Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Editor’s Note: The type of vehicle involved has been corrected.

A well-traveled road in south Columbia was closed off by first responders on Thursday night after a crash.

Law enforcement and barricaded vehicles blocked off Nifong Boulevard near Woodrail on the Green.

Columbia Police said Friday morning that this crash happened at 8:45 p.m. Thursday.

One person was taken to the hospital for injuries.

An ABC 17 News photographer saw a scooter on the ground at the scene.

Boone County Joint Communications sent a notification at 8:53 p.m. stating that a collision occurred on West Nifong Boulevard and Woodrail on the Green.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Ashland Board of Aldermen on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution for a company to handle the role of city administrator.

This comes after Kyle Michel announced his resignation in March. His last day was announced for May 22, according to previous reporting.

The contract will last for four months and is retroactive to begin May 1, according to meeting documents. It will cost the city $11,500 each month with an additional $500 per month for the sub-contractor’s housing and mileage, meeting documents say.

Meeting documents say the contract can be extended an additional two months by the city “with 15 days’ written notice prior to the expiration of the initial 4-month term.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A second woman has been charged with first-degree child endangerment after she allegedly left a child in the care of a Pettis County sex offender.

Shawna Spence, of Sedalia, was charged on Wednesday. A warrant was issued and no court date has been scheduled.

She is one of two woman accused of leaving a child in the care of Matthew Platt, who was indicted this week in his child molestation case. He was originally charged last week with first-degree child molestation and failing to register as a sex offender. He has an arraignment scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday, May 18.

Kristy White was also charged in the case with first-degree child endangerment. She has a counsel status hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 12.

The probable cause statements in the case say that the victim told authorities on April 5 about five separate instances of being sexually abused by Barrett.

Platt allegedly denied the allegations to law enforcement, but then claimed he gave the young child a “hickey” on their arm because the victim “asked him to do it,” court documents say.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Librarians at the University of Missouri voted to join LiUNA Local 955, a union that represents a number of public employees in the Mid-Missouri area.

LiUNA announced in a Thursday social media post that library workers voted to join the union. Workers had announced their intent to unionize in December.

MU librarian Taira Meadowcroft said the preliminary results came in on Thursday and that it will take a few days to certify.

The university commented on the election.

“After a democratic, confidential election process conducted by the neutral and independent Missouri State Board of Mediation, preliminary results indicate some Mizzou librarians, archivists, and library information specialists have decided to accept representation by LiUNA Local 955,” a statement provided by MU spokesman Christopher Ave says. “Moving forward, the University of Missouri remains committed to an open dialogue with Local 955 to ensure that we hear and respond to concerns of the Mizzou employees it represents. We remain committed to providing a supportive environment for all members of our community.”  

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Ryan Shiner

MOBERLY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A search was underway on Thursday afternoon in Moberly after someone allegedly stole a Randolph County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle, according to a social media post from the Moberly Police Department.

Police wrote that someone who was in custody stole the vehicle. The patrol vehicle was found intact.

Police later wrote that it had arrested the person accused in the theft.

Several law enforcement agencies were seen in the area near Lee Street and Morley Street in Moberly at 4:49 p.m. Officers at the scene did not provide a comment.

The scene started clearing out around 5:30 p.m.

ABC 17 News has reached out to the Randolph County sheriff.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Court documents filed on Thursday say a Sedalia police officer shot a man Wednesday during a chase after the man rammed him truck into the officer’s patrol vehicle.

Justin Strickland, of Sedalia, was charged in Pettis County with first-degree assault, second-degree assault of a special victim, aggravated fleeing, leaving the scene of an accident, first-degree property damage, resisting arrest and armed criminal action.

A warrant was issued and no bond was set. A court date has not been scheduled. Pettis County Sheriff Brad Anders said Strickland has been hospitalized since the incident.

The probable cause statement says officers were called for a potential domestic disturbance around 10 a.m. Wednesday. When the officer – noted in the statement as “Office Page” – arrived, Strickland allegedly made a rude gesture before getting into his truck and trying to drive away.

The statement says Strickland hit the officer with his truck. The officer gave commands to Strickland to stop, but he kept going and the officer allegedly used his baton to break out a window of the truck.

Strickland sped away and Page chased after him in his patrol vehicle, the statement says.

Eventually, Strickland stopped his vehicle, put it in reverse and hit the officer’s patrol vehicle near the intersection of East 16th Street and South Garfield Avenue, the statement says. Page then fired a shot at Strickland, the statement says.

The chase continued, but stopped at the intersection of East 16th Street and South Arlington Ave and aid was given to Strickland, the statement says.

