Stories from Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Kristin Ham, a horticulturist with facilities management at Southeast Missouri State University, weeds and deadheads geraniums Tuesday at the university's "front door" at Broadway and Normal Avenue in Cape Girardeau. The fall semester begins Monday.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) will hold a public meeting Tuesday to discuss plans to replace Interstate 55 bridges over U.S. 61 between Cape Girardeau and Jackson and construct a diverging diamond interchange. Such an interchange would shift traffic patterns to eliminate left-hand turns, increasing safety, state highway officials said...

Local transit drivers are encouraged to report suspicious activities as part of Watch on Wheels (WOW), a new rolling crime watch partnership between the Cape Girardeau Police Department and the transit authority. The WOW program officially kicks off today, police said...

The satellite offices of the Cape Girardeau County assessor, collector and clerk will move this week from their current location in the Common Pleas Courthouse Annex in downtown Cape Girardeau to new offices on Bloomfield Street, county officials announced Tuesday...

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 15, the 227th day of 2018. There are 138 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On August 15, 1945, in a pre-recorded radio address, Japan's Emperor Hirohito announced that his country had accepted terms of surrender for ending World War II...

Way back in the 1970s, a brainy group of MIT professors and researchers developed a computer model that predicted the "end of civilized life as we know it" by 2040. And as part of that computer prediction, the first major change that will usher in this decayed social structure will occur in 2020...

Bishop John J. Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese has announced a number of pastoral changes; the Rev. Mr. Glenn Eftink, who will be ordained a priest Oct. 1, has been assigned to serve at St. Mary's Cathedral in Cape Girardeau, effective Oct. 15; the current associate pastor there, the Rev. Michael Zoellner, has been appointed pastor of St. Elizabeth Parish in El Dorado Springs, Missouri, and the mission of St. Peter at Stockton, Missouri...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Evelyn I. Wheetley, 82, of Bloomfield, Missouri, formerly of Advance, passed away Monday, Aug. 13, 2018, at Bloomfield Living Center. She was born Jan. 16, 1936, at Alton, Illinois, the daughter of John Clarence and Iva Shrout Bailey. Evelyn and Paul "Dink" Hilton Wheetley were united in marriage Sept. 2, 1953, at Zalma, Missouri, and he preceded her in death Oct. 10, 1995...

Lois Delilah Busche Wessell, 94, formerly of Cape Girardeau, passed away Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, at Friendship Village in Chesterfield, Missouri. She was born March 26, 1924, in Cape Girardeau to Henry L. and Ella A. Hoffman Busche. She and Marvin Wessell were married May 2, 1947, in Cape Girardeau...

Nellie Ruth Warren, 74, of Scott City died Monday, Aug. 13, 2018, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 7, 1944 in Bee Branch, Arkansas, to Dovie Rice Williams. She and Danny Lee Warren Sr. were married March 16, 1963. He preceded her in death Nov. 10, 2015...

Marilyn Needham, 83, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of East Cape Girardeau, Illinois, died Monday, Aug. 13, 2018, at her home. She was born Dec. 30, 1934, in Dongola, Illinois, the daughter of Koble Leroy and Mildred Beulah Johnson Peeler. Marilyn was a member of the Fruitland Community Church in Fruitland. She worked as quality control at Thorngate in Cape Girardeau for many years...

Dorothy C. Engelmann, 94, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018, at Lutheran Home. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Jackson. Funeral will follow at noon Saturday at the funeral home, with the Revs. Bill Rhodes and Bill Joyce officiating. Burial will be at Lessley Cemetery in Marble Hill, Missouri...

Cecil "Mark" Conrad, 80, of Jackson passed way Monday, Aug. 13, 2018, at Saint Francis Medical Center, with his family at his side. He was born March 30, 1938, at Sedgewickville, Missouri, son of Lauren Vern and Naomi Conrad. He and Helen "Bonnie" Ford were married Feb. 18, 1958...

Rhonda Sue Campbell, 59, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Aug. 10, 2018, at her home. She was born Feb. 3, 1959, in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, to George and Dorothy Francis Campbell. She was a member of Maple United Methodist Church. Survivors include her mother, Dorothy Campbell of Poplar Bluff; two sisters, Ava (John) Lampe and Stacy Campbell, both of Poplar Bluff; a niece, Anna (Austin) Sisco of Poplar Bluff; a nephew, Jacob (Heather) Lampe of Poplar Bluff; two great-nephews; and her beloved cat, Sampson.. ...

