Columbia News

What do you get when you roll together a little rock and roll, some bluegrass, a tinge of jazz and maybe a smidgen of polka?

Music at Metter, that's what.

Luhr Brothers Inc. of Columbia has been awarded a $7 million contract by the U.S. Army, according to U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville.

Millions of U.S. homeowners could be forced to buy flood insurance policies, which can top $2,000 a year for an average home, as a result of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's efforts to redraw flood maps for most of the nation.

Maverick Technologies announced Wednesday that it has accepted its first two Ranken Technical College graduates into its Project Support Center recruiting partnership program.

Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards recently completed the FBI National Academy program in Quantico, Virginia.

As flooding threatens part of the Midwest, only one area road has been closed as the result of high water and rural Monroe County is otherwise in good shape.

Columbians, push the warning signal. There is no time to sit and wait for an event that happens once every 150 years.

So gather all those photographs and memories because the Celebration 2009 Committee is putting together a book.

Everybody knows the economy is bad, including, of course, the City of Columbia.

The ink hasn't even begun to dry on the fiscal year 2008-09 budget yet and problems already have surfaced.

The county was declared a disaster area Friday by the Monroe County Emergency Management Agency, joining Randolph and St.Clair counties as a preemptive strike due to flood conditions along the Mississippi River.

As a resident of Tacoma, Wash., during the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, Paul Ellis knows a thing or two about surviving a disaster.

So when he stepped into the politically charged environment of Columbia as the city's new Economic Development Coordinator earlier this year, Ellis was prepared.

In August, a 77-room Hampton Inn is scheduled to open at the Admiral Trost Center, according to Terry Johnson, a partner in Columbia Hospitality LLC (which owns the new hotel) and owner of Johnson Properties. The Hampton Inn will be the first hotel in Columbia, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.

When Generation X started the drive for recycling in the 1980's, there was no way they could have envisioned how far this simple dream would come.

America has become green, worrying about never before spoken terms like "carbon footprint" and "cap and trade" emissions.

The fever has even swept into Columbia, where an unanticipated throng of citizens stormed Recycling Day 2008 on June 7.

New maps that have been in the works for months by federal officials show much of the metro-east along the Mississippi River is being designated a flood-hazard area.

Anthony Traxler has announced his resignation as Columbia City Administrator, effective Aug. 6.

For a town as German oriented as Columbia, Monday night was a long time coming. That's when the city council designated this week as "German Heritage Week" to recognize the influence German culture has played on Columbia's formation.

Relative to recent meetings the Columbia City Council has been having, Monday night's session was a breeze.

A network of surveillance cameras watches residents and passersby in this small town, from high in the sky next to the water tower, in parks and schools, and even in some residential neighborhoods.

A St. Louis man was arrested Wednesday after stealing a purse from a vehicle in Columbia and attempting to flee into Missouri.

Already frustrated by cuts made to his department in the latest city budget, Columbia Deputy Police Chief Jerry Paul on Monday night called out one alderman for trying to dictate operations.

“You are the policy makers of the city, but individually you cannot direct police staff,” he said to Alderman Fred Stumpf.