WCBI NEWS AT SIX - 11/03/2020

WCBI NEWS AT SIX - 11/03/2020

Show open centered show open centered good evening.

Thank you for joining us.

It's election night 2020.

Americans are at the poll picking a new president and deciding senate races.

Here in mississippi, there are also intiatives and the state flag on the ballot.

The polls will be open for another hour.

That's where we begin our coverage.

Wcbi's cash matlock joins us live from a precinct in columbus with a lookout at turnout.

Aundrea i'm here at assembly of god church in columbus and we've got a pretty good crowd out here.

Poll workers tell me there's been a steady flow of voters all day.

There's no question that this election will have a high turnout... and you can't forget almost 200 thousand mississippians have requested absentee ballots.

Only about 113 thousand requested those in the 2016 election.

You can see there's several people waiting in line behind me.

Looking around i've noticed a lot of voters are following cdc recommendations.

They have their masks on, they're social distancing... folks here want their voices heard, but they also want to be safe.

If you haven't made it out to the polls yet, you still have plenty of time.

Polls don't close until 7 tonight.

If you're standing in line by 7 o'clock, you will still be allowed to vote.

So as long as you get here before 7, you're good to go.

I know from first hand experience that it was also a busy day in starkville today... i'm going to go ahead and hand things over to bobby martinez who's live at the starkville sportsplex..

Bobby?

Vo cash, the time to cast your vote is coming to an end.

As polls close in one hour.... and here outside of the sportsplex in starkville..

Voters are making their way inside.

Going to step aside to give you a better visual of voters making their way inside.... now masks are required to enter the building.

Hand sanitzers are also being offered.

And social distancing is being enforced..

Now earlier today..

Lines of voters wrapped around the sportsplex.

For most people today, this election is personal.

But each voter has their own reason to stand and be counted.

Sot "it means a whole lot because i was a convicted felon federally in 1998 and i was incarcerated until 2008.

This is the first time i will be able to vote in that many years."

"we got two presidential candidates, very highly contested election that has a lot of repercussions in four years."

"i'm a mother, i have a son, i have a black son.

So this means everything to me not just for him but you know the entire world as a whole."

Now polls do close at 7 p.

M.

And if you are in line by that time, you will still be able to cast your vote.

Top lines throughout lee county were long all day at polling places.

The line stretched around the corner and down the street at parkway baptist church in tupelo.

People were waiting in line for about half an hour to cast their ballot.

U s senator roger wicker was one of those in the line.

Publican senator was pleased at the strong turnout and said there is a lot at stake in this presidential election.

Senator wicker also said he doesn't put a lot of stock in polls.

"four years ago, there weren't very many people predicting a trump victory, as the votes came in that night, we realized it was time for the people to speak so , i think this election could go either way, just as it could have four years ago, but i do think it is a basic choice between a conservative republican and a liberal democrat, i think people of america generally come on the side of center right government ."

Senator wicker says there are legitimate concerns about voter fraud in states where ballots can be counted after election day.

However he doesn't believe there will be any problems with the vote count in mississippi.

First look stinger first look summary: pleasant fall weather is here to stay for the rest of the week and into the weekend.

Temperatures are going to moderate back into the 70s with the threat of another frost or freeze going away for a while.

Tuesday night: clear and chilly.

Lows in the upper 30s to around 40.

Wednesday: sunny.

Highs near 70.

Wednesday night: clear.

Lows in the 40s.

Thursday: sun & clouds.

Highs around 70.

Late this afternoon, lee late this afternoon, lee county coroner carolyn confirmed her office is investigating an accident at cooper tire and rubber company.

Green says the accident involved a contractor who was working inside the plant.

The worker was pronounced dead l at nmmc emergency room from multiple trauma.

The body will be sent to the state medical examiner in pearl for an autopsy.

Green will release the name after notifying the family.

A monroe county man will be charged with arson after he allegedly threatens to shoot others, then starts a fire inside a trailer where he had barricaded himself.

Monroe county deputies were called to a trailer on bethlehem road in the far northeast part of the county around 9 o'clock this morning.

The caller said her granddaughter's boyfriend, 33 year old nathan miller threatened to shoot everyone in a house .

Investigator wayne wilbanks says when deputies arrived, miller barricaded himself inside a trailer, said he had a weapon and wanted to commit 'suicide by cop.'

Officers secured the scene and a short time later, investigator wilbanks says miller started a fire inside the trailer.

