- 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. Additional funding sought for Yazoo Backwater Area Pumps, Arkabutla Dam repairs
U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith received confirmation on Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could use additional funding in FY 2027 to make more progress on two major projects in Mississippi – Yazoo Backwater Area Pumps and Arkabutla Dam repairs.
Hyde-Smith, who serves on the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, was part of a hearing to review the latest budget requests for the Army Corps and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The Army Corps budget recommends $30 million for the Yazoo Backwater Area and more than $20 million to complete pre-construction engineering and design requirements to repair the Arkabutla Dam.
Adam Telle, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, and Lt. Gen. William H. “Butch” Graham, Jr., USACE Chief of Engineers and Commanding General both agreed that funding above the budget request could be used to advance mitigation and initial design work on the Yazoo Backwater project.
Regarding the Arkabutla Dam repairs, Telle told the subcommittee that the Northwest Mississippi facility is a major safety concern for the Army Corps and that the budget has identified it as being capable of using additional funding in FY 2027.
2. State congressional delegation backs Governor’s disaster declaration request
Mississippi’s full congressional delegation shared its strong support for Governor Tate Reeves’ request for a major disaster declaration after devastating tornadoes and severe weather struck the state on May 6-7, 2026.
U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and U.S. Representatives Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Trent Kelly, R-Miss., Michael Guest, R-Miss., and Mike Ezell, R-Miss., sent President Trump a letter endorsing the governor’s request for an expedited major disaster declaration for Lamar, Lincoln, Franklin, Lawrence, and Wilkinson counties for individual assistance and public assistance. If approved, the major disaster declaration would unlock additional federal resources to supplement state recovery efforts.
“Several of the tornadoes caused catastrophic damage, including an EF3 tornado that, at times, exceeded a mile in width and remained on the ground for nearly 70 miles. The storms destroyed and severely damaged many homes and businesses, uprooted trees, crippled critical infrastructure, and caused widespread power outages affecting thousands of Mississippians,” the lawmakers wrote. “Communities across the impacted region continue to face significant recovery challenges in the aftermath of these storms.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Amended housing bill passes House, heads back to Senate
The Hill reports that the U.S. House on Wednesday “passed a resolution to make changes to a Senate-passed landmark housing bill, sending it back to the upper chamber where its future is unclear.”
“The lower chamber passed the measure by a vote of 396-13, with all the votes against coming from Republicans. It would approve incentives to build new homes, establish a program to convert abandoned buildings into housing developments and authorize new grants to modernize existing homes, among other priorities,” The Hill reported. “But it notably stripped a controversial provision requiring large institutional investors of build-to-rent single-family homes to sell those properties within seven years. The provision had sparked an uproar among hard-line conservatives, who argued that it amounts to unnecessary government interference in the free market and private housing economy.”
The Hill went on to report that the bill “would also include a section on ‘Housing Supply Frameworks,’ which would establish guidelines and best practices for zoning and land use policies, among other things.”
2. DOJ indicts former Cuban president
As reported by the New York Times, “The Justice Department announced charges on Wednesday against Raúl Castro, the 94-year-old former president of Cuba, accusing him of murder and a conspiracy to kill American citizens stemming from the fatal downing 30 years ago of two planes over waters off the coast of his country.”
“The indictment, issued in Federal District Court in Miami, was an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration’s multifaceted pressure campaign against Cuba’s Communist government at a moment when President Trump has been seeking to topple it,” NYT reported. “The charges brought to bear on Mr. Castro, the brother of Fidel Castro, the vast powers of the U.S. criminal justice system, saddling him with a possible maximum penalty of life in prison. They also raised the possibility that the United States could be paving the way for its military to remove him from the country through a means similar to how U.S. Special Operations forces used an indictment against Nicolás Maduro, the former leader of Venezuela, to swoop into Caracas in a brazen operation in January and capture him.”
NYT continued, “The indictment, which also accused five fighter pilots involved in the attack on the planes, was secretly returned last month by a federal grand jury and built on earlier charges, first filed in 2003, against one of them.”
Sports
1. Southern Miss downs Georgia State, awaits next opponent
No. 8 Southern Miss took a 7-6 victory over Georgia State Wednesday night at DABOS Park in the team’s opening game of the Sun Belt Baseball Championship.
The Golden Eagles (41-14) have now collected at least one win in each of the last 40 conference tournaments that they have played.
The winner of the Thursday game between Troy and South Alabama will now meet Southern Miss at 11 a.m. Friday.
2. Miss. State run rules Missouri, now faces Georgia
No. 16 Mississippi State run ruled Missouri 12-2 in seven innings Wednesday in the second round of the SEC Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
State (40-16) broke open a two-run game with an eight-run sixth inning, sending 12 batters to the plate and turning a tight tournament matchup into a run-rule win.
The Bulldogs now take on top-seeded and SEC regular season champion Georgia on Thursday at noon on SEC Network.
Markets & Business
1. Walmart issues worse-than-expected financial outlook
CNBC reports that “Walmart issued a worse-than-expected financial outlook on Thursday as it reported fiscal first-quarter results, raising questions about the health of the U.S. consumer as high gas prices strain shopper budgets.”
“The mega retailer stood by its fiscal 2027 outlook, which disappointed investors last quarter when it was issued,” CNBC reported. “The retailer said it’s expecting adjusted earnings per share to be between $2.75 and $2.85, lower than expectations of $2.91, according to LSEG. Walmart said it anticipates net sales will rise between 3.5% and 4.5% for the year.”
CNBC added, “Walmart’s weaker-than-expected outlook comes as the largest U.S. retailer and its peers post relatively strong sales for the first quarter. The company’s revenue rose 7% in the first quarter, as the value player continues to see gains in its e-commerce business and with higher-income shoppers.”
2. Fed now considering rate hike?
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Federal Reserve officials all but retired the question that had dominated their debates for the past two years—whether to cut interest rates—and began more seriously at their meeting last month to weigh the opposite: whether to raise them.”
“A majority of participants highlighted…that some policy firming would likely become appropriate if inflation were to continue to run persistently above 2%,” according to the minutes of the April policy meeting, released Wednesday, per WSJ.
WSJ noted, “The minutes of Jerome Powell’s final meeting as Fed chair underscored how the Middle East conflict has reshaped the outlook on the rate-setting committee that Kevin Warsh will lead after he is sworn in at the White House on Friday. The central bank’s next policy meeting is June 16-17.”
