News

Three Columbia schools were on modified lockdown for about an hour Thursday afternoon.

Psychology professors Kennon Sheldon and University of California-Riverside professor Sonja Lyubomirsky have published a study claiming that happiness boosts from positive life changes. 

The state of Missouri is expected to get about $100 million dollars in additional Medicaid funds over several years under a federal program intended to encourage more home- and community-based services for the elderly and disabled.

The city of Kirksville is holding a public open house Thursday to discuss storm water issues on the city. Kirksville started an initiative two years ago to fix storm water problems like flash flooding and drainage in the city.

The city of Joplin will be getting more AmeriCorps volunteers to help with recovery and rebuilding following the tornado in May 2011. Wendy Spencer, the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, says Rebuild Joplin will receive $2,800,000 in AmeriCorps funding. 

The national service group AmeriCorps plans to boost its volunteer force helping Joplin rebuild from the deadly May 2011 tornado.

A report in April from the Washington based environmental group Food and Water Watch researched the relationship between public universities and the corporations that give the schools agriculture research grants. The study found that corporate money was accounting for a large part of funding to agriculture schools all around the country, including the University of Missouri.

There is a culture war raging in the heartland. It’s not about abortion or religion or gay marriage, it’s about how food is produced in this country.

As in any war, language is playing a big role. Take, for instance, the way Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad defended the beef product that came to be known as “pink slime.”

“It’s just tragic that people use smear language against products,” Branstad said. “We would never let people smear somebody because of who/what they look like, or their race, or their religion.”

The Ashland Planning and Zoning Commission has updated a proposal to create a downtown district. The expanded zone includes more businesses than the original 2009 plan. The proposal would establish architectural standards for a uniformed downtown area.