Stories from October 2006

The Iraq war is a "supreme international crime" and America will either leave voluntarily soon or be driven out by escalating violence in a debacle that will rival Vietnam, a former top analyst with the CIA said Saturday. In a speech lasting more than 90 minutes, Ray McGovern, who retired after 27 years with the spy agency, suggested that impeachment of President George Bush should be considered and that the latest legislation on fighting terrorism is shredding constitutional rights...

Republican leaders in Washington, D.C., and Jefferson City came under fire Saturday for the ballooning federal debt, unclear war aims and indifference to the plight of working people, the poor and disabled during a Democratic Party picnic in County Park...

For almost 10 years, professor Bonnie Stepenoff of Southeast Missouri State University has led students to historic Ste. Genevieve for field research. They've done notable excavation on the Dellasus-Kern house and examined records of the town's free black population before the Civil War...

The air is a little brisk and the sun is autumn bright. It's a perfect day to take a drive to see fall foliage. Urban forester Rocky Hayes of the Missouri Department of Conservation suggests the best views are those along the river bluffs where different species of trees grow at different levels, creating a diverse palette of color...

Race isn't a barrier in the Bright household; it's a bond that brings the family together every February to celebrate Black History Month. It's a bond that creates an opportunity for the Brights to learn about positive black role models like Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It's also a bond that makes it difficult for Kelly and Scott Bright, a white couple, to teach their three adopted biracial children -- Lily, Sophie and Reece -- about discrimination and prejudice...

KENTON, Ohio -- It was a prank that went horribly wrong. And now a third teen accused of putting a deer decoy on a country road as a prank, causing a crash that seriously injured two people, has been sentenced to 60 days in a juvenile detention center...

BAILEY, Colo. -- The family of a 16-year-old girl who was held hostage, assaulted and killed at her school urged mourners Saturday to remember her with random acts of kindness and not negative thoughts. "We have the power to do this," family spokesman Louis Gonzales said. "Let's take the random act that has occurred and turn it to random acts of kindness."...

BRASILIA, Brazil -- Military helicopters lowered a rescue team by rope Saturday into the remote Amazon jungle site where an airliner slammed into the ground, but authorities held out little hope of finding survivors among the 155 people on board. The team began clearing dense vegetation near the wreckage site so a helicopter could land...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The interim prime minister hand-picked by Thailand's military commanders is expected to be formally announced and sworn in today after the country's king gives his approval, television editors said Saturday. The choice is expected to be former army commander Surayud Chulanont. But so far, Surayud has refused to comment on his possible appointment and the military council has yet to release a name...

ST. LOUIS -- Police officers might be forced to dig out their notes and re-create parts of a week's worth or more of reports on crime and traffic crashes after the department's computer system crashed. The worst-case scenario is that the narrative portions of as many as 6,000 records may be missing, said Barbara Wright, executive director of planning and technology for the department...

PINEVILLE, Mo. -- Most of the child-sex charges filed against two southwest Missouri church leaders have been dropped because of the statute of limitations. And a Missouri Supreme Court decision expected in coming months will determine whether the remaining charges will be dropped as well...

ST. LOUIS -- Before Saturday, Scott Spiezio's numbers as a pinch-hitter from the left side were just as futile as the St. Louis Cardinals' record the last few weeks. After Spiezio's bases-loaded triple in the eighth inning beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2, both his 1-for-20 slump and his team's late-season swoon are on the verge of becoming footnotes. ...

ST. LOUIS -- The coach known as Mad Mike when he directed the high-powered St. Louis Rams has a much lower profile in his new job. The Detroit Lions did not make Mike Martz, on the comeback trail as an offensive coordinator, available to the media before today's game against the team he led to two Super Bowls. New coach Rod Marinelli downplayed the St. Louis connection...

GULFPORT, Miss. -- The Island View Casino has opened on the former site of the Grand Casino, marking the return of gambling to Gulfport, post-Katrina. The casino's owners, Rick Cartner and Terry Green, both Gulfport natives, started out in the business with an old cruise ship, the Copa Casino. They later replaced it with a gambling barge that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Fried grits, down-home blues and a new luxury hotel will be central to the newest development taking shape in the city's famed Beale Street entertainment district. The $52 million project, called Lee's Landing, will include Beale Street's first hotel -- with a top floor fitted out with oversized rooms for pro basketball players -- and a Ground Zero Blues Club...

PUTNAM, Conn. -- Until about 15 years ago, Putnam, was just another old industrial town with abandoned mills and a faded downtown. Parts of Putnam that had been destroyed by a flood in 1955 had never recovered. But today, Putnam's downtown is a haven for antiques shoppers. ...

WASHINGTON -- Congress has wrapped up, but it hasn't crossed off everything on the to-do list. The Republican incumbents reapplying for their jobs in the House and Senate will have some explaining to do on the campaign trail. They cannot blame all the unfinished business on Democrats. Not with one of their own in the White House. Or with 11 years of uninterrupted GOP control of the House. Or with the Senate, for all but two of those years, run by Republicans...

WASHINGTON -- In a scandal guaranteed to anger parents, a prominent House Republican has resigned after the revelation that he exchanged raunchy electronic messages with a teenage boy, a former congressional page who was 16 at the time. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who is single, apologized Friday for letting down his family and constituents. ...

Jackson City Park was alive with Scouting activities when the first Cuboree was held throughout the park Saturday. Shawnee District executive Bill Crowell said the objective of the event, held after the fall membership drive held at schools, was to give new recruits and potential recruits to Scouting a "really good first event." More that 100 Scouts registered. With parents, sisters and brothers added in, the event drew about 300...

U.S., EU don't agree on passenger data transfer; China has new outbreak of bird flu in poultry

Famous New Orleans restaurant reopens; Hurricane Isaac forms in central Atlantic

Cape Girardeau...

Big storms like hurricanes make big headlines, but the suffering of those whose lives are shattered by the forces of nature is no less in Crosstown, Mo., than in New Orleans, La. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a great deal of attention was focused on rescue and relief efforts. ...

NEW YORK -- Gather 'round, boys and girls, for a titillating Halloween tale: The Petrified Body of Lake Placid. Mabel Douglass was the first dean of the New Jersey College for Women, which was renamed in her honor back in 1955. But in 1933, she was a retiree who went out in a canoe one day -- and simply disappeared...

After having six punts blocked last year, Southeast Missouri State had gone through the first three games of this season without suffering that fate one time. But when Samford came up with its second block of Saturday night's contest -- both in the fourth quarter -- the Bulldogs appeared poised to hand the Redhawks a demoralizing defeat...

To the editor: The extensive media campaign by the proponents of Amendment 2 would lead one to conclude that its passage would unleash a torrent of treatments for multiple disabling diseases and provide an economic boost for Missouri as well. Animal embryonic stem-cell research has been ongoing since 1981 (human embryonic stem-cell research since 1998), and there are still no viable cures or treatments. ...

Good message; Inflation cuts gain; Reason not to litter; Sign is a tradition; Sales competition; Memorial reminder; Mow the weeds; Union salaries; Issue education

Paul Leonard Allison, 71, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 27, 1935, in Cape Girardeau, the son of Robert William and Christine Glueck Allison. He and Catherine Gaither Allison were married on Sept. 5, 1961, in Cape Girardeau...

Mildred Vangilder, 87, of Jackson died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, at Jackson Manor. She was born Aug. 30, 1919, in Pocahontas, daughter of Lawrence E. and Ruth Henderson Martin. She and Russell Vangilder were married Nov. 24, 1944. He died March 12, 1988...

Fannie C. Langdon, 90, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 24, 1915, in St. Clair County, Mo., daughter of Jacob Eugene and Fannie Settle West. She and James Alva Langdon were married May 20, 1937, at Benton, Mo. He died Nov. 7, 1955...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Fred Eugene "Freddie Bender" Tubbs, 49, of Charleston died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, in Charleston. He was born May 20, 1957, at Wyatt, Mo. He worked on the river and with Dugan Farms. Survivors include his father, Fred Eugene Bender Sr. ...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Sarah Jane Keller, 90, of Perryville, died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006 at Perry Oaks Manor in Perryville. She was born Aug. 26, 1916 in Perry County, daughter of Joel Whitman and Pearl Heistand Cash. She and Frank Keller were married in June 1934 at Chester, Ill. He died Oct. 18, 1986...

JOLIET, Ill. -- Georgianna Foster Papanek of Joliet, formerly of Olive Branch, Ill., died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006 ,at Rosewood Care Center in Joliet. Arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms, Ill.

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Judy A. Everly, 61, of East Prairie, formerly of Mounds, Ill., died Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 16, 1945, at Cairo, Ill., daughter of Doyle and Melissa Marie Ellis Jordan...

Rusby Gene Adams, 82, of Jackson died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Aug. 5, 1924, at Pocahontas, son of Archie and Elsie Moore Adams. He and Mildred Sebastian were married Oct. 31, 1947. She died Nov. 10, 1995. He married Melvadean Kiefer Aug. 5, 1999...

PADUCAH, Ky. -- James McCollum, 87, of Paducah, formerly of Cairo, Ill., died Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah. McCollum attended Cairo schools. He served in World War II, taking part in the battle of Saipan. McCollum graduated from Indiana Technical College in Fort Wayne, Ind., with a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering. He was a member of Kappa Sigma Kappa Fraternity, the Elks Club and Cairo Baptist Church...

ANNA, Ill. -- Homer W. Fuller, 88, of Anna died Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, at his home. He was born June 6, 1918, at Harco, Ill., son of Augustus and Grace Bell Garrison Fuller. He and Juanita Brimm were married June 7, 1941, at Jackson. Fuller was a retired truck driver from Bunny Bread Co. in Anna, a member of the Anna Masonic Lodge AF&AM, a member of Teamsters Local 347, a member of the men's auxiliary of VFW Post 3455 and past member of Anna Moose Lodge 1346...

Judd W. Wilson, 94, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center. Graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Walker Hill Cemetery at Grand Tower, Ill. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Amy Nicole Canady and Thomas Bosco Knaup were united in marriage Aug. 12, 2006, at St. Mary's Cathedral. Celebrant was the Rev. Patrick Nwokoye, and con-celebrants were the Rev. Thomas Kiefer and Monsignor Richard Rolwing. Eucharistic ministers were Marla Kunz and Karen Rife, sisters of the groom, and Ann Knaup, aunt of the groom...

Jocelyn Kendrick and Ross Andrew Bennett were united in marriage July 29, 2006, at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Hannibal, Mo. The Rev. Paul Short performed the ceremony. Vocalists were Sherry Mack of Hannibal, Connie Walker of Monroe City, Mo., Debby Stout of Independence, Mo., the bride, sisters of the bride and groom, and Patrick Hedges of Hannibal. ...

Kristin Marie Riley and Anthony James Riley were married July 29, 2006, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. The Rev. Charlie Prost performed the ceremony. Organist was Lenny Kuper, soloist was Mike Renick, and string music was provided by Trio Girardeaux, all of Cape Girardeau...

Shannon Elizabeth Tally and Dewayne McAlister Jr. exchanged vows May 27, 2006, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The Rev. Phillip Roop performed the ceremony. Soloist was Allen McKendree of Nashville, Tenn. Parents of the couple are Ben and Jo Tally, and Dewayne and Lana McAlister, all of Cape Girardeau...

Troy and Debbie Little of Cape Girardeau announce the engagement of their daughter, Amy Beth Little, to Christopher Boyd Slinkard. He is the son of Don and Carol Slinkard of Whitewater. Little is a 2001 graduate of Central High School, and attended Southeast Missouri State University. She is employed at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

Earl and Marsha Fehr of Scott City announce the engagement of their daughter, Hailey Christina Fehr, to Aaron William Simmers. He is the son of Tim and Sharon Simmers of Cape Girardeau. Fehr is a 2001 graduate of Scott City High School. She received a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University in 2005. She is employed at Security Bank and Trust Co...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Tim and Betty Hill of Advance announce the engagement of their daughter, Stephanie Dawn Hill, to Charles Lynn Bess. He is the son of James and Dana Wade of Zalma, Mo., and Brian Bess of Advance. Hill is a 2000 graduate of Advance High School. She is a medical technician at Heartland Care and Rehab...

Gina M. Bradshaw and Scott G. Leimer announce their engagement. She is the daughter of Patty Bradshaw of Kelso, Mo., and Ron Bradshaw of New Hamburg, Mo. Leimer is the son of Herb and Dorthy Leimer of Jackson. Bradshaw is a graduate of Notre Dame Regional High School. She received a bachelor's degree in general studies from Southeast Missouri State University in May 2006...

Susan Puckett of Jackson and Gary Ciluffo of Vincennes, Ind., announce the engagement of their daughter, Christina Marie Ciluffo, to Ryan Eugene Parker. He is the son of Robert and Charlotte Parker of O'Fallon, Mo. Ciluffo is a 1999 graduate of Vincennes Lincoln High School. She received a bachelor of science degree in communication from Southeast Missouri State University in 2005. She is hospitality services manager with AVP in St. Charles, Mo...

Dr. and Mrs. Robert L. Cox Sr. of Cape Girardeau celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a reception July 23, 2006, at Illmo Baptist Church in Scott City. Hosts were their children. Cox and Betty Lou Scott were married June 3, 1956, in the Federated Church in Mound City, Kan., by the Rev. Homer Keith. Their attendants were the bride's sisters and the groom's brother...

Mr. and Mrs. Harry F. Bertrand of Cape Girardeau recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They were honored by their children and spouses and grandchildren with several family events. These included trips to western and southern states, and dinner at Ray's...

25 years ago: Oct. 1, 1981 According to recent studies financed by the highway industry, two-thirds of Missouri's bridges (those over 20 feet in length) are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete; Missouri ranks fourth nationwide in the highest percentage of deficient bridges...

A new bill will allow local coroners to work together more easily to sort through the wreckage when tornadoes and earthquakes destroy towns and swallow up neighborhoods. Up until a month ago, Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Clifton would have been understaffed to handle a catastrophe that would include multiple casualties...

CAZENOVIA, Wis. -- A student charged in the shooting death of his school principal was a normal teenager but often bragged about getting into trouble, a neighbor said Saturday as this tiny farm town struggled to come to terms with the attack. Eric Hainstock, 15, told police he gunned down Weston School's principal John Klang before classes began Friday because he was upset with a reprimand Klang had given him, according to a criminal complaint charging him with first-degree intentional homicide. ...

MORA, Mo. -- Plans for a large hog Cargill operation that has pitted neighbors against each other in Benton County is apparently headed for the slaughterhouse. Sarah Meade, who planned with her husband, Travis, to build a 2,490-head wean-to-finish hog operation on their family farm south of Mora, told the Benton County Health Board this week that they were abandoning their plan...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Moderate Muslims must take a stand against extremists, speakers said Saturday at a conference marking a year since the publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons that led to violent demonstrations in Muslim countries. The 12 drawings, first published in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, were reprinted in several European countries four months later, prompting angry mobs to attack Western embassies in countries including Lebanon, Iran and Indonesia...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- An Israeli airstrike Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip killed two Palestinian militants and wounded three people, medical officials said. The airstrike took place in Rafah, which borders Egypt. Medical officials said two members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades -- a violent group linked to President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party -- were killed. Two people were seriously wounded, and a 6-year-old boy was wounded in the legs...

LAVAL, Quebec -- An overpass near Montreal collapsed Saturday, crushing two cars whose occupants were feared dead, authorities said. At least five people were injured. Drivers on Highway 19 slammed on their brakes and watched in horror as the overpass slowly collapsed, sending cars plunging and crushing at least two vehicles. Quebec provincial police did not confirm any deaths but spokeswoman Chantal Mackels said police believed it was unlikely that anyone in the two crushed cars survived...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy pedestrian alley next to Afghanistan's Interior Ministry on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens, officials said. It was the second major suicide attack in Kabul this month, underscoring the rising danger in the once-calm capital as militants step up attacks across the country...

The MedAssets team held off Yellow Book to win the Corporate Games title in Division 2 for smaller companies competing in the annual Olympic-style event. Two weeks of competitive and recreational activities concluded Friday night witht trivia and a mystery event. The Corporate Games, which pits teams of employees representing their companies int competition, is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department...

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team had to settle for a split during its road trip to Kentucky. After sweeping defending Ohio Valley Conference co-champion Eastern Kentucky Friday night, the Redhawks suffered a four-game loss to Morehead State on Saturday...

Central sophomore Brittany Moreland paced the Central girls cross country team Saturday with a third-place finish at the Parkway West Invitational. Moreland finished in 19 minutes, 11 seconds. The Tigers finished 10th in the team standings. Notre Dame de Sion was first...

The Notre Dame boys cross country team finally got the Class 3 test it had been seeking Saturday, squaring off against powerhouse West Plains at the Notre Dame Invitational. The Bulldogs, defending Class 2 state champions, had been undefeated this season, bringing home four team titles...

It had been hard for me to get a good read on this Southeast Missouri State football team through three games. The Redhawks had beaten two teams I expected them to beat -- Austin Peay and Missouri-Rolla -- and lost as I expected to Jacksonville State...

