Team searching for Earhart disappointed

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Researchers have discovered that a rusty splotch visible on a satellite photo of the South Pacific is red algae, not part of Amelia Earhart's missing plane, The Kansas City Star reported Friday.

Divers began their search this week at the coral reef at Nikumaroro, the island where some believe Earhart died more than 64 years ago during an attempted around-the-world flight.

The Delaware-based International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery is one of three unrelated teams searching separate locations for the Kansas native's plane.

"No one was surprised," says a summary posted on the Internet by the Delaware group. "It has always seemed incredible to us that something metallic could survive and be visible from 300 miles up in that environment."

St. Louis Archdiocese buying monastery

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Archdiocese is buying a 35-year-old monastery on the city's south side that is home to 52 members of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

The church will rename the facility after Pope John XXIII, and plans to house several offices there while continuing to offer access to the monastery's chapel for Eucharistic Adoration.

The Benedictine order arrived in the U.S. from Switzerland in 1984 and is based in Clyde, Mo. The order currently has 130 members and also has monasteries in Arizona, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. The sisters leaving St. Louis will move to the other facilities.

Park officials plan Living History Day

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Demonstrations of traditional skills, music and reenactors will bring history to life today for the 13th annual Living History Day.

The event, sponsored by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and hosted by Big Oak Tree State Park, takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Shuttles service, parking and admission are all free.

Artisans from Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois are scheduled to participate in the event featuring traditional skills such as basket weaving, blacksmithing, black-powder gunsmithing, broom making, crocheting and more.

A variety of musical entertainment is scheduled throughout the day.

Reenactors will portray military camp life, displaying period equipment and talking about the life of a soldier during the Civil War.

For more information, call (573) 649-3149 or (800) 334-6946.

Emerson's mobile office making stops next week

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's mobile office will make stops in several Southeast Missouri cities next week.

The schedule: Monday, Scott County Courthouse at Benton, 8:30-9:30 a.m., Charleston Library from noon to 1 p.m. and the East Prairie City Administration Building from 1:30-2:30 p.m.; and Sept. 14, Advance City Hall from 12:30-1:30 p.m., Oran City Hall from 2-3 p.m. and Chaffee City Hall from 3:30-4:30 p.m.

Scott Dismuke, director of the mobile office, will answer constituents' questions and relay any concerns to Emerson.

-- From staff, wire reports