Stories from Saturday, August 20, 2022

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A reward is now being offered for a Sikeston woman who has been missing since 2021. According to Sikeston Department of Public Safety, Shyann Morrison went missing in February 2021 and friends, family and law enforcement are still searching for her, asking for information as to where she may be and what might have happened to her...

Over the upcoming Labor Day weekend, state officials will allow large equipment to pass over the Chester Bridge -- once --during the 72-hour period from Sept. 3 through Sept. 5. Missouri Department of Transportation officials in the Southeast District office in Sikeston, Missouri, announced the action Thursday...

Willy Wonka welcomed back the staff of Cape Girardeau's school system back for the new year. Wonka -- enthusiastically played by superintendent Neil Glass -- invited the staff to come with him on a journey of imagination to rediscover the magic of education...

Hospitality, an industry plagued by COVID-19, was able to survive and now rise to unprecedented heights in Cape Girardeau. Data collected for the 2022 fiscal year -- which ended in June -- had hotel-motel tax receipts in the city up nearly 28% from the previous year. The figure far eclipses the 3.27% increase for the previous year and is the highest mark in the past five years by nearly $200,000...

David and Glenda Gohn of Jackson celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary Aug. 6 with a party, dinner and dance at Eagles Club in Cape Girardeau with more than 100 guests in attendance. It was hosted by their daughter Robyn Gohn Farrar and her boyfriend, Roger Popp...

The Town and Country FCE Club met Aug. 11 in the home of Linda Thompson. The meeting opened by saying the pledges to the United States, Missouri Flag and the National FCE Creed. The devotion was given by Linda Thompson from a book by Max Lacado, "The Fruit of the Spirit" taken from Galatians 5: 22-26. Donna Woolsey provided a game with Lois Seabaugh the winner. Two songs were sung by the group. Pennies were collected for Rural Women in Action Fund...

Monday: Taco salad or turkey-back wrap, beans and corn, tortilla chips, whole-grain crackers and chilled tropical fruit or mixed berry crisp. Tuesday; Hamburger goulash or poppy seed chicken with rice, spinach salad, buttered corn, whole-grain garlic bread and peaches or ambrosia dessert...

Megan Smith of Jackson was named to the Spring 2022 dean's list at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis. To be eligible, students must earn at least a 3.5 grade point average for the semester. The following students graduated with academic distinction from Missouri State University in spring 2022...

SoutheastHEALTH Foundation has announced recipients of health care scholarships made possible by the foundation and the generosity of individual and family donors. Twenty-seven students received $32,500 in scholarship awards at an event held recently at Jackson Civic Center...

Probably a month ago or so I was looking at posts on Facebook and came across a couple posts concerning Laura Lee, who was a missionary we knew out in Arizona. Laura had never married, so her family was a dog and two cats. She just loved her babies. ...

Cape County Church of Christ in Cape Girardeau will hold special services with Ron Daly from Indianapolis, Indiana. "One generation away from Apostacy will be given at 9:15 a.m. Aug. 21 and "God used water will be given at 10 a.m. Aug. 21; "the magnitude of Jesus' death" will be given at 7 p.m. ...

"I am most terribly afraid." --Actor Gary Oldman, as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in "Darkest Hour" (2011). "I've been in Vietnam and I was scared. I've been in Iraq twice and was scared on both deployments. But I am not afraid at Chautauqua."...

As the nights seem cooler and the locusts sing louder, my body jumps with excitement. I can already feel the upcoming newness of fall, lurking in the air. Autumn's impatiently awaiting the time to make its grand entrance. I quiver with joy at the anticipation of what the season brings...

How does a cult leader get people to follow him or her? In an episode of the Netflix series, "The UnXplained," William Shatner introduces us to a man who had recently graduated law school. He was having a hard time getting started in his career, so he sought motivational training from a highly recommended instructor. ...

Emma E. Wilson of Columbia, Missouri, rides her horse in a victory lap Aug. 6, after winning first place in horsemanship at the Missouri State Horse Show in Sedalia. Competing in the 9 to 10 age division in the state championship, Wilson received fourth place in the equitation category. Held in the Mathewson Exhibition Arena on the state fairgrounds, preliminary competition began Aug. 5, with the state championship concluding the next day. Wilson earned two blue ribbons in horsemanship and equitation during these trials. Entering her sixth year at LionHeart Riding Academy in Columbia, under the training of Kate Johnson, she won first place at the Mid-America Charity Horse Show at the coliseum in Sedalia on June 25, which judged academy horsemanship, saddle seat, walk, trot and showcase class. She is the daughter of Brian and Laura Rolwing Wilson of Columbia and the granddaughter of Hunter and Dixie Rolwing of Charleston, Missouri, and John and Kathy Wilson of Branson, Missouri.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- El Shafee Elsheikh, who was formally sentenced to life in prison Friday for a leading role in the beheading deaths of American hostages, had a somewhat whimsical nickname as a so-called "Beatle" that belied the viciousness of his conduct...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. for the first time Friday said it will give Ukraine Scan Eagle surveillance drones, mine-resistant vehicles, anti-armor rounds and howitzer weapons to help Ukrainian forces regain territory and mount a counteroffensive against Russian invaders...

