Author: KMIZ

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Jefferson City Police Department on Tuesday announced that it found no evidence of “foul play or criminal activity” after a 70-year-old man was found face down in the Missouri River last week.

JCPD wrote in a press release that Michael Blecher was the man who was found in the river near the Noren River Access on Friday. An autopsy was completed on Tuesday. Blecher’s family has been notified of his death, the release says.

JCPD wrote that it will continue to work with the Callaway County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced that more traffic deaths occurred this Labor Day weekend than last year.

Eight people died on state roads between 6 p.m. Friday through 11:59 p.m. Monday. Last year during the same time period, six people died in total, with MSHP investigating four, MSHP wrote in a Tuesday press release.

This year, MSHP investigated 213 crashes where 82 people were injured and eight died, the release says. There were 123 arrests for driving while intoxicated. Last year, the patrol investigating 252 crashes, 123 injuries and four fatalities. Statewide last year, six people died and 423 people were injured in 931 crashes.

During this past weekend, one person was injured in the nine boating crashes that were investigated, the release says. Five boating while intoxicated arrests were made.

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Demetra Alarcon

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Construction of a roundabout at the intersection of South Fairview Road and Chapel Hill Road began Tuesday.

According to a news release from the City of Columbia, the project is intended to improve safety and traffic flow at the intersection. The construction also includes stormwater improvements, along with sidewalk improvements along the north side of Chapel Hill Road east of Fairview Road for pedestrian safety.

This project was first introduced in 2015, but was postponed in 2016 due to resident concerns about safety and pedestrian crossing.

The project was met with pushback from residents when it was reannounced in 2023.

When the city council held an interested parties meeting about the new roundabout, a majority of speakers were against the idea.

After speaking with residents in the neighborhood that is directly affected by the roundabout, none of them said they were for it.

In an email to ABC 17, Bill Edwards, an affected resident, said that he has personally expressed his disagreement with building this roundabout as an unnecessary priority and expense.

“The need for this particular roundabout has not been justified.

·       Traffic flow was tremendously improved by adding left-hand turn lanes several years ago.  Similar improvement would occur by adding a right-hand turn lane from Chapel Hill onto Fairview.  This was discarded outright by the department,” said Edwards.

The first phase of the project, starting Tuesday, will require lane restrictions on Chapel Hill Road and lane closures on Handley Place.

Phase two will require lane restrictions on South Fairview Road and Chapel Hill Road.

Phases three to five will require the closure of South Fairview Road north of Chapel Hill Road.

Chapel Hill Road will remain open to traffic throughout construction, with lane restrictions and temporary closures occurring. Drivers should expect delays and are encouraged to use alternate routes when possible

The estimated cost of the roundabout is $1.5 million, with funding provided by the City’s 2015 quarter-cent Capital Improvement Program sales tax extension.

John Ogan with City of Columbia Public Works said that the city expects a higher volume of traffic in this area in the future.

“We expect over the next 20 years for this roundabout to be much busier than it is now. And we believe that due to the results of this traffic study, a roundabout would be appropriate,” said Ogan.

The city says that this will be a larger roundabout, with 5-foot-wide sidewalks being added in and around the area.

“So a roundabout is going to be needed here. It’s not going to be a smaller roundabout like the one on Rawlins that many people talk about. This is going to be a full roundabout similar to the one that we constructed last year at Route K,” said Ogan.

The project is expected to be completed in winter 2027, weather permitting.

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A water main break will have one lane at the High Street viaduct in Jefferson City closed until Friday.

The Jefferson City Public Works Department said in a news release Tuesday that the eastbound lane of West High Street will be closed south of the viaduct while contractors work on the main break. The Friday reopening is dependent on weather conditions.

The viaduct reopened last month after being closed for repairs since February.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man was pronounced dead at the scene of a motorcycle crash in Osage County Monday evening.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the 45-year-old Jefferson City man was driving a 2020 Harley-Davidson Fat Bob southbound on Highway 63 north of Route T at 6:37 p.m. Monday.

The motorcycle traveled off the right side of the roadway and overturned. The driver was thrown, according to troopers.

According to the report, he was not wearing a helmet.

This is Troop F’s third traffic related death in September and the 45th in 2026.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Emergency crews on Tuesday morning were called to a trailer fire in north Columbia.

Columbia firefighters responded to a double-wide trailer in the 4500 block of North Range Line Street. Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer told ABC 17 News on scene that firefighters found the trailer with a large column of smoke. Fire crews prevented the fire from spreading to a neighboring trailer.

Schaeffer said the siding in the office area inside the trailer was damaged, the other half of the area was saved from the flames. Fire and police will be present at Rangeline and Brown School Rd. to investigate the fire.

Firefighters searched the trailer and found no one inside.

Fire crews are working on the extent of the damage and the cause of the fire.

ABC 17 News crews arrived on scene just after 3:30 a.m. and saw multiple Columbia Fire Department trucks and one Boone Health Ambulance.

The Columbia Fire Department announced in a Tuesday afternoon press release that the fire was an accidental electrical fire.

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Matthew Sanders

Missouri has made the midterms that much more interesting with its down-to-the-wire battle over which congressional map will be in effect this November.

Now, the lawsuit over whether a Republican-friendly map approved by the legislature last year should be the law of the land, or the map drawn after the normal census in 2022, has found its way to the Supreme Court.

Missouri’s attorney general has asked the court to take up the case — something that was still under consideration late Monday. But the time is running out to get ballots printed ahead of the November election.

Do you think the Supreme Court will take up the case, or pass on it? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Steven Lambson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Vernon County man died Sunday morning after he was hit by a vehicle in Camden County, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The crash was reported around midnight on westbound Highway 54 at Cedar Heights Drive just west of Camdenton and the Niangua Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks.

According to the Highway Patrol, the vehicle that hit the 23-year-old victim left the scene. Because of that, the exact time of the crash or information about the vehicle and its driver are unknown.

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Steven Lambson

The 67th Heart of America Marathon took place Monday morning, with runners enjoying cooler weather than had been around over the weekend.

The race, which goes around parts of southwest Columbia and southwestern Boone County, started at 6 a.m. Temperatures stayed lower than they had been Saturday and Sunday; the high temperatures on those days reached 100 degrees and 94 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. Lower humidity also helped the outside air feel more pleasant.

Because the marathon happens every Labor Day, when temperatures can still reach high and potentially dangerous levels, race organizers said they took extra precautions.

Volunteers and organizers set up aid stations ever couple of miles, for a total of 13 in all. Each station had water jugs with around 300 cups and between five and 15 gallons of water for runners.

The race also provided a trail vehicle to monitor the aid stations and runners and help encourage them to exit the course if they had any signs of heat exhaustion or injuries.

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Steven Lambson

A boat crash caused injuries to those inside the watercraft Saturday, though non of the injuries were serious, according to the Maries County Sheriff’s Office.

The crash happened shortly before 1 p.m. on the Gasconade River, according to the Maries County Sheriff’s Office, between the 177 and 178 mile markers. First responders found the red boat on the shoreline.

Everyone inside had gotten out already, and only had minor bumps or bruises, the sheriff’s office said.

First responders from the Vienna Fire Department, Maries-Osage Ambulance District and Missouri State Highway Patrol helped in the response to the crash.

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