a better neighbor. The Trump administration has gone all in on artificial intelligence, pushing aside concerns within the MAGA movement and seeking to sweep away regulations that it says hamper innovation. But neighbors of the vast warehouses of computer chips that form the technology's backbone -- many of them in areas otherwise supportive of the president -- have grown increasingly concerned about how the facilities sap power from the grid, guzzle water to stay cool and secure tax breaks from local governments. And Trump now appears to be recalibrating his approach. Trump is attempting to ease voters' concern over the AI build-out as the politics of data centers is rapidly shifting against Silicon Valley and lawmakers who support its push to quickly build hulking structures nationwide that can consume more electricity than entire cities. The community anger crosses the partisan divide. Conservative activists in ruby-red towns in Oklahoma have been circulating petitions demanding the firing of officials who sign nondisclosure agreements to negotiate terms with tech companies. And progressive groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America and the NAACP have rallied around data center opposition. |
| 'I just eat to survive': How consumers are dealing with rising food prices | |
| Prices increased 0.3% in December from the month before, according to the latest consumer price index, which was released Tuesday morning from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One item that stuck out? The cost of food consumed at home was up 0.7% for the month. Food prices were also up for the year by 2.4% -- and if you go back five years, they're up about 25%. Cornell University agricultural economist Chris Barrett said rising food prices make shoppers feel powerless. "Most of us bristle a little bit when we feel our agency is really limited and there's nothing we can do about it," Barrett said. Food prices are rising for lots of reasons, including climate change, a weaker dollar, and tariffs. Barrett said the increases hit low-income people hardest because food takes up a bigger chunk of their household budgets. "Food prices really don't affect the behaviors of the well off," he said. "Food prices affect the behavior of people who are struggling to make ends meet, and we see a lot of tradeoffs for cheap calories." |
| Where Did All the American-Born Roofers Go? | |
 | In 1976, Matthew Moore marched into the roofers' union hall in Orange County, Calif., signed his card and, at 19, found his calling. Within hours, he put on a pair of hot boots, climbed a ladder and became one of the many union men laying the roofs of tract homes spreading out across Southern California. Only two years later, Mr. Moore, a native of the state who never went to college, bought a three-bedroom house of his own in Whittier. "That kind of work suited me right down to my soul," said Mr. Moore, now 68 and retired. "I worked outside in the sun every day. Nothing better." It was also the kind of well-paying blue-collar job that once helped drive a strong middle-class economy, and has largely vanished. It's work that many Americans want to see restored. In the decades since Mr. Moore walked into that union hall, an enormous demographic shift has transformed his industry. In the 1970s and 1980s, the share of foreign-born workers in construction was the same as in other industries. But that quickly changed. Today that share is nearly twice as high as in other jobs. An oft-repeated explanation for this sea change is that immigrants took jobs from Americans while, somewhat paradoxically, Americans no longer wanted to do the backbreaking work required to build a house. But a review of data and historical records, as well as interviews with many people who work in or study construction, tell a different story: First, construction jobs became less desirable, as eroding wages and working conditions diminished the quality and job security of the profession. Only then did immigrants, with the encouragement of the political and business class, fill a gap that was already opening. |
| UM Names Bradley Baker Dean Of Students | |
 | The University of Mississippi named Bradley Baker as dean of students and assistant vice chancellor of student affairs in a press release on Jan. 13. Baker started his new role on Monday, Jan. 12, but he has served as the interim since Sept. 2, 2025. "I am grateful for the opportunity to serve my alma mater," Baker, an Olive Branch, Miss., native, said. In his new role, Baker will oversee several departments and offices at UM, including the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, the Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union, the Office of Conflict Resolution and Student Conduct, UMatter: Student Support and Advocacy, and Confidential Advocacy, Support and Education. Before being dubbed dean of students, Baker served as the director for the student union since July 2012. Baker's entrance follows former Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Brent Marsh, who left his position in August 2025. Marsh currently serves as the vice president for student affairs at Oklahoma State University. |
| $2M endowment honors Ole Miss physics, astronomy department | |
