WCBI News At Ten- April 8, 2020

WCBI News At Ten- April 8, 2020

Thanks for staying up with us tonight..

The spread of the coronavirus is forcing many businesses to close... sparking waves of lay-offs.

Now.... thousands are filing for unemployment... but as we've reported recently.... many are having a hard time getting that help.

The state department of employment security says.... that's because of an increased number of people are now looking to file claims... as of last week.... more than 30 thousand mississippians have filed for unemployment benefits... and that number continues to increase... "it's unreal how much it's increased in just the last three weeks."

Jackie turner is the executive director for the mississippi department of employment security... she says anyone who's lost their job is eligible to file for employment..... and thanks to a piece of legislation passed by president...those who've lost their jobs due to this pandemic are able to receive additional benefits to help them stay afloat.

"under the cares act signed by the president, individuals may be eligible for an additional $600 a week in addition to their regular unemployment benefits."

For anyone looking to file a claim... mdes encourages calling the numbers listed on their website to help them get started... i'm recent weeks, people have voiced their frustrations about long wait times and not being able to get ahold of anyone when they call... taylor says it's due to an unprecedented work load.

" we have 250 phone lines coming into the agency, but remember, the economy was good, so it was a normal workload.

All of a sudden there are thousands and thousands of people trying to reach us at one time.

We have increased our capacity over to time, we are implementing a new call center next week."

Mdes says it's doing its best to answer everyone who's filing a claim, and they're even working seven days a week now... "it's frustrating for you all in mississippi and it's frustrating for us then we can't serve you timely.

We ask for patients even though patience is thin, we will get to everyone as quickly as possible, and know that we are implementing new ways every day to do such things."

" if the individual who has not had the chance to talk to someone or file their claim, eventually we will service them and any benefits they are due, that they haven't been paid for and qualified for, we will pay them those benefits."

When filing a claim, you have to set up a user-name using an email and password... if you happen to forget those, you can retrieve that information by calling into the agency... or contacting someone at your local local win job center drive thru coronavirus testing makes its way to webster county.

Thursday the university of mississippi medical center will lead testing operations in eupora located on 86 government avenue.

The service is by appointment only and will take place from 9am to 4pm.

Patients being tested don't even have to exit their car.

Once tested, ummc will notify patients the results.

Wipe to gfx maben is the latest town in our viewing area to go under a mandatory curfew.

Aldermen voted unanimously tuesday night to order an 8 pm to 5 am curfew in town.

The order goes into effect immediately.

Anyone out after the curfew could be ticketed and fined.

A first offense is 250 dollars....... the second offense goes up to 500 dollars.

Maben city hall is also now closed to the public.

Utility payments and court fines can be put in the drop box at the front of the building.

Anyone needing to do face to face business must call city hall to set up an appointment wipe to vo the tupelo public school district suspends its food delivery and pick- up programs after an employee tests positive for covid- 19.

In a press release, the school district says the employee worked in the transportation department.

Buses were used to take the food to various locations.

All employees who had contact with the worker in the last 14 days have been notified.

Tpsd is putting the programs on hold for two weeks, after that it will reassess the situation.

A natchez pastor who was threatened t be arrested for defying a state order aimed at limiting social gatherings, sits down with governor tate reeves..

Courtney ann jackson has more on the meeting and the result... no script available to gfx wipe to gfx cbs-affiliate wjtv will be hosting a coronavirus town hall with governor tate reeves and state health officer dr. thomas dobbs.

You can watch the event right here on wcbi-tv.

Tomorrow night from 7:00 p.m.

To 8:00 p.m.

Gov.

Reeves and dr. dobbs will be answering questions from residents.

To find how how to submit a question, go to our website w-c-b-i dot com.

First look stinger first look summary: a few isolated storms are possible early this evening.

A bigger line of storms may move in from tennessee after midnight.

Damaging wind gusts and hail will remain the primary concerns with the late night storms. another system is expected to move through the region late saturday into sunday.

Additional strong to severe storms and heavy rain may occur with that one so we'll keep on watching it.

