Mid-Missouri

Buena Vista University

Veronica Tapia-Banuelos of Rogers graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in business (marketing track) at the end of the spring 2023 semester at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Tapia-Banuelos was among more than 300 students who received degrees.

Founded in 1891, Buena Vista is a private university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

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Mississippi State

Among more than 2,300 students named to the Dean’s List for the spring semester at Mississippi State University were:

Jackson Runnels of Fayetteville; and

Anna Riggs of Fayetteville;

Dean’s List students achieved a grade-point average between 3.5 and 3.79, based on a 4.0 scale, while completing at least 12 semester hours of course work with no incomplete grades or grades lower than a C.

Mississippi State University is a national STEM-focused, doctoral degree-granting, land-grant university in Starkville, Miss.

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University of Iowa

Jordan Hemphill of Rogers was among more than 6,500 University of Iowa undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who received degrees in May.

Hemphill was a student in the Graduate College whose program of study was Sport and Recreation Management. The degree awarded was a Master of Arts.

The University of Iowa is located in Iowa City.

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Middle Tennessee State

More than 5,430 students made the spring 2023 Dean’s List at Middle Tennessee State University. Local students included were:

Makenzie Jordan of Fayetteville, who is majoring in Audio Production;

Ariana Moss of Fayetteville, Audio Production;

Jacob Moss of Farmington, Audio Production;

Ethan Sparks of Rogers, Recording Industry; and

Madison Speed of Prairie Grove, Interior Design.

To qualify for this distinction, an undergraduate student must maintain a current semester grade-point average of 3.5 or above and earn at least 12 semester hours.

Founded in 1911 as one of three state normal schools for teacher training, Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro is one of the oldest and largest undergraduate universities in the state of Tennessee.

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AIC

American International College has awarded degrees to 364 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students in 2023. Among them were:

Courtne Coelho Pfitzer of Springdale, Doctor of Physical Therapy; and

Jessica Sandone of Tontitown, Master of Science.

Founded in 1885, AIC is a private, co-educational, doctoral granting institution located in Springfield, Mass.

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UCA

The University of Central Arkansas Honors College has selected 75 incoming first-year students as its newest class of Norbert O. Schedler Honors College Scholars and 39 incoming first-year students for its University Scholars Program.

Chosen from more than 450 applicants, the entering Schedler Honors College Scholars and University Scholars classes of 2023 have an average high school GPA above 4.0 and an average ACT score of 30. The Honors College class includes 107 students from Arkansas and seven out-of-state students.

The members of the incoming fall class for the Schedler Honors College are:

Emmet Brick of Fayetteville; Nancy Calderon-Mojica of Green Forest; Clayton Canney of Harrison; Caleb Ferguson of Van Buren; Ava Godfrey of Bentonville; Brett Graham of Hindsville; Phoebe Hawley of Springdale; Skylea Lager of Jasper; Morgan McKenna of Charleston; Layne Robinson of Fayetteville; Alejandro Sanchez of Van Buren; Brycen Self of Rogers; Miranda Shaver of Fayetteville; Christopher Vail of Western Grove; and Ella Williams of Greenwood.

The incoming class for the University Scholars Program includes:

Cynthia Aguilar-Orellana of Green Forest; Larry Davis of Central City; London Slott of Lavaca; and Emily Thomas of Fayetteville.

Founded in 1907, the University of Central Arkansas has more than 160 academic programs and certificates offered in Conway.

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Missouri State

Each semester, students at Missouri State University who attain academic excellence are named to the Dean’s List. For undergraduate students, criteria include enrollment in at least 12 credit hours during the spring semester and at least a 3.50 GPA (on a 4.00 scale).

More than 4,700 students were named to the spring 2023 Dean’s List, including:

Caitlin Berg of Little Flock; Molly Del Rossi of Bella Vista; Tara Doepke of Pea Ridge; Kendall Faust of Bentonville; Jayna Glynn of Bentonville; Sydney Gonzales of Rogers; Chandler Harris of Rogers; Kaitlyn Johns of Centerton; Emma Letson of Bentonville; Samantha McCoin of Bella Vista; Virginia McCorkle of Bella Vista; Katelyn Palmer of Bentonville.

Emilye Pool of Lowell; Emma Russell of Gravette; Natalie Sayre of Bentonville; Brittany Secrest of Bentonville; Lydia Thomas of Bentonville; Amanda Winters of Bentonville; Zachary Coffey of Bella Vista; Kenzie Derryberry of Bentonville; Vaida Gieselman of Bella Vista; Vivian Gieselman of Bella Vista; Crissy Hessman of Centerton.

Abby Pittman of Bentonville; Luke Stamps of Bentonville; Emilie Barber of Harrison; Kamryn Boren of Harrison; Lanette den Hollander of Harrison; Helen Everts of Harrison; Roberta Fuchs of Harrison; Kaleb Pratt of Harrison; Bernice Rubio of Harrison; Ashley Walker of Harrison; Brooke Stith of Harrison; Emma Souden of Oak Grove.

