WCBI NEWS at 6 -10/30/2020

WCBI NEWS at 6 -10/30/2020

Halloween show open good evening, everyone.

With the election now just four days away, absentee voting lines across the state are getting longer.

The circuit clerk in lee county says absentee voting has more than doubled from four years ago.

So far, more than 45-hundred people have voted absentee in lee county.

The wait has been as long as two hours in recent days.

Tomorrow is the final day to vote absentee before tuesday's election.

Many circuit clerk offices will be open from 8 until 5 on saturday.

"if you come on saturday, for halloween, i'm going to try and have some candy for people, to get you through the line, expect the wait.

We're doing the best we can, difference in absentee in offices, we have to do pretty much everything by hand, where if you go to the polling precinct, they're set up to take mass amount of numbers.

They are set up to do it a different way then we can in the office, so it just takes us a little bit longer."

There are several reasons you can vote absentee in mississippi.

Among those, if you are over 65, will be out of town on election day, or are a covid caregiver, a covid patient, or are disabled.

In addition to picking a new presidents, missippians will decide whether to approve medial marijuana.

In a press conference earlier today, state health officer dr. thomas dobbs explained the differences between initiative 65 and 65a.

Dobbs says if initiative 65 passes, the state health department will not be able to adjust the initiative.

He also says the state will have limited power to regulate specifics such as tax on marijuana and the amount of dispensaries that can be built.

"i really just encourage people to look at the language of both.

If you read the description on the ballot, it doesn't say anything really about what it is.

Go to the secretary of state's website, look up initiative 65 and 65a, and know what you're voting for.

Whatever we vote in, if we vote either one of those in, we're going to be stuck with it for the forseeable future."

Dobbs says if neither initiative passes, he thinks the state legislature would soon pass a medical marijuana law instead of adding it to the state constitution.

Top trip hairston is set to take over as president of the lowndes county board of supervisors on monday.

He will inherit a fractured board but he says he is looking to the future.

Hairston's challenge is to unite a board that has long been divided by racial tension.

It was in june that district 1 supervisor harry sanders stepped down as president after making racist public remarks to a columbus newspaper.

After his election on october 15th, district 5 supervisor leroy brooks said the decision to give the job to a new supervisor showed the decision was based on race, not experience.

In a sit down interview with wcbi today, hairston said he hopes to bring the board together so they can act on some of the main issues facing lowndes county "the needs of the county and what we're sent there to do and the needs of the people that we represent and doing the buisness of the county, i think we will see some of these things hopefully subside over time.

And i understand full well that it may not.

And we'll just have to navigate that and work though it."

Hairston says he hopes to focus on economic development, including a large site out near the airport that's being developed.

Walmart has returnedg firearms and ammunitions to its sales floor, a day after saying it would remove them.

Several of the retailer's stores were damaged during civil unrest this week.

The company says it removed the guns to protect customers and staff.

Now, walmart says the unrest is geographically isolated ... so it's putting back the firearms and ammo.

First look stinger halloween weekend will remain mostly sunny with temperatures remaining a bit chilly.

A second cold front will move through sunday, bringing us another shot of cooler air by monday.

Sunshine will continue for the upcoming week as temperatures slowly warm back into the 70s.

Friday night: skies will remain mostly clear overnight with temperatures falling to near 40.

Some patchy frost is possible in areas north of i-22.

Winds will be light out of the north- northeast.

Saturday: weather for halloween is looking great as skies remain mostly sunny through the day.

Southeasterly winds will help us to be a bit warmer with highs in the there are 749 new covid-19 cases in mississippi, along with 18 new deaths.

One of the deaths occurred in itawamba county.

The state department of health also reports 176 people are in i.c.u.

At hospitals across the state.

In our area, lafayatte county has the most new cases with 31.

Itawamba has 20.

There are a total of 119, 336 confirmed of suspected cases of covid-19 and more than 33- hundred deaths.

With just weeks to go in a fall semester, some university of mississippi parents say they believe efforts to curb the spread of covid 19 is impacting the quality of education.

