Larkins lands in Columbia as Mizzou volleyball looks to rebuild roster

(The Center Square) - Top private nonprofit universities that receive government funding pay some of their top leaders millions of dollars and one even received a $20 million longevity bonus, an investigation by The Center Square found.

That is despite political leaders and others questioning the way the schools are funded and their political policies. 

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status of the country's elite private universities, most recently alleging that some harbor "radical left" policies and stoke antisemitism.

Others have long questioned the fairness of federal policies that allow the schools to skirt tax liabilities while they amass tens of billions of dollars in assets, develop patented technologies with government support that are worth hundreds of millions and pay their leaders handsomely.

"We're sort of in a race -- almost like an arms race -- in terms of presidential compensation," said James Finkelstein, professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia.

His research found that over a recent 10-year period, the inflation-adjusted pay for college leaders has increased more than 50 percent.

Further, colleges can obscure the total compensation of their top leadership with agreements that delay part of their salary payments until the end of their tenures. The schools have purportedly used it as a retention tool to keep their presidents from going elsewhere, but it can also hide their true salaries for years.

The Center Square obtained a database of all nonprofits what received government money and used it to analyze the salaries of top University leaders. 

The $20 million payout

The year Amy Gutmann left her post as president of the University of Pennsylvania -- ending in 2022 -- the university paid her a total of nearly $23 million, according to nonprofit filings reviewed by The Center Square.

That included a base salary of about $1.6 million, a bonus of $1 million, and a deferred compensation payment of more than $20 million that had accumulated over the course of her 18-year tenure.

Government grants to the university exceeded $1 billion in a recent year, records show.

Such deferred compensation arrangements were developed in the private sector, Finkelstein said, where they have acted as so-called "golden handcuffs" to discourage executives from leaving their jobs and as a tax benefit for the corporations.

That same tax benefit doesn't exist for nonprofits, so "the only benefit is it doesn't have to be reported until it's paid," Finkelstein told The Center Square.

"The real reason is to obscure the annual compensation," he said.

The University of Pennsylvania did not respond to a request to comment for this article. Gutmann could not be reached for comment.

Gutmann's successor, Dr. Larry Jameson, was paid more than $5 million in the most recent year that the university has reported to the government. His compensation was routinely higher than Gutmann's while she was president as he helped oversee the university's multi-hospital health system.

University hospital pay

University hospital executives are often paid more than presidents, according to The Center Square's review of nonprofit data. For example, in 2023 when Dr. Robert Grossman was the chief executive of New York University's health system and dean of one of its medical schools, he was paid more than $15 million.

Recent nonprofit filings reveal numerous examples of presidential pay that exceeds $1 million annually. Lee Bollinger at Columbia University was paid $4.4 million, and Carol Folt at the University of Southern California was paid $4 million.

Columbia receives more than $1 billion of government grants each year, and the University of Southern California gets more than a half billion.

Also among the highest-paid is Paula Wallace, the president and co-founder of the Savannah College of Art and Design, in Georgia. She was paid about $2.6 million in a recent year. Her compensation peaked in 2020 at about $5 million thanks to a hefty bonus.

Her husband, Glenn Wallace, is the college's chief operating officer and has a salary of about $800,000.

Finkelstein, the public policy researcher, attributes the overall rise in university executive pay to bonuses that resemble those that are bestowed on successful athletic coaches, and to university governing boards that are stocked with members who make vast wages in private-sector jobs and are more amenable to high salaries.

"This notion that university executives should be compensated like their counterparts in the private sector, it distorts what the purpose of a university is," he said. "We're not a business."

The universities pay federal payroll taxes but not most income and property taxes.

Federal lawmakers targeted high salaries at nonprofits in last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act by expanding a 21-percent excise tax on salaries that exceed $1 million. Previously, the tax was applicable to up to five top-paid employees, but the bill eliminated that limit and applies it to all employees earning that much.

