Category: kmiz-local-news

Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man accused of killing his ex-wife and her mother will now go to trial in December.

Judge Josh Devine agreed to push back Randall Fox’s murder trial to December 8. A pre-trial hearing was set for November 9. Court records show Fox’s defense moved to delay the trial after the state disclosed new discovery materials, just a month before the trial was set to start.

Fox, 51, faces two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of tampering with evidence.

Defense attorney Manuel Tatayon wrote in a motion on Friday that prosecutors gave him autopsy results on June 30, along with 260 pages of discovery. Tatayon said he is still waiting on information in the case “regarding additional potential other suspects.”

Columbia police believe Fox shot and killed Sarah Fox and her mother, Marcia Hess, at Hess’s home in the 1700 block of Ridgemont Drive in 2024. Investigators say they found the two dead inside a basement closet at the home in May after receiving calls that they had not been seen or heard from in several days.

Court documents detail police’s search for Sarah Fox and Hess in late May. Police wrote that they got a call from a family member of Sarah Fox and Hess’s on May 18 claiming they had not heard from the pair in ten days. Police said Randall Fox was at the Ridgemont Drive house that day. During a search of the house, Fox allegedly said a “bad smell” in the house was coming from some sleeping bags. When an officer asked to look inside the closet the bodies were allegedly found in later, Randall Fox said the objects inside “will fall out if he opens it.”

Police said Randall Fox told them in an in-custody interview on May 23 that he didn’t know that they were found dead in the basement of the home. The detective noted that they had never told Randall Fox where exactly the bodies were found in the home.

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Matthew Sanders

Missouri’s top law enforcement official sent a warning Thursday to the Columbia Public Library ahead of an LGBTQ+-themed event for families. She also posted it on social media for the public to view.

The event, “Rainbow Story Time,” will take place Saturday morning and include the reading of two books. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway wrote the library on official letterhead to tell leaders to keep the content de-sexualized and age-appropriate.

A library spokeswoman said the material is appropriate for children.

Do you think Hanaway should have written the letter and publicized it? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A candidate in the Camden County Prosecutor Republican primary was recently held in contempt in court by a judge.

Lynne Brand is running for the prosecutor’s seat in the Aug. 4 primary against incumbent Richelle Grosvenor. Brand is listed as a defendant in a Sunshine Law case along with the county’s sheriff’s office.

A filing in the case says a motion for civil contempt – filed by the plaintiff’s lawyer Dave Roland – was granted on Tuesday, court filings show.

The judge in the case is holding Brand in contempt, but is holding off on a punishment as long as she sits for deposition.

Roland told ABC 17 News in a message that the plaintiff’s side asked the judge to make Brand to pay the money paid to the court reporter and videographer for a July 13 hearing she did not attend. Roland said Brand will not have to pay the $1,000 penalty if they attend the scheduled deposition.

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Demetra Alarcon

VIENNA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A new mile-marker system along the Gasconade River aims to reduce emergency response times and help first responders locate people needing help.

The Maries County Sheriff’s Office and the Vienna Fire Protection District teamed up together to get this completed.

The initiative started when Sheriff Mark Morgan saw that Pulaski County, which borders Maries County, had put up mile markers along the same river. Now, if you are in Pulaski County and go into Maries County on the river, all of the mile markers will be in order and look the same, county officials say.

To cover the costs, the Maries County Sheriff’s Office funded the mile markers by creating and selling department calendars, Morgan said.

Volunteers and employees put up the mile markers. Vienna Fire Protection District Capt. Carson Hayes said he knows of several instances in which the markers would have been helpful.

“People are trying to describe landmarks, and that can be very difficult to figure out which ramp we need to put in at or anything like that,” Hayes said.

The Gasconade River is around 36 miles through Maries County. Some areas of the river bank go through private property and Morgan asked residents’ permission to hang the markers.

“I didn’t get any pushback at all from any of the property owners,” Morgan said. “Everybody was extremely receptive to it. It’s been extremely well received by the community.”

The location of each mile marker can be viewed on online GIS systems. Maries County’s system allows you to select a layer to view them.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Boone County man who claimed in a 2025 federal lawsuit that elected officials got him fired over comments at public meetings in Harrisburg was paid a settlement.

The Village of Harrisburg paid Michael Williams $35,000 in an agreement that was reached on July 13. The court case was dismissed on July 17 and documents were made available to ABC 17 News on Thursday.

A separate settlement was reached with Commercial Trust Company of Fayette during the summer of 2025, but Williams attorney Andy Hirth told ABC 17 News that the details of that settlement are confidential.  

Williams claimed in his lawsuit that the city and bank violated his First Amendment rights and interfered with his employment.

