Stories from Friday, June 16, 2017

A Jackson man was arrested Thursday on charges of distributing and possessing methamphetamine. Jackson police said Donald G. Caruthers, 47, of 735 Dallas St., was arrested at his residence after police, along with officers from the SEMO Drug Task Force and the Sikeston, Missouri, Department of Public Safety, served a narcotics search warrant. ...

Swimming and boating accidents claimed the lives of three people over the last week in Southeast Missouri. A 19-year-old Farmington, Missouri, man drowned Sunday while attempting to swim across the Black River in Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park in Reynolds County...

The Cape Girardeau County Courthouse on Barton Square in Jackson needs new air-conditioning units, District 1 County Commissioner Paul Koeper said at Thursday’s county commission meeting. Koeper said he is waiting on responses from three entities on pricing for upgrades...

Laila Hussein, left, and Sami Hussein stack cans of corn for families who qualify to pick up food donated by Cape County Area American Medical Alliance on Thursday at Franklin Elementary in Cape Girardeau.

Installation of two prefabricated concrete bridges on Bloomfield Road will close both lanes of traffic for 12 days each later this summer, Cape Girardeau city engineer Casey Brunke said Thursday. The city will issue public notices in advance of the bridge work, Brunke said...

The Summer Arts Festival once again will transform the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus grounds to a celebration of art and the arts Saturday. Rhonda Weller-Stilson, director of the Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts, said this is the fourth festival, and it's grown every year...

A woman was abducted Thursday morning from the Wal-Mart Supercenter parking lot in Cape Girardeau and later found unharmed in a field near Chaffee, Missouri, police said. Police are searching for two men in a silver 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara with a North Carolina license plate that reads EFK7387, Sgt. Rick Schmidt said...

Fireworks stands will open June 27 in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, and proprietors and fire departments are gearing up. It's important to check with local authorities on regulations and ordinances, Boomland general manager Missy Jones said. Mary Ann Hoffman, who with her husband, Rick, owns Hoffman Family Fireworks, said individual cities and townships can be more restrictive than state law but not less...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri senators early Thursday morning passed legislation to require new abortion restrictions, such as annual health inspections of clinics, and to overturn a St. Louis ordinance that bans discrimination based on the procedure...

Today in History Today is Friday, June 16, the 167th day of 2017. There are 198 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 16, 1967, the three-day Monterey International Pop Music Festival, a major event of the "Summer of Love," opened in northern California; among the featured acts were Jefferson Airplane, The Who, the Grateful Dead, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding and Ravi Shankar...

There was a story this week that made me do some serious thinking. So don't read the rest of this unless you want to be informed with sobering statistics. The story was about an alarming increase in obesity. Just so you know, "obesity" doesn't mean overweight. A lot of us humans are overweight but not obese, which means we are heavier than we should be, but our weight doesn't pose the health risks associated with obesity...

Cape Girardeau is gearing up for a very artsy weekend. The annual Summer Arts Festival is officially Saturday, though there were three comedy shows leading up to the festival earlier this week. The festival is expected to draw thousands of people with a strong lineup of shows, art, booths and food...

JONESBORO, Ark. -- Craighead County, Arkansas, officials hope new security cameras will deter the steady stream of culprits who have been relieving themselves in the courthouse elevator in Jonesboro, a college town about 115 miles northeast of Little Rock. Maintenance workers say the problem has persisted for years, even though the restrooms are only about 25 feet from the elevator. Officials told The Jonesboro Sun the cameras, installed last fall, have caught three men in the act...

BOISE, Idaho -- U.S. officials are launching an expanded review of predator-killing cyanide traps and additional guidelines for workers deploying the devices after one sickened a young boy in Idaho and killed his dog. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday the review should be finished this fall, and workers, meanwhile, will follow interim guidelines issued in a 13-page directive intended to make sure anyone near a device is alerted...

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon will send almost 4,000 additional American forces to Afghanistan, a Trump administration official said Thursday, hoping to break a stalemate in a war that has passed to a third U.S. commander in chief. The deployment will be the largest of American manpower under Donald Trump's young presidency...

NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- Four days after getting the case, deadlocked jurors in Bill Cosby's sexual-assault trial struggled to end their impasse Thursday on charges he drugged and molested a woman in 2004, the prospect of a mistrial growing larger even as the judge directed them to keep talking...

LONDON -- London firefighters combed through a burned-out public housing tower Thursday in a grim search for missing people as police and the prime minister launched investigations into the deadly inferno, with pressure building on officials to explain the disaster and assure similar buildings around the country are safe...

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Mike Pence has hired outside legal counsel to oversee his response to investigations into possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Pence's office confirmed Thursday he retained Richard Cullen, chairman of McGuireWoods LLP, to assist him in responding to inquiries by special counsel Robert Mueller...

NEW YORK -- Teen vaping, which has been skyrocketing, fell dramatically last year in the United States. A government survey released Thursday suggests the number of high-school and middle-school students using electronic cigarettes fell to 2.2 million last year, from 3 million the year before...

BEIJING -- A suspect has been identified in an explosion at the front gate of a kindergarten in eastern China, and the death toll today rose to eight from a blast that struck as relatives were picking up their children at the end of the day. Police were investigating the explosion as a criminal act and said they had "targeted" a suspect, the official Xinhua News Agency reported...

MONROEVILLE, Pa. -- Even doctors can be addicted to opioids, in a way: It's hard to stop prescribing them. Melissa Jones is on a mission to break doctors of their habit, and in the process try to turn the tide of the painkiller epidemic that has engulfed 2 million Americans...

