Stories from Friday, August 24, 2018

"United We Fight, United We Win." That was the battle cry heard from a platform of more than 30 individuals -- sporting boxing gloves -- representing the United Way of Southeast Missouri's Kickoff Campaign Thursday at Ray's Plaza Conference Center in Cape Girardeau...

The attorney for former Scott City mayor Ron Cummins agreed during a court hearing Thursday to drop two defendants from a defamation lawsuit and look to file new litigation against them. The existing suit against state Rep. Holly Rehder is still pending...

The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport will offer more round-trip flights to Chicago on United Express, starting early next year, airport officials said Thursday. The new flight schedule will take effect Jan. 7, said Joe Hobbs, chairman of the airport advisory board...

Today is Friday, Aug. 24, the 236th day of 2018. There are 129 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On August 24, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty came into force. On this date: In A.D. 79, long-dormant Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash; an estimated 20,000 people died...

Cape Girardeau has announced a new program to zealously enforce old and new city ordinances to increase revenue for future construction projects. Recently the city pursued charges against the carGO ride-sharing platform for delivering adult beverages without obtaining an alcohol license. Following a public outcry, the city council backed down. Since then, however, the city fathers have admitted they caved too readily...

More than 67 percent of Missouri voters voted against Proposition A on August 7, so it's official: the bill colloquially known as Right to Work will be repealed. If it had been passed, Prop A would have made the paying of union dues optional. Currently, 28 U.S. states are right-to-work states; Missouri's "no" vote is the first overturning of a right to work measure since 2011...

Blame it on more efficient vehicles. Blame it on a fuel tax not indexed to inflation. Regardless, Missouri’s gas tax, which has not been raised since 1996, is short when it comes to funding roads and bridges. The Missouri General Assembly voted to increase the state fuel tax by 6 cents per gallon in 1992. The increase was phased in over several years with 17 cents per gallon the end point in 1996...

The inaugural edition of B Magazine featured hospital CEOs Ken Bateman and Maryann Reese as "agents of change," more open to collaboration than their predecessors at SoutheastHEALTH and Saint Francis, respectively, while fully engaged in "healthy competition." The story reported on talks about "a jointly-owned new line of business, which would have a dramatic impact on an area of health care that the region sorely needs."...

Each summer, we make an appeal to you, our readers, to help us find local newsmakers. These are people not content to sit idly by when they see something that needs attention. They want to help, see progress and make a meaningful difference. For some, it’s central to their occupation. ...

Kmart at 11 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau will close in November, along with 45 other Sears and Kmart stores nationwide, Sears Holdings announced Thursday morning. According to the company news release, the closures are part of ongoing efforts to streamline operations, strengthen the company's capital position and focus on the best stores...

Two major events are happening this weekend at Arena Park. One is being put on by Cape First Church and includes a demolition derby. The other involves a family that raises money for scholarships or assistance for those with disabilities. On Friday, Cape First will hold its annual Family Day, which starts at 5:30; it's simply a fun, community outreach event. ...

Thursday, Aug. 16, a coordinated editorial effort from 350 newspapers around the country defended the freedom of the press. More specifically the editorials protested the label by some government officials that the press is the "enemy of the people"...

On a recent one-day grand tour of the Ozark hills over yonder where I grew up, I tried to explain to my friend Mark about the "camp meetings" that were held in Des Arc nearly a century ago. As we pulled off Highway 49 where Johnny Collier had a service station with ice-cold soda pop -- the coldest in the world, I had Mark pull over so we could look at an area covered with brush and weeds...

Twelve SoutheastHEALTH marketing projects received statewide recognition at the recent Show Me Excellence Awards held at Camden on the Lake in Osage Beach, Missouri. Southeast won first place for three marketing efforts, including Human Resources recruitment for nursing featuring SoutheastHEALTH nurses; the 2018 photo calendar featuring photographs taken by Southeast staff, physicians, board members and volunteers; and A Polar Express community event in Perryville, Missouri, featuring a special screening of film "The Polar Express" and a holiday food drive.. ...

What if, growing up, Bill Gates was viewed similarly to Michael Jordan? Or Steve Wozniak was as cool as Derek Jeter? What if STEM-related skills were as exciting and as cool as sports? What if we took the youth sports model and applied it to computer programming? No more what-ifs...

