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WCBI News at Six - Friday, August 7th, 2020

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WCBI News at Six - Friday, August 7th, 2020
WCBI News at Six - Friday, August 7th, 2020
WCBI News at Six - Friday, August 7th, 2020

This time it's not a good thing to be first.

Mississippi continues to lead the nation in what is known as test positivity for the coronavirus.

Of everyone who has taken a test for covid19 this week, the average number of people testing positive is almost 26 percent.

And the state has the 5th highest recorded case count per 100,000 people.

Only louisiana, arizona, florida and the state of new york are ahead of mississippi.

These numbers are part of the johns hopkins university and covid tracking project.

As for today, new covid-19 cases in mississippi move past their thousand mark, once again.

The mississippi state department of health is reporting one thousand 36 new cases today, along with 23 deaths.

There are nearly 12 hundred people in hospitals across the state.

337 patients are in icu.

Locally, lee county has the most new cases with 51.

Union is reporting 39, lowndes has 35, and monroe county has 22 new cases.

Lowndes county also reported the most deaths in our area today with two.

Intro mississippi state university administrators and faculty have spent the summer working on a plan to bring students back to campus in the safest way possible.

And today msu is welcoming students back on campus for the fall semester.

The panhellic leadership is first to move-in.

Our stephanie poole was on campus for move-in day and joins us live in the studio with more... boxes and u-hauls lined the streets of the msu campus.

éé this is the first time students are back on campus since march.

éé for keep low foot traffic, each student has a scheduled time to arrive,éé after an abrupt ending to her sophomore year, katie garrett- manor is glad to be back in her happy place.

" i'm very excited to be out of my home."

She's one of the first in the chi omega sorority to return.

" you know, i haven't seen all these girls in so long so it's very great to see everybody and be reunited.

Just to be all together,it's very exciting."

While waiting for the rest of her friends to move in, manor can't help but wonder how the school year will turn out as coronavirus numbers continue to soar..

" i haven't been on the campus environment so it's obviously very exciting.

I hope we get to stay a whole year, but whatever happens happens."

Sophomore, marlee jones is unloading her car just across the street... " it was weird seeing everyone gone so fast, but i'm so excited for all my friends to be back.

I'm excited to see how the school year will go with this new future."

Although some classes will be virtual, jones sees it as an opportunity to connect with friends and stay safe.

" all my close friends are right next door so even if we can't do day parties or go to that anymore we can still make memories in the house.

I can't wait to meet the incoming freshman and i hope we do good with rush this year."

All other residential housing will move in august 10th through 15th.éé msu department of housing and residence life will continue to use appointment times to keep low traffic flow on campus.

éé if you're aren't able to sign a year lease with an apartment, hotel chester in starkville has a way to help.

Msu students and faculty can sign up for a 3-month lease program from august- october.

Hotel chester is providing those in the program with dining services at a discounted rate.

Services like internet,cable,and utilities are all included in the monthly rent.

Owners say masks in and out the lobby are required and daily temperature checks.

As of now, there are 19 rooms available.

Sot " help some people who aren't exactly sure of what the out come of all of this is going to be at the end of the fall semester.

We' re going to have to take their temperature everyday and make sure they're good.

If we find there's a problem we'll isolate them in a different room that doesn't have access to the building."

For more information and prices on hotel chester's housing program visit our website,wcbi.com.

If students living on campus at the university of alabama test positive, there is living space set aside for them.

The university of alabama board of trustees will lease apartments at the lofts of city center.

There's about 252 beds there available for upperclassmen.

That frees up space at the highlands and bryce lawn - about 450 beds for students who test positive for covid19.

This new lease agreement to provide housing will cost the university more than $1.2 million.

The rooms will be complete with utilities such as water, sewer, garbage, electricity, cable and high-speed internet.

Students in tupelo public schools will wait a few days before returning to class.

The reason... thermometers.

Tps will begin classes on august 17th.

They were scheduled to begin on the 12th.

The district is waiting on thermal temperature scanners to arrive.

Most school districts are ordering scanners from the same vendor and there is a delay.

Administrators are staggering arrival and dismissal times, creating double bus routes, and making students eat lunch in their classroom.

It's a service you may not think about covid-19 impacting, but your garbage pick-up could be delayed.

