Stories from Wednesday, November 27, 2013

CHICAGO -- President Barack Obama's administration is delaying yet another aspect of the health-care law. An online health insurance marketplace for small businesses is being put off until November 2014 to make sure the Healthcare.gov website gets fixed first...

An enhanced 911 system that would direct emergency responders directly to a Bollinger County caller has been a topic of conversation for years. Last week, the Bollinger County Commission met with representatives from law enforcement, ambulance districts, utilities, school districts, fire departments and others who may need to pinpoint an address quickly...

Tony Samuel has been fired as the Southeast Missouri State football coach. The university's athletic department made the announcement in a news release Tuesday afternoon.

Southeast Missouri State athletic director Mark Alnutt issued a press release Tuesday afternoon that said he "plans to replace" football coach Tony Samuel, who just led the Redhawks to another abysmal 3-9 season. As far as shocking moves go, this was the polar opposite. Samuel was 31-60 in eight seasons, he never settled on a quarterback this year, couldn't find a kicker reliable enough to kick extra points and inspired little hope for the future...

U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor brought a national-level priority for the Republican Party -- fighting the implementation of the Affordable Care Act -- to the local political scene during a roundtable talk with area business executives and doctors Tuesday in Cape Girardeau...

Almost 19 years after joining Southeast Missouri State University as an assistant professor of biology, Dr. Bill Eddleman has been selected for one of the campus' top jobs -- its new provost. The provost is Southeast's chief academic officer, responsible for eight colleges and schools, a university release said...

Several local parks are decking out for the holidays this week with annual public light displays put up by individuals, organizations and businesses. Cape County Park North and city parks in Jackson and Perryville are where free, drive-through tours planned to last beyond the Christmas holiday are coming together...

This nice buck was at the right place at the right time for me to get this photo.

Participants in the "Strides for Scott" 5K walk/run gathered for a photo at the Jackson City Park. More than 300 people participated in the walk/run, which benefited the ALS Association and honored longtime neurosurgeon Scott Gibbs, MD -- who is battling ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. The race was held on Saturday, Nov. 16. SoutheastHEALTH was the Presenting Sponsor of the event...

Two Cape Central High School students were named to the 2013-2014 Missouri All-State Choir during the Southeast All-District Choir event hosted by Cape Central High School in the Richard D. Kinder Performance Hall. Zach Reece and Abby Addleman (alternate) are pictured posing with CHS Director of Vocal Music Jordan Cox. ...

The Cape Girardeau Public Schools Board of Education, during its November meeting, recognized several outstanding students for their leadership, scholarship and service to others. Recipients of the Terrific Tiger Award are pictured above with School Board Vice President Kyle McDonald, left, and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jim Welker, right. Standing next to Kyle McDonald is Central High School Senior Aaron Mehner, and next to Dr. Welker is Central High School Senior Alex Mehner...

Cape Central High School Senior Kadie Orenstein, pictured signing her letter of intent to play softball for Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, is surrounded by her parents, Wendi and Gary Orenstein. Standing behind her are Hitting Coach Bruce Qualls, CHS Softball Coach Amy Blattel, and Summer Coach Ryan Medlin...

Cape Girardeau County Park ( Northside )

Cape Girardeau County Park ( Northside )

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 27, the 331st day of 2013. There are 34 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Nov. 27, 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone) and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay-rights activist, were shot to death inside City Hall by former supervisor Dan White...

Cape Girardeau Police believe they know who tried to pry open an ATM last week on William Street, a police spokesman reported Tuesday. Sgt. Jason Selzer said police have identified a suspect in connection with a Nov. 21 attempt to pry open an ATM at U.S. Bank, 3060 William St...

In a somewhat bizarre effort to promote the troubled Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration has a handy and helpful video with suggestions on how to start a health-care conversation during the Thanksgiving dinner. I could not make this up, believe me...

I wanted to say that I read the article in last Wednesday's paper recognizing the gift of life. God bless this young lady who wrote that, Kathryn Lopez. I've always been against abortion. I think it's killing the baby. They didn't give the baby a choice. But she talked about the archbishop's article, wrote a book on it. Very good article. God bless her...

Thanksgiving is upon us, and we hope you enjoy the day with family, friends and plenty of good food. We have much to be thankful for, including the many fun festivities in this area during the Christmas season. A favorite tradition is Christmas parades. Old Town Cape will hold its parade, themed "Christmas for Everyone," at 5 p.m. or dusk on Sunday. The parade is limited to 100 entries...

