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The University of Southern Mississippi will look at cutting under-enrolled programs even though administrators say it is not facing a financial crisis.

The budget is balanced, despite a four-year period of decreasing revenue and increasing costs, and USM has adequate cash reserves.

The move is necessary, top leaders said at last month’s convocation, so the research institution in Hattiesburg can survive the increasingly competitive future facing higher education in Mississippi by becoming a “unicorn” among its peers, offering programs students want and the state needs.

“Colleagues, this is plain and simply the reality of where we are in higher education today, and progressive institutions all across the landscape are doing the same,” President Joe Paul told faculty on Aug. 19, according to a video the university has since taken off YouTube after faculty and staff had a chance to watch it. “We can no longer simply kick the can down the road and hope things can get better. We will instead take charge of our future and crease a uniquely positioned, distinctive public research universty of which we can all be proud and feel ownership.”

Paul added that cuts are also one of the few ways the university can afford more pay raises for its faculty and staff, some of whom will receive merit raises this fall for the first time in eight years. (After protesting, minimum wage workers at USM won a pay raise two years ago.)

“My goal for us is not to go another eight years before offering raises again, that accomplishes little,” Paul said. “If we are to develop a true salary increase plan that is competitive and sustainable, we simply must continue to do two things with discipline and consistency. One, we must all continue to grow the enrollment through recruitment and retention … while also continuing to find efficiencies and decrease spending as an institution.”

USM was able to afford the raises, which total about $4.4 million, through what Paul described as two years of systematic reductions in administrative spending. The university cut 22 unfilled and six filled positions at its Hattiesburg and Gulf Park campuses.

An increase in state appropriations also helped support the raise, but USM isn’t able to say how much because “the raises come from the university’s operating budget and the amount is not broken down by revenue source,” Nicole Ruhnke, a spokesperson, wrote in an email.

The raises addressed a significant concern for faculty at USM who held a protest for fair pay earlier this year.

Low salaries are an issue across Mississippi’s higher education system, which has struggled to attract and retain talented faculty. In recent years, the governing board of Mississippi’s eight universities has repeatedly heard how Mississippi’s faculty and staff are paid well below the average salary of other Southern states.

In an effort to fix that, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees asked the Legislature to provide $53 million in funding this year so that each university could afford a 6.4% raise.

IHL’s spokesperson John Sewell wrote in an email that the system ultimately received $27 million in unrestricted new funding, not enough for 6.4% increase.

That funding also needed to cover other inflationary costs facing the institutions, like PERS and health insurance, Sewell wrote.

Therefore, IHL left the final decision on raises up to the institutions, so Sewell could not say how much each university spent. Plus, the system’s final appropriation bill, which IHL negotiates on behalf of the eight institutions, did not include specific language regarding raises.

“IHL did not prescribe a fixed amount of new funding to be dedicated to raises as the individual institutions needed the flexibility to balance the increased costs for PERS and health insurance along with other inflationary costs before considering the amount for possible raises,” Sewell wrote.

Those costs are also driving USM administrators’ review of under-enrolled programs, which comprise a minority of USM’s programs.

Lance Nail, the provost, is leading that effort. In response to questions from Mississippi Today, Nail and Paul did not participate in an interview but provided statements.

Nail wrote that details about the program review will be worked out in the coming weeks in consultation with faculty, staff and administration.

“We will look at each under-enrolled academic program individually in collaboration with the deans, school directors and faculty, and determine what has led to low enrollment, student and market demand, as well as other contributions the program provides within the academy.” Nail noted. “These include the program’s contributions to the general education core, pre-major requirements, research and service.”

Last fall, USM deleted three degrees after IHL’s academic productivity review, which is triggered when a program is deemed to have too few graduates in a three-year period. Those degrees were a bachelors in international studies, and doctoral degrees in music education and criminal justice.

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Summer 2024 sweltered to Earth’s hottest on record, making it even more likely that this year will end up as the warmest humanity has measured, European climate service Copernicus reported Friday.

