Author: KMIZ

Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Since its announcement Tuesday, 172 high school seniors across Missouri have opted into the University of Missouri’s guaranteed admissions program.

Eligible students are high school students with a 3.0 GPA who have completed at least 12 credits of college-level courses through their school district’s early college program. School districts partnering with MU include Columbia Public Schools, Farmington School District, Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, Liberty Public Schools and North Kansas City Schools.

There is currently no limit on guaranteed spots. The requirements are meant to mirror how a typical MU student would perform. The program is also not binding, leaving students free to consider other schools.

“I think students that first week of school or that first week of August, and as we start the school year, to know that they’ve been accepted somewhere, just kind of takes a weight off their shoulders and makes senior year hopefully a little bit easier,” CPS Advanced Studies Coordinator Jacob Biener said.

Biener says 40 juniors out of 250 students in CPS’ early college program with Moberly Area Community College opted into guaranteed admissions. He adds that non-eligible students who may have started college-level courses late still can benefit from CPS covering class costs.

“Even though they aren’t getting an associate degree or getting auto-admitted to Mizzou, they’re still getting a huge jump start and likely still meeting all the requirements they need to be accepted to,” Biener said.

According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, statewide college admissions have been on the decline. From 2020-25, the percentage of high school graduates going to a four-year college declined about 2.5%. Vocational and technical school enrollment saw around a 2% increase since 2020.

“Our enrollment numbers have held steady and we’re really proud of that,” said Mitzi Clayton, who is MU’s director of enrollment management strategic initiatives. “But, we are not naïve to think that what Dr. [Mun] Choi has indicated, that nationally, college-going rates are on the decline and so it behooves us not to look at alternative ways in which we can reach students.”

Clayton added MU is considering adding other school districts with pre-college programs to the partnership in the future.

MU also has a similar guaranteed admission program for 4-H students and also has unlimited spots. Clayton confirmed that enrollment in either guaranteed admission program will not be affected by the additional students.

“We have students that know they’re going to law school, med school, and this is a way to kind of go through that process a little bit quicker,” Biener said. “Even students that are first-time college students or first-gen college students and students that know they’re going to be pursuing higher degrees, what they have in common is kind of how hard they work and that they’re in this program together.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia Public Works Department will hold an open house meeting next week about a pair of projects.

The meeting will be held 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15 in conference rooms 1A and 1B at city hall about the East Green Meadows Road/East Nifong Boulevard roundabout and the Pershing Road sidewalk project.

The roundabout project also includes pavement and sidewalk maintenance along East Green Meadows Road and Veterans United Drive. Construction is expected to begin summer 2028. Public comments can be left on the project’s BeHeard website.

Construction for a sidewalk on the east side of Pershing Road between Gary Street and Again Street Park will be begin during the fall of 2027. Public comments can be left on its BeHeard website.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The defense in a homicide case from Gasconade County is trying to get a murder charge dismissed.

Henry Lorton, of Owensville, is charged in Gasconade County with second-degree murder and three counts of first-degree assault.

His lawyer filed a motion on Tuesday asking the judge to lower his bond to $10,000 and claimed that another man had admitted to stabbing and killing Trey Johnson while being recorded on a Ring camera.

Additionally, defense attorney Robert Schollmeyer filed a request on Thursday asking the judge to dismiss the murder charge in the case for the same reason. A hearing on the bond motion will be held 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28.

Court documents in previous reporting say Johnson was stabbed to death after eight people were involved a September brawl in Owensville. Lorton was allegedly identified Lorton through surveillance video from a bar and restaurant near the fight, previous reporting says. Two people were taken to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis.

Lorton allegedly admitted to being in the fight, but denied having a knife or stabbing anyone, court documents say. He allegedly blacked out during the fight and the men were gone when he woke up, previous reporting says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 56-year-old man from Roach, Missouri, was killed in a motorcycle crash on Thursday afternoon on Route AA in Camden County, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says the man rode his 2024 Indian Roadmaster northbound, failed to negotiate a curve and went off the right side of the road. The bike overturned and the man was ejected, the report says. He was pronounced dead at the scene by authorities.

The man was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, the report says. His body was brought to Allee-Holman-Howe Funeral Home.

The bike had extensive damage. MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Stephi Smith

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jefferson City officials are considering new regulations for homeless shelters, drawing concerns from local advocates about how the rules could affect existing services.

The Jefferson City Public Works and Planning Commission voted Thursday morning to send a proposed ordinance regulating shelters to the City Council.

The ordinance would apply to overnight shelters, severe-weather shelters, soup kitchens and day/resource centers. Domestic violence shelters, group homes, foster homes and disaster-relief shelters would be exempt from the regulations.

