Articles

Are there gangs in Columbia? The answer seems to lie in definitions.

The Boone County Fire Protection District has started advertising for one of two positions aimed at replacing former Assistant Fire Chief Sharon Curry. At a meeting Wednesday, Fire Chief Steve Paulsell said the Fire Protection District has run three advertisements and received 26 applications for an executive assistant.

The Missouri Sierra Club asked Gov. Matt Blunt on Wednesday to reappoint or replace Thomas Herrmann, the chairman of the Missouri Clean Water Commission. Herrmann’s last appointment to the Commission expired in April 2004.

Integrating new technology into the workplace often involves growing pains and steep learning curves. This struggle to adapt holds true in higher education — unless you are a “digital native,” a student who grows up with new forms of technology. Conversely, administrators and professors without much knowledge of newer forms of technology are often called “digital immigrants.”

Police arrested a Columbia man early Thursday on suspicion of stabbing a 34-year-old Columbia man.

Although the University of Missouri System Board of Curators remained mum at Thursday’s board meeting, a co-worker confirmed that former interim UMKC chancellor Gordon Lamb would take over as interim UM System president.

Winters in Centralia used to be so cold that Eric Lawman probably never imagined that he’d one day be tending a solar greenhouse and growing things all through the winter here in central Missouri. But that is what he finds now as part of his work at the MU Bradford Experimental Farm on Range Line Road, just north of Highway AC.

Five employees at the Circuit City in Columbia were laid off last week as part of the electronics retailers’ nationwide layoffs because they earned at least 51 cents per hour more than the salary range for their position, Circuit City spokeswoman Jackie Foreman said.

The City Council should extend its two cable television franchise agreements until June 19, the city attorney says, as negotiations continue under the shadow of a pending state law that will require video service providers to apply for statewide franchise agreements.

By nearly a 3-1 margin, voters closed the book on a property tax increase for the construction and operation of two libraries in Boone County.

The Missouri baseball team’s scheduled game Tuesday at Southern Illinois was rained out and will not be re-scheduled. The Tigers will next play at Kansas State on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Halfway into the national anthem before the Rock Bridge Bruins girls’ soccer game Tuesday night, something odd happened. The music stopped.

Greg Bracey is fast.

Jerry Wade emerged as the winner in a race for the Fourth Ward city council seat that pitted two members of the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission against each other.

After a campaign in which he advocated controlled and targeted growth, community activist Karl Skala won a close contest for a three-year term as Third Ward city councilman over businessman Gary Kespohl.

Here’s a look at the results of the races and issues that appeared on Boone County ballots outside Columbia. All terms for school board seats are for three years and all terms for town boards are two years, unless otherwise noted.

Mayor Darwin Hindman’s priorities for the next three years include revising the city’s land disturbance ordinance, executing the ideas that emerge from the visioning project, preserving undeveloped areas of the city and upgrading neighborhoods.

In a show of support for Columbia Public Schools, 76 percent of voters approved the district’s request to sell $60 million in bonds to finance new construction, building improvements, air conditioning and technology.

Darwin Hindman won a record fifth term as Columbia’s mayor Tuesday, and voters elected two new council members who cited the need for better planning and targeted growth as major platform planks.

First-time candidate Jan Mees raised the most money, by far, in her bid for a seat on the Columbia School Board. In Tuesday’s election, she also got the most votes.