Tax-exempt property

In August the Trump administration demanded a list of Harvard University's patents that were supported by federal research grants as part of a review to determine whether they are sufficiently benefitting the public, as required by law. Harvard's presidents have earned in excess of $1 million annually in recent years.

The university drew Trump's ire earlier that year for refusing his demands to overhaul its policies, especially those that might give preference in hiring and admissions based on race and gender.

Other colleges capitulated, but Harvard refused. Trump responded by withholding more than $2 billion in research funding, which a federal judge later ruled was illegal.

Harvard received about $670 million in government grants in fiscal year 2024, according to The Center Square's review of its most recent nonprofit filings. That was a 15 percent increase from 2020, when it received about $584 million.

Meanwhile, the school's net assets have jumped to about $62 billion, a 28 percent increase during that same time frame.

And yet Harvard has repeatedly failed to meet the relatively meager requests from the city of Boston to help fund its public services.

For more than a decade Boston has asked nonprofits with sizable, tax-exempt property to voluntarily contribute money to city services -- such as police and fire departments -- that are funded by property taxes.

The city's Payment In Lieu of Tax program requests about a quarter of what the nonprofits would pay in taxes if their properties weren't exempt. And half of the amount can be paid in community benefits, such as free dental and legal services for residents the universities were already providing.

Boston's total request for Harvard for the last fiscal year was about $14.6 million. It received community benefit credit for half of the amount and paid about $4 million of the remaining $7 million cash request, according to an annual city report.

Harvard has never met the full cash request, but it's not alone. Boston University, which has the largest amount of tax-exempt property in the city, paid about $6 million cash of the $12 million sought by the city in the last fiscal year.

Harvard did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

Other large cities in the Northeast have implemented similar voluntary programs to offset property tax losses, but the idea has not spread widely to the rest of the country, said Matthew Putnam, a policy manager for the National Taxpayers Union.

"It's pretty effective if the intention is just to address that property tax issue and the essential services that universities are using," Putnam told The Center Square.

(The Center Square) – Medical watchdog Do No Harm sent a letter to social work accreditor the Council on Social Work Education Wednesday urging that it remove all diversity, equity, and inclusion related requirements, stating such ideologies are harmful to medical education. 

Chairman of Do No Harm Dr. Stanley Goldfarb wrote to the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) President and CEO Dr. Halaevalu F.O. Vakalahi: “Do No Harm asks CSWE to commit unequivocally to removing all references to anti-racism, DEI, and other related concepts from its accreditation standards.”

Goldfarb wrote that CSWE promotes standards that “encourage social work education programs to treat students as activists-in-training, at the expense of clinical education, and promote a toxic ideology that is antithetical to core principles of healthcare.”

For instance, Goldfarb said that CSWE’s 2022 Education Policy and Accreditation Standards “include two competencies explicitly promoting DEI.”

“Competency 2 mandates that programs ensure students ‘Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice,’” Goldfarb wrote, “while Competency 3 is aimed at ensuring future social workers ‘demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the individual, family, group, organizational, community, research, and policy levels.’”

“Social work programs are forced to integrate ‘anti-racism,’ and ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion principles’ across their curricula,” Goldfarb said.

Additionally, CSWE’s Competency 4 “states that social workers should understand ‘anti-racist, and anti-oppressive approaches in conducting research and building knowledge,’” Goldfarb said.

Competency 5 “states that ‘[s]ocial workers actively engage in and advocate for anti-racist and anti-oppressive policy practice to effect change in those settings,’” Goldfarb said.

Meanwhile, Competency 9 “notes that ‘[s]ocial workers apply anti-racist and anti-oppressive perspectives in evaluating outcomes,’” Goldfarb wrote.

Beyond Competencies, CSWE’s Educational Policy 4.3: Administrative and Governance Structure “requires that programs develop ‘an administrative and leadership structure that reflects and affirms respect for anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion,’” Goldfarb said.

