Stories from Monday, July 27, 2020

SIKESTON, Mo. — The Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo Board of Directors announced Friday that Ashley McBryde will not appear at the Rodeo on Thursday, Aug. 6. “We were sad to hear that Ashley McBryde will not appear at our event, but rest assured we are working tirelessly to find a new act to take the stage following rodeo events on Thursday,” rodeo chairman Travis Deere said...

A residential house converted into a business suffered an estimated $25,000 in losses as a result of a Saturday night structure fire at 1372 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau. According to a media fact sheet prepared by Cape Girardeau fire battalion chief Brad Dillow, members of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to a report of smoke in the building at 9:52 p.m. and arrived to find a small fire in the basement of the structure. The sheet listed the incident as a trash can fire...

The U.S. 51 Ohio River bridge between Cairo, Illinois, and Wickliffe, Kentucky, will close for approximately 30 days starting Saturday to allow for repairs and maintenance to the bridge deck and the Kentucky approach to the span. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced over the weekend the bridge will close “promptly at 6:30 a.m.” Saturday and will remain closed until “around Aug. 31.”...

Ameren Missouri took a major step toward completion of a $12.5 million "smart grid" upgrade in Cape Girardeau on Thursday with the installation of two massive transformers at a new substation in the city's north side. "It's a big deal for Cape Girardeau," said Mayor Bob Fox, as he watched an Ameren crew position one of the twin 45-ton transformers at the new Cape Rock substation at the intersection of Cape Rock Drive and Lexington Avenue...

Have you taken a look lately at some of the car dealership lots in Cape Girardeau? If you think you saw fewer vehicles on the lots than normal, you're right. I contacted several local dealerships last week to ask why their vehicle inventories seemed low and learned its partly by design and partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic...

Coming from law enforcement, public safety and military service backgrounds, a career in cannabis seemed unlikely for a pair of Cape Girardeau firefighters. Yet that's where Michael Allen and Andrew Juden find themselves as founders and owners of 5th Meridian Group Inc. The company is one of a handful in Missouri licensed to provide transportation and security services to the state's new medical marijuana industry...

Mourners filled every chair and lined every wall in the Salvation Army gym Saturday where hundreds had gathered to pay tribute to Anthony Miller with a memorial and candlelight vigil inside a room many remembered him filling with his upbeat spirit and a contagious smile...

A day on the water nearly turned deadly for Jody Owens. While at Whippoorwill Lake Family Campground recently, Owens tried to stand up in his kayak to look at some of the fish in the water. In doing so, the boat flipped and Owens submerged under water. He was not wearing a life jacket...

BLM, absolutely, BLUE LIVES MATTER. The absurdity of defunding the police is about the dumbest thing to come out of left field. If anything, the police should be given a raise for keeping us safe. Are there bad police? Yes, but you don't do away with all because of a few. ...

WEST SAND LAKE, N.Y. -- Social distancing rules can make exercising a challenge for a blind runner who needs a volunteer tethered as a guide. But Thomas Panek has no problem because his running guide, Blaze, is a Labrador retriever. "I'm doing all the things a person would normally do, except I'm doing it with the help of a best friend who happens to be 77 pounds of love wrapped in soft yellow fur," Panek said...

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- A day after roaring ashore as a hurricane, Hanna lashed the Texas Gulf Coast on Sunday with high winds and drenching rains that destroyed boats, flooded streets and knocked out power across a region already reeling from a surge in coronavirus cases...

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday assailed Republican "disarray" over a new pandemic relief package as the White House suggested a narrower effort might be necessary, at least for now. The California Democrat panned the Trump administration's desire to trim an expiring temporary federal unemployment benefit from $600 weekly to about 70% of pre-pandemic wages...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Jeanette Lukefahr, 96, of Perryville died Thursday, July 23, 2020, at Independence Care Center of Perry County. Friends may call from 8:30 to 10:20 a.m. Tuesday at Ford and Young Chapel in Perryville. Rosary will be recited at 10 a.m...

O Lord, we thank you that through your grace, we shall be saved. Amen.

NEW YORK -- Regis Philbin, the genial host who shared his life with television viewers over morning coffee for decades and helped himself and some fans strike it rich with the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," has died at 88. Philbin died of natural causes Friday night, just over a month before his 89th birthday, according to a statement from his family provided by spokesman Lewis Kay...

SELMA, Ala. -- The late U.S. Rep. John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, for the final time Sunday as remembrances continue for the civil rights icon. The bridge became a landmark in the fight for racial justice when Lewis and other civil rights marchers were beaten there 55 years ago on "Bloody Sunday," a key event that helped galvanize support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Lewis returned to Selma each March in commemoration...

City officials say the Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch Flood Control Project is more than half finished; the Army Corps of Engineers will open bids today for what city officials call phase II-B of the project; it includes construction of a concrete channel between Broadway and Kingsway, next to Burger King and Choctaw Park...

Daughter to Curt and Ashley Lohmann of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Hospital, 7:29 a.m. Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Name, Kaira Nicole. Weight, 7 pounds, 7 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Lohmann is the former Ashley Snell, daughter of Gary and Kim Snell of Cape Girardeau. She works at Southeast Hospital. Lohmann is the son of Leon and Betsy Lohmann of Cape Girardeau. He works at Quest Diagnostics...

Today in History Today is Monday, July 27, the 209th day of 2020. There are 157 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon, charging he had personally engaged in a course of conduct designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case...

The term “service dog” is new to some and part of the daily vocabulary for others, and getting the word out about how service dogs can help humans is the goal of an upcoming event. Service dogs can help so many people in a number of ways: the veteran with PTSD, the 20-year-old girl with diabetes, the 70-year-old grandmother with mobility issues. ...

Shirley Ann Brown, 79, of Scott City passed away Friday, July 24, 2020, at her home. She was born Feb. 6, 1941, in Pocahontas to Alfred and Rosa Thauwald Koeberl. She was baptized and confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. After dating her high school sweetheart, Otis “Elmer” Brown, for more than four years, they were married April 26, 1959, just weeks before Shirley’s graduation from Jackson High School...