Stories from August 2003

The recall election in California has complex roots, even if they tend to be summed up as an energy crisis and a budget calamity. (For a look at some of the deeper issues, see Washington Post columnist David Broder's column below.) But from a vantage point in the middle of the nation, the hoopla on the West Coast seems more like a political circus than a voter/taxpayer revolt against corruption or malfeasance...

PATTON, Mo. -- When she lived in San Francisco in the 1970s, painter Vel Marshall dressed windows at a big department store and worked for the American Conservatory Theatre. She loved going to the opera and sampling the city's fine dining establishments. She was a sophisticated lady...

'Phantom Power' "Phantom Power," from Britain's Super Furry Animals, is like a long and winding road leading from Wales to a family reunion in America. The album was produced by Mario Caldato Jr. of Beastie Boys' "Check Your Head" fame, and thematically is a musical cousin to that album...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- After winning the Nashville Star television contest and a high-profile record deal, Buddy Jewell suddenly found himself in a position to dish out some payback to the Music Row establishment that snubbed him for 10 years. It came while sifting through dozens of songs music publishing companies were pitching him for his debut CD on Sony Music -- and Jewell admits it felt darned good...

Three stars (out of four) I think "Seabiscuit" is terrific. I am not a very emotional person, but I got so wrapped up in the movie that I even shed a few tears. Gone is the Tobey Maguire of "Spider-Man," and back is the Tobey Maguire in "Cider House Rules."...

Student art at Lorimier Gallery Art created by students in the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri's summer arts classes will be on display through August at the organization's Lorimier Gallery. The work includes watercolors, drawings, murals and jewelry. Students ranged in age from 2 through adults...

'American Wedding' Starring Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Alyson Hannigan, January Jones, Eugene Levy, Tim Allen, Thomas Ian Nicholas and Eddie Kaye Thomas. The third installment of this teen comedy series finds the group of guys reuniting for the quickie wedding of Jim and Michelle. They have to get married fast, because Jim's grandmother is ill and wants to see him walk down the aisle. Rated R for sexual content, language and crude humor, running time 100 minutes. (Cape West Cine)...

10 years ago: Aug. 1, 1993 Ste. Genevieve, Mo. -- Hours after residents in southern section of town clear out under emergency evacuation order, flood relief workers scramble to contain first serious levee breach in this town's long-running battle against Mississippi River; breach occurs about 1:30 p.m. in Valle Spring levee, interior levee that protects historic town from sudden rises in Valle Spring Branch...

Wells Daughter to Jennifer Jean Wells of Marble Hill, Mo., and Paul Joshua Chatman of Morehouse, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6:19 p.m. Friday, July 25, 2003. Name, Jade Elizabeth. Weight, 6 pounds 12 ounces. Ms. Wells is the daughter of Linda J. Wells of Marble Hill, Eddie Wells of Chaffee, Mo., and David Buchmiller of Marble Hill. Chatman is the son of Brenda Abernathy of Sikeston, Mo., and Phillip Chatman of Poplar Bluff, Mo. He is self-employed...

Mary Estelle Manning, 91, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Jonesboro, Ark., died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center. Emerson's Chapel on the Hill in Jonesboro is in charge of arrangements.

Lillie M. Matthews, 91, formerly of Whitewater, died Thursday at Delmar Gardens in Florissant, Mo. Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. --Billy J. Whitaker, 73, of Perryville died Thursday, July 30, 2003, at his home. He was born June 14, 1930, at Leachville, Ark., son of Ernest and Flora K. Bogart Whitaker. He and Mary Boone were married Nov. 22, 1947. Whitaker was the owner and operator of a truck repair shop in St. Louis for 27 years...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Albert E. "Bud" Klein, 75, of Perryville died Friday, July 25, 2003, at Perry County Nursing Home. He was born July 27, 1927, at Kaskaskia Island, Ill., son of Edward Henry and Carrie Monks Klein. He and Mae M. DeRousse were married June 24, 1950, at Kaskaskia Island...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- William George "Bill" Campbell, 38, of St. Louis died Saturday, July 26, 2003, at his home. He was born Dec. 1, 1964, in St. Louis, son of George Thadeus and Carolyn Kay Newman Campbell Jr. Campbell was a waiter at JF Sanfilippo's. He was a member of Lindsey Lane Baptist Church in St. Louis...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Owen Edward "Ed" Lindsey, 80, of Charleston died Wednesday, July 30, 2003, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He was born May 1, 1923, in Arlington, Ky., son of William Elbert and Alma Mae Woodward Lindsey. He and Mary Magdalene Wilkerson were married April 16, 1946...

ANNA, Ill. -- Mary C. Holmes, 98, of Anna died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at Shawnee Christian Nursing Center in Herrin, Ill. Arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Anna.

Geraldine "Gerry" Gladish, 86, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Jan. 13, 1917, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of August and Ella Dilport Gockel. She and Jack Gladish were married Aug. 21, 1943, in Dallas, Texas. He died May 16, 1981...

Wonderful Leopold I MOVED out to Leopold, and this is the best place I have ever lived and ever dreamed of living. People are so nice. They wave to when you go by. They're friendly in the stores. Leopold is the best place I've ever lived in my life...

To the editor: Thank you, Mayor Jay Knudtson. Your opinion of the intent of the tax increment financing program is right on. In an age when we appear to be counting the number of words our public officials use to mislead us, your 27 words as quoted in the Southeast Missourian were the most honest I've heard from a public official in a long time...

To the editor: I to agree with the person from Alabama who wrote about turning the old bridge into a walking bridge. I too am from Cape Girardeau and have always remembered the old bridge. It always has been a beacon to me from the time I had to move from Cape to the time that I was in service coming back home from overseas. The bridge was the first thing I could see was the bridge, and then I knew I was at home...

St. Joseph News-Press Midwestern summers sometimes seem unbearable. Average temperatures well into the 90s make for less-than-optimistic fishermen. The vicious, unrelenting heat of the day pushes many of us indoors searching for the relief of the air conditioning -- and that's fine, because rising water temperatures force the fish into the same mode...

Duck blind registration begins Aug. 16 WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- Registrations for duck blinds at Lake Wappapello will be taken starting at 1 p.m. Aug. 16 at the Bill Emerson Memorial Visitor Center at the lake. One event for hunters to keep in mind before registering for duck blinds: The U.S. ...

When the Head Start program began in 1965 as one of the fronts in President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, it was touted as a way to provide child care, immunizations and special learning preparation to preschoolers whose parents couldn't afford such services. Over the years, more than 21 million children have participated, including 18,000 in Missouri last year...

Cape Girardeau Thursday, Aug. 1 DWI A suspect was placed in custody Tuesday pending filing of formal charges for driving while intoxicated. Arrests Charlene Hokulani Smith, 19, of 921 Hackberry, Apt. 207, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Tuesday on a Pemiscot County warrant for a traffic offense...

Cape Girardeau Thursday, Aug. 1 Firefighters responded to the following item Tuesday: At 7:48 p.m., an emergency medical service at 3120 Independence. Firefighters responded to the following items Wednesday: At 4:19 a.m., a house struck by lightning at 801 Perry Ave...

POPLAR BLUFF -- The recovery of thousands of dollars worth of property and the arrest of two Poplar Bluff men has ended investigation into at least 19 area burglaries. Jackson Sharp Jett, 47, and Steven Eugene Dover, 43, were charged Thursday with the Class C felony of second-degree burglary, according to the Butler County prosecuting attorney's office...

DALTON, Ark. -- Citizens in Dalton, a small northeastern community in Arkansas, may sleep a little better tonight knowing suspects have finally been arrested in connection with the quadruple murder case that claimed the lives of the Elliott family in 1998...

Deputy injured in altercation with prisoner BENTON, Mo. -- A Scott County sheriff's deputy is recovering from an injury sustained during an altercation in the county jail. Department staff were conducting visitation Saturday when an inmate, Orlando Carter, refused to go back to his cell, according to Sheriff Bill Ferrell. When deputies attempted to return him to his cell, Carter reportedly rushed deputy Justin Swiney and pinned him against the wall...

ROCKY FORD, Colo. -- If 17-year-old Michelle Rodriguez wants to see Hollywood's latest buddy-cop action movie, "Bad Boys II," she'll have to drive 60 miles through prairie fields on a two-lane highway. It's not that her hometown lacks a movie house. In fact, the Grand Theater shows films every weekend in this once-bustling farming town, population 4,000...

DEXTER -- The medical community in Dexter just became larger and more unified. In a matter of one week, Missouri Southern Healthcare (MSH) has dramatically increased the number of clinics and physicians available to serve the citizens of Dexter and the surrounding areas...

WASHINGTON -- Stirring from months of stubborn listlessness, the economy pushed ahead in the second quarter at the fastest pace since last summer. That, coupled with another drop in new claims for unemployment benefits, raised hopes that America's economic health is on the mend...

WASHINGTON -- Republicans on the Senate committee that oversees the Food and Drug Administration are circulating a bill that would give the agency the power to regulate tobacco products. "I think we've drafted a pretty good bill, and I think the chances of passage are excellent," the committee chairman, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, said Thursday...

WASHINGTON -- Rates on benchmark 30-year mortgages this week broke through the 6 percent mark for the first time this year, rising to the highest level since early December. Climbing mortgage rates are slowing refinancing activity and could turn off some prospective home buyers, economists say...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate, ending a week of gridlock, passed an outline for a sweeping national energy policy Thursday that calls for greater use of corn-based ethanol and billions of dollars in tax measures to spur energy development and conservation...

ST. LOUIS -- A small but loud group of protesters on Thursday crashed the party celebrating the 10th anniversary of the MetroLink light rail system, voicing unhappiness over the lack of minority-owned firms involved in expanding the system. Activist and Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton was among 20 or so protesters who walked through the event outside Union Station, where a few hundred people gathered for cake and to hear speeches from civic leaders. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's budget will resemble a "train wreck" because of structural budget problems that won't be solved even if the state economy improves, a former state budget director says in a new report. Jim Moody, a lobbyist who headed the budget office under former Republican Gov. John Ashcroft, said appropriations for the 2005 budget year that begins July 1, 2004, are likely to again far exceed available state revenues...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In the days since he's been out of prison, Joseph Amrine says he's struggled with strange contraptions like television remote controls and cordless phones. "I couldn't turn the TV on," Amrine, who spent 26 years in prison -- 17 of them on death row for a murder he didn't commit -- told The Kansas City Star on Wednesday. "I couldn't answer the phone."...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- A 16-year-old, class-action lawsuit against disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker has netted $6.54 payments for the 165,000 plaintiffs. Meanwhile, their lawyers will get $2.5 million of a $3.7 million settlement fund, the Citizen-Times of Asheville reported Thursday...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Overdue Missouri taxpayers are getting another chance to come clean without paying penalties or interest under a program that last year raked in more than $70 million in overdue taxes for the cash-strapped state. The so-called tax amnesty period begins today and runs through Oct. 31...

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A Baptist church that lost members in recent months over concerns about debt and its financial controls has asked police to look into a $1 million theft. In a statement given to members of Tri-City Ministries earlier this summer, church officials said an employee who resigned last year was responsible for the loss. ...

JANE, Mo. -- A security company was hired to protect a highway construction site in southwest Missouri after construction crews uncovered American Indian remains along U.S. 71, said Kent Boyd, a state highway department spokesman. The step was taken as a precaution because the burial site is about 25 feet from the highway, Boyd said...

CAIRO, Mo. -- Vandals who destroyed computers, televisions and VCRs at Northeast R-IV School in north-central Missouri caused an estimated $100,000 in damage, Superintendent Marge Gibson said. The vandalism occurred sometime over the weekend and was discovered Sunday evening. Det. Cpl. John Johnson of the Randolph County Sheriff's Department said two juveniles had been arrested by Thursday and turned over to juvenile authorities...

UNITED NATIONS -- The Security Council extended the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon for six months on Thursday and expressed concern about the violations of the U.N.-drawn division between Israel and Lebanon. The resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-member council did not single out either country, condemning instead all violence. It urged them both to respect the so called "Blue Line."...

TOKYO -- Defiant in the face of an extradition request, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori dismissed murder charges against him back home as baseless Thursday and declared his intention to re-enter Peruvian politics. Just hours after Peruvian authorities formally petitioned Japan to deport him, a relaxed and smiling Fujimori told The Associated Press he is "completely innocent."...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An American soldier was killed Thursday when his armored personnel carrier hit a land mine on the dangerous road from central Baghdad to the city's airport. It was the second death reported Thursday by the U.S. military, after a soldier was killed in a small-arms fire attack northeast of Baghdad late Wednesday...

Two of Saddam Hussein's daughters took refuge in Jordan. Raghad and Rana Saddam Hussein, whose father had their husbands killed in 1996, arrived in Amman with their nine children. The daughters had been estranged from Saddam for some time, but were believed to have reconciled with their father in recent years...

AMMAN, Jordan -- With much of Iraq still without basic phone service, U.S. occupation authorities said Thursday they intend to have a cellular system up and running by November. But potential bidders for the wireless licenses are complaining that the terms for the contracts are too restrictive...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Two of Saddam Hussein's daughters took refuge in Jordan on Thursday as the Bush administration approved a $30 million payment to the informant who led U.S. troops to the ousted dictator's two sons. The U.S. military commander for Iraq said he had nothing significant to report about the hunt for Iraq's most wanted man. ...

VIENNA, Austria -- OPEC members have agreed to hold oil output steady and to wait until September before making changes to production quotas, the cartel said Thursday. In a widely expected decision, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries chose not to lower the daily production cap of 25.4 million barrels, despite earlier fears that a revival of Iraqi crude exports might upset the market and erode prices...

JERUSALEM -- Israel's parliament passed a measure Thursday that would force Palestinians who marry Israelis to live separate lives or move out of Israel. The government said the law was necessary to prevent terror attacks, but critics called it racist...

MOSCOW -- North Korea's ambassador to Russia said Thursday his country supported multilateral talks to ease tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear program, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. North Korea has previously said it would be willing to participate in multilateral talks only if it first has one-on-one talks with the United States -- a condition the Bush administration has rejected, saying other countries, including South Korea and Japan, should also be involved...

JERUSALEM -- Israel said Thursday it would build new housing in a Gaza Strip settlement, angering Palestinians and raising questions about implementation of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. Separate summits in Washington over the past week between President Bush and the Israeli and Palestinian premiers brought out the differences over the peace plan, and the disagreements have spawned new troubles for the blueprint...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The guys around the scuba school laughingly called them the "al-Qaida Diving Team." But for law enforcement officials, it was no joke. Late last year, Dutch counterterrorism agents investigating a possible al-Qaida recruitment cell grew interested in the school because a man suspected of recruiting terrorists had become a certified diver and studied to be an instructor there. ...

SAINTE-MAXIME, France -- Firefighters worked Thursday to extinguish the last of three fires that swept through the French Riviera while investigators tracked suspected arsonists. The national weather service predicted strong winds that risked fanning the flames later in the day, adding urgency to firefighting efforts...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The U.N. war crimes tribunal handed down its first life sentence Thursday, convicting a prominent Bosnian Serb political leader of the extermination and persecution of Bosnian Muslims but acquitting him of genocide. Milomir Stakic, a 41-year-old doctor, was accused of establishing a network of brutal prison camps where hundreds of Muslims were killed and thousands were tortured, raped or treated with extreme brutality in 1992 during the Bosnian war...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- On May 14, 1804, William Clark wrote in his journal that "under a jentle brease," the boats of the Corps of Discovery headed up the Missouri with "46 men, 4 horses and 1 dog." With the Lewis and Clark expedition's bicentennial, narratives and edited journals are flying off the presses. Much of what there is to tell has been told. At least two new books tell the tale of the voyage supposedly from the dog's point of view...

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican urged Catholics and non-Catholics Thursday to unite in campaigning against gay marriages and gay adoptions, seeking to stem the widening legal recognition of same-sex unions. Catholic politicians have a "moral duty" to oppose laws granting legal rights to gay couples, and non-Catholics should follow their lead since the issue concerns "natural moral law," said the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Four men were charged Thursday with smuggling 11 immigrants whose badly decomposed bodies were found in a railcar at a grain elevator in Iowa last fall. Federal prosecutors announced the 27-count indictment at a news conference in front of a grain car Thursday -- the first charges to result from the smuggling deaths...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A dozen painting company workers who survived a deadly truck fire were so badly burned that only two could talk to investigators, hampering a probe into the accident. Investigators believe that chemicals spilled in the enclosed cargo area where the workers were riding as the truck traveled down a busy highway Tuesday, but they were unsure what ignited the blaze. An emergency worker initially blamed a cigarette...

AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday called on Senate Democrats to end their quorum-busting walkout and return to the Capitol, his strongest plea to the absent lawmakers since they fled Texas amid a heated redistricting dispute. "Texans elected you to cast your vote in Austin, so come on back and go to work," Perry said...

She knew her new name might finally stick when she got a phone message recently: "Hi, GoVeg.com. This is your mother. Please call me." It might sound more than a little odd -- but it's true. A young animal rights activist from Indiana once known as Karin Robertson has legally changed her name to that of a Web site run by her employer, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals...

LOS ANGELES -- Prosecutors promised to press for a retrial of a former police officer who was videotaped battering a handcuffed teenager, saying a verdict was "important for the community." Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said Wednesday he would ask for a new assault trial within 60 days for Jeremy Morse. The announcement came one day after a judge declared a mistrial when jurors deadlocked 7-5 in favor of convicting the former Inglewood officer...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Support for the First Amendment is on the rise and many Americans want more information about how the government is fighting the war on terrorism, a survey released Friday shows. The nationwide telephone poll of 1,000 adults found that 19 percent of respondents strongly agreed that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees. ...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Roll over John Muir and tell Johnny Appleseed the news: biotechnology is coming to the forest and orchard. Scientists are planting genetically engineered trees in dozens of research projects across the country, ignoring the pleas of environmentalists who fear dangerous, unintended consequences...

