WCBI NEWS AT TEN - DECEMBER 18, 2020

WCBI NEWS AT TEN - DECEMBER 18, 2020

Lawmakers will soon start the 2021 legislative session and teachers are putting in their requests early.

Courtney ann jackson explains.

A pay raise has been on mississippi teachers' wish list for the last several years.

"we cannot keep kicking this can down the road.

Our educators are depending on us to do the right thing."

Lower pay than other states has translated to a teacher shortage.

The mississippi association of educators is also giving some perspective on what that's ultimately costing schools.

"one thing that i've experienced as an elementary teacher is that class sizes would increase, especially when you don't have enough certified educators.

You may see a doubling of class size.

You may also start to lose some of your electives like art, music and band."

Mississippi first published this study this month that dives into the shortage.

It reveals pay is the main factor in fewer people going into the profession both from in and out of state programs. "the number of teacher preparation completers from out of state...it used to be hundreds and hundreds we could rely on.

But that number has actually gone down 96 percent in the last 10 years."

Keep in mind, all of these statistics are pre-covid.

And education policy groups agree---it will likely have an impact since many teachers had to weigh health risks and returning to the classroom.

"i think going forward, in a couple of years from now when we finally get the full picture of what's going on here, i think this is going to become an even more dire issue."

Senate education vice chair david blount says he's working with the lt.

Governor's office on a proposal that would not only boost teacher pay but also give incentives for new teachers.

"if you're a new teacher, probably have student loans, we're going to have a program in place over a period of years where we will pay down part of that loan for you if you enter the profession and stay in the profession which i think will make it more attractive."

Senator blount says part of making teacher pay raises and incentives work within the budget will be dependent on how much federal relief is sent to the state in the second round of stimulus.

First look stinger first look friday night: mainly clear during the evening with more clouds late.

Lows around 30.

Light wind.

Saturday: turning mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers during the afternoon and early evening.

Highs in the low 50s.

Winds se at 10 mph.

Holiday shopping should be rain free for the first half of the day.

Saturday night: areas of rain.

Lows in the low 40s.

Sunday: mostly cloudy.

Some rain is possible during the morning.

Highs in the low 50s.

Total weekend rainfall generally in the 1/4" to 1/2" range.

A two-car crash in chickasaw county kills a houston woman.

The accident happened on highway 8, near the natchez trace, in chickasaw county on thursday night.

State troopers say a car driven by 49-year-old wilson parker was backing out of a drive way just before the collision.

The other vehicle involved was driven by 62-year- old melvin jackson of aberdeen, who was eastbound on highway 8.

A passenger in parker's car, 52- year-old mabeline vance of houston, died at the scene.

Parker and 72-year- old mattie baskins were injured.

Jackson was not injured.

The mississippi highway patrol continues to investigate the crash.

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

The state department of health is reporting two thousand 261 new cases and 26 deaths.

Nine of those fatalities occurred in the wcbi viewing area.

One thousand 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.

State health officer dr. thomas dobbs issues a warning to healthcare workers earlier today.

Dobbs held a zoom conference with healthcare professionals across the state around 4 o'clock this afternoon.

During the conversation he addressed questions about the covid-19 vaccines.

He says it's important for everyone to take the vaccine, even if they've already had the coronavirus.

He says the christmas holiday will most likely bring more case numbers than those we saw after thanksgiving.

"if this were the peak of the hospital stuff, i wouldn't be worried.

The hospitals are doing great.

Hey, and healthcare workers, doctors and people watching, it's going to be hard on you guys for the next month or two and just get ready.

Get rested when you can.

Stay hydrated.

It's going to be rough."

Dobbs says once you take the vaccine, you will not test positive for covid-19, but you could test positive for the antibodies.

Top governor tate reeves says he could never have envisioned what his first year in office would be like, but he has high hopes for the new year.

The first-term republican reflected on 2020 during an interview with wcbi at the governor's mansion.

In january, the jackson area with hit by flooding, then in march the state began feeling the effects of covid 19.

Reeves says since then, many small businesses have closed or are struggling to survive, while more than 43 hundred mississippians have died from the virus.

The governor remains hopeful for a better 2021.

"i worry very seriously about the mental impacts of what this virus has done to our people and as we go into christmas, let's remember the reason for the season, let's celebrate that we do have an opportunity in this country to practice our religion, to focus on the good things going on , and look i'm an optimist, i believe we will come out of this, stronger than we were before and we will position ourselves to compete" the governor has said he will not do a second state- wide shutdown.

Monitor intro the school year that begins in fall of 2021 may look a little different for the columbus municipal school district.

