- 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. Rollins to tour MSU, cut ribbon at MS Farm Bureau Thursday
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins will be in Mississippi on Thursday, making stops in Starkville and Jackson.
In Starkville, Rollins is scheduled to join U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi State University President Dr. Mark Keenum, and Mississippi Farm Bureau President Mike McCormick on a tour of the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine. According to the USDA office, Rollins will “make a major announcement” while at MSU concerning a new policy addressing the veterinarian shortage and the USDA veterinarian grant recipients.
Rollins will then head to Jackson to participate in a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Offices and attend a reception for Hyde-Smith’s re-election campaign.
2. Moore to headline first USM University Forum of school year
The University of Southern Mississippi announced Wednesday that Dr. Russell Moore, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, will speak the university’s first 2025 University Forum series. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, September 9, at 6:30 p.m. in the Thad Cochran Center Ballroom on the Hattiesburg campus.
An ordained Baptist minister, Moore is the author of Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America and previously served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Moore is an alumnus of Southern Miss.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Shooting at Minnesota Catholic school leaves 2 children dead
A mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday left two children dead and 17 people injured, including 14 children.
According to FoxNews, “The suspected shooter of a group of Minneapolis Catholic school students at morning Mass Wednesday has been identified as Robert or Robin Westman, according to law enforcement sources. He was carrying three firearms, according to authorities – a rifle, a pistol and a shotgun.”
FoxNews went on to report, “Court records show that a Minneapolis juvenile named Robert Westman had their name legally changed to Robin in 2019, and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that the shooter was born Robert and later identified as Robin… The suspect’s relationship to the school is also unknown, and it has not been confirmed whether the suspect had any connection to any students or staff.”
2. Resignations at CDC; FDA rescinds emergency COVID vaccine authorization
As The Hill reports, “At least four top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) submitted their resignations Wednesday, saying the recent changes and leadership at their agency are preventing them from fulfilling their duties as public health authorities.”
“The resignations came the same day that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a slew of changes to limit access to the COVID-19 vaccine, and just hours after news broke that CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted from the agency,” The Hill reported.
The Hill noted, “Earlier in the day, the Food and Drug Administration rescinded emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines.” The shots are now being authorized for those at high-risk of severe illness, such as persons over 65 years old and those younger with an underlying condition.
Sports
1. MS JUCO football kicks off Thursday night
Mississippi community college football kicks off Thursday night for the 14 programs in the programs in the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference and NJCAA.
Northwest opens the season ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA Division 1 preseason rankings while Co-Lin comes in at No. 9 and MGCCC at No. 10.
All games Thursday with kickoff times are shown above.
2. USM to play West Viriginia in 2027
Southern Miss Athletics announced Tuesday that USM and West Virginia have agreed to a play single football game at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia on Sept. 4, 2027.
The school said this will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools in football.
Southern Miss already has two non-conference games slated for that season, including a September 11 home matchup with Tulane, along with a road game September 18 at Memphis.
Markets & Business
1. Investors digest Nvidia earnings report
CNBC reports that stock futures “were little changed Thursday as investors weighed Nvidia’s latest quarterly results.”
“S&P 500 futures traded just above the flatline, while Nasdaq-100 futures fell marginally. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 86 points, or 0.2%,” CNBC reported. “Nvidia – which makes up about 8% of the S&P 500, per FactSet – fell nearly 2%, even after its second-quarter results beat Wall Street’s estimates. Chip stocks also came under a bit of pressure following the artificial intelligence bellwether’s results, as AMD and Taiwan Semiconductor each fell in sympathy.”
CNBC added, “Even though Nvidia’s results surpassed expectations, investors were setting the bar even higher.”
2. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to launch AI pilot program
According to the New York Times, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to begin a pilot program that would involve a similar prior authorization review process as done by private insurers for traditional Medicare, the federal insurance program for people 65 and older as well as for many younger people with disabilities. The pilot would start in six states next year.
“The federal government plans to hire private companies to use artificial intelligence to determine whether patients would be covered for some procedures, like certain spine surgeries or steroid injections,” NYT reported. “Similar algorithms used by insurers have been the subject of several high-profile lawsuits, which have asserted that the technology allowed the companies to swiftly deny large batches of claims and cut patients off from care in rehabilitation facilities.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services states in their announcement that while technology will support the review process, final decisions that a request for one of the selected services does not meet Medicare coverage requirements will be made by licensed clinicians, not machines.
“CMS is committed to crushing fraud, waste, and abuse, and the WISeR Model will help root out waste in Original Medicare,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “Combining the speed of technology and the experienced clinicians, this new model helps bring Medicare into the 21st century by testing a streamlined prior authorization process, while protecting Medicare beneficiaries from being given unnecessary and often costly procedures.”
Magnolia Tribune
