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In Mississippi
AccelerateMS launches Mississippi Industry Experience Program
AccelerateMS announced Monday that the agency has established the Mississippi Industry Experience Program (MIEP), a new statewide workforce initiative designed to expand access to structured, paid industry experiences and create stronger pathways into high-wage careers.
Developed and directed by AccelerateMS, MIEP supports work-based learning opportunities aligned with Mississippi’s priority sectors and occupations. The program aims to reduce barriers to career entry and strengthen transitions from education, unemployment or underemployment into the workforce while giving employers an opportunity to develop and connect with emerging talent.
The initiative will direct funding toward workforce needs identified across Mississippi, helping employers develop talent while creating new opportunities for individuals to gain valuable industry experience.
As part of the new initiative, AccelerateMS has awarded $556,200 to Three Rivers Planning & Development District, the first recipient of MIEP funding. The award is expected to support approximately 180 participants, giving individuals the opportunity to gain meaningful workplace experience while applying and developing academic, technical, and transferable skills aligned with their education and career goals.
The award will allow Three Rivers to coordinate paid industry experiences with employers across 27 counties in northern and northeastern Mississippi, representing sectors including advanced manufacturing, construction, and healthcare.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Social Security releasing COLA adjustment Wednesday
The Hill reports that “Frank Bisignano, the commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), said Monday the program will last another 90 years.”
“This is a long journey. It’s 90 years old. It’ll be around for another 90 years,” Bisignano said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“The SSA will release its annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on Wednesday, after the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports data for September inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI),” reported The Hill. “For this year, the SSA increased benefits for the roughly 75 million recipients of Social Security by 2.8 percent. The Senior Citizens League projects the program’s COLA for 2027 will be 3.5 percent, which would be the fourth-highest adjustment since 2008. That would boost the average monthly Social Security benefit check, which the federal government first sent in 1937, from $1,941.76 to $2,009.72, based on August data from the SSA.”
2. Trump gets push back on Russian diesel deal
As reported by the Washington Post, “Amid strong bipartisan pushback to an agreement to import Russian oil, President Donald Trump defended the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
“The European Union paid Russia 250 Billion Dollars for Energy, and the Fake News Media doesn’t want to get near that story. I made the right choice for the American People,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Monday morning.
“Some lawmakers have been publicly pushing back on Trump’s announcement that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to supply diesel fuel to the global marketplace, an effort to bring down diesel prices,” WP reported. “Seven senators on the Foreign Relations Committee, four Republicans and three Democrats, released a statement arguing that the agreement violates a 2022 law that bans Russian energy imports “to prevent American dollars from financing Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine,” which began in February that year.”
“President Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the U.S. runs directly counter to that law,” they said. “The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course.”
Sports
1. Hubbard picks up Preseason All-SEC First Team honor
Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard has received Preseason All-SEC First-Team honors by the league’s media announced Monday leading into this week’s SEC Media Days.
MSU Athletics said as a program, the Bulldogs have had at least one player capture All-SEC Preseason accolades from the media during four of five seasons under Chris Jans and in 10 of the last 12 seasons dating back to 2015-16.
Hubbard joins Quinndary Weatherspoon as the only State players to collect three Preseason All-SEC selections during their careers.
2. Southern Miss football to play Arizona State in 2028
Southern Miss and Arizona State announced Monday that they have agreed to a single football game set to be played Aug. 26, 2028, in Tempe.
The school noted that the game will be the first meeting between the schools in football.
The 2028 Golden Eagle non-conference schedule now includes a home contest against Middle Tennessee (Sept. 16) and a road tilt at South Florida (Sept. 23).
This game marks the first scheduled contest west of the state of Texas for the Golden Eagles since playing at Boise State during the 2013 campaign.
Markets & Business
1. Futures mixed as corporate earnings come in
CNBC reports that “stock futures were mixed early Tuesday, with traders digesting a slew of corporate earnings reports from major banks along with a steep overnight decline in South Korea that put pressure on memory names.”
“Memory stocks were under pressure after South Korea’s Kospi benchmark dropped 5.5% — reaching its lowest level since July 31 — on valuation concerns in the space along with growing competition out of China. This week, China’s CXMT said it plans to release a new, more powerful chip by year-end,” CNBC reported. “SK hynix and Western Digital dropped around 5% each, while Micron, Seagate Technology and Sandisk all fell more than 3%.”
CNBC noted, “The early reports could set the tone for an earnings season with lofty expectations. Analysts on average expect S&P 500 profits grew by nearly 30% from the year-earlier period, according to FactSet.”
2. United Healthcare beats earnings expectations
The Wall Street Journal reports that “UnitedHealth Group reported earnings that came in above analysts’ expectations and again raised its projection for the year, as the healthcare company continued charting a financial turnaround.”
“The announcement comes more than a year after Chief Executive Stephen Hemsley returned to the top job, promising major changes after a meltdown that cut the company’s valuation by hundreds of billions of dollars,” WSJ reported. “For the third quarter of 2026, UnitedHealth reported net income of $4.11 billion, or $4.56 a share. That compared with net income of $2.35 billion, or $2.59 a share, a year earlier.”
WSJ continued, “UnitedHealth, the parent of the biggest U.S. health insurer and a large array of other healthcare assets, raised its guidance for full-year adjusted earnings to at least $20.50 a share. Last quarter, the company had projected a range of $19.50 to $20. Analysts polled by FactSet had estimated $19.80. UnitedHealth’s adjusted earnings of $4.69 a share in the third quarter topped the $4.14 a share FactSet consensus. Revenue for the third quarter was $112.69 billion, compared with $113.16 billion a year earlier.”