Cowboys 45, Titans 14: In a game that featured the first NFL start for Tennessee rookie Vince Young, Drew Bledsoe and Glenn hooked up on two 13-yard touchdown passes Sunday and Dallas beat the Titans (0-4). Julius Jones ran 23 times for 122 yards and a touchdown...

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Some dollar bills offer profanity, crude sketches and inside jokes. Others offer the heartfelt, celebrate a marriage or honor a fallen soldier. Hundreds have added their personalized bills to the walls of O'Malley's Alley since the Irish-themed pub opened in Aggieville eight years ago. This increasing collection of marred currency allows O'Malley's patrons -- locals, soldiers and students -- to leave their mark...

MIAMI -- Federal agents questioned two airline passengers Wednesday after a dispute that began when a man sprayed the person sitting next to him with perfume, authorities said. The two men, who were not arrested, were aboard an American Airlines flight from Lima, Peru, to Miami when the confrontation took place, Miami FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said. ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- With each passing week, Missouri is looking more and more like a pretty decent team. The 25th-ranked Tigers beat Colorado 28-13 in their Big 12 Conference opener Saturday to improve to 5-0 and match their best start in a quarter-century...

Tony Samuel used two quarterbacks quite a bit when he was the head coach at New Mexico State and he has said all along he wouldn't mind doing the same thing in his first season at Southeast Missouri State. Samuel finally pulled the trigger on that idea Saturday night as sophomore Markus Mosley saw his first real action of the season...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite the recent E. coli spinach outbreak, food may be safer now than at any other time in the last decade, with illness occurring at record-low rates, new federal statistics show. Consumers get part of the credit, for handling food more safely at home, but experts say the biggest improvement came from better industry controls and inspections...

Area high school students will march through the streets of Jackson on Tuesday. The 62nd annual Jackson Marching Band Festival parade begins at 4 p.m. and will travel from the high school down High, Main and Russell streets before returning to the school. ...

Jackson's annual fall cleanup week begins today and runs through Friday. During the week, the Jackson Sanitation Department's three-bag limit is not enforced. There will be a four-cubic-yard limit on the amount of trash collected. All items must be placed on the curb by 8 a.m. ...

The Scott City Council is expected to decide tonight whether to renew or revoke liquor licenses for two businesses that repeatedly sold alcohol to minors in police checks late last year and early this year. In early July the council unanimously voted to place Larry's Store 24 on Main Street and Rhodes Travel Center on Nash Road on extended licenses pending two stipulations. ...

Sometimes a simple question can launch some unexpected actions. In June, Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones received a message from his counterpart in Daviess County, who wanted to know how to get into the cornerstone of his courthouse...

As assistant director of human resources at Southeast Missouri State University, Alissa Vandeven has seen substantial increases in health insurance premiums over the last few years. Next year will be no exception as the 1,200 employees at the university are facing a 10 percent increase in 2007...

ST. LOUIS -- With the architect of the "Greatest Show" on the other side of the turf, new St. Louis Rams coach Scott Linehan showed his team can win a shootout, too. The Rams rallied from behind three times, then benefited from an overturned pass interference penalty in the waning seconds to beat Detroit 41-34 on Sunday...

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals won another NL Central title with a team still running in reverse. There was no sign of distress in a raucous clubhouse, though, with champagne spraying in every direction after the Cardinals backed into their third straight division championship and averted perhaps the biggest September collapse in major league history...

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- A teen engineering prodigy who gained national attention in 2002 when he and his family received identification chip implants on live television was killed in a motorcycle accident, authorities said. Derek Jacobs, 18, lost control of his motorcycle early Saturday and crashed into a guardrail and a pole, the Palm Beach County sheriff's office said. He was wearing a helmet...

BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Can Nike Inc. and this growing suburb ever be good neighbors again? After the "smoking gun?" After running up a legal bill of about $1.1 million over a file less than a couple dozen pages thick? And, oh, how about the judge finding the city in contempt?...

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. -- A three-vehicle crash in Southern Illinois killed six people, including five family members, authorities said Sunday. The chain-reaction crash, which also injured two others, happened Saturday evening near Belleville, Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Roger Hayes said...

LOS ANGELES -- Mel Gibson's DUI arrest was a "big wake-up call" for Robin Williams, the funnyman tells "Access Hollywood" in an interview scheduled to air today. "If you're violating your standards faster than you can lower them, time to go away," he said...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Still stewing over the legislative failure of one his hallmark proposals, Gov. Matt Blunt decided last May to simply bypass those bickering lawmakers. His grand plan to construct buildings at every public university in Missouri -- financed through the profits of Missouri's student loan agency -- would move forward regardless. He would pursue a direct transfer of the money from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority to universities...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Missouri State University president Michael Nietzel wants to give rural high school students in the state a better chance at becoming scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Nietzel is proposing to open an Innovation Academy that would bring rural and low-income students from across the state, with an interest in the sciences, to Missouri State for a three-week summer camp...

CHANDLER'S CROSS, England -- Good news for the rest of golf: Tiger Woods is going on vacation. A streak that began 10 weeks ago on the sun-baked links of Hoylake reached six straight PGA Tour victories on the rain-drenched fairways north of London on Sunday when Woods went wire-to-wire in the American Express Championship. He became the first player in tour history to win at least eight times in three seasons...

WASHINGTON -- The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress called Sunday for a criminal probe into former Rep. Mark Foley's electronic messages to teenage boys -- a lurid scandal that has put House Republicans in political peril. White House counselor Dan Bartlett called the allegations against Foley shocking. He said President Bush hadn't learned of Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a 16-year-old boy and instant messages to other boys before the news broke last week...

WASHINGTON -- The FBI's top counterterrorism official harbors lots of concerns: weapons of mass destruction, undetected homegrown terrorists and the possibility that old-fashioned mobsters will team up with al-Qaida for the right price. Though there is no direct evidence yet of organized crime collaborating with terrorists, the first hints of a connection surfaced in a recent undercover FBI operation. ...

Wilferth graduates from Reserve basic training...

Whole-hog sausage supper planned Oct. 15; Benefit supper set for Saxony, LLL scholarship

Several organizations and individuals were recognized at the LFCS Faith in Action dinner for their continuous support throughout the years. The event was held Sept. 24 at the Drury Lodge. In honor of the Rev. Walter J. Keisker, who for 30 years served as pastor of St. ...

For Wes Kinsey, the Best of St. Louis Best of Missouri Market was something of a business saver. A few years back, My Daddy's Cheesecake was treading water. Rumors circulated that it was going to have to close. But then Kinsey met representatives from Dierbergs, the St. Louis-based grocery store chain...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- It's getting hard to grow oranges in the Sunshine State. Monthslong droughts are broken by nasty hurricane seasons. Three diseases that kill and damage citrus trees and fruit continue to spread. Urban sprawl is taking over groves, and there are now fewer acres of trees than any time since 1988, when a wave of freezes crippled the industry...

If you've been in downtown Cape Girardeau recently, particularly in the area of the huge parking lot and pavilion in front of the floodwall that will soon display a new Wall of Fame mural, you have seen all the construction going on. The plan is to improve traffic flow through the parking areas and spruce up an otherwise ordinary expanse of concrete...

Dog or medicine; Candidates' views; Nutrition and learning; Society's problems; Teenage drivers; Driving distractions; School sales; Better alternative; Give us guidelines; Run with an apple; Don't want the truth; Congrats on awards; Too rational; Train's coming; Grants for sidewalks; Proud to serve

Judd W. Wilson, 94, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Aug. 18, 1912, in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, the son of Judd E. and Mary J. Pitts Wilson. He first married Viola Wilson. She preceded him in death in December of 2000. He then married Alice M. Maple in 2002 in St. Petersburg, Fla. She preceded him in death in 2004...

Delores "Dee" Medley Gettings, 60, of Scott City formerly of Sikeston, Mo., died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, at the Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 21, 1946, in Delta, the daughter of the late Russell L. and Iva Driskill Medley...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Eva M. Davis, 77, of Tamms, Ill., died Sunday, Oct. 1, 2006, at the Daystar Care Center in Cairo. She was born Feb. 13, 1929, in Hardin County, Tenn., the daughter of John Henry and Beulah Flat Pearson. She and Floyd Davis were married. He died in 1974...

Melvin A. Lorenz, 84, of Shawneetown died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson and after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Shawneetown...

Winniefred C. Stout, 94, of Mound City, Ill., died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 14, 1911, in New York City, daughter of James A. and Bessie Hogg Connell. She and J. Paul Stout were married and he preceded her in death...

25 years ago: Oct. 2, 1981 Cape Girardeau County lost 3,000 acres of farmland to housing and other rural developments last year, according to statistics presented at a hearing of the Missouri House Select Interim Committee on the Preservation of Agricultural Land held in Cape Girardeau yesterday...

MARWAHEEN, Lebanon -- The U.N. called Israel's pullout from nearly all of south Lebanon on Sunday "significant progress." But sources of friction remained: Israel still holds the Lebanese part of a divided border village and its planes patrol Lebanon's airspace...

HAVANA, Ill. -- They've witnessed nearly two dozen young bald eagles fledge from their nests and have marveled at ungainly American pelicans that manage to fly in graceful undulating lines. But it's the chance to lend a hand to birds along the Illinois River that keeps them coming back...

Minister Louis Farrakhan, ailing and in seclusion at his Michigan home, has ceded leadership of the Nation of Islam to an executive board while he recovers, saying the movement must prove that it "is more than the charisma, eloquence and personality" of one person...

The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt....

Cape Girardeau...

AARP 4041 to meet today at Grace UMC The Cape Girardeau County chapter of AARP 4041 will meet at 1:30 p.m. today at Grace United Methodist Church, Broadway and Caruthers Avenue. The program will be a candidates forum. A door prize drawing will be held...

CHICAGO -- When Susan Connor's 3-year-old son started humming the McDonald's jingle, a research project was born. Connor knew where he'd heard the fast food giant's catchy tune -- on the Disney Channel during "The Wiggles," a show for preschoolers...

DENVER -- A bearded drifter walks into a Colorado school and fatally shoots a student before taking his own life. Wisconsin authorities charge three boys with plotting a bomb attack on their high school and, two weeks later, a student in a rural school allegedly shoots his principal. A gunman bursts into a Vermont elementary school looking for his ex-girlfriend and guns down a teacher...

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A man was charged Sunday with murdering his wife and her four children in a domestic dispute at their home, authorities said. Michael Simmons, 41, appeared at a bond hearing via video link from the Charleston County jail Sunday and was ordered held without bond on five counts of murder...

ATHENS, Ga. -- MySpace Lesson No. 143: Be careful what gossip you blog about. Authorities are searching for whomever posted a long list and description of supposed sexual encounters between dozens of high school students on the online networking site MySpace.com...

KANO, Nigeria -- Families were swept away in a torrent of water and up to 40 people were feared dead after a dam collapsed in Nigeria, a state-owned radio station said Sunday. The dam -- about one mile from the center of Zamfara state's capital city of Gusau -- collapsed Saturday after heavy rains. But surveyors were trying to determine whether to blame the downpour or structural neglect...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Retired army commander Gen. Surayud Chulanont was sworn in Sunday as Thailand's interim prime minister, saying he wanted to settle a bloody Muslim insurgency and heal a country divided by the policies of his predecessor. The ruling military council running Thailand since a Sept. 19 coup appointed Surayud after ousting Thaksin Shinawatra...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Shiite politicians demanded changes in the Iraqi government Sunday, accusing a Sunni Arab party in the coalition of ties to terrorism after a bodyguard of its leader was arrested on suspicion of planning bomb attacks. The dispute threatened a sectarian crisis within the national unity government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which is struggling to contain spiraling Shiite-Sunni killings that the U.S. ambassador said have surpassed Sunni insurgent attacks in deadliness...

SAN FRANCISCO -- By now, millions of anthrax vaccine shots developed through cutting-edge genetic engineering were supposed to be filling a new national stockpile of biodefense drugs. Instead, five years after anthrax attacks left five dead, sickened 17 and panicked the country, the nearly $1 billion contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to a tiny and struggling San Francisco Bay Area biotechnology company is plagued with misfortune and delays...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Heavily armed Hamas militiamen's efforts to break up anti-government protests Sunday sparked gunbattles across the Gaza Strip that killed seven people in the worst internal Palestinian violence since Hamas took power. Militants from the opposition Fatah group retaliated by torching the Palestinian Cabinet building in the West Bank. The violence comes amid growing frustration over forming a national unity government that could end crippling economic sanctions...

EL FASHER, Sudan -- The head of the European Commission urged Sudan's president on Sunday to help the African Union keep peace in the troubled Darfur region and end the obstacles hampering the work of humanitarian groups there. On a visit to the war-torn region, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also announced a pledge of more than $50 million in aid from Europe amid mounting international pressure on the Sudanese government to accept a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur...

D.J. Trahan won the Southern Farm Bureau Classic for his first PGA Tour victory, birdieing the par-5 18th hole three straight times in a playoff to hold off Joe Durant. Trahan won with a 5-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole after closing with a 1-under 71 to match Durant (66) at 13-under 275 on the Annandale Golf Club course in Madison, Miss. Trahan holed the winning putt after Durant missed a 5-footer of his own...

Small-town life can be frustrating at times. Like when you ask a waitress what the "soup du jour" is and she tells you it's the soup of the day, as if you were asking for a translation. Or that the best art-house movies never make it to our local theaters because they absolutely HAVE to have six screens reserved for the latest Will Ferrell flick...

Plaza Tire founder wins advertising award The Tri-State Advertising and Marketing Professionals have announced that Vernon "Pee Wee" Rhodes of Plaza Tire Service has been chosen as the recipient of the 2006 Tri-State AMP Triumph award. The Triumph award is given annually to recognize outstanding achievement in business and marketing. ...

You can't ask for a bumper crop every year. Bob Breuer knows that. And this isn't a bumper crop year. But Breuer has other things to be happy about. The co-owner of Tower Rock Winery in Altenburg is celebrating awards at the state and national level for his locally made wine. Like other local winery owners, Breuer not only makes wine, he grows many of the grapes that go into making that wine...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Tony Stewart was on fumes. Jimmie Johnson was fuming. Eliminated from championship contention, Stewart and his crew decided to gamble on fuel mileage. It paid off -- but just barely, as Stewart crawled across the finish line Sunday to win the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway...

ATLANTA -- Scientists now say a third of infant deaths are due to premature births -- a much larger percentage than previously thought. In the past, "preterm birth" has been the listed cause of death in fewer than 20 percent of newborn fatalities. But that number should be 34 percent or more, said researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

Roger Clemens calls the report "dangerous and malicious and reckless." Andy Pettitte insists he never took banned drugs. Miguel Tejada says he is being smeared again by scandal. Some of baseball's biggest stars responded with denials and denunciations Sunday following a Los Angeles Times report in which former pitcher Jason Grimsley accused five players of using performance-enhancing drugs, according to a federal agent's affidavit. ...

NEW YORK -- If the Detroit Tigers are going to extend their surprising season by making a run in the playoffs, they'll have to get past the New York Yankees. After wasting several chances to wrap up an AL Central title, the slumping Tigers slipped to a wild-card spot Sunday and now must open the postseason Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium against New York's powerful lineup...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Children in deep sleep awoke to recordings of their mothers' voices -- calling them by name and ordering them out of their bedrooms -- even if they slept through the beeping sound a smoke alarm makes, according to a small study. The study reaffirms previous research that shows what works for adults doesn't always work for children, said Dr. Gary Smith, one of the co-authors...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- State lawmakers won't reconvene at the Capitol for another four months, but school boards across Missouri are already gearing up for a fight over how they spend tax dollars. The Missouri School Boards Association has told members to begin lobbying their local legislators against the potential reintroduction of a proposal that would require school districts to spend at least 65 percent of their budgets on classroom instruction...

Missouri's exports through the second quarter of 2006 were up by nearly 19 percent compared to the same period in 2005, according to the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research. Through June 2006, exports by Missouri companies topped $6 billion, compared to just over $5 billion after the second quarter 2005. ...

Proponents and opponents of a legislative plan to aid students in the failing St. Louis, Kansas City and Wellston school districts disagree over whether it involves scholarships or vouchers, and even whether it's constitutional. State Rep. Nathan Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau, a strong proponent of the plan, says it isn't a voucher system. But Brent Ghan, spokesman for the Missouri School Boards' Association, disagrees...

The Scott City Council voted unanimously to extend the liquor licenses of Rhodes Travel Center and Larry's Store 24 until July 2007. The decision had been in question ever since the two stores failed police checks by selling alcohol to minors late last year and early this year...

Route EE in Scott County will be reduced to one lane both directions today as Missouri Department of Transportation crews patch the roadway. The work will take place a half mile east of Chaffee, Mo., and is scheduled to last from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Motorists are asked to use extreme caution when traveling in the work zone...

Dennis McDonald, owner of Mattress Guys at 351 N. Kingshighway, says his yellow banner facing the street is the lifeblood of his business. "Without that I'm sunk," he said. "Three times it's happened that the sign gets blown down in a storm. During those weeks my business just goes to nothing."...

Red-clad Cardinal fans were in a party mood prior to the start of Sunday's season finale in St. Louis. Joni and I were among them. We were ready to celebrate a win on the field that would give the baseball team another Central Division championship...

This is a lot to ask of a job fair: Prove to executives of a St. Louis-based company in eight hours that the local work force can sustain a new call center. Do it and Cape Girardeau can bank on 350 new jobs. Don't and the jobs go elsewhere. That's exactly what local economic development recruiters, city officials and executives at National Asset Recovery Service Inc., or NARS, are asking of the Southeast Missourian-sponsored Career Fair on Oct. ...

AmerenUE will pay $15 million to settle federal claims stemming from the December reservoir collapse that sent more than 1 billion gallons of water surging through a state park, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced Monday. The utility agreed to pay a fine of $10 million to avoid prosecution for alleged violations of its license and another $5 million for community improvements in the area around the reservoir. ...

A Jackson High School graduate was among the 155 people aboard a Brazilian jetliner that crashed in the Amazon jungle Friday. Authorities have said there were no survivors from the crash. Douglas Hancock, 35, was in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso for business, and was on the flight back to his home in Rio de Janeiro to spend time with his wife over the weekend, said his father, Paul Hancock, who lives in Jackson...

When Laverne Nothdurft goes to the polls Nov. 7, she has a better idea of which Missouri House of Representative candidate she'll vote for. The retired Sears assistant service manager attended an informational forum sponsored by the Cape Girardeau County AARP on Monday. Candidates in the Missouri House 158th district race, incumbent Nathan Cooper and Matt Hill, and 159th district race, incumbent Billy Pat Wright and Boyce Wooley, met with about 35 retirees at their monthly meeting...

At 3-1, Southeast Missouri State is off to its best four-game start since moving up to NCAA Division I-AA in 1991. While that's all well and good, first-year coach Tony Samuel believes keeping the Redhawks grounded and properly focused will be one of his primary objectives during practice this week...

By Sarah Steelman All parents have high hopes for their children. As your state treasurer, I hold each and every one of those hopes to be sacred, because your kids mean everything to you, to me and to our state. In today's world, a college education is essential to making sure those hopes are turned into reality. That's why I believe every child in our state should have the opportunity to go to college...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley sought treatment for alcoholism and "other behavioral problems" as Republicans on Monday picked a new candidate to salvage the seat that Foley abandoned after exchanging lurid online messages with teenage boys...

NICKEL MINES, Pa. -- A milk-truck driver carrying three guns and a childhood grudge stormed a one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday, sent the boys and adults outside, barricaded the doors with two-by-fours, and then opened fire on a dozen girls, killing three people before committing suicide...

From staff and wire reports Bombarded by choices at a college job fair, Sara Kianmehr found her match: Columbia College, a small, private school that didn't mind that her transcripts came from her parents. The college in Columbia, Mo., "was the only institution that didn't have a puzzled look and say, 'Home school,' and ask me a million questions," the 19-year-old junior said...

SAN DIEGO -- Home-field advantage has never looked so good to the San Diego Padres and their healthy ace, Jake Peavy. A year after being swept out of the playoffs by the St. Louis Cardinals, the NL West champion Padres get another shot at Chris Carpenter and the NL Central champions. This time, the first two games will be at Petco Park, starting this afternoon. If needed, Game 5 also will be played here...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The problem with NASCAR's playoffs is that one bad finish can ruin a driver's title hopes. So when Sunday's event at Kansas Speedway turned into a fuel-mileage race, it may have ended more than one championship pursuit. Although Tony Stewart crawled past the finish line on an empty gas tank for the victory, others refused to take that risk and suffered because of it...

After two trying months marked by doping allegations, an assault on his reputation and his father-in-law's suicide, Floyd Landis doesn't wish for a stirring comeback so much as the simpler things in life. To reach that goal, Landis had hip-replacement surgery last week. With his rehab under way, the 30-year-old won't rule out a return to competitive cycling and the Tour de France...

SAN FRANCISCO -- If Barry Bonds is back with the San Francisco Giants next season, and that still seems to be a big if, owner Peter Magowan said the slugger will not be the centerpiece of the roster any longer. "I think we need to go in a new direction," Magowan said Monday after the club announced manager Felipe Alou's contract would not be renewed. ...

CHICAGO -- Dusty Baker is out as the Chicago Cubs' manager following a last-place finish and a failure to take the team to the World Series in his four years. The Cubs made the announcement Monday, a day after team president Andy MacPhail resigned and the club finished with a 66-96 record...

ST. LOUIS -- Scott Linehan pleaded patience after the St. Louis Rams' offense stumbled the first few weeks of the season. Then he outscored Mike Martz' attack. The Rams' new coach isn't sure a 41-point day on Sunday against the Lions means the growing pains are over, and he doesn't really care as long as the bottom line is in his favor...

NEW YORK -- Joe Mauer became the first catcher to win the American League batting title, going 2-for-4 for the Minnesota Twins on the final day of the regular season to hold off the New York Yankees' Derek Jeter. Mauer's doubled and singled against the Chicago White Sox, leaving his average at .347 down from a high of .392 on July 1 but good enough to best Jeter, who went 1-for-5 against Toronto and wound up at .343...

Southeast Missouri State University's higher education centers in Kennett, Malden and Sikeston combined have seen enrollment rise by 4 percent this fall compared to a year ago. Southeast has 1,180 students enrolled at the three centers, up from 1,135 a year ago, school officials said. Sikeston has 668 students; Kennett, 306; and Malden, 206...

Southeast Missouri State University will hold a "Show Me Day" Saturday for prospective students and their parents. The day will begin with registration at 9:30 a.m. in the Show Me Center. Prospective students will be able to browse through a "student life" fair and meet Southeast students and staff. ...

Gov. Matt Blunt's plan to sell some of the assets of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority has taken some interesting turns in recent days. After putting together what seemed to be a working agreement with key legislators to move the plan forward without legislative approval, the governor reversed himself and said he would wait for the legislature to act when it reconvenes in January...

It's good to be king. Central senior Blake Slattery picked up that title Friday night at the school's homecoming dance. But he said Saturday it's even better to be the quarterback who completed 13 consecutive passes and helped direct the Tigers to a 34-10 victory against St. Charles West earlier Friday night...

No on Amendment 2; Protection and values; Protect the children; Unrefined production; Don't spoil the park; Signs don't work; Warning signs; Too much explaining; Paying for electricity; Teaching at home; Protection in a shot; Teaching nutrition; Teaching choices

Douglas Scott Hancock, 35, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, died Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, in a plane crash in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. He was born Sept. 8, 1971, in Okinawa, Japan, son of Paul D. and Susan L. Benbow Hancock. He and Bianca Pi were married June 10, 2000, in St. Louis...

Melvin A. Lorenz, 84, of Shawneetown passed away Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 9, 1922, in Shawneetown, son of Martin and Bertha Kasten Lorenz. He and Florence Schade were married June 5, 1949, in Altenburg, Mo...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Rella M. Hahn, 79, of Chaffee died Monday, Oct. 2, 2006, at Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born July 1, 1927, at Rockview, Mo., daughter of Leonard August and Lena Caroline Hoefler Tucker. She and Adolph Hahn were married Feb. 4, 1950. He died July 20, 2004...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Georgianna Papanek of Joliet, Ill., formerly of Olive Branch, died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, at Rosewood Care Center in Joliet. Crain Funeral Home in Tamms, Ill., is in charge of arrangements.

Arthur Lee Davis, 83, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Oct. 2, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born June 11, 1923, at Essex, Mo., son of Presley and Janie Hooker Davis. He and Melba Fern Glenn were married Feb. 12, 1947, in Piggott, Ark. She died Nov. 15, 1980...

Joy Bruce, 75, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born March 21, 1931, in Roosevelt, Okla., daughter of Ed and Myrtle Walker Hill. She married Richard Bruce, who died June 13, 2001. Bruce worked 30 years in the accounting department at General Motors. She was a member of Lynwood Baptist Church...

They're too old to beg for treats. But they're too young for grown-up parties and tricks. What's a teenager to do on Halloween? With some help from parents, they could try on what is effectively a new costume: responsible adulthood. Therapists and educators say parents can make a big difference in whether the night is full of happiness or horror for teens, who may not quite know what to do themselves...

NATIONAL LEAGUE BATTING--FSanchez, Pittsburgh, .344; MiCabrera, Florida, .339; Pujols, St. Louis, .331; Atkins, Colorado, .329; Holliday, Colorado, .326; Lo Duca, New York, .318; Berkman, Houston, .315. RUNS--Utley, Philadelphia, 131; Rollins, Philadelphia, 127; Beltran, New York, 127; JBReyes, New York, 122; HaRamirez, Florida, 119; Holliday, Colorado, 119; Pujols, St. Louis, 119; ASoriano, Washington, 119...

PGA Tour Champions Tour LPGA Tour...

25 years ago: Oct. 3, 1981: Bishop Bernard Law of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese has appointed Sister Helen Brewer, D.C., of Springfield, Mo., as a member of the Education Department of the Missouri Catholic Conference. Second Baptist Church congregation celebrates the second anniversary of its pastor, the Rev. Claude Russell Jr.; the guest church is the New Zion Baptist Church of Carbondale, Ill., and guest speaker is the Rev. P. Frazier of New Zion Baptist...

The territory of Cape Girardeau County is just a fraction of what it was when the county was formed in 1812. Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones wants it all back. With a sly look in his eye and a top hat on his head, Jones on Monday presided over a commemoration of the county's founding by reading the list of 27 counties that were formed out of the original Cape Girardeau County...

PHILADELPHIA -- Donovan McNabb looked like his old, scrambling self. Brett Favre looked, well, old. McNabb ran for two touchdowns and threw for a pair, leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a 31-9 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Monday night. Meanwhile, Favre misfired badly on several passes, including two interceptions that led to Philadelphia scores...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was given a five-game suspension -- the longest for on-field behavior in NFL history -- for stomping on Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode's head and kicking him in the face Sunday...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Rams fullback Paul Smith took himself and the Lions' Frank Davis out of Sunday's game busting the wedge on a kickoff, then the two shared a hospital room while being evaluated overnight. Davis was carted off the field after the play to open the second half, and Smith eventually walked off while spitting blood. Coach Scott Linehan said Smith had a concussion and was being evaluated by specialists for possible small fractures around his eyes...

One statistic made a big difference Friday night in Perryville's 37-14 loss at Potosi: Six turnovers. "That will kill you," Pirates coach Rick Chastain said after his team fell to 3-2. Ryan Lorenz was intercepted four times and Perryville lost two fumbles to the Trojans, who were celebrating homecoming...

Central's girls tennis team finished its dual season with a perfect 15-0 record following Monday's 9-0 sweep of visiting Sikeston. Sarah Ford won the closest match of the day 8-6 in No. 1 singles over Jenni DeWitt. The Tigers will start district play Friday...

There's more than students in John Stephen's classroom at Jefferson Elementary School in Cape Girardeau. Stephens, a special education teacher, has guppies, frogs, danios, tropical fish and a tiger barb to keep him company. For some students, school can be a challenge. That's where the animals come in...

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- With one swing of Albert Pujols' bat, a St. Louis Cardinals lineup that looked so sickly in September suddenly got a lot better under the California sun. San Diego Padres ace Jake Peavy tempted Pujols with one pitch too many and the slugger, who has a shot at a second straight NL MVP award, responded with a two-run homer that launched the Cardinals to a 5-1 victory in the opening game of the division series on Tuesday...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- The driver of a car that crashed Sept. 23, killing himself and a passenger after a half-hour police chase, allegedly drove at speeds over 100 mph while making obscene hand gestures at the pursuing officer and tossing beverage cans from the vehicle...

Cape Girardeau will use the bulk of its remaining sidewalk money from the Transportation Trust Fund 2 to fill sidewalk gaps in four areas. The project, estimated at $250,000, will fill gaps in Forest Hills Subdivision, along Cape Rock Drive, Themis Street and Hawthorne Road...

Don't we all kind of like the bad guy? Some of the most appealing characters ever to grace the silver screen were villains. From the Joker in "Batman" to Kaiser Soze in "The Usual Suspects," entertainment has always thrived on the allure of evil...

Saying K's Merchandise was "never going to be able to return to profitability," company executives announced Tuesday that all 17 of its stores will close early next year, including the 10-year-old Cape Girardeau location. That means that the 60 local store employees -- and the 1,500 across the company -- will be out of work when the stores close after all the merchandise is sold...

Time is running short for anyone who wants to vote on Nov. 7 to become registered. Voter rolls for the election close Oct. 11, said Patty Schlosser, director of elections for Cape Girardeau County. New voters can register in Jackson at the Administration Building and in Cape Girardeau at the county annex on Lorimier Street...

SAN DIEGO -- With one swing of Albert Pujols' bat, a St. Louis Cardinals lineup that looked so sickly in September suddenly got a lot better under the California sun. San Diego Padres ace Jake Peavy tempted Pujols with one pitch too many and the slugger, who has a shot at a second straight NL MVP award, responded with a two-run homer that launched the Cardinals to a 5-1 victory in the opening game of the division series on Tuesday...

The only rivalry on the Jackson High School football field Tuesday night was the friendly variety. After an afternoon of parading and rehearsing, about 15 area marching bands from as far away as Ste. Genevieve, Mo., took the field one by one at the 62nd annual Jackson Marching Band Festival. About 500 spectators were in the stands for the performances in addition to the band members not playing...

STRAFFORD, Mo. -- Zebras, bears and lions are among the animals looking for new homes after the drive-through exotic animal park where they have lived closed, ending 35 years of business. The Exotic Animal Paradise closed Sunday, and the animals are expected to be auctioned off in the next two weeks, owner Ron Armitage said Monday...

MIAMI -- Once the runner-up to Joe Girardi for the job of managing the Florida Marlins, Fredi Gonzalez became his successor Tuesday. The Marlins fired Girardi, and five hours later announced that he'll be replaced by Gonzalez, third-base coach for the Atlanta Braves the past four years. Girardi's departure after only one season had been expected after his rift with owner Jeffrey Loria boiled over in an on-field confrontation two months ago...

MINNEAPOLIS -- In the place where Johan Santana usually can't be beaten, Barry Zito and Frank Thomas slowed Minnesota's momentum and gave Oakland a big boost to start this AL division series. Zito threw eight innings, besting Santana behind two big home runs by Thomas and sending the Athletics to the win...

ST. LOUIS -- Isaac Bruce, the longest-tenured St. Louis Rams player, showed Sunday there is plenty of life left in the 33-year-old receiver. Bruce, the only remaining Rams player who was with the team in Los Angeles, gave Detroit cornerback Jamar Fletcher fits while hauling in seven passes for 100 yards -- the 40th 100-yard receiving game in his career...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Missouri cornerbacks are aware of Texas Tech's reputation for throwing the football. And for a group that says it has yet to be challenged this year, that's part of the excitement. The 23rd-ranked Tigers (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) travel to Lubbock, Texas, Saturday to play Texas Tech, a team whose 347.6 passing yards a game leads the Big 12 Conference. ...

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert brushed aside resignation talk Tuesday, even as the Republicans' No. 2 House leader contradicted him in the page scandal. President Bush gave Hastert a vote of confidence as the party struggled to contain pre-election fallout...

More than half a year has passed since Dr. Zenon Duda unveiled his statement on the horrors of war, "Requiem for the Pawns of War," on a First Friday in Cape Girardeau. This Friday he's bringing the piece out again for another showing in the Riverview Room at Buckner Brewing Co. starting at 6 p.m. And this time he wants to hear some fresh perspectives on the 15-by-45-foot sculpture installation...

Two Jackson brothers were convicted this week on charges of hiding a rifle that was fired at a crowd, striking a passing vehicle. Cody A. Reid, 17, and his brother, Lonnie D. Reid, 19, both of 4837 Old Cape Road East, were convicted by Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp on Monday of misdemeanor tampering with evidence for the Aug. 8 shooting near their home...

A knife-wielding thief with missing teeth stole an undisclosed amount of money Tuesday night from a Cape Girardeau gas station. Amerimart, 855 N. Kingshighway, was robbed at about 7:45 p.m., according to police officer Freddie Hill. A man in his late 20s to early 30s asked the clerk for change. ...

If you drive around Cape Girardeau, at almost every turn you will see signs of growth and development: new businesses, new buildings and major facelifts for existing businesses and street improvements, just to name a few. In every case, Cape Girardeau city officials have been involved in some way: approving plans, issuing permits, providing incentives and delivering essential services...

Matt Vollink translated a successful high school soccer career at Notre Dame Regional High School into conference player of the year and All-American honors at Quincy University. Vollink's passion for soccer led him to the coaching arena and back to his alma mater. With five years as an assistant for the girls program and in his second year helping out the boys, Vollink is leaving his mark on Notre Dame soccer...

