Isle of Capri pours casino basin

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - The Isle of Capri casino construction took a big step forward Tuesday night.

Construction crews poured a 41 thousand square foot concrete slab for over 12 hours. The slab will serve as the basin where the casino floor will float.

Missouri law requires that casinos are built within 1000 feet of a river and the gaming floor must float.

Isle of Capri’s Vice President of Design and Construction Dick Meister explained the casino's requirements according to Missouri law.

"In Missouri we can build a basin of 41,000 square feet and then put a barge of about 41,000 square feet and let it float. As long as there is two feet of water under the barge and a couple of feet on either side to swim around. However, when you walk into the barge, at end of the day, inside the building, you will not know that you have gone from the building to barge and back and forth. It’s a very seamless transition the way these are built now,” Meister said.

The concrete was poured overnight so that concrete trucks would not interfere with traffic.

Approximately 40 concrete trucks per hour arrived at the construction zone, hauling concrete from three Delta plants in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Meister says the basin must be completely flat. It cannot be off by more that one-eighth of an inch throughout it’s forty-one thousand square feet.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Southeast student discovers shipwreck

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Southeast Missouri State University student Jennifer Rickard made the discovery of a lifetime during a summer program in Spain: the remains of a shipwreck deep in the Mediterranean waters.

Rickard was studying at the Cavalleria Ecomuseum when she and six other divers made the discovery.

The ship dates to the sixteenth or seventeenth century and was badly charred by fire.

Rickard says she was not expecting to find a shipwreck that day.

'They had told us to due magnitronomy and also some other indications that there possibly was one in that area, we did end up discovering it through a mass amount of dead seaweed that had been underneath us," Rickard said.

Jennifer was granted a scholarship from the Harryette Campbell Foundation to help fund the program.

Rickard's says she hopes to continue studying maritime archaeology for her masters and PhD.

Lauren Campbell, KRCU

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MICDS gets $21.5 million gift

ST. LOUIS, MO (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO) - A St. Louis County private school has received a $21.5 million donation from the James S. McDonnell family.

Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, or MICDS, will use the money to build a new, 52,000 square-foot science and math facility.

MICDS head of school, Lisa Lyle, says the goal is to involve students in the process of scientific research.

"These new lab facilities – the normal classroom/lab environment which is large and well-equipped, as well as the two research spaces – will give every child in the school the opportunity to engage deeply with hands-on, inquiry-based learning," Lyle said.

Lyle says having a research facility on campus will allow students to work with St. Louis-area professionals on long-term research projects.

"It will give us a chance to partner with local bench scientists, and it will give our kids exposure to the kinds of thinking and the habits of mind required to do sustained research," Lyle said.

Lyle believes plant science and medical research will continue to play an important role in the St. Louis economy in the future and wants MICDS students to be prepared.

The school hopes to begin construction on its new facility in the summer of 2012.

The McDonnell family's donation is the largest in the school’s history and the second largest ever to any grade or high school in the region.

James S. McDonnell III graduated from St. Louis Country Day School in 1954. His wife, Elizabeth Hall McDonnell, graduated from Mary Institute in 1958.

James S. McDonnell III is the son of James S. McDonnell, Jr., founder of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation.

Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

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Crowell is not alone in opposition to tax credits for international trade hub.

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (MISSOURI DIGITAL NEWS) - One State Senator was not alone in opposition to a bill creating tax credits for an international trade hub in St. Louis.

Southeast Missouri Senator Jason Crowell attacked the bill during an open meeting Tuesday, resulting in little compromise.

Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee Chuck Purgeson says Crowell wasn't the only one opposing the legislation.

"There's an opportunity to have a lot of changes based on conversations I've had with individual Senators on directions they think the bill needs to go, you know, that's part of our legislative process," Purgeson said.

Lawmakers will discuss the bill next week during a special session.

Stacey Kafka, Missouri Digital News

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Samuel says Redhawks match up well against SIU

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - When the Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks face off against the Southern Illinois Salukis on Saturday, it could boil down to a battle between the two defenses.

Coach Tony Samuel says the Redhawks have experience in key defensive players Tylor Brock and Bryan Blanfort, who are capable of containing the Salukis’ dynamic quarterback Paul McIntosh.

"We’ve got some good defensive linemen. If you look at our two safeties, Blanfort missed last year, but he was a guy that was doing some good things the year before he was hurt, and he’s back at full strength. Brock had a great season last year," Samuel says.

Coach Samuel says that Southern Illinois will be strong and that they have a lot of threats on the field.

"They are a very good football team, you know, they have some returners. They’re very strong on the offensive line. I think they have the team speed on defense, the quarterback is back. This is his third year as a starter. He started some games last year...the year before, and it looks like now he’s the definite starter," Samuel says.

Samuel says while the Salukis have a strong offensive unit the Redhawks’ defense will be able to hold up against them.

Southeast Missouri State University opens their season at home this Saturday at 6pm.

Drew Yount, KRCU

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Nixon calls for performance-based higher education funding

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Governor Jay Nixon announced a shift in Missouri’s higher education formula at last week’s Higher Education Summit.

Nixon wants to change to a performance-based model instead of an across-the-board approach when higher education allocations increase.

Mineral Area College president Steve Kurtz is strongly in favor of basing funding by meeting key performance indicators. He says his college already keeps track of many of the indicators the state will likely use.

"For us, we already have that culture at the institution," Kurtz said. "It’s just, how do we move with the implementation of a performance-funding model?"

Southeast Missouri State University president Ken Dobbins also favors a performance model and Southeast already tracks its own performance as a whole and within departments. He hopes the governor looks at a rolling average instead of basing funding on individual years because one cannot predict when budget increases will appear and an off year on benchmarks is always possible.

"A three to five year average I think everyone has agreed that’s good both on the numbers you are looking at so far as the benchmarking and also for the overall percentage that you’re going to get of new funding," Dobbins said.

The model is still under development. Officials from the Department of Higher Education indicate there will be three or four statewide goals for each institution to meet and each college and university will choose an additional goal of its own.

The key performance indicators have not yet been decided, but they could include goals for retention rates, degree attainment, student success and quality of student learning, to give a few examples.

The model will be approved Higher Education Commission in December.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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McCaskill says Joplin recovery funds are not in jeopardy

ST. LOUIS, MO (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO) - Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill says federal funding for Joplin is not in jeopardy.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said last week that funding for some long-term projects in the tornado-ravaged town would be put on hold because of Hurricane Irene.

McCaskill said she was worried initially but says she got a better explanation over the weekend.

"I do now realize that the only proposed shift was in order to meet immediate emergency needs in areas that have been impacted given how much money is left in the disaster fund between now and the end of the year," McCaskill says.

That fund has less than one billion dollars with the fiscal year ending in just over a month.

McCaskill says the U.S. House has passed the appropriation for the disaster fund for next year’s budget and she expects the Senate will do the same.

The Missouri Democrat says she’ll be watching to make sure Joplin gets the money it’s been promised.

Maria Altman, St. Louis Public Radio

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