G.J. McCarthy photo

From left, Desiree Long, Hugh Curran and Kevin Gamble join scores of others yesterday in circling the Boone County Courthouse Square during a peace rally.   Related AP Article

Local News Stories
Plan lacks MOHELA restriction
By TERRY GANEY of the Tribune’s staff
The House has passed a state budget that ignores restrictions the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority placed on the sale of its assets.

Late storm sweeps out of Plains
From staff and wire reports
Local road crews are keeping a wary eye on a winter storm system that could turn nasty overnight and drop as much as 7 inches of snow on Central Missouri by tomorrow afternoon.

Break from tradition
By ANNIE NELSON of the Tribune’s staff
A group of Fayette college students broke ranks with the hordes of spring breakers racing to sunny Acapulco and instead traveled to Gulfport, Miss., to spend their break cleaning and restoring homes ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

City traverses ‘digital divide’ with free PCs
By PAMELA MULUMBY of the Tribune’s staff
Oandrea Hayes got her first computer Saturday, and she’s excited about the possibilities that came with it. She can enroll in classes, chat online and help her two children with their homework.

Former teacher says she knows schools the best
By JANESE HEAVIN of the Tribune’s staff
Michelle Gadbois says the decade she spent as a Columbia Public Schools teacher gives her a unique qualification for serving on the district’s Board of Education.

Local man in hospital after Providence wreck
An 18-year-old Columbia man was in critical condition today at University Hospital after a two-vehicle crash early yesterday on South Providence Road.

Two injured as driver rams victim, vehicle
The Boone County Sheriff’s Department is looking for the driver of a four-door Buick that witnesses said struck a 25-year-old man and rammed an occupied parked vehicle early yesterday in the Rock Bridge Estates subdivision.