Stories from Friday, August 6, 2010

ST. LOUIS -- James Laurinaitis was productive and durable as a rookie, leading the St. Louis Rams in tackles and starting all 16 games. This year, he expects to be even better now that he knows what to expect. The Ohio State linebacker was a second-round pick before last season, projecting confidence from the start and emerging as a young leader. Turns out there was some bluster, too...

GRAY SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) -- National Transportation Safety Board investigators examining the Missouri crash that killed a 15-year-old school bus passenger and the teen driver of a pickup truck are hopeful they'll learn something that can make school buses and road work zones safer, an NTSB official said Friday...

Most agencies funded by the United Way of Southeast Missouri will get a boost this year in their annual allocation. The United Way will distribute $101,573 more this year than last, with a total of $794,968 going out to groups that serve the community in the United Way's impact areas of education, income and health...

A day after U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson challenged 8th District candidates to a series of debates, Democratic challenger Tommy Sowers doubled the request.

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- A judge retained jurisdiction over the young daughters of murder suspect Allen McCoy Tuesday morning and placed them with a family member, the Daily American Republic reported. The girls, ages 7 and 5, have been in the custody of the Missouri Children's Division since June 30 when they were placed in foster care following the arrest of their father and stepmother, Allen and Angela McCoy...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Immigration authorities arrested at least five individuals employed at a Poplar Bluff restaurant Wednesday morning as part of an ongoing criminal work-site enforcement operation. Just after 10 a.m., agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could be seen entering and exiting the China Buffet Mongolian Grill in the Mansion Mall Marketplace, as well as a residence at 2808 Virginia Ave., the Daily American Republican newspaper reported...

Members of the Cape West Rotary Club asked executives with Isle of Capri how their plans for a Cape Girardeau casino would affect existing community organizations and businesses.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- Three public hearings are scheduled later this month to discuss whether to introduce elk to Missouri. The Missouri Department of Conservation will hold meetings Aug. 23 in Van Buren, Aug. 24 in Eminence and Aug. 26 in Ellington. The department also is taking written comments through Oct. 1...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Nearly 90 members of the Missouri National Guard's 1137th Military Police Company have been to Haiti this summer as part of Operation New Horizons, a mission meant to help rebuild the Caribbean country devastated by an earthquake in January...

The 58th Annual Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo boasts an entertainment lineup of multiplatinum selling chart toppers and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers for the four nights of the rodeo.

We found this Rattler while fishing the flatbanks at Mingo

Area artists have added life, light and color to the building at 5 N. Main St. One by one, the rooms have been transformed from dark, empty spaces with drab walls and sometimes hideous flooring into colorful, vibrant grottos full of works by local artists...

More voters turned out for Tuesday's primary election (29 percent) than the previous nonpresidential primary in 2006 (a little over 20 percent). The increase was attributed to a keen interest in the race for presiding commissioner and Proposition C, a statewide referendum on national health care legislation. Across Missouri, election officials said Proposition C appeared to be pulling more voters to the polls...

Finally, President Obama is doing something I agree with: removing our troops from Iraq, a place we should never have been. More than 4,600 American servicemen have been killed. Thousands more have been wounded or disabled for life. The cost is $1.3 trillion and counting, and for what? What was gained? I believe it was blatantly obvious, to those who would see, that this war was in the planning stage before George Bush was inaugurated...

Thank you to the voters of Cape Girardeau for recognizing the value of the half-cent sales tax for the transportation needs of our city. This is a user tax, so the cost of building and maintaining our streets is shared with all who use them. The Transportation Trust Fund has been a successful program over the past 15 years. ...

We all hear and read about Wall Street causing our financial problems. Washington politicians are good at this tactic. Who makes the laws and writes regulations that control how businesses function? Who writes bills and regulations that cover thousands of pages so they can contain all of the loopholes needed for businesses to operate the way they do? Who signs these so they become law?...

What a great idea Marble Hill has in having a sales tax increase and doing away with property taxes. This way everyone will pay their fair share instead of the tax burden falling on the homeowners, especially senior citizens living on Social Security. ...

I am writing this comment on election day before any results are known, but I wanted to thank the Southeast Missourian for the excellent job it has done covering the political candidates at all levels. It is easy to take for granted the methodical and fair reporting that you do. ...

We give thanks for your divine healing, O God, and for your many blessings. Amen.

