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Latest baseball coaches poll ranks Mississippi teams in top 6

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By WLBT Digital | April 13, 2021 at 11:40 AM CDT – Updated April 13 at 1:19 PM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Mississippi teams win again in the latest USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll.

The poll is conducted weekly throughout the regular season using a panel of 31 head coaches at Division I schools.

Each coach submits a Top 25 with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th.

Mississippi State and Ole Miss have been ranked in the top 10 season and this week’s poll doesn’t disappoint.

#1 Arkansas

#2 Vanderbilt

#3 Tennessee

#4 Mississippi State

#5 Texas

#6 Ole Miss

#7 Texas Tech

#8 ECU

#9 Louisville

#10 TCU

#11 South Carolina

#12 Oklahoma State

#13 Notre Dame

#14 Oregon

#15 Lousisana Tech

#16 Florida

#17 Arizona

#18 Stanford

#19 Virginia Tech

#20 Pitt

#21 Georgia Tech

#22 Old Dominion

#23 Oregon State

#24 Michigan

#25 UCLA

State Health Officer says ‘do not be worried’ if you received J&J vaccine

By Jacob Gallant | April 13, 2021 at 9:52 AM CDT – Updated April 13 at 12:04 PM

Mississippi is following along with the recommendation. Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said the Mississippi State Department of Health has instructed all physicians, clinics and hospitals to stop using the J&J vaccine until there is additional guidance from the CDC or FDA.

Despite this, Dobbs is urging Mississippians not to panic if they received the vaccine.

Dobbs issued a series of tweets on the vaccine, saying the side effects of Thrombosis and Thrombocytopenia are “extremely rare.”

This is from 38,885 doses of the J&J vaccine that has been doled out in Mississippi, per Dobbs.

The clots occurred in veins that drain blood from the brain and occurred together with low platelets, the fragments in blood that normally form clots. All six cases were in women between the ages of 18 and 48. One person died, and all of the cases remain under investigation.

The cases of the syndrome manifest 6-13 days after the vaccination and at a rate of less than one per million vaccines.

“Do not be worried,” Dobbs wrote. “Risk period appears short. Likelihood very small.”

JSU student advances to top 12 on American Idol

News

JSU student advances to top 12 on American Idol

By WLBT Digital | April 13, 2021 at 8:16 AM CDT – Updated April 13 at 9:45 AM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A Jackson State University student could be on his way to Hollywood soon!

Deshawn Goncalves advanced in the top 12 round Monday night on American Idol.

The university is asking everyone to help Goncalves win the singing competition by voting for him.

Morgan Freeman filming in Natchez; Extras needed

By Jacob Gallant | April 12, 2021 at 4:41 PM CDT – Updated April 13 at 8:01 AM

NATCHEZ, Miss. (WLBT) – A new television project starring Morgan Freeman is set to film in Natchez.

Great Escapes with Morgan Freeman is seeking extras to film soon.

They are looking for Caucasian men 25-59 who can work in Natchez.

According to Deadline, Great Escapes is a six-episode, one-hour series that will cover jailbreaks from some of the world’s most notorious prisons.

The episodes will feature re-enactments of the escapes.

You can submit an application by emailing CastingGreatEscapes@gmail.com. The gig pays $100 per day.

JSU’s success starts from the top of the batting order

Top of the order taking control for JSU

By Trey Mongrue | April 12, 2021 at 8:15 PM CDT – Updated April 12 at 8:15 PM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Approaching the middle of April and a look at the SWAC record for the Jackson State baseball shows a “0″ in the loss column.

The Tigers were always expected to be good this season, but to remain undefeated after 15 conference games is still quite the feat. In fact, in all of NCAA Division I baseball so far this season, JSU is the only team to have played more than ten conference games and still be unbeaten.

But the Tigers are on pace to collect more tangible hardware this season.

After taking care of Alabama State for their fifth straight series sweep, the Tigers have a commanding six game lead in the SWAC standings with nine games to go as they appear to be well on their way to capturing the program’s first regular season SWAC title since 2006.

“I’ve never been on a team like this,” said sophomore Jatavious Melton. “It feels real good to win because nobody wants to lose.”

Melton entrenched in the lead-off spot in the JSU batting order has been a key reason to why the Tigers keep on winning. He currently leads the team with a .527 on-base percentage, which perfectly sets the table for the heart of the lineup with Chenar Brown and clean-up hitter Ty Hill combining for 67 RBI.

“Just put the ball in play and knowing that they will run and make something work,” Hill said of coming to bat with runners on base. “The meat of the order, we just look for mistakes, wait on the mistake and hammer it when it is there.”

The plan of action has been working thus far with Jackson State leading the SWAC with 258 runs scored. It will look to add to that and keep their undefeated conference record going this weekend when they welcome Alcorn State for a series at Braddy Field.

Residents anxiously await work on Belhaven Creek amid spring storms

By Roslyn Anderson | April 12, 2021 at 7:16 PM CDT – Updated April 12 at 7:16 PM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Storms like Friday’s raise fears among residents living in areas in the city prone to flash flooding.

One Jackson neighborhood is approved for improvements along a creek that floods regularly, but, in the meantime, they hope for a dry spring.

Belhaven Creek on Saint Mary Street often overflows during heavy rains. For residents living near the creek, slated improvements can’t come soon enough.

“It builds up really bad, and then it got so bad last year that it came up to the door step,” said Dalton Morgan. He lives on Saint Mary Street and like many others on the street, he grows anxious when heavy rains occur.

The Ellisville native lives a few doors down from Belhaven Creek which runs through the neighborhood. Friday’s storms were the latest to flood streets and yards. Sand bags stay on the porch in the event the flood waters pass the doorstep.

“If I would’ve left my car there whenever the weather happened over the weekend, then I would probably have a flooded engine. And I was looking at quite an extensive amount of money to fix that,” said Morgan.

Less than a mile west on Peachtree Street near Riverside Drive, two cars were stalled in the flash flooding. Waters escaped the creek there – a regular occurrence for residents who hope relief comes soon.

The overflowing creek impacts many living beside it, south of Riverside Drive. $2.9 million dollars were allocated by the City Council in October to make improvements to the creek.

Plans include widening the creek, shoring up walls and making other needed improvements. A new box culvert is set to be installed under St. Mary Street to allow more water to pass during flooding.

“I would like to see something happen, you know, so I don’t have to always constantly think about when it rains, you know? ‘Oh, I need to go move my car,’ or, you know, thinking the worst of when it rains,” added Morgan.

Hemphill Construction was awarded the contract. Jackson Public Works Director Dr. Charles Williams said work on the creek has not begun because of recent weather conditions.

The plan is to start work in May.

Easter tornadoes, which killed 14 in Mississippi, remembered one year later

By David Kenney | April 12, 2021 at 6:38 PM CDT – Updated April 13 at 7:59 AM

COVINGTON CO., Miss. (WLBT) – This week marks the one year anniversary of the deadly Easter tornadoes of 2020.

Now one year later, many people have rebuilt and have stayed in the community.

Some like Rita Pack are still waiting to get back in her home. She stayed in a hotel until just last week. Her home was destroyed when a tree fell on it during the storm.

Major structure damage at a resident's home after being struck by a tornado in Covington County. — Major structure damage at a resident’s home after being struck by a tornado in Covington County. (Source: Charles Herrington)

She and nine of her family members huddled in a bathroom riding out the twister and lived to tell about it.

Rita Pack said, “We’re alive and we get a chance. We get another chance at life I guess and it’s to make the best of it and that’s all we can do.”

Covington County Sheriff Darrell Perkins says he suspects nearly 90-percent of the homes have been repaired.

Along Cold Springs road there were several injured and some had to be rescued from their homes after the storm hit.

Luckily no deaths reported in the area, where residents say they’ll never forget that Easter afternoon when their lives changed forever.

NCAA suggests states with transgender ban will not host championships

By Jacob Gallant | April 12, 2021 at 6:05 PM CDT – Updated April 13 at 5:21 AM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The NCAA Board of Governors is speaking out against recent legislation banning transgender athletes from participating in sports.

“The NCAA Board of Governors firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports. This commitment is grounded in our values of inclusion and fair competition,” the statement reads.

While the statement stops short of banning championships from Mississippi (as well as Tennessee, Arkansas, etc.), it implies that states with such a ban may not be chosen.

“We are committed to ensuring that NCAA championships are open for all who earn the right to compete in them. When determining where championships are held, NCAA policy directs that only locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination should be selected.”

Gov. Reeves signs bill banning trans athletes from school sports

Reeves said he signed the bill to “ensure young girls in Mississippi have a fair playing field in public sports.”

While he admitted there are no examples of a transgender athlete playing for a team in Mississippi, he said the bill would “prevent it from happening in the future.”

Detractors say the bill isn’t about protecting fairness in women’s sports but about erasing and excluding trans people from participation in all aspects of public life.

“The NCAA has a long-standing policy that provides a more inclusive path for transgender participation in college sports,” the statement reads “…Inclusion and fairness can coexist for all student-athletes, including transgender athletes, at all levels of sport.”

Republican Senator Roger Wicker tweeted in reference to the statement, saying it’s “unbelievable.”

“@NCAA wants to take away opportunities from Mississippi athletes because our state believes in biology. At this rate, they will have to cancel every other state that decides to protect women’s sports,” Wicker tweeted.

It would be the second time in less than a year that the NCAA enacted such a ban on Mississippi.

Mississippi receives D+ in White House’s infrastructure report

By WLBT Digital | April 12, 2021 at 5:58 PM CDT – Updated April 12 at 7:14 PM

WASHINGTON (WTVA) – The White House says Mississippi and Alabama’s current infrastructures are poor.

On March 31, President Joe Biden announced his $2 trillion infrastructure plan, called the American Jobs Plan.

The proposal aims to rebuild 20,000 miles of roads, expand access to clean water and broadband and invest in care for the elderly, NBC News reported.

On Monday, the White House released report cards for each state. Mississippi received a D+ grade and Alabama received a C- grade.

Fed up with street racing, Fondren residents form task force

By WLBT Digital | April 12, 2021 at 1:26 PM CDT – Updated April 12 at 2:00 PM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Fed up with street racing, Fondren residents are seeking another meeting with the mayor and chief of police to help address it.

For months, residents in the North Jackson community have had to put with street racing, something they say endangers lives and takes away from the area’s quality of life.

On Monday, the Fondren Renaissance Foundation (FRF) announced that its Street Safety Task Force had requested a follow-up meeting with Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Jackson Police Chief James Davis to further discuss the problem.

“It is really dangerous,” said Patricia Ice, a Fondren resident and member of the task force. “I almost got hit myself. And that was back in September. And they were doing it before September.”

She and her husband live a few houses away from Northside Drive and can often hear the racers as they speed by.

She said since Northside and North State were repaved, the problem has gotten worse.

Northside between North State and the I-55 frontage road was repaved in late 2019 or early 2020, after years of neglect.

“Northside was full of potholes. You couldn’t drive a truck down it,” said one resident who asked that his name not be used. “They finally paved it and we were so happy. Then the racing started. They’re literally racing.”

“It’s dangerous. It is loud. It is total disrespect and lawlessness,” he added. “We need the state or the National Guard to take over these streets. Short of that, it’s not ever going to stop. People are going to get killed.”

As he was talking, the sounds of speeding vehicles could be heard in the background.

“It starts in the early afternoon and goes well past midnight,” he said.

Racing typically happens on Sunday and occurs along several streets, including Northside, North State, and Hanging Moss Road.

“I usually see them on Northside, between I-55 and Manhattan. That’s when I almost got hit,” Ice said. “That night, when they almost hit me, they hit another car. I passed by the car and a person was still in it.”

FRF formed the task force in February and had an initial meeting with the mayor that month.

At the meeting, Chief James Davis told task force members that he had stepped up traffic enforcement in the area.

Chief James Davis speaking at a news conference

As a result of that two-week detail, 350 citations were written, including 202 for speeding. The police presence also cut down on racing in the area.

Other tickets given include:

99 – no insurance
49 – suspended or no driver’s license
13 – expired tags
4 – child restraint violations
4 – not wearing seatbelts
3 – disregard for traffic devices
2 – driving under the influence
1 – switched tag
1 – reckless driving
1 – carless driving
1 – failure to yield to blue lights
1 – marijuana with firearm possession

However, since that detail ended, racing has again picked up, FRF Executive Director Rebecca Garrison said.

“We’re not experts, but we would like to see a return to safe streets and a regular enforcement of traffic laws,” she said.

Ward One Councilman Ashby Foote said the problem likely stems from the city’s police shortage and its no pursuit policy.

“We’ve surrendered the streets to the drag racers and it’s unacceptable,” he said. “We haven’t set good policies in place that provide safety to the citizens of Jackson.”

At the last count, Foote said JPD was short about 100 officers.

Meanwhile, Jackson has a policy in place that prohibits officers from chasing suspects.

Traffic along the I-55 southbound lane in Fondren was blocked for about an hour as revelers did donuts, rode on top of cars, and raced in the middle of the road.

When the drivers noticed the police approaching, they took off. Police did not give chase. Two people were eventually arrested, thanks, in part, to a video of the incident being posted on social media. It was not known on Monday if additional arrests had been made.

At the time, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba doubled down on the policy, saying it was put in place to save lives and property.

“The no-chase policy is based on trying to protect the life and property of individuals who come into contact with the chase,” he said. “We’ve seen chases from outside agencies, some of which have become deadly, and several of which have led to accidents taking place on private property.”

District 29 Sen. David Blount, an ex-officio member of the task force, said the city needs a long-term solution to get the problem under control.

“It can’t just be a one-weekend effort,” he said. “It’s going to require constant vigilance.”

Sen. David Blount of Jackson is a member of Fondren's street safety task force. Source: WLBT — Sen. David Blount of Jackson is a member of Fondren’s street safety task force. Source: WLBT

Blount said he had not spoken to the National Guard, as one resident suggested, but had reached out to Hinds County Sheriff Lee Vance.

Vance said he had dispatched deputies after his conversation with Blount, and focused on the frontage roads between Meadowbrook Road and Watkins Drive. Since then, deputies have issued 11 citations, made one misdemeanor arrest, and towed one vehicle.

Vance said that area was chosen based on his talks with the senator and the complaints he had heard.

Foote, meanwhile, said he would support dedicating a portion of the city’s $500,000 allocation to the sheriff’s department to increase the sheriff’s presence specifically to address street racing.

In March, the city council approved giving the sheriff $500,000 to provide additional patrols in the capital city, in large part, to help supplement the under-staffed police department.

An interlocal agreement between Jackson and Hinds County still must be worked out, and Foote said provisions could be added for deputies to work traffic.

“What the specifics of it will be, we’ll have to sit down with legal and work that out,” he said. “To the extent we can apply that money to help address drag racing, that would be fine with me.”

Lumumba and JPD spokesman Officer Sam Brown could not be reached for comment.

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