St. Louis Symphony Orchestra thrills audience at Bedell

Classical music was in the air when the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performed at the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall in the River Campus yesterday afternoon.

Musical Conductor Robert Franz led the orchestra through three compositions from the 19th and 20th centuries ... Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, Copland's Appalachian Spring, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major.

Many local fans of the symphony were in attendance, such as Elaine Pinar of Perryville.

"It's worth a trip to St. Louis for this. And the conductor, Robert Franz, you can feel that he just lives that music," Pinar said.

The next symphonic performance at Bedell will be the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra on March 1.

Daniel Rohr, KRCU

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Plungers brave cold and snow for an icy dip

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Temperatures never ventured far above 30 degrees, but that didn't stop over two-hundred people from taking a cold dip Saturday afternoon at Lake Boutin at Trail of Tears State Park.

The 5th annual Polar Plunge is the most popular fundraising activity for Special Olympics in Cape Girardeau. This year’s 268 participants helped raise $45,000 for 1,100 athletes. The money will help fund their upcoming basketball tournament, a track meet, and various athletic events throughout the year.

Charles DiStefano was one of the plungers. Clad in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, he says he lost feeling in most of his foot … and didn’t even notice he had lost a sandal to the lake’s muddy bottom.

"But it was definitely a new, rewarding experience," DiStefano said. "And I want to call it a religious experience. Standing out there, waiting for my heat to go, and then that nice crisp air comes by. I was really saying, 'God, just take me now.'"

This year marked a record number of Polar Plunge participants. Organizers set a goal of $60,000 and are still accepting contributions.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Southeast Missouri opening beef research facility

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Southeast Missouri State University's Agriculture Department will have a ribbon cutting ceremony this morning for the opening of its new beef research facility.

The facility will be used for beef management by Southeast students. It will also be used to facilitate DNA sequencing of beef cattle, which plays a big role in improving feed efficiency and meat quality.

The facility will provide a place for the beef to be kept together so their feed can be monitored and the meat quality can be evaluated. Dr. Michael Aide, Chair the Agriculture Department, believes that this new facility will benefit far more than just the students of Southeast Missouri State University.

"This will really provide a quality facility for education but it will also provide a facility for research where we hope to improve farm profitability all through Southeast Missouri," Dr. Aide said.

The ribbon cutting ceremony will be at 10:00 this morning at the David M. Barton Agriculture facility. The ceremony is open to the public.

Katie Long, KRCU

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Missouri general revenue up 16% in January 2011

Missouri’s general revenue was up again in January. State collections were 16% higher than in January 2010.

As a result, fiscal year 2011 is up 6% as compared to the same time frame last year.

With a little extra money in the state coffers, Governor Jay Nixon released ten million dollars to fund school transportation costs.

Missouri Budget Director Linda Luebbering says that the higher-than-expected revenue figures can be partially attributed to lower refunds.

"As the markets are improving, people are no longer seeing capital losses like they have the last few years and therefore are not requesting refunds related to those capital losses," Luebbering said.

Luebbering also warns that the low refund figures could simply be a matter of timing, and we may see a sharp increase in February.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Willie Nelson concert cancelled

Willie Nelson will not be performing at the Show-Me Center on March 15.

Show-Me Center marketing director Shannon Buford says that the country music icon may still perform at the venue, but that problems arose with the March 15th date.

“This was just a contractual issue. It’s actually far more common than a lot of folks actually realize. It was just brought to our attention extremely late.”

Fans who already purchased tickets can get their money refunded beginning on Monday morning at 10 o’clock at their point of purchase.

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Emerson may run for Senate in 2012

In an interview for KRCU’s Going Public, Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson says that she is considering a run for the US Senate in 2012.

Emerson chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. If she chooses to run, she would face Ed Martin and Sarah Steelman in the Republican primary. The winner will challenge incumbent Claire McCaskill.

Emerson says that she is not going to rush into a decision.

"In between everything else, I may think about it here for the next several weeks," she says.

Also in the interview, Emerson says that she favors repeal of last year’s health care overhaul law instead of eliminating parts of it piece-by-piece.

"I think that the whole complexity of the health care law really does require repeal and then to write a new law that encompasses all of those things that I think we agree on."

Those things that can be agreed upon, she says, include extending coverage to children up to 26 years old and the ability to get affordable insurance in spite of pre-existing conditions.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Course redesign conference focuses on technology

Southeast Missouri State University hosted a conference yesterday on course redesign.

Guest speaker George Mehaffy stated that current institutions have become outdated, and universities must utilize present technology to enhance student learning.

Biology professor Allen Gathman illustrated course redesign by presenting several models of learning that encourage active learning. Dr. Gathman explains one such model, known as the 'Emporium Model' used at Jackson State Community College in Jackson, Tennessee.

"Instead of doing lectures or class meetings, you have a big room with a bunch of computers, and the students work on, essentially, self-paced software that then takes them from where they are through where they need to be, and you have people available all the time to answer questions in the room," Gathman explained.

Gathman says that Jackson State saw increased student post-test scores, better retention, and less cost per student.

Dr. Gathman stated that an important purpose of course redesign is for faculty members to rethink the way they deliver instruction by using unique technology in order to ultimatly improve student learning.

Daniel Rohr, KRCU

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