"he jumps out a window, takes off running, deputies chase him down and detain him, he is currently at tupelo er, and will go to the evaluation ward, once he is through there we will have an arrest warrant for him and he will be brought to our facility."

Investigator investigator wilbanks says miller will be charged with arson, and he could also face a simple assault assault charge for his threats to shoot others.

Wilbanks says officers always work to de escalate a tense situation, to help ensure no one is injured.

Video in monitor monroe county sheriff kevin crook credits his deputies for de escalating the situation on bethlehem road.

The sheriff took office in january and had a list of goals for his first term.

As wcbi's allie martin reports, those major goals that the sheriff thought would take four years to accomplish, have been realized in ten months.

One of the first things sheriff kevin crook did after he took office, was to increase the number of deputies on patrol.

At least one deputy has been added to every shift and now the county is divided into four zones for patrol.

"we were covering 772 square miles with three deputies, for instance, when we had this call today, one of our units who came as backup was over here near shannon, took them 46 minutes to get to the call, that's how big an area we're dealing with."

That was just one goal.

The sheriff's office has also rejoined the north mississippi narcotics unit, dispatch was also moved to the county's 9 1 1 office.

"we've been able to see fruit of that... there are now three female deputies at the sheriff's office, there were none when the sheriff took office.

The county also came up with a plan to buy new vehicles, to replace old ones that were racking up maintenance costs.

The sheriff's department experienced tragedy in july, when deputy dylan pickle was struck and killed by a vehicle while conducting a safety checkpoint.

His partner, zack wilbanks, was injured, and is recovering.

He is expected to return to work next year.

Sheriff crook says the community support is continuing.

"the community made things happen, like reflective vests, ... the pay scale employees at the sheriff's department has increased, and the detention center is now housing federal inmates, which means more revenue for the county.

The sheriff says there are several factors that have helped him reach his goals early.

"i attribute it ... standup close going forward, sheriff crook wants to build on the foundation of the past ten months.

He says, better equipment, more manpower and more community watch programs will help fight crime and keep the county safer.

In aberdeen, allie martin, wcbi news the sheriff is also looking to achieve state accredited law enforcement agency status for the monroe county sheriff's department.

Stinger when we come back, see why some parents are concerned with their children going to school during a pandemic.

Stay with us.

Intro intro after nine weeks of hybrid and virtual options, the winona school district wants students and teachers in the same room.

The reason?

"neither students, nor parents nor teachers are prepared to be virtual learners.

Not 12th graders, not 9th graders and certainly not 5th graders and first graders."

School district superintendent teresa jackson says they do not have the resources to make virtual learning widely available.

"when we asked the question to our community, early on in this, about 30 percent of our students do not have access to reliable internet in their homes."

She says virtual has not been as effective at the elementary school level.

"teachers were creating google classrooms where they were putting content in those classrooms that, honestly many of our students and parents were not accessing or were not accessing well."

Currently, the school district is offering in-person learning for grades k through 12th and an option for virtual learning for students grades 7- 12.

Students with pre- existing conditions can use virtual learning as well but must get a note from their doctor.

That same option does not extend to family members with pre- existing conditions.

Chastity turner is a mother of three students, two in the elementary school, one at the secondary school.

"my biggest concern is that my children are going to go to school and bring something back home to my grandmother.

I'm the caregiver for my grandmother, she's 86."

Jennifer phillips has pulled her 9- year-old son out of the elementary school because of elderly father and her mother who has type 2 diabetes.

"i wanted to do at home learning because that would be the best for my child's health and also my parents health because that's where he stays when i'm at work."

Turner and phillips would just like the option to go back to virtual learning.

"it's the middle of the school year.

I don't have the ciriculum for it.

I'm not a teacher, i'm a parent.

We were working well with the proceedures we had in place."

In winona, stephen pimpo...wcbi.

The week after opening back to in- person learning...104 students across the district had to be quarantined but that number dropped to just three the week after that.

The numbers are back up today for covid-19 cases in mississippi with the health department reporting 644 new cases.

Of most concern are the 36 deaths.

In our area, lowndes county has the most new cases with 15.

Monroe county is reporting 13 cases.

Lee has an additional 31 cases.

562 people are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of covid-19.

167 patients are in icu.

76 are on a ventilator.

Health officials presume 105,839 people have recovered from coronavirus.

Stinger open summary: pleasant fall weather is here to stay for the rest of the week and into the weekend.

Temperatures are going to moderate back into the 70s with the threat of another frost or freeze going away for a while.

Tropics: hurricane eta continues to swirl around central america.

Model data suggest the remnants of this system may take a wild trip towards florida and/or the eastern gulf by the weekend and early next week.

It's still way to early to tell where it may end up but there is a non-zero chance that parts of the eastern gulf could be affected at some point over the next 7 days.

Tuesday night: clear and chilly.

Lows in the upper 30s to around 40.

Wednesday: sunny.

Highs near 70.

Wednesday night: clear.

Lows in the 40s.

Thursday: sun & clouds.

Highs around 70.

Thursday night: mostly clear.

Lows in the 40s.

Friday: mostly sunny.

Highs in 70s.

Saturday - tuesday: partly cloudy and mild.

Highs in the 70s with lows in the 50s.

A chance of a few showers by tuesday.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app stinger kylin hill's mississippi state career is over... next in sports why the columbus native is opting out spx open ááátake mon gfxááá' columbus native kylin hill's with lows in the 50s.

A chance of a few showers by tuesday.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app stinger kylin hill's mississippi state career is over... next in sports why the columbus native is opting out spx open ááátake mon gfxááá' columbus native kylin hill's mississippi state football career is offically over..

The running back took to social media this morning to announce that he is opting out of the rest of the season to declare for the 2021 nfl draft his statement saying in part quote i would like to thank the entire mississippi state coaching staff for giving me the opportun ity to live out my dream and play at msu end quote... he also revealed shortly after that he was dealing with some personal issues as his brother recently had brain surgery and covid 19 affected his brother and mother as well... he said head coach mike leach was very understanding of his situation and never rushed him back to the field..

Hill tallied over 3100 yards and 22 touchdowns in his three and a half years at mississippi state... after a nightmare 41-0 loss to number two alabama... state is likely to get back into the win colum this weekend when mike leach's bunch hosts vanderbilt... the commodores are 0-4 this season... in last place and state is favored by 16 and a half points... despite the big spread the bulldogs still have issues of their own to fix and leach is not overlooking the commodores... they give you several different looks, they're not afraid to blitz.

Offensively they have tricks up their sleeves and have key guys you need to keep your eye on.

Like a lot of teams over the course of this year, from one week to the next, you'll see things differently then you saw during the previous week.

I don't think you can bounce back better after a three game skid than ole miss did saturday in its dominant 54-21 win over vanderbilt..

The rebels led 21 nothing at the end of the first... 33-14 at the break and did not look back... kiffin's crew had 645 yards... not too shabby heading into the bye week and the head man was proud of his i don't think you can bounce back better after a three game skid than ole miss did saturday in its dominant 54-21 win over vanderbilt..

The rebels led 21 nothing at the end of the first... 33-14 at the break and did not look back... kiffin's crew had 645 yards... not too shabby heading into the bye week and the head man was proud of his team's well- rounded effort and progression the quarterback obviously did some really good things.

Him and elijah had big days.

Defenasively qwe limited explosive plays and gave up one explosive run.

I wish our twos played better on both sides.

It's time to take a it's time to take a look at our lineman of the week ááátake gfxááá the honors this week are going to the lafayette commodores... they haven't lost a game since september 25th and have won five straight games..

Ever since the loss to west point they have been on fire.... recently taking care of business against columbus friday night 24-18 in an exciting one... those other wins coming over grenayda..

Center hill... saltillo... and new hope along with the falcons... a very impressive stretch and they will be taking on lake cormorant on the road this friday... that's a seven o'clock kickoff... ááátake gfxááá let's take a look at the newest a-p prep poll rankings... 6a headlined by oak grove... starkville in second... oxford in third followed by d'iberville and south panola... lafayette in second in 5-a louisville is at the top of 4-a..

The wildcats coming off a 29-9 win over kosciusko and sit at 8-1 on the season... pontotoc... them grapes... in third they are 8-1 on the year as well to the 3-a ranks noxubee county still in first... 6-1 on the year and shut out choctaw county 29-0..

West marion in second followed by columbia... magee and north panola... 2a starting off with taylorsville... north side in second... enterprise clarke in third... followed by scott central and union... 8-0 nanih waiya in first in 1a... tcps in fourth... the eagles just defeated okolona 51-20 to caputre their sixth win in a row..

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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