Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion
In Mississippi
1. 1 dead, 5 injured in Belzoni shooting
WAPT reports that on Sunday, “deputies and officers from the Belzoni Police Department responded to multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire on Silver City Road in Belzoni. Upon arrival, officers discovered several individuals suffering from gunshot wounds.”
“At least five people were injured in the incident. One person was declared dead at the scene. Police secured the area and have launched an ongoing investigation into the shooting,” WAPT reported. “The Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office is seeking help from the public.”
WAPT added, “Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to contact the sheriff’s office at 662-247-2551.”
2. Trump approves individual assistance for those impacted by MS winter storm
Governor Tate Reeves announced Saturday that his request to President Donald Trump for Individual Assistance for counties affected by the January 23-27 severe winter weather has been approved for 36 counties and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
This counties include: Adams, Alcorn, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Claiborne, Coahoma, Desoto, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Leflore, Marshall, Montgomery, Panola, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union, Warren, Washington, Yalobusha, and Yazoo counties, as well as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
The governor noted that individual assistance is available to residents in those 36 counties and can include grants for home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of this disaster.
Residents in the approved counties who sustained losses during the January 23-27 winter weather will be able to apply for assistance by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. The disaster number is: DR-4899.
National News & Foreign Policy
1. U.S. to blockade Strait of Hormuz
As reported by The Hill, “President Trump’s threatened blockade on the Strait of Hormuz is set to come into force at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday, a maneuver meant to disrupt Iran’s chokehold on the crucial corridor for global energy trade.”
“Trump announced the plan on Sunday, after no agreement was reached during talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, the day before, the first direct conversations between U.S. and Iranian officials since 1979. U.S. Central Command said the blockade would be enforced ‘impartially against vessels of all nations.’ It said ships traveling between non-Iranian ports would still be allowed to enter the strait,” The Hill reported. “CENTCOM forces ‘will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET, in accordance with the President’s proclamation,‘ it said in a post on the social platform X.
The Hill noted, “Vice President Vance told reporters Saturday night the 20 hours of marathon negotiations were ‘substantive,’ but there was no headway toward a deal.”
2. Trump scorches Pope as “catering to the radical left”
The New York Times reports that President Trump responded to Pope Leo XIV’s recent admonishments against the Iran conflict by “scorching the first American-born pontiff on social media and then taking personal credit for Leo’s ascension to the papacy.”
“Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise,” Trump wrote in a lengthy social media post on Sunday night, per NYT. “He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
NYT continued by reporting that Trump “criticized Leo as ‘weak on crime’ — an insult he usually reserves for Democratic mayors — and ‘terrible for foreign policy.’ He said that he much preferred the pope’s brother Louis because of his support for the MAGA movement — ‘He gets it!’ Mr. Trump wrote. The president also accused the pope of ‘catering to the radical left’ and then offered a piece of advice, to ‘focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.’”
Sports
Ole Miss finds new life as Miss. State, Southern Miss slide
Mississippi’s Big 3 were back in action on the college baseball field over the weekend, with the top two teams in the state suffering big losses while the other looks to have found new life. Here’s a roundup of the weekend:
- No. 9 Mississippi State was swept for a second consecutive weekend by an SEC opponent, this time it was by Tennessee, a non-ranked team. The Bulldogs (26-10, 7-8) lost Friday 6-5, Saturday 6-2 and Sunday 7-2. State now travels to Samford on Tuesday.
- No. 10 Southern Miss lost two out of three at Louisiana to suffer a key series loss in the Sun Belt. The Golden Eagles (25-11, 8-7) won Friday 8-1 and then lost the Saturday and Sunday contests 8-4 and 6-5, respectively. USM now travels to Pearl to play No. 25 Ole Miss on Tuesday.
- No. 25 Ole Miss swept No. 24 LSU in dominate fashion in Oxford, its first sweep over the SEC rival since 2022. The Rebels (26-11, 8-7) won Friday through Sunday 6-3, 12-2, and 8-7, respectively. Ole Miss now meets No. 10 Southern Miss in Pearl on Tuesday.
Markets & Business
1. Futures fall, oil jumps on news of Strait of Hormuz blockade
CNBC reports that “U.S. stock futures fell Monday after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with peace talks between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend ending without a deal.”
“Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 200 points, or 0.4%. S&P 500 futures shed 0.5% along with Nasdaq-100 futures,” CNBC reported. “West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped 7% to above $103 per barrel. International Brent popped 7% to above $101 a barrel.”
CNBC added, “The S&P 500 rallied 3.6% last week, while the Nasdaq jumped about 4.7%. The Dow gained 3%. First-quarter earnings season unofficially kicks off this week. The nation’s largest banks will get it started, with Goldman Sachs slated to release results on Monday. Citigroup, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are all on the docket later this week.”
2. Productivity driving U.S. economic growth
According to the Wall Street Journal, “For the past year, two prominent indicators have told opposite stories of the economy’s health: The economy itself grew in 2025, but despite a solid March, jobs didn’t.”
“This puzzle could have an encouraging explanation: Productivity, which means workers are producing goods and services more efficiently, has revived at just the right time,” WSJ reported. “There are two main ways to grow the economy. The first is to add workers. This, though, has become harder since President Trump’s policies brought most immigration to a halt, while an aging workforce and a decadeslong drop in birth rates have sapped growth in the native-born labor force. That leaves the second channel: Make the workers you have more productive.”
“With labor-force growth slowing to a crawl, productivity is no longer just one of the engines of growth—it’s close to the only engine left,” said Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, per WSJ. And luckily, that engine is firing.
-- Article credit to the staff for the Magnolia Tribune --
