WCBI News at Six - Wednesday, March 4th, 2020

WCBI News at Six - Wednesday, March 4th, 2020

Thanks for joining us tonight.

A proposed nine million dollar bond issue to pay for repairs in the houston school district failed to pass yesterday..

The money would have paid for new hvac systems, roof repairs, lighting and more.

Our bobby martinez was in houston today to find out how people there feel about the move..

He joins us live in the studio.

Bobby, what are residents saying?

The residents i spoke to today had all hoped that voters would okay the move, so that students can learn in a safe and healthy school environment.

"i think our schools need to be our number one priority."

But there appears to be some disagreement among houston voters on how to get there.

A referendum that would have allowed the school district to issue a 9 point 25 million dollar bond for building repairs and other upgrades failed on a 761 to 655 vote.

Allie thompson says she is upset with the results because these schools are in desperate need..

"i'm very disappointed because we have a lot of friends that go to church with us that are school teachers and they've been telling us about how deplorable the rooms and the schools are.

So i am very very disappointed."

Another issue that would've been addressed with the bond money.

Security upgrades.

Something timothy sumner says is very important in schools today.

"you shouldn't have to be worried about children going to school or they shouldn't have to worry whether they're going to be safe or not.

That is a number one concern for me actually.

But also you know schools need to be healthy for the children."

Houston public school superintendent tony cook wasn't available for an interview wednesday.

But released this statement to wcbi: the people of the district have spoken.

The sun came up today and we will continue to provide the best educational experience possible for our students.

If you would like to read the full bond proposal, i'll have that posted to our website at wcbi.com take developing story stinger a macon woman is killed in an early morning industrial accident in noxubee county.

The incident happened at shuqualak lumber company about 4 am.

Coroner r.l.

Calhoun says the accident involved a forklift.

Calhoun is sending the victim for an autopsy.

"once on the scene, deputies realized it was an industrial accident.

45-year- old, ms toya smith was pronounced dead at the scene."

Occupational safety and health administration officials are investigating the accident.

Another inmate in the mississippi department of corrections has died.

62-year-old grayland cox died last night at a jackson hospital.

He was serving a 6- year sentence out of marshall county from 2017 for selling cocaine.

Prison officials say no foul play is suspected.

An autopsy will be performed.

More than 20 department of corrections inmates have died since january.

Intro lowndes county deputies are spending some time in the classroom.

Deputies are learning how to be able to identify when a person may suffer from a type of mental illness.

Our scott martin shares who's teaching the classes and how it's all possible mental illness has been a growing issue nationwide.

Lowndes county sheriff eddie hawkins says it's something law enforcement officers have run into for years.

"we're just now educating ourselves more to the needs of these individuals and deal with the problems we see."

Thanks to a grant through the mississippi department of human services..a group from mississippi state university is hosting the training for area agencies..like the lowndes county sheriff's office.

The training seminar seen here is a youth mental health first aid training.

"listen to the person, listen nonjudgmentally, assess their risk for suicide or self harm, to be able to give reassurance and advice..those are some of the action steps in the youth mental health first aid program.

Alisha hardman is an assistant professor and extension specialist in family life at msu.

She says often times there's a stigma surrounding mental health and that people are scared to ask questions.

"we feel like we don't know what to say or we're afraid we're going to make something worse.

Youth mental health first aid really equips us with those tools.

You don't have to be a professional, you can intervene, you can help someone who is struggling with a mental health problem."

Sheriff hawkins says he wants his department to be able to identify the signs so they know what help to offer a person.

"when we arrive on scene, we'll know how to be better equipped to handle these people and de-escalate situations as they occur and so we can better treat people who these problems."

"the more that we can get people to recognize that it is common, there is hope, there is healing from mental health problems" reporing in lowndes county scott martin wcbi news.

Storms rolled through central mississippi early this morning.

Madison county was particularly hard hit.

Trees were reported down throughout the county.

Canton, flora and the lake caroline areas took the brunt of the high winds.

Several highways in the area were closed until downed trees and power lines were removed.

Scott county also reported a number of trees down.

The natchez trace parkway was also closed to traffic today in that area.

No injuries were reported.

First look stinger first look summary: areas of rain will continue into thursday with clearing during tomorrow afternoon.

Sunny to mostly sunny weather will hold for friday and the weekend.

More showers and storms are possible next week.

Wednesday night: cloudy with areas of rain.

Lows in the upper 40s to lower 50s.

