County now looking at other clinic options

A week after it seemed poised to sign a new agreement with a local Baptist Medical Group Clinic, the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors will consider other possibilities for its employees’ doctors visits and pharmacy.

Monday Profile: Local pastor doubles as Army chaplain

On a typical Sunday, in congregations across the country, someone is missing while fulfilling an obligation to the military as a member of the National Guard or Reserves.

It’s a little different at First Presbyterian Church of Columbus, where one Sunday per month the person is not missing from the pews, but from behind the pulpit.

LCSD narrows superintendent search to seven names

The Lowndes County School District Board of Trustees narrowed the list of candidates for the district’s superintendent of schools to seven during Friday’s regular board meeting, but offered little information on the move.

Hawkins: Black market hijacks vaping, makes it more dangerous

Nature abhors a vacuum.

That goes for human nature, too.

During Thursday’s Exchange Club luncheon at Lion Hills Center, Eddie Hawkins of Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics noted the emergence of vaping as a form of recreational drug use has emerged as a public health threat.

Governor enacts statewide burn ban

Longtime Oktibbeha County Fire Services Coordinator Kirk Rosenhan knew it was just a matter of time before a burn ban would be enacted.

City to consider promotions, pay raises for firefighters working above rank

The fiscal year started Tuesday for the city of Columbus, but not without dispute.

A large group of people, many of them Columbus firefighters in uniform, turned out for Tuesday’s city council meeting, waiting for Ward 3 councilman Charlie Box to address an item he added to the otherwise mundane agenda at the beginning of the meeting.

Slimantics: City council stumbles out of the starting block

On the first day of the fiscal year, the Columbus city council put itself squarely between a rock and a hard place and will soon have to choose one bad policy over another.

Determined to rebuild in Northside: Homeowners apply with available aid programs to replace homes destroyed by February storm

It’s been seven months since an EF-3 tornado swept through the north side of Columbus damaging or destroying an estimated 300 homes and businesses. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency inspectors ruled 117 of those homes were in an “unlivable” state.

For every new roof that dots the landscape, there are a half-dozen more homes that remain, battered and abandoned.

12 organizations in running for 100+ Women’s second Impact Award

Nominations for 100+ Women Who Care Columbus Impact Award ended on Sept. 22, and more than a dozen nominated organizations now await the Oct. 22 meeting, when one of those groups will be chosen by the membership for the second of the group’s cash awards.

FEMA to open office Friday at East Columbus Gym

The phones in Cindy Lawrence’s office haven’t stopped ringing.

Slimantics: Three chords and the truth: Burn’s documentary is pitch perfect

On Wednesday evening, the final segment of Ken Burns’ epic documentary “Country Music” aired on PBS.

Eight years in the making, the 16-hour, eight-part series chartered the birth, growth and evolution of this distinctly American music genre from the 1920s — when it arose as a mix of black Southern blues, immigrant folk songs and church hymns — through 1996, with the arrival of a new wave of popular country music dominated by superstar performers and perhaps not for the better.

Stewart, Terry head to Ward 1 runoff

When the final results of Tuesday’s Ward 1 councilman special election popped up on the screen in the Municipal Complex courtroom, Ethel Taylor Stewart sat expressionless in a row of seats along with a few of her supporters.

New nonprofit wants to take over Pilgrimage

A newly formed preservation organization made up of Columbus Pilgrimage Tour homeowners has notified the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation of its intention to assume control of all Pilgrimage operations in 2021.

Air Force’s Band of the West to perform in Columbus

For Airman Courtney Woods, the mission is the music.

Woods, a vocalist with the United State’s Air Force Band of the West, will join six other members as part of the rock/pop ensemble “Top Flight” for a free concert at the Columbus Riverwalk Amphitheater at 7 p.m. Friday.

FEMA to allocate funds for individual assistance after tornado

Five months after initially ruling there would be no federal funds provided to private property owners in Lowndes County whose homes or businesses were damaged by the Feb. 23 tornado and flooding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that those funds will be available after all.

City will renew partnership with LINK

The City of Columbus is renewing its partnership with the Golden Triangle Development LINK, but it won’t be under the same conditions as before.

Slimantics: A useful lesson from a curious Swede

Curiosity killed the cat, but it does not appear to have done Ulf Nils Rasmusson any harm.

Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival canceled due to lack of funding

District 41 State Rep. Kabir Karriem has canceled this year’s Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival, scheduled for Oct. 4-5, because the city of Columbus failed to comply with terms of the interlocal agreement for funding from the 2-percent restaurant sales tax.

Monday Profile: Franklin P.E. instructor teaches ‘life lessons’ while encouraging kids to play

Among the teachers at Franklin Academy, Terrie Gooch is probably the only one who doesn’t encourage her students to sit still.

After all, she is the school’s physical education teacher and has been for 13 years now.

Lowndes port lands grant to upgrade equipment

For the second time in 14 months, the Lowndes County Port Authority has landed a major grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation to upgrade equipment at its facilities.