Stories from Friday, February 22, 2019

Whether it's a walking stick or a stump Adam Sobas comes across while hiking near his home in Elsinore, Missouri, the mystery as to "what's inside" the timber demands his attention. When Sobas finds a piece of wood striking his interest, no matter the condition, he "gets something out of it," he said in a Polish accent Thursday at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri...

The pools aren't open just yet (I'd be the first to report, if so) and it's still a little dreary outside. It may be rainy this weekend, but don't let that get you down or keep you at home. We've got bowling tonight to benefit Notre Dame Regional High School, the last few showings of "Sister Act" the musical at the Southeast River Campus through Sunday and former editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics -- Roy Thomas -- in uptown Jackson on Saturday...

Two area students were recently named National Merit Scholarship Program finalists: Etty Soto of Saxony Lutheran High School, and Michael Hwang of Central High School. Soto said she was surprised she earned the distinction. "You don't really get recognized for studying the way you do for sports," Soto said. "It's kind of nice."...

One of Cape Girardeau's most notable marketers died Wednesday, leaving a legacy of hard work and creativity. Paul Walker, longtime advertising sales representative who served in several roles for the Southeast Missourian, spent more than 50 years in marketing and 30-plus years at the newspaper. He was 75 years old...

A new crime prevention program is laying a solid foundation to combat illegal and nuisance activity on rental property, according to Cape Girardeau police. Police began implementing the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program last October. Cpl. Richard Couch, coordinator of the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, said he believes it already is paying dividends in fighting crime...

Today is Friday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2019. There are 312 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Feb. 22, 1997, scientists in Scotland announced they had succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named "Dolly." (Dolly, however, was later put down after a short life marred by premature aging and disease.)...

It's all a day on the job at the Show Me Center: doubleheader SEMO basketball games followed the next night by a 6,000-seat sold-out Kane Brown concert, followed the next afternoon by another doubleheader. A crew of 55 to 60 people will carry out the conversions of the arena. During these events, the Show Me Center will be in operation for 72 hours...

In the process of researching for my book, I found a lot of inspiration in Robert D. Putnam's "Bowling Alone." This book chronicles how and why we said good-bye to the American culture made familiar by the mid-twentieth century. Change is inevitable, and I find it exhilarating. So, to my delight, Putnam also takes a look at the hows and the whys of the cultures we built in place of our foremothers' and forefathers'...

It's generally true: grand gestures of kindness beget grand gestures of kindness. When Jim Eddleman, Vietnam veteran and native of Perryville, Missouri, donated his three-generation, 47-acre family farm to found Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in 2017, he kept only one acre for his and his wife Charlene's house. To him, his donation is a way to keep a promise he made to himself in 1968 while fighting in the Vietnam War...

Big government enthusiasts are claiming the recent Democrat partial government shutdown will have a long-lasting negative impact on the U.S. economy. The claim is over $3 billion economy was permanently lost from a $19 trillion economy. This equals only 0.016 percent of the economy. But the actual loss is less...

What does compassion look like? Sometimes compassion looks like taking care of an older person who can no longer take care of himself. Sometimes it looks like a volunteer who tutors children struggling in school. Sometimes it looks like a check. But sometimes it also looks like rock-and-roll and tiaras...

Giving students one-on-one encouragement as they learn to read through the Read to Succeed program. Providing a food pantry and tutoring program at the middle school. Funding an after-school bus at the junior high so students can stay after school to participate in extracurricular activities that can help keep them engaged in school. ...

NEW YORK -- Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Dominick Argento, who wrote musical works inspired by the lives and literature of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Casanova, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Henry James and Virginia Woolf, has died. He was 91...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. home sales fell 1.2 percent in January to their worst pace in more than three years, as persistent affordability problems have put a harsh chill in the real estate market. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday sales of existing homes declined 1.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94 million last month, the slowest sales rate since November 2015...

OUTSIDE BAGHOUZ, Syria -- U.S.-backed Syrian forces fighting the Islamic State group handed over more than 150 Iraqi members of the group to Iraq, an Iraqi security official said Thursday, marking the biggest repatriation from Syria of captured militants so far...

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- A fire in Bangladesh that killed at least 67 people in the oldest part of the capital shows the lapses in public safety that continue to plague the South Asian country despite its rapid economic growth. While the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina touts the garment factories and gleaming office towers in Dhaka's north side as signs of progress, illegal shops and overcrowding in Chawkbazar, one of the city's many warren-like southern districts, impeded firefighters' ability to put out Wednesday night's blaze, illustrating the country's uneven development.. ...

