Here’s a roundup of items in Texas County related to the coronavirus:
• A Houston business announced Monday that it is making available special ribbons to post publicly for high school seniors at Houston, Licking, Cabool and Plato. D & L Florist said the ribbons are free outside their store. The business also paid any outstanding cafeteria fees for seniors.
• While Missouri State University’s May 2020 graduation ceremonies have been cancelled due to COVID-19, spring 2020 graduates can still participate in a traditional, in-person commencement ceremony. Students who are set to graduate in May will have two opportunities to celebrate later this year at JQH Arena:
•Oct. 18, the Sunday after homecoming.
•The Missouri State-West Plains campus will host commencement ceremonies Aug. 8 at the West Plains Civic Center.
“We’re doing this because a college graduation is one of the highlights of a student’s life,” Missouri State President Clif Smart said. “It means so much to them, to their families and to the faculty members who helped those students cross the finish line.”
MSU will announce ceremony times and procedures in the weeks ahead.
The university announced in March that it would not host graduation ceremonies in May due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
• The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations’ (DOLIR’s) Division of Employment Security (DES) began issuing the $600 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) payments Monday with a total of $66 million in benefits paid out to over 115,000 claimants. Eligible claimants should begin seeing their payments within the next few days, depending on how long their banks hold funds.