- Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.
Happy Presidents Day!
In Mississippi
1. Thompson votes against SAVE Act, all other Mississippi Congressmen support it
Mississippi’s lone Democrat serving in Congress, Bennie Thompson in the 2nd District, voted against the SAVE Act last week, which is intended to implement Voter ID across the U.S.
“I did not vote in support of the SAVE America Act because it would make it harder for Black and rural citizens to exercise their right to register to vote and cast their ballot,” Thompson wrote on Facebook. “It creates new barriers for people who already face enough challenges, including affording and accessing the proper documents needed to vote.”
Thompson went on to say of the measure, “This is modern-day voter disenfranchisement.”
Mississippi’s other three Congressmen – all Republicans – voted in favor of the bill, which passed the U.S. House and now awaits action in the U.S. Senate.
2. AGs challenge Biden era abortion drug rule
On Friday, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch joined 20 States in filing a brief in support of Louisiana’s lawsuit challenging a Biden-era rule that expanded access to abortion drugs through mail and telehealth, without any safeguards to protect the health and life of the woman.
According to the AGs, the case challenges a 2023 Food and Drug Administration action that removed the last remaining safeguards on the chemical abortion drug mifepristone and allowed doctors in one State to prescribe abortion pills to patients in another without any in-patient doctor visits. The AGs’ filing argues that the rule unlawfully overrides state laws protecting unborn life and intrudes on states’ sovereign authority following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Mississippi Dobbs case.
The case is pending in federal court in Louisiana, where the plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to block the FDA rule.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. Obama says aliens are real
As reported by The Hill, “In a wide-ranging interview published Saturday, former President Barack Obama confirmed what many have been waiting for: aliens are, in fact, real. They’re aren’t being kept in Nevada’s Area 51, however.”
“Progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen asked Obama the question outright during ‘a little bit of a lightning round’ in an interview on Cohen’s ‘No Lie’ podcast published on Saturday,” The Hill reported.
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Obama responded before adding that they are not being kept in Area 51.
“There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy, and they hid it from the president of the United States,” he added.
2. Rubio’s Munich speech draws praise
According to the Washington Post, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that the United States and Europe ‘belong together’ in a speech Saturday seeking to unify the Western alliance, while condemning hallmarks of globalization, open borders, unfettered free trade, ‘deindustrialization’ and mass migration.”
“Rubio’s message, in a keynote address at the annual Munich Security Conference, received applause from an audience of European leaders distressed about divisions with the United States stoked by President Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs, territorial ambitions for Greenland and disagreements over how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine,” WP reported.
“We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry and the sacrifices our forefathers made together,” Rubio said, per WP.
Sports
1. Big 3 gets opening weekend series wins
Mississippi State, Southern Miss and Ole Miss all won their opening weekend series to begin the 2026 college baseball season.
Mississippi State swept Hofstra. The Bulldogs are back on the diamond Tuesday against Troy.
Southern Miss bounced back from a Friday loss to win the series against UC Santa Barbara 2 to 1. The Golden Eagles play Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday.
Ole Miss swept Nevada and will return to action versus Arkansas State on Tuesday.
2. Miss. State defeats Ole Miss on the basketball court
Mississippi State men’s basketball took a 90-78 victory over Ole Miss on Saturday evening.
MSU Athletics said the Bulldogs have won four of the last five, six of the last eight and eight of the last 11 meetings over the Rebels. Overall, State possesses a 153-121 series advantage.
MSU is now 12-13 overall and 4-8 in SEC play while Ole Miss is 11-14 overall and 3-9 in conference play.
Markets & Business
1. Higher income Americans falling behind on payments
The Wall Street Journal reports that “a new report sheds light on how financial stress is spreading beyond the lowest-income borrowers.”
“While credit-counseling agencies typically help low-income people restructure their debt and avoid bankruptcy, now people who earn higher incomes have been walking through their doors, according to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling,” WSJ reported. “The average client seeking help from credit-counseling agencies across the country now makes about $70,000 a year, with unsecured debt levels approaching $35,000, or half their annual income, according to the NFCC. Before the pandemic, the typical client enrolled in counseling made about $40,000 a year and carried $10,000 in unsecured debt, or roughly 25% of their annual income.”
WSJ noted, “Clients have rising debt-to-income levels and more are falling behind on payment plans. Those colliding factors pushed NFCC’s gauge of financial stress to its highest level since the nonprofit group began tracking consumer health in 2018.”
2. McDonald’s value meals drive sales increase
FoxBusiness reports that budget-conscious Americans “are returning to McDonald’s as the fast-food giant doubles down on value meals, discounted bundles and limited-time promotions aimed at stretching diners’ dollars.”
“The strategy appears to be working as U.S. sales rose 6.8% in the fourth quarter – the biggest jump in about two years – and lower-priced offers and aggressive promotions drove traffic back into restaurants. Analysts had expected a smaller 4.9% gain,” FoxBusiness reported.
FoxBusiness added, “McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said there is growing evidence the company’s value push is working, particularly among lower-income consumers who have been most affected by inflation.”
