Stories from Friday, June 19, 2020

Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University is offering curbside pickup for students to access library resources. According to the university’s website, students may fill out an online form to request books or DVDs, and will reserve a time to pick up the materials...

Union County in Illinois reported two deaths connected to COVID-19 on Thursday, with no new cases reported (168 cases, 92 recoveries). Two new cases were reported in Scott County, bringing the county’s total of positive cases to 147 (99 recoveries, 11 deaths)...

New data released by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) seem to show the 15-county Southeast Missouri region (Region E) may be more at risk than the rest of the state for a new spread of the novel coronavirus. However, the latest figures from the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center indicate COVID-19 hospitalizations have remained flat week-to-week, at 16...

While the Cape Girardeau Police Department regularly takes proactive measures to provide officers with self-defense and safe-detention training, the local police force has made such training even more readily available in recent weeks. Following the death of George Floyd and subsequent unrest in Minnesota, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu of Southeast Missouri professor Brian Imholz started volunteering his time to lead weekly jiujitsu classes at the Cape Girardeau Police Department...

Before a crowd of 30 people at the SEMO Pachyderm Club on Thursday evening, Republican candidates for Missouri Senate District 27 took turns touting their backgrounds and accomplishments ahead of the Aug. 4 primary election. Holly Rehder, 50, of Sikeston is term-limited after eight years representing District 148 of the Missouri House...

After three months of virtual lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing homes and senior living communities in Missouri are gradually reopening their doors — and in some cases their windows — to visitors. As Missouri entered Phase 2 of its Show Me Strong Recovery program Tuesday, which eased many of the state’s coronavirus precautions, the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) released general recommendations related to nursing home visits and said “facility-specific” guidance for a phased-in approach to reopening will be released soon. ...

Today is Friday, June 19, the 171st day of 2020. There are 195 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 19, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate, 73-27, after surviving a lengthy filibuster. On this date:...

Give us wisdom, O God, to make our best ideas become reality. Amen.

Earlier this week, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had big news -- the city is opening up its iconic Lakefront Trail after months of being closed off as part of a COVID-19 lockdown. That Lightfoot kept the trail closed even after Chicago had experienced large-scale Black Lives Matter marches -- thousands just last weekend during the "Drag March for Change" -- is one small instance of the flagrant social distancing hypocrisy across the country in recent weeks...

A big thank you to Cape Central High School for Saturday's drive-through graduation! It turned out to be solemn, memorable and great fun all at the same time! Kudos to all the teachers and school personnel who turned out to congratulate the seniors. That was extraordinary! My granddaughter and I and everyone in our group was brought to happy/sad tears at one time or another during this amazing graduation...

Sue Tyler, daughter of the late Orville and Essie Marie Curry Burns, was born Sept. 13, 1939, in Fornfelt and departed this life Wednesday, June 17, 2020, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau at the age of 80. Sue was a former secretary for Albrecht Insurance and a librarian for Regional Library in Scott City. She was a member of Cape First Church in Cape Girardeau and a resident of Scott City...

The family of James Oliver Goodin is sad to announce his sudden passing Wednesday, June 10, 2020. He slipped away peacefully, dozed off in his favorite armchair. It had been a good day, serenely lived: a favorite walk to the river and back, dinner with his lifelong sweetheart and wife Carolyn, a movie, followed by the traditional dozing off...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Douglas Rudy Golden, 61, of Marble Hill died Monday, June 15, 2020, at his home. Visitation will be from noon to 2 p.m. July 11 at Hutchings Funeral Chapel in Marble Hill. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. July 11 at the funeral home...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The World Video Game Hall of Fame inducted Bejeweled, Centipede, King's Quest and Minecraft in a virtual ceremony Thursday that recognized their influence on the industry and the gamers who have spent tens of billions of hours playing them...

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli soldier who shot and killed a Palestinian fisherman near the Gaza frontier in 2018 has been given 45 days of community service after an army investigation concluded he fired without authorization, the military said Thursday. The military said a group of Palestinians had approached the fence but were far away when the paratrooper opened fire, striking one of them. Its statement did not identify the soldier or the Palestinian, or say whether he was killed...

