Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia Water and Light crew was seen fixing a water main break on Tuesday afternoon in the 100 block of South Ninth Street in downtown Columbia.

A boil water advisory was issued for 27 customers in the area, according to a social media post from the department. A reason for the break was not immediately given to media or the public.

Additionally, another boil advisory was issued for an area of Bodie Drive in north Columbia at 9:30 a.m. the same day. That advisory is affecting 41 customers and will stop at midnight, according to information on the city’s outage map.

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Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

With extreme temperatures expected to linger in Mid-Missouri, cellphones and other electronic devices could be at risk for serious heat damage.

If you’re not careful, that damage could leave you with a hefty repair bill — or worse, needing a full replacement. High temperatures can cause phones, tablets, and even laptops to overheat, leading to battery damage or breaking.

iBuy Phone Repair owner Russell Scott has been in the phone repair industry for nearly 17 years and said many customers come in during the summer months for heat-related issues.

“I see a lot of phones coming in with swollen batteries,, mainly held together by adhesives and glues usually when something gets hot especially with a adhesive or glue what happens it will break down so what happens is phones will separate, the screens will separate the backs with separate,”

Scott says sometimes the damage is so severe, the phone can’t be fixed.

“It can mess up the hardware, the main board itself, sometimes when the battery expands and the battery gets too hot it can damage the board as wells,” Scott said. “Definitely the battery the screen as well because sometimes when the battery swells up, it’s going to push against that screen.”

Scott said the most-common mistake people make is leaving a phone in direct sunlight like on a car dashboard or on the beach.

ABC 17 News tested how quickly a phone can overheat. An iPhone was placed on a car dashboard at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday and within five minutes the phone received a temperature notification, warning the phone needs to cool down before it could be used again.

Scott warns, to cool a phone down, do not put it in a freezer or refrigerator because it can make the damage worse by causing condensation inside the phone.

Others ways you can protect your device are:

Don’t leave electronics in a hot car;

Remove phone cases when cooling down;

Turn the phone off if it starts to overheat; and

Avoid charging in extreme heat.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Jefferson City Council at its Monday night meeting approved a $1.9 million contract for the Chestnut Street Extension.

Meetings documents indicate the contract is with Stockman Construction Corporation to construct the street beginning near Capitol Avenue to a cul-de-sac south of the railroad tracks. Half of the cost of the project will be reimbursed by the state, documents say.

“This street will serve the State Health Laboratory and the River Market which are currently under construction and will provide access for additional development in the MSP site,” the documents say.

JC Chestnut expansionDownload

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Marie Moyer

CAMDENTON, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Mid-County Fire Protection District is urging boaters get their boats serviced and to follow proper safety protocols after multiple boat fires have occurred since the end of June.

Boating incidents this summer included two boat explosions on June 27 and July 8, and a boat fire on July 13.

“We probably don’t have a lot, but over the past few weeks we’ve had several which have become very newsworthy,” Mid-County Fire Protection District Chief Scott Frandsen said.

Frandsen adds MCFPD typically responds to eight-to-10 boat fires per year.

Between the several fire departments and the Missouri State Highway Patrol, around 12 boats patrol the Lake of the Ozarks. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, there were more than 200 boat fires and explosions last year that resulted in two deaths and 100 people injured.

Fransen said the majority of boat fires are caused by issues during refueling. This includes drivers forgetting to shut their engines off or run their engine blowers when pumping gas leaving boats one spark away from an explosion. He has also seen inexperienced drivers sometimes mistaking a boat’s freshwater or waste tank as the gas tank.

“The boat’s basically a sealed environment. It’s not like our cars where they’re out in the open air,” Fransen said. “The gasoline is a liquid and it also controlled vapor, while you’re fueling the 5 minutes while the blowers are running, open those windows and doors back up to allow it to ventilate and get all those gas fumes out.”

Both Fransen and Mark Chaney — who is a boat mechanic and owner of Veterans Marine and Powersports — also highlight the importance of boat owners getting annual boat servicing before hitting the water. Chaney added that many fires are preventable with many repairs fixing faulty wiring and ignition issues.

“I will work on 400-to-500 boats a year and usually about 40 or 50 of those actually do regular maintenance,” Chaney said. “Most of the time people with aged boats don’t even know if they work and most time they don’t, the hoses that direct the air out of the boat aren’t even hooked up anymore.”

Fransen reminds lake-goers that everyone should be off the boat before refueling and life jackets as well as a fire extinguisher are a must.

“We can’t stress lifejackets enough, we know that there are sometimes cumbersome and maybe a little bit uncomfortable, but things can happen so fast out here on the water,” Fransen said.

During a boat fire, Fransen recommends evacuating and abandoning shit, a fire extinguisher should only be used if the person is confident they can safely put out the flames.

“Boats are made from completely a highly flammable material,” Fransen said. “Most of them, they’re either made from wood or fiberglass, both of which fiberglass is usually highly varnished or painted, which makes them highly flammable, it’s basically solidified gasoline.”

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Matthew Sanders

Opinion in marijuana sales tax caseDownload

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled local governments cannot stack their marijuana sales taxes on top of each other.

The ruling, issued Tuesday, prohibits local governments from imposing taxes in incorporated areas where a local sales tax already exists. For example, a county can’t charge marijuana sales tax at a shop inside a city where the city already charges such taxes.

The case stemmed from a lawsuit brought in St. Louis County, where the City of Florissant and the county had each imposed 3% sales taxes.

The owners of Robust Missouri Dispensary 3 LLC sued the county, alleging the tax stacking was unconstitutional. Missouri voters authorized sales taxes for recreational marijuana in November 2022 when they voted to legalize non-medical pot.

Boone County has been charging stacked sales taxes, with both the City of Columbia and Boone County charging 3%, the maximum allowed under law. The state also charges a 6% tax.

The court ruled Tuesday that the county can’t charge the tax in a city where it’s already collected. It overruled a lower court ruling in doing so.

Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick said the county had been anticipating the change.

“What the Boone County Commission did in coordination with our audit treasurer, we segregated those funds,” Kendrick said. “And so as tax revenue came in for department of revenue, we were able to separate out what was collected within the City of Columbia and what was collected at an unincorporated dispensary in the county. Boone County citizens won’t notice anything from our end.”

Kendrick said the county has separated roughly $1 million between Nov. 2023-June 2025. He said the county is waiting on guidance from the Department of Revenue on how to return the money to the state.

The county will continue to appropriate the sales tax collected on the dispensary in unincorporated Boone County, Kendrick said.

More than 150,000 marijuana cases expunged in the state, but work still remains

Courts in Missouri still have work to do wiping away marijuana convictions in the state.

According to Columbia attorney Dan Viets, more than 150,000 marijuana cases have already been expunged in Missouri, but courts still have roughly that many remaining to be expunged. Viets said the courts are late in doing so and much of that work consists of older cases.

“They cannot simply pretend that the older cases aren’t there. They need to be expunged under the law just as much as the recent cases do,” Viets said. “I don’t understand why they’re not using the money that we provided from the sales tax on marijuana for expungement that’s the very highest priority.”

Boone County Circuit Clerk Sherry Terrell said Boone County has expunged roughly 11,000 cases.

The county still has to get through about 350 more, which Terrell said they’re hoping to have completed within the next six months. Terrell said Tuesday’s decision by the Missouri Supreme Court should not impact their ability to expunge cases.

Terrell said like other courts in the state, Boone County has seen delays in old cases.

“We have to go pull all that information off of microfilm because there’s no documents scanned in,” Terrell said. “So, we have to pull charging documents, syncing documents off of microfilm so that we can forward that to the judge to make that final order.

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Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Unpaid motor vehicle sales tax costs Missouri millions of dollars a year, according to the Missouri Department of Revenue.

Between January 1, 2021, and July 23, 2024, the Department of Revenue reported more than 113,000 delinquent accounts tied to temporary permits, adding up to nearly $145 million in unpaid fees.

Each year, the department estimates its losses at between $20 and $30 million in motor vehicle sales tax alone. When the state loses that money, it directly affects funding for road improvements across Missouri and reduces the money that goes to counties.

In 2024, the DOR said it collected $635,776,054.78 in motor vehicle sales tax.

Last year, the Missouri State Highway Patrol issued more than 15,000 citations for expired temporary tags and license plates across the state. While citations are issued for drivers with expired temporary tags, MSHP says it cannot force drivers to pay their sales tax because it is a non-moving violation.

With a fine of just $50.50 for an expired temporary tag plus county court costs, many drivers choose to take the risk of a ticket rather than paying the full vehicle sales tax because the fine tends to be cheaper.