And if this sounds familiar, that’s because the records the globe shattered were set just last year as human-caused climate change, with a temporary boost from an El Nino, keeps dialing up temperatures and extreme weather, scientists said.

The northern meteorological summer — June, July and August — averaged 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.24 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Copernicus. That’s 0.03 degrees Celsius (0.05 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the old record in 2023. Copernicus records go back to 1940, but American, British and Japanese records, which start in the mid-19th century, show the last decade has been the hottest since regular measurements were taken and likely in about 120,000 years, according to some scientists.

The Augusts of both 2024 and 2023 tied for the hottest Augusts globally at 16.82 degrees Celsius (62.27 degrees Fahrenheit). July was the first time in more than a year that the world did not set a record, a tad behind 2023, but because June 2024 was so much hotter than June 2023, this summer as a whole was the hottest, Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said.

“What those sober numbers indicate is how the climate crisis is tightening its grip on us,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, who wasn’t part of the research.

It’s a sweaty grip because with the high temperatures, the dew point — one of several ways to measure the air’s humidity — probably was at or near record high this summer for much of the world, Buontempo said.

Until last month Buontempo, like some other climate scientists, was on the fence over whether 2024 would smash the hottest year record set last year, mostly because August 2023 was so enormously hotter than average. But then this August 2024 matched 2023, making Buontempo “pretty certain” that this year will end up hottest on record.

“In order for 2024 not to become the warmest on record, we need to see very significant landscape cooling for the remaining few months, which doesn’t look likely at this stage,” Buontempo said.

With a forecasted La Nina — a temporary natural cooling of parts of the central Pacific — the last four months of the year may no longer be record-setters like most of the past year and a half. But it’s not likely cool enough to keep 2024 from breaking the annual record, Buontempo said.

These aren’t just numbers in a record book, but weather that hurts people, climate scientists said.

“This all translates to more misery around the world as places like Phoenix start to feel like a barbecue locked on high for longer and longer stretches of the year,” said University of Michigan environment dean and climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck. The Arizona city has had more than 100 days of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) weather this year. “With longer and more severe heat waves come more severe droughts in some places, and more intense rains and flooding in others. Climate change is becoming too obvious, and too costly, to ignore.”

Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Cape Cod, said there’s been a deluge of extreme weather of heat, floods, wildfires and high winds that are violent and dangerous.

“Like people living in a war zone with the constant thumping of bombs and clatter of guns, we are becoming deaf to what should be alarm bells and air-raid sirens,” Francis said in an email.

While a portion of last year’s record heat was driven by an El Nino — a temporary natural warming of parts of the central Pacific that alters weather worldwide — that effect is gone, and it shows the main driver is long-term human-caused climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, Buontempo said.

“It’s really not surprising that we see this, this heat wave, that we see these temperature extremes,” Buontempo said. “We are bound to see more.”

This story was originally published by The Associated Press and is distributed through a partnership between Mississippi Today and The AP. Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment.

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Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Richard Lake has joined the Mississippi Today team as Audience Engagement Specialist. 

In this role, Lake will work directly with journalists, editors and readers to ensure Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism reaches every corner of the state and beyond.

“Richard has developed into a respected member of the journalism community here in Mississippi,” said managing editor Michael Guidry. “He brings such an invaluable variety of skills to our newsroom that will help us further enhance how we engage with our members and growing audience.”

Born in San Antonio, Texas, Lake graduated from Mississippi State University in 2022, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in political science. Richard comes to Mississippi Today after over two years as WJTV Channel 12 News’ Senior Political Correspondent. A former Mississippi Today intern, Lake previously worked on the audience team. He also completed an internship with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, working as a production assistant.

While at WJTV, Lake was named a finalist for TV Rookie of the Year at the 2023 Mississippi Association of Broadcasters Awards. Lake was also a part of WJTV’s award winning reporting on Mississippi’s 2023 gubernatorial election.

