COLUMBUS,Miss. (WCBI)- A Starkville student will represent the state of Mississippi at the Scripps National Spelling Bee this summer. Jessica Widodo, a 6th grader at Partnership Middle School, was the last one standing at the Mississippi Spelling Bee on the MUW campus. She was declared the winner after breaking a 3-way tie in a competition that lasted 4 hours. 29…
WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI)- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt throughout the U.S. On March 11, 2020; the World Health Organization declared COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2, a pandemic. From safety restrictions and finding other methods of serving the community, dozens started the shift in adjusting to a new normal. The virus impacted schools, businesses,…
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TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – Students from four area high schools got a chance to see real-life medical scenarios as part of a drill at the ICC Tupelo campus. The drill was called “Code Blue and Red” and it used ICC’s Health Science students to help simulate three scenarios, a COVID patient, labor and delivery and a trauma accident. ICC’s President…
CLAY COUNTY,Miss. (WCBI)- It happens in classrooms, on the school bus, on the playground. Bullying. A student at West Clay Elementary is tacking the issue cover to cover. The fourth grader shows her class about the power in words. Classroom worksheets and recess, that’s the agenda for most students. But, there are some issues that go beyond the playground, like…
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Spring Break is almost here and students are getting ready to crank their cars up and head down the road. But the spike in gas prices has some students checking their wallets to see if they can stretch their cash enough to get to their destination. It’s the week students have been looking forward to since…
JACKSON, Miss. (WCBI) – The Mississippi Department of Education is investing millions of dollars to provide a web-based health and safety platform for school districts around the state. The platform will provide several features including surveillance cameras with the ability to detect crowd congestion, virtual tours of schools for situational awareness in schools, a mobile app for emergency notifications and…
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A Lowndes County inmate is facing another charge after briefly escaping from custody. 42-year-old Bobby Joe Stafford Jr. was wanted for possession of stolen property. He’s now also charged with escape. Sheriff Eddie Hawkins says while Stafford being brought to Columbus from Monroe County he kicked out the window of a patrol vehicle. When the…
JACKSON, Miss. (WCBI) – Families of law enforcement officers and firefighters who died after contracting COVID-19 in the line of duty will receive full state health benefits. Governor Tate Reeves signed House Bill 779 into law at a ceremony earlier today. The law will take 5 million dollars from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and put it in the…
OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Oktibbeha deputies go to make a traffic stop but it ends in a chase through Starkville. 40-year-old Odell Robinson the third is charged with felony fleeing, tampering with evidence, and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Investigators tell WCBI that a K9 attempted to stop Robinson on Highway 12. The pursuit went out into…
OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI) – A federal jury in Oxford convicts a Louisiana man in a child sex case that stretched from Gonzales, Louisiana to Monroe County. Ronald Joseph Latiolais the third has been found guilty of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with intent to engage in unlawful sexual activity. The charges stem back to April 2019 when the then…
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Lowndes County narcotics agents make a large drug bust and complete a two-year investigation. Now, 45-year-old Antonio Cockrell is charged with possession of methamphetamine, along with trafficking meth, cocaine, and marijuana. He’s also charged with three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and two counts of possession of a stolen firearm….
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – We are learning more about what led to the arrest of a Columbus police officer and why he had to stay in jail for a while. Bryan Moore is charged with domestic violence. State law requires he be held for 23 hours for a cooling down period. Police Chief Fred Shelton says officers were called to…
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Five out of seven police officers called in sick today for their shift, leaving the city of Columbus without a full patrol force. This is an attention grabbing move according to one source, because these officers feel mis-treated within the department. Five officers with Columbus Police Department called work to say they weren’t coming in.. Those…
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VERNON, Ala. (WCBI) – The current gas crisis is having a dramatic effect on the trucking industry. Vernon Milling Company in Lamar County says roughly 39 percent of their operating costs go to fuel as their drivers deliver to customers from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania. “Usually I pick up down around Mobile, Alabama then I go to just north of Pittsburgh,…
COLUMBUS,Miss. (WCBI)- Women’s History Month highlights the broken glass ceilings and barriers through the years. Here in Mississippi, a historical women’s campus is celebrating founding members and tradition. Women aren’t always given equal opportunities to education, but times have progressed. In fact, in 2021, nearly 60% of the student body at universities were women. And some of those strides started…
TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – Police K 9 teams from across the state have spent the week in Tupelo, as part of intensive training. The Law Dog K 9 seminar is organized by the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officer’s Association or MLEOA. Some teams are completing their certification, while others are keeping their certification up to date. It’s also an opportunity to…
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Blighted housing is a worsening problem in Columbus, and city leaders are taking notice. But solutions cost money, and that can be a problem with a tight city budget. Columbus has many attractive homes and properties but you don’t have to drive far to see a different landscape. Rundown and unlivable houses are scattered around neighborhoods…
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – One MSU student and a dog named Sippi escaped a house fire last night. The Starkville Fire Department responded to a fire at eleven fifteen p.m. On North Nash street. The dog Sippi was trapped inside the home and when they found him he was not breathing. The dog was taken outside where paramedics performed CPR…
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – An accident snarls traffic in Lowndes County this morning after an 18-wheeler overturns. The crash happened on Highway 45 Alternate just before 7 AM. State troopers say an 18-wheeler driven by Yancy Kirk of Poplarville was northbound on the highway. The Mississippi Highway Patrol says it appears the big rig collided with the rear of…
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Monday, the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors voted (4-1) to move ahead with plans to rehabilitate the Oktibbeha County Lake Dam. The latest report from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality says the dam remains in unsatisfactory condition. “At home at night, you may think, ‘What if it bursts?’” says Brenda Jones, who says she’s lived…
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Flooding is a perennial problem in Columbus. Over the years, some of those problems have been fixed. But others always tend to come bubbling up when the heavy rains come again. Rising water in Columbus brings rising complaints to the city government and the public works department I talked to a restaurant owner who says his…
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