Category: kmiz-local-news

Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The process of verifying more than 300,000 petition signatures aimed at forcing a statewide vote on Missouri’s newly redrawn congressional map is now underway.

The redrawn congressional map — which is backed by President Donald Trump — are designed to shift political control in Missouri’s 5th Congressional District, currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, potentially giving Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House.

In October, a referendum petition seeking to repeal the redistricting legislation was submitted to the office of Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. Hoskins approved the referendum on Oct. 15, allowing the sponsoring group, People Not Politicians, to begin collecting signatures from registered Missouri voters.

Missouri’s Constitution allows voters who oppose a new law to gather petition signatures to place the measure on the ballot statewide. If supporters submit about 110,000 valid signatures — including required minimums in at least two-thirds of Missouri’s congressional districts — the law is suspended until a referendum can be held at the next November election.

Hoskins warned that any signatures collected before Oct. 15 would not be considered valid. Petition signatures were submitted to the Secretary of State’s office on Dec. 11.

On Dec. 23, the signatures were distributed electronically to election officials in 116 counties, who now have until July to complete the verification process. County clerks will review each signature to confirm the signer is a registered voter in the county, that the signature matches voter records and that all required information is accurate.

“If everything seemed to be in one handwriting on one page, that would be a red flag,” Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said. “If there’s just blank pages or small anomalies, not red flags. Things can get marked as crossed out, and that is a pretty normal thing to see on petitions.”

Lennon said about 1,300 pages of signatures were rejected before the petitions were sent to county election officials, largely because they were collected before Oct. 15. Boone County received about 2,500 pages of signatures. Each page can include up to 10 signatures, though Lennon said past experience shows many pages are not fully filled so there is no current estimate for how long the process will take. 

“In our case there’s a couple thousand signature pages that have been submitted. Some of those pages may have all ten lines filled out as 10 signatures. Some may only have two. So we won’t actually know until we get into how many actual signatures per page,” Lennon said. 

ABC 17 News on Tuesday also reached out to Camden, Callaway, Cole and Randolph counties for information on how many pages of signatures they received, but has not yet heard back. 

Several lawsuits have been filed since state lawmakers approved the redrawn congressional map during a special session, challenging whether the plan can take effect. The litigation raises questions about Gov. Mike Kehoe’s authority to call the special session, the legality of redrawing district boundaries mid-decade, whether the map meets constitutional compactness and contiguity requirements and whether the legislation should have been automatically suspended earlier this month after opponents submitted more than 300,000 petition signatures seeking a statewide vote.

People Not Politicians was one of the groups that filed a lawsuit. Judge Christopher Limbaugh said he will not make a ruling until the signature verification process is complete. 

“All of the surrounding litigation that’s happening has more to do with the content of the actual referendum itself, the timing of the referendum, the effect of submitting the signatures in general, so our process is very ministerial, really doesn’t have an impact on the any of the litigation that’s happening now,” Lennon said. “When we get to the summer, when everything is wrapped up in terms of the signature collection verification, then we’ll have a better idea of what we’re looking at for November.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Planned Parenthood location in Rolla will close on Thursday, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers announced in a Tuesday press release.

Telehealth visits will still be available for those in the area and residents who did visiti the Rolla health center can continue receiving in-person care in Springfield, the release says.

The press release criticized President Donald Trump.

“Throughout 2025, Planned Parenthood health centers have had to contend with the deep, negative impacts of attacks on health care access, funding, and legal protections,” the release says. “Federal ‘defund’ efforts under the Trump administration and its allies in Congress have put more than 200 health centers at risk, severely restricting care for 1.1 million Americans, especially low-income, rural, and Black and Brown patients.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Tuesday was the deadline to file in non-charter city elections around the state for the spring.

Election Day is Tuesday, April 7. The last day to register to vote is March 11. The certification date for candidates is Jan. 27.

Jefferson City Council

Two seats on the Jefferson City Council will be contested.  Incumbent Ward 1 Councilman Randy Hoselton will run against George Bacon, while Fifth Ward Councilwoman Mackenzie Job will seek reelection against Rebekah Frost.

Ward 2 Councilman Mike Lester, Ward 3 Councilwoman Treaka Young and Ward 4 Councilman Chris Leuckel are running unopposed for their respective seats.

Jefferson City Board of Education

Cierra Griffin, Trent Vallandingham, Ryan Towner, Kristopher Scheperle, Michelle Rodemeyer, Gretchen Duckworth and James Kindred are running for the three open seats on the Jefferson City Board of Education.

Another seat will be decided by appointment after Board President Erika Leonard announced her resignation earlier this month. Towner and Carlos Graham filed for the vacancy.

Columbia Board of Education

Four people are running for the three available seats on the Columbia Board of Education. Board President John Lyman, Vice President Paul Harper and Board Member April Ferrao will seek reelection and Keary Husain is running for one of the seats.

Camdenton Board of Aldermen

In the Camdenton city elections, Ward 1 Alderman Daniel Ousley, Ward 3 Alderman Don Neuharth and the representative of the Special Road District “R” Ron Gentry are all running for reelection. In the Ward 2 race, incumbent Sandy Gentry is running against William Jeffries.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A two-week boil order in Eldon will continue for at least another day as the city looks for a solution for its water issue.

The city issued the order on instructions from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources after a test revealed high levels of E. coli in the system on Dec. 16, the city said at the time.

Lance Dorsey, of the DNR, told ABC 17 News on Tuesday that samples gathered on Sunday and Monday in the 400 block of North Chestnut Street tested positive and that the boil order cannot be lifted because of it. The city will come back to the DNR on Wednesday to discuss possible ways to disinfect the water, Dorsey said.

The city wrote on its Facebook page that a water distribution event will occur through 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Community Center. One case of water per home will be distributed.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Kansas City Republican’s campaign announced Tuesday that he has his sights set on a new congressional district that would encompass large portions of Mid-Missouri.

Brett Hueffmeier’s campaign says that he plans to enter the 2026 Republican primary for the redrawn Fifth Congressional District, which stretches from Kansas City east to Osage and Maries counties on a map redrawn this summer by the Missouri General Assembly.

That map is the subject of legal challenges and an effort to put it to a vote.

Hueffmeier filed paperwork to create his campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. No financial reports for the committee have been posted on the FEC website.

His campaign says he plans to make a formal announcement on Jan. 7 in Kansas City. Hueffmeier said in a news release that he would focus on working across the aisle if elected.

“Missouri deserves leadership that listens, works across differences, and plans responsibly for the future,” Hueffmeier said. “This campaign is about bringing people together around shared priorities and a forward-looking vision.”

A side-by-side map shows changes suggested to Missouri’s congressional districts.

Filing with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office begins in February.

The new map was part of a White House push for Republican-dominated states to squeeze out extra congressional seats amid slim House majorities in recent years. It would dismantle the current Fifth District, which is held by a Democrat.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Residents in Columbia will soon by redirected to a different website to pay for their utilities online, according to a Tuesday press release from the city.

The release says residents will be redirected from MyUtilityBill to PayCoMo beginning on Feb. 2.

The website can be used to “pay utility bills, parking tickets, home energy loan statements or general billing invoices, including solid waste roll carts, retiree insurance bills and other miscellaneous bills,” the release says.

The city is asking residents to create a PayCoMo account “at their earliest convenience” to make the transition “smooth,” according to the release. Residents can create the account at Pay.CoMo.gov.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man was charged with a felony after he allegedly tried to solicit someone, who he thought was a minor, for sex.

Travis Moreland, 37, was charged on Tuesday in Boone County with child enticement. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says a deputy posed as a 16-year-old girl on an escort service website on Saturday and received a reply from Moreland on Monday. The deputy allegedly told Moreland they were 16 years old and Moreland claimed he was OK with their age, the statement says.

