WCBI New at Six - 10/22/2020

WCBI New at Six - 10/22/2020

102220 th tze allie 102220 show open a nettleton high school student is charged with first degree murder in connection with a fatal shooting of a lee county man.

Seventeen year old randy johnson is charged in the murder of 21 year old arlandus shack.

The victim was brought to nmmc by private vehicle early wednesday.

Shack died a short time later from multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigations with the lee county sheriff's department talked to witnesses at the hospital and found out the crime occurred in the car, as it was traveling down county road 590.

Sheriff jim johnson says the victim and suspect knew each other, and got into some sort of altercation inside the car, when the shooting occurred.

Johnson is being charged as an adult.

Cg sheriff jim johnson/ lee county "in the state of mississippi, at 13 years of age, if you commit a felony act with a weapon, you can be certified and tried as an adult, through youth court system, at 17, if you commit a felony act that would carry prison time if you were 18, you can automatically be charged as an adult" a judge denied bond for johnson.

Sheriff johnson says there were other people inside the vehicle when the shooting happened.

He does not expect to make any more arrests, but says anyone with information about the incident should call the sheriff's office.

The former city clerk for aberdeen is suing the city and its mayor claiming she was unjustly fired.

Jackie benson was aberdeen's city clerk for 16 years.

She was fired in july by mayor maurice howard, shortly after he was re elected to a second term.

In her lawsuit, filed by tupelo attorney jim waide, benson claims she was fired because she provided information to investigators with the attorney general's office that resulted in a five count indictment against mayor howard.

The mayor is under indictment for embezzlement.

Investigators allege the mayor was a no show for out of town meetings where he was paid in advance.

The lawsuit also accuses mayor howard and newly elected aldermen of firing white employees in the city, replacing them with black employees.

Benson is seeking actual damages in the amount of 200 thousand dollars , punitive damages , court costs, attorneys fees and reinstatement to her position .

If you've got your trick or treat basket ready, columbus leaders want you to turn of the lights on that idea.

Mayor robert smith issued a statement today asking residents refrain from door- to-door trick or treating this halloween.

He cites a continued health threat from covid- 19, as the reason behind the request.

Instead, smith says families should attend some events that are being held in the community and not ask for treats at their neighbor's house.

In fact, the columbus recreation department is hosting a "fall fun drive-thru" at propst park on october 31st.

The mayor plans to add other events to his social media page in the coming days.

200 hours of intense training.

That is what two new k'9s had to achieve before being a part of the webster county sheriffs department.

And these two dogs did just that as they are fresh out of training school in hattiesburg... wcbi's bobby martinez stopped by the sheriffs department today and has more on the great help k9's have in law enforcement.

The webster county sheriff's department has added two new k9's to their department.

And to them, these k9's go beyond then just solving crime in the streets.

The job of a deputy can be stressful, exhausting and at times overwhelming..

But having a furry partner... can help ease some of those feelings..

"it's awesome he's always there man.

Even at work at home you know, he's good around the kids.

I have a little boy, he's good around my little boy you know he's always there for me."

Jacob edwards, who has been a deputy at the webster county sheriff's department for two years..

And is the man in charge of two and half year old gero.

Natvo gero... sit... flats... good boy.... and having gero on board... is a huge help..

"counties from all over, they call us if they have an escaped convict or just someone that runs from a traffic stop.

We call the canine man and they'll find them."

Another addition is five year old zeus..

Natvo "zeus is a big dog..

He a big boy but at times he acts like he's not" brandon chaille has been a deputy at this department for eight months... and says k9's bring a variety of helpful of skills to their line of work..

"having a k9 is very powerful tool.

Various things.

If we have missing children.

These k9's are trained to track down anybody that we have them look for.

As elderly people who have come up missing."

Webster county sheriff david gore says it all started as a fundraiser to help build a k9 unit... and quickly.... "we had businesses give.

We had corporations give.

We had individuals give.

They purchased everything as far as the canine program really that we have right now, the dogs and the equipment."

Reporting in webster county.

Bobby martinez..wcbi news.

And if you would like to donate to their k9 unit... you can visit the webster county sheriffs facebook page.

Top the houston school district will have a new leader next semester.

John ellison will take over the post in december.

The houston school district board of trustees recently selected ellison to replace tony cook.

