Author: KMIZ

Ryan Shiner

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Demolition began Wednesday on the Madison Street Parking Garage in downtown Jefferson City, the city shared on social media.

Crews began closing off the area over the weekend and the garage was closed down in December. A city spokesperson told ABC 17 News that demolition is expected to be complete by May 5.  

Jefferson City Council in November approved a $2.1 million amendment to its agreement with McCown Gordon Construction to move forward with demolition, according to the city.

Pedestrian access in the 200 block of East Commercial Way is open, while vehicle access is closed, according to information from the city.

Once the parking garage is down, the city can then start constructing a new conference center and hotel.

The city previously said more than 900 on-street parking spaces and several off-street lots will be available as the parking garage is demolished.

Other buildings in the area – including the old Jefferson City News Tribune building at 210 Monroe St. in 2024 —were knocked down in preparation for building the new conference center, hotel and more public parking. Design plans were outlined in September.

Additionally, the City Council this week approved the creation of the Downtown Jefferson City Conference Center Transportation Development District, which would allow for a 1% sales tax “to assist in the funding of public improvements, blight remediation activities and other services within the District.” Previous reporting says it primarily would be used for transportation improvements for the downtown conference center.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Repairs to road and water mains that broke Wednesday in Sedalia have been completed, according to a Thursday social media post from the city.

Water mains broke at the 1400 block of South State Fair Boulevard, the State Fair Shopping Center and the 1400 block of West 16th Street. A break that caused pavement damage to West 16th Street was reported around 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“Water main breaks are common during periods of extremely cold temperatures and can occur throughout the winter,” a Wednesday post says.

Final repairs were made at 2:30 a.m. Thursday, according to the post.

“Following completion, crew members went door to door to speak directly with affected residents about a recommended 24-hour boil advisory, and left door hangers for those who were not home. The crew then volunteered to remain on site until 12:00 p.m. today to monitor conditions and ensure no additional issues occurred before heading home from a 28-hour workday,” the post says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The state of Missouri this week asked a Cole County judge to dismiss a case filed by Columbia Public Schools over charter school applications.

The state filed its motion to dismiss on Tuesday and asked the judge to hold all proceedings in the case until a ruling is reached on the motion. A judge was assigned to the case on Wednesday and a hearing has been scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 2 where a motion to intervene by the Missouri Charter Public School Association will be heard, according to court filings.

CPS filed a lawsuit last month, claiming the establishment of charter schools in Boone County is unconstitutional.

It focuses on one of two groups that want to create a Boone County charter school — Frontier. The Columbia Board of Education has written to the state board opposing Frontier, previous reporting shows.

Senate Bill 727 was passed in May 2024 and says charter schools may be operated only in counties “between 150,000 and 200,000 inhabitants.”

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Alison Patton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia is working with the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform to find the reason for violent crime in the city.

The Office of Violence Prevention Advisory Committee met Thursday morning to discuss what data is necessary for the institute to begin its analysis on gun violence.

GVPA Data FieldsDownload

The institute wants demographic data for the suspect and victim in both deadly and non-deadly shootings.

The city will have to pay more than $290,000 for the research, according to city council documents. The institute will also analyse which organizations are active in community violence intervention and how they serve people in need.

Office of Violence Prevention Administrator D’Markus Thomas-Brown said data from research projects on gun violence and Columbia’s resource landscape will show city leaders where violence intervention and prevention are needed.

The institute would need crime data from the past one to two years, Thomas-Brown said. The results would be available within four to six months once the institute receives Columbia’s data.

“I’m really looking to that as a fix — as a roadmap to the fix to be able to see what’s going on with our situations with youth violence here in Columbia,” Thomas-Brown said.

Within the first three weeks of 2026, Columbia has seen five shootings, two deadly, and at least two of those incidents involved juveniles.

Thomas-Brown said the Columbia Police Department has the suspects and victims in four of the shootings, which is different than previous years.

“We have perpetrators captured, we have situations understood. We have the victims–have been round up, and we know what’s going on. That’s not the case in years prior,” Thomas-Brown said.

The one exception is the Nelwood Drive shooting from Jan. 16 that left one man injured in north Columbia. The CPD hasn’t given an update since letting the public know they’re looking for the suspect and a dark-colored sedan.

Deputy Chief of Police Matt Stephens said having more police officers would allow the department to operate smoothly.

“We’re running ragged just trying to stay up with 911 emergency calls, which in some degree makes us incredibly reactive, not proactive,” Stephens said.  

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Department of Transportation and Missouri State Highway Patrol warned drivers to be careful this weekend as a winter storm bears down on the state.

Much of Mid-Missouri was placed under a winter storm warning on Thursday. The warning starts early Saturday and lasts through 6 p.m. Sunday. Up to 8 inches or more of snow is possible, with extreme cold also in the forecast.

The high Saturday in Columbia could top out in the single digits, with lows near 0 degrees. Those low temperatures will slow down snow-clearing operations, MoDOT officials said at a Thursday news conference.

Snow will move into the Columbia area from the southwest after midnight, moving to the northeast. The highest totals are expected south of Interstate 70. Sleet is possible in far southern Missouri.

MoDOT Deputy Director Ed Hassinger said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon that the department started coordinating preparations Wednesday and will have 3,000 MoDOT crews working 12 hour shifts to treat the roads before, during and after the storm.

During severe winter weather, MoDOT says it runs on a system when treating the roads with main roads with heavy traffic being first priority. That includes interstates like I-70, I-44 and I-55.

“Our teams will be fully deployed across the state until we get everything to near normal and open to traffic but that could be into next week because that could be until next week because the temperatures are not going to get much above freezing and there won’t be any sunshine until middle of the week next week,” Hassinger said.

MoDOT crews will be using salt around the clock to keep the roads clear, but how effective it is can depend on the temperature.

“It takes 10 times more salt at 10 degrees than it would at 30 degrees so it becomes ineffective but we do have chemicals that we can add to that salt magnesium, calcium, beet juice makes it more effective at lower temperatures, what we do is patrol and plow,” Becky Alleroth Chief Safety and Operations Office with MoDOT said.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol will also have Troopers out across the entire state during the storm and after to respond to calls as quickly as possible. However, they are short 100 Troopers statewide, according to Capt. Scott White.

“We will be visible and proactive during this weather event, our goal is to prevent crashes, injuries and loss of life, we have adjusted staffing across the state and this is based on the anticipated conditions,” White said.

White encourages drivers to not be out on the roads unless they absolutely need to be. He urges drivers to be prepared with several items in your vehicle because a minor incident could quickly turn life-threatening. He wants drivers to keep in mind conditions on the roads can slow down response times for Troopers.

“Help can take longer to reach people, if you must travel what people do before hand is really going to matter that means checking your tires or fuel levels, make sure you keep a winter survival kit with blankets, water food and a phone charger that important thats probably one of the best tools people can have out there,” White added.

To be aware of weather conditions, the MoDOT traveler’s map provides hour by hour weather conditions across the entire state.

Cole County Public Works wrote in a Facebook post that a small crew will work early Saturday, with a larger crew coming in for a day shift.

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Josie Anglin

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Voters in the Southern Boone R-I School District will decide on a $4 milllion bond issue in April.

The bond issue would fund improvements, renovations and repairs at the schools, according to the school district. The district’s debt service tax levy would not change.

If approved, the money would go to replace portions of the parking lot at all four schools, replace the roofing at the high school and primary school, and replace the HVAC system at the high school.

The Southern Boone Board of Education approved the resolution to be put on the ballot Wednesday.

The municipal election is April 7.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Students in the Sturgeon School District will learn from home on Thursday and Friday due to an illness outbreak in the small district and a bitterly cold forecast.

Superintendent Dustin Fanning wrote in a letter to parents on Wednesday that the school attendance rate had plummeted to 78% at dismissal time on Thursday because of illness.

“In addition to the illness, Friday’s forecast is calling for bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills,” Fanning wrote. “And potential for snow. The pending weather and the student illness make this a great time to take advantage of our AMI days.”

AMI stands for “alternative methods of instruction.”

Fanning says the district will disinfect school buildings over the weekend to reduce the spread of illness.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Three 18-year-olds charged in a deadly shooting in southwest Columbia on Sunday will make their first appearance in a Boone County courtroom Thursday afternoon.

Alexis Baumann, of Hallsville; Kobe Aust and Joseph Crane, both of Columbia; were charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and first-degree robbery.

A juvenile is also facing the same charges along with felony theft.

Baumann, Aust and Crane will be in front of Judge Kayla Jackson-Williams at 1 p.m. in the Boone County Courthouse.

Officers responded to a shots fired call in the 1400 block of Ridgemont Ct. around 8:15 p.m. Sunday. When officers arrived, they found Michael Burke, 42, with life-threatening injuries. He later died at the hospital.

Court documents filed in the case say that Baumann and the group arranged to buy a phone from the victim, Michael R. Burke. The group had already met with and stolen from at least two other victims in the two days before the confrontation that led to Burke’s death, documents say. Those incidents occurred on Claudell Lane and Northampton Dr.

Baumann told police that the juvenile would set up a meeting with someone through Facebook Marketplace to buy a phone. The group would then steal the phone and sell it for cash at a local ecoATM.

Baumann allegedly told officers that the juvenile and Crane went into Burke’s home and minutes later, she heard three gunshots. They then took his iPhone and sold it at an ecoATM at the Walmart on Conley Road.

The juvenile appeared before a Boone County judge on Wednesday for a detention hearing. The state requested that he be kept at the juvenile detention center until an adult certification investigation can be completed. The defense requested in-home detention.

The judge ordered the juvenile to stay in juvenile detention until his next court hearing on Tuesday.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Sedalia announced a temporary closure for Ohio Street on Wednesday after a Union Pacific train derailed.

No injuries were reported in the freight-train derailment, but the Ohio Street Crossing and W.T. Morris Avenue was blocked, the city announced on its social media. All other railroad crossings in the city remained open, the city wrote.

The city for motorists to avoid the Ohio Street crossing and use alternate routes while crews worked in the area, and claimed “they will likely be there most of the night and moving back and forth.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Gravois Mills man was charged with 17 counts of possessing child pornography on Wednesday in Morgan County.

Matthew Steenrod, 38, is being held at the Morgan County Jail on a $250,000 bond. His mugshot was not available on Wednesday evening. A court date has not been scheduled. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says a victim spoke with authorities on Nov. 25 detailing an alleged sexual assault by Steendord. Authorities met with an older victim on Dec. 1, claiming they found wiring and cameras and believed they were being recorded.

The next day, authorities searched for open sources online and IP addresses used by Steenrod and found a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the statement says. Steenrod allegedly uploaded a photo of child pornography to Pinterest in 2016, the statement says.

A search warrant was conducted at Steenrod’s residence on Dec. 12 and authorities allegedly found small cameras throughout the home, the statement says. Law enforcement allegedly found child porn on electronic devices found at the home, the statement says.

He was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty on Jan. 3, 2023, to drug possession and resisting arrest. The sentence comes with a four-year suspended sentence. A disposition hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, March 9.

He is also charged in Morgan County in another case with two counts of illegal gun possession. Court information shows he pleaded guilty on Feb. 24, 2025, and has a sentencing hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, March 23.

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