BOULDER, Colo. -- To Priscilla Hudson, public libraries are society's great equalizer, a place where anyone can go to learn regardless of their economic, social or political background. So she doesn't much like Big Brother peering over their shoulder...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Ever since Donna Lynette Walker was a child, friends say, she has delighted in disrupting the lives of those around her: She made crank calls in disguised voices, concocted hard-luck stories and conned people out of money. But even investigators familiar with Walker's record are baffled by what they say was her latest hoax...

NEW YORK -- As he heaved two heavy bags of garbage into the back of a sanitation truck, Andrew Macchio greeted residents emerging from their Upper East Side apartments with a chorus of his favorite tunes -- his operatic voice resounding up and down East 65th Street...

Woody Allen to premiere latest film in Venice ROME -- Woody Allen, inspired by his love for the city of Venice, will open the 60th Venice Film Festival Aug. 27 with the world premiere of his new film "Anything Else," festival organizers said Thursday...

GRAND BLANC, Mich. (AP) -- Tiger Woods is still searching for the swing he'll need to win a major this year. Woods did close strong Thursday for a 3-under 69, but he was four strokes behind Mike Sposa after the opening round of the Buick Open. Woods, the defending champion, bogeyed his first and 10th holes before finishing with three birdies over his last six. He is tuning up for the PGA Championship in two weeks, his last chance this season to win a major...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Mike Leach acknowledges that replacing a quarterback, as half of the teams in the Big 12 Conference must do this year, can be a challenge. However, Texas Tech's coach -- one of four who will start a new or unproven quarterback in the six-team South Division -- said the effect of such a change is often overstated...

ST. LOUIS -- The Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team lost twice to Ballwin during the regular season, so the squad knew it faced a formidable challenge Thursday in the opening round of the Zone 4 Tournament. But Ballwin proved to be little more than a speed bump for Cape in a 13-1 victory at Heine Meine Field. The game was stopped after eight innings by the 10-run rule...

MONTREAL -- Vladimir Guerrero and Zach Day showed the Montreal Expos what they'd been missing. Guerrero homered and drove in all three runs, moving into second place on Montreal's career home run list as the Expos beat the Cardinals 3-2 Thursday. Guerrero homered twice Monday to tie new Hall of Famer Gary Carter on the Expos' list, then hit his 221st in the second inning Thursday, a two-run drive off Woody Williams (14-4). ...

MACOMB, Ill. -- It's not just a nod to local fashion when new Rams fullback J.R. Niklos wears Western Illinois University apparel after practice. The shirts and hats are left over from the college career of a player who's become the local success story after a vagabond beginning in the NFL...

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox escalated their arms race with a flurry of trades Thursday while the San Francisco Giants made the biggest deal of the day, getting Baltimore ace Sidney Ponson. The AL East-leading Yankees became the latest team to raid the payroll-slashing Cincinnati Reds, acquiring All-Star third baseman Aaron Boone and reliever Gabe White...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- University of Missouri officials anticipate mandatory donations for the privilege of purchasing season tickets to Tigers' basketball games at the school's new arena will annually generate between $300,000 to $1.8 million more for athletic scholarships than the university currently receives...

Back in the early 1920s, W.W. Davault was a country doctor living in Allenville. Sometimes he would take his little boy, Hughes, in the buggy when making a call to Rum Branch or another tiny community. One day his father turned in at Round Pond and pointed into the water...

The grocery store and the dance hall are gone. The number of cars that drive by in a day far outnumber the people living within the city limits. It's a familiar scene across the nation. And yet, something remains. It has lasted through decades of closed stores and job layoffs. As long as it was there, a town still existed...

WASHINGTON -- The government announced Thursday it will begin testing a revised nationwide system for checking personal information on every airline passenger, a post-Sept. 11 security initiative that has raised concerns about snooping and possible false identification of people as terrorists...

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Pushed by the United States, West Africa's leaders broke a deadlock Thursday and announced the first troops of a long-promised peace force would be deployed to Liberia's bloodied capital within days. Tens of thousands of Liberians spilled into Monrovia's streets, celebrating the arrival of an advance military team...

Anybody who's seen Rick Majerus knows the Utah basketball coach loves to eat. Make that really eat. Without prompting, Majerus will sing the praises of Crown Burger or The Cinegrill, and he gets close to tears reminiscing about the eggs at Bill and Nada's, the 24-hour greasy-spoon in downtown Salt Lake City that shut its doors four years ago...

WAUCONDA, Ill. -- Biking on campus will no longer be allowed at Wauconda Grade School after officials banned bicycles for safety reasons. The ban, which starts Aug. 27, has prompted protests from parents and children, some of whom plan a protest ride at the school board's Thursday meeting...

Dear Tom and Ray: I haven't bought a used car since 1980, when my mechanic dad helped me buy a 1973 Nova. Here's my question: I want to have my choice vetted by my own mechanic before the sale is final. What are the logistics of this process? In order to take the car to my mechanic, do I leave a hefty down payment with a handshake and tell the seller I'll let him or her know? Pay the whole amount, with an understanding that I'll get it back if the car doesn't pass the inspection? How can this be done in a way that will protect the buyer and seller from each other?Teri. ...

As the school year approaches, some Missouri consumers have been getting excited about a sales-tax holiday measure signed into law this year that would exempt most school supplies from state and local taxes. Problem is, the tax break won't be available until next year...

srobertson I'm in a quandary. I always thought an aviator was a person who flew aircraft. But thanks to Lincoln, it's also a new vehicle. I think a car's name should describe what a vehicle is all about. Explorer, Expedition, and Ranger seem like descriptive vehicle names. ...

Cape Girardeau drivers dreading at least eight more weeks of detours around Independence Street at Mount Auburn Road got a pleasant surprise Friday. The intersection was open to traffic in all directions. Melanie Gertis, assistant city engineer, said contractor Lappe Cement Finishing of Perryville, Mo., picked up the pace because company officials realized how vital that intersection is to traffic flow. The project began July 17...

From wire reports The United States achieved a key diplomatic goal when North Korea eased its insistence on one-on-one talks with Washington and agreed Friday to join U.S.-proposed multilateral talks, where it will find little sympathy for its suspected nuclear weapons programs...

TIKRIT, Iraq -- U.S. forces grabbed two "important associates of the former regime" and a bodyguard suspected of protecting top Iraqi fugitives Friday, seizing documents and photographs they hoped would help the search for Saddam Hussein. Also, a tape attributed to the former dictator urged Iraqis to join the anti-American insurgency and vowed Saddam would return to power "at any moment." The CIA said the tape was most likely authentic...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A decade ago when a circuit court judge famously declared that Missouri schools ranged from the "golden" to the "god-awful," state lawmakers overhauled the system for funding public schools to ease the financial disparity between rich and poor districts...

Wallet to A-Rod: Quiet, dude Alex Rodriguez looked over his big stack of money Wednesday and made a startling discovery: His Texas Rangers are a last-place team. This might come as a shock to A-Rod, but the Rangers also finished last in 2000 -- his final year in Seattle -- as well as in 2001 and 2002, his first two seasons in Texas after he took the $252 million bait...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A man who police say made his living stealing car stereos and has a history of setting fires was charged Friday with killing five college students in an arson near Ohio State University. Robert Lucky Patterson, 20, set fire to a couch on the front porch of a three-story rooming house after stealing radios from cars in the neighborhood, Detective Mike McCann said. Patterson lives near Ohio State but was not a student, authorities said...

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Riot police used tear gas Friday to evict hundreds of squatters who moved into a vacant hotel two weeks ago amid a wave of property invasions. Police stormed the hotel near Sao Paulo's center at dawn and sprayed tear gas inside because some of the 200 to 300 squatters resisted and set a small fire on the roof of the building, said state police Col. Luiz Claudio Alves...

LIBERTY, Mo. -- A former small-town police chief who is recovering from a severe cocaine overdose pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge and received a suspended sentence of one year in jail. William Abney, 39, was fired as police chief of the eastern Jackson County town of Lone Jack on June 26, just hours after he was found on a floor in his Kansas City home suffering seizures. ...

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico -- Police and soldiers returned fire against suspected drug traffickers in this border city early Friday, killing three suspects and wounding six others, the state attorney general said. The deaths occurred when a fleeing vehicle exploded in flames during the shootout, Tamaulipas Attorney General Francisco Cayuela Villarreal said...

WASHINGTON -- Retired Adm. John Poindexter will resign his position at the Pentagon after a research project he was overseeing was condemned by Congress as an "egregious error of judgment." A senior defense official said Defense Secretary Donald H. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Teamsters officially endorsed Democrat Dick Gephardt for president Friday after an unanimous vote of the union's leadership, officials said. Union President James P. Hoffa delivered the news of the coveted, yet anticipated, labor prize to Gephardt after the morning vote of 22 vice presidents by conference phone call, union officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity...

Courteous motorists AFTER TRAVELING to a busy city this summer and seeing the rude people, it was nice to get back to the Cape Girardeau area where people make an effort to be courteous in their automobiles. What's a loophole? I READ where Gov. Bob Holden will call a second special session in September and ask lawmakers to consider closing corporate tax loopholes. ...

Five Lutheran women to attend convention Five women from St. Mark Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau are attending the Central States Synod Convention this weekend in Atchison, Kan. Those women are Dee Cannon, Carolyn Pendergrass, Lora Henk, Helen Lohmeier and Linda Train...

Today The New Hinsons will perform at 6 p.m. at Cornerstone Church in Cape Girardeau. There is no admission charge but an offering will be collected. For information, call the church at 335-4456. Gospel singing at 7 p.m. at Shiloh Baptist Church in Villa Ridge, Ill. Groups include the Gloryroad Travelers and the Hallelujah Singers. For information, call (618) 995-2306...

Stone Daughter to Michael Anthony and Heidi Anne Stone of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 2 a.m. Saturday, July 26, 2003. Name, Mackenzie Mae. Weight, 6 pounds 1 ounce. Second daughter. Mrs. Stone is the former Heidi Stause, daughter of Martha Stause and Norman Stause of Dexter, Mo. She is employed at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri. Stone is the son of Paulette Stone and Garry Stone of Jackson. He is self-employed...

Morley sales tax up for five-year renewal BENTON, Mo. -- Morley voters will have the opportunity to renew their city sales tax at the polls Tuesday. The city has had the half-cent sales tax for five years, said Mayor Hallie Granville, and this is the first renewal opportunity...

10 years ago: Aug. 2, 1993 Sign has been placed on street clock at intersection of Main and Themis in downtown Cape Girardeau, proclaiming feelings of merchants: "We love our floodwall"; sign was installed by John and Evelyn Boardman and includes mark -- determined by construction foreman Bob Hershey -- representing where Mississippi River water would be at predicted 49-foot crest if not for wall...

Estelle Manning, 91, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Dec. 2, 1911, in Marmaduke, Ark., daughter of William and Junie Brewer Williams. She and John Edgar Manning were married Sept. 6, 1940, in Kennett, Mo. He died Feb. 27, 1970...

ANNA, Ill. -- Mary Holmes, 98, of Anna died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at Shawnee Christian Nursing Center in Herrin, Ill. She was born Aug. 11, 1904, in Centreville, Miss., daughter of John and Cornelia Cammack Fletcher. She and Frank J. Holmes were married Aug. 14, 1926, in Cleveland, Ohio...

George W. Grueneberg, 83, of Owosso, Mich., died Monday, July 21, 2003, at Memorial Healthcare Center. He was born Dec. 14, 1919, in Cape Girardeau, son of George and Emma Haman Grueneberg. He married Lucille Marie Brown, who died in 1985. He and Faith E. Kelly were married July 11, 1986, in Owosso...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Mary Brockmeyer, 83, of Chaffee died Friday, Aug. 1, 2003, at Chaffee Nursing Center. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee is in charge of arrangements.

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Billy D. Story, 48, of Olive Branch died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at St. Frances Medical Center in Cape Girardeau He was born July 15, 1955, in Anna, Ill., son of Billy Dean and Shirley Beasley Story. He and Kimberly Arthur were married June 29, 1974...

Patsy Jean Triplett, 45, of Scott City died Friday, Aug. 1, 2003, at her home. She was born Sept. 24, 1957, at Bonne Terre, Mo., daughter of Billy Joe and Aimee Vivian Brooks Bailey. She and Robert Earl Triplett were married Feb. 2, 1988, in Cape Girardeau...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- H. Lloyd Harris, 77, of Memphis, Tenn., formerly of Advance, died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis. He was born Oct. 17, 1925, son of Monroe and Rowena Pixley Harris. He married Patsy Bollinger, who died Oct. 25, 1983...

Lillie M. Matthews, 91, of St. Louis died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at Delmar Gardens Nursing Home in St. Louis. She was born April 16, 1912, at Whitewater, daughter of David R. and Jesse Fulbright Statler. Matthews had worked at Forest City Manufacturing and also at Toby Lane Co. in St. Louis many years...

BERNIE, Mo. -- Josie Marie Smith, 90, of Bernie died Friday, Aug. 1, 2003. She was born Sept. 17, 1912, at Bernie, daughter of Joseph Louray and Ethel Jennette Jordon Grayum. She and Charles Franklin Smith were married March 25, 1933, in Piggott, Ark. He died Dec. 29, 1988...

McGEE, Mo. -- Kenny E. Wills, 38, of McGee died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at his home. He was born April 1, 1965, in Granite City, Ill., son of Bill Wills and Karen Donithan. Wills was a construction worker and a member of Brush Creek Baptist Church...

Dr. Walter W. Hutton, 79, of Oak Ridge died Thursday, July 31, 2003, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was formerly of Jackson. Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson. Dr. Grant Gillard will officiate. Burial will be in Russell Heights Cemetery at Jackson...

Irene Voges, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, July 29, 2003, at Heartland Care Rehab Center. She was born May 2, 1914, at Fornfelt, daughter of Henry A. and Bertha Hanschen Voges. Voges owned and operated Irene Voges Bookkeeping Service. She was a member of St. Mary's Cathedral...

Does God know everything? Does that knowledge include everything that will happen in the future? Classic Christianity answers yes, using "omniscience" to label God's attribute of knowing everything and "foreknowledge" for his awareness of future events. The age-old belief is now under new question, creating North America's hottest theological debate of the moment...

Want to feel dumb? Meet Gabe Eggers, Daniel Hooks and John Free, Jackson 12-year-olds making A's and B's this summer on assignments in college algebra at Southeast Missouri State University. Gabe is taking college trigonometry for a little extra fun...

Recent news out of Southeast Missouri State University has put the institution at the forefront of casual conversation and this very Opinion page. No wonder the National Alumni Council warned members to keep their vote last month quiet. But word got out that the council had taken the first step to find new nicknames for the university's sports teams...

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department Saturday, Aug. 2 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Mandell E. Brandy, 26, of Sikeston, Mo., was arrested July 24 on a Cape Girardeau County warrant for probation violation...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Aug. 2 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Sharon K. Miller, 39, of 24848 State Highway 91, Bell City, Mo., was arrested Thursday on a Stoddard County warrant for domestic assault...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Aug. 2 Firefighters responded Thursday to the following items: At 5:31 p.m., medical assist at 934 Hackberry. At 8:33 p.m., medical assist at 19 S. Kingshighway. At 10:54 p.m., medical assist at 535 Boxwood, Apt. 5. At 11:41 p.m., medical assist at 1224 S. Pacific...

Cape Girardeau police said a man walking in the northeast part of town was shot Friday morning and a suspect is still on the loose. The victim, unnamed by police, was confronted between 3 and 4 a.m. by someone driving a vehicle, said Sgt. Rick Schmidt...

WASHINGTON -- The nation's unemployment rate dipped to 6.2 percent in July, but businesses cut jobs for a sixth month in a row, still wary despite signs the economy is on the mend. With jobs scarce, close to half a million people gave up looking. The Labor Department's report Friday suggested that the job market remains stubbornly sluggish, frustrating jobseekers on Main Street, discouraging investors on Wall Street and polarizing lawmakers in Washington as they look for a way to get the economy back to full throttle.. ...

WASHINGTON -- No traces of anthrax were found in tests of soil samples taken from a Maryland pond drained in June by the FBI, law enforcement officials said Friday. Authorities found a gun, a bicycle, fishing lures and "a lot of junk, but nothing of an evidentiary nature in the anthrax case," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials have not determined whether the gun might be linked to some other unsolved crime...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. The way Charles Jackson sees it, there is little difference between his job as Missouri's state director of public safety and his calling as a minister. At work, Jackson oversees about 15,000 employees, including members of the Missouri National Guard and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. At the Guiding Light Missionary Baptist Church of Christ, his oversees a flock that grew from five members in 1996 to 70 today...

DIXON, Ill. -- A Toulon man known as a bully who threatened and stalked residents of the small farming town was convicted of murder Friday for killing a sheriff's deputy and two neighbors he held a simmering grudge against for more than a decade. A judge ruled Curtis Thompson, 61, eligible for the death penalty after he waived his right to have a jury decide. Testimony in the penalty phase of the trial will begin Monday in Toulon...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State workers have taken advantage of a new law that allows some retired employees to pay the same rates for their medical coverage as full-time workers, a state official said Friday. The incentive was designed to save the state money because it is cheaper for the state to pay medical insurance to retirees than to pay full-time salaries to those eligible for retirement but still working. ...

The Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Republican Party and two former GOP candidates have agreed to pay $70,000 as part of a settlement with the state over campaign contributions made in 1998, officials said Friday. The settlement between the GOP and the Missouri Ethics Commission requires the party to pay the state $60,000 and the two former candidates to pay $5,000 each...

