Stories from Friday, December 23, 2022

A temporary staffing issue has led Missouri National Guard officials to suspend ID card service in Cape Girardeau. According to Lt. Col. Lindsey Decker, the matter affects the Guard's DEERS office at the local armory. DEERS — Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System — is the system the military uses to issue identification cards to troops and veterans...

The City of Cape Girardeau Public Art Committee has extended the application deadline for submitting entries for the 10th annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. The new deadline is Sunday, Jan. 1. Every year, the committee selects a slate of sculptures to be displayed along Broadway. ...

The City of Cape Girardeau is once again offering it's real Christmas tree disposal program. Residents can schedule a pickup, or drop off their tree with the city. Special pickups cost $5.75 plus the current fuel surcharge — which is subject to change. A pickup may be schedule by calling the Cape Girardeau Public Works Department at (573) 339-6351. They will happen on the following Wednesdays: Jan. 11 and 25, Feb. 1, 8 and 15...

A Jackson man was killed and another person was seriously injured in a one-car crash Wednesday, Dec. 21, in northeast Bollinger County, Missouri. Richard E. Keller, 46, the driver, was pronounced dead at the scene on Route K, 4 miles north of Sedgewickville...

Saint Francis Healthcare System has hired Matthew Brandt, MBA, as the hospital system's new chief financial officer. Brandt joins Saint Francis from HSHS St. Elizabeth's Hospital in O'Fallon, Illinois, where he was director of finance/CFO for nearly five years...

Cape Girardeau County Commission voted Thursday, Dec. 22, to advertise a public hearing on a potential county marijuana sales tax. Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy and Associate Commissioners Paul Koeper and Charlie Herbst gave unanimous consent to scheduling a hearing date with an eye toward getting a referendum authorizing such a tax before voters on the April 4 ballot...

MISSION, Kan. — Thousands of flights were canceled and homeless shelters were overflowing Thursday amid one of the most treacherous holiday travel seasons the U.S. has seen in decades, with temperatures plummeting 50 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas and forecasters warning of an impending “bomb cyclone” that could make conditions even worse before Christmas. ...

Today is Friday, Dec. 23, the 357th day of 2022. There are eight days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Dec. 23, 1788, Maryland passed an act to cede an area "not exceeding ten miles square" for the seat of the national government; about two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia...

As is tradition, the Southeast Missourian publishes the biblical Christmas story. It is a simple story, but the birth in a stable some 2,000 years ago changed the world. We share scripture from the Gospel according to Luke, Chapter 2: And it came to pass those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one unto his own city...

O Lord God, may the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. Amen.

WASHINGTON -- An IRS policy governing the audits of tax returns filed by U.S. presidents is under new scrutiny after a report published by a congressional panel found the agency failed to perform the mandatory inspection of Donald Trump's returns until Congress pressed for information about the process...

WASHINGTON -- Shrugging off rampant inflation and rising interest rates, the U.S. economy grew at an unexpectedly strong 3.2% annual pace from July through September, the government reported Thursday in a healthy upgrade from its earlier estimate of third-quarter growth...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate appeared back on track Thursday to pass a $1.7 trillion bill to finance federal agencies through September and provide roughly $45 billion in military and economic assistance to Ukraine after lawmakers reached agreement on a final series of votes...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The minister of higher education in the Taliban government on Thursday defended his decision to ban women from universities -- a decree that had triggered a global backlash. Discussing the matter for the first time in public, Nida Mohammad Nadim said the ban issued earlier this week was necessary to prevent the mixing of genders in universities and because he believes some subjects being taught violated the principles of Islam. ...

BAGHDAD -- Everything from the signboard outside down to the napkins bears the official emblem of the top international coffee chain. But in Baghdad, looks are deceiving: The "Starbucks" in the Iraqi capital is unlicensed. Real Starbucks merchandise is imported from neighboring countries to stock the three cafes in the city, but all are operating illegally. ...

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Designated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he has successfully formed a new coalition, setting the stage for him to return to power as head of the most right-wing Israeli government ever to hold office. Netanyahu made the announcement in a phone call to President Isaac Herzog moments before a midnight deadline. His Likud Party released a brief video clip of the smiling Netanyahu and a recording of the conversation...

