Stories from Thursday, October 3, 2002

JERUSALEM -- Shamai Leibowitz is taking up where his grandfather, a maverick Jewish scholar, left off -- joining the defense team of a Palestinian leader charged with directing terror attacks against Israelis, as a way of protesting Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...

LONDON -- Hundreds of thousands of Londoners struggled to get to work Wednesday as a strike by subway workers produced commuter chaos in the British capital for the second time in a week. Normally quiet pre-dawn streets, were clogged with people who left home early to walk to the city center. Businessmen jogged in suits, backpacks strapped over their shoulders. Others wobbled along on bicycles. Thames River bridges were jammed with foot traffic...

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appealed Wednesday to one of his toughest critics -- President Bush -- to block a U.S. law that calls for moving the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to disputed Jerusalem. "It is a catastrophe. We can't stay silent," Arafat said of the measure passed by the U.S. Congress...

TOKYO -- One of the strongest typhoons to threaten Tokyo in decades sideswiped Japan's capital late Tuesday after demolishing houses and trees, shattering windows and killing a security guard at a construction site. Typhoon Higos dumped heavy rains on small islands and cities in and around the capital throughout the day, flooding hundreds of homes and forcing nearly 1,000 residents to be evacuated...

MANILA, Philippines -- A nail-packed bomb killed an American Green Beret and two Filipinos on Wednesday outside a restaurant near a base in the troubled southern Philippines, where the U.S. military helped in the fight against al-Qaida-linked rebels this year...

MIAMI -- Two women who took care of Rilya Wilson, the little girl whose disappearance exposed disarray in Florida's child welfare agency, were charged Wednesday with stealing $14,000 in public assistance, in part by accepting payments for Rilya after she had vanished...

SAN DIEGO -- Two homeless men who say they were paid to hurt themselves and beat each other for a video sold on the Internet filed suit Wednesday against the filmmakers, who also face criminal charges. Donald Brennan and Rufus Hannah say the makers of "Bumfights: A Cause for Concern" took advantage of their alcoholism to persuade them to ram their heads into steel doors and signs and get "Bumfights" tattoos in bold letters across their hands and foreheads...

LOS ANGELES -- Unable to move any cargo for days, thousands of independent truckers are waiting around at transfer stations and hoping their money lasts longer than the shutdown at the nation's West Coast ports. "I'm going to have to start figuring out ways to make some money soon," said Jorge Ramirez, 41, a short-haul trucker with a wife and four young children. "It's better to be your own boss, but right now there is no dinero. My wife is worried, I'm worried."...

NEW YORK -- A former police officer shooting from his apartment window wounded a preschool teacher taking children to a playground during a three-hour spree in a sprawling housing complex. Brian Berrigan, 33, was found sitting at a table inside his fourth-floor apartment at Stuyvesant Town, police commissioner Ray Kelly said...

FRANKFURT, Germany -- The man charged with the kidnap-murder of a German banker's son led a church youth group and headed a fan club of Frankfurt's soccer team that the 11-year-old victim passionately supported, investigators said Wednesday. Jakob von Metzler was found slain Tuesday, despite his family's payment of nearly $1 million in ransom. Prosecutors said severe bruises on the boy's throat indicate he was likely strangled...

BERLIN -- The Brandenburg Gate, Germany's most famous landmark, has been stripped of decades of grime in an extensive renovation that has shrouded it from view for two years as the capital's new government quarter took shape around it. To mark the 12th anniversary of German reunification, dignitaries will undo a giant zipper today in the wrapping to reveal its gleaming sandstone...

PARIS -- France lifted its six-year-old ban on British beef imports Wednesday, ending a bitter dispute that has strained relations with London. The government's decision, which came three years after a similar European Union move, followed the recommendation of the French food safety standards agency the meat was free of mad cow disease and no longer posed a health threat...

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Tens of thousands of angry government loyalists raced down the skyscraper-lined highways of Abidjan on Wednesday, waving sticks and shouting their rage at rebels advancing steadily south toward Ivory Coast's commercial capital...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq says war and U.N. inspections have ensured it is no longer capable of producing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, and Baghdad released a detailed report Wednesday rebutting a British dossier on its arms programs. Washington says toppling Saddam Hussein may be the only way to ensure Iraq is not rearming. ...

