Month: September 2026

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 25-year-old St. Robert woman was seriously hurt after a crash in Maries County just before 10:34 a.m. Tuesday.

According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, the woman was driving a 2010 Chevrolet Equinox on Highway 133 north of County Road 630, south of Brinktown, when the SUV traveled off the left side of the road and overturned.

The woman was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash and was taken to Phelps Health with serious injuries.

The SUV was totaled.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Association of Librarians asked the Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday to uphold a lower court’s ruling that deems a law on sexually explicit materials in schools unconstitutional.

The law in question is Senate Bill 775. The bill went into effect in August 2022 and addressed sexual assault and school materials.

Section 573.550 of the Missouri Revised Statutes states that if any person affiliated with a school in any official capacity distributes “explicit sexual material” to a student, they can face punishment.

This includes up to a year in prison and/or a $2,000 fine.

The Jackson County Circuit Court banned the enforcement of the law, claiming it violated Missouri’s due process and freedom of speech clauses. Many states follow a set obscenity rule through the California case, Miller v. California, which set the standard that explicit material can be present as long as the work as a whole is not sexual or obscene in nature.

The Missouri Constitution specifically states that “any pictorial, three-dimensional, or visual depiction, including any photography, film, video, picture, or computer-generated image,” showing sexual acts.

The library association argued the definition is too broad, vaguely expanding the current standard most states share for sexually explicit material. As a result, librarians in the state have been pulling questionable books out of fear of punishment, potentially affecting the ability of instructors to provide information on sexual education and banning young adult books that imply sexual themes but don’t show explicit content.

“This statute has created a chilling effect on school library collection development, resulting in fewer representative books within our collections, due to fear of prosecution,” former library association President Melissa Corey said during initial court proceedings.

The library group says the law mainly focuses on secondary education literature, and has swept up a graphic novel of a “Game of Thrones” book and a children’s Bible.

According to court documents, other books that were considered in violation of SB 775 included “The Giver,” and graphic novel versions of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Slaughterhouse-Five.” Park Hill School District in Kansas City also permanently removed children’s picture book “The Big Bath House” which detailed a Japanese family going to a culturally traditional bathhouse.

“Librarians flagged a staggering 219 titles available to students for review by district administrators,” according to court documents.

“These books are only in high school libraries,” Gillain Wilcox with the ACLU of Missouri said. “High school students are mature enough to read them, school librarians know what books should be there, and these laws do target the LGBTQ+ community.”

“If an illustrated memoir detailing a professional athlete’s discovery of her sexuality contains even one prohibited depiction, a private-school basketball coach cannot loan her personal copy to a student on her team who is worried about coming out. If a graphic adaptation of an award-winning novel contains even one prohibited depiction, a special education teacher in a religious school cannot provide it to a student who struggles with traditional reading,” the librarians stated in their argument.

The state is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to reverse the decision, arguing that the law is not overly broad, and that the law regulates schools’ speech, not overall free speech.

“The state is free to adopt other definitions of obscenity as long as the definitions stay within the bounds set by the constitutional standard,” Deputy Solicitor General Graham Miller said.

The Missouri Supreme Court questioned Miller, asking the purpose of the law if there are already rules banning explicit material being shown to minors. The state said that SB 775 is different since it is limited to activity that takes place in schools.

“When Missouri parents send their children to school, they have a legitimate expectation that school officials will deliver age-appropriate instruction. And they legitimately expect that school officials have a ‘duty to supervise the students under their custody and control,'” the state wrote in its argument.

A ruling will be released at a later date.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri attorney general said Wednesday that her office is investigating a student group with a University of Missouri chapter for possible ties to fundraising for Islamic terrorists.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway cited “public reports from independent organizations” in her news release that “have raised concerns about SJP’s fundraising representations and alleged links between its efforts and organizations whose resources may ultimately reach radical Islamist terrorist groups.”

Students for Justice in Palestine has chapters across the country, including at the University of Missouri’s Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis campuses. The Columbia campus chapter clashed with MU leaders over having a float in the university homecoming parade, and legal action over that issue continues in federal court.

A hearing was held in that case Wednesday morning in St. Louis.

The organization has been critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, accusing Israel of genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip since an October 2023 terror attack by Hamas.

Hanaway’s office says it is issuing civil investigative demands, a subpoena-like power enjoyed by the attorney general, to Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine and the national leadership of the student group to examine whether the group has engaged in deceptive practices regarding charitable donations.

ABC 17 News has asked Hanaway’s office for more details related to the allegations against SJP.

The Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to fighting antisemitism, alleges SJP has used “foreign terrorist organization rhetoric” on social media, including praise for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine issued a statement on Instagram on Wednesday afternoon.

“For the last three years, we have focused on bringing awareness to the ongoing genocide in Gaza by Israel, bought and paid for by our politicians,” the statement says. “Our advocacy is law-abiding and peaceful. Any suggestion to the contrary is a bigoted lie.”

The organization says Hanaway is targeting it because of the “State’s unlawful attempts to censor us,” referring to the homecoming parade lawsuit.

Check back for updates to this developing story.