Author: KMIZ

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 27-year-old Columbia man has been charged with two felonies in a fatal crash that occurred on Friday in Camden County.

Dylan Gibson was charged in Camden County with driving while intoxication that caused the death of another and DWI that caused serious physical injury. He is being held at the Camden County Jail without bond. A hearing was held on Tuesday morning and Gibson applied for a public defender, according to court filings.

The probable cause statement says troopers were called to a crash and found Gibson “throwing alcoholic shooters off the” Niangua Bridge. The trooper wrote that Gibson appeared to be intoxicated.

Court documents say Gibson took an on-site breath test and blew a .233, nearly three times over the legal limit to drive. After attempts to get details of the crash from Gibson, the trooper wrote that he admitted to trying to pass a car and another car hitting his vehicle.

Witnesses allegedly told troopers that they saw Gibson’s BMW “weaving all over the roadway prior to the crash,” the statement says.

The driver of the other vehicle — a 63-year-old Roach man – was pronounced dead at the scene and a 22-year-old passenger in the BMW had serious injuries, a Missouri State Highway Patrol report says. MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

Click here to follow the original article.

Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County Emergency Management is continuing its multi-million dollar expansion of radio upgrades after the Boone County Commission and the Columbia City Council passed several Radio Grant Program measures on Monday and Tuesday.

Through the grant, agencies can receive portable, hand-held radios that are similar to walkie-talkies or mobile radios that are mounted and typically used in vehicles. Some agencies also requested pagers.

Tuesday morning, the Boone County Commission approved radios for several agencies. According to county documents, the Ashland Police Department requested 15 portable and five mobile radios valued at around $148,000. Boone Health requested 31 portable and six mobile radios for their ambulance team, valued at around $296,000. The Boone County Courthouse also requested 13 portable radios valued at around $94,000 for the county’s court marshals.

Boone Health spokesperson Christian Basi said the hospital moved to the new system to keep up with the latest technology for when they work with other public safety partners.

“If you have an event where you are looking at, for example, mass casualties, where you have many different people injured, there might be worse than injuries, and you have multiple agencies responding, it’s critical that you have technology that can talk to one another,” Basi said.

The commission previously approved the Hallsville Police Department receiving $116,000 of equipment earlier this month. This includes nine portable and seven mobile radios, according to city documents.

The Centralia Police and Fire Departments were also approved for equipment by the commission in early June. The fire department requested 24 portable and five mobile radios as well as 24 pagers. The police department requested 15 portable and 12 mobile radios.

The Columbia City Council also approved radios for city agencies on Monday, valued at around $3.8 million in total. The police department would receive 237 radios and 119 mobile radios valued at just over $2.5 million. The fire department would receive 71 portable and 55 mobile radios as well as 32 pagers valued at a little over $1 million. The city’s airport would also receive eight portable and four mobile radios as well as two pagers valued at a little over $100,000 dollars.

The Boone County Commission has final approval over the grant money.

Columbia Fire Department Chief Brian Schaeffer reports said the fire department currently relies on a “runner” to share information from inside a building to outside personnel or a telephone from inside the building they are responding to, if it’s not damaged.

“It’s personnel-intensive to do that to move people from an IDLH, or, an immediately dangerous life and health environment, outside to talk to somebody to basically play telephone,” Schaeffer said.

The radio grant program integrates a new radio system across all of its agencies. It is upgrading from “the legacy VHF radio system to a countywide interoperable 800 MHz Project 25 (P25) Phase 2 radio system,” according to Columbia city meeting documents from Monday night.

The new system uses shorter wavelengths when carrying messages and can penetrate through metal and concrete structures.

The BCOEM is also in the middle of getting grant funding for the University of Missouri Police Department, MU Health Care, Southern Boone County Fire Protection District and Boone County Fire Protection District.

The county began saving up for the radios in 2013 through the Boone County 911 Emergency Service Sales Tax. The entire radio program is expected to exceed $11 million. The sales tax was previously used for the construction of the BCOEM building and other technology improvements. The tax is expected to also help pay for the office’s switch to the updated Next Generation 911 system that many agencies are upgrading to across the country.

“We are now able to make that promise that we’ve had to the community as well as our partners to get this infrastructure up, get the technology updated, and to be able to provide these radios to our community and our responders,” Boone County Joint Communications Director Christie Davis said.

Davis expects all county agencies to make the switch to the new radio system by March 2027. Schaeffer added that radios for the CFD are expected by Dec. 1, 2026, but adds that the date can be affected by manufacturing delays.

“The taxpayers’ dollars for years have been collected waiting for this day to be able to purchase the equipment, to be able to purchase users, mobiles and portables, station alerting, all of these things are finally coming to fruition, which is great to see,” Schaeffer said.

Davis said the BCOEM has been in close communication with vendors and expects equipment to ship on time.

They know that these purchase orders are coming very soon and they know that we’re hoping to get those to them by the end of this month,” Davis said.

Davis adds that she expects the transition into the new system to begin in October, with plans to have various agencies practice using the system during Mizzou football games at Memorial Stadium following building renovations.

“We will probably start with some of the smaller agencies just to see how the system is working and making sure that we have a burn-in period to make sure we are covered as is expected,” Davis said.

Click here to follow the original article.

ABC 17 News Team

By Leah Rainwater

WASHINGTON (KQTV) — A northwest Missouri man is among several being charged with conspiracy to commit murder at the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House last weekend.

Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, was arrested Monday. Eskridge is known to be a resident of the Hamilton, Missouri area, just under an hour east of St. Joseph, Missouri and over an hour northeast of Kansas City.

During the investigation of a plot to carry out an attack at the White House on June 14, the FBI identified a group of conspirators, including Eskridge, who procured weapons and made plans to carry out the attack.

According to recent reports, the group of conspirators came from areas in Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and California.

A federal affidavit revealed the group messaged over the “SimpleX” application, which is an open-source messaging application that operated without using any user identifiers.

Eskridge, who went by the username “FULCRUM,” indicated he was 32-years-old, lives an hour north of Kansas City, Missouri, has a wife and five kids, lives on rural property and more.

The group recruited multiple other conspirators and moved the planning to a Signal group chat.

On June 13, law enforcement executed federal search warrants for Eskridge and his residence.

Law enforcement seized multiple weapons and tactical gear that Eskridge identified in the SimpleX and Signal chats.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman who was sentenced to probation in 2024 in an infant’s 2019 death had her probation revoked on Friday.

Lavosha Daniels, 34, pleaded guilty on Dec. 16, 2024, to abandoning a corpse and first-degree involuntary manslaughter. She will now serve seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. She is currently being held at District 6 Probation and Parole, according to DOC records.

The baby died after allegedly being strangled by Staffone Fountain, who was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Police arrested Fountain and Daniels in 2022 after someone found a note from Daniels addressed to police in a different hotel describing what happened. Prosecutors claimed  Fountain may have struck the child and placed her in an unsafe sleeping position when he put the child in a car seat and placed her in the bathtub.

The state tried to revoke Daniels bond after she allegedly stole multiple “slushi” machines from a Columbia Sam’s Club on Jan. 14. She is charged with felony stealing and misdemeanor stealing in that case and has an arraignment set for 8:30 a.m. Monday, June 22.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The family of former Mizzou defensive lineman Aldon Smith has hired multiple civil rights attorneys after his death was announced on Saturday, according to a Tuesday press release from Wukela Communications

Smith played for the Tigers from 2009-10 and eventually became a top-10 draft pick in 2011 and earned All-Pro honors in the NFL. He died Saturday at 36 years old.

Tuesday’s press release says Smith’s family hired Harry Daniels, Bakari Sellers and Wayne Kendall for their attorneys.

