Stories from Saturday, March 17, 2018

A social media-based fundraising campaign caused peanut butter to spread across Facebook in February as if the website were a fresh slice of bread. Benefiting Poplar Bluff R-1's Mule Pack program, and sponsored by Bright Futures, local businesses rallied together to supply more than 2,500 jars of peanut butter for families in need...

Missouri citizens stand behind members of law enforcement and their families, Gov. Eric Greitens said Friday, on a night to honor the best of area police, sheriff deputies, highway patrol troopers and others. Greitens attended the Elks Law and Order Night in Poplar Bluff, the first sitting governor to participate in the event...

VAN BUREN, Mo. -- Mark and Donna Wilcoxon moved their furniture onto concrete blocks when the Current River first started creeping toward their A-frame home at the end of April 2017. Then they moved the furniture to the second floor. Finally Mark returned April 30 with friends and family, using jet boats to reach the second floor balcony in an attempt to salvage whatever belongings they could reach...

It was while perusing a teammate's college textbook on criminal justice that Ralph Jefferson's interest was sparked, so much so he changed his major and later would embark on a nearly 30-year career in law enforcement. "When I was in high school, I had a tendency to break up fights; this was among my peers. ...

Butler County Chief Deputy Wes Popp faced an armed and irate suspect in July 2017, with his own life at risk and that of two citizens. A 13-year veteran of the sheriff's department, Popp applied the necessary level of force to save both those lives and his own, said Don Trout, Poplar Bluff police deputy chief and a member of the Poplar Bluff Elks lodge...