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Friday, November 20, 2009

State News

Home invader decorates with ornaments and lights (11/20/09)
HERSCHER, Ill. -- Police in the Kankakee County town of Herscher say they are looking for someone who might be described as a home-invading Christmas elf. Herscher police chief Rick Gilbert said a local woman and her children left for a brief weekend trip Saturday afternoon. Gilbert said that when they returned on Monday morning they found that someone had entered their house and decorated it for the holidays with a host of ornaments and Christmas lights...
Evangelists hand out Darwin books (11/20/09)
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- As she waited for a shuttle in front of Plaster Student Union at Missouri State University, student Robyn Williams almost turned down the offer of a free book. Williams said she'd accepted so many Bibles from curbside evangelists working in front of the student union that she didn't need another...
Hulshof and Forsee mum on university meetings (11/19/09)
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Former congressman Kenny Hulshof isn't letting his unsuccessful attempt to lead the University of Missouri system keep him away from University Hall. Public records obtained by The Associated Press show Hulshof has met with university president Gary Forsee at least three times in recent months at Forsee's campus office. Both men declined to discuss the private sessions...
People bringing in gold fillings for cash (11/19/09)
HANNIBAL, Mo. -- With the price of gold through the roof, at least two business people in Hannibal who regularly purchase gold say people are walking into their businesses with gold fillings to convert to cash. "We get teeth every day. It's not odd," said Bobby Heiser, owner of Crescent Jewelry. ...
2 former Mo. lawmakers sentenced in federal obstruction-of-justice case (11/18/09)
ST. LOUIS -- Two former St. Louis-area lawmakers and a campaign treasurer were sentenced Tuesday in a federal obstruction of justice case tied to a failed 2004 congressional campaign. Former state senator Jeff Smith, a St. Louis Democrat who was on his way to a promising political career, received the harsher sentence -- one year and one day in prison and a $50,000 fine -- despite his attorney's plea that Smith's stellar community service record made him appropriate for in-home detention.. ...
SIU president picks new chancellor (11/18/09)
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University's president introduced a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee administrator Tuesday as his pick to be the next chancellor of SIU's flagship Carbondale campus. Glenn Poshard chose Rita Cheng -- provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at UWM since May 2005 -- to succeed Samuel Goldman, who has served as interim chancellor of the 20,350-student Carbondale campus since spring 2008. Goldman is a former university trustee...
Midwestern states look to promote college degrees (11/16/09)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A dozen Midwestern states are studying the creation of a college-credit exchange that could make it easier for college dropouts to finally complete their degrees. The project would create an electronic database where people could post documentation about the college credits they have earned from various institutions, their work training and other relevant educational experiences...
MU tanning beds to remain open for now (11/16/09)
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A privately owned tanning salon will be allowed to remain open for another year at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Citing cancer risks, the school has tried since May 2008 to terminate its contract with the tanning salon in the Student Recreation Complex...
Mo. family raises elk for meat, antlers (11/16/09)
SEDALIA, Mo. -- Debbie, Mike and Prince are not typical pets. The animals can weigh between 500 and 1,300 pounds. On a good day, Debbie will let her owners get close enough for a scratch behind the ears, but Prince and Mike rule the farm outside of Sedalia where Robert and Dorothy Poort raise elk...
Woman, baby die in home explosion (11/16/09)
WILLIAMSBURG, Mo. -- A woman and her infant son have died in a home explosion in mid-Missouri. Firefighters rushed to the home in rural Callaway County after receiving a report of an explosion around 4 p.m. Saturday. The house was destroyed, but there was no fire when they arrived...
Mo. gov. bucks trend of special sessions (11/16/09)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lawmakers this year have been away from the Capitol longer than normal when there is a rookie in the governor's office. That's because unlike nearly all his immediate predecessors, Gov. Jay Nixon has not ordered the legislature to come back for a special session...
Mo. family raises elk for meat, antlers (11/16/09)
SEDALIA, Mo. -- Debbie, Mike and Prince are not typical pets. The animals can weigh between 500 and 1,300 pounds. On a good day, Debbie will let her owners get close enough for a scratch behind the ears, but Prince and Mike rule the farm outside of Sedalia where Robert and Dorothy Poort raise elk...
Quinn, Hynes spar over who makes tough decisions (11/16/09)
ROCKFORD, Ill. -- Democrats Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes offered Republicans plenty of campaign material Sunday as each accused the other of ducking hard decisions, misleading taxpayers and cozying up to former governor Rod Blagojevich. Appearing at a candidate forum, the rivals for the Democratic nomination for governor did agree on the concept of selling a state prison to the federal government to house suspected terrorists and on the need to raise taxes to narrow a staggering budget deficit. ...
Parents as Teachers program celebrates 25th anniversary (11/16/09)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The news was spilling from journals on neuroscience:Children were born to learn from the cradle. Their brains thirsted, and parents had to be their first and best teachers. But parents weren't exactly reading scientific papers, so in the early 1980s Mildred Winter set off like a self-described missionary to take the message into the homes of Missouri parents...
Woman mistakes officer for Sonic waiter, faces DUI (11/15/09)
ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. -- A Bluff City woman who mistook a police officer for a car hop at a Sonic drive-in is charged with DUI and possession of drug paraphernalia. A 911 caller Nov. 7 reported Veletta Newman nearly struck several vehicles before pulling into the drive-in...
Error leads to 1,800 doses of H1N1 vaccine lost in Ballwin (11/13/09)
BALLWIN, Mo. -- A faulty thermostat in a refrigerator is being blamed for the loss of 1,800 doses of swine flu vaccinations in the Rockwood School District in suburban St. Louis. School officials told KSDK the doses were lost last month. About 2,500 new doses of the flu mist were expected to arrive on Friday...
Questions raised on former Mo. lawmaker's finances (11/13/09)
ST. LOUIS -- Former state representative Talibdin "T.D." El-Amin, who recently pleaded guilty to a bribery charge, is again under scrutiny for allegedly collecting more money from the state for rent on his district office than what was paid. The St. ...
Friday the 13th phobia? You have plenty of company (11/13/09)
CHICAGO -- Henry Ford would have hated 2009, and not just because it's been a tough year to sell cars. Ford, as the story goes, refused to do business on Friday the 13th, and this week marks the third time this year that the 13th will fall on a Friday -- the most times it can happen in one year...
Police search rural property where family members accused in sex crimes once lived (11/12/09)
LEXINGTON, Missouri (AP) -- Five family members charged in a child sex abuse case in western Missouri made their first court appearance Thursday while crews resumed scouring property where some of the abuse allegedly occurred years ago. The five men, wearing orange jumpsuits and shackled at their wrists, waists and ankles, appeared downcast as Associate Circuit Judge John Frerking of the Lafayette County court read the charges against them, including forcible sodomy, rape with a child younger than 12 and use of a child in a sexual performance.. ...
Vandals trash model dinosaur at science center (11/12/09)
ST. LOUIS -- Vandals have damaged a 57-foot-long model dinosaur stationed outside the St. Louis Science Center to promote a special exhibition. The science center said the dino's tail frame was broken. The Apatosaurus is part of the center's "Dinosaurs Unearthed" exhibition, which features animatronic models...
Happy tales for some former fighting dogs (11/12/09)
ST. LOUIS -- Dozens of American pit bull terriers rescued in the largest dogfighting raid in U.S. history are finding homes despite some who predicted aggression or trauma would make them unsuitable as pets. More than 120 of the animals have been placed in foster homes or are headed there this week through the efforts of pit bull rescue groups throughout the U.S. An additional 117, like the scarred but smiling Tulip, await their turn...
Panel rejects challenge of Mo. execution team (11/11/09)
ST. LOUIS -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit challenging the training and competence of Missouri's execution team in a decision that could move the state closer to resuming executions, though likely not for months. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. ...
ACLU drops lawsuit against TSA over man detained because of cash (11/11/09)
ST. LOUIS -- The American Civil Liberties Union has dropped a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration that claimed a man was wrongly detained at Lambert Airport in St. Louis because he was carrying a large sum of cash. The ACLU filed suit in June on behalf of Steven Bierfeldt, saying he was illegally held for a half hour on March 29 because he had about $4,700 with him...
Police trying to understand what led to Jefferson City lockdown (11/10/09)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Police are trying to figure out what led to the unfounded report of a hostage situation in an office building near the Missouri governor's mansion. It was unclear whether Tuesday's incident was a misunderstanding or a hoax...
Police surround office near governor's mansion (11/10/09)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Police surrounded an office building near the governor's mansion on Tuesday after a report of a disturbance initially believed to be a hostage situation. But they said there was no confirmation of hostages taken.
AP headlines