The cause of Smith’s death has not been released, though the release says the family’s attorneys are “investigating all of the aspects of this tragedy including the potential role CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) might have played given the numerous concussions Smith suffered throughout his career.” 

“As with anyone who dies so suddenly at such a young age, we understand that there is a great deal of interest in and speculation about Aldon Smith’s passing and we intend to get to the bottom of it. To that end, we have taken a number of steps including sending his brain to Boston where medical experts will examine it for CTE as well as other damage caused by years of concussions and additional trauma,” a statement included in the press release says.

Mizzou Football and the San Francisco 49ers each honored Smith on social media after his death was announced.

Click here to follow the original article.

Erika McGuire

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

As Kansas City prepares to host six FIFA World Cup matches, officials are expanding public transit and launching shuttle services to help move hundreds of thousands of expected visitors throughout the region.

Argentina and Algeria will play the first match at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Arrowhead Stadium, which is being called Kansas City Stadium for the World Cup.

ConnectKC26 Stadium Direct

For fans attending matches, ConnectKC26 has a direct bus service to Arrowhead Stadium on match days from the FIFA fan festival, the Plaza or designated park-and-ride locations.

Park-and-ride locations include North Kansas City, Independence Center, Graceway and Oak Park Mall.

$15 per rider, per match (round-trip)

Service begins 3 hours before kickoff and runs 2 hours after a match ends

A valid ConnectKC26 pass and valid match-day ticket are required

Exploring the Kansas City Metro area

To explore attractions, dining and shopping in the Kansas City area, ConnectKC26 is also offering visitors a “Region Direct” service. The service offers rides to 15 major attractions throughout the city, including:

North Kansas City

Boardwalk Square

Liberty

Worlds of Fun

Independence Square

Independence Center

Lee’s Summit

3-Trails Transit Center

KC Zoo & Starlight Theatre

Mission

Oak Park Mall

Overland Park Convention Center

Lenexa City Center

Lawerence

The Legends

Rides will run about every 20 minutes, with the Lawrence stop running approximately every 30 minutes, according to ConnectKC26.

1-Day Pass per rider: $5

7-Day Pass per rider: $25

Full Tournament Pass per rider: $50 June 11-July 13

Weekday hours are from Sunday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.

KC StreetCar

Kansas City’s free two-mile route through Kansas City is also a way of getting around the city.

The streetcar provides level boarding and priority seating with several routes running from the River Market to the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The streetcar connects to the River Market, Power and Light District, Union Station and the Country Club Plaza neighborhoods.

Operating hours

Monday-Thursday: 5 a.m. to midnight

Friday-Saturday: 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Sunday: 5 a.m. to midnight

No passes are required.

RideKC Bus

A public bus service that runs throughout the Kansas City metro area is another option available for those wanting to experience World Cup 2026 festivities and matches.

Fares start at $2 for a single ride, with daily and weekly passes available.

RideKC Bus runs daily from 5 a.m. to midnight.

For detailed routes, RideKC recommends downloading the RideKC mobile app or visit the transit app.

One of two RiverRunner rides from Jefferson City to Kansas City is sold out on Tuesday, according to Amtrak.

Fans descended into Kansas City Tuesday to attend the match between Argentina and Algeria with some fans spending $1,000 on a ticket.

But for fan Juana Benito, the journey from Nebraska was worth it after she secured tickets through a World Cup ticket lottery.

Benito said she hoped she would be selected for an Argentina match and that being in Kansas City to watch the defending champions play made the experience even more special.

“Growing up, I have always been a Messi fan and the fact that we got selected to see one of their matches was like I was like please be an Argentina game please and since they won four years ago and obviously that is a very happy experience for me,” Benito said

Other fans came from Mexico, San Francisco and Argentina said they came all the way to the states to see Lionel Messi play.

Many compare the World Cup to the Super Bowl, but fans say the tournament is on another level.

“I feel like the World Cup brings a lot more people together from all over the countries, I feel like football is just here in the U.S. and I feel like more people watch it worldwide,” Benito said.

While Kansas City has expanded transportation options for the tournament, including shuttle services and public transit, many fans said they chose to rent cars or use rideshare services to get around the city.

Click here to follow the original article.

Jazsmin Halliburton

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The FIFA World Cup kicks into high gear Tuesday in Kansas City as the reigning world champions, Argentina, face off against Algeria.

The FIFA Fan Fest will be open from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday for fans to enjoy World Cup matches and other festivities.

The festival, located at the National World War I Museum and Memorial, serves as the official fan hub for Kansas City’s six World Cup matches and can accommodate up to 25,000 people per day.

If you plan on attending the FIFA Fan Fest, there are some rules in place.

Your pass must be digital to enter the venue.

Clear bags only that are 12” x 6” x 12” or small non-clear bags 4.5” x 6.5” are permitted.

Stay hydrated. Clear plastic water bottles will be allowed and water stations will be set up around the venue.

The FIFA Fan Festival is free, though admission is subject to capacity limits. Organizers are encouraging fans to reserve passes in advance.

The Connect K26 shuttle service will be available for fans at GEHA Stadium and Fan Fest.

Connect KC26 shuttles will be available from 10 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and people must have their KC26 shuttle pass. Shuttles will run approximately every 20 minutes; shuttles from the Lawrence, Kansas stop will run approximately every 30 minutes.

Below is a map of the Connect KC26 shuttle stops

Courtesy of Connect KC26

Argentina will face Algeria at 8 p.m. Tuesday at GEHA Stadium and will air on Fox KQFX.

FIFA Fan Fest will air the two matches ahead of Argentina vs Algeria. France will take on Senegal at 2 p.m., followed by Iraq vs Senegal at 5 p.m.

All World Cup matches will be aired at the FIFA Fan Fest throughout the tournament.

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

Jefferson City has a minibike issue.

Council members say that residents of every ward have complained about vehicles such as minibikes, dirt bikes and other motorized, two-wheeled machines on city streets. At Monday’s meeting, the council passed an ordinance to explicitly bar them from city streets.

Do you agree that minibikes shouldn’t be street-legal? Let us know by voting in the poll.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A three-vehicle crash led to the eastbound lane of Interstate 70 to close down on Monday evening near the St. Charles Road exit in Columbia.

Boone County Joint Communications sent a notification at 8:32 p.m. stating that the road was closed at the 133.4-mile marker because of a crash. Traffic appeared to be moving at 9:30 p.m.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed three vehicles were involved in an 8:57 p.m. social media post.

Gale Blomenkamp, of the Boone County Fire Protection District, told ABC 17 News that no injuries were reported in the crash.

🚨Multiple Vehicle Crash on I-70🚨

Troopers are investigating a three vehicle crash on eastbound I-70, at the 133 mile marker, in Boone County.

The roadway is blocked and traffic is backing up. Please avoid the area and use an alternate route. pic.twitter.com/VhtrYLHij4

— MSHP Troop F (@MSHPTrooperF) June 16, 2026

Check back for updates.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri State Board of Education has appointed Stacey Preis as its interim commissioner of education, according to a Monday press release.

The release says she has 18 years in educational leadership, student achievement initiatives and statewide education policy. She was the deputy commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and served as the executive director of the joint committee on education for six years, the release says.

Additional information from the Boone County Family Resources website says she has three degrees from the University of Missouri, including a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis.

“Missouri students, parents, and educators expect a department that is responsive, supportive, and relentlessly focused on excellence,” Preis is quoted in the release. “I am honored to serve and will work closely with the State Board, the dedicated team at DESE, and our partners to drive innovation, strengthen outcomes, and continue the progress for Missouri’s children.”

The state board of education “is assembling an advisory committee to lead a national search to identify a permanent commissioner of education,” the release says.

Click here to follow the original article.