County, CLW ink deal with Allegro for employee clinic services

A new year brings new health care options for Lowndes County and Columbus Light and Water employees.

Slimantics: A Reeves-Hosemann showdown seems inevitable

When the Mississippi Legislature convenes for its annual session on Tuesday, it may be business as usual on the House side, but the Senate is under new management.

Slimantics: The end of reaggravation

I was sitting in my recliner Thursday evening, working on The Dispatch crossword puzzle, part of my evening ritual, when I noticed something on the TV, which I had employed as background noise while pondering a six-letter word for “game quest.”

Area venues to host live music, dance parties to ring in 2020

Doug Pellum and Jay Yates are becoming old hands at new years.

Locals observe longstanding traditions on Christmas Day

About 30 family members had gathered at Townsend Community Center, but Willie Collins’ grandson, Darius, had not yet arrived.

It wasn’t as though this was the first time Darius’ arrival had delayed the family Christmas celebration.

Biographers trace steps of Red Barber to Columbus

Red Barber’s story began in Columbus, it’s true.

But the story of Red Barber’s story began in a Chicago thrift shop.

Andy Boyd retiring as YMCA director

When Andy Boyd was chosen as director of the Frank P. Phillips YMCA in 2009, no one had to show him around the facility.

He knew it by heart, you could say.

Sale closes on Omnova plant

The 80-acre Omnova property in east Columbus has been sold, Realtors with Rhett Real Estate confirmed Wednesday, signaling a new lease on life for the property that has remained largely vacant since Omnova ceased production at the site in 2011.

Slimantics: When Christmas music goes horribly wrong

I don’t know when radio stations first decided to start playing Christmas music 24/7 from the day after Thanksgiving right through Christmas but whenever that was, it was a very bad day.

‘Mother and child’: Sheep and two lambs complete Columbus funeral home’s annual Nativity scene

For 52 years now, the Nativity scene on the front lawn of Memorial Gunter Peel Funeral Home has been a Christmas tradition, possibly the longest uninterrupted tradition in town.

Last founding MSMS faculty member retires

Emma Richardson was facing a deadline — just one week to finish a history of the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, one of her final assignments as English and creative writing teacher at the school.

Doing good: Pastor, ex-addict join to open men’s West Point recovery center

When Dickie Bryan bought the West Point property that once was the site of the pork processing plant founded by his father and uncle, he had a definite plan in mind. The idea was to convert the space into a ministry to serve the spiritual and physical needs of men on the margins of society — addicts, ex-convicts, the homeless.

Taylor hits ground running at Communiversity

Courtney Taylor was in her first week on her new job when a situation emerged that perfectly illustrates the hybrid nature of her role.

Lathan recalls 20 years in industrial development

If Joe Max Higgins has become the face of economic development in the Golden Triangle, Brenda Lathan may well be its spirit.

Slimantics: I’m running on the long weekend platform

Here of late, I’ve been beginning to question a number of things that I have more or less taken for granted.

Columbus to cease upkeep at Luxapalila Creek Park after 20 years

In a sense, word of mouth played a role in the fate of Luxapalila Creek Park in southern Lowndes County. The park has gone from popular to “dangerous” to all-but-forgotten over the past two decades.

County taps CivicPlus for new website

Monday was a big day for Al Quinn, probably the most important day since Quinn was hired as Lowndes County’s information technology director two years ago.

Slimantics: A voice crying in the bewilderness

A press release delivered to The Dispatch earlier of this week alerted us to a community meeting Tuesday where Kerr-McGee/Tronox issues would be discussed.

SHS students show off tech skills at C Spire’s ‘Hour of Code’

Tuesday night, a dozen juniors and seniors from Starkville High School showed off their computer technology skills at the C Spire store in Starkville.

Collectively, they are the first class of a C Spire pilot program called The C Spire Software Development Pathway.

Supes move half of hospital trust fund to Stifel firm

Lowndes County supervisors voted unanimously Monday to change how its hospital trust fund will be invested.