This afternoon on seMissourian.com

Palin tickets gone

The Cape Girardeau County GOP headquarters had some tickets for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Thursday appearance earlier today, but if you didn't get one, you might be out of luck.

Staffers at the party headquarters told seMissourian.com a short time ago that no more tickets remain for the event. Thousands have already been given out, but we don't have exact numbers yet.

We'll update seMissourian.com with more information on tomorrow's event throughout the afternoon and evening.

Wayne Smith takes position at Saint Francis

Not much time has passed since a reorganization at Southeast Missouri State University gave Wayne Smith, director of the university foundation, more power than he'd previously enjoyed.

But now Smith is leaving that power to someone else. Saint Francis Medical Center announced this morning that Smith is leaving the university foundation to work for the local hospital.

Click here to read more, and look for updates later on seMissourian.com.

West End and Independence open

The City of Cape Girardeau announced today that its Independence Street construction project is moving on to the next phase. That means the busy West End Boulevard/Independence Street intersection is now open to traffic.

Click here to see where work will take place next.

Thursday on seMissourian.com

Look to seMissourian.com early Thursday morning for updated information on the Palin rally, a recap of Tucker Carlson and Arianna Huffington's Wednesday night appearance at the Show Me Center, a story on the race for Missouri's 27th Senate district and more.

And keep checking back Thursday morning for stories before and after the Republican rally, live streaming video of Palin's speech and a live blog from the event, written by me.