Stories from Tuesday, April 12, 2011

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The first group of elk for Missouri's restoration project are expected to arrive in the state later this month. The Missouri Department of Conservation says the 34 elk are expected to arrive April 30. They're completing a three-month quarantine and health tests in Kentucky before being brought to Missouri...

Heartland Materials and Strack Excavating were granted motions to intervene Monday in a Cole County Circuit Court case involving Saxony Lutheran High School's appeal of decisions made by the Missouri Land Reclamation Commission.

Two Southeast Missouri State football players are especially excited that spring practice is under way. Senior safety Bryan Blanfort and redshirt freshman return specialist/receiver Spencer Davis, expected to be key performers last year, missed the entire season with major knee injuries that required surgery...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Despite misgivings from leaders on the other side of the Capitol, Senate President Pro Tem Robert Mayer, R-Dexter, is vowing to stick to a deal he struck late last week with four GOP senators to end a month-long filibuster on extended unemployment benefits. ...

A jury may not be called in until late this year to hear the case against Allen Walker Jr., a Cape Girardeau man charged in connection with the death of his infant son, Circuit Court Judge Benjamin F. Lewis said Monday at Walker's court hearing. Walker's jury trial was first postponed March 21 after he asked Lewis for time hire new counsel. He was found to be eligible for a public defender Monday, despite objections from Chris Davis, an area public defense attorney...

Cape Air was awarded a four-year contract on Monday, the longest ever for a service provider at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, that also brings with it the promise of a new downtown ticket office and less hassle at St. Louis security gates. The. U.S. Department of Transportation on Monday announced that Hyannis, Mass.-based Cape Air was selected for the Essential Air Service contract over the other applicant, Air Choice One, which has corporate headquarters in St. Louis...

Six Missouri juvenile detention centers, including the one in Cape Girardeau, will likely close by the end of the year as part of a proposal to trim the state's circuit courts budget by a total of $5 million. The state's circuit court budget committee is recommending the elimination of the entire payroll for centers in Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Sedalia, Warrensburg, Union and Bolivar, a move that would close the centers when the funding dries up Jan. 1...

Generations of little girls have attended day camps and flyovers at Dennis Scivally Park. To see more photos of the park on a warm, spring day, and to learn who the man was it's named after, go to http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/parks/dennis-scivally-park/...

Kaylie got her first turkey April 9th, 2011 at 6:45 am, she is turning into quit the "Outdoors girl"!

Saint Francis Medical Center will partner with local high school and college athletes this week to raise funds and awareness for the fight against breast cancer. Funds raised will go to the Dig for Life campaign, which provides free mammograms for local women who could not otherwise afford them...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- First Lt. Richard Branson, of Ballwin, has been appointed the new commander for the Missouri National Guard's 880th Engineer Haul Team in Perryville. During the ceremony, the unit guidon was passed to Branson to symbolize the transfer of authority and responsibility...

Business leaders in downtown Cape Girardeau hope a new taxing district will provide the funds needed to make downtown a destination. Members of the Community Improvement District Steering Committee have now determined the boundaries of the proposed district, the services they want to see in downtown and the tax rates it will take to bring in the revenue to pay for them...

The Cape Girardeau and Jackson school boards meet tonight to elect officers, among other items on the agendas. At a special meeting scheduled for 6 p.m., the Cape Girardeau School Board will elect a president and vice president for the next year, and appoint a board secretary and treasurer. Board members also will vote on bid packages for the Franklin Elementary School construction project, districtwide maintenance and the bid package for seating at the planned high school stadium...

After a winter's worth of protecting skin from the wind and cold, many people can't wait to shed the coats and long sleeves, put on the shorts and tank tops and start to work on their suntans. They do this despite warnings in recent years about the dangers of sun exposure and ultraviolet radiation...

Although Cape Girardeau police canvassed a neighborhood Saturday after an Illinois man was pistol-whipped, causing serious head injuries, the search was unsuccessful.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Missouri Senate committee has endorsed a House plan to redraw the state's congressional districts. Missouri is losing one of its nine seats in the U.S. House, and state lawmakers are in charge of drawing the eight new districts...

