Category: kmiz-local-news

Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia city leaders are inviting the public to learn about the city’s budget process for the 2026 fiscal year.

There will be two meetings taking place, one from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the second from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., in Columbia City Hall conference rooms 1A and 1B.

The 2026 fiscal year budget includes $600 million in expenses, but the city is only expecting to bring in about $560 million, leaving a $40 million deficit. Council members will hold a final vote on the budget in September before the fiscal year begins and the plan takes effect in October.

Residents will have three opportunities to give public comments on the proposed budget during regular city council meetings, with the first one on Aug. 18 at 7 p.m.

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Nia Hinson

CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Delano, Minnesota woman was injured after getting into an ATV crash in Camden County early Saturday morning.

According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, the 19-year-old woman was driving a 2019 Polaris Sportsman on Central Ozarks Road just before 1 a.m. The crash happened as the vehicle overturned– rolled over– and ejected the woman and a passenger from the vehicle.

The woman was taken to University Hospital by helicopter with serious injuries.

The passenger in the vehicle, a 20-year-old Delano, Minnesota woman suffered moderate injuries.

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Nia Hinson

HOLTS SUMMIT, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man was taken into custody on Sunday after allegedly leading law enforcement on a chase in Holts Summit and crashing into a police vehicle.

According to a press release from the Holts Summit Police Department, police learned that the Jefferson City Police Department was attempting to a stop a vehicle in reference to a missing child around 11 a.m.

Holts Summit police learned the vehicle was driving away from JCPD and entered the city limits of Holts Summit. The vehicle continued driving west on Simon Boulevard from U.S. Highway 54.

The release states the vehicle appeared to have crashed near the intersection of Simon Boulevard and South Summit Drive. As police attempted to assist in the traffic stop, the vehicle attempted to drive away, reversing into the front of a Holts Summit police vehicle, the release says.

The suspect tried to drive away again onto South Summit Drive.

Holts Summit and JCPD were able to stop the vehicle near the intersection of South Summit Drive and City Plaza Drive. The man was taken into custody without further incident. The child was found safe inside the vehicle.

Multiple police vehicles were damaged in the incident. No injuries were reported.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo.

The Columbia Board of Education will vote on changes to the school district’s transfer policy for students Monday night.

This is all apart of its summer session meetings ahead of the 2025-26 school year.

The district called transfers a privilege, not a right. The school district will evaluate student transfer requests from non-district employees on a case-by-case basis, considering educational needs of the student rather than convenience, according to the board’s agenda.

Once a transfer has been approved, the student may continue to attend the transfer school. This is new, as previous transfer requests would need to be renewed for a student each year. Parents and guardians will not have to re-apply for a transfer.

The district may, however, rescind a transfer for cause, including disciplinary issues, poor attendance and more. If a student chooses to return to their home school, they will not be eligible for another transfer for one full school year.

The school district will grant district employees’ requests for transfers to non-lottery schools. All transfers are also subject to building space availability. The school district will not provide transportation for transfer students unless required by law.

John Lyman, the board’s President, told ABC 17 News that the majority of the transfer requests they receive are from employees for their children.

“It helps employees out. If you live in Beulah Ralph’s district, but then you work at Paxton Keeley, it makes sense for your kids to go to Paxton Keely,” Lyman said.

Transfer requests to the district administration building on or before April 1st of the school year prior to the year the transfer is requested will be considered first. Requests can still be submitted after April 1st, but they will not be looked at until all the requests made before the deadline are completed.

Transfer decisions for those applying by April 1 will be made no later than May 1. Transfer decisions made by those applying after April 1 will be made by June 1st, or 14 days after the application is submitted, whichever comes later.

The school district will not grant transfer requests to lottery or autonomous schools unless the request is from a district employee currently physically employed at the school requested, the placement at the lottery school is related to a student’s IEP plan, or if it’s required by law.

Students who move from one school attendance area to another school attendance area during the school year will be allowed to complete the school year at their original school without transportation. To remain at that school a transfer request will need to be made.

A student who has suffered from a violent crime or has been seriously injured at their school may also transfer to another public school in the district upon request.

However, even if the board passes the changes, Lyman says there’s still more work to be done before the 2026-27 school year when the changes would go into effect.

“The administration has to have written procedures out for the board to review to look at these things and see how in practice then are they going to work,” Lyman said.

Those procedures will be due from the superintendent’s office by January 31, 2026.

Monday’s meeting is at 5:30 p.m. at the Aslin Administration Building.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is reminding drivers to be ready for traffic changes as an increased number of school buses, student drivers, and cyclists are expected to join them on the road when school starts this August.

According to the MSHP, there were 843 crashes involving school buses last year. They add that most traffic crashes involving young drivers under 21 occur during school dismissal times between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that the most dangerous part of the bus ride is during loading and unloading, called the “danger zone,” with children often crossing in front of and behind the bus or running near traffic.