BLACKPOOL, England -- Former President Clinton urged America and Britain on Wednesday to give U.N. weapons inspections a chance to work in Iraq, saying they should be backed by a tough new resolution from the U.N. Security Council. He said weapons inspectors had made real progress in uncovering Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s. The Bush administration says inspections have not worked in the past...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Miss Denmark on Wednesday joined a boycott of the Miss World pageant to protest a sentence of death by stoning imposed on a Nigerian Muslim woman accused of having sex outside marriage. The pageant has come under international pressure over the case of 31-year-old Amina Lawal, who was sentenced by a Shariah judge to be stoned to death while buried up to her neck in sand in 2004, after her baby born out of wedlock is weaned. ...

TOKYO -- An American serviceman who defected to North Korea later married a Japanese woman who had been abducted by North Korean agents, and both are now living in the North's capital, Pyongyang, a senior Japanese official said Wednesday. The serviceman, Charles Robert Jenkins of North Carolina, was one of four Americans who deserted their Army posts in South Korea in the 1960s...

NAZRAN, Russia -- The recent foray by some 200 Chechen rebels into neighboring territory, sparking one of the largest battles ever in the three-year Chechen war, has highlighted the Russian military's weak hold on the restive region. The fighting erupted last Thursday when federal troops spotted a rebel contingent near the village of Galashki in Russia's republic of Ingushetia, bordering Chechnya's west. ...

TOKYO -- One married an American defector and is still living. But North Korea says eight other Japanese kidnapped by communist spies died -- one committed suicide in a mental hospital, two died in car crashes, two more of gas poisoning, two others of illness and one drowned...

DAKAR, Senegal -- Backing earlier reports, military investigators identified overloading Wednesday as the key cause of Africa's deadliest-ever ferry disaster -- describing how the ship tumbled over when passengers rushed to one side to take cover from a storm...

Adam Ant suffers mental-illness episode LONDON -- A judge said '80s pop idol Adam Ant suffered a "temporary episode" of mental illness when he threatened pub customers with a fake pistol, and sentenced him Wednesday to a year's community service and rehabilitation treatment...

The young soldiers at upstate New York's Fort Drum are ready to fight in Iraq. A preacher near their base prays those orders won't come. Out in Ohio, a man who flew 35 combat missions against Nazi Germany ponders the prospect of a new war and says, "I'd go a little bit slow."...

NEW YORK -- Prosecutors turned up the heat on Martha Stewart as a stockbroker's assistant pleaded guilty Wednesday to taking a payoff to keep quiet about an alleged insider stock trade by the queen of home entertaining. Douglas Faneuil, 27, struck a deal to testify against Stewart and others who might be charged in connection with the sale of ImClone Systems stock just before its price plunged last year...

The Associated Press ST. LOUIS -- Jamie Martin goes from getting none of the repetitions to getting almost all of them this week, now that he's the Rams' starting quarterback. He'll try to follow in the footsteps of Kurt Warner, who rose to stardom after Trent Green had a season-ending knee injury in the 1999 preseason, and try to help rescue the Rams' lost season. The winless Rams (0-4) play Sunday at San Francisco...

and Margaret B. Kelly COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri families need affordable, reliable energy for our homes and places of work. The ability to generate adequate electricity within Missouri has become crucial to assuring that it remains affordable and reliable. Congested power lines, price spikes and shortages have become familiar stories in states where demand outpaces power supply...

NEW IBERIA, La. -- Nearly a half-million people in Louisiana and Texas were urged to clear out on Wednesday -- some of them for the second time in a week -- as a fearsome Hurricane Lili barreled toward the Gulf Coast with 140 mph winds. "We have a real disaster in the making," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "This is going to be the worst hurricane to hit the Louisiana coast since reconnaissance data has been available."...

After spending thousands of dollars assembling a powerful car stereo system, 17-year-old Dustin Tatum of Cape Girardeau now drives around tuneless after a thief smashed in his driver's side window and stole his CD player, CDs, subwoofer and speakers...

