Category: kmiz-local-news

Olivia Hayes

LAKE OZARK, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 36-year-old man from O’Fallon, MO is dead after drowning in the Lake of the Ozarks, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The MSHP drowning report, said the man was last seen on a dock at the 40.1 mile marker of the Osage at the lake. He is believed to have entered the water by an unknown means and then later reported missing.

The man’s body was recovered by state troopers around 8:30 Saturday morning in the water and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

MSHP does not release the name of the victim in their reports.

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Euphenie Andre

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The national unemployment rate is at its highest point in nearly four years at 4.6% recorded last month, and hiring trends are slowing as thousands of college graduates prepare to enter the workforce.

The U.S. unemployment rate has ticked up since hitting a 54-year low of 3.4% in April 2023, reflecting a modest slowing in the labor market. In September, the rate rose to 4.4%, while the number of Americans working or actively seeking work increased by 323,000, according to AP.

Officials said October data isn’t available due to the federal shutdown, leaving the full picture for last month unclear.

The University of Missouri will celebrate more than 1,800 graduates over the weekend, awarding 1,339 bachelor’s degrees, 380 master’s degrees and 99 doctoral degrees, according to a university press release.

Reports show more than 100,000 jobs were lost in October, many of those losses are connected to the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history that was happening around that same time. While the country added 64,000 jobs last month, experts said the overall labor market is losing momentum. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said hiring hasn’t been as strong as the numbers suggest, noting the labor market is slowing and could appear weaker in the months ahead.

Several students who graduated Saturday from the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources told ABC 17 News they don’t have jobs lined up yet and are still figuring out their next steps.

Anna Fairchild said she hasn’t secured a position yet but plans to apply for exercise physiologist jobs in cardiac rehab at hospitals. A few years down the line, she hopes to return to school for her Master’s in Public Health. Fairchild plans to take about a year and a half break before pursuing that path.

“I want to take a gap year to figure it out, make sure that’s really what I want to do, and then find the right school and make sure I’m on the right path,” Fairchild said.

She described the current job market as “scary,” a sentiment shared by fellow graduate Rhiannon Brune.

“I definitely think it’s very tough,” Brune said. “Having a master’s degree necessarily isn’t enough anymore to get an entry-level position.”

Around 162,000 government employees left their positions at the end of the fiscal year on September 30th, contributing to the decline.

Since March, monthly job growth has averaged just 35,000 jobs. However, that’s half the pace that was reported earlier this year, when monthly gains averaged 71,000 per month.

Economists point to ongoing uncertainty with President Donald Trump’s tariffs, along with the lingering effects of high interest rates imposed by the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023. These factors are believed to be making employers more hesitant to hire.

As the job market cools, new graduates are adjusting their plans.

“I have an insurance job lined up, but I’m focusing on opening up my own personal training business,” said Rhiannon Brune, a graduate.

Another graduate, Norah Piurc, said she has secured work in the Midwest.

“I’ll be working as a research and development scientist at Good Foods Group in Wisconsin,” Piurc said.

Other graduates, including Katherine Reiter and Alayna Burke, plan to continue their education. Reiter will begin her doctorate at Logan University in January. Burke said she will attend physical therapy school at Washington State University.

Health care drove job growth in November, with employers adding more than 46,000 jobs, making up over two-thirds of all private-sector created last month. Construction followed with 28,000 new positions, while manufacturing continued to struggle, losing 5,000 jobs for the seventh consecutive month.

“I really liked my exercise physiology courses and kinesiology, and that kind of sparked my interest to work with patients and work with human movement,” Burke said.

Officials said the growing use of AI and other technologies is adding to the uncertainty by potentially cutting the need for workers.

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Alison Patton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The University of Missouri is set to award more than 1,800 degrees as students walk across the stage during the winter commencement ceremonies.

Commencement started Friday with five ceremonies, and it will wrap up Saturday with another five.

This is the schedule for Saturday:

8:30 a.m. Sinclair School of Nursing, Jesse Auditorium

11 a.m. Missouri School of Journalism, Jesse Auditorium

12 p.m. College of Engineering, Hearnes Center

3 p.m. College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Hearnes Center

4 p.m. College of Education & Human Development, Jesse Auditorium

The university is awarding 1,339 bachelor’s degrees, 380 master’s degrees and 99 doctoral degrees, according to a university press release. Some students are receiving more than one degree.

