By Echo Menges GORIN, Mo. – Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025 – A home in Gorin was destroyed by fire early Thursday morning, leaving four people and two pet dogs displaced just two weeks before Christmas. The family lost all of their possessions in the fire. Volunteer firefighters from the Gorin and Rutledge volunteer fire departments and the Scotland County Ambulance District were dispatched to the fire at approximately 7:44 a.m., arriving to find the home fully engulfed in flames, according to Gorin VFD Fire Chief Kenneth Hoover. When firefighters arrived, flames were visible from windows on the south and west…

By Echo Menges KNOX COUNTY, Mo. — Monday, Dec. 9, 2025 – A rock truck driver from Greentop is lucky to be alive after a violent rollover crash in Knox County Monday afternoon. According to a witness, the fully loaded tractor-trailer was headed north on Missouri Route 15 when it rolled completely over—rotating more than 360 degrees—and landed on the driver’s side. The roof of the cab was crushed flat, and the truck came to rest on the north side of the highway at a curve known locally as Three Mile Corner, about three miles north of Edina near Route…

November 4, 1946 – December 9, 2025 Larry Kenneth Holman, 79, died on December 9, 2025, in Monticello, Illinois. Son of Kenneth and Eva Holman, Larry was born on November 4, 1946, in Keokuk, Iowa. He was a 1963 graduate of Scotland County R-1 High School, a 1968 graduate of Northeast Missouri State College with a B.S. in Education, and a 1972 graduate of Central Missouri State University with an M.S. in Education. He was a devoted educator and coach throughout his career. On August 26, 1967, Larry married Sharon Merrell at the Christian Church of La Belle, Missouri. In…

By Mike Scott, NEMOnews Media Group NORTHEAST MISSOURI — With winter weather forcing school closures across northeast Missouri, some residents are left wondering why student activities — such as basketball games — sometimes still go on. NEMOnews Media group contacted several area school superintendents who say student safety is always the top priority, even if conditions change throughout the day. “We always make our decisions on what is best and safest for kids,” said Ryan Bergeson, superintendent of Scotland County R-1. “Each situation is unique such as morning, afternoon, and evening temperatures. There are occasions when travel is not safe…

I sat in a very comfortable folding chair and had moved my electric heater from inside the cabin to the deck, where I would spend the evening deer hunting. It had been a quiet evening without seeing a deer, but that didn’t surprise me, as I fully expected the deer not to appear until the last 20 minutes of the day. There were plenty of tracks revealing that deer had been coming out to feed on the harvested cornfield I was hunting over. It was the Alternative Methods whitetail deer season, and unlike this year, a deer was needed to…

By Echo Menges MEMPHIS, Mo. — The Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Lighting of the Square and Memphis Bucks Giveaway on Friday evening, Dec. 5, 2025. The lights were turned on at 6 p.m. at the Scotland County Courthouse. A raffle drawing followed on the east side of the square, where winners were awarded $600 in Memphis Bucks in denominations ranging from $10 to $200. The Widows Sons served a free-will-donation soup supper at the Memphis Masonic Lodge No. 16, and an assortment of homemade desserts were provided by the Order of the Eastern Star Rutledge Chapter…

Wesley McSparren of Memphis received the Good Citizens Award from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Jauflione Chapter at a luncheon in his honor on December 5, 2025. The Good Citizens Award is presented by the Jauflione Chapter, NSDAR to one high school student per year and recognizes and rewards individuals who possess good citizenship qualities of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism in their homes, schools and communities. Wesley was selected by his teachers and peers because he demonstrates these qualities to an outstanding degree. Wesley was presented with a certificate, a financial award and a…