Stories from Monday, September 28, 2020

The first of the 2020 presidential debates will be held Tuesday evening at Case Western Reserve and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. Chris Wallace of Fox News will moderate the debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Topics listed for discussion, according to the Commission on Presidential Debates, include: “The Trump and Biden Records,” “The Supreme Court,” “COVID-19,” “The Economy,” “Race and Violence in our Cities,” and “The Integrity of the Election.”...

Members of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to a fire inside a three-story residential structure at 238 N. Pacific St. on Saturday morning. Firefighters received the call at 9:09 a.m. and arrived to find a small couch on fire inside the first floor of the structure, according to a media fact sheet prepared by Cape Girardeau fire battalion chief Brad Dillow...

Southeast Missouri State University president Carlos Vargas released an open letter Saturday to the campus community proposing pandemic-driven changes to the spring 2021 semester calendar. The university’s Board of Regents was informed last week of the tentative plan put together by the members of the school’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) in consultation with the faculty Senate, Student Government, the Student Success Council, Enrollment Management and the Dean’s Council...

One person is in custody after a rifle was fired early Sunday evening during a dispute in Cape Girardeau. According to Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Joey Hann, officers were dispatched at 6:15 p.m. to a building behind the 400 block of South Kingshighway for a report of shots fired...

I don't think of myself as a coffee connoisseur by any means. For most of my adult life, I just didn't get it. Coffee, to me, was simply a bitter breakfast beverage (try saying that three times real fast) that tasted awful hot and even worse at room temperature...

A group of motorcyclists travel out of Cape Girardeau while driving in a "Freedom Ride for 45" parade Sunday, with hundreds of other vehicles. ...

Rick Needham will tell you without hesitation Patriot Medical Devices, located at 1823 Rust Ave., could have located its mask production in California. Needham and his son, Tyler, who is Patriot's president, originated the company and ultimately chose Cape Girardeau, he said, for three reasons...

The Rev. Annette Joseph became pastor of Christ Episcopal Church in Cape Girardeau on Sept. 1, but she is not new to Southeast Missouri. Joseph, a native of Bridgton, Maine, first came to the region in 2011 to lead Holy Cross Episcopal in Poplar Bluff. In 2019, she became priest-in-charge of St. Paul’s in Sikeston, adding the duties of the Cape Girardeau church, located at 101 N. Fountain St., earlier this month...

A local sexual assault and victim advocacy organization has received grants to continue and expand its work. Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence (SEMO-NASV) has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks for a COVID-19 relief project. ...

Sandi Essner avoids the term “cancer warrior.” “I’m not a fighter,” she said. “It’s not about the fight. It’s about, what can I endure? What can my body endure?” To say her endurance has been tested is a massive understatement. Since her diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer in 2016, Essner is on her fourth round of chemo, and has undergone numerous surgeries. She thinks she’s had 36 treatments but that number might be off by a few...

With October just days away, the Cape Girardeau County Treasurer's Office and the chambers of commerce in Cape Girardeau and Jackson are reminding retailers, restaurants and other businesses of the county's new sales tax rate going into effect Thursday...

Today in History Today is Monday, Sept. 28, the 272nd day of 2020. There are 94 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Sept. 28, 1928, Scottish medical researcher Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first effective antibiotic...

O Lord Jesus, may our faith in you be evident to the world by our love for others. Amen.

It’s getting scary out there, people. Everywhere you turn, Trump haters are venting their wrath against Trump supporters, as if supporting President Trump is an unforgivable sin. They’re projecting and gaslighting — blaming Trump and his supporters for everything they’re doing. It’s madness, but at long last, they might have awakened the sleeping giant they’re trying to hunt down and destroy...

I would be interested if any Trump supporters could supply any verifiable evidence that mail-in ballots are prone to fraud. I’ve found a ton of stuff from the tinfoil hat wearing QAnon folks but nothing that holds up to scrutiny. Anyone? The mask order in Cape Girardeau County has been extended despite the rise in COVID-19 since the original order. ...

NEW YORK -- Toni Morrison is on the list. So are John Green and Harper Lee. And John Steinbeck and Margaret Atwood. All wrote books that were among the 100 most subjected to censorship efforts over the past decade, as compiled by the American Library Association...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A crowd marched in Louisville's streets chanting "Breonna Taylor, say her name" on Sunday evening, the fifth night of protests after a grand jury declined to charge officers in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer urged people to begin heading home about an hour before the curfew was set to begin at 9 p.m. ...

NEW YORK -- A federal judge on Sunday postponed a Trump administration order that would have banned the popular video sharing app TikTok from U.S. smartphone app stores around midnight Sunday. A more comprehensive ban remains scheduled for November, about a week after the presidential election. The judge, Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, did not agree to postpone the later ban...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said Sunday that confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will go "quickly" but his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, implored the Republican-led Senate to hold off on voting on her nomination until after the Nov. 3 election to "let the people decide."...

President Donald Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times. Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years...

A Cape Girardeau school district fund-raising foundation established in December 1993 has been revived with four former school board members at the helm; the four are Kathy Swan, Pat Ruopp, Lyle Davis and Ed Thompson; all either resigned from the school board or decided not to run for re-election this year; Steve Wright, a current school board member, also serves on the foundation board; board members will meet today to establish bylaws...

Despite the social distancing of the last few months, Cape Girardeau County 4-H has found a way to come together. Current 4-H members, friends and family have compiled over 450 recipes – everything you need from appetizers to desserts – into one book. ...