Stories from Monday, July 17, 2023

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — FCC Behavioral Health held an open house Thursday, July 13, to celebrate the opening of its new Urgent Behavioral Health Crisis Center at 686 Lester St., the former Kniebert Clinic. Director Christina Cunningham, along with various other staff, was in attendance explaining the process, goals and assistance they provide to the community...

David Yaskewich, economist and Southeast Missouri State University department chairman, finds much to like in last week's news from the U.S. Department of Labor. On Wednesday, July 12, the government reported consumer prices were up just 3% from a year ago, the smallest annual increase since March 2021...

Twenty-two vendors lined up at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau on Saturday, July 15, each selling handmade goods and supporting a local cause. The fifth annual Show Me Care Bags Small Business Expo helped raise funds to send support to cancer patients...

For a group of local dancers, months of practice and determination have paid off with wins in a national talent competition. Jackson residents Delaney Gibson, 17, Alyvia Hotop, 16, and Ava Stowe, 15, along with Arwen Laubach, 16, of Scott City, won third place at the 2023 Triumph National Talent...

Andy Meyer, assistant district engineer/program delivery for Missouri Department of Transportation's 25-county Southeast District, wraps up a 28-year career with MoDOT on Friday, Sept. 1. "It's all passed in the blink of an eye," said Meyer, who grew up in the downstate Illinois town of Pinckneyville...

A storm system that rolled through the region about 7 p.m. Monday, July 17, apparently knocked out power to several hundred Ameren customers. The hardest-hit area was Chaffee, Missouri, and Delta, with more than 2,000 customers without power at 8 p.m...

Today is Monday, July 17, the 198th day of 2023. There are 167 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On July 17, 1821, Spain ceded Florida to the United States. On this date: In 1862, during the Civil War, Congress approved the Second Confiscation Act, which declared that all slaves taking refuge behind Union lines were to be set free...

O Lord God, we praise you, for your righteousness reaches to the heavens. Amen.

Using statistics from the Department of Labor, The Wall Street Journal reports that real hourly wages during the Biden presidency have declined. When President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the average hourly wage adjusted for inflation was $11.39. Now, 29 months later, it stands at $11.03, a 3.16% decline...

"Mom, can you pick me up early from camp today?" That's the question I got this morning before I dropped off my son. He loves summer day camp with the YMCA, but even though I'm writing this on Wednesday morning, he's tired. Honestly, so am I. On top of summer day camp, my son wanted to play baseball. ...

Politics is sometimes little more than marketing. As evidence, behold the sudden use of the term "Bidenomics" by Democrats to describe administration policies of the past few years. Indeed, what's being branded as "new" is nothing but the same old program of big spending, big regulations and big cronyism. The only difference is that it's on a much bigger scale...

Raise your hand if you've ever said or heard a young person say, "Where will I use this in the 'real world?'" Certainly there are topics in school that don't come up every day in many jobs, but the subject matter is important for an educated citizenry to know. And some classes just help a student think critically, which is definitely a marketable skill in the "real world"...

Employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history. ...

Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce will hold the following events this week: n 3 p.m. Tuesday, July 18: Chamber of Retired Professionals will meet at Sedona Bistro, 1812 Carondalet Drive, Suite 101. n 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 19: Newbridge Retirement Community ribbon-cutting, 1205 S. Mount Auburn Road...

An access road is seen Tuesday, July 11, being created to the new Jackson ALDI grocery store, 2502 E. Jackson Blvd. ...

Jeff Spray has joined the Cape Girardeau office of Spencer Fane LLP law office in litigation and dispute resolution. Spray, who completed his undergraduate work and earned his law degree from University of Missouri, has worked in the office of general counsel for the state Department of Revenue...

David Wilson has been named deputy director for Cape Girardeau County Office of Emergency Management, effective Tuesday, Aug. 1. Wilson has served as security and emergency preparedness coordinator for SoutheastHEALTH for five years and has been with the hospital system for more than three decades...

Premier Physical Therapy, 1405 N. Mount Auburn Road in Cape Girardeau, recently presented two $1,000 scholarships to students pursuing health care careers: Ashleigh Stegmann, attending Southern Illinois University at Carbondale; and Seth Spraggs, receiving education at Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center...

Lendmark Financial Services has announced the opening of its eighth location in Missouri at 242 S. Silver Springs Road in Cape Girardeau, with Christina Hornback as branch manager. Lendmark, founded in Georgia in 1996, has more than 500 branches in 21 states...

Misty Thrower knows a thing or two about food preparation and she is bringing a lifetime of culinary talent to her new endeavor, Zimzala Vibes mobile food trailer. Thrower, former owner of Cape Girardeau's Bel Air Grill, spends a great deal of time in food preparation as she manages the Procter & Gamble cafeteria at P&G's Cape Girardeau plant as her full-time work...

SoutheastHEALTH announced Friday, July 14, it is closing Southeast Home Health in Cape Girardeau and Dexter, Missouri, next month, citing labor shortages and continued declines in payer reimbursement. Final day of operation in Cape Girardeau County will be Tuesday, Aug. 15, while the Stoddard County service will shut down a week earlier Tuesday, Aug. 8...

Gas prices ticked up nationally in the past week 3 cents a gallon as of Saturday, July 15, to an average of $3.56 per gallon. In Missouri, the statewide price is up 3 cents from a month ago to $3.23. "Despite a notable cratering in gas demand in the days since the July 4th holiday, pump prices have crept higher," reported auto club federation AAA. "The main culprit is a higher price for oil, which moved from the upper $60s per barrel recently to the mid-$70s."...

NEW YORK -- Even during a year of sobering economic news for media companies, the layoffs of three Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists on a single day hit like a gut punch. The firings of the cartoonists employed by the McClatchy newspaper chain last week were a stark reminder of how an influential art form is dying, part of a general trend away from opinion content in the struggling print industry...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Iranian authorities on Sunday announced a new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf and morality police returned to the streets 10 months after the death of a woman in their custody sparked nationwide protests...

LONDON -- Agreements the United Nations and Turkey brokered with Ukraine and Russia to allow food and fertilizer to get from the warring nations to parts of the world where millions are going hungry have eased concerns over global food security. But they face increasing risks...

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal appeals court Friday temporarily paused a lower court's order limiting executive branch officials' communications with social media companies about controversial online posts. Biden administration lawyers had asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to stay the preliminary injunction issued on July 4 by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty. Doughty himself had rejected a request to put his order on hold pending appeal...

PARIS -- Actor and singer Jane Birkin, who made France her home and charmed the country with her English grace, natural style and social activism, has died at age 76. The London-born star and fashion icon was known for her musical and romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. ...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A federal judge has ruled Oregon's voter-approved gun control measure -- one of the toughest in the nation -- is constitutional. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut ruled that banning large capacity magazines and requiring a permit to purchase a gun falls in line with "the nation's history and tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety," Oregon Public Broadcasting reported...

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was discharged on Sunday after an overnight hospital stay for check-ups and monitoring following a dizzy spell. Netanyahu, 73, was rushed to Sheba Medical Center on Saturday after feeling mild dizziness. His office said he had left the hospital around midday after stating earlier that his test results were normal and that he was feeling "very good."...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jack Mogannam, manager of Sam's Cable Car Lounge in downtown San Francisco, relishes the days when his bar stayed open past midnight every night, welcoming crowds that jostled on the streets, bar hopped, window browsed or just took in the night air...

NEW YORK -- The trail had gone cold as clues suddenly dwindled. For a time, doubts swirled about whether a killer who dumped the remains of his female victims along remote stretches of coastline on New York's Long Island would ever be caught. Then finally, after more than a dozen long years, bereaved families of the victims were provided with a whiff of relief Friday when authorities announced the arrest of a 59-year-old architect who they believe is responsible for the deaths...

