- 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. No clear timeline for when state offices will return to Bolton
WLOX reports that the Bolton State Office Building in Biloxi “has now been shut down for a month, ever since a disturbing amount of mold was discovered.”
“Swab testing shows that mold was found on all six floors of the building. 15 different types of mold and fungus were found, and while some are not known to have negative health effects, some of them are,” WLOX reported.
WLOX noted, “For now, the Department of Marine Resources, Gaming Commission, and others are having to temporarily relocate… There is no clear timeline for when the Bolton Building will be ready.”
2. MS Lottery transfer $10.5 million to state in August
The Mississippi Lottery Corporation said Tuesday that it has completed its August transfer of $10,513,369.43 in net proceeds to the Lottery Proceeds Fund in the Mississippi State Treasury.
To date in Fiscal Year 2026, which began July 1, 2025, the lottery has transferred a total of $19,140,438.45 to the state.
Since the Lottery’s launch, the group says a combined $710 million has been directed to state funds, with $489 million to the State Highway Fund, supporting vital road and bridge projects, and $221 million to the Education Enhancement Fund, which helps fund early learning collaboratives, the Teacher Supply Fund, and critical technology upgrades to the Mississippi Student Information System.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Shutdown chances grow after Democrats balk at House CR
As The Hill reports, “The odds of a government shutdown are rising after Democratic leaders on Tuesday swiftly rejected a 91-page stopgap funding proposal unveiled by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and fellow House Republicans because it was put together with little Democratic input and doesn’t extend generous health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”
“Democrats voted more than a dozen times to extend federal funding with short-term “clean” continuing resolutions when former President Biden was president and they controlled the Senate, but now they’re drawing a hard line on what ordinarily would be a noncontroversial funding proposal,” The Hill reported.
The Hill continued, “Rank-and-file senators now say they think a government shutdown is more likely to happen than not. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said if he was forced to bet, he’d ‘say that it’s a better than 50-50 chance we have a shutdown.'”
2. North Carolina could be first “billion-dollar Senate race ever”
Politico reports that North Carolina is on a trajectory for “the first billion-dollar Senate race ever.”
“It’s a staggering sum that would amount to roughly twice the existing spending record, set in the 2020 Georgia Senate race,” Politico reported. “But there’s rare bipartisan consensus that a confluence of factors make it a contest capable of blowing away any and all Senate spending records, drowning broadcast and digital platforms in ads and turning North Carolina into a Senate battleground where expensive AI-driven technology is deployed at scale. It may be a glimpse at the 2028 presidential campaign, and beyond.”
Politico added, “Foreshadowing the spending spree to come, the likely Democratic nominee, former Gov. Roy Cooper, raised $3.4 million in just his first 24 hours in the race — a new record for a one-day haul and enough to have bankrolled a full Senate campaign a generation ago… The expected matchup between Cooper, who served two terms as governor, and his likely opponent, former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, is a pulse check on America’s direction in a critical presidential election state: Whatley is a loyal surrogate for three-time North Carolina winner Donald Trump; Cooper is the rare Democrat with a favorable image in the South.”
Sports
1. Week 4 brings more MS JUCO action
Mississippi’s JUCOs return to action this week in key conference matchups. Here’s a rundown of the games on tap:
- Jones at No. 14 Co-Lin
- Northeast at Holmes
- MS Delta at Hinds
- East Central at Pearl River
- No. 12 East MS at Itawamba
- Coahoma at No. 10 Northwest
- Southwest at No. 5 MGCCC
All games, except SW vs MGCCC, will be played Thursday night. The SW vs. MGCCC game is slated for Saturday.
2. Ole Miss men’s golf brings home first team, individual title of season
Ole Miss Athletics said their No. 5 Ole Miss men’s golf team swept the field this week taking home their first team and individual title of the season at The Honors Course.
The Rebels posted (854, -10) and Cameron Tankersley earned medalist honors in his first collegiate win.
The school said the tournament sweep is the 10th of the Chris Malloy era and the fourth win in the last 11 regular season events.
Ole Miss will return to Oxford and prep for the Hamptons Intercollegiate October 6-7 at the Maidstone Club in East Hampton, New York. The Rebels swept the tournament a season ago in route to a 20-stroke victory.
Markets & Business
1. Fed appears set to cut rate Wednesday
CNBC reports that the Federal Reserve meets this week with some big items on the agenda.
“On the monetary side, the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday will release its ruling on where it will set the overnight borrowing rate. Along with that, officials will sketch their outlook for what’s ahead for rates on the closely followed ‘dot plot’ grid,” CNBC reported. “Politically, there will be one new Fed governor, President Donald Trump’s appointee Stephen Miran, who almost certainly will dissent from the widely expected decision to lower the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point, opting for an even bigger cut.”
CNBC noted, “So while the rate decision is fairly pretty much in the bag, what happens from there is anybody’s guess.”
2. Trump seeks end to quarterly earnings reports
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump “wants to do away with required quarterly earnings reports for public companies, saying they should only have to report results twice a year. It might not be that simple.”
“Investors are likely to put up a fight. Institutional investors such as pension funds and hedge funds typically crave more information on the companies they follow, not less. In other countries where regulators removed quarterly reporting requirements, many companies still report more frequently,” WSJ reported.
WSJ went on to report, “A Securities and Exchange Commission spokeswoman said Monday the agency and its chairman, Paul Atkins, are now prioritizing the issue at Trump’s request, suggesting it has momentum. Such a change would support the Trump administration’s goal of reducing regulation.”
Magnolia Tribune
