Stories from Tuesday, November 15, 2011

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - County Clerk Joe Watson told the Stoddard County Commission that the county had received eight responses to a request for bids on health insurance for county elected officials and employees. He said all but one of those responses were from agencies in Stoddard County. Watson's report came at the commission meeting held Monday morning...

It's American Education Week and students at Dexter Schools are observing the specially designated period with a western theme. Reading in Amy Pixley's kindergarten classroom at Southwest Elementary in front of an Indian teepee are, from left, Peyton Jarrell, Rylan Dean, and Ethan Ross. Special guests will be reading to students throughout the district this week, including school administrators, veterans, and retired teachers...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - Ross Gartman, president of Heroes Way, told the crowd at the Veterans Day Ceremony at Missouri State Veterans Cemetery about his friend who was the inspiration for Heroes Way. In July 2009, the State of Missouri passed the Heroes Way Bill, formally known as the "Heroes Way Interstate Inter-change Designation Program," which allows relatives of Missourians who died in combat during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom to ask that an interstate interchange or a section of a state highway be named in the soldier's honor.. ...

The annual SCAA middle School basketball tournament started Saturday and will conclude tonight at Bell City with championship and third place games.

Ed Gayle, a resident of Dexter, Mo., died on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011, at the Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girar-deau, Mo., at the age of 86. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time and will be announced by the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home...