Posts by rgilligan_robgilligan

Business and Community For businesses or organizations, the opportunity to support a variety of groups, programs or activities can often be overwhelming. Retail locations can sometimes have multiple contacts in a day for contributions, donations, or other similar requests. How to balance a desire to support everyone with the reality of limited resources can be…

Trade Disputes and the Uncertainty They Bring As trade tensions between the United States and China intensify, businesses across the Midwest are bracing for economic repercussions that could ripple through key sectors of the region’s economy. A trade war—defined as a tit-for-tat escalation of tariffs and trade restrictions between nations—has once again taken center stage…

Updated Census Estimates show a positive trend in parts of Southeast Missouri One of the data points related to a region’s stability or growth that is easy to track is census data. In the United States, we physically count the population every 10 years during the decennial census. But each March, the US Census Bureau…

New Restaurants Springing Up in Cape Friday was officially the first day of Spring, as we crossed the vernal equinox and head straight into the renewal of the season. If you have been watching the news in Cape Girardeau lately, it almost feels like someone was planting seeds of entrepreneurship for food establishments as several…

Beware the Ides of March The first few months of 2025 have been a bit of a whirlwind with lots of activity, changes, and uncertainty in the air. I spent a fair amount of time last Saturday thinking about the date and if there was any business meaning to be forewarned of the Ides of…

Daylight Saving Time Daylight savings kicked in on Sunday morning, and that means we all lost an hour of time and maybe even an hour of sleep. If your workday is starting off a little slow, you’re probably not alone, but the time change can also lead to positive change for business. With daylight saving…

Understanding Tariffs and Potential Business Impacts After a brief pause in February to negotiate on issues related to border security, President Trump has indicated that new tariffs will now go into effect on Tuesday. Tariffs are taxes imposed by a government on imported goods, aiming to protect domestic industries by making foreign products more expensive.…

Business Advocacy at the State Level Later this week, I’ll join a group of business and community leaders from throughout Southeast Missouri in Jefferson City, connecting with state leaders on a variety of topics and issues important to business in our region. Advocating at the state level can be a critical part of supporting business…

New Development Project Announced in Scott City Economic Development is often viewed as a marathon because the work may take time to pay off. Development of the SEMO Industrial Park in Scott City over the past few years has taken time and significant resources from both the private developers, as well as the community and…

Preparing for Disruption Last week, an unexpected memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent many into panic as a freeze on Federal grant and loan funds was announced. While the order was rescinded before going into effect, it certainly has leaders examining what the potential impact could have been. In…