Stories from Monday, November 25, 2013

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Federal officials used a guilty plea last week by a former Jackson County Circuit Court administrator as a springboard to announce a new telephone hotline people can call to report public corruption. Former administrator Teresa York pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of mail fraud, admitting that she used credit cards issued by the court for nearly $78,000 in unauthorized purchases. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri businesses will pay higher unemployment taxes next year in order to pay down a state debt to the federal government. Missouri began borrowing from the federal government in 2008 to pay jobless benefits after an economic downturn drained the state's unemployment benefits trust fund. That debt has remained outstanding for several years...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri continues to lag behind the national average for seat belt use. The Department of Transportation says seat belt use has remained stagnant at 79 percent compared to the nationwide average of 85 percent. Use among Missouri teens increased by a single percentage point from 66 percent to 67 percent...

MACON, Mo. -- For the moment, hunters in northeast Missouri weren't thinking about the ominous threat of the future that came in the form of a contagious, deadly disease among deer. The discovery of Chronic Wasting Disease put the region on the map. for all the wrong reasons. The region once was best known as Missouri's deer-hunting capital; a block of counties where both deer and hunters were abundant...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The U.S. was in the throes of the Great Depression when Missouri legislators decided to impose a 4 percent tax on personal income over $9,000 as a means of funding state government. That decision has stood for decades, even as it has become increasingly outdated...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Museum officials announced this week that the Stars and Stripes Museum/Library will cease one of its longtime fundraisers. As of Jan. 1, the museum will no longer accept orders for memorial bricks. Sue Tippen, who serves on the museum board, said the bricks still will be available for a few more weeks, but after that, they will be gone for good...

ST. LOUIS -- The only time the brother vs. brother subplot got really physical was when Chris Long played the role of peacemaker. Racing off the sideline where he'd taken a play off, the St. Louis Rams defensive end rescued a teammate and dragged Chicago Bears guard Kyle Long out of a first-half fracas before it could escalate...

Temperatures will be chilly, but roads should be clear for Southeast Missouri drivers traveling for Thanksgiving, a National Weather Service spokesman said Sunday. Dave Purdy, a meteorological technician for the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., said the holiday weekend should be colder than normal but clear and sunny...

Christmas events that have become annual area traditions will be on display when the 22nd annual Parade of Lights and the Jackson Jaycee Foundation Christmas Parade hit the streets in December. The Parade of Lights, hosted by Old Town Cape, is scheduled to roll through downtown Cape Girardeau at 5 p.m., or as soon as dusk arrives, on Dec. 1...

"I just felt like I was called to this. God has blessed me with the ability to get out and race and enjoy it, and I just want to share that with others -- enable people like Becki to know what it's like to have the wind in their face." -- Tiffiney Smith of Jackson...

Scott City High School is working toward an agreement with Mineral Area College to offer a variety of dual credit courses. If all goes well, classes could be available in January, principal Mike Johnson said. Dual credit classes allow students to earn college credit while in high school. Classes are taught by high school teachers qualified to teach college courses, said Julie Downs, dual-credit coordinator at Mineral Area College...

Area stores are turning on holiday music, decorating for Christmas and preparing for the holiday shopping season -- particularly Black Friday. The Friday after Thanksgiving is known as the kick off of holiday shopping as crowds of shoppers wake up early, or stay up late, to score deep discounts on merchandise...

US Bank donated $2000.00 to the Southeast Health Foundation to help fund the Healthcare Professional Education Program. Pictured left to right: Steve Green- Market President, US Bank; Donna McLain- Development Specialist, Southeast Health Foundation; Pete Poe- President of Foundation Board, Southeast Health Foundation...

SSG Daniel Seals, recently from action in Afghanistan,presenting an American Flag that was carried on multiple Special Operations in Afghanistan to Navy SEABEE Veteran Thomas M. Meyer for his support with active Military and local Veterans. Tom Gaines , Army Veteran assisting SSG Seals...

It was cold fishing at Montauk State Park this past weekend. Here is a picture of the water freezing to the plants along the Current River.

"Christmas in the Valley" Bigger and Better This Season Santa is coming to Arcadia Valley in Southeast Missouri and he will find a week long series of events celebrating his arrival. Starting on Black Friday, November 29 to Sunday, December 8, there will be free and affordable fun choices for the whole family...

Today is Monday, Nov. 25, the 329th day of 2013. There are 36 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Nov. 25, 1963, the body of President John F. Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery; his widow, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, lighted an "eternal flame" at the gravesite...

If you haven't started Christmas shopping, you likely will in the coming weeks. It's a festive time of year. Decorations. Gift giving. Gatherings with family and friends. The holidays are a time of joy. While many of us will enjoy the coming weeks, it's important not to forget about animals -- including those in area shelters...

