Stories from Wednesday, January 16, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Calling Kansas City International Airport one of the most convenient airports, Rep. Sam Graves said he supports keeping a three-terminal layout. The proposed KCI master plan calls for the airport's three C-shaped terminals to be replaced with a single terminal...

DIAMOND, Mo. (AP) -- A small-town mayor and pastor charged with enticing a child over the Internet called the investigating detective at home and asked him to stop the case. Police Detective Jim Murray played a tape of the Wednesday phone call from Allen Kauffman, 63, to The Associated Press...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Governor Matt Blunt has ordered work to begin on a $2 million plan to archive government e-mails. Blunt had asked the state's computer chief to research ways of permanently saving e-mails last November, after concerns were raised about e-mail deletions in his own office...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference will call for a boycott of Kansas City if the mayor does not remove a member of the park board who is also a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. Charles Steele Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said Tuesday that his civil rights organization would make its point with a boycott of Kansas City if Frances Semler, 73, remained on the park board...

Democratic state Senate candidate Ellen Dillon reported raising $1,575, including personal loans totalling $550, in her first report for the 2008 campaign. Dillon is seeking the 27th District seat currently held by Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau. She reported spending $89.70, and incurred expenses totalling $1,247.37 that were unpaid as of Dec. 31...

The Cape Girardeau Airport Advisory Board voted without dissent Wednesday evening to recommend that Great Lakes Airlines be given the contract to provide commercial passenger service from the airport to St. Louis. The board's vote, with seven of the nine members present, will now go before the Cape Girardeau City Council for action. The council has a special meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. today to consider the choice...

Two Cape Girardeau buildings will be reviewed today by members of the city's historic preservation commission. They have been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. Brenda Schloss, a planning technician with the city, works with the historic preservation commission. Schloss said certification for the national register opens the door for federal and state tax credits toward the cost of restoration and preservation...

After hearing from the two air carriers vying to win Cape Girardeau's business and listening to a pitch from the marketing director for Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, the Cape Girardeau Airport Advisory Board couldn't make a choice. With a Friday deadline from the U.S. ...

Teachers could see a significant salary boost if a plan by House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, is passed. The plan, not yet introduced, calls for raising the minimum salary of first-year teachers from $23,000 to $31,000. Pay would increase with experience...

Citywide Celebration Committee events Thursday 7 p.m.: The sixth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Extravaganza will feature area students performing vocal and instrumental tributes to honor King's birthday. Where: Osage Community Centre...

Reports last week from California showed that autism rates are still on the rise. These statistics show many things. First, they shoot a huge hole in the theory that autism is caused by a vaccine preservative that contains mercury, called thimerosal...

Want to learn; Traffic tickets; Shorter version; Cut and run; Endorsement backlash; Murderous promises; Statistical emphasis; Tough love; Sales tax too high; Quotas are illegal; Parking lot bully; Parental responsibility; Eating without smoke

Michael Fencil, the suspected shooter in a murder that occurred last summer at the Brown Bag Video II Store in McClure, Ill., appeared in court Tuesday in Alexander County for a case management hearing. The hearing was held on the issue of a psychological evaluation, which the court has been awaiting to determine whether Fencil, 25, of Mounds, Ill., is mentally competent to stand trial...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- A New Zealand man has been charged with driving a lawn mower while drunk, police said Tuesday. Richard Gunn, 52, was driving the lawn mower down a street in the northern New Zealand town of Dargaville late Monday evening when police stopped him, police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said...

A Sikeston, Mo., couple facing a combined 60 counts of serving alcohol to minors will stand trial, a judge ruled Monday. The charges arose from a Notre Dame Regional High School graduation party Mark Cheatham, 49, and Terry Brewer-Cheatham, 47, threw at their Sikeston residence in May...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs took the wraps off a super-slim new laptop at the Macworld trade show on Tuesday, unveiling a personal computer less than an inch thick that turns on the moment it's opened. Jobs also confirmed the consumer electronics company's foray into online movie rentals, revealing an alliance with all six major movie studios to offer films over high-speed Internet connections within 30 days after they're released on DVD...

Blood has a shelf life. It can be stored at between 34 and 43 degrees for no more than 42 days. In January, frigid temperatures and vacations for the students who are heavily counted on for blood donations can deplete supplies. The American Red Cross categorizes the current shortage as an emergency...