Saddam the thick-bearded desert sheik? Saddam the kindly, gray-haired uncle? The U.S. Central Command said Friday it had begun distributing to American troops several digitally enhanced photographs of fugitive Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, to aid in spotting him if he has adopted a "new look" to escape detection...

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Security Council voted late Friday to authorize a multinational force to help end fighting in war-battered Liberia and maintain security after President Charles Taylor steps down. France, Germany and Mexico abstained from the vote...

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia -- A suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with explosives Friday into a military hospital near Chechnya caring for dozens of Russian troops. Officials said at least 27 people were killed with 15 others feared trapped in the rubble...

NABLUS, West Bank -- Thousands of protesters rallied Friday in the West Bank to demand the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Earlier, Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets at demonstrators near a disputed security barrier, reportedly injuring at least 11 people...

MARGATE, N.J. -- How do you make a six-story wooden elephant easier for the handicapped to enjoy? Bring in soul legends James Brown and Patti LaBelle, of course. The operators of Lucy the Elephant are trying to raise more than $375,000 to bring the historic landmark into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act...

TOPEKA, Kan. -- A woman accused of perpetrating a cruel hoax on an Indiana couple, claiming to be their long-lost daughter, was ordered held on $100,000 bond Friday. A Kansas judge called Donna Lynette Walker a flight risk, noting at least one previous conviction for creating a false alarm and her past psychiatric care, including three visits this year to the state mental hospital...

Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team advanced to the championship game of the Zone 4 Tournament by beating Anheiser Busch 6-3 in Friday night's winner's bracket final at Heine Meine Field in St. Louis. Ford & Sons (27-14) will play at 7 p.m. today for the championship of the double-elimination event. If Cape loses, it would play a final title contest at 1 p.m. Sunday...

The Craftsman Union Capahas barely squeezed into the National Baseball Congress World Series as an at-large entrant. Beginning today in Wichita, Kan., the Capahas will try to prove NBC officials were wise to select the Cape Girardeau team for its 18th consecutive World Series appearance...

Today's ASA Class C men's slow-pitch softball tournament marks a stretch of three straight weekend softball tournaments to close the summer schedule at Shawnee Sports Complex. This weekend's tournament will be the biggest of the three tournaments with 28 teams entered from across the state. Games will start at 8:30 a.m. today and run through Sunday. More than 300 players will compete...

With the championship on the line, Emily Blattel wasn't coming out of the game -- no matter the circumstances. Blattel was on the mound last week as her 13- to 14-year-old Michael Tanner team fought for a tournament championship in a Cape Girardeau softball league...

Mud races today benefit Gordonville fire dept. The Gordonville Fire Protection District Booster Club will sponsor mud racing today at the Gordonville City Park. ATV racing begins at 10:30 a.m. with truck racing at 1 p.m. Gates open at 8. Tents will be provided for shade, but spectators are encouraged to bring lawn chairs...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri is investigating allegations made by former basketball player Ricky Clemons' ex-girlfriend that the athlete received cash and clothing from coaches, a school official said Friday. Coach Quin Snyder emphatically denied Clemons received money, but acknowledged giving him promotional attire that he planned to discard...

MACOMB, Ill. -- Rams coach Mike Martz said Friday that while he likes rookie quarterback Kirk Farmer's work ethic, recently signed Greg Zolman now ranks third on the depth chart. Farmer, a former Missouri quarterback, has dealt with competition in the past; he lost his starting job in college to redshirt freshman Brad Smith during his senior year with the Tigers...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Of all the trophies Bobby Labonte has won, he keeps just two at home: from the 2000 Winston Cup championship and that year's Brickyard 400. "I've got most of the trophies and stuff boxed away, but those two are special. This is a special race," Labonte said Friday before climbing into his Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet for the opening practice ahead of the 10th Brickyard 400...

BALTIMORE -- The Boston Red Sox believe they got the better of the New York Yankees in their effort to stockpile talent for the pennant race. The Red Sox still face the daunting task of outperforming their longtime nemesis on the field, but it's been a long time since they felt this confident heading into the final two months of the season...

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Robert Porcher was heading for the airport last February when he got a call from the Detroit Lions about an important meeting. Steve Mariucci, the team's new coach, wanted to talk to the three-time Pro Bowl defensive end right away...

MACOMB, Ill. -- Strong safety Adam Archuleta is aiming for a trip to the Pro Bowl in his third season with the Rams. It's only natural, he says. "Yeah, absolutely," Archuleta said of wanting to be voted to the NFL's annual all-star game in Honolulu. ...

WASHINGTON -- Classified sections of Congress' Sept. 11 report lay out a web of connections among Saudi businessmen, royal family, charities and banks that may have aided al-Qaida or the suicide hijackers, according to people who have seen the report...

Imagine a city with riverside art festivals, where the clanging bells of trolley cars can be heard in the streets and people dining at the Lorimier Restaurant have a magnificent view of the Mississippi River. Such visions filled the minds of people at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee, as graduating Leadership Cape groups presented projects to improve the city...

Record-industry executives and online music companies are quietly working with colleges and universities to offer legitimate sources of free or deeply discounted music to students if the schools agree to take steps to deter piracy on campus networks...

NEW YORK -- Miguel Cairo and reliever Steve Kline each hit a two-run double in a six-run eighth inning that sent the Cardinals to an 8-2 victory over the New York Mets on Friday night. Edgar Renteria went 3-for-4 with a homer and a double for the Cardinals, who remained two games behind first-place Houston in the NL Central...

The humble rubber shoe seen nearly everywhere signals summertime By Shawn Hubler ~ Los Angeles Times Before Sarah Michelle Gellar wore white Mellas in her wedding; before pairs of Havaianas turned up, bejeweled, in goodie bags for this year's Oscar nominees -- in short, before this became the Year of the Upmarket Flip-Flop -- there were certain things that were only about the beach...

ST. LOUIS -- Seabiscuit, the horse that America cheered as an average guy going up against the bluebloods, is galloping across the big screen. Meanwhile, Robin Hurst of Jamestown, Mo., tends to 30 ex-racehorses whose racing careers really were average: They won big, won less, got hurt, won too little to pay their way and then went the way of business associates no longer profitable to the business...

BALTIMORE -- Three kidney donors and the three people who received their organs had an emotional meeting four days after the carefully choreographed transplant surgeries. "We each have a piece of each other inside us," recipient Germaine Allum said through tears at a hospital news conference Friday...

LEIF ROSAS * Associated Press A timekeeper watched the clock with unidentified competitors at right during the final of the extreme sport sauna bathing competition in the town of Heinola, 95 miles east of Helsinki, Finland, on Saturday.By Scott Moyers ~ Southeast Missourian...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea on Saturday warned that any moves to discuss its suspected nuclear weapons programs at the United Nations would "hamstring" efforts for dialogue and be a "prelude to war." The warning came a day after the communist country agreed to multilateral talks over the nuclear standoff. North Korea, fearful the United Nations may impose economic sanctions, has accused the world body of siding with the United States...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Leaders of Saddam Hussein's tribe buried the ousted dictator's sons, Odai and Qusai, and a grandson Saturday, their bodies wrapped in Iraqi flags in a sign the family considered them to be martyrs. Shortly afterward there were three remote-controlled bomb explosions targeting passing American convoys and two U.S. soldiers were injured...

NEW YORK -- Jason Isringhausen and the Cardinals cut it close at the end. Isringhausen threw three wild pitches that helped the New York Mets score five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning before the Cardinals held on for a 10-9 victory Saturday...

KIMBALL, Neb. -- In an era of rainbow-colored terror warnings, the underground home of Don and Charlene Zwonitzer makes duct tape and plastic sheeting seem like the first little pig's house of straw. The Zwonitzers figure they could hold out a year without having to leave their home in an Atlas E missile silo...

SUMMERTOWN, Tenn. -- Three decades after the golden age of the hippie, about 200 of them are still thriving in a self-supporting commune some three hours east of glitzy Graceland. Known simply as The Farm, the sprawling collective operates, among other things, a midwife service, a soy products company, a mushroom grower and a factory producing personal radiation detectors...

Every summer at about this time, a battle is waged by a cadre of struggling hitters trying to push their batting averages past .200 -- baseball's dreaded Mendoza Line. It is not pretty to watch previously productive hitters like Brad Ausmus and Pat Burrell, Royce Clayton and David Bell hovering around the Line this season. Mendoza never was thrilled about living in that neighborhood, either...

Just about everyone -- from national experts to local fans -- expects Southeast Missouri State University to experience plenty of success in football this season. That much we know. But after nearly a full year's worth of hype -- plenty of it generated this summer as all the preseason publications steadily hit the racks -- it's just about time for the Indians to put all the expectations behind them and get down to some serious business...

The Wall Street Journal The House adjourned for its summer break without approving a $100 million supplemental to expand AmeriCorps. Mark this down as a rare example of Congress refusing to be railroaded by a media spending campaign. Reporters and other advocates of larger government have been pounding the Bush administration for not adequately funding this Clinton-era "volunteer" program. ...

WEST GLACIER, Mont. -- Firefighters have won the battle to stop a wildfire's advance on this gateway town to Glacier National Park, officials said Saturday. Some of the hundreds of people evacuated because of the fire will be able to return this morning. The Flathead County sheriff's office announced Saturday that it is lifting the evacuation order for West Glacier and two other residential areas outside the park...

HEINOLA, Finland -- Braving 230-degree heat, a dozen men and women sweated in wooden cubicles Saturday as long as they could stand it, aiming to grab the Sauna World Championship title in southern Finland. With a time of 13 minutes, Belorussian Natalia Trifanova won the Sauna Queen title under the watch of doctors and judges, beating out local favorite Annikki Peltonen...

CAIRO, Egypt-- A Saudi columnist who has challenged his country's conservative social and political traditions has been dropped by his two Saudi newspapers, the writer says. Hussein Shobokshi said the newspapers gave no reason for their action. Editors for the Arab News and Okaz confirmed they would no longer run Shobokshi's weekly column, but they refused to say why. Okaz is an Arabic language paper, and the Arab News is published in English...

ST. LOUIS -- Serena Rowan has been an Army drill sergeant, recruiter, sergeant major, and director of personnel, on top of civilian jobs she's held with a phone company and a boys home. She's now settled happily into teaching -- "my calling," she says -- through a re-energized federal program that helps former military personnel find jobs in public education. ...

WASHINGTON -- The government acted Saturday to make American commercial airplanes less vulnerable to terrorists, requiring visas for people from most countries when they travel through the United States from one foreign airport to another. The government suspended two programs that allowed foreigners to stay in U.S. airports without visas while awaiting flights to other countries...

WASHINGTON -- Defense lawyers could not do their utmost to represent terrorism suspects tried before military tribunals and thus cannot ethically participate in any such trials under rules the Pentagon has laid out, the largest organization of criminal defense lawyers said Saturday...

Timothy Charles and Mary Catherine O'Loughlin of Jackson announce the engagement of their daughter, Erin Rose O'Loughlin, to Roger Q. Brown IV. He is the son of Roger E. and Elizabeth Marie Brown III of Commerce, Mo. O'Loughlin is a 1998 graduate of Notre Dame High School. She is employed at Innovative Orthodontics in Cape Girardeau...

MORLEY, Mo. -- Ronnie and Cathy Fondren of Blytheville, Ark., announce the engagement of their daughter, Jessica Cathleen Fondren, to Ryan Lynn Perkins. He is the son of Wayne Perkins of Morley, and Mary Scott of Steele, Mo. Fondren received a bachelor of science degree from Southeast Missouri State University in 2001. She is employed with the Social Security Administration...

Mary Dale Sater of East Prairie announces the engagement of her daughter, Amy Leigh Sater, to Gregory Lynn Ludwig, both of Cape Girardeau. He is the son of Earl and Dorothy Ludwig of Jackson. Sater is also the daughter of the late John Russell Sater...

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ott of Jackson announce the engagement of their daughter, Angela Atchley, to Matthew Evans, both of Cape Girardeau. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Evans of Cape Girardeau. A Sept. 13 wedding is planned.

Mary Rutherford of Cape Girardeau and Eastman Foster of Kelso, Mo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Kendra Leigh Foster, to Trevor Ryan Mitchell, both of Athens, Ga. He is the son of Kathy Mitchell of Lilburn, Ga., and Terry Mitchell of Atlanta, Ga...

Mr. and Mrs. Harry L. Krueger of Cape Girardeau will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this fall with their family . Krueger and Mary Ruth Welker were married Aug. 8, 1953, at Hanover Lutheran Church, by the Rev. William Whittrock. The groom's brother, the Rev. Roy Krueger of Conover, N.C., gave a sermonette. Their attendants were the late Dorothy Davidson, sister of the bride, and George Andreson...

Deanna K. Johnston and Ian M. Huffman were united in marriage March 22, 2003, at Heartland Banquet Hall in Jackson. Jannis Culberson of Fruitland performed the ceremony. Music was by Dennis Graham, cousin of the bride, and Judy Graham of Fredericktown, Mo...

Arica Danelle Kluesner and Joshua Ryan Eftink were married July 27, 2002, at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Kelso, Mo. The Rev. Oliver Clavin performed the ceremony. Harpist was Chadie Fruehwald, flutist was Robert Fruehwald, and vocalist was Lori Shaffer, all of Cape Girardeau...

Centenary United Methodist Church was the setting Oct. 19, 2002, for the wedding of Laura Kay Hency and Jeremiah A. Watson. Dr. Clayton Smith performed the ceremony. Music was by Twylla James of Cape Girardeau. Parents of the couple are Richard and Sheila Hency, and Greg and Denise Watson, all of Cape Girardeau...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Laramie Anne Klipfel and Ryan Dustin Bryant were united in marriage April 26, 2003, at Guardian Angel Catholic Church in Oran, Mo. The Rev. John Harth performed the ceremony. Pianist was Randy Dooley and flutist was Shelly Dooley, both of Chaffee. Vocalists were Christy Schlosser and Danny Schlosser of Oran...

Amy Lichele Belongy and Gary Wayne Weber II were married Oct. 26, 2002, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg, Mo. The Rev. Charles Weber performed the ceremony. Musicians were Mark and Diane Strege of St. Charles, Mo., cousins of the groom. The bride is the daughter of Bill and Sheleigh Belongy of Cape Girardeau, and David and Dorthey Evans of Marion, Ark. The groom is the son of Gary and Pat Weber of Frohna, Mo...

GLENALLEN, Mo. -- Nichole Dawn Anderson and Jackie Lee Wilson exchanged vows May 10, 2003, at the United Methodist Church in Marble Hill, Mo. The Rev. Michael Kelpe performed the ceremony. Pianist was Beverly Cutsinger of Glenallen, and soloist was James Pomeroy of Ellsinore, Mo...

Shelly Ann Blankenship and Jason Richard Cattoor were married May 3, 2003, at St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis. Music was by the church vocalist and musicians. Eucharistic minister was Tom Cattoor, uncle of the groom. Lectors were Sally Roth of Mahomet, Ill., and Judy Cashion of Festus, Mo., aunts of the groom. Offertory was by Karen Toomey of Yorba Linda, Calif., and Denny Cattoor of Perryville, Mo., godparents of the groom...

SO CAPE has a drought in athletes making it big in the pros. Who cares? How about a future astronaut, Nobel prize winner or president from that trio of youngsters earning college math credit on Wednesday's front page? Good job guys. Good story, Callie Clark...

WICHITA, Kan. -- The Cape Girardeau Craftsman Union Capahas dropped its opener in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan., Saturday to the Pueblo, Colo., Chieftans 5-0. Capahas (32-7) starter Kyle Perry, a standout at Murray State University, lasted only 4 2/3 innings in the loss. Perry allowed four runs on five hits. Perry struck out seven and walked one...

Daily Dunklin Democrat KENNETT, Mo. -- Voters in Dunklin County will go to the polls on Tuesday to pass judgment on a half-cent sales tax proposition. If voters approve the tax, the money would be used for a new county jail and judicial complex. A new jail is needed, Sheriff Bob Holder said, because the current county jail is too small, has plumbing problems and outdated wiring and would be expensive to renovate...

10 years ago: Aug. 3, 1993 Flood crest predicted for tomorrow at Cape Girardeau has been revised downward to 48.5 feet, according to National Weather Service; yesterday river was 46.8 feet on Cape Girardeau gauge; earlier, crest had been predicted at 49 feet; weather service spokesman says revision was caused by levee breaks north of city...

Charles and Terry Masengill of Jackson announce the engagement of their daughter, Charlene Nicole Masengill, to Dustin Ray King, both of Fred, Texas. He is the son of Lindell Ray King of Jackson and Dawn Marie Gordon of Fred. Masengill is a 2001 graduate of Jackson High School...

Marlies L. Boettcher, 52, of Frohna, Mo., died Friday, Aug. 1, 2003. She was born Sept. 14, 1950, at Kussel, Germany, daughter of Werner Stuppi and Lilli Weber Stuppi Sticht. She and Donald G. Boettcher were married July 11, 1970, in Frohna. Boettcher was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg and a former member of the Altenburg Homemakers Club...

Faye Agnes Strouts, 83, of Union County, Ill., died Saturday, Aug. 2, 2003, at her daughter's home in Union County. She was born Dec. 12, 1919, at Tonica, Ill., daughter of Emil and Mary Alleman Neilsen. She and Jack W. Strouts were married in 1941...

