Category: kmiz-local-news

Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia firefighters were on the scene of a house fire in southwest Columbia Saturday night.

According to a new release, the Columbia Fire Department responded to the 4900 block of Fallbrook Drive around 8:30 p.m. after the Boone County Joint Communications Center took multiple 911 calls reporting a home was on fire.

The first crew arrived at the two-story residential structure to find heavy smoke and flames showing, the release states.

ABC 17 News saw several Columbia Fire Department trucks in the area around 9 p.m. A firefighter on scene told ABC 17 News they found the garage fully engulfed in flames when they arrived.

“Crew members quickly began deploying pre-connected hoselines from their apparatus and made an aggressive interior fire attack,” the release says.

Extra CFD personnel was requested after about 15 minutes due to heavy fire extending into the upper level. As more crews arrived, the home was searched and firefighters found no one inside, according to the release.

16 units and 33 firefighters responded to the fire. The release says three were released at the scene after being evaluated for heat exhaustion.

The fire was under control by 9:20 p.m. and firefighters stayed for several hours to put out possible hotspots.

The Columbia Fire Marshal Battalion is investigating the cause of the house fire.

Check back for updates to this developing story.

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Olivia Hayes

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Phase two of Highway 54 improvements are underway, as part of The Missouri Department of Transportation’s Bridge Bundle for Jefferson City.

The traffic shift was moved to Wednesday after storms rolled through the area on Tuesday. The Bridge Bundle aims to address driving surface issues on bridges in Jefferson City, including deck repairs and overlays.

“This this one project here has eight bridges associated with it. Two being at Stadium, two being at Linden Avenue that are overpasses on the road, one being the Madison overpass. Those are all under construction currently,” Chris Brownell Resident Engineer of the Jefferson City project office for MoDOT’s Central District said.

Four ramps will be closed for road work on the stretch of highway near Linden Drive and Stadium Boulevard. Those include:

The eastbound off-ramp to Madison Street;

The westbound off-ramp to Stadium Boulevard;

The Madison Street on-ramp westbound;

The Christy Drive on-ramp eastbound.

Crews will narrow down that portion of the highway to one lane in both directions.

Brownell tells ABC 17 News the new layout may look a bit different to drivers.

“We can put the head to head traffic in the westbound side at Linden, that just got that bridge just completed. So, we want to switch traffic over there,” Brownell said. “They’re on the outside lanes. That’s going to switch to go to the interior lane so they can have the other half of the bridge to work on.”

MoDOT says the road work will help extend the life of many Jefferson City overpasses. However, the resulting ramp closures and roadways being narrowed could impact both regular drivers and public safety agencies from taking their normal routes.

Cole County EMS Chief Eric Hoy told ABC 17 News one of the ramp closures is a crucial route for EMS crews. However, Hoy said they have worked hard with MoDOT to find a plan that minimizes any impact to their services.

“They’re going to close the Madison Street exit, which is a main artery to Capital Region Medical Center,” Hoy said. “We’ve had conversations with them and the one exit right up the road, which is only about a block away, will remain open throughout the process. So, we don’t believe there will be any delay in service.”

Hoy added that even though the closures can be inconvenient, the work needs done and it keeps everyone safer in the long run.

“We’d rather, you know, have planned construction where we can do this in an organized manner, than have some catastrophic failure of a bridge or something like that, which we’ve seen across the country,” Hoy said.

The Bridge Bundle is expected to be complete by October 2025.

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Haley Swaino

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 16-year-old from Versailles died after his parked vehicle was hit on Highway 54 in Miller County on Friday, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

According to an MSHP crash report, the boy was parked in a 1995 Mercury Cougar on Highway 54 eastbound, east of Lakeland Road, a little after 10 p.m. He was parked between the ride side shoulder and driving lane with the left front and rear tires in the right lane of travel, the report says.

A 2019 Ford Flex – driven by a 41-year-old man from Eldon – was heading eastbound on the highway when it hit the rear of the Mercury Cougar.

The teenager was pronounced dead at the scene, the report states. The man was not hurt.

Neither were wearing a seatbelt and both vehicles were totaled.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

While heavy storms are expected to move into Columbia Saturday, the Columbia Art League said its 66th annual Art in the Park event will continue rain or shine.

