- Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.
Honoring All Who Served
Veterans Day 2026
In Mississippi
1. Colom pushes lead to near 3,000 votes as certification deadline nears
Final vote tallies from the General Election are expected to roll in across Mississippi starting Wednesday as the deadline to receive mail-in absentee ballots and cure outstanding affidavits ballot has now passed. The deadline to officially certify the election is Friday.
As of Wednesday morning, Democrat Scott Colom leads incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,990 votes.
Scott Colom (D): 470,074 – 49.1%
Cindy Hyde-Smith (R): 467,084 – 48.8%
Ty Pinkins (I): 20,118 – 2.1%
2. Fitch among AGs pushing FCC to improve Robocall Mitigation Database
On Tuesday, Mississippi Attorney General Fitch joined a bipartisan coalition with 49 other attorneys general pushing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make improvements to its Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD) that would help curb illegal robocalls.
The attorneys general are urging the FCC to improve the effectiveness of the RMD by strengthening filing obligations, making this tool a barrier to entry for bad actors and reducing illegal call traffic. Specifically, the attorneys general urge the FCC to:
- Engage in thorough vetting to ensure that all information in the RMD is accurate and complete before they can send call traffic through the network.
- Require disclosures about the use of third parties, related entities, the legitimacy of claims of a domestic presence, and access to numbering resources.
- Use new methods to suspend or remove bad actors from the RMD and require that RMD filers provide evidence of solvency.
- Hold providers responsible for all filings done on their behalf.
- Impose additional certification requirements to allow for quicker removal from the RMD when necessary.
- Require providers to notify their upstream customers and downstream providers of FCC orders and notices.
- Make historical RMD filings, including removals, public.
- Implement all proposed rules as soon as possible and maintain RMD obligations in the meantime.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. House shelves Hegseth impeachment but Cruz believes the Secretary’s time is short
The Hill reports that “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) predicted on his podcast earlier this week that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will either resign, be fired or be impeached in the latter half of President Trump’s second term.”
“And one of two things is going to happen: either Hegseth is going to step down, either he will resign voluntarily or Trump will fire him. Or, if that does not happen, I think it is extremely likely, if not certain, that the House will impeach him,” Cruz said on a Monday episode of his podcast, “The Verdict.” “Because, on the face of it, the votes are there. Now, it only takes a majority to impeach.”
The Hill continued, “Cruz’s comments came a day before House Republicans shelved Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) eight articles of impeachment against the Pentagon chief. The House voted 211-204 to refer the resolution, which Massie reintroduced on Monday, to committee — a move that essentially ends the push to impeach Hegseth in the 119th Congress. Trump celebrated the vote outcome Tuesday evening.”
2. Fed rate increases expected
According to the New York Times, “Officials at the Federal Reserve are in broad agreement that interest rates need to rise in order to tame inflation that continued to accelerate this year.”
“Less settled is the pace of those increases and how aggressive the Fed will need to be in order to return inflation to its 2 percent target, which has overshot that level for nearly six years,” NYT reported. “The debate deepened on Tuesday after new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that price pressures broadened out in October, resulting in a swifter pickup in inflation than was expected.”
NYT added, “The central bank, which embraced a gradual approach to raising rates just a few weeks ago, must now decide whether to ratchet up its response — either by delivering a big move when it next meets in December, or signaling increases at back-to-back meetings going forward.”
Sports
1. Chambliss named Maxwell semifinalist
The Maxwell Football Club unveiled their 18 semifinalists for the 2026 Maxwell Award on Tuesday, selecting Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss to the list of potential recipients for the honor which goes to the national collegiate player of the year.
Ole Miss Athletics said Chambliss has accounted for 2,359 passing yards with 18 touchdowns through the air this season, both of which rank second in the SEC. The quarterback has added seven scores rushing, accounting for an SEC-leading 152 points responsible for this year.
Ole Miss noted that Chambliss, in his second season, has recently moved into seventh place on the program’s all-time passing yards leaderboard, ranking eighth in school history with 40 passing touchdowns as well.
The finalists for the Maxwell Award will be announced on November 24, with the winner later unveiled on the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show on December 11.
2. Jones named semifinalist for Bednarik Award
Mississippi State senior cornerback Kelley Jones has been named a semifinalist for the 2026 Chuck Bednarik Award, the Maxwell Football Club announced Tuesday. The award is presented annually to the outstanding defensive player in college football.
Through nine games this season, MSU Athletics said Jones has recorded 33 total tackles, 21 of those being solo, and seven pass breakups. Jones had a standout game versus Missouri earlier in the season, achieving a career-high in tackles of eight, four pass breakups and a tackle for loss. Most recently against Vanderbilt, Jones brought down six tackles.
Jones was a Third Team All-SEC selection in 2025, when he started all 13 games and finished with 34 tackles, 11 pass breakups and two interceptions.
The Maxwell Football Club will announce three Bednarik Award finalists November 24. The winner will be revealed December 10 during the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show.
Markets & Business
1. Mortgage rates rise after four weeks of declines
CNBC reports that “mortgage rates fell for four straight weeks, but that ended Tuesday, after a monthly inflation report came in hotter than expected.”
“The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose 12 basis points from Monday to 7.30%, according to Mortgage News Daily. It was the largest one-day jump in more than a month,” CNBC reported. “The consumer price index showed broad upward pressure on prices, not just fuel-related costs. This came after a monthly employment report Friday that also showed a more heated economy than analysts had predicted.”
“Given that the Fed explicitly said it was more focused on the inflation component of its job description at the moment (as opposed to the ‘full employment’ component), we were expecting today’s data to carry far more weight than last week’s jobs report. The reaction was logical an immediate,” wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily.
CNBC noted, “This jump comes after a monthlong reprieve in interest rates that finally brought mortgage demand back. Last week, mortgage applications rose 6.2% from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.”
2. Vision loss warnings to be added to GLP-1 drugs
As reported by FoxBusiness, “The Food and Drug Administration has warned that those who take popular weight-loss drugs carry a small risk of developing a side effect that could lead to permanent vision loss.”
“The agency has instructed all GLP-1 drugmakers to affix new warning labels to their products, which treat obesity, diabetes and several other medical conditions. The FDA’s advisory applies to a dozen pill-based and injectable drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy,” FoxBusiness reported. “The eye condition, non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, can cause significant vision loss. The condition, which has been reported in patients taking all GLP-1 drugs, occurs when blood flow to the optic nerve is reduced, though its underlying cause remains unclear, according to the FDA.”
FoxBusiness further reported, “FDA scientists began investigating in 2024 after a study found that some patients taking semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, experienced this type of vision loss. The FDA reviewed 126 clinical trials with 134,253 patients.”
