Stories from Monday, June 25, 2012

CAIRO, Ill. -- Traffic on the Ohio River bridge between Cairo and Wickliffe, Ky., will be restricted to one lane during daylight hours this week, allowing a contractor to do maintenance and electrical work on the span. Motorists can expect to encounter one lane traffic with alternating flow controlled by flaggers from approximately 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., today through Thursday...

A 12-inch water main will be replaced at Main and Park streets in Cape Girardeau today by the Public Works Department's Water Division. Detours will be set up around the area, and drivers are asked to use caution or use alternate routes. Work should be completed today, barring unforeseen complications. The streets will be open for traffic this evening...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Gov. Jay Nixon wants federal agriculture officials to determine whether heat and drought conditions are taking a toll on Missouri's crops and livestock. The National Climatic Data Center says moderate drought conditions persist across nearly 87 percent of Missouri. And extreme drought conditions exist in southeast Missouri...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court struck down key provisions of Arizona's crackdown on immigrants Monday but said a much-debated portion on checking suspects' status could go forward. The court did not throw out the state provision requiring police to check the immigration status of someone they suspect is in the United States illegally. Even there, though, the justices said the provision could be subject to additional legal challenges...

A collision on a narrow bridge in Cape Girardeau County sent one man to the hospital with moderate injuries early Sunday morning. About 1:25 a.m., Jordan R. Picker, 32, of Cape Girardeau was westbound in a Jeep Wrangler on County Road 318, two miles south of Jackson, when his Jeep collided with an eastbound Dodge pickup on a narrow bridge, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report...

BENTON, Mo. -- No one was injured when fire destroyed one home, two vehicles and several outbuildings near Benton on Sunday afternoon. About 1 p.m., a grass fire erupted at 339 Shady Branch Road, then spread to a nearby home, said NBC Fire Protection District Capt. David Wilhelm...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- A Dexter, Mo., woman pled guilty Wednesday to felony stealing after being accused of stealing nearly $500,000. Kathy Ellsworth, 48, is accused of forging what is currently believed to be a total of $485,000 in checks from her employer...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Finding a summer job isn't as easy as it used to be for teenagers. "In the situation now, the economy is not very good, and the teens that normally had the jobs have adults competing against them -- for any kind of job," said Eugene Myracle, functional leader for Missouri Career Center in Sikeston...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the former presidential candidate and favorite of the tea party movement, will be in Cape Girardeau on Friday to try to persuade voters that Ed Martin should be Missouri's next attorney general. On Sunday, Martin, a Republican, said that he chose Cape Girardeau because its residents tend to have core, conservative values that align with both his and Perry's, who has been governor of the Lone Star State since 2000 and ran for the Republican nomination for president in late 2011 and early 2012. ...

About 120 people defied Sunday's heat to take part in a celebration 200 years in the making. As the afternoon high temperature approached 97, generations of Cape Girardeau residents sat in shade from the massive trees in Old Lorimier Cemetery to hear the stories surrounding the establishment of the city during the Louis Lorimier Bicentennial Commemorative Celebration...

The Oran High School Alumni Reunion was held June 9 at the Oran Knights of Columbus Hall. Many former students and teachers attended. President of the Oran Alumni, Cleda Curtis Neal, presented the business for the evening and master of ceremony was Rodney Legrand. Pictured are members from the Oran High School Class of 1942 celebrating their 70th meeting. From left Pat Howell Uptain, Ralph Heisserer and Ann Glueck...

Jim Tilghman, a pharmacist with Broadway Prescription Shop for eleven years, recently completed training with the Missouri Pharmacy Association to administer immunizations. He and pharmacist Kevin Wood provide immunizations for some of the most common conditions, including: Zostavax for Shingles, Pneumovax for Pneumonia, and Influenza for Flu. Additional vaccines are available as needed...

Scott County 4-H members attended the 2012 State 4-H Congress, May 30th - June 1st in Columbia, MO. Front Row L-R: Jameea King, Mackenzie Hutson, Rachel Birk, Jordan Collins, and Aaron Birk. Second Row L-R: Adam Branion, Rosie Davis(chaperone) Jim Lichtenegger(chaperone), Hayley Hutson, Tori Vetter, and Caleb Birk...

You'd think that the halls would be quiet at school during the summer, but that's not true at Perryville Elementary School where children from all over Perry County are enjoying Camp Curiosity. The 4-week program is for children in Grades K-4 and offers activities from exercise and swimming to artwork and science experiments...

The area could now be in violation of the Environmental Protection Agency's eight-hour ozone standard after two high readings this month. The ozone monitor in Farrar, Mo., exceeded the standard of 75 parts per billion two times during June, according to data collected by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources...

What happens at city hall often affects home owners and, thus, the real estate agents who market and sell those homes. That is the premise which motivated the Cape Girardeau County Board of REALTORS to form a Government Affairs Committee. Reviewing and making recommendations on Cape Girardeau's proposed ordinance governing rental properties is one of the committee's first orders of business. ...

All signs point to a shortage of nurses and other health care professionals coming to Southeast Missouri. Regional educational institutions with programs in health care study are facing maxed-out resources. Qualified faculty to teach nursing courses are becoming increasingly more difficult to find, and slots for students to participate in clinicals at area hospitals and other health care facilities are full...

