Stories from Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Jackson's 2019 budget will include slight increases to utility rates, in line with adjustment for inflation, after action by the board of aldermen at the regular meeting Monday. According to city documents, the rates will increase by 2.1 percent for water, sewer and electric, which is tied to the Consumer Price Index adjustment for inflation...

Local artist Malcolm McCrae uses an airbrush to paint a Christmas-themed mural on the front window of 139 Main St., which will soon house Ritter Real Estate, on Monday in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Barbara Kellum does not believe her son’s death was an accident. The Cape Girardeau woman said her son, Mychal Douglas “Silky” Byrd, told her and police before he died he was intentionally run off Interstate 55. But police said there is no evidence Byrd’s vehicle was run off the road...

The Cape Girardeau City Council gave final approval to a new liquor-delivery-license ordinance Monday, but only after narrowly deciding against imposing even stricter requirements on delivery services. Ward 6 Councilwoman Stacy Kinder urged the council to require delivery-only services to keep detailed records regarding such transactions the city could audit if it wished...

The Cape Girardeau County Commission heard a preliminary 2019 budget Monday showing slightly fewer expenses and projecting slight growth in revenue. County Auditor Pete Frazier spoke at Monday’s regular county commission meeting in Jackson, and said the budget presented Monday would carry the county’s government operations over into early January, when the final budget is due. This gives the county time to record all actual expenses and revenue through the end of 2018, Frazier said...

Networking is the number one unwritten rule of success in business. While some people are naturals at it, others understandably struggle. The Cape Chamber recognizes the importance of offering networking opportunities for our members to establish and strengthen relationships. Every month we have two foundational eventsthat are both free to our membership and recognized as tremendous networking gatherings...

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 18, the 352nd day of 2018. There are 13 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Dec. 18, 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was declared in effect by Secretary of State William H. Seward...

The winter sports schedule is in full swing, as basketball and other sports are ramping up. Jackson's wrestling team just pulled off a surprising, and impressive, win in the Tiger Classic, with several of its best wrestlers not in action due to injuries...

Marie Allene Hitt Stalon, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, at Chateau Gardens. She was born on her parents farm in Cape Girardeau County on a warm Christmas morning in 1928, the daughter of Grover Benjamin Leander and Esther Ellen Snider Hitt. She married Charles Gary Stalon at the United Methodist Parsonage in Benton, Missouri, on March 15, 1952...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Dewayne Edward Sweary, 52, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. He was born Dec. 11, 1966, in St. Louis County to Raymond David and Mary Frances Penrod Sweary. Dewayne was a graduate of Clinton (Missouri) High School...

Jonathon Tylor Simpson, 30, of Jackson died Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Visitation will be from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Friday at Cotrell Funeral Services in Poplar Bluff. Funeral will be at 2:30 p.m. Friday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Darrell Faire officiating...

Bruce Wayne Penrod, 64, of Jackson died Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018, at Saint Louis University Hospital in St. Louis. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson. Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Jacob Colwell officiating. Interment will follow in Russell Heights Cemetery in Jackson...

Melva Marie Mirly, 89, of Jackson passed away Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018, at Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. One of 11 children, Melva was born July 14, 1929, in Tilsit to Ferdinand and Alma Loos Lange. Melva married Walter A. Mirly on Nov. 28, 1948, at Immanuel Church. Five children were born to their union, and they had been married 27 years, when Walter passed away March 15, 1975...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Ron F. "Turk" Lurk, 89, of Perryville died Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018, at Independence Care Center of Perry County. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. today and from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Young and Sons Funeral Home. Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, with the Rev. Rich Wehrmeyer officiating. Burial, with military honors provided by American Legion Post 133 and U.S. Navy, will be in Mount Hope Cemetery...

SEDGEWICKVILLE, Mo. -- Jewell Katherine James, 94, of Sedgewickville passed away Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018, at Jackson Manor in Jackson. She was born Dec. 5, 1924, in Leachville, Arkansas, daughter of William Houston and Louisa Pearl Metcalf Russell. She and Norman Jesse James were united in marriage Feb. 4, 1956, and he passed away Dec. 6, 1986...

Charles William "Bill" Huey, 73, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Dec. 17, 2018, at Saint Francis Medical Center. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at Zion Lutheran Church of Gordonville. Funeral will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at the church, with the Rev. Wayne Schwiesow officiating. Burial, with full military honors, will be at Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Ethel R. Heberlie, 75, of Perryville died Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. She was born Dec. 10, 1943 in Chester, Illinois, daughter of Arthur and Loretta Martin Brewster. Her mother survives in Perryville. She and Alvin L. Heberlie were married July 22, 1961. He preceded her in death Sept. 8, 2012...

Jacquelyn Ann Close, 65, of Jackson died Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018, at her home. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. Funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Anthony Stewart officiating...

NEW YORK — A federal court said New York’s ban on nunchucks, the martial arts weapon made famous by Bruce Lee but prohibited in the state for decades, is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. Judge Pamela Chen issued her ruling Friday in federal court in Brooklyn. The plaintiff, James Maloney, started his legal quest after being charged with possession of nunchucks in his home in 2000. ...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two former executives Monday for their role in the alleged multibillion-dollar ransacking of state investment fund 1MDB. Attorney General Tommy Thomas said the government is seeking several billion dollars in fines from Goldman Sachs for breaches of securities laws involving it making false and misleading statements to investors...

