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Friday, March 29, 2024

WCBI New at Six - 08/11/2020

Credit: WCBI
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WCBI New at Six - 08/11/2020
WCBI New at Six - 08/11/2020
WCBI New at Six - 08/11/2020

Right now, questions of fall football at mississippi colleges and universities// and just in late this afternoon..emcc says it's opting out of fall football this year.

We'll have more on that later in sports.

Several questions were centered around that at today's briefing with governor reeves and state health officer doctor thomas dobbs// the briefing started just shortly after the big 10 announced postponing fall sports.

It's no secret we're all looking forward to a change of pace and college football.

Especially in sec nation// governor reeves posted on twitter today stating in part "college football is essential."

The tweet prompted questions about the future of the fall football season in our state// high schools and colleges are starting the fall semester.

Governor reeves says we have to balance risk and costs.

"i personally believe that we play college football.

I don't think we can do it with a stadium of a 100-thousand people in it, that certainly doesn't make any sense.

We've been working with our universities, ole miss, state, southern miss, and others, looking at the potential for an agreement on what it would look like.

There's no easy decisions i understand at this point."

Governor reeves says the risk of the virus isn't going to be completely erased// he says the goal, he's preached since the beginning of the pandemic is to protect the integrity of the state's health care system// he feels there's a way to have sports with minimal risk// // as college campuses start looking more like college campuses, state health administrators are looking at ways to track potential positive cases of covid19// right now, a positive test is attached to a person's zip code// that means, a mississippi state student who tests positive in oktibbeha county will likely be counted in their home county.

But this week dr. thomas dobbs, the state's top health officer says the health department is looking at other ways to track positive cases on college campuses and plans to focus efforts on younger people we are shifting the majority of our case investigations and contact tracing resources to students in k-12 and college because we know this is such a vulnerability.

We want to make sure we can do more in depth investigations around those kids, teenagers and young adults.

Dobbs says one option they are looking at is to attach the student's test results to the zip code of the clinic where he or she receives the covid test// the future of high school football is also up in the air....all thanks to covid-19// in caledonia, athletes are staying in shape and prepping as if the season is happening.

But for seniors... just the thought of not playing their final season is hitting them a little bit differently/ wcbi's bobby martinez talked with seniors from the caledonia high football team about the unknown this upcoming year... he joins us live in the studio, bobby, how are they feeling?

Scott, it'll be quite an adjustment for senior athletes this year.

And those seniors i spoke to today are hoping things get back to normal sooner rather than later..... "for most of us it is our last one ever.."

So in that case "do as much as we can to have fun.."

That has been the mindset for some seniors on the caledonia high school football team..

Loren cox says he's willing to do whatever it takes to get back to playing the game he loves... sot - loren cox - safety "for me personally i prefer to be in the classroom but it's really whatever we have to do to be able to play this season.

Because i know for most of the state they already ready canceled and stuff so it's just whatever we have to do."

Brandon chrest says he wants to get back in the classroom and be around his friends.

Sot - brandon chrest - linebacker "i'm just ready to go back to school i'm getting bored of staying at home and i want to be around people more of my friends, more than the ones that are on the team."

While these seniors dedicate hours throughout the week to perform their best on the field..they'll be doing the same with online learning.

Even though it poses a few challenges.

Ayden coleman - lb/wr "being in front of a teacher is a lot easier to have somebody like show you how to do it.

Because when you're at home you're just more comfortable and it's easier to drift away so it's harder to learn."

Sot - logan powell - k/p/wr "at home i don't have wi-fi or internet because i live out in the country so i had to drive to my girlfriends house every day and it was really stressful making sure i got all my work done and turned in my grades in."

Stand up and it is here on the football field where the seniors lay it out all on the line for the game the love.

And this is the same place where they make memories with their teammates that will last lifetime.... sot - loren cox - safety "you know for us mostly our memories are made on the field you know.

Yeah we still hang out during the school and stuff but most of our times that we remembered during high school are probably going to be on the practice field and on the game field on friday nights the start of the school for caledonia high school is set for september first.... let's take a look at some of today's numbers// for the second weekday day in a row, mississippi's covid-19 numbers stay below a thousand// the mississippi state department of health reports 644 new coronavirus cases and 33 deaths// governor reeves said today the state's making progress, but is still urging mississippians to reaming vigilant and keep following the guidelines including wearing a mask when out in public// there are 179 long term care facility outbreaks// so far, 68- thousand-293 mississippians have tested positive for the virus// to vo the national guard, mississippi state department of health and the university of mississippi medical center offered another round of covid 19 tests// today the drive thru testing site was in okolona at the vocational center// people had to make appointments ahead of time to get a test// state health workers, along with the mississippi national guard, have been conducting the drive through testing at various locations across the region since early summer// the tests are available for anyone experiencing covid 19 symptoms, or if you've potential exposure to someone with the virus// a list of future drive thru testing sites can be found on the state department of health's website// first look stinger first look summary: summer storm season hangs on.

Over the next few days we'll have numerous showers and storms bubble up during the heating of the day.

Most storms will not be severe but a few strong storms with gusty winds and small hail are possible.

Rain chances will lower a bit heading into the weekend.

Tuesday night: a few evening showers and storms then turning quiet.

Lows in the lower 70s.

Light and variable wind.

Wednesday-friday: wcbi continuing coverage if you've gone to the car dealership lately, you may have noticed a slimmer fleet of vehicles on the lot.

In the golden triangle, dealers say their inventory has taken a hit during the pandemic.

Our quentin smith stops by two local dealerships to find the reason behind the low inventory..... he joins us live in the studio to explain... scott,... the key factor causing the scott,... the key factor causing the low inventory is because a lot of manufacturing plants that make vehicles... such as nissan and toyota.... were shutdown earlier in the year... stopping the production.... most have now started back up again... but the vehicles are now being shipped at slower rate than they were prior to the pandemic.... cars....trucks...and suv's...they're all rolling off the the lot at cannon lincoln ford of starkville.... but as they roll off....new cars must roll in to keep the inventory stocked.

That's a key problem michael joe cannon is running into.

"normally we try to run a 90 day supply meaning if you are going to sell 50 cars a month, do you want to have 150 on the lot.

Right now we are probably at a 45 day supply, so if you sell 50, we'd be lucky to have 75 on the ground at this time."

Cannon says they're low on trucks and suvs... in large part it stems from production being halted after manufacturing plants were forced to shutdown during the start of the pandemic.

"they're starting to ramp back up, the manufacturers, some of them are at 33%, some of them are at 50%, and some of them are even at 75%.

As they ramp up, we will begin to get some inventory in."

But it's not just cannon experiencing low inventory.... russell street says he's having similar issues at columbus nissan..

" we had a little higher supply when this started so i had enough to weather the storm.

My inventory did dip about 20%, however, because i was full at the time i feel had plenty to meet demand."

The longtime car dealer says their shortage is low for both new and used cars..

But while things are looking slim for the moment... street says the low inventory hasn't had a negative impact on business or customers.

" customers have had no really bad effects from inventory.

You see a little less traffic, but when traffic does come out have been people buying because of the deals that the manufacturers are running and the low rates."

" not many times we're not able to get you exactly what you want, you just may have to give us a little bit more time to do that, we can maybe run over here to our local dealer, or run down here or up there, it may take a little while but overall people understand, they understand we're in a pandemic."

Cannon says he expects inventory to pick back up by mid-september.

Happening now cannon says he expects inventory to pick back up by mid-september.

Happening now happening now---community and business leaders in lowndes county are kicking off a series of discussions on race relations// the columbus air force base, city of columbus, and lowndes county are hosting a panel discussion live on facebook// it's going on until about 6-30 tonight.

Wcbi's aundrea self is moderating the discussion// participants include mayor robert smith, base commander colonel seth graham, and police chief fred shelton.

There will also be education leaders and a local pastor.

You can be apart of the discussion.

Just leave a comment on the mayor's facebook page// stinger two aberdeen high school students are the áonlyá junior rotc cadets in the state chosen for a unique summer program.

More on their experience when we come back.

Two aberdeen high school students spent a lot of time this summer learning about cybersecurity, as part of a new program through the air force junior rotc.

Makayla davis and joy adair were chosen for a pilot program called "cyber academy// they learned about cracking computer codes, how to catch hackers and other topics// they were the only two students in the state chosen for the eight week program.

Davis and adair took the course from their home, five days a week// they say they learned a lot and are confident their experience will help in the future// "i knew it was very disciplined, you get really good life skills, it just makes you different from every other student that just simply goes to school."

"it will help me get into college easier, and this can be another field if pre med field doesn't work out, i can fall back on this to help me get a job somewhere, it's something good to have.

" future plans for the program call for partnerships with local industries so cadets can get internships and see how skills they learn are used in the real world.

Stinger 2-shot weather open summary: summer storm season hangs on.

Over the next few days we'll have numerous showers and storms bubble up during the heating of the day.

Most storms will not be severe but a few strong storms with gusty winds and small hail are possible.

Rain chances will lower a bit heading into the weekend.

Tuesday night: a few evening showers and storms then turning quiet.

Lows in the lower 70s.

Light and variable wind.

Wednesday-friday: variably cloudy, warm, and humid.

Scattered showers and storms are likely, especially from late morning through the evening.

A few isolated showers and storms could linger during the night.

Highs will be in the lower 90s with overnight lows in the lower 70s.

Weekend: partly cloudy, hot, and humid.

Highs in the low to mid 90s with lows in the 70s.

A daily 30% chance of storms will continue.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app stinger 5-time national champion e-m-c-c plans to opt out of football this fall...those details on that decision, next in sports spx open summary: summer storm season hangs on.

Over the next few days we'll have numerous showers and storms bubble up during the heating of the day.

Most storms will not be severe but a few strong storms with gusty winds and small hail are possible.

Rain chances will lower a bit heading into the weekend.

Tuesday night: a few evening showers and storms then turning quiet.

Lows in the lower 70s.

Light and variable wind.

Wednesday-friday: variably cloudy, warm, and humid.

Stinger 5-time national champion e-m-c-c plans to opt out of football this fall...those details on that decision, next in sports spx open breaking news this afternoon out of scooba 5x national champion e-m-c-c announcing they will not be particpating in football this fall the lions saying the decision was made due to safety challenges amid the coronavirus pandemic shocking news ---just in late july, the mississippi association of community colleges opted to delay the juco fall season to october 1st the decision followed the n-j-c- aa's decision to postpone fall atheltics to the spring of 2021 as of now, the lions are the only team not planning to continue with football this fall e-m-c-c will honor student-athelte scholarships the high school football tour continues on in 4a our next stop checks-in with caledonia caledonia found its way to the playoffs last year and the goal in 2020 is to do even better caledonia is stop number 51 on the high school football tour áááintro bbááá following an improved 2019 season, caledonia football is ready to compete.

Caledonia returns with a lot of confidence following a 5-6 season and the team's first playoff appearance since 2016.

Now, caledonia looks to build on that positive momentum during the upcoming season.

"over the last two years we've made a lot of progress," head coach michael kelly said.

"our young man have put in a lot of work and committment into this.

We hope it pays off.

We're blessed to be out here continuing to play football with everything that's going on.

If we're fortunate enough to make it to the football field we have a lot of experience, a lot of returning players.

We hope that confidence pays off and we turn that into productivity on the field and can continue to move our program in the right direction."

Caledonia loses some key players at skill positions to graduation such as former quarterback brandon edmondson and wide receiver anthony triplett.

However, kelly says his team has more experience elsewhere and will look to some younger players to fill critical roles.

"we've probably got more experience in returning players in our line of scrimmage, offensive and defensive line players, but we still have a good mix of skill players that have played several reps over the last couple of years.

We've got a lot of key young guys that are going to step in as some of those skill players.

They have all the tools and abilities to do what we need them to do they just need a lot of reps.

They need a lot of practice reps, they need a lot of game reps but we're excited to see where they're going to take us in the future."

"i feel like our defense is really strong," senior tackle alex mathews said.

"we get to the ball, fly around, make plays.

Just a defensively sound team."

While most teams we're forced to miss spring workouts because of covid-19, caledonia opted to hold spring practice in january.

Although it seemed weird at the time, caledonia sees that those january practices are now paying off.

"we got a lot of weird looks when we first did it, but now that everything had got delayed and stopped it's a big benefit for us.

Those young kids we spoke of earlier were able to get ten, eleven practices under their belt so they've got some live reps.

They've got the terminology and communication.

They've been in the locker room, been in a little bit of the war and contact.

So it really helps us as a program.

We're not 15 days behind as per se some of these other programs who missed their spring training."

"i feel like it gave us a bit of a confidence boost, because we already got it out the way," junior dl antwan adkins said.

"we should be more prepared than other team's that didn't get to do it."

Caledonia is putting a lot of emphasis on its younger players to step and be physical come the first friday night of the season.

"i want our kids to be the most physical team when we step on the field on the first friday night.

I believe our style of play takes care of itself, but our young men have to last look stinger last look last look stinger last look

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