Stories from Tuesday, January 27, 2004

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder said his proposal to amend the Missouri Constitution wouldn't bar a governor from requesting higher taxes but would prevent the chief executive from budgeting the resulting revenue until it is actually in the bank...

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- As the survivors of Leningrad emerged from the horrors of the 900-day Nazi blockade -- starving, shell-shocked but alive -- Vera Lyudyno found herself on another journey to a place of death and destruction, this time in a Soviet labor camp...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- An al-Qaida program to develop chemical and biological weapons was in the early "conceptual stages" when it was cut short by the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. and Malaysian security officials told the Associated Press...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's government on Monday made its clearest public statement yet that scientists of its secretive nuclear weapons program leaked technology and would face legal action. The government said its two-month probe into allegations of nuclear technology proliferation to Iran and Libya was near completion...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- There's hardly a street without a mound of festering garbage or a puddle of sewage. Crime is rampant. Gray concrete blast barriers and coils of barbed wire are everywhere. Power cuts of up to 12 hours a day are routine. Fuel shortages are common...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Democratic Party will stage a presidential debate next Monday night, the eve of the state's suddenly competitive White House primary, a top political aide to Rep. Dick Gephardt said Monday. The 90-minute debate will be held at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the major candidates are being invited, Jason Norton, state political director for Gephardt, told The Associated Press...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A committee studying ways to revise Missouri's school funding formula heard Monday from a consultant who recommended two plans that would cost the state an additional $710 million to $1.5 billion a year. John Augenblick, head of a Denver-based firm that advises states on school finance issues, has focused chiefly on the adequacy of state aid for schools, rather than on the issue of equity...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri children could be required to be vaccinated against chickenpox before starting school under a rule proposed by the state Department of Health and Senior Services. The state already requires children in a day-care center to have the vaccine. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Dozens of school districts with a distinct point of view plan to intervene in a lawsuit challenging Missouri's method of funding elementary and secondary education. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month by 243 of Missouri's 524 school districts, claims the state spends too little on public schools and does not distribute the money fairly...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas City woman was charged Monday with speeding away after she hit and killed a man with her pickup truck, authorities said. Jackson County prosecutors said June Strawn was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the Sept. 29 accident that killed 70-year-old Charles E. Gates of Kansas City. Strawn, 45, faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A former paramedic pleaded guilty Monday to diluting vials of painkiller supplied to an ambulance company in the Kansas City suburb of Pleasant Valley. Craig J. Starr, 40, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to two counts of tampering with consumer products. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Former U.S. Rep. Mel Hancock believes Missourians should have the right to carry concealed guns, but also thinks the state amendment bearing his name that forbids unfunded mandates "very well could undo" the law. Enacted when legislators overrode Democratic Gov. ...

ST. LOUIS -- Archbishop Raymond Burke assumed his new role leading the St. Louis archdiocese Monday in a cathedral ceremony where he spoke of holding true to Catholic values in a time that often doesn't remember God. Burke, assigned to the new post Dec. 2 after serving as bishop in La Crosse, Wis., will now direct one of the nation's oldest archdioceses and its roughly 550,000 Roman Catholics...

One week or two? The NFL returned this year to a longer break between league championship games and the Super Bowl, giving America a weekend in between to catch up on the Winter X Games. And, while the anecdotal evidence suggests a better game usually comes out of the shorter break, it turns out there are plenty of good reasons to play the game in February for only the second time in 38 years...

WASHINGTON -- The White House retreated Monday from its once-confident claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and Democrats swiftly sought to turn the about-face into an election-year issue against President Bush. The administration's switch came after retired chief U.S. ...

Agreed to consider whether executing juvenile killers violates the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment," a follow-up to a ruling two years ago that abolished executions for the mentally retarded. Told police not to pursue confessions from criminal suspects facing formal charges until telling them they have a right to see an attorney...

WASHINGTON -- Security guards who repelled four simulated terrorist attacks at a Tennessee nuclear weapons plant had been tipped in advance, undermining the encouraging results, the Energy Department's watchdog office said Monday. The surprising successes by guards at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant last summer in Oak Ridge, Tenn., spurred an internal investigation. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether the Constitution forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, the latest step in the court's reexamination of capital punishment in America. The high court could ban the practice, as four justices have urged, or it could reaffirm earlier rulings that allowed states to decide for themselves whether to make 16- and 17-year-olds eligible for execution...

TRIPOLI, Libya -- A Republican congressman led a delegation of Americans into uncharted territory Monday: a meeting with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and a tour of a Libyan nuclear reactor. The extraordinary meeting -- in a tent beside the ruins of Gadhafi's house, bombed by U.S. warplanes -- is a hallmark of improving relations between the United States and Libya after decades of animosity...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A 6-year-old Thai boy became Asia's seventh confirmed bird flu fatality -- making this the deadliest outbreak since 1997 -- and the government said Monday it was awaiting lab results on four other people who died in a northern province...

Cairo building collapses, trapping 16, injuring 33 CAIRO, Egypt -- A 12-story building that had drawn police attention for allegedly illegal renovations collapsed in a Cairo suburb during a fire Monday night, trapping up to 16 people inside and injuring 33, police said. ...

Heavy ice combined with increasing winds cracked tree limbs and took down power lines across the northwest part of Cape Girardeau Monday, leaving hundreds of AmerenUE customers without power. After Sunday's icy rains, AmerenUE restored power Monday morning to all but 90 customers in Missouri and Illinois, said spokesman Mike Cleary...

CMA festival to feature LeAnn Rimes, Wynonna NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- LeAnn Rimes and Wynonna are among the stars expected to perform when the Country Music Association Music Festival, formerly known as Fan Fair, returns June 10 to 13 to downtown Nashville. ...

With bleak predictions about decreased services and increased workload, Cape Girardeau school officials on Monday approved $1.2 million in budget cuts, but voted down the elimination of several positions. After more than a month of deliberation, school board members voted in favor of 47 of superintendent Mark Bowles' 52 recommendations, including firing five teachers and charging a $40 participation fee for student activities...

Cape Girardeau police are searching for a man that a movie cinema employee said robbed him at gunpoint Monday afternoon and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. The robbery occurred before 3 p.m. at the Town Plaza 5 Kerosote Theatre before it opened for business. ...

The words of author Carl Sandburg, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and stacks of poetry anthologies transformed a sparsely decorated meeting room at the Cape Girardeau Public Library transforms into a literary coven Monday night. Warming their fingers around Styrofoam cups of steaming coffee and nibbling on cookies and snacks, nine local poetry lovers -- including a writer, a housekeeper and a watercolorist -- recited their favorite Sandburg poems and discussed the man and his times...

HOUSTON -- The Carolina Panthers not only embrace their role as underdogs, they think it could give them an edge in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots. "We definitely feel like it," linebacker Dan Morgan said Monday. "We like that role. It fit the past three weeks in the playoffs and why would we want to change it now?...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville coach Rick Pitino is taking an indefinite leave of absence because of an undetermined medical condition that has left him in agony. "I have been in excruciating pain the last three or four games," Pitino said Monday. "It's getting worse day by day."...

Three Central boys basketball players were suspended from the team indefinitely on Monday for violations of the school citizenship guidelines. "We have high expectations of our athletes with the citizenship guidelines and when its broken we have no choice but to act," Central athletic director Darrick Smith said...

In a battle of talented No. 33's, it was Amanda Lance and Twin Rivers who prevailed 48-45 over Central and Megan McDonald in a girls basketball contest Monday night at Central. Lance finished with a game-high 23 points, but only four of those points came in the second half...

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Since the day she dunked as a lanky 15-year-old sophomore, Candace Parker has lived with the lofty expectations of becoming the next big name in women's basketball. So far, she's living up to them. "Candace has the chance to be the greatest female player on the planet. I really believe that," said Andy Nussbaum, her coach at Naperville Central High School in suburban Chicago...

It's not food and water that sustains us these days. It's electricity. Our lives are wired for sound. Our homes are outfitted with computers, televisions, radios and all sorts of appliances that run on electricity. Our homes are heated by it. We depend on it for everything from basic light to recreation...

SALT LAKE CITY -- When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas' law against sodomy last year, at least one justice foresaw the likes of Brian Barnard. Justice Antonin Scalia warned that the ruling would unleash a wave of challenges to state laws against "bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity."...

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Balloons decorated city hall as unmarried couples, gay and straight, lined up Monday to be among the first to sign up for the city's domestic partner registry, the first in the nation created by voters. Sixteen gay couples, about evenly split between pairs of men and women, signed up during the first hour before the first heterosexual couple got in line, sending up a cheer in the atrium of city hall in this well-to-do Cleveland suburb...

LOS ANGELES -- For the first time, a federal judge has declared unconstitutional a section of the USA Patriot Act that bars giving expert advice or assistance to groups designated foreign terrorist organizations. In a ruling handed down late Friday and made available Monday, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins said the ban is impermissibly vague in its wording...

NASHUA, N.H. -- Playing to huge crowds of wavering voters, Democrats swapped charges of dirty tricks and elitism Monday, closing out the New Hampshire primary on a sour note before the presidential race goes national. From coffee shops, truck stops, school gyms and country stores, the candidates took their last dose of small-state retail politicking with a collective grimace, testy and tired after a seesaw week of campaigning...

Study: Neanderthals not ancestors of humans WASHINGTON -- A study of the skulls of Neanderthals, comparing them with early and modern humans, concludes that that ancient group is unlikely to have been the ancestor of people today. Scientists have long debated whether modern people are related to Neanderthals, the squat, powerful hunters who dominated Europe for 100,000 years before dying out on the arrival of modern humans. ...

MIAMI -- Rush Limbaugh's attorney lashed out at the prosecutor in his prescription drug case Monday and said the conservative radio commentator's use of painkillers was not excessive for someone suffering chronic back pain. Attorney Roy Black went into the greatest detail yet on Limbaugh's painkiller use and his reasons for taking the prescription drugs...

JACKSON SCHOOL BOARD AGENDA 7 p.m. today 614 E. Adams On the agenda: Policy changes School Board Appreciation Week recognition Approval of 2003-2004 tuition rate Superintendent's reports

Folk artist Robert Hoyt will perform in concert at 7 p.m. Thursday in the University Center Ballroom at Southeast Missouri State University. Hoyt blends modern folk and pop sounds with lyrics reminiscent of 1960s protest songs. He will perform again in Cape Girar-deau April 16 as part of the Underberg House Concerts series...

Childlike behavior AS A resident of Bollinger County and a long-time supporter of state Rep. Rod Jetton, I'm greatly disturbed by his outburst during the State of the State address. I feel that was not only childlike, but embarrassing to Bollinger County and Marble Hill...

TAMMS, Ill. -- John L. Abercrombie, 78, of Tamms died at 5:04 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 12, 1925, in McClure, Ill., son of Chester Arthur and Cecil Miles Abercrombie. J.L. married Mary C. Colyer Aug. 2, 1946...

Earleen Jean Poole, 50, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Jan. 26, 2004, at her home. She was born March 17, 1953, in Honolulu, Hawaii, daughter of Earl M. and Flora J. Correia Sumner Sr. She and Matthew Poole were married April 1, 1983, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii...

BRIDGETON, N.J. -- Catherine Amelia Henry, 86, of Bridgeton died Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004, at The Goldfinch House assisted living facility in Bridgeton. She was born April 3, 1917, in Benton, Mo., daughter of Robert Cooper and Amelia E. Steimle Brock. She graduated from Benton High School...

Marie Jackson, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Jan. 24, 2004, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born March 16, 1914, in Dix, Ill., daughter of Arr and Mary Mallie Dodson. She and Homer Jackson were married in 1933. He died in 1978. Jackson was formerly of Olive Branch, Ill...

