Stories from Friday, December 20, 2019

The Cape Girardeau County Commission voted Thursday to close county offices at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Christmas Eve. Offices will be closed Christmas Day and will reopen Thursday. The County Collector’s Office is reminding county residents that 2019 personal property and real estate tax payments are due Dec. 31. ...

Cape Ballroom will host a Christmas dance tonight at the American Legion building, 2731 Thomas Drive in Cape Girardeau. A foxtrot lesson begins at 7:30 p.m., and mixed social dancing goes until 10:45 p.m. tonight. All Christmas music will be played, and revelers are encouraged to wear ugly Christmas sweaters, or Christmas-related accessories. ...

Emergency personnel from Cape Girardeau Fire Department, Cape Girardeau Police Department and Cape County Private Ambulance respond to the 1600 block of Lexington Avenue in Cape Girardeau around noon Thursday ...

This weekend, the final battle commences, and Marcus Cape West Cinema is ready to welcome audiences eager to catch the final film in the franchise, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” which opened Thursday night. Theater general manager Kevin Dillon said Thursday that ticket presales have been extraordinary...

The history of Prohibition-era Illinois proved rich fodder for author Brian L. Alvis and photographer Robbie Edwards, an engaged couple collaborating on their second project with “Bootlegger,” a fictional recounting of real events in 1920s Southern Illinois...

Only one person appeared before the Cape Girardeau County Commission on Thursday to comment on the county’s proposed 2020 operating budget. Sheriff Ruth Ann Dickerson, referencing the budget line item for her department, reminded the commissioners Cape Girardeau and Jackson are offering starting patrol officers more than she can pay starting deputies in her department...

Contemplation, choirs, companionship. If you're looking for a break from holiday preparations or a way to reconnect, I got you covered. Take a candlelit stroll on a serene winter night from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center, 2289 County Park Drive. ...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats continue to shred their credibility. As I write this column, Pelosi and her House lieutenants have indicated they do not intend to send articles of impeachment, passed by the House, to the U.S. Senate until Democrats can dictate a witness list...

Today is Friday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2019. There are 11 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Dec. 20, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States...

Ruth Mae Steinhoff, 87, of St. Charles, Missouri, passed away peacefully Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, at NHC Health Care in St. Charles. She was born May 22, 1932, in Cape Girardeau to Martin and Alma Macke Fluegge. Ruth married Melvin C. Steinhoff and he preceded her in death Jan. 18, 1977...

Jacqueline Elaine Roberts, 82, of Cape Girardeau passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, at her home. She was born Oct. 27, 1937, in St. Louis to Troy J. and Myrtle V. Wade Hobeck. She and Alfred Louis Roberts were married Nov. 30, 1999, in Jackson...

Joyce Peerman, 98, of Jackson passed away Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019. She was born Feb. 6, 1921, in Cairo, Illinois, to Charles W. and Izona Stubblefield Hatcher. Joyce and John Leonard Peerman were married Aug. 1, 1943. He preceded her in death July 23, 1978...

Janet Sue Luttrell, 78, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, at Southeast Hospital. She was born Jan, 18, 1941, in Cape Girardeau to Walter Herbert and Naomi Bertha Braden Little. She and Bobby G. "Bob" Luttrell were married April 11, 1956, at Holly Springs, Mississippi. He preceded her in death June 7, 2016...

Tommy Alfred Lambert, 61, of Scott City died Thursday, Dec. 18, 2019, at his home. He was born Nov. 3, 1958, in Cape Girardeau to Alfred Amsi Jr. and Violet Virginia Nemmo Lambert. He married Debra Gail Ivester on Feb. 17, 1979, in Scott City. He was a crusher operator for Buzzi Unicem...

NEW YORK -- Singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he schemed with others to pay for a fake ID for an unnamed female a day before he married R&B singer Aaliyah, then 15 years old, in a secret ceremony in 1994. Kelly entered the plea in New York via a video feed from Chicago, where he remains jailed while facing multiple sex crime and other criminal charges...

Not much has caused a disturbance in the "Star Wars" galaxy quite like Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi," an erratic but electric movie that, regardless of how you felt about it, was something worth arguing about. The same can't be said for J. J. Abrams' "Rise of Skywalker," a scattershot, impatiently paced, fan-servicing finale repurposing so much of what came before it feels as though someone searching for the hyperspace button accidentally pressed the spin cycle instead...

FRESNO, Calif. — A 17-year-old girl was arrested Wednesday after authorities say she sneaked into a small plane at a central California airport and drove it into a chain-link fence. The teenager climbed a fence topped with barbed wire at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, started up the plane and crashed it into a fence, airport police chief Drew Bessinger said. ...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has voted to advance a $1.4 trillion government spending package in a last, bipartisan burst of legislating before bolting for the holidays from a Capitol that's toxic with impeachment. The first bill in the two-bill package, covering domestic programs, passed easily Thursday by a 71-23 vote, with a vote on a Pentagon and homeland security measure to come later in the day...

NEW YORK -- A major evangelical Christian magazine founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham published an editorial Thursday calling for President Donald Trump's removal from office. The editorial in Christianity Today -- coming one day after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives made Trump the third president in American history to be impeached -- raised fresh questions about the durability of his support among the conservative evangelicals who have proven to be a critical component of his political base.. ...

WASHINGTON -- Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on his Republican-led Senate on Thursday to keep the impeached President Donald Trump in office, as the chamber edged toward a fray spotlighting the GOP's most unapologetic embrace yet of Trump. "A political faction in the lower chamber has succumbed to partisan rage," said McConnell, R-Ky., a day after the Democratic-controlled House voted to impeach Trump, despite a show of fealty by Republicans voting unanimously against the move. ...

WASHINGTON -- Congress has headed home for the holidays leaving plans and a possible timeline for President Donald Trump's impeachment trial in disarray. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that Senate Republicans must provide details on witnesses and testimony before she would send over the charges for Trump's trial. No deal, replied Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after meeting with his Senate Democratic counterpart...

LOS ANGELES -- The long-festering feud between Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg erupted Thursday night in a high-stakes debate that tested the strength of the Democratic Party's shrinking pool of presidential contenders just six weeks before primary voting begins...

ST. LOUIS -- An open records dispute over whether the state can charge fees for the time officials spend redacting documents is headed to an appellate court. At issue is a lawsuit filed by St. Louis attorney Elad Gross against Republican Gov. Mike Parson's administration challenging a $3,618 bill he received last year to process an open records request related to Republican former Gov. ...

O Lord Jesus, Immanuel, thank you for coming to save us. Amen.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A $2.5 billion shortfall in the highway department's 15-year road and bridge program has Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, infuriated; two years ago, highway officials used the road and bridge projects as enticement for legislators to enact a 6-cent gas tax increase without a public vote; but an audit, released by the oversight division of the Joint Committee on Legislative Research, finds highway officials promised projects that would cost $12.711 billion, but the projected revenue through the year 2007 is $10.257 billion, meaning some promised projects won't happen.. ...

Son to John Nicholas and Christa Marie Martin of Cape Girardeau, Saint Francis Medical Center, 10:51 a.m. Friday. Oct. 25, 2019. Name, Wyatt Michael. Weight, 8 pounds, 2 ounces. Third child, second son. Mrs. Martin is the daughter of Jerry and Jeanette Belk of Chaffee, Missouri. She works for Saint Francis Healthcare. Martin is the son of Kris and Emilie Martin of Cape Girardeau. He works for Drury Southwest Inc...