Moreland asked for a photo and the deputy sent a photo of what Moreland thought was a 16-year-old and he replied with a photo of his own, court documents say. Moreland then wanted to meet the supposed girl to pay for sex, but the deputy asked to meet in a public place, the statement says.

Law enforcement sent Moreland a message claiming the decoy was at a gas station, Moreland arrived minutes later and was arrested, court documents say.

Moreland allegedly admitted he knew the decoy’s age to be 16 years old and “thought maybe it was a ‘setup,’” the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man was charged with two felonies and a misdemeanor after he allegedly admitted to stealing from Mizzou football tailgate sites “for years.”

Reginald Dent, 64, was charged on Tuesday in Boone County with two counts of stealing more than $750 and a count of misdemeanor stealing. He posted a $9,500 bond on Dec. 10, according to court filings. An initial court appearance is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5.

The probable cause statement says he stole generators valued at $600, $1,200 and $2,200 from the same person’s tailgate near Mizzou Arena on Oct. 11, Nov. 8 and Nov. 15. Video allegedly showed a Ford truck registered to Dent pull up to a tailgate site on Nov. 8, and a man put a generator in the bed of the truck, the statement says.

Police interviewed Dent on Dec. 9 and he allegedly admitted taking the generators because he “believed the owners just left the generators there for the taking,” the statement says.  

Dent then allegedly said “he has been removing items such as coolers from tailgates for years,” according to court documents. He then claimed to have given the three generators to a former supervisor, the statement says.

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Haley Swaino

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two Springfield lawmakers are calling on Gov. Mike Kehoe to reverse a recent decision delaying a child care payment program that was promised in his 2025 State of the State Address.

Kehoe pledged in January that starting in July, providers would receive payments at the beginning of the month based on enrollment, similar to private pay. Fiscal 2026 began July 1, but the administration announced in a Dec 19 email that the rollout would be postponed.

In Dec. 2025, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Childhood announced more time is needed to make sure the system works and address overpayment concerns. Long-term funding is also needed from the General Assembly, according to DESE’s office.

“We are six months into the fiscal year and changes haven’t occurred and that’s frustrating,” Representative Stephenie Hein said. “But that’s what the department felt like they needed to do to be able to get their ducks in a row, test the system to make the changes so that providers wouldn’t have any lapse in payment.”

Democratic state Reps. Betsy Fogle and Hein say the Kehoe administration’s move to postpone the “pay in advance” and “authorization-based payment” programs breaks a commitment made to Missouri families and providers.

The delay comes as Missouri faces a severe child care shortage. A report from Childcare Aware estimates the state needs more than 19,000 additional child care spots to meet demand.

“Missouri has a child care shortage and the Governor’s decision to break his promise will make this problem worse,” Fogle said in a Tuesday news release. “We encourage the Governor to stop delaying and start delivering on his promises to our children, families, providers and economy.”

Hein echoed those concerns, noting that delayed payments have already forced many child care providers — often small business owners — to close or leave the subsidy program.

She said it is a big difference to receive compensation based on enrollment rather than attendance.

“Because if you think about it, if a kid was sick, you still have to make sure that you are paying your teachers. You have to make sure that you are keeping the lights on for the establishment. Your overhead doesn’t change if a child is sick,” Hein said. “So that’s why having that enrollment based off of attendance is so important for those child care businesses.”

She said the cost can also fall back families.

“When providers are not reimbursed fairly, families pay the price; working parents have fewer options, foster children face disruptions, and private-pay families are left to cover the cost of an underfunded system,” Hein said.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce has called the situation a “crisis,” citing research that inadequate child care access costs the state’s economy $1.35 billion annually, including $280 million in lost tax revenue.

In 2023, 80% of CEOs surveyed by the chamber said childcare challenges keep many Missourians out of the workforce.

The 2026 legislative session begins Jan 7, and lawmakers say they plan to push for solutions.

