- 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. Hinds Co. Supervisor escorted out after being found with a gun at a Board meeting
WLBT reported that Hinds County District 2 Supervisor Anthony Smith was escorted out of the Hinds County Chancery Court Building by Sheriff Tyree Jones on Monday after Smith was found to have a handgun on him.
“For his part, Smith said the gun was unloaded, and that he showed Jones the gun didn’t have bullets in it,” WLBT reported. “He said he had gone out to his rental properties that morning and forgot he had the weapon on him.”
“I have rental properties and I had a break-in at my property over the last two weeks, and the first thing in the morning I go by my properties to check my properties, and I forgot to take the gun out,” Smith said, according to WLBT. “The gun did not have a clip. That clip was in my truck.”
2. Former Marshall Co. high school secretary to be sentenced for embezzlement
Dana Walker, former H.W. Byers High School Financial Secretary, has pleaded guilty to embezzlement, according to the State Auditor’s office.
Walker was initially arrested in February 2022 by the Marshall County School District Police. The case was then turned over to the Office of the State Auditor for further investigation.
Walker reportedly embezzled approximately $39,471.70 in school activity funds that she collected from students and staff between August 2020 and February 2022. She will be sentenced by the Marshall County Circuit Court on August 13, 2024.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Trump trial over hush money winding down
The hush money trial of former President Donald Trump, the first criminal trial against a former U.S. President, in New York is winding down with prosecutors resting their case on Monday and Trump’s defense said to be doing the same as early as Tuesday.
The New York Times reported that it is unlikely that Trump will testify.
“The judge, Juan M. Merchan, said that closing arguments would come next, after the long Memorial Day weekend,” NYT reported. “Mr. Trump’s trial entered its sixth week on Monday, with signs throughout the day that the patience of some in the courtroom, including the judge, had worn thin.”
Trump is facing 34 felony charges related to payments made to an adult film actress who claimed she had sex with Trump and wanted to go public. Trump has maintained his innocence throughout.
2. Zelensky’s term expired but he remains President of Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s term of office expired this week, yet no elections are being held as “martial law brought in with Russia’s full-scale invasion means that can’t happen,” according to BBC News.
“There are also immense practical hurdles with a potential election, not least with Russia occupying a fifth of the country and at least seven million Ukrainians being forced to live abroad. There are also hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting on the front line,” the BBC reported.
Sports & Entertainment
1. Miss. State’s Jordan wins Ferriss Trophy
Mississippi State’s Dakota Jordan was named the winner of the 2024 Ferriss Trophy on Monday.
The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum announced the winner at a luncheon and program at the Golden Moon Casino. The award is presented annually to the most outstanding college baseball player in the state of Mississippi and is sponsored by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Pearl River Resort.
Jordan, the sophomore outfielder, started all 55 games for the Bulldogs and leads his team in five different offensive statistics. He has recorded 74 hits, 61 runs-batted-in, and 17 homeruns this season. He was also named SEC Co-Player of the week during the 2024 season.
2. Fifth no-hitter in club history earns M-Braves righty Pitcher of Week honors
For the second time in three weeks, Mississippi Braves right-handed pitcher Ian Mejia has been named Southern League Pitcher of the Week, Minor League Baseball and the M-Braves announced on Monday.
Mejia, 24, threw the fifth no-hitter in club history on Friday, May 17, during a 2-0 win in game two of the doubleheader against Biloxi at Trustmark Park. The 24-year-old right-hander set a new career high by striking out 11 batters in the seven-inning no-hitter.
Markets & Business
1. Who are the highest paid CEOs of 2023?
The chiefs of America’s biggest companies reached new pay heights in 2023 as stock awards swelled the value of compensation packages, the Wall Street Journal reports in a new analysis of the highest paid CEOs in 2023.
“Half of the executives in a Wall Street Journal analysis made at least $15.7 million, a record for median CEO pay in the annual survey, with several making more than $50 million. Median pay for the same companies a year earlier was about $14.5 million,” WSJ reported.
Hock Tan with Broadcom is the highest-paid CEO in the Journal’s analysis at $162 million. He is followed by Nikesh Arora at Palo Alto Networks with $151 million, Steven Schwarzman at Blackstone with $120 million, and Christopher Winfrey of Charter Communications with $89.1 million, per WSJ.
2. Graceland to be auctioned off? Presley family says it’s a scam
WREG reports that Elvis Presley’s Graceland is set to be auctioned off at a foreclosure sale this Thursday according to a legal notice, but Presley’s granddaughter is fighting the sale with a lawsuit, saying the claims are fraudulent.
“The legal notice states that Lisa Marie Presley allegedly signed a Deed of Trust in 2018 securing a $3.8 million loan with a Missouri company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending, using Graceland as collateral. The company claims she never paid back that money before she died last year,” WREG reports. “But Presley’s daughter Danielle Riley Keough says in a 60-page lawsuit against Naussany Investments, filed May 15 in Shelby County Chancery Court, that her mother never borrowed any money from the company.”
Priscilla Presley posted, “It’s a Scam!” on social media related to the matter.
