Stories from Wednesday, March 31, 2021

A Muscovy duck and her ducklings wander Monday through Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau near a cherry blossom tree in bloom.

Cape Girardeau County Collector Barbara Ghoulson presented her office's annual settlement and a report of unpaid taxes to county commissioners at Monday's meeting. According to the settlement, a grand total of $83,275,783.81 was charged in personal property, real estate, utility and railroad taxes as of the close of the collector's year, which began March 1, 2020, and ended Feb. 28, 2021. Of the amount charged, $75,988,977.87 was collected and distributed...

KRCU, Southeast Missouri State University's public radio station, heard in Cape Girardeau at 90.9 FM, can also be heard beginning at 1 p.m. Thursday on KDMC 88.7 FM in Ellsinore, Missouri. KRCU general manager Dan Woods said the university will drop the 91.3 FM frequency it currently uses when it moves farther down the dial at that time...

A construction crew begins work Tuesday on the sidewalks of Independence Street between Spanish Street and Main Street as part of the Spanish Street improvement project in Cape Girardeau. The project will improve areas on or near Spanish Street by July and is funded by Riverfront Development Fund, which consists of money received from Century Casino in Cape Girardeau.

Those who received the first COVID-19 vaccine dose at a Missouri National Guard clinic March 1 will receive their second dose today. The Guard, Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center and local partners are hosting the vaccine clinic from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau City Council met via Zoom on Monday with seven semi-finalists for the city manager job being vacated in June by the retiring Scott Meyer. Fifty-six people made application by the city's Feb. 28 deadline, Mayor Bob Fox said. Meyer will depart after leading Missouri's 16th largest city for 12 years, making him the longest-tenured manager in municipal history...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri's Republican-led House is on track to block funding for a voter-approved expansion of the state's Medicaid health care program after shooting down Democrats' attempts to pay for it Tuesday. Voters last year amended the state Constitution to offer government health care to thousands more low-income adults, a change that will take effect in July...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Nearly 25% of Missouri's residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, state health officials said Tuesday. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services' COVID-19 dashboard reported Tuesday 1.5 million Missourians have begun the vaccination process, and 902,026 are fully vaccinated...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Mike Parson on Tuesday announced he had issued pardons for 17 people and commutated the prison sentence of one person. The governor's office said it would provide information on who was affected by the decisions after their families are notified...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A bill that would ban police chokeholds in Missouri and allow Kansas City police to live outside the city passed the state Senate on Monday. Senators voted 30-4 to send the measure to the House. The bill's progress follows years of inaction by the GOP-led Legislature on police accountability following Michael Brown's death in Ferguson...

Our local service clubs don't get a lot of attention. Most quietly go about their efforts, raising funds for important projects or scholarships and providing educational opportunities for members to become better and more informed citizens. These organizations play an important role in the community...

The City of Cape Girardeau has announced the appointment of department heads to lead the Cape Girardeau Fire Department and the city's development services department, effective immediately. Randy Morris Jr., 38, has served as interim chief of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department since Oct. 22, after Travis Hollis departed the job after fewer than 14 months...

Today is Wednesday, March 31, the 90th day of 2021. There are 275 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On March 31, 1931, Notre Dame college football coach Knute Rockne, 43, was killed in the crash of a TWA plane in Bazaar, Kansas. On this date:...

O Lord Jesus, we sing praises to you for you are the name above all names. Amen.

President Joe Biden is so committed to bipartisan cooperation and fact-based governance that he's launched an ignorant and incendiary attack on the new Georgia voting law. Biden says the new law is "Jim Crow in the 21st century" and "an un-American law to deny people the right to vote."...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls. March 29 n Medical assist was made at 5:02 p.m on Bellevue Street. n At 5 p.m., fire alarm on North Fountain Street. n At 11:47 p.m., lift assist on Brenda Kay Court...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Assault n Assault was reported in the 3700 block of Stonebridge Drive. Miscellaneous n Drug violation was reported on South West End Boulevard. n Drug violation was reported at Bel Air and West Cape Rock drives...

Daughter to Cody Whitlock and Kendra Peck of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Hospital, 10:31 a.m. Monday, March 8, 2021. Name, Melody Mae. Weight, 6 pounds, 4 ounces. Third daughter. Ms. Peck is the daughter of Christopher Peck of Scott City and the late Samantha Peck. Whitlock is the son of Tanya Skaggs of Puxico, Missouri...

NEW YORK -- A graphic novel for children that was a spin-off of the wildly popular "Captain Underpants" series is being pulled from library and book store shelves after its publisher said it "perpetuates passive racism." The book under scrutiny is 2010's "The Adventures of Ook and Gluk" by Dav Pilkey, who has apologized, saying it "contains harmful racial stereotypes" and is "wrong and harmful to my Asian readers."...

GENEVA -- An international team behind a long-awaited study of the possible origins of COVID-19 with Chinese colleagues Tuesday called it a "first start," while the United States and allies expressed concerns about the findings and China trumpeted its cooperation...

