- 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. PRCC cuts ribbon on new Hancock County campus
The Pearl River Community College Aviation and Aerospace Workforce Academy in Hancock County has opened. Governor Tate Reeves, Congressman Mike Ezell and several dignitaries gathered for the dedication and official ribbon cutting on Monday.
“Approximately twenty-one million dollars has been invested in this facility, setting Pearl River Community College up to be successful in the future. Because the reality is that when Pearl River wins, what really happens is our people win,” Reeves said.
Located on Fred and Al Key Road in Hancock County, the Academy is an expansive 38,000-square-foot facility signifying PRCC’s expanded presence near Stennis International Airport, Hancock High School, and the Stennis Space Center Buffer Zone. It boasts eight classrooms, five labs, a reception area, faculty and staff offices, a staff break room/kitchenette, an indoor student sitting/vending area, and an outdoor courtyard. Programs based in the Academy include academic, Career and Technical Education, and Practical Nursing programs. Additionally, workforce training classes and adult education will be held in the facilities.
2.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch will host the Inaugural Mississippi Women’s Summit at the Oxford Conference Center on Monday, August 19th.
The AG’s office says the event is event and will include several panels of women leaders from all over Mississippi who will share their experiences as women running businesses and charitable organizations or as women in public service, law enforcement, and the military, and will also feature a vendor area of women-owned businesses from across Mississippi.
The speakers include Sarah Thomas, the Pascagoula-native who became the first female NFL referee; Paula Scanlan, a former collegiate swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania; and Rachel Duffe, host of Fox & Friends Weekend.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Market selloff largest decline in 2 years
The Wall Street Journal reports that Monday’s market rout increases both the risks of recession and a more harrowing financial-market accident.
“The S&P 500 fell 3%, or 160.23 points, the largest one-day decline since September 2022. But bond investors, who at one point bet big on rate cuts, changed their minds later in the day,” WSJ reported. “The policy-sensitive 2-year Treasury yield fell by 0.22 point early Monday and then reversed course, ending the day at 3.880%, virtually flat. (Yields fall when bond prices rise.)”
In addition, the Dow fell 1,033.99 points, or 2.6%, and Nasdaq dropped 3.4%.
WSJ noted that conditions suggest “more technical drivers of a selloff that deepened late last week, including the unwind of crowded trades in Japanese stocks and large technology companies.”
2. Pelosi says ousting Biden was about defeating Trump
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) recently talked about her push to get President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race.
“My goal is defeat Donald Trump,” Ms. Pelosi, the former speaker, said in a recent interview before the release this week of a book on her years in Congress, as reported by the New York Times. “And when you make a decision to defeat somebody, you make every decision in favor of that. You don’t mess around with it, OK? What is in furtherance of reaching that goal? I thought we had to have a better campaign.”
NYT goes on to report, “To the former speaker, the imperative to end Mr. Trump’s political career far outweighed the need for any deference to Mr. Biden, particularly since Democrats were at grave risk of losing the House and Senate if the president remained on the ticket.”
Sports & Entertainment
1. Ole Miss ranked 6th in 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll
The Ole Miss Rebels are ranked No. 6 in the USA Today 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll.
The university athletics department notes that No. 6 ranking is the highest for the Rebels heading into the season since 1970, when they were ranked No. 5 to start the year. Ole Miss last started the season in the top 10 in 2009, ranking eighth.
The Rebels finished the 2023 season ranked No. 9 in both the Coaches and Associated Press polls, their highest ranking in the final Coaches Poll since 2015 (9th) and highest in the final AP Poll since 1969 (8th).
The Top 10 in the 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll are:
1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Texas
5. Alabama
6. Ole Miss
7. Notre Dame
8. Michigan
9. Penn State
10. Florida State
2. Oxford-native Kendricks wins silver
Former Ole Miss athlete Sam Kendricks, an Oxford-native, won silver in the summer Olympics on Monday.
It’s Kendricks’ second Olympic medal in the pole vault competition, and the first since the 2016 Olympics. In an impressive feat, Kendricks cleared 5.95m.
3. Miss. State lands two preseason All-SEC team as honorable mentions
Mississippi State football announced Monday that wide receiver Kelly Akharaiyi and offensive lineman Ethan Miner have been named to the College Football Network preseason All-SEC team, both earning honorable mention honors.
For both Miner and Akharaiyi, this is their second preseason honor after being named to the Shrine Bowl 1,000 Watchlist.
Markets & Business
1. Goolsbee on Fed’s reaction to weakness in U.S. economy
CNBC reported that Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee on Monday vowed that the central bank “would react to signs of weakness in the economy and indicated that interest rates could be too restrictive now.”
“Asked whether weakening in the labor market and manufacturing sector could prompt a response from the Fed, Goolsbee did not commit to a specific course of action but said it does not make sense to keep a ‘restrictive’ policy stance if the economy is weakening,” CNBC reported. “He also declined to comment on whether the Fed would institute an emergency intermeeting cut.”
The interview occurred with markets in turmoil, CNBC noted, adding, “The central bank has kept its benchmark rate in a range between 5.25% and 5.5% since July 2023, the highest level in some 23 years.”
2. Stock futures bounce back after Monday selloff
FoxBusiness reports that stock futures bounced back on Tuesday morning, a day after U.S. recession fears triggered a global market sell-off that led Wall Street to experience its worst day since 2022.
“Japanese stocks rebounded on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 closing 10.23% higher. The index on Monday suffered its worst day since the 1987 Black Monday crash, falling 12%,” FoxBusiness noted. “In Europe, the Stoxx 600 climbed 0.21% on Tuesday, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX indexes also posted gains.”
Magnolia Tribune
