- 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. Hosemann recognizes schools with high attendance rates
Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann announced Monday that 130 Mississippi schools have been recognized with his Lieutenant Governor’s Attendance Award for maintaining strong student attendance and chronic absenteeism rates 15 percent or below.
The announcement from Hosemann said the Mississippi Department of Education’s 2024-2025 report shows the statewide chronic absenteeism rate rose from 24.4 percent to 27.6 percent, meaning more than one in four students were chronically absent. Despite the statewide increase, the schools Hosemann recognized stood out for keeping students in class and engaged.
“Regular attendance is one of the strongest predictors of academic and life-long success,” Hosemann said in a statement. “Chronic absenteeism is rampant in our state. These schools, their teachers, and families are making daily efforts to ensure students are present and learning. Their hard work deserves recognition.”
In the 2026 session, Hosemann is proposing placing a School Attendance Officer in every district, raising their salaries, and reducing the educational requirement from a bachelor’s degree to an associate’s degree to help fill these vital roles. His other education priorities include a teacher pay raise and incentives to encourage retired teachers to return to the classroom.
2. Miss. Insurance Department Fire Services awarded $500,000 FEMA grant
The Mississippi Insurance Department Fire Services Division has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to continue its statewide Free Smoke Alarm Installation Program.
The announcement Monday said funding will provide approximately 40,000 long-life, 10-year lithium battery smoke alarms to be installed in homes across Mississippi – at no cost to residents.
MID noted that the initiative, titled “Smoke Alarm Installations: Door-to-Door with Home Safety Inspection,” also includes in-home fire prevention education and home escape planning. During installation visits, firefighters will share escape-planning tips and distribute 30,000 educational brochures focused on smoke alarms, cooking safety, and general fire prevention.
Residents can contact their local fire department or county fire coordinator to request installation through the Free Smoke Alarm Installation Program.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Pressure mounts to end shutdown
As The Hill reports, “Pressure is building on Democratic and Republican leaders to end the 28-day shutdown after the nation’s largest federal workers union called for an end to the stalemate as rank-and-rile GOP lawmakers sound the alarm over rising health insurance premiums.”
“The blunt message from Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, is one of the biggest developments in the monthlong standoff,” The Hill reported. “It appeared to be aimed squarely at Senate Democrats, who have voted a dozen times to block a clean seven-week continuing resolution passed last month by the House, and it came from someone representing 820,000 federal and D.C. workers.”
The Hill continued, “In calling on Congress to ‘pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today,’ Kelley argued that ‘both political parties have made their point’ and that it’s time to bring hundreds of thousands of government employees back to work. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said the statement would have a ‘lot of impact’ and that Democrats would discuss it in the days ahead.”
2. Gates now says climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise”
According to the New York Times, “Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder who has spent billions of his own money to raise the alarm about the dangers of climate change, is now pushing back against what he calls a ‘doomsday outlook’ and appears to have shifted his stance on the risks posed by a warming planet.”
“In a lengthy memo released Tuesday, Mr. Gates sought to tamp down the alarmism he said many people use to describe the effects of rising temperatures. Instead, he called for redirecting efforts toward improving lives in the developing world,” NYT reported, adding, “Coming just four years after he published a book titled ‘How to Avoid a Climate Disaster,’ Tuesday’s memo appears to amount to a major reframing of how Mr. Gates, who is worth an estimated $122 billion, is thinking about the challenges posed by a rapidly warming world.”
NYT went on to report, “While he called climate change ‘a very important problem’ that needs to be solved, he said that ‘the doomsday outlook is causing much of the climate community to focus too much on near-term emissions goals.’ And that was ‘diverting resources from the most effective things we should be doing to improve life in a warming world,’ he wrote.”
Sports
1. Ole Miss Pounds, Watkins earn SEC weekly honors
Ole Miss football said senior left tackle Diego Pounds has named Offensive Lineman of the Week and freshman wide receiver Winston Watkins was named Freshman of the Week by the SEC conference office on Monday.
The school said Pounds helped anchor an Ole Miss offensive line that gained 431 yards at No. 11 Oklahoma last week, lifting the Rebels to a 34-26 ranked road win. Pounds and the Rebel offensive line unit yielded just one sack – only the eighth allowed by Ole Miss this season – and entering Week 10, the Rebel o-line ranks as the SECs’ best in terms of pressure rate allowed per PFF at 21.8 percent.
Ole Miss Athletics said Watkins had a breakout performance against the Sooners, leading all Rebel receivers with 111 yards on four catches, a career-high that stands as the most by an Ole Miss freshman since Elijah Moore had 129 against South Carolina in 2018. Watkins was especially crucial late in the game, with 40-yard receptions on back-to-back drives that helped Ole Miss get into Sooner territory.
2. USM’s Braxton named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week
Southern Miss senior quarterback Braylon Braxton was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week following the Golden Eagles 49-21 homecoming victory over ULM last Saturday.
The school said Braxton finished ULM with 248 passing yards on 18-of-23 throws with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He added 20 rushing yards via 11 carries.
He led the Golden Eagles to their fourth-straight victory – their longest streak since 2015 – as well as helping the program achieve bowl eligibility for the first time since 2022.
Markets & Business
1. Investors seem happy as trade deals, mergers push markets to record highs
From trade deals and foreign elections to merger announcements to corporate earnings, the Wall Street Journal reports that investors are finding plenty of reasons to be happy.
“Stocks hit fresh records on Monday, marking a significant pickup in momentum after a bumpy stretch in which tariff fears and worries about loan losses at regional banks weighed on major indexes,” WSJ reported. “The optimism isn’t limited to U.S. markets. Benchmarks in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan notched new records Monday, while the Shanghai composite closed at its highest level in more than 10 years. Argentine stocks rocketed 22% higher, powered by a decisive political win for President Javier Milei in the country’s midterm elections.”
WSJ added, “All three major stock indexes hit new all-time highs on Monday, with tech companies leading the charge… Stocks were lifted by hopes for improving trade relations between the U.S. and China. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there was a ‘very successful framework’ for President Trump and Xi Jinping to discuss Thursday, while a senior Chinese official said the two sides had reached a preliminary consensus on key issues.”
2. Amazon to layoff 14,000 in shift to invest more in AI
CNBC reports that Amazon said Tuesday “that it will lay off about 14,000 corporate employees, marking the latest cuts in the company’s multi-year effort to rein in costs.”
“In a blog post, the company wrote that the layoffs are being carried out to help make the company leaner and less bureaucratic, while it looks to invest in ‘our biggest bets’ including generative artificial intelligence,” CNBC reported.
CNBC noted, “The layoffs are expected to ultimately be the largest corporate job cuts in Amazon’s history… Amazon is the nation’s second-largest private employer, with more than 1.54 million staffers globally as of the end of the second quarter. That figure is primarily made up of its warehouse workforce. It has roughly 350,000 corporate and tech employees, meaning the 14,000 job cuts represent about 4% of that segment of its workforce.”
Magnolia Tribune