Dunklin Daily Democrat KENNETT, Mo. -- The Kennett Area Higher Education Center is accomplishing its mission, say school administrators, but they want money to do more. At a meeting of the Kennett City Council on Tuesday, Marsha Blanchard, the center's director, and Larry Swindle, resource committee co-chair, detailed what the center has done while asking for help to raise money for new construction...

Even though the program has ended, plenty of participants in Shape Up Cape vowed to continue their exercise routines despite not earning any points for their efforts. "I was exercising anyway, but it caused me to do more," said Gail Conrad, team captain for the city of Cape Girardeau's team. "Now when I get out of bed, I'm not thinking about points."...

Revitalizing a downtown district takes more than enthusiasm. Just ask Dr. Tom Lawson, Poplar Bluff's city administrator. In Poplar Bluff, downtown merchants were enthused to be part of Missouri's Main Street program in 1990, but the business owners didn't buy into the big picture and now downtown shopping is almost non-existent...

HOUSTON -- Andrew Fastow, the Enron executive who masterminded the financial schemes that brought down the company, was charged Wednesday with inflating the energy giant's profits and siphoning off millions for himself, his family and friends. The former chief financial officer is the biggest Enron figure targeted by the Justice Department so far. ...

Oct. 3, 2002 Dear David, Thousands of people are screaming in the dark as the starstruck, teenage writer follows the rock 'n' roll band backstage for the first time in the movie "Almost Famous." When the drummer leads the band into the first song you can almost taste the adrenaline...

PHOENIX -- Curt Schilling covets his reputation as a big-game pitcher, and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in dire need of a big game. The powerhouse bats of the Cardinals took care of Randy Johnson with stunning ease in a 12-2 rout of the World Series champions in Game 1 of NL division series. If they can beat Schilling in Game 2 today, the Cardinals will go home up 2-0 in the best-of-5 series...

There's not much more exciting than Cardinals baseball in the fall. That's been known for years around St. Louis and it appears that knowledge has filtered south to Marble Hill, Mo. In a season when most high schools are playing football and soccer, the Woodland Cardinals have been on the baseball diamond...

BOSTON -- Richard Reid, the man accused of trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes, plans to plead guilty to attempted murder and all other charges against him, his attorney said Wednesday. Attorney Owen Walker said Reid wanted to avoid the publicity of a trial and the negative impact it would have on his family...

STARKE, Fla. -- A man who killed an 11-year-old girl and two fellow death row inmates was executed by lethal injection Wednesday after dropping his appeals and volunteering to die. Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco, 43, who came to Miami from Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift, had confessed to the girl's murder but then denied it in a statement he wrote out and gave to a priest the night before his execution...

Weekly top 10 poll determined by members of the SEMO Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, with teams, first-place votes, record, total votes and last week's ranking. 1. North County (13) 4-0 209 2 2. Cape Girardeau Central 3-1 192 1 3. Hayti (1) 3-0 172 3...

Weekly top 10 poll determined by members of the SEMO Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, with teams, first-place votes, record, total votes and last week's ranking. 1. Notre Dame (15) 17-2-1 150 1 2. Jackson 16-2-2 118 2 tie. Leopold 18-2-1 118 4...

Don't expect to hear engines come to life this season at the new Poplar Bluff (Mo.) Speedway. Co-owner Jennifer Adamson said Wednesday that work still needs to be finished on the track before it's ready to open, and those final additions won't be made in time to host events this season...

All was right in the world of the Tigers. For the first time in Central High School history, the girls' softball team is the SEMO Conference champion. Its 9-0 win Wednesday came on senior night against the Tigers' biggest rival, Jackson (7-17), and wrapped up the league title...

The Central Tigers arrive at the mid-point of their regular season tonight. At 3-1, Central finds Graves County (Ky.) wedged between a pair of emotional games -- last week's double-overtime loss to North County and next week's Cape Girardeau County rivalry game with Jackson...

Scott City's volleyball team used a balanced attack to ease past Woodland 15-5, 15-3 on Wednesday night. "We got a very balanced attack," Scott City coach Laura Ort said. Scott City, No. 8 in the SEMO Top 10 released today, improved to 15-4-2. Amanda O'Brien served the first 11 points for the Rams before Woodland finally forced a side out. ...

