Stories from Wednesday, August 12, 2015

A new task force has been formed in Missouri to combat human trafficking. Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter was among about 20 people selected for the group and will use his experience in law enforcement to contribute. State Rep. Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, was selected to chair the Human Trafficking Task Force that was created by legislation he sponsored during the 2015 legislative session...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A former U.S. representative from Southeast Missouri is recovering after being hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage while vacationing in Italy. The family of Jo Ann Emerson in a statement Tuesday said the former Republican congresswoman is at an Italian hospital...

Several Missouri sheriff's departments' patrol vehicles are sporting a new decal. The U.S. motto "In God We Trust" is emblazoned on the vehicles, including those in Cape Girardeau County, thanks to a donation from a vendor at the Missouri Sheriff's Association Conference last week in Branson, Missouri...

FERGUSON, Mo. -- St. Louis County police have released surveillance video footage they say shows the 18-year-old black suspect who was critically wounded after being shot by police in Ferguson minutes before he fired a gun at plainclothes officers. Tyrone Harris Jr. was shot late Sunday after police say he opened fire on an unmarked police van. The shooting happened as protesters nearby were marking the anniversary of 18-year-old Michael Brown's police shooting death...

Finishing touches are complete at Jackson's East Elementary School, with teachers' names marked outside their decorated classrooms and students' desks and chairs in place. "I'm ready for the students to be here," principal Jessica Maxwell said Tuesday as she led a tour through the new, 105,000-square-foot building...

Today is Wednesday, August 12, the 224th day of 2015. There are 141 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On August 12, 1985, the world's worst single-aircraft disaster occurred as a crippled Japan Airlines Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashed into a mountain, killing 520 people. (Four people survived.)...

Hillary Clinton just had the best week of her rocky presidential campaign. Now granted, the former First Lady and her two campaign sidekicks were ordered by a federal judge to pledge under oath and threat of perjury they had turned over all emails related to her time as secretary of state...

A ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II will be held at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau at 2 p.m. Saturday. Called the "Spirit of '45," the event will mark the Aug. 14, 1945, war-end date and honor those who served, many paying the ultimate price...

DENVER -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took full responsibility Tuesday for the mine waste spoiling rivers downstream from Silverton, Colorado, but people who live near the idled and leaking Gold King mine say local authorities and mining companies spent decades spurning federal cleanup help...

WASHINGTON -- Prison reform advocates who have spent years campaigning against solitary confinement are counting on a powerful new ally in their quest to end the practice -- Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Earlier this summer, Kennedy took the unusual step of condemning long-term solitary confinement, writing a separate opinion in a California death-penalty case that had nothing to do with the issue...

WASHINGTON -- When Jeb Bush said he wasn't sure the country needs to spend "a half-billion dollars for women's health issues," many viewed the remark as a gaffe, and the Republican candidate for president rushed to clean it up. A week later, it's all but forgotten -- thanks to Donald Trump...

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Rodham Clinton relented Tuesday to months of demands she relinquish the personal email server she used while secretary of state, directing the device be given to the Justice Department. The decision advances the investigation into the Democratic presidential frontrunner's use of a private email account as the nation's top diplomat and whether classified information was sent improperly via and stored on the home-brew email server she ran from her house in suburban New York City.. ...

SANTIAGO, Cuba -- This 500-year-old city smells of fresh paint and varnish. Residents stroll along a recently completed harbor promenade under gleaming new streetlights, enjoying sea breezes while relaxing on newly installed metal benches. Missing are the tourists. As foreign visitors flood Havana and a select group of other colonial cities and beach resorts, Cuba's second-largest city is suffering a tourist drought...

OXFORD, Miss. -- A young Mississippi couple charged with attempting to join the Islamic State were ordered held without bail Tuesday, pending federal grand-jury action on the charges. Twenty-year-old Jaelyn Delshaun Young and 22-year-old Muhammad "Mo" Dakhlalla, who were arrested at a Mississippi airport just before boarding a flight with tickets bound for Istanbul, went before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Allan Alexander on Tuesday in Oxford...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington in 1963, he fine-tuned his civil-rights message before a much smaller audience in North Carolina...

TOKYO -- With the pull of a lever, control rods were lifted Tuesday from the reactor core at a plant in southern Japan, ending a ban on nuclear power after meltdowns at Fukushima in the northeast that forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes, most of them for good...

ATHENS, Greece -- Greece agreed to harsh terms for a new three-year bailout Tuesday and vowed to push it through parliament this week, despite mounting dissent in the ruling left-wing party. With the country facing the risk of a debt default next week, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had sought to speed the talks and get approval of a deal this week...

ARLINGTON, Texas -- A police officer who killed an unarmed college football player during a suspected burglary at a Texas car dealership was fired Tuesday for making mistakes the city's police chief said caused a deadly confrontation that put him and other officers in danger...

NEWARK, N.J. -- An international web of hackers and traders made $100 million on Wall Street by stealing a look at corporate news releases before they went out and then trading on that information ahead of the pack, federal authorities charged Tuesday...

WASHINGTON -- A Wal-Mart truck driver who hadn't slept in 28 hours failed to slow down despite posted warning signs and was responsible for a highway crash last year that severely injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday...

