Month: July 2025

Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia says a water main break on 9th and Cherry Street Tuesday afternoon was caused by corrosion on a buried pipe.

Utility spokesman Jason West said “while it is part of the oldest pipes downtown, this particular pipe may be pushing 75-years old.  This was a fairly routine fix, from what I am being told,”

A boil water advisory was issued for nearly 30 businesses in the area until 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The break has been repaired now, a cement slab covers the hole, surrounded by construction cones still blocking off the area.

Colleen Rieman part owner of Hexagon Alley in downtown Columbia said she found out about the break after a call from employees saying the water was not working. She says the break impacted Tuesday trivia night and caused them to turn business out the door.

“Usually Tuesday’s are a busier than they were last night we definitely turned some people away last night because of not being  able to have any food,” Rieman said.

While the water main break was lifted, Rieman said Hexagon Alley would play it safe and use bottled water and bags of ice in hopes to return to normal operations Thursday.

“We bought ice this morning, we bought water bottles, we’re just not serving any of our coffee, we’re truing to figure out alternatives for the coffee but we’re encouraging people to use our bottled beverages,” Rieman added “We don’t have a stove we don’t so it really hard for us to do the safety precautions for that so thats why we had to switch to the bottle water,”

For bathrooms, Rieman said businesses in the area stepped up to help.

“Last night we weren’t able to use them so we asked our neighbors across the street let our customers use them but when they closed we kinda had to be like we just don’t have a  bathroom for you,” She said.

Businesses like Booches and Goldie’s bagels were also impacted, however Sparky’s ice cream got lucky.

Sparky’s employee, Clara Strathausen saw the break and says the impact for them was minimal.

 “A bunch of water going down cherry street i think it is,  only thing that it would have been is parking of course but our water didn’t change colors or anything like that,” Strathausen said.

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Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Osage County Sheriff’s Office plans to reopen the county jail on Monday.

County Sheriff Mike Bonham said Wednesday that he needed to close the jail and move inmates to other facilities in May due to a lack of staffing. He said the county has made new hires and now has seven workers for the jail.

“After recent upgrades and operational improvements, the facility will begin transitioning inmates back into the jail,” Bonham wrote in a text message to ABC 17 News. “We will begin accepting new detainees on Monday, July 28.”

The sheriff’s office shared pictures Wednesday morning of its new hires training for the reopening of the jail.

Osage County Commission meeting minutes show the jail closed on June 2 while the county staffed up and trained new hires. Bonham said Osage County has housed inmates and admitted new ones in several nearby facilities, including jails in Miller, Maries, Franklin and Crawford counties. The county pays each place $50 to $65 a day for each inmate it houses.

“We appreciate the continued support and cooperation from surrounding law enforcement agencies, the courts, and the public during the temporary closure,” Bonham said. “This reopening marks a significant step forward in restoring full correctional services to Osage County.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

No injuries were reported in a fire that occurred Wednesday in an outdoor storage area of the Sam’s Club at 849 Stoneridge Parkway in Jefferson City.

A social media post from the Jefferson City Fire Department says that crews responded to an automatic fire alarm at 2:14 p.m. The fire was started in an area used to store recycling materials and a sprinkler helped contain the fire, the post says.

The store was evacuated while first responders put out the fire, the post says. The cause of the fire I under investigation.

“Thanks to the sprinkler system in this commercial building, the fire was contained to the exterior portion of the building. The store was evacuated in a timely and orderly manner with the assistance of Sam’s Club employees. No injuries were reported. Store operations were suspended during the emergency response,” the post says.

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Sam Roe

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the American Beer Act earlier this month, which will reduce excise tax on beer sold in Missouri.

All beer made in America will be taxed at 2 cents per gallon when sold in Missouri. Kehoe signed the bill at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis. The new law will provide a tax break not only for the largest breweries in Missouri but also the small craft breweries in Mid-Missouri.

“Obviously, our brewers make significantly less beer, but a tax relief is tax relief,” said Sherry Wohlgemuth, executive director of the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild. “So, especially facing some of the tariffs and things that will start adding to the bottom line for everyone in the brewing industry.”

Despite already having one of the lowest tax rates on beer at 6 cents per gallon, the new malt liquor excise tax rate of 2 cents per gallon will tie Missouri with Wyoming as the lowest in all 50 states.

Mid-Missouri brewers such as Logboat in Columbia and Last Flight in Jefferson City will benefit from their reduced tax bill.

“This will save them, probably several thousand dollars in taxes,” Wohlgemuth said. “They can use that money for growing their business instead of paying taxes on it. So, it’s a win for everybody that’s making beer in the state of Missouri.”

The American Beer Act will also expand the hours that alcohol can be served during next year’s FIFA World Cup. Licensed servers will be able to sell alcohol for 23 hours per day from June 11 to July 19, 2026.

The new law will take effect on Aug. 28.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man was arrested and charged after he allegedly punched another man in his face and tried to stab him on Tuesday, court documents say.

Tyler Casteel, 21, was charged on Wednesday in Boone County with second-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action and a count of unlawful use of a weapon. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says two witnesses saw Casteel yell at the victim and grab a knife. One of the witnesses walked away when Casteel grabbed the knife, while the other recorded the interaction, court documents say.

Casteel allegedly punched the victim before trying to stab him, the statement says. The victim told police that Casteel was mad because his phone would not work, court documents say. Police wrote that they viewed the video, which lined up with statements made at the scene.

Court documents say Casteel told police that he punched the victim in the face and held him at knifepoint.

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