His boss allegedly had confronted him after receiving “complaints directly from members of the Board about his questions and comments,” previous reporting shows.

The lawsuit claimed the bank’s CEO handed him a separation letter in October 2024, laying out the reports of “antagonistic and belligerent opposition to Council decisions” that the bank feared reflected poorly on it.  

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Gov. Mike Kehoe was among one of the 23 signatures seen on a pledge by Republican governors that looks to keep electricity costs down as data centers continue to be built around the country.

“As that infrastructure grows and the related electricity demand increases, the American people should not be footing the bill for the benefit of private companies. Instead, the data center boom should be leveraged to address affordability and benefit all American households and businesses,” the pledge states.

The pledge claims President Donald Trump is asking AI companies to “build, bring, or buy all of the energy needed for building and operating data centers, paying the full cost of their energy and infrastructure, no matter what.”

The pledge alleges companies will build or buy “new generation resources and electricity needed to satisfy their new energy demand,” pay for infrastructure upgrades and negotiate separate rate structures for their utilities.

Multiple data centers have been proposed around the country, including in Mid-Missouri.

Data centers nationwide have been met with pushback from residents, with water and electricity usage among the often-cited concerns. Columbia and Camdenton each passed one-year moratoriums in May on the applications and building of data centers.

Montgomery County residents late last year and earlier this year showed out against attempts to build data centers in the county. Residents and property owners also filed a lawsuit in February in an attempt to halt the construction of an Amazon data center.

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Sutton Parker

COLUMBIA Mo. (KMIZ)

A coalition of U.S. lawmakers, Missouri broadcasters and local emergency officials are pushing for radios that can reach AM broadcast bands to be required in every vehicle.

Senate Bill 315 would require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a rule requiring access to AM broadcast stations in passenger motor vehicles, and for other purposes.

This comes as some car manufacturers have stopped adding the radio signal into newer models, particularly in electric vehicles.

In a press release from Tesla, the company claims the electromagnetic waves generated by electric vehicle drivetrains “cause severe interference” with analog AM radio signals, making traditional reception unstable.

Adding that instead of having a traditional AM radio option, Tesla identified the TuneIn app as an alternative streaming application to provide Tesla owners with access to their preferred radio stations.

The Missouri Broadcasters Association has been meeting with Missouri lawmakers pushing for the bill.

MBA President Chand Mahoney said AM radio is essential during emergencies.

“AM radio is the backbone of the emergency alert system in the United States,” Mahoney said. “So in many cases, it’s those AM radio stations that are receiving the emergency alert first, and then it filters down to the rest of the stations.”

He believes manufacturers are removing the radio signal to monetize the dashboard.

“So one way to do that is to offer subscription-based entertainment, music and information through the dashboard. AM radio, of course, is free and over the air and would get in the way of that model,” Mahoney said.

Mahoney said that when emergency alerts come in, they filter down to all the other stations, including FM stations.

When asked about the progress of Senate Bill 315, Mahoney claims the bill has bipartisan support, with 310 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 61 in the Senate.

Among those co-sponsors are Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Rep. Mark Alford, Rep. Wesley Bell, Rep. Jason Smith, Rep. Eric Burlison, Rep. Robert F. Onder, Rep. Ann Wagner and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

“We encourage people who may be watching this and are concerned about the AM radio coming out of their vehicles to reach out to their members of Congress and have them go to their leadership to take this bill to the floor for a vote,” Mahoney said. “It’s so popular; we know it’s going to pass, but we have to get it to the floor.”

When it comes to the importance of AM radio, Mahoney said that it is heavily relied on in rural communities.

“One rural Missouri AM radio is important every single day of the year. People are receiving their agriculture information, their farm markets, their weather reports. And oftentimes in rural areas, it’s those am signals that are still penetrating much further than the FM signals,” he said.

Trisha Rooda, of Pettis County Emergency Management, encourages everyone to always have three ways of communication in rural areas.

“I think AM radio remains a very important part of emergency management, especially for people in rural areas,” she said.

Rooda added that AM radio is an essential part of communication because a lot of other types of communication do not work in their area.

“Many emergency broadcasts are on AM stations, and those stations have backup power and AM signals reach farther over tall buildings and reach longer distances,” she said.

Senate Bill 315 currently is awaiting consideration and a vote by the Senate.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri’s attorney general wrote to a local library board saying that “residents” have requested her office make sure that an LGBTQ+-themed story time is “conducted in a manner consistent with Missouri law.”

A library spokeswoman told ABC 17 News that the event is family friendly.

The letter was dated Thursday and released publicly by Attorney General Catherine Hanaway on social media platforms.

