Local

A growth watchdog group is challenging the city’s plan to spend millions of dollars to extend sewer lines into new areas, arguing it promotes urban sprawl.

The money to improve and extend the sewer lines — $18.5 million — would come from one of two bond issues to be included on the Nov. 4 ballot. The other is a $28.3 million bond for water projects.

Call him crazy, call him a space geek—Doug Kniffen probably won’t mind. He says he’s felt the sky pulling at him like a magnet since he was four years old.

Kniffen, 43, built his own backyard observatory and has enough money invested in the star-gazing hobby to buy a mid-sized car.

Change is in the air for Missouri voters — and poll workers.

In the next few years, touch-screen technology will be required at polling places in all Missouri counties as an option for handicapped voters and anyone else who wants to use it.

The first black chief judge of the Missouri Supreme Court said Thursday that, while the state has become a judicial trendsetter for the nation, more needs to be done to diversify the practice of law in Missouri.

In a keynote address at the Missouri Bar Association’s annual meeting in Columbia, Chief Judge Ronnie White said equality in the legal profession cannot be measured by numbers alone, but rather “when equality of opportunity for both entry and advancement exists in every corner of this state.”

For 40 years, Richard Gaffney has lived in the past. “I don’t live in this century, you see. I just visit from time to time,” Gaffney said.

His fascination with the history of American Indians extends beyond passive research into the realm of active participation.

Voting registration was a reason to party Thursday night at Spanky’s bar in the Holiday Inn Executive Center.

Rep. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, First Ward Councilwoman Almeta Crayton and County Clerk Wendy Noren were there to help promote voter registration to patrons and employees.

If groups such as the Citizens for Rural Conservation had their way, Boone County, Mo., would have more in common with Boone County, Ill. than just a name.

At a Thursdsay meeting addressing concerns about urban sprawl, David Sliktas, a former planner with Boone County, Ill. outlined a process his county used that helped preserve 60 percent of farmland in his community. Area citizens hope Boone County, Mo., will follow in its footsteps.

Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm has made it clear that he’s not a fan of the new conceal-and-carry gun law. After reading through it, he found a section that makes him like the law even less.

JEFFERSON CITY — Every week, people in Missouri struggle with the decision between keeping custody of their child or seeking the best mental health care for him or her. Two of Missouri’s government agencies are working to avoid that decision.

Heather Hogan watched patiently as Rodolfo, a sixth-grader in Los Angeles, filled out her classroom evaluation. Even though the summertime class had ended, Rodolfo was diligently writing answers to the 20 questions. When he finished, he walked up to Hogan and shyly handed in his survey.

“Ms. Hogan, I didn’t know what to write for number 12 about how to improve our school,” he said. “I just wrote about picking up trash.

Among the multitude of brochures available at the MU Career Center is one that asks students to “Imagine Stanford Graduate School of Business.”

But MU students with such ambitions are often left imagining, according to the results of a survey published last Friday in the Wall Street Journal.

JEFFERSON CITY — Two leading legislative supporters of concealed weapons say they would not try to block efforts by cities to ban hidden pistols on buses and other transportation systems.

Columbia Transit and Para-Transit does not allow weapons on buses. Procedures will not change after Oct. 11 when the concealed weapons permits are issued, Columbia Transit supervisor Mark Grindstaff said.

A proposal to prohibit concealed weapons on county-owned property produced disagreement among Boone County commissioners Tuesday night.

The order would have gone into effect with Missouri’s new concealed gun law on Oct. 11. Existing policy bans weapons on county property but does not specifically mention concealed guns.

Despite Missouri’s new concealed-weapons law, it will still be illegal to carry a gun on Columbia’s college campuses once the law takes effect later this month.

Guns are not allowed on MU’s campus unless they are stored with the University of Missouri Police Department, said MUPD Interim Police Chief Jack Watring.

It’s 7:30 a.m., and the halls of Rock Bridge High School are filling up with students who are talking, finishing breakfast and running to their lockers. Teachers prepare for classes.

As Hurricane Isabel stormed toward the Atlantic coast, Jarrett Yehlen lay in bed at his Columbia apartment, unable to sleep. He wasn’t sure how badly Isabel would strike his hometown until his mother called him just before Isabel hit land:

“Jarrett, I’m preparing myself emotionally to lose everything.”

MU has won almost $17 million in federal grants to build and operate a one-of-a-kind center for swine genetics research and a regional biosafety lab, the university announced Tuesday.

The grants — about $10 million for the swine research center and almost $6.8 million for the biosafety lab — come from the National Institutes of Health. Last year, the NIH was the single biggest contributor of federal dollars for MU research: $44 million out of $106 million in federal funding, said MU spokesman Christian Basi.

David A. Hart has high expectations for the new $60 million Life Sciences Center, which is scheduled to open in fall 2004.

“The Life Sciences Center needs to be committed to research and training excellence, should be transdisciplinary and active, dynamic, flexible, on the cutting edge and proactive,” Hart said during a public forum Tuesday. “This should result in increased productivity, increasing funding and an enhanced impact on problems.”

Ruling that juries — not judges — should decide between life and death for a defendant, the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the death sentence for a Columbia man convicted of killing three people.

In a 7-0 decision, the state high court resentenced Deandra Buchanan, 30, to life in prison without possibility of parole or probation for the November 2000 killings of his aunt, girlfriend and stepfather.

The University of Missouri system’s MERLIN libraries have cut $159,000 worth of database subscriptions in the past few months as budgetary reins have been tightened, said Mary Ryan, head of Ellis Reference Services at MU.

The most popular database of the ones being cut, Periodical Abstracts, was discontinued Tuesday.