WCBI News at Ten - Thursday, August 6th, 2020

WCBI News at Ten - Thursday, August 6th, 2020

Thanks for joining us at nine// we've heard state leaders discuss their partnership with the president's administration on covid-19 response// today--a mississippi native and member of the administration speaks with courtney ann jackson about the outlook in mississippi// dr. john fleming trained at the university of mississippi medical center.

He's now assistant to the president for planning and implementation.

And in the daily task force meetings.

"the president is watching very closely what's happening in mississippi."

Fleming is optimistic about seeing some stabilization in numbers for mississippi.

As for whether testing is up to par--- "in some cases the turnaround time may be a little slower than we'd like but that seems to be improving, as well."

I asked about testing events like those that the department of health is partnering with cdc on...trying to test the whole community in lexington.

"that's what we call surveillance testing, not diagnostic testing.

But how do we know what the percentage of positivity is in any given community or state?

The reason to monitor that is that gives us some guidance as to how we can relax further phases into the future.

So, if the positivity rate spikes, we know we have to be careful about further openings."

Here's a look at the trends in test positivity--mississip pi still the highest in the country.

Governor reeves has said multiple times now that it's too high.

Fleming today.... "positivity rates have actually in the last few weeks have been a bit high in mississippi but they appear to be flattening and we're seeing a downward trend."

What about the vaccine?

"they're in phase three testing now and hopefully soon we'll be able to begin vaccines by the end of the year."

Courtney ann jackson, wcbi news the governor's recent executive order delaying the start of school in areas he says are covid-19 hotspots, forces the department education to vote on a decision on the academic calendar// mississippi requires 180 days of instruction for the academic year// however, today's vote will let eight counties hit hard by covid-19 to lower that down to 170 days of class instruction// governor reeves delayed the start of school for grades 7 through 12th in bolivar, coahoma, forrest, george, hinds, panola, sunflower and washington// those same counties fall under today's vote by the board of education which was unanimous// students in the lee county school district are back in classes for the first since spring break// all students and teachers must wear masks, after governor tate reeves mandated masks in schools earlier this week.

At saltillo primary school, nearly 650 students are enrolled for in person classes this semester.

Principal brad jackson says teachers have been preparing for weeks to make sure their classes are ready for students.

"teachers have also worked really hard in classrooms to create ways to distance students, get different ways of seating, dividers, things like that, a lot of teachers have done things in weeks that typically take months to do, but they came up here on weekends, nights, just trying to make sure their classroom is safe for the students, and if they had the ability to spread out but still feel like they were learning and having a good time while they were here."

In lee county schools, waivers must be signed for participation in any extracurricular activities, but not for in person classes.

Wipe vo an area ministry is helping schools "mask" up.

The governor's latest order requires teachers, students, and any staff on campuses to wear a mask to help limit the possible spread of covid-19// eight days of hope is getting ten thousand masks shipped to their national headquarters in pontotoc county// the masks are coming from the ministry's buffalo new york location, which purchased the masks when the covid-19 pandemic first began// schools throughout lee and pontotoc counties can request to get masks for free// sot "the students in northeast mississippi, they don't have an option, they need to wear a mask and some families can't afford to buy a mask, after mask, after mask, so this is just a different type of disaster, that's what we do, we respond to disasters, these masks hopefully will help out."

Eight days of hope will deliver the masks starting next week to those schools that have put in their requests.

First look stinger first look summary: we're going to end the work week on a warm and dry note and carry things over into the start of the weekend.

Humidity ramps back up starting saturday and that will lead to more showers and storms anytime from sunday afternoon through next week.

Thursday night: clear, quiet, and comfy.

Lows in the mid 60s.

Light northerly winds.

Friday: mostly sunny, warm, and dry.

Highs in the low to mid 90s.

Northerly winds 3- 7 mph.

New at ten ing beirut, lebanon grief has turned to outrage following two explosions that wiped out portions of the capital// today, the death toll climbed to at least 149 - with more than five- thousand wounded// cbs's em-ti-az tybe reports// beirut's busy city centre... ...torn to pieces.

Life - for so many - turned into a living hell.

Including for seema jillani.

A texas-born doctor, seen here soothing her daughter in the back of a packed ambulance.

Four-year old iman was badly injured... after their home was all but destroyed in the explosion... "i didn't even grab my stethoscope, which to me tells me a lot where my head was.

It really.

And it really kills me that i'm not at the hospital right now offering my services.

I wish i could be.

Across beirut are many more harrowing stories of survival... and streets strewn with debris.

"this was the beating heart of beirut's legendary nightlife district... and in just a few moments... complete devastation."

Shell-shocked residents accused lebanese leaders of being "thugs"& saying they are to blame for all this misery& ..for ignoring repeated warnings about the more than 27-hundred tons of russian- owned ammonium nitrate stored at the port for years.

And so, yet again, the people of this city are left to pick up the pieces themselves... as they continue to endure the horrors of what appears to be an entirely avoidable disaster.

Roll vo in monitor it was the end of last month when service members from camp pendleton were doing routine training, when tragedy struck.

Several were killed and one of those service members, 19-year- old private first class evan bath who had family ties to north mississippi.

Wcbi's allie martin has more// pkg when dan soper found out his great-nephew, private first class evan bath was one of the marines missing after their amphibious assault vehicle sank off san clemente island, he was praying they would be rescued.

But a few days later, the rescue operation switched to recovery.

Soper describes his great-nephew as quiet, funny, and inquisitive, a young man who was living out his lifelong dream.

"this was his goal in life was to be a marine, and he told his mother, just about two weeks ago, that he was absolutely thrilled what he was doing, on a ship, he had gotten on a ship as part of his training and he loved being there."

Pfc bath was one of sixteen personnel aboard the 26-ton amphibious assault vehicle that sank after taking on water during a shore to ship maneuver.

One marine was pronounced dead at the scene, and seven marines and one sailor died in the aav.

The others on board were rescued.

Soper says the marines gave his great-nephew the direction he was seeking in life.

"they were good for him to give him a balanced life and the discipline he needed to find out what he needed to be doing in life, and he had really discovered that."

He also says the outpouring of support is appreciated and needed, as the family leans on their strong christian faith.

"you know, we've all had our ups and downs and hard knocks in life, without that support and prayer that goes along with it, it's very difficult to handle these types of situations, we just need to remember them over the next couple of weeks as this progresses."

Officials say recovery operations should wrap up by the weekend.

In tupelo, allie martin, wcbi news stinger open summary: we're going to end the work week on a warm and dry note and carry things over into the start of the weekend.

Humidity ramps back up starting saturday and that will lead to more showers and storms anytime from sunday afternoon through next week.

Thursday night: clear, quiet, and comfy.

Lows in the mid 60s.

Light northerly winds.

Friday: mostly sunny, warm, and dry.

Highs in the low to mid 90s.

Northerly winds 3- 7 mph.

Friday night: mainly clear and quiet.

Lows in the upper 60s.

Saturday: partly cloudy and hot.

Highs in the mid 90s.

Humidity rises and that will lead to heat indices over 100 at times.

Lows saturday night in the low 70s.

Sunday: hot and humid.

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

Just a 20% chance of a few spotty afternoon and early evening showers and storms. next week: typical summer weather returns.

Expect pop-up storms each day along with highs in the summer weather returns.

Expect pop-up storms each day along with highs in the 90s and lows in the 70s.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, summary: we're going to end the work week on a warm and dry note and carry things over into the start of the weekend.

Humidity ramps back up starting saturday and that will lead to more showers and storms anytime from sunday afternoon through next week.

Thursday night: clear, quiet, and comfy.

Lows in the mid 60s.

Light northerly winds.

Friday: mostly sunny, warm, and dry.

Highs in the low to mid 90s.

Northerly winds 3- 7 mph.

Friday night: mainly clear and quiet.

Lows in the upper 60s.

Saturday: partly cloudy and hot.

Highs in the mid 90s.

Humidity rises and that will lead to heat indices over 100 at times.

Lows saturday night in the low 70s.

Sunday: hot and humid.

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

Just a 20% chance of a few spotty afternoon and early evening hey everyone!

We're back in restaurant tyler with the ever so fabulous bobby burgess and today we're talking about syrah's.

If you are a fan of syrah or don't know a lot about syrah bobby's here to teach us.

Yeah, so we've got three from three different syrah's out of california specifically all from santa barbara county.

Ava is american viticultural area.

That's how we define our wine regions.

So kind of like if you think about when you go to the store and you buy a bottle of italian wine, sometimes it'll say doc or docg.

That's how they regulate their areas.

And in the us, we use an ava.

So just kind of tell us folks what region that wine came from.

All right, so the first one i'm a big fan of just because the master sommelier from this vineyard was in starkville to share some of this wine.

Bien nacido- we did host a wine dinner with master sommelier will costello.

He was a super cool dude.

This winery, actually dates back, to the land dates back to 1837.

And in 1969, the miller family purchased it.

And this is from santa maria, california, which is the santa maria ava, which was founded in 1981.

Wow, a lot of history.

So a lot of history there, which is really, really awesome.

All right, and then next, the chad melville why, well, yeah, one of my favorites do.

I gotta quit saying my famous because there was all my favorites.

Yeah, so this one comes from st.

Ynez, okay, which was founded in 1983.

And this is a sub ava specifically santa rita hills, which was founded in 2001.

So it's an a smaller ava inside of a larger ava.

This is chad melville the wines are delicious all of these also tastes so different they're all from santa barbara county but just in different areas.

It's crazy how just being in a different spot and planted how the wine can taste so different.

It really depends on where you're from cooler climate wines tend to be lighter, whereas warmer climates if you think about shiraz, which is just a syrah from australia, it's super big, super jammy just all where it's located at crazy.

It's crazy.

Okay, and then stolpman vineyards another good one.

Yeah.

So this is from the ballard canyon, ava and so that was founded in 2013.

To be from ballard canyon, you have your bottles have to be embossed with ballard canyon on it.

Cool.

Yeah.

And so this is actually the first or so they say in the united states that this is the first ava that really focused and define what syrah is in the united states.

And this is stolpman vineyards.

We love peter and jessica stolpmann.

And so to make sure you have the original you got to have that kind of engraving to be from there legally, they have to have that on their bottles, which is really cool.

That is that's how they help keep quality control like this is coming from here.

The grapes are coming from here.

That's awesome.

So if you want to grab a syrah, here are our three top choices for you till next time, everyone.

Cheers.

Cheers.

The humidity is creeping back in this weekend// but some are more vulnerable to the heat and can be the first to become dehydrated// here's doctor richardson with health talk with baptist// segment 3: what can i do to prevent dehydration in my child and how much sun is safe for my baby?

Make sure your child drinks plenty of cool water and sports drinks early and often to prevent dehydration.

Send your child out to practice or play fully hydrated.

Then during the day, make sure your child takes regular breaks to drink fluids, even if the child is not thirsty.

If you child develops a heat illness, the first thing you should do is get the child out of the sun and into a cool comfortable place.

Have the child start drinking plenty of cool fluids and take off any excess layers of clothing or bulky equipment.

Kids with heat exhaustion should not be allowed back on the field the same day.

Babies under six months of age should never be exposed to the sun.

Babies older than six months should be protected from the sun and wear uv-blocking sunglasses to protect their eyes.

A broad spectrum sunscreen with a spf of at least 30 that protects against both uva and uvb rays should be the last line of defense for your child.

It should not be used to extend the amount of time you keep your child outdoors.

For a baby under one year old, sunburn should be treated as an emergency.

Call you doctor immediately.

For a child one year or older, call your doctor if there is severe pain, blistering, lethargy or fever over 101 degrees.

Join us next time for health talk with baptist.

Stinger the high school football tour continues on...we check in with the south pontotoc cougars see the preview, next in sports the high school football tour checks-in with our final pontotoc team, the south pontotoc cougars the cougars return after a difficult 2019 season, hoping to build on their experience south pontotoc is stop number 46 on the high school football tour the bounce back begins in south pontotoc as the the bounce back begins in south pontotoc as the cougars look to improve after a difficult 2019.

After going 1-10 under first year head coach rod cook, the team feels more comfortable and confident heading into year two.

"we didn't have the experience that we did this year.

We have the majority of our offense and defense come back so we have experience.

All of us that came back have played for multiple years with most the seniors so we have chemistry."

"i think the intensity is better for us this year.

We didn't really know what to expect.

Now, this year as a team we know what we got to do and what we got to do to get the job done.

We'll do the best we can."

"a lot more fun.

We just all bonded together.

We've been together since seventh grade."

The cougars bring back 17 seniors and the entire starting offensive line positioning this team to be in good shape on offense.

"it makes it easier.

Those guys have been in the program.

We haven't changed a thing.

They know key terms and are ready to perform."

"we got more starts as a unit.

We've all played together for awhile.

We're family.

We go into the game knowing that the offensive line has to lead the way.

We do the best we can to protect our quarterback and protect our running back."

South pontotoc welcomes in a new offensive coordinator with bert ashley joining the fold allowing head coach rod cook to focus on the defense.

"this year having a new offensive coordinator and me concentrating mainly on defense, i feel like we'll be a lot better."

"i think our offense will be better than it was.

We got a new offensive coordinator this year so coach cook doesn't have to do everything."

With the experience the cougars carry into the season as well as added help on the staff, the team is ready to see how they shape up in division play.

"we feel like our eyes were opened last year, and we're ready to meet that challenge again this year."

"we didn't know exactly how it was going to be.

This year we'll just go in with our head up and practice hard, play hard and watch film."

South pontotoc travels to aberdeen september 4th.

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

Here's i drive for your friday and saturday low in the 90s here committee comes back as we can you know what that means it you with your line out you know that plenty of humidity will give us why since i was a soldier lease in schenectady is getting connect to the heat and asked to be over hundred degrees against god here very long to realize one day as i only need one more day of the me.

I drive will what i'll yeah i am ready are always ready for the next key visualizing