Category: kmiz-local-news

Matthew Sanders

A U.S. House Committee voted this week to release redacted portions of the Epstein files.

Committee members are set to start receiving files this week. The public release will come later, and a spokesperson for the committee told reporters that members will consult with the Justice Department on the release.

The department has a questionable history when it comes to releases related to Epstein. A release to conservative influencers after President Donald Trump took office contained information already made public. Justice officials later said there was no list of Epstein clients in those files.

Do you trust the House will release meaningful Epstein information? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Someone was flown to University Hospital after they were in an accident in Cole County, according to a Tuesday press release from the Cole County Fire Protection District.

The release says crews responded to the St. Thomas crash at 5:32 p.m. One vehicle was on its side in the middle of the road, while a second vehicle was in a ditch, the release says.

One patient was brought to an area hospital by ambulance, while the other was flown to MU, the release says. Identifying information about either patient, the extent of their injuries or information about either vehicle was not provided by CCFPD.

Check back for updates.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An instructor and a student suffered minor injuries in a plane crash on Tuesday in Johnson County, according to a social media post from the Johnson County Fire Protection District.

The post says first responders were called to a plane crash at 4:45 p.m. in an area north of Centerview. The plane was found in a cornfield, about 200 yards off of NW 501 Road near the Blackwater River, the post says.

The post says the flight came from the Lee’s Summit area and crashed after experiencing engine failure.

The post says the plane is not affiliated with the University of Central Missouri, which runs Max B. Swisher Skyhaven Airport.

One of the occupants was brought to an area hospital by ambulance.  

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Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

President Donald Trump announced Monday he wants to change the shape of elections in the United States and eliminate mail-in voting and voting machines.

In a post on Truth Social the president said he would “lead a movement” to get rid of mail-in ballots, and get rid of voting machines. Trump made claims in his post about the accuracy of mail-in ballots and accused the process of being suspect to voter fraud, which are part of the dialogue and conspiracies he has commonly reiterated since his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

Trump wrote he will sign an executive order ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, however that could face many legal challenges.

University of Missouri Political Science Professor Charles Zug said eliminating mail-in voting would be a long and complicated process, with only two possible options.

“To make mail-in voting illegal, that could be legal through various procedures so the Congress could pass a law making it illegal, that’s perfectly within the Constitution,” Zug said. “Or all the state legislatures could pass laws,”

However, Zug said, because elections are run by state officials and not federal officials, there is no procedure for the president to eliminate mail-in voting and voting machines.

“The only way to try to get states to do stuff like this would be to order, like the Department of Justice, to prosecute states that don’t do it, ” Zug said, “That would immediately get opposed in courts because the president doesn’t have the authority to do that,”

Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said the president’s idea to end mail-in voting would have a negative outcome for the county. She said military members overseas and those who have a disability or illness would feel the effects the most.

“Those individuals would have a very tough time exercising their right to vote, so it would have a real impact on groups of voters disproportionately,” Lennon said. “Even though generally Missouri is not a wide open vote by mail state, the voting equipment would be incredibly disruptive to our elections,”

According to Lennon, in the November 2024 election, about 3,900 of the 30,000 absentees ballots cast were done so by mail. That included including about 360 military and overseas voters. The total turnout of the election was 68%.

In the November 2022 election, the first election with no-excuse in-person absentee voting was available, Lennon said of the 8,600 absentee votes that were cast, more than1,900 absentee voters voted by mail, including about 115 military and overseas voters. The total turnout for the election was 49%.

In the November 2024 election, Callaway County had 885 mail-in votes, according to Callaway County Clerk Rhonda Miller. For the November 2022 election Callaway County received 1,474 mail-in ballots, according to Miller.

Lennon said the elimination of both voting tools would be detrimental to the overall election process.

“I don’t know how we would get results on the same day. I don’t know how we would get results within the two-week certification period if we had to do hand counting,” Lennon said.

Lennon added, there are federal and state ballot questions and election workers are not just counting one ballot at a time, it overall comes down to counting the numbers of races.

“Not only is the counting itself something that is better to be streamlined through tabulators and then checked after, but the physical manpower that it would take to have people count all of those ballots, and be alert enough and awake enough and not exhausted at the end of working at a polling place in a 17-hour day would be extremely challenging,” Lennon said.

According to Lennon, Boone County uses 100 voting machines supplied by Election Systems and Software. She said each tabulator is tested before election day by a bipartisan team, which runs a stack of test ballots to confirm the results match exactly what is expected. This process ensures the machines count votes the way voters intended and that ballots are recorded accurately.

“Then we have Election Day, where we make sure that the bipartisan teams of election judges are making sure there’s no interference, that they are logging any sort of anomalies,” Lennon said. “If anything were to happen they bring those results back to our office on election night but even then, that is not the end of when we are verifying how the results are calculated.,”

Those results are called “unofficial results” and those results go through the certification process.

“We take a randomly drawn 5% of our precincts, and we have a bipartisan team that comes in and hand counts those ballots from those 5% precincts. Then they check those directly against what the tabulator said on Election Night,” Lennon said. “And if those don’t match then we would look at to why that didn’t match.”