“Finding creative ways to provide our audience with the journalism they expect and deserve is more important now than ever,” said Lake. “I’m excited to apply innovative strategies and work alongside this incredible team in furthering the impact of our reporting.”

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A former tax assessor and collector in north Mississippi checked into a residential treatment center for a gambling addiction after he called the state auditor’s office and confessed to misusing more than $300,000 in public money, his attorney said Tuesday.

Shannon Wilburn, 49, resigned in April from the elected office he had held in Benton County since 2016, and he began the 12-week addiction treatment in late July, his attorney Tony Farese told The Associated Press.

“I’ve known Shannon all of his life,” Farese said. “We are shocked that he finds himself in this situation.”

Mississippi Auditor Shad White announced Tuesday that Wilburn has been charged with one count of embezzlement. The announcement came days after Wilburn was indicted. Farese said Wilburn turned himself in to the sheriff’s office Friday, then posted bond and returned to the treatment program.

Wilburn is accused of taking $327,055 paid to the Benton County Tax Collector’s office and using the money for personal expenses, Farese said. He said Wilburn confessed to the auditor’s office before hiring legal representation and has continued to cooperate with investigators.

“He apologizes for disappointing the citizens of Benton County and the state of Mississippi,” Farese said.

If convicted, Wilburn would face up to $5,000 in fines and 20 years in prison.

White said Wilburn’s employment as a Benton County elected official was covered by $200,000 in surety bonds to protect taxpayers from losses from corruption. The county also has an insurance policy that covers theft.

“The dedicated team at the State Auditor’s Office will continue to work closely with prosecutors to get record results, one case at a time,” White said in a statement.

This story was originally published by The Associated Press and is distributed through a partnership between Mississippi Today and The AP.

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BOVINA — The seven people killed in a weekend bus crash in Mississippi were all from Mexico, the Mississippi Highway Patrol said this week as it released their names and ages.

The department said those killed Saturday were Miguel Arriaga, 61; Victor A. Garcia, 32; Moises A. Garcia, 31; Kain Gutierrez, 8; Perla Gutierrez, 16; Elia Guzman, 63; and Angelica Palomino, 16. The patrol did not release their hometowns.

Kain Gutierrez and Perla Gutierrez were brother and sister, according to Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey.

Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, Alicia Bárcena, expressed condolences to the families of the dead and offered consular support.

The crash, which also injured about three dozen other people, remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, the state highway patrol and the Mississippi Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division.

The 2018 Volvo bus was operated by Autobuses Regiomontanos, which has sales offices in Mexico and Texas. It was traveling westbound on Interstate 20 from Atlanta to Dallas with 41 passengers and two drivers.

A left front tire failed early Saturday in Bovina, near Vicksburg, Mississippi. The bus veered onto an embankment and overturned onto its left side, NTSB member Todd Inman said Sunday. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

Six people were pronounced dead at the scene and another died at a hospital, according to the highway patrol. Thirty-six people were taken by ambulance to hospitals.

Inman said investigators will look at the vehicle’s condition, including how well the tires were maintained. The investigation will also focus on road conditions, the driver’s experience, the carrier’s safety record and what protections were provided for the bus occupants, he said.

A preliminary report was expected within 30 days and the full investigation could take up to two years, the NTSB said.

The transit company says it has 20 years of experience providing cross-border trips between 100 destinations in Mexico and the U.S. Its website promotes “a modern fleet of buses that receive daily maintenance” while offering “special price” trips for workers.

This story was originally published by The Associated Press and is distributed through a partnership between Mississippi Today and The AP.

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A legislative panel looking for ways to cut or eliminate state taxes in Mississippi on Wednesday heard from city, county and transportation officials about their need for adequate and stable infrastructure funding.

“Infrastructure, that’s our main need,” said Ocean Springs Mayor Kenny Holloway. “We’re an old city, and we’ve got crumbling water pipes, sewer pipes, sidewalks and roads. We’re growing, and it’s hard to keep up with needs.”

