• A Houston employer, Gamo, is expected to close at year’s end, it was stated at last week’s Houston City Council. The building will be offered for sale. The Gamo Outdoor USA distribution warehouse will close its doors after close to 14 years in Houston. Gamo is the parent company of Daisy Outdoor Products, and will move its Houston operation to Rogers, Ark., where Daisy is based. The building is about 66,000 square feet.
• Former U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson’s congressional papers will be donated to Southeast Missouri State University’s Special Collections and Archives in Kent Library, according to university officials in Cape Girardeau. More than 100 boxes of materials are included in Emerson’s congressional papers. They contain news releases, correspondence, speeches, election certificates and more.
More than 11,000 photographs also are included, according to a university news release.
Emerson represented Missouri’s 8th congressional district, which includes Texas County, from 1996 to 2013.
• Emerson’s successor, U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, voted “no” Friday on a deal cut by President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats to aid hurricane victims while raising the debt limit. Missouri was the only state with multiple House members in which all the Republican House members in the delegation voted no. The measure passed 316-90. By voting to raise the debt limit, Congress is not authorizing any new spending, but making sure the government can borrow money to cover any decisions already made.
• The Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities initiative in Houston is looking for folks who previously used the high school track for exercise. The surface is needing major repairs, and it is working on a grant to repave it. Contact the Texas County Health Department at 417-967-4131.