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In Mississippi

1. MDA recommends 10 Coast Restoration projects

The Mississippi Development Authority recently received 91 applications for project funding requests through the Mississippi Gulf Coast Restoration Fund. The agency is now seeking legislative approval for ten projects totaling nearly $29.33 million in potential funding. Those projects are:

• Tomaston Medical Park Phase 1A Development – Creating a Medical Center of Excellence in Woolmarket (Total Project Cost: $15,611,874) – submitted by BEST Holdings, $1 million in GCRF funding recommended for approval
• Commercial District Phase IV (Total Project Cost: $2.4 million) – submitted by city of Diamondhead, $1 million in GCRF funding recommended for approval
• Town Commons Park Development Phase 3 (Total Project Cost: $10,546,355) – submitted by city of Gautier, $2,217,475 in GCRF funding recommended for approval
• Pascagoula Riverfront Development (Total Project Cost: $3.95 million) – submitted by city of Pascagoula, $2.568 million in GCRF funding recommended for approval
• Downtown Redevelopment Plan, Phase 3 – Restated and Amended for 2024-2025 (Total Project Cost: $3.6 million) – submitted by city of Pass Christian, $2 million in GCRF funding recommended for approval
• George County Industrial Park – Water System Expansion Project (Total Project Cost: $1.287 million) – submitted by George County Board of Supervisors, $1,029,600 in GCRF funding recommended for approval
• USM Research and Teaching Vessel (Total Project Cost: $18,044,271) – submitted by Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, $2.5 million in GCRF funding recommended for approval
• Stennis International Airport Site 1 Hangar Development (Total Project Cost: $8.5 million) – submitted by Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission, $5 million in GCRF funding recommended for approval
• Harrison County Development Commission GST Site (Total Project Cost: $5,016, 453) – submitted by Harrison County Development Commission, $4,013,163 in GCRF funding recommended for approval
• Pearl River County Industrial Park Speculative Building (Total Project Cost: $10 million) – submitted by Pearl River County Board of Supervisors, $8 million in GCRF funding recommended for approval

2. Mississippi Poultry Association donation to go to Food Network, Salvation Army

Mississippi’s poultry and egg companies are kicking off the holiday season by donating 59,500 pounds of chicken meat and 129,000 eggs to charities of Governor Tate Reeves’ choosing.

Governor Reeves has directed this generous donation of 369,200 servings of protein to the Mississippi Food Network and Salvation Army.

“I’m grateful to the Mississippi Poultry Association for always stepping up to help ensure no Mississippi family goes hungry during the holiday season,” said Governor Reeves. “The Mississippi Food Network and the Salvation Army do a tremendous job serving Mississippians, and I thank them for accepting this donation to help end hunger in our state.”

National News & Foreign Policy

1. House passes bill to expand federal judiciary despite Biden veto threat

Politico reports that the U.S. House passed legislation, “largely along party lines, to expand the federal judiciary by more than 60 seats despite a veto threat from the Biden White House.”

“The bill — co-authored by Biden ally Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) — passed the Senate unanimously earlier this year. But Democrats have cried foul about the House taking it up post-election, once it became clear President-elect Donald Trump would have the first opportunity to fill some of the newly created positions,” Politico reported, adding, “House Democrats mounted an eleventh hour whip campaign against the legislation once the White House voiced its opposition on Tuesday. In the end, though, 29 Democrats supported it. The final tally was 236-173.”

Politico went on to note that under the legislation, “the new seats would be rolled out over the course of three presidential administrations, in theory to offer both parties the possibility of filling some of the slots.”

2. FBI informants were among crowd at Jan. 6 Capitol riot

According to the BBC, a newly released Department of Justice report says “more than two dozen FBI informants were in Washington DC ahead of the riot at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, but no full-time undercover agents were present or took part in the riot itself.”

“The report said none of the agency’s informants were authorised to enter the Capitol or join the riot, but four did enter the building,” the BBC reported, adding, “26 ‘confidential human sources’ – or paid informants – were in Washington on the day of the riot. Three of them had been tasked with gathering information for domestic terrorism cases who might have been going to the rallies on 6 January, one of whom entered the Capitol building. The remaining 23 had not been directed to be in the area and did so on their own initiative.”

The report also noted, “Of the 26 in total, four confidential sources entered the Capitol during the riot. Another 13 entered the restricted area around the Capitol – a security perimeter established in preparation for election certification on 6 January. None of the confidential sources who entered the Capitol or its environs were among those criminally charged with trespassing.”

Sports & Entertainment

1. Huff introduced as new Southern Miss HC

Charles Huff was officially introduced to the Southern Miss community on Thursday on the Eagle Walk at The Rock.

Huff, who won the Sun Belt Conference Championship at Marshall last Saturday, told the crowd he wasn’t coming to play around but to win through discipline, focus and effort.

Terms of his contract released on Thursday show Huff will earn $950,000 annually as the USM head football coach and will have access to an assistant coach pool of $1.75 million and a staff pool of $600,000. Incentives for winning the conference, making the CFB playoffs and more were also included in Huff’s contract.

The Huff era at USM will kickoff next August with a home game versus Mississippi State.

The SEC college football schedules for the 2025 season have been released. Here’s a look at the Ole Miss and Mississippi State slate of games:

Markets & Business

Low-income consumers still feel weight of inflation, higher prices

While some might say the economy has reached a much-vaunted “soft landing,” the Wall Street Journal reports that low-income consumers aren’t feeling any of that.

“Dollar stores, a bellwether for that group’s spending, started seeing signs of belt-tightening from their core consumers earlier this year. That trend has only continued into the latest quarter,” WSJ reported. “They say their customers are waiting to shop for products at the last minute for occasions such as Halloween and spending less toward the end of the month, when their budgets are depleted.”

WSJ reports that “price increases have been more pronounced for need-driven categories like rent, medical care and utilities than for discretionary ones such as clothes, furniture and new cars,” adding, “the inflation burden might be even higher for low-income households because they have less flexibility to adjust their spending as prices go up.”

Wildlife officials in Mississippi have located the largest black bear since the state launched an effort to thoroughly research the endangered species more than 20 years ago.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks reports that a 510-pound black bear, given the name M18, was spotted in Sharkey County earlier this week. Researchers placed a collar around the bear’s neck to further track its migration patterns.

M18’s discovery shattered the previous record of 468 pounds, which was held by a roadkill bear in Wilkinson County. No stranger to the state’s black bear program, M18 was originally collared in August 2022 and weighed 360 pounds at the time.

The male bear managed to slip out of his collar shortly after he was caught two years ago. Now that researchers have had a reunion with the wild animal, they will gather new data and record his growth before releasing M18 back into his natural habitat.

Mississippi’s black bear program began in 2002. At the time, an estimated 50 bears roamed the state. That number has tripled since then, per officials.

If the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic comes down to a game-winning field goal, both teams have to feel good about their chances.

The Alabama kicker is Grayson Forrest of Alexandria. He is handling the kicking and punting duties, which save a roster spot for the Alabama team.