SportsZone Football Friday highlights and scores: Week 3
ABC 17 News Team
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri high school football kicked off Week 2 of the 2025 season on Friday.
Scores from Mid-Missouri teams are posted below.
Love Columbia to start welcoming families to Love Forward Homes Complex in January
Meghan Drakas
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Love Columbia says the construction of its new Love Forward Homes apartment complex is going well and it will start welcoming families in January.
“We are thankful to the many skilled workers in Columbia who have kept us on track,” Love Columbia spokesperson Caroline Roush wrote in an email.
The complex in downtown Columbia will have six, three-bedroom units and four, two-bedroom units that can house up to 10 families in the Love Forward Homes Program.
The Love Forward Complex on East Ash Street in Columbia on Sept. 12, 2025.
Individuals in the program can get four-to-nine months of housing in a transitional home with financial, housing and career coaching. During this time, Love Columbia says families save 30% of their income to pay off debt or to pay for future housing expenses, such as a deposit on an apartment.
Love Columbia says in 2024, it provided 4,144 hotel nights to 162 households along with 1,788 nights of shelter to 13 families in the Love Forward Homes program.
A look inside the Love Forward Homes Complex on East Ash Street in Columbia on Sept. 12, 2025.
The complex broke ground in October 2024 on East Ash Street. Love Columbia shared a video on social media, showing the progress of the buildings construction. Roush said Love Columbia is hoping to have access to the completed building by December to fully furnish it.
Love Columbia says the estimated cost for the apartment complex is $3.4 million and is being paid for with federal American Rescue Plan Act money from the city and Boone County, which kickstarted the original plan for a six-unit complex. In March 2024, the project was estimated to cost $1.6 million. Love Columbia says after a $1.1 million gift from The Crossing Church, the plan expanded to a 10-apartment complex.
Love Forward Homes Complex in downtown Columbia in early March 2025.
Love Columbia says additional groups — including the William Guitar Little Foundation — have partnered with the organization to help bring this 10-plex to life.
The expansion of the complex along with inflation costs helped to add to the larger final costs, the group says. Roush said the early estimate of $1.6 million did also not include furnishings, a playground, fencing, city permitting and fees for the design.
MU student Palestine group barred from homecoming parade for second straight year for ‘safety concerns’
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The University of Missouri has again declined an application submitted by Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine that would have allowed the group to participate in this year’s homecoming parade.
A university spokesman wrote in an email on Friday that the group was declined participation because of “safety concerns.”
MSJP was barred from participating from last year’s parade for similarly cited reasons. Previous letters to the group issued by UM President Mun Choi cited disturbances at other campuses, as well as “actions of some MSJP members at Speakers Circle on Oct. 7,” previous reporting shows.
“Yes, the Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine application to participate in the 2025 Homecoming Parade was not approved due to safety concerns for members of the organization and other homecoming participants,” university spokesman Travis Zimpfer wrote in an email to ABC 17 News. “Given the university’s commitment to the right to freedom of expression, the university has offered to provide another location on the day of Homecoming Parade for the group to share their perspectives.”
This comes as the university says it has updated its policy on what is accepted at the parade and a lawsuit was filed last month by CAIR — the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the country.
According to the policy, the purposes of the parade are to:
Celebrate MU’s traditions and accomplishments
Cultivate alumni connections
Honor University-selected achievements of MU students, personnel and alumni
Rally support and enthusiasm for the homecoming football game
The policy also reads:
“It is not an open forum for expression on topics identified by participants, but rather is limited to expression on topics identified by the University for the purposes noted above. The University provides ample other opportunities for participants to express themselves on topics of interest to them.”
Previous reporting indicates MSPJ argued that before the group’s application was denied for last year’s parade, the university asked the student group to not carry a banner reading “END THE GENOCIDE,” despite allowing fraternities to display “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” banners.
ABC 17 News has reached out to MSJP.
No charges filed in May McDonald’s shooting after prosecutor says man shot in self-defense
Ryan Shiner
Editor’s note: The headline and lead have been clarified.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson will not file charges in a fatal shooting that occurred in May at the Nifong Boulevard McDonald’s.
No charges will be filed against Ryan Woods. Johnson in a letter to the Columbia Police Department claimed that Woods shot in self-defense after a fit of road rage was reported.
“We have concluded that Ryan Woods’s actions were justified as self-defense and defense of another,” Johnson wrote in the letter.
A man and a woman were shot the afternoon of May 18. Police previously said Derek Gonzalez, 32, of Columbia, was pronounced dead at an area hospital after he and another driver “encountered each other in traffic” that day. The drivers pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot and fired shots at each other, police wrote earlier this year.
“The incident began on Grindstone Parkway near Hawaiian Brothers, where a blue Hyundai Elantra driven by Derek Gonzalez pulled out in front of a black Dodge Caravan driven by Ryan Woods. Woods stated he had to swerve to avoid a collision. Gonzalez then got behind the Caravan and began following Woods and Crawford. Woods continued to the McDonald’s parking lot where he pulled into the drive-through line,” the letter says.
