Business Notebook: Several 'pro-business' laws now in effect; SEMO joins forces with Codefi

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is touting what it says are several pro-business laws passed by the Missouri Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson.

The new laws, which became effective Friday, include:

• Legislation calling for a major change to Missouri's legal climate the chamber says will "stop the abuse of Missouri's punitive damage system."
• A bill changing the state's occupational-licensing laws, allowing skilled professionals who are already licensed in another state to come to Missouri and enter the workforce.
• A law to help expand broadband access by extending the state's broadband grant program through 2027 and enabling the state to retain any federal dollars it receives for building rural broadband systems if a particular provider is unable to fulfill its commitment to utilize those funds.
• A law dealing with the state's natural-gas infrastructure the chamber says will "ensure continued safe, reliable delivery" of natural gas.

"While it has been a challenging year to say the least, these new laws will help Missouri get ahead of the curve as the national economy recovers from the current crisis," said Daniel Mehan, president and CEO of the Missouri chamber, who encouraged business leaders and others to learn more about the new laws by visiting www.mochamber.com/news/august-28.

Codefi partners with university

A partnership was announced Friday between Southeast Missouri State University and technology business incubator Codefi to provide additional education, training and support to aspiring and practicing entrepreneurs.

According to a statement from the university, the partnership was made possible by a financial contribution to the university's foundation that will supplement existing resources to provide additional experiential learning opportunities to students, as well as research and consulting services to companies at Codefi and others they support across Southeast Missouri.

Southeast's Center for Economic and Business Engagement has established an office at Codefi to make it easier for the center's staff to assist companies there.

Codefi and the university have also created a program that provides computer science and business students an opportunity to develop software and complete customer and business model development for a "real" technology company, according to the university statement. The program, called Redhawk Startup Fellowship, is slated to launch with the Spring 2021 semester.

More information is available by contacting Codefi co-founder James Stapleton at (573) 979-2149 or Christy Mershon, interim executive director of the Economic and Business Engagement Center, at (573) 986-6879.

Shawnee College introduces police training simulator

ULLIN, Ill. — The criminal justice program at Shawnee Community College in Ullin recently secured a grant allowing the school to acquire a policing simulator to assist in the training of criminal justice students and others.

Eric Howard, instructor in the college's criminal justice program, said the new simulator will put students and trainees in "real-word" situations, surrounding them with realistic distractions, including street noises, barking dogs, construction noise, doors opening and many other sensory distractions to help them learn to focus on policing.

The simulator includes options for firearms training and the use of "less-than-lethal" techniques and equipment such as stun guns and pepper spray.

Howard said he hopes by incorporating simulator training, Shawnee College will produce graduates who are better equipped for effectively serving their communities.

More information about the college's criminal justice program is available online at www.shawneecc.edu or by calling (618) 634-3200.

Awards and Recognitions

Southeast Hospital has received the American College of Cardiology's NCDR Chest Pain—MI Registry Platinum Performance Award for 2020, the hospital announced last week.

The recognition marked the ninth consecutive year Southeast has been named as a top performing hospital for heart care and is one of only 140 hospitals nationwide to be so designated, according to the hospital's announcement.

To receive the recognition, Southeast was required to demonstrate a sustained achievement in the management of chest pain and heart-attack patients for two consecutive years (2018 and 2019) and performed at the highest levels for specific performance measures.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates more than 70,000 Americans suffer heart attacks annually. Treatment guidelines, all of which are in place at Southeast according to a hospital news release, include administering aspirin upon arrival and discharge, timely restoration of blood flow to blocked arteries, smoking cessation counseling and cardiac rehabilitation.

More information is available at www.sehealth.org.

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PERRYVILLE, Mo. — Robinson Construction Co., based in Perryville, has been recognized by Engineering News-Record (ENR), a weekly magazine providing news, analysis, data and opinion for the construction industry worldwide.

For the eighth consecutive year, ENR has listed Robinson Construction as a top contractor in one or more region. This year, Robinson was recognized at a leading contractor in five ENR-defined regions, based on 2019 revenue for work completed in each of the regions.

The regions Robinson Construction has been recognized in, and the company's rankings in each, are:

• Midwest — Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin — 74th
• Southeast — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Puerto Rico — 111th
• Texas & Louisiana — Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas — 102nd
• California — California and Hawaii — 93rd
• New York — New York and New Jersey — 53rd

People on the Move

John McGowan

John McGowan has joined Commerce Bank as commercial relationship manager. In the role, McGowan is responsible for business development and relationship management related to Commerce's full line of banking, borrowing and treasurer management solutions for commercial clients throughout Southeast Missouri.

McGowan is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and history. He went on to earn a master's degree in nonprofit management from Regis University. Before joining Commerce, McGowan worked with several charitable and not-for-profit organizations and provided consultation services, both regionally and internationally.

He is an active volunteer and serves on the boards of the Cape Girardeau Public Library and Cape West Rotary.

Chamber Notes

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce will officiate two ribbon-cutting ceremonies this week.

The first, set for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at 3266 Lexington Ave. in Cape Girardeau, will mark the rebranding of Kerber, Eck & Braeckel, LLP, as simply KEB.

The second ribbon-cutting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at 20 N. Pacific St. to mark the opening of 20 North Pacific LLC art gallery.

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The Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce's September Business After Hours gathering is scheduled for 5 until 6:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at Century 21 Ashland Realty, 3125 E. Jackson Blvd. Face masks will be required in keeping with the county's face-mask order and social distancing will also be encouraged.

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The Cape Girardeau chamber will host a virtual Women's Network Morning Coffee next week with a program focused on personal safety presented by Richard Couch of the Cape Girardeau Police Department. The online program will take place from 7 until 8 a.m. Sept. 10 on the Zoom online meeting platform. Log in details may be found on the chamber's website, www.capechamber.com.

The program will be recorded for later viewing on the chamber's Facebook site, www.facebook.com/CapeChamber.

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The Cape chamber's monthly First Friday Coffee gathering will be pushed back to the second Friday of September, Sept. 11, in order not to conflict with the extended Labor Day holiday weekend. Doors at the Century Casino Cape Girardeau Event Center will open at 7 a.m. with a program starting at 7:40 a.m.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance will be limited to 100 and preregistration will be required through the events section of the chamber's website, www.capechamber.com. Sponsor comments and the program may be viewed on the chamber's Facebook site, www.facebook.com/CapeChamber, by those who are unable to attend in person.

Commercial building permits

The City of Cape Girardeau's inspection services office issued a commercial-building permit last week for the remodeling of the former Cape Girardeau Police Department building at 40 S. Sprigg St. The building is owned by Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri, which intends to convert the 45-year-old structure into its new headquarters and provide space for some of the organization's programs. Sides Construction Co. is the project's general contractor, while Dille Traxel Architecture has provided design services. The estimated cost of the remodeling project is $1.8 million.

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A building permit was issued last week by the Cape Girardeau inspection services office for the interior remodeling of a chiropractic office at 326 S. Mount Auburn Road, Suite 103, in a building owned by the Gregory Tobin Trust. Phillip B. Smith is the project's architect, while Columbia Construction is providing general contracting services for the project, which has an estimated cost of $180,000.

Business-license applications

Andrew Gallasso of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, submitted a business-license application last week with the City of Cape Girardeau to operate Spirit Halloween at 2106 William St. in Cape Girardeau's Town Plaza Shopping Center. The Halloween supply store is scheduled to open Sept. 8.

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Yolanda Cawthon of Downers Grove, Illinois, filed a business-license application last week to operate Rufus Red Hots at 600 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, formerly the location of Stevie's Steakburgers. The business, which Cawthon said will eventually include a mobile food truck service, has a targeted opening date of Oct. 1.

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