Artesia News

About 65 jobs and a $25 million investment soon could be on its way to the Golden Triangle Industrial Park, members of the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors announced during a Tuesday meeting.

Dispatch offices will be closed Monday for Memorial Day, but the circulation department will take customer service phone calls from 7-10 a.m. The following is a schedule of area closings: Both Columbus and Lowndes County school offices will be closed, as will the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link and the U.S.

The Lowndes County Sheriff's Office reported the following felony arrests: Bourgeois Chevlor Shanklin, 31, of 715 Old West Point Road in Columbus, was arrested by the LCSO Thursday on one count of possession of stolen property.

Storm sirens blared early this morning as a squall line carrying wind speeds of 70 mph blasted through Columbus.

A large cement manufacturing plant on Highway 45 Alternate in Artesia will be closed indefinitely, terminating about 113 positions at the facility, according to a company report released this morning.

The state's unemployment rate jumped to 9.2 percent in January, rising from 7.6 percent in December as laid-off holiday workers returned to the state's jobless list.

The Holcim cement plant, one of Mason City's oldest industries, is closing because of hard economic times.