Stories from Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Cape Caution 3 v 3 soccer team traveled to Orlando, FL & played in the Disney 3 v 3 Soccer Championships at ESPN World Wide of sports complex January 13th -16th. They placed 3rd in the U8 boys division.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- New Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens during his first State of the State address Tuesday outlined a plan he said will help grow jobs, including passing a right-to-work law barring mandatory union fees and paring back government regulations...

Simplify the federal tax code and reduce tax rates. That was the message delivered to U.S. Rep. Jason Smith at a roundtable discussion Tuesday in Jackson. More than 30 invited business owners, residents and civic leaders turned out for the public meeting -- the fifth Smith has held recently on the topic of tax reform...

Southeast Missouri State University faces "critical financial challenges" as a result of Gov. Eric Greitens' decision to withhold $3.43 million in core state aid for the school, university president Carlos Vargas-Aburto said Tuesday. The new governor announced Monday he would withhold $55.9 million in state funding for four-year universities, which amounts to more than half of all funding cuts announced for higher education...

The late Gen. Seth McKee is a "hometown hero" whose portrait should be added to the Missouri Wall of Fame in downtown Cape Girardeau, according to a local veterans group. American Legion Post 63 has joined the efforts of family and friends of McKee to add the four-star general to the Wall of Fame on the west side of the floodwall...

Today in History Today is Wednesday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2017. There are 347 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Jan. 18, 1967, Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the "Boston Strangler," was convicted in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. (Sentenced to life, DeSalvo was killed in prison in 1973.)...

O Lord Jesus, may your peace guard our hearts and minds. Amen.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department plans to add four new canine officers, and will be washing your furry friends this weekend to raise money for them. The cost for a canine officer is $14,500, with training additional, and the dogs require eight weeks of training, according to a report by Southeast Missourian reporter Ben Kleine. The funding for canine dogs is not included in the $8 million for the police in the city budget...

In this historic week of a presidential inauguration, it seems odd to be writing about artwork. But here we go. Sen. Roy Blunt is the first Missourian to head the Congressional Inauguration Committee and, in that role, has selected a famous painting by Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham to hang in Washington during the massive celebrations in the Capitol...

JERUSALEM -- Israel's largest zoo is scrambling to find a monkey that swung out of a tree and escaped from the wildlife park near Tel Aviv. The "Safari," in the adjacent city of Ramat Gan, is asking the public to help find Kuner, a 17-year-old wedge-capped capuchin monkey that fled Monday -- likely after a fight with rival males in his enclosure. Spokeswoman Sagit Horowitz said the 6.6-pound Kuner is about the size of a cat and poses no danger...

SAN FRANCISCO -- After a relative suffered a heart attack a few years ago, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Adrian Aoun got an unsettling look at a health-care system he diagnosed as an inefficient and outdated mess. Now he believes he has a remedy. It's called Forward, a health-management service that charges $149 per month -- about $1,800 a year -- to tend to all of its patients' primary-care needs...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama commuted the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning on Tuesday, allowing the Army intelligence officer who leaked scores of classified documents to go free nearly three decades early. Manning, who will leave prison in May, was one of 209 inmates whose sentences Obama was shortening, a list that includes Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Lopez-Rivera...

WASHINGTON -- Insurance premiums would soar for millions of Americans, and 18 million more would be uninsured in one year if Republicans scuttle much of President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul without a replacement, Congress' budget analysts said Tuesday...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The man suspected of fatally shooting five people and wounding six others at a Florida airport initially told investigators he was under government mind control and claimed to be inspired by Islamic State websites and chat-rooms, authorities said at a hearing Tuesday...

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria -- A Nigerian air force fighter jet on a mission against Boko Haram extremists mistakenly bombed a refugee camp Tuesday, killing more than 100 refugees and aid workers and wounding 200, a government official and doctors said. Military commander Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor confirmed an accidental bombardment in the northeastern town of Rann, near the border with Cameroon, saying "some" civilians were killed...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The widow of the Orlando nightclub gunman knew about the attack ahead of time and then hindered the investigation when she lied to FBI agents after the shooting, prosecutors said Tuesday during a brief court appearance a day after her arrest in California...

WASHINGTON -- Education secretary pick Betsy DeVos said Tuesday that American parents must be able to send their children to high-quality schools, including charter, magnet and religious schools, if public schools are failing. Responding to criticism from teachers' unions the Republican donor and school-choice activist is working against public education, DeVos told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee she will be "a strong advocate for great public schools."...

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin took a parting shot at the Obama administration Tuesday, accusing it of trying to undermine Donald Trump's legitimacy with fake allegations and "binding the president-elect hand and foot to prevent him from fulfilling his election promises."...

LONDON -- Britain's future outside the European Union became clearer Tuesday: It's so long to the single market, goodbye to the European Court of Justice and farewell to the freedom of movement for workers. In a long-awaited speech, Prime Minister Theresa May revealed the U.K.'s hand as it prepares to begin EU exit talks...