The letter goes on to say that Woods fired a warning shot at the McDonald’s building after Gonzalez punched out the driver-side window of Woods’ vehicle. Gonzalez then fired a shot into Woods’ vehicle multiple times, hitting a woman in Woods’ vehicle.
In an interview with ABC 17 News, Johnson described how he thinks Gonzalez could have felt like he was defending himself following Wood’s warning shot.
“If you’re the initial aggressor in a fight, you can’t use self-defense. So if you start a fight, or start even threatening that you’re going to injure somebody, you can’t use self-defense unless you withdraw and clearly communicate to the other person that you want to end the fight,” Johnson said.
Woods then allegedly got out of the vehicle while Gonzalez had his gun pointed at him, the letter says. Woods then fired a shot and kicked away Gonzalez’s gun, documents say. The letter says Woods then put his gun away in his car and immediately called 911.
Johnson called the state’s self-defense laws broad and emphasized the importance of understanding them.
“In Missouri, if somebody believes that they’re in imminent risk of deadly force, that could be if you’re pointing a gun in their direction,”John said. “Under some circumstances you could open yourself up to getting shot.”
Police at the time claimed that no charges would be filed, but said in May the investigation was ongoing.
“After a thorough review, we have determined the evidence does not support criminal charges against Mr. Woods. This is a tragic loss of life, and our hearts go out to Mr. Gonzalez’s family. At the same time, the evidence shows Mr. Woods acted in lawful self-defense under the laws of Missouri,” the conclusion of the letter says.
Prosecutor considers reduced charges for man charged with murder in overdose death
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Prosecutors in Boone County are considering reducing charges for a man charged with murder in a 2023 overdose death
Derek Miltimore, 33, of Columbia, is charged with second-degree felony murder, delivery of a controlled substance, second-degree drug trafficking, two counts of drug possession, one count of unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action. He is being held without bond at the Boone County Jail.
Prosecutors on Thursday filed a proposal to get rid of the charges of murder and delivery of a controlled substance.
Miltimore is one of two people accused in the May 2, 2023, death caused by fentanyl overdose.
Chase Rieves, 34, of Columbia, was also charged in the case with second-degree felony murder, delivery of a controlled substance and drug possession. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. He has a jury trial scheduled for June 2026 and an arraignment set for 1:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, 2025.
Man’s arrest leads to Pulaski County school being put on lockdown
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Pulaski County school was put on a temporary lockdown on Thursday as a man was getting arrested.
Ronald Brown, of Orrick, Missouri, was charged with resisting arrest. A warrant was ordered on Friday and no hearings have been scheduled.
The probable cause statement says law enforcement tried to serve a warrant at a Crocker, Missouri, address for Stephen Jenkins in relation to drug charges. That man was not home but he was found in a vehicle later with Brown.
As police served that warrant, they asked for Brown’s information and he started walking away, the statement says. Police told him to stop, but Brown then ran away to a wooded area near the Crocker School District, the statement says.
The school was put on a lockdown as Brown was detained, the statement says. Brown allegedly told law enforcement that he ran away because he had an active warrant, court documents say.
Senate approves new congressional map, initiative petition reform
Alison Patton
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri Republican senators passed a new congressional map and reformed the way citizens can get constitutional issues on ballots, over Democrats’ objections, during a special session in the Capitol on Friday.
The vote was 21-11 in favor of a new congressional map submitted by Gov. Mike Kehoe and titled the “Missouri First” map. A bill to set a higher standard to pass statewide ballot measures passed the Senate by the same vote.
The day began with Democratic stalling in the Senate. In the end, the Republican majority closed debate against Democrats’ wishes and held their final votes.
The map approved on Friday, which had already passed through the House, would redraw the state’s congressional map, splitting up the Democratic-safe Fifth District.
“Per instructions of the federal government the [legislature] has passed the DC drawn gerrymander exactly as instructed without a single Senator ever having a chance to file a bill or offer an amendment. Complete capitulation to Donald Trump,” Sen. Stephen Webber (D-Columbia) wrote on the social media website X after the vote.
Sen. Doug Beck (D-St. Louis County) said Friday morning he intended to offer an amendment to start the proposed congressional map when the federal government releases the Epstein files. However, he didn’t get the chance to do so.
A Senate committee on Thursday heard testimony on the “Missouri First” map, and no one showed up in support of new congressional districts.
A lawsuit was filed in Cole County court on Friday challenging the new map before its approval. The plaintiffs include a Cole County resident and residents of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Fifth District. They contend the map is unconstitutional because the Missouri Constitution says districts should be redrawn every 10 years.
“We absolutely have the authority to do this,” Sen. Brad Hudson (R-Cape Fair) said. “Matter of fact, I would say not only do we have the authority, we have the responsibility to update to the congressional districts in Missouri to make sure that it reflects the will of Missourians.”
Hudson said the map will withstand any challenges.
Democrats want to overturn the map through a referendum or, as Beck calls it, a citizen’s veto.