Goldfarb reminded CSWE of President Donald Trump’s April 2025 executive order Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education that targeted “DEI mandates in higher education accreditation.”

Goldfarb also said that “federally funded educational institutions are subject to numerous prohibitions, forbidding discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, and national origin.”

“Mandating that these educational entities pursue discriminatory practices and policies is, in effect, a mandate that they violate federal law,” Goldfarb stated.

Goldfarb also noted revisions the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) made to remove requirements that forced medical schools to push “divisive, ideological” content in their curricula, as well as revisions that removed diversity related requirements.

“These mandates actively harm healthcare education, and their removal is long overdue,” Goldfarb wrote.

“Many other medical and healthcare education accreditors have over the past year taken a similar approach to their standards and removed or suspended DEI-oriented requirements,” Goldfarb stated. “Your organization, however, has not.”

“My letter today asks one question,” Goldfarb said. “Will CSWE commit to removing all requirements related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from its accreditation standards?”

Do No Harm’s letter was also sent to Dr. Nasser H. Paydar, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

(The Center Square) - Voters in Nebraska elected incumbent candidates in races throughout the state on Tuesday.

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts was nominated in the Republican primary, and he will likely face off against a popular independent candidate in November. Candidates also secured partisan victories in the race to fill Rep. Don Bacon’s seat and Gov. Jim Pillen advanced to the general election.

Here are some unofficial results from Nebraska.

U.S. Senate

Republican incumbent Ricketts held out against five primary challengers to keep the party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, according to multiple outlets. Ricketts was endorsed by President Donald Trump in April 2025.

Trump endorsed Ricketts and slammed Dan Osborn, an independent candidate who was not on the ballot Tuesday. Osborn has made waves saying that he will challenge Ricketts in the November general election.

“Pete is one of the strongest Senators in the Country on Border Security, whereas his potential Opponent, Dan Osborn, is a Radical Left Open Border Extremist, who will put our Country, and Safety, LAST,” Trump wrote on social media.

Cindy Burbank secured the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, despite announcing she would drop out of the race if she won the primary to make a pathway for Osborn in November’s general election. Osborn must gather enough signatures by July 2 to run in the general election.

According to the latest campaign filings, Osborn has raised more than $3.8 million. Ricketts has collected more than $4.8 million, according to campaign filings.

Tuesday’s primary results set up a unique challenge in November for Ricketts as he looks to defend his seat. 

Governor

Incumbent Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen fended off four challengers for the GOP nomination on Tuesday night. He is set to face off against Democrat Lynne Walz in November, according to multiple outlets. 

Pillen, a Trump-endorsed governor, has seen tough competition from Walz, who has criticized him for his immigration policies and financial integrity.

“Our elected leaders need to lead with honesty and integrity, not looking to line the pockets of themselves and their buddies,” Walz wrote.

Voters in the Cornhusker State will head to the polls again in November to select candidates who will represent them across the state and decide the partisan makeup of Congress.

Mizzou women's golf carded an even par in the second round of the NCAA Regional Championships on Tuesday in Stanford, California, and it rose to sixth place overall at 6-over.

Senior Melanie Walker headlined the Tigers behind a 3-under par performance, and she rose 12 spots to tie for 12th overall at 2-under.

Junior Fleur van Beek went 1-under with a pair of birdies after subbing in for sophomore Alexandra Berglund to rise to 64th.

Freshman Ebba Liljeberg is tied for 28th after carding a 1-over and jumping up seven spots. Senior Jade Zamora plummeted 18 spots to tie for 23rd after posting 4-over. Senior Addie Dobson jumped up five spots after going 3-over to tie for 45th.

The top five finishing teams from stroke play, as well as the lowest individual not on an advancing team, will advance to compete in the NCAA Women's Championship on May 22-27 at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California.

The Tigers return to Stanford Golf Course on Wednesday morning with hopes of advancing with a top-five finish.

CC softball's season ends in NAIA Opening Round

Columbia College softball saw its season come to an end Tuesday afternoon after an extra-inning 3-2 loss to No. 18 Coastal Georgia in the NAIA Opening Round in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. 

Ella Schouten worked all 11.2 innings for the Cougars, striking out 13 on 202 pitches while allowing two earned runs.

CC leapt to an early 2-0 lead. Abigail Zismer singled and Taryn Hagardt moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt before a fielder's choice and an error brought Zismer home.

In the second, Layla Underwood reached first on an error, and Kylee Page drew a walk while Eleanor Schudel hit a bunt single to plate Underwood and double the Cougars' score.

CC held that lead before Coastal Georgia knotted it at 2-2 in the seventh. Both teams traded zeros until the bottom of the 12th, when Coastal Georgia put a runner on base with a leadoff error and a walk-off sacrifice fly to send the Cougars home.

CC finished the season 27-15 with their 25th appearance in program history in the NAIA Tournament.

(The Center Square) — The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation aimed at stopping American taxpayer dollars from helping finance foreign shrimp operations that Gulf Coast lawmakers say have undercut domestic shrimpers for decades.

The Save Our Shrimpers Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, would require U.S. representatives at international financial institutions to oppose financial assistance for projects supporting shrimp farming, shrimp processing or shrimp exports in borrowing countries.

The bill passed the House without a recorded vote against it, sending the measure to the Senate.

“By passing my bill, we are standing up for American shrimpers who wake up before dawn to help feed our country and the world,” Nehls told The Center Square in a statement. “This is a huge win for our Gulf Coast and coastal communities that depend on shrimping to survive, and I urge the Senate to take up my bill and pass it as soon as possible.”

The legislation targets institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where U.S. officials exercise voting power through executive directors. The Congressional Budget Office said the bill would require those officials to oppose assistance for shrimp-related projects, with the requirement expiring seven years after enactment.

The issue is especially significant in Gulf Coast states including Louisiana, Texas and Alabama, where shrimpers have struggled with low dockside prices, rising fuel and labor costs, and competition from cheaper imported shrimp. Industry groups say imports account for more than 90% of shrimp consumed in the United States, much of it produced through aquaculture in countries such as In

In February 2025, The Center Square reported that nearly half a billion U.S. dollars had gone to shrimp-related projects overseas through international development financing, including projects in countries that compete directly with U.S. shrimpers. One project in India, the largest shrimp supplier to the U.S. market, totaled about $200 million.

Existing federal law already gives U.S. officials some authority to oppose international financial institution assistance for foreign commodity projects. Under 22 U.S.C. § 262h, the Treasury secretary must instruct U.S. executive directors at several international financial institutions to use the U.S. “voice and vote” to oppose assistance for production or extraction of an export commodity if the commodity is in surplus on world markets and if the export would cause substantial injury to U.S. producers.

But that protection is conditional. To block assistance for a foreign shrimp project under current law, federal officials would first have to treat shrimp as a surplus commodity and determine that the exports would substantially injure U.S. producers.

The Save Our Shrimpers Act removes that extra step for shrimp. The bill would create a categorical instruction: U.S. executive directors at international financial institutions must oppose financial assistance for any project supporting shrimp farming, shrimp processing or shrimp exports in a borrowing country. 

That distinction makes the bill narrower but stronger than current law. It does not rewrite trade law, impose tariffs or ban shrimp imports. Instead, it targets development financing, ensuring U.S. representatives oppose international loans, grants or other assistance that could expand foreign shrimp production.

The bill has bipartisan support from Gulf Coast and seafood-state lawmakers. Its original cosponsors included U.S. Reps. Clay Higgins, R-La., Troy Carter, D-La., Julia Letlow, R-La., Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, and several members from Texas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and the Carolinas. The House Financial Services Committee reported the bill in March after approving it 42-1.

