Talbots to close Cape store in January

Talbots, 201 S. Mount Auburn Road, will close its doors in early January. The specialty retailer of women's apparel, shoes and accessories opened in Cape Girardeau in 2006. Currently, all merchandise is 25 percent off. More than 80 Talbots stores are expected to close in fiscal year 2011, according to a company news release. The company, based in Hingham, Mass., has closed 15 stores in the first six months of this fiscal year. About 25 stores are planned for closure in fiscal year 2012 and about two stores are planned to close in fiscal year 2013. According to its second-quarter financial statements, the company's loss from continuing operations was $37.4 million, or $0.54 per share, compared to last year's income from continuing operations of $0.5 million or $0.01 per share.

* The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent, its lowest level in six months, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday. The economy added 104,000 private-sector jobs last month, and also added 102,000 more jobs than had previously been reported in August and September. The number of long-term unemployed, defined as Americans out of work for 27 weeks or more, fell by 366,000 in October, the biggest drop since 1948. The unemployment rate in the Cape Girardeau Metropolitan Statistical Area, was 7.6 percent in September, down from 9.1 percent in January. This area, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties in Missouri and Alexander County in Illinois.

* Missouri landowners interested in applying for the Wetlands Reserve Program have until Nov. 30 to sign up, the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. It is the federal government's largest wetlands restoration program and provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners and Indian tribes to restore, protect and enhance wetlands that have been degraded or converted for agricultural uses. Through the Wetlands Reserve Program, Natural Resources Conservation Service has purchased 954 easements in 19 years in Missouri. In exchange for the easements, landowners receive cash payments for converting marginal-use land to shallow wetland acres and maintaining them. More information is at offices.usda.gov.

* SoutheastHEALTH has received the Get With The Guidelines -- Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that Southeast has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients with 85 percent compliance for at least 24 months to core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients. Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staff with tools that follow proven, evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients to prevent future hospitalizations. Under the Get With The Guidelines initiative, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics and anticoagulants while in the hospital. They also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged.

The Get With The Guidelines program helps SoutheastHEALTH's staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes, said Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Nurse Manager Vicki Frank. The program includes quality-improvement measures such as care maps, discharge protocols, standing orders and measurement tools. According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million people suffer from heart failure. Statistics show that 670,000 new cases are diagnosed and more than 277,000 people die of heart failure annually.

Southeast Missourian business editor Melissa Miller may be contacted at 388-3646 or mmiller@semissourian.com.