Stories from Thursday, February 13, 2014

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer Most school districts are still weighing the best way to get in make up days. Many need to meet with staff and school boards before a final decision is made. Here's a breakdown of where local district's stood before East Carter, Van Buren, Greenville, Doniphan, Lonestar and Puxico missed today:...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer As Poplar Bluff transportation Director Dennis Overbey made his way Friday up a long, icy stretch of County Road 523 north of Poplar Bluff, his truck began to slide. Even in four-wheel drive. "What you've got to realize is these buses have the engine in the front. They're made out of aluminum, with no weight in the back," he explained...

Haggett on Dean's List Jessica Leigh Haggett, the daughter of Brad and Pam Haggett of Poplar Bluff, Mo., was named to the Dean's List at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Fla., for academic achievement during the 2013 fall semester. This is the third semester that Haggett, who is a history education major, with a second teaching field of technology, has made the Dean's List. She also is pursuing a speech minor...

By MICHELLE MALKIN Fraudsters on the inside, hackers on the outside. Here we are, stuck in the middle with the security nightmare called Obamacare. Can it get any worse? Yes, it can. After the spectacular website crashes during last fall's federal health insurance exchange rollout, enrollees will soon wish the entire system had stayed down and dead. ...

"Oz" events at library Two events, celebrating the 75th anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz," will be at the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library next week. The 1939 movie, "The Wizard of Oz," will be on the big screen in the library theater at 2 p.m. Sunday. Everyone is invited to enjoy special movie trivia and free popcorn...

Kids class at museum The Margaret Harwell Art Museum is hosting a children's art class, "Scratchboard Art", from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the MHAM Annex, at 415 N. Main St. Students will learn how to create their own scratchboard substrates, and will design and carve designs onto their newly colored board. This will be a messy class, and children are encouraged to dress accordingly...

Friday was my husband's birthday. We spent it in the car. Not all of it, just four hours. He was driving. I was writing. It worked pretty well. We had an unspoken agreement. He didn't tell me how to write. And I tried not to tell him how to drive. We left our home in Las Vegas around mid-afternoon, to drive to Phoenix for the weekend, to celebrate his birthday and see the Warriors play the Suns...

Irvin Hampton PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Irvin Hampton, 86, of Piedmont, Mo., died Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014, in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Arrangements are pending at this time. Online condolences: www.rueggfuneralhome.com.

Registration for Early Head Start The SCMCAA Early Head Start program serves Butler County and Ripley County families with pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers up to the age of 3 years. To be eligible for the program, families must meet income eligibility guidelines...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Imagine butterflies flitting from flower to flower come springtime and hummingbirds and goldfinches taking shelter in your backyard habitat. This scene isn't likely to be imaginary for those who attend the ninth annual Native Plant & Garden Seminar at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center on March 8, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m...

The Obama administration's response to the Congressional Budget Office's prediction that Obamacare will cause 2.5 million fewer Americans to work in the coming years is an opportunity for Republicans to seize the moral high ground on the issue of work...

By JOHN PRATT Mo. Dept. of Conservation Recently, I have been getting several questions about the conservation order for light geese. In today's article, I will try to answer some of the questions and tell the readers how they might participate. The first question might be about what light geese are. "Light geese" include lesser snow (both the white and blue phase) and Ross's geese...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor It isn't very often a sane person looks into a biting north wind on a bitter cold morning and wishes for a snowstorm of sorts, but that's what I was doing last week near Stuttgart, Ark. I wasn't hoping for snow in precipitation form (there was more than enough sleet on the drive down), but instead I was looking for big flocks of snow geese to pile into equally big decoy spreads...

Leonard Gage WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- Leonard Wesley Gage, 61, of Greenville, Mo., passed away Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014, at his home. Mr. Gage was born April 9, 1952, in St. Louis, Mo., to James Franklin and Mary Lucille Garrett Gage. They preceded him in death...