 | University of Mississippi medical school graduate Dr. Bill Ashford and his wife, Leslie, of Madison, have made a $2 million donation to establish a named professorship in physics at Ole Miss. With $1.5 million, the couple established the F. Douglas and Cora Beal Shields Chair in Physics Education Endowment, honoring Ashford's former physics professor. The gift claimed a match by the UM Foundation of $500,000, elevating it to the chair level. "Dr. Shields was an excellent physics teacher, my favorite teacher during my time at Ole Miss," said Ashford, who grew up in Lambert. "He was always very well prepared with a demonstration illustrating the subject of the day, which made class very interesting. He involved the students in the learning process and had lots of interesting stories about the people who made the big advances in physics." The donor said said he hopes both endowments will support the same quality of instruction he experienced as an Ole Miss medical student. |
| PRCC Forrest County campus continues to see growth | |
| As the new semester gets underway on Pearl River Community College's Forrest County campus, leaders say last year's growth has carried straight into 2026. "We had record enrollment in 2025, and that trend continues as we start off the spring semester," said PRCC Forrest County Vice President Dr. Jana Causey said. "Our college-wide enrollment is up." Causey said preliminary numbers show enrollment still is climbing. "When our tenth-day enrollment report comes out, I feel that those numbers are going to be in a great increase as well, maybe 6% to 8%," Causey said. "So, we're really excited about that." The community college also invested heavily in career and technical programs, including major upgrades for emergency medical technician students. "We've gotten into our newly renovated facility, thankful to the Accelerate grant that helped us get that program up and going and in a great spot," Causey said. Causey said one of the fastest-growing areas on campus continues to be healthcare education. "We have kicked off our first level one in January students of our nursing program here at the Forrest County campus, really excited," she said. |
| Raw eggs, 'Scripture-backed fitness' and a Porsche: The online world of the man accused of burning Mississippi's largest synagogue | |
| Stephen Spencer Pittman, the 19-year-old suspected of setting fire to Mississippi's largest synagogue, uses his social media accounts to post about baseball, his friends, his commitment to physical fitness and his devotion to Christianity. That was until 12:52 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 10, when he posted an antisemitic video on Instagram. About two hours later, Pittman is alleged to have driven to synagogue, the Beth Israel Congregation in northeast Jackson, where federal authorities say he used an ax to break through one of the windows. Once inside, Pittman is alleged to have doused the lobby with gasoline and set it on fire with a torch. Pittman is facing state and federal arson charges, including elevated hate crime charges at the state level. The federal criminal complaint says he admitted to law enforcement that he targeted the synagogue for its "Jewish ties." Pittman appeared to have multiple social media pages, including duplicate accounts on various platforms. Mississippi Today reviewed Pittman's social media activity and interviewed one of Pittman's longtime school friends. Of all his accounts, Pittman seemed to be most prolific on Snapchat. So much so, he even posted a photo of himself in the hospital with burnt hands, allegedly after setting fire to the synagogue. According to the friend, Pittman has "changed a lot" in recent years, living an extremely online existence. The friend said Pittman posts 10-15 Snapchats a day, often documenting his interest in diet trends, fitness, expensive cars and thousands of dollars in cash he claimed to have made through an artificial intelligence platform. |
| 'We're still standing': Beth Israel congregation vows to rebuild after arson attack | |
| Three days after someone set fire to their synagogue, the congregation of Beth Israel is doing something the attacker didn't expect -- they're moving forward together. "It's cracked, but we're still standing," said Rabbi Benjamin Russell, who started as a rabbinical student and spiritual leader at Beth Israel in July. Stephen Spencer Pittman is accused of setting the fire early Saturday morning. According to an FBI affidavit, he called Beth Israel the "synagogue of Satan" when he confessed to investigators. He faces federal arson charges and is recovering in a hospital after catching himself on fire during the attack. But to the people who worship at Beth Israel Congregation on Old Canton Road, this building is home -- and they're not going anywhere. For Sarah Thomas, the attack was deeply personal. She's been a congregant her entire life. "I consider Beth Israel to be my home," Thomas said. "This is where my grandparents were. This is where my mom grew up. I grew up here. I had my baby naming here. I was consecrated. I was bat mitzvahed. I was confirmed." The fire damaged much of the interior of the building, leaving behind melted equipment, scorched walls, and busted windows. But Thomas said the attack hasn't destroyed what matters most. "Just because we can't use this building doesn't mean that I still don't have the community support and the friendships and the family and the sense of home," she said. |
