Zack Plair

OCH Regional Medical Center in Starkville is shown. Oktibbeha County Supervisors on Thursday commissioned a due diligence study of the county-owned hospital, the first step required in a potential sale or lease. It’s the second time in seven years supervisors have formally explored privatizing the hospital, with voters rejecting a referendum to sell or lease OCH in 2017. Courtesy photo/Oktibbehacountyms.org

Donnie Cook’s tenure at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science may not have yielded the facilities he wanted, but because of him the school’s email system is more secure.

If you fire a gun illegally in the city limits, it could soon result in a higher fine, jail time or even losing your firearm.

A Lowndes County correctional officer spent just two months on the job before landing on the other side of the bars.

T.K. Martin’s third Express Yourself! art auction features works from five artists

Columbus Police Department Recruit Dijon Shields puts up crime scene tape on Industrial Street on Tuesday morning, while a crowd stands outside of the tape. The Columbus Police Department was investigating the death of a woman who was found in a yard at the end of the street. (Photo by Abigail Sipe Rochester/Dispatch Staff)

Betty Crume prepares to serve during a friendly pickleball match Wednesday in the gym at the Frank P. Phillips YMCA in downtown Columbus. She is one of 16 players who will compete in a tournament Saturday during the YMCA’s centennial celebration. The Y will host a block party and open house, complete with food, games and fitness demonstrations to celebrate the local organization’s April 22, 1924, founding. Zack Plair/Dispatch Staff

Portions of 119 streets are slated for upgrades through the city’s $6.9 million plan that will commence later this year.

If John Almond has his way, The Dream Center Golden Triangle could be operating a residential rescue program for victims of sex trafficking by the end of this year at the former Mississippi Sheriffs Boys and Girls Ranch off Motley Road.

A proposed redistricting plan would redraw the boundaries for five of the city’s six wards.