Stories from Friday, July 20, 2018

WILLIAMSVILLE, Mo. - Leslie M. Leonard, 62, of Williamsville, died Wednesday, July 18, 2018 near Williamsville. Visitation will be at 5 p.m., Friday, July 20 at Ruegg Funeral Home chapel, Williamsville. The funeral will follow at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 21 at the Williamsville chapel. Burial will be in the Holliday Cemetery, Williamsville. Online condolences can be made at www.rueggfuneralhomes.com...

PIEDMONT, Mo. - Sharon E. James, 72, of Piedmont, formerly of Annapolis, died Wednesday, July 18, 2018 at the Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis, MO. Visitation will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, July 21 at the Morrison-Worley Funeral Chapel in Piedmont. The funeral will follow at 1 p.m. at the funeral home chapel with Fr. Daniel Hirtz officiating. Burial will be in the Annapolis Cemetery. Online condolences may be left at www.morrisonworleychapel.com...

By MONA CHAREN Back when word first leaked that Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Jr. had met with a Russian lawyer and others offering dirt on Hillary Clinton, President Trump seemed to think he was supplying an exculpatory cover story. ...

GREENVILLE, Mo. - Mary Ruth Payton, 89, of Lodi, died Monday, July 16, 2018 at the Oakdale Care Center in Poplar Bluff, MO. Visitation will be from 6 - 8 p.m., Tuesday, July, 24 at Morrison-Worley Funeral Chapel in Greenville. The funeral will be at 2 p.m., Wednesday, July 25 at the Lodi Community Church with Rev. Byron Beck officiating. Burial will be in the Lewis Cemetery. Online condolences may be left at www.morrisonworleychapel.com...

By MARC A. THIESSEN WASHINGTON -- If President Trump wants to shut down the critics of his performance this week in Helsinki and strengthen U.S. national security, he can do so with one bold move: Announce he is moving out most U.S. forces currently stationed in Germany and sending them to Poland...

By STEVE COOKSON State Rep. 153 Dist. A piece of legislation that I filed was recently signed into law by the governor. This bill is meant to increase awareness and knowledge of the importance of organ donation and to give young people access to vital information on organ, eye, and tissue donation...

"How Many loaves do you have?" He asked."Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five- and two fish." - Mark 6:38 The Feeding of the Five Thousand is an incredible story of the power of faith and miraculous signs and wonders of the Lord Jesus Christ. For me, the impact of the story takes on a whole new meaning when I relate my life to the inadequacy the disciples must have felt...

Bertha Marie Wockenfuss, 80, of Owensville, MO, formerly of Piedmont, MO, died Thursday, July 19, 2018 at the Villas in DeSoto, MO. Arrangements are pending with Ruegg Funeral Home, Piedmont.

GREENVILLE -- A former Greenville city clerk who once had the mayor legally barred from entering city hall is now scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 9 in a Wayne County courtroom on felony charges related to the alleged misappropriation of $150,000 in city money...

JACKSON, Mo. -- A sold-out crowd of about 400 people gathered to hear Gov. Mike Parson speak at the 106th annual Cape Girardeau County Farm Bureau annual meeting and dinner, held at the Jackson Knights of Columbus Hall Thursday night. "It isn't hard to be passionate about agriculture," Parson said, since he and his wife Teresa both grew up on dairy farms...

The Neelyville R-IV Board of Education accepted the lone LP gas bid Thursday evening to be delivered to Hillview Elementary during the 2018-19 school year. Reed Oil Company of Doniphan submitted a bid for propane gas for $1.259 per gallon. Superintendent Brad Hagood reported the propane gas price was slightly higher than last year's cost of $1.03, but also added fuel costs had increased...

A Stoddard County board voted Thursday to stop funding the majority of programs scheduled to open in nearly $1.3 million worth of new buildings paid for with taxpayer money since 2017. The Senate Bill 40 board could use more than one-fourth of annual revenues, for up to 25 years, to repay a loan on these buildings, which were to hold a new thrift store and sheltered workshop, along with another county program...

Three brightly-colored sculptures recently placed at McLane Park represent the body in motion, according to the artist who created them, Sukanya Mani. Mani calls her creations "Micro and Macro." The St. Louis-based artist said the silhouettes reflect her combined passion for science, anthropology and philosophy...

A proposed cellular tower will not be installed on school property, according to one of two silent decisions made by the Poplar Bluff R-1 Board of Education during its regular monthly meeting on Thursday. With little discussion on the issue during the open-session meeting, member Jerrod Murphy motioned to accept the proposal by Network Real Estate Solutions, LLC to place a temporary AT&T telecom tower near the middle school, as that is standard procedure for voting items...

A Poplar Bluff man is being held on a $1 million cash bond after he was charged Thursday with shooting a detective who was among the officers attempting to arrest him on a federal warrant for violating his supervised release. James Odell Johnson Jr., 28, of the 700 block of North 11th Street was charged with the Class A felony of first-degree assault, the unclassified felony of armed criminal action and the Class E felony of resisting arrest by Butler County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Bill Gresham.. ...