- 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. New casino site approved in Biloxi
WLOX reports on Thursdays meeting of the Mississippi Gaming Commission where commissioners approved one new site and paused another.
Commissioners “approved the Tullis Hotel and Casino site in east Biloxi, meaning the land off Highway 90 where Tullis Manor once stood is a legal gaming site,” WLOX reported. “The Gaming Commission also put consideration on hold for the Tivoli Casino project. It would be built on the site of the old Tivoli Hotel, which is just west of the Biloxi Yacht Club.”
However, as WLOX notes, both are facing legal challenges as “Secretary of State Michael Watson filed a lawsuit challenging the Tullis Manor project” in October and “filed a similar suit against the Tivoli Casino project, which is a development by Biloxi Capital LLC.”
2. Hyde-Smith, Kaine join to pass battlefield protection act
Mississippi U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine (D) joined to see the Senate pass their American Battlefield Protection Program Enhancement Act, bipartisan legislation intended to improve the protection of America’s historic battlefields.
Hyde-Smith’s office said the Senate passed the American Battlefield Protection Program Enhancement Act by unanimous consent as part of a lands package, clearing it to be signed into law.
The legislation updates the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP), a National Park Service (NPS) program that promotes the preservation of significant historic battlefields and sites of armed conflict across the United States. ABPP has helped preserve more than 35,000 acres of historic land in 20 states, including Mississippi and Virginia.
“Mississippi is home to some of our nation’s most significant and historic battlefields, and this legislation will make it easier to protect these hallowed grounds for future generations,” said Hyde-Smith.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Government shutdown nears as House rejects latest proposal
The Wall Street Journal reports that House Republicans’ slimmed-down plan to try to avert a government shutdown was defeated in a hastily called vote Thursday. Thirty-eight “GOP lawmakers joined with Democrats in rejecting the proposal endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump.” Two Democrats supported the bill.
“The revised legislation proposed extending government funding for three months and providing more than $100 billion in disaster relief and aid for farmers, while stripping out a series of other provisions, such as restrictions on investments in China, 9/11 healthcare funds and new rules on pharmacy-benefit managers. It also proposed suspending the nation’s borrowing limit for two years,” WSJ reported.
WSJ continued, “If no bill is passed and signed into law by President Biden by 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the federal government would partially shut down, furloughing hundreds of thousands of federal workers, though critical services would continue to function.”
2. Senate backs Social Security benefits bill
As reported by The Hill, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly – 73-23 – Thursday “to advance a bill to boost Social Security benefits for more than 2 million Americans by repealing two laws that have limited payouts to state and local public-sector workers and their families.”
“The legislation passed the House earlier this month by a vote of 327 to 75,” The Hill reported. “It still must pass one more procedural hurdle in the Senate before receiving a final vote. President Biden is expected to sign it once it reaches his desk.”
However, as The Hill noted, “The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected in September the legislation would add $196 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade and speed up Social Security’s insolvency by six months without further intervention from Congress.”
Sports & Entertainment
1. CFB Playoff games start Friday, Saturday
The first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff begins this Friday and Saturday with the following teams set to matchup looking to advance to the next week:
- Indiana at Notre Dame – Friday, 7 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN
- Winner plays Georgia
- SMU at Penn State – Saturday, 11 a.m. ET on TNT/Max
- Winner plays Boise State
- Clemson at Texas – Saturday, 3 p.m. ET on TNT/Max
- Winner plays Arizona State
- Tennessee at Ohio State – Saturday, 7 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN
- Winner plays Oregon
2. How to watch, listen to the North-South game this Saturday in Gulfport
The 2024 Bernard Blackwell North-South All-Star High School Football Game kicks off in Gulfport on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The annual end of season all-star classic features senior football standouts from around the state.
The game will be livestreamed through FNUTL on YouTube here or available through the MAC Network, Roku, AppleTV & Firestick.
It will also be aired on MPB radio stations across Mississippi.
To attend the game at Milner Stadium, tickets are available at the gate or on GoFan.
Markets & Business
1. Futures fall ahead of inflation report
CNBC reports that stock futures fell Friday with big selling returning to Wall Street after a one-day respite as the “latest reading of the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge was due Friday morning.”
“During Thursday’s trading session, the Dow eked out a 15-point gain and ended a 10-day losing streak — its longest since 1974. The small gain came a day after the Dow plunged 1,100 points on Wednesday,” CNBC reported. “The Dow is down 3.4% on the week, headed for its worst weekly performance since March 2023. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are each off around 3% on the week.”
CNBC added, “Investors are now looking ahead to November’s reading of the personal consumption expenditures price index – the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric.”
2. Social Security “full retirement age” to increase in 2025
FoxBusiness reports that Social Security’s “full retirement age” is set to increase next year.
“The full retirement age (FRA) for Social Security was 65 when the program was created in the 1930s, but reforms made in 1983 gradually increased the FRA from age 65 to 67 in two-month increments over a 22-year period that started for those who turned 62 in 2000,” FoxBusiness reported. “Next year, the FRA will rise to 66 years and 10 months for people born in 1959. They would start to qualify for their full Social Security benefits starting in November 2025.”
FoxBusiness went on to note, “Retirees can begin collecting their Social Security benefits before they reach the FRA, with the minimum age to do so being 62. However, retirees who claim early will have their monthly benefit permanently reduced by as much as 30% depending on how early they claim.”
Magnolia Tribune
