Stories from Tuesday, September 8, 2015

First State Community Bank at 2527 William St. in Cape Girardeau has begun an expansion that will enlarge the facility to more than 13,000 square feet. The two-story expansion will add 4,350 square feet to the structure, said Dan Combs, First State Community Bank senior vice president...

DALLAS -- A police department in a Texas Bible Belt community has placed large "In God We Trust" decals on its patrol vehicles in response to recent violence against law enforcement officers, drawing criticism from a watchdog group that says the decals amount to an illegal government endorsement of religion...

St. Louis dropped the opener of the three-game series 9-0.

Jeff Bauman, a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing, will be the keynote speaker Sunday for Patriot Day at Southeast Missouri State University. Bauman will speak at 2 p.m. in Academic Hall auditorium, kicking off Southeast's 2015-2016 Speaker Series...

The future of the Cape Girardeau County administrative building in uptown Jackson may not be set in stone, but it will remain standing for at least the near future. Some worried the proposed roundabout project would make the building's demolition necessary, but MoDOT project manager Eric Krapf said the roundabout's footprint never has threatened that building, only its parking lot...

A free household hazardous waste collection event will be held in Cape Girardeau on Oct. 10 for residential trash and recycling customers. This is the first time the city has held such an event since 2011. The city resumed it this year thanks to a Missouri Department of Natural Resources Solid Waste Management District grant that will help cover some of the costs. ...

Home Fire Prevention Campaign Event CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO -- The American Red Cross Southeast Missouri Chapter will be kicking off their Home Fire Preparedness Campaign in Cape Girardeau on October 24, 2015. Seven times a day in the United States, someone dies in a home fire. ...

Saint Francis Medical Center will host its first ever Youth Sports Parents Clinic on September 16. Building on its popular Coaches Clinics, this free event helps parents learn how to develop and nurture their child's athletic performance, create positive memories and show respect from the perspective of young people...

Melaina's Magical Playland will be closed for maintenance Wednesday, September 9, 2015 to Wednesday, September 16, 2015. Work will be done to replace a portion of the play surface tiles.

The Mules defeated host Advance 25-23, 25-11 in straight sets Tuesday, but first-year Bernie coach Jason Long believes the two teams are closer than what the match indicated.

This is an unusual hybrid surprise lily in our yard. It's only bloomed twice in about 30 years.

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 8, the 251st day of 2015. There are 114 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Sept. 8, 1935, Sen. Huey P. Long, D-La., was shot and mortally wounded inside the Louisiana State Capitol; he died two days later. (The assailant was identified as Dr. Carl Weiss, who was gunned down by Long's bodyguards.)...

The former Wine Country Inn Bed and Breakfast in Frohna, Missouri, will be the centerpiece of a new novel series debuting in 2016. The series, written by author Ann Hazelwood, is set in the fictional town of Borna, in the real-life location of East Perry County...

Kelly Elizalde didn't always want to be a school bus driver. After a career in the Air Force and a five-year stint in a secretarial position, Elizalde took a chance at a local job fair in 2013 and found her calling. "I've found that it was probably what I was meant to do all along, I mean, I absolutely love it," she says...

The gate is left open and Fido follows his nose, traveling upwind toward a seductive scent. Felix makes a dash for the door and, like a laser, is down the block in no time at all. You search. You knock on doors. You post fliers. But the absent animal seems to have vanished...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Al and Saundra Karp have found an unconventional way to raise money and help save their Miami-area home from foreclosure: They're lining up gigs for their family jazz band. They enjoy performing. But it isn't exactly how Al, an 86-year-old Korean War vet, or Saundra, 76, had expected to spend their retirement...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Exercise may do more than keep a healthy brain fit: New research suggests working up a good sweat may also offer some help once memory starts to slide -- and even improve life for people with Alzheimer's. The effects were modest, but a series of studies reported in August found vigorous workouts by people with mild memory impairment decreased levels of a warped protein linked to risk of later Alzheimer's -- and improved quality of life for people who already were in early stages of the disease.. ...

Forty-two percent of travelers plan cultural trips that combine precious downtime with enriching experiences, according to TripAdvisor's Travel Trends Forecast survey. No matter where or why people take trips this year, how can travelers make their getaways more memorable and share their experiences with others?...

