Out of the past: Jan. 24

1998

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh will be inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters' Broadcasting Hall of Fame in April; the Cape Girardeau native will be honored at a luncheon April 7 in Las Vegas as part of the association's 1998 convention.

Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield, MedAmerica HealthNet and individual providers have reached a tentative agreement to continue cooperating on providing medical care for HealthNet Blue clients; Randy Ressel, Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield's vice president of sales, issued a letter to brokers Friday announcing the agreement; Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield has scheduled a formal announcement of the agreement for Monday, Ressel said.

1973

With mixed emotions, Southeast Missouri servicemen and families most involved with the Vietnam War listened last night to President Nixon announce the end to the long conflict; a Cape Girardeau mother, whose son has been a prisoner of war for more than five years, holds a wait-and-see attitude; "I sort of have mixed emotions. I am very glad the president made the announcement on the end of the war. But I really won't be too overjoyed until I can see Earl, feel him, know he is back in this country," says Virginia Lewis; her son, Lt. Earl G. Lewis Jr., a Navy pilot, was captured after his plane was downed over Hanoi on Oct. 24, 1967.

Mary Kasten, president of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education, has filed for reelection to the board; Kasten, the wife of Dr. Melvin Kasten, filed for her fifth three-year term, having served on the board since 1961.

1948

Resorting to double-tripping to beat the ice floes that have slowed it to a snail's pace, the steam-driven Kokoda is engaged in a sort of shuttle race along the Mississippi River in the vicinity of Cape Girardeau as it seeks to hold its race advantage over the diesel-powered Helena, which is also having troubles; Capt. James Seaman orders two of Kokoda's barges tied to the shore 10 miles north of Cairo, Illinois; he then moves upstream with the remaining barges to Moccasin Springs; there he ties up the barges in a wide stretch of the river; Kokoda then speeds downstream to pick up the other two barges; it is expected to pass Cape Girardeau again around 4 p.m., depending upon the ice floes.

Warmer weather may be in the offing, but there is only a slight indication of it in Cape Girardeau, where the mercury dropped overnight to 5 degrees; the forecast is for slightly warmer weather tonight and Sunday, but there is also a prediction of more snow.

1923

Work on the Cape LaCroix Creek bridge, which had been out since early Sunday morning, was completed early yesterday, and the bridge is again open for train service; more than 100 men worked on the bridge Monday; two pile drivers, one on each side of the cut, worked constantly, while men labored through driving rain into the night to replace the timbers washed away.

The Public Service Commission holds a hearing in the morning to investigate the Cape Girardeau Northern Railway, examining two witnesses and the respondent in the case, Giboney Houck; Lee Bagby of the Cape Girardeau Portland Cement Co., declares his company would be inconvenienced by a discontinuation of the C.G.N.; likewise, H.H. Piatt, local retail coal dealer, speaks favorably about the road, saying he, like Portland Cement, has suffered only from the car shortage.

-- Sharon K. Sanders