Stories from Friday, July 15, 2016

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer Community activist group Justice For Heavenly Hafford members are applauding news that a special prosecutor has been appointed to weigh potential criminal charges against a second driver arrested in the 13-year-old's December hit-and-run death...

By BEN KLEINE SEMO News Service The Missouri State Public Defender System filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jay Nixon in Cole County because the governor withheld $3.5 million intended for the system last week. Leaders of the system said it decided not to hire 30 lawyers when its budget was cut by nearly $3.5 million in June 2015, and the system would need to make drastic cuts for the second year in a row if funding continues to be withheld...

By STEVEN HILL Los Angeles Times Via Tribune News Service The U.S. has entered an anxious era in which fewer workers have a single employer or a regular workplace. Instead they have various employers and multiple part-time jobs and "gigs," with these businesses not required to provide health care, make Social Security contributions or even offer compensation for workplace injuries...

By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER WASHINGTON -- Given their arrogance, pomposity and habitual absurdities, it is hard not to feel a certain satisfaction with the comeuppance that Brexit has delivered to the unaccountable European Union bureaucrats in Brussels...

By STEPHEN MOORE and TIMOTHY DOESCHER Liberal attorneys general from 17 states have put a big red bulls-eye on the chest of big oil. Their bizarre claim is that, for years, energy companies fraudulently covered up their knowledge that greenhouse gases from fossil fuels cause catastrophic climate change. ...

The Three Rivers Endowment Trust has elected its new chairman for the coming year. Dr. Marty Michel, a pharmacist, was elected as the new chairman at the annual meeting held in June. His term began July 1. Michel and his wife, Julita, own and operate Key Drugs in Poplar Bluff and Dexter...

The American Cancer Society is seeking volunteers in Butler County to be a part of the annual Relay For Life event scheduled for Friday, Sept. 30. Community volunteers lead and organize each local event with the support of society staff. From assisting with planning the annual event, forming a team and fundraising, to taking part the day-of; there are various volunteer opportunities for interested community members...

For the first time since she wrapped up a stellar track and field career at Jackson High School in 2010, Jill Rushin got to compete with her entire immediate family in attendance. Her parents, brothers and sister, as well as an aunt, uncle, cousin and grandma, made the trip to Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to watch her battle for a spot on Team USA in the Olympic Trials last Thursday...

By Paul Davis Outdoors Editor Since the mid-1990s, feral hogs have become an increasingly growing problem in Missouri, and Tuesday evening, local landowners met to hear ideas about how they can partner with state and federal agencies to eradicate the invasive species...

William A. Brooks William A. Brooks, 86, of Poplar Bluff, Mo. died Thursday, July 14, 2016, at Mark Twain Caring Center. Arrangements are pending with Cotrell Funeral Service of Poplar Bluff.

By FRANK CAMPA Mo. Dept. of Conservation Because of high water earlier in the summer, there has been limited interest in limb-lining (or throw lines), trotlining and jugging. For people that may not be familiar with these terms, they may sound like a foreign language, but they are simply different methods of fishing besides pole and line that have been poplar here in Missouri for generations. ...

By Paul Davis Outdoors Editor Apparently, I picked a good week to be away, as storms pelted the area pretty much every day I was gone, or so it seemed. As bad as we needed the rain, it's never good to get too much, too quickly, from a storm which just sits over your location...

Because of high water earlier in the summer, there has been limited interest in limb-lining (or throw lines), trotlining and jugging. For people that may not be familiar with these terms, they may sound like a foreign language, but they are simply different methods of fishing besides pole and line that have been poplar here in Missouri for generations. Let us cover each and some basic regulations associated with each as interest is now on the upswing with water levels a little more stable...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Skip Berkmeyer stood at the edge of the green on the 18th hole of the Dalhousie Golf Club and turned sideways, trying not to watch as Travis Mays putted from about 12 feet to keep alive their sudden-death playoff Wednesday evening...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- The Wayne County Lumberjacks faced two separate two-run deficits against the Mineral Area Panthers on Wednesday afternoon. But the defending Senior Babe Ruth state champs quickly erased the negative effects of four sluggish innings with a devastating 16-run explosion at the plate in the fifth inning...

Ralph D. Baggett DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Ralph D. Baggett, 88, of Doniphan, Mo., died Tuesday, July 12, 2016, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. A private burial will be held at the Hunt-White Cemetery in Doniphan. Online condolences: family@edwardsfuneralhome.org...

Kathleen Soo and Michael Lee Harget of Poplar Bluff have chosen the name Ty Ryan Harget for their 7-pound, 2-ounce son born at 11:43 p.m., Wednesday, July 6, 2016 at Saint Francis Medical Center's Family BirthPlace in Cape Girardeau. Ty was 20 1/2" long...