Mississippi orders deletion of race and gender databases in state libraries
The commission's executive director, Hulen Bivins, confirmed the deletion to the Guardian, and said: 'We may lose a lot of materials.'
'All of the states, we are in dire shape,' he said. 'We have had a reconsideration of everything with regard to what Doge [is doing].'
The so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge), which has sent shockwaves through federal agencies and departments since its creation when the second Trump administration began, all but axed the Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS) in March by putting nearly all of its employees on administrative leave. The independent federal agency provides resources and support to libraries, archives and museums in all 50 states and territories. Earlier that month, Trump signed an executive order that called for the IMLS to be 'eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law' within seven days.
The fallout from losing the IMLS is not restricted to Mississippi, Bivins said, but is something of concern for every state. Washington, which is one of 21 states suing the Trump administration over the dismantling of the IMLS and other agencies, was notified last Wednesday that it will not receive a $3.9m grant from the IMLS's 'grants to states program'. California and Connecticut, both of which are also suing the Trump administration, have been notified that they will not receive a $15.7m grant and the $1.2m remainder of a $2.2m grant, respectively.
'The rest of the states, us included, await our fate. In essence, we're waiting to find out: do we get any more money between now and June 30?' Bivins said, referencing the end of Mississippi's fiscal year. 'Or are we going to get the allotment that was scheduled to be given to us? We can't know at this point because IMLS has been totally closed, just like many other entities under the Doge. And with regard to libraries, we don't know who to contact, who to call, anything.'
With federal funding uncertain, state library agencies must look to their respective states for funding. In the 16 states where anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) bills are law, that means complying with whatever that state's legislature deems necessary.
'It's going to affect every state because every state is going to have to make their own decisions,' Bivins said. 'But what will happen is we're not going to have the resources to help the people that are in the educational process or people's business needs. If the library doesn't have support, the library will have to close … If you don't have libraries, if we defund across the board, we're going to have a situation where who knows what's going to happen.'
Related: Being a librarian was already hard. Then came the Trump administration
Last week, the Mississippi state legislature ended the regular legislative session without passing a state budget. But it passed several bills aimed at aligning the state with Trump and national Republicans' anti-DEI agenda, including one that bans DEI policies and teachings at Mississippi schools and universities.
According to a 31 March internal memo obtained by Mississippi Today, the Mississippi library commission's deletions came about to ensure that the Magnolia database complied with state laws, though it did not specify which laws.
'In this challenging time with many different viewpoints concerning library materials and material content your willingness to work with these issues is appreciated,' Bivins wrote, according to Mississippi Today.
'The deletion of these two databases shall be permanent until such time as when the Legislature changes their position regarding the content of materials made available in Mississippi libraries.'
Bivins said that the database deletion is likely just the beginning of cuts that are to come if libraries are not fully funded.
'We're in danger of losing basic things, like interlibrary loan. We've had to stop our statewide e-book network because we don't have enough money to pay for the e-books between now and the 30th of June,' he said. 'Everybody is doing cuts and re-evaluations and looking at everything. It's a tragic story.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's trade deals could push the average new car price well above $50,000
Markets have cheered President Trump's trade deals with Japan and the European Union. New 15% tariffs on most imported products from those countries are lower than many analysts expected, and they finally bring some predictability to Trump's chaotic on-and-off-and-on-again tariff policy. But import taxes are still going up, and past experience tells us that American consumers will ultimately bear most of the cost. Some of the most important imports from Europe and Japan are cars and car parts, and the higher taxes are sure to make all facets of owning a car costlier, just as drivers were hoping for a break from soaring prices. Trump is still working on trade deals with Canada, Mexico, and South Korea, other major sources of auto imports, and those outcomes will likely hike prices further. The average new car costs nearly $49,000, according to Kelley Blue Book. Trump's tariffs could raise costs by $3,000 or more once fully priced in, with costs rising less for cheaper models and more for luxury makes. It could take several months for those import taxes to work through supply chains, but unless there's a recession that ravages demand, car prices seem certain to hit new record highs during Trump's second presidential term. Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump's tariffs Ten years ago, the average car price was just $30,000. Several factors have pushed prices higher. Americans increasingly buy big pickups and SUVs, which cost more. Manufacturers struggle to make money on small economy cars and have been pulling them from their lineups. An explosion of digital gizmos adds to the cost, as does new automaker investments in electrification, which still isn't profitable industrywide. The COVID pandemic turbocharged auto inflation due to supply chain disruptions, parts shortages, stronger demand for non-urban transportation, and other factors. Costlier new cars increased demand for used cars, fueling inflation there, as well. More expensive parts and higher repair costs caused a surge in insurance premiums, which have doubled during the last 10 years. The charts below show the trends. Auto inflation has stabilized — but prices aren't coming down. They're basically stuck at new, higher levels. The only real break for drivers has been gasoline prices, down about 10% during the last year, to a national average of about $3.15 per have been first-line victims of Trump's tariffs. That means their customers will feel the pain too. General Motors (GM) and Jeep-parent Stellantis (STLA) both said tariffs harmed profitability in the second quarter. Ford (F) will probably echo that theme when it reports earnings on July 30. Automakers aren't just suffering from tariffs on imported parts, but also from Trump's new 50% tariff on most imported steel and aluminum, which are major components in cars. Most car prices haven't risen yet. The all-in cost of buying a car has actually dropped from peak levels of 2022, when the average cost of a new car equated to 42 weeks of work for the typical buyer, according to the Cox Automotive/Moody's Analytics affordability index, which accounts for prices, incomes, and interest rates. That's now down to about 37 weeks of work. But overall costs are still about 10% higher in real terms than they were from 2012 through 2021. And it's only a matter of time before automakers start passing higher tariff costs onto buyers. Some of the most popular cars in the US market are imports. The Subaru Impreza, Toyota (TM) Prius, and Mazda (7261.T) Miata come from Japan, as a few examples. Many Audis, BMWs ( and Mercedes ( come from Europe, along with the Volkswagen (VWAGY) Golf. Those imports will all come with the new 15% tax. Korean imports include the Hyundai ( Elantra, Kia Soul, and many other models from the two Korean manufacturers. They seem likely to face the same 15% import tax, since that is becoming the standard for Trump's trade deals. Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet Mexico is the biggest source of automotive imports, supplying about 40% of all imported components, plus finished vehicles such as the Ford Maverick, Chevy Blazer, Mazda 3, and Nissan (NSANY) Sentra. Canada is another major source of vehicles such as the Chrysler Pacifica, Lexus RX 350, and many Honda (HMC) Civics. New Trump trade deals with Mexico and Canada seem further off, but in the meantime, he imposed a 25% tax on imported products from those countries that don't satisfy complex domestic-content requirements. All told, about 46% of the 16 million cars sold in the United States each year are imports, and almost all of the cheapest economy cars on the market are imports because carmakers generally can't afford to make them in America. Virtually all of those products will cost more because of the Trump tariffs. Earlier this year, when Trump was threatening 25% taxes on all imported cars, the Yale Budget Lab estimated such an across-the-board tariff would raise the cost of an average car by $6,400. That applied to all cars, whether imported or domestic, because price hikes in one major sector allow competitors to raise their prices too. If the across-the-board tariff is 15% instead of 25%, price hikes would obviously be less. Manufacturers might make adjustments and 'eat' some of the cost by accepting lower profits. But they can't eat all of the additional cost. Shareholders won't accept it, and with costs rising throughout the industry, all automakers will have pricing power, allowing them to charge more. Even if prices rise by less than under some other scenario, car buyers still have reason to expect lower prices from Trump, not higher ones. Trump ran for president last year, vowing to 'bring prices way down,' after three years of excessive inflation. Voters who went for Trump in 2024 said that was one of the main reasons they picked him. Yet earlier this year, Trump said he 'couldn't care less' if automakers raised prices to offset the cost of his tariffs. They're going to. Maybe it won't be by as much as analysts thought before, but that won't comfort buyers facing sticker shock anew at the dealership, service center, auto parts store, and insurance agency. Those Trump trade deals won't look so rosy once people start to pay for them. Rick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Bluesky and X: @rickjnewman. Click here for political news related to business and money policies that will shape tomorrow's stock prices.