ISTANBUL -- The accused perpetrator of a New Year's nightclub attack in Istanbul has confessed, and his fingerprints are a match, Turkish authorities said Tuesday. They identified him as an Uzbek national who trained in Afghanistan and staged the attack for the Islamic State group...

Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft's budget recommendations are welcome news to Southeast Missouri State University officials; barring excessive budget withholdings, Southeast could receive a net state appropriation of more than $30.46 million for the 1993 fiscal year; that's slightly less than what had been recommended by the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education...

SCOPUS, Mo. -- Tivis Cook, 95, of Scopus passed away Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017, at Woodland Hills Nursing Home. He was born April 27, 1921, in Kennett, Missouri, son of Homer Walker and Carrie Hanners Cook. He and Annie Sutherland were united in marriage Nov. 9, 1945, and she preceded him in death March 21, 1989...

UNIONTOWN, Mo. -- Dorothy K. Bock, 95, of Uniontown died Monday, Jan. 16, 2017, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday and from 6:30 to 9:15 a.m. Saturday at Young and Sons Funeral Home. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Burial will be in the church cemetery...

The Jackson Fire Department responded to the following calls Monday: n Emergency medical service on Oakland Drive. n A citizens assist on Donna Drive. n Emergency medical service on East Jackson Boulevard.

The Jackson Police Department released the following items. Thefts n Theft was reported in the 500 block of Broadridge Drive. n Theft was reported in the 3300 block of North High Street. Property damage n Property damage was reported in the 900 block of West Jackson Boulevard...

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls Monday: n Medical assists were made at 11:37 a.m. on South Kingshighway; 11:41 a.m. on North Main Street; 5:32 p.m. on South West End Boulevard; and 8:03 p.m. on Interstate 55...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A former swimmer at a southwestern Missouri university said hazing he and others endured during his freshman year left him with physical and mental injuries that ended his athletic career. The allegations from Evan Petrich, 18, were confirmed Monday night by Drury University director of athletics Mark Fisher, who said during a news conference the school in Springfield has toughened its hazing policy, the Springfield News-Leader reported...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A bill setting limits on lobbyist gifts to elected officials will move to the Senate from the Missouri House. House members voted 149-5 on Tuesday in favor of a proposal to ban gifts to individual elected officials, with some exceptions. ...

WASHINGTON -- A student's painting that divided members of Congress for its depiction of Ferguson, Missouri, has been removed from its Capitol Hill display, this time perhaps permanently. Several Republicans had complained about the painting, which shows a pig in a police uniform aiming a gun at a protester, and even took down the artwork temporarily. ...

DETROIT -- General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in U.S. factories and add thousands of new white-collar jobs, measures that have been in the works for years but were announced Tuesday after criticism from President-elect Donald Trump. In all, the Detroit automaker said it will create or keep 7,000 jobs in the next few years, including about 2,000 at factories. ...

A Cape Girardeau man won a $100,000 scratch prize from the Missouri Lottery on Jan. 11, according to a Missouri Lottery news release. Bobby Collier purchased the ticket from a Southbound Fuel station in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, and claimed the prize at the Lottery’s regional office in St. Louis, according to the release...

Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecuting attorney Frank Miller asked what finding a bag filled with copious amounts of drugs and a gun, last seen with a defendant, and the other defendant found with $4,511 meant. “That they’re selling it,” Cape Girardeau police Cpl. Bryan Blanner said...

Representatives from utility provider Ameren Missouri and the Missouri Public Services Commission hosted a sometimes-tense public hearing Tuesday in Cape Girardeau to discuss the rate hike Ameren is seeking. The increase request, which Ameren filed in July, would mean more than $206 million for the company in annual revenue and $99 more to the average residential customer’s annual bill...

Matt and Mark Abbott, identical twins who are subjects of interest in the investigation of the 1992 killing of Angela Mischelle Lawless, completed lengthy polygraph tests Tuesday in Cape Girardeau in an attempt to clear their names. Certified tester Lee Boyd tested and interviewed Matt Abbott for about 2 1/2 hours in the morning. Boyd tested and interviewed Mark Abbott for about three hours in the afternoon...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Thirteen states, including Missouri, have asked a federal court to block final rules from President Barack Obama's administration designed to reduce coal mining's effect on streams. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton petitioned a Washington-based appeals court for an injunction Tuesday. ...

NEW YORK -- What'll she be wearing? It's a question that fascinates fashion-watchers -- and lots of others -- every four years: Which designer will the new U.S. first lady choose to wear on Inauguration Day and, more importantly, on Inauguration Night?...

NEW YORK -- A cozy little cat-eared hat has captured the hearts of knitters around the world in a pink-colored show of solidarity with thousands who plan to attend women's marches in the nation's capital and elsewhere Saturday. The caps are at the center of the Pussyhat Project, thought up by Los Angeles friends and knitters Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh in the aftermath of the November election...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWIs n A suspect was in custody pending formal charges of driving while intoxicated. n Matthew J. Burgess, 35, 2279 County Road 214, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident at U.S. 61 and Silver Springs Road...