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Before American doctors ever developed Tylenol or radiation, alternative medicines, like those from plant extracts, were used by cultures across the globe to treat diseases ranging from the flu to cancer.

With 29 percent of Americans and more than 80 percent of the African population using alternative medicines, plant extracts might offer real medical benefits. Now a $275,400 grant will help MU researchers study the effects of these plants on AIDS and cancer and discover ways to combine indigenous medicines with more conventional drugs.

In the latest of a series of proposals to alleviate traffic congestion at the intersection of Stadium Boulevard and Interstate 70, the Columbia City Council heard a proposal Tuesday night to widen Scott Boulevard. Ronald L. Schikevitz, civil/transportation manager for Burns and McDonnell in Kansas City, described the details involved in widening the road from two lanes to four and possibly adding a median. Funding would be shared by the city, the county and the Missouri Department of Transportation, but a department official said it did not expect to have money available for five years. The City Council also heard from County Commissioner Skip Elkin in regards to 80 acres of land given by a family. It discussed turning this plot, which is adjacent to the Boone County Fairgrounds, into a park to provide ball fields for youth. The group did not decide whether the Columbia or Boone County would do the project, but it did discuss a third option of a joint venture with joint ownership.

Fifty pounds of potatoes, 20-someboxes of turkey stuffing, six turkeys over 20 pounds each and about 15 pecan and pumpkin pies filled three Gerbes shopping carts as Almeta Crayton and Cindy Mustard shopped for the “Everyone Eats” Thanksgiving dinner.

“It’s trying to get away, Cindy,” Crayton said as she almost dropped one of the large turkeys. Crayton, the First Ward councilwoman, has been host for the dinner at Lou’s Palace for the past five years.

MU’s hotel and restaurant management program is enjoying a boom in growth, and part of the credit belongs to new recruiting strategies and area businesses, advocates of the program say.

Sylvia Gaiko, director of undergraduate programs and industry relations, said undergraduate enrollment grew 31 percent this year — up from an 18 percent increase the year before.

The city of Ashland continues to search for a solution to electricity problems that have resulted in 10 power outages since 1998 and have ranged from 42 minutes to nearly 10 hours in length.

Since a 10-hour outage on Nov. 4, the city has been supplied with electricity routed through a transformer on the back of a large flatbed truck near New Bloomfield in Callaway County. While there haven’t been any outages with the temporary system being used by AmerenUE energy company, some Ashland residents are using the opportunity to call the utility’s attention to smaller but more frequent problems.

Some college students who hope to stand out in the job market are shouldering more than one major to showcase their abilities and potential.

“Multiple majors make students more marketable,” said Terry Smith, vice president and dean of academic affairs at Columbia College.

The destruction of two Fulton buildings will pave the way for a redevelopment project that includes a movie theater, retail center and grocery store on the city’s south side.

Residents are anxious for the demolition of the empty Wal-Mart and Apple Market buildings on the site along Business 54, Fulton Mayor Robert Craghead said.

This week, Boone Hospital Center will select a construction manager to oversee a 60,000-plus-square-foot addition that will allow the hospital to expand its outpatient services.

Scheduled to break ground by February, Columbia’s largest hospital is soliciting bids from construction firms to build the structure on the south side of the center’s complex at Broadway and William Street.

Gloomy, overcast skies and whispers about Columbia’s first winter snowfall couldn’t keep a crowd from gathering downtown Sunday afternoon to ring in the holiday season.

The city’s annual holiday parade, organized this year by the Columbia Jaycees, brought spectators of all ages downtown to watch dozens of floats cruise down Broadway from College Avenue to Fourth Street.

A group of Columbia developers have come together to gain a larger influence in the city’s development.

The Central Missouri Development Council formed earlier this year with the purpose of working with the development community to have a better voice and to improve communication among developers, the city, the county and the community, interim executive director and group spokesman Don Stamper said.

As this year’s record number of MU freshmen prepare for finals, university administrators are faced with a math problem of their own: what to do with an even bigger class of freshmen next fall. Compared to last year, applications as of Nov. 1 are up about 18.5 percent.

While admissions officers are excited by the increase — in quality as well as number — they caution that it is still too early to tell if 2004 will be another record year for enrollment. Though the admissions office declines to prophesy, other campus administrators are beginning to plan. After all, they only have eight months to find places to put these would-be Tigers.

Well, one of those “free-market advocates” chewed me out pretty good after last week’s column and tried to teach me not to take their names in vain again. Unfortunately, I’m past the point where those race and gender comments have any effect on me. Guys, I thought, I was born under segregation, went through the civil rights era and although affirmative action and I have never touched bases, I’ve heard that garbage a million times. Actually, we don’t have a fight. They have all the money and political power and can do anything they want, anything except make me lie down and roll over.

This is one of those periods in my life when I’m glad that I grew up in a ghetto. That’s where I learned about all the games people play. I experienced my first acquaintances with several people who made their living by hustling the streets. I found out how talking fast and being skilled at misdirecting people could result in amazing success, depending on how well you learned the game. In fact, I’ve found out since, that all political, economic and generic con games are based on those same old street games. The most valuable part of my education was when I witnessed firsthand how often those who lied to people also stole from them. I was fortunate to come from people who had a value system that defined lying and stealing as morally wrong, at any level.

More young, educated single people left the Columbia area than moved in during the five-year period that ended in 2000, according to recently released U.S. Census data.

In its report, the Census Bureau suggests that people 25 to 39 years old and single who have at least one bachelor’s degree are important to an area’s economy because they’re viewed as “human capital” that can foster economic growth.

For the past two years, the UM system has tried to get permission from the state to lease out 25 acres at College Avenue and Stadium Boulevard for a developer to build a hotel and a convention center.

Winning that approval would be music to MU’s ears because it would use the lease money to build a performing arts center.

Picture five lines of high school girls basketball players. Each line is five players deep. Each of these players has a ball, and row by row, players sprint down the court, stop for crossovers first at the free-throw line, then at mid-court and then at the next free-throw line. Assistant coaches swipe at the players’ crossovers.

There is an air of discipline and focus in the gym. An injured player lies on her back, ice wrapped around a knee and works on her shooting form. She flicks a ball into the air repeatedly.

Otto Fajen and Brian Long, legislative assistants with the Missouri General Assembly, were faced with a tight deadline. In just a few hours, they had to compose two 140-page documents determining the financial future for 524 school districts and roughly 900,000 students.

Nothing less than the entire Missouri public school financial system was riding on their handiwork.

While the future of the formula is not completely clear, one thing is certain: Any changes will come with a price, both political and financial.

The very first line of Missouri’s foundation formula establishes a relationship between the amount of money available and the amount of money needed. It’s called the “proration factor.”

In an ideal world, that factor should be 1. In the real world, it now sits at either .82, which is the lowest estimate, or .87, which is the highest.

Confusion between Boone County government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has delayed about 20 county maintenance projects in the past year alone.

It’s a situation that has county officials frustrated and grappling for a solution.

The first case of influenza was recently reported by the Columbia/Boone County Department of Health, but Mary Martin, public health manager for the department, said that doesn’t mean there haven’t been more cases.

“Most people that get influenza aren’t tested,” Martin said. “If people get the flu, they usually stay home and don’t go to the doctor.”