A ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the Mississippi River Trail (MRT), a bike trail through Scott and Mississippi counties, will be held at 2 p.m. today at the Dorena-Hickman Ferry Landing at the Mississippi River in Mississippi County on State Highway 77.

The Mississippi River Trail is a culmination of planning and implementation activities initiated by the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Center, the Missouri Division of Tourism and the Missouri Department of Transportation. Also the Mississippi and Scott County Commission, and a number of cities along the MRT cooperated in development and location of the trail. The East Prairie Enterprise Community assisted in arranging the ribbon cutting ceremony and the appearance of Chris Jennings, director of the Missouri Division of Tourism.

In time, the MRT will run from Ste. Genevieve to New Orleans. The Southeast Missouri section will be open from Ste. Genevieve County, through Perry, Cape Girardeau, Scott and Mississippi counties to the Dorena-Hickman Ferry at the Mississippi River.

Pemiscot County -- Trinity Industries Inc. -- Pemiscot County received a grant for DED to purchase electrical transformers and a dolphin for mooring barges at their port site. These improvements will assist Trinity Industries Inc. to create 13 new jobs and in expanding its facilities to include a crane operation at the dock to load and unload barges. Installation of the electrical transformers is complete. Bids were opened to install the dolphin on Aug. 4, but came in over budget. Burns & McDonald from St. Louis is the engineer.

City of Bernie -- Parker Binding Products Inc. -- The City of Bernie has received a grant from DED to provide street and drainage improvements in its industrial park. Construction is complete and approval for additional work has been received. Smith and Co. from Popular Bluff is the engineer. Parker Binding is bringing 14 new jobs to the city.

City of Sikeston -- Heritage American Homes -- The City of Sikeston has received an infrastructure grant from DED for street and drainage improvements and a rail spur in its industrial park. This grant will assist in the location of Heritage American Homes. The construction contract has been awarded to P.R. Developers from Cape Girardeau. Waters and Associates are the engineers on this project. The project will provide 150 new jobs for the city.