Stories from Friday, April 30, 2021

Occupational therapy is health care’s best kept secret. Occupation therapy practitioners have a holistic approach in which the focus is non adapting to the environment and/or task to fit the person. The person is an integral part of the therapy team. It is an evidence-based practice deeply rooted in science...

One of the fascinating issues for the 2021 legislative session has been the idea of a tax increase. You would think such an idea would be dead on arrival in a Republican-controlled legislature. But the issue is far more complicated. Essentially, it’s a proposal to impose a sales tax on your online purchases from merchants with no physical presence in Missouri, and thus -- with some exceptions -- not subject to state or local sales taxes...

27 years, and for 14 years with the R-I school district. She currently co-teaches first and second grade special education at Eugene Field. Burnett said she became a teacher because she likes to work with kids. “I’ve always had a soft spot for special ed kids because they need lots of patience and love,” Burnett said...

Darrel D. Schweitzer passed away on Saturday, April 17, in Overland Park, Kansas at the age of 84. He is survived by Shirley, his loving wife of 65 years; three children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Surviving are Rod Schweitzer (Cheryl) of Jefferson City, Missouri, Julie Blau (Rick) of Overland Park Kansas and Jerry Schweitzer of Columbia, Missouri. ...

Kali Dawes was screaming at God when her telephone rang. A call from her grandmother had just interrupted the 33-year-old’s plan to take her own life. The call was about a problem with her daughter’s homework. The child was in the care of Dawes’ grandmother as the Naylor woman continued to battle drug addiction...

City firefighters responded at 8:20 a.m. Thursday, April 29, to a report of a fire under the Pine Street bridge. According to the report, firefighters discovered a pile of copper wire burning on the riverbank. They extinguished the fire using five gallons of water...

A career focused on “creating a fun, loving, enriching environment in the classroom” is how fellow teacher Michelle Farmer describes Staci Barker, Oak Grove Elementary’s Teacher of the Year for 2021-2022. Barker, with 14 years in the Poplar Bluff R-I District, holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary and early-childhood education and a master’s degree in reading instruction from Arkansas State University...

Jack Clark, 87, after a valiant struggle with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, passed away peacefully to join his loved ones in heaven on April 28, 2021. His family, as well as several devoted nurses and hospice personnel from The Manor Nursing Home were at his side...

Poplar Bluff is witnessing a passing of the torch as Jerrica Fox succeeds long-time councilman Ward 2 Ed DeGaris. “Ed has been a long-time friend of mine — which I’m sure a lot of people say, because Ed is the type of person who makes friends with everyone whose life he enters,” Fox said. “Succeeding Ed on the council is bittersweet. Having served with him on the council when I represented one of the at-large seats, I valued his mentorship and counsel.”...

When something is truly special it’s worth a little extra effort to experience it. People throughout the country have made that extra effort and traveled to the tiny town of Grandin to find what “Rural Missouri” magazine named the best restaurant in rural Missouri...