Lennon said during her seven years of being the Boone County Clerk, those results have always matched.

When a voter requests an absentee ballot either in-person or by mail, Lennon says, the application is tied to that voter’s record. When a mail-in ballot goes out to a voter and the voter casts it, it is tracked.

“When we receive it, it is tied back to the voters record. It is batched and secured in a locked ballot box in our locked vault until they are processed and then county on election night,” Lennon said.

Mail-in and in-person absentee ballots are also processed through the tabulator.

Lennon said the tabulators are kept in a secure warehouse under lock and key. She added that bipartisan teams ensure the machines are not tampered with, using tamper-evident tape and plastic seals for extra protection.

Lennon said she has never seen evidence of fraud in Boone County elections.

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Nia Hinson

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jefferson City’s Center of Hope is expanding its services to help better address homelessness in the city.

The year-round homeless shelter– located on Jefferson Street– opened a new homeless resource center. The center now allows anyone to stop into the center and gain access to resources and support.

“Our caseworkers want to meet with people and see how we can help them,” Major Chris Clarke said. “If there’s anyone who is homeless or who’s facing homelessness, may be facing eviction, we’re here for them and we want to meet with them.”

Clarke said the city started noticing the increased need in services after the 2019 tornado and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There’s people who are just struggling and sometimes, there’s a lot of people who are just one paycheck away from being homeless,” Clarke said.

Walk-ins will be available 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, according to a news release. Free meals will also be available to anyone in the community at 12:30 and 5:30 p.m.

The center has two case workers, one of which is Kathy Holliday. Holliday said she’s experienced first-hand the toll homelessness can take on a family.

“There’s a lot of children out in the community that are sleeping in cars, hotel rooms, couch surfing…they don’t know where their head’s going to lay that night,” Holliday said.

The center as is, has space for two families, but currently houses four due to the increased need in the community. Holliday said that lack of space becomes problematic for children who have to share bathrooms, especially when it comes to getting ready for school.

Currently, there are nine children in the shelter, meaning nine children share one bathroom. Holliday said there is the need to house a fifth family, but the lack of bathroom space wont allow for it.

That’s where an expansion could help.

The shelter currently operates as a 31-bed facility, but is looking to expand that to 62 beds. They plan to officially break ground on renovations in January, according to Clarke.

Part of the renovations include adding a new wing to the building, designing rooms specifically for families with children that would also give them their own bathrooms. The expansion will create 20 additional beds. Currently, about one third of their residents are children.

Holliday said the expansion could also lead to an increase in trust between residents staying at the shelter and case workers. That, in turn, can also help lead to residents’ goals being reached.

“We will just be able to give them a place to call home so they know where they’re coming to and then that makes it so much easier to do anything else,” Holliday said. “If we can give them the safety, then it helps to give them safety and surety, then it helps them be able to focus on what they need.”

The shelter also plans to add beds to the mens and women’s side of the center.

Scott Johnston, with the Housing the Community Jefferson City, said the need for expanding services is always critical.

“I think as long as we’re turning away people and people are looking for a place to stay at night, it’s really important for the community,” Johnston said.

Johnston told ABC 17 News in June, it is looking for property in Jefferson City to have a one-stop hub for homeless resources. He said on Tuesday they did not have any leads on a specific property.

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Haley Swaino

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The University of Missouri sent out its first MU Alert to students since move-in began for the 2025-26 school year on Monday night.

The alert said officers were responding to a shots-fired call in the 900 block of South Providence Road. The incident ended up being a vehicle backfiring on MU’s Columbia campus, according to previous reporting.

Some MU students began moving onto campus on Saturday, with a majority expected to move in on Wednesday and Thursday, according to information on the university’s website.

First-year student Kylin Woodruff moved in Saturday and said she was alone in her dorm when she got the MU Alert on Monday.

“I was in my dorm, just eating dinner and everything, and I just got a text on my phone that there were gunshots apparently reported,” Woodruff said.

Woodruff had just moved four hours away from home and said her roommate had not moved in yet when she saw the ‘shots-fired’ message come across her phone.

“Honestly, it kind of scared me,” Woodruff said. “Lately these past couple days, I’ve been hearing cop sirens or ambulance sirens practically daily. So I kind of figured something was going on.”

MU Alerts are sent out during incidents that have the potential to impact the entire campus, according to the information on the university’s website. Active threats that prompt the university to send an alert range from weather-related emergencies to possible criminal activity.

The university defines a threat to campus as “any events, man-made or natural, that threaten the safety and security of our students, faculty and staff.”

After each message is sent, the university says it reviews its policies and procedures to decide if any changes should be made in handling that type of situation in the future.

Woodruff said getting that MU Alert on Monday was scary, but made her feel protected and informed. She said she signed up for the alerts to have piece of mind on campus.

“I’m glad they have the alert system because who knows, someone could have been out there and like heading towards that direction and that could probably could have really saved somebody,” Woodruff said.

In the case of an emergency, the university alert tool will recommend an action to take. MU says not to contact MUPD, rather follow directions given in the alert, as dispatchers need to be available to respond to the unfolding emergency.

Follow-up MU Alerts will continue to be sent out as soon as new information becomes available. An “All Clear” message will be sent once campus is back to operating under normal conditions.

MU leaders say that because studies show over-notification causes people to ignore warning messages, they restrict campus-wide alerts to incidents that pose an immediate threat to campus.

The MU Alert system is tested several times each year, according to the university’s online emergency information center. The university says it often does drills to assess existing plans and policies, while also testing the emergency alert system. Every semester, all members of the campus community participate in these drills.

The current system is not able to send alerts to separate individuals or groups based on phone numbers of locations, though MU says it continues to investigate this possibility.

To sign-up to receive MU Alerts, students can register through their myZou accounts. Faculty and staff can register through their myHR accounts. Parents, community members and others who do not have an account with the university can sign up for alerts in two ways.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who has been trespassed from more than 25 businesses in downtown Columbia has been charged with a felony.

Michael Paddock, 49, of Columbia, was charged on Monday with first-degree burglary and a pair of misdemeanors: Stealing and disturbing the peace. He is being held at the Boone County Jail on a $15,000 bond. A hearing was held on Tuesday afternoon.

The probable cause statement says Shakespeare’s Pizza had been having regular issues this month with Paddock stealing food and drinks and that he had known to become violent. By Aug. 16, restaurant staff had Paddock removed about six-to-seven times this month, the statement says.

The same day, Paddock allegedly followed a manager at the business to his apartment and threatened to stab him, court documents say. The victim recorded Paddock following him home and Paddock would stop walking if the victim stopped walking, court documents say.

Paddock allegedly went back to Shakespeare’s the next day, reached over the bar and stole a cup after he was told he was not allowed in the building, another employee allegedly told police. Police arrested Paddock at Flat Branch Park later that day, where he denied being banned from the business, court documents say.

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Olivia Hayes

EDITOR’S NOTE: The story has been updated to correct information about the Puri Group’s purchase of the property.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Nearly a decade after its closure, the Truman Hotel is coming down.

Puri Group Enterprises, the building’s owner, said Tuesday that criticism from the community over the deteriorating building was the motivation behind the move.

“We get continuous harassment from people around the city that the Truman building is old, it is decrepit, it needs to be torn down. Just harassment continuously,” said Raman Puri, president of Puri Group Enterprises.

Jefferson City Mayor Ron Fitzwater describes the old hotel as a once “vibrant facility.”

“There were a lot of events done in that facility. There was a restaurant called Bingham’s, there was a kind of music area in the hotel that was the hot spot for the Capitol and people at the Capitol,” Fitzwater said.

Plans were in place to redevelop the building. The Puri Group purchased the hotel from Jeftel, Inc., according to a group spokesperson.

“We tore down half of the old Truman Hotel and developed a new hotel, and the remaining buildings there were closed down at that time because we were redeveloping a new product,” Puri said regarding his group’s original plans with the building.

However, the hotel never reopened, becoming vacant in 2015 and being declared dangerous in 2020.

“Unfortunately, the agreement that was signed didn’t have any termination dates saying ‘this will be built by a certain date,'” Fitzwater said.

Fitzwater said he and city staff found out about the building demolition on Monday, with the rest of the Jefferson City community.

“On Saturday, one of our staff saw the equipment parked behind the building getting ready for it, so that kind of got the buzz going over the weekend, and then yesterday the excitement really started,” Fitzwater said.

He feels like the possibilities for what the Puri Group could do with the land, following demolition, are endless.

“There’s 100-plus associations based in this community, plus all of state government and other organizations in town. So we know that it’ll be utilized,” Fitzwater said.

Puri said the demolition is privately funded and will cost $1.2 million. He said his group had to take out loans to pay for it.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Fulton man was charged with a pair of child sex crimes on Tuesday after authorities say he raped a child.

RolandNazarowski, 30, was charged with first-degree child molestation and first-degree statutory rape of a child younger than 12 years old. He is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says law enforcement was notified on July 9 of a possible sexual assault that occurred earlier in the summer. The child victim allegedly told authorities they were molested and raped by Nazarowski and described the assault.

Nazarowski alleged he was in the same bed with the victim and “did not like Victim One sleeping with him because of ‘things like this,’” court documents say. Nazarowski allegedly told authorities during an interview that the assault could have happened when he was asleep, court documents say.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man was who allegedly involved in a chase with law enforcement on Friday in Miller County died the same evening, according to a Monday social media post from the Miller County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office wrote Albert Clark, 54, collapsed after he was detained. He was brought to Lake Regional Hospital and was pronounced dead at 11:03 p.m.

An autopsy was performed and a plastic bag was found in the man’s stomach, the post says.

“Toxicology testing was performed, and a urinary drug screen presumptively tested positive for THC and methamphetamine. No natural disease processes, medical issues or traumas were identified that would have placed Mr. Clark at substantial risk of sudden cardiac arrest,” the post says.

The case is under investigation by the county coroner’s office and Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control.

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