Stories from Wednesday, March 20, 2019

A judge has dismissed the Scott County Sheriff's Department as a defendant in a discrimination lawsuit brought by a deputy, but the county government in general still must defend itself against the plaintiff's claims. Judge Benjamin Lewis sustained the defense motion to drop the department from the civil suit after hearing arguments on the issue in Scott County Circuit Court in Benton, Missouri, on Friday...

Bullying, safety and students getting overlooked in terms of academics or extracurricular activities are among the biggest challenges facing the Scott City public school system, according to candidates running for the school board. Voters will decide among five candidates in the April 2 election for two, three-year terms on the Scott City School Board...

Four educators are heading to the Dominican Republic this summer as part of a program from Cenet, the Cultural Exchange Network, in Cape Girardeau. Culture in the Classroom is a program Cenet has provided since 2011, bringing international visitors to area classrooms to provide authentic, cultural education, at no cost to the districts...

The 20-member congregation at The Church of God in Cape Girardeau has created its first 24-hour community outreach program with the addition of a self-serve "take what you need, leave what you can" food pantry. The church's main food pantry in the basement of 209 E. Cape Rock Drive has hit capacity, according to church staff. The next step was to open God's Little Pantry...

North Fountain Street between Broadway and Bellevue Street in Cape Girardeau will close from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday while Boulder Construction performs construction on the Marquette Building, according to a city news release. Detours will be available for motorists...

Today is Wednesday, March 20, the 79th day of 2019. There are 286 days left in the year. Spring arrives at 5:58 p.m. Eastern time. Today's Highlight in History: On March 20, 1995, in Tokyo, 12 people were killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the deadly chemical sarin were leaked on five separate subway trains by Aum Shinrikyo cult members...

Selfies prove you don’t have friends. Staged family photos prove your family doesn’t do things together. Using a random “thank you” post to lead into a post about your kid proves you’re humble bragging. That completes your lesson in how the rest of the world views Facebook posts ...

Roy Blunt sided with 11 other Republicans in a Senate resolution denying President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to secure the border. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted Blunt as saying: “There are several existing authorities that could be used to support what President Trump wants to do at the border without creating a court case or declaring an emergency. I have encouraged him to use those authorities.”...

There is a perception — though it may be inaccurate — that many relying on welfare benefits are part of generational poverty where taxpayer-funded assistance has become a “family tradition.” When generation after generation after generation rely solely on government assistance, it’s worth asking how the program can be improved to end generational dependency...

Today’s world is fraught with new stresses and addictions, often revolving around technology. Think about internet gaming, online porn, social media, even technology such as vaping and JUULs (which can deliver more nicotine in one “pod” than a pack of cigarettes) or relatively new synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and other opioids. ...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook will overhaul its ad-targeting systems to prevent discrimination in housing, credit and employment ads as part of a legal settlement. For the social network, that's one major legal problem down, several to go, including government investigations in the U.S. and Europe over its data and privacy practices...

BAGHOUZ, Syria -- U.S.-backed Syrian forces on Tuesday seized control of an encampment held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, after hundreds of militants surrendered overnight, a spokesman said, signaling the group's collapse after months of stiff resistance. A group of suspects involved in a January bombing that killed four Americans in northern Syria were among militants captured by the Kurdish-led forces...

LONDON -- Why did Facebook air live video of the New Zealand mosque shooting for 17 minutes? Didn't anyone alert the company while it was happening? Facebook says no. According to its deputy general counsel, Chris Sonderby, none of the 200 or so people who watched the live video flagged it to moderators. In a Tuesday blog post, Sonderby said the first user report didn't come until 12 minutes after the broadcast ended...

LONDON -- Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan has been derailed in Parliament. Now she is at the mercy of an exasperated European Union. May was preparing Tuesday to ask the EU for a delay of at least several months to Brexit after the speaker of the House of Commons ruled she can't keep asking lawmakers to vote on the same divorce deal they have already rejected twice...

CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe -- Aid workers rushed to rescue victims clinging to trees and crammed on rooftops Tuesday after a cyclone unleashed devastating floods in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. More than 350 people were confirmed dead, hundreds were missing and thousands more were at risk...

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is considered sure to leave its key short-term interest rate unchanged today and to stress its new watchword — “patient” — in conveying its intention to leave rates alone for the foreseeable future. The Fed has made clear that with a dimmer economic picture in the United States and globally, it no longer sees the need to keep raising rates as it did four times in 2018. ...

President Donald Trump has tapped a former Delta Air Lines executive to lead the Federal Aviation Administration as the regulator deals with questions about its approval of a Boeing airliner involved in two deadly crashes within five months. The White House said Tuesday that Trump will nominate Stephen Dickson to head the FAA. The agency has been led by an acting administrator since January 2018...