Holloway was one of four mayors to address the House Select Committee on Tax Reform during its second of several planned hearings for the summer and fall. The committee also heard from a representative of the association for counties, a transportation expert about the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s need for more funding, and the Department of Revenue.

Reps. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, and C. Scott Bounds, R-Philadelphia, co-chairmen of the tax committee, said helping keep up with infrastructure needs statewide and cutting taxes — potentially eliminating the state income tax — are not mutually exclusive. State coffers have remained flush since an influx of federal pandemic relief spending, even as the largest income tax cut in state history has been phased in over the last few years.

“There are three goals,” Lamar said at the outset of Wednesday’s hearing. “One, to learn as much as we can and recommend policy to the Legislature that will be transformational and provide us with the most competitive, most fair tax structure … Two, to be sensitive to the needs of local governments … government closest to the people … and three, to fix the funding model for the Mississippi Department of Transportation for the long haul.”

House Republican leaders have for several years promoted elimination of the state’s income tax. Their efforts have fallen short of elimination, but in 2022 resulted in passage of a $525-million a year income tax cut. When fully phased in in 2026, Mississippi will have a 4% income tax rate, one of the lowest among states that have an income tax.

Senate leaders, who have also formed a fiscal study committee to make recommendations for next year, previously balked at full elimination of the income tax that provides nearly a third of the state’s revenue. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and other Senate leaders have appeared more focused on cutting or eliminating the state’s 7% sales tax on groceries — the highest such tax on groceries in the nation.

But city leaders — especially those in small cities — have for years been leery of talk of cutting the sales tax on groceries. Many small city budgets rely on sales taxes, and in many small rural cities, the main source of sales tax is from grocery stores.

On Wednesday, mayors of several Mississippi cities stressed to lawmakers how much their budgets rely on sales taxes and use taxes — sales taxes collected on internet and other sales outside of the state. The state collects the taxes, then provides cities a “diversion” of part of the taxes collected inside each city.

DOR officials said Mississippi appears to be the only state that provides such a diversion of sales taxes, but many other states allow cities to levy their own “local option” sales taxes on top of the state’s. But state lawmakers have been loath to allow cities to levy local option sales taxes. Lamar told the panel Wednesday he recently went to a seminar in West Virginia, and he got an itemized bill that showed nearly 20% in sales taxes all told.

“We in local government don’t have any problems that money can’t fix,” Louisville Mayor Will Hill joked with lawmakers. “… We have the infrastructure issue, and the increased cost of policing and fire protection. We’re interested in having conversations on the importance of sales taxes, whether it’s increased diversions of local options.”

Steve Gray with the Mississippi Association of Supervisors reminded lawmakers that counties do not receive such a sales tax diversion, but he said they are thankful for lawmakers diverting some use taxes to county road and bridge needs starting a few years ago.

Gray said needed road and bridge work — and the skyrocketing cost of construction and materials — are the biggest fiscal challenge facing counties.

“We’re excited to be at the table and helping work toward a solution,” Gray told lawmakers.

The panel also heard from an expert with a company that has helped the Mississippi Department of Transportation for decades with its long range planning.

Paula S. Dowell, with HTNB Corporation, said MDOT has perennially been short of money to maintain all its roadways, much less build new ones to keep up with demand. The agency is primarily funded by a flat, per-gallon gasoline tax that is not indexed to keep up with inflation.

Mississippi, at 18.4 cents a gallon, has the second lowest motor fuel tax in the nation — which hasn’t been raised in 30 years. Dowell said lawmakers could consider diverting more existing state dollars to MDOT, increase current taxes or enact new ones, such as an indexed sales tax devoted to transportation infrastructure.

She said other states have also implemented road user charges, or mileage fees, package delivery fees or container/cargo fees to help fund infrastructure. Dowell said some states have built toll roads, but that would have limited benefit in rural Mississippi.

In addition to the select committee hearings, House Speaker Jason White recently announced a tax policy summit, open to the public, on Sept. 24 at the Sheraton Refuge in Flowood.

