Stories from Friday, July 22, 2022

Two individuals have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action after a Farmington, Missouri, man was shot and killed Tuesday in Bollinger County. James Primer and Angela Thompson of Marble Hill, Missouri, have been charged with the murder of Devon Matlock, 31. They are being held in lieu of a $1 million cash-only bond...

Lucas Kunce, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, will be hosting a town hall event at 7 p.m. Sunday at Arena Park in Cape Girardeau. Kunce is one of 11 Democrats running for retiring Sen. Roy Blunt's seat. The former Marine is a self proclaimed populist, who says he is seeking to take back the moniker...

Brad Belcaster, manager and owner of Jackson's Bent Creek Golf Course, who has a police officer son and a son-in-law who was formerly a firefighter, said he's been thinking since the winter of a way to help first responders. The way, said Belcaster, is an Aug. 19 benefit tournament to be known as "Guns & Hoses," aimed at supporting Jackson's police and fire departments...

Scott County residents had the opportunity Thursday to hear from four men running for the top office in the county. Jim Glueck, Danny Tetley, Larry McClain and Monty Keesee answered questions as part of the meet-and-greet for county candidates hosted by the Scott City Area Chamber of Commerce at the Front Porch Rental Hall...

Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday declared a drought alert as state agencies respond to an expanding drought he said could lead to financial ruin for farm families. Parson, who is a farmer, said at a news conference that 53 counties, largely in southern Missouri, are experiencing drought conditions, which are moving into central regions...

The Aug. 2 primary is a little more than one week away, and voters have an important decision to make in the race for U.S. Senate. There are 21 Republicans on the ballot, 11 Democrats and two minor party candidates. Polling indicates the election for Democrats is between military veteran Lucas Kunce and Anheuser-Busch heir Trudy Busch Valentine. ...

Lord Jesus, our Messiah, thank you for grace greater than all our sins. Amen.

The new Notre Dame Regional High School needs water, and it doesn't seem like the city of Cape Girardeau will supply it fast enough; several members of the school's building committee appeared before the City Council yesterday to plead their case; the school is two miles outside the city limits, but committee members asked that the site be annexed; Notre Dame needs water by November at the latest; the city agrees to meet with the building committee within 10 days to discuss the matter...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Police Department responded to the following calls. Arrest does not imply guilt. Arrests n A warrant arrest was reported. n A warrant arrest was reported on Independence Street. Assault n Assault was reported on Lacey Street...

Darrell W. Schuette, 76, of Jackson died Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at his home in Jackson. A memorial visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday at McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson. Memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Jim Matthews officiating...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Ronnie Charles Mouser, 71, of Perryville died July 5, 2022, at the Independence Care Center in Perryville. He was born Oct. 16, 1950 in Belleville, Illinois, to Amos Emil and Voneline Marie Hughes Mouser. He is survived by two sons, Ron and Randy Mouser; three brothers, Gary, Richard and Greg Mouser; three sisters, Anita Johnson, Sandy Henson and Donna Estes...

Gayla Jean Blumenberg, 60, of Jackson died Monday, July 18, 2022, at Lansdowne Village in St. Louis. She was born June 22, 1962 in Cape Girardeau, to Elvin William and Linda Lou Willer Blumenberg. She was the salutatorian at Delta High School in 1980. She graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a bachelor's degree in accounting. She was an accountant at the Girl Scout Otahki Council in Cape Girardeau. She attended Cape First Church...

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican Museums are home to some of the most magnificent artworks in the world, from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel to ancient Egyptian antiquities and a pavilion full of papal chariots. But one of the museum's least-visited collections is becoming its most contested before Pope Francis' trip to Canada...

NEW YORK -- Michelle Obama will have a book out this fall, "The Light We Carry," in which she reflects upon her experiences and shares insights on navigating an increasingly stressful world. It's the former first lady's first entirely new work since the 2018 release of her acclaimed blockbuster "Becoming," which has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide, surpassing the sales of any memoir by a previous first lady or modern president, including her husband, former President Barack Obama...

NEW YORK -- If you think you're safe avoiding sharks by simply staying out of the water, think again. A few species of epaulette sharks have evolved to move their pectoral fins in the front and pelvic fins in the back to plod along outside the water at low tide. Just to be perfectly clear: That's on land...