Until the pause is lifted, DESE says providers will continue to be paid based on attendance. The Office of Childhood will share updates on its website as they become available.

The governor’s office says Kehoe is committed to “implementing prospective pay based on enrollment for child care providers” in Fiscal 2026.

“A change of this magnitude requires much effort, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Office of Childhood has been working tirelessly and engaging with stakeholders to ensure that this payment transition is well implemented,” Kehoe’s office said in a statement.

The final rule for the Child Care and Development Fund was published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in April 2024, requiring states to pay in advance and on authorized enrollment.

Although Missouri received a waiver from the Administration of Children and Families until 2026 to implement this new payment practice, the Department has continued efforts to initiate these practices.

“Since announcing this priority in January, Governor Kehoe has emphasized the importance of this system working efficiently to deliver timely and accurate payments to providers across the state,” Kehoe’s office said.

2025’s House Bill 2 allocated funds from Missouri’s Child Care Development Fund to align the payment structure for child care providers with private payors.

“This was a decision that we made for this current budget year that we’re already six months into and nothing has been done with those funds to change how the allocation is happening,” Hein told ABC 17 on Dec. 30, 2025.

The update to payment practices will allow payments to be made in advance of services. And payments will reflect the total amount of approved child care, as long as the child attends a minimum of eight hours per month.

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Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Court documents filed on Monday, but were not available to the public until Tuesday morning, lay out what led up to police shooting an arson and assault suspect in Columbia on Christmas Day.

Marc Lucas faces seven crimes for a string of incidents across south and east Columbia on Christmas that led to officers Tasing and shooting him at a Break Time convenience store on East Stadium Boulevard.

. Lucas is charged with four felonies, including arson, armed criminal action and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. He faces another three misdemeanors for trespassing and two counts of fourth-degree assault.

Court documents claim it all started at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel at Grindstone Parkway and Highway 63. Firefighters were called at 9:24 a.m. for a fire in a room rented to Lucas. Police wrote the fire marshal reported a couch was found on fire in the room, and a “torch styled lighter” was found near it. Investigators believe the scorches to the couch were intentionally set. Video surveillance allegedly showed Lucas leaving the hotel shortly before the fire call.

About 30 minutes later, police responded to the Holiday Inn Express, where Lucas allegedly tried to get another hotel room but was denied. Documents state he allegedly got into a fight with employees.

Police said a victim reported Lucas was acting erratically, according to documents.

“[Victim 1] heard Lucas repeating religious comments and speaking in a circular pattern, and did not answer any questions victim 2 asked Lucas,” documents state.

Investigators said this is when Lucas allegedly walked up to the front counter and pulled a black handled pocket knife and threatened the employees.

Court documents state Lucas was seen leaving the hotel and going to the Break Time gas station across the street.

The victim at the Holiday Inn saw police at the gas station, the statement said, and told them Lucas was behind the store. Lucas eventually came inside the store, and he allegedly blamed the victim for calling the police and pulled out the knife again. Police said the victim threw snacks at Lucas before running out of the store while police entered. The victim later told officers he heard a Taser and gunshots as he left the store.

Court documents do not provide additional details about the conversation between Lucas and officers.

Officers found a butane lighter torch outside the gas station, believed to have been left by Lucas, court documents allege.

ABC 17 News found that Lucas has a criminal record in the states of California and Montana.

Lucas is tied to five criminal cases in Sacramento County ranging from February 2024-August 2025. A case filed on July 3 is currently active. Charges for the cases are not provided, however, case records show Lucas has two instances of failing to appear in court and violating parole.

Lucas also has an active case in Helena, Montana. The case was filed on July 7, 2023, for criminal mischief pecuniary loss more than $1,500 at the Lewis and Clark County District Court. Lucas is also featured on City of Helena’s Arrest Warrants list, which was last updated on Dec. 17.

He is in the custody of the Columbia police at the hospital after undergoing surgery following the shooting. No bond was set for Lucas.

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