Stories from Friday, July 28, 2023

Recently, a friend of mine phoned me. I had not spoken to her for over a year, so that call was a bit of a surprise. She said that she was walking to her car at the grocery store and noticed a rubber ducky on the dashboard of a car and immediately thought of me. It was so wonderful to catch up with her. That phone call made my day a very happy day...

Our anti-public school Republican Gov. (Mike) Parson has come up with a typical Republican plan to help solve the public school teacher shortage problem in Missouri. That is to get teachers who are retired to teach longer. Great plan from the state with one of the lowest teacher wages in the nation. It never occurs to a Republican to pay a good wage that might attract more teachers.

BERTRAND, Mo. — A Bertrand family considers themselves lucky after an EF-2 tornado destroyed their house, and the community is coming together to assist them in their time of need. Husband and wife, David and JoAnn Todd, were inside their house when the tornado struck and destroyed it around 2:10 p.m. Monday, July 24. According to the National Weather Service in Paducah, Kentucky, the EF-2 tornado had a path width of 25 yards and length of .28 miles with winds peaking at 115 miles per hour...

Katie Coleman, a 2019 Three Rivers College graduate, paints on the exterior wall of Stogies of Sikeston on West Front Street Friday, July 28 in Historic Downtown Sikeston. At the request of the owner, Coleman is painting Bigfoot smoking a cigar, and she expected to finish the mural by day’s end...

SIKESTON — School is just around the corner, and the Sikeston community is stepping up to assist families in preparing to send their children back to school. Spread Hope Now will hold the annual Schoolfest Tailgate from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Aug. 5 at Malone Park in Sikeston...

BENTON, Mo. — Gregory Wayne Bugg Jr., 37, died July 27, 2023, at his home near Benton.  Visitation is from 1 p.m. until service time at 2 p.m. Monday, July 31 at the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston