Stories from Wednesday, January 24, 2007

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The House on Wednesday rejected a proposal to increase the pay of judges and other elected officials. House members voted 118-37 in favor of a measure that would veto a raise of $1,200 plus 4 percent for judges and elected officials. The raise was recommended by a state salary commission and takes effect automatically if two-thirds of the House and Senate don't reject it by Feb. 1...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Missouri Bootheel nurse whose political allegiances came under scrutiny has moved one step closer to confirmation as a new University of Missouri curator. On Wednesday, the Senate Gubernatorial Appointments Committee unanimously approved the nomination of Judith Haggard to formally join the curators. The Kennett native was appointed to a Democratic slot on the Board of Curators by Republican Gov. Matt Blunt in late December...

Anticipating the sixth annual United We Read event, I recently decided to reread Harper Lee's seminal (and only) novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird." OK, I'll be honest, I didn't exactly read the book. I checked it out on tape from the library and listened to actress Sissy Spacek read it to me over two drives to St. Louis and one to Carbondale, Ill...

Those who helped create Cape Girardeau's 1987 comprehensive plan believe it has served its purpose and say although some of its objectives never were achieved, many more were. "A comprehensive plan, if it's done right, is a living thing," said city planner Kent Bratton, who was one of the architects of the last plan...

Surviving relatives and friends of Bonnie Huffman, a 20-year-old schoolteacher murdered in 1954, hope renewed publicity surrounding the case will bring the those responsible to justice. On Nov. 20, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department received an anonymous letter claiming to be from a woman who suggested authorities investigate a man who in the late 1940s reportedly attacked her in a car on a lonely country road in the vicinity of the homicide...

CAIRO, Ill. -- The Cairo City Council refused on principle Tuesday to attempt to override a veto by Mayor Paul Farris, even when enacting a resolution over his objections could have dislodged paychecks he withheld for most of last year. Four Cairo council members haven't been paid since January 2006. Farris ordered their paychecks stopped after the four announced in December 2005 they would no longer attend regular council meetings because of Farris's "dictatorial" style of running the city...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday in need of good will. In a Congress now dominated by Democrats, he began his State of the Union speech with praise and flattery. "Tonight, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own, as the first president to begin the State of the Union message with these words: 'Madam Speaker.'"...

Southeast Public Radio will broadcast Gov. Matt Blunt's State of the State speech at 7 tonight on 90.9 FM, KRCU, in Cape Girardeau and 88.9 FM, KSEF, in Farmington, Mo. The coverage will include the Democratic response to the speech. The address will also air on The Heartland's CW, WQWQ-TV, at 9:30 p.m., tape-delayed from its original starting time...

Ben Morgan didn't hear his furnace running as much as usual in his Cape Girardeau duplex over the last few months. He kept his thermostat at the same 69 degrees as last year, but his natural gas bills have been slightly lower this year. "I've tried to keep the thermostat down to conserve and keep my bill consistent," said Morgan, who lives alone. "So far it's been working out."...

ELKHART, Ind. -- A mother and her four children were found safe Tuesday night at a motel just miles from where police said the father had shot a man and abducted the family three days earlier, authorities said. He was arrested as he tried to escape through an air duct...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The dream of the top Academy Award is gone for the musical "Dreamgirls." It got eight Oscar nominations Tuesday, but not best picture -- leaving the main prize up for grabs. Will it be the sprawling global drama "Babel," which placed second with seven nominations, or the mob epic "The Departed"? Could the palace tale "The Queen" be crowned best picture, or even "Little Miss Sunshine," a road-trip romp that became last year's independent-cinema darling?...

WASHINGTON -- Top White House officials tried to blame vice presidential aide "Scooter" Libby for the 2003 leak of a CIA operative's identity to protect President Bush's political strategist, Karl Rove, Libby's defense attorney said Tuesday as the aide's perjury trial began...

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- A woman cleaning out her dead parents' rented storage unit discovered a partially mummified baby boy, wrapped in a 1957 newspaper and stuffed inside a suitcase-within-a-suitcase. The body will be sent to a forensic anthropologist to determine the cause of death and whether the baby was born alive, authorities said Tuesday...

VILLA RIDGE, Ill. -- Raymond Bagby, 89, of Villa Ridge died Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007, at Union County Hospital in Anna, Ill. He was born Aug. 8, 1917, to Claude J. and Amelia K. Dick Bagby. He married Mary Ann Reeves in 2000. Bagby was a member of St. Luke's Lutheran Church. He served his country honorably in the U.S. Army during World War II...