Vincent S. Pecaut, 93, of Cape Girardeau and formerly of Perryville, Mo., died Thursday, July 31, 2003 at River's Run Healthcare and Rehab Center. He was born May 20, 1910, at Perryville, son of Sebastian and Myrtle Pecaut. He and Alice LaRose were married. She died March 16, 1999...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Carol Poole, 57, of Dongola died Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 at her home. She was born Oct. 2, 1945, at Elgin, Ill., daughter of George Sr. and Norma Hogrewe Van Meter. Poole was employed at Knowels Electronics for 29 years. She attended Salem Lutheran Church...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Mary Elizabeth Brockmeyer, 83, of Chaffee died Friday, Aug. 1, 2003, at Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born April 15, 1920, in Chaffee, daughter of Elvie and Pearl Bunyard Roney. She and Billy "Porky" Huber were married Sept. 11, 1952, and he died Feb. 19, 1980. She and John Brockmeyer were married July 21, 1981, and he died July 6, 1986...

Dr. Walter William Hutton, D.O., 79, of Oak Ridge and formerly of Jackson, passed away Thursday, July 31, 2003, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Longtime area residents will remember his former practice located in the home north of the courthouse in Jackson, on the corner of East Washington and North High streets...

Neat tribute IF SEMO'S mascot must be changed in name, I too second River Eagles. I thought was very clever and really neat and a tribute to this area. Lest we forget IF I were an Indian, I would want a group to call themselves Indians just to keep my heritage in front of the American people so they will not forget...

Briefly Baseball Right-hander Dustin Hermanson was called up Saturday from Triple-A Fresno to start the final game of the Giants' series in Cincinnati. The Giants optioned reliever Jeff Urban to Fresno to open a spot for Hermanson, who will pitch tonight...

DALLAS -- In 28 seasons as a college basketball coach, Billy Tubbs never had a rule preventing players from owning guns. He will this fall. At TCU, players must check in so often during the offseason they sometimes complain. Second-year coach Neil Dougherty figures he'll no longer have to explain why he keeps such close tabs...

Every family has to have a place to begin and a place to end. Houses can be like capital letters or punctuation marks in the sentences of life. The house at 916 Penny could be a capital letter for a family just beginning their life together or a comma for someone taking a pause in life, or the period -- the final home for a couple looking to downsize after years of raising children...

Missouri's program that allows people to file confidential driver condition reports that question the ability and safety of motorists comes as a surprise to most of the state's residents -- except for the nearly 2,300 drivers who have received letters asking them to prove they should be behind the wheel...

The voluminous report on intelligence lapses prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., provides little new light on the failures in communications that became so evident in the days and weeks after the al-Qaida strikes...

Cape Girardeau Sunday, Aug. 3 Firefighters responded to the following items Friday: At 8:58 p.m., a medical assist at 1020 Bloomfield. At 9:45 p.m., alarm sounding at 533 Morgan Oak. Firefighters responded to the following items Saturday: At 1:59 a.m., a medical assist at Good Hope and Sheridan...

Cape Girardeau Sunday, Aug. 3 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI Jacquiline A. Ward, 24, 3814 Carolewood, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of driving while under the influence...

Transportation Security Administration under fire WASHINGTON -- Some in Congress see the Transportation Security Administration as a bloated, unresponsive agency that is shirking its most important duty: ensuring safe air travel. Lawmakers from both parties were furious this week when they learned the TSA wants to trim roughly 20 percent of the funding for the air marshal program -- $104 million -- to help plug a budget hole...

Daily Dunklin Democrat KENNETT, Mo. -- U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson says there are a lot of challenges going on in Congress right now. Emerson spoke at a luncheon with the Cotton Producers of Missouri in Kennett on Friday, as part of her annual series of meetings with agricultural producers in her constituency...

WASHINGTON -- Negotiators for Verizon Communications and two unions representing 78,000 phone company workers met with federal mediators Saturday as a midnight strike deadline neared. Service in 12 states in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic as well as the District of Columbia could be affected if workers walk off the job at the nation's largest local phone company...

WASHINGTON -- A slowly recovering economy should gain momentum now that checks worth as much as $400 per child are heading for the mailboxes of American families, President Bush said Saturday. Democrats responded by accusing him of presiding over the weakest job market since the Great Depression...

WASHINGTON -- Andre Agassi doesn't let leads like this get away very often. Up one set and a break in the second set to Fernando Gonzalez, Agassi's advantage slipped away Saturday night in a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) loss in the semifinals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic...

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- A slow start for U.S. teams at the Pan American Games on Saturday was rescued by women gymnasts and Rulon Gardner and his fellow wrestling Olympians. Gardner, whose upset of the supposedly unbeatable Alexander Karelin in the 2002 Olympics made him a national hero, won his first Pan Ams match 4-0 over Edwin Millet of Puerto Rico. ...

OCEANPORT, N.J. -- Funny Cide is ready to race again. The popular gelding took eight weeks off after failing to win the Triple Crown with a loss in the Belmont Stakes on June 7, but returns to the track today in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park...

GRAND BLANC, Mich. -- Jim Furyk has bounced back from his abysmal showing at the British Open. The U.S. Open champion made a 48-foot putt for birdie to cap a 7-under 65 and take the lead at the Buick Open on Saturday after three rounds. He is at 17 under, four shots ahead of Tiger Woods...

By Jim Armstrong ~ The Associated Press TOKYO -- Chris Simms helped make the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' journey to Japan a success. The son of former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive and threw for 70 yards as the Super Bowl champions beat the New York Jets 30-14 Saturday in the American Bowl, the NFL's exhibition opener...

By Jaime Aron ~ The Associated Press SAN ANTONIO -- The first bus leaves the Dallas Cowboys' hotel at 5:55 a.m. The last one gets back after 9:30 p.m. Curfew is at 11. On most days, daylight hours are spent inside the Alamodome. Everything is there: meetings, weightlifting, meals and, of course, practices -- two a day, every day, for eight straight days...

By Tom Withers ~ The Associated Press CANTON, Ohio -- They starred on NFL Sundays, so it's fitting that's when they will enter the Hall of Fame. For the first time in its 40-year history, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will hold its induction ceremony on a Sunday, honoring the 2003 class of Marcus Allen, Hank Stram, Elvin Bethea, Joe DeLamielleure and James Lofton...

CLAYTON, Mo. -- The Sara Lee Bakery Group has agreed to pay a $5.25 million fine to settle claims that it was responsible for "the largest ever corporate-wide violations" of U.S. ozone preservation laws. The fine, announced last week, is the largest ever in the U.S. for the release of chemicals that damage the earth's protective ozone layer. Sara Lee Corp. is based in Chicago; its Bakery Group is based in the St. Louis suburb Clayton...

CHICAGO -- Illinois casinos already were losing gamblers to Indiana when new state taxes went into effect last month. Now gamblers say the added costs are giving them an extra push across the Indiana state line. Charles Jackson has gambled at Harrah's in Joliet, Ill., for nearly 10 years, but no longer, he told the Chicago Tribune for its Sunday editions...

CARTERVILLE, Ill. -- Joanna, the 20-pound, 6-foot-long lizard that went on the lam for nearly a month before being captured, will live out her life near the sunny beaches of Miami. Joanna, an Asian water monitor, gained notoriety shortly after she escaped on June 18 from her cage and took refuge in the Lake Moses area near Benton, Ill...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- After more than a year on the road, the Gall family can boast an accomplishment few others can: the couple and their three sons have visited all 50 state capitols in the United States. The St. Louis area family finished Friday, when Ed and Ginger Gall and their sons -- 13-year-old Samuel, 11-year-old James and 6-year-old Benjamin -- went inside the Missouri State Capitol rotunda in Jefferson City...

WEST ALTON, Mo. -- A man whose body was found in a submerged car could have been recovered a month sooner, said an Illinois couple who reported the car to an officer weeks ago. The St. Charles County Sheriff's office identified the man whose body was found Friday in West Alton in a waterway near the Mississippi River as Edward Johnson, 50, of the St. Louis suburb of Moline Acres...

NEW LONDON, Mo. -- A small winged insect native to China is causing some concern for farmers in northeast Missouri. Soybean aphids were detected in late July by a seed company representative in a field near New London, about 100 miles north of St. Louis, said Alix Carpenter, University of Missouri Extension Service agronomy specialist...

CAMERON, Mo. -- A temporary arrangement that added hundreds of inmates to the population of a northwest Missouri prison in the mid-1990s is coming to an end. The opening of new prisons elsewhere in Missouri has relieved the medium-security Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron of having to house 644 minimum-security inmates, state Corrections director Gary Kempker said Friday...

HERRIN, Ill. -- A dozen video poker machines and their contents have been removed from the Elks Lodge in this Southern Illinois town. Undercover agents with the state police and the Illinois Liquor Control Commission raided the lodge Monday. Herrin Elks Exalted Ruler Scott Dillman said the lodge is accused of making cash payments to club members...

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came to Washington last week for his eighth White House visit with the Bush administration. The president is eager to promote the so-called "road map" to peace in the Middle East, which so far has produced a temporary cease-fire on the part of militant Palestinian groups. ...

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia -- Russia's military chief accused commanders of negligent security Saturday as rescuers retrieved bodies from a military hospital near Chechnya that was destroyed by a suicide truck-bomb, killing at least 44. Russian authorities suspected Chechen rebels in the blast and drew a link with 1999 apartment bombings that helped start a second war in the separatist republic...

LONDON -- Britain's foreign intelligence chief will retire next year but the government said Saturday his decision was unrelated to the dossiers that allegedly exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein to justify the war in Iraq. Sir Richard Dearlove will leave his post "on completion of his normal tour of office," the Foreign Office said. "This is in no way connected to events relating to Iraq."...

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- The runners-up in Cambodia's general election have rejected its results as unfair, pushing the country closer to new political crisis. Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy, however, said Saturday that King Norodom Sihanouk was willing to help mediate if the contending parties became deadlocked over the question of forming a new government...

NASSAU, Bahamas -- A ferry boat and cargo ship collided in Bahamian waters early Saturday, killing four people and injuring 16 as they were traveling to a holiday celebration, officials said. Rescuers ended their search for more victims from the accident, some nine miles southwest of Eleuthera island near the Exuma chain, in the Caribbean archipelago off Florida, local police said...

TORONTO -- The worst fire season in a half-century in the western province of British Columbia has forced more than 8,500 residents from their homes, officials said Saturday. No deaths were reported. Fires near Kamloops, about 150 miles northeast of Vancouver, forced thousands to evacuate Friday. More evacuation orders on Saturday pushed the evacuee toll to 8,500, the largest number of people displaced by fire in the province in decades...

BEIJING -- China, facing growing pressure from the United States, Europe and Japan to raise the value of its national currency, is sending out a somewhat ambiguous response these days: not yet. For nearly a decade, China has firmly fixed its currency in relation to that of the United States at an exchange rate of about 8.28 Chinese yuan, known domestically as the renminbi, or "people's money," to one dollar...

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- A bomb exploded in a car south of Beirut on Saturday, killing at least two people in the vehicle and wounding passers-by, security officials said. The explosion occurred on Hadi Nasrallah highway in Beirut's southern suburbs during the morning rush hour, the officials said on condition of anonymity...

NEW YORK -- Jon Stewart could barely contain himself. A congressman had publicly called a colleague a "fruitcake" and, since it happened on a Friday night, Stewart couldn't joke about it on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" until three days later...

NEW YORK -- As "Futurama" nears the end of its five-season run on the Fox network, reruns of this animated series are airing on TBS. Earlier this month, that cable network began running "Futurama" at 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, roughly coinciding with a break in what had been nightly repeats of the show on Cartoon Network...

DETROIT -- It's good to be the prince, but only if you're the real thing. A Michigan man who is not a Saudi prince and not worth $480 million, as he claimed, is accused of defrauding two upscale stores of $29,000 worth of clothing, jewelry and perfume...

SUGARGROVE, Pa. -- At a bar two miles south of the New York line, Roxann Lang took a drag from her cigarette, exhaled and smiled -- she knew no one was going to tell her to put it out. Like other New York residents who enjoy a smoke with their drink or meal but can't because of that state's new law, Lang, 46, and her husband have decided to trade their Jamestown, N.Y., bar for one in northern Pennsylvania...

If you're a hillbilly from the Ozarks over yonder, like me, you know it's summer when: You pray for a cloudburst not because the ground is dry and hard but because you're tired of hoeing the garden for the umpteenth time. When I was growing up, we didn't water the garden except when we set out plants. After that, the survival of the tomato plants, pepper plants, cabbage and all the rest was between those plants and the Almighty...

ST. LOUIS -- An assist from Mother Nature -- not that it appeared necessary -- helped Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team win its first Zone 4 Tournament title since 1995. Cape knocked off Festus 8-4 Saturday night in a game that was called after five innings because of persistent heavy rain that left Heine Meine Field not safe for play, according to the umpires. Since five full innings were played, the contest was official and will not be resumed...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Kevin Harvick is a California boy with no special ties to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ryan Newman is a Hoosier with big dreams of winning on his home track. Both wanted the pole for today's Brickyard 400 and both shattered the track record trying to get it in Saturday's qualifying...

Southeast Missouri State University football players and coaches are set to hit the field Monday for the start of fall practices, but for six hours Saturday over 20 players and several coaches signed autographs and chatted with fans at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park...

The only disappointment for Bill Elliott when he won the Brickyard 400 last August came in Victory Lane -- when he found out there was no milk to drink. "I kept asking where my milk was," Elliott said. "I thought you got to drink milk when you won there. I guess that's one thing that the open-wheel guys get that we don't."...

CHRIS PAGANO * semissourian.com Cole Dannenmueller, 18 months old, held tight to his chicken leg while performing an impromptu dance on the vacant dance floor at Chaffee's German Days on Saturday. By Chris Pagano Southeast Missourian...

A financial tug of war between Jackson and Cape Girardeau County has city and county government officials from all over the state watching. Although the state's attorney general's office has put its weight behind Jackson, the Cape Girardeau County Commission has dug its feet in on its own interpretation of the law...

Fire caused damage at two Cape Girardeau homes Saturday -- one the result of a mentally handicapped man playing with gasoline, and the other the effect of lightning that smoldered for 24 hours before moderately damaging the home of an area priest who was out of town...

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Pressured by fellow West African leaders, President Charles Taylor promised Saturday to resign Aug. 11 after the expected arrival of peacekeepers, as his forces stepped up their battle against rebels for Monrovia's port. As fighting surged in the city outside, Taylor -- after meeting with West African envoys -- told reporters at his lavish oceanside executive offices that he would hand over power after a joint session of Liberia's congress next week...

jkoch By Dr. John Koch Question: My cat has a health condition that requires giving it a pill once each day. I started by giving the pills directly, but that didn't work. Next, I tried mixing the pill with all kinds of different canned foods. ...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The Bush administration's public enemies No. 1 and 2 -- Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden -- have taken a night-and-day approach to life on the lam. The ousted Iraqi dictator has kept up a near-weekly verbal barrage, issuing taped warnings from hiding that have grown more frequent as the U.S. search for him expands. But messages from bin Laden, the elusive terrorist mastermind, have all but stopped...

The next time a driver gets caught speeding down an interstate, that pricey ticket could send him cruising the information superhighway in search of a way to keep his license. Many computer owners already use online banking, shopping and college courses. But Missouri drivers have a new way to keep negative points off their driving records without leaving home, thanks to Internet traffic schools...

10 years ago: Aug. 4, 1993 The few voters who went to polls in Cape Girardeau yesterday overwhelmingly endorsed measure that will enable city to move from at-large to ward city council elections in April; voters also approved city's plan to annex Twin Lakes subdivision, situated off of Hopper Road, just west of Interstate 55...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Elmer James "Jim" Wills Jr., 82, of Sikeston died Saturday, Aug. 2, 2003, at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis. He was born Nov. 22, 1920, in Olney, Ill., son of Elmer J. and Lydia Ethel Thomas Wills Sr. He and Roberta Henderson were married Oct. 7, 1988. She survives...

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Arthur F. Petry, 89, of Ste. Genevieve, died Saturday, Aug. 2, 2003, at Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital. He was born June 27, 1914, in Evansville, Ill., son of Albert and Frances Wolff Petry. He and Loretta P. Oberste were married Oct. 14, 1952., at St. Vincent's Church in Cape Girardeau. She survives...

Take notes, officials OUR FAMILY just returned from Farmington to visit to the water park. There were many people there from Jackson and Cape Girardeau. Before we left Farmington, we also discovered that they now have a skateboard park, which is right behind the police station. Cape and Jackson city leaders need to make a road trip to Farmington and take some serious notes...

To the editor: I am very disappointed at the thought of having a nickname change for the Southeast Missouri State University Indians and Otahkians. I was president of the board of regents from 1971 to 1981. I find it hard to believe that anyone is even considering changing the nickname, which has held up ever since the university was created...

Gator members to swim in zone championship Six members of the Gator swim team will travel to Indianapolis, Ind., for the Central Zone Championships which will begin Thursday. Morgan Fraser, Kati Luehmann, Jennifer Willett, Emily Younghouse, Jameson Kuper and Steffan Troxel will make the trip for the Gators. ...

Briefly Baseball The Twins activated third baseman Corey Koskie from the 15-day disabled list after Sunday's game with Detroit and optioned infielder Alex Prieto to Triple-A Rochester...

7:30 p.m. today City Hall Public hearings Hearing to consider the abandonment of East Madison Street, between the northeast corner of the property described in the land records of the Recorder of Deeds of Cape Girardeau County, at Book 453, page 261, easterly to the Jackson, Gordonville and Delta Railroad Company property, as requested by the Immaculate Conception Church...

You can't keep 'em on the farm once they've discovered solar energy. The Kelso natives brought pride to their rural hometown and to the University of Missouri-Rolla by helping win the American Solar Challenge last week, racing their Solar Miner IV from Chicago to Los Angeles in 51 hours, 47 minutes and 39 seconds. The second-place finisher, University of Minnesota, crossed the line a full five hours later...

