Local

For the uninitiated into national pageant lore, the distinctions between the two U.S. competitions, Miss America and Miss USA, are usually fuzzy. Despite the similar basic format and the relatively frequent crossovers by veteran contestants, those involved in the two pageants are acutely aware of the differences.

Starting out in 1920 as a bathing beauty contest and a marketing ploy of Atlantic City entrepreneurs hoping to spur traffic to the resort, the Miss America pageant has changed with the times. As the century progressed, the concept of the “ideal woman” swelled to accommodate more than someone fit, vigorous and “able to shoulder the responsibilities of home-making and

It’s a new year, and second-graders at Russell Boulevard Elementary are all a bit richer. If you’re thinking you’ve missed something, don’t worry. The world is not on fast forward.

Thursday marked the first day of the Chinese New Year, and local restaurant owner Amy Chow used the occasion to visit her niece’s classroom to give students a quick lesson on the holiday and a bit of money.

Two local residents entered Columbia’s mayoral race on Thursday, creating a unique situation for incumbent Darwin Hindman whose position has not been contested since he was elected mayor in 1995.

Arch Brooks, CEO of Brooks Computing Systems Inc., and John Clark, president of the North Central Neighborhood Association, filed to run in the April election just before the 5 p.m. deadline Thursday. Brooks is also running for a seat on the Columbia Board of Education.

JEFFERSON CITY — The intense, decade-long battle over whether Missourians should have the right to carry concealed weapons reached a pinnacle Thursday, as state Supreme Court judges questioned whether a new law allowing hidden guns violates an old constitutional provision.

The assumption heading into the hearing — as determined by a St. Louis circuit judge’s ruling — was that concealed guns are prohibited under a state constitutional section dating to 1875.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Democratic presidential contenders offered competing claims of their electability against President Bush on Thursday night in the final debate before next week’s New Hampshire primary.

“I look forward to that fight,” said Sen. John Kerry, winner of this week’s Iowa caucuses and leader in the polls for New Hampshire’s Tuesday primary as well.

As Columbia faces a shortage of affordable housing, local housing assistance agencies will receive money today from the Missouri Housing Development Commission.

The commission plans to approve $6.25 million in grants statewide from the Missouri Housing Trust Fund. Four of the 188 applications came from Columbia-based groups.

Paying teachers more versus cutting jobs was at the heart of a discussion Thursday by the Columbia Board of Education.

“I would love to raise salaries, but if we have to cut more teachers ... it is a tension, a balancing act,” said board member Karla DeSpain.

Officials at the Boone County Jail are investigating how an inmate managed to take a large amount of prescribed medication in an apparent suicide attempt early Thursday morning.

Officers conducting floor checks found Lucille Duncan slumped over in her cell at about 4:15 a.m.

The Mid-Missouri Greenbelt Coalition announced this week that it acquired 18 acres of land near Huntsdale last month. The land was donated by a Columbia couple who wanted to limit development on their property.

The donation is a conservation easement between the Greenbelt Coalition and Tom and Marilyn Vernon. The agreement relinquishes development rights of the grassy hills and gullies off of Nebo Cemetery Road in Huntsdale to the coalition. The land includes a one-acre vineyard of Norton grapes.

Penny Braun lost her mother to Alzheimer’s in 1995, and the experience acted as a catalyst for Braun’s decision to help others who have to deal with the disease.

As executive director of the Mid-Missouri Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, Braun several years ago heard about taking vitamins C and E as a hedge against the disease and decided to begin the regimen herself. At 62, she’s closing in on the age at which the disease often begins showing up.

One month after her diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, Christine Cook turned to the Central Missouri Branch of the Arthritis Foundation for help.

Crystal Brady was on the other end of the line, and the two talked for more than a hour.

JEFFERSON CITY — A legislative consultant said Thursday that Missouri’s method of school funding can be made more equitable without raising any new money.

Craig Wood, a University of Florida professor hired to help legislators improve the state’s school funding formula, gave a preliminary report to the Interim Committee on Education.

A Columbia organization of business and community leaders will announce this morning that it supports MU’s plan to lease property for construction of a hotel and convention center at College Avenue and Stadium Boulevard, says one of the organization’s leaders.

Supporting the lease is a new group called Community Leaders Supporting Economic and Cultural Growth, which will meet at 10 a.m. in the backstage area of MU’s Jesse Auditorium. Legislators, university officials and community leaders are expected to attend.

Republican Carole Iles of Ashland officially announced her candidacy for the 24th District House seat Thursday night to a room packed with her supporters at the Southern Boone County Senior Center in Ashland.

After a meal of chili and hot dogs, Iles outlined the reasons for her candidacy and the goals she hoped to accomplish if elected.

JEFFERSON CITY — Tax increases the General Assembly rejected last year were proposed again by Gov. Bob Holden in his State of the State address Wednesday.

The governor’s proposed revenue increases, totaling $689 million per year, are similar to his package of last year that failed in the assembly, including increases in taxes on corporations, gambling and tobacco.

JEFFERSON CITY — Two issues deemed integral to the Columbia area by local legislators — restoring education funding and promoting life sciences — topped the list of priorities in Gov. Bob Holden’s State of the State address Wednesday.

But amidst an atmosphere of partisan accusations and attacks, neither goal looks promising, local legislators said.

Like it or not, it looks like Park De Ville residents are just going to have to live with a Wal-Mart Supercenter in their neighborhood.

Columbia’s third proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter, originally planned to be west of Columbia Mall, will now be built along West Broadway across from HyVee. Just how big it will be remains a question, but a Wednesday meeting between area residents and the developer, The Kroenke Group, brought the issue into focus.

JEFFERSON CITY — MAP test scores and grade-point average could be adjusted under a measure reviewed by the state House Education Committee on Wednesday.

The proposal would include a student’s MAP test score in the formula for figuring grade-point average.

More Boone County children are receiving free and reduced-priced lunches.

It is one of the trends reported in the Kids Count report card released Wednesday by Citizens for Missouri’s Children.

On Sunday, 1st Lt. Frank Lopez of the Missouri National Guard said goodbye to his wife in St. Louis and headed to Columbia after being ordered to report for active duty. At a deployment ceremony on Wednesday, the soldier in the 128th Field Artillery Battalion said he had mixed emotions.

“I feel proud and sad,” he said. “Proud to be fulfilling the duty I signed up to do, and sad to be leaving my wife.”