Stories from Wednesday, October 26, 2022

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri voters for the first time Tuesday, Oct. 25, began casting ballots before Election Day without having to provide a reason why they couldn't wait to vote in-person at their assigned polling places. The two-week early voting period is part of a new law that also requires people to show a government-issued photo identification when voting in person. ...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Poplar Bluff Police Department veteran Keith Hefner has been named deputy chief of police, PBPD chief Mike McClain announced Tuesday morning, Oct. 25. Hefner has served in the police department for almost three decades, was the 2011 Officer of the Year and has advanced training in hostage and crisis negotiations...

SIKESTON, Mo. — Downtown Sikeston will soon have a new restaurant. In an announcement Sunday on social media, Adam Glenn said his new restaurant, Carson's Restaurant and Catering, will be locating in the historic Stallcup building on the corner of Front and New Madrid streets...

Cape Girardeau School District Board of Education members voted Monday, Oct. 24, to apply for a $400,000 grant for the district's Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center. The grant would come from the Missouri Area Career Center Opportunity (MACCO) program...

ST. LOUIS — A 19-year-old who killed a teacher and a 15-year-old girl at a St. Louis high school was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and what appeared to be more than 600 rounds of ammunition, a police official said Tuesday, Oct. 25. Orlando Harris also left behind a handwritten note offering his explanation for the shooting Monday, Oct. ...

Southeast Missouri State University's annual Homecoming Parade — which will take place Saturday Oct. 29 — will restrict parking in certain areas of downtown Cape Girardeau prior to the event. Cpl. Ryan Droege, public information officer for the Cape Girardeau Police Department, said in a news release that parking in certain areas in and around the parade route will begin being restricted at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, four hours before the event is slated to start...

Jonesboro, Arkansas-based Ritter Communications, a telecommunications provider with more than 45,000 customers in four Mid-South states, has announced a $5.5 million expansion project in Cape Girardeau — the company's first foray into the Show Me State...

Andy Leighton and Greg Tlapek, the Democratic and Libertarian candidates for state House District 147 representing Cape Girardeau, respectively, are in general agreement about the probable outcome of the race nearly two weeks hence — namely, Republican John Voss is going to win on Tuesday, Nov. 8, in a constituency that historically votes GOP...

O Lord Jesus, we praise your name for you are our mighty Savior. Amen.

Climate activists have found a new target -- the greatest masterpieces in the history of Western art. Heretofore, no one thought that Claude Monet's "Haystacks" -- a sublime series studying the changes in light and color on haystacks in a field -- or Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" -- a painting that is instantly recognizable and forever associated these flowers with the troubled artist -- had harmed anyone, let alone had anything to do with the alleged climate emergency...

Democratic politicians and their media toadies are warning that the Supreme Court is poised to rule against the use of racial preferences in college admissions, putting diversity on college campuses at risk. Don't buy their alarmist rhetoric. Campus diversity is a scam...

Some of them run into burning buildings. Others do their life-saving work in the "golden hour". Still others take on the extra training to learn about helping others in swift water or in an elevator shaft or in a grain bin. Just in case. They are firefighters, medical technicians and paramedics, law enforcement -- sometimes even civilians. They all, though, are first responders, answering someone's call for help in perhaps their most desperate moments...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. — Mary Margaret Zoellner, 69, of Perryville died Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, at her home. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, and from 8 to 9:15 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, at Ford and Young Funeral Home in Perryville. Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Highland, Missouri, with the Rev. Joe Geders officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Susan Terry Mangum peacefully went home to be with Jesus on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, surrounded by her husband and children, after multiple battles with breast cancer. She was born Oct. 22, 1961, in Memphis, Tennessee, and was raised in Cape Girardeau. She spent her last 37 years in Albuquerque...

Marilyn Josephine Elfrink, 81, of Dupo, Illinois, died Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, at Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 25, 1941, in Leopold, Missouri. She was married to Gerald Elfrink on May 12, 1962. Marilyn loved spending time with Lani, Chase and the rest of her family. She loved going on the "white pant outings" with her sisters. She was a member of Sacred Heart Women's Club in Dupo and spent countless hours helping her parish...

NEW YORK -- Adidas ended a partnership that helped make the artist formerly known as Kanye West a billionaire and lent the German sportswear an edgy appeal, but ultimately couldn't survive a mounting outcry over the rapper's offensive and antisemitic remarks...

WASHINGTON -- Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who opened combat jobs to women and ended a ban on transgender people serving in the military, has died at age 68. Carter died Monday evening after suffering a heart attack in Boston, his family said in a statement Tuesday...

Much of Europe and parts of Africa and Asia saw the moon take a bite out of the sun during the second and last solar eclipse of the year. The partial eclipse took about four hours. At its peak, the eclipse covered more than 80% of the sun. A solar eclipse happens when the moon's path crosses in between the Earth and the sun, blocking out the sun's light. In a partial eclipse, the three aren't perfectly aligned -- so a crescent of the sun still peeks out...

Extreme weather from climate change triggered hunger in nearly 100 million people and increased heat deaths by 68% in vulnerable populations worldwide as the world's "fossil fuel addiction" degrades public health each year, doctors reported in a new study...

