WCBI NEWS AT TEN - 12/17/2020

WCBI NEWS AT TEN - 12/17/2020

Mississippi's new covid-19 numbers continue to stay over the two thousand mark.

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The state department of health is reporting 2,261 new cases and 26 deaths.

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Nine of those fatalities occurred in the wcbi viewing area.

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1,316 people are hospitalized across the state with confirmed or suspected coronavirus symptoms.??

321 of those patients are in i.c.u.??

Locally, lowndes county has the most new cases today with 77.??

Lee has 50, winston has 45, pontotoc has 43, and union has 35.??

The number of long term care facility outbreaks has been above 2- hundred since december 5th.

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Tonight---courtney ann jackson is checking in with some facilities on the challenges covid-19 has created.??

Long term care facility staffers admit it's been a roller coaster of emotions this year.

But they know they've been entrusted to care for so many loved ones.

"i love my residents and they are all like my grandparents and i know these two feel the same way."

The aspen of brookhaven feels fortunate.

They haven't had a covid case in months.

And they're diligently working to keep the facility sanitized and as safe as possible while also bringing a sense of normalcy through things like going to see the christmas lights or helping prepare a meal.

"it's very important to do as much as we possibly can to keep it as normal as possible given what we've all had to deal with.

But i think it's going pretty well so far.'" the last several days, there have been more than 200 covid outbreaks in long term care facilities in the state.

One in its final days of outbreak status is mississippi care center of morton.

"we're not allowed any indoor visitations.

We're only allowed outdoor visitations during an outbreak status unless it's for compassionate care."

Still-they continue to find opportunities for joy.

"we are really just pushing in our activities department to make this feel like could be as early as next week that assited livings have access.

We're kind of waiting on pins and needles and trying to be as proactive as we can."

The first doses of the covid 19 vaccine were given to frontline workers at tupelo's north mississippi medical center.

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Nmmc received almost 2 thousand doses of the vaccine produced by pfizer.

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The vaccines will be given to the most essential healthcare workers over the next few days.

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Nmmc officials say they are confident they will have the doses needed for a second round of shots for those who take the pfizer vaccine.

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The second shot should be given about three weeks after the first shot.

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First look stinger first look summary: seasonably cool weather will stick around through the weekend.

Our next chance of rain will come late saturday, saturday night, and sunday morning.

Another round of rain is possible on christmas eve day.

Christmas day continues to look cold and dry.

Thursday night: clear, calm, and very cold.

Lows in the mid 20s.

Friday: mostly sunny.

Highs in the low 50s.

Very cold.

Lows in the mid 20s.

Friday: mostly sunny.

Highs in the low 50s.

The former head of mississippi's department of corrections is under fire after a new audit shows alleged misspending.

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State auditor shad white says former commissioner pelicia hall was paid thousands of dollars in bogus travel reimbursements.??

More money was allegedly used to update executive suites at mdoc facilities, which included a bedroom suite, televisions and a vaccum.

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20 massage chairs were bought for mdoc staff and inmates.

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Decorations, such as rugs and art, were also reportedly purchased for meditation rooms at corrections facilities.

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White says the attempts to cover up the reported mis-spending were wide reaching and started at the top of the agency.

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"the old leadership at mdoc had been destroying documents, documents about financial transfers and transactions that made it very difficult to determine how money was being spent.

The excuse is that the destruction of those documents was accidental.

In one case, they are saying documents that should have been saved were loaded onto a burn truck.

But you can tell, if that's going it becomes very difficult to identify issues unless somebody on the inside can help you identify what's going on and that's what happened here."

White says the current mdoc staff requested the audit and cooperated with his staff.

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The state auditor's full report is on our website wcbi dot com.

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121720-gfx the salvation dot com.

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121720-gfx the salvation army's red kettle campaign is underway... with fewer kettles all because of covid- 19.??

However, there are still ways to give and help.??

Our allien has the story.??

Nats it's a familiar sound every christmas season.

Nats bell ringers for the salvation army's red kettle campaign.

