Magnolia Mornings: July 1, 2025

• 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. AG Fitch, Safe House Project launch human trafficking reporting app

Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced Monday that her office will partner with national anti-trafficking nonprofit Safe House Project to launch Simply Report, a first-of-its-kind program to empower concerned citizens to safely, anonymously, and effectively report suspected human trafficking in Mississippi.

According to Fitch, the Simply Report app provides a streamlined tool for users to recognize and report indicators of trafficking directly to the appropriate authorities—bridging the critical gap between community awareness and actionable intervention.

Through a grant from Attorney General Alliance, General Fitch said her investigators will have access to a specialized law enforcement platform where they can view Mississippi tips and analyze them through an AI-powered behavioral matrix. This will help prioritize communications and target their manpower and resources to maximize effectiveness.

2. Former Panola Co. Road Dept. employee pleads guilty to embezzlement

Carvelle Russell, former Panola County Road Department Employee, has pleaded guilty to one count of Embezzlement of Public Funds, the State Auditor announced on Monday.

Between June 2024 and September 2024, the State Auditor’s office said Russell took a fuel card assigned to a Panola County Road Department vehicle and used it to purchase fuel for his own personal vehicle.

State Auditor Shad White said Russell was prosecuted in the Panola County Circuit Court. Russell was sentenced to one day incarceration in MDOC with ten years post release supervision and has been ordered to pay $1,100 in fines and $9,546.37 in restitution.

National News & Foreign Policy

1. Musk eyes forming ‘America Party’ is Trump’s megabill passes

The New York Times reports that Elon Musk “called on Monday for the formation of a new political party and suggested he would back primary challengers against nearly every single Republican in Congress.”

“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” he wrote in one of several Monday posts to his 220 million followers on X, reported by NYT. “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”

NYT went on to report, “By the evening, Mr. Musk was committing to specific action, saying that he would support Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, among the most prominent holdouts against Mr. Trump’s bill… At one point in the evening, Mr. Musk wrote that nearly the entire House and Senate G.O.P. ‘will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth’ — a tall task for even the world’s richest person, who donated nearly $300 million to Republican candidates in the 2024 election.”

2. Wicker, Hyde-Smith among 18 GOP Senators to back raising taxes in wealthy to help rural hospitals

The Hill reports that 18 Republican senators “voted to advance an amendment sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to raise taxes on ultra wealthy income earners to help rural hospitals facing steep Medicaid cuts.”

Mississippi’s two Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith were among the 18.

“The GOP senators voted for a motion to waive a budget point-of-order against Collins’s amendment to establish a new $39.6 percent tax bracket for individuals who earn more than $25 million in annual income and married couples who earn more than $50 million annually,” The Hill reported. “The proposal would be used to double the size of the rural hospital relief fund in the GOP megabill from $25 billion to $50 billion.”

The Hill added, “The procedural motion failed on a lopsided vote of 22 to 78, but the result surprised some Senate insiders.”

Sports

Orlando named Ole Miss assistant tennis coach

The Ole Miss Athletics Department says men’s tennis has rounded out its coaching staff for the 2025-26 season, as head coach Jake Jacoby announced the addition of Vince Orlando as an assistant coach on Monday.

Orlando most recently served as an assistant coach for the Michigan State men’s tennis team, where he helped lead the Spartans to 17 dual wins, a 10-3 conference record and two top-10 victories over No. 7 Kentucky and No. 10 Arizona.

Additionally, Orlando helped lead Ozan Baris to collect All-America accolades from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). 

Markets & Business

1. Investors appear optimistic about the months ahead

CNBC reports that U.S. equity futures fell early Tuesday “to kick off the second half of 2025 after the S&P 500 notched another record to close out a stunning quarter.”

“Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 45 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 futures declined 0.2%, along with the Nasdaq-100 futures,” CNBC reported.

“Stocks have made an impressive comeback after suffering steep declines in April, after Trump’s sweeping tariff policy pushed the S&P 500 near bear market territory. The major averages have since made a sharp turnaround, with the broad market index closing the second quarter with a 10.6% gain and the Nasdaq up nearly 18% in the period,” CNBC noted. “Though traders now head into the second half of the year with stocks at record highs, some remain optimistic the market could surge even higher in the months ahead.”

2. Trump to Powell: “You have cost the USA a fortune”

FoxBusiness reports that President Donald Trump “sent a note to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Monday showing how other nations across the world have lower interest rates compared to the U.S. as the president continues accusing the Fed chair of keeping interest rates ‘artificially high.'”

“‘Jerome, you are, as usual, too late. You have cost the USA a fortune and continue to do so,'” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday, reading Trump’s note to Powell, as reported by FoxBusiness. “‘You should lower the rate by a lot. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost and there is no inflation.'” 

FoxBusiness continued, “Leavitt said Trump sent Powell a chart showing countries stretching from Japan to Botswana that have lower interest rates compared to the U.S., which was accompanied by Trump’s note telling Powell the U.S. is losing hundreds of billions of dollars due to its current target rate of 4.25% to 4.5%.”