| Young men want to get big. For some, it's becoming an obsession | |
 | The gym is constantly on Dashiell Frederickson's mind. The 16-year-old works out religiously every day, sometimes for up to three hours a day. "The gym is all I can think about during the day," Frederickson said. "I wake up, I'm thinking about the gym. I'm brushing my teeth, I'm thinking about the gym ... and once I'm finally at the gym, I'm kind of set and I'm happy." Despite all this effort to hone his physique, despite his friends telling him how good he looks, when Frederickson looks in the mirror, he thinks he looks "horrible." Body dissatisfaction among young people is on the rise, and clinicians like Dr. Jason Nagata say it's a trend that's starting to affect more boys. That's challenging a long-held tendency in medicine -- and more broadly by society -- to associate body image concerns mainly with girls. Nagata, an eating disorder researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, says negative body image attitudes in boys often stem from the feeling that they aren't muscular enough. A small share of those young men develop an obsession with getting bigger and more muscular -- also called bigorexia. Though exercise is beneficial -- and many kids in the U.S. aren't getting enough of it -- the dangers of bigorexia can be life-threatening. But public health messaging often fails to mention how much exercise is too much for kids. |
| Vanderbilt University Plans New Campus in San Francisco | |
| Vanderbilt University plans to open a new campus near downtown San Francisco, an expansion for the prestigious research school and a boost to the city's turnaround efforts. Vanderbilt is acquiring the facilities and other assets of the California College of the Arts, which has been having financial problems, with plans to create a campus focused on innovation, arts and design by the 2027 school year. The deal, being announced Tuesday by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, marks the latest development for the Nashville, Tenn., institution, sometimes called the Harvard of the South, after forays into New York and Florida. The new San Francisco location will host 1,000 full-time students and 100 faculty. The move is a boon to the mayor's efforts to revitalize a city that had been struggling with homelessness, drug use and crime following the pandemic. Vanderbilt, a 153-year-old school with about 7,300 undergraduates, has been expanding into places it considers centers of innovation, said Chancellor Daniel Diermeier. Last year, Vanderbilt established a new campus in New York City -- its first outside Nashville -- and recently got the green light from its board to proceed with another one in West Palm Beach, Fla. The school is also building an institute focused on quantum innovation closer to home in Chattanooga, Tenn. |
| U. of Tennessee conducts active shooter training | |
 | The alarm blaring throughout the Rocky Top Dining Hall on Jan. 13 was a drill, but police officers treated it as reality as they searched the building for an "active shooter" -- top to bottom, again and again. With students away from campus for winter break, the University of Tennessee Police Department -- along with the Knoxville police and fire departments -- closed off the 73,000-square-foot campus facility for active shooter training. More than 120 people participated, including volunteer actors playing the role of civilians. "Sim rounds" imitated real gunfire. In one scenario, a squad acted as first responders before help arrived to take down the shooter. They cleared each of the three floors, responding to volunteers calling for help and escorting them outside. UT's Emergency Management team gave directions to the volunteers -- when to faint or act out specific injuries with fake blood, as well as when to resist. All of these scenarios could happen in a real response, and these types of trainings are designed to prepare officers for how an emergency of this magnitude might actually unfold. "It's a pretty complex training operation," UT's Director of Emergency Management Brian Gard said. "It takes a lot of coordination, a lot of planning to put something together like this." |
| First semester under Mizzou's new parking plan shows steady rollout | |
 | Mizzou's new tiered, demand-based parking system, which replaced salary-based employee pricing and restructured student parking permits, has been a success during its first semester, according to university statements and data. The parking plan, which took effect Aug. 1, 2025, introduced tiered pricing based on lot location and demand, expanded shuttle services and prioritized permit purchasing access by campus role. University of Missouri spokesperson Travis Zimpfer said the transition has been smooth so far, with violations and complaints remaining consistent with previous years as thousands of students, faculty and staff have adjusted to new permit tiers, prices and parking locations. The number of ticket violations issued between Aug. 1 and Dec. 1 was 18,641; the value is consistent with previous years with no significant increase or decrease in violations. Zimpfer also said current parking-related concerns are similar in scope and nature to those of previous years. The goal of the university's plan is "to provide greater flexibility for the campus community and to generate funding for essential improvements to parking lots and structures," Zimpfer said. |
