WCBI NEWS AT SIX - 12/11/2020

WCBI NEWS AT SIX - 12/11/2020

Breaking news stinger breaking news this evening, lowndes county coroner greg merchant says one person is dead after a head on collision on hwy 50 earlier this afternoon.

The accident happened near honeysuckle lane.

A motorcycle collided with an suv.

The vehicles were traveling in opposite directions.

We?re going to have more information on this as it becomes available.

Restrictions are being implemented in mississippi hospitals, as covid-19 cases rise and more people receive treatment.

The state department of health is reporting two thousand 327 new cases today and 41 deaths.

11 of those occurred in the wcbi viewing area.

One thousand 286 people are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected covid symptoms. 301 of those patients are in i.c.u.

Msdh's website shows only 99 available i.c.u.

Beds in the entire state.

In our area, lee county has the most new cases with 73.

Union county has 66, lowndes has 53, oktibbeha has 47, pontotoc has 28, and winston has 24.

The health department announced today that all elective surgeries that require hospitalization will be delayed, beginning on tuesday.

No more visitors on the covid floor at och regional hospital - at least for now.

The hospital announced over social media that effective immediately, patients admitted for covid will not be allowed to have visitors.

The exceptions to policy are necessary clergy visits or end of life visitation.

The hospital revised visitation in mid october, limiting visitors for most patients to one person with the exception of labor and delivery and pediatrics.

Och has a complete visitor policy posted on their website.

We are just two weeks away from christmas.

As time winds down, folks are heading to the nearest ups store to get those gifts in the mail.

Our stephanie poole speaks with store workers about the holiday rush.

She joins us in the studio with more.

From thanksgiving through new years, postal services and delivery companies see more customers than usual.??

And because of covid-19, employees are gearing up for an influx of packages...both in- store and delivered.

Package after package lines the shelves at the ups store in starkville.

Store owner david buchanan says more customers is normal during the holiday season.

Due to the pandemic, more folks are sending gifts through the mail.

" instead of everybody going to visit grandma through the holidays, they're shipping everything to grandma.they're not going summer vacation, they're shipping to people they've would've gone to visit."

Buchanan says his store is stocked with supplies.

"whether it's packing, shipping, selling them whatever it is they need.

Office supplies, bubble wrap, faxing, printing, and mailing.

Anything you can imagine a business might need or any individual might need."

Nearly 300 customers visit the ups store each day.

Some are picking up presents from loved ones... "we were able to come in and get our packages and had no problem.

We had five, so it was no problem.

It was very quick."

Others are sending gifts to relatives in other states... " i'm sending some cheese to my sister in georgia.

I'm sure she'll love it.

" butt sots " we have all sorts of people.

People that are in a hurry to get in and out, we have people that in a hurry to get in and out.

We have a-lot of regulars that come in also."

In just one hour, over 50 packages are processed and ready for their destination.

"all the shipments that we have back here that are ready to picked up by ups brown trucks are just from this morning.

By the end of the day, we'll probably have doubled and triple of this amount."

Butt sots " they just put a sticker on it, scan it, give me a receipt and i'm ready to go.

It was really convenient and very fast."

So, a few words of advice?

"come on time.

We're going to make sure they feel welcomed and that they get served quickly and efficiently and that they know their packages will be delivered on time."

Buchanan urges folks to get their shipments in as soon as possible.

??

He also encourages customers to wear a mask in the store.

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Top the tupelo high school madrigals choir will perform for the community this weekend at fairpark.

During a typical christmas season, the madrigals have a dinner show, but this year, due to covid 19, things are different.

The choir will perform its annual concert at fairpark as a way of keeping the much loved tradition alive.

"the students really didn't want to miss the opportunity to sing this wonderful music and what's unique about this year, they will hear some of the traditional tunes we would have done at the madrigal dinner but the second half is vocal jazz, more contemporary christmas."

"i would encourage people to come out and support us and have some fun time in these hard times we have been in and listen to some good christmas music and get hot choclate."

"it is hopefully going to be great, we will have lots of fun, hopefully it will be lots of fun" the ths madrigals will perform friday night at 7 and saturday at 2 pm and 7 pm.

The event is free and open to the public and it all takes place at fairpark.

First look stinger we're expecting a couple of chances for rain this weekend, but there will still be plenty of dry weather too.

One round of showers will move through before sunrise saturday, and another will move in sunday night.

Cooler and drier weather returns next week.

Friday night: overcast skies new developments in a recent oxford homicide today.... oxford police say 22-year-old maurice dates of charleston turned himself in to the oxford police department wednesday.

Dates is a suspect in a recent murder on the 400 block of olive branch way.

Dates has been charged with capital murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

He was denied bond by a lafayette county justice court judge.

Police also issued a warrant for a second suspect, 29- year-old caryale dogan, for his alleged involvement in the case.

If anyone has any further information, please call the oxford police department or crime stoppers at 662-234- 8799.

Crime stoppers is offering a $500 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest.

A go fund me page has raised more than 20 thousand dollars for medical and funeral expenses for the montero family.

That 'go fund me' page was set up by maddie terrell, a sophomore at vardaman high school.

Terrell is friends with the uncle of seven year old valeria montero and she wanted to do something to help the family during this unexpected tragedy.

In fact, maddie says the community rallied around her family this past summer, when her dad passed away.

She knows first hand how the community helps those who are hurting.

"i just think it's so awful that such a young life was lost and the family will have a hard time with medical bills, funeral expenses, and i think it was my time to show i can help the community and that family, all you can ask for is to pray and keeping the family in your prayers and hoping they can get over this one day, because it's so hard to lose a loved one like that, especially at such a young age."

Vo tag so far, the go fund me page for the montero family has raised more than 25 thousand dollars.

You can find that page by searching on go fund me for the "montero family tragedy" page.

Off top east mississippi community college is giving area industries an upclose at its new heavy civil construction program.

The school held an open house today at the communiversity.

The new course will give students hands-on training with heavy duty equipment.

Visitors were able to see simulators that will demonstrate operating machines for students.

The simulators will also help instructors track student progress.

The 12- week course is set to begin january 11th.

Enrollment for the classes is already underway.

The grinch will not be stealing christmas this year in columbus.

What was supposed to be grinch fest last weekend has now become whoville.

Volunteers have transformed the former fashion barn into a whoville wonderland for the public to come and get into the christmas spirit.

Main street columbus executive director strongly encourages for those who are in encourages for those who are in the downtown area shopping or eating to stop by and take pictures.

" tomorrow we have whoville in downtown columbus.

This actually was part of our grinch feast from last friday evening which we were not able to have, so we wanted to salvish some of the fun of the evening and offer it to the public.

So tomorrow saturday december the 12th we're going to open up the former fashion barn building on the corner of main and fifth for whoville.

People who would like to come down and take pictures... we will be observing of course the wearing of masks and social distancing, but it'll be some fun pictures to have for the holidays."

"passport to whoville" will take place tomorrow from 10a.m.

Until 4p.m.

Bigelow says bring your cameras and grab some grinch dust to ensure you and your family have a holly jolly christmas.

Stinger "reliable internet access is on the way for rural parts of clay choctaw and noxubee counties.

The story ahead on wcbi" 121120-intro anchor intro: more than 80 years ago...4-county electric power association started bringing power to mississippians who couldn't get it any other way.

Now...they want to do the same thing with the internet.

Wcbi news reporter stephen pimpo was in clay county today to talk with the first customers to get that broadband internet 121120-pkg "neither our cell service nor our internet is very reliable.

We're kind of in a dead zone for whatever reason."

For many people...reliable internet access is something they can't live without.

But since the covid-19 pandemic...it's become a necessity.

"there's a lot of education needs, kids need it to be able to do their homework and research and a lot of people need it for healthcare."

But it is something residents in rural parts of clay county have had to go without.

"at first we used to have to go into town and sit in the parking lot and use the internet."

On friday...that changed for roy and mary shannon as they became the first customers to get broadband internet service in their region from fastnet.

Su: when they're done, the shannon's will have close to 200 yards of fiberoptic cable running under their property.

Fastnet is a subsidiary of 4- county electric power association.

The columbus- based utility company has launched a broadband pilot in clay county....stephen pimpo wcbi news.

121120-tag cark says there are more than 100 more customers in clay county who have requested internet service from fastnet.

He says they hope to help connect all their nearly 24 hundred eligible members across choctaw, clay and noxubee counties by the summer of 2021.

Stinger weather open we're expecting a couple of chances for rain this weekend, but there will still be plenty of dry weather too.

One round of we're expecting a couple of chances for rain this weekend, but there will still be plenty of dry weather too.

One round of showers will move through before sunrise saturday, and another will move in sunday night.

Cooler and drier weather returns next week.

Friday night: overcast skies will continue tonight with a few showers possible after 10pm.

Rain will become more steady after midnight and persist through early saturday morning.

