WCBI News at Six - Friday, August 21st, 2020

WCBI News at Six - Friday, August 21st, 2020

The college football season will be unique and unlike any we've seen before.

Governor tate reeves issued an executive order limiting the number of fans allowed on the stands, and also canceling tailgates.

Our quentin smith speaks with local business about this decision... he joins us live in the studio with more the financial impact this will have on them.

Aundrea... tailgating companies and catering services are two industries being hit hard by this order..... i spoke to a tailgating company who was expecting to serve hundreds of customers this year'... now those tents... tables..

And chairs will have remain folded... nat tailgating at mississippi state..

Hot food on the grill..

Cowbells ringing... nat and everyone having a good time.... these are the sights and sounds of college football.

But this year... things will be different due to executive order 1519... " this will it hurt because we've been gearing for this time all year really."

Brad vickers is the owner and founder of southern tradition tailgating.

Inside his warehouse are the thousands of tents, tables, and chairs he was ready to provide his customers.

Those now have to remain where they are.

" majority of our customers have already paid for 2020, so we've offer two different options for them, either a full refund or just a transfer of their tailgating package to next year."

Vickers says this decision will cost some employees their jobs this fall.

And that won't be his only loss... the business owner is also expecting to lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars... " it's basically shutting us down for a full year, that's 12 months without money coming in."

But it isn't just tailgating companies.... nat catering services like brian michael's will be hit hard financially "it's definitely going to have some impact on our sales for sure.

It's a lot of dollars that aren't going to be moving around this year."

David wilkerson is the general manager and says they've been catering tailgates for the past 8 years.

" normally we do full-service tailgates.

We'll have staff out there serving under the tents and keeping everything stocked up, so it's going to look a lot different."

The junction will be empty.

No tents or crowds.

While the two companies won't be able to do their business as usual....that's not stopping them from offering services completely.

" we will offer some single game off campus services.

If somebody wants to tailgate at home, or if a business wants to have a tent and tvs and stuff set up, we do have individual game packages that we will be offering, and hopefully we will be able to employ some of our student workers that way."

For more information on the smaller service options both companies will be offering this fall.

Just head on over to our website at wcbi dot com.... with this new order... towns here in the golden triangle are expecting to lose out on thousands of dollars.... starkville mayor lynn spruill says they're expecting a roughly one point one million dollar shortfall in sales tax revenue..

Much of which comes from money spent on football weekends... the college town depends on the thousands of visitors coming to eat and shop locally.... mississippi state will only have five home games this season, in addition to the limited seating and no tailgating.

Mayor spruill says it'll be a big blow financially.

"if they have five home games where they are just playing football, it's not the same thing as five home games where there are people in the stands, because i'm just playing football, wow that is a great thing for us and i'm delighted that they are doing it, but unless we have people in the city and in the stands and being a part of the community while they are here such as staying in the hotels, eating at the restaurants, and then those games are not going to make any difference.

If they go to 25% capacity and that's all we've got showing up in town, then it's going to still have an impact" mayor lynn spruill says they're considering raising taxes to help cover the shortfall..

The number of people in mississippi hospitals with covid-19 symptoms continues to decline.

State health officials are reporting 874 new cases and 24 deaths.

One thousand 25 people remain hospitalized with suspected or confirmed covid-19 and 276 patients are in i.c.u.

Both of those numbers are down from yesterday.

18-29-year-olds continue to have the most cases of any age group.

Lee county is reporting the most new cases with 31.

Pontotoc has 28, lowndes has 25, oktibbeha has 19, and monroe is reporting 12 new cases.

Off top school employees will soon be able to get tested for covid-19.

The mississippi state department of health is hosting the drive- through sites in a number of counties next week.

This is just the first in several weeks of testing.

Testing will be from noon until seven pm for teachers, staff, and administrators at their local county health department.

The locations for our area are listed on the screen.

We will also have them on our website... wcbi dot com.

If you need another good reason to wear a mask on the mississippi state campus, look no farther than the big dog on campus.

Bully visited the ecenter today at msu and hung around for a few photos.

Bully and ecenter director of outreach jeffrey rupp want students to know if you don't wear your mask, you may end up with the cone of shame.

First look stinger first look summary: a few more showers and storms are possible saturday with lower rain chances sunday and early next week.

Two tropical systems are forecast to affect the gulf of mexico early next week with tropical storm laura being our main concern.

It's still possible that we could have some impacts locally by the middle of next week so stay tuned for updates this weekend.

Friday night: variably cloudy with a few lingering showers or storms possible.

Lows in the mid to upper 60s.

