- Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.
In Mississippi
Two MS Lottery players win big
The Mississippi Lottery announced Thursday that two players are celebrating significant wins totaling $150,000.
“One winning ticket was purchased at Tobacco Warehouse 41 in Kosciusko and matched four of the five white balls plus the Powerball, initially winning $50,000. Because the player added the $1 Power Play option, the prize was doubled to $100,000,” the Lottery announced. “Another winning ticket was sold at Sprint Mart #66 in Fayette. That ticket also matched four white balls and the Powerball, winning $50,000 through the Double Play drawing. The player included the $1 Double Play add-on, giving them a second chance to win with a separate set of numbers drawn after the main Powerball drawing.”
With no jackpot winner, the Lottery said the estimated Powerball jackpot for the next drawing on Saturday, February 7, grows to an estimated $102 million, with an estimated cash value of $46.1 million.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Homeland Security funding could run out by next week
The Hill reports that “the chances of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) running out of funding at the end of next week are on the rise as Democrats are standing by their demands for immigration policy reforms.”
“The two parties had agreed to a temporary funding measure to cover DHS through Feb. 13 as part of the package to reopen the shuttered parts of the government Tuesday, with the goal being to give negotiators time to talk through a deal to allow the department to be funded for the rest of the fiscal year,” The Hill reported. “But with one week left before funding is set to run out for DHS again, an agreement currently seems out of reach.”
The Hill continued, “Republicans are brushing off the 10 ‘guardrails’ that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) laid out Wednesday as requirements for Democrats to support a funding bill.”
2. U.S., Russia to resume military dialogue
According to the Washington Post, “The United States and Russia will resume a high-level military-to-military dialogue that was suspended just before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, officials said Thursday, in the latest sign the Trump administration is pursuing more normalized relations with Moscow even as a key nuclear weapons treaty between the two powers expired.”
“Thursday marked the end of New START, which limits the numbers and types of nuclear weapons each country maintains,” WP reported. “In response, President Donald Trump called for a ‘new, improved, modernized’ pact that could last for a long time.”
WP went on to report, “Both developments coincided with the latest efforts to end the four-year-old Ukraine conflict. The decision to resume military talks between Washington and Moscow, according to one U.S. official, was a direct by-product of the peace negotiations, which so far have failed to produce a significant breakthrough that would halt the fighting. U.S.-Russian interactions in recent days created an opening for further dialogue, the official said.”
Sports
1. Super Bowl LX to kickoff at 5:30 p.m. Sunday
Super Bowl LX is set to kickoff Sunday between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.
Pre-game coverage will begin at 11:00 a.m. and kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. The game is being aired on NBC and streaming on Peacock and NFL+.
The Super Bowl halftime show will feature Bad Bunny, a controversial choice for many fans given his political stances against ICE.
However, an alternative halftime show is being presented by Turning Point USA titled “The All-American Halftime Show” will feature Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett. It will air around 7 p.m. on the organization’s YouTube, X, and Rumble platforms.
2. Saints celebrate Hall of Fame QB Brees
Fans of the New Orleans Saints are celebrating today as beloved former quarterback Drew Brees was announced to have been selected as a first ballot NFL Hall of Famer on Thursday night.
According to the Saints statement on the news, in 20 NFL seasons — 15 as a Saint, from 2006-20 — Brees totaled 80,358 passing yards (second in NFL history), 571 passing touchdowns (second), 7,142 completions (first), and led 172 wins (fourth) while completing 67.7 percent of his passes (third).
He was the Most Valuable Player in the Saints’ victory over Indianapolis in Super Bowl XLIV, was named All-Pro five times, was a Pro Bowler 13 times and twice was NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
He set NFL records for most touchdown passes in a game (seven) and the highest single-season completion percentage (74.4).
He earned the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2006, is a member of the Saints Hall of Fame, will be inducted into the Saints Ring of Honor, led the NFL in passing yards seven times, led the league in touchdown passes four times, was the league’s Comeback Player of the Year as a Charger in 2004 and led the Saints to seven NFC South Division titles, nine 10-win seasons and three NFC Championship Game appearances.
Markets & Business
1. Big Tech takes $1 trillion hit over AI spending fears
CNBC reports that “Big Tech companies have seen over $1 trillion wiped from their market cap over the past week, as fears over AI spending sparked a sell-off.”
“Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet all saw their shares fall in the week up to market close on Thursday, as the companies’ earnings reports signaled huge continued capex spending from hyperscalers,” CNBC reported. “Amazon was down 7% in premarket trading on Friday. Alphabet was 0.7% lower, Meta was largely unchanged, while Oracle, Nvidia and Microsoft were up in the low single-digit percentages.”
CNBC added, “Plans to funnel $660 billion into AI this year were announced by Big Tech stocks, the Financial Times reported, a figure higher than the GDP of countries like the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Israel.”
2. TrumpRx launched
FoxBusiness reports that “President Donald Trump unveiled TrumpRx.gov, a new government-backed website aimed at giving Americans access to discounted prescription drugs.”
“Speaking at the website launch Thursday evening at the White House, Trump argued that Americans have long paid far more for prescription drugs than consumers in other countries and called the price differences unprecedented,” FoxBusiness reported.
“Americans have long been paying the highest drug prices anywhere in the world, while other countries often paid pennies on the dollar for the exact same drugs,” Trump said. “We were essentially subsidizing the entire world by hundreds of billions of dollars every year.”
FoxBusiness noted, “He added that despite accounting for a small share of the global population, Americans bear a disproportionate share of drug costs.”
