Stories from Wednesday, February 21, 2018

The names, social security numbers and other personal information of nearly 2,000 job applicants, employees and patients was left unattended in a hallway for almost a month during a furniture move at John J. Pershing VA Medical Center, according to the Poplar Bluff hospital...

A rumored threat against Scott City R-I schools led to a Tuesday morning lockdown and a suspect taken into custody but no injuries, officials said. Superintendent Brian Lee said in an email at 3 p.m. Tuesday that law enforcement agents contacted the school Tuesday morning regarding a rumor of a threat against the school...

A request by landlords to create an advisory board related to rental property was met with a mixed response Tuesday by Poplar Bluff City Council members. Proponents believe it would create better communication between city departments and landlords. Others said it would create an additional expense for the city, when these matters can be brought to council members and the city manger...

Poplar Bluff City Council members are considering a tourism advertising campaign that would spend about $50,000 on billboards, conferences and magazine advertising. The proposal was discussed Tuesday by the council, before they passed an increase to grave prices at City Cemetery and other ordinances...

The American College of Cardiology has recognized Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center for its demonstrated expertise and commitment in treating patients with chest pain. Poplar Bluff Regional was awarded Chest Pain Center Accreditation with Primary PCI in January based on rigorous onsite evaluation of the staff's ability to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients who may be experiencing a heart attack...

By MARC A. THIESSEN WASHINGTON -- After House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., sent his memo laying out potential abuses of the FISA process by the FBI to the White House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., demanded that he be removed as chairman. Nunes was "deliberately dishonest" in pushing to release a "bogus memo," Pelosi declared, and had "disgraced the House Intelligence Committee" with his "partisan effort to distort intelligence."...

By REBECCA LANDEWE There are no headstones in Carter County with my last name on them, and there likely will never be one. I am an outsider. This is not my hometown and my relatives have not worked this land. But Van Buren is my home. My father refers to the Current River as my 'alma mater' - a 'nourishing mother' that helped raise me because the river was (and still is) a significant force in my life. And we experienced all her might last spring...

By GEORGE F. WILL "MASON CITY. To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast out of the city, and it is a good highway and new." -- Robert Penn Warren, "All the King's Men" (1946) WASHINGTON -- Appropriately, Warren began the best book about American populism, his novel based on Huey Long's Louisiana career, with a rolling sentence about a road. ...

Alvin Dean Inman, 81, of Poplar Bluff, passed away on Monday, February 19, 2018 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. He was born on August 3, 1936 to Hugh and Ethel (Lindsey) Inman in Poplar Bluff. Alvin worked at Parkin-Lanning Glass Company in Poplar Bluff as a glass glazier for several years. On July 4, 1961 he married Ola Mae Wilson in Campbell, MO...

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- Klay Barton has been known for his offense this season and why not. He was the leading scorer in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and scored a school-record 51 points in a game this season. But with under a minute to go, he poked a dribble loose for a steal and a layup that was Doniphan's only field goal of the final four minutes of the game. ...

BERNIE, Mo. -- The top-seeded Bernie Mules made the final stand against the Puxico Indians on Tuesday night. The Mules held off a Puxico rally, scored eight of the game's final 10 points and beat the Indians 59-46 in the the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 semifinal...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Sikeston claimed its third straight SEMO Conference title with an 84-70 win at Jackson on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs led by five in the third quarter before pulling away with a 10-point run that ended with a four-point play by Fred Thatch, who was fouled as he banked in a 3-pointer...

VAN BUREN -- Thayer and Neelyville will meet again for the MSHSAA Class 2 District 3 girls basketball championship. Two state-ranked teams -- one unbeaten, the other a six-time defending champion -- have been marching toward a postseason rematch all season...

Barbara Meredith Phillips (Pepmiller), age 81, passed peacefully Friday, February 9th 2018, surrounded by her daughters. Barbara is preceded in death by her mother and father, Kathryn and Richard Pepmiller of Doniphan MO, her husband Don, her younger brother Sam Pepmiller of Plymouth MN and her son-in-law Jesse Pippins of Collinsville IL. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Dushawn Butler carried Malden for three quarters and the East Prairie boys basketball team had no answer for it. And once the rest of Butler's teammates found their stroke it was too much for the Eagles to bear. Butler finished with a game-high 31 points to lead the second-seeded Green Wave to a 68-55 win over No. 3 East Prairie Tuesday night at New Madrid County Central High School during a Class 3, District 1 Tournament semifinal...

PATTERSON, Mo. - Callie Claudette Hawkins, 84, of Patterson, MO, died Monday, February 19, 2018 at The Woodlands of Arnold, MO. A graveside service will be at 11 a.m., Friday, February 23 at Patterson cemetery. Online condolences may be made at rueggfuneralhomes.com...