Category: kmiz-local-news

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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia will gather public input Thursday night on how to make the Business Loop safer for pedestrians, motorcyclists and others.

The meeting is set for 5 p.m. at the Boone Electric headquarters on Range Line Street.

The road safety audit on Business Loop 70 between Stadium Boulevard in west Columbia and Eastland Circle in east Columbia is part of the Vision Zero road safety program. The project aims to improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists, seniors, motorcyclists and school-age children. The findings will be integrated into the larger Loop corridor planning process.

The study, a collaboration between the Columbia City Council, The Loop CID and Great Rivers Engineering, seeks to improve safety, accessibility, and economic vitality along the corridor.

The Columbia City Council recently approved several million-dollar infrastructure projects, including the study for Business Loop 70.

The total cost of the study is capped at $2,623,500, with $500,000 funded by Capital Improvement Program sales tax funds. The rest will be covered by federal funding. Great Rivers Engineering will conduct surveys, gather public input, and develop engineering plans to address issues such as stormwater management, bike lanes, and pedestrian crosswalks.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man and a woman from Sedalia were killed in a crash Wednesday at Highway 50 and Route MM in Pettis County, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says the crash occurred as a 2015 Toyota Camry – driven by a 50-year-old Sedalia man — went southbound through the intersection after the light turned green. A 2004 MAC dump truck hit the side of the Toyota in the intersection, the report says.

The dump truck was driven by a 36-year-old Shelbina man who had no reported injuries.

The 50-year-old man was flown to Bothwell Regional Hospital and was declared dead there. The passenger in the Toyota – a 48-year-old woman from Sedalia – was pronounced dead at the scene by the Pettis County coroner. Everyone in the crash wore a seatbelt, the report says

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

LiUNA Local 955 members are calling for University of Missouri Chancellor Mun Choi to rescind an email warning staff about free expression and make it clear that conversations and statements around wages, benefits and working conditions are protected speech.

The group will rally in front of Jesse Hall on Thursday in response to Choi’s email sent out on Sept.16th.

“If an employee’s speech can cause disruption such as workplace disharmony, impeded performance or impaired working relationships, the university’s interest in the efficiency of its operations may outweigh the employee’s rights of free expression,” the email states. “Speech that causes significant disruption can be a basis for discipline or termination, even when it occurs off-duty.”

The email was sent after the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. After Kirk’s killing, conservatives, including Vice President J.D. Vance, called for harsh consequences for people who post certain statements about the attack or Kirk.

Late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel was briefly pulled off the air for his comments about Kirk’s shooting and Republicans trying to take political advantage of it.

LiUNA Local 955 represents service and maintenance workers throughout the University of Missouri System, including MU Health Care.

“Union members, and all UM-System workers, have the constitutional right to collective bargaining in the Missouri Constitution. We have constitutional rights regarding freedom to assembly and freedom of speech,” union representative Andrew Hutchinson said in a news release.

The rally begins at 5 p.m.

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Alison Patton

EDITOR’S NOTE: AI was used to research the background for this story.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Seven businesses have signed up for Columbia Police to enforce trespassing and parking rules while they’re closed — four of them since Friday.

University of Missouri and Columbia City leaders are asking downtown businesses to sign a form that would allow the Columbia Police Department to issue trespassing warnings to unwanted people on private property.

Without a letter of enforcement, the business owner would have to be present for trespassers to be cited, Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson has told ABC 17 News.

The push to sign comes after a Stephens College student, Aiyanna Williams, was shot dead last month. Two other people were injured in the shooting.

The City of Columbia and MU leaders sent out an action plan to reduce crime the following week, which included the enforcement letter as one of 11 ways to reduce crime.

MU Chancellor Mun Choi walked through downtown last week to highlight the issue. Meanwhile, police have stepped up downtown patrols, with Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude saying officers found 20 guns during traffic stops last weekend.

Check back for updates to this developing story.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Local Columbia musicians will be holding a rally in support of a Columbia man who was detained by ICE agents after coming back to the U.S. from a trip to Europe.

