Category: kmiz-local-news

Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two people suffered serious injuries in a Chariton County crash Tuesday afternoon.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, an 18-year-old Salisbury woman was driving a 2023 Kia Forte eastbound on Highway 24 when she hit the back of a 2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by a 65-year-old Salisbury woman at 5:17 p.m. Tuesday.

The 18-year-old woman then went into the path of an oncoming 2019 Dodge Caravan driven by a 55-year-old Moberly woman, hitting each other head-on.

The 18-year-old Salisbury woman and the 55-year-old Moberly woman suffered serious injuries. The Moberly woman was flown to University Hospital. The 18-year-old Salisbury woman was taken to University Hospital by Chariton County ambulance.

Both the 55-year-old Moberly woman and the 65-year-old Salisbury woman were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash. The youngest woman was not, according to online crash reports.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The group People Not Politicians held a news conference Wednesday morning to respond to the Secretary of State’s decision not to place Missouri’s congressional map on the November ballot, and to talk strategy on the court case challenging the secretary’s decision.

Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said Tuesday that a citizen-led referendum challenging a Republican-friendly map passed by the state legislature is “insufficient.” Hoskins called the referendum on the map “insufficient” because it is unconstitutional, based on court rulings and the Missouri Attorney General’s opinion.

“Federal law makes clear that the Missouri Constitution cannot be interpreted to strip the General Assembly of its authority over redistricting absent a clear statement,” Attorney General Catherine Hanaway wrote.

Hoskins agreed with Hanway, maintaining the Missouri Constitution doesn’t allow a challenge to a congressional map.

Hoskins announced at a news conference in Jefferson City about an hour before his deadline to certify the petition challenging the “Missouri First” congressional map.

People Not Politicians were prepared for Hoskins to call the referendum unconstitutional, and quickly filed a lawsuit to challenge the decision, claiming the petition is sufficient.

The lawsuit argues “Hoskins did not identify the number of signatures gathered as a reason for deeming the Referendum insufficient.” It also says Hoskins’ claim “the Missouri and U.S. Constitutions prohibit subjecting a redistricting bill to the referendum” is incorrect.

People Not Politicians attorney Chuck Hatfield argues Missouri law allows citizen referendums on any act of the legislature except laws crafted for immediate public peace, health or safety, or certain appropriations laws. He said the referendum on the 2025 congressional map doesn’t fall into either of those categories.

“The constitution the people voted for specifically preserves to them the power to reject the act of the General Assembly. It is not within the secretary’s right to take that away. It is reserved in the constitution,” Hatfield said.

People Not Politicians executive director Richard von Glahn said he’s expecting a Cole County judge to make their court case a priority, since the last day to add the referendum to the November ballot is Sept. 8.

“I think the case is required to be moved to the top of the docket, and we’re ready to go. And look, if the state feels confident in their legal argument, they should be ready to go,” von Glahn said.

Back in December, a federal judge ruled that Hoskins could declare the referendum unconstitutional, but many people are wondering why Hoskins waited until the last day to decide.

An ABC 17 News reporter asked Hoskins that question after he announced his decision. The secretary said he doing his due diligence as a public official.

“I would say that we’ve done some further research, we have an attorney general opinion now that also confirms my belief that it is unconstitutional, and so we wanted to let this process play out,” Hoskins said.

If Hoskins decides to certify the referendum, it would freeze the 2025 map, and Missouri would go back to the previous map passed in 2022. What this means for the August and November elections isn’t clear and would likely need to be determined in court.

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Matthew Sanders

The August primary election is over. But did it go the way you thought it would?

Two big ballot issues drove heavy turnout in Mid-Missouri — Amendments 4 and 5. And in both cases, the issue went down in flames. That definitely wasn’t the outcome everyone was expecting.

Meanwhile, a public safety sales tax in Columbia barely squeaked by, and a capital improvement tax extension won easily in Jefferson City.

Did the Election Day results surprise you? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Sharon Jones took the win in Columbia’s Ward 4 Council race against Ryan King and Dave Sorrell.

“I’m just really excited that things turned out so well tonight,” Jones said. “This was a victory that we were anticipating, but not by this wide of a margin, I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Fourth Ward and excited to get to work starting tomorrow morning, I prefer.”

The vote was called at around 10 p.m. with Jones receiving 3,930 votes. Sorrell received 2,926 votes and King received 812 votes.