The St. Vincent girls soccer team didn't even make it out of district play, but that didn't stop the state's coaches from honoring the Indians. Senior Kayla Seabaugh was named the Class 1 player of the year by the Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association, while teammate and fellow senior Storm French repeated as the Class 1 defensive player of the year...

Today is Monday, June 25, the 177th day of 2012. There are 189 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 25, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Engel v. Vitale, ruled 6-1 that recitation of a state-sponsored prayer in New York State public schools was unconstitutional...

O Heavenly Father, please watch over our comings and goings. Amen.

CHICAGO -- Gillian Flynn's third novel, "Gone Girl," is the perfect beach read -- boy meets girl, boy marries girl, girl goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary. The boy is Nick, who grew up in a Mississippi River town in Missouri and became a magazine writer in New York, where he meets the beautiful and bright Amy. The mystery unfolds in dueling chapters, one from Nick's point of view, then one from Amy...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Authorities say a 10-year-old Kansas City girl who weighed just 32 pounds was found locked in a closet that reeked of urine. Prosecutors filed charges of assault and child abuse and endangerment against the girl's 29-year-old mother Saturday in Jackson County Circuit Court. The Associated Press is not naming the mother to protect the child's identity...

Gov. John D. Ashcroft intends to grant Southeast Missouri State University the full amount of state funding contained in a legislative appropriations measure, but will defer 3 percent of it in case state revenue run short. An isolated, slow-moving thunderstorm yesterday afternoon dumped about 1 1/2 inches of rain in the central business district of Cape Girardeau, temporarily flooding some major street intersections along Broadway and Independence Street...

Jodi Payne recently joined the staff of Belladona Salon & Spa. She is a stylist and nail technician at the City Centre location. Denae Nagel has joined the team at Jones Drug Store in uptown Jackson and Twin City Pharmacy in Marble Hill, Mo. Nagel has 10 years of experience in pharmacy and four years as a pharmacist. She is a graduate of Jackson High School and St. Louis College of Pharmacy with a doctor of pharmacy...

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, the Jackson Chamber of Commerce and the Cape Area Magnet will host a Business to Business Vendor Fair from 2 to 5 p.m. Wednesday. The event will be held at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau. The event will provide a format for area businesses to visit with some of the larger employers and learn more about how they might be able to do business with those organizations, said Tracey Glenn, vice president of organization and leadership development at the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Patience was more than just a virtue for the St. Louis Cardinals during an enjoyable three-game visit to Kansas City. Patience also was key in producing 41 hits, 30 runs and a three-game sweep of the shell-shocked Royals, who had won two out of three the previous weekend in St. Louis...

Nick Wilson never led during the first 24 holes of Sunday's championship match in the 105th Missouri Amateur at Dalhousie Golf Club. That didn't prevent Wilson from winning his first Missouri Amateur title. He slipped past defending champion Skip Berkmeyer 2 and 1 in a thrilling final...

The Plaza Tire Capahas completed a perfect weekend Sunday by rolling past the host Perryville Longhorns 12-3.

Looking for a change, Rick Cuba left his career in manufacturing to become a financial planner in the early 1980s. He opened the Cuba Financial Group in Cape Girardeau in 1983 and his son Tyler joined him in 2009. The father and son now work together to help clients plan for their futures...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Adding more good charter schools and getting rid of bad ones is the goal of legislation under consideration by Gov. Jay Nixon. The publicly funded but independently run schools have been a mixed bag of success and failure since they began opening more than a decade ago in the state...

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

Firefighters responded to the following calls Friday:...

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

CLARKTON, Mo. — Mary Ann Williams, 62, of Clarkton, formerly of Tamms, Ill., died Saturday, June 23, 2012, at home. Arrangements were incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms.

MOOREHOUSE, Mo. -- Patricia Staggs Turner, 65, of Moorehouse, Mo. was called into heaven Saturday, June 23, 2012, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. Patricia was born March 17, 1947, in Sikeston to the late Leon Alfred Cantrell and Frankie Mae Haley. She is survived by a son, Robert McGrane of St. Louis; a sister, Lisa Ellison of Scott City; two grandchildren; a niece; and several nephews...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Stella M. Fassold, 88, of Perryville died Saturday, June 23, 2012, at St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis. Stella was born Aug. 23, 1923, in Perryville, daughter of Clarence and Olivia Charvaux Pecaut. She and Harry W. Fassold were married June 8, 1957. He preceded her in death April 27, 1993...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Velta Rosalee Douglas, 68, of Marble Hill passed away Saturday, June 23, 2012, at Woodland Hills in Marble Hill. Velta was born Aug. 20, 1943, at St. Louis, daughter of Clarence and Lona Abernathy Douglas. She had retired from VIP Industries...

ASUNCION, Paraguay -- Ousted Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo fought back Sunday against the politicians who engineered his dismissal, setting up an alternative government and pledging to upstage Paraguay's new leaders at an upcoming regional summit...

CAIRO -- Islamist Mohammed Morsi was declared the winner Sunday in Egypt's first free presidential election in history, closing the tumultuous first phase of a democratic transition and opening a new struggle with the still-dominant military rulers who recently stripped the presidency of most of its powers...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A national civil rights group said Sunday it would appeal a federal judge's decision to uphold an Indiana law that bans registered sex offenders from accessing Facebook and other social networking sites used by children. On Friday, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt said in an 18-page order that the state has a strong interest in protecting children and that the rest of the Internet remains open to those who have been convicted...

WASHINGTON -- From Cape Hatteras, N.C., to just north of Boston, sea levels are rising much faster than they are around the globe, putting one of the world's most costly coasts in danger of flooding, government researchers report. U.S. Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile swath a "hot spot" for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. ...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- With their elderly parents seated across the octagonal oak table, Donna and Jim Parker were back in the kitchen they knew so well -- the hutch along one wall crammed with plates, bells and salt-and-pepper shakers picked up during family trips; at the table's corner, the spindly wooden high chair where a 7-year-old Jim had tearfully confessed to setting a neighbor's woods ablaze...

MIAMI -- Slow-moving Tropical Storm Debby's outer bands lashed Florida with rain and kicked up rough surf off Alabama on Sunday, prompting storm warnings for those states and causing at least one death. The death in Florida was blamed on a tornado spawned by the storm, while a man went missing in the Gulf of Mexico at an Alabama beach...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Wildfires moved in on some of Colorado's most popular summer tourist destinations over the weekend, destroying nearly two dozen homes near Rocky Mountain National Park and emptying hotels and campgrounds at the base of Pikes Peak...

The two former Southeast Missouri State baseball stars from local high schools who were selected in this year's major league amateur draft both had impressive professional debuts last week. Shae Simmons, a Scott City High School graduate who was the Atlanta Braves' 22nd-round draft pick, notched the win Thursday when the Gulf Coast League Braves defeated the Gulf Coast League Phillies 5-3...

I'M very upset with the removal of Randy Morris Jr. by a couple of these board members. I've never voted during the election for the fire board members, but you can bet I'll be voting this next time. Have others noticed the prices at the store? I just can't get over the rise in prices and everything. May the Lord help us all...

UNIONVILLE, Mo. (AP) -- Maureen Riordan's family barely spoke about the plane crash that killed her father when she was just 11. Same for Ronnie Cook, a Missouri soybean farmer who as a high school junior was among the first on the scene when Continental Airlines Flight 11 went down 50 years ago just south of the Iowa border...

NAME: Rick Vandeven AGE: 40 PLACE OF BIRTH: Cape Girardeau, MO SPOUSE, CHILDREN'S NAMES: Darlene - wife Autumn, Amber, Rori Beth - daughters EDUCATION: Some college OCCUPATION: Technician EMPLOYER: Paper Industry BUSINESSES OWNED, ALL OR PART: I do not have the nerve or the resources to navigate the erroneous, manifold regulations and tax codes that the State places on businesses to own a productive endeavor, all or part...

NAME: Jim Higgins AGE: 63 PLACE OF BIRTH: Cleveland, OH SPOUSE, CHILDREN'S NAMES: Spouse: LaDonna Children: Maureen, Sonya EDUCATION: BS Civil Engineering from Ohio University OCCUPATION: Computer Systems Analysts EMPLOYER: Olin Corporation BUSINESSES OWNED, ALL OR PART: none...

NAME: John F. Johnson Jr. AGE: 61 PLACE OF BIRTH: cape girardeau mo. SPOUSE'S, CHILDREN'S NAMES: Patricia D. Johnson EDUCATION: B.S. Degree Agronomy University Columbia Missouri OCCUPATION: Farmer EMPLOYER: self BUSINESSES OWNED, ALL OR PART: Baker Hill Farm...

NAME: Charles W. Kullmann AGE: 91 PLACE OF BIRTH: St. Louis, MO SPOUSE, CHILDREN'S NAMES: Bernice (deceased) children are Charles, MaryJane, Barbara, William, Eugene and Catherine EDUCATION: Post-graduate work, Doctorate of Jurisprudence (attorney at law), Eight earned college degrees, taught college courses in business and finance at night for 48 years...

NAME: Donna S. Lichtenegger AGE: 61 PLACE OF BIRTH: St. Louis, Missouri SPOUSE'S, CHILDREN'S NAMES: Husband John Lichtenegger. Children Brent Lichtenegger and Leigh Flanagan. Brent is married to Michelle Birk, children Kaleb, Garrett & Hannah. Leigh is married to Kevin Flanagan w/children Ryan and Lindsey Grace...

Travis Adon "Oogie" Russell, 83, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, June 20, 2012, at Ratliff Care Center. He was born Oct. 27, 1928, in East Prairie, Mo., to Alfred Young and Edna Lee Speers Russell. He and Florence M. Willis were married March 16, 1994, at Bell City, Mo...

The River Campus is beautiful both inside and out, a community beacon since its opening in 2003. But the River Campus' charm is exponentially enhanced by the talent that wafts and weaves within. It is the art, the voice, the dance and the music that adds value, and a distinct quality of life, to our city...