Top Stories of 2011

From left, Zach Price, Jeff Farris and Kent Honey sit on Farris' front porch in Olive Branch, Ill., as they wait for more sandbags to be brought by boat across the floodwater. Residents and volunteers were busy sandbagging houses along Highway 3 in Olive Brach on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, as overflow from Horseshoe Lake, the Mississippi River and Ohio River continued to flood the area. Residents said they measured about a 14 inch rise in the water overnight.

Rain begins to fall as Chaffee, Mo. residents sandbag around a house just off State Highway EE Monday, April 25, 2011 as rising floodwaters close in on the house. The residents of the house said they are "trying to stick it out." (Laura Simon)

Water flows over the breached section of Birds Point levee in Mississippi County, Mo., on Tuesday, May 3, 2011. On May 2, Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh gave the order to intentionally breach the Birds Point levee, flooding over 130,000 acres of farmland to ease flooding upstream. (Kristin Eberts)

Skylar McKee, right, and Hannah McClarney survey the floodwater from behind the sandbag levee on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, in Olive Branch, Ill. Residents and volunteers were busy sandbagging houses along Highway 3 in Olive Branch, as overflow from Horseshoe Lake, the Mississippi River and Ohio River continued to flood the area. Residents said they measured about a 14 inch rise in the water overnight. (Kristin Eberts)

Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh speaks at a news conference with Gov. Jay Nixon, left, after they toured the Birds Point levee Sunday, May 1, 2011. (Fred Lynch)

Bill Sprous uses a raft to help carry supplies through floodwater to his flooded Morehouse, Mo., home Saturday, April 30, 2011.

An explosion lights up the night sky as the the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blows an 11,000 foot hole in the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County, Mo. on Monday, May 2, 2011.

The city of Cairo, Ill., is dwarfed by the surrounding floodwater from the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on Thursday, April 28, 2011. (Kristin Eberts)

Sandbagging along Highway 74 east of Dutchtown, Mo. Wednesday, April 27, 2011. (Fred Lynch)

Highway 80 into East Prairie, Mo., is closed near Interstate 55 due to high water on Friday, May 6, 2011. Concerns are mounting as rising floodwaters creep higher on the setback levee that protects the town. (Kristin Eberts)

Looking south from Cairo, Ill., towards the outline of Birds Point levee, which now encloses flooded farmland. (Kristin Eberts)

Jacque Sue Waller's sister Cheryl Brenneke, left, daughter Addison Waller, 5, father Stan Rawson and mother Ruby Rawson, right, hold candles in honor of Jacque during a prayer vigil marking two months since her June 1 disappearance on Monday, August 1, 2011, at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Cape Girardeau. (Kristin Eberts)

Jacque Waller, right, has been missing since June 1. (submitted photo)

People gather in honor of Jacque Sue Waller during a candlelight prayer vigil marking two months since her June 1 disappearance on Monday, August 1, 2011, at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Cape Girardeau. (Kristin Eberts)

Paula Martin of Jackson hikes through a wooded area northeast of Cape Girardeau Sunday, June 26, 2011 in search of her friend Jacque Waller. Around 30 friends and family members led the search for Waller who has been missing since June 1. (Laura Simon)

Clay Waller, center, is escorted to a police vehicle after a court hearing at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011, where he appeared on charges of stealing and harassment. Waller's bond was reduced from a $65,000 cash-only bond to a $27,000 surety bond. (Kristin Eberts)

Tina Hitt and Blye Galemore, right, hold candles in honor of Jacque Sue Waller during a prayer vigil marking two months since her June 1 disappearance on Monday, August 1, 2011, at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Cape Girardeau. (Kristin Eberts)

Work continues at the Isle of Capri Casino site on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Steel beams are being erected as construction of the main structure progresses (Kristin Eberts)

An artist's rendering of the Isle of Capri casino.

Workers at the Isle of Capri casino site begin pouring the concrete for the basin which will hold the floating casino floor on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011. Work continued throughout the night and required concrete from 40 trucks per hour, totaling 2,100 cubic yards of concrete. (Kristin Eberts)

People attend a meeting held by the Jackson board of aldermen regarding the annexation of Fruitland at Jackson City Hall on Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. (Kristin Eberts)

Fruitland residents have submitted a petition for annexation to the city of Jackson, according to Missouri law. However, organizers would prefer to become an incorporated city. (Fred Lynch)

Saxony Lutheran students, staff, parents and other community members board a charter bus headed to Jefferson City in the early hours of Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011, at Saxony Lutheran High School. The group will show their opposition to the opening of nearby quarries during a Missouri Land Reclamation Commission meeting in Jefferson City. (Kristin Eberts)

Saxony Lutheran High School sits just beyond crews moving dirt at the Heartland Materials site Tuesday, November 8, 2011 in Fruitland, Mo. (Laura Simon)

Cape Girardeau City Manager Scott Meyer speaks in front of the Esquire Theater in Cape Girardeau Wednesday morning, October 12, 2011. The Esquire Theater has been purchased by John Buckner, owner of Broadway Esquire Entertainment Group, LLC, and will reopen to show independent films, student theater and cabaret. (Laura Simon)

Dan Stroder of Stroder Masonry patches a window on the west side of the Vasterling building Monday afternoon in Cape Girardeau. Renovation of the 143-year-old building at the corner of Sprigg Street and Broadway is expected to be complete no later than June. (Laura Simon)

Casey Brunke, project manager with the city engineer's office, answers questions about the Broadway corridor project during an open house Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at First Presbyterian Church. (Fred Lynch)

Saber Excavating continues demolition of the 105-year-old building at 501 Broadway Thursday morning, Dec.15, 2011, in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

This is an artist rendering of possible Broadway corridor enhancements. (SWT Design illustration)

Ryan Patterson, right, talks with his attorney, David Kenyon, prior to opening statements Monday, Aug. 1, 2011 in the murder trial against Patterson at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson. Patterson is the accused trigger man in the October 2009 murder of Jamie Orman, her 15-year-old son Derrick and her unborn child. (Fred Lynch)

Ryan Patterson is escorted outside the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse Thursday evening, August 4, 2011 in Jackson after a jury suggested he receive three life sentences without the possibility of parole. Patterson was found guilty Thursday morning of all three first-degree murder charges related to the 2009 shooting deaths of Jamie Lynn Orman, her son Derrick and unborn child. (Laura Simon)

Commander Premier Aircraft Corp. is still operating in the 52,000-square-foot municipally-owned hangar at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport on Sept. 26, 2011. (Fred Lynch)

Lt. Jerry Bledsoe, left, and Capt. Gregg Ourth with the Scott County Sheriff's Department watch as Dan from Dan's Key and Lock Shop changes the locks on the main entrance of an airport hanger during the eviction of Commander Premier Wednesday morning, October 12, 2011 at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. (Laura Simon)

Doc Cain, left, owner of Port Cape Girardeau and member of "Stand Up Cape, What's Next?", congratulates the crowd in his bar after unofficial results came in showing the smoking ban proposition was defeated was defated 3,997 to 3,672, or 52.12 percent to 47.88 percent, on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. (Kristin Eberts)

Dale Humphries, left, with Smoke-Free Cape reflects on the defeat of the smoking ban for Cape Girardeau after hearing the report from Stacy Reliford, right, a lobbyist with the American Cancer Society, Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at Beef O'Brady's. Dan Carrigan, center, also waited for election results. (Fred Lynch)

A truck passes by deer grazing in a field at dusk near the intersection of North Sprigg and Bertling Streets in Cape Girardeau on Monday, Oct. 4, 2011. (Kristin Eberts)