Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Gov. Mike Kehoe joined officials from AAA, the Missouri Department of Transportation and Missouri State Highway Patrol at the Capitol on Tuesday to highlight positive impacts from the new hands-free law.

The latest data from Cambridge Mobile Telematics says the law has prevented more than 1,000 crashes. It also has reduced distracted driving by more than 5%. 

Data also indicates the law helped prevent 660 injuries, five deaths and $22 million in economic damage.

The law went into effect in 2023, with a grace period for punishments occurring until Jan. 1 this year. Roughly 250 citations were issued in the first two months of the year.

The law, known as the Siddens Bening Hands Free law makes it illegal for drivers to use hand-held cellphones while driving, with very few exceptions. 

Under the law, it is illegal for drivers to to hold or support a cellphone or electronic communication device in their hand, lap or other parts of the body while driving on Missouri roads.

Drivers who continue to do so can face the following penalties:

First conviction in two years: Up to a $150 fine;

Second conviction in two years: Up to a $250 fine;

Three or more convictions in two years: Up to a $500 fine;

If a violation occurs in a school or work zone, fines up to $500;

If a violation occurs and causes a serious injury crash, up to six months in jail and/or fines up to $1,000;

If a violation occurs and causes a fatal crash, up to seven years in prison.

Click here to follow the original article.

Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A pair of MU Alerts to students last week did not include a location and an MU spokesperson says a software glitch was to blame.

University of Missouri spokesman Christopher Ave wrote in an email on Tuesday that alerts sent on April 12 and 13 failed to include a location of possible shots fired incidents.

Ave wrote that the issue was due to a software glitch related only to text messages, as emails sent out at the same time did include an address. Text messages sent out to students shortly after included the address and subsequent text messages have not experienced issues.

Freshman Leah Chevalier said one of her friends was a victim of a shooting in Downtown Columbia during the fall semester. Chevalier said her friend’s parents pushed for more alerts to be sent out to students following the incident, which is something she has also become an advocate for.

“It’s definitely better to have the address just because then you know where it’s at but I think even just knowing there’s a shooting in Columbia is still more helpful than not,” Chevalier said.

Ave said he recommends individuals who receive the alerts check their email and the university’s alert website in addition to text messages for more information.

Ave also said MU plans to get additional verification prior to sending an alerts to students, after a false report of shots fired was sent on April 16.

The Columbia Police Department received an alert from someone on April 16 that they heard gunfire off-campus, the email says.. Out of an abundance of caution, an alert was sent out to students but police later found no evidence of shots being fired, Ave said.

“Moving forward, we will work to get verification prior to sending an MU Alert about off-campus issues. We will continue to make the best decisions possible to ensure the safety of our campus and the surrounding community,” the statement said.

Chevalier said while she finds the alerts to be beneficial, she often finds that follow-up alerts are not sent to students letting them know things are safe. She said she was in the library when she received the alert on April 16.

After some time, she said she left the library, not knowing if it was safe to do so.

“I just ended up leaving and I was pretty freaked out walking home but that would be nice to get like an ‘all clear’ text,” Chevalier said.

The university also sent out several alerts to students regarding severe weather, after an EF-1 tornado tore through Columbia. Some students said the alerts are helpful for knowing about potential crime and knowing when to take shelter.

Freshman Morgan Kim said she was on her way driving home right before the storm, and the alert sent to her phone is what made her realize the severity of the situation.

“Otherwise, I would’ve been on the highway when it hit so, just having that safety to know what’s going on around you is really nice,” Kim said.

Click here to follow the original article.

Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

City crews have been working the past two days to get electricity and fiber up and running at the city landfill, after the recycling facility was destroyed in a storm on Sunday. 

The City of Columbia declared a disaster on Monday after the National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down Sunday in northeast Columbia, issuing its second emergency declaration in the past 15 years. 

City facilities and infrastructure were damaged, causing power outages and service disruptions. The city’s recycling program is indefinitely suspended. City utilities spokesman Matt Nestor said that once crews get power restored at the facility, it will help with operations. 

However, with recycling collection temporarily suspended and the city’s eight recycling drop-off centers temporarily closed, there are some concerns that residents who ignore the closures could cause overflow, creating potential health and sanitation risks. 

The city is planning on removing the drop-off bins, and some have already been removed.

“Some of those drop-off centers are right next to parks, right next to too wooded areas. So, yeah, there’s always an environmental concern when people are dumping trash and recycling illegally,” Nestor told ABC 17 News. 

Nestor said the same issue arose two years ago when a winter storm threatened to ice over the recycling facility, making conditions dangerous for trucks. Because of this, the city asked residents to hold onto their recycling while pickup was temporarily halted. However, when collection resumed, city drivers found collection facilities overflowing with materials, which “created a mess” for drivers. 

“We’re asking people to please cooperate with us,” Nestor said. “Please give us some patience.”

Rebuilding the facility could take more than a year, so the city could try to hire an outside service to handle recycling. City manager De’Carlon Seewood told ABC 17 News on Monday that the city has to do an analysis and take some time to come up with a plan to move forward. 

An evaluation done in 2023 found that the city’s recycling plant was becoming outdated, and left the city missing out on money due to inefficiency. From 2019 to 2023, the city collected an average of one million 44 thousand dollars in revenue from the sales of recyclable material. 

Columbia’s Material Recovery Facility was built in 2002, which is one of the things that prompted the city to launch the study.

The city was planning on building a new facility by 2027 or 2028, but Seewood said the storm could expedite the process. In the meantime, city officials are urging patience from residents. 

“Recycling is important to us as well.  You know, this is a thing we want to do. We don’t want these recyclables. We want to keep as much of them out of the landfill as we can.  So we are looking for a good solution,” Nestor said.  “That’s going to take some time. It’s going to take a lot of studying. Please have patience. Please work with us.  We are going to come up with an answer.”

Columbia has made waste reduction a big part of its climate action plan, which was passed back in 2020. That plan also created the Climate and Environment Commission, a group tasked with helping guide those efforts.

“Obviously, with this weekend’s storms, the recycling did take a literal hit. So there is going to have to be an adjustment on the plan just because if we don’t have a recycling center,  there is not a plan to recycle,” Climate and Environment Commission Chair Abra Spisso-Podoliak said. “I think overall, the city has always set ambitious goals, and I think  they’ve done a really good job in trying to meet those.”

Spisso-Podoliak is serving in her first year as the chair after serving on the commission for the past six years. With recycling now temporarily off the table, the commission is asking residents to help out in small ways, such as reducing what they throw away and being more mindful of everyday waste.

“Water bottles, if you have a steel water bottle or a glass water bottle or reusable coffee cups that you can use, that’s a great way for you as a consumer to just not use single-use plastic,” Spisso-Podoliak said. “Every time you go, if you order out food, if you don’t get recycled utensils from that restaurant, use your home utensils instead. Those are little things that people can do every single day.”

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Prosecutors charged a Jefferson City man Sunday with three felonies for a domestic shooting.

Paris M. Alexander was not in custody Tuesday in Cole County, according to jail and court records. He was charged with first-degree domestic assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

Jefferson City police say in a probable cause statement that they were sent early Sunday to the 100 block of Amador Avenue and found a gunshot victim in an apartment. The 22-year-old woman was taken to University Hospital with non-lethal but “serious” wounds to her legs, the statement says.

The woman is in a relationship with Alexander and has children with him, the statement says.

Alexander tried to strangle the woman during a fight, then pushed her into a bathtub and began shooting, the victim told police. Another person witnessed the incident, according to the statement.

Alexander drove away after the shooting, and officers do not know where he is, the statement says. Police collected four spent 9mm casings from the bathroom and saw a trail of blood from the victim.

Officers found a 9 mm handgun in the living room that was reported stolen from Tennessee, the statement says.

Alexander is wanted on a no-bond warrant.

Click here to follow the original article.

Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia has issued just its second emergency declaration in the last 15 years.

The City of Columbia declared a disaster on Monday after the National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down Sunday in northeast Columbia.

Then-city manager John Glascock signed a disaster declaration on March 20, 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. That declaration was rescinded more than a year later, on May 29, 2021.

A local emergency declaration is often the first step in getting aid from the state and federal governments for disaster cleanup, if the cost of the damage is high enough.

First, local officials will assess the damage and submit their findings to the governor. Then, the governor sends a request for federal assistance to the president by sending a formal disaster declaration.

The president will then decide whether a major disaster or emergency declaration will be approved. If it is federal aid will be given.

It’s not clear yet how much the storm damage repair and cleanup will cost the city government. Columbia’s recycling processing center was damaged, as was a reactor at the city landfill that generates electricity from landfill gas.

Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick said the county would need to tally more than $866,000 in uninsured and underinsured damage to get assistance. With estimates of the cost to repair the recycling facility still out, it’s not clear whether the county will reach that level.

According to Kendrick, the city’s recycling plant is insured for about $5.7 million. If rebuilding cost go beyond that the county could possibly reach that threshold.

For state assistance, Missouri must meet a public assistance damage threshold of over $11 million.

Missouri has had severe weather across the state, but the state emergency management agency reports other counties have not reached that threshold, Kendrick said in an email Tuesday.

 “At this point, I am not optimistic that Boone County or the State of Missouri will meet the federal thresholds for a disaster declaration. However, this may change pending the outcome of the City of Columbia’s insurance adjustment later this week,” Kendrick said.

The insurance provider will be in Columbia Thursday to assess the damage.

“We will continue to monitor developments closely and provide updates as more accurate damage and insurance data becomes available,” Kendrick added.

High-power electric lines operated by Columbia Water and Light were also brought down in the storm.

The city has suspended recycling indefinitely and closed all eight of its recycling drop-off locations.

Residents are urged to hold onto their recyclables for now while the city figures out what next steps it’s going to take.

According to the city, plans for a new recycling facility were already in the works, as the current plant off Paris Road in northeast Columbia was built in 2002 and is operated manually. City officials say they planned to have a new facility built by 2027 or 2028, but now that timeline may be expedited following the recent storm damage.

After a study, the new facility will likely be built in the landfill area and is expected to be automated, according to the city.

.

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The new members of the Jefferson City Council were sworn in Monday night.

Derek Thomas was sworn in for the Third Ward seat, and Julie Allen was sworn in for the Fourth Ward.

The council also approved a nearly $85 million contract with Bartlett and West for design plans for the Madison Street parking garage demolition project and a housing incentive program that will reimburse developers for building new homes.

The program authorizes up to $560,000 to reimburse developers $5,000 for each new or renovated housing unit. Six companies are seeking reimbursements, according to documents prepared for the city council.

The council is hoping this will grow the workforce and population.

Click here to follow the original article.