CBS Radio News correspondent Cami McCormick was being treated Saturday at Bagram Air Base after being seriously wounded by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan that also killed a U.S. service member.
McCormick's stepmother is Ducky McCormick of Meridian. She is the daughter of the late George E. McCormick Jr, who was born and raised in Pachuta.
The U.S. troop death made August the deadliest month of the nearly eight-year war for American forces. The intensified fighting has raised the risk to journalists embedded with the military.
Cami McCormick was wounded Friday when the Army vehicle in which she was riding struck a bomb. CBS could not confirm the extent of her injuries, and NATO officials declined to comment, citing privacy regulations.
NATO spokesman Capt. Jon Stock confirmed that a U.S. service member died in the blast, bringing to 45 the number of American military personnel killed in August.
The military has not given the exact location of the explosion or named the U.S. service member. CBS said it occurred in Logar province, bordering Kabul, and officials there confirmed that a blast had hit a military convoy on Friday.
McCormick was first treated at a field hospital, where she was in stable condition after surgery. She was later transported to the Bagram base, north of Kabul, for more treatment. McCormick, 47, is an award-winning New York-based correspondent who has worked for CBS since 1998.
President Barack Obama's decision to send 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to combat a resurgent Taliban has increased international media attention to the war, coinciding with a rise in troop casualties.
At the same time, Taliban militants have increased their reliance on roadside bombs — known as improvised explosive devices.
They are now the cause of the majority of Western troop deaths in Afghanistan.
Two Associated Press journalists, photographer Emilio Morenatti and videographer Andi Jatmiko, were wounded along with two U.S. soldiers by a bomb in Afghanistan on Aug. 12.
Local News
McCormick wounded in Afghanistan
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Local law enforcement officials honored
State Rep. Greg Snowden said he remembered as a child looking up to those "men in blue."
He said police officers in uniform were larger than life, riding in their patrol cars and carrying guns to protect and serve the population. Today, he said he is still in great admiration of the men and women who put their lives on the line every day so that citizens can feel safe. -
MPD probes vehicle crash
Evidence of a mother's desperate attempt to save her children from harm were spread all over a car lot — and could be seen on her as well in the form of bruises, cuts and scrapes.
Tuesday night, a vehicle with three children inside crashed through a plate glass showroom floor window damaging four new cars and totaling the vehicle the children were in. -
Skeleton found in residence
Members of the forensics team of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) were called to a dilapidated home in Chunky to probe the discovery of a skeleton.
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Police search for robbery suspects
Two men who reportedly robbed a woman at gunpoint in the parking lot of a local bank are still being sought.
Mike Vick, public information officer with the Meridian Police Department, said the two men approached a woman about 8 p.m. Tuesday at the ATM of Regions Bank on North Hills Street. Vick said one of the suspects was armed with a handgun and after taking an undetermined amount of cash and the victim's car keys, the two suspects fled on foot. -
City cuts payment to Watkins
The Meridian City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to cut their monthly payment to David Watkins, project developer of Meridian's new police station, by $9,999 until work resumes on the project.
The order, made during the Meridian City Council meeting Tuesday morning, included a mutual agreement between the councilmen and Watkins to reduce the project developer's monthly consultant fee of $10,000 to $1, effective Tuesday. -
Crews work on gasoline pipeline
If you hear a loud, booming sound early today, between 4 a.m.-10 a.m., there is no cause for alarm.
Workers with Plantation Pipeline will be performing maintenance work on their 30-foot gasoline pipeline in the Meridian area to accommodate the widening of Highway 493. The location of the work activity will be at Highway 493 North and Oak Hill Baptist Church, just inside the city limits. -
Team Spirit
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High Honor
The flowers and balloons Crestwood Elementary School Principal Kimberly Kendrick received at school Monday were not an early Valentines' Day gift.
Kendrick has been named Meridian Public School District's 2012 Administrator of the Year – an announcement that both surprised and wowed the 17-year veteran educator when made by MPSD Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor. -
Master Dance Class
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Digital system promises better communication
Hopefully in the near future you won't hear someone in the emergency services ask over the radio, "Can you hear me now?"
A digital communications system, one which is being pushed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), is a few months away and, in some cases, is already in the testing phase in Lauderdale County. - More Local News Headlines
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