Region/state digest 05/03/06

Student comes close to drowning at mill

A 19-year-old nearly drowned Tuesday afternoon when she leapt into a river near the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site. Millersville Fire and Rescue responded to the Burfordville mill around 4:30 p.m., according to fire chief Jerry Aufdenberg. The woman, a Southeast Missouri State University student from the St. Louis area, was among a group of several Southeast students who were swimming in the Whitewater River near the mill. According to witnesses, the woman leapt from a wall into the water by a spillway, Aufdenberg said. The force of water coming down from the spillway forced her underwater and tossed her about a few minutes until she was pushed downstream, he said. The woman's schoolmates pulled her out and performed stomach compressions to force water out. The student was given oxygen and taken to Saint Francis Medical Center for observation, he said. She did not suffer any life-threatening injuries.

Medicaid coverage for children could get easier

ST. LOUIS -- Thousands of children could have their health insurance restored under a relaxed standard Gov. Matt Blunt's administration is making. The children have been dropped from the state Medicaid program because of a little-known law that denies coverage if their parents' employers are deemed to offer "affordable" insurance. Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said the state will file an administrative rule changing the standard so private insurance is deemed affordable if it costs about 8 percent of a family's income. Robinson said the change could restore Medicaid eligibility for an estimated 5,400 children -- roughly half the number who are losing state coverage under the affordability policy. The new rule will take effect July 1 and cost $1.8 million.

Boat loses power, drifts under Emerson Bridge

A pleasure boat lost power Tuesday morning on the Mississippi River and was towed back to shore. The Cape Girardeau Fire Department received the call of the 16-foot boat drifting down the river around 11:24 a.m., according battalion chief Steve Niswonger. Two people were in the boat, which drifted south underneath the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge when emergency crews arrived. A fire department boat towed the adrift vessel down the Diversion Channel to a boat dock, Niswonger said.

-- From staff, wire reports