The Cape Girardeau County Commission will delay action on a proposed zoning ordinance until after the November general election. The commission had hoped to have the ordinance approved and in effect by this time, but earlier this year, a group of residents waged a petition drive because they didn't like certain provisions of the ordinance. The drive will put a question before voters in November, asking whether the county should have planning and zoning...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Eula C. Renner, 89, of Perryville died Wednesday, June 14, 2017, at Independence Care Center in Perryville. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday and from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday at Young and Sons Funeral Home, with a rosary at 11:30 a.m...

Surrounded by the love of her three children, 11 grandchildren and 16 greatgrandchildren, Leona Elizabeth Shaw of Cape Girardeau passed from this Earth on Wednesday, June 14, 2017, at Life Care Center in Cape Girardeau and was granted one of her greatest wishes: to meet her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. She was born March 4, 1923...

Michael Earl Perry, 57, of Delta died Wednesday, June 14, 2017, at Southeast Hospital. He was born July 17, 1959, in St. Louis to the late Chalmer Eugene and LaVaughn Medley Perry. He married Angela Perry on April 4, 1981, and she survives of the home...

Troas Joiner, 39, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, June 15, 2017, in Cape Girardeau. A memorial service will be held at a later date at Good Shepherd Lutheran Chapel. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Nina May Edwards, 86, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, June 14, 2017, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau. Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home, with Pastor Phillip Roop officiating. Burial will be in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield...

Arthur Jackson Burton, 91, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, June 15, 2017, at his home. Visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau. Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home, with the Rev. David McNeely officiating. Burial will be in Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau...

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls Wednesday. n Medical assists were made at 11 a.m. on North Main Street; 1:14 p.m. on North Street; 5:09 p.m. on South Ellis Street; and 9:51 p.m. on North Frederick Street...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Assault n Assault and unlawful use of a weapon were reported at 1701 Lacey St. Burglary n Burglary and theft were reported at Custom Designs, 505 Good Hope St. Thefts n Theft was reported at 29 S. Sprigg St...

Son to Cedrick Allen Jenkins Jr. and Charisse Monae Bolton of Cape Girardeau, Saint Francis Medical Center, 10:07 p.m. Thursday, June 1, 2017. Name, Cedrick Allen III. Weight, 6 pounds, 3 ounces. First child. Jenkins is the son of Roshel Curtis of Goshen, Indiana, and Cedrick Jenkins Sr. of Cape Girardeau...

PARIS -- The electronic bleeps and squawks of "Tetris," "Donkey Kong" and other generation-shaping games you never may have thought of as musical are increasingly likely to be playing at a philharmonic concert hall near you. From the "ping ... ping" of Atari's 1972 ground-breaking paddle game "Pong," the sounds, infectious ditties and, with time, fully-formed orchestral scores that are an essential part of the sensory thrill for gamers have formed a musical universe. ...

The Cape Girardeau Public Library will have board games available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at 711 N. Clark Ave. in Cape Girardeau. Games will be available for all age ranges. For more information, call (573) 334-5279, ext. 122, or visit capelibrary.org/Library%20Events.aspx...

Signed @ebquest up for his last 2 years of college yesterday. #SEMOselfie #herecomesadulting #babyboy #prouddad

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A former teacher’s assistant has pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography after admitting he placed a pen camera in the bathroom of a southwest Missouri elementary school. Federal prosecutors said 20-year-old Dalton Cole Sherman of Buffalo pleaded guilty Tuesday. ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Missouri plans to close a bed-and-breakfast that has been a business and a way to educate hospitality students for more than 20 years. The Gathering Place Bed & Breakfast, across from the Columbia campus, will close in December. ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri System president is laying out plans to improve the Columbia campus' enrollment and public image. President Mun Choi spoke to the Regional Economic Development Board of Directors on Wednesday, the Columbia Daily Tribune reported...

FULTON, Mo. — Prosecutors are reviewing evidence in the case of a 31-year-old developmentally disabled Missouri man whose body was found encased in concrete. Fulton police chief Steve Myers said he believes prosecutors will decide what charges to file in the coming weeks. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Natural Resources must pay a $5,000 fine for violating the Sunshine Law after it took members of the Clean Water Commission on a tour of hog farms without proper public notice. Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce on Wednesday ordered the department to pay the fine to the Cole County School Fund. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens is among governors meeting with President Donald Trump. Greitens’ spokesman Parker Briden said Thursday that Greitens will be in Washington, D.C. He and seven other governors are meeting with Trump to discuss workforce development as part of the president’s weeklong focus on the issue. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Gov. Eric Greitens has enacted a new law allowing utility regulators to approve lower electricity rates to lure metal manufactures to Missouri. Greitens said Thursday he has signed legislation that had been passed last month during a special session he called. ...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis officials and the Missouri Civil War Museum are fighting over who owns a divisive Confederate monument. The museum's executive director, Mark Trout, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the United Daughters of the Confederacy signed over the monument rights to the museum Tuesday...

It is a real shame what is happening with the Tailor Institute. It is one of the only organizations that helps young adults with Autism in the country. I guess the liberal Democrats got so used to having a president that took instruction from George Soros that they are having a hard time with a president that does what the people elected him to do. ...

The 41st annual Mid-Summer Festival will be held from 1 to 11 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to midnight Saturday at Scott City Park in Scott City. Amusement rides and games by Sonshine Games will be available, and there will be live music, tournaments, a beauty pageant and more, culminating in a fireworks show at 11 p.m. All are welcome to join the fun...

Father God, we praise you, for you are the giver of all good gifts. Amen.

Lydia Gentry, a local junior who attends Central High School, has released her debut single, a cover of "Subdivisions", which was originally performed and written by the rock band Rush. This album was released in Gentry's hometown Cape Girardeau featuring Gentry's talented electric violin playing and earthy singing. The album also consisted beautiful scenery of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge and the mighty Mississippi River...