Tthe legislation was first introduced in the previous Congress and reintroduced in March 2025. Nehls said U.S. officials voted against an international financial institution shrimp aquaculture project for the first time in April 2025, but supporters say the bill is needed to make that posture permanent rather than discretionary.

Shrimp industry advocates have backed the measure as part of a broader push against foreign seafood imports, which they say are produced under looser standards and sold at prices domestic boats cannot match. Separate seafood legislation has focused on import inspections, country-of-origin labeling and food safety.

The Save Our Shrimpers Act would not immediately raise shrimp prices or provide direct aid to shrimpers. Its impact would depend on whether international financial institutions are considering future shrimp projects, how often Treasury uses the waiver and whether the Senate takes up the bill.

(The Center Square) – The Department of Veterans Affairs is requesting $488.2 billion for fiscal year 2027, a 7.7% increase over current spending levels, as VA Secretary Doug Collins defended a budget that expands private-sector care while trimming staffing for oversight and appeals operations.

Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, chaired by Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., Collins said the proposal prioritizes performance over bureaucracy.

"For too long, this Department measured success by how much money it spent and how many people it employed – not by how well it served veterans," he told lawmakers.

In written testimony, Collins added that the VA "is not a federal jobs program, but in the past, it acted like one."

Collins pointed to a 70% reduction in the disability claims backlog, a record 51,936 homeless veterans permanently housed in fiscal year 2025, and the rollout of a long-delayed electronic health records system in Michigan as evidence of progress. He also highlighted the opening of 35 new health care clinics, 82 million direct-care appointments completed in fiscal year 2025 and more than 125,000 new VA enrollees added in 2026.

The budget would support 443,327 full-time equivalent VA employees in fiscal 2027, according to the Budget in Brief. That's down from 452,410 in fiscal 2025 but up 6,183 from the fiscal 2026 enacted level. In March 2025, VA set an initial target of returning to 399,957 employees in partnership with the Department of Government Efficiency, but by July 2025, the department announced a large-scale reduction in force was "off the table" after attrition and voluntary departures reduced headcount by nearly 30,000 employees without forced cuts.

The VA's $180.1 billion health care request would fund inpatient and outpatient care, pharmacy services, prosthetics, mental health treatment, long-term care and readjustment counseling. The proposal's largest shift, however, is in how care would be delivered.

Funding for direct care – treatment provided by VA-employed physicians and nurses at VA facilities – would total $95.1 billion under the proposal, according to the VA. Community care, in which the VA pays private providers to treat veterans outside the VA system, would total $56.1 billion.

Senate Democrats questioned the disparity, citing VA data showing veterans' outcomes are often equal to or better within the VA system than through private-sector care.

"The department's own public-facing data shows that outcomes for veterans are either the same or better through direct VA care compared to privatized outside care," Ranking Member Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said at the hearing. "We have this huge imbalance in the requested funding for outsourced privatized care versus direct care through the VA."

In response to questions from The Center Square, VA Assistant Secretary Pete Kasperowicz said the allocation is required by law and reflects veteran demand. The VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act, known as the MISSION Act, requires VA to provide for both direct and community care, Kasperowicz said.

"The allocation for fiscal year 2027 reflects anticipated demand by veterans in both categories," he told The Center Square.

Republican members of the subcommittee did not directly challenge the community care allocation at the hearing.

An August 2025 VA Office of Inspector General report found that all 139 VA medical centers reported severe occupational staffing shortages, drawing additional scrutiny during the hearing.

Ossoff noted the fiscal year 2027 request would fund fewer physicians and registered nurses than the administration requested for fiscal year 2026, figures that are accurate when comparing the two budget requests.

Kasperowicz told The Center Square that, compared with enacted fiscal year 2026 funding levels, the proposal would actually fund 354 additional physicians and 1,115 more registered nurses.

Under the request, the VA projects staffing totals of 24,779 physicians and 79,674 registered nurses across the medical system, according to budget documents.

Collins said recruitment remains difficult in some specialties because VA physician salaries trail private-market compensation by $300,000 to $400,000 annually.

"They're not going to come to the VA if they can make $400,000 down the street," he said.

The proposal would also reduce funding for several oversight and adjudication offices. The VA Office of Inspector General would receive $284 million, a $12 million reduction, and lose 46 staff positions. The Board of Veterans' Appeals would see its budget cut by $12 million and staffing reduced by 137 positions, or roughly 10.5%.

Veterans groups pushed back on the administration's funding levels. In their joint Independent Budget released in March, Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars recommended $223.3 billion in operational funding for the VA, compared with the administration's comparable request of $205.6 billion, and urged Congress to fully fund unmet needs such as long-term care.

Overall, VA funding has increased 58% since fiscal year 2023, driven largely by mandatory spending increases tied to the PACT Act, which expanded benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.

The fiscal year 2027 budget proposal assumes no civilian federal pay raises.

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warned Americans Tuesday that fentanyl is increasingly mixed with a dangerous array of synthetic substances that can limit the effectiveness of naloxone, the standard overdose reversal drug, making the illicit drug supply more unpredictable and more lethal than ever.

Law enforcement and public health officials are seeing fentanyl combined with xylazine, medetomidine, nitazenes and cychlorphine – substances that either cannot be reversed by naloxone or require multiple doses to counter, the DEA said in a public safety advisory. Users typically have no way of knowing what is in the drugs they are taking.

The advisory arrives as the DEA and the Trump administration have been touting significant progress against fentanyl. Enforcement pressure drove the share of fentanyl pills containing a potentially lethal dose from 76% in fiscal 2023 to 29% in fiscal 2025, a result the agency has repeatedly cited as a win.

But the DEA's own 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment warned that the declining purity trend "does not mean that street-level fentanyl is less dangerous," pointing directly to adulteration as the compensating threat.

Congress is set to review a $3.6 billion DEA budget request for fiscal year 2027, part of more than $11.4 billion the Department of Justice is directing toward drug crimes – including $1.9 billion specifically targeting opioids such as fentanyl – as the agency now warns the threat is evolving faster than the progress it has claimed.

The DEA did not immediately respond to questions about what prompted the advisory, whether Mexican cartels are now involved in producing these combinations, or how the warning squares with the agency's recent progress claims.

Xylazine and medetomidine are veterinary sedatives with no approved use in humans. Xylazine, known as "tranq," has been linked to severe skin infections and wounds requiring amputation. Medetomidine, called "rhino tranq," is 200 to 300 times more potent than xylazine, according to the DEA. Nitazenes are synthetic opioids developed in the 1950s that were never approved for human use; some variants are estimated to be 10 times more potent than fentanyl.

The DEA has identified 22 unique nitazene compounds since 2020, with suppliers introducing new ones each time existing compounds are scheduled.

Cychlorphine, named in Tuesday's advisory, was flagged in a January 2026 public alert from the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education, a federally funded forensic research center, as a rising cause of fatal overdoses linked to confirmed deaths across eight states.

The center estimated cychlorphine to be about 10 times more potent than fentanyl. A November 2025 fatal overdose case in Illinois found cychlorphine alongside eight other substances – including multiple nitazene variants, cocaine, and alprazolam – illustrating how lethal these combinations can become, according to the CFSRE alert.

A pattern the center identified may help explain why cychlorphine is appearing more frequently. After China placed nitazene analogues under generic control in July 2025, positivity for nitazenes in fatal overdose cases declined – while cychlorphine positivity rose to fill the void, according to the CFSRE alert. The data suggests the illicit drug market is actively adapting to regulatory pressure, substituting newly emergent compounds as existing ones are controlled, according to the CFSRE alert.

