Local

Burning Question: What is comfort food?

Published by admin on Sat, 01/09/2021 - 3:58pm

It’s cliché that a writer stumped over just how to get a story started, will lead off with “the dictionary defines …”

In the matter of comfort foods, however, turning to the big book of definitions might just be necessary.

“What is comfort food? I don’t know,” said Stacey Conklin, owner of the homey Stacey’s Place in Mexico. “Chicken pot pies, meat loaf, tacos, fried chicken, pie – I could go on and on.”

Festive drink makes winter warmer, over ice

Published by admin on Sat, 01/09/2021 - 3:55pm

It starts with a pour of Crown Royal Regal Apple Whisky. It is finished off with a splash of Sprite. In between, The 581 bartender Melodye Wallace drapes the ice with cranberry juice.

Yes, there is ice. This is not a cocktail one might normally turn to on a frosty January evening. But there’s something about the combination that suggests autumn on the verge of winter, with the fruits of harvest and a flickering hearth waiting inside, offering the promise of warm pie and steaming mulled cider.

Two teens sentenced in 2019 homicide

Published by admin on Thu, 01/07/2021 - 8:37am

Two teens involved in the 2019 gunshot death of TaJuan Williams in Mexico have been sentenced to prison.

Demetric Dorsey, 17, received 10 years for one count of first degree involuntary manslaughter and 15 years for one count of armed criminal action. First Judicial Circuit judge Russell Steele determined that the two sentences will run concurrently.

Corn blight spotted in Missouri

Published by admin on Thu, 01/07/2021 - 8:35am

Missouri corn growers should scout for an emerging crop disease, tar spot, in 2021, says University of Missouri Extension plant pathologist Kaitlyn Bissonnette.

She identified tar spot in four far northeastern Missouri counties: Scotland, Lewis and Clark in 2019 and Marion in 2020. She expects it to spread in the northern half of Missouri and then to the middle of the state.

Chamber highlights plan to aid small businesses

Published by admin on Thu, 01/07/2021 - 8:34am

As part of the COVID-19 relief package approved by Congress, $284 billion has been set aside for a second Paycheck Protection Program.

Dana Keller, director of the Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce, says there are some important points that area small business owners should be aware of as the program rolls out.

To qualify, businesses must show a 25 percent drop in revenue in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year ago. And they must employ 300 or fewer people.

Audrain County Health Department renews WIC contract

Published by admin on Thu, 01/07/2021 - 8:21am

Representatives of the Audrain County Health Department have signed a contract to continue to provide the Special Supplemental Food Program for the Women, Infants and Children program with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for federal fiscal year 2021. Under the terms of the contract, the ACHD will be able to serve up to 625 persons every month.

Mexico resident reaches 100th birthday milestone

Published by admin on Mon, 01/04/2021 - 1:32pm

One of Audrain County’s most beloved businessmen and residents celebrated a milestone over the weekend.

Fowler Ennis celebrated his 100th birthday Sunday attending church in the morning, followed by a light lunch and a ZOOM call in the afternoon, allowing well-wishers the opportunity to visit.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, the celebration was much more reserved than his late mother’s - who also lived to be 100 - years earlier.

But it was a celebration nonetheless.

Mexico restaurant makes meals for the homebound

Published by admin on Mon, 01/04/2021 - 1:27pm

It started with two people who wanted to give back in some small way.

So Stacey Conklin, owner of the Mexico restaurant Stacey’s Place, got together with Alexis Burnett, who owns The Gift Bar on the downtown square. The arrangement was simple. Each time a customer spent $50 at Burnett’s shop, the two would buy a meal for a homebound person in the city.

Soon Conklin began matching The Gift Bar donation. Now Stacey’s Place has a list of 120 individuals and couples that they deliver food to once a week.

10 questions with...Bill Albus

Published by admin on Mon, 01/04/2021 - 1:24pm

Jimmy Carter was president. St. Louis had Cardinals in baseball and football. Floppy discs were a thing. The world was a bit different when Bill Albus joined the Little Dixie Fire Protection District as a volunteer 43 years ago.
 
In 2018 he became chief of the department, which covers 600 square miles of Audrain County from three stations.
 

Bite the Big Apple at Fulton pizza joint

Published by admin on Mon, 01/04/2021 - 1:21pm

If you are of the right generation, you remember the iconic opening scene of Saturday Night Fever – John Travolta strolling down the sidewalks of New York, bouncing to the falsetto beat of the Bee Gees, ordering pizza by the slice and folding it up to eat on the go.

The trick to New York style pizza and the thing that so often trips up chefs at parlors around the country who try to make it is that crust. It must be flimsy enough to flop, yet with a crispy veneer that yields a satisfying crackle.

User login