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The Wal-Mart way presided Monday night when the Columbia City Council voted 5-2 to approve rezoning that will allow construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter and accompanying retail development at Broadway and Fairview Road.

For the past 15 years, Missouri Boys and Girls Town has operated a group therapy program for children, known as Healthy Alternatives, at its St. James campus. Thanks to a grant of $472,695 from the Missouri Foundation for Health, the program will be available this year to residents of the organization’s Columbia, St. Louis and Springfield campuses.

“We are really excited about this,” said Stacey Koeller, the agency’s assistant director of development. Koeller wrote the grants and received news of their approval in late November.

With the help of new grant money, the Columbia Police Department will soon be making an extra effort to ensure that teen drivers are buckled up.

“Fifteen- to 20-year-olds are the ones dying the most on the highway,” said Sgt. Timothy Moriarty, supervisor of the Columbia Police Department Traffic Unit. “This is an example of an effort to target young drivers to make sure they are obeying all the rules.”

Scott Courtney sits on a chair in the front of the sanctuary at Grace Bible Church dressed in a gray shirt with the embroidery of Ephesians 3:20. Over his left shoulder, in the background, hangs a sign that reads, “Holding forth the Word of Life.”

At Grace Bible Church, holding forth the Word may mean not even uttering a single word.

Of all the fields, in all the towns, in all the world, the emu now going by the name of Big Bird walked into theirs.

A wandering emu couldn’t have asked for a better temporary home when it picked its way into the Selbys’ field on Sunday. The animal-loving Selbys – Pat, Terry and their twin teenage daughters — already have three dogs and four cats at their home near Deer Park off U.S. 63 between Columbia and Ashland.

The coach didn’t quite know what to say.

“Well, I think the most important thing coming out of this game is that fact that we won,” Missouri coach Cindy Stein finally said.

At halftime, LaToya Bond was upset in the locker room.

Against St. Louis on Sunday, Bond only had two points in the first half.

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz couldn’t care less that his team finished .500. Somehow, they are in the playoffs.

The Rams clinched a postseason berth when Jeff Wilkins kicked a 31-yard field goal in overtime to beat the New York Jets 32-29 on Sunday. They got a little help earlier in the day when Minnesota lost.

SAN DIEGO — Doug Flutie got to scramble around as he does so well and a nervous Philip Rivers threw his first NFL touchdown pass.

Now they get to give Drew Brees his job back.

As the city of Ashland anticipates another year of unprecedented growth, City Administrator Ken Eftink knows this can be a blessing and a curse.

“The challenge is to make sure we are growing the way we have envisioned,” Eftink said. “We don’t want things to get out of control and go unchecked.”

After nearly a year of fiery debate, the Columbia City Council will likely decide tonight whether Wal-Mart can build the city’s second Supercenter on 23 acres of zoned residential property.

Two council members — Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku and Third Ward Councilman Bob Hutton — said they probably would vote in favor of rezoning those 23 acres, which would also entail acquiring and then demolishing five homes. Three other council members said they were undecided.

As executive officer for the Columbia Board of Realtors, Carol Van Gorp eyes a lot of real estate statistics about buyers and sellers. In October, she became one of those statistics when she joined the thousands of new homeowners in Columbia.

“Everybody kind of wants to get into homeownership right now,” she said. “We felt like we could get a lot of house for our dollar.”

JEFFERSON CITY — For a freshman governor, Matt Blunt already has plenty of friends. With 120 fellow Republicans in the Legislature, Blunt theoretically could enact any proposal he likes, or stop anything he doesn’t. His own expectations are high.

It happens at least once a month.

  I find myself feeling sad when I have to tell young parents that I can’t help them solve the problems they are having with their children. I have to tell them truthfully that I have no experience with children who have no respect for their parents. In the days of my childhood, the single, most powerfully motivating factor for doing good among my friends and me was the hope that our parents would be proud of our behavior.

A suspected methamphetamine lab was discovered at 12:53 p.m. Saturday at a residence at 10300 Route N in rural Boone County by deputies from the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

The residents, Louis Henry, 34, and Octavia Price, 20, were arrested and charged with one count each of manufacturing a controlled substance.

Although the second-floor balcony overlooking the entrance to the Columbia Public Library was quiet and nearly empty, Tom Verdot sat down, unpacked his instruments, closed his eyes and started fiddling anyway.

“If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t be doing it,” he said.

Relaxed and upbeat, Missouri coach Quin Snyder took his place behind the podium for the post-game press conference Thursday.

As much as he wanted to celebrate with his team after a 63-61 win against No. 12 Gonzaga, Snyder willingly talked about the outcome with the press.

The Missouri women’s basketball team is looking to build a new winning streak.

The Tigers (5-5) will face Saint Louis University (1-11) today at 1:00 p.m. in Mizzou Arena.

When Nancy Rutter Huerd started her basketball career at a lonely basketball hoop in the middle of a farming field in northeast Missouri, she knew hard work and faith in God would take her places. She just didn’t know where or how far.

It was the late 1960s, and there was no such thing as the WNBA or Title IX or even 5-on-5 women’s basketball. Girls played 6-on-6 in gym class, or maybe in junior high and high school if they were lucky. The closest thing to a professional women’s basketball league was the All American Redheads, who played from 1936-86. They dyed their hair red, wore full makeup on the court and traveled the country defeating men’s teams in the style of the Harlem Globetrotters.

On a hot summer afternoon in July, Samantha and Jacob Guilford watched an airplane touch down at Columbia Regional Airport then rushed to greet their father, Sgt. Stacy Guilford, with a “Welcome Home Daddy” banner and many long-awaited embraces.

It was a joyful reunion, but it didn’t last long. A 38-year-old Army reservist, Guilford was deployed to Iraq to fly Black Hawk helicopters. But two weeks after he came home in July, he had to say goodbye again to return to Iraq to finish his deployment.