Light winds.

Saturday: sun & clouds with a 30- 40% chance of a few pop-up showers or storms. highs top out in the mid to upper 80s.

Winds variable 2-7 mph.

Intro roll vo in monitor food insecurity remains a concern for many families during the pandemic.

Our stephanie poole joins us in the studio with more on what pantries are doing to keep shelves stocked.

Aundrea, during this time of uncertainty, dozens of families are relying on their local food bank for assistance.

éé while the demand continues to grow, several area organizations are gathering what they can to put dinner on the table.

éé " in our service areas, around one in five individuals pre-covid-19 were food insecure."

Dr. brittany oliver is the executive director for united way of north-central mississippi.

She says those numbers have steadily increased since march.

" we are seeing through our calls, through our partner agencies that they aren't really seeing any decline.

Since covid has hit, we've been able to work with 22 local food pantries.

They are building calls.

They are having people stop by the food pantry to get non-perishable food and perishable food items."

Living manna church in west point is experiencing a similar reality.

" our shelves are empty, our freezers are empty because of the increase of food insecurity and this is a very challenging time."

Pastor r.h brown says over the last couple of months, more people are showing up at the door.

"during the month of july, we served about 50-percent more clients than we usually do.

July was a very busy month for us."

Even though generous donors stock the shelves almost every month, sometimes it's still not enough.

" when you have about have about five to seven cars still in the line and you have to wave them off and say i'm sorry we'll see you the next time because we have served everyone because the food is gone."

That's why both organizations are encouraging the public to donate what they can to help assist those in need.

"we've increased our food distribution from not just once a month but we've increased to twice a month.

Butt sots " every dollar, every hour that any neighbor that can really commit goes miles."

Living manna church is having their next food drive on august 25th.

éé wcbi update stinger alabama's unemployment numbers are up but there are still signs of a rebounding job market.

The alabama department of labor reports the july unemployment rate is seven point nine percent.

That's an increase from june's seven point six percent.

The agency says fluctuations in those numbers are expected in a recovering economy.

Monthly gains were seen in the hospitality, manufacturing, and professional services sectors.

Alabama lost nearly two hundred thousand jobs from march to april and about half of those have come back.

Locally, lamar and pickens counties actually saw a drop in their july unemployment figures.

Lamar is now six percent and pickens is sitting at eight point one percent.

Stinger the columbus police department gets a generous donation today from the columbus air force base// the message behind the gift, when we come back// centered 800 new gunlocks are available in lowndes county.

The columbus air force base made a donation to columbus police this morning.

Gunlocks are used to prevent accidental shootings or intentional shootings.

September is national suicide prevention month.

Organizers of the giveaway hope the donations will raise awareness about suicide prevention.

"the air force is using a program for what we call time base prevention, and actually that program puts a little time and space between someone who may be at risk for suicide.

And so, what research has shown is that usually when someone is thinking about taking their life by suicide it's impulsive."

"to legal gun owners, that have guns in their homes, this is a way to protect their family members, someone that may want to do something to harm themselves or have something to happen accidentally."

The v-a, american legion, contact helpline, and the lowndes county sheriff's department will also receive gun locks.

Top oktibbeha county deputies continue to investigate an apartment complex shooting.

The gunfire happened thursday at aspen heights on blackjack road.

Sheriff steve gladney tells wcbi that deputies were originally called about someone trying to get into an apartment.

Gladney believes the shooting could be a domestic situation.

The male gunshot victim underwent surgery at north mississippi medical center and continues to recover.

No arrest has been made and the incident remains under investigation.

A fulton man is charged with selling spice at a local convenience store.

Nagmaldin ali almogari is charged with 4 counts of selling a controlled substance near a church, and with intent to distribute the drug commonly known as spice.

Agents used a search warrant thursday at the kwik sak on east main street in fulton.

That's where they found the spice and more than $12 thousand dollars.

The itawamba county sheriff's department, fulton police and the north mississippi narcotics unit were involved in the arrest.

Bond has been set at $125,000.

A woodland man is in critical condition after being hit by a truck.

The crash happened last night on highway 45 north, near spurline road, in lowndes county.

State troopers say 48-year-old gene sparks was riding his bike in the northbound lane.

A truck driven by 34-year-old deron turner of caledonia collided with the cyclist.

Sparks was air lifted to a hospital out of the area.

Mhp is investigating the accident.

Stinger 2-shot weather open summary: a few more showers and storms are possible saturday with lower rain chances sunday and early next week.

Two tropical systems are forecast to affect the gulf of mexico early next week with tropical storm laura being our main concern.