In a room set up with more than 100 chairs, a few had to stand. Former city planner Kent Bratton, parents of soccer players and swimmers and a cluster of softball coaches were among those who found seats. The crowd arrived to see the premier of the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Advisory Board's sales-tax campaign. Danny Essner, the board's chairman, presided over a brief meeting before premiering a slide show and video on the parks and storm water sales tax initiative...

Southeast Missouri State University will tighten its admission requirements for students who live 50 miles or more outside of Cape Girardeau, beginning in February, university officials announced Tuesday. The university expects to defer about 42 students that apply for the fall semester, due to a housing shortage and record enrollment figures...

Former state representative Mary Kasten raised money at more than twice the pace of Mike Keefe as they sought to build campaign warchests for the push to the Feb. 5 special election in the 158th District. Kasten, a Republican, took in $38,760 during the three months ending Dec. 31, while Keefe, a Democrat, gathered $14,128. Kasten also reported $850 in contributions of services, what are called in-kind donations, while Keefe received $59 in that form of help...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt proclaimed he had changed Missouri for the better by controlling state spending, then proposed Tuesday night to dip into his savings for an election-year spending plan benefiting education, health care and scores of other initiatives...

After nearly a year without a permanent Newman Center chaplain at Southeast Missouri State University, the Rev. Patrick Wissman began his duties there this week; Wissman replaces the former Catholic chaplain, the Rev. Robert Braun, O.M.I., who served in the position seven years...

DETROIT -- Mitt Romney scored his first major primary victory Tuesday in his native Michigan, a win he desperately needed to give his weakened candidacy new life and set the stage for a wide-open Republican showdown in South Carolina in just four days...

WASHINGTON -- Just more than a decade after scientists cloned the first animal, the last major barrier to selling meat and milk from clones has fallen: The U.S. government declared this food safe Tuesday. Now, will people buy it? Consumer anxiety about cloning is serious enough that several major food companies, including the big dairy producer Dean Foods Co. and Smithfield Foods Inc. say they aren't planning to sell products from cloned animals...

WASHINGTON -- Steel plates connecting beams in the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis were too thin by half and fractured, "the critical factor" in the collapse that killed 13 people and injured 145, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday...

Sen. Jason Crowell increased his payments to House Speaker Rod Jetton's political consulting business in October after Democrat Ellen Dillon announced she would challenge Crowell's bid for a second term. Crowell, who paid $3,000 a month to Jetton's Common Sense Conservative Consulting LLC during the 2004 campaign, is now paying $4,500 a month for the services. ...

ATLANTA -- Bucking the trend in many other wealthy industrialized nations, the United States seems to be experiencing a baby boomlet, reporting the largest number of children born in 45 years. The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger population, especially a growing number of Hispanics. That group accounted for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births. But non-Hispanic white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies, too...

Brenda L. Cochran, 49, of Dallas, Texas, loved by many, passed away Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008. She was born in Watseka, Ill., Jan. 25, 1958, daughter of William and Delories O. Spriggs Cochran, who preceded her in death. Her contagious laughter, sparkling smile and twinkling eyes were all contained in the unique and complex, spiritual woman that God made and let us all share for a short 49 years. Brenda lived life to the fullest and with a style that was her own...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Fern Anselm Bryant, 92, died Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008, at her home in the Texas Bend community north of Charleston. She was born Sept. 27, 1915, in Perry County, Mo., to the late Barney and Bena Unterreiner Anselm. She had lived in the Charleston area since 1920, and was a member of St. Henry Catholic Church where she was active in the Legion of Mary, St. Henry Quilters and St. Henry fundraising dinners. She was also a member of Texas Bend Extension Club...

Wayne Wren, 60, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Jan. 14, 2008, at Jackson Manor in Jackson. He was born Feb. 19, 1947, in Cape Girardeau, son of Ralph A. "Sonny" and Georgia Bernadine Diamond Wren. He married Ida Brown, who died in 1996. Wren was employed by the city of Cape Girardeau many years...

McCLURE, Ill. -- Roy Lee "Pin" Ryan, 83, of McClure passed away Monday, Jan. 14, 2008, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 30, 1924, in Reynoldsville, Ill., son of Floyd Jasper and Lola Meisenheimer Mainer. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II...

Maxine G. Davis, 82, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born March 1, 1925, in Murphysboro, Ill., daughter of Henry and Larina Germain Israel. She and Paul E. Davis were married in 1942 in Murphysboro, Ill. He died Oct. 19, 1984...

