Vaping: Does it help or harm?

Rob Roberts hasn’t smoked a cigarette in nine years.

Before his wife died of lung cancer in 2006, he smoked nearly two packs a day. After some “arm twisting” from friends and family, he turned to vaping instead about seven or eight years ago.

Keynote author opens Welty Symposium by reading memoir written to his mother

As an eighth grader at a predominantly white Catholic school in Jackson in the 1980s, Kiese Laymon said he and fellow black friends sometimes had to remind themselves and each other they were “abundant.”

Operation Triple Beam nets 149 area arrests

Almost 150 suspects wanted for sex offenses, drug charges and violent crimes throughout the Golden Triangle area were arrested during a six-week joint operation between federal and area law enforcement earlier this summer, authorities announced Wednesday during a press conference in West Point.

Court orders candidate’s husband to pay for work done at family home

A Clay County Justice Court judge has ordered the husband of a candidate for the state Legislature to pay more than $2,500 to a contractor for work done at the couple’s home.

Two juveniles arrested for terroristic threats illustrate leeway with charge

When state legislators were debating the “Mississippi Terroristic Threats Law,” Dist. 16 Sen. Angela Turner-Ford (D-West Point) had one primary concern with the bill: Would juveniles charged under the law go straight to circuit court to be tried as adults?

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: McGill overcomes her fears, mounts successful battle against breast cancer

Edna McGill began chemotherapy to treat breast cancer on her 60th birthday, in July 2014.

It would prove to be 100-percent effective.

That didn’t mean her battle with breast cancer was over, McGill explained from her home in Columbus Thursday.

Cedarhill welcomes new pride

On Sept. 25, as an unfamiliar truck was pulling up to Cedarhill Animal Sanctuary in Caledonia, the sanctuary’s lone lion Zeus got up and began running around in excitement.

FEMA encourages in-person visits for assistance

Sarah Collie was sitting in the bathroom of the house she owned on 18th Street North the evening of Feb. 23 when a tornado touched down in North Columbus.

“I looked up and there it was,” Collie said.

City-county relations raised again at second forum

Those hoping to be elected to a seat on the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors disagreed on the state of the board’s relationship with city of Columbus officials during a political forum at the Columbus Municipal Complex Monday night.

MUW, other state universities face challenges of funding, student debt

Nora Miller knows the challenges universities face today.

Lowndes County candidates to appear at two upcoming forums

Voters will have two opportunities next week to meet and ask questions of candidates in the upcoming Lowndes County general election at separate political forums.

Monday Profile: CAFB’s Strickland wins top female ‘Alpha Warrior’ honor

Second Lt. Michelle Strickland was in the gym at Columbus Air Force Base in May when she noticed a flier on wall advertising the base’s Alpha Warrior competition.

Friends remember Lt. Tammy Prescott, lifelong Lowndes County resident and enthusiastic volunteer

In June, Lt. Tammy Prescott was up until 3 a.m. painting individualized pictures on pillowcases for children at Camp Rising Sun, the annual summer camp that serves children with cancer.

The Lowndes County Sheriff’s deputy and long-time volunteer for organizations all over the Columbus area had at that point been fighting her own battle with cancer for about a year and was determined not to let it interfere with her involvement at the camp.

City council recognizes CPD officers for response to burglary ring

Columbus Police Department Officer Melvin Shirley did not expect to be recognized by the city council for his first ever footchase.

Caledonia student arrested for allegedly threatening other students

A 15-year-old student at Caledonia High School was arrested Monday after he allegedly told other students he had made a list of people he planned to shoot at school.

CVB debates who should fund certain festivals

Officials with Lowndes County, the city of Columbus and Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau all said they were open to a sit-down meeting to clarify language in interlocal agreements among the entities regarding the funding of local events.

Two CAFB officers among those who march 100 miles from New Jersey to Ground Zero to commemorate 9/11

Air Force officers Maj. Jonathan Leetch and Capt. Matthew Carpenter had been walking 32 hours, without stopping to sleep in a hotel or eat at a restaurant, when they arrived at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum on Wednesday.

It had been 18 years to the day since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Community Counseling hopes to reach 400 more youth with $5 million grant

Community Counseling Services administrators want to reach at least 400 more youth with the help of a nearly $5 million grant to expand services throughout the Golden Triangle and beyond over the next five years.

Philadelphia man caught with trafficked child

A Philadelphia man is in custody at Lowndes County Adult Detention Center after state troopers discovered him with a missing 15-year-old who they believe to have been a sex trafficking victim from Georgia.

LCSO reserve officer injured in motorcycle accident

An off-duty reserve deputy for Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office was injured in a wreck on Gardner Boulevard this morning and has been taken to North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo.