Stories from Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Cape Girardeau Ward 2 Councilwoman Shelly Moore considers herself an “advocate for change” in her south-side neighborhood. Pastor Scott Johnson believes he could do a better job. The two residents are battling for votes in the only contested Cape Girardeau City Council race on the April 3 ballot...

After more than 20 years in Cape Girardeau’s downtown, Judith’s Antiques & Gung Ho Militaria is trading the banks of the Mississippi River for those of Hubble Creek in Jackson. Owner Judith Golightly said she’s excited about the move — it’ll be different, but she’s looking forward to it...

Cape Girardeau police and the major case squad are investigating two deaths following a shooting Wednesday morning at Cape Meadows apartments. Police received a call at 10:28 a.m. that a man had been shot in the back at 507 Cape Meadows Apt. 12. The victim was taken by private vehicle to Southeast Hospital before police arrived, said police public information officer Sgt. Rick Schmidt...

A former mayor and an incumbent councilman face challengers in two council races in Scott City on April 3. Former mayor Tim Porch and retiree James Payne are competing for the Ward 3 seat while Ward 2 Councilman Rodney Uhrhan faces a challenge from resident Heather Ingvalson...

Today is Wednesday, March 28, the 87th day of 2018. There are 278 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On March 28, 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled 6-2 that Wong, who was born in the United States to Chinese immigrants, was an American citizen...

MOSCOW -- Witnesses say fire alarms were silent and many doors were locked when a blaze at a Russian shopping mall packed with children and their parents on the first weekend of the school recess killed 64 people in Siberia. The fire at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo, a city about 1,900 miles east of Moscow, was extinguished by Monday morning after burning through the night...

A new Mexican restaurant, El Torero, has opened in the Town Plaza Shopping Center; the restaurant is operated by the Alvarez family, Juan and Daniel, and a brother-in-law, Pablo Santillan, all from the Mexican village of San Jose de la Paz. Construction is underway on a new building at St. Mark Lutheran Church, which will house a sanctuary on the upper level and a preschool facility on the ground level; the new preschool will open in September...

Lou Ann Boehne Launhardt fell asleep in Jesus' arms Tuesday, March 27, 2018. She was born Dec. 30, 1936, in St. Louis to the Rev. H. Paul and Lucille Boehne. Her parents preceded her in death. She received all of her education in Lutheran schools, except for the eighth grade and classes at Southeast Missouri State University. ...

Donna Jean Hitt, 69, of Jackson died Tuesday, March 27, 2018, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson and from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Zion United Methodist Church in Gordonville...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Larry "Joey" Hendrickson, 73, of Chaffee passed away Saturday, March 24, 2018, at Monticello House in Jackson. He was born Dec. 5, 1944, in Randles to the late Oscar E. and Ruby A. Johnson Hendrickson. He and Carolyn Jean Noble married May 1, 1965, and she preceded him in death Sept. 19, 2013...

Nancy H. Bliss, 95, of Cape Girardeau, passed away Sunday, March 25, 2018, at Southeast Hospital. She was born Dec. 9, 1922, in Waxahachie, Texas, daughter of the Rev. Earle Grady and Kate Aline Arnold Hamilton Sr. She and Richard Lawrence Bliss were married Oct. 1, 1948, in St. Louis. He preceded her in death Feb. 4, 2003...

Paul J. Allee, 84, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, March 24, 2018, at Southeast Hospital. He was born Nov. 16, 1933, in Stoutland, Missouri, to Noel Jennings and Helen Hutchings Allee. He and Joretta Howser Allee were married Aug. 24, 1958, at Iberia, Missouri...

BERN, Switzerland -- Scientists now have the dirt on the rubber ducky: Those cute yellow bath-time toys are, as some parents have long suspected, a haven for nasty bugs. Swiss and American researchers counted the microbes swimming inside the toys and say the murky liquid released when ducks were squeezed contained "potentially pathogenic bacteria" in four out of the five toys studied...

CAIRO -- One manager threatened employees to get them to vote and then checked for telltale ink-stained fingers as they clocked in the next day. A regional governor pledged improved water and sanitation service to towns with a high turnout. Some people were promised more food and even cash if they went to the polls...

MOSCOW -- Fuming with anger, thousands of Russians rallied for more than 10 hours Tuesday in a Siberian city, demanding the ouster of regional officials for a shopping mall fire killing at least 64 people. President Vladimir Putin, on a trip to the city of Kemerovo, scolded officials for neglecting safety rules...

BEIJING -- A mysterious armored train traveled from North Korea to Beijing and then headed back without revealing its key secret: Was Kim Jong Un on board? Speculation about a visit to Beijing by North Korea's reclusive leader or another high-level Pyongyang official ran high Tuesday amid talk of preparations for a future meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump...

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Leaders of Orange County, California, voted Tuesday to join a Trump administration lawsuit against the state over its law aimed at protecting immigrants from stepped-up deportations. The all-Republican Board of Supervisors in the county of 3.2 million people made the decision in a closed 3-0 vote. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration's decision to ask people about their citizenship in the 2020 census set off worries Tuesday among Democrats immigrants will dodge the survey altogether, diluting political representation for states tending to vote Democratic and robbing many communities of federal dollars...

The news Facebook's Android app has been collecting call and text histories is yet another black eye for the social media giant. But just why was Facebook able to siphon off records of who its users were contacting -- and when -- in the first place?...

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The sexual abuse scandal at Michigan State University widened Tuesday when authorities charged a former dean not only with failing to keep sports doctor Larry Nassar in line but with sexually harassing female students and pressuring them for nude selfies...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana's attorney general ruled out criminal charges Tuesday against two white Baton Rouge police officers in the shooting of a black man whose death led to widespread protests nearly two years ago. Attorney General Jeff Landry's decision came nearly 11 months after the Justice Department ruled out federal criminal charges in Alton Sterling's July 2016 death...