"this is our number one fundraiser, this time of year."

Covid-19 is forcing the organization to have fewer kettles.

However, the charity is turning to technology and other methods to keep the donations coming in.

At each kettle location, a qr code allows people to donate electronically, using their smartphones.

People can also send a check to the tupelo salvation army's carnation street offices, or donors can contribute online.

All donations collected during the six week holiday period make a big difference through the year for thousands of people.

"what we raise during the holiday season goes to almost forty to fifty percent of our annual budget, which is why it's so martin, wcbi news.

If you would like more information on how to donate... go to our website... wcbi dot com.

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If you see a red kettle , you can drop a donation there.

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Or you can donate online at tupelo kettle dot org.

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4-county electric power association looks to be the star on the tree this christmas.

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4-county and the u.s. marine corps reserve 'toys for tots' program has gone on for the 11th straight year.

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Members and employees went the extra mile by donating toys and making others christmas's brighter than what it could have been.

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Covid may have paused a lot, but surely didn't slow up the gift of giving.??

"over 400 toys is what you'll see in our lobby.

I think it's a record year for us kudos to the members of 4- county electric power association and the employees have done a great job.

If you see all the toys here you'll be amazed.

A lot of kids are going to be happy this year."

"they said the collections were down this year, but you can look around and see we've been blessed because we've got a lot of toys in.

We do about 1,600 kids so every little toy helps and it always comes in handy."

Donations were picked up today and have been distributed throughout the 4 county's service area.

Stinger wx open summary: seasonably cool weather will stick around through the weekend.

Our next chance of rain will come late saturday, saturday night, and summary: seasonably cool weather will stick around through the weekend.

Our next chance of rain will come late saturday, saturday night, and sunday morning.

Another round of rain is possible on christmas eve day.

Christmas day continues to look cold and dry.

Thursday night: clear, calm, and very cold.

Lows in the mid 20s.

Friday: mostly sunny.

Highs in the low 50s.

Friday night: a few clouds.

Lows around 30.

Saturday: mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers late in the day.

Highs in the low 50s.

Saturday night: areas of rain likely.

Lows in the low 40s.

Sunday: mostly cloudy.

Some rain is possible during the morning.

Highs in the mid 50s.

Monday- wednesday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Some showers are possible late wednesday with an incoming cold front.

Milder highs from the upper 50s to low 60s.

Lows in the 30s.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app stinger summary: seasonably cool weather will stick around through the weekend.

Our next chance of rain will come late saturday, saturday night, and sunday morning.

Another round of rain is possible on christmas eve day.

Christmas day continues to look cold and dry.

Thursday night: clear, calm, and very cold.

Lows in the mid 20s.

Friday: mostly sunny.

Highs in the low 50s.

Friday night: a few clouds.

Lows around 30.

Saturday: mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers late in the day.

Highs in the low 50s.

Saturday night: areas of rain likely.

Lows in the low 40s.

Sunday: mostly cloudy.

Some rain is possible during the morning.

Highs in the mid 50s.

Monday- wednesday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Some showers are possible late wednesday with an incoming cold front.

Milder highs wcbi news app stinger the holiday blues can be a hard thing to cope with.??

After the break we some tips that could make things a little easier.

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Health talk with baptist is coming up after the break.

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Dont go anywhere.

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Tonight on health talk with baptist.

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Chaplain jonathan blackburn joins us for part three of our conversation on holiday blues.

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Take a look.

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Tonight tonight are some more tests of agreement holiday blues holiday cheer may be difficult to come by if you're facing emotional pain of loss is like the loss of loved one loss of job divorce or an extended illness this type of loss is called grief the losses are also normal transitions in one such as child leaving home for college or marriage nevertheless they still create a sense of even the best of times the holidays are stressful the loss or change our lives our traditions may also change with time we must the things that the holidays can also be a time of healing we open our hearts nutrition is a realistic to think the holidays are rarely like a hallmark movie we so we need to let go of a realistic training is a note a few things that's okay it's been said that busy is a choice stress is a shorties story is a choice to choose well join us next time with help talk with fastestno script stinger two ole miss rebels opt out of the season...details on that next in sports.