Hundreds of quilts from past to present times will be on display during a Quilt Tour this month in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. The quilts will be on display from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27. Locations include the Cape Girardeau County History Center in Jackson, the Glenn House in Cape Girardeau, the Oliver Museum/Jackson Heritage Association in Jackson, the Red House Interpretive Center in Cape Girardeau and the Quilt R's Market and More at St. ...

By the time you read this, summer will be officially over. One of the things I love about summer is having extra time to sit and read. Although I didn't get to the beach this summer, my favorite "beach read" was Jojo Moyes' "One Plus One." It has all those things I love about a light read: unique, lovable characters and a happy ending...

Well, I am thinking we need to do more than that. What about all the English, French, Germans, Irish, Jewish and all the others that came in the ships of Columbus and the other shiploads? They need to be deported too, as well as any of their siblings. The only ones that should be here according to Trump and some Republicans are the Indians. Even Trump shouldn't be here. Guess he would have to deport himself...

It'll be the meeting of the minds -- or at least the ages. Cape Girardeau Central High School alumni are organizing a reunion and concert that will bring together graduates who were once members of the school's choir. The voices will converge for the public twice on the weekend of October 2: first, at the homecoming football game on Friday night, where the choir will sing the national anthem and their alma mater; and at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 3, with a free concert at Kinder Performance Hall...

ST. LOUIS -- The director of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is pledging to rein in a program that has doled out free parking to everyone from mayors to senators, lobbyists and the spouses of former elected officials. A total of about 150 holders of the cards get free long-term parking at some of the airport's best locations and avoid the hourly fees that can run up to $23 a day...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- University of Missouri fraternities will not be able to have hard alcohol at social events this year, and any violations will be reported immediately to the Office of Student Conduct as the result of a monthslong discussion about how to reduce sexual violence on campus...

JEROME, Mo. -- A Springfield, Missouri, man has died after falling from a highway bridge in south-central Missouri. Johnathan Ray Conrad, 63, died after falling off an Interstate 44 bridge in western Phelps County near Jerome. Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Cody Fulkerson said it appears Conrad fell Saturday night when he was trying to cross the interstate, looking for assistance with a stalled vehicle...

SAUGET, Ill. -- Police have arrested a St. Louis man suspected of shooting a man to death after beer was spilled on his shoes at a southwestern Illinois gas station convenience store. Lamarc R. Garrett, 33, is charged with first-degree murder and is being held on $1 million bond. It was not clear whether he already had an attorney who could comment on his behalf...

JEFFERSCON CITY, Mo. -- When Missouri lawmakers meet later this month to consider banning a state scholarship from going to immigrants brought to the country illegally by their parents, there could be more legislators in favor of the ban than there are students who would be affected directly...

FLORENCE, Mo. -- An 11-year-old boy died in a tractor accident in central Missouri. The Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the victim as Lane J. Holem, of Florence. He was killed Saturday night after losing control of a 1954 John Deere while traveling down a steep hill in Morgan County. The patrol says the tractor then went off the side of a road, through a ditch and up an embankment...

FAYETTE, Mo. -- Authorities say a woman died after her motorcycle crashed into a deer in central Missouri. The Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the victim as 52-year-old Patricia Pilcher of Fayette. The crash happened Saturday night on Highway 240 in Howard County...

ARNOLD, Mo. -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 2.6 shook parts of eastern Missouri. The U.S. Geological Survey says the small quake was recorded Saturday evening. Its epicenter was near Imperial in Jefferson County. Several surrounding communities also felt rumbling...

WASHINGTON -- If things are tense in your doctor's office Oct. 1, behind-the-scenes red tape could be to blame. That's the day the nation's physicians and hospitals must begin using a massive new coding system to describe your visit on insurance claims so they get paid...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Attorneys for the Kentucky clerk who was jailed last week because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay couples said Monday they have filed an emergency motion with a federal court they hope will result in Kim Davis' freedom...