As of the DEA's most recent threat assessment, Mexican cartels had not been confirmed as producers of nitazene-fentanyl mixtures – that activity was traced to mid-level and street-level dealers purchasing from Chinese chemical suppliers online. Whether cartels have since expanded into these combinations is among the questions The Center Square put to the agency.

Overdose deaths have been declining. Provisional CDC data showed roughly 84,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending October 2024, down about 25% from the prior year, the largest single-year decline ever recorded.

The DEA urged the public never to take a pill not prescribed and dispensed by a licensed pharmacy, to assume all illicit drugs may contain fentanyl or other deadly additives, and to carry naloxone while understanding it may not fully reverse all substances present.

(The Center Square) – Farmers and advocates on Tuesday called on Congress to implement transparency reporting requirements in fertilizer pricing.

The U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee held a hearing with farmers and advocates from across the country on rising fertilizer prices and supply chain solutions for the industry.

The advocates said farms have been struggling with fertilizer prices since before the U.S. conflict in Iran. Some farmers cited rising prices stemming from the conflict in Ukraine, which has kept prices high ever since 2022.

Andy Green, principal and senior advisor at Center Market Strategies, called for Congress to implement transparency requirements into fertilizer pricing. He said farmers are often unaware of what factors influence prices.

“More can be done and should be done on a bipartisan basis to enhance competition in the fertilizer sector,” Green said.

Trent Kubik, president of South Dakota Corn Growers, said consolidation of companies in the agriculture industry has yielded a negative overall effect for farmers. He said efficiency has declined while consolidation continues in the market, frustrating farmers.

“Fertilizer manufacturers are able to park barges of product and hold on to inventory,” Kubik said.

Kubik pointed to parts of the supply chain that he said do not work in favor of farmers. He said many areas of the supply chain are opaque and do not allow farmers to understand why fertilizer is priced a certain way.

Kubik called on Congress to pass the Fertilizer Transparency Act of 2026. The legislation would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to publish weekly, rather than annually, market data on fertilizer prices from manufacturers.

“This legislation will make the market for key farm inputs more transparent and therefore represent a step toward making the market more competitive,” Kubik said. “It also may help to provide data that would aid analysis of whether market control has been used to limit the supply of fertilizer.”

U.S. Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Congress needs to act on transparency requirements and investigating companies that have monopolies on the agricultural industry.

“There are a small number of manufacturers who have the lion’s share of domestic fertilizer production,” Thune said.

Joshua Westling, CEO of J. Westling & Co., touted his achievements in domestically manufacturing fertilizer. He called on Congress to invest in domestic fertilizer manufacturing to avoid problems with global supply chains.

“The faster strategic federal support becomes real and deployable, the faster new domestic capacity comes online three years from now,” Westling said. “This committee has the opportunity to help ensure that projects like ours move fast enough to matter.”

Kubik said he has not experienced a significant shift in purchasing prices due to the U.S. conflict in Iran, because he purchased before the conflict broke out. However, he said he is concerned about next year’s farming season due to the prolonged conflict.

“A lot of this stuff was in place and in [the] country long before the events around the world happened,” Kubik said. “We're starting to get concerned about what do do as our crop is growing and need[s] more fertilizer, and as we look towards 2027, it’s a real concern.”

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration continues to crack down on violent Tren de Aragua Venezuelan prison gang members after they flooded the country during the Biden administration. 

By December 2024, TdA members were reported to be committing crimes in at least 22 states, The Center Square exclusively reported. TdA is known for violence, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking and are linked to hundreds of law enforcement investigations nationwide. 

The Trump administration was the first to designate TdA as a foreign terrorist organization. Since the president’s been in office, the Department of Justice has charged more than 260 members and associates nationwide.

The DOJ announced more than 25 additional TdA members have been charged, primarily citizens of Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras. 

They were caught through multi-agency undercover operations spearheaded through a DOJ Joint Task Force Vulcan. Multiple charges were filed in six U.S. Attorney offices, in the districts of Colorado, Southern Florida, Northern Indiana, Middle Tennessee, Western Tennessee and Eastern Washington. 

