- 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. Wicker appointed to chair U.S. Helsinki Commission
The Presiding Officer, on behalf of the Vice President, last week announced the appointment of Mississippi U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R) as chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, for the 119th Congress.
“I am honored to be named chairman of the Helsinki Commission. European security is always good for the United States. For nearly fifty years, the Helsinki Commission has protected human rights, advanced democracy, and increased economic cooperation across the globe,” said Senator Wicker. “Today’s challenges are no less urgent. I look forward to working on a bicameral, bipartisan basis to seek a just end to Russia’s war on Ukraine, a stronger NATO alliance, and an international order that serves our national interest.”
Wicker has served on the U.S. Helsinki Commission since 2009. He served as a Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) from 2017 to 2024. From November 2014 to July 2017, Senator Wicker chaired the OSCE PA Committee on Political Affairs and Security, where his work centered on sustaining constructive security dialogue among all participating states and ensuring compliance with international commitments.
2. Hyde-Smith, Guest backing “Dismantle DEI Act”
Mississippi U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) announced Wednesday that she is an original cosponsor of the Dismantle DEI Act of 2025 (S.382) that, in addition to halting the Biden DEI initiatives, would ensure that future administrations cannot reinstate similar policies.
“In America, opportunity and success should be determined by ability, not identity. These DEI programs are inherently biased, waste Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and prioritize ideological conformity over merit. I am proud to stand with Senator Schmitt and President Trump in ending this divisive and wasteful agenda,” Senator Hyde-Smith said.
Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt is the author of the legislation. In all, 19 Republican Senators signed as original cosponsor of the Schmitt bill. Texas Congressman Michael Cloud (R) introduced a companion bill (HR.925) in the House of Representatives, with Mississippi Congressman Michael Guest (R) among the original cosponsors.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. DOJ suing NY over failure to enforce immigration laws
The U.S. Department of Justice under new Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday that the department “was suing New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, state Attorney General Letitia James and commissioner of the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, Mark Schroeder, for what she said was their failure to enforce federal immigration laws,” reported the Wall Street Journal.
“This is a new DOJ,” Bondi said at her first press conference as AG. “New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today.”
WSJ also reported that “Bondi criticized New York’s Green Light Law, which allows immigrants in the country illegally to apply for driver’s licenses and shields state driver’s license records from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
2. White House excludes AP from Oval Office over Gulf of America stance
As reported by The Hill, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt “defended a decision by the White House on Tuesday to keep The Associated Press out of the pool of reporters allowed inside the Oval Office to cover an executive order signing with President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.”
“We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office,” Leavitt said, as reported by The Hill, calling it a “privilege to cover the White House.”
The Hill went on to report, “The AP on Tuesday said it had been blocked from covering two White House events over its refusal to ‘align its editorial standards with President Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.'”
“If we feel there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable,” the press secretary said. “And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that but that is what it is.”
Sports
1. Arkansas State drops a hundred on Southern Miss
Arkansas State dropped a hundred on the Southern Miss men’s basketball team on Wednesday night, sending the Golden Eagles record to 10-16 overall and 5-8 in the Sun Belt.
As noted by Southern Miss Athletics, despite the Golden Eagles scoring the first points of the game, not much went its way in the first half. The Golden Eagles fell victim to a 21-7 run that put homestanding Arkansas State ahead 21-7. Arkansas State extended its lead in the second half as it pushed the advantage to 37 points late in the game.
The final score was 101-67 when the dust cleared.
Southern Miss is again on the road this Saturday, heading to ULM for a 2 p.m. tipoff.
2. No. 19 Ole Miss picks up road win ahead of Miss. State rematch
The No. 19 Ole Miss (19-6, 8-4 SEC) men’s basketball team picked up a 72-68 road victory Wednesday night against South Carolina.
Ole Miss Athletics says Rebels turned in their best first half shooting from both the field and from long distance this season. Ole Miss shot 15-of-23 from the floor over the first 20 minutes, good for 65.2 percent. The Rebels also converted 6-of-9 from three-point land, good for 66.7 percent. Ole Miss would lead by as many as 13 in the first half but took a 42-32 lead into the break.
Ole Miss returns to action this Saturday at home against No. 22 Mississippi State (17-7, 5-6 SEC). Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m.
Markets & Business
1. Musk’s bid for OpenAI hinges on non-profit vs for-profit status
According to a court filing reported by CNBC, Elon Musk will withdraw his $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI’s non-profit arm if the ChatGPT maker stops its conversion into a for-profit entity.
“If OpenAI, Inc.‘s Board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the ‘for sale’ sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid,” read the filing submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. “Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets,” it added.
CNBC reported that when asked on Tuesday how seriously he is taking Musk’s bid, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who previously declined the offer in a post on X, replied, “Not particularly.”
2. Chevron to layoff 15-20% of workers
FoxBusiness reports that Chevron will lay off 15%-20% of its workers in a bid to “simplify our organizational structure, [execute] faster and more efficiently, and position the company for stronger long-term competitiveness,” Chevron Corp. Vice Chair Mark Nelson said in a Wednesday statement.
“Chevron’s global headcount at the end of 2023 consisted of more than 40,200 non-service station employees and nearly 5,400 service station workers, according to its most recent annual report,” FoxBusiness reported. “Nelson said the company will finish “most” of the layoffs, which start this year, before 2026’s year-end.”
The energy giant aims to shrink its structural costs through layoffs and other actions by $2-$3 billion before 2027, according to Nelson, as reported by FoxBusiness.
