Speaking at Northwest Missouri State University Wednesday, U.S. Sen.

Claire McCaskill said there is a sharp line dividing her views on the need for federally guaranteed student loans and those of her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Todd Aiken, whom she quoted as referring to such loans as a third-level cancer of socialism. Speaking at Northwest Missouri State University Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said there is a sharp line dividing her views on the need for federally guaranteed student loans and those of her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Todd Aiken, whom she quoted as referring to such loans as a third-level cancer of socialism. What Aiken actually said

Claire McCaskill speaks at Northwest

in earlier in the campaign was that the student loan program has given the government a stage three cancer of socialism, but McCaskill appeared convinced of having captured the sense of Akins remark, even if she slightly altered his vocabulary. Affirming her strong support for college loans as well as the needs-based Pell Grant program, McCaskill recalled another Akin statement in which the congressman called on the government to get its nose out of the education business. By contrast, the incumbent Democrat, who finds herself in a tough race against Akin despite his now-infamous comment that women rarely get pregnant following legitimate rape, told of waiting tables in order to pay her way through col-

McCaskill meets and greets at Northwest Missouri State University showing her support for college loans and grants.

Deadly drought affects Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. The worst drought in decades is expected, over the next few months, to continue choking a large area of the Plains and Rockies that missed the soggy remnants of Hurricane Isaac, according to the National Weather Services Seasonal Drought Outlook released on Thursday morning. But those lingering rain bands from the hurricane did provide welcome moisture to the Midwestern states that were previously the epicenter of the drought, soaking states like Missouri, Illinois and Indiana with two to six inches of rain, the Agriculture Departments United States Drought Monitor reported also on Thursday morning. Most of Missouri has been downgraded from being in exceptional or extreme drought to being in severe drought. Almost all of Illinois and Indiana are now in the severe or moderate category. But the droughts severity was upgraded through much of the Central and Southern Plains an area that stretches from southern South Dakota to northern Texas and has been suffering from triple-digit temperatures as well as lack of rain. Parts of South Dakota fell into exceptional drought, and that categorization expanded in large parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska as well. Forecasters say that this region is moving to a climatologically drier time of the year, meaning that the drought will likely intensify in the coming months. Overall, 62.89 percent of the continental United States remained in moderate to exceptional drought, an improvement of less than a half a percent from last week, according to the Drought Monitor. All this has meant that,

Freshman Seminar makes changes

Currently, a committee of 10 faculty members from various departments is gathering to discuss improvements to the freshman seminar curriculum based on the Foundations of Excellence process. Freshman seminar is a Northwest general education class geared toward helping freshman students adjust to university life. We started talking about the reports and the results around a year ago, said Alisha Francis, director of freshman seminar. This fall, the committee started meeting to discuss what students need to be getting from freshman seminar to support their success. The class meets for 50 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for nine weeks and provides students with the basic knowledge to develop a plan for success, build social networks and become comfortable with campus resources. The expectations professors have is different from high school, the amount of studying that we need students to do is way different from high school, the level of critical thinking is different and this class prepares them to do that, committee member Sue Myllykangas said. Current freshman will not be affected by the changes that will go into place fall of 2013. I think that an actual class would be more helpful to students, said Courtney Thomas, freshman. If you are going to be there, you might as well not waste time. To create more consistency throughout the different classes, freshman seminar will be moving to a non-major based structure, Francis said. The instructor role and advisor role will be separate, Francis said. One advantage given if students change their major is they can have a cohort to look to who is not bound to that major. The change to non-major based classes would allow students to gain more knowl-

Mozingo goes under construction

Mozingo Lake Park and Golf Course is in the midst of a rebranding system that city officials hope will bring in new customers from near, far and in between. A number of changes have been made at the park and golf area and more will be implemented over the following months. A new reservation system has been put into place for the RV sites. A certain number of sites are now available for reserve to help attract more potential customers from beyond Maryville city limits. This allows people traveling to make reservations; a lot of people dont want to come down from Omaha (Neb.) if all of the sites are reserved, City Manager Greg McDanel said. Mozingo is also working on a new marketing plan with students from Northwests advanced advertising strategies class, taught by professor Jacquie Lamer. The goal is to rebrand the park and golf side. Part of the problem that we have identified is that our advertising for both is fragmented, so they are going to assist us with that and provide some suggestions, McDanel said. We will then continue that on to the city to readvertise and redo our whole process. Among many of the changes being made is a new equestrian site, which is located on the west side of Mozingo Lake. The renovation includes a new bathhouse, 13 sites available for reservation and a five-mile horse trail. Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland who directly supervises both the park and golf sides of Mozingo said the park also plans to offer events that will entice people to come enjoy the lake area. There will be a Haunted Campground held Oct. 20, which will consist of trick-ortreating, a pumpkin carving contest and other activities. A new scout cabin in the youth camp area is in the works for spring 2013, according to Heiland. The cabin will come with a basement facility and house approximately 50 scouts.

Appreciation for nature

Nearly 250 fourth-graders from area school districts spent much of the day either Wednesday or Thursday at Nodaway Lake north of Maryville, where they gained hands-on experience about the way human beings work together to keep the earth green and the water clean. This years 18th annual Conservation Kids event included six nature stations scattered across the east side of the lake where staff from various natural resources agencies presided over activities designed to teach essential lessons about forestry, beekeeping, soils, aquatic life, the water table and wild-

Kids experience science in nature

life. Fred Stevens of the Nodaway County Soil and Water Conservation District said the annual field trip is designed to teach youngsters about the importance of understanding and preserving the environment in an increasingly urban and technology-driven world. Were trying to expose them to show-me conservation in the Show-Me State, and to demonstrate where food comes from and where wildlife lives. Stevens said. We want them to understand that everything doesnt just come from Walmart and Hy-Vee. Teachers who accompanied the fourth-graders around to the stations said the field trip is an important learning experience that reinforces classroom lessons about ecosystems, biological adaptation and natural phenomena such as pollination and the water cycle. Many of the instructors timed academic units on conservation to coincide with Conservation Kids, so that the children could relate what theyve learned from books and websites to actual observations in the field. Jim Pierson of the Missouri Department of Conservation, for example,

displayed a series of animals skulls and talked about the way the teeth of different species are specially adapted to the foods they eat. He noted how deer use

their wide, blunt incisors and molars to chew and grind the plants that make up their diet, while carnivores, like the Missouri coyote, have

long, sharp fangs capable of animals.

ripping into the flesh of prey One of the more popular

Fourth-graders work at a nature station creating projects.

exhibits was the beekeeping area.