A Delta State professor pleads guilty to child pornography.

Dr. Adam Lynde, an assistant history professor entered his plea before a federal district court judge in Aberdeen Thursday. 

He was indicted for possessing a USB storage device and a computer containing graphic computer image files of child pornography which shipped or transported in interstate and foreign commerce. 

Lynde will be sentenced in sixty days.

The Cleveland School Board met this afternoon and announced some changes for the 2010 school year.

The old wing of Nailor Elementary School will be closed transferring 198 students to D.M. Smith Elementary School. The 196 D.M. Smith students will be placed at East Side High School.

In addition, the Margaret Green Junior High and Cleveland High School campuses will be combined into one school. School officials cited safety, maturity and lack of parental involvement is what lead to the decision.

A one car accident in Bolivar County claimed the life of a 42-year old man.

Highway Patrol officials say Claude Pentecost of Shaw was killed when his vehicle left the road and flipped over.

The crash happened around 3:30 Wednesday afternoon on Hwy 1near Scott.

Pentecost was thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.

In troubled times, many people would think twice about donating their money. The United Way in Cleveland-Bolivar County is encouraging people to give, because the need is so much greater.

Despite colleting over $110,000 so far, organizers say they are still short by $12,000.

Sponsored agencies for the poor, battered women, and the hungry might not be affected this year, but organizers say if the goal is not met, they will have problems next year.

Clarksdale Police say a driver was drunk in the fatal crash the day after Christmas.

Two people were killed after Illinois native Bert Conner was driving his car the wrong way on Hwy 61around 11:30 that night.

He and his daughter survived, however a couple driving towards Memphis died as a result from it.

Police Chief Greg Hoskins says Conner was over the limit and believes drugs may have been involved. Charges are expected to be filed against Conner when the investigation is finished.

Authorities in Grenada are investigating the death an infant.

Latondra Smith called police saying her one year old son had drowned. When police arrived, they found the baby on the floor in the bathroom covered with bruises.

Smith claims she left the room and came back to find the baby not breathing in the tub.

Police are trying to determine if the death was caused by child abuse or an accident.

Two men who escaped from a minimum-security Kansas prison on Thanksgiving have been captured in Mississippi.

Scott Dwyer and Wayne Purdy walked away from a work release program at Winfield Correctional Facility on Nov. 26.

Dwyer was arrested Wednesday evening in Batesville. Purdy was arrested without incident Thursday morning about 40 miles away in Grenada.

The men will be brought back to Kansas to face escape charges.

Attorney General Jim Hood has told the Carroll County School Board that it can't stop the public from tape recording its meetings.

Board members voted 3-2 Monday to cease recording its meetings and destroy the tapes.

Hood notified the board on Wednesday that it could adopt reasonable rules to prevent disruption of meetings but "a flat prohibition against taping is unreasonable and violates the intent of the open meetings law."

Several agencies are looking for one man wanted for a robbery shooting and assault.

Tyrone Pointer is on the run after a robbery in Holmes County and allegedly assaulting an officer in Carroll County.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Holmes County Sheriff’s Department and or the Vaiden Police Department.

A three-county Delta area was among 41 national recipients of multi-year grants to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.

DeSoto, Marshall and Tate counties are funded as a unit by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Each of the 41 sites will receive a four-year grant of up to $360,000 to craft innovative solutions aimed at helping children and families lead healthier lives.

Neighborhood watch programs are a win-win situation for Cleveland and its law enforcement.

Chief Buster Bingham is encouraging neighborhoods throughout the city to start a one and become the departments extra eyes and ears.

Residents in those neighborhoods are a good source to get any information if a crime has been committed.

Bingham says neighborhood watches can be very effective when citizens band together and put in the effort.

After two days in court, Billy Marlow won his case against the Ruleville Democratic Executive Committee and R.L. Brand.

Marlow argued the committee knowingly allowed wrong-doing during the elections in May. A run-off was determined for the alderman-at-large seat after Marlow received only 45 percent of the votes.

Marlow lost a run-off election to Brand May 19, and filed a petition contesting the results, which the committee denied.

The committee has 30 days to appeal the decision which would mean another court date. If not, the governor will call for a new election.

Parents in the North Bolivar School District are being asked to be more involved with their child’s education.

Bobbie Reed was elected the new school board president in an unopposed decision this week and now takes on the role of reviving the overall performance at Brooks Elementary, Shelby Middle and Broad Street High schools.

The district hired Ronzy Humphrey to increase student performance by 20 percent each year.

Humphrey says the biggest challenge lies within parent involvement, one issue that many districts in the region face.

The Sunflower police department is looking for missing firearms. During a routine inventory assessment officials were not able to locate four pistols and a shotgun.

Police don’t know if the weapons have been lost or stolen from the department. The situation was turned over to the state Attorney General’s Office.

A Coahoma County school will be closing its doors.

The Coahoma County School Board voted 3-2 earlier this week in favor of closing Sherard Elementary school.

The school had over 250 students and 30 teachers and was the highest performing school in the district. The board added the closure to the agenda Tuesday night without any public comments ahead of time.

Both parents and teachers say they are surprised with the decision.

Tunica County authorities have arrested a woman accused of neglecting animals at a puppy mill where a fire broke out earlier in the week.

Sheriff's deputies say Stacy Adams Moore bonded out of jail Wednesday after being charged with 12 counts of animal cruelty.

Moore allegedly was the operator of a puppy mill at her Dundee home, where several dogs, living and dead, were discovered after a fire Monday.

Dr. Mary Currier, the state epidemiologist and acting state health officer, will head Mississippi's public health efforts.

The state Board of Health named Currier the new state health officer at a meeting Wednesday. She was acting health officer since the death of Dr. Ed Thompson, on Dec. 1.

Currier was state epidemiologist from 1993 to 2003. She returned to the agency in 2007 with Thompson, when he was reappointed to the post he'd held from 1993-2002.

Gov. Haley Barbour's annual State of the State address has been rescheduled for Monday.

The governor's address had been set for today at 5 p.m. at the state Capitol.

A release from Barbour's office said the speech was delayed because of the ongoing water issues in Jackson, and the Legislature announced it would adjourn on today.

The speech will be broadcast live on Mississippi Public Broadcasting's television and radio networks.

Delta State will now offer free tax preparation and education thanks to a grant.

The Center for Community and Economic Development was awarded a $7500 grant by the National Community Tax Coalition to help individuals who earn less than $49,000.

Certified IRS volunteers will assist individuals to help with special credits such as, Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled.

Services will be offered from Jan. 25 until Feb. 27 and then again from March 1 until April 15.

It seems the problems keep growing in the Drew School District. Already with their backs against the wall because of poor test scores, 31 seniors are currently not eligible to graduate.

Board president John Thigpen says there are no more excuses. At the latest community parent forum Saturday, Thigpen stressed that the parents needed to understand what is important.

And now that Gov. Haley Barbour was given permission this week to cut as much as 10 percent from state budgets, there are a number of school districts, especially in the Delta, that could be in financial trouble in a few months.

Free boxes of food were passed out Tuesday to those in need.
The Sunflower County Bill Richardson Alliance Group held its monthly distribution in Indianola. Almost 500 boxes were given away.

Organizers say more than 1,500 food boxes are given away each month.

The program has been active in the community for 10 years and provides food for people over 60 and children under 6.

Farmers from across the south were in Washington County Tuesday to try and sell agriculture equipment with the chance of making some money.

Farm equipment was placed on the auction block at the Mid-Delta Regional Airport.

The inventory included miscellaneous spare parts and large operating equipment.

The auction was a one-day event but has been held annually for a number of years in Washington County.

Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum says a possible merger with Mississippi University for Women is unlikely.

Monday in Greenwood, Keenum said he hasn’t given the proposal much thought. Gov. Haley Barbour’s plan in November suggested reducing the number of state universities from eight to five among other issues.

University presidents are busy trying to prepare themselves for the next round of cuts now that Barbour was given the okay to cut as much as 10 percent from state agencies.

A woman accused of using stolen credit cards to purchase thousands of dollars in goods, including car tire rims and furniture will be sentenced in February.

Raquitta Harris and another woman allegedly scammed credit card companies to have their names added to existing accounts, then had the card mailed to vacant homes.

Court records in Oxford said the rims alone cost $3,700. Harris pled guilty in October.

Mississippi Valley State will host their annual Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation this week. The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Thursday in the H.G. Carpenter Auditorium.

The keynote speaker will be Arland Leland, a civil rights attorney with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Admission is free and open to the public

For the second straight year, a Carroll County high school was recognized as one of the top schools in the nation.

J.Z George in North Carrollton was named one of the top schools in Mississippi according to U.S. news and world report. They were one of 39 schools in the state awarded bronze medals based on test scores that were higher than the state average for disadvantaged students and the entire student body.

Over 21,000 public high schools in 48 states and the District of Columbia were evaluated.

Organizers of the Mid-South Fair say they expect to sign a contract to return the event to the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven in September.

They economic conditions are restricting development of a 150-acre site in Tunica County off U.S. Highway 61.

Last year’s fair was the first time it had been held away from the Fairgrounds in Memphis.

The Mississippi Legislature has been asked for up to $31 million for infrastructure improvements.

A handful of local blues artists have been nominated for the for the 2010 International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis. The Delta Center for Culture and Learning will be hosting a benefit to help cover expenses Thursday night at the Airport Grocery.

The event starts at 8 and there will be a $5 minimum donation per person on the night.

Nominees included Mike Holloway and Crosstie Band, Alphonso Sanders and Bill Perry and Delta State’s Ol’ Skool Revue.

Indianola authorities are looking for the man who held up a gas station at gunpoint over the weekend.

Police say the robbery took place at the Scott Petroleum gas station on Hwy 82.

