Missouri officials appeal ruling on Birds Point levee break; Illinois governor praises ruling

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri officials are appealing a federal judge's ruling that says the Army Corps of Engineers can break a levee and flood Missouri farmland if necessary to spare an Illinois town upstream.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. ruled Friday that the corps' plan to breach the Birds Point levee is appropriate to ensure flood-control along the Mississippi. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis a short time later.

The corps has proposed using explosives to blow a 2-mile-wide hole through the levee in southeast Missouri's Mississippi County. They agency says doing so could ease waters rising around the upstream town of Cairo, Ill., near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

Illinois governor praises judge's decision on Birds Point

MARION, Ill. (AP) - Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says a federal judge made a good call on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to break a Mississippi River levee in an effort to ease flood waters rising around Cairo, Ill.

Quinn issued a written statement Friday thanking the court for what he called "the right decision." The Illinois governor says he hopes the decision will be upheld.

Friday's decision gave the corps the go-ahead to break the levee in southeast Missouri's Mississippi County.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has appealed the judge's ruling to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

Missouri officials are concerned the levee break would carve a channel through prime farmland, flood homes and displace people