WCBI NEWS AT 10 - 10/27/20

WCBI NEWS AT 10 - 10/27/20

Good evening everyone... we're one week away from election day and mississippi voters are already breaking records.

In a press conference earlier today, mississippi secretary of state michael watson said more than 190 thousand voters have requested absentee ballots.

That's 80 thousand more requests than the 2016 election.

Mississippi also registered 113 thousand new voters this year.

Watson says even with the increase in absentee ballots, he still expects election day to be busy.

He says the state is working hard to make this election safe and fair.

"let's make sure the machines are wiped down, the tables are wiped down, the doors are wiped down, enforcing social distancing.

If it is a small precinct, you may have a situation where it's one in, one out."

Watson says the ballot machine is not connected to the internet which means it cannot be hacked by an outside source.

A central mississippi mayor is challenging how initiative 65 made its way to the november general election ballot.

Madison mayor mary hawkins butler filed the challenge with the state supreme court.

She argues that the number of signatures gathered to get initiative 65 on the ballot does not meet standards set in the state constitution.

Mississippi's initiative process requires petitioners to gather signatures from registered voters, getting no more than one- fifth of the signatures from any congressional district.

Supporters of initiative 65 say their petition process met the requirements set by the constitution and by a 2009 attorney general's opinion.

Just days remain until election day... and one would expect to start seeing candidates and their supporters taking their campaigning efforts to the next level... but some folks in the golden triangle say they feel like they've seen fewer campaign signs this year compared to years past.

Wcbi's stephen pimpo went out to local neighborhoods to talk with voters and see why that is.

"i want the people to know in my community that these are the people we should stand behind."

That's why life- long columbus resident roy turner says he has these signs supporting us senate candidate mike espy and district 5 election commissioner tiffany turner in his front yard.

But with one of the most anticipated elections in recent memory just days away... turner says he's seeing less campaign signs than usual.

"you don't usually have as many out as they usually do because the streets usually be full of campaign signs and stuff.

People be putting them in their yards and stuff."

He says he plans on adding a sign supporting the biden-harris presidential ticket but says local candidates have made their material more available.

"mike espy has and tiffany have but as far as people from biden and harris campaign, we haven't really seen them people campaigning in this area."

Trump-pence supporter amy buckley says she has had even more difficulty in getting a sign in the west point area.

"i do have a couple neighbors with a biden sign and a trump sign but i have seen zero access to the biden signs and the trump signs."

Buckley also says she has noticed less campaign signs this year and offered several possible reasons.

"covid has changed a lot of things and maybe the hostility with this crazy election.

You got the crazy democrats and you got the crazy republicans."

She says that more and more people may want to avoid that hostility by not displaying a campaign sign for the presidential candidate they support.

"i think everybody wants to avoid it.

To avoid the election all together but everybody should vote for sure."

"politics play a little part in it and stuff like that and a lot of people don't people to know who they're voting for and stuff like that."

In columbus..stephen pimpo wcbi news neither turner nor buckley have said they have experienced any negative feedback so far based on their public support of candidates in this election.

First look stinger first look summary: rain develops tonight and continues into thursday as the remnants of zeta and a cold front push across the twin states.

Some wind gusts could be over 30 mph at times wednesday night into thursday but no widespread issues are expected in our area at this time.

Drier weather builds back in by friday a starkville man is arrested after a pursuit through columbus.

Now, 29-year-old jamarcus patmon is charged with fleeing and eluding and resisting arrest.

The lowndes county narcotics task force started the chase on the northside of the city, just after six last night.

Chief deputy brent swan says it's believed that patmon jumped out of the vehicle and ran from agents.

He was arrested a short time later.

First responders must be ready for any scenario, including plane crashes.

An emergency response drill was held at the golden triangle regional airport this morning.

Firefighters from the airport, lowndes county, the city of columbus, and columbus air force base participated.

Despite the fog in the area, first responders were able to carry on the simulation mission.

Firemen used a real-life scenario to respond to a simulated plane crash.

"to practice the response proceedures that we would use in of such an incident.

Traditionally, that includes people first responders from all of the communities, the three city and counties but because of covid, today we are cutting down exposure, and it's just going to be from lowndes county and the city of columbus."

Today's drill is a requirement by the federal aviation administration.

Pickens county schools are moving to virtual or remote learning.

Two county schools in gordo closed monday because of positive covid-19 test results among staff members.

Gordo elementary and high school are on one campus and students have been on a staggered schedule.

Remote learning for all schools started today.

Administrators tell wvua that this was the best decision to prevent the spread of the virus and manage staff levels because of contact tracing.

