Chamber Updates

Spring Commencement & Workforce Last weekend was the kickoff for commencement season as some area High Schools and Southeast Missouri State University held their graduation ceremonies. The pomp and circumstance of spring continues over the course of the next two weeks as other area high schools hold their events and prepare to send their students…

The Value of a Growing Regional Airport With a recently completed rebuild of Taxiway Bravo, the groundbreaking for a new modern terminal, and the coming addition of 20 high quality T-Hangars things area starting to Fly High at CGI and that’s good for business. Cape Girardeau Regional Airport has been active in the news over…

Construction and Growth Season Spring is here and that means construction season is getting ready to move into full gear. With both private and public projects going on all around the region there is a lot of activity to watch for. Driving around Cape Girardeau you can see many great development projects well underway. Two…

Planning in 2023 The second quarter of 2023 is well underway, and the economy seems to have stayed more stable than expected at the start of the year. Now is a great time for business leaders to revisit, review and refocus on their 2023 plans. At the end of 2022 projections for business activity and…

2022 Population Estimates Show a Continued Trend of Loss in Southeast Missouri Last week the U.S. census office released updated county population estimates as of July 1, 2022. While the State of Missouri as a whole and Cape Girardeau County showed estimated growth in population the overall picture for southeast Missouri is a continued decline.…

Spring Cleaning! Spring is officially here and hopefully the spring weather will be pleasant and long lasting this year. The seasonal transition to spring has traditionally implied renewal and refreshment as nature shakes off the dormancy of winter and blossoms anew. Spring can also be a great time for businesses to refresh and renew with…

Watch out for Phishing! This is a Secure Message! That was the simple subject line of an email that came from me last Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, I didn’t send that message, instead I had fallen for a Phishing scam a few weeks earlier and the result was someone had gained access to my email and…

Daylight Savings Sunday morning at two am we officially moved to “Daylight Savings” as clocks were moved forward one hour. This annual event that first started in Germany in 1916 and began in the U.S. on March 19, 1918 often leads to groggy mornings, tired employees and according to research done at the University of…

SB 94 Aims to Increase Film, TV, and Touring Events in Missouri Missouri Senate Bill 94 known as the “Show MO Act” and the “Entertainment Industry Jobs Act” received first chamber support last Monday when it was approved by the Missouri Senate on a 20-12 vote. The goal of the legislation to provide incentives for…

New Programs to Expand Childcare Access Could Reduce Workforce Inequality A January 2023 report from the World Economic Forum found that “The pandemic negatively impacted women much more than men: while women constituted approximately 39% of the global workforce, they suffered 54% of the job losses.” A study from the University of Arkansas found that one factor may be…