A hearing on VIP Industries' breach-of-contract lawsuit against the Cape County Board for Developmentally Disabled has been postponed while the judge in the case considers the board's request for a change of venue. The hearing, originally scheduled to take place last week, has been rescheduled for 9:30 a.m. May 10...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Bollinger County Abstract and Title Co., Inc. will be the new agent for the Marble Hill Motor Vehicle and License Office, the Missouri Department of Revenue announced Monday. The winning proposal was chosen as part of a competitive bidding process implemented in Missouri in 2009. The bidding process is used for all of Missouri's local license offices...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Breaking months of silence, Missouri's Democratic attorney general asserted Monday that Congress overstepped its constitutional powers when it mandated that most Americans have health insurance or pay a penalty. Attorney General Chris Koster filed a federal appeals court document in support of a lawsuit brought by Florida and 25 other states challenging the constitutionality of the federal health care law enacted by President Barack Obama last year...

NEW YORK -- Soaring gas prices are starting to take a toll on American drivers. Across the country, people are pumping less into the tank, reversing what had been a steady increase in demand for fuel. For five weeks in a row, they have bought less gas than they did a year ago...

Recently the United Way of Southeast Missouri announced its "Mobilization Plan for Ensuring the Success of Our Children," a report filled with recommendations on how to meet its clear and ambitious goal of increasing the graduation rate to 90 percent in the Cape Girardeau School District by 2018-2019...

Congress reminds me of a bunch of children at the playground trying to decide who's it for hide-and-seek. America is in trouble if our members in Congress can't agree on a budget when we have skyrocketing gas prices at the pump, runaway inflation and jobs fleeing America as fast as Superman racing a speeding bullet...

O Lord, bless our leaders and give them wisdom that can only be attained through you. Amen.

NEW ORLEANS -- Cardiologists are reporting a major advance: A long-awaited study suggests that many people with a bad aortic valve, the heart's main gate, can avoid open-heart surgery and have a new one placed through a tube in an artery instead...

LOS ANGELES -- The group that oversees the Academy Awards is under new management. Dawn Hudson, former head of a top independent-film organization, has been named chief executive officer of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Longtime academy executive Ric Robertson was chosen as the group's chief operating officer...

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- The elected president of this West African nation heralded "the dawn of a new era of hope" Monday when a bloody, four-month standoff ended with the capture of his rival, the longtime strongman who lost the vote but refused to give up power...

PARIS -- The world's first ban on Islamic face veils took effect Monday in France, meaning that women may bare their breasts in Cannes but not cover their faces on the Champs-Elysees. Two veiled women were hauled off from a Paris protest within hours of the new ban. Their unauthorized demonstration, on the cobblestone square facing Notre Dame Cathedral, was rich with both the symbolism of France's medieval history and its modern spirit of defiance...

TOKYO -- Japan's top government spokesman said Japanese regulators will soon announce a revision of the severity of the crisis at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, amid reports they will raise it to the highest level and on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster...

BENGHAZI, Libya -- The Libyan rebel council rejected a cease-fire proposal presented by an African Union delegation because it did not provide for the departure of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his top associates. Libyan government forces, meanwhile, battered the rebel-held city of Misrata with artillery fire Monday despite the announcement by the African mediators hours earlier that Gadhafi had accepted their cease-fire proposal...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Senate passed legislation Monday extending federally funded jobless benefits to thousands of people who were cut off from payments earlier this month, but the bill also would reduce benefits for some people who get laid off in the future...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's plans to curb health care costs that drive the deficit would mean less taxpayer money for providers and more costs for beneficiaries as he draws from bipartisan ideas already on the table. But don't look for his speech Wednesday to endorse a Medicare voucher system or turning Medicaid over to the states, as leading Republicans have proposed...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government has prevented more than 350 people suspected of ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups from boarding U.S.-bound commercial flights since the end of 2009, The Associated Press has learned. The tighter security rules -- imposed after the attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas 2009 -- reveal a security threat that persisted for more than seven years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks...