If a temporary tag is more than 60 days expired, the fine could jump to $250.

A new state law is about to take effect that proponents hope will help fix the problem. Hear more about it Wednesday on ABC 17 News at 10.

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Ryan Shiner

BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Power has been restored in Hallsville Wednesday morning after a crop duster plane crashed near Centralia Tuesday afternoon.

An Ameren spokesperson told ABC 17 News in an email that a power outage occurred after a plane got caught on a power line and pulled it down. The plane took down several power lines with it and before coming to rest roughly 50 yards into a cornfield near Route CC at Angell School Road. 

The road is currently blocked off as crews work to fix the power lines and keep the scene clear for an investigation. Boone County Joint Communications told ABC 17 News that the road will be closed until Wednesday afternoon, a time was not specified. The NTSB was notified while the MSHP took jurisdiction of the accident.

Emergency crews from Centralia, Hallsville, and Sturgeon were dispatched to the scene at 1:43 p.m. 

“This is the time of year where they’re going to be out flying and doing some fungicide, is what he was actually spraying on the corn,” Assistant Boone County Fire Chief Gale Blomenkamp said. “Not really hazardous materials at this point and very little fuel spill from the aircraft.”

An ABC 17 News reporter saw a medical helicopter arrive on scene at 2:20 pm. Someone on a stretcher was then loaded into the helicopter, which flew away 25 minutes after arriving on scene. 

“He was alert and conscious when we pulled him out of the aircraft and he was flown by helicopter to University Hospital,” Blomenkamp said.  

NTSB has been notified and the MSHP has taken jurisdiction of the accident.”

Blomenkamp said the pilot was “alert and conscious” before he was flown to University Hospital.

More than 1,200 electricity customers were without power in Boone County on Tuesday afternoon.

Ameren’s outage map shows that 30 customers are without power from an outage just east of Centralia near Highway 22, while another 853 were without power near Highway 124 and about 350 were experiencing in Hallsville.

The City of Hallsville wrote on its social media that there is now no estimated time for power restoration. Ameren wrote in an email that outages will last into the evening.

“We were in town running some errands and then my 14-year-old son called me and said we were out of power,” Hallsville resident Danielle Leonard said. “My mother is staying with us right now because of medical concerns and the upstairs is where she stays and it’s very, very warm up there its almost 85 upstairs right now.” 

Boone Electric is seeing 64 customers without power in two outages, with one occurring north of Highway 22 and a second occurring near Pierpont.

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Keriana Gamboa

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia will begin building a new roundabout Monday on a road that draws heavy commuter traffic.

The $2.4 million project to build a roundabout at West Route K and West Old Plank Road aims to improve safety and traffic flow at the intersection, which has a skewed angle that has contributed to traffic concerns, the city says.

City of Columbia Public Works spokesman John Ogan said he believes the roundabout will help the area become safer for pedestrians.

“There’s a lot of residential neighborhoods on one end, with the road being 45 miles an hour. It would be difficult to cross as a pedestrian safely. Having a roundabout there would force traffic to slow down,” Ogan said.

In addition to the roundabout, the project will include sidewalks and marked crosswalks to improve pedestrian access.

Brooke-Lyne Grimes, who lives nearby, said she’s glad the city is finally taking steps to improve the intersection.

“So, as a registered pet sitter and dog walker here in Columbia, I drive here all the time. I love the roundabouts because it makes people slow down,” Grimes said. “We get a lot of bikers around here, too, and that would slow vehicles down so they don’t hit potential, potentially hit bikers.”

Construction will occur in phases. The first phase will involve lane restrictions on Route K. In later phases, either Route K or Old Plank Road may be temporarily closed.

Route K and Old Plank Road roundabout preliminary plan.

It’s a collaborative project between the City of Columbia and the Missouri Department of Transportation, with funding through MoDOT’s Cost Share Partnership Program.

Responsibility for the roads is split between the two agencies. Route K is maintained by MoDOT, while Old Plank Road is overseen by the city.

Columbia Public Works in an online post urges those in the area to use caution in the work zone, follow posted detours and signage, and watch for construction workers and equipment.

Construction is expected to be completed by early winter, weather permitting.

The city will issue updates throughout the project to keep residents informed.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A motion for a new trial filed by legal counsel for a former state trooper found guilty of sexual abuse and kidnapping was denied Tuesday by a Boone County judge.

