Stories from Thursday, July 16, 2020

NEW MADRID, Mo. - With the public’s help, a criminal suspect is now in custody. The New Madrid County Sheriff’s Department reported Casey D. Burton of Sikeston was taken into custody Wednesday. A warrant was issued July 10 for Burton of Sikeston on the felony charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. Bond is set at $75,000.

CAIRO, Ill. — Stephen Clifford “Stever” Faringer, 61, died July 13, 2020, at his home in Cairo. Born Sept. 19, 1958, at San Diego, Calif., son of Glen Lyle Faringer and Patricia Lee Aiken Faringer of Kona, Hawaii, he grew up in the San Diego area and was a graduate of Grossmont College. ...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. — Robert “Bob” Thurmond, age 85 years, passed away Thursday, July 16, 2020, at his home in East Prairie, Mo. Born Nov. 12, 1934, in East Prairie, Mo., to the late Ernest R. and Pearl Powers Thurmond, Bob lived in East Prairie all of his life. He worked in construction and later retired from the Charleston School District. He was a member of the First Church of God in East Prairie...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Troy Lee Littrell, age 70, passed away June 30, 2020, at the Missourian Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau of an extended illness. Troy Lee was the oldest son of J.D. and Opal Imogene Hampton Littrell of East Prairie, Missouri. He was born on June 2, 1950, in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Troy Lee was a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Meyer, Florida; and Poplar Bluff, Missouri, before retiring to the Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau...

Coronavirus cases continue to increase locally and in response, local events are being canceled while Walmart will begin requiring masks to enter their store. On Wednesday, the SEMO District Fair’s Board of Directors announced the fair has been canceled because of coronavirus concerns...

The Trump administration has reversed a proposed policy announced last week that would have barred international students from staying in the U.S. while taking classes solely online. The policy, announced by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), would have required international university students to be enrolled in traditional “face-to-face” classes this fall in order to enter — or remain in — the United States. ...

New data released by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services shows the number of opioid overdose deaths in the state declined in 2019 for the first time in five years. In 2019, 1,094 Missourians died as a result of opioid overdoses, down 3.4% from the state’s 1,132 deaths in 2018...

Materials are lined around the back of the New Madrid County Central High School as workers with Quality Roofing Contractors begin repairs of the building’s roof. Following the approval by voters in June of a $8,500,000 bond proposal, school officials began seeking bids on a variety of projects designed to improve the security of the district’s building as well as under take roofing and other maintenance projects...

SIKESTON — Mary Mitchell, 88, died July 15, 2020, at her home in Sikeston. Born April 3, 1932, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, daughter of the late Leland Stanford and Geneva Alma Drury Stucker, she was a member of Old Bethel Baptist Church. She had worked at the Shoe Factory in Caprico and later was a housekeeper for the York and Kellett families, and most recently was a volunteer for Missouri Delta Hospice...