Just two games into its Ohio Valley Conference schedule, the league's preseason favorite finds itself on life support. Eastern Kentucky fell to 0-2 in OVC play for the first time since 1960 on Saturday as Jacksonville State routed the host Colonels 28-0...

To the editor: We are all concerned about the rampant anti-Americanism that is prevalent in the rest of the world, especially the hatred that Islamic fundamentalists have for us. Having the courage to extricate ourselves from the Iraq war with some kind of diplomatic solution such as a three-way division of the country without trying to dominate the Middle East would be the first step...

To the editor: The SEMO Veteran Corps alumni will have a reunion, and all veterans in the region are invited to participate in the Southeast Missouri State University homecoming parade Oct. 21. Many veterans returned after service to continue their education, find jobs, get married and get on with their lives. ...

Assembly questions; Endless list; Border excuse; Praying at the flagpole; No comparison; School funding; Protect your children; Don't ignore the facts; Hypocritical MSBA; Bad sidewalks

ALTENBURG, Mo. -- Frieda L. Boettcher, 85, of Altenburg died Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 6, 1921, at Frohna, Mo., daughter of Henry and Helena Weber Lueders. She and Cornelius A. Boettcher were married Dec. 26, 1944...

John Blanchard McFall Jr., 86, of Missouri Veterans Home died Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006, at the veterans home. He was born March 4, 1920, at Elizabethtown, Ill., daughter of John Blanchard and Nancy Katherine Humphery McFall Sr. He and Betty Tinnon were married Aug. 4, 1941, in Charleston, Mo. She died Jan. 18, 1986...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Virgie Mary Miles, 88, of Chaffee died Monday, Oct. 2, 2006, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 27, 1918, at Chaffee, daughter of Herbert Lee and Nellie Jane Skelton Houseman. She and Harley S. Miles were married June 24, 1939. He died March 20, 1985...

Joseph Lemro "Joe" Hale, 49, of Jackson died Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006, at Life Care Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 14, 1957, in Cape Girardeau, son of Lemro F. and Theresa Elizabeth Axtetter Hale. Hale was former owner/operator of Hale's Jewelry. He was of the Catholic belief and a member of Knights of Columbus Council 1111...

Weldon Clayborn Emmons, 83, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Oct. 2, 2006, at Missouri Veterans Home. He was born Nov. 9, 1922, in Corning, Ark., son of John Timothy and Mary Griffith Emmons. Emmons was a truck driver many years. He was a veteran of World War II and served in the U.S. Army, Navy and Coast Guard...

Sachse; DePew; Scott; Mason; Tilley; Kistner; Ellison; LaValle; Shaffar; Silman; Ballard; Unverferth; Plott; May; Hawkins

Alpha Mu Master; St. Mary CCW

25 years ago: Oct. 4, 1981 Fire investigators believe arson was the cause of two fires over the weekend that severely damaged a tavern on Big Bend Road and a residence on North Park Avenue in Cape Girardeau; firefighters were called to Kinder's Country Jamboree Tavern and dance hall Sunday morning; a newer addition to the building sustained severe smoke and heat damage, and the older section was a total loss...

Last week I mentioned that the low humidity, cool temperatures and blue skies makes we want to enjoy those recipes that I usually reserve for just this time of year. I have a whole drawer full of recipes for fall, and I pulled a couple from the top of the pile to share with you today. I hope you enjoy these and have time to send in some of your favorite recipe so other readers can try them as well...

Investigators await DNA evidence in shooting Investigators were waiting on evidence from the scene of a Cape Girardeau shooting that injured two, police said Tuesday. Two men, ages 22 and 28, were shot Sept. 27 in the 300 block of South Hanover Street. ...

Farmers across much of the state took advantage of dry weather last week to continue harvesting row crops, but farms in Southeast Missouri are still assessing the damage from flooding rain, the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday. "It's a devastating type of event," said Dickie Jordan, di...

To the editor: The naming of the new federal courthouse is an ongoing heated topic. What is the proper name to be etched into stone on the building, which will be paid for by taxpayers? To keep the public happy and proud, I suggest that a Wall of Justice be erected where family and friends could put the names of their friends or loved ones who have been connected with upholding the laws of the land...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri legislators made a distinction between bars and convenience stores when writing the state's alcohol liability laws. Now the state Supreme Court is considering whether that difference is unconstitutional. The state's high court heard arguments Tuesday on behalf of a suburban St. Louis mother who claims she should be able to sue the convenience store that sold her 20-year-old son a 12-pack of beer the night before he died in a car accident...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The wife of a church deacon has become the sixth person charged in a case of alleged sex abuse of young girls at two Missouri church communes. Laura Epling faces one count of statutory sodomy for allegedly helping a church pastor abuse a girl a few years ago when the victim was 15 or 16 years old. The charge was filed Monday in McDonald County...

To the editor: I was appalled by the half-page advertisement against Amendment 2 on Sept. 28. This kind of propaganda is as bizarre as the comments made by Alan Keyes during his recent visit to Missouri. The purpose of the stem-cell initiative is to allow any medical cures or treatment found from early stem-cell research to be used for our Missouri citizens. This is not for the sake of cloning...

Cape Girardeau...

NEW YORK -- Two Americans won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for measuring the oldest light in the heavens, a feat described as "one of the greatest discoveries of the century" that convinced skeptics of the big-bang theory of the universe's origin...

QUARRYVILLE, Pa. -- The gunman who killed five girls in an Amish schoolroom confided to his wife during the siege that he molested two relatives 20 years ago when he was boy and was tormented by dreams of doing it again, authorities said Tuesday. Investigators also said that Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, plotted his takeover of the school for nearly a week and that the items he brought -- including flexible plastic ties, eyebolts and lubricating jelly -- suggest he may have been planning to sexually assault the Amish girls before police closed in.. ...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A suicide bomber unleashed a blast in a Baghdad fish market Tuesday and two Shiite families were found slain north of the capital as violence across Iraq claimed at least 52 lives. The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the deaths of nine soldiers and two Marines in what has been a deadly period for American forces in Iraq. The announcement brought to at least 15 the number of servicemembers killed in fighting since Saturday...

NEW YORK -- Iran's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment has sabotaged talks meant to defuse the standoff over its nuclear program, opening the way for the U.N. Security Council to start considering sanctions next week, senior U.N. diplomats said Tuesday...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Judges postponed their verdict in Saddam Hussein's trial Tuesday, a long-awaited decision that once held out the hope of healing Iraq's wounds but now threatens to spark even more sectarian violence. The verdict had been expected Oct. 16 but was delayed until at least the end of the month while judges take extra time to review the evidence and make sure their case is airtight...

Lance Marcum loves to read. But for several summers, he had no time to read. He was too busy writing his first novel. Marcum recalled his writing obsession in a speech Tuesday afternoon in Cape Girardeau to hundreds of middle-school students from parochial and public schools in the region...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea triggered global alarm Tuesday by saying it will conduct a nuclear test, a key step in the manufacture of atomic bombs that it views as a deterrent against any U.S. attack. But the North also said it was committed to nuclear disarmament, suggesting a willingness to negotiate...

The Jackson softball team owns victories over both Seckman and Farmington this season, but when the Class 4 District 1 field was seeded, that was not enough to give the Indians a higher seed than either team. So the No. 3 Indians will be forced to play an opening-round game today against No. 6 seed Hillsboro at Farmington, Mo. Seckman and Farmington, the top two seeds, will await today's winners in the semifinal round...

WASHINGTON -- Outside money is streaming into Missouri's U.S. Senate race as national political parties try to sway the outcome of a contest that polls are calling a dead heat. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee so far has spent about $1.4 million on television ads to boost State Auditor Claire McCaskill and slam her opponent, Republican Sen. Jim Talent, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission...

Southeast Missouri State is off to a 3-1 start for the first time as a Division I-AA program -- and at least a few people around the country have taken notice. The Redhawks received five votes in The Sports Network Division I-AA national poll that was released earlier this week...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- As news of Buck O'Neil's deteriorating health spreads, donations toward a building project honoring the life and times of the 94-year-old Negro Leagues ambassador have been on the rise. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City started a grass roots campaign in August to raise at least $1 million toward construction of the Buck O'Neil Education and Research Center. ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Albert Haynesworth finally got the chance Tuesday to apologize personally to Dallas center Andre Gurode, whose face he tore open with his cleat. After spending much of the day getting nothing but unanswered rings and a full voice mail box, Haynesworth connected late in the afternoon with Gurode, who needed 30 stitches to repair the cuts in his face...

Peyton Waggener and Hunter Givens won two events apiece, and Central edged Notre Dame 96-82 on Tuesday in just the second home swimming dual meet for both teams. Waggener won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, and Givens was first in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke...

"Curry is India's greatest contribution to mankind," claims British travel writer Norman Douglas. A rather audacious assertion when you consider that the country has also given us Buddhism, the Taj Mahal and technicians who can fix your computer from thousands of miles away...

Class 1 District 1 Class 2 District 2 at Perryville City Park Class 3 District 2 at Perryville City Park Class 4 District 1 at Farmington -- Jeremy Joffray...

NEW YORK -- Celebration replaced trepidation inside a Manhattan club. The NHL hosted a big bash last week, kicking off a new season free of lockout clouds, labor unrest and questions about the league's viability. Star players hung out with supermodels in front of the shiny Stanley Cup that lit up with every flash, while members of the champion Carolina Hurricanes checked out their freshly engraved names...

On Sept. 23, a police chase that began in Chaffee, Mo., ended when the pursued vehicle crashed off the roadway in Cape Girardeau County, killing two and critically injuring two more. According to the incident report written by the Chaffee police officer who pursued the vehicle, the car had run a stop sign at a high rate of speed. The pursuit began when the vehicle failed to pull over...

In his last weeks as sheriff of Scott County, Bill Ferrell dipped into the county DARE account to pay for his retirement dinner and to move personal belongings out of his office, according to a state audit released Wednesday. Ferrell's use of DARE money for personal expenses was revealed in the regular audit of Scott County issued by State Auditor Claire McCaskill. ...

The private sector isn't the only group that has an impact on a community's economic growth -- so do city government leaders and employees. That's why the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce says it looked outside the local business world for its annual accolades this year...

Scott City authorities are investigating a report of a pet pig found slain Tuesday by a bow and arrow. Craig Ancell, of 112 Rock Levee Road, said his Vietnamese potbelly pig Mary was killed by a 16-year-old boy with a bow and arrow after the animal had gotten out from a fenced-in yard Tuesday night...

The list of possible witnesses to be called in the trial of an accused killer of a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper was ordered to be drastically reduced to keep proceedings from slowing. Lance Shockley, 29, of Van Buren, Mo., was charged with first-degree murder in the March 20, 2005, shooting death of Sgt. Carl Graham Jr. The defendant is scheduled to stand trial in Cape Girardeau County on a change of venue Jan. 17 and if convicted could received the death penalty...

Ralph Phillips has bridges on his mind. The district engineer of the Cape Special Road District has about 20 bridges in his sights for replacement with new revenue generated by a countywide half-cent sales tax set to take effect Jan. 1. The bridges, some with wooden substructures, have load limits ranging from 8 to 17 tons, and Phillips hopes to replace many in coming years. But first he has to negotiate when the 94-year-old road district will begin receiving the new money...

The blue BVM KingCat jet goes roaring by 20 feet off the ground at 200 mph. It climbs into the sky at a nausea-inducing incline, hits its pinnacle and starts a tailspin back to earth like an autumn leaf. And just when it seems some mechanical malfunction has caused certain destruction, the pilot levels the wings and guides it back up into the ether...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- President Bush tried to drown out political anxieties about war and sex Wednesday by sounding alarm bells on national security and urging people to "vote Republican for the safety" of the country. This week has put the Republicans' bid to keep control of Congress in further jeopardy and brought even more bad news for the president. ...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- California's attorney general sought felony indictments Wednesday against former Hewlett-Packard Co. chairwoman Patricia Dunn and four others involved in the corporate spying scandal at the computer and printer company. Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed criminal complaints in Santa Clara County Superior Court naming Dunn, ousted HP chief ethics officer Kevin Hunsaker, private investigator Ronald DeLia, and outside investigators Joseph DePante of Melbourne, Fla., and Bryan Wagner of Littleton, Colo.. ...

NEW YORK -- If you paid attention in school, you probably learned what scientists call the "central dogma" of molecular biology: Genetic information flows from DNA to RNA and finally to the protein-making machinery inside a cell. That's a fundamental process that keeps cells -- and us -- going. And now it has inspired two Nobel Prizes in just a few days...

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Anti-corruption advocates Wednesday called on the governments of India, China and Russia to do more to stop their multinational companies from bribing when doing business abroad. A survey of 30 of the world's leading exporting countries ranked the three countries at the bottom, with India the worst offender. Switzerland topped the ranking of the Bribe Payers Index 2006...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Opponents of a tobacco tax ballot measure tried to persuade the Supreme Court to knock it off the Nov. 7 ballot by arguing Wednesday that thousands of petition signatures should be invalidated. Opponents also argued the proposed constitutional amendment would violate the Missouri Constitution by requiring the expenditure of existing state revenue to pay for its new health-care programs...

ST. LOUIS -- Visitors to the World Aquarium in downtown St. Louis will still get a chance to rub elbows with graceful stingrays that now have a bad rap. A stingray exhibit was supposed to open in early September, but was postponed when "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was killed by one the same week...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Most students at the University of Missouri-Columbia know Brady Commons as the hub of student life, a place to grab lunch, buy textbooks or play video games. Erin Kennedy, a senior sociology major from Blue Springs, has a different perspective on the student union: Its name must go because Thomas A. Brady, a former history professor, vice president and dean, worked to purge the campus of gay students and professors more than a half-century ago...

ST. LOUIS -- John Davidson left the safety of the broadcast booth for life on a high wire when he agreed to become St. Louis Blues president. Davidson, formerly the NHL's primary color analyst, has spent the summer rebuilding a roster that was stripped down for a fire sale that led to the Blues not only ending a 25-year playoff run but finishing last overall. He seems to be enjoying the task of resurrecting a franchise that also chased off much of its fan base...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Rams fullback Paul Smith is out this week and probably next week from injuries sustained in a wedge-busting collision that landed Smith and a Lions player in the hospital. Smith has small fractures around his eyes along with a concussion, coach Scott Linehan said Wednesday...

SAN DIEGO -- This is the kind of game that has "Boomer" written all over it. At least the San Diego Padres hope it does. Down one game to the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series, the Padres will turn to 43-year-old San Diego native David Wells to start Game 2 this afternoon against Jeff Weaver...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Division of Youth Services' Advisory Board has appointed Rex Rust of Cape Girardeau recently as a member. Rust was sworn in during a ceremony Sept. 28 in St. Louis. The 15-member board advises the governor, legislators and the youth division on matters relating to juvenile justice and operations of the state's Youth Services programs, according to a news release from the division. ...

Residents from Hunter Acres nursing facility rolled in on a canoe made of cardboard, disguising the wheelchairs inside that were powering it. They were part of the Hawaiian themed parade at the Osage Community Center that set the stage for The Golden Age Games held for area nursing facilites. ...

The November general election is just a month away, and voters may be surprised by at least one major change in Missouri's voting laws. For months, a great deal of attention has been focused on a provision of a bill adopted earlier this year in the Missouri Legislature to require voters to have photo IDs when they go to the polls. A judge has ruled that requirement is unconstitutional. His decision is being appealed...

Adam Casper came to Southeast Missouri State as a bruising fullback who envisioned doling out plenty of punishment both as a runner and lead blocker. Casper has indeed been able to inflict his share of punishment on the opposition for the Redhawks -- only on the other side of the football...

Southeast Missouri State volleyball coach Renata Nowacki sees plenty of potential in her team, just not enough consistency right now. Wednesday night's Ohio Valley Conference match was a case in point as the Redhawks showed flashes of strong play but also struggled at times in beating last-place Eastern Illinois...

Let us choose; First-hand information; Shopping safety; No comparison; American concerns; Quit the war; High-speed chases; Timely action; Big cover-up; Spending priorities; Bless the farmers; Sounds familiar; Time to be united

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Georgianna Foster Papanek, 86, of Joliet, Ill., formerly of Olive Branch, died Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, at Rosewood Care Center in Joliet. She was born Oct. 16, 1919, in Waverly, Ill., daughter of Floyd and Georgianna Reed Dain. She and Haron Foster were married Feb. 12, 1935. He died March 22, 1956. She then married John Papanek in 1964. He died Sept. 6, 2001...

Mildred F. Meyr, 95, formerly of New Wells, passed away Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, at Fountainbleau Lodge in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 18, 1911, at New Wells, daughter of John H. and Anna M. Winter Huttegger. She and George J. Meyr were married Feb. 8, 1931. He passed away Sept. 25, 1989...

Mary Beth Browning of McAllen, Texas, was born Oct. 26, 1958, in Cape Girardeau. She went home to be with her Lord Oct. 3, 2006, in McAllen. Her parents were Robert Clifton Wood and Eula Anne Hitt Wood, originally from Delta, both deceased. Beth was raised in Delta and graduated from Delta High School in 1977. Later she attended Hannibal-LaGrange College in Hannibal, Mo., where she met her husband...

