Stories from Wednesday, October 7, 2015

LENEXA, Kan. -- The University of Missouri-Kansas City will pay a $23,679 civil penalty as part of a settlement reached with the Environmental Protection Agency for violating federal regulations involving the storage and handling of hazardous waste...

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- In 1960, nearly 60 percent of adults 18 to 29 years old were married. Today, that number is 20 percent. Statistics show people are waiting longer to get married, and some say marriages are more successful when couples are older and more established in their careers...

ROBERTSVILLE, Mo. -- A Missouri man who killed a former roommate and a neighbor this year was protected by a state self-defense law that gives people broad license to use deadly force to protect themselves in their home or car. Michael T. Wieners, 55, fatally shot former roommate Richard Kirk Wagnon, 60, at Wiener's rural eastern Missouri home in February. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A judge on Tuesday began weighing a business-backed lawsuit that seeks to stop St. Louis from incrementally raising its minimum wage, ultimately deciding whether it's legal for the city to have a wage higher than what the state commands...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies will gather to host National Night Out on Thursday. Events begin at 4:30 p.m. at Target, 202 Siemers Drive, and will conclude at 8 p.m. National Night Out is an annual event designed to "strengthen communities by encouraging neighborhoods to engage in stronger relationships with each other and with their local law enforcement partners," said a news release from the Cape Girardeau Police Department...

Residents of Cape Girardeau's Ward 4 will have a decision to make when they vote for their next council representative. Robbie Guard announced Tuesday his plans to run for the seat that will be left vacant by term-limited Councilwoman Loretta Schneider...

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The family of Miss South Carolina 1954 found her flood-soaked pageant scrapbook on a dining room floor littered with dead fish Tuesday, as the first sunny day in nearly two weeks provided a chance to clean up from historic floods. "I would hate for her to see it like this. She would be crushed," said Polly Sim, who moved her 80-year-old mother into a nursing home just before the rainstorm turned much of the state into a disaster area...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. ­-- The Stoddard County Commission heard a request at its meeting Monday for additional security in the Stoddard County Justice Center. Circuit Judge Rob Mayer told the commission Associate Judge Joe Satterfield, Associate Judge Steve Mitchell and himself had met recently to discuss additional security. ...

A Taxpayer Advocacy Panel member will be in Cape Girardeau soon to share information about the group and seek suggestions to share with the Internal Revenue Service to improve service. Stephanie Campbell, a Taxpayer Advocacy Panel representative for Missouri, will be at the Cape Girardeau Public Library, 711 N. Clark Ave., from 4 to 8 p.m. Oct. 15...

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department was celebrated Tuesday at the first Firefighter Appreciation Day event, where the community gathered to say thank you to those who risk their lives to help others. "Today, we get so wrapped up in what we're trying to do and we think we're so busy. ...

A man was shot and killed Tuesday night in the 900 block of Ranney Avenue. Cape Girardeau police chief Wes Blair said police responded to a report of shots fired. When they arrived, "He was clearly deceased," Blair said. Blair said the man had been shot, but was unable to confirm how many times. He said there was no chance the wounds were self-inflicted...

ST. LOUIS -- Beneath the surface of a St. Louis-area landfill lurk two things that should never meet: a slow-burning fire and a cache of Cold War-era nuclear waste, separated by no more than 1,200 feet. Government officials have quietly adopted an emergency plan in case the smoldering embers ever reach the waste, a potentially "catastrophic event" that could send up a plume of radioactive smoke over a densely populated area near the city's main airport...

A young man whose family has roots in the Jackson and Cape Girardeau areas will be starring in a crime show set to air Saturday on Investigation Discovery. "Hell House" will be shown at 8 p.m. on the sister station of the Discovery Channel. Investigation Discovery's shows use actors to portray real crimes...

My daughter Madison posing in front of the Fall Display at the Altenberg Fair.

My daughter Madison was awarded the Good Citizen award at Alma Schrader

My daughter Madison with her face painted with a pumpkin at Frank's First Birthday Bash

Our cat Lucky enjoying our cabinets before they were finished.

Downtown Branson, Missouri with its dancing waters fountain display in early evening.