WASHINGTON -- The House Jan. 6 committee is interviewing Hope Hicks, a longtime aide to former President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the meeting. Tuesday's interview comes as the investigation is winding down and as the panel has subpoenaed Trump for an interview in the coming weeks. The person requested anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing military production delays and mounting losses, urged his government Tuesday to cut through bureaucracy to crank out enough weapons and supplies to feed the war in Ukraine, where a Western-armed Ukrainian counteroffensive has set back Russia's forces...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's nuclear energy operator said Tuesday that Russian forces were performing secret work at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, activity that could shed light on Russia's claims that the Ukrainian military is preparing a "provocation" involving a radioactive device...

LONDON -- Rishi Sunak became Britain's third prime minister this year on Tuesday, tasked with taming an economic crisis that has left the country's finances in a precarious state and millions struggling to pay their food and energy bills. Sunak, who is the U.K.'s first leader of color, met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, where the monarch officially asked the new leader of the governing Conservative Party to form a government, as is tradition...

SHELTON, Wash. -- Sixteen candidates for local office circled around the atrium of the municipal building on a recent night in Shelton, a logging town near the southern crook of Puget Sound. One by one, they sat at tables of inquisitive voters for what was dubbed "candidate speed-dating."...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Germany's president arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday for his first visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion, as Western countries mulled a massive plan for Ukrainian rebuilding when the war eventually ends. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after arriving that "it was important to me in this phase of air attacks with drones, cruise missiles and rockets to send a signal of solidarity to Ukrainians."...

Just in time for Halloween comes a film that isn't afraid to lean into the darkness, one frame at a time. In the first five minutes of "Wendell & Wild," our teen heroine loses her parents in a car accident, her town is economically gutted and she ends up in the back of a prison bus, her legs shackled and her hands cuffed...

NABLUS, West Bank -- Israeli forces raided a stronghold of an armed group in the occupied West Bank's second-largest city, blowing up a bomb lab and engaging in a firefight, the military said Tuesday. Five Palestinians were killed and 20 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry...

MOSCOW -- A Russian court has upheld the nine-year prison sentence handed to American basketball star Brittney Griner for drug possession, rejecting her appeal. Griner, an eight-time all-star center with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport...

WASHINGTON -- Two suspected Chinese intelligence officers have been charged with attempting to obstruct a U.S. criminal investigation of Chinese tech giant Huawei by offering bribes to someone they thought could provide inside information, the Justice Department said...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- If you're thinking of wiping down your kitchen with that bottle of Pine-Sol all-purpose cleaner under your sink -- stop. It may contain bacteria that could cause serious illness in people with compromised immune systems. Oakland-based Clorox said Tuesday it has recalled its scented multi-surface cleaners and all-purpose cleaners. The recall doesn't include its iconic original pine-scented Pine-Sol, which is its only product registered as a disinfectant...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Stephanie Terrell bought a used Nissan Leaf this fall and was excited to join the wave of drivers adopting electric vehicles to save on gas money and reduce her carbon footprint. But Terrell quickly encountered a bump in the road on her journey to clean driving: As a renter, she doesn't have a private garage where she can power up overnight, and the public charging stations near her are often in use, with long wait times. ...

WASHINGTON -- Nearly two-thirds of Americans think the federal government is not doing enough to fight climate change, according to a new poll that shows limited public awareness about a sweeping new law that commits the U.S. to its largest ever investment to combat global warming...

WASHINGTON -- A massive recall of millions of sleep apnea machines has stoked anger and frustration among patients, and U.S. officials are weighing unprecedented legal action to speed a replacement effort that is set to drag into next year. Sound-dampening foam in the pressurized breathing machines can break down over time, leading users to potentially inhale tiny black particles or hazardous chemicals while they sleep, manufacturer Philips warned in June 2021...

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. -- Investigators are trying to determine whether two dogs caused the death of an Amazon driver whose body was found in the yard of a home in rural northwest Missouri. Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers said deputies went to a home in Excelsior Springs on Monday evening, Oct. 24, after reports an Amazon truck had been parked in the same spot for about two hours, with its lights on and motor running...

Recreational marijuana could be legal in half the country if the handful of states with cannabis measures on ballots this November pass them. Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota have measures on their ballots this fall for voters to consider legalizing recreational marijuana. They would join 19 states and the District of Columbia with recreational cannabis...

Hanover Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau hosts the fifth annual Reformationfest in the afternoon; Dr. James Brauer, dean of the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, is the featured speaker; Old Hanover School, a museum of the Lutheran faith, also is open following the service...

Do you have old pairs of eyeglasses and/or hearing aids you've been meaning to dispose of? The Cape Girardeau Evening Lions Club, in conjunction with the mail carriers of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, request you place them in you mailbox October 31 through November 5. The mail carrier will take them from there!...

When seniors get sick, they rely on care from their local doctors who they trust. Being seen close to home by a physician you have a strong relationship with is vital, especially for Missourians in the most rural parts of our state. While skyrocketing healthcare costs must be reined in, Medicare cuts being pushed through in Washington threaten to destabilize community physicians and stretch hospitals even thinner during an incredibly precarious time. ...

Guardian Angel School in Oran has an annual tradition of putting on a Saints program by the 8th grade students. It usually occurs a few days before All Saints' Day, which is November 1. Our 8th graders, instructed by Jodi McVay, presented the information on the lives of 3 Saints on Wednesday, October 26 in Guardian Angel Church...