Classes will be in session for extended periods to target student achievement and learning loss.

School administrators are currently developing a plan for teachers,students ,and parents.

Our stephanie poole has more on the story.

The columbus muncipal school district is exploring a change in the school calendar.

This new schedule will ease the summer slide for teachers and students.

" our students are in different learning environments.

We've been in the virtual and hybrid setting and our teachers have been asked to do things that are unprecedented."

Superintendent dr. cherie labat says the district will follow a similar model to corinth school district, taking four weeks from summer break to spread it throughout the school year,also known as 'intersessions'.

" we can work on students and give them gray-level instruction during the year.

We're being proactive and preparing for those deficits by getting our students where they need to be during the year.

I do feel we can replicate that type of success."

Dr. labat says intersession will also promote academic achievement, college and career readiness, and workforce development for graduating students.

" there will be some critical moments in education in the next two years because of what we've gone through.

There's exhaustion, there's trauma, there's pads.there's things we'll deal with from students with academic interruption from quarantine and positive cases."

Even though participation for intersession is optional for teachers, educator roselynn rainey is already on board.

" you're refreshed and not so worn out.

What i liked was the intersession in october because you can work on those fundamental skills that the kids need instead of waiting until the end of the year playing catch up."

Rainey says during the summer, more than half the students will forget what they've learned.

" the first intersession you do fundamentals and the next intersession you do enrichment where it's something that you like or you want to learn more about so it makes learning more exciting for them."

Butt sots " i am so amazed at how many parents are in agreement with the modified schedule.

They're speaking up on how it will help our students here at fairview elementary."

Labat says there are a few steps to complete before a final decision is made for the 21-22 school year.

She and board members will continue researching the best method possible.

"our teachers are not going to work any more days than the 187 days than they are contracted.

Our students, unless they need the assistance, acceleration, enrichment, or remediation will only go to school 180 days.

Being an innovative district with innovative employees we want to do something that's progressive for our students by providing shorter breaks to eliminate learning loss and to deal with the covid-19 slide."

Dr. labat tells wcbi another community stakeholder meeting will be on january 7th.

The columbus municipal school district will also meet with the corinth school district about those developments and school plans.

Dr. labat also says traditional holiday's such as thanksgiving, christmas,and easter will not be altered.

A new traffic light at a dangerous intersection is up and in test mode.

This is poorhouse road at old highway 25 in oktibbeha county.

Over the years, the oktibbeha county sheriff's department has worked a number of accidents at this intersection.

That's why mississippi department of transportation studied the traffic volumes in the area to determine the need.

Supervisors approved the traffic signal.

It is scheduled to be fully on line by wednesday.

Stinger wx open summary: showers return to the region saturday afternoon and they could linger into the first part of sunday morning.

Dry and relatively mild conditions build back in for early next week.

A strong cold front is expected to push across our region late wednesday or early thursday.

It'll give us more rain and perhaps even a small chance at some frozen precipitation before the moisture moves away thursday morning.

Friday night: mainly clear during the evening with more clouds late.

Lows around 30.

Light wind.

Saturday: turning mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers during the afternoon and early evening.

Highs in the low 50s.

Winds se at 10 mph.

Holiday shopping should be rain free for the first half of the day.

Saturday night: areas of rain.

Lows in the low 40s.

Sunday: mostly cloudy.

Some rain is possible during the morning.

Highs in the low 50s.

Total weekend rainfall generally in the 1/4" to 1/2" range.

Monday-tuesday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Highs from the upper 50s to low 60s.

Lows in the 30s.

Wednesday- thursday: areas of rain develop out ahead of a cold front late wednesday into thursday morning.

There is at least a small chance at some frozen precipitation thursday morning before the moisture leaves the region.

We'll keep watching the trends.

Mild highs around 60 wednesday will give way to blustery and cold 30s & 40s on thursday.

Christmas day: quiet and chilly.

Morning temperatures in the low 20s with afternoon highs only in the 30s to low 40s.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app stinger cases are rising... and so are precautions from area organizations... more on this after the break.

Stay with us.

Cash 3 lottery gfx covid-19 cases continue to rise, but some organizations are being more precautious to prevent an increase if cases throughout state.

Wcbi's desmone mathews spoke with lowndes county fire coordinator about the new actions they've taken to ensure safety.

The lowndes county volunteer fire department is changing the way it responds to emergencies.

Because of covid- 19...they will now only allow a limited number of volunteers on the scene of any emergency.

Lowndes county fire coordinator neal austin says its to cut down on the possible exposure to the coronavirus.