Daughter to Troy Curtis Jacobs and Jill Marie Brown of Cape Girardeau, Saint Francis Medical Center, 6:42 p.m. Monday, April 4, 2011. Name, Brileigh Elizabeth. Weight, 6 pounds, 7 ounces. Ms. Brown is the daughter of Sandy Lukefahr and Mark Brown of Perryville, Mo. She is a registered nurse at Saint Francis. Jacobs is the son of Tony Jacobs of Waterloo, Ill. He is a salesman with Prairie Farms...

Ira Clyde Wadlow, 69, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, April 10, 2011, at Hunter Acres Caring Center in Sikeston, Mo. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Chapel. The funeral will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the chapel. Burial will be in Hobbs Chapel Cemetery...

The Cape County Jaycees, a newly formed Jaycee organization, will be chartered April 30; president of the group is Kay Reyland. A pit barbecue and ice cream restaurant that for many years was popular as a Dairy Bell is being taken over by John and Linda Morris; the Morrises plan to open Morris's Pit B-B-Q at 435 Morgan Oak St., at the former Dairy Bell location, within a week or two...

BENTON, Mo. -- A multiagency investigation that began more than two months ago has led to the arrest of a 22-year-old Oran, Mo., man who is accused of downloading child pornography on his personal computer. According to a news release from the Scott County Sheriff's Department, Andrew Stroud was charged Monday with 10 counts of possession of child pornography. ...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Butler County judge ordered a Poplar Bluff man to stand trial for stealing more than $15,000 from The Stage Company over the last two years. Accompanied by his attorney, Carl Miller, Ronald Gilliland appeared Thursday afternoon in a Butler County courtroom for a preliminary hearing in his case before Associate Circuit Judge John Bloodworth...

Lillian Gwenda Lampitt, 89, of Cape Girardeau passed away Monday, April 11, 2011, at Southeast Hospital. She leaves behind a legacy of faith, family, friends and a life of loving service to others. Gwen was born March 15, 1922, near Adelaide in Strathalbyn, South Australia, to Charles Henry and Lily Jane Fargher Hibberd...

Frieda Augusta Pierce, 92, of Jackson died Friday, April 8, 2011, at Monticello House. She was born Dec. 3, 1918, in Gale, Ill., to Andrew and Minnie Bartels Adams. She and Erby O. Pierce were married Sept. 16, 1952, in Elkton, Md. He died Jan. 5, 1973...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Eddie Dean Huffman, 62, of Advance passed away Monday, April 11, 2011, at his home. He was born April 19, 1948, in Cape Girardeau, son of Loyd and Anna Lois Eaker Huffman. Eddie and Mary-Lyn Fillingham were married April 19, 1997, in Corning, Ark...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Raymond F. Klipfel, 65, of Chaffee died Sunday, April 10, 2011, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 11, 1945, in New Hamburg, Mo., son of Daley and Catherine Heuring Klipfel. He and Margaret Baker were married March 8, 1968...

COMMERCE, Mo. -- Lawrence "Buddy" Vetter Jr., 78, of Commerce died Sunday, April 10, 2011, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 1, 1933, in Commerce to Lawrence and Rosalee "Sally" Bles Vetter. He and Mary Helen Biri were married April 16, 1960, in Ancell. She preceded him in death Sept. 28, 2002...

Harold Webb Sr., 81, of Cape Girardeau passed away Thursday, April 7, 2011, at his home. He was born Oct. 29, 1929, in Lovejoy, Ill., to John I. and Mattie Mae Bell Webb. He and Wilma L. Brown were married March 29, 1948, in Corinth, Miss. Harold was a supervisor with Swift and Co. in East St. Louis, Ill., from 1945 until he joined the military in 1952...

Margaret Fisher, 60, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, April 10, 2011, at Southeast Hospital. She was born July 19, 1950, in Danville, Ky., to Richard and Margaret Brown Sullivan. Survivors include a daughter, Erin Fisher (fiance Jerry Montgomery) of Cape Girardeau...