NEW YORK -- Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman declared Tuesday she "will not be silenced" by President Donald Trump, remaining defiant as her public feud with her former boss appeared to shift to a possible legal battle. In an interview with The Associated Press, Manigault Newman, who is promoting her new book about her time in Trump's orbit, said she believes the president's campaign is trying to keep her from telling her story. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency privately challenged the Trump administration's rationale for freezing Obama-era mileage standards, saying the proposal would actually increase U.S. highway deaths. In announcing the mileage proposal earlier this month, officials with the EPA and Department of Transportation contended the mileage freeze would save about 1,000 lives a year. ...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Paul Manafort's defense rested its case Tuesday without calling any witnesses in the former Trump campaign chairman's tax evasion and bank fraud trial. Manafort himself chose not to testify. The decision not to call witnesses clears the way for the jury to hear closing arguments in the first trial to emerge from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Those arguments are scheduled this morning...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children -- and possibly many more -- since the 1940s, and senior church officials, including a man who is now the archbishop of Washington, D.C., systematically covered up the abuse, according to a grand jury report released Tuesday...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A $42,000 antique desk. A $32,000 blue suede sectional sofa. A $7,500 inlaid wooden floor map of West Virginia's 55 counties. A scandal involving lavish office renovations and other financial abuses by the highest court in one of the poorest states in America has triggered an extraordinary move by one branch of government to essentially fire another...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said she supports measures on Missouri’s November ballot to increase the state’s minimum wage and hike the gas tax. McCaskill recently told reporters she also supports medical marijuana. She said she “couldn’t be more enthusiastic” about another proposal that would change redistricting and limit lobbyist gifts to state lawmakers, among other things. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Democrats have voted to ditch a recently added tenet aimed at welcoming anti-abortion candidates. Party members in June had voted to amend the platform to state the party welcomes “all Missourians who may hold differing positions on (abortion)” and sees diversified views as its strength. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A judge has ruled a proposed 10-cent gas tax increase can go on Missouri’s Nov. 6 ballot. Circuit Judge Robert Schollmeyer ruled Tuesday lawmakers did not violate the state Constitution in drafting the measure. If approved, the tax increase would pay for road and bridge repairs and fund the Missouri State Highway Patrol. ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana woman whose husband and three children died when a duck boat sank last month near Branson, Missouri, said Tuesday she hopes to save lives by backing an effort to ban the amphibious tourist boats. Tia Coleman, speaking through tears during a news conference in her Indianapolis home, urged people to sign an online petition calling on federal officials to ban the boats...

JOPLIN, Mo. -- A Missouri organizer for a medical marijuana initiative is suing to remove two other related initiatives from the November ballot. Springfield doctor and lawyer Brad Bradshaw filed two lawsuits Friday seeking to invalidate the medical marijuana initiatives submitted by New Approach Missouri and Jefferson City lawyer Lowell Pearson, the Joplin Globe reported...

Father God, thank you that we have victory through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Elbridge Robinson III, 27, of Cape Girardeau was arrested on a Cape Girardeau warrant for driving on a revoked license. n Matthew Hix, 36, of Cape Girardeau was arrested on a Newport News, Virginia, warrant...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls: Monday n Medical assists were made at 4:14 a.m. on Hackberry Street, 11:05 a.m. on North Hanover Street, 5:03 p.m. on Rand Street and 5:52 p.m. on Whitener Street. n At 11 a.m., unauthorized burning was reported on Old Hopper Road...

The majority of Cape Girardeau County supported the Right to Work legislation proving once again that Union leadership has no leverage here. The Washington Post reported that Senator Bernie Sanders' universal healthcare plan would cost the federal government $3.3 trillion more dollars per year. The Democrats don't have a plan that doesn't include spending more of taxpayers' money. Looks like their only platform remains Russia and hating our President...

LOS ANGELES — Police are investigating after a video shows a man spanking a hippopotamus at the Los Angeles Zoo. The video shows the man crossing a railing last week and sneaking up on two hippos, Rosie and Mara. He smacks Rosie on the rear and her mother lifts her head as the man runs off and raises his arms in a gesture of victory. ...

Last week the Southeast Missourian implemented a new policy to govern how crime reports are made available to search engines. As I wrote when announcing a draft of the change, "The new policy seeks to strike a balance between the Southeast Missourian keeping the public informed and recognizing, sympathetically, that in today's world of instant digital search, long-past minor indiscretions can play a disproportionate role in a person's online identity."...

The Knights Of Columbus council 6420 in Scott City hosted the 7th annual KC BBQ COOKOFF on July 27th &28th. Below are the Winners of each category and the sponsor of each category. Their was music Friday night sponsored by Columbia Construction The Seafood completion was sponsored by Wehmeyer Printing and won by Brew Q BBBQ...

Our granddaughter Ellen, her husband Randy, and sons Lucas, Travis, Jackson, and Wesley from Waukesah, WI. visited downtown Cape and Mississippi River. The day ended with a visit to The Sugar Chic creamery for ice cream, which I understand comes from the state of WI...

Leaves are a good subject for photos. Light during different times of the day can result in exciting colors. The following photos of leaves came from the same tree that fell during a storm two months ago in Cape.