Stories from Friday, May 17, 2024

“Those are rites of passage,” a concerned parent who wished to remain anonymous told the Neelyville School Board Thursday. Her child was banned from prom and other events because of a positive marijuana test she argues violated his Fourth Amendment rights.

A mother-daughter pair, first-generation degree-holders, and military veterans were among 535 graduates at Three Rivers College’s 56th commencement ceremony Friday at the Libla Family Sports Complex. TRC conveyed a total of 839 degrees and certificates for the class of 2024...

The newspaper has called out the Poplar Bluff City Council in 1949 for illegally holding a confidential executive session. In other news, politics visits Poplar Bluff and May is named Senior Citizens Month. 100 years ago May 17, 1924 • A farmer-turned-candidate visited Poplar Bluff today during his tour of Southeast Missouri. ...

While at Dexter’s Murphy USA, a Missouri Lottery player asked her husband to go in and buy a “Double-Sided Dollars” Scratchers ticket. “We were scratching it off, and it was on the very back of the ticket,” the winner shared. “It said we hit the 5X, so I thought we won $20,000.”...

Three Rivers College recognized more than 30 of its highest performing students at its Annual Student Excellence Awards ceremony May 10 at the Tinnin Fine Arts Center. Winners were chosen to represent each academic department and career education program, the Three Rivers external locations, honor societies, and major student organizations...

The Missouri Senate did nothing but fight during two brief floor sessions Thursday, with Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin stepping in during each to cut off acrimonious exchanges, first with a recess and then with adjournment. As a result, the Senate considered no legislation on the penultimate day of this year’s session and seems unlikely to find a peaceful way to accomplish anything before they must go home at 6 p.m. Friday...

The least productive — and most chaotic — legislative session in living memory came to a close Friday, when the Missouri Senate, mired in factional infighting, threw in the towel eight hours early and the House scrambled to get whatever bills it could salvage across the finish line before the 6 p.m. deadline for adjournment...

Jessica McElhaney, 37, of Poplar Bluff, was arrested at 3:20 a.m. Friday, May 17, during a traffic stop on South Broadway. McElhaney was booked on a Butler County warrant for failure to appear on a traffic offense (bond $2,500). She was also booked on the charges of possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of a weapon and lodged in the Butler County jail...