Stories from Thursday, September 22, 2016

Grace Lysell- teen liasion for SEMO Prom Mothers of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson and Jackson high school junior is deep in sorting prom dresses. Though most of us are only just thinking about Fall school activities, the First Presbyterian Church is already looking toward spring and Prom. As a local mission project, the church has recently become a member of www.beccascloset.org...

Cape Girardeau police stop traffic Wednesday for the funeral procession of former police chief Henry H. Gerecke on North Kingshighway at Lexington Avenue in Cape Girardeau. Police chief Wes Blair decided recently to discontinue most funeral escorts with the exception of funeral processions of 40 cars or more, as well as funerals for law-enforcement officials and firefighters killed in the line of duty and dignitaries.

Local growers, vendors, chefs and volunteers are joining forces to create a meal that promotes local agriculture, highlights locally sourced ingredients and benefits the Cape Riverfront Market. A farm-to-table dinner will be served Sunday, Oct. 2, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus, overlooking the Mississippi River...

Southeast Missouri State University has nine fewer students enrolled this fall semester than a year ago, despite growing freshman enrollment. The school has 11,978 full- and part-time students enrolled in classes, down from 11,987 students in fall 2015...

State budget cuts have left the Missouri Department of Transportation unable to continue with a project that would have installed LED lighting along a stretch of East Jackson Boulevard in Jackson. The Missouri Moves Cost Share Program was scheduled to use a $20 million budget to help local agencies invest in transportation projects, beginning in fiscal year 2017 that starts Oct. 1...

ST. LOUIS -- Videos obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch provide new insight into a fatal 2011 police shooting that led to first-degree murder charges this year against a white officer, who was carrying a personal assault rifle against police policy...

Today in History Today is Thursday, Sept. 22, the 266th day of 2016. There are 100 days left in the year. Autumn arrives at 10:21 a.m. Eastern time. Today's Highlight in History: On Sept. 22, 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, was hanged as a spy by the British in New York...

I am not really a "supporter" of either presidential candidate, but when I hear that Hollywood is up in arms about Trump's presidential bid, it makes me think maybe Trump is the better.

As I am writing this column I am ill and also angry as I wait for my medicines to arrive in the mail..

The SEMO District Fair came to a close on Saturday after a week of fun.

A pageant just isn't a pageant without a swimsuit or eveningwear competition, right? Wrong. Michaela Scott is living proof of that. Scott, a 17-year-old senior at Jackson High School, was crowned Miss Teen of Missouri 2016 during the summer, and said she was able to earn the accolade (along with a $1,000 scholarship) almost exclusively because of her most attractive attribute: her brain...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Ever since she was 5 years old, Callie Fansler has dreamed of being a teacher. As a child, she used a dry-erase board and taught her imaginary students the ABCs, shapes and numbers. Now, at 18, the 2016 Sikeston High School graduate is making her dream a reality...

WASHINGTON -- The chief of the IRS fended off Republican demands Wednesday he should lose his job, telling the House Judiciary Committee he'd made statements about missing emails that later proved wrong but had done nothing to merit impeachment. At a 4 1/2-hour hearing on whether to oust him, John Koskinen repeatedly said he'd cooperated fully with congressional investigators probing why his agency -- before he joined it -- subjected tea-party groups seeking tax exemptions to excessive scrutiny. ...

CAIRO -- A boat carrying African migrants headed to Europe capsized off the Mediterranean coast near the Egyptian city of Alexandria on Wednesday, killing at least 42 people, Egyptian authorities said. The army gave the toll in a statement, saying it had "thwarted an illegal immigration attempt" and the boat had been 12 nautical miles off the coast when it sank...

Paul R. Lueders, a professional photographer in Cape Girardeau since 1933, has donated a series of 12 large photographs to Concordia Historical Institute in St. Louis; the photos were prepared in 1976 to commemorate the Saxon heritage of Perry County for display to accompany the Saxon Hills Heritage Program presented by Southeast Missouri State University...

Kenneth Roger Sumner, 76, of Scott City died Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, at his home. He was born Dec. 30, 1939, to James and Edna Virginia Keppner Sumner in Cairo, Illinois. He was a maintenance worker at Rhodes Truck Stop in Scott City. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Eric M. Moll, 35, of Perryville died Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at his home. He was born Aug. 12, 1981, in Perryville, son of Rick and Suzanne Delassus Moll. Eric was a sales and service manager at Gateway F.S. He was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and Jaycee's in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. He was the father of three beautiful and amazing daughters. They were the light of his life...

Valerie Margaret Marler, 81, of Jackson passed away Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, at Fountainbleau Lodge in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 19, 1934, in Bonne Terre, Missouri, daughter of Percy Leon and Margaret Sarah McDaniel Faenger. She and Farrell Wayne Marler were married May 3, 1957, in Bonne Terre. He passed away April 14, 1994...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Hazel D. Manche, 92, of Perryville, died Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Oct. 15, 1923, on Crane's Island in Randolph County, Illinois, daughter of Leon and Getty Griffin Moranville. She and Howard J. Manche were married April 23, 1949. He preceded her in death Feb. 14, 1986...

Ruth Beal, 91, of Cape Girardeau passed away Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, at the Lutheran Home. She was born March 2, 1925, in Cape Girardeau County to Henry A. and Elizabeth I. Clark Moore. Ruth and Melvin C. Beal were married Feb. 12, 1941, in Cape Girardeau. He preceded her in death...

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Matthew T. Abbott, 47, of Jackson was arrested on suspicion of peace disturbance and trespassing. n Jessica L.A. Cox, 32, of Whitewater was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia...