Winds ne 5-15 mph.

Thursday: areas of from the battlefield... to wall street... and now the golden triangle.

Camgian microsystems is a software company in starkville.

Their products range from commercial use to national security..

But lately they've been tackling a different kind of issue.

Our cash matlock joins us live the studio with more on the story.

Brain-drain... every year, hundreds of college graduates leave the state of mississippi due to a lack of job opportunity.

Companies like camgian are trying to change that.

100 research boulevard is the home office of camgian microsystems... known for it's modern design and innovative products, the company is often compared to silicon valley-- and for good reason.

"some of the real growth took place in 2009 when they acquired a section of cypress semi- conductor, which is a silicon valley based company."

Camgian designs products for commercial sale, but they also specialize in military equipment.

"we build a variety of different censor and information technology platforms such as radar systems, cameras, that can be deployed on the battlefield to collect real-time information."

One such product is this low power radar and imaging system than can see up to 500 meters... or 5 football fields away.

"so this can be deployed on the battlefield to detect and track different types of targets.

Targets meaning, it could be people, it could be vehicles, it could be boats."

The company has become a hub for engineers graduating from nearby universities.

"we're slowing that brain-drain, and we're aggressively recruiting the top students at both mississippi state and the university of alabama, and we try to retain those here."

But it's not just recents graduates that are finding their way to camgian.

Doug gosney is vice president of defense programs. after retiring from the military, he thought he would have to move away to find a job to use his specialized skills.

"we really wanted to find an opportunity where we could still continue to make a difference for the war fighter on the other side of the equation.

"when we retired here, we didn't know we were going to have such a great opportunity to find such a great spot with camgian."

Camgian ceo gary butler says mississippi engineers can go toe-to-toe with engineers across the globe.

He says it's important to develop and keep educated people in the state.

Camgian was developed in 2006 and has always been headquartered in starkville.

Take vo off top it's a topic that's stirring up conversation in starkville.... installing parking meters in the cotton district.... currently... parking in the cotton district is free... however..... mayor lynn spruill says there's a recurring problem..

People are leaving their cars in some spots all day..

Taking up spaces for potential customers..

Business owners have mixed reviews about the possibility of meters.

"i love it, i absolutely love it.

What it will do us hopefully it will free up space is for people who want to come over here to eat, and limit other peoples time that is used.

We see people parking over here then going up here and catching the buses to the university.

It would make those spaces available or they would pay for the time that they're there."

"just taking into consideration that if we were just enforcing the laws as they are, then we would have a lot more revenue from that instead of having to have meters put in.

I think it will slow down traffic.

If people have to choose whether coming to the cotton district to eat or to come get a book or something or they can go somewhere else where they don't have to pay, they will go somewhere else."

Aldermen have heard from presentations from three companies ..

Mayor spruill says they will be talking to one more before voting on the matter..... stinger an area agency has a unique approach to raising money and awareness for hunger..

We women are helping build a better future for an area family.

Volunteers with habitat for humanity are working on a home in nettleton this week as part of "women build week."

That initiative is meant to help empower women by giving them the opportunity to learn about construction while working on a habitat home.

Some michigan state university students are even spending their spring break here to help..

"it is awesome, i never thought i would be able to put together a roof, with these trusses, made some mistakes in the beginning, but chris is a great leader and he tells us there's not a mistake we can't fix, so we actually went up and fixed my mistakes today, but it's really empowering."

The nettleton habitat home should be complete in about two months.

An annual fundraiser feeds a need across the the region.

The 22nd annual "empty bowls" lunch attracts thousands to the tupelo furniture market today.

The tupelo salvation army's event included more than 50 vendors, with samples of soup for ticket holders.

Good food is a good opportunity to raise money and awareness for the hungry and the homeless in the area..

"the women's auxiliary puts all of this together, they get all of these vendors and they set for themselves a goal of 50 thousand dollars to try and raise because that runs our soup kitchen throughout the year, helps in our shelter and all of our other programs and it's awesome to see all of these people coming together to help meet the financial needs but also it's about awareness, understanding and being connected to needs that are in our community."

Each person that bought a ticket receives a piece of pottery, as a reminder of the work the salvation army does to help the homeless.

Stinger wx open summary: areas of rain will continue into thursday with clearing during tomorrow afternoon.

Sunny to mostly sunny weather will hold for friday and the weekend.

More showers and storms are possible next week.

Wednesday night: cloudy with areas wednesday night: cloudy with areas of rain.