WASHINGTON -- The monarch butterfly fluttered a step closer to extinction Thursday, as scientists put the iconic orange-and-black insect on the endangered list because of its fast dwindling numbers. "It's just a devastating decline," said Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University who was not involved in the new listing. "This is one of the most recognizable butterflies in the world."...

WASHINGTON -- Trump ally Steve Bannon declined to testify and his lawyers did not call any witnesses in his contempt of Congress trial on Thursday, instead arguing the judge should just acquit him, saying prosecutors hadn't proven their case. The decision to forego calling any witnesses in Bannon's defense cleared the way for closing arguments to begin Friday. The judge didn't immediately rule on the motion for an acquittal and the case is likely to end up in the jury's hands by midday Friday...

NEW YORK -- An unvaccinated young adult from New York recently contracted polio, the first U.S. case in nearly a decade, health officials said Thursday. Officials said the patient, who lives in Rockland County, had developed paralysis. The person developed symptoms a month ago and did not recently travel outside the country, county health officials said...

CHICAGO -- A federal lawsuit filed Thursday alleges Chicago police misused "unreliable" gunshot detection technology and failed to pursue other leads in investigating a grandfather from the city's South Side who was charged with killing a neighbor. Chicago prosecutors used audio picked up by a network of sensors installed by the gunshot detection company ShotSpotter as critical evidence in charging Michael Williams with murder in 2020 for allegedly shooting the man inside his car. ...

MADISON, Wis. -- The meeting place? A secret. Agenda? Not public. Name tags? Take them off in public. Even one of the main social events -- trivia night -- would be at an undisclosed location. This was no meeting of spies or undercover law enforcement agents. Instead, these were the security protocols for a gathering this week in Madison, Wisconsin, of state election bureaucrats from around the U.S...

RICHMOND, Va. -- A month after some members of Congress urged Google to limit the appearance of anti-abortion pregnancy centers in certain abortion-related search results, 17 Republican attorneys general are warning the company that doing so could invite investigations and possible legal action...

NEW YORK -- The Democratic mayors of New York and Washington are asking the Biden administration to help with what they say is a surge in their cities of asylum-seeking migrants from border states, eliciting gleeful reactions from Republicans who say the pleas are evidence the U.S. is in an immigration crisis...

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden plans to propose a steep funding increase for police, hoping to show that Democrats are serious about combating violent crime, despite the move potentially causing backlash from top members of his party's left flank...

LONDON -- As the World Health Organization's emergency committee convened Thursday to consider for the second time within weeks whether to declare monkeypox a global crisis, some scientists said the striking differences between the outbreaks in Africa and in developed countries will complicate any coordinated response...

KHARKIV, Ukraine -- Russian shelling pounded a densely populated area in Ukraine's second-largest city Thursday, killing at least three people and injuring at least 23 others with a barrage that struck a mosque, a medical facility and a shopping area, according to officials and witnesses...

WASHINGTON -- A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide, according to a new poll that finds more than half say they feel at least somewhat "sad" or "angry" about the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade...

WASHINGTON -- The right to use contraceptives would be enshrined in law under a measure that Democrats pushed through the House on Thursday, their latest campaign-season response to concerns a conservative Supreme Court that already erased federal abortion rights could go further...

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and is isolating with "very mild symptoms," the White House said, as new variants of the highly contagious virus challenge the nation's efforts to get back to normal after two and a half years of pandemic...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri has more money on hand than ever before, thanks partly to a combination of inflation, higher wages and federal funds. The state closed out its 2022 fiscal year with a general revenue balance of nearly $4.9 billion -- more than double the previous record set just one year ago, according to data provided Thursday to The Associated Press by the state Office of Administration...

WASHINGTON -- Despite desperate pleas from aides, allies, Republican congressional leaders and even his family, Donald Trump refused to call off the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the Capitol, instead "pouring gasoline on the fire" by aggressively tweeting his false claims of a stolen election and telling the crowd of supporters in a video address how special they were...

In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, acting on input from a group of veterinary researchers, began investigating whether the increasing popularity of grain-free dog foods had led to a sudden rise in a potentially fatal heart disease in dogs, dilated cardiomyopathy...