It’s never too late: Columbus woman finally gets her GED

Mary Thomas got her GED late last year.

When her name was called during the commencement ceremony at MUW, she set out across the stage with the help of a walker. She is 88 years old, after all.

Browning on Business: New burger option opens in Columbus

JT’s Burgers, Fries & Shakes opened Wednesday.

The restaurant — which specializes in burgers with never-frozen meat — is located on Highway 45 North in the building that once housed Krystal.

Downtown businesses open late on first Thursdays

Starting this month downtown Columbus businesses are staying open until 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month.

Monday profile: Caledonia native goes back to school

Arl Taylor is a 44-year-old married father of two — and college student.

It happened like this: He graduated from Caledonia High School in 1987 and attended East Mississippi Community College in Scooba. Then he got married. Then he went to work at Weyerhauser in Columbus. Roughly a decade later, recurring knee pain forced him to leave that job.

Looking toward the future: Local student test driving Google Glass

The new frontier has come to Columbus.

Dustin Vance, a senior at Mississippi University for Women, is test driving Google Glass.

What’s Google Glass? Essentially a tiny computer being developed by Google that users wear like a pair of glasses. An endless supply of technology is at a user’s fingertips — or eyelashes.

Browning on Business: City’s oldest family-owned furniture store to close

Langford Furniture, which opened for business in Columbus while President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in office, is closing.

The business has been at the corner of Military and Bluecutt roads since January 1956.

Longtime Columbus cobbler closing shop

In the late 1970s, Tommy Coggins, not knowing the first thing about repairing shoes, opened a business in Columbus called Coggins Shoe Shop.

He was a young man then and set about teaching himself the art of the cobbler. He did so through trial and error, and must have done a fine job.

It’s here: Winter storm hits state

Thirty-six of Mississippi’s 82 counties are under a state of emergency declared by Gov. Phil Bryant to speed response to a storm that’s expected to bring snow and ice to central and southern parts of the state starting early this morning.

Get ready for more cold temperatures

The National Weather Service office in Jackson has issued a wind chill advisory for this evening and into Tuesday morning for the Highway 82 corridor in Mississippi.

Browning on Business: Golden Triangle getting another Starbucks

A Starbucks is being built at University Crossing Shopping Center in Starkville.

Ann Hooven, director of operations with RMR Investment Company, said the coffee shop will likely open this summer.

Buffalo Wild Wings coming to Columbus

Buffalo Wild Wings officials say construction on a Columbus location could start as early as next week.

Outtakes: Harper recovers well from surgery

He is a Labrador retriever and anyone who owns one will understand this. Harper, my dog, eats stuff. When it comes to what, he does not discriminate.

MLK breakfast speaker a ‘motivationalist’

The keynote speaker Monday at the NAACP-Dream 365 MLK Breakfast is Dr. Frederick Haynes III, the senior pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.

Deer runs all the way through Palmer Home Thrift Store

A deer entered Palmer Home Thrift Store in Columbus on Thursday. It did not use the door.

It jumped through one of the 10-foot wide windowpanes that make up the Main Street business’ storefront.

Browning on Business: Grocery store makes purchase, Monograms Plus moves

Late last year, Kroger purchased the spaces that sit on either side of it in Kroger Plaza on Hwy. 45 North in Columbus. That means the strip from AutoZone to UPS now belongs to the grocery store. Robert Rhett, with Rhett Real Estate, confirmed the purchase Wednesday. Rhett said he did not know what plans, if any, Kroger had for the space.

Buzzie Dorn, U.S. Army veteran and tireless volunteer, dead at 92

This is how people described him:

A proud veteran. A tireless volunteer. A man who never shied away from voicing his opinions. A man who held his faith dear.

His name was Buzzie Dorn and he lived in Columbus. He died Jan. 4 at the age of 92.

KiOR shuts down production to make improvements

The facility on The Island that converts wood chips to fuel stopped production in December and remains offline today.

Browning on Business: Columbus gas stations closing doors

Some gas station items to begin.

The Kwik-N-Go next to Church’s Chicken in the 1400 block of Main Street, as you may have noticed, has closed. That gas station was owned by Sanders Oil Company until the longtime Columbus business sold to Vernon, Ala.-based Midstates Petroleum Company in September.

‘Slugo’ McClanahan dead at 74

John “Slugo” McClanahan, an outdoor enthusiast and rustic renaissance man who throughout his eclectic life took Waylon Jennings fishing, had a famous dog named “Buckshot” and was a self-taught master carpenter, died Sunday night at his Columbus home.

Gerald Berry, a Starkville cult figure, has died

Gerald Berry came to Starkville in the mid-1960s to study anthropology and became a legend.

Depending on who you ask he also became a “landmark,” “master conversationalist,” “superb teacher,” “expert photographer” and “barfly.”