Region briefs 2/6/04

Federal Reserve Bank official to speak on Feb. 13

Dr. Patricia Pollard, a research officer and economist with the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis, will speak at the sixth annual Economic Outlook Conference on Feb. 13 at Southeast Missouri State University. Dr. Bruce Domazlicky, director of the Center for Economic and Business Research at Southeast, will present his forecast for the national economy for 2004. The conference will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium. Reservations can be made by calling 651-2181 or 651-2013.

Give Kids a Smile Day marked with checkups

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Free dental screenings for children 5 to 12 will be offered Saturday at the Sikeston Armory. A record of the evaluation will be sent to the elementary school in the community where the child resides. Gov. Bob Holden also wants to extend this free screening to children of deployed National Guard and Reserve members. For more information, call (573) 638-9846.

Free gun locks available in Stoddard County

DEXTER, Mo. -- Local police departments and the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department are promoting Project ChildSafe by offering free gun locks to local residents. Funded through a $50 million nationwide grant, about 20 million gun locks and firearms safety instructional materials will be distributed throughout the nation. The locks distributed by the program are cable-style locks, which require many types of firearms to be unloaded before installation.

-- From staff, wire reports