Author: KMIZ

Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

About a group of 30 people walked from the Armory Sports Center in Columbia to the St. Luke United Methodist Church holding candles, remembering the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The walk was apart of the Columbia Parks and Recreation annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Candlelight Walk and Memorial Celebration. That number doubled at the St. Luke United Methodist Church, where people sat and listened sang songs and listened to several speeches from pastors and public figures, including from Mayor Barbara Buffaloe.

The speeches quote from MLK and reminded people in attendance of his legacy. Those who spoke also highlighted recent violence in Columbia, calling for a change. Columbia has been off to a violent start to 2026, with at least five confirmed shootings– two of which left two people dead.

“I got faith that if we all come together, pray together and come on one accord, if we walk hand in hand, all of that violence will disappear,” the Rev. James Gray said to the crowd on Monday.

Speeches also included talks on recent violence across America and the need to put an end to it. Coordinator for the King Memorial Association Bill Thompson also reflected on recent action taken by President Donald Trump’s administration. Thompson read off a list of titles in the Civil Rights Act that he says are being infringed.

“At least a third of those things have been erased by this administration. They’ve turned back on civil rights. They eliminated the Civil Rights Commission,” Thompson told ABC 17 News after the memorial. “All of this stuff is happening but the bottom line is, I don’t think we’ve ever been in a position before where we didn’t know how to change this stuff because basically, we have no voice anymore.”

That’s something that Thompson said he’s hopeful will change, that people will stand for what they believe in and as a result, change will happen. Thompson also pointed out efforts made by the Trump administration to try and dismantle the Department of Education, as well as efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in the country.

ABC 17 News also spoke to Thompson about recent violence, including in Minnesota, where a woman was shot and killed by an ICE officer, and the tension that has followed since. Thompson said he believes what’s happening in the world are not a reflection of what MLK would want.

“He would be really heartbroken because basically, all of the blood and the tears to get all of these things …to watch these things being gradually taken away,” Thompson said.

ABC 17 News also spoke to Gray following Monday’s ceremony about the recent violence and tensions across the country. Gray said he thinks what’s happening mimics what was happening in the country years ago, particularly the fact that he says good people are being treated poorly.

“Let’s look at how many people they said they have mistreated only to find out that they were American. Let’s look at that. It’s taken us back. Doctor King had a dream that we all one day could come together, black, white, yellow, green, or blue it didn’t matter. We’re nowhere near that dream,” Gray said.

Gray said he thinks King would tell people to come together in a peaceful way, rather than riot if he were still here today.

All city offices in Jefferson City and Columbia were closed on Monday, in observance of the holiday.

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Matthew Sanders

The playoffs look a little different this year.

The Kansas City Chiefs are sitting at home for the first time in a long time, having finished the season at 6-11, only a few games better than the hapless Raiders.

But the teams that are playing are offering some excitement. The latest fireworks happened in yet another overtime game, with former Tiger Harrison Mevis kicking the game-winning field goal for the Los Angeles Rams.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An Elverta, California man was seriously injured in a crash in Pulaski County on Sunday morning.

According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, the crash occurred around 8 a.m. at the 150 mile marker on Interstate 44. The report says the 59-year-old was driving a 1998 Kenworth truck eastbound, when it crashed into the back of a 2021 Volvo.

The man was taken to Phelphs Health with serious injuries.

The driver of the other vehicle– a 25-year-old Brampton, Ontario man– was not injured in the crash.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, MO. (KMIZ)

One person was shot in southwest Columbia Sunday night, according to Lt. Shawn Claypool with the Columbia Police Department.

Claypool said a suspect is not in custody and police are unsure of how many people were involved in the shooting.

Columbia Police later posted on social media saying police responded to the 1400 Block of Ridgemont Court around 8:15 p.m. and found a man with life-threatening injuries. The man was taken to a local hospital, the release says.

Police said a suspect is not in custody but claim there is no known active threat to the community.

An ABC 17 News reporter saw several Columbia Police Department vehicles and crime scene tape up near the area of Highridge Drive and Ridgemont Court around 8:30 p.m.

This is the fifth shooting this year.

ABC 17 News is working to learn more information.

Check back for updates.

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Alison Patton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Madison Street parking garage in Jefferson City is closed off to the public as crews work to demolish it. As work begins on the garage, one business is worried it might throw off its normal flow.

Bones Restaurant and Lounge Manager Cindy McDaniel told ABC 17 News in October that she was worried construction would completely shut down Commercial Avenue, which is the alleyway where the Bones entrance is.

