Emma Mcrae

1 week ago | cdispatch.com | Emma Mcrae

Columbus Municipal School District trustees face a critical decision about the future of its prekindergarten program after learning federal Head Start funding will soon be unavailable to the district. The board considered creating several new positions in the district during a May 24 special-call meeting, including five assistant teacher positions for pre-K that are currently being funded by federal Head Start dollars.

2 weeks ago | cdispatch.com | Emma Mcrae

STARKVILLE – Before pharmaceutical drugs are tested on human subjects, they are tested on human cells in petri dishes. These dishes are usually glass or plastic and not even slightly representative of the human body, which creates an expensive problem that Humimic Biosystems Co-founder and CEO Lexi Applequist and her team are trying to solve.

2 weeks ago | cdispatch.com | Emma Mcrae

For a 14th year, prayers and people will return to the Lowndes County Courthouse lawn on Thursday to observe the National Day of Prayer. Organized by the Christian Community in Prayer Committee, the event is open to all denominations and backgrounds with the purpose of bringing citizens together beyond church walls to pray as a community.

2 weeks ago | cdispatch.com | Emma Mcrae

Everything you know about crime, why it happens and how it can be stopped is probably a carefully filtered illusion. That’s the argument Mississippi State University sociology professor Raymond Barranco presented Thursday to the Exchange Club of Columbus at Lion Hills Center. Only about 20% of the population has had direct, firsthand experiences with the criminal justice system, he said.

2 weeks ago | cdispatch.com | Emma Mcrae

What began as a grassroots effort to support early childhood education in Lowndes County is now becoming a centralized initiative at the Mississippi University for Women, where the Center for Education is launching a program aimed at using data to create long-term impacts on child development. Funded by a $500,000 grant, the Wise Start Early Childhood Project, as well as the newly established Office of Early Childhood in which it’s housed, is intended to strengthen local early learning systems.