Euva L. Williams, 84, of Crump died Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.

JONESBORO, Ill. -- LillyAnne Turner, daughter of Bryon Wade and Raechal Michelle Cunningham Turner of Jonesboro, died at birth Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, Ill. She is survived by her parents; maternal grandparents, Mike Cunningham and Carroll Ledbetter of Jonesboro; paternal grandparents, Laurie Turner of Cobden, Ill., and Jake Turner of Anna, Ill.; and great-grandparents, Gerry and Jim Brown of Alto Pass, Ill...

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- Dorothy Hill, 74, of Fredericktown died Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008, at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis. She was born March 23, 1933, at Silver Lake, Mo., daughter of Vincent and Mary Louise Moonier Richardet. She and William Hill were married Oct. 6, 1979, in Perryville, Mo. He died Oct. 25, 1995...

Pace; Kleinschmidt; Rhodes; Garland; Puckett; Mott; Chronister; Rice

Arrests; Arrests

CHICAGO -- The Illinois attorney general's office has released a report on the use of the MySpace Web site by registered sex offenders in Illinois. The report's release Monday came as MySpace.com announced it is planning a major overhaul to its site in an effort to combat sexual predators...

LOS ANGELES -- Actor Brad Renfro, whose career began promisingly with a childhood role in "The Client" but rapidly faded as he struggled with drugs and alcohol, was found dead Tuesday in his home. He was 25. Paramedics pronounced him dead at 9 a.m., said Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the Los Angeles County coroner's office. The cause of death was not immediately determined, Harvey said, but an autopsy could be conducted as early as today...

Marine died of head injury, autopsy finds JACKSONVILLE, N.C. -- A 20-year-old pregnant Marine who disappeared in December died from a head injury, authorities said Tuesday, formally rejecting claims by the key suspect in her death that she committed suicide. ...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- President Bush warned Tuesday that surging oil prices threaten the U.S. economy and urged OPEC nations to boost their output. His plea drew little sympathy from oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which said production levels appear normal...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia said Wednesday that Japan has agreed to release two activists being detained going aboard a Japanese whaling ship near Antarctica, as whale hunters and defenders traded accusations of piracy. The Japanese whalers accused the activists of attacking their vessel with bottles of acid and illegally boarding the Yushin Maru No. 2 on Tuesday, and denied claims the men had been assaulted and tied up on deck...

ALIQUIPPA, Pa. -- Amid the bleak, rundown brick buildings, drug dealers drive around in shiny sport utility vehicles, Cadillacs and convertibles, the sun glinting off their chrome-plated spinning hubs. Drugs and money are exchanged on street corners. ...

CARLSTADT, N.J. -- An explosion at a metal casting plant killed one worker and injured nine others Tuesday morning, authorities said. The accident occurred at Tec-Cast, an aluminum castings company in a pocket of industrial plants and warehouses about a mile north of Giants Stadium. Workers were performing maintenance on an air pressure vat used to cast molten metals into machine parts, police said...

I think I've discovered my calling. After making spaghetti and meatballs for my parent's 33rd wedding anniversary several weeks ago, I decided to open an Italian restaurant. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but I better stick to what I know -- and that's definitely not cooking! But my spaghetti and meatballs were actually edible and really good -- despite the rough start I had at the grocery store...

We are closing in on one child's basketball season and just starting up in our other child's season. It is so much fun to watch them play, regardless of whether we win or lose. We enjoy visiting with other parents before and after the games and find ourselves not knowing what to do when we don't have a game to go to. It has been fun, and we look forward to moving on to our next sport season...

NEW YORK -- Citigroup's new chief executive may have to dismantle the country's largest bank in order to save it. As the housing market continues to deteriorate and the economy slides toward a possible recession, Citi stunned Wall Street on Tuesday by posting a $10 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2007, the biggest in the bank's 196-year history...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Australian investment and asset management company Babcock & Brown Ltd. said Tuesday it has acquired seven wind farm projects in the United States, including one in central and another in northern Illinois. The projects were acquired from Gamesa Energy USA, a division of Madrid, Spain-based Gamesa Energia S.A. and Navitas Energy Inc., a Minneapolis-based company largely owned by Gamesa...

