Stories from Tuesday, November 22, 2022

ST. LOUIS — A 19-year-old woman is asking a federal court to allow her to watch her father's death by injection, despite a Missouri law barring anyone younger than 21 from witnessing an execution. Kevin Johnson faces execution Tuesday, Nov. 29, for killing Kirkwood, Missouri, police officer William McEntee in 2005. Johnson's lawyers have appeals pending that seek to spare his life...

Westbound Highway 74 in Cape Girardeau will be reduced to one lane with a 16-foot width restriction as Missouri Department of Transportation crews make bridge repairs. According to a MoDOT news release, this section of highway is from Fountain Street and onto the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge in Cape Girardeau. The work will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily Monday, Nov. 28, and Tuesday, Nov. 29...

Full-time employees of the City of Cape Girardeau could soon be in line for bonuses. Cape Girardeau City Council members voted unanimously at their meeting Monday, Nov. 21, to approve the first reading of an appropriation to give every full-time employee a $1,000 net pay bonus. The ordinance will appear on the next meeting's consent agenda for second and third readings...

Jackson municipal officials reported a ruptured sewer main Monday afternoon, Nov. 21. The rupture was near Klaus Park Village Subdivision and forced officials to shut down a lift station, which led to wastewater crews pumping wastewater into a truck and hauling it to the city’s treatment facility ...

Parking in certain parts of Cape Girardeau will be limited ahead of and during Old Town Cape's Parade of Lights at 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27. Beginning at noon Sunday, parking will be restricted on numerous streets downtown. Cape Girardeau Police Department officers will be posting signs in restricted areas; vehicles parked in the areas after noon will be towed, according to a news release from the department...

A 193-page Plug-in Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan was approved by a local transportation council Wednesday, Nov. 16. "Drafts of the plan have circulated since May and we've had several rounds of comments incorporated making for rather large appendices," said Alex McElroy, executive director of Cape Girardeau-based Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization (SEMPO), noting in particular the input received from Cape Girardeau's EVTV Motor Verks...

Like a diesel engine mechanic troubleshooting a problem, entities providing industrial training and education in Southeast Missouri are employing a number of tools to ensure potential employees have the skills and knowledge they need to be successful for themselves and their employers...

Cape Girardeau City Council members voted unanimously at their meeting Monday, Nov. 21, to approve a contractor for Central Municipal Pool renovations. The $6 million project has been awarded to Penzel Construction Co., a frequent contracting partner with the city. The Jackson-based company was among five contractors that submitted bids for the project...

Prospective homebuyers sat with representatives of real estate and lending institutions at a dinner sponsored by the PORCH Initiative on Thursday, Nov. 17, at Shawnee Park Center in Cape Girardeau. Tameka Randle, Cape Girardeau City Council member and executive director of PORCH — which stands for People Organized to Revitalize Community Healing — said the goal of the evening was to connect people wanting to buy a house with those who can help make that happen...

From dining to shopping to beautiful décor, there’s no place like downtown Cape for the holidays. Experience it for yourself as you stroll down the streets taking in the beautifully lit holiday decorations or attending one of the many holiday activities that fill the downtowncapegirardeau.com calendar in November and December. This year lit décor is being added to the Broadway corridor helping to light the path to downtown...

Lord Jesus, thank you for your wondrous peace which you generously give to us. Amen.

With a thundering voice, Bill Holt, a Dominican priest in Manhattan, preaches frequently about the "thunder of silence." Father Holt isn't just any Catholic priest -- he's one who went viral during COVID. A video of him was posted, unbeknownst to him, of him smoking on the St. Vincent Ferrer priory steps. There he was, being himself, quite relatable, and yet with something clearly more. Something deeper; magnetic. People responded...

President Joe Biden's $400 billion 2022 election bribe -- also known as student loan forgiveness -- has been now stopped in its tracks on two fronts. First, in Texas, federal district court Judge Mark Pittman, one of nearly 300 federal judges appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled the initiative unconstitutional. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Police Department responded to the following calls. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests n A warrant arrest was reported on Good Hope Street. n A warrant arrest was reported. n A Ste. Genevieve County warrant arrest was reported on William Street...

Cape Girardeau Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls. Nov. 20 n Medical assists were made at 11:36 a.m. on Delwin Street; 12:23 p.m. on Scott Street; 12:53 p.m. on Lakeshore Drive; 4:19 p.m. on Delwin Street; 6:15 p.m. on North Spanish Street; 7:44 p.m. on South Sprigg Street; 8:08 p.m. on Perryville Road; 8:30 p.m. on Bellevue Street; and 10:30 p.m. on North Sprigg Street...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a dispute over a dog toy that got whiskey maker Jack Daniel's barking mad. Jack Daniel's had asked the justices to hear its case against the manufacturer of the plastic Bad Spaniels toy. The toy mimics the Jack Daniel's bottle and label but is a parody. ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey sought a pause in executions and ordered a "top-to-bottom" review of the state's capital punishment system Monday after an unprecedented third failed lethal injection. Ivey's office issued a statement saying she had both asked Attorney General Steve Marshall to withdraw motions seeking execution dates for two inmates and requested that the Department of Corrections undertake a full review of the state's execution process...

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou locked down its largest district Monday as it tries to tamp down a major COVID-19 outbreak, suspending public transit and requiring residents to present a negative test if they want to leave their homes...

NEW YORK -- If you're cooking a meal for Thanksgiving or just showing up to feast, you're part of a long human history -- one that's older than our own species. Some scientists estimate our early human cousins may have been using fire to cook their food almost 2 million years ago, long before Homo sapiens showed up...

Elon Musk's Twitter has reinstated the personal account of far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, which was banned in January for violating the platform's COVID misinformation policies. The Georgia Republican's reinstatement comes after Musk over the weekend reinstated the account of former President Donald Trump, who was banned in the aftermath of the deadly Jan. ...

WASHINGTON -- As angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, ready to smash through windows and beat police officers, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes extolled them as patriots and harkened back to the battle that kicked off the American Revolutionary War...

BURBANK, Calif. -- Bob Iger, the enterprising entertainment executive who brought Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel under the Disney marquee and challenged the streaming dominance of Netflix, will replace his handpicked successor, CEO Bob Chapek, whose two-year tenure has been marked by clashes, missteps and a weakening financial performance...

HINGHAM, Mass. -- An SUV crashed through the front window of an Apple store Monday in Massachusetts, killing one person and injuring 16 others, authorities said. Police were investigating but didn't immediately say whether the crash was believed to be accidental. Hingham police Chief David Jones would say only that it was an active investigation. The driver of a 2019 Toyota 4Runner was being interviewed...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Orion capsule reached the moon Monday, whipping around the far side and buzzing the lunar surface on its way to a record-breaking orbit with test dummies sitting in for astronauts. It's the first time a capsule has visited the moon since NASA's Apollo program 50 years ago, and represents a huge milestone in the $4.1 billion test flight that began last Wednesday...

DENVER -- A year and a half before he was arrested in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting that left five people dead, Anderson Lee Aldrich allegedly threatened his mother with a homemade bomb, forcing neighbors in surrounding homes to evacuate while the bomb squad and crisis negotiators talked him into surrendering...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Iranian security forces used heavy gunfire against protesters in a Kurdish town in the country's west on Monday, killing at least five during an anti-government protest that erupted at the funeral of two people killed the day before, activists said...

CIANJUR, Indonesia -- A powerful earthquake killed at least 162 people and injured hundreds on Indonesia's main island on Monday. Terrified residents fled into the street, some covered in blood and debris. Many of the dead were public-school students who had finished their classes for the day and were taking extra lessons at Islamic schools when they collapsed, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said as he announced the latest death toll in the remote, rural area...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian authorities have begun evacuating civilians from recently liberated sections of the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, fearing that a lack of heat, power and water due to Russian shelling will make conditions too unlivable this winter. The World Health Organization concurred, warning that millions face a "life-threatening" winter in Ukraine...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- More Afghans will be struggling for survival as living conditions deteriorate in the year ahead, a top official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said in an interview, as the country braces for its second winter under Taliban rule...

OMAHA, Neb. -- Consumers could see higher gas prices and shortages of some of their favorite groceries during the winter holiday season if railroads and all of their unions can't agree on new contracts by an early-December deadline that had already been pushed back...

LOS ANGELES -- Forty seven years after he took the stage at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in a sequined-studded baseball uniform as the world's biggest pop star, Elton John walked on to the same stage on Sunday night wearing a bedazzled Dodgers bathrobe, a uniform more fitting for a 75-year-old man on the verge of retirement...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The man suspected of opening fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs was being held on murder and hate crime charges Monday, two days after the attack that killed five people and left 17 others with gunshot wounds. Online court records showed that 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich faces five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury in Saturday night's attack at Club Q...

RICHMOND, Va. -- A University of Virginia football player who was seriously wounded in a shooting that killed three of his teammates has been released from the hospital. Brenda Hollins, the mother of running back Mike Hollins, tweeted early Monday: "Mike has been discharged!!! HALLELUJAH."...

MORLEY, Mo. — Jeannie Elizabeth Keefer Williams, daughter of the late Fred and Carrie Griffith Keefer, was born Dec. 15, 1932, in Morley, and departed her life Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, at Bertrand Nursing and Rehab Center in Bertrand, Missouri, at the age of 89 years...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. — Scott W. Sensiba, 69, of Marble Hill died Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 30, 1953, in Eugene, Oregon, the son of William A. and J. LaVerne Spears Sensiba. He is survived by a brother, Greg Sensiba; sister, Jill Sensiba; and other friends...

Angie Lynn Perkins, 54, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, at her home. A graveside service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, at Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau, with Pastor Fred Burgard officiating. Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements...

Larry D. Keller, 73, of Jackson passed away Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, surrounded by his loved ones. He was born Dec. 25, 1948, in Cape Girardeau to Delmer and Lorene Kinder Keller. He and Deanna Romack were married June 12, 1969. Larry served his country proudly in the Army National Guard...

Alex Brooke Beck, 34, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, at Saint Francis Medical Center. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26, at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau. A memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27, at La Croix United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau, with the Rev. Ron Watts officiating...

A state grant to fund a preservation plan for the city of Cape Girardeau could be the first step in creating historic districts in the city; the $20,000 grant from the Missouri Historic Preservation Program to Cape Girardeau's Historic Preservation Commission would pay for hiring a preservationist to put the plan together; the grant is the first in a series of grants the commission plans to seek for more in-depth studies and preservation projects...