Delta is a site development and highway contractor specializing in asphalt paving and road construction materials. In addition to construction activities, Delta produces aggregates, asphalt paving mixtures, emulsions and other asphalt-related products. The firm operates throughout Northeast Arkansas, Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri, with its corporate office located in Cape Girardeau...

Principal, Richmond + Blanton in Sikeston, Missouri More than 17 months ago, I shifted my career and felt I needed a refresher and enlightenment on how to manage myself as an independent consultant. “On Managing Yourself” is a series of essays from leading business experts including the late Peter Drucker, Robert Kaplan and Clayton Christensen. ...

I am not a music festival guy. But I have been to Sturgill Simpson, Judah and the Lion and Jack White and concerts in St. Louis this past year. I’ve been to stadiums and dive bars in Tokyo and Beijing. And I enjoy the occasional Tunes at the gazebo and the Southeast Missouri Orchestra at the River Campus’ Bedell. I am typically all about vinyl and first to buy tickets to “Hamilton” in St. Louis...


Considering the stakes -- $50,000 in funding and mentorship -- happy hour is a breezy affair on the eve of Codefi's 1st50k startup competition. The seven teams of founders crowd around the business incubator's sixth-floor offices, chatting over pilsner glasses and peering out over downtown Cape Girardeau, sizing up the town they'll end up calling home for the foreseeable future, if they win. ...

Cape Girardeau native and singer-songwriter Kevin Brost first learned how to play guitar in the basement of Shivelbine's Music store in Cape Girardeau. And at the age of 14, he became a member of his first five-piece band. He now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and spends much of his time writing music; traveling to and from Nashville, Tennessee; working on upcoming music projects; and also working as a songwriter for American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers...

BEIJING -- The United States and China imposed more tariff hikes on billions of dollars of each other's automobiles, factory machinery and other goods Thursday in an escalation of a battle over Beijing's technology policy companies worry will chill global economic growth...

JOHANNESBURG -- By now, many Africans know to cringe whenever "Trump" and their continent are mentioned together. It's happened again. In a tweet overnight, President Donald Trump said he had instructed his secretary of state to "closely study" alleged land seizures from white farmers in South Africa, a racially divisive issue almost a quarter-century after the end of apartheid, the system of white minority rule...

SANAA, Yemen -- Saudi-led coalition airstrikes Thursday killed nearly 30 people in Yemen, including four women and 22 children, Shiite rebel media reported. But the state media of United Arab Emirates, a key coalition member, disputed the claim and said the rebels launched the attack, killing one child and injuring dozens...

BOSTON -- Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is again demanding President Donald Trump stop using the band's songs at rallies. Tyler's attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter to the president Wednesday, a day after the song "Livin' on the Edge" was heard at a Trump rally in West Virginia...

Get the squad together and check out the variety of happenings we have for the next couple days -- it's a little bit of something for everyone. And since I eat, sleep and breathe food constantly, most of the events involve some type of cuisine. Enjoy!...

WASHINGTON -- The Education Department said Thursday it is weighing whether to allow states to use federal funds to purchase guns for schools, prompting a storm of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and educators. If approved, the plan likely would generate a lot of controversy at a time when a string of especially deadly school shootings earlier this year led to the rise of a powerful student-led gun control movement...

HONOLULU -- A powerful hurricane unleashed torrents of rain and landslides Thursday that blocked roads on the rural Big Island but didn't scare tourists away from surfing and swimming at popular Honolulu beaches still preparing to be pummeled by the erratic storm...

SAN DIEGO -- Democratic congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar was working on a TV advertisement to boost his exposure when news broke his opponent, the heavily favored Republican U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, was indicted. The 29-year-old former Obama administration Labor Department official whose father is a Palestinian Muslim and mother a Mexican-American Catholic has never held elected office. ...

BROOKLYN, Iowa -- The Iowa college student who was allegedly abducted by a stranger while running last month in a small Iowa town was killed by "multiple sharp force injuries," investigators announced Thursday. Preliminary autopsy results from the state medical examiner's office also determined 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was the victim of a homicide, the Division of Criminal Investigation announced in a press release...

