Stories from Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Mary Loos celebrated a milestone 80th Birthday on December 26. Wife to William of 60 years, and mother to three sons, Gary, Mark and Tim and six grandchildren, Mary is a lifelong resident of Cape Girardeau. Many will remember her smiling face, easy laugh, attentive ear and all-around good-humored nature while working at at local institutions such as Sand's Pancake House and Stev-Mark. She's never known a stranger, only a friend she hasn't met. If you see her, wish her well!...

The SoutheastHEALTH 2016 Share Walk – a Walk for Remembrance and Hope, raised a record $13,375 to benefit the program dedicated to those who have lost a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or newborn loss. More than 160 people participated in the walk. Speaker was Josh Barrett, a bereaved father who shared his story and offered hope to those in similar situations...

ST. LOUIS — At age 96, Cyrus Porter is a devoted Taylor Swift fan. He’s traveled from his rural Missouri home to St. Louis and Memphis, Tennessee, to see her in concert. On Monday, in the midst of a thunderstorm, the concert came to the World War II combat veteran, a surprise visit from the singer and her parents...

Sikeston, Missouri, police said Barrett C. Swan, 32, of Cape Girardeau, was alive Tuesday and awaiting surgery after he was shot several times on Malone Avenue in Sikeston early Christmas morning. Swan was shot three times in the lower torso, with one of the bullets causing injuries in the area of a major organ, Sikeston Department of Public Safety Capt. Jim McMillen said...

For the third time since February 2013, the Cape Girardeau City Council will consider eliminating the city's board of examiners. The city staff plans to propose such a measure when the council meets Jan. 9, city officials said Tuesday. Past efforts have fizzled because of opposition from the examiners...

Today in History Today is Wednesday, Dec. 28, the 363rd day of 2016. There are three days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Dec. 28, 1846, Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union. On this date: In 1612, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei observed the planet Neptune, but mistook it for a star. (Neptune wasn't officially discovered until 1846 by Johann Gottfried Galle.)...

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that by grace we are saved through faith in you. Amen.

Compassionate and kind-hearted are just a few words that fellow judges used to describe longtime area judge Peter Statler, who died at the age of 74 earlier this month. Statler was an associate judge in Cape Girardeau County from 1994 to 2010 and took over as municipal judge in Jackson after he stepped down from the state bench in 2010. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A recent report by a Missouri task force said the state's public universities and community colleges should not stray from the types of degrees their institutions can grant unless they have a good reason to do so. Missouri lawmakers asked the task force to address the issue after a dispute between the University of Missouri System and Missouri State University...

A second candidate has filed for mayor of Scott City; Rodney Holloway, a Scott City businessman, filed late in the week for the seat; Larry Forhan filed for the mayor's seat, being vacated by Shirley Young, earlier this month. Several businesses in downtown Cape Girardeau were without water for more than three hours yesterday when a "fire line" developed a leak in the 100 block of North Main Street; Union Electric water department workers were called to the site when water was observed shooting up from the street; portions of Main, Spanish and Water streets were closed to traffic while repairs were made.. ...

ST. MARY, Mo. -- Peggy Ann Wise, 50, of St. Mary died Friday, Dec. 23, 2016, at Mercy Jefferson Hospital in Festus, Missouri. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Young and Sons Funeral Home in Perryville, Missouri. A memorial service will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home...

Tammy Lynn Williams, 56, of Delta passed away Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, at her home. She was born June 13, 1960, in Bollinger County, Missouri, the daughter of Billy and Ruby Crader Watkins. Tammy worked at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau as a certified nursing assistant...