" we do not want to have 15 or 16 volunteers that have normal everyday job exposed and possibly contaminate their work place, that kind of thing" su: the change takes place immediately and has had no impact on the departments responses to emergencies.

" so as it stands right now we are responding to all fire calls of course and we respond to all rescue calls like car wrecks, boat accidents, you know, anything like that" the plan limits the firefighters response to only rescue type situations---instea d of going to every medical call in the county.

" so on a normal day to day basis a car wreck may get you know...5-10 people/responders and for a normal chest pain call we don't want that many people going into somebody's house that may have a covid issue so we would limit that down to one or two to assist the ambulance service doing what they do" austin says there's an added bonus of the new plan...with 145 volunteers spread over the five districts of lowndes county---the plan creates more man power to dispatch to multiple emergencies 24 hours a day.

In lowndes county---desmone mathews wcbi news.

Though the individuals are volunteers they are still trained to accommodate medical situations, but are on standby unless requested by baptist memorial hospital's personnel.

Stinger ole miss continues to add on the recruiting trail... next in sports the local receiver who committed to lane kiffin... spx mississippi state football returning to davis wade stadium one last time this season... hosting the missouri tigers... the bulldogs looking for their first victory since the november 7th win over vanderbilt... they've dropped their last three and only scored 10 points in last week's loss to auburn... but missouri has struggled on the defensive side recently ..

Allowing at least 48 points in each of their last two games so potential for state's offense to bounce back..

Kickoff is at 2:30 on sec network alternate..

The tigers are one point favorites... ole miss added to it's list of impressive commits... inking i-c- c wide receiver qua davis... in six games this year he had 258 yards and two touchdowns... davis... the three star recruit accoring to 24-7 sports... had offers from florida state and south carolina but ultimately opted to stay in his home state... he went to biggersville high school... the rebels will wrap up sec play saturday in baton rouge when they take on lsu... despite not having elijah moore and kenny yeboah who began preparing for the nfl draft thursday... ole miss is favored by one and a half points..

Kickoff is at 2:30 on saturday on the sec network... with just one weekend to go...let's take a look at the s-e-c standings and where teams stand as we approach the finish line..

In the west, alabama is the clear leader...undefeate d with 10 wins and playing in the sec title game this weekend texas a&m follows, then auburn, ole miss with a 4-4 overall record...arkansas..

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Mississippi state sitting at 2-7 and lsu in last since they are not eligible for postseason play..

In the east, florida sits up top with 8 wins on the year followed by georgia, missouri, kentucky, tennessee, and south carolina... vanderbilt sits at the bottom of the sec as the only team in the conference to go winless with 9 losses this season despite a speed bump against southern florida a few weeks back... it's been smoothing sailing for nikki mccray penson and the 13th ranked mississippi state women's basketball team... tonight they hosted southern in their second to last non-con matchup of the season friday night college hoops!

Jaguars in town at the hump 1st quarter...jags playing well,,,,tye- nesha metcalf to jordan aikens for the trey ball....10-9 msu before the quarter ends....yemiah morris goes to work down low and scores....16-13 -13 msu 2nd quarter...madison hayes on the break....crossover left and the finish....18-14 msu beautiful ball movement from msu ends with a jessika carter left hand finish....and 1 bucket for the bulldogs then on the break.....carter with the layin....jamaya mingo young with the dish....33-22 msu catterion thompson drive and kick to aliyah matharu for the corner 3....40-27 msu...they lead by 17 at halftime and msu goes onto win..... 79-55 here's mccray on how here team pulled away after a slow first... 00-05 :16-:21 penson says:i thougth we got the ball inside.

Clearly there was a mismatch and we wanted to dissect how we wanted to get the ball inside.

We moved it from side to side to get jess some looks or some dribble penetration.

Taylor says: we definitely have a lot of film that cfoach wikll show us that we need to work on.

We're happy about the win but we need to move on.

Ole miss men's basketball has started the season 4-0 after wednesday's victory over middle tennessee state in the battle of the shuler brothers..

This team was picked to finish ninth in the sec and they certainly don't look like it at this point... the rebels rank 4th in the country in scoring defense only allowing 52 points per game from opponents although it's still early in the season, head coach kermit davis is proud of what he's seen so far... davis: "it has a chance to be one of the very best defensive teams that i've ever coached.

We kind of saw that early on.

We've guarded for periods of time in these first four games really well.

Tonight i thought it was the most consistent.

I thought we guarded better off the bench.

Just our effort and following game plan has been good so far."

Still to come..

Chief meteorologist keith gibson returns with tonights last look.

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