FATE OF RIVER CAMPUS FUNDING STILL UP IN AIR

Officials of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri State University remain optimistic they will prevail in the current legal struggle over the fate of hotel-motel sales-tax revenue being set aside for the university's River Campus, even though judges and appellate judges have ruled that the ordinance putting the tax issue on the ballot was defective.

Now the city intends to ask the Missouri Supreme Court to review the case.

At stake is the city's share of the new campus for the visual and performing arts at the former St. Vincent Seminary, which occupies a location off Morgan Oak with a commanding view of the Mississippi River. Without the city's financial assistance, officials have said repeatedly, the project cannot go forward.

Also at issue is what happens to the more than a quarter of a million dollars that has already been set aside from the hotel-motel tax for the campus project. If the state's Supreme Court upholds previous rulings, a decision would have to be made about these funds, which currently are being held in escrow. Who would get the money?