Everybody knows that the U.S. Postal Service is having some serious problems. People aren't writing so many letters anymore. Instead, they make phone calls under discounted rates or, even cheaper, send quick e-mails. The computer-savvy set, an increasingly large number in all age groups, are paying bills online...

Woodmen rep attends life insurance seminar R. Allen Phillips, a Modern Woodmen of America representative from Cape Girardeau, has completed a five-day educational program at the fraternal life insurance society's home office in Rock Island, Ill...

Cape Girardeau Monday, Aug. 4 Firefighters responded to the following calls Saturday: At 3:29 p.m., structure fire at 1015 S. Ellis St. At 4:46 p.m., structure fire at Perryville and Lakeshore drives. At 7:04 p.m., alarm sounding at 240 S. Mount Auburn Road...

Cape Girardeau Monday, Aug. 4 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI Nicholas Aaron Cozby, 26, of Fenton, Mo., was arrested Saturday for driving while intoxicated and failure to drive in a single lane...

7 p.m. today City Hall, 401 Independence Study session at 5 p.m. Public hearingsn A public hearing regarding proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance regarding Section 30-39, special use regulations (d) special uses (14) public utilities. A public hearing regarding the request of SLS Investments and Breckenridge Three Limited Partnerships for a special use permit for a community unit plan to be located at the corners of Missouri Avenue, Jefferson Avenue and College Street, consisting of about 7.15 acres in an R-3, two family residential district.. ...

The Jackson Board of Aldermen will hold a public hearing tonight to hear opinions on the debated topic of fireworks regulations. The board will consider amending its fireworks ordinance to ban projectile fireworks, defined as any firework that is "propelled by combustion, deflagration or detonation and shall include, but not be limited to, bottle rockets, rockets, Roman candles, skyrockets or any firework with an aerial trajectory."...

Fried chicken and kettle beef dinner scheduled A buffet-style dinner will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at St. Marks Chapter 167 Order of the Eastern, at 2307 Broadway in Cape Girardeau. The menu includes oven fried chicken and kettle beef...

The Jackson Homecomers Celebration will begin at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 19 with a welcome by Mayor Paul Sander and the Jackson Municipal Band. Amateur acts of singing, dancing, acrobatics and instrumentals are invited to participate as singles, groups, or duets. There is no piano, and the stage is outdoors. The Homecomer Art Show will display artwork in storefront windows in uptown Jackson. Homecomers concludes Aug. 23...

Name: Pat Hill Lives in: Jackson Family: I have two children and three grandchildren. Job: Teacher at St. Vincent's in Cape Girardeau. I am the registered director for Rainbows, a grief support group for children in the area...

Bootheel Quilters' Guild holding annual show The Bootheel Quilters' Guild will hold its annual quilt show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Sikeston Sports Complex Park in the Clinton Community Service Building. A raffle quilt will be given away at 4 p.m. Sunday. Homemade items and quilts will be for sale in the craft booth. Proceeds benefit local and county charities...

The Jackson Municipal Band's final weekly concert for the year will be at 8 p.m. Thursday at the bandshell on Route D in Jackson City Park. Bring a blanket or lawn chair for seating. The concert is free. Two additional concerts will be held at Homecomers. On Aug. 14, the band will perform at the gazebo on the courthouse lawn in Jackson. On Aug. 19, it will perform on stage at Homecomers...

The city of Cape Girardeau was featured in the July 2003 issue of American City & County magazine. The article, titled "LED Lights Save Energy In City's Traffic Signals," was prompted by an article that appeared in the Southeast Missourian newspaper...

Five years ago, a group of concerned people dedicated to family and historical preservation gathered to form the Arnsberg Cemetery Association. Arnsberg, a town that once existed in north Cape Girardeau County, between Friedheim and Old Appleton on Route KK, was created by Adolph Tacke, an immigrant from Arnsberg, Germany...

WASHINGTON -- The world wants what America has, from cutting-edge computer software to scientific research and sensitive defense technology, and nations and overseas companies are increasingly using espionage to get it. In fact, the FBI believes more foreign spies than ever are operating in the United States...

WASHINGTON -- An electronic glove that can turn American Sign Language gestures into spoken words or text, designed to help the deaf communicate more easily with the hearing world, is under development. Researcher Jose Hernandez-Rebollar of George Washington University has demonstrated that his "AcceleGlove" can translate the rapid hand movements used to make the alphabet and some of the words and phrases of sign language...

WASHINGTON -- The United States is committed to finding a diplomatic answer to the North Korean problem and, despite harsh rhetoric by high U.S. officials, is not trying to end communist leader Kim Jong Il's rule, Secretary of State Colin Powell said...

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Rex Grossman could have handed the ball to his agent during contract negotiations with the Chicago Bears and said: "Call me when it's finished." Instead, Grossman made sure he paid attention to every detail before the five-year, $7.6 million deal was reached a week ago...

RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- Dick Vermeil is approaching his 67th birthday, yet the spring is back in his step. With the energy of a man 20 years his junior, he dashes back and forth around the Kansas City practice field shouting instruction and encouragement to what could be the third different team he takes to the Super Bowl...

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Rulon Gardner was just another obstacle the Cuban wrestling team shoved aside in sweeping the seven Greco-Roman gold medals at the Pan American Games. The 2000 Olympic heavyweight champion, coming back from a snowmobiling accident in 2002 that resulted in the amputation of a toe, lost to Mijian Lopez 5-0 Sunday. It was the third time Lopez beat Gardner this year, all by shutouts...

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Coach Richard Dent needs no introduction, even if some of the players he's working with now were just youngsters when he was one of the NFL's great pass rushers. His credentials are well-documented: Dent is fifth on the NFL's career quarterback sack list with 137.5 -- he holds the Bears' single-season record with 17.5 -- and he was the MVP of Chicago's only Super Bowl championship following the 1985 season...

Later this summer, LeBron James' ears are guaranteed to perk up. He'll be sitting in a room along with the rest of the NBA's rookie class, and the subject will inevitably turn to Kobe Bryant. The speaker will be someone from the league's office of player development, perhaps its director, Mike Bantom. The discussion will be frank, the tone will be bleak and the moral of the story will be this:...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- One restaurant has laid off three employees since a smoking ban took effect because diners who used to gather in the morning to smoke, eat and gossip before going to work have gone elsewhere. Across town, a bar is thinking about adding breakfast to its small menu in hopes of capturing those who enjoy a cigarette with their food...

ST. LOUIS -- More than 1,400 employees of St. Louis Public Schools would lose their jobs under a budget plan aimed at saving $64 million. The plan would cut dozens of administrators, hundreds of clerks and teacher aides, and eliminate entire departments in favor of private vendors, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday in a copyright story...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri General Relief program, which provided meager monthly checks to thousands of low-income disabled people with nowhere else to turn, has died. It was 66 years old. The General Relief program had been wounded by budget cuts earlier this year but briefly recovered when state lawmakers infused it with fresh money. The program suffered a fatal blow in June during the final moments of tense budget negotiations...

BEIT UMMAR, West Bank -- Like thousands in the Middle East, Khaled Abu Awad knows the bitter price of the last three years of violence: two of his brothers -- one of them 14 -- were killed by Israeli soldiers. In Tel Aviv, Israel, Robi Damelin nurses the most dreaded pain of any parent. Her 28-year-old son David, while manning a West Bank checkpoint, was shot and killed by a Palestinian sniper...

VIENNA, Austria -- After more than a decade of working behind layers of front companies and in hidden laboratories, Iran appears to be in the late stages of developing the capacity to build a nuclear bomb. However, Iran insists that like many countries it is only building commercial nuclear reactors to generate electricity for homes and factories...

SEOUL, South Korea -- Pyongyang called a senior American official "human scum" for criticizing North Korea's leader, but the reclusive nation said it would still join U.S.-proposed multilateral talks on its suspected development of nuclear weapons...

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers disagreed Sunday over the possibility for a permanent cease-fire, and shortly afterward three Israelis were shot near Jerusalem. Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli vehicles between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Bethlehem, wounding three people, police and rescue services said. ...

Saudi man to meet with U.S. on Sept. 11 links CAIRO, Egypt -- A Saudi man wanted for questioning by U.S. officials about his links to two Sept. 11 hijackers said Sunday he is ready to talk, but only in his homeland and in the presence of officials from his government...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. soldiers detained about two dozen people, including a "targeted leader" of Saddam Hussein's regime, in a series of Sunday raids against people said to be participating in the violent resistance to the U.S. occupation. The U.S. military said Sunday there had been no fatal attacks on American soldiers in Iraq for two days -- a respite from the increased violence against Americans in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's sons were killed in a U.S. raid on July 22...

MONROVIA, Liberia -- West African advance officers aided by U.S. contractors scoped out camp sites, aid groups flew in some of the first food shipments, and hopes of rescue rose in Liberia's bloodied capital on Sunday -- eve of a promised multinational peace deployment...

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian militants detained after they refused an order to leave Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound will be released, a leader of the detained militants said Sunday. Kamal Ghanam, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said the militants would be allowed to remain and would agree to uphold a truce halting attacks on Israelis...

LOS ANGELES -- Thirty-two years after sealing his fate forever with one amazingly catchy 8 1/2-minute tune, Don McLean is gingerly asked the question once again: Does he ever wish that "American Pie" had not been quite that big a hit? That it wouldn't have overshadowed everything else he would ever do?...

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. -- The young girls' ball gowns are pristine white. Jewels sparkle at their throats. The young men's tuxedos are natty. Carnations sprout from their buttonholes. The grown-ups appear prosperous and proud. But in a flash, the atmosphere changes. There's a man down on the marble dance floor, felled by a fellow partygoer's brutal punch. A beautiful girl rushes forward, leaning over him and exclaiming, "Daddy, Daddy, are you OK?"...

POLEBRIDGE, Mont. -- Cooler weather helped firefighters Sunday as they tried to rein in a wildfire that jumped the main defense line in extreme northwestern Montana. After days of showing little movement, the 25,000-acre fire broke loose Saturday night, throwing embers across a road to burn an additional 400 to 500 acres, said fire information officer Marty O'Toole...

Moseley Braun: Elect a woman to solve problems WATERLOO, Iowa -- Former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun called Sunday for new investment in schools and the environment and said it's time to elect a woman president to solve the nation's problems...

DALLAS -- A nationwide network to help find missing children should be in place by this time next year, a Justice Department official said Sunday at a conference on the Amber Alert. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Deborah Daniels said states have made great strides in their own Amber Alert systems, with 45 states now operating statewide networks. In October 2001, there were only five statewide Amber Alert systems...

Kobe Bryant wins at Teen Choice Awards UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- In a rare public appearance since he was accused of sexual assault, basketball star Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa attended the 2003 Teen Choice Awards, where he was picked as the favorite male athlete...

KENNETT, Mo. -- I think it's about time we cut President George W. Bush a little slack. Here's a national leader who's trying to protect his country, unlike some presidents and dictators who shall remain nameless and who are always trying to push a few favors toward their friends and allies and ignore everybody else...

As Southeast Missouri State University's football team prepares for its first practice today, coach Tim Billings doesn't think new NCAA guidelines regarding preseason workouts will have much affect on the Indians. The first five days of practice have been designated "heat acclimation" days, with the first two in helmets only, the next two in helmets and shoulder pads and the fifth in full gear but with no contact. Teams can practice only once per day during those first five days...

NEW YORK -- Switch-hitter Tony Clark homered from both sides of the plate, then wanted to talk about his young teammates. Clark drove in five runs to help Jeremy Griffiths earn his first major league victory as the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 13-5 Sunday...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Kevin Harvick's victory celebration Sunday was more eventful than his win in the Brickyard 400. First, Harvick tore up his right rear tire and blew off the fender while spinning doughnuts on the yard of bricks that marks the finish line at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway...

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England -- Annika Sorenstam completed a career Grand Slam at the Women's British Open, beating Se Ri Pak by a stroke in a thrilling head-to-head showdown. It's the second major title of 2003 for the Swede, who in May became the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour...

CANTON, Ohio -- Hank Stram was pushed to the front of the stage in a wheelchair, wearing his newest blazer as 115 of the NFL's greatest names welcomed him. The 80-year-old Stram, too weak to stand or walk on his own, then watched his prerecorded induction speech that showed a fiery, charismatic and innovative coach who would one day wind up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame...

NEW YORK -- It may be the best way to find stuff online, but most of us who use Google a lot still find ourselves wading through oodles of Web pages. A new book from O'Reilly & Associates helps fine-tune the foraging. "Google Hacks" gets its name from the geek vernacular for quick, clever ways to accomplish something. It's the kind of hacking that draws compliments, as opposed to the cops...

The government's recent warning that al-Qaida may attempt more jet hijackings is expected to deter some travelers, although industry officials said it's too soon to gauge the effect with any certainty. Carlson Wagonlit Travel Inc., the world's second-largest travel firm, said last week one in 10 travel agents who responded to an online survey had customers who were changing their travel plans as a result of the new warnings. ...

SAN FRANCISCO -- In five mind-blowing years, Google has blossomed from a nerdy college experiment to a mainstream sensation so ubiquitous that its goofy name is now synonymous with looking things up. Millions of people turn to the Internet search engine every hour, trusting Google to speed through its index of 3 billion Web pages to find just about anything imaginable...

NEW YORK -- Most people don't like to think about life insurance -- it's such a reminder of their own mortality. But life insurance can be a critically important purchase, especially for those who have children, a spouse or parents to support. Now is a good time to review both term and permanent life policies because premiums have come down sharply in the last few years...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Most weeks of the year people in Sikeston look like other people in Southeast Missouri. But this is Rodeo Week, and an informal dress code -- cowboy boots, jeans, cowboy shirt, a big belt buckle and cowboy hat -- is in force whether or not you're going to the rodeo that night. Bankers, lawyers, medical and dental staffs dress like extras in a Western...

It's 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12. You glance out your living room window just in time to see a school bus pulling away from the corner, and your children are still snoozing in bed. Don't panic. Due to changes in bus routes, Cape Girardeau School District buses will make a real time test run the day before school starts...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Though the simple church picnic has grown into a community event and new carnival rides and games are added each year, there's one thing that remains constant about the St. Vincent de Paul Parish picnic: vanilla ice cream. Sure, some people complain about the lack of toppings or request chocolate, but no one refuses a scoop of the homemade ice cream...

Here's a question I've never been asked: Where the heck in Cape Girardeau can you get a good schnitzel? If someone were to ask me that curious query I'd offer one of three responses: A puzzled look, gales of laughter or a question of my own. Schnitzel? Isn't that a town near Diehlstadt?...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The outcome of California's anything-goes recall effort could be determined by the state's highest court, where Gov. Gray Davis added his own complaints Monday to a docket already crowded with legal challenges to the election. Legal experts said the governor's case is among the strongest of the five challenges pending before the California Supreme Court, since it addresses fundamental voting-rights issues...

10 years ago: Aug. 5, 1993 Start of school at Delta has been postponed three weeks due in part to flooding; first day of classes is scheduled for Sept. 7 instead of Aug. 19; communities of Allenville and Dutchtown, both virtually cut off by flooding Mississippi, are part of district; but Delta School District superintendent Larry Beshears says opening of school would have had to be delayed anyway to allow for completion of improvements being made to elementary building...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- LeRoy A. Winkler, 64, of Overland, Mo., died Monday, Aug. 4, 2003, at his home. He was born Dec. 27, 1938, at Perryville, son of Herman and Florine Lappe Winkler. He and Velda Fay Winkler were married July 26, 1958, in Overland. Winkler was retired from Chrysler. He was a member of United Auto Workers and Overland Moose Lodge 1948...

Charley "Frank" Wren, 83, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Aug. 3, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born March 28, 1920, at Bell City, Mo., son of Louis and Minnie Wren. He first married Gladys Morgan Oct. 4, 1940, in New Madrid County. She died Dec. 21, 1960. He and Edna Dabbs were married Dec. 14, 1966, in Cape Girardeau...

William Howard Hente, 62, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Aug. 3, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Feb. 10, 1941, in Cape Girardeau, son of Alvin Henry and Agnes Louise Brown Hente. Hente was a hand sewer at Florsheim Shoe Co. He was a member of Elks Lodge and life member of National Rifle Association...

Loretta E. Kunze, 89, of Winnsboro, La., died Sunday, Aug. 3, 2003, at Franklin Medical Center in Winnsboro. She was born Feb. 11, 1914, at Lutesville, Mo., daughter of John William and Bertie Reed Wampler. She married Willard T. Kunze, who preceded her in death...

Roger Dale McClain, 50, of Buford, Ga., died Friday, Aug. 1, 2003, at Gwinnett Medical Center. McClain is the son of Forrest and Pauline McClain. He was a graduate of Sedalia High School in Kentucky and attended Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky. He was sales manager at Gwinnett Place Ford in Georgia...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Joseph "Grant" Shell, 76, of Okawville, Ill., died Friday, Aug. 1, 2003, at Freeburg Care Center in Freeburg, Ill. He was born Oct. 7, 1927, at Dongola, Mo., son of Norman and Rita Sample Shell. Shell was a retired pipefitter with Local 798. He was a member of Advance VFW...

MORLEY, Mo. -- Ray E. Nunnally, 59, of Morley died Monday, Aug. 4, 2003, at Sikeston Convalescent Center. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Irene Elizabeth Trentham, 77, of Marble Hill died Sunday, Aug. 3, 2003, at her home. She was born Sept. 13, 1925, at Crump, Mo., daughter of James Franklin and Emma Elizabeth Brase Williams. She and Clifton Trentham were married May 4, 1945, in Blytheville, Ark...

ANNA, Ill. -- Harold W. Krause, 86, died Monday, July 28, 2003. He was born May 10, 1917, in Chicago, Ill., the son of Daniel and Mary Krause. He worked as a merchant seaman for many years. He is survived by a daughter, Mary Martin of Anna; a sister, Rose Peasley of Chicago; and three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Jake Johnson, 16, of Mandeville, La., died Saturday, Aug. 2, 2003, at St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington, La. He was born Nov. 19, 1986, in Sikeston, Mo., son of Timothy Lee Johnson and Nicka O'Connor Gorostiza. Johnson had lived in Mandeville five years and was a sophomore at Mandeville High School...

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Louise J. Payton, 76, died Saturday, Aug. 2, 2003, at her daughter's home in Indianapolis. She was born in Cape Girardeau and moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1952. She married Andrew Payton. He preceded her in death. She was a longtime home child-care provider and member of Church of the Harvest...

Billy L. "Bill" Mabrey, 67, of O'Fallon, Mo., died Friday, Aug. 1, 2003, at St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles, Mo. He was born June 7, 1936, in Bollinger County, Mo., son of Clarence E. and Velma Mabrey. Mabrey was a teacher in Thebes, Ill., for a year, and then was a teacher six years at Alma Schrader School in Cape Girardeau. ...

Reality check THANK GOD we have some people in Jefferson City who are in touch with reality. We do not need more taxes. We need to cut spending. Packages for soldiers PLEASE REMEMBER the soldiers who are in Iraq. An average of one U.S. soldier a day is killed there. ...

To the editor: Millions are unemployed, and there are record federal and state deficits. The CEO scandal was overlooked due to political contributions. There are lies about the Iraq war. Just a month ago President Bush was transferring intelligence officers over weapons of mass destruction misinformation. Just a few weeks ago he was blasting his CIA director about the same problem. Now he is blaming himself for the words he used in a speech...

To the editor: It has been said that one should listen to the words spoken by our elders. I want to thank Gilbert Degenhardt for his letter to the editor concerning universal health coverage. This is an issue that has been ignored since the Clinton debacle in the early 1990s. I hope people will take Mr. Degenhardt's words very seriously...

To the editor: In response to the article "Today marks 140th anniversary of Round Pond massacre": I enjoyed reading the article on Round Pond. Having lived near Round Pond in my childhood years. I will treasure the story and pass it on to my children and grandchildren...

SCOTT CITY CITY COUNCIL ACTIONS New business Authorized mutual lease agreement with Larry Abbott. The city put up part of the money to install meters on each of the lots in Abbott's mobile home park in exchange for use of a piece of land Abbott owns...

Southeast Missouri is proud to have so many fighting men and women representing the area in the war on Iraq. These soldiers risk their lives daily to secure the freedom of an oppressed nation and, ultimately, protect America from the threat of a homeland attack...

An effort that divided opinions in Cape Girardeau -- accusations of tax breaks for the rich on one side and an anti-development outlook on the other -- and taught us what "TIF" stood for came to an abrupt end last week. A proposed housing development around a golf course touched off the debate three years ago...

Area students awarded SEMO scholarships Southeast Missouri State University recently awarded three scholarships to area students. Jennifer Pottorf and Kira Pottorf of Jackson, and Samantha Slayton of Blodgett, Mo., all received General Education Degree Scholarships for the fall semester...

Getting a tattoo has crossed the minds of most teenagers. I know we deny the fact that all of us go through some sort of stereotypical rebellious phase at some point in our lives even if it's just for a couple of days. I've passed through mine ... I think...

Cape Girardeau Tuesday, Aug. 5 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWIs Christopher Alan Burrow, 36, of 1651 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident...

Combine boxing and kickboxing you get one of the fight game's more obscure disciplines -- K-1. K-1 is more structured than the current darling of the ring world, "The Ultimate Fighting Championship." More rules, gloves, no submission holds, not much blood flying. It's less a street brawl and more a skill which must be practiced...

Changed the regular Board of Aldermen meeting date from Monday, Sept. 1, 2003 to Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2003 in observance of Labor Day. Accepted the audit report for the year ending Dec. 31, 2002, as prepared by Beussink, Hey and Roe, certified public accountants...

Cape Girardeau Tuesday, Aug. 5 Firefighters responded to the following calls Monday: At 12:15 a.m., a tree in the road in the 200 block of Park Drive. At 4 a.m., a medical assist at 531 Louis St. At 11:08 a.m., a citizen assist at 915 Bloomfield Road...

Public hearings A public hearing was held regarding proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance regarding Section 30-39, special use regulations (d) special uses (14) public utilities. A public hearing was held regarding the request of SLS Investments and Breckenridge Three Limited Partnerships for a special use permit for a community unit plan to be located at the corners of Missouri Avenue, Jefferson Avenue and College Street, consisting of about 7.15 acres in an R-3, two family residential district.. ...

WASHINGTON -- America's manufacturers saw demand for their products rise in June by the largest amount in three months, another encouraging sign that the fragile factory sector is on the mend along with the rest of the economy. The Commerce Department reported Monday that orders to U.S. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a plan Monday proposing to close seven VA hospitals, open others and retarget services in a major restructuring of its health care services. The plan includes major mission changes at 13 facilities, Veterans Affairs spokeswoman Karen Fedele said...

WASHINGTON -- The curly-corded phone by Brandon Fogel's bed was starting to seem like a relic. A graduate student living in Chicago, Fogel used his cell phone for most calls. And when he replaced his dial-up Internet connection with a cable line, he realized his regular phone wasn't central to his life...

WASHINGTON -- Amy Topel had tried exercise, weight-loss pills and every diet, real or fad, around. But at age 15, she'd reached 260 pounds and a difficult decision: It was time to try surgery. Operating was scary, but her mother had undergone it and lost 100 pounds -- and Amy was tired of classmates' taunts. So in June, the same surgeon shrank Amy's stomach. She's dropped 30 pounds and counting...

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed as gossip and nonsense a published report that he had sent word to the White House he would not serve in a second Bush administration. "I don't know what they are talking about," Powell said of the story in The Washington Post. "I serve at the pleasure of the president. The president and I have not discussed anything other than my continuing to do my job for him."...

WASHINGTON -- The nation's governors, facing large budget deficits, are pressing lawmakers to lift the states' $7-billion-a-year burden of paying for prescription drugs for the 6.2 million Americans who receive both Medicare and Medicaid. The governors see an opportunity to cut states' rising health-care costs as negotiators for the House and Senate attempt to reconcile their versions of a new prescription drug benefit under Medicare, the federal health program for older and disabled Americans.. ...

WASHINGTON -- Soon after joining the Federal Communications Commission, Michael Powell said one of his mottos would be: "Fight with ideas and not emotion." His efforts to ease rules governing media ownership are prompting plenty of emotional debate -- and lots of criticism of Powell. So much that Powell met with top aides after returning from vacation Monday and assured them he won't quit...

EAGLE, Colo. -- The judge in the Kobe Bryant case Monday rejected the NBA star's request to keep cameras out of the courtroom during his first court appearance on a sexual assault charge. Bryant's attorneys argued against allowing cameras during the hearing scheduled Wednesday, saying they could jeopardize Bryant's right to a fair trial...

Bruce Kimball wants to drive again. R.J. Kerker doesn't think that's such a good idea. Kerker can't forget the last time Kimball was behind the wheel, driving drunk on a rural Florida road. Every morning he's reminded of it when he puts on his plastic leg brace...

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- The U.S. men's basketball team was 85 seconds from leaving the Pan American Games without a medal. While the Americans are not guaranteed a top-three finish, three free throws and a key defensive stop gave them a thrilling 74-72 victory over Uruguay on Monday -- and renewed hope for gold...

LOS ANGELES -- Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is considering retirement and has decided against fighting again this year, meaning a discussed rematch against Vitali Klitschko in December won't take place. "Lennox has been very public in his comments that he was seriously considering retirement, that he just wasn't sure he wants to go forward," Lewis' attorney, Judd Burstein, said Monday from his home in Westport, Conn. "He is still considering whether he wants to keep fighting...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Next time you order popcorn at the movies or throw a bag into the microwave, show a little respect. That's not just a snack you're getting. It's the "official state snackfood" of Illinois, thanks to legislation signed Monday by Gov. Rod Blagojevich...

ST. LOUIS -- Regulations requiring newer taxis and higher insurance coverage could force some independent cab operators out of business and leave some economically disadvantaged customers without their primary mode of transportation, taxi drivers said at a rally Monday...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A man who was shot to death by police had just assaulted a pregnant woman and was threatening officers, the Police Department said Monday. Juan Meraz, 21, was shot early Sunday morning and died at a hospital. Capt. Rich Lockhart, a police spokesman, said Meraz was killed after police went to an apartment complex on a disturbance call around 12:30 a.m. ...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney Ray Gruender is undergoing the review process as a potential nominee for a vacancy on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Sen. Kit Bond's office confirmed Monday. Gruender is President Bush's likely nominee for the position, Bond spokesman Ernie Blazar confirmed. If Gruender is nominated, the Senate must confirm his selection...

ANTONIA, Mo. -- Three people died when a car and motorcycle collided at a Jefferson County intersection, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. The dead were identified as Jeremy J. Desroche, 24, and Amanda Kaut, 21, both of Imperial; and Bernice C. Bruning, 79, of Maryland Heights. Bruning's husband, a passenger in her car, was seriously injured...

ROLLA, Mo. -- A fire at an AmerenUE substation left at least 17,000 people without electricity Monday afternoon, utility officials said. The entire city of Rolla and part of St. James were affected after a fire of unknown origin broke out at a substation Monday afternoon, burning the transformers, said Jim Stoffer, the Board of Public Works president for Rolla Municipal Utilities. No injuries were reported...

ST. LOUIS -- A trash disposal company will pay $75,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former eastern Missouri employee, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Monday. Heartland Disposal is a subsidiary of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Republic Services Inc., the nation's third-largest waste disposal firm...

ST. LOUIS -- A 73-year-old man died after being run over by his own car. The accident happened Sunday at a Bank of America branch in the Central West End area. The victim's name has not been released. Police say the man got out of his car to use the ATM, then got back in his car and hit a parked car. ...

WASHINGTON -- An environmental group filed an 11th-hour petition Monday seeking to delay this week's planned burning of chemical weapons at an Army incinerator in Anniston, Ala. The Chemical Weapons Working Group filed the emergency petition here in federal court, asking it to at least stall the incineration -- set to begin as early as Wednesday -- until it can hear a lawsuit seeking to block the burning...

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Hoisting a Nigerian army officer on their shoulders, Liberians cheered Monday's arrival of the first soldiers in an international rescue mission that will try to end 14 years of carnage and send warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor into exile...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran said Monday it won't hand over its senior al-Qaida captives to the United States and denied reports it hopes to swap the detainees for U.S.-held Iranian opposition figures. "We hand over al-Qaida operatives who belong to friendly countries or countries we have signed extradition treaties (with). We don't have an extradition treaty with the United States," government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told reporters...

UNITED NATIONS -- The acting head of Iraq's Central Bank asked the Security Council on Monday to urge all nations to freeze and transfer assets from Saddam Hussein's regime to a fund for financing humanitarian and reconstruction efforts. Under a resolution adopted May 22, all 191 U.N. member states are required to identify, freeze and immediately transfer any assets held by Saddam's government or senior regime officials...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military took 400 volunteers for the new Iraqi army to the northern city of Kirkuk on Monday to begin two months basic training, and American forces passed a third straight day without reporting the loss of a soldier in combat...

Eleven face death in Rwanda genocide trial KIGALI, Rwanda -- A tribunal has convicted 100 people of rape, torture, murder and crimes against humanity in the largest trial so far seeking justice for Rwanda's genocide. The three-judge panel sentenced 11 people to death and 71 to life imprisonment, J.M. Ntete, prosecutor for Butare province, said Monday...

MANILA, Philippines -- Police named an opposition senator as a leader of last week's failed military mutiny, charging him, four senior officers and two civilians Monday with backing the attempt to topple President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Sen. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, now in hiding, is the highest official so far to be implicated in the July 27 uprising by more than 350 officers and enlisted men, who took over a ritzy apartment building and mall in the heart of Manila's financial district...

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro -- The first fatal shooting of a U.N. policeman in Kosovo has shifted attention from ethnic tensions in the U.N.-controlled province to the underworld figures thought responsible for his death. A sniper shot Satish Menon, 43, of India, shortly before midnight on Sunday as the policeman traveled in a U.N. car near the village of Slatina, 30 miles north of Kosovo's capital, Pristina, police said. A British officer driving the car was not wounded...

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- South Africa's top AIDS activist said Monday he is abandoning his pledge not to take potentially lifesaving AIDS drugs, ending an unsuccessful effort to force the government to give its people the medicine. Zackie Achmat, who has been HIV-positive for years, accused President Thabo Mbeki and other officials of not caring about the lives of those infected with the virus that causes AIDS...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan blasted America's recently departed ambassador to neighboring India on Monday, calling him "ill-informed" and "heartless" for alleging that Islamabad was allowing terrorist incursions into India's portion of disputed Kashmir...

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Former President Clinton will preside at the opening of a memorial center for victims of the worst massacre in the Bosnian war, his spokeswoman and Bosnian officials said Monday. The memorial ceremony will take place Sept. 20 at the site near Srebrenica, where Serb forces in 1995 overran a besieged Muslim enclave and executed up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys. Clinton was chose to open the center, officials said, because of his role in helping end the war...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- For nearly two weeks, extension cords have crisscrossed streets, generators have been running at full bore and residents have been getting by with flashlights and splashes of water in the face. More than 15,000 people in Memphis were still without power Monday as the result of a July 22 storm that uprooted trees all over town. The storm left seven people dead and cut off power to more than 320,000 homes and businesses at its peak...

Verizon talks continue past strike deadline WASHINGTON -- Nearly 80,000 Verizon employees worked past their strike deadline Monday as talks continued under a federal mediator. A three-year contract expired at midnight Saturday, but telephone operators and technicians avoided any disruption of service at the nation's largest provider of local and wireless phone service...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Plans by Episcopalian leaders to vote on confirming the church's first openly gay elected bishop were thrown into turmoil Monday when allegations emerged that he inappropriately touched a man and was affiliated with a youth Web site that had a link to pornography...

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. -- Parents were excited when a $15,000 pledge that would enable them to keep class sizes down at the elementary school came in from halfway around the world. But now they are wondering whether to return the money. They began having second thoughts after learning that the donor -- Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates -- has ties to a think tank that critics say promotes anti-American and anti-Semitic views...

WEST GLACIER, Mont. -- Glacier National Park's busy west gate reopened to tourists Monday, more than a week after a fast-moving wildfire threatened the park headquarters and this tiny town. Orville Stover, a school bus driver from Portland, Ore., was waiting at the gate in his car at 8 a.m. He had planned to see Glacier on his way to Mount Rushmore and was afraid he might not get the chance...

Rapper Eminem sued by former classmate DETROIT -- Eminem wants a Macomb County judge to dismiss a $1 million lawsuit that a former schoolmate filed against him. The Grammy-winning rapper, born Marshall Mathers III, is scheduled to appear Aug. 18 in Macomb County Circuit Court to ask Judge Deborah Servitto to dismiss the case, The Detroit News reported Monday...

On Nov. 23, re-enactors will dress in period clothing in downtown Cape Girardeau to commemorate the landing here of Lewis and Clark on their way to explore the West nearly 200 years ago. Some of those re-enactors will perform a skit, and Steve Schaffner will play fiddle tunes during Wednesday's Cape Girardeau Muny Band concert...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Twenty-nine Southeast Missouri school districts have joined a statewide coalition of mostly rural school systems in a planned lawsuit that will seek increased state funding for public education and a fairer distribution of the money...

For the first time in school history, Southeast Missouri State University's football team began preseason practice as the Ohio Valley Conference favorite. So, did coach Tim Billings notice anything different about the Indians as they held their first workout Monday at Houck Stadium?...

With high school football practices beginning on Monday, Scott City High School is scrambling to fill its head coach position with the recent resignation of Jason Burkman. Burkman, who coached the Rams for one season, approached Scott City superintendent Diann Bradshaw two weeks ago about being released from his contract due to family issues. Burkman, who has four children, recently moved to the Scott City area from Piggott, Ark., after commuting most of last year...

MORLEY, Mo. -- A 35-year-old Morley man received moderate injuries Monday when he swerved to avoid an animal, hitting a wire fence and an irrigation pipe. Wayne Price was taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau after the 7:40 a.m. accident. It occurred on Route C. 2.8 miles east of Morley...

In May, the Scott City Council voted to establish a city flag, in part to mark the beginning of the city's centennial celebration. Now Labor Day has been designated the official City Flag Day. Businesses and residents who own one of the new city flags are asked to let them fly on Labor Day. The Scott City City Council made the designation at its meeting Monday night...

Despite concerns from a handful of residents, the Cape Girardeau City Council gave first-round approval Monday night to a $4.1 million affordable housing project that would create 19 duplexes bordering Missouri and Jefferson avenues. "It's an area that needs to be developed," Mayor Jay Knudtson said after the meeting. "I think all the issues and concerns that the neighbors had can be worked out. It's all about communication."...

The Jackson Board of Aldermen tabled the abandonment of two city streets Monday night after a few property owners surrounding the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church issued concerns. Immaculate Conception is asking for the city to abandon Madison Street so it can rebuild its campus after the May 6 tornado. It has plans to build a gymnasium across the street...

Several Jackson residents spoke at Monday night's board of aldermen meeting and their message was clear: It's time to cut the fuse on the use of bottle rockets in the city. All eight residents who spoke were in favor of changing regulations to some degree. Six were in favor of banning projectile-type fireworks like bottle rockets. The two who wanted to keep the regulations mostly the same said the minimum age to buy fireworks should be higher than what is currently mandated by the state...