CHONGQING, China -- Ships crept down the middle of the Yangtze on Friday after China's driest summer in six decades left one of the mightiest rivers barely half its normal width and set off a scramble to contain the damage to a weak economy in a politically sensitive year...

ATLANTA -- Sen. Lindsey Graham can't put off his appearance before a special grand jury investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia, a federal judge said Friday. Earlier this week, U.S. ...

The Justice Department under Attorney General William Barr improperly withheld portions of an internal memo Barr cited in announcing that then-President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice in the Russia investigation, a federal appeals panel said Friday...

WASHINGTON -- Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has warned airlines that his department could draft new rules around passenger rights if the carriers don't give more help to travelers trapped by flight cancellations and delays. Buttigieg is asking airline CEOs to, at a minimum, provide lodging for passengers stranded overnight at an airport and give out meal vouchers for delays of three hours or longer when the disruption is caused by something in the airline's control...

SALT LAKE CITY -- Hydroelectric turbines may stop turning. Las Vegas and Phoenix may be forced to restrict water usage or growth. Farmers might cease growing some crops, leaving fields of lettuce and melons to turn to dust. Those are a few of the dire consequences that could result if states, cities and farms across the American West cannot agree on how to cut the amount of water they draw from the Colorado River...

ZOLOCHIV, Ukraine -- Dr. Ilona Butova almost looks out of place in her neatly pressed lavender scrubs as she walks through a door frame that hangs from a crumbled wall into what used to be an administrative office of her hospital in Zolochiv. Not one building in the facility in the northeastern Ukrainian town near the Russian border has escaped getting hit by artillery shells...

Highway 34 in Cape County reduced for bridge work Highway 34 in Cape Girardeau County, from Route UU to County Road 360, will be reduced as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform bridge maintenance. According to a MoDOT news release, the work will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m Monday and Tuesday...

Albert Pujols is giving Cardinals fans a lot of cheer about. Not only is the team playing well, but No. 5 is chasing history in the home run books. Here's hoping he reaches 700. Once again, mainstream media is totally missing the point as to why Liz Cheney lost in what CNN says is "maybe the 2nd-worst loss [ever] for a House incumbent." Yes, her vote to impeach Trump hurt her; yes, the way she chose to campaign this time around may have hurt her. ...

Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us peace even in the most troubling times. Amen.

Another week, another reminder that heavy-handed government industrial policy is in fashion. Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Spence recently endorsed it as embodied in the newly passed "CHIPS+" legislation, an attempt to bolster America's semiconductor industry. The endorsement, like so many, rests not on evidence or economics, but on blind faith in Congress and the administration...

A central pillar of the just-passed Inflation Reduction Act is $80 billion going to the IRS to hire some 87,000 new agents, doubling the current force, to chase down U.S. taxpayers who allegedly are not meeting their tax obligations. The rationale is we have a large national budget deficit -- that is, government is bringing in less money than it spends -- so a larger army of IRS agents chasing down tax deadbeats will help solve our nation's fiscal problems...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Known as the church with the red doors, the Charleston First Christian Church has a storied history, dating back to the 1800s. Located at 324 E. Cypress at the corner of Cypress and Virginia, the church has a unique feature with red doors leading into the sanctuary. According to pastor Joe Mooney, the red doors are a representation or symbol of the blood of Christ...

This is one of North America's easiest mushrooms to find. If you frequent the Missouri woods during summer, you have probably seen one of these big red mushrooms. It is an amanita. There are several kinds of amanita in the world. The most common one in Missouri is called fly amanita as well as fly agaric. It will most likely make you very sick if you eat one. My advice is do not eat it!...

Women's auxiliaries associated with civic organizations are often the glue that keep missions central and provide the creative energy to get things done. This photo, circa 1981, confirms the formidable combined strength of women and men working together for a common good. Members of Harmony Lodge No. 40 Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons and the Princess Oziel No. 101, Order of the Eastern Star, look out upon us from 40 years ago...

Savannah Darby, incoming senior at Saxony Lutheran School is sponsored by Rotary Club of Southeast Missouri Service and attended the 2022 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Academy this summer held at University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg MO. ...

Cape Girardeau's school superintendent, Dr. Dan Tallent, stood firm against a barrage of questions yesterday from members of a joint legislative committee charged with developing education funding legislation; Tallent was the first witness to testify during a public hearing before the 18-member Joint Interim Committee on Desegregation and School Finance Issues; more than 60 school administrators and others attended the hearing, which took place at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School; it was the first of five public hearings scheduled throughout the state to consider how Missouri can move beyond court-ordered desegregation of public schools in St. ...

"It wouldn't do to argue or disagree cause we can't tell what each of us has to say," said Joe Janes. "We're both deaf," he added laughing. "You don't argue that way," responded Cora Janes, with a smile. Joe and Cora Janes are long-time residents of Qulin, Missouri. After the loss of both of their spouses in the late 90s, the couple connected at the Qulin Community Center, and soon after Cora became the caregiver for Joe...

Southeast Missouri State University students begin moving into campus housing in preparation for the start of fall classes; some 1,800 students are expected to fill the residence halls for the fall semester, which begins Monday; the university has space for about 2,000 students...