Stories from Thursday, July 14, 2016

By CHELSAE CORDIA Staff Writer NEELYVILLE, Mo. - When Irene Jackson began advising the Neelyville Future Business Leaders of America chapter six years ago, it just had 13 members. And, it had not attended a state conference in five years. Fast forward to 2016. Membership is now 63 with nearly half competing at the state conference and two becoming the first students from Neelyville to advance to nationals...

By CHELSAE CORDIA Staff Writer (EDITOR'S NOTE: Hardy Billington, a member of the Butler County Republican Central Committee, is representing Missouri during the Republican platform committee meetings this week leading up to the National Convention. ...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Poplar Bluff school maintenance workers face a daunting task this summer, transferring 57 tractor-trailer loads of classroom supplies and furniture between two schools in the wake of new construction. When school opens on Sept. ...

By CHELSAE CORDIA Staff Writer Butler County In-Home Services, LLC provides care to aged individuals so they can continue living independently in their own homes. Owned by Michelle Dugas, the Poplar Bluff, Mo., based company has been in operation since December 2015...

By CHELSAE CORDIA Staff Writer The Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday the completion of a 10-acre industrial site located on South 11th Street. Poplar Bluff Industries Inc., the economic development division of the Chamber of Commerce, oversaw the project. It is the first Missouri Department of Economic Development Certified Site in Southeast Missouri...

Albert Castner Albert Marty Castner, 55, of Wappapello died June 24, 2016 at his residence. A graveside service was held July 12, 2016 at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield. Cotrell Funeral Service of Poplar Bluff was in charge of services...

By MARGARET SHACKLEFORD As part of the partnership with the Vietnam War Commemoration for the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, the Poplar Bluff Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is pleased to announce Paul Schuerenberg as a "Vietnam Veteran of the Month" for July...

Sen. Blunt's mobile office to be in Poplar Bluff U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt's staff will host a Mobile Office from 10 - 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 20, at the Poplar Bluff City Hall, 101 Oak St. Mobile offices are opportunities for Missourians to discuss their questions or concerns with the federal government one-on-one with members of Senator Blunt's staff...

By MATT WELCH Los Angeles Times via Tribune News Service A white cop shoots and kills an unthreatening black man at point-blank range during a traffic stop, and liberal activists demonize law enforcement. A black sniper executes five officers from one of the most reform-minded police departments in the country, and conservative commentators demonize the Black Lives Matter movement...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Does Hillary Clinton possess the integrity and honesty to be president of the United States? Or are those quaint and irrelevant considerations in electing a head of state in 21st-century America? These are the questions put on the table by the report from FBI Director James Comey on what his agents unearthed in their criminal investigation of the Clinton email scandal...

By WALTER E. WILLIAMS President Barack Obama and his first attorney general, Eric Holder, called for an honest conversation about race. Holder even called us "a nation of cowards" because we were unwilling to have a "national conversation" about race. ...

By KITTYE HALL Master Gardener University of Missouri Extension Landscaping: to improve the appearance of an area of land by planting trees, flowers, shrubs or grass or altering the contour of the land. Or another definition is the art of arranging or modifying the features of a landscape for aesthetic or practical reasons...

Center Ridge Cemetery mtg. Center Ridge Cemetery association will hold its annual meeting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 23. Dinner and door prize drawings will follow. Any questions or donations may be made by contacting Dewayne whitt at 573-718-8600...

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Minnesota Lynx players did not wear T-shirts supporting the Black Lives Matter movement ahead of Tuesday's game in San Antonio after four off-duty police officers walked away from security jobs at a Lynx game over the weekend because of the garb...

Howard "Eugene" Greer Sr. Howard "Eugene" Greer Sr., 70, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Saturday, July 9, 2016, at his residence. Mr. Greer was born July 31, 1945, in Poplar Bluff. He was of the Baptist faith. He served in the Army from 1965 to 1971 during the Vietnam War. He was retired from the Poplar Bluff R-I School System...

Eunice "Mabel" (Ballard) Thompson Eunice "Mabel" (Ballard) Thompson, 79, of Orient (Columbus), Ohio, passed away on Sunday, July 10, 2016 at Grant Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She was born on Dec. 9, 1936 to Phillip H. and Delphia Lorene (Gross) Ballard at Commerce, Mo. She retired from Value City and had been in poor health the past year...

Tyler Smith retired last summer. Still in his 20s, five years into his career in the Kansas City Royals minor league organization, he hung it up. Then Three Rivers assistant baseball coach Joe Scarano, with a growing family, was leaving to take a job out east. Head coach Stacey Burkey used his first call to ask Smith if he would be interested in the job...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Comebacks and tight games are beginning to become the norm for the Wayne County Lumberjacks in the postseason. A year after closing out the Missouri Senior Babe Ruth state tournament with a resurgent victory, the Lumberjacks needed another one to open their 2016 run...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Only four players will enter the final day of the Missouri Golf Association's Stroke Play Championship under par. Travis Mays of Overland Park, Kansas holds a 2-shot lead over Brevin Giebler of Cape Girardeau and Skip Berkmeyer of Wildwood with the field scheduled to play 36 holes Wednesday at Dalhousie Golf Club. Mitchell Mather of Lebanon is fourth at 1-under par midway through the 19th annual tournament...