Stories from Saturday, July 2, 2022

Many businesses measure progress by the growth of their client base or the number of assets they manage. Growth can require significant investment from every part of the company, yet with one cyberattack, all of that hard work can fall to the wayside. It is critical to make sure your business is taking steps to be proactive and diligent about cybersecurity to protect the progress you’ve made...

The Cape Girardeau City Council had our first "workshop" work session on June 22. No action was taken, but we discussed issues that have been on the table for awhile or that will need action soon. One pressing topic is the issue of buying into a higher level of retirement benefit in our employee pension program. Doing so would also impact how we spend American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds...

Sipping a cup of coffee, sitting alongside his wife and watching his colony of purple martins was how Donnie LeGrand spent his first morning of retirement this spring. After 36 years working for Procter & Gamble in Cape Girardeau County, LeGrand walked out of the plant on his 59th birthday — May 2...

Health care is a major economic driver for our regional economy. According to city-data.com, health care and social assistance ranks as the top industry in Cape Girardeau County. Saint Francis Health Care and SoutheastHEALTH continue to be two of the top employers. Add in the new Southeast Behavioral Health Hospital, Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center and tertiary services, as well as Doctors' Park, and you can really see the employment impact...

Two people have been charged with murder in connection with the May disappearance of a 20-year-old woman. Lawrence Schanda and Teresa Baumgartner, who lived together in Millersville, have been charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence in a felony investigation for allegedly killing Jessi Wilfong, according to a release from Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office...

This article about the contribution of Cairo, Illinois, to building the Eads bridge demonstrates that what may appear insignificant at one time can have profound effects another time. Cairo is located at the tip of Southern Illinois at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. ...

A Vietnam War veteran, former state lawmaker and current director of one of Missouri's largest state agencies is the 2022 Southeast Missourian Spirit of America Award winner. Wayne Wallingford represented Cape Girardeau and surrounding areas in the legislature, serving in the state Senate from 2013 to 2020 and in the House in 2011-2012 and 2020-2021...

Bruce Loy, organizer of Saturday night's free concert in Jackson, said the event is still planned, despite forecasted inclement weather in the afternoon. The concert is to begin at 7 p.m. at the Jackson Municipal Band Shell and will feature Heart tribute band Heartless...

Now that William Street is clear, be prepared to take a detour on Independence Street; as work proceeds on Cape Girardeau's $25 million project to upgrade the sewer system in older parts of town, motorists can expect more disruptions; possibly as early as today, eastbound traffic will leave Independence at Henderson Avenue and follow Merriwether to Benton to allow construction workers to put in a new storm sewer on Independence; westbound traffic will use a single lane that will remain open...

The following students were named to the Spring 2022 dean's list at Southeast Missouri State University. Advance, Missouri: Dakota Black, Jenny Burrow, Meadow Morse, Addie Nichols, Logan Page. Altenburg, Missouri: Carly Bronenkant, Lindsay Palisch. Anna, Illinois: Raegan Cruse, Savannah Edwards, Crystal McMahan, Brandon Rhymer, Bailey Stearns, Hannah Vaughn...

This week, I got to tour a sweet potato farm. Not a commercial one; one that is on 10 acres of land, with sweet potatoes grown on 1 acre of it, one where a person comes along and picks up the produce after it's been dug by machinery; one at which a real hand touches each little potato...

The most critical choices you will make in your life are not the big ones. Big decisions include college, who to marry, what job to take and where to live. However, the small accumulating actions end up having the most significant impact on the scope and direction of your life...

Back when I was little, so it's been a few days ago, I did some really silly things. Dumb if you want the truth. Back in Nebraska there was this weed that grew about 3.5 feet high and had kind of seeds that developed at the top of the stem. There were a lot of these dark brown seeds. The plant looked a lot like milo, but the seeds were finer almost like beet seed...

Some types of records record only births or provide evidence for approximating birth date. The most valuable of these, oftentimes, is birth certificates. Inexperienced family historians often expect to find these for all their ancestors, but most states only began requiring them in the 20th Century. ...

Monday: Closed for Fourth of July holiday. Tuesday: Smothered steak or smoked sausage, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, hot roll with butter and sugar-free peach crisp or iced cake. Wednesday: Oven-fried chicken and potatoes or ham and scalloped potato casserole, glazed carrots, whole-grain hot roll and chilled plums or apple cinnamon dump dessert...

The following students graduated with honors from Missouri S&T University in May. Cape Girardeau: Benjamin Fassler, master of sicence in engineering management Marble Hill, Missouri: Cade Long, magna cum laude Perryville, Missouri: Blake Hennemann cum laude (2)...

During the Civil War, the soldiers of Fort D in Cape Girardeau were very patriotic. At the national holiday, they would celebrate by firing their rifles and cannon and flying their flags proudly. The celebration continues from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 2 through 4. The old stone blockhouse with its interpretive displays on life during the Civil War will be open for visitors...

Here you see one of North America's small butterflies. Its range extends from parts of Mexico at the south, across most of the United States and deep into Canada. This is a pearl crescent butterfly. It has a wingspan of about 1 3/4 inch. The dark reddish brown, varying orange and parchment white patterns are similar yet different from one pearl crescent to another. The dots on the rear wings circled by orange and the brushed parchment fringes at the edges of the wings are constants...

There's something terrifying about a government so powerful that it can shut down your business overnight without even bothering to offer substantive arguments. Yet that's what Food and Drug Administration bureaucrats just did to the e-cigarette company Juul. While Juul got a stay of execution from a court, the company is one of the many victims of the FDA's counterproductive war on nicotine. Most of the other victims will be cigarette smokers...

