- 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. Ole Miss home football games generate over $325 million economic impact
Ole Miss reports this week that its 2024 football season home crowd generated more than $325 million in economic impact, according to data from Visit Oxford.
Attendance records were shattered this season at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the 7 home games.
The data shows that visitor spending in Oxford during the seven 2024 home games totaled $325,283,234. Fans broke the single-game attendance record four times this season, combining for 471,601 visitors in the fall of 2024, the largest on record. On November 9, a record 68,126 fans watched the Rebels defeat the University of Georgia Bulldogs. That weekend, visitors spent more than $71.6 million across the city.
The report also stated that the city’s food and beverage tax revenue for November 2024 spiked 18.37% compared to the same time in 2023, according to tax diversion reports released this month. Comparing November 2024 to November 2023, Oxford’s sales tax total spiked 7.97% and the hotel/motel tax total also jumped 6.75%.
2. USM receives Beckman Scholars Program grant
The University of Southern Mississippi has received a Beckman Scholars Program grant, an undergraduate scholar program grant considered the most prestigious of its kind for STEM academic disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). USM is the first university in Mississippi to receive the grant.
According to USM, the Beckman Scholars Program allows institutions to provide a 15-month mentored research experience for exceptional undergraduate students in chemistry and biochemistry, biological sciences, polymer science, or interdisciplinary combinations thereof. Southern Miss was invited by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation to submit a proposal for the Beckman Scholars Program–arguably the most distinguished and selective privately-funded program supporting outstanding undergraduate researchers in certain STEM areas.
A call for student applicants will be made early in the spring semester, with applications due in mid-February. The first two Southern Miss Beckman scholars will be announced in March 2025.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Fifth Circuit strikes down federal ban on handgun sales to 18- to 20-year-olds
As reported by the New York Times, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday “that a longstanding federal ban on handgun sales to people between the ages of 18 and 20 violates the Second Amendment, pushing the question of age limits for handguns one step closer to the Supreme Court.”
“In a 29-page opinion written by Judge Edith H. Jones, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans concluded that the Constitution ‘includes 18- to 20-year-old individuals among ‘the people’ whose right to keep and bear arms is protected,’ and that a federal law criminalizing the sale of handguns to 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds was therefore unconstitutional,” NYT reported, noting that the ruling overturned gun control laws and regulations that date back to 1968.
NYT went on to report that the three-judge panel in Louisiana “rejected the government’s arguments that firearm sales to this age group had been restricted in similar ways in 18th- and 19th-century America. It cited instead the Militia Act of 1792, which required ‘every free able-bodied white male’ between the ages of 18 and 45 to join his state militia and furnish his own musket or rifle.”
2. Israel says Iran is funding Hezbollah using suitcases stuffed with U.S. dollars
The Wall Street Journal reports that Israel has complained to the U.S.-led committee overseeing the cease-fire in Lebanon that Iranian diplomats and others are delivering tens of millions of dollars in cash to Hezbollah to fund the group’s revival. WSJ’s report comes by way of a U.S. defense official speaking for the committee and people familiar with the content of the complaint.
“According to the Israeli complaints, Iranian envoys have been flying from Tehran to Beirut’s international airport with suitcases stuffed with U.S. dollars, the people familiar with the allegations said. In addition, Israel alleged in its complaints that Turkish citizens have been used to ferry money from Istanbul to Beirut by air, the people said,” WSJ reported, adding, “Officials of some governments represented on the committee said they were aware of Iran’s use of the airport to smuggle cash or considered the allegations credible.”
The committee has representatives from Israel, Lebanon, the U.S., France and the United Nations, WSJ notes.
Sports & Entertainment
1. Price named new “Voice of the Diamond Dogs”
Mississippi State Athletics announced Thursday that Neil Price, who has served as the “Voice of the Bulldogs” for football and men’s basketball since 2017, has added “Voice of the Diamond Dawgs” to his duties.
Price will assume the play-by-play role for Bulldog baseball, previously held by veteran broadcaster Jim Ellis, who retired in December.
Price, who was named the state of Mississippi’s Sportscaster of the Year by NSMA Sports Media for 2024, will also contribute to the strategy and creation of MSU Athletics digital content, including interviews, features, podcasts, and more.
2. Hattiesburg-native named Mud Monsters’ pitching coach
The Mississippi Mud Monsters have hired Hattiesburg-native Rob Carson III as Pitching Coach for the team’s inaugural season in the Frontier League, an MLB Partner League.
The announcement came Thursday, with the team touting Carson as bringing Major League experience, a strong coaching pedigree, and deep ties to the Magnolia State to his new role.
As the team noted, Carson was originally drafted out of Hattiesburg High School in the 14th round of the 2007 MLB Draft. He went on to pitch in the Major Leagues with the New York Mets (2012-2013). Over the course of his professional career, he appeared in more than 300 games, playing in affiliated baseball and independent leagues before transitioning into coaching.
Markets & Business
1. Trump expected to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada
The Hill reported that President Trump on Thursday said he plans to follow through on Saturday on his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada.
Trump cited the influx of migrants at the southern border, the flow of fentanyl into the United States and the trade deficit the U.S. has with its neighbors.
“I’ll be putting the tariff of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico, and we will really have to do that because we have very big deficits with those countries,” he said, as reported by The Hill. “Those tariffs may or may not rise with time.”
2. DOJ sues to block Hewlett Packard’s Juniper acquisition
The Justice Department has sued to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of rival Juniper Networks, reports the AP. The action came on Thursday. As the AP notes, it is “the first attempt to stop a merger by a new Trump administration that is expected to take a softer approach to mergers.”
“The Justice complaint alleges that Hewlett Packer Enterprise, under increased competitive pressure from the fast-rising Juniper, was forced to discount products and services and invest more in its own innovation, eventually leading the company to simply buy its rival,” the AP reported. “The lawsuit said that the combination of businesses would eliminate competition, raise prices and reduce innovation. HPE and Juniper issued a joint statement Thursday, saying the companies strongly oppose the DOJ’s decision.”
Magnolia Tribune