WASHINGTON -- Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville is waging an unprecedented campaign to try to change Pentagon abortion policy by holding up hundreds of military nominations and promotions, forcing less experienced leaders into top jobs and raising concerns at the Pentagon about military readiness...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into ChatGPT creator OpenAI and whether the artificial intelligence company violated consumer protection laws by scraping public data and publishing false information through its chatbot...

Elon Musk says Twitter is still losing cash because advertising has dropped by half. In a reply to a tweet offering business advice, Musk tweeted Saturday, "We're still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load."...

DYSART, Iowa -- When Al Schafbuch cut back on plowing his Iowa fields decades ago and later began growing cover crops, he was out to save money on fertilizer and reduce erosion. He got those benefits and saw his soil change for the better, too: dark, chunky, richly organic matter that he said feels like "chocolate cake."...

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. -- Long the hottest place on Earth, Death Valley put a sizzling exclamation point Sunday on a record warm summer that is baking nearly the entire globe by flirting with some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded, meteorologists said...

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. -- Heavy rains pounded an already saturated Northeast on Sunday for the second time in a week, spurring another round of flash flooding, canceled airline flights and power outages. In Pennsylvania, a sudden flash flood late Saturday afternoon claimed at least five lives...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published Sunday that Moscow has a "sufficient stockpile" of cluster munitions, and warned that Russia "reserves the right to take reciprocal action" if Ukraine uses the controversial weapons...

WASHINGTON -- Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research...

NEW DELHI -- Warmer, drier weather because of an earlier than usual El Nino is expected to hamper rice production across Asia, hitting global food security in a world still reeling from the impacts of the war in Ukraine. An El Nino is a natural, temporary and occasional warming of part of the Pacific that shifts global weather patterns, and climate change is making them stronger. ...

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Officers on Sunday shot and killed a man wanted in four weekend killings near Atlanta during an exchange of gunfire, with a sheriff's deputy and two police officers wounded while trying to take the suspect into custody, authorities said...

The very online showdown between Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" all started with a date: July 21. It's not uncommon for studios to counterprogram films in different genres on a big weekend, but the stark differences between an intense, serious-minded picture about the man who oversaw the development of the atomic bomb and a lighthearted, candy-colored anthropomorphizing of a childhood doll quickly became the stuff of viral fodder...

A documentary on Apple TV+ that chronicles the atypical path Stephen Curry took to becoming a basketball legend plus new tunes from the rock band Greta Van Fleet are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you. Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press' entertainment journalists are Laura McGann's documentary "The Deepest Breath" which plunges into the world of free diving and Starz has given the workplace comedy "Minx" a new home and a berth for season two.. ...

Cape Girardeau School District students and teachers will see and feel a difference when classes begin next month; a $14 million bond issue and 69-cent tax increase approved by voters in April 1997 set in motion a two-phase master plan for construction of two school buildings and renovations to seven others; the first phase of the plan includes major renovations for nearly every building in the district...

Little or no economic growth has occurred in the last decade in considering the totality of 14 Southeast Missouri counties, according to a recent report by Jeff Pinkerton, chief economist with the Missouri Department of Economic Development. If the focus in narrowed to the three-county region of Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties, however, growth in the same time period has approached 9%...

ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. — Carol Lee Haslauer Winn, 87, of Rogersville, formerly of Olive Branch, Illinois, died Thursday, July 13, 2023, while she was surrounded by her family. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to noon Friday, July 21, at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms, Illinois...

News Release Date: July 17, 2023 Subject: Cape Public Schools Foundation raising funds for CFO matching challenge Contact: Aaron Scott, ascott@cfozarks.org; 417-864-6199 The Community Foundation of the Ozarks has selected Cape Girardeau Public Schools Foundation to participate in a month-long challenge to boost its endowment. ...

Recently the Jackson Knights of Columbus Ladies’ Auxiliary presented 3 college scholarships to area graduating seniors at their annual banquet. The ladies auxiliary is proud to present scholarships every year to area high school graduates and help to further their education. Pictured here are this year’s scholarship recipients...