The city shut down the garage in late December and closed off the alley to vehicle traffic Jan. 5. People can still walk through portions of the alley, according to a city Facebook post.

An ABC 17 News reporter followed up with McDaniel on Saturday to see how Bones is doing as crews work on the garage. She said it’s too early to know if there will be any significant impacts to business, but there are already some challenges.

McDaniel said a section of the alley is closed off in the middle while crews are working, so people can only access Bones through one side of the alley. She said many people don’t want to walk around the block to the other side.

“We’re having people not happy that they can’t get in,” McDaniel said. “We have people that will not go around to the other way to come in if they can’t get through the way that’s convenient to them, which we knew would happen.”

Crews are preparing the garage for demolition and are working with utilities, according to the city’s website.

McDaniel said they shut off the gas for the restaurant for a portion of Friday, which delayed the kitchen staff from opening on time.

“The construction guys are usually pretty good, but this is the first time that we’ve sort of had an issue where they weren’t done working,” McDaniel said.

The alley will be closed until June, according to the city.

Sections of the parking garage are structurally sound, but the ramps can’t be used, according to previous reporting. Once the parking garage is down, the city can then start constructing a new conference center and hotel with a new parking garage as well.

ABC 17 News reached out to the City of Jefferson City.

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Euphenie Andre

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia City Council is set to take up a controversial development proposal Tuesday that would bring 77 triplex buildings to an east side neighborhood.

Developer Troy Miller Properties is asking the city to approve plans for the project, which would cover more than 24 acres off East Broadway near the Brooks subdivision.

The development, called “Ashford Place,” would be built along Route WW–about a mile east of Highway 63– and would be completed in three phases. The first phase includes 23 buildings, followed by 36 in phase two, and 18 more in the final phase, along with upgrades to Sagemoor Street and El Chaparral Avenue.

Many nearby residents have voiced strong opposition to the project. In September, a packed crowd filled city hall, delivering more than two hours worth of public comments against the plan. Since December, more than a dozen residents have sent emails urging the city not to move forward.

Gail Hauswirth is one of the residents who emailed the city in opposition to the project. In her message, she said she has lived in the Brooks subdivision for the past eight years and that she and her husband bought their home there to enjoy their retirement.

Her main concern is safety. Hauswirth claims city radar gun data shows drivers are traveling 57 miles per hour in a 45 mile-per-hour zone on Route WW and Rollings Hills Road near the neighborhood.

“It makes it dangerous because our mailboxes are across the street, and we have to cross the street to get out mail,” Hauswirth said. “Those of us who are approaching our golden years in particular, have to be wary of speeding vehicles coming through.”

She also said her husband has had to warn children about their surroundings as cars pass through the area at high speeds. Hauswirth believes approving the development would only increase traffic volume and make the area more dangerous.

“It’s going to create a major traffic increase over on Sagemoor and they’re getting a new school over there that will be serving children with special needs,” Hauswirth said. “Those intersections are already busy, particularly at mornings and evenings.”

In response to residents’ concerns, CBB Transportation Engineers and Planners addressed traffic issues in its latest memo, stating that Sagemoor Drive and Hoylake Drive will be able to accommodate the additional traffic.

The CBB did a traffic impact study in 2017 for the Brooks Subdivision. At the city’s request, the firm analyzed traffic projections 20 years into the future, not just current conditions. That analysis assumed nearby vacant land to the north, west, and south of the Brooks Subdivision would eventually be developed.

As part of that study, the city also wanted to make sure the roads inside the Brooks Subdivision could handle traffic from future nearby developments. Due to that, the study recommended that Hoylake Drive and Sagemoor Drive be built as collector roads, meaning roads designed to handle higher traffic volumes than regular neighborhood streets.

The 2017 study also evaluated a worst-case scenario, assuming the land now proposed for Ashford Place would be developed to the maximum allowed zoning — 69 acres with up to 276 units.

Engineers then estimated how much traffic that development would generate. The results showed Hoylake Drive would have about 3,110 cars per day, which is still within the city’s acceptable range for a neighborhood collector road (1,500–3,500 cars per day). Sagemoor Drive would have about 1,910 cars per day, which is also within the acceptable range.

Despite those findings, residents said the study does not reflect real-world conditions.

“They used an IT model that measures only driveway traffic. It’s incapable of capturing the cut through traffic which is our major problem,” Hauswirth said.

Multiple neighbors told ABC 17 News they plan to attend Tuesday’s city council meeting to voice their concerns.