| Nebraska Chancellor's Hasty Exit Raises Questions | |
 | Weeks after pushing through deeply unpopular program cuts, University of Nebraska–Lincoln chancellor Rodney Bennett has left his role six months early -- with a $1 million golden parachute. His exit at Nebraska has prompted faculty concerns about executive spending as questions linger about whether program cuts driven by Bennett were avoidable. NU system officials, however, have defended the cuts as necessary due to a recurring budget deficit and argued that Bennett's exit package is what was owed to him -- a mix of unpaid leave, deferred income, health-care benefits and the remainder of his contract set to expire in June. For Bennett, this marks the second time since 2022 that he has left a job early, departing his role as president of the University of Southern Mississippi a year ahead of schedule after nearly a decade at the helm there. A former Southern Miss official who worked with Bennett at that campus ... speaking anonymously ... said Bennett was a rare sight on campus and tended to offer scripted remarks to faculty. That official also criticized Bennett's inexperience with teaching and research, noting he stepped into the job with a student affairs background. "The problem was he didn't want you to know that he didn't know things, and because of that, he wouldn't ask questions," the anonymous official said. |
| Boomers are staying in the job market as Gen Z struggles to break through | |
| Since graduating from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2024, Menasha Thomas has learned to navigate the swirl of networking and referrals, online job-search groups and interview processes. But after 14 months of soldiering through scores of applications, the 23-year-old has yet to put her urban planning degree to use in a full-time job. In the meantime, she took professional certification and real estate courses to make herself more hireable, while working as a nanny and at New York City cafes. It's been challenging but not "entirely isolating," she said, because she knows many other recent grads also are struggling to get started professionally. She recently landed a paid internship with a real estate company, for which she feels "extremely grateful." Fresh research from the workforce data company Revelio Labs sheds light on the factors making it harder for applicants like Thomas: chiefly, an aging population and more people working well into their 60s and 70s, coupled with a labor market in which companies are culling roles and seeking more experienced candidates when they do hire. The average new hire was 42 years old in 2025, according to a Revelio analysis released Jan. 6, versus 40.5 in 2022 and 4o in 2016. It underscores the uphill battle facing younger workers in an era when "employers are just expecting candidates to hit the ground running from day one, without really giving them the opportunity to train up," Simon said. |
| As Responsibilities for College Cost Shift, So Do State Priorities | |
| Affordability has always been a buzzword for lawmakers on Capitol Hill, but polling shows that it's becoming increasingly popular among state higher education agencies as well. According to the latest annual State Priorities survey from the State Higher Education Executive Officers, college affordability jumped from the sixth-most-important policy issue among higher ed executives in 2025 to the second most this year. SHEEO researchers emphasized that affordability has "consistently [been] among the top priorities" for the roughly 45 state executives surveyed each year; the average score from respondents this year only increased 0.1 points on a 1-to-5 scale. Nonetheless, they agreed that the increase represents a significant and timely change -- one that was likely influenced by the political climate in Washington. "Affordability is the key overarching issue for policymakers heading into the 2026 midterm election, and state higher education leaders are certainly not immune from pressure to lower costs," said Tom Harnisch, SHEEO's vice president for government relations. "So there's going to be, I foresee, continued legislative efforts to hold the line on tuition, make increased investments in financial aid and address other areas that are related to college costs." The increased focus on affordability has also been reflected in state legislation. |
| Senate advances bills rejecting Trump's efforts to slash research funding | |