Central High School's first bell will ring well before those in any of the surrounding high schools this year, with students reporting for their first-hour classes five minutes earlier than last year and as much as 35 minutes earlier than students in neighboring schools...

ATLANTA -- John Smoltz got to spend an entire game in the dugout. No pressure. No apprehension. No wondering if he'd get called on to pitch. Ahh, like the good ol' days. "It's what it felt like as a starter," Smoltz said. "I just kicked back and recharged."...

LOS ANGELES -- They met at a music video shoot. She was an 18-year-old high school student working as a background model. He was 21, living in wealthy Pacific Palisades with a huge NBA contract and millions of dollars in endorsement deals. Six months later, Kobe Bryant and Vanessa Laine were engaged. A year later, in April 2001, they walked over red rose petals to begin their life together...

By Laura Johnston ~ Southeast Missourian One day at band camp could seem like an eternity if you're marching back and forth across the field all morning with the hot sun beating down on your back as you check to see that your feet land where they are supposed to, but doing it without really looking down to see that your step is correct...

Louise Suggs, an LPGA Tour founder and the first woman to complete the Grand Slam, was among those who worried that Annika Sorenstam would bring harm to women's golf if she failed miserably at the Colonial. Three months later, the 79-year-old Suggs was glued to the television as she watched Sorenstam step to the 18th tee at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, tied for the lead at the Women's British Open with no less than the career Grand Slam riding on her tee shot...

dwilson In 1998, Gregory Scott Williams had one of his better seasons as a San Diego Padre. He went 10-8 with a 3.75 ERA -- his best numbers so far as a professional. Then he went to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001. "Woody" Williams is 30-9 with a 2.76 ERA with the Cardinals after he was acquired through waivers for a disgruntled, underachieving Ray Lankford...

I try to uphold the honor of my fellow men. I really do. For example, I know men are forbidden by the Manly Code to ask for directions. I don't know how that got started. I think men are born knowing they will be lost a lot, just like calves know how to walk minutes after they are born...

LOS ANGELES -- Gov. Gray Davis got a key boost in his fight for political survival Tuesday as national AFL-CIO leaders voted to oppose the recall and urge elected Democrats not to run in the Oct. 7 election. "The recall will cost $70 million and will produce an uncertain future for our nation's largest state," said the resolution by the labor group. "We call on all state leaders in the Democratic Party to stand united with the governor and stay off the recall ballot."...

RAMADI, Iraq -- Senior American officials are sending a message that violence against U.S. soldiers in Iraq is increasingly the work of foreign fighters -- by implication, Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. But Iraqis and American officers on the ground say the evidence is stronger that Iraqis angry at American occupation and Saddam Hussein loyalists are behind most attacks...

The Washington Post Light and colorful, butterflies add a touch of whimsy to any back yard or terrace. They're also eager guests if you invite them. While some gardeners choose a butterfly bush or butterfly weed for this purpose, we're partial to an enticing hanging basket...

LOS ANGELES Summer begins with the appearance of the butterflies. The weather warms and suddenly there they are, swirling past on their way to court, mate and frolic. For the most enraptured gardeners, the spectacle is so thrilling that they've ripped out plants that they like and relandscaped with plants that butterflies need. ...

10 years ago: Aug. 6, 1993 While battle of 1993 flood continues, residents who lived through similar inundation two decades ago may argue they had worst end of bargain; it was in 1973 that Mississippi River was above flood stage from March 10 until June 15, reaching 44.9 feet on April 30; but in midst of that devastation -- over Memorial Day weekend -- skies dumped nearly 10 inches of rain on Cape Girardeau in single day...

Capaha Scottish Rite Women's Club The July meeting of the Capaha Scottish Rite Women's Club was held at Delmonico's in Jackson. Husbands were guests. Luella Armstrong presided and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Joyce Peerman voiced a table prayer...

Lingle Son to James Brian and Rebecca Ann Lingle of Washington, Mo., St. John's Mercy Hospital in Washington, 5:36 p.m. Thursday, July 17, 2003. Name, William Cutwright. Weight, 7 pounds 11 ounces. First child. Mrs. Lingle is the former Rebecca Giesike, daughter of Bill and Barbara Giesike of Washington. ...

MORLEY, Mo. -- Ray Eugene Nunnally, 59, of Morley died Sunday, Aug. 3, 2003, at Sikeston Convalescent Center in Sikeston, Mo. He was born Sept. 3, 1943, in Eaton, Ark., son of Raymond C. and Jane L. Powers Nunnally. Nunnally played in rock and roll bands in the 1950s and 1960s, owned a tax service at Morley, co-owned Caleb's Tavern in Oran, Mo., and retired from Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Jackie Allen Clark, 75, of Advance died Monday, Aug. 4, 2003, at Advance Nursing Center. He was born April 23, 1928, in Eldorado, Ill., son of Clifford and Jossia Malnax Clark. He and Deloris Norman were married in 1950. Clark was an inspector 30 years with General Motors in Flint, Mich...

Glenn Laux Reynolds, 62, of Cape Girardeau died in August 2003 at his home. He was born Feb. 9, 1941, in Cape Girardeau, son of Raymond and Nellie Caraker Reynolds. Reynolds retired as an engineer with Peavey Barge Line. He was a member of Grace United Methodist Church and Eagles Aerie 3775...

Dorothy Deane King, 83, of Brookings, S.D., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, July 25, 2003, at the United Retirement Center in Brookings from complications of Alzheimer's disease. She was born Oct. 13, 1919, in Redwood Falls, Minn., daughter of William and Alma Wolverton Russell. She and Donald R. King were married Sept. 4, 1937, in Redwood Falls. He died in August 1985...

A memorial service for Allen G. Lloyd of Cape Girardeau will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson. The Rev. Grant Gillard will officiate. Lloyd, 65, died Sunday, July 27, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements...

GOREVILLE, Ill. -- John J. Stegle, 77, of Goreville, formerly of Anna, Ill., died Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2003, at Heartland Regional Medical Center. Crain Funeral Home in Anna is in charge of arrangements.

SEDGEWICKVILLE, Mo. -- Hazel Mary Bushard, 91, of Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy died Saturday, Aug. 2, 2003, at Blessing Hospital in Quincy. She was born March 17, 1912, at Sedgewickville, daughter of Theodore W. and Mary Barks Hahs. She and Carl E. Bushard were married May 26, 1940, at the Hahs family home in Bollinger County, Mo...

Right to complain I'M SURE those people in Scott City knew they were moving next to a railroad. I lived one-half block from the railroad for six years even though the trains shook the house, rattled things off the shelves and woke me up several times. I still have the right to complain about it, don't I?...

To the editor: On behalf of the family of my late husband, state Sen. Danny Staples, I want to thank the people of the 20th District and Missouri for their warm outpouring of sympathy, support and good wishes after Danny's recent passing. The people of Missouri blessed Danny with their support for almost 30 years. He was always appreciative and worked hard to represent their interests in Jefferson City...

Southeast Missouri State University's search for a new gymnastics coach appears to be winding down now that two finalists have been selected and are being interviewed on campus this week. A school search committee interviewed Bill Hardy, the head coach at Centenary College in Shreveport, La., on Tuesday. Tim Rivera, an assistant coach at San Jose State, will be interviewed Thursday...

Junior Achievement is a program that uses community volunteers to teach elementary students about career choices, how businesses run and how the economy works. Provided at no cost to schools, JA's expenses for materials are covered by donations. In the three years that JA has been active in Cape Girardeau County schools, some 2,800 students have participated. Teachers are enthusiastic about the hands-on approach. And volunteers have been willing to provide real-life experience...

Severe storms around the area this year have once again focused attention on warning systems that might prevent injuries or loss of life. Jackson was hard hit by a tornado in early May. More recently, straight-line winds of over 100 mph crippled Memphis, where several thousand residents are still without power two weeks after the devastating storm...

Cape Girardeau Wednesday, Aug. 6 Firefighters responded Tuesday to the following item: At 5:29 p.m., alarm at 1235 S. Kingshighway. Firefighters responded Wednesday to the following items: At 11:20 a.m., medical assist at 2327 Boutin. At 11:34 a.m., medical assist at 724 Themis...

Cape Girardeau Wednesday, Aug. 6 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Jackie E. Taber, 47, of 633 Terry Lane, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of manufacture of a controlled substance and endangering the welfare of a child...

There isn't a woman on Earth whose appearance can't be improved with a little makeup. Some women just need a touch of lipstick or a couple strokes of mascara. Me? I need just a teensy bit more than that. My morning makeup routine takes 15 minutes, a ritual played out sitting on a weight bench in the guest room, balancing my makeup tackle box on my knees...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's decision to buy oil for the government's emergency reserve is contributing to tight supplies and higher energy prices, some economists and congressional Democrats contend. The Energy Department discounts the impact of the purchases, nearly 11 million barrels since the beginning of May, while a number of oil traders say other factors have had more of an impact...

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday there is no need to increase U.S. armed forces for now even though the military is being stretched by commitments in Iraq and elsewhere. "We're absolutely open-minded about how many people we have in the armed services," Rumsfeld said. "The way to get the right number," he added, is not to rush to a change "the first time you feel the effects of a spike in activity, as we do right now with Iraq."...

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. -- Ileana Garica of South Florida has just entered the Tropical Rainforest exhibit at Butterfly World. She raises her camera and prepares to shoot. She has a magnificent butterfly, an iridescent blue morpho, framed in her viewfinder. Moving closer, Ileana clicks the shutter. It's one of many pictures she will take today in Butterfly World, the largest butterfly park in the world, home to more than 4,000 butterflies at any given time...

NEW YORK -- A diamond necklace worth as much as some houses. More than $300,000 in limousine rides. Sixty thousand dollars worth of rugs. Mike Tyson's Manhattan bankruptcy filing lays out the surprising ease with which the former heavyweight champion burned through hundreds of millions of dollars during his career...

LONE JACK, Mo. -- Residents of a Lone Jack trailer park face a Wednesday deadline to move out of their homes because of the park owner's refusal to pay the city about $20,000 in delinquent sewer bills. A "for sale" sign sits along the gravel lane leading into the Summits Edge community and bright pink notices posted on each trailer warn that the homes are unsafe for habitation...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A prominent Springfield business had to work a little harder Tuesday to keep up with its product. A Monday night thunderstorm knocked out part of its equipment. The victim? The National Weather Service office, which had its Doppler Radar disabled by the storm...

ST. LOUIS -- A letter signed by a member of the St. Louis School Board places a curse on Mayor Francis Slay. The open letter, sent to the press and signed by board member Rochell Moore, is filled with Biblical references. It says the Lord would smite Slay and anyone who helps him because of the position he has taken against the city's public schools. It says, in part, that "the angel of the Lord shall pursue Francis Slay until he perishes."...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis police said they have given up hope of finding alive a severely disabled child who disappeared two months ago, although they are still actively involved in the case. Christian Ferguson disappeared under strange circumstances nearly eight weeks ago, and attempts to locate the 9-year-old have turned up nothing...

EDWARDS, Mo. -- Authorities on Tuesday were investigating the fatal stabbing of a Kansas City, Kan., man at The Lake of the Ozarks. Camden County Sheriff's officials said the 45-year-old victim was staying at a lake property when a woman showed up with her teenage son and a 32-year-old man...

IN THE GARDENAnnuals may appear leggy and worn now. These can be cut back had and fertilized to produce a new flush of bloom. Feed mums, asters and other fall-blooming perennials for the last time. Prune to shape hedges for the last time this season...

LONDON -- Parts of Clarence House, the new London home of Prince Charles, his longtime lover and his sons, opens to the public Wednesday for the first time. The Queen Mother Elizabeth lived in the 19th-century mansion until her death, and though it has been refurbished at a cost of $9.7 million, many of her personal touches remain...

HAVANA -- Six of 12 men implicated in the hijacking of a government boat last month were immediately freed upon their return to Cuba, one of the men said Tuesday. Fermin Suarez said Cuban authorities let him walk free, but his 27-year-old son was among the six still in custody in the provincial capital of Camaguey pending trial on robbery charges...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An American civilian delivering mail to the U.S. Army died Tuesday when his truck was blown apart by a remote control bomb north of Tikrit, the military and his employer said. Also, angry residents of the city of Fallujah attacked an Iraqi police station for the second straight day, slightly injuring an American soldier who joined police in trying to fight off the attackers, who were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons...

JERUSALEM -- The Palestinians called off a summit this week with the Israeli prime minister to show their dissatisfaction with Israel's plans for a prisoner release. One Palestinian lawmaker Tuesday warned of a "major crisis," calling for quick U.S. intervention...

JERUSALEM -- A leading U.S. congressman on Tuesday accused Yasser Arafat of hampering peace efforts and told the new Palestinian prime minister he must take responsibility and strike a deal with Israel. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who is leading 29 House Democrats in a weeklong tour of Israel to discuss the Mideast peace process, made his comments after separate meetings with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon...

CAIRO, Egypt -- Arab League members decided Tuesday not to recognize Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council, saying they will wait until a government is elected. Arab officials welcomed the council's creation as a first step toward new leadership in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. But the decision Tuesday showed that Arab governments are keeping some distance from the body -- dismissed by many in Iraq and across the Arab world as a puppet of Iraq's U.S. and British occupiers...

NYANDA, Congo -- French troops on helicopter patrol over the lush green savannah of troubled northeastern Congo stopped a massacre in progress Tuesday in a remote village, although nine villagers died, residents said. The attack began before dawn when Lendu tribal fighters armed with automatic weapons and machetes raided this tiny village of the Hema tribe from two directions, chief Nguna Manasse said...

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Desperately needed aid flowed toward Liberia's capital Tuesday as the arrival of West African peacekeeping troops brought a dramatic easing of two weeks of gunbattles in the rebel-besieged city. Nigerian troops began arriving Monday at the vanguard of what will be a 3,250 strong force seeking to end 14 years of carnage and usher warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor into exile...

Maintenance blamed for fatal Amtrak crash WASHINGTON -- Poor track maintenance caused the fatal crash of the Amtrak Auto Train in Florida last year, federal investigators said Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board unanimously approved a report saying the track's owners, CSX Transportation, did not ensure the track was properly aligned and had adequate supports...

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Episcopal Church voted Tuesday to approve the election of its first openly gay bishop, a decision that risks splitting the denomination and shattering ties with its sister churches worldwide. After a delay caused by allegations that he inappropriately touched another man and was affiliated with a Web site that indirectly linked users to porn, the Episcopal General Convention confirmed the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire...

Fans can't always get what they want in Spain MADRID, Spain -- The Rolling Stones suspended a concert in the Spanish tourist resort town of Benidorm after 60-year-old lead singer Mick Jagger fell ill with laryngitis, organizers said Tuesday. The concert set for later in the day was part of the Stones' "Forty Licks" tour and had been expected to attract some 30,000 spectators at the Foeits Sports Stadium...

MANCHESTER, Vt. -- The man who accused the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop of inappropriately touching him regrets using the word "harassment" in his e-mail, according to a church report released Tuesday. David Lewis described how the Rev. V. Gene Robinson touched him on the arm and back twice in conversation, which made him uncomfortable, according to a report by a bishop who looked into Lewis' complaint...

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- For six months, Mary Nixon and 10 other orphans were relentlessly belittled for every little imperfection in their speech to test the theory that children become stutterers because of psychological pressure. Sixty-four years later, the experience still stings...

The family was poor, living on the Great Plains, and the child had a rare medical condition. "Here's what we can do," the family doctor told them. But it didn't work, recalled Michael Keller, who oversees the libraries at Stanford University. "So the family went to the Internet."...

TOULON, Ill. -- A retired coal miner who was portrayed as a small-town bully was sentenced to death Tuesday for murdering a sheriff's deputy and a couple he had feuded with for years. Judge Scott Shore said Curtis Thompson, 61, showed no remorse for his crimes...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state's Judicial Building within 15 days. The federal judge, who has ruled the 5,300-pound monument violates the constitutional ban on government promotion of religion, lifted a stay he had previously issued while Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore appealed...

If loose lips do indeed sink ships, Quin Snyder is the captain of the Titanic, and Jessica Bunge, Ricky Clemons' ex, is Iceberg Slim. It doesn't look or sound good for the Missouri basketball program right now, as newspaper reporters, Dick Vitale and NCAA investigators get their first look at court-deposition transcripts relating to Clemons' domestic-violence case...

Editor's note: Dan Steska was superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District from 1999 to 2002. By Rebecca Loda ~ The (Bloomington, Ill.) Pantagraph NORMAL, Ill. -- Dan Steska traveled to Mexico last month to improve his Spanish. He didn't expect to change his life...

Our church has just recently finished vacation Bible school, and what a great week it was. The children enjoyed many fun activities but at the same time learned some very important messages. A great portion of the extra activities involved animals. Each night there were different animals that visited the children during their worship time. The children had a good time, and whew, it's over for another year...

MOSCOW -- How do pre-wedding jitters feel in zero gravity? Cosmonaut Yuri Malen-chenko may be about to find out: The International Space Station crewman plans to get married while in orbit this weekend, jilting superiors on Earth who accused him of showboating and advised him to wait...

Whether or not members of the local Episcopal Church agree with the ordination of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, the church's rector says the matter is bound to have some effect on their congregation. "It's a political issue for our country, and for our government and for our president and for the church in this country," said the Rev. Bob Towner, rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Cape Girardeau...

The floors are a new color, the furniture has changed. Even the smell is different. But it's still home, and it's good to be back. That's the sentiment at Jackson's fire and police complex this week as officers unpack from what felt like a nearly 90-day sleepover, said police chief James Humphreys...

The U.S. government now knows the names, addresses and majors of each of the roughly 230 international students at Southeast Missouri State University, the result of a new program intended to keep track of foreign students in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks...

Tina Glastetter just happened to be playing around with her 35 millimeter camera at a friend's wedding in Kelso when she saw what had the potential to be a great picture. Glastetter's image of a woman peeking outside from a window was one of the four semifinalists chosen in the fourth week of the Foto Fest photography contest. Other winners were Maura Leus and Jamie Plouffe, both of Cape Girardeau, and Beth Eeftink of Leopold...

Dennis Roedemeier, director of business development for the state of Missouri, was named chief executive officer of a new Southeast Missouri University Research Foundation and executive director of the new Southeast Missouri State University Innovation Center...

If Americans can perform music by composers Dvorak and Smetana, a Czech-Slovak band should be able to play bluegrass. The bluegrass band Fragment will perform at 8 tonight at the University Center Ballroom. Bluegrass from Czech and Slovak republics actually isn't that far-fetched. The folk music doesn't sound like bluegrass, but their inspirations are identical, says lead singer/bassist Jana Dolakova...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt wants to know: Cardinals or Royals? The state's chief elections official said Tuesday that a mock election will be held at the Missouri State Fair asking attendees whether they favor the St. Louis Cardinals or their Interstate 70 cousins the Kansas City Royals...

From wire reports JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A suspected suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel created lunchtime carnage in Jakarta's business district Tuesday, killing 14 people and wounding 148, setting cars afire and scattering glass shards for blocks in a bloody act of terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim nation...

I'm not sure why, but August seems to be the month when I get many inquiries about planting shade trees. When I make suggestions, I usually include several of the oaks. The response usually goes something like this, "Oaks grow too slow. They won't be big enough for shade until my great grandkids are adults."...

Remote control races offer big competition, only on a smaller scale By Jeremy Joffray ~ Southeast Missourian Trucks line up on a small dirt track, ready for the command to go. Their spare parts are strewn about. The smell of gas is in the air...

ST. LOUIS -- Brad Penny allowed four hits in seven sharp innings as the Florida Marlins beat Woody Williams and the Cardinals 4-0 Tuesday night. Juan Encarnacion was 3-for-4, and Miguel Cabrera and Alex Gonzalez each drove in a run for the Marlins, who have won eight of 10. Florida is 12-5 since the All-Star break to climb into the thick of the NL wild-card race...

Kluesner, Stoverink team for horseshoe win LEOPOLD, Mo. -- Jake Kluesner and Edgar Stoverink teamed to win the Southeast Missouri Horseshoe Association event Sunday at the Knights of Columbus Hall...

Tiger Woods must have grown weary giving the same speech. Whether it was at Kapalua, Pebble Beach or Torrey Pines, the PGA Tour annual awards ceremony always featured the same routine -- Woods accepting another trophy as player of the year, making a crack about surviving a confirmed media slump, reminding everyone that winning a major constitutes a great year...

EAGLE, Colo. -- Across the street from the Eagle County courthouse, a mini-community of satellite trucks and television tents has suddenly sprouted. Inside, final touches were being put on a security plan more suited for a head of state. Kobe Bryant arrives today for his first court hearing in his sexual assault case, a whirlwind appearance that means little legally but has sparked a media frenzy in this otherwise sleepy mountain town...

LOS ANGELES -- Arnold Schwarzenegger ended the suspense Wednesday and jumped into the race for California governor, instantly becoming the best-known of the declared candidates seeking to replace Democrat Gray Davis in a recall. The surprise announcement by the "Terminator" actor, a moderate Republican, capped a day of fast-paced developments in one of the most unpredictable political races in recent history...

MADISON, Ill. -- Several IRL racers have planned appearances around the St. Louis area in preparation for Sunday's Emerson Indy 250 at Gateway International Raceway near Madison, Ill. Tonight at the Casino Queen, Sarah Fisher will sign autographs from 6 to 7 p.m...

10 years ago: Aug. 7, 1993 Predicted crest of 49 feet of Mississippi River fails to arrive, leaving weary river warriors to continue battle against water's assault; river stands at 47.9 feet at 6 p.m.; workers strengthen sandbag levee around Red Star Baptist Church in north Cape Girardeau, and in southwest part of town rising waters begin to threaten more homes in Meadowbrook area along South Kingshighway...

Fehr Daughter to Richard Charles and Rebecca Lynn Fehr Jr. of Farmington, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:12 a.m. Tuesday, July 15, 2003. Name, Emily Noelle. Weight, 6 pounds 9 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Fehr is the former Rebecca Martin, daughter of Tim and Sheila Martin of Cape Girardeau. Fehr is the son of Richard and Cathy Fehr of Cape Girardeau. He is a claims representative with Missouri Farm Bureau...

Clara Mae Doran, 67, of Jackson died Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 25, 1935, in Cabot, Ark., daughter of Fred and Lillie Morris Driskill. She and Oscar L. Doran were married June 14, 1953, in Cabot...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Leslie J. Gremaud, 84, formerly of Perryville, died Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2003, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 12, 1918, in St. Louis, son of Albert T. and Mae Boxdorfer Gremaud. He married Lorna D. Nocker...

Karl W. Schoenebeck, 91, of Jackson died Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 16, 1912, in Wichita, Kan., son of Karl A. and Anna Schmidt Schoene-beck. He and Trula Mary Willa were married July 2, 1939...

Gerald D. Stough, 93, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Ford and Sons Funeral Home was in charge of local arrangements. Kirkpatrick-Behnke Funeral Home in Findlay, Ohio, is in charge of funeral arrangements...

Clinton Armond "Rocky" Reisenbichler Jr., 47, of Jackson died Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Aug. 22, 1955, in Cape Girardeau, son of Clinton Armond and Helen Elizabeth Krahn Reisenbichler. He and Theresa Cronenbold were married March 12, 1983...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Harry "Sonny" Dover, 75, of Jonesboro died Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003, at his home. Hileman Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

GOREVILLE, Ill. -- John J. Stegle, 77, of Goreville died Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2003, at Heartland Regional Medical Center. He was born March 7, 1926, in Cobden, Ill., son of John and Josephine Cerny Stegle. He and Betty Robins were married Jan. 19, 1952...

ANNISTON, Mo. -- Kenny Hudson, 58, of Anniston died Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003, at his home. He was born May 22, 1945, in Anniston, son of Luther and Bernice Pond Hudson. He and Patricia Brown were married April 11, 1980. Hudson was employed at Stanley Muffler Co. in East Prairie, Mo...

B.J. Bradley Jr., 5 years old, of Scott City died Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003, at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He was born, Dec. 6, 1997, at Cape Girardeau, the son of Billy Joe and Nikki Scott Bradley. B.J. played for the Scott City Cubs T-ball team...

No clowns, please IN 1997 as a student at Southeast, I was a part of a drive that stopped SEMO from changing our mascot to an Eagle. We contacted officials from the Cherokee Nation and were told SEMO has always done honorable things and they were proud of what SEMO had done and said they would be interested in being more involved. ...

Scott City moved quickly to fill its vacant head football coach position by promoting first-year assistant coach Jackie Johnson in a special school board meeting Wednesday night, five days before the start of preseason practices. Johnson, the head coach at Caruthersville High School the past four years and defensive coordinator the three previous years, had served as the interim head coach after the recent resignation of Jason Burkman...

Standings for week of July 28 to Aug. 4 Nonprofit Southeast Missouri State University 827.700 City of Cape Girardeau 653.3 Old Town Cape 337.111 Cape Girardeau Public Library 340.222 Lynwood Baptist Church 169.875 Area Wide United Way 211.250 Small business...

WASHINGTON -- In health clubs, hope springs eternal. Membership rosters are full of people who are certain they will show up more often -- but don't. Just the same, the desire to expect better results next time is so strong that people will pay more for memberships rather than have to choose between exercising more and giving up their false hopes, two economists say...

Monroe Hicks and Kenny LoweMonroe Hicks, 19, played football and track at Central High School. He will attend Central Missouri State University on a scholarship. Kenny Lowe, 17, also ran track at Central. What is your favorite exercise/which exercise is the most effective?...

TodaySeminar from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the health issues of the school-age child in Harrison Room at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Fee is $20, and the seminar is approved for 4.7 contact hours from the Missouri Nurses Association; it is designed for school administrators, nurses and counselors. Call 651-5825 to register...

P Owners of computers are getting subpoenas as the result of downloaded music files, which many have been taken illegally from the Internet by relatives. File swappers -- those who illegally download songs on the Internet -- are finally being asked to face the music...

On Aug. 12, Southeast Missouri will have a poised, passionate and worthy representative at the Miss Teen USA pageant. Amber Seyer of Oran, Mo., left last week for Palm Springs, where she has been spending time with the other 49 Miss Teen USA delegates...

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- Dana Corp. chairman Joe Magliochetti said Wednesday his auto parts company feels its recent rejection of rival ArvinMeritor Inc.'s hostile $2.2 billion takeover bid ends the matter and that most Dana shareholders support that decision...

Cape Girardeau Thursday, Aug. 7 Firefighters responded Monday to the following item: At 5:29 p.m., alarm at 1235 S. Kingshighway.Firefighters responded Tuesday to the following items: At 11:20 a.m., medical assist at 2327 Boutin. At 11:34 a.m., medical assist at 724 Themis...

Cape Girardeau Thursday, Aug. 7 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWIn J. Ronald Hayden, 61, of 175 Sunset Lane, Jackson, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated...

Perryville felon pleads to illegally possessing guns A Perryville, Mo., man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to one count of being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Shawn Galeski, 26, also agreed to forfeit seven guns. He appeared before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey in Cape Girardeau...

Name: Shelly Moore Lives in: Cape Girardeau Family: Stafford Moore Sr., Stafford Moore Jr. and Octavius Moore. Job: Executive assistant at the Boys and Girls Club of Cape Girardeau...

Executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Cape Girardeau NaTika Rowes, inspired volunteers surrounding her on an Area Wide United Way tour of the Boys and Girls Club of Cape Girardeau. The club offers hope and oppportunity for young people by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.Southeast Missourian...

Singles in Agriculture is a national nonprofit organization organized in 1986 for single women and men with agriculture-related business backgrounds to get together and meet one another. All farm men and women 18 and over who were or are employed in farming or with agriculture-related backgrounds are strongly encouraged to attend...

Jackson High School alumni extend reunion The Jackson High School alumni reunion of Aug. 15 for 1926 to 1956 classes will continue sharing memories at noon Aug. 16 at Jackson City Park shelter No. 6. The shelter is up the hill from the park entrance on North High and Park Streets. Bring your own refreshments for an extended reunion...

CHRIS PAGANO * cpagano@semissourian.com The local American Red Cross elected new officers at its July 31 annual meeting. Seated, from left, were Mary Burton, executive director; Donna Denson, vice chairman; Allen Phillips, secretary; and Nancy Browne, past chairman. ...

WASHINGTON -- The FBI is warning security personnel about dozens of everyday items -- from belt buckles to keys to a deadly deck of cards -- that can conceal knives or other weapons terrorists could use to hijack an airliner. Many items cost less than $20 and can be difficult to detect using airport screening devices, according to an FBI statement accompanying the 89-page catalog obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press...

WASHINGTON -- A study found all drivers fiddle with their radios or engage in other distracting behavior, even when they're being watched as part of a study on distracted drivers. Cell phones were not the major distraction, the study found. Only 30 percent of the subjects used a cell phone while their vehicle was moving, compared with 97 percent who leaned over to reach for something and 91 percent who fiddled with radio controls...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars had their third heat-related injury of the preseason Wednesday when wide receiver Donald Hayes dropped to a knee at the end of practice. The Jaguars had just completed a 90-minute practice session and were divided into position groups when Hayes dropped and began struggling with the 82-degree heat. Hayes, 28, never lost consciousness but started to spasm from cramps...

Boris Said has had enough of being a road racing "hired gun." He wants to be a full-time driver on NASCAR's top circuit. "I'm going to try my hardest to make it happen," he said. Said is one of several road racing specialists hired regularly by NASCAR teams to drive in the events at Sonoma, Calif., and Watkins Glen, N.Y., the only road circuits on the Winston Cup schedule...

CLAYTON, Mo. -- Sen. Kit Bond hopes to secure $200 million per year more for Missouri's roads and highways in the next federal highway bill, the Republican said Wednesday. Bond spoke to a group of civic and political leaders at Clayton High School, where he hosted a Transportation Town Hall Forum...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Slightly fewer health-care jobs went unfilled this year, but a new report found Missouri still needs more nurses to address increased demand from aging baby boomers. The report from the Missouri Hospital Association found the percentage of unfilled health-care jobs dipped to 9.3 percent this year from 10.2 percent last year. The report also looked specifically at nursing vacancies, which dropped slightly to 10 percent from last year's 11.1 percent...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A former Veterans Affairs hospital nurse who was accused of killing 10 patients in 1992 walked free Wednesday after prosecutors said the tests that led to charges against him were flawed. Richard Williams, 37, was released from the county jail Wednesday morning after Boone County Prosecutor Kevin Crane asked that the charges be dismissed. ...

Officials in southwest Missouri's Ozark school district went to work Wednesday to find 10 new teachers for the upcoming school year, after voters narrowly approved a 49-cent property tax levy increase for the district. Ozark and other school districts were celebrating after Tuesday's elections, but results of elections were not as positive in other districts where officials were hoping for help from voters as they struggle with decreased state funding for education...

TARQUMIYA CHECKPOINT, West Bank -- Israel freed 334 Palestinian prisoners in a bid to jump-start halting peace efforts -- but the gesture fell flat among Palestinians, who had hoped for a mass release and said authorities chose mostly prisoners whose terms were about to expire anyway...

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Attackers used a mobile phone to detonate the car bomb at Jakarta's Marriott Hotel, the same method used by al-Qaida-linked bombers on the tourist island of Bali last fall, police said Wednesday. Other similarities, including the use of the same types of explosives in both attacks, could connect the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah to the blast Tuesday that killed up to 14 people, authorities said...

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Microsoft is still trying to monopolize new markets even after settling the landmark antitrust case in the United States, the European Union charged Wednesday as it prepared to demand its own concessions from the U.S. software giant...

DUBLIN, Ireland -- An anti-terrorist court, accepting the testimony of a paid FBI informer, convicted the alleged leader of a dissident Irish Republican Army faction on Wednesday of directing terrorism -- the first such conviction in Irish history. Michael McKevitt, 53, also was found guilty of membership in an illegal organization, the Real IRA, which was involved in the deadliest explosion in Northern Ireland's three decades of violence...

BRASILIA, Brazil -- Rock-throwing protesters clashed with riot police in front of Congress on Wednesday in a demonstration against a pension reform bill intended to save South America's largest country billions of dollars. The march by an estimated 50,000 government workers started peacefully, but ended in violence after hundreds broke through police barricades and hurled rocks toward Congress. At least four protesters were hurt...

Roadways buckled under the scorching sun in Germany, water levels on the Danube and other rivers dropped and wildfires forced tourists and residents to flee Wednesday as record-breaking heat, blamed for at least 37 deaths, tormented Europe. Londoners experienced the hottest day in the city's history when the temperature hit 95.7 degrees Fahrenheit, beating the 95 degrees recorded in 1990...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. forces in Iraq say they're more concerned about guerrilla attacks and the heat than about a pneumonia outbreak that has killed two soldiers and sent more than a dozen to Europe for care. In Washington, military health-care experts say they have issued new guidelines to fight the illness, but more than a dozen soldiers interviewed Wednesday in Baghdad and Tikrit said they haven't seen them...

TIKRIT, Iraq -- U.S. forces captured four suspected leaders of the anti-U.S. resistance in Iraq during pre-dawn raids early today, the military said, a day after the Americans netted 18 suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists and found a huge stockpile of weapons...

NEW YORK -- A blazing building? Not a problem for New York City firefighters. A firehouse infested with vermin? Well, that's a rat of a different color. Horrified members of New York's bravest have temporarily abandoned a firehouse because of a massive rat infestation, and fire officials say the building must be gutted to eliminate the pervasive rodent population...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Conservative opponents of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop protested Wednesday by boycotting legislative sessions, turning in their convention credentials and dropping to their knees in prayer as one of their leaders denounced his election...

HOUSTON -- Heavy turbulence shook a trans-Atlantic flight Wednesday, sending 28 people to hospitals after the Lufthansa jet reached its destination, Bush Intercontinental Airport. The injuries were not thought to be serious. Lufthansa Flight 440, which originated from Frankfurt, Germany, experienced "some pretty bad turbulence," said Ernie DeSoto, spokesman for the airport...

Raquel Welch separates from fourth husband LOS ANGELES -- Raquel Welch has separated from husband Richard Palmer, her publicist said. The "Fantastic Voyage" actress married Palmer, her fourth husband, in 1999 at her Beverly Hills home. Palmer owns the Mulberry Street Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills and Richie's Neighborhood Pizza stores...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Though some local Republicans have approached him about running for circuit court judge next year, state Rep. Scott Lipke said he will likely seek a second term in the House of Representatives. The idea of pursuing a spot on the bench never occurred to him, said Lipke, R-Jackson, until it was raised by supporters...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Following a major reorganization necessitated by three years of budget cuts, Missouri Department of Economic Development officials hope to create a streamlined and more efficient agency. But department director Joe Driskill acknowledged it will no longer be able to offer all of the services businesses used in the past...

If there was any doubt whether the Czech band Fragment really can play bluegrass it was wiped away Wednesday night, just like the tears lead singer Jana Dolakova pretended not to dab from her eyes at the end of her haunting reading of the traditional "Wayfaring Stranger."...