ST. LOUIS -- College students share dorm rooms, bathrooms and books. Now they can share rental cars by the hour. Enterprise Rent-A-Car is launching a new program this week that lets Washington University students rent cars on an hourly basis. The so-called "WeCar" program sets six cars at strategic points around campus. Customers who sign up for the program can hop in and take the cars for a few hours at a time, parking them back at an appointed spot for the next renter to use...

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- All 26 NATO nations have soldiers in Afghanistan and all agree the mission is their top priority. But the refusal of European allies to send more combat troops is forcing an already stretched U.S. military to fill the gap, and straining the Western alliance...

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Legislators chose an opposition member as parliament speaker in a close vote Tuesday, giving a victory to foes of Kenya's president as they prepared for mass protest rallies that raised fears of new violence over last month's disputed election...

LONDON -- British Airways showed off its new terminal at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday, a light-flooded, gleaming white modern facility with some of the latest technology, a first-class lounge with a cinema and a five-story-high wall of windows offering a view of Windsor Castle...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli troops killed a son of Gaza's most powerful leader along with 18 other Palestinians on Tuesday in the bloodiest day of fighting in the coastal area since Hamas militants seized control last summer. As fighting raged in Gaza, a Hamas sniper shot and killed an Ecuadorean volunteer working in the potato fields of an Israeli border farm. ...

NEW YORK -- Oprah Winfrey is getting her own TV network. OWN -- for Oprah Winfrey Network -- will debut next year in nearly 70 million homes with cable and satellite, part of a deal announced Tuesday with Discovery Communications. It will replace the Discovery Health network...

KENNETT, Mo. -- A court hearing has been set for Feb. 8 for a veterinarian whose animals were seized last week. The Dunklin County Sheriff's Department served Dr. Jonathon Wilson with a court order to remove all animals from the premises of his practice in Kennett after concern was expressed from the state Humane Society following a recent visit to the clinic...

Notre Dame's Ty Williams used a simple three-word phrase to sum up the way his teammate, Mark Himmelberg, played Tuesday against Charleston. "He was money," Williams said. "It seemed like every time we needed the big shot, we'd kick it out to him and he'd knock it down," Williams added...

While a Missouri Senate committee debates legislation which would require school districts to begin randomly testing students for steroids, local school administrators share conflicting views over whether this bill should be approved. Some believe that testing student-athletes is a good idea, but they also expressed concerns about funding and being forced to take part in the testing by the state...

Jake Leet was the hero for the second straight game as the Jackson boys basketball team picked up another victory. Leet poured in 32 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, as the Indians slipped past host Poplar Bluff 69-64 Tuesday night. Jackson improved to 13-5 overall and 4-0 in SEMO Conference play. Poplar Bluff is 5-10 and 1-1...

WASHINGTON -- Concerns about Barry Bonds' personal trainer should have been reported by the San Francisco Giants to Major League Baseball, commissioner Bud Selig told Congress on Tuesday during a hearing about the sport's steroids era. Even though no players were present, unlike the theatrical session in the same wood-paneled room in March 2005, the names of career home run leader Bonds, seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens and 2002 AL MVP Miguel Tejada all were raised during the 4-hour, 15-minute proceedings prompted by last month's Mitchell Report.. ...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Keno Davis was the consummate coach's kid. He hung around practice, tagged along on road trips and sat on the bench studying his father, Tom Davis. Drake was the final stop in Tom Davis' 32-year career as a head coach. It is Keno's first...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A state senator has toned down a proposal to randomly test Missouri's high school athletes for steroids because of concerns it would cost too much. Instead, Sen. Matt Bartle outlined a new plan Tuesday to randomly test only a sampling of athletes participating in high school playoffs or postseason competition. The cost would be borne by the fans, in the form of higher postseason admission fees collected by the statewide nonprofit group that oversees sporting events...

Associated Press Writers SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- One of the men mauled in a tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo pleaded for help from a 911 dispatcher and asked why it was taking so long to get it, according to a recording of the call released Tuesday...

GARDEN Fluffy, white mealy bugs on house plants are easily killed by touching them with a cotton swab soaked in rubbing alcohol. Insecticidal soap sprays can be safely applied to most house plants for the control of many insect pests. Amaryllis aftercare: Remove spent flower after blooming. ...

Scott County Central senior Caleb Johnson came up big Friday night in Charleston. The 6-foot-1 post player came in a little undersized against Charleston's forwards, but he got the job done with a game-high 26 points in the Class 1 Braves' 75-70 victory against the defending Class 3 state champion...