Greg Johnson from Sikeston won the 'Men's Bucket' raffle from the SEMO Dist. Fair, September 12-19. Greg Johnson is one of the members of the Brain Injury & Stroke Resource Group. It was our pleasure to present him with this raffle, as he was attending the annual bonfire at the Cape Elks Lodge on October 3rd...

The Brain Injury & Stroke Resource Group met October 3, 2015 at the Cape Elks Lodge for their annual bonfire. There were 12 members in attendance with 18 guests. They enjoyed roasting hotdogs and s'mores and enjoying the evening together. The Brain Injury & Stroke Resource Group meets every month on the first Monday at 6:30 p.m. ...

The combined classes of Illmo-Scott City High School, 1970 through 1979, are planning a reunion for October 15, 2016. The event will be held at the Knights of Columbus Upper Hall in Kelso, Missouri. Doors will open at 5:00 p.m. for a social hour with dinner served at 6:00 p.m. Dancing and visiting will follow from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. The cost is $25.00 per person...

Today is Wednesday, October 7, the 280th day of 2015. There are 85 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On October 7, 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean. (The hijackers killed Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American tourist, before surrendering on October 9.)...

With just over a year before the all-important presidential election, who could have imagined that the top two contenders in many polls are Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders? Seriously. Think about that for just a moment. Donald Trump, a boisterous businessman sadly short on specifics, and Bernie Sanders, a card-carrying socialist who believes our national problems stem from the lack of a larger federal government...

Birthright of Cape Girardeau has the right idea. As U.S. Congressman Jason Smith emphasized after his recent tour there, the organization provides valuable services to women -- and does so without funding from the federal government. Birthright serves thousands annually, providing pregnancy tests, follow-ups, referrals, educational support, clothing and gift baskets filled with items needed to care for babies -- bottles, blankets, diapers and wipes, for example. ...

Bulldogs coach Matt Vollink wanted defense to be his team's top priority against the Tigers, and Notre Dame responded by using a pair of first-half goals to come away with a 2-0 shutout.

ST. LOUIS --After three straight first-round playoff exits, the St. Louis Blues have learned to temper expectations. They have been consistently among the NHL's best in the regular season and realize it is past time to build something for the long haul. The sting still lingers from the latest failure, against the Minnesota Wild last spring...

All scores were reported to the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday.

Tucked in amongst Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz's evaluation of the Redhawks' offensive line -- after the words physical and pancake blocks, before pass protection -- is the phrase "one of the best O-Line coaches in the country."...

The Southeast Missouri State athletics department announced the resignation of tennis coach Leah Killen on Tuesday afternoon. Killen, who had coached the past two seasons at Southeast, resigned on Monday night. She'd compiled a record of 1-33 and 5-15 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks were 2-20 last season...

ST. LOUIS -- Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree underwent surgery to repair his fractured right fibula on Tuesday, but coach Jeff Fisher said the team will wait to decide whether to make a roster move with him. The team will not place Ogletree on season-ending injured reserve, but may still place him on injured reserve/designated for return, which would allow him to return after eight weeks. ...

HONOLULU -- A Big Island family was reunited with their dog after a rescue team removed the Labrador retriever trapped in a crack in the earth at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Volcano resident Marta Caproni and her boyfriend were walking the 4-year-old chocolate Lab, Romeo, and his littermate, Tommy, at the park when Romeo ran off and disappeared, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported...

ROSEBURG, Ore. -- The gunman who killed nine people at an Oregon community college last week complained in writings he left behind that everyone else was crazy and ranted about not having a girlfriend, a law enforcement official said. The mother of shooter Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, has told investigators he was struggling with some mental-health issues, the official also said Monday. ...

NEW YORK -- A former president of the United Nations General Assembly turned the world body into a "platform for profit" by accepting over $1 million in bribes and a trip to New Orleans from a billionaire Chinese real estate mogul and other businesspeople to pave the way for lucrative investments, a prosecutor charged Tuesday...

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Rodham Clinton is beginning to draw contrasts with her chief Democratic rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, as they approach their first presidential primary debate next week. Following the mass shooting in Oregon, Clinton quickly laid out her plan to address gun violence, an issue where Sanders has been at odds with some Democrats and fellow liberals...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration deported fewer immigrants over the past 12 months than at any time since 2006, according to internal figures obtained by The Associated Press as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton called Obama's deportation policies too harsh...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- On board the 790-foot El Faro when it set out on its doomed voyage into the path of Hurricane Joaquin were five Polish workers whose job was to prepare the engine room for a retrofitting. Could that work have caused the loss of power that led to the U.S. container ship's sinking?...

