Month: June 2025

Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia city leaders and elected officials will meet with the public over four open sessions to discuss the effects federal orders are having on city business.

The “informal office hours” will allow citizens to learn and discuss how executive orders from the White House have affected operations at the city government level, according to a news release sent by the city on Monday. The meetings promise to have elected council members alongside city staff as part of the discussions.

Saturday, June 7, from 10 a.m. to noon at Columbia City Hall‘s Conference Room 1A. Fourth Ward council member Nick Foster will be there with staff.

Monday, June 9, from 1-3 p.m. at the Columbia/Boone County Health and Human Services building at 1005 Worley Street. Mayor Barbara Buffaloe is slated to appear there.

Wednesday, June 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Fire Department Training Academy at 700 Big Bear Blvd. Third Ward councilmember Jacque Sample will attend.

Sunday, June 15, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Friends Room of the Daniel Boone Regional Library at 100 W. Broadway. First Ward councilperson Valerie Carroll is scheduled for that meeting.

The city council put off making changes to its vision and mission statement on May 5 in response to an executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Federal agencies have warned that so-called DEI policies would be considered forms of hiring discrimination and could put a city’s federal funding at risk. Dozens of residents asked the council to either oppose the changes or push a decision back to discuss options further.

The council approved some legal protections to city staff signing off on federal grants at its May 16 meeting.

Further cuts to federal grant spending have already cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. City manager De’Carlon Seewood said at his State of the City address that the health department lost several hundred thousand dollars in grants this year. A federal review of grants briefly imperiled money for a safety audit of Business Loop 70, but was eventually unfrozen and approved.

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Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Moberly woman has been charged after she is accused of stabbing a man in the back on Sunday.

Moberly police responded to a domestic assault on Sunday after a caller reported a stabbing.

Shannon Hackett, 55, is charged with first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action.

According to court documents, officers arrived at a home and found a man on the east side of a street with his shirt off and blood running down his body. A group of people pointed officers in the direction of Hackett, who was pacing on the south side of the street.

After being taken to the hospital, police spoke to the victim, who said Hackett stabbed him after they were arguing over money. The victim told police he was trying to leave when Hackett was standing in the kitchen with a butcher’s or chef’s knife.

Police said the victim said he was facing Hackett when he started swinging the knife at him and that he turned his body when she stabbed him in the back.

Court documents state the victim told police he grabbed Hackett’s right arm to try and get the knife out of her hand.

Police said the victim was transferred from the Moberly Regional Medical Center to University Hospital in Columbia for further treatment due to damage to multiple muscle layers.

In a post-Miranda interview, police said Hackett reported hearing the victim swearing at her. She said they started to argue and he started to pin her to the ground while trying to choke her. Hackett allegedly told police this is when she got up, went to the kitchen and tried to grab a knife to use as self-defense.

Officers did not find any injuries to Hackett’s neck but only a small bruise to her arm.

Police said during a search warrant of the home, the knife was found on the south side of the home by trash cans with blood residue.

Hackett is currently being held at the Randolph County jail on a $100,000 bond. A court date is set for Wednesday.

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Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Union Pacific train derailed Sunday afternoon east of La Monte in Pettis County.

Missouri State Highway Patrol said troopers were called to the area of US-50 Highway and Buckley Road and found a train had derailed.

Troop A Spokesperson, Cpl. J.D. Howard said in an email that seven Union Pacific Railroad train cars had come off the track.

The train was traveling parallel to the highway, east of La Monte and northwest of Sedalia.

No one was hurt and no hazardous materials were spilled, according to a Union Pacific spokesperson.

Crews were on the ground around 2:30 p.m. Monday to investigate and clean up the scene.

Howard said the only possible damage was to the railroad crossing in the area.

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