Over 480 students are graduating with an Honors Certificate, and more than 420 students are graduating with credits from Mizzou Online, according to the release.

MU live streams of Saturday’s ceremonies and recorded live streams of Friday’s ceremonies are available on the university’s website.

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Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Missouri state lawmaker is pursuing legislation aimed at limiting superintendent payouts and protecting taxpayers, building on a proposal originally put forward by Columbia Public Schools.

State Rep. John Martin (R-Boone County) was in attendance for a November Columbia Board of Education meeting when he first heard that it was a legislative priority for CPS. 

“That was something that interested me. I thought it’s a good concept, especially on saving as far as taxpayer dollars and a good use of taxpayer dollars,” Martin said. 

Martin is now working on legislation that would limit superintendent buyouts to no more than one year’s salary statewide. 

This comes after the Francis Howell School District made a costly private deal to pay former superintendent Mike Dominguez, $229,166.67 to step away. The only problem, Dominguez didn’t work a day for the district and took a job as Oklahoma’s Shawnee Public Schools assistant superintendent. 

“I think there will be some pushback because that’s not the norm right now. Most districts, the norm is a three-year contract, or even in the City of St. Louis, there’s actually a five-year contract,” Martin said. “[Columbia Public Schools] they’re looking for a uniformity to help them in future negotiations as well.”

In October, CPS submitted a proposal at the Missouri School Boards’ Association Fall Delegation Assembly asking to support legislation to limit superintendent payouts upon separation to no more than one year’s salary to protect taxpayers. 

The district said in its proposal that using “taxpayer dollars to give six-figure payouts is not fiscally responsible” and that “boards across the state are faced with difficult decisions every year when negotiating with superintendents who are missing the mark.” The district went on to say that because most superintendent contracts are three-year rolling deals, any attempts to terminate or reach a settlement come with a price tag. 

CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark told ABC 17 News that MSBA passed their proposal as one of its legislative priorities.

“I think the board really felt strongly about what that means for school districts across the state. So you might look at Columbia Public Schools, obviously, with superintendent contracts,” Baumstark said. “When we separated from our previous superintendent,  there were some financial obligations related to that contract. The contract is written according to state law. So there are some requirements. And so this would be changing what current state law requires school districts to do. There were several school districts in the last two years that have been caught in that requirement under state law for payouts to superintendents that they have separated with.”

The proposal comes after a dispute with former Superintendent Brian Yearwood in November 2024. Initially, Yearwood announced in August that he had been diagnosed with cancer. However, months later, the district announced that he was retiring and paid him $667,268.90 in public dollars in a separation agreement. His cancer diagnosis was not mentioned in his resignation letter.

Yearwood then began applying for other jobs and ended up being named the superintendent of a school district in Louisville, Kentucky.

When CPS hired Jeff Klein as its superintendent, it included language in his contract to limit any payouts to twelve months of salary, something it would like to make uniform across the state. 

“I am grateful their current superintendent, Dr. Klein, he’s agreed to, you a one-year buyout if that would happen. So I think that’s good.  They already have that in place and wanting to see that statewide so I’m willing to support that and at least float that legislation out there and debate it down in Jefferson City,” Martin said. 

CPS is now pushing for a change in legislation to that it feels will benefit smaller districts who may not have the resources to limit the financial risk of buying out a superintendent contract. In its proposal to MSBA, the district wrote: 

“Our board discussed that although we are typically in favor of local control in most situations, we could not think of a time that a local board would prefer to pay more money than less to a superintendent upon separation or termination.” 

Martin said his legislation would not cap a superintendent’s salary, but would limit the number of years a buyout can cover. He said he is currently researching what other states have done and began talking to officials across the state to see if the proposed legislation would be doable. 

“I have talked to some lawmakers. I’ve gotten some pros and cons. And so I I’m not saying it is a done deal,  but I think it’s something that’s noteworthy to look into,  especially again, from that standpoint of wise use of money,” Martin said. “Columbia Schools was in a bad spot. There were a lot of obviously taxpayers that were very upset about that type of a buyout from their previous superintendent. So if I can protect those taxpayer dollars and assist schools in that, I think that’s a positive.” 

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Euphenie Andre

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Construction for Boone County Public Safety Childcare Center is on schedule to be completed in July 2026.

The center cost $5 million, with the county providing half and the state providing the other half.

The Boone County Commission held a meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss the current status of the project. Officials said they hope the center will be fully operational by August or September, weather permitting.

“That would be our goal, is to have it fully outfitted by that point,” Boone County Commissioner Kip Kendrick. “But we’ve got to we have to have a cooperative weather winter weather this year,”

The 10,000-square-foot facility is designed to serve up to 96 children at a time. The building will have two levels, a main level and a lower level aligned with the basement. The lower level will not be fully outfitted initially, as construction will begin on the main level first. All rooms are being built for infant care. During the meeting, Director Amy Hayse said the upper level will be designated for children two years old and under.

Kendrick said the center will open with a smaller number of children and gradually expand.

“So we may start as small as anywhere from 15-to-20 kids,” Kendrick said. “But we’ve built the facility in such a way that we can grow into it over time.”

The daycare will be located on Boone County’s Public Safety Campus, within walking distance of the sheriff’s office and jail administration. Construction on the facility began approximately three weeks ago. Once open, the center will operate anywhere from 5 a.m.-9 p.m., seven days a week, serving children from 6 weeks old through school age.

According to Kendrick, the schedule is expected to provide sufficient childcare coverage for staff without requiring a full 24-hour operation. While 24-hour service could be considered in the long term if needed, similar facilities mostly hospitals offering comparable services, said it’s rarely necessary. Operating 16 to 18 hours a day usually meets the needs of teams that work around the clock, such as a Joint Communication Center or a Sheriff’s Office.

“So make sure we cover both first and second shift and then be open seven days a week. That’s our goal and so intention of being open, you know, pretty much 365 days a year, maybe a day or two that we have to close down for other purposes,” Kendrick said.

During the meeting, commissioners also discussed potential partnerships with local colleges to help provide volunteers. Officials could not provide an exact number of staff members they plan to hire but said the center will not need to hire its full staff right away, as the number of enrolled children is expected to remain below 40 in the early months.

However, they do anticipate it might be difficult to find staff for those hours that they have planned.

“Preparing for those extended hours and seven days a week, that’s going to create some staffing issues, staffing challenges,” Kendrick said. “So we’ll work work through those.”

Tuition fees have not yet been set, but officials plan to offer a subsidized rate to keep costs below the market. They said tuition rates will be finalized and available to the public by the second or third quarter of 2026.

Of the $5 million allocated for the project, officials said they don’t know exactly how much has been spent, but so far, expenditures have been minimal.

“I don’t want to throw out a number, but we have certainly paid some of the invoices on the engineering side. Some of those invoices are probably starting to come in for excavation,” he said.

Commissioners also noted that several safety details still need to be finalized, including utilities and the materials used on the playground.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A teenager from Freeburg has been charged as an adult in Maries County in connection with a shooting that occurred at a Vienna gas station in September.

Kaden Herzing was charged on Thursday with armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and first-degree property damage. He was 17 years old when he was arrested on Sept. 21. A Friday court filing says he was denied a public defender.

A probable cause statement says Vienna police were called around 2:28 a.m. Sept. 21 after the Quik Spot in the 100 block of South Highway 63 had its windows shot out. Police saw the glass of the front door was destroyed and four shell casings were found at the scene, the statement says. An estimate determined about $1,100 in damage was reported, court documents say.

A friend of Herzing called law enforcement after and allegedly said Herzing told him that he had shot the windows out of two convenience stores in Osage County, the statement says.

Police reviewed video and saw a male arrive in a dark-colored car, walk up to the door with a handgun in his right hand and fired it, court documents say.

Herzing was later found at a residence in Freeburg and a gun containing five bullets was found in a car, the statement says. The bullets were the same brand as the spent shell casing found at the convenience store, police wrote.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

David Williams, who spent more than three decades with the Jefferson City Police Department and recently retired as a captain, was appointed by Gov. Mike Kehoe to the Board of Probation and Parole, according to a Friday press release from Kehoe’s office.

