Stories from Friday, September 25, 2020

The Poplar Bluff football team will be practicing Friday afternoon instead of getting ready for a game at Rolla. The Mules were notified just before the loaded onto the bus for the trip that Rolla was canceling the game because too many of its players were unable to play due to COVID-19 concerns and contact tracing...

Annual payments for a new police department would be about $850,000, according to a recent presentation to Poplar Bluff City Council members. The city is looking at an $11.6 million building constructed on Shelby Road. The new building would be funded through the sale of certificates of participation, which would be subject to interest and repaid over a 25-year period, explained Jim Lahay, managing director for Stifel Financial, which will handle the sale...

Derland Moore, who played 14 seasons in the NFL and was an All-American defensive lineman at the University of Oklahoma, died Thursday night. The Poplar Bluff native was 68. Moore was a walk-on at Oklahoma after earning a track scholarship based on one meet that his father didn’t want him to attend because he had to work on the family farm...

Virginia “Ginny” Anne Stupy Cooper, 72, passed away Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, after battling cancer for the third time, surrounded by her family. Ginny was born Sept. 29, 1947, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the late Perry O. Stupy and Dorothy M. (Skibo) Stupy...

VAN BUREN – If you’re looking for an outdoor hiking and paddling adventure this fall, Ozark National Scenic Riverways (ONSR) has just the activity for you! ONSR, in partnership with Missouri State Parks and Ozark Trail Association, is inviting visitors to complete the Current River Challenge (CRC) along the upper Current River.

Florence Morgan Bailey, 74, of Poplar Bluff passed away Sept. 16, 2020 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Florence was born Aug. 27, 1946 to the late James and Evamae (Dennis) Morgan in Mt. Vernon, Ill. She enjoyed painting by numbers. Survivors include children: Vernon Morgan, Amanda Dawn Fortenberry (Adam), Clifford Pruitt, all of Poplar Bluff; brothers; John Dennis Morgan (Billie), Emmett Morgan (Debbie) of Neelyville; sisters: Nancy Cochran of Poplar Bluff, Rosemary Morgan of Osh Kosh, Wis., Helen Scheid (Gary) of Ohio, Susan Looney (Sonny) of Nadill, Okla. ...

Tammy Hall of the 1900 block of Kentucky Avenue reported at 12:26 a.m. Friday, Sept. 25, the sound of a gunshot on her street. Nothing was found. _ Brian L. Declue, 32, of the 600 block of Kinzer Street was arrested at 12:19 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, at Sally Beauty on a failure to appear warrant for a traffic violation and a warrant for child neglect. He was booked at the Butler County jail...

Staff at the Daily American Republic were recognized for excellence in journalism Thursday during the 154th annual Missouri Press Association convention, which was held virtually this year. The awards cover submissions to the MPA’s Better Newspaper Contest for the 2019 calendar year...

“I thought about the things you dream of as a little kid. Right now, tonight, I actually lived a little kid’s dreams. They actually came true.” Poplar Bluff High School graduate Derland Moore made that statement in 2010, after the football field at the Junior High was dedicated in his honor...

This is column 1 of 2, featuring a letter by Butler County Republican Central Committee's Eddy Justice. A Democratic response will appear in column 2. Here we go again. With the passing of Justice Ruth Ginsburg, the circus that had been so frenetic around the nomination and hearings regarding now Justice Brett Kavanaugh had been temporarily put to bed and we were able to focus on things that captured our imaginations, our fears and our hopes. ...

This column 2 of a pair between officials with Butler County's Republican and Democratic party officials. In February 2016, Antonin Scalia died while a member of the Supreme Court. Barack Obama was president and nominated Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy...

“He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States…”. Article II, Section 2 of our Constitution is clear – it is the job of the President of the U.S. to nominate an individual to fill any current or announced vacancy on the Supreme Court.

The number of homeless students in the Poplar Bluff R-I School District was lower than administration expected for the last school year, but that isn’t an anticipated trend.