Janet Saidi

A little more than a week after celebrating with his family and community the opening of Columbia's Battle High, long-time Columbia educator Eliot Battle, has died. Columbia Public Schools spokesperson Michelle Baumstark says Battle died last night, Tuesday, June 11th, from injuries sustained after a car crash Friday. Battle had been hospitalized following the accident.

Members of Columbia College’s presidential search committee say the college has selected the Washington D.C.-based recruiters Academic Search to help find Columbia College's next president – and the committee is aiming to introduce candidates by this Fall.

Regional news coverage from the KBIA newsroom, including: 

• Nixon expects more than 1,000 to rally for Medicaid expansion
• Missouri Department of Revenue director sacked
• Koster has more than $400,000 ready for gubernatorial race

Author Gennifer Albin is a self-described “recovering academic” – she got her Master’s in English from MU in 2006, then she and her husband settled down back near family in Kansas, where she was a stay- at home mom with young children. But after an unexpected lay-off she and her husband found themselves struggling to make ends meet.

Albin’s answer? Write a novel, of course. Albin went from bankruptcy filing, to living the writer’s dream … complete with agents and publishers competing  for her first novel, Crewel.

A third winter storm hit the Columbia area with more than seven inches of snow.  Check this space for updates on closing, weather and road safety.  Follow us  on twitter  and the hashtag #CoMosnow to stay in the loop.

So, you know your Missouri and CoMo history, and you think you know all about “ragtime” musician Blind Boone, yeah? Think again. If you think he was all ragtime, and he was blind, you still might have a lot to learn.

It turns out John William “Blind” Boone was one of the first musical composers to blend European classical styles with folk music. He took African-American and Afro-Caribbean folk styles such as plantation melodies and minstrel tunes, and put them in classical forms, then performed the pieces in concert halls. 

Regional news coverage from the KBIA newsroom, including:

• MU Police identifies person responsible for homicide of Jeong H. Im
• Bill would require gun safety course in 1st grade
• Nixon seeks to expand Mo. child care subsidies

Regional news coverage from the KBIA Newsroom, including:

• Recap: Governor Nixon delivers State of the State address
• Medicare agency drops MU Health investigation

The Missouri Department of Transportation is reporting a slight increase in traffic fatalities for the year 2012 – that’s expected to be about a 3 percent increase from last year.

The Columbia Public School District placed all district schools on what it calls a “modified lockdown” on Tuesday while law enforcement officials were engaged in a vehicle pursuit.