Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.
In Mississippi
1. Trump to be on ballot in Mississippi
Republican Party officials gathered on Tuesday at the Mississippi GOP Headquarters to announce that the necessary signatures required to allow former President Donald Trump to appear on the 2024 ballot in Mississippi have been filed.
Among those in attendance was Governor Tate Reeves. He thanked the volunteers who gathered the required signatures to certify Trump.
“I want to personally thank you for the work that you’ve put in on behalf of President Trump,” Reeves said, adding that the state he believes the state will support the former President’s nomination.
2. UMMC celebrates seven-way kidney swap
The University of Mississippi Medical Center announced this week that their team had successfully carried out a seven-way kidney swap. Dr. Pradeep Vaitla, medical director for kidney transplants, laid out the plan for the swap, drafting the pairs of compatible donors and recipients, planning all pre-donation testing and work up, assuring that each patient was ready for transplant, according to UMMC.
Vaitla said that after continuously searching for approved donor and recipient pairs, the 7-way swap was made possible by a couple of altruistic donors who did not have a family member or friend receiving a kidney in exchange for their donation.
UMMC said procedures on this scale wouldn’t be possible without the benevolence of living donors.
“More than 60% of people with kidney failure needing dialysis do not make it to five years while a living donor transplant increases the survival to greater than 90% at five years,” said Vaitla.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Trump to appeal ballot removal in Colorado, Maine
Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is appealing the decisions in Colorado and Maine that removed his name from their state’s Republican Primary ballot.
Trump’s team will appeal the Colorado decision, made by the state’s Supreme Court, to the U.S. Supreme Court, while appealing the Maine decision to the state Superior Court. The Maine decision to remove Trump came at the discretion of the Secretary of State.
The states have used Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to remove Trump citing the insurrection or disqualification terminology in the amendment.
2. Harvard President Resigns
Harvard President Claudine Gay has announced her resignation amid plagiarism allegations. Scrutiny on Gay has increased since a contentious congressional hearing resulting from antisemitism on college campuses.
“It is with a heavy heart but a deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president,” Gay said. “This is not a decision I came to easily. Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words because I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great university across centuries.”
Sports & Entertainment
Bowl Season Recap from Magnolia Tribune
Markets & Business
1. Mortgage applications down in 2023
Mortgage demand ended 2023 on a sour note, CNBC reported Wednesday.
Total mortgage application volume was down 9.4% for the week ending December 29, compared with two weeks earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index, as reported by CNBC.
“The average rate on the 30-year fixed ended the year at 6.76%, lower than where it was two weeks ago, but higher than it was a week ago. That, however, is still well below the 8% high seen in mid-October,” CNBC notes, adding, “Applications to refinance a home loan ended the year 15% higher than the same period a year ago. Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home ended the year 12% lower.”
2. Apple stock to tumble, analysts say
Markets Insider reports that Apple’s stock will tumble 17% to $160 by 2025, as noted by Barclays analysts in a new research note. Much of this is due to the continued sluggish iPhone sales in China.
On Tuesday, Apple stock fell 3.5%. Barclays has downgraded Apple stock as “underweight.”
“While Barclays analysts noted sluggish growth was observed across Apple’s products like Macs and iPads, iPhones account for around 50% of the company’s revenues,” Market Insiders wrote. “And as iPhone sales falter, quarterly growth has been laggard for five out of the past six quarters. Analysts are expecting that trend to continue — the new iPhone 16 set to come out in September is unlikely to feature anything significantly different from the iPhone 15.”