BRUSSELS -- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the military alliance would investigate an incident between Turkish warships and a French naval vessel in the Mediterranean, as France accused Turkey of repeated violations of the U.N. arms embargo on conflict-torn Libya and branded Ankara an obstacle to securing a cease-fire there...

LONDON -- As the race intensified for a vaccine against the new coronavirus, rich countries are rushing to place advance orders for the inevitably limited supply to guarantee their citizens get immunized first -- leaving significant questions about whether developing countries will get any vaccines in time to save lives before the pandemic ends...

WASHINGTON -- Three months after the viral outbreak shut down businesses across the country, U.S. employers are still shedding jobs at a heavy rate, a trend that points to a slow and prolonged recovery from the recession. The number of laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits barely fell last week to 1.5 million, the government said Thursday. ...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump "pleaded" with China's Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects, according to a scathing new book by former Trump adviser John Bolton that accuses the president of being driven by political calculations when making national security decisions...

WASHINGTON -- Americans are deeply unhappy about the state of their country -- and a majority think President Donald Trump is exacerbating tensions in a moment of national crisis, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump's effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants, the second stunning election-season rebuke from the court in a week after its ruling that it's illegal to fire people because they're gay or transgender...

JENNINGS, Mo. -- A St. Louis County man is charged with endangering the welfare of a child after authorities determined a toddler's death in November was from an overdose of the painkiller fentanyl. Authorities say 46-year-old Tyrone Roseburrow of Jennings was charged Wednesday. He is jailed on $250,000 bond and does not yet have a listed attorney...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri commission is suing a company that makes guardrails, saying its equipment is defective. The Missouri Highways and Transportation Committee, a six-member board governing the Missouri Department of Transportation, is suing Lindsay Corp. for negligence and fraud, KSHB-TV reported...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The number of deaths from the coronavirus in Missouri rose by 37 on Thursday, the second straight day the state reported a big increase in fatalities. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 27 deaths on Wednesday from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. The 64 deaths is the most over two consecutive days since the pandemic began...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Unemployment in Missouri dropped slightly last month but was still nearly three times what it was before the coronavirus arrived, according to data released Thursday by the state Economic Development Department. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10.1% in May, which was down from 10.2% in April and was lower than the national rate for May of 13.3%...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Republican ballot proposal seeking to reverse key parts of Missouri's recently adopted redistricting method could allow some of the most gerrymandered voting districts in the nation while still purporting to provide "partisan fairness," opponents of the measure said Thursday...

The best fathers are the best teachers. They teach us how to throw a fastball, set a hook, tie our shoes, ride a bike. They teach us right from wrong, good from bad. They teach us humor and humility, discipline and decency...

LONDON -- Dame Vera Lynn, the endearingly popular "Forces' Sweetheart" who serenaded British troops during World War II, has died at 103. During the war and long after, Lynn got crowds singing, smiling and crying with sentimental favorites such as "We'll Meet Again," and "The White Cliffs of Dover."...

Jean Kennedy Smith, who was the last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy and who as a U.S. ambassador played a key role in the peace process in Northern Ireland, has died, relatives said Thursday. She was 92. Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Smith's nephew, confirmed her death. She died Wednesday at her home in Manhattan, her daughter Kym told The New York Times...

Residents who live along Highway 177 are tired of taking detours because of flooding; they want the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department to raise two short sections of the road high enough to keep the state route open when Mississippi River floodwaters back up into area creeks; the largest section extends about a quarter of a mile, just north of the Cape Girardeau city limits; another section farther north near Rolling Hills Subdivision extends about a tenth of a mile...

Selective social distancing rules are one of the great scams in American life Earlier this week, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had big news -- the city is opening up its iconic Lakefront Trail after months of being closed off as part of a COVID-19 lockdown...

Editor's note: The following is our annual Father's Day editorial. The best fathers are the best teachers. They teach us how to throw a fastball, set a hook, tie our shoes, ride a bike. They teach us right from wrong, good from bad. They teach us humor and humility, discipline and decency...