- 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. Chaney offers holiday decorating safety tips
Mississippi Insurance Commissioner and State Fire Marshall Mike Chaney is reminding citizens to be safe this holiday season when decorating for Christmas.
“Use holiday decorations made with flame-retardant or non-combustible materials. Carefully inspect new and used light strings and replace damaged items before plugging lights in. My biggest tip is do not overload extension cords,” said Chaney.
Chaney’s office offered the following safety tips:
- Use lights approved by Underwriter’s Laboratories.
- Keep children and pets away from light strings and electrical decorations.
- Turn off all light strings and decorations before leaving home or going to bed.
- Never use lit candles to decorate a tree, and make sure any lit candles in the room are placed away from tree branches.
- Make sure the tree is not blocking an exit.
- Try to keep live trees as moist as possible by giving them plenty of water daily.
- Make sure the tree is at least three feet away from any heat source.
- Take the tree down when it becomes dry.
- Recycle it, use it as a fish shelter in a farm pond, or put it out with the trash.
- Do not burn a tree in the fireplace. Heat may explode the wood and set the room on fire.
2. DeSoto County judge arrested for DUI
WMC Action News reports that Karen Sanders, a Justice Court judge for DeSoto County, was arrested and charged with DUI and careless driving.
“The Hernando Police Department reports that she was arrested during a traffic stop Saturday evening in Hernando,” WMC reported.
WMC added, “The sheriff’s office says a Hernando judge has since released Sanders from the DeSoto County Jail on her own recognizance. Her court date is set for April 1, 2026.”
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Trump to talk affordability in Pennsylvania
As The Hill reports, “President Trump will try to change the narrative on affordability Tuesday when he makes a speech in Pennsylvania amid rising economic dissatisfaction among the public.”
“Trump has recently pushed back against the criticism of his administration over rising prices and an arguably sluggish economy, calling the term ‘affordability’ a ‘Democrat scam’ during comments at the White House last week,” The Hill reported. “But he seems to be shifting his approach with polls showing his approval rating well underwater and Democrats holding a lead in the generic congressional ballot.”
The Hill noted, “His choice of Pennsylvania for his speech is notable as it’s a key battleground state that helped return him to office last year and will be key again in the 2026 midterms.”
2. Zelensky rejects any surrendering of land to Russia
The Washington Post reports that “Ukraine will not surrender territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky declared Monday, rejecting a central Russian demand that President Donald Trump had incorporated into his latest proposal to end the Kremlin’s war.”
“Under our laws, under international law — and under moral law — we have no right to give anything away,” Zelensky said, after meeting with top European leaders to discuss Trump’s plan Monday, per the Washington Post. “That is what we are fighting for.”
“The unequivocal declaration that Ukraine will not surrender land could mark the collapse of Trump’s plan, which critics condemned as fulfilling a wish list of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” WP continued. “Zelensky, speaking to journalists aboard his flight to Brussels following consultations with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany in London, made one of his clearest public statements yet on the emerging U.S.-backed proposal. He said the plan had been stripped of what he called ‘explicitly anti-Ukrainian provisions,’ suggesting that Kyiv was open to a deal.”
Sports
1. Heisman finalists announced
Finalists for the 2025 Heisman Trophy were announced on Monday.
The finalists are Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love.
Analyst believe the winner will come down to either Mendoza, whose teams sits at No. 1 after defeating Ohio State in their conference title game, or Pavia, who led Vanderbilt to its first-ever 10 win season and highest national rankings.
The ceremony will air Saturday night from New York at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
2. Shuckers to host Tulane, Miss. State in baseball matchup in Biloxi
The Biloxi Shuckers recently announced that the Mississippi State Bulldogs will return to Biloxi for the 2026 Hancock Whitney Classic on Tuesday, March 10 at 6:05 p.m. against the Tulane Green Wave.
This marks the fifth consecutive season and eighth season total that the Bulldogs have visited Keesler Federal Park. Tulane previously visited Keesler Federal Park during the 2016 season with a game against Southern Miss.
Tickets are now available through the Shuckers Box Office at Keesler Federal Park and Ticketmaster.
Markets & Business
1. Fed rate cut coming Tuesday?
According to the Wall Street Journal, “When Federal Reserve officials gather Tuesday for their final two-day rate-setting meeting of the year, as much as half the room might not want a cut.”
“But the final call will rest with Chair Jerome Powell, who appears poised to secure one despite the unusual opposition,” WSJ reported.
WSJ went on to report, “The focus this week will be whether Powell can stitch together enough consensus to minimize dissents. That would likely happen by cutting interest rates a quarter point to a range of 3.5% to 3.75% and then signaling a higher bar for further easing, through changes to the postmeeting statement. This cut-and-cap approach would echo how Powell concluded a sequence of three rate cuts in 2019 that also divided the committee.”
2. Nvidia can sell AI chips to China, Trump says
CNBC reports that President Donald Trump on Monday said Nvidia “will be allowed to ship its H200 artificial intelligence chips to ‘approved customers’ in China and elsewhere, on the condition that the U.S. gets a 25% cut.”
“Chinese President Xi Jinping ‘responded positively’ to the proposal, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post,” CNBC reported. “The policy ‘will support American Jobs, strengthen U.S. Manufacturing, and benefit American Taxpayers,’ Trump wrote.”
“The Department of Commerce is finalizing the details, and the same approach will apply to AMD, Intel, and other GREAT American Companies,” he added in the post, per CNBC.
Magnolia Tribune
