Local

More than three decades after its initiation to MU, the Epsilon Mu chapter of the Sigma Kappa sorority will close its doors in May.

With the permission of the national council of Sigma Kappa, Epsilon Mu will continue to function as a chapter until May 17. At that time, it will close and members will be granted alumnae status, according to a press release from Sigma Kappa national headquarters.

When Melody White heard about a new grocery store coming to Ashland, she decided to take advantage of a job opportunity closer to home. She left her job at Sam’s Club — and the drive to Columbia — to work as a cashier and in customer service at Moser’s Discount Foods.

White, 51, started working at the store a few weeks before its Jan. 8 opening, helping to stock shelves and get everything ready for the public.

Walk around town and ask folks how they plan to vote in today’s primary, and there’s one answer you’ll get more than any other.

Not at all.

JEFFERSON CITY — The University of Missouri system’s new policy prohibiting sexual-orientation discrimination would be effectively outlawed under a measure before Missouri’s legislature.

The bill would require that groups receiving state money — such as cities, school districts, and universities — use current federal standards and nothing more.

A North Carolina leader of health care systems has been named executive director of University of Missouri Health Care, MU officials said Monday.

Jim Ross, president and chief operating officer of University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, begins April 1.

ST. LOUIS — A poll released Monday shows that most Missouri voters would pay higher state taxes to help public education, and most approve of the job their local schools are doing.

Voters in the poll, conducted by Maryland-based Research 2000 for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and St. Louis’ KMOV-TV, also said they would pay higher taxes to address the cost and supply of health insurance and improve homeland security.

In the past two games, Stretch James has let opponents know she has shots they have never seen.

James, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, scores most of her points inside, but she recently began to showcase her improved outside shot. This will help Missouri (11-7, 2-5 Big 12 Conference) against No. 3 Texas. The Tigers play the Longhorns at 7 tonight in Austin, Texas.

A certified forensic pathologist from Florida is the new chief medical examiner for Boone and Callaway counties.

Columbians have long enjoyed the historic and cultural flavor of downtown. Now that the area has been added to the National Register of Historic Places, the local activity hub will gain national and state recognition for its historical significance.

The Columbia Special Business District submitted a proposal to the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the State Historic Preservation Office in November. These nominations were then sent to Washington, D.C., for approval by the National Park Service.

JEFFERSON CITY — Catfish pond owner Jim Baumgartner is being showcased by Republican lawmakers as an example of why small business owners need their own advocacy agency inside government itself.

At a House committee hearing Monday, Baumgartner testified that though the Department of Natural Resources has inspected his 35-foot-long dam in the past, he recently received notice that he would have to hire an outside consultant to comply with regulations — costing him anywhere from $500 to $1,200 for an initial examination of the site.

While Columbia officials want to make an offer to buy part of the 489-acre Philips tract for a new regional park, council members still have questions about the land.

Developer Elvin Sapp, who wants to put a mix of homes, offices and shops on the Philips land, has already offered to sell park land to the city. The targeted land, which city officials have been eyeing for almost a year, consists of 153 acres of the Philips farm, including the 40-acre Bristol Lake. That land would possibly be combined with 320 acres across Gans Road owned by Sue Crane to create the park.

Occupations that the U.S. Department of Labor says are coming to a halt remain in full throttle in Columbia, according to local business members.

Each year, the Department of Labor receives questionnaires from 400,000 businesses, conducts between 500 and 1,000 interviews with professional trade representatives and discusses factors that will influence employment change and availability over the next few years. Then economists use that data to project what the economy will look like in certain areas for the next 10 years, said Jon Sargent, the manager of occupational outlook studies at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A bill introduced by a group of Republican legislators could change the way Missouri schoolchildren learn about science — in particular, the creation and development of life on Earth.

Missouri House Bill 911, dubbed the Missouri Standard Science Act, would in part require state science teachers to give as much class time to “intelligent design” as they do to evolution and natural selection.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Democratic presidential rivals worked across several time zones Sunday to sway undecided voters in states with contests early this week. Howard Dean conceded making an “enormous gamble” by spending so much in Iowa and New Hampshire only to lose both states. “It didn’t work,” he said.

Sen. John Kerry pressed his front-runner’s advantage in North Dakota while Sen. John Edwards concentrated on South Carolina, a state he says he must win. Edwards trails Kerry in six of the seven states holding primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, except in his native South Carolina.

A pre-annexation agreement that would allow the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to extend sewer and sanitation services to facilities inside Rock Bridge State Park will be discussed at tonight’s City Council meeting.

The DNR’s proposal would allow an eventual annexation of about 200 acres of the park’s northwest corner to the city in exchange for sewer service. Current park borders do not touch city limits.

The educational gift of $2 million given to MU last week by Harold Hook and Joanne Hunt Hook comes at a crucial time of budget crunches and new achievement standards imposed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The donation comes at a crucial time of budget crunches and new achievement standards imposed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Three new gambling-related questions added to a survey this year could shed light on the extent of problem gambling in Missouri.

The Missouri Alliance to Curb Problem Gambling will pay $15,000 for the addition of the questions to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national survey that helps states track public health problems. The BRFSS is conducted each year by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WASHINGTON — President Bush, under mounting political pressure, will sign an executive order to establish a full-blown investigation of U.S. intelligence failures in Iraq, a senior White House official said Sunday.

ST. LOUIS — The economy outpaces both the war on terrorism and the debate about health care and education as the top issue on the minds of Missourians heading into the state’s presidential primary Tuesday, a new poll shows. A majority of the 804 likely voters surveyed Wednesday through Friday for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV also said they oppose marriage benefits for same-sex couples, although “moral issues” rank near the bottom of matters they said they would consider in the presidential race.