Wednesday night: a few evening storms followed by a lull.

A batch of additional storms after midnight with a cold front.

Wind and hail are the main concerns if severe weather does occur.

Lows in the low 60s.

Winds sw 5-15 mph.

Thursday: a mix of clouds and sun.

Cooler highs in the low 70s.

Northerly winds 10-20 mph.

As of today it looks like joe biden is the pre- sumptive nominee for the democratic party.

Vermont senator bernie sanders ended his presidential campaign today.

The one-time frontrunner told his supporters he couldn't win..... and didn't want his campaign to interfere with the nation's fight against the coronavirus.

Cbs's ed o'keefe has the latest from washington.

Senator bernie sanders admitted today that his path to victory is virtually impossible.

"if i believed we had a feasible path to the nomination i would certainly continue the campaign.

But it's just not there."

Sanders trails joe biden by more than 300 delegates -- but he said he's keeping his name on the ballot in states that have yet to hold primaries to try forcing democrats to adopt some of his more liberal views.

That could complicate things for biden... ...who today thanked sanders and appealed directly to the senator's supporters: "i hope you will join us," biden said.

"you are more than welcome.

You're needed."

Sanders had seemed unstoppable, easily winning early contests... "we won the new hampshire primary .

We won the nevada caucus."

...but just before super tuesday, several candidates dropped out and endorsed biden - catching sanders off-guard.

Biden has never looked back, as the pandemic's freeze on the campaign stopped any chances of a bernie rebound.

Recent polls give biden a slight edge over president trump nationwide and in key swing states.

Just minutes after sander's announcement, the trump campaign released this ad... "they're more alike than you think."

...trying to tie biden more closely to sanders.

Tag: cbs news has learned that the biden and sanders teams have been working for weeks to figure out which of the senator's policy positions the former vice president could adopt as a way to better unite the party.

We're told to expect more on that in the near future.

Ed o'keefe - cbs news washington the columbus municipal schooldistrict votes o dis-continue its contract with golden triangle early college high school.

Our cash matlock has reaction from a school board member and some stunned parents..

"when she found out she cried.

My husband had to console her because she was so upset."

Denise mize says her daughter was gearing up for her senior year in the gtech program.

She planned to graduate with a high school diploma and an associates degree... but now all of that has been taken from her.

Almost four years of hard work... gone.

"it made me really angry because my daughter has invested so much time in gtech because she was in band at her school prior and because we chose gtech she could not do extracurricular activities so if she was to have to go back to columbus high, she would miss out on that band scholarship that would help her with her college."

Another parent, shane tompkins, has a son enrolled in the gtech program.

"we invested into this thing and it's a four year program and our son's a freshman and we'd like to complete it because it has a a lot of the aspects of, i guess, education that we were excited about for our child."

Jason spears is the board president for the columbus municipal school district.

He says the decision to end the program was a tough one.

"we have to look at everything from state law, we have to look at everything from the fiduciary responsibility of the finances, and we have to make a decision for the community as a whole that's going to have the greatest impact long term."

One major deciding factor came to board members attention just this year.

"it was a "at risk" for all the different public schools that are here in this area that are the feeder schools that go into the particular program.

Those "at risk" students go through a selection process.

Over the last year and going into this next moa session, it has been broadened greatly.

By broadening it, it takes the initial feeder schools and includes other school that aren't feeder schools."

Spears says there are public school programs now that could potentially fill the gap the gtech program leaves behind.

Parents say that isn't good enough.

"yes you can do this dual enrollment, yes you can go online and do it, but it's not the same.

They're getting the best of both worlds."

Some parents... aren't taking 'no' for an answer.

"i will move.

I will do whatever i have to, to make sure my child attends gtech."

"we can't operate a district on the fear of repercussions.

We have to operate the district on facts, laws, and what is beneficial to all parties involved."

The contract for columbus municipal schools and the golden triangle early college high school program will expire on june 30th.

Administrators at emcc have not yet commented.

Stinger wx open summary: a few isolated storms are possible early this evening.

A bigger line of storms may move in from tennessee after midnight.

Damaging wind gusts and hail will remain the primary concerns with the late night storms. another system is expected to move through the region late saturday into sunday.

Additional strong to severe storms and heavy rain may occur with that one so we'll keep on watching it.

Wednesday night: a few evening storms followed by a lull.

A batch of additional storms after midnight with a cold front.

Wind and hail are the main concerns if severe weather does occur.

Lows in the low 60s.

Winds sw 5-15 mph.

Thursday: a mix of clouds and sun.

Cooler highs in the low 70s.

Northerly winds 10-20 mph.

Thursday night: partly cloudy and cool.

Lows in the mid to upper 40s.

Friday: sun & clouds.

Cooler highs in the low to mid 60s.

Friday night: chilly.

Lows in the upper 30s to lower 40s.

Saturday: variably cloudy.

Some showers are possible late in the day and into the evening.

Highs in the low 70s.

Saturday night: rain & storms possible.

Lows in the mid to upper 50s.

Easter sunday: areas of rain and storms. some strong to severe weather is possible in the region.

Stay tuned for updates as we get closer for more specifics.

Highs in the 70s.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and on the wcbi news app stinger organ donors can stinger organ donors can save lives - we learn more about the april is national donate life month.... and as we learn in tonights health talk with baptist... it's never too late to give the gift of life..

Hi i'm shelly kidder, a nurse in the education department at baptist memorial hospital golden triangle and a first responder for the mid-south transplant foundation.

Tonight we will be addressing some other myths about organ and tissue donation.

Many people think they are too old to be an organ or tissue donor.

In fact, there is no defined cutoff age for donating organs.

The decision is based on strict medical criteria, not age.

Let the doctors decide at the time of your death whether your organs and tissues are suitable for transplant.

Despite what many people think, the rich and famous do not receive priority when it comes to allocating organs.

It may seem that way due to the extra publicity they receive, but they are treated no differently than anyone else.

And despite what you may hear, the organ donor's family is never charged for donation.

The family is charged for the costs of all final efforts to save your life, and those costs are sometimes misinterpreted as costs related to organ donation.

Costs for organ removal go to the transplant recipient.

It is especially important to consider becoming an organ donor if you belong to an ethnic minority.

African americans, asians, pacific islanders, native americans and hispanics are more likely than caucasians to have certain chronic conditions that affect the kidneys, heart, lung, pancreas and liver.

Join us next time for health talk with baptist when we will discuss how the transplant process works.

Stinger the diamond dogs season was cut short, and its become a waiting game to see what their baseball future will be more from head coach chris lemonis, spx open as the sports world continues to wait when normalcy will return....mississippi state baseball head coach chris lemonis says the future roster of the diamond dogs will depend on what happens to the mlb draft due to the pushbacks caused by the coronavirus outbreak, the draft could change from forty rounds to just five, depending on the delay..

Lemonis says players like jordan westburg and justin foscue have a good chance to go pro regardless of what the decision is...but nothing is certain for other pro eligible players lemonis says the uncertainy makes roster building the hardest its ever been "the hardest thing for me right now is they keep saying they're going to back to draft up, and back the draft up.

I mean, it may be a situation where we may not know our team in late july.

That's the really hard part if this draft keeps getting pushed back.

We're just trying to make the best decisions with our team, trying to figure out all the possibilities that could happen during that time but the major league draft is going to have a huge effect to our team."

The mlb and mlbpa agreed on a resolution that would have the draft as early at june 10th, its original date, or as late as july 20th the signing deadline will be no later than august 1st need some good news today?

Former mississippi state head football coach joe moorhead buys lunch for the starkville police department starkville pd thanking moorhead on twitter, moorhead responding saying "my family and i are very appreciative of everything you have done and continue to do for the community" seattle seahawk and oxford-native dk metcalf giving back to his hometown metcalf is donating $25 thousand dollars to purchase meals for those in need in oxford the former ole miss rebel is also donating 25- thousand dollars to swedish hospital in seattle, washington last look stinger last look last look stinger last look last look stinger