Stories from Thursday, March 27, 2014

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - Hannah Noe had a memorable day. When the Dexter senior woke up Wednesday morning, she didn't realize that she would be committing to a Division I college and win the award for top girls basketball player in the SEMO Conference. A few short hours after committing to Southeast Missouri State University, Noe brought home a bulk of the honors given out at the 56th Annual Poplar Bluff Letter Club Basketball Banquet at the Black River Coliseum. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri's Republican-led Senate endorsed an income tax cut plan Wednesday that could eventually waive a little less than $500 million of revenues annually, an amount about half the size as originally proposed with a later effective date...

A special meeting of Dexter's Board of Education this week resulted in the authorization of a new science position at the high school level and the naming of at least one new teacher for the 2014-15 school year. The board met at 1 p.m. Tuesday and in six minutes during regular session approved the insurance plans being offered through the South Central Education Consortium by a unanimous vote with board members Betty Keirsey, Nancy Mayer, Rick Williams, Mark Nea, and Kevin Bishop present...

Holder expected to be named

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The conversation on legalizing marijuana has started. About 50 people attended the Show-Me Cannabis Sikeston Town Hall meeting Tuesday at the Clinton Building. John Payne, executive director of Show-Me Cannabis, said his efforts are not motivated by a desire to legally get high -- he doesn't even use cannabis...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Dexter man who claims to have exposed as many as 300 people to the HIV virus now has a new attorney. David Mangum is currently being held at the Stoddard County Jail and faces 21 counts of the Class B felony of recklessly exposing another to HIV...

Stoddard County ranked slightly better in health factors and and dropped one slot in health outcomes compared to last year in new statistical research released by the Robert Wood Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute on Wednesday. The 2014 County Health Rankings showed Stoddard County ranked 74 in the state in health factors and 91 in health outcomes out of 115 counties in the state. Last year the county ranked 90 in health outcomes in the state...

Patricia K. Whitman, daughter of the late Lieutenant Colonel Ewell Martin and Constance Martin, was born on March 11, 1943, in Sydney, Australia and died on March 22, 2014, at SoutheastHEALTH in Cape Girardeau at the age of 71. Mrs. Whitman had formerly been employed as a graphic designer at the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper in Atlanta, Ga., and was a resident of Dexter. She was very artistic and talented and was a loving mother and grandmother...

CLINE'S ISLAND -- An Essex woman was hospitalized and faces multiple traffic charges following an early morning wreck Thursday near Cline's Island. According to the Highway Patrol, 24-year-old Patricia L. Martin was northbound on Highway N just south of County Road 530 in Stoddard County at 3:40 a.m. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A man wanted in Kansas and Oklahoma is likely wishing he had decided to eat in this weekend. Virgil Tillman was eating at a restaurant on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City Sunday when a U.S. Marshal who had been looking for him since February decided to go to the same restaurant...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Nursing mothers could not be penalized for breast-feeding in public nor be required to serve on juries under legislation advancing in the Missouri House. The bill gained first-round approval Wednesday and needs another vote before moving to the Senate...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missourians from every corner of the state are asked to do spring cleaning outdoors and help fight litter through the state's annual No MOre Trash! Bash throughout the month of April. The Trash Bash is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) as part of their ongoing No MOre Trash! statewide anti-litter campaign...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's condemnation of so-called right-to-work legislation as unnecessary and misguided drew applause from about a thousand Missouri union members who gathered Wednesday at the state Capitol. The measure to prohibit labor contracts from requiring that all employees pay union fees, regardless of whether workers are union members, is a top priority of House Republican leaders this year...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lottery officials say a winning $96.5 million Powerball ticket was sold at a gas station in eastern Missouri but the winner has not come forward. The ticket for the March 22 Powerball drawing was sold at a Bridgeton Mobil gas station at 12239 Natural Bridge Road. The station will receive $50,000 for selling the ticket...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- A Cape Girardeau man won't be in Illinois to answer murder charges for at least another month. Brandon Banks, 28, is suspected of killing Marsha Ann Brown, 40, also of Cape Girardeau, and dumping her body near U.S. 51 in rural Makanda, Ill...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri lawmakers are trying to crack down on commercial websites that post police mug shots of people who have been arrested, then demand money to have the photos removed. A House bill given first-round approval Wednesday would require the operators of such websites to delete the photos for free within 30 days of a request. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A state judge has been asked to put an immediate halt to Missouri's acceptance of joint tax returns from gay couples who got married legally in other states. The request for a temporary restraining order was filed Wednesday in Cole County Circuit Court...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri House members have endorsed a bill that attempts to resist proposed federal regulations of wood-burning stoves. The legislation received initial approval Wednesday. It would prohibit the state Department of Natural Resources from implementing regulations on wood-burning heaters without specific approval from the Legislature...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri hospitals have eliminated about 1,000 positions and put a hiring freeze on more than 2,100 vacant positions in the past six months, the state hospital association said Wednesday while pushing for an expansion of the state's Medicaid program...

Four Stoddard County seniors have been selected to the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association all-state basketball team. Dexter seniors Hannah Noe and Erika Cobb, who helped lead the Bearcats to a second place finish in Class 4, were selected all-state. Noe averaged 20.3 points and 3.8 assists per game. Cobb averaged 12.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game...

KENNETT, Mo. - The Dexter Bearcats did a great job of handling Kevonte Mitchell three of the four times that he came to bat against them. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, there was that one other time. Mitchell blasted a three-run homer in the bottom of the third inning Wednesday afternoon to fuel a six-run rally and lead the Kennett Indians past Dexter 8-2 in a SEMO Conference baseball game at Indian Park...