The seat was left open by councilmember Nick Foster.

Jones has been a Columbia resident since 2000 and has served on Columbia’s Planning and Zoning Commission since 2020 and is now chair of the commission. Jones has noted a need for utility and infrastructure improvements.

Her profession is lobbying.

“The very first thing is getting this budget to a place where people feel good about it; whoever is elected should be in before the final vote is taken on the budget,” Jones said. “That’s going to be a steep learning curve, hit the ground running, that’ll be the very first thing.”

Jones adds that she also hopes to better help connect residents to the council.

“What I’ve heard a lot of is that city council right now isn’t really accessible to folks; they don’t feel like their voice is being heard. I want to make sure that that changes,” Jones said.

Jones voted on Sunday and spent Election Day stopping by polling locations in the Fourth Ward to check on her campaign election volunteers.

“This has been a campaign that’s all about grassroots and word of mouth and the groups that I’ve met with, whether it’s at a small neighborhood party or a big meeting, like the LiUNA forum,” Jones said. “This has all been about folks saying, ‘Hey, I met Sharon, here’s what I know,’ to their friends and neighbors, so we have a wide cross-section of people from across the Fourth Ward.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Nearly 1,000 Columbia electricity customers were without power near Stadium Boulevard and Providence Road.

The Columbia outage map showed 977 customers without electricity. An outage affecting 839 people was reported on South Providence Road near Hinkson Creek. That outage was reported at 9:37 p.m. An estimated restoration time was not available.

Boone County Joint Communications gave a warning about the outage creating a traffic hazard around major intersection along Stadium near the University of Missouri’s Campus.

“A large Power Outage in the areas of Stadium, Providence and College creating a traffic hazard. Use caution, avoid area if possible,” the 10:01 p.m. update stated.

Other outages were reported in neighborhoods along East Stewart Road.

The overall number of people without power was reduced to 138 by 10:20 p.m. It was completely resolved by 10:29 p.m.

ABC 17 News reached out to city utilities.

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Ellyse Edwards

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo (KMIZ)

Lincoln University officially opened its new $45.5 million Health and Security Sciences Institute on Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by university leaders, elected officials and community partners.

The 40,000-square-foot facility at 705 E. Dunklin St. houses the university’s expanded School of Nursing, the Security Sciences Institute and the Law Enforcement Training Academy.

According to Lincoln University, the institute includes nursing simulation labs, practice labs, health assessment labs, recording labs, classrooms and an Emergency Operations Center. The university says the facility is designed to support education and training in health care, public safety, emergency management and security sciences.

Jennifer McCord, dean of the School of Nursing, said the new nursing spaces were designed to better prepare students before entering clinical settings.

“We have really tried to mimic the hospital environment so that they are prepared with their clinical judgment skills. Really trying to give them the skills that give them the confidence that when they are at the bedside, that they know that they are prepared,” McCord said.

University President John Moseley said the institute brings together programs that serve careers needed across Missouri.

“It’s a conglomerate of career fields that are so needed right now in our state and in our nation,” Moseley said. “Our job as a university is not only to help students get degrees, but to make sure they’re able to apply those degrees to a career.”

Moseley said the facility is also intended to help prepare future nurses.

“To have a facility like this on our campus to meet the health care shortage and the need for nurses is a big deal for all of us,” Moseley said. “At some point, our lives will be impacted by a nurse, and so ensuring that they receive great training and are prepared when we visit them is very important for us.”

The project was funded through support from the State of Missouri, Lincoln University, Cole County, the City of Jefferson and other public and private partners.

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Jessica Hafner

The National Weather Service in St. Louis has confirmed three short-lived tornadoes in Missouri from Friday evening’s severe weather, including a weak tornado in Osage County.

The tornado touched down at 5:59 about 3 miles southeast of Chamois and traveled about half a mile before lifting.

The tornado was confirmed by radar data and video sent in from a local resident. It was rated EF-0 with winds of up to 85 mph.

Another tornado touched down shortly before that in Oak Hill in Crawford County and was on the ground for less than one minute, traveling only a few hundredths of a mile. It was rated EF-U.

An EF-1 tornado touched down later in the evening in St. Francois County and was on the ground for about 0.77 miles. That tornado had maximum winds of 96 mph near the town of Frankclay.

