WCBI - News at 6 - 09/25/20

WCBI - News at 6 - 09/25/20

Students in the west point school district will get brand new computers next week.

It's part of the state department of education's "mississippi connects" plan.

And the west point consolidated school district is among the first to get the grant.

Our stephanie poole joins us in the studio with more details.éé according to the mde, over 300- thousand orders for new devices have been purchased throughout the state.éé with uncertainty during this time, those concerns shouldn't reflect quality of education.éé and state board members are providing students the necessary tools to succeed.

éé with distance learning now an option in school districts across the state, the department of education is making sure all students have access to the technology to help them succeed.

West point students will be among the first to get new computers.

" we'll be putting pre-k through 2 will have i-pads, and 3rd grade through 12th have chromebooks."

The district's technology director michelle welch says nearly 3-thousand computers are being distributed to students.

" we have ordered 770 i-pads and we will be receiving 2,261 chromebooks and teachers will be receiving a device as well."

Welch says its all started with an application to qualify for the mississippi connects plan.

" every school district had to apply and basically do an assurance that we are going to participate and we're going to order the devices that we ask for.

Students that won't be able to have access to devices are now going to have the same advantages as other students that may have a device.

State lawmakers set aside 200- million dollars for the mississippi connects program.

50 million dollars from the money will provide school campuses with wifi and internet connectivity.

" there are limited resources for majority of the students.

We work to identify local community volunteers that are allowing us put these devices in , they are cellular.

They'll use cellular data and make hotspots in the community."

Parking lots, playgrounds, and other public areas will serve as some of the locations.

" most of the students that have internet access live within the city limits so we will work one on one with them.

We have erate funds and hopefully the house bill that they released that we are going to work with the mississippi department of education to finish completing access points on the outside."

Welch says this is the shift the school needed to ensure students have engaged learning.

" this has opened a whole new door for education."

The west point consolidated school district will receive their new computers next week.

éé administrators and faculty will create a schedule for parents and students to pick up their devices.

éé lowndes county continues to lead the way in our area with the highest number of new covid-19 cases.

The mississippi state department of health is reporting 722 new cases statewide today and 20 deaths.

Lowndes county has 44 of those new cases.

Lee county is reporting 31, itawamba has 21, lafayette county 19, and prentiss county is reporting 11 new cases.

631 people remain hospitalized.

149 of those patients remain in i.c.u.

That's the same amount of people that was reported yesterday.

State health officials say only 12 point seven percent of coronavirus cases in mississippi require hospitalization.

18-29-year-olds and females continue to lead the case count in their categories.

"operation warp speed" is moving full throttle towards a covid-19 vaccine.

That's the government code name given to find some type of preventative treatment for the virus.

A fourth phase 3 clinical trial is underway.

State health leaders believe once a vaccine is approved it can be mass produced very quickly and help the science of immunology.

"if you basically have the platform or create the vaccine you can basically just insert whatever genetic material you need to, to create the new vaccine.

So, it's help the science of immunology.

"if you basically have the platform or create the vaccine you can basically just insert whatever genetic material you need to, to create the new vaccine.

So, it's really exciting but it's also new.

Understand that people, and rightly so, need to watch it very closely to ensure we have the safety."

The goal of operation warp speed is to accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of a vaccine.

Sweet potato farmers have faced a variety of challenges this year but are on pace for an average yield.

Location and rain are making big impacts on the harvest this year.

Some fields got just enough water and others got too much from mother nature.

About a third of mississippi's sweet potato crop is grown in calhoun county, where msu extension service agents say things look promising.

Covid-19 is making an impact on how the sweet potatoes are making from the farm to the plate, with health restrictions on workers and shutdowns.

However, the price of the crop is holding steady with last year's figures.

First look stinger summary: clouds will be slow to clear saturday but we should see enough sunshine to get highs back to around 80 by the afternoon.

A few isolated showers are possible sunday but highs look to remain in the 80s.

A band of rain is likely monday afternoon and evening as another cold front pushes across the region.

A prolonged stretch of cooler & quiet weather should begin tuesday.

Friday night: areas of low clouds and vo is enough sunshine.

Southerly winds 2- 7 mph.

Vo columbus police are looking for two burglars who have an eye out for pain medication.

The first break-in happened happened at robert's apothecary on 5th street north about 4:30 this morning.

Alarms did go off to alert police.

The accused thieves wore hoodies to hide their faces and gloves on their hands.

A second burglary occurred at southern drugs at 12th and main streets, about an hour after the burglar, at 5:30 am.

Columbus police chief fred shelton says mostly schedule three drugs were taken.

A brick was used to break the glass in the front of the stores.

The burglars did not stay inside the pharmacies very long.

Shelton says detectives are combing through video surveillance to give them more clues in the case.

If you have any information, call golden triangle crime stoppers at the number on your screen.

A former mississippi department of child protection services employee is accused of child sex crimes.

26-year-old lauren cavness was indicted on two counts of sexual battery, child exploitation, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In the indictment, prosecutors allege cavness had sex with two juveniles under her care.

She's accused of having a child engaging in sexually explicit behavior on her cell phone.

Prosecutors are also accusing cavness harboring a runaway child, at least twice.

Cavness is out of jail on a 70 thousand dollar bond.

The cps special investigation unit, the mississippi attorney general's office, and the tishomingo county sheriff's office investigated the case.

A clay county woman pleads guilty to nine counts of animal cruelty.

Shermia brownlee was ordered to pay more than 46 hundred dollars in fines and restitution for the guilty plea.

Nine dogs were seized back on september 17th at a north beasley road property, in pheba.

A portion of the money she paid went to the west point - clay county animal shelter.

Sheriff eddie scott encourages anyone to report animal cruelty to his office.

Brownlee was never booked in jail and did not have a mugshot made.

If you like being on our state roads and want to protect and serve, the mississippi highway patrol has a job for you.

Mhp is accepting applications for cadet class 65.

The application deadline is october 31st.

After graduation, there are opportunities for troopers to advance their career in the department of public safety.

Highway patrolmen can work in crash reconstruction, criminal investigations, narcotics, explosives, diving, or aviation.

Cadet class 65 will begin training early next year.

Employees in all kinds of different fields have gone above and beyond during the pandemic.... but many say they're not getting the thanks they deserve.

Laura podesta looks at out how much a thank you can be appreciated.

.

"she gets me ."

After completing a recent work project lexi fields got this 'you're awesome' meme from her boss.

The small gesture, meant the world.

"it really doesn't take a lot of effort to do something like that - but it does mean something to us all.

We do feel like a family on this team."

But it seems her manager's expression of thankfulness&is not the norm.

A recent survey of 500 americans found nearly half had not received a "thank you" from their boss during the pandemic.

The company workhuman conducted the study... eric mosley is the c-e-o.

"that's a huge number" "it's quite unbelievable.

If you think of it in today's world - with all that's going on - we've asked 10s of millions of people to work from home, and sometimes under duress.

Don't have ideal circumstances.

It's a very stressful time."

On twitter&worker complaints run rampant.

"do you feel appreciated?"

"i feel like things have changed."

E-m-t carl robinson says he got lots of thanks robinson says he got lots of thanks for being a front- line worker at the ábeginning of the pandemic, but not lately.

"do you think if the praise was more consistent - from society and your patients - you'd be motivated to do an even better job?"

"i do.

I believe society has a big role to play."

And others agree.

In the workhuman study 64 percent of people say receiving a thank you during the pandemic inspired them to work even harder.

Laura podesta, cbs news, new york.

In july, pinterest published results from the website's search trends over the course of the pandemic.

The company saw the highest searches ever on mental wellness.

Searches for gratitude alone were up 60% from february to may.

And here's a reminder, the wcbi senior expo is virtual this year.

Usually we bring together doctors, medical supply companies, and many other professionals under one roof to provide information about their products and services to our local senior community.

This year, our participating business will have a virtual booth on the senior expo page at wcbi.com.

And you can also see these on sunrise, midday and wcbi news at 5.

They will run thru october 16th .

The virtual booths will remain on-line through august of 2021.

Stinger get ready for kickoff.

And get ready for college football to look different.

That story ahead on wcbi news at 6.

College football fans will for the most part gather 'round the television set on saturday.

Ole miss plays at home.

Mississippi state will be in baton rouge.

And, for fans accustomed to traveling, there are fewer tickets and a lot more distancing.

At lsu, expect the volume to be much lower as the game plays out.

Matt houston has this report.

Age-old rituals will break, and saturday nights in death valley will fall short of the expectations that have grown their legend.

12:39:48: bunch"changing it now is like changing a form of tradition.

It's not going to settle well."

Roughly 25,000 masked fans will be allowed in tiger stadium, with groups of up to 8 separated by at least 6 feet from the nearest pocket of people.

Season ticket holders will not get all the seats they asked for so that more people have a chance to go... for everyone else, the school will not sell tickets to individual games one-at-a-time 12:45:07: boyle "i think, considering what's going on in the world and with other schools, we're at least lucky we can have some fans in the stadium."

Students like justin boyle will probably have to prove they've taken a coronavirus test to get a seat, according to school president tom galligan.

The school will create extra ticket gates using temporary fences... meaning some of you will have to scan your tickets away from the stadium, closer to the pmac.

Lsu is asking anyone without a ticket to stay home.

8:03: galligan "our first enforcement measures will be gentle and persuasive.

If we have to be more forceful, we will - but i hope that we don't."

There will be just one rv lot, though you won't find tailgate setups like these there... or anywhere, for that matter.

The school has banned tents, tables and chairs, coolers, generators, tvs, grills and just about everything else you'd have found in a tiger stadium parking lot last year.

7:48: galligan "gameday activity on campus is not going to be the gameday activities that you are used to."

Fans will be allowed to hang out with their immediate families at their cars when parking lots open four hours before kickoff... though they'll have to have a parking pass, and all unused lots will be closed and guarded.

12:45:25:"i think they're going to try to make up for that smaller stadium size."

But there's hope that even with all these differences, there will still be a little magic in tiger stadium... because tiger faithful don't just find their strength in numbers.

12:39:07: bunch "you can't really kill the spirit of the football season that easily.

Especially with the virus.

25 percent in there - doesn't really make a difference.

They'll still root for the tigers."

The sec has guidelines online.

And, most of the universities will follow similar social distancing practices.

You can watch the mississippi state - lsu game here on wcbi saturday, beginning at 2:30.

Stinger stinger weather open summary: clouds will be slow to clear saturday but we should see enough sunshine to get highs back to around 80 by the afternoon.

A few isolated showers are possible sunday but highs look to remain in the 80s.

A band of rain is likely monday afternoon and evening as another cold front pushes across the region.

A prolonged stretch of cooler & quiet weather should begin tuesday.

Friday night: areas of low clouds and fog.

Lows around 60.

Calm wind.

No issues for high school football.

Saturday: extensive low clouds and fog to start with partly cloudy skies developing during the day.

Highs should top out around 80 if there is enough sunshine.

Southerly winds 2- 7 mph.

Saturday night: variably cloudy.

Lows in the low 60s.

Sunday: a mix of clouds and sun with a 20% chance of showers.

Highs top out in the low to mid 80s.

Sunday night: stars & clouds.

Lows in the 60s.

Monday: increasing clouds with a 60- 70% chance of rain developing during the afternoon and evening.

Highs remain in the 80s.

Monday night: cloudy with areas of rain.

Lows in the mid 50s.

Tuesday: variably cloudy and cool.

Highs in the low 70s.

Upper 40s for lows tuesday night.

Wednesday-friday: mostly sunny, cooler, and quiet.

Highs in the 70s with lows in the 50s and 40s.

Some low 40s are possible by friday night.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app weather wrap stinger weather wrap stinger in an in and you is you is explained in morning and fighting for a meeting with the last two years it's always a hard-fought battle when they meet up last year these two teams played in the playoffs but they lost by such wishes to teams it's can have a hard- fought battle it's definitely needs to talk to of lafayette the season on a high school for most tour and these guys are locked into this matchup is the game that they look forward to all season they always look forward to playing was born in lafayette was going to get some great playmakers to run the football and so is lafayette jacoby paperless point lafayette has you guys running the ball as well you see which he can dominate the line of scrimmage which seems even when the matchup be sure to check us out for 10 o'clock