Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Some people in Camden County this week may notice a bit more Faygo and face paint.

The annual Gathering of the Juggalos will be held from Wednesday through Saturday at Mother Nature’s Riverfront Retreat in Macks Creek. The ticket processing lot will be located at 1776 Bar and Grill, according to the festival’s website.

A “juggalo” is the name fans of the rap group The Insane Clown Posse call themselves. The festival is in its 26th year and its location changes depending on the year.

Col. Scott Hines, of the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC 17 News on Tuesday that 4,000 tickets have been sold for the event and officials say up to 10,000 attendees may show up.

“Our deputies are currently patrolling heavily in that area of the county to account for the added vehicular traffic. We are also coordinating with MSHP and multiple fire and EMS agencies to ensure we have as many assets available in the area. The planning for this multi-agency operation began several months ago,” Hines wrote in an email to ABC 17 News.

Some performers of the festival include ICP, Hatebreed and Kansas City rapper Tech N9ne.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers arrested a man on Monday who was described as a marijuana supplier for The Gathering of the Juggalos for 20 years.

Kevin Jones, 45, of Bearre Easton, Pennsylvania, was charged in Camden County on Tuesday with first-degree drug trafficking and delivery of a controlled substance. He is being held at the Camden County Jail without bond. An initial court appearance was held on Tuesday.

The probable cause statement says the patrol learned Jones was “planning to distribute a large amount of marijuana during the Gathering of the Juggalos Festival” after seeing “Bluntman’s One Stop Shop” being advertised on the fest’s website.

Troopers saw Jones’ Ford F-350 towing a camper trailer in Osage Beach on Monday, pulled the vehicle over and found 128 pounds of marijuana products and 2.5 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms, the statement says.

The festival will be held Wednesday through Saturday at Mother Nature’s Riverfront Retreat in Macks Creek. Officials are preparing for up to 10,000 attendees.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Valarie Moseley will become the new head of the Missouri Department of Corrections on Oct. 1, according to a Tuesday press release from the governor’s office.

Moseley takes over for Trevor Foley, who is becoming the state’s budget director. The release says Moseley has served as the department’s deputy director since December 2023 and has served as the director of the division of offender rehabilitative services.

She was also the assistant division director for employee health and safety in the department’s Division of Human Services, the release says. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from William Woods University in Fulton.

“I am humbled by the Governor’s trust in me to continue my service to the department in this role,” Moseley was quoted in the release. “I look forward to leading the DOC team in our efforts to move the department forward by supporting our workforce, improving engagement with external stakeholders, and working to reduce risk and recidivism for the safety of our communities. I would like to thank Director Foley for his leadership, and I look forward to working to follow the example of the leaders before me who set the vision for an even better Department of Corrections.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced in a Tuesday press release that it is launching a new website for residents to report suspicious activity.

The release says showmeshield.gov, also known as Missouri: Show-Me Shielf, is replacing the SafeNation app.

The release says the website should be used to report “unusual items or situations they encounter, persons attempting to elicit information at a level beyond simple curiosity about a building’s purpose, operations, security procedures and/or personnel, when shift changes occur, etc.”

The patrol also announced the anti-bullying hotline can be accessed online at courage2reportmo.com or calling 1-866-748-7047. The previous Courage2Report app has been deactivated, the release says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An 81-year-old man died from injuries he suffered in a crash with a cement truck on Monday in Jefferson City, according to a Jefferson City Police Department crash report.

The report says officers responded at a two-vehicle crash at 9:22 a.m. near the intersection of Route C and Veith Drive.

The report claims the 81-year-old Jefferson City man drove his 2011 Chevrolet Silverado southbound through a red light when it was hit by the 2025 Kenworth. The cement truck was driven by a 60-year-old California, Missouri, man.

The 81-year-old man died overnight at University Hospital, police wrote. The crash remains under investigation.

The Kenworth driver wore a seatbelt and had no reported injuries. The vehicle had minor damage. It was not stated in the report if the Jefferson City man wore a seatbelt. The Chevrolet had severe damage.

Public JCPD reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

When Missouri voters approved legal sportsbetting in November 2024, Winning for Missouri Education, backed by millions of dollars from DraftKings and FanDuel, touted millions in new revenue for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The Missouri Gaming Commission initially estimated the state would collect more than $6 million in its first year of legalized sports betting for education, with that figure expected to climb to about $20 million annually throughout the following four years.

However, despite $3.213 million being transferred into the Missouri Education Fund during fiscal year 2026 — the first year of legalized sports betting — school districts say they do not expect to see an increase in their budgets as a result.

After $1.084 million was transferred to the Sports Wagering Education Fund on June 9, ABC 17 News reached out to several Mid-Missouri school districts to find out when they expected to receive the funding.

