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Trying to make sense of NIL and the transfer portal, like it or not

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Trying to make sense of NIL and the transfer portal, like it or not

It is the question I get asked most no matter where I go: at a civic club, the barber , a tavern, the golf course, the grocery store or just about anywhere else.

Goes like this: So, how do you really feel about name, image and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal?

Rick Cleveland

Here’s the truth: I hate the combination of the two. I despise what the two, together, have done to college , which is rip away the foundation of what the college sports experience was supposed to be about, both for participants and for spectators. Simply put, for me, it is not as much fun as it once was.

I hasten to add, that is not because some athletes are making hundreds of thousands of dollars or that some are becoming rich before they even know what to do with the riches. Ever since college sports became a TV-fueled multi- dollar industry, I have believed the athletes should share in the spoils.

Just not this way, with the right to play musical schools on an annual basis depending on who offers the most money. It’s agency without guidelines and without a salary cap – and really, without any regard for education. The richest schools will get the best players, and the poor will get the hell beat out of them.

I was talking the other day with a wealthy fan of one of our Mississippi universities. He has done really well financially and has always supported his school’s teams and facilities, donating significantly. But he has drawn a line where the NIL is concerned. This is what he told me: “I am not about to tens of thousands of dollars to a collective so our star running back can go out and buy himself a Porsche and then drive it off next year to Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge for a better deal.”

But it’s everywhere. In 2019, 6.5% of all Division I football players had transferred at least once. This past season, more than 20% had. More than 2,100 Division I players have entered the portal this year. That figure will continue to rise. To say it doesn’t always work out for those who enter the portal is an understatement. In 2022, of all the college basketball players who entered the portal, nearly 20% wound up without a college scholarship anywhere.

Sports participation teaches many lessons, one of which is that perseverance and hard work in the face of disappointment will pay off in the end. The portal teaches the opposite. Used to be that if you were a second teamer and weren’t getting on the field or court as much as you desired, you buckled down and worked harder. Now? “Screw this,” they tell the coach, “I’m going in the portal.”

College coaching has changed forever. Tough love is out. Coaching on eggshells is in.

“There’s no holding players accountable,” a retired college basketball coach told me. “Used to, you could use the bench as a motivator. Now, they’ll just leave.”

Here, the biggest news in this football portal season has been running star Quinshon Judkins moving from on to Ohio after two seasons in Oxford.

Regular of this column know how I feel about Judkins’ football abilities and performance. His blend of vision, power, balance, quickness, toughness and speed remind me of my favorite football player ever, Walter Payton. The great linebacker D.D. Lewis once told me Payton was the most difficult to tackle he ever faced. “It hurt to tackle Payton,” D.D. said. “It was like trying to tackle a 215-pound bowling ball.”

Judkins runs like that. When he gets tackled, it hurts the other guy worse than him.

Now, he’s a Buckeye after providing 34 touchdowns and more than 3,000 yards from scrimmage in two seasons at Ole Miss. All indications are that Judkins shopped his availability around the country and that, in the end, he will make less money at Ohio State than he was making at Ole Miss.

Then there’s the case of Will Rogers, the ex-Brandon and Mississippi State quarterback, who had planned to transfer to Washington, this past season’s No. 2 team in the country. But Kalen DeBoer, the Washington coach, has taken the Alabama job and Rogers is back in the transfer portal.

Fans have had to adjust, too. In 2020, Malik Heath caught the only two Mississippi State touchdowns in a 31-14 loss to Ole Miss. A year later, Heath made just one catch in another Egg Bowl loss to Ole Miss. In 2022, Heath entered the portal and switched sides. He played for Ole Miss, making five catches for 80 yards in the Egg Bowl. State got the last laugh, winning 24-22. Heath, 0-3 in Egg Bowls, now plays for the Green Bay Packers.

Such a switch of allegiances would have been unthinkable in the old days. Not now.

