Stories from Thursday, August 23, 2018

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has appointed Mark Welker as Cape Girardeau prosecuting attorney, filling the vacancy created by the departure of Chris Limbaugh, who resigned to take a position as general counsel to the governor. Welker, a Cape Girardeau lawyer, defeated attorney William Bryant of Jackson in the Aug. 7 Republican primary. Welker is unopposed in the November general election...

A proposed constitutional amendment on Missouri's November ballot would change the way state legislative districts are drawn, limit campaign contributions and treat state lawmakers' emails as public records. The so-called Clean Missouri ballot initiative has drawn bipartisan support, but many GOP lawmakers including area state representatives strongly oppose it. Some GOP lawmakers have suggested it is a way to gerrymander districts to elect more Democrats to the state Legislature...

Jackson Fire Rescue is working to build a memorial to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania. Placed prominently on the station lawn between the parking lot and the fire engine garage, the planned memorial will have a pentagon-shaped base, two black "towers" inscribed with names of those who died in the 2001 attacks, three flagpoles, a statue of a kneeling firefighter facing the towers, and benches, said firefighter Sam Herndon.. ...

VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Carter County commissioners promised Monday to pause discussion of construction of a new courthouse while other options are considered for preservation of the historic stone structure that has served as the county seat for 82 years...

Kmart at 11 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau will close in November, along with 45 other Sears and Kmart stores nationwide, Sears Holdings announced Thursday morning. According to the company news release, the closures are part of ongoing efforts to streamline operations, strengthen the company's capital position and focus on the best stores...

There are so many good places around with these small towns it's only a matter of finding them. Out in Jackson there is Tractor's Classic American Grill that never disappoints with their large menu. Or you can go over to Gordonville, Missouri to the Gordonville Grill with their nice atmosphere and friendly staff. And always recommended is the East Perry Pub LLC in Altenburg, Missouri with their "Pound Pub Burger." Go check them all out!...

Today is Thursday, Aug. 23, the 235th day of 2018. There are 130 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On August 23, 1775, Britain's King George III proclaimed the American colonies to be in a state of "open and avowed rebellion." On this date:...

O Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us and forgiving us of our sins. Amen.

When I first heard the news that the President called for the creation of another branch of the military tentatively called the Space Force, I have to admit that I thought the name Space Force was a joke. Issues dealing with the military and space have been the responsibility of the U.S. Air Force. One issue the new force is supposed to address is the advances China and Russia have made in military-purposed satellites...

If you've been reading the Southeast Missourian the last few days, you've seen that our sports sections have previewed our local football teams. It's the time of year when fall sports get in full swing; and not just football. (Though there is something special about fall Friday nights or Saturday afternoons at a football stadium.)...

HONOLULU -- Hurricane Lane has weakened as it approaches Hawaii but was still expected to pack a wallop, forecasters said Wednesday, as people hurried to buy water and other supplies and the Navy moved its ships to safety. The National Weather Service said tropical-storm-force winds could begin as early as Wednesday afternoon on the Big Island...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Spanning three city blocks, San Francisco's $2 billion transit terminal is open after nearly a decade under construction. Coined the "Grand Central of the West," the new Salesforce Transit Center near the heart of downtown is expected to accommodate 100,000 passengers each weekday and up to 45 million people a year. It welcomed its first passengers and visitors this month...

NEW YORK -- The plea deal reached by Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen has laid bare a relationship between the president and the publisher of the National Enquirer going well beyond the tabloid's screaming headlines. Besides detailing the tabloid's involvement in payoffs to porn actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal to keep quiet about alleged affairs with Trump, court papers showed how David Pecker, a longtime friend of the president and head of Enquirer parent company American Media Inc., offered to help Trump stave off negative stories during the 2016 campaign.. ...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump accused his former lawyer Michael Cohen of lying under pressure of prosecution Wednesday as his White House grappled with allegations the president had orchestrated a campaign cover-up to buy the silence of two women who claimed he had affairs with them...

NEW YORK -- A version of Alexa won't tell children where babies come from or spill the beans about Santa. It also won't explain some things children might have heard on the news -- like what Stormy Daniels does for a living. Amazon updated its voice assistant with a feature to make Alexa more child-friendly. When the FreeTime feature is activated, Alexa answers certain questions differently. Asked where babies come from, for example, the child version tells youngsters to ask a grown-up...

For the first time since it was closed in early July, the Mississippi River was opened yesterday afternoon for limited commercial use between St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois, but on a highly restricted basis. With the filing period opening in less than two months, at least two members of the Cape Girardeau City Council are considering running for mayor next spring; Gene Rhodes, Cape Girardeau's mayor since 1986, has indicated he may not seek reelection to a third term; but two councilmen -- Melvin Kasten and Melvin Gateley -- are considering mayoral campaigns.. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrest n Benjamin Savage, 43, of Cape Girardeau was arrested on a Cape Girardeau warrant for failure to appear. Assault n Assault and unlawful use of a weapon were reported at 149 S. West End Blvd. A suspect is in custody pending formal charges...

LONGTOWN, Mo. -- Dorothy M. Ziegler, 96, formerly of Longtown, died Aug. 22, 2018, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 23, 1922 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, daughter of Frank X. and Olivia Roth Arnold. She and Milton K. "Bud" Ziegler were married March 4, 1946. He preceded her in death Jan. 21, 2005...

Willard Allen Rehkopf, 68, of Advance, Missouri died Friday, Aug. 17, 2018 at Advance Nursing Home. He was born June 27, 1950, in Cape Girardeau to William Charles "Bill" and Ruby Dell Wessel Rehkopf. Willard served in the Army in Vietnam. He worked as a mechanic and was a small hobby farmer. He was a member of Zion Lutheran Church...

DUPO, Ill. -- Jodi A. Thurston Marlo, 45, of Dupo, formerly of Villa Ridge, Illinois, passed away Monday morning, Aug. 20, 2018, at her home. Jodi was born Dec. 26, 1972, in Alton, Illinois, to Clinton J. and Jerri Bierbaum Thurston. She was a graduate of Meridian High School Class of 1991 in Mounds, Illinois, and a graduate of Shawnee Community College in Ullin, Illinois. ...

Virginia G. Lewis, 99, of Cape Girardeau passed away Monday, Aug. 20, 2018. She was born June 9, 1919, in Sikeston, Missouri, to Robert P. and Helen R. Hollister Stubblefield. She and Earl G. Lewis Sr. were married Dec. 24, 1939, in Cape Girardeau. They had been married nearly 63 years, when Earl passed away Sept. 20, 2002. Two sons were born to their union...

Carl Haines Hobbs, 89, of Scott City died Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, at Chaffee Nursing Center in Chaffee, Missouri. A graveside service will be held at 2 p.m. today at Hobbs Chapel Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City was in charge of the arrangements...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Ludene Burns, 80, died Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, at her home near Sikeston. She was born Oct. 18, 1937, at Selmer, Tennessee, to the late Hubert and Virlon Wyatt Cooksey. She was a member of Diehlstadt General Baptist Church in Diehlstadt, Missouri, and had been a lifelong resident of Jackson and Sikeston...

Ann D. Brookman, 69, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, at Auburn Creek in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 4, 1949, in St. Louis to Joseph R. and Clara Wulfers Davis. She and Gordon Brookman were married Nov. 3, 1972, at Greenville, Missouri...

ST. LOUIS -- Victims of clergy sexual abuse are calling for a wide-scale investigation of sex-crime allegations against Catholic priests in Missouri, and whether the church participated in a cover-up. One victim, a woman whose son killed himself after being abused as a teenager, and an attorney for other abuse victims spoke Wednesday outside the St. ...

Wyatt Segraves, 8, hits the ball back to his father, Kelley, during the pair's second tennis lesson Wednesday in Cape Girardeau.

Discovery Playhouse in downtown Cape Girardeau will be hosting its first back-to-school carnival Sept. 7. Carnival entertainment will include face painting, clowns, balloon animals, a photo booth, a fortuneteller and new this year, a dunking booth, Discovery Playhouse program and operations manager Sydnee Woodruff said...

The Arrow, the student newspaper at Southeast Missouri State University, has been named a finalist in two categories for College Media Association Pinnacle Awards to be presented in October, according to a recent news release. The Arrow is among three national finalists for a Writing Pinnacle in the "Best Special Section: More than Four Pages" category for a special report titled "The Impact Zone," dealing with opioid addiction...

PORT ARTHUR, Texas -- As the nation plans new defenses against the more powerful storms and higher tides expected from climate change, one project stands out: an ambitious proposal to build a nearly 60-mile "spine" of concrete seawalls, earthen barriers, floating gates and steel levees on the Texas Gulf Coast...

Gavin Deneke, 5, of Whitewater, puts pine cones, pine needles and acorns into his "treasure bucket" while spending time with his "Mamaw" Carla Sins on Wednesday at Arena Park in Cape Girardeau.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Three Confederate monuments will remain on the North Carolina Capitol grounds, but with newly added context about slavery and civil rights. That's the decision from a state historical panel, two days after protesters tore down another rebel statue at the state's flagship university...

