1994

Missourians may be paying a little more for gasoline these days, but the state's average of $1.03 for regular unleaded fuel is well below the national average of $1.11 per gallon; Cape Girardeau drivers looking for self-serve, regular unleaded fuel are finding 99.9-cents-a-gallon gasoline at most stations in town.

Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan signs what he terms "landmark legislation" to reform the state's welfares system and provide incentives for people to become self-sufficient; Carnahan signs the House bill, designed to move people off welfare and into jobs, at the Southeast Missouri Private Industry Council in Cape Girardeau.

1969

Although tests taken at Lake Boutin more than two months ago showed the lake to be polluted, the State Division of Health and the State Park Board have allowed swimming to continue there and have issued no warnings of danger, The Missourian reports; the lake, located at Trail of Tears State Park, contains "bacteria in the water ... too numerous to count" according to the Division of Health.

Evacuation of flooded South Cape Girardeau begins with the assistance of city employees as the rising Mississippi River reaches 37.1 feet here in the morning; elsewhere in the area, more farmland goes under water, particularly in the Commerce, Missouri, area, where a dirt levee burst, flooding about 12,000 acres.

1944

The Navy V-12 Training Unit at State College will be reduced from a quota of 335 men to 200 beginning Oct. 30; Cheney and Albert halls will be retained for Navy housing and mess halls, but Leming Hall will again be used as a dormitory for women students at the beginning of the winter semester.

BENTON, Mo. -- Plans are to open the new Frobase Theater, now under construction, about Aug. 1, according to the owner, Chester H. Frobase; the $15,000 building is located where the Frobase cafe was razed a few months ago.

1919

Oscar C. Hirsch, son of Chris Hirsch, who has been in France with the Army, arrived home last night from Camp Mills, New York, where he received his discharge; he was in the service 19 months altogether, but spent only one year of that time overseas; he landed in New York on June 29 and while there visited his sister, Ione Hirsch, who is attending Columbia University.

A severe wind and rain storm late in the afternoon fortunately does little damage; probably the most serious damage is to the wires of the Missouri Public Utilities Co., service being cut off for more than an hour; Mrs. Charles Grimes, 1301 Good Hope St., is blown from her porch, sustaining a fractured knee.

-- Sharon K. Sanders