FRONT PAGE
GAS PRICE BACKLASH: Americans facing rising gasoline and diesel prices are cycling about, saddling up, singing out and, sometimes, resorting to violent symbolism. Dozens of Alabama students are bicycling up to 10 miles each way to their rural high school. An Indiana man was arrested for belting out a protest song, “Price Gouge’n,” from the roof of a convenience store. A sign-maker in Kentucky is riding his horse on business errands. And a Tennessee sheriff is investigating a more disturbing protest: a slain deer hanging from a gasoline station sign.
QCVB MOVE: Quincy Park District Executive Director Mike Parks said Monday he anticipates no problems for the Quincy Area Convention and Visitors Bureau in its effort subleasing property from a district tenant. The Park Board of Commissioners is expected to formally OK a proposal that would allow the QCVB to sublease two rooms on the second floor of the Villa Katherine from the nonprofit Friends of the Castle group.
CAPITAL PLAN: A deputy director at the Illinois Department of Transportation who spoke in Quincy Monday said the biggest roadblock to a capital bill is the question of how to fund it. That turned out to be his biggest roadblock with the local audience too.

THE SCOOP
HART COLUMN: The agreement was simple. When Desirae O’Neal finished school, her husband would follow. Saturday, at Culver-Stockton College’s graduation, the O’Neals culminated five years of hard work and sacrifice when Philip O’Neal received his bachelor of science degree in elementary education.

AROUND THE WORLD
GI BILL: Veterans groups say it’s time to expand college aid for GIs, and Democrats want to use an election year to do it. Their biggest obstacle? The Pentagon.
PAIN KILLERS-OLDER BRAINS: Results from a large government experiment are dimming hopes that two common painkillers can prevent Alzheimer’s disease or slow mental decline in older people.
MED TEXTING: 4gt yr meds? Getting kids to remember their medicine may be a text message away. Cincinnati doctors are experimenting with texting to tackle a big problem: Tweens and teens too often do a lousy job of controlling chronic illnesses like asthma, diabetes or kidney disease.
MODIFIED EMBRYO: News that scientists have for the first time genetically altered a human embryo is drawing fire from some watchdog groups that say it’s a step toward creating “designer babies.”  
BRIEFLYS: China disaster relief official says death toll from earthquake has risen to almost 12,000; Iraqi hospital officials say clashes break out in Sadr City; 11 killed, 19 wounded; Clinton poised for West Virginia win that offers little hope of blocking Obama from nomination; Lawmakers want President Bush to stop shipping oil to emergency reserve; UN says flow of relief into Myanmar too slow; others accuse junta regime of hoarding food aid; Clashes, airstrikes kill 12 militants in Afghanistan; 17 children wounded in blast, officials say; Bush to return to the Mideast with tempered hopes for peace agreement before term ends; Relentless wildfires burn into the early morning across Florida’s Atlantic coast.

LOCAL
JWCC CANDIDATE NO. 4: Vicky R. Smith, president of Neosho County Community College in Chanute, Kan., is one of four finalists for the presidency of John Wood Community College. She will met with district residents at receptions in Mount Sterling and Pittsfield today, and will meet Quincy residents and be interviewed by the board on Wednesday.
COUNCIL: Aldermen opened to door to join with the state in placing emergency power supplies at some of the cities busiest intersections so that traffic will continue to flow even in a power outage. They also heard that a new operator for the Tail Winds Restaurant will be needed in June.
GOLDEN APPLE: Hundreds of area women say they have Kathy Citro to thank for graduating from high school. One of those women is Angela Brookhart, who now works as a part-time instructor for Citro, the director of Teen Parent Services for the Quincy School District. It was almost 10 years ago when Brookhart was 17 years old and out of school while she took care of a 1-year-old daughter. “I was not at school and didn’t know if I wanted to continue my education at the time,” Brookhart said. “I met Kathy, and (she) gave me the self esteem that I needed and encouraged me to do something with my life. I went on to college, and I graduated with a bachelor’s in elementary education and now I am here teaching.” Success stories like Brookhart’s is one of the reasons Citro is a recipient of WGEM’s Golden Apple Award, one of five given annually to teachers as part of a program in its 23nd year.
CAR SEAT ROUNDUP: Safe Kids Adams County will hold a car seat roundup May 17 in the K mart parking lot in Quincy. People are encouraged to drop off their unsafe, unusable car seats.

