Stories from Wednesday, July 11, 2018

July is Parks and Recreation Month, and the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department is celebrating by hosting its 18th annual Parks and Rec Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Osage Centre. Parks and Rec Day is free to attend and will include games and activities for all ages — and free ice cream — to also celebrate mascot of the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department, Playmo’s, fifth birthday...

Former Cape Girardeau police officer Barry Hovis and disabled veteran Tony LaForest will square off in the Republican primary election in August for the 146th District state representative seat. The winner will face Democratic candidate Gayla Dace of Oak Ridge in the November general election for the seat being vacated by state Rep. Donna Lichtenegger, R-Jackson, who is term limited...

Jackson schools are implementing more safety measures in the new school year, officials said, in an effort to keep students safer. Jessica Maxwell, principal at East Elementary, spoke to the school board Tuesday about KIDAccount, a new system to help organize pickups, increasing safety for elementary-school students, she said...

Today is Wednesday, July 11, the 192nd day of 2018. There are 173 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On July 11, 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. (Hamilton died the next day.)...

After careful consideration of the direction and focus the city of Cape Girardeau has for the downtown area, I have come to the following conclusions. For the past few years, we have had limited festivals or celebrations that have drawn visitors to our riverfront area. This past Fourth of July, nothing was planned for any downtown celebration, resulting in only a handful of businesses that were open...

Did you hear that the Department of Agriculture spent $4 billion in improper food stamp payments last year? Now granted, it's just a measly $4 billion overpayment in a $63 billion budget for food stamps. That's just a little over 6 percent of the total food stamp budget in incorrect payments of your tax dollars...

Three cheers for the diving teams who helped save the Thai soccer boys from the flooded caves! Led by two Brits considered the "A Team" for dive rescue in the world, the group was heavily international. On Sunday, when the evacuations began, several sources indicated there were roughly 90 divers involved, 50 from overseas. Of the specific group who brought the first of the boys out, 13 of the 18 were international...

Virginia R. Poston, 96, of Cape Girardeau passed away peacefully Monday, July 9, 2018, at Life Care Center. She was born Sept. 8, 1921, in Cape Girardeau to Frank and Josephine Nenninger Hohler. She and Lynn Poston were married Aug. 7, 1939, at Cape Girardeau...

** Mark Ossig Mark David Ossig, 64, of Marble Hill, Missouri, died Monday, July 9, 2018, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. There will be no services. Hutchings Funeral Chapel is assisting the family.

Gerald Joe Martin, 69, of Jackson died Tuesday, July 10, 2018, at Life Care Center in Cape Girardeau. Friends may call from 1 to 2 p.m. July 21 at McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson. An American Legion service will be held at 2 p.m. July 21, followed by a celebration of life service and military honors...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Irma Lorenz Hoffstetter, 104, of Perryville died Sunday, July 8, 2018, at Holiday Residential Care in Perryville. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday and from 6:30 to 8:15 a.m. Tuesday at Young and Sons Funeral Home. She will then be taken to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville for service at 10 a.m., with the Rev. Matthew Marks officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Betty Lou Spane Boner, 82, of Advance passed away Monday, July 9, 2018, at her home. She was born May 23, 1936, at Lilbourn, Missouri, the daughter of Walter T. and Zelda M. Hamilton Palmer. Betty and Kenneth Spane were united in marriage Jan. 28, 1955, in Bernie, Missouri, and he preceded her in death May 14, 2013. She later married Thomas Boner on May 24, 2015, at Bernie, and he survives of the home...

American Airlines says it will stop using plastic straws and drink stirs and replace them with biodegradable alternatives. American said Tuesday starting this month in its airport lounges it will serve drinks with straw and wood stir sticks and begin moving to what it called eco-friendly flatware...

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Theresa May met Tuesday with her shaken-up Cabinet as she tried to restore government unity after the resignations of two top ministers over Brexit. May has spent the past few days fighting for her political life as first Brexit Secretary David Davis and then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson quit, saying May's plans for future relations with the European Union did not live up to their idea of Brexit...

BERLIN -- In the fall of 2010, Liu Xia traveled to a prison in northeast China to tell her husband, the dissident intellectual Liu Xiaobo, he had just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It was the last time she left home as a free woman. Until this week...

HIROSHIMA, Japan -- Akira Tanimoto says his apartment narrowly survived the floods and mudslide at his residential complex over the weekend, and even if he wants to go back there with his wife and two pet birds, he can't because there is no water, power or food available...

BEIJING -- Chinese exporters were scrambling Monday to cope with a plunge in U.S. sales while China's state press shrugged off the impact of Washington's tariff hikes in a spiraling technology dispute. The impact of Friday's tariff hikes on the world's second-largest economy should be limited, according to private sector analysts. ...

WASHINGTON -- As the trade war between the world's two largest economies nears the end of its first week, its most unsettling fact may be this: No one seems to foresee any clear path to peace. The United States insists China abandon the brass-knuckles tactics it's used to try to supplant America's technological dominance. Yet Beijing isn't about to drop its zeal to acquire the technology it sees as crucial to its prosperity...