“Everything outside the capital is set to start happening,” Beck said. “I am already going to start cutting up all campaign signs to put petitions online and petitions on there and start going out and collecting signatures.”
The current districts were approved in 2022.
HJR 3, which reforms Missouri’s intiative petition process, would require any constitutional amendment be passed by a majority statewide and in each of the state’s eight congressional districts.
The map bill will become law with Kehoe’s signature. Initiative petition reform will be voted on statewide.
Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing identified
Matthew Sanders
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A suspect in the deadly shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was identified Friday morning as a man from Utah.
Kirk was killed on Wednesday on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, where he was kicking off a national speaking tour of college campuses. Investigators say he was shot in the neck with a high-powered rifle.
Utah and federal law enforcement officials said Friday that the suspect is Tyler Robinson, 22, of Utah. President Donald Trump had broken the news of the arrest earlier Friday during a Fox News appearance.
Robinson’s father, who recognized him from photos the FBI distributed Thursday, convinced Robinson to turn himself in, ABC News reported.
Officials said Friday that Robinson had etched “Hey, fascist! Catch!” onto a shell casing.
Kirk was the founder of Turning Point USA, a political organization that sought to bring young adults into Republican politics. The group has chapters on campuses across the country, including the University of Missouri.
A student group was working to bring Kirk’s tour to campus before he died, an MU spokesperson said Thursday.
Last day to submit Missouri on-site sports betting applications
Jazsmin Halliburton
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Friday is the last day for sports teams and casinos to send in applications to offer on-site betting to Missourians.
After all applications are submitted, the Missouri Gaming Commission will review them and allow for temporary licenses to those it chooses. This would allow suppliers to test their systems before the launch date.
In August, the Missouri Gaming Commission voted to give DraftKings and Circa Hospitality the state’s first two mobile sports betting licenses. However, those two platforms can not get those licenses until all sports teams and casinos that want on-site betting send in their applications by the end of the day Friday.
All licenses are expected to be issued in mid-to-late October, but Missourians will still have to wait until December to legally wager on sports. The state’s new gaming rules won’t take effect until the end of November, so Missourians will not be able to bet on sports until the official launch date on Dec. 1.
The Missouri Gaming Commission had to create pages of rules from scratch to prepare for the application process, coming up with the following criteria for applicants:
Expertise in online sports betting
Integrity, safety and sustainability of the platform
Past relevant experience
Advertising and promotional plans to increase and sustain revenue
Ability to generate, maximize and sustain revenue for Missouri
Commitment to and plans for promotion of responsible gaming
Capacity to increase the number of bettors on the platform
Missourians voted to have sports betting last November under Amendment 2. On the ballot, it stated that 10% of wagering tax revenue received would go toward public schools across the state. Missouri also must allocate at least $5 million in licensing fees and taxes to problem gambling programs in the state.
Heat determined to be reason Mizzou moved kickoff time for upcoming game
Euphenie Andre
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou Athletics announced Thursday that Saturday’s football game will be pushed up to noon, instead of the originally scheduled 3 p.m. start.
The school says the change is to avoid the worst of the extreme heat forecast this weekend. After consulting with the National Weather Service, Mizzou decided moving the game earlier would help protect both players and fans.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Jon Carney said temperatures at noon will still be hot but slightly cooler compared to mid-afternoon.
“During that time period, the hourly temperature forecast is 92 at noon, then 95 and 96 versus 97 at 3 p.m., 97 at 4 p.m., and then 96 at 5 p.m. So there is a little difference,” Carney said.
Fans told ABC 17 News they first heard about the change through an email from the university. Others said they were glad about the decision, while some said the change didn’t affect their plans.
“Mizzou was looking out for us and they actually sent out a campus wide reminder. So it’s great,” Ryan Aheran said.
An ABC 17 reporter tested field temperatures with a thermometer, comparing grass to turf similar to the surface the Tigers will play on Saturday. The results showed turf was more than 20 degrees hotter than grass.
Medical experts are warning fans to watch for signs of heat exhaustion.
“Headache would be one of the first signs of dehydration. Also, if you stop sweating, become confused, dizzy, disoriented, or just overall do not feel well,” said Jackie Beshears, who is a nurse practitioner at Boone Convenient Care.
Beshears encouraged fans to prepare ahead of time.
“Some things I would say before the game is making sure that they’re wearing sunscreen, making sure they’re wearing hats, light clothes, hydrating more than they think they need to before the game, and avoiding alcohol,” Beshear said.
Beshears said anyone experiencing those symptoms should seek help right away and get water or ice to cool down. She added that anyone experiencing symptoms of heat exhaustion should seek help immediately and cool down with water or ice.
Carney said while conditions will be hot, the heat index isn’t expected to reach dangerous levels.
“Heat index around 105 (degrees) as being dangerous to do strenuous activity with and defiantly 110 is where we start to really get concerned is where we start issuing excessive heat warning at that level,” Carney said.
The new kickoff time, however, did cause some adjustments for the city bus schedule. Columbia spokesperson John Ogan said the revised Saturday schedule will be available Friday morning between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., after being finalized with bus supervisors.