Good morning, Columbia.

Douglass Park's renovated basketball courts reopened after work that began in February 2025, with two blue-and-gray courts honoring park history (west court: Douglass Bulldogs; east court: Moonlight Hoops, Est.

1989). The city approved the revised design after community feedback and Columbia City Council sign-off.

A giant spooky Halloween display by Stella and Andrew Marcy will draw hundreds today in West Lawn Subdivision, featuring a fog machine, singing skeletons + ever-growing decorations that neighbors stop to admire.

More than two weeks after the Missouri Office of Administration launched the Show Me Your Age ID tool, Columbia cannabis dispensary Shangri La is still evaluating it and other verification platforms because accuracy and consistency matter; the state tool scans license barcodes or birthdays and does not save ID data.

After a $1.6 million funding cut, FACE has reverted to the Boone County Schools Mental Health Coalition, moved services into schools to focus on juvenile justice diversion and therapy, laid off seven to nine staff, and will partner with school resource officers to link students to free community therapists.

MoDOT will close single lanes along Clark Lane starting Tuesday so crews can upgrade sidewalks, curb ramps and pavement from the Interstate 70 and U.S. 63 connector to Woodland Springs Court, and the Creekwood Parkway entrance will also close; those closures should finish in about two weeks and the ADA project is due Dec. 31, weather permitting.

Missouri's cold weather rule starts Nov.

1 and will bar heat-related utility disconnections on days when temperatures are forecast under 32 degrees between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. for 72 hours; it stays in effect through March 31, 2027 (customers 65+ or with disabilities can register for extra help).

Kathy Hanandeh of Clark was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer after a routine mammogram on Nov.

7, 2024; a second opinion at Saint Luke's Koontz Center led to oral therapy and telehealth care with her Columbia oncologists, and a Koontz retreat plus a peer group (Thrive Tribe) helped her.

Chicago-based Core Spaces has submitted preliminary plans to build two six-story student housing buildings at Fourth and Broadway that would include 300 units and 371 parking spaces, and the proposal has spurred a Save the Katy Station campaign raising $20,000 to move the 1909 depot (listed on the National Register).

Single-family home sales in Boone County fell 12% year-over-year in September and Columbia sales dropped 18% as mortgage rates topped 7%, the Mid-Missouri Board of Realtors said; median price rose 12% to $370,000, new and active listings fell, and condo sales were down 34% in Q3.