Author: KMIZ

Euphenie Andre

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia is looking to expand designated rideshare and taxi zones downtown in an effort to reduce traffic congestion and improve pedestrian safety, according to the city.

The proposed ordinance would expand the amount of dedicated curb space downtown while giving rideshare drivers and customers more clearly defined locations for pickups and drop-offs.

Under the proposed ordinance, the city would:

Increase designated taxi and rideshare spaces from 34 to 66.

Start operating the zones at 9 p.m. instead of 11 p.m.

Include food and package delivery drivers.

Limit loading and unloading to 15 minutes.

Allow emergency-services parking to be designated in the areas while the ordinance is in effect.

The proposed zones would operate from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

According to the city, the proposed rideshare zones would include several locations throughout downtown:

East Walnut Street: About eight spaces.

East Broadway: About six spaces in front of FieldHouse, seven in front of Pickleman’s, six in front of India’s House, and six in front of Wynsome.

Cherry Street: The entire block in front of Pizza Tree would be dedicated to rideshare pickups and drop-offs.

North Ninth Street: About eight spaces.

South 10th Street: About eight spaces.

The Columbia Police Department began looking at the issue in Aug. 2025 after noticing an increase in traffic violations and congestion involving rideshare drivers and customers during overnight hours.

Police said part of the problem was a lack of designated areas for rideshare pickups and drop-offs.

The Akerson sisters use rideshare services about twice a week to get downtown. They said they’ve experienced some of those challenges firsthand.

“Sometimes, like, it can be in the middle of the street when there’s no parking,” Ruby Akerson, a rideshare rider, said. “Then they try to drop you off on the street. That can be a safety concern with other cars around and stuff not being able to pull over to the side.”

Akerson said expanding the designated areas could make rideshare pickups and drop-offs safer and easier.

“I think it’s definitely a good idea,” Akerson said. “Just like they have places to park, and it’s easier for pickup and drop-off for them because so many people are using it. So expanding it would be more beneficial to the people.”

Last fall, the city tested out five additional rideshare locations in an effort to help keep traffic moving.

The city said they tested potential solutions during two Mizzou football weekends last fall.

In Sept. 2025, the city temporarily blocked off metered parking to create a rideshare pull-off area. In October, officials again restricted metered parking and worked with Uber and Lyft to test designated pickup and drop-off locations.

During the October pilot, Uber and Lyft directed customers to the designated locations through their smartphone apps.

According to the police department, both pilot programs resulted in a significant reduction in traffic violations and an overall improvement in pedestrian safety.

Officials also gathered feedback from rideshare drivers and customers. Police said the response was positive, with drivers reporting that the designated pickup and drop-off areas made it safer and easier to serve customers.

However, ABC 17 spoke with rideshare drivers who said navigating the area during that time was still difficult.

Police said the earlier start time reflects a change in how people use rideshare services. Officials said rideshare trips are increasingly being used to arrive downtown earlier in the evening, rather than primarily leaving downtown at the end of the night.

The earlier hours would also give police an opportunity to address parking violations sooner.

The Community Improvement District previously provided positive feedback on an earlier version of the ordinance, and a majority of the CID supports updating the current rules.

Police said the proposed changes are based on observations from officers, feedback from the pilot programs and heat-map data provided by Uber and Lyft.

One rideshare driver told officials that drivers primarily need clearer direction on how to operate downtown.

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Melissa Houston

As Columbia Public Schools begin class on August 25, the Missouri Highway Patrol is warning motorists and parents to prepare their students for road safety as student drivers return to morning commutes.

According to a press release from MSHP, the state had 834 traffic crashes involving a school bus in 2024. Of those crashes, seven people were killed and 345 were injured.

MSHP’s Troop F Sergeant Kyle Green said the buses themselves are generally not the source of road dangers, but rather the drivers and pedestrians around them.

“The buses themselves really don’t, are not dangerous,” Green said. “It’s just the fact that people are not paying attention around them.”

Green said that most crashes occur when distracted drivers hit stopped buses or fail to stop when children run into traffic near bus stops. He is advising drivers to leave earlier, reduce speeds in rural areas where buses may be stopped past hills or curves, and follow state laws requiring cars to stop for buses picking up or dropping off passengers.

A 2025 report done by ConsumerAffairs ranked Missouri as the fourth-worst in the nation for teen drivers, reporting a teen driver fatality rate of 22.9 per 100,000. This is nearly double the national average. This report also ranks Missouri as the second-worst in the nation for fatal crashes involving teens speeding.

Green said that with inexperienced teen drivers on the roads, parents should speak with their students about the dangers of the roadway and be vigilant during morning and afternoon school commutes.

“Often kids don’t understand some of these things and they don’t understand the severity of the consequences, if they make a mistake,” Green said. “The parents really need to spend time to make sure that these children, whether they’re younger kids or even a little bit older, are paying attention to those things.”

Green adds that student drivers may also need time to adjust to the new schedule.

“They [students] find themselves in a hurry to get to class and of course, then speed on the way there,” Green said.

Green is asking that parents ensure teenagers get adequate sleep, leave with enough time to avoid rushing, and avoid cell phone distractions while behind the wheel.

“We want to encourage them to make sure all of their attention is focused on the task at hand, which is driving and not trying to make a phone call to their friends or update the social media account or something like that,” Green said.

Columbia parent Erin Innes said that while she is in favor of adding additional safety measures for younger students, her local school buses have taken precautions to ensure the safety of the children in her neighborhood.

“I can agree that the buses should have the seatbelts for kindergarten to maybe third grade,” Innes said. “I live in a trailer park, so when our bus does, they back up in it, or they pull into it, so the kids are getting on the bus in the park and not on the road.”

Green advises all motorists to remain alert in school zones, allow extra travel time during peak pickup and drop-off hours, and follow Missouri’s hands-free driving laws.

“We want, obviously, our kids to get there safely, but they’ve got to know what to do when they approach an intersection,” Green said. “A signal, you know, making sure that the indicator says walk, you know, before they walk, or when it says stop, that they stop.”

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Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) –

The head of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop F is getting a promotion.

The patrol announced Monday morning that Capt. Jason Crites would become a major in the department, and begin leading the Executive Services Bureau. That branch oversees services like records, budget, research and the governor’s security.

Crites started his career with the Missouri State Highway Patrol in 1998, where his first assignment was covering Howard and Cooper counties in Mid-Missouri’s Troop F. Crites then went to his native southeast Missouri in 2001, where he worked until 2015. Crites moved back to Troop F territory before becoming the head of the patrol’s research division in 2020.

Crites then transferred to lead Troop F in September 2022. The troop covers much of Mid-Missouri, including Columbia, Jefferson City and the Lake of the Ozarks.

Troop F spokesperson Sgt. Kyle Green told ABC 17 News that a new Troop F leader had been selected and will start Sept. 1. Green said a news release announcing that decision would come later this month.

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CNN Newsource

By Kara Scannell, CNN

(CNN) — The New York judge overseeing the state murder case against Luigi Mangione has effectively postponed his September trial by giving prosecutors nearly two months to contest defense claims their client will be unlawfully prosecuted under double jeopardy grounds should it proceed.

In an order Monday, Judge Gregory Carro ordered Manhattan prosecutors to respond by October 9 to Mangione’s motion to dismiss the state murder case on double jeopardy and constitutional grounds. He scheduled the next court hearing for December 10.

On Friday, Mangione pleaded guilty to two federal counts of stalking and admitted to fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson. His attorneys immediately filed a motion to dismiss the state case, in which he faces second-degree murder and weapons charges.

The guilty plea came less than one month before jury selection was scheduled to begin in the state trial on September 8. Judge Carro’s order doesn’t explicitly adjourn the trial but it can’t go forward until a decision on the motions is made.

The next court hearing, which may signal when the judge will issue his decision on the motions, is eight days before Mangione will be sentenced on the federal charges.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said they would continue to litigate the issues around double jeopardy and they remain committed to seeking justice for Thompson’s family.

Carro’s eventual ruling on the constitutional and legal issues could be appealed.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Several changes are coming to the “Wildlife Code of Missouri” for this upcoming deer season, the Missouri Department of Conservation announced in a Monday press release.

Among those changes includes reduced antlered buck limits for nonresidents from two to one. The release says nonresident deer hunters in the state have increased nearly 50% in the past 10 years “and there has been an increasing number of resident hunters who have expressed concern about the impacts to land access and their hunting experiences.”

The youth portion of deer season was moved up a week to Oct. 24 and 25 “to help avoid conflicts with Halloween activities at the end of October,” the release says.

Also, the antler-point restriction was removed for the 18 counties who most-recently put it in place, the release says. MDC also removed designation of chronic wasting disease management zones. The CWD portion of firearms season was also removed “to simplify the structure of the season while not significantly affecting deer harvest,” per the release.

The mandatory CWD sampling during the opening weekend of firearms season will become a four-year county rotation, making sampling “be conducted in every county of the state once every four years,” per the release. This season it will be conducted in 28 counties on Nov. 14 and 15.

Placing feed and mineral for deer has been banned in counties close where CWD has been detected, the release says. Additional, the minimum acreage requirement for CWD management permits has increased to 20 continuous acres and the application process has been simplified, according to the release.

The release also says targeted deer removals will not occur after the season ends.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 20-year-old Columbia man is now charged with first-degree assault in addition to other felonies in connection with an incident Aug. 9 in which gunshots were fired in public downtown.

Prosecutors added the charge against Tavan Williams-Patrick on Friday, dropping a fourth-degree assault charge. Williams-Patrick was initially charged Aug. 10, accused of firing shots near Ninth and Walnut streets in downtown Columbia. He is also charged with two counts of armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and illegally firing a gun, a misdemeanor.

A new complaint filed in the case states that Williams-Patrick shot at “Victim 1” in an attempt to kill him or cause serious injury.

According to a probable cause statement, Columbia police officers were working a separate incident near Ninth and Walnut around 1:13 a.m. Aug. 9 when they heard three to four gunshots coming from west of the intersection. The statement says the shots were heard in proximity to several officers.

An officer allegedly saw Williams-Patrick put a gun down on the sidewalk in front of a bar. Other officers also found .40-caliber ammunition in the area.

In 2022, Boone County prosecutors accused Williams-Patrick, who was 16 at the time, and three other teenagers of taking part in a shooting that killed a teen girl on McKee Street. Charges were dropped last year.

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Ellyse Edwards

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jefferson City’s long-awaited Olive Garden opened its doors Monday, drawing a line of customers outside the restaurant before seating started at 11 a.m.

The new restaurant is located on Missouri Boulevard. Customers lined up outside the building and into the parking lot as they waited for the doors to open, starting as early as 9 a.m. The restaurant’s opening comes after plans for a Jefferson City location were confirmed in October 2025. 

For customer Kirsten Stegeman, having an Olive Garden in Jefferson City means her family no longer has to make the trip to Columbia.

“I think it’s great. I think it’s great for our community. We go to Olive Garden in Columbia. Now it’s closer to home,” Stegeman said.

Stegeman said people in Jefferson City have been talking about getting an Olive Garden for a long time.

Customer Lori Pitts said she sees new additions as part of the community’s growth.

“I work at the city chamber [of commerce] office, so we were talking about how we want the community to grow, and this is helping us to get that way and bringing something exciting for the people to look forward to,” Pitts said.

General Manager Adam Brown said the restaurant’s team spent about five weeks hiring and training ahead of Monday’s opening. Brown said employees come from Jefferson City and surrounding communities.

Brown said the excitement surrounding the restaurant became especially apparent as opening day approached.

“I will admit that I knew people were excited, but until this weekend, you know, and seeing the line out the door and we open, right. It really brings it to life,” Brown said.

Stegeman said having the restaurant in Jefferson City gives residents another option without having to leave town.

“It makes people excited to go out and something new to try and different. We don’t have to go to Columbia. We have it right here in our backyard,” Stegeman said.

The Jefferson City Olive Garden is open seven days a week.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri Budget Director Dan Haug will retire on Oct. 1, according to a Monday press release from Gov. Mike Kehoe.

Haug has served as budget director for 11 years — making him the longest to serve in the position — and has worked in state government for 31 years, the release says.

“It has been an honor serving alongside Governor Kehoe and all previous Governors as budget director,” Haug was quoted in the release. “I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to help these administrations craft state budgets that improved the lives of Missourians in countless ways. I want to thank the amazing team at Budget and Planning for all of their excellent work and service to the state.”

Haug began his state government career as an economist for the Office of Administration’s division of budget and planning in 1995, the release says. He joined the senate appropriations staff in 2002 and served as director of the department from 2005-13. He became the department of mental health’s director of administration in 2013 before becoming the budget director in 2015.

Department of Corrections Director Trevor Foley will serve as budget director after Haug retires. The appointment for the next DOC director “is forthcoming,” the release says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 17-year-old Columbia boy was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Monday after pleading guilty to felony charges in connection with a shooting at the mall in 2025.

Samiyon Myers, 17, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, armed criminal action and second-degree drug trafficking. He is currently being held at the Boone County Jail, according to online jail records.

He was originally charged with first-degree assault, delivery of a controlled substance, two counts of armed criminal action, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of shooting at a car and second-degree drug trafficking.

Court documents in previous reporting say police were called around 5:30 p.m. Jan. 19, 2025, for a shots-fired call in the 2100 block of West Worley Street.

A gun was found in a bag near Myers and video from the Columbia Mall allegedly showed Myers firing the gun at a vehicle filled with people, court documents in previous reporting say.

Police saw bullet holes in the vehicle and were able to identify Myers by the color of his underwear, which was seen on video and was the only person wearing red, previous reporting indicates. Police allegedly found Myers with more than 200 pills and found additional guns in a garbage bin, previous reporting says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An Owensville man was charged on Friday with 13 counts of possessing child sex abuse materials.

Wilbur Krumrey was served a $100,000 cash-only bond warrant. A mugshot was not available on Monday.

The probable cause statement says a woman and her brother went to the Owensville Police Department on July 26 to report an assault by Krumrey. The woman also reported seeing child sex abuse files on Krumrey’s cellphone.

Krumrey was arrested that month and allowed investigators to look at his phone and they found images of minors “in a sexualized manner,” court documents allege. Authorities applied for a search warrant and were able to use it on Aug. 10, where led to the discovery of at least 13 files of child sex abuse found on the phone, court documents say.

Police wrote in the statement that Krumrey has been staying near Owensville City Park.

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