Stories from Tuesday, April 14, 2020

While the church remained closed, one churchgoer sat outside of St. Mary's Cathedral to pray the rosary Monday in Cape Girardeau. ...

Scott County health authorities reported an increase of nine COVID-19 cases Monday. Information on the state Department of Health and Senior Services website stated the county’s total number of positive cases is 24, up from 15 the previous day. One additional COVID-19 case was reported Monday in Cape Girardeau County, bringing the total of positive cases to 30, according to the county’s Public Health Center...

Jackson Donuts has a devoted following, and a quick glance at online reviews points to a few reasons why: friendly staff, quick service, and melt-in-your-mouth glazed doughnuts. The atmosphere doesn’t hurt either. The focus is all on the food: doughnuts’ aroma permeates the space, with a hint of fresh coffee and, more faintly, the breakfast sandwiches are also in evidence. Doughnuts line the display case, from original glazed to cream horns to blueberry cake...

Has COVID-19 increased your desire to help others? If you answered “yes” to that question, you may be interested in Southeast Missouri State University’s free community health worker (CHW) certification course. Tuition and textbook fees have been waived for the course, which is part of a university grant through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

When Londyn Lorenz was 4 years old, her father would tune the television to a familiar game show, if just to keep her occupied so she wouldn’t ask him incessant questions. That game show was “Jeopardy!”, now in its 36th season, and the College Championship tournament is underway...

Children grow up with this moment in mind. They watch their older siblings experiencing it, join with family members preparing for it and even see old pictures of their parents enjoying it. And now that it's their turn, the C-word seems to have ruined it. The senior year, with all of its long-awaited end-of-the-year festivities, has come to a halt for many...

Ron Watts, Mark Anderson and Gary Brothers pastor three of Cape Girardeau's largest churches, representing thousands of members and regular churchgoers. The three have also developed a unique friendship. But this week, the pastors are making a specific request: A day of prayer and fasting on Wednesday...

Katherine Carns knew something was wrong. The 21-year-old college student and former Cape Girardeau resident was flying back to St. Louis from Madrid when she began feeling sick somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. It was March 13, hours before President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 European travel restrictions went into effect...

A suspect has been taken into police custody on charges of one Class A felony count of first-degree assault and one unclassified felony count of armed criminal action in relation to a Saturday night shooting in the 1000 block of South Ellis Street in Cape Girardeau...

Today is Tuesday, April 14, the 105th day of 2020. There are 261 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington...

Choosing the right hearing aid is important. Your hearing aids should fit into your life as naturally as possible and be a help, not a hindrance. Your audiologist can use his or her knowledge and experience to recommend hearing aids based on your hearing, lifestyle, style preferences, and budget...

My office is just a few blocks from St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. So, on a good day, I get to church when it opens at 6:30, attend the 7 a.m. Mass, maybe go to confession if it's time, pray my morning prayers and give Jesus a little time to say whatever He has in mind for me for the day. Because there is a Mass every half-hour through 8, I sometimes happen to be present for three Masses...

WASHINGTON -- Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden's presidential campaign Monday, encouraging his progressive supporters to rally behind the presumptive Democratic nominee in an urgent bid to defeat President Donald Trump. "I am asking all Americans, I'm asking every Democrat, I'm asking every independent, I'm asking a lot of Republicans, to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse," the Vermont senator said in a virtual event with Biden...

Stocks fell Monday on Wall Street, erasing some of the market's big gains from last week, as investors braced for a sobering first look at how the coronavirus pandemic has hurt company earnings. The S&P 500 fell 1% after cutting its early losses by more than half toward the end of the day. The benchmark index surged 12% last week, its best gain since 1974...

MOSCOW -- Spring is not turning out the way Russian President Vladimir Putin might have planned it. A nationwide vote on April 22 was supposed to finalize sweeping constitutional reforms that would allow him to stay in power until 2036, if he wished. But after the coronavirus spread in Russia, that plebiscite had to be postponed -- an action so abrupt that billboards promoting it already had been erected in Moscow and other big cities...

STOCKHOLM -- Crowds swarm Stockholm's waterfront, with some people sipping cocktails in the sun. In much of the world, this sort of gathering would be frowned upon or even banned. Not in Sweden. It doesn't worry Anders Tegnell, the country's chief epidemiologist and top strategist in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic...

LONDON -- His skin pale and his eyes hooded from a week in the hospital with the coronavirus, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson looked into the camera and paid tribute to the two nurses who never left his bedside for 48 hours, a time when his fight to survive "could have gone either way."...

Americans are beginning to see the first economic impact payments hit their bank accounts. The IRS tweeted Saturday that it had begun depositing the funds into taxpayers' bank accounts and would be working to get them out as fast as possible. The one-time payments were approved by Congress as part of an emergency relief package intended to combat the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump asserted Monday he is the ultimate decision-maker for determining how and when to reopen the coronavirus-stricken country, though it is unclear what authority he has to overrule the states. While Trump, who is anxious to put the crisis behind him, has issued federal social distancing recommendations, it has been governors and local leaders who have instituted mandatory restrictions, including shuttering schools and ordering the closure of non-essential businesses.. ...

CHATSWORTH, Ga. -- Storms that killed at least 22 people in the Southeast, piling fresh misery atop a pandemic, spread across the eastern United States on Monday, leaving more than 1 million homes and businesses without power amid floods and mudslides...

THEBES, Ill. -- Donald Walden, 83, of Thebes died at 12:50 a.m. Monday, April 13, 2020, at home, surrounded by his wife and daughters, after a long, courageous battle of Stage 4 lung cancer with brain metastasis. He was born March 12, 1937, at home in Fayville, Illinois, to Cletus and Julia Kelly Walden. He and Emilie P. Cotton were married Nov. 28, 1957. She died April 3, 1989. He and Betty Caldwell Stecher were married Nov. 12, 1993...

Ida Tedeschi Mosley, 91, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of West Frankfort, Illinois, passed away at 9:11 p.m. Thursday, April 9, 2020, at Southeast Hospital. She was born April 29, 1928, in West Frankfort to Joseph and Maria Spagnoli Tedeschi. She was married to Randall M. Mosley, and he preceded her in death June 15, 2019...

GODFREY, Ill. -- Dorothy J. Hagen, 78, of Godfrey, died Monday, April 6, 2020, at Alton Memorial Hospital in Alton, Illinois. A private service for family only will be held today at Ford and Young Funeral Home in Perryville, Missouri...

WENTZVILLE, Mo. -- Billie I. Guard, 87, of Wentzville, formerly of Cape Girardeau, passed away peacefully in her sleep Saturday, April 11, 2020. She was born May 18, 1932, in Charleston, Missouri, to Edward and Pearl Chappell. Billie graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School in 1950 and always delighted in reconnecting with classmates at reunions...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Danny Farmer, 73, of Chaffee passed away Tuesday, April 7, 2020, at his home. He was born Nov. 26, 1946, in Bonne Terre, Missouri, son of Tivis C. and Pauline Hanson Farmer. He and Rose Ann King were united in marriage July 28, 1967...

Brenda Joyce Anderson Craven passed from this world into the next Friday, April 10, 2020, at her home in Jackson. Brenda was born July 22, 1959, in Du Quoin, Illinois, to George John Jr. and Ida Ruth Davison Anderson. She graduated from Du Quoin High School in 1977 and from Southern Illinois University in 1981. She married William "Bill" Craven on July 25, 1981, in Du Quoin...

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. -- Doris M. Pind Buckley, 92, formerly of Cape Girardeau, passed away Tuesday, April 7, 2020, at her home in Fairview Heights. She was born Jan. 25, 1928, to the late Don and Mamie Stephens Pind, the only girl of four children...

MARQUAND, Mo. -- Cody Robert Brown passed away Saturday, April 11 2020, at his home in Marquand, with his family. He was born Oct. 28, 1940, in Cape Girardeau to Coda Raymond and June Lane Brown. On Feb. 13, 1960, Cody was married to Geneva Sullinger. They celebrated 60 years of marriage...

ORAN, Mo. -- Mary Barron was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Feb. 20, 1946, to the late John and Margery Kremenak Secl. She passed away peacefully Wednesday, April 8, 2020, at her home in Oran at the age of 74, with her patient and loving husband of 44 years, Joseph Barron, and her daughter, Anna Barron, by her side...

O'FALLON, Mo. -- The coronavirus is killing black Missourians at a disproportionate rate, especially in the two urban areas of the state, prompting some African American leaders to question whether outreach is falling short. Of the 19 people in St. Louis who died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, 16 were black, one white and one Hispanic. The race of one person was unknown. St. Louis is nearly evenly split between black and white residents...

Highway 51 in Bollinger County will be closed as Missouri Department of Transportation crews replace a pipe under the roadway, according to a MoDOT news release. This section of road is from County Road 614 east a half mile. The work will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today...

O Lord, may we seek wisdom and use good judgment in the decisions we make. Amen.

Less than 24 hours after Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones realized he would play a part in Cape Girardeau's unfolding school board controversy, six people had called to tell him they want to be school board members; under a rarely, if ever, used state law, the County Commission will appoint three members of the board, after three resignations from that bond...