Stories from Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Southeast Missouri State University experienced a campuswide water outage Monday, Jan. 9. According to an alert from SEMO, the outage, which prompted officials to close the campus, was caused by a ruptured valve that occurred during work on the campus utility tunnels project. ...

A Jackson school bus and a pickup truck were involved in a late morning crash Monday, Jan. 9, in Jackson. Two people were injured in the crash in the 1900 block of East Jackson Boulevard at Donna Drive. Jackson police said the bus rear-ended the truck at approximately 11:30 a.m...

Cape Girardeau City Council members voted unanimously at their meeting Monday, Jan. 9, to approve a ballot question on whether to levy an additional 3% sales tax to recreational marijuana sales within city limits. The ordinance will appear on the consent agenda for the second and third readings Monday, Jan. 23...

Southeast Missouri congressman Jason Smith was elected as chairman of the prestigious House Ways and Means Committee on Monday, Jan. 9, besting two challengers for the post. “It is deeply humbling and an honor to be selected by my colleagues,” Smith said in a statement. “With our new House Republican majority, we have made a commitment to the American people to build a stronger economy that gives everyone — not just the wealthy and politically-connected — greater opportunity to build a more prosperous future for themselves and their families. ...

Brian House, owner and operator of Cape Girardeau's Chick-fil-A, whilst tucked away in a dark hallway on a rainy December morning at SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence, confessed he hadn't been able to sleep recently. He had a huge, life-changing secret that was difficult to keep...

This story is updated. By unanimous vote, Cape Girardeau County commissioners gave the green light Monday, Jan. 9, to a nearly $48 million design-build contract with Penzel-Trainor to expand and upgrade the county lockup in Jackson by the end of 2024...

You have heard the saying, “the right place at the right time” a million times, I am sure. Perhaps it’s associated with being lucky or investing in a company that explodes to massive profits. When I think of this as a financial services professional, I call it the power of when. Essentially, this is your ability to control an outcome by choosing “when” you do something. For example, “when” you elect your Social Security benefits will determine how much you collect over your retirement years...

Blissfully, for some people, COVID-19 was no more than a long, albeit frightening, inconvenience. For those whose health, finances and lives were permanently changed, the recovery is a work in progress. The pandemic impacted all of us differently, which also applies to many nonprofits. ...

Lord Jesus, may the desires of our heart and the words we say glorify you. Amen.

The Jackson Board of Aldermen continue to spend taxpayers money like drunken sailors. They're building another $333,000 Taj Mahal bathroom in the city park. They're paying $50,000 for a website and $12,000 for software to schedule park shelter rentals. But have no fear because they're also raising our sewer and electric rates...

Did someone or something seize control of the United States? What happened to the U.S. border? Where did it go? Who erased it? Why and how did 5 million people enter our country illegally? Did Congress secretly repeal our immigration laws? Did President Joe Biden issue an executive order allowing foreign nationals to walk across the border and reside in the United States as they pleased?...

KENNETT, Mo. — Patty Joan Webb, daughter of the late George and Betty Ann Saffer Borchers, was born Jan. 27, 1959, in Houston and departed this life Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, at the age of 63 years. Patty was a resident of Kennett, graduating from Kennett High School in 1977. ...

Kathy M. Thiele, 62, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, at Heartland Care and Rehab Center. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home. Funeral will be at 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, at the funeral home, with the Rev. Chris Jordan officiating. Burial will be at Cook Cemetery in Scopus, Missouri...

BONNE TERRE, Mo. — Laura Lea Pendergrass, 59, was born May 17, 1963, in Bonne Terre and departed this life Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. She is survived by her parents, Robert and Karen Maxson Caler, and daughters, Courtney (Michael) Haugh, Angela (Jay) Burnett and Susan (Ryan) Abney. ...

MORLEY, Mo. — Charles "Bill" King, son of the late Charles Jessie King and Anna Frances Davis, was born Sept. 15, 1940, in Noblesville, Indiana, and departed his life Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023, at his home in Morley at the age of 82 years. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, former maintenance supervisor for Firestone in Noblesville and retired from Tyson Food Inc. in Dexter, Missouri, as maintenance supervisor...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. — Myra L. Gremaud, 90, of Perryville died Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, at Arbors at Parkwood Meadows. Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, and from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, at Ford and Young Funeral Home in Perryville...

ST. CLAIR, Mo. — Patsy "Pat" Hosea Gentry, most recently of St. Clair, passed away Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023, at Missouri Baptist Sullivan Hospital. Pat was born Aug. 19, 1932, in Kelso, Missouri, the first of two children of Claude and Doretta Tucker Hosea. Pat's brother, Claude (Betty) Hosea Jr. survives...

