Overheard

Delivery began last week of about 400,000 copies of the latest local edition of the AT&T Real Yellow Pages. Student athletes representing Springfield Public Schools are featured on the cover. The updated book offers residential, business and government White Pages listings; coupons; information guides; and a community section with local maps, attractions and ZIP codes. Outdated phone books can be dropped off for recycling at any green Nestle Purina container in southwest Missouri. As part of the AT&T Project ReDirectory campaign, Purina PetCare will use the recycled books to make animal bedding. To find a drop-off container, call (800) 953-4400.

$5M for Airport

The U.S. Department of Transportation has released $5 million in federal funds for Phase IV of construction of Springfield-Branson National Airport’s $119 million midfield terminal. Construction of the terminal began nearly a year ago and is expected to be complete in fall 2008. The 285,000-square-foot facility will contain eight passenger-loading gates capable of handling 16 aircraft. Most of the project’s funding is coming from a $115 million city bond issue approved by Springfield City Council in November.

Plaster Honored with Doctorate

Area businessman Robert W. Plaster, who has donated millions to southwest Missouri’s higher education institutions, received an honorary doctorate May 12 at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin. In the 1950s, Plaster was an accounting student at MSSU, then called Joplin Junior College, but he didn’t earn a degree. He has since founded and served as CEO of Empire Gas and currently is chairman of Lebanon’s Evergreen Investments LLC. Plaster has made significant contributions to MSSU, which houses the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center and the Robert W. Plaster School of Business Administration. Plaster also has been a major donor to Missouri State University. In 1991, he donated millions to help renovate MSU’s football stadium, now named Robert W. Plaster Sports Complex, and in 1998 did the same for renovations to the school’s student union, which also bears his name. Among his other benefactors are Crowder College, College of the Ozarks, Southwest Baptist University and Students in Free Enterprise.

Kohl’s $1M Remodel

Springfield’s Kohl’s department store is coming off a $1 million facelift. The store, 1909 E. Independence St., is one of more than 100 undergoing redesigns in a plan launched late last year. Renovations in Springfield include a new façade, outdoor and indoor music systems, updated restrooms, updated check-out stands, expanded customer service area, updated fitting rooms, new merchandise displays, wider aisles and new carpet and paint. Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) went public in 1992 and now generates more than $15 billion in annual revenues. Kohl’s has 19 locations in Missouri, including a distribution center in Blue Springs, according to its Web site, www.kohls.com.