WCBI News at Ten - 04/30/2020

WCBI News at Ten - 04/30/2020

Up with us tonight..

A political battle could be brewing over the way the federal cares act money gets divvied up.

But governor tate reeves says that's not what he wants.

The legislature has been called back to jackson - tomorrow ---more than two weeks earlier than planned.

Courtney ann jackson has the latest from the capitol..

Governor tate reeves believes he has the authority for determining how to distribute the federal cares act money.

For mississippi, it's 1.25 billion dollars.

"this money has been appropriated by the federal government and it is to be executed under mississippi law by the governor."

But there are apparent questions about whether the money should instead go through the legislative appropriations process.

Legislators i've spoken with say they expect that question of authority to be the sole focus of their return friday.

Here's what reeves said when asked about the issue thursday.

"i don't really give a damn who is in charge of this money.

What i care about is the people who need it and they need it now.

We can't develop a system where the people who need the money cannot quickly access it.

We cannot have a system that is not carefully constructed."

Reeves argues a change to the state law would alter the way the state handles distribution of all federal dollars in times of disaster.

"every time there's a tornado, we'll be calling a special session of the legislature.

Every single time there is a hurricane, we'll be calling a special session of the legislature.

If the virus comes back in the fall, we'll be calling a special session of the legislature."

Neither lt.

Governor delbert hosemann nor speaker philip gunn have returned request for comment.

But plan to hold a media availability friday morning ahead of the legislature reconvening.

"the bottom line is we can't allow politics and bureaucracy to cost mississippians the money that they so badly need and they so badly need it quickly."

Caj wcbi news in case you aren't worried about the politics of it all&.remember these are federal dollars that could be flowing to you, your schools and communities.

The middle of an international health crisis is no time to drop your health insurance, but that is just what's happening to some mississippians..

Tupelo's "g force insurance team' helps many clients get insurance through healthcare dot gov, which is the site for the affordable care act.

The government provides tax credits , based on a person's income and household size, to help pay for the premiums. but many clients are losing their tax credit, even after submitting required paperwork.

For some that means a huge out of pocket expense if they want to keep their health insurance.

"the premium they were used to paying, whether it be ten dollars, or 15 dollars, some cases more that, has now quadrupled in some cases, we have one client whose premium was forty dollars a month , lost his tax credit and now his premium is over two thousand dollars, a month."

Johnson says what makes it worse is that many people are also out of work right now..

The corona virus has put many businesses on hold.

This includes hair and nail salons... bobby martinez talks with business owners to find out how they're planning for re-opening when they get the go-ahead.

"that's the number one thing..

Their safety."

Customer safety will be the main focus once aaron weis' nail salon re opens for business.

Weis owns belles nail bar in starkville.

And he has plans in place to keep everyone safe, once the nail salon is able to open.

Sot - aaron weis - owner, belles nail bar - starkville "when they come in they have to use hand sanitizer then we make them wash their hands for 30 seconds at least with antibacterial soap then they come and sit down after we sanitize all the tables and chairs and anything they can touch my girls wear gloves after they sanitize their hands as well."

Stand up "and it is protective barriers like this that customers will see when they come to the nail salon.

A customer will sit here and a nail tech will sit here.

And in between will be a protective barrier something.

Weis says is very important in making sure the nail salon stays safe."

Sot - aaron weis "that is kind of why we went ahead above and beyond and put all these extra measures in place.

That way we can have them protected.

Like the customers are going to be required to wear a mask.

All of us will wear masks as well as gloves including the barriers that we put up throughout the entire salon as well as sitting them 6 feet apart."

At martha's kut and kurl... frances stephenson says the thought of re- opening her columbus salon fills her up with joy... sot - frances stephenson - owner, martha's kut and kurl, columbus "i am just full of energy.

I'm ready to go in there to get it done.

I have so many clients that are in need of me and i am in need of them also."

Stephenson says she will make sure everyone follows all health guidelines in her salon.

"we were wearing mask before.

They really closed us down on march 21.

And we will continue to wear a mask and we will add gloves, we sanitize doors and chairs."

As for now - all both owners can do is wait and hope they can re open soon.

Tonight, one of the nation's largest beef processing plants, a tyson food plant in nebraska, is shutting down after workers stopped showing up over concerns about the coronavirus.

It's the latest of two dozen plants to close during the pandemic.

Cbs's nancy cordes is in maryland where there's trouble in the hen house..

