Stories from Saturday, May 21, 2016

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer Neelyville School District will expand its early childhood program next year, but is passing on an opportunity to participate in a grant for a school resource officer, citing cost. School board members met Thursday to discuss the matters, also deciding to drop enrollment in a state athletics association for the district's junior high sports programs...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer A meeting held Thursday by the National Weather Service with area emergency responders and media is expected to help increase warning times during severe weather. Participants included first responders from Butler, Wayne, Stoddard, Dunklin, Bollinger, New Madrid and Cape Girardeau counties, according to officials...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Poplar Bluff R-I Board of Education approved a laundry list of items during its end-of-the-school-year meeting on Thursday, giving employees a salary bump and awarding bids on multiple repairs and purchases. Board members last month received a proposal to increase the district base salaries by $750, thereby giving employees a pay raise across the board. ...

By DONNA FARLEY Staff Writer VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Blue skies stretched overhead on a recent afternoon as U.S. Park Ranger Lindel Gregory steered a motorboat eight miles up the Current River from Van Buren to a popular landing. Passing empty gravel bars and the occasional campsite, the river was quiet, but the Memorial Day holiday will mark a dramatic shift in usage for the Ozark National Scenic Riverways...

The Butler County Genealogical Society met April 28 at the First United Methodist Church for it's monthly meeting. A special presentation was awarded to Shirley Pearman for her years of service. Following an introduction of visitors, a program was given by Madelyn Wilson on raising sheep and the harvesting and spinning of wool. The program was informative and everyone was offered a turn at the spinning wheel...

Register now for the first SPOT Skin Cancer & Melanoma 5K Run and Walk which will be held from 8 a.m. until noon, Saturday at McLane Park. Advanced ticket registration includes a T-shirt and costs $20. Event day tickets, $25 (no T-shirt guaranteed). Same day registration begins at 8 a.m., The 5K Run/Walk will start at 9:30 a.m...

By JOEL MATHIS and BEN BOYCHUK Tribune News Service The contest to be the Democratic presidential nominee hit an ugly new low last weekend, when Nevada supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders reportedly threw chairs and made threats against a senior state party official after 64 Sanders delegates were disqualified at the state convention. Sanders said he does not support violence, but there are now worries the party's convention in Philadelphia could face similar incidents...

By MIKE JENSEN Publisher Sikeston Standard Democrat Once again this past week, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus played the race card against opponents of the president's latest progressive scheme. The argument was - as it has been for the past eight years - that the president's opponents were racists and prone to oppose the president's policies only because of his skin color...

By STEPHEN MOORE Hillary Clinton took another sniper shot at Donald Trump's tax reform plan last week by calling it "a tax cut for billionaires" like him. She even argued that Trump "spends" trillions of dollars on the tax cuts. Question: How do you spend money on a tax cut?...

FESTUS, Mo. -- Things didn't exactly start smoothly for Clearwater in the MSHSAA Class 3 District 3 championship game Thursday afternoon. An energetic Arcadia Valley squad came out firing and scratched out two hits and a run against the second-seeded Tigers' ace in the bottom of the third inning to grab the early momentum, while Clearwater was left without a hit during that stretch...

Shirley A. Rodgers Shirley A. Rodgers, 78, a lifelong resident of Poplar Bluff, Mo. passed away Friday, May 13, 2016 at Crystal Oaks Care Center in Crystal City, Mo. Mrs. Rodgers, the daughter of the late Ellis Wade and Opal Lorton Brown, was born March 16, 1938 in St. Louis, Mo. She was a member of Faith Tabernacle and had retired as a cook at Frosty's and Jessie's Drive Ins. Mrs. Rodgers enjoyed spending time with her family...

Tommy Gale Carson Tommy Gale Carson, 57, of Poplar Bluff died Wednesday, May 18, 2016 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Visitation will be 11 a.m. Saturday, May 21, 2016 at Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home, Inc. with the funeral to follow at 1 p.m. in the funeral home chapel with Rev. Stephen Burns officiating. Burial will be in Qulin Cemetery...

Marlee Grace Young CAMPBELL, Mo. -- Marlee Grace Young of Bernie, Mo., infant daughter of Cody Young and Megan Davis, died Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Graveside services will be at 11 a.m., Friday, May 20, at the Woodlawn Cemetery-Landess Addition in Campbell with Rev. Nick Robertson officiating...

More than $18.6 million in prizes of $1,000 or more were awarded to Missouri Lottery players during April. Winners from this area include: Pick 4 winners: Keith Proffer, Puxico, $6,000 Club Keno winners: Pamela Adams, Campbell, $1,384 Dennis Dodson, Dexter,...

Paulette Jean (Kiser) Swindle Paulette Jean (Kiser) Swindle, of Bonham, Texas passed away on Wednesday, May 18, 2016 in Denison, Texas at the age of 67. Ms. Swindle was born Aug. 30, 1948 to Elmer "Glen" Kiser and Mary "Louise" (Sells) Kiser. She was a 1966 graduate of Poplar Bluff High School and then attended Poplar Bluff Vocational School where she became an LPN. ...

Martha Jean (Hubbard) Stewart The story of Martha Jean Stewart's life might be told best through her hands. They were hands of extraordinary strength, gentleness, creativity and compassion, capable of reaching beyond her 82 years of life. They began as the hands of an inquisitive little girl born on a swampland farm in Southeast Missouri to Ralph and Alma Hubbard. ...