Business

A web development and software solutions company in Cape Girardeau has joined forces with a full-service marketing and communications agency in a move both businesses say will benefit their clients as well as their employees. Red Letter Communications announced last week it acquired Element 74 effective Jan. 1. The transaction was announced on Red Letter's website and in letters to each company's respective clients...

Wood & Huston Bank in Cape Girardeau has signed a lease to open an additional branch in the Regent’s Parc building, 1610 N. Kingshighway, Suite 102, a space formerly occupied by MRV Banks...

There’s a general perception that as the Southeast Missourian’s business editor, I know everything that’s happening on the local business scene. And while I suppose it’s true I know more than many people, it’s only because I’ve lived in the area for nearly 50 years, and you tend to develop “networks” after so much time...

Who hasn't felt the shame of a refrigerator purge? You're sentenced to face the forgotten leftovers, fuzzy produce and years-old salad dressing you swear must have come with the fridge. But it didn't. You paid money for all these things, and now you have to throw them away...

Imagine needing to see your doctor and getting in on the same day. Or being on time and waiting only 10 minutes in the waiting room before your appointment. Or being able to bring your child to see his or her pediatrician and then walking across the hall to have your own appointment with your dermatologist...

Sept. 1940: Consolidated School of Aviation opens with three airplanes on the Barrett Cotner Farm off Highway 74. July 15, 1942: Consolidated School of Aviation becomes a military aviation training school serving the U.S. Army and Navy. It is off Highway 74 at what becomes known as Harris Field...

An airport connects. It is where people depart for work, adventure. Where loved ones meet to say goodbye and welcome home. Where hopes and dreams are inspired by soaring jets or aerobatic twists in the sky through the wonder of flight. Cape Girardeau's airport began as a place where young men were trained as pilots for war in 1942, before there was an Air Force. It was where more than 2,500 cadets flew single prop planes, taking off and landing on Harris Army Airfield...

The good news came a day earlier than expected for Phil Penzel, CEO of Penzel Construction Co. in Jackson. Phil emailed me Wednesday night to say he read my story online in which I reported the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission earlier that day had awarded a $17.4 million contract to Penzel Construction for the reconstruction of the Center Junction interchange at Interstate 55's Exit 99. ...

Conservative radio talk show host and Cape Girardeau native Rush Limbaugh will continue broadcasting "The Rush Limbaugh Show" well into the new decade, based on published media reports...

Looking for a vintage lamp or a piece of antique jewelry? What about unique wall decor or a perfect side table for that spot next to your favorite reading chair? You'll find those sorts of items, and many others, at the Tin & Cotton Trading Company, a new consignment store on South Kinghighway in Cape Girardeau...

LAS VEGAS -- Once a hidden and under-the-radar topic, privacy got more attention at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas last week. Startups now volunteer information about how they're securing your data and protecting your privacy when you use their heart rate monitor or cuddly robot...

Stigma around behavioral health conditions is slowly diminishing as prominent public figures come forward to disclose their personal challenges with depression, addiction, anxiety, bipolar disorder and other common, yet debilitating, mental health conditions. What to expect in the future...

A book that has impacted the way I think about business and/or leadership is "Can't Hurt Me," by David Goggins. As with any good motivational or leadership book, its principles can be applied to business strategies, but more importantly, they can be applied to everyday life...

In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my two Falabella miniature horses, Finley and Fiona. They were part of a big animal cruelty case out of Tennessee where nearly 150 animals of various species were seized. I was on a waiting list to adopt them and had to wait for the legal process to play out. ...

Local farmer creates app providing real-time info on irrigation For Nathan Holmes of Oran, keeping track of agricultural irrigation was "like trying to unscramble an egg." Between employee miscommunications, sometimes tedious record-keeping and uncertainty about irrigation pump status, he said he felt frustrated with the system of irrigating his family's farmland...

The 2020s will be a decade of transition for printed newspapers. Southeast Missourian publisher Jon K. Rust has written an insightful column about the newspaper industry's future that appeared in last Thursday's edition. In it, he cited several reasons why more and more newspapers are transitioning away from printed formats in favor of digital platforms. If you haven't read it, it's well worth a read ...

After nearly a quarter-century with Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, David Prather has retired as the medical center's chief financial officer. His retirement became effective last Tuesday...

Cape Girardeau was a different place in August 2000 when the city council approved the Vision 2020 strategic plan. There was no water park or sportsplex. Construction on the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus had yet to begin. The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge was a few years away from completion. Transformation of the downtown area, including the Marriott Hotel, Marquette Tech District and Rust Center for Media, were nearly two decades away...

Ambrose Bierce became an early 1900s influencer when he published "The Devil's Dictionary," a book of sarcastic definitions. He discovered dictionaries were a fantastic literary device for social commentary. He also probably realized inventing bogus definitions was an easy method to overcome writer's block and to efficiently generate content to meet deadlines...

Thousands of Missourians will get a raise Wednesday when a new minimum wage rate kicks in, increasing the minimum hourly wage from $8.60 to $9.45. The wage hike is part of a multiyear plan to incrementally increase the state's minimum wage for non-tipped workers between now and 2023...

As 2019 draws to a close, the Southeast Missourian asked the heads of the Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City chambers of commerce to reflect on the old year and offer insights into what they see in the coming year. John Mehner, president and CEO of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, said business expansions and the area's "continued strong economy" are at the top of his list of best 2019 business stories in Cape Girardeau...

Robinson Construction Company received an Excellence in Construction (EIC) Award from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Heart of America Chapter for their work on the Missouri's National Veterans Memorial project in Perryville, Missouri. ...

7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Drury Plaza Hotel Cape Girardeau Conference Center 3351 Percy Drive Cape Girardeau Celebrate 10 years of giving to St. Jude at Cape Girardeau's biggest New Year's Eve party. Tickets are $75 per individual and $800 for a reserved table with up to 10 people. Tickets include dinner catered by The Southerner, draft beer, entertainment by The Intention and a champagne toast at midnight. For more details, visit facebook.com/StJudeNewYearsEveBenefit/...

As 2019 draws to a close, it's time to look back at the headlines that shaped the area's business and economic climate this year. The following is a review of some of the business news covered on the pages of the Southeast Missourian between January and early December, prior to the deadline for this issue of B Magazine...

As many of you know, especially those of you who subscribed to this publication for more than 30 or 40 years, this isn't my first "tour of duty" with the Southeast Missourian. I worked for the paper in the late 1970s through the mid-'80s, spending part of that time as business editor after G.D. Fronabarger filed his last business column...

The email looked legitimate. One day back in September, the financial controller of a local company received what she thought was an email from the company's vacationing president. It started with a simple, "Hi, are you in?" and displayed the CEO's name in the email's "from" line. To the controller, the email appeared to be from her boss because that was the way he began many of his messages...

Four Southeast Missouri State University students will soon have the chance to represent their school on the world's stage. On Dec. 6, the Harrison College of Business and Computing at Southeast got some important news: They had again qualified among the top business schools in the world to compete in the Network of International Business Schools Worldwide Case Competition...

A 40-year banking career will draw to a close later this month when Henry "Butch" Holyfield retires as president of First State Community Bank in Cape Girardeau. The bank, owned and operated by First State Bancshares Inc. of Farmington, Missouri, announced last week Butch has decided to make Dec. 31 his final day on the job...

The Cape Chamber celebrated its Annual Dinner at the Drury Plaza Conference Center November 21. During the evening, more than 800 members from the Cape Girardeau region gathered for cocktails, dinner and awards. The Chamber Annual Dinner is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate business members of the community. Several business figures from the area were honored during the ceremony because of their hard work and dedication.

Erwin Haitzmann was a university student in Linz, Austria, in the mid-1970s, and like many college students, he needed a job to help pay his expenses. Little did he know the job he would take would be the start of a career in the gaming industry and would eventually lead him to ownership of Cape Girardeau's riverfront casino...

The numbers are impressive. There are 748 registered not-for-profit organizations in Cape Girardeau County. Who knew? That was one of the statistics shared Friday at the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee by Jessica Hill, executive director of the local Safe House for Women and the current president of SECOP, the Southeast Council on Philanthropy...

With insurance costs and premiums on the rise, many people are looking for ways to make expenses associated with medical care more affordable. One solution is to start a Health Savings Account, better known as an HSA. But what exactly is an HSA, and how can it benefit you?

Plans are underway for a new development on the west side of Cape Girardeau near the intersection of Siemers Drive and Highway 74. Cape Girardeau real estate developer Mike Peters told me last week work could start "as early as March" on City Place Centre which he describes as a 60-acre "mixed use residential and commercial development."...

The year was 1909. Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House until March 4 when William Howard Taft was sworn in as the nation's 27th president and the face of another president, Abraham Lincoln, was added to the penny. The United States Army Signal Corp Division bought the world's first military airplane, purchasing a Wright Military Flyer from Orville and Wilbur Wright...