Francesca Rossi of Fort Smith; Trey Davis of Springdale; Mary Houston of Fayetteville; Daisy McDonald of Springdale; J Torres of Springdale; Hunter Wood of Springdale; Willa Rutherford of Prairie Grove; Jessi Baldwin of Bella Vista; and Maci Bartholomew of Centerton.

Missouri State University is a public, comprehensive university system located in Springfield, Mo., with a mission in public affairs.

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Central Methodist

Central Methodist University announced recently the students included on the spring 2023 Dean’s List.

Almost 900 students across all campuses and online learning met the requirements for placement, including a grade point average of 3.50 or higher for the semester.

The following local students were among those who earned recognition by the university:

Bailey Martin Proctor of Fort Smith;

Stephanie Jasmine Rodriguez of Subiaco;

Cooper Tillman of Garfield; and

Samual Reed Tillman of Garfield.

Since its founding in 1854, CMU, located in Fayette, Mo., has evolved into a university that confers master’s, bachelor’s and associate’s degrees through programming on its main campus and through extension sites and online.

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School of Engineering

Reza Usmani of Fort Smith was named to the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Dean’s List for the 2023 spring quarter. Usmani is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in computer engineering.

Undergraduate students who have earned at least 30 credits and have a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher (out of 4.0) are on the Dean’s List at MSOE, located in Milwaukee.

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University of Dallas

Zach Reding of Omaha, Ark., graduated from the University of Dallas in May. Reding earned a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Constantin College at UD’s spring 2023 commencement ceremony.

The University of Dallas is a nationally recognized Catholic liberal arts university with campuses in Irving, Texas, and Rome, Italy.

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Georgia State

Emory Brewer of Greenwood was named to the spring 2023 Dean’s List at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

To be eligible for the Dean’s List, degree-seeking students must have earned a GPA of at least 3.5 for a minimum of nine semester hours of academic credit taken at Georgia State during the fall or spring term with no incompletes for the semester.

Eligible students must have a minimum GPA of 2.0 for all classes taken at Georgia State.

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Originally Appeared Here

COLUMBIA — The COMO Safe Water Coalition is calling for more protection and transparency of the city’s infrastructure. The coalition claims it took the city over six hours to notify southwest Columbia residents of a main break and boil advisory in the area.

A boil advisory was issued for southwestern subdivisions early Tuesday morning after a main break occurred at the roundabout located on Vawter School Road and Scott Boulevard Monday night.

Residents emailed KOMU 8 between midnight and 1 a.m. Tuesday to share news about the break and express their frustration with the city.

“After numerous attempts to use the 24-hour reporting service, I finally got someone to answer,” one resident said. “The only explanation I received was that it was an ‘area wide issue’ and they were not sure what was causing it. The outage map showed zero incidents.”

Another resident said, “the outage map shows nothing, but there are 30 to 60 streets reporting [no water] right now.” 

Neighborhoods affected include Thornbrook, Wyndham, Creek’s Edge, Bradbury Estates and parts of Copperstone.  

Brandon Renaud, the Columbia Utility Services manager, said this specific main break and other recent ones are a result of changes in the soil.

“Recently it’s been very hot and very dry, causing the soil to shrink and possibly pull away from those water pipes,” he said. “When we see a lot of rain that like we saw this last weekend, the soil shifts and it changes, causing the lining of the pipes to shift just so slightly and that can cause the pipes to actually break, causing a water main break.”

Despite the city fixing the break Tuesday morning, some residents in the area aren’t just upset about the boil advisory, but the city’s delayed response to the situation. 

According to Julie Ryan, a Thornbrook resident and co-founder of the COMO Safe Water Coalition, even though the break was reported around midnight Tuesday, the city did not send out an alert until early Tuesday morning.

“The text message I got from the alert system was about 6:40 a.m. this morning,” Ryan said. “The problem is that there should have been notification that went out alongside that, when the outage occurred, to make sure people understood that there was a boil advisory in place because of that outage.”

Ryan said the importance of notifying people is not to prepare for the loss of water but also for possible infections.

“Any time that we lose pressure that we have something like this, there is the potential that contamination can occur,” Ryan said. “There are medically fragile individuals in the community, some people that I would be most concerned about.”

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Renaud said the city is working on preventing future breaks.

“We have water infrastructure projects that we’re always working on,” Renaud said. “We always keep track of the age of our pipes.”

Ryan said she has been dealing with boil advisories in her neighborhood since 2016. She claims the city is “neglecting the real solution to the issue,” which she believes is building a new water tower for the southwest area and creating a comprehensive irrigation plan. 

“Not just here in the southwest part of town, but all over Columbia,” Ryan said. “… We don’t do a good job as a city of making sure that there’s great irrigation plans in place.” 

Ryan said voters approved the construction of a water tower in 2018.

Regarding the delay of notification, Renaud said the city’s first priority is fixing the problem.