Say it ain't so, Joe. Did Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand say on ABC's Sunday show "This Week": "We all knew" in reference to President Obama's false promise that we could keep our present health care plans, period? Does this mean she and her ilk conspired to lie to the American public? How much more must we suffer before the truth is borne out? Maybe Little Rock's resident Democratic columnist Gene Lyons could spin this one also...

We all must respect each others' personal space and allow them the freedom to do what they want to do with it. Sometimes we must struggle for our own rights within our space. Children in school need to be told this. Did you notice the tweet from National Review's Jonah Golberg on "60 Minutes'" recent story on Benghazi? He said the story proved what the conservative media had been alleging all along. ...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Federal inspectors have found no issues with the care of an elephant that killed a zookeeper last month in Springfield. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates zoos under the Animal Welfare Act, released a report last week that found "no noncompliant items," the Springfield News-Leader reported. Inspectors went to the zoo last month to examine the care and management of the 41-year-old female elephant named Patience who crushed John Bradford...

LOS ANGELES -- Dennis Rodman is at the top of a list no one wants to be on. He's been named GQ's No. 1 least influential celebrity of 2013. The 52-year-old former basketball player who has visited Kim Jong Un in North Korea was selected as the top pick in the magazine's third annual list of the least influential celebrities, which also includes twerking pop star Miley Cyrus, President Barack Obama, and celebrity chef Paula Deen. ...

NEWTON, Ill. -- Tiny Newton swaddles itself in all things Burl Ives, the folksy Oscar-winning actor who hailed from around the Illinois farm town of 2,850 near Effingham. The Embarras River bridge bearing his name is along the way to the rural graveyard where since 1995 he's spending eternity, and there's a push to raise $35,000 to pay for an Ives memorial on the town square...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- When the Dairy Queen opened in Anchorage in 2006, it was big news. People stood in a line that stretched for two blocks just to get an ice cream cone, and drive-thru traffic backed up just as long. Residents weren't just excited about the treats. They were elated that the Dairy Queen was in the city at all...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Rose C. Triller, 78, of Perryville died Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. She was born July 5, 1935, in Perry County, daughter of Herman and Florine Lappe Winkler. She married Gilbert Triller on Feb. 11, 1956, in Perryville. He survives...

James M. Cline, 83, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, at Saint Francis Medical Center. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at McLaren's Resthaven Chapel in West Des Moines, Iowa. Parish prayers will be at 7 p.m. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the chapel, with the Rev. John Ludwig officiating. Burial will be at Cumming Cemetery in Cumming, Iowa, with full military honors...

Veda Wilma Berry Clark, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013, at her home. She was born Nov. 19, 1928, in Madison County, Mo., to Oby and Gladys Midkiff Berry. She and Harley Delmar Clark were married April 7, 1945, at Newburn, Tenn. Veda and her family lived in Fredericktown, Mo., until 1963, when they moved to Cape Girardeau. ...

ZALMA, Mo. -- Clinton E. Carlton, 90, of Zalma passed away Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, at his home. He was born Nov. 22, 1923, at Greenbrier, Mo., the son of Otto and Opal Guthrie Carlton. Clinton retired after 32 1/2 years as a gas serviceman for Union Electric. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army as a medic from 1943 to 1946. He was a member of Ladd Chapel Church and the VFW No. 3838 in Cape Girardeau. He loved woodworking, hunting and fishing...

Verna E. Best, 87, of Gordonville died Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, at Jackson Manor in Jackson. She was born Sept. 11, 1926, in Friedheim to Arthur and Anna Dickman Ruesler. She and Marvin Best were married Feb. 6, 1949, at Friedheim. She was an active member of the Evangelical United Church of Christ in Cape Girardeau and its Mary Martha Circle. Verna worked at the Jackson Hosiery Mill and lived and worked on the family farm 64 years...

Free agent shortstop Jhonny Peralta and the St. Louis Cardinals have agreed on a four-year contract, giving the All-Star a fresh start after his Biogenesis drug suspension last summer. The Cardinals filled a need by getting a top-hitting shortstop a month after losing the World Series in six games to Boston. Pete Kozma and Daniel Descalso, while generally good fielders, are light hitters...

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls Saturday:...

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

KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai cast fresh doubt on the future presence of thousands of American and allied forces on Sunday by rejecting a recommendation by an Afghan assembly of dignitaries to quickly sign a long-delayed security pact with the United States...

