UTAH

University to consider dropping ‘Dixie’ from its name

SALT LAKE CITY – After years of resisting calls to change, a university in Utah is considering dropping “Dixie” from its name in another example of the nation’s reexamination of the Confederacy and slavery.

Dixie State University, located about 300 miles south of Salt Lake City, has faced scrutiny in the past over its name, but resisted changing. Settlers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many of them from the South, moved to the St. George area in the 1800s. The university’s decision to revisit the issue comes amid a national outcry against racial injustice and police brutality following the death of George Floyd.

The local chapter of the NAACP has been among those urging a name change.

Dixie State, with an enrollment of about 11,000 students, transitioned from a college to a university in 2013 and is one of the largest universities in southern Utah.

University leaders, along with the Utah System of Higher Education, are in the early stages of discussing a potential name change, but the Republican-controlled state Legislature would have the final say.

System spokesperson Trisha Dugovic said university officials haven’t discussed a new name, but in the past people have suggested St. George University or the University of St. George.

The area was nicknamed Dixie when Latter-day Saints settlers tried to make the region a cotton-growing mecca. Supporters have said the name is important to the area’s heritage and is separate from the history of slavery.

Dixie State has taken steps in recent years to remove some imagery related to the Confederacy. In 2009, the school’s nickname was changed from the Rebels to Red Storm. A statue depicting a soldier on a horseback waving a Confederate flag with one hand and reaching out to a wounded soldier with the other was removed in 2012.

NEW MEXICO

Governor sets $100 fines for flouting face mask rule

SANTA FE – New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on July 1 said there will be more aggressive enforcement of the state’s public health order, including individual fines, to rein in rising coronavirus infection rates across the state.

The Democratic governor said people who ignore mask requirements in public places can be fined $100 and that businesses that flout the health order will see workplace citations and misdemeanor criminal charges.

Three new deaths reported July 1 linked to the coronavirus brought the statewide death toll to 500 since the outbreak of the pandemic in March. Health officials stressed their concerns about an increase in the rate of spread, particularly in the southeast area of the state near Texas and in the Albuquerque area.

Lujan Grisham urged people to forgo family gatherings and public celebrations on Independence Day and warned that infection trends could interfere with efforts to resume classes at public schools.

The state is holding off on changes to its public health order until July 15, after reopening restaurants and breweries at partial capacity in June.

New Mexico is re-applying a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all out-of-state visitors, the governor announced.

Health officials stopped short of reinstating prior restrictions, even as California closed bars, theaters and restaurant dining in most of the state.

New minor party pushes for ‘fusion voting’

SANTA FE – A political group that helped a slate of progressive-minded legislative candidates prevail in New Mexico’s Democratic primary has registered as a political party.

The New Mexico Working Families Party on July 2 announced its certification by state election regulators as a minor political party, taking its place alongside the Green, Constitution and Better for America parties.

Party leaders said they hope to establish so-called fusion voting in which more than one political party can support a common candidate on the general election ballot.

They also want minor party members to be able to vote in major party primaries. The state operates a closed primary election system in which only registered major party members can vote.

Working Families Party state director Eric Griego said in a statement that the organization is dedicated to challenging candidates who are out of step with core progressive issues or beholden to corporate special interests.

The group helped upstart candidates defeat powerful incumbent Democrats in key leadership and committee posts.

New Mexico has three major parties that appear on primary ballots – though Libertarian Party members do not hold any state elected office.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Locals say police removed Confederate flag emblem

GETTYSBURG – A South Dakota police department has removed a decal from its squad cars that featured a Confederate battle flag next to an American flag, according to local residents.

Dave Mogard, the police chief in Gettysburg, a small city named after the famous Civil War battle, declined to confirm that the decal had been removed, saying July 2 that the City Council would discuss the issue at an upcoming meeting.

But several locals, including Selwyn Jones, an uncle of George Floyd, said the decal had been removed from the department’s squad cars and station doors.

Jones called for the change after his nephew, who was Black and handcuffed, died May 25 while being arrested by police in Minneapolis. Floyd’s death led to charges against four officers who took part in the arrest and to worldwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice.

Gettysburg, which is in central South Dakota and about 190 miles west of the state’s largest city, Sioux Falls, was named after the famous 1863 battle in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that many view as the turning point of the Civil War.

The police department adopted the emblem in 2009. Bill Wuttke, the mayor of the city of roughly 1,200, has defended the emblem, arguing that it pays tribute to the community’s history and isn’t racist. The city was founded by Civil War veterans, but local historians say they know of only one who fought for the Confederacy.

OKLAHOMA

Football coach takes pay cut in wake of T-shirt flap

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy took a $1 million pay cut and had his contract shortened by a year as part of an internal review prompted by sharp criticism from his star running back for wearing a T-shirt promoting a far-right news channel.

Athletic director Mike Holder said July 3 the adjustments to Gundy’s contract were the coach’s idea. Holder reiterated his belief Gundy has always treated Black players well a day after releasing a statement saying the review found “no sign or indication of racism” in the football program.

Two weeks earlier, running back Chuba Hubbard lashed out at Gundy on social media for wearing a T-shirt promoting One America News Network. Hubbard, who is Black, suggested he may boycott the program; OANN has been critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Holder said Gundy’s rollover contract was reduced from five years to four and the guarantee was cut from 75% to 50%. The buyout also was dropped from $5 million to $4 million. Holder didn’t say whether the $1 million pay cut was a one-time arrangement or something that would happen annually.

Asked about Hubbard being criticized for lashing out at his coach publicly before speaking to him privately, Holder said he was glad Hubbard did speak out.

Gundy, who is white, apologized after appearing with Hubbard in a video. Gundy also apologized in April after a media session in which he called the coronavirus the “Chinese virus.”