No one can question Carol Yager’s patriotism or her commitment to family get-togethers at Lake Contrary. She’s got 61 years of celebrating the Fourth of July behind her. This year’s Fourth at the Lake event drew a respectable crowd for its annual event that included a cardboard boat race, treasure hunt, sand -castle building and, of course, a fireworks display. Ms. Yager and family members said the Fourth of July holiday brings them together in larger numbers than at Christmas get-togethers. “It’s a bit of a tradition,” she said of spending the day at the lake, whether it was with relatives who used to own a cabin there, or under a shelter during the Fourth at the Lake. A few years ago, about 100 family members made it to the lake. “We’d come here even if there wasn’t water in the lake.”

In his youth he was known as “the Golden Toe” for his ability to kick field goals. But it’s more likely that in St. Joseph, Dr. Russ Jones was known for his sermons.

A wayward black bear that moved through several local counties over the past week is most likely dead. An Iowa Department of Natural Resources officer shot a 200-pound male black bear near Hamburg, Iowa, last week after it displayed aggressive behavior and refused to leave a residential area. Officials can’t confirm if the bear is the same one sighted in Daviess County two weeks ago. However, a succession of sightings in Northwest Missouri from Stewartsville to Savannah to Fillmore followed by a confirmed sighting in Westboro, Mo., which is about 15 miles from Hamburg, Iowa, could suggest that it is the same bear.

Dr. Jim Scanlon is Irish, Catholic and spiritual. So it’s not surprising that he believes God has a hand in his good fortune. “And I’m eternally grateful that providential design has me here — best place I’ve been,” the retiring president of Missouri Western State University said from his office last week. He makes his final Western-related public appearance today at an alumni association function in Kansas City. From there, he and his wife, Lauren, will navigate a van (the Clampett van, as they refer to it) stacked with their belongings to their beach home in North Carolina.

Nearly a quarter century into his presidency at Northwest Missouri State University, Dr. Dean Hubbard announced Thursday that he will retire in July 2009.“I wasn’t expecting to do that,” Dr. Hubbard said of his record-long term as president of Northwest. “I came expecting to stay a respectable four or five years.”
Dr. Hubbard, 69, said in an interview with the News-Press that he’s making the announcement a year in advance to give the university time to find a suitable candidate to take his place. He noted that of all the presidents at Missouri public higher education institutions, none served as president prior to their current positions.

Two area universities approved 2008-2009 operating budgets in separate board action Thursday.

Attorneys’ fees racked up in a recent investigation into alleged NCAA violations at Missouri Western State University cost more than $36,000.

Nearly a quarter century into his presidency at Northwest Missouri State University, Dr. Dean Hubbard announced Thursday that he will retire in July 2009. “I wasn’t expecting to do that,” Dr. Hubbard said of his record-long term as president of Northwest. “I came expecting to stay a respectable four or five years.”

In the political chess match that begot Missouri Western State University, only a few names reign supreme.

Last month’s earthquake in China, which has so far claimed nearly 70,000 lives, was felt by local educators who were in a nearby province.