Features

After a successful career in Des Moines, Iowa, the new city manager brings talent and experience to Columbia.

Traditional sunrise services took place at churches across Columbia on Sunday.

About 20 children and their parents or guardians took part in the Puffy Paint Party at Stephens Lake Activity Center on Thursday morning. The event for children ages 2 to 6 was hosted by Columbia Parks and Recreation.

One hundred students from across the state competed in Columbia on Friday for a chance to represent Missouri in the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C.

The 20th annual Big Muddy Folk Festival began Friday in Boonville. Some of the food available included pulled pork, ribs, chicken and bratwurst. The festival continues Saturday.

Family stories and online research have revealed two different families' ties to the state's divided history. Digitized records and sites such as ancestry.com make genealogical research simpler than ever.

W.R. O'Riley's lighthearted card to a high school friend was misplaced in an Omaha, Neb., post office and recently returned to him. 

On late nights at the Missouri state Capitol building, Abram Messer, a lobbyist, plays piano in the marble lobby and brings out other late-night dwellers who listen.

On the first day of spring, a greenhouse owner prepares for the gardening season that comes with the warmer weather.

Several Missouri town names' roots come from famous explorers and patriots from the past. Others get their names from the geographical features in the area.

By working with a Spanish-speaking congregation, the Haleys say they are doing international mission work in the heart of the United States.

Sleepyhead Beds, a nonprofit organization, has managed to supply some 400 beds to needy kids in the Kansas City area and has a waiting list for 200 more.

Decorators tried to bake the best cake in the theme, "A Mizzou Spring."

The consistent snowfall Monday could push this season's total, 50.6 inches as of Monday morning, past Columbia's previous record.

Ash Wednesday, which was March 9 this year, marks the start of the liturgical season of Lent, a time of solemn preparation for Easter. Church-goers in Columbia observed the start of the season at services Wednesday.

Best-selling Christian author Kathleen Norris visited Broadway Christian Church the weekend before Lent to share her reflections and participate in discussions. Norris talked plainly about caring for her husband before his death and struggles with spiritual indifference.

Both male and female winners were given passes to next year's True/False Film Festival.

The expo keeps bringing 74-year-old Betty Bass back. Bass, who wanted to be an interior designer when she was young, now brings her 11-year-old granddaughter.

Local troops are out selling cookies, learning responsibility and having fun.

A new app makes it easier for Roman Catholics to keep track of their sins and complete an examination of conscious before they receive the sacrament of reconciliation.