“Restoring that water supply and ensuring we do so in a safe and healthy manner is our number one priority,” he said.

Renaud said he understands residents’ frustrations and said it’s not any easier for the city either.

“We try to keep open lines of communication with those customers,” Renaud said. “We try to make ourselves readily available.”

The city said anyone living in the affected areas should:

1. Boil water for three minutes prior to using it for cooking or drinking.
2. Do not consume ice from an automatic ice maker. Remake ice with water that has been boiled for three minutes.
3. Disinfect affected dishes and food contact surfaces by immersing for one minute in clean tap water that contains one teaspoon of unscented bleach per gallon of water.

The city said the water pressure for the affected area has returned to normal levels, but the boil water advisory will not expire until 2 p.m. June 21.

Originally Appeared Here

COLUMBIA − Community members celebrated Juneteenth throughout Columbia over the weekend and on Monday. Although many events saw solid turnouts, residents believe the city’s celebrations could continue to grow.  

The city of Columbia hosted a variety of events to celebrate Juneteenth, including the Village of Columbia’s fourth annual celebration at Cosmo Park. Residents enjoyed everything from food to drinks, to dancing and artwork at the park.

Raymond Gray, one of the Village’s founding members, said there were about 30 vendors for attendees to visit. He said there was something for everyone to enjoy. 

“Literally whatever you like, you can find it here,” Gray said. 

The celebration ran from noon to 6 p.m., which Gray claimed was longer than last year’s event. He said being able to celebrate the holiday is incredibly important for the community.

“To be able to openly celebrate something that represents us after adopting many other cultures, that’s a beautiful thing to be able to bask in your own culture and celebrate your own heritage,” Gray said. 

Those at the event also agreed that celebrating Juneteenth is vital. According to D’Markus Thomas-Drown, who attended this year’s celebration at Cosmo Park, the day gives a chance for everyone in the community can rally around.

“It’s not just a holiday for the Black community to celebrate, it’s a holiday for all of us to celebrate,” Thomas-Drown said. 

Thomas-Drown said he felt supported by the community who was there. This included Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, who gave the event’s closing speech Monday night. 

Great turnout this weekend for #Juneteenth in Columbia. Just read my Proclamation for Juneteenth Celebration Day at Cosmo Park. Thank you to all the many organizations that came together and the people who showed up for our beloved community. #LoveWhereYouLive #ServeWhereYouLove pic.twitter.com/Rewmo55f24

— Mayor Barbara Buffaloe (@BarbaraBuffaloe) June 19, 2023

However, others at the event claimed they would have liked to see support from all groups in the community. Brandi Ann Harris, who owns Culture Salon Suits and had a booth at the event, said she wished there was more diversity. 

“It’s quite a bit [of support] from our neighborhoods and stuff like that, but I don’t see a lot of diversity,” Harris said. 

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She said Monday felt like any other day in Columbia. 

“I just felt like it was a little dry today,” Harris said. “I couldn’t even recognize when I was going downtown to the salon, any vibe of June 19.”

For one event-goer and his wife, Femi and Juliette Ogungbabe, the day provides an opportunity for everyone to come together. 

“Let’s put the past in the past and just celebrate,” Juliette Ogungbabe said. “Just cooperate with each other—not just Black, but white, everybody−all color, all race, all genders.”

According to some at the event, although they have seen more people begin to celebrate Juneteenth, there is still room for the holiday to grow. The celebration is relatively new, as President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth a national holiday in 2021. 

In order to continue to grow Juneteenth celebrations in Columbia in the years to come, Gray believes all businesses should give their employees the day off. 

“We should be allowed to celebrate openly just the same way we do any other holiday,” Gray said. “It just makes it appear that this holiday doesn’t seem as important.” 

Additionally, Gray said for the Village’s event specifically to grow, funding is a significant factor. Currently the group pays for the celebration entirely on its own. 

“If we had a positive funding, we could do a lot more,” Gray said. “We could provide a lot more for the people if we had that proper funding.”

Others in the community pointed out the importance of marketing Juneteenth events to residents. They claimed spreading the word around Columbia could increase participation. 

“Creating awareness and letting people know the importance, the significance of it,” Femi Ogungbabe said. “Have people know that this event is for everyone.”

Originally Appeared Here

To borrow and bend an old Rod Stewart line, every tattoo tells a story, doesn’t it?

Some tattoos pay tribute to a lost friend or a fleeting moment’s beauty; others testify to resiliency through trials. Of course, others still tell tales of youthful impulse. But whatever image they bear, however well they wear, they say something about who we were and who we’ve become since.

It’s the same with public art. A sculpture or mural articulates something about the surrounding community: who it was, what they valued at the moment of its conception. Public artwork also, inherently, offers itself to the years, to be loved and hated and interpreted as time passes.

Adrienne Luther keeps these realities in mind while making art in and for the Columbia community. A muralist, illustrator and designer, Luther acknowledges the resemblance between images impressed upon a body and those she paints across brick, mortar and glass.