Poultry is big business in maryland.

The state's top agricultural product.

But here in salisbury, dr christopher snyder says it's also the driving force behind a coronavirus spike.

They share rides together to work&they're transported in vans back and forth&they don't have their own vehicles so it's a difficult situation for them.

More than 260 poultry workers have fallen ill in maryland.

400 in georgia.

Nat horns honking in virginia, workers protested outside a perdue plant this week.

Demanding testing and paid time off.

Sot worker: "we understand they provide meals for millions of people, but lives are more important right now."

From coast to coast about 2 dozen meat packing plants have had to shut down sometime in the past two months as workers fall ill.

Prompting a 25 percent reduction in pork production capacity.

10 percent for beef - driving up wholesale prices, even as demand shoots up too.

Nat safeway shopping in southern california, safeway and other supermarkets are now limiting sales of pork chicken and beef - to discourage what they call "panic buying."

Look at this lady here - show her - can you hold up all the chicken you got?

Stew leonard says chicken sales at his grocery chain outside new york are up 300 percent from last year.

But he doesn't want to charge more.

If your costs go up, you aren't going to have any choice but to raise prices.

You know, what you raise prices.

But usually everybody goes up a percentage.

A starkville native who now lives in texas is recovering from covid-19.

Ashley brown and her family traveled to europe in march.

On the return trip, she says they stood in line for more than five hours to get screened by the cdc.

Days later, she developed what she thought were spring allergy symptoms. i started getting extremely tired, shortness of breath; chest being very tight.

I also started getting dizzy.

And eventually i ended up losing my sense of smell and taste.

That third week i felt like i was never gonna get better.

I'll just be honest with you.

I remember turning to my husband and saying i don't feel i'll ever feel better because i couldn't get out bed.

I was sleeping 14 hour days.

You can hear aundrea self's full conversation with ashley brown tomorrow at 9am on midmorning.

Take developing story stinger we have an update tonight in a story we've been following since march.

Students from oktibbeha and lowndes county who are currently enrolled at gtechs will be allowed to stay in school next year.

In march both the columbus municipal and the starkville oktibbeha county school districts voted to end their contracts with gtechs.

Meaning students from those districts would no longer be allowed to attend the dual high school - college program.

In a letter to gtechs parents and faculty, director jill savely writes that district superintendents, the mississippi department of education and staff from emcc met earlier today to discuss a way forward for students currently enrolled at the school.

Savely thanked parents for their active support.

First look stinger first look summary: may is set to start o start off on a sunny and warm note.

Temperatures will be warming well into the 80s this weekend and early next week.

The next chance of showers and storms is possible tuesday but rain chances look slim over the next week.

Tonight: clear, calm, and cool.

Lows in the mid to upper 40s.

Light wind.

Friday: bright sunshine.

Highs in the upper 70s.

Variable winds 5-10 mph.

Centred up it's been more than a decade since first look summary: may is set to start off on a sunny and warm note.

Temperatures will be warming well into the 80s this weekend and early next week.

The next chance of showers and storms is possible tuesday but rain chances look slim over the next week.

Tonight: clear, calm, and cool.

Lows in the mid to upper 40s.

Light wind.

Friday: bright sunshine.

Highs in the upper 70s.

Variable winds 5-10 mph.

Centred up it's been more than a decade since levon brooks and kennendy brewer were cleared of capital murder and sexual battery charges..

Their wrongful convictions are the focus of a new netflix documentary - the innocence files.

Brooks was accused of breaking into a noxubee county home in september of 1990... and killing a three year old girl.

In may of 1992, brewer was accused of murdering his girlfriend's three year old daughter.

Brooks served 16 years in prison... brewer spent 13 years on death row... in 2008 both men were exonerated after another man... justin johnson.... confessed to both crimes..

Brooks passed away in 2018.

Brewer still lives in noxubee county... take vo in monitor the netflix documentary was released earlier this month... our quentin smith speaks exclusively with brewer about the new series... and has more on what he wants people to take away from his story... on this bright sunny day....kennedy brewer takes a look into the local paper and sees he's making headlines.... it's all due to a new netflix series called the innocence files... nat the show highlights his wrongful conviction and the fight to clear his name.

" i'm glad that everybody knows the truth.

People have been calling me talking about, i seen the documentary, i was crying."

Nat the documentary is an in-depth look at the crime and trial that sent brewer to death row... and ultimately his exoneration.