Hanaway, in her letter, reminded the Daniel Boone Regional Library that providing minors with pornography is illegal, as is displaying sexually explicit material in a public location. She also wrote that libraries jeopardize their state funding if they hold events that are not designated for the proper age group.

The letter is in response to the Columbia Public Library’s “Rainbow Story Time” event scheduled for 10 to 10:45 a.m. Saturday in the Children’s Program Room.

“Join us for a queer-led story time with an LGBTQ+ theme. We’ll share stories, sing songs and do an activity with time to meet new friends at the end,” the event description on the library website states. The page states the event is meant for families, toddlers and preschoolers.

Library spokeswoman Mitzi St. John wrote in an email that the 30-minute event includes readings of “Rainbowsaurus” and “Big Wig.”

“Neither include sexual content,” St. John wrote.

Boone Regional Library in Columbia is hosting a “queer-led story time” directed to toddlers and preschoolers, with time to “meet new friends” afterwards.

We’ve sent a notice to the library reminding them that providing pornography or sexual material to minors is against Missouri… pic.twitter.com/67CVG65Hm8

— Attorney General Catherine L. Hanaway (@AGCHanaway) July 23, 2026

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Ellyse Edwards

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Valley Hope has opened an outpatient addiction treatment center in Columbia, offering continued care for people with substance-use disorders who do not require overnight treatment.

The center provides an intensive outpatient program that includes group therapy, education and individual counseling. Patients can continue living at home and going to work or school while receiving treatment.

Missouri recorded 1,461 drug overdose deaths in 2024, according to final data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state’s age-adjusted overdose death rate was 23.7 deaths per 100,000 people. West Virginia leads the nation with 48.9 deaths per 100,000 people, the CDC reports.

Valley Hope CEO Patrick Hall said the organization opened the Columbia location after seeing a need for continued treatment among patients in the area. Valley Hope also operates a residential treatment facility in Boonville.

Hall said Valley Hope previously provided outpatient services online but wanted to establish an in-person location in Columbia.

“Because of the demand and the need to keep patients in treatment for as long as possible to improve their recovery outcomes, we had a mission to open an outpatient location here in person,” Hall said.

Hall said the intensive outpatient program generally includes nine hours of treatment each week, divided into three-hour sessions on three days. Unlike residential care, patients do not stay overnight at the facility.

Carrie Harris, Valley Hope’s alumni coordinator, received treatment through the organization in 2008 and 2009. Harris said she did not initially believe she had an alcohol problem because she was employed, had a car and continued paying her bills.

“With the education that they provided me at Valley Hope, I came to know that my life was unmanageable and I really did have an issue with alcohol,” Harris said.

Harris said substance-use disorders can affect people from any background.

“What I want people to know about addiction is that it doesn’t discriminate,” Harris said. “It affects every class, every race, every religion. None of us are exempt.”

She said having a treatment center in Columbia could make care more accessible for people balancing recovery with work, school or family responsibilities.

Angi Allphin, Valley Hope’s executive director and clinical expert, said substance-use disorder is a disease and should not be viewed as a failure of willpower.

“Some of the strongest people I’ve ever met in my career are people who have substance-use disorders because they know that struggle,” Allphin said. “They are now reaching out and saying, ‘I can’t do this alone anymore.’ Those are the strong people.”

Allphin said intensive outpatient treatment can help people transition back into their normal routines after completing detoxification or residential care. She said returning home can expose patients to familiar situations, habits and cravings while they are still adjusting to recovery.

The Columbia program offers morning and evening groups, with both in-person and telehealth options. Allphin said telehealth can reduce barriers for patients who lack reliable transportation or cannot regularly travel to the center.

Valley Hope leaders said the outpatient center is intended to provide continued support as patients move through different stages of treatment and recovery.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A traffic shift that was planned for next week on Interstate 70 in Columbia has been moved up to Thursday night, a press release from the Missouri Department of Transportation says.

The plan is to divert westbound traffic “traffic down and up the newly reconstructed ramps at Boone County Route J (Exit 117),” the release says.

The speed limit will be reduced to 35 miles per hour, the statement says. Crews will work on the westbound bridge over Route J, which is expected to be completed by the end of November, the release says. The traffic shift was moved up because of “forecasted weather,” MoDOT wrote.

There will be no access to or from westbound I-70 from Routes O and J until the end of November, the release says. Closures and detours in place include:

Westbound and eastbound I-70 to and from Route J is closed. Detour will be Highway 40/240.  

Westbound I-70 to and from Route O is closed. Detour from westbound I-70 will be Route BB (Exit 115) to eastbound I-70 to Route O. Detour to westbound I-70 will be eastbound I-70 to Exit 121 to westbound I-70. 

Route J to Route O (north-south access underneath I-70) will be closed. The detour will be Highway 40 to Route UU. 

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