“Even if it’s raining pretty hard, we’re still open,” Columbia Art League Executive Director Kelsey Hammond said. “This supportive community is so great to come to, that’s why [artists] come and put up all their stuff in the rain because they know that people will come out and support them.”

Art in the Park is a free, family-friendly event featuring around 110 art vendors from across the country, live music and food. The artists cover various media including drawing, fibers, wood and glass. There are also multiple interactive art installations and a ‘Kid’s Art Spot’ tent with child-friendly activities like a tie-dye booth.

In the event of severe weather, event officials will have people move to the Boone Hospital parking garage for shelter. Hammond said the festival will continue once the bad weather passes.

According to the event’s emergency plans, volunteers as well as police and fire personnel will be patrolling the area to assist in case of emergency events such as medical emergencies, lost children or theft.

Art in the Park is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A dead person who was found earlier this week in a vacant building in New Florence was a missing woman from El Paso, Texas, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Friday night social media post.

The name of the woman was not shared by law enforcement, though the sheriff’s office stated that the 37-year-old woman was reported missing on Feb. 5. A cause of death has not yet been determined and the investigation is ongoing, the post says.

The woman’s body was found on Tuesday at a vacant building in the 400 block of Booneslick Road in New Florence. She was found  “in the bay area of the vacant building,” law enforcement shared on Wednesday.

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Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) –

A federal judge in California approved a settlement in a lawsuit against the NCAA on Friday, paving the way for major changes in the way college sports operate.

Judge Claudia Wilken approved the settlement between the college sports governing body and current and former student-athletes. The athletes sued over claims the NCAA illegally limited their ability to earn money while playing sports in college. The settlement order allows for the 389,700 athletes to collect a portion of the $2.8 billion settlement as back damages.

The settlement now requires schools starting July 1 to share revenue directly with student-athletes, as opposed to the current name, image and likeness model schools currently use. It creates a $20.5 million cap for schools to use when paying players in the upcoming school year. Schools can use the money across sports however they’d like.

University of Missouri Athletic Director Laird Veatch said in April that most of that money would go toward football and men’s basketball. Veatch said the school was also committing $3 million for 60 new scholarships, with most of them going to women’s sports.

The Southeastern Conference posted on X that the agreement “represents a significant milestone for the meaningful support of our student-athletes and a pivotal step toward establishing long-term sustainability for college sports, two of the [SEC]’s top priorities.”

pic.twitter.com/ZPt5pP75ik

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) June 7, 2025

MU Athletics spokesman Dave Matter told ABC 17 News that the school was waiting on guidance from the Southeastern Conference on public statements.

Veatch and MU Athletics have been publicly telling fans and boosters for months about the financial impact the settlement would have on the program. Veatch mentioned that ticket prices would likely go up and season-ticket holder tiers and benefits would also change.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

One of the candidates in Columbia’s Ward 2 race has been endorsed by a former council member.

Vera Elwood announced in a Friday evening press release that former Ward 2 Councilwoman Andrea Waner has signed off on her campaign.

“I wholeheartedly endorse Vera for Second Ward City Council and can’t wait to watch her lead,” Waner was quoted in the release.

This is the second former Ward 2 council member to support a current candidate. Former Ward 2 Councilwoman Lisa Meyer asked candidate Ken Rice to run for the seat, according to a previous press release from Rice’s campaign.

The city called for a special election on Aug. 5 after Meyer announced that she would step down on May 16. 

Waner served as the Ward 2 councilperson from 2021-23 and announced her resignation in October 2023 after she moved out of the ward. Rachel Proffitt was picked by the council to represent the ward until Meyer won the subsequent election.

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Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to house inmates in jails across Mid-Missouri, as local officials continue to struggle with overcrowding and a growing backlog of detainees awaiting mental health evaluations.

From Jan.-10May 23, the county had spent $461,235 to house detainees in other counties, according to Capt. Brian Leer of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

“Currently, we are paying to house 113 detainees in other county jails,” Leer told ABC 17 in an email on May 22. 

As of June 6, the Sheriff’s Office is paying to house 111 detainees in other county jails, with detainees held in facilities in Callaway, Cooper, Howard, Macon, Miller, Montgomery and Randolph counties.

