Stories from Thursday, April 8, 2021

Various sections of Route J in Madison and Perry counties will be reduced to one lane with a 10-foot width restriction as contractor crews widen the roadway, replace culverts and make shoulder improvements. These sections are from Highway 72 in Madison County to Highway 51 in Perry County. According to a Missouri Department of Transportation news release, the work will take place from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily April 19 through Sept. 30...

Cape Girardeau County Commission 9 a.m. today 1 Barton Square, Jackson Approval of minute n Minutes from April 5 meeting Communications/reports — other elected officials n COVID-19 Update: In an effort to keep Cape Girardeau County residents safe and aware regarding the status of the virus, Emergency Management Agency (EMA) director Mark Winkler will be issuing an update at County Commission meetings. ...

Stoddard County, Missouri, voters made several decisions in Tuesday's election, including Puxico voters rejecting a bond issue for a new elementary school. Twelve percent of voters turned out in the county to vote Tuesday. In Puxico, Proposition S.A.F.E. for the building of a 30,000-square-foot elementary school fell short of passing. There were 252 votes for and 225 votes against, but the measure had to pass by a 4/7 majority and failed to do that...

Notre Dame Regional High School presents "Singin' in the Rain." Watch the production from anywhere with an internet connection. Performances will be 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. For ticket information, visit notredamehighschool.org/musical or call (573) 335-6772...

Springtime in Southeast Missouri can throw some wild weather curves on occasion. As I am writing this recipe column it is quite chilly, but in just a couple of days it will be in the mid-70s and then temperatures will jump around for a few days before turning unseasonably warm. It sure makes it difficult to plan on what to wear to work, and what to cook...

Cecil Beal commemorates her 100th birthday with a sign on her lawn Wednesday in Cape Girardeau. ...

High school students in grades 11 and 12 from throughout the region recenty had the opportunity to submit their artwork to Crisp Museum at Southeast's River Campus. The exhibit, titled "Exhibiting Excellence," showcased art pieces from local high school students and ran through March 28...

Former Notre Dame Regional High School student, Kate Zibluk, is co-curating and co-creating a performance based project called "Out of Caution: The Next Generation," to be streamed online in conjunction with The Brick Theater in New York City. A press release states the project is "an avant-garde microfestival of innovative works and conversations" that is "an inclusive and non-hierarchical platform within which students and learners can exist, express, and create. ...

In the scramble to find new, unusual places to eat, sometimes I forget about the survivors, those restaurants that have stepped into the gladiator arena and somehow beaten Father Time to a draw. One such restaurant that stands victorious through the sheer act of surviving for 53 long years is Pagliai's Pizza & Pasta in Cape Girardeau...

The Public Art Committee of the City of Cape Girardeau will launch the city’s ninth public art outdoor sculpture exhibition Thursday. The show will consist of seven pieces along the Broadway corridor for one year, culminating in early April 2022. By hosting the exhibit on Broadway, the Committee hopes to achieve two primary goals: increase the number of arts-related activities within the region and provide an additional revitalization strategy for Old Town Cape Inc, according to a news release from the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri. ...

A Cape Girardeau man was found guilty of murder Wednesday afternoon in a 2018 shooting incident at a Hardee’s restaurant. Cape Girardeau County Circuit Judge Ben Lewis — who presided over the two-day bench trial — found Anthony Levar Sinks, 43, guilty of the class A felony of first-degree murder and the unclassified felony of armed criminal action. ...

For the second time in 10 months, Cape Girardeau County has witnessed a razor-thin margin of victory in an election contest. Political newcomer Eric Becking won a seat on the county’s Public Health Center (PHC) Board of Trustees on Tuesday, with 1,593 votes to incumbent Emily Collins’ 1,592. ...

COVID-19’s effect on education, and learning how schools and students dealt with the pandemic, brought U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt to Cape Girardeau on Wednesday. Blunt visited Central High School to be a part of a discussion with teachers, administrators and staff, and other local officials about the ongoing pandemic’s impact on the Cape Girardeau School District...

Made famous as a set location for the movie "Gone Girl," The Bar in downtown Cape Girardeau has remained empty for over two years. But next month, the space will transform into a French bistro thanks to the work of Gabriele Ruggieri and his friend chef Giannicola Colucci...

For Nicholas Zuccarini, finding adequate housing is a challenge. When he was younger, he spent time in prison and says he was not well prepared for transitioning out of the prison system, unsure of how to connect with employers and agencies who could help him move his life in the direction he wanted to go. ...