Cook is retiring at the end of this semester as the superintendent of the houston and chickasaw county school districts.

An announcement was made on the district's social media page.

Ellison has been in the houston school district his entire career as a teacher, coach and principal.

He's currently the principal at houston high.

First look stinger first look summary: a cold front will spark some showers and storms around the region friday but hopefully they won't impact high school football too much.

Saturday may end up cloudy and cool with warmer air surging back in early next week.

An area of low pressure could give the region more rain and storms by the middle to end of next week but details remain unclear at this time.

Thursday night: mainly clear, quiet, and mild.

Lows in the mid 60s.

Winds sse 2-5 mph.

Friday: increasing clouds with showers and storms possible from about midday onward into the afternoon and evening.

Highs in the 80s.

Winds ssw 5-10 mph.

Stinger-stinger 5-10 mph.

Stinger-stinger wcbi continuing coverage stinger covid-19 related hospitalizations continue to increase in mississippi.

Here are the latest numbers from the state department of health.

There are 958 new cases in the state and eight deaths being reported.

711 people are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected coronavirus symptoms. 151 of those patients are in i.c.u.

In our area, lafayette county has the most new cases with 19.

Lee and oktibbeha counties are both reporting 17 new cases.

Alcorn has 14.

Intro the us just had its busiest week for air travel since the start of the pandemic.

On sunday alone, the tsa screened 1 million passengers across the country.

Wcbi reporter stephen pimpo checked in with the golden triangle regional airport to see how they are doing during the pandemic.

He joins us in studio with the story.

Executive director mike hainsey says they are getting around 60 passengers a day since they increased to three flights a day in october.

However...he says the air port has a long way to go to get back to normal.

"they're getting the message that they can travel safely."

Slowly but surely...the golden triangle regional airport is doing it's best to keep pushing forward seven months into the pandemic.

"initially when this started, we were getting maybe 8-10 passengers a day and now, with 25 a flight, we're seeing a decent number of people coming back."

Su: last month the airport got just 32% of the passengers they had at this time last year.

While those numbers are consistent with other airports across the country...executiv e director mike hainsey says the airport is still missing most of it's most reliable demographic.

"without the business travelers in our market, they're about 80 percent of our customers.

So until they start traveling, we'll stay where we are now."

The airport and carrier delta airlines are taking every safety precaution...the reasons those passengers are staying away are out of their hands.

"a business traveler has to be sure that the ride to the hotel, the hotel, the restaurants are all following the covid protocols or their people may be at risk."

Fortunately...the airport has been able to balance that out with the recent up-tick in leasure travel.

"the air fairs have dropped significantly, depending on where you are going and we're seeing a lot of people are traveling now for vacations."

Travel nurse sarah casey is flying out to see family on the east coast.

"it's a little scary at times but i feel pretty comfortable with it.

All the airports that i've been in during my traveling, i've felt safe in."

While the airport itself remains financially stable, the drop in business travelers has hurt the rest of the golden triangle community.

"on our restaurants, on our service industries, on our hotels, anything that has anything to do with travel, those industries have really been hit hard."

Hainsey did say the airport will get another boost in january when delta opens up the middle seat for passengers.

Stinger coming up next we will continue with our series breaking down the ballot.

Stay with us.

There are several items on this year's mississippi ballot that may require a little research on the part of the voter.

Wcbi's cash matlock continues his series, breaking down the ballot tonight, as he explains what it means in mississippi to have a majority vote.

102220-pkg this year's ballot 102220-pkg this year's ballot is stacked.

There's a whole host of things to vote on.

The presidential race, the u.s. sentate race, medical marijuana, the state flag... but there's one issue that you may not be too familiar with.

It's called house concurrent resolution number 47, and the wording of this measure can be difficult to understand, so let's break it down sentence by sentence.

The first line says "this amendment provides that to be elected governor, or to any other statewide office, a candidate must receive a majority of the votes in the general election."

This is a measure that's already in place, and that's not actually what we're voting on..

So let's keep going.

The second line reads " if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, then a runoff election shall be held as provided by general law."

Ok..

Once again, that sounds like a standard procedure, so that must not be what we're voting on either.

The last line of the measure says "the requirement of receiving the most votes in a majority of mississippi house of representative's districts is removed."

This is the line we're actually voting on, right here.