NEW YORK -- The National Enquirer kept a safe containing documents on hush money payments and other damaging stories it killed as part of its cozy relationship with Donald Trump leading up to 2016 presidential election, people familiar with the arrangement told The Associated Press...

CUTHBERT, Ga. -- Officials in a predominantly black Georgia county fired a consultant amid widespread backlash to a proposal to close most polling places in the area three months ahead of a potentially historic election. Consultant Mike Malone had advocated consolidating the polling sites after he was hired in April. Randolph County lawyer Tommy Coleman sent Malone a letter Wednesday ending the contract, according to a copy of the letter Coleman gave The Associated Press on Thursday...

MARACAIBO, Venezuela -- In a city once called the Saudi Arabia of Venezuela for its vast oil wealth, residents of Maracaibo now line up to buy spoiled meat as refrigerators fail amid nine months of rolling power outages worsening of late. Some people fall ill eating the rotten beef, but at bargain prices, it's the only way they can afford protein as the country's crisis hits bottom...

A dispute between cable operators and area broadcasters could leave cable customers scrambling for "rabbit ears"; from Paducah, Kentucky, to Cape Girardeau, cable operators have threatened to drop the ABC, NBC and CBS affiliate broadcast stations from their lineups rather than pay retransmission fees...

Cali Jones calls for her mom to wait as she gives her backpack to kindergarten teacher Debbie Williams on the first day of classes Thursday for Cape Christian Community School. Laci Beasley dropped her daughter off at Cape Bible Chapel, where the school will be located this year...

ZALMA, Mo. -- Barbara Ann Kelly Froman, 83, of Zalma, surrounded by her loving family at home, went to be with her Lord on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018. Barbara was born on Aug. 4, 1935, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the daughter of Preston Lee and Macie Irene Bryce Kelly...

Jim William Egan III, 67, formally of Cape Girardeau County, died Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, at Missouri University Health Care in Columbia, Missouri. He was born Dec. 1, 1950, in St. Louis to James William and Henrietta "Yi" Emma Bargmann Egan. He and Bonita Fuller were married in Jackson...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Hubert "Scott" Burton Jr., 44, of Advance passed away Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in Bollinger County, Missouri. He was born May 13, 1974, at Chaffee, Missouri, the son of Hubert Scott Sr. and Debra Burton. Scott and Misty Hopkins were united in marriage Dec. 15, 2000, at Bloomfield, Missouri, and she survives of the home...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Tyson Michael Adcox, 29, of Perryville died Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018 at his home. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Baptist Church in St. Mary, Missouri. Funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the church, with the Rev. Irvin Brooks officiating...

Lord Jesus, blessed be your name, the name above all names. Amen.

Daughter to Kevin and Rachel Peters of Benton, Missouri, Southeast Hospital, 2:37 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018. Name, Jasmine Evelyn Marie. Weight, 7 pounds, 12 ounces. Third daughter. Mrs. Peters is the daughter of Pam Weatherford of St. Louis and the late Mickie Weatherford. Peters is the son of Danny and Teri Peters of Benton. He is an electrical closures assembler at Schaefer's Electrical Enclosures...

NEW YORK -- With most of music industry's top acts absent -- from Beyonce to Bruno Mars -- the MTV Video Music Awards lacked star power and felt flat, and some of the winners turned heads for the wrong reasons. Exhibit A: Camila Cabello beat out Drake, Mars, Cardi B, Ariana Grande and Post Malone for artist of the year...

Healthcare is changing in our region, and EBO MD is one healthcare provider at the forefront of development. Tony Thompson and Josh Stephens are the founders of EBO MD, a Direct Primary Care clinic system that eliminates insurance companies and hospital chargemasters, with locations in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Missouri...

Those who deserve a free or reduced price school lunch should get it. Those who can afford to pay full price should pay. It would be interesting to read some actual journalism on the Cape Girardeau Sportsplex. I suggest taking the amount that taxpayers lost with the development tax break, add the other taxpayer investments, plus the operation costs, and then deduct the amount of generated revenue (daily rental, estimated tourism dollars) to let us all know how big this economic boon really is. ...