Stories from Monday, May 15, 2023

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — A verbal dispute escalated into a non-lethal shooting Saturday night, May 13. Lt. Josh Stewart with the Poplar Bluff Police Department said the shooting occurred around 10 p.m. It began as an argument between two brothers in the parking lot of Walmart Supercenter, 333 S. Westwood Blvd. The dispute escalated until one brother — identified as Rodger Rice, 39, of Poplar Bluff -- allegedly shot the other in the leg and fled the scene...

Two Cape Girardeau men died and two others sustained injuries in a one-vehicle crash early Sunday morning, May 14. According to a state Highway Patrol report, Benjamin Asher, 20, and Nicholas Cauble, 20, died when the 2012 Jeep Wrangler that Cauble was driving westbound on Cypress Road near its intersection with County Road 621 about a mile north of Cape Girardeau failed to stop at a stop sign and ran off the right side of the roadway before overturning in a creek bed....

Shelby and Charlie Evans spend time together for Mother's Day with their 4-year-old daughter, Margaret, on Sunday, May 14, at Speck Pizza in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Marie Nowell celebrates her 95th birthday with friends and family Saturday, May 13, at the City Centre in Cape Girardeau.

Pre-owned car prices went up 4.4% in April, the first increase seen in the U.S. used-car market since June, according to government data released last week. Mark Conrad, who launched his own used-car dealership in Cape Girardeau more than a decade ago, said Thursday, May 11, what happens to the cost of new cars filters down to pre-owned ones...

A term that has been bandied about daily in recent weeks but which many people may not understand is the debt ceiling. Just what is the debt ceiling and why is it such a focus of concern inside the Beltway of Washington, D.C.? ...

Ronnie Senciboy Sr. of Chaffee, Missouri, was a big reader growing up, some of his favorite books being murder mysteries. Now, many years later, he's the author of two murder mysteries, and still has ideas for more. Going by the pen name Bob R. Creel, he has released "Made to Order" in February 2021 and "The Night Owl" in November...

Freshman state House legislator John Voss of Cape Girardeau said he would focus on understanding the legislature after his swearing-in Jan. 4 to fill the District 147 seat left vacant with the Dec. 29, 2021, resignation of his predecessor, Wayne Wallingford...

A Cape Girardeau man who was caught with a fully automatic Glock pistol was sentenced to 51 months in prison Monday. Kaydence K. Robertson, 21, was found to be in possession of the weapon during a traffic stop for speeding on Oct. 23, 2022, according to a news release from the Eastern District Court of Missouri. ...

Today is Monday, May 15, the 135th day of 2023. There are 230 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On May 15, 1948, hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon...

O Father God, our Lord and Savior, may our words proclaim your righteousness. Amen.

The debt-ceiling standoff has people concerned about what will happen if the U.S. defaults on its debt. I certainly hope both sides will come together to avoid this outcome. But it is still worth reminding everyone how incredibly precarious the status quo is, and why something needs to change...

AOC and her Green New Deal buddies in the Biden government are not just winning their crusade against fossil fuels. They're also wrecking the country — appliance by appliance. Our washing machines, refrigerators and microwaves have already been made less efficient and more expensive because of new federal standards pushed by fanatical environmentalists who think like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez...

A viral video that caused outrage a few years ago had Donald Trump body-slamming the cable network CNN personified as a professional wrestler. This "MAGA" fantasy was all but made a reality at a CNN townhall with the former president in New Hampshire last week...

April was National Volunteer Month, and over the course of the month the United Way of Southeast Missouri hosted three "Get on the Bus" tours where local individuals visited area not-for-profits to learn about their impact and how to get involved. It was an important opportunity for area folks to learn more about these organizations, but, more specifically, how they can volunteer their time for a good cause...

Quinlon Rickie Evans, 66, of Scott City died Friday, April 28, 2023, at his home. A celebration of life will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at Community Center in Carrier Mills, Illinois. Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements...

BERLIN -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that his country is preparing a counteroffensive designed to liberate areas occupied by Russia, not to attack Russian territory. Speaking during a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Zelenskyy said Ukraine's goal is to free the territories within its internationally recognized borders...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Standing in the same parking lot where he was shot in the neck a year ago in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket, Zaire Goodman said he was grateful to see the community come together in remembrance Sunday. His family and others affected by the mass shooting gathered with top state and local officials, first responders and religious leaders to remember the 10 people who were killed and three, including Goodman, who were wounded at Tops Friendly Market, which closed Sunday for the one-year anniversary of the shootings.. ...

WASHINGTON -- Computer engineers and tech-inclined political scientists have warned for years that cheap, powerful artificial intelligence tools would soon allow anyone to create fake images, video and audio that was realistic enough to fool voters and perhaps sway an election...

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa -- Decrying a Republican "culture of losing," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sought Saturday to weaken former President Donald Trump's grip on the GOP as tornado warnings interrupted a collision of leading presidential prospects in battleground Iowa...

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has ruled his country with an increasingly firm grip for 20 years, was locked in a tight election race early Monday, with a make-or-break runoff against his chief challenger possible as the final votes were counted...

Some of the largest U.S. cities challenging their 2020 census numbers aren't getting the results they hoped for from the U.S. Census Bureau -- an effort by Memphis, Tennessee, to increase its official population resulted in three people being subtracted from its count during an initial appeal...

PARIS -- France pledged additional military aid for Ukraine on Sunday, including light tanks, armored vehicles, training for soldiers and other assistance as the Ukrainians gear up for a counteroffensive against Russian forces, following surprise talks in Paris between the Ukrainian and French presidents...

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- A powerful tropical cyclone flooded streets, blew off roofs and severed communications in western Myanmar on Sunday after thousands of people had crammed into monasteries, schools and other sturdy shelters in one of Asia's least developed countries...

TIJUANA, Mexico -- Pandemic-era limits on asylum known as Title 42 have been rarely discussed among many of tens of thousands of migrants massed on Mexico's border with the United States. Their eyes were -- and are -- fixed instead on a new U.S. government mobile app that grants 1,000 people daily an appointment to cross the border and seek asylum while living in the U.S. ...

CHICAGO -- Holed up at home during the pandemic lockdown three years ago, 13-year-old Shreya Nallamothu was scrolling through social media when she noticed a pattern: Children even younger than her were the stars -- dancing, cracking one-liners and being generally adorable...

NEW YORK -- The historic Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan shuttered three years ago, but it will soon be bustling again -- reopening to accommodate an anticipated influx of asylum seekers just as other New York City hotels are being converted to emergency shelters...

WASHINGTON -- One outcome is clear as Washington reaches for a budget deal in the debt ceiling standoff: The ambitious COVID-19 era of government spending to cope with the pandemic and rebuild is giving way to a new focus on tailored investments and stemming deficits...

Gene Huckstep, 69, whose leadership helped mold Cape Girardeau County government into one of the most well run in the state, died Wednesday night, May 13, at his Cape Girardeau home; Cape Girardeau County commissioners yesterday ordered all county flags lowered to half staff in memory of Huckstep, who had served as presiding commissioner from 1979 to 1994; more than just a political leader, he opened an auto body shop in Cape Girardeau in 1948, and in 1965 started the first extrication service in the area; a strong supporter of Saint Francis Hospital, he convinced the hospital to set up a 24-hour, staffed emergency room; in 1987, the center renamed its trauma wing in Huckstep's honor.. ...

Starting a business is not for everyone. Starting a business — I'd say, number one, is having a high pain threshold. ...

City of Cape Girardeau Community Development Department has received three applications for business licenses: n Jenny Scroggins of Delta for Life's Little Luxuries, a home decor business opening Thursday, June 1, at 605 Broadway, Suite 204. n Michael Mabry of Loganville, Georgia, for Landmark Financial Services, 242 S. Silver Spring Road...

Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce will hold Brew & Business at 8 a.m. Tuesday, May 16, at Mana Tea, 411 Broadway. n Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce and the Cape Girardeau chamber and will hold a ribbon-cutting at 4 p.m. Friday, May 19, for HubCo at 1427 Thomas St. in Cape Girardeau...

Jackson-based Penzel Construction, founded 113 years ago by Linus Penzel and in its fourth generation of family-owned leadership, has embarked on what CEO Philip C. Penzel, in remarks Wednesday, May 10, called the largest project in Cape Girardeau County history — the expansion of the county lockup and simultaneous renovation of the historic 1908 courthouse in Jackson...

Rise Community Market, Cairo, Illinois' first grocery store in seven years, will open at 10 a.m. Friday, June 16, at 3010 Sycamore St., according to the co-op's Facebook page. As reported March 27 in the Southeast Missourian, Cairo has not had a grocery store within municipal limits in more than seven years, making the city what U.S. ...

Walgreens has acquired Healthcare Healthwise Pharmacy, 628 Old St. Mary's Road in Perryville, Missouri. Walgreens already has a drugstore in the Perry County seat at 6 S. Perryville Blvd.

Curly's Kitchen is a food truck and catering service operated by 1974 Jackson High School graduate Ron Cook. "I used to own Stooges Restaurant in Jackson, which I started in 2001 and sold in 2017, and bought the truck around the same tine," Cook said...

Missouri Realtors CEO Breanna Vanstrom said in a video released last week with March 2023 statistics — the most recent available — that Southeast Missouri, like the rest of the Show Me State, continues to feel the impact of increased interest rates and low home inventory...

Citing the inflationary spiral, Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Governors accepted a recommendation Friday, May 12, to increase tuition and fees for undergraduate domestic students by 5.3% for the 2023-24 academic year. The rate will advance from $300.50 to $316.50 per credit hour...

Cape Girardeau County Treasurer Roger Hudson, utilizing data received from Missouri Department of Revenue, reported general tax revenue receipts for May of $679,935.25, up 8.4% from the same month in 2022. Year-to-date, general sales revenue stands at $3,753,357.33, the strongest five-month start to a year since at least 2017...

Gas prices in Missouri continue to fall, albeit slowly, according to auto club federation AAA. The average Show Me State price for regular was $3.19 Saturday, down 7 cents from a week ago and down 11 cents from a month ago. In mid-May 2022, gas cost, on average, was $4.02 in Missouri...