Golden triangle waste services is alerting residential customers to not be alarmed if their garbage is not picked up on its usual schedule.

Customers should put their garbage cans out on their usual collection day but it may not be picked up until the next day.

Several workers are out sick with covid-19 or quarantined because of the virus.

The staffing shortage and truck maintenance are the causing the delays.

Again, put your garbage out on its usual collection day but know it could be an additional 24 hours before it's picked up.

An annual north mississippi fall festival that celebrates the sweet potato crop has been cancelled.

Organizers of the vardaman sweet potato festival made the announcement this morning.

Committee members and the vardaman board of aldermen say it will be difficult to plan the festival with so many unknowns.

All events surrounding the weeklong festival will be canceled including pageants, the 5k run, barbeque cook-off and the arts and crafts show.

The committee will provide updates on any upcoming events and details about the 2021 festival on its website and social media.

First look stinger first look summary: another hot and increasingly humid weekend is on tap with fairly limited rain chances.

Heat indices may crack 100?

So you'll want to stay cool at all cost during the middle of the day.

Each day next week will feature the chance of more numerous showers and storms as we get back into a typical late summer weather pattern.

Friday night: clear and quiet.

Lows in the upper 60s to around 70.

Calm wind.

Saturday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Hot highs in the mid 90s with heat indices around if not over 100?.

Variable winds between 2 and 6 mph.

An off-duty state trooper is shot and killed while working his second job in southwest mississippi.

And now there is a big reward for anyone with information.

The shooting happened on highway 61 in jefferson county around 4:30 this morning.

Trooper lt.

Troy morris was a 27 year veteran with the mississippi highway patrol.

The 58 year old was working at his second job as a postal worker.

Morris was inside his truck when he was killed.

No one has been arrested.

Multiple agencies are investigating the homicide.

Mississippi crime stoppers and the united states postals services are offering a combined reward of up to $105,000 for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect.

The state crime stoppers number is 1-888-8crimes.

One person is killed in a car crash in lee county... the mississippi highway patrol says the fatal accident happened on highway 178 near belden thursday night... investigators say a brown nissan altima was driving at a high rate of speed... before troopers could stop the car..

The driver lost control and drove of the road crashing the vehicle... the victim has been identified as 25 year old alvaizor fears of blue springs... fears was in the passenger seat.... at this time there's no word on the driver's condition.

The tupelo police department is investigating this accident.... charges are pending... a tennessee man will spend three years in a mississippi prison for a sex crime.

Nicholas winchester was sentenced today in oktibbeha county circuit court.

He will be on probation for five years and must register as a sex offender after being found guilty of sexual battery.

The milan, tennessee man was indicted in february 2019.

He was arrested in august 2018.

Three men are arrested in what's being described as a large drug bust in clay county.

35-year-old lenroy guilty and 38-year- old steve posley are charged with conspiracy to commit a crime.

Clay county sheriff eddie scott says investigators have been working on this case for several years.

State and federal agencies, along with clay and lowndes county deputies were there to serve the search warrant.

38-year-old jamie logan is also charged with conspiracy to commit a crime.

More charges and more arrests are expected.

Stinger it's the garden that keeps on giving, in ways you might not imagine.

Allie martin has that story when wcbi news at 6 returns.

A tupelo man is growing food for a weekend backpack ministry in his garden.

Wcbi's allie martin has more on the joyner neighborhood project.

Jerry thompson loves to garden and to help others.

That drive has led to a fruitful outreach to put fresh vegetables on people's plates and helps feed hungry kids at the neighborhood school.

"this small thing can impact people in a big way."

While at church, a few years ago, thompson learned about a joyner elementary food backpack program.

He also happened to have a harvest of vegetables and an idea.

Thompson built a vegetable cart to put produce in and an honor box for donations.

The money goes to the school's backpack meal program.

Kids then take the food home on the weekend, so they won't go without.

"people are not here to buy groceries from me, they are here to make a donation to the program, to feed these hungry children, and i say take some vegetables home as my thank you for contributing, that's the basic way it works."

Thompson is recently retired and also helps at the school's "discovery garden."

Vegetables from that garden, which students help grow, are used in school lunches.

"we really appreciate having somebody in the community who cares so much about our kids here that he would donate not only his time, but money it takes to grow these crops and vegetables, so our kids can have that extra money to go towards food for the weekend, a lot of kids we get don't have those things at home."

