Author: KMIZ

Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

MU Health Care is inviting people to stop by the Columbia Activity and Recreation Center on Saturday morning to check on their heart health.

Attendees will have access to free screenings and information on heart disease prevention.

According to America’s Health Rankings, Missouri ranks in the top 10 states with the highest percentage of adults who have reported a cardiovascular disease. The CDC also reported in 2023, Missouri ranked 10th in states with the highest rates of heart disease mortality with an average of over 188 deaths for every 100,000 people.

According to a press release, MU Health Care’s event will feature free heart health or AFIB screenings. Patients can also get their blood pressure checked and speak with an expert on body mass index measurements.

“I think this is a really great opportunity for people to understand at least what their cholesterol is, maybe where their health metrics, like their weight in relationship to where they classify,” MU Cardiologist Dr. Mary Beth Fisher said. “That allows them to start tackling some of those smaller problems.”

The event will also focus on healthy eating and physical fitness with a cooking demonstration and information on home-exercise and CPR.

“The majority of our health conditions that impact our cardiovascular health can be prevented or modified in a great way to start with that is with nutrition and with our activity,” Fisher said.

According to the American Heart Association, they promote eight essential goals for heart health:

Eating healthy

Staying active

Quitting smoking and other tobacco products

Getting healthy sleep

Managing weight

Controlling cholesterol

Managing blood sugar and blood pressure

This includes adults getting two and a half hours of physical activity per week, seven to nine hours of sleep per night and maintaining a blood pressure lower than 120/80 mm Hg.

MU Health Care also provides cardiac screening year-round.

The event will run from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday.

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Ryan Shiner

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A vigil was held on Friday in Jefferson City for a Lincoln University student who died in a crash earlier this week.

Da’Quan Ayers, 21, of Kansas City, was killed in a crash Wednesday at Highway 54 and Monticello Road in Cole County. He was a member of the fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi.

Hundreds of people showed up to Friday’s vigil. Those who spoke gave high praise to Ayers, with at least one person saying “No bad existed with Quan around”.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KM(Z)

Missouri saw an influx of influenza cases between Feb. 8-14, according to data from the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services.

The state’s dashboard shows there were 9,114 cases of flu that week – with 4,779 being flu A and 4,318 being flu B and 17 described as “untyped cases.” That’s more than 1,000 total cases from the week before.

Influenza illness activity is described as “very high,” with the weekly percent positivity being up nearly 21%, the dashboard says. The dashboard says 6.9% of all emergency visits in the state were because of the flu.

This flu season, there have been 64,612 flu A cases reported and 17,086 identified as flu B.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Audrain County Prosecutor Jacob Shellabarger announced his intent to run for his position again this year.

Shellabarger, a Republican, made the announcement in a Friday press release. He was first appointed to the position in 2009 and has won every reelection campaign since. Filing for the August primary opens on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

“Justice, fairness, and common sense guide every decision I make,” Shellabarger said in the release. “I will continue to protect those who cannot speak for themselves and uphold the laws our community has chosen for a free and safe society.”

He lives in Mexico, Missouri, with his family. He is a graduate of Centralia High School and earned degrees in agricultural journalism and law from the University of Missouri, the release says. He serves on statewide committees for prosecutor wellness, secondary trauma, technology and case management, the release says.

The release says his office files about 1,000 criminal cases each year.

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Josie Anglin

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The KFC restaurant on Clark Lane is at risk of getting fined by Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services.

A health inspection report shows a health inspector saw two violations at the fast food restaurant during a routine inspection on Monday. The inspector wrote that employees were stacking pans and trays after they were washed, when they were supposed to be air-dried. This caused water to be trapped. The inspector also said the pans and trays were not being properly cleaned and were visibly soiled.

The inspection report says a health inspector went back to check on the violations Thursday. The pots and pans were being dried correctly, but they were still not being properly cleaned.

The inspection report says that if the problem is not fixed by Tuesday, KFC could be fined.

Attempts to reach the restaurant by phone were not successful.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Sedalia man has been charged with a felony after authorities claim he made threats at parents during a children’s dance practice Tuesday at Convention Hall in Liberty Park.

Justin McIlroy was charged on Thursday with second-degree making a terroristic threat. He is being held at the Pettis County Jail.

The probable cause statement says Sedalia police were called at 5:20 p.m. Tuesday for a report of a man threatening parents. Someone who arrived at the hall to open the class saw McIlroy in the vestibule of the building while he was “swinging at things that were not there, chanting and playing music off his phone at the loudest it could go,” the statement says.

McIlroy allegedly was yelling at parents while the young children were going up the stairs in the building, the statement says. He allegedly made threats and tried to put a “curse on” people in the area, the statement says. A father of one of the children told McIlroy to leave because the youth, parents and instructors were “uncomfortable” with McIlroy being there, the statement says.

McIlroy allegedly threatened to “blow up the building” as he left, the statement says.

Police found him near the pond of the park and McIlroy allegedly threatened to kill the officer before he was detained.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The family of a woman who died from a fentanyl overdose in 2023 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against an extended stay hotel in Columbia.

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in Boone County by Stacy Thomas, the mother of Brianna Surface. Surface, 21, died from an overdose on Aug. 7, 2023, at Suburban Extended Stay (Birch Hill Suites).

The petition lists Columbia Lodging LLC, its management company J&P Asset Management, the general manager Coretta Williams and Sugar Ray Hibbler.

Hibbler is described as a “frequent guest” at the extended stay. He pleaded guilty to abandoning a corpse in a criminal case related to the incident on June 7, 2024, and was sentenced to four years in prison. He is being held at Tipton Correctional Facility.

The petition accuses Columbia Lodging and J&P Asset Management of premises liability, negligent hiring and negligent retention, while J&P faces an additional count of negligent training. Hibbler is accused of battery and Williams was accused of negligence.

Previous reporting claims Hibbler left Surface dead in a hotle room on Aug. 8, 2023, and didn’t try to get help. The victim was found by hotel staff on Aug. 9, 2023.

The petition filed on Thursday claims Surface did not give consent to take fentanyl and that Hibbler was allowed to go into the hotel despite not being a guest.

The lawsuit makes claims the hotel had poor conditions and was a regular spot for criminal activity, alleging that 1,697 calls to emergency personnel were made there in the three years prior to Surface’s death.

“This was a tragic death that never should have happened. We are committed to finding justice for this young girl’s family. This hotel was a haven for drug trafficking in Columbia and must be held accountable,” a Friday statement from the plaintiff’s attorney John Shikles says.

The lawsuit also made claims that Hibbler was known by staff to partake in criminal activity at the location.

“Suburban Extended Stay staff would often point drug dealers and members of the public to the rooms used by Defendant Hibbler to traffic drugs, even going so far as to give unknown persons key cards to access the rooms utilized by Defendant Hibbler,” court documents say. “For years prior to Brianna’s death, Suburban Extend Stay employees frequently permitted Defendant Hibbler to pass through the lobby and bring members of the public to multiple rooms in the Suburban Extended Stay, including the room in which Brianna’s body was discovered.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A mansion at the Lake of the Ozarks that was destroyed by a fire in December was likely caused by a propane leak, according to a Missouri State Fire Marshal report.

The fire on Dec. 10 on Trillium Lane in Lake Ozark was ruled accidental in the report and was determined to be a $5 million loss.

The report says the outdoor kitchen of the home was identified as the “area of fire origin” and several propane lines were located. The homeowners had a 500-gallon buried propane tank that supplied heat to several areas of the home, the report says.

“The Missouri Propane Safety Commission was unable to perform a leak test due to the numerous gas lines and extensive damage throughout the house; therefore, the exact location from which the gas flow originated within the outdoor kitchen remains unknown,” the report says.

The report says a homeowner was using a smoker at the outdoor kitchen that morning and took food off around 11:30 a.m. The fire started with a loud explosion at 1:30 p.m., the report says.

The fire marshal wrote that windy conditions that day likely prevented the homeowners from being able to smell or detect the gas.

“The most probable cause of the fire is the ignition of escaped liquid propane gas from the residential gas supply system by heat or flame from the wood pellet smoker, which was positioned within the outdoor kitchen. This determination is based on witness statements, proximity of a competent ignition source, and the known behavior of LP gas in forming flammable mixtures when leaked. The cause classification is Accidental,” the report says.

Trillium Lane fire reportDownload

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Realtors and their legal partners are celebrating a victory after a Cole County judge ruled in their favor on a ballot measure that would change Missouri’s initiative petition process.

Judge Daniel Green ruled from the bench Thursday that he would strip language that supporters and critics have called “ballot candy” from the question that will appear on ballots in November. The ballot measure would set higher thresholds for the approval of initiative petitions — questions put on the ballot by public petition.

Recreational marijuana and Medicaid expansion are two recent examples of constitutional amendments approved by initiative petition.

The Missouri Realtors supported the lawsuit after the Missouri General Assembly voted last year to put the initiative petition changes before voters.

Green ruled that provisions to prevent foreign nationals from contributing to elections, punish signature-gathering fraud and require public comment on initiative petitions should be removed from the ballot summary, according to a release from Missourians for Fair Governance, the realtors’ campaign committee. Those things are already in state law, Green ruled.

Green’s official ruling is due March 4, including new ballot language. The defendants — Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, and legislative leaders — and lawyers for petitioner David Rogers have a Feb. 27 deadline to submit their proposed ballot language.

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Alison Patton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Secretary of State’s Office backs the claim that the “Missouri First” map is in effect, but the Boone County clerk said Friday she can’t change district lines for voters until after the April election.

“Right now in the voter registration system that’s maintained by the Secretary of State’s Office, there’s not actually an option for us to assign people to the new congressional districts,” Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said. “So, we can’t do anything.”

The county clerk’s office oversees elections, including determining in which district a voter resides. But Missouri’s congressional district lines are at the center of a legal battle, Lennon said. Voters are still in the 2022 districts at least until after the April election.

Meanwhile, filing for the seats begins on Tuesday.

The Republican-dominated General Assembly last year approved a new congressional map that would effectively eliminate a safely Democratic seat in Kansas City. The map was immediately challenged in court.

Congressional maps are usually drawn every 10 years after the census, but Republicans and Democrats alike have pushed mid-decade redistricting to gain an advantage in the 2026 midterms and 2028 general elections.

A referendum backed by the group People Not Politicians is trying to get the 2025 map on the November ballot, but there’s also debate on whether the referendum freezes the map’s implementation until after the November election.

Lennon said there is a narrow window between the end of the April election and the beginning of the August election for county clerks to adjust congressional, which is late April and early May. Once an election is opened, clerks can’t adjust anything.

“That’s really going to be the absolute latest that we would be able to update district lines in order to impact the 2026 midterms,” Lennon said.

Lennon said her office has received a lot of questions from people wondering what district they’re in, and created an interactive map to outline the two different districts.

The heavy black line shows the boundary between the new Fifth and Third House districts, while the green and blue show the current Third and Fourth House districts. (Boone County Clerk’s Office)

The lower half of the county is in and will stay in U.S. House District 3, which is represented by Bob Onder (R-Augusta). The upper half of the county changes based on the map.

In the 2022 map, the county is roughly split along Interstate 70 and is in Republican Rep. Mark Alford’s District 4. The 2025 map splits the county above I-70, putting much of the northern, rural part of the county in District 5, which would stretch into Kansas City.

Rep. Alford said he intends to file for candidacy in the 2025 version of District 4, which no longer includes Boone County.

“I’m equally as comfortable in the urban core of Kansas City as I am by the lake in Camden County or in a corn field in Hickory County. That, in addition to the fact that I am the only declared candidate with the resources to run a competitive race, makes me uniquely qualified to represent the new Fourth District,” Alford told ABC 17 News in an email.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Kansas City) has already filed federally to rerun for District 5, which, under the 2025 map, covers the upper half of Boone County.

The 2025 map is likely to cut Cleaver out of the U.S. House and flip his seat to Republican. In an email to ABC 17 News, Cleaver said the race is about connecting with voters across the new district.

“The race will be in the 5th District regardless of final court decisions on the constitutionality of the mid-decade redrawing of the Congressional maps, absent a current Census or a determination that the citizens lead referendum pauses the proposed new map until there is a statewide vote,” Cleaver wrote.

Cleaver testified in front of a Missouri Senate committee during the special session on redistricting, asking them not to pass the map as it now stands.

Former Boone County Clerk Taylor Burks (R) also announced his intent to run in District 5.

“I think that mid-Missourians need a strong voice and an opportunity to send a congressman to Washington, D.C. that shares our values,” Burks told ABC 17 News on Friday. “I don’t think that Emanuel Cleaver would be that voice for us here in mid-Missouri.”

Burks is from Boone County and could be in a different district if courts knock down the 2025 map. He said that’s a concern for another time.

“At some future date, things may change. But for right now, the people who are in charge of establishing maps, running elections under these maps, they have said the Missouri First Map is here to stay,” Burks said.

A spokesperson for the Secretary of State said that if the map is changed and candidates need to switch districts, they have until May 19 to do so. There’s also potential for a judge to allow for changes.

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