So basically, in order to become governor of mississippi right now, you have to receive the majority vote áplusá the majority vote from the mississippi house of representatives districts.

If you vote "yes" on this measure, you're saying you would like for ájust the people'sá majority vote to count.

If you vote "no" on this measure, then you want the state to leave things how they are-- where a candidate must receive the majority vote plus the majority vote from the mississippi house of representatives.

For more information on the november 3rd ballot or house concurrent resolution number 47, visit our website at wcbi dot com.

I'm cash matlock and this has been breaking down the ballot.

Stinger weather open summary: a cold front will spark some showers and storms around the region friday but hopefully they won't impact high school football too much.

Saturday may end up cloudy and cool with warmer air surging back in early next week.

An area of low pressure could give the region more rain and storms by the middle to end of next week but details remain unclear at this time.

Thursday night: mainly clear, quiet, and mild.

Lows in the mid 60s.

Winds sse 2-5 mph.

Friday: increasing clouds with showers and storms possible from about midday onward into the afternoon and evening.

Highs in the 80s.

Winds ssw 5-10 mph.

Friday night: mostly cloudy with some lingering showers possible.

Lows in the 60s.

Saturday: mostly cloudy.

Highs in the upper 60s to lower 70s.

A few spotty showers or areas of drizzle are possible.

Saturday night: mostly cloudy.

Lows in the upper 50s to lower 60s.

Sunday: morning clouds with more afternoon sunshine.

Highs in the 70s.

Monday- wednesday: variably cloudy and warm.

Highs in the 80s with lows in the 60s.

A few showers are possible each day.

Summary: a cold front will spark some showers and storms around the region friday but hopefully they won't impact high school football too much.

Saturday may end up cloudy and ole miss football plays host to auburn for homecoming this weekend...more on what to expect from the tigers, next in sports following a dissapointing 33-21 loss against arkansas, ole miss football returns home to host yet another opponent with a chip on its shoulder in auburn..

The tigers are coming off an upset loss to the tigers and are led by sophomore quarterback bo nix..who right now has 869 passing yards, five touchdowns and 4 picks on the season nix also able to pick up 141 yds and 1 score on the ground...somethin g ole miss head coach lane kiffin says the rebels need to keep an eye on this weekend kiffin: "really competitive.

Really strong arm.

Can really take off and run with the ball too.

You know, which we haven't done great with that this season so very big challenge for a team that's always, you know if you don't stop the run you're going to get fifty carries.

It's always how gus has been.

You know they're very physical and down hill how they run.

You better stop em before the day gets long."

If you're looking to watch some s-e- c football this weekend here's how you can ole miss and auburn face off first thing in the morning at 11 am...you can watch that game over on the s-e-c network alabama hits the road to play tennessee...that match-up will be featured right here on wcbi with a 2:30 kick-off highlights of both of those games at six and right here on wcbi and of course, missisippi state is off this week, however the bulldogs get back to action next weekend in tuscaloosa against the crimson tide the wait is over!

Look no further!

This week's game of the week is a class 3a showdown.....a rematch of last season's north half state final.

Choctaw county and noxubee county.

These two teams locked horns last season in the regular season that resulted in the chargers winining the district championship later on in the post season, the tigers exacted revenge on choctaw county winning the north half title.

With the district title on the line again, both coaches know it's going to be a battle that goes to the wire "it's a good opportunity again.

I'm thankful for this opportunity to have this chance.

To have the chance to win a district championship two years in a row after the change over.

I told them to go out there and just have fun.

Enjoy the moment because it's a great opportunity and we'll be excited about it."

"we've been focused.

Last year, we lost the district championship to choctaw county.

Every year we go into the season and write goals down.

Our goals are to win three championships.

Our district.

North half.

State.

This is the first one and we have it at home.

We just got to go take care of business."

These two titans face off tomorrow at 7pm.

Be sure to watch endzone to find out who wins!

High school atheltics continues to be impacted by covid- 19 -- aberdeen football is shutdown through november 2nd due to one positive case -- starkville fb shutdown wednesday for two weeks due and today the girls basketball team also shutdown for two weeks due to positive covid-19 cases starkville academy game friday against jackson academy and east unions game against potts camp have also been canceled due to positive covid-19 cases on both opposing teams when we return...chief meteorologist keith gibson will have a last look at your forecast.

You are watching wcbi news at six.

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