Special Sections

As fall ushers in a new school year, Columbia students will have a new name to use as an identity: Muriel Williams Battle High School.

A look at events of Columbia Public School District.

Freshmen, sophomore and junior classes will occupy the building in August.

Incoming Battle High School students toured the new school in April. Many are described as The school is set to open June 3.

Battle High School is piloting a new technology initiative for Columbia Public Schools, which plans to provide an iPad Mini to every student.

The department heads that have been hired for Battle High School answer questions about curriculum, classrooms and the school.

The department heads of Battle High School are beyond the dreaming stage. They are actively shaping their niche in educating future Battle students.

Eliot Battle and his wife, Muriel, for whom the new high school is named, worked to help ease the tensions from school desegregation.

Battle High School opted for a parent-teacher-student organization to make sure all the funds go to benefiting the school.

About 90 percent of the Battle staff had been hired as of April 12. Learn more about the teachers and faculty for the school and where they've come from.

Muriel Battle's colleagues from over the years talk about what her legacy meant to them and the Columbia Public Schools.

The opening of Battle High School means a change in the boundaries at the high school level and a change in the structure of middle and junior high schools.

Principal Kim Presko and other administrators talk about their plans for the new school.

The new Battle High School coaches talk about the programs and culture they are trying to establish when the school opens.

The Missourian profiled how Columbia has developed in recent years, what issues the city has faced and how growth has affected members of the community.

In the past 10 years, land developer Fred Overton has watched housing sales boom and bust. As the market recovers from the recent recession, he's regaining ground while clawing his way through the obstacles to a full recovery.

Late last year, the Boone County Regional Sewer District used eminent domain to acquire just under 20 acres of land from cattle farmer Jim Shaw. It will be used for a water treatment plant.

Beth Newton incorporates iPads, laptops, a SMART Board, electronic probes and cameras into classroom to help transform the way her students learn.

Ernie's Cafe & Steak House has kept its same, consistent diner theme since it opened in 1934 and is still enjoyed by regulars, generations of downtown customers and newcomers alike.