LUY-Development

Category: Regional News

  • The Miss-Lou’s Big Heart Shines: Record-Breaking $58,685 Raised for St. Jude

    The Miss-Lou’s Big Heart Shines: Record-Breaking $58,685 Raised for St. Jude

    Natchez, MS – The Miss-Lou community has once again come together in a powerful way, showing incredible generosity and heart as 95 Country (WQNZ, Natchez, MS) celebrates a record-breaking year, during its annual 95 Country Cares for St. Jude Kids Radiothon, held March 12–13, 2026.

    This year’s radiothon raised an amazing $58,685, marking the highest total ever raised in a single year in station history!

    Over the past decade, 95 Country listeners and our community partners have helped raise an incredible $469,320 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Every dollar goes directly toward lifesaving treatment and support, ensuring families never receive a bill for care, travel, housing, or food—so they can focus on what matters most: their child.

     

    “Year after year, our listeners and community partners show just how big their hearts are,” said Margaret Perkins, President/CEO of Listen Up Y’all Media. “To break our own record is truly remarkable, and it speaks volumes about the compassion and generosity of the Miss-Lou community. From heartfelt stories to generous pledges, this year’s St Jude Radiothon once again demonstrated the life-changing power of local radio. I want to thank our community partners, without whom, the Radiothon would not be possible. I want to thank our 95-Country team, whether On the Air, marketing, programming, engineering, and support, for an outstanding job! Your tireless efforts led to tremendous success!”

    Together, the Miss-Lou community is making a real difference—one child, one family, and one miracle at a time. For more information or to support St. Jude’s mission, visit: /st-jude

  • A children’s hospital is renamed for Dolly Parton and hopes to transform pediatric care in Tennessee

    NEW YORK (AP) — Dolly Parton’s name might inspire full-throated sing-a-longs to her working woman’s anthem “9 to 5,” or evoke memories of thrilling days spent at her Dollywood theme park.

    Now, the Grammy-winning country music superstar is lending her name to a new cause: advancing pediatric health care in her home state. The East Tennessee Children’s Hospital announced Thursday that it will now be known as Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital.

    “Ever since I’ve been in a position to do my part, to help others, I have tried to do just that. Especially when children and families need it most,” Parton said in a video announcement. “I’ve always believed that every child deserves a fair chance to grow up healthy, hopeful and surrounded with love.”

    The impact of Parton’s philanthropy is already felt across Tennessee and beyond. Her Imagination Library initiative reports to send 3 million free books every month to children whose parents request them. She donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University’s Medical Center for research that helped produce Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. And her charitable foundation provides numerous college scholarships and offers disaster relief.

    Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital did not share how much Parton donated as part of the naming announcement. But Matt Schaefer, its president and CEO, said her support would ensure “every child who walks through our doors receives the treatment they deserve.”

    Adam Cook, the independent not-for-profit hospital’s chief development and public affairs officer, said they would continue offering the same care that the community has come to expect. The gift “encourages us to continue to support our mission,” he added.

    “This is a generational collaboration that will transform pediatric care in this region,” Cook said in a statement to the Associated Press. “It will positively impact patients and families for decades to come.”

    The support comes as rural hospital closures have left tens of millions of people with fewer health care options.

    The East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, now named after Parton, has operated with an “open-door” policy that no child would be denied care for their race, religion or ability to pay medical bills since it opened in 1937, according to its website. Its main campus in Knoxville, Tennessee is one of more than 20 locations across the eastern part of the state.

    Parton said she is honored to support the hospital’s doctors, nurses and team members — and invited the public to join her.

    “I can’t do it all myself,” she said in the video.

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

  • Winnsboro Coach Arrested for Failing to Report Alleged Staff-Student Relationship

    WINNSBORO, Texas — Investigators with the Wood County Sheriff’s Office arrested Winnsboro Independent School District coach Jared Alan Lancaster after obtaining a warrant on June 23 for knowingly failing to make a required child-abuse report.

    According to the sheriff’s office, Lancaster was taken into custody at his Winnsboro home by members of the Criminal Investigations Division and a Texas Ranger. He was booked into the Wood County Jail on one count of failing to report a relationship between another coach and a student at a Winnsboro school. A judge set his bond at $10,000.

    Texas law requires any school employee who is aware of an improper relationship between staff and students to notify the appropriate authorities. The sheriff’s office emphasized that failure to report such conduct is itself a crime.

    The investigation is ongoing, and officials said additional arrests are expected. Anyone with information related to the case is urged to contact the Wood County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division or the Texas Rangers.

  • Helene and other storms dumped a whopping 40 trillion gallons of rain on the South

    Helene and other storms dumped a whopping 40 trillion gallons of rain on the South

    More than 40 trillion gallons of rain drenched the Southeast United States in the last week from Hurricane Helene and a run-of-the-mill rainstorm that sloshed in ahead of it — an unheard of amount of water that has stunned experts.

    That’s enough to fill the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium 51,000 times, or Lake Tahoe just once. If it was concentrated just on the state of North Carolina that much water would be 3.5 feet deep (more than 1 meter). It’s enough to fill more than 60 million Olympic-size swimming pools.

    “That’s an astronomical amount of precipitation,” said Ed Clark, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. “I have not seen something in my 25 years of working at the weather service that is this geographically large of an extent and the sheer volume of water that fell from the sky.’’

    The flood damage from the rain is apocalyptic, meteorologists said. More than 100 people are dead, according to officials.

    Private meteorologist Ryan Maue, a former NOAA chief scientist, calculated the amount of rain, using precipitation measurements made in 2.5-mile-by-2.5 mile grids as measured by satellites and ground observations. He came up with 40 trillion gallons through Sunday for the eastern United States, with 20 trillion gallons of that hitting just Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Florida from Hurricane Helene.

    Clark did the calculations independently and said the 40 trillion gallon figure (151 trillion liters) is about right and, if anything, conservative. Maue said maybe 1 to 2 trillion more gallons of rain had fallen, much of it in Virginia, since his calculations.

    Clark, who spends much of his work on issues of shrinking western water supplies, said to put the amount of rain in perspective, it’s more than twice the combined amount of water stored by two key Colorado River basin reservoirs: Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

    Several meteorologists said this was a combination of two, maybe three storm systems. Before Helene struck, rain had fallen heavily for days because a low pressure system had “cut off” from the jet stream — which moves weather systems along west to east — and stalled over the Southeast. That funneled plenty of warm water from the Gulf of Mexico. And a storm that fell just short of named status parked along North Carolina’s Atlantic coast, dumping as much as 20 inches of rain, said North Carolina state climatologist Kathie Dello.

    Then add Helene, one of the largest storms in the last couple decades and one that held plenty of rain because it was young and moved fast before it hit the Appalachians, said University of Albany hurricane expert Kristen Corbosiero.

    “It was not just a perfect storm, but it was a combination of multiple storms that that led to the enormous amount of rain,” Maue said. “That collected at high elevation, we’re talking 3,000 to 6000 feet. And when you drop trillions of gallons on a mountain, that has to go down.”

    The fact that these storms hit the mountains made everything worse, and not just because of runoff. The interaction between the mountains and the storm systems wrings more moisture out of the air, Clark, Maue and Corbosiero said.

    North Carolina weather officials said their top measurement total was 31.33 inches in the tiny town of Busick. Mount Mitchell also got more than 2 feet of rainfall.

    Before 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, “I said to our colleagues, you know, I never thought in my career that we would measure rainfall in feet,” Clark said. “And after Harvey, Florence, the more isolated events in eastern Kentucky, portions of South Dakota. We’re seeing events year in and year out where we are measuring rainfall in feet.”

    Storms are getting wetter as the climate change s, said Corbosiero and Dello. A basic law of physics says the air holds nearly 4% more moisture for every degree Fahrenheit warmer (7% for every degree Celsius) and the world has warmed more than 2 degrees (1.2 degrees Celsius) since pre-industrial times.

    Corbosiero said meteorologists are vigorously debating how much of Helene is due to worsening climate change and how much is random.

    In a quick analysis, not peer-reviewed but using a method published in a study about Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall, three scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab determined that climate change caused 50% more rainfall during Helene in some parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

    For Dello, the “fingerprints of climate change” were clear.

    “We’ve seen tropical storm impacts in western North Carolina. But these storms are wetter and these storms are warmer. And there would have been a time when a tropical storm would have been heading toward North Carolina and would have caused some rain and some damage, but not apocalyptic destruction. ”

  • Helene lashes the South with wind and sheets of rain. Millions are without power

    Helene lashes the South with wind and sheets of rain. Millions are without power

    CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Helene roared ashore in a sparsely populated region of Florida as a powerful Category 4 storm, peeling the siding off buildings, trapping residents in rising floodwaters and knocking out power to millions of customers. At least four people were reported dead.

    The storm made landfall late Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph) in the rural Big Bend area, home to fishing villages and vacation hideaways where Florida’s Panhandle and peninsula meet.

    Video on social media sites showed sheets of rain coming down and siding coming off buildings in Perry, Florida, near where the storm arrived. One local news station showed a home that was overturned. The community and much of surrounding Taylor County were without power.

    First responders were out in boats early Friday to rescue people trapped by flooding in Citrus County, some 120 miles (193 kilometers) south of Perry.

    “If you are trapped and need help please call for rescuers – DO NOT TRY TO TREAD FLOODWATERS YOURSELF,” the sheriff’s office warned in a Facebook post. Authorities said the water could contain live wires, sewage, sharp objects and other debris.

    More than 3 million customers were in the dark across much of the southeastern U.S.

    One person was killed in Florida when a sign fell on their car, and two people were reported killed in a possible tornado in south Georgia as the storm approached. Another person died in Charlotte, North Carolina, when a tree fell on a home.

    The hurricane came ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River on Florida’s Gulf Coast. That location was only about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of where Hurricane Idalia came ashore last year at nearly the same ferocity and caused widespread damage.

    As the hurricane’s eye passed near Valdosta, Georgia, a city of 55,000 near the Florida line, dozens of people huddled early Friday in the darkened lobby as winds whistled and howled outside.

    Electricity was out, with hall emergency lights, flashlights and cellphones providing the only illumination. Water dripped from light fixtures in the lobby dining area and roof debris fell to the ground outside.

    Fermin Herrera, 20, his wife and their 2-month-old daughter left their room on the top floor of the hotel, where they took shelter because they were concerned about trees falling on their Valdosta home.

    “We heard some rumbling,” said Herrera, cradling the sleeping baby in a downstairs hallway. “We didn’t see anything at first. After a while the intensity picked up. It looked like a gutter that was banging against our window. So we made a decision to leave.”

    In Thomas County, Georgia, where residents had been under a curfew, the sheriff’s office said it was extended until noon Friday.

    “This curfew helps protect first responders and citizens of our community as conditions are still very hazardous. Please shelter in place,” the office posted online.

    Helene is the third storm to strike the city in just over a year. Tropical Storm Debby blacked out power to thousands in August, while Hurricane Idalia damaged an estimated 1,000 homes in Valdosta and surrounding Lowndes County a year ago.

    “I feel like a lot of us know what to do now,” Herrera said. “We’ve seen some storms and grown some thicker skins.”

    Soon after it crossed over land, Helene weakened to a tropical storm over Georgia, with its maximum sustained winds falling to 70 mph (110 kph). The storm was about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Macon and about 100 miles (165 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta, moving north at 30 mph (48 kph) at 5 a.m., the hurricane center in Miami reported.

    Forecasters expected the system to continue weakening as it moves into Tennessee and Kentucky and drops heavy rain over the Appalachian Mountains, with the possibility of mudslides and flash flooding.

    Helene prompted hurricane and flash flood warnings extending far beyond the coast up into northern Georgia and western North Carolina. More than 1.2 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, more than 900,000 in Georgia and more than 927,000 in the Carolinas, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us. The governors of those states and Alabama and Virginia all declared emergencies.

    Even before landfall, the storm’s wrath was felt widely, with sustained tropical storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts along Florida’s west coast. Water lapped over a road in Siesta Key near Sarasota and covered some intersections in St. Pete Beach. Lumber and other debris from a fire in Cedar Key a week ago crashed ashore in the rising water.

    Beyond Florida, up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain had fallen in the North Carolina mountains, with up to 14 inches (36 centimeters) more possible before the deluge ends, setting the stage for flooding that forecasters warned could be worse than anything seen in the past century.

    “Please write your name, birthday, and important information on your arm or leg in a PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,” the sheriff’s office in mostly rural Taylor County warned those who chose not to evacuate in a Facebook post, the dire advice similar to what other officials have dolled out during past hurricanes.

    School districts and multiple universities canceled classes. Airports in Tampa, Tallahassee and Clearwater were closed Thursday, while cancellations were widespread elsewhere in Florida and beyond.

    A day before hitting the U.S., Helene swamped parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, flooding streets and toppling trees as it brushed the resort city of Cancun and passed offshore. In western Cuba, Helene knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses as it brushed past the island.

    At one point, forecasters feared that hurricane conditions could extend as far as 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of the Georgia-Florida line. Overnight curfews were imposed in many cities and counties in south Georgia.

    “This is one of the biggest storms we’ve ever had,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said.

    For Atlanta, Helene could be the worst strike on a major Southern inland city in 35 years, said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

    Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.

  • A pipeline has exploded and is on fire in a Houston suburb, forcing evacuations

    A pipeline has exploded and is on fire in a Houston suburb, forcing evacuations

    LA PORTE, Texas (AP) — Firefighters were battling a massive pipeline fire in suburban Houston that sparked grass fires and burned power poles on Monday, forcing people in the surrounding neighborhood to evacuate as a giant plume of fire was shooting high up into the air.

    The fire began at 9:55 a.m. in La Porte, located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Houston.

    Video images from KTRK-TV showed a park near the fire had been damaged and firefighters pouring water on adjacent homes. There are also several businesses nearby, including a Walmart.

    Officials have ordered residents in the Brookglen neighborhood area near the fire to evacuate, Lee Woodward, a La Porte city spokesperson said in an email.

    “Please avoid the area and follow law enforcement direction. Further details will be released as available,” Woodward said.

    The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

    There are several power lines near the fire. The website PowerOutage.us says that there are nearly 1,600 customers without power in Harris County.

    Video from Fox 26 Houston: https://www.fox26houston.com/news/la-porte-pipeline-fire-near-spencer-highway-causes-road-closures-evacuations

  • Jon Bon Jovi helps talk woman down from ledge on Nashville bridge

    Jon Bon Jovi helps talk woman down from ledge on Nashville bridge

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jon Bon Jovi and a video production assistant persuaded a woman standing on the ledge of a pedestrian bridge in Nashville to come back over the railing to safety.

    Police say the encounter happened Tuesday on the Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, which spans the Cumberland River.

    The Tennessean reported that Bon Jovi was filming a music video on the bridge, which remained open to the public during the shoot.

    Video that was posted to YouTube but later removed showed the assistant talking to the woman. The Grammy-winning front man slowly approached, waved to the woman and joined in the conversation.

    EDITOR’S NOTE — In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

    Eventually the woman turned around to face the two, and they helped her over the railing to safety. Bon Jovi talked to the woman and hugged her.

    A representative for the singer said Bon Jovi would not be commenting on the incident.

     

  • Weather Closures – Live Updates

    Weather Closures – Live Updates

    School Closures

    Natchez-Adams School District Schools  – Early Dismissal on Wednesday 9/11/24 —– Closed Thursday 9/12/24
    Holy Life School – Early Dismissal on Wednesday 9/11/24 —– Closed Thursday 9/12/24
    Global Prep Charter – Early Dismissal on Wednesday 9/11/24 —- Closed Thursday 9/12/24
    Thompson Headstart – Early Dismissal on Wednesday 9/11/24 —- Closed Thursday 9/12/24
    ACCS – Will be closed Wednesday 9/11/24 for PD —- ACCS Campus will be closed Thursday 9/12/24 they will have virtual classes per ACCS Facebook page
    Cathedral School – Early Dismissal on Wednesday 9/11/24 —– Virtual instruction on Thursday 9/12/24
    Concordia Parish School District – Will be closed Wednesday 9/11/24, Due to this change they will have school on Monday October 7th to maintain their instructional schedule, – Awaiting information regarding Thursday 9/12/24
    Delta Charter – Will be closed Wednesday 9/11/24 —- Monitoring the weather for Thursday 9/12/24
    Rapides Parish Schools – Will be closed Wednesday 9/11/24 —- Awaiting info for Thursday 9/12/24
    Copiah-Lincoln Community College – All campuses will be closed Thursday, 9/12/24 – Instruction will shift to virtual learning.

    Government Closures

    Natchez National Historical Parks Closed Wednesday 9/11/23 —- Re-open Thursday 9/12/24 at 12 Noon (Weather Permitting)
    All City and County Offices in Natchez/Adams County will be closed Thursday, 9/12/24 until 12 Noon (Weather Permitting)
    Judge George W. Armstrong Library will be closed Thursday, 9/12/24, They will reopen on Friday, 9/13/24

    Business Closures:

    Natchez Stewpot will be closed Thursday 9/12/24
    The WIN Job Center in Brookhaven & Natchez will be closed Thursday, 9/12/24

  • Alabama high school football player dies after suffering injury during game

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama high school football player died Saturday, a day after he was critically injured during a game.

    Morgan Academy quarterback Caden Tellier was hurt following a tackle in the third quarter of the school’s game Friday night against Southern Academy in Selma, headmaster Bryan Oliver told Al.com. Tellier, a 16-year-old junior, suffered a brain injury and was flown to the University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital Friday night, Oliver said.

    Tellier’s family announced his death on social media, Al.com reported.

    “Our boy, Caden Tellier has met Jesus face to face. We appreciate all of your prayers, and we covet them for the hard days ahead,” their statement said. “Everyone who knows Caden has known kindness, generosity and love, and true to his nature, he is giving of himself one more time. Lives have been touched by the way he lived and now lives will be saved through his passing.”

    Oliver confirmed to the news website that Tellier was an organ donor.

    “There are no words to describe how we feel as a school community and family,” Oliver wrote Saturday night in a statement on the school’s Facebook page. “Caden will never be forgotten for who he was and what he means to Morgan Academy.”

    The school is canceling all sports activities for the coming week, including this Friday’s scheduled football game at Wilcox Academy, Oliver said.

  • 17,000 AT&T workers in Southeast strike over contract negotiations

    17,000 AT&T workers in Southeast strike over contract negotiations

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — More than 17,000 AT&T workers in nine states across the Southeast are on strike after accusing the company of unfair labor practices during contract negotiations this summer.

    The Communications Workers of America — the union representing the striking employees — said workers walked off the job Friday in response to AT&T’s failure to bargain in good faith. Workers have been attempting to reach a new contract since June. The labor organization said AT&T did not send representatives to the bargaining table who had authority to make decisions and that the company has reneged on agreements made in bargaining.

    “Our union entered into negotiations in a good faith effort to reach a fair contract, but we have been met at the table by company representatives who were unable to explain their own bargaining proposals and did not seem to have the actual bargaining authority required by the legal obligation to bargain in good faith,” Richard Honeycutt, vice president of CWA District 3 in the Southeast, said in a statement.

    The strike involves AT&T technicians, customer service representatives and others who install, maintain and support AT&T’s residential and business wireline telecommunications network. It involves workers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee

    The union said it filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

    AT&T denied the union’s accusations.

    “CWA’s claims of unfair labor practices are not grounded in fact. We have been engaged in substantive bargaining since Day One and are eager to reach an agreement that benefits our hard-working employees,” the company said in emailed statement. AT&T said it reached three separate agreements this year covering more than 13,000 employees.

    The labor union on Monday also accused AT&T of “sending undertrained managers and contractors to perform highly technical work” during the strike. AT&T said it has “various business continuity measures in place to avoid disruptions to operations and will continue to provide our customers with the great service they expect.”