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls Tuesday: n Medical assists were made at 4:16 a.m. on Cape Meadows Circle; 10:04 a.m. on Bloomfield Road; 10:08 a.m. on Park Place; 12:36 p.m. on Shawnee Parkway; 1:56 p.m. ...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Charges of resisting arrest and careless and imprudent driving were pending against a suspect at North Middle Street and Broadway...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to consider a lawsuit www.Yelp.com warns could lead to the removal of negative reviews on the popular website. The seven-member court voted unanimously Wednesday to take up an appeal by Yelp of a lower court ruling upholding an order requiring Yelp to remove posts against a San Francisco law firm...

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- A North Carolina district attorney said he won't prosecute a high-school teacher for stepping on an American flag during a lesson on the First Amendment. Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West told The Fayetteville Observer on Wednesday the state's misdemeanor flag-desecration charges are unenforceable because a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling protects such actions...

WASHINGTON -- Outraged Republican and Democratic lawmakers Wednesday grilled the head of pharmaceutical company Mylan about the significant cost increase of its life-saving EpiPens and the profits for a company with sales in excess of $11 billion. Defending the company's business practices, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee she wishes the company had "better anticipated the magnitude and acceleration" of the rising prices for some families...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Five women and a man from Kansas City have been indicted in a conspiracy to arrange fake marriages for immigrants wanting to live in the U.S. The U.S. attorney's office said the 14-count indictment was returned last month and unsealed Tuesday when the six had their initial court appearances...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Authorities say more than two dozen guns, an inert rocket launcher and a handwritten letter threatening congressional officials are among the items seized from a mentally ill Springfield man's duplex. Recently unsealed court documents stated police obtained a search warrant after they were called Sept. ...

HILLSBORO, Mo. -- A Colorado girl with special needs soon will be reunited with her companion dog after the animal was found in eastern Missouri, more than 800 miles from the girl's home and five years after the dog was stolen. KSDK-TV reported Missy the St. Bernard was picked up as a stray Monday near Hillsboro in Jefferson County...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri man accused of sexually attacking and suffocating his high-school honors student daughter and leaving her body in a motel room was jailed Wednesday on $750,000 cash bond. Jackson County prosecutors Tuesday charged Jerry Bausby, 40, of Kansas City with first-degree murder and felony counts of sodomy, incest and sexual abuse in the killing of 18-year-old Daizsa Laye Bausby in March. A prosecutor's spokesman said Bausby was arrested Tuesday night...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A proposal to allow medical marijuana in Missouri won't go to voters this year because of an insufficient number of valid signatures, a judge ruled Wednesday. Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green's decision backed those by St. Louis-area election authorities, who threw out thousands of petition signatures; in some cases, people signed sheets labeled for counties in which they weren't registered to vote...

ST. LOUIS -- In an election with control of the Senate at stake, Republicans were counting on a win in GOP-friendly Missouri. Instead, they're suddenly plunging millions into the state to save incumbent Sen. Roy Blunt from a young challenger who assembled an AR-15 rifle blindfolded in a daring new ad...

Adrienne Poe and her redbone coonhound, Ruby, enjoy a quiet morning Wednesday at the Cape Girardeau riverfront. Poe lets her dog "hunt" underwater. "She's got webbed feet," Poe said.

ST. LOUIS -- A federal judge upheld Missouri's licensing requirements for African-style hair braiders, despite claims from braiders the process is irrelevant to what they do, unnecessary and expensive. U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Bodenhausen issued the ruling Tuesday. Attorneys for two St. Louis-area hair braiders, Joba Niang and Tameka Stigers, said Wednesday they will appeal...

CLEVELAND -- Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton decried a fresh round of police-involved shootings Wednesday, with the Republican nominee saying he was "very troubled" by the killing of a black man by a white police officer in Oklahoma. Courting black voters who long have spurned Republicans, Trump's event in Cleveland Heights' New Spirit Revival Center took a bizarre turn when he was introduced by boxing promoter Don King, who used a racial slur as he made the case for black voters to support Trump.. ...

NEW YORK -- Ralph Lauren, one of the giants of modern American fashion, is working on his autobiography. Simon & Schuster said Wednesday it will release the book in fall 2017, in conjunction with his company's 50th anniversary. The book currently is untitled...

TULSA, Okla. -- An unarmed black man shot dead in a street by a white police officer had run-ins with the law dating to his teenage years and recently served four years in prison. But those closest to Terence Crutcher described him as a church-going father who was beginning to turn his life around. After marking his 40th birthday with his twin sister last month, Crutcher sent her a text that read, "I'm gonna show you; I'm gonna make you all proud."...

A Cape Girardeau man is in custody after police said he assaulted his pregnant girlfriend Sunday night and Monday morning. The victim told police she and Cory R. Lacy, 31, had argued about midnight Sunday. According to a probable-cause statement filed in the case, Lacy poked the victim in the head during the argument and told her he “wanted to stab her to death.”...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Authorities in Charlotte tried to quell public anger Wednesday after a police officer shot a black man, but a dusk prayer vigil turned into a march that ended with a protester critically wounded by gunfire and the governor declaring a state of emergency in the city...

n Vacuum-cleaner hose n Styrofoam peanuts n STEP 1: Place several Styrofoam peanuts on a flat surface. n STEP 2: Spin the vacuum-cleaner hose above your head while placing the other end of the hose close to the Styrofoam peanuts and observe. What happened? Compare what happens to how air moves from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. Why do the peanuts fall to the floor?...

Jonathan Paul Mueller of Saxony Lutheran High School recently participated in the American Legion Boys State of Missouri from June 18 through 25 on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri. Mueller was selected based on his leadership, citizenship, academics and character during his junior year at Saxony. Mueller is the son of Brian and Michelle Mueller and was sponsored by James and Karen Hendrickson in honor of Ryan Hendrickson...

O Lord Jesus, may we do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Amen.