Articles

As the spread of weapons of mass destruction is pushed to the forefront of American politics, MU students can take advantage of a new opportunity to become more informed on the subject.

Next semester, MU’s Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute will launch “Nuclear Engineering 4401: Nonproliferation Issues.” The course will be taught by nuclear engineering professors Mark Prelas and Tushar Ghosh. It will focus on the resources needed for the creation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. It will also look at the reasons these weapons are created and their dangers.

From foreign policy to flip-flopping, Columbia drivers are adopting personal spins on the campaign season’s political debates.

Efforts to save the historic railroad bridge that spans the Missouri River at Boonville have new life.

The Boonville City Council has passed a resolution to preserve the bridge that Union Pacific plans to demolish as early as December.

In the final days before Tuesday’s highly anticipated election, campaign volunteers have been fighting to bring the last few undecided voters to their side.

The challenges vary, however, for volunteers in small towns such as Moberly and those in bigger cities such as Columbia.

As far as the airport’s administration is concerned, all that stands between Kansas City International Airport and domination of mid-Missouri’s air travel market is 30 minutes.

According to mapquest.com, that’s how much longer it takes to drive the 145 miles from the intersection of Providence and Broadway in Columbia to Kansas City Airport versus the 122 miles to Lambert St. Louis International Airport.

Between the mid-1980s and early 1990s, according to the FBI, the number of violent crimes in the United States increased 34 percent. In response to public fears, Congress, in 1994, passed several major anti-crime bills that, among other things, put more police officers on the street and encouraged greater cooperation between law enforcement agencies and communities.

During the last decade, however, crime has steadily decreased, reaching a 30-year low in 2003. As a result, crime as a political issue has almost disappeared. The war in Iraq, the economy, jobs, health care and perhaps even stem cell research will have greater influence on the decisions of voters in Tuesday’s election than crime.

Somewhere in America, people with user names such as “little whip,” “Dr. Guy,” “Draginol” and “Darviathar” are making posts online. Their entry titles include “Why No Matter Who Wins, We’re Going to Be Alright” and “10,000 Lawyers Mass to Attack 2004 Election.”

These are the participants in online forums for “The Political Machine.”

KANSAS CITY — Squads of lawyers will be positioned at polling places across Missouri on Tuesday as part of a national effort to protect the integrity of the elections.

And no matter whose side they’re on, they’re ready to go to court if they have evidence that voters’ rights have been abridged.

To improve their reading and writing, West Boulevard Elementary students are turning to some new arithmetic:

Literacy instruction times two equals language arts proficiency.

As the “Ghostbusters” theme song mingles with the laughter of an overstuffed pumpkin, a red, life-sized M&M rummages through her bag. Nearby, Spider-Man waits in line with his mother.

On Sunday night, the ninth annual Tiger Night of Fun at Hearnes Center Fieldhouse was under way. The Columbia Parks and Recreation Department sponsors the event each year.