Stories from Friday, April 8, 2022

People make mistakes and state Rep. Dave Griffith of Jefferson City (R-60th Dist.) vows to fix a legislative error quickly. Griffith's measure, House Bill 1562, designates nearly all of Southeast Missouri as the "Stars and Stripes Historic Region." The National Stars and Stripes Museum and Library is in Storrard County at Bloomfield, Missouri...

Robin L. Smith, who teaches at Southeast Missouri State University, is one of three appointments by Gov. Mike Parson to the Missouri Community Service Commission (MCSC). "Our commissioners are Missouri's ambassadors of service, and we're excited to grow our ranks as we promote volunteerism statewide," said Scott McFarland, MCSC executive director. ...

Seven new art pieces were formally "introduced" to downtown Cape Girardeau in Thursday night's kickoff of the ninth annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. Those attending the event were able to meet and greet a few of the artists selected this year. At the 2022 Outdoor Sculpture opening reception, which took place at the Vasterling Suites Courtyard in Cape Girardeau, Arts Council of Southeast Missouri director Kelly Downes welcomed visitors before Mayor Bob Fox spoke to a crowd of around 50 individuals. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday, shattering a historic barrier by securing her place as the first Black female justice and giving President Joe Biden a bipartisan endorsement for his promised effort to diversify the high court...

We have all dealt with some level of pain. For some it is the occasional ache, while others deal with more chronic issues. There are times when we ignore it and hope it will go away on its own. Sometimes it does. Other times something has to be done. Even then, when we finally decide to see a doctor, we pray it is a simple fix: A pill, an injection, even physical therapy -- anything but surgery...

You can tell a lot about a person, an area, a culture, by what people leave behind. It’s something Charley and Verla Mangels, Chester and Kristi Seyer, and Brenda and Mark Kern know well. The group, along with Mary Seyer and Theresa Seyer, and in the past, L.R. and Janet Brandes, works together as Seyer Auctioneering, and they are, in a sense, cultural anthropologists who observe and tell stories about the people of Perry, Cape Girardeau and Bollinger Counties...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's Republican-led House on Thursday passed a roughly $46 billion state spending plan bulked up with federal pandemic aid. While some GOP lawmakers warned the current budget proposal spends too much too quickly, primarily Democratic critics decried Republicans for not spending enough and leaving $1.8 billion unspent...

O Father God, we praise you, for you are the helper of the fatherless. Amen.

Christians around the world will celebrate Palm Sunday this weekend, the final Sunday of Lent and the beginning of what is known as Holy Week. The Bible recounts how on Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem, riding a colt as people greeted Him, palm branches in hand, with acclamations, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!"...

NEW YORK -- A federal judge rejected Girl Scouts' claims Thursday that the Boy Scouts created marketplace confusion and damaged their recruitment efforts by using words like "scouts" and "scouting" in recruitment drives. Manhattan Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ruled the Boy Scouts of America can describe their activities as "scouting" without referring to gender and the matter does not need to be put to a jury...

Bernice Scharenborg, 84, of Jackson passed away Tuesday, April 5, 2021, at the Monticello House in Jackson. Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to service time Tuesday at McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson. The Rev. Jimmie Corbin will conduct a memorial service at 7 p.m. Tuesday...

LONEDELL, Mo. -- Richard Eugene Stearns of Lonedell departed this life at his home, surrounded by the love of his family, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, having reached the age of 78 years and 23 days. Richard was born in Daisy March 6, 1944, the son of Ova Ray and Nellie Ethel Hobeck Stearns. On Dec. 7, 1962, he was united in marriage to Brenda Irene Clippard, and three children came to bless this union...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls. April 6 n Medical assists were made at 10:42 a.m. on South Silver Springs Road; 2:10 p.m. on South Silver Springs Road; 4:22 p.m. on South Missouri Avenue; 11:37 p.m., Maria Louise Lane...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Police Department responded to the following calls. Arrest does not imply guilt. Arrests n A warrant arrest was reported. n A warrant arrest was reported on Lynwood Hills Drive. n A warrant arrest was reported on North Park Avenue...

ST. LOUIS -- A man was shot and critically wounded by St. Louis police officers who say the man pointed a gun at them, police reported. The shooting happened around 5:45 p.m. Monday on the far north end of the city, just east of Jennings, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported...

ST. LOUIS -- A Chinese national who pleaded guilty earlier this year to stealing a trade secret from agribusiness giant Monsanto while he worked in Missouri has been sentenced to more than two years in prison. Haitao Xiang, formerly of Chesterfield, Missouri, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in St. Louis to 29 months in prison and fined $150,000. Xiang also must undergo three years of supervision upon his release from prison...

The grand explanation physicists use to describe how the universe works may have some major new flaws to patch after a fundamental particle was found to have more mass than scientists thought. "It's not just something is wrong," said Dave Toback, a particle physicist at Texas A&M University and a spokesman for the U.S. ...

ISTANBUL -- A Turkish court decided Thursday to transfer the trial of 26 Saudis accused in the gruesome killing of Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, raising fears those responsible for the death of the Washington Post columnist won't be brought to justice for a crime that drew international outrage...

NEW ORLEANS -- President Joe Biden's requirement all federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 was upheld Thursday by a federal appeals court. In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court and ordered dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the mandate. ...

PORTLAND, Maine -- The Navy that once wanted smaller, speedy warships to chase down pirates has made a speedy pivot to Russia and China -- and many of those recently built ships could be retired. The U.S. Navy wants to decommission nine ships in the Freedom-class of littoral combat ships -- warships that cost about $4.5 billion altogether to build...

WASHINGTON -- One of two men accused of impersonating federal agents and giving actual Secret Service agents gifts and free apartments in Washington has claimed to have ties to Pakistani intelligence and had visas showing travel to Pakistan and Iran, federal prosecutors said Thursday...

OMAHA, Neb. -- The spread of a bird flu that is deadly to poultry raises the grisly question of how farms manage to quickly kill and dispose of millions of chickens and turkeys. It's a chore farms across the country are increasingly facing as the number of poultry killed in the past two months has climbed to more than 24 million, with outbreaks reported nearly every day. ...

LONDON -- In the latest Senate package targeted at stopping the coronavirus, U.S. lawmakers dropped nearly all funding for curbing the virus beyond American borders, a move many health experts slammed as dangerously short-sighted. They warn the suspension of COVID-19 aid for poorer countries could ultimately allow the kind of unchecked transmission needed for the next worrisome variant to emerge and unravel much of the progress achieved so far...

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the world organization's leading human rights body over allegations Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations the United States and Ukraine have called war crimes...

CHERNIHIV, Ukraine -- Russian troops retreating from this northern Ukrainian city left behind crushed buildings, streets littered with destroyed cars and residents in dire need of food and other aid -- images that added fuel to Kyiv's calls Thursday for more Western help to halt Moscow's next offensive...

Members of Cape Girardeau's Board of Education elected Dr. R. Ferrell Ervin president of the board and Terry Taylor vice president at a special meeting last night; Ervin said the board is heading down a road paved by community involvement and voter approval following the April 1 election; the first step down that road is sale of $14 million in bonds for school improvements approved by voters; at the meeting, the board gave A.G. Edwards authority to sell the bonds...