Business Notebook: SBA forgives PPP loans; Jiffy Lube returns to Cape

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) reports it has forgiven more than 1.1 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans designed to help businesses and their employees deal with the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of early last week, SBA had received 1,346,125 applications to forgive approximately $170.5 billion worth of PPP loans. Of those applications, SBA reports making payments on nearly 85% of the applications, forgiving more than $100 billion. Among the smallest borrowers, with loans of up to $50,000, 88% have been approved for forgiveness, according to the SBA.

The forgiveness data comes as the Paycheck Protection Program enters a second phase of loans as a result of the Economic Aid to Hard Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act passed by Congress and signed into law late last month. The act added operational expenditures, certain property-damage costs, supplier costs and worker protection expenditures — such as the addition of drive-through areas, ventilation systems and sneeze guards — as eligible expenses.

More information is available online at www.sba.gov/ppp.

Jiffy Lube returns to Cape Girardeau

An oil change and automotive maintenance business at 889 N. Kingshighkway in Cape Girardeau, formerly known as The Finish Line, is now a Jiffy Lube franchise location. JAY WOLZ ~ jwolz@semissourian.com

A Jiffy Lube oil change and automotive maintenance franchise has opened at 889 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau in a location formerly known as The Finish Line.

Stonebriar Auto Services LLC of Frisco, Texas, which operates several Jiffy Lube auto service centers in the Midwest and Northeast, recently purchased The Finish Line from Jim Mungle. The business began operating as a Jiffy Lube location Friday.

In addition to the Cape Girardeau location, Stonebriar operates Jiffy Lube automotive service centers in Springfield and Joplin, Missouri, and is exploring opportunities to expand into other markets, according to Ben Thompson, Stonebriar’s vice president of operations.

Headquartered in Houston, Jiffy Lube was founded in 1979 and is a wholly owned, indirect subsidiary of Shell Oil Co. Its new business model, Jiffy Lube Multicare, offers oil change, brakes, batteries and tires, as well as other automotive maintenance services. The company serves 20 million customers annually at more than 2,000 franchised service centers across North America.

Jiffy Lube is open from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Sundays. No appointment is necessary.

A Jiffy Lube was previously located in Cape Girardeau approximately 20 years ago at 460 S. Kingshighway, now the location of Wright’s Garage.

Charter launches service that blocks unwanted robocalls

Tired of dealing with unwanted spam and nuisance robocalls? Charter Communications says it can help.

The company last week announced the launch of Call Guard, a feature for both Spectrum Voice and Spectrum Business Voice customers it says automatically blocks malicious robocalls and sends caller ID alerts for other suspicious telemarketing calls.

The Federal Communications Commission receives more than 200,000 consumer complaints annually about unwanted calls and it’s estimated U.S. consumers receive billions of robocalls every month.

“Robocalls are consistently the FCC’s most frequent consumer complaint and we understand these unwanted or fraudulent calls are not only a nuisance, but can also pose a security threat,” said Carl Leushner, Spectrum’s senior vice president of internet and voice products.

Call Guard, he said, monitors incoming calls and applies analytics to score and categorize them. The scoring system helps differentiate between fraudulent calls and robocalls that are delivering important information from organizations such as schools or health care providers. The program is designed to automatically block malicious robocalls while suspicious telemarketing and spam calls are delivered with caller ID alerts, notifying customers of a “spam risk.”

Call Guard is automatically activated and provided at no additional charge to Spectrum Voice and Spectrum Business Voice customers.

More information is available at www.spectrum.com/callguard.

Awards, recognitions

Liz Lockhart

Southeast Missouri Realtors held its 2021 installation of officers and presented its annual awards during a “virtual” ceremony last Tuesday. “The event was an opportunity to celebrate our members and sponsors and celebrate the association’s successes in 2020,” said Terry Baker, director of the regional Realtors’ group.

John Mayfield, president-elect of the Missouri Realtors organization, was on hand to install the Southeast Missouri board as well as the group’s 2021 president, Liz Lockhart.

Beth McFerron

Beth McFerron was named Southeast Missouri Realtors’ Realtor of the Year. The award recognizes a Realtor for outstanding service to local, state and national Realtor organizations as well as community service and adherence to the Realtors’ code of ethics and the principles of organized real estate.

