Stories from Tuesday, September 21, 2021

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded Scott City a 35% matching grant for new police vehicles. The grant will allow the city to purchase two new police vehicles, according to city administrator Mike Dudek. "We have some older (Chevy) Tahoes that have been needing repairs," Dudek said. "[With the grant], we would save money in the long run because we wouldn't have to pay for repairs with newer vehicles."...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Chantelle Becking began her keynote presentation with an impromptu dance party, setting the mood and livening up the crowd for the last segment of the Women Aware conference at Black River Coliseum on Thursday. Women Aware Inc. is an organization dedicated to empowering women. ...

Jason Yeager's next door neighbors want his business to succeed, just not at his home. And after hearing from the neighbors, the Jackson Board of Aldermen agreed Yeager shouldn't operate Fuzz's Transmissions in an area zoned for single-family residential homes...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Mississippi County Prosecuting Attorney Darren Cann died early Thursday at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Missouri. He was 56. A post Thursday on the Charleston Department of Public Safety official Facebook page said Cann died from complications associated with COVID-19...

COVID-19 cases appeared to slow their rate of growth in the past several days, at least in Cape Girardeau County. Officials with the county's public health center reported 75 new cases (54 confirmed and 21 probable) since Friday, a decline from recent case increases. ...

Apple Creek Presbyterian Church, a congregation that has not met regularly since 1939, held a 200th anniversary celebration Sunday a half-mile east of Pocahontas. Trudy Lee, vice president of university advancement at Southeast Missouri State University, is a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau...

In accordance with a measure approved by the Missouri General Assembly this spring, Cape Girardeau City Council gave first reading to a bill Monday extending the hours liquor may be sold in the city on Sundays. "This ordinance is just to comply with a recent change in state law," Mayor Bob Fox told the Southeast Missourian, who noted final reading will be Oct. 4...

"Dirt problems" have caused a minor delay in the diverging diamond interchange (DDI) project at Center Junction between Cape Girardeau and Jackson, pushing the project completion back by more than a week. The project's general contractor, Penzel Construction of Jackson, had hoped to finish the $17.4 million interchange project at the junction of Interstate 55 and U.S. 61 by the end of next week. That would have been a full month ahead of the original completion deadline of Nov. 1...

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 21, the 264th day of 2021. There are 101 days left in the year. Today's Highlights in History: On Sept. 21, 1989, Hurricane Hugo crashed into Charleston, South Carolina (the storm was blamed for 56 deaths in the Caribbean and 29 in the United States). Twenty-one students in Alton, Texas, died when their school bus, hit by a soft-drink delivery truck, careened into a water-filled pit...

O Heavenly Father, we praise you for our souls find rest in your presence. Amen.

Social media was all about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "Tax the Rich" dress at the Met Gala. But the more important outfit was worn by her Congressional colleague Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who dressed as a suffragette. The suffragettes were largely against abortion. But earlier in the week, Maloney had cheered on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul as Hochul invited Texas women seeking abortions to visit New York...

Debra Laverne Stephens, 55, of Scott City died Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 11, 1966, in Chaffee, Missouri, to Emory and Maxine Evans Stacy. She is survived by her husband, Terry Stephens of Scott City; a son, Terry Stephens Jr. ...

The following questions were asked in a letter to the editor by Gary Hill in the Sept. 16 Southeast Missourian. These answers were provided by city staff in conjunction with the mayor and members of your city council. ...

Mary Jewell "Judy" Sams of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, at Ratliff Care Center. She was in compassionate care at the age of 98.5. She was born Jan. 18, 1923, in Cape Girardeau to James Alfred and Ollie Lorene McLain Allen, both of whom preceded her in death. She and Otis Marion Sams were married June 20, 1941, at Cape Girardeau. They were married 60 years, when he passed away April 20, 2002...

Alice Nadine Moore, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021, at her home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- FBI agents and police Monday searched the home of the boyfriend wanted for questioning in the death of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, whose body was discovered over the weekend at a Wyoming national park months after the couple set out on a cross-country road trip...

DALLAS -- A San Antonio doctor who said he performed an abortion in defiance of a new Texas law all but dared supporters of the state's near-total ban on the procedure to try making an early example of him by filing a lawsuit -- and by Monday, two people obliged...

WASHINGTON -- Democratic congressional leaders backed by the White House announced Monday they would push ahead with a vote to fund the government and suspend the debt limit, all but daring Republicans who say they will vote against it despite the risk of a fiscal crisis...

NEW YORK -- President Joe Biden began his first visit to the U.N. General Assembly ready to make the case to world leaders that after closing the book on 20 years of war, the U.S. aims to rally allies and adversaries to work together on a slew of crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and trade and economics...

COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic did -- approximately 675,000. The U.S. population a century ago was just one-third of what it is today, meaning the flu cut a much bigger, more lethal swath through the country. But the COVID-19 crisis is by any measure a colossal tragedy in its own right, especially given the incredible advances in scientific knowledge since then and the failure to take maximum advantage of the vaccines available this time...

Pfizer said Monday its COVID-19 vaccine works for children ages 5 to 11 and it will seek U.S. authorization for this age group soon -- a key step toward beginning vaccinations for youngsters. The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech already is available for anyone 12 and older. But with kids now back in school and the extra-contagious delta variant causing a huge jump in pediatric infections, many parents are anxiously awaiting vaccinations for their younger children...

WASHINGTON -- In a major easing of pandemic travel restrictions, the U.S. said Monday it will allow foreigners to fly into the country this fall if they have vaccination proof and a negative COVID-19 test -- changes replacing a hodgepodge of rules that had kept out many non-citizens and irritated allies in Europe and beyond where virus cases are lower...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Even after his death, a Kansas City-area police officer has helped a fellow officer in a time of need. Independence officer Blaize Madrid-Evans was fatally shot by a suspect Wednesday. The suspect also died in the shootout. Madrid-Evans was 22 and graduated from the police academy just two months ago...

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri official is asking the state Supreme Court to suspend the law licenses of a St. Louis couple who gained national attention last year when they waved guns at racial injustice protesters outside their home. Missouri Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel, in a court filing reported by KCUR-FM, cited Mark and Patricia McCloskey's guilty pleas to misdemeanors stemming from the June 2020 encounter. ...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Greer Chapel Church members have decided to rebuild; the question now is where, says Alice Henry, a longtime member of the church, which was destroyed in an arson fire Sept. 13; church members met last night to discuss the congregation's future; members of the Missionary Baptist congregation are trying to decide whether to stay on the site about two miles north of Sikeston on Highway ZZ or to find another site for the church...

The holiday season will be here before we know it, and with the help of some amazing people, we will be able to provide each of our CASA kids with a little something special. Director of Outpatient Services at Southeast Behavioral Hospital Maggie Buckley and her team have graciously donated 44 stuffed animals to us here at Voices for Children. ...