More than 80 firearms and 18 kilograms of drugs were seized in these cases, including fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, ketamine, MDMA, and Tusi, a mixed substance containing ketamine and/or MDMA. Law enforcement also seized more than $100,000 in U.S. currency, according to the charges.

Prosecutors argue TdA activities are being coordinated across state lines and with leaders in Venezuela and Colombia.

In Tennessee, five people, including two alleged Anti-Tren members were charged with multiple firearms and drug trafficking offenses. Anti-Tren are current and former TdA members “operating without or against the authority of TdA leadership in South America,” the DOJ said. 

They were arrested in Nashville, Louisiana and Washington state. Three charged were illegally living in Nashville; one was a lawful permanent and Honduran national; one was illegally living in Kennewick, Washington. One, a Venezuelan national illegally living in Nashville, was arrested while wearing what appears to be a Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales de la Policía Nacional Bolivariana (FAES) uniform, according to the charges.

In this case, HSI, ATF, FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, and other law enforcement agencies conducted multiple undercover operations leading to their arrests. Law enforcement also seized 25 firearms, including eight reported as stolen and two connected to other crimes. They also seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition, extended magazines, a drum magazine, more than $8,000 in cash and methamphetamine, MDMA and ketamine, and cocaine. 

In Florida, three illegal foreign nationals, alleged associates of those charged in Tennessee, were charged with intent to distribute a controlled substance. In Tennessee, TdA members have been selling large amounts of narcotics and firearms, investigators have found. Undercover ATF agents working in Broward and Miami-Dade counties arrested them and seized 500 MDMA pills, two firearms, cocaine, ketamine, and methamphetamine, according to the charges.

In Colorado, two Venezuelan nationals have been indicted on charges of illegal firearms trafficking; one with distributing tusi. According to the criminal complaint and indictment, they illegally entered the U.S. and subsequently sold numerous firearms in Colorado. They allegedly “obliterated serial numbers and several high-capacity firearms and magazines and ammunition,” according to an ATF undercover agent. 

TdA and Anti-Tren members have so far been identified and arrested nationwide with key operations in Colorado, Tennessee, New York, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Washington, Georgia, Nebraska and Texas, the DOJ said. They have been indicted on weapons and drug trafficking charges, ATM burglaries (jackpotting) and coordinated criminal activities across state lines and with South American leaders in Venezuela and Colombia, the DOJ said. 

One large bust occurred earlier this year with 87 indicted in a Colombian and Venezuelan jackpotting scheme in Nebraska, The Center Square reported. In another, 27 TdA and Anti-Tren members were charged in New York for violent sexual crimes, kidnapping and sex trafficking, The Center Square reported.

The first Trump administration launched JTFV in 2019 to target MS-13, which was expanded under the second Trump administration to target TdA. 

JTFV includes the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Eastern and Western Districts of North Carolina; Western District of Virginia; Southern District of Florida; Eastern District of Texas; Western District of Oklahoma; Northern District of Indiana; District of Nevada; and the District of Arizona; Bureau of Prisons, FBI, DEA, HSI, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, among others.

After star Mizzou football running back Ahmad Hardy was injured in a shooting Sunday morning in Laurel, Mississippi, ESPN's Pete Thamel provided a positive update Tuesday.

Hardy is being released from the hospital and plans to head to Missouri’s campus immediately. He will begin the rehab process with hopes of competing in the 2026 season.

The news is optimistic, as Hardy was shot just two days ago. While attempting to leave a concert, he was hit by a bullet in the upper leg at around 2 a.m. at Kamakazy Biker Club on Masonite Drive, according to WDAM-TV.

Hardy underwent surgery later Sunday at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He was reported to be in stable condition.

If the running back can play in 2026, that would be huge lift for the Tigers. Hardy headlined the offense in 2025 with 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns.