WCBI News at Six - Thursday, September 17th, 2020

Video Credit: WCBI
Published on September 17, 2020 -
WCBI News at Six - Thursday, September 17th, 2020

WCBI News at Six - Thursday, September 17th, 2020

Another round of drive-thru testing here at mississippi state.

Where school officials says the university stands one month into the fall semester.

School officials in pickens county, alabama have a plan in place to get students back to face to face learning.

We'll take a look just ahead.

Show open intro roll vo in monitor earlier this week, governor tate reeves expanded capacity for restaurants and other businesses.

He says he hopes to increase attendance for outdoor events in the near future.

And as the regulations change, law enforcement officers have to make sure those rules are enforced.

Our stephanie poole explains how officers are adjusting to all the changes.

Small crowds, large crowds, curfew, and masks.

éé these are just a few of the details officers must stay mindful of on a weekly basis.éé but keeping every detail regulated can be a challenge.éé "those things are very difficult to control."

Winston county sheriff, jason pugh has given his guys clear instructions.

"what i've told my deputies is to be polite, don't try to be demanding of people with things.

Try to discuss it with them.

It's just a fluid situation.

We were discussing that earlier, it's changing everyday.

The governor's mandate is changes weekly or bi-weekly because the situation is changing so what he is having to do is changing."

As crowd size guidelines change, pugh says he's adjusting schedules.

He has only 8 deputies to dispatch, so they're relying on a few helping hands.

" the schedules are constantly changing fluctuating to help to deal with things.

We had deputies, part-time deputies on specials assignments this week trying to deal with issues that were coming up."

In some areas, like oktibbeha county, sheriff steve gladney says it's a bit hectic to keep an crowd size to a minimum.

" everybody wants to get back to some kind of normalcy and hey we do too.

The govenor comes out and on monday and he'll give the guidelines for that week and we have to deal with them to make people safe and doing what they're supposed to do."

At least two deputies are dispatched during a call, leaving fewer people for patrol.

" a-lot of times we'll get calls to a large group or large party somewhere and we don't know anything about it till we get there."

In the meantime, gladney and pugh will continue to use their resources to keep citizens safe.

"we can't just focus on one thing, we got the whole county to focus on."

Butt sots "one thing we like to stress to people is to use your own best judgement."

Your own best judgement."

Governor tate reeves will continue to release new updates weekly.

Several counties in our area are reporting a high number of new coronavirus cases today.

Lafayette county has 55 new cases.

Lee county is reporting 51; oktibbeha 29; and pontotoc 28.

The mississippi department of health is reporting 701 new cases statewide and 24 deaths.

632 people remain hospitalized.

168 are being treated in i.c.u.

And 98 are a ventilator.

More than 91- thousand people have tested positive for coronavirus and more than 27- hundred have died.

Roll vo in monitor some new changes are set begin in the coming weeks for students in pickens county.

A staggered grade level phase was announced monday by superintendent jamie chapman.

Chapman says this plan was put in place due to the steady decrease of covid cases in the county... and is hoping this plan is a stepping stone to having each grade level back in school for traditional learning... sot sot - jamie chapman - superintendent - pickens county schools "bring in pre-k through three on september 28.

That will be for a two week.

We will monitor our numbers and make sure that things are as good as can be and we are not seeing a significant increase or rise of covid positive cases in our system.

And if everything is going well two weeks later october 13 we will bring in grades 4 to 6."

And if this plan continues to work... grades 7 to 8 will then be next on the list... as for the high schoolers - chapman says they will remain on their a and b schedule until the end of the first semester..

Monitor intro roll vo in monitor today marks one month since classes at mississippi state got underway for the fall semester.

Wcbi news reporter stephen pimpo was there today and spoke with school officials about their progress in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

Stephen?

Aundrea, last week, wcbi reported just over 900 mississippi state students were quarantined or isolated in connection with covid-19.

This week...that number is down to little more than 300.

School leadership praised students and faculty for following their safety protocols and hope they can keep it up for the long haul.

"we're very happy with the trend that the numbers are showing.

Both the folks going in quarantine as well as just our positive cases."

This was the scene thursday afternoon as cars lined up for free covid-19 testing offered to mississippi state staff and students.

"this seemed very well organized and very well put together.

It took less time than i expected it to."

Su: students and staff check in here to receive their pre-made test kit...then go to the next station where the test is administered.

They should expect results within 24 hours.

It's just the latest example of the many steps msu is taking to keep their campus safe as this pandemic drags on.

"if you're symptomatic you would go to the health center, if you've been exposed to somebody, you'd go to the health center.

But this is for anyone who's just curious."

Student affairs assistant.

Vp jeremy baham, outlining just a few points of the school's detailed health and safety return plan, says that after a spike in cases early in the semester, msu has seen a significant decrease in positive coronavirus case and the number of people needing to quarantine.

He says much of the credit goes to how well students and employees have stuck to the new guidelines.

"we have seen across the country just some students who have disregarded what the universities are telling them and we haven't seen that.

Most of our students, they want to be here.

They want to learn."

Msu grad student ryan king says that matches what he has seen from his fellow students.

"at least within buildings, i don't think i've seen anyone not wearing a mask that needed to be."

While baham is pleased with their early success...he says covid-19 isn't going anywhere soon.

And that progress won't matter unless they can keep this trend going.

"you know what to do, we know what works.

Wear your masks, stay socially distant from each other.

So follow the protocols and we're all going to get through this together."

With the bulldogs set to kick-off the 2020 football season against the lsu tigers next saturday, i asked baham if he is concerned about a jump in large gatherings to watch games.

He said he wants the students to enjoy football...but also stay safe.

Aundrea?

First look stinger first look thursday night: scattered high clouds and cooler.

Lows in the middle 60s.

Northerly winds 4- 10 mph.

Friday: a mix of high clouds and sunshine.

Highs ranging from the upper 70s to lower 80s.

Breezy northerly winds at 10-15 mph.

Temperatures start out in the low 70s for high school football with 60s developing during the games.

Help is on the way.

Crews from four county electric power association left this morning.

These guys are headed to florida to the escambia river cooperative in florida.

That is due north of pensacola and pensacola beach.

This 4 county team includes 13 men, three bucket trucks, two digger derrick trucks and two crew trucks.

Four county is part of an agreement to provide help to sister cooperatives in times of crisis.

Crew leader tommy reed says they are following the path of hurricane sally and stand ready to help.

We expect to see a lot of downed trees, most likely a lot of flooding in low lying areas.

And lots of power lines down.

Probably a lot of people's service disrupted to their house.

You know, probably a lot of house damage and road damage.

At least 80 percent of the escambia service area is without power.

That adds up to more than 11,000 cooperative members four county will be on site to help.

The recycling program in starkville is bagged by the board of alderman.

The cost to recycle has gone up.

So the aldermen voted to suspend the program.

The board has been evaluating the program ever since the value of recycled materials dropped.

The city collected material for recycling, but they had to pay another company to take it to the next step.

And it turns out, it cost more to send the materials off than they are actually worth.

Mayor lynn spruill says the decision is a practical one.

The company that was picking them up, raised the fees on for this coming fiscal year.

And so we decided that it was not cost effective and there are better tions out there for us.

If we were not actually getting things recycled, it doesn't make sense to spend the money.

The city may consider a partnership with msu to bring the campus recycling program to the starkville eventually.

Stinger another class of cadets are training to patrol the streets of tupelo, see how they are training coming up next the clay county sheriff's department is investigating another possible animal cruelty case.

This makes the second one this week.

Sheriff's deputies were called out to walker sanders road near pheba earlier today after neighbors filed a noise complaint.

Once on scene, deputies found at least 15 malnourished dogs chained up in the woods throughout several different connecting properties.

Another dog was found dead.

Sheriff eddie scott says his office is in process of attained seizure warrants for each property involved.

The clay county animal shelter is assisting in relocating the dogs.

No arrests have been made at this time.

Scott says the investigation is on- going and more dogs could be found.

Intro roll vo in monitor twenty three future law officers are learning valuable skills they will use on the streets.

The cadets are part of class b 65 at the north mississippi law enforcement training center.

Wcbi's allie martin has more.

It is week seven for class b 65 and cadets have spent the past six weeks learning about the fundamentals of police work.

This week,it's firearms. "proficiency for firearms is one of the most important things they will do here in the course of the academy."

Nats to wrap up firearms week, instructors set up an obstacle course.

"we might call that a stress course, to show them how in real world scenarios, it's not just going to be a paper target they will draw and shoot at, in real world scenario, they will be winded, stressed, have to run, climb walls, crawl under obstacles, up and down ladders and make good decisions."

Cadets live at the academy through the week, and learn to work and function as a team.

When one person makes a mistake, everyone pays.

Nats the training is tough, but cadets say they are looking forward to putting what they are learning into practice.

"we focus on all the small things, everything that can go into police work, as far as making our beds in the morning, making sure we have all our tasks taken care of and knocking everything out we got to get done."