SOROK ISLAND, South Korea -- Kang Sun Bong once considered this tiny island a "hell on earth," a place where hospital workers beat the leprosy patients exiled here and forced them into harsh labor, sterilizations and abortions. But three years ago, old, sick and broke, Kang returned to the place to which he'd been banished with his mother decades ago...

WASHINGTON -- For 51 years of war and peace, Republicans and Democrats rallied around a bill to pay the troops, buy ships and aircraft and set military policy. Last week, the Senate couldn't even agree on votes. Under pressure from President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was determined to avoid a vote on adding a new batch of tough penalties against Iran to the National Defense Authorization Act as negotiators held nuclear talks in Switzerland. ...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A prosecutor is planning to release a report Monday on the investigation into the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but the public will have to wait longer for the state police's full accounting of the crime. The decision to continue withholding the bulk of the evidence is stirring new criticism of the secrecy that has surrounded the probe since a gunman killed 20 children and six educators inside the school on Dec. 14...

NEW YORK -- This holiday season, Americans may not spend their green unless they see more red. Despite signs that the economy is improving, big store chains like Wal-Mart and Kohl's don't expect Americans to have much holiday shopping cheer unless they see bold, red signs that offer huge discounts. As a result, shoppers are seeing big sales events earlier and more often than in previous holiday seasons...

WASHINGTON -- With their destination and mission among America's closest guarded secrets, the small group of officials hand-picked by President Obama boarded a military plane in March. The travel plans of the U.S. diplomats and foreign policy advisers were not on any public itineraries. No reception greeted them as they landed. But awaiting the Americans in the remote and ancient Gulf sultanate of Oman was the reason for all the secrecy: a delegation of Iranians ready to meet them...

OXFORD, Miss. -- A federal judge has denied a motion for a new trial from a north Mississippi company sued by Monsanto Co. for saving seeds from one harvest and planting them the following season. U.S. District Judge Michael Mills ruled this week that Mitchell and Eddie Scruggs owe Monsanto Co. $6.3 million in damages as a jury found in 2010. Prejudgment interest dating back to 2000 has increased the amount to $8.9 million...

Taylor Swift's fans have done it again, voting her the American Music Awards artist of the year for a third time. Swift won Sunday night's top honor, giving her a leading four trophies as fans celebrated the women of pop music. Swift didn't perform, but she was a constant presence on stage and the camera alighted on her as she danced to stars like Kendrick Lamar and Luke Bryan. ...

A large storm already blamed for at least eight deaths in the West slogged through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and other parts of the Southwest on Sunday, leading to hundreds of flight cancellations as it slowly churned east before Thanksgiving. After the storm plows through the Southwest, meteorologists expect the Arctic mass to head south and east, threatening plans for Tuesday and Wednesday as people hit the roads and airports for some of the busiest travel days of the year...

KIEV, Ukraine -- About 50,000 demonstrators rallied in the center of Kiev on Sunday to demand that Ukraine's government reverse course and sign a landmark agreement with the European Union in defiance of Russia. The protest was the biggest Ukraine has seen since the peaceful 2004 Orange Revolution, which overturned a fraudulent presidential election result and brought a Western-leaning government to power...

ROBBINS, Ill. -- The rape evidence was stored in the police department's musty basement: brown paper shopping bags, stuffed with sneakers, bras and underpants, jammed on metal shelves. Scattered blood vials and swabs covered with dust and mold -- an inventory amassed over more than 25 years...

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican publicly unveiled a handful of bone fragments purportedly belonging to St. Peter on Sunday, reviving the scientific debate and tantalizing mystery over whether the relics found in a shoe box truly belong to the first pope...

The Missouri Hospital Association board of trustees has appointed Saint Francis Healthcare System president and chief executive officer Steven Bjelich as state alternate delegate to the American Hospital Association Region 6 Policy Board. ...

Emily Sikes, account services coordinator of Saint Francis Medical Center's marketing department, on Friday said Cape Girardeau Public School District superintendent Dr. James Welker and assistant superintendent of support services Neil Glass met with president and CEO of Saint Francis Steven Bjelich as well as Saint Francis vice president of finance Tony Balsano regarding the hospital's announcement of a program that will reimburse school district employees up to $500 per family if they choose to include the hospital in their 2014 insurance network.. ...

Progress on the county's mobile communications center has bogged down because of funding shortfalls; about $3,000 is still needed to complete the project. Damage from last Thursday morning's fire in the Southeast Missouri State University Towers South dormitory was more extensive than initially thought; the estimated cost of repairs and cleanup will exceed $200,000; fire and heat damaged five rooms on the sixth floor and smoke and soot were carried by air circulators throughout the 12-story building before they could be shut down.. ...

Lord Jesus, thank you for the joy that comes through a relationship with you. Amen.