Stories from Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Cape Girardeau native Pat Wissman — whose biker friends know affectionately as “He-Man” — wears leather and rides a 2011 Harley-Davidson, but he’s got a soft spot to stand up for abused children. Even though his outer appearance may suggest otherwise, Wissman describes himself as “one of the good guys.” ...

Recreational vehicles in Jackson can be parked on roadways now, but a proposed change to the city’s ordinances would allow the police to ticket vehicles obstructing traffic. A previous proposed ordinance change would have banned parking of any recreational vehicle, whether a camper or boat or trailer with Jet Skis, for example, but after receiving public input, city attorney Tom Ludwig created a new draft he said would be simpler...

Residents and Cape Girardeau city staff want to bar liquor sales at a south-side neighborhood convenience store, which they say has led to troublesome activities. The Outlet convenience store came under new ownership last year, city planner Ryan Shrimplin said Tuesday...

Today is Wednesday, June 6, the 157th day of 2018. There are 208 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 6, 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, 25 1/2 hours after he was shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan...

How blistering fast is the modern news cycle? Can you believe: It was only Friday that Gov. Eric Greitens signed his resignation letter and departed Missouri government. How quickly headlines move on. After months of scandal, the state is yearning for a break. ...

I would argue as I have so often in the past that America does not have a gun problem; we have a people problem. Even if you confiscate every single firearm, the evil within some will remain. That is simply the ugly aspect of the human spirit. England on the other hand has virtually no guns but has an increasing and alarming problem with knife stabbing and related fatalities. Just additional evidence of evil regardless of the weapon of choice...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio said Tuesday it will not have medical marijuana available by the September deadline, even as a key backer of recreational marijuana legalization said he's using a combination of strategies to continue expanding access to safe cannabis...

DOVER, Del. -- The market for legal sports gambling in the United States widened significantly Tuesday with expanded betting in Delaware, putting legal wagering within driving distance of three major East Coast cities less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to accept the bets...

Members of St. Mary's Cathedral celebrate 125 years of the parish with a homecoming; the 11:30 a.m. Mass is celebrated at Deerfield, followed by a dinner, games and other activities; the parish was established in 1868. Ralph Ford, chairman of the Cape Girardeau County Republican Central Committee for the past two-and-one-half years, has resigned his position; the retired Cape Girardeau School teacher, who operates a 200-acre farm north of Jackson, made the semi-surprise announcement Friday at a meeting of the committee.. ...

BENTON, Mo. -- Vernon Herman "Sheenie" Scherer, 87, of Benton died Thursday, May 31, 2018, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 27, 1931, in Benton to John and Bertha Enderle Scherer. He and Judy Diane Pattengill married Aug. 15, 1959, in Benton...

Surrounded by his loving family, Frank Monroe, 68, of Jackson met his Savior on Sunday, June 3, 2018. Frank expired at Southeast Hospital, and the past several months had struggled with multiple health complications. He was born June 12, 1949, in Cape Girardeau to Robert and Erma Lohmann Monroe. He and Linda Koch were married June 1, 1968, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jackson. Just two days before Frank's passing, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary...

Vergie Mae Kies, 92, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, June 4, 2018, at Monticello House in Jackson. She was born Oct. 16, 1925, in Holcomb, Missouri, to Edward and Selma Summers Eakins. She and David Kies Sr. were married Dec. 7, 1943, at Benton, Missouri...

Brandon Maxfield scatters shavings of Irish Spring deodorant soap Tuesday to discourage deer from feasting at the Rose Display Garden in Capaha Park. "We're doing whatever we can to combat them, short of staying out here all night and hollering at them," Maxfield said. ...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump couldn't get what he wanted from months of three-way trade talks with Canada and Mexico. So now his administration wants to pursue separate negotiations with the two U.S. neighbors to try to overhaul the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has condemned as a job-killing disaster...

LONDON -- A third runway at Heathrow Airport was approved Tuesday by Prime Minister Theresa May's Cabinet, setting the stage for a parliamentary vote on the matter after years of debate over how to increase airport capacity. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling described the decision by a Cabinet sub-committee as the right move for the country and one signaling Britain's commitment to expand international trade transport links, which will boost the economy for generations to come...

EL RODEO, Guatemala -- People of the villages skirting Guatemala's Volcano of Fire have begun mourning the few dead who could be identified after an eruption killed dozens by engulfing them in floods of searing ash and mud. Mourners cried Monday evening over caskets lined up in a row in the main park of San Juan Alotenango before rescuers stopped their work for another night...

ROME -- Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte declared Europe's immigration policy a "failure" and demanded for it to be renegotiated as he outlined a heavy-spending domestic policy agenda of Italy's populist "government of change" Tuesday. In his first policy address ahead of Parliamentary confidence votes, Conte readily acknowledged the coalition government made up of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and right-wing League marks a radical shift from the Italian status quo...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- When the Miss America pageant started in 1921, having young women parade around in bathing suits seemed like a great way to get tourists to come to the Atlantic City Boardwalk after Labor Day. But how America views women has changed drastically since then, and the Miss America Organization is run by women who don't think it's such a hot idea...

NEW YORK -- Kate Spade, a fashion designer known for her sleek handbags, was found hanged in the bedroom of her Park Avenue apartment Tuesday in an apparent suicide, police said. She was 55. Spade's body was found by a housekeeper not long after 10 a.m., police said at an afternoon news conference. Her husband and business partner Andy Spade was in the apartment at the time...