LONDON -- Smoking high-potency marijuana every day could increase the chances of developing psychosis by nearly five times, according to the biggest-ever study to examine the impact of pot on psychotic disorder rates. The research adds to previous studies that have found links between marijuana and mental health problems, but still does not definitively pinpoint marijuana as the cause...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump praised Brazil's new far-right leader Tuesday as he welcomed him to the White House, saying the man who's been described as the "Trump of the Tropics" has done "a very outstanding job." Trump said President Jair Bolsonaro had run "one of the incredible campaigns," saying he was "honored" it had drawn comparisons with his own 2016 victory. ...

NEW YORK -- Special counsel Robert Mueller began investigating President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for fraud in his personal business dealings and for potentially acting as an unregistered foreign agent at least nine months before FBI agents in New York raided his home and office, according to documents released Tuesday...

Over the past 20 years, Americans have been twice as likely to sweat through record-breaking heat rather than shiver through record-setting cold, a new Associated Press data analysis shows. The AP looked at 424 weather stations throughout the Lower 48 states that had consistent temperature records since 1920 and counted how many times daily hot temperature records were tied or broken and how many daily cold records were set. In a stable climate, the numbers should be roughly equal...

SEDGEWICKVILLE, Mo. -- The first of three celebrations commemorating the 125th anniversary of Sargent's Chapel is held in the morning; it consists of a music service honoring baptized members; a potluck dinner follows; the congregation traces its roots back to 1803, when the Rev. Samuel Weyberg was invited to preach in the area, but the chapel was founded in 1869...

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls: Monday n Medical assists were made 8:27 a.m. on North Mount Auburn Road, 8:49 a.m. on South Silver Springs Road, 2:58 p.m. on South Sprigg Street, 5:36 p.m. at South Kingshighway, 7:39 p.m. at South West End Boulevard and 8:52 p.m. at Shawnee Parkway...

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrest n Thomas Tiller, 51, of Jackson was arrested on suspicion of third-degree domestic assault. n Elizabeth Johnson, 41, of Jackson was arrested on a Cape Girardeau County warrant...

Nelda Frances Underwood Simpson, 87, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, March 18, 2019, at Saint Francis Medical Center. Visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. March 30 at Abbey Road Christian Church in Cape Girardeau. Memorial service will be at 2 p.m. March 30 at the church, with the Rev. Doug Job officiating. Private inurnment will be at a later date at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Madeline L. Muench, 94, of Perryville died Sunday, March 17, 2019, at Independence Care Center. Visitation will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Immanuel Lutheran Church. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the church, with the Rev. Matthew Marks officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery...

Edgar Norman Fiehler, 73, of Jackson died Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, at Hunter Acres Caring Center in Sikeston, Missouri. He was born Aug. 5, 1945, in Cape Girardeau to George and Onieda Martha Mangels Fiehler. He and Martha Schoen were married June 30, 1973, at First Baptist Church in Jackson...

Billy W. "Bill" Carnell, 73, of Jackson died Tuesday, March 19, 2019, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday and from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Friday at McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Donald E. Bridges, 84, of Olive Branch died Monday, March 18, 2019, at the home of his son and daughter-in-law in rural Tamms, Illinois. Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Jones Funeral Home in Tamms. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home, with Brother Lacie Betts and Pastor Bob Kirby officiating. Interment will follow in the St. John's Cemetery in rural Dongola, Illinois...

ST. LOUIS -- Two men are hospitalized after separate and unrelated officer-involved shootings a few hours apart in St. Louis County. A 61-year-old man was shot by a University City officer around 6 a.m. Tuesday. A woman told police her husband was armed and making threats...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — University of Missouri officials say they have fired a campus police officer after verifying he was in a photo in blackface...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court says local courts can't throw people back in jail for not paying previous jail debts. Judges on Tuesday ruled unanimously against local courts helping to recoup those costs with methods including jail time. Critics, including Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt and the ACLU of Missouri, had argued the policy led to modern-day debtors' prisons...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A former Kansas City priest who was defrocked last year following an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse no longer has valid licenses to practice medicine in Kansas and Missouri, according to registration records...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Farmer Jeff Jorgenson looks out over 750 acres of cropland submerged beneath the swollen Missouri River, and he knows he probably won't plant this year. But that's not his biggest worry. He and other farmers have worked until midnight for days to move grain, equipment and fuel barrels away from the floodwaters fed by heavy rain and snowmelt. ...

O Lord Jesus, thank you for the peace that comes through knowing you. Amen.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Voices for Children/CASA Invites Community Members to Learn About Advocating for Foster Children Informational meeting on March 28th will teach community members about opportunities to help foster kids Cape Girardeau, MO, March 20, 2019 - More than 19,400 children are currently in the custody of Missouri Children’s Division, and in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry Counties, over 4001 children were brought into their custody in 2017. ...