PITTSBURGH -- Hearing chants of "run Joe, run," Vice President Joe Biden marched in Pittsburgh's annual Labor Day parade Monday as speculation swirled about a potential late entry into the Democratic presidential campaign. The vice president donned a black-and-gold United Steelworkers union hat and told hundreds of union members the gap between the wealthy and poor was hurting the nation...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she does not need to apologize for using a private email account and server while at the State Department because "what I did was allowed." In an interview with The Associated Press during a Labor Day campaign swing through Iowa, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination also said the lingering questions about her email practices while serving as President Barack Obama's first secretary of state have not damaged her campaign.. ...

BOSTON -- Courting unions on Labor Day, President Barack Obama denounced Republicans for a "constant attack on working Americans" and said he was using his executive power to force federal contractors to give paid sick leave to their employees. Obama was met with applause at a major union rally and breakfast Monday in Boston when he said he had signed the executive order aboard Air Force One as he flew in to mark Labor Day. ...

ROSZKE, Hungary -- Hundreds of angry and frustrated asylum-seekers broke through police lines Monday near Hungary's southern border with Serbia and began marching north toward Budapest, while Britain and France pledged to take in tens of thousands more refugees to try to ease the crisis...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Military prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the politically fraught case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban after leaving his post in Afghanistan...

HARLAN, Ky. -- Kentucky coal miners bled and died to unionize. Their workplaces became war zones, and gun battles once punctuated union protests. In past decades, organizers have been beaten, stabbed and shot while seeking better pay and safer conditions deep underground...

CLAYTON, Mo. -- The CEO of health-care company Centene Corp. has a message for those skeptical its acquisition of Health Net will succeed: Wait and see. Centene shares have fallen 26 percent since the $6.8 billion acquisition of Health Net, a California-based managed-care company, was announced in July...

FROHNA, Mo. -- Gordon Sumner Musser, 67, of Frohna died Sept. 6, 2015, at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He was born Oct. 27, 1947, in Upland, California, son of Hope (Frey) Musser, who survives in California, and the late John Alvin Musser. He married Brenda Sue Vogel on Feb. 11, 1978. She survives in Frohna...

Jack Norman May, 79, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Marble Hill, Missouri, peacefully entered eternal life Sept. 6, 2015, from the Life Care Center in Cape Girardeau. Born in Cape Girardeau on March 19, 1936, he was the son of Robert Norman and Dorothy Winder May...

MILLER CITY, Ill. -- Genevieve Vaughn Thomas, 85, of Miller City passed away at 1:08 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Genevieve was born Sept. 28, 1929, at Frankfort, Kentucky, daughter of the late William Vaughn and Eula Schlamer Vaughn...

VILLA RIDGE, Ill. -- Birdie D. Conant, 87, of Villa Ridge died Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 30, 1928, in Massac County, Illinois, the daughter of Ed and Birdie (Morehead) Douglas. She married Roger Conant on Nov. 25, 1948. He preceded her in death Feb. 29, 2004...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Erline Whitesell, 86, of Chaffee passed away on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, at the family home in Chaffee. She was born in Puxico, Missouri, on Nov. 28, 1928, to the late Cecil Lawrence and Esther Lillian Murdock Whitesell. Erline was a retired machine operator for Thorngate Ltd. ...

JACKSON The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Matthew W. Carmack, 24, 122 S. Bellevue St., Apt. 27, was arrested on a Jackson warrant for failure to appear on an original charge of assault...

CHICAGO -- Detectives investigating a lagoon at a Chicago park where dismembered body parts of a young child were discovered waded through cattail reeds and waist-high water Sunday, hoping to find more clues about the victim's identity. A police canine sniffed though branches, shrubbery and boulders on the edge of Garfield Park on the city's west side, while investigators felt the muddy lagoon bottom with their hands...

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota dentist whose killing of Cecil the lion sparked a global backlash emerged for an interview in which he disputed some accounts of the hunt, expressed agitation at the animosity directed at those close to him and said he would be back at work...

While the 135th annual SEMO District Fair will officially start tomorrow, midway rides open this afternoon, the first time in the exposition's history the midway opens early. Intense lightning, a dead tree and a burned jumper wire on a high-voltage distribution utility line are being blamed for power outages that occurred in the Cape Girardeau area late yesterday afternoon and mid-day today; the storm is a costly one for Union Electric, as lightning caused major damage to one of the large transformers in the utility's Viaduct Court substation.. ...