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Mitchell Kaminski

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (KMIZ) 

State Sen. Rick Brattin is projected to win the Republican nomination in the newly drawn 5th District.

Six Republicans competed for the chance to challenge longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver in a dramatically reshaped 5th Congressional District.

Decision Desk HQ is projecting Brattin to win the nomination as he earned 44% of the vote with about half of the precincts reported, as of 9 p.m.

Brattin emerged as one of the race’s highest-profile contenders after receiving endorsements from President Donald Trump and Gov. Mike Kehoe. 

Trump endorsed Brattin on Monday on his social media site Truth Social, praising his military service and voting record in the Missouri Senate, saying that the 46-year-old would bring a “Fighting Spirit” to Congress. 

Trump congratulated Brattin on his social media on Tuesday.

Brattin hosted an election watch party in Independence. 

On the campaign trail, Brattin has focused heavily on immigration, calling illegal immigration one of the biggest issues facing the district. He has argued that reducing illegal immigration would also help lower costs for Americans because immigrants are taking jobs and housing, when asked by ABC 17 News how he planned to tackle affordability. 

The Republican field also includes Taylor Burks, Brett Hueffmeier, Micah Beebe, Berton Knox and Brad Patty. Cleaver is unopposed in the Democratic primary, while independent Todd Becker has also filed for the November general election. 

While Tuesday’s primary will determine who advances to November, the bigger story may be the district itself. 

Missouri lawmakers redrew the 5th Congressional District during a 2025 special legislative session with the stated goal of creating a more Republican-friendly seat. The district, once centered almost entirely around Kansas City, now stretches from the Kansas border to Osage County and includes much of Boone County as well as all of Cole County. 

Under the new map, 12 of the district’s 14 counties voted Republican in the 2024 statewide general election, with Boone and Jackson counties as the lone districts to vote Democrat. However, Boone County is now split under the new map, with only the northeastern portion remaining in the 5th Congressional District, potentially reducing Democratic influence in the race.

Those changes have transformed what had been considered a reliably Democratic district into one Republicans believe is far more competitive. Cleaver has represented the district since 2005 and won the past three general elections under the previous district boundaries. The redrawn map, however, creates a significantly different political landscape heading into November. 

Another indicator to watch Tuesday night will be voter turnout. GOP primary participation has been lower compared to Democrats in recent years.

Before the redrawn maps, Sean Smith, who ran unopposed in the 2024 Republican primary, received 32,574 votes, compared to Cleaver, who got 65,248 and also ran unopposed. 

In the past three general elections won by Cleaver, the highest percentage of the vote a Republican candidate received was 38.6% by Ryan Derks in 2020. 

Election results and turnout from both parties could provide an early indication of whether the redrawn district is behaving more like the Republican-leaning seat lawmakers envisioned or remains competitive heading into the general election.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Boone County totals on Amendments 4 and 5 have been corrected.

LINK: Full results

Columbia’s Proposition 1 squeaked by to win passage Tuesday, with “yes” beating “no” by just 85 votes.

Proposition 1 is a 1% sales tax for police. With its passage, sales tax in some areas of Columbia will be near 10%.

The measure garnered 15,042 votes in support and 14,957 votes against.

In the Columbia City Council Fourth Ward race, Sharon Jones won easily, with 3,930 votes. The next highest vote-getter was Dave Sorrell, with 2,926.

Boone County voters, like the state as a whole, rejected Amendments 4 and 5 by overwhelming margins. For Amendment 4, the total was 39,028 ‘no’ to 7,042 ‘yes’. For Amendment 5, those numbers were 39,763 and 6,292, respectively.

Turnout in Boone County fell just short of the 40% projection made by Clerk Brianna Lennon, settling at 36% of the county’s approximately 127,000 active voters.

Kehoe pledges to keep working on income tax elimination after Amendment 5’s failure

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe said Tuesday night that he hasn’t given up on eliminating Missouri’s income tax despite the massive failure of Amendment 5.

The amendment would have given the General Assembly the power to phase out the state’s income tax and replace it with other tax sources.

“While Amendment 5 did not earn the support it needed, I believe our work is far from over,” Kehoe said in a statement posted on social media. “I remain committed to working with the General Assembly in the years ahead on ways to continue cutting taxes, growing our state’s economy, and pursuing conservative policies that help Missouri families keep more of what they earn.”