We're not expecting severe weather, but rain could be a bit heavier at times.

Temperatures will hold steady in the mid 50s with breezy southeasterly winds.

Saturday: most of the rain will be done by 8am saturday, but some lighter showers are possible through the morning.

We're expecting the afternoon and evening to be dry and we could even see a little sun after lunch.

Highs will be in the mid 60s with southerly winds becoming northwesterly through the day.

Sunday: most of sunday will be dry and mostly cloudy.

Another round of rain will move in by 6pm sunday and continue into the overnight.

Temperatures will be a bit cooler with morning lows in the 30s and highs in the mid 50s.

Again, no severe weather is expected.

Rain totals from saturday and sunday could approach 1 inch.

Monday-friday: cooler air will continue for all of next week with highs in the 40s and 50s and lows in the 20s and 30s.

We'll start the week off with a few clouds on monday and remain partly cloudy for the rest of the week.

Aside from a shower or two tuesday night and wednesday, most of next week will be dry.

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 stinger the bulldogs return to the hardwood saturday... next in sports ben howland on his teams' progress spx open ???take spx monitor???

One month ago... mississippi state safety marcus murphy announced he was opting out of the rest of the season... he announced his next step this afternoon the junior will not be returning to the bulldogs next season..

He took to twitter to announce he's declaring for the 2021 nfl draft..the west point native had had 34 tackles with 22 assists, a tackle for loss and pass breakup in six games this season ???

Take spx gfx???

Mississippi state men's basketball returns to the hardwood this weekend for a little holiday hoopsgiving in atlanta... at least... that's what they're calling it..

Ben howland's crew will be taking on dayton..

This year's dayton team isn't exactly the same as last year's that would've likely been a number one seed in the ncaa tournament..

Since then obi toppin was drafted by the knicks..

The flyers are 2-1 on the year... the bulldogs have won three straight and are coming off a convincing win over jackson state... ben howland says his team has gotten better the past few game howland says: we didn't play good defense against clemson or liberty whop are very good teams but our defense was a lot to be desired in those.

It definitely hurt us to not have iverson but we're better defensively now.

They understand if we don't play defense we won't be anybody very good.

Tipoff is at 2 on espnu saturday ???

Take spx gfx???

Losing is something that the mississippi state women's basketball team isn't used to doing however, that was the boat the bulldogs found themselves in last weekend... falling to usf 67-63 in overtime since then the dawgs dropping in the latest ap women's basketball poll from number-six to number 12... msu head coach nikki mccray- penson saying the loss has allowed her team to refocus and continue to improve it didn't look like ole miss was the last power 5 men's team to tip off last night... they rolled past jackson state 80- 45... a big reason for the win..

Devontae shuler... he had 23 points... was 9 for 10 from the field and was a plus 38 in only 23 minutes of action... it also helped that his team forced 26 turnovers in the matchup... covid-19 aside... this has been a different year for the rebels star and he is more than ready for his new role this season..

00-05 :15-:20 shuler says: i honestly never been the main leader ive always had people ahead of me like breein or td.

I use their experience to bring to the table to lead us to march madness davis says: for a senior when you're anxious to get to games and have been to a lot of big games and the pause gets to be long.

He gave us a lot of confidence he was great guarding the ball and was a disruption on the top and the guys behind him played well.

They'll take on unc wilmington saturday at 4 the ole miss women's basketball team will be in action saturday at 1 looking to remain undefeated on the season... coach yo's team is coming off a commanding 104-48 win over alcorn state... it was the first time the rebels scored over 100 since 2015... six players were in double figures in the matchup... you can watch that one on sec network plus... over in caledonia, an exciting day for one volleyball star senior outside hitter zoe hansen making the big decision to sign with the mississippi university for women and continue her volleyball career in her final season at caledonia, hansen finishes with 59 aces, 91 kills and 10 blocks hansen also helped lead caledonia to a 2nd round appearance in the mhsaa 4a state playoffs when we return...chief meteorologist keith gibson will have a last look at your forecast.

You are watching wcbi news at six.

Off top it's that time of year again.

Time for the "midday toy giveaway."

Starting monday, wcbi and bill russell ford lincoln will help santa give area children a little something special this christmas.

Kids, mail your best christmas drawing to " wcbi midday toy giveway" and you could win a christmas toy.

Be sure to include your name, age, gender, and phone number.

Then watch to see if you win every day at wcbi midday.

We can't wait to see your drawings.

Last look stinger last look stinger last look stinger last look stinger last look stinger see your drawings.

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