Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Jefferson City School District saw another year of improvement after the Missouri State Highway Patrol released its annual bus inspections on Thursday.

A press release from MSHP shows that from around the state, 10,144 buses were approved on its initial inspection, while 799 were rated “defective” and 312 were determined to be “out of service.”

The release says that defective components require repair within 10 days, “out-of-service” buses require the components to be fixed and reinspected.

There were 62 Jefferson City School District buses inspected and 85.5% passed, while 14.5% were rated “defective” and no buses were deemed “out of service.”

That’s an improvement from last year, which saw 69.1% approved, 21.8% deemed defective and 9.1% out of service. The positive trend continues from 2023, when more than half of the fleet was deemed either defective or out of service during the initial inspection.

Other Mid-Missouri school districts were inspected with Columbia Public Schools having 95.1% of its 163 buses approved, 3.1% determined to be “defective” and 1.8% “out of service.” Fulton Public Schools had 93.7% of its 32 buses approved, 3.1% “defective” and 3.1% “out of service.”

South Callaway had all 18 of its buses approved, while New Bloomfield had 77.8% of its buses approved and Boonville had 71.4% of its 21 buses approved. Southern Boone had 73.9% of its buses approved and 26.1% “out of service.”

Moberly had 92.3% of its 26 buses approved, while Mexico had 74.1% of its 27 buses approved.

2025AnnualSchoolBusInspectionResultsDownload

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A criminal summons has been issued for a Cole County deputy who was listed in a report for a December 2023 crash that left a driver with serious injuries.

Mercy Gonzalez, of Jefferson City, was charged with reckless driving and failing to obey a traffic control device, both misdemeanors. The criminal summons was issued on Wednesday and an initial court appearance is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 16.

Gonzalez is currently employed as a deputy with the Cole County Sheriff’s Office and is listed on the Blair Oaks R-2 School District’s website as a school resource officer. Superintendent Ben Meldrum wrote in an email that the district has no comment on the matter and described it as a sheriff’s office personnel issue.

“At this time, we can only comment, these aforementioned matters are the responsibility of the criminal justice process from this point forward,” according to an email from Cole County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Aaron Bolinger.

The probable cause statement says that Gonzalez crashed her patrol vehicle with a Honda Pilot at the intersection of Highway 179 and West Edgewood Drive in Jefferson City on Dec. 15, 2023.

The Honda was driving on West Edgewood Drive when it was hit by Gonzalez’s Dodge Charger that was driving 115 miles per hour while going south on Highway 179, court documents say. Gonzalez had her emergency lights on, but court documents do not clarify if she was in a chase. The statement says Gonzalez tried to steer away from the victim’s vehicle, but was unsuccessful.

The Dodge Charger hit the Honda at a speed between 104-107 mph, the statement says.

“Gonzalez failed to operate her emergency vehicle in a safe manner when she failed to reduce the speed of her vehicle for the steady red stop signal at an intersection as necessary to not endanger life or property. Gonzalez bears the sole responsibility for this crash,” a trooper wrote in the probable cause statement.

Click here to follow the original article.

Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Boone County jury found a Columbia man guilty Wednesday after he shot at a car in downtown Columbia in August 2024.

Charlie Sneed III, 42, was charged with seven felonies, including unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action and first-degree assault.

The jury returned with the guilty verdict late Wednesday after deliberating for several hours. The trial started on Tuesday with opening statements and arguments from the prosecution. The state continued its case on Wednesday, followed by the defense during the afternoon, according to the Boone County prosecutor.

Prosecutor Roger Johnson said Sneed was found guilty of six felonies: unlawful use of a weapon while shooting at a car, unlawful use of a weapon in a threatening way, two counts of armed criminal action, unlawful possession of a gun by a felon and tampering with physical evidence.

The jury did not find Sneed guilty of first-degree assault.

Court documents state that a witness saw Sneed shoot at two passengers in a car at East Broadway and Ninth Street on Aug. 3, 2024.

Officers found one shell casing near where Sneed was standing when the witnesses saw him shoot the handgun. The black and gold Smith and Wesson EZ 9mm Performance Center handgun was found in a flower pot near where witnesses saw Sneed.

Johnson said Sneed could face a range of 15 years to life in prison.

The judge will decide on his sentencing on Aug. 8.

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

President Donald Trump has long talked about his predecessor’s reported mental decline, posing questions about who was making decisions in the White House during Joe Biden’s term in office.

On Wednesday, Trump turned those questions into an investigation. Trump signed a memo directing an investigation into the actions of the Biden White House and the former president’s use of an autopen.

Biden’s advisers have denied any coordinated effort to conceal from the public his deteriorating condition during the final years of his presidency. Biden has insisted he made all of his own decisions.

Do you think an investigation is warranted? Let us know by voting in the poll.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Someone called in a fake threat on Wednesday, prompting law enforcement to respond to a neighborhood east of Highway 63, according to a Boone County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

Deputies responded to a call in the 57000 block of East Trikalla Drive after a caller alleged that several people were shot at a residence, according to an email from Capt. Brian Leer of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

Leer said the fake call was likely made from someone not living in the state.

“Our deputies responded and made contact with the residents. It was determined this was a ‘swatting’ type call and it is believed the caller actually made the call from out of state.  We will continue to investigate,” Leer wrote.

“Swatting” occurs when someone makes a prank call or message to draw a surprise emergency response to an address. A similar call was made to the residence of former Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft last year.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The National Weather Service confirmed a pair of tornadoes hit eastern Kansas City through Independence on Tuesday.

