Stories from Thursday, April 2, 2020

NEW MADRID, Mo. - The New Madrid County Health Department reported the county’s first positive case of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) Wednesday afternoon. According to a news release on the department’s Facebook page, the case is not travel-related. The patient is quarantined at home, officials said...

SIKESTON — Missouri Foundation for Health has awarded a nearly $200,000 grant to Southeast Missouri Food Bank to hire workers displaced by the coronavirus outbreak to help pack and distribute food to seniors and many families newly in need. The $198,720-grant will allow the food bank to hire 12 temporary employees to work full-time for the next 10 weeks to help sort, package and distribute food at the food bank’s Sikeston distribution center and at mobile food distributions held throughout its 16-county area.. ...

DEXTER – Bank of Advance officials reported Wednesday morning that two staff members at the branch in Dexter recently tested positive for COVID-19. "In order to minimize the spread, and for the safety of our staff, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily close the Dexter branch as of Thursday, April 2 to allow for thorough sterilization of the facility. We plan to reopen no later than Tuesday, April 7," according to a press release from bank officials...

SIKESTON — Pamela Tope, 74, passed away Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at her daughter’s home in Sikeston. Born April 4, 1945, in St. Louis, she was the daughter of the late Fred and Florence “Tatty” Shuppert Tope. On April 16, 1983, in Sikeston, she married John Chadd who survives of Sikeston...

The Treasury announced late Wednesday that Social Security beneficiaries who typically do not file a tax return will automatically get the $1,200 payment from the stimulus plan passed last week. The announcement is a reversal from earlier in the week when the Internal Revenue Service said everyone would need to file some sort of tax return in order to qualify for the payments...

SIKESTON — Mignonne Flagg was born Nov. 3, 1945, to H.A. Wilson and Nan Jessie Wilson. She has one older brother, Nick Wilson, who currently lives in Little Rock, Ark. She died March 31, 2020, at the age of 74. She graduated from Arkansas State University in 1967 with a degree in business education. ...

BERTRAND, Mo. — Donald V. Moxley, 86, died April 1, 2020, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Nov. 24, 1933, in rural Charleston, son of the late Ernest and Pearl Shown Moxley, he was a 1951 graduate of Charleston High School and received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1955 from University of Missouri-Columbia where he was a member and served as president of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. ...

SIKESTON — As residents try and adjust to the coronavirus pandemic authorities are warning of potential COVID-19 related scams and price gouging. “Across Missouri, COVID-19 related price gouging and scams are a big concern - we’ve received over 400 price gouging complaints in the past two weeks and we’re monitoring a number of different scams,” said Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in a release. ...