Frances Furhmann of Cape Girardeau was inspired to send in this photo when she saw The Bryan Laundries mentioned in the Southeast Missourian's "Out of the Past" column published on Aug. 20. The photo was taken when Fuhrmann, center, was about 5 years old, which would have been around 1928. ...

ST. LOUIS -- Two Florida cousins and their companies behind the hot lines for television psychic "Miss Cleo" were sentenced Wednesday to probation and fines, resolving illegal-merchandising felonies in Missouri over the supposed clairvoyant. Steven L. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Revenue for the first quarter of Missouri's fiscal year fell 2.7 percent from last year, raising concerns among state budget officials. The decline reported Wednesday by the state Department of Revenue becomes more pronounced when compared to the 3.1 percent growth that had been anticipated in Missouri's fiscal 2003 budget...

Charles Robert Fluegge Sr., 75, of Gordonville died Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 25, 1927, at Tilsit, son of Robert L. and Martina Peetz Fluegge. He and Betty Reisenbichler were married June 27, 1952, in Cape Girardeau...

Can you imagine? IF JOHN Kennedy had had the same guts his brother, Ted Kennedy, has shown and backed down in the Cuban missile crisis, we would have been under the gun today. Can you imagine our country in the hands of Ted Kennedy, Tom Daschle and Al Gore? God help us. Even former President Clinton, who had character flaws, was more intelligent than all three of these put together...

Baseball Jerry Royster knew he was out as manager of the Brewers after last week's front office shakeup. The official firing came Wednesday and made Royster the sixth major league manager to lose his job in the last four days...

For the past three years, high school football players who played at Vigilante Stadium in Helena, Mont., had a tougher challenge than they realized: The first-down chains that are supposed to measure 10 yards actually are 10 yards, 6 inches. "It's just one of those things that you take for granted that it's accurate," said school activities director Jim Opitz...

Today Sibling class from 6 to 8:30 p.m. for children ages 4 to 10. The class meets at the Generations Resource Center at Southeast Missouri Hospital. To register, call 651-5833. Breast cancer support group meets from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the lobby of the Regional Cancer Center at Southeast Missouri Hospital. To register, call the Generations Center at 651-5825...

Random security screening of people boarding planes could be phased out next year as Transportation Security Administration chief James Loy tries to make air travel less burdensome. Each passenger will still have to go through security checkpoints, but the additional random checks are about to end...

Few issues that government must confront are more troublesome or involve more of a tangle of emotional charge and countercharge than the issue of child abuse. Child abuse is a horrible reality, one that reveals the dark side of human nature. Efforts to eradicate it are among the most important business of the day...

Cape Girardeau Thursday, Oct. 3 Firefighters responded Tuesday to the following items: At 1204 p.m., emergency medical service at 39 S. Sprigg. At 3:53 p.m., emergency medical service at 929 Normal. At 6:49 p.m., emergency medical service at 323 S. Hanover...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Bruce Edward Binnie, 58, of Marble Hill died Monday, Sept. 30, 2002, the result of a farming accident near Glenallen, Mo. He was born Oct. 1, 1943, in Buffalo, N.Y., son of Harold E. and Doris W. Younglove Binnie. He and Susan Marie Last were married Aug. 28, 1964, in Scottsdale, Ariz...

ANNA, Ill. -- Thomas M. Hanney III, 38, of Anna died suddenly Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2002, at Southside Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa. Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home in Anna is in charge of arrangements.

Bessie Genevieve Sneed, 89, formerly of Chaffee, Mo., and Scott City, died Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002, at Broadview Nursing Home in Maryland Heights, Mo. She was born Jan. 27, 1913, in Charleston, Mo., daughter of Samuel Benjamin and Mary Magdalene Brown Thompson. She and William Robert "Bob" Sneed were married May 22, 1936, in Scott City. He died Oct. 27, 1980...

Contender or pretender? After a very exciting road victory over Division I-A Middle Tennessee State, we face a very talented Tennessee State team in our Ohio Valley Conference opener at Houck Stadium at 6 p.m. Saturday. In the win over MTSU, we played well on both sides of the ball for four quarters. It's the first time that has happened since I came here three years ago. Now we have to see if we can continue to play at that level and become a contender, not just a pretender...

They're just a bunch of backyard barbecuers, but everybody eats what they cook, so the newly formed Nordenia Grillfest Team figures they must not be doing too bad. "Whether we win or not, we don't go home with any leftovers," said team member Ron Medlin...

"We, the people of Missouri, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and grateful for His goodness, do establish this Constitution for the better government of the state." -- Preamble of the Missouri Constitution...

10 years ago: Oct. 3, 1992 Most immediate impact of $1.2 million Economic Development Administration grant announced yesterday for Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority at Scott City is that construction can begin right away on final phase of railroad spur...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Jessie Michael, 88, of Kirkwood, Mo., died Monday, Sept. 30, 2002, at St. Joseph Hospital in Kirkwood. She was born July 8, 1914, at Marble Hill, daughter of Jessie W. and Dorothy McCullough. Michael was a first-grade teacher at Midland School in St. Louis from 1937 to 1942. She was a supervisor of billing with AT&T 28 years in San Francisco, Calif...

ANNA, Ill. -- Ferry H. Hartline, 84, of Anna died Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 28, 1918, in Dongola, Ill., daughter of Everett Ferry and Lois Karraker Hinkle. She and J. Bon Hartline were married Aug. 30, 1941, in Anna...

Bill Howard, 73, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2002, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Funeral Home.

SANDUSKY, Ill. -- Jesse Saunders Sr., 95, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., formerly of Sandusky, died Saturday, Sept. 28, 2002. Massie Funeral Home in Cairo, Ill., is in charge of arrangements.

Cape Girardeau Thursday, Oct. 3 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Billie J. Ivy, 44, of 105 S. Spanish, Apt. 5, was arrested Tuesday on a Cape Girardeau County warrant for failure to appear...

Dobbins to speak at First Friday Coffee Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Ken Dobbins will be the featured speaker at First Friday Coffee. Dobbins will discuss university finances and their impact on the economy. The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce sponsors First Friday Coffee, which is held at 7:30 a.m. Friday at the Show Me Center...

The "Pyramid of Success" is not merely the basis for John Wooden's basketball triumphs -- it's also the way he has tried to live his life. It's a message with themes like hard work, loyalty, poise and confidence that Wooden -- considered the most successful college coach of all time -- shared with a group of Cape Girardeau businesspeople Wednesday...

WASHINGTON -- Senate moderates tried in vain Wednesday to resolve the labor rights dispute that has stalled legislation creating a Homeland Security Department. As a result, the largely partisan Senate logjam continues after almost five weeks. A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., repeated his pledge that the Senate would keep trying for a deal...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate paid tribute Wednesday to retiring Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, an icon of conservatism and uncompromising foe of communism who, colleagues said, abided by a southern courtliness of a bygone era. Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the 84-year-old Senate president pro tempore, called the 80-year-old Helms "a true gentleman of the Old South" who stuck to his beliefs and demonstrated the power a single senator can wield...

WASHINGTON -- Scientists are hopeful that the discovery of a fatal gene mutation, now found only in Amish newborns, could be a major step toward preventing brain defects in babies worldwide. The genetic disorder, known as Amish microcephaly, is specific to the Old Order Amish community in Lancaster County, Pa. It amounts to a breakdown in DNA creation that causes abnormally small heads and brains in fetuses and, eventually, death...

ATLANTA -- Barry Bonds didn't have to come up big for the San Francisco Giants to get a jump on the Atlanta Braves. The rest of the San Francisco lineup knocked around Atlanta's heralded pitching staff while Russ Ortiz threw seven strong innings, carrying the Giants to an 8-5 victory in Game 1 of the NL division playoffs...

AREA EVENTS Sprint, late model, modified, hobby, pure stock and cruiser divisions at Malden (Mo.) Speedway, 7 p.m. Friday. Sprint, modified, street stock and cruiser divisions at Auto Tire and Parts Racepark, 7 p.m. Saturday.WINSTON CUP EA Sports 500...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Court officials said Wednesday that they have issued about 600 summonses to potential jurors in a cancer patient's lawsuit against two pharmaceutical companies and a former pharmacist who has admitted diluting chemotherapy drugs for profit...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Two 87-year-old women have died from the West Nile virus, bringing the state's death toll to 35, health officials said Wednesday. The latest victims of West Nile encephalitis are an 87-year-old woman from Chicago who was hospitalized and died Tuesday, and an 87-year-old woman from Fulton County who was hospitalized Sept. 19 and died Sept. 27...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Students studying accounting at the University of Illinois and other Illinois colleges say recent scandals in the field haven't altered their career plans. In fact, enrollment has increased in general accounting classes at some schools this fall, while others saw new courses such as accounting fraud-detection fill up faster than anticipated...

WASHINGTON -- In the largest ground operation in Afghanistan in six months, up to 2,000 U.S. Army troops are searching the mountains of southeastern Afghanistan for Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts. The troops from the 82nd Airborne are part of a new strategy that puts more regular soldiers into the hunt for enemy fighters while lessening the strain on special forces units that could be needed for a war in Iraq...

WASHINGTON -- Federal health officials renewed warnings Wednesday that raw or even lightly cooked sprouts can cause serious food poisoning. The Food and Drug Administration for years has warned Americans not to eat raw alfalfa, clover and other sprouts after hundreds of reports of salmonella and E. coli infections. The FDA reissued its warning because of a late-summer E. coli outbreak in California caused by alfalfa sprouts...

WASHINGTON -- The National Zoo's only white tiger was euthanized Wednesday. Zoo officials said 18-year-old Taj had been treated for osteoarthritis for several years and recently was having trouble walking. He was in such pain this week it was decided to euthanize him...

Daily American Republic POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Marianna Wolpers left legacies all around her -- mostly through Three Rivers Community College, which she worked to help establish in 1966. But after decades of caring for her family and working to improve her community, her duties ended about 8 a.m. Monday, when she died at 84...

Millersville church holding fall supper MILLERSVILLE, Mo. -- Millersville United Methodist Church will hold its fall supper at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The family-style meal will feature chicken dumplings, ham and sweet potatoes. Dessert and additional side dishes will also be included. Cost is $6 for adults, $3 for children...

The Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission recently selected five local homes to be recognized in the second round of its newly implemented "One of Cape's Original Treasures" program. Earlier this year, the commission decided to recognize property owners who have expended resources to restore or maintain historic properties in a manner that enhances the overall historic integrity of the property, neighborhood and community...

Jeff Heuer of Cape Girardeau won the High Point Gaited Trophy at the 2002 East Perry Community Fair Horse Show, held Sept. 21, riding Outback Sunrise. Becky Maintz of Oak Ridge, Mo., won the High Point Western Trophy riding FF Hobby Can't Miss. There were 209 total entries in the show...

Cape Central class of '93 to hold planning meeting The Cape Central High School class of 1993 will be holding an organizational meeting at 1 p.m. Sunday at Capaha Park, Shelter No. 2. Meeting participants will plan the class' 10-year reunion for next summer...

Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Ken Dobbins will be the featured speaker at First Friday Coffee. Dobbins will discuss university finances and their impact on the economy. The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce sponsors First Friday Coffee, which is held at 7:30 a.m. Friday at the Show Me Center...

WASHINGTON -- Democrats and Republicans in Congress began closing ranks Wednesday behind a resolution giving President Bush broad authority to use military force against Iraq. Bush hailed the development and suggested war with Baghdad could become "unavoidable" if Saddam Hussein does not disarm...

WASHINGTON -- The government on Wednesday approved a proposal by United Airlines and US Airways to sell seats on each other's flights, coordinate schedules and offer reciprocal perks such as frequent flier miles, effective immediately. In its decision, the Transportation Department said it gave the go-ahead to the two struggling airlines because the partnership would increase competition and benefit travelers...

ST. LOUIS -- Still smarting from chaos at local polls during the November 2000 general election, the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners faces more criticism over word its absentee ballots aren't ready, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday...