Reporting

Oxford housing prices higher than state mean

High prices drive workers to county

Oxford, Miss. – While some city workers say they prefer the pace of life in the county, Oxford Police Department investigator Jimmy Williams searched for 18 months to find a house in Oxford, but settled in the county. That’s just the price of living here, he said.

(other pieces of the series: Students, retirees, alumni contribute to high housing prices and Mayor encourages community to solve Oxford housing issue)

Friends, family mum preceding Cummings’ murder trial Monday

At the sound of his name, his friends hang up the phone, decline to describe happier times or say they just can’t talk about it.

“God is good,” his mother, Kaye Cummings, said Wednesday; she and many others have been advised not to say anything before the capital murder trial of Daniel Cummings, 21.

(I covered this story from the incident up to the trial, which I helped our new court reporters cover. Other stories: The Daniel Cummings Case: An Overview; UPD officer killed, student charged; Grove continues business as usual)

The Disabilities Beat

I covered disabilities in Oxford, Miss., for my advanced reporting class. I knew the beat would be a challenge (more so than environment or city council), and I’m always up for that. I met some amazing people, too.

• Shortage of arthritis doctors creating health ‘crisis’ in state

Rheumatology unpopular specialty for medical students

Although Mississippi’s incidence of disabling arthritis is the third highest in the nation, the state has fewer than 30 practicing rheumatologists and possibly one of the worst environments for a gap between disease and treatment to develop.

• Mentally ill overwhelm state hospitals, jails

Depression strikes a family member so severely that he can’t be left unwatched. He’s committed no crime, but his nearest relatives, unable to afford private care, allow the sheriff to take him to the jail where he’ll be evaluated by doctors, and a judge will determine whether he requires further help.

• Wheelchair options grow, eligibility still limited

Maxine Harper thought she had found the perfect wheelchair. It would raise her to eye-level with her peers, traverse the sand for her trip to make a presentation in Hawaii this winter and even climb stairs when visiting friends’ homes.

But when Harper, who has cerebral palsy, tried the iBot in September at her Greenwood home, it still wasn’t the perfect fit.

Particleboard plant building destroyed

Smoke plume scares locals, building was being demolished

Tim Boswell wasn’t expecting to see ashes raining down from the clear sky Thursday morning outside the County Road 101 home where he was washing windows.

“The sky suddenly got really dark,” Boswell said, describing how he found out about the fire at the Roseburg South Forest Products plant, formerly a Georgia Pacific plant.