Mann wins Democratic nomination in Third District

Bethany Mann has won the Democratic nomination in Missouri’s Third Congressional District for the second election in a row.

Mann, a scientist by trade, took 67% of the vote in the three-way race against Tommy Holstein and Paul T. Wilson. She moves on to face incumbent Republican Bob Onder in November to win a seat in the redrawn Third District that now includes most of Columbia.

Griffith wins Cole County clerk seat to land in post-House

State Rep. Dave Griffith, a Republican who represents Jefferson City in the Missouri House, will now be Cole County’s top election official.

Griffith took 66% of the vote for clerk, compared to 44% for Jeff Ahlers. Republican Steve Korsmeyer is retiring as clerk at the end of the year.

Jefferson City residents approved the extension of their capital improvements sales tax with 75% of the vote.

Cole County residents also went the same way as the rest of the state on Amendments 4 and 5, voting 80% “no” on Amendment 4 and 87% “no” on Amendment 5.

Turnout in the county topped 43%.

Chism wins Republican nomination for Callaway County presiding commissioner

Former Callaway County Sheriff Clay Chism won his party’s nomination for presiding commissioner on Tuesday. He’ll now move on to face a Democrat in November.

Chism earned nearly 45% of the vote in the three-way race with Rob Barnes and Larry Robinson, each of whom had about 30%. Chism received 3,300 votes. County voter turnout was about 37% of Callaway County’s approximate 30,000 registered voters.

Republican Chism will move on to face Mike Conner in November.

Sharon Jones holds large lead in Columbia City Council race

Lobbyist Sharon Jones held a commanding lead in the Columbia City Council Ward 4 race as votes were still being tallied Tuesday night.

Jones had 1,270 votes to Dave Sorrell’s 675 and Ryan King’s 175 in the county clerk’s last update a little before 9 p.m.

The “yes” votes for Proposition 1, a sales tax for public safety, held about a 200-vote lead over the “no” votes with about 10,000 ballots cast.

Capital improvements tax wins in Jefferson City; Bernskoetter wins presiding commissioner

ABC 17 News is projecting Jefferson City’s capital improvements sales tax extension will win approval, state Sen. Mike Bernskoetter will win presiding commissioner and Cotton Walker will win reelection as a judge.

With 12 of 15 Jefferson City precincts in, the “yes” votes for Proposition 1 were in the lead with 75%. Meanwhile, Bernskoetter, with more than two-thirds of the precincts in countywide, had 80% of the vote in his race.

Judge Cotton Walker also had 80% of the vote.

Votes close in Columbia’s Proposition 1 race among absentees

The yes and no votes for Columbia’s Proposition 1 — a sales tax that would benefit police and fire — were neck-and-neck among ballots cast by absentee voters.

More than 5,000 absentee ballots were cast on the issue, with 2,865 yes votes to 2,502 no votes.

Brattin projected to win GOP nomination in Fifth District

FULL ELECTION RESULTS

State Sen. Rick Brattin will win the Republican party nomination for the redrawn Fifth Congressional District, Decision Desk HQ projects.

With about 11% of precincts reporting, Brattin had 40% of the vote in the six-way race for the nomination to take on Democrat Emanuel Cleaver in November. The next closest candidate was Boone County’s Taylor Burks.

District 5 covered Kansas City under the old congressional map. Under a new map pushed by the White House and passed by the Republican supermajority in Missouri’s General Assembly, the district now takes in large parts of rural Missouri, including part of Boone County.

Leads grow in Cole County races

The leaders are putting more distance between themselves and other candidates in the races for presiding commissioner and county clerk in Cole County.

With 10 or 29 precincts in, current state Sen. Mark Bernskoetter has about 70% of the vote in his race against Paul Dupuis. Current state Rep. Dave Griffith has about 60% of the vote in his race against Jeff Ahlers for the Republican nomination for county clerk.

No Democrats are running for those seats.

Amendment 5 projected to fail

Amendment 5, which would allow the General Assembly to phase out income tax and replace it with other tax sources, is projected to fail.

With about 7% of precincts in, 85% of voters had said “no” to the amendment. Decision Desk HQ projected the amendment would fail.

Amendment 1, which continues a sales tax for parks and conservation, and Amendment 2, which creates the position of elected assessor in Jackson County, are both projected to pass.

First ballots counted in Cole County

With absentee ballots counted, Mark Bernskoetter holds a commanding lead in the presiding commission race against opponent Paul Dupuis.

Term-limited House member Dave Griffith, a Republican who represents Jefferson City, held a commanding lead in his race for county clerk.

With just a few precincts reporting, voters had overwhelmingly chosen to extend a half-cent sales tax for capital improvements in Jefferson City.

Amendment 4 projected to fail

Amendment 4 is projected to fail, according to Decision Desk HQ.

ABC 17’s election data provider projected that Amendment 4, which would make it harder to pass initiative petitions statewide, would fail, with 85% of votes that were counted at the top of the night against it.

Amendment 4 would require initiative petitions to pass each of the state’s eight congressional districts to take effect.

Lines reported at Boone County polling places

Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said a little after 7 p.m. that lines had formed at some polling places.

Lennon said her office had received reports of lines, but she didn’t have specifics about which polling places were affected. The lines were not long, Lennon said.

Under the law, people standing in line when polls are supposed to close at 7 p.m. can still vote.

Turnout was at about 37% at 7 p.m. That number does not count mail-in absentee ballots, she said. Lennon predicted turnout around 40%.

Major statewide ballot issues such as Amendments 4 and 5 and local issues such as Columbia’s Prop 1 public safety sales tax helped to drive up turnout for a typically sleepy August midterm primary.

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Alison Patton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

After months of campaigning against Amendments 4 and 5, the Missouri Realtors are taking home a win as Missouri voters turn down the ballot measures.

Missouri Realtors campaign spokesperson Scott Charton cheered the election night crowd of about 40 people around 8:15 p.m. after preliminary results rolled in, showing the amendments were likely to fail.

“The people have spoken. The people spoke loudly, clearly and overwhelmingly. Amendments 4 and 5 have been soundly defeated,” Charton said to a crowd of cheering supporters. “Amendments 4 and 5 have been buried so deep in citizen rejection, they should never come back.”

Gov. Mike Kehoe, a long-time proponent of eliminating the state income tax, posted on social media following the called races, saying he would continue to work to give Missourians tax breaks.

Throughout this conversation on eliminating the state income tax, we made the case that Missouri should think boldly about its future, challenge the status quo, and pursue policies that make our state more competitive.

While Amendment 5 did not earn the support it needed, I…

— Governor Mike Kehoe (@GovMikeKehoe) August 5, 2026

Missouri Realtors president-elect Brent Sager said many voters he talked with while campaigning against the measures didn’t like Amendment 5, which would have allowed lawmakers to phase out the state income tax.

“I hear from everybody, ‘No on 5, no on 5,” Sager said. “I’ve talked to a lot of staunch Republicans that have told me, ‘I’m the furthest right feather on the right wing of that bird,’ and I ask, ‘Well, what do you think about five,’ and they say, ‘No position on five.”

The Missouri Realtors PAC has spent millions against Amendment 5 through Missourians for Fair Taxation PAC because they believe the ballot measure would have dramatically raised sales taxes to make up the revenue loss from the state income tax.

Lawmakers have indicated that if the income tax is phased out, then sales tax could go up, and the sales tax base could be expanded. However, state Rep. Bishop Davidson (R-Republic) said there would be exemptions for essentials like healthcare, real estate and groceries.

Davidson said it would close loopholes in Missouri law that prevent sales tax from being collected on things like services.

However, those exemptions are not written into the law, and voters will have to trust lawmakers to keep their promises.

Missouri Realtors are also opposing Amendment 4 through the PAC Missourians for Fair Governance. If it had passed, that ballot measure would have required a majority of voters in all eight of the state’s congressional districts to approve a referendum. Opponents say it could take 5% of voters to turn down any petition.

“Our fellow Missourians have sent a powerful message to Jefferson City: The people are in charge. The majority rules, and every citizen’s vote counts equally,” Charton said.

Proponents, including Gov. Mike Kehoe and the Missouri Farm Bureau, claim this will make it harder for out-of-state interest groups to sway Missouri politics.

If Missourians approved Amendment 4, the law would reduce the maximum fine for people convicted of signature fraud from $10,000 to $1,000. Rep. Ed Lewis (R-Moberly) said this is to stay consistent with the Missouri Constitution.

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