Stories from Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Lego Robotics teams from Immaculate Conception School in Jackson competed in the First Lego League regional event at Southeast Missouri State University on Saturday, Nov. 19. The FIRST Lego League is a robotics competition that puts robots built from Lego Mindstorm kits through a themed obstacle course. Teams consisting of fourth to eighth graders design, build and program these robots. In addition, there is a project component to the competition...

New Haven Outreach Ministries was able to distribute over 60 turkeys to families in the Wilson City and Wyatt area. Thanks to two local Cape business AT&T and Ozarc Gas for making this possible with your generous donations.

Laura Huggins bagged a buck in southern Scott County on Nov. 16. She was using a 6.5 Creedmore rifle.

LAS VEGAS -- A federal court Tuesday blocked implementation of a rule imposed by President Barack Obama's administration that would have made an estimated 4 million more higher-earning workers across the country eligible for overtime pay starting Dec. 1...

Although Thanksgiving has not arrived, Southeast Missourians already have begun buying gifts for the holiday season. And local retailers are already having trouble keeping some of them in stock. In more than one store in the region, Hatchimals are the popular toy of the season, and those stores are faced with a supply-and-demand issue: all demand, little supply...

Area volunteers are ramping up efforts to make Cape Girardeau a better place to enjoy the holidays. Capt. Ronnie Amick of the Salvation Army said the turkeys are being cooked for the not-for-profit organization's annual Thanksgiving dinner. On Thanksgiving Day, Amick expects the Salvation Army to serve 2,200 people between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., including deliveries to the homebound...

Motorists may receive an early Christmas present in Cape Girardeau as two road projects -- the Veterans Memorial Drive extension and the Independence Street roundabout -- are nearing completion. Hopper Road, which has been closed for months in connection with the extension of Veterans Memorial Drive, is scheduled to reopen Wednesday, city officials said...

Today in History Today is Wednesday, Nov. 23, the 328th day of 2016. There are 38 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Nov. 23, 1936, Life, the photojournalism magazine created by Henry R. Luce (loos), was first published. On this date:...

Earlier this month, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame held its enshrinement for its 2016 Class at the Show Me Center, marking only the sixth time it's been held away from its home in Springfield. Each inductee -- 11 individuals, three programs and two title-winning teams -- had some connection to Southeast Missouri...

Thanksgiving is that uniquely American holiday that offers us a chance to pause and reflect on the abundant blessings and opportunities in our lives. It's a holiday abounding with food and relatives, naps and football and, if you're lucky, leftovers...

LOS EBANOS, Texas -- All along the winding Rio Grande, the people who live in this bustling, fertile region where the U.S. border meets the Gulf of Mexico never quite understood how Donald Trump's great wall ever could be much more than campaign rhetoric...

NEW YORK -- That electoral elephant in the room threatening political tension this Thanksgiving? StoryCorps believes it could be a unifying main course. The oral-history project's "Great Thanksgiving Listen 2016" is urging Americans, particularly teens, to use the holiday weekend to record a conversation with a grandparent or another elder on their feelings about the election, their hopes and fears for the country and their thoughts on how to bring people together in a time of division...

WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa -- When officials in the Des Moines suburb of Windsor Heights began talking about installing sidewalks to improve safety and encourage outdoor activities, they anticipated some grumbling from residents who liked the look of uninterrupted, lush lawns...

NEW YORK -- Two weeks after his election victory, President-elect Donald Trump began backing off campaign promises Tuesday, including his hard line on climate change and his vow to jail "Crooked Hillary" Clinton that had brought "Lock her up" chants at his rallies...

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- A school bus driver was behind bars Tuesday after a crash killed five youngsters and plunged Chattanooga into mourning over what the mayor called the "most unnatural thing in the world" -- a parent losing a child. Police said Johnthony Walker, 24, was speeding on a narrow, winding road Monday afternoon with 35 elementary-school students aboard when he wrapped the bus around a tree...

NEW YORK -- CNN and host Jake Tapper have both apologized for an on-screen banner that Tapper said was "unacceptable" and "horrified" him when it appeared during his show Monday. The vacationing Tapper quickly responded to outraged viewer comments with several Twitter posts explaining, despite his absence, he was "furious," and his "staff has heard from me."...

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump's charity has admitted it violated IRS regulations barring it from using its money or assets to benefit Trump, his family, his companies or substantial contributors to the foundation. According to a 2015 tax return posted on the not-for-profit monitoring website GuideStar, the Donald J. Trump Foundation acknowledged it used money or assets in violation of the regulations not only during 2015 but in prior years...