It's still possible that we could have some impacts locally by the middle of next week so stay tuned for updates this weekend.

Friday night: variably cloudy with a few lingering showers or storms possible.

Lows in the mid to upper 60s.

Light winds.

Saturday: sun & clouds with a 30- 40% chance of a few pop-up showers or storms. highs top out in the mid to upper 80s.

Winds variable 2-7 mph.

Saturday night: partly cloudy and quiet.

Lows in the upper 60s.

Sunday-tuesday: partly cloudy, warm, and reasonably quiet with just small chance of a shower or storm.

Highs in the lower 90s with lows in the 70s.

Wednesday-friday: forecast confidence is extremely low and all based on where the two tropical systems end up.

We're going to include the chance of rain & storms and slightly cooler temperatures just to hedge on the possibility that some impacts cold be felt here.

If the storms stay away then our region could be drier and hotter.

Stinger new legislation approved by the ncaa will benefit fall student- athletes...more information on that, next in sports spx open in occordance with governor tate reeves' new exeucutive order, mississippi state has made adjustments to its game day operations here's a look to some of the game day changes happening at davis wade in 2020 -- davis wade stadium will have 25% capacity as well as limited seating in clubs and suites -- masks will be required to enter, exit, and move throughout the stadium when social distancing is not possible -- the dawg walk has been postponed this season -- mobile ticketing and cashless payment at concessions will be available -- something to get excited about, mississippi state will allow beer sales in davis wade this season if you're looking to purchase you will have to do so cashless for all the details on msu's updated game day you can visit our website, wcbi.com if everything goes according to plan, s-e-c football will return in just five weeks however, should everything go south because of the coronavirus pandemic, the n-c- aa has put a plan in place for fall athletes the n-c-aa voting to give fall sport student-athletes an addition year of eligibilty as well as an additional year to complete it through a waiver this helps any student-athlete who has had the fall season postponed due to covid-19, such as in the big ten and pac 12 although, the s-e-c hasn't opted out of the season, the waiver does apply to all fall sport athletes mississippi state senior linebacker erroll thompson says it doesn't change how he's preparing for the season "me personally, i honestly haven't been able to look that far ahead.

You know we're in camp right now so that's been my main focus.

It could be a prep year for a lot of guys but i know this team we aren't using it as that.

Using it like it's a regular season.

Everybody's bought in so it is a prep year.

This is the prep year."

Saltillo high school's football season is being put on pause before it even began the lee county school district releasing a statement that the saltillo high school football team has been quarantined until september 4th due to covid-19 this is in accordance with the mississippi state department of health and the cdc saltillo was scheduled to play a scrimmage against kossuth on august 28th and play the tigers season opener against itawamba a-h-s on september 4th both have been canceled...itawamb a head coach clint hoots tells wcbi that the indians are trying to schedule another opponent for its season opener throughout the summer, the push for racial equality and social justice has been supported across campuses in the southeastern conference from black lives matter protests to unity walks...and, of course..m-s-u running back kylin hill puttingcc is college career on the line in support of changing the mississippi state flag now, the s-e-c has announced a new council dedicated to racial equity and social justice columbus head football coach josh pulphus says its players like hill, who set a good example for younger kids "pulphus: "he voiced his concern.

That's one thing we talked about this summer, this offseason.

How to basically stand up and do what you know is right.

In order to have the kylin hill's the derek beckhams, the chris de loches of the world...there's a lot of great columbus aluimni and players that are out there.

In order for them to see kylin hill, a kid who's going to be playing on sundays pretty soon..it's great for our boys.

For him to lead by example that way is good for our players.

It's good for them to have somebody they know around their age that can get national publicity just by doing what's right."

When we return...chief meteorologist keith gibson will have a last look at your forecast.

You are this weekend, celebrities from across the region put on their dancing shoes to raise money for the boys and girls clubs of north mississippi.

Keri mcmillin is one of seven celebrity dancers in this year's "dance like the stars" she has been raising money and practicing all summer for the event.

This year the dances will be performed live at the bancorpsouth arena, but the crowd will be watching via facebook.

Still, mcmillin says fundraising has been strong.

"we have actually, as a group, already hit our goal, which is amazing, i know with everything going on in our world today and community i'm very surprised and so grateful that people are so willing to give, and i think that's the state we live in, we are a giving state and i have met my goal, what i set out to do, and we still have time to raise more."

Wcbi's allie martin is co hosting the event// you can watch it at 6 30 tomorrow night, through the boys and girls clubs facebook page.

Now you have to grab the rain from the base down towards the creek