WASHINGTON -- The proportion of American workers who quit their jobs in May reached the highest level in 17 years, a sign more people are confident they can find a new job, likely at higher pay. Businesses also advertised fewer jobs in May than the previous month, but the tally of open positions outnumbered the ranks of the unemployed for only the second time in the past two decades, the Labor Department said Tuesday...

PHILADELPHIA -- The dean of Temple University's business school has been forced out over falsified data submitted to rankings organizations about its online master's program. Temple President Richard Englert said in an email to the university community Moshe Porat was asked to resign Monday. Porat refused, but the university said he no longer heads the school. He still retains a teaching appointment...

MISSOULA, Mont. -- A faint whimper in the darkness was all it took. Missoula County Sheriff's Deputy Ross Jessop and U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer Nick Scholz rushed toward the sound after hours spent searching the Montana woods for a missing infant...

PRESTON, Idaho -- An Idaho teacher accused of feeding a sick puppy to a snapping turtle in front of several students has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty. Preston Junior High School science teacher Robert Crosland made the plea Tuesday in Franklin County Magistrate Court...

JACKSON, Miss. -- Two former employees of a Mississippi veterans home have been charged with manslaughter in the 2017 death of a 93-year-old World War II veteran. Police charged 25-year-old Jeanee Dunn of Oxford and 41-year-old Bridget Austin of Abbeville with manslaughter by culpable negligence, more than a year after Durley Bratton died in April 2017...

BILLINGS, Mont. -- The Trump administration is advancing its plan to replace the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's efforts against global warming with a new rule expected to be friendlier to the coal industry. The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it sent the new rule to the White House for review. ...

SAN DIEGO -- Lugging little backpacks, smiling immigrant children were scooped up into their parents' arms Tuesday as the Trump administration scrambled to meet a court-ordered deadline to reunite dozens of youngsters forcibly separated from their families at the border...

WASHINGTON -- In calls from the Oval Office, Air Force One and his New Jersey golf club, President Donald Trump returned over and over to the same question as he mulled his next Supreme Court nomination: "Who's the best here?" His final answer was hardly a surprise: Trump landed on the person who had long been his leading contender -- DC-based federal appeals judge Brett Kavanaugh, an established Republican favorite. ...

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's past writings a president should not be distracted by lawsuits and investigations could become a flashpoint in what's already shaping up to be a contentious confirmation battle. With special counsel Robert Mueller investigating whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice, questions about whether a chief executive can be subpoenaed or indicted could potentially reach the Supreme Court. ...

WASHINGTON -- Conservative Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh plunged into his confirmation battle Tuesday, meeting face-to-face with Senate leaders in what promises to be an intense debate over abortion rights, presidential power and other legal disputes potentially reshaping the court and roiling this fall's elections...

MAE SAI, Thailand -- "Everyone is safe." With those three words posted on Facebook the rescue mission to extricate 12 boys and their soccer coach from the treacherous confines of a flooded cave in Thailand was complete -- a grueling 18-day ordeal that claimed the life of an experienced diver and riveted people worldwide...

The relentless floodwaters of the rain-swollen Mississippi River continued to take their toll yesterday in Southeast Missouri from Ste. Genevieve to Commerce; U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., Saturday visited the flood-threatened Dutchtown area, where volunteers are building a wall of sandbags along Highway 74 in an effort to hold back the rising water and protect low-lying homes in the town of about 120 people; forecasts call for a record crest at Cape Girardeau of 47 feet July 20...

Son to Josh and Kristy Pobst of Oran, Missouri, Southeast Hospital, 11:59 a.m. Wednesday, July 4, 2018. Name, Nolan William. Weight, 6 pounds, 9.4 ounces. Second son. Mrs. Pobst is the daughter of Jim and Lisa Biri of Jackson. She is a secretary with the Kelso (Missouri) School District. Pobst is the son of Vernon and Susie Pobst of Oran. He works in the receiving department of Orgill...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is polling supporters as she considers whether to vote for President Donald Trump's U.S. Supreme Court nominee -- a decision that could make or break her re-election campaign. McCaskill in a Tuesday email asked campaign supporters to fill out a survey on the nomination of conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh, noting "with so much at stake, I need to know where you stand on this ASAP."...

A rock wall design accents the new prefabricated restroom installed Tuesday in Jackson City Park. The 20-by-26-foot concrete structure also features a shingle-style roof texture and a board-and-batten siding texture on the exterior wall space. ...

Camryn Pickett, a Cub Scout from Millersville, sights the target as Ben Hale advises him Tuesday at Cape Girardeau County Park North. The Scout camp for children in first through fifth grades drew 115 participants from Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Scott City and Perryville, Missouri, areas.

Father God, thank you for loving us and sending your son, Jesus, to save us. Amen.

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI n Driving while intoxicated was reported at Independence Street and Gordonville Road. A suspect is in custody pending formal charges. Arrest...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls: Monday n Medical assists were made at 9:06 a.m. on Gerhardt Street, 1:11 p.m. on Mimosa Street, 2:47 p.m. on South Kingshighway, 5:10 p.m. on North West End Boulevard and 7:10 p.m. on South Hanover Street...

U.S. 61 in Cape Girardeau County, between Highway 34 and the Interstate 55 interchange, will be reduced with a 12-foot width restriction as contractor crews make pavement repairs. A Missouri Department of Transportation news release indicates the work will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. daily Monday through Nov. 1...