The first tornado’s EF rating is unknown, but the second has been rated as an EF-1. The first tornado lasted two minutes and traveled a quarter-mile, while the EF-1 lasted nine minutes, went 3.75 miles with peak winds at 100 miles per hour with a width of 50 yards, according to a social media post from the NWS.

More than 2,600 Independence Power and Light customers experienced an outage, most of which have been restored, according to a social media post from the City of Independence. Crews faced broken poles, downed lines and lots of fallen trees, the post reads.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

(Editor’s note, 6/5: The story has been updated to reflect the latest votes in the Senate and the current status of the bills.)

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Senate on Wednesday gave initial approval to a measure that would give $50 million in funding for the University of Missouri Research Reactor.

Senate Bill 1 received Senate perfection Wednesday night. Funding for MURR was one of the capital projects that was laid out for this summer’s special session after funding failed to make it past the finish line during the end of May’s regular session. Senators must still give it a full vote on the floor for final approval. If passed, the House of Representatives will take them up for debate.

Kehoe called for the special session on May 27.

In addition, about $125 million was passed for recent storm relief, with $100 million going toward the St. Louis area that was hit hard during severe storms in May, and $25 milling going toward affordable housing relief around the state. Senate Bill 4 that would speed up the process of dispersing funds for emergency aid in the state was passed as well.

Kehoe announced an amended call for the session earlier on Wednesday to add items, including disaster relief and tax policy.

A bill to incentivize Kansas City sports teams to stay in the state also received Senate perfection early Thursday morning in SB 3. Republican senators pushed to get a property tax freeze program for 97 counties in Missouri. Voters in those counties will decide in April 2026 whether or not to institute property tax rate freezes similar to what seniors receive in the state.

SB 3 also offers a $5,000 tax credit in 2025 to people whose homes were damaged in storms.

If the House of Representatives approves these bills, the session will reconvene on June 16.

This is a developing story.

Click here to follow the original article.

Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Talks continued Wednesday night within the Columbia Board of Education about how it plans to spend money for the upcoming school year and the impact it will have on the district’s five-year plan.

The budget is made up of roughly $307 million. About 77% of that operating budget is comprised of staff salaries and benefits, marking a $10 million increase.

The Board had approved a new salary schedule in April, which included pay raises to base salaries for employees in order to help recruit and retain teachers.

The district’s funds includes total fund balances for the district, as well as its operating funds, comprised of general and teacher funds. According to meeting documents, CPS experienced a nearly $7 million decrease in its fund balance.

That was caused by excess expenditures in the Capital Projects fund, according to documents. The opening of schools, such as John Warner and Eagle Bluffs Elementary have also had a significant impact on funds, documents say.

Chief Financial Officer Heather Mcarthur told ABC 17 News the district is spending down its capital project money on those various projects. Mcarthur said to be able to continue being able to do that, as well as make other large fixes, they now have to ask voters.

“Any kind of new bond issues has to be authorized by the voters so before we can plan on that, we’d have to go to the voters,” Mcarthur said. “So, any additional money for capital improvements beyond what our local property tax supports, which is in the 3 to $4 million range that goes into that fund, would have to be going to the voters for authorization for new general obligation bonds.”

Discussions were also had Wednesday regarding debates around property taxes in Missouri. Some lawmakers have proposed a flat income tax and cutting the overall rate. Mcarthur said she worries what this could mean for CPS, which largely relies on it.

“Our district is very highly locally funded, so for the 2025- 2026 budget, about 64% of our total revenue comes from local sources and over 50% directly from local property taxes. If you think about that $300 million, 150 million dollars of it comes directly from property taxes,” Mcarthur said.

The board will vote to approve the budget during its regular meeting on Monday.

Budget Presentation _443853lm454stwk3pawy2rlnp4grxdDownload

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Gov. Mike Kehoe has amended the call for this summer’s special session to include additional items, a Wednesday press release from the governor’s office says.  

The call replaces the previous one made on May 27, which included legislation to incentivize Kansas City sports teams to stay in the state and fund capital projects, such as the nuclear reactor at the University of Missouri.

The session will now include talks involving disaster relief, tax policy and additional budget appropriations, the release says.

“After productive conversations with members of the Missouri General Assembly this week, we are amending our special session call to allow for additional legislation in the areas of disaster relief, tax policy, and budget investments,” Kehoe said in the release. “We appreciate legislators working together to use this as an opportunity to show up for our communities by acting swiftly to help those in crisis, while also making smart decisions that secure opportunity for the future.”

The release says the call asks the legislature to create a tax credit up to $5,000 per homestead “against an individual’s income tax liability for the insurance deductible incurred as a direct result of a disaster for which a presidential disaster declaration has been requested by the Governor.”

Other goals, according to the release, include enhancing the Missouri Housing trust, appropriating money to the Disaster Relief fund and giving property tax relief to uninhabitable residences damaged and listed in disaster declarations.

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The State Board of Education is considering a proposal that includes a Columbia school for disabled children among several statewide closures.

The board first heard the proposal to close 12 Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled in May and heard an update to the plan on Tuesday. On the list is Delmar Cobble School in Columbia, which was temporarily closed in February because of staffing shortages. Students from the school now attend schools in Marshall and Jefferson City.

The school in Marshall, Prairie View State School, is among the 12 slated for closure next summer under the plan, along with Dogwood Hills State School in Eldon.

Delmar Cobble and other schools that are temporarily closed would close for good this fall, under the plan.

June board meeting documentsDownload

A DESE spokesperson said in a written statement that dates are not set in stone, depending on when the board of education takes final action on the plan. It’s also undetermined what would happen to the real estate after the permanent closure, the statement says.

The plan could save the state nearly $13 million in deferred maintenance costs and another $1 million annually, according to board documents.

Click here to follow the original article.