Articles

Residents of Prairie Hills subdivision voiced complaints Thursday about a plan approved by city officials that will route Blue Ridge Road into Creasy Springs Road north of a curve where, according to Boone County Presiding Commissioner Keith Schnarre, 15 accidents have occurred in two years, one of them being fatal.

The city approved the realignment as part of plans for the developing Vanderveen subdivision being built by Steve Herigon of Herigon Construction.

MU Health Care and the MU School of Medicine are combining money and efforts to construct a $26.3 million building that would provide both with much-needed space.

The Clinical Support and Education Building is expected to be built on the west side of the existing hospital and medical school complex, according to documents prepared for a meeting Thursday of the UM System Board of Curators.

Ken LaZebnik knows the entertainment business. After nearly 30 years producing film, theater and television across the country, his work will soon bring him back to his childhood home. In June, he will leave Hollywood to be dean of a new school of performing arts at Stephens College.

Rex Stevens, vice president of academic affairs at Stephens College, said he thinks LaZebnik’s success and experience, including work as supervising producer for “Star Trek: Enterprise” and “Touched by an Angel,” will allow him to build a school that combines various entertainment studies such as theater, dance, film, television and radio.

This Memorial Day, on one of the busiest boating weekends of the summer, the Missouri State Water Patrol will be scouting for more than just careless and intoxicated boaters.

Officers will also be checking for boater permits, said Capt. Matt Walz, director of training for the water patrol. A law that took effect on Jan. 1, requires that individuals 21 and younger — anyone born after Jan. 1, 1984 — carry permits while operating boats, sailboats and jet skis. Boats that rely on paddles or oars are excluded.

Fourth-graders sat scattered around the computer lab at Field Elementary School peering at a big screen on the wall. This was no normal class video about space.

Instead, the 40 students not only watched but talked with astronaut and Missouri native Linda Godwin.

Tree experts in Columbia are advising property owners not to worry about a fungus that is affecting the appearance of sycamore and ash trees this spring.

Simeon Wright, coordinator of MU’s Plant Diagnostics Clinic, has heard reports of the anthracnose fungus from colleagues across the state. In affected trees, Wright said, new shoots appear wilted and brown.

Attorney General Jay Nixon made a bold move Thursday by suing the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and its director to stop plans to relinquish the state’s stake in the historic MKT lift bridge at Boonville.

Gov. Matt Blunt and the DNR want to give the bridge to Union Pacific Railroad, which intends to demolish it and reuse the parts to help refurbish a bridge over the Osage River.

Memorial Day, which commemorates American soldiers who died in war, was first observed on May 30, 1868. The “National Moment of Remembrance,” signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000, encourages a moment of silence or the playing of “Taps” at 3 p.m.

Wearing red poppies to honor the dead came into fashion following the publication in 1915 of “In Flanders Fields” by Moina Michael:

While fire safety is nothing new, the summer months make fire prevention more critical.

The typical weather during the summer — dry, hot and humid — is a fire hazard itself. According to the National Weather Service Forecast Office, wind speed, temperature, and relative humidity impact the rate and intensity of a fire dramatically.

In an effort to encourage safe driving during the holiday weekend, the Missouri Highway Patrol will be enforcing safety belt regulations with the Click It or Ticket campaign through June 5.

Last year, 76 percent of Missouri drivers were wearing seatbelts, while the national average was 80 percent, said Tim Hull, Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman.

AAA estimates 31.1 million travelers will take to the nation’s roads this holiday weekend, up 2.2 percent from last year. Michael Right, vice president of public affairs for AAA, recommends motorists get plenty of rest before driving —especially if the departure time is late at night or early in the morning — and make frequent rest stops. And, of course, don’t forget to buckle up.

Oakland Family Aquatic Center will be the first city pool to open for the season. The pool will be operating on special hours, from noon to 6 p.m., between Saturday and June 3.

“This year’s extended opening is to accommodate the Columbia schools letting out a few days earlier than usual,” said Tammy Miller of the city Parks and Recreation Department.

Hickman senior Blake Tekotte stepped out of the batter’s box in a Class 4 sectional game Thursday and looked to coach Dave Wilson for a sign.

Wilson paced by third base, stewing after Chad Hatcher was picked off at first. Fort Zumwalt West pitcher Chad Henkelman had shut out the Kewpies through three innings.

Sun shines through the Hickman High School hallway outside the gymnasium as Asia Walker sits and leans against the wall with her eyes closed, focusing on the task before her: running the 400-meter run and doing the long jump in front of 7 to 8,000 people.

The MSHSAA State Track and Field Championships take place today and Saturday at Lincoln University in Jefferson City. Hickman qualified 10 athletes, six boys and four girls, and Rock Bridge qualified 11 girls at last weekend’s sectional in Camdenton.

About an hour before game time, Mid-Missouri third baseman Greg Buscher emerged from the Mavericks’ dugout on the third-base side of Taylor Stadium with a bat in his hands.

He began to saunter toward foul ground in left field to greet some teammates. As he did this, he brought the bat behind his head and twisted his torso back-and-forth, stretching his bulky 6-foot, 220- pound frame.

The Rock Bridge boys’ tennis team’s fourth consecutive trip to the state final four team competition in Springfield ended up being its worst.

The Bruins placed fourth in Class 2 on Thursday at the Cooper Tennis Complex after placing second in 2002, third in 2003 and second in 2004.

The UM Board of Curators voted unanimously to end its contract with one of the University of Missouri System investment managers at a meet-ing Thursday.

DKR Capital Inc., an asset management firm in Stamford, Conn., manages $7.5 million in endowment funds and $25 million in UM’s retirement plan, according to documents presented for the meeting at MU. The documents state that DKR’s performance has been “acceptable,” but Nikki Krawitz, UM vice president of finance and administration, said there were other problems.

James Bogan is glad he didn’t have a crystal ball back in junior high school.

“If my eighth-grade self could have looked into the future and seen that he would be in a classroom for 37 years, he would’ve run into the woods,” Bogan said Wednesday after receiving the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching in the University of Missouri System. “I’m glad he didn’t.”

What was coined as a discussion on real patriotism sounded more like a case for why the Bush administration has failed in foreign policy.

“I will not stand by and watch an appointed president send our sons and daughters around the world to kill terrorists for the oil companies,” Robert Bowman said.

Mike Wallace, a recent graduate and member of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, plans to cap his MU experience by helping cyclists make a more than 4,000-mile trip from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.

The trip, called “The Journey of Hope,” is a program created by Push America, which seeks to improve the lives of people with disabilities by raising money.