Benjamin Horman, 72, of Glennon, Mo., died Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee, Mo.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Bonnie K. Roth, 58, of Perryville died Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 8, 1948, in Perry County, daughter of Emanuel and Conzada Hand LaRose. She and Donald Roth were married in March 1969...

John B. Moore Sr., 70, of McHenry, Ill., died Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006, at his home. He was born Nov. 14, 1935, at Commerce, Mo., son of Raymond and Zella Mae Moore. He married Nancy Wingers. Moore retired as project engineer with PCA/Tenneco in Wheeling, Ill., where he worked 35 years. He was a member of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church and a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters in McHenry...

Four state Higher Education Loan Authority board members held private, one-on-one discussions last January about firing then-executive director Mike Cummins because he opposed Gov. Matt Blunt's plan to auction off the agency, according to documents filed in a open meetings lawsuit against the board...

Oct. 5, 2006 Dear Casey, Ole Miss knows that freshmen start getting homesick at about this point in their college careers, so they asked your family and friends to send messages of encouragement. Lucky you. My university only asked my family for tuition...

BELTON, Mo. -- A pickup truck hit a school bus nearly head-on on a Cass County road Wednesday afternoon, sending the pickup's driver and eight students to hospitals, authorities said. The students' injuries were considered non-life-threatening, while the 59-year-old truck driver was badly hurt and had to be flown to a hospital by air ambulance. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt's administration was cleared of wrongdoing in the awarding of Missouri license office contracts as a federal prosecutor said Wednesday that he had closed an investigation without pursuing any criminal charges...

Cape Girardeau...

25 years ago: Oct. 5, 1981 Cape Girardeau city manager Gary A. Eide has been appointed by Missouri Gov. Kit Bond to serve on a statewide committee designed to set ground rules for distribution of urban redevelopment funds in the state. The Jackson Board of Aldermen agrees to relocate a sewer line in connection with the planned expansion of the Lee-Rowan manufacturing plant; company president E. ...

The following information was released by the office of federal prosecutor Catherine Hanaway for defendants who appeared in federal court Sept. 26 before U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw: Name: Juan De Jesus Abarca Age: 27 Residence: Cambria, Ill...

Cape Girardeau County Commission agenda 9 a.m. today Cape Girardeau County Administration Building, 1 Barton Square in Jackson Routine business Discussion items and appointments...

Fraternity, sorority to hold service event The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and the Alpha Delta Pi sorority will hold a community service event to raise money and collect food and clothing for the Salvation Army from 10 a.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday at Capaha Park shelter No. 1. There are two other drop-off locations in Cape Girardeau, at Kmart and Dollar General Store on Broadway...

Cape Girardeau...

NICKEL MINES, Pa. -- In just about any other community, a deadly school shooting would have brought demands from civic leaders for tighter gun laws and better security, and the victims' loved ones would have lashed out at the gunman's family or threatened to sue...

Thieves use hot-wired forklifts to steal ATMs PHOENIX -- Leave the gun. Bank robbers have found an easier way to make off with other people's money: Around the country, thieves have hot-wired forklifts at construction sites, chugged up to banks and scooped up their ATMs, with all the cash inside. ...

DENVER -- Duane Morrison, 53, the man who took six girls hostage at a Colorado high school last week, was shot once by his own gun and three times by SWAT officers as the standoff ended, according to autopsy results released Wednesday by state officials...

CINCINNATI -- The Bush administration can continue its warrantless surveillance program while it appeals a judge's ruling that the program is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The president has said the program is needed in the war on terrorism; opponents argue it oversteps constitutional boundaries on free speech, privacy and executive powers...

WASHINGTON -- A senior congressional aide said Wednesday he told House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office about worrisome conduct by his former boss, Rep. Mark Foley, toward teenage pages more than three years ago, long before officials have acknowledged becoming aware of the issue...

Editor's note: This column was originally published Oct. 13, 2005. We all intuitively know how stress can age us. Just take the other day. After nine hours in the office, I spent another hour on the phone, getting commands from an annoying electronic voice to punch numbers that took me nowhere...

The weather is cooler, leaves are turning and football season is under way -- you can almost feel the sore throat coming on. Cold and flu season officially kicks off in the next few weeks, and now's the time to bone up on the latest prevention and treatment measures for you and your family...

Briefly Free mental health self-assessments are being offered throughout the country today as part of National Depression Screening Day. For more information, call the Community Counseling Center, 402 S. Silver Springs Road at 334-1100, extension 234 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., or log on to www.cccntr.com. Military families and service members can access an anonymous online self-assessment through the Department of Defense...

A new American Cancer Society study finds that, by even a conservative estimate, reductions in smoking accounted for about 40 percent of the decrease in cancer-death rates among men between 1991 and 2003. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Tobacco Control, is the first to systematically address the dramatic impact of tobacco-control efforts over the last 40 years or so on cancer-death rates...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Prosecutors could charge two American pilots of an executive jet with manslaughter following the high-altitude collision with a Brazilian jetliner that apparently led to a crash that killed all 155 people aboard, federal police said Wednesday...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea's neighbors scrambled Wednesday to forge a common front against Pyongyang's threatened nuclear test, with South Korea warning of a regional atomic arms race that could upend the regional balance of power. The cooperative efforts displayed by Japan, China and South Korea marked a sharp contrast with the fractured reaction to a series of North Korean missile tests in July. In that incident, China and South Korea accused Japan of overreacting...

HASHTGERD, Iran -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Wednesday that sanctions will not stop Iran from enriching uranium after a European negotiator conceded "endless hours" of talks had made little progress and suggested the dispute could wind up at the United Nations soon...

Iraqispulled out of service for death squad ties BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi authorities pulled a brigade of about 700 policemen out of service Wednesday in its biggest move ever to uproot troops linked to death squads, aiming to signal the government's seriousness in cleansing Baghdad of sectarian violence. ...

DIVISION SERIES American League New York vs. Detroit Tuesday, Oct. 3 New York 8, Detroit 4, New York leads series 1-0 Thursday, Oct. 5 Detroit (Verlander 17-9) at New York (Mussina 15-7), 12:09 p.m. (ESPN) Friday, Oct. 6 New York (Johnson 17-11) at Detroit (Rogers 17-8), 7:09 p.m. (ESPN)...

Kluesner, Kern win final horseshoe event Jake Kluesner and Rose Kern won the Southeast Missouri Horseshoe Association's final event of the year Saturday at the Knights of Columbus in Leopold, Mo. Cori Stoverink and Darren Glastetter placed second, while Randy Grady and Mike DeVault finished third...

ST. LOUIS -- Ameren Corp.'s new dam safety chief was one of several managers who failed to tell federal regulators about critical problems at the Taum Sauk reservoir for months before the dam collapsed, documents show. As Ameren's new chief dam safety engineer, Tom Hollenkamp will be the point man for reporting any safety problems at Ameren's hydroelectric plants to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission...

NEW YORK -- There is as much relief as there is celebration on Wall Street now that the Dow Jones industrial average has set new record highs for the first time in nearly seven years -- these milestones are more a sign of recovery than achievement. The index of 30 blue chip stocks reached its second straight closing high Wednesday, soaring 123.27 to 11,850.61, after rising as high as 11,851.25 during the session. ...

Kelci Keith homered and drove in three runs as third-seeded Jackson unleashed its offense Wednesday during a 14-5 victory against sixth-seeded Hillsboro in the first round of the Class 4 District 1 softball tournament at Farmington. Jackson (17-9) had 14 hits, with Keith, Chelsea McDowell, Alisha Craft, Maggie Baugh, Amanda Pitts, Brittany Feeney and Roxanna Miller all getting two. Craft, Pitts and Feeney added two RBIs apiece...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- For the Enderle brothers -- Tony and Tim -- home is where the heart is, and that's never been more evident than this time of year. Last week, the Chaffee natives came close to home when they arrived at Kansas Speedway for the NASCAR Busch Series Yellow Transportation 300. Both Tony and Tim work in the pit crew for Danny O'Quinn's No. 50 car as part of the Roush Racing team...

The Central Municipal Pool's bubble is up, and the water will be filled with swimmers Saturday for the annual Cape Rock Invitational. Central and Notre Dame christened the bubble with a dual meet on Tuesday. The two teams also had a home dual earlier in the season, a rare outdoor meet with boys swimming moved from a winter sport to the fall this school year...

BALTIMORE -- Could the sneezy, runny-eyed misery of hay fever one day be a thing of the past? Scientists are reporting encouraging results from early tests of a vaccine they hope will give long-lasting relief from this seasonal scourge. The experimental vaccine has been tested on only a couple of dozen people so far, but it substantially relieved symptoms for those who received it in six weekly shots, and the benefit lasted for at least two years, doctors reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine.. ...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The FBI searched two produce companies Wednesday for evidence of a crime in the nationwide E. coli outbreak that killed one person and sickened at least 191 others. Agents from the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration used warrants to search a Natural Selection Foods LLC plant in San Juan Bautista and a Growers Express plant in Salinas to determine whether they followed food safety procedures...

SOFTBALL Standings through Sept. 26 for Cape Girardeau Parks and Recration leagues at Shawnee Park Sports Complex ADULT FLAG FOOTBALL Standings for Cape Girardeau Parks and Recration leagues...

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Not even San Diego native David Wells could save the Padres, who appear to be headed for their same ol' postseason fate against the St. Louis Cardinals. Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds hit RBI singles off Wells in the fourth inning and Jeff Weaver held the popgun Padres in check to lead the Cardinals to a 2-0 win Thursday at Petco Park and a 2-0 lead in the division series...

Only four parents of Jefferson Elementary School students showed up Thursday evening for a meeting with principal Mark Cook to discuss the "school choice" option for some students to transfer to other elementary schools in Cape Girardeau that are performing better academically...

For more than 19 years, my family -- wife, two sons and myself -- were owned by a black tomcat named Blackie. As you can tell from the name of the cat, my family is highly creative when it comes to pet names. The current ruler of the roost we call home is a calico who, I am quite certain, in a former life was royalty -- a queen or empress or even a pharaoh. ...

An account called the "William Ferrell DARE and Crime Prevention Fund" was private money that he could use as he pleased, former Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell said Thursday. Responding to a state audit that questioned how $18,200 from the fund was used from Jan. 1, 2004, to Feb. 18, 2005, Ferrell said Scott County had no claim on the money. Auditors have called for further investigation into the use of the fund and other issues...

Experts on both sides of the embryonic stem-cell debate made their case to Southeast Missouri State University students Thursday night. More than 100 people listened as Lindsay Holwick of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures and Dr. Michael Wulfers of Missourians Against Human Cloning gave slide shows supporting their views...

Missouri's schoolchildren lag behind many other students in this country and abroad in math and science. In today's high-tech world, that's a recipe for disaster, says the state's Alliance on Math, Engineering, Technology and Science Education. Appointed by Gov. Matt Blunt earlier this year, the 20-member group recommended in August that the state's public school curriculum in math and science be strengthened and a greater effort be made to train qualified math and science teachers...

GEORGETOWN, Pa. -- They came from across the Pennsylvania countryside dressed in black, bearded men in hats and suits, women in dresses and bonnets. Famous for keeping the surrounding society out, their mourning was remarkable for what they let in: forgiveness...

NEW YORK -- A cross-shaped steel beam that survived the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attack to become a symbol of hope was moved Thursday from ground zero to a nearby church, accompanied by victims' families, clergy and construction workers. The 2-ton, 20-foot-high cross was placed on a flatbed truck for the three-block trip to its temporary home at St. ...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Iraq war could be heading to its decisive moment: a battle for the capital of Baghdad that already has turned dramatically bloodier for American soldiers and carries enormous stakes for the country's future. At least 13 American soldiers have been killed around Baghdad since Monday -- the highest four-day U.S. toll in the capital since the 2003 invasion...

SAN DIEGO -- Getting out of September intact was the hard part for the St. Louis Cardinals, who clinched a division title while stuck in reverse. And the San Diego Padres? Well, after coming into the playoffs with all the confidence in the world -- and rare home-field advantage -- they may not make it through the weekend...

Brent Geiberger, John Rollins and Nick Watney shot 8-under 64s on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. John Senden, Robert Gamez, Mike Sposa, Tag Ridings, James Driscoll and Charley Hoffman were two strokes back, and defending champion K.J. Choi opened with a 65...

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Mark Martin will leave Roush Racing at the end of this season to drive a partial NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule for MB2 Racing, The Associated Press learned Thursday night. Team owner Jack Roush, who has fielded a Ford for Martin in NASCAR's top series since 1988, will make the announcement Friday morning at Talladega Superspeedway, according to a source who asked that he not be identified because all details of the deal have not been finalized...

NEW YORK -- Justin Verlander and Detroit's bullpen held down the New York Yankees' mighty offense, bringing just enough 100 mph heat to send the Tigers home with a split. Curtis Granderson hit a go-ahead triple off Mike Mussina in the seventh inning to cap a comeback from a two-run deficit, and the Tigers beat the Yankees 4-3 Thursday to even their best-of-five AL playoff series at one game apiece...

Cape Girardeau school officials would have prohibited a motivational group of former athletes from handing out trading cards at school assemblies if they had known the cards advertised the group's scheduled performances at a local church, superintendent Dr. David Scala said Thursday...

BENTON, Mo. -- The Scott County sheriff's office began putting prisoners to work Thursday to test a possible sentence-reduction program. Sheriff Rick Walter said four Scott County prisoners were used to test the program. They were put to work throughout the day helping finish renovations to the courthouse lawn. Walter said from the first day's results, it appears the program will work...

Between now and Feb. 6, supporters of the Cape Girardeau Public Library will be busy. They will be educating residents in the library district about the need for a $9 million expansion that would double the size of the existing facility on Clark Avenue...

History will be made tonight when football players from rivals Central and Jackson hit the field for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Jackson. A rivalry that spans more than 90 years will be renewed for the 100th time. Friends will line up opposite each other and take their seats in the home and visitors sections. Generations of former Central and Jackson players will watch a game which has taken on great meaning for the two neighboring communities...

To the editor: As the chair of the Concerned Citizens of Southeast Missouri, the group that brought Ray McGovern to Cape Girardeau, I wanted to thank the Cape Girardeau Police Department for its excellent help with security at the event. I should stress that the police were not involved in the politics of the event in any way, nor were they working for our group. ...

To the editor: "We chose the town hall meeting format because the town hall meeting, along with a free press, has been a cornerstone of our democracy from the start." This quote is from the Web site www.raymcgovernincape.org. It is too bad that this so-called town meeting only applied to those people with the same viewpoint as the Concerned Citizens of Southeast Missouri...

To the editor: I would like to express my appreciation to the individual who stole my digital camera while I was at Ponderosa Steak House Sept. 19. I grew up in what is now Scott City and went to school at what is now Notre Dame Regional High School. My family and I have lived in California the past 40 years...

Affordable dog; Dog or medicine; They still do it; Wealthy socialism; Get a grip; Double taxation; Kissinger redux; Health benefit; Good activity; Foggy celebration; Turn it off; No time left; No tax increase

ANNA, Ill. -- Robert E. "Bob" Mowery, 81, of Anna died Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 8, 1925, in Jonesboro, Ill., son of Howard E. and Carrie V. Hileman Mowery. He and Louise Sprouse were married June 7, 1947, in Piggott, Ark. She died Oct. 2, 1989. He and Betty Woolridge were married Sept. 5, 1992, in Jonesboro...

Margie Marie Blankenship, 81, of Scott City died Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 22, 1924, at East Prairie, Mo., daughter of Virgil Green and Ora Speck Watson. She and Alvin Eugene Blankenship were married March 8, 1946, in Cape Girardeau. He died Sept. 7, 1980...

MORLEY, Mo. -- Bobby Wayne "Bob" Crotts, 68, of Morley died Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, at Clearview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Sikeston, Mo. He was born June 2, 1938, in Lamar, Ark., son of Willie H. and Hollie Terry Crotts. He and Martha Ann Dollins were married Nov. 22, 1961, at Morley...

Benjamin Horman, 72, of Silva, Mo., died Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006 at Saint Francis Medical Center. Friends may call at 4 p.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee, Mo. Parish prayers will be at 7 p.m. today. Funeral will be at 10 p.m. Saturday at St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Chaffee...

25 years ago: Oct. 6, 1981 Saying he couldn't "care less" who he runs against, state Rep. Jerry Ford officially announces his candidacy as a Democrat for 10th District U.S. congressman; in making the long-anticipated announcement, Ford calls for party unity...

Former chief of staff to visit SIUC Tuesday; Shackleton named director at Shryock; Sparks featured at next Sundays at Three; Bo Diddley to appear at Carson Center; Benefit concert for Sahara Aldridge Oct. 15; Illinois vineyards hold weekend festivals; Artists in Ste. Genevieve for Autumn Daze

Police: 4-year-old sibling may have hurt infant A 7-week-old Cape Girardeau baby was hospitalized this week with head injuries from possible abuse by a sibling. The baby was taken to a St. Louis-area hospital with head trauma, but had no external injuries, he said. Investigators believe a 4-year-old sibling shook or dropped the baby Wednesday while their mother was asleep, according to police spokesman Jason Selzer...

