- Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.
In Mississippi
MDEQ to hold hearing on Drax
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) will hold a hearing October 14 on whether to uphold its decision earlier this year to deny Drax’s request for additional air pollution permits for its wood-pellet production facility in Gloster.
Shortly after MDEQ announced its decision, Drax filed an appeal.
The U.S. wood-pellet biomass industry logs forests and turns the trees into wood pellets that are then shipped overseas to be burned for electricity. Critics say the process produces more carbon emissions than burning coal.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Shutdown likely to drag on at least a week, could be more
As The Hill reports, “Senators say they expect the government shutdown to drag out until at least the middle of next week, with some fearing it could go even longer.”
“The Senate rejected votes to reopen the government on Wednesday, and the chamber will be out of session on Thursday in observance of Yom Kippur,” The Hill reported. “The Senate will return Friday, but few expect the vote that day on the House GOP measure to fund the government to have a different result.”
The Hill continued, “Two Democratic senators and Independent Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) voted for the measure for a second time on Wednesday, but Republicans would need another five Democrats to reach 60 votes — the threshold needed to send the measure to President Trump.”
2. Mass firings could begin “in a day or two”
According to Politico, “OMB chief Russ Vought told House Republicans on a private call Wednesday that the administration will start mass reduction in force moves, or firings, of federal workers ‘in a day or two,’ according to four people granted anonymity to describe the call.”
“Vought and President Donald Trump have both threatened to inflict maximum pain on Democrats during the shutdown as Senate Republicans hope to peel off additional Democrats in the coming days to vote for the GOP-led stopgap to end the standoff,” Politico reported. “A bipartisan group of senators also discussed several early off-ramp ideas on the floor earlier Wednesday.”
Politico went on to report, “Vought also warned that money is about to run out for both the nutrition program for low-income moms and babies, known as WIC, and for pay for active-duty members of the military. Troops are set to miss paychecks starting Oct. 15 if the government remains closed.”
Sports
1. MGCCC leading MS JUCO pack as teams practice through bye week
Mississippi’s JUCO football teams all have a bye week this week. They are using the week to heal up and prepare for the second half of the season.
The latest NJCAA rankings show MGCCC at No. 4, the highest Mississippi JUCO ranked in the standings.
Northwest sits at No. 7 while Hinds is No. 9 and Co-Lin is No. 11.
The JUCOs will return to action next Thursday, October 9.
2. Sanderson Farms Championship field set, play set to begin
The final field is set for the 2025 Sanderson Farms Championship, taking place this week at The Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi. The complete field is available at SFC Committed Players.
The field features 132 players, including Major champions Zach Johnson (2007 Masters, 2015 The Open Championship) and Jason Dufner (2013 PGA Championship), as well as 2012 FedExCup Champion and 2024 Payne Stewart Award recipient Brandt Snedeker. They join 2024 defending champion Kevin Yu at the 58th Sanderson Farms Championship.
Returning past champions include Peter Malnati (2015), Ryan Armour (2017), Cameron Champ (2018), Mackenzie Hughes (2022), Luke List (2023), and Kevin Yu (2024).
Mobile tickets are available through the Sanderson Farms Championship here.
Markets & Business
1. Walmart execs see AI changes its workforce
The Wall Street Journal reports that Walmart executives “aren’t sugarcoating the message: Artificial intelligence will wipe out some jobs and reshape its workforce.”
“Now the country’s largest private employer is making plans to confront that reality,” WSJ reported, adding, “Companies including Ford, JPMorgan Chase and Amazon have bluntly predicted job losses associated with AI. Some have advised other employers to prepare their workforces for change.”
WSJ continued, “For now, Walmart executives say the transformation means the size of its global workforce will stay roughly flat even as its revenue climbs. It plans to maintain its head count of around 2.1 million global workers over the next three years, but the mix of those jobs will change significantly, said Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief people officer. What the composition will look like remains murky.”
2. U.S. GDP could take hit from shutdown
CNBC reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent “told CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ on Thursday that U.S. economic growth could be hurt by the government shutdown.
“This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP,” Bessent said during a live interview on CNBC. “We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth and a hit to working America.”
“The Cabinet official spoke on the second day of the government closure as the two warring sides in Washington, D.C. have yet to come to an agreement on a continuing resolution that would allow spending and operations to continue,” CNBC reported. “Growth in the U.S. has been on upward trajectory over the past two quarters after the economy slogged through the early part of the year.”
Magnolia Tribune