JCPD announced Williams’ retirement in a public social media post on Nov. 25. He was also recognized at the Dec. 1 City Council meeting.

“Captain Williams is retiring from the Jefferson City Police Department after 32+ years of service to the department and the Jefferson City community. Good luck in your next adventures in life,” JCPD wrote in the post.

Friday’s press release says Williams serving on boards for Special Learning Center and Multipli Credit Union.

Williams is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from Columbia College.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A convicted sex offender on Monday pleaded guilty to keeping artificially generated child pornography on his cellphone.

Charles Hooton, 64, of Columbia, pleaded guilty to four counts of child porn possession and one count of failing to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

The probable cause statement in previous reporting says police were called on May 18 about a report of Hooton having child porn after a woman saw a number of images while using his cellphone.

Hooton spoke with police on July 24 and let them go through his phone, court documents say. He allegedly admitted to using an AI app to generate the explicit images, the statement says. Police wrote that more than 130 AI-generated images were found on Hooton’s phone.

Hooton’s web history also included several websites that had “teen,” “boy” and other related phrases in the name, court documents say.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Boone County dog breeder accused of animal abuse is facing a significant number of felony charges after she was indicted by a grand jury on Friday.

Melissa Sanders, 26, of Columbia, is now charged with 29 counts of animal abuse. All of the counts are felonies. She was previously charged with three felony counts and 15 misdemeanor counts of animal abuse.

An arraignment for the new set of charges is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday. She is being held at the Phelps County Jail without bond, though she is listed on Boone County’s online jail roster.

During a hearing on Thursday, a Judge Kayla Jackson-Williams said she would consider a bond and ordered a detention study to be done. A hearing on that decision was scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30. A lawyer for the state had argued that Sanders is a flight risk because she is involved in a relationship with someone from Texas.

Sanders ran Magnum Opus German Shepherds and a number of dead dogs, including a dozen dog skulls, were found at the property of the business when law enforcement served a search warrant, according to court documents in previous reporting. Several malnourished dogs were also found at the property.

Court documents say at least two living dogs that were found were on the brink of death.

The living dogs were turned over to the Central Missouri Humane Society after Sanders was arrested. Owners of the dogs were contacted and reunited with the animals.

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Keriana Gamboa

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Boone County Commission on Thursdays approved the finalized budget for the 2026 fiscal year.

Including money being using from the American Rescue Plan Act, expenditures for the new fiscal year are expected to total $156 million.

Officials say the budget will allow for pay raises for some county employees.

Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick says the new pay plan is a different approach to county compensation. As part of the restructuring, positions have been grouped into job “families” like law enforcement, IT, administration, and engineering to ensure pay stays competitive across different fields.

 The new system breaks pay into three components:

Cost-of-living increases

Step raises that move employees toward market-pay levels

Discretionary pay for performance, promotions and other merit-based factors

Boone County Auditor Kyle Rieman said the new pay structure also helps communicate to employees why they are receiving a pay increase or why they may not in certain cases.

Kendrick said the county will continue updating the plan as the county grows to make sure employees’ pay remains competitive. 

“We’ll be able to kind of touch that each and every year. And so this is a more interactive pay plan and something that we can, you know, likely keep on top of better, from our end at the county level, to make sure that it, you know, that it moves forward, that it doesn’t remain stagnant,” Kendrick said. 

In late 2023, the county hired McGrath Consulting Group to review salaries and found 51% of the nearly 500 county employees were being paid below market levels. 

The findings prompted a complete overhaul of the county’s pay policy, aimed at aligning employee salaries more closely with market rates.

Rieman said the county has budgeted $3.9 million to implement the new pay plan and cover 2026 pay increases.

He also adds the proposed revenue projection is $121 million, when not including American Rescue Plan Act money.

Kendrick added while this year’s budget isn’t as large as usual, the county has set aside enough reserve funds to cover major capital projects.

“We will spend more than we’re taking in next year. But our reserves allow us to do that. We’ve been planning these large capital projects for a number of years,” Kendrick said. Large projects such as the, eight megahertz system by the time that’s fully implemented from helping by the radios to building new towers is probably a little over a $20 million project.”

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