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As students began to move into MU residence halls and apartments Wednesday, residential assistants — or RAs — expressed concern about their own health and safety, citing university policies and duties they believe would put them at more risk of exposure to COVID-19.

In private meetings with Department of Residential Life supervisors and interviews with the Missourian, RAs criticized what they viewed as expanded duties, including leading campus activities and tours with groups of students, that needlessly put them and others at risk to begin the fall semester.

A proposal by Missouri's Republican governor to give the attorney general the power to prosecute homicides in St. Louis is spurring backlash.

Gov. Mike Parson's Monday directive was widely seen as criticism of St. Louis' first Black prosecutor, Kim Gardner. Parson has said the goal is to help combat a surge in violent crime.

Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King says Republicans are trying to undermine Gardner. Gardner supports greater police accountability and other reforms.

South Columbia is under a precautionary boil advisory after a water main leak caused low water pressure, according to a news release. 

All of Bearfield Road, Bearfield Meadows Subdivision, Rock Quarry Road, Happy Hollow, Gans Road and Providence Road from Rock Bridge Elementary to Rock Bridge Memorial State Park entrance are under the advisory.

The advisory is in effect until 12 p.m. Thursday, according to a news release from Consolidated Water.

Missouri’s top health official insists a statewide mandate for masks and social distancing doesn't make sense, even though the federal government has designated the state a “red zone” for new coronavirus cases.

Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, told KCUR-FM radio for a report published Monday that the designation is cause for concern. He says Missouri is a diverse state and that instead of a statewide mandate he favors a strategy that supports local officials.

Twenty-one people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Boone County’s hospitals Monday, compared to 17 inpatients reported Aug 3.

MU Health Center reported 11 COVID-19 inpatients at 3:30 p.m. Monday, according to the hospital. Boone Hospital Center had nine inpatients who tested positive at 8:30 a.m. Monday, according to the hospital.

Truman Veterans' Hospital had only one COVID-19 inpatient Monday, said Jeffrey Hoelscher, public affairs officer for the hospital.

The Missouri health department says the the state confirmed another 1,027 COVID-19 cases , continuing a trend of nearly 1,000 updated cases every day since last week.

The exception was Sunday, when the state recorded 475 confirmed cases. The state's data was delayed during the weekend as health department officials moved the numbers from an old surveillance system to a new one. As of Monday, Missouri has confirmed 59,954 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The state reported six deaths during the weekend but none on Monday, for a total deaths of 1,307.

Family and friends of Black 18-year-old Michael Brown say his death after being shot by a police officer in Ferguson remains painful six years later.

About 100 people gathered Sunday on the street where Brown was shot by white officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014, sparking months of protests and igniting the Black Lives Matter movement. Cori Bush, a Ferguson activist who upset longtime U.S. Rep. William Clay in last week's Democratic primary, said coming to the site every year doesn't get any easier.

The Columbia Board of Education voted Monday night to delay the start of school to Sept. 8. The board also added the option of an in-person hybrid learning model.

The new calendar now has the year beginning Sept. 8 and ending June 11. Previously, the district was set to begin the school year Aug. 25.

With approval of the in-person hybrid learning model, the district now has three options for the upcoming school year: in-person, online and in-person hybrid.

A northwest Missouri town is debating whether to change its high school's “Savages” mascot name.

The debate has split Savannah. The nearly all-white town has about 5,000 residents and is an hour north of Kansas City. “Savages” has been the mascot since at least 1926 and is emblazoned across the town. Racial inequality protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis prompted people to start a petition to change the mascot. That's led to a counter-petition to keep it.

Nearly 100 community members tuned into a virtual town hall Saturday night to discuss issues surrounding policing in Columbia and propose potential solutions.

“Part of the discussion will focus on how this community moves forward,” co-organizer Rebecca Shaw of CoMo for Progress said. “(This is) following years of advocates asking the city and police for specific changes to their policies to better inform an anti-racist philosophy around community policing and, now, nightly protests of new voices asking for many of the same changes.”

The Boone County Courthouse moved back to operational phase two Friday, increasing courtroom capacity to 25 people.

The courthouse suspended most in-person activities after an employee tested positive for COVID-19 on July 24. According to a news release Friday from the 13th Judicial Circuit Court, no additional cases related to the patient from July have been recorded.

Community members gathered Saturday night at Stephens Lake Park to advocate for a nuclear-free future.

Mid-Missouri Peaceworks organized the event in memory of the lives lost during the atomic bombings that took place in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. This is the 34th consecutive year the event has taken place.

In the past, around 80 people came to the event, Mark Haim, the director of Mid-Missouri Peaceworks said. This year, around 40 people attended.

The city council in Missouri’s largest city has endorsed the idea of painting Black Lives Matter murals on six streets across the city.

The Kansas City Star reports that Kansas City Council members voted 12-1 Thursday in favor of a resolution saying the city “recognizes the importance and significance of the Black Lives Matter movement and desires to commemorate the message through painting street murals." Murals have appeared on streets in other cities to support racial justice in the months since George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

State Rep. Jon Carpenter is the likely winner of a Democratic primary for a Clay County Commission seat after a technical problem initially showed his opponent won the election.