ANNA, Ill. -- Louise Amschler, 93, of Anna died Monday, Jan. 26, 2004, at Union County Hospital. She was born Nov. 7, 1910, in Perryville, Mo., daughter of John and Louise Hoehn Bergman. She married Howard Hoehn Oct. 2, 1940, who died in 1954. She later married Henry Guetersloh and then Alfred Amschler. Both preceded her in death...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Richard "Dick" Tweedy, 64, of Stone Mountain, Ga., died Friday, Jan. 23, 2004, in Summerville, S.C. He was born Feb. 16, 1939, in Jonesboro, son of Clarence and Virgie Bass Tweedy. He and Patricia Fusaro were married Nov. 23, 1958, in Huntington, Long Island, N.Y...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Anna M. Greenway, 55, of Jonesboro died Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004, at Union County Hospital in Anna, Ill. She was born March 3, 1948, in Blytheville, Ark., daughter of Thomas and Mary Arlene Trexler Delgy. She and Allie Greenway were married Sept. 1, 1989, in Ballard County, Ky...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Donnell Michael Baker Jr., 39, of Sikeston died Saturday, Jan. 24, 2004, at his home. He was born Sept. 20, 1964, in Sikeston, son of Donnell Michael and Rita Faye Boardman Baker Sr. Baker was a member of First United Methodist Church...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Frances M. Southard, 68, of Sikeston died Saturday, Jan. 24, 2004, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 21, 1935, in New Madrid County, Mo., daughter of Alfred and Irene Wilbanks Caudle. She married Teddy Southard, who died March 27, 1992...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Nannie Williams, 94, of Sikeston died Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Sept. 10, 1909, in Huntsville, Ala., daughter of Earnest and Mattie Maynord Williams. She married Robert Lee Williams, who died in November 1960...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Bruce Douglas Housman, 58, of Charleston died Monday, Jan. 26, 2004, at his home. He was born May 24, 1945, in Mississippi County, son of Claude Walter and Marie Hutson Housman. He and Betty Fay Rosson were married Jan. 24, 1964. Housman was owner and operator of Housman's Fish Market until retiring due to ill health. He had attended Cornerstone Church at Bertrand, Mo...

ORAN, Mo. -- Christine J. Eftink, 87, of Oran died Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004, at her home. She was born June 18, 1916, in Bollinger County, daughter of Emanuel and Drieka Spooler Nance. She and William G. Eftink were married July 24, 1934. He died May 1, 1986...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Sister Flora Frances Schnurbusch, 90, of Richmond Heights, Mo., died Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004, at Franciscan Sisters of Mary Convent in Richmond Heights. She was born Oct. 30, 1913, at Apple Creek, Mo., daughter of August F. and Theresa F. Leible Schnurbusch...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Wilma Katherine Deane, 89, of Sikeston died Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004, at Monticello House in Jackson. She was born May 9, 1914, in Sikeston, daughter of William and Madge Grafton Johnson. Deane retired as a medical technician at a nursing home in Oklahoma...

10 years ago: Jan. 27, 1994 Although annual event is six months way, couple of significant donations have already been made toward Riverfest '94; Lady Luck Gaming Corp. has donated $7,500 toward fireworks display, and Boyd Gaming Corp. has given $7,000 donation...

Ever seen a 54-year-old monk dressed up as a bikini-wearing snowman? How about a snowwoman with a hip-hop-inspired charcoal eye patch and Band-Aid on her cheek, or an Elvis snowman with construction paper sideburns and guitar? Even Frosty would have gotten a good laugh had he been present Monday at Notre Dame Regional High School's snowman-building contest...

To the editor: We all disagree. This is what has caused all the divisions in Jesus' church.The Bible cannot be more clear. Romans 16:17: "Avoid those who cause divisions among you." I Corinthians 1:10: "I urge that there be no divisions among you."...

Baseball Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki was traveling Monday from Japan to Seattle, where he is expected to complete plans to terminate the final year of his major league contract. Seattle's career saves leader is walking away from up to $9.5 million, saying he wants to remain in Japan with his wife and two children...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's late January. Could a guy with only one conference victory this deep into the season be a candidate for Big 12 coach of the year? If he's at Baylor, then the answer is probably yes. Scott Drew, the 33-year-old optimist who agreed to become the Bears' coach in the wake of tumult and tragedy, has only one conference win heading into this week...

Fourteen months after breaking ground for a new parking structure, construction has yet to start on the facility itself and Southeast Missouri State University officials still can't point to a certain completion date. That's because the project is being designed and constructed in stages as federal funding is made available, school officials said today...

Cape Girardeau The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Phillip M. Harris, 18, of 436 N. Frederick, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of unlawful use of a weapon. Evan D. Johnson, 20, of 418 S. Sprigg, No. 1, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of trespassing...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded Sunday to the following items: At 2:40 p.m., lines down at 322 S. Middle. At 2:45 p.m., lines down at the 300 block of Country Club. At 4:01 p.m., emergency medical service at Interstate 55. At 5:30 p.m., lines down at 1722 W. Cape Rock...

Have you ever been in the mall and happened to come across, oh, say ... Mary-Ann Maloney? Or perhaps been in a restaurant and seen Bob Reeves? I have the same reaction seeing them as I would if some movie star had just walked through the door. "Dear God ..." I'll whisper to the person closest to me, "Is that ... ?! IT IS!"...

Boredom. That's my topic for this week. Currently, I am very bored, even though I shouldn't be. Have you ever been bored even though you have a million things you need to do? I'm extremely bored, and I have a long list of things that just have to get done...

"Beep É beep É beep É !" Oh God please make it stop, I thought to myself. I reached over and turned off the loud, obnoxious sound that haunted me in my sleep. But not for long though. Soon -- nine minutes, to be exact -- the never-ending beep began again...

Jackson band, choir names student of month Adam Hosp has been named the band and choir student of the month at Jackson High School. Hosp is the son of Kent and Robyn Hosp and is student body president, FBLA webmaster and a member of the National Honor Society. He is a senior and plans to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia after graduation...

WICHITA, Kan. -- Anxiety over the fate of The Boeing Co.'s Wichita plant intensified Monday, along with speculation about potential buyers for Kansas' biggest private employer. One name has repeatedly topped industry analysts' lists: GKN Aerospace Services, the British company that purchased Boeing's Hazelwood, Mo., facility near St. Louis in 2001...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Eager to ride the high-tech tide, Andrew Zhou double-majored in computer science and finance when he arrived at Rutgers University in 2000. But as graduation approaches, Zhou is pinning his hopes on finance and dropping the idea he once had that computer know-how guaranteed him a job...

Auto financing charges cost consumers millions WASHINGTON -- Secretive auto financing charges cost consumers $1 billion each year, and blacks and Hispanics are particular targets, a consumer advocacy group said Monday. When a car buyer arranges financing through an auto dealer, lenders quote a finance rate based on the buyer's credit history. ...

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said the country can be confident that a flexible U.S. economy will be able to replace jobs lost in the last recession but said laid-off employees in job-losing industries may need to be retrained to qualify for new work...

WASHINGTON -- With jobs still hard to come by, the Federal Reserve is expected to keep promising to leave interest rates at rock bottom for a "considerable period" at its first meeting of 2004. However, there is uncertainty over just what the phrase "considerable period" may mean. Because of the weak jobs picture and dormant inflation, most economists are betting the Fed will put out a statement once again pledging to keep rates low...

WASHINGTON -- Federal deficits will total nearly $2.4 trillion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office projected Monday, a worsening of nearly $1 trillion since its last forecast in August. In its annual wintertime economic update, Congress' nonpartisan fiscal analyst also projected that the red ink would hit a record $477 billion this year...

La Repubblica (Rome) The unexpected and immense crowd of people who faced the freezing cold in order to vote in the first Democratic primary has stirred a cold breeze to make Bush and the Republicans shiver. ... Seventy-five percent of the state's citizens are against the war, yet only 18 percent voted for Howard Dean, the candidate whose banner was his fierce opposition to the war. ...

"Nuisance" laws are just what the name implies. There are laws to regulate public nuisances. There are laws that are effective only when someone complains of a nuisance. And there are laws that are a nuisance to those affected by regulations and limits...

Jackson's girls basketball team picked up a convincing 69-41 victory Monday night over host Dexter. The Indians led by nine at halftime, but blew the game open in the second half, outscoring the Bearcats 38-19. The Indians made six 3-pointers, including two apiece from Linden Hahs and Jennifer Ferrell, en route to their 14th victory...

It took a lot longer than Southeast Missouri State University coach Gary Garner had originally anticipated, but Reggie Golson has finally broken into the starting lineup. Golson, a 6-foot-7 junior forward who missed several weeks of practice early in the season with an ankle injury, made his first Southeast start Saturday at Austin Peay. He's scheduled to be in the lineup again Thursday night when the Indians (9-8, 2-4 Ohio Valley Conference) play at Jacksonville State (9-9, 2-5)...

Bottle rockets are about as banned as they can get in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. All that is left is a formal vote by the Cape Girardeau City Council and the Jackson Board of Aldermen. While Cape Girardeau already had a ban on bottle rockets, which went into effect on Dec. 31, 2000, it has agreed to expand its ban...