State government offices in Missouri, along with local government offices and many banks, will be closed Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday. The Friday after Thanksgiving hasn't always been a holiday on government calendars, but more governments are moving to make it an off day for workers by substituting opening offices on another holiday each year. ...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- An Anna, Ill., man has been sentenced to six years in prison on a drug charge, Union County State's Attorney Tyler Edmonds announced Tuesday. Freddy L. Morse Jr., 40, of 120 Casey St. in Anna pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful participation in methamphetamine production, Edmonds said in a news release...

Clay Waller's son was arrested Monday on a domestic assault charge, online court records show. James Clay Waller III, 21, was charged in October with one count of third-degree domestic assault. Cape Girardeau County Jail records show he was arrested and later released Monday...

The "burglar" someone reported at a Cape Girardeau business Sunday was just trying to drop off paperwork, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. A neighbor called police Sunday afternoon to report someone using a tool to manipulate a lock at Comfort Care at 1858 Broadway, Cape Girardeau Police spokesman Darin Hickey said Monday...

WASHINGTON -- An agreement secured with its greatest global foe, the Obama administration pleaded Tuesday with a more familiar if often difficult negotiating partner not to scuttle last weekend's Iran nuclear deal: Congress. Just back from his diplomatic triumph in Europe, Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a video message to legislators as he urged they not introduce new economic measures against Iran at a time the U.S. ...

LAS VEGAS -- A judge in Las Vegas rejected O.J. Simpson's bid for a new trial on Tuesday, dashing the former football star's bid for freedom based on the claim that his original lawyer botched his armed robbery and kidnapping trial in Las Vegas more than five years ago...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- As Adam Lanza withdrew from the world to his bedroom, the only person he appeared to be close to was his mother, who cooked his favorite meals, did his laundry daily -- and bonded with him over shooting and guns. Investigators' final report on last year's school massacre in Newtown, Conn., provided new insights into Nancy Lanza's home life with her troubled adult son and renewed the debate over whether she bears any responsibility for the bloodbath that began with her own shooting death.. ...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Snow and ice are forecast for the northeast of the country as a deadly storm that started on the West Coast last week gathered steam Tuesday and powered toward the East in time for Thanksgiving. The National Weather Service warned the storm would almost certainly upset holiday travel plans for those hoping to visit loved ones in the mid-Atlantic and northeast...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jimmy Iovine and Luke Wood were so moved by the "Muscle Shoals" documentary, they're putting up money to make sure the spirit of the Alabama music haven lives on. The Beats Electronics officials are starting a program to refurbish and upgrade two historic studios in Muscle Shoals -- FAME Recording Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio -- then will install education programs to train a new generation of producers, audio engineers and musicians...

CAIRO -- Black-clad Egyptian police descended on two small anti-government rallies in Cairo on Tuesday and fired water cannons to disperse them, enforcing a controversial new law restricting protests. The heavy hand fueled a backlash among secular activists and liberals who accuse the military-backed government of accelerating down a path even more authoritarian than the Hosni Mubarak era...

FLORENCE, Italy -- An Italian prosecutor on Tuesday demanded that an appellate court find Amanda Knox guilty of the 2007 murder of her British roommate, a killing he argued may have been rooted in arguments about cleanliness and triggered by a toilet left unflushed by the only man now in jail for the murder...

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis issued the mission statement for his papacy Tuesday, outlining how the Catholic Church and the papacy itself must be reformed to create a more missionary and merciful church that gets its hands dirty as it seeks out the poor and oppressed...

NEW YORK -- The calls, reporting suspicions of child abuse and neglect, come in at a rate of nearly 10,000 a day, to hotlines and law-enforcement offices across the country. They add up to 3.4 million reports per year -- a daunting challenge for state child protection agencies, which must sort out the flimsy or trivial claims from the credible and potentially dire ones, and make decisions that balance the rights of parents with the welfare of children. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to referee another dispute over President Barack Obama's health care law: whether businesses may use religious objections to escape a requirement to cover birth control for employees. The justices said they will take up an issue that has divided the lower courts in the face of about 40 lawsuits from for-profit companies asking to be spared from having to cover some or all forms of contraception...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration Tuesday launched a bid to rein in the use of tax-exempt groups for political campaigning. The effort is an attempt to reduce the role of loosely regulated big-money political outfits such as GOP political guru Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS and the pro-Obama Priorities USA...

Son to Jonathan Robert and Tanya Kaye James of Cape Girardeau, Saint Francis Medical Center, 1:04 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. Name, Brayden Jonathan. Weight, 6 pounds, 11 ounces. First child. Mrs. James is the former Tanya Holland, daughter of Joan Holland and Tony Holland of Charleston, Mo. James is the son of Montey James of East Prairie, Mo., and Fred James of Springfield, Mo. He is a student at Southeast Missouri State University...

