Local

The heavy door at the entrance causes only a moment’s pause as a flood of breathless children, fresh off the bus from school, race to sign in and begin an afternoon at The Intersection.

First stop: snack time.

The secret to horse whispering is that it’s not about the horse. Whispering is about people learning to watch, listen and understand the subtle body language of horses, according to Dennis Reis, a mild-mannered, lanky cowboy and self-proclaimed whisperer.

With a little more than two months left in the year, MU Police have nearly doubled the number of arrests for driving while intoxicated compared with 2002.

But rather than indicating more alcohol use and abuse on campus, police and university officials say the increase reflects greater law enforcement efforts.

Going to court or changing leadership in the Missouri General Assembly are the only ways a Columbia lawmaker thinks state-funding considerations for public education will change.

State Rep. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, told the Columbia Board of Education on Tuesday that current leaders come from “hold harmless” districts where schools do not feel the budget cuts as deeply and that only a revolt from the rural districts may bring more money to schools.

The Columbia Housing Authority commissioners assured a crowd of wary residents that it won’t discuss the privatization of streets adjacent to public housing until January.

Private ownership of those streets would allow housing authority officials to arrest individuals that are on the no-trespassing list, such as drug dealers, and move them away from people’s homes.

It’s all about the cups.

Cups are the key to the keg for any student looking to drink cheap and easy in the East Campus neighborhood, where scores of college students on a typical weekend flock to any of several homes where the beer is flowing.

Jon Day, general manager of Old Chicago, said he hadn’t heard about the proposed expansion of Interstate 70 until Monday when he was contacted about a survey being sent to businesses in and around Columbia.

Day’s restaurant on I-70 Drive Southwest is one of almost 400 businesses in and around Columbia that can expect to receive a survey from the Missouri Department of Transportation in the next two weeks.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Parents screaming at coaches. Coaches shoving umpires. Spectators fighting in the stands.

Hooliganism has become such a familiar part of youth sports that some Missouri parks officials worry hidden guns could soon add a new element of danger.

Before Columbia’s only Wal-Mart Supercenter opened five years ago, John Freeman usually made about four other shopping stops before he could buy everything on his list.

He frequented Gerbes, Eastgate Foods, Dollar General and area convenience stores looking for sales. But now, he just goes to Wal-Mart.

The broad powers given to the U.S. government under the Patriot Act should make citizens wary, and Americans should be prepared to protect their civil liberties, Matt LeMieux said in a speech at the MU Law School Monday night.

LeMieux, executive director of the eastern Missouri chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the act is useful in helping prevent terrorism but Americans should keep a close eye on it.

At its meeting Monday, the Columbia City Council voted to table a proposed ordinance that would have banned concealed weapons in city-owned buildings and affected the possession of guns in city parks.

The current city code does not allow any “deadly or dangerous” weapons in city parks, but the proposal would amend that code to allow concealed handguns to be carried, as long as the owner has a valid permit.

For the second time in Missouri history, an incumbent Democratic governor will face significant opposition in a primary race for the gubernatorial nomination.

Claire McCaskill officially announced Monday her candidacy in the race for governor at her alma mater, Hickman High School.

City officials are working to bridge the gap between the Seven Oaks Neighborhood and Hinkson Creek Trail.

An ordinance passed by the Columbia City Council this month will create a trail extending about 56 feet to connect the neighborhood to the Hinkson Trail, which connects Grindstone Park to the MKT Nature/Fitness Trail.

JEFFERSON CITY — Federal statistics suggest Missouri has become a less safe place to work.

According to a recent Department of Labor release, the number of fatal work injuries in Missouri rose by almost 21 percent during 2002 with 30 more deaths than the previous year.

Columbia was so warm and breezy Monday that it was almost a surprise to see the gold and brown leaves drifting to the ground. In the late afternoon — when dozing in a hammock seemed preferable to anything else — the city reached a high of 84 degrees, two degrees shy of its record. Winds gusted at 15-25 mph.

Across the city, residents threw off their recently unpacked sweaters and headed for favorite warm-weather haunts. At Shake’s Frozen Custard off Nifong Boulevard, Karen Dye bought a box full of cold treats for co-workers at State Farm Insurance Co.

For MU graduate David Burkhold, the problem wasn’t finding a job, it was deciding which one to take. A marketing major, Burkhold was courted by a number of companies in his final semesters before negotiating his way to a lucrative sales position with Altria, a New York- based conglomerate.

All he used was a computer and eRecruiting, MU’s own closed electronic job board, where access can mean a fast track to employment.

Gnawing hunger drives millions to fast-food restaurants every day. When they pull up to the drive-through window, their attention narrowly focused on the menu and what to order, few people pay much mind to the shrubs leading up to the menu or the finely sifted gravel surrounding it or the neatly trimmed grass that defines the borders of the parking lot, which is also handsomely landscaped.

Nick Pinkston was no exception — until he began his job as a laborer for Oasis Landscapes and Irrigation. He said he now realizes the time and effort it takes to beautify a fast-food restaurant’s outside appearance.

Gary Naylor’s eyes light up when he shows off what he can do with wood. Surrounded by wooden trains, airplanes, dump trucks and race cars in his basement workshop at 2318 Windmill Court, he often stays up past midnight working on things people tell him can’t be done.

“There’s never a dull moment around here,” he said. “I just have so much fun with it.”

On a typical day, Columbia Police Detective Jeff Westbrook works to combat domestic violence and counsel victims of such abuse. At night, however, Westbrook can be found on his porch working toward a different goal — mastering the banjo.

Westbrook began playing the banjo two years ago and has since joined the local bluegrass band Gospel Salute.

From the time it was built in 1972, Columbia’s water treatment plant at McBaine has worked like a heart pumping on overdrive, trying to outpace explosive growth and sweltering Missouri summers.

It works great most of the time, plant superintendent John Betz said. For one, Columbia has had a constant supply of water. For another, he said, that water is remarkably clean.