Under the draft ordinance, overnight shelters would need a safety plan outlining procedures for handling violent or intoxicated people, missing or endangered people, and medical and behavioral health emergencies. The plan also would need to establish when staff should call 911 or handle incidents internally. The city’s fire chief, police chief and director of the Planning and Protective Services Department would need to approve the plan.

The proposal would require shelters and related facilities to obtain permits and renew them annually. Overnight shelters, soup kitchens and day/resource centers also would need an approved neighborhood plan outlining regular communication with nearby property owners and how operators would respond to feedback.

The proposal comes less than a month after the Jefferson City Council rejected a rezoning request for a proposed homeless shelter at 107 Adams St. The proposal would have included a day center with showers and resources to help people find employment and housing.

The Public Works and Planning Committee’s meeting packet also included correspondence from community members, including Melinda Jennings of the Salvation Army and the city’s Task Force on Homelessness, which Mayor Ron Fitzwater assembled in 2024.

The task force asked the city to amend portions of the proposed ordinance, including removing provisions dictating shelter hours, limiting the length of stays and requiring clients to provide government-issued identification before entering a shelter.

Susan Cook, vice chairwoman of the task force and executive director of River City Habitat for Humanity, said she supports regulating shelters but has concerns about the draft ordinance.

Cook submitted more than 30 recommended revisions on behalf of the task force. Among them was a recommendation to remove a requirement that shelters maintain a roster of each guest’s name, last place of residence and photo or government-issued identification.

Instead, the task force recommended requiring an “emergency accountability roster” containing “the minimum information necessary for emergency operations.” Cook also expressed concerns the ordinance would not grandfather-in existing shelters, such as the Salvation Army, potentially putting their ability to provide services at risk.

Under the proposal, the director of the Planning and Protective Services Department could revoke a shelter’s operating permit for violations of the ordinance.

“What happens to those people that are outside when it gets really cold?” Cook said. 

Cook said she plans to host an event next week with community members who work with unhoused people to explain the proposed ordinance and gather more feedback for the city.

Scott Johnston, president of Housing the Community Jefferson City, said he is particularly concerned about the proposal’s restrictions on severe-weather shelters.

Under the draft ordinance, a severe-weather shelter could open no earlier than 24 hours before a forecast severe-weather event and would have to close within 24 hours after the event ends.

The proposal defines severe-weather events to include certain periods of extreme cold, including wind chill temperatures below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as heavy snow and flooding.

Johnston said the temperature threshold is too low and could put unhoused people at risk during the winter.

Housing the Community Jefferson City operates Jefferson City Room at the Inn, an overnight shelter that operates during the winter months. The shelter is open almost every night from December through March.

Johnston said he is unsure whether Room at the Inn would be classified as a severe-weather shelter or an overnight shelter under the proposed ordinance because he found the definitions unclear. The draft defines a severe-weather shelter as one that is “only open during severe weather events.”

Johnston said he supports establishing regulations for shelters but believes the proposed language needs work.

“I don’t know of anybody really that’s opposing the idea of an ordinance that makes shelters safer. But it’s the current language, it’s not the idea,” Johnston said. 

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man has been charged with a felony after he was accused of starting a fire at a mobile home over the weekend in the 1500 block of Vandiver Drive.

Stephen Tune Jr., 39, of Columbia, was charged on Thursday in Boone County with second-degree arson. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A court date has not been set.

The probable cause statement says the fire marshal determined the fire on Sunday night was intentionally set.

Video allegedly showed Tune pull up to a mobile home in a white Ford truck and get out of the vehicle, the statement says. The officer noted seeing “short bursts of light coming inside the trailer” and a “flickering glow” before Tune got back into the vehicle and driving away.

Tune and a second person referred to as “SW” allegedly gave conflicting statements to police about what they did on Sunday, Oct. 4, the statement says. The truck was seen on a Flock camera that night at Paris Road and Brown Station Road, the statement says. The Columbia Police Department wrote in a press release that Flock cameras were used to find Tune on Thursday.

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Demetra Alarcon

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Following Columbia’s gun violence analysis, the Office of Violence Prevention aims to improve school violence intervention.

The City of Columbia’s Office of Violence Prevention presented a violence-prevention analysis last week identifying three areas of focus, including violence interruption in schools.

D’Markkus Thomas-Brown, Office of Violence Prevention administrator, said increasing school intervention will require concerted effort and collaboration.

“It’s collaboration with CPS,” Thomas-Brown said. “And working at the extent of the level that they want to explore, working with students to either are very high risk or at risk to violence and working with the organizations that houses these students because they don’t stay at CPS 24 hours a day.”

Services could range from mediation to simply showing up for the student, Thomas-Brown said.

Counseling is another tool, he said.

