This afternoon on seMissourian.com

A strange hostage situation

Sheriff's deputies in Stoddard County were asked to defuse a rather strange hostage situation on Sunday, when a Dexter, Mo., man allegedly held three people hostage at a home.

The Stoddard County sheriff says Toby Lacy, pictured above, held the people hostage saying he wanted to go back to prison, where he had apparently been in the past. But when they coaxed him out of the house, deputies found Lacy armed with nothing but an air pistol.

Click here for more on this story from the Dexter Daily Statesman.

This incident is one of several armed standoffs to take place in the area in about a month. The first also took place in Stoddard County when a man threatened to shoot a deputy then barricaded himself inside his house.

Another happened in Caruthersville on Christmas, when a man there threatened to shoot a police officer before holing up inside a home.

Good news for one trucking company

There's been plenty of bad economic news lately, and the trucking industry is no exception. Just days ago Cape Girardeau-based Elfrink Transportation closed for business.

But at least one local company is bucking the economic trend and expanding during these trying times. Buchheit Trucking, based in Scott City, has expanded its warehouse and logistics operations with a purchase of the former Rowe Furniture manufacturing plant in Morehouse, Mo.

Click here for more on the story.

And in other economic news, the state minimum wage is set to increase on Thursday, causing some headaches for some employers in uncertain economic times. Some Sikeston, Mo., businesses say they're being negatively affected by the upcoming raise. Click here for more on this story from the Standard Democrat newspaper in Sikeston.

Final Christmas Tournament action

The annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament wraps up today with several consolation games and the Scott County Central vs. Notre Dame championship game at 7:30 p.m.

You can get the latest information, including live blogs and scoring updates, at our sister website Semoball.com, which also has photo galleries, videos, game stories and more.

You can also see photo galleries in the seMissourian.com multimedia section and get scores sent to your cell phone using our free text alerts service.

Check Semoball.com tonight or seMissourian.com tomorrow for a full recap of the day's action.

Wednesday on seMissourian.com

Check back at seMissourian.com on Wednesday for our look at the biggest local stories of 2008, a wrap up of the Christmas Tournament's final games and an examination of projects that local governments are seeking federal funds for.