It will take some time to adjust. Not sure I ever will.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

Mississippi Today’s NewsMatch Campaign is Here: Support Journalism that Strengthens Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Mary Margaret White – 2024-11-01 12:34:00

High-quality journalism like ours depends on reader support; without it, we simply couldn’t exist. That’s why we’re proud to join the NewsMatch movement, a national initiative aimed at raising $50 million for nonprofit newsrooms that serve communities like ours here in Mississippi, where access to reliable information has often been limited.

In a time when trusted journalists and media sources are disappearing, we believe the stakes couldn’t be higher. Without on-the-ground, trustworthy reporting, civic engagement suffers, accountability falters and corruption often goes unaddressed. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here at Mississippi we act as watchdogs, holding those in power accountable, and as storytellers, giving a platform to voices that have been ignored for too long. And we’re committed to keeping our stories for everyone because information should be accessible when it’s needed most.

Why NewsMatch and Why Now?

This year’s NewsMatch campaign runs from November 1 through December 31, giving us a special opportunity to make each dollar you give go even further. Through matching funds provided by local foundations like the Maddox Foundation, and national funders like the MacArthur Foundation, the Rural Partner Fund and the Hewlett Foundation, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar up to $1,000. Plus, if 100 new donors join us, we’ll unlock an additional $2,000 in , bringing us even closer to our goal. Boiled down: your donation goes four times as far.

Every dollar raised strengthens our ability to serve you with fact-based journalism on issues that impact your everyday life—whether it’s covering local election issues or reporting on decisions affecting schools, safety and economic growth in Mississippi. Your support makes it possible for us to stay rooted in the community, offering nuanced perspectives that help understand and engage with what’s happening around them.

Special Event: “Freedom of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impact”

As part of the campaign, we’re to host a special virtual event, “ of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impact.” Join Deep South Today newsrooms Mississippi Today and Verite News, along with national experts on press freedom, for an in-depth discussion on the unique challenges facing journalists in the Deep South. This one-hour will explore the critical role local newsrooms play in holding power accountable, highlighting recent restrictions on press freedom such as Louisiana’s “25- ,” which affects journalists’ ability to vital news.

We’ll examine what’s at stake if local newsrooms lose press freedoms and will discuss how you, as members of the public, can help protect it. This event is open to Mississippi Today and Verite News members as a special thank-you for supporting local journalism and standing with us in this mission. Donate today to RSVP!

How You Can Help

Make Your Gift Today

Together, let’s ensure Mississippi has the robust, independent journalism it needs to thrive. Your support fuels our ability to expose the truth, elevate marginalized stories and build a more informed Mississippi.

Thank you for believing in the power of journalism to strengthen the communities we love—not only during election season but year-round. With your help, we’ll keep Mississippi informed, engaged and connected for generations to come.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Hinds County loses fight over control of jail

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mississippitoday.org – Mina Corpuz – 2024-11-01 12:57:00

The sheriff and Board of Supervisors have lost an appeal to prevent control of its jail by a court-appointed receiver and an injunction that orders the county to address unconstitutional conditions in the facility.   

Two members from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with decisions by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves to appoint a receiver to oversee day-to-day jail operations and keep parts of a previous consent decree in place to fix constitutional violations, a failure to protect detainees from harm. 

However, the appeals court called the new injunction “overly broad” in one area and is asking Reeves to reevaluate the scope of the receivership.

The injunction retained provisions relating to sexual assault, but the appeals court found the provisions were tied to general risk of violence at the jail, rather than specific concerns about the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The court reversed those points of the injunction and remanded them to the district court so the provisions can be

The court also found that the receiver should not have authority over budgeting and staff salaries for the Raymond Detention Center, which could be seen as “federal intrusion into RDC’s budget” – especially if the receivership has no end date. 

Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Robert Graham was not immediately available for comment Friday. Sheriff Tyree Jones declined to comment because he has not yet read the entire court opinion. 

In 2016, the Department of Justice sued Hinds County alleging a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conditions in four of its detention facilities. The county and DOJ entered a consent decree with stipulated changes to make for the jail system, which people facing trial. 

“But the decree did not resolve the dispute; to the contrary, a yearslong battle ensued in the district court as to whether and to what extent the County was complying with the consent decree,” the appeals court wrote.  