The clerk was sitting inside the booth when a masked man pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded money. The suspect fled with an undetermined amount of cash.

Authorities in Leflore County arrest two men for stealing cars.

23-year old Cordell Phams and 43-year old Earnest Bell were arrested last week after stealing six cars from December 31 to January 5 from a local auto shop.

The business is closed, but cars are still located on the property.

All the stolen cars were taken to be crushed at a junk yard.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will give his annual State of the State address on Thursday.

Governors use the State of the State to lay out a legislative agenda, but Barbour says he already revealed most of his big proposals when he released his budget late last year.

He's set to speak at 5 pm. Thursday at the Capitol. The speech will be carried live on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

Two people have been charged for their role in the shooting a Greenwood deejay.

Authorities arrested 18-year old Rodney Davis and 19-year old Jessica Purnell in the recent shooting of 49-year-old Melvin Bacon. Both were charged with aggravated assault while police charged Davis with armed robbery.

He was shot at an apartment complex last week and later taken to Jackson for surgery.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a bill that gives the governor more flexibility to make budget cuts.

The measure approved Monday would allow Gov. Haley Barbour to cut any agency he chose up to 10 percent until June 30, 2011.

Current state law says the governor cannot cut any agency's money by more than 5 percent until every agency has been cut by that percentage.

An Oxford-based group has announced it has entered into a development and management agreement to locate a new casino at the site of the closed Isle of Capri property in Tunica County.

Abston-McKay Ventures LLC and Lakes Entertainment Inc. announced the deal Monday.

The Mississippi Gaming Commission would have to approve the move. The Isle of Capri was first opened in 2000. It closed in 2002.

Several thousand residents in Tunica County received bottled water after officials reported a severe water shortage Saturday night due to the frigid temperatures.

Nearly 2,500 had left their water running to avoid freezing pipes.

The three pallets contain almost 5,200 bottles of water.

County officials say the water system is beginning to recover but they urge residents to only let the faucets drip and not run in order to save water.

Chicago Bluesman Fernando Jones is scheduled to perform at the Jobe Hall Auditorium Thursday, January 21.

Jones was the last student of the great songwriter Willie Dixon, from Vicksburg. Through raised in Chicago, his roots were in Mississippi.

The author, educator, songwriter and scholar will be making a trip to the Delta with 25 students and several fellow faculty members from Columbia College.

The event is set for 7:30 p.m. for more information; call the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, at 662-846-4311.

(photo courtesy of DSU)

The Drew School District is looking into hiring a school nurse. Drew is one of 12 in the state that currently does not have one.

The state Department of Health is offering a onetime $50,000 grant to help with training and salary. The board of supervisors approved the move at their recent meeting.

Interim superintendent Jacqueline Luckett says rates for an LPN are as high as $21 an hour and about $30,000 annually for an RN.

The district will be given $40,000 in February once a nurse has been acquired and the remaining $10,000 in June.

The holiday season was a demanding one for the Cleveland Police Department. The crime rate was high and the latest numbers show no drop for January.

There were a total of 12 felony arrests including five involved with the counterfeit check cashing scam. Chief Buster Bingham says the city as seen a rash of burglaries around Fireman’s Park and has since made in arrest for some of those crimes.

Several neighborhood watch programs have already been established within the city, and Bingham says the department is a strong advocate to help keep the communities safe.

With accountability ratings low for the entire Drew School District, board president John Thigpen says there are no more excuses.

He says the district is failing the children and he expects test scores to go up after a difficult first nine weeks.

Thigpen said that whatever methods were used in the past were simply not effective anymore.

The Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women is holding a seminar Tuesday to discuss legal issues.

Commissioners say the meeting will focus on questions surrounding divorce, child support, child custody and domestic violence.

A report issued by the commission last summer recommends that Mississippi update its child support laws to help reduce poverty among women. They say the state's current formula often produces payments that don't cover half the cost of raising a child.

Leflore County's veteran’s service officer, will receive the Order of the Legion of Honor, France's highest medal for fighting to liberate the country in World War II.

Marsh Pickett, who is now 86, said he will travel with family to Atlanta for the Jan. 28 ceremony.

Pickett served in the Army during the war. French officials said the medal is being given to Pickett for his noble contribution during World War II and in remembrance of those who sacrificed their lives for the cause.

Major crime has fallen in Greenville.

New numbers released by Greenville Police Department, show there was a reduction in 3 of 4 major categories.

The only category that rose was homicide/murder. In 2008, there were seven murders. In 2009, there were nine, including two in December.

Although the homicide numbers climbed, the totals in three other categories fell. The assault total dipped under 1,000 last year. Burglaries fell dramatically by 200 while robberies fell by 10.

Two men are in the Bolivar County jail after burglarizing a home.

Cleveland police arrested 32-year Jesse Jackson and 25-year old Christopher Lucas and charged both with burglary and possession of burglary tools.

Police received a call of a burglary in progress early Friday morning at the Cypress Woods apartments. As the two men drove away from the scene officers stopped them and charged them with the crime.