New York Post
21 minutes ago
- New York Post
Vance claims ‘Trump has nothing to hide' in Epstein case, says Obama, Bush ‘didn't fully investigate' serial perv
Vice President JD Vance was adamant Monday that President Trump 'has nothing to hide' with respect to notorious sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, while ripping into the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations for their handling of the case. 'The president has been very clear. We're not shielding anything,' Vance told reporters at an event in Canton, Ohio meant to promote the newly-enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 'The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and, frankly, to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case,' added the Ohio native. 'He's been incredibly transparent about that stuff. But some of that stuff takes time.' Advertisement Vance echoed other top officials in stressing the need to safeguard the names of victims in any additional disclosures about Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting federal trial on sex trafficking charges. 4 Vice President JD Vance insisted that President Trump has nothing to hide on the Epstein issue. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 4 Critics have alleged that the feds know significantly more about Jeffrey Epstein than what's been revealed. Advertisement Before ascending to public office, Vance suggested the government was not being transparent about the late pedophile or his purported network of associates. 'For 20 years, you had Obama and George W. Bush's Department of Justice go easy on this guy. They didn't fully investigate the case,' the 40-year-old charged Monday. 'They didn't show any curiosity about the case, and now Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency.' 'If you want to criticize the people who aren't showing full transparency, you ought to go after the administrations that went easy on Jeffrey Epstein, the administrations that concealed this case for 20 years, and the administrations that failed to show full transparency.' 4 Jeffrey Epstein had been a fixture among American elites for decades. Getty Images Advertisement In 2007, then-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta cut a deal with Epstein allowing him to plead guilty to Florida state charges of solicitation of prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. Under the plea agreement, Epstein was only confined for 13 months, spending much of that period on work release. Acosta was named Labor Secretary by Trump at the beginning of the president's first term, but resigned in July 2019, days after Epstein's arrest by federal investigators, amid an outcry over the plea deal. 'Donald J. Trump, I'm telling you, he's got nothing to hide,' Vance insisted. 'His administration has got nothing to hide, and that's why he's been an advocate for full transparency in this case.' 4 President Trump has ripped into the MAGA firestorm over Jeffrey Epstein but simultaneously called for transparency. Getty Images Advertisement Trump has faced a firestorm in the wake of a Justice Department and FBI memo issued July 6 — exactly six years after Epstein's last arrest — that concluded the 66-year-old killed himself in his prison cell and did not possess a 'client list' of powerful associates who are claimed to have engaged in sex with girls as young as 14, contrary to widespread speculation. The president has lashed out at some of his supporters for believing what he calls the 'Jeffrey Epstein hoax' and accused the Democrats of pushing bad-faith claims about the case. Last week, a Florida federal judge rejected a DOJ request to release transcripts of grand jury testimony from the investigation into Epstein that preceded the 2007 plea deal. Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell sat for two days of interviews with Justice Department officials, led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The Hill
21 minutes ago
- The Hill
Sen. Angus King to oppose ‘any' support for Israel amid Gaza crisis
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said Monday he will oppose 'any' support for Israel amid the hunger crisis in Gaza. 'I am through supporting the actions of the current Israeli government and will advocate—and vote—for an end to any United States support whatsoever until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy,' King said in a statement on his website. 'My litmus test will be simple: no aid of any kind as long as there are starving children in Gaza due to the action or inaction of the Israeli government,' he added. On Monday, President Trump indicated a break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the president stated there was 'real starvation' happening. Trump said to reporters during a meeting alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that he was 'not particularly' in line with Netanyahu's claim that there was no starvation occurring in Gaza, which has faced mass destruction and death in Israel's war against Hamas. 'I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry,' Trump told reporters when asked about Netanyahu's claim. Gaza humanitarian director for Save the Children Rachael Cummings said that the situation for Gazans is 'catastrophic' and that children 'are literally starving.' 'The situation in Gaza is catastrophic for children and increasingly now for adults. There is no food available in the market. Children are literally starving,' Cummings said on ABC's 'This Week.' King said in his Monday statement that he 'cannot defend the indefensible,' adding that 'Israel's actions in the conduct of the war in Gaza, especially its failure to address the unimaginable humanitarian crisis now unfolding, is an affront to human decency.' 'What appears to be a deliberately-induced famine among a civilian population—including tens of thousands of starving children—can never be an acceptable military strategy,' he continued.