“My hope for Tuesday is that all of the homeowners concerns will be listened to and that it will be acknowledged that we’re not anti-growth,” Hauswirth said. “We are all hoping for us to live in a peaceful, livable community where we can be safe. We can go out and take a stroll without a fear of being ran over.”

The meeting has been moved from its usual Monday meeting date to 7 p.m. on Tuesday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A representative for Columbia in Missouri’s state house has joined other lawmakers in the push to address the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s referral backlog.

Democratic State Rep. David Tyson Smith filed House Bill 2952 on Jan. 13.

If approved, HB 2952 will give the state 45 days to conduct a medical evaluation of a detainee, starting from the day of their arrest. If the person is deemed mentally unfit for court, the state has an additional 45 days to provide treatment to the person.

“No more languishing in County Jail,” Tyson Smith said in an X post announcing the bill.

No more languishing in County Jail. I just filed HB2952 which requires mental health evaluations to occur within 45 days and transfer and treatment to occur within another 45 days.

— David Tyson Smith (@dts4mo) January 13, 2026

When a person is arrested, the state currently has 30 days to give the detainee a mental health evaluation to determine if they are fit to stand trial. If the person is found unfit, they are referred to the Department of Mental Health for treatment.

The state has 922 beds available for criminal commitment. The average wait for a bed is 14 months, leaving hundreds of detainees stuck waiting for treatment.

Officials have also noted a decline in mental health for those waiting in jails since jails cannot force detainees to take medication.

Under HB 2952, the DMH or agency in charge of the detainee will also be required to provide a report to the court on the cause if there is a delay in testing or treatment. Courts will be able to approve delays as long as they are limited to 15 days.

Representative Brian Seitz (R-Branson) filed similar legislation in December with House Bill 1677.

Both bills have been read by the House.

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Alison Patton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Room at the Inn is keeping its doors open throughout Saturday night for people in need of a warm place to sleep as the frigid cold sweeps through mid-Missouri.

Manager John Trapp said the shelter regularly hits its full capacity of 110 people. The shelter opens at 6:30 p.m. and closes at 8 a.m.

He said people are grateful to have a warm space and a meal to eat.

“Well, if they’re here, they’re not outside,” Trapp said. “That’s our main goal, is to keep people from having to sleep outdoors during the winter.”

The warming shelter will be open Monday, which is Martin Luther King Jr Day. Trapp said that’s because the city buses won’t be running.

Many people won’t have any place else to go.

“With it being a holiday, it really doesn’t meet our criteria to stay open as far as the coldness goes, but we’re going to do it anyway,” Trapp said.

Audrain County Room at the Inn Executive Director Revae Moore said the shelter saw new people on Friday night.

“The shelter’s different every day, so I know last night we had more people than we’ve had in a while,” Moore said. “Several new faces were at the shelter last night, so it was good to see them come off the streets.”

Moore couldn’t tell ABC 17 News the exact number of people in the shelter Friday. Moore’s shelter can serve 16 people, and she saw eight people the last time she was in.

The shelter opens daily at 5 p.m., and people can come in and out of the facility until 10 p.m. The shelter closes at 7 a.m. on days when the weather is below freezing. The shelter will open early and stay open throughout the day, although Moore said she doesn’t think that’s necessary for Sunday.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Department of Education has until June to create a plan to implement a new system for grading schools in the state, following Gov. Mike Kehoe’s announcement of an executive order signed during his State of the State address.

“Missouri’s current accountability system places too much weight on administrative process rather than student success, and it does not give a straightforward picture of how schools are actually performing,” Kehoe said during his speech. “The real test of Missouri’s education system should be whether students are learning.”

According to the secretary of state’s office, public schools and public charter schools will be graded on a lettered A through F scale based on a 0 to 100 point scale:

A – producing excellent student outcomes

B – producing more than satisfactory student outcomes

C – producing satisfactory student outcomes

D – producing less than satisfactory student outcomes

F – failing to produce adequate student outcomes

Scores will be based on the annual Missouri Assessment Program, or MAP, results. High schools will also be graded on graduation rate.

Schools that fail to test at least 95% of students will drop a letter grade.

“The proposed framework shall ensure that accountability grade cards are provided in a standardized, clear, and easily accessible form, designed to be easily understood by parents, taxpayers, school personnel, legislators, and the media, consistent with all state and federal law,” according to the secretary of state’s website.

Schools will receive their score from DESE by Sept. 15 and will be required to publish it by Sept. 30 annually.

The point scale will also become stricter as school scores improve to promote growth. When 65% of schools earn an A or B, the minimum score required for each letter grade will go up by five points for the next year.

The Missouri National Education Association opposed the order as well as Kehoe‘s plan to eliminate the income tax.

“The Association opposes this type of grading scheme based primarily on state-mandated, standardized tests,” the MNEA said in a statement Friday. “The Association is concerned that elimination of the $9 billion in individual income tax will not be offset by any possible sales tax increase meeting this description and will result in a massive collapse of state support for vital public services, including education.”

Kehoe’s address also encouraged the General Assembly to pass similar legislation, including House Bill 2539 by Speaker of the House Jon Patterson (R-Lees Summit) and Senate Bill 1194 by Senator Ben Brown (R-Washington).

Both bills mention the creation of the “Show Me Success Program” to give financial awards to high-performing schools. Public and Charter Schools in the top 5% student performance statewide will receive $100 per student. Schools in the top 10% but below the top 5% of student performance can receive $50 per student.

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Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri law enforcement agencies continue to expand their participation in a federal immigration enforcement partnership more than nine months after the state first moved to align itself with President Donald Trump’s directive to broaden cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A 1996 federal law allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to give state and local law enforcement limited authority to carry out immigration enforcement under ICE supervision, under an additional provision known as Section 287(g).  

ICE operates three models that law enforcement agencies can sign up to take part in: Jail Enforcement Model, Task Force Model and Warrant Service Officer Program. Agencies may participate in more than one model.

Under the Task Force Model, participating officers may identify individuals they believe are not U.S. citizens during routine policing, share information with ICE and, in some cases, carry out immigration-related arrests or serve administrative warrants, but only under ICE supervision.

Under the Jail Enforcement Model, jail staff, not patrol deputies, are trained to identify and process inmates who are in custody on local or state charges and may be subject to removal.

The Warrant Service Officer program allows ICE to train, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their agency’s jail.

As of Jan. 16, 2026, there are 39 law enforcement agencies across Missouri that have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE, according to federal records. Those agreements include 28 Task Force Model partnerships, seven Warrant Service Officer agreements and four Jail Enforcement Model agreements. Three additional agencies outside mid-Missouri have agreements pending.

In Mid-Missouri, several agencies have joined the program over the past year:

Missouri State Highway Patrol, Task Force Model, signed March 21, 2025

Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, Task Force Model, signed July 29, 2025

Phelps County Sheriff’s Office, Task Force Model, signed Oct. 17, 2025

Pettis County Sheriff’s Office, Jail Enforcement Model, signed Aug. 28, 2025

Callaway County Sheriff’s Office, Jail Enforcement Model, signed Dec. 2, 2025

The Missouri State Highway Patrol, which operates statewide, has taken one of the most expansive roles under the program. Patrol officials said 53 troopers and officers are now certified under 287(g).

From Sept. 26, 2025-January 2026, MSHP officers obtained ICE detainers on approximately 36 people, according to the agency. Patrol officials said the detainers resulted from officers’ normal enforcement duties rather than targeted immigration operations.

Federal agencies are not required to notify state or local authorities when operating within their jurisdictions, the patrol noted.

County sheriffs have emphasized that participation does not mean conducting immigration sweeps.

Callaway County Sheriff’s Office officials said the department enrolled in the program late last year, but is currently limited to the Jail Enforcement Model and remains in a holding pattern because of delays tied to a federal government shutdown in late 2025.

“At this time, there’s nothing going on except we are in basically a holding pattern as I have not heard from Immigration and Customs Enforcement since November 2025,” the Callaway County Sheriff’s office said in a statement. 

Callaway County Sheriff’s Office officials said their goal is to eventually send a small number of jail employees to ICE training so they can access federal systems to verify immigration status. The sheriff’s office also said it will not actively seek out people who are in the country illegally, but would assist ICE or other federal agencies if requested, “in whatever capacity allowed by law.”

Missouri’s growing participation follows executive orders signed in January 2025 by both President Donald Trump and Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, encouraging closer coordination with federal immigration authorities.

Nationwide, ICE reports 1,317 Memorandums of Agreements 287(g) agreements across 40 states. 

Nationwide, ICE reports 1,317 active 287(g) memorandums of agreement across 40 states. Those agreements include 147 Jail Enforcement Model partnerships in 31 states, 448 Warrant Service Officer agreements in 35 states, and 722 Task Force Model agreements spanning 34 states.

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