Stories from Friday, July 21, 2017

Quinn Poythress with ASA Asphalt Inc. operates a power brush Thursday on a section of the Cape LaCroix Recreation Trail near Arena Park in Cape Girardeau. The trail is being widened from 8 feet to 10 feet from East Rodney Drive to Hopper Road. Revenue from the city's parks and recreation and stormwater sales tax and the casino fund will pay for the more than $255,000 project.

Police have identified Lavell Durden Jr., 49, of Cape Girardeau as the victim in an apparent homicide Wednesday, according to a news release from the Cape Girardeau Police Department. The Cape Girardeau/Bollinger County Major Case Squad was activated Wednesday after police were called to an apartment at 203 S. Lorimier St. The coroner pronounced Durden dead at the scene...

"Grass up." That's a term comfortably nested in Janie Brown's vernacular, much like a rocking chair on the porch of a remote cabin in the Smoky Mountains. It casually finds its way into conversation when she discusses her encounters with old gospel songs she thinks could be spruced up with a coat of blue...

RIPLEY COUNTY, Mo. -- Four former students testified Tuesday a Naylor, Missouri, science teacher and assistant principal touched them inappropriately. The testimony was presented to Butler County, Missouri, Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett in support of a motion filed by Ripley County assistant prosecuting attorney Kacey Proctor...

The Perryville, Missouri, Police Department released more details regarding an incident of misconduct for which two Perryville officers have been disciplined. "In an effort to clarify rumor, conjecture and gossip, we have determined we can release the following information," the department said in a statement issued Thursday...

The Veterans Memorial Drive project has been completed, ending months of frustration for Cape Girardeau city officials over the slow pace of work by the contractor. The contractor still faces fines for not finishing the project on time, city engineer Casey Brunke said...

Today in History Today is Friday, July 21, the 202nd day of 2017. There are 163 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On July 21, 1925, the so-called "Monkey Trial" ended in Dayton, Tennessee, with John T. Scopes found guilty of violating state law for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. (The conviction was later overturned on a technicality.)...

The movie theater needs to really think of all the possible scenarios of selling alcohol before they make a ridiculous and unwise decision. A recovering alcoholic is already bombarded by beer in so many settings. Let someone enjoy a movie without the temptation of alcohol. ...

More than 60 years ago, growing up on a farm was pretty much the same no matter where the farm was located. Boys, whether on farms in the flat Bootheel of Missouri or in the sloping Ozark valleys over yonder, had to be out of bed early to do chores: milk cows, hoe gardens, buck bales of hay and mend fences. ...

A couple of prominent local historians have taken on different roles in the community. As reported by Marybeth Niederkorn, local historian William Eddleman soon will replace Frank Nickell as associate director at the Cape Girardeau research center for the State Historical Society of Missouri. Nickell took on a new role at the Kellerman Foundation, a local historic preservation organization...

A divided Cape Girardeau City Council yesterday voted to direct the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to develop a "sports theme" proposal for use of excess city tourism funds. The council's action came at the recommendation of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board, which spent the past six months studying eight proposals for use of the funds...

Gladys Ann Thompson, 90, passed away Thursday, July 20, 2017, at her home in Jackson. She was born on Valentine's Day, 1927, in Oran, Missouri, the daughter of Martin and Mayme Sietman Blattel. Gladys married Charles E. "Ed" Thompson on May 8, 1948, in Oran at the Guardian Angel Catholic Church. He passed away June 17, 1992, after 44 years of marriage...

Grant Murray, 22, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Orlando, Florida, died Tuesday, July 18, 2017, in Cape Girardeau. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Pennsylvania. Crain Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau is in charge of local arrangements...

Margie Ann Leine, 70, of Daisy passed to be with her Lord on Thursday, July 13, 2017, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Dec. 19, 1946, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Leonard and Violet Unterreiner Yamnitz. She and Doyle Leine were married April 1, 1967, at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson...

Dallas L. Lands, 76, of Delta passed away Wednesday, July 19, 2017, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 21, 1941, in Randles to the late Thomas and Lucy Spain Lands. He married Shirley Diggs on May 28, 1960, and they were married for 39 years. She survives. Later, he married Linda Bruce on Feb. 19, 2000, and she survives...

PHOENIX -- Myrtle Rosalie Gulley, 83, of Phoenix died Monday, June 17, 2017. Services were conducted by Best Funeral Services of Peoria, Arizona.

