Stories from Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Route T in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties, from the Route N junction to County Road 434, will be closed as Missouri Department of Transportation crews replace several culvert pipes under the roadway. The work is scheduled to take place from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily Thursday through April 9, according to a MoDOT news release...

One male victim was found in the front yard of 622 Jefferson Ave. with an apparent gunshot wound and transported via ambulance to a local hospital early Tuesday morning in Cape Girardeau. Witnesses and callers near the location reported hearing four to five gunshots, Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Joey Hann stated...

Street maintenance crews in Jackson will be working throughout the city over the next few months re-striping streets and roadways to improve visibility for motorists along those routes. Weather permitting, crews will be working on the striping project beginning this month and continuing through June...

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce’s monthly First Friday Coffee will take place as scheduled this week. But there will be no coffee, no continental breakfast and no face-to-face networking among chamber members. In fact, it will take place with no one attending the Century Casino Cape Girardeau Event Center as usual because the casino is temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and gatherings of more than 10 people at any one place are prohibited to help slow spread of the coronavirus. ...

Statler siblings Bella, 7, and Carter, 4, of Oak Ridge take part in a "park and pray" event with their parents, Paige and Rusty Statler, in passenger and driver seats respectively, on Tuesday outside Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. ...

While many COVID-19 patients will battle the disease cloaked in privacy, some will have their situation become more public, by choice or circumstance. Two such cases are playing out in Cape Girardeau. One of the Cape Girardeau patients hospitalized with the disease is Dr. William Keith Graham. ...

Private and for-hire motor carriers whose loads carry essential equipment and supplies to fight the coronavirus are getting a temporary reprieve from the State of Missouri. The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has increased the weight allowance for tractor-trailers at least 53 feet in length from the usual 80,000-pound limit to 100,000 pounds through April 30...

COVID-19 cases in Cape Girardeau County remained at the previous day’s level Tuesday — 14. Of those, nine involved Jackson residents, three were Cape Girardeau cases, and two were Cape Girardeau County cases. Four people remained hospitalized. Of the 14, two people had recovered...

Tech startup companies have one thing in common: an overabundance of acronyms. Communicating with POE (Plain Old English) is considered obsolete in the modern-day quest to boost ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). "The world is changing too rapidly for ordinary words to keep pace," said Lexi Kahn at the American Association Advocating Advanced Acronyms (AAAAA). She explained that the United States is now the world's number one exporter of WASTE -- Wordplay, Acronyms, Shortened Terms and Elisions...

Today is Wednesday, April 1, the 92nd day of 2020. There are 274 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On April 1, 1976, Apple Computer was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. On this date: In 1789, the U.S. House of Representatives held its first full meeting in New York; Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House speaker...

Amidst the fear and uncertainty caused by the novel coronavirus, there has been positive news of individuals and organizations stepping up to support one another. The Southeast Missourian reported recently on a few people who are making masks and donating them to health care providers. Betty Carroll is one. She has transformed her home into a small mask-making operation to assist Saint Francis Medical Center...

LOS ANGELES -- There are cooking shows hosted by celebrities, some of whom may know a fricassee from a frittata, and shows that feature arrogant chefs and bad cooks. There's an upcoming digital series in which blindfolded chefs get smacked in the face with a dish and compete to identify and make it...

TAMPA, Fla. -- It might be the biggest diversion from the pandemic: binge-watching the luridly fascinating Netflix documentary "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness." Now a Florida sheriff is asking the public for tips regarding one of the lingering mysteries raised in the recently released show: What happened to Carole Baskin's husband?...

WASHINGTON -- The captain of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier facing a growing outbreak of the coronavirus is asking for permission to isolate the bulk of his roughly 5,000 crew members on shore, which would take the warship out of duty in an effort to save lives...

NEW YORK -- Stocks fell Tuesday to close out Wall Street's worst quarter since the most harrowing days of the 2008 financial crisis. The S&P 500 dropped a final 1.6%, bringing its loss for the first three months of the year to 20% as predictions for the looming recession caused by the coronavirus outbreak got even more dire. ...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. consumer confidence tumbled this month to its lowest level in nearly three years as the impact of the coronavirus on the economy began to be felt. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its confidence index dropped to a reading of 120 in March from February's 132.6. ...

NEW YORK -- The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus climbed past 3,600 Tuesday, eclipsing China's official count, as hard-hit New York City rushed to bring in more medical professionals and ambulances and parked refrigerated morgue trucks on the streets to collect the dead...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Assaults n Assault was reported in the 100 block of East Rodney Drive. n Assault was reported in the 1400 block of North Sprigg Street. n Assault was reported in the 800 block of William Street...

Daughter to Jeremy and Kelli Conner of Jackson, Southeast Hospital, 12:03 p.m. Monday, March 23, 2020. Name, Alaina Marie Starr. Weight, 9 pounds, 4 ounces. Third child, second daughter. Mrs. Conner is the daughter of Loretta Godfrey of Jackson. She is employed by the Jackson School District. Conner is the son of Maxine Conner of Fairdealing, Missouri. He works at Saint Francis Medical Center...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- With flood concerns already high in the Midwest, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is warning that many levees on the Missouri and Kansas rivers that were damaged during devastating floods last spring remain vulnerable to high water...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Missouri jumped by nearly 300 on Tuesday, as calls for a statewide stay-at-home mandate increased. Health officials said 15 people have died and 1,327 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, have been confirmed. That was a 28.7% increase from the 1,031 confirmed cases Monday. St. Charles County said Tuesday an 83-year-old woman has died of the coronavirus...

There have been a few moments in recent weeks when the new reality of the coronavirus epidemic hit me in special ways. One of them was when Amazon put books on the bottom of its priority list. Bookish type that I am, that is what Amazon is for me: books. ...

CHAMBERSBURG, Pennsylvania It is early Sunday morning along one of the few congested stretches of the Lincoln Highway when an empty parking lot below the familiar cheery yellow sign for the local Waffle House catches the eye. The 24-hour diner chain, born in the Atlanta suburbs 65 years ago and now spreading across 25 states with nearly 2,000 locations, is primarily known for its ability to serve as a touchstone in every community it serves. ...

For your holy mysteries and pledge of eternal life, we give thanks to you, O God. Amen.

Parents are sending kids to daycares now that schools are closed. Daycares are no different from schools and nursing homes. Actually, newborn babies and young kids don't have a voice with what symptoms they have with this virus. And kids spread more germs at the day cares!...

Big Al's, a nightclub that offered one of the area's largest dance floors, a 12-foot video screen and occasionally a chance to wear an inflatable sumo wrestler costume, will close its doors when the last customer leaves tonight; the club's owner, Al Bisher, has been asked to vacate the building...

Brent Allen Parker, 56, of St. Louis, formerly of Cape Girardeau, passed away Saturday, March 28, 2020, at Green Park Nursing Home in St. Louis. He was born Sept. 30, 1963, in Cape Girardeau to Billy Ray and Mary Ann Menz Parker. Brent married Cheryl Asher on April 28, 2001. They had been married only seven years when Cheryl passed away May 28, 2008...

For release immediately, with photo April 1, 2020 DARBY ADVISOR OF THE MONTH Kelly Darby of Jackson, a financial advisor with Modern Woodmen Fraternal Finanical, was Advisor of the Month in the Missouri East Region for the month of March. Darby joined Modern Woodmen in November 2010...

Note: This story has been updated to clarify the status of screening by temperature. Community Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau is working to continue to provide services in light of challenges brought by COVID-19, according to a news release sent Tuesday...