Delores Mae Luton, 80, of St. Louis died Saturday, April 9, 2011, at her home. She was born June 24, 1930, in Cape Girardeau. Survivors include two daughters, Cathy Holmes of Cape Coral, Fla., Kendra Klaus of St. Louis; a son, Wesley Robertson of Cape Girardeau; two sisters, Mary Crites, Peggy Gentarra; a brother, Bill Marlin; three grandsons, Travis Winkler, David Robertson, Jared Hoffman; and two granddaughters, Tara Robertson and Kristen Hoffman...

Southeast Missouri State University will share two competitive grants to fund universities of the future initiatives. Southeast serves as the lead institution in a consortium of universities that will benefit from a $250,000 Next Generation Learning Challenges grant. ...

PHOENIX -- Kyle McClellan picked up his first major-league win as a starter and knocked in two runs with a pair of hits to help lead the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night. Lance Berkman hit two home runs and Jon Jay added a pinch-hit homer for St. Louis...

ST. LOUIS -- After 12 games, the St. Louis Blues had the NHL's best record. They finished strong, too. What happened in between left them out of the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons. Several front-line players missed considerable time as David Perron, T.J. Oshie, Andy McDonald and Barret Jackman were all sidelined for at least 20 games. Too often in times of misfortune, the Blues couldn't hang tough...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama, plunging into the rancorous struggle over America's mountainous debt, will draw sharp differences with Republicans Wednesday over how to conquer trillions of dollars in spending while somehow working out a compromise to raise some taxes and trim a cherished program like Medicare...

All the local high school results reported Monday to the Southeast Missourian.

Wednesday is the first day of the spring signing period

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team ends a stretch of nine straight road games with two nonconference contests. Southeast visits Southern Illinois-Carbondale at 1 p.m. today and Saint Louis University at 6 p.m. Wednesday. "It doesn't get any easier for us," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan, whose squad is 4-3 on the road swing...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Herbert H. Ewing, 93, of Cairo died Saturday, April 9, 2011, at Chateau Girardeau in Cape Girardeau. Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo is in charge of arrangements.

NEW ORLEANS -- Tasers. Brand-new SUVs. A top-of-the-line iPad. A fully loaded laptop. In the year since the Gulf oil spill, officials along the coast have gone on a spending spree with BP money, dropping tens of millions of dollars on gadgets and other gear -- much of which had little to do with the cleanup, an Associated Press investigation shows...

THE price of gas is going up. People are wanting to conserve. I'll tell you how you can really save a lot. Use your cruise control. That will save you a bundle of gas on the highways. Whenever I drive from here to St. Louis, I pass a lot of people and they're not using their cruise control. When it rains I can't use it, but when I can use it I use a lot less gasoline...

A man taking his trash out just after 10 a.m. Monday was injured by a Cape Girardeau Public Works garbage truck when the mechanical arm of the truck grabbed hold of him and pushed him several feet. The man's girlfriend, Theresa Reaves, said Robby Doghten was nearly pulled under the truck, near the front tire. Doghten was taken from his home at 419 Mill St. to Saint Francis Medical Center with injuries to his left arm, the back of his head, and to his ankle...

This past year has been filled with many opportunities and challenges. It has also been a very important year for our city and its future. First I would like to state that many of the accomplishments of this past year were the result of the hard work and efforts of our city staff, past mayor Jay Knudtson and our previous city council. ...

Egyptian Elementary School High Honor Roll 3rd grade: Cayden Bigham, Alleigh Curtis, Aubreigh Curtis, Morgan Dodd, Braden Dover, Dawson Essex, Jared Green, Jolie Hill, Emily Imparato, Kelcie Kobel, Lucas McLaughlin, Morgan Pace, Noah Reeves, Trevor Smith, Jacob Tellor, Ryan Van Dommelen, Joseph Warren...

FORT SUMTER NATIONAL MONUMENT, S.C. -- Somber period music, flickering candlelight and booming cannons will usher in the nation's observance of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The opening salvo of that war that began in Charleston Harbor will be recreated today. ...