“It does feel like I’m tattooing the community,” Luther said.

Every artist who calls Columbia home leaves their mark. Some marks and mark-makers are just more visible. Consider David Spear, whose paintings live in civic spaces, schools and iconic restaurants. Or Lisa Bartlett, whose art is entwined with the local music scene.

With every piece, and the accompanying first chapter of its narrative, Luther inches toward their company. Her work is unmistakable in the Arcade District at the north edge of downtown, recognizable at Tropical Liqueurs on Broadway, and dresses up the new Wendy’s near the University of Missouri campus. Her designs also walk through the community on T-shirts for Goldie’s Bagels and Missouri River Relief.

As she collects opportunities to leave community tattoos, Luther owns a desire to ensure her work is thoughtful and keeps pace with the stories of her neighbors.

Lessons Luther learns with each job

Pace is an important word to Luther at this point in her career. Keep up with the artist on social media, or on the streets of mid-Missouri, and it seems she’s always working.

She carries lessons from one job to the next: about managing her time, about how her materials — and her own body — will react to drizzling rain, serious heat, another one more hour in the day. Luther creates a relationship with each window, each wall and needs to know how it will respond to circumstances beyond either of their control, she said.

Luther prefers to begin her day at Cafe Berlin, where she applies her strategic communication degree in marketing efforts and booking evening events. Devoting energy to a collective endeavor and clear purpose feels grounding, Luther said, and renews her creative energy.

Cafe Berlin is a community hub — for meals, for music, for makers’ markets — and the implications of in-person community is an increasing focus of Luther’s, from concept to completion. 21st-century artists need to be online, to foster a digital reach. And Luther has, with more than 4,000 followers on Instagram and another 1,500 or so on Facebook.

What’s key, she says, is ensuring the work she does on street corners and scaffolds, moving in and around other people, informs her digital presence and not the other way around.

Keeping communities in mind

Luther moves community to the front of her mind, whether creating for Columbia or another locale, whether collaborating with a small business or a larger corporate entity. Working across those lines is something she’s doing more and more.

Completing projects for corporate clients is surprisingly hassle-free, Luther said. They typically have the creative process down to a science and, working at the scale of big business, aren’t terribly interested in micro-managing one Midwestern artist, allowing her relative freedom.

She has created regionally specific murals for Walmart stores in locations such as Fort Worth, Texas; Slidell, Louisiana; and Lansing, Illinois. Creating a similar piece for a Leavenworth, Kansas store, Luther paused to align her ethics with the true story of a community best known for military installations and prisons. Ultimately, her design leaned into real themes of optimism and progress present in the area, she said.

Luther wants to ask similar questions and apply the same deliberation to her mid-Missouri projects. She knows public art opens the door to criticism — sometimes, rightly so. Murals can become means of gentrification, she said; they’re also read differently by different segments of the population.

“I’ve had to do a lot of critical thinking about where my place is, and where we can bring public art into a space that also is not stepping on any toes — I just don’t want to be ignorant about some of the context,” she said.

These concerns ultimately guide her to a deeper knowledge of the community, Luther added.

The artist went deep this spring when asked to complete a mural inside Rock Bridge High School’s media center. The daughter of educators, she places a high value on the work done in schools.

Luther primarily collaborated with Rock Bridge librarians who, true to form, assigned her homework, sending her away from meetings with reference materials — including yearbooks from across the past 50 years.

“Every meeting felt fulfilling,” Luther said.

Her design emphasized aspects and activities which make the high school experience “fulfilling,” she said. Sports and science classes, music and photography are represented; but so are the school’s therapy dog, the area’s flora and natural landmarks. Students can’t see out from the library windows, so the mural allows them chances to at least ponder nature, Luther said.

The act of painting took her back to the best of high school. Creating during spring break, Luther worked with audiobooks between her ears, especially those by authors such as John Green — the very narratives she absorbed while in high school.

“It felt like a release … it felt emotionally driven for me,” she recalled. “It felt like I had just run a marathon or something. I had a high afterwards.”

Looking forward, Luther continues to seek converging opportunities: to paint for the community and also integrate what matters most to her in a given moment, whether that’s family or caretaking, spirituality or other means of human connection.

Looking around, she inevitably spies her own work in Columbia and, like running your eyes over a tattoo, is learning to move past self-criticism and second-guessing. She will recall why she was drawn to a certain color at a certain time, will see how she was evolving as a young woman during a specific project, she said.

“I feel like I’m growing with the community,” Luther said. “Each piece, for me, it’s personal because I remember where I was at when I was painting something. It’s represented in the work.”

Encountering her own work grants those all-too-rare moments of reflection we all need, and Luther hopes they provoke similar moments for others.

See more of Luther’s work at https://www.adrienneluther.com/.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731.

Originally Appeared Here

JEFFERSON CITY — A bill to freeze taxes for seniors in Missouri would cost counties millions if it went into effect, according to an analysis released this week by the state Legislature’s research division.

