SUMMARY: Ellisville State School provided an update on their Cemetery preservation project, where interns from USM helped locate buried remains of families. The interns created a digital map of the cemetery to locate sunken headstones. A professor from USM used ground penetrating radar with a 400 megahertz antenna to locate unmarked or mismarked graves. The radar sends a signal into the ground and maps where it returns to identify anomalies indicating burials. The cemetery was active from the 1920s to the 1980s, with approximately 150 people buried there. The process takes 3 to 4 hours and will result in a three-dimensional model of the area.

Ellisville State School cemetery projects moving forward.

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SUMMARY: Laurel Upper Elementary School has unveiled a new facility that will house about 130 students, addressing overcrowding issues. With the help of Esser funds, the school has created new classrooms with bathrooms and water fountains, providing a better quality learning environment. The new wing is a separate, u-shaped addition to the original building, allowing for more engagement between teachers and students. The school will decide which grade levels will utilize the new facility over the summer, with plans to start using it in the next school year. This development reflects the school's commitment to improving facilities for a better overall learning experience.

Laurel Upper Elementary sees new addition.

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SUMMARY: The Mississippi collaborative response to mental health Act, signed into law in 2023, requires law enforcement agencies to receive crisis intervention training. Delaney Dukes reports on WD7 and Pine Grove Behavioral Health partnering to raise mental health awareness. With Crisis Intervention training, officers can identify and deescalate mental health crises, rather than automatically arresting individuals. Lamar County Sheriff Regal acknowledges increased awareness and plans to certify all officers in CIT. The establishment of a crisis stabilization unit in partnership with Forest County and Hattisburg is underway. This new approach aims to provide neutral, non-jail settings for those in crisis, benefiting the community. The Old National Guard building is set to be remodeled for this purpose, starting next month.

Lamar County creating ‘crisis crisis stabilization unit' in Purvis.

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