TOPEKA, Kan. -- A water park company co-owner accused of making a spur of the moment decision to build the world's tallest waterslide and rushing it into service, and a designer accused of shoddy planning, were charged Tuesday in the 2016 death of a 10-year-old boy who was decapitated on the ride when the raft he was on went airborne and hit an overhead hoop...

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Kansas schools refusing to allow teachers to carry guns could be held legally responsible in the event of a tragedy under a proposal drafted after last month's mass shooting at a Florida high school. Opponents of the measure, which got its first hearing Tuesday in front of the House Insurance Committee, expressed concern it could effectively mandate arming teachers rather than allowing it, as several states have done...

NEW YORK -- Traffic ground to a halt Tuesday to make way for the funeral procession of a firefighter who was killed while dousing a blaze on the set of a new film starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Alec Baldwin and Willem Dafoe. The somber scene at St. Patrick's Cathedral unfolded on the same day a tenant in the fire-ravaged Harlem building filed a $7 million lawsuit accusing Norton's production company of "recklessness, carelessness and negligence."...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Attorney General's Office on Tuesday joined an investigation into the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in Sacramento. While announcing the attorney general's involvement, city officials and community leaders called for calm as Sacramento prepares for events memorializing 22-year-old Stephon Clark, where emotions will be raw and large crowds are expected...

WASHINGTON -- Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment to allow for significant gun control legislation. The 97-year-old Stevens wrote in an essay on The New York Times website repeal would weaken the National Rifle Association's ability to "block constructive gun control legislation."...

WASHINGTON -- Still angry about the budget deal he signed last week, President Donald Trump has floated the idea of using the military's budget to pay for a border wall with Mexico, despite the fact such spending would likely require approval from Congress...

WASHINGTON -- The good news for President Donald Trump? His approval rating is up 7 points since last month, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The bad news? That only lifts Trump's approval to 42 percent, low for a president at this point in his tenure...

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Jim Mattis acknowledged Tuesday he and President Donald Trump's incoming national security adviser, John Bolton, have different world views but predicted they will develop a working partnership. "I look forward to working with him -- no reservations, no concerns at all," Mattis told reporters at an impromptu news conference. "Last time I checked he's an American. I'm not in the least bit concerned."...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol is warning motorists in southern areas of the state of expected flooding and possible dangerous travel conditions. The National Weather Service has issued flood watches Tuesday and some flood warnings in southern parts of Missouri after heavy rains fell this week in the region...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri House has endorsed a bill to ban most abortions after a fetus is 20 weeks old. The legislation given initial approval Monday includes an exception only when a woman's life is endangered or she is at "serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function."...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lawmakers are considering a new bill to encourage public school students to learn computer science in high school. The Senate Economic Development Committee heard testimony Tuesday on a bill that would count computer science as a math, science or practical arts credit required for graduation rather than treating it as an elective. The bill already passed in the House but still needs a Senate committee and full Senate vote, the Kansas City Star reported...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill will have plenty of competition as she seeks re-election this year. Missouri's candidate filing period came to a close Tuesday, and the Democratic incumbent senator drew 20 challengers. Attorney General Josh Hawley is the most prominent of 11 Republicans who are running for her seat...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri House agreed Tuesday to set aside another $30 million for higher education after the budget chairman said most colleges and universities had agreed to limit tuition hikes in exchange for avoiding state cuts. Only Missouri Southern State University in Joplin did not sign off on the agreement to limit tuition increases to 1 percent, Republican House Budget Committee chairman Scott Fitzpatrick said...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is broadening his inquiry into the Mississippi County Jail and the county's sheriff. The investigation, announced in a report released Tuesday, comes after Hawley's office decided not to charge Sheriff Cory Hutcheson with homicide in connection with the death of inmate Tory Sanders. ...

A crew installs fiber-optic cable for Charter Communications on Tuesday over Sloan Creek along Big Bend Road in Cape Girardeau. Construction of a new bridge over the Mississippi River tributary could start next month. ...

Your AP story about what is going on in the Missouri legislature (not much) is a jaw-dropping reflection of the decline and fall of the one-time poster boy for a future president, Gov. Eric Greitens. I saw three young men from Fronabarger stop their work to help a lady whose car had stopped by the middle school in Jackson. It made me feel proud of them. They were raised right to lend a helping hand to those in need. May God bless them and keep them safe...

O Lord God, we praise you for you are our strength and eternal hope. Amen.

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls: Monday n Medical assists were made at 12:51 a.m. on Whitener Street; 4:36 a.m. on Big Bend Road; 5:20 a.m. on North Sprigg Street; 12:50 p.m. on North Kingshighway; 12:53 p.m. on Gordonville Road; 6:26 p.m. on South Ranney Avenue; 6:46 p.m. on North Middle Street; 7:38 p.m. on Kingshighway; 8:01 on Brenda Kay Court; and 10:21 on South Sprigg Street...

BISMARCK, N.D. -- When Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota Territory in 1883 to hunt bison, locals saw him as an Eastern tenderfoot with no clue on handling the hardships of frontier life. He turned adversity into adventure, later writing: "It was here that the romance of my life began."...

Marcus Capone is everything you would expect in a Navy SEAL. Physically fit, standing 6-foot, 4-inches. Mentally tough. Smart. He answers questions -- the nonclassified variety -- with clarity and focus. But for the former Southern Illinois University quarterback -- who was a teammate of Cape Girardeau banker Jeff Brune while playing for the Salukis -- it was the movie "GI Jane" that inspired him to join this elite group of the military...