Stories from Thursday, August 25, 2005

By the end of the 2005-'06 school year every teacher of every major subject in every school is supposed to be "highly qualified," but some critics wonder whether President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act will deliver. As the centerpiece of his domestic agenda, the No Child Left Behind Act aims to dramatically improve learning by ensuring that all students have highly qualified teachers...

He's been active throughout his life, and he has no plans to slow down now. He was a member of the Nevada High School basketball team, which in 1950-'51 earned a 25-2 record that stood for more than 40 years. He's been a state representative, lieutenant governor and spent years as senior vice president and general counsel for American General Corporation and a partner in the Morrison Hecker law firm in Kansas City, and much, much more...

Senator Jim Talent met with local judges, prosecutors and law enforcement to discuss a Senate bill Talent co-sponsored with California Senator Diane Feinstein and 10 other senators to deal with the illegal production, distribution and use of methamphetamine...

Crews from the Missouri -- Northern Arkansas Railroad closed the Hickory Street railroad crossing Wednesday morning to replace a 40-foot section of rail that was damaged. At left, a crewman cuts the new rail to the appropriate size while others prepare the crossing bed for it. The crew estimated that the road would be closed a total of about four hours...

Doug and Lara Johnson, Milo, are proud to announce the birth of their son, Landon Joseph Johnson. Landon was born at 9:04 a.m., on Aug. 16, at Cedar County Memorial Hospital in El Dorado Springs. He weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and measured 19.75 inches. ...

Erma P. Cowger, 88, Nevada, died Aug. 24, 2005, at Christian Health Care where she had been a resident the past four years. She was born Nov. 10, 1916, in Butler, to Willie Silvers and Caroline (Vogt) Silvers. She married Earl Cowger, and he preceded her in death in 1994. She worked as one of the original "Harvey" Girls at Fred Harvey Restaurant in Gladstone, Mo. After that she worked for various other restaurants in Gladstone...

We just returned from a trip to Texas to visit family. Texas is where everything is bigger than life. In fact our son told us that if you would flip Texas over that the bottom tip of the state would reach to Canada. He added some other facts about his new home. ...

Oh NCAA, how do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways. 1. Is it the way you continually stick your nose in business that isn't yours? 2. Is it the way you keep a double standard when issuing NCAA sanctions and punishments? 3. Is it the way you continue to re-dress the same old pile of crap known as the BCS, and try to feed it to us as a supposed "national championship" game?...