What happens inside a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, could have major implications not just for the country's second-largest employer but the labor movement at large. Organizers are pushing for some 6,000 Amazon workers there to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union on the promise it will lead to better working conditions, better pay and more respect. ...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last July that New York would spend $100 million in federal coronavirus relief to help cash-strapped tenants pay months of back rent and avert evictions. By the end of October, the state had doled out only about $40 million, reaching 15,000 of the nearly 100,000 people looking for help. More than 57,000 applicants were denied because of criteria set by lawmakers many said was difficult to meet...

DONNA, Texas -- The Biden administration for the first time Tuesday allowed journalists inside its main border detention facility for migrant children, revealing a severely overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 people, including children and families, were crammed into a space intended for 250 and the youngest were kept in a large play pen with mats on the floor for sleeping...

Donald Lloyd "Don" Starzinger, 87, of Jackson passed away Monday, March 29, 2021, at his home. He was born June 22, 1933, on a farm near Oriole in Cape Girardeau County, son of Frederick Ernst and Alma Johanna Steinhoff Starzinger. He and Judith M. "Judy" Schrumpf were married July 13, 1957, at the United Methodist Church in Perryville, Missouri, by the Rev. O.D. Van Horn...

ST. LOUIS -- No convictions were returned for three white St. Louis police officers accused of beating a Black undercover colleague so severely during a protest over another officer's acquittal he had to undergo multiple surgeries. A jury Monday acquitted officer Steven Korte of charges of deprivation of rights under color of law and of lying to the FBI in the attack on officer Luther Hall. ...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Dorothy "Dot" Schott of Charleston died March 29, 2021. Dorothy was born Dec. 17, 1934, to Florian and Lurdine Zoellner in Perryville, Missouri. She married Leo Schott Sept. 29, 1956, in Perryville where they made their home until 1965 when they moved to Charleston...

Lana Michelle Gillespie Mitchell, 56, of Charleston died Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 10, 1964, in Charleston to Omagene Brinston Gillespie and the late M.C. Gillespie. On Sept. 29, 2001, Lana was united in marriage to her loving husband, Ronald Mitchell. They were happily married for 19 years...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- Amanda L. "Mandy" Jannin, 50, of O'Fallon died Sunday, March 28, 2021, at her home. Visitation will be from 6:30 to 9:15 a.m. today at Ford and Young Funeral Home in Perryville, Missouri. Rosary will be at 8:30 a.m. The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. today at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Silver Lake, Missouri, with the Rev. Joe Geders, C.M., officiating. Burial will be at the church cemetery...

ALLIANCE, Neb. -- Marilyn S. Hutchings, 67, died Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at her home. Marilyn was born Nov. 15, 1953, in Cape Girardeau to Marion L. and Pauline Wise Jacobs. She married Timothy Hutchings on Feb. 18, 1985. To this union, a daughter, Jennifer, was born. They later divorced...

Nelda Jean Hamilton, 82, of Jackson passed away Monday, March 29, 2021, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 7, 1939, in Jackson to Tony and Mabel Hahs Friese. She and Carl Hamilton were married March 31, 1979, in Millersville. They had been married 36 years when he passed away May 19, 2015...

MONTGOMERY, Texas -- Lois Reed Corbitt, 89, formerly of Commerce, Missouri, died Saturday, March 27, 2021, at her daughter's home in Montgomery. A graveside family service will be held Friday at Oakdale Cemetery at Commerce. A celebration of life service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Skyline Church in O'Fallon, Illinois...

Palm Sunday. Children holding palms lead the Palm Sunday procession during the opening hymn of the morning worship service at First Presbyterian Church, Broadway and Lorimier Street; there is a congregational reading of the passion of Jesus; Bill York reads the part of Jesus and Allen Bryan portrays Pilate...

WASHINGTON -- G. Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talk show host after emerging from prison, died Tuesday at age 90. His son, Thomas Liddy, confirmed the death but did not reveal the cause, other than to say it was not related to COVID-19...

Barbara Stoker-Rushing of Cape Girardeau died Monday, March 29, 2021, at Southeast Hospital. Visitation will be from noon to 2 p.m. Monday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Chapel in Cape Girardeau. The funeral service will follow at 2 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be at Cape County Memorial Park Cemetery in Cape Girardeau...

The Heartland Advanced Practice Nurses Network has started a monthly charity donation event. The group voted for the Women's Safe House to be their first charity and collected $300 to donate to the charity. The picture shows the group presenting the check to Kim Dixon accepting the check on behalf of the SafeHouse...

TOMAH, Wisc. -- Judith "Judy" A. Rapp, 80, of Tomah passed away Sunday, March 28, 2021. She was born April 13, 1940, the ninth and youngest child of Carl and Kathleen Bray Noland. Judy graduated from College High School in Cape Girardeau in 1958. She attended Southeast Missouri State College, where she met Jerry Rapp. They were married on May 28, 1960...