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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- There's bourbon-tasting and hot air balloons, fashion shows and fireworks, a belle and a ball, and the event that started it all, the Pegasus Parade. From the time the Kentucky Derby Festival starts in mid-April, the party doesn't stop -- not until the horses run for the roses on the first Saturday in May...

The members of Platoon C hold their breath in unison as the intercom at the Cape Girardeau Fire Station No. 1 cuts through the sound of clinking silverware in the dining room. After spending the last hour preparing a home-cooked meal of hamburgers and bratwursts fresh off the grill and tater tots straight from the oven, silence now looms over the dinner table. With stomachs growling, the firefighters face the fact they may have to abandon their meal...

A couple of weeks ago I got to go to Kirksville, Missouri, a place I love deeply. While I was there, I got to see so many of the people whom I love and am loved by. We got to sit, talk, be present with each other. We were content and happy to be together, without expectations, enjoying each other's presence, reminding me once again that it is showing up that matters. I am grateful for the people in my life who show up, who are present to me, who love me...

Usually by this time of the year we have tomatoes and cabbage and onions and most everything growing in the garden. Not this year. Most of March was wet and ugly. It wasn't necessarily cold but it seemed like it rained almost every day or every other. ...

Happy birthday to Jeremy Schlitt, Jennifer Eichhorn, Gabriel Seabaugh, Helene Chism, Linda Lindy, Blake Burger, Mike Mirly, Barbara Lewis, Richie Rister, Jimmy Chambers, Bud Schilling, Garrett Senciboy, Robin Gardner, Steven Dooley, Sheila Eby, MaKinsey Uhrhan, Mick Wessel, Dusti Garner, Lauren Anderson, Danny Penrose, Bob Owen, Ruth Glastetter, Michelle Daniel, Mable Flanigan and Lindsey Miller...

"So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people." -- Exodus 32:14 I've been privileged to teach the Old Testament for the last six years at SEMO. I enjoy exposing my students to texts, like the epigram above, that they never knew existed. God's mind can be changed. What? Whoa, Nelly! Doesn't that fly in the face of the image of an immutable God, made known in Christ, whom the New Testament tells us is the "same yesterday, today, and forever"? (Hebrews 13:8)...

Today we are going to look at the beginning and the end, the main dish and the dessert, the bookends to a meal. I have found several recipes for each of these courses and so I thought I would share them with you. All of the entree and dessert recipes today are from the internet and sites I follow on Facebook. ...

Like the Jack-in-the-Pulpit from last week's article, this is another photo from my April 7 outing. The late season snow was exciting for me. This photo shows an edible Yellow Morel with snow on it. I spent about four hours outdoors on this morning. Snow lightly covered the early spring vegetation. It was still snowing when I headed out at 6:45 and the snow had nearly all melted by 10 when my outing ended. It was as if a very special few hours in my life had magically come and gone...

Lutheran Family and Children's Services (LFCS) will host its annual Kentucky Derby Party on May 4 at the new Jackson Civic Center, according to a news release. Doors will open at 5 p.m. The dinner will be catered by Smokehouse 61 and will be served at 6:30 p.m. ...

Sylvester is another senior male kitty looking for a loving home! He is available for adoption at Safe Harbor; call (573) 243-9823.

SAN DIEGO -- A wayward tortoise that cracked its shell after falling off a 10-foot wall in California is recovering after vets used screws, zip ties and denture material to repair it. San Diego County Animal Services Director Dan DeSousa says the male 90-pound African spurred tortoise probably was a pet that got loose from a yard...

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Schlimpert of Cape Girardeau will celebrate their 72nd wedding anniversary on April 21. Schlimpert and the former Wilma Lange were married April 21, 1946, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Tilsit. Their attendants were Berniece and Edgar Lorenz...

As a youth of 13, John W. Cook left his home in Scopus, Missouri, with two companions, bound for the bright, white lights of Cape Girardeau. What the trio got for their efforts, after tramping all that way, was a two-day stay in the "dungeon" cell in Common Pleas Courthouse...

TOKYO (AP) -- When her stay at the glamorous Grancreer residence turned into a nightmare of disrupted sleep and difficulties with the staff, retired harpist Yumi Makino opted out, and after a two-year legal battle got her deposit money back in a rare victory over a big real estate company...

I would like to write about the gardening beneficial organism called mycorrhizae. Since it is very easy to make a mistake when spelling this word, I will refer to it as myke. Myke is a beneficial fungus that attaches itself to plant roots. It is found naturally in undisturbed soils. But in soils that have been disturbed during the construction process around homes and buildings, or through farming activities it is not present, or it is present in very small amounts...

Cape Girardeau/Scott City Monday: Sweet and sour meatballs or chicken and snow peas, brown and wild rice pilaf, Lima beans, steamed carrots, whole-grain hot roll and fruit salad or Texas sheet cake. Tuesday: Smothered pork cutlet or Philly cheese steak sandwich, sweet potatoes, roasted cauliflower, whole-grain bread or bun and warm apples and raisins or cherry delight...

The Tree Advisory Board observed Arbor Day Friday, April 6, by planting six trees near the softball fields at Shawnee Park in Cape Girardeau. Ameren Missouri donated $900 to purchase the trees planted for Arbor Day. Volunteers from Ameren Missouri, the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Horticulture Club and Arbor Hills helped the board plant the trees...

2018 Math Field Day results -- Southeast Missouri State University All first-place winners are listed by small school/large school division. Gabriel Kreid, Nashville Community Kelsey King, Herrin Ethan Fritsche, Red Bud Kelsey King, Herrin Erica Standefer, Arcadia Valley...

PHOENIX (AP) -- U.S. health officials on Friday told consumers to throw away any store-bought romaine lettuce they have in their kitchens and warned restaurants not to serve it amid an E. coli outbreak that has sickened more than 50 people in several states...

FREMONT, Calif. -- A condemned Northern California house with holes in the roof and mildew in the pipes sold last month for $1.23 million, a price tag highlighting how a housing shortage is fueling skyrocketing home prices in the San Francisco Bay Area...

-- Compiled by Joshua Hartwig...

MILAN -- Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas says his nine-story tower for the Prada Foundation in Milan is meant to reveal the interaction between art and architecture. The white concrete Prada Tower, which is being inaugurated during Milan's Design Week, completes the foundation's contemporary art space. It combines restored structures with new buildings, helping to give new life to a former industrial neighborhood on the southern edge of the city...

LOS ANGELES -- When Alice Gerstel bid an emotional farewell to her family's closest friends in October 1941, she was hopeful she'd see "Little Simon" Gronowski again. And she did -- 76 years later and half a world away from where they were separated in Brussels...

An unseasonably late snow fell on Southeast Missouri the morning of April 7. It was still snowing at daylight, when I put on my heavy winter coat, grabbed my camera, cushions and bag of accessories. I was surprised to find a male ruby-throated hummingbird zooming about the pink blossoms of a quince bush in my yard. He presented me no photo opportunity...

While comic conventions are known for extravagant costumes and mint condition issues of classic comic books, some local businesses and artists have come to know the Cape Comic Con for providing a niche market of convention-goers from a variety of areas...

The United States is in the enviable position of being the global leader in the production of oil and natural gas which has led to job growth, benefits to U.S. consumers and enhancement of national security. Recent actions by President Trump and his administration have placed new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports which could produce unintended consequences that adversely impact U.S. ...

The Kentucky Derby is only a few weeks away, May 5 this year, so you may be thinking about a special meal to serve for the Derby. I don't know very much about horse racing, but I do love the ceremony, traditions and spectacle of the Kentucky Derby. I enjoy watching the hours of television coverage before the race even begins. The ladies in their hats, the crowning of the queen, and the traditions of the food. The race itself goes so quickly, but the all-day coverage is just as entertaining...

When responsible first-time homebuyers need help buying a home, the family bank sometimes can lend a hand. Younger homebuyers face a mountain of obstacles, including rising home prices and interest rates, too few homes for sale and unpaid college debt. ...

Some of my favorite movies are the "Toy Story" films. In fact, if you ever sit down and watch "Toy Story 3" with me, just know that as the movie ends I will transform into a crying, blubbering mess. I don't know how they do it, but somehow Pixar has created seemingly simple movies about living toys, but the film's plots are actually about belonging, community and identity...

"I'm a failure," John sadly lamented. John had applied to numerous colleges. He had been accepted at some, but his first choice was denied. John felt quite a shock because he had excelled in Boy Scouts, school, and in other leadership positions. His grades were superior, but evidently did not satisify his chosen school. John judged himself as being a failure...