Janet Saidi

Columbia City Manager Mike Matthes has announced plans to implement 14 recommendations made in a report highly critical of the Columbia Police Department. The report outlines problems within CPD, saying the department's reputation in the community has been steadily dropping.

"The community has lowered the report card of the police department from a B to a D over the past six years," said City Manager Mike Matthes.

The American Soybean Association is pushing for U.S. trade representatives to negotiate better trading terms with Europe, looking for the European Union to ease the strict restrictions it imposes on genetically modified soybeans. The group petitioned a U.S. trade representative who is part of a new working group with the European Union to work on its behalf. 

Regional news from the KBIA newsroom, including:

• Curators discuss proposed budget cut outcomes
• Senate Democrats end filibuster
• Judge hears closing arguments in congressional redistricting
  

Regional news from the KBIA newsroom, including:

• Missouri Senate passes legislation that increases the  information government agencies must put online
• Claire McCaskill announces her $5 million re-election war chest
• Missouri State Treasurer announces a new financial assistance package for beginning farmers

   

A bronze replica of the MLK National Memorial in Washington DC has been presented to MU. The statue replica was presented at MU’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. KBIA’s Elizabeth Trovall was there, and has this report.

Regional news from the KBIA newsroom, including:

• Missouri's first female chancellor is Cheryl B. Schrader
• House passes budget caps
• Missouri tries to tax cigarettes
• Medicinal cannabis activists arrested

A former engineer at the Callaway Nuclear Plant is requesting that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, look into possible violations of the operating license at the Callaway plant, owned and operated by Ameren Missouri.

By Janet Saidi

Regional news from the KBIA newsroom:

• Winter weather advisory remains in effect until 6pm today
• An Ameren plant in Missouri is a top-ten polluter in the US

Ameren’s coal-fired power plant in Labadie is among the top ten greenhouse gas emitters in the country. That’s according to data released today [on Wednesday] by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Véronique LaCapra reports, from St. Louis.

A winter-weather advisory remains in effect until 6:00 this evening for much of the region, with moderate to light snow continuing to fall throughout the day. Snow, blowing snow and sleet may cause difficult conditions  for drivers.