About The World

(AP) Some Missouri Southern State University nursing school students are upset about an admission policy barring visible tattoos.

The Joplin Globe reports that the policy is included in the 2009 school handbook for nursing students. Any tattoos that are visible while students are wearing their uniforms are not allowed.

The standard uniform for nursing students at the university is short-sleeved scrubs.

Missouri Southern spokesman Rod Surber says the no-visible-tattoo policy at the nursing school will help students who will be entering a field in which some hospitals might have a similar guideline.

Tina Shadwick has wanted to be a nurse since high school, but the 40-year-old didn't go back to school to pursue a degree in nursing until after raising her children. But a tattoo of tulips located a few inches from her wrist is blocking her admission.

"In a no-nonsense way, I was told that that is their policy," Shadwick said. "They showed me in the handbook where it says the policy is no tattoos that can't be covered by scrubs."

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Missouri will enforce water well reporting SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Department of Natural Resources will start enforcing water well reporting after a newspaper probe found numerous instances of missing reports or reports that were clearly inaccurate, the agency's chief said.

During a speech Friday in Springfield, Mark Templeton acknowledged there has been only "partial compliance" among major water users in the state.

"We need greater compliance," Templeton said. "We are going to be referring people over for enforcement — people who have not been reporting to us."

Water users with wells that can pump 100,000 gallons or more a day are supposed to turn in reports annually to the department detailing how much water they used. The information helps determine how the wells are affecting groundwater levels.

But a Springfield News-Leader review of Greene County well reporting data from 2001-2007 showed dozens of missing reports from some of the 70 major water users.

"I agree we need to get the information so the community can undertake the kind of planning it needs and make appropriate use of this resource," Templeton said, acknowledging the newspaper's findings.

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2 Fort Hood victims had ties to Missouri INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — Two of the victims of the Fort Hood shootings had ties to Missouri.

Capt. John P. Gaffaney and Lt. Col. Juanita Warman were assigned to the 1908th Medical Company in Independence.

The 56-year-old Gaffaney was a psychiatric nurse who worked for San Diego County, Calif., for more than 20 years and had arrived at Fort Hood the day before the shooting to prepare for a deployment to Iraq.

He supervised a team of six social workers. Gaffaney is survived by a wife and a son.

The 55-year-old Warman was a military physician assistant with two daughters and six grandchildren.

She was from Havre De Grace, Md.

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Former Democratic strategist sentenced to 4 years CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A former Democratic strategist will be spending more time in prison.

Thirty-eight-year-old Milton "Skip" Ohlsen III was sentenced Friday in St. Louis County Circuit Court to four years in prison. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the sentence was imposed after he pleaded guilty to stealing and unlawful use of a weapon and no contest to a charge of second-degree domestic assault.

Under a plea deal, the sentence will be served concurrently with a 30-month federal prison sentence for federal firearms and bank fraud convictions.

Ohlsen had worked on former Missouri state Sen. Jeff Smith's unsuccessful 2004 congressional campaign and was responsible for the fliers at the center of a federal corruption probe. But the criminal case was unrelated.

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DNR investigating untreated waste leak BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — A state agency is investigating after more than 10,000 gallons of untreated waste flowed into a creek in southern Branson.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources said in a news release that it learned about the problem Friday.

The sewage overflow happened Wednesday after there was an electrical outage at a lift station.

The water flowed into a tributary of a creek that flows into Lake Taneycomo. It isn't known whether any of the wastewater made it to the lake.

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Missouri clinic vaccinates 5,446 against swine flu ST. LOUIS (AP) — A clinic in St. Louis County has vaccinated about 5,400 people against swine flu in a single day.

Ten-thousand doses of the vaccine had been available at the clinic Saturday at five St. Louis County High Schools. The unused doses will be used later.

St. Louis County Department of Health Director Dolores J. Gunn said she was pleased with the turnout.

The vaccines are being offered first to those deemed most at risk. That includes pregnant women, children from six months to 4 years, caregivers of babies under six months of age, older youths with health problems and health care workers.

