Stories from Friday, May 5, 2017

As Poplar Bluff looks to close a shelter for flood victims over the weekend, efforts are beginning to turn to recovery work. A federal declaration of disaster will be needed to access the largest pots of recovery money, including dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Association, said Butler County EMA Director Robbie Myers...

On the day one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history destroyed a 40-block section of downtown Poplar Bluff, Mo., residents watched buildings blown down like pieces of cardboard. "The entire Downtown was wiped out in just three minutes," later recalled resident Faye Opermann, who was a high school student at what was then the Vine Street campus. "There had been so many beautiful buildings on Main and Broadway all two and three stories. .....

By MIKE JENSEN Publisher Sikeston Standard Democrat Bill Gates of Microsoft fame is worth an estimated $87 billion. Amazon's Jeff Bezos follows closely on his heels with an estimated worth of $80 billion. Reliable Warren Buffett is worth $75 billion...

John Phillip Wright, 67, of Doniphan, Mo., died Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at Landmark Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. Monday, May 8, 2017, at the Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan, followed by a funeral service at 1 p.m. in the funeral home chapel with Pastor Chuck Carr officiating. A Masonic Service will take place at 12:30 p.m. in the chapel. Burial will be in the Antioch Cemetery...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN The White House Correspondents Association dinner exposed anew how far from Middle America our elite media reside. At the dinner, the electricity was gone, the glamor and glitz were gone. Neither the president nor his White House staff came. Even Press Secretary Sean Spicer begged off...

WASHINGTON -- It is urgent for Americans to think and speak clearly about Donald Trump's inability to do either. This seems to be not a mere disinclination but a disability. It is not merely the result of intellectual sloth but of an untrained mind bereft of information and married to stratospheric self-confidence...

TOPS 734 has meeting TOP MO 734 Take Off Pounds Sensibly met at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 19. Leader Linda Morgan called the meeting with 14 TOPS and 1 KOPS present. Lou Ann Wrather read the secretary's report. The best losers this week are Kathy Browning for TOPS and Linda VonRuedgsich for KOPS. VonRuedgsich won the exchange chart drawing and Wanda Flurry won the gotcha box drawing...

Witold Alexander Hoja, MD, 87, passed away on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Alex was born on Sept. 14, 1929 in Krotoszyn, Poland to Jan and Teresa (Gorzel) Hoja. He lived in Poland until the age of 14 when he escaped to Germany in 1943 where he lived with his older sister. ...

June C. Winchester, 82, of Piedmont, died Thursday, BMay 4, 2017, at her residence. Visitation will be held from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m., Sunday, at Faith Family Worship Center. Funeral services will follow at 10:30 a.m. also at the church. Burial will be at Masonic Cemetery. Pastor Wayne Street will officiate...

They have been together for the better part of a decade, pitcher and catcher, batterymates since the were young. Courtney Duckett, taking her place behind the plate, flashing the signs to her pitcher, Andrea Kearbey, grasping the ball on the mound and ready to unleash fury...

Kassi Riley has been going to Arkansas State for the last two years but in the fall the Poplar Bluff senior will be cheering there for the Red Wolves. "I've been going to their recruitment camps for a while now, since then I've always wanted to go there," said Riley, who recently signed her letter of intent to do just that...

PIEDMONT Mo. -- Ray "Sonny" White, 82, of Piedmont, died Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Visitation will be held at noon Sunday at the Morrison-Worley Funeral Chapel in Piedmont. Funeral services will follow at 2 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home chapel with Bro. Richard Sanders officiating. Burial with Military Honors will be in the Masonic Cemetery...

Weston James Cannon is the name chosen by Cassandra Lee and Travis Carl Cannon of Doniphan for their 3-pound, 7-ounce son born at 12:45 p.m., Thursday, April 6, 2017 at Saint Francis Medical Center's Family BirthPlace in Cape Girardeau. Weston was 17 1/2 inches long...

NEELYVILLE, Mo.-- Kenneth Lee Bruce, 71, of Doniphan, Mo., passed away Monday, May 1, 2017 at his residence. He was born Oct. 31,1945 at Naylor, Mo. to the late Robert Bruce and Lela Moore Bruce. On June 7, 1964, he was married to Brenda Kinnard. She preceded him in death on June 15, 2004. On Dec. 29, 2012, at Doniphan, Mo, he was married to Beth House. She survives...

Many small business owners have questions on how to manage their business more effectively or how can they get financing. They also wonder where the answers can be found to the questions. A class, offered by the local University of Missouri Cape Girardeau County Extension Small Business Technology Development Center, is designed to answer those questions and more...