Rick Fahr

Cape Girardeau City Council members voted unanimously at a special meeting Thursday, Nov. 2, to rename a portion of a city street after two former standout Southeast Missouri State University athletes. Council members Mark Bliss, Robbie Guard, Dan Presson, Nate Thomas and Tameka Randle as well as Mayor Stacy Kinder voted for the measure. Council member Shannon Truxel was absent...

Cape Girardeau City Council members voted to amend the city's fiscal year budget in several ways at their meeting Monday, Nov. 6. They unanimously voted to appropriate funds for various operating and capital expenditures: n General Fund -- $25,376 for the training cost of three paramedic firefighters, $16,400 for the cost of 22 firefighter physicals, $61,820 for grant-funded training and other grant-funded expenditures for the Fire Department, $42,490 for grant-funded expenditures for the Fire Department related to equipment purchases;. ...

Sarah Webb of McClure, Illinois, waves worship flags during a prayer service Sunday afternoon, Nov. 19, at Boardman Pavilion in downtown Cape Girardeau. ...

Cape Girardeau City Council members declined Monday, Nov. 20, to fund a portion of a United Way-led program to provide shelter to homeless people in extreme cold weather. At a council meeting earlier this month, Elizabeth Shelton, executive director of United Way of Southeast Missouri, asked for $10,000 of the project's estimated $45,000 cost. ...

Cassie Gosche never saw it coming. On the afternoon of July 27, the 15-year-old Benton, Missouri, girl was riding with her dad, Torey, on state Highway 77. They were returning from her enrolling in classes in the Kelly school district. She was looking forward to her Spanish and chemistry classes, and while on her cellphone comparing schedules with a friend, a vehicle veered into the path of her dad's truck...

Cape Girardeau officials are considering asking voters to approve a property tax increase to fund pay increases for police officers and firefighters. A release sent Tuesday, Nov. 21, quoted the city's mayor and three previous mayors advocating for the increase, which would amount to $0.25 for every $100 of assessed value in real estate and personal property taxes. For example, for a home valued at $200,000, the tax increase would amount to $122.13 annually...

Citizen feedback prompted Cape Girardeau City Council members to draft a Cape LaCroix Trail Enhancement Project plan. At the group's meeting Monday, Dec. 4, council members read for the first time an ordinance to approve a project that would widen the trail from 8 feet to 12 feet, realign portions of the trail system, install lighting and address Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues caused by roots growing under the trail that have displaced concrete and asphalt as well as erosion in some areas.. ...

Cape Girardeau City Council members moved forward Monday, Dec. 18, with putting a measure before voters to increase pay and benefits for the city's police and fire department personnel. By votes of 6-1 -- with Tameka Randle casting each dissenting vote -- the group read and approved for the first time ordinances to put on the Tuesday, April 2, ballot an increase in real and personal property of 25 cents per $100 of assessed value and, in the event the measure passes, to restrict spending of those funds to increases in pay and benefits for public safety employees.. ...

At their meeting Monday, Dec. 18, Cape Girardeau City Council members approved the first reading of two ordinances related to an under-construction hotel at Century Casino Cape Girardeau. The easements relate to utilities at the site at 720 N. Main St. Century Casino is constructing a $26 million hotel that will feature 69 rooms in six stories. Casino officials expect to open the hotel in early April...

For her decades of service as an elected and appointed official at the local, district and state level, as well as voluminous volunteer efforts, Kathy Swan of Cape Girardeau received the Southeast Missourian's Spirit of America Award on Thursday, July 4...