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ORAN, Mo. — A Scott County high school student has achieved the highest ACT superscore possible. Owen Forehand, who is the son of Genni and Danny Forehand of Oran, earned an ACT superscore of 36 after taking the exam in the spring. “I think I just got lucky on this test,” said Owen, who just completed his junior year at Oran High School. ...

SIKESTON — As a little girl, Lorita Ulmer always dreamed of being a teacher. “When I was in third, fourth, fifth grades — we lived in the country — and I would get off the school bus, and the first thing I would do is go check the kitchen for a snack, and then I would get my mom’s old desk and I would play school,” Ulmer recalled...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - There will be a few new, yet familiar, faces behind New Madrid County R-1 athletics for the 2023-24 school year. At the May New Madrid County R-1 School Board meeting, head boys basketball coach Lennies McFerren submitted his resignation. McFerren, who most recently took over the Eagle program in 2018, led the Eagles to a state title this year...

LOST CREEK, Mo. — Elvis is dead. Or rather, Elvis the alligator.  Officials believe an alligator reported lost in the Wappapello Lake area about eight months ago was killed Friday, May 26 after being spotted by visitors to the Lost Creek area.  The Missouri Department of Conservation released a statement Wednesday confirming the alligator was shot over the holiday weekend. ...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — The trial of a former captain with Sikeston (Missouri) Department of Public Safety who was involved in a fatal crash in February 2020 began Tuesday, June 6, in a Butler County, Missouri, courtroom. Andrew Cooper is facing several felony charges -- driving while intoxicated with the death of another not a passenger, armed criminal action, first-degree involuntary manslaughter and three counts of DWI with serious physical injury -- connected to the death of a Sikeston woman in a two-vehicle, head-on crash Feb. ...

CHARLESTON, Mo. – Joint efforts by the U.S. Marshals Service and Mississippi County Sheriff's Office deputies resulted in the arrest of an East Prairie man wanted on statutory sex-related charges. Enrique Rendon, 40, of East Prairie who was wanted on three counts of statutory sodomy or attempted deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 12 years of age, had been evading arrest...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Three Charleston men were arrested and a stolen gun recovered following a reckless driving incident in Mississippi County. According to Mississippi County Sheriff Britton H. Ferrell, in the late evening hours of June 2, a Mississippi County deputy responded to a report of a vehicle driving recklessly on Gail Street in Charleston, attempting to run vehicles off the road and brandishing a firearm...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — A defense attorney representing a former Sikeston, Missouri, police captain involved in a wreck resulting in a woman's death is trying to convince a jury the captain was unjustly treated by officers who personally knew the defendant...

SIKESTON — The Standard Democrat Calendar Girl for June is Reese Steward. Steward, who is the daughter of Ashli Steward and Jonathan Steward, will attend the University of Alabama this fall.

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of May 15, officers received a call about shots fired in the 200 block of Tennessee Street. A woman said the driver of a car fired a shot at her while she was standing in her front yard, and an officer at the scene found a spent shell casing in the street. Another officer found the suspect vehicle on Highway 61 and after initiating a traffic stop placed the driver under arrest...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — The trial of a former captain with Sikeston (Missouri) Department of Public Safety who was involved in a fatal crash in February 2020 began Tuesday, June 6, in a Butler County, Missouri, courtroom. Andrew Cooper is facing several felony charges -- driving while intoxicated with the death of another not a passenger, armed criminal action, first-degree involuntary manslaughter and three counts of DWI with serious physical injury -- connected to the death of a Sikeston woman in a two-vehicle, head-on crash Feb. ...

SIKESTON — Sikeston R-6 Buildings and Grounds Department employees began work on May 16 — the day after the regular school year ended — to tear out the existing bleachers and floors in the Sikeston Fieldhouse to make room for a new gym floor and new bleachers with rails...