I am no math whiz, and trying to make sense of numbers can leave my head spinning. So what I'm about to attempt may induce a daze -- for you, too. That's my last warning. In my lifetime, I have seen so many things get bigger. When I was born, for example, I was expected to be taller than my parents and their parents and their parents. And I was. So was most everyone in my generation...

First Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau will participate in today's First Friday events with an art exhibit in honor of the church's 175th anniversary. More than 25 artists from the congregation will display their works alongside permanent art pieces already hanging on the church's walls in a show titled "Treasures of the First Presbyterian Church."...

Thorlock and The Disappeared will play at 9 p.m. Saturday at Breakaways Bar and Grill, 15 N. Main St. Thorlock is a three-piece heavy-stoney-rock band from Cape Girardeau. Its music is rhythmic, sludgy, riff-heavy, droning and will appease "earflings," what the band calls its fans. ...

Gallery openings this month

The former major league player returns to Southeast Missouri State

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The man who went on a shooting rampage at a beer distributor calmly told a 911 operator that it was "a racist place" and that he "handled the problem" but wished he had shot more people. Omar Thornton, 34, called 911 after shooting 10 co-workers -- eight fatally -- on Tuesday morning at Hartford Distributors Inc. He introduced himself as "the shooter over in Manchester" and said he was hiding in the building, but would not say where...

LOCKPORT, N.Y. -- Authorities trying to solve a shooting in New York have zeroed in on identical twin brothers -- but now they have to figure out which one to charge. A prosecutor on Wednesday won the right to photograph 31-year-old Niagara Falls residents Edward and Raymond Nickens with their shirts on and off to see which one might match a description in the May shooting...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The judge who overturned California's gay marriage ban was unrelenting in his repudiation of the measure, saying such laws are mean-spirited and unconstitutional to the core. It was a harsh yet carefully worded ruling that some experts said would be tough to overturn as the landmark legal debate goes to the appeals court and then possibly to the U.S. ...

NEW YORK -- The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday it will end its policy of releasing information about back taxes and other debts taxpayers owe in the coming tax season. The information, called debt indicators, has been included on acknowledgments the IRS sends tax preparers when it receives returns filed electronically...

PHILADELPHIA -- Consumers are feeling more confident about spending on small luxuries such as premium cable services and pay-per-view, propelling the earnings of cable and satellite TV providers upward in the second quarter. Advertisers, particularly automakers, also spent more in the quarter...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide car bomber struck a convoy of NATO troops and Afghan police Thursday in northern Afghanistan, killing seven police officers and wounding at least 11 people. A Canadian helicopter, meanwhile, went down in southern Afghanistan. No one was injured and the Taliban claimed it shot the aircraft down...

ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON -- Nothing projects U.S. global air and sea power more vividly than supercarriers. Bristling with fighter jets that can reach deep into even landlocked trouble zones, America's virtually invincible carrier fleet has long enforced its dominance of the high seas...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Singer Wyclef Jean submitted the paperwork Thursday to run for president of Haiti, formally thrusting himself into what is expected to be a highly competitive race and ending years of speculation about his political ambitions...

ABOARD THE ROK DOKDO -- South Korean troops fired artillery and dropped sonar buoys into the Yellow Sea as naval drills kicked off near the spot where a warship sank four months ago. Some 4,500 South Korean troops aboard more than 20 ships and submarines as well as about 50 aircraft were mobilized Thursday to take part in the five days of naval exercises off the west coast, including spots near the two Koreas' maritime border, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate confirmed Elena Kagan Thursday as the Supreme Court's 112th justice and the fourth woman in its history, granting a lifetime term to a lawyer and academic with a reputation for brilliance, a dry sense of humor and a liberal bent...

Firefighters responded to the following calls Wednesday:...

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

MOUNDS, Ill. -- William J. "Bill" Wood, 57, of Mounds passed away Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, at Heartland Regional Hospital in Marion, Ill. He was born July 24, 1953, in Rockford, Ill., son of the late Dupree and Pauline "Polly" Adams Wood. Bill was a member of First Baptist Church in Mounds, member and serving as commander of Pulaski County Memorial VFW Post 8891 of Mounds, member of Area Veterans Burial Ritual Team, Kim Shrine Club in Cairo, Ill., Ainad Shrine Temple in East St. ...

Norma Jean Barringer Barenkamp, 73, of Belleville, Ill., died Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, at Memorial Hospital in Belleville. She was born Nov. 19, 1936, in Cape Girardeau. Norma was a member of Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Belleville. She was an avid card player and achieved the Life Master Bridge status in 2002...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- James Ray Houston, 80, of Marble Hill died Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to service time today at Liley Funeral Home in Marble Hill. The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. today at the funeral home, with the Rev. Fred Ritter officiating. Burial will follow in Bollinger County Memorial Park Cemetery near Marble Hill...

