Stories from Wednesday, January 17, 2024

NEW MADRID, Mo. — The halls of New Madrid County Central High School were filled with the sounds of laughter, greetings among friends and even some friendly banter between competitors. It wasn’t the noise of students, who had yet to return to school, it was the District’s staff members who created the commotion...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On the afternoon of Jan. 10, officers responded with agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration to a house on Main Street in an attempt to find a man with a federal warrant. The home and a camper on the property were searched, but residents said the man had left a short time earlier on foot. ...

Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin thinks that Clarence Thomas could recuse himself from ruling on Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 election. Like most liberal Democrats, he expects Thomas to vote along political lines instead of constitutional lines and the law. Like many Democrats, he’s upset because Trump appointed three conservative justices, thus, “stacking” the court. He expects the justices to vote along political lines regardless of the Constitution, and that’s not how the Supreme Court works. I guarantee you that if the Supreme Court was “stacked” with judges appointed by Obama or Biden, Mr. Raskin would be pushing for a ruling immediately and would expect to accept the court’s ruling unquestioned. The Supreme Court is not a branch or puppet of Congress or the President. It’s a sad state of affairs when our elected politicians can’t trust all judges to do what is “right” and best for the people rather than their rulings based on political views.

SIKESTON — Norma Jean Robinson affectionately known as "Jean", was born Nov. 30, 1947, in Bell City, Missouri, to the union of Vallet Walker Sr. and Florence Lee Walker Coleman. She was one of four children born to that union being the only girl and three boys. Her parents and three brothers, Calvin Walker, Vallet Walker Jr. and Willie B. Walker Sr., preceded her in death...

What do the great Jackie Robinson and the Hall of Fame Coach Lennies McFerren have in common? They both broke the color barrier in sports that I love. Jackie Robinson stepped onto the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Thirty years later and almost to the day, (April 14, 1977) Lennies McFerren became the first black high school boy’s head coach not only in the Southeast Missouri area but the first black head coach between St. ...