Stories from Thursday, May 27, 2010

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Forty-five layoffs were announced this week at Three Rivers Community College, including the elimination of child care services, in order to serve an increasing number of students while state revenue is down and costs are rising.

This year, Eighth District Congressional Candidate Tommy Sowers will road march the entire length of the 12th Annual "100 Mile Yard Sale" on foot. Missouri's Eighth District celebrates Memorial Day weekend by holding the "100 Mile Yard Sale" along Missouri State Highway 25, from Jackson to Kennett. The 4-day event begins on Thursday, May 27 and stretches for nearly 100 miles, passing through over a dozen towns...

A study this summer will look at who is visiting the Cape Girardeau area and why they're coming here.

Dutchess is a 7 week old female. She and all her siblings are available for adoption at the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri. To see more pets please visit us at www.semopets.org.

This Cardinal sure looked strange the first time we caught site of him on one of our feeders. He is going through a molt or may have had mites and rubbed all his head feathers off. The feathers should come back in a couple of weeks.

10th Annual Going the Distance 5K Run/Walk Saturday, June 26, 2010 is Safe House for Women's 10th Annual Going the Distance 5K Run/Walk. The proceeds from this event support the efforts of the Safe House for Women in their work with victims of domestic and sexual violence...

The strawberry crop is down by almost 50 percent compared to 2009 for Teen Challenge International of Mid-America. But that hasn't stopped plans for the ministry to hold its annual strawberry festival Saturday. "The festival is a nice, relaxed day in the country," executive director Jack Smart said. "People get to see the ministry up close and get a feel for what's taking place in the lives of our students."...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Sgt. Darrin Davis has spent literally thousands of hours and more than a decade training in a Black Hawk helicopter. Now, the East Prairie, Mo., resident will put all that training to good use as part of a special Missouri National Guard team heading to Louisiana later this week to help with response efforts to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. ...

Old barn in Ripley County

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Gaming Commission on Wednesday set a Sept. 1 deadline for submitting applications for a casino license available in the state.

The Blue Jays only collected two hits in their Class 1 state quarterfinal loss.

Last year, five to eight year olds descended upon the Magill Hall of Southeast University to participate in a Horizons Summer Youth Enrichment Program. Marine Biology: waves, whales, and wonder. The kids learned all about the ocean and the organisms found there. They even got hands on fun with a touch tank! The class will be taught again this June...

Cape Girardeau Public Schools received its third national recognition in less than a year. On May 20 the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), announced that Cape Schools, along with 28 other Missouri school systems, received recognition from SchoolMatch®, a national firm specializing in rating K-12 schools...

Jerry Hairston Jr. hit a game-winning home run in the 13th inning to lift the Padres past the Cardinals 2-1.

Parents: Wayne and Debbie Flanigan What is your most notable academic achievement? I was on the honor roll every quarter for four years, and I received and academic letter for four years. What is your favorite school activity and why? My favorite school activity was literature class because I love to read...

Parents: Scott and Teri Goodman What is your most notable academic achievement? Missouri Scholars 100 What is your favorite school activity and why? A tie between volleyball and FBLA. Volleyball is so much fun, and I made several of my close friends freshman year in volleyball. FBLA was a combination of learning about the business world and meeting new people...

Parents: Randy and Theresa Kern What is your most notable academic achievement? Being valedictorian What is your favorite school activity and why? Cross country because there isn't a better sport. What is your favorite high school memory? All of them...

Parents: Kyle and Debra Eudy What is your most notable academic achievement? Becoming a National Merit Finalist my senior year. What is your favorite school activity and why? Track and field. I love the fellowship and friendships I've developed through the sport, and I love the thrill of competition...

Now you have done it. You have reached the absolute bottom of the ethics barrel. The article by Gerald Jones about Jay Purcell is the most vicious attack I have ever seen, and it is given guest column status. The accusations made may or may not be true, which is not the issue, and had you written it as an editorial, after you checked and validated the facts, it would have been fine. But to take one politician's attack on another and give it such prominence on the Opinion page is unethical...

THE federal government is demanding and receiving more and more tax money from the citizens, which makes it impossible for states and local governments to raise their own money to do the things their own way. We have strayed a great distance from our Founding Fathers' vision of America. ...

Missouri tax revenue continues to fall far short of budgeted spending. To stay within the constitutional requirement of a balanced budget, Gov. Jay Nixon has made six spending reductions -- totally more than $900 million -- in the current state budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30. In its recently ended session, the Missouri Legislature approved a budget that will require at least another $350 million in cuts to stay within anticipated revenue...