Marjorie Webb, 86, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Tamms, Ill., died peacefully Monday, Jan. 22, 2007, at her home. She was born Feb. 22, 1920, in Elco, Ill., to Joseph Henry and Minnie Elizabeth Miller Bufford. She married Clinton Eugene Webb Oct. 29, 1939. He preceded her in death Jan. 31, 1989...

Henrietta Elizabeth Roth, 93, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Jan. 22, 2007, at Fountainbleau Lodge. She was born March 8,1913, in St. Louis, daughter of William and Sophie Seuss Reiter. She and Walter G. Roth were married in 1937 in South St. Louis. He died Aug. 24, 1972...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Rose Mary Bahr, 76, of Perryville died Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 23, 1930, at Crosstown, Mo., daughter of Louis and Cecelia Merkel Manning. She and Bennie E. Bahr were married Sept. 18, 1948...

Helen Ann Goodman, 83, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Jan. 21, 2007, in Jefferson City. She was born in St. Louis, daughter of Joseph Herman and Anna Marcella Keenan Bonskowski. She was married in 1952 in St. Louis to Billy Leslie Goodman...

Gordon Heitzeberg, 58 of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Jan. 22, 2007, at his home. He was born Oct. 19, 1948, in Pontiac, Mich., son of Charles G. and Margaret Beecher Heitzeberg. He and Diomisita Cabugnason were married July 18, 1998. Heitzeberg lived and taught in various places, including Azerbaijan, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Honduras, Bahrain and Shanghai...

The following information was released by the office of federal prosecutor Catherine Hanaway for defendants appearing in federal court before U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber. SENTENCEd Age: 35 Residence: Parma, Mo. Charge: Conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base...

n At 9:03 p.m., emergency medical service at 1400 Mary Ann St. n At 9:44 a.m., alarm sounding at 630 N. Henderson Ave. n At 10:13 a.m., citizen assist in the 500 block of Albert Street. n At 11:22 p.m., emergency medical service at West Park Mall. n At 3:48 p.m., emergency medical service in the 200 block of Marlin Drive...

Cape Girardeau: Arrests; Summonses; Thefts; Property damage; Miscellaneous

Graham; Graham; Leggett; Smolak; Bagby; Hutson

WASHINGTON -- The Army general who would carry out President Bush's new war plan urged a skeptical Congress and American public Tuesday to be patient, but acknowledged "the situation in Iraq is dire." "None of this will be rapid," Lt. Gen. David Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "The way ahead will be neither quick nor easy."...

BEIJING -- China will not loosen its one-child policy, despite a top family planning official's acknowledgment Tuesday that it was partly to blame for a worsening problem of too many boy babies and not enough girls in the world's most populous nation...

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- More than 100,000 mourners choked the streets of Istanbul for the funeral Tuesday of an Armenian journalist whose slaying sparked debate about freedom of expression and whether Turks of different ethnic groups can live together. "We are all Armenians!" chanted mourners in an extraordinary outpouring of affection for editor Hrant Dink, who had made enemies among nationalist Turks by labeling as genocide the mass killings of Armenians toward the end of the Ottoman Empire...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U.S. security company helicopter crashed Tuesday as it flew over a dangerous Sunni neighborhood in the central Baghdad where insurgents and Iraqi security troops fought a prolonged gunbattle, and a U.S. official said five American civilians on board were killed...

Southeast Missouri State and Morehead State are the two Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball teams hottest on the heels of first-place Murray State. One will remain that way today, while one will take a step back. That's because the Redhawks and Eagles, tied for second place in the OVC, square off at 4:15 p.m. in Morehead, Ky...

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State coach Scott Edgar said Tuesday that leading scorer and rebounder Brandon Foust is doubtful for tonight's game against Morehead State after he suffered a sprained ankle late in Saturday's home loss to Tennessee Tech...

Guest speaker at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson during Sunday school hour is Otis Woodard, director of the Lutheran Family and Children's Services Outreach Center in St. Louis. S. Cordell Dombrowski, who last week was named recipient of the Cape Girardeau Jaycees Distinguished Service Award, has been selected as one of Missouri's 10 Outstanding Young Men for 1982...

A comprehensive plan provides a picture of what a community thinks of itself and wants to become. Cape Girardeau's plan was last updated in 1987 and no longer provides an accurate picture of the city. Fifty people attended the first meeting, held last week, in a yearlong process of devising a new comprehensive plan for Cape Girardeau. That was an encouraging turnout. Some who attended stressed the need for more moderately priced housing, more green space and walkable neighborhoods...

Exercise incentive; Underground utilities; No comparison; Thanks for help; Library support; Too much evil; School day care; Day-care questions; Pro-life question; Facts about Iraq; Smaller classes; Heading for '1984'; More Christmas, not less; Crowning blow; Money back?

We are keeping busy with a full schedule of basketball activities at our house. Both my children are playing, so that involves practices and, of course, the games. It is so much fun to see them play and score. My daughter is the tallest player on her team and she uses that to the team's advantage. ...

CHICAGO -- As the city waits to learn whether it will get the chance to bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, organizers on Tuesday detailed their plans for some of the venues and how much they will cost. At the center of Chicago's proposal to the U.S. Olympic Committee is a $366 million temporary stadium in a historic park on the city's South Side and a $1.1 billion lakefront athletes' village...

DALLAS -- Sitting side by side at a table, facing question after question about being the faces of the new NHL, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin flashed their grace and charm. Asked about trying to bring the game to a wider audience, Ovechkin smiled, turned to Crosby and said, "Can you answer?" And the 19-year-old delivered smoothly, giving a thoughtful response that included the line, "We're going to do our best to make that possible."...

SAN DIEGO -- Two people turned into six, which soon turned into a dozen, all of them standing behind the first tee Tuesday on the North Course at Torrey Pines as darkness gave way to dawn. And they weren't there to watch Bubba Watson. Even big-hitting Bubba was waiting on Tiger Woods to show up for the first time at a PGA Tour event in nearly four months. He eventually gave up, blasted his pink-shafted driver out of sight and played alone until Woods caught up to him on the back nine...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Rich McBride scored 15 points to lead Illinois to a 51-43 victory over No. 23 Indiana on Tuesday, the Illini's first win against a ranked opponent in five tries this season. D.J. White scored 12 points for Indiana (14-5, 4-2 Big Ten), which had a five-game winning streak snapped...

Flat Stanley's a world-traveler. He's been to Germany, Italy and Austria. Later this week, he'll be heading to Iraq, courtesy of sixth-graders at Oak Ridge Middle School. But you won't get a word out of the tie-clad Stanley. He's a cartoon character that has become a popular literacy tool in more than 1,000 schools. He even has his own Web site...

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Maria Sharapova advanced to the Australian Open semifinals with a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win Wednesday over Anna Chakvetadze, another 19-year-old Russian. The top-seeded Sharapova, assured of gaining the No. 1 ranking next month, had trouble on her serve, serving double-faults on break point three times. But she had the only point on serve in the tiebreaker, where the last eight points finished on unforced errors...

There can be some debate as to just who is the most surprising team at this point of the Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball season. But it's hard to argue against Morehead State, which was picked last in the OVC preseason poll but is tied for third place at the midway point of the race...

On the last Tuesday of Carnival, the people of the hamlet of Tossignano in Emilia-Romagna, Italy's famed gourmet region, will -- as they have for nearly four centuries -- arrive early in the town square to prepare for the annual polenta festival. The centerpiece of this event is 440 pounds of polenta -- the Italian version of cornmeal mush -- cooked in giant copper pots and stirred with oar-sized wooden paddles. ...

Dexter graduate welcomed in Kuwait Dexter native Ryan Jackson, 22, along with six other Missouri State University students and an MSU professor, Dr. Muhad Olimat, spent 10 days as guests in Kuwait City, Kuwait. Jackson is a 2003 Dexter graduate and is working on his master's degree in international affairs and administration at MSU with an emphasis in defense and strategic studies. ...

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said Tuesday he will investigate allegations of nepotism against Delta Mayor Carol Collins. But the probe, begun as a result of a complaint from a Delta resident, isn't a top priority for the office, Swingle said. ...

ST. LOUIS -- Commuters who travel along Interstate 64 in the St. Louis area beware: Your three-year odyssey of orange cones, closed ramps and lane changes is about to begin. Gateway Constructors, the team hired by the Missouri Department of Transportation to rebuild 10 miles of the busy interstate, on Monday announced more details about its construction schedule for 2007. Overall, the project is expected to cost $535 million...

The Southeast Missouri State baseball tied for sixth place last year to earn a bid in the Ohio Valley Conference, extending Mark Hogan's streak of conference berths for the Redhawks to 12 years. The conference coaches predict the Redhawks will sit in sixth place again this season...

Antonio Garritano gave Jackson a one-point lead with 1 minute, 10 seconds remaining at Sikeston on Tuesday, and the Indians held on for a 65-64 SEMO Conference win at Sikeston. Jackson trailed 61-52 with 6 minutes remaining, but the Indians responded with an 11-0 run. Jake Leet capped the run with a 3-pointer which put Jackson up 63-61 with 1:45 remaining...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Gov. Matt Blunt proposed Wednesday to more than double the state scholarship money going to needy college students. As part of his State of the State address Wednesday night, Blunt was to recommend $72.5 million for needs-based scholarships during next school year, said spokeswoman Jessica Robinson...