NEW YORK -- Researchers say a severe birth defect caused by Zika infection may not be apparent at birth but develop months afterward, more confirmation the virus can cause unseen damage to developing babies. The findings come from a study of 13 Brazilian babies whose heads appeared normal at birth but then grew much more slowly than normal...

WASHINGTON -- Republicans are gleeful over Democratic-engineered rule changes that will make it easier for President-elect Donald Trump to get his Cabinet nominees through the Senate. Yet Democrats see a lasting upside from what they did: allowing President Barack Obama to shape the federal judiciary for years to come...

CINCINNATI -- An Ohio prosecutor said Tuesday he again will seek a murder conviction against a white former University of Cincinnati police officer. The prosecutor also wants to move the trial to find jurors who won't be afraid or feel community pressure...

The controversy over drilling for oil in the Atlantic Ocean has been reignited by the election of Donald Trump, and environmentalists and coastal businesses say it could be the first major fault line that divides them from the new president. The Obama administration has moved to restrict access to offshore oil drilling leases in the Atlantic, as well as off Alaska. ...

TOKYO -- At first, it was 2011 all over again. "It really came back. And it was so awful. The sways to the side were huge," Kazuhiro Onuki said after northeastern Japan was jolted Tuesday by a magnitude-7.4 earthquake, the strongest since a devastating quake and tsunami five years ago...

DENVER -- A federal judge Tuesday asked the U.S. State Department to reconsider its decision to deny a passport to a Colorado resident who does not identify as male or female and refused to check a box for one of the genders on the passport application form...

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump backs waterboarding and his pick for CIA director has called those who have done it "patriots" not "torturers." Yet a Trump administration faces steep legal and legislative hurdles to reinstate the interrogation practice that simulates drowning...

ATLANTA -- President-elect Donald Trump again is distancing himself from the alt-right movement as its white supremacist members claim his election as a boon for their agenda. "I disavow and condemn them," Trump said Tuesday during an interview with staff members of The New York Times...

PHILADELPHIA -- A bomb stuffed inside a padded envelope exploded in a downtown apartment early Tuesday when a man opened the package, apparently thinking it contained medicine, police said. The man was hospitalized with hand and chest injuries. Federal agents and the city's bomb squad were investigating the pre-dawn blast, which injured a man in his 60s. Authorities said the man, whose name wasn't released, had arrived home about 4 a.m. after being out of town and was opening his mail...

QAYARA, Iraq -- For months, residents of the Iraqi town of Qayara have lived under a dark cloud of toxic fumes released by oil well fires lit by retreating Islamic State fighters. But in recent days, oil workers and firefighters have extinguished the blazes closest to the populated center...

IRBIL, Iraq -- Iraqi troops gained a foothold Tuesday in another neighborhood in the northern city of Mosul after fierce battles against Islamic State militants dug in behind heavy fortifications, according to a top Iraqi commander. A new analysis, meanwhile, has found there is a high risk IS will use chemical weapons against Mosul civilians or Iraqi troops fighting to retake the city...

Replacement of one of the largest bridges in the Cape Girardeau County road system, which has been in the works for seven years, will get underway next year; the 122-foot-long bridge over the Diversion Channel is between Whitewater and Delta; the span, known as the "Bund Bridge," will cost about $430,000 based on engineer estimates...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Suzanne R. "Susie" Nuyt, 60, of Perryville died Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, at St. Clare Hospital in Fenton, Missouri. She was born Aug. 29, 1956, in Ironton, Missouri, daughter of Howard and Cleora Pingel Blair. She and Michael Nuyt were married July 1, 1994. He survives in Perryville...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Randa Sue Lee, 69, of Perryville died Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at Young and Sons Funeral Home in Perryville. The funeral will be at 7 p.m. Friday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Milton Ryan CM officiating...

ORAN, Mo. -- Anson Scott Knoderer departed this life and entered his eternal reward Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. Anson was born June 20, 1925, to Zella Vandell Scott and Cecil C. Knoderer in Sunbury, Ohio, in the county of Delaware. Anson and Janet Kilbury were united in marriage June 22, 1949, in Sunbury...

Stephen Boyd Holladay, 70, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, at his home. He was born Nov. 10, 1946, in Springfield, Missouri, to William Boyd and Jewell Barrett Holladay. He and Margaret A. Robertson were married Nov. 1, 2013, at Chaffee, Missouri...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Delmer L. Hedge Jr., 60, of Perryville died Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016, at his home. Visitation will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at Young and Sons Funeral Home in Perryville.