Some motorists on Route K were rubbing their eyes Thursday afternoon when they saw David Field of Patton Mo. riding down the street on horseback. Field is on a 450-mile odyssey to Birmingham, Ala., where he hopes to see his uncle who is dying of cancer. Thursday was day three of the trip and Field said he has no idea how long it will take...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Romantic liaisons between professors and students at the University of Missouri's four campuses would be severely curtailed under a proposal considered Thursday by university curators. The "amorous relationship" policy would prohibit consensual romantic or sexual contact when one participant has "direct evaluative or supervisory authority" over the other...

Thursday Routine business Discussion items, appointments Items not on agenda...

Coad...

Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau...

MEXICO CITY -- Researchers said Thursday they have unearthed what may be one of the earliest calendar entries in Meso-America, on a massive stone sculpture that suggests women held important status roles in pre-Hispanic culture. The monolithic design depicts two decapitated women. Markings on top of the figures appear to depict an entry from, or part of, a 13-month lunar calendar, said archaeologist Guillermo Ahuja, who led the excavation of the monument...

WASHINGTON -- In yet another hurdle for Republicans, the scandals that have dogged Congress for the past year are prominent in the minds of many voters who say corruption will significantly influence their vote in November. With midterm elections less than five weeks away, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that about half of likely voters say disclosures of corruption and scandal in Congress will be very or extremely important when they enter the voting booth...

WASHINGTON -- The House ethics committee opened an expansive investigation into the unfolding page sex scandal Thursday, approving nearly four dozen subpoenas for witnesses and documents as House Speaker Dennis Hastert held his ground against pressure to resign...

The bowls are still empty, 200 of them. But maybe they won't be for long. They're just waiting for a sponsor. The bowls are being used to sell tickets to a Nov. 5 dinner that will be the culmination of the Empty Bowls project -- an effort to raise money for local food banks through art. Each bowl represents a place at the fund-raiser dinner, and each was made and contributed free of charge by artists -- professional and amateur -- who want to fight hunger in Southeast Missouri...

NEW YORK -- When Jon Bon Jovi told former President Bill Clinton about a new plan to restore homes in one of Philadelphia's most blighted neighborhoods, his pal was all ears. Clinton "was intrigued enough that he offered his services, and said, 'If I can help you in any way, don't hesitate.' And we didn't," Bon Jovi said Thursday...

This week's games Central (2-3) at Jackson (4-1) Last week's games: Jackson 43, Clayton 16, Central 34, St. Charles West 10 Last year: Jackson 44, Central 0 Notes: Both teams enter with winning streaks: Jackson's at three and Central's at two. The Indians have hammered the Tigers by a combined score of 79-6 over the past two meetings. ...

The moment I sat in the new 2007 Volkswagen GTI, I had flashbacks of exhilaration -- going through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, driving Highway 1 in northern California. I know I'm not alone with memorable GTI trips but it would belittle the new GTI to say it's a mere throwback...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- A few weeks ago, truck driver Frank Russell was pulled over by an Illinois State Police officer who just wanted to check out his ride. The Marble Hill man was recently selected from thousands of entries for the County Music Television channel's "Trick My Truck" series. The show, which airs at 7 tonight on CMT, features the Chrome Shop Mafia mechanics who surprise truck drivers and customize their semis...

Three stars (out of four) In "School for Scoundrels" John Heder plays an underconfident meter maid. After being fired as a big brother, he enrolls in a special class to build self-confidence. Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton) uses a variety of techniques to help the class find their inner Lion (confidence). All is good until Dr. P puts the moves on the object of Heder's affection -- a girl named Amanda. A battle of wills ensue for her hand, so don't miss the tennis scene -- funny!...

An all-Central finals in doubles last year helped propel the Tigers to their second straight girls tennis district title. Central has the doubles favorite this year with the top-seeded team of juniors Sarah Ford and Lindsey Pingel, the defending district champions. But if the Tigers are to claim a third straight district crown, they will need to get strong contributions from a pair of unseeded singles players and an unseeded doubles team...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A state appeals court upheld California's ban on gay marriage Thursday, a critical defeat for a movement hungry for a win after similar losses in two other states. In reversing the March 2005 ruling of a San Francisco trial judge, the 1st District Court of Appeal agreed with the state's attorney general, who argued it is up to the Legislature, not the courts, to change the traditional definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman...

I have a dilemma. Well, it's not just my dilemma -- it's a dilemma for the entire Cape music scene. That dilemma is called the City of Roses Music Festival. I came in to the weekend thinking I would see the great shining face of Cape's musical present and future. This was to be the showcase weekend. This was to be music's big hour in Cape -- the 10th annual City of Roses Music Festival...

The level of attention surrounding tonight's rivalry game between Central and Jackson has been amped up several notches as the squads will square off for the 100th time. Lost amidst the talk of tradition, T-shirts and pre-game ceremonies is the game itself...

Third-seeded Jackson scored four runs in the fourth inning and cruised to a 6-1 win Thursday over second-seeded Farmington in the semifinals of the Class 4 District 1 softball tournament at Farmington. The Indians (18-9) will face top-seeded Seckman at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the finals...

1914 The game at the fairgrounds was the third meeting of the season between the two teams, with the first two having been split. After one player from Central and one from Jackson had been sent off from the game, the two ejected players came in contact along the sidelines not long before the end of the game. That set off a fight that included players and fans...

Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, 32 N. Main St. Buckner Brewing Co. Riverview Room, 132 N. Main St. The Riverview Room will be the site of Dr. Zenon Duda's sculpture installation "Requiem for the Pawns of War." Duda will be filming the night to produce a video for Artists for Human Rights. The public is encouraged to attend a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. For more information, call 334-4677...

The doldrums of the slow movie season are in full swing as we anxiously await the excitement of the holidays. The fall rarely brings the best of the best, but there is an occasional surprise. There are three family-friendly films coming out in October. We preview them below and, as always, the Dad and Lad-o-meter is included to tell you our level of excitement (rated out of 5)...

Students at Notre Dame Regional High School raised a record $134,000 for the school last week. The school's 486 students sold items such as magazine subscriptions and candy, held dinners and washed cars to raise the money to help offset operating expenses at the Catholic school...

Three years ago, administrator Martha Cassel's supervisor came to her with the devastating news -- a state fiscal crisis was going to force the closure of Cottonwood Children's Residential Treatment Center within the next six months. The 32 children with mental health issues and related behavioral problems would be shipped off to an adult psychiatric facility in Farmington, Mo., and the 85 staff members would lose their jobs...

Everyone agrees the Cape Girardeau-Jackson football rivalry has turned friendly. They say that's easy when one side -- Jackson -- has done most of the winning in recent years. But many of the Cape Girardeau and Jackson alumni who met at midfield Friday night remember when things were different...

One woman was killed and two others injured in a Friday night accident on Interstate 55 near the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, stalling traffic for several hours in both directions. The three-vehicle accident occurred at 6:10 p.m. when a southbound semitrailer changed from the right to left lane and struck a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt, according to Cape Girardeau police Cpl. Kevin Eudy...

The 100th meeting between football rivals Central and Jackson on Friday had something few games in the series have had recently -- drama. Hykeem Hammonds' 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown -- on the only kick of Jackson kicker Grant Ressel's five kickoffs that did not to go into the end zone for a touchback -- with 3 minutes remaining cut host Jackson's lead to 24-14...

MENDEN, Germany -- The skeletal remains of at least 51 people -- many of them children -- have been unearthed, and authorities suspect some were killed by the Nazis because they were disabled and considered worthless by the regime. Prosecutors, acting on a tip from an aging witness, have opened a murder investigation despite the difficulty of finding conclusive evidence more than 60 years after the end of World War II and the likelihood that those responsible are dead...

NEW FRANKLIN, Mo. -- Ray Glendening has visions of a restored Georgian cottage dancing in his head. He is the farm manager of the University of Missouri's Horticulture and Agroforestry Center, a 660-acre research farm in Howard County that is home to one of mid-Missouri's oldest houses, the Thomas Hickman house...

ST. LOUIS -- Instead of trying to avoid a first-round playoff sweep, the St. Louis Cardinals are trying to complete one. After finishing the regular season in a tailspin, the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series against the San Diego Padres. The series resumes today with the first postseason game at the new Busch Stadium...

Visitors may be inspired by the artisan demonstrations at the Oliver House Oktoberfest, but they will also have the chance to try their hand at some of the crafts, walk away with a start on next year's garden, have a portrait done or learn about history -- and even consider becoming part of it...

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the SEMO Veteran Corps flourished at Southeast Missouri State University. Now, decades later, some former members of the group plan to hold a reunion during the university's Homecoming on Oct. 21. The SEMO Veteran Corps was a close-knit social organization of students who were veterans of the Vietnam War. They congregated for parties at an off-campus house in Cape Girardeau...

The Missouri Foundation for Health has awarded a $664,379 grant to Southeast Missouri State University and Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences to implement a nursing program at the Kennett, Mo., higher education center...

Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau...

All 489 students, their parents and the hundreds of alumni already know Notre Dame Regional High School is a great school. If anybody else was wondering, for the second year in a row Notre Dame has been named one of the top 50 Catholic high schools in the nation...

Three families suffered the loss of a child. Karla Hicklin of Piedmont, Mo., knew each family. She has recently published a book, "She Slept Through It: Sue's Story," about how each family has endured its loss, come through the pain and, most importantly, learned to forgive and move on...

The Notre Dame High School boys soccer team controlled much of the first-half play Friday but had few dangerous chances against visiting Westminster from St. Louis County. As a result, the Bulldogs entered the intermission locked in a scoreless duel...

Southeast Missouri State's first crack at one of the Ohio Valley Conference's anticipated heavyweights did not go very well. The Redhawks will be looking for a much better performance -- and result -- today when they play at defending OVC champion Eastern Illinois in a 1:30 p.m. kickoff...

To the editor: Recent op-ed articles in the Southeast Missourian by Gary Marshall and Christopher Bond attacked an earlier article by Michael Devaney, who had suggested that ethanol is not a viable substitute for gasoline. Arguments advanced by all three are to some extent faulty, misleading, irrelevant or incomplete. ...

To the editor: Have you ever heard of a fire described as fantastic or beautiful? Neither have I. It seems fitting, however, in describing the fire that caused the complete loss of Centenary Methodist Church in 1914. No artist, I feel sure, could capture the real beauty of the stained-glass windows colored by the bright flames, leaving a memory never to fade nor a picture ever so beautiful...

To the editor: Rhonda Larson and Ventus rocked Academic Hall Tuesday night. Along with the wonderful Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra, they gave Cape Girardeau an amazing program of music that ranged from New Age to jazz to Celtic. Thank you, Southeast Missouri State University, for bringing this artist to us. Larson showed why she is a Grammy Award-winning flutist...

Wasted money; Car was identified; Need lines on roads; Stop school sales; Bicycle safety; War scenario; Education is tops

WALNUT RIDGE, Ark. -- E. Aldean Hardgrave, 78, of Walnut Ridge passed away Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Walnut Ridge. He was born April 9, 1928, at Coal Hill, Ark., son of Cade and Lula McMillin Hardgrave. He and Wilma Smith were united in marriage Jan. 9, 1954, in St. Louis...

The Rev. Dallas Willard Williams, 69, of Brookfield, Mo., died Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006, at Pershing Memorial Hospital in Brookfield. He was born July 3, 1937, in Hayti, Mo., son of Dallas and Ruth Lincoln Williams. He and Betty Hardin were married July 2, 1960...

Martha E. Lutes, 80, of Millersville died Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006, at her home. She was born Oct. 15, 1925, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of George and Elizabeth Goode. She and Jesse Lutes were married Dec. 13, 1947, in Piggott, Ark. He died Aug. 30, 1995...

Jesse G. Glenn, 76, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Funeral Home from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday. The funeral will be at the funeral home at 1 p.m. Monday.

Christine E. Stephens, 63, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center. She was born Oct. 29, 1942, in New Rochelle, N.Y., daughter of Harry and Grace Heape Barry. She and Robert W. Stephens were married March 27, 1965, in Glenn Rock, N.J...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Evelyn June Colbert, 77, of Chaffee died Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 11, 1929, at Sturdivant, Mo., daughter of Homer and Grace Harrington Watkins. She and John W. Colbert were married July 2, 1946, in Corning, Ark. He died March 16, 1992...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Dwel Wayne Lincoln, 88, of Marble Hill died Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, at Elder Care of Marble Hill. He was born Aug. 28, 1918, at Patton, son of Miles O. and Ruth Adeline Long Lincoln. He and Juanita Limbaugh were married March 29, 1942, at Marble Hill. She died May 21, 2003...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Benjamin Franklin Horman, 72, of Silva, Mo., died Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 2, 1934, at Chaffee, son of Frederick Dewey and Mayme Christine Griffin Horman. He and Bernice Eftink were married Feb. 1, 1964...

WITTENBERG, Mo. -- Gilbert A. Theiss, 83, of Wittenberg died Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 16, 1923, at Wittenberg, son of Paul J. and Clara M. Hilpert Theiss. He and Viola F. Gerler were married Dec. 26, 1942...

Flora W. Mayer, 94, of Wilton, Iowa, died Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006, at Muscatine Care Center in Muscatine, Iowa. She was born Feb. 29, 1912, at Manchester, Mo., daughter of Frank and Mary Hauhart Dependahl. She and the Rev. Joseph H. Mayer were married Sept. 16, 1938, in Manchester...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Audrey Evelyn Beard, 94, of Marble Hill died Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 23, 1912, at Scopus, Mo., daughter of Jesse F. and Doshie Jane Barnett Long. She and Walter Beard were married March 27, 1932. He died July 27, 1977...

25 years ago: Oct. 7, 1981 Marquette Cement Co. is making progress in correcting a pesky engineering problem that causes clouds of a light dustlike material to emit from the massive smokestack at its new plant in South Cape Girardeau; plant manager R.P. Jarrett says the stack is "much better" than it was prior to a 11-day shutdown that allowed engineers to work on the problem...

A 16-year-old boy who shot and killed a pet pig did not commit a crime, police said Friday. Mary, the pet pig of Scott City resident Craig Ancell, was slain by a bow and arrow Tuesday night. The 350-pound Vietnamese pot-bellied pig had gotten loose from her fenced-in yard when she was shot by a 16-year-old boy in a neighboring farmer's cornfield...

PARKVILLE, Mo. -- A state lawmaker stationed in Iraq has been shot in the lung and will undergo surgery, a family spokesman said Friday. Rep. Jason Brown, R-Platte City, was injured by enemy fire recently while on patrol near Baghdad, George McClintock, former commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4055, said during a news conference Friday afternoon...

Felony rape charges were filed Friday against a Jackson man accused of assaulting a 16-year-old girl. The girl reported that Bradley J. Bowers, 32, forcibly raped and sodomized her Sept. 24 in his home at 210 S. Bellevue St., according to a probable-cause statement. ...

Gov. Matt Blunt and the top Republican leaders in the Missouri Legislature will be in Cape Girardeau Monday as part of a statewide tour seeking to preserve the GOP's dominant position in state politics. Blunt, a Republican, took office in January 2005, cementing Republican control of state government. The GOP held both chambers of the Missouri Legislature prior to the 2004 election and solidified their hold in voting that year...

Kelly High School was inadvertently left off the list of bands participating in Tuesday's Jackson Marching Band Festival. The Southeast Missourian regrets the error.

The Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, in partnership with the Kostomb Shoppe in West Park Mall and Diebold Orchards will hold a fall fundraiser today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at West Park Mall parking lot. The date was left out in Thursday's edition. The Southeast Missourian regrets the error...

APEX, N.C. -- Firefighters looked at the toxic, greenish yellow cloud over this town, lit up in the night sky by thundering explosions from the hazardous-waste-plant fire that spawned it, and did they only thing they could: urge people to get away. It would have been foolhardy to fight the fire overnight at a facility holding a laundry list of industrial waste and dangerous chemicals, so officials urged more than 17,000 people to evacuate and waited for what the morning would bring...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Nov. 7 election is only about a month away, and election officials still don't know for sure if a tobacco tax increase will be on the ballot. But at this late date, they're proceeding anyway. By law, absentee ballots had to be available by Sept. 26. A judge ordered the tobacco tax proposal onto the ballot Sept. 11, but the Supreme Court heard an appeal Wednesday and has yet to make a decision...

MEXICO CITY -- An alleged kidnapper featured on "America's Most Wanted" turned himself in to U.S. authorities in Mexico and was deported to the United States, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico said Friday. Ivan Villa, who is wanted on a felony kidnapping warrant for allegedly abducting his 16-month-old stepson Justin in New Mexico last year, went to U.S. officials in the city of Guadalajara Thursday, Ambassador Tony Garza said in a statement...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Internet search leader Google Inc. is in talks to acquire the popular online video site YouTube Inc. for about $1.6 billion in cash and stock, according to published reports. Mountain View-based Google and San Mateo-based YouTube are still at a sensitive stage in the discussion, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported on their Web sites Friday, citing unnamed people familiar with the negotiations...

