Magnolia Mornings: June 18, 2024

• 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. Gulfport dedicates lighthouse in honor of former mayor

The city of Gulfport dedicated the Ship Island Lighthouse to former mayor and longtime businessman George Schloegel.

Schloegel served one term as mayor from 2009-2013, and was the CEO of Hancock Bank, working his way up the ladder.

He died in 2023 at the age of 83.

2. Greenwood Leflore Hospital to announce cybersecurity program

On Tuesday afternoon, Greenwood Leflore Hospital will host Congressman Bennie Thompson, Microsoft, and other organizations to announce the details of a cybersecurity program.

The Congressman’s office said in a statement that the program that will protect hospital networks from cyber-attacks and deliver a range of cybersecurity training, support, and technology services for Greenwood Leflore and other rural hospitals across the nation.

No other details were made available.

National News & Foreign Policy

1. New Biden immigration program to shield undocumented spouses from deportation

President Joe Biden has announced a new immigration program that, according to the Wall Street Journal, provides a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the country illegally who are married to U.S. citizens.

“The program has the potential to benefit immigrants who have been living in the country at least a decade, offering them work permits, deportation protections—and a route for them to apply for green cards, which is the pathway to citizenship. The application process is expected to open by the end of the summer, an administration official said,” WSJ reports, adding, “The program’s size would make it one of the largest immigration initiatives started in recent decades, rivaled only by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that former President Barack Obama created to benefit Dreamers in 2012.”

2. U.S. cities struggling to keep up with influx of migrants

The New York Times reports that more U.S. cities and towns are struggling to keep up with the influx of migrants into their areas. New York, Chicago, Denver and other Democrat-run cities that initially welcomed migrants have run out of money and room, meaning migrants are on the move again.

“When assistance ran out in those cities and the migrants could not find jobs, they moved to places like Salt Lake City, Seattle and even a tiny town in Montana, often aided by bus or plane tickets paid for by the cities they were leaving,” NYT reports.

In Utah, “the number of new cases filed in the immigration court in Salt Lake City, a key indicator of the size of the migrant population, jumped nearly eightfold between 2021 and 2023, to more than 21,000 from 2,676, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University,” NYT notes.

Sports & Entertainment

1. Shuckers, Braves at bottom of Southern League South standings

The Biloxi Shuckers and the Mississippi Braves continue to struggle as the 2024 season progresses.

The two Mississippi-based teams are at the bottom of the Southern League AA South standings. The Shuckers has a 25-36 record and the Braves are sitting at 29-33, putting them 10 and 6.5 games back, respectively, from the division frontrunner Montgomery.

2. Ole Miss golf alum Suber competed at U.S. Open

Ole Miss men’s golf alum Jackson Suber competed in the U.S. Open last weekend in Pinehurst, N.C., sneaking in under the cut in a PGA Tour event for the first time in his career after the first two rounds, sitting +2 over and tied for 27th.

Playing in his third career PGA Tour event, the 2018-22 Rebel has been playing on the Korn Ferry Tour since turning pro and currently ranks 44th. In his two seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour, he has made the cut 21 times in 33 events and has earned six top-10 finishes.

Markets & Business

EU seeks to compete with U.S., China on trade

CNBC reports that the European Union is looking for strategic ways to compete with the U.S. and China on trade.

Margrethe Vestager told CNBC that the EU had become “much better” at defending itself against unfair trade practices, and that it would continue to find novel ways of competing equitably with its economic partners.

“Last week the EU announced new, higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports after a probe found they had benefited ‘heavily from unfair subsidies,’ which risked undercutting European EV producers,” CNBC reported. “It follows similar measures by the U.S. last month, the latest phase in a growing trade tensions between the two economic powerhouses.”