John D. Poston, 89, of St. Louis died Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, at St. Anthony De Graaff Hospice Center in St. Louis. He was born May 19, 1921, in Whitewater, to John L. and Lena Sprengel Poston. John grew up in Whitewater before working at Leming Lumber Co. ...

Suzanne Graham, 63, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, at her home. She was born June 21, 1947, in Leesville, La., to Howard and Frances Flood Ford. Graham was a respiratory therapist 18 years at Saint Francis Medical Center. She graduated from Cape Area Technical School and was an avid member of the Republican Party...

JONESBORO, Ill. — Robert O. Clark, 86, of Jonesboro died Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010, at his home. Rendleman and Hileman Funeral Home in Jonesboro is in charge of arrangements.

Cape Girardeau City Council members last night heard a request from the Chamber of Commerce to develop a plan to help alleviate flooding problems along Cape LaCroix Creek; with an estimated cost of as much as $50,000 to $100,000, city leaders question whether businessmen and property owners affected by the flooding would be willing to help pay for the cure...

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Thefts Firefighters responded to the following call Wednesday:...

GRAY SUMMIT, Mo. -- Two buses carrying high school band students to an amusement park Thursday slammed into a freeway wreck that happened right in front of them, crushing a pickup truck and killing its driver, as well as one of the students. The wreck occurred near Gray Summit, about 40 miles west of St. Louis...

BENTON, Mo. -- A Miner, Mo., teen charged with second-degree murder remains in jail under a $150,000 bond. The Sikeston Standard Democrat reported bond reduction was denied during a hearing held Wednesday before Scott County Associate Court Judge Scott T. Horman for Brianna Branson, 17. Her charges stem from a July 24 incident during which she is accused of hitting 18-year-old Kendra Gray with a vehicle on the 900 block of Westview. Gray was pronounced dead at the scene...

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Want to know the future of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem? Look first to its muddy, polluted past. The recent ecological history of the Gulf gives scientists reason for hope. In an extensive survey of Gulf of Mexico researchers by The Associated Press, at least 10 of them separately volunteered the same word to describe the body of water: "resilient."...

Route FF in Cape Girardeau County will continue to be closed for pipe replacement under the roadway. The first section of roadway is between Hartford Drive and Outer Road. This section will be done from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. The second section of roadway is between County Road 436 and Interstate 55. That section will be done from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday...

WASHINGTON -- Medicare is in better shape because of President Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul and the hospital fund for elderly Americans will stay afloat a dozen years longer than earlier forecast, the government said Thursday. But that depends on the program achieving big cost-cutting savings that even a top Medicare expert calls highly doubtful...

KALAM, Pakistan -- U.S. Army choppers flew their first relief missions in Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest Thursday, airlifting hundreds of stranded people to safety from a devastated tourist town and distributing emergency aid. In the country's south, authorities began evacuating half a million people as the worst monsoon rains in decades threatened new destruction...

At Thursday's Cape Girardeau County Commission meeting commissioners approved a contract with Jokerst Inc., of Ste. Genevieve, Mo., for grading improvements on County Roads 365 and 343. The contract is worth $134,082. Commissioners Paul Koeper and Jay Purcell both voted to approve the contract. Presiding commissioner Gerald Jones was not present at Thursday's meeting...

WASHINGTON -- Congress is moving rapidly just weeks before the start of the school year to speed billions of dollars in emergency education aid to states in hopes of reversing the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers. Some $10 billion in aid to school districts is set to flow after a 61-39 Senate vote Thursday -- to be followed quickly by a House vote next week -- in hopes that it will come in time for many school districts to reconsider teacher layoffs...

THURSDAY--Crispito with nacho cheese sauce or ham & cheese on bun, corn, pears. FRIDAY--Cheese or pepperoni pizza slice or turkey & cheese on bun, green beans, pink applesauce. MONDAY--Grilled cheese, tomato soup, pickle, fruit. TUESDAY--Fish sandwich, tater tots, fruit...

Pauly Shore has been tooling around middle America on his latest comedy tour and will soon make a stop in Southeast Missouri. Shore will perform Sunday at The Venue. Debbie Atchison, director of events at The Venue, said she's working with an agent who represents several comedians to plan a monthly or bimonthly comedy night. She said they were running down a list of people when the agent mentioned Shore...