On an ordinary campus where the rhythms of student life usually drown out everything else, the news arrived as a sudden, sharp silence. Tuesday brought word that two Ole Miss students had died, and before the university could even gather itself to respond, the rumor mill had already exploded with unverified claims. Dr. Shawnboda Mead, the university’s vice chancellor for student affairs, stepped forward to confirm the painful truth: the Coroner’s Office had confirmed two student deaths, and University Police were not aware of any additional deaths. But by then, the story had already taken on a life of its…

On a Monday night in Gulfport, the meeting room was filled with a mix of worry, curiosity, and the quiet hum of neighbors trying to make sense of something that felt both new and unsettling. Vice Mayor Marlene Shaw had called the town hall because she kept hearing people talk about dengue in fragments—some true, some exaggerated, some simply wrong. It was the kind of public anxiety that grows when local cases of a mosquito-borne virus appear after years of silence, and everyone suddenly has a theory. Shaw called it “chatter,” and she wanted to replace that chatter with facts.…