NEW YORK -- In Facebook's vision of the Web, you would no longer be alone and anonymous. Sites would reflect your tastes and interests -- as you expressed them on the social network -- and you wouldn't have to fish around for news and songs that interest you...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Atlantis returned from its final voyage Wednesday, closing out a quarter-century flying career and safely bringing back six astronauts from a successful space station mission. "Twenty-five years, 32 flights and more than 120 million miles traveled. The legacy of Atlantis now in the history books," Mission Control's commentator announced at touchdown...

PHOENIX -- President Barack Obama's plan to send as many as 1,200 National Guard troops back to the U.S.-Mexico border quelled demands that he must do more to battle illegal immigration and drug smuggling, but advocates for tougher enforcement say the troops need authority to make detentions...

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- China has signaled it could soon join the U.S. and its allies in blaming North Korea in the sinking of a South Korean warship, senior American officials said Wednesday. Speaking after strategic talks this week in Beijing, the U.S. officials said China indicated it is prepared to hold North Korea accountable for the March 26 torpedo attack and could join in some kind of formal rebuke by the U.N. Security Council...

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- After a slum raid that left nearly 50 people dead in four days of gunbattles, the reputed drug kingpin who was the target may have fled the country, the government said Wednesday. Strongman Christopher Coke, who helped the prime minister win elected office, had months to stockpile weapons in his slum stronghold while the premier wavered over U.S. demands for his extradition...

RABAT, Morocco -- A concert by Elton John is testing the limits of Morocco's drive for modernity, probing this Muslim nation's complex and ambiguous attitudes toward homosexuality like rarely before. Islamists in the North African kingdom are outraged by the gay pop star's visit, while the royal palace, government and his many fans back his appearance Wednesday night...

Firefighters responded to the following calls Tuesday:...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests...

Calling it "a time of honor and renewal," Cape Girardeau American Legion Post 63 Adjutant R.O. "Jack" Slaughter tells a crowd at a Memorial Day service here that it is "with sadness and pride we remember those who died to keep this nation free"; featured speaker at the ceremony at the Flag Memorial in Cape County Park is Charles R. Roberts, director of the Missouri Division of Veterans Affairs...

Daughter to Kevin and Sonia Shelton of Mount Vernon, Ill., St. John's Mercy Hospital, Sunday, May 9, 2010. Name, Abigail Danae. Weight, 8 pounds, 3 ounces. Third daughter. Mrs. Shelton is the daughter of Gordon and Shiron Matlock of Sullivan, Mo., and Otto and Nancy Griffin of Qulin, Mo. Shelton is the son of Gary and Kay Jones of Scott City and Don and Linda Shelton of Kelso, Mo...

ANNA, Ill. -- Doris "Dot" Parr, 84, of Anna died Monday, May 24, 2010, at her home. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Rendleman and Hileman Funeral Home in Jonesboro, Ill. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home, with the Rev. LaRue Parr officiating. Burial will be in Jonesboro Cemetery...

ANNA, Ill. -- Hester Naomi Johnson Forrest, 100, of Bradenton, Fla., formerly of Anna, died Saturday, May 22, 2010, at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton. Visitation will be from 12:30 p.m. to service time Friday at Rendleman and Hileman Funeral Home in Anna...

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Thefts...

Scholarships The following students received scholarships from Southeast Missouri State University for the 2010-2011 academic year: Honors, Achievements n Brock Seabaugh, a 2006 graduate of Cape Girardeau Central High School, graduated magna cum laude from the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Mo. He received bachelor's degrees in computer engineering and in electrical engineering...

Give us wisdom, O God, to make our best ideas become reality. Amen.

COVINGTON, La. -- BP started pumping heavy mud into the leaking Gulf of Mexico well Wednesday and said everything was going as planned in the company's boldest attempt yet to plug the gusher that has spewed millions of gallons of oil over the last five weeks...

LOS ANGELES -- Art Linkletter, who as the gently mischievous host of TV's "People Are Funny" and "House Party" in the 1950s and '60s delighted viewers with his ability to get children -- and grownups -- to say the darndest things on national television, died Wednesday. He was 97...

ST. LOUIS -- The Mississippi River is receding quickly in St. Louis, allowing the President Casino to open again. The St. Louis region's only casino that actually sits on the Mississippi River reopened Wednesday, 10 days after rising water forced it to close...

LIBERTY, Mo. -- Congress's inability to pass comprehensive immigration reform has fueled the frustration that the led to Arizona's strict new law against illegal immigration, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday...

