Stories from Wednesday, May 14, 2014

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Bloomfield School Board voted to renew their contract with Opaa! Food Management, and set salary schedules for certified and non-certified employees for the 2014-15 school year at their regular meeting Monday night. The Bloomfield School District opted to contract their food service (breakfast and lunch) prior to the current school year. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri senators approved legislation Tuesday that would require women to wait three days after seeing a doctor before having an abortion, instead of one day. The state's informed consent law currently requires a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, and that would be extended to 72 hours under the measure. ...

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A recent fad in which people challenge their friends to jump into freezing water to raise money for charity has prompted warnings across the nation, as an increasing number of divers are reporting broken bones, blown-out knees or worse...

Members of the Bernie Schools Board of Education met Monday night following the schools' athletic banquet for their last meeting of the 2013-14 school year prior to graduation. Bernie's 51 seniors will be receiving their diplomas on Sunday, May 18. Bernie Schools will dismiss for the year at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 23, which is the final make-up day of the year...

"It was beyond anything I could have anticipated." These were the words of Willard Adams, Bootheel Solid Waste Management District coordinator, after the recent e-waste pickup day in Dexter. A total of twelve and one-half tons of e-waste were delivered to trailers at the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission (BRPC) parking lot on East North Main...

A former Bloomfield man accused of having attempted to murder his wife by paying a couple to burn his home with her inside was arrested in a Boston suburb late Monday evening. Don Lafferty, 69, of Queche, Vt., was arrested at 11:20 p.m. Monday and charged with the Class B felony of attempted murder, the unclassified felony of armed criminal action, the Class B felony of first-degree arson, and the Class A felony of financial exploitation of the elderly ($50,000 or more.)...

Kingston Banken, decked out in Dexter Fire Chief Don Seymore's head gear, sits high in the passenger seat of one of the department's aerial trucks during Story Hour at Keller Public Library on Tuesday. Seymore, along with Asst. Chief Dave Rowe and Firefighter Justin Robey, were special visitors at the final Story Hour of the current school year. Additional photos may be found in Photo Galleries...

Ola Sifford, daughter of the late James and Lydia Mason Gidcumb, was born near Bloomfield, Missouri on September 8, 1910, and passed away at her home in Bernie, Missouri on May 14, 2014, at the age of 103 years, 8 months and 6 days. She had lived in Bernie, Missouri for the last 60 years. She was of the Baptist Faith. On July 1,1934 she was married to John W. Sifford in Dexter, Missouri. He preceded her in death on August 27, 1950...