Stories from Monday, October 10, 2011

OMAHA, Neb. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is likely to get an earful when it holds public meetings on its plan for managing the Missouri River next year because many people have criticized the way the agency handled this year's record flooding...

Ever wanted to get paid to go to church? That's exactly what church research firm Faith Perceptions has been doing at more than 115 churches over the past three years. Modeled after mystery shopper programs used by retailers and restaurants for years, Faith Perceptions, based in Cape Girardeau, has created a mystery worshipper program to provide data to churches about what first-time visitors really think...

Tracker spent time with some of his furry friends at the Humane Society's Bark in Park on Saturday. He had a great time passing out treats to his friends and meeting everyone.

The student organization of Free the Slaves has invited James Kofi Annan, one of Ghana's leading figures in his efforts to eradicate child trafficking and slavery in his homeland, to the Southeast campus. A former child slave himself, Annan is highly esteemed in the international community as a speaker and activist. ...

In Scott City and Meadow Heights schools, a common language is forming. Meadow Heights Elementary principal Donna Bristow said that throughout the day, the staff are hearing students use the phrases of that language, even without a teacher being present...

Over 180 athletes participated in the 3rd Annual Walk/Run for the Williams Syndrome Association on Saturday, October 1st, 2011 (hosted by Baer & Edington LLC at Litz Park in Jackson, MO). This event (always hosted on the first weekend of October) has more than tripled in participants in the last 3 years and donates 100% of its proceeds to aide those affected with Williams Syndrome, a genetic condition that is present at birth and can affect anyone...

Four people were arrested for their involvement in two incidents in which gunshots were fired early Sunday, police said. At 12:05 a.m., Cape Girardeau police responded to a call of shots fired at the Billiard Center, 26 N. Main St. A fight had broken out and shots were fired, but no one was hurt, police spokesman Darin Hickey said...

Three Cape Girardeau shootings that occurred in less than two months are unrelated, and police have had trouble making arrests in connection to the incidents. All three shootings occurred within a three-mile radius of each other and left their victims with minor injuries. ...

BENTON, Mo. -- The Scott County Genealogy and Historical Society is bringing six of Benton's most prominent citizens back to life. Set for 6 p.m. Saturday at the Benton Cemetery, "Spirits of Benton" will feature historical interpretations of the town's founder, William Myers, and other influential citizens of Benton and Scott County...

Brian Schaefer has performed in relative anonymity. That was until the Advance native and ex-Southeast Missouri State baseball standout landed a plum gig in a Hardee's commercial that recently flooded local airwaves for several weeks. Schaefer said he has been contacted by numerous people since the commercial, which he said will have a run of about two years and air in various parts of the country at different times, first was shown locally...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Investigators in Kansas City climbed through a window that parents said had been tampered with the night their 10-month-old daughter disappeared in an apparent attempt to re-enact an abduction. Lisa Irwin's parents reported her missing early Tuesday after her father returned home from work. Her parents said someone must have crept into their home while the child's mother and brothers slept and snatched the baby girl...

WHY all the hype over Facebook? You join it voluntarily. There is no reason why the government needs to be involved. If people don't like it, they should cancel it. Health care costs IT is a cardinal sin to see how fast health care costs are rising. I wish the Affordable Care Act would kick in sooner so that we can begin to get these costs under control...

O Heavenly Father, may our hearts always be at peace, trusting in you. Amen.

A new federal courthouse in Jefferson City, Mo., was recently dedicated to former U.S. senator Kit Bond. Bond, who helped secure the funding for the courthouse, is an appropriate choice for the building's namesake. Elected as the state's auditor and governor before becoming U.S. senator, a position he held for 24 years, Bond dedicated his career to serving the state of Missouri...

THAL, Austria -- For a day at least, Arnold Schwarzenegger could forget about his messy divorce and bask in the adulation of a sympathetic crowd. As an oompah band played, the action star-turned-politician inaugurated a museum dedicated to him in his native Austria, setting off cheers Friday as he pulled a string to unveil a bronze statue of a young Arnie flexing in the skintight trunks of his Mr. Universe days...

NEW YORK -- Bank tellers, restaurant workers and other service employees in New York lifted credit card data from residents and foreign tourists as part of an identity theft ring that stretched to China, Europe and the Middle East and victimized thousands, authorities said last week...

ATHENS, Greece -- With no warning, a few dozen students blocked a major avenue in central Athens, marching slowly up the middle of the street to make sure motorists couldn't get through. Tempers frayed, horns honked. A driver revved his engine, swerved suddenly and charged up the sidewalk, narrowly missing a woman who jumped out of the way in alarm...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- It was the eighth day of ousted Afghan parliamentarian Simeen Barakzai's hunger strike. Through chapped lips and in a rough voice, she said Sunday she would not drink or eat anything until President Hamid Karzai opened an investigation into vote fraud by the woman who has taken over her seat...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Marine crews were preparing Sunday for an operation to extract oil from a container ship that is stranded on a reef near New Zealand. The 775-foot Liberia-flagged Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef about 12 nautical miles from Tauranga Harbour early Wednesday, and has been foundering there since. The ship has been leaking fuel, leading to fears it could cause an environmental disaster if it breaks up further...

ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has lost some of his swagger. The Texas governor is campaigning in a more subdued and cautious tone after falling in polls in the wake of poor debate performances last month. The campaign's next debate is Tuesday...

WASHINGTON -- After two years on the unemployment rolls, Selena Forte thought she'd found a temporary job at a delivery company that matched her qualifications. But Forte, a 55-year-old from Cleveland, says a recruiter for an employment agency told her she would not be considered for the job because she had been out of work too long. She had lost her job driving a bus...

WASHINGTON -- An Energy Department adviser and former fundraiser for President Barack Obama pushed to make sure that a California solar company got a half-billion federal loan, despite pledging to recuse himself because his wife's law firm represented the company...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut officials are not giving up on requiring Internet sellers to collect state sales taxes, despite signs from online retailer Amazon.com that it has no immediate plans to abide by the state's new Internet tax law. State officials confirmed to The Associated Press that Amazon wrote the Department of Revenue Services this month, saying the company is not obligated to abide by the law because it does not have a physical presence in Connecticut. ...

Katie Cole has been hired as a home mortgage consultant at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Cape Girardeau. Cole is a 2002 graduate of Central High School. She graduated from McKendree University in Lebanon, Ill., in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. ...

LAMEZIA TERME, Italy -- Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday denounced the "inhuman" mafia that plagues southern Italy and urged residents there to respond to the region's suffering by caring for one another and the common good. Benedict made the comments while celebrating an open-air Mass in Lamezia Terme, in Calabria in the "toe" of boot-shaped Italy...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Several thousand Missouri residents with developmental disabilities could stand to benefit if state lawmakers can settle their differences and pass a bill creating new business incentives during a special legislative session...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri has started paying interest to the federal government for several hundred million dollars it has borrowed during the past couple years to provide unemployment benefits for state residents. Employers in Missouri paid a special assessment for the state to make its first $23 million interest payment to the federal government. ...

ST. LOUIS -- The latest effort to promote nature tourism in the area where the Mississippi and Missouri rivers converge is a $3.3 million bird-watching center. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported than more than $170 million from private and public sources has been spent on various nature tourism projects at the confluence. Those projects include the Jones-Confluence Point State Park, the National Great River Museum at Price Locks and Dam, and the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Migrating monarch butterflies are facing especially dire conditions this year as they pass through the Midwest on their yearly migration to northern Mexico. Chip Taylor, director of Lawrence-based Monarch Watch, said that in a normal year, butterflies visit a lot of flowers as they migrate south from their summer range, which stretches from New England to the Dakotas...

Gerald A. "Jerry" Fox, 68, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, in Buchanan, Tenn. Friends may call from 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Chapel in Cape Girardeau. Memorial services will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home...

Daughter to David L. and Dianna M. Boyer of Glenallen, Mo., Saint Francis Medical Center, 5:36 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011. Name, Adrianna Jane. Weight, 9 pounds, 5 ounces. Second daughter. Mrs. Boyer is the former Dianna Lukefahr, daughter of Penny Long and Danny and Tracy Lukefahr of Marble Hill, Mo. She is employed by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Boyer is the son of Kevin and Pam Boyer of Grassy, Mo. He is employed by Fronabarger Concreters Inc...

Authorities say no serious flooding problems have developed so far in Cape Girardeau, as a rare, early-fall flood crest moves downstream on the Mississippi River; the river crested at 38.9 feet in St. Louis, and is forecast to crest here Sunday at 42.5 feet...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Two people are in custody and law enforcement officers are searching for three other people in connection with $10, $20 and $50 counterfeit bills that began turning up in area businesses Thursday. Jailed in the Butler County Justice Center were Brynet Nicole Trice, 19, of Poplar Bluff and Darius Allen Robinson, 22, of Huntsville, Ala...

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DWI...

DWI...

You were correct in your Oct. 3 story about the prosecution of Thomas B. Evans Jr. for the murder of Woody Ervin in that you said that the investigation "remains open." It should remain open because there is a murderer who has not been apprehended. A Butler County jury heard the evidence and in 2 hours delivered a "not guilty" verdict...

The West won the Hieronymus Cup competition 23 1/2 to 16 1/2 on Sunday at Dalhousie Golf Club. The Missouri Golf Association event paired 20 of the top players from each side of the state in match-play competition in three formats -- 4-ball, alternate shot and singles. Ten players on each team were younger than 50, and 10 players were older than 50...

Roberta Sentel and Brenda Rendleman shot a two-day total of 135 to win the 40-team Rebecca's Run on Thursday at Dalhousie Golf Club. Sentel and Rendleman had rounds of 66 and 69. The first-day format was scramble, while the second-day format was a handicap best ball...

WASHINGTON -- The supercommittee is struggling. After weeks of secret meetings, the 12-member deficit-cutting panel established under last summer's budget and debt deal appears no closer to a breakthrough than when talks began last month. While the panel members themselves aren't doing much talking, other lawmakers, aides and lobbyists closely tracking the committee are increasingly skeptical, even pessimistic, that the panel will be able to meet its assigned goal of at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings over the next 10 years.. ...

As Steve Wright's combine rolls through golden fields of soybeans, he remembers crossing those same fertile fields in a boat just days after the Birds Point levee breach. "People that don't live here don't know what it means. It's not just a piece of ground. It's your heart and soul," said Wright, who manages Glen Hillhouse Farms near Wyatt, Mo...

Retailers may ring up more sales this holiday season, but it doesn't appear they'll be hiring more seasonal workers. Seasonal retail jobs are expected to be about the same as or possibly lower than last year. This could be due in part because retailers have been adding jobs throughout the last year. About 100,000 jobs have been added since last August, according to the National Retail Federation...