" people do lie on people, just like they lied on me, but a lot of people that i was friends with that knew me, they knew that i didn't do anything like that."

The innocence project reached out to brewer to be a part of the series, and he happily jumped on board..... they spent 8 months in noxubee county with the 49 year old telling his story.

The brooksville man says he didn't mind opening up because he wants every one to know his truth.

" i shared it because besides me, there are a lot more people locked up they haven't committed a crime, they are just accused of something and people are putting it out there that they did this stuff, when they really haven't."

Brewer says he wants the series to bring attention to the flaws in the justice system.... and prevent other innocent people from going through what he went through.

Nat " when stuff happens they quickly accuse a person of their stuff, they put their points on them like they did me, but you've got to really dig down and try to find the truth and not just jump to conclusions."

Take vo in monitor despite everything that's happened, brewer says he has no ill will towards anyone... but he says he does believe mississippi owes him and the late levon brooks an apology.

Coming up tomorrow... we'll hear from the people who helped make the netflix documentary about the importance of putting a series like this together.

Stinger wx open summary: may is set to start off on a sunny and warm note.

Temperatures will be warming well into the 80s this weekend and early next week.

The next chance of showers and storms is possible tuesday but rain chances look slim over the next week.

Tonight: clear, calm, and cool.

Lows in the mid to upper 40s.

Light wind.

Friday: bright sunshine.

Highs in the upper 70s.

Variable winds 5-10 mph.

Friday night: clear and quiet.

Lows in the low to mid 50s.

Saturday: sunny and warm.

Highs in the lower 80s.

Saturday night: mainly clear.

Lows in the upper 50s.

Sunday: mostly sunny and warm.

Highs in the mid 80s.

Next week: temperatures stay in the 80s through tuesday before falling back into the 70s for the 2nd half of the week.

Some rain or storms are possible tuesday and tuesday night with a cold front but moisture appears limited at this time.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app take scott's reentry summary: may is set to start off on a sunny and warm note.

Temperatures will be warming well into the 80s this weekend and early next week.

The next chance of showers and storms is possible tuesday but rain chances look slim over the next week.

Tonight: clear, calm, and cool.

Lows in the mid to upper 40s.

Light wind.

Friday: bright sunshine.

Highs in the upper 70s.

Variable winds 5-10 mph.

Friday night: clear and quiet.

Lows in the low to mid 50s.

Saturday: sunny and warm.

Highs in the lower 80s.

Saturday night: mainly clear.

Lows in the upper 50s.

Sunday: mostly sunny and warm.

Highs in the mid 80s.

Next week: temperatures stay in the 80s through tuesday before falling back into the 70s for the 2nd half of the week.

Some rain or storms are possible tuesday and tuesday night with a cold front but moisture appears limited at this time.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app but moisture appears limited at this time.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news this week we've been discussing topics that affect our older generation such as falls and dementia// here's doctor harris with tonights health talk// no script available stinger mississippi state basketball adding much needed depth to the roster the latest from the transfer portal next in sports... take spx full mississippi state men's basketball has faced a mass exodus this offseason... reggie perry, robert woodard, and nick weatherspoon have left early for the nba draft senior tyson carter won't be back for the bulldogs next year 4 reserves from a year ago have transfered.....but the bulldogs picking up some reinforcement in transfer portal louisiana grad transfer jalen johnson has committed to play for ben howland the bulldogs... jeff goodman first reported the news the 6'7 forward averaged almost 16 points per game, and 7 rebounds....being named the sun belt newcomer of the year this past season johnson will be joined by western kentucky transfer tolu smith as players eligible for 2020...along with signees cameron matthews and anderson garcia.... woodard has maintained eligibility and it's possible for a return...the deadline to withdraw from the draft is june 6th for the first time in nearly 75 years...the little league world series has canceled all regional and world series play for the rest of 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic the 2021 little league world series was planned to be the 75h year celebration...that has now been pushed to 2022 some good news...nascar is officially coming back!

Actual cup series racing is set to return may 17th.......darlington raceway will host the return of nascar for the race at darlington, there will not be qualifying or practice sessions.....and reports say the starting lineup will be based set on points qualifying will return for the coke 600 at charlotte motor speedway no fans will be in attendance....nasc ar has been entertaining the world with enascar in the absence of racing last look stinger last look last look it seems like we have had many windy days this last look last