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A Missouri Senate panel had endorsed a new funding source for a program that serves developmentally disabled children.

Columbia’s Environment and Energy Commission is asking the city to increase the percentage of power generated from renewable sources by two percent every year. The goal is to reach 100 percent by the middle of the century.

In 2012, 7.94 percent of electricity in Columbia was generated from renewable sources. The existing standard requires the use of renewable sources reach 10 percent by 2017, and 15 percent by the end of 2022.

For many adults, memories of elementary school include pencil shavings, chalk dust and paper scraps. But memories for students in the Kirksville R-III School District might look a little different.

More than 5,000 diplomas are expected to be handed out this weekend at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Spring graduation ceremonies begin Friday and continue through Sunday. Commencement speakers include U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, who will address the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; and Boone County Circuit Judge Kevin Crane, speaking at the ceremony of the College of Arts and Sciences.

What one word best describes your mom?

In preparation for Mother's Day, the Missourian, KBIA and KOMU asked that question of their audiences. Some people shared just the one word, and some chose to tell us about a moment or situation that explains why they chose it.

Porsha Williams knows a thing or two about walls – metaphorical ones, that is. She’s been up against a lot of them, whether religious, psychological or cultural.

She describes herself as a “raised Christian, converted to Pagan woman.” And that conversion is the source of many of these walls.

Williams has always been intrigued with Kemeticism, an ancient Egyptian form of Paganism. But it wasn’t until about three and a half years ago that she decided to start practicing it.

Edited at 3:30 pm with quotes from Columbia Public Works

Columbia Regional Airport (COU) issued a press released Friday afternoon announcing it had received word that its tower will remain open thanks to new federal funding. As we've reported before, the air control tower serving Columbia Regional Airport was on a list [pdf] of regional towers that the FAA was planning to close.

A Fox news affiliate in Kansas City reported that police were upset about a recent "publicity stunt" at the opening of Iron Man 3 in a movie theater in Jefferson City.  The stunt seemed to involve a person in an Iron Man costume fending off several intruders brandishing fake weapons.

This is the latest installment of Harvest Public Media’s Field Notes, in which reporters talk to newsmakers and experts about important issues related to food production.

The Missouri senate passed legislation Monday that would prevent local municipalities from making laws regarding mediation in home foreclosures.