In light of the economic downturn, family dependence on food stamps has grown significantly in Missouri from August 2008 to 2009. According to a study published by the Brookings Institution and First Focus in December, nearly 150,000 additional people relied on these Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for food purchases.

After being devastated by an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 on Tuesday, January 12, Haiti remains in a state of chaotic destruction. Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, could be permanently crippled by this catastrophe without financial assistance as the infrastructure of the country’s capital city, Port-au-Prince, has been largely destroyed.

A few weeks ago, I got two traffic tickets in one night. Though embarrassing at first (no amount of sleep deprivation gives you an excuse for backing into police cars, which I did), my evening of two successive encounters with the Clayton Police Department has become a good story, and it comes as no surprise to anyone who has ever seen me operate a car—the fact of the matter is, I am a terrible, terrible driver.

Students leading Homelessness Awareness Week (HAW) aim this week to promote awareness of issues of homelessness in the community that some students feel are not addressed enough on campus.