VATICAN CITY -- The day began with an African woman telling an extraordinary gathering of Catholic leaders that her priestly rapist forced her to have three abortions over a dozen years after he started violating her at age 15. It ended with a Colombian cardinal warning them they could all face prison if they let such crimes go unpunished...

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge issued a broad gag order forbidding Roger Stone to discuss his criminal case with anyone and gave him a stinging reprimand Thursday over the longtime Trump confidant's posting of a photo of the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun...

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration on Thursday broke off talks on vehicle mileage standards with California, increasing the chances of a court battle that threatens to unsettle the auto industry. The White House, which has proposed freezing the standards, said it would now move unilaterally to finish its own mileage rule later this year "with the goal of promoting safer, cleaner, and more affordable vehicles."...

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. -- An investigative team from state and federal agencies will visit Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona over concerns about uranium exposure. Park officials said in a news release Thursday a group of health and safety experts will visit in the coming weeks...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. and China resumed high-levels talks Thursday aimed at easing a trade standoff that has unnerved global investors and clouded the outlook for the world economy. The talks opened as a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He sat down with a U.S. ...

SALEM, Ore. -- Faced with a housing shortage and skyrocketing rents, Oregon is poised to become the first state to impose mandatory rent controls, with a measure establishing tenant protections moving swiftly through the Legislature. Many residents have testified in favor of the legislation, describing anxiety and hardship as they face higher rents. Some have gone up by as much as almost 100 percent -- forcing people to move, stay with friends or even live in their vehicles...

GREENBELT, Md. -- A Coast Guard officer suspected of drawing up a hit list of top Democrats and network TV journalists spent hours on his work computer researching the words and deeds of infamous bombers and mass shooters while also stockpiling weapons, federal prosecutors said Thursday...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina's elections board Thursday ordered a new election in the nation's last undecided congressional race after the Republican candidate conceded his lead was tainted by evidence of ballot-tampering by political operatives working for him...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. The city's 3,000 teachers want a 12 percent retroactive raise covering 2017 to 2020 to compensate for what they say are the among the lowest salaries for public school teachers in the expensive San Francisco Bay Area. They also want the district to hire more counselors to support students and more full-time nurses...

CHICAGO -- Two brothers who told police Jussie Smollett paid them $3,500 to help stage an attack on himself were linked to the actor through the "Empire" television series, and court documents filed Thursday allege one of the men provided Smollett with designer drugs...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was 17 when he joined the Kappa Alpha fraternity at Auburn University, which every spring held an "Old South" party where he and other members dressed in Confederate uniforms. The fraternity has since ended the tradition, and Lee, four decades removed from his undergraduate days at the Alabama university, said he regrets attending and wearing the uniform, and has come to see his participation in the event differently...

URBANDALE, Iowa -- Is the "ugly produce"' trend already reaching the end of its shelf life in supermarkets? Walmart and Whole Foods in recent years tried selling some blemished fruits and vegetables at a discount, produce they said might otherwise be trashed because it's not quite the right size, shape or color. ...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. will not move to ease economic sanctions on North Korea until it is confident the nuclear weapons threat from Pyongyang has been "substantially reduced," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday. Pompeo didn't elaborate, but his comment seemed to leave open the possibility that sanctions relief was possible short of complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is accusing state lawmakers of "grandstanding" by holding numerous hearings to discuss a tax refund problem caused in part by a mistake on state tax withholding tables. Parson on Wednesday also defended Revenue Department director Joel Walters' handling of the error that could reduce or eliminate refunds for thousands of Missouri taxpayers on their state income tax returns for 2018. ...

Friends and family of Michael Davis plead for an end to hazing violence during a memorial service for Davis, the Southeast Missouri State University who died in a hazing ritual involving the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity; about 300 persons, many of them students, attend the hour-long service held in Academic Hall...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- At tryouts, director Dennis Bohannon posed a question to the actors: Who isn't familiar with the music from "Grease?" No one raised their hands. Bohannon said it didn't surprise him. The smash Broadway show which later became a hit movie transcends generations, he said...

Paul Ronald "Ronnie" Walker, 75, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete with a memorial service to be held at a later date. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements...

