A Home Away From Home
A Ronald McDonald house is like any other house. It’s a place to rest and recharge, a place that holds memories whether good or bad, and a place to come together. What’s different about a Ronald McDonald home, though, is the families inside. A staple in communities across the United States, Ronald McDonald House Charities […]
Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture’s Opportunity Gardens
There is an old proverb that says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Change the proverb to talk about plants and it might as well be the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture’s mission statement: “To enhance our […]
A Capitol Conversation: The House Investigator
In every election cycle, there are lawmakers who watch from the sidelines. They wait for their own terms of office to come to an end and feel relieved at having not spent the summer raising money, pressing the flesh, eating bad campaign food, and stressing over whether they have any real future in politics. Term […]
Local Perspective: COMO’s Hooligans of Yesteryear
What is it about our downtown, The District, that is so f-ing awesome?! Specifically, what is it about these downtown businesses that make them feel like home when you walk inside? Or that you can go inside knowing that your day will be improved by it? Well, after living in Columbia my entire life (minus […]
Michelle Baumstark, Community Relations Director, Columbia Public Schools
1. What’s your background? I’ve been the director of community relations for Columbia Public Schools since 2005. I manage the communications, public relations, and community engagement strategies for the school district. From 1999 to 2005, I worked at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Prior to that, I was a newspaper reporter. I’m […]
Tom Bradley, The Tom Bradley Show, Jack-FM
Opinion: The City’s Most Thankless Job
It would appear to be a thankless job. Wanted: a city manager for a highly-rated, diversified community of medium size in America’s heartland. Great place to live and raise a family, educationally advanced, with a strong medical presence and numerous other stabilizing factors to shout about. What in the past would have been a plum […]
Bill Turpin, Interim Associate Chancellor of Economic Development, MU
Opinion: It’s Not a Surprise
It was destined to fail — Proposition D, the motor fuel tax increase proposal. And it did! Missouri continues to carry the ignominious honor of having the nation’s second lowest tax on motor fuels. Our state legislature, influenced and driven by a cabal of narrow-minded, special-interest lobbyists, has consistently spurned the annual opportunity to hike […]
Local Perspective: MU Is Spreading Roots Throughout Missouri
When I first visited MU, one of the things that struck me about the campus was its beauty. The entire campus is a diverse botanical garden, with beautiful buildings intertwined with gorgeous trees and flowers. Having been here for a few months now, I have come to see that this balance of environments is no […]
A Capitol Conversation: The Missouri State Capitol Undergoes Restoration
If you’re like a lot of readers, your eyes — and ears — now hurt from the endless stream of tribal political rhetoric that defined the 2018 campaign season. This month’s column puts that aside in favor of a truly capitol conversation. Anyone who has driven past the Missouri State Capitol building since the spring […]
Dr. Sara L. Cochran, Entrepreneurial Programs Manager & Interim Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, UM System
1. What’s your background? I hold a PhD in higher education with research focused on entrepreneurship education, an MA in integrated marketing communications, and BA degrees in accounting and arts administration. I’ve been in my current role for two and a half years. Before moving to Columbia to pursue my doctorate, I worked as the […]