Stories from Thursday, November 19, 2015

Savannah Ashley, 19, has wanted to be a pilot since she was in grade school. "I had to travel a lot to see my dad because he was living in another state. One time, I sat by a pilot for Delta Air Lines [at the airport]. He was on his way back from a trip. ...

The future of Cape Central football has arrived, and it comes in the form of sophomore Aaron Harris.

The Cape Jaycees' 41st annual Toybox program is underway, as Christmas toys that will be delivered to local families in need will be collected through Dec. 18. Tracy Haggerty, the program's coordinator, said Toybox collects monetary and gift donations, fills the wish list of each child, and Santa Claus personally delivers to every household...

Karl Kunkel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, has been named provost at Southeast Missouri State University, officials announced Wednesday. Through a nationwide search, 110 candidates were reviewed, and Kunkel was one of five finalists who visited Southeast for campus interviews in late October...

Missouri Department of Conservation resource scientists found an unexpected guest recently when they pulled a net during fish sampling in the Mississippi River. Southeast Missouri State University graduate student Nick Kramer, working with colleagues Wes Sleeper and Mark Hempel, pulled the net containing a male blue crab, according to a news release from the Missouri Department of Conservation...

The last few years have been busy ones for Cape Girardeau County. From snow storms and tornadoes to making plans for a new courthouse, county commissioners have been juggling quite a few projects. Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper said he just wants to see the projects through. That's why he's decided to run for re-election in April...

This is an albino doe that lives in Cape City.

This is our little girl "Sally"

Southeast Missouri Food Bank Received $1,200.00 from US Bancorp Foundation Giving Program. The grant funds will be used to support hunger relief programs in the Southeast Missouri area. Pictured: Ryan Wiley, Asst. VP/ Project Analyst of US Bank, Jennifer Wood, Chief Development Officer of Southeast Missouri Food Bank and Cindy Friend VP, Treasury Management and Payments Consultant of US Bank...

US Bancorp's Foundation Giving Program awarded St Francis Medical Center Foundation $1,000.00. This grant will support the foundation's operations in supporting families who have an infant in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Pictured: Ryan Wiley, Asst. VP / Project Analyst of US Bank, Christy Legrand, Grants Administrator of St. Francis Medical Center Foundation and Cassandra Dameron, Branch Mgr. of US Bank...

US Bancorp's Foundation Giving Program granted a check to the United Way of Southeast Missouri in the amount of $3,000.00. The grant will help support the operations of United Way in promoting financial stability and independence, in addition to meeting the basic and emergency needs of Southeast Missouri. Pictured: Ryan Wiley, Asst. VP / Project Analyst of US Bank, Alyssa Estes of United Way of Southeast Missouri and Jim Ham, VP -- Commercial Relationship Mgr. of US Bank...

Today is Thursday, Nov. 19, the 323rd day of 2015. There are 42 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Nov. 19, 1915, labor activist Joe Hill was executed by firing squad in Utah for the murders of Salt Lake City grocer John Morrison and his son, Arling...

Don McNeely, the longtime weatherman for KFVS-TV, died recently at the age of 88. A Cape Girardeau Central High School and Southeast Missouri State University alum, McNeely gave the latest weather information to the TV station's viewership. He retired in 1993 after 50 years as a broadcaster...

BOSTON -- The deadly attacks in France left schools and parents around the world grappling with what to say to children and how to say it. When classes resumed this week, many teachers struggled to decide whether to discuss what happened in Paris. Parents wondered whether to talk about the violence or how to explain it. From country to country, the topic was tackled in different -- and similar -- ways...

Materials n Tall, transparent drinking glass n Water n Eggs n Pie pan n Toilet-paper tube Instructions STEP 1: Fill the drinking glass three-fourths of the way with water. STEP 2: Place the pie pan on top of the drinking glass. Make sure the pie pan is in the center of the drinking glass...

MINNEAPOLIS -- The fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a Minneapolis police officer has pushed racial tensions in the city's small but concentrated minority community to the fore, with a police precinct besieged by a makeshift encampment and hundreds of protesters in recent days...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A Texas inmate was executed Wednesday for setting a fire that killed his 18-month-old daughter and her two young half-sisters at an East Texas home 15 years ago. Raphael Holiday, 36, became the 13th convicted killer put to death this year in Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state. It has accounted for half of all executions in the U.S. this year...

June D. Lewis, 78, of Jackson passed away Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, at her home. She was born June 22, 1937, in Norfolk, England, the daughter of Reginald and Gertrude Gallant. She married Roy Lewis on Oct. 15, 1956. June attended Iona Baptist Church. She also enjoyed cross-stitching, art and traveling...

Karen E. C. Lawson, 72, of Jackson passed away Monday, Nov. 16, 2015, at Jackson Manor. She was born July 27, 1943, in Niota, Illinois, the daughter of Clarence and Laura Livingston Boyle. Karen was employed for 15 years at Major Custom Cable, retiring in 2008...

M. Louise Brown, 82, of Jackson died Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015, at the home of her granddaughter in Jackson. She was born Friday, March 24, 1933, in Portageville, Missouri, to Tolbert T. and Bernice Lorene Miles Riddle Meatte. Louise was married to Harold Lee Brown on July 6, 1949. He died May 16, 1994...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Jesse Russell "J.R." Bradshaw, 82, of Poplar Bluff, formerly of Whitewater and Delta, went to be with Jesus on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015. A veteran of the Korean War, he departed this life on Veterans Day. He served his country in the U.S. Army as a private from 1953 to 1955...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Sharon Kay George, 62, of Columbia passed away Monday, Nov. 16, 2015, at Columbia University Hospital. She was born Aug. 18, 1953, in Cape Girardeau to Glen and Loudean Jones. She and Larry George were married Sept. 27, 1971. Survivors include her mother, husband, two daughters, 10 grandchildren, two sisters and a brother...

The price of a traditional turkey dinner may gobble up more of the family food budget this Thanksgiving, but it's still a bargain; with turkey specials in Cape Girardeau supermarkets ranging from a low of 19 cents a pound to a high of 89 cents, families may prepare a traditional turkey day dinner for as little as $2.50 a person...

Eleanor Mary Scharenborg, 83, of Jackson died Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015, at her home in Jackson. She was born Wednesday, May 18, 1932, in Leopold, Missouri, to John George and Frances Aleida VanGennip Scharenborg. She was a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church...

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Funeral services for Roger Gaylon Yarbro Sr., 74, of Lawrence will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence. Burial will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery. He passed away Friday, Nov. 13, 2015, at University of Kansas Medical Center...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Carla Gean Lutes, 48, of Dexter and formerly of Oran, Missouri, passed away Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015, at Southeast Health Center of Stoddard County in Dexter. She was born in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, on Oct. 23, 1967, to the late Jim and Edna Fry Willson...

Quinton David Combs, 24, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015, at Saint Francis Medical Center. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, 2015, at La-Croix United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at the church...

The next meeting of the Southeast Missouri Pachyderm Club will focus on veterans' issues. Retired Marine Corps sergeant Tony Laforest will speak on the Veterans Affairs disability process and navigating the VA system. The group gathers to eat at 6 p.m. and will hold a brief business meeting at 6:45 p.m. today, immediately followed by the program at 7 p.m. at Dexter Bar-B-Que, 236 S. Broadview St. in Cape Girardeau...

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve officials believed last month the economic conditions needed to trigger the first interest-rate hike in nearly a decade could "well be met" by their next meeting in December. Minutes of the October discussions released Wednesday revealed Fed officials' view the job market would improve further and inflation would begin to move toward their 2 percent annual target...

A summons was issued Tuesday for a Cape Girardeau woman to be arraigned for endangering the welfare of a child. Dana Marie Wilson, 26, is scheduled to appear on the felony charge Dec. 21 in Cape Girardeau County Court. On Oct. 19, Cape Girardeau police officer Kevin Wehrle noticed a large mark on the cheek of a 5-year-old child he was called in to interview at the behest of a representative of the Missouri Division of Social Services and a school principal, Wehrle wrote in his probable-cause statement.. ...

A Cape Girardeau woman is accused of trying to assault her husband with two knives and threatening to cut him from ear to ear Tuesday. Theresa Marie Lawson, 42, of Cape Girardeau is charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon. Cape Girardeau police officer Nick Becker wrote in a probable-cause statement he was sent to the 400 block of Sheridan Drive twice late Monday and early Tuesday...

Cape Girardeau police arrested a local man on suspicion of shooting a gun Tuesday about noon in the 400 block of South Benton Street, the department's public information officer, Richard McCall, said. Brian Damar Cayce, 22, of Cape Girardeau is charged with unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm. Bond for Cayce is set at $25,000...

Ross Payne, a carpenter with contractor James Ainsworth, cuts length for a metal stud frame Wednesday inside the future home of Dunkin' Donuts in Cape Girardeau. The building that once housed Houch's Donuts is being transformed. "We are looking at probably mid-February" for a projected opening date, said Carl Ritter Jr., a member of an investor group that owns a multicounty franchise territory with the national chain. ...

Just in time for the Christmas holiday, the Salvation Army in Cape Girardeau is hosting its red kettle campaign kickoff. Rock the Red Kettle begins at 6 p.m. today at Centenary Methodist Church, 300 N. Ellis St. in Cape Girardeau. Members of the public are invited to attend the free family event, which features special guests. Contemporary Christian band Living Stones will perform, as well as Southeast Missouri State University's steel drums and the Kelly High School Drumline...

An arrest warrant was filed Tuesday for a suspect in a Scott City burglary and theft who happened to be the victim's daughter. Leslie Jennifer Patterson, 33, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, is charged with first-degree burglary, felony theft, misdemeanor theft and misdemeanor property damage...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Some Republican Missouri lawmakers are calling for a special legislative session aimed at preventing Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon from allowing Syrian refugees to resettle in the state, adding to a wave of pressure on the issue from primarily GOP officials...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A judge on Wednesday set bond at $10,000 cash for a man accused of making online threats against black students and faculty at University of Missouri's Columbia campus. Boone County Associate Judge Kimberly Shaw previously denied bond for 19-year-old Hunter M. Park. She agreed during a Wednesday court appearance to give him the opportunity to post bond and stay with his parents in their Lake St. Louis home...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Fall behind on your student loans these days, and you could end up getting more than hectoring phone calls and threatening letters. Some lenders are taking more people to court, attorneys said. The number of lawsuits filed over delinquent student loans that were made by private lenders has increased significantly in the past two years, lawyers said, even though borrowers are missing payments much less often than they did during the height of the recession...

WASHINGTON -- In measuring progress in the American-led air war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, numbers tell one story, but results tell another. Fighter jets, bombers, attack planes and drones are dropping an average of 2,228 bombs per month on targets ranging from training camps and machine-gun positions to oil facilities and weapons shacks. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- An appeals court has ruled a previous calculation of damages owed to about 3,000 blind Missouri residents who receive state benefits was too low, meaning the state could be on the hook for more than $19 million. The ruling Tuesday by the Missouri Court of Appeals' western division relates to a 2006 lawsuit by the Missouri Council of the Blind, which claimed the state had been miscalculating the monthly pension for blind people since the early 1990s. ...

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri prosecutors have charged a 44-year-old Dallas woman with manslaughter, accusing her of recklessly causing a woman's death in July by performing an illegal cosmetic buttocks injection on her. St. Louis County prosecutors charged Nitica Deonte Lee with first-degree involuntary manslaughter Tuesday, saying she injected a silicone substance into 22-year-old Daysha Phillips' buttocks in a hotel in Edmundson, Missouri, a suburb near St. Louis' main airport...

WASHINGTON -- From mom's comforting croon to a shout of warning, our voices are the main way we communicate and one we take for granted unless something goes wrong. Now researchers have grown human vocal cords in the laboratory that appear capable of producing sound, in hopes of one day helping people with voice-robbing diseases or injuries...

SAINT-DENIS, France -- The hunt for the mastermind of last week's attacks took a bloody turn Wednesday to a Paris suburb where a fierce gunbattle with police left at least two people dead and eight arrested. The fate of the alleged ringleader was unclear, with authorities saying he was not taken alive, and they were trying to determine whether he died in the raid...

WASHINGTON -- The White House on Wednesday threatened a presidential veto of House Republican legislation aimed at increasing screenings for Syrian and Iraqi refugees before they enter the United States, calling new requirements in the bill "untenable."...

WASHINGTON -- Child sex offenders make up the largest category of inmates in U.S. military prisons, yet a full accounting of their crimes and how much time they're locked up is shielded by an opaque system of justice, an Associated Press investigation has found...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri's athletic director wouldn't tip his hand about who might replace retiring football coach Gary Pinkel, but said Houston's Tom Herman, Memphis' Justin Fuente and Tigers defensive coordinator Barry Odom are quality candidates...

ST. LOUIS -- Defensive end Chris Long was a full participant in St. Louis Rams practice, making it likely he'll return after missing four games with a knee injury. Long had been a long shot to return last week but said he was more "hopeful than realistically close." He said coaches told him to give the injury one more week to heal...

ST. LOUIS -- Penalties have been a big problem for St. Louis Rams offensive tackle Greg Robinson. The second overall pick last year is hard at work trying to avoid the flags. The Rams remain convinced that Robinson, with a little more work on improving technique and eliminating mistakes, can become a force. At times, he's going too fast and trying too hard...

Four students at Southeast Missouri State University won TD Ameritrade's second annual collegiate trading competition, beating 1,600 students from 166 colleges and universities in 44 states. The 2015 thinkorswim Challenge was from Oct. 12 through Nov. 6, and was open to all students at postsecondary education institutions in the United States...

MINER, Mo. -- A Miner man faces charges in the deaths of his parents. Thomas Wayne McRoy, 37, is charged with two felony counts of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the deaths of Larry McRoy, 62, and Roxann McRoy, 64, of Miner. Larry McRoy's body was discovered Tuesday afternoon in the Mississippi River at the landing of the Dorena-Hickman Ferry. ...

ST. LOUIS -- The city of St. Louis' chief lawyer has resigned after about a year and a half on the job. Winston Calvert told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch only "there are things I want to do that I can't do as city counselor." He declined to elaborate on his future plans. ...

THURMONT, Md. -- Maryland state wildlife workers used an electric hand saw to remove a milk can that was stuck on the head of a bear. Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Karis King said a wildlife-response team was called Monday to a rural location to rescue an adult male black bear with his head stuck inside a metal milk can. King said the bear was calm, but the workers tranquilized him for safety reasons before removing the can...

CAIRO -- The Islamic State group on Wednesday released a photo of a bomb hidden in a soft drink can it said had brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month. The photo, which has not been corroborated, was released by the group's English-language online magazine. ...

Kendall Townsend of Jackson was a member of the crew for the Central Methodist University Little Theatre production of "School House Rock Live!" earlier this month. Townsend is a sophomore pre-athletic training major at the university...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Edith Walton, 88, of Mounds died Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Services are incomplete at Massie Funeral Home in Mounds.

Daughter to Tyler Dean and Danyell Suzann Spurlock of Jonesboro, Illinois, Saint Francis Medical Center, 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015. Name, Reagan Renee. Weight, 7 pounds, 2 ounces. First child. Mrs. Spurlock is the former Danyell Hale, daughter of Daniel and Cindy Turner of Jonesboro. Spurlock is the son of Tim and Leslie Glidewell of Anna, Illinois, and Rodney Spurlock of Buncombe, Illinois. His a watchman with Artco...

Cape Girardeau The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls Tuesday: n Medical assists were made at 9:50 a.m. on North Louisiana Street; 12:57 p.m. on Dunklin Street; 1:39 p.m. on Bloomfield Road; 2:35 p.m. on Meadowbrook Lane; 2:51 p.m. on Penny Avenue; 4:44 p.m. on Independence Street; 4:56 p.m. on North Silver Springs Road; 7:51 p.m. on North Main Street; and 8:07 p.m. on Good Hope Street...

Cape Girardeau The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Alan Michael Heiss, 21, of Bell City, Missouri, was arrested on a Cape Girardeau warrant for failure to appear for possession of alcohol by a minor...

Jackson The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrest n Anthony A. Bollinger, 20, of Cape Girardeau was arrested on suspicion of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and being a minor in possession by consumption...

After analysts declared the downing of the Russian airliner over Egypt to be the result of a terrorist bomb, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, "Our air force's military work in Syria must not simply be continued. It must be intensified in such a way that the criminals understand that retribution is inevitable." In his response to the Paris attacks, French President Francois Hollande declared the attacks to be an act of war and that France's response would be merciless...

All of these pandering pols who tried to outdo one another in opposing taking in any Syrian refugees (Chris Christie said he wouldn't take in an orphaned Syrian toddler) may have overreached in a very big way. It turns out that many evangelical and Christian organizations think political refugees fleeing persecution and almost certain death should be treated in a humane way and not rejected out of hand because of hysterical xenophobic fear mongering designed to translate into votes at the ballot box.. ...

O Lord Jesus, surrounded by your glory we praise your name. Amen.