Month: September 2025

Alison Patton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Billie Siebeneck and her husband had to evacuate their home Thursday night after their attic caught fire on Rivercrest Court in Jefferson City.

Siebeneck and her husband were watching TV when they heard a loud noise.

“All of a sudden it was just like a bomb went off,” Siebeneck said.

Siebeneck said lightning hit her home. She didn’t feel like anything was different until she ran outside after the bang and smelled something burning.

A neighbor called the Jefferson City Fire Department around 9:10 p.m.

Firefighters saw smoke coming from the roof and gable ends of the two-story home, according to a JCFD press release.

The fire department can’t confirm what caused the fire, but JCFD Division Chief Jason Turner said the can’t rule out a lightning strike.

 “The residents were there at home at the time. They said, ‘hey, we think we had a lightning strike. We can’t confirm, the electricity goes off, we started smelling something that potentially smelled like something burning.’ Things like that is what clues to us,” Turner said.

Heavy storms swept through the area Thursday, and the fire department is checking with the National Weather Service to make sure the Siebeneck’s home was in the area.

The fire was contained to the attic, although firefighters drilled holes in almost every room on the top floor, Siebeneck said.

The storms that rolled through the area starting around dusk Thursday left hundreds without power. Wind damage was reported near Ashland, Bunceton, Franklin and Blackwater, according to the National Weather Service.

Seventeen firefighters were sent to the fire.

While on scene, firefighters used thermal imaging cameras to see heat that might be invisible to the naked eye.

“One of the items that we use is our thermal imaging cameras that helps us detect where those hotspots are in the attic areas, and not just in the attic areas, but anywhere there’s heat,” Turner said.

These cameras light up when it detects heat, indicating to fire fighters where a hot spot is.

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Matthew Sanders

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect that homecoming takes place Sept. 27.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A federal judge on Friday ruled that the University of Missouri must let a student group that opposes Israel’s war in Gaza participate in its homecoming parade, with conditions.

Judge Stephen Bough of Missouri’s federal Western District court entered a preliminary injunction forcing UM System President Mun Choi to allow Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine to participate in next Saturday’s homecoming parade, as long as the group’s entry “complies with the Parade Policy.”

Ahmad Kaki, a staff attorney with The Council on American-Islamic Relations who represented the student group, said MSJP is happy to adhere to any requirements that are equally applied.

The policy says the purposes of the parade are to celebrate MU, cultivate alumni connections, honor university-selected achievements and rally support for the Missouri Tigers in their game against the University of Massachusetts.

The policy also reads:

“It is not an open forum for expression on topics identified by participants, but rather is limited to expression on topics identified by the University for the purposes noted above. The University provides ample other opportunities for participants to express themselves on topics of interest to them.” 

MSJP decisionDownload

Bough’s order opens with a Benjamin Franklin quote:

“Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom — and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.”

CAIR sued on behalf of the student group after its application for a parade entry was rejected for the second straight year. Choi cited “disturbances” associated with the student group, according to records obtained by ABC 17 News.

“When they wanted to join the parade last year, they sought to express specific messages, in large part because the university allowed everybody else to do it,” Kaki said.

Kaki called the move by the University and Choi disheartening for the students of MSJP.

“The reason they were excluded was because of messages they’ve expressed in the past. It’s because of the viewpoints that they hold, their viewpoints critical of Israel and supportive of the people of Palestine,” Kaki said.

Bough sided with the student group’s interpretation that homecoming parade entries are “private speech,” as opposed to speech that represents a government entity such as MU. He also ruled there was enough evidence to show a “fair chance” that Choi violated the group’s speech rights based on its views about the war in Gaza.

“In support of this conclusion, the Court notes that, in 2024, Dr. Choi did not require any other student organization to attend a special meeting to discuss their intentions for the event, nor did he request that any other group modify its message,” Bough wrote.

The group’s former president was also charged this week with fourth-degree assault for an incident on campus in March. The University cited this as another reason for MSJP’s denied entry, Kaki said the argument was found to be irrelevant in the courtroom.

“It was very telling that their entire argument revolved around her supposed behavior,” Kaki said. “We were able to put Ms. Atallah up on the stand where she said ‘I won’t even be there’ and so the court made it clear that that wasn’t a sufficient excuse for them.”

“This is an important victory for the First Amendment and the right of students who support Palestinian human rights to fully participate in campus life,” CAIR national deputy director Edward Mitchell wrote in an email response to ABC 17 News. “It is long past time for colleges and universities across the country to stop attempting to silence and sideline students critical of the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza.”

A spokesman said MU was reviewing the decision, but the university would not comment on pending litigation, per its established practice.

Bough noted that MSJP wanted to display signs in its parade entry that were not included in its application — “Ceasefire Now” and “Stop the Genocide.”

The group will now work with the MU Alumni Association to ensure they are following all parade policies.

“We expect the university to comply with the court and engage in a meaningful the conversations to a meaningful conversation with the students to ensure that whatever they do is protected,” Kaki said. “If the university says that they’re not allowed to put messages on banners and that’s a rule that’s applied to every other student organization equally, then MSJP will happily comply.”

The Alumni Association’s executive director, Todd McCubbin, did not respond to a request for comment.

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