As of Aug. 13, a spokesperson for Southern Boone County R-I School District told ABC 17 News the district had not received any payments from the Missouri Education Fund.

Under the Missouri Constitution, sports betting operators are required to pay 10% of their monthly gross gaming revenue to the state for education. However, sportsbooks can deduct certain expenses, including player winnings, promotional wagers and federal taxes, before that tax is calculated.

In June alone, sportsbooks deducted $244.5 million for those expenses. But those deductions are not the primary reason school districts are not expecting to see additional funding.

According to DESE Chief Communications Officer Lucas Bond, lawmakers have already designated how sports wagering revenue will be used in the state’s budget.

House Bill 2, the state’s appropriations bill, includes $6.805 million from the Sports Wagering for Education Fund for the foundation formula, which provides funding to school districts. It also includes $1.2 million for career-readiness assessments and $400,000 to establish an online parent portal.

Bond said if sports wagering revenue continues to come into the state as projected, those appropriations will be funded. However, the money going toward the foundation formula will not result in a net increase for schools.

“It should be noted that the Sports Wagering Fund dollars appropriated to the foundation formula would be part of the regular distribution,” Bond said. “Since the foundation formula appropriation for FY27 is the same as for FY26, this would not represent a net increase in foundation formula money to schools.”

In other words, sports betting revenue can help fund existing education appropriations without necessarily increasing the total amount of money schools receive.

Columbia Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Heather McArthur said districts also do not receive a breakdown showing exactly where each dollar in their state payment originates.

“When districts receive the monthly payment from DESE, it just lists the various revenues (Basic Formula, Classroom Trust Fund, Proposition C, Transportation, etc.) on the payment transmittal,” McArthur told ABC 17 News in an email.

McArthur said gaming revenue earmarked for education is generally included in the Classroom Trust Fund line on district payment statements. However, those funds are currently being distributed based on the state’s original budget appropriation.

She said that could change later in the fiscal year as the state gets a clearer picture of total revenue and DESE makes additional distributions or withholdings.

The distinction is important because the campaign supporting the passed amendment repeatedly highlighted education as a major beneficiary of legalized sports betting.

The amendment’s passage did create a new source of state revenue dedicated to education, but the amount ultimately reaching schools and whether it represents additional funding depends on how lawmakers appropriate that money through the state budget.

For fiscal year 2027, at least some of that sports wagering revenue is already accounted for in existing appropriations rather than being added on top of the state’s foundation formula funding.

As a result, Missouri schools are not expecting to see a budget windfall simply because sports betting revenue is now flowing into the state’s education funds.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Cole County judge ruled on Monday that Secretary of State Denny Hoskins was allowed to toss out signatures that were gathered on a petition before a certain date.

Judge Christopher Limbaugh’s ruling was in relation to one of the lawsuits over the ongoing showdown between the state and a group trying to fight the “Missouri First” congressional map that was put in place in 2025.

The group People Not Politicians began gathering signatures prior to Hoskins approving a petition for circulation. Hoskins had argued that those signatures before Oct. 15, 2025, would not count.

Court filings show that People Not Politicians filed a notice of appeal in the case on Tuesday in the Western District Court.

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Alison Patton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Cole County judge heard arguments Tuesday afternoon on another initiative petition that Secretary of State Denny Hoskins determined was insufficient. Judge Daniel Green said he would have a decision on whether the initiative petition will go on the November ballot Wednesday.

The group Respect Missouri Voters submitted signatures for an initiative petition that, if approved, would make it harder for lawmakers to overturn citizen-led initiative petitions. It would require 80% of each chamber to change or pass laws to undo what citizens approved.

This stems from Amendment 4, which Missourians saw on the August ballot. Amendment 4 would have made it harder for initiative petitions to pass. That measure failed.

The Aug. 4 election was also the last day for Hoskins to approve or turn down initiative petitions, and he issued a certificate of insufficiency for the Respect Missouri Voters’ ballot measure and the initiative petition the group People Not Politicians turned in.

Both groups are now asking Cole County Judge Green to overturn the secretary’s decision before Sept. 8 — the last day to add ballot measures to the November ballot. Respect Missouri Voters has its first trial at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Along with a certificate of insufficiency from Hoskins, a legal opinion from Attorney General Catherine Hanaway was also attached. Hanaway argued that Respect Missouri Voters’ ballot language touches on too many topics. She said it deals with ballot title reform, initiative reform and alters powers that lawmakers have to pass laws and amend the constitution.

Respect Missouri Voters claims the initiative petition addresses only one subject: how citizens can pass laws through the initiative petition and referendum processes.

“The people are tired of the legislature immediately undoing things that the people just passed,” Hatfield said during a press conference after the trial. “That’s what this measure is about. It’s about enshrining into the constitution protections of the power of the people to write and change laws.”

