- 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. Yates, Sparks recognized by Mississippi REALTORS
Mississippi REALTORS has named State Representative Shanda Yates (I) and Senator Daniel Sparks (R) 2025 Legislators of the Year.
Yates and Senator Sparks were awarded the title from 2026 President DeShawn Davis during MAR’s annual REALTOR Day at the Capitol on February 26.
Davis recognized Yates and Sparks as state lawmakers who have advocated for and supported REALTORS across Mississippi through the legislative process.
2. FEMA awards safe room grants
U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on Wednesday shared the award of more than $24.8 million to advance safe room projects in Mississippi toward construction, including a large multi-use facility at Copiah-Lincoln (Co-Lin) Community College.
FEMA announced grants for phase II construction work at the Co-Lin Wesson campus and the Webster County Communication Center Safe Room Project in Walthall, as well as funding for the Tate County Magnolia Heights Safe Room Project in Senatobia.
Copiah-Lincoln Community College Safe Room Project was awarded $16,294,746 to construct a nearly 35,000-square-foot standalone, multipurpose safe room on the Co-Lin campus to accommodate more than 2,000 occupants. An additional $175,000 administrative grant was also awarded for this project.
Webster County Communication Center Safe Room Project was awarded $6,693,200 to fund a safe room to harden an existing building to protect the county’s emergency operations center and accommodate almost 1,300 people, including city, school, and judicial officials, within 8,684 square feet of space.
Tate County Magnolia Heights Safe Room Project was awarded $1,727,851 to fund a more than 6,000-square-foot tornado safe room to protect 650 students and 80 faculty at the Magnolia Heights School.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. House advancing DHS funding bill
The Hill reports that the U.S. House on Wednesday “advanced a GOP-backed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, an effort by Republicans to pressure Democrats to end the partial government shutdown in the wake of the U.S. launching strikes against Iran.”
“The panel voted 211-209 to pass the rule, which tees up debate and a vote on the final passage of the measure. The bill is expected to pass the lower chamber on Thursday,” The Hill reported. “Republicans have been pressuring Democrats to support the bill and reopen DHS, citing the heightened threats to the homeland after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran over the weekend in what was the start of the administration’s ‘Operation Epic Fury.’”
“Everybody in America better watch that board. Anybody who votes to block funding for the homeland, it is shameful. I don’t know how to describe it. It speaks to a long record of Democrats’ deliberate efforts to undermine America’s safety and the essential operations of DHS,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Wednesday, per The Hill.
2. DOJ fails to make case against Biden’s autopen use
According to the New York Times, “The Justice Department, in the wake of calls by President Trump to criminally investigate former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., scrutinized whether Mr. Biden and his aides broke the law in using the autopen to sign presidential documents, but was ultimately unable to move forward with making a case, according to three people briefed on the matter.
“The autopen investigation was led by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, which is run by a longtime Trump ally, Jeanine Pirro. The inquiry was quietly shelved in recent months…,” NYT reported, adding, “The prosecutors never brought a potential indictment before a grand jury.”
Sports
Mize earns first Sun Belt Men’s Player of the Week in program history
Southern Miss men’s tennis Kale Mize has been named the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Week, becoming the first player in program history to earn the weekly conference honor.
The school said Mize picked up the award after a perfect weekend on the home courts, helping lead the Golden Eagles to team wins over New Orleans and Norfolk State.
Across the two-match stretch, Mize went 4-0 overall, posting a 2-0 record in singles and a 2-0 mark in doubles while setting the tone at the top of the lineup.
Markets & Business
1. Tech giants commit to pay more for data center electricity
As FoxBusiness reports, “Tech giants have backed a pledge from President Donald Trump to pay more for electricity to run resource-hungry AI data centers ahead of its signing on Wednesday.”
“Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon will join Trump at the White House to sign the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, an agreement to ensure expenses for the infrastructure and power delivery for the data centers are not passed on to the public, according to a White House official,” FoxBusiness reports. “The pledge also commits these companies to hiring and training a workforce from within communities where data centers are built and operated, the official said.”
FoxBusiness continued, “U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the pledge will help stop the rising electricity prices that started during the Biden administration, while also ‘ensuring the United States wins the AI race.'”
2. Trump officially nominates Warsh for Fed chairman
CNBC reports that President Donald Trump on Wednesday “officially nominated Kevin Warsh to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.”
“Warsh, if confirmed by the Senate, would succeed Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, for a four-year term. Trump’s nomination was transmitted to the Senate, the White House said in a statement posted online on Wednesday,” CNBC reported. “That transmittal came more than a month after Trump first publicly announced he wanted Warsh as the Fed chairman.”
Magnolia Tribune
Congress taking first votes on Iran war as debate rages about U.S. goals