ST. LOUIS -- The man fatally shot near a light rail station in St. Louis was a government media relations official struck by stray gunfire from a dispute he had nothing to do with. Police say 48-year-old Craig LeFebvre was killed Tuesday night in a shooting at the MetroLink station on South Grand Boulevard, near St. Louis University. LeFebvre was the spokesman for the St. Louis County Health Department...

Dawn Dauer, chief banking officer at The Bank of Missouri, is all about partnerships. Willing to spend her SBA lending experience in the service of Old Town Cape, she has created a relationship beneficial to both parties, as well as to the community of Cape Girardeau...

Four hundred. That’s the approximate number of children in foster care in Cape Girardeau, Perry and Bollinger counties. Sixty-nine. That’s the number of foster parents in these three counties. The deficit is large. Enter Crissy Mayberry, executive director of Hope for One More, a nonprofit foster care support agency in Cape Girardeau that was added to the services of Hope Children’s Home in 2014. The program’s mission is to find all children in foster care a home...

During college, LaKrisha Moore, founder of On Cue Performing Arts Studio in Cape Girardeau, created the business model behind the performing arts school she wanted to own someday. Then she put the project away in a box and forgot about it. Nearly a decade later, she found the plans her former self had made, and the timing to create the performing arts school was right. In 2015, she opened On Cue Performing Arts Studio in downtown Cape...

The evidence was clear: for one, there was no physical evidence. For two, another man confessed to the murder and then committed suicide. For three, the two witnesses who had testified recanted. Yet Sikeston man David Robinson was held in jail for 18 years, for a crime he didn’t commit...

Jessica Hill, executive director of Safe House for Women, says she has always wanted to help others through working in the nonprofit community. Her job at Safe House, she says, is to ensure the administration and finances behind the scenes run as smoothly as possible so her staff is set up for success when working in their client-centered organization...

There were more than 210 entries from all over the world for the 2018 New York Musical Festival, which is the largest musical festival in the world. From these entries, 11 were chosen to be produced at the Off-Broadway Acorn Theater on 42nd Street, July 9 through August 5...

Coalter Insurance Group has been located in the Old Town Cape District since it first opened its doors in 1985; Laura Coalter Parker has been working in the family business for the past 13 years and took over the business as president and partner after her father passed away six years ago. ...

Thirty-two years ago, Bob Nations realized the gravity of the issues facing high school students. He wanted to do something to help guide students to make positive choices, but wasn’t sure how he could help. That was when a man from Sports World drove into Cape Girardeau needing directions. ...

When Tyler Cuba joined Cuba Financial Group, a comprehensive financial planning and wealth management firm, he says the industry was changing rapidly. Cuba realized being an early adopter of technology would help the firm stay relevant and expand.Now, nine years later, the business has nearly tripled, and its geographic reach has significantly expanded to serve clients in 15 states. ...

Jeremy Ferguson says he and his wife Raelenna Ferguson began having a stirring in their hearts for people, service opportunities and community nearly a decade ago. Through overseas mission work, being foster parents and participating in other community endeavors, they began to notice racial, socioeconomic and geographic divides in their Cape Girardeau community. ...

Due to mismanagement issues, the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence (SEMO-NASV) was on the brink of disintegration. Then, in 2016, Kendra Eads stepped in as the director. Eads secured new funding to get the program back on its feet, which allowed the organization to reinstate its counseling program. ...

Farming in the bootheel of Missouri is big business. Think $1.2 billion annually. Heather Couch has played a large role in helping make this possible in Scott, New Madrid and Cape Girardeau counties since 2015, when she became the vice president and branch manager of Farm Credit of Southeast Missouri in Sikeston, Missouri. ...

When Andrea Roseman began substitute teaching for a Sunday school class for people with special needs at Lynwood Baptist Church five and a half years ago, she never dreamed she would found Access Ministry, a ministry that provides community and Bible teaching to people with disabilities...

When Dr. Chelsea Grigery, MD was in sixth grade at Sikeston Middle School, she entered the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair. Six years later as a senior in high school, her project about lyme disease that she completed as a mentee of Dr. Ed Masters, world-renowned lyme disease researcher, won third place at the International Science Fair in Phoenix, Arizona...

Brianna LeGrand, PT, DPT, FAAOMPT, earned the distinguished title of Fellow from the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical therapy, following a three-year residency program through manual Therapy Institute. She will be awarded the Fellow in November, after completing the residency in October 2017. She currently resides in Clarksville, Tennessee, practicing at Tennessee Orthopedic Alliance as a therapist. She earned her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Rockhurst University in 2013...

This Sunday, August 26, and Tuesday, August 28 River City Players will be holding auditions for the November show! Sunday's auditions will be at 1:00 p.m. and Tuesday's auditions will be at 6:30. Both will take place at Port Cape 19 N. Water St. There are roles for 8 people both male and female. ...