Hoskins made changes to the ballot title first approved in May, on the chance that a judge required the measure to be put on the ballot.

The state argues, in pretrial briefings, that the original version of this initiative petition violates the republican form of government, as set forth in the U.S. Constitution, which requires citizens to rely on representatives to pass laws for them.

“It [the initiative petition] binds the hands of future voters and revokes the General Assembly’s power to legislate on — and the right of future voters to vote on — an untold number of subjects,” the court document argues.

Kathleen Hunker, an attorney with the AGO, reiterated a similar statement in court.

“The initiative petition damages the people’s ability to effect change. It imposes the will, again, of today’s and yesterday’s voters on the people of tomorrow,” Hunker said.  

However, in court documents filed by Respect Missouri Voters, the group argues the secretary’s sole job is to decide if the intiative petition falls within Missouri law.

“The Secretary is not empowered to reach beyond Section 116.120.1 and ask the Attorney General to present novel legal theories on which to base an insufficiency determination,” court documents read.

If either party appeals Green’s decision, it’s likely to go to the Western District Court of Appeals.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A boy was arrested Tuesday in connection with an assault that occurred Monday evening near City Hill Court, the Columbia Police Department announced in a Tuesday night social media post.

Police wrote the boy assaulted a woman on a walking trail at 6:40 p.m. Monday. The woman had minor injuries.

The boy was arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree assault on Tuesday, police wrote.

The victim and the boy did not know each other, according to police.  

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Housing Authority is working alongside its partner organizations and the Columbia Police Department to address “serious concerns” at its Kinney Point Housing.

The affordable housing complex finished moving its residents into 34 homes in January. It’s located at Garth Ave and Sexton Road in central Columbia, and cost a total of $13 million to be build.

In a letter posted on resident’s doors Tuesday morning from CHA, CEO Randy Cole identified “severe lease violations” that were being looked into. However, detail as to what those specific violations are or who the violator’s are was not provided.

In CHA’s lease addendum “B” for crime-free housing condemns tenants, any members of their households and any guests they may have from engaging in criminal acts on or off the leased property at any time.

Violations include: All violent criminal activity, drug-related crimes, sexual crimes – including prostitution, gun crimes, domestic crimes, stealing, gang activity, driving under the influence and animal abuse.

According to the document, a single violation can be deemed a “serious violation” and label the tenant as “non-compliant” with the lease. That can lead to eventual termination of that person’s lease.

Police have been called to the 800 block of North Garth Ave area, where Kinney Point is located, a number of times since Jan. 15 when it finished moving residents in.

Most recently, officers responded to the buildings for gunshots fired on Saturday.

Criminal charges were filed the day before on Friday tied to a different incident in the same complex. Court documents allege Dolijamar Baskett threatened to shoot a female and admitted to grabbing a BB gun from his vehicle. Baskett allegedly told police he only pointed his weapon at his neighbor out of fear she might have one.

On July 28, another big scene had the parking lot to the complex blocked off as officers were serving a warrant in connection with something that happened the previous weekend.

CPD Dispatch logs show no officers were called to Kinney Point in January. In February, officers were called to the 800 block of North Garth Ave for reports of “Larceny” on Feb. 14, a “Suspicious Car” on Feb. 19 and a ‘Disturbance’ on Feb. 28. CHA records show only one official report resulted.

The complex saw officers called out once in March for reports of “Vandalism” on March 27, but no reports resulted.

April saw officers being called out four times for reports of a “Disturbance.” A call for someone trespassing and a “Suspicious Incident” also brought police out, reports were filed all six times.

In May, CPD was dispatched for two reports of a ‘Disturbance’ and one report of a ‘Suspicious Vehicle’ with two reports being filed for that month.

June saw more calls for disturbances with officers being called to the buildings four times. Police were also alerted to a “Suspicious Incident” in the area and responded to a harassment call, but only two reports resulted from those incidents.

In July, dispatch logs show officers reported back at the Kinney Point address for reports of a “Disturbance” three different times and another harassment call. CHA data does not have how many reports resulted for incidents at Kinney Point yet for July or Aug.

Between Aug. 5-13 police were called again three more times to respond to a “Disturbance.”

Jessie Jones was at Kinney Point Tuesday visiting a friend. He lives nearby at Oak Towers and said he likes the area. Jones described living in Columbia for about 20 years.

“Well, you know, sometime people can act a clown, but I don’t be in it,” Jones said. “Me and my girlfriend when we come home we stay up in my apartment, look at the TV and go to sleep.”

Jones said he tries to avoid any trouble in the area.

Cole said CHA has expanded to four full-time safety employees as a part of agency-wide redevelopment effort that’s been in the works over the past five years. Cole said Kinney Point also has extensive security camera coverage which is assisting with ongoing enforcement efforts.

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