Thompson hopes his outreach encourages others.

"book of james says be doers of the word, not just listeners, don't just hear it, put it to use in your own life, help those around you."

Thompson thought about giving his green thumb a rest this year but knew there would be a great need during the covid-19 pandemic.

Now, he has a garden full, waiting on hungry kids to return to school.

In tupelo, allie martin, wcbi news thompson has raised about 500 dollars so far this year for the backpack meal program.

To see when he will have his market open, check out his facebook page.

Stinger weather open summary: another hot and increasingly humid weekend is on tap with fairly limited rain chances.

Heat indices may crack 100?

So you'll summary: another hot and increasingly humid weekend is on tap with fairly limited rain chances.

Heat indices may crack 100?

So you'll want to stay cool at all cost during the middle of the day.

Each day next week will feature the chance of more numerous showers and storms as we get back into a typical late summer weather pattern.

Friday night: clear and quiet.

Lows in the upper 60s to around 70.

Calm wind.

Saturday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Hot highs in the mid 90s with heat indices around if not over 100?.

Variable winds between 2 and 6 mph.

Saturday night: mainly clear and quiet.

Lows in the low 70s.

Sunday: partly cloudy, hot, and humid.

Highs in the mid 90s with heat indices in the 100s.

A few spotty ternoon storms and showers are possible but we're going to keep the rain chance at just 20%.

Next week: warm and very humid conditions will give rise to scattered showers and storms each day, primarily during the daytime heating.

Look for highs in the 90s with lows in the 70s.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app stinger the high school football tour continues the next stop checks-in with the mooreville troopers see how the troopers are getting ready for the season next in sports following the southeastern conference's decision to go to a 10-game conference only schedule, we finally know what match-ups to expect this season here's the newest match-ups we'll see for the bulldogs, the rebels, and the crimson tide in 2020 miss st at georgia, vs vanderbilt ole miss at kentucky, vs scar alabama at missouri, vs kentucky no dates have been finalized for the upcoming sec season the season kicks off on september 26th the high school football tour continues on in 4a with the mooreville troopers the troopers got off to a good start last season with a 4-2 record before struggling to close the year.

Now the troopers look to bring it altogether in 2020.

Mooreville is stop number 47 on the high school football tour "my son is 18 "my son is 18 months old.

If he's in that situation as a 16 year old, i'd do the same thing all over again because at the end of the day you're more than a football coach.

You're a father, a mentor and a teacher so that was more important to me than anything."

Last season, mooreville's playoff hopes came to an unfortunate end.

In week five of the season, the troopers match-up against new albany became heated and following a mid- game fight, the troopers elected to call the game.

Later, the mhsaa placed the team under probation for the remainder of the season ending any hope of postseason play.

Now, the troopers enter 2020 hungry to wash away last year's end and make the playoffs in the program's 4th season in 4a.

"it's been an uphill battle as far as kids actually thinking they can compete in 4a.

It's always going to be an uphill battle.

I got some young men that are willing to fight right now.

I tell them all the time you got to keep climbing forward everyday and keep climbing up because if you're not, you're falling down the mountain.

You got to keep climbing for excellence so i got some kids that are striving in that."

After losing four of their top five receivers, mooreville's receiving core will feature new faces.

However, one familiar face remains for the troopers: quarterback dawson phillips.

Head coach jimmy young says he's confident in the offense with him at the helm.

"they know they got a quarterback and it fuels their energy.

They've been working hard because they know they got someone who's gonna get them the ball.

It's gone well.

We got a couple kids i'm really excited about that i think will step in and do really well."

"every step you take and everything you do is being watched.

Really just how you act is how a team acts.

You got to really keep the same attitude throughout."

Young says he thinks the unusual off season has added fuel to the team's drive as they prepare for week one.

"had really good attendance.

They've pushed another and worked hard.

Man, at the end of the day, they were ready to do something outside and get out the house."

Mooreville kicks off the season september 4th on the road against kossuth.

With the troopers on the high school football tour, chris bolton wcbi sports.

Here's a look at the upcoming stops for any stops that you may have missed along the way you can always check out our website, wcbi.com for any stops that you may have stops for any stops that here's a look at the upcoming stops for any stops that you may have missed along the way you can always check out our website, wcbi.com

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