Stories from Wednesday, February 13, 2019

A $1.4 million project to construct new hangars at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport has drawn some interest from airplane owners, but its feasibility remains in doubt. Airport manager Bruce Loy said some members of the local pilots club have been critical of the project...

The City of Cape Girardeau is expected to take a procedural step today that will move forward a much-discussed 102-bed psychiatric hospital in Cape Girardeau. The planning and zoning commission will consider a plat for the hospital; the property up for consideration is near the Southeast Cancer Center. The new hospital comes with a $29.2 million price tag...

Old Town Cape will celebrate a 20-year milestone of downtown growth with dinner, live music and dancing Feb. 28 at Isle Casino Cape Girardeau. Emily Vines, event coordinator for Old Town Cape, said she is excited for the upcoming anniversary event and considers it to be “a big deal” for the organization. This year’s theme, with coordinated décor, is “Cheers to 20 Years.” ...

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2019. There are 321 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Feb. 13, 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia, the influential conservative and most provocative member of the U.S. Supreme Court, was found dead at a private residence in the Big Bend area of West Texas; he was 79...

The Green New Deal apparently is the Democrat's far-reaching plan to frame the 2020 Presidential election by promising something for every imaginable victim's group in America. Unveiled last week to much hoopla, the progressive agenda is a virtual wish list of liberal ideas that would make today's America unrecognizable...

I'm going to cover a lot of ground quickly in this week's column. Stick with me. Ever since my girls were old enough to behave (and maybe even before then), my wife and I have loved taking them to art museums. In strollers, they would stare at the colors and the people. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri senator is seeking to tweak a voter-approved redistricting measure by allowing the public to submit suggestions to a state demographer responsible for drawing new districts. The "Clean Missouri" constitutional amendment approved in November creates a new position of nonpartisan demographer to draft state House and Senate maps after the 2020 Census with a goal of achieving "partisan fairness" and "competitiveness."...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A bill proposed by a Missouri state senator would close several lawmaker emails and other records from public access. Sen. Ed Emery on Tuesday pitched the bill to a Senate committee. The Lamar Republican's proposal comes after voters in November approved a constitutional amendment making lawmaker records subject to the Sunshine Law. That law allows the public access to government records...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, Missouri, was intentionally set and is being investigated as a possible hate crime, the FBI said in a statement Tuesday. The agency also said it is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the fire early Sunday...

JERUSALEM -- The traditional brightly embroidered dress of Palestinian women known as the "thobe" was not the type of garment one would expect to become a pop political symbol. Now it's gaining prominence as a softer expression of Palestinian nationalism, competing even with the classic keffiyeh -- the headscarf donned by young stone-throwing Palestinian men protesting Israel's occupation...

BAGHDAD -- The top Pentagon official arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday to consult with American military commanders and Iraqi government leaders on the future U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Pat Shanahan, the acting secretary of defense, said before his unannounced trip he wanted to hear firsthand about the state of Iraq's fight against remnants of the Islamic State group. Shanahan, who is on his first visit to Iraq, is also to meet with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi...

WARSAW, Poland -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday invoked the 30th anniversary of the demise of communism to implore countries in Central and Eastern Europe to resist Chinese and Russian influence. Speaking on a five-nation tour of Europe, Pompeo said China and Russia pose twin threats to the democratic and free-market gains made since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989...

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Theresa May urged restive lawmakers Tuesday to hold their nerve and give her more time to rework a divorce agreement with the European Union, heightening concerns Brexit uncertainty will continue right up to the edge of the U.K.'s departure March 29...

WASHINGTON -- At some of the nation's largest universities, the vast majority of sexual assaults take place not in dorm rooms or anywhere else on school property but in the neighborhoods beyond campus boundaries, according to data obtained by The Associated Press...

The United States expects domestic oil production to reach new heights this year and next, and that prices -- for both crude and gasoline -- will be lower than they were in 2018. Government forecasters are sticking to their forecast the United States -- already the world's biggest oil producer -- will become a net exporter of crude and petroleum products in 2020...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. employers posted the most open jobs in December in the nearly two decades records have been kept, evidence the job market is strong despite several challenges facing the economy. The Labor Department said Tuesday job openings jumped 2.4 percent in December to 7.3 million. That is the most since records began in December 2000. It is also far greater than the number of unemployed, which stood at 6.3 million that month...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has approved a bill reviving a popular conservation program, adding a million acres of new wilderness, expanding several national parks and creating four new national monuments. The massive measure combines more than 100 public-lands bills that add more than 350 miles of wild and scenic rivers and 2,600 miles of federal trails. It designates nearly 700,000 acres of new recreation and conservation areas...

WASHINGTON -- The national debt has passed a new milestone, topping $22 trillion for the first time. The Treasury Department's daily statement showed Tuesday total outstanding public debt stands at $22.01 trillion. It stood at $19.95 trillion when President Donald Trump took office Jan. 20, 2017...