"i love my community and love my family, and this is the best opportunity i have to support, protect and serve both of those."

Class b 65 wraps up at the end of october, between now and then there will be more pt tests, and other topics such driving tactics for law enforcement and how to deal with an active shooter situation.

In tupelo, allie martin, wcbi news the training the training center runs three basic twelve week classes each year stinger weather open summary: high pressure will keep cooler and less humid air flowing into our area through the weekend and into early next week.

Comfortable highs each day will range from the upper 70s to lower 80s while overnight lows fall into the 50s.

Tropics: a disturbance in the western gulf of mexico could be the next depression or tropical storm.

Wilfred would be its name.

The system is likely to meander around the western gulf through the weekend but it's still not out of the question that it could move towards the northern gulf by the middle of next week.

Stay tuned for updates.

Thursday night: scattered high clouds and cooler.

Lows in the middle 60s.

Northerly winds 4- 10 mph.

Friday: a mix of high clouds and sunshine.

Highs ranging from the upper 70s to lower 80s.

Breezy northerly winds at 10-15 mph.

Temperatures start out in the low 70s for high school football with 60s developing during the games.

Friday night: variably cloudy.

Lows in the upper 50s.

Saturday: clouds & sunshine.

Refreshing highs mainly in the upper 70s.

Saturday night: a few clouds and quiet.

Lows in the 50s.

Sunday-tuesday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Highs from the upper 70s to lower 80s.

Lows in the 50s.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app stinger college basketball is officially set to return in november...details and reaction on the n-c-aa news, next in sports spx just as soon as baldwyn began football season, the bearcats already have to put competing on pause the bearcats are forced to cancel friday night's contest against belmont due to three players and a coach testing positive for covid- 19 because the team will undergo a mandatory quarantine, baldwyn will also have to miss the dicision opener against thrasher that is scheduled for september 25th baldwyn is expected to resume play against coldwater on the road on october 2nd a few more teams have been forced to adjust following covid-19 cancelations caledonia will now host holly springs this upcoming friday after nettleton has put atheltics on pause due to covid-19 this week and tupelo wants to play the golden wave were forced to reschedule the team's september 18th match-up twice...now tupelo will host west lauderdale this friday of course, you can find all the highlights and scores friday night on wcbi endzone... friday is already week three of a full slate of high school football games this week's game of the week, is probably one few will be able to pass up you might have already guessed it...noxubee county at west point will be headlining week three of wcbi endzone as our game of the week the tigers have had a solid start to the season heading to west point with a 2-0 record, while west point just picked up the greenies first win of the season against tupelo i have a feeling west point is hungry for another w noxubee county has not beaten out west point since 2012..join us live at 5 and 6 friday as we get you ready for the friday night showdown college basketball is officially on the calendar the n-c-a-a announcing on wednesday, that the season can officially begin on november 25th with practices starting october 14th no exhibition games or closed scrimmages will be allowed before the start date men's basketball will be allowed 24- 25 regular season games dependent on if a team opts to participate in a winter tournament while, women 23-25 regular season games also dependent on winter tournament play in terms of preseason, teams will have 42 days to conduct 30 practices, with a limited 20 hours per week and four hours per day with one scheduled day off ole miss head coach kermit davis calling the new schedule a marathon "we're going to have more than enough time.

I think what we all have to be is very smart with our time.

That's why i think we're going to give our team off next week just to do the academic things.

They can be here voluntarily in our facilites and then even with the 12 hour rule not taking advantage of the eight hours on the court early.

I think we're going to have more than enough time starting on that 14th to get ready for the 25th."

As kick-off to the s-e-c season grows closer, mississippi state and ole miss both seeing three players each tabbed preseason all-sec by league coaches for mississippi state: -- running back kylin hill earning first team preseason all-sec honors -- linebacker erroll thompson named second team on defense -- and defensive end kobe jones landed on the third team as for ole miss: -- wide receiver elijah moore landed on the third team -- punter mac brown also on the third team preseason all-sec -- meanwhile, jerrion ealy was named second team on special teams as the return specialist, and third team as a running back and all-purpose you can see the rebels and the bulldogs in action starting september 26th when we return...chief meteorologist keith gibson will have a last look at your forecast.

You are watching wcbi vga community is relaxing for a while here as we used to get closer and closer the fall busies of the cbs on tuesday with the size of her so these low 80s lowe's of these quite comfortable clouds in the near term for the overall takes on those files on driven cooling down you'll fall in the air and yeses is feeling good is about you so happy about

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