| Friday, September 11, 2026 |
| Mississippi State student earns Flight 93 scholarship honoring pilot | |
 | A Mississippi State University (MSU) sophomore is the 2026 recipient of the Flight 93 LeRoy Homer Jr. Flight Scholarship. According to the university, Bradyn Long applied for the scholarship when he realized the funds could help him combine his desire to be not only an engineer, but a pilot like Flight 93 hero and First Officer Leroy Homer Jr., who died during the 9/11 attacks in 2001. "When they told me they had chosen me, I really didn't have words," Long said. "There's obviously the motivation to learn to fly, but on top of that, I want to honor LeRoy's legacy. I want to be part of the reason his name will never be forgotten." Before moving to the Blue Springs area in Union County, Long's family grew roots in Pennsylvania and Illinois. Even though he didn't initially think of going to college in Mississippi, he said MSU quickly stood out once he began comparing aerospace programs. Long will be in Shanksville on September 11, 2026, to attend the 25th anniversary memorial service, where he will represent the foundation and meet Homer’s wife. |
| George W. Bush says Americans 'don't pay attention to the lesson of 9/11' | |
 | Former President George W. Bush gave rare remarks on Wednesday as Americans mark 25 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying that Americans "don't pay attention to the lesson of 9/11." "Our nation occasionally goes through isolationist periods, where the attitude is, 'Well, we've got too many problems at home. Therefore, who cares about what happens overseas?'" said Bush, who wasn't yet eight months into his first term when the attacks occurred. "Which really means to me they just don't pay attention to the lessons of 9/11, because what happens overseas matters to our national security at home." Bush spoke about it at his presidential library in Dallas with Condoleezza Rice, who served as national security adviser at the time of the attacks and then went on to become secretary of state. Bush said he disagrees with the view of some Americans who say people there "don't know the difference" of what it is like to live under freedom. "Of course they know the difference," Bush said. "Young girls going to school for the first time in their lives know the difference. Women becoming doctors and professors know the difference between a free society and a tyrannical society. And sadly, these women who begin to realize their full potential no longer have a chance to realize their full potential." |
| 'It's not safe here': Former President Bush, Condoleeza Rice remember moments after 9/11 attacks | |
 | George W. Bush was spirited away from a classroom in Florida to a secure location in the Midwest just minutes after learning of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on American soil. The president was frustrated about not being at the White House, but Condoleeza Rice, his secretary of state, was hearing none of it. "Stay where you are," she ordered Bush, raising her voice for the first time since she had assumed her role months before. "The United States of America is under attack. It's not safe here." Later that evening, after both towers of the World Trade Center had collapsed, killing nearly 3,000 people, Bush was advised that he needed to give an address to Americans in their moment of crisis. But he "damn sure" wasn't going to do it from "a bunker in Omaha, Nebraska." "I thought that would be a psychological victory for those who attacked us, and so I flew back," Bush told 400 people Wednesday night at the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University. On Wednesday, Bush was joined by Rice in the 40-minute conversation, during which the pair highlighted the profound wave of national unity the terrorist attacks triggered. "When America's in trouble, Americans respond, and I got to see it firsthand," Bush said. "It was a remarkable moment." |
| Boozman set to hold another committee farm bill vote next week | |
 | Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) is planning to hold another committee vote on his farm bill plans next week, in a new attempt to squeeze the farmer-friendly policies through to the full chamber ahead of November's midterms. The panel first met in early August to debate and vote on the GOP-led package. But the legislation stalled due to opposition from committee Democrats and the continued absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from the Capitol. Boozman hasn't set a firm date for a committee meeting next week, he told POLITICO on Thursday. He recessed the committee before the Senate's summer break so he could call them back for another vote without a lengthy amendment and debate process. "I really feel like it's important to continue to have members express where they're at on this, and so we are going to vote again next week," Boozman said. Democrats voted against the package in August due to ongoing frustration over the GOP's massive spending cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Their top demand is for Republicans to give all states two extra years before the onset of a new requirement that will require state governments to pay for part of SNAP benefits. |
SPORTS
| Magnolia Cup Kicks Off Soccer's SEC Slate | |
| Mississippi State opens SEC play at Ole Miss on Friday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. CT. State will look to claim the Magnolia Cup for the seventh year in a row, extending the longest winning streak by either school in the rivalry's history, when the match kicks off on SEC Network+. The programs enter Friday night a combined 13-2-0 (.867), which is the highest combined winning percentage entering the game in the history of the rivalry. This year's meeting will also be the first time since the first season of the two programs in 1995 that both teams are led by first-year head coaches. State won the 1955 meeting, 1-0, in Oxford. The last time the Magnolia Cup was MSU's SEC opener was in 2014, when Ole Miss won, 1-0, in Starkville. The Bulldogs have won four consecutive SEC openers dating back to 2022. Mississippi State has retained possession of the Magnolia Cup for the last six years with six straight wins, the longest winning streak by either school in the history of the rivalry. |
| The Protect College Sports Act has Nick Saban, Deion Sanders campaigning ahead of Senate vote | |
| The first full weekend of college football delivered us all of the dysfunctional and inspiring trappings of the sport we love so much. A disputed (and, it turns out, mismanaged) game clock controversy and a Hail Mary completion all rolled into one. Lane Kiffin's halftime antics that made their way into a federal lawsuit. A Heisman Trophy favorite, Trinidad Chambliss, leading a fourth-quarter drive that culminated in a last-second, game-winning field goal. A Monday night game delayed 90 minutes because of a power outage in Tallahassee. And, finally, Nick Saban and Deion Sanders on your television screen as part of a multi-million dollar political advertising campaign. Wait, what? Yes, the last one of those is not like the rest. The lobbying effort for the Congressional bill to regulate college athletics, the Protect College Sports Act, is in full swing ahead of an expected vote process next week on Capitol Hill. |
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