ST. LOUIS — One of the city's downtown courthouses has been without phone service for nearly a week after copper thieves severed lines buried beneath the streets, officials said Thursday.

Courts spokesman Joel Currier said workers in the Clyde S. Cahill Courthouse, formerly called the Civil Courts building, noticed the outage on Thursday, Sept. 18.

On Monday, they discovered the cause: The copper phone lines buried beneath Tucker Boulevard and Chestnut Street were severed. Police were called to investigate, and AT&T started repairs.

Wire thieves have repeatedly disrupted service in the St. Louis area in recent months. Last September, a vandal broke into a work shed in Lemay to cut copper AT&T lines, temporarily disrupting 911 service. In April, residents of the Skinker-DeBaliviere nei

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