WASHINGTON -- Cookies forgotten in purses until they crumble. Complaints about not being invited. Boycotts over political disagreements with President Joe Biden. After a couple of party-free years because of the coronavirus pandemic, White House holiday parties are back -- and the "people's house" is once again welcoming the people. Lots of people. An estimated 50,000 visitors between Thanksgiving and Christmas...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Last year, Lucila Gomez and her husband started their holiday shopping around Thanksgiving and wrapped it up a week before Christmas, spending $750 on tablets and clothing for their three children and relatives. This year? Gomez is waiting until she gets her annual bonus on Friday to get started -- and she's limiting her spending to $200, sticking to World Cup themed jerseys for her 10-year-old twins and a 6-year-old...

A state geologist has found evidence of a new earthquake fault in the Missouri Bootheel; geologist Dave Hoffman of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources discovered possible signs of a past earthquake at an auto salvage yard east of Bloomfield; he named the fault Holly Ridge because it is within a quarter mile of the forested, Holly Ridge state conservation area...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls. Dec. 21 n Medical assists were made at 4:18 a.m. on Landgraf Drive; 3:16 p.m. at Bellridge Pike and Kent Drive; 4:19 p.m. on William Street; 5:09 p.m. on Independence Street; 5:55 p.m. on Siemers Drive; and 7:54 p.m. on Bellevue Street...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Police Department responded to the following calls. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n A warrant arrest was reported on North Kingshighway. n A warrant arrest and shoplifting were reported on North Kingshighway. n A warrant arrest and shoplifting were reported on North Kingshighway...

Beloved high school coach and teacher Robert E. "Bob" Sink, 78, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Jackson, passed away Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, at Saint Francis Medical Center, surrounded by his loving family. Bob was born May 12, 1944, in Oklahoma City to Edgar and Virginia Rae Byers Sink. He and Sharon Belford were married March 28, 1970, in Tulsa, Oklahoma...

Nancy Alene Friese, 86, of Jackson died Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, at Jackson Manor Nursing Home. Arrangements are incomplete at this time. As per Nancy's request, the family has entrusted McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center with her arrangements...

John Allen Buehler, 86, of Oak Ridge passed away Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, at Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Aug. 11, 1936, in Glen Allen, Missouri, son of Lee and Alma Fisher Buehler. John married Judith Ann Felty on Dec. 5, 1959, at Fairview Methodist near Millersville...

The U.S. population expanded by 1.2 million people this year, with growth largely driven by international migration, and the nation now has 333.2 million residents, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Net international migration -- the number of people moving into the U.S. ...

WASHINGTON -- Now you see them, now you don't. Some frogs found in South and Central America have the rare ability to turn on and off their nearly transparent appearance, researchers report Thursday in the journal Science. During the day, these nocturnal frogs sleep by hanging underneath tree leaves. Their delicate, greenish transparent forms don't cast shadows, rendering them almost invisible to birds and other predators passing overhead or underneath...

NEW YORK -- Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried walked out of a Manhattan courthouse Thursday with his parents after they agreed to sign a $250 million bond and keep him at their California home while he awaits trial on charges that he swindled investors and looted customer deposits on his FTX trading platform...

WASHINGTON -- The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday voted to release former President Donald Trump's tax returns, raising the potential of additional revelations in the coming days related to the finances of the longtime businessman who broke political norms by refusing to voluntarily make public his returns as he sought the presidency...

PHOENIX -- Arizona will take down a makeshift wall made of shipping containers at the Mexico border, settling a lawsuit and political tussle with the U.S. government over trespassing on federal lands. The Biden administration and the Republican governor entered into an agreement that Arizona will cease installing the containers in the Coronado National Forest -- the only national forest along the border -- according to court documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix...

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis warned Vatican bureaucrats on Thursday to beware the devil that lurks among them, saying it is an "elegant demon" that works in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith. Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia to again put the cardinals, bishops and priests who work in the Holy See on notice that they are by no means beyond reproach and are, in fact, particularly vulnerable to evil...

WASHINGTON -- Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson described to the House Jan. 6 committee a wide-ranging pressure campaign from Donald Trump's allies aimed at influencing her cooperation with Congress and stifling potentially damaging testimony about him...

Throughout Mariupol, Russian workers are tearing down bombed-out buildings at a rate of at least one a day, hauling away shattered bodies with the debris. Russian military convoys are rumbling down the broad avenues of what is swiftly becoming a garrison city, and Russian soldiers, builders, administrators and doctors are replacing the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who have died or left...