Gov. Jay Nixon jokes with ABC Laboratories President and CEO Byron Hill during a tour of the facility. Nixon announced the Next-Generation Jobs Team, a federal stimulus program to match young Missourians with summer employment at high-tech firms.

Despite pitching this assignment to my photographers and making it sound really cool, no one picked it up. Fifteen minutes before the event was supposed to start, Outlook section editor Andrew Denney and I just decided to cover it ourselves. By the time we arrived at ABC Laboratories in the Discovery Ridge complex, the governor had already begun his tour of the bio-chemistry plant. Luckily, we were able to meet up with the rest of the press in the facility – after suiting up in white lab coats and goggles of course.