Author: KMIZ

Matthew Sanders

Flock cameras are pretty much everywhere these days — at least, if you’re in Columbia or Jefferson City.

In Columbia, the ubiquitous cameras have drawn concerns from some residents, as they have nationwide, especially after stories of abuses tied to police officers elsewhere misusing their camera networks. Worries have also sprouted up about the cameras’ abilities to capture more than just license plates, including the faces of drivers and passengers.

Columbia has 114 of the cameras, and they regularly help in the arrests of criminal suspects.

Jefferson City also has its own camera network. JCPD has operated 21 of the cameras since last September.

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Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) –

Two juveniles were in custody Tuesday after Boone County sheriff’s deputies chased them in an alleged stolen vehicle.

Capt. Brian Leer with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office said deputies tried pulling over the driver of a car reported stolen out of Nebraska on Interstate 70 near the Highway 63 connector. Leer said the driver kept going and got off the interstate at the Route Z exit. That took them and law enforcement west back toward Columbia on Richland Road.

Leer said the suspects then stopped and tried running in the 5300 block of St. Charles Road. Deputies caught them after a brief chase.

ABC 17 News saw deputies tape off a portion of the side of the road around 10 a.m. A tow truck took a vehicle away from the scene, which deputies cleared shortly after 10.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A dual bomb and gun threat led police to surround Douglass High School on Tuesday morning.

Columbia police had initially said officers responded Tuesday morning to an “active threat” at Douglass High School. The Columbia Police Department later said in that officers didn’t find anything.

Columbia Police Department officers were sent to the area a little after 10 a.m. By about 11:40 a.m., CPD had posted on social media that no threat was found.

Classes don’t start until next week, so students were not in the building. CPD spokesman Colin Imhoff said officers cleared staff from the building.

The school was surrounded by police cruisers, and a police drone was flying overhead a little before 11 a.m. A reporter saw people being escorted out of the school before police dogs were taken inside. A bomb technician was also at the scene, the CPD release states.

Police had left the scene by noon.

A teacher told an ABC 17 News reporter that she saw police with rifles drawn outside the building.

Columbia Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark confirmed that no students were in the building. Classes start next week across CPS.

Check back for updates to this developing story.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources awarded the Cole County Public Water Supply District No. 5 a $30,000 grant for a drinking water engineering report grant, according to a Tuesday press release from the DNR.

The release says the district will use the money to evaluate its drinking-water system. The DNR offers funds for communitirs to make improvements to its drinking water system.

“Keeping our water clean, drinkable and accessible will always be a top priority as we work to help Missouri communities flourish, DNR Director Kurt Schaefer was quoted in the release.

The release says additional money for the project can come from the EPA.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Some people in Camden County this week may notice a bit more Faygo and face paint.

The annual Gathering of the Juggalos will be held from Wednesday through Saturday at Mother Nature’s Riverfront Retreat in Macks Creek. The ticket processing lot will be located at 1776 Bar and Grill, according to the festival’s website.

A “juggalo” is the name fans of the rap group The Insane Clown Posse call themselves. The festival is in its 26th year and its location changes depending on the year.

Col. Scott Hines, of the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC 17 News on Tuesday that 4,000 tickets have been sold for the event and officials say up to 10,000 attendees may show up.

“Our deputies are currently patrolling heavily in that area of the county to account for the added vehicular traffic. We are also coordinating with MSHP and multiple fire and EMS agencies to ensure we have as many assets available in the area. The planning for this multi-agency operation began several months ago,” Hines wrote in an email to ABC 17 News.

Some performers of the festival include ICP, Hatebreed and Kansas City rapper Tech N9ne.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers arrested a man on Monday who was described as a marijuana supplier for The Gathering of the Juggalos for 20 years.

Kevin Jones, 45, of Bearre Easton, Pennsylvania, was charged in Camden County on Tuesday with first-degree drug trafficking and delivery of a controlled substance. He is being held at the Camden County Jail without bond. An initial court appearance was held on Tuesday.

The probable cause statement says the patrol learned Jones was “planning to distribute a large amount of marijuana during the Gathering of the Juggalos Festival” after seeing “Bluntman’s One Stop Shop” being advertised on the fest’s website.

Troopers saw Jones’ Ford F-350 towing a camper trailer in Osage Beach on Monday, pulled the vehicle over and found 128 pounds of marijuana products and 2.5 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms, the statement says.

The festival will be held Wednesday through Saturday at Mother Nature’s Riverfront Retreat in Macks Creek. Officials are preparing for up to 10,000 attendees.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Valarie Moseley will become the new head of the Missouri Department of Corrections on Oct. 1, according to a Tuesday press release from the governor’s office.

Moseley takes over for Trevor Foley, who is becoming the state’s budget director. The release says Moseley has served as the department’s deputy director since December 2023 and has served as the director of the division of offender rehabilitative services.

She was also the assistant division director for employee health and safety in the department’s Division of Human Services, the release says. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from William Woods University in Fulton.

