Slimantics: Mr. Smith goes to Jackson

Beginning today and continuing each Thursday, this column will be devoted to state politics under the theory that what happens in the legislature is very much a local story.

Highway commissioner slams Senate road bill

For three years, the Mississippi Legislature has delayed providing funds for repairing the state’s roads and bridges.

Liver transplant surgeries for Columbus mother and daughter a success

Mother and daughter Margaret and Adeline Rollins of Columbus are doing well after liver transplant surgeries Tuesday in Atlanta.

Columbus’ Airbus to avoid furloughs

A decision by a competitor to drop all legal actions challenging Airbus Helicopters’ contracts to provide as many as 51 UH-72A Lakota Helicopters should keep the Airbus assembly plant operating without fear of layoffs or furloughs, the Texas-based company says.

Slimantics: Reeves’ magical thinking on infrastructure repair

There are 174 people who serve in the Mississippi legislature, folks from all walks of life.

What we can assume about them, collectively, is that none of them do the shopping back home, for they just don’t seem to understand how it works.

New Hope native escorts Pence on Army flight

Being a crew chief on a military helicopter is not always the most glamorous job, Army Spc. Taylor Davis admits.

“It’s a tough, dirty, exhausting job,” he said. “But the time we spend in the sky makes up for it.”

Sweet Adeline: Child’s future hangs in balance as Columbus family awaits liver transplant

Adeline Rollins was born on Dec. 6, 2016, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle in Columbus.

But in a very real sense, life will begin for the little girl on Tuesday at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

School district, business partners plan strategy for career tech center

By the end of 2019, Lowndes County will have more $55 million in new, state-of-the art workforce training facilities.

Restaurant tax: Joint restaurant tax resolution now unanimous

The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors have made it unanimous.

Slimantics: Confederate monuments speak for themselves

The effort to change the Mississippi flag seems to be going nowhere, at least legislatively.

Public meetings set for superintendent search input

The Mississippi School Board Association will hold a pair of community meetings in March to gather input as it begins its search for the next Columbus Municipal School District Superintendent.

CMSD removing ‘For Sale’ signs at central office

For sale or not for sale? That was the question during Monday’s meeting of the Columbus Municipal School District Board of Trustees.

Slimantics: Publishers Clearing House is going to change everything

I’m probably not the most popular guy around and a lot of that probably has to do with the views I hold, which I have always realized are far, far outside the mainstream here in the state of my birth.

West Point third-graders put poetry on display

About halfway through Friday’s Poetry Slam, 8-year-old Amahd Brown ascended stage at South Side Elementary School to a chorus of snapping fingers from the audience.

Restaurant tax: City OKs inter-local agreement with CVB

It took the Columbus City Council a matter of minutes to resolve the last apparent issue in a bid to extend the county wide 2-percent restaurant sales tax Wednesday.

AG fraud investigator offers tips on identity, scam protection

By the time the dishes were cleared and the announcements were made during Wednesday’s meeting of the Columbus Kiwanis Club at Lion Hills, Doug Tyrone had about 30 minutes to deliver his message.

Ulysses S. Grant impersonator speaks at Grant presidential library

To hear him tell it, Curt Fields is the best-known impersonator of the least-known, best-known person in American history.

Slimantics: Bulldogs have their ‘Finland’ moment

In the 1980 Winter Olympics, Team USA hockey defeated Finland to win the gold medal, but that is not the game everyone remembers.

Supes withdraw $1 million-plus from hospital trust fund

Lowndes County supervisors voted unanimously to withdraw $1,009,186 in profits from its hospital trust fund, its largest withdrawal in the five years since a state law allowing funds to be invested in the stock market.

Hottest ticket in town: Fans gear up for record-setting MSU, South Carolina game

In his first year as Mississippi State’s women’s basketball coach in 2012, Vic Schaefer didn’t pay much attention to attendance.