HATTIESBURG, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 4, 2026--
Mississippi families will have a better chance to keep their homes and land thanks to a $150,000 grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) and Community Bank of Mississippi to the Mississippi Center for Legal Services (MCLS). The funding will provide critical legal assistance to low-income residents struggling with heirs’ property issues, which occur when property lacks a clear title.
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”This grant will allow us to expand our outreach,” said Sam Buchanan, executive director, at MCLS, which provides legal services across 43 counties in southern Mississippi. “We are grateful for this partnership with Community Bank and FHLB Dallas and the opportunity to make a lasting impact in communities that often face barriers to legal representation to resolve heirs’ property issues.”
Without legal help, families can lose homes that have been passed down for generations, making it harder to build wealth or secure housing stability.
In 2025, FHLB Dallas awarded $4.3 million in Pathway Fund grants through its members, to organizations in its five-state District, including $600,000 in Mississippi. The application window for 2026 is from August 3 to August 21, 2026, with $3 million available.
“We believe these efforts will help build stronger, more resilient communities throughout Mississippi,” said Greg Hettrick, senior vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas.
Interested organizations should apply through an FHLB Dallas member. FHLB Dallas doesn’t award grants directly to consumers or organizations.
“We are grateful for our relationship with FHLB Dallas that has made this grant possible,” said Rieko Wells, vice president and CRA officer at Community Bank of Mississippi.”
Learn more about the Pathway Fund.
About Community Bank of Mississippi
Community Bank, who today has $5 billion in assets with 56 offices and over 850 staff members across Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee, has deep traditions when it comes to culture and how they do business. A consistent priority of doing things the right way – scripture on their Marquee’s, a live person answering the phone each time you call and a personal relationship with your banker, have been defining factors in Community Bank’s success for 120 years. Their philosophy of putting the highest of value on taking care of customers, no matter the relationship size, and making their communities better places to live and work has ensured Community Bank is built to last.
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $112.2 billion as of September 30, 2025, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 800 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit fhlb.com.
FHLB Dallas gave a $150,000 Pathway Fund grant through Community Bank of Mississippi to the Mississippi Center for Legal Services to provide legal assistance to low-income residents struggling with heirs’ property issues, which occur when property lacks a clear title.
DUBAI (AP) — Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States will take place Friday in Oman, the Iranian foreign minister said, as tensions between the countries remain high following Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.
The announcement by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday came after hours of indications that the anticipated talks were faltering over changes in the format and content of the talks.
” I’m grateful to our Omani brothers for making all necessary arrangements” Araghchi wrote on X on Wednesday evening. (edited)
Earlier Wednesday, a regional official said Iran was seeking a “different” type of meeting than that what had been proposed by Turkey, one focused exclusively on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, with participation limited to Iran and the United States. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
US. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said U.S. officials were working on maintaining a meeting with Iran this week.
Tensions between the countries have spiked after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. might use force against Iran in response to its crackdown on protesters. Trump also has been pushing Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program.
Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday said he had instructed the foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the U.S., in the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate. That signaled the move is supported by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state and previously dismissed any negotiations.
Rubio said the U.S. hoped to discuss a number of concerns beyond the nuclear issue, including discussions on Iran's ballistic missiles, support for proxy networks across the region and the “treatment of their own people."
“The leadership of Iran at the clerical level does not reflect the people of Iran. I know of no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there,” he told reporters.
Vice President JD Vance told “The Megyn Kelly Show” that diplomatic talks with Iran are challenging because of Tehran’s political system, overseen by Khamenei.
“It’s a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with when you can’t even talk to the person who’s in charge of the country. That makes all of this much more complicated, and it makes the whole situation much more absurd,” Vance said, noting that Trump could speak directly by phone with the leaders of Russia, China or North Korea.
Vance said Trump’s bottom line is that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, asserting that other states in the region would quickly do the same.
Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. However, Iranian officials in recent years have increasingly threatened to pursue the bomb.
Vance said he believed Trump would work to “accomplish what he can through non-military means. And if he feels like the military is the only option, then he’s ultimately going to choose that option.”
On Tuesday, a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American aircraft carrier. Iranian fast boats from its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Navy said.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge either incident, which strained but apparently did not derail hopes for talks with the U.S.
On Wednesday, Iranian military chiefs visited a missile base in an attempt to highlight its military readiness after a 12-day war with Israel in June devastated Iran’s air defenses. The base holds the Khorramshahr missile, which has a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) and was launched towards Israel during the war last year.
Also Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Turkey’s opposition to foreign intervention in neighboring Iran, calling for the resolution of issues through dialogue.
Turkey has been urgently working for the past week to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, and was previously expected to host the talks.
“We believe that external interventions involving our neighbor Iran would pose significant risks for the entire region,” Erdogan said during a visit to Cairo. “Resolving issues with Iran, including the nuclear file, through diplomatic means is the most appropriate approach.”
Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Farnoush Amiri in New York, Moriah Balingit in Washington, and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed.
FILE - In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, is welcomed by an unidentified Omani official, center, upon his arrival at Muscat, Oman, for negotiations with U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, as Iranian Ambassador to Oman Mousa Farhang walks at right, May 11, 2025. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP, File)
