WCBI News at Six - Thursday, July 9th, 2020

Video Credit: WCBI
Published on July 9, 2020 -
WCBI News at Six - Thursday, July 9th, 2020

WCBI News at Six - Thursday, July 9th, 2020

Good evening everyone... a developing story... tonight at six... as state troopers are looking for an arkansas man in webster county.

The mississippi highway patrol says donta kirby of pine bluff was pulled over on highway 82, near mathiston, today.

While the trooper was conducting an investigation, mhp says kirby ran away while wearing handcuffs.

Kirby does have ties to east columbus and could be in the area and he's a convicted felon.

If you know where kirby is tonight, call 9-1-1 cases and concerns continue to rise after the state reported another high number of covid-19 cases.éé hospitals are steadily filling up and it's leaving health officials concerned about the number of patients they can house.

Our stephanie poole explains.

State health officer doctor thomas dobbs says covid-19 is getting worse throughout the state.éé and that increase in cases has five of the largest hospital in mississippi full.

éé " we've had a steady increase in coroavirus cases, deaths, and hospitalizations over the last couple weeks which is not a suprise.

We've been talking about this saying it's coming and here it is."

On tuesday, 703 new covid cases were reported in the state.

Dr. dobbs says the ability to provide patient care is creating more questions than answers.

"when i talk to my er colleagues,i'm understanding they can't get anywhere because there is no where to send them.

We're sending people out of state all the time because mississippi hospitals can not take care of mississippi patients."

Och regional medical center has four covid-19 patients, with one in icu.

Three beds are available with others on reserve.

Baptist golden triangle has 12 patients in icu.

They have the capacity to add additional beds if needed.

In a statement from north mississippi medical center, chief medical officer, dr. jeremy blanchard says there are icu beds available at the tupelo hospital and within their system to care for covid and non- covid patients.

" i'm also convinced that what we're doing now is not working.

It is not safe, it is not smart and it is not effective.

We went from shelter in place to wide open."

Um-mc chancellor lou ann woodward and governor tate reeves are urging citizens to wear a mask.

" what we have got to find is the right place in that middle ground.

We have got to find a way to live.

We've got to find the right way to live with this virus for the foreseeable future.

" butt sots " what we're trying to ask mississippians to do is to recognize the risk the state currently faces, wer're askign our local law enforcement team and officers to help people ahdere to these rules and guidelines and just use common sense.

And it's going to take several medical facilities to keep control on the outbreak.

" now is the time for the hospitals to have to step up and try to counter the impacts of reckless social behavior."

Dr. dobbs says rural hospitals will be used for any overflow.

Itawamba community college has an agreement with the msdh to serve as an official site in north mississippi to be used as an alternative care site.éé any facility that would be used will be completely isolated during use and sanitized post-activation.éé there are also plans for opening camp shelby if hospitals in the state become overwhelmed.éé thirteen mississippi counties now have mask mandates.

Hinds, rankin and madison are under the mandate, as is desoto county.

Harrison, jackson, washington, wayne , quitman, jefferson and claiborne counties are on the list.

The mandate also extends to sunflower and grenada counties.

The governor says he can include other counties if the need arises.

16 more mississippians died from covid-19, as the state death toll tops 12 hundred.

And as reported moments ago, the mississippi state department of health reports 703 new cases today.

Based on presumed recovered numbers provided by msdh, there are about ten thousand two hundred active cases in mississippi.

939 people are in hospitals across the state.

Over one hundred of those patients are on ventilators.

71 percent of coronavirus cases do not require hospitalization.

Lee, oktibbeha, and lowndes counties have the highest infection rate in the viewing area with over 500 cases.

Tupelo mayor jason shelton is advocating for more federal relief for local cities and towns to help with economic shortfalls in the wake of covid 19 related shutdowns and other measures.

Shelton testified from his tupelo office for the house homeland security committee.

That committee is looking at how cities, towns, and states have been impacted by covid 19.

Shelton says direct financial financial relief to cities and towns will help .

Sot "you've got two major pieces of legislation, heroes act, from democrat side, and smart act, which is from republican side, so maybe they can get together and kind of mesh the two, will have to learn to compromise, no one will get one hundred percent of everything they want but hopefully both of those pieces of legislation have some element of reimbursement for local governments."

The committee is chaired by representative bennie thompson of mississippi.

Shelton is hopeful lawmakers will pass some sort of relief bill by the end of the year.

Its been a challenging year for restaurant owners across the country..

Covid 19 placing them in uncharted territory..

Wcbi's bobby martinez talked to owners at restaurant tyler and the little dooey in starkville about lessons covid19 has taught them about the restaurant business.

Pkg it's been a year of adjustments for restaurants owners across the country due to covid-19.

And while this pandemic has presented them with difficult challenges..

There also have been lessons learned... "staying humble."

"we're just kind of rolling with the punches."

It has been a slow grind this year for restaurant owners here in mississippi.

Bart wood, owner of the little dooey in starkville..

Has been in business for 35 years... and says covid19 continues to teach him lessons.

Cg -bart wood - owner - the little dooey - starkville "from different regulations from different this and that.

Just being humble, thankful is what we've learned and has helped us to serve our customers inside outside however we have to do it."

Wood says one thing that has helped during this tough time..

Is the community support... "our clientele has literally been our rescue during this thing.

Because you know we are not set up here to do outside curbside but we are now we still have our signs up now.

We will continue that on once this is over but we've had both owners also say social media has played a major role in working to provide their customers the same personal experience they are used to having in the dining room.

First look stinger first look summary: hot, humid, and occasionally stormy weather will hang around through the weekend.

Highs will be in the 90s but heat indices may surpass 105 at times.

Rain chances drop dramatically next week but the heat and humidity will top highway 182 between stark road in starkville was forced to close this afternoon.

A medical helicopter was called to the scene of a construction accident.

Starkville police spokesman brandon lovelady tells wcbi the accident apparently involved a nail gun.

At this time, we still don't know how severe the injuries are.

Drivers were forced to find another route.

The road reopened shortly after 1:30... gfx a man is arrested in a nettleton shooting that left one person injured.

37-year-old james staples is the suspected shooter in the june 27th incident that happened on alicia circle.

The victim suffered a gunshot wound and was treated at the n-m-m-c in tupelo.

Staples fled the scene and was later arrested without incident july 7th by itawamba county deputies and the north mississippi narcotics unit.

He is facing charges of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Staples is currently awaiting bond.

The monroe county sheriff's department will soon become part of the north mississippi narcotics unit.

The unit is made up of police and sheriff's departments from across the region.

The unit shares information on suspected drug traffickers and manufacturers and assists in arrests and surveillance.

Monroe county sheriff kevin crook says there are many advantages working with other agencies in the unit.

"manpower is one advantage, but intel is probably the best advantage, being able to work together on a case, follow a case that maybe starts in monroe county, ends up in prentiss county, somewhere else, it's all connected, and jim johnson was nice enough to swear our guys in early so we've already been working across county lines with lee county , while we've been waiting on this."

The state is expected to approve an inter- local agreement allowing monroe county to become part of the unit.

That approval could come by the end of this week.

Crook says his deputies have made more than 60 felony drug arrests since the beginning of the year.

Stinger when we come back, behind the lens of a local business that is changing with the times.

You're watching wcbi news at 6.

Covid 19 related shutdowns and measures put into place to slow the spread of the virus has meant drastic changes in planning for many local businesses.

Wcbi's allie martin tells us about a local video production company that has had to find ways to adapt to the unexpected changes.

Premium production says summer is the most popular time of year to get married.

And normally they'd be helping couples captures their special day.

But covid-19 has caused many couples to postpone their weddings.

However, the tupelo based production company has found a new market.

They're helping students in the class of 2020 celebrate during covid-19.

Business owner allen peques says it all started with a phone call.

"we got a phone call from the principal of aberdeen high school, asking, for a quote of what it would take to film their high school graduation, and that turned out to be an awesome success and from there came tupelo graduation, west point, columbus, tcps and others which worked out great.

" allen says its been a learning curve---not only for the schools bur for him and his crew.

Social distancing is required and some of the larger school cereomonies took days co complete.

"where a graduation would have normally taken an hour and a half and you're out of there, we were on location for six, seven hours, time to allow for one student to walk across the stage, four to six family members, so that turned into a whole day event, and that's a lot of data to go through, for those completed presentations, but that's what we do, that's the type of service we provide."

Allen's son allen junior helps his dad with the shoots.

He graduated from icc in may with a virtual ceremony.

He says it was a privilege to help high school seniors and their families capture a special time from a year everyone will remember.

"i was elated to see the smiles on kids faces as they walked across the stage, got their diploma, things like that."

The younger pegues is looking forward to a traditional graduation ceremony from mississippi state.

"starting at mississippi state this fall and after i finish my two years i will be very excited to hopefully walk across the stage and the pandemic will be over."

Premium productions has video taped a few weddings this summer, with limited in person seating and no receptions.

Pegues sr and junior are looking forward to more weddings on the calendar next year, along with more high school graduation ceremonies for the clas of 2021.

In tupelo, allie martin, wcbi news a day camp is starkville is keeping students engaged and learning during the summer break.

Wcbi's aundrea self and cash matlock were the guest speakers at "ms smith's educational services" summer camp today.

They talked to the students about news gathering and reporting.

They also quizzed them on events and topics news reporters are covering and handed out some cool wcbi gear.

The students range in age from four to 16.

Most participate in the organization's after school program.

Stinger weather open summary: hot, humid, and occasionally stormy weather will hang around through the weekend.

Highs will be in the 90s but heat indices may surpass 105 at times.

Rain chances drop dramatically next week but the heat and humidity will only intensify as a big ridge of high pressure sets up shop.

Long story short, plan on staying in air conditioning as much as possible for the considerable future.

Thursday night: variably cloudy.

A few isolated showers and storms will remain possible.

Lows in the low to mid 70s with calm wind.

Friday: warm & humid.

Highs in the 90s with triple digit heat indices.

There is a 40% chance of scattered showers and storms during the day.

Any storm may produce locally heavy rain and lightning.

Friday night: partly cloudy and humid.

Lows in the low 70s.

A stray summary: hot, humid, and occasionally stormy weather will hang around through the weekend.

Highs will be in the 90s but heat indices may surpass 105 at times.

Rain chances drop dramatically next week but the heat and humidity will only intensify as a big ridge of high pressure sets up shop.

Long story short, plan on staying in air conditioning as much as possible for weather wrap spx open "a place that i've always looked at and somewhere that could be a long term destination for me and somewhere i could put roots down."

Planting those roots is the plan for new head coach john keith as he leads the nettleton tigers into the season.

Keith has spent 6 of the last 7 years coaching at tupelo along with a playoff appearance at mooreville as the head coach in 2016.

Fast forward to 2020, keith and the team want to take the program up a notch by fixing the little things.

"there were 50/50 games and we want to try to close in on those games and have them swing our way.

If you get a couple of those, instead of a .500 year, you're looking at a year where you win 8 or 9 games.

We're working on building a mentality where we can finish those and take that next step."

"last year, we just shot ourselves in the foot, but this year, we're going to win the games we're supposed to win."

Keith has coached at both amory and mooreville so he's very familiar with the region.

He believes if they take care of business they can be in the mix for the crown.

"we can't beat ourselves.

The tigers aren't going to beat the tigers.

We just got to go week in and week out and put the work in and let that stuff sort itself out.

I feel like if we take care of what we need to take care of that when the time comes, we'll be in the hunt."

Players like the culture keith and his staff have established as they prepare for the season.

"they showing us that he's here for us and that he's putting in the work as much as we're putting in the work.

That's a good thing that we want to see."

"they changed my love for the game.

I think i'm going to really enjoy it this year.

Have fun out there on the field."

It's that love and passion for the game and for the town of nettleton that's fueling the team.

"last year, we went 6-6 or 6-7.

Something like that, that was a big change.

This year we're going to make it even bigger because it really means a lot to nettleton.

Everybody came out and came together."

The tigers start the season with a home opener against bruce ausgust 21st.

Reporting in nettleton on the high school football tour.

Chris bolton wcbi sports.

... non-severe weather out here you pour a just west of alchemy was a what is the dump was refreshing to wars that will be artful within the next 30 minutes so i was hours tonight here joey and one of

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