Stories from Friday, May 1, 2015

SIKESTON, Mo. -- New Madrid County native Dan Whittle and recently retired KFVS TV news anchor Mike Shain, a native of Sikeston, have been confirmed as speakers and will be signing and selling author Whittle's book, "Canalou: People, Culture, Bootheel Town," at the Sikeston Train Depot Museum on May 9...

Area residents are asked to consider donating blood at the May 4 Red Cross Blood Drive in honor of two-year-old Levi Stinson of Bloomfield, who is battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Levi is currently being treated at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. and is expected to undergo chemotherapy treatments until at least 2017...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Colonel Ron Replogle retires as Missouri State Highway Patrol superintendent effective May 1, 2015. Colonel Replogle is a 31-year veteran of the Patrol, and served as its 21st superintendent for the past five years. Replogle was appointed to the Patrol's Law Enforcement Academy in 1984, as a member of the 56th Recruit Class. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed Republican legislation Thursday that would drop thousands of low-income families from Missouri's welfare rolls by paring back benefits to what he said would be one of the shortest time periods in the nation...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Most Ameren Missouri customers will face higher bills while the electric utility's largest customer will get a lower rate that it has long sought under a decision Wednesday by the state's Public Service Commission. Commission chairman Robert Kenney said some of the costs from the lower rate for Noranda Aluminum Inc. ...

United States Army Veteran Charles Mitchell from Perryville, currently a resident at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau, was credited with the catch of the day at Thursday's Veterans Fishing Day at Bloomfield's Missouri State Veterans Cemetery. ...

Stoddard County 911 Services Administrator Carol Moreland updated the board of directors on an amendment to House Bill 714 that would allow a 911 Board to remain an appointed board in the event voters approved a sales tax to help pay for 911 services...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The widow of a Southeast Missouri businessman killed in a collision with a train in 2012 was awarded $20 million in court this week. After deliberating for just over two hours, a jury returned a wrongful-death verdict Tuesday in favor of Sherry Spence against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. Spence is the wife of the late Scott Spence, a well-known businessman in the area who owned lumber mills in Steele and Portageville, Mo...

Members of the Stoddard County Historical Society received a rare treat at their Monday, April 27, 2015 meeting, when three Richland students presented their prize-winning history projects. Emily Blunt, an eighth student at Richland, showed her video about the share-croppers' strike of 1939, entitled "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize," which won first place in the documentary division in the state competition. Emily will go to Washington, D.C. in June for the national competition...

The night was magical for the Advance High School Class of 2014 and 2015, as they gathered in their finery at the Southeast Missouri State University Center Saturday night, April 18, 2015. Many students dressed in styles reminiscent of the Roaring Twenties, since the theme was "A Night with Gatsby."...

Rita Jones, daughter of Maggie Shelton Barks Howell of Dexter and the late Henry Barks, was born on Dec. 30, 1937, in Lilbourn and died on April 29, 2015, at her residence in Olathe, Kansas at the age of 77. Mrs. Jones was of the Baptist faith. She had worked as a waitress at the Hickory Log Restaurant in Dexter for many years and was a former resident of Dexter...