OZARK, Ala. -- Dixie Jean Shuls checked in Feb. 24, 1941, to Drucilla and Virgil Shuls. Dixie Jean Shuls Carnell Williams checked out Friday, Dec. 23, 2016, leaving a loving husband, Bobby Williams. No services needed; he knows she's gone. Dixie is survived by daughter, Angela (Cisco) McNabb, and grandsons, Joseph McNabb and Taran McNabb; son, Cameron (Lisa) Williams, and granddaughter, Lindsay Williams; daughter, Cynthia Williams, and granddaughters, Becca Parada, Renee Jones and Robin Mendoza, and grandson, Robert Mendoza; brother, Douglas (Debbie) Shuls; sister, Carol (Morrell) Diebold; a special sister-in-law, Betty Shuls; along with several nieces and nephews.. ...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Daniel "Danny" Joseph VanGennip, 56, of Marble Hill passed away Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, at his home, surrounded by his loving family. He was born Oct. 26, 1960, at Cape Girardeau, the son of Norman and Imogene Stowers VanGennip. He and Olga Rodriguez were united in marriage Sept. 6, 2003, at the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Advance, Missouri...

McCLURE, Ill. -- Stanley Wayne Mouser, 70, of McClure died Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 11, 1946, in Sikeston, Missouri, to Otis B. and Daisy Roxana Stephens Mouser. He and Linda Lucas were married April 9, 1983, at Cape Girardeau...

William Joseph Menz, 68, of Scott City died Friday, Dec. 23, 2016, at his home. He was born Aug. 27, 1948, in Cape Girardeau to S.F. and Grace Miller Menz. He is survived by a brother, Charles (Mary) Menz; a niece, Leslie (Lance) Gallegher; and a nephew, Jerry (Tonya) Menz...

Alonzo Eric Kurre, 101, of Friedheim died Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, at the home of his daughter-in-law in Friedheim. He was born Oct. 14, 1915, in Daisy to Ira Otis and Linnie Rose Kayser Kurre. He and Ella Elsie Hobeck were married Nov. 19, 1936. She died April 17, 1997...

FROHNA, Mo. -- Elmer R. Hecht, 86, of Frohna died Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday and from 6:30 to 10 a.m. Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, Missouri. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday at the church, with the Rev. Steven Dressler officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery, with at military graveside service provided by VFW and Delta Team...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Dixie Thompson Bevill, 80, of Olive Branch, formerly of Thebes, Illinois, died Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016, at Life Care Center of America in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms, Illinois...

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Summonses n Lucas A. Elfrink, 19, of Leopold, Missouri, was issued a summons for speeding and failure to provide proof of insurance. n Kimberly L. Kuehn, 24, of Jackson was issued a summons for failure to register a motor vehicle...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n Kenneth B. Hobeck, 32, homeless of Cape Girardeau was arrested on three Cape Girardeau warrants for failure to appear for stealing...

BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- Fights broke out at malls around the country Monday night, sending shoppers, who were looking for post-holiday deals, scrambling for the exits. No one was seriously injured in the mall melees, which, during the panic, also prompted numerous false reports of gunfire...

Newly widowed, Kay McCowen quit her job, sold her house, applied for Social Security and retired to Mexico. It was a move she and her husband, Mel, had discussed before he passed away in 2012. "I wanted to find a place where I could afford to live off my Social Security," she said. "The weather here is so perfect, and it's a beautiful place."...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Nearly 80 years after he dropped out of high school, Walter Rolley Jr. of Columbia has his diploma, at age 97. The Columbia Missourian reported Rolley wore a royal blue cap and gown last week in receiving his diploma at the historic J.W. "Blind" Boone Home. Columbia Public Schools superintendent Peter Stiepleman read a quote by Frederick Douglass in honoring Rolley: "Without a struggle, there can be no progress."...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Gov.-elect Eric Greitens has chosen a northeast Missouri woman to be the next director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Greitens announced on his Facebook page Tuesday he had selected Chris Chinn, 41, to lead the department. She and her husband, Kevin, are fifth-generation farmers who raise hogs, cattle and crops near Clarence in Shelby County...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Missouri lawmaker wants to increase fines for people who release feral hogs in the state. The Springfield News-Leader reported letting feral hogs loose is a misdemeanor now and comes with a fine of up to $1,000 for each hog released, and up to a year in jail for the perpetrator...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- One of mid-Missouri's fastest growing tourist attractions is a place where nobody wanted to be prior to its closing in 2004 -- the Missouri State Penitentiary. The Jefferson City News Tribune reported this year 32,811 people visited the old state prison, which first opened in 1836. That number is a 25 percent increase over 2015, and Mayor Carrie Tergin noted that as recently as 2009, just 3,000 people visited the site...