ISLAMABAD -- The Taliban say they were holding "another" meeting Monday with U.S. officials, this time in the United Arab Emirates and also involving Saudi, Pakistani and Emirati representatives in the latest attempt to bring a negotiated end to Afghanistan's 17-year war...

LONDON -- Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday the postponed vote in Parliament on Britain's Brexit agreement with the European Union will be held the week of Jan. 14 -- more than a month after it was originally scheduled and just 10 weeks before Britain leaves the EU...

WASHINGTON -- Having raised interest rates with steady regularity in recent months, the Federal Reserve may embrace a new message this week: Flexibility. On Wednesday, the Fed is set to announce its fourth rate hike of the year. But after this week, no one is sure what it will do. Neither, most likely, is the Fed itself...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Two men involved in a Turkish lobbying campaign led by former National Security adviser Michael Flynn have been charged with illegally lobbying in a case related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. An indictment unsealed Monday against Flynn's former business partner, Bijan Kian, and Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin accuses the two men of conspiring to "covertly and unlawfully" influence U.S. politicians on behalf of Turkey...

Silicon Valley is becoming Silicon Nation. Google announced Monday it will spend more than $1 billion to build a new office complex in New York City to allow the internet search giant to double the number of people it employs there. It is the tech industry's latest major expansion beyond the Seattle-San Francisco Bay corridor. It follows recent steps by Amazon and Apple to set up operations well outside their home turf...

WASHINGTON -- Russia's sweeping political disinformation campaign on U.S. social media was more far-reaching than originally thought, with troll farms working to discourage black voters and "blur the lines between reality and fiction" to help elect Donald Trump in 2016, according to reports released Monday by the Senate intelligence committee...

HOTAN, China -- Barbed wire and hundreds of cameras ring a massive compound of more than 30 dormitories, schools, warehouses and workshops in China's far west. Dozens of armed officers and a growling Doberman stand guard outside. Behind locked gates, men and women are sewing sportswear ending up on U.S. college campuses and sports teams...

WASHINGTON -- The fight over President Donald Trump's $5 billion wall funds deepened Monday, threatening a partial government shutdown in a standoff that has become increasingly common in Washington. It wasn't always like this, with Congress and the White House at a crisis over government funding. ...

OZARKS, Mo. -- A Missouri poacher has been ordered to repeatedly watch the movie "Bambi" as part of his sentence in a scheme to illegally kill hundreds of deer. David Berry Jr. was ordered to watch the Disney classic at least once a month during his year-long jail sentence in what conservation agents have called one of the largest deer poaching cases in state history, the Springfield News-Leader reported...

ST. LOUIS -- The nine-banded armadillo is settling into the St. Louis area after marching from Texas across the country for the last 169 years, according to wildlife experts. Missouri Department of Conservation wildlife biologist Tom Meister told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch armadillos were first spotted in southern Missouri in the 1970s. The mammals are now sighted in every county in the state, Meister said...

Beginning at 7 a.m. today, the 2100 block of William Street in Cape Girardeau, both eastbound and westbound, will be reduced to one lane each direction. Ameren and the City of Cape Girardeau will be performing infrastructure improvements for a new development. Lane reductions are expected to last until the end of the day...

O Lord Jesus, may we seek opportunities to bless others and glorify you. Amen.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri State Capitol recently completed an effort to restore and conserve the building's murals that provide visitors with snapshots of the state's history. Neosho-born artist Thomas Hart Benton's "A Social History of the State of Missouri" was a focus of the preservation project, the Joplin Globe reported. ...

A bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson would provide for complete deregulation of the trucking industry at the state level, a move proponents say could save consumers $5-$12 billion annually; they say state rules inhibiting competition have grown up in the wake of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, which substantially deregulated the industry at the federal level...

Son to John Blackmon and Janie Cowson of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Hospital, 12:33 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. Name Jaion Daniel. Weight, 6 pounds, 15 ounces. Sixth child, fourth son. Cowson is the daughter of Lita Cowson and Anderson Cowson of Cape Girardeau. She works for the Cape Girardeau County Health Department. Blackmon is the son of Wilma Blackmon of Sikeston, Missouri, and the late Nathaniel Blackmon of Oran, Missouri. He is self employed...

VALMEYER, Ill. -- Environmentalists in Southern Illinois have raised concerns a proposed wind turbine project will diminish the area's natural beauty and hurt animal habitat. Developer Joe Koppeis, who owns Southern Illinois Wind, hopes to construct 50 wind turbines along 15 miles of bluffs south of Valmeyer and Waterloo, The Belleville News-Democrat reported. Koppeis expects the project to cost $220 million...

Randi Spiker was awarded a $2,000 Program for Continuing Education grant by the P.E.O. Sisterhood. P.E.O is an international women’s organization of about 230,000 members, with a primary focus on providing educational opportunities for female students worldwide. ...

I write this laughing at myself, but I do issue a serious challenge at the end. I realized a week ago, "Oh, my goodness! Christmas in two weeks away from today!" The revelation nearly knocked me over. How did that happen? While I had picked up a few items, not only was I not done shopping; I wasn't even done figuring what to shop for. The "most wonderful time of the year" can be so ... not-wonderful...