Local

It’s a matter of interpretation.

The fate of concealed guns in Missouri might come down to the meaning of one word.

In a sign that Missouri’s growing methamphetamine problem is an issue of national concern, the federal government has awarded more than $3 million in grants to state law enforcement agencies to fight production of the drug.

The money will be divided among 60 sheriff’s departments and drug task forces across the state and used primarily to purchase equipment and to pay existing personnel for additional hours spent fighting meth production.

No one was injured amid gunfire Monday afternoon at Cosmopolitan Park, but police have arrested two and issued summons for several more.

On Tuesday, Columbia Police arrested Charles Julian Ayers, 17, of Columbia while he was in class at 10:35 a.m. at Rock Bridge High School. He was arrested on suspicion of armed criminal action and first-degree assault.

In the early 1980s, Barbara Uehling pushed for MU’s first master plan for campus beautification.

The former chancellor reigned during $135 million in projects that gave the university its good looks.

Because of long response times and a growing population in southern Boone County, ambulance officials at University Hospital want to add an emergency ambulance to cover the region.

University Hospital ambulance coordinator Jim Gwinner has submitted a plan to hospital administrators to put the Medic 22 ambulance into emergency service, probably near Ashland.

Kids don’t come to Principal Bruce Brotzman’s office out of fear. They usually show up at the Rock Bridge administrator’s door because they want advice or direction.

Brotzman, 44, is known for his energy. Good thing, because he plays two roles at school: principal and dad.

Melvin L. Davis, 35, whom police suspect set fire to two Columbia residences on July 10, was arrested Tuesday in Palmdale, Calif., Columbia police said. His location was provided by a CrimeStoppers caller.

Police in Columbia coordinated with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for the arrest. Davis is charged with first-degree arson, first-degree burglary, and second-degree arson.

For more than 30 years, a Centralia family and a Pennsylvania woman have shared the same prayer — that Army Sgt. Rodney Griffin, whose helicopter was shot down in Cambodia in May 1970, would return home.

While that prayer has yet to be answered, Griffin’s family recently learned that Beth Mitchell of Kittanning, Pa., has an MIA/POW bracelet engraved with Griffin’s name. Mitchell’s older sister bought the bracelet from a newsstand in her hometown of Ford City, Pa.

The barren banks and dried heaps of brownish-red lake grass resemble the scene of a drought.

But by spring, city officials guarantee Stephens Lake and the surrounding park will look more like an idyllic oasis than a soggy lake bottom.

He likes to watch cartoons like “Thomas the Tank Engine,” “Scooby-Doo” and “Superman.” Anything with a superhero.

With animated characters, he can distinguish between fact and fantasy. But the mother of a 6-year-old boy suspected of shooting and killing his grandfather said that when it comes to shows with actors, she isn’t so sure.

JEFFERSON CITY — School districts suing to get more state funds lost their first court fight Monday.

A Cole County circuit judge upheld Gov. Bob Holden’s power to withhold $190 million from state funding to local schools because of estimated revenue shortages.

A change of course in the debate over the management of the Missouri River has sparked uncertainty within the local office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and concern within the Missouri Department of Conservation.

For three years, the Fish and Wildlife Service has maintained that management of the Missouri River by the Army Corps of Engineers must include a spring rise and summer drawdown to boost populations of the piping plover, a threatened species, and the pallid sturgeon and least tern, which are endangered. But now that official opinion, which plays a pivotal role in the Army Corps of Engineers’ plans for river management, might change.

At 7 a.m. Monday, Columbia Regional Hospital’s brand new Newborn Intensive Care Unit was empty. Electrical outlets were bare, two dozen treatment stations were unoccupied, and a lone empty crib stood in the middle of the room.

“In three hours, it’ll look a lot different in here,” said Dr. Elizabeth James, neonatologist and director of the NICU.

State Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, has been elected House minority whip.

Harris said his selection makes him the first state representative from Boone County in nearly 40 years to win a House leadership position. Harris’ fellow Democrats elected him to the job during a caucus in Jefferson City on Saturday.

ST. LOUIS — Legal experts say a St. Louis judge’s injunction blocking Missouri’s new concealed guns law applies statewide, though some lawmakers who support the measure think the ruling is valid only in St. Louis.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer on Friday issued the injunction, a ruling that Attorney General Jay Nixon immediately appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court. Lawmakers adopted the concealed weapons law in September by overriding Gov. Bob Holden’s veto.

Col. Leon M. Hoffsette returned to Columbia 27 years after he left to pursue a military career. When he returned, he found a tradition he never experienced as an MU student — the Veterans Day Vigil at the Boone County Courthouse. Today, Hoffsette will officiate the closing program, which began in 1985, a decade after he left Columbia.

“The vigil is organized and executed by the cadets — they get a lot of experience dong this,” Hoffsette said.

It’s hard to ignore the blue signs in front of the homes on West Broadway. In a few words, the signs declare what seems to be a growing sentiment in the United States: “End the Occupation, Bring Our Troops Home.”

The signs are found on almost every corner of Columbia and serve as reminders that while President George W. Bush declared major combat over on May 2, Operation Iraqi Freedom continues to put demands on the country’s troops.

They have invaded family space all over the United Kingdom and now the United States. They will rip your carpet up, cut the legs off your tables and paint your beautiful mahogany armoire blue to match a $5 lamp. They are the cast of “Trading Spaces,” the quirky interior design show on The Learning Channel.

Stephen Rust, owner of Rust & Martin Design Studio, describes the show as “marvelously entertaining” but said it is very different from his business. He said that “Trading Spaces” shows the mechanics of making a room look good but does not show the behind-the-scenes planning of design on television.

These days, many Columbians are kept extremely busy with their careers. Between work, family duties, and other commitments around the home, many people are left with little time to relax at the end of the day.

Columbian Tracie Rumford, however, has taken on the task of owning and operating her own business, and still has plenty of time to focus on relaxation techniques. Why? Because Rumford, a professional massage therapist, is the owner of Massage Works Therapeutic Massage, and helping people relax is one of the main goals of her business.

JEFFERSON CITY — As Missouri’s economy has evolved, its tax laws have not, resulting in businesses that operate under the tax radar while state coffers remain dry, State Revenue Director Carol Fisher said.

Missouri’s economy has shifted gradually from being based on manufacturing goods to providing services. The state tax code was last updated in the 1970s. Since then, the economy has shifted toward services, while the tax structure has lagged behind, Fisher said.