Habitat’s Women Build looking for volunteers

Even as Columbus-Lowndes Habitat for Humanity made final plans for National Women Build Week May 3-11, tornadic weather in Lowndes County was orchestrating a revision. Each spring, the nonprofit Habitat agency and Lowe’s invite women to volunteer to work on a Habitat home for a local family. This year, the format will be just a bit different.

Area photographer’s photo among Smithsonian finalists

Shaoshin Candy Feng of Starkville is a traveler, one who journals her explorations with a Nikon 40D camera. England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland and the Czech Republic are a few of the destinations recorded in her passport.

Rite of spring: St. Paul’s May luncheon – generation to generation

If you ask longtime Columbians to list some local rites of spring, chances are you’ll hear mention of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church May Luncheon. The event, after all, has its roots in the 1800s.

It’s that time: Craftsmen everywhere are prepping for Columbus’ biggest party

Kelsey Perry is experiencing a few butterflies, the excited kind.

“I know there’s still a lot to be done, but I work good under pressure,” she smiled, deftly wielding tin snips to transform an everyday food can into a flower blossom.

National Day of Prayer observance set for Thursday in Columbus

The privately-funded Christian Community in Prayer committee invites citizens of Columbus and surrounding areas to join together in front of the Lowndes County Courthouse at 505 Second Ave. N. The prayer focus is “One voice united in prayer.”

A Southern Blend: What does a new cookbook have to do with Operation Ukraine and a Honduran mission? Read on

When Columbus residents and close friends Gail Ward and Patsy Conquest decided to collaborate on a cookbook, they may not have envisioned 1,308 recipes and more than 540 pages, but that’s what they have delivered.

Team spirit: For Relay for Life teams, it’s more than just raising money — it’s personal

For Carol Summerall, it’s personal. And for Jean Bailey, Herod Granderson and Laura Brownlee. In fact, for the great majority of Relay for Life team members, the fight against cancer is personal.

Columbus volunteers earn recognition at state GIVE Awards

When nominations opened for the 2014 Governor’s Initiative for Volunteer Excellence — or GIVE — Awards earlier this year, Leslie Peel, director of the United Way Volunteer Columbus, was eager to seek recognition for some of the many “doers” in Lowndes County.

Quilts and codes: Folklore or fact, quilted messages of the Underground Railroad are project for local quiltmaker

Did quilts serve as coded communication for escaping slaves navigating the Underground Railroad? The concept is debated among quilt and Railroad historians, but the idea — as Bonnie Browning of the American Quilter’s Society in Paducah, Ky., said to National Geographic News — “makes a wonderful story.”

CAC annual gala goes ‘Jeans & Jewels’

The Columbus Arts Council’s annual gala takes a westward track this year with Jeans & Jewels on Saturday, April 26.

April is brimming with First Book reads

Leslie Webber stood in front of a classroom of third-graders at Fairview Elementary School in Columbus April 1 and asked, “Who likes math?” Somewhat surprisingly, almost every student thrust a hand up.

Taste of Starkville: Saturday’s Cotton District Festival features culinary contest

There are many reasons to enjoy the Cotton District Arts Festival in Starkville Saturday. The Taste of Starkville culinary competition is a big one. In this good-natured food showdown, local restaurants and cooks vie for titles while offering up fare for every tastebud.

Masks ready? CPD Masquerade Ball is set for April 18

Two initiatives important to the Columbus Police Department are about to get a substantial boost. The department’s annual Community Masquerade Ball set for Friday, April 18 will support the CPD’s citywide toy drive and its observance of National Night Out on Crime.

Hopkins and Patilla in concert for voice and guitar

Dr. Michael Patilla and Dr. Joseph Hopkins have shared their considerable talents around the globe.

Championship Chow: March Madness inspires final four fare

The nail-biters can give it a rest for a few days. College basketball fanatics are celebrating or licking wounds, depending on where their allegiances lay this past weekend. But whether their team is still in or long gone from the NCAA Tournament, any fan who relishes the adrenaline rush of battle and buzzer beaters is picking teams for Saturday’s Final Four. It’s all down now to Florida, UConn, Wisconsin and Kentucky.

But we still gotta eat, right?

Girlchoir Kitchen and Home Tour readies welcome mat

Spring Pilgrimage means many of Columbus’ antebellum mansions open their doors to visitors. But those aren’t the only homes inviting the community in for a look.

Little Free Libraries: A senior class works together to leave a legacy for their community

Take a book, return a book. The concept is brilliantly simple. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by, pick up a book to read, then bring it back, or leave another to share in its place.

And the winning songwriters are …

Judges for Starkville’s Cotton District Arts Festival Songwriter’s Competition had a tough time deciding among the 20 entrants, but results are in. The top three songwriters will perform at noon April 12 on the festival’s West Stage on University Boulevard.

A Farmers’ Market vendor’s new project is for the birds

Bob Elder likes to make things. He really can’t help it. A creative mind and mechanical engineering background combine to inspire his industry. Lately, Elder has had birds on his mind.

National storyteller, historical musician present Civil War memoir Sunday

Sallie Independence Foster was 12 years old and living in Florence, Ala., when the War Between the States broke out in 1861. Her world of high-top shoes, inkwells and mail carried on horseback had to give way to a new reality. She recorded events in her diary, and kept on keeping diaries for 26 years.