- 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 announces sentencing in Medicaid fraud case
Attorney General Lynn Fitch on Wednesday announced the recent sentencing of Pearly Youngblood of Taylorsville, Mississippi. Youngblood pleaded guilty to one count of Medicaid fraud. The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.
According to the AG, Youngblood, an employee of Blessing Hearts Healthcare, knowingly submitted false claims for Medicaid services that she did not provide. On July 28, 2025, Walthall County Circuit Court Judge David Strong ordered Youngblood to pay full restitution in the amount of $16,598.40 to the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, as well as $4,000 in fines and fees.
Youngblood also received five years of non-adjudicated probation through the Mississippi Department of Corrections and will remain on the federal exclusion list, excluding her from participating in Medicaid, Medicare, or any other federal health care program, for five years.
2. PEER’s Edgar named NCSL’s staff chair
Lonnie Edgar, deputy director of the Mississippi Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review, became the staff chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures at the 2025 Legislative Summit in Boston. Edgar was elected staff vice chair at the 2024 Legislative Summit in Louisville, Kentucky.
Edgar is one of seven officers (four legislators and three legislative staff members) on NCSL’s 63-member Executive Committee, which is elected yearly and includes both legislators and staff. Edgar has served in the Mississippi Legislature for two decades and has been involved with NCSL since 2009 through the Health Standing Committee, serving as both chair and vice chair.
NCSL, a bipartisan organization, serves the nation’s 7,386 legislators and more than 30,000 legislative staff.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. ISIS targeting Christians in Africa
FoxNews reports, “International observers are reporting that ISIS-aligned soldiers are beheading Christians and burning churches and homes in central and southern Africa – with some of the most brutal attacks happening in the nation of Mozambique.”
“The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) – a counter-terrorism research nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. – is sounding that alarm about what it describes as a ‘silent genocide’ taking place against Christians,” FoxNews reported. “The Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) recently released 20 photos boasting of four attacks on ‘Christian villages’ in the Chiure district, in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, according to MEMRI.”
FoxNews went on to report, “The United Nations migration agency said Monday that attacks by insurgents in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province displaced more than 46,000 people in the span of eight days last month. The International Organization for Migration said nearly 60% of those forced from their homes were children.”
2. U.S. working with Ukraine, Russia on ceasefire proposal
The Hill reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday “that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will return from Moscow with a framework for peace between Russia and Ukraine.”
“Rubio did not outline the conditions gathered by Witkoff during his Wednesday meeting with leaders in Moscow but underscored the importance of an agreement fair to both countries,” The Hill reported, adding “Trump signaled that he could soon hold direct in-person talks with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to achieve the administration’s goal of ending the conflict.”
“I think for the first time, perhaps since this administration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war. We haven’t had much of that to this point,’ Rubio said on FoxBusiness as reported by The Hill.
Sports
1. USM’s Foster named to Jet watchlist
Southern Miss Athletics said Wednesday that the Jet Award Foundation has named safety and return specialist Ian Foster as one of 16 players to watch for its 2025 Player of the Year award. The award recognizes the most outstanding return specialist in college football.
Now in its 15th year, the Jet Award, named after Heisman Trophy winner and College Football Hall of Famer Johnny ‘The Jet’ Rodgers, celebrates the nation’s most electrifying talents in the return game.
According to Southern Miss, at Marshall, Foster was named All-Sun Belt First Team as a return man after leading the FBS in return average among qualifying players (32.4). The Brundidge, Ala. native had 16 kick returns for 518 yards and led the FBS in 50+-yard returns (3) and 40+-yard kickoff returns (5).
2. JSU’s Hawkins named to Aeneas Williams watchlist
Jackson State Athletics said the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame (OSHOF) released the fourth annual Aeneas WIlliams Award Preseason Watch List, which includes Jackson State senior defensive back Shamar Hawkins and 14 other of the nation’s best defensive backs in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Division I football.
JSU said Hawkins was named to the list after a season in which he played in 14 games with five starts in the defensive backfield. The senior finished the year with 49 tackles, including 33 solo stops, while also recording 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.
Hawkins intercepted a pair of passes and recorded one pass breakup. The senior recorded six or more tackles four times, including a career-high eight against UAPB.
Markets & Business
1. Chip tariffs, tech investments push futures up
CNBC reports that stock futures rose Thursday, “led by tech, as President Donald Trump unveiled new chip tariffs that include broad exemptions.”
“Trump announced late Wednesday that there would be a 100% tariff on imported chips, but not for companies that are ‘building in the United States,'” CNBC reported, adding, “Apple also gained 2% after the iPhone maker announced plans to spend an additional $100 billion on U.S. companies and suppliers over the next four years. That’s on top of a $500 billion announcement Apple made in February.”
“We’re going to be putting a very large tariff on chips and semiconductors,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday, per CNBC. “But the good news for companies like Apple is if you’re building in the United States or have committed to build, without question, committed to build in the United States, there will be no charge.”
2. Auto industry adjusting to Trump tariffs
As the Wall Street Journal reports, “Beyond the continuing cost of tariffs, automakers in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Europe face years of retooling and supply-chain tweaks to adjust to the new realities. This comes after they spent heavily to reshape factories for electric vehicles.”
“The obvious responses to tariffs are to raise prices and move production to the U.S. But both are hard for carmakers to do quickly, potentially saddling them for years to come,” WSJ reported. “Skeptics say the tariffs will only change the industry at the margins, with global automakers investing in the U.S. because of its healthy consumer economy, not its politics.”
WSJ continued, “Still, White House trade policy may be accelerating an industry trend toward making cars closer to where they are sold. The big auto markets of North America, Europe and China are increasingly divided by different regulations, technologies and consumer preferences, encouraging automakers to design and manufacture locally.”
Magnolia Tribune