Lows in the upper 40s to lower 50s.

Winds ne 5-15 mph.

Thursday: areas of rain through early afternoon followed by gradual clearing.

Highs should top out in the low 60s if the wet weather moves away fast enough.

Winds nnw 5-15 mph.

Thursday night: clear and cooler.

Lows in the upper 30s to around 40.

Friday: sunny.

Highs in the upper 50s.

Breezy nw winds 10-20 mph.

Friday night: clear, quiet, and cold.

Lows near freezing.

Saturday: sunny.

Highs around 60.

Saturday night: clear and chilly.

Lows in the mid 30s.

Sunday: mostly sunny.

Highs in the mid 60s.

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead 1 hour with the start of daylight saving time.

Next week: areas of showers and storms will be possible monday through wednesday.

The exact extent of it is yet to be determined.

Data suggest that temperatures will moderate back into the 70s by tuesday and wednesday.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and on the wcbi new top take vo off top good news for artesia residents - - your water is safe to drink.

The boil water notice issued after a water main break forced the shutdown of the town's water supply has been áliftedá.

Nearly 700 customers were without water for 15 hours monday night and tuesday as crews repaired the line.

The boil water notice was put into place as a precaution after the system came back online.

Stinger the sec women's basketball tourmament tips off...ole miss getting the big week of hoops started we're live from greenville with more from opening night, next the sec women's basketball tournament in greenville, south carolina is under way going winless in conference play in the regular season, ole miss hoping to shock the world with a first round upset...taking on missouri 14th seed ole miss matching up to 11th seeded missouri..tigers winning the regular season matchup 82-67 1st half...midway through the 2nd quarter -- tigers' haley troup pulls up from deep...bottoms..ext ends mizzou's lead, 23-16 few moments later, ole miss ball -- mimi reid with the ball for the rebels...drives inside taking it all the way to the cup for two...cuts it to 25-18 ole miss next ole miss possession, down 10 -- tootie ranking coming through from the short corner...easy...tige rs lead 28-20 the rebels not going anyway -- reid comes up with the steal...out in transition...and the bucket off the glass...ole miss trailing 28-24 right before halftime -- tigers trying to extend their lead, amber smith with plenty of room...splash... missouri leading ole miss 34-24 at halftime second half..tigers come ready -- hayley frank not messing around...throws up the deep ball..gets the trey..rebels falling behind 43-26 the rebels unable to pull off a comeback, fall to the tigers 64- 53...finishing the season 7-23...0-17 in sec play...the first sec women's basketball team since alabama in 2007 to go without a win against league opponents even wihtout a win in league play.....head coach yolett mcphee mccuin is taking the positives away from this year and for the future "mcphee-mccuin: "i truly believe that this is my ministry--helping young women.

Anytime that i would feel like quitting, because i'm human too and i've won a lot...i just said i need to be an example for the players.

I need to show them how to be, how to grow and how to get them through adversity reid: we started to not believe and we started to give into the things we've struggled with all season.

We had to recollect and remind ourselves that we came this far now we don't stop, we don't quit.

I think the disconnect came and then we decided to snap back and the coaches kept pushing us.

I think we were able to regroup really quickly.'

The final day of semifinals basketball in jackson... 3a and 6a are last but not least...houston trying to take down the defending champs on its way to a title the hill toppers taking on velma jackson in the 3a semifinals..... early 1st....missed 3 for houston boarded by shemar crawford who gets the putback...4-2 houston early 1 min rem in 1st....keshon bynum alley oop to xavier virges!!

Toppers down 1 2nd quarter...velma jackson says we can throw oops too.....jordan harvey 2 hand slam...13-10 velma 1 min remaining in the half...crawford...p ro hop...foul and finsh...22-14 velma the toppers unable to dethrone the champs...velma jackson advances to the championship game with the 61-44 win with the 61-44 win in high school football news...calhoun city head coach chad white is stepping down from his position, and will join perry liles' staff at ripley, pending board approval john macon gillespie of the calhoun county journal was the first to report white went 9-4 in one season as head coach of the wildcats...leading calhoun city to the third round of the playoffs into the loft that siblings will parlay to come up with to be a lot timeline is you did on the all right that we have son, and are waiting on some wet weather tomorrow morning were used with a with a string of nasty weeks but we can handle continues the weekend approaches court and were all party animals is that we will be good to wait to hold a great yard secure from italy needs help you want to do is to is a lot more coming up this weekend will be so hard and