Local

Domestic violence touches every corner of Missouri, but the way it is handled by varies from county to county, a new MU study reports.

The researchers — Mary Beck, an MU law professor, and Kent Collins, a broadcast journalism professor — examined 911 reports, law enforcement records and civil protective orders for four Missouri counties: Boone, Callaway, Cape Girardeau and Cooper. According to the results of the study, Boone and Cape Girardeau most aggressively prosecute domestic abusers, while Callaway and Cooper counties appear less responsive.

JEFFERSON CITY — Preparing a household budget can be a tough, time-consuming task. How much can you afford to spend on entertainment each month? How much do you have to spend on home and car payments, electricity and such?

Now imagine that you aren’t sure how much money you will have monthly. Suppose you expect to earn $4,000 a month but your spouse budgets for a $3,000 income.

Care Bears, Barbies, American Girl dolls, and computer and video games are some of the must-haves this holiday season.

So if children need, want, gotta have these things, how do they tell their wishes to the man who brings them from the North Pole?

I fooled my friends a couple of weeks ago. A young relative volunteered to rearrange my home office so that I would have more writing space. My friends, of course, were taking bets that I couldn’t leave home and let the young woman “do her thing.” They insisted that I would interfere and start giving orders about where I wanted things placed. Actually, I went into the kitchen, sat down and had a cup of coffee while she ordered her crew to start rearranging desks and bookcases. Later, I calmly disappeared into the bathroom, took a bath, got dressed and left for an appointment.

When I returned, I marveled over the transformation a lot like they do on those television room-makeover shows. She did a beautiful job, and I had not one thing to complain about. Was I hit by a bolt of lightning or run down by an 18-wheeler?

As Barbara Cirkl walked across the stage of the Missouri Theatre to receive her industrial engineering degree Saturday, she turned to the audience and yelled, “I did it finally!”

Cirkl was one of more than 1,900 MU students who received their walking papers from the university on Friday and Saturday.

Even though two-thirds of Elvin Sapp’s proposal for developing the 489-acre Philips farm won approval from the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission, it’s only the first step.

The proposal is one of the most complicated and controversial development plans in Columbia’s recent history.

The solstice marks the beginning of winter on our calendars, but it’s the end of the darkest time of the year.

For centuries people have celebrated the symbolic return of the sun. It is a holiday of renewal, life and light for many, especially for people whose religions are based on natural cycles, said Richard Callahan, a professor of religious studies at the University of Missouri.

Rhiana Scibilia is digging for the right words.

“Sometimes I get frustrated, and I’m just like, ‘Never mind, I’m not gonna pick out a card’ because there’s not one that I think really describes how I’m feeling or how I want something to be said,” Scibilia said while searching the Nifong Boulevard Hallmark store for a Christmas card for her boyfriend. “But most of the time I do find one that’s pretty dead on.”

Four fatal crashes in the last month have brought the total number of traffic deaths in Columbia this year to 17 — 10 more than last year and an all-time high.

Another 10 people have died on Boone County’s state highways so far this year — one more than in 2002, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Brent Scrivner completed his transition from welder to college graduate on Saturday when he walked across the stage in Columbia College’s Southwell Complex.

The 38-year-old Jefferson City man, who started his career as a welder after high school, finished about six years of evening classes to earn his bachelor’s degree in business. While going to school, he worked as a sales engineer at ABB Power T&D Co. in Jefferson City. He graduated cum laude.

Last month I had to endure two photo sessions in one week. I have written before that I hate having my picture taken and have gone to great lengths to stay away from the eye of the camera. But I sat for these two photo shoots for two very different reasons, with two different outcomes.

The first was actually my idea. I decided I wanted a portrait of my husband and me surrounded by our 14 grandchildren. Gathering the masses is quite a feat, but after several long-distance phone conversations with my son in Springfield and my daughter in Arkansas, we came up with a date that worked for everyone’s schedule. I told the parents that I wanted all of us to wear black turtlenecks. Being a control freak, I bought seven turtlenecks just in case.

Developer Elvin Sapp’s lawyers want Columbia residents to know that rezoning is only the first step in a long process for determining the future of the Philips farm — site of the largest and one of the most controversial development proposals in Boone County history.

Sapp wants to put a mix of homes, apartments, businesses and office buildings on the 489 acres outside the southeast border of Columbia.

Swiftly running snowmelt made Hinkson Creek so cloudy on Thursday that the creek bottom was invisible to Randy Crawford as he made his group’s weekly check on the stream.

Crawford, chief of water quality monitoring for the state Department of Natural Resources, was surveying the creek near Stephens Lake Park to look for changes such as odd colors or odors.

Amy Lewis loves to shop. So when the new 140,000-square-foot Famous Barr in Columbia opened in October, it was “like Christmas coming two months early” for the 25-year-old physical therapist.

“Being from St. Louis, I’m a die-hard Famous Barr customer,” said Lewis. “It’s what I do.”

Boone County residents should soon be able to pay their property taxes online using electronic checks or credit cards.

Discover cards have been accepted for property taxes since 1996, and the county is adding Visa, MasterCard and American Express. The system also will let taxpayers meet their obligations with electronic checks.

Olivia Johnson joins a group of friends in the back yard of the Boys and Girls Club after school. Nearly every day, the group tries to complete the same task. Johnson and four or five other children try to jump in unison with one long rope while two adult mentors swing the ends.

“One ... two ... three ... go!”

In 1987, Donald Van Dyne designed a home specifically for a handicapped couple. Little did he know that 15 years later he would need the wider doors and hallways, lower light switches and a stair-less home for himself.

On March 23, 2002, Van Dyne had a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body.

Marcus Leech is learning to break free from the isolated world of autism.

Every day is a challenge for 8-year-old Marcus as he struggles to communicate when he’s hungry or tired, said his mother, Kaori Leech.

After public hearings and debate that lasted into early this morning, the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission decided to recommend two-thirds of the controversial Philips farm development proposal for approval by the Columbia City Council.

The 489-acre plot southwest of Columbia was divided into nine tracts for zoning purposes, three of which were rejected. The commission did not approve tracts three and nine because members were uncertain whether the city would buy the land and convert it into a park. Members also narrowly rejected tract eight because project developer Elvin Sapp had proposed it have open zoning rather than more constraining planned zoning.

Seventy-five-year-old Janet Barnes accomplishes more in a day than some people half her age. That’s pretty good for someone who was not expected to live past her 14th birthday.

Barnes was informally diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was 11, and for most of her life she has been dependent on crutches or her wheelchair for mobility. Yet she sees her circumstance as a blessing rather than a hindrance.