Starkville senior approaches 13 years of perfect attendance

In baseball, when a pitcher has not given up a hit going into the late inning, no one is supposed to mention it. It is one of the game’s great superstitions that talking about a no-hitter is jinx.

Play ball! Youth baseball, softball begin this week

It is Thursday evening at Propst Park and almost every playing field is taken, including T-Ball Field A, where the Woods Brothers Construction team (ages 4-5) is practicing for the fourth and final time before their first game.

Smith is ‘unique’ choice for Trooper of the Year honors

Each year, the Columbus Exchange Club selects a member of the Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop G as its “Trooper of the Year.”

Slimantics: Smith doesn’t sugar coat disappointing legislative session

Jeff Smith has represented Lowndes County in the House of Representatives since 1992. Wednesday, during his appearance at the Kiwanis Club of Columbus at Lion Hills Center, he noted he has just completed his 26th legislative session.

Those who GIVE: Five area volunteers honored for their work at Jackson luncheon

Most days, volunteers work behind the scenes and attract little attention.

Monday was not one of those days.

New Tech Center, New Hope High on schedule

Which comes first: The vocational center or the new high school?

Libraries maintain key role especially in rural communities

Long before the phrase “fake news” came into vogue, libraries were fighting the good fight against misinformation, unreliable sources and the general confusion of the internet era.

Dogs: An occupational hazard

In the old days, which for Joey Cook and Daniel Crawford means a couple of years ago, the job of meter reader had some real challenges.

Columbus poet among nation’s best

It was a competition he didn’t enter until the last moment and promptly forgot about once he had.

Slimantics: A tale of two fathers

For most of his life, Peggy’ Sue’s dad was a racist.

More than a meal: Fear of funding cuts has area Meals on Wheels providers, recipients worried

Debra Prishmont and Donna Abbott stood in the parking lot at the Canaan M.B. Church on Bell Avenue in Columbus one day in late March, waiting for the truck that would deliver their allotment of the meals they would then distribute among their “sweeties” — elderly and disabled residents enrolled in the local Meals on Wheels Program.

Weary Bulldogs return home after tumultuous NCAA tourney

In the hours after Mississippi State’s bid for a national championship ended with a 67-55 loss to South Carolina Sunday evening in Dallas, the skies opened up in Mississippi, an overnight deluge that dumped inches of rain across the state.

Slimantics: Taking a gamble on MSMS

Nathan Boggan’s folks were humble, working class folks who lived in the tiny farming community of Fellowship in Jasper County, on a farm that had been the family’s home for generations.

Unemployment improves in area, state

February’s unemployment data continued its promising trend, both in the Golden Triangle and the state.

Facing a familiar Goliath: Bulldogs still feel sting from last year’s loss to UConn as they leave to face Huskies again in Dallas

Connecticut carries an 111-game winning streak into Friday’s NCAA Women’s Basketball semifinals against Mississippi State, a streak so long those associated with the UConn program are probably hard-pressed to recall the details of any single win on that list.

Robert Snow, Waverley Mansion renovator, passes away at 91

If ever it was appropriate for someone to die at home, it was Robert Snow.

Mississippi chicken operators keeping watchful eye on Alabama bird flu cases

Reports of avian influenza, or bird flu, in Tennessee and Alabama — including a case in nearby Pickens County — are something Mississippi chicken growers should be keeping a watchful eye on, said Tom Tabler, a professor of Poultry Science for the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Hurst leads new litigation arm of Mississippi Center for Public Policy

Although it has been operating for just a year, the Mississippi Justice Institute has argued cases from one end of the state to the other and points in between, including Columbus.

Slimantics: Grinning and winning

Mississippi State’s women’s basketball team achieved what it set out to do this weekend.

Slimantics: The coach’s kid

The resemblance is striking. In fact, you could pick her out of any crowd and recognize immediately that Blair Schaefer is the coach’s kid.