Last Friday, the Cape Chamber hosted a panel of students at or near the end of their academic careers here at SEMO and Mineral Area College. The goal of the conversation was to learn more about what attracted them to the area, how they were engaged, and what strategies would help to keep more students here in Southeast Missouri.

Last Tuesday, in a 3 -2 vote, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued the Non-Compete Clause Rule (“the final rule”), that would effectively eliminate millions of business agreements currently in place, pending litigation fighting against the rule.

Codefi, a leading venture and tech-based development organization based in Cape Girardeau, announced last week a pioneering new hybrid venture capital model that will blends seed funding and venture philanthropy to support startup growth across Southern Missouri.

The start of April brought with it the opening of the newest hotel property in Cape Girardeau, the Riverview Hotel at the Century Casino. This is just one of several large commercial investments underway in the region that will help improve the overall quality of life and add a nice little boost to business in Southeast Missouri.

It’s finally here! Eclipse day 2024 and with-it thousands of umbraphiles, or eclipse chasers will descend on the Southeast Missouri region. While I am sure some of the locals will be grumbling about traffic and crowded restaurants, the economic benefit to our area businesses and the communities overall will be worth it.

April Fool’s Day is the one day per year that businesses and brands can have a little fun and engage their customers in a fun and joking way.

On March 14, the U.S. census office released updated county population estimates as of July 1, 2023. For Missouri, as well as our region, population estimates were relatively flat for this year.

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.

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 Colorado – Boulder a six percent increase in fatal car accidents.

Last week, the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC) released the January 2024 jobs report for the state and with-it annual revisions to 2023 estimates. There were some positive trends to watch in our region.