- Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.
In Mississippi
Avid Boats cuts ribbon in Amory
Governor Tate Reeves attended the ribbon cutting for Avid Boats in Monroe County on Monday, saying the company and its people exemplify what Mississippi is all about.
The company’s factory was hit by an EF-3 tornado in March 2023 but the 100-employee business quickly went about plans to rebuild.
“When a tornado hit their community, they could’ve stayed down — but they didn’t,” Reeves said on social media. “It’s inspiring to see this great company and community get back up and come back stronger than ever!”
The company invested over $8 million into the project and is now planning to increase its workforce by some 50 positions over the next year.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. U.S. Dept. of Education halting nearly a billion dollars in grants, contracts
Politico reports that the U.S. Department of Education “terminated 89 contracts, worth $881 million, according to an X post from the Department of Government Efficiency, but DOGE did not say which contracts were ended.”
“In a separate post, DOGE said the department also terminated 29 training grants for diversity, equity and inclusion that total $101 million. One of the grants sought to train teachers to “help students understand / interrogate the complex histories involved in oppression, and help students recognize areas of privilege and power on an individual and collective basis,“ according to the post, as reported by Politico.
Politico added, “The Trump administration is halting about 170 contracts for the Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences, according to two people familiar with the decisions.”
2. DOJ drops corruption charges against NY Mayor
The Justice Department on Monday ordered federal prosecutors to drop the corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York, reports the New York Times.
“The order was sent in a letter from the department’s acting No. 2 official, Emil Bove III, to Manhattan prosecutors who brought the charges against the mayor last year,” NYT reported. “Mr. Bove justified the decision to ask for the dismissal by saying that the mayor’s indictment had limited Mr. Adams’s ability to cooperate in President Trump’s immigration crackdown. He also suggested that the indictment, which was handed up in September, threatened to interfere with the June 2025 mayoral primary, despite the nine-month interval between the two events.”
NYT went on to add that that “letter criticized the U.S. attorney who brought it and former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. He offered expressly political arguments for dropping the charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions from foreign nationals and bribery, asserting the urgency of Mr. Trump’s immigration objectives.”
Sports
1. Moore expected to be named new Saints head coach
According to multiple reports, the New Orleans Saints will hire the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl winning Offensive Coordinator as their next head coach.
Kellen Moore, just seven years into his coaching career, is said to be finalizing a deal to be the Saints HC after just one season with the Eagles.
Before entering the coaching ranks as a quarterbacks coach in Dallas, Moore was a record-setting high school quarterback from Washington who became the face of the Boise State program in college. He went on to a six-year NFL career, primarily as a practice squad and backup quarterback, with the Lions and the Cowboys, before turning to coaching.
2. Ole Miss celebrates Starkville’s AJ Brown
Ole Miss Athletics is celebrating AJ Brown becoming the 16th Rebel to win a Super Bowl.
The Starkville-native wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles pulled in three catches for 43 yards, scoring a 12-yard touchdown just before halftime to put Philadelphia up 24-0.
Ole Miss noted that Brown is the first the first Rebel wide receiver to win an NFL title since Willie Green of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII.
Markets & Business
1. 25% steel tariffs announced effective March 4
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Donald Trump on Monday “announced 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to the U.S., reinstating global duties without exceptions for allies such as Canada, Mexico, Japan and South Korea that were relaxed by the Biden administration.”
A White House official said the tariffs would take effect March 4.
“The latest tariff move will please American steel producers such as U.S. Steel, Cleveland Cliffs and Nucor, all of which saw their stock prices move higher since Trump announced last week that steel and aluminum tariffs were coming. But the steel and aluminum tariffs will be opposed by many domestic manufacturers who use the metals in their factories and say that duties will increase input costs, ultimately leading to higher prices for their goods,” WSJ reported.
2. Egg prices soaring upwards
CNBC reports that wholesale egg prices have eclipsed record levels as the U.S. scrambles to contain a bird-flu outbreak. Consumers could soon see the effects at the grocery store.
“On Friday, average wholesale prices for large, white shell eggs reached $8 a dozen, beating the previous record by a large degree, according to data from Expana, which tracks agricultural commodity prices,” CNBC reported, adding that the previous high came in December 2022 at $5.46 per dozen.
CNBC noted, “More than 40 million egg-laying chickens died in 2024, about 13% of the national total, said Amy Smith, vice president of Advanced Economic Solutions, an economic consulting firm specializing in agricultural commodities.”
Magnolia Tribune