| Senate lawmakers have engineered bipartisan fiscal 2026 spending proposals that would largely maintain scientific funding, defying the Trump administration's calls for massive cuts to research. Budget bills released by Senate committees in recent days would provide $188.3 billion in total scientific research funding -- 21.3% more than requested by the White House, according to an analysis published last week by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. However, legislators' proposed research funding levels would still fall 3.6% below fiscal 2025 spending. The full Senate voted on Monday to advance the bills, teeing up a final vote. Congress needs to pass a budget by Jan. 30 to avoid another shutdown. Since retaking office last year, President Donald Trump and his administration have pushed to downsize and disrupt the country's longstanding system of scientific research, which for decades has relied on a financial partnership between the federal government and scientists, many of them attached to universities. The provisional budget bill set to expire at the end of this month was a stopgap that ended the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. |
| Athletics Makes List of Biggest Risks for Colleges | |
| For the first time, athletics earned a spot among the top 10 risks cited by colleges and universities in the latest annual Top Risks Report by United Educators insurance company. Eleven percent of institutions surveyed mentioned it -- in some cases noting the mounting complexities of name, image and likeness policies -- putting it in 10th place. Admissions and retention remained the top-ranked risk for the second year in a row, named by 72 percent of institutions, while data security/cybersecurity held steady in the second spot, cited by 52 percent. Compliance (not including Title IX and the Violence Against Women Act) jumped from fifth place in last year's report to third this year. Operational pressures slid from third-biggest risk to fourth, cited by 30 percent of respondents, while facilities and deferred maintenance moved from sixth to fifth position. Funding/financial stability ranked sixth, up from eighth last year, followed by student mental health, which first entered the list in 2022 as the fifth-biggest perceived risk. Recruitment and hiring was listed eighth and public safety retained the ninth spot from last year. At the same time, Title IX failed to make the list of top 10 concerns for the first time since 2020–21, reflecting "educational institutions' increasing concerns in other risk areas in addition to the relative clarity regarding Title IX obligations," the report said. |
| Who you gonna' believe? | |
| The Bigger Pie Forum's Kelley Williams writes at MagnoliaTribune.com: "Who you gonna' believe? Me or your lying eyes." Substitute Entergy's spokesperson for Chico Marx, and you have the current gaslighting telling you don't believe what you see happening in other states and what common sense tells you will happen here. Just trust Entergy not to raise electric rates for small customers to benefit Amazon's data centers. And don't worry that Senate Bill 2001 sidelines Mississippi's Public Service Commission (PSC) and runs interference for Entergy. Mississippi's politicians and economic developers who passed SB 2001 say economic development is more important than affordable, reliable electricity. SB 2001 makes Mississippi more vulnerable to monopoly utility abuses than other states -- which are waking up to data center effects. The Washington Post's recent "Data Center Backlash" highlighted these effects: "Data center projects dramatically increase load, costs, and planning complexity for utilities especially electric and water systems if not paired with new capacity, demand management, and clear cost-allocation rules." ... There's more to this data centers backlash story. It may be too late to save Entergy's small customers from higher rates due to Entergy and Amazon's sweetheart deal. But it's not too late to help them understand that their rates are going up to benefit Amazon and Entergy because of legislators who say economic development will help Entergy's poor customers (who already spend more of their income on energy than customers in any other state) have better lives. |
| Highly partisan Farm Bill impasse on Capitol Hill is an odd issue for a primary challenge | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: As we've discussed in this column before, Congress has not adopted a comprehensive five-year Farm Bill since 2018. In states like Mississippi, there are few pieces of legislation that are more impactful, given this state's $9.51 billion total agricultural production value and the jobs those activities support. Historically, farm bills were mostly bipartisan efforts aimed at the myriad issues touched by the legislative beast known as the Farm Bill. But as enunciated in a Jan.7, 2025 scholarly article in the conversation.com by Arizona State University researchers Christopher Neubert and Kathleen Merrigan entitled "Why 2026 could see the end of the Farm Bill era of American agriculture policy," it's clear that traditional Farm Bills may be a political thing of the past. On that same Jan. 7 date, Republican U.S. Senate challenger Sarah Adlakha -- the Gulf Coast osteopath -- lambasted incumbent GOP U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith over the lack of a Farm Bill, given her status as a Republican member of both the Senate Agriculture and Senate Appropriations committees. The Adlakha attack makes a good sound bite, but one that roundly ignores how the GOP congressional majority in both houses and the Trump White House invoked Republican policies on several key Farm Bill points of disagreement in the so-called "One Bill Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA) budget reconciliation legislation -- and why. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State hosts No. 5 Vanderbilt following Blakes' 25-point game | |
