A rose to The Columbus-Lowndes Airport, which has been approved for a grant to add a museum honoring Alva Temple and the Tuskegee Airmen to its terminal. Susan Wilder, Columbus grant administrator, announced during a city council meeting Tuesday the project had been approved for $15,000. The city council voted to provide $7,500 with the board of supervisors expected to follow suit, to secure the total amount of funds needed for the project. Temple flew 120 combat missions as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, Black fighter pilots during World War II. In 1949, Temple and his team with the 332nd Fighter Group won the U.S. Air Force’s first “Top Gun” competition. After his retirement from military service, he settled in Columbus, where he passed away in 2004 at age 86. The museum aims to display exhibits highlighting Temple’s story and the service of the Tuskegee Airmen. It will also include an educational documentary, Wilder said. The museum will help tell the fascinating story of Temple and his fellow Black combat pilots while preserving and honoring an important part of our history.

A rose the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors for their efforts in helping correct the intentional omission of the county’s Black soldiers who died in World War I from the county’s monument to the residents who died in that war. The WWI monument, dedicated by the Daughters of the American Revolution, was first installed in the Magnolia Bowl in 1933 before it was moved to the courthouse lawn in 2015. It features the names of Lowndes County soldiers who fought in the war. Research in 2023 by students in Chuck Yarborough’s African American history class at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science discovered the names of nine African Americans not listed on the original monument. Additional research led to the discovery of five additional names of omitted Lowndes County soldiers, including three more Black soldiers. The names of these 14 patriots will be listed on another monument to be placed next to the original, along with context that explains the omission and honors the memory of these fallen soldiers. The monument is expected to be erected in April. It is never too late to right a wrong.

A rose to the Mississippi University for Women’s men’s basketball team for reaching an historic milestone for MUW Athletics. The Owls secured the program’s first NCAA Division playoff bid by upsetting Webster University to claim its first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship in school history. The Owls beat regular-season champion Wagner twice in the span of two weeks, including a win in the conference tournament championship game that gave them an automatic bid to the Division III championship tournament. It’s a watershed moment not only for the basketball team, but for MUW Athletics as a whole. MUW resumed intercollegiate sports in 2017 and was granted Division III status in 2023. We congratulate the coaches and players on this important achievement.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.