What does ‘essential businesses and operations’ include?

The definition of “essential business or operation” in the state of Mississippi follows Executive 1463, which Gov. Tate Reeves signed into effect last Tuesday.

Local businessman, antebellum homeowner joins CVB board

Lowndes County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday morning to appoint Joe Beckett, local businessman and antebellum homeowner, to the board of the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Monday Profile: A life interrupted: Evacuated Peace Corps volunteers share memories overseas during coronavirus pandemic

Brooks Armstrong counted seven months left to finish her teaching in a small village in Kyrgyzstan as a Peace Corps volunteer. Then, an evacuation order came.

Some international students have no way home

Arpana Upadhyay was left alone at home in Nepal when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook the country in April 2015, interrupting her last semester in high school.

Local hospitals work to mitigate coronavirus spread

In the wake of a growing number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus, hospitals in the Golden Triangle are tightening restrictions within the facilities to lower the risk of infection.

Several hospitals have restricted in-person patient visits, limited the number of entrances and isolated potential and confirmed COVID-19 patients from the other patients.

Lowndes County administrator chooses to resign as of Sept. 30

Lowndes County Administrator Ralph Billingsley has opted to leave his position effective Sept. 30.

Billingsley said he submitted a retirement letter to the county board of supervisors Monday evening.

Council to meet with no audience; State Coronavirus cases reach 21

Starting Tuesday, Columbus City Council meetings will be closed to public attendance until further notice due to the risk of large gatherings amid the outbreak of COVID-19, a disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Mayor Robert Smith announced at a press conference at the City Hall Monday afternoon.

‘Sonic’ Johnson appointed to CVB board

For 22 years, Richard “Sonic” Johnson served at the Columbus Air Force Base as a pilot. For another 15, he was the public affairs director on base.

Pilgrimage canceled amid coronavirus outbreak

Columbus, Mississippi Spring Pilgrimage, one of the city’s largest annual festivals that draws in thousands of tourists each year, is canceled this year amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

County builds ‘expensive’ fence to match one built on property of supervisor’s brother

Before it was torn apart by last year’s tornado that ripped through Columbus, a fence stood between Lowndes County Administrative Building on Main Street and the house to its west.

City appoints Cunningham to CVB board

Columbus-Lowndes County Convention and Visitors Bureau will soon see a new face on its board.

EMCC leaders seek solutions to plunging enrollment, address financial transparency

As the number of enrolled students keeps plummeting, East Mississippi Community College’s administrators and board of trustees are searching for ways to boost enrollment.

Monday Profile: Columbus resident finds light in fight against Parkinson’s disease, spreads hope along marathon trip

Lap after lap, Mary Anna Nelson kept on going.

Walking turned into jogging. Her eyes were fixed on the path ahead so that she would not trip and fall. No one could overtake her — that, she made sure of.

A four-year wait for a birthday: Area Leap babies prepare to celebrate their rare, special day

When Annie Anthony was born in Lowndes County on Feb. 29, 1936, her family did not go to the hospital.

Instead, Anthony said, they brought a midwife home and paid her with chickens.

As much as the family welcomed the baby, not everyone appreciated the birth date. Her grandmother, Anthony recalled, was “having a fit.”

Southside citizens concerned about potholes, slow city response to other issues

Potholes, specifically on Sixth Street, were the first concern Anne Ross had Monday night as she wondered if resurfacing the road was on the city’s agenda.

And she was not alone.

Residents in west Lowndes reflect upon Columbus tornado, express need for storm shelter

When a storm passed through Crawford in the 1990s, Lucy Henley had nowhere else to hide.

Staying in her mobile home on Tolan Street with seven children at the time, she said, she could feel the bottom of her home lifted off the ground by the gusty winds.

CMSD patrons ‘gather at the river’

In the past few years, Jason Spears, Columbus Municipal School District’s board of trustees president, said he has seen more district patrons “gathering at the river.”

Mayor breaks tie to advance application for Southside historic survey grant

A second attempt for a historic survey of Southside homes narrowly passed Columbus City Council Tuesday, but it took Mayor Robert Smith’s tie-breaking vote to do it.

Man faces code violations from city for damage caused by police officer crashing into house

Leroy Lacy has never fixed his front porch that collapsed one night last April.

A police car driving by had collided with another car and crashed into the vacant house he owns on 12th Street North, he said, knocking down the brick foundation supporting the porch. The roof of the front porch lies on the ground, detached from the main house.

At the time, Lacy expected whoever was at fault to pay for the repairs.

Street flooding plagues North Columbus

Since she moved to her home near the end of 22nd Street North, Columbus in 1977, Mary Erby has always had a problem with her drainage whenever there’s heavy rainfall.

In recent years, she said, it’s getting worse.