“If there’s been a normalization of that trauma, being able to step back and talk about grief and loss and then having resources for that family to fight through, whether it be trauma counseling or … family trauma counseling, whatever that may be, or it may be tutoring or a workforce development for the parent and the child,” Thomas-Brown said.

Thomas-Brown said that the Office of Violence Protection has been working with Columbia Public Schools looking for next steps in violence intervention at school.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Sedalia woman was seriously injured Wednesday night in a crash on Route O in Pettis County, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says the woman drove a 2005 Lexus IS 300 southbound as it ran off the right side of the road and hit a fence. After that initial contact, the vehicle came back to the roadway, went off the left side and hit a tree, per the report.

The woman was flown to University Hospital. The report says she was wearing a seatbelt. The Lexus was totaled.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Euphenie Andre

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A survey conducted by Columbia’s Planning and Zoning Commission found that a majority of respondents believe the city should not build a data center.

But as interest in technology grows, city officials are working to determine what regulations would be needed if a data center were proposed.

Patrick Zenner, Columbia’s director of Development Services, said the goal is to establish guidelines before any potential development moves forward.

“We are simply and merely trying to make sure we aren’t caught flat-footed without a set of regulations to provide guidance. The ultimate decision here, if we do adopt anything, lies with council,” Zenner said during the meeting.

The City Council on May 18 passed a one-year moratorium on data center applications and development. The committee has until next March to present its proposed rules and regulations to City Council.

Electricity demand is one of the key concerns.

According to the committees presentation, the city’s historical peak electricity demand is about 290 megawatts, and many of its substations and circuits are already approaching capacity.

Projects requiring more than 20 megawatts of electricity could require significant infrastructure upgrades, a city presentation says. Depending on where a project connects to the grid, even a smaller development requiring 5 megawatts could present challenges for the city’s electric utility.

If Columbia’s existing electricity supply cannot meet a data center’s needs, developers may need to explore power purchase agreements to secure additional electricity.

Zenner said Columbia already relies on electricity generated outside the city through the regional Midcontinent Independent System Operator.

“We are purchasing off the grid from somewhere else. It’s not generated here, and so we’re buying wind from Kansas. And because it’s part of the MISO grid, it’s being credited to us even though we’re not using that wind energy — we’re not directly using that,” Zenner said.

The agreements could include a schedule for gradually increasing the amount of electricity purchased as demand grows.

“Because it may come from multiple sources, like you may have a piece that comes from MISO, you may have another piece that comes from somewhere else,” Zenner said.

Zenner said any potential power arrangements for a data center would be handled through the city’s utility department. Those upgrades could raise questions about who would pay for the additional infrastructure and how the city could protect existing utility customers from increased costs.

Missouri regulators have approved a large-load power service tariff aimed at investor-owned utilities, including Ameren and Evergy. The tariff targets new customers with an expected ramp rate exceeding 75 megawatts.

However, according to the presentation, no equivalent legislation is currently in effect for municipal utilities such as Columbia’s. Discussions about similar efforts are beginning ahead of the 2027 legislative session.

City documents outline potential ways a data center could meet its electricity needs without placing additional strain on Columbia’s existing grid.

It presents an option of generating electricity on site, while another would involve purchasing power from an off-site provider through a power purchase agreement.

Under either scenario, the developer would also need a backup power plan to account for potential outages or disruptions, city documents say.

The city is also considering how a data center could remain a utility customer even if it secures its own power supply. 

If a data center generates its own electricity on-site, one potential arrangement would involve the generation facilities eventually being owned by the city’s electric utility or Boone Electric. Officials claim that approach could create additional jobs in the area.

If the developer instead purchases electricity through an off-site agreement, that contracted capacity could help the utility meet its peak demand obligations.

The said the goal is to ensure a data center can meet its own power needs without placing additional strain on Columbia’s electric grid, while allowing the city and its utility customers to benefit from the development.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A former professional baseball player from Columbia pleaded guilty to a felony earlier this week.

Blake Tekotte, 39, pleaded guilty on Monday to third-degree domestic assault. He was sentenced to serve probation for five years with a four-year suspended sentence. He was originally charged with first-degree kidnapping and third-degree domestic assault in February 2025.

Tekotte was accused of assaulting a woman after accusing her of infidelity, court documents in previous reporting say. He allegedly stopped the assault after a neighbor heard the attack and pointed at gun at him, previous reporting says.

He also pleaded guilty on Aug. 25, 2025, to second-degree domestic assault and second-degree kidnapping from a November 2023 incident. He was sentenced to probation and shock jail time along with a seven-year suspended sentence.

Tekotte played in 50 games over three seasons in MLB from 2011-13, which included stints with the San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox.

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