Blue Note and Rose Music Hall’s head of security, Owen Ramsingh, was detained at O’Hare Airport in Chicago in September, after he returned from visiting family in the Netherlands.

“The CoMo Music Scene was rattled when Owen Ramsingh was unlawfully taken into custody by ICE when attempting to re-enter the country,” according to a flyer for the rally. “It is time that we show up for Owen in the same way that he has showed up for us all of these years.”

The rally will be at Columbia City Hall at 5 p.m. and is an invitation to all musicians, welcoming all instrumentation. Rally goers will be playing “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Neil Young on repeat for one hour.

Organizers ask rally goers not to use antagonistic messaging toward ICE, due to it possibly hurting Ramsingh’s case.

Ramsingh’s family was able to speak with him on the phone throughout the day as he was being detained, until ICE took away his phone. His wife was also able to call him for ten minutes on back-to-back days, during which he described the conditions in the Broadview, IL, detention facility as a “30-by 30 foot room packed with 75 other people, with only 20 chairs and no beds.” 

Ramsingh has lived in the U.S. since moving here as a child in 1998 and was issued a green card as a child of a U.S. Citizen. According to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, he was detained because of convictions for possession of marijuana and cocaine.

“September 27, CBP arrested Owen Romann Ramsingh, a criminal alien from the Netherlands,” Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “His criminal history includes convictions for cocaine possession and marijuana possession. This criminal alien is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

“A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused.”

Court records obtained by ABC 17 show Ramingh was charged with drug possession in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1998 when he was 17. He pleaded guilty the next year to attempting to commit a felony.

The following year, records show he was cited for having less than an ounce of marijuana in Nebraska and fined $100.

He also has an expunged 2011 conviction in Boone County for marijuana possession. He has had a green card since 1986, Ramsingh’s wife, Diana, told ABC 17 News.

The last information Diana has is that Owen was being transferred to a detention center in El Paso, Texas. He has a court date in Illinois scheduled for Oct. 15.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Boone County Sheriff’s Office says no one was hurt after a home in the 4200 block of Santa Barbara Drive was hit by gunfire on Tuesday morning.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Brian Leer told ABC 17 News that deputies responded to multiple calls about shots being fire at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday. A home was hit and no one is in custody.

Leer stated several shell casings were found in the area.

Law enforcement was called to the same street – which is in a neighborhood east of Boone County – on Tuesday, Sept. 16. Two vehicles and several homes were damaged in that shooting.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A cabinetry manufacturer has opened a new facility in Glasgow, Missouri.

Heritage Wood Mills invested $925,000 into the facility and created 30 new jobs, according to a Wednesday press release from the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

The release says Heritage Wood Mills will benefit from the Missouri Works program, a tool that helps companies expand and retain workers by providing access to capital through withholdings or tax credits for job creation. It may also get assistance from Missouri One Start, which helps eligible businesses with recruitment and training, the release says.

“Heritage Wood Mills is a shining example of the entrepreneurial spirit that makes Missouri strong,” Gov. Mike Kehoe said in the release. “By choosing to invest and grow in Glasgow, they’re creating good-paying jobs, strengthening the local economy, and supporting our state’s proud tradition of forestry and manufacturing. We celebrate their grand opening and look forward to the impact they will have in this community for generations to come.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man was charged with three felonies after he allegedly locked a woman in a room at a gym and sexually abused her on Tuesday.

Daniel Melendez, 37, was charged with first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree kidnapping and first-degree burglary. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. An initial court appearance was held on Wednesday and a public defender was appointed.

The heavily redacted probable cause statement says Melendez is a transient who had been sleeping in trees outside the business and had been coming into the business since July. The location and part of the name of the business were redacted.

The victim allegedly tried helping a customer into a tanning booth and walked to another room to clean a separate machine, but was followed by Melendez, the statement says. Melendez allegedly closed the door, locked it and sexually assaulted the victim after she told him he was not allowed in the area and asked him to leave, the statement says.

Police arrested Melendez outside the business.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Several parents of University of Missouri students are growing worried about sending their children off to school in Columbia, records show.

Email records obtained by ABC 17 News show several parents have reached out to UM System President Mun Choi in the wake of a deadly downtown shooting. Stephens College student Aiyanna Williams was killed after she was shot on Sept. 27.

Parents’ concerns also follow an email Choi sent to several city leaders— including Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, City Manager De’Carlon Seewood and Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson– calling for action to address crime.

Choi also sent that email to the Board of Curators, DNR director Kurt Schaefer and business leaders Jim Yankee and Erica Pefferman, among other.

Two days after the shooting, records show a parent and alumni of the university reached out to Buffaloe, Seewood and Choi regarding a concern for safety in the city. The parent’s name is redacted in the email.

The parent wrote that their child is a junior at the university, but recent violence and the homicide that occurred the day prior to the email has left the parent “deeply concerned.”

“Columbia has long been known as a safe and welcoming community, yet the increase in violent incidents undermines that reputation and, more importantly, threatens the well-being of its citizens and students,” the email states.

The parent also wrote that they are equally concerned about the growing homeless population in the downtown area, claiming the concentration of encampments and homeless people creates an unsafe environment. The email urges leaders to address the issues with urgency and create a plan of action to address violence and homelessness.

Another parent wrote in an email on Sept. 29 that they had a child graduate from the university recently and were torn about whether or not they should send their second child, due to violence over the years. The parent wrote that regret sending their second child and will not be sending their third.

The parent wrote they frequently receive alerts from the university about shootings and called the university’s reputation “tarnished.”

“Students getting injured and now killed by gun violence is horrifying and I cannot understand why the city lets this go on,” the email states. “I hope you are not waiting for more students to get shot.”

Records also show a parent reached out to president Choi in April, claiming they were in Columbia the weekend prior when multiple alerts were sent out by the university for shootings. Two men were shot the weekend prior, according to previous reporting.

The university responded, asking the parent for a phone call.

The same parent wrote again following Williams’ death, writing the fear of something like that happening was the reason she had written to Choi in April. The parent called the violence unacceptable, and called for change, saying Choi’s emailed response was too late.

“I have read your email this morning. I feel it’s too little, too late. We were screaming from the rooftops last April and now someone is dead,” the email says.

According to emails exchanged between Choi and Boone County Northern District Commissioner Janet Thompson, the two had discussed efforts to help curb crime and issues within the city before the shooting. Records show Thompson sent an email to Choi about data sharing platforms the university and county could get involved.

Thompson wrote the platform is being used in Johnson County and could be used as a possible solution to issues Boone County faces. Thompson said the county had been “touting the My Resource Connection that Johnson County built out and shared with Douglas County for some time now” and thanked Choi for advocating for the platform.

Choi responded and asked Thompson to share more information about the platform that he later forwarded to colleagues. Thompson noted the county has been working with the Missouri Hospital Association, Missouri Sheriff’s Association and other agencies.

Thompson told ABC 17 News on Wednesday the data sharing would address multiple issues, including crime. She said University Health Care and their law enforcement are key players and that she Choi have spoken about the platform since the deadly shooting.

“We think Dr. Choi’s help at this point will be able to move this project forward as Dr. Choi understands the need for everybody to be working together across systems and across agencies,” Thompson said.

Records also show Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick had sent an email to MU CFO Ryan Rapp following the deadly shooting, indicating he did not plan to go on a planned trip to South Carolina in the wake of the shooting.

Kendrick told ABC 17 News via email that after several conversations, including a meeting at the university last week, he decided to go.

“Much of the conversations in Columbia, South Carolina, revolved around public safety, law enforcement, and downtown safety. President Choi ended up sending Chief Weimer on the trip as well to be part of the conversations. I’m glad that I went,” Kendrick said.

ABC 17 News reached out to MU.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Schnucks announced in a Wednesday press release that it is recalling smoked mozzarella penne salad because of a possible listeria contamination.

The recall was announced for stores in Missouri, Indiana and Illinois. Schnucks has three locations in Columbia and one store in Jefferson City.

Affected products have the UPC code 21287100000 and would have been purchased on or after Aug. 29. It also applies to the same product purchased in bulk from the deli case, the release says.

Customers should either throw out the food or bring it back for a refund.

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