Judge Joshua Devine said his decision was due to Jeffery Durbin’s defense counsel filing its motion on April 3, after the Feb. 18 deadline. Following Durbin’s guilty verdict on Jan. 24, 2025, the defense was given 25 days to request a new trial, that included 10 more days than normally given. Devine said Durbin’s lawyer even previously denied the need for a new trial before filing the motion.

A jury found Durbin guilty in January after a woman had accused Durbin of assaulting her and keeping her inside his hotel room. She said it happened after she tried to escape him during a conference on DWI training at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Columbia in March 2023. The woman testified that she and Durbin had been drinking but that she had tried to rebuff his advances.

Durbin claims he suffered prejudice due to juror misconduct. Court documents, referring to the juror as “Venire Person 18,” say that VP-18 did not disclose relevant information that was asked about in the voir dire process. The documents say this missing information made the jury selection process unfair to Durbin.

Durbin Motion for New TrialDownload

VP-18 not only ended up becoming a member of the jury but also the jury’s foreperson. Counsel for Durbin says VP-18 tainted Durbin’s constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury of his peers.

 The jury returned its verdict after deliberating for about three hours following the three-day trial in January.

During jury selection the court, the state and defense counsel all specifically asked questions to the panel of potential jurors about issues related to sexual assault, broadly, and more specifically. Court documents say it was made clear to the panel that due to the sensitive nature of the topic, members always had the option to answer these inquiries in private.

Durbin’s counsel alleges that the court asked if anyone thought, based on those charges alone, that this might not be the right case for some panel members, and multiple members responded, but not VP-18. The state asked if anyone on the panel, or their close friends or family, were ever victims of sexual assault. The state also asked if anyone on the panel, or their close friends or family, were ever accused ofsexual assault. Many members of the panel responded to these inquiries, but VP-18 did not.

The state also inquired whether any panel members had any legal experience. This was one of the onlyquestions documents say VP-18 responded to, saying that she previously was on a mock trial team. She did not indicate any further legal background.

Defense counsel specifically asked the panel if anyone was a member of any victim support group. While most of these questions generated responses from many panel members, the defense says VP-18 did not respond to any of these questions.

VP-18 was selected to be a juror, and Durbin was found guilty by the jury on both counts. Since the verdict, court documents say Durbin became aware of VP-18’s social media accounts. Court documents cite specifically VP-18’s LinkedIn and Facebook accounts that show VP-18 worked for almost three years in various capacities at the Violence Project, an organization aimed at eliminating violence.

VP-18’s personal webpage allegedly shows she worked with this organization to construct their website, “The Off-Ramp Project,” dedicated to training others on violence prevention techniques.

VP-18’s LinkedIn also discloses that she worked as a clerk for a law firm for three years and three months. Finally, the defense claims VP-18’s LinkedIn discloses that she received a certificate for “workplace violence prevention” from the Violence Project.

Durbin’s defense believes these were intentional non-disclosures that warrant a new trial. They claim as the jury’s foreperson, VP-18 was tasked with leading the conversation in the deliberation room and that these past life experiences bled into the deliberation as a result.

Durbin’s new sentencing date is set for 1 p.m. Aug. 29 at the Boone County Courthouse.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

As extreme heat continues to affect Mid-Missouri, it’s essential to be aware of your surroundings and not forget your children in the car.

So far in 2025, there have 15 child deaths in the U.S., according to the National Safety Council. In 2024, there was a total of 39 child deaths due to being left in hot cars and over half of car deaths happen when the caretaker unknowingly leaves a child in the car.

According to the Missouri Department of Public Safety, an average of 38 die each year, with 88% of them being 3-years-old or younger.

The temperatures inside the car will get hotter than the temperature outside within minutes and cracking the windows does not help slow the heat or cool the car down. A child’s body overheats three to five times faster than adults and children have died from heat stroke in cars with outside temperatures as low as 60 degrees.

There are recommendations from officials to help people remember their child is in the car:

Place a visual clue in the front passenger seat of the car, such as a diaper bag or a toy

Make a habit of opening the back door every time you get out. According to Kids and Car Safety, to enforce this habit, place an everyday item in the back, such as a backpack, purse, phone, etc.

Ask your childcare provider to call you immediately if your child hasn’t arrived where they need to be on schedule

If you see a child alone in a car, call 911 immediately.

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