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Spx open two ole miss rebels decide that their college football careers in oxford have come to a close ole miss wide receiver elijah moore and tight end kenny yeboah announcing on twitter that both rebels will declare for the 2021 nfl draft the decision comes just before ole miss hits the road to play the teams final game of the s-e-c regular season against lsu moore finishes his career at ole miss totaling over 2400 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns after transferring from temple, yeboah went on to total over 500 yards and six touchdowns in his solo year in oxford the 2021 nfl is scheduled to take place april 29th of next years hail state women's hoops picking up win number three of the season against troy 103-76 on monday the bulldogs able to pull of the three digit victory by not only shooting 54- percent from the field but also with the help of 18 three point shots state started off with the hot hand in the first half shooting 13 of the overall 18 shots from downtown while a presence from deep is always great to have and exciting to see..head coach nikki mccray- penson has a game plan to ensure the trey ball doesn't cause more harm than good nmp: "what we've said is if we miss three in a row than do something different because we don't ever want them questioning themselves.

You know we want them to be ready to shoot it and they were.

If it's in rhythm and it's uncontested that's a good shot.

When we miss three in a row then we have to do something different.

Obviously there's some games where i've said lets get this ball inside because clearly we had a big size advantage.

So, our players have to understand what the game plan is."

The alabama crimson tide are getting ready for the team's thirteenth appearance in the s-e-c championship the number one team in the country, alabama will be facing off against the 11th ranked florida gators there's a lot of history in this match-up between the tide and the gators this will be the thirteenth appearance for both teams and while alabama might have the most wins with eight total...florida has seven the last time the two faced off in the title game was back in 2016 where alabama came out with the 54-16 win while the tide might lead 6-5 for title meetings between the two, head coach nick saban recognizes the challenge this florida team could present saban: "you have to focus on what's in front of you because at this point in the season it's like the playoffs it's like a new season.

What you did during the season really doesn't have any impact on the outcome moving forward.you have to have the focus on what's in front of you because at this point in the season it's like the playoffs it's like a front of you because at this focus on what's in front of you because at this point in the season it's like the playoffs it's like a new season.

What you did during the season really doesn't have any impact on the outcome moving forward.you have to have the maturity to understand that and stay focused on what you need to do to continue to play well and the people you're going to play against are going to be the best players you played against all year long."

This weekend marks the final weekend of the regular season for football teams in the southeastern conference it's the final chance for teams across the s-e-c to add wins to their resume before bowl selections begin here's the schedule for the final weekend in the southeastern conference ole miss will hit the road for the rebels last away test taking on the lsu tigers...2:30 pm on the sec network mississippi state hosts its final home game of the year against missouri in davis wade stadium...that game at 2:30 pm available to watch on the sec network alternate channel and the s-e-c championship kicks -off at 6 pm central right here on wcbi...you can see all the action from the final weekend of the season by joining us on wcbi news at ten the ncaa is taking a case all the way to washington the supreme court has agreed to take up a case by the n- c-a-a defending its limits on education-related compensation for athletes.

The college sports governing body is appealing a lower court ruling that lets colleges compensate athletes for education-related expenses.

Examples include laptops, musical instruments, paid internships, study abroad programs, as well as paying for grad school.

The 9th circuit court of appeals ruled in may the n- c-a-a violated federal antitrust law when it banned schools from paying certain education-related expenses for student athletes.

The supreme court is likely to hear oral arguments in the case in the spring.

A decision is expected by the end of june in 2021 still to come..

Chief meteorologist seasonably cool weather will stick around through the weekend.

Our next chance of rain will come late saturday, saturday night, and sunday morning.

Another round of rain is possible on christmas eve day.

Christmas day continues to look cold and dry.

Thursday night: clear, calm, and very cold.

Lows in the mid 20s.

Friday: mostly sunny.

Highs in the low 50s.

Friday night: a few clouds.

Lows around 30.

Saturday: mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers late