BUTLER COUNTY, MO (KFVS) - Missouri Department of Transportation officials say Route PP in Butler County will be reduced to one lane starting Monday while crews perform pavement repairs. 

This section of road is located between Route 67 South and Route 60 West.

Crews say weather permitting, work will take place Monday, May 14 and Tuesday, May 15 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

The work zone will be marked with signs.  Motorists are urged to use extreme caution while traveling near the area.

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CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) - Southeast Missouri State University and Ellen Ryan, digital project manager at Kent Library, will talk on Saturday, May 19 at 2 p.m. about a grant-funded project currently underway to identify and digitize original documents and photographs from the Civil War period.

The presentation will be at the Cape River Heritage Museum at 538 Independence Street. The project, "Confluence and Crossroads: The Civil War in the American Heartland" is a collaborative effort between Kent Library’s Special Collections, the Center for Regional History and the Department of History at Southeast Missouri State University, the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center, and the Special Collections Research Center at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

POPLAR BLUFF, MO (KFVS)- Construction crews working
on a new hospital in Poplar Bluff are a year ahead of schedule.

Hospital and community
leaders in Poplar Bluff showed up to watch a "topping out" ceremony today.

A "topping out"
is a ceremony when the last structural beam is put in place, painted white, and
signed.

A hospital CEO says the
new hospital will be a big leap forward for Poplar Bluff healthcare.

"I think the most
important thing, is, we'll be able to provide private rooms for our patients in
a very-very pleasing environment," said Charles Stewart, Market CEO,
Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. "We'll have over 900 parking spaces
easily assessable from all parts of our community.  We think it's going to be an tremendous asset
to our entire region."

About five-hundred construction
workers continue to work on the hospital. Hospital officials say they still
plan to open the hospital early next year.