"that one person that tests positive, you can wipe out a whole staff or a group of teachers or grade level teachers, so on and so forth... but again, finding substitutes is a problem all over the nation."

The transition will not affect football games.

Hospitalization numbers continue to improve, as covid-19 cases rise.

The mississippi state department of health is reporting 854 new cases today, along with 20 deaths.

678 people are in hospitals across the state with confirmed or suspected coronavirus symptoms. 159 of those patients are in i.c.u.

More than 101 thousand mississippians are presumed recovered from the virus.

This means there are nearly 12 thousand presumed active cases in the state, right now.

In our area, lee county has the most new cases with 40.

Lafayette county is reporting 18.

Prentiss has 14.

Intro halloween is on saturday... different towns have different ideas about how you should trick or treat this year because of covid 19.

Wcbi's bobby martinez talks with the mayor columbus and ackerman about their plans... safety first.... sot - robert smith - mayor - columbus "we are discouraging door to door, but if parents still want to go door to door that's fine.

We just ask you practice safety if you go door to door."

That's the message columbus mayor robert smith wants residents to abide by this halloween, as covid cases have steadily climbed across the state in recent weeks.

Smith believes more precautions should be taken.

Sot - robert smith - mayor - columbus "we just ask that you practice safety, social distance and wear your mask."

Smith says the city is providing trick or treaters with a safer alternative..

Sot - robert smith - mayor - columbus "it's called fall fun drive through at propst park.

And so we encourage our citizens feel free to stop by.

It's free all you have to do, the kids don't have to get out the car, you're not in anyone's way when you pull up to the first station.

We will be passing out masks to kids in the vehicles and as you go through each station you have someone assisting them.

The bags are already prepared."

Bridge stand up "and here in ackerman - with covid cases some of the lowest in the state.

Mayor tim cutts says there are no changes to halloween rules this year.

But wants residents to remain vigilant and safe while trick or treating.

Sot - tim cutts - mayor - ackerman "the town of ackerman will have the same thing that we done before.

We will have kids come out in probably a steady stream, come out between about four and 8 o'clock, and if their light is on at the house you are welcomed to go out there and knock on the door and have that trick-or-treat event."

208 positive cases and 6 deaths have been recorded for choctaw county... cutts credits the community for all doing their part in keeping each other safe..

In fact, this past weekend the town hosted a trunk or treat event..

Something donna mckay, executive director for the choctaw county chamber of commerce..

Says was a huge turnout..

Sot - donna mckay, executive director - choctaw county chamber of commerce "we had around 300 children that came through.

All the little kids in their costumes..

That type of thing.

I mean we had cars lined up everywhere."

Bobby martinez... wcbi news... in columbus..

There is city-wide mask ordinance... but in ackerman - there is not a mask ordinance... stinger wx summary: rain develops tonight and continues into thursday as the remnants of zeta and a cold front push across the twin states.

Some wind gusts could be over 30 mph at times wednesday night into thursday but no widespread issues are expected in our area at this time.

Drier weather builds back in by friday afternoon and it will continue through most of next week.

Tuesday night: cloudy with areas of rain developing.

Some thunder is also possible.

Steady to slowly rising temperatures in the 60s.

Winds ne 5- 10 mph.

Wednesday: cloudy with areas of rain and storms. some rain may be locally heavy at times.

Highs in the 70s.

Winds se 5-15 mph with some higher gusts.

Wednesday night: breezy with areas of rain.

Wind gusts could be over 30 mph as the remnants of zeta swirl through along the i-20/59 corridor.

Thursday: morning clouds and showers give way to some afternoon clearing behind a cold front.

Breezy sw winds 10-25 mph develop with some gusts over 30 mph.

Highs in the low 70s.

Thursday night: mostly cloudy with a few isolated showers possible.

Lows in the upper 40s to lower 50s.

Friday: morning clouds with widespread sun taking over during the afternoon.

Cooler highs in the low 60s.

No issues expected for high school football this week.

Weekend: mostly sunny.

Highs around 70 saturday with 60s on tap for sunday.

Lows in the 40s and 50s.

Next week: bright sunshine should be the norm.

Expect highs in the 60s with lows in the 30s and 40s.

There won't be any weather worries for election day on tuesday.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app stinger new studies show how coronavirus could affect the heart.

More on that story coming up.

Stay with us.

Cash 3 lottery gfx goes here a new international study shows the impact the coronavirus can have on the heart.

Chris martinez has more.

Jihan mikhail spent a month in the hospital battling severe covid-19& she has underlying conditions and was intubated for 10 days.

That minute i called my husband and i told him, i'm going, please take care of yourself.

I'm leaving.