Mary Ellen Glass Dover, 82, of Scott City died at 12:07 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023, at her home in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 7, 1940, in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of Martin Glass and Marie Glass Johnson. She was married to Collin Dover of Scott City for 27 years...

BARENTSBURG, Norway -- A 15-year-old boy in a polar bear hoodie took turns reading the Gospel passage about Jesus's birth in Russian with three girls in dresses and bows who proclaimed it in Norwegian, in a shared celebration of Orthodox Christmas deep in the Arctic undimmed by war and the round-the-clock polar night...

Children struggling with obesity should be evaluated and treated early and aggressively, including with medications for kids as young as 12 and surgery for those as young as 13, according to new guidelines released Monday. The longstanding practice of "watchful waiting," or delaying treatment to see whether children and teens outgrow or overcome obesity on their own only worsens the problem that affects more than 14.4 million young people in the U.S. ...

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- As Brazil reels from mobs of rioters swarming its seats of power, its former leader has decamped to a Florida resort, where droves of supporters flocked to cheer on their ousted president. Devotees have traveled in recent days to the temporary home of Jair Bolsonaro, a gated community with towering waterslides, for a chance to see him. He signed autographs, hugged children and took selfies with adoring masses, some sporting "Make Brazil Great Again" shirts...

SALVADOR, Brazil -- Thousands of Brazilians who support former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress on Jan. 8 in an episode that closely resembled the U.S. Capitol insurrection in 2021. The groups were able to break through police barricades along the capital Brasilia's main boulevard and storm the buildings, damage furniture, smash windows and destroy artworks. ...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- In the moments before a 6-year-old Virginia boy shot his teacher, there was no fight, no physical struggle and no warning, authorities said Monday. "What we know today is that she was providing instruction. He displayed a firearm, he pointed it and he fired one round," Newport News police Chief Steve Drew said...

DENVER -- Earth's protective ozone layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says. A once-every-four-years scientific assessment found recovery in progress, more than 35 years after every nation in the world agreed to stop producing chemicals that chomp on the layer of ozone in Earth's atmosphere that shields the planet from harmful radiation linked to skin cancer, cataracts and crop damage...

WASHINGTON -- Electing the House speaker may have been the easy part. Now House Republicans will try to govern. Speaker Kevin McCarthy passed his first tests late Monday as the Republicans approved their rules package for governing House operations, typically a routine step on Day One that stretched into the second week of the new majority. It was approved 220-213, a party-line vote with one Republican opposed...

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans began their tenure in the majority Monday by passing a bill that would rescind nearly $71 billion that Congress had provided the IRS, fulfilling a campaign promise even though the legislation is unlikely to advance further...

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department is reviewing a batch of potentially classified documents found in the Washington office space of President Joe Biden's former institute, the White House said Monday. Special counsel to the president Richard Sauber said "a small number of documents with classified markings" were discovered as Biden's personal attorneys were clearing out the offices of the Penn Biden Center, where the president kept an office after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019. ...

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine -- Officials at a vocational school in an eastern Ukraine city dismissed claims by Russia that hundreds of Ukrainian troops were killed in a missile strike there, saying Monday that a rocket merely blew out windows and damaged classrooms...

ATLANTA -- The special grand jury in Atlanta that has been investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies committed any crimes while trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia has finished its work, bringing the case closer to possible criminal charges against Trump and others...

LOS ANGELES -- As another powerful storm walloped California, a 5-year-old boy was swept away by floodwaters Monday on the state's central coast and an entire seaside community that is home to Prince Harry, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities was ordered to evacuate on the fifth anniversary of deadly mudslides there...

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador challenged U.S. President Joe Biden to end an attitude of "abandonment" and "disdain" for Latin America and the Caribbean as the two leaders met Monday, making for a brusque opening to a summit of North American leaders...

When Cape Girardeau County made the switch to a first-class county a year ago, county commissioners pledged not to overwhelm citizens with a lot of new ordinances; true to their word, commissioners approved a grand total of one law during 1997, the first year the commission had the power to enact county ordinances...

A community volunteer fair will be held Sunday, Jan. 15th from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Salvation Army Community Center gymnasium located at 701 Good Hope in Cape Girardeau. The goal of this volunteer fair is to bring people from the community together to learn about the not-for-profit organizations in their community. ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 10, 2023 Contact: Nathan Morgan, University Relations, 731-881-7615 Editors: Below is a list of students who requested that your paper receive notification that they have been named to the Chancellor’s Honor Roll at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Each listing includes the student’s name, hometown and honors...

Honor Roll for second quarter for Trinity Lutheran School Cape Girardeau, MO.