| No. 5 Vanderbilt faces Mississippi State Thursday night after Mikayla Blakes scored 25 points in Vanderbilt's 91-51 win against the Texas A&M Aggies. The Bulldogs have gone 11-1 in home games. Mississippi State is 13-3 in games decided by 10 points or more. The Commodores have gone 4-0 against SEC opponents. Vanderbilt is 13-0 against opponents over .500. Mississippi State makes 45.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 8.5 percentage points higher than Vanderbilt has allowed to its opponents (37.4%). Vanderbilt averages 10.0 made 3-pointers per game this season, 3.9 more made shots on average than the 6.1 per game Mississippi State gives up. The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play. Destiney McPhaul is averaging 12.1 points, 3.8 assists and 1.9 steals for the Bulldogs. Favour Nwaedozi is averaging 14.4 points over the last 10 games. |
| Men's Basketball: The Final Horn: No. 18 Alabama 97, State 82 | |
| Mississippi State dropped a 97-82 decision to No. 18 Alabama at Humphrey Coliseum on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs got off to a fast start with triples from Shawn Jones Jr. and Josh Hubbard on the way to an early 17-7 advantage. State went on to lead by as many as 14 points in the first half, but the Tide snatched momentum with a 17-3 run to eventually take a 36-34 lead heading into the locker room. Alabama then began the second half with a 13-2 run to extend its edge to 13. Despite State's efforts to keep the game within reach, it wasn't enough for the Dawgs to mount a comeback as the Tide kept their foot on the gas pedal and iced the game. Hubbard led the way offensively for State with 23 points, three rebounds and three assists. The key stretch of the contest came as Alabama mounted a 34-7 run spanning over a 9:38 timeframe between the end of the first half and beginning of the second. Mississippi State hosts Ole Miss on Saturday, Jan. 17 at Humphrey Coliseum during the first of two regular season matchups between the rivals. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and the contest will be aired on SEC Network. |
| Why Mississippi State football has added so many FSU, Oklahoma transfers to 2026 roster | |
| Mississippi State football is using some of its past connections to add players in the transfer portal for the 2026 roster. The Bulldogs have gotten 20 transfers since the portal opened Jan. 2, and a pattern is noticeable. Four of the transfers are coming to MSU from Florida State as of Jan. 13. Another three are former Oklahoma players. A lot of transfers are related to coaching connections. That's a part of why MSU and coach Jeff Lebby have four Florida State transfers. The Bulldogs rehired Zach Arnett as defensive coordinator after he spent the 2025 season as an analyst with the Seminoles. Two of the Florida State transfers are on defense: defensive lineman Jayson Jenkins and edge rusher Amaree Williams. The other two Florida State transfers are offensive linemen who redshirted as freshmen in 2025. Mario Nash Jr. was a four-star in the 2025 recruiting class from Kemper County who flipped from MSU to Florida State in October 2024. Ja'Elyne Matthews was a three-star who transferred to Florida State from Rutgers in the spring. Mississippi State's connection with Oklahoma is a bit more obvious because it was Lebby's team before he was hired by the Bulldogs after the 2023 season. But this is the first transfer cycle in Lebby's three seasons that multiple Oklahoma players are transferring to Mississippi State. |
| MSU men take doubleheader win to open spring season | |
| Mississippi State men's tennis got off to a strong start for the spring semester with a pair of wins in Dallas, Texas, last weekend, notching wins over Southern Methodist and Lamar University at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex. The seventh-ranked Bulldogs began with a matchup against the Mustangs, scoring a doubles win from the prolific duo of Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez. The pair began the year ranked No. 2 in the men's doubles rankings after an impressive fall, which saw them win a southeast regional championship and reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA Individual championships. The Bulldogs added to their tally with singles wins by Jovanovic, Raphael Vaksmann, Mario Martinez Serrano and Niccolo Baroni to complete a 5-2 team win over SMU. The Bulldogs had another straightforward win against Lamar in the afternoon, dominating doubles matchup and recording five individual wins for a 6-1 victory. MSU will return to the courts on Friday with a weekend tour of Big Ten schools Illinois and Indiana. |
| Bulldog trio named to Softball America Freshman Watchlist | |
