Stories from Tuesday, June 6, 2023

A staffing vacancy has led to the Missouri National Guard reducing operating hours at the Cape Girardeau Military ID Office. According to the Guard's Public Affairs Office, the office is seeking applicants in the DEERS/RAPIDS -- Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System/Real-Time Automated Personnel Identification Systems -- operator position. The office stated the Cape Girardeau location "will operate in a reduced, part time capacity" while it goes through the hiring process...

Organizers of the Missouri State Fair warned Monday, June 5, about ticket scams for the annual 11-day event, which runs Thursday, Aug. 10, through Sunday, Aug. 20, in Sedalia, Missouri. "We have been receiving some emails, phone calls and Facebook messages from our Fair Fans stating that unofficial online ticket brokers are listing State Fair Grandstand concert tickets for sale Please be aware that tickets to State Fair concerts, events, carnival and admission are not on sale yet. ...

University of Missouri Extension is encouraging the state's farmers to be "citizen scientists" through checking rain gauges daily and reporting precipitation to help farmers across the nation. Tony Lupo, University of Missouri professor of atmospheric science, said in a news release farmers can report precipitation totals to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network (CoCoRaHS). ...

The Lakewood Medical Center's Elks Mobile Dental Unit will arrive in Cape Girardeau on Monday, June 12. The unit is in its 61st year of serving patients in Missouri. The mobile vehicle provides dental services such as X-rays, fillings, extractions and cleanings...

Construction has begun on buildings in the Chaffee (Missouri) School District, with work expected to be completed before classes start in the fall. Superintendent Shawn Nix said the elementary and high school are undergoing renovations to become more secure...

SoutheastHEALTH reports Cape Girardeau's Southeast Hospital is the first facility in Missouri certified as a pediatric emergency prepared facility by Missouri Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC). According to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Missouri is the 23rd U.S. state to have such recognition...

Upon retirement, Rosalie Knehans didn’t want to sit idly at home. She says she wanted to continue with purpose in life, and because of that desire, she became a court-appointed special advocate (CASA), a volunteer who is assigned to a case in the foster care system to advocate for the child...

Former Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay B. Knudtson was named by Cape Girardeau county commissioners Monday, June 5, to the technical planning committee of Southeast Missouri Planning Organization. "During my eight years as mayor, I learned quickly how important transportation and road planning is," said Knudtson, who served as mayor from 2002 to 2010 and is First Missouri State Bank executive vice president. ...

Money matters dominated Cape Girardeau City Council's meeting Monday, June 5. Council members read for the first time an ordinance to approve the coming fiscal year budget, which would take effect Saturday, July 1. Municipal finance director Lisa Mills said the budget includes a pay raise of 3% for all city workers and changes to some fees. ...

Wayne Wallingford, center, accepts a $1,000 charitable donation from Jon K. Rust, right, Southeast Missourian publisher and president of Rust Communications, and Lucas Presson, Southeast Missourian assistant publisher. ...

Today is Tuesday, June 6, the 157th day of 2023. There are 208 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 6, 1944, during World War II, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, on "D-Day" as they began the liberation of German-occupied Western Europe...

According to a survey conducted by VerstaResearch in 2020, 96% of Americans surveyed feel it is important for families to talk about their long-term care preferences. However, 93% of financial professionals surveyed agreed people wait too long before discussing plans and options...

O Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us and carrying our burdens. Amen.

The St. Louis Cardinals have lost their way -- "The Cardinal Way". Since Tony La Russa retired they have slowly lost their way. This year the pitching isn't good. No no. 1 starter. No closer that is dominant. They don't have enough line drive hitters. ...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced he's in. He's running for president. I caught DeSantis' remarks in Orlando at the annual meeting of the National Religious Broadcasters the day before he formally announced. It was immediately clear that this is no ordinary politician...

The Democratic Party, long known as the party for working people, is now for freeloaders. Democrats want taxpayers to support people who refuse to get off the couch and get a job. That's the major reason Democrats and Republicans in Washington were locked in a stalemate for weeks over hiking the debt ceiling. The biggest sticking point was whether people should be allowed to collect government assistance indefinitely to finance their nonworking lifestyle...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls. June 4 n Medical assists were made at 1:06 p.m. on Cape Meadows Circle; 2:54 p.m. on William Street; 3:35 p.m. on William Street; 5:44 p.m. on William Street; and 10:59 p.m. on Whitener Street...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Police Department responded to the following calls. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n A warrant arrest was reported on North Main Street. n A warrant arrest was reported. n A warrant arrest was reported. n A warrant arrest was reported on South Frederick Street...

Amonell Welter, daughter of the late August and Pauline Elizabeth Schwach Martin, was born May 2, 1925, in Blomeyer, Missouri, and departed this life, surrounded by her daughters, Saturday, June 3, 2023, at her home in Jackson at the age of 98 years...

Patricia Illers Vincent, 84, passed away Friday, June 2, 2023. The daughter of Edith Amos and Wesley August Frederick Illers and younger sister of the late Laverne Illers Stein, she was born Nov. 15, 1938, in Cape Girardeau, and was the beloved wife of the late Jack Donald Vincent of Mayfield, Kentucky, for 58 years. ...

Margaret Ruth Joyce, 81, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, June 2, 2023, at Southeast Hospital. She was born Aug. 22, 1941, in St. Mary, Missouri, to Ed Zelbert and Lena Mabel Worley. She and Bill Joyce were married in 1985 at Trinity Baptist Church in St. Mary...