ELLSINORE -- A game with 12 lead changes in the first half turned into a blowout by the fourth quarter. The upset-minded Greenville Bears came out with a strong shooting effort Tuesday night against second-seeded Neelyville in the first round of the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament and trailed by one point with two minutes to play in the third quarter...

Lawrence Sullivan DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Lawrence "Larry Bob" Sullivan, 73, of Granite City, Ill., died Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014, in Christian NE Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. Visitation will held at noon Thursday in the Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan. The funeral service will follow at 2 p.m. in the funeral home chapel with Brother Danny Miller officiating. Burial will be in the Oak Grove Cemetery...

Betty Denny PUXICO, Mo. -- Betty L. Denny, 77, of Puxico died Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014, in the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Betty was born May 26, 1936, to the late Earl "Red" and Dorothy Boyer Dillon in Poplar Bluff, Mo. She was the beloved wife of Donald Denny; loving mother of Byron (Rose) Denny and Donna (David) Hayes; beloved grandmother of Sunshine and Donny House, Katie and Toby Lovett, Bobbie Jo and Greg Dontrich, Jessica Benson and Daniel Copeland, Stacy Stotts, John and Summer Hayes, Frank and Clarissa Richardet; great-grandmother to Tonya, Jasmine, Journee, Bobby, Anthony, Austin, Vivian, Lanie, Dakota, Johnny and Sadie.. ...

Lee Cummings Lebern "Lee" Eugene Cummings, 85, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., passed away Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014, at Poplar Bluff Regional Hospital. Mr. Cummings was born in Tupelo, Miss., Aug. 28, 1928, to the late Mosby C. and Katie Mills Cummings. On Aug. 13, 1976, he and Doris Evelyn Lindsay were married in Poplar Bluff. She survives of the home...

OTTUMWA, Iowa -- The Three Rivers Raiders allowed the No. 1 team in the nation to score 81 points ... in the first half. Indian Hills utilized its high-pressure defense and fast-paced offense to force 27 turnovers and attempt 88 shots, 41 of them 3-pointers, to beat the Raiders 149-97...

ELLSINORE -- Maybe a few snow days were just what the Lady Eagles needed. Naylor led wire-to-wire and by as much as 23 Tuesday against fourth-seeded Twin Rivers, winning 63-44 in the first round of the Ozark Foothills Tournament. "I felt like we've got the talent and we've talked about it before. ...

Ryan Brittingham got the party started and Stacy Gipson fueled a run as the Poplar Bluff Mules snapped a seven-game losing streak Tuesday night. Gipson scored 11 of Poplar Bluff's 17 straight points in the first quarter as the Mules ran away from New Madrid Central 66-50 at Peters Gym...

Garry Sides DEXTER, Mo. -- Garry Leon Sides, 61, of the Essex, Mo., and Dexter areas, died Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014, at the Southeast Health Center of Stoddard County in Dexter. Visitation will begin at noon today at the Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter. The funeral service will follow at 1:30 p.m. at the funeral home chapel with the Rev. Jason Safirt of Dexter officiating and Marlin Durham of Bernie, Mo., assisting. Burial will be in the Triplett Cemetery near Dexter...

By SARABETH WALLER Staff Writer PUXICO, Mo. -- Disputes over the evidence room, the chain of command and the upcoming election have led to ongoing conflict in Puxico city government. In his written board report presented to the Puxico Board of Aldermen at the Jan. ...

Tarius Johnson (Three Rivers College) went 7-for-12 for 14 points and three rebounds for Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, but Morehead State came away with the 86-79 win. Johnson started and was 7-for-12 shooting over 32 minutes. He finished second on the team in scoring...

BERNIE -- The Bernie Mules earned a crucial district victory Tuesday night at home. With a 63-50 win over Hayti, the Mules get a leg up on the seedings in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 tournament. "It was good to see some fire in our kids," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said. "We've been playing without much emotion or passion and we simply aren't talented enough to play that way."...