HONOLULU -- Lava from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano destroyed hundreds more homes overnight, overtaking two oceanfront communities advised to evacuate last week, officials said Tuesday. No injuries were reported as most residents heeded advice to leave. The homes lost are in addition to at least 117 destroyed and reported by county officials since lava began spilling from cracks in the ground opening up in a mostly rural district of the Big Island last month...

WASHINGTON -- The federal school safety commission set up after the deadly shooting at a Florida high school will not examine the role of guns in school violence, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Tuesday. DeVos' testimony to a Senate subcommittee came amid criticism by Democrats and some educators the panel, set up by President Donald Trump in March, was focused more on distracting public attention rather than truly addressing gun violence...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Legislators in the country's No. 2 hog-growing state Tuesday stepped up efforts to shield industrial hog operations from neighbors who have complained for decades about the smell, noise and flies generated by housing thousands of animals together...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his Tuesday ceremony celebrating the Philadelphia Eagles' Super Bowl victory after many players declined to show up. The White House accused the players of abandoning their fans, and Trump quickly scheduled a "Celebration of America" with military bands as he stoked fresh controversy over players who protest racial injustice by taking a knee during the national anthem...

WASHINGTON -- Eager to begin another assault on the credibility of those investigating him, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to know "what is taking so long" with an internal Justice Department investigation that is expected to cast a harsh spotlight on the FBI...

NEW YORK -- A judge set deadlines possibly making President Donald Trump answer questions under oath by early next year in a former "Apprentice" contestant's defamation suit, while Trump's lawyers pushed back Tuesday on demands for information on his campaign's discussions about other women who also accused him of sexual misconduct...

WASHINGTON -- Key Senate Republicans are pushing longshot legislation to require Congress to sign off on President Donald Trump's import tariffs, a rare attempt to stand up to the administration on a bedrock issue that once defined the GOP. Congressional Republicans are mostly at odds with what they view as Trump's protectionist instincts on trade. ...

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge will weigh whether to jail former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort while he awaits trial after prosecutors accused him of making several attempts to tamper with witnesses in his criminal case. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson set a hearing for next week and gave Manafort until Friday to respond to the allegations made by special counsel Robert Mueller's team Manafort and one of his associates "repeatedly" contacted two witnesses in an effort to influence their testimony.. ...

WASHINGTON -- Medicare will run out of money sooner than expected, and Social Security's financial problems can't be ignored either, the government said Tuesday in a checkup on programs vital to the middle class. The report from program trustees states Medicare will become insolvent in 2026 -- three years earlier than previously forecast. Its giant trust fund for inpatient care won't be able to fully cover projected medical bills starting at that point...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Staff at a Kansas City veteran's medical center caused a man to contract a blood infection and die after improperly inflating a catheter, according to a federal lawsuit filed by his widow. The lawsuit alleges 52-year-old Gilbert Harris visited the Kansas City VA Medical Center in 2016 for neurogenic bladder, a condition causing the bladder to become overactive or underactive. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The fate of a Missouri death row inmate whose execution was halted last year after DNA evidence raised questions about his case is on hold as a result of former Gov. Eric Greitens' resignation. Marcellus Williams, 49, was hours away from being put to death in August when Greitens halted the execution. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- More than a year after a developmentally disabled Missouri man's body was found encased in concrete, two people who are accused in a lawsuit of making him fight for their entertainment have been charged in his death, a prosecutor announced Tuesday...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- An audit has found multiple problems with how Missouri tracks fraud within a program providing food aid for low-income families. Auditor Nicole Galloway released a report Tuesday that found flaws in how the Department of Social Services kept track of data between 2015 and 2016, making it difficult for the department to know whether fraud occurs within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps...

Jesus, thank you for the men and women who serve in the military. Amen.

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Joshua Benefield, 41, of Cape Girardeau was arrestd on a Bollinger County (Missouri) warrant. n Steven Hanks Sr., 48, of Cape Girardeau was arrested on two Scott County warrants...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls: Sunday n Medical assists were made at 12:53 a.m. on North Main Street, 3:31 a.m. on South Mount Auburn Road, 10:01 a.m. on Whitener Street, 3:51 p.m. on William Street and 8:43 p.m. on Kurre Lane...

BOSTON -- It's never been clear whether robotics company Boston Dynamics is making killing machines, household helpers or something else entirely. For nine years, the secretive firm -- which got its start with U.S. military funding -- has unnerved people around the world with YouTube videos of experimental robots resembling animal predators...

Son to Christian Alexander Sprouse and Brianna Dawn Lynch of New Madrid, Missouri, Saint Francis Medical Center, 2:10 p.m. Tuesday, May 29, 2018. Name, Connor Alexander. Weight, 7 pounds, 4 ounces. First child. Lynch is the daughter of Stephanie Cruse of Scott City and Brian Lynch of Sikeston, Missouri. She is a certified nursing assistant at Cotton Point Living Center. Sprouse is the son of Ann Lawrence of New Madrid. He is a contractor with Express Employment...

Bankruptcies filed through May for the Southeastern Division of the Eastern District of Missouri's U.S. Bankruptcy Court are listed below with their corresponding case numbers. Included are bankruptcies filed in Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties. Court is held in Cape Girardeau...

Tax liens and lien discharges recorded at the office of Drew Blattner, recorder of deeds, during May are filed by the Missouri Department of Revenue, except as indicated by IRS designation. For more information, contact the recorder's office at (573) 243-8123...