However, not all detainees classified as “out of county” are housed in jail beds funded by Boone County. Some are held by U.S. Marshals or in hospitals, juvenile centers or mental health facilities. Defense attorneys say the dispersal of detainees is making it harder to represent clients effectively.

“I’ve got clients in Randolph County and I’ve got clients in Miller County,” Columbia defense attorney Ben Faber said. “So we got guys an hour north, we got guys an hour south. If I set aside a day to meet with clients, that’s a lot of windshield time just to do my job.”

Faber said the system is overburdened, and the strain extends beyond attorneys.

 “It’s just creating more work and less office time, which means that cases are not being handled as quickly as you want them to,” Faber said. “I call it a gridlock situation sometimes.” 

Faber added that limited visiting hours at some rural jails — such as Randolph County’s 4 p.m. closure — make it harder to meet clients face to face.

One of the biggest drivers of overcrowding, according to Boone County Commissioner Janet Thompson, is the bottleneck at the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

Thompson said the Department of Mental Health has not removed individuals from the county jail when their competency to proceed is in question. When someone’s competency is challenged, a defense attorney, judge or prosecutor can request a mental health evaluation to determine whether the individual is competent to stand trial.

“What’s happened in our jail and in jails across Missouri is that process has happened and then they have been adjudicated incompetent to proceed, and at that point the Department of Mental Health does not take them,” Thompson said. “Instead, we have over 400 people across the state of Missouri who are sitting in county jails waiting for a bed at DMH. That’s part of the problem that we have and one of the things that’s impacting our jail overcrowding.”

Leer confirmed that “at least 10 individuals” in the Boone County Jail are currently awaiting transfer to the Department of Mental Health.

Defendants with serious mental health issues must be housed alone, further limiting available space.

“When we have somebody who has serious mental health issues, we cannot double-bunk them. You can’t have somebody else in there with them. It’s a safety issue,” Thompson said.

Boone County holds quarterly jail overcrowding meetings that include the presiding judge, court administrators, representatives from Adult Services and circuit courts, the sheriff’s office, a county commissioner and the auditor. The group discusses strategies for managing limited jail space and rising costs.

Despite these efforts, the financial burden continues to climb. 

“Looking at past usage and trying to anticipate what we’re going to need for every year, we have blown through that amount every year since I’ve been on the commission,” Thompson said. 

When the county exceeds its budget, it’s forced to tap into its general fund.

Faber, who echoed Thompson’s concerns on the Department of Mental Health backlog, said the problem reflects broader dysfunction in Missouri’s criminal justice and mental health systems. 

“It’s a systemic problem. It probably starts with crime. But the system doesn’t appear to be able to handle the numbers that it has right now.  And we’re not seeing adaptations to make actual systemic changes,” Faber said.  “What we’re seeing is just sort of Band-Aids and  short-term fixes.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man pulled out a gun and robbed a business Thursday afternoon in the 100 block of West Business Loop 70, according to a Friday press release from the Columbia Police Department.

Police wrote that they were called around 12:15 p.m. for an armed robbery. The name of the business was not listed in the release. The clerk allegedly told police that a male wearing a black Nike jacket and black pants pulled out a gun and threatened her, the release says.

The man allegedly ran away with cash and merchandise from the business, the release says.

Dispatch logs show a report of a robbery at 12:16 p.m. Thursday in the 100 block of West Business Loop 70.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The former general manager of Fulton Wurst Haus and Butchery was charged on Friday after she was accused of embezzling $343,711.31 from the business over the course of nearly two years.

Tonya Clarke, 50, of Mokane, was charged with two counts of stealing more than $25,000, three counts of stealing more than $750 and one count of misdemeanor stealing. She is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond. A court date has not been set.

The probable cause statement says the victims – the owners of the business – indicated that several unauthorized transactions from their bank account were made from February 2023-December 2024.

Court documents list several transactions occurring from the account, which include checks made to a business that was owned by Clarke, a trust agreement, debit purchases from Walmart and various transactions worth thousands of dollars noted as “payment,” among other cash withdrawals. Clarke would also allegedly pay herself regularly more than her declared salary, the statement says.

Clarke allegedly told deputies “conflicting statements,” while acknowledging she was one of the few people with access to the account.

“Clarke also stated during the interview that if she wanted to steal from him I could have and covered it up,” the deputy wrote in court documents.

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