Stories from Tuesday, August 4, 2009

BARING, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri State Water Patrol says a Sikeston teenager has drowned while swimming with friends. The water patrol says 17-year-old Phillip Wilson drowned Monday in North Sever Lake in Knox County. He was one of four people who tried to swim across the lake but apparently got tired and went under the water...

The thunderstorm that moved across Cape Girardeau County early this evening left 5,040 AmerenUE customers out of power, according to the utility's website. Firefighters responded to a handful of storm-related calls around 6 p.m., including numerous fallen power lines, but no serious injuries were reported, said Cape Girardeau batallion chief Brad Dillow...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Two Scott County towns will celebrate their 150th birthdays in 2010 and the events are beginning to take form. "This isn't as big as a centennial, but it's not something we want to let pass by," said Christy LeGrand, a coordinator of the sesquicentennial events in Benton, Mo...

Friends and family of Angela Mischelle Lawless, a 19-year-old Benton, Mo., woman killed in November 1992, will be holding a car wash and bake sale at Benton City Hall this weekend to help raise money for the cost of DNA analysis in the unsolved homicide case...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- An 18-year-old woman from Marble Hill was taken to Saint Francis Medical Center Monday after her car collided with a box truck on Highway 34. Jessica R. Spencer was traveling eastbound when her Pontiac Grand Am crossed the center line and struck the truck, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol website...

The Cape Girardeau City Council wants to move slowly implementing an overhaul of the city's trash collection program. The city Public Works Department wants to replace the current system of two-man crews hand-dumping homeowner-purchased 35 gallon cans with one-man trucks using an automated arm to empty city-supplied trash and recycling bins. For the second council meeting in a row, the council discussed the plan during its work session...

Clayton Bohnsack, 3 year old son of Chris and Stacy Bohnsack, proudly shows off the 3 pound tomato grown by his Grandpa Darell Bohnsack.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Unidentified orange lights sighted last month in the evening sky over Southeast Missouri gave a Poplar Bluff man an opportunity to put his self-taught astronomy expertise to use.

The beginning of the sunset in Egypt Mills, MO.

The Missouri National Guard is hosting a visit of Director Safi Mohammad Hussein, the Director of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province. The Missouri National Guard has had an Agri-Business Development Team (ADT) in Nangarhar Province since late 2007...

THe Three stooges!!!!!! Aren't they awesome

Brandy and her buddy,Corkey

Beautiful display of Nekkid Ladies (or surprise lillies) in Mike and Charlene Hahn's backyard in Egypt Mills, MO.

Nearly 250 foster children awaiting adoption are featured in 188 photographs at the Missouri Adoption Heart Gallery, which started Monday inside West Park Mall. Shot by professional photographers, the gallery will be in place through Sunday.

The Cape Girardeau Social Security office holds its Grand Opening ceremony on August 7th. The office moved to its current space at 2445 Cape Centre Drive on April 10, 2009. The office has increased parking for the public and an expanded interviewing area to provide service to the 28,500 Social Security recipients in the four counties, Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Perry, and Ste. Genevieve...

This is located on Old Hopper Rd just off of Mt Auburn. The water depth was about 6" on the road.

My son, Justin, caught some great lightning pics as the storms moved through Jackson tonight.

You can barely see the lightning in this shot that Justin took but this was the one that caused a blackout in Jackson for over an hour tonight. The orange at the bottom of the pic is apparently where the transformer got blown out!!

Here's another good shot that Justin got as the storm moved through Jackson tonight!

Camp DAY Break -- Diabetes And Youth -- teaches children with diabetes how to manage their nutrition, inject their own insulin and "realize they are not alone," said Janet Stewart, a nurse and diabetes educator with Southeast Missouri Hospital's Diabetes Center.

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Jackson's improbable run through the Senior Babe Ruth Midwest Plains Regional continued Monday. Now the team is just one victory away from its first regional title and Senior Babe Ruth World Series berth. "It feels great, but we still have to win one more," Garrett Fritsche said...

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.com Mayor Jay Knudtson, left, honors Cape Girardeau city employees Randall Strong, Mike Backfisch and Patrick Swift at the city council meeting Monday for saving Stacey Beasley, right, when the machinery he was operating fell into La Croix Creek on Aug. ...

For those who need special care and attention, we pray to you, O God. Amen.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- It's no secret that raising children can be expensive, but how about a quarter of a million dollars expensive? A government report released Tuesday says a middle-income family with a child born last year will spend about $221,000 raising that child through age 17...

LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson's mother gained permanent custody of her late son's children during a hearing Monday that included a surprise objection from the pop icon's former dermatologist. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff made a series of key rulings during the morning portion of the Monday hearing. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is debating between two schemes for putting Guantanamo Bay detainees on trial: big-city courtrooms in the nation's capital, New York and Virginia or a jail in the Midwest. Dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainee cases have been referred to federal prosecutors for possible criminal trials in Eastern Seaboard locations, officials said Monday. ...

STANDISH, Mich. -- To many people in this job-starved part of rural Michigan, unemployment is a bigger threat than terrorists. With unemployment at more than 17 percent, many residents say they would welcome detainees from Guantanamo Bay in order to save the 280 jobs at a prison scheduled to close because of state budget cuts...

DETROIT -- Lured by the government's cash for clunkers campaign, car and truck buyers started returning to showrooms last month as Ford Motor Co. reported its first U.S. sales increase in nearly two years and other major automakers said sales showed signs of stability...

OMAHA, Neb. -- A survey of supply managers and other business executives in nine Midwest and Plains states suggests the region's economy is expanding for the first time in almost a year. The Mid-America Business Conditions index released Monday rose to 51.7 in July from June's 49.3. July's index was the first time since August 2008 that it rose above growth-neutral 50...

Cape Girardeau Firefighters responded to the following calls Sunday: Firefighters responded to the following calls Monday: Jackson Firefighters responded to the following call Sunday: Firefighters responded to the following calls Monday:...

Cape Girardeau: DWI; Arrests; Summons; Assaults; Thefts; Miscellaneous; Jackson: Assault; Property damage; Miscellaneous

Dear Senator McCaskill: A vote is imminent on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Your press release indicates you intend to support that nomination. I ask you to consider the definition of racism. In the American Heritage Dictionary, racism is defined as "the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others."...

Sometime next year, AmerenUE customers in Missouri will likely see another increase in the rates they pay for electricity. Ameren has filed a request with the Missouri Public Service Commission to raise rates 18 percent, which Ameren estimates would result in an increase of 50 cent in the average household bill...

Cash for Clunkers has run out of money? That is just more government waste at its best. If the Obama administration really wanted to help the automobile industry, housing industry and banking industry, not to mention the poor, all it had to do was to give each American (304,059,724 of us) a million dollars (it's our money after all) with the requirement that we each purchase a new car, purchase a new home or pay off our mortgage and place the rest in a interest-earning account...

Money pit; Talented band; Beautiful deer; Opposite truth; On the defensive; Better intersection

Hope; Amelunke; Graham; Dow; Bangert; Patrick; Meier

25 years ago: Aug. 4, 1984 A visit by the paddle wheeler Delta Queen brings a throng of curious onlookers and pleased admirers to the Cape Girardeau riverfront during its brief stay; it was the 58-year-old Queen's first regular stop here in five years...

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- Noxious fumes at a trash disposal facility sent 55 people to hospitals Monday, including two who were listed in critical condition. Firefighters responded to ABC Disposal Service Inc. in New Bedford just after 10 a.m. after a report that something brought to the facility was making people sick, fire chief Paul Leger said...

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Radio hosts hung their heads as their FM station was forced off the airwaves along with 33 other broadcasters targeted by President Hugo Chavez's government in what critics say is a campaign to muzzle his foes. For the first time in decades, CNB 102.3 FM fell silent over the weekend after Venezuela's telecommunications regulators revoked some of the 34 stations' licenses and refused to renew others...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's supreme leader bestowed his formal endorsement on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second term as president on Monday but withheld a symbolic gesture -- the kisses and embrace that portrayed their bond four years ago. The moment came when Ahmadinejad leaned forward to kiss Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The supreme leader raised his left hand and momentarily stopped Ahmadinejad, who spoke a few words and then kissed Khamenei's robe...

WASHINGTON -- The neighborhood post office is facing major changes as postal officials consider closings or consolidating services at hundreds of locations across the United States. The Postal Service has been struggling with a decline in mail volume as people and businesses switch to e-mail both for personal contact and bill paying. ...

WASHINGTON -- The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation's plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab. Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion...

A plan to revitalize a section of uptown Jackson took a step closer to becoming reality Monday night. The Jackson Board of Aldermen named Kluesner Construction Co. of Kelso, Mo., as the contractor for the streetscape project. The company's bid of $261,726.75 won out against three other bidders...

Part of Route ZZ closed today for road work Route ZZ in Bollinger County will be closed between County Road 830 and County Road 806 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, weather permitting, while Missouri Department of Transportation crews replace a drainage pipe beneath the roadway...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Marty Schottenheimer was walking up the 16th fairway near his Florida home when he noticed a golf cart hurrying toward him. It was someone from the golf shop. "He told me, 'Coach, you need to call your wife,'" Schottenheimer said...

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Peyton Manning was back on the practice field Monday. His longtime sidekick, Marvin Harrison, was nowhere near Colts' camp. Or the NFL. For the first time in Manning's 12 NFL seasons, he is starting camp without his right-hand man, a salary-cap casualty...

NEW YORK -- Former New York Giants star Plaxico Burress was indicted by a grand jury on weapons charges for shooting himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub and faces a minimum prison sentence of 3 1/2 years if convicted, prosecutors announced Monday...

LONG POND, Pa. -- Denny Hamlin had few bigger fans than his grandmother. She wore her No. 11 socks, held her No. 11 stuffed bear and watched every race on TV -- even as she sat and squinted only inches away from the 30-inch screen. When Thelma Clark died last week at 91, there was a part of Hamlin that didn't want to be at the track...

ST. LOUIS -- After just a year in the NFL, Chris Long feels like a veteran. The defensive end was the Rams' No. 1 pick last year and the second overall selection. He started all 16 games and had 57 tackles and four sacks, tied for second-most among NFC rookies...

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins were proud of the way their young group of starting pitchers exceeded expectations and brought them to the brink of the playoffs last season. This year, it's the same rotation that's holding the Twins back in an AL Central race that remains wide open...

Zeno W. "Sam" Schafer, 88, of Jackson died Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. An American Legion service will be held at 7. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Russell Heights Cemetery...

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- Charles Umfleet Jr., 78, of Fredericktown died Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009, at his home, surrounded by his loving family. He was born Aug. 22, 1930, in Mine LaMotte, Mo., son of Charles and Myrtle Tripp Umfleet. He and Betty Ellis were married March 24, 1951, in Pocahontas, Ark...

PATTON, Mo. -- Charles Moore, 67, of Patton died Friday, July 31, 2009, at his home. He was born July 19, 1942, at Crocker, Mo., son of Kenneth and Pearl Best Moore. He and Peggy McGowan were married June 3, 1961, in Swedeborg, Mo. He and Sharon "Sherry" Henderson of Patton were married Dec. 21,1985, in Crocker...

BELL CITY, Mo. -- John David Cockrell, 36, of Wamsutter, Wyo., passed away Sunday, July 26, 2009, in Wamsutter. He was born Oct. 26, 1972, at Dexter, Mo., son of Daniel Cockrell and Marie Perez. John was a 1991 graduate of Bell City High School. He was of the Pentecostal belief...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- PayPal suffered periodic breakdowns that crimped Internet sales for more than four hours Monday. The main outage occurred from 1:30 p.m. EDT through 2:30 p.m. when PayPal was unable to process any transactions worldwide, according to company spokesman Anuj Nayar...

ANNA, Ill. -- Donna Kay Bishop, 58, of Anna died Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009, at Union County Hospital. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to service time Thursday at Crain Funeral Home in Anna. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Bon Reynolds officiating. Burial will be in Casper Cemetery...

All-stars to play for regional title The Cape Girardeau Cal Ripken U-12 all-stars advanced to the Midwest Plains Regional title game in Grand Island, Neb., with Monday's 11-4 victory against Iowa. Cape Girardeau will play at 7:30 p.m. today with a berth to the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, Md., on the line...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration wants to shame the mortgage industry into doing a better job of helping borrowers avoid losing their homes to foreclosure. By publishing the names of companies that are lagging behind in the government's plan to ease the housing crisis, officials are counting on public outrage to get the industry on track. ...

WASHINGTON -- Facing a White House deadline, Senate Democrats are struggling to win over enough reluctant Republicans to pass a $2 billion extension of a popular rebate program that gives consumers up to $4,500 to trade in their old gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles...

Area high school students will get the chance to test their engineering and problem-solving skills with a new extracurricular activity this fall.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is reviewing the use of Facebook and other social networking sites on its computers with an eye toward setting rules on how to protect against possible security risks. The Marine Corps on Monday issued an administrative directive saying it was banning the use of Marine network for accessing such sites as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. The order doesn't affect Marines' private use of such networks on personal computers outside of their jobs...

WASHINGTON -- The White House is turning to the Internet to hit back at a Web posting that claims to show President Barack Obama explaining how his health care reform plans eventually would eliminate private insurance. The 3-minute White House video features Linda Douglass, a former network television correspondent and now White House Office of Health Reform communications director, sitting in front of a computer screen showing the Drudge Report Web site. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is coming to Missouri to push the president's economic recovery efforts. Locke is scheduled to speak in Kansas City early Wednesday afternoon. He is expected to talk about steps the government has already made to lead the country out of recession and investments it is making to make the economy more resistant to future economic downturns...

MILWAUKEE -- PepsiCo Inc. said Tuesday it is buying its two top bottlers for $7.8 billion in a bid to save money and get new products to market more quickly. The deals were sealed months after PepsiCo's first offers were rejected and 10 years after PepsiCo first spun off its largest bottler, Pepsi Bottling Group...

WASHINGTON -- The local post office long has been the center of many American communities, but with people turning increasingly to the Internet to send messages and pay bills, financial losses are forcing the Postal Service to consider consolidating or closing hundreds of local facilities...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is refusing to quickly release U.S. government records on its "cash-for-clunkers" rebate program that would substantiate -- or undercut -- White House claims of the program's success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales.