Stories from Friday, February 7, 2014

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Associate Editor A Poplar Bluff, Mo., man accused of abusing a 5-year-old boy by biting and spanking him is to appear in court next week on a child abuse charge. William E. Storey, 47, of the 1500 block of Thomas Street is to appear at 1 p.m. Monday before Associate Circuit Judge John Bloodworth for a preliminary hearing on the Class C felony of abuse of a child...

By DAVID SILVERBERG Associate Editor Shortly after Peter Tinsley filed for the Ward 5 opening on the City Council questions arose that could have removed him from the ballot. Now, those questions appear to have been satisfactorily answered and Tinsley is free to resume his campaigning free from the cloud of rumor...

By DAVID SILVERBERG Associate Editor A hearing on Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster's request for a preliminary injunction against the Nichols Disposal site southwest of Poplar Bluff, Mo., has been rescheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, Feb. 10 in Butler County Circuit Court...

Help! My cake has fallen; my piecrust is tough; my bread is crumbly; and the cookies are burnt on the bottom. What's a baker to do? If you've had any of these problems, don't despair. First, check your oven. An easy way to check if your range or wall oven is operating properly is to bake a standard box white cake mix. ...

Educate on tax increases City Manager and Council: Please educate the people in the tax increase. What is it for? Who gets the money? What are you using it for? How many years? City employees got their raises and benefits, what do we get? More excuses? Higher taxes? And higher bills. ...

Barbara Fortner MALDEN, Mo. -- Barbara Fortner, 80, of St. Peters, Mo., died Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Peters. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Bradshaw Funeral Home in Malden. The graveside service will follow at 11 a.m. at Stanfield Cemetery...

Wilma Broyles DEXTER, Mo. -- Wilma Broyles, 81, of Dexter died Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, at the Southeast Health Center of Stoddard County. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time and will be announced by the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter...

Philadelphia's public school system has joined several other big-city school systems, such as those in Atlanta, Detroit and Washington, D.C., in widespread teacher-led cheating on standardized academic achievement tests. So far, the city has fired three school principals, and The Wall Street Journal reports, "Nearly 140 teachers and administrators in Philadelphia public schools have been implicated in one of the nation's largest cheating scandals." (1/23/14) (http://tinyurl.com/q5makm3). ...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Despite our endless blather about democracy, we Americans seem to be able to put our devotion to democratic principles on the shelf, when they get in the way of our New World Order. In 2012, in the presidential election in Egypt, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood won in a landslide. President Obama hailed the outcome...

By MIKE JENSEN Publisher Sikeston Standard Democrat The President's theme of "income inequality" is not gaining the traction the administration had hoped. Anxious to move the narrative away from the widely unpopular Obamacare fiasco, the drumbeat of "income inequality" seemed a popular notion...

Jack Walters WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- James "Jack" R. Walters, 86, of Wappapello died Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014, at Charlevoix Care Center in St. Charles, Mo. The arrangements are pending and will be announced by Cotrell Funeral Service in Wappapello.

The Neelyville Tigers only lost one senior last year and have played mostly underclassmen over the past two seasons. Under new coach Patrick Morton the Tigers earned the No. 2 seed of this year's Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament, which starts Saturday at East Carter...

Chelci Mae Thurman and Jonathan Ray McCaig, of Jackson, Mo., have chosen the name Arian Michael Thurman for their 7-pound, 7-ounce son born at 8:34 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014 at Saint Francis Medical Center's Family BirthPlace in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Arian was 19 and three-quarter inches long...

When Becky Hale first took over the Neelyville girls basketball program 13 years ago, the Lady Tigers weren't able to make much noise in the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament. Instead, teams like Doniphan and Twin Rivers were winning or playing for the title year after year...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz was short on time and on scholarships when he set out to bring his first group of recruits to the university. "Recruiting's a 12-month process and really, when you talk about just the days we were on the road, we tried to do it in 12 days," Matukewicz said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon...

James White James "Jim" G. White, 80, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Mr. White was born Oct. 10, 1933 in Bloomington, Ill. to the late Dillard and Inez White. He moved to Poplar Bluff in 1974 and was a retired farmer and an independent truck driver. Mr. White attended Westwood Baptist Church in Poplar Bluff. He enjoyed spending time with his family, all types of sports, coaching, hunting and fishing...

Joshua Anderson Joshua Aaron Anderson, 26, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. Visitation will be at 6 p.m. Sunday at Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home. Burial will be in City Cemetery...

Reese Caroline Murphy is the name Joel and Jessica Murphy of Poplar Bluff, Mo. have chosen for their 5-pound, 10-ounce daughter born at 5:09 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Reese was 17 and one-half inches long...