Stories from Friday, March 25, 2022

This week's news about Eric Greitens, disgraced former Missouri governor, was disturbing and sad. It also fits a pattern of behavior that, if indeed true, makes him further unfit to represent our state. To recap the sordid affair, the former governor and current U.S. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri senators on Thursday approved a plan to redraw the state's congressional districts following months of tense Republican infighting, giving the House just hours to finish work on new maps before the Tuesday candidate filing deadline...

A Scott City native's song will air tonight on the hit TV show "Grey's Anatomy." Ryan Corn and Trey Hill are co-writers of "Wash Me Clean," which will be part of the series episode "Put the Squeeze on Me," which airs tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC. Corn, who studied music at Southeast Missouri State University and now resides in Nashville, Tennessee, announced the honor on his Facebook page...

Maya Angelou's first film, "Georgia, Georgia," is set to be shown next week at Southeast Missouri State University. As the first original feature film written solely by an African American woman, "Georgia, Georgia" was largely ignored during its 1972 release. It was rediscovered by Karie Hollerbach, professor in the Department of Mass Media, who worked across departments and college affiliations to assemble the "See Me Series," of which the upcoming screening is a part...

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-8th District) said Wednesday he and his staff are helping to get Americans with ties to Missouri out of harm's way in Ukraine. "Southern Missourians count on our office to cut through government red tape at all times but never more than when a war breaks out," said Smith, who first took office in 2013...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A week after a series of chain-reaction crashes on Interstate 57 killed five and injured 15 people while closing traffic for more than 20 hours, emergency responders who assisted were honored Thursday by Missouri Department of Transportation...

Armed with a plenitude of statistical information, Southeast Missouri State University president Carlos Vargas spoke at length Thursday about SEMO's revisioned "vibrant, dual-role, multi-use complex" to replace now-razed Houck Stadium's south grandstand...

Gov. Mike Parson told Southeast Missouri officials they have a three-year window in which to partner with the state and receive unprecedented investments in education, infrastructure and workforce development. "We are going to set sail," he told officials during a roundtable discussion Thursday at Southeast Missouri State University...

With the help of the mascots Green Bear and his sister Tiffy Bear, Discovery Playhouse hopes to provide an entertaining and informational experience to both parents and children. At 10 a.m. April 9, Discovery Playhouse in Cape Girardeau will open its Green Bear exhibit to provide information and resources to parents and children about body safety. ...

Today is Friday, March 25, the 84th day of 2022. There are 281 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On March 25, 1931, in the so-called "Scottsboro Boys" case, nine young Black men were taken off a train in Alabama, accused of raping two white women; after years of convictions, death sentences and imprisonment, the nine were eventually vindicated...

Lord Jesus, we worship you, for you are the way, the truth and the life. Amen.

It's well known that Joe Biden -- who regularly rode the Amtrak train between Wilmington and Washington as a senator and to his 2021 presidential inauguration -- loves trains, always touting their environmental efficiency and value to the U.S. economy. Yet the Biden White House has been noticeably hostile to the variety of trains that play a far larger role in American life than the ones that carry passengers: trains that carry freight...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Police Department responded to the following calls. Arrest does not imply guilt. Arrests n A warrant arrest and unlawful possession of a firearm was reported on Brink Avenue. n A warrant arrest and domestic disturbance were reported on Independence Street...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls. March 23 n Medical assists were made at 11:58 a.m., on South Spring Avenue; 8:34 p.m. on Derbyshire Lane; 8:35 p.m. on South Sprigg Street; 9:38 p.m. on North Silver Springs Road...

Robin Lynn Pensel, 66, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, March 22, 2022. at his home. He was born August 22, 1955, in Cape Girardeau to Ralph Albert and Opal Duschell Pensel. He and Deborah Bening were married July 16, 1983, in Cape Girardeau. He received his Bachelor of Science in Electronic Communication Technology from Southeast Missouri State University...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Sherley Ann Kelley, 72, of Chaffee and daughter to the late Travis and Dorothy Hubbard Russell was born on March 13, 1950, in Sturdivant, Missouri, and departed her life on March 22, 2022, at Delta South Nursing and Rehab Facility in Sikeston, Missouri...

Charlene S. Hahn, 80, of Egypt Mills made her journey home on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Feb. 20, 1942, in Cape Girardeau to Tommy S. and Myrtle L. Niswanger Cannon. She and Michael W. Hahn were married May 12, 1963, in Egypt Mills...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Meta, the parent company of Facebook, plans to build an $800 million data center in northern Kansas City, the company and government officials announced Thursday. The company hopes to open the 1 million-square-foot data center in the Golden Plains Technology Park along the border of Platte and Clay counties by 2024. It is expected to support 100 jobs...

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Swinging on trapezes, juggling rings or twirling on aerial silks, young Ukrainians with a passion for the circus who were uprooted by Russia's war are now training in Hungary. Around 100 Ukrainian circus art students from age 5 to 20, with their adult chaperones, escaped the embattled cities of Kharkiv and Kyiv amid Russian bombings...

After returning to metro San Francisco following a college football career, Anthony Giusti felt like his hometown was passing him by. The high cost of living, driven by a constantly transforming tech industry, ensured that even with two jobs he would never save enough money to buy a house...

NEW DELHI -- The company behind a COVID-19 vaccine touted as a key tool for the developing world has sent tens of millions of doses to wealthy nations but provided none yet to the U.N.-backed effort to supply poorer countries, a sign that inequity persists in the global response to the pandemic...

The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled new procedures to handle asylum claims at the U.S. southern border, hoping to decide cases in months instead of years. The rules empower asylum officers to grant or deny claims, an authority that has been limited to immigration judges for people arriving at the border with Mexico...

WASHINGTON -- Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent weeks of text messages imploring White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to act to overturn the 2020 presidential election -- furthering then-President Donald Trump's lies the free and fair vote was marred by nonexistent fraud, according to copies of the messages obtained by The Washington Post and CBS News...

WASHINGTON -- As President Joe Biden meets with key allies in Brussels to coordinate a stronger response to Russia's monthlong assault on Ukraine, a new poll shows Americans have not rallied around his leadership. Concern about Russia has swelled and support for a major U.S. ...

WASHINGTON -- After more than 30 hours of hearings, the Senate is on track to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. But Democrats seem unlikely to confirm her with a robust bipartisan vote, dashing President Joe Biden's hopes for a grand reset after partisan battles over other high court nominees...

BRUSSELS -- President Joe Biden and Western allies pledged new sanctions and humanitarian aid on Thursday in response to Vladimir Putin's assault on Ukraine, but their offers fell short of the more robust military assistance Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for in a pair of live-video appearances...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine accused Moscow on Thursday of forcibly taking hundreds of thousands of civilians from shattered Ukrainian cities to Russia, where some may be used as "hostages" to pressure Kyiv to give up. Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine's ombudsperson, said 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, have been taken against their will...

A pile of rubble and memories are all that remain of the old St. Paul Lutheran School that stood vacant in Jackson for many years; it was demolished by a former student, Kirk John; built in 1935 for $18,000, the structure was referred to as Parish Hall and housed Sunday school classrooms, a gymnasium, bowling lanes and meeting rooms; members of the church plan to eventually build on the site...