REGION
JWCC GRAD PREVIEW: Bill Simpson, retiring president of John Wood Community College, will deliver the address for the college’s 33rd annual commencement on Friday.
FUNDRAISER TRIAL: Political fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko’s defense attorney ripped into the government’s star witness against his client Monday, describing him as an admitted lifelong liar and swindler whose brain was all but rendered useless by three decades of abusing powerful narcotics.
SEVER STORMS:  More than 25 years ago, a rash of deaths among tornado victims trapped in cars in Wichita Falls, Texas prompted what is now a basic tenet of storm safety: When a twister is on the horizon, stay out of your car. Authorities in Missouri and Oklahoma are echoing those same warnings after a weekend tornado that devastated several rural communities in southwest Missouri and across the border in northeast Oklahoma.
RED LIGHT CAMERA: House members voted Monday to restrict the use of red-light cameras. The amendments lay out requirements for communities that wish to use the cameras at intersections, mandate that the money be used for schools and allow certain drivers to be immune from prosecution.
MO VOTER ID: Missouri Republicans pressed forward Monday with a proposed constitutional amendment allowing a photo identification requirement for voting, despite objections from the woman who successfully challenged a similar 2006 law.
MO ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: A House committee rejected a Senate-approved immigration bill Monday while the governor’s office touted state troopers’ arrest of 250 illegal immigrants since last summer.
SURGEON DEATHS: Limited outpatient surgeries have resumed at a Southern Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital more than eight months after the entire surgical unit was shut down because of a reported spike in post-surgical deaths, officials said Monday.
EXERCISE RECORD: A suburban Chicago man has reclaimed the Guinness world record for time spent on a stationary bicycle.

BUSINESS
HOUSING DEAL: Watch what they do, not what they say. When President Bush promised to veto Democrats’ homeowner rescue bill, it may have sounded like the measure was dead. But in a competitive election year clouded by a crippled economy, Republicans are as anxious as Democrats to strike a deal on an issue that matters to their constituents. ANALYSIS
OLD GAS PUMPS: Mom-and-pop service stations are running into a problem as gasoline marches toward $4 a gallon: Thousands of old-fashioned pumps can’t register more than $3.99 on their spinning mechanical dials.
SPRINT LAWSUIT: An affiliate of Sprint Nextel Corp., iPCS Inc., said Monday it is seeking to block Sprint from forming a less broadband company with Clear Corp.
CABLEVISION-NEWSDAY: Tribune Co.’s $650 million sale of Newsday is an important step toward alleviating its debt burden — for this year. Now the Chicago company needs to move on its next big asset sales, including the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Wrigley Field, in order to meet its obligations to creditors looming in 2009.
 H&R BLOCK-TAX SEASON RESULTS: A late-season rush of tax filers helped H&R Block Inc. to its strongest tax season since 1999, the nation’s largest tax preparer said Monday. H&R Block reported tax preparation revenue rose 9 percent between November and April 17 to $2.76 billion, up from $2.54 billion in the 2007 tax season.

POLICE
SHOOTING: A former Lewis County man was killed by Kansas City police when he  came to the front door of his home with a handgun pointed at an officer. Rodney Alan Jones, 48, funeral services are Wednesday in Lewistown.
LABELLE ACCIDENT: A 76-year-old pedestrian was struck by a backing car in a private drive in LaBelle Monday afternoon. The pedestrian refused medical treatment.
VIOLENT CRIME:  Violent crime has increased in some cities in recent years in part because local police are too cash-strapped to fight it, the ATF chief said Monday. The comments by Michael J. Sullivan, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, echo pleas by mayors across the country for more federal dollars to combat crime.  
BEATING DEATH: Even by tough, urban-crime standards it was a grisly attack: Up to 15 people chased a man, then kicked and beat him to death on the street. Before police arrived, one attacker urinated on the victim’s head.

YOUR TOWN
THE BRITISH ARE COMING: The seventh annual Vintage Kart Olympics at TNT Kartways will host between 20-30 British Karters June 19-21. This event is considered the premier vintage event in the nation.

SPORTS
SCHUCKMAN COLUMN: Sports Writer Matt Schuckman takes a look at which teams should be the most dangerous as regional baseball play starts for the Class 1A and Class 2A teams in Illinois.
MISSOURI STATE GOLF: Area players struggled on the first day of the Missouri state golf tournaments. No area player broke 80 and just one is in the top 10 going into today’s final round.
BLUE DEVILS STREAKING: The Quincy High School softball team ran its winning streak to seven games Monday with a 1-0 victory at Beardstown.
MARK TWAIN REACHES TITLE GAME: Second-seeded Mark Twain slipped past host Palmyra on Monday night to earn a spot opposite top-seeded Orchard Farm in Wednesday’s district championship game.