FERGUSON, Mo. -- The return of an armed militia group patrolling the streets of Ferguson drew criticism Tuesday from both protesters and the county police chief overseeing security amid ongoing demonstrations marking the anniversary of 18-year-old Michael Brown's shooting death...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Boone County Commission has voted to move a war memorial that includes a religious symbol from the county courthouse to a private cemetery, despite strong objections from some area residents. After months of controversy, the commission voted 3-0 on Tuesday to move the Operation Desert Storm memorial, which includes a small ichthus, also called a "Jesus fish," to the Columbia Cemetery. The commission also voted to adopt a policy on placement of memorials on county property...

NATCHEZ, Miss. -- Isle of Capri Casinos will close its casino in Natchez, one of the oldest gambling houses in Mississippi. St. Louis-based Isle of Capri has owned the Natchez property, a dockside casino with 520 slot machines and six table games, since 2000...

Good weather the past two months has enabled construction of the new Cape Girardeau fire station, near Mount Auburn and Bloomfield roads, to proceed at a rapid rate; except for the south wall, the masonry contractors nearly have finished the walls of the three-bay, 6,500-square-foot station; steel for the roof supports is on site...

Gordon R. Spencer, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, at his home. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau. A funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Bob Houchins officiating...

The Rev. Oscar J. Lukefahr, CM, entered into eternal life Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, at Apostle of Charity Residence, Perryville, Missouri. He was 76 years old. Father Lukefahr was born July 20, 1939, in Perryville to Marie Huber Lukefahr and Simon Lukefahr...

Sandra K. Riehn, 68, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015 at her home. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau. A graveside funeral service will be at 12:15 p.m. Saturday at Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau...

BEIJING -- China's surprise move Tuesday to devalue its currency has intensified concerns about a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, whose growth rate has reached a six-year low. It also is fanning tensions with the United States and Europe, whose exports could become comparatively costlier...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Most Missouri students scored at least at proficient levels in English on a new statewide test last school year, while students in most grades scored lower in math, according to data released Tuesday by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis police say a man fatally shot himself while driving, with his car crashing through a fence and ending up in a ball field. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the man was driving on Interstate 55 about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. Police were called after the car crashed through a fence and into a light pole at Carondelet Park...

FERGUSON, Mo. -- About 100 protesters gathered along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson late Tuesday in a demonstration that was decidedly smaller and calmer than others on recent nights. Attendees mostly mingled quietly along the side of the road. Some chanted, and a few held signs. Police officers, most wearing riot gear, appeared to outnumber protesters...

A Cape Girardeau woman is facing charges after being stopped while driving a stolen vehicle. Melissa Flentge, 43, has been charged with tampering with a motor vehicle, a felony. On Monday, a deputy stopped a blue BMW M4 traveling below the speed limit on Linn Street in Sikeston, Missouri, according to a news release from the Scott County Sheriff's Department...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department will be hosting another "Tip A Cop" event and asks the public to visit Texas Roadhouse, 13 Doctors' Park, on Thursday. Members of the police department will serve food and drinks to restaurant's customers from 5 to 8 p.m. Any "tips" received for their service will go to the Special Olympics. Athletes from the area also will be on hand to assist and serve as greeters and wait staff...

The Cape County Tea Party will host Rachel Payton of Americans for Prosperity-MO at its monthly meeting Tuesday at the Cape Girardeau Public Library, 711 N. Clark Ave. Americans for Prosperity is a grassroots organization with 34 state chapters, focusing on economic freedom and limited government, according to a news release from the Cape County Tea Party...

The popular Tunes at Twilight outdoor music series returns this week in Cape Girardeau for the fall season. The free Friday evening concerts at the Common Pleas Courthouse gazebo on Lorimier Street kick off this week with an ice cream social. Old Town Cape organized the event to celebrate downtown's recent designation as a Great American Main Street Community. The first 300 attendees will receive free ice cream from Port Cape Girardeau beginning at 6 p.m...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers invites the public to tour the largest diesel towboat operating on the Mississippi River when it docks Friday and Saturday in Cape Girardeau. Free tours of the Motor Vessel Mississippi will be offered. Public open houses aboard the vessel will be from 6 to 8 p.m. ...

Martinez pitched eight innings for his 12th victory.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. -- Three NFL teams. Billions of dollars in play. One big opportunity. A whole lot more than California dreamin' on a warm summer day. NFL owners met in suburban Chicago on Tuesday to hear more about moving at least one team to the Los Angeles market. ...

The lineman said he has spotted areas he can improve on.

The lineman was elected as one of the Tigers' four captains.

Route P between Highway 25 in Cape Girardeau County and Highway 91 in Stoddard County will be reduced to one lane as Missouri Department of Transportation crews make pavement repairs. The work, which began Tuesday, will continue from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, according to a MoDOT news release...

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Police say dogs trying to get at a box of cupcakes left on top of a stove apparently started a small fire in a home. The landlord told police in Logan Township, Pennsylvania, he stopped by his tenants' home to let out the dogs about 8 p.m. Sunday. That's when he saw a small stovetop fire and called firefighters. Police said it appears the dogs were trying to get into the cupcakes when they knocked off the stove's control knobs and turned on the stove, starting the fire...

Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Amen.

The following police report has been corrected to remove Timothy P. Gramling, who did not receive summonses. Gramling's name was incorrectly included in a report from the police department. The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt...

Daughter to Tyler Baker and Brittney Woodward of Sikeston, Missouri, Southeast Hospital, 11:47 p.m. Friday, July 3, 2015. Name, Katherine Ann. Weight, 8 pounds, 8 ounces. First child. Daughter to Nicholas G. and Amber N. Burger of Scott City, Southeast Hospital, 6:37 a.m. ...