Tex Burton Hebrock, 76, died Monday, May 8, 2023, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. A graveside memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Friday, June 9, at Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City was in charge of arrangements...

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Monday declined clemency for a man who faces execution Tuesday evening for killing two jailers in an ill-fated effort to free someone else from a county jail. Michael Tisius, 42, would be the third person in Missouri, and the 12th person nationally, to be executed in 2023. He's accused of killing officers Leon Egley and Jason Acton in June 2000...

NEW YORK -- Rep. George Santos' lawyer said Monday the indicted New York Republican would risk going to jail to protect the identities of the people who cosigned the $500,000 bond enabling his pretrial release. The lawyer, Joseph Murray, urged a judge to deny a request by news outlets to unseal the names of Santos' bond suretors, or guarantors, suggesting they could "suffer great distress," including possible job losses and physical harm, if they're identified publicly...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The state of Florida picked up asylum-seekers on the Texas border Monday and took them by private jet to California's capital city at taxpayer expense for the second time in four days, California officials said, prompting allegations that migrants were misled and catching shelters and aid workers by surprise...

NEW YORK -- DNA is all around us -- even in the air we breathe. Now scientists have found that air quality monitoring stations -- which pull in air to test for pollution -- also pick up lots of DNA that can reveal what plants and animals have been in the area...

BHUBANESWAR, India -- Families of the victims of India's deadliest train crash in decades filled a hospital in Bhubaneswar city on Monday to try to identify the bodies of relatives, as railway officials recommended a criminal probe of the crash that killed 275 people...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Florida judge who oversaw the penalty trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz should be publicly reprimanded for showing bias toward the prosecution, failing to curtail "vitriolic statements" directed at Cruz's attorneys by the victims' families and sometimes allowing "her emotions to overcome her judgement," a state commission concluded Monday...

BRASILIA, Brazil -- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva unveiled a plan on Monday to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon, a major campaign pledge that is a critical step in addressing the country's significant carbon emissions from the region...

OMAHA, Neb. -- Norfolk Southern became the first major North American freight railroad with deals to provide paid sick time to all of its workers Monday, but the other railroads are making progress, with nearly 65% of all rail workers securing this basic benefit since the start of the year...

LOS ANGELES -- Two insurance industry giants have pulled back from California's home insurance marketplace, saying that increasing wildfire risk and soaring construction costs have prompted them to stop writing new policies in the nation's most populous state...

BANGKOK -- The United States military released video Monday of what it called an "unsafe" Chinese maneuver in the Taiwan Strait on the weekend, in which a Chinese navy ship cut sharply across the path of an American destroyer, forcing the U.S. vessel to slow to avoid a collision...

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- The bodies of three Iowa men have been removed from the site of a collapsed six-story apartment building about a week after part of the century-old structure tumbled to the ground, the city of Davenport's police chief announced Monday...

Many big companies, including Target and Bud Light's parent, are still backing Pride events in June despite the minefield that the monthlong celebration has become for some of them. Target and Bud Light recently came under fire for their efforts to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community, only to come under more fire when they tried to backpedal...

LINCOLN, Ill. -- Dressed in her Sunday best -- pink ruffled sleeves and a rainbow tulle tutu -- Crystal Martinez's 4-year-old daughter proudly presents her with a multicolored bouquet of carefully crafted tissue paper flowers. With her 5-year-old son nestled on her lap, laughing in delight, Martinez holds out her arms and pulls the girl into a hug so tight that her glasses are knocked askew...

NEW YORK -- Journalists at two dozen local newspapers across the U.S. walked off the job Monday to demand an end to painful cost-cutting measures and a change of leadership at Gannett, the country's biggest newspaper chain. The strike involves hundreds of journalists at newspapers in eight states, including the Arizona Republic, the Austin American-Statesman, the Bergen Record, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, and the Palm Beach Post, according to the NewsGuild, which represents workers at more than 50 Gannett newsrooms. ...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- A controversial bill -- that at one point had been presumed dead -- banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths in Louisiana was passed by the Senate on Monday and is likely to reach the governor's desk in the coming days...

WASHINGTON -- The pilot of a business jet that flew over Washington and crashed in a remote part of Virginia appeared to be slumped over and unresponsive, three U.S. officials said Monday, recounting observations by fighter pilots who intercepted the wayward flight...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian forces were making a major effort to end a battlefield stalemate and punch through Russian defensive lines in southeast Ukraine for a second day Monday, in what may herald the start of a long-anticipated counteroffensive after 15 months of war...

ON UTAH BEACH, France -- World War II veterans shared vivid memories of D-Day and the fighting as dozens returned to Normandy beaches and key battle sites to mark the 79th anniversary of the decisive assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control...

Classes that aren't required for graduation could be the first to be eliminated from the Cape Girardeau School District's curriculum next year; budget reductions enacted by the Board of Education on Monday will mean increased class sizes of up to 30 students for the 1998-99 school year; the larger classes are the result of positions vacated by retiring or resigning teachers that will remain unfilled as part of efforts to reduce the school budget beginning July 1 by some $1 million...

Lisa Payne, 56, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, May 29, 2023, at her home. She was born Aug. 5, 1966, in Cape Girardeau to Norman Farrar and Betty Jean Payne Davis. She was married to Jonathan Johnson. He preceded her in death. Lisa was a graduate of Cape Girardeau Central High School...