Stories from Friday, March 5, 2021

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Pharmacies across Missouri will begin receiving prioritized shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine through a new State Pharmacy Program.  “With vaccine supply continuing to increase and more Missourians becoming eligible, we will now begin shipping vaccines to pharmacies in all regions and communities throughout the state,” said Gov. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – A New Madrid County woman was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to unlawfully obtaining funds via a Facebook fundraiser in 2019. U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. sentenced Jennifer Newton on Thursday to 6 months in prison on each of two counts of wire fraud, to be served concurrently. The 47-year-old New Madrid County resident pleaded guilty in September to those two counts of wire fraud...

MATTHEWS, Mo. — Barbara Melton, 73, died March 4, 2021, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Arrangements incomplete at McMikle Funeral Home in Sikeston.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Edith Menz, age 75, passed away on March 3, 2021, at The Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 20, 1945, in Cape Girardeau, to the late Dennis and Mary Carman Penrod. She was a member of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Sikeston; she retired from Homestead Distributing Co. in Sikeston after 20 years of service.

SIKESTON — Mildred Worthington Burnett, age 83, passed away on March 4, 2021, at her home in Sikeston. She was born Jan. 20, 1938, in Washington, D.C., to the late Herbert and Frances Spicer Ferris. On Nov. 17, 1955, in Rossville, Georgia, she married Rev. James F. Worthington who preceded her in death on Feb. 1, 2007; she later married Rev. Henry C. Burnett who preceded her in death...

For all those in Texas who voted for Biden, I wonder how that’s working out now that they are having power blackouts because their wind mills are frozen up. That’s what they want to do to all our country because they want to lower carbon emmissions. So they shut down our oil pipeline. Don’t they have sense enough to know we will still use oil and gas? We will just have to buy it from other countries now and pay much more.

SIKESTON — Once a beautiful shade of green with manicured grass, the Bootheel Golf Course has been virtually unused since 2014. A new project hopes to add some beauty to the land while also benefitting local wildlife. Quail Forever Missouri Farm Bill Biologist Kelsey DeZalia said the project began over a year ago when Corteva Agriscience in New Madrid, Missouri, approached her about projects that would help them fulfill a grant. ...

SIKESTON — Police are investigating a strong-armed robbery report in Sikeston. About 12:05 a.m. Feb. 26, an officer with Sikeston Department of Public Safety responded to DPS headquarters in reference to an assault and robbery that had just occurred. ...

The lead preacher of the First General Baptist Church of Malden is taking a leave of absence after learning in a very public way that hell hath no fury like women scorned for being fat, stinky and living life sans makeup. The Rev. Stewart-Allen Clark has at least temporarily left his pastorship and is “seeking professional counseling’’ after a Sunday sermon went viral in which he wonders aloud why wives “let themselves go,’’ jokes that scientists have found wedding cake diminishes the female sex drive, and admonishes women not to get their haircut or look “butch.’’. ...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — The Charleston R-1 Board of Education voted to increase the pay of substitute teachers during its February regular meeting. Daily rates for short-term substitutes who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher have risen from $70 to $90, according to B.J. Babb, communications specialist, for Charleston R-1 School District...