LONDON -- As mourners kept on flocking Tuesday to George Michael's home in north London, the singer's former longtime partner and his current boyfriend spoke of their sadness at his death. Hairstylist Fadi Fawaz tweeted "I will never stop missing you" to Michael. He told the Telegraph newspaper Tuesday he had gone to Michael's house so they could attend a Christmas lunch and found the 53-year-old singer dead in bed...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas federal judge has lifted a stay of execution for a former soldier sentenced to death for two killings and a series of rapes, inching the man closer to becoming the military's first death sentence carried out in more than a half century...

NEW YORK -- A stray backpack prompted the partial evacuation of Trump Tower on Tuesday, though bomb-squad technicians quickly determined the unattended bag contained children's toys and was harmless. Video posted online showed people running through the Manhattan skyscraper's public lobby as uniformed police officers waved them toward the exits...

SOCHI, Russia -- Investigators recovered the flight-data recorder from a crashed Russian military plane Tuesday and began reviewing its contents to learn why the jet went down moments after takeoff, killing all 92 people aboard, including members of a famous choir...

NEW YORK -- No one could make us laugh through the pain like Carrie Fisher. The daughter of Hollywood stars Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds and a survivor of early fame, drug addiction and bipolar disorder, she wrote with unsentimental wit and understanding about her private struggles and about an industry she was raised in but where she stood apart...

NEW YORK -- Police are searching for three thieves with a taste for designer clothing who stole more than $1 million worth of fur from a store on Manhattan's upscale Madison Avenue. The theft occurred on Christmas Eve after one of the suspects threw a brick through the window of the Dennis Basso Inc. store just before 5 a.m...

LOS ANGELES -- Garry Shandling died from a blood clot in his heart, coroner's officials said Tuesday, more than seven months after the comedian's unexpected death. A report by Los Angeles coroner's officials released Tuesday states the fatal clot occurred after the comedian developed blood clots in his legs, a condition known as deep vein thrombosis...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Former Argentine president Cristina Fernandez was indicted Tuesday in a corruption case involving public works. Federal Judge Julian Ercolini approved charges of illicit association and fraudulent administration against Fernandez, and two former aides: former planning minister Julio de Vido and former public works secretary Jose Lopez...

JERUSALEM -- Doubling down on its public break with the Obama administration, the Israeli government Tuesday said it had received "ironclad" information from Arab sources Washington helped craft last week's U.N. resolution declaring Israeli settlements in occupied territories illegal...

Cape Girardeau police found 115 grams of methamphetamine, 144 grams of cocaine, 105 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of heroin, 25 baggies believed to be synthetic marijuana and a prescription bottle of 4 ounces of codeine syrup in a bathroom trash can of a William Street gas station Thursday...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka unveiled a towering Christmas tree, claiming to have surpassed the world record despite constructions delays and a shorter-than-planned product. The 238-foot artificial tree is 59 feet taller than the record-holder, organizers said. ...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- Under a warm Oahu sun, with the tranquil, teal waters of Pearl Harbor behind them, former enemies came together Tuesday to acknowledge the tremendous loss caused by the Japanese attack on U.S. military installations in Hawaii 75 years ago...

Daughter to David Lee and Phebee Raquel Felicia Fernandez of Cape Girardeau, Saint Francis Medical Center, 8:57 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016. Name, Amberly Nichole Felicia. Weight, 4 pounds, 5 ounces. Second daughter. Mrs. Fernandez is the former Phebee Orcilla, daughter of Rex and Maria Barker of McClure, Illinois. She is employed in direct-line support for Manpower. Fernandez is the son of Kenneth and Diana Kershaw of Cape Girardeau. He is employed in shipping for Nestle Purina...