Pet Headquarters agrees to stop selling dogs (The Malibu Times)

Chris DeRose, founder of animal advocacy group LCA, with LCA members Kim Sill, Mark Goff, Robert Cabral and Bryan Stevens in front of Pet Headquarters.

Appeal hearing set on Roaring River CAFO (The Joplin Globe)

An appeal hearing on the construction and operating permits for the Ozbun chicken concentrated animal feeding operation near Roaring River State Park will start at 9 a.m. Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission.

State budget shortfall forces hard choices for education, others (The Joplin Globe)

“Conservative” may be the word in 2009 for Missouri schools, businesses and municipalities bracing to see how a projected $342 million shortfall in the state’s budget will affect them.

Andra Bryan Stefanoni: Sales-tax revenues increase in Pittsburg (The Joplin Globe)

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Mark Turnbull, economic development director for the city of Pittsburg, had a merry Christmas, indeed: Sales-tax receipts in 2008 were up 3.5 percent over those of 2007.

Miami officials, workers praise four-day workweek (The Joplin Globe)

MIAMI, Okla. — A six-month pilot program that implemented a four-day workweek for city employees in Miami is being hailed as a success. City Manager Huey P. Long said the program, which allows the city’s 120 employees to work Mondays through Thursdays or Tuesdays through Fridays, has worked well.