Calendar n The Gloryroad Travelers of Mounds, Ill., and a guest group to be announced will sing at 7 p.m. at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Villa Ridge, Ill. n The Golden Road Quartet will sing at 10:30 a.m. at the Randles General Baptist Church homecoming in Randles. Dinner will be served at noon...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Oakland Athletics swept away years of first-round futility. Milton Bradley homered and threw out Torii Hunter in a disputed play at the plate as the A's snapped a stretch of nine straight losses in potential playoff clinchers, beating Minnesota 8-3 Friday to reach the AL championship series for the first time in 14 years...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Joe Thornton had three assists in regulation and Curtis Brown scored on a rebound with 2:48 left in overtime to carry San Jose to a 5-4 victory late Thursday in both clubs' season opener. Manny Legace made 29 saves, while Dan Hinote, Jamal Mayers, Lee Stempniak and Bill Guerin scored for the Blues...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Buck O'Neil, baseball's charismatic Negro Leagues ambassador who barnstormed with Satchel Paige and inexplicably fell one vote shy of the Hall of Fame, died Friday night. He was 94. Bob Kendrick, marketing director for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, said O'Neil died at a Kansas City hospital...

LUBBOCK, Texas -- With Big 12 play barely under way, No. 23 Missouri is already on the brink of becoming bowl eligible. But for the Tigers (5-0, 1-0) to get off to their first 6-0 season in 33 years, coach Gary Pinkel knows they'll have to stop the high-flying offense of Texas Tech (4-1, 1-0) Saturday night...

The Delta softball team captured the Class 1 District 1 championship on Friday in Neelyville, scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth to beat Naylor 2-1. The top-seeded Bobcats (12-7) received a two-hitter from freshman Kendra Burnett, who improved to 12-5. She walked one and struck out six...

For the first time all season, the Southeast Missouri State volleyball team has a winning record. The Redhawks capped a climb from a 1-6 start against a rugged early schedule with Friday night's Ohio Valley Conference victory over visiting Tennessee Tech...

Scott City decked Brentwood 38-7 on Friday night for its second straight victory. The Rams (3-3) built a 19-0 halftime lead on the strength of two second-quarter passing plays for touchdowns. Quarterback Ethan Watkins and receiver Jamie Pinkston hooked on scoring strikes of 10 and 32 yards in the second period...

Lorena Ochoa finally gave the hometown fans in Morelia, Mexico, something to cheer about Friday, shooting a course-record 9-under 64 to take a three-stroke lead after the second round of the Corona Morelia Championship. The 24-year-old Ochoa, a three-time winner this year who leads the LPGA Tour money list with $1,974,122, had an eagle, eight birdies and a bogey on the Tres Marias course to finish at 11-under 135...

How do you teach the Bible in public schools? Very carefully. Yet this academic year, 78 U.S. school districts in 26 states are boldly embarking on a newsworthy experiment. They're offering high school elective courses using a new textbook, "The Bible and Its Influence" alongside Bible versions chosen by each student...

In college, I frequently took a two-hour bus ride from the campus to my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa. On every bus ride of my memory during those years, there was at least one Amish man as a passenger. The Amish do not believe in operating motorized machinery (including transportation) but can be passengers in a vehicle...

Bill Shivelbine isn't one to hog the spotlight. A self-labeled behind-the-scenes guy, Shivelbine would much rather help out without recognition while others get the praise. But Saturday night Shivelbine, owner of Shivelbine's Music, got more praise than he would ever ask for. At the intermission of Southeast Missouri State University's "Noises Off," Shivelbine was awarded with the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri's highest honor, the Otto Dingeldein Award...

In the minutes of the Cape Girardeau County Infectious Disease Task Force, one heading stands out as evidence officials believe a nightmare is possible. The heading? Mass fatalities. As the task force, made up of emergency responders, health-care officials and others, works to prepare the county's response to a major epidemic, they are discussing which circumstances could force quick burials in mass graves...

State and local officials are at odds over the interpretation of a court ruling on sex offender registration following the arrest of a Cape Girardeau man last week. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in June that sex offenders convicted before Jan. 1, 1995, do not have to register in accordance with the Missouri sex offender registry. ...

Before roads were much of anything in most of this country, my grandmother made adventurous journeys by automobile to faraway places like the borderlands of Texas and the coast of Virginia. Born in 1915, she was just a teenage girl on the first trip. ...

Two people. Two nursing homes. The same satisfaction. Cape Girardeau residents Barbara Yallaly and John Marshall give their time to senior citizens -- Yallaly to residents of the Missouri Veterans Home and Marshall to those who live at the Lutheran Home. Marshall calls it "finding Christ in other people."...

By Robin Carnahan If you voted in the Aug. 8 primary election, you probably saw some new voting equipment in your polling place. These new machines are the result of changes in federal law that went into effect recently. Overall, the elections ran smoothly, and most people seemed to like the new voting systems. ...

BOSTON -- The sound sets teeth on edge, makes skin crawl and sends a shiver down the spine. Just thinking about it gives some people the heebie-jeebies. But what is it about the sound of fingernails scratching on a blackboard that elicits such a universal reaction?...

The Associated Press The 2006 Ig Nobel winners awarded Thursday at Harvard University by Annals of Improbable Research magazine Harvard University: ORNITHOLOGY: The late Philip R.A. May and Ivan R. Schwab for exploring and explaining why woodpeckers don't get headaches...

GEORGETOWN, Pa. -- Dozens of Amish neighbors came out Saturday to mourn the quiet milkman who killed five of their young girls and wounded five more in a brief, unfathomable rampage. Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, was buried in his wife's family plot behind a small Methodist church, a few miles from the one-room schoolhouse he stormed Monday...

APEX, N.C. -- Residents trickled back into town Saturday, relieved that there were no serious injuries or damage after a fire at a hazardous materials plant forced them to stay away from their homes for two nights. A few roadblocks remained near the still-smoldering rubble of the EQ Industrial Services plant, but the burning smell and potentially toxic clouds of fumes were gone. ...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Spraying the bubbles from sparkling wine across the enormous gray bow of the USS George H.W. Bush, the Bush family on Saturday christened the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier named after the 82-year-old former president. "I know you join me in saying to our father, President Bush, your ship has come in," the current president said during a ceremony for the last of the Nimitz-class carriers, the CVN 77...

UNITED NATIONS -- Former President George H.W. Bush has appealed for nearly $100 million in aid for survivors of last year's South Asia earthquake, saying tens of thousands face another winter living in tents. "If they're in tents, that's not good enough," Bush told a news conference Friday to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A shuttle bus caught fire outside a terminal at Kansas City International Airport on Saturday, prompting an hour-long evacuation of several hundred people, authorities said. No serious injuries were reported, but two people who had been on the parking lot shuttle and an airport traffic officer were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, according to the Kansas City Aviation Department, which owns and operates the airport...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The University of Missouri system will press again for fresh funding to expand health care education programs at the four campuses. For the third time, the Board of Curators is requesting $20 million from the state to help hire more instructors, recruit more students and address the big shortfall in skilled health workers...

ST. LOUIS -- Who says marriage is easy? Try getting married over a webcam. A St. Louis-area couple stationed on opposite sides of the globe in the U.S. Air Force did just that Thursday night. Senior Airman Katie Fields stationed at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois will have to wait to kiss her new husband, Staff Sgt. Fred Matney, stationed in South Korea...

WASHINGTON -- Aided by public revulsion over an Internet-age sex scandal, Democrats enter the final month of the campaign well-positioned to challenge for control of Congress, while Republicans increasingly express concern about holding onto power. "We're going to need everything we have to make sure we're victorious," said Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who had long experience as a party strategist before his election to Congress...

ST. LOUIS -- The San Diego Padres got the ball to Trevor Hoffman, and baseball's career saves leader did the rest. Chris Young shut down the Cardinals' offense for 6 2/3 innings, Russell Branyan's two-run double gave the National League West champions their first lead of the series, and the Padres beat St. Louis 3-1 on Saturday, pulling to 2-1 in their NL Division Series...

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Brett Favre is dinking and dunking, and the St. Louis Rams are suddenly worried about the running game and turnovers. Who are these guys, anyway? There has been plenty of talk about finding new offensive identities in St. Louis and Green Bay this year, as two new coaches try to break their teams' old habits...

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Missouri's defense is for real. The No. 23 Tigers' defense, which came into the game ranked No. 10 in the nation, set up most of the scoring in a 38-21 win over Texas Tech on Saturday night. But questions about the strength of Missouri's schedule had some wondering whether the defense had really been tested before playing Tech...

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- David Gilliland had to fight to get NASCAR approval to race at Talladega Superspeedway. That battle two months ago was worth it. Gilliland won the pole Saturday, posting a lap of 191.712 mph in his Robert Yates Racing Ford. His speed was far off the 198.689 that Jeff Gordon posted during practice, but NASCAR mandated smaller restrictor plates to slow the speeds before today's race...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- More vacationers are choosing to wile away their Caribbean holidays in the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean destinations rather than Puerto Rico, an industry group in the U.S. territory says. Puerto Rico, which was the region's most popular vacation spot for four decades until the island recently lost its top rank to the Dominican Republic, has not effectively worked to develop the sector in the last few years, according to a study commissioned by the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association.. ...

GATLINBURG, Tenn. -- Citing a fivefold increase in weddings inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the past half decade, the National Park Service is charging for permits for them. "We are not making money, we are just recouping our costs," park spokeswoman Nancy Gray said of the plan intended to give Smokies' managers greater control over the 600 or so weddings held annually in the country's most-visited national park...

NEAR BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY MILE MARKER 306, N.C. -- On a postcard-perfect Saturday at the Heffner Gap Overlook, Anne Mitchell Whisnant reads from one of the scores of informational signs -- known as "gun boards" for their frontier rifle logos -- posted along the 470 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway...

NILES, Mich. -- Forget ketchup blood and tape-recorded "oohs" in a rundown barn. Today's haunted attractions have gone high-tech, with Hollywood-style special effects, set designers and some truly terrifying performances by actors portraying ghouls and madmen...

Ky. man charged with killing his 4 children...

Amaranth fund cutting much of its work force; Court: Paper's reporters can keep computers

Southeast Missourian Newsworthy events of this past month will be discussed today on KRCU's "Going Public" radio show. The show will feature interviews with Southeast Missourian staff writer Mark Bliss and Renee Jean, a journalist with the Daily Journal in St. Francois County...

Group decries 'new Danish insults' to Islam; Spanish politician bares all in election campaign

The Missouri State Highway Patrol crash team is investigating a Cape Girardeau multi-vehicle crash that killed one and injured two more. Kimberly Myers, 44, of Sikeston, Mo., suffered massive injuries in the Friday night accident and was pronounced dead at 7:09 p.m. at Saint Francis Medical Center, according to Scott County chief deputy coroner Jerry Goin. No autopsy will be conducted...

Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau has come a long way regarding tornado-warning sirens. For years, city officials said it would be too expensive to have an effective siren system. But siren technology has changed dramatically, as demonstrated by the sirens installed on the Southeast Missouri State University campus a few years ago that not only emit an ear-piercing warning tone, but also allow officials to give information that can be heard for long distances...

The Central boys soccer team bounced back for a dramatic win Saturday after two losses in the Quincy Tournament in Quincy, Ill. Matt Compas scored on an assist from Brad Labruyere with 5 seconds remaining in regulation to beat Wichita Heights of Kansas 2-1...

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Southeast Missouri State's offense was a picture of futility Saturday afternoon. The result was another decisive loss on the road against one of the Ohio Valley Conference's perennial heavyweights. Three weeks after losing by 31 points at Jacksonville State, the Redhawks were blanked 21-0 at defending OVC champion Eastern Illinois...

To the editor: All the finger-pointing that is being done toward the schools and teachers regarding MAP testing and healthy eating for our children is asinine. I served on the Nell Holcomb School Board for six years and know about No Child Left Behind. NCLB is a ridiculous mandate that is impossible to attain. All children will never be at the same levels in reading or anything else, and that is because God created each one of us differently...

To the editor: On Nov. 7 we will be asked to vote on a stem-cell research and cloning amendment that would change the Missouri Constitution. This amendment claims to ban cloning, but in fact it only bans the process of implanting an already cloned human embryo into a woman's womb with the intention of bringing it to a live birth...

Herd of cash cows; Stunting growth; Working-class woes; Parking is lacking; Potential accident; Overlooked band; Great bands

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Bill Lee Bentley, 72, of Sikeston, formerly of Chaffee, Mo., died Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006, at Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston, where he spent his last years and was loved dearly. A special thank you because he loved them dearly...

Virginia Jane Smith Kurka Frenzel, 91, of Cape Girardeau, passed Oct. 6, 2006, after a brief illness. Born Sept. 28, 1915, at St. Louis, Mo, she was the daughter of Joseph and Laura Langmeier Smith. She and Jere "Jerry" Emil Kurka were married Nov. 28, 1934, at St. Louis. After Jerry's death, she married John Frenzel Jr. Sept. 4, 1970, at Cape Girardeau...

Phillip Talley, 28, of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, at his home. He was born Nov. 6, 1977, at Dexter, Mo., son of Lou and Joy Case Talley. He and Dana Monique Lancaster were married Dec. 9, 2000, in Risco, Mo. He was a memebr of First Baptist Church of Risco and a guest member of the Malden, Mo., VFW. Talley was employed at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

Mary Euvon Pool, 69, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Dexter, Mo., died Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, at her home. She was born Feb. 15, 1937, in Cleburne County, Ark., daughter of Fred and May Brock Hester. She and Raymond Pool were married Aug. 2, 1952, in Paw Paw, Mich...

Will Mason Morris Sr., 97, of East Prairie, Mo., died Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born June 25, 1909, in Hickman, Ky., son of Monroe C. and Flora Bessie Nichols Morris. He and Gertie Colvin Morris were married Nov. 26, 1928. She died Sept. 10, 1985...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Jimmy L. Johnson, 70, of Cairo died Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006, at his son's home in Marion, Ill. Friends may call from noon until the funeral hour at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bethel Temple Church of God in Christ in Mounds, Ill. Interment will be in the Spencer Heights Memorial Park in Mounds, with Carl Whitaker officiating...

Jesse G. Glenn, 76, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, at Saint Francis Medical Center. He was born Sept. 24, 1930, at Gerald, Ind., son of John H. and Ethel McPeek Glenn. He and Elinor J. Keiser were married Nov. 23, 1950, at Cannelton, Ind...

Summer Jo Ellen Myers and Scott Lynn Aufdenberg were married June 10, 2006, at New Salem United Methodist Church at Daisy. Calvin Brown performed the ceremony. Pianist was Lucy Meyer of Oak Ridge, and soloist was Lisa Crites of Jackson, aunts of the bride...

Lisa Marie Glastetter and Ronald Wayne Boyd were united in marriage Aug. 5, 2006, at St. James AME Church. Debbie Thornton performed the ceremony. The bride is the daughter of Claudia Marion of Chaffee, Mo. The groom is the son of Jakie Jones of Cape Girardeau and Ronald Kinder of Oceanside, Calif...

Amanda June Staten and Jason Daniel Davis exchanged vows May 27, 2006, at the home of her parents. Jim Sorrell performed the ceremony. Musician was David Lester of Maynard, Ark., uncle of the bride. The bride is the daughter of Tom and Freeda Staten of Poplar Bluff, Mo. The groom is the son of Pat Baker of Trenton, Tenn., and Danny Davis of Dyersburg, Tenn...

Connie Dotten of Van Buren, Mo., and Stanley Hueckel of Dexter, Mo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Amanda Hueckel, to Nathaniel Brink, both of Cape Girardeau. He is the son of Ken and Gail Brink of Perryville, Mo. Hueckel is a 1996 graduate of Richland High School. She received a master of education in instructional technology from American InterContinental University...

Wayne and Kay Wolak of Jackson announce the engagement of their daughter, Bobbi J. Hinkebein, to Justin L. Bell. He is the son of Harry Bell and Bernita Parker of Marble Hill, Mo. Hinkebein is a 2000 graduate of Jackson High School, and received an associate degree in computer science from Metro Business College. She is employed at MedAssets in Cape Girardeau...

Rick Rushin and Linda Rushin of Poplar Bluff, Mo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Aimee Suzanne Rushin, to Jonathan Mark Gerdes. He is the son of Mark and Georgiana Gerdes of Jackson. Rushin is a 1998 graduate of Poplar Bluff High School. She received a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University. She is an accountant with Robert J. Whelan, CPA, in Poplar Bluff...

Ronald and JoAnna Jones of Jackson announce the engagement of their daughter, Rhonda Elizabeth Jones, to F. Arthur Acklie, both of Ooltewah, Tenn. He is the son of Vernon and Lena Acklie of Johnson City, Tenn. Jones is a graduate of Poplar Bluff High School in Poplar Bluff, Mo. She received bachelor and master degrees in business administration from Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. She is an informatics analyst with MedSolutions...