Drivers are reminded to slow down around school zones and playgrounds and to stop when they see a school bus with red lights and a stop-arm out. It is illegal in all states to pass a school bus when it is stopped with the stop-arm out. Driving past can result in a fine of at least $250 and a suspended license.

Based on a survey of bus drivers in 2023, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services estimated there were more than 43.5 million illegal school bus passings in the United States during the 2022-2023 school year.

Parents are encouraged to be at bus stops during pick-up and drop-off times and to remind their kids to drive responsibly and wear proper safety gear when biking to school. Cyclists are reminded to ride as near to the right side of the roadway and use the proper hand signals.

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Olivia Hayes

HARTSBURG, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Organic Association is on the hunt for a buyer of two historic Hartsburg properties.

MOA was gifted the commercial buildings, known as the Hartsburg Grand and The Station in 2019. Jimi Washburn, President of MOA, told ABC 17 News they’ve already had some interest on the buildings. He said MOA hopes the buyers will honor the building and the community’s heritage.

“They have been restaurants, they’ve been a general store, there’s been a doctor’s office downstairs. In a 100 year old building there is a rich history,” Washburn said.

Dotty Manns and her husband built Dotty’s Cafe from the ground up, the building now being auctioned as “The Station.” Manns said the buildings represent memories of love and community. 

“My husband and I opened in 1996, late 1996. We met so many different people and all the local people… it was great, we loved them. They turned into our actual family,” Manns said.

Missouri Organics Association has used the buildings over the last five years for their outreach and education initiatives.

“Education programing, we would have conferences, mini conferences, potluck dinners with a speaker from local universities in the farming community,” Washburn said.

Washburn believes the possibilities are endless with the space both buildings offer.

“We really want to have something operating in the buildings. It will be a continuous draw to the community rather than just a periodic event,” Washburn said.

Manns said people are always ready to eat, especially bikers from the nearby Katy Trail.

“Some days there would be 50 or 60 bikers. Some days there would be a whole day full of bikers coming from everywhere,” Manns said.

Dottie added that her cafe served customers from across the country because of the trail access.

“We’ve had bikers from New York, California, everywhere that come here to ride the Katy Trail,” Manns said.

Both properties are being auctioned off separately.

The window to place a bid for auction on both properties closes Tuesday at 2 p.m.

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Nia Hinson

COOPER COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Pilot Grove boy was seriously injured in an ATV crash in Cooper County on Friday.

According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, the crash happened around 4:15 p.m. on Riverview Drive. The 10-year-old boy was riding a 2007 Kawasaki, when he turned to go north on Riverview Drive.

The UTV traveled off the left side of the road and overturned, ejecting the boy.

He was transported by life flight to University Hospital with serious injuries.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Bland, Missouri man is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection with a homicide in Gasconade county earlier this year.

According to a social media post from the Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office, David M. Lueke Jr., of Bland, Missouri was arrested Friday. He’s being held in the Franklin County Adult Detention Facility on a $500,000 cash only bond. Official charges were not filed as of Saturday night, according to online court records.

The post states deputies responded to a reported suicide by hanging at a home in the 3600 block of Highway T, near Rosebud, Missouri on May 23. Deputies arrived and found Noah Cantlon.

The position of Cantlon’s body was not consistent with death by a hanging and it appeared the body had been on the ground for an extended period of time, the post says. Deputies also found unexplained cuts and bruises to Cantlon’s body.

A homicide investigation was launched and an autopsy later confirmed that the neck markings on Cantlon were not consistent with suicide by hanging. There also was no evidence that the body remained suspended after death, according to the post.

Multiple interviews were conducted, and investigators found probable cause to arrest Lueke Jr.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Mizzou football’s fall camp continued Saturday with a scrimmage.

Watch coach Eli Drinkwitz take reporters’ questions live in the player.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was released from federal custody this summer after his sentence was commuted by then-President Joe Biden is in the Boone County Jail.

Malcolm Redmon, 42, of Columbia, is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond on a U.S. Marshal hold, jail records indicate.

Capt. Brian Leer, with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office told ABC 17 News Saturday afternoon that Redmon is being held on a federal detainer based on violation of probation. Leer said the Columbia Police Department took Redmon into custody.

All other information will have to come from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Leer said, as they are the ones who issued the warrant.

Redmon was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to being involved in a cocaine-selling ring in Mid-Missouri from 2011-14. Redmon was one of 27 people arrested in 2014 throughout Missouri and Illinois.

He was one of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug charges to have their sentence commuted by former Biden. He was released from federal custody on July 16.

A family member of Redmon had told ABC 17 News last month that Redmon was in a vocational program. A June 23 filing shows he had to reside in and complete a residential reentry center program until “until discharged by the center director after consultation with the Probation Office, for a period not to exceed 120 days.”

Federal authorities accused him of being the leader of the operation, claiming he directed sales and converted the cocaine to crack.

ABC 17 News has reached out to the Columbia Police Department, Boone County Sheriff’s Office and the Eastern and Western district courts of Missouri.

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