Other awards presented during the online ceremony, all selected by their peers, included:

• Jeff Martin, recipient of the Community Outreach Award in recognition of his impact on the community.
• Sharon Gill, who was presented with the association’s MVP Award for exemplifying what it means to be a “most valuable player.”
• Tim Merideth, who received the Manager of the Year, recognizing the way he inspired his associates.
• Lois Long, honored with the Realtor Spirit Award, recognizing her “cheerleader spirit” and her support of the Realtor profession.

Realtor is a registered trademark of the National Association of Realtors.

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The American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer (CoC) has granted a three-year reaccreditation to the Saint Francis Healthcare System Cancer Institute.

To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 quality standards, be evaluated every three years and maintain certain levels of patient-centered care delivery.

The accreditation program provides the framework for cancer programs to improve the quality of care they offer through various cancer-related programs that focus on the full spectrum of cancer care, including prevention, early diagnosis, staging, treatment, rehabilitation, follow-up for recurrent diseases and end-of-life care. When patients receive care at a CoC accredited facility, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling and patient-centered services, including psychosocial support, a patient navigation process and a survivorship care plan documenting the care each patient receives and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.

Like all CoC accredited facilities, Saint Francis maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base, a joint program of the CoC and the American Cancer Society. This nationwide oncology database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world, tracking and analyzing all types of cancer. The database is used to explore trends in cancer care, create bench mark reports and help CoC facilities with their quality improvement efforts.

The American Cancer Society estimates in 2020 there were more than 1.8 million new cancer cases and 606,520 cancer-related deaths in the United States. There are currently more than 1,500 CoC accredited cancer programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. A list of cancer programs accredited through the CoC may be found at www.facs.org/search/cancer-programs. For more information about the CoC in general, visit www.facs.org/cancer.

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Angela Francis

Angela Francis, owner of Angela Francis Interiors in Cape Girardeau, has earned the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ).

To receive NCIDQ credentialing, a candidate must pass three examinations, which focus on public health safety and welfare and assesses competency of such things as building systems, construction standards, building codes, sustainability and ADA/accessibility standards

Francis has been an interior designer and owner of Angela Francis Interiors for nearly 20 years, specializing in residential and commercial projects. Her office is at 1762 Independence St. and she may be reached at (573) 335-3005.

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Melanie Baxter, a Saint Francis Healthcare System cancer genetic counselor, has again received the certified genetic counselor credential from the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC).

Melanie Baxter

The credential is an internationally recognized professional credential for genetic counselors. Those who receive the certified genetic counselor credential must complete a rigorous academic program, pass an ABGC examination and must meet and stay current on established standards of knowledge, skills and practice for their profession.

Baxter earned a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a master’s degree in genetic counseling in 2009 from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, a joint program between the National Human Genome Research Institute and the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Baxter became interested in cancer genetic counseling after losing her father to cancer at a young age. She has more than 10 years of cancer genetics experience, having worked in several positions involving genetic results interpretation and report writing. She was also a part-time clinical cancer genetic counselor at Saint Francis Medical Center and has served as clinical cancer genetic counselor and research study coordinator at Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University in St. Louis before joining Saint Francis full-time.

Certified genetic counselors guide and support individuals and families looking for information about how inherited conditions might affect them. More information about ABGC and the certified genetic counselor credential is available at www.abgc.net.

People on the Move

Ken Jackson, currently the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s state supervisor of instruction for Missouri’s Southeast Region, has been named director of aviation operations at Southeast Missouri State University.

Ken Jackson

A resident of Dexter, Missouri, Jackson will coordinate operations, promotional activities and student services for the university’s new professional pilot degree program as well as Southeast’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) degree program. He will begin his duties next week.

Southeast’s UAS program was launched in 2017 and the professional pilot program will be available to students this fall. Both are offered through the university’s Department of Engineering and Technology in Southeast’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Jackson has served as state supervisor of instruction for the Southeast Region since 2012. In that role, he oversaw the region’s Missouri School Improvement Program as well as comprehensive school improvement plans, programs related to school finance, teacher certification, parent concerns and student safety, implementation of alternative instruction methods and development of career pathways for middle school and high school students.

Jackson, who served as superintendent of the Dexter School District from 2003 to 2010, earned a private pilot’s license in 2017 and is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the Stoddard County Flyers LLC, a flying club based in Dexter.

He holds a Doctor of Education in educational leadership from Saint Louis University; a Master of Arts with a major in secondary school administration and supervision, and a Specialist in Education with a major in educational administration, both from Southeast, and a Bachelor of Science with a major in physical education and health from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky.

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Alayna Nordstrom

Structural engineer Alayna Nordstrom has joined Strickland Engineering, 113 W. Main St. in Jackson, which has added a structural engineering department to the list of services it offers to clients.

The new department provides local contractors and construction firms a “local option” for structural engineering services, according to Strickland Engineering owner Mark Strickland.

As a structural engineer, Nordstrom is responsible for project management, design, drafting and preparation of plans and specifications of structural engineering projects.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering and a Master of Science in civil engineering with an emphasis in structural engineering from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, and is licensed in Missouri as a professional engineer. Before joining Strickland, she worked four years with Drury Southwest.

Nordstrom is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers the Structural Engineering Institute and the Southeast Missouri Area Engineers Club.

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Marvin Miller

Marvin Miller, who joined Saint Francis Medical Center as a phlebotomist in 1990, has been named manager of the hospital’s laboratory. His appointment became effective last week.

After graduating from Southeast Missouri State University in 1992, Miller transitioned to the position of medical technologist generalist at Saint Francis and remained in that role until 1998, when he accepted a chemistry specialist position. In 2018, he was promoted to be assistant laboratory manager.

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CHARLESTON, Mo. — Isaac Caraway has joined the Hurley & Associates office in Charleston as a farm marketing consultant.

Isaac Caraway

A licensed commodities broker, Caraway works closely with farm clients’ budgets, cash-flow requirements and risk-management strategies to work toward financially healthy conclusions to each crop year.

Caraway graduated from Murray State University with a degree in agronomy with an emphasis in marketing.

Raised on a family farm in Western Kentucky, Caraway has a wide array of agriculture experience, especially in the production of corn, soybeans, wheat, tobacco and livestock.

Corporate generosity

Schnuck Markets Inc. and its customers donated a total of $300,000 to The Salvation Army’s annual Tree of Lights program through a “round up at the register” campaign. Schnucks customers had the option to “round up” their purchases to the nearest dollar, with 100% of donations from the campaign benefiting The Salvation Army.

During the campaign, which lasted nearly two weeks, customers donated $267,214 and Schnucks contributed an additional $32,786 to bring the total contribution to $300,000.

“Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need in our community is as great as ever, and once again this year, our customers showed their endless generosity by supporting The Salvation Army’s Tree of Lights campaign,” said Schnucks chairman and CEO Todd Schnuck.

All money raised through the “round up” campaign stays in the market in which it was donated to support local Salvation Army programs and services, including helping to provide food, shelter, child care and job training throughout the year. Campaign funds were in addition to donations by Schnucks customers who gave through The Salvation Army’s iconic red kettles that were located at all Schnucks stores through Christmas Eve.

Schnuck Markets operates 112 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, including a location in Cape Girardeau.

Commercial building permits

The City of Cape Girardeau’s development services office issued five commercial building permits between Jan. 4 and 15. The permits were issued to:

• Ainsworth Homes LLC for construction of an addition to Watami Sushi & Hibachi Steakhouse, 45 S. Kingshighway, with an estimated project cost of $400,000.
• Summit Contracting for renovations and remodeling at the administrative offices of MRV Bank, 101 S. Mount Auburn Road, with an estimated project cost of $130,000.
• Morton Buildings for construction of a storage building at 775 Progress St. at an estimated cost of $125,000.
• Knoebel Construction Inc. for remodeling at Jiffy Lube, 889 N. Kingshighway, at a reported estimated cost of $321,300.
• Wesbecher Construction Co. Inc. for interior remodeling of several suites at West Broadway Plaza, 1704 Broadway, at an estimated cost of $150,000.

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