P. Jacqueline "Jackie" Eftink, 65, of Jackson passed away Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, at her home. She was born Sept. 7, 1951, in Cape Girardeau to Wilbert and Elva Dover Shaffer. She and Kenneth Eftink were married April 7, 1982, at the Methodist church in Oran, Missouri...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Sandra M. Duvall, 51, of Perryville died Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. today at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Perryville. The funeral Mass will be at 2:30 p.m. today at the church. Burial will be in Mount Hope Cemetery...

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls Monday: n Medical assists were made at 6:05 a.m. on Independence Street; 6:45 a.m. on South Lake Road; 8:59 a.m. on North Silver Springs Road; 9:46 a.m. North Mount Auburn Road; 1:30 p.m. on Broadway; and 4:03 p.m. Doctors' Park...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Kelvin L. Sanders, 31, 121 East Rodney Drive, was arrested on a St. Louis County warrant for nonsupport. n Christie L. Stalling, 33, homeless, of Cape Girardeau, was arrested on Cape Girardeau warrants for improper registration and motor vehicle financial responsibility...

Son to Jarrett David and Sarah Nicole Lawfield of Kewanee, Missouri, Southeast Hospital, 8:43 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. Name, William David. Weight, 7 pounds, 10 ounces. Third child, first daughter. Mrs. Lawfield is the former Sarah Hardin, daughter of Dale Hardin of Parma, Missouri, and the late Linda Hardin. Lawfield is the son of Tommy and Joyce Lawfield of New Madrid, Missouri. He is a farmer...

NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average surpassed 19,000 for the first time Tuesday as a post-election rally drove indexes further into record territory. Discount store chains made large gains, but health-care companies tumbled. Stocks opened solidly higher after setting records Monday. ...

ST. LOUIS -- The Environmental Protection Agency will test for radioactive contamination at a home near a St. Louis County landfill, a Superfund site where illegally buried nuclear waste sits near an underground fire, the EPA's regional administrator said Tuesday...

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. -- Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. said it will consolidate its St. Louis-area research and development operations into a new $200 million laboratory building in Chesterfield. The decision announced Tuesday is expected to create more than 80 jobs and retain more than 450 employees in the region. That's where New York-based Pfizer has had operations for more than 13 years...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A pawn shop that sold a gun to a mentally ill Missouri woman who used it to fatally shoot her father settled Tuesday in a wrongful death case for $2.2 million, which the plaintiff's lawyer said is the largest settlement since a 2005 federal law that shields gun manufacturers from most similar lawsuits...

The suspect arrested in the ambush shooting of a San Antonio police detective has said he was angry about a child-custody battle and "lashed out at somebody who didn't deserve it." Otis Tyrone McKane was being led by police to the Bexar County Jail late Monday when he told reporters he was angry with the court system for not letting him see his son and took it out on detective Benjamin Marconi...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 168-foot-tall Kansas waterslide on which a state lawmaker's 10-year-old son was killed last summer will be demolished once the unfolding investigation of the tragedy is finished, the water park's operators said Tuesday. Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts and the family that runs it said in a statement the "Verruckt" ride at the Schlitterbahn park in Kansas City, Kansas, will be removed permanently from its tower "once the investigation is concluded and we are given permission by the court.". ...

Richard L. Jenkins, 30, of Cape Girardeau waived a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Jackson. The Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Jenkins with first-degree domestic assault, armed criminal action, unlawful possession of a firearm, second-degree domestic assault and unlawful use of a weapon from a Sept. 18 incident...

NEW YORK -- Late-night host and "Carpool Karaoke" commuter James Corden will be behind the wheel at the Grammy Awards telecast in February. The Grammys airs live Feb. 12 from Los Angeles on CBS, the network and The Recording Academy announced Tuesday. For two years Corden has hosted CBS' "The Late Late Show," where his popular "Carpool Karaoke" feature finds him on the road with popular entertainers as they sing hit songs...

WEBSTER, Mass. -- A man sick of the mess seagulls leave at his dock and boat wants the neighbor he said is responsible for attracting the birds to pay up. Frank Yacino said Lisa Pezzella feeds the seagulls that hang around his neighborhood, leaving droppings on his property. He's asking for $1,500 to replace his boat's seat covers and $500 for time he's spent pressure-washing his dock. Her lawyer called the case silly and denies his client feeds the birds...

O Lord God, may we remember the reason for the Christmas season. Amen.