Stories from Friday, March 24, 2017

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Poplar Bluff Junior High will have a new principal next school year. Instructional technology facilitator and long-time educator Candace Warren was hired last week to replace Bob Case, who will retire at the end of this school year...

By CHELSAE CORDIA Staff Writer The Butler County Republican Central Committee hosted a roundtable discussion presented by the American Federation for Children Wednesday. Topics covered included education reform, charter schools, funding for special needs students and other issues in the political forefront. Representatives Todd Richardson, Steve Cookson and Sen. Doug Libla were present and contributed to the discussion...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Three Rivers has balanced a deficit caused by lower enrollment in 2016-17 and state funding cuts, college officials announced Wednesday. The college faced a nearly $1.5 million shortfall earlier in the year following tuition falling nearly $1 million below estimates and cuts in state funding of approximately $450,000. ...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer A ceremony will be held Friday at Three Rivers College recognizing the day combat soldiers left Vietnam and celebrating veterans of that war. The more than 50 area residents who died while serving during the conflict will also be remembered during the fifth annual Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans ceremony. The event will begin at 11 a.m. at the Bess Activity Center...

By MIKE JENSEN Publisher Sikeston Standard Democrat Two bills are crawling through the Missouri Legislature that would add an interesting new twist to driver-education classes in our state. If approved - and don't count on it - new prospective drivers in Missouri would learn about driving safety, traffic signs and how to play nice with law enforcement if you are asked to pull over...

By STEPHEN MOORE Imagine if in 1961 John F. Kennedy's advisers had told him, "We will never put a man on the moon." Or what if Ronald Reagan's advisers had assured the Gipper, "The Cold War is unwinnable. We should sue for peace." Actually, many naysayers told JFK and Reagan exactly these things. Fortunately, these presidents were visionaries. They asked: "Why not?"...

By GEORGE F. WILL TEMPE, Ariz. -- Encouraging developments are as welcome as they are rare in colleges and universities that cultivate diversity in everything but thought. Fortunately, state legislatures, alumni and philanthropists are planting little academic platoons that will make campuses less intellectually monochrome. One such, just launched, is Arizona State University's School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership...

TOPS 734 has meeting TOPS 734 Take Off Pounds Sensibly was called to order at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22. Fifteen TOPS and two KOPS were present as leader Linda Morgan called the role. Lou Ann Wrather read the secretary report and said report stands approved...

The popular "Art for Animals" fund raiser has become so successful it has outgrown its quarters. The two-week art show and silent auction, which benefits the Animal Welfare Alliance (AWA), will open this year on April 7 at the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library instead of its previous site, the Artfully Framed gallery...

Amber (King) Cremeens, a 1993 graduate of Poplar Bluff High School, was selected as Indiana's Soccer Administrator of the Year for 2016. Cremeens received the honor out of a field of over 600 administrators during the annual Indiana Soccer Awards Gala on Feb. 25 in Indianapolis. She represented the United Soccer Alliance of Indiana...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor Nine teams fished Saturday's Wappapello Crappie Club Classic tournament, and standing at the top of the podium at the end of the day was the team of Campbell and Walker. The pair's winning weight was 6.60 pounds, which was boosted by the big fish of the day, one which weighed 1.60 pounds...

By CALEB PRYOR Mo. Dept. of Conservation Adopting animals that seem to have been abandoned by their parents isn't kind. Each year, more than 100 Missourians find fawns without their mothers nearby and decide the young deer have been abandoned. Believing they are performing a good deed, they bundle the spotted animals off to their house and try to raise it themselves. It's a scene that's as tragic as it is common...

UNION CITY, Tenn. --The Mules used solid defense and aggressive baserunning to earn their first win of the season to open the L.H. Ladd Memorial Tournament on Wednesday night. Tanner Tibbs took a one-hit shutout into the fifth inning backed by an errorless defense and the Mules stole six bases in an 8-1 win over Milan (Tenn.)...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tyrannosaurus Rex and his buddies could be on the move as a new study proposes a massive shake-up of the dinosaur family tree. Scientists who took a deeper look at dinosaur fossils suggest a different evolutionary history for dinosaurs, moving theropods such as T. Rex to a new branch of the family tree and hinting at an earlier and more northern origin for dinosaurs...

By CANDICE DAVIS Mo. Dept. of Conservation CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - As rising temperatures and increased daylight hours mark the start of a new season, the Missouri Department of Conservation says not to be surprised by encounters with snakes, bears or other wildlife...

BROSELEY -- Dustin Benson didn't tout his constantly improving record or the accolades he's earned during his time coach the boys basketball team at Twin Rivers High School. The thing that mattered the most and what made his decision to leave the school after seven seasons a difficult one was having to say goodbye to the players he's impacted along the way...

Chaylea Mosby continued the Dexter Lady Bearcats' recent run of Bob Gray Award winners Wednesday night while Fred Thatch became the fifth Sikeston player to win the John Gibbs Award. Both were among the honorees at the 59th annual Poplar Bluff Letter Club Basketball Banquet at the Black River Coliseum, which started off with a keynote address by Saint Louis University men's basketball coach Travis Ford...

Joel Wyatt has built quite the resume in seven seasons as head coach of the Malden football team. A 69-15 record, conference and district titles, two straight trips to the state semifinals and the school's second appearance in the state championship game are just a few of the accomplishments in his first stint as a head coach...

Marsha Ann McCluskey Marsha Ann McCluskey, 70, of Poplar Bluff, passed away on Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. She was born on July 25, 1946 to Marshall Carver and Virginia Avery in California. Virginia later married Jacob Baumgardner and he adopted Marsha. She retired from John J. Pershing Medical Center where she worked in medical records/coding. On Oct. 20, 1973 she married Robert McCluskey in Poplar Bluff, Mo...

Jewel E. Hale Jewel E. Hale, concluded her life on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017 at Cedargate Healthcare in Poplar Bluff at the wonderful age of 100. A graveside service and inurnment of ashes will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the Poplar Bluff City Cemetery with Deacon Dave Farris officiating...

Zola Mae Scarbrogh MALDEN, Mo -- Zola Mae Scarbrogh, 88, of Malden died Wednesday, March 22, 2017, at Genera Baptist Nursing Home in Campbell. Visitation will be from 1 - 2 p.m., Friday at the Landess Funeral Chapel in Malden. Funeral services will follow at 2 p.m., Friday, at the Landess Funeral Home Chapel in Malden with Jared Hancock officiating...

Kenneth Lee Peppers DEXTER, Mo. -- Kenneth Lee Peppers, 58, of Puxico, the son of the late Jerome Peppers and Myrtle Lawrence Peppers was born July 26, 1958 in New Madrid and departed this life Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at his residence. Mr. Peppers was a truck driver for Mark Hoskins Trucking Company in Kennett and a resident of Puxico...

Doris Ann Davis Doris Ann Davis, 77, of Poplar Bluff, died Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at her home. Arrangements are pending with Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Zeke Ward and Jordan Cook each drove in three runs and combined on a one-hitter as the Naylor baseball team blasted Scott County Central 14-2 on Wednesday. The Eagles (1-1) exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning thanks in part to a single by Jacob Cagle and Chance Smith's two-run triple...

Kameron Misner had another strong week for Missouri baseball as the Tigers swept Alabama, then won a single game against Arkansas-Little Rock, to improve their winning streak to a record 20 games. Missouri, which hasn't lost since its season opener since Eastern Michigan, beat Alabama 3-0, 7-4 and 9-5 over the weekend, then beat Little-Rock 9-5 on Tuesday...

William 'Bill' Asher PIEDMONT, Mo. - William "Bill" Asher, of Patterson, died Wednesday, March 22, 2017, at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. Arrangements currently are pending with Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont. Online condolences: www.rueggfuneralhomes.com...