Stories from Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Statesman staff reports BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Bloomfield Public Schools were locked down for approximately 20 minutes Wednesday afternoon after a 17-year-old prisoner escaped from a vehicle while stopped at the On The Go convenience store on Highway 25 in Bloomfield...

Note: A photo gallery of Tuesday's district tournament action is available at this link: View Photos Here BERNIE, Mo. - The first district softball championship game in school history for the second-seeded Bernie Mules and top-seeded Dexter Bearcats turned out to be one for the ages Tuesday night at Bernie High School...

The Missouri Baseball Coaches Association released its latest state baseball rankings earlier this week. Bernie is the only SCAA school ranked. The Mules are ranked No. 10 in Class 2. Joining the Mules in Class 2 are: No. 1 Valle Catholic, No. 2 Chaffee, No. 3 Sacred Heart, No. 4 Hartville, No. 5 East Carter County, No. 6 Canton and Portageville, No. 8 Neelyville and No. 9 Linn. Thayer, Crane, Greenville, Holcomb, Billings, Skyline and Spokan received votes in Class 2...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- A Cape Girardeau County circuit judge next month will hear Vincent Anderson's motion to have his conviction set aside and take his case to trial. Anderson, 20, of Little Rock, Ark., was sentenced to 12 years in prison last year after pleading guilty to first-degree assault in connection with an Oct. 28, 2012, attack in which he was accused of driving a stolen 1994 Ford Thunderbird into a group of joggers at the intersection of Aquamsi and William streets...

KENNETT, Mo. -- A former Kennett police officer appeared in Division I of the Dunklin County Circuit Court Wednesday. Jeremy Crawford appeared before Judge Robert Mayer, and his case was continued to June 11. Crawford pled not guilty earlier this month to five felony counts. He is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, theft, tampering with physical evidence, and acceding to corruption by a public official...

Ayden Walters gets ready to throw a shaving cream pie in the face of his goggled fourth grade teacher, Kristen Mick, at Central School. Mick's students won the opportunity to do a little pie throwing for having raised the most money for Relay for Life through a coin collection. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- The debate over a proposed tax-cutting bill came to Cape Girardeau on Monday morning. Missouri Speaker of the House Tim Jones, accompanied by Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist and United for Missouri executive director Carl Bearden, talked about Senate Bill 509 during a news conference at the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri casinos could begin offering lines of credit to high rollers under legislation given final approval Tuesday by state lawmakers. It now goes to Gov. Jay Nixon. The bill would allow casinos to extend a minimum line of credit of $10,000 that would be considered an unsecured, no-interest due loan due within at least 30 days. Credit could not be extended to someone who is intoxicated...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri House members have endorsed a proposal for funding a new facility on the Fulton State Hospital campus. The hospital is Missouri's only maximum-security psychiatric facility and the oldest public mental health facility west of the Mississippi River. Patients include those committed by the courts for evaluation and treatment, and people found not guilty or unable to stand trial because of mental disease...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri lawmakers have given final approval to a bill that would let retailers sell beer by the bottle. Stores currently must sell beer in packages containing at least three bottles. The newly passed legislation would allow sales of single bottles, cans or pouches of beer...

KENNETT, Mo. -- It has been a month since the city of Kennett filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but the EPA has yet to respond in federal court. The city is protesting the agency's water quality standards for wastewater treatment...

CHARLESTON -- Two Charleston men face felony charges this week after they were caught stealing from a Mississippi County farmer. According to Mississippi County Sheriff Keith Moore, the investigation began Wednesday morning when Chief Deputy Charlie Marcum was contacted by a local farmer who reported a significant amount of machinery missing from his farm on State Highway 105...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Cheryl Ann White, the former CEO of a network of health facilities in Southeast Missouri, pleaded guilty to conspiring to create and submit numerous false documents related to the organization, the United States Attorney's office of the Eastern District of Missouri announced in a news release Tuesday morning...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Dexter boys and girls track teams competed at the Notre Dame Open Tuesday. The Dexter boys placed ninth in its 12-team meet. The Dexter girls placed third in its 12-team meet. Notre Dame finished first in the boys meet and girls meet...

By MIKE MCCOY Statesman Staff Writer BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Stoddard County Commission signed a joint defense agreement to retain legal representation to fight an appeal by Union Electric Company (Ameren Missouri and Missouri Natural Gas) of their property tax assessment in 19 counties, which includes Stoddard County...

Relay event moved East City Park

NOREEN HYSLOP-- nhyslop@dailystatesman.com Heavy rains Sunday and Monday left farm fields in Stoddard County standing in water, like this one on the north side of Highway 114 east of Dexter. Farmers in the area have reported four to six inches of rain over the two-day period. It remains to be seen how many of them will be forced to replant their corn crop because of flooding...

Relay for Life Agenda Friday May 2, 2014 at East City Park 4:30 MAGGIE THORN 5:30 CARRILO MARTIAL ARTS 6:00 OPENING CEREMONY BOY SCOUT TROOP 200 -- PRESENTING THE COLORS MAGGIE THORN -- NATIONAL ANTHEM PRAYER -- FATHER DAVID DOHOGNE 6:30 INTRODUCTION OF TEAMS, SURVIVORS,...

Friday event moved to East City Park