Samuel Davis Shrum, 82, of Jackson died Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, at Woodland Hills in Marble Hill, Missouri. Born on Sept. 13, 1936, in Scopus, Missouri, he was the son of Jesse Ephriam and Frances Cecil Black Shrum. He and Margaret Ruth Hope were married Oct. 15, 1966. She preceded him in death Jan. 30, 2000...

Patricia Louise Seabaugh, 98, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, at Capetown Senior Living in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. March 3 at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau. Funeral will be at 2 p.m. March 3 at the funeral home, with the Rev. Jeff Long officiating. A private burial will be at Cape County Memorial Park in Cape Girardeau...

BERTRAND, Mo. -- Ruth Monahan, 102, of Bertrand died Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at Bertrand Nursing Center. She was born July 15, 1916, in Greenwood, Arkansas, to Oad and Bell Robbins Cook. She and Lee Monahan were married Feb. 13, 1935, at Caddo Gap, Arkansas...

Lord Jesus, we give thanks for your perfect peace that passes all understanding. Amen.

Again the voters of Cape voted for funds for a project without the EXACT details of the project. We vote for a swimming pool replacement and now getting neighborhood redevelopment. If the school board keeps changing the plans, it will soon be in Jefferson School, now attached to the school with a glass wall and concession in the school cafeteria. If Cape needed 15 million to build the quality pool that this city deserves, it should have submitted that to the voters...

LOS ANGELES -- Peter Tork, a talented singer-songwriter and instrumentalist whose musical skills were often overshadowed by his role as the goofy, lovable bass guitarist in the made-for-television rock band The Monkees, has died at age 77. Tork's son Ivan Iannoli said his father died Thursday at the family home in Connecticut of complications from adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer of the salivary glands. He had battled the disease since 2009...

Son to Burton Leon and Cynthia Lyn Hahs of Daisy, Saint Francis Medical Center, 2:42 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, Name, Everett Leon. Weight, 6 pounds, 10 ounces. First child. Mrs. Hahs is the former Cynthia Volz, daughter of Van and Karen Volz of Friedheim. She is a physical therapist assistant at Saint Francis Medical Center. Hahs is the son of Loeta Hahs of Oak Ridge and the late Robert (Bob) Hahs. He is a farmer...

KELSO, Mo. -- Zeta "Toots" Welter, 86, of Kelso died Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at Fountainbleau Lodge in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri judges could ignore mandatory minimum sentencing laws for some nonviolent offenders under a bill passed by the state House...

ST. LOUIS - An eastern Missouri man already facing state charges of animal abuse is now facing federal charges, too...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A 68-year-old Missouri woman has pleaded guilty to receiving disability payments intended for her mother, who died nearly 50 years ago...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri senators have voted to cap state tax credits for low-income housing...

United Way of Southeast Missouri is bringing “Over the Edge” to Cape Girardeau on May 17 for the community’s first ever urban rappelling event. The local nonprofit has set an ambitious goal, hoping the event will raise $75,000 to help the citizens of Southeast Missouri, while engaging new volunteers and donors...

Recruiters Websites, a local web design and development company, named Matt McKenzie its web design and experience manager. The company has also expanded its marketing services with the addition of Emily Blattel, marketing manager, and Sarah Shanahan, social media coordinator. ...

Having a mentor in the business world can help young professionals navigate new situations, make connections within the community and have a sounding board for their ideas and questions. Being a mentor has its benefits, too: it's a chance to pass on the skills and lessons you've gained throughout your career and look at topics with fresh perspective, while helping a young professional better the community through their own gifts and skills...

As a lifelong learner of leadership, I was not disappointed when one of my police officers gifted me with "Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win," written by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Willink and Babin are former Navy Seals who honed their leadership skills on the streets of Ramadi during the Iraq War and now bring the lessons they learned to the business world...

For better or worse, smartphones are the tools of choice, and the technology is ubiquitous with personal and professional responsibilities. Here are three apps to consider: Work in a collaborative space? Or maybe you're part of a thought-leadership group with counterparts around the country. Slack keeps the conversation going, tracks who says what and streamlines the sharing process without having dozens (or more) individual conversations...

Good cause marketing requires you to keep it simple, be authentic and engage with your customer. More for-profit companies in Southeast Missouri are marketing their business or product to benefit a nonprofit charity in support of a social cause. Few get it right. Here are key components among those who do:...