Doug and Jackie Bowen of Scott City announce the engagement of their son, David Joel Bowen, to Jennifer Diane Bishop, both of Jackson. She is the daughter of Don Bishop of Centralia, Mo. Bishop received a master's degree in social work from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is employed with Stoddard County Children's Division...

Larry and Janet Dunning of Whitewater announce the engagement of their daughter, Michele Rena Dunning, to Andy Lynn Cook. He is the son of James and Brenda Cook of Marble Hill, Mo. Dunning is a graduate of Delta High School, and attended Three Rivers Community College. She is employed at McKesson Healthcare Resource...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Sherry A. Hale of Olive Branch and Robert G. Hale of Thebes, Ill., announce the engagement of their daughter, Autumn Brooke Hale, to Wayne Duffell. He is the son of Larry Wayne Duffell Sr. and Phyllis Duffell of Thebes. Hale is a 2006 graduate of Olive Branch Christian Academy. She is employed at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau...

25 years ago: Oct. 8, 1981 Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois farmers have produced a bumper crop of wheat this year and are in the process of harvesting a similarly large corn crop; soybeans in the area are still a question mark. CHAFFEE, Mo. ...

Morris, Bjelich place first in scramble tourney The team of Kathy Morris and Lisa Bjelich won the two-woman scramble on Cape Girardeau Country Club's Ladies Guest Day tournament on Thursday. Judi Brey and Luanne Kiefner finished second to Morris and Bjelich in the championship flight...

Woeful Compared with many of the other "smalltown" papers, the Southeast Missourian's sports coverage is woefully lacking. I can understand why many of my co-workers don't bother picking up the Sunday copy. Many grew up outside Southeast Missouri, spent their collegiate years somewhere besides Southeast or Mizzou and don't follow the Rams. ...

PEMISCOT COUNTY, Mo. -- Georgia Ball knows how to live. The lifelong Pemiscot County resident has outlived the county's average life expectancy by 23 years. A recent Harvard University study of mortality rates in the United States found that people on average die sooner in some counties and later in others. For the more than 19,000 residents of Southeast Missouri's Pemiscot County, that information is frightening...

A couple from Germany spent Saturday in Cape Girardeau searching for family ties. Johannes and Gail Bruening Kraemer began at Hanover Lutheran Church's parking lot, then went to visit the graves of their ancestors and concluded at the Cape Girardeau Public Library for an exchange of information with Bruening family members...

It's apparent by what took place Saturday in Charleston, Ill., that the 2006 Southeast Missouri State football team is not up to speed with the top squads in the Ohio Valley Conference. Defending OVC champion Eastern Illinois showed the Redhawks that by handing Southeast its first shutout since 2001. The 21-0 victory could have been more lopsided save for a gritty performance by the Redhawks' defense...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Saturday lamented recent "shocking acts of violence" in schools, and promised his administration will do what it can to keep centers of learning safe for students. The White House is convening a conference on school safety Tuesday. Federal officials, school workers, parents, law enforcement officials and other experts are to gather in Chevy Chase, Md., a Washington suburb noted for exceptional schools...

WASHINGTON -- The House's investigation of a page sex scandal has only one certainty: Former Rep. Mark Foley will escape punishment by his peers. It is the Florida Republican's sexually explicit electronic messages to teenage former male pages that have ignited what has become a pre-election firestorm...

PARKVILLE, Mo. -- A state legislator wounded by enemy fire near Baghdad was up and walking Saturday at the hospital in Iraq where he's being treated, a family spokesman said. Rep. Jason Brown, R-Platte City, is a staff sergeant in the Army Reserve. He was shot in the lung during a recent patrol near Baghdad, said George McClintock, a friend of Brown's family...

It came down to timing, Jackson coach Amanda Forester said. Seckman defeated Jackson 12-4 Saturday in the Class 4 district title game at Farmington Sports Complex. The Jaguars pounded out 18 hits in the win. Jackson had a dozen hits, but had several scoring opportunities slip away...

SEOUL, South Korea -- Tensions mounted over North Korea's threat to test its first atomic bomb, with shots ringing out Saturday along the border with South Korea and Japan warning of harsh sanctions if Pyongyang goes nuclear. With a possible test expected as early as today, the U.N. Security Council issued a stern statement Friday urging the country to abandon its nuclear ambitions and warning of unspecified consequences if the isolated, communist regime doesn't comply...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, headlining a rally for Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, whipped a Democratic crowd into shouts and applause Saturday by criticizing President Bush and saying Democrats must do more than complain to win November's elections...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Bush administration is bumping up against the limits of military and political power to influence what happens next in Iraq, four years into an increasingly unpopular war that has not gone as planned. As U.S. officials now acknowledge, the cycle of sectarian killings poses a greater threat than does al-Qaida or the anti-American insurgency...

The Southeast Missouri State men's cross country team finished second Saturay at the Saluke Invitational in Carbondale, Ill. Southeast finished behind host Southern Illinois. Sophomore Kevin McNab led the men with a third-place finish in 25 minutes. Senior Chris Herron finshed 11th in 25:29.94, freshman Dustin Davis was 13th in 25:38.12, and sophmore Brandon Karcher was 14th in 25:39.05...

ST. LOUIS -- Central tennis players Sarah Ford and Lindsey Pingel served up a breakfast double bagel to their opponents Saturday morning. And their reward is a return trip to the Missouri State High School Activities Association Class 2 tournament in Springfield on Oct. 20 and 21...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Chocolate-covered Ritz crackers, gooey caramel and vanilla ice cream -- it doesn't get much better than that, judges decided at an ice cream contest. Judges said Jacksonville resident Tasha Callister's entry, Puttin on the Ritz, tasted great and had a clever name. ...

PARIS -- As the first European memorial to journalists killed on the job was inaugurated Saturday, word trickled in that two reporters had been shot to death in Afghanistan and another was killed in Russia. The killings resonated as press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders and the northwest French town of Bayeux unveiled a memorial to some 2,000 journalists and other media workers killed in the line of duty around the world since World War II...

LONDON -- Six key world powers have agreed to discuss possible sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program but shied away from demanding Tehran be punished by the U.N. Security Council. The United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia said in a joint statement Friday night after talks in London that they were "deeply disappointed" by Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a key step toward making nuclear weapons...

PERRYVILLE -- Good teams can make their own breaks. Notre Dame's softball team entered the bottom of the fifth inning of Saturday's Class 3 District 2 championship game at the Perryville City Park in need of a break, down 1-0 against Festus. Thanks to two Festus errors, the Bulldogs' trademark aggressive running and a big hit from Kristain Burger, the top-seeded Bulldogs got their break and brought home their third straight district title with a 3-1 win...

Heather can be as pretty a plant in your garden as it is blanketing the bonny hills of Scotland. And it looks especially pretty for a long time; its pink flowers unfolded back in July, and enough are still left this fall to spread a rosy haze over the backdrop of tiny, dark green leaves...

PERRYVILLE -- The Kelly softball team came to life in the fourth inning and cruised to a 6-1 victory over Crystal City on Saturday in the Class 2 District 2 title game at the Perry Park Center. Kelly claimed its fifth straight district title. Next for the Hawks is a home sectional Wednesday afternoon against Twin Rivers...

Hunters in the Ozarks and east-central Missouri can expect an increased number of wild turkeys this fall. They have a superabundance of acorns to thank for the increase, but may have trouble finding all those birds for the same reason. Resource scientist Jeff Beringer said volunteers who count turkey poults -- birds hatched this year -- reported seeing 2.2 young birds for every hen they counted in the eastern Ozarks, indicating good nesting success. ...

Start-up businesses will benefit from federal grant money that Southeast Missouri State University will use to finish off the third floor of the school's Innovation Center. Renovations to the third floor of the former First Baptist Church education building on Broadway will provide expanded office space to serve as a business incubator for start-up companies, school officials said...

Betsy Rigdon and her husband, John, knew the benefits of a modern, new metal-sided pole barn. They're less expensive. They don't rot or get pesky termites that could devastate a structure. And they're obviously far less susceptible to the destructive nature of fire...

WASHINGTON -- Candidates in Missouri's hotly contested Senate race clashed Sunday over the congressional page sex scandal and the war in Iraq, with the Democratic challenger saying House Speaker Dennis Hastert should quit. State Auditor Claire McCaskill said Hastert, R-Ill., and other GOP leaders failed to properly investigate when they first learned of former Rep. Mark Foley's e-mails to congressional pages...

ST. LOUIS --Standing on a folding chair in a raucous clubhouse, Albert Pujols sprayed champagne in every direction. Teammates got soaked -- even owners -- no one was immune. The tension from Chris Carpenter's shaky beginning, the angst of the St. Louis Cardinals' late-season swoon, all had evaporated. They're going to the NL championship series for the third straight season...

In his trial for crimes against humanity, Saddam Hussein is being afforded something he never gave his Iraqi subjects: due process. Larry Ferrell, assistant federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Missouri, spent seven months in Baghdad working on the trial with the Regime Crimes Liaison Office. He returned to Cape Girardeau from this voluntary assignment in August...

WARREN, R.I. -- This pumpkin will make one big jack-o'-lantern. A Rhode Island farmer has set what could be a new record for the largest pumpkin in the world -- 1,502 pounds. Ron Wallace's pumpkin easily outweighed the current Guinness World Record-holding 1,469-pound pumpkin grown last year by Larry Checkon of Pennsylvania. ...

AIRMONT, N.Y. -- A pit bull attacked its dog-sitters, killing one woman and injuring her sister. Jeannine Fusco, 44, was attacked Saturday in the garage of her home in Airmont, in Rockland County, police said. She was bitten in the head and throat, Ramapo police Detective Lt. Brad Weidel told The Journal News...

CHICAGO -- Here's some soothing medicine for stressed-out parents and overscheduled children: The American Academy of Pediatrics says what children really need for healthy development is more good, old-fashioned playtime. Many parents load their children's schedules with get-smart videos, enrichment activities and lots of classes in a drive to help them excel. The efforts often begin as early as infancy...

NEW YORK -- Florida is the new No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25. Florida moved up three spots Sunday into second behind No. 1 Ohio State on the strength of a 23-10 victory over LSU on Saturday -- and with a lot help from Arkansas. The Razorbacks pulled off the first stunner of the season, beating Auburn 27-10. The Tigers had held the No. 2 spot for three weeks. Arkansas is unranked no more, moving into the rankings for the first time since October 2003...

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Brian Vickers isn't allowed to attend Hendrick Motorsports team meetings. Now he might not even be allowed in the building. Vickers stole his first Nextel Cup victory Sunday by nudging teammate Jimmie Johnson into race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr., then skirting by the two spinning cars on the last lap at Talladega Superspeedway...

Mexican star Lorena Ochoa won her first LPGA Tour title in her home country, closing with a 4-under 69 to hold off Julieta Granada and Paula Creamer in the Corona Morelia Championship. Ochoa won for the fourth time this season to tie Karrie Webb for the tour lead. Ochoa finished at 20-under 272 on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Tres Marias course in Morelia, Mexico, five strokes better than Granada...

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The St. Louis Rams used to be the most stylish team in the NFL. Now they're winning ugly -- to the tune of a surprising 4-1 start. The Rams staved off a fourth-quarter comeback attempt by the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, walking away with a 23-20 victory at Lambeau Field after a big defensive play in the final minute...

ST. LOUIS -- Scott Rolen was dropped from the St. Louis Cardinals' starting lineup for Game 4 of the NL playoffs against San Diego on Sunday night after hitting just .091 in the series and saying he had shoulder fatigue. Scott Spiezio started at third base against Woody Williams. Spiezio was 0-for-1 in the first three games of the first-round playoff...

Sausage and pancake breakfast at Trinity ...

An electic group of individuals rode into Cape Girardeau Sunday in route to Louisiana as part of their "Cycles of Uprising" tour. The group is traveling by bicycle along the Mississippi River to raise awareness for ways to eliminate society's and the economy's dependence on fossil fuels. They began their trip last week and will arrive in New Orleans Oct. 31, spreading their message at universities and other venues along the way...

Jeff Williams, 46, of Jackson died Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006, at his home. Friends may call from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. -- A California company that has faced criticism for growing and processing genetically engineered rice is planning to open a processing plant here and contract with area farmers to grow the crop. State and local officials have embraced Ventria Bioscience's project, and they and the Sacramento, Calif.-based firm's leader tout it as a major boost for Kansas' emerging biosciences industry...

More than 80 specially hired people are unloading boxes and stacking shelves with books, CDs and DVDs as the calendar pages flip toward Oct. 24, the day the new Barnes & Noble store at the West Park Mall will be unveiled to the public. "People can come and ooh and aah the new store," said Jill LeGrand, community relations manager. "We really think people are going to like it."...

CHICAGO -- Before heading into the yard to work, Tony Smith pulls over his head a white hooded jacket with stiff veiled netting that protects his face. He tugs yellow leather gloves beyond his wrists and makes sure his pants cover the tops of his tennis shoes...

Since the Taum Sauk Reservoir collapse last December near Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park, AmerenUE has spent more than $44 million for expenses related to the accident. The expenditures have covered property damage and business claims, cleanup and costs to the state...

Not only did Southeast Missouri State lose at Eastern Illinois 21-0 Saturday afternoon, the Redhawks' turnover-free streak finally came to an end. Entering play over the weekend, Southeast was the only NCAA Division I football team -- I-A or I-AA -- to have not committed a turnover all season...

Speeding motorists; School exercise; Message on signs; Tobacco-tax info; Don't blame police; Despicable use; Smoking education; Stop picking on teens; New headquarters; Necessary pursuits; Veterans on parade; Hunting in Scott City; Assembly message

Melvin Reisenbichler, 85, of Three Oaks, Mich., died Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006 in St. Joseph, Mich. Mr. Reisenbichler was born Sept. 21, 1921, in Cape Girardeau County, the son of Rudolph and Lena (Danz) Reisenbichler. After attending Lutheran elementary school, he graduated from Jackson High School in 1940. Four years later he received his bachelor's degree from Concordia Teachers College at River Forest, Ill., and later earned his master's degree from Ball State University at Muncie, Ind...

Katherine Hill, 75, of Anna, Ill., died Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 21, 1931, in Union County, Ill., daughter of Jessie and Ruth Spurlock Rushing. She and Donald Wayne Hill were married March 4, 1950, in Piggott, Ark. He died April 20, 1999...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Geralyn A. Buchheit, 49, of Perryville died Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006, at St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis. She was born Nov. 20, 1956, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Bertrand Vincent and Margie Jean Brewer Mattingly. She and Gary J. Buchheit were married Nov. 8, 1975, in Perryville...

SEDALIA, Mo. -- Herb Piper runs his fingers over the cutout along the underside of a plane's wing. He has removed the fabric of the wing and has taken out a gas tank that must be replaced. The wing, detached from the Taylor Craft single-engine plane, is stretched out on a workbench nearby. This is his current project...

25 years ago: Oct. 9, 1981 A re-evaluation of federal regulations on inland wetlands has been called for by 10th District U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, who is considering legislation which would remove the land from wetlands status; Emerson called the regulations "a threat to private property rights" because many farmers are prohibited from farming the land or are being told what they can and cannot do with it...

7:30 p.m. today City Hall 101 Court Action items Power and light committee Street committee...

7 p.m. today, study session 5 p.m. 401 Independence St. Communications Public hearings Appearances Consent ordinances n An ordinance repealing stop signs on Frederick Street and enacting a four-way stop at Frederick and Bellevue streets. New ordinances...

DALLAS -- Two Texas women who killed their young children in cases that drew nationwide attention have formed a friendship at a state hospital, a newspaper reports. Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in the bathtub, and Dena Schlosser, whose baby died after she severed the girl's arms with a kitchen knife, became roommates at the Maple unit of the North Texas State Hospital after each was found not guilty by reason of insanity...

WASHINGTON -- Rank-and-file Republicans on Sunday sought to mount a public defense of Speaker Dennis Hastert over the page sex scandal that threatens their congressional control one month before the elections. But a House GOP leader under fire for his handling of the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley canceled a national broadcast appearance and one Republican lawmaker said those who participated in a cover-up would have to resign...

CAIRO, Egypt -- Arab countries have launched a new effort to push Sudan toward a compromise over U.N. peacekeepers for Darfur, offering to dispatch a force of Arab and Muslim troops to the troubled region, diplomats said Sunday. The Arab League diplomats said Sudan's president rejected the initial proposal -- as he has all suggestions of a U.N.-affiliated contingent, regardless of the makeup -- but promised to suggest an alternative soon, in a sign that the Arab effort might show more promise than Western attempts to stop the humanitarian crisis.. ...

KIRKUK, Iraq -- Bombings and shootings are increasing in Iraq's north as part of a power struggle between Arabs and Kurds. Car bombings in oil-rich Kirkuk grew fivefold last month and hundreds of Kurdish families have left the north's biggest city, Mosul, to escape the violence...