In part two of a special report, wcbi's allie martin has more from an ole miss alumni, and an university spokesman, as parents, students and faculty are preparing for the next semester.

Ole miss graduate patrick tucker is about to add another graduate to his family.

His son is a senior this year.

But the changing classroom instruction, meant to reduce face to face instruction because of the pandemic has upset some parents and students.

Tucker is part of a facebook group called "keep mississippi universities open."

"this group of parents, we're not trying to tear down ole miss, we're trying to save our students and their academic integrity, at the same time we're trying to save ole miss, and we've had very little results in being able to get the administration, ihl or anybody else in power, to do anything else to make any changes to resolve this situation."

Tucker says as a medical doctor, he believes there's a good chance the limited number of face to face instruction, along with restrictions for on campus activities, will have a detrimental affect on some students.

That's why he is encouraging university leaders to have a different approach in the spring.

"there is a way , especially, since the cdc has documented how little problems students this age have, there is a way to get these students involved with each other, there is a way to open classrooms for those instructors that feel comfortable doing that."

But just this week the cdc updated their website when it comes to college age young adults.

The cdc posts that institutes of higher education setting may be a potential source of covid-19 outbreaks because students are in close proximity for extended periods of time.

Their update guidance includes increased social distancing in classrooms and dining halls, requirements for face masks and reducing the density of on campus housing.

This week, chancellor glenn boyce sent a letter to ole miss parents.

Chancellor boyce said the university plans to offer more in person courses this spring, along with, expanding the number of places where classes can be held, including off campus locations where social distancing guidelines can be followed.

"to be clear, we want to be in person, that's why everybody came here, is to deliver a great education to our students in person."

Jim zook is chief marketing and communications officer for ole miss.

He says the university takes concerns of students and parents seriously.

He also believes there has been some confusion about the terminology used to describe course formats.

"we're taking some steps before students register for the spring semester to make sure everybody is clear on what each format means and doesn't mean, there's some names that may be familiar, online and remote, sounds similar, but they're delivered in different ways."

Standup close registration for the spring semester starts next week.

In his letter to parents, chancellor boyce also promised to make more on campus space available, for student groups and other organizations.

Concerned ole miss parents and students say they will be watching and they hope the university keeps its promises, especially in the area of more in person classroom instruction.

Fall semester for ole miss students wraps up right before thanksgiving.

For additional content related to this report, go to our website at wcbi dot com.

Top the terminal at golden triangle regional airport will soon have passengers áandá pupils.

Beginning monday, the airport will offer free streaming internet for students who might not have access at home.

It's called the "gtr skyfi learning laboratory" and airport officials decided to offer the space in light of the increase in online k-12 learning.

Students will be able to schedule a desk in the upstairs part of the terminal by phone or online.

The service is free and students 16 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

The airport will also provide complimentary parking for students using the lab.

Top stinger top stinger you can go for a spooky spin tonight in starkville.

More on the drive-thru halloween experience when we come back.

Witches, ghouls, and bats... halloween festivities are kicking off in starkville tonight at the thad cochran research, economic, and development park.

Our stephanie poole joins us in the studio with those details.

Aundrea, students at mississippi state university are inviting community members for a spooky night with survive the drive.

éé and this mysterious car ride is sure to give you a good scare.

éé don't look behind you... it's not your typical haunted house.

" it's pretty scary" but it'll it's worth a scare.

Due to covid-19 concerns, student organizations at mississippi state university developed a way for families to have a spooky night.

" we've done plenty of haunted halloween events in the past.

But this was an event created to have a safe opportunity for people to still celebrate halloween traditions."

Chris hawkins is the assistant director of students activities.

He says survive the night drive thru is a unique twist on an old tradition.

" we were able to bring in different areas for the center for student activities and health to create a great summary of a great drive thru."

It took a few helping hands... " it's been 100% team effort.

We've had my department, center for student activities, residence hall association, the sanderson center, housing and residence life,.

We've had the theatre department with us they're going to helping with scare actors.

