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In its 87th year, the Stoddard County Fair will officially begin with a parade through downtown Dexter at 5:30pm on Tuesday, Sept. 16. (Exhibit entries will be accepted on the 14th and 15th) The winner of 2013's Band Competition, The Puxico Rhythm Steppers, will be the lead band for this year's parade. Immediately after the parade in Arena A there will be youth games and chicken catching; while Arena B will host the Queen's Contest. Bill Hulvey and the Side Street Band will entertain on the Midway at 7pm and Prof. Farquar and Polecat Annie will perform nightly. At 6pm Wednesday, Tyler Feller and Kryst Lyke will offer a youth ministry on the Midway. Thursday will be armband night; the

Scott Faughn – SEMO TIMES I don’t remember where I was on 9/11, but I do remember the first Cardinals game played after the attack. I was home listening to Jack Buck read his poem and crying my eyes out.   Toni and Brian Becker – SEMO TIMES It was just another Tuesday morning until it was anything but and the whole world changed. Brian was getting ready for work and I was watching the news on our bedroom TV, with our little 7-month-old and 3-year-old playing around in the room. I was confused by the image of the flaming tower with the jagged-shaped hole in it as I tried to disseminate the stuttering TV anchor’s equally confused reporting. The

WASHINGTON – As Congress returns to session this week, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) is railing against the do-nothing Democrat-controlled Senate during events at home in Missouri, on the U.S. Senate floor, and during a press conference with Republican Senate leadership. "People in Missouri say to me 'you're not getting the work of the country done.' It is clearly right," said Blunt on the U.S. Senate floor today. "Here we're back in Washington, reminded by our friends on the other side, that really we're just here to hold votes that we've already had. With all of the critical challenges we haven't solved, we're talking about changing the Constitution. To suggest that there's a real debate going on in Washington, when this is all exactly what people are

Senator calls for passage of legislation to close gender pay gap WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today joined fellow Senators in voting to advance the Paycheck Fairness Act in the Senate— legislation to help close the wage gap between women and men working equivalent jobs, costing women and their families $434,000 over their careers. “Ensuring women get equal pay for equal work is a battle my mom had to fight, and I’m determined not to leave that fight for my daughters to finish,” McCaskill said. “When a working woman—who is often the sole breadwinner or a significant contributor to her household—can still be paid less than her male colleagues for the same work, it does a great disservice to

[Publisher's note: this article will also appear in Thursday's newspaper.] UPDATE:  The legislature voted at 11:55pm on Wednesday night; the Governor’s veto stands.  Jefferson City is a strange place these days. Literally, things can turn upside down overnight. That's been the case with House Bill 1326 and Senate Bill 506. The bills, deemed the Mo Farm Bills, are supported by both the Missouri Cattle Producers and Missouri's Dairy Cattle industry. They were designed to strengthen Missouri's agricultural industry, which pretty much everyone agreed was a good thing. Just over two months ago these bills were also heavily supported in the state capitol. At the time of passage, the Missouri Cattlemen's Association's (MCA) wrote, “The MCA strongly supports the bipartisan 105