WASHINGTON -- Negotiations over the complex trade deal took more than five years. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama began what may be a similarly difficult task -- selling the Trans-Pacific Partnership to Congress and the American public. Obama met with business and agricultural leaders at the Department of Agriculture. ...

WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan recommended Tuesday that President Barack Obama revise his plan and keep more than 1,000 U.S. troops in the country beyond 2016, just days after a deadly U.S. airstrike "mistakenly struck" a hospital during fierce fighting in the north...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A convicted killer in Texas was executed Tuesday for fatally shooting another man in a robbery that yielded just $8. No late appeals were filed for Juan Martin Garcia, who was lethally injected for the September 1998 killing and robbery of Hugo Solano in Houston. Solano, a Christian missionary from Guadalajara, Mexico, had moved his family to the city just weeks earlier so his children could be educated in the U.S...

WASHINGTON -- Government health officials are betting they can adapt the sounds, style and swagger of hip-hop culture to discourage young African Americans, Hispanics and other minority youths from using tobacco. The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it will spend $128 million on the "Fresh Empire" campaign, which incorporates advertisements, local events and outreach to try and curb smoking among minority teenagers...

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of federal inmates serving sentences for drug crimes are set for early release next month under a cost-cutting measure intended to reduce the nation's prison population. The more than 5,500 inmates set to go free in November are among the first of what could eventually be tens of thousands eligible for release. The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted last year to retroactively apply substantially lower recommended sentences for those convicted of drug-related felonies...

STOCKHOLM -- Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for key discoveries about a cosmic particle that whizzes through space at nearly the speed of light, passing easily through Earth and even your body. Takaaki Kajita of Japan and Arthur McDonald of Canada were honored for showing these tiny particles, called neutrinos, have mass. That's the quality typically experienced as weight...

SURDA, West Bank -- A new generation of angry, disillusioned Palestinians is driving the current wave of clashes with Israeli forces: Too young to remember the hardships of life during Israel's clampdown on the last major uprising, they have lost faith in statehood through negotiations, distrust their political leaders and believe Israel only understands force...

LUXEMBOURG -- Facebook and thousands of other companies could find it vastly more complicated to do business in Europe after a court ruled that personal data sent to U.S. servers is potentially unsafe from government spying. Some 4,500 companies have long been able to store users' personal data -- everything from status updates and photos to personal information like bank details and home addresses -- where they see fit, often in the U.S...

The nation's biggest pharmacy benefits manager has decided to cover two new drugs that lower artery-clogging cholesterol but raise concern over prices that can top $14,000 a year. Express Scripts said Tuesday that it will pay for prescriptions of Amgen Inc.'s Repatha as well as Praluent from Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. under a few conditions designed to control costs...

WASHINGTON -- When Volkswagen's top American executive heads to Capitol Hill this week, he probably won't be able to count on longtime allies among the lawmakers investigating the company's emissions cheating scandal. The world's No. 1 automaker has a modest political footprint in Washington, and that will put Volkswagen Group of America president and CEO Michael Horn at a disadvantage Thursday when he appears before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. ...

LIMA, Peru -- China's slowdown and tumbling commodity prices will push global economic growth this year to the lowest level since the recession year 2009, the International Monetary Fund predicted Tuesday. In a report Tuesday in advance of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings here this week, the fund says the world economy will grow 3.1 percent this year, down from a July forecast of 3.3 percent and from 3.4 percent growth last year...

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is celebrating 100 years of ministry during October; old-fashioned Cambell/Stone communion services are held in the morning; Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone were instrumental in forming what is now the Christian Church in the early 1800s...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Jay Leno says it's been easy to lure Francis Ford Coppola, Laurence Fishburne and other famous folks to his new car-centric TV show. All he has to do is assure them that "Jay Leno's Garage," debuting at 9 p.m. today on CNBC, won't veer off the road...

