News

JEFFERSON CITY — Two years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, security at the Capitol building seems like it has returned to pre-attack levels.

A Capitol police officer waves a car on and returns to his crossword puzzle.

A Columbia man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of felonious restraint in connection with an attempted kidnapping of an 18-year-old Columbia woman in the 900 block of Moss Street.

The woman told Columbia Police that Mark A. Thompson, 46, knocked on her front door around 6 p.m. Monday, impersonating a police officer. He then tried to kidnap her from her apartment, according to a police news release.

Gunshots were exchanged between two people in Columbia on Wednesday, marking the fifth shooting in two weeks.

A man told police he was driving on Hanover Boulevard when another man got out of his car and fired several shots at him, Columbia Police Capt. Zim Schwartze said.

The Sept. 2 fire in the 2600 block of Quail Drive was one of about 800 water heater fires that occur in the United States every year.

The fire began after flammable vapors from the home’s sewer line entered the basement and were ignited by the water heater’s pilot light. No one was injured, but the blaze caused $75,000 in damages, according to Columbia Fire Department investigators.

The city’s Office of Volunteer Services has a new program that is well-suited for an army of community do-gooders. It’s been less than a month since the Columbia Hospitality Corps took ambassadorial reign over the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau, and already dozens of volunteers have pledged to help tourists in any way they can.

Three weeks after terrorists attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001, Ray Sneed walked into the International Association of Fire Fighters in Washington, D.C., carrying a canvas bag concealing what looked like a large brick.

“It was a brick — a brick of checks,” said George Burke, spokesman for the group, which operated the New York Firefighters 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund. “It was over a foot long and tied with rubber bands, and it was about half a million dollars.”

JEFFERSON CITY — Legislators fell short Wednesday in an effort to override Gov. Bob Holden’s veto of a bill that would have made sweeping changes to the state’s child abuse and neglect system.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, have been linked to increased enrollment in public affairs and public administration schools nationwide, including MU’s Truman School of Public Affairs.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, 24 students were enrolled in the MU program for that fall. By the next year, a 75 percent increase brought enrollment up to 42.

The Rev. John Yonker has been waiting nine months for a phone call. It has been that long since the First Christian Church of Columbia applied to resettle a refugee family from war-torn Sudan, but there’s still no word on their arrival.

“We are kind of anxious,” Yonker said. “People keep wondering when they will come.”

Two years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, states and cities are settling into a new annual tradition: going cap-in-hand to federal agencies for homeland security dollars.

But all beggars aren’t equal, and debate is still raging in Washington when it comes to distributing the millions. Big-city representatives demand a “threat-based” calculation that would send more money to cities such as New York and St. Louis, citing high-profile targets such as the Empire State Building and the Arch. Those from rural areas argue that other factors, such as agricultural safety and power plants, should also figure prominently in the distribution formula.

Two years after the tragedy and devastation of September 11, 2001, American citizens gathered across the nation to pause for reflection and bow their heads in prayer.

About 300 people joined at the Boone County Courthouse this morning for a small but poignant ceremony to remember those who lost their lives and to praise those who fought to save them. Mayor Darwin Hindman spoke, and representatives of many local emergency agencies attended.

A graduation portrait stared back at rescue workers Thursday afternoon as they cleaned up the wreckage of an I-70 accident near Rocheport in which two senior citizens from Illinois were injured.

Driver Donald Clark, 71, sustained moderate injuries and was driven to University Hospital, Missouri State Highway Patrol reported. Enedina Clark sustained serious injuries and was flown to University Hospital in a medical helicopter.

Every gym has its culture: its soundtrack, its clients, its sweat. But Columbia’s 9-month-old Activity and Recreation Center is not just a gym.

Driver exams in Columbia have entered the 21st century.

People applying for a state license can now take their exams on a touch-screen computer rather than the traditional written test.

A formal settlement that ends a lawsuit by CenturyTel against the city of Columbia should ease tension between the two over whether the city should provide fiber-optics service to local businesses.

The settlement, approved last week by the Columbia City Council, will suspend the issue until the U.S. Supreme Court reaches a decision on a larger, but similar case in its 2003-2004 session. The high court’s decision could affect the way many businesses nationwide choose their fiber-optics service and could decide whether cities would be able to compete as service providers.

Wes Stricker is in the final stages of an effort to establish his new company, Flying Tigers, at Columbia Regional Airport.

Nearly a year after the former co-owner of Ozark Air Lines won approval of his proposal for a new fixed-base operation at the airport, Stricker is preparing for takeoff. Fixed-base operations provide services such as flight instruction, aircraft maintenance, charter flights, sales and refueling. Flying Tigers would become the second such operation at the airport.

After Sept. 11, Vincent Rotundo pictured a license plate that would unite Americans in their hatred of terrorism and remembrance of the victims.

Officials in his home state of Virginia thought he was onto something, and in July 2002 Virginia unveiled the first “fight terrorism” license plate.

On Thursday, there will be a Sept. 11 memorial service at the state Capitol. Rotundo plans to be there, alongside Gov. Bob Holden, when Missouri publicly announces the release of its own “fight terrorism” plate.

The University of Missouri is considering merging or closing programs on its four campuses — including seven degree programs at MU — because they cost too much or they graduate too few students.

In addition to the seven programs, two MU departments are targeted for evaluation. Lori Franz, MU vice provost for undergraduate studies, said a committee is developing criteria to use in evaluating the programs.

Fall TV season is here, but MU communications professor Bill Benoit is tuning in for the new season of political advertisements — and handing down judgment.

Benoit, nationally known for his research on political campaign ads, analyzes and records information about what candidates target in their ads, and how they go about it. He then compares candidates’ strategies.