- 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. Hosemann appoints Senators to joint redistricting committee
Last week, Speaker Jason White appointed House members to the Joint Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting. On Tuesday, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann did the same for the Senate.
“I have full confidence these members will respectfully and thoroughly study redistricting, understanding the magnitude of this responsibility,” said Hosemann. “Just as the committee brought forward thoughtful proposals in 2022, I expect this committee to do the same.”
Those appointed were:
- Senator Jeremy England, Chairman, Elections Committee
- Senator Lane Taylor, Vice-Chairman, Elections Committee
- Congressional District 1: Senator Daniel Sparks and Senator Angela Turner-Ford
- Congressional District 2: Senator Briggs Hopson and Senator Albert Butler
- Congressional District 3: Senator Josh Harkins and Senator Dean Kirby
- Congressional District 4: Senator Brice Wiggins and Senator Mike Thompson
2. Wild hog control program applications open August 1
Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson announced Tuesday that the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC) will begin accepting a new round of applications for its Wild Hog Control Program (WHCP) starting this Saturday, August 1.
The application period will remain open until Saturday, August 15, 2026.
Applications must be completed and submitted online here. Submitted applications will be evaluated based on the number of acres available for trapping, historical agricultural losses caused by wild hogs on the property and current trapping efforts on the property. A cooperative application is encouraged for small acreage (i.e., adjoining land managers of small parcels should work together to submit one application). Traps will be available for one-month intervals, dependent upon use and success. One trap per 500 acres is recommended, depending on landscape and land use.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. U.S., Saudi jets strike Iranian-backed militias in Iraq
According to the New York Times, “American and Saudi fighter jets attacked Iranian-backed militias in eastern Iraq early Wednesday, embroiling more countries in the war, overshadowing diplomatic efforts and sending oil prices higher.”
“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps also said that it launched missiles at U.S. military targets in Jordan as retaliation for American aggression. The Jordanian military said Wednesday that it had shot down five missiles launched from Iran,” NYT reported. “The strikes followed several days of relative calm, with the United States and Iran pausing full-blown attacks. President Trump had raised the prospect of resuming peace negotiations, while also making fresh threats against Iran, repeating a pattern he has followed through the war.”
“If they don’t make a deal, then I’ll go back and finish the job,” Mr. Trump told Fox News on Tuesday.
NYT added, “Iranian officials have dismissed the latest American overtures on talks and insist they are in a position of strength.”
2. Graham remembered as ‘a tough cookie’ at D.C. funeral
The Washington Post reports that “President Donald Trump hailed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) as ‘one of the great figures in Senate history’ during a funeral Tuesday at Washington National Cathedral that drew heads of state and much of official Washington.”
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were among the leaders who attended the funeral for Graham, who died suddenly July 11 of an aortic dissection,” WP reported. “Trump described Graham as involved in seemingly everything that happened in Washington for decades, a veteran legislator liked by ‘virtually everyone, Republican or Democrat’ — though he veered from his prepared remarks to admit that not everyone loved Graham, whom he called a ‘tough cookie.’”
WP continued, “He praised Graham for his impassioned defense of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh during Kavanaugh’s 2018 Senate confirmation hearing, when he denounced Democrats’ handling of sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh as a charade. ‘I believe it was Lindsey’s, perhaps, finest hour,’ Trump said.”
Sports
1. Ole Miss hires Petar Aleksić as assistant men’s basketball coach
Ole Miss Athletics said this week that longtime FIBA coach Petar Aleksić was named an assistant coach for the Ole Miss men’s basketball program. Head coach Chris Beard announced the hiring on Tuesday.
Aleksić has been involved in European basketball for nearly 35 years as a player and coach.
Aleksić brings more than two decades of coaching experience across Europe, with stops in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as Serbia and the United Arab Emirates.
Most notably, Aleksić and Beard coached the 2015 Swiss National Team to one of the biggest basketball victories in the country’s history. In the European Basketball Championship Second Qualifying Round, the duo pulled an upset against perennial power Russia in the tournament’s opening game. During the summer, Beard traveled Europe with the team playing games and friendlies in Italy, Russia, Romania and Montenegro with Aleksić.
2. Sponsors of Protect College Sports Act seeking support from Big Ten, SEC
As reported by Politico, “The bipartisan leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee are making changes to their big college sports overhaul in a bid to garner support from the nation’s two most powerful athletic conferences as they look to build Republican support ahead of a potential vote on the Senate floor.”
“Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the ranking member, made several concessions to the Big Ten and Southeastern Conferences in the latest draft of their Protect College Sports Act. They include protections against certain legal challenges and a new $20 million pool of funds that schools can use for retaining athletes, according to three people close to the negotiations,” Politico reported. “It’s unclear whether the changes will be good enough to win over the two conferences. A senior Commerce Committee staffer asked the conferences to schedule a call with their general counsels and staff ‘ASAP’ to discuss the text and gave them a 9 a.m. Wednesday deadline to decide whether they support the latest version of the bill, according to an email reviewed by POLITICO.”
Politico further reported, “Two lobbyists directly engaged on the bill said Tuesday that weeks of negotiations had not meaningfully addressed a litany of concerns the SEC and the Big Ten had with earlier versions of the bill.”
Markets & Business
1. Investors await Fed rate decision
CNBC reports that “S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures rose Wednesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s anticipated interest rate decision.”
“Investors are looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and subsequent press conference with Chairman Kevin Warsh on Wednesday afternoon. Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a nearly 70% likelihood that the central bank holds rates steady at the current targe range of 3.5% to 3.75%, according to CME’s FedWatch tool,” CNBC reported.
CNBC noted, “West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced 4.7% to trade at around $82.93 a barrel after U.S. Central Command said in a social media post that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched ‘multiple ballistic missiles in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East.’ The missiles were successfully intercepted, Centcom said.”
2. C Spire achieves 3 ISO certifications
C Spire announced this week that the company has achieved three International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications simultaneously.
Schellman Compliance, LLC certified C Spire* to ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 20000-1 and ISO/IEC 27001 with zero nonconformities on its first attempt. These certifications confirm C Spire’s management system meets rigorous, internationally recognized standards for quality, security and reliability, giving customers confidence in the consistency of its delivery of critical business technology services.
“Achieving all three ISO certifications concurrently reflects the deep expertise and disciplined operating model our team brings to every customer engagement,” said Brad Carpenter, Chief Operating Officer and EVP of Business Technology, C Spire. “Our customers deserve transparency, ownership and accountability, which by upholding these standards validates to them that quality, service excellence and information security are built into the way we operate.”