Robert Stephen "Steve" Gerard, 64, of Cape Girardeau passed away Tuesday, July 18, 2017, at Saint Francis Medical Center after a short battle with cancer. He was born Aug. 10, 1952, in Cape Girardeau, the son of Harold Fletcher and Iona Mae Benson Gerard...

Travis M. Davie, 35, of Cape Girardeau passed away Monday, July 17, 2017. He was born Friday, June 4, 1982, in Murphysboro, Illinois, to Stephen and Jeannie Dalton Davie. Survivors include his parents of Cape Girardeau; daughters, Madison and Alanah Davie of Cape Girardeau; sisters, Tammy (Jason) Potts of Dickson, Tennessee, Tina Mezo (John Rendleman) of Jonesboro, Illinois, and Tonia (Shannon) Hughes of Grand Tower, Illinois; nephews, Tyler Wagnitz, Jaden Potts and Haegan Hughes; paternal grandfather, Alvin Davie; maternal grandmother, Eva Thiele; and many loving cousins, aunts and uncles.. ...

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Miscellaneous n Fraud was reported in the 300 block of East Jackson Boulevard. n Peace disturbance was reported in the 700 block of Oak Street.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Blake E. Hicks, 25, of Marble Hill, Missouri, was arrested at 3463 Armstrong Drive on two Cape Girardeau warrants. n Five juveniles were in custody on suspicion of damaging a vase at Dollar Tree, 164 Siemers Drive...

Daughter to Darby Andrew Richard and April Lynn Batey of Patton, Missouri, Saint Francis Medical Center, 2:47 a.m. Friday, July 7, 2017. Name, Amelia Rose. Weight, 6 pounds, 14 ounces. Second daughter. Mrs. Batey is the former April Eversole, daughter of Generro and Donna Martin of Patton. Batey is the son of Linda and John Couch of Fredericktown, Missouri. He works at Wal-Mart...

LOVELOCK, Nev. -- O.J. Simpson was granted parole Thursday after more than eight years in prison for a Las Vegas hotel-room heist, successfully making his case for freedom in a nationally televised hearing that reflected America's enduring fascination with the former football star...

GREENWICH, Conn. -- Police said six cars were stolen from people's driveways on the same night in the Connecticut town of Greenwich. Police told the Greenwich Time all six cars were unlocked with the keys inside when they were taken from homes Saturday night. Lt. Louis Pannone said "people need to be responsible." He said police are looking into whether Saturday's thefts relate to other cars reported stolen across the state...

WASHINGTON -- Republican leaders pushed toward a Senate vote Tuesday on resurrecting their nearly flat-lined health care bill. Their uphill drive was complicated further by the ailing GOP Sen. John McCain's potential absence and a report envisioning the number of uninsured Americans would soar...

ASPEN, Colo. -- CIA director Mike Pompeo said Thursday that Russia is interested in staying in Syria, partly because its leaders "love to stick it to America." Asked whether Russia is America's friend or adversary, Pompeo replied: "It's complicated."...

BEIJING -- China is tightening control over foreign companies' internet use in a move some worry might disrupt their operations or jeopardize trade secrets as part of a crackdown on technology that allows web surfers to evade Beijing's online censorship...

DALLAS -- The ban on laptops in the cabins of planes flying from the Middle East to the U.S. is over, as federal officials say large airports in the region have taken other steps to increase security. Those measures include checking electronic devices to make sure they don't contain a bomb and pulling more people out of airport lines for additional screening...

WASHINGTON -- Seek a good education. Control blood pressure and diabetes. Get off the couch. There are some hints, but no proof, that these and other lifestyle changes might help stave off dementia. A provocative report Thursday in the British journal Lancet raised the prospect a third of dementia cases around the world could be delayed or even prevented by avoiding key risks starting in childhood that can make the brain more vulnerable to memory loss in old age...

WAKISO, Uganda -- Some menstruating schoolgirls were locked in dormitories while their peers were in class. To avoid the humiliation, others stayed home. As more girls skipped class because they couldn't afford sanitary pads, authorities at a government-backed school outside Uganda's capital, Kampala, were forced to do what few have done: provide free sanitary pads...

AIN ISSA, Syria -- They have escaped their hold, but displaced residents of Raqqa still fear the militants of the Islamic State group, terrified they will return and seek revenge for defeats. In one of the largest camps housing those who fled the northern Syrian city, survivors of the group's terror machine cannot shake off the horrors they witnessed in the group's self-declared capital. ...

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A nationwide strike against plans to rewrite the constitution shut down much of Venezuelan's capital Thursday before erupting into sporadic violence when protesters clashed with riot police and burned a post office near the headquarters of the main state-run broadcaster...

WASHINGTON -- John McCain couldn't bring himself to vote for Donald Trump -- so he talked about writing in his best friend's name for president. After the election, he's been the leading Senate Republican critic of Trump's posture toward Russia. And from his Arizona home, where he's battling brain cancer, the Arizona senator on Thursday lobbed a new attack at the White House over its Syria policy...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's growing anxiety about the federal Russia probe has spilled into public view with his warning special counsel Robert Mueller would be out of bounds if he dug into the Trump family's finances. But that's a line Mueller seems sure to cross...

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions, publicly skewered by his boss for stepping clear of the Russia-Trump investigations, declared Thursday he still loves his job and plans to stay on. Yet Donald Trump's airing of his frustrations with Sessions raised new questions about the future of the nation's top prosecutor...

NEW YORK -- Seacrest in! Ryan Seacrest will be back hosting "American Idol" when it returns for its first season on ABC. Kelly Ripa made the announcement on Thursday's "Live with Kelly and Ryan," which she has co-hosted with Seacrest since he joined her in May...

Saturday #selfie with @rdblatt and @babybnolan #semoselfie #saturdaysathome #smile #babyboy #babyface

SULLIVAN, Mo. -- Thousands of ticks have been collected for testing from a Missouri park after a worker died of complications from the tick-borne Bourbon virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the results from the tick testing won't be available for several months...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- More than a dozen businesses advertising as massage parlors in Springfield were raided as part of a multi-state investigation into human trafficking, Attorney General Josh Hawley announced Thursday. Hawley and Greene County Prosecutor Daniel Patterson also filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking emergency orders to shut down the businesses. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens on Thursday said he's reversing cuts to foster-care families he had approved earlier, saying the proposal to cut their compensation had been "a mistake." Cutting aid to families who care for foster children "was never our intention," Greitens wrote in a letter he sent to foster-care families. Greitens said he's now undoing a 1.5 percent funding cut those families faced...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A federal appeals court has upheld a judge's order that Missouri taxpayers pay more than $156,000 to cover Planned Parenthood's legal bills tied to a dispute over a clinic's abortion license. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday affirmed U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey's August 2016 decision the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services must pay the attorneys' fees and expenses incurred by what now is Planned Parenthood Great Plains...

The Jackson Knights of Columbus will hold the second annual Jackson Community Picnic from 2 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the KC Hall, 3305 N. High St. in Jackson. A full afternoon and evening of events for the whole family will include bingo, a washer tournament starting at 6 p.m., a meal in the air-conditioned hall from 4 to 7 p.m. and the Outlaw Saints performing from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Plenty of activities for children also are planned, including water slides, an obstacle course and balloon artists. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and enjoy the day. For more information, call (573) 243-5464.

Take a spin in the Vortex Pool, float on the Lazy River, ride the slide or swim laps from 9 to 11 a.m. today at Cape Splash. For more information, call (573) 339-6343 or email sbergman@cityofcape.org. The Teen Challenge Choir will sing and give testimonies at 7 p.m. today at the Common Pleas Courthouse gazebo, 44 N. Lorimier St. in Cape Girardeau. In case of inclement weather, the concert will be in First Presbyterian Church...

O Father God, may we seek wisdom from you as we lead others. Amen.

Kerri Mitchell Jones, daughter of Keith Mitchell and Terry Jo Bankhead Garrison, was born March 20, 1967, in Kennett, Missouri, and departed this life July 1, 2017, at the age of 50 years. Kerri married Andrew Jones on Nov. 29, 1996, in Montgomery, Alabama...

Christians do have an alternative to Obamacare (ACA) or Trumpcare. On a recent surgery, I paid zero on a $6,643 surgery, etc. charge. My Christian brothers and sisters shared the bill, and after all was said and done I paid nothing. I am 61 years old, and I pay around $320 a month. Yes, $320 per month,...