WCBI NEWS at TEN - 05/28/2020

WCBI NEWS at TEN - 05/28/2020

Mississippi is another step closer to a final choice for the next state flag design.

The commission narrowed the designs to five today.

Courtney ann jackson explains what she's learned from some of the designers.

Pkg we asked a few folks what they thought of the final five flag designs.

"i love the magnolia but i just love magnolias."

"i like the one with the shield on it.

I don't know why.

It just jumped out and grabbed me."

"it actually has part of our state in it and then the flower...i love magnolias."

None of them had studied up on any symbolism but the designers of two of these say---there was a lot of thought that went into it.

The great river flag is what this one's being called and received the most votes in the public poll.

Micah whitson is a designer by trade.

He's originally alabama, went to ole miss for five years and now lives in boston.

"i had seen a territorial seal that was made in 1798 that was brought down to the mississippi territory.

I wanted to start there and kind of build off it.

Kind of messing with it, wanted to represent the mississippi river.

You know, of course, that's the physical, economic and cultural boundary of the state."

He also started a public branding campaign early on.

"design doesn't come without context.

You have to set the proper stage for people to see how they would kind of interact with things and kind of feel them."

Greg murphy calls this design the mississippi bloom flag.

"we wanted a blue background to represent the mississippi river.

A few petals and magnolias at the top to represent the past, present and future."

Murphy's parents are from the oxford/water valley area but he lives in the dayton, ohio area.

But he feels a connection to the state and wanted to give it a shot with his idea.

"our goal was to help mississippi be something that it hasn't been for a long time and that's welcoming."

The final selection for the one that will appear on november's ballot will be made in two weeks on september 2// wcbi update an update tonight on that death investigation after a man was found dead on a boat yesterday on the tombigbee waterway// it appears the death is from natural causes// lowndes county coroner greg merchant identified the man as 47-year-old huey freil of dora, alabama// friel was the captain of a southbound tombigbee river tug boat// the other crew members say friel hadn't been feeling well the last few days and planned to visit a doctor today// yesterday afternoon around four, friel had called up to the pilot on duty asking for an ambulance// once a medical team made it to the boat, they weren't able to revive him// one teen is arrested and another still on the run after a shooting outside the wingate hotel// 19-year-old donqarous stewart is charged with aggravated assault// the shooting happened back on july 15th// this is video from the night of the shooting// columbus police chief fred shelton says someone had rented a room at the wingate hotel// an argument that started inside moved outside when gunfire rang out// two people were injured in the shooting// columbus police say they're still searching for 17- year-old jeremiah ratcliff// ratcliff does have a warrant out for his arrest on an aggravated assault charge// anyone with information is asked to call golden triangle crime stoppers// top first look stinger crime stoppers// top first look stinger first look summary: a few spotty showers or storms are once again possible on wednesday.

The highest odds and coverage of rain/storm should come thursday & friday as an upper level disturbance moves through the region.

We continue to monitor 2 tropical entities and they could have some impact on the southeast in the next week or so.

Tuesday night: mostly clear to partly cloudy.

Lows in the mid to upper 60s.

Winds nw 2-5 mph.

Wednesday: partly cloudy with a 20- 30% chance of a shower or storm.

Highs in the upper 80s to lower 90s.

Winds n 4-8 mph.

Wcbi continuing coverage looking at day's wcbi continuing coverage looking at day's coronavirus numbers in mississippi// a little more good news..the number of covid-19 patients in icu has gone down// the mississippi state department of health reports 795 new cases, along with 34 deaths.

Four of those fatalities were in lowndes county.

There are 284 people in i.c.u., which is down significantly from last week.

Lee county has the most new cases today with 43.

Oktibbeha has 22.

Lowndes and itawamba have 13 new cases.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic starkville is projecting a roughly one million dollar shortfall in sales tax revenue this year raising taxes// tonight city leaders put on a public hearing talk about possibly increasing the city's taxes by two mills// our quentin smith reports// when it comes to the economic picture in starkville.... mayor lynn spruill says it isn't a pretty one.

That's why she and the board of alderman are considering a two millage tax increase.

The first mil is for a grant to help spruce up highway 182.... "one mil is to support the build grant which we received last year, and we knew at the time we agreed to except the build grant, that we would need a mil in order to support our portion of that particular expendexpenditure."

The second mil is to help the city recover from low sales tax numbers because of the coronavirus crisis.

" we are anticipating about a 12.5%, 13% drop and that translates to anywhere between $880,000 or so dollars, to $1.1 million depending on how good or bad it gets."

Millage is a tax rate used to calculate tax property.

"one mil in a layman person's terms translates into about $260,000."

That boils down to about a 20 dollar a year increase, on average, for a starkville homeowner.

That according to mayor spruill.

Vice mayor roy a.

Perkins says he typically against voting for a tax increase... however, given what the city is faced with...he says he has no other choice.

"we need a $3 million match on this federal grant for improving the 182, and the pandemic has caused us to lose at least $200,000 in sales tax revenue for the first six months of the year, given all of that information, the two mill tax increase his warranted."

There will be another public hearing during the next meeting on september first// after hearing from the public during that meeting.... the board will then vote on the proposed tax increase.

Flu season is approaching.

We're in the middle of pandemic.

How important will it be to get a flu shot this year?

Dr. james woodard of allegro family clinic in columbus is urging people to get the flu vaccine.

He says it could help you avoid a worst case scenario: being diagnosed with two illnesses at the same time.

"you don't want to have the flu and you certainly don't want to have the flu and covid- 19 simultaneously.

You have to remember that the influenza virus which is the one that causes flu mutates or changes very rapidly and that's why we have a different shot every year.

So it is very important, i think to get a flu shot each year."

Dr. woodard also suggests to continue the safe covid19 practices// by wearing your mask in public, washing your hands and social distancing// stinger 2-shot summary: a few spotty showers or storms are once again possible on wednesday.

The highest odds and coverage of rain/storm should come thursday & friday as an upper level disturbance moves through the region.

We continue to monitor 2 tropical entities and they could have some impact on the southeast in the next week or so.

Tuesday night: mostly clear to partly cloudy.

Lows in the mid to upper 60s.

Winds nw 2-5 mph.

Wednesday: partly cloudy with a 20- 30% chance of a shower or storm.

Highs in the upper 80s to lower 90s.

Winds n 4-8 mph.

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

Highs in the upper 80s.

Scattered showers and storms are possible each day with the chance of rain about 50%.

Lows in the upper 60s.

Saturday: partly cloudy with a 30% chance of showers and storms. highs around 90.

Sunday-monday: sun & clouds.

A few isolated showers or t-showers can't be totally ruled out but rain chances are 20% or less.

Highs climb back into the low to mid 90s with overnight lows in the low 70s.

Tropics: there are two items of interest that need to be watched closely.

One is moving through the eastern caribbean sea and another one is out in the open atlantic.

Both features are drifting back to the wnw and have a good chance of development over the coming days.

Stinger atlantic.

Both features are drifting back to the wnw and have a good chance of development over the coming days.

Stinger a north mississippi restaurant owner takes a risk of opening up a new spot in the middle of a global crisis// his message, when we come back// centered more than 60- percent of restaurants fail in their first year in the united states// there are always challenges, but opening a new restaurant during the covid 19 pandemic has its own set of obstacles// wcbi's allie martin has more from a well-known businessman who is taking the risk// it wasn't long after the government- mandated restaurant shutdowns that kermit's outlaw kitchen owner mitch mccamey thought about closing for good.

He was tired of the concept, but this past weekend mccamey opened "kermit's soul kitchen" in the same space.

He says he's learning a lot about opening a restaurant in the middle of covid 19 restrictions.

"we wanted to do something that was a little more customer-friendly, more staff friendly, and we feel like we can do a better job and serve better food."

For mitch mccamey, that meant going back to his roots as a chef.

His mentor was mike fernandez, one of the co founders of "moe's original barbecue" during the 21 weeks the restaurant's doors were closed, mccamey and his crew transformed the space and the menu.

"we made our food, where it's roasted, smoked, or slow- cooked, raw preparations, so it's much faster."

However, when it came time to hire, many of his former employees couldn't come back.

"it's not like everybody just didn't come back because of covid or they didn't want to, it was a big change for everybody, we were off for a long time, but in some ways it allowed everybody to have a fresh start."

Like many small business owners, mccamey qualified and received assistance through the cares act.

But he doesn't see it as a gift from the government.

"that's a sore subject for me, i don't want people walking around thinking they got a gift when they are over-regulated anyway by a governing body that can't even balance a checkbook."

Mccamey says a lot of small restaurants won't bounce back after the covid 19 related restrictions that's why he says another shutdown is out of the question.

In tupelo, allie martin, wcbi news mccamey's other tupelo restaurant, the "neon pig" did not mccamey's other tupelo restaurant, the "neon pig" did not shut down because it is also a butcher shop.

Stinger fall camp has officially begun at mississippi state...updates on day one, next in sports spx open fall camp officially kicking off in starkville first year head coach mike leach and the bulldogs getting the chance to get some reps in after a long summer something of note on the quarterback front, kj costello, garrett shrader and will rogers all repped at quarterback leach said obviously due to the delayed start the bulldogs might be a bit behind schedule i think we had good effort.i thought we bounced around.

I thought that based on where we left off i'd categorize this work as better than average, but obviously we have a lot of work to also happening in starkville, academy softball action winston academy vs starkville starkville academy.

Top 6th.

No outs.

6- 3 winston.

Madi lee doubles to left center field to start inning.

Now 7-3 winston.

2 runners on.

Morgan woods crushes one to center.

Winston pours on 4 runs and goes ahead 10-3 in the 6th inning.

Final winston academy 1o stk academy 3 there's a new golden wave era on the horizon first year tupelo coach ty hardin has brought a new culture with him from houston tupelo is stop number 58 on the high school football tour áááintro bbááá a new era is underway in tupelo.

Former houston head coach ty hardin takes over as the new man in charge of the golden wave.

While the offseason has been more challenging than usual, that hasn't stopped hardin from getting his new players up to speed.

"it's been smoother than i thought," hardin said.

"i sat back at the beginning of it, like, man, there's a lot to do.

I mean, but the kids, their approach to everything has made everything a lot easier and i'm just blessed to be where i am today."

"he's a family man, " senior mlb justin wilson said.

"he treats me like a dad.

He loves everybody.

He treats all of us like his kids."

"he's definitely brought the energy for sure," senior quarterback jake weir said.

"i think he's definitely brough a new culture to our program.

I think it's definitely going to help us out going forward."

However, going from houston to taking over the tupelo program has challenges, such as making the division switch from 3a to 6a ball.

A whole new set of opponents are on the horizon, but hardin says he knows the direction to take the golden wave in.

"the tables laid.

The path, the foundation's been laid from coach hammond and the previous staff.

The coaching staff that i have, i've got nine guys that are basically head coaches on this team.

They take care of a lot of different things and they're special.

They've made this transition great," hardin said.

Tupelo enters the 2020 season in a good position.

The golden wave return starting quarterback jake weir for another season.

In 2019, weir threw for over 2,200 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Combine that with a strong defensive line and the tupelo has the makings of its 10th consecutive playoff appearance.

"where are strengths are, are allover.

I feel good about our depth.

I feel good about every skill position, i feel really good about our quarterback and him being a leader.

I think he's the best quarterback in the state.

I feel good about our d-line.

I think it's one of the best d-lines in the state.

When you have two groups like that you have a chance to win a lot of football games."

"definitely been trying to improve on leadership because you can never do to much on that.

I think that's definitely an important aspect when playing quarterback.

You just have to rally the troops together and lead," weir said.

"it's a different feeling.

The past couple of years we ain't really been clicking.

We ain't really been buddy buddy.

This year we're all focused on one goal," wilson said.

A tough road lies ahead for the golden wave with even tougher competition, such as defending 6a champs oxford.

For tupelo, preparedness is crucial week after week.

""i'm stepping into a division where you have coaching staffs that are some of the highest iq coaching staffs in the state.

They're great.

Their kids play hard.

Their kids are ready every friday night.

Anybody can beat anybody on friday night.

We have to come prepared every week.

Our kids have to work their tails off every week and our coaching staff has to be prepared every week or we won't last long in this division," hardin said.

"we're going all the way, no doubt.

It's a family effort.

We're all pushing for one goal," wilson said.

"definitely want to set a big time tone.

We want to blow them out.

Throw fifty points on the board.

We're going last look last look last look last look