In May, the Legislature approved a plan to stop property tax increases for eligible seniors. Counties would have the option to adopt the measure if Gov. Mike Parson signs it into law, but they would face losing millions of dollars in tax revenue depending on the number of senior homeowners.

Under the Legislature’s proposal, a senior could get the tax break if they are eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, own a home and are required to make tax payments on that home. A county can put it in place with an ordinance or by voter approval.

The analysis by the Committee on Legislative Research’s Oversight Division includes information from more than 70 counties on how the plan would impact them.

St. Charles County officials estimate the revenue losses would amount to more than $78 million over five years, according to the analysis. The county estimates losses would go up annually, and it could cost the county as much as $155,000 for new software and personnel to implement the program.

County officials also believe the bill violates the Hancock Amendment in the Missouri Constitution. The amendment prohibits the state from requiring local governments to “begin a new mandated activity” unless the General Assembly covers the cost, according to the analysis.

The Hancock Amendment allows local governments to replace missing funds by increasing the tax rate. But under SB 190, counties would have to report the tax credit as revenue collected — meaning they couldn’t roll up their tax levies to make up for the lost revenue, according to the analysis.

Officials in Jefferson County estimate the bill would have cost them $4.2 million were it in place over the past five years.

St. Louis County Councilman Mark Harder, a Republican from Ballwin, introduced a bill in May that would put the plan in place in St. Louis County. He says it’s an obvious way to keep seniors in their homes.

But the county estimated if the plan had been in place for the last four years, it would have missed out on nearly $34 million in revenue, according to a memo from county leaders. The county estimates it could cost $125,000 a year on new personnel, too.

Opponents of the bill also question whether full-time teachers would be eligible for the tax credit because they aren’t entitled to Social Security coverage in Missouri. Railroad workers are also exempt from Social Security benefits.

The state researchers couldn’t estimate how many counties might put the plan in place. The cost for each county differs depending on how many seniors live there. In St. Louis, for instance, 10% of homeowners are over 65, according to the analysis. But in Morgan County, in central Missouri, 44% of homeowners are.

As of 2021, the median home price in Missouri was $163,600 with average real estate taxes paid totaling about $1,600.

Seniors in Missouri paid roughly $874 million in property taxes that year.

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The measure could prevent pay raises for teachers and present a logistical nightmare for counties wanting to implement it, the associations said.

St. Louis County seniors favor a bill that would freeze their property taxes, but county revenue experts say it would reduce funding for education and other public services by millions.

The bill, sent to the governor, would freeze property taxes and also exempts all Social Security benefits from the state’s income tax. 

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Originally Appeared Here

During June, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) awarded millions of dollars in grants to cities throughout the state.

Braymer and Branson West

On June 7, DNR gave two cities a combined $67,500 from the Drinking Water Engineering Report Grant. Braymer, in northwest Missouri, received $37,500, and Branson West, in southwest Missouri, received $30,000.

This money will be used by the cities to evaluate their drinking water systems for improvements that may need to be made in order to ensure reliable service to residents and quality drinking water. The grant also covers the engineering costs these improvements may require.

“One of our priorities is helping Missouri communities maintain and improve their water and wastewater treatment systems,” Dru Buntin, director of the Department of Natural Resources, said. “One way we do that is by offering a variety of financial assistance programs through which qualified communities can improve key infrastructure and experience real economic benefits.”

Clark

On June 8, DNR gave the city of Clark, in mid-Missouri’s Randolph County, $50,000 from the Clean Water Engineering Report Grant.

This money will be used by the city to evaluate its wastewater system and to cover engineering costs to evaluate water and wastewater system improvements. The improvements must meet permit requirements, as well as continue reliable service to residents and reduce the stormwater drainage into sewer collection pipes.

This plan should be done in November 2024.

“Infrastructure such as wastewater systems are crucial to every community,” Buntin said. “Through this grant, we can help cities like Clark identify the changes needed to maintain and improve their wastewater systems, which in turn will help protect public and environmental health and support the local economy.”

Harrisonville

On June 12, western Missouri city, Harrisonville, received almost $2 million from DNR as part of the Multipurpose Water Resources Fund, which supports projects that aren’t feasible for communities to afford by themselves.

The $1.98 million donation will allow for critical repairs to be made to the main spillway of the city’s drinking water reservoir, which will in turn protect public health and the environment while helping local economies, DNR said.

Over the course of routine safety inspections, DNR Dam and Reservoir Safety Program engineers discovered there was a deteriorating metal pipe in the dam’s main spillway.

“Cheaper options to replace the pipe would require draining the reservoir,” Ryan Stack, chief engineer of the Dam and Reservoir Safety Program, said. “Because this is Harrisonville’s sole source of drinking water, that wasn’t really an option. More expensive options were beyond the city’s capability. This was a great fit for the Multipurpose Water Resources Fund.”

A portion of the funds will be given back to DNR over time to ensure support for projects in other communities.

Hale

On June 13, northern Missouri city, Hale, received $50,000 from DNR as part of the Clean Water Engineering Report Grant, which will go toward evaluating the city’s wastewater system.

Similar to Clark, this money will be used by the city to evaluate its wastewater system and to cover engineering costs to evaluate water and wastewater system improvements. The improvements must meet permit requirements, as well as continue reliable service to residents and reduce the stormwater drainage into sewer collection pipes.

This plan should also be done in November 2024.

“This grant helps Missouri communities of all sizes pay for thorough wastewater treatment system evaluations that they might not have been able to undertake otherwise,” Buntin said. “We are here to help Missouri communities identify, plan and fund infrastructure improvements that ultimately will help protect public and environmental health and provide local economic benefits as well.”

DNR is using these donations to help Missouri communities with water and wastewater infrastructure improvement projects, DNR said. Using its Financial Assistance Center, the department gives chances for funding to communities that qualify for water quality, wastewater and drinking water infrastructure needs.

This project funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Originally Appeared Here

COLUMBIA − Shangri-La Dispensaries employees in south Columbia voted in favor of unionizing on Wednesday. 

An election was held at the Family Life Center in Columbia. Votes came in favor by a count of six to five, but there are more than a dozen that could be challenged. 

Sean Shannon, the cannabis organizing coordinator for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655, said only employees at the Shangri-La Peachtree location were eligible to vote.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) helped host the election and will hold meetings in the next few weeks to resolve the challenged votes.

Shannon said Wednesday’s vote marked the first part of a two-step election process for Shangri-La. 

“This is an authorization vote, so they’re voting to allow UFCW Local 655 to negotiate on their behalf,” Shannon said.

UFCW Local 655 will hold a second vote sometime in the future, which will determine specific contract negotiations workers hope to achieve with Shangri-La. 

“Only when they [Shangri-La employees] vote yes on a contract, with the majority of the workers voting yes, will they actually become official union partner,” Shannon said. 

Shannon claimed one of the biggest things employees hope to get out of these negotiations is higher wages. Additionally, he said workers are also looking for job security.

“These are people that really care about their jobs, they love helping people and this allows them to ‘Hey if I come in and do my job and I don’t do anything wrong, I can keep my job,'” Shannon said. 

One current Shangri-La employee, Evan Croy, said he voted in favor of unionizing on Wednesday.

“It seems like there’s been a lack of respect in the workplace from our managers and higher-ups,” Croy said. “I see this as a way to finally get that respect that we’ve been missing out on.”

Shannon believes the union will provide an environment that can help workers meet these needs and feel supported. 

“It really creates an atmosphere where people can really stand up for themselves, protect themselves and protect each other,” Shannon said. 

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Croy added he believes the group can help employees express concerns with Shangri-La’s working conditions, as well as gain a sense of job security. Shannon said realistically, contract negotiations could take awhile. He said UFCW Local 655 is open to working with Shangri-La. 

“We hope that the company, after the vote is done, they realize that the workers did stick through this,” Shannon said. “Maybe they’ll come to the table, show some good faith and just negotiate.”

Shannon said at the end of the day, these negotiations are all about the workers and what they want out of their contracts. He said UFCW Local 655 is prepared to support for Shangri-La employees. 

“If they want to keep fighting, we’re gonna be there, and the workers aren’t going anywhere either,” he said.

The election comes after employees picketed outside the south Columbia store in May in a “unfair labor practice” strike. Those involved said Shangri-La initially denied employee’s rights to collectively bargain. Employees said they filed for union election on Tuesday, April 4, and didn’t have any date set as of May 16. 

Additionally, some claimed several workers were suspended without pay or were terminated under “suspicious circumstances.”

Shangri-La owner Nevil Patel denied this at the time and said the company had been working with the NLRB to conduct a normal union vote, according to previous KOMU 8 reporting.

Shangri-La responded to this in May and filed two unfair labor practice lawsuits against UFCW Local 655. The lawsuits alleged the union failed to notify the “health care facility” about a picketing at least 10 days in advance, and that it “refused to bargain in good faith.”

According to Shannon, the NLRB has since ruled that Shangri-La failed to show any proof that it was a health care facility. He said the company has dropped the lawsuits against UFCW Local 655. 

KOMU 8 reached out to the Shangri-La Wednesday but never heard back from the company.

Moving forward, Shannon believes this more and more dispensaries across the state will continue to unionize. He said the organization has seen a recent uptick in dispensaries looking to join UFCW Local 655. 

“Since Shangri-La filed, we’ve seen two dispensaries closer to St. Louis both since file for their union elections,” Shannon said. 

Shannon added he’s personally working on six to seven other campaigns with cannabis workers in the state.

Originally Appeared Here

June 13, 2023

To celebrate our 2023 Fellowship recipients, we will be spotlighting each of our winners in news stories on the AIA website. We have reached out to our winners to learn about their projects and about their experiences in archaeology. We’re excited for you to meet Stephen Czujko, the Harriet and Leon Pomerance Fellowship winner for this year.   

Harriet and Leon Pomerance Fellowship winner: Stephen Czujko (he/him); The University of Missouri-Columbia

What is your fellowship project about? 

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Classics, Archaeology, and Religion, University of Missouri-Columbia. My dissertation project, “Aegean pottery in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean: a new technological look at its reception and imitation”, will examine the movement of Aegean pottery through the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean. Using a suite of scientific methods suited to mineralogical, chemical, and microstructural analysis of pottery, this project looks to identify varied technological signatures and link these to artisans of different cultural and geographic backgrounds. In so doing, it aims to contribute to our understanding of how Aegean craft s and craftspeople participated in different zones of interaction in the Eastern Mediterranean during the terminal phase of the Late Bronze Age (13th-12th c. BCE). This focus of this project is two key zones of interaction: Eastern Cyprus and the Sharon Plain and Upper Jordan Valley. Assemblages from the sites of Enkomi and Beth Shean have been chosen for study to represent these zones of interaction, respectively. The fellowship funding provided by this fellowship will support my study of selected materials from Enkomi that are presently in the Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm, Sweden.

How did you get your start in archaeology? 

At my undergraduate institution, Denison University, I had an absolutely fantastic mentor, Dr. Rebecca Kennedy, who first inspired me to pursue Classics as a field of study. Throughout my time there, she was very encouraging and supportive. Seeing my growing interest in the field, she helped me to find opportunities to both study abroad and also explore archaeological fieldwork. I jumped at chances to do both. I studied abroad in Greece as part of the (then) Arcadia University Athens Center and, shortly after returning from a semester there, went on my first excavation in Romania. By the end of that first season I was convinced it was what I wanted to do for a career. Both experiences led me to try a second excavation in Israel before then applying to the University of Arizona’s MA program. Through that program I was able to participate in the school’s project in Greece (at Mt. Lykaion) and I have been happily pursuing a degree and career ever since.

Where in the world has archaeology brought you (fieldwork, research, conference travel, etc.)?

I have had the good fortune to get to travel and work in a few countries. I mentioned Romania, Israel, and Greece. But, archaeology has also brought me to some unexpected places closer to home. Before starting my PhD program, and before I had a set dissertation topic, a number of archaeologist friends of mine suggested that once I got settled in Missouri I should reach out to some colleagues of theirs at the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR), who were working in the Archaeometry Laboratory there. I did and was given a tour of the facilities the week before my first term of classes started. I did not know it at the time, but that brief tour would spawn a five-plus year-long adventure in archaeological science. Starting out in archaeology, I would not have guessed so much of my time and research would wind up being dedicated to working in a nuclear facility, and in a clean lab studying isotopic systems.

What is one of the most memorable things that has happened to you in the field? 

My time working at the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project in Arcadia, Greece has included many memorable moments. But, I do think back often to one particular summer (2017) when seemingly every day for a month our team, which was working with the site’s mountaintop ash altar, was treated to these fast-moving, low-lying clouds that would completely envelop us and our trenches. Each morning we would get to site, walk up the altar from the upper sanctuary’s temenos, get our gear stowed, be just in time to see clouds glide over the mountain’s north peak and then rush straight towards us on the south peak. You would be surrounded by thick fog and mist, as the clouds literally passed over you. By mid-morning they would leave and you were treated to exceptionally clear views of most of the Peloponnese (Mt. Erymanthos in the north and Mt. Taygetos in the south). On the clearest of days you could see Zakynthos in the very far distance. And I loved that.

How has the AIA contributed to your success/professional goals? 

The AIA has been a big part of my career development for a long time now. My first introduction to the AIA was through interesting talks hosted by the Tucson chapter during my MA. Since then, I have been involved as a (poster) presenter at the annual meeting and an officer for my local (mid-Missouri) chapter. The latter in particular was a great opportunity that allowed me to connect with visiting scholars and also learn from people who work at the AIA. Most recently, I have had the immense privilege of receiving the 2023 Harriet and Leon Pomerance Fellowship. This is allowing me to pursue my dream dissertation project and is opening doors that I otherwise would not be able to.

Is there anything else you want to share with us?

I would just like to express my profound thanks to the AIA for all that they do to support students like me.

Learn more about what Fellowship opportunities are available through the AIA or reach out to our Programs and Professional Services Coordinator, Kati Albert at kalbert@archaeological.org. 

Originally Appeared Here

For the first few weeks of 2023, HBO’s The Last of Us suggested that a brain-eating fungus could cause societal collapse. In real life, mushrooms cannot turn people into zombies. To the contrary, they can provide a helpful service.

Golden oyster mushrooms wait to be harvested from a brick of enriched sawdust on Feb. 8 in Fulton, Mo. Along with selling the mushrooms, Matt Arthur, owner of Booneslick Heritage Farm, creates mushroom compost out of the leftover substrate blocks and uses it to improve soil health at the farm, where he grows a variety of vegetables and flowers.

At Booneslick Heritage Farm, mushrooms are an integral part of the agriculture system. The family-owned flower and vegetable farm in Mid-Missouri uses several regenerative agriculture practices to improve overall soil health and reduce fertilizer use.

Matt Arthur co-owns the farm with his wife Laura Hudson. Booneslick Heritage flowers, mushrooms and vegetables can be found at the Columbia Farmers Market and grocery stores and are available for local delivery. The vegetable and flower operation sits on top of rolling hills in Rocheport, a few miles west of Columbia. The plots include many varieties of perennial and annual flowers, as well as a handful of vegetables. About 30 miles away in Fulton, the couple operates a mushroom-growing facility out of converted shipping containers.

The mushroom operation is key to the whole farm. Once Arthur has harvested and sold the mushrooms, he cycles the remains back into the farm to enrich the soil. The sawdust blocks that grow the mushrooms even get turned into compost once they’re no longer productive for growing.

“We also take the trimmings of the mushrooms, the parts we don’t sell, and feed them to composting worms,” Arthur said.

The worms eat the trimmings and poop out a form of natural fertilizer called worm castings. Arthur uses the castings as a seed starting mix. He says the process helps germination rates in seedlings.

Arthur grew up on a farm and learned from his parents the benefit of minimizing synthetic additive use.

“We always heard about no-till and soil health growing up,” Arthur said. “They always focused on minimizing soil disturbance or being very selective about what sprays they do use and why.”

Arthur applies an organic fertilizer called Dyna Green Nutri-Blend made from a mixture of feather meal, soft rock phosphate, calcium carbonate, alfalfa meal, diatomaceous earth and sulfate potash. While the organic fertilizer aids in plant fertility, he said that he is certain he uses it at a lower rate because of his no-till practices and soil amendments that add carbon to the soil.

“You’re not seeing this boom-and-bust effect of plant fertility because you’re not burning through your carbon stock,” Arthur said.

By practicing these intensive regenerative methods, Arthur hopes to build the health of his plants and soil year by year.

In a video made for the Columbia Farmers Market, Arthur emphasizes the importance of soil health. “Our feeling is, if you’re bringing material from off-farm onto the farm for your operations, it’s not sustainable,” Arthur says in the video. “Overall, we’re just committed to doing as little disturbance of the land as possible.”

This story is part of The Price of Plenty, a special project investigating fertilizer from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications and the University of Missouri School of Journalism, supported by the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative.

Originally Appeared Here

Go big or go home.

The catchphrase, which came to prominence in the 1990s, has come to define the performance and success of a Mid-Missouri college that has a simple and unique mission: equipping and training the workforce of tomorrow.

At the root of the phrase is the understanding that one makes an all-out effort or none at all.

With Missouri State Technical College, it’s an all-out effort that has seen the footprint of the campus more than double and its enrollment numbers continue to climb.

And the Linn-based campus has no intention of letting off the gas.

“We are definitely not slowing down whatsoever,” said Shawn Strong, president of the two-year technical college. “I do appreciate the campus community — rather than say we can’t handle any more change — kind of understanding that these are generational opportunities, and you have to take advantage of them.”

His comments were made at the semi-annual meeting of the college’s Board of Regents where plans for the next generation were laid out.

Among those changes are plans to launch a new associate degree program in agriculture operations and to acquire more than 300 acres of future farmland for the program, which is expected to launch in the fall of 2024.

Using funds from state Agriculture Innovation grants, State Tech has bought five properties. Two are contiguous with the main campus; another is about a mile away. Future plans may include construction of an agriculture building on campus.

“Like always, we go big or go home,” Strong told the regents in laying out the vision for the program. “We’re definitely going big in ag education.”

But the agricultural operations program is just one piece of the puzzle State Tech is piecing together.

Other pieces include:

Development of a “safety village,” which will house underground utilities and working HVAC systems for training students.

Renovations at the nearby golf course, which is bringing a 31,000-square-foot, $12 million event and entertainment center to Linn.

The second phase of the campus Utility Center, which will help the college scale up some of its technical programs.

Planned renovations of the Nilges Technology Center, which will get 30,000 square feet of expanded lab space.

These sort of pieces contribute to a pattern of identifying the needs of employers and then attracting students who will become that future workforce.

State Tech created a facility management program that will launch this fall and all but one of its seats are full, administrators said Tuesday. They created the program because employers identified the need for workers with skills to manage facilities.

Efforts like these have resulted in enrollment to increase 75 percent from seven years ago and 50 percent from five years ago.

“There’s no college in the state that comes remotely close to just the incredible growth that we’ve seen, and we’ll set another enrollment record this upcoming fall,” Strong said.

With these new programs and student opportunities on the horizon, there’s no reason to believe that State Tech will falter in its upward trend.

Go big, State Tech. Go big.

— News Tribune

Originally Appeared Here