“This Policy Summit is another step in the House’s commitment to building Mississippi up to have the most appealing tax structure in the nation,” White said in a statement. “It is the vision of the House of Representatives that we accelerate our pathway to eliminating the personal income tax so that we reward Mississippians’ hard work, not tax it. The Select Committee has been working hard in studying our grocery tax and providing relief to Mississippians when they go through the checkout line to provide for their families.”

Reps. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, and C. Scott Bounds, R-Philadelphia, co-chairmen of the tax committee on Wednesday’s panel meeting.

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Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Steph Quinn has joined the newsroom as a Roy Howard Fellow focusing on investigative journalism. 

In this role, Quinn will work directly with the investigative reporting team at Mississippi Today with a specific focus on criminal justice. 

“I’m so pleased to have Steph Quinn join our team,” said senior investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell, who oversees the criminal investigative reporting team at Mississippi Today. “She’s a talented young investigative reporter who is already helping us expose law enforcement abuses by the Rankin County ‘Goon Squad’ and others as well as examine the state’s criminal justice system.”

Quinn graduated in May 2024 with a master’s degree from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. She reported on juvenile justice for Capital News Service and was chosen as a student leader on two projects at UMD’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, including a partnership with the Associated Press on police use of force. Quinn also reported on Minnesota’s fragmented system of oversight of animal rescue organizations as an intern at the Minnesota Star Tribune.

With a Ph.D. in history, Quinn brings to her reporting years of experience researching how Black migrant laborers and women shaped urban life in Namibia during apartheid. After earning her doctorate in 2019, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of the Free State in South Africa.

“I’m honored to join the talented journalists reporting on criminal justice at Mississippi Today,” Quinn said. “There’s a sign in the newsroom that says, ‘We ain’t done yet.’ The team’s track record and determination to continue pursuing accountability and justice make me really excited to get to work.”

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Delta State University announced the final number of faculty layoffs last week, signaling the end of the painful budget cuts at the regional institution in the Mississippi Delta. 

Nine faculty members received terminal contracts for the upcoming school year, in addition to seven faculty who have already resigned and two that will next school year, a spokesperson told Mississippi Today. 

“While Delta State, like every university, will continue to monitor revenues and expenses and make adjustments accordingly, the recent reorganization has positioned the university to live within its means,” Christy Riddle wrote in an email. “No further major cuts are envisioned or necessary.” 

Riddle added while Delta State hasn’t finished auditing last year’s budget, it appears much healthier than in previous years. The university will now be able to present a balanced budget to its governing board, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, she wrote. 

“Going forward, DSU will only take on additional expenses (including new employees and new programs) when there are sustainable resources available,” Riddle wrote. 

The university expects revenue to increase by a little over $1 million. The operating budget for this fiscal year also includes a 3.5% contingency that will help next year’s cash reserves. 

“At this point, Delta State will be able to present the IHL with balanced budgets that will continue to improve our financial position,” Riddle wrote. 

READ MORE: ‘Delta State’s future depends on $11 million, multi-year budget cut, president says’

Administration determined the number of personnel cuts after faculty green-lit most of the new interdisciplinary programs the president, Daniel Ennis, proposed earlier this summer to replace the 21 eliminated degrees. Those are secondary education, humanities and social sciences, and digital media communications. 

A fourth program, a visual arts and performing degree, was held for more discussion about arts accreditation, according to an all-staff email Ennis sent last week. 

“Delta State now has a healthy budget, and with diligence and care we can expect our revenues and expenses to remain in balance,” Ennis wrote. “I appreciate your patience and understanding as we have completed this difficult year of change together. I would not have asked this of you if I did not see it as necessary to protect the future of Delta State University.” 

As the laid-off faculty look for new jobs, Ennis added the university would support them with extended benefits and an employee assistance program. 

The faculty cuts are in addition to administrative cuts the IHL board approved last month and staff reductions that Ennis announced earlier this year. All told, Delta State eliminated 49 vacant positions, laid off 17 staff and cut two dean and four chair positions, Mississippi Today previously reported. 

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