This prompted Reeves to hold the county in contempt of court twice in 2022. 

The county argued it was doing its best to comply with the consent decree and spending millions to fix the jail. One of the they offered was building a new jail, which is now under construction in

The county had a to further prove itself during three weeks of hearings held in February 2022. Focuses included the of seven detainees in 2021 from assaults and suicide and issues with staffing, contraband, old and use of force. 

Seeing partial compliance by the county, in April 2022 Reeves dismissed the consent decree and issued a new, shorter injunction focused on the jail and removed some provisions from the decree.

But Reeves didn’t see improvement from there. In July 2022, he ordered receivership and wrote that it was needed because of an ongoing risk of unconstitutional harm to jail detainees and staff. 

The county pushed back against federal oversight and filed an appeal, arguing that there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that there are current and ongoing constitutional violations at the jail and that the county has acted with deliberate indifference. 

Days before the appointed receiver was set to take control of the jail at the beginning of 2023, the 5th Circuit Court ordered a stay to halt that receiver’s work. The new injunction ordered by Reeves was also stayed, and a three-person jail monitoring team that had been in place for years also was ordered to stop work. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

2 out of 5 child care teachers make so little they need public assistance tosupport their families

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mississippitoday.org – Jackie Mader, The Hechinger – 2024-11-01 08:49:00

This story about child care wages was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit,
independent organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger’s early childhood newsletter.

Caring for during their first few years is a complex and critical job: A child’s
brain develops more in the first five years than at any other point in life. Yet in America,
individuals engaged in this crucial role are paid less than animal caretakers and
dressing room attendants.

That’s a major finding of one of two new reports on the dismal treatment of child care
workers. Together, the reports offer a distressing picture of how child care staff are
faring economically, the troubling changes low wages have caused to the
workforce.

Early childhood workers nationally earn a median wage of $13.07 per hour, resulting in
poverty-level earnings for 13 percent of such educators, according to the first report, the
Early Childhood Workforce Index 2024. Released earlier this month by the Center for
the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, the annual
report also found:

? 43 percent of families of early educators rely on public assistance like
food stamps and .

? Pay inequity exists within these low wages: Black early childhood
educators earn about $8,000 less per year than their white peers. The
same pay gap exists between early educators who work with infants and
toddlers and those who work with preschoolers, who have more
opportunities to work in school districts that pay higher wages.

? Wages for early educators are rising more slowly than wages in other
industries, including fast food and retail.

In part due to these conditions, the industry is losing some of its highest-educated
workers, according to a second new report, by Chris M. Herbst, a professor at Arizona
University’s School of Public Affairs. That study compares the pay of child care
workers with that of workers in other lower-income professions, including cooks and
retail workers; it finds child care workers are the tenth lowest-paid occupation out of
around 750 in the . The report also looks at the ‘relative quality’ of child care
staff, as defined by math and literacy scores and education level. Higher-educated
workers, Herbst suggests, are being siphoned off by higher-paying jobs.

That’s led to a “bit of a spiral” in terms of how child care work is perceived, and
contributes to the persistent low wages, he said in an interview. Some additional
findings from Herbst’s study:

? Higher-educated women increasingly find employment in the child care
industry to be less attractive. The share of workers in the child care
industry with a bachelor’s degree barely budged over the past few
decades, increasing by only 0.3 percent. In contrast, the share of those in
the industry who have 12 years of schooling but no high school degree,
quadrupled.

? Median numeracy and literacy scores for female child care workers
(who are the majority of the industry staff) fall at the 35 th and 36 th
percentiles respectively, to all female workers. Improving these
scores is important, Herbst says, considering the importance of education
in the early years, when children experience rapid brain .

This doesn’t mean child care staff with lower education levels can’t be good early
educators. Patience, communication skills and a commitment to working with young
children also matter greatly, Herbst writes. However, higher education levels may mean
staff have a stronger background not only in English and math but also in topics like
behavior modification and special education, which are sometimes left out of
certification programs for child care teachers.

You can read Herbst’s full report here, and the 2024 workforce index here.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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