Lizbeth Estes is guest soloist at the morning worship service at Centenary United Methodist Church; Estes, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Estes, received a master's degree in voice performance in June at Webster University at Webster Groves, Mo...

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Summons...

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls Monday:...

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

Harold Gene Looney, 72, of Delta lost his battle with lung cancer Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013. He was a former mayor of Delta, a longtime Diesel mechanic, and a general jack-of-all-trades. Harold was loved by all and will be sorely missed. He is survived by his wife, Shelby; a son and daughter-in-law; two daughters; two grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; two sisters, Miccola Myers and Donna Louise Looney; two brothers, Jerry Paul Looney and Terry Lynn Looney and wife Jackie; and many nieces and nephews.. ...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Herbert W. Hacker, 94, of Webster Groves, Mo., formerly of Perryville, died Monday, Nov. 25, 2013, in St. Louis. He was an Army veteran of World War II. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until service time Friday at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville...

Sister Shirley Ann Greaser, SSND, 77, of St. Louis was fortified with the Sacraments of Holy Mother Church on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013. She was born Cora Marie Greaser on Aug. 13, 1936, at Gordonville, to Leo M. and Lillie Thomure Greaser. She is the beloved sister of Mary Greaser and Robert Greaser; dear aunt, cousin, relative, friend and dear sister in religious life...

Samuel Terry Davidson, 63, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Nov. 25, 2013, at his home. He was born Feb. 17, 1950, in Clarkton, Mo., to Rex Dowdy and Marjorie Cordelia Blaylock Davidson. He and Pamela Ann Scola were married Nov. 11, 1989, in St. Louis...

NEW YORK -- Upbeat news from the housing industry and luxury retailer Tiffany & Co. nudged the stock market higher Tuesday. Investors also got another market milestone when the Nasdaq composite closed above the 4,000-point mark for the first time in 13 years...

HELENA, Mont. -- Gun advocates asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a lower court's ruling against state laws designed to buck federal gun rules. Earlier this year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district judge's decision against the 2009 Montana Firearms Freedom Act. The law attempts to declare that federal firearms regulations don't apply to guns kept in the state where they were manufactured...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. developers received approval in October to build apartments at the fastest pace in five years, a trend that could boost economic growth in the final three months of the year. Permits to build houses and apartments were approved at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.034 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That's 6.2 percent higher than the September rate of 974,000 and the fastest since June 2008, just before the peak of the financial crisis...

ST. LOUIS -- In some quarters of college basketball fandom, derisive chants directed toward opponents are considered high art. Look no further than the Cameron Crazies, the famed student section at Duke University's Cameron Indoor Stadium. The less heralded Antlers from the University of Missouri are also adept at what their student leader, known as the Grand Poobah, called "getting into the heads" of opposing players...

North- and southbound Interstate 55 in Perry County, from mile marker 136 to mile marker 138, will be reduced to one lane as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform concrete testing. The work will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 10 on the northbound lane and from 7 a.m. to noon Dec. 11 on the southbound lane, according to a news release from MoDOT...

WASHINGTON -- A few hundred yards from the administrative offices of the Guantanamo Bay prison, hidden behind a ridge covered in thick scrub and cactus, sits a closely held secret. A dirt road winds its way to a clearing where eight small cottages sit in two rows of four. They have long been abandoned. The special detachment of Marines that once provided security is gone...

WASHINGTON -- Two U.S. B-52 bombers flew over disputed islands in the East China Sea during a training mission Tuesday, defying new territorial claims laid out by Beijing over the weekend, according to several U.S. officials. The two unarmed bombers took off from Guam and were in the zone for less than an hour, thundering across the Pacific skies during midday there, the officials said, adding that the aircraft encountered no problems...

All the local high school events reported Tuesday to the Southeast Missourian.

O Father God, thank you for good friends and the fellowship they provide. Amen.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Two Democratic state lawmakers called Tuesday for the resignation of Missouri's education commissioner, alleging she has "demonstrated a troubling tendency to abuse power." Emails show education commissioner Chris Nicastro interacted with a group developing a ballot proposal that would end teacher tenure and require that student performance guide employment decisions...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled the state's constitutional ban on retroactive application of new laws does not apply to criminal statutes. Tuesday's decision came in the case of a southwest Missouri man accused of illegally possessing a firearm as a felon. ...

McLEAN, Va. -- To some of the Americans subjected to mock executions and other torment during more than a year as hostages in Iran more than 30 years ago, it seems like a mistake to trust the regime in Tehran to keep its promises in a nuclear deal brokered by the U.S. and other world powers...