I saw an amusing post on Facebook the other day reminding Black Friday shoppers to turn their phones to the “horizontal” position before recording any fights among their fellow shoppers. Yes, another Black Friday, the annual celebration of retail consumerism, is nearly upon us ...

C.B. Forck says it’s hard to estimate the extent of the Christmas decorating he does every year as the holiday season approaches ...

Melissa Miller had a passport, but rarely used it. "I had never been out of the United States except for the Caribbean, which I don't really count," she said as she gazed over the twilight skyline of Barcelona, Spain, during an interview with the Missourian last week. "So it was a little crazy to take a job in a country and continent I had never been to."...

I had the good fortune of spending 10 days in Spain earlier this month, learning about that nation's rich history, fascinating culture and delicious food (I gained five pounds during the trip despite averaging more than 10,000 steps each day). My wife, Kathy, and I were part of a Southeast Missouri State University Alumni Association tour group that visited Madrid, Cordoba, Toledo, Seville, Granada, Valencia and Barcelona. ...

The air is crisp, the leaves are falling and decorations are going up — holiday party planning season is here! Whether you’re in charge of planning parties for your family, friends or business, ensuring all the details are in place has the potential to be a stressful and expensive matter. It doesn’t have to be, though; with these three party-planning tips, help yourself enjoy the holidays this year as much as the guests you’re entertaining.

On Friday, Oct. 18, Southeast Missourian business editor Jay Wolz texted me and asked whether I would consider writing a guest column for the business section. He explained this would take the place of his normal column. After taking some time and careful consideration, I agreed to do so. ...

This story was originally published Oct. 8 in the Southeast Arrow. It was updated Nov. 8 to reflect the number of Hawk Sauce bottles sold. Students in the hospitality management program at Southeast Missouri State University are once again cooking up Cape Girardeau favorite Hawk Sauce to meet high consumer demand...

Most parents in the U.S. provide some sort of financial support to their adult children, multiple surveys have found. But often, financial aid goes the other way. A 2015 survey by TD Ameritrade found 13% of American adults provided financial support to a parent. ...

WASHINGTON -- Juul Labs said Thursday it will halt U.S. sales of its best-selling, mint-flavored electronic cigarettes as it struggles to survive a nationwide backlash against vaping. The voluntary step comes days after new government research showed Juul is the top brand among high schoolers who use e-cigarettes and many prefer mint...

If you woke up to a weird text that seemed totally out of place, you aren't alone. A mysterious wave of missives swept America's phones last week, delivering confusing messages from friends, family and the occasional ex. Friends who hadn't talked to each other in months were jolted into chatting. Others briefly panicked...

If you ask Steve Watkins who he is, he quickly answers, "I'm an artist. It's as simple as that." But Steve is not a "traditional" artist. You won't find his paintings on a wall, his sculptures in a gallery or his songs on an album. Instead, you will find his creations in the hands of some of the world's greatest chefs, as well as in the kitchens of people who simply want to use the same culinary tools as the professionals...

What do a local baseball team, food trucks and a children's museum have in common? Each one has roots in a team project developed as part of Leadership Cape. The seven-month-long Cape Chamber program marks 20 years of team projects in 2019. In the program, class participants visit businesses, schools and other organizations each month to learn how their community works. ...

The sign in front of the Pilot House restaurant says it was established in 1962 and the menus say it opened in 1961, but owner Jim Byrd says both those dates are wrong. Byrd has owned Pilot House since 1986 and, until recently, he also believed it opened in the early '60s. But a couple of weeks ago, he ran into a man who, as a teenager, worked at the Jaycee Golf Course just up the hill from the restaurant on Perryville Road north of the Cape Girardeau city limits...

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its September unemployment data last week for hundreds of metropolitan statistical areas across the nation, including the Cape Girardeau MSA. According to the BLS, the percentage of people in the area's workforce without employment stood at 2.4% in September, down 0.1% compared to August and a full percentage point lower than September 2018...

As the 30th year of Leadership Cape draws to a close, per tradition, Chamber members were presented an array of community improvement projects developed by Leadership Cape participants at First Friday Coffee. While several projects throughout the years have come to fruition, the goal of the projects is to improve leadership skills by intentionally exposing participants to the realities of working with different personality types...

A Rally's fast-food outlet is being built at 113 W. Jackson Blvd in Jackson near the intersection of South Hope Street on a lot formerly occupied by a Rhodes 101 convenience store. The Rally's will be operated by PAJCO Inc., the parent company of Rhodes 101. PAJCO president Jeff Maurer says he expects the Jackson Rally's to be up and running by November. Another location will open by the end of the year on North Main Street in Sikeston, Missouri...