Stories from Friday, January 20, 2023

Poplar Bluff city police officers Friday arrested one of five escapees from St. Francois County Detention Center. Inmate Michael Wilkins, 40, of Festus has been captured and is now in custody of the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department. He and the four other inmates reportedly broke out of the St. Francois County Tuesday night. On Thursday, information was developed leading investigators to believe Wilkins was in Poplar Bluff...

Poplar Bluff schools can start using metal detectors at district buildings and events, following approval Thursday night of a new policy. The policy is part of an update from the Missouri School Board Association, according to information presented to the Board of Education...

4-H Clubs are the doorway for youth to reach their fullest potential and volunteer leaders have the keys to help unlock those doors. Corretta Bishop is the leader of the Poplar Bluff 4-H Club which, was organized within the past year. A former 4-H Club in town was disbanded about seven years ago...

Ag Connect is an annual conference designed to connect and recognize those who are active in the agriculture industry. During the conference, local 4-H and Future Farmers of America programs are celebrated for their contribution to agriculture, as well as their continuing efforts to reconnect farmers to their roots, according to the University of Missouri Butler County Extension, which organizes the event...

No Poplar Bluff R-I students were injured in an accident shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday at the intersection of 11th Street and West Pine Boulevard. A passenger in a 2007 Ford Edge was transferred to the hospital emergency room by EMS, according to officials...

SIKESTON — Route 53 in Butler County will be reduced to one lane as Missouri Department of Transportation crews trim the trees along the roadside. This section of roadway is located at County Road 205 near Qulin, Missouri. Weather permitting, work will take place Friday, Jan. 20 from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m...

J.C. Penney Co. unveiled its new beauty department Friday with a ribbon cutting. Salon manager Victoria Griffith explained, the new beauty department will now offer the store’s salon products as well, “we have incorporated new lines along with our salon, so this merges our salon and beauty department.”...

Peggy Sue Faughn, 74, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, passed away Jan. 17, 2023 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. Peggy was born on Sept. 11, 1948 to William and Rosetta Revees in Steelville, Missouri. She married Albert L Faughn on Sept. 17, 1965...

Shirley Ann Shearrer, 87, of Piedmont, Missouri, passed away Friday, Jan. 20, 2023 at the Clark’s Mountain Nursing Center in Piedmont. She was born Jan. 24, 1935 in Cherry Grove, Patterson, Missouri, the daughter of Fenton White and Mabel (Garren) White...

Poplar Bluff Police Department Crystal Morandi, 41, of Poplar Bluff, was arrested at 7:58 a.m. Jan. 18, on North Main Street. Morandi was booked in on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, a Butler County warrant for failure to appear on tampering with property, and Poplar Bluff municipal warrants for failure to appear on charges of stealing, trespassing, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Morandi was lodged in the Butler County jail...