“I am humbled by the Governor’s trust in me to continue my service to the department in this role,” Moseley was quoted in the release. “I look forward to leading the DOC team in our efforts to move the department forward by supporting our workforce, improving engagement with external stakeholders, and working to reduce risk and recidivism for the safety of our communities. I would like to thank Director Foley for his leadership, and I look forward to working to follow the example of the leaders before me who set the vision for an even better Department of Corrections.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced in a Tuesday press release that it is launching a new website for residents to report suspicious activity.

The release says showmeshield.gov, also known as Missouri: Show-Me Shielf, is replacing the SafeNation app.

The release says the website should be used to report “unusual items or situations they encounter, persons attempting to elicit information at a level beyond simple curiosity about a building’s purpose, operations, security procedures and/or personnel, when shift changes occur, etc.”

The patrol also announced the anti-bullying hotline can be accessed online at courage2reportmo.com or calling 1-866-748-7047. The previous Courage2Report app has been deactivated, the release says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An 81-year-old man died from injuries he suffered in a crash with a cement truck on Monday in Jefferson City, according to a Jefferson City Police Department crash report.

The report says officers responded at a two-vehicle crash at 9:22 a.m. near the intersection of Route C and Veith Drive.

The report claims the 81-year-old Jefferson City man drove his 2011 Chevrolet Silverado southbound through a red light when it was hit by the 2025 Kenworth. The cement truck was driven by a 60-year-old California, Missouri, man.

The 81-year-old man died overnight at University Hospital, police wrote. The crash remains under investigation.

The Kenworth driver wore a seatbelt and had no reported injuries. The vehicle had minor damage. It was not stated in the report if the Jefferson City man wore a seatbelt. The Chevrolet had severe damage.

Public JCPD reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

When Missouri voters approved legal sportsbetting in November 2024, Winning for Missouri Education, backed by millions of dollars from DraftKings and FanDuel, touted millions in new revenue for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The Missouri Gaming Commission initially estimated the state would collect more than $6 million in its first year of legalized sports betting for education, with that figure expected to climb to about $20 million annually throughout the following four years.

However, despite $3.213 million being transferred into the Missouri Education Fund during fiscal year 2026 — the first year of legalized sports betting — school districts say they do not expect to see an increase in their budgets as a result.

After $1.084 million was transferred to the Sports Wagering Education Fund on June 9, ABC 17 News reached out to several Mid-Missouri school districts to find out when they expected to receive the funding.

As of Aug. 13, a spokesperson for Southern Boone County R-I School District told ABC 17 News the district had not received any payments from the Missouri Education Fund.

Under the Missouri Constitution, sports betting operators are required to pay 10% of their monthly gross gaming revenue to the state for education. However, sportsbooks can deduct certain expenses, including player winnings, promotional wagers and federal taxes, before that tax is calculated.

In June alone, sportsbooks deducted $244.5 million for those expenses. But those deductions are not the primary reason school districts are not expecting to see additional funding.

According to DESE Chief Communications Officer Lucas Bond, lawmakers have already designated how sports wagering revenue will be used in the state’s budget.

House Bill 2, the state’s appropriations bill, includes $6.805 million from the Sports Wagering for Education Fund for the foundation formula, which provides funding to school districts. It also includes $1.2 million for career-readiness assessments and $400,000 to establish an online parent portal.

Bond said if sports wagering revenue continues to come into the state as projected, those appropriations will be funded. However, the money going toward the foundation formula will not result in a net increase for schools.

“It should be noted that the Sports Wagering Fund dollars appropriated to the foundation formula would be part of the regular distribution,” Bond said. “Since the foundation formula appropriation for FY27 is the same as for FY26, this would not represent a net increase in foundation formula money to schools.”

In other words, sports betting revenue can help fund existing education appropriations without necessarily increasing the total amount of money schools receive.

Columbia Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Heather McArthur said districts also do not receive a breakdown showing exactly where each dollar in their state payment originates.

“When districts receive the monthly payment from DESE, it just lists the various revenues (Basic Formula, Classroom Trust Fund, Proposition C, Transportation, etc.) on the payment transmittal,” McArthur told ABC 17 News in an email.

McArthur said gaming revenue earmarked for education is generally included in the Classroom Trust Fund line on district payment statements. However, those funds are currently being distributed based on the state’s original budget appropriation.

She said that could change later in the fiscal year as the state gets a clearer picture of total revenue and DESE makes additional distributions or withholdings.

The distinction is important because the campaign supporting the passed amendment repeatedly highlighted education as a major beneficiary of legalized sports betting.

The amendment’s passage did create a new source of state revenue dedicated to education, but the amount ultimately reaching schools and whether it represents additional funding depends on how lawmakers appropriate that money through the state budget.

For fiscal year 2027, at least some of that sports wagering revenue is already accounted for in existing appropriations rather than being added on top of the state’s foundation formula funding.

As a result, Missouri schools are not expecting to see a budget windfall simply because sports betting revenue is now flowing into the state’s education funds.

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