Father God, thank you for our freedoms, including the freedom to worship you. Amen.

It's been a fabulous week for conservatives, Republicans and millions of ordinary Americans. I cheered all of the Supreme Court's recent blockbusters -- for moral, political and personal reasons. I'm 100% anti-abortion. I believe adults should be free to own and carry guns. I believe there should be more prayer in schools, not less...

The first thing I did when Roe v. Wade was overturned was apologize to my daughters. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision will affect them more than me. I'm 47, happily married and have my tubes tied. My daughters are 21 and 26. This decision changes their life. The rights they understood in their formative years have been deemed a "states' issue." The fight now becomes a local one...

The Supreme Court decision to limit how the Environmental Protection Agency regulates carbon dioxide emissions from power plants could make an already grave situation worse for those affected most by climate change and air pollution, advocates say. Environmental and climate justice advocates from across the United States are decrying the court's 6-3 ruling, saying it will be felt most by communities of color and poor communities, which are located near power plants at higher percentages than the national average. ...

BOISE, Idaho -- In Arizona, Republicans are fighting among themselves over whether a 121-year-old anti-abortion law from the pre-statehood Wild West days, when Arizona was still a frontier mining territory, should be enforced over a 2022 version. In Idaho, meanwhile, it is not clear whether a pair of laws from the early 1970s making it a felony to "knowingly aid" in an abortion or to publish information about how to induce one will be enforced alongside the state's newer, near-total ban...

POKROVSK, Ukraine -- A Russian airstrike on residential areas killed at least 21 people early Friday near the Ukrainian port of Odesa, authorities reported, a day after the withdrawal of Moscow's forces from an island in the Black Sea had seemed to ease the threat to the city...

Cape Girardeau city council 5 p.m. Tuesday, City Hall Presetations n Recognition of Doug Hays for retirement from the Police Department. n Parks and Recreation Month Proclamation Items for discussion n Appearances by Advisory Board Applicants n Consent Agenda Review...

City of Jackson mayor and Board of Aldermen Regular meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday Action items Power, Light, and Water Committee n Motion approving an increase in expenditure, in the amount of $1,023.00, under Task Order Authorization No. 21-04, to HR Green, of Chesterfield, Missouri, relative to providing additional engineering services under the Separate Storm Sewer System Permit (MS4) Program...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Police Department responded to the following calls. Arrest does not imply guilt. Arrests n A warrant arrest was reported. n A Scott County warrant arrest was reported on Independence Street. n A warrant arrest was reported on Marlin Drive...

Cape Girardeau Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls. June 27 n Medical assists were made at 5:40 a.m. on Village Drive; 9:26 p.m. on William Street. n At 12:05 p.m., lift assist on Jefferson Avenue. n At 1:33 p.m., lift assist on Vista Lane...

Missouri's Total Transportation Commission has set the stage for a political move to "steal" gasoline tax money to fund mass transit projects in the state, a former member of the state's Highways and Transportation Commission charges; the head of the Total Transportation group denied the allegation; former highway commissioner and Cape Girardeau lawyer John Oliver Jr. ...

El 'Elyon Westley Halter, 6 months old, of Jackson died Tuesday, June 28, 2022, at St. Louis Children's Hospital. He was born Dec. 5, 2021, in Cape Girardeau to Raymond and Marilyn Crowell Halter. Survivors include two brothers, Rusty Hardy and August Halter; two sisters, America Halter and Harley Halter; grandfather, Richard Crowell; grandmother, Brenda Wilkins; two uncles, James (Amber) Wilkins and Anthony Wilkins; two aunts, Lacey (Adam) Allred and Angel (Mitch) Bird; great-grandparent, Carol Holt; and many cousins.. ...

Patricia Ann Furey, 88, of Jackson passed away Saturday, June 25, 2022, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 3, 1934, in St. Louis, daughter of Fred F. and Ellen A. Mullen Smith. She and James A. Furey were married Jan. 30, 1954. He passed away Jan. 1, 2015...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Angela C. Fausz, 89, of Perryville peacefully passed away Thursday, June 30, 2022, surrounded by her loving family at her residence. She was born Nov. 21, 1932, in Uniontown, Missouri, to Bernard William and Clara Louise Lappe Hennemann...

Billy Arnold Baldwin Sr., 88, of Charter Oak, Missouri, (rural Catron) died Wednesday, June 29, 2022, at the Arbors at Capetown in Cape Girardeau. Billy was born April 24, 1934, in Charter Oak to Arzie and Bertie Barnett Baldwin. He and Rebecca Sue Stobaugh were married on June 26, 1954, in Hernando, Mississippi. Three children -- Tamara, Billy Jr. and Chris -- were born to their union. They were married for nearly 59 years before Rebecca's death April 28, 2013...

A Stoddard County, Missouri, man, Shawn Yount, was sentenced to 50 years in prison Thursday by Judge Joe Z. Satterfield. Yount was convicted May 5 of five counts of burglary and stealing. “Shawn Yount has been a menace to Stoddard County business owners and residents. ...

Elite Travel, Inc. owner, Carolyn Kempf and two travel advisors, Katherine Businaro and Jamie Shultz, attended the Las Vegas Travel Forum June 20-23rd, 2022. This is a 3-day conference for travel advisors worldwide to network and get up to date education on travel trends. ...