Stories from Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Route W in Cape Girardeau County is reduced to one lane today, allowing Missouri Department of Transportation crews to make drainage repairs. This section of road is from Perryville Road to South Street. Weather permitting, the work should be completed by 4:30 p.m. The work zone is marked with signs, and motorists are urged to use extreme caution while traveling near the area. For additional information, contact the MoDOT's Customer Service Center at 888-275-6636...

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon will be in Mississippi County this afternoon to survey the progress being made to rebuild sections of the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway levee that were intentionally breached in May. He will also inspect flood damage at Big Oak Tree State Park in East Prairie, Mo...

A friend close of Stan and Ruby Rawson, the parents of a missing area woman, announced late Wednesday the pair would be appearing Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America." Laura Helbig said in a news release that the Rawsons will be interviewed by George Stephanopoulos...

A bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Jay Nixon has called into question the future of a proposed 76-acre quarry near Fruitland that already faces fierce opposition by residents and the nearby Saxony Lutheran High School.

THEBES, Ill. -- A former city police officer was arrested by the Illinois State Police Friday on suspicion of inappropriate conduct while on duty, according to a news release sent by the state police Tuesday.

Jacque Sue Waller's family returned to court Tuesday in Cape Girardeau, where a judge continued to deny visitation rights to the father of Waller's children. Cheryl Brenneke, Waller's sister, said she and her husband still have temporary custody of the Jacque Waller's three 5-year-olds. Clay Waller, her estranged husband and person of interest in her disappearance, has no visitation rights. They'll all return for another hearing Oct. 19...

A tougher economy and an aging group of volunteers has Jackson Homecomers organizer Linda Penzel focused on doing things a little different this year as the weeklong event nears. The 103rd annual Jackson Homecomers is set for July 26 through July 30 in Jackson's uptown square...

Dory Johnson was removed Tuesday night as chairwoman of the Cape Girardeau County Board for Developmental Disabilities, a vote that was followed by the resignation of one board member and another saying she was seriously considering following suit. In an election that was preceded by no board comment on the matter, Larry Tidd beat out Johnson on a 3-2 vote in which both nominees abstained. ...

The former Southeast Missouri State standout is encountering success in professional baseball

After about four hours of relative darkness, power was restored to almost all of the more than 1,500 Ameren Missouri customers in the Cape Girardeau area who were without power Tuesday evening. The National Weather Service said temperatures were in excess of 95 degrees with a heat index of 111 degrees.

Midnight is a sweet female 3 year old Pit mix available for adoption at The Humane Society, 573-334-5837. See more available pets at www.semopets.org

Rain gardens, shade trees and pedestrian promenades could soon line Broadway, changing the street from a rundown roadway to a flourishing city center once planners finalize their designs for the planned Broadway corridor project slated for completion in December 2012...

Wizards and Muggles had a blast during the Harry Potter Pre-party at Discovery Playhouse! The children's museum hosted a variety of activities including fortune telling and potion making!

DEXTER, Mo. -- If Rep. Billy Pat Wright has his way, Caylee's Law will become part of Missouri statues during the next legislative session. A petition in support of states adopting Caylee's Law across the nation has been circulating on the Internet and has gained the support of more than a million since Casey Anthony's Florida acquittal on charges of murdering her two-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2008...

PARIS -- France's foreign minister said Tuesday Paris has had contact with emissaries from Moammar Gadhafi who say the embattled Libyan strongman is "prepared to leave" power. It was not immediately clear whether such an offer is credible or amounts to a potential breakthrough in the Libyan crisis. But Gadhafi has refused to leave or give up power...

WASHINGTON -- How many government bureaucrats does it take to screw in a light bulb? A lot of House Republicans think the answer should be "none." They say the government should just stay out of it. To them, those curly fluorescent light bulbs are the last straw, another example of an overreaching government that's forcing people to buy health insurance, prodding them to get more fuel-efficient cars and sticking its nose into too many places it doesn't belong...

WASHINGTON -- With compromise talks at a standstill, Senate Republicans unexpectedly offered Tuesday to hand President Barack Obama new powers to avert a first-ever government default threatened for Aug. 2. Under a proposal outlined by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Obama could request increases of up to $2.5 trillion in the government's borrowing authority in three separate installments over the next year as long as he simultaneously proposed spending cuts of greater size...

Cheese is one food item I don't think I have ever devoted an entire column to. Sometimes cheese served simply is the best, with a cracker variety or homemade rolls. Cheese can be the star of a recipe or a complement ingredient that adds to the main attraction. However, cheese is delicious and deserving of its own column. Today it is all about cool and refreshing or warm and comforting cheese...

Dr. Karen Hendrickson, SoutheastHEALTH vice president and chief nursing officer, retired earlier this month after a distinguished career as a nurse, administrator and education pioneer. Hendrickson, who has been at the helm of the nursing department since 1982, first started at Southeast in 1966 when she helped set up the hospital's first intensive care unit. She was also instrumental in the development of the hospital's open heart surgery program...

Clara J. Cattron, 78, of Jackson passed away Tuesday, July 12, 2011, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 31, 1932, in Wynne, Ark., daughter of Everett and Sue Hatchett Burton. She and Lowen H. Cattron were married Aug. 29, 1952...

BRAZEAU, Mo. -- Edna S. Weinhold, 92, of Brazeau died Monday, July 11, 2011, at Perry Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation. She was born Sept. 7, 1918, in Altenburg, Mo., daughter of Alfred C. and Theresia Hunt Meinz. She and Oscar Weinhold were married Dec. 26, 1942. He preceded her in death Nov. 8, 1974...

Dora Lucille Powers, 88, of Scott City passed away peacefully at her home Tuesday, July 12, 2011. She was born Feb. 13, 1923, in Litchfield, Ill., to Connie and Minnie Rogers Johnson. She married her beloved Joseph Paul Powers on Aug. 1, 1941, in Lebanon, Missouri. He passed away Nov. 15, 1972...

Plans to add 6,500 square feet to the 32,000-square-foot Universal Physique Fitness and Racquet Center in the Holiday Inn here and to renovate the inn have been announced by Doug and Lisa Friese, owners of the fitness center, and MidAmerica Hotels Corp...

Son to Neal and Melissa Essner of Dubuque, Iowa, Finley Hospital, 12:01 p.m. Monday, June 13, 2011. Name, Dylan Francis. Weight, 6 pounds, 1 ounce. First child. Mrs. Essner is the former Melissa Enderle, daughter of David and LaDeva Enderle of Cape Girardeau. Essner is the son of Jerome and Beverly Essner of Kelso, Mo. He is a design engineer with John Deere Dubuque Works...

Susie J. Thompson, 59, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, June 27, 2011, at Ratliff Care Center. There was no service. Announcement courtesy of McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.

Earlie Mae Ramey, 66, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, July 7, 2011, at her home. Friends may call from noon to service time Saturday at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Marston, Mo. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the church. Burial will be in Simmons Park Cemetery at Catron, Mo...

There are but two guarantees locked into the "grand bargain" deal proposed by President Obama to end the debt ceiling stalemate. First, the taxes he proposes will be with the American people for all eternity; second, the cuts he proposes will most likely be undone by future members of Congress...

KENNETT, Mo. -- The Kennett Police Department, along with the Dunklin County Major Case Squad and the Dunklin County Sheriff's Department, is investigating a homicide in Kennett. According to the Kennett Police department, at 11:47 p.m. Monday, officers were dispatched to the 1100 block of Astrachan Street to investigate a report of someone being shot...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Highway 77 in Scott County will be reduced to one lane today and Thursday while Missouri Department of Transportation crews make shoulder repairs along the roadway. This section of road is between the Scott/Cape Girardeau County line and U.S. 61. Weather permitting, work will be done from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily...

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

Firefighters responded to the following calls Monday:...

CAIRO, Ill. -- A Cairo man's trial was canceled this week after he pleaded guilty to shooting Jeserick Pilgram of Mounds, Ill., last July. Melvin Hadley, 28, pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter, according to Alexander County State's Attorney Jeff Farris...

We believe, O Lord Jesus, that through your grace we will be healed. Amen.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- It's goodbye mobile classroom, hello new library for students at one Perry County school. Work has stalled on the renovation of the sixth-grade pod lower level, a former shop classroom, which will soon become the Perryville Middle School library. That project is expected to be wrapped up by Dec. 1, just in time for the expiration of the district's three-year lease with Jim's Mobile Offices...

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball players Zach House and Nick Niemczyk have been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court. The NABC Honors Court recognizes college basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the 2010-11 school year...

CAIRO -- The tens of thousands of Egyptians whose chants for faster change are ringing through Cairo's Tahrir Square months after they brought down Hosni Mubarak got a stern warning Tuesday from the ruling generals not to disrupt daily life in what some activists are calling a second revolution...

Big on ideas but short on space? Maximize your yard's potential by growing up -- not out -- with vertical gardening. Long a staple in Europe, vertical gardening is blooming among U.S. landscapers, designers and home gardeners looking to transform skinny side yards, bitty balconies and cramped courtyards into living, breathing masterpieces...

According to a news release from the city of Jackson, routes for this week's Clean-up/Fix-up Week will begin earlier in the day due to forecast high temperatures for the area. Residents who are participating need to have all trash at the curb by 6 a.m. on their regularly scheduled collection day. More information on the program and rules are available by calling the sanitation department at 243-2333...

David Huffman, who recently completed his senior year at Central, will play defensive end in Saturday's Missouri Lions all-star football game at Central Missouri State in Warrensburg, Mo. The game, which features 70 graduating seniors from around the state, kicks off at 7:30 p.m...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Chaffee Fire Chief Sam Glency and the Missouri State Fire Marshal's Office have left the cause of a fatal June 22 house fire undetermined. Glency said Tuesday the fire at 121 Black Ave., started in the living room, but fire investigators couldn't determine what exactly caused it. There was no accelerant detected

CHICAGO -- Should parents of extremely obese children lose custody for not controlling their children's weight? A commentary in one of the nation's most distinguished medical journals argues yes, and its authors are joining a quiet chorus of advocates who say the government should be allowed to intervene in extreme cases...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Standing in the front yard of her former childhood home, Claudia Boyce looks across the street to the site of the wooden-framed Methodist church where people had gathered along the banks of the Missouri River since 1878. There's no trace of it now. Gone, too, is her family's yellow, two-story home, the Baptist church to her right, the row of neighbors' homes to her left, even most of the trees.