May 27, 2010 Dear Pat, In the past five weeks the 20 members of the entrepreneurship class I'm taking have learned many of the pitfalls of starting and running a business. Many there are, Yoda would say. One five-minute brainstorming session produced more than 30 expenses that will be incurred before a new business can even open its doors. ...

WASHINGTON -- The economic recovery got a lift in April as orders for large manufactured goods surged while sales of new homes benefited from homebuyer tax credits. Manufacturing is helping drive the rebound. But some economists worry about the threat posed to U.S. exports from the widening debt crisis in Europe. And some fear that home sales will falter in coming months because the tax breaks for buyers have expired...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Opponents of an attempt to require partisan elections for all Missouri judges said Tuesday that their analysis shows too few signatures were submitted to get the idea before voters. But plan supporters said the analysis was flawed and called the group behind it "self-interested ambulance-chasers."...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The execution of a search warrant Tuesday morning at a Poplar Bluff residence led local officers to seize more than the computer-related items they were expecting. "This started out as a computer crime," explained Scott Phelps, an investigator with the SEMO Cyber Crimes Task Force. "The suspect in this residence (at 1002 Clyde) created a fictitious MySpace page using the identity of a 12-year-old girl...

The way Southeast Missouri State track and field coach Eric Crumpecker sees it, qualifying for NCAA regional competition is an impressive accomplishment. Six of Crumpecker's athletes will try to take the next step today through Saturday at the NCAA West Regional on the University of Texas campus in Austin...

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State lost its first game in the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament for the second year in a row. Jordan Underwood was not to blame. Underwood, a junior left-hander in his first season with the program, notched his third consecutive strong start...

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State has fallen into the losers bracket of the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament after just one game for the second straight year. An Eastern Illinois rally is to blame. Fifth-seeded EIU overcame a 5-1 deficit after six innings to beat the fourth-seeded Redhawks 10-5 in 10 innings Wednesday in the first round of the six-team, double-elimination event...

The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to release thousands of barrels of oil each day. Environmental scientists are using oil socks to help clean up the spill. Using a few ingredients from around the house you can create your own oil sock...

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. -- Kamy Mayott has been told that texting while driving is dangerous. But the 15-year-old didn't know just how dangerous until she navigated a golf cart through an obstacle course while texting and took out a whole row of orange cones...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Beaches at three Missouri parks have been closed because of high levels of E. coli bacteria in the water. The Department of Natural Resources says it has shut down the swimming beach at Mark Twain State Park, the day-use beach at Truman State Park and Public Beach No. 1 at the Lake of the Ozarks. Those beaches will remain closed until future water samples show bacteria levels have fallen to acceptable levels...

A section of Highway 177 in Cape Girardeau County, including an area near Procter & Gamble, will be reduced to one lane today. MoDOT crews will mill and resurface the road from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Route J to County Road 610.

Route H in Scott County will be reduced to one lane with a 14-foot width restriction while MODOT crews perform shoulder repairs from Route HH to County Road 450. Weather permitting, work will be from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily Wednesday and June 3...

Route W in Scott County will be reduced to one lane with a 12-foot width restriction while Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pavement repairs from Highway 77 to Route P. Weather permitting, work will be from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily Tuesday and Wednesday...

LONDON -- Britain offered its first public accounting of its nuclear arsenal Wednesday, disclosing that it has a stockpile of 225 warheads in a move that offers transparency to non-nuclear states in hope of winning stricter global controls on the spread of atomic weapons...

ST. LOUIS -- A Scott County construction company has settled an Indiana racial harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency announced Monday. Dollins Construction Co. of Morley, Mo., was ordered to pay $15,000 for lost wages and compensatory damages, implement an effective anti-discrimination policy and training for all managers and meet reporting and monitoring requirements.

Despite fuel prices remaining steady in Cape Girardeau, many motorists are still leaving the pump without paying. Since Sunday, the police department has received reports of seven gasoline thefts at four locations in Cape Girardeau. It's a problem several area gas station managers say isn't going away or getting better unless stores switch to having their customers pre-pay for gasoline 24 hours a day...

While the debate over financial reform has been in full swing in Washington, I'm on the campaign trail listening to the people. This weekend, I'll be road marching the entire 100-Mile Yard Sale from Jackson to Kennett. And all along Highway 25, I expect to continue to hear the fury about the bank bailouts for which incumbents of both parties, including Jo Ann Emerson, voted...

The five candidates running for the office of congressional representative, 8th District, are running active campaigns. These are quotes from their respective Facebook pages:"Mountain Grove, Farmington, Park Hills, Poplar Bluff, Raymondville, Licking, Willow Springs, West Plains, Fredericktown, been a busy week, campaigning ... ." Bob Parker...