WAPT, the ABC affiliate in Jackson, MS, has added two new members to its news team: anchor Travell Eiland and sports director Aslan Hodges.

Eiland, who will anchor the morning broadcast alongside Megan West and meteorologist Ethan Huston, has been an investigative reporter for WBBH in Fort Meyers since 2009. He joins WAPT on August 16.

“We’re committed to the mornings, and Travell will make us stronger,” station president and general manager Stuart Kellogg said in a statement. “People all over the community are asking who’s accountable for issues that affect them. Travell is committed to finding answers.”

Hodges will join the station’s 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts on August 10. He will contribute sports reports to the evening broadcast alongside Stephanie Maxwell, Darren Dedo and chief meteorologist David Hartman. Hodges was most recently the sports director at KBZK-KXLF in Bozeman, MT.

A producer at WAPT, the ABC affiliate in Jackson, MS, was carjacked and left with two broken kneecaps over the weekend.

Reggi Marion, who has been with the Hearst-owned station since 2008, had car trouble early Saturday morning. He was pulled over on Medgar Evers Boulevard in Jackson when two men approached him and offered their help, according to the station website. The men subsequently hit him with a pipe and stole his Ford Expedition. The vehicle was later recovered, although no arrests have been made.

Marion was taken to University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he underwent immediate surgery. A Hearst spokesman told TVSpy Marion emerged from surgery in good spirits.

Five years after leaving WJTV to spend more time with her family, Melanie Christopher has returned to the Jackson CBS-affiliate, joining the station’s morning team. Christopher debuted this morning alongside longtime anchor duo Erin Pickens and Ken South.

“This is a win/win for our station and our viewers” said WJTV general manager Bob Romine. “The viewers remember her and they love having her back on the air.”

In 2006, Christopher bid farewell to WJTV after 25 years with the station, telling The Clarion-Ledger at the time that she felt she had “missed so much” in her children’s lives while anchoring the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.

“After so many years of putting people to bed after the late news I am excited to be part of a team that will wake them up and get them ready for the day,” Christopher said in a press release. “This opportunity is like opening a new chapter in my broadcast career and I look forward to sharing it with the WJTV viewers.”

While many local news outlets tried to find positive stories in the wake of the devastating group of tornadoes that swept through the south this past weekend, WAPT‘s coverage has stood out. The Jackson, MS ABC-affiliate spoke to a man that survived the severe weather even though he lost something very dear to him in the tornado: his hamburger (video above).

Posted by the likes of Tosh.0 and College Humor, the segment has quickly gone viral.

Giant icicles falling from the station’s tower wreaked havoc at WJTV earlier this week. Staffers at the Jackson, MS CBS-affiliate had to sprint around the parking lot to save their cars while dodging the falling ice.

A stretch of warm weather caused the icicles to detach from the tower and they spiraled to the ground like spears.  The station is now humorously referring to the incident as “When Icicles Attack.”