Page was treated at an area hospital and was later released, according to court documents.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol interviewed Strickland afterwards, who allegedly said he “didn’t wanna deal with” police when they arrived and “snapped after that,” court documents say. He allegedly admitted to ramming his truck into the patrol vehicle and said he was shot immediately after, court documents say.

MSHP is investigating the shooting.

ABC 17 News has reached out to the Sedalia Police Department.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 29-year-old Columbia man was charged with two misdemeanors on Thursday after he was accused of exposing himself at the Columbia library on April 29.

Dennis Allen Jr. is charged in Boone County with first-degree sexual misconduct and driving without insurance. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond.

An arraignment was held on Thursday and Allen appeared by video from the jail and pleaded not guilty.

The probable cause statement says a woman reported seeing Allen expose himself at the library on April 29. He was allegedly seen on video leaving while wearing a black hat, grey Bass Pro Shop sweatshirt and black sweat pants, the statement says. Flock cameras were used to find Allen’s vehicle and he was arrested during a traffic stop while wearing the same clothing, court documents allege.

A confined docket hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday, May 14, while a case review is set for 1 p.m. Thursday, May 21.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A popular learning management system used by colleges and universities around the country is currently down.

The University of Missouri in Columbia is among the thousands of schools who are having issues, the university announced in a social media post.

“We are aware that the Canvas online learning management system is down, as it is for universities across the nation. We will work with Canvas to restore access as soon as possible,” the post says.

MU Alert: We are aware that the Canvas online learning management system is down, as it is for universities across the nation. We will work with Canvas to restore access as soon as possible. Updates for the campus community will be posted at: https://t.co/140Ue13PMt.

— MU Alert (@MUalert) May 7, 2026

A message on MU’s IT system status website says, “The Canvas learning system is currently experiencing technical issues and may be unavailable. We will update the situation when more is known. Time to resolution is unknown at this time.”

Canvas is a website schools use that allows students to submit their homework and for instructors to place course materials.

Penn State University issued a press release on Thursday saying that it was experiencing a Canvas outage that was “related to an ongoing security incident affecting Instructure.”

“Out of an abundance of caution, users should avoid interacting with or clicking on any links, messages, or content that may be posted by threat actors or appear suspicious during this event,” Penn State’s statement says. “Penn State will never direct users to unverified third-party sites for Canvas-related communications or remediation activities.”

Instructure’s website says there was a “security incident” on Wednesday and that it is investigating issues on Thursday.

MU had experienced a Canvas outage in October 2025 after issues with AWS nationwide arose.

Check back updates.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission talked standards and regulations for possible data centers at Thursday night’s work session.

Commission members will discuss “broader” topic areas that they want to include in a working draft of the regulations and standards that would govern data centers in Columbia.

“This is the process of then deciding if we allow them, how are we going to allow them, where and under what parameters, all of that kind of stuff,” said Commission Chair Sharon Geuea Jones. “Tonight’s really a level setting kind of discussion where we’re all saying, this is what we hope to achieve and what our expectations are.”

The building and inclusion of data centers have been highly contested around the country, including in Mid-Missouri.

Amazon has sought to build a data center in Montgomery County, but faced intense pushback from residents at several public meetings, culminating in a lawsuit aimed at blocking the project. Critics of data centers often cite excessive water usage and increased electricity consumption.

During the April 6 Columbia City Council meeting, the definition of “data center” and its placement within the city’s zoning structure was approved. During this same meeting, a request to have an ordinance prepared establishing a 12-month “administrative delay” on permits for data centers was introduced.

That administrative delay request was stretched from six months to a year before it was introduced at the council meeting. The city believes the lengthened delay period will permit staff and the community to examine standards relating to this topic. The vote to approve it will happen at the May 18th council meeting.

A public comment will follow before city staff craft regulations.

City staff have found that “utilization of water utility” and “utilization of electric utility” are the most important issues to community members in the data center discussion. Those two topics would also require the most collaboration across City departments.

Other topics to be discussed include siting of structures, parking requirements, decommissioning and remediation and lighting and noise requirements.

Staff estimates the public comment will be between 45 and 60 days.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Hermann High School in Gasconade County was evacuated at 10:45 a.m. Thursday after the district received a threat, according to a social media post from the Gasconade County R-1 School District.

The district wrote it had “received a threat that required us to take immediate action to ensure the safety of our students and staff.” Local law enforcement and officers from the Capitol police determined it was safe to return to the building.

The district wrote that it was notified by state agencies earlier in the week that hoax threats have been targeting school and that “district should be on the lookout for them.”

Several schools around Mid-Missouri have seen threats made against them in the past month or so, including the Fayette R-3 School District, Lebanon High School in Laclede County, the Camdenton School District and the University of Missouri.

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