WASHINGTON -- Doctors already are supposed to screen new mothers for depression, to find those who need prompt care. Now they're also being urged to identify women at risk -- because counseling could prevent depression from setting in. Up to 1 in 7 women experience what's called perinatal depression, depression during pregnancy or after childbirth, according to the U.S. ...

WASHINGTON -- Under mounting pressure from his own party, President Donald Trump appeared to be grudgingly leaning toward accepting an agreement Tuesday to head off a threatened second government shutdown but provide just a fraction of the money he's been demanding for his Mexican border wall...

NEW YORK -- Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel...

The 1994 Missions Convention begins today and will continue through Wednesday at First Assembly of God Church; the church displays colorful decorations and international flags promoting foreign and home missions. While Lady Luck and Boyd Gaming try to convince city officials theirs is the best choice for a riverboat gambling operation in Cape Girardeau, some have raised safety concerns with both proposals; Woody Rushing of Cape Girardeau, whose river career spanned nearly six decades, says he doubts the Army Corps of Engineers will approve either riverboat docking site.. ...

WASHINGTON -- The clash over free trade in North America has long been fought over familiar issues: Low-paid Mexican workers. U.S. factories that move jobs south of the border. Canada's high taxes on imported milk and cheese. But as Democrats in Congress consider whether to back a revamped regional trade pact being pushed by President Donald Trump, they're zeroing in on a new point of conflict: Drug prices. ...

Lynn VanMatre, 88, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center. He was born March 19, 1930, in St. Louis to Herbert A. and Ruth Herrick VanMatre. He and Donna Schroeder were married in August 1975 at St. Louis. He served two years in the Army...

Cecil G. Turner, 86, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, at Southeast Hospital. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau. Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. Burial, with full military honors, will be at Fairmount Cemetery in Cape Girardeau...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Charles Dee Robins, 89, of Advance passed away Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Aug. 24, 1929, in Advance, the son of Charles Henry and Cora Ellen Turner. Charles and Lotta Mae Moyer were united in marriage March 11, 1948, and she preceded him in death Feb. 2, 2012...

LEOPOLD, Mo. --Ursula Marie Nenninger, 94, of Leopold, fortified with the sacraments of Holy Mother Church on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 19, 1925, at Laflin, Missouri, daughter of Henry and Cornelia VanDorn Steinnerd. Ursula and Joseph Nenninger were united in marriage April 23, 1946, and he passed away Aug. 29, 1964...

Harold A. Moore, 81, of Cape Girardeau passed away peacefully Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019, at Saint Francis Medical Center, following a sudden and strong case of the flu and pneumonia, with his family by his side. He was born Sept. 23, 1937, in Cape Girardeau to Fred and Francis Diamond Moore. On May 2, 1959, he and Sharon K. Rose were married in Scott City. Together, they spent 43 years raising a loving family and creating a lifetime of memories...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Kenneth Raymond Merideth, 79, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, at Delta South in Sikeston. He was born Sept. 8, 1939, in Dunklin County, Missouri, to the late Owen Edward and Dorothy Christine Menz Merideth. Kenneth was a man of faith and a member of First United Methodist Church in Essex, Missouri...

Billi Jo Knight, 38, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, at her home. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson. Funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home, with Pastor Dwayne Kirkpatrick officiating. Interment will be in Russell Heights Cemetery in Jackson...

Kenneth Wayne Huffman, 67, of Glen Allen, Missouri, died Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday at Hutchings Funeral Chapel in Marble Hill, Missouri. Funeral will be at 4 p.m. Friday at the funeral home, with the Rev. David Coon officiating...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Dee Eugene Griffin, 87, departed this life Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, at Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 3, 1932, in Dexter, the son of the late Dee Ves and Florence Corene Horn Griffin. He was united in marriage to Lois Crow in Bernie on July 15, 1958. She survives in their home in Dexter...

Clara Mae Gramlisch, 84, peacefully passed away at 11:25 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, at her home in Delta, surrounded by her loving family. The eighth child of Robert and Sophie Meyers Driskell, Clara was born Oct. 23, 1934, in Perkins, Missouri. She lived all her life in the Delta and Chaffee, Missouri, area...

Dorothy Jean Rayford Boyd, 69, of Hazelwood, Missouri, died Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, at Stonebridge Senior Living in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau...

Father God, thank you for loving us and sending you son for our salvation. Amen.

Son to Joel and Christa Wiersma of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Hospital, 11:37 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. Name. Barry David. Weight, 8 pounds, 12 ounces. Third child, first son. Mrs. Wiersma is the daughter of John and Judy Jones of Jackson. She is a stay-at-home mom. Wiersma is the son of Dave and Betty Wiersma of Randloph, Wisconsin. He works at Menards...

U.S. 62 in Scott County will be reduced to one lane as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform bridge repairs. This section of roadway is at the Interstate 55 overpass in Miner, Missouri, according to a MoDOT news release. The work will take place from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Thursday...

Leonard Joseph Dixon, 62, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, at Saint Francis Medical Center. Cremation rites will be accorded. There will be no public service at this time. Crain Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Cape Girardeau is in charge of arrangements...