Daughter to Allen Michael and Ashley Renee Rhodes of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Hospital, 11:48 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14, 2015. Name, Adelyn Grace. Weight, 8 pounds, 1 ounce. Third child, first daughter. Mrs. Rhodes is the former Ashley Lancaster, daughter of David and Cynthia Lancaster of Malden, Missouri. Rhodes is the son of Mike and Brenda Rhodes of Whitewater...

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. n Paige Fitzpatrick, 19, of Puxico, Missouri, was issued a summons for failure to register a motor vehicle. n Jeffrey Simms, 44, of Scott City was issued a summons for illegal parking...

* Medical assists were made on South Frederick Street at 1:02 a.m.; Landgraf Drive at 1:19 a.m.; South Spring Avenue at 8:30 a.m.; North Frederick Street 11:31 a.m.; North Sprigg Street at 3:45 p.m.; Whitener Street at 4:56 p.m.; North Lorimier Street at 5:36 p.m.; Lynwood Hills Drive at 5:47 p.m.; and South West End Boulevard at 8:56 p.m...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilty. n Shannon Adams, 36, 1917 New Madrid St., was arrested on two Cape Girardeau County warrants for probation violations. n Aaron Adeoye, 22, 1023 N. Middle St., was arrested on a Cape Girardeau County warrant for distribution of a controlled substance...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Catherine Unterreiner, 63, of St. Louis, formerly of Perryville, died Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday and from 6:30 to 9:15 a.m. Friday at Young and Sons Funeral Home in Perryville. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Apple Creek, Missouri. Burial will be at St. Michael's Cemetery in Apple Creek...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Doris Maze, 82, of Olive Branch died at 3:19 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5, 2015, at her home. Doris was born Oct. 8, 1932, in Ritzbach, Germany, the daughter of William and Omah Hildabrandt. She married Louis Maze, and they shared 38 years together before his death in 2013...

FLIPPIN, Ark. -- Jack Wayne Followell, 80, of Flippin passed away Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, in Yellville, Arkansas. Jack was born Aug. 16, 1935, in Morley, Missouri, to Howard and Mabel Riehn Followell. Jack married Priscilla Garnaat on July 9, 1983. Jack enjoyed hunting, spending time with his dogs and gardening. He was a member of First Baptist Church of Bull Shoals, Arkansas, and was an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan...

Denis Wayne "Denny" Fitzpatrick, 70, of Cape Girardeau lost his battle with heart disease Monday, Oct. 5, 2015, at Saint Francis Medical Center. He died peacefully surrounded by his friends and family. He was born Jan. 14, 1945, in Kennett, Missouri, to Lenard and Ruby Stacy Fitzpatrick...

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Police in Ohio say they were called to a house by a man who complained he'd gotten too high smoking marijuana. The Youngstown Vindicator reported Austintown Township police on Friday found the 22-year-old man curled in a fetal position on the floor, groaning and surrounded by snacks that included Doritos, Goldfish crackers and Chips Ahoy cookies...

BEIRUT -- The U.S.-backed rebel group Tajammu Alezzah has been fighting the Syrian military outside the city of Hama for months, but a new player has joined the fray: Russian warplanes, which have repeatedly hit their front-line positions, followed by airstrikes from government planes...

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Special fences protect railroad tracks from rock slides in some parts of the country, but the head of Amtrak said Tuesday it's unclear if the mechanisms could have prevented a derailment that injured seven people in Vermont. The fences are installed in known rock-slide areas and are designed to send signals if they are hit with debris, Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman said...

Highway 51 in Perry County will be reduced with a 10-foot width restriction as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform repairs to the Chester (Illinois) Bridge over the Mississippi River. The work will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 14, according to a MoDOT news release...

O Lord Jesus, in a midst of trials we remain confident that you are in control. Amen.

All the local high school events reported Wednesday to the Southeast Missourian.

The Red Devils defeated Naylor 9-4 in the semifinals.

The right-hander has pitched better at home than on the road.

The third baseman led St. Louis with a career-high 28 home runs.

Two more Southeast Missouri State football players suffered torn ACLs in the Redhawks' win over Murray State on Saturday. Sophomore wide receiver Adrian Davis and sophomore nose tackle Joshua Wilson each tore their right ACL. Both had started all five games for the Redhawks and have played too many games to be granted a medical redshirt...