CROSSROADS, N.M. -- Carl Johnson and son Justin, who have complained for years about spills of oilfield wastewater where they raise cattle in the high plains of New Mexico, stroll across a 1 1/2-acre patch of sandy soil -- lifeless, save for a scattering of stunted weeds...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Thomas Easley, 54, was arrested on a warrant at 1101 Ranney Street. n Ahmed Alhamwah, 20, was arrested on suspicion of assault at 1710 N. Sprigg Street...

The Louisville Cardinals scored a goal in each half and used two saves by Jackson High School graduate Paige Brown to record a 2-0 soccer victory over Southeast Missouri State on Monday night. Shelby Cohen recorded her first goal of the season on her only shot of the night, beating Southeast goalkeeper Kindra Lierz from 30 yards out 7 minutes, 11 seconds into the first half. It was the first shot of the game for either team...

The team has five former first-round picks on the line.

EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Toyota is investing $50 million with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in hopes of gaining an edge in an accelerating race to phase out human drivers. The financial commitment announced last week by the Japanese automaker will be made over the next five years at joint research centers located in Silicon Valley and another technology hub in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

MURPHY, Ore. -- Deer got the munchies at an industrial hemp crop in southern Oregon. The deer got by barbed-wire fencing and went through the hemp plants like high-powered mowers. "Generally, I don't think they like cannabis. They liked ours, though," said Cliff Thomason, a real-estate agent who is the steward of the first industrial hemp crop in Oregon. The company planted about 1,000 plants in the section the deer got into, and Thomason said there are only about 40 left...

Linda Horrell of Gordonville recently sank her first hole-in-one at Kimbeland Country Club. Horrell used a 7-wood to ace No. 6, a par 3 playing 134 yards. Witnesses were Jim Horrell, Ed Arnzen and JoAnn Arnzen. Terry Bozzay won the Match Play vs. Par at Dalhousie Golf Club (18-hole net) with a 4-up score...

By The Associated Press Monday At TPC Boston Norton, Mass. Purse: $8.25 million Yardage: 7,242; Par 71 Final...

Jon Michel Greenwood was honored in June as Enterprise CIO of the Year by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Greenwood is the senior vice president of global IT systems for Live Nation Entertainment. He is responsible for all aspects of the company's technology systems and stategies globally. Before working at Live Nation, he held several positions at Sony Music and Sony Corp. of America. Greenwood is a 1985 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau...

SCOPUS, Mo. -- Thomas John Ostendorf, 61, of Scopus died at his home Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at Hutchings Funeral Chapel in Marble Hill, Missouri. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, with the Rev. Mark Graham officiating. Burial will follow in Mount Zion Cemetery near Scopus...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Mildred Lavern Boalbey, 80, of Cairo died at 10:59 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday at Crain Funeral Home in Cairo. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home, with Father James Muriuki officiating. Interment will follow at Beechwood Cemetery...

ROCKVIEW, Mo. -- Anthony Lee Carroll, 58, of Rockview died Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, in Rockview. Arrangements are incomplete with Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee, Missouri.

Harold Wessel, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, at the Lutheran Home. Arrangements are pending at McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.

Mitchell Gill, 77, of Millersville died Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, at the Monticello House in Jackson. Arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Laurie Renaud, 50, of Perryville, died September 5, 2015 at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. Visitation will be from 4 to 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at Young and Sons Funeral Home in Perryville. The funeral will be at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Thomas Handrick officiating...

CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Deparment released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Nicholas J. Mercer, 35, of Jackson was arrested on a Cape Girardeau County warrant for resisting and interfering with an arrest on domestic assault...

O Lord Jesus, grant us the peace that surpasses all understanding. Amen.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Poplar Bluff has lost its greatest fan. Sam Giambelluca, a father of five, a father figure to countless more and the father of the Poplar Bluff Museum, died Monday morning at his home. He was 87. "He did more for Poplar Bluff than anybody ever has," said Derland Moore, who played 14 seasons in the NFL...