I step into the Sugar Shack, a small, wooden building at the edge of the driveway of Mark and Christal Gihring’s home near Altenburg, Mo. Outside, the temperature is in the forties during early March, and inside, with the wood-burning fire, it is warm. Sap bubbles in the long, rectangular evaporator, brown boiling down to reach 66% sugar, thin. The light coming in from the framed window lets you see the hazy smoke settling in the sugar air. Breathe in. It smells like maple...

Tooth loss is an inevitable part of aging. We can brush, floss, eat correctly, do everything right, and yet still succumb to the loss of a tooth. In some cases, the loss of a tooth can go unnoticed and the person can accommodate just fine. However, teeth can be compared to stones in an archway. If a strategic keystone is removed, the archway can collapse and the entire structure compromised...

I'm proud the Missouri House of Representatives voted unanimously to formally condemn the Dred Scott decision recently. I was watching CNN's COVID War special and found it to be very informative. It is sad to say, but America failed in its handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Future generations of Americans will look back at this time in shame that most of the Americans who died should never had died...

O Father God, our Redeemer, thank you that your promises are forever true. Amen.

When man was evolving in the wilderness of African savanna thousands of years ago, his tribe's survival depended on certain emotions he experienced in his relationship with other tribes: Fear, hatred, rage, jealousy, greed, hostility, etc., which manifested as aggression, conquest, destruction, genocide, robbery and theft...

Oded Brenner is a modern-day Willy Wonka. In the 1990s, he co-created an international chocolate empire, Max Brenner Chocolate, that includes a 7,000-square-foot emporium on Broadway in New York City. Brenner left that venture in 2012, and a few years later began exploring a different side of chocolate. A trip to Jamaica in 2015 ignited a passion for cacao, which is more than just the beans that are turned into chocolate...

UNIONTOWN, Mo. -- Joyce Flora Thomas, 88, of Uniontown passed away Tuesday, April 6, 2021, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 3, 1932, in Hinsdale, Illinois, daughter of Paul Ernest Otto and Flora Hilda Bodneschatz Petschke. She and Robert Thomas were married Aug. 15, 1959, at McGuire Air Force Base in Burlington County, New Jersey. He survives...

Joshua Ryan Taylor, 32, of Marble Hill died on April 2, 2021. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Ford and Sons Funeral Home -- Sprigg Street, Cape Girardeau. Funeral services will be held at noon on Saturday at the funeral home...

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. -- Jackie Sue Stroder Johnson, 82, of Hillsborough passed away Monday, April 5, 2021, at Treyburn Rehabilitation Center. She was born Sept. 1, 1938, in Whitewater to Hilbert and Francis Huffman Stroder. She and Charles "Sonny" Johnson were married July 22, 1978, at Cape Girardeau. He preceded her in death Nov. 2, 1992...

BERTRAND, MO. -- William Ronald Lynn "Ron" Gray, 77, of Bertrand, passed away peacefully surrounded by family, Tuesday, April 6, 2021, at his home. He was born April 29, 1943, in Cape Girardeau, to Hester Jackson Gray and William Edward Lester Gray...

BERTRAND, Mo. -- Dylan Michael Gadberry, 25, of Bertrand passed away from injuries sustained in a car accident on Saturday, April 3, 2021, in Morrisville, Missouri. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Benton, Missouri, as well as from 9 a.m. until service time Tuesday at the funeral home...

Sue Hambleton Belcher, 67, daughter of the late Edward Lee Hambleton and Marian Gregory Hambleton, was born on Feb. 25, 1954, in Owensboro, Kentucky. She entered the presence of her Savior on April 5, 2021, at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, after a courageous fight with cancer...

The Chaffee (Missouri) City Council has voted to approve $29,027 as final payment on a 35-foot-by-35-foot metal addition, which was completed last week, to the municipal fire station at 222 N. Main St. The addition, according to city administrator Lee Horton, has two large overhead doors to accommodate emergency preparedness vehicles. The structure will also house supplies...

Kaci Jo Sparkman, age 30. If you're reading this, then you are aware I have passed away. I had been told it would happen one day but it's not something I wanted to hear. I never liked it when I didn't get my say. I was born June 21, 1990, and presented to my parents, Lisa and Greg Sparkman and older brother, Garrett. He was the first child which made me the second child. Forever number 2...

PR: Thomas Jefferson School (TJ) Named to Newsweek’s 2021 Top 100 American Boarding School List FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 7, 2020 Director of Enrollment and Communications Thomas Jefferson School ewalsh@tjs.org (314) 843-4151 Thomas Jefferson School (TJ) Named to Newsweek’s 2021 Top 100 American Boarding School List...