Don't worry.

Seven months later, she's still struggling.

The 47- year old's heart is not pumping well because it was damaged by the coronavirus.

She has trouble breathing..

My muscle, my heart very weak a large international study led by icahn school of medicine at mount sinai is helping doctors better understand covid-19's impact on the heart.

Researchers looked at the heart ultrasounds of more than 300 hospitalized covid 19 patients.

They found two thirds had heart abnormalities and those patients had a higher risk of death.

We tend to think it's more an inflammatory response against the virus, which is affecting the heart, rather the direct attack of the virus into the heart.

Doctors say these heart injuries can be associated with heart attack, pulmonary embolism and heart failure.

Study author dr. martin goldman says the ultrasounds may be an important tool to identify high risk patients who may benefit from more aggressive and tailored treatment.

We're learning every day something new.

// we think we need to continue investigating what the long term effects are on all their organ systems, including the brain, the heart, the kidneys, the lung mikhail sleeps with oxygen and gets tired easily, but her scans show she's improving..

The muscle of the heart is getting stronger.

// it's kind of scary to me.

I'm very frustrated she's taking her medications as prescribed.... trying to heal from this ordeal.

Chris martinez, cbs news, new york.

Doctors say doctors say patients with existing cardiac risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity should try and manage the conditions now, because it could help prevent heart complications related to covid- 19.

Stinger mississippi state football will have its hands full saturday... next in sports mike leach on why this year's alabama team is one of the best he has ever played against... spx open ááátake mississippi state star running back kylin hill continues to make headlines..

Al dot com's matt zenitz reports it's expected that the columbus native's mississippi state career is over and he'll just begin preparing for the nfl draft..

Monday head coach mike leach said he's still unavailable... we'll continue to keep you updated... coming off the bye week... state's offensive struggles continue... the bulldogs have averaged just 10 points per game in their last three and have to play arguably their toughest opponent of the year this saturday when they take on the second ranked alabama crimson tide in tuscaloosa..

Leach says this is one the best teams he has ever coached against.

Leach: well you know they're fast.

Occasionally i have played against some really fast teams that weren't as big as others.

They're big and they're fast.

Most of these players we are already familiar with in the recruiting process.

They're the guys that hovered around the top of the list.

The crimson tide haven't showed any signs of slowing down this year... they're 4-0... each game has been won by at least 15 points... and they're coming off a 48-17 win over tennessee... bama has dominated the bulldogs winning the last 12 meetings... their last loss came in 2007 during nick saban's first year as head coach... and saban knows what to expect saturday .you know, mississippi state, mike leach, everyone knows about the offense they run.

They are very pass oriented on offense.

Lot of spread formations.

They do a really good job executing it but defensively they are one of the top defensive teams in the league the sec fined ole miss head coach lane kiffin 25 thousand dollars for his social media use following the rebels loss to auburn on saturday..

Monday night he tweeted a video of a man paying a three thousand dollar bill with pennies...then responded to the tweet saying where can i find 250 thousand pennies..

Funny stuff .

The rebels made it a one score game in each of their last three losses in the fourth but were just unable to close out... despite that... kiffin likes the way his team has been progressing... kiffin says: we're just trying to get better and we have been.

We're running the ball more consistent and we're playing beter defense.

We need to continue to put it all together but we still have not.

We were closer this week but were just unable to finish it out.

That would have been a great win.

ááátake gfxááá let's take a look at the updated high school football rankings... nanih waiya just behind biggersville... second in the state in the 1a ranks..

The warriors are coming off a 38-7 win over vardaman and remain undefeated at 7-0... after an 0-2 start the tupelo christian eagles continue to roll and find themselves ranked 4th in 1a... something else to note... noxubee county up to number four after a convincing 29-0 shutout v ictory over choctaw county in our game of the week last week..

ááátake gfxááá to 4a we go... greenwood in first... followed by clarksdale..

Newton county... poplarville and moss point... neshowba central atop 5a... pickayune follows them then it's west jones... ridgeland and lafayette.... starkville second in 6a before oxford... oak grove in third... south panola in fourth and the team that took starkville down... madison central... is in 5th... following a 12-10 loss to south panola... ááátake gfxááá week 8's lineman of the week honors are going to west point... the green wave had a bit of a rough stretch dropping two in a row to lake cormorant and then grenada but they bounced back well with a 47-14 win over columbus... their offense scored 44 points in the first quarter of that one... that has to be some type of record... the green wave improved to 5-2 on the year with the victory..

An important bounce back win for chris chambless' bunch and they'll hit the road to take on new hope this friday night... we're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, keith will have a final look at weather.

Stay with