April: Briefly in the News
Donut City
Donuts announced a franchise agreement for the development of two Dunkin’ Donuts and one Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins combination restaurant in Columbia and Jefferson City. The first location is scheduled to open this summer at 3100 Providence Road in Columbia, and the remaining two restaurants are planned to open in 2017. The Columbia and Jefferson City restaurants will be the first Dunkin’ Donuts chains in mid-Missouri.
“We have a passion and loyalty for the Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins brands and look forward to opening our restaurants in the years to come,” says franchisee Anup Thakkar.
Award Winning
Local creative agency Hub & Spoke received an American Package Design Award from Graphic Design USA for its efforts in creating the Rock Bridge Brewing Co. Saison beer can design. Graphic Design USA received more than 2,000 entries for the award. In addition to the American Package Design Award, Hub & Spoke also received four AVA Digital Awards — two platinum and two gold— for its website, Visually Columbia Web design, a video made for Westminster College and Web design for Xxcel Integrated Logistics.
Sports in Schools
Columbia Independent School will begin construction on a $2.5 million athletics and arts facility this spring after raising $1.3 million through its “Building Excellence” donation campaign. The new facility will house a multipurpose stage, athletic field and full-size basketball court.
“The Athletics and Arts Center is the next step in our endeavor to make the CIS campus Columbia’s premier place to learn,” says Bridgid Kinney, the school’s director of development. “This space will offer countless opportunities for our students.”
All the Right Ingredients
Bread & Butter Concepts (BBC), a Kansas City-based restaurant group, has officially acquired Ingredient, located at 304 S. Ninth Street. Ingredient closed its doors on Jan. 18 and reopened on Jan. 20 with a new menu, including BBC’s famous chicken salad sandwich, Brussels sprouts Caesar salad and drunken meatballs.
Online Safety at CPD
Last week the Columbia Police Department designated its lobby as an “online exchange zone,” giving Columbians a secure place to finalize the deals they broker online. The department hopes opening the lobby as a potential site for exchanges initiated on sites such as Craigslist and Facebook will deter any violence as people continue to negotiate sales and purchases through the Internet. The department lobby, located on the corner of Seventh and Walnut streets, would serve as a safe meeting place for the buyer and seller. Columbia joins several other police departments across the country in creating the safe zones: police in suburban Philadelphia; Oklahoma City; and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, made similar designations in the past five months.
Getting Canned
Logboat Brewing Co. will expand into cans within the next month and hopes to have the cans in the market by the week of March 22. The company will start by canning two of its distinctive beers: Mamoot Mild Ale and Snapper IPA. Owner Tyson Hunt says he anticipates canning Lookout Pale Ale and Shiphead Ginger Wheat some time in early summer.
“Now there will be another avenue for packed beer to go out of the brewery and into restaurants,” Hunt says. “It gives a lot more options for people to enjoy our beer who don’t have the time or the means to go sit in restaurant.”
Honor Flight
Socket, a local telephone and Internet provider, contributed to the Central Missouri Honor Flight, sending 10 veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit memorials dedicated in their honor.
Top Residency
The University of Missouri School of Medicine was named one of the nation’s best residency training programs for family physicians by Doximity, a professional network for physicians. MU’s residency program was ranked third in the Midwest after a survey that included more than 50,000 peer nominations from board-certified U.S. physicians and evaluations of 3,691 residency training programs across 20 specialties.
Taking Notes
MU Health Care is now offering digital access to medical notes made during a patient’s visit. The notes will be available on the online patient portal, MU Healthe, retroactive for most visits since Dec. 1.
“In today’s patient-centered environment, we want them to have access to their health information,” says Thomas Selva, chief medical information officer. “Our goal is for patients to ultimately have better outcomes and lead healthier lives.”
Ignition Time
The fifth annual Ignition Entrepreneurial Summit took place in Columbia on Feb. 27.
OATS Inc.
The state Neighborhood Assistance Program granted $15,000 in tax credits to OATS Inc., a nonprofit transportation service active in 87 Missouri counties. OATS will use the tax credits to spur donations to the organization, promising eligible donors 50 percent returns on their donation.
Faster All Around
U.S. Cellular recently announced that during 2014, the company invested a total of $38 million to improve its network, stores and community support throughout Missouri. According to a press release, $37.1 million was put toward enhancing the network across Missouri by combining 4G LTE enhancements and upgrades to the existing high-speed network.
Dorsey Ragland, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in Missouri, says the enhanced service had already been introduced to Columbia and Jefferson City but brought faster speed to surrounding communities, including Hartsburg, Rucker, Harrisburg, Perche, Rocheport, Woodlandville, Armstrong, Fayette, Franklin, New Franklin and Estill.