- 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. SCOTUS won’t consider appeal from MS death row inmate
The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Supreme Court says it will not consider an appeal from a Mississippi death row inmate who was convicted of killing a high school student by running her over with a car.
“Leslie ‘Bo’ Galloway III, now 41, was convicted in 2010 in Harrison County. Prosecutors said Galloway killed 17-year-old Shakeylia Anderson, of Gulfport, and dumped her body in woods off a state highway,” the AP reported. “A witness said Anderson, a Harrison Central High School senior, was last seen getting into Galloway’s car on Dec. 5, 2008. Hunters found her body the next day. Prosecutors said she had been raped, severely burned and run over by a vehicle.”
Galloway still has a separate appeal underway in a federal district court.
2. Fitch sues TikTok claiming it’s an “addiction machine”
Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced Tuesday that she has joined a bipartisan coalition of 14 attorneys general in filing separate enforcement actions against TikTok for violations of state consumer protection laws. The action alleges that TikTok exploits and harms young users and deceives the public about the social media platform’s dangers.
The complaint explains, “TikTok intentionally manipulates the release of dopamine in Young Users’ developing brains and causes them to use TikTok in an excessive, compulsive, and addictive manner that harms them both mentally and physically. Defendants have designed and instituted a business model, which relies on keeping Young Users on TikTok for as long as possible, so that TikTok can collect maximum data from these users and expose them to more advertising and marketing. More advertising directed to Young Users means more revenue for Defendants. And so, rather than making their product safe or disclosing the platform’s harms, Defendants mislead the public about the ways TikTok harms children and teens.”
Click here to read the full complaint.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Florida bracing for Hurricane Milton impact
Time to evacuate for millions of residents on Florida’s east and west coasts was running out on Wednesday, as reported by the New York Times, with just hours left ahead of Hurricane Milton’s predicted landfall.
“The storm, now Category 5, is expected to strike the Gulf Coast late Wednesday or early Thursday, bringing life-threatening storm surges of up to 15 feet,” NYT reported. “Although it was earlier predicted to directly hit the Tampa area, its path has shifted slightly south toward the city of Sarasota. Forecasters have warned that determining exactly where it will land is still difficult. On the state’s east coast, the authorities warned of storm surges, flooding rains and coastal erosion.”
The National Hurricane Center’s 4 am advisory shows Milton with 160 mph maximum sustained winds.
2. Could Republicans win the Senate and lose the House?
According to the Washington Post, Congress may be headed for an Election Day double flip.
“With less than four weeks to go, Republicans appear poised to win the Senate, which is currently controlled by the Democrats. The Democrats, meanwhile, seem to have a slight edge in the race for the Republican-controlled House,” WP reported. “If the polls and predictions prove right — and that is still a big if — it would be the first such flip, a historic and fitting outcome for a political era marked by slim margins and deep division.”
Sports & Entertainment
1. Ole Miss women, men win golf tourneys on same day
Ole Miss Athletics called it a historic day on the links as both the men’s and women’s golf teams earned tournament victories—a first in more than three decades.
Ole Miss Athletics said men’s and women’s golf have both won tournaments on the same day just once before in the history of the programs, almost exactly 32 years ago on October 13, 1992.
The Rebel Women’s team won the Illini Invitational while the Men’s team won the Hamptons Intercollegiate.
2. Delta State trio earn weekly Gulf South Conference honors
The No. 20 Delta State University Statesmen defeated the Hawks of Chowan 54-9 at Parker Field-McCool Stadium to open Gulf South Conference play on Saturday.
For their performance, players Ahmir Taylor, Jonathan James and Nick Clark earned weekly Gulf South Conference Honors.
The Statesmen, now 4-1, return to action on Saturday, as they face West Florida at PenAir Field in Pensacola.
Markets & Business
1. DOJ considered Google breakup stemming from monopoly ruling
CNBC reports that the Department of Justice late Tuesday made recommendations for Google’s search engine business practices, indicating that it was considering a possible breakup of the tech giant as an antitrust remedy.
“The DOJ also said it was ‘considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features — including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence — over rivals or new entrants,'” CNBC reported.
CNBC noted, “Additionally, the DOJ suggested limiting or prohibiting default agreements and ‘other revenue-sharing arrangements related to search and search-related products.'”
2. Salad Days Produce expanding in Madison County
Salad Days Produce, a producer of hydroponically grown head lettuce, is expanding in Madison County, per the Mississippi Development Authority. The project is a corporate investment of nearly $8.18 million and will create at least 12 new jobs. The expansion is expected to be completed in July 2025.
Based in Flora, Salad Days Produce is a woman-owned local business that specializes in growing pesticide-free produce and can supply restaurants and other food-service companies with a variety of lettuce year-round.
MDA said that the expansion includes the addition of a new state-of-the-art 65,000-square-foot Controlled-Environment Agriculture facility in Flora Industrial Park to the company’s current 21,000-square-foot facility in Flora. The expansion will enable Salad Days Produce to serve larger grocery chains and regional produce distributors by increasing its current production capacity by a factor of eight.