| Mississippi State softball is just under a month away from opening the 2026 season and is already reeling in individual honors for an impressive freshman class. Pitcher Brinkley Moreton, outfielder Kinley Keller and infielder Gabby Schaeffer were all named to the Softball America Freshman Watchlist on Monday. Keller was named to the D1Softball D100 Freshman watchlist last week in expectation of a big campaign for the Bulldogs. She was a record-breaker in high school at Davenport in New Braunfels, Texas, where her .546 career batting average and 54 home runs set new marks in program history. Moreton was one of the top recruits in the country, signing as a two-way player out of Lincoln in Summers, Arkansas, where she was a three-time All-State player with a 1.49 ERA and 305 strikeouts over 150.1 innings and set a single-season state record with 65 RBI as a freshman. Schaeffer came to Starkville from Monroe, New York, where she helped Monroe-Woodbury High School to back-to-back state championships. She averaged more than .400 at the plate in each season. MSU softball will begin its season next month at the Getterman Classic in Waco, Texas, facing Baylor on Opening Day, Feb. 5. |
| CFP expansion: Big Ten floats temporary 16-team field as stopgap amid stalemate with SEC | |
| The cold war between the Big Ten and the SEC is heading to South Florida. As College Football Playoff executives prepare for their annual meeting ahead of the national championship game in Miami, the sport's two power brokers remain locked in a standoff over the future of the postseason, which could leave the playoff frozen in its current format for at least one more season. But behind the scenes, the Big Ten is floating a compromise it believes could potentially break the stalemate as the clock nears midnight on the CFP's Jan. 23 deadline for a decision. The conference prefers a 24-team playoff, with or without automatic qualifiers, but is willing to temporarily accept a 16-team field if the rest of the sport commits to expanding to 24 teams within three years, industry sources told CBS Sports. The stopgap would buy conferences time to unwind one of the sport's most complicated obstacles: conference championship games, which are tied up in lucrative and overlapping media-rights agreements through at least the end of the decade. The belief is that power conferences would eliminate their conference championship games in the new model. That idea could surface Sunday when the CFP management committee, composed of the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame's athletic director, meets in Miami. For now, the lines are firmly drawn, and the Big Ten is standing on an island. |
| College football coaches recommend allowing players to play up to 9 games and use redshirt | |
| College football head coaches voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend players be allowed to play nine games and retain their eligibility to declare a redshirt season. Currently, players can redshirt if they play four regular-season games or fewer, but exhaust a year of eligibility with the fifth regular-season game in a season. A rule change last year made it so postseason games don't count toward the redshirt rule. Tuesday's recommendation is not an official NCAA proposal but will be put in front of NCAA committees after around 60 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches met for more than three hours at the conclusion of the American Football Coaches Association's annual convention in Charlotte. AFCA executive director Craig Bohl announced the recommendation but declined to take questions. Georgia's Kirby Smart, Clemson's Dabo Swinney, Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman and Virginia Tech's James Franklin were among the notable names in attendance, but multiple coaches from all Power 4 conferences and the Group of 6 attended as well. |
| Justices Consider 'Sex' Definition, State Laws Banning Trans Women in Sports | |
| For years, state laws prohibiting transgender girls and women from playing on sports teams matching their gender identity have proliferated, along with legal challenges to these bans. But now, the U.S. Supreme Court may settle what's become a national controversy. On Tuesday, the high court considered the legality of the bans in Idaho and West Virginia. In more than three hours of oral arguments, the justices and attorneys debated when there should be exceptions allowed to broad legislation that discriminates against specific groups, how the presence or absence of medical testosterone regulation and biological performance advantages affect the legality of these prohibitions, whether sex should be defined as biological sex under Title IX, and what Title IX's allowance for sex-segregated teams means if transgender women are allowed to play on women's teams. "You don't think we should have an operating definition of sex in Title IX?" Chief Justice John Roberts said at one point to an attorney representing a trans child. Lawyers representing the students who have challenged the bans said the cases were about access to athletics for a small number of transgender people, including those who are regulating their testosterone. |
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