Stories from Thursday, March 5, 2015

On Sunday February 8th the Bootheel Racers Swimming program made a strong showing at the Mid-South Swimming Conference Championships held at the Henderson Aquatic Center in Tunica, Mississippi. The Racers coached by Spence Royer swam to a third place finish in the field of 11 teams. ...

NEW MADRID -- The defending district champion and its team leader was, simply, too strong. The Portageville girls basketball team fell to top-seeded Twin Rivers 64-33 during the Class 3, District 1 championship game Friday at New Madrid County Central High School...

SIKESTON -- Wednesday's winter storm forced school and business closures and made treacherous traveling conditions for motorists today. Julia York, a dispatcher with New Madrid County Sheriff's Department, said multiple vehicle slide offs along Interstate 55 have been reported...

sports@standard-democrat.com SIKESTON -- Much like the weather has put a delay in local sectional play, the Scott County Central Braves were forced to wait awhile before they could find out their opponent in the opening round if the Class 2 state tournament...

The Associated Press Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. MARATHON BOMBING JURY HEAR GRAPHIC TESTIMONY Jurors heard three victims, two of whom had leg amputations, describe the horror they felt when bombs tore through the finish line at the Boston race in 2013...

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A federal investigation into the police killing of an unarmed, black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, lays bare what officials contend are racist, profit-driven law enforcement practices in the small St. Louis suburb. While the Department of Justice cleared Officer Darren Wilson of federal civil rights charges in the August death of Michael Brown, it also called for sweeping changes in a city where officers trade racist emails, issue tickets mostly to black drivers that generate millions of dollars in revenue, and routinely use what investigators called excessive force on people stopped for minor or non-existent offenses.. ...

BOSTON (AP) -- It didn't take long for prosecutors in the Boston Marathon bombing trial to convey the sense of fear, pain and grief caused by the 2013 attack. They let victims do it for them. On the first day of testimony Wednesday in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose lawyer admitted he committed the crime, three women who suffered severe injuries described their memories of the blasts, their wounds and the terror they felt...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Southeast Missouri State University board of regents announced Wednesday the appointment of Carlos Vargas-Aburto as the 18th president of Southeast. Vargas, acting president at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, will succeed president Kenneth Dobbins on July 1...

SIKESTON -- Veterans, their families and community members can get information about Veteran Administration services and provide feedback on those services they have received during a town hall meeting March 10. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the VFW Post 3174, 709 Smith St. in Sikeston, and is expected to last about an hour...

DEXTER -- After years of feeling that God was asking him to write a book, a Dexter man finally answered this call with a children's story of how a mother's love never changes. "Always Be My Little Boy: Mother Reading to Son" by Gary Teel is a journey from childhood to adulthood through the eyes of a boy who becomes a man and learns to appreciate and love his mother through all the stages of his life...

HEADLAND, Ala. -- Lezona Mae Brown "Donie" Morehead, 80, formerly of Charleston, Mo., died March 4, 2015, at Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan. Arrangements are incomplete at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

PORTAGEVILLE -- Isaac Wesley Combs, 54, died March 2, 2015, in Buffalo. Born April 23, 1960, in Portageville, to the late John William and Erma Mae Davenport Combs, he was a 1978 Portageville High School graduate and employed by Pemiscot Memorial Health Systems...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Vernon Carter, 87, died March 5, 2015, at York Place/Bertrand Rehab Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie.