| Thursday, November 6, 2025 |
| Mississippi homeowners urged to evaluate drought-stricken trees | |
 | Drought-stricken trees continue to die across Mississippi, and many homeowners are facing the need for tree evaluation and removal services. "The record-breaking drought of 2023 and moderate drought of 2024 really did a number on trees all across Mississippi," said Butch Bailey, a forestry specialist with the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service. "The pines declined quickly and died right away. But the hardwoods, like oaks and magnolias, are going to decline much more slowly. We will be losing large hardwoods that were actually killed by the 2023 drought for a few years to come." Officials said homeowners should be careful who they hire for services. Bailey recommends hiring only properly trained and insured professionals to evaluate and remove trees. "Any guy with a chainsaw can cut a tree. That's not what you are paying for," he said. "You're paying for a professional to have the education and training, and to carry insurance. That's not cheap, but it's cheaper than a tree coming down the wrong way." Homeowners who encounter solicitors offering tree work or removal should be cautious. "Never allow anyone to pressure you into any service," Bailey said. |
| Joint Legislative Budget Committee lowers current fiscal year revenue estimate | |
 | The Joint Legislative Budget Committee met Wednesday morning as Mississippi lawmakers begin setting the framework for the next state budget. Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann (R) gaveled in the meeting, which was quickly moved into an hourlong executive session. When lawmakers emerged, Governor Tate Reeves (R) had joined the gathering to hear from State Economist Corey Miller. Miller reported that sales tax revenue in Mississippi continues to grow, coming in 2.7 percent higher in this current fiscal year's first four months than in the prior year. Miller said individual income tax revenues were also up 3.3 percent for the same period "despite another reduction in the income tax rate that occurred last January." "Total residential employment in Mississippi in July and August was essentially the same as in July and August in 2024. However, average hourly wages in Mississippi for July and August as compared to one year ago were up 6.6 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively," Miller said, noting that the higher wages explained the increased income tax revenue with the lowered income tax rate. Mississippi is on a path to fully eliminate its individual income tax over the decade. Miller said corporate income tax revenues continue to trend down, with revenues coming in 0.5 percent lower in July to October this year compared to the same period in 2024. He attributes the decline to full expensing and lowered corporate profits. |
| Chancellor Bruce to be Formally Welcomed to UTC at Investiture | |
| Lori Mann Bruce will be formally installed as UTC's new chancellor at an investiture ceremony on Nov. 21 at the McKenzie Arena. "An investiture is a time honored tradition, a ceremonial celebration that formally welcomes a new chancellor," the Office of the Chancellor states on the official UTC website. "This milestone occasion brings together our University, the Chattanooga community and distinguished guests to honor the leadership and vision of Dr. Bruce." Bruce started her tenure at UTC on June 30 of this year, becoming the university's first female leader and 19th chancellor. Bruce's tenure at UTC began with a semester filled with several notable newsworthy events: a false active shooter alert, the closing of campus departments related to DEI, and the establishment of a Turning Point USA chapter. Before coming to UTC, Bruce served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Tennessee Technological University. Bruce grew up 90 minutes away from Chattanooga, on a farm in Lincoln County, Tennessee, according to UTC's website. She has a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Before her work at Tennessee Tech, Bruce served as associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of the Graduate School at Mississippi State University. |
SPORTS
| Soccer: Bulldogs Bound For SEC Semifinals On Thursday | |
| For the third year in a row, Mississippi State finds itself in the SEC Tournament semifinals. The Bulldogs will face No. 25 LSU at 3:30 p.m. CT on Thursday afternoon with the game airing on the SEC Network. LSU has gone unbeaten in its last nine matches with its last loss coming to No. 14 Tennessee. The Tigers evened the score with the Lady Vols on Tuesday night to advance. In similar fashion, the Bulldogs avenged a regular-season loss to No. 4 Arkansas in the quarterfinals. MSU is the lowest seed to reach the semifinals since 2018, which also happened to be the last time that LSU reached the semifinals. The Tigers stand as State's sixth ranked opponent of the year, one shy of the school record set in 2023. The Bulldogs already have three top-10 wins this year, which is as many as they had in their entire program history prior to the season. State has already set school records in the SEC Tournament for single-game shots, shots on goal, corners and fouls drawn. The Bulldogs' tournament totals for shots, shots on goal and corners are also records. Ally Perry has now played in more SEC Tournament games in her career than any player in school history along with setting career records in shots and shots on goal. |
| Michael Haddix and Glen Collins To Be Inducted Into The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame | |
| A pair of Mississippi State greats, Michael Haddix and Glen Collins, are set to be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 2026 class, the Sports Hall of Fame & Museum announced on Wednesday. Haddix and Collins will be celebrated and formally enshrined during the MS Sports Hall of Fame Induction Weekend on July 31-August 1, 2026. Haddix, a native of Walnut, Miss., starred at Mississippi State from 1979-82 before being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles with the eighth overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft. During his time wearing the Maroon and White, Haddix rushed for 2,558 yards and 20 touchdowns on 425 carries. He added 353 career receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns to his totals. He had nine career 100-yard rushing games, and he led the team in rushing three straight seasons from 1980 to 1982. Collins, a native of Jackson, Miss., starred at Mississippi State from 1978-81, finishing his career with 205 tackles and 26 sacks. Collins was a First Team All-American as a senior in 1981, when the Bulldogs held opponents to 88 rushing yards per game. To go along with his All-American honor, Collins earned Second Team All-SEC honors in 1980 and First Team All-SEC honors in 1981. |
| Texas, oil and football: How Texas Tech has raised a football monster in no time at all | |
| In February, during the grand opening of Texas Tech's 300,000-square foot, $242 million football facility, athletic director Kirby Hocutt, delivering a speech from behind a pulpit within this goliath of a structure, gestures into the audience before him. He identifies those responsible for not only this lavish building but the talented new roster that trains within it. In the room of dignitaries and donors, among the more than 200 people here to celebrate what the school believes is its informal arrival as one of college football's havenots now-turned haves, there is gobs of money: at least a half-dozen billionaires and 30 more families worth at least nine figures. "We couldn't have done it without you," Hocutt says to them. But, in a way, the responsible party lies well below this facility, deep within the Earth's rock: a well of oil the size of the state of Florida. The Permian Basin, the largest oil field in the United States, produces more than 6 million barrels of oil per day and generates 40% of the country's oil supply. It fuels something else: the Texas Tech football team. "It's why we are so well funded. So many alumni have gone to work around this oil field," says booster Cody Campbell, a former Tech player who sold his last three oil businesses for a combined $13 billion. Off the field, whether it prefers it or not, Texas Tech is at the center of a much more significant fight playing out -- one that could shape the future of college sports. |
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