Stories from Friday, December 7, 2018

Three Rivers held the lead Thursday night for all but four minutes of its game against Sunrise Christian Academy. Those four minutes would cost them another chance to win over a tough opponent. With under five minutes to go in the second half, Sunrise guard Shareef Mitchell scored two of his 21 points to cap an 8-0 run and put the Buffaloes ahead for the first time at 76-75...

DEXTER -- The Poplar Bluff Mules controlled the boards in overtime, and East St. Louis missed five free throws during the extra period in their 64-57 victory on the opening night of the SEMO Border Challenge. The Mules (2-2) out-rebounded East St. Louis (Ill.) 9-0 and outscored the Flyerettes 9-2 in overtime...

POCAHONTAS, Ark. -- The Mules finished with seven consideration cut times as they comfortably won a seven-team meet in Pocahontas, Ark. Poplar Bluff finished with 645 points, well ahead of Mountain Home's 367 points. Jonesboro (Ark.) got third with 342 points, followed by Greene County Tech (203), Pocahontas (118), Valley View (100) and Brookland (45)...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Poplar Bluff boys basketball team didn't falter, battling back from a fourth-quarter eight-point deficit. But when the Mules took the lead, they struggled to maintain the advantage. Cape Central ended the game on a 5-0 run, and No. 3 Poplar Bluff missed an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer as the second-seeded Tigers held on for a 65-62 semifinal win in the semifinals of the SEMO Conference tournament on Thursday at the Sikeston Field House...

Silicon Valley used to be technology companies. But it has become the "morality police," controlling free speech on its platforms. What could go wrong? In a speech Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said: "Hate tries to make its headquarters in the digital world. ...

DEXTER -- The Dexter Bearcats defense stymied Tupelo (Miss.) in the first half Thursday night at the SEMO Border Challenge at the Bearcat Event Center. The Bearcats held Tupelo to 18 first-half points and rolled to a 76-56 victory. "I'm proud of the girls. I thought they did an unbelievable job defensively tonight," Dexter coach Chad Allen said. "They were super active."...

It's been tough trying to process immediately what was happening and how to respond to my children. What do you do when your child tells you a student was in class in a KKK outfit? It's just not something you'd imagine and yet why shouldn't we? Why shouldn't we have to deal with the harder questions of racism, which seem to be plaguing our country right now. ...

"We are most certainly not the experts when it comes to the historical disputes in this region," Airbnb stated in announcing that it would no longer list rentals by Israeli citizens in the West Bank. Arbnb's modesty is commendable, but its ignorance is insidious...

Airbnb, the company that connects travelers with temporary housing, has announced that it will no longer list housing in Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. In a press statement, Airbnb explained that it had studied carefully the status of the West Bank, which is territory of Palestine occupied by Israel...

Staff Reports Members of the First United Methodist Church are making their shopping list and checking it twice. There has to be enough food for the 2018 Christmas Community Dinner beginning at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 12, since they invited everyone to join them for the banquet celebrating Jesus' love...

Staff Reports "The Silence and the Sound," a Christmas cantata, will be presented at 6 p.m. Sunday by musicians of the First United Methodist Church and guest artists. The contemporary work, by acclaimed composer and arranger Heather Sorenson, will feature the 40-voice Chancel Choir, the Children's Choir and a 14-piece wind and string orchestra comprised of both church and guest instrumentalists...

CAMPBELL, Mo. - Gerry 'Doc' Edwards, 76, of Piggott, Ark., died Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018 at his residence. Visitation will be from 1 - 2 p.m., Monday, Dec. 10 at Landess Funeral Home in Campbell. The funeral will follow at 2 p.m., at the funeral home. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery in Campbell. Landess Funeral Home of Campbell is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences: landessfh2@yahoo.com...

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "...You are not your own,for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." In the early 1800s, a Christian man named Adoniram Judson felt a calling to the mission field. He had been offered an opportunity to pastor a large church in the United States, but he declined the offer. He said, "I can't do that. Churches in America have heard the gospel hundreds of times. I want to go where the name of Jesus has never been proclaimed!"...

The budget for the city of Poplar Bluff will be driven in 2019 by more than $500 million in projected retail spending at local stores by residents, travelers and others in the region. Sales tax collections on those purchases will pay for over 40 percent of almost $12.4 million in planned general fund spending on police and fire protection, street improvements and other services in the next budget year, according to city documents...

Twin Rivers High School senior Kiera Williams put her bridge building skills to the test last week and walked away with a first place award during the Missouri Department of Transportation's 15th Annual Bridge Building Competition. Williams competed against nearly 40 other Southeast Missouri schools to capture first place in the computer-based electronic bridge competition and was awarded $50...