Gunn says that once more vaccine has been received, the restrictions will be eased.

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2 KCK firefighters hurt fighting blaze KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Two Kansas City, Kan., firefighters have suffered minor injuries while fighting a fire at a vacant house.

The fire department said one injured a knee, while the other injured a shoulder Saturday morning.

They were treated at a hospital and released.

The fire they fought broke out about 2 a.m. Saturday at a two-story, wood frame vacant house.

The house was a total loss. A fire investigator determined that the blaze was unintentional.

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Crash near Springfield kills pedestrian SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A pedestrian has died after a car struck him as he was walking on a Greene County highway.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the victim as 35-year-old Timothy H. Forester of Bois D'Arc.

The crash happened Friday night as he was walking on Missouri 266 three miles west of Springfield. Forester was pronounced dead at the scene.

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White choir competes in gospel competition FESTUS, Mo. (AP) — An all-white choir from Missouri that has gained roaring approval for its soulful gospel performances is in Detroit this weekend to compete in a national showdown.

The Faith Celebration Choir won the chance to sing in the finals during a regional event in September at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

Their performance of Andrae Crouch's "Soon and Very Soon" caused a stir as an overwhelmingly black audience of about 7,000 rose to its feet. The crowd awarded the choir from Faith Baptist Church in Festus the "audience favorite" award.

They have since been invited to sing at an NAACP event.

In Detroit, they will continue to stand out — the only all-white choir in the finals of the Verizon Wireless-sponsored competition.

It's called "How Sweet the Sound: The Search for the Best Church Choir in America."

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Man wounded in shootout outside Ill. strip club BROOKLYN, Ill. (AP) — A shootout in the parking lot of a southern Illinois strip club has left one man wounded and five in jail.

Brooklyn police Chief Delbert Marion says the shooting happened early Saturday outside the Bottoms Up Nightclub.

One man was shot and wounded and was transported to an area hospital. Police have not released his condition.

Five people were jailed after the incident, but the shooter who wounded the man was not among them. He is said to have fled the scene, and officers are searching for him.

No other information was immediately available.

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Legal marijuana substance showing up in Kansas KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas law enforcement and some lawmakers are taking notice of a new legal substance that is designed to mimic the effects of marijuana.

The substance, called K2, works and smells like marijuana.

Kansas City-area police confirm that little bags of dried herbs are starting to pop up among teens and young adults.

State Rep. Peggy Mast is considering trying to outlaw the substance.

The risks of smoking the substance are unknown, and some European countries already have moved to ban it.

Johnson County police first discovered the drug was being used by ex-convicts on probation and now they're seeing it in high schools.

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Sedalia couple still having fun with old tradition SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) — A Sedalia couple isn't giving up on tradition.

George and Linda McCollum live on a century-old farm in a home filled with antiques.

Both retired, the McCollums use hickory bark and corn shucks to weave chair seats, stools and benches.

Each year, the two travel to festivals throughout Missouri, demonstrating how to make the chair seats.

The Sedalia Democrat also reported that they have learned to play dulcimers and often perform at festivals.

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Seattle team wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Games LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Seattle team has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space — an idea spurred by science fiction novels.

The team's robotic machine raced up more than 2,950 feet of cable dangling from a helicopter.

Powered by a ground-based laser pointed up at the robot's photo voltaic cells that converted the light into electricity, the LaserMotive machine completed one of its climbs in about three minutes and 48 seconds, good for second-place money.

The contest is intended to encourage development of a theory that originated in the 1960s and was popularized by Arthur C. Clarke's 1979 novel "The Fountains of Paradise."

Space elevators are envisioned as a way to reach space without the risk and expense of rockets.

Instead, electrically powered vehicles would run up and down a cable anchored to a ground structure and extending thousands of miles up to a mass in geosynchronous orbit — the kind of orbit communications satellites are placed in to stay over a fixed spot on the Earth.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)