In addition to those participating in the national First Day Hike program, some hardy area residents will be bundling up on New Year’s Day for other annual outdoor traditions, including cyclists, birders and bikers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has signed off on a plan that will permit the Quapaw Tribe to clean up the Catholic 40 mining site southeast of Quapaw.

A Guatemalan woman seeking to overturn the adoption of her biological child by a Carthage couple has exhausted those efforts — unsuccessfully — in the state court system. The Missouri Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal filed on behalf of Encarnacion Romero that challenged a Missouri Court of Appeals decision terminating her parental rights.

Becky Gray isn’t exactly sure where she’ll wind up on New Year’s Day, but one thing is certain: It will be outside. Gray, who lives in Girard, Kan., is one of thousands across the nation planning to bundle up and find a trail for a First Day Hike.

Much of that holiday fa-la-la-la can be recycled instead of thrown in the trash. The Joplin Recycling Center can take discarded gift wrap without ribbons, along with boxes and greeting cards.

Staff members at Missouri Southern State University are planning the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service for the week of Jan. 20.

After meeting needs for more classroom space, construction of tornado safe rooms would be the top priority among patrons of the Carthage School District if they are asked to consider a bond issue early next year.

The City Council has advanced a proposal for a $2.5 million bond issue to pay for construction of a city swimming pool. The council approved the first reading of the measure by a 6-0 vote during a meeting Monday night. The panel will vote Jan. 13 whether to place the proposal on the April 8 election ballot.

Bright Futures USA now counts Oswego, Kan., as the organization’s 19th affiliate community. The affiliation was formally approved earlier this month by the Oswego Board of Education, on a recommendation from Superintendent Mark LaTurner.