- Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.
In Mississippi
Confederate statue relocated from Claiborne County Courthouse
WJTV reports that “a Confederate statue that sat outside the Claiborne County Courthouse for more than a century has been relocated. The statue was moved on November 11, 2026, to the nearby Grand Gulf Military Park.”
“The statue depicted Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn. According to the National Park Service, Van Dorn was born in Claiborne County. He became a leader in the confederate army in January 1862 when was given command of the newly formed Trans-Mississippi military district,” WJTV reported. “On May 7, 1863, Van Dorn was shot dead at his headquarters by a husband who took issue to the attention Van Dorn paid to his wife.”
WJTV added, “[Port Gibson Chapter of the NAACP board member Geraline] Smith said she worked for six years, alongside fellow NAACP members, to get signatures from residents to support the relocation efforts.”
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Alito warns of Congress’ ability to defund SCOTUS
The Hill reports that “Justice Samuel Alito, speaking to the Federalist Society on Thursday, warned against any potential congressional action to defund the Supreme Court as he defended the importance of an independent judiciary.”
“Congress can turn off the lights at the Supreme Court and stop everything from happening if they want to defund their activities. And there are many, many, many other things that they can do, or at least try to do,” Alito said.
“So, it is important to preserve the independence of the judiciary,” he added. “If that is eliminated, then the Constitution as adopted in 1789 will no longer be the same.”
The Hill went on to report, “Alito made the comments in his return to the Federalist Society’s annual Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner, named after the late conservative justice and held as part of the group’s annual convention each November… Alito told the crowd of more than 1,000 conservative lawyers on Thursday that the judiciary is the least powerful branch and it is ‘vulnerable’ to Congress and the executive. Still, the justice warned that judges can overstep.”
2. Progressive Van Hollen to challenge Schumer for Senate leader
As reported by the New York Times, “Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland announced on Thursday that he would challenge Senator Chuck Schumer of New York for majority leader, setting up a clash among Democrats just as they were celebrating their new majority and planning for a takeover of Congress in January.”
“The move by Mr. Van Hollen, a progressive Democrat elected to the Senate in 2016 after seven terms in the House representing the Washington, D.C., suburbs, comes as some Democratic senators and activists have called for an alternative to Mr. Schumer, a moderate whom they regard as too tied to the party establishment to lead a newly energized party forward in the next Congress,” NYT Times reported. “Making his announcement in an interview on MS Now on Thursday evening, Mr. Van Hollen said his challenge to Mr. Schumer was ‘not about any one individual.’ Instead, he said, it was to ensure that Democrats answered ‘the call of the American people’ in the midterm elections, which he said was to “bring down costs” and end the war against Iran.”
NYT continued, “He said he had spoken to a large number of Democratic senators, including the incoming members, and did not believe that Mr. Schumer had a lock on the race, saying he had ‘more than 10’ of the 55 Democratic senators and senators-elect behind him.”
Sports
1. Mississippi’s Big 3 back in action Saturday
No. 19 Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss are all back on the gridiron Saturday with conference matchups. Here’s a look at the weekend’s games:
- Ole Miss (6-3) travels to Oklahoma after a 42-7 loss to No. 1 Georgia. The Rebels are without star running back Kewan Lacy and other key players as injuries mount. Kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m. on the SEC Network.
- Mississippi State (4-5), still without starting quarterback Kamario Taylor, looks to rebound from a 25-23 loss to Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs will be at Auburn for an 11:00 a.m. kickoff on ESPN 2.
- Southern Miss (3-6) try to get back in the winner’s column after a 54-23 loss to James Madison. The Golden Eagles will be at Louisiana Tech for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff on ESPN+.
2. JSU atop SWAC East heading into Saturday
Jackson State (7-2) heads to Alabama State on Saturday. Kickoff is 2:00 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+.
The Tigers find themselves on top of the SWAC East Division after a victory over Mississippi Valley State last weekend.
The Tigers are currently tied with Alabama A&M – who they have the tiebreaker – and are one game ahead of both, Bethune-Cookman and Alabama State
Markets & Business
1. Home sales at lowest level since 2010
The Wall Street Journal reports that home sales fell in October to their lowest level since 2010, “a new trough for a housing market that has been hovering near rock bottom for more than four years, the WSJ’s Nicholas G. Miller writes.”
“Sales of existing homes fell 5.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.75 million, the National Association of Realtors said, marking the steepest decline since January. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a decline of 3.8%,” WSJ reported.
WSJ noted, “The last time sales were this low was August 2010 when the economy was still reeling from the housing bust and the recession that followed.”
2. Futures up Friday despite Nvidia shakeup, oil increases
CNBC reports that “U.S. equity futures were slightly higher Friday, a day after major indexes declined and Nvidia shares fell following the exit of the scandal-hit chipmaker’s founder and CEO Jensen Huang.”
The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all pulled back on Thursday, led by a 4.3% drop in Nvidia after Huang stepped down from his post following reported extramarital affairs, including a relationship with a woman U.S. intelligence officials believe is a Chinese spy. Analysts told CNBC that Huang’s exit could trigger a 20% correction in the stock,” CNBC reported.
CNBC further reported, “A jump in oil prices also kept stocks under pressure Thursday, with Brent crude rising more than 3% on the day to settle at $95.82 a barrel. Oil climbed after President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post, ‘We don’t need a deal with Iran’” The comment raised concerns that the U.S.-Iran war could drag on further.”