It's just across the board."

Health and wellness educator jonah neville says most of the decorations were recycled from the previous year.

Students are even getting down in the dirt to sell the illusion.

" a-lot of things have been used in the past so we haven't had to buy so many of the actual things.

But a lot of things have been built this year,like the tombstone or any kind of walls."

Butt sots " it gets dark out here.

The only lighting we'll have is the lights we'll have out here.

So it'll be a nice eerie setting.

We have some trees so we're hoping people will get a good experience out of it and kind of get that halloween fulfillment that's really been taken away from us.

We're really excited.

" survive the drive is from tonight from 8 to 11pm.

éé the first 100 people will receive a free t- shirt.

éé stinger weather open halloween weekend will remain mostly sunny with temperatures remaining a bit chilly.

A second cold front will move through sunday, bringing us another shot of cooler air by monday.

Sunshine will continue for the upcoming week as temperatures slowly warm back into the 70s.

Friday night: skies will remain mostly clear overnight with temperatures falling to near 40.

Some patchy frost is possible in areas north of i-22.

Winds will be light out of the north- northeast.

Saturday: weather for halloween is looking great as skies remain mostly sunny through the day.

Southeasterly winds will help us to be a bit warmer with highs in the upper 60s to near 70.

Saturday night: trick-or-treating will be chilly as temperatures drop into the 50s after sunset.

Lows saturday night will be in the mid to upper 40s under a mostly clear sky.

Sunday: a cold front will move through the area sunday, but no rain is expected.

Aside from a few clouds, we'll remain mostly sunny.

Highs in the mid 60s.

Monday-tuesday: we'll feel another shot of cooler air to start off the week with highs only in the mid to upper 50s on monday.

Tuesday's highs will be a bit warmer, but still only in the mid 60s.

Skies will remain mostly sunny.

Monday morning's low temperatures could be close to freezing in many spots.

Wednesday-friday: temperatures will warm up a bit for the second half of the week as skies remain mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Highs will be back into the low 70s with morning lows in the 40s to near 50.

To get the latest forecast anytime, download the wcbi news app or visit our website at wcbi.com/weather.

You can also get the latest weather updates on facebook, twitter, and instagram.

Halloween weekend will remain mostly sunny with temperatures remaining a bit chilly.

A second cold front will move through sunday, bringing us another shot of cooler air by monday.

Sunshine will continue for the upcoming week as temperatures slowly warm back into the 70s.

Friday night: skies will remain mostly clear overnight with temperatures falling to near 40.

Some patchy frost is possible in areas north of i-22.

Winds will be light out of the north- northeast.

Saturday: weather for halloween is looking great as skies remain mostly sunny through the day.

Southeasterly winds will help us to be a bit warmer with highs in the upper 60s to near 70.

Saturday night: trick-or-treating will be chilly as temperatures drop into the 50s after sunset.

Lows saturday night will be in the mid stinger "it's kind of unusual because normally we play a division game this time of year.

It's a non-division game.

Our main thing is we want to stay healthy.

Try to get that w.

We want to stay healthy.

We want to get better for that 3rd season."

"we get good momentum in this game win or lose.

We have positive momentum going into the playoffs."

"i think if we go in there and fight hard, fill our gaps and move our feet and tackle then we'll do a pretty darn good job to be honest."

"it's another game, but we've gotten hot here lately.

We'll try to find a way to win again.

Getting hot at the right time.

That's the goal.

Especially in this situation dealing with what we been dealing with this year, getting hot at the right time is key going into the post season.

You never know when this thing is going to shutdown so the opportunity to play is big within itself.

" "it's just a game we got to win.

Every game counts whether it's non- division or not."

When we return...chief meteorologist saturday will be a little more spooky than usual this year.

The halloween sky will be lit by a blue moon.....the second full